In 2016, The Washington Post released contents of a conversation taped in 2005 between Donald Trump and American radio and television host Billy Bush. The conversation took place on a bus on the set of Days of Our Lives. Much of it focused on women, and one might say the heart of it was very demeaning to women. Apparently, our 45th U.S. President said, "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful [women]I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the ____. You can do anything." This demeaning and sexist remark was not forgotten by many of the estimated 470,000 people who on Jan. 20 took part in the Womens March at the National Mall to protest President Trumps inauguration. A photographer took a picture of three women holdings signs that distinctly targeted the 2005 remark and incorporated the vulgar term for a womans personal anatomy. Because The Journal focuses 99 percent of its coverage on Cass County, one might wonder why this 12-year-old conversation and the Womens March drew our attention. Our answer would be: Bill Kintner. For some reason only understood by himself, Kintner felt it was necessary to put a remark on Twitter on the morning of Jan. 23 about the photo of the three women. It said, Ladies, I think youre safe. The comment implied none of the three ladies was attractive enough for someone like President Trump to grab their (well, you know what). Just to refresh our readers memories, Bill Kintner is the man who was elected to represent District 2 constituents in the Legislature. His job is to represent people in this district, which encompasses all of Cass County and part of Sarpy County, including a majority of Papillion. Based on the 2010 census, that means he represents a total of 38,130 civilians who reside in District 2. A good portion of them are women, who for the most part, do not like to have their personal parts referred to by any term relating to a feline animal. Kintner is also the representative who used a state computer while he was in Boston to engage in cybersex. He admitted the indiscretion to Nebraska State Patrol officers, who spent about a year investigating it. The states technology department admitted concern about possible breaches of state information. The former Legislative Executive Board called for Kintners resignation from the District 2 seat. The governor repeatedly asked him to resign. Cass County Republicans wrote a resolution telling him to resign. And yet, he remains. One might think that after being in hot water with members of the Cass County Republican party, the governor, fellow lawmakers and the general population, that Kintner could at least abstain from making sexist remarks, once again, on any technology that could be seen by millions of people. You would think he might bunker down and concentrate on the laws being proposed at the legislative level, and of which, he has only helped in getting one passed during his time in this state body. But no. He couldnt control himself and stop from making, what he calls, a joke demeaning women. And thats the problem with having him as a representative. He cannot stop himself from acting inappropriately and that in turn makes him an ineffective and disappointing representative for District 2 and all Nebraskans who would like our state to be seen as progressive and inviting to new residents and businesses. The Journal received a telephone call from the Plattsmouth Chamber Monday saying three telephone calls had been left regarding Kintners morning tweet. The Journal telephoned one of these callers, Trudy Best, who lives in Grand Island. Trudy was appalled that someone with a college education could make such a remark. My husband and I didnt get college educations so we worked hard to put our children through college, she said. Trudy used to admire the states leaders for their knowledge and professionalism. Now, she wonders how someone educated could behave in such an uneducated manner. Our world has shifted, she said. We wonder if it has shifted or just descended into the muck and mire of sensationalism and narcissism. Kintner took down his Twitter account the same day he posted the Tweet about the three women. Whether it was of his own volition to take it down is not known by The Journal. No matter, The Journal, once again, joins the governor in calling for Kintners immediate resignation. Once unshackled from a senators responsibilities, he will be free to tweet, engage in whatever in cyberspace and break every rule of polite and decent society he sets his mind to. His constituents will also be free of an embarrassment to the state. Resign Bill and let freedom ring. Let freedom ring. BestColleges.com, a leading provider of higher education information and resources, today published its annual ranking of Americas Best Online Colleges. The University of Central Florida, Arizona State University, and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities top 2017s list of 25 accredited, not-for-profit schools. BestColleges.com expanded the requirements for eligible schools to reflect the increasing interest and opportunities students are seeking when it comes to online higher education. Each institution included in the rankings must offer at least ten undergraduate and three graduate degree programs online. Furthermore, affordability metrics, which utilize National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data to show a school's return on investment for potential students, played an expanded role this year. The Best Online Colleges ranking is intended to inform and guide prospective students toward institutions that provide a quality education and a meaningful learning experience at an affordable cost. As online higher education demand grows and more schools bring programs online, its important and necessary to hold institutions to a standard of excellence that students can depend upon when making their college choice, said Stephanie Snider, General Manager of BestColleges.com. Adds Snider: Like so many institutions, higher education is undergoing significant disruption from a technological and access perspective. At BestColleges.com, we believe distance learning is a powerful educational opportunity for schools and students. It serves as a flexible option for students who cannot attend traditional campus classes, like those working full-time or with childcare restrictions. We want to give those individuals who might miss out on an opportunity to go back to school, or advance their career, the information needed to start their college search. In addition to the ranking of top online schools, BestColleges.com also equips prospective students with a guide for how to navigate their college choice, covering the importance of accreditation, career considerations, and the costs and types of online colleges available to them. 2017 Best Online Colleges: 1. University of Central Florida 2. Arizona State University 3. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 4. Northeastern University Global Network 5. Colorado State University-Global Campus 6. University of Florida 7. Liberty University 8. Pennsylvania State University-World Campus 9. Kennesaw State University 10. Brandman University 11. East Carolina University 12. Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion 13. The University of Alabama 14. University of Massachusetts-Lowell 15. Thomas Edison State University 16. LeTourneau University 17. Florida International University 18. Excelsior College 19. Fort Hays State University 20. Oregon State University 21. Drexel University 22. Champlain College 23. Old Dominion University 24. Anderson University 25. Northwestern State University of Louisiana View the complete ranking at: http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/top-online-schools/ BestColleges.com Methodology The methodology behind our rankings is grounded in statistical data and a few consistently applied guiding principles. Our 2017 rankings reflect the most recent data compiled from IPEDS and the College Navigator, both of which are hosted by the National Center for Education Statistics. Our goal is to objectively assess relative quality based on academic outcomes, affordability, and the breadth and depth of online learning opportunities. The following criteria was used to make these assessments: MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS Each school must be an accredited public or private, not-for-profit institution. Accredited Online Bachelor's Degree Programs: Each school must offer at least 10 online bachelor's degree programs and three online master's degree programs. Accredited Online Associate Degree Programs: Each school must offer at least six online associate degree programs. RANKING FACTORS All eligible institutions are ranked on a 100 point scale. A perfect score of 100 is earned by ranking #1 for all ranking factors. ACADEMIC QUALITY - 50% OF TOTAL SCORE Admissions Rate - 30% Enrollment Rates - 20% Retention Rate - 20% 6-Year Graduation Rate - 30% AFFORDABILITY - 25% OF TOTAL SCORE Average Net Price - 40% Percentage of Enrolled Students Taking Federal Loans - 20% Retention Rate - 20% Loan Default Rate - 40% ONLINE PROGRAMMING - 25% OF TOTAL SCORE Number of Online Programs Offered - 50% Percentage of Enrolled Students Taking Online Courses - 50% Online Education Reports: Babson Report 2015 BestColleges.com's Online Education Trends School Report 2017 BestColleges.com's 2017 Student Guide to Online Education BestColleges.com helps prospective students find the school that best meets their needs through proprietary research, user-friendly guides, and hundreds of unique college rankings. They also provide a wide array of college planning, financial aid, and career resources to help all students get the most from their education and prepare them for the world after college. Were excited to explore how we can keep pushing ourselves and empowering our customers. This is only the beginning. Smith, a global distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, has closed 2016 with its highest-ever annual revenues. With US $810 million in global annual sales last year, Smith is making plans for continued growth, innovation, and expansion of customer support. Smiths business is built on our devoted relationships with our customers and our constant drive to innovate, said Lee Ackerley, co-founder of Smith. These are what will push us into the next era of Smiths growth. 2016 was a year of significant expansion for the company. Smith began to broaden its footprint in Europe, with new offices in Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Munich, Germany opening in 1Q2017. The company also relocated its Hong Kong regional hub to a warehouse space that has more than doubled Smith Hong Kongs operational facilities. Plans are currently in development for expanding Smiths Amsterdam operational hub. Smith is now focused on growing out service programs for customers and continuing to examine new modes and channels of distribution. Our global trading team worked tirelessly last year to support our customers across industries with flexible programs and service, said Marc Barnhill, Smiths Chief Trading Officer. They made company history in the process. 2016 was Smiths top year in its three-plus decades and the company will carry this momentum into the year ahead. Were excited to explore how we can keep pushing ourselves and empowering our customers," said Bob Ackerley, co-founder of Smith. "This is only the beginning." About Smith Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 15 cities around the world, from Silicon Valley to Seoul, Smiths 500 employees communicate in 36 different languages and buy and sell components 24 hours per day. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. With testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam, Smiths processes focus on critical issues, from quality management to counterfeit prevention and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, Saleschain, offering real-time inventory and logistics visibility anywhere in the world. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number 13 among all global distributors. Smiths Intelligent Distribution model adapts to ever-changing demands by providing seamless global electronics sourcing and logistics, regardless of distribution channel or locale. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com, or, to reach a Smith representative 24 hours a day, please call +1 713.430.3000. ### For more information, contact: Margo Evans Smith, VP of Marketing +1 713.430.3966 mevans(at)nfsmith(dot)com Apriva, the leading provider of omnichannel payment solutions and secure mobile communications, today announced that they will be sponsoring and exhibiting at the Northeast Acquirers Association (NEAA) Annual Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, from January 31 to February 3, 2017. The NEAA, founded in 1985, serves and educates all distribution channels in the electronic payments industry in the northeast. The NEAA Annual Conference provides education forums, which cover topics, trends, and industry issues. The conference brings together payment professionals, ISOs, MSPs, merchants, and VARs, giving them the opportunity to network, attend sessions and learn from their peers. Those who attend walk away with a new perspective on the acquiring industry and hear from thought-leaders on the future of the merchant processing business. In addition, this years conference is approved for up to six ETA CPP Continuing Education credits. WHO: Apriva participants will include: Stacey Finley Tappin, senior vice president of sales and marketing communications; Laura Acuff, director of account management; and Bill Brooks, relationship manager. The Apriva team will have a booth in the exhibit hall during show hours answering questions. WHAT: The 2017 NEAA Annual Conference. Attendees can register for the event at the NEAA website: http://northeastacquirers.com/neaa-2017-registration/. WHEN: The NEAA Annual Conference will take place Tuesday, January 31, through Friday, February 3, 2017. Exhibit hall hours: Wednesday, February 1: 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, February 2: 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET WHERE: The NEAA Annual Conference will take place at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel located at 606 Congress Street in Boston, MA 02210. Apriva team members will be staffing a booth in the exhibit hall. About Apriva Formed in 2003, Apriva is the leading provider of omnichannel payment solutions and secure mobile communications that meet the exacting security and reliability requirements of financial services providers, government entities, and public service sectors. Through its two operating groups, Apriva Point of Sale (POS) and Apriva Information Security Systems (ISS), the company offers customers fully-managed, end-to-end, security solutions that incorporate hardware, software, network infrastructure and management tools. For more information, visit http://www.apriva.com. Apriva Contacts: Michael Jones Apriva (480) 421-1232 mjones(at)apriva(dot)com Lisette Rauwendaal McGrath/Power (408) 200-3773 lisetter(at)mcgrathpower(dot)com Virtuoso Violinist Nikolaj Znaider Joins InterHarmony You could pick out strands of soloist Nikolaj Znaiders musical DNA the sweetness of Fritz Kreisler, the muscularity of Zino Francescatti, and his own exquisite wisdom for setting off the poetic against the prosaic Peter Dobrin philly.com Nikolaj Znaider, one of the most sought-after and most accomplished violinists, will be joining the Outstanding Guest Artist Series at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival (SRIMF), part of the InterHarmony International Music Festival, this summer in August of 2017. Znaider will be performing in a Deja Vu Chamber Music Concert that includes his former teacher violinist, Boris Kuschnir, and cellist Misha Quint. The program includes Dvoraks Terzetto for 2 violins and cello, Op.74 the Kodaly Duo, Op.7 and culminates in Tchaikovskys Souvenir de Florence String Sextet, Op.70. Then, select violin students will have a rare opportunity to play for Nikolaj Znaider in an open master class. More information can be found at https://www.interharmony.com/guest-artist-series/Nikolaj-Znaider-violin Following a triumphant return to the BBC Proms with the Staatskapelle Dresden and Christian Thielemann, 2016/17 season sees Znaider embark on a new project, recording all of the Mozart violin concertos, directed from the violin with the London Symphony. He has a particularly strong relationship with the LSO; an orchestra he conducts and performs as soloist with every season. Both as conductor and as soloist, Znaider is interested in deepening his connections with key orchestras where he feels a special bond, working regularly with orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Dresden, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Royal Concertgebouw, Detroit Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Washington National Symphony, and Munich Philharmonic orchestras. InterHarmony is now accepting applications for the Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria, Germany portion of the festival at https://www.srimf.com/germany/music-festival-application Twelve startups have been selected from hundreds of applicants to advance to the semi-final round of the 2017 Cupid's Cup Entrepreneurship Competition. Chaired by Under Armour Founder and CEO Kevin Plank, the Cupids Cup competition celebrates its 12th year in 2017. The entrepreneurs will showcase their businesses on February 6, 2017, at Under Armours global headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, with the top five startups advancing to the final round on March 30, 2017, at the Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. The expansion to Northwestern University marks the start of a rotation of host venues, as Cupid's Cup continues to move across the nation. Semi-finalists will travel from all over the country to spend the day pitching their businesses and interviewing with a group of established investors and entrepreneurship experts who will serve as judges. Plank and the judges will narrow the applicant pool to five finalists who will compete for a life-changing prize package including more than $100,000 in total cash prizes, access to Kevin Planks professional network and the prestigious Cupids Cup title. The twelve semi-finalists represent 13 universities and a broad range of industries. They are: Jess Edelstein & Sarah Ribner (University of Pittsburgh & Columbia University) As seen on Shark Tank, PiperWai Natural Deodorant is a uniquely effective, aluminum-free deodorant made with activated charcoal to neutralize odor and absorb moisture. Muhga Eltigani (University of Pennsylvania) NaturAll Club is the first company to deliver fresh, fruit-based hair products using innovative food preservation technologies. Nico Enriquez & Max Easton (Brown University) Farmer Willies makes the world's cleanest, driest, highest rated alcoholic ginger beer according to Untapped (the largest beer rating app in the world). Phil Esterman (Yale University) StoryTime is an app that builds literacy by allowing teachers to send books to low-income families. Hanson Grant (Babson College) Think Board is a clear dry erase film that allows you to turn any surface into a whiteboard - just peel and stick - and transform your walls, desks, doors, or any other smooth surfaces into a creative workspace. Stephan Lane (Northwestern University) FlyHomes is a smart real estate brokerage built for todays generation of home buyers, that augments the traditional home buying process with AI technology and has a rewards program unlike any other in the industry. Rebecca Liebman (Clark University) LearnLux helps millennials learn personal finance through online learning tools and connects them to the resources they need to take action. Kaitlin Mongentale (University of Southern California) Pulp Pantry, better-for-you, better-for-the-Earth snacks that ensure good food never goes to waste. Donovan Morrison (Northwestern University) Luna Lights is focused on developing products that provide older adults with tangible benefits and that seamlessly integrate into their lives. For example, Luna Lights is currently rolling out an automated lighting system that uses cloud-based data analytics to reduce the risk of falling at night. Brendan Rice & Russell Suskind (University of Wisconsin Madison & Syracuse University) Doze Beds, Inc. makes premium bedroom furniture that's beautiful, easy to assemble and affordable. Pete Rispoli (Harvard Business School) Campus Doorman allows you to get an Apartment in a Box in 60 seconds. Matthew Rooda (The University of Iowa) SwineTech, Inc. helps farmers increase profits by providing the technologies necessary to reduce piglet deaths. Cupids Cup aims to reach the top entrepreneurial minds in the country, and more importantly, to inspire and foster the community of college students and recent graduates who have already followed Planks lead and are running their companies. The competition was open to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at accredited colleges and universities or recent alumni of those institutions. Applicants ensured that they are running a legal business entity and have demonstrated proof of traction. More information about the competition is available at http://www.cupidscup.com. About Under Armour, Inc. Under Armour, the originator of performance footwear, apparel and equipment, revolutionized how athletes across the world dress. Designed to make all athletes better, the brand's innovative products are sold worldwide to athletes at all levels. The Under Armour Connected Fitness platform powers the world's largest digital health and fitness community through a suite of applications: UA Record, MapMyFitness, Endomondo and MyFitnessPal. The Under Armour global headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. For further information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.uabiz.com. Under Armour has two classes of publicly traded common stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange: Class C stock trades under the ticker symbol UA and Class A stock trades under the ticker symbol UAA. For more information about Under Armours stock, please visit the Companys Investor Relations website at http://www.uabiz.com/investors.cfm. About Plank Industries Plank Industries is a privately-held company with diversified holdings in commercial real estate, hospitality, food and beverage, and thoroughbred horseracing, all under the Sagamore group of brands. The company is based in Baltimore, MD, and serves as the private investment office of Kevin A. Plank, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE:UA). Tom Geddes is the CEO. The mission of Plank Industries is to execute the strategic vision of Kevin Plank and to elevate Greater Baltimore through investment, waterfront revitalization, impactful philanthropy, entrepreneurship, global engagement, and strategic communications. About Plank Foundation for Entrepreneurship The Plank Foundation for Entrepreneurship (PFE) is a non-profit subsidiary of Plank Industries dedicated to fostering the American spirit of entrepreneurship in a new generation. The signature platform of PFE is Cupids Cup, a nationwide competition with a ten-year history of identifying and supporting extraordinary young entrepreneurs. PFE also supports entrepreneurship through charitable programs and events in Baltimore, particularly at City Garage (http://www.citygarage.vc). Melissa Boyd, a family law attorney at High Swartz LLP, recently moderated a panel discussion at the Pennsylvania Bar Associations Family Law Section Winter Meeting in Philadelphia. Boyd led a discussion on the Secret of Support Remedies at the meeting, which was held Jan. 13 to 15 in Philadelphia. The session offered 1.5 substantive CLE credits, and focused on what goes on behind the walls of Domestic Relations offices in Pennsylvania. Topics included federal and state regulations, the ways in which arrearages are handled, and whether bank accounts can be seized or licenses suspended as part of support enforcement. A key member of the High Swartz family law practice team, Boyd concentrates her practice on family law and is an advocate in various areas including, but not limited to, divorce, pre-nuptial and post-divorce agreements, child custody and support, equitable distribution, alimony, adoption, protection from abuse, and juvenile law. She has dedicated much of her professional career to preserving the rights of children and their families. Boyd is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a member of the Family Law Sections of the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She frequently presents on family law topics, and she is past chair of the Family Law Section of the Montgomery Bar Association. A graduate of Washington College and the University of Baltimore School of Law, Boyd has received the highest possible rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has been named among the 10 Leaders of Matrimonial Law in Philadelphia. High Swartz LLP is a full-service law firm serving clients in the Delaware Valley and throughout Pennsylvania from offices in Norristown and Doylestown. Established in 1914, High Swartz serves the needs of businesses, municipalities, government entities, nonprofits and individuals. With offices in Bucks County and Montgomery County, the full-service law firm provides comprehensive counsel and legal support to individuals and business entities of all sizes across a broad spectrum of industries throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. For more information, go to http://www.highswartz.com. # # # Ethiopian Kossa Kebena coffee from Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea has won a 2017 Good Food Award, becoming the first Ohio coffee winner in the awards history. Award winners were announced January 20 at the Good Food Awards ceremony in San Francisco. We are extremely proud of becoming a Good Food Award winner, said Founder and President Greg Ubert. Because of its emphasis on cup quality and sustainable sourcing, this award is one of the most influential in the specialty coffee world. The Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster was named Roast Magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. This week only, the Columbus roaster is celebrating with $3 specials on three drinks made with Ethiopian Kossa Kebena at its Crimson Cup Coffee Houses in Columbus. Through Sunday, January 29, customers can enjoy a $3 Nitro, Cortado or Hario v60 Pour-over at the Clintonville location, 4541 North High Street, or the Upper Arlington coffee house, 2468 Northwest Boulevard. The Good Food Awards celebrate tasty, authentic and responsible foods. Now in its seventh year, the competition includes entries in 14 categories: beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, cider, coffee, confections, fish, honey, oils, pantry, pickles, preserves and spirits. In the coffee category, 16 single-origin, sustainably sourced offerings were selected as winners. The competitions 197 winners were selected following a blind tasting of 2,059 entries from nearly every state. Each passed a rigorous vetting to confirm they met specific Good Food Awards standards around environmentally sound agriculture practices, good animal husbandry, sourcing transparency and responsible relationships throughout the supply chain. Organic Ethiopian Kossa Kebena is part of Crimson Cups Friend2Farmer line of direct-trade coffees. It is produced by a farm in Western Ethiopias Limmu Kossa District. A member of the Kossa Geshe co-op, the farm occupies part of the dense Kebena Forest. Heirloom varietals grown at an altitude of 1,900 to 2,100 meters are naturally processed on raised beds to produce this outstanding coffee, said Brandon Bir, coffee sourcing and education director for Crimson Cup. He visited the farm in 2016. Crimson Cup developed its Friend2Farmer direct trade program to ensure that farmers receive a fair share of proceeds from coffee sales. The company pays a premium to farmers, who can then invest in agricultural and community improvements. Crimson Cup coffee experts also collaborate with farmers on ways to improve the quality of the coffee and quality of live for farmers, workers and their communities. Ethiopian Kossa Kebena is available for a limited time at Crimson Cup Coffee Houses in Clintonville and Upper Arlington. Bags of fresh-roasted coffee can be purchased from the Crimson Cup website at a cost of $16.50 for 12 ounces. About Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea Columbus, Ohio coffee roaster Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea is Roast magazines 2016 Macro Roaster of the Year. Since 1991, Crimson Cup has roasted sustainably sourced specialty and craft coffee in small batches. The company also teaches entrepreneurs to run successful coffee houses through its coffee franchise alternative program, which includes a coffee shop business plan. Crimson Cup coffee is available through a community of more than 350 independent coffee houses, grocers, college and universities, restaurants and food service operations across 29 states, Guam and Bangladesh, as well as the companys own Crimson Cup Coffee Houses. To learn more, visit crimsoncup.com. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is unique because it allows our customers to give back through the purchase of a new home during the holiday season. Wayne Homes, an Ohio-based custom homebuilder that specializes in on-your-lot custom homes, announced they have donated more than $7,500 on behalf of their customers, benefiting 17 national and local charities, through the companys Not-So-Random-Acts of Kindness program. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program began on December 1 and ran through December 30, 2016. For every home sold during the promotion, Wayne Homes donated $150 to the buyers charity of choice. This year, over 50 families participated in the campaign. Donations were made to several charities, including St. Jude Childrens Hospital, The American Cancer Society, Wounded Warrior Project, and a number of local humane societies and homeless shelters. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is unique because it allows our customers to give back through the purchase of a new home during the holiday season, George Murphy, President of Wayne Homes, said. We are thrilled that we have the opportunity to collaborate with our customers and are happy to continue this program each year. Wayne Homes has held the Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness promotion for nine years and has donated more than $50,000 to charities. The Not-So-Random Acts of Kindness program is one of the many community involvement programs Wayne Homes carries out every year. With this program, Wayne Homes hopes to make a meaningful difference to those less fortunate during the holiday season. For more information about Wayne Homes community involvement programs, Ask Julie by Live Chat. To find out more about becoming part of the Wayne Homes team, see current job opportunities. About Wayne Homes Wayne Homes is a custom home builder in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia (see all Model Home Centers). We offer more than 40 fully customizable floorplans and a team dedicated to providing the best experience in the home building industry. For more information, Ask Julie, our online sales team, by Live Chat or call us at (866) 253-6807. LUGPA looks forward to collaborating with PlatformQ Health in order to provide our members up-to-date virtual education on issues that are critical to independent urology practices. LUGPA, a medical trade association that represents independent urology group practices including more than 2,200 US Urologists, today announced its collaboration with PlatformQ Health to develop a virtual education series. The monthly Virtual Crossfire Event Series aims to advance education for its community of independent urology practices. Throughout 2017, LUGPA members can experience in-depth discussions on topics ranging from the business impact of telemedicine and the CHIP Reauthorization Act to preparing practices for MACRA as well as controversial topics for both business and clinical integration. Select programs will be eligible for CME credits. LUGPA looks forward to collaborating with PlatformQ Health in order to provide our members up-to-date virtual education on issues that are critical to independent urology practices, says LUGPA President Neal D. Shore, MD, FACS. LUGPA is dedicated to providing novel educational initiatives for our member urology practices for their present and future success. We are pleased to introduce the cutting-edge Virtual Crossfire Event Series, as another benefit of LUGPA membership. Each 30 to 60-minute program will feature a live-streamed panel of experts on PlatformQ Healths clinicalserieslive.com. The series will also be available on demand and on LUGPA members website. PlatformQ Healths virtual education platform allows presenters to respond to real-time questions and audience polling, combining the benefits of in-person interactive education with the convenience of digital access. PlatformQ Health is honored to be partnering with an association so committed to educating its members. LUGPA has consistently brought forward both the best educators and the most relevant areas of study, says CEO Robert Rosenbloom. We are excited to be supporting the educational needs of the urology community. Find out more and register for LUGPAs 2017 monthly Virtual Crossfire Event Series here. About LUGPA LUGPA currently represents more than 25 percent of the nations urology practices, comprising more than 2,200 members, who account for approximately 30 percent of urologic care in the United States. The Association is committed to providing the best resources to its member practices through advocacy, research, data collection and benchmarking efforts. About PlatformQ Health PlatformQ Health is the leading provider of live online medical education events, with 15 websites dedicated to different therapeutic areas. Their unique education platform allows physicians and other healthcare professionals to connect online from any computer, learn about the latest treatments options, and engage in real-time Q&A with top faculty. Miami single-family home prices have risen for more than five consecutive years and existing condo prices have appreciated in 65 of the last 67 months, according to a new report by the MIAMI Association of REALTORS (MIAMI) and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) system. Miami-Dade County single-family home prices jumped 9.5 percent in December 2016, increasing from $278,500 to $305,000. Existing condos increased 1.3 percent, from $207,400 to $210,000. Miami single-family home prices have now risen for 61 consecutive months. Condo prices have increased in 65 of the last 67 months, a streak spanning more than five years. Low supply and high demand for Miami single-family homes have fueled five-plus years of residential price growth, said Christopher Zoller, the 2017 MIAMI chairman of the board. In addition to rising prices, Miami also saw more mid-market single-family home transactions and more traditional or non-distressed home sales in December. Despite the rise in prices, Miami real estate remains a major bargain compared to other global cities. A condominium in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach metropolitan area typically cost $170,000 in 2016 Q3, according to the National Association of REALTORS (NAR). The average cost of a 120 square meter apartment in 2016 in the prime inner city areas of London ($4.1 million), Hong Kong ($3.1 million), and New York ($2.2 million) were at least ten times higher, according to Global Property Guide. Rising mortgage rates are another factor impacting local sales. More home buyers are coming off the sidelines to take advantage of current mortgage rates, which despite their increases are still at historic lows. According to Freddie Mac, the average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage is 4.20 percent. December's average commitment rate was the highest rate since April 2014 (4.32 percent). The average rate in 1990, in comparison, was 10.13 percent. Single-Family Home Sales Effectively Even Total existing Miami-Dade County residential sales which posted a record year in 2013 and near record years in 2014 and 2015 decreased 4.3 percent year-over-year from 2,254 to 2,156. Single-family home sales stayed effectively even, decreasing 0.6 percent year-over-year from 1,078 in December 2015 to 1,072 last month. Existing condo sales which are competing with a robust new construction market decreased 7.8 percent year-over-year, from 1,176 transactions to 1,084. Sales for mid-market Miami single-family homes, or properties listed from $300,000 to $600,000, increased 26.6 percent in December, from 323 to 409. Homes sold in the $300K to $600K range represent 38.2 percent of total Miami single-family home sales. Miami single-family traditional sales also posted gains, jumping 14.4 percent from last year. This gain in traditional sales, from 797 to 912 transactions, is great news for the local market. Total sales volume for all properties accounted for $797.9 million last month, a 16.4 percent decrease from the $954 million sales volume a year ago. These sales do not include Miamis multi-billion dollar new construction condo market. Miami Distressed Sales Continue to Decline Total Miami distressed sales declined 41.4 percent year-over-year, from 515 to 302 last month. Only 14.0 percent of all closed residential sales in Miami were distressed last month, including REO (bank-owned properties) and short sales, compared to 22.8 percent in December 2015. In 2009, distressed sales comprised 70 percent of Miami sales. Short sales and REOs accounted for 3.0 and 11.0 percent, respectively, of total Miami sales in December 2016. Short sale transactions dropped 38.7 percent year-over-year while REOs fell 42.1 percent. Nationally, distressed sales accounted for 7 percent of all sales in December, down from 8 percent a year ago. Miami Real Estate Selling Fast and Close to List Price The median number of days between listing and contract dates for Miami single-family home sales was 50 days, a 5.7 percent decrease from 53 days last year. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date for single-family properties decreased 1.9 percent to 106 days. For condos, the median time to contract increased 1.4 percent to 75 days. The median number of days between the listing date and closing date increased 4.2 percent to 123 days. The median percent of original list price received for single-family homes increased 0.7 percent to 95.7 percent. The median percent of original list price received for existing condominiums stayed the same at 94.1 percent. Lack of Condo Financing Continues to Impact Sales In addition to competing sales from new construction units, the lack of access to mortgage loans continues to impact existing condominiums. Of the 9,307 condominium buildings in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, only 12 are approved for Federal Housing Administration loans, down from 29 last year, according to statistics from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and FHA. National and State Statistics Nationally, total existing-home sales decreased 2.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.49 million in December from an upwardly revised 5.65 million in November, according to NAR. Statewide, closed sales of existing single-family homes totaled 22,332 last month, up 0.8 percent from December 2015, according to Florida Realtors. The national median existing-home price for all housing types in December was $232,200, up 4.0 percent from December 2015 ($223,200). December's price increase marks the 58thconsecutive month of year-over-year gains. The statewide median sales price for single-family existing homes last month was $226,000, up 9.2 percent from the previous year, according to Florida Realtors. The statewide median price for townhouse-condo properties in December was $166,900, up 7.7 percent over the year-ago figure. Miamis Cash Buyers Represent More than Double the National Average Miami cash transactions comprised 42.4 percent of December total closed sales, compared to 50.1 percent last year. Miami cash transactions are more than double the national average of 21 percent. Miamis high percentage of cash sales reflects South Floridas ability to attract a diverse number of international home buyers, who tend to purchase properties in all cash. Condominiums comprise a large portion of Miamis cash purchases as 57.6 percent of condo closings were made in cash in November compared to 27.1 percent of single-family home sales. Sellers Market for Single-Family Homes, Buyers Market for Condos Inventory of single-family homes increased 5.2 percent in December from 5,909 active listings last year to 6,218 last month. Condominium inventory increased 16.3 percent to 14,436 from 12,408 listings during the same period in 2015. Single-family homes have a 5.7-month supply, which indicates a sellers market. Existing condominiums have a 12.7-month supply, which indicates a buyers market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers offers between six and nine months supply of inventory. Total active listings at the end of December increased 12.8 percent year-over-year, from 18,317 to 20,654. Active listings remain about 60 percent below 2008 levels when sales bottomed. New listings of Miami single-family homes decreased 8.9 percent, from 1,293 to 1,178. New listings of condominiums decreased 7.9 percent, from 2,015 to 1,856. Nationally, total housing inventory at the end of December dropped 10.8 percent to 1.65 million existing homes available for sale, which is the lowest level since NAR began tracking the supply of all housing types in 1999. Inventory is 6.3 percent lower than a year ago (1.76 million), has fallen year-over-year for 19 straight months and is at a 3.6-month supply at the current sales pace. New Construction Market Update Most Miami preconstruction condo developers require a 50-percent cash deposit on new units. The deposit is not only one of the highest in the United States but is significantly higher than the 20 percent required during the last real estate cycle. The large cash deposits show how committed Miamis preconstruction condo buyers are to the local market. Sixty-four condo towers with 6,760 units have been completed in Miami-Dade County east of I-95 in the last five years since the start of 2011, according to a Jan. 23 report from preconstruction condo projects website Cranespotters.com and MIAMI. To access December 2016 Miami-Dade Statistical Reports, visit http://www.SFMarketIntel.com Note: Statistics in this news release may vary depending on reporting dates. MIAMI reports exact statistics directly from its MLS system. About the MIAMI Association of REALTORS The MIAMI Association of REALTORS was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 97 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward Council, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents nearly 45,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S., and has official partnerships with 160 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.miamire.com ### Recently, it was my pleasure to welcome Nebraskans to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 58th inauguration of the President of the United States. My husband Bruce and I held a reception for visiting Nebraska families at my offices in the Russell Senate Building, complete with coffee, hot chocolate, and cookies. From the longhorns in the conference room, to the painting of the Sandhills, to the piece of the court from the Nebraska national volleyball champions in the reception area, my office has plenty of reminders of Nebraska to make it feel more like home. None can compare to the warmth of the Nebraska families I met last week. They came from all across our state, from Grand Island to Omaha, from Lincoln to Scottsbluff. Some were old friends, like our neighbors from Cherry County. Others we were thrilled to meet for the first time. My office had 400 tickets to distribute to Nebraskans wishing to attend the swearing-in ceremony; my staff received more than 800 requests. I was delighted to see so many Nebraskans walking the halls of the Senate, chatting with one another after their long journey. Nearly 1,400 miles separate Nebraska from our nations capital. Despite the travel, they talked excitedly about the reason for their visit: the inauguration of our new president, Donald J. Trump. Every four years, no matter the party and whatever the weather, we gather to observe this event that is, for us, fairly ordinary. For the world, it is extraordinary. A different party came into power, but no tanks rolled down our streets. A new president entered the Oval Office, but no refugees fled overseas. Americans are accustomed to the peaceful transfer of power. Weve had them since John Adams handed the reins to Thomas Jefferson, his rival and the leader of the opposing political party, in 1801. This is rare in much of the rest of the world. Consider: recently, the African country of Senegal sent soldiers into neighboring Gambia to force its president to hand over control to the winner of the national election. Such turmoil is tragic. Sadly, it has been common throughout human history. Americas orderly, peaceful transition of power from one president to another is a profound blessing. We expect it, but we must also be grateful for it. Everything about Jan. 20, 2017, is a part of that blessing of liberty. The inauguration event reminds us that our country is, at its core, profoundly different from the rest of the world. We were founded upon the idea that free people are capable of self-government, that they can, by their own industry and courage, achieve the environment in which the human person can flourish, as much as one can, this side of heaven. You could say Americans have high standards in this regard. Let us hope we never lose them. Our American idea has endured some tough times these past 241 years: wars, political crises, catastrophes, and the storms of competing philosophies, some fair, some foul. Yet that American idea is still standing, a beacon of hope for us and for generations to come, here and abroad. It needs our help to remain standing. Americans across our country did their part by participating in our celebrated, peaceful transition of power. We must continue to do this in the time to come. Thank you for your participation in our democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. Tynker has everything. At one level, it allows the teacher to use example lessons to cater for all abilities. On another, it enables the teacher to create their own on-line lessons, which the children can follow through, said Randall Brook Tynker, the leader in creative computing that has introduced more than 45 million kids to computer programming through innovative game-like learning activities and courses, today announced a new curriculum for schools across the UK and Europe. Tynker will demonstrate the new courses at the BETT Show, taking place January 25-28 in London, England. The new curriculum for the 2017-2018 school year adds JavaScript and Python courses, 12 STEM programming courses, and a course on drone programming in partnership with Parrot, one of the worlds leading civil drone companies. To date, nearly 2,000 schools in the U.K. use Tynker to teach coding. More than 45 million kids have been introduced to computer programming through our online courses, apps, and in-class teaching platform. Weve had significant demand to expand into STEM subjects and makerspace arenas, so its incredibly rewarding to be able to offer these exciting new courses, said Krishna Vedati, co-founder and CEO of Tynker. We hope that our new upper level courses in JavaScript, Python, STEM, and drones will inspire an even greater number of students to embrace coding as a way to enhance their learning and careers. Even though coding has become a part of the national curriculum in the UK, research conducted by Ocado showed that 130,000 English primary school teachers did not feel confident enough to teach their pupils how to code, and out of 250 teachers, 73% said they did not feel they had been given the necessary resources. In response, Tynker has launched new programming courses, which make it easy for students to learn on their own with self-guided, self-paced lessons. With comprehensive teacher resources, lesson plans, and guides, Tynkers courses allow teachers with no programming experience to teach coding and incorporate programming into what theyre already teaching. Tynker has everything. At one level, it allows the teacher to use example lessons to cater for all abilities. On another, it enables the teacher to create their own on-line lessons, which the children can follow through, said Randall Brook, Head Teacher of Mawnan C of E VA School, based in Falmouth, Cornwall, UK. Most importantly, the children love exploring and learning for themselves. Underlying all this, Tynker assesses the children's understanding of many concepts, allowing the teacher to view and print out a record of concept understanding for the class as a whole or individual pupils. Tynkers fun, game-based curriculum teaches students coding and computational thinking as they creatively code games, animations, stories, and school projects. Courses are grade-specific and scaffolded to ensure a progression of skills each year. Every lesson has a detailed teacher guide, collaborative ideas, mapping to relevant standards, sample working programs, interactive tutorials, and applications to real-world issues. Tynkers STEM and Project-Based Learning modules challenge students with over 200 real-world problems in all subjects, including Mathematics, Earth Science, Life Science, Physical Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts. The lesson modules provide a framework for them to collaborate, experiment, apply concepts and skills they have learned, and share their results with the class. 12 STEM courses are included for 8 - 13 year old activities that are aligned with standards. Examples of STEM activities include: Simulate the greenhouse effect and show how it causes climate change Program a game where the player sorts words based on their part of speech Experiment with a coin toss to understand randomness and probability Diagram ancient trading routes or migration patterns Code a game where you match equivalent fractions Tynkers drone curriculum offers a structured approach to get primary and secondary school students flying drones in minutes. Students practice their drone flying skills in a virtual environment before they are ready to execute the commands on a real drone. Who doesnt want to program and control their own drone? says Jerome Bouvard, Education Program Director, Parrot. We are really excited to collaborate with Tynker, the leader in teaching kids to code, and create a learning platform that will inspire students of all ages to innovate and build the next generation of useful applications with drones, not yet imagined! Tynkers JavaScript and Python courses are designed to bridge young learners from visual block-based programming to mainstream text-based coding with syntax and structure. Each of these courses is an immersive adventure where students solve coding puzzles, complete debugging quests, and build projects as they apply their coding skills. To preview Tynkers new programming courses and Parrot Educations offerings at BETT, please visit Stand F447. About Tynker Tynkers award-winning creative computing platform helps children develop computational thinking and programming skills in a fun, intuitive, and imaginative way. Tynker is used by more than 60,000 schools and 45 million students, spanning over 200 countries. Tynker was founded by a seasoned team of technology entrepreneurs who share a passion for giving children the critical life skills needed to become leaders in the technologies of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.tynker.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @GoTynker. Media Contact: Alyssa Miller alyssa(at)ammediaworks(dot)com +1-973-615-1292 Italian Inspired, American Made Evviva brings a unique spin to pizza as well as their La Montanara, or fried crust pizza, has garnered rave reviews and attention. Founder and President Nick Harron is pleased to announce the January 24th opening of the much anticipated Evviva Cucina, an Italian Inspired American Made Kitchen & Bar. This will be their second location, the original location is located at 7 Cornerstone Sq. in Westford, MA. Known for its locally sourced scratch kitchen, vibrant and open atmosphere, and warm hospitality, Evviva will be featured in Commodore Plaza at 45 Enon St. in Beverly, Massachusetts. Evviva Cucina will be a welcomed destination for the North Shore community, boasting a 150 seat dining room with 40 seats at our bar and lounge. An outdoor patio highlighted by a 8 foot fire table and gas-fire torches will also be available in the spring and summer months and can accommodate an additional 50 guests. Pictures are available here. Committed to tying into the fabric of the community, Evviva is dedicated to sourcing the finest ingredients from local farmers and artisans. Highlighted not only in their Artisans Corner section of their menu and around the interior of the space on their multiple featured Local Boards, but also throughout their variety of Sharables, Salads, Sandwiches, Piada Tacos, Pastas and Entrees. Evviva brings a unique spin to pizza as well as their La Montanara, or fried crust pizza, has garnered rave reviews and attention. A constant attention is paid to showcasing the finest hospitality and atmosphere for their guests. Offering a $9.95 Pranzo Lunch Card, $7 Montanara Madness Mondays in which $1 from each pizza sold goes to a local charity, a comprehensive Gluten Free Menu along with a multitude of vegetarian options. Our Evviva Team is dedicated to offering exceptional service and hospitality through comprehensive training, hands-on managerial and ownership structure, and a wealth of benefits and initiatives for our guests including our state of the art Loyalty App and Online Ordering. The bar at Evviva is the central hub of the Beverly location centered around out display pizza kitchen and boasting 16 craft draft lines, 23 unique wines by the glass, and an extensive specialty cocktail list featuring local and artisanal spirits. Two large T.V.s, granite bar-top, high-top lounge tables, and ten-person communal table made from reclaimed wood highlight the bar area. Evviva Cucina will be open Tuesday, January 24th at 4:00 to the public followed by our regular lunch and dinner hours on Wednesday the 25th. Reservations are accepted through our website and over the phone. Download our loyalty app through the App Store or Google Play for special offers, news and loyalty discounts! Catering and Takeout will be accepted over the phone at (978) 998-4950 and all of our menus are available at http://www.evvivacucina.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for updates and available news and specials! To learn more, visit http://www.evvivacucina.com. 3CS is the premiere cybersecurity conference for community colleges. Educators and students are encouraged to submit proposals for the fourth annual Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) being held June 28 to 30 at Prince Georges Community College and National Harbor, Maryland. 3CS is the only national academic conference focused on cybersecurity education at the community college level. 3CS shares with faculty and administrators the newest technologies, latest research, and most relevant resources for teaching cybersecurity to community college students. This years theme is Strengthening Our Cyber IQ. Proposals for one-hour presentations and for three-hour workshops are now being accepted in any of these four tracks: 1) for faculty and colleges new to cybersecurity education, 2) for experienced faculty and programs, and for those colleges aspiring to apply for recognition as a center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Two Year (CAE2Y), 3) for teaching cybersecurity across the curriculum and throughout the nations critical infrastructure, and 4) for students attending the 3CS Pre-Summit Job Fair. Knowledgeable students also are encouraged to submit proposals, either alone or with their professors. The student track is new this year and will include topics such as student competitions, student clubs/associations, mentoring, summer camps, and developing competition teams. This will take place on the afternoon of June 28 for students who attended the 3CS Pre-Summit Job Fair in the morning. Students and recent graduates are encouraged to partake in the job fair, where they will have the opportunity to talk to potential employers. 3CS is the premiere cybersecurity conference for community colleges. It is designed for a diverse audience, including those new to cybersecurity, students and experienced educators. The variety of presentations and workshops, led by experienced cybersecurity educators, allows attendees to tailor their conference experience to meet their needs. If you are an experienced cyber educator, we encourage you to submit and share your ideas and experience for presentations and workshops, said Philip Craiger, 3CS Program Chair. All proposals are being accepted until February 15. Please submit at: http://www.my3cs.org/call-for-proposals. About Community College Cyber Summit: The Community College Cyber Summit (3CS) is organized and produced by the National CyberWatch Center, National Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA), CyberWatch West (CWW), Cyber Security Education Consortium (CSEC), Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections (BATEC), and Advanced Cyberforensics Education (ACE) Consortium, which are all funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The outcomes of 3CS will leverage community college cybersecurity programs across the nation by introducing the latest technologies, best practices, curricula, products, and more. To learn more, visit http://www.my3CS.org. Appleton Attorney Robert B. Loomis Herrling Clark Law Firm President, Kevin Lonergan, has nothing but praise for Loomis and his achievements. We are very proud of Bob and his accomplishments. Bob is one of the top family law attorneys in the State of Wisconsin. Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., located in Appleton, Wisconsin, is proud to announce that Senior Shareholder Robert B. Loomis has accomplished recertification as a national family law trial advocate. The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) has issued the recertification. Board certification is one of the highest certifications an attorney can achieve. Herrling Clark Law Firm President, Kevin Lonergan, has nothing but praise for Loomis and his achievements. We are very proud of Bob and his accomplishments. Bob is one of the top family law attorneys in the State of Wisconsin. He is not only respected here at Herrling Clark Law Firm, but among other family law lawyers and judges around the State. He is looked to as one of the top, if not the top, family law lawyers in Northeast Wisconsin. Loomis joins an elite group of professionals, as only three percent of attorneys in the United States hold board certifications. The NBTA requirements for board certified attorneys include: substantial trial experience, exceptional judicial and peer recommendations, and ongoing participation in continuing legal education programs. Appleton Divorce Attorney Robert B. Loomis is a senior shareholder at Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Lawrence University, and went on to obtain his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. A large part of his practice is devoted to litigation, and he focuses specifically on cases related to family law and divorce. He is also a successful family law mediator, facilitating the settlement of complex divorce and high net worth cases. Loomis is a Top Rated Attorney on AVVO within the practice areas of family law and divorce. He has also been rated as one of the Best of the Bar by Fox Cities Magazine. Additionally, Loomis has been selected as a Wisconsin Super Lawyer every year since 2006. The Super Lawyers distinction is only awarded to the top five percent of attorneys within the state. Loomis is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Outagamie County Bar Association, the Winnebago County Bar Association, and the Brown County Bar Association. Aside from the practice of law, Robert has a passion for running. Just before a recent milestone birthday, Robert completed a 100 mile endurance race (the Pine to Palm) alongside his daughter, Krista. About Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd.: Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. has served the Fox River Valley community for over 50 years. The veteran attorneys at Herrling Clark bring together over 200 years of combined legal experience to effectively represent individuals, families, and businesses. Herrling Clark has been named Best Law Firm in the Valley for 13 years straight by the Post-Crescent newspaper. The firm works with clients located throughout Wisconsin including the cities of: Appleton, Green Bay, New London, and Oshkosh. For more information call 920-739-7366 or visit http://www.herrlingclark.com. GiftCardGranny.com I always wanted to return to Pittsburgh, but was not able to find a fast growing, entrepreneurial type company in Pittsburgh, until I found this opportunity." - Tim Frantz CFO/COO at Gift Card Granny GiftCardGranny.com announced the newest addition to the companys executive team today hiring Tim Frantz as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Frantz brings almost 20 years of previous executive leadership experience where hes held such roles as CFO, COO and CEO. Frantzs extensive career has included Fortune 500 Motorola and IBM, to small rapid growth ventures in the private sector which he has successfully built and sold several companies. Most recently, Frantz served as Chief Operating Officer at TCG Consulting, a privately held consulting firm, and Executive Vice President, Chief Operating/Finance Officer at IBT Enterprises, a privately held design build firm. We selected Tim from over 300 candidates applying for this role. Besides his previous work experience, Tim possesses the things we like most here at Gift Card Granny a strong work ethic, entrepreneurial spirit, has a firm grip on understanding technology, lending a helping hand to those less fortunate and driving businesses to the point of acquisition. said Jason Wolfe, CEO at Gift Card Granny. Jason continued, We were strongly searching for a local Pittsburgh candidate to join us, and we are happy to have brought Tim back to his home town after many years in larger cities across the country. Tim commented, I always wanted to return to Pittsburgh, but was not able to find a fast growing, entrepreneurial type company in Pittsburgh, until I found this opportunity. Based on Jason Wolfes past success, I think the odds are great that Gift Card Granny will follow in the list of successes, and Im happy to help us get there. About Gift Card Granny Gift Card Granny has been saving shoppers money since 2009. Originally founded as the first online gift card meta website, Granny has grown from a single person operation to a team of over 30 employees. Today, Gift Card Granny is the largest discount gift card aggregator on the Internet with over 200,000 gift card deals and over 12 million visitors a year. Customers can buy gift cards at a discount or sell their unwanted cards for cash. Empower Brokerage Office We will remain dedicated to our clients through an ever-changing insurance industry The health insurance industry is an ever-changing industry. Every year introduces more changes during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) and the Open Enrollment Period (OEP). 2016 was no exception. If anything, it has sent people scrambling looking for health insurance coverage. Mainly, people are witnessing higher deductibles, rising premiums, and few choices with their insurance, which is a great cause of concern. Since the election of Donald Trump, the concern has only amplified. Now people are not only worried about their insurance at present, but they are uncertain about the future of health insurance. With his 100-day plan released shortly after his victory, Trump made it clear that the repeal and replacement of the principal healthcare law of Barack Obamas presidency the Affordable Care Act or, as its more commonly referred to, Obamacare is at the top of his to-do list. As millions of Americans are currently enrolled in Obamacare, many are worried about the status of their health insurance. Moreover, the transition away from Obamacare towards what is now being called Trumpcare may take up to a year if not two years. Rodney Culp, CEO of Empower Brokerage, said that, though the healthcare changes over the past few years have made it difficult for agents and have even resulted in a drop in carrier participation, his companys mission has remained intact. We have stayed dedicated to our clients by providing them with the best available carriers throughout Obamacare, insisted Culp, and we will remain dedicated to them regardless of any changes made under Trumpcare. Trumpcare, like Obamacare, will certainly reshape the health insurance industry; exactly how it will do so, however, is to be determined. Although, there is the understanding from industry leaders that Trumpcare means expansion and growth. While specifics remain unclear, one can glean from Trumps proposal that competition will increase, meaning more options for consumers and hopefully lower premiums. Under Trumpcare, health insurance companies, that dropped out of the industry over the last six years, may return, and consumers may also expect to see new companies emerging. The expected influx of competition in the health insurance industry is where Empower Brokerage comes in. Capitalizing on the anticipated expansion of Trumps healthcare reform, Empower Brokerage itself is expanding their company in multiple directions. To start, on August 1st, 2016, Empower Brokerage relocated from Fort Worth, TX to Southlake, TX, thereby increasing their office space to better accommodate visiting agents and clients. More recently, Empower opened a new office in Laredo, TX, and on November 14th they installed their new service call center. Under the direction of Culp and his Regional Sales Director, Robert Martinez, who is also the manager of the Laredo office, the new call center has added several new bilingual agents, who are licensed in all 50 states. In particular, the Spanish-speaking capability is an important feature that Empower Brokerage strongly cares about. Having been in the health insurance industry for several years, Empower has come to recognize a need among the Hispanic community a need in which they hope to fill. Though theyve always incorporated a bilingual staff to help their Spanish-speaking clientele, Empower wants to accommodate the needs of minorities in a greater capacity. In Martinezs opinion, the Spanish population is underserved, but he believes the new call center will be the start of a robust service, benefitting the market as a whole and leaving no one out. Another avenue for expansion in which Empower Brokerage has ventured is technology. Within the last three months, Empower has released a new mobile app and launched three new consumer-facing websites. The mobile app, now available for Android and IOS users, is beneficial for consumers and insurance agents alike. Simply search Empower Brokerage Insurance Quote & Tools. This app is not just fluff, assured William Bronson, Marketing Director for Empower, It has some very powerful quoting tools built in. With mobile capabilities, anyone can pull a quote from anywhere. The available quoting options include health (ACA or short term medical), disability, final expense, senior dental, Medicare supplements, hospital indemnity, and life insurance. Bronson says its a game changer for Empower. As for the three new websites, people can acquire the essential information they need for both individual medical (Obamacare) and Medicare. The websites help consumers find the right plan for them by providing plan comparisons and instant quotes. Furthermore, the sites connect individuals with local, licensed agents for additional assistance. Empower Brokerage strives to simplify the insurance shopping experience to reduce the stress and confusion for people with these websites: 1) Medicare Advantage: https://empowermedicareadvantage.com 2) Medicare Supplement: https://www.empowermedicaresupplement.com 3) Individual Health: https://www.empowerhealthinsuranceusa.com With both a mobile app and three consumer websites with a fourth website on the way that covers Life Insurance and Financial needs Empower makes shopping for insurance easy. Moreover, with the two service centers in Southlake and Laredo, TX, as well as a force of thousands of agents in the field nationwide, Empower Brokerage is poised to help Americans with their health insurance needs, and they are braced to handle any and all changes sure to come in the ensuing years under Trumpcare. ITsavvy just announced new enhancements to its proven cloud-based data backup service, savvyBackup. The solution is leveraging new technological advances and the significant capabilities of the companys state-of-the-art network operations center for 24x7x365 monitoring and oversight by ITsavvy engineers. This is an easy-to-manage solution that ensures backups are meeting compliance and SLA requirements. Benefits include: Convenience: savvyBackup is accessible wherever there is internet connectivity. Ease of Recovery: If data is lost or deleted, backups are available and easily retrievable. Ease of Access: Clients have continuous and seamless access to all of their stored data. Security: Data is stored on secure servers. Additional safety measures, such as encryption, are also available. Depending on the clients needs, data copies can reside in multiple independent locations. The savvyBackup solution reduces spending and hardware management with improved reliability and business continuity of data storage in compliant, redundant offsite locations. ITsavvy President and CEO Mike Theriault explained, The cost of ensuring business continuity is a fraction of what it used to be and is now a viable solution for even small and medium-sized businesses. savvyBackup features: The ability to ramp up or down--ideal for seasonal operations. A high degree of reliability and security. Daily backup and redundancy with flexible solutions that satisfy specific recovery point objectives and recovery time objectives. 24x7x365 U.S. based support. ITsavvys award-winning engineers have expertise in backup, disaster recovery and storage to resolve escalations and high-level challenges. They also have advanced certifications in Citrix, VMware, Microsoft and Cisco technologies. The company partners with industry leaders including EMC, Quantum, Axcient, Barracuda, Unitrends and Datto. We work with many clients that have known for a while they are living on borrowed time without a robust backup solution, Theriault said. It is extremely rewarding to bring them savvyBackup along with a little peace of mind. ITsavvy is a leader in tailored, end-to-end IT product and service solutions. ITsavvy built its reputation as a value-added reseller with industry-leading product availability, design and implementation, client support and delivery speed through 46 distribution centers across the U.S. ITsavvy also has datacenter locations in Cedar Knolls N.J. and Oak Brook, Ill. The companys user-friendly website provides concise, leading-edge IT decision-making resources, including an e-commerce site with real-time pricing and availability. ITsavvy is headquartered in Addison, Ill., with offices in Chicagos Loop; Hauppauge, N.Y.; New York, N.Y.; Naples, Fla.; Miami; Indianapolis; Warren, N.J; Davenport, Iowa; Hayward, Calif.; and Beavercreek, Ohio. Call 855.ITsavvy (855.487.2889), email info(at)ITsavvy(dot)com, visit http://www.ITsavvy.com. For more information visit: https://www.itsavvy.com/cloud-solutions/cloud-solutions_solutions/savvybackup/ Kranse Institute Mobile App Kranse is a complete game changer in the SAT-prep market. Kranse Institute, a pioneering education content developer for college test prep students, today announced it would be extending its revolutionary online, on-demand SAT-Prep course (as featured on ABCs Shark Tank) with a dedicated mobile app that makes interaction more compelling, convenient and rewarding. We all know that a good SAT score opens doors to great universities and scholarships, commented Steve King, head of business development at Kranse. With todays students constantly online and connected to each other and beyond, its hard to expect them to achieve great SAT test results if you dont appreciate the way they think, communicate and how they prioritize in this digital age, he added. Our SAT-prep course was developed to appeal to their need to game the system and how they digest bite-sized chunks of information as opposed to spending hours reviewing and memorizing. To date, we achieve an average SAT improvement score of 210 well beyond industry averages.. but we knew we could do better! So we are very pleased to announce our new Kranse mobile app. The Kranse app design objectives were very simple; to make it more convenient and easier for students to connect, engage and track their SAT prep progress and, to make their experience even more rewarding with contests and tips that appeal to their digital mind-sets and are guaranteed to improve their test scores. Kranse is a complete game changer in the SAT-prep market, said Cristin McVey Ph.D, a twenty year college advisor and test prep instructor from San Diego. Their online course content and structure is innovative, exciting and totally connects with todays teenagers. With their new Kranse mobile app, they have added even greater interaction and engagement, anytime and anywhere, giving students a very affordable, sought-after advantage in this very competitive space. The app is available both for Android and Apple smartphones and is a free download for any of our students. Kranse Institute is a Nevada based, industry leading, education content developer and digital distributor. Our SAT- prep is our first on-demand, online course. Developed by Shaan Patel, a student who went from average to scoring a perfect 2400 on his SAT exam. From his own experience, he developed a proprietary form of preparation that students find easy and compelling to use. His results speak for themselves with an average improvement score of 210, the highest in the industry. To learn more about Kranse, their SAT-prep online course, or their new mobile app, contact Steve King at 1.858.761.6062 or email, steve(at)kranse(dot)com, or visit the website at http://www.kranse.com David Bollig, President and CEO of Nor-Tech Our clients trust us to take all of the question marks out of buying a new cluster or upgrading what they already have. We understand that there is a lot more than money on the line for them. Past News Releases RSS Nor-Tech Rolls out HPC Cluster... Nor-Tech HPC Cluster Research... Nor-Tech to Showcase Innovative HPC... Nor-Techs leading-edge demo cluster is proving instrumental to Cal Techs decision to upgrade its Nor-Tech cluster with user-friendly bootable Intel KNL. Currently Cal Tech researchers are testing their code on this newest Intel processor, which is integrated into Nor-Techs demo cluster. The demo cluster is a no-cost, no-strings opportunity for current and prospective clients to test-drive simulation applications on a cutting-edge Nor-Tech HPC equipped with Intel KNL and other high-demand platforms installed and configured. Users can also integrate their existing platforms into the demo cluster. Nor-Tech President and CEO David Bollig said, Our clients trust us to take all of the question marks out of buying a new cluster or upgrading what they already have. We understand that there is a lot more than money on the line for them. They want assurance that the platforms they are currently using and any that they are considering will run seamlessly and end up saving them time. The demo cluster provides that assurance. Bollig continued, When it comes to running simulations, we know that reducing time-to-results is critical. To compete in the research environment, everything needs to continually be better and fasterthats what Nor-Tech clusters integrated with best fit software are able to deliver. In the case of Cal Tech, they have already had a number of headline-grabbing breakthroughs using the cluster they purchased from us. Nor-Techs HPC clusters are backed by the companys easy to deploy pledge, no-wait-time support guarantee, and a team of HPC cluster experts that have been with the company for many years. Nor-Tech, in fact, has one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the industry. We maintain a friendly, supportive environment where our employees feel valued, Bollig said. First and foremost because its the right thing to do, but also because we realize the importance of continuity for our clients. They trust that the engineers who built their cluster and know it like the back of their hand will be available for support well into the future. Integrating Nor-Tech clusters with Intel Xeon Phi processors eliminates node bottlenecks, simplifies code modernization, and builds on a power-efficient structure. The bootable Intel Xeon Phi x86 CPU host processor offers an integrated architecture for powerful, highly parallel performance that enables deeper insight, innovation, and impact for the most demanding HPC applications. To take full advantage of the processor, an application must scale well to over 100 software threads and either make extensive use of vectors or efficiently use more local memory bandwidth than is available on an Intel Xeon processor. Key specifications include: Up to 1 teraflop double-precision performance Exceptional performance-per-watt for highly parallel workloads Single programming model for all code Flexible usage models to maximize the clients investment 2016 HPCwire award finalist, Nor-Tech is renowned throughout the scientific, academic, and business communities for easy to deploy turnkey clusters and expert, no wait time support. All of Nor-Techs technology is made by Nor-Tech in Minnesota and supported by Nor-Tech around the world. In addition to HPC clusters, Nor-Techs custom technology includes workstations, desktops, and servers for a range of applications including CAE, CFD, and FEA. Nor-Tech engineers average 20+ years of experience and are responsible for significant high performance computing innovations. The company has been in business since 1998 and is headquartered in Burnsville, Minn. just outside of Minneapolis. To contact Nor-Tech call 952-808-1000/toll free: 877-808-1010 or visit http://www.nor-tech.com. Full release at: http://www.nor-tech.com/category/news/ The Omaha area is ripe for growth and the new location in Council Bluffs is a huge win for local storage shoppers. - Cris Burnam, StorageMart President Joining four other Omaha storage locations, StorageMart proudly announced today the acquisition of a new self storage facility in Council Bluffs. Conveniently located off Interstate 29 at the intersection of Highway 92 and Harry Langdon Boulevard, the newest StorageMart boasts a variety of features like climate controlled space and a freight elevator to meet the residential and business storage needs of the community. With over 350 units totaling 46,084 square feet of rentable space, this is a significant increase in our Council Bluffs self storage offering. Nebraskas population is set to pass two million soon with the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area being the largest in the state. This move positions StorageMart to meet that growth well. The Omaha area is ripe for growth and the new location in Council Bluffs is a huge win for local storage shoppers, said Cris Burnam, StorageMart President. With fast and easy ways to rent online and dedicated customer service, were well positioned to expand our motto of easy, clean, service in the area. With gated access, a well-lit facility, and video cameras, storage shoppers can set their minds at ease choosing StorageMart for their climate controlled or drive up storage unit. The facility is newer and in excellent condition making the transition to implement StorageMart operations and systems easy. About StorageMart StorageMart started with a single store in Columbia, MO and has grown to be the largest privately-owned, family operated storage company in the world. StorageMart is led by the Burnam family, which has been in the storage industry for three generations. Dedicated to providing easy, clean and friendly service to each and every customer, StorageMart is also committed to giving back to the many communities it calls home. In 2015, the company donated more than $167,000.00 to charities, in addition to donating over $395,000 in free rent to local charities throughout the US and Canada. Find out more at http://www.storage-mart.com. MSC Cruises' Northeast Account of the Year - The Cruise Web Inc. We are honored to be recognized by MSC Cruises as a Northeast Account of the Year and excited about MSC Cruises investment and expansion plans in the North America market, said Frans Hansen, The Cruise Webs president. The Cruise Web Inc. was recognized today as Northeast Account of the Year by MSC Cruises as part of the lines 4th Annual MSC True Partnerships Awards. The 2016 MSC True Partnerships Awards are presented to MSC Cruises top performing North American travel partners for the year based on overall business growth in revenue and guests and continuous partnership support and innovative marketing efforts that drive increased consumer awareness. We are honored to be recognized by MSC Cruises as a Northeast Account of the Year and excited about MSC Cruises investment and expansion plans in the North America market, said Frans Hansen, The Cruise Webs president. We are thrilled to recognize our leading travel partners who have gone above and beyond in their efforts in selling and raising awareness about MSC Cruises and congratulate all of them on their hard work, said Roberto Fusaro, president, MSC Cruises USA. About the Cruise Web The Cruise Web is a travel agency specializing in cruises that has been serving clients worldwide for more than 20 years. The companys expert cruise consultants focus on providing travelers with the best value for their time and money in finding and booking a cruise vacation. Cruise shoppers can contact The Cruise Web today at 1-800-377-9383 (USA: 1-240-487-0155) or at CruiseWeb.com for the best cruise deals. About MSC Cruises MSC Cruises, part of the MSC Group, is the Swiss-based, worlds largest privately-owned cruise line and brand market leader in Europe, South America and South Africa, sailing year-round in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean. Seasonal itineraries cover northern Europe, the Atlantic Ocean, Cuba and the French Antilles, South America, southern Africa, and Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Oman. MSC Cruises fleet is currently comprised of 12 of the most modern ships at sea: MSC Preziosa; MSC Divina; MSC Splendida; MSC Fantasia; MSC Magnifica; MSC Poesia; MSC Orchestra; MSC Musica; MSC Sinfonia; MSC Armonia; MSC Opera and MSC Lirica. MSC Cruises has significant plans for future expansion through a $10.2 billion investment plan, which consists of up to 11 new, next-generation MSC Cruises ships coming into service between 2017 and 2026. MSC Cruises is the first global cruise line brand to develop an investment plan of this length and magnitude, spanning a horizon of over ten years. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: Cookies What are cookies ? How do we use cookies? How to control cookies? Managing cookies in your browser see what cookies you have got and delete them on an individual basis block third party cookies block cookies from particular sites block all cookies from being set delete all cookies when you close your browser X A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.Website use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google") to help analyse the use of this website. For this purpose, Google Analytics uses"cookies", which are text files placed on your computer.The information generated by the cookies about your use of this website - standard internet log information (including your IP address) and visitor behaviour information in an anonymous form - will be transmitted to and stored by Google including on servers in the United States. Google will anonymize the information sent by removing the last octet of your IP address prior to its storage.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website and compiling reports on website activity.We not use, and not allow any third party to use the statistical analytics tool to track or to collect any personally identifiable information of visitors to this site. Google may transfer the information collected by Google Analytics to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google`s behalf.According to Google Analytics terms of service, Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.You may refuse the use of Google Analytics cookies by downloading and installing Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on. The add-on communicates with the Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js) to indicate that information about the website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.Cookies are also used to record if you have agreed (or not) to our use of cookies on this site, so that you are not asked the question every time you visit the site.You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish. You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed.Most browsers allow you to:If you chose to delete cookies, you should be aware that any preferences will be lost. Also, if you block cookies completely many websites (including ours) will not work properly and webcasts will not work at all. For these reasons, we do not recommend turning cookies off when using our webcasting services. When President Obama signed ESSA (the Every Student Succeeds Act) into law in December 2015, it was hailed by librarians as a very big win. After years of advocacy work by the ALA and other library groups, the new federal education law includes significant and long absent support for school librariesincluding access to federal grant funding. But as school librarians gathered in Atlanta for the 2017 ALA Midwinter Meeting, the fate of ESSA under a Trump administration is now an open question. We just don't know what's going to happen after the inauguration takes place, but we are hopeful that ESSA implementation will move forward, says Audrey Church, professor of school librarianship at Longwood University, in Farmville, Va., and the current president of the American Association of School Librarians. We are continuing our efforts as if it will. But it is really a wait-and-see. But despite the uncertainty that comes with the Trump administration (and Department of Education nominee Betsy DeVos), school librarians at the ALA meeting arrived at Atlanta with hopeand a renewed focusthanks to ESSA. That's because the heavy lifting for library advocates did not end with ESSAs passage. Each state must now submit an ESSA Implementation Plan to the U.S. Department of Education by April 2017 (for the school year beginning August 2017). In order to gain the full benefits provided for under ESSA, local and state agencies will have to make sure their laws, rules, and regulations are ESSA-compliant and grant-ready." And library advocates have been working hard to make sure school libraries are represented in those local plans, no easy feat after so many years of school libraries getting no federal support. After President Obama signed ESSA into law in December 2015, AASL went into action, Church says, with efforts ranging from a constantly updated online resource on the AASL site, to a series of state workshops held across the country. We really gathered steam last summer, and by the end of January we will have provided 37 state workshops for our affiliate, state-level library associations." Church estimates that the workshops have reached over 1,500 school librarians across the country. "Our position is that the school librarian should be the strongest teacher in the school, and I think we do our children a great disservice when we don't have that person there for them. This has been a huge undertaking, but one that is absolutely essential for AASL members, she says, both to inform them better about the federal timeline for ESSA implementation, but also to give them the knowledge and skills they can use on the ground to advocate at the state and local level. We are really trying to empower our members to be more visible and vocal for school libraries. ESSA, which replaces No Child Left Behind, includes a number of provisions that expressly support school libraries and librarians, from the inclusion of school librarians in the definition of specialized instructional support personnel to authorizing states to use federal grant funding for school library-based instruction and programs, for professional development for school librarians, as well as for purchasing books and other materials. In contrast, NCBL did not include school libraries, making them a convenient budget line to slash, library advocates say. How bad did things get for school libraries under NCLB? Church says it varies from state to state. In her home state of Virginia, for example, state law requires schools to provide certified school librarians. But a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer illustrated just how bad things have gotten in other states. The piece called school librarians in the Philadelphia School District a species nearly extinct, and noted that there are just eight certified school librarians in the district, down from almost 200 in the 1990s in a school districts serving 134,000 students. Our position is that every community deserves the benefit of a full-time school librarian, Church says. We make a difference in student learning, and we do a disservice to children by not providing a trained librarian. Our position is that the school librarian should be the strongest teacher in the school." On that score, Church says that the last months of ESSA workshops and advocacy (including help from library lobby group EveryLibrary, and support from Rosen Publishing) has at the very least energized school librarians and their supporters, and presented them a golden opportunity to plant the flag for school libraries. Visible and vocal is my mantra, Church says. If you read some of the comments on the AASLs ESSA landing page, you'll see that people felt empowered by the workshops. The workshops have been a wonderful opportunity for AASL to provide critical information and leadership to local librarians, and to provide them with information and skills that will be valuable to them no matter what happens with ESSA. Because we need to advocate every day for our libraries. Tate Publishing & Enterprises, based in Mustang, Okla., has closed its doors, setting off a storm of customer complaints and lawsuits by companies such as Lightning Source and Xerox Corp., as well as an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department. Tate, in operation for 17 years, calls itself a family-owned Christian book publisher and music producer. It was started by Dr. Richard and Rita Tate and has been run recently by son Ryan Tate. In a recent email letter to Tate authors, chief executive Ryan Tate said, Tate Publishing is experiencing a transition period and we are no longer accepting any new authors or artists. All authors and artists will be contacted directly within the next few weeks about the status of your production and your options for completing your projects. Calls to Tate Publishing are answered with a recording stating the same message before directing authors and artists to the website, with no option to leave a message. Emails were not returned as of Tuesday, and Tates Facebook page was unavailable on Tuesday. The Tate website has been updated to call itself the Transition Information Center, confirming that as of Jan. 17, it has suspended operations. The site contains a message informing authors that Tate is working to find a new home for you and tells prospective clients that information will not be sold, distributed or represented to any publisher or other entity. Authors and artists were given the option of terminating their relationship with Tate before the transition is complete. A link to a Contract Release and Request for Files form was included in the email for those whose work has been published. A similar form is available for those whose work hasnt been published yet. For a $50 fee, published authors can receive their print-ready files within 30-45 days via the U.S. Mail. The contract, signed by Ryan Tate, also states, I understand that termination of these agreements does not entitle me to any refund or monetary compensation whatsoever. Apparently whatever monies paid or owed will be forfeited. Mary Detweiler, an author from southeastern Pennsylvania, has published four books with Tate at a total cost of just under $12,000. She was happy with the company for the first two books, but noticed a marked difference for her third and fourth books. She visited the Tate campus to do audio recordings for each of her first two books. The building where she recorded had been full of people, but was a ghost town for her third visit, plus no one knew she was coming due to employee turnover. Between the release of my second and third books, the founder retired and his son Ryan took over. At that third visit, my trust evaporated, Detweiler told PW. She saw a rapid turnover of author service representatives assigned to her, and Detweiler had to contact company vice presidents to receive a royalty check and books shed ordered and paid for. I had to battle to get anything, she said. I couldnt get anything without being a squeaky wheel to a v-p. Im really glad to be done with them and not the least surprised they are going under. They werent operating with integrity. Tate Publishing will be in court on July 7 as part of a lawsuit filed by Xerox Corp, which is seeking roughly $2 million plus interest for unpaid services, according to a story run last week in The Oklahoman newspaper. Lightning Source, on-demand producer of print and digital media based in Tennessee, is also suing Tate Publishing for nearly $2 million in money owed, according to news reports by The Journal Record in Oklahoma City. The Republic of the Philippines Department of Labor and Employment also filed a negative report against Tate Publishing based on its practices in its Philippines office, according to the report, and the U.S. Labor Department is also looking into the company for undisclosed reasons. The website Consumer Affairs lists numerous complaints about Tate, with an overall rating of 1.5 stars out of five. In a story published in The Oklahoman, Ryan Tate is quoted as saying We have done this for about 17 years. We have been very blessed to represent great people, and we want to make sure we take care of everybody as best we can. Tates troubles come three years after another Christian self-publishing company imploded. WinePress Publishing officially closed its doors in January 2014, several months after a WinePress staffer was convicted of first-degree child rape and molestation of a child. The latest book by Belgian author Jeroen Olyslaegers has been on the Belgian bestseller list since its paperback publication in August. Set in WWII Antwerp, its about a conflicted man in the police corps: His brother is trying to help the Jews survive, but his mentor wants to see Jews annihilated. Book title: Wil / (Will) First published: August 25 by De Bezige Bij Format: Paperback Author: Jeroen Olyslaegers lives in Belgium and is the author of the novels We (2009) and Profit (2012). He is the recipient of the Ark Prize for the Free Word (in 2014), and the Edmond Hustinx Prize (for his theatre work). Acquiring Editor: Katrijn van Hauwermeiren How Its Done: Hauwermeiren notes, One raving review after another compared Wil to the biggest Flemish classics in history. The critical acclaim and enthusiasm from the bookshops in Belgium made the Dutch press take notice. The book is still in the top ten of the bestseller list of De Standaard Boekhandel, the biggest Belgian Bookshop. Rights deals have been made with Dumont (Germany), Euromedia (Czechia), Stock (France) and Pushkin Press (United Kingdom). Why They Think Its Working: Hauwermeiren talks about the book marketing campaign: A few weeks before the book officially came out, we sent physical copies to all of the media outlets and bookshops. We also organized a reading club for a selection of bookshop owners throughout Belgium. She also notes the extensive research Olyslaegers did and how it contributed to the books authenticity: As a reader, you can really picture yourself walking through the streets of Antwerp watching history pass by. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. J.D. Vance, a New York Times best-selling author, will open Purdues Spring 2017 Presidential Lecture Series. Vance will join Purdue President Mitch Daniels for an hourlong conversation and audience Q&A session at 6:30 p.m. Monday (Jan. 30) in Stewart Centers Loeb Playhouse. The event is free and open to the public. The discussion will center on Vances best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis, which The New York Times labeled a compassionate, discerning sociological analysis of the white underclass that has helped drive the politics of rebellion, particularly the ascent of Donald J. Trump. Vances book examines the decline of the middle class by using his own family and upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, and Jackson, Kentucky, as an example. He joined the Marines after graduating from high school, serving in Iraq. Vance later graduated from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. Vance frequently contributes to The New York Times and National Review, and he appears on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC. Each guest of the Presidential Lecture Series will participate in classroom activities on the West Lafayette campus during the visit. The series continues with Stan Druckenmiller, renowned philanthropist and hedge fund manager, on Feb. 1; Doug Brinkley, historian, professor and author of The Reagan Diaries, on March 1; and Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, on April 11. Vance will have a book signing from 5:45-6:15 p.m. Monday in Stewart Center's west foyer, and copies of "Hillbilly Elegy" will be available for purchase. Writer: Brian Peloza, 765-496-9711, bpeloza@purdue.edu Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu WASHINGTON (AP) Charting a new American course abroad, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, using one of his first actions in office to reject a centerpiece of Barack Obama's attempts to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia. For Trump, the move was a fulfillment of a central campaign promise. He has repeatedly cast the 12-nation trade pact which was eagerly sought by U.S. allies in Asia as detrimental to American businesses "Great thing for the American worker that we just did," Trump said in brief remarks as he signed a notice in the Oval Office. The Obama administration spent years negotiating the Pacific Rim pact, though the mood in Washington on trade soured over time. Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification, making Trump's actions Monday largely symbolic. For Trump, the start of his first full week in office amounted to a reset after a tumultuous weekend dominated by his and his spokesman's false statements about inauguration crowds and their vigorous complaints about media coverage of the celebrations. While Trump's advisers have long accepted his tendency to become fixated on seemingly insignificant issues, some privately conceded that his focus on inauguration crowds was unhelpful on the opening weekend of his presidency. On Monday, the new president tried to regroup. In addition to his executive action on TPP, Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring though he noted an exception for the military and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. The regulation, known as the "Mexico City Policy," has been a political volleyball, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984. The actions were among the long list of steps candidate Trump pledged to take on his opening day as president. But other "Day One" promises were going unfulfilled Monday, including plans to propose a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress and terminating Obama's executive actions deferring deportations for some people living in the U.S. illegally. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Trump intended to follow through on his proposals, though on a more extended timeframe to ensure maximum attention for each move. Yet he appeared to suggest that Trump would not move quickly or perhaps at all to reinstate deportations for young immigrants protected from deportation under the Obama administration. Spicer said Trump's focus would be on people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal records or who pose a threat. "That's where the priority's going to be, and then we're going to continue to work through the entire number of folks that are here illegally," he said. Spicer making his first appearance at the briefing room podium since his angry tirade against the press on Saturday also appeared to back away from Trump's assertion that he could move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While presidential candidates have long made similar pledges, all have abandoned the idea over concerns that following through would further inflame tensions in the volatile region. "We are at the early stages in this decision-making process," Spicer said of the possible embassy relocation. "If it was already a decision, then we wouldn't be going through a process." Spicer struck a far more conciliatory tone with reporters in Monday's briefing and attempted to make light of his weekend appearance, which included multiple inaccurate statements about the inauguration. He conceded that he was relying on incomplete information when he used public transportation figures to boast about the crowd size, but stood by his unverifiable claim that Trump's swearing-in was the most watched in history, counting internet views as well as TV. The crowd actually in attendance was clearly smaller than for Obama's 2009 inauguration, though Trump denied that fact. Monday was mostly a business day for Trump. The new president, who prefers to solicit opinions from numerous people before making decisions, huddled with corporate leaders, including Tesla's Elon Musk and Marillyn Hewson, and union heads. Eager to show off his new digs, Trump ended both meetings by bringing his guests in to see the Oval Office. In his discussions with executives, Trump warned that he would impose a "substantial border tax" on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States. He reiterated his campaign pledge to lower taxes for companies that stay in the U.S., as well as for the middle class, "anywhere from 15 to 25 percent," although he has not been clear on how he intends to make up for lost tax revenue. He said of his incentives for businesses, "All you have to do is stay." In the evening, Trump was hosting a White House reception for lawmakers from both parties and a separate private meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan to discuss Republicans' legislative priorities. As Trump pressed forward with executive actions, a legal watchdog group filed a lawsuit alleging he is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments. The liberal-funded watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics says the clause prohibits Trump from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or from foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings. Asked about the suit, Trump said it was "totally without merit." Later Monday, spokesman Spicer said Trump has left his businesses as promised, handing over control to his two adult sons. Shortly after Nov. 8, our readers began contacting us to find out how to reach lawmakers who represent them in the Statehouse and Congress. We promised to share that information as soon as new lawmakers, and at least two incumbents who represent our region who relocated to new Springfield quarters, were able to share them definitively with us. At this writing, we still were missing a few details. But given your interest in the legislative contacts list and with the Illinois Senate expected to vote any day on bills aimed at ending Illinois budget impasse, were providing you with what we have so far. When additional information becomes available, we will include it in the Where to Write box, which frequently appears in Viewpoints. Once again, were pleased so many of you are such prolific letter-writers -- to your newspaper and to your government leaders. The fact is that sharing your views pays off. By and large, your representatives DO pay attention to what you have to say when you say it, whether its by email, snail mail or by phone. Though weve included their Washington and Springfield addresses in the list below, were told constituents may get better results when they contact their lawmakers local and district offices. Sometimes, a phone call is better than a letter. However you choose to do so, here is how to contact your legislators: -- U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., 711 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, 202-224-2152; 1504 Third Ave., Suite 227, Rock Island, IL 61201; 309-786-5173; or visit durbin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact. -- U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., SD-G12 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510, 202-224-2854; 230 South Dearborn St., Suite 3900, Chicago, IL 60604, 312-886-3506; or visit duckworth.senate.gov/content/contact-senator. -- U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, 1009 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, 202-225-5905; 2401 4th Ave., Rock Island, IL 61201-8018; 309-786-3406; visit bustos.house.gov/contact/email-me. -- State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Rock Island, 1825 Avenue of the Cities, Suite 1, Moline, IL 61265, 309-736-7084; M103D State House, Springfield, IL 62706, 217-782-5957; visit senatorneilanderson.com/Contact.aspx. -- State Sen. Chuck Weaver, M103C State Capitol, Springfield, 62706; 217-782-1942; 5415 University St., Suite 105, Peoria, IL 61614; 309-693-4921; chuck@senweaver.com. -- State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, 242A-W Stratton Office Building, Springfield, IL 62706; 1504 3rd Ave., County Office Building, 2nd Floor, Rock Island, IL 61201; phone 309-558-3612; rephalpin@gmail.com -- State Rep. Dan Swanson, R-Alpha, Suite D, 536 Oxford Ave., Woodhull, IL 61490, 309-334-7474; 240-W Stratton Office Building, Springfield, IL 62706 swanson@ilhousegop.org. -- State Rep. Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, 9317B Illinois Route 84, Savanna, IL 61074; 815-632-7384; 205 A-N Stratton Office Building, Springfield, IL 62706; 217-782-3992; McCombie@ilhousegop.gov. DAVENPORT -- Marcus Anthony Brown, 27, was sentenced Monday by Chief District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to five years in prison after pleading guilty to felon in possession of a firearm, according to U.S. Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Mr. Brown also was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $100 to the Crime Victims Fund. On Sept. 9, 2016, an off-duty Davenport Police officer saw a fight in a parking lot where a man, later identified as Mr. Brown, fired two shots into the air from what appeared to be a handgun, according to court documents. As the officer approached, he saw Mr. Brown get in and out of a vehicle that left before back-up officers arrived, according to Mr. VanderSchel. Davenport Police were unable to find a firearm, but did find and seize several rounds of .380 caliber ammunition and Mr. Brown was arrested. Mr. Brown has two prior 2005 felony convictions. This case also was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Iowa. DAVENPORT Jacob Scott Watters, 24, of Davenport, was sentenced Monday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge John A. Jarvey to 20 years in prison for receipt of child pornography, according to U.S. Attorney Kevin E. VanderSchel. Mr. Watters was ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison term and to pay $100 to the Crime Victims Fund. Mr. Watters pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography on Aug. 25, 2016. According to the plea agreement, Davenport Police were notified Aug. 18 of a Merced County, Calif., investigation that concluded Mr. Watters was engaging in sexual chats and sending and receiving nude pictures with a 15-year-old female. An examination of electronic devices recovered from Mr. Watters home determined he was communicating with six other minor females, many of whom he was having sexual conversations with and exchanging pornographic pictures. At the time, Mr. Watters was a registered sex offender on state probation for lascivious acts with a minor. The case, investigated by Davenport Police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of Iowa as part of the Project Safe Childhood Initiative. Wishing a trooper would die at least four different ways got a Michigan man in trouble in Henry County Circuit Court. Judge Terry Patton on Monday found probable cause for charges against Auroahem Safar, 23, of West Bloomfield, Mich. He was charged Jan. 18 with felony aggravated intimidation of a peace officer and felony threatening a public official. Illinois State Trooper Andrew Scott testified he stopped Mr. Safar for no taillights at 1:30 a.m. Jan. 18. A motor carrier safety inspection found discrepancies in the driver's log book and Mr. Safar became upset, according to the trooper. Trooper Scott said Mr. Safar was warned if he called 911, as he threatened, he would be arrested. Mr. Safar persisted, later making threats against the trooper, including a wish the trooper would get a fatal disease and vows to beat him up, according to court documents. Mr. Safar is free on $5,000 bond posted Jan. 19. A Feb. 16 pretrial hearing is planned. CHICAGO (AP) Chicago Public Schools officials are considering putting all district school buildings under the management of private companies to handle pest control, snow removal and building repairs. But union leader for school building engineers Bill Iacullo predicts the change would waste money. He says Chicago is the only school district in Illinois that doesn't require a cost study before privatizing services. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the district has already made plans as to which schools would be managed by the two companies, Aramark and SodexoMAGIC. While few details have been publicized about the new plans, CPS wants to have the transition done by the summer of 2018. A decision to put the rest of CPS schools under the private companies could come as soon as Wednesday. More than 80 schools are part of a pilot program pairing them with either Aramark or SodexoMagic. ANNAWAN -- Claudia VanOpdorp, of Annawan, on Sunday was crowned the 2017 Illinois County Fair Queen at ceremonies in Springfield. Ms. VanOpdorp, 19, was selected from 72 contestants throughout the state. She is the daughter of Tony and Juliet VanOpdorp, of Annawan. "No words," Ms. VanOpdorp shared online following her selection. "This was one of the best weekends of my life, and I could not have enjoyed the time I got to spend with all 71 beautiful contestants from across the state more," she wrote. "Hanging on tight for the year of a lifetime." Current Rock Island County Fair Queen Emilee Livesay, the daughter of Rick and Tracy Livesay, of Geneseo, and Ron and Brandi Erickson, of Colona, was one of 15 finalists on Sunday during the annual convention of the Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs in Springfield. Ms. VanOpdorp will represent the association at numerous county fairs and be the officials hostess for the Illinois State Fair, from Aug. 10 to 20, in Springfield, and the DuQuoin State Fair, from Aug. 25 to Sept. 4, in the southern Illinois city of DuQuoin. Juliet VanOpdorp said her daughter may easily log more than 12,000 miles during her reign. "We are still a bit in shock and so proud of Claudia," her mother said. A 2016 Annawan High School graduate, Ms. VanOpdorp was named the Elks Association Teen of the Year last year and was one of four women to receive the inaugural Cancer Kickin' Scholarships from Gildas Club and CCKMA. Currently attending the University of Illinois majoring in pre-dental biology, she competed against 18 women to win the Henry County Fair Queen crown in June 2016. She was Little Miss Henry County Fair in 2004 and Junior Miss Henry County in 2010. Her mother was Henry County Fair Queen in 1988. Her win Sunday marked the third time in recent years that a local woman claimed the statewide honor. Amelia Martens, of Orion, won the honor in 2013 while serving as Miss Rock Island County Fair Queen. Jackie Driscoll, of Cambridge, serving as Henry County Fair Queen, won the crown in 2011. "A lot of credit goes to the (Henry County Fair Queen Pageant) director, Kelli Patton, for taking these girls under her wing and teaching them everything she needs, to help them be successful," Juliet VanOpdorp said. "She also has a great crew of past queens that put in a lot of time and effort as well. They definitely create special bonds that last a lifetime." Juliet VanOpdorp said Ms. Driscoll was Henry County Fair Queen when her daughter was the Junior Miss. Ms. Driscoll also was Henry County Junior Miss when her daughter won the Little Miss honors, she said. "(It's a) very special bond these two have," Juliet VanOpdorp said. "They have shared a lot of special memories together." The Illinois primary election for governor is more than a year away, but state Democrats want to start increasing the profiles of those considering making a run against incumbent Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. The Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association is conducting an online straw poll this week pitting nine potential candidates against each other. The voting, at the organization's website (ildcca.org), goes through midnight on Sunday. Results will be announced on Monday. The main purpose of the poll is to "raise awareness of who the (potential) candidates are," said Doug House, chairman of Rock Island County Democrats and also the statewide IDCCA. The list of nine names includes a write-in option. To avoid repeat voting, those taking the survey need to fill in first and last names, an email address and a Zip code. There are links to the poll from the RI County Democratic Central Committee website and Facebook page. "It's a straw poll; it's not a scientific poll," Mr. House said. "It's a list of people we've been in contact with who have expressed an interest in running." The list includes Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, who has said she is seriously considering running for governor. The only person on the list who has formally announced his intention to run is Chicago Alderman Ameya Pawar. He added that "by no means is this a definitive list," and there is an option in the poll for "other" with space to write in a name. However, the list includes names that have been the subject of speculation in news reports, and Mr. House said, "I do think our nominee is on this list." It's not too early for Democratic Party voters and activists to start researching and learning about potential candidates, he said, and choosing one for the straw poll is designed to do that. The timing rides on Democratic opposition enthusiasm generated by Friday's inauguration of Republican President Donald Trump, including Saturday's Women's Marches across the country. Since November, there has been tremendous energy and desire among the people to find a way to fight back," Mr. House said. "The IDCCA and its members across Illinois are prepared to play a leadership role in harnessing this enthusiasm and preparing it for our eventual nominee." Besides, Mr. House noted, Gov. Rauner has announced his intention to run again and has already seeded his campaign with $50 million of his own money. The Illinois primary will be held on March 20, 2018. The straw poll asks, "Who would you prefer as the Democratic candidate for Illinois Governor?" The nine names are presented in alphabetical order (with a write-in option at the end): ** State Sen. Daniel Biss, Evanston, 9th District ** U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, Moline, 17th District ** U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, Matteson, 2nd District ** Chris Kennedy, Chicago, businessman ** State Sen. Andy Manar, Bunker Hill, 48th District ** Ald. Ameya Pawar, Chicago's 47th ward ** J.B. Pritzker, Chicago, venture capitalist ** State Sen. Kwame Raoul, Chicago, 13th District ** Kurt Summers, Chicago city treasurer There is also a space for suggesting a candidate for lieutenant governor. WASHINGTON -- Two big and passionate crowds descended on Washington Friday -- one thrilled by Donald Trump's inauguration, the other appalled. Never in my lifetime has a new president been anticipated with such raw enthusiasm on one side and such fear and loathing on the other. Admit it, you have no idea what a Trump administration will actually be like. Neither does Trump, I would wager. He is a 70-year-old business executive and self-promoter extraordinaire whose lifelong working habit is to go to his office, see what opportunities the day presents, and then improvise. He is not going to change. Americans have elected as president a man who was caught on tape boasting of how he assaults women, kissing them and touching their genitals without invitation, and gets away with it because of his celebrity. It is fitting, then, that the biggest planned protest was Saturday's Women's March on Washington, with speakers such as Gloria Steinem and Angela Davis. A-listers such as Katy Perry attended. The star power at the inauguration was of much lower wattage. It's no surprise that a Republican president couldn't get Bruce Springsteen to serenade him, but Trump couldn't even get a Springsteen tribute band to perform. I feel like I've seen this movie before. This reminds me of the Nixon years, when the "silent majority" felt itself assailed by the counterculture of hippies, minorities and uppity women. This time, though, the Trump loyalists are a clear minority; he lost the popular vote and his approval rating is shockingly low for a new president. And the counterculture is now the mainstream: Some of those marching against Trump this weekend haven't taken to the streets since the days of Vietnam. There are differences between Trump and every one of his predecessors, however, making this truly a leap in the dark. Trump has no fixed ideology. Once a Democrat, he commandeered the Republican Party the way a bank robber might hijack the nearest car to make his getaway. The GOP is Trump's vehicle, not his cause, and there is a chance that some of his policies -- perhaps even in health care -- will give more heartburn to conservatives than to progressives. He has no experience in government, the military or any kind of public service. In his whole career, he has worked only for his father and himself. Now he has 320 million bosses, and each of us has the right to tell him what to do. I believe this will be a difficult concept for him to grasp. Trump lies all the time. All presidents have stretched the truth occasionally, of course, and some of them lied frequently and convincingly. But I cannot recall any other public figure, let alone any president, whose every utterance needed fact-checking the way Trump's words do. In "The Art of the Deal," Trump calls his rhetorical method "truthful hyperbole." But there is no such thing. The new president remains appallingly ignorant about much of the nation he will lead. He must have learned something on the campaign trail, but he seems unaware that most African-Americans are middle class, or that most Mexican immigrants are hardworking and law-abiding -- or, judging from his Cabinet picks, that most billionaires are as out-of-touch as he is. Trump's deep insecurity may be the most frightening thing of all. A leader has to be confident enough to let slights and insults pass; by being big, he makes his adversaries look small. Trump has a need to respond to any criticism with overkill -- and if you try to swat flies with a sledgehammer, a lot of furniture gets broken. When he is flailing away at someone like Rep. John Lewis, the civil rights icon, Trump risks only his dignity. But what happens if he feels dissed by someone like President Xi Jinping of China, or by Trump's Russian soul mate Vladimir Putin? The risk is to all of us, and it is incalculable. So I can't pretend this was a normal inauguration. Of course I celebrate the peaceful and orderly transfer of power, but I also hope that Saturday's protest march represents the start of something, not the culmination. President Trump's power is not unchecked. We, the citizens, are the ultimate authority. We must let him know, through our elected officials and with our own rude voices, when he threatens to go too far. Get ready. We have work to do. Dr. C. Gordon Greene, 85, of Le Mars, Iowa, went home to be with his Lord on Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, at Unity Point Health St. Lukes in Sioux City with his family by his side. Charles Gordon Greene was born Jan. 23, 1931, in Union, the son of Charles and Grace (Duff) Greene. He attended school in Plattsmouth, where he graduated from high school. Following high school, he attended Midland University in Fremont. While in college, he met his future wife, Donna Mae Krumel. After a year and a half in college, he enlisted in the United States Navy. While waiting to be deployed, he and Donna were united in marriage on Aug. 17, 1952, in Seattle. He was later deployed and served his country during the Korean War. Following his discharge, he used the GI Bill and returned to college at Kansas State University where he graduated with a degree in veterinary medicine. Gordon worked as a federal veterinarian for U.S.D.A., which involved living in several different communities. In 1967, they moved to Le Mars where they resided in the same home for over 50 years. Donna Mae passed away Sept. 11, 2012. Gordon and Donna were very committed to the First Baptist Church in Le Mars where they enjoyed the fellowship and their many friends. Gordon was also involved in public service, where he had served as the Plymouth County Sanitarian. He also had served on the Le Mars State Library Board, Le Mars City Council, and the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors. Gordon was an avid reader and during retirement years, he enjoyed traveling with his wife, woodworking, and spending a week in Minnesota with his whole family for 37 years. Survivors include: his three children and families, Cindy (Ned) Rohwedder of Olin, Iowa, and their children, Laura (Jake) Grovesnor, Rachel (Tim) Ahrendson, Grace (Chuck) Varnum, Ruth (Danny) Houston, and Ida (Miles) Weber, Mike (Deanna) Greene of Houston and their children, Fremont (Kimberly) Greene, Rachel (Robert) DeSonier, Amelia Greene, and Abby Greene, and Janice (Ed) Engelbretson of Sioux Falls, S.D., and their children, Marybeth, Clarence, and Charles Engelbreston; 14 great-grandchildren; a sister-in-law, Joan Greene of Flathead Lake, Mont.; a brother-in-law: Bill (Nancy) Krumel; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Grace Greene; his wife, Donna Mae Greene; his brother, Dr. John Greene; and a granddaughter, Faith Rohwedder. The funeral was Monday at First Baptist Church in Le Mars. The Rev. Jon Meredith officiated. Burial with military honors conducted by the Wasmer American Legion Post 241 was in Memorial Cemetery in Le Mars. Arrangements were with the Rexwinkel-Carlsen Funeral Home in Le Mars. Expressions of sympathy can be extended to the family through www.rexwinkelfh.com. The Mint 400 to Offer Premium Level VIP Food & Beverage Experience Deluxe Drinking and Dining Packages now available for The 2017 Polaris RZR Mint 400 presented by BFGoodrich TiresMarch 1-5 in Downtown Las Vegas & Primm, NV The Mint 400 has added a new layer of excitement for car & off-road enthusiasts for The 2017 Polaris RZR #Mint400 presented by BFGoodrich Tires taking place Wednesday, March 1 through Sunday, March 5. This year, The Mint 400 has partnered with Las Vegas-based festival production company, Production Theory, to provide an innovative food and beverage experience for the duration of the event. We want our racers, fans and VIPs to have the best food and beverage experience possible while watching The Great American Off-Road Race, said Matt Martelli, Mint 400 CEO. We already have the most spectator-friendly race in off-road. We enlisted Production Theory because they are food and beverage mavericks with a history of successful events in Las Vegas, including the Great Vegas Festival of Beer. The Martelli Brothers and their production arm Mad Media, have successfully grown The Mint 400 into the largest and most important off-road race in the world. The event attracts over 60,000 spectators to Las Vegas for the race and week long activities and features 350 teams competing on a 120-mile loop that extends from the edge of Las Vegas to the California-Nevada state line at Primm. With five massive spectator areas, The Mint 400 puts fans safely in front of high speed off-road racing action. Food and beverage experiences, available alone or in combination, include: Pit Crew Challenge VIP/Hospitality Contingency Lounge Race Day Sky Box All Access VIP/Hospitality All Access Want to go all in? All access includes VIP/Hospitality access and perks of:-Pit Crew Challenge -Contingency Lounge -Race Day Skybox Pit Crew Challenge Thursday, March 2nd-Free alcohol -Free food -Exclusive seating & viewing -Air conditioned restrooms -Charging Stations Contingency Lounge Friday, March 3rd-Free alcohol -Free food -Exclusive seating & stage viewing -Air conditioned restrooms -Charging Stations Race Day Sky Box Saturday, March 4th-Free alcohol -Free food -Panoramic views in Primm -Air conditioned restrooms -Charging Stations -Exclusive Parking in Primm -2017 Merchandise Package CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE & SEE THE FULL LIST OF VIP OFFERINGS Working with The Mint 400 and becoming a part of this amazing legacy is a tremendous opportunity to match the racing experience with an equally-exciting festival experience, said Brian Chapin, Production Theory CEO. We will work with The Mint team to introduce unique experiences that appeal to their core off-road racing following and attract Las Vegas locals, as well. Production Theory is the parent entity to Motley Brews, which has produced more than a dozen events in Las Vegas and Southern California, including Nevadas largest craft beer festival, Great Vegas Festival of Beer, now in its seventh year. Other signature Motley Brews events include Downtown Brew Festival in Las Vegas, Brew & Food Festival in San Diego and Pasadena Octoberfest. "These tournaments are about getting better and building into the big game, so we'd like to think that we'll see more improvement tomorrow," Gardiner said. 20 minutes ago The railway is to be built in four phases and will give the landlocked central African countries their first through rail link to the Indian Ocean. Tanzania is the latest African country to embark on building a new standard-gauge railway. A brand new standard-gauge line running parallel to the old colonial-era railway in Kenya is well-advanced, while a Chinese-built electrified line linking Djibouti with Addis Ababa in Ethiopia was opened in October. The 2190km line, which is part of the East African Railways Master Plan to link Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, will run from Dar es Salaam to the lake port of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, following roughly the same route as the metre-gauge Tanganyika Railway built by the German colonial authorities at the beginning of the 20th century. Known after Tanzanian independence as the Central Line, the railway has suffered from a lack of maintenance in recent decades, leaving the country without reliable rail transport between its lake ports and the sea. Construction of the new railway, currently known as the SGR, will be partly financed by a $US 7.6bn loan from Chinas Export-Import Bank (Exim) secured last July. The final section of the railway is to be built in four phases from the town of Morogoro, 200km west of Dar es Salaam, to Mwanza. Reli Assets Holding Company Limited (Rahco) has announced four tenders for the contract, with each successful bidder to construct a 336km section from Morogoro to Makutopora, a 294km section between Makutopora to Tabora - site of the current junction to Mwanza on the Central Line - followed by a 133km section from there to Isaka, and a final 294km line from Isaka to Mwanza. Isaka is the proposed junction for the standard gauge link to Kigali in Rwanda. Meanwhile, work on Kenyas 472km standard-gauge line from the port city of Mombasa to Nairobi is almost complete, with test trains due to run in early 2017. According to local news reports, 98% of the civil works on the Shillings 327bn ($US 3.2bn) line are complete, and officials expect the first passenger train to run in June. Like its Tanzanian counterpart, the new railway runs parallel to the original metre-gauge line built by British engineers at the end of the 19th century. That line, which runs to the port of Kisumu on Lake Victoria and on to Uganda, took millions of pounds, hundreds of lives and more than a decade to build against bitter opposition from politicians back home who dubbed it the lunatic line, a slur by which it is sometimes still known. Kenya Railways Corporation officials said the first units of the Chinese-built locomotive fleet were due to arrive in January after which test runs would commence. The line is built to a 25-tonne axleload and freight trains will run at between 80-100km/h, which will have a positive effect on transit times over the old line which is plagued by slow orders and deficient maintenance. A KRC official told Construction Business Review that it hopes to shift around 22m tonnes of freight a year over the new line. There are also plans to electrify the Mombasa - Nairobi link which officials estimate will cost around Shillings 49bn. The second phase of the project will see the standard gauge extended from Nairobi to Naivasha and eventually to Malaba for a future link-up with the planned standard-gauge railway from Uganda. Work has already started on the Shillings 153bn section to Naivasha. According to a report in Kenyas Daily Nation newspaper, however, it has not been easy going for the Chinese contractors. In August, workers downed tools at the Duka Moja construction camp west of Nairobi after they were allegedly assaulted by some 200 Maasai warriors. The most pressing short-term issue is the ongoing disruption to inter-island rail freight services caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake which struck the north east of the South Island on November 14. This severed the Picton - Christchurch line and led to the suspension of inter-island rail freight services. KiwiRail moves around a million tonnes of freight a year on the corridor, which links Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealands two largest cities and principal manufacturing and distribution centres. The exact cost and duration of the repairs is unknown with some suggestions that clearing the millions of cubic metres of slips caused by the earthquake could take up to 18 months. It is expected the government will pay for the cost of repairs along with damage to other infrastructure destroyed in the earthquake, which is now estimated at $NZ 3bn ($US 2.1bn). Faced with the prospect of losing key line-haul customers, KiwiRail has turned to coastal shipping to move containerised freight three times a week between Auckland and Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch. A potential problem with this alternative service is the possibility that coastal shipping may not be able to cope with the demands of time-sensitive freight and the sheer additional volume, especially as the only alternative road route between Picton and Christchurch is also cut. KiwiRail CEO Mr Peter Ready says customers need to be have reliable and timely deliveries of freight within 48 hours to avoid costly logistics problems. Utilising coastal shipping will incur additional costs for KiwiRail although in part these will be offset by the operational cost savings arising from not operating trains and reduced maintenance costs on the 320km Christchurch - Picton part of the rail network. Looking to the longer term, KiwiRail continues to face an uphill battle to maintain and enhance its competitive position with road hauliers, which account for more than 80% of all freight movement within New Zealand. The challenge is becoming all the more difficult as the national government continues with the biggest road-building programme in the countrys history. This will see more than $US 30bn pumped into enhancing and maintaining the highway network up until 2030. In contrast, KiwiRail continues to receive very limited funding from central government, totalling $NZ 190m in the 2016-17 financial year. In addition, future funding is not guaranteed while pressure mounts on KiwiRail to further reduce costs. While the overall reliability of the rail network and services has improved since KiwiRail was formed in 2008, there is still a huge backlog of maintenance work. Many large bridges and viaducts, such as those on the Midland coal route, will need major upgrading or replacement in the near future as they are now more than 100 years old. In addition to the ongoing maintenance issues, much of the network suffers from very tight curvature and steep gradients which makes offering competitive transit times with road transport very difficult. Some parts of the South Island Main Trunk line between Christchurch and Dunedin, for example, have had no alignment and gradient improvements since the route opened in 1878. Only part of the North Island Main Trunk Line, which was electrified between Palmerston North and Hamilton in the early 1980s, has been subject to any significant improvements. The effects of this are wide ranging and profound. Levels of rolling stock utlisation and overall operational efficiency are lower than they should be and KiwiRail lacks the ability to become more competitive in the profitable time-sensitive freight sector. Consequently, KiwiRails freight volumes are dominated by low-value bulk commodities such as coal, logs and containerised shipments of milk powder and other agriculture primary products hauled to ports from distribution and processing plants. KiwiRail is also unable to tap into the potentially lucrative domestic travel market between fast growing cities such as Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga in the upper North Island, which is dominated by the private car. Longer distance passenger services have been reduced to just two tourist-focused trains - the year-round Christchurch - Greymouth Tranz Alpine and the summer-only Northern Explorer operating between Auckland and Wellington three times a week. KiwiRail, and the government as its 100% shareholder, needs to address the railways huge infrastructure deficit in the coming years with sustained funding at much higher levels. This will allow the state-owned railway to reach its full potential both financially and in terms of making a much bigger contribution towards meeting the growing demand for the movement of freight and people around New Zealand. Founded in 1997 in the midst of the privatisation of the Brazil rail freight market, the company has gone through widespread structural changes in the past 18 months following a takeover of previous parent, Latin American Logistics (ALL), by Cosan Logistics subsidiary, Rumo Logistics. The acquisition brought to an end a long-running dispute between ALL and Cosan, a producer of bioethanol, sugar, energy and goods. Cosan had long complained about ALLs purported failure to invest in additional capacity to accommodate the increasing volumes of sugar that it was dispatching to Brazils ports, even taking the railway to court. The $US 3bn all-stock deal was agreed in February 2014, and was finally approved by Brazils anti-trust regulator Cade in February 2015 following assurances that the new company would continue to provide third-party access to Cosans two dry bulk terminals at Santos port. Rumo began work two months later. Bridging both sides of this change is Mr Julio Fontana, who previously served as president and CEO of ALL, and is now president and CEO of Rumo. Fontana says that since the takeover Rumo has been conducting a major renovation and expansion of its logistics network with a focus on improving safety for employees and communities along the railway, creating new jobs and driving Brazilian economic development. As soon as Cosan acquired ALL, we made two important decisions: invest in people and renew our assets to enable our employees at Rumo to work better, using the right tools, and to focus on safety, Fontana says. An example of this change was a programme to improve working conditions that was introduced shortly after the merger and designed to address one of our priorities: providing overnight accommodation for employees who are away from home. Throughout 2015, 40 lodging facilities for train operators were renovated and the administration of this accommodation was revamped. Over 7000 new knapsacks containing safety equipment, personal hygiene and mess kits were distributed. In addition, workshops and maintenance facilities have been reformed to improve safety and working conditions for personnel and to reduce our environmental impact. Projects like these are included in Rumos Reais 8.4bn ($US 2.52bn) investment programme, which Fontana says was revised at the start of 2016 and will run until 2020. It includes construction of new and expansion of existing freight yards, permanent way improvements, the acquisition of 170 new locomotives and 2307 new wagons, capacity improvements at the Rondonopolis terminal and improvements to access at the ports of Santos, Paranagua, and Sao Francisco. Rumo is primarily funding the programme through lines of credit from Brazils largest banks, including the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES), in addition to support from credit and export agencies. Fontana says the railway is awaiting approval for a request for Reais 3.5bn in credit support. In addition, a reprofiling process for part of obligations totalling Reais 2.9bn and maturing in 2016, 2017 and 2018, was recently completed. This provides greater liquidity for the company to execute its investment plan, he says. The company also received a capital increase of Reais 2.6bn on April 13 2016, which demonstrates to our shareholders our commitment to the long-term business plan. Since the merger, the railway has already acquired almost 1600 wagons and 109 locomotives, replacing many of its ageing C-30 units with new AC-44s, which has reduced diesel consumption by 20%. Rumo similarly invested Reais 1bn in the maintenance of and upgrades to permanent way totalling 700km between 2015 and September 2016, which includes track doubling of certain line sections. Fontana says the investment is already translating into contracts with new agribusiness customers. Indeed, the railway reported a 4.5% increase in volumes from 42.9 billion net-tonne km in 2014 to 44.9 billion in 2015 following significant improvements in operational efficiency. It has also increased throughput at the Rondonopolis terminal by 22% from 10.5 million tonnes to 12.8 million tonnes, and at the Port of Santos from 11.1 million to 11.7 million tonnes, an increase of 5.1%. In 2016, despite adverse market conditions for the production and export of soybeans and corn, Fontana says the company has achieved some important results. Rumo carried 4.2 million tonnes to the Port of Santos in the third quarter of 2016, an 11% increase year-on-year due to favourable conditions for sugar exports. The companys Ebitda for the first three quarter was Reais 1.7bn, an increase of 16% over the same period in 2015, while revenues rose to Reais 4bn during the same period. Grain harvest This momentum looks set to continue with the 2016-17 grain harvest, which accounts for 70% of Rumos total volumes, and currently looks very positive. With 92% of planting complete at the beginning of December, the indications are that soybeans volumes will grow by 7% and corn harvests by 28%. The state of Mato Groso alone is expected to report growth of 10% and 30% for both commodities respectively, with the state projecting that output in total will grow 9.6% from the previous year. In Parana, where Rumo also has extensive operations, the increase is projected at 11%. Fontana says the potential bonanza in available volumes will result in a big push from the railway to take advantage, and that following a Reais 600m investment in the corridor from the mid-west of Brazil to the Port of Santos via Oeste and Paulista networks, Rumo is well-placed. With the agribusiness confounding recent political and economic problems in Brazil, he feels that the railway is in a strong position to expand its market share in its existing core commodity markets in the long-term. There is also potential for possible expansion into transporting fertiliser, which is not currently carried by rail. By the end of the four-year investment programme, Fontana predicts that Rumos freight volumes will be heading towards an impressive 70 billion net-tonne-km annually and that Ebitda will reach Reais 4.6bn. According to data from the National Association of Rail Carriers (ANTF), only 35% of agricultural commodities are shipped to ports by rail, Fontana says. To get an idea, in 2015, of all the soybeans exported through ports, only 29% arrived by rail, in the case of soybean meal, only 36%, and cereals, almost 47%. While approximately 55% of sugar arrived by rail. These figures can be improved. Support ANTF predicts that Brazils private freight railways will invest Reais 15bn in improving the freight network up to 2020, and naturally Fontana supports the sectors capability to continue to invest. However, two decades since privatisation, Fontana feels that the concessions system now requires updating in order to stimulate the next round of investments. Since privatisation, the country has changed considerably, Fontana says. The agricultural corridor was established in the mid-west and the volume of grain using rail has increased significantly. However, the railways urgently need a new cycle of investment. The fastest and most effective way to do this is by bringing forward the renewal of contracts, thus providing current concessionaires with a guaranteed time horizon to amortize large volumes of investments. For Rumo in particular, it is targeting a 30-year renewal of its Paulista concession, which covers 2039km and is due to expire in 2028. Fontana says the search is now on for adequate legal instruments that will both accelerate the contract renewal process and provide legal certainty for the federal government and the rail companies. It is a complex administrative process, which involves both technical and economic elements, he says. These points are being worked on in a partnership between the government and the concessionaire. He adds that in response to the interim-governments recently-announced reforms, which will see concessionaire operators consulted over new line construction, he favours any initiative that creates the conditions for a more transparent and secure business environment for the private sector. This perhaps was not the case in recent government attempts to introduce open-access operation on Brazils rail freight network, which was met with hostility by the operators, and ultimately dumped due to the difficulties with implementation. For Fontana, the governments main contribution now is to bring the process of renewing the concessions to a successful conclusion. As its investment programme has already shown, and will continue to demonstrate in 2017, Rumo is doing all it can to increase its attractiveness to customers and achieve its ambitious targets. By providing further long-term stability across the remainder of the network, he believes this will offer the railway the best possible opportunity to lead and implement further improvements to the network, to the benefit of all concerned. In practical terms this will mean larger export volumes, lower shipping rates for exporters, fewer trucks on the highway and significant gains for the environment, he says. Logistics in Brazil will directly benefit from the investments made by Rumo. The 5.5km nine-station double-track line will connect Lund Central station with Science Village, serving employment centres and research institutions in the northeast of city. The budget for infrastructure is SKr 776m ($US 87.8m) with a further SKr 175m for rolling stock and SKr 180m for the line's depot. Last year Skanska Sweden was awarded a contract to design and build the lines infrastructure. Services will be operated by a fleet of seven 30m-long low-floor LRVs which will be 2.65m wide and capable of accommodating up to 130 passengers (at 2 passengers m2). The project is due to be completed by 2019 and extensions to Dalby and Staffanstorp are proposed in the longer-term. For detailed data on hundreds of new-build rail projects around the globe, subscribe to IRJ Pro. The GreenZenTag project involves mounting 10 micro sensors on the roofs of trams which measure and geotag air pollution levels, transmitting the data in real time. Every day between mid-December and mid-February the sensors will perform 6000 measurements of fine particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) on Line A between Fontaine and Echirolles. This data will complement measurements already being taken by Atmo Auvergne-Rhone Alpes, the organisation responsible for monitoring the regions air quality. The two-month data collection phase will be followed by two months of analysis. If successful, the system could be permanently integrated into the citys air pollution monitoring infrastructure and a smartphone app showing pollution levels could also be rolled out. The monitoring tool has been developed by the Agglomeration of Grenoble Laboratory of Mobility Research (Lemon) with the support of French startups EcoLogicSense and Zenbus as well as Egis Environment Atmo Auvergne-Rhone Alpes. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK The unusually wet winter now hitting San Diego County and California could bring a sight thats been witnessed only twice in the past 13 years - water cascading over the Lake Hodges dam. If the weather pattern we have continues through February, in all likelihood Lake Hodges will fill and spill this spring, said Mike Bardin, general manager of the Santa Fe Irrigation District, which supplies water to Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach and Fairbanks Ranch. As of Jan. 9, Hodges stood at 41.9 percent of its capacity of 30,632 acre-feet (an acre-foot is equal to 325,000 gallons). That total did not include rainfall from the most recent series of storms that hit San Diego County beginning on Thursday, Jan. 19. According to Bardin, the major significant spill at Lake Hodges occurred in 2004, although a smaller spill took place in 2011. Such spillovers became rare in recent years during the California drought, when the water level at Hodges dropped dramatically. This year, precipitation totals both locally and in Northern California, where a significant snowpack means increased water supplies for the state, are above normal. Precipitation is also up in the Colorado River Basin, which along with Northern California is a major water source for Southern California. Both major imported supply sources are looking great, Bardin told the Santa Fe Irrigation District Board of Directors at its Thursday, Jan. 19, meeting. Since Santa Fe owns a share of the water captured in Lake Hodges, local rainfall means a greater supply of cheaper, local water for the district and its customers. In recent years, the supply of local water has been limited. Bardin told the board that if Hodges spills over this spring, Santa Fe would look to sell the excess water to the San Diego County Water Authority. In the past, such an option was not available because Lake Hodges was a stand-alone reservoir. But in the early 2000s, Hodges was hooked up to the San Diego County water aqueduct, Bardin said. Bardin said he and his staff are negotiating with the County Water Authority on a price for Santa Fes excess water if the Hodges dam does spill over. That agreement could come back to the board for consideration at an upcoming meeting. Theres a potential we can make money if Hodges spills over, he said. But he cautioned the board there are potential hurdles to such a deal, he said. For one thing, the water quality at Hodges differs from that in the aqueduct, and that difference would have to be dealt with. Also, he said, the aqueducts normal flow would have to be shut down to accommodate the transfer. Another factor is the water authority must have capacity in its reservoir system to store the overflow water it purchases. Moving water out of the lake is going to be extremely difficult, he said. But the district is working with the water authority to finalize a deal so that such a sale could possibly go forward when and if the dam spills over. The alternative is that the spilled water would simply be wasted, flowing into San Dieguito Creek, which was dammed in 1918 to create the reservoir. According to the National Weather Service office in San Diego, as of Saturday, Jan. 21, Lindbergh Field had recorded 7.29 inches of rain since Oct. 1, when the current rainfall season began. That is 163 percent of the historic average rainfall for that period of time. Ramona Airport had recorded 11.95 inches, or 179 percent of normal for the period. As President Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader to appear at the annual gathering of the World Economic Forum, he gave a keynote speech that defended global trade and criticized protectionism. It was a moment ripe with ironic overtones. Xi, the leader of an ostensibly communist nation, championed global free trade, while Donald Trump, the new leader of the world's most powerful free-market economy, has proposed protectionist measures to defend embattled industries. Another irony: Xi's praise of the virtues of open trade contrasted sharply with his country's own increasingly hostile treatment of foreign companies. Xi's appearance Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, coincided with an especially critical moment in the history of the summit. Political leaders, corporate executives and intellectuals have attended the World Economic Forum since 1971 to promote the cause of progressive globalization. Yet the vision of an increasingly interconnected, diverse, integrated and prosperous world has recently stumbled. In the industrial West, stagnant living standards for the middle and working classes have fueled the rise of populist leaders deeply skeptical of the benefits of globalization. The World Economic Forum's global risks report acknowledges the risks of rising income and wealth disparity and the increasing polarization of societies. Addressing these anxieties, President Xi admitted that many now regard globalization as the opening of Pandora's box. But he argued in favor of more, not less, trade and for more global movement of people and capital. He warned nobody wins a trade war and called impossible any attempt to cut off flows of capital, technologies, products, industries and people between economies. His speech reflected, in part, the reality that China has profited enormously from decades of globalization, averaging about 10 percent annual gross domestic product growth between 1989 and 2016. Xi's ascent to the world stage at Davos also underscored the fact that China is taking a stronger interest in issues of global governance. At various venues, Chinese leaders have reiterated calls for reform to the current international order. The vision outlined by authorities in many ways demonstrates considerable continuity with existing arrangements. Yang Jiechi, a Chinese state councilor, has explained that China seeks to reform the global economic governance system through the Group of 20, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the World Economic Forum in Davos and other platforms. Xi's ascent at Davos underscored China's stronger interest in issues of global governance. However, China's approach also includes new points of emphasis, some of which could prove complementary to existing, western-led efforts. For example, Chinese leaders have proposed major spending initiatives that could expand the pool of consumers and facilitate trade opportunities for all countries. In the lead-up to Davos, China's official media heavily promoted the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which authorities hope will create a sustainable market for world exporters in the Asia-Pacific. Similarly, China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has been viewed as a rival to the U.S. and Japan's Asia Development Bank, but the two banks signed a memorandum of cooperation in 2016 for joint investments in major infrastructure, energy and telecommunications projects. Other Chinese economic initiatives compete more directly with those led by the United States and could aggravate tensions. Both countries have advanced competing regional trade agreements, for example. China backs the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, while the U.S. supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose status appears stalled for now. And the competition to shape standards and norms in the higher-end technology market is already intensifying. Some Chinese economic initiatives compete more directly with U.S.-led ones and could aggravate tensions. Nor is Chinese interest in global governance limited to the economic domain. The ideal of community of common destiny frequently invoked by Chinese leaders entails, after all, the idea of two wheels of economic and security cooperation that move together. As with economics, China's approach to reforming the security order carries elements of continuity and change. On the one hand, authorities have consistently upheld the importance of the United Nations, in which China retains a veto power. At the same time, Beijing has proposed revisions to existing security arrangements in Asia. Last week, China released its first white paper on Asia Pacific security, in which it argued against the types of alliances upheld by the United States and for the unaligned security arrangements favored by Beijing. By advocating for reforms to economic and security global governance, Beijing seeks to shape the terms of collaboration with established powers as it pursues steadier economic growth. But the same trends that fueled China's rise have weakened the international consensus over basic norms, intensified interstate competition and exacerbated problems of inequality in most countries, including China. Finding ways to enhance international collaboration while addressing the demands of frustrated citizens will continue to challenge even the most skilled of politicians. Speeches that praise the merits of globalization, as Xi's did, may earn enthusiastic applause among the globe-trotting elites at Davos, but far more will be required to win over the embittered masses who see little to be gained from following such a path. Timothy R. Heath is a senior international defense research analyst at the nonpartisan, nonprofit RAND Corporation. He is the author of China's New Governing Party Paradigm: Political Renewal and the Pursuit of National Rejuvenation (Ashgate, 2014). This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on January 20, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. As part of its new content strategy, Mexicos TV Azteca has met with major UK production houses. Through an event hosted by the international trade office of the British Embassy in Mexico, Benjamin Salinas, CEO of TV Azteca, and other executives met with representatives from BBC Worldwide, K7 Media, Small World IFT, Visible Ink, Mallinson Sadler Productions, Fremantle and the UKs Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television.The main goal of the meeting was to study possible content agreements for Mexicos linear channels (both pay-TV and free-to-air) such as Azteca Trece, Azteca 7, Proyecto 40, AZ TV de Paga and Azteca America.TV Azteca acknowledges the talent of British film-makers and producers and their great influence over cinema and television industries thanks to successful formats like The Office, Wallace and Gromit, The Thick of It and The Queen, stated the Grupo Salinas-owned network According to the Mexican media group, the meeting, hosted by the UKs ambassador Duncan Taylor, will also further the commercial relationship between both countries.Since the beginning of 2016, TV Azteca has been focusing on revamping its content business , looking to modernise its own production units and its channel line-ups. The company, which had previously participated in telecom projects outside Mexico, has decided to refocus on its original market where it has identified its greatest business opportunities. Ajit Pai, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, has been named chair of the regulator. Best-known for his opposition to net neutrality regulation, support for mega-mergers, and opposition to data-privacy regulation for ISPs, Pai is a Washington attorney with experience at the Senate, at the Justice Department and the FCC, and worked for Verizon before becoming an FCC commissioner in 2012. He is also a champion of expanding broadband in rural communities.The long-rumoured promotion was confirmed on 23 January and Pai said that he looked forward to working with the new Administration, my colleagues at the Commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans. There is so much we can do together to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans and to promote innovation and investment. From broadband to broadcast, I believe in a 21st-century version of Jefferson's Second Inaugural: we are all Republicans, we are all Democrats.Pai replaces Tom Wheeler, under whom the FCC moved to reclassify broadband as a public utility. Democratic commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel will be leaving at the end of the year, leaving Mignon Clyburn as the only Democrat on the commission.Working with his fellow Republican FCC commissioner Mike O'Rielly, Pai hasindicated plans to revisit internet regulation. In March 2015, the FCC voted in a 3-2 vote along party lines to reclassify broadband as a public utility the result of a rocky year at the USs top regulator. In January 2014, Verizon won its challenge of the Open Internet Order in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Verizon argued that the FCC lacked the authority to enforce net neutrality because, it claimed, Congress did not grant the agency the ability to do so. And that's because broadband is not classified as a public utility, the way telecoms are.After a series of legal challenges, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in June of this year broadly upheld the FCCs reclassification of broadband as a Title II service. Justices Tatel and Srinivasan, writing for the majority, affirmed the FCCs broad discretion to reclassify wired broadband service as a telecommunications service, and found that none of the challenges raised to FCC authority had merit. Moscow court sets date for Roscosmos vs Khrunichev Space Center $36.7 mln case MOSCOW, January 24 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court set the preliminary hearings on a lawsuit Roscosmos had filed against Khrunichev Space Research Center seeking recovery of 2.2 billion rubles ($36.7 million) for March 15, RAPSI was told by a court representative on Tuesday. The court records show that yet another Roscosmos claim against Khrunichev amounting to 33.6 million rubles (about $560,000 at the current exchange rate) is pending. In January 2016, Roscosmos filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Commercial Court demanding 3.2 billion rubles (about $54 mln) from the Khrunichev Space Center which is responsible for the development of Proton and Angara space rockets. In November, parties claimed that they may settle the dispute. Last September, the Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow gave former Khrunichev Centers Deputy Director General in charge of Economics Alexander Ostroverkh a five-year suspended sentence for embezzling 285 million rubles ($4.5 million). Ostroverkh admitted his guilt in full and cooperated with investigators, so he was the first person sentenced in this case. In December 2016, the Dorogomilovsky District Court of Moscow began hearings in a criminal case against other high-ranking managers of the center over embezzlement of 360 million rubles (about $6 mln). Vladimir Nesterov, former director general of the space center, was charged in this case. Investigators believe that Nesterov created a criminal group to embezzle government funds from the center in 2007. It included Mikhail Yakushin, the centers chief accountant, Dmitry Dyakonov, head of the Ekopravo economic and legal consultancy, and several other unidentified persons. The Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center is one of the country's leading space enterprises. Currently the research centers main priority is construction of Proton and Angara space rockets. In 2014, it was revealed that enterprise faced financial troubles. As I joined my congressional colleagues for the opening session of the new 115th Congress, one frequent topic was how we could quickly restore good jobs and stronger economic growth. A great start would be to lift the regulatory burden off American industries. If President Obama succeeded at little else, he was the undisputed champion of overregulation. In a little over two months since the Presidential election on November 8, his administration issued 145 regulations, with 31 of those having an economic impact of $100 million or more, totaling $16.4 billion in final rules. One of those economically significant regulations was the stream rule, a 1,600-page behemoth from the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM). Unfortunately, the stream rule will impose duplicative and wholly unnecessary restrictions on coal mining that will be especially costly for North Dakota. The western half of our state has an 800-year supply of lignite coal, an abundant energy source generating reliable and affordable electricity. Our lignite industry supports 4,000 direct and 11,500 indirect well-paying jobs, the kind of jobs that rated a top priority among voters in the November election. Somehow OSM was not paying attention to the election results. Independent studies of the stream rules impact on 36 mining operations showed this regulation alone could cost at least 42,000 direct coal jobs and up to 75,000 additional jobs in coals supply chain from the power plants and railroads to the ports. For example, BNI Coal Co. estimated the stream rule would strand half of the companys coal at its Center Mine, northwest of Bismarck. Mining isnt the only victim of this overreach. Because miners will be forbidden from operating in much of the Prairie Pothole region of our state, where seasonable streams are intermittent, they wont be able to provide saline-free topsoil to farmers and wildlife. The rule impairs mining operators from working with farmers to improve land by prohibiting mining operators from removing toxic saline seeps. North Dakotans will accept responsible regulations that create significant environmental improvements at reasonable costs. But OSM offers no environmental benefits beyond those already in place. Thats because the stream rule is a grab bag of costly but unnecessary restrictions that duplicates coal mining oversight already conducted by state agencies and other federal agencies. Once again we see the familiar sign of a federal agency trying to muscle in on an effective state program. Our state mining agency performs coal reclamation extremely well. In a recent report OSM itself acknowledged that North Dakota has an effective program with no issues. In fact, OSM found strong compliance with coal reclamation requirements in states that manage 97 percent of the nations coal. Maybe that explains why OSM failed to consult with state agencies in the development of a rule it knew would be opposed as unnecessary. Fortunately, we have the means to stop this rule. With a simple majority vote in each House, Congress can pass a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) with the president-elects support. That would void the stream rule and begin to reassert congressional authority over rogue regulators that under the past administration have formed a virtual fourth branch of government. Prompt congressional action would also show we hear the concerns of voters. They would rather we defend 100,000 jobs than more job-killing regulations. If anything has emerged in the time since Donald Trumps election it is the near total absence of any kind of pattern to his decisions or acts as president-elect. In the words of analyst Mira Rapp-Hooper, Trump seems to have a nearly doctrinal devotion to unpredictability. To gaze into the crystal ball of his presidency is to glimpse a veritable whirlpool of populism, nativism, nationalism, conservatism and realism. Thats quite a brew. Because this state of play is likely to continue as the new administration settles into the process of governing, there is all the more reason for Australia to approach its relationship with the US with a good deal of caution and prudence. Over the next four years, politicians and policymakers in Canberra may also have to step up to the plate and challenge US policies that run counter to the Australian national interest. Since the publication of my Lowy paper, Fighting with America, Trumps decision to accept a telephone call from the Taiwanese president has only confirmed the need for Australia to remain watchful. We dont know if this represents a seismic shift in US China policy, a classic Trump transactional play, or simply a reflection of his naivety about the outside world. What it does confirm is his propensity for the reckless and the impulsive. The responses to my paper agree that the relationship with Washington will be harder to manage in the near term, and further that Trump represents what Nick Bryant calls a unique stress test for the Australia-US alliance. Nevertheless, there are some important points of difference. Hugh White is right to eschew the limits of the bilateral lens and place the alliance in its global context. All of the best scholarship on the US-Australia relationship in recent years has indeed done just that. True enough, since the 1970s governments of both persuasions have had fewer hard choices to make when it came to supporting the US in the world. But this was also because Labor and Liberal leaders were as one on the goal of comprehensive engagement with Asia. The lack of hard choices was as much to do with the fact that prime ministers from Whitlam to Keating did not invest the US alliance with any kind of substantial content or meaning during that era as it was within the changing contours of American foreign policy. Hugh surely cannot underplay, however, the significance of the Howard transition in 1996. That leaders particular view of Australian history, culture and identity has far more compelling explanatory power than any post-Cold War context in understanding his desire to reinvigorate the alliance. There was an intensity to that move that cannot be attributed to international circumstances. As I explain in the essay, when he came to office Howard took the view that his predecessors push into Asia had come at the expense of the American connection. This was no Holt-like All the way with LBJ reflex, but Howard was determined to correct what he saw as an imbalance in the Australian global outlook; convinced, too, that such an approach would pay handsome domestic political dividends. The Americans did not request this reinvigoration of the alliance in 1996: it was driven entirely from the Australian side. And as Allan Gyngell notes, during this period a capital A came to be affixed to the Alliance. More contentious, however, is the near absolute confidence that Hugh, (and Paul Keating for that matter), bring to their predictions about Chinese intentions and American regional staying power. Notwithstanding developments in the South China Sea, where Beijing continues to aggressively define its sphere of influence, there remains a great deal of uncertainty about Chinas rise. For one, the fiscal shine of its economic ascent is not quite as gleaming as in years past. And, as I stressed in the essay, China has yet to be tested by the boom and bust cycle: this, after all, is a country which has not endured a serious recession since its embrace of market capitalism. Along with its significant internal demographic and environmental challenges, there is every reason to view with a measure of scepticism the claims that the relentless progression from economic giant to regional strategic hegemon is assured. Recently, a continued decline in the renminbi has seen Chinese financial regulators introduce new rules in an effort to stem the flow of capital out of the country. Meanwhile in the US, Federal Reserve officials expect faster economic growth in the US over the next few years, but have stopped short of predicting the kind of boom that Trump says will result from his policies. Still, even a slow and steady American economic revival may become starker over the next decade as some Asian economies, with the exception perhaps of India, record slower rates of growth. Hugh argues too that we may also see a gradual withdrawal of the US from Asia, or that the US may be stepping back from us. But what is the evidence for these claims? Just before the US election, two key Trump advisers wrote an article in Foreign Policy that pushed a strong pro-US leadership line in Asia. Thats hardly a sign of coming retrenchment. Writing around the same time in the FT, Jamil Anderlin also pointed out that Chinas magnetic economic force is losing some of its pull in ASEAN countries. Moreover, he pointed to the deep and enduring military ties that the Malaysians and the Thais, for example, continue to have with the US, concluding that no one is cutting ties with America. Even Duterte, for all his pungent rhetoric of separation, has still not cut one bilateral agreement with the US. The perception, Anderlin added, of a triumphant China imposing its will on ASEAN is premature if not totally misguided. In the essay I also made the claim that in the event of a conflict between the US and China over Taiwan, the historical currents coursing through the countrys strategic bloodstream would point to Australia siding with Washington. Of course, I did not go into the myriad complications and complexities not to mention circumstances involved in any such crisis, and how they would ultimately affect Australias decision. The point here is that if Beijing provoked a conflict, it would be very difficult to see either a Liberal or Labor government refusing some kind of support to the US. But are Hugh White and Paul Keating saying that even if China sparks a crisis Australia should stay out? The real issue here, too, is whether or not Australia can say no given the extraordinary integration of Australian and US military forces. Mike Greens response rightly underlined that alliances are typically characterised by divergence and disagreement. He argued that Australia had won a lot of these fights in the past, and that Canberra had succeeded, for example, in pressing America into Vietnam in 1965 and Iraq in 2003. Neither instance, however, stands particularly tall in the annals of Australian foreign policy. In both cases, Australia might have adopted a different view of its responsibilities as an ally and advised its great protector not to compound the folly of such adventures. But Greens suggestion of Australia playing a role in bringing cohesion back to American foreign policy at its current time of drift is tantalising. This would, however, require a sea change in how Washington thinks about Australia and some kind of mechanism to do so. As I showed in the essay, the view held in the White House and elsewhere that you can always rely on Australia is not a recipe for being taken seriously. Whatever the means by this alteration in perception is achieved, there needs to be a wider, more systematic means of exchange perhaps drawing on a broader range of officials, experts and analysts than is currently the case. It cannot all be left to the annual AUSMIN meetings. Or, for that matter, to the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue. So there is a need for Australia to be a more critical and more discerning ally, and one that is not afraid to push back against a Trump administration that may well ride roughshod over some of the values that are so often invoked as the cornerstone of the Australia-US relationship. As I have argued elsewhere, this is even more reason to approach the new president one step at a time. Think of culture, of literature, music, philosophy, the fine arts, and it means thinking of Europe. The idea of culture, of intelligence, of great works, wrote the French poet and essayist Paul Valery in 1919, has for us a very ancient connection with the idea of Europe. In an anthropological sense, of course, all peoples possess culture. But high culture -- as conceived of by most people -- continues to be essentially European. The notion that there is an essentially European culture, and that culture distinguishes Europe from the rest of the world, is very much alive. This idea, which Valery thought very ancient even in 1919, animates political discussion all over Europe today. The idea of a coherent European culture is actually quite new. Scattered uses of the phrase appeared in the 19th century, but it was only in the 1920s and 30s that the idea came of age. Those decades saw an unprecedented burst of attention for the idea of Europe, in which the ages leading liberal intellectuals developed a compelling vision of the continents purportedly shared cultural identity. Influentially, Valery cast Europe as a shared, intangible inheritance, rooted in a desire for understanding and exchange among its nations. He thought this shared desire had produced a European spirit. For the Austrian playwright and librettist Stefan Zweig, non-material values defined Europe. Zweig thought Europe expressed its defining quality through cultural exchanges in the supranational realm of humanism. In 1932, bourgeois intellectuals across Western Europe celebrated the centenary of the death of the great German poet and polymath Goethe by casting him as the very model of European culture. Goethe was the embodiment of their ideal of Europe: cosmopolitan and sophisticated, curious and creative, committed to the highest humane, Christian and Enlightenment values. For all of its optimistic rhetoric, it was fear that birthed this vision of European culture. The First World War, and the economic and political chaos that followed, led to a new call for European unity. By coming together politically and economically, supporters insisted, Europeans could avoid another catastrophic war and defend their primacy in the world. For Europes bourgeois intelligentsia, European unity presented an essentially moral or spiritual problem. The Great War had included a searing propaganda battle, in which French and British intellectuals cast out a barbarian Germany from the community of civilised nations. Germanys cultural elite responded by embracing the specificity of Germanys virtuous Kultur against a supposedly decadent and vacuous West. As the German sociologist Georg Simmel declared in 1917: The spiritual entity that we called Europe has been destroyed and it is unlikely to be rebuilt. On a global level, the rise of non-European powers also undermined the European identity of the continents elites. This identity had included a deep yet relaxed confidence in Europes global superiority. After the First World War, that confidence was harder to feel. The decisive role of the United States in ending the war -- and the growing power of Hollywood movies and jazz music since then -- had brought a new cultural juggernaut onto the world stage. To the east, the Russian revolution had installed a mighty ideological challenge to bourgeois European culture, one with threatening appeal among Europes masses. Perhaps, it seemed, Europes fractured elites no longer controlled the continents destiny nor its peoples tastes. Feeling pinched between the US and Hollywood to the west, and Soviet communism to the east, some intellectuals set out to define and distinguish Europe, revising that old idea for a new and threatening age. Continental intellectuals had defined Europe by contrasting it to various others for a long time. But by seeking to identify a distinctive European character against the US and the USSR, the continents newly ascendant geopolitical rivals, that process of defining Europe underwent an important transformation. Earlier generations had found Europes distinguishing feature in its Christianity. For centuries, what we call Europe (the word was rarely used) was more often called Christendom. Christendom referred to a physical and spiritual space contrasted to that of the Muslim Turk. In the 18th-century Enlightenment, European elites began to highlight Europes distinction through the concept of civilisation. Based on pride in western science, reason and technology, this vision of Europe as the seat of civilisation, the epitome of human progress, flourished in the 19th century. Europe grew into a shorthand for the continents claims to be the birthplace of universal values, expressed in science and technology, law and administration. The evident superiority of these values seemed to find confirmation in the ascendancy of Europe on the world political stage and in the European powers vast colonial empires. By the 1920s and 30s, however, even those who were still openly racist about non-Europeans could no longer claim that civilisation was unique to Europe. The war proved that although modern civilisation, in the sense of technological progress, might have been born in Europe, the US and the USSR had advanced in these fields at least as far as the old world. European intellectuals optimism about technology was in any case shaken by the war. Clearly this frightening shift of power meant that civilisation as scientific and technological superiority alone could no longer vouchsafe Europes special place in the world. However, the continents intellectuals were not ready to give up their European exceptionalism. Their attachment to European distinctiveness led to an embrace and celebration of something else, something almost ineffable, that neither the US nor the USSR could ever claim: that was European culture. European culture, in contrast to crass American and Soviet materialism, was idealist and anti-materialist, defined especially by literature and the arts. Among Europes 19th-century bourgeoisie, the fine arts had enjoyed a semi-religious status, and were a logical place for intellectuals to seek refuge for their exceptionalism. Marking itself off from the new societies of the US and the USSR, this European high culture traced its beginnings to ancient Greece and Rome. In doing so, it projected Europe back to ages when the word was rarely used and meant little. Europe in this way came to signify especially refined aestheticism and high culture. Its always been somewhat confusing. If Europe has a culture, is there a European nation? Are the cultures of Finland or Poland as European as the cultures of, say, France or Germany? Who gets to decide which works of art are representative of European culture? Must the continent be homogenised to foster a unified European culture? Wasnt this fine arts and high culture vision of Europe socially elitist and politically conservative? Some of these questions are again relevant today, amid the newly intense conflict between Europeanist and nationalist visions of what Europe and its culture (or cultures) really are. To answer them, it helps to remember that ancient verities are few. The old world is defined by relatively new ideas. This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons. Gerald M. Feierstein was U.S. ambassador to Yemen under President Barack Obama from 2010 to 2013. He is currently director of the Center for Gulf Affairs for the Middle East Institute. This piece is part of a special RCW series on Americas role in the world during the Trump administration. The views expressed are the authors own. Like many capitals around the world, Riyadh is waiting anxiously to understand more about the direction the Trump administration intends to take on Mideast policy. The Saudis undoubtedly welcomed the departure of President Barack Obama, who they increasingly viewed as a source of constant disappointment and frustration, as much as they will welcome the advent of new leadership in Washington. On Nov. 9, King Salman sent a warm message congratulating Trump and wishing him every success in your missions to achieve security and stability in the Middle East region and the world as a whole. There is certainly some reason for the Saudis to believe that there will be a greater congruity of interests between the United States and Saudi Arabia with the new administration, based on the statements that the new president made on the campaign trail. The Saudis will undoubtedly welcome a U.S. regional posture that confronts Iranian bad behavior more aggressively, as the Kingdom is unwilling to allow the thaw in U.S.-Iran relations during Obamas tenure to color its determination to challenge Tehrans hegemonic ambitions. At the same time, they will watch carefully to ensure that a more robust U.S. posture vis-a-vis an aggrandizing Iran does not translate into a conflict that could become uncontrollable and substantially undermine security and stability in the region. Although not speaking officially for the government of Saudi Arabia, Prince Turki al-Faisal likely reflects official Saudi views when he advocates against abandoning the Iran nuclear agreement. Trump and the Sunni Powers Despite recent differences between Saudi Arabia and Egypt over regional policies, the Saudis will also take some comfort from signals that the Trump administration is likely to set aside concerns about Egyptian domestic policies and embrace the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi more wholeheartedly. The Saudis will see a willingness in Washington to focus on the pursuit of common interests in the fight against violent extremism and global terrorism while deprioritizing issues of democratization, human rights, and civil liberties as an approach that will reduce friction with the new administration and allow for greater cooperation not only bilaterally but more broadly between the United States and the Sunni Arab world. Despite the positive elements of President Trumps limited comments on foreign policy issues while campaigning, there are also aspects of the new administrations pronouncements that could create problems for the Saudis. The Kingdom will probably not see the prospect of a closer U.S.-Russian arrangement in the Middle East as purely negative. But they will be concerned if that greater cooperation undercuts the moderate Syrian opposition and undermines the prospect of regime change in Damascus. The Saudis will interpret the long-term survival of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria as a gift to Tehran, strengthening Irans hand in the region and reinforcing Iranian encirclement of the Arabian Peninsula. As a presidential candidate, Trump also oddly echoed President Obamas misinformed assertions that the Saudis were not shouldering a fair burden of responsibility for their defense, demanding that the Saudis pay billions for U.S. security guarantees. However, Saudi Arabias defense budget is in fact the third highest in the world, trailing only the United States and China, and Riyadh spends a greater percentage of its gross domestic product on the purchase of defense goods and services than even the United States. The Saudis will be at pains early on to explain their defense posture to the new administration, however with the confirmation last week of Gen. James Mattis as defense secretary, they will at the very least have an interlocutor at the Pentagon who understands the reality of U.S.-Saudi defense cooperation in detail. Riyadh and Radicalism Troubling, too, have been the assertions by several in the Trump camp that equate Saudi Arabias Salafi religious sect with Islamic extremism and with terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The Saudis have thus far declined to meddle in issues related to Muslims and Islam in the United States, and they will hope that these issues will fade from the new Trump administrations lexicon as the focus shifts from campaigning to governing. But that silence will be short-lived should campaign rhetoric translate into unfavorable policies toward the Kingdom. Their concern will be particularly great if those policies threaten the security and well being of the nearly 35,000 Saudis currently studying in U.S. colleges and universities. The Saudis will also be watching to see whether assertions about Saudi links, official or unofficial, to global terrorism affect the willingness of the Trump administration to work with Congress to amend or discard the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA, perhaps the most significant potential friction point in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Trump said little about JASTA during the election, and although his campaign condemned President Obama's veto of the legislation, his views on the matter remain murky. As a businessman, the president-elect may be inclined to see JASTA as an unwelcome impediment to U.S.-Saudi private sector cooperation. But given his history of litigiousness as well as his strongly expressed views on Islamic extremism, he may not be inclined to pressure the Hill to fix the legislation, and this will be problematic for the Saudis. Finally, the Saudis will follow with interest Donald Trumps energy policies. To the extent that the United States relaxes environmental safeguards and presses for increased domestic oil and gas production, the net effect will be continued low energy prices globally, with a direct effect on Saudi Arabias economic bottom line. The Saudis no doubt can find aspects of a possible Trump foreign policy that they can embrace and other aspects that may be sources of concern or disagreement. Riyadh will be waiting and watching to see whether rhetoric ultimately matches up to reality. Editor's note: An earlier version of this piece erroneously said that the Trump campaign had made no comment on JASTA during the election. This error has been corrected and updated. Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Posted by Jay on at 11:01 AM CST Marvel has sent out solicitations for their April 2017 titles, including 5comics and one TPB!JASON AARON (W) SALVADOR LARROCA (A)Cover by STUART IMMONENACTION FIGURE VARIANT COVER BY JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHERStar Wars 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by JAVIER RODRIGUEZ It seems a battle from Yodas past has come to Lukes present! Luke has stumbled upon the last native on the planet and the stonepower is strong with this one!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99(of 6)JODY HOUSER (W) EMILIO LAISO (A)Cover by PHIL NOTOArtist Variant by TERRY DODSONDroids Variant JOE QUINONESAction Figure Variant by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHERSTAR WARS 40TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT COVER BY MIKE MAYHEWMOVIE VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLEBLANK VARIANT COVER ALSO AVAILABLEThe Rebellion is here! The biggest movie of the year jumps from the big screen to the comic book page! All looks lost for the Rebellion against the Empire as they learn of the existence of a new super-weapon the Death Star. New heroes Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor set out on a desperate mission to steal the plans to destroy the new super-weapon. Written by Jody Houser (MAX RIDE) and drawn by Emilio Laiso (STAR WARS ANNUAL; HERCULES), join as the story is set up for the epic saga to follow48 PGS./Rated T $4.99KIERON GILLEN (W) KEV WALKER (A)Cover by KAMOME SHIRAHAMAVARIANT COVER BY DAVID LOPEZStar Wars 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by ROD REIS Aphra Jr. and Sr. have stumbled upon an ancient Jedi citadel but it appears that some form of life has survived and they are NOT happy to be disturbed.32 PGS./Rated T $3.99Charles Soule (W) PHIL NOTO (A/C)Star Wars 40th Anniversary Variant Cover by JEFF DEKAL Its Terexs army versus Black Squadron and Black Squadron is outnumbered! Plus, Poe is stranded with only a battle-reluctant commando droid between him and his enemies. Snap Wexley may have a trick or two up his sleeve to help Black Leader fight!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99(of 5)CULLEN BUNN (W) LUKE ROSS (A)Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUEVARIANT COVER BY DAVID LOPEZVARIANT COVER BY DECLAN SHALVEYVARIANT COVER BY JORGE MOLINA An evil crime syndicate is auctioning off a Jedi Padawan that Darth Maul plans to take and kill for his own. Featuring: a band of bounty hunters including Cad Bane and Aurra Sing!32 PGS./Rated T $3.99Written by BRIAN WOOD, RON MARZ, JEREMY BARLOW, RYDER WINDHAM, MIKE W. BARR & HENRY GILROYPenciled by FACUNDO PERCIO, STEPHANE CRETY, CARLOS DANDA, BRIAN CHING, TOMAS GIORELLO,ADRIANA MELO, BRANDON BADEAUX, JEFF JOHNSON, JOE CORRONEY, NICOLA SCOTT, GARY ERSKINE,KEN STEACY, GLEN MULLALY & GLEN MURAKAMICover by HUGH FLEMINGThe rebels and the Empire locked in conflict! When Leia announces plans to marry, will the Rebellion lose a princess, or gain a new safe haven? Darth Vader is on a mission to instill fear and discipline into the Imperial ranks using his elite stormtroopers! But as Obi-Wan Kenobi haunts the Dark Lords dreams, the name Skywalker dominates his mind! Meanwhile, Luke fights side-by-side with a veteran of the Clone Wars, and Han Solo flirts with an old flame. When Leia risks everything for a childhood friend, Han, Luke and Chewie must risk it all for her! Collecting STAR WARS (2013) #13-20, STAR WARS: EMPIRE #19-27 and material from STAR WARS KIDS (1997) #1-20.488 PGS./Rated T $39.99ISBN: 978-1-302-90696-2 EraThr3 and Hulst Customs Unveil a 750 Horsepower Lobby to Increase the Speed Limit Photos by Sheri Johnson / EraThr3 In this column you're typically used to seeing a helping of tactical vehicles, mainly done as one-offs by gun enthusiasts looking to make their rig more shall we say practical for this lifestyle of ours. But what if a gun company churned out a truck that was as much about performance and perfection as their line of firearms were? Those of you familiar with the EraThr3 name know them as a purveyor of boutique guns and goods that's all about precision and letting freedom ring. Did you know they build vehicles too? Their latest unveiling at SEMA 2016 was another extension of their engineering expertise on four wheels. The idea for this truck began with Jason Hulst, cofounder and designer of EraThr3 and proprietor of Hulst Customs. He and his crew batted some concepts back and forth and decided to do an EraThr3-themed truck that was all about horsepower, performance, and a low-slung stance. Next stop? Submitting the idea to Ford's Vehicle Image Program. The program basically consists of design proposals for Ford to select from and decide who has what it takes to build custom vehicles with the Blue Oval moniker on it. As a graduate of the ArtCenter [sic] College of Design in Pasadena, California, Jason has been participating in the program since '03, so it's safe to say Ford has faith in his ability to showcase their products. The platform is a '16 F-150 XLT 5.0 24, and there's plenty on this truck that's hidden in plain sight. The front bumper was lowered 2.5 inches from the original locale and they clayed up a front bumper cover and shaped it to how they wanted it, then laid out the fiberglass parts to be installed. Heat extractors were added to the hood, which was also given a Wrap It Up vinyl wrap treatment. The visor was dropped, and a new rear bumper was sculpted as well. Lower side rockers were made from steel and added to hide any low-hanging rails under the truck. The front end was radically modified with a big-mouth grille shaped from foam and molded into glass as well. Door handles were tucked in 3/4 inch, the keypad on the pillar moved into rearview mirror, one-off fender badges created, and the beltline below the windows was given aluminum trim that was all hand-shaped and polished. Shod in Southern Polyurethanes black, you could practically use the reflection to watch yourself shave. The truck's low stance was accomplished via some one-off suspension accouterments. Up front, the shock towers were modified with an air spring in place and the shock was relocated outside the control arms. Upper control arms were moved about 3 inches to keep the camber straight when it was laid out on the ground. In the rear, a scratch-built four-link was made. On top of the rearend they did a couple links to a custom cradle so you have uninhibited movement for the adjustable suspension using VIAIR components. Powering this beast is the standard 5.0L V-8, hopped up with a Whipple Supercharger. A CGS Performance cat-back exhaust system plumbs fumes around the spare tire and goes through the rear bumper with custom exhaust tips. The inside of the bed was adorned in leather that's a nice complement to the factory lighting and tie-downs. The crew radiused the aluminum edges on all the raised surfaces of the bed as well. It's all sitting on Lexani Forged Monza wheels wrapped in Lexani LX Thirty rubber. The interior of the truck was given the Katzkin diamond-pleated leather treatment using their Zkintech series seats. Custom plastic adornments in platinum silver were also added throughout the truck. You'll find a Console Vault gun safe in the center console along with EraThr3 dice as switches for the Aire Jax manual valves to operate the ride height. A Kicker integrated subwoofer keeps the tunes loud and clear. Under the Striker Trucks part of the business, Hulst Customs designs, prototypes, and manufactures vehicle parts on the cars they display at SEMA, and this truck was no different. If you like what you see on this truck, hit up EraThr3 to see if the part is available for you to add to your own F-150. Although Jason would like to add more touches, such as a bed lid and custom gun racks, what they've produced in a truncated time frame is nothing short of mind-boggling. We look forward to seeing more of what they come up with. EraThr3 F-150 Make Ford Year 2016 Engine 5L V-8 w/Whipple Supercharger Drivetrain six-speed automatic URL www.erathr3.com; www.hulstcustoms.com Paint Make Southern Polyurethane Model Show-finish black URL www.southernpolyurethanes.com Tires Make Lexani Model LX Thirty: 295/30-26, front; 305/30-26, rear URL www.lexani.com Wheels Make Lexani Model Monza 26-inch URL www.lexani.com Air-Ride Suspension Make Hulst Customs Model F-150 5L URL www.strikertrucks.com Front Bumper/Grille Make Hulst Customs Model Custom Made URL www.hulstcustoms.com Supercharger Make Whipple Superchargers Model F-150 5L URL www.whipplesuperchargers.com Switches Make Aire Jax Model Four Play / EraThr3 Dice URL www.airejax.com; www.erathr3.com Safe Make Console Vault Model F150 Under Front Middle Seat URL www.consolevault.com Interior Make Lexani Model Zkintech Seats URL www.katzkin.com Exhaust System Make CGS Performance Model Cat-back Exhaust URL www.cgsmotorsports.com Rifles (Right and far left) Custom Remington 700 AX chassis; 20-inch Creedmoor builds. (Center) Operation Klepto URL www.erathr3.com There has been one meeting (on this). It is a matter of setting up the governance structures. Now ball is in the court of the Indian side to finalise the governance of the setting up of the fund. We are ready for it, the UAE ambassador Dr Ahmed Al Banna said. The United Arab Emirates has attributed the delay in setting up the $75-billion UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund to New Delhis failure in putting in place the necessary governance structures. The UAE is keen that New Delhi should speed up the process and has also shown interest in an open-sky policy in aviation, and an improved bilateral investment agreement. Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the UAE in August 2015 was a watershed in many ways, and not just because Modi was the first Indian PM in 34 years to have visited the UAE, which is one of Indias biggest trade and investment partners. That visit raised India-UAE ties beyond trade to the level of strategic partnership. It also led the UAE to agree to set up a $75-billion UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund to support investments over a 10-year period in Indias infrastructure sector. The focus of the fund will be roads, railways, ports, airports, and industrial corridors and parks. But there is little forward movement in setting up the fund nearly 18 months after the PM and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyans had signed the memorandum of understanding. The two leaders had re-iterated their intent to set up the $75-billion fund when the crown prince visited India in February 2016. The crown prince lands in New Delhi on Tuesday for a three-day State visit, and he will be the chief guest at this years Republic Day parade. The UAEs ambassador to India Dr Ahmed Al Banna on Monday said the two sides will sign 13 agreements, covering several sectors from counter-terrorism to strengthening economic ties, during the visit of the crown prince. The highlight will be an agreement to institutionalise a biannual strategic dialogue between the two foreign ministries at the minister of state level. Its first meeting is scheduled for September 2017. On the UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund, the Ambassador said that India has only recently appointed the chief executive officer to its National Investment and Infrastructure Fund. There has been one meeting (on this). It is a matter of setting up the governance structures. Now ball is in the court of the Indian side to finalise the governance of the setting up of that $75 billion fund. We are ready for it, the UAE ambassador said. Dr Al Banna said India and UAE will strengthen their counter-terrorism cooperation during the visit of the crown prince, but dismissed reports that the Emirates has frozen property and other assets of one of Indias most wanted terrorists, Dawood Ibrahim. He said there was no basis to these reports. The crown prince will be accompanied by an economic as well as a tolerance delegation. The UAE has special ministries for tolerance, happiness and future. The ambassador said the delegation will meet its counterparts here and talk about how the Emirates was home to 200 nationalities living peacefully. He said the UAE wants to showcase that its a modern country and respects all religions. The ambassador said the UAE has always condemned terror attacks on India, and is committed to eradication of terrorism and extremism. Currently, India and UAE have a $350 billion bilateral trade, which the two plan to increase three times in the near future. After China and the US, the Emirates is Indias largest trading partner. In the last one year, UAE investments into India were $10 billion, including foreign direct investment of $4 billion. As many as 2.8 million Indians that work in UAE sent remittances worth $13.8 billion back home. A whopping 1070 flights operate between UAE and Indian airports per week, of which 580 are operated by Indian carriers and the rest by UAE carriers. The two sides inked a revised air services agreement recently, but the Ambassador said the UAE hopes to reach the open sky policy with India. He said the bilateral investment agreement has been revised but the Emirates looks forward to an improved agreement. On the e-Migrate system launched by India for recruitment of Indian workers in the UAE, the ambassador said an expert team was looking into the issues involved, and the UAE feels that some aspects of it impinge on its sovereignty. The ambassador said issues will soon be sorted out. Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at Rashtrapati Bhavan, during the latter's visit to India in February 2016. Photograph: @PMOIndia/twitter Swiss brokerage UBS joins European banking peer HSBC in shutting down its offshore derivative business. Tighter rules and dwindling flows are taking a toll on issuers of participatory notes (P-notes) in the country, with top players heading towards the exit. According to sources, Swiss bank UBS has stopped issuing offshore derivative instruments (ODIs) or P-notes based on domestic securities from January 1. Foreign investors typically buy P-notes. UBS joins its European peer HSBC, which had shut P-note operations last year. Both brokerages were the among top 10 P-notes issuers in the country. Industry observers say more players are feeling the heat of change in regulations, such as increased disclosure norms and change in double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAAs) with Mauritius and Singapore. P-notes are offshore derivative instruments that have Indian stocks as their underlying assets. They allow foreign investors to buy stocks listed on Indian exchanges. UBS is said to have informed clients of its decision. However, the Swiss brokerage is expected to continue services for its existing clients for the next one year. UBS declined to comment for the story. "P-notes issuance is no longer a lucrative business as the volumes are decreasing rapidly and clients now prefer to take direct participation route. Further, new regulations have also increased compliance burden on ODI issuers. Hence, it makes sense to exit such business," said a source. The trouble started after Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) tightened Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, realigning them with KYC norms for onshore investors. The capital markets regulator also issued curbs on transferability and prescribed stricter reporting for P-notes issuers and end-users. It also asked issuers to follow domestic anti-money laundering laws. "Recent changes to regulations have shot up compliance costs for P-note issuers. It has now become less viable to be an intermediary in the business as it is difficult to comply with new regulations and, in case of violations, the issuer might be pulled up," said Sandeep Parekh, founder, Finsec Law Advisors. Changes to double taxation avoidance agreements (DTAA) with Mauritius and Singapore have served up a double whammy for P-notes business. Going by the revised DTAA, short-term profits made on all investments coming from Mauritius would be taxed. Earlier, short-term profits were exempt from such taxes. However, some experts feel tighter regulations are necessary for curbing misuse of the P-note instrument for tax evasion and for cleaning up dubious transactions. "Though new rules have resulted in increasing costs of issuing and maintaining P-notes, the disclosures and spotlight on these are appreciated. I don't see these new norms as a reason for any exodus of investments from India," said Sumit Agrawal, founder, Suvan Law Advisors. Earlier, P-notes were a popular investment route for offshore investors wanting to take exposure to the Indian market without registering with the regulator. ODIs or P-notes, which have Indian stocks as underlying securities, are issued by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) registered with the regulator. The share of P-notes in overall foreign portfolio investment (FPI) assets under management has dropped to 7.5 per cent from 10.5 per cent at the start of 2016. For the first time in many years, P-note assets dropped below Rs 2 lakh crore in November last year. Total FPI assets currently are around Rs 24 lakh crore. In 2007, P-notes accounted for nearly half of the FPI assets. Photograph: Reuters Shah Rukh Khan's promotion of his film Raees encountered tragedy on Monday night. Last evening the Bollywood superstar caught the August Kranti Express from the Mumbai Central station to promote Raees, which releases on Wednesday, January 25. When the train -- on its way to New Delhi -- stopped at Vapi and Surat in Gujarat, SRK greeted thousands of fans at both railway stations. When the train arrived at Vadodara station at 10.30 pm, thousands of people had gathered to catch a glimpse of the star. This resulted in a stampede, which led to the death of Fareed Khan Pathan, a resident of Vadodara. Fareed had gone to drop relatives at the Vadodara station. Bystanders complained that the police and railway authorities had not made proper arrangements to manage the huge crowds. Calling it an "extremely unfortunate" incident, Khan said that his prayers are with the family of the deceased. "One of our colleagues was traveling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Vadodara. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate. We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one on a trip like this, it saddens us all," Shah Rukh told reporters at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in New Delhi. "On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings are with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour. We have some of our people with the family members there. Hopefully God will bless her soon," he added. IMAGE: Shah Khan Khan abroad the August Kranti Rajdhani Express. Photograph: Pradeep Bandekar Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who will be the chief guest on Republic Day, on his arrival on Tuesday. The Crown Prince, who arrived on a three-day official visit, will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday, following which he will lay wreath at Mahatma Gandhi memorial at the Raj Ghat. The Crown Prince will in the afternoon meet Prime Minister Modi at the Hyderabad House following there will be exchange of agreements between both sides. Later in the evening, he will meet Vice President Hamid Ansari at Hotel Leela Palace and then call on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will emplane for Abu Dhabi after witnessing the Republic Day parade on January 26. Photographs: Kamal Kishore/PTI Photos These 12 images prove that we truly live in an incredibly bizarre world. There's something on your face! Palestinian Nabeel Mussa, who keeps scorpions and snakes as a hobby and eats them, has his face surrounded by a snake at his house in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photograph: Faisal Al Nasser/Reuters Death-defying: Stunt performers ride a motorcycle and a car on the walls of the "Well of Death" at the Magh Mela fair in Allahabad. Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters Fun in the snow! Men soar through the air on a wooden sledge during a traditional Bavarian horn sledge race, known as "Schnablerrennen", in Gaissach near Bad Toelz, Germany. Photograph: Michael Dalder/Reuters Smile, please! A monk looks up as he poses for a photo at a temple in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. Photograph: Jason Lee/Reuters Snow-dusted: Lyubov Valiyeva, a member of the Cryophile amateur winter swimming club, sprinkles herself with snow from branches of a pine, part of her daily winter training session, on the bank of the Yenisei River, with the air temperature at about minus 33 degree Celsius in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Photograph: Ilya Naymushin/Reuters That's what you call a wet kiss! Princess Stephanie of Monaco and her daughter Pauline Ducruet react as they pose with a sea lion during a photocall for the 41st Monte Carlo international circus festival in Monaco. Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters All bundled up: A monkey used to to be photographed with tourists, wears a thick coat to protect it from cold in central Kiev, Ukraine. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Bent out of shape? An acrobat of the Luohe Acrobatic Troupe from China performs during a show to mark the start of the Chinese Lunar Year in Valletta, Malta. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters Hair-raising: Beach goers enjoy the atmosphere at South Melbourne Beach. Temperatures reached above 30 degree Celsius across Melbourne. Photograph: Michael Dodge/Getty Images Strawed out: The three Straw Bears are led through the streets during the annual Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival parade in Whittlesey, United Kingdom. The traditional event was revived in 1980 and features a "Straw Bear" and it's children being led through the streets of the English village of Whittlesey, near Peterborough, United Kingdom. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images Light 'em up: Crowds walking through the installations at the 2017 Chinese New Year Lantern Festival at Tumbalong Park in Sydney, Australia. The Festival is to celebrate the Year of the Rooster. Photograph: Julian Andrews/Getty Images Snowing 'em out: People enjoy a flash mob snowball fight in Kiev, Ukraine. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters Political parties received Rs 7,833 crore funding from unknown sources between 2004-05 and 2014-15, which is 69 per cent of their total income, with Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party witnessing maximum income from such sources, says a report. National and regional political parties received Rs 11,367.34 crore of total income during this period, as per a report by Delhi-based think-tank Association for Democratic Reforms. Income of political parties from known donors was Rs 1,835.63 crore, which is 16 per cent of their total income. Also, total income of political parties from other known sources (sale of assets, membership fees, bank interest, sale of publications, party levy etc) stood at Rs 1,698.73 crore or 15 per cent. As per the ADR report, during the 11 years, 83 per cent of total income of Indian National Congress amounting to Rs 3,323.39 crore and 65 per cent of total income of BJP amounting to Rs 2,125.91 crore came from unknown sources. Among the regional parties, Rs 766.27 crore or 94 per cent of total income of the Samajwadi Party and Rs 88.06 crore or 86 per cent of Shiromani Akali Dal came from unknown sources. Income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313 per cent, from Rs 274.13 crore during 2004-05 to Rs 1,130.92 crore during 2014-15, ADR said. Income of regional parties from unknown sources also increased by 652 per cent from Rs 37.393 crore to Rs 281.01 crore. Among all the national and regional parties considered, Bahujan Samaj Party is the only party to consistently declare receiving nil donations above Rs 20,000 between 2004-05 and 2014-15 thus 100 per cent of the partys donations came from unknown sources, it said. Total income of the party increased by 2,057 per cent from Rs 5.19 crore to Rs 111.96 crore, as per ADR. INC has the highest total income of Rs 3,982.09 crore between 2004-05 and 2014-15, this is 42.92 per cent of the total income of the 6 parties during the same time. BJP has the second highest income of Rs 3,272.63 crore which is 35.27 per cent of the total income of the 6 national parties. Total declared income of regional parties between 2004-05 and 2014-15 was Rs 2,089.04 crore. SP has the highest total income of Rs 819.1 crore followed by Dravida Munnetra Kazagham with Rs 203.02 crore and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam with Rs 165.01 crore. Total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the six national parties was Rs 1,405.19 crore. BJP tops the list and has declared a total of Rs 917.86 crore as received through voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000. Total amount of donations above Rs 20,000 declared by the regional parties was Rs 430.42 crore. DMK tops the list and has declared a total of Rs 129.83 crore as received via voluntary contributions above Rs 20,000 but the party has not filed its donations report for the financial years 2004-05 and 2005-06. The unknown sources are income declared in the IT returns but without giving source of income for donations below Rs 20,000. Such unknown sources include sale of coupons, Aajiwan Sahayog Nidhi, relief fund, miscellaneous income, voluntary contributions, contribution from meetings/morchas etc. At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000. As a result, over two-thirds of the funds cannot be traced and are from unknown sources. This becomes very relevant in the light of recent events when demonetisation was announced so as to weed out black money from the society, the report by ADR said. Six national parties (INC, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM) and 51 regional recognised were considered for the analysis. Of the 51 regional political parties considered for the report, 45 parties have not submitted their donations statements to the ECI for at least one financial year, it said. Any organisation that receives foreign funding should not be allowed to support or campaign for any candidate or political party, ADR said. The national and other political parties must provide all information under the Right to Information Act. This will only strengthen political parties, elections and democracy, the report noted. Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member ADR told in a press conference, We believe it is in the interest of political parties also to change their methods of working and two fundamental changes are required one is internal democracy and other is financial transparency. United States President Donald Trump has picked Ajit Vardaraj Pai, an outspoken opponent of new net neutrality, to head the crucial Federal Communications Commission, making him the fourth Indian-American in the administration at the senior level. "I am deeply grateful to the President of the United States for designating me the 34th Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission," Pai said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the new administration, my colleagues at the commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans," the 44-year-old said. Congratulating Pai on being named Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, its Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said he is bright, driven and committed to bringing connectivity to all Americans. "I am hopeful that we can come together to serve the public interest by supporting competition, public safety, and consumer protection," Clyburn said. Republican Senator Jerry Moran said Pai is an excellent choice to lead the FCC. "I know him to be a capable and talented leader and one of the smartest people I have ever met when it comes to public policy," he said. "Ajit understands the importance of quality access to broadband and wireless connectivity, and I believe growing up in Kansas makes him uniquely qualified to advocate for rural America. I look forward to continuing to work with him to make certain we can improve connectivity and bring critical updates not only to our homes and businesses but also to our hospitals and schools," he added. "Commissioner Pai's expertise on the issues has been well documented and we're looking forward to working with him to advance conservative, thoughtful solutions at the FCC," said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn in a joint statement. Republican Congressman Tom Graves said Pai has the type of experience and no-nonsense attitude that will help reset the FCC's relationship with Congress. "Further, I am confident that he will work on a nonpartisan basis to stop harmful regulations, develop lawful and Constitutional solutions to 21st Century problems, and protect the American people's access to information while allowing the industries under his purview to grow and prosper," he said. Pai is the fourth Indian-American to become part of Trump's administration, following Nikki Haley, nominated US ambassador to the United Nations, Seema Verma, head of medicare and medicaid and Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern District of New York. The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the US government to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. Pai's deep knowledge and experience at the commission makes him the right person to begin undoing the damage of the previous administration and rolling back the harmful, partisan regulations that choke investment and innovation in the communications sector, said Congressman Ron Johnson. However, Democratic Senator Edward Markey said that he will oppose Pai as FCC head. "We need an FCC that protects consumers, promotes competition, and spurs innovation," he said. "I will vigorously oppose any efforts by leadership at the FCC to undo net neutrality and broadband privacy rules, undermine E-Rate, or roll back any fundamental consumer protections," Markey said. Pai, a Republican, was nominated by the previous US President Barack Obama, as a FCC Commissioner and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on May 7, 2012. Pai's regulatory philosophy is informed by a few simple principles. Rules that reflect these principles will result in more innovation, more investment, better products and services, lower prices, more job creation, and faster economic growth. He believes that consumers benefit most from competition, not preemptive regulation. Free markets have delivered more value to American consumers than highly regulated ones. He believes that no regulatory system should indulge arbitrage, regulators should be skeptical of pleas to regulate rivals, dispense favours, or otherwise afford special treatment. Pai believes that particularly given how rapidly the communications sector is changing, the FCC should do everything it can to ensure that its rules reflect the realities of the current marketplace and basic principles of economics. Pai was born in the US after his parents moved from India to the US in 1971. His mother grew up in Bangalore, and father was raised in Hyderabad. The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday raked up again the contentious issue of Ram Temple before the first phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections on February 11, saying a grand temple will be built in Ayodhya if the BJP secures an outright majority. "Ram Mandir is a subject of faith. It is not going to be built in two months. The temple will be constructed after the elections. The BJP will come to power with a full majority," partys Uttar Pradesh chief Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters in New Delhi. He also hit out at Akhilesh Yadav, saying the UP chief minister is neither with Backward Classes nor Dalits, he only betrays them. His remark came after Allahabad high court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no fresh caste certificates are issued to those belonging to 17 Other Backward Classes groups. Asked about the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance, Maurya said: The SP is a sinking ship and that of Congress had sunk long back. Even if the BSP joins it, they will not be able to salvage it. Alleging that the entire government machinery under Yadav was embroiled in corruption, he said that after coming to power, the BJP will conduct a probe and if needed, send them to jail. He accused the UP chief minister of cheating people and claimed there were irregularities in admissions, women safety issues were not accorded priority and dial 100, launched to improve police services, was nowhere to be found. 'Modi took to the dais and said he would like to step down as chief minister over the riots.' 'Immediately, people from several sides got up and said there was no need to do so.' 'Whether it was orchestrated or not, Shourie wasn't sure.' 'But, according to him, Vajpayee felt that it was a coup.' A fascinating account from Ullekh N P's new book, The Untold Vajpayee. IMAGE: Then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then deputy prime minister L K Advani and then Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. April 7, 2002. (Prime Minister Atal Bihari) Vajpayee was in a pensive mood when he spoke to reporters in New Delhi hours before he left for Singapore and Cambodia on a five-day official tour. Shortly after take-off, Arun Shourie, Vajpayee's disinvestment minister, was approached by (Vajpayee's adopted son-in-law) Ranjan Bhattacharya in the plane. 'Shourieji, please go and meet him. Baapji is terribly upset.' Shourie found the PM deeply disturbed, not looking up, his face grave. He appeared crestfallen. Soon, Shourie realised that PM was upset for one major reason: Gujarat. On February 27, 2002, a group of people from a Muslim populated area of Godhra had set fire to a few bogies of a train -- the Sabarmati Express -- which carried pilgrims from Ayodhya, a town considered holy by the Hindus. Massive riots broke out, mostly targeting Muslims, for nearly a week. All the killing and pillaging in Gujarat had given Vajpayee a bad name, the more so because Gujarat had a BJP government in place, with a chief minister who had reportedly not risen enough to the occasion to rein in the violence. Vajpayee was blamed for his failure as PM to get rid of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who reportedly shouted back at a Muslim leader on the phone for seeking help after a mob had gathered outside his house. Some hours later, the Muslim leader was lynched, and Modi is alleged to have asked the police forces to let the violence continue. At that moment, Modi seemed to be the villain who brought a lot of shame to the central government. IMAGE: Armed mobs confront a policemen during the horrific Gujarat riots of 2002. Modi had also dared to publicly snub Vajpayee at a press conference where he was seated alongside the prime minister. The reporter wanted to know Vajpayee's message for the chief minister in the wake of the riots. In controlled displeasure, Vajpayee stated that Modi should 'follow his Rajdharma.' He explained that Rajdharma was a meaningful term, and for somebody in a position of power, it meant not discriminating among the higher and lower classes of society or people of any religion. In a bid to stop Vajpayee from saying something scathing about him, Modi turned towards Vajpayee, tried to catch his eye and said with a strong note of threatening defiance, 'Hum bhi wahi kar rahe hain, sahib (That is what we are also doing, Sir).' Vajpayee immediately changed tack and said, 'I am sure Narendrabhai is also doing the same.' IMAGE: Narendra Modi, then Gujarat's chief minister, pays obeisance to then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Three days before his foreign tour in April, when Vajpayee visited the Shah Alam camp in Ahmedabad, which housed 9,000 Muslims displaced by the riots, he was deeply touched when a woman told him that he alone could save them from the hell that their lives had become. Now, on the flight to Singapore, Vajpayee was worried he would expose himself to more humiliation while outside the country. His grouse was: Why am I being paraded abroad at such time? Shourie suggested that the PM speak to Advani, who had by now become the deputy prime minister, about the possibilities of salvaging the situation -- it could even mean replacing Modi. But even after the 'pep talk' with Shourie, Vajpayee appeared cheerless. He told Shourie that he would speak to Advani about it. The Gujarat issue came up in an interview on the third and final day of their stay in Singapore. The journalist who interviewed Vajpayee first stated that Singaporeans were wary of communal disturbances, clearly indicating that he was referring to the recent riots in Gujarat, under BJP rule. Then he shot off his question: 'And in India such disturbances have happened not once, but several times. In this regard what can Singapore learn from India's experience and what can you share?' IMAGE: A protest against the Modi government in Gujarat, 2002. 'Vajpayee paused and rubbed his forehead with his right hand before answering, betraying a level of discomfiture in answering questions related to the Gujarat riots. Then, weighing his words to make it as official as it could get, he said, "Whatever happened in India was very unfortunate. The riots have been brought under control".' '"If at the Godhra station, the passengers of the Sabarmati Express had not been burnt alive, then perhaps the Gujarat tragedy could have been averted. It is clear there was some conspiracy behind this incident".' '"It is also a matter of concern that there was no prior intelligence available on this conspiracy. Alertness is essential in a democracy. We have been cautious".' '"And if one does not ignore even small incidents like one used to in the past, then one will certainly be successful in fighting terrorism".' Clearly, he was on the defensive, and the issue worried him no end. The Indian delegation led by Vajpayee returned on April 11. The next day, senior BJP leaders were to attend a national executive meet in Goa. Shourie went home and took a shower. He was reading a book when he got a call from Brajesh Mishra asking if he had booked tickets to Goa. Shourie said he had. 'Please cancel them. You are going with the PM and the deputy PM in the PM's aircraft,' Mishra said, emphasising that if he didn't go, both Vajpayee and Advani would not talk if they were left alone in a plane. IMAGE: Then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, right, with L K Advani, then deputy prime minister and home minister. Narendra Modi was considered close to Advani during the Vajpayee era. When Shourie boarded the plane, Vajpayee was already there, seated next to the window, and facing him, across a table, on a window seat was Advani. The external affairs minister, Jaswant Singh, was also there. The plane took off and after a few minutes, Vajpayee took a newspaper from the table in front of him and opened it so widely that he didn't have to face Advani at all. A little while later, Advani also picked up a newspaper and began to read. Shourie and Singh looked at each other and sighed. Then Shourie surprised himself. He pulled the newspaper out of Vajpayee's hands and interjected, 'Vajpayeeji, newspapers can be read later also. Why don't you tell Advaniji what you wanted to tell him?' Vajpayee kept the newspapers away, and muttered in his usual style about what had to be done. First, Venkaiah Naidu would replace Jana Krishnamurthi as BJP president. Then he said, 'Modi has to go.' By the time they landed in Goa, the decision was taken: Modi would go. Jaswant Singh shared another version of the episode. He narrated that though Advani didn't protest when Vajpayee insisted that Modi had to go, the home minister added, 'There will be chaos in the state.' IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj present the Bangladesh Liberation War Honour to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya, daughter Namita Bhattacharya and grand daughter Neha Bhattacharya, June 11, 2015. At Panjim in April 2002, the national executive meet began, and a short while later, Modi took to the dais and said he would like to step down as chief minister over the riots. Immediately, people from several sides got up and said there was no need to do so. Whether it was orchestrated or not, Shourie wasn't sure. But, according to him, Vajpayee felt that it was a coup. Sensing that things were not going as planned, Shourie got up and described what had gone on between Advani and Vajpayee on the plane and the agreement they had reached thereafter. But shouts kept emerging from the delegates: 'It cannot be done! Modi cannot be allowed to go!' Vajpayee immediately understood the situation, and said, 'Let's decide on it later.' 'It can't be decided later, it has to be decided now,' somebody shouted. And as if on cue, it became a slogan. Shourie observed that Advani hadn't said anything though he knew very well that Vajpayee wanted Modi out. Seeing things take a different turn, Vajpayee kept mum, opting against a confrontational stance. Perhaps, for all his bravery, he was worried about younger leaders publicly questioning his authority. He would never forget that humiliation. Excerpted from The Untold Vajpayee, by Ullekh N P, Penguin Viking, 2017, Rs 599, with the publisher's permission. 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. More than words, ending Yemen crisis needs results, UN envoy says, concluding mission in capital Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, More than words, ending Yemen crisis needs results, UN envoy says, concluding mission in capital, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874d1540c.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 23 January 2017 - The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, today concluded a mission to Yemen with a call for a comprehensive political settlement of the crisis and the restoration of the cessation of hostilities, and underlined the need allow access of civilian commercial aircrafts to and from Sana'a airport. "It is mandatory that the parties end the violence to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people and pave the way for a peacefully negotiated settlement," said Mr. Cheikh Ahmed. In his meetings, Mr. Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged his interlocutors to enter into detailed discussions on the withdrawal of forces and handover of medium and heavy weapons. "There is an urgent need for Ansar Allah and the General People's congress to provide a well elaborated plan on security, withdrawal and handover of medium and heavy weapons," he said, noting that the plan constitutes an essential part of the comprehensive peace agreement which is the UN is aiming to implement. "What we need at this stage is more than words, what we need is commitment and results. Delays in providing the plan will result in delays to achieving peace and allow for more deaths and further economic and humanitarian deterioration," he added. Further, the UN Special Envoy called on all relevant actors to take necessary measures to lift restrictions on civilian commercial aircrafts to access Sana'a International Airport. Restrictions on travel in and out of Sana'a airport have prevented scores of Yemenis from receiving badly-needed medical treatment and have also left many others stranded outside the country. "This cannot continue," he stressed, calling on the Government of Yemen to "allow the resumption of commercial flights to Sana'a without further delay and for all parties to ensure the safety of the airport and air traffic." Afghanistan: UN-backed $550 million aid plan aims to reach 5.7 million people Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Afghanistan: UN-backed $550 million aid plan aims to reach 5.7 million people, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874d4b40e.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 23 January 2017 - A newly-launched United Nations-backed humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan is seeking $550 million in 2017 to support the most vulnerable and marginalized population of the conflict-torn country. Strategic, life-saving interventions - related to shelter, food, health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation - are expected to reach an estimated 5.7 million people under the Afghanistan 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan, released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). According to the Plan, the continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict has prompted a 13 per cent increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance to 9.3 million in 2017. OCHA notes that Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous, and most violent, crisis-ridden countries in the world. The 8,397 civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2016 marked the highest record since 2009, and included a 15 per cent increase in child casualties from 2015. The Plan dedicates $240 million to interventions to assist refugees and returnees. In 2016, the conflict has led to unprecedented levels of displacement, reaching half a million in November - the highest number recorded to date. On average, every day sees another 1,500 people forced to leave their homes, escaping violence. Last year also saw the unprecedented return of some 600,000 registered refugees and undocumented Afghans from Pakistan. With no obvious prospects for an improved state of affairs, 2017 is likely to see at least 450,000 new internally displaced persons and potentially as many as a million more Afghan returns from Pakistan and Iran. Seven million people in Lake Chad basin 'living on the edge' UN relief official Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Seven million people in Lake Chad basin 'living on the edge' UN relief official, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874d8140e.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 23 January 2017 - Spotlighting the desperate plight of millions in Africa's Lake Chad basin, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Sahel region called today for international solidarity with the people in urgent need. "I wish I had good news, but I don't," Toby Lanzer, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, told a news conference at the UN Headquarters, in New York that was largely focused on the crisis affecting Lake Chad basin countries, which include Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. "11 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, 7.1 million of them are severely food insecure. [They are] living on the edge - surviving on, if they can, one meal a day," he noted. Mr. Lanzer added that among them, the situation of children is particularly worrying. Some 515,000 children are severely and acutely malnourished and their lives are at risk if aid does not reach them urgently. "No government on Earth can do what it takes to confront [these numbers] of severe food insecurity," he stressed. "This is a clear case where international solidarity with the governments of the region is needed." He also noted the peaceful resolution of the political standoff in the Gambia prevented "yet another crisis" in the region, which already has at least 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP). Fearing violence this past weekend, some 52,000 Gambians fled to Senegal and Guinea Bissau, but are now starting to return. VIDEO: UN relief official - International efforts underway to aid the 7 million vulnerable in the Sahel. Credit: UN News Response to bombing of IDP camp in Rann, Nigeria Turning to the tragic bombing of a camp for IDPs in Nigeria's Rann, Mr. Lanzer hailed the efforts of the first responders - relatives of those in the camp, as well as nearby villagers - who rushed in to help the victims. We sprang into action, in exactly the way we are meant to do The UN and humanitarian family too stepped in from the onset of the disaster, helping the first responders as well as helping transfer those severely injured to medical facilities. The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) also flew in medical supplies and teams on the day of the incident and in subsequent days. "We sprang into action, in exactly the way we are meant to do," said the UN relief official. "It was a tremendous effort from the local and community aid workers, as well as by international humanitarians." Improving security reveals depth of humanitarian suffering Responding a question, Mr. Lanzer explained the scale of humanitarian suffering in the region has become increasingly evident with improving security situation as a result of the military campaign against Boko Haram. This has allowed humanitarian actors to reach many places which were impossible to get to earlier due to insecurity. Speaking on the situation on the ground at that time, he said: "[We saw] towns and villages that were totally destroyed. [Places] that were completely cut off for over three years [and places] devoid of two-, three- and four- year olds because they have died." Upcoming conference in Oslo Mr. Lanzer also informed the media about an upcoming conference for the region, to be held in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on 24 February, to draw attention to the tragic situation there. He further noted that the humanitarian appeal for the region for 2016 was only 52 per cent funded. "When you are funded to this extent, a lot of lives are lost," he said, "We hope that with the leadership of Norway, Germany, Nigeria and the support of the UN, we can convince many Member States to go to Oslo and make statements of political support and also, we hope, material support, that will allow the agencies to do their work to save lives, as well as give people a hand up." At talks in Astana, UN envoy on Syria urges mechanism to oversee ceasefire Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, At talks in Astana, UN envoy on Syria urges mechanism to oversee ceasefire, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874dc140c.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 23 January 2017 - International talks to extend the ceasefire in Syria started today in the Kazakh capital of Astana, with the United Nations Special Envoy said the ceasefire can be solidified if a mechanism to oversee and implement it is created. The chances of success will be greater if the parties here are able to agree on a mechanism to oversee and implement nationwide ceasefire. A mechanism to oversee and implement a nationwide ceasefire, said Staffan de Mistura. We didn't have it in the past, that's the reason why often we failed. He encouraged the guarantors of the ceasefire to create a mechanism to implement the consolidation and de-confliction ceasefire measures, and to see what else can be done to build confidence. Sitting alongside representatives of the Government of Syria and the Syrian opposition, Mr. de Mistura reiterated that the only way to end the conflict and secure a political solution is through negotiation among the Syrians. The closed-door meeting convened by Iran, Russia and Turkey, with a representative from the United States attending as an observer is meant to end tomorrow. The Special Envoy said that he hoped by strengthening the ceasefire at the Astana meeting we could see in Geneva genuine intra-Syrian negotiations, referring to the 8 February negotiations to be held under the auspices of the UN. I would hope direct negotiations between empowered and inclusive delegations of the Government and the opposition to take place, Mr. de Mistura said, which include issues of governance, constitution, elections in the context of Security Council resolution 2254 (2015), which endorsed a road map for a peace process in Syria. He praised the parties for the ceasefire announced by President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with support of Iran, in December for saving lives, and encouraged others to join. All other armed opposition groups not affiliated to terror organisations designated as such by the Security Council, in addition to groups allied with the Government, should also listen to the call to abide by the ceasefire, Mr. de Mistura said. Protection of civilians must be a crucial priority, he underscored, calling for the protection of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water and electricity networks, and areas such as markets. Syria: UNICEF calls for unimpeded aid access to children in besieged Deir ez-Zor Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, Syria: UNICEF calls for unimpeded aid access to children in besieged Deir ez-Zor, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874ded40d.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. 23 January 2017 - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today called for unimpeded and unconditional access to children in the besieged city of Deir ez-Zor, noting that they have not received regular humanitarian aid for more than two years. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict in Syria to immediately lift all sieges and allow unimpeded and unconditional access to children in Deir ez-Zor and in all the 15 areas under siege across the country, said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF's Regional Director, in a statement. According to UNICEF, children in Deir ez-Zor have come under intense attack in the past week, and indiscriminate shelling has reportedly killed scores of civilians and forced others to remain in their homes. The escalation of violence threatens the lives of 93,000 civilians, including over 40,000 children who have been cut off from regular humanitarian aid for over two years. In addition, food prices have skyrocketed to levels five to ten times higher than in the capital, Damascus, and chronic water shortages are forcing families to fetch untreated water from the Euphrates River, exposing children to the risk of waterborne diseases. Nothing justifies the use of siege and the untold suffering that it unleashes on children. The children of Syria have already paid the highest price for a war that is not of their making, Mr. Cappelaere said. AUDIO: UNICEF spokesperson Tamara Kummer, at regional headquarters in Jordan, gives details why "absolutely nothing" justifies Syria sieges.Credit: UN News Bahrain: Postponement of Nabeel Rajab's trial for sixth time is blatant harassment Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Bahrain: Postponement of Nabeel Rajab's trial for sixth time is blatant harassment, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874e694.html [accessed 5 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. In response to the news today that the Bahraini authorities have postponed the verdict in the case of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, Samah Hadid, Deputy Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International's Regional office in Beirut said: "The Bahraini authorities must stop playing games with Nabeel Rajab's freedom. He has been arrested and released repeatedly over the past five years and has been banned from leaving the country. By postponing his trial for a sixth time today they are cruelly stringing him along as punishment for his peaceful activism. Their refusal to release him from custody in December despite a court order suggests this is part of a deliberate strategy to harass him. "Instead of flouting his rights to freedom of expression and depriving him of his liberty they should end this campaign of harassment, immediately and unconditionally release him and drop all the charges against him." A verdict in a case regarding tweets Nabeel Rajab published in March 2015 alleging torture in Jaw prison, and criticizing the killing of civilians in the Yemen conflict by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, had been due today. This session was postponed until 21 February. He is facing charges including "insulting public authorities", "insulting a foreign country" and "disseminating false rumours in times of war". If convicted he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. On 28 December 2016 a Bahraini court ordered his release but the authorities refused to release him and instead he was immediately re-arrested and taken into custody in relation to another investigation into TV interviews he gave in 2015 and 2016. The Public Prosecution had charged him with publishing and disseminating rumours and false news relating to the internal situation in the country. His trial on these charges began today and was postponed until 8 February. Nabeel Rajab is also facing separate charges in relation to a piece written in his name in the New York Times. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International DR Congo: Human Rights Watch Researcher Deported Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, DR Congo: Human Rights Watch Researcher Deported, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874f524.html [accessed 5 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. Ida Sawyer, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, was obliged to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo on January 20, 2017, Human Rights Watch said today. Immigration authorities in the eastern city of Goma annulled her visa and escorted her to the border. Sawyer entered Congo on January 13, on a three-month multiple entry visa that she had obtained on January 5, at the Congolese embassy in Brussels, Belgium. Sawyer has been based in Brussels since August 2016, when Congolese officials revoked and then refused to renew her work permit and told her to leave the country. Sawyer had previously been living and working in Congo with Human Rights Watch since January 2008. "Providing Ida Sawyer a visa one day and revoking it 15 days later calls into question the Congolese government's commitment to reversing the climate of repression in the country," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "We hope the situation will be resolved quickly and that Sawyer will soon be allowed to return to Congo to carry out her work without interference." On January 19, Communications Minister Lambert Mende told a Congolese media outlet that Sawyer was "not authorized" to travel in Congo and that she was "still undesirable." On January 20, immigration officials in Goma informed Sawyer that she had been designated a "special case" and required written authorization from the director general of immigration services (DGM) before applying for a visa. Sawyer had not been informed of this "special" procedure when she applied for a visa or when she entered the country. The officials then annulled Sawyer's visa and escorted her to the border with neighboring Rwanda. Just before crossing the border, immigration officials gave Sawyer a document saying the conditions for obtaining the visa had not been fulfilled. Sawyer did not sign the document, given that all normal procedures were followed when she obtained her visa and entered the country. Human Rights Watch's lawyer in Congo submitted a letter to the director general of immigration services on January 21, asking for Sawyer to be allowed to return to Congo. Other senior officials, however, had previously informed Sawyer privately that she had been allowed back in Congo as part of the government's efforts to ease political tensions following an agreement mediated by the Catholic Church was signed on New Year's Eve by members of the opposition, the ruling coalition, and civil society groups. The deal followed two years of heightened political tensions and brutal repression against human rights and pro-democracy activists, the political opposition, the media, and peaceful protesters as President Joseph Kabila sought to extend his stay in power beyond the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19. The New Year's Eve agreement says that presidential elections will be held before the end of 2017. Under the agreement, a new prime minister will be named from the opposition's Rassemblement coalition, and the opposition will lead a national follow-up committee for the transition. The agreement says that there will be no attempts to change the constitution, organize a referendum, or to allow Kabila to run for a third term. The agreement also calls for the implementation of a number of confidence-building measures, including the release of political prisoners and the opening of barred media outlets. Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Burma: Release or Charge Kachin Christians Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Burma: Release or Charge Kachin Christians, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58874fcf4.html [accessed 5 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. Update 1/25/17: On January 24, 2017, presidential spokesperson Zaw Htay told the Democratic Voice of Burma that Langjaw Gam Seng and Dumdaw Nawng Lat had been charged under the Unlawful Associations Act and were being held in the Muse Police Station in Northern Shan State. The Burmese government has long used the Unlawful Associations Act to restrict freedom of association and detain peaceful activists, Human Rights Watch said. The law carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. (Rangoon) Burmese authorities should immediately release or appropriately charge two ethnic Kachin Baptist leaders arbitrarily detained by the military since December 24, 2016, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights said today. The military in Northern Shan State should urgently transfer Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, to police custody so that they are no longer at risk of abuse by military personnel. Burmese authorities should immediately release or appropriately charge two ethnic Kachin Baptist leaders arbitrarily detained by the military since December 24, 2016, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights said today. The military in Northern Shan State should urgently transfer Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, to police custody so that they are no longer at risk of abuse by military personnel. The two went missing after being called to a military base, apparently linked to their assisting journalists investigating an unlawful military airstrike. On January 19, the military published a statement on Facebook acknowledging their arrest and detention, and alleging that the two had been providing various forms of support to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). In the month since their arrest, the military had not filed charges, turned them over to civilian authorities, or provided them access to lawyers or family members, as required by Burmese and international law. "The arrest of the two Kachin Baptist leaders appears to be retaliation for their help in exposing wartime abuses," said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights. "The military came clean about their detention only after local and international outcry, but they're are still at grave risk." The military in its statement alleges that Langjaw Gam Seng, a youth leader with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), and his cousin Dumdaw Nawng Lat, an assistant KBC pastor, acted as the "financial supporter, informer, recruiter, rumor monger" for the Kachin Independence Army. According to the statement, Dumdaw Nawng Lat "gave information about movements of Tatmadaw [Burmese Army] columns and financial support to the insurgents and spread slanderous news and propaganda by having links with outside media in order to mislead the local and international communities." Langjaw Gam Seng allegedly "gave information about the Tatmadaw to KIA insurgents, recruited new members, and transported fuel for smooth transport of insurgents during the battles." The military statement added the two had been "placed under investigation" under article 376 of the 2008 Constitution, which allows detention without judicial review for more than 24 hours as a precautionary measure for national security or the "prevalence of law and order, peace and tranquility in accord with the law in the interest of the public." The military also said that the "arrestees will be handed over to the relevant police station systematically, in order to take action against them under the law." Thus far, no such action has been taken. "The government needs to act now to ensure that these men are urgently transferred out of the darkness of military detention where they're highly vulnerable to abuse," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Government leaders are responsible for the safety and security of these two men and should ensure lawyers and family have immediate access." In December 2016, the two men had guided journalists who were reporting on Burmese airstrikes that allegedly severely damaged a Catholic church in Northern Shan State. Photographs of damage to the church were published on the internet in early December. Prior to the military statement, the men were feared to have been forcibly disappeared, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights said. Local government authorities failed to respond to repeated inquiries on the whereabouts of the two men. Presidential spokesperson Zaw Htay denied that the military had detained them. On January 20, Yanghee Lee, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, raised concerns about the dangers facing individuals who speak out on rights issues. She said that the message from the government was clear: "Do not express yourself. Do not speak your mind if your opinion or position does not fit or support the narrative and agenda of those who have no qualms in how you live or die." Fighting between the Burmese military and the Kachin Independence Army in northern Burma has displaced more than 23,000 people during the past several weeks. On January 11, Chinese state security forces reportedly forced back to Burma approximately 4,000 Kachin civilians fleeing Burmese military airstrikes and heavy artillery attacks. "The Burmese military's handling of this case shows how far the army needs to go to bring the government in line with international human rights standards," Robertson said. "The dangers to civilians and those who are helping to expose abuses in conflict areas seem as great as ever strong action is needed to bring changes fast." Copyright notice: Copyright, Human Rights Watch Kyrgyzstan: Alarm Over Facebook Crackdown Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 20 January 2017 Citation / Document Symbol RCA 804 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Kyrgyzstan: Alarm Over Facebook Crackdown, 20 January 2017, RCA 804, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58875b3b4.html [accessed 5 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. Opposition lawmakers and rights activists have called for an investigation after the State National Security Committee (GKNB) admitted investigating several citizens over critical comments they had made about President Almazbek Atambayev on Facebook. A GKNB list of more than 40 Facebook users considered to be critics of the president was leaked online on January 10. The names were in a letter from deputy GKNB head Bolot Suyumbaev to legislator Irina Karamushkina, a member of the president's Social Democratic Party (SDPK), who has called for a crackdown on those criticising Atambaev on social media. Some of those on the list were very surprised to learn that they had been categorised as political dissidents. One of those named, Savrinsa Syrgataeva, told IWPR that she had nothing against the president but simply sympathised more with opposition leader Omurbek Tekebaev, head of the Ata Meken party. "I've looked through my timeline and found that I 'liked' some posts about Omurbek Tekebaev [and] shared them. Maybe this was the reason, I do not know. I am ready to prove my innocence. If the intelligence agency fails to prove my guilt, then they should apologise for defaming of me," Syrgataeva said, adding that the GKNB had not contacted her in connection with her online activity. Another Facebook user, Toichubek Akmatali uulu, currently a student in Turkey, was also alarmed to find himself on the GKNB list. "I did not write anything about [the president]. I didn't say anything bad about the head of the Kyrgyz Republic. I do not understand anything. Yes, I shared some news on social media. But I don't think it is a crime," he told IWPR. It also emerged that 11 people had been called in for questioning by the GKNB and only released after giving verbal assurances that they would not insult Atambaev on social media in the future. After the letter was leaked, opposition legislators called for an enquiry, arguing that the intelligence services should be concentrating on concrete threats to national security. Aida Salyanova, a legislator from the opposition Ata Meken faction, warned a January 12 session of parliament that the GKNB had overstepped its authority. "The intelligence agencies found 45 people criticising the president instead of countering new threats," she said. "All those efforts, funds, and precious time wasted on this purpose. "If we do not stop this practice, tomorrow we will face persecution of people who 'like' posts. And then we will have nothing left of our much-lauded democracy," Salyanova continued, calling on the Prosecutor General's Office to investigate both Karamushkina and the GKNB for violating constitutional provisions on freedom of expression. Kyrgyzstan is considered the most liberal country for freedom of speech in Central Asia. In the Freedom on the Net report by Freedom House, Kyrgyzstan is ranked 35 out of 65 countries. Neighbouring Kazakhstan is at 63. Reporters without Borders places Kyrgyzstan 85 out of 180 countries, with its neighbours ranked much lower. Tajikistan is at 150, Kazakhstan at 160 and Uzbekistan near the bottom of the list at 166. However, in recent years the Kyrygyz authorities have stepped up pressure on journalists and human rights defenders. Some activists and members of the opposition have complained of surveillance attempts by the intelligence agencies. Aziza Abdirasulova, the director of the Kylym Shamy Centre for Protection of Human Rights, last year reported being followed and having her conversations with other activists recorded. Attention has now fallen on social media. In early January, the Bishkek district court set a precedent when it obliged opposition activist Mavlyan Askarbekov to apologise for a critical Facebook post about legislator Dastan Bekeshev from the president's SDPK party. Media experts oppose these ighter controls, arguing that citizens should be allowed to express themselves freely and noting that online publications are already subject to legal jurisdiction. Last autumn, the Prosecutor General's Office began investigating a poem published on Facebook that contained a satirical reference to Atambaev. The verse could have possibly infringed laws on fomenting inter-regional strife or defaming the honour of the president. The results of this investigation are still unknown. In another incident last November, intelligence agencies in the east of the country called in Facebook user Joomart Jamgyrchiev for questioning after he joined an online group critical of the president. As well as searching his phone and house, the GKNB also questioned Jamgyrchiev's father and brother. The young man was released without charge but told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service that he would no longer made any kind of political statements online. The GKNB refused to comment on either incident. The Prosecutor General's Office is yet to give an official comment on this issue. However, according to the law this body is tasked with protecting the honour and dignity of the president. Atambaev's supporters say that this justifies the intelligence agencies in monitoring such online criticism, arguing that the president, along with the country's flag, is a national symbol. Citizens should be held liable if they insult them. Karamushkina told IWPR that she was not against reasonable and constructive criticism of the president, within limits. "The head of Kyrgyzstan and his family are being mocked and cursed," she said. "We say no one can mock people. Our president is our national symbol. Only constructive criticism should be allowed. All the rest can be deemed to worsen the situation in the country," Karamushkina said, arguing that action was long overdue. Karamushkina first raised the issue in parliament in October 2016, when deputy GKNB head Rustam Mamasadykov confirmed that the intelligence agencies regularly monitored negative information about the president on social media. The Adilet human rights organisation alleged that Karamushkina had asked the intelligence agencies to carry out these operations, meaning that her actions were liable for review by the committee on parliamentary ethics. She dismissed such suggestions, adding, "Intelligence agencies should have responded to such posts long before [my initiative]. They operate transparently. In this case, there was no covert action." Atambaev is known to be touchy about criticism from other politicians and the media. Late last year, he admitted that he personally intervened to refuse accreditation to Tekebaev's TV channel Sentyabr for the final annual press conference. Human rights defender Abdirasulova and another well-known activist Tolekan Ismailova were targeted by Atambaev in a public speech on May 21, 2016 when he called them "NGOers who are loyal to their foreign grants". Abdirasulova said that Atambaev set a bad example with his personal attacks. "We have become used to the fact that the president says whatever he wants," Abdirasulova told IWPR. "How can the president talk like this? It is clear that he sets the example. For example, who started drawing a distinction: bad or good journalist, bad or good mother? Atambaev did. "He's the fourth president under which I am carrying out my human rights activity and defending the rights of citizens," Abdirasulova concluded. "But I have never felt such an overt persecution and mockery as during Atambaev's rule." Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Afghanistan: The Taboo of Sexual Rejection Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Naqiba Barikzai Publication Date 23 January 2017 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Afghanistan: The Taboo of Sexual Rejection, 23 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58875bbb4.html [accessed 5 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. Zarmina, 36, lives in Herat city with her husband Juma Gul, a driver, and his second wife. "I got married to Juma Gul 17 years ago, but after six years he married another girl," she said. Ever since then, her husband has refused to have sex with her. "It's so hard to feel like a widow even though your husband is still alive," she said. "It's so hard for me to express how I feel." For more than a decade, Zarmina said that she had felt unloved and sexually frustrated. "Whenever I wanted to be intimate with my husband and approached him only to be rejected, I would go and kiss the holy Koran and ask Allah for patience and forgiveness, because there was no way I could leave my house and satisfy my desires by having sex with another man." To make matters worse, she shares a small house with Juma Gul and his second wife, and their rooms are directly opposite each other. In Islam, it is obligatory to wash one's entire body after having intercourse, and Zarmina said that it was obvious her husband and his second wife enjoyed an active sex life. "The worst part of my life that I've suffered over the last 11 years is to wake up in the morning and see my husband's second wife taking a bath after having had sex the previous night with my husband." Under Islamic law, a man can take up to four wives but is supposed to treat them all equally. In practice, the first wife is often rejected when her husband remarries. Although openly discussing such intimate matters is taboo in Afghanistan's conservative society, IWPR spoke to a number of women in the western city of Herat who said that their husband's second marriage had ruined their lives. As well as bitterly resenting years of being refused physical intimacy with their husband, some said that they had been denied the chance to have more children. Most Islamic scholars agree that it is forbidden for husbands to forgo sex for more than four months, and Sharia law allows a wife to seek a divorce if her husband is unable to satisfy her physical needs. "Satisfying sexual desire is one of the two main purposes of marriage in Islam," said Abdul Wahid Asimi, the director of Herat's department of haj and religious affairs. "When a man deprives his wife of sexual intercourse, he will have to answer to Allah for his actions." He added, "If a woman complains that her husband has refused to have sex with her, the court has the right to order their separation." But social pressure and the fear of public disgrace mean that few women pursue this course of action. Nafisa, 40, lives in the Naw Abad neighbourhood of Herat city and has been married toAbdul Qayum for 25 years. "I got married when I was 15, but after the birth of my third baby my husband married again. He has not had sex with me for the last 19 years," she said. "Some nights when I wanted to be close to my husband, I prepared his bed in my room, but he was with his second wife. I would call to him from my room to spend the night with me, but he would just insult me." Nafisa said that her husband began mistreating her and even beat her. After five years of this, he sent her to live in her brother's house in the Safi Abad area of Herat. "During these 15 years, Abdul Qayum never visited my brother's house to see me and he never tried to be intimate with me," she continued, adding that he had also refused to support her financially. Nafisa now washes clothes, takes in sewing and does shifts at a pistachio processing factory to earn enough to feed and clothe her children. Asked why she remained married, Nafisa replied, "I didn't divorce my husband because I am a Muslim woman and the separation of a wife from her husband is considered a great disgrace and shame." Mahbooba Jamshedi, director of Herat's department of women's affairs, said that men refusing to sleep with their wives was a widespread complaint. "Women come to my office and ask me, 'how are we supposed to satisfy our desires if our husbands will not have sexual intercourse with us?'" Maari Maihandyar, a prosecutor dealing with gender violence in Herat's attorney general's Office, agreed that it was a problem, albeit one that women found it hard to talk about. "Due to the fact that our society is dominated by conservative traditions, it's shameful for women to complain that they have been deprived of sexual intercourse," she said. "Women register their cases as violence," Maihanyaar continued, "When we investigate, we sometimes find out that the real reason is that their husbands refuse to have sex with them." Abdul Qadir Rahimi, head of the regional office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), said, "It's so sad that so many women don't understand Islamic law and so think that their husbands have the right to deprive them of sex. "Many women in Herat have the misconception that since Islam has permitted men to have many wives, men therefore also have the right to deprive their first and second wives of sexual intercourse after their third and fourth marriages." Second or third wives often put pressure on their husbands to reject their first wife. "There is a famous saying in Herat which says that a young wife is always envious; therefore, I don't want my husband to have sex with his first wife," said Somaya, 30, who married Dawood when she was just 12 years old. Somaya, who lives in the 6th district of Herat, said that she was indeed intensely jealous of her husband's first wife, adding that it was common amongst her community for men to have three or four wives. "It has been 18 years since I married Dawood, but I don't think that I have ever permitted my husband to have intercourse with Noor Bibi, his first wife." Abdul Bari, head of criminal investigations at Herat police headquarters, said that the problem was widespread. "Many men who have multiple wives violate their rights by refusing to sleep with them," he said, noting that it was impossible to get a clear understanding of the issue as so few women made formal complaints to the police. "Herat is a province which is dominated by deep-rooted customs and cultures, so people rarely come to the police with such cases," he said, adding that when such complaints were made they were passed on to community councils for arbitration. "The police respect local tribal customs, so we don't order the judicial authorities to intervene in such cases." However, IWPR spoke to one woman who decided to take legal action in an attempt to put pressure on her husband to be intimate with her. Speaking to IWPR after she had filed her complaint in the police station, the 30-year-old woman, a resident of the Bakar Abad area of Herat city, asked to remain anonymous. "Ten years ago I got married to my husband, a police officer," she said. "Two years ago my husband got married for the second time and since the time of that marriage he has not had sex with me. "In my letter of complaint, I wrote that for two years I had asked my husband to have sexual intercourse with me, but he that not only rejected my request but also beat me." She said that although Islam gave her the option of ending her marriage, she feared that might only make her life worse. "Due to fact that my parents don't want me to, I cannot divorce my husband." Immediately after this interview, the IWPR reporter witnessed the woman's husband confronting her and threatening to shoot her dead if she returned to his house. "You have insulted and embarrassed me in front of my colleagues by complaining that I have deprived you of sex," he shouted. But most women simply suffer in silence, feeling powerless to change their situation. Syed Bibi, a resident of Guzar Baraman in Herat city, married her husband Ahmad when she was 18 years old. Now 44, she said that her husband had little interest in a woman of her age. "Ahmad went to Iran 14 years ago and got married for a second time to an Iranian girl," she said. "After this second marriage, he used to come to Herat just for 10 or 12 days each summer. When Ahmad stayed in Herat, he had sex with me just once or twice." Syed Bibi continued, "Every year I asked him to come to Herat at least once every two months so we could be intimate; however, it never happened." Last year, Ahmed divorced his Iranian wife and treated Syed Bibi more kindly during his annual summer visit. "But after a few days after he got to Herat, he made a third marriage, to a 24-year old girl who was one of our neighbours," she said, adding that her life had become even worse since this latest union. The three of them shared a house, with Syed Bibi's room just opposite that of her husband and his third wife. She said that she could hear all their romantic talk and that it was unbearably humiliating when it was clear the two were having sex with each other. "Since my husband's third marriage, he has not had sex with me even once," Syed Bibi said. "My husband blames me because I am too old and he has made it clear that he wants to live with his 24-year old wife." Syed Bibi said that she was too ashamed to file for divorce, afraid of bringing disgrace upon herself and her family. She added, "I will never forgive my husband for not fulfilling his responsibilities as my husband for so many years." This report was produced under IWPR's Promoting Human Rights and Good Governance in Afghanistan initiative, funded by the European Union Delegation to Afghanistan. Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting What's at Stake in the Syrian Peace Talks in Astana? Publisher International Crisis Group (ICG) Author Noah Bonsey Publication Date 24 January 2017 Cite as International Crisis Group (ICG), What's at Stake in the Syrian Peace Talks in Astana?, 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58876e324.html [accessed 5 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. What's on the agenda for the peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan? Here in Astana, the spotlight is on the talks between the Syrian government and members of the armed opposition, but this is largely theatrics. Indeed, among the diplomats, journalists and analysts waiting in the hotel lobby and pub, there is a growing sense that we are also part of the show. The more substantive event involves trilateral discussions among Russia, Turkey and Iran, yet little has been revealed about their content. The very fact that Russia, Turkey, and Iran are driving the talks - with limited participation from the U.S. as an observer, and none at all from Saudi Arabia - reflects the extent to which the centre of gravity in the Syrian war has shifted. This is the result of military progress by the regime and its backers, declining U.S. influence (for the moment at least) in the conflict's central power struggle, and Riyadh's stepping back from a role in Syria (due to its Yemeni quagmire and the weakening of its preferred rebel partners). For those assembled in Astana, a principal focus is on the faltering, partially-observed ceasefire negotiated by Russia and Turkey in late December after the regime recaptured the eastern half of Aleppo. In theory, the ceasefire covers all parts of the country controlled by non-jihadist opposition and pro-regime forces, while allowing continued attacks on the Islamic State and Fath al-Sham, a Salafi-jihadist group formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, which until recently maintained official links to al-Qaeda. In practice, the ceasefire has lowered violence in the north, but failed to prevent continued regime offensives against opposition-held areas in the countryside around Damascus in the south. It is significant that the talks are in Russia's geopolitical backyard, and the ball is now largely in Moscow's court. Will it go further than it has done to date in pressing for a sustainable ceasefire capable of maintaining Turkish buy-in and adherence from non-jihadist rebels? If it chooses to do so, can it secure regime and Iranian cooperation? We don't yet know the answers. Are there signs that these talks will go any better than the many failed international efforts over the course of the war? Russia, Iran and Turkey all have significant leverage on the ground in Syria, which could be used to dramatically reduce the level of violence. Unfortunately, key dynamics that contributed to the ultimate failure of previous partial ceasefires remain in place. There are still big questions concerning the positions of Damascus and Tehran. The regime seems intent to stay on the attack, including through using Aleppo as a springboard to take additional territory in north-western Idlib province. Iran does not express its preferences so openly, but since Russia's intervention began in September 2015, Tehran and its proxies have clearly shown they see advantage in staying on the offensive. The regime and Iran-backed militias pursue local rather than national ceasefires; they achieve the former on favourable terms by applying relentless collective punishment to opposition-held areas, then exploit the resulting calm to shift forces toward escalation elsewhere. These deals are a key component of their military strategy, allowing them to expand their control while minimising strain on their limited manpower. A national ceasefire, if implemented, would bar additional offensives against the non-jihadist opposition, and thus is not desirable from their perspective. Indeed, regime and Iranian reluctance to forego opportunities for military advance was key to the erosion of the first Cessation of Hostilities in early 2016. It also helps explain why the current ceasefire has failed to take hold around Damascus, where eliminating remaining pockets of resistance is a top regime and Iranian priority. The rebel stronghold of Idlib province also contains what appear to be key regime and Iranian objectives - notably the town of Jisr al-Shaghour and surrounding areas adjacent to regime-held Lattakia province, and the Shiite villages of Foua and Kefraya. For the ceasefire to have any chance of extended success, more is required of the agreement's co-sponsors. Turkey would need to do more to incentivise rebel implementation and penalise violators among all opposition groups that it supports, including Ahrar al-Sham. Russia would need to do more to curb attacks by its allies, using their dependence on its air support as leverage. Bringing Iran on board is crucial, as it has ample tools with which to thwart the implementation of any deal achieved at its expense. On that front, Iran's role within and following the Astana talks will be interesting to watch. Can there be an effective ceasefire without engaging elements of the jihadist opposition as well, if not the Islamic State, then possibly Fath al-Sham? Indeed, Fath al-Sham, a Salafi-jihadist faction linked to al-Qaeda and one of the strongest rebel forces, constitutes a huge obstacle to a sustained ceasefire. As in the previous Cessations of Hostilities, Fath al-Sham is excluded from this accord. In fact, in each ceasefire it has faced the prospect of becoming the primary victim, as any sustained drop in violence within such a framework is likely to highlight diverging interests between the jihadist group and the rest of the armed opposition, while allowing continued strikes against it in the meantime. Moreover, the exclusion of Fath al-Sham provides a gigantic loophole for the regime and its allies to continue attacks, using the presence of Fath al-Sham fighters, real or imagined, as a pretext. This occurred during the early 2016 Cessation of Hostilities, and is currently happening in Wadi al-Barada, north-west of Damascus, which the regime has continued to attack throughout the ceasefire. (The regime cites the alleged presence of Fath al-Sham in justifying its Wadi al-Barada offensive; the group's presence is disputed, but it appears to compose at most a small minority of rebel fighters there). The combined spoiling potential of the regime, Iran (including its militia proxies) and Fath al-Sham is immense, and mutually reinforcing. Offensives by the former two are used as justification for attacks by the latter, and vice versa. Over time, repeated perceived violations of the ceasefire make it easy for Fath al-Sham to convince fellow rebels to resume attacks. We saw this during the early 2016 Cessation of Hostilities, when northern factions participating in the agreement initially abstained from offensives launched by Fath al-Sham (then known as Jabhat al-Nusra), but later were persuaded to join them. Any erosion of non-jihadist rebel participation in the ceasefire heightens eagerness in Damascus and Tehran to regain the military initiative, and may increase pressure on Russia to provide the requisite air support. A viable ceasefire will require a reconsideration of Fath al-Sham's exclusion. In theory, if there is consensus on the priority of lowering violence in Syria, it would be better to attempt including Fath al-Sham in any ceasefire. If they accept, great; if they refuse, the task of isolating them from more pragmatic opposition elements might ease. In practice, however, there has been no such consensus, and achieving Russian, Iranian or even American buy-in for a deal including the group is unrealistic. Working within those constraints, the best alternative would be to include within the ceasefire, for a defined period of time, areas in which Fath al-Sham maintains some presence but does not enjoy unilateral control. A sustained halt of pro-regime attacks in these areas would allow Turkey and its opposition allies time to employ the space, resources and political capital needed to address the Fath al-Sham problem in their midst. What does the opposition stand to gain from attending these talks? The opposition enters the negotiations from a weak position. The loss of eastern Aleppo had significant military and political ramifications, exacerbating divisions among and within its armed factions. This was most notable along a familiar faultline between hard-line Salafi-jihadists and more pragmatic non-jihadist rebels who define themselves as "revolutionaries". That surge in tension threatens to split one of the most powerful rebel factions, Ahrar al-Sham, which has long straddled that faultline. It has also fuelled clashes between members of Fath al-Sham and the allied jihadist faction Jund al-Aqsa, on one hand, and Ahrar al-Sham and smaller "revolutionary" factions on the other. The most significant of this in-fighting began on 23 January, when Fath al-Sham launched a pre-coordinated offensive on Jaish al-Mujahideen, a non-jihadist faction based west of Aleppo (see below). Ankara was able to convince most of the "revolutionary" factions to attend the Astana talks, with the notable exception of Ahrar al-Sham. They will want to strengthen and expand the ceasefire. Yet weakness on the battlefield limits the opposition delegation's leverage in the talks, and divisions within opposition ranks raises the potential costs and risks of any perceived concession to which they may agree. Negotiating under such difficult circumstances with an adversary like the Syrian regime, which avoided meaningful compromise even when it was much weaker, means there isn't much the opposition delegates can accomplish by themselves in Astana. They seek to broaden implementation of the ceasefire, but for that they are dependent first upon Turkey's ability to secure compromise from Russia, and second upon Russia's capacity to win Iranian acceptance and regime implementation of that compromise. The uneven implementation of the current ceasefire indicates that while Turkish-Russian engagement is high, it is insufficient to shift how the regime and Iran address their military priorities around Damascus. What is the impact on peace prospects of Turkey's big about-turn in Syria? A notable factor distinguishing this ceasefire from previous "Cessations of Hostilities" is the degree of direct Turkish involvement. For now at least, Turkey has replaced the U.S. as Russia's primary interlocutor in negotiating such arrangements. This is significant, as Turkey enjoys more direct leverage over, and trust among, the opposition's non-jihadist armed factions that are party to these agreements. Turkey is the most important ally of the opposition, and its shift toward significant coordination with Russia has become a major bone of contention in intra-opposition wrangling. Ankara pushed its rebel partners to agree to a ceasefire and to attend the Astana talks mostly for reasons of its own: it is preoccupied with its trans-border struggle with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its Syrian affiliate, cognisant of the opposition's weakening military hand, and keen to build on improved relations with Moscow. Most of the factions complied, despite intense counter-pressure from Fath al-Sham. Where does Turkey's change of heart leave the Syrian opposition? The bottom line is that the opposition's "revolutionary" factions, including Ahrar al-Sham, are at a strategic crossroads. Do they stick together alongside Turkey, which has de-emphasised - though not entirely dropped - the goal of replacing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but which can help the opposition preserve the territory it still holds via a combination of continued military support and, potentially, negotiated arrangements with Russia? This path constrains the non-jihadist opposition's offensive options, at least in the short run, and further increases tensions with Fath al-Sham. But it offers them the best opportunity to maintain territory and political relevance. Alternatively, the non-jihadist opposition could reject the diplomatic tack Turkey is urging, and move closer to Fath al-Sham. This could spare them the embarrassment of bitter compromise, and lower the risks of an intra-rebel war. But it might also cost them their state support, and would almost certainly subject them to increased military pressure. With no ceasefire on the table, Russia would likely throw its weight behind expanded and intensified military offensives. As the fate of eastern Aleppo made clear, that would entail immense bloodshed and destruction in opposition areas, resulting ultimately in further loss of territory. The opposition's "revolutionaries" should thus be clear: continuing to tie their fates to that of Fath al-Sham will transform their role in the conflict. It will reduce the scope of territory they control and push their rebellion, by choice or default, into a strategy of long-term asymmetric insurgency. That would suit Fath al-Sham's leadership and other Salafi-jihadists just fine - the tactics required play to their comparative advantages, and they appear to prefer continued war in pursuit of ideological objectives over compromise aimed at preserving what remains of the rebels' territorial gains and protecting the social fabric of local communities. The radicals' profit, however, would be the "revolutionary" factions' loss. More dependent on external state support and less proficient in insurgent tactics than their jihadist counterparts, they would lose relative weight within the rebellion alongside their continued territorial losses, and thus forfeit political relevance. Could you tell us more about the current fighting betwen Fath al-Sham and other rebels? Fath al-Sham's attack on Jaish al-Mujahideen west of Aleppo was no surprise. The decision by several "revolutionary" factions (including Jaish al-Mujahideen) to attend Astana talks further heightened tensions between them and Fath al-Sham. Another factor exacerbating that rift is the recent expansion and escalation of U.S. strikes targeting Fath al-Sham leadership and facilities. The U.S. has played a role in supporting Jaish al-Mujahideen and other "revolutionary" factions over the last three years, so the fact that U.S. drones are now killing Fath al-Sham leaders both fuels jihadist suspicion toward those factions and provides a pretext to attack them. The Fath al-Sham offensive has sparked broad anger within the rest of the armed opposition, and many are expressing solidarity with Jaish al-Mujahideen. But that alone won't add up to much, given Fath al-Sham's skill in divide-and-conquer tactics and knack for taking the initiative. If the "revolutionary" factions do not coordinate better to deter and defend against such attacks, their role in northern Syria will erode further still. How comfortable can the Damascus regime and its allies be as the opposition's many problems multiply? The regime and its allies are in a much better position than the opposition at the moment, indeed more comfortable in some respects than they have been since 2012. Yet even with their military momentum at its height, an obvious Achilles' heel remains: the shortage of capable, reliable Syrian fighters. The juxtaposition in December of the regime's Aleppo victory and its rapid loss of Palmyra to the Islamic State are instructive: while a combination of brutal collective punishment, Russian air support, and Iran-backed foreign militiamen can result in regime gains even in opposition strongholds, the regime lacks sufficient resources to effectively protect lower-priority territory in the meantime. The Syrian security forces have a serious manpower problem, and efforts to gradually expand conscription over the course of the conflict have failed to solve it. This presents a major challenge to Moscow and Tehran, which bear the burden of compensating for the regime's weaknesses. Even with all their help, the regime lacks the means to defeat its armed opponents outright. What it can do, if Iran and Russia provide the requisite men and firepower, is continue to reduce the scope of territory controlled by the opposition. If Damascus prioritises areas held by non-jihadist factions, as it has often done before, this will further reduce their collective political weight. In the process, however, the regime and its allies will be expanding the zone of territory to which they must dedicate precious fighters to control, leaving themselves vulnerable to a strategy of asymmetric insurgency aimed at gradually grinding away at their will and capacity. The pro-regime camp's depopulation tactics employed against opposition-held areas can mitigate this threat to some extent, but probably not enough to render the costs and risks easily sustainable, given their own manpower constraints, Syria's demographics, and the strength of the remaining insurgency. This vulnerability to a long-term, potentially dangerous insurgency does not appear to factor deeply in regime or Iranian decision-making. Yet they are unable to gain significant territory in northern rebel strongholds without robust Russian support. For its part, Moscow has often appeared more concerned than its allies of the risk of regime overstretch and more willing to explore diplomatic paths with the U.S. and, most recently, Turkey. If Russia can press for a sustainable ceasefire that is supported by Turkey, accepted by Iran, and adhered to by the regime and non-jihadist rebels, the potential result would be an effective freezing of the conflict. This would preserve remaining chunks of territory dominated by "revolutionary" rebels, but meanwhile set the stage for expanded confrontation with Fath al-Sham and fellow Salafi-jihadists. It would also cement the regime's position of strength and minimise its risk of overstretch. It remains to be seen how these Astana talks will feed into the UN-backed Geneva process, with the next round of meetings due to begin on 8 February. But we remain a long way from addressing the underlying issues, let alone reaching a broader political settlement to end the conflict. Kyrgyzstan: Profound abuse of rights continues: Prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov remains behind bars Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 24 January 2017 Reference EUR 58/5553/2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Kyrgyzstan: Profound abuse of rights continues: Prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov remains behind bars , 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/58876f4c4.html [accessed 5 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 decision of the Chui Regional Court on 24 January not to release prisoner of conscience Azimjan Askarov and overturn his conviction following its review of the case represents a grave setback for human rights in Kyrgyzstan. With the UN Human Rights Committee's findings issued last year that human rights defender Azimjan Askarov should be immediately released, adequately compensated, and his conviction quashed, the justice system in Kyrgyzstan had the chance to right the wrongs committed against Azimjan Askarov. That chance has been squandered. Instead, the court ruled that Azimjan Askarov must remain behind bars and Kyrgyzstan has once again failed to comply with its international human rights obligations. Azimjan Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in September 2010 following a trial that did not meet international fair trial standards. Azimjan Askarov also reported that he was tortured while in police custody. The charges against Azimjan Askarov were fabricated and politically motivated, and he is a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely for his human rights work. In its findings on Azimjan Askarov's case, the UN Human Rights Committee recognized that Azimjan Askarov was tortured, that he had been arbitrarily detained, that at some points, the conditions of his detention were inhumane, and that he was denied his right to a fair trial.(1) Amnesty International calls on the Kyrgyzstani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Azimjan Askarov. Justice denied Azimjan Askarov was accused of being an accomplice to the murder of a police officer during several days of violence that took place in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010. In fact, Azminjan Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek and Director of independent human rights organization Vozdukh ("Air"), had filmed and photographed some of the violence, killings, and arson attacks on mostly ethnic Uzbek homes and other buildings in the town of Bazar-Korgon, where he lived. In a trial conducted in September 2010 that fell far short of international law and standards, Azimjan Askarov was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of "storage of ammunition", "accomplice to premeditated murder" and "accomplice in the killing of a law enforcement officer". Azimjan Askarov reported that he was severely beaten in the first three days of his detention in an attempt to force him to confess to the murder of an ethnic Kyrgyz police officer. Azimjan Askarov reiterated these allegations during the review hearings at Chui Regional Court. These allegations of torture have never been effectively investigated in Kyrgyzstan. Successive appeals lodged by his lawyers in 2013 and 2014 to reinvestigate the case were rejected. Azimjan Askarov's health has significantly deteriorated in the six and a half years that he has been in prison and he has been denied the medical care that he needs. The Human Rights Committee's Findings(2) The Human Rights Committee found that Azimjan Askarov's rights under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights had been violated under four different articles of the Covenant. The Human Rights Committee recognized that Azimjan Askarov was tortured, in violation of Article 7 of the ICCPR, which states that "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The Committee also found that the Kyrgyzstani authorities had failed in their duty to promptly, impartially and effectively investigate Azimjan Askarov's allegations that he had been tortured. The Committee also upheld Azimjan Askarov's complaint that he had been arbitrarily detained from 15 June until 16 June 2010, during which time his family were unable to locate him and before he was formally arrested, in violation of Article 9.(3) Azimjan Askarov was also held under inhumane conditions of detention, according to the Committee's findings, in violation of Article 10.4 This includes the ongoing denial of access to proper medical treatment for the serious medical conditions from which he suffers. Finally, the Committee found that Azimjan Askarov had been denied his right to a fair trial, in violation of Article 14 of the Covenant.(5) The Committee noted Kyrgyzstan's obligations to immediately release Azimjan Askarov, to grant him an adequate compensation, and to quash his conviction. The Committee also stressed Kyrgyzstan's obligation to take steps to prevent similar violations occurring in the future. The re-examination of the case While the authorities did not implement the UN Human Rights Committee's findings and immediately release Azimjan Askarov, the country's Supreme Court accepted to review his case. International and domestic observers, from human rights organizations as well as from diplomatic missions, attended the Supreme Court hearing in July 2016, some at the direct invitation of the Kyrgyzstani authorities. They hoped the Court would set a precedent by fully complying with the UN Committee's findings. However, the Supreme Court did not rule to release Azimjan Askarov, instead ordering the case to be referred to the Chui Regional Court for re-examination. The hearings began on 4 October. The hearings were not held at Chui Regional Court but in a court room inside a detention centre. Azimjan Askarov took part in the hearings, and was escorted to the court room under heavy police guard and seated in a cage with iron bars. His defence team asked for him to be released or at least allowed to sit with his lawyers. The court refused both requests and only agreed that the defence team's bench could be moved next to the cage, so that his defence team could consult directly with Azimjan Askarov. The defence lawyers were allowed to question prosecution witnesses in detail and to call their own witnesses. Access to the court room was generally not problematic, and trial monitors were able to attend. Background Four days of violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010 left hundreds dead, thousands injured, and hundreds of thousands displaced. To date, the authorities in Kyrgyzstan have failed in their duty to fairly and effectively investigate the violence and its aftermath, and provide justice and reparations to the thousands of victims of the serious crimes and human rights violations that took place, including crimes against humanity. While serious crimes were committed by members of both ethnic groups, the majority of the damage, injuries and deaths were suffered by ethnic Uzbeks. The latter has since been confirmed on numerous occasions by officially released figures. Nevertheless, in the period immediately following the June 2010 violence and in the six years since, ethnic Uzbeks have been disproportionately targeted for detention and prosecution in connection with the violence, and have also faced discrimination and violent attacks on the basis of their ethnicity that have not been properly investigated and prosecuted. Further information Kyrgyzstan: International Fair Trial Standards and Security Must Be Ensured at the Forthcoming Review of the Case of Prisoner of Conscience Azimjan Askarov (Index: EUR 58/4409/2016), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur58/4409/2016/en/ Kyrgyzstan: Supreme Court leaves 65-year-old Prisoner of Conscience languishing in jail, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/07/kyrgyzstan-supreme-court-leaves-prisoner-ofconscience-languishing-in-jail/ 1-Human Rights Committee, "Views adopted by the Committee under article 5 (4) of the Optional Protocol, concerning communication No. 2231/2012", CCPR/C/116/D/2231/2012, 21 April 2016. 2-The UN Human Rights Committee was established pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Kyrgyzstan is a state party. 3-ICCPR Article 9, paragraph 1: " No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention" 4 ICCPR Article 10, paragraph 1: "All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person." 5-ICCPR Article 14, Paragraph 3: "In the determination of any criminal charge against them, everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality: (b) To have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of his own choosing [and] (e) To examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him" Kyrgyzstan: Release Prisoner of Conscience Azimjan Askarov (Index: EUR 58/3960/2016), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur58/3960/2016/en/ Kyrgyzstan: Five Years On: Justice Still Denied (Index: EUR 58/1846/2015) https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur58/1846/2015/en/ Will there ever be justice? Kyrgyzstan's failure to investigate June 2010 violence and its aftermath (Index: EUR58/001/2013) https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur58/001/2013/en/ Kyrgyzstan: Dereliction of Duty (Index: EUR58/001/2012) https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur58/001/2012/en/ Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International As tensions ease, some displaced return to Bangui Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Djerassem Mbaiorem Publication Date 24 January 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), As tensions ease, some displaced return to Bangui, 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/588771fa4.html [accessed 5 November 2022] Antoine Nambeyam shuffles forward on his crutches towards the head of the queue. It is a line that will finally take the amputee home after three years in a dilapidated site for thousands of people displaced by conflict in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, or CAR. He has come to collect his family's cash grant of US$80 from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, that will help the 60-year-old and his family rebuild their lives and damaged house in Bangui, some 15 kilometres north of the Carmel site for internally displaced people. "We stayed here for three years because we had no choice. The security situation was so bad that we had to save our families," he says. "Given that the violence has reduced in Bangui, we are happy to return to our districts," adds the father of four, who lost his leg during his internal exile because he could no longer work and pay for drugs to treat his severe diabetes. Almost 80,000 residents of Bangui are still displaced by the conflict. Nambeyam is among more than 4,250 residents who have returned under a voluntary programme launched in the first week of January by UNHCR and the government. Among those who returned to the capital under the scheme were 3,000 people from Carmel. UNHCR and government teams will be helping others in the coming days. A separate return programme, managed by the Government with technical support from UNHCR has enabled another 15,000 displaced people to leave the squalid camp at Bangui's M'Poko International Airport - where they lived in dire conditions and were dangerously close to air traffic - and return home. CAR slipped into chaos in the months after former Seleka rebels seized power in March 2013, ousting then-President Francois Bozize and sparking a brutal backlash from anti-balaka militias in December of that year. This and subsequent violence displaced almost one million people and left parts of Bangui looted and in ruins. Some 475,000 residents fled to neighbouring countries and more than 434,000 people made their way to safer areas within CAR. Going back to Bangui is a big step, given the bad memories of the explosion of violence that drove people to run for their lives. Nambeyam, who has since returned to the capital's Boeing district with assistance from relatives, explains why he opted to return. "Although my house was destroyed, I am relieved to leave the Carmel site because the living conditions are extremely difficult. We slept on cardboard and it was very cold at night." He said UNHCR supplied blankets, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets and other aid to displaced residents, but they sold these to buy food. After reaching the head of the queue and collecting his cash, Antoine said he was going to use some of the money to buy two mattresses on which he can sleep with his family in his plundered and destroyed house. "After the return, the next step will be to support the reintegration of the returnees," said UNHCR Deputy Representative Charles Mballa. "UNHCR and its partners plan to focus their interventions on programmes supporting social cohesion and reconciliation, livelihoods, rehabilitation of houses and mobilization of other actors in areas of return to enable the returnees to start a new life in dignity." UNHCR is already working on reintegration projects in parts of the country such as Ouham Pende and Lobaye prefectures in the west, where the agency and partners have been rebuilding homes and infrastructure to enable a sustainable return of internally displaced people and refugees. But CAR remains fragile a year after the democratic elections that brought President Faustin-Archange Touadera to power. Fighting in the second half of last year has displaced another estimated 150,000 people in an area running from Bria, Alindao and Bambari to Ippy and Bakala. This pushed the number of internally displaced people to a record 434,174 at the end of November 2016. With the ongoing returns in Bangui this number had again decreased to 411,785 by mid-January. Kyrgyzstan tramples upon its human rights commitments and maintains Askarov in jail Publisher International Federation for Human Rights Publication Date 24 January 2017 Cite as International Federation for Human Rights, Kyrgyzstan tramples upon its human rights commitments and maintains Askarov in jail, 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/588774164.html [accessed 5 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. Today, the Chuy Regional Court of Kyrgyzstan upheld the life sentence against human rights defender Azimjan Askarov, in blatant violation of a decision issued by a United Nations body, requesting his release and the quashing of his conviction. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (a FIDH-OMCT partnership) denounces Kyrgyzstan's failure to comply with the UN decision - and calls for Mr. Askarov's immediate and unconditional release. This morning, the Court confirmed the original verdict of 2010, finding Mr. Azimjan Askarov, an ethnic Uzbek, founder of the human rights NGO Vozduh (Air), guilty of complicity in the murder of a policeman, inciting violence and mass disorder. As the initial trial was marred by allegations of torture, intimidation, due process violations and violations of the right to a fair trial, in March 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) ordered the quashing of Mr. Askarov's conviction as well as his release on the grounds that his defence was obstructed during the judicial process, through the prevention of the examination of witnesses on his behalf, obstacles posed on his lawyer from attending the first hearing, and the little time allocated for the preparation of his defence. During the appeal retrial hearings, which took place from October 4, 2016 to January 24, 2017, six other co-accused admitted having been tortured, ill-treated and threatened with further violence in case they did not testify against the defendant. " This verdict is clearly politically motivated. Azimjan Askarov should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and every day of his sentence is Kyrgyzstan's defiance of international human rights law and UN institutions ", said lawyer Kirill Koroteev, who attended several hearings of the retrial on behalf of the Observatory. Prior to his arrest in June 2010, Mr. Azimjan Askarov was investigating police brutality as well as detention conditions in Kyrgyz prisons. He notably documented violence in Bazar Korgon during ethnic clashes that sparked in June 2010 in southern Kyrgyzstan, resulting in the death of nearly 500 Uzbeks and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. Mr. Askarov and his lawyers have repeatedly claimed the innocence of the defendant, providing proof that he was not even present at the crime scene. Throughout the new appeal re-trial, the principle of equality of arms was once again blatantly violated: Mr. Askarov was not released as requested in the UN decision, placed in a metal cage during all hearings and forced to wear a jacket bearing the inscription "Life imprisonment", in breach of the principle of presumption of innocence. In addition, his lawyers and supporters were intimidated and slandered throughout the process. Three of the six main prosecution witnesses questioned on October 11, 2016 - all former police officers present at the scene of the accident - failed to remember whether Mr. Azimjan Askarov was among the crowd when it attacked the police officer. The other three witnesses could not remember neither how the latter looked that day, nor how he would have incited the crowd to attack policemen. Finally, the failure by the court to investigate claims of torture and pressure exerted on defence witnesses also demonstrated that the appeal re-trial fell short of recognised fair trial standards. At the normative level, this trial has led to the adoption of constitutional amendments by referendum on December 11, 2016, resulting in the effective repeal of Article 41.2 of the Constitution. This Article provided that the finding by an international human rights body of a violation of international treaties ratified by Kyrgyzstan shall be considered as "new circumstances" that warrant the reopening of criminal proceedings. On April 27, 2016, in the aftermath of the UN CCPR decision, Mr. Askarov had filed an appeal to review his conviction before the Supreme Court on the basis of that Article. The Observatory will publish a trial observation report in the coming weeks, shedding light on fair trial violations that took place during the proceedings before the Chuy Regional Court, in breach of Kyrgyzstan's international human rights commitments. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society. As Gambia crisis passes, displaced return from Senegal Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Helene Caux Publication Date 24 January 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), As Gambia crisis passes, displaced return from Senegal, 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5887766d4.html [accessed 5 November 2022] John* could not hide the relief on his face as he waited with his wife and children for a bus at Senegal's Selety border crossing to take them back to their home in the Gambia after two weeks of awful uncertainty. "It is over, we are going back home," he grinned, one of more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, who have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended when former president Yahya Jammeh ceded power on Friday and went into exile a day later. John explained that he decided to leave his home in the town of Kunkujang-Mariam, in the Serrekunda region, a fortnight ago, as Jammeh refused to accept the results of the December 1 presidential election, which was won by opposition leader Adama Barrow. This sparked a regional crisis and prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal according Senegalese authorities. "We just did not know how things would turn out. Thank God, the blood bath has been avoided," 42-year-old John said, echoing the thoughts of many who had feared the situation in the Gambia could tip into violence. Like many he praised host families for their warm welcome in Senegal. "People have opened their homes for us, we stayed with a family we did not even know. They have been very, very nice." Authorities in the Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home. John and his wife and children prepared to take one to West Field Junction, in the Serrekunda region. From there, they planned to hire a car or take a taxi. On Saturday, 530 people crossed back through the Selety border crossing in Senegal's Ziguinchor region. On Sunday, the number grew to over 3,700, with as many again on Monday, some heading home in private cars, on motorcycles, or hoping to board a bus. Others have been going back to the Gambia through informal crossings on the northern and southern borders. Some returning by boat to Banjul, the Gambian capital, are arriving on crowded ferries which are reportedly old and unsafe. During the crisis, people fled or hid in their homes, turning Banjul into a ghost town. A team from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Banjul says that some normalcy has begun to return, as some schools and shops re-open. During the political impasse, thousands of displaced people from the Gambia have been hosted by families in Senegal. Many, like Mariama* - who is hosting up to 15 people in her home, including a cousin and her baby - have struggled to feed them. "I used to cook one kilo of rice a day for my own family," said Mariama. "Now, with the new people I am hosting in my home, I cook three to four kilos a day. I had to dig into our food resources to feed everyone. It is okay - we need to help them - but now, in order to have extra money to buy rice, I prepare and sell breakfasts to people in my neighbourhood." To meet the needs of both displaced people and their hosts, the Senegalese government has been quick to act. The authorities have delivered and distributed several tons of food to the displaced and host families - including rice, oil and sugar. Forty tons of rice arrived in Ziguinchor region in last week and distribution has started in several villages hosting displaced people. In addition to food aid, the government is also providing mattresses, matts, sheets, blankets, and soap to those in need. UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies and NGOs continue to stand ready to help the Senegalese authorities to assist the displaced, as needed. Together, UN teams continue to monitor the border. An estimated 3,500 people also sought safety in Guinea-Bissau in the past 10 days. The Gambian embassy there has asked for UNHCR' s assistance to help those people return home. * Names changed for protection reasons UN, partners voice deep concern about 750,000 civilians as battle sets to begin in western Mosul Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 24 January 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN, partners voice deep concern about 750,000 civilians as battle sets to begin in western Mosul, 24 January 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/588777d840c.html [accessed 5 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. 24 January 2017 - A hundred days after the start of military operations to retake Mosul from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da'esh) militants, humanitarian partners are expressing deep concern about the plight of the estimated 750,000 civilians who are currently living in the western sections of the city where fighting is expected to start in coming weeks. Up until now, eastern Mosul has been the main battleground. To date, 180,000 people have fled the city's eastern sections; more than 550,000 civilians have stayed in their homes. We are relieved that so many people in the eastern sections of Mosul have been able to stay in their homes. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives, said Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, in a statement signed also by other humanitarians from UN agencies and the civil society. We don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing, said Ms. Grande, noting that humanitarian partners are unable to access these areas and the prices of basic food and supplies are soaring. Water and electricity are intermittent in neighbourhoods and many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm, she added. We don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus, said Ms. Grande. They can be killed by booby-traps and in cross-fire and could be used as human shields. The Iraqi security forces have adopted a humanitarian concept of operations putting civilian protection at the centre of their battle plan. Humanitarian partners welcome this approach and renew their collective call on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance. The world's attention is fixed on the military campaign in Iraq. But once this is over, there will still be a humanitarian crisis, Ms. Grande said, noting that as many as three million Iraqis, maybe even four million depending on what happens in Mosul, Hawiga and Tel Afar, may be displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict. These families will need to make crucial choices about how to rebuild and re-establish their lives. And we will need to be here to help them. We hope and trust that the international community will not walk away after Mosul. It would be a mistake - a very big one - if this were to happen, she added. Tourism Australia ambassador Chris Hemsworth attended the first GDay USA event held on Monday 23 January that showcased Australias stunning food and wine, and coastal experiences through a virtual tour of the country offering the senses, sounds and smells of Australia. Guests at the event were fully immersed in the best experiences on offer in Australia while sampling a menu curated by Neil Perry, one of Australias most iconic chefs, and matching wines supplied by Wine Australia. G'Day USA also celebrated Australia Day in Los Angeles with events including the LA Black Tie Gala and Film Event and a VIP dinner with chef Curtis Stone. Chris Hemsworth helped launch Tourism Australias aquatic and coastal campaign focusing on the countrys gorgeous beaches, in January, in New York last year (2016). The campaign has been hugely successful, with record-breaking visitor arrivals and spending. Arrivals out of the US have crossed the 700,000 mark, reaching 705,000 in the last 12 months, up 18.3 per cent. Its a great honour to play a role in promoting my country to the rest of the world. My first year as an ambassador for Australia has been incredible, from experiencing the outback of Uluru and The Kimberley with my family, diving the Great Barrier Reef and exploring the islands and beaches of the Whitsundays. I am looking forward to another year seeing Australia and sharing its natural beauty with the rest of the world, said Chris Hemsworth. Celebrities including actors Naomi Watts, Callan McAuliffe, Dan Churchill, Brenton Thwaites, Matt Wright, Luke Mitchell and Rebecca Breeds were among guests at the event along with The Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, The Hon Steven Ciobo MP, media and top travel advisors from luxury travel network Virtuoso. Actor Rachel Griffiths emceed the event and joined Hemsworth on stage to talk about his first year as Tourism Australias global ambassador. Tourism Australia Managing Director, John OSullivan said GDay USA provided a perfect platform to showcase the best of Australia tourism to influential representatives of the US travel industry. Its great to return to New York, almost exactly a year after Chris Hemsworth helped us launch our latest global tourism campaign. Travel by Americans to Australia is growing at levels we havent enjoyed since the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As Chris has so eloquently told the world, Australia is a place you feel and Im delighted that a record-breaking 705,000 Americans have been able to do just that over the past 12 months. Through virtual reality and 360 technologies, we have built a campaign which brings Australia to the world in the most immersive way possible, so people have a much greater sense of what it feels like to visit the country and experience what we have to offer. Consumers have responded extremely well and weve seen a step-change in the quantity and quality of leads we are now passing on to our industry partners. Our Virtual Australia event in New York is about using this incredible content to connect with American travel agents and key distribution partners, improving their appreciation of our country and, by doing so, helping to influence more visits. At the event, Tourism Australia and leading luxury travel network Virtuoso announced an expanded partnership across North America, which will put a spotlight on Australia in 2017 through a range of joint activities including dedicated marketing to Virtuosos affluent clientele and a major training focus for its travel advisors. This event that Tourism Australia is hosting exclusively for our travel agency members promises to be a spectacular way of showcasing this energetic and diverse country, says Matthew D. Upchurch, Chairman and CEO of Virtuoso. Not only is it one of my personal favourites to visit, but Australia continues to be a key location for our travel advisors and their clients, consistently ranking in our top 10 destinations by sales and as the number one dream destination for Virtuoso travellers. This new agreement between Tourism Australia and Virtuoso makes it that much easier for our advisors to send people to this extraordinary part of the world by providing them with knowledge and resources. Our shared goal is to ensure that every Virtuoso agency in North America has an Australian specialist on board, someone who can assist clients as well as their fellow colleagues. Amadeus announced that Rajiv Rajian is appointed Executive Vice President of Global Business Travel, effective immediately. With global business travel spend set to reach $1.6 trillion in 2020*, Rajian will be tasked with driving continued growth worldwide across three key pillars of Amadeus' business travel division: Global Travel Management Companies (TMCs), the Specialty and Networks customers, and corporations. This will consist of leading global TMCs and clients operating in the managed travel verticals such as marine and energy as well as the franchise and network clients. The role will also encompass expanding Amadeus' business travel portfolio, including Amadeus cytric Travel & Expense and continuing to support the 11,000+ customers that use Amadeus' online booking tools today. Rajian brings 20 years of deep travel industry expertise to Amadeus, with a strong track record in business travel, product marketing, strategy and mergers and acquisitions. In his most recent role, Rajian was responsible for all commercial activities for Sabre Travel Network, incorporating both global and corporate customers, as Vice President, Global Sales & Account Management. Before that, Rajian spent time as Vice President, Product Marketing, also at Sabre, with responsibility worldwide for all points of sale and platform solutions. The Etihad Aviation Group President and Chief Executive Officer James Hogan will step down in the second half of 2017. The Board and Mr. Hogan first initiated the transition process last year with the formation in May of the Etihad Aviation Group, a diversified global aviation and travel organisation. Commenting on Mr. Hogans time at Etihad, H.E. Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Etihad Aviation Group said: We are very grateful to James. In just ten years, he has overseen the growth of the company from a 22 plane regional carrier into a 120 aircraft global airline and aviation group, with seven airline equity partnerships which together serve more than 120 million guests every year. It is a business which has set new benchmarks for service and innovation. Under his leadership, the company has provided new opportunities for thousands of Emiratis and has been a critical element in the remarkable progress of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We look forward to James continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways. James Hogan commented: Along with the Board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi. The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad. Mr. Hogan will join an investment company along with Etihad Aviation Group CFO James Rigney, who will also leave the company later this year. A global search for a new Group CEO and a new Group CFO is already underway. A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017 A rights group on Tuesday called for the immediate release of detained Chinese rights lawyer Xie Yang, detailing his lawyers' reports of his torture in a police-run detention center in the central province of Hunan. Xie was subjected to confinement in a "hanging chair" made of plastic chairs stacked high above the ground for hours at a time, so that his legs swelled up and he was in excruciating pain, he told his lawyers. He was also deprived of sleep and repeatedly beaten, humiliated, and taunted with death threats against his family, CHRD cited his lawyers' notes as saying. Xie's lawyer Liu Zhengqing confirmed to RFA that he had filed a formal complaint on his client's behalf over his treatment in detention, but declined to comment further. "Right now all I can do is act as his lawyer," Liu said, adding that no date has yet been set for Xie's trial on charges of "incitement to disrupt public order and subvert state power." Initially detained on July 11, 2015, Xie was held under "residential surveillance at a designated location" in a government guesthouse belonging to the National University of Defense Technology in Hunan's provincial capital, Changsha. Subjected to abuse including deprivation of food and water, Xie was tortured again after being moved to the police-run Changsha No. 2 Detention Center following his formal arrest on Jan. 9, 2016, CHRD said. "Once, when he felt gravely ill and feared he was going to die, he demanded the police call in a medical emergency, but instead an officer arrived and beat him," the group said in a statement on its website. "Interrogators threatened to kill him so that nobody would know what happened to him, and threatened to kill his wife and child," it said. Orders from higher up It said the officers interrogating Xie had boasted that nothing would be done about their actions, because they were acting under orders from the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. "Xie ... is at risk of retaliation by the same police officers whom he accused of torturing him," CHRD said. Xie and his lawyer have filed a complaint against the police officers, demanding an investigation and prosecution for "torturing to force confession" and "using violence to extract evidence," both forbidden under China's Criminal Law. Among those named in the complaint were the head of the Hunan provincial state security police Li Feng, and Changsha municipal state security police chief Li Kewei. Interrogators Li Yang, Qu Ke, and Yin Zhuo were also named in the complaint, although their rank and agency was unclear. However, CHRD said detention center staff allowed Xie's lawyers unprecedented access to their client, and made no attempt to stop them leaving with copious notes taken during their meetings with him. Under close surveillance Xies wife Chen Guiqiu, who was held and questioned for seven hours on Jan. 20 after the torture allegations were made public. She told RFA that fellow activists have rallied around with an online selfie campaign, posting photos of themselves holding up placards supporting Xie. However, she said she was unable to give a longer interview, suggesting that she remains under close surveillance by state security police. "It's not convenient for me to give interviews right now," Chen said when contacted by RFA on Monday. "I can't tell you [why] ... I have my own troubles," she said. Lawyer Ma Lianshun, who is representing Xie in the complaint over his torture, said China's lawyers are living in a "time of terror." "We have to use methods [like lawsuits] as a way of making our voices heard," Ma said. "That is already pretty courageous, but as for how much use it will be, it's hard to see what kind of result we could get." "I don't think there will be a direct result ... but Xie could end up getting slightly better treatment. They might not dare beat him after [after this], because if they carry on doing it, the whole world will know about it," he said. "They could get into a lot of trouble if they persist." 'Worst in recent times' Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said the crackdown, in which more than 300 lawyers, law firm staff, rights activists, and relatives were detained, questioned, or placed under surveillance or other restrictions since the crackdown began, was the worst the legal profession has seen in recent times. "The treatment of Xie Yang is a particularly egregious example of it," Hu, who was instrumental in organizing the photo campaign, said. "We are standing up so as to ensure that citizens get a bit less of this inhumane treatment, [or better], none of it at all." "Lawyers have always protected us in the past; now it's time for us to speak on their behalf, and ... and let the administration of Xi Jinping know that ... the people stand with the lawyers," he said. According to CHRD, China was requested to provide an update last December to the United Nations' Committee Against Torture on any progress on issues it found with its record on torture. The group said the report, which was to have included details of independent investigations into torture allegations and criminal penalties for perpetrators, is overdue. Reported by Wong Lok-to for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. The daughter-in-law of former Lao prime minister Thongsing Thammavong distanced herself on Tuesday from rumored ties to a Lao drug dealer arrested last week in Thailand, saying that a photo showing her and Thammavongs son together with crime boss Xaysana Keopimpha was taken by accident." The photo, which has circulated widely on Facebook pages following Xaysanas Jan. 19 arrest, shows only a casual social connection among the three, Sommaly Thammavong told RFAs Lao Service. We have not done any business with him, and we didnt know what he was involved in, Thammavong said. We met him by accident and had photos taken occasionally at parties or at weddings, Thammavong, the wife of the former prime ministers son Dethsongkam Thammavong, said. We each earn our living in different ways. Many in Laos suspect closer connections between Xaysana, the leader of a major methamphetamines distribution network in the ASEAN region, and the Thammavongs, though, a legal expert living in Laos told RFA. The photo shows that they are close friends, and the public believes they have close ties, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Is it really possible that they knew nothing about Xaysanas background or the nature of his work before they allowed themselves to be photographed with him?, he asked. [Xaysana] was arrested in Thailand because the police there know that he is protected in Laos by powerful political figures, and that law enforcement in the country is weak. 'Enormous assets in Laos' Speaking to the press on Jan. 20 following Xaysanas arrest the day before at Thailands Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thai police major-general Sommai Kongwisaisuk thanked Lao law-enforcement authorities for providing information that helped lead to the arrest. Lao authorities said to us that if we couldnt arrest him here, they wouldnt be able to do anything in Laos. Xaysana has enormous assets in Laos, Kongwisaisuk, chief of Thailands Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said. I dont know whats going on over there. Prior to Xaysanas arrest, Thai police in 2016 took into custody four members of Xaysanas drug network, seizing over 5 million methamphetamine, or yaba, pills, Thai officials told reporters at a press briefing on Jan. 20. The arrests and subsequent investigation led finally to the Jan. 19 arrest of Xaysana and three associates after they arrived in Bangok following a visit to the southern Thai resort town of Phuket, Thai officials said. Reached by telephone for comment, residents in the Lao capital Vientiane declined to discuss the case, saying they feared their conversations were being monitored. Reported by Manichanh Phimphachanh and Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFAs Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh and Somnet Inthapannha. Written in English by Richard Finney. Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith speaking during the 2016 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit has attempted to make the fight against corruption a signature of his administration, Sept. 7, 2016. Lao government officials found guilty of corruption charges are voluntarily returning the money and assets they obtained through their illegal activities to the government, an official with the State Audit Organization (SAO) told RFAs Lao Service. While the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to say just how much money or the extent of the assets, he told RFA that it was a significant amount. Oh, it is a huge amount of money, but we still cannot show the exact number as the process is underway, he said. After we found financial misconduct, we suggested to the corrupt officials that they return the money and assets to the government voluntarily. The majority of them follow our recommendations. While the official said the ill-gotten gains will be returned to the Lao treasury, the officials arent absolved of punishment and could still face charges. The Lao government led by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has been attempting to reign in the rampant corruption that saps confidence in the nation. Transparency International ranks Laos as the 139th most corrupt country out of 168 nations. Bribes, kickbacks, document forgery and fraud have become a part of life in Laos and government officials have often used their offices to enrich themselves, their families and their close associates. The SAO has played a significant role in Thonglouns anti-corruption crusade as agency audits have been a key tool in attempts to root out high-ranking government officials involved in corruption including a government probe into a former finance minister. Phouphet Khamphounvong, Lao finance minister from 2012 to 2014 and formerly a governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR (Peoples Democratic Republic), was arrested at the end of December 2015 while attending a party, a finance ministry source told RFAs Lao Service at the time. Taken into custody at the same time were Phouphets former secretary general, a director general of the ministry, a deputy director of the ministrys budget department, and another official whose job was not specified, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Ghost projects Phouphet was linked to so-called ghost projects in Oudomxay province for which the ministry granted concessions to private firms to build roads in that northern province to support the countrys 10th National Sport Games in 2014. The roads were never built, but the contracting firms later converted bonds issued in promise of future payment into cash with the help of commissions paid to finance ministry officials, sources told RFA. There have been many reports in state media that credit the SAO with uncovering government waste or ghost projects that range from $10,000 to $10 million. The SAO official told RFA that the asset declaration program instituted in 2014 had become a valuable tool in its audits. Under the program government officials have been required to declare their assets since 2014. That gave the SAO the ability to compare government officials assets over time. If there is a big jump, then that becomes a red flag for the auditors. We completed it the first round and it is over 90% now, he said. We are going to start the second one, but we have to identify what we have learnt or if there is any problem or gap and if there is any impact from our work. While the official lauded the program, he still declined to release documentation that would show how much money and what assets government officials hold. A Lao intellectual who attempts to track corruption in the country told RFA that any results claimed by the SAO be unreliable. It may work, but it seems like the results will not be reliable, he said. How can we have transparency or good governance without an independent body to check? The government always approves laws to defend themselves as there is no opposition party. The body who will act as an audit body must be independent or without political influence. Officials cited for corruption While the SAO is keeping its numbers hidden, another government agency, the State Inspection Authority (SIA), has been more forthcoming with state media. As of today, more than 1,900 officials and civil servants at the central level, 98,000 people under ministerial supervision, and 142,000 officials and civil servants under provincial administrations have declared their assets, the Vientiane Times reported. According to the Vientiane Times, officials from the agriculture sector in Saravan province involved in document forgery, defrauded the state of 11.3 billion Lao kip (U.S. $1.38 million) and 8.3 million Thai baht (U.S. $ 235,461). Meanwhile officials from the province's Department of Labor and Social Welfare embezzled more than 200 million kip, the news outlet reported. Around 5.8 billion kip was embezzled by taxation and customs officials in Savannakhet province, while officials at the Ministry of Finance's Taxation Department were found to have embezzled 6.9 billion kip last year. At the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, it was found that about 20 billion kip had been misappropriated. SIA Vice President Sinay Mienglavanh said officials had engaged in corrupt activities such as bribery, abuse of power, sub-standard or fraudulent construction methods and document forgery, and the defrauding of state and cooperative assets. According to the report, investigations were carried out in relation to 71 officials suspected of corrupt conduct last year, of whom nine were from the Ministry of Finance, 30 from Oudomxay province, three from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, 27 from Savannakhet province, one from Saravan province, and one from the labour and social welfare sector. Cases involving 25 officials were identified for prosecution, some of those cases have already been adjudicated. Reported and translated by Lanxang for RFAs Lao Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. A soldier from the Ta'ang National Liberation Army emerges from a forest in Mantong township in Myanmar's northern Shan state, Jan. 16, 2014. An alliance of four ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar forces in northern Shan and Kachin states said on Tuesday it wants to participate in peace talks with the government next month, but demanded that China and another ethnic militia be present as witnesses, an officer from one of the groups said. The Northern Alliance, which includes the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), teamed up last November to carry out coordinated attacks on government and military targets in northern Shan state. We believe a cease-fire is not a final solution, and we have a desire to hold talks with the government to get a political solution, Major Mai Ai Kyaw of the TNLA told RFAs Myanmar Service. We want China and the UWSA [United Wa State Army] to act as witnesses, but we havent had any responses so far, he said. They need not take part in the talks, but only attend as witnesses. The UWSAMyanmars largest nonstate armyis led by ethnic Chinese commanders and controls the Wa Special Region in eastern Myanmars Shan state. It has previously received support and weapons from China, though the militia has not been involved in any clashes with government troops in recent years. UWSA delegates walked out of the first round of peace negotiations in the civilian-led governments 21st-century Panglong Conference early last September because they had been accredited only as observers and not as speakers. The Northern Alliance wants China to ensure the talks are just and fair, he said. Mai Ai Kyaw added that achieving peace depends solely on the government. He blamed the latest bout of fighting on government army offensives against the ethnic militias and on restrictions paced on some ethnic armed groups who signed a nationwide peace agreement (NCA) in October 2015. If, on one hand, it talks about peace and, on the other hand, it carries out offensives on the ground, then peace will be elusive, he said. About 10 civilians have died in ground and air strikes during the surge in fighting, according to the Myanmar government, while thousands of others have fled over the border into southwestern China. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that the clashes in Kachin and Shan states have displaced more than 100,000 people. Northern Alliance delegates visited Kunming, capital of southern Chinas Yunnan province, on Jan. 19 at the invitation of Sun Guoxing, a special envoy for Asian affairs in Chinas foreign affairs ministry, to discuss obstacles to holding political discussions with the Myanmar government. The news comes as the government gears up for another round of peace talks expected in February in the ongoing Panglong Conference, an initiative spearheaded by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi to bring peace and national reconciliation to Myanmar after decades of ethnic separatist civil wars. Members of the central executive committee of Myanmar's United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) hold a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Jan. 23, 2017. Credit: RFA UNFC holds meeting Meanwhile, members of the central executive committee of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) decided at a meeting on Tuesday in Chiang Mai, Thailand, that ethnic armed groups that did not sign the NCA will not attend the second 21st-century Panglong Conference if they are invited as observers. The UNFC, an alliance of nine ethnic armed groups that did not sign the NCA, attended the first meeting of the Panglong Conference in order to participate in political dialogue so it can push for the formation of a federal union in Myanmar. Our stand has not changed regarding this conference, said UNFC vice chairman Nai Hantha. If invited as observers, we will say no. All UNFC member groups must be allowed. We will attend if we are all treated as equals and have freedom to talk about what we want to talk about, he said. We want peace. Nai Hantha added that the UNFC will wait for the cessation of offensives in ethnic areas so that all nonsignatories to the NCA can participate in the next round of peace talks. About 35 leaders from seven ethnic armed groups attended the UNFC central executive committees two-day meeting, where they decided to continue their discussions with the government about the UNFCs nine-point proposal for a cease-fire that the groups Delegation for Political Negotiation and the governments National Reconciliation and Peace Center are still negotiating. Kachin Christians charged In a related development, two rights groupsNew York-based Human Rights Watch and Southeast Asia-based Fortify Rightscalled on Myanmar on Tuesday to immediately release or charge two ethnic Kachin Christian leaders who have been arbitrarily detained by the military since Dec. 24, 2016. Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, both leaders with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), went missing after being summoned to a military base in Muse township in northern Shan state in apparent retaliation for taking journalists to a Catholic church allegedly damaged by airstrikes in clashes between the government army and ethnic guerillas. On Jan. 19, the military published a statement on social media acknowledging the mens arrest and detention and accusing them of providing support to KIA rebels. However, the military had not filed charges, turned them over to civilian authorities, or provided them access to lawyers or family members, as required by Myanmar and international law, the two rights groups said in separate statements. The arrest of the two Kachin Baptist leaders appears to be retaliation for their help in exposing wartime abuses, said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights. The military came clean about their detention only after local and international outcry, but they [are] still at grave risk. Phil Robertson, HRWs deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch said: Government leaders are responsible for the safety and security of these two men and should ensure lawyers and family have immediate access. Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay told Democratic Voice of Burma on Tuesday that the military turned the Kachins over to the Muse police station where they were charged under the countrys Unlawful Associations Act. The government will ensure they receive legal representation, he said. The Baptist-denominated evangelical organization headquartered in Myitkyina, Kachin state, has been helping internally displaced people who have fled fighting between the government army and ethnic militias in both Kachin and Shan states. Reported by Waiyan Moe Myint and Aung Moe Myint for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. While most Vietnamese get ready for the Tet celebrations as shown in this image in downtown Hanoi, the government arrested several activists just before the country's most important holiday, Jan. 20, 2016. Vietnamese authorities arrested a human rights activist over the weekend, sparking concern from the U.N. over Hanois use of a section of the countrys criminal code to throttle dissent. Tran Thi Nga (a.k.a. Thuy Nga) and her husband Phan Van Phong were arrested on Saturday at their home in the northern province of Ha Nam, according to a Facebook post by the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Her husband told RFA that the timing was not coincidental. Its not a coincidence that she was arrested just before Tet, he said. It is a dirty trick that comes only from a communist regime. The Tet marks the lunar New Year in Vietnam and is the countrys most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Like many in Vietnam, Nga had family coming for the holiday that this year begins on Jan. 26. Her father is very ill and can only walk around the house with a cane, her husband told RFA. She has a sister who lives in France, who comes home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, and a younger brother who lives in Saigon, who will also be home for Tet. Nga was charged under Article 88 of the Vietnams Penal Code for allegedly conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as she is accused of posting anti-state material on the internet, according to state media. Article 88 is considered a national security offence and carries a sentence of between three and 20 years of imprisonment. It also allows the incommunicado detention of Tran Thi Nga during the whole period of the investigation. Nga is well known for defending the rights of Vietnamese migrant workers and the victims of government land grabs. The seizure of land for developmentoften without due process or fair compensation for displaced residents is a major cause of protests in Vietnam and other authoritarian Asian countries, including China and Cambodia. In its Facebook post, the OHCHR decried the use of Article 88 and last year the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein, urged the Government of Vietnam to repeal Article 88 and other provisions that breach international human rights standards. Three other activists arrested While Ngas arrest drew the most attention, three other activists were also reported to have been arrested in the past few days. Former political prisoner Nguyen Van Oai, along with activist Nguyen Van Hoa and another man Nguyen Thi Mien were also arrested, according to The 88 Project, an organization that tracks, supports and encourages freedom of expression in Vietnam. According to Human Rights Watch, at least 19 bloggers and activists were put on trial and convicted during the first nine months of 2016, and others continue to be held without trial, including rights campaigners Nguyen Van Dai, Tran Anh Kim, Le Thanh Tung, and Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh. Activist Bui Tuan Lam told RFA that the arrests at a time in Vietnam that people gather with family. I feel very sad and also a bit surprised because three people were arrested at the same time, especially Thuy Nga who has two little children, he said. I was surprised because of the time they chose to arrest those people. but I am not surprised at the arrests because I already felt that the government would be harsh when they cracked down. Former prisoner of conscience Nguyen Bac Truyen told RFA that the government uses arrests and the threat of arrest as a way to silence dissent. The government of Vietnam does not care when they carry out arrests. They dont care if it is close to Tet or the person has little children or the family has some problems, he said. They punish the activists, and at the same time threaten others. Reported and translated by RFA's Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. Afghanistan's attorney general has ordered the arrest of nine employees of Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum in connection with allegations of kidnapping and torturing one of Dostum's political rivals. Dostum, a powerful ethnic Uzbek militia commander in northern Afghanistan, has denied the allegations. But the spokesman for the attorney general, Jamshid Rasouli, said on January 24 that arrests were ordered after Dostums employees failed to present themselves for questioning in an investigation. The majority of the nine employees are Dostum's personal guards. Dostum faces allegations of ordering his men to detain Ahmad Ischi, a former political ally from Dostums Junbesh-i Milli-Yi Islami party. Ischi says he was kidnapped on November 25 by Dostums men in the vice president's native Jowzjan Province. He says he was assaulted by Dostum himself, and then taken to one of Dostum's properties where Dostum's men severely beat him, sexually assaulted him with a Kalashnikov rifle, and threatened him for several days while he was held against his will. Dostum's chief of staff, Enayatullah Babur Farhamand, told RFE/RL that Ischi "was under investigation for providing support to militants." But Ischi's family alleged that he was beaten and kidnapped over a personal feud between the two former allies. With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP Two reports by RFE/RLs Armenian Service were recognized December 20, 2016 by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) at its Suitcase 2016 annual journalism competition. Armenian Service journalist Ruzan Gishyans radio report I Both Want To Stay And Leave, about Armenians facing the difficult choice of whether or not to migrate, usually to Russia for economic reasons, won third place in the radio category. RFE/RL Armenian Service Director Harry Tamrazian was presented with a special prize on the sidelines of the competition presented by UNICEF and several other NGOs in recognition of his documentary film Migration Tales, which follows Armenian migrants along their journey in search of a better life. The Suitcase journalism contest awards outstanding migration and border management related reporting, including on asylum, labor migration, and return of citizens to Armenia produced for TV, radio, print, and online platforms. It is held within the framework of the EU-funded project Support to Migration and Border Management in Armenia. WASHINGTON -- Afghan governors in southern and western provinces have accused Iran of using an increasingly close relationship with the Afghan Taliban to target water and power projects on Tehran's behalf. Hayatullah Hayat, the governor of southern Helmand Province, told VOA's Afghan service on January 23 that Iran wants the Taliban to disable some of the nation's dams so Tehran can get a larger share of water from the Helmand River. He cited classified Afghan intelligence reports forwarded to the Afghan palace and the National Security Council. Iran is seeking to undermine development projects over the Helmand River so that it can continue receiving more water," Hayat said. The Helmand governor accused elements in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard forces of providing sophisticated weapons to the Taliban that could be used to attack government installations and infrastructure. He said several unexploded mortar missiles used by the Taliban bore an Iranian manufacturer's mark and were fired at the provincial capital. The governor added that Iran's intelligence representatives recently met with local Taliban leaders in Helmand's volatile Garmsir district. Water Scarcity Issues Iran's Embassy in Kabul declined to comment. But Tehran has denied the accusations of close association with the Taliban, saying it has close relations with the government of Afghanistan. Water scarcity is a major issue in parts of Asia, and Iranian authorities have been pushing for a larger share of water supplies from Afghanistan, which has been building dams for irrigation and power needs. The two neighboring countries signed a water-sharing treaty in 1973 that says Iran shall not make claims to water from the Helmand River in excess of amounts agreed to in the treaty, even if additional water becomes available in the future. Iran has voiced concerns that several water management projects in progress in western and southern Afghanistan, including Herat Province's new Indian-funded hydroelectric and irrigation project known as Salma Dam, may reduce the flow of water into Iran. Water Deal Terms The Afghan government has downplayed Iranian concerns and said the projects will not affect the amount of water flowing into Iran. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Iran continues to receive its share of water from Helmand River and that the country cannot claim more than what has been agreed upon. Some Afghan experts say if Iran wants more water, it should cut a deal with Afghanistan. We know Iran wants more water than allocated to it in the water-sharing treaty, said Wadir Safi, a professor of law and political science at Kabul University. If Iran wants more water beyond the amount agreed in the treaty, it should consider buying additional water from Afghanistan. The allegations of Taliban involvement in the water dispute come as Kabul is becoming increasingly concerned about Iran's alleged meddling in Afghan provinces bordering Iran. The Afghan Senate last month ordered an investigation into Iran's reported association with the Taliban. Clandestine Ties Afghan regional officials say the Taliban have recently increased their terror activities in various provinces. The abundance of new weapons and ammunitions in the Taliban's possession has created many questions and doubts, said Asif Nang, the governor of western Farah Province. Nang added that the Taliban can receive weapons within an hour from Iran, given the proximity of his province to the border. Last month, Nang accused Iran of harboring Taliban families in its territory. Families of a number of high-ranking Taliban leaders reside in Iran, Nang told RFE/RL last month. They live in cities such as Yazd, Kerman, and Mashhad, and come back to Afghanistan for subversive activities. The Taliban's former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last year and was reportedly returning from Tehran after holding meetings in Iran. -- Written by Noor Zahid for Voice of America. Enhanced bustlines and newly minted, sparkling smiles probably aren't the first things that come to mind when you think of Belarus. But the former Soviet republic, known more for naked authoritarianism than breast augmentation, has become a minor health-care utopia for Russians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs, and affluent patients from some other states of the former U.S.S.R. More than 50,000 "medical tourists" came to Belarus in 2016, according to Uladzislau Androsau, the energetic 28-year-old director of medical-tourism operator MedTravelBelarus. Androsau's company is one of a growing number of agencies in Belarus that make agreements with hospitals, health-care centers, and clinics in the country to promote them to foreigners seeking cut-rate access to doctors and treatments. "Dental and cosmetic surgery are the most popular because, first of all, they are not covered by most insurance policies in Europe," Androsau says. "For example, tooth implants, breast implants,... this is like 70 percent of our incoming patients." Androsau says that "age surgeries" to roll back the years -- facelifts and liposuction among them -- are also popular among so-called medical tourists. He names hip- and knee-replacement surgeries as highly sought after, along with cancer treatments, as Belarus boasts one of the largest cancer centers in the former Soviet Union -- the N.N. Aleksandrov National Cancer Center outside Minsk. 'My Govorim Na Russkom!' Many of the medical-tourism providers in Belarus have marketing campaigns aimed at prospective patients in the six countries where most of the customers come from: Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Androsau says his agency, which he founded in 2010 after studying tourism in Lithuania and at Belarusian State University, also targets Russian-speakers living in Western Europe. "We do a lot of marketing for Baltic countries, especially for dental implants, which [are] twice as expensive [there] as in Belarus," Androsau says. "At the same time, in Latvia for example, [dental implants are] two or three times cheaper than they are in Scandinavia or in the U.K." He suggests potential clients outside the former Soviet Union are less enthusiastic about traveling to such unfamiliar parts for medical procedures. "Unfortunately, Belarus is not so popular among [Scandinavians]. They don't know so much about Belarus, and although we are ready [for them],... they are not ready to come," Androsau says. The savings can be significant on many elective procedures, depending on a customer's home country. For example, a common breast-enlargement procedure can cost about $3,100 in Belarus, but about $5,000 in Lithuania and around $7,000 in Britain. The cost in Belarus of a "tummy tuck," which removes fat and excess skin from the abdomen, is about $2,100, while in Lithuania it costs $3,800 and in Britain about $8,880. The differences are even more stark between dental implants. A new tooth in Belarus costs about $550, while in the United States, for example, that same incisor or bicuspid runs about $2,500 -- and dental tourists often come to Belarus to get four or five new teeth. The low cost of food and lodging in Belarus, plus its central location in Europe and close proximity to the Baltic capitals, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, add to the country's attractiveness as a health-care destination. Androsau says that 60-70 percent of his clients are from Russia. He says that when he first launched his company, Russians came seeking better prices. But since the Russian economy hit the skids in 2014, taking the ruble with it -- a situation exacerbated by international sanctions over Moscow's military interference in Ukraine -- the gap has narrowed between the cost of medical procedures in Belarus and Russia. Yet the Russian patients continue to come, Androsau says. "We ask them, 'It's not such big difference in prices, why do you choose Belarusian doctors?' And most of them say: 'Oh, everyone speaks Russian -- we go to Belarus, it's good quality there. My friends, my relatives, they were treated in Belarus and they like everything.' So now we speak about how our quality is growing," he says. Androsau cites "problems" in the health-care system in Kazakhstan as boosting medical tourism from that country. "A lot of people speak about corruption and so on," he says of Kazakh customers, "so they don't trust their doctors, they don't trust their pharmaceutical quality, and [things] like that." He says there has also been a surge in recent years of Russian-speaking Israelis coming to Belarus for treatment. Hard Currency Cuts Wait Times The health-care system in Belarus is considered "above average" when compared to others worldwide, listed in international surveys as being among the top 70 or 75. Belarusian Deputy Health Minister Vyachaslau Shyla offered an even better review of his country's medical services, saying in a letter to RFE/RL that "100 percent" of Belarusians have access to health care, making it "No. 1 in the world" along with Canada and Brunei. But when asked, many Belarusians complain about long lines at health clinics, lots of red tape, a dearth of qualified doctors and nurses, and bad attitudes among medical professionals toward patients. Entrepreneurs like Androsau are betting that coming to a health clinic in cash-strapped Belarus with cash in hand instead of a state health-insurance card can make lines disappear and doctors politer. A physician at a Minsk hospital who requests anonymity tells RFE/RL's Belarus Service that health care for foreigners is good because they pay for the services. And if Belarusians want the same service, she says, they also have to pay for it. "Those who bring money are served first. They have a green light, all the operations are performed properly and to the same quality [as foreigners]," she says. "You want to expedite the process, pay more." With the average doctor's salary in Belarus around $500 per month -- in health-care more broadly, it's an even more modest $240 or so -- doctors appear eager to supplement their incomes through medical tourism. With an estimated 14 million patients worldwide crossing a border in 2016 for medical procedures, the global medical-tourism industry was worth an estimated $45 billion-$70 billion. While Belarus is not among the leaders worldwide, it could eventually make an impact among non-Russian-speaking countries. As medical-tourism companies and health-care professionals in one of the poorest countries in Eastern Europe, Belarusians in the sector are hoping they can continue to draw patients from other countries beyond the former Soviet Union. Even the government in Minsk has recognized how important health tourism can be to the economy. Earlier this month, authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a decree lifting visa requirements for the citizens of some 80 countries. "We were waiting for this [for] years!" Androsau says. "It's a really big step," he adds, explaining that his company has already posted a new article listing the top seven medical procedures one can have completed in Minsk within five days -- the length of time that foreigners from those 80 countries are allowed to stay in Belarus without a visa. Despite having uncontested power at home and despite a string of victories abroad, Vladimir Putin's Kremlin is clearly afraid. It's afraid that the antiestablishment populism that has swept across the West, resulting in Brexit in the U.K., the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, and the election of Donald Trump in the United States, could also strike Russia. And the Putin regime is also clearly afraid that anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny could be the vehicle that harnesses Russia's latent discontent. Now this is undoubtedly why the Russian authorities this week moved to limit Navalny's ability to raise funds online. Navalny was planning to crowd fund his upstart 2018 presidential campaign and had already raised 12.7 million rubles online. He used a similar tactic in his innovative 2013 campaign for mayor of Moscow, in which -- despite being denied access to state television -- Navalny finished a surprisingly strong second place and nearly forced a runoff. But this week, Yandex Money, Russia's most popular online fund-raising tool, informed Navalny that the law forbids it being used for political purposes. And oh, by the way, Yandex Money is 75 percent owned by the state-controlled bank Sberbank. In recent years, the Kremlin has skillfully used Western democracy as a weapon against Western democracy by stealthily backing antiestablishment forces. At the same time, the Putin regime is going to great lengths to assure that Russia's opposition is unable to aim the very same weapon at the Kremlin. And they are doing this because they are afraid. Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Russia's Constitutional Court has held a hearing into a complaint filed by imprisoned activist Ildar Dadin, whose claims of torture cast a spotlight on abuses in Russian penitentiaries. Dadin's wife, Anastasia Zotova, was one of several people detained by police outside the court in St. Petersburg on January 24 after the hearing. Dadin was the first person convicted under a controversial Russian law criminalizing participation in more than one unsanctioned protest in a 180-day period. He says the law is unconstitutional, arguing that a person cannot be criminally prosecuted for an offense he has already been found guilty of in administrative proceedings. Russian media reports published ahead of the hearing on January 24 quoted Deputy Prosecutor-General Vladimir Malinovsky as saying that his office supported Dadin's stance, explaining that "a repetition of violations of regulations of public gatherings cannot lead to their criminalization as it does not increase the level of the danger to society." However, a spokesman for the Prosecutor-General's Office, Aleksandr Kurennoi, said later that it considers the law constitutional. The court adjourned its hearing without announcing a ruling. Dadin, 34, was convicted in December 2015 and is currently serving a 2 1/2-year sentence at a prison in the Altai Krai region in southwestern Siberia. In 2016, he wrote an open letter saying that he and other prisoners had been beaten and tortured in the prison in the Karelia region where he was sent after his conviction. Dadin's wife, Anastasia Zotova, told the news website Mediazona that police detained her outside the Constitutional Court along with a protester, a journalist, and one other person. She said the police accused them of jaywalking. The website OVD-Info, which tracks police actions against protesters in Russia, reported earlier that four people protesting in support of Dadin's complaint were also detained. It was unclear whether that included the protester detained along with Zotova. With reporting by RFE/RL's Russian Service, Mediazona, OVD-Info, Ekho Moskvy, Kommersant, and Vedomosti The head of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has confirmed that men from Chechnya are serving in Syria. Kadyrov wrote on Instagram on January 24 that Chechen Mufti Salakh-Hadzhi Mezhiyev and Adam Delimkhanov, a close Kadyrov ally who is a member of the Russian parliament, recently returned from a trip to Syria. He said that the two had visited a Russian Defense Ministry military police battalion "in which young men from Chechnya are serving." Media reports in December said that members of Chechen special police forces had been sent to Syria to guard Russia's Hmeimim air base near the coastal city of Latakia. Kadyrov rejected the reports at the time. In the Instagram post, Kadyrov said the Chechen told the visitors they had served in Aleppo, whose eastern part was recaptured from rebels by Syrian forces backed by Russia in December, but it was not clear when that was or where the meeting took place. Kadyrov also said that Mezhiyev and Delimkhanov had met with President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher al-Assad, a senior military commander. Russia has given the Syrian government crucial diplomatic and military support throughout the six-year war that has killed more than 300,000 people. Serbias President Tomislav Nikolic says European-Union facilitated talks in Brussels between the leaders of Kosovo and Serbia on January 24 have been "very open." But Nikolic complained that officials from Pristina "dont give a lot of space for negotiations" and that it was not possible to negotiate in that way with Serbia. Not now, nor in the future." Nikolics remarks came as the presidents and prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia gathered in Brussels for talks aimed at resolving disagreements. It is the highest level of direct talks in Brussels ever between officials from Pristina and Kosovo. Belgrade continues to reject Kosovos 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia. Nikolic said the positions of both sides remained entrenched on the issue of Kosovos independence late on January 24 -- and that Kosovos leadership appeared to be using the dialogue for the purpose of giving Kosovo "the attribute of independence." "Our obvious position is opposition to the stand of Kosovo officials who claim that they are representing an independent state, and our stand is that we can negotiate about Kosovo as a part of Serbia," Nikolic said. "So these are the positions in which we stand." Earlier on January 24, ahead of the talks, Kosovos Prime Minister Isa Mustafa told RFE/RL that Serbia was seeking to destabilize Kosovo through "systematic action." Tensions increased earlier this month after Belgrade sent a train toward an ethnic-Serbian-dominated enclave in northern Kosovo with the slogan "Kosovo is Serbia" emblazoned on the side. The train did not enter Kosovo, but Kosovar President Hashem Thaci accused Belgrade of plotting to take control of the enclave using the "Crimea model," a reference to Russias 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini's office has called for "increased commitment and engagement" by both sides in the talks. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after a war between Yugoslav forces and ethnic Albanian separatists. Kosovo is committed to peace, security, and good neighborliness...but we are also firmly determined not to allow interference by anyone in Kosovo's internal affairs." NATO air strikes on Serbia forced Belgrade to withdraw its troops in 1999 after the deaths of some 10,000 civilians in Kosovo. NATO has around 5,000 troops stationed in Kosovo to keep the peace. The United States and most Western nations are among 114 countries that recognize Kosovo's independence, while Serbia and Russia are among those that do not. Both Serbia and Kosovo are actively pursuing membership in the European Union, and the EU-facilitated talks aimed at normalizing ties began in 2011. "We expect this meeting to be the beginning of the final phase of the dialogue brokered by EU and backed by the United States," Mustafa told RFE/RL. "Kosovo is committed to peace, security, and good neighborliness...but we are also firmly determined not to allow interference by anyone in Kosovo's internal affairs," he said. Mustafa said that "regardless of who leads the government in the future, we have no alternative to dialogue" as a way to solve problems. He also said Kosovo would seek to resolve the fate of missing persons and "stop all political warrants against our citizens" -- a reference to former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who was detained on January 4 by French police acting on an arrest warrant issued by Serbia. Serbia wants to try Haradinaj, who is also a former guerrilla commander, on charges related to the 1998-99 war in Kosovo. ASTANA -- Prominent Kazakh journalist Bigeldy Gabdullin has been found guilty of extortion and sentenced to five years of "freedom limitation." A court in Astana on January 24 found Gabdullin guilty of extorting cash from state officials by publishing or threatening to publish materials that damaged their reputations. He was sentenced the same day. Freedom limitation is similar to a suspended sentence with parolelike restrictions. Gabdullin said he was thankful to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev for the mild sentence. Gabdullin, who went on trial on January 17, pleaded guilty. He was arrested in November. Gabdullin, 61, became well-known in the 1990s for articles criticizing Nazarbaev. He fled to the United States in the early 2000s, saying he feared for his life. Gabdullin returned to Kazakhstan in 2004 and became the editor in chief of the pro-government newspaper Central Asia Monitor. He also founded the website Radiotochka.kz. The URL has been copied to your clipboard The code has been copied to your clipboard. Hundreds of refugees and migrants stranded in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, launched a hunger strike on January 24. They have been sheltering in cold abandoned warehouses and are desperate for EU nations to open their borders. (RFE/RL's Balkan Service) MOSCOW -- Leaders of Russia's Jewish community have accused a top lawmaker of making anti-Semitic remarks when he criticized ongoing protests against the handover of St. Petersburg's iconic St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. Fueling a dispute that emerged after local authorities announced the handover of the city-owned cathedral earlier this month, State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoy on January 23 called the protesters descendants of the inhabitants of the Pale of Settlement, a western territory of imperial Russia where Jews were permitted to live. The lawmaker, a great grandson of the renowned writer Lev Tolstoy, said protesters were "continuing the work" of their forebears, "who destroyed our cathedrals after jumping over from the Pale of Settlement with revolvers in 1917." The comments appeared to echo an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory holding that Jews fomented the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, although Tolstoy has denied any such intention. Aleksandr Borod, chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities, demanded a firm response from the State Duma and the United Russia party Tolstoy represents. "We usually have to endure such statements from irresponsible instigators of anti-Semitic campaigns," Borod said in comments carried by Interfax. "When we hear such things from the mouth of the deputy speaker of the State Duma at an official press conference, it directly undermines interethnic peace in the country and foments tension. The words of Mr. Tolstoy, as in all similar cases, are an old and lying anti-Semitic myth." A St. Petersburg city councilor has said he would demand law enforcement open an investigation into possible extremism. Other Jewish leaders and bloggers, including Anton Nossik and Dmitry Aleshkovsky joined the condemnation, prompting a response from the speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, but one that stopped short of denouncing Tolstoy's comments. Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said it was "unacceptable and incorrect" to attack ethnicities or people, but said he saw no problem with Tolstoy's comment, Interfax reported. Volodin said he was prepared to meet representatives of the Jewish community, but noted the speed of the reaction to Tolstoy's comments and called this "unacceptable." He added that Tolstoy had not mentioned any ethnicity in his comments and noted that convicts also lived in the Pale of Settlement and that Tolstoy may have had them -- not Jews -- in mind. The dispute comes as observers watch closely for what interpretation of the centenary of the revolution the Kremlin and state TV networks will present. Speaking at state news agency TASS on January 23, Tolstoy had been asked to comment on the row over the ownership of St. Petersburg's St. Isaac's Cathedral, a UNESCO heritage site visited by 3.5 million tourists annually. The construction of St. Isaac's, the country's largest Russian Orthodox cathedral and one of the largest cathedrals in the world, began in 1818 under Tsar Aleksandr I and was completed two monarchs later under Tsar Aleksandr II in 1858. Under the Bolsheviks, the site housed an antireligion museum. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, room was allocated in St. Isaac's for worship, but it was maintained as a popular state museum that generated tourist revenue for the city. When St. Petersburg Governor Georgy Poltavchenko announced on January 10 that the site would be transferred to the church for a period of 49 years, public outrage ensued. Conservationist critics believe the handover, under which the city will still be responsible for maintenance, could see the landmark fall into disrepair because fewer funds will be available. They also fear that access could be restricted at certain times. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky on January 23 said he approved of the handover, provided it increased access to the site for the public. Asked by Interfax where money would be generated for upkeep, Medinsky said that was Poltavchenko's responsibility. Protesters say Poltavchenko's decision highlights how the church is amassing wealth and political influence under President Vladimir Putin, who has advocated traditional values and social conservativism as an antidote to Western liberalism and individualism. On January 23, an activist pictured outside the cathedral called on protesters to attend a rally against the handover slated for January 28. He posed as a cleric sitting behind green sacks adorned with dollar signs, and held aloft signs saying "Don't come to the rally on January 28" and "I want even more." The petition on the Change.Org website has been signed by just shy of 200,000 people. Tolstoy railed against the petition at the press conference on January 23, casting it as "sofa" activism. "Unfortunately, our Facebook public, while knowing nothing, with wild speed exchanges SOS signals from one sofa to the other, believing that they are going to manage the state in this way." Writing on Facebook after his comments, Tolstoy said the outcry showed only that people do not know their history, and that he was "extremely surprised" by accusations of anti-Semitism. Later, on January 24, in comments to Interfax, Tolstoy blamed media that reported on the story for the scandal. "I think these headlines that came out on Ekho Moskvy and Nezavisimaya Gazeta -- this actually is anti-Semitism," he said. "I, to be honest, was really surprised.... They for some reason took this to refer to ethnicity, although I didn't mean anything of the sort." VIDEO REPORTS Rebel factions and representatives of the Syria government agreed to create a mechanism to monitor the fragile Syrian cease-fire during peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana. In Samarkand, Uzbekistan, a severe shortage of electricity has left some residents to rely on candles for lighting and courtyard fires to cook. On an isolated mountaintop in Russia's Ural Mountains, a Buddhist monastery is about to be demolished to make way for digging by one of Russia's largest mining companies. There was an emotional reunion in Sarajevo when German photographer Bjorn Steinz decided to track down Elvis -- whom he last saw as a 6-year-old boy during the 1990s Bosnian war. OTHER NEWS The Pentagon has denied Russian state-media reports that it provided coordinates for Russian air strikes targeting Islamic State militants in Syria, and that the bombing was a joint mission with U.S.- led coalition forces. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has confirmed on Instagram that men from Chechnya are serving in Syria. A Russian judge has rejected a motion by Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny's lawyer to recuse himself from the retrial of the opposition activist. Russia's Constitutional Court has begun hearing a complaint filed by imprisoned activist Ildar Dadin. Russian media outlet RBK reports that sanctions imposed by the Obama administration against Russias Federal Security Service (FSB) in December, 2016 have jeopardized electronics imports to Russia. The sanctions prohibit U.S. companies from having commercial ties with the FSB, which oversees the import of any device with an encryption function. (Russian Service) French presidential candidate Francois Fillon on January 23 said the European Union's economic sanctions against Russia are ineffective, and called for dialogue with Moscow. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on January 24 that the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline "carries a number of political risks." Critics claim that by supplying Russian gas directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and Slovakia, it would increase Europe's dependence on Russian gas. (Ukrainian Service) Ukrainian activists partially blocked roads at entry points around Kyiv, demanding that Parliament relax conditions for importing vehicles and establish a fair fee for their purchase. (in Russian, Current Time TV) A 23 percent fall in the exchange rate of Belaruss ruble has been blamed for the countrys latest GDP figures totaling $47.2 billion in 2016, a decrease from $55.3 billion in 2015, and almost on par with $45.2 billion GDP in 2007. (Belarus Service) Croatia's Jewish communities will boycott a Holocaust commemoration at the country's parliament to protest what they say has been the government's tepid response to efforts by nationalists to glorify the country's World War II-era Nazi-collaborationist Ustasha regime. Kosovo's prime minister has accused Serbia of seeking to destabilize it ahead of European Union-facilitated talks aimed at ironing out disagreements between the Balkan nations. Dozens of oil workers are facing court hearings in Kazakhstan's western region of Manghystau after a local court ruled their hunger strike illegal. A Kyrgyz court has reinstated a life sentence for ethnic Uzbek rights activist Azimjan Askarov in a case that has drawn international criticism. An incipient leadership change in one of the smallest North Caucasus republics could jeopardize its reputation as an island of stability in a region plagued by violence and corruption. Moscow-based Oriental studies professor Alexander Shumilin told RFE/RL the Astana talks about the situation in Syria are more of a consultation in advance of a high-level meeting planned in Geneva on February 8. Syrian political analyst Makhmud Al-Khamza expressed pessimism about any outcome, arguing that without America and without the UN, Russia cant establish peace in Syria. (Russian Service) Andrey Soldatov, co-author of the recently published book, Battle for the Russian Web, told RFE/RL that so-called anonymous Russian hackers work in close coordination with various government agencies, and often at the highest level -- the presidential administration and Kremlin-- in accordance with a political agenda. (Russian Service) ON MY MIND The European Union's rejection of a Russian proposal to involve Russia in a review of the bloc's Association Agreement with Moldova is a welcome sign. So are the European Parliament's recent moves to expedite visa-free travel for Georgians and Ukrainians. As a wave of antiestablishment populism -- one encouraged by Moscow -- buffets the West, there were very real fears from Kyiv to Tbilisi to Chisinau that the European Union would leave their eastern partners at Moscow's mercy. But Brussels appears, at least for the moment, to be standing by those in Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia who are seeking to escape the Kremlin's orbit. It's welcome good news at a time when, for Russia's beleaguered neighbors, good news is a rare commodity. IN THE NEWS Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, says the Kremlin expects the date for a phone call between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump to be agreed soon. U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, on his first full day in office, assured European allies that the United States continues to have an "unshakable" commitment to NATO. Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid has told visiting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that she supports continued sanctions against Russia over its involvement in eastern Ukraine. A Russian judge has rejected a motion by Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny's lawyer to recuse himself from the retrial of the opposition activist. Yandex Money, Russia's most popular online fundraising tool, has informed Navalny that he is forbidden to use it to raise money for his presidential campaign. The Pentagon has denied Russian state-media reports that it provided coordinates for Russian air strikes targeting Islamic State militants in Syria and that the bombing was a joint mission with U.S.-led coalition forces. Russia's Constitutional Court has begun hearing a complaint filed by imprisoned activist Ildar Dadin. The head of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, has confirmed that men from Chechnya are serving in Syria. French presidential candidate Francois Fillon says that the European Union's economic sanctions against Russia are ineffective and called for dialogue with Moscow. Moldovan President Igor Dodon has said he does not believe his country will ever be part of the European Union and that in order to be fully unified, it is necessary "to find common ground with Russia." The European Union has rejected a proposal from Moscow that Russia be involved in a trilateral review of Moldovas Association Agreement with the bloc. Moscow authorities have denied activists permission to protest in a central square against legislation that would decriminalize some forms of domestic violence in Russia. WHAT I'M READING Today's Must-Read: Life After Trust Michael Idov has a piece in New York Magazine on what Putin's Moscow teaches us about authoritarian regimes, arguing that "Once you lose faith in one institution, you start to lose faith in them all." "One tends to imagine life in an autocratic regime as dominated by fear and oppression: armed men in the street, total surveillance, chanted slogans, and whispered secrets," Idov writes. "But residents of a hybrid regime such as Russias -- that is, an autocratic one that retains the facade of a democracy -- know the Orwellian notion is needlessly romantic. Russian life, I soon found out, was marked less by fear than by cynicism: the all-pervasive idea that no institution is to be trusted, because no institution is bigger than the avarice of the person in charge." Why The Black Sea Region Matters Chris Miller of the Foreign Policy Research Institute has a piece on the importance of the Black Sea region. "No region of the world is more divided in Americans' mental map than the Black Sea," Miller writes. "We place the countries that surround the Black Sea coast into three different categories. Romania and Bulgaria are in Europe, members of NATO and the European Union. Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia are the former Soviet Union; for better or for worse, they are still defined by the historical legacy of Soviet rule. And Turkey, embroiled by Kurdish insurgency and at war in Syria and Iraq, is increasingly seen as one of the main powers of the Middle East." Kudrin's Doomed Economic Plan In The Moscow Times Boris Grozovsky explains why Aleksei Kudrin's economic plan will never see the light of day. Talkin' Propaganda OpenDemocracy has published the text of a roundtable discussion about Russian propaganda featuring journalists from Russia, Moldova, Germany, and Lithuania. Television -- The Drug Of The Nation Polina Potolova has a piece in Republic.ru on why the Internet will not overtake television as the media of choice in Russia Putin, Navalny, And Legitimacy In a commentary in Republic.ru, political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya argues that by limiting Aleksei Navalny's ability to raise funds for his campaign online, the Kremlin risks driving down turnout in the 2018 election and harming Putin's legitimacy. Sanctions And The Russian Military Foreign Policy's Pentagon correspondent Paul McLeary asks, Did Western sanctions actually help the Russian military? The F-Word Again In The American Interest, Vladislav Inozemtsev argues that Putin's Russia is an "early-stage fascist state." Friends, Foes, Or Frenemies The Middle East Eye has a piece explaining how Russia and Iran could ultimately come to blows over Syria Trump: The View From Moscow Dmitry Trenin has a piece on the Carnegie Russia website on the risks and opportunities of the Trump presidency for the Kremlin. U.S. President Donald Trump warned American companies that they would face a "substantial border tax" if they move manufacturing jobs out of the United States. During the January 23 meeting with business leaders in Washington D.C., Trump reiterated his campaign promise to overhaul free trade agreements that he believed were unfair to American workers. (AP) U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that withdraws the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. The move on January 23 is actually a formality since the controversial TPP agreement had not yet been approved by the Senate. Trump called the ending of the United States' association with the TPP a "great thing for the American worker" and said instead that Washington will sign bilateral trade deals with other members, including Australia, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Malaysia, and New Zealand. Former U.S. President Barack Obama had intended the trade pact to re-establish U.S. economic leadership in a region increasingly dominated by trade with China, which was excluded from the agreement. German Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said Washington's withdrawal from the TPP would "open opportunities for us." He told the daily Handelsblatt that "Trump must simply recognize that the U.S. economy often isn't competitive, while the German economy is." Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma's Financial Market Committee, said Washington's withdrawal from the TPP "is a good signal" because it shows that Trump is "acting as a pragmatist in the interests of the American people instead of acting against other states." Trump also said he will renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. He has blamed the agreement for taking jobs away from American workers. Australia and other Pacific nations said they will try to salvage the trans-Pacific trade agreement, possibly by letting China fill the void left by the United States. "Losing the United States...is a big loss, there is no question about that," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on January 24. "But we are not about to walk away. ... Certainly, there is potential for China to join." Turnbull said he wants to "maintain this momentum toward open markets and free trade. ... Protectionism is not a ladder to get you out of the low-growth trap. It is a shovel to dig it deeper." The U.S. withdrawal gives China an opening not only to join the pact for the first time but to greatly influence the terms of trade in a region that makes up 40 percent of the world economy. Meanwhile, Trump met on January 23 with the heads of several large companies, including Elon Musk of SpaceX and executives from Dow Chemical, Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and Lockheed Martin. Trump said there will "be advantages" for companies that produce in the United States, but there will be a "substantial border tax" on foreign-made goods entering the country. He later met with several union leaders. Based on reporting by AP, dpa, TASS, and Reuters 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 BISHKEK -- A Kyrgyz court has reinstated a sentence of life imprisonment for rights defender Azimjan Askarov, sparking fresh international criticism of a case the jailed activist says is politically motivated. The Chui Regional Court in Bishkek on January 24 again found Askarov guilty of stirring up ethnic hatred during deadly clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in 2010 and of involvement in the murder of a policeman. Court chairman Kidik Junushpaev said the court would "uphold the Jalalabad court's [guilty] verdict" and sentence originally made in September 2010. Askarov, a 66-year-old ethnic Uzbek activist, said after the ruling was announced that he will begin a hunger strike in protest. His lawyers said that they will appeal the court's decision to the Supreme Court. Kyrgyz rights activist Tolekan Ismailova, who was part of Askarov's defense, called the court ruling "a political decision." And the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said the decision was "deeply troubling" and "highlights serious shortcomings in the countrys judicial system." This latest trial vividly displayed the deficiencies in [Kyrgyzstan's] judicial and law-enforcement system." In July, the Supreme Court voided Askarov's 2010 conviction and sent the case back to a lower court for review in light of "new circumstances that appeared in the case." That ruling came after the UN Human Rights Committee urged Kyrgyzstan to release Askarov, saying that he had been arbitrarily detained, tortured, and denied his right to a fair trial. It also claimed there were procedural irregularities during the criminal investigation of Askarov. The court that conducted the new trial "clearly did not take into account the views of the UN Human Rights Committee," OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement shortly after the decision was issued. "Despite the repeated commitment of the Kyrgyz authorities to uphold international fair trial standards and to resolutely investigate torture allegations, this latest trial vividly displayed the deficiencies in the countrys judicial and law-enforcement system," the statement said. "The court did not pursue allegations that Askarov had been tortured," it said, adding that it also "allegedly relied on the same witness testimonies as the sole source of evidence as in the first trial." The OHCHR also voiced concern that "the repeated absence of a court-appointed interpreter put Askarov, a native Uzbek speaker, at a disadvantage as he was not comfortable in Kyrgyz." The retrial of Askarov, who remained jailed throughout and who says the case against him was politically motivated for his work in exposing rights violations among police and prison officials, started on October 4. Human rights organizations had long demanded a retrial for Askarov, and the issue has been mentioned to President Almazbek Atambaev at various international meetings. The U.S. State Department awarded Askarov its Human Rights Defender Award in 2015, causing Kyrgyzstan to cancel its bilateral cooperation agreement with Washington. More than 450 people were killed -- most of them ethnic Uzbeks -- and tens of thousands of people fled their homes when ethnic violence erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan shortly after the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiev in April 2010. With reporting by AP and Interfax Tucked on the third of 24 pages worth of payments that Petersburg officials made and posted to the citys website last month in the name of transparency is a single line redacted from public view. The amount $124,960.35 is visible, but not the recipient, which a footnote states is blacked out due to a settlement agreement. A judge may forbid the release of details about a settlement in certain instances, but a lawyer working this case said the dispute never entered a courthouse. Even if it had, the amount the city paid to resolve an issue would be public, said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Experts on the states Freedom of Information Act say navigating the application of open records law to legal documents, which in some instances may not be open to public inspection, can be challenging. But in this case, the answer appears to be clear: The details of taxpayer money being spent for a public purpose should be released, said Alan Gernhardt, senior attorney for the states Freedom of Information Act Advisory Council. When youre talking about the amount of money thats being paid to a law firm on behalf of a local government, thats something that should be open (to inspection), Gernhardt said. When asked why the information could not be released, the office of City Attorney Joseph Preston provided three legal provisions that could exempt information from disclosure, but none seems to apply in this case, Gernhardt said. This is the third time in three months that city of Petersburg officials have drawn scrutiny from open government advocates for the ways in which public business has been conducted. The ACLU of Virginia in November and again this month criticized the City Councils handling of public meetings; first in a pointed letter saying the council had violated the spirit of open government laws and again for holding the meeting to select the next mayor in the middle of a workday, when many residents could not attend. Several council members declined to comment on the redaction, saying they were not able to discuss the matter. Preston also declined to comment. The money in this case went to former Petersburg Police Chief John Dixon, who was fired in June following concerns about officer misconduct, claims of corruption and concerns of officers who said they were not properly paid overtime. The payment came at a time when turnaround consultants brought in to pull the city from the brink of financial ruin are flipping over every rock and questioning every expense to bring Petersburg back into balance after eight consecutive years of structurally imbalanced budgets. Employees of the Washington-based Robert Bobb Group have repeatedly stressed their commitment to transparency at public meetings. Prestons office provided three legal exemptions to justify the redaction of the law firm handling Dixons case, none of which appeared to apply, Gernhardt said. The city said the name of the firm could be withheld under state code protecting specific personnel information; information protected by attorney-client privilege; and legal documents prepared for use in litigation or an active administrative investigation. I dont see it, Gernhardt said. I dont know how this could possibly be considered a personnel record. Neither did Rhyne, who referenced opinions from the state Attorney Generals Office and FOIA Advisory Council supporting the release of general billing information for law firms working for local government to the public. Dixons lawyer, Joseph D. Morrissey, provided the Richmond Times-Dispatch with a copy of the agreement between Dixon and the city, which included compensation for violating the terms of his employment contract, unused vacation days and six months worth of severance. Firefighters battling a blaze at a vacant house Tuesday in Petersburg discovered a person dead inside the two-story structure, fire officials said. The house in the 400 block of Byrne Street was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived about 6:30 a.m., said Petersburg Battalion Chief Kevin Michalek. The blaze, which took firefighters about an hour to bring under control, also damaged a neighboring vacant house, he said. The victim has not been identified. The body will be taken to the state medical examiners officer for positive identification, Michalek said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Battalion Chief Tommy Barrett said the houses construction caused the fire to spread quickly. The home, which appears to date from the 1920s to 1930s, was built using balloon framing, Barrett said. Balloon framing does not incorporate separate construction for each floor; instead, long wall studs run all the way from the first floor to the attic, eliminating natural firestops, according to the website fireengineering.com. This allows fire to spread both vertically and horizontally, according to the website. Barrett said there also were asphalt shingles underneath the siding on the home, which helped fuel the fire. Firefighters had trouble getting into the home at first because there were security bars on the windows and doors, Barrett said. You literally have to tear bars off the doors and the windows, he said. Barrett urged owners of older homes to contact their local fire department to arrange a safety check if they do not know how their homes are constructed. The first substantial meetings of the new year will be held this week for elected leaders in Chesterfield County, but changes in the way the meetings are structured have raised concerns about how they might affect public participation. For the Board of Supervisors, all voting decisions now will be made during the 6 p.m. session held in the Public Meeting Room in the county government complex off Iron Bridge Road, where more citizens typically are able to attend. Several supervisors said the change was made to increase transparency. That allows for greater accountability to the board, Supervisor Chris Winslow said. But the change also means the boards 3 p.m. session likely will be held in a smaller conference room in another building within the government complex. The smaller conference room isnt equipped for audio or video recording, unlike the public meeting room. No votes will be taken during that session, but the discussions then often are in-depth and detail-oriented. Changing meetings from bigger rooms to smaller rooms that dont accommodate recording, that does not make sense to me on an accountability standpoint, said Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. Work sessions, even though votes arent taken, are where some of the most substantive conversations take place. People have a common interest in seeing what they say, not just how they voted. Chairwoman Dorothy Jaeckle has said the change in location for the 3 p.m. session is meant to allow more of a back-and-forth atmosphere between supervisors and staff members. Jaeckle didnt immediately return a request for comment Monday. County Administrator Joseph P. Casey has said his preference would be for the board to at least be audio-recorded during the 3 p.m. session. Before voting to change the procedure, Supervisor Steve Elswick said he believed the board should be video-recorded at all times. Theres no requirement under (the Freedom of Information Act) that says that meetings have to be recorded or live-streamed, but it is so common now among local governments that it seems to be a step backward to go from being recorded to not being recorded, Rhyne said. Going from bigger rooms to smaller rooms doesnt seem to create an atmosphere for greater public participation. No decision has been made on the question of recording the work sessions. We need to assess, and it will be based on the boards desires, county spokeswoman Susan Pollard said. The School Board made similar tweaks to its procedures. The board used to hold most of its monthly meetings in a central county location, either the Public Meeting Room in the government complex or the nearby School Administration Building. Now the School Board plans to hold two monthly meetings in separate locations. There will be a business meeting at the Public Meeting Room and a work session at a technical center in western Chesterfield. School Board members will hold discussions at the work session at the Fulghum Conference Center at the Chesterfield Career and Technical Center off Hull Street Road and then hold business meetings where votes are taken at the county complex. The work-session meetings also were pushed to earlier in the day, to 4 p.m., instead of 6:30 p.m. The business meetings will still be video-recorded, live-streamed and posted on the boards webpage. The work session will be video-recorded and posted to the boards page but not live-streamed. Schools Superintendent James Lane announced the changes just before the Jan. 10 vote. The memo attached to the agenda leading up to the meeting didnt mention the changes. School Board member Carrie Coyner said before casting her vote that she believed all meetings should be held in the central location at the government complex. Meetings at the technical center will result in longer drives for constituents in the southern and eastern areas of the county, like those in Coyners district, to attend the work sessions where debates over policy-making and budget discussions are held. Lane, for example, will present his proposed budget to the School Board at its first work session of the new year today at the technical center. But Coyner was outnumbered. She cast the only vote against the changes. School Board member Dianne Smith said having two meeting locations will allow the School Board to reach more members of the community and also use a facility of which the school district is proud. I reside in the northern end of the county, and many times I am faced with what many people in this end of the county are faced going there, Smith said. The School Boards change didnt raise as many red flags for Rhyne. Thats not necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, Rhyne said. The benefit is that you are moving it around the county so that people who arent coming from a central location can attend. Sometimes moving it around can be beneficial. Lane later echoed Smiths sentiments. This new meeting approach will allow us to become more efficient with our time and more consistent with our approach, allow for more discussion as needed during work sessions, and allow the board to engage with residents in different parts of the community, Lane said in a release. The first event in the Richmond Times-Dispatchs 2017 Speaker Series will be held tonight at the Virginia Historical Society with a discussion about the 2017 gubernatorial race, the ongoing General Assembly session and the Trump effect on Virginia. The RTD Presents Speaker Series this year includes eight events for readers to get up close and personal with the RTDs editors, reporters, columnists and photographers. Tonight, Politics Editor Andrew Cain will be joined onstage by columnist Jeff E. Schapiro, politics reporters Graham Moomaw and Michael Martz, commentary editor Bob Rayner and editorial columnist Bart Hinkle. The second year of the RTD forums will be in a new venue the Virginia Historical Society at 428 N. Boulevard, which has plenty of parking and a large auditorium. Other forums will focus on the arts in Richmond, the local startup scene, beer and wine in Virginia, local and professional sports, Richmond history, and a look at the biggest stories of 2017. Featured speakers will include reporters Markus Schmidt and Katherine Calos, Business Editor Gregory J. Gilligan, RTD Dish columnist Karri Peifer, and RTD Sports Editor Mike Szvetitz and columnist Paul Woody. All events will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Virginia Historical Society. Tickets can be purchased at a discounted rate of $140 for all eight events. Regular tickets are $35 for two tickets and $20 for single tickets. Parking is available for free on site. To order tickets, visit Richmond.com/RTD-Presents. Dates and topics for RTD Presents: Tuesday, Jan. 24: Politics in 2017 and Beyond. Tuesday, Feb. 28: Arts in Richmond Learn more about this culture hub we call home. Join reporters Markus Schmidt, Katherine Calos and others to hear the latest updates on Virginia Commonwealth Universitys Institute for Contemporary Art, local music, Virginias many film and TV projects and more. Tuesday, March 28: Richmonds Business Startup Culture Find out where we are and where we are headed with Business Editor Greg Gilligan and members of his RTD reporting staff. Tuesday, April 25: Beer and Wine in Virginia Join RTD Dish columnist Karri Peifer, wine columnist Jack Berninger and others for trends, updates and whats to come for craft breweries and local wineries. Tuesday, May 23: Behind the Bylines An insiders view into the years top stories so far and how our reporters kept them coming straight to you. Tuesday, Sept. 26: Sports RTD Sports Editor Mike Szvetitz joins columnist Paul Woody, Redskins reporter Michael Phillips and others for a look to the year ahead in preps, college and NFL. Tuesday, Oct. 24: RTD Archives Celebrate Richmonds rich history, then and now, during National Archives Month with RTD archivist Nicole Kappatos and members of the local archive community. A driver fled the scene after hitting a Richmond Public Schools bus with children aboard Tuesday, school officials and police said. The bus was taking students from Boushall Middle School to the Science Museum of Virginia when it was hit in the 2600 block of West Broad Street, school officials said. None of the students were injured. Damage to the bus was minimal, and it continued on its way to the museum. CHARLOTTESVILLE Just a few months before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. cemented his legacy when he delivered his I Have a Dream speech in 1963 to approximately 250,000 gathered before the Lincoln Memorial, the civil rights leader came to the University of Virginia to spread his message of racial unity. On Monday, university officials unveiled a new plaque in Old Cabell Hall commemorating Kings address at the university on March 25, 1963. The unveiling is part of a community celebration this month of Kings legacy. On that day in 1963, before a crowd of approximately 800 people a mix of black and white students, faculty and local residents he stayed on point with a message that has continued to resonate worldwide, nearly 50 years after his assassination in 1968. If democracy is to live, segregation must die, King told the crowd gathered in Old Cabell Hall that March evening. Donated by twin brothers Wesley Harris, a 1964 graduate of the U.Va. engineering schools honors program, and William Harris, dean of the Office of African-American Affairs from 1976 to 1982, the plaque states that Kings address that evening provided a philosophical and moral foundation supporting nonviolent resistance to racial segregation. At the time, Wesley Harris currently a professor of aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was instrumental in orchestrating Kings visit to the university as a member of the Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Council on Human Relations. With the U.Va. community still deeply segregated in those days, he said the university officialdom at the time distanced themselves from the event. You had a handful of black students on Grounds like seven or eight among 4,000. There was no room to welcome a person of Kings dimensions. They could not do that intellectually or spiritually, Wesley Harris said. About 20 years ago, Paul M. Gaston, a former U.Va. history professor and civil rights activist who spent time with King that evening, told The Daily Progress about Kings visit, saying that he remembered university officials giving him the cold shoulder. Here was this distinguished man who was about to get the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most influential people in the South, and he was totally ignored by anyone with responsibility at the University of Virginia, Gaston said. It struck me how far apart this community was. We thought here was this rare and special man, and yet all officialdom stayed away. Wesley Harris, a Ph.D. graduate from Princeton, said Monday that he got the idea for a plaque at U.Va. after noticing a plaque at his other alma mater, which commemorates a sermon King delivered at the Princeton University Chapel in 1960. He said the speech King gave at U.Va. about three years later carried a special importance, as it was delivered to a community that was still widely resistant to change. A Daily Progress story about the event reported that King responded to a question about the Black Muslim movement, which favored black nationalism a separation from the white race but with a homeland of their own within what is now this country, saying it could hamstring the effort to desegregate institutions and create racial harmony. Although he was critical of that movement, King said, it is just as important to remove the causes which brought that movement into being as it is to oppose it. Thats why he was such a great visionary. He was after a win-win solution. He wasnt after being divisive. I think thats the point we should not forget, Wesley Harris said Monday. I think he gave us a major gift, he said of Kings visit. If our great minds who come through Old Cabell can just reflect on that plaque, read it, go beyond that and read some of the writings of Dr. King, and other philosophers that influenced him, such as Soren Kierkegaard and Plato, I think well be good. Dr. Marcus Martin, university vice president and chief officer for diversity, said King fought for civil rights and social justice, which we still fight for today. When the students look at that plaque, they should think of Dr. King as a man of honor who spoke for a number of people, Martin said. If it werent for him, some of us may not be here today. CHARLOTTESVILLE Jason Kessler a local blogger calling for Charlottesville City Councilor Wes Bellamy to be removed from office for controversial tweets is facing an assault charge after he was petitioning on the Downtown Mall over the weekend. Just before 11 a.m. Sunday, city police said they received a report of an assault in the 100 block of East Market Street. A 53-year-old man told police he had approached Kessler to see what the petition was for. The man told police he did not like what was on the petition and said he called Kessler an expletive, at which point Kessler allegedly punched him in the face. On Monday, Kessler told The Daily Progress he was petitioning on the Downtown Mall when he was approached by two men. When one of the men said he would like to sign the petition, Kessler said the man started scribbling on the pages before Kessler took it back. The second man approached me, grabbed my arm and the petition, and violently shook my arm to try and take the petition from me, Kessler said. Kessler said the man then leaned into him and screamed obscenities at him, making Kessler feel threatened. At that point, Id been assaulted again and felt endangered by two men ganging up on me, so I punched the attacker in self-defense, Kessler said. Later, charges were filed against both me and my attacker. Police said a permitted warrant was obtained by the man and that Kessler was summoned to court. A police spokesman said he was not aware of a second warrant filed against the victim as of 1 p.m. Monday, but that it was up to each individual to obtain a warrant. In November, Kessler made news after he published several controversial tweets from Bellamy on his blog. The tweets showed Bellamy claiming he hates black people who act white or talk white and that he considers white women to be the devil. Most of the tweets were written between 2009 and 2014. Bellamy has since resigned from his seat on the Virginia Board of Education, as well as from his teaching position at Albemarle High School. Kesslers petition which he said currently has 450 of the 527 signatures that he says are needed to take the matter to court is asking a special prosecutor to investigate Bellamy for misuse of public office and remove him from City Council. In Virginia, to remove an elected official, Kessler must collect signatures from 10 percent of the registered Charlottesville voters who voted in the last council election. In addition to his own assault charge, Kessler said he recently filed charges against two people who he said shoved him at the Equity and Progress in Charlottesville event on Jan. 17. I attended the EPIC rally and Bellamy was giving a speech, Kessler said Monday. I came into the room and began reading Bellamys tweets, at which point two of Bellamys supporters grabbed me and began pushing and shoving me towards the door. Famed political prankster Vermin Supreme is not welcome to speak at Liberty University but he showed up anyway Monday night. Vermin Supreme, a political satirist who wears a rubber boot on his head and has run in every presidential election since 1992 campaigning on a promise of free ponies for all Americans and mandatory tooth brushing laws was invited to speak to LUs Young Americans for Liberty group yesterday, but students said that appearance fell through after LU denied its speaker request form. However, after he allegedly was denied permission to speak at an official campus event, Vermin Supreme stopped by LU to meet with students as a visitor. Vermin Supreme appeared at the invitation of students, adorned in his customary boot, promising free ponies and preaching the virtues of mandatory tooth brushing laws and zombie apocalypse awareness. Don't miss out! Get the latest news in your inbox. Its unfortunate I was unable to make a full presentation today, Vermin Supreme told about 100 students in the Three Seasons Room in DeMoss Hall, where he spent about two hours speaking with the crowd. Vermin Supremes appearance comes in spite of allegedly being denied permission to speak at an official campus event. According to Matthew Lofgren, an LU student and secretary of Young Americans for Liberty, the organization was told Vermin Supremes appearance had no value to the university. Young Americans for Liberty has been at LU since 2012 and is self-described as a student group dedicated to advancing classically liberal, traditionally conservative ideas, on Facebook. Lofgren told The News & Advance They [administration] said they saw no value in Vermin Supreme, so they denied him [permission] to come speak at Liberty as a guest speaker. According to an email provided by Lofgren, the speaker request was denied Jan. 6. Unfortunately Dr. [Mark] Hine denied the request to bring in Vermin Supreme for your event as he did not see value in bringing him to the university, stated the email from Jack Heaphy, LU student body president. Last week Liberty spokesman Len Stevens said the university would not comment on the issue. Lofgren said an event request form was approved by the university in late November, but a subsequent speaker request application was denied by the university, which would have covered the $1,000 cost to host Vermin Supreme. Speakers on the LU campus require administration approval. In the past, LU has brought a variety of speakers to campus, ranging from newly elected President Donald J. Trump to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, both of whom visited LU in 2016. Without university funds to support Vermin Supremes appearance, Young Americans for Liberty sought to raise the money online and host Vermin Supreme off campus. Those plans fell through when an online fundraising effort by Lofgren stalled at $105, well short of the target goal of $1,000. According to Lofgren, students funded Vermin Supremes appearance, the fee for which he said was dramatically decreased. Lofgren said he was surprised at the decision by LU officials and had looked forward to bringing Vermin Supremes raucous brand of political satire to campus for an event planned for 200 students. Vermin Supreme previously visited the Liberty campus for the 2009 film Vote Jesus, in which he caricatured the politics of conservative Christians. The film was never released to the public. You hear so much about all the Democrats hating Republicans, all the Republicans hating Democrats, and it gets old. And [with Vermin Supreme] you get a guy who just wants to make fun of everyone, Lofgren said. According to Lofgren, the plan was for Vermin Supreme to speak to students and share a screening of the 2014 independent documentary Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, which explores the long, strange journey of the political prankster and his history as a fringe candidate. Vermin Supreme, reached via email, said he was grateful to LU students for the invitation to speak. "Let me say that this may or may not be a 'free speech' issue. As a private institution the decisions they make in terms of content presented on campus is theirs, Vermin Supreme said via email. Vermin Supreme regularly speaks at colleges across the country. LU was one of three college campuses listed as stops on Vermin Supremes ongoing 2017 Victory Tour, which continues with upcoming stops across the East Coast. Other universities, according to a schedule posted on his Facebook page, are Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where Vermin Supreme performed Wednesday, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he is scheduled to perform Thursday. According to Jonathan Blanchard, a Clarkson student and vice president of the Clarkson Union Board, which is responsible for scheduling speakers and events, Vermin Supremes appearance was well attended and enjoyed by the students who turned out for his appearance at the university. DES MOINES Hundreds of protesters failed to sway an Iowa Senate subcommittee from moving forward a bill Tuesday that would restructure how family planning dollars are doled out to health care providers. Senate File 2 would discontinue a federal Medicaid waiver that provides millions of dollars in funding to family planning agencies across the state. It instead would create a new state-funded program that would exclude facilities that provide abortions from receiving the funds. To cover the program, the state would shift money in a Social Services block grant to fund the family planning services the grant pays for a variety of state programs, including child and family services and special services for disabled Iowans. Last year, more than 12,000 Iowans received services, including Pap smears, birth control and cancer screenings, through the waiver. No state or federal dollars are used to fund abortions. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland supporters, the majority of which were wearing pink, filled the capitol, holding signs and chanting throughout the rotunda. The committee meeting room was standing room only as supporters flowed out into the hallway. Iowa will see teen pregnancy rates rise as teenagers face a dilemma of finding birth control in their hometowns as they may be afraid to go to clinics where someone will recognize them. The rates of (sexually transmitted infections) will rise," said Suzanna de Baca, the Planned Parenthoods president and chief executive officer. She presented the three senators on the judiciary subcommittee with a petition that had more than 5,200 signatures on it. We are watching what you as leaders will do in this state, she added. We will not back down from this fight too much is at stake for the health of Iowans. While the majority of the occupants in the room opposed the bill, there were plenty present to speak out in support of it, including leaders of Iowas anti-abortion organizations, Informed Choices Iowa privately funded womens health clinics and other anti-abortion advocates. Jenifer Bowen, with Iowa Right to Life, said the bill would be an opportunity to provide women with more health care choices. She added that a recently formed coalition of 13 anti-abortion groups across the state including the Family Leader and Iowans for Life have come out in support of the legislation. But Dr. Lisa Banitt, an Ames-based OB-GYN and contract employee of Planned Parenthood, said if the state wants to continue to see its abortion rate decline, it should continue to fund organizations such as Planned Parenthood that provide birth control and family planning services. Citing a new Guttmacher Institute report, Banitt said that between 2011 and 2014 the number of abortions in Iowa fell 23 percent, from 5,640 in 2011 to 4,380 in 2014. This drop happened without legislation restricting abortion access in Iowa, she added, and instead took place because there was greater access to birth control. Why disrupt a system that is clearly working well at reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies? Banitt asked. At the end of the 30-minute meeting, the bill was recommended to move forward for passage. It now will go to a full Senate Judiciary Committee. Chuck Akers of Roanoke didnt retire from being a locomotive engineer because of the man who committed suicide before his eyes and whose remains were washed by firefighters from the front of his train. It wasnt specifically over the bicyclist he hit or the woman in the older white van he killed, either. Or the person standing beside the track mowed down one day. Or about the run-ins with a cement truck, dump truck, front-end loader, motorcycles or various passenger vehicles whose drivers failed to yield to the train on the tracks and lived. It was the shock of all those incidents combined, followed by a bruising derailment, that drove Akers to the sidelines of the profession he loved. To step down from the cab after nearly 40 years was hard but necessary for peace of mind, he said. Its the fear of hitting the next big thing that you wont survive through, said Akers, 58. What do I hit next, a gas truck, wipe me out? I got people to consider. A million-plus miles traveled, a lifelong personal and family connection to railroading, a house full of photographs and memorabilia. Akers had a lot invested in the movement of freight and people. He had been on course to achieve a high point of his career: running the new Amtrak train to Roanoke later this year. Then a large truck blocked the track ahead of him on March 9, 2015. It was a routine trip between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond, run at 79 mph. A sign at the crossing that was blocked, in Halifax, North Carolina, read: DO NOT STOP ON TRACKS. Emergency brakes on, Akers hit the floor. The Amtrak Carolinian T-boned a 162-foot superload carrying a modular building. Sixty-five Amtrak passengers and several crew went to the hospital. All but one person was treated and released. No one died. Rescuers approached Akers blue locomotive, lying on its side, and freed him through a broken-out window. Im done, he recalled telling himself at the scene. A psychologist he had seen for several years, a psychopharmacologist to whom he was referred and a railroad retirement board-appointed psychiatrist agreed he needed to retire because of post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD occurs when a person exposed to a traumatic event or events continues to feel stress and fear even when they arent in danger. Before the Halifax crash, with 12 crashes on his record none involving a violation on his part or a derailment the anxiety had been real but not overpowering. I just kind of sucked it up and went on, but its that fear of the unknown, Akers said. At its worst, the condition brought on nightmares and flashbacks. In one incident, he tripped on a rock in his yard and when I fell down I was back in that locomotive and we were wrecking, he said. You think about it every day. John Tolman, vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, said locomotive engineers experience an average of three fatal crashes every 25 years of service. PTSD from exposure to multiple crashes is a recognized occupational hazard and has cost other train personnel the remainder of their careers, according to Tolman. Regulators said there were 2,291 highway-rail grade crossing collisions in the United States in 2015. Im sure hes relieved to be away from that pressure, said a friend and former co-worker, David Booth of Roanoke. What Ive seen of him, he appears OK to me. What his battles are inwardly I dont know. The split with Amtrak didnt involve the usual retirement kudos for veterans, which is a source of angst for Akers, according to his wife, Lisa Stoneman, an assistant professor of education at Roanoke College. I hate that for him, she said. Theres no big picture of him in his engine coming in. Some colleagues wince when they think about it. His last act as a locomotive engineer was riding out a locomotive that turned over on its side because somebody didnt have common sense, said Chuck Jensen, a lifelong friend and fellow railroad worker. In any collision at a public crossing, the driver decides to pull out in front of the train. The train doesnt decide to pull out in front of the driver, he said. Regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration make a similar point in a video depiction of a train hitting a car and pushing it on along the tracks in a shower of sparks. If you think trains will stop if they see a car on the tracks, the narrator says, youre right. They will. About a mile after they hit you. Amtrak said it does not comment on employee matters. Though he recovered from extensive bruising to his torso, Akers said he abandoned a dream: to bid for the engineers assignment on Amtraks soon-to-launch Roanoke passenger service. He said he couldnt say for sure he would have gotten it, but his seniority likely would have been sufficiently high. The idea was to cap a career he had begun at the Norfolk & Western offices, once also located downtown, where he was hired on in 1976, three weeks after high school graduation. Akers grew up in Elliston 350 feet from tracks owned by Norfolk Southern, then Norfolk & Western. Every time I heard a train coming, if I was in the house, Id come running out the back door to watch it go by, he said. I come from a long history of railroad people. Its all I ever wanted to do. It was either that or construction, but the railroad won out just simply because it was right out the back door. He shares a middle name with his late father, Gordon Lacy Akers, a railroad fireman and sheet metal worker, and his late great-uncle, James Lacy Akers, the Norfolk & Western station agent who appears in The Pelican At Rural Retreat, 1957, a photograph by O. Winston Link. Akers late grandfather, Charles Emory Akers, was a conductor for 50 years. Akers spent nearly 21 years in freight railroading and the rest at Amtrak. As the miles added up, so did the collisions. He said people might assume that if no one dies in a collision, the engineer is spared any trauma, but thats incorrect. When youre up there running and see a vehicle youre about ready to make into scrap metal, you dont know if theres a 2-year-old in there or a 90-year-old in there, he said. Hes had rescuers come up to him and say, Its OK, they lived or There was nobody in it. I say, it didnt make any difference to me. I still had the experience of somebody maybe dying three foot from me. A metal cowling wrapping around the front console of the train is about all that separates the locomotive engineers seat from impacted objects, he said. The Halifax crash caused an estimated $2 million in damage to the locomotive and other Amtrak equipment. Lawsuits were filed and confidential settlements were signed. Akers said the oversized loads route, which had been approved by North Carolina officials, was supposed to have been tested in advance, but nobody mentioned the shipment to him even though Amtrak ran a train through the area daily. Federal regulators said eyewitnesses told them that the truck driver blocked the crossing while making three tries to complete a left turn at a nearby intersection. None of his three escorts, which included a North Carolina state trooper, dialed CSX at an 800 number posted on a blue sign at the crossing to report problems, according to a report issued by the Federal Railroad Administration on Jan. 6. Witness estimates for how long the crossing was blocked ranged from four minutes to 20 minutes. When Akers rounded a curve in the northbound track, the crossing could have been visible about 1,000 feet away, according to the report. To have been able to stop the train before the crash, Akers said, he would have needed at least half a mile, or 2,600 feet, or about 30 seconds warning that the crossing was blocked. Investigators credited Akers with slowing the train from 70 mph to 32 mph before the impact at 12:19 p.m. Akers said he had been going 79, cut his speed to 68 in the curve and was going 40 on impact. The speed limit for the crossing was 70 mph. In naming a cause for the crash, the Federal Railroad Administration faulted the truck driver for highway user misjudgment. In assessing Akers conduct, the report found no train handling issues or exceptions. In addition, the train whose brakes passed inspection that morning and the crossing equipment were working normally, the report said. Akers posted a photo of his crashed locomotive on his Facebook page the day after the investigative report was made public. Akers isnt quoted in the official report but said he was interviewed at length. All he saw, he told interviewers, was a blue rectangular object the payload on the flatbed truck across the track ahead, he said. About five seconds elapsed before impact. It was total, sheer terror, he said. You can do nothing to me the rest of my life, nothing, that will give me that much terror as I had that day. Just a few months before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. cemented his legacy when he delivered his I Have a Dream speech in 1963 to approximately 250,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial, the civil rights leader came to the University of Virginia to spread his message of racial unity. On Monday, university officials unveiled a new plaque in Old Cabell Hall commemorating Kings address at the university on March 25, 1963. The unveiling is part of a community celebration this month of Kings legacy. On that day, before a crowd of approximately 800 people a mix of black and white students, faculty and townspeople he stayed on point with a message thats continued to resonate worldwide today, nearly 50 years after his assassination in 1968. If democracy is to live, segregation must die, King told the crowd gathered in Old Cabell Hall that March evening. Donated by twin brothers Wesley Harris, a 1964 graduate of UVa engineering schools honors program, and William Harris, dean of the Office of African American Affairs from 1976 to 1982, the plaque states that Kings address that evening provided a philosophical and moral foundation supporting non-violent resistance to racial segregation. At the time, Wesley currently a professor of aeronautical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology was instrumental in orchestrating Kings visit to the university as a member of the Jefferson Chapter of the Virginia Council on Human Relations. Still deeply segregated in those days, he said, the university officialdom at the time distanced themselves from the event. You had a handful of black students on Grounds like seven or eight among 4,000. There was no room to welcome a person of Kings dimensions. They could not do that intellectually or spiritually, Wesley said. About 20 years ago, Paul Gaston, a former UVa history professor and civil rights activist who spent time with King that evening, told The Daily Progress about Kings visit, saying that he remembered university officials giving him the cold shoulder. Here was this distinguished man who was about to get the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most influential people in the South, and he was totally ignored by anyone with responsibility at the University of Virginia, Gaston said. It struck me how far apart this community was. We thought here was this rare and special man, and yet all officialdom stayed away. Wesley Harris, a Ph.D. graduate from Princeton, said Monday that he got the idea for a plaque at UVa after noticing a plaque at his other alma mater, which commemorates a sermon King delivered at the Princeton University Chapel in 1960. He said the speech he gave at UVa about three years later carried a special importance, as it was delivered to a community that was still widely segregated and resistant to change. A Daily Progress story about the event reported that King responded to a question about the Black Muslim movement, which favored black nationalism a separation from the white race but with a homeland of their own within what is now this country, saying it could hamstring the effort to desegregate institutions and create racial harmony. Although he was critical of that movement, King said it is just as important to remove the causes which brought that movement into being as it is to oppose it. Thats why he was such a great visionary. He was after a win-win solution. He wasnt after being divisive. I think thats the point we should not forget, Wesley said Monday. I think he gave us a major gift, he said of Kings visit. If our great minds who come through Old Cabell can just reflect on that plaque, read it, go beyond that and read some of the writings of Dr. King, and other philosophers that influenced him, such as Soren Kierkegaard and Plato, I think well be good. He fought for civil rights and social justice, which we still fight for today, Marcus Martin, university vice president and chief officer for diversity, said about King. When the students look at that plaque, they should think of Dr. King as a man of honor who spoke for a number of people, Martin said.If it werent for him, some of us may not be here today. University officials will hold several more events this week to honor King and explore the celebrations theme of Silence as Betrayal. A full schedule of events can be found at mlk.virginia.edu. DES MOINES Legislative Republicans agreed Monday to make $117.8 million in adjustments to the state budget by June 30 that would reduce spending for higher education, corrections, public safety and the courts. The proposal lists different cuts and priorities from a plan introduced earlier by Gov. Terry Branstad to balance this years state budget because of lower-than-expected revenue. Under the tentative agreement, state universities would be cut by $18 million rather than the $25.56 million the governor sought, while community college funding would be shaved by $3 million rather than $8.7 million. Additionally, corrections would be cut $5.5 million, not $15 million; the court system would be reduced by $3 million, not $7.7 million; and public safetys $3.8 million cut would be lowered to $1 million. Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the changes made to the governors original $110 million plan reflect the priorities expressed by GOP legislators in the House and Senate. It was not a fun puzzle to have to put together, but ultimately youve got to make it work and thats what were here for, Schneider said. They are tough decisions. You could hear in the room today people arent happy. But it is what it is. We can only work with what were given. We cant spend more than we have, he said. Thats just the reality. Thats not politics, thats math. Overall, the Republican lawmakers plan would make $88.2 million in targeted cuts, return $4.5 million in unused property tax credits, transfer $25 million from economic development, cultural and other trust funds, and provide a $4.3 million supplemental appropriation for indigent defense spending. The changes would not affect current year funding for K-12 schools, the Medicaid safety net, property tax credits and backfill to local governments and communities. Subcommittee member Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said minority Democrats disagreed with the proposed GOP cuts in a number of areas, but Republicans noted the problem was a carry-over from budget decisions made last session based on projected revenue growth that did not materialize. Were not dealing with a situation where revenues are decreasing now. Were dealing with a situation where growth is slower than we anticipated it. There was no room for error, Schneider said. Along with targeted cuts, GOP legislators are directing state agencies to identify $11.5 million in departmental reductions by trimming out-of-state travel, purchases and leaving unfilled positions vacant for the next five months. The specific cuts to regent universities would trim funding by $8 million each at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, and $2 million at the University of Northern Iowa. Were concerned about the cuts to higher education, Bolkcom said. Were especially concerned about significant increases in tuition for our community college students and our university students and their families as a result of these underfunding of these institutions. We think that this is going to have a super detrimental effect on those students, and while we might not look at a tuition increase this spring I suspect that were going to see one soon and one thats going to have to take effect for more than one year, he added. Bolkcom suggested an alternative approach might be to slash state tax credits to corporations that have grown expeditiously in recent years. After the subcommittee meeting, Bolkcom issued a statement warning the proposed GOP cuts threaten public safety, education and human services. The deep, mid-year budget cuts endorsed today by Republican legislators are mean-spirited and will harm Iowa college students, working families and seniors, Bolkcom said in his statement. The last thing we should do is cut services that Iowans depend on, including higher education, job training, public safety and human services. Schneider said he expected the provisions would clear committee on Tuesday and he expected both the House and Senate could send the measure to the governor yet this week. Democrat Tom Perriello jumped into the race for the Democratic nomination for governor on Jan. 5, ruffling the feathers of some party members supporting Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, the perceived front-runner for the past two years. In a new poll launched 10 days later, Perriello has equaled Northams support among a sample of likely Virginia primary voters. But the Roanoke College Poll cautions that most Virginians simply have not tuned in to the November governors race just yet. The polling numbers in the gubernatorial matchups should be taken with a large helping of salt, the poll results advise. In the quest for the Democratic nomination, Northam and Perriello are tied with support from 12 percent of likely Democratic voters polled. About 75 percent of respondents were undecided. The margin of error on this smaller sample of likely primary voters was larger, at 6.5 percent. In the Republican primary, Ed Gillespie leads with 24 percent, state Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, with 8 percent, former Donald Trump campaign leader Corey Stewart with 4 percent and distillery owner Denver Riggleman with 1 percent. Slightly more than 60 percent of those polled were undecided. The Republican primary poll question also had a higher margin of error of 6.5 percent. In hypothetical Democrat vs. Republican matchups, both Northam and Perriello lead over all of the Republican contenders, though their leads are narrow and within the larger samples margin of error of 4.5 percent. The poll released Tuesday addresses the 2017 gubernatorial election, the states budget shortfall, education and mental health spending, and General Assembly issues. As Virginia faces a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, poll respondents prioritized K-12 education spending and just over 50 percent think the commonwealth should fund a series of mental health services. The majority of Virginians favor restoration of voting rights for nonviolent felons, but 54 percent oppose restoring those felons gun rights. More than 60 percent of respondents favor raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2021, legislation several state lawmakers have proposed this year. Poll respondents were sharply divided on transgender bathroom access, even as a bill modeled on a similar controversial law in North Carolina was quickly killed in the General Assembly last week. More than 40 percent of those surveyed said transgender people should use the bathroom corresponding to their birth gender while 39 percent of respondents said they should be able to use the bathroom of their choice. The poll surveyed 606 Virginians between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20 and has a 4 percent margin of error. The Roanoke College Poll is funded by Roanoke College and conducted by the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research. Full poll results are available on the institutes website. RICHMOND Virginia could become the Napa Valley of craft beer if state Sen. Bill Stanley has his way. Stanley, R-Franklin, imagines beer lovers sipping on Virginia craft beers while touring the Virginia wheat fields and smelling the local hops used to create those same brews. A bill Stanley proposed to grow the relationship between Virginia farmers and Virginia brewers advanced out of committee Tuesday. Senate Bill 798 would make tax-exempt the barley, hops, wheat and malt purchased by Virginia craft brewers from Virginia farmers. The bill passed out of the Senate Finance Committee unopposed and will advance to the Senate floor. Stanley carried the same bill last year, but it didnt make it as far. In the past year, West Coast brewers Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits and Deschutes Brewery announced their companies would expand to the Roanoke Valley and, combined, will create about 300 new jobs. Meanwhile, the number of local, craft breweries has exploded across the state both factors Stanley attributed to his bill surviving committee this year. What all of us have seen is an explosion of this industry of the likes that we did not anticipate, Stanley said. And if were going to have this industry to continue to grow we need to have other things that will support it and agriculture is the natural progression in that direction. The bill would hopefully encourage local farmers to grow more crops essential to the beer-making process, Stanley said. As Virginias brewery industry booms, the hops industry is slow to catching up. Most hop-growing operations amount to less than 1 acre, according to a 2014 survey by the Virginia Cooperative Extension. Virginia isnt close to competing with Washington, which leads the nation in hop growth and produces 56 million pounds of the flavorful ingredient a year. The Virginia Beer Wholesalers Association supports the bill because there arent enough local beer-making crops being grown in the commonwealth, said Philip Boykin, the associations president and CEO. Anything that helps increase commodities, barley, wheat and hops, anything that increases these commodities, we support, he said. The association represents all of the Virginia beer distributors, which distribute thousands of local beers, Boykin said. Altogether, the association has donated more than $10,000 to Stanleys election campaigns. Stanley also has received campaign contributions of $5,000 or more from the Virginia Beverage Association, Anheuser- Busch and the Virginia Wine Wholesalers Association, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. In 2012, Stanley served as a co-patron to the bill that is largely credited for tapping the states craft beer boom. The bill allowed breweries to have tasting rooms and to sell beer on-premises. Its Virginia grown, Virginia produced, Virginia processed and a Virginia beer just like Virginia wants, he said. RICHMOND Attempts to lower Virginia's tax rates, or the revenues raised by local government, appear to be headed to a common fate in the Senate study. The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday politely killed seven bills proposed by two Richmond-area first-term senators to cut state and local taxes, impose zero-based budgeting on executive branch agencies, and conduct ongoing audits of state government. But senior lawmakers on the committee promised Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, and Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Richmond, they would consider their ideas on tax policy as part of a broad study proposed to examine fiscal stress among local governments. Senate Finance Co-Chairman Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta, who proposed the study, told Chase he prefers to take a broad look at all state and local revenue resources "with the idea of being fair, equitable and competitive with other states." However, Hanger's proposed study faces an uncertain fate in the House of Delegates, whose members face re-election this year. House Finance Chairman Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, said he already is working on a broad tax reform proposal for the General Assembly and a new governor to consider next year. "Regarding tax reform proposals, they are interesting to consider in a short session but unlikely," Ware said in an email message earlier this month. The bills proposed by Sturtevant and Chase would pose a particular challenge for state government now because of the fiscal impact of slashing Virginia's corporate and individual tax rates while the state deals with a projected revenue shortfall of $1.26 billion in the current two-year budget. "A $493 million fiscal impact may be a little bit out of our grasp right now," Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment, R-James City, co-chairman of the Finance Committee, told Sturtevant in response to his proposal to cut the individual income tax rates by 1 percent over four years. The nearly half-billion-dollar impact in the next fiscal year would grow to almost $2 billion in two years and $3.3 billion in six years. "This is probably more of a conversation starter rather than an opportunity for action with a significant budget deficit," Sturtevant acknowledged. The committee also killed and referred for study Sturtevant's proposals to lower the corporate tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent (an estimated $34.3 million impact in the first year and $92.2 million in the second), require zero-based budgeting by the governor, and conduct ongoing outside audits of state government ($5.7 million a year). Similarly, the committee killed proposals by Chase to lower the corporate tax rate from 6 percent to 2.5 percent (an $861.4 million impact in the next fiscal year, then declining to about a half-billion a year) and create an income tax deduction for small businesses in their first five years. Like Sturtevant, she took the committee's decision in stride. "My desire is to make Virginia competitive with other states," Chase told the committee. "I understand the enormous fiscal impact that comes with this." The Finance Committee also killed Chase's proposal to require local governments to consider taxable income, not gross receipts, when levying the business, professional and occupational license tax, a popular target with some legislators. But the proposal would have had a big fiscal impact on local governments, estimated at $392 million statewide by the Commissioners of Revenue Association of Virginia. Henrico County estimated the proposal would cut BPOL tax revenues by 95 percent, costing the county $31 million a year. Chase was undeterred. "We need to look at reforming this, so we're helping small businesses rather than hurting them," she said. Charlottesville community members responded Monday evening to several concepts for a memorial to commemorate the enslaved laborers who built the University of Virginia about 200 years ago. After a recently formed design team briefed the audience of about 75 students, faculty and other community members on the designs it created in response to input it received last year, groups huddled around more than a dozen tables, talking about what they would like to see built. These are merely ideas, said Mabel Wilson, a UVa graduate and architectural historian who is part of the design team. The concepts are designed with several locations around Grounds in mind the Lawn and green space along University Avenue or McCormick Road. With a few ideas wedded to those specific areas in mind, they could explore one of several themes that resonate with the complex and sobering slave narrative, such as freedom and memory . The concepts feature representations of those themes with architectural features such as ponds, stones, pillars, canopies and footpaths that would incorporate the names of the enslaved laborers and other symbols. We are putting them out there to get feedback, Wilson said. We want to hear from you so we can go through this process again. Its been very critical in figuring out what this memorial means and what it will do. Formed in 2013, the Presidents Commission on Slavery and The University has been exploring how to memorialize the enslaved laborers who built Thomas Jeffersons university two centuries ago. Since its inception, the commission has provided guidance on several projects that have added new interpretive signage around grounds. The memorial, however, remains its central project. I think theres actually a surprising amount of energy and support for this at all levels, said commission co-chairman and UVa history professor Kirt Von Daacke. Its about time to do this. We might have to do some fundraising down the road, but I think theres an understanding that this is real important, he said. Institutions are doing this all around the world now, examining their connection to slavery. Were trying to position ourselves as a real leader in this. Although a small memorial plaque to the free and enslaved laborers who built the university can be found by the Rotunda today, critics have said its fairly unnoticeable and fails to appropriately call attention to the memory of those who laid the foundation of the university and toiled to build it. Our goal is to create a memorial that can have both emotion and empathy but also provide knowledge and education, said Meejin Yoon, an architect with the firm Howeler+Yoon. Last year, the universitys board of visitors chose her firm to take on the project. We didnt want to impose a design. We want the design to emerge from what we were hearing. We were amazed by the thoughtfulness. Some of it was really profound, she said about the teams commitment to engaging the public. That is very unusual. Were usually given a site, a program and a budget and told, Go, she said. Even the scale of the memorial and its primary function, its bigger than that. Its a project about bringing people together, healing and truth-telling. According to Van Daacke, the planning process for the project will proceed quickly through the next few months, as the commission is expected to present a design before the board of visitors this summer. The goal of the commission is to really include the community and make permanent changes to the lived landscape at the university so that this story is much more visible, he said, adding that the commission is aiming to have the project complete before the universitys bicentennial in 2019. The design team will hold its next public forum Feb. 27. An Iowa sex offender was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison for exchanging sexually explicit photos and videos with six girls ranging in age from 12 to 17. Jacob Scott Watters, 24, Davenport, must serve 10 years of supervised release once he completes his prison term, Chief District Court Judge John Jarvey ordered. There is no parole in the federal system. Watters pleaded guilty in August in U.S. District Court, Davenport, to one count of receiving child pornography. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed an additional charge of possession of child pornography. According to the plea agreement: On Aug. 18, 2014, Davenport police were notified of an investigation in Merced County, California. They learned that police in that area were called several days earlier to the home of a 15-year-old girl whose mother found inappropriate chats and pictures on her iPod. The girl said she met Watters about a year earlier on Facebook and did not know where he lived. She also said he knew she was 15. A forensic examination of her iPod was conducted by California officials, who were able to obtain a picture of Watters and account names that included his date of birth. They ran his name nationwide and found Watters picture on the Iowa Sex Offender website and notified Davenport police. Davenport officers found Watters was living in Davenport and on Aug. 20, 2014, they executed a search warrant at his home. Twelve electronic devices were seized during the search. Watters initially denied that he used any of the electronic devices officers found. During a second interview, he admitted he does use many of the items seized and provided email addresses, passwords and other identifiers used for those electronics. He also admitted to meeting the girl from California in 2007 and that he developed a relationship with her and exchanged multiple sexually explicit photos. They also had video sex on three occasions. Two DVDs were forwarded to Davenport police that contained the forensic examination done on the iPod seized in California. The communication between the girl and Watters took place from July 2014 through August 2014, with indications that the relationship began in 2013. A forensic examination was done on the items found in Watters' home, which revealed sexually explicit pictures and videos involving five other girls ranging in age from 12 to 17. During the examination, the examiner noted that Watters used the same method for each girl in that he contacted young Latina girls and showered them with praise and within minutes, asked them to be with him only and told them that he is fragile and will be faithful. The examiner also noted that Watters would talk to other girls on the side and also pretended to be a female relative and told the girls that he is a nice guy, according to the plea agreement. Watters was indicted on the federal charges in February. He was sentenced in August 2013 to a 10-year suspended prison sentence and placed on three years of probation after pleading guilty in Scott County District Court to lascivious acts with a child for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 2012, according to court records. An Iowa man, while walking with his 2-year-old son, was arrested Jan. 18 for possessing cocaine and a loaded gun, police say. Police went to the home of Tray Demonta Miller, 22, at 1935 W. 40th St., Davenport, at 12:27 p.m. to serve an arrest warrant on him for domestic assault. Miller was walking with his 2-year-old son in the apartment complex courtyard area when he was arrested, according to his arrest affidavit. Miller was found to be in possession of approximately 4.8 grams of cocaine, 2.6 grams of marijuana, a cellphone, a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm handgun and $607 in cash, the affidavit states. He is charged with possession with intent to deliver, third-degree possession and being a felon in possession of a firearm, all felonies. He also is charged with a misdemeanor count of child endangerment. DES MOINES | The annual Iowa Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day will be 11 a.m. May 5 at the Vietnam Wall Memorial Wall at the Capital grounds in Des Moines. The Iowa Commission of Veterans Affairs says registration is open for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's 2017 In Memory Plaque Celebration. It honors veterans whose lives were cut short as a result of their service in Vietnam, but were not eligible for inscription on the Wall under Department of Defense guidelines. PEOPLE living in Wath could be left without a bank after two companies announced plans to close branches in the town. Yorkshire Bank and HSBC will both close their town centre branches this year, with both blaming the proposals on changes in the way people bank. CYBG, Yorkshire Banks parent company, announced the Sandygate branch will close on May 12 following an ongoing decline in usage. And HSBC announced it plans to close its Wath branch this year with a date yet to be confirmed. Gavin Opperman, customer banking director at Yorkshire Bank, said the branch would close on May 12, with Wombwell being the nearest branch for people living in Wath. Mr Opperman said: While the decision to close any branch is never an easy one, it is important that we, in line with other banks operating in the UK market, continue to respond to changes in the way customers want to bank with us. He said around 200 Yorkshire Bank staff would lose their jobs as part of branch closures across the country. Francesa McDonagh, HSBCs head of retail banking, said around 180 jobs could go as part of the companys plans. She said: We are contacting customers to explain the decision and help them with alternative ways to bank with us. (TASS) - Nine new diamond deposits in two Arctic regions of Yakutia will be commissioned by 2025 by ALROSA subsidiaries, according to Vasily Zakharov, the first deputy minister of Industry and Geology of the Republic of Yakutia. "In 2016-2025, the two companies Nizhne-Lenskoye and Diamonds Anabara (ALROSA subsidiaries) will commission nine new locations in two Arctic regions," - he said. By 2025, companies plan to invest 2.8 billion rubles in the construction of industrial facilities. Capital investments in modernization and replacement of worn-out equipment is planned in the amount of 19.3 billion rubles. Also, exploration costs may amount to 7.5 billion rubles. Currently, the companies are the owners of the licensed subsoil areas. They conduct the search, exploration and development of alluvial and kimberlite diamond deposits. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Aetna Inc. (AET) spiked to the downside late Monday morning after a Federal judge blocked the company's proposed acquisition of Humana (HUM). Aetna ended the session with a loss of 3.33 at $119.20, with volume at over a 6-month high. The stock has been pulling back from the highs of the year since the start of December and closed at over a 2-month low. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Rio Tinto Plc (RTPPF.PK,RIO.L,RIO,RTNTF.PK) Tuesday said it signed a binding agreement for the sale of its Australian subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. to Yancoal Australia Ltd. for up to $2.45 billion. As per the agreement, an initial $1.95 billion cash will be payable at completion; and $500 million in aggregate deferred cash payments, payable as annual installments of $100 million over five years following completion. After the sale is completed, Rio Tinto will also be entitled to potential royalties. Further, Rio Tinto will continue to benefit from earnings and cash flow generated by Coal & Allied until completion of the transaction. The Coal & Allied operations will also continue to use Rio Tinto Marine freight services following completion of the transaction. The transaction is expected to be complete in the second half of 2017. After completion of the sale, Rio Tinto will become entitled to a quarterly coal price linked royalty calculated as $2 per tonne of attributable saleable production. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News New US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO. The new US Defense chief gave the important message during a phone call with U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon Monday, his first full day in office. Mattis' reassurance gains relevance in the context of President Donald Trump casting the military alliance as obsolete. In separate calls Monday, Mattis spoke with his counterpart from Canada and with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, according to readouts of the calls provided by Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis. The defense secretary, who previously served as NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation, spoke with Stoltenberg to reconnect and discuss the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security, Davis said. Mattis "wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance," the captain said. The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe, Davis said. Both pledged to consult in the months to come and look forward to meeting in person during next month's NATO defense ministerial. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News GenVec Inc. (GNVC) announced Tuesday morning that it has agreed to be acquired by Intrexon Corp. (XON). GenVec stockholders will receive 0.297 of a share of Intrexon common stock for each share of GenVec common stock. GenVec gapped open sharply higher Tuesday and is now up 2.47 at $7.01 on above average volume. The stock has jumped to nearly a 2-week high. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Etihad Airway's Chief Executive Officer James Hogan will leave in the second half this year. Hogan has been with the Abu Dhabi based aviation group since 2006. Chief Financial Officer James Rigney also will depart from service. Under the leadership of Hogan, Etihad has been on a growth trajectory. He was able to transform with around two dozen aircraft to a 122 strong fleet. It has an employ network of around 26 thousand. Etihad owns 49 percent of Alitalia airline and 29.9 percent in Germany's second largest airline Air Berlin. During the last few years, Etihad has brought stakes in various carriages such as Virgin Australia, Jet Airways, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, etc. Etihad that operates more than 1,000 flights per week to over 120 passenger and cargo destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas is planning to review its size and structure in the near future. The airline has been facing fierce competition from its rivals. Economic challenges and oil price fluctuation has been creating hurdle for the airline operator. Hogan and Rigney are reportedly planning to join an investment company outside Abu Dhabi. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News MASON CITY | A Clear Lake man's sentence of up to 55 years in prison Monday for a 2014 crime spree involving arson, drugs and the theft from two ATM machines was upheld Friday. Michael Dean Wilson, 27, received that sentence in February 2015 after pleading guilty to second-degree arson, second-degree criminal mischief as an habitual offender, possession of methamphetamine (third offense) as an habitual offender and two counts of third-degree burglary as an habitual offender. Clear Lake man gets 55 years in prison for arson, drugs MASON CITY | A Clear Lake man was sentenced to 55 years in prison Monday for a crime spree i Two of the five counts were to run concurrently and the rest consecutively. Wilson was ordered to serve a mandatory minimum of nine years before he can be released on parole. After the Iowa Court of Appeals upheld his sentence, Wilson filed a motion in Cerro Gordo County District Court claiming his sentence was illegal and should be corrected. Clear Lake man's 55-year prison sentence upheld MASON CITY | A Clear Lake man's 55-year prison sentence in connection with a crime spree inv In his ruling, District Court Judge Gregg Rosenbladt stated it was up to the sentencing court's discretion as to whether Wilson should be given concurrent or consecutive sentencing. Wilson stole an ATM machine from Lakeside Pit Stop in Clear Lake on Aug. 15, 2014. He made off with cash after cutting open the machine at Rumorz Bar in Clear Lake on Oct. 24, 2014. He took a pickup truck which was later found burning in a ditch at 240th Street and Hickory Avenue on Oct. 28, 2014. The truck was stolen the day before near Buddy Holly Place and U.S. Highway 18. South Korea will on Wednesday release preliminary Q4 figures for gross domestic product, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. GDP is expected to add 0.3 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year, slowing from the 0.6 percent quarterly increase and the 2.6 percent yearly gain in the three months prior. Japan will provide December data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to slip 0.8 percent on year after sliding 8.8 percent in November. Exports are called higher by 1.2 percent after easing 0.4 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 270.0 billion yen, up from 152.5 billion yen a month earlier. Australia will see Q4 numbers for consumer prices, and also December results for the Westpac leading economic index. Consumer prices are expected to add 0.7 percent on quarter and 1.6 percent on year after gaining 0.7 percent on quarter and 1.3 percent on year in the third quarter. The leading index was up 0.02 percent in November. New Zealand will provide December data for credit card spending; in November, spending was down 4.2 percent on month and up 4.1 percent on year. Taiwan will release preliminary Q4 figures for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.85 percent on year - up from 2.03 percent in the previous three months. Finally, the in Taiwan begin their long holiday break for the Lunar New Year on Wednesday. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. MASON CITY Methamphetamine, a loaded handgun and cash were allegedly found in an SUV that crashed into a snowbank Monday night after a Mason City man tried to flee sheriff's deputies, officials say. The driver, Bradley Loren Fransen, 39, was charged with felony possession with intent to deliver meth, eluding, tax-stamp violation, possession of a firearm by a felon and carrying a dangerous weapon. Fransen sped away when a Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's deputy attempted to stop him about 7:15 p.m. in the 2100 block of South Taft Avenue, according to a sheriff's office statement. The deputy chased Fransen's SUV on Taft Avenue, 15th Street Southwest, South Benjamin Avenue, 21st Street Southwest to South McKinley Avenue. Officials say that's where Fransen lodged the SUV into a snowbank. Fransen and a passenger, Arone Joseph Goretska, 41, of Mason City, were arrested without incident. Goretska was charged with felony possession of methamphetamine third offense. In addition to the felonies, Fransen also was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. CHARLES CITY | A Mason City man who led law enforcement on a chase through two counties was given a suspended two-year prison sentence last week in Floyd County District Court. Kyle Fitzpatrick, 27, was put on probation for two years for misdemeanor eluding while traveling more than 25 mph over the speed limit. A $625 fine was suspended. Mason City man charged with eluding police on motorcycle CHARLES CITY | Police arrested a Mason City man late Thursday after allegedly leading law en Charles City police attempted to pull him over near the intersection of South Main Street and Fifth Street on Aug. 25 when he took off on his motorcycle. According to the Charles City police log, Fitzpatrick led officers on a high-speed chase, then south toward Nashua on the Avenue of the Saints. A Floyd County Sheriff's deputy stopped him in Chickasaw County on County Road B-60. Fitzpatrick originally was charged with felony eluding but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in November. -- Mary Pieper Doug Rozendaal has been flying airplanes for more than four decades, but when he took off from Mason City Airport on Friday it was a first for The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Maharashtra government to explain reports of sexual abuse and mystery deaths of over 500 tribal girls in state-run ashram schools, an official said here on Tuesday. Taking cognizance of media reports, the NHRC has sent a notice to the state Chief Secretary seeking his detailed report in the serious matter within six weeks. The NHRC said that the media reports "are indicative of violation of right to life and dignity of the girl students of the schools and also highlights the negligence and apathy of the authorities." The media has reported last week that the authorities maintained menstruation records of the minor girls and conducted pregnancy tests on them whenever they missed their period or returned from vacations, and this unethical practice was carried out without parental consent. The matter was exposed when a tribal girl, who came home for Diwali vacation, complained of stomach pains and later she was found to be a victim of sexual abuse at school. Another 12-year-old girl also alleged similar sexual abuse by a sweeper of the same school in Khamgaon, Buldhana district, which houses 70 girls without a single female superintendent. According to official figures there are around 1,100 state-run or aided tribal residential schools in Maharashtra catering to 2.3 lakh male and 1.6 lakh female students. In the past 15 years, over 1,500 students including 700 girls have died and sexual abuse is suspected to be a reason behind these deaths, the NHRC noted. Frowning at the state government for not taking any initiatives to redress the grievance, the NHRC pointed out that the state has yet to submit a report to the NHRC on its notice of October 10, 2016 on allegations of deaths of 740 tribal students in ashram schools, despite a reminder on November 26. The Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a detailed charge-sheet against absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya and others in the Rs 1,300 crore loan default involving the defunct Kingfisher Airlines and IDBI here on Tuesday, an official said. The 1,000-plus page charge-sheet has alleged the losses to the public sector bank by virtue of sanctioning loans to Mallya's airlines without following proper procedures. The loans of Rs 750 crore, Rs 200 crore and Rs 150 crore pertained to repayment of pending aircraft dues and party repayment of loans owed to another public sector bank. It has said the airlines managed to secure the loans in collusion with IDBI officials and part of the loan was diverted for "personal uses". The CBI has accused "omissions and commissions" on the part of the bank officials, including its former chairman Yogesh Agarwal, and said the loans were sanctioned despite poor credit ratings and falling financial health of the airline. The CBI said that further investigations are on in the case and a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya has been issued which was in the process of being executed. Besides, it has sent letters rogatory to Singapore and British Virgin Islands to find out the details of the bank accounts of Kingfisher Airlines in those countries. The CBI also produced former IDBI chief Yogesh Agarwal, who was arrested from New Delhi on Monday, and others before the Special CBI Court and they were remanded to custody till February 7. Seeking their custody, the CBI said they are influential persons who may flee the country like the "absconder accused" Mallya who had already fled, and may tamper with the evidences. The CBI has invoked various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against all the accused, who have applied for bail. Senior Counsel Amit Desai and lawyer Rajiv Chavan representing the accused sought interim bail for their clients. The CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami asked time till Monday to file the agency's reply to the bail application. The Special Court fixed January 30 as the date for the next hearing. Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra on Tuesday congratulated the Congress and Samajwadi Party for forging a "grand alliance" and said that Uttar Pradesh will "shine" under the leadership of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and SP President Akhilesh Yadav. "The alliance between Congress and SP (Samajwadi Party) is not only an alliance between two parties, its an alliance between two young and dynamic leaders - Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav," Vadra wrote on Facebook. "My best wishes to them for the upcoming UP Elections," Vadra said. Congress and Samajwadi Party have forged an alliance ahead of the assembly elections in India's most populous state. Vadra, who is married to the Congress President's daughter Priyanka Gandhi, also said, "I am sure that under their dynamic leadership, UP will shine and become extremely progressive." "Both youth icons will bring forth immense energy, brilliant ideas and implementation to transform UP into a world class state. Congratulations on the grand alliance!!" he added. As per alliance, Congress will contest on 105 seats while Samajwadi Party would contest on 298 seats in the 403 seats assembly. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Schmidt ad says Democrats helping Pyle "trying to steal" governor's race Attorney General Derek Schmidt's campaign has hit out with a radio ad saying "national Democrats are trying to steal the Kansas governor's race." A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 30, at St. Cecelia Catholic Church in Algona with the Rev. Ed Girres celebrating. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Algona. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Lentz Funeral Home in Algona, with a 5 p.m. rosary and a 7 p.m. scripture service. The New Zealand Immigration Advisors Authority (I.A.A.) has issued a warning to Samoan residents seeking immigration advice. The warning from Catherine Albiston, the Registrar of I.A., cautions members of the public against working with what they refer to as unlicensed advisers. Ms. Albiston is travelling the Pacific to increase community understanding about the I.A.As licensed adviser register and the risks associated with using unlicensed advisers. She is in Apia this week. Our main message is to raise awareness in the community that it isnt okay for people in the community to provide immigration advice unless youve got a license, she said. We want to stop scams and stop people from paying money that doesnt get them a visa. The New Zealand government has specifically set up the I.A.A to protect migrants who wish to travel to New Zealand. There have been historically and it continues that migrants and people wanting to come to New Zealand do get bad immigration advice. It may be from good meaning people in the community and from the churches but often they get bad advice. That bad advice has bad consequences for peoples lives. That bad advice wrecks lives and people end up in New Zealand as over-stayers and might get deported which causes financial stress and stress in families when people get bad advice. According to Ms. Albiston, Anyone who needs immigration advice should either go directly to Information New Zealand. If you need extra help, you need to use a licensed immigration advisers. There are very few exceptions for lawyers who have a certificate but most of them are based in New Zealand. The I.A.A also wants to end illegitimate dealing of members of the community who give out advice without a license. Ms. Albiston warns that members who are not licensed or certified and are giving information can and will be prosecuted in New Zealand as it is a highly punishable offence . The I.A.A has advised that the best option for migrants is to visit their free website: iaa.govt.nz to get reliable information and a listing of certified immigration advisers locally as well as advisers based in New Zealand. Mrs. Albiston advises that if you are unsure if the advisor that you are dealing with is legitimate to check the website for their name on the listing or ask for their official identification card issued by the I.A.A. If the advisors name does not appear on the list, he/she is most likely a scammer and do not proceed to take advice from said person. Currently there are only two licensed advisors based in Apia. They are Denise Ella Sonnya Ah Tune and Roberta Tiatia. For more information, visit their website which is in Samoan and English: iaa.govt.nz Well there you go. The war of words between the mighty government and the Land and Titles Court Judges is not going away in a hurry. Just when we thought the struggle for power and the upper hand might have been settled when the report by the Commission of Inquiry tasked to review the performance of the Land and Titles Court Judges was tabled, the front page of the newspaper you are reading tells a different story. Whoever is right in this simmering row, we are dead sure about one thing. The decision by the Judiciary to abstain from the Inquiry has struck a sore nerve with Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and his administration so that today he has really come out all guns blazing looking for blood. Using the privilege of a Ministerial statement yesterday, Tuilaepa went to town saying that some of the Judges are unqualified, dishonest, reckless and abusive. But that wasnt all. Among other new developments in relation to the Land and Titles Court, Tuilaepa revealed all the Land and Title Judges positions will be advertised once the report is passed. The truth is its not all the judges that are giving the Land Titles Court a bad name. There is a minority giving the Court a bad name. They should be sacked, he said. We can never dry the tears of our people if these people who are unqualified, dishonest, reckless and abusive of our people, giving the Court a bad name, and all of us who are called leaders of this country, remain there. We want to ensure that only qualified and honest judges are appointed to be Judges of the Land and Titles Court. If good judges are appointed, the decisions will be good too. If the Judges appointed are honest, their decisions will also be righteous. Needless to say this is a serious indictment on the Judiciary. We believe it is imperative for the Chief Justice and the Judges of the Land and Courts to respond publically to these allegations and claims for the sake of clarity and fairness. Whats interesting we find is that all this talk from the government about justice and doing what is right by members of the public and the almighty God is ironic. Dont get me wrong, the Inquiry is important. But if the government is so serious in its pursuit of the truth over the actions of the Judges of the Land and Titles Court, why didnt it adopt the same attitude and fervor towards similar claims of corruption, mismanagement and collusion in other organs of the government? Over the past years, the issues of corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement among others have constantly surfaced on the pages of this newspaper. They are stories of austere corruption that have been permeating unstoppably throughout the public service which have yet to be addressed appropriately with the thought of reducing it, if not stopping it altogether. Take for instance the issues raised by the Controller and Chief Auditor, Fuimaono Camillo Afele, in his report to Parliament for the periods ended 30 June 2010 and 30 June 2011. Fuimaonos report revealed allegations of unbridled corruption that had apparently been perpetrated within certain government corporations over a number of years. The report was referred to the Officers of Parliament Committee (O.P.C.), chaired by then Associate Minister Papalii Niko Lee Hang to investigate. In the end, they backed and proven a number of allegations raised by Chief Auditor Fuimaono. We dont need to go into details. You know what we are talking about. The point here is about consistency in the pursuit for truth and justice. Today, we have the government accusing the Judges of the Land and Titles Court of being dishonest and abusive among other serious allegations. Prime Minister Tuilaepa also flatly denied a call to forgive the judges if they had erred in their decision last year. Okay. Fine. They can do what they like. But where is consistency? Which public servants are subjected to investigations, scrutiny and eventually sacked and which ones are forgiven and allowed to get away with breaking the law and rewarded? Isnt everyone supposed to be the same under the law? Or are there people who are above the law in Samoa? This is classic case of having different strokes for different folks. Which reminds us of Mathew 7 vs 3: Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? Think about it Samoa, God bless! Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi did not mince words yesterday. He reprimanded the Judges of the Land and Titles Court over their refusal to appear before a Parliament-ordered Commission of Inquiry. They were afraid, they were embarrassed to be questioned about their reckless handling of matters pertaining to the people of this nation, Tuilaepa said. They knowingly handled cases which they knew very well were matters of conflicts of interest because of their close connections to the parties involved. He added that some of the Judges are unqualified, dishonest, reckless and abusive of our people. Such people give the Judiciary a bad name and all of us who are called leaders of this country. Tuilaepa made the comments during a Ministerial statement in their first session of 2017, revealing that all the Land and Title Judges positions will be advertised once the report is passed. The Prime Minister also moved a motion for the report by the Commission of Inquiry tasked to review the performance of the Land and Titles Court Judges as well as the response from Land and Titles to be discussed in Parliament. But the Prime Minister also used the opportunity to condemn the decision by Chief Justice and Acting President of L.T.C in 2016, His Honour Patu Tiavaasue Falefatu Patu, to oppose the Inquiry. In a letter dated 5 July 2016, Chief Justice Patu not only expressed his objection, he also informed the Commission that no Judge of the Land and Titles Court would appear before the Panel. The former President of the Land and Titles Court, Tuala Tagaloa Kerselake, also refused to appear before the Panel, despite being asked three times through official letters from the Commission. Tuilaepa said their refusal is a contempt of the dignity of Parliament and he called on the Speaker of Parliament for the matter to be dealt with immediately. He strongly rejected calls from other Parliamentarians to forgive the Judges. I dont need to tell you Mr. Speaker and the Chairmen of Parliament Committees that the power is in your hands to summon anyone required by any Committee of Parliament, Tuilaepa said. That is Parliamentary procedure. Even I as the leader of the government and Cabinet Ministers always respond when we are called by a Committee. We come, we wait outside the meeting room until the Committee calls us in. Tuilaepa said they do this because they respect the authority vested in each organ of democratic Samoa. These are guidelines that all leaders should respect and adhere to, he said. Mr. Speaker, I dont mean to tell you what to do but I strongly urge you not to allow anything foolish like this in the future." The appointed Committee has the authority of the Parliament of Samoa. This is the highest assembly of Samoa, there is no other before it or after it." Im not saying this out of high-mindedness but if there is an assembly that should be obeyed by a person, it is this one. That is why it is called the Fono Aoao Faitulafono a Samoa (The Legislative Assembly of Samoa)." So for anyone to reject the call to appear before this Assembly is a serious offense. It is contempt of the dignity of this Parliament, which means it should be dealt with immediately. Tuilaepa downplayed suggestions that the government is interfering with the work of the Judiciary. Referring to his Ministerial statement in June 2016 when the motion was passed to set up the Inquiry, Tuilaepa said he highlighted the importance of the separation of powers between the Judiciary, Executive and the Government. At the time, the question of whether one of these bodies is more superior was raised. There is no such thing, he said, adding that all these bodies are like a woven basket. Opportunities to share are very important when one part of body sees that the other is falling because we are not angels. There are times when our decisions are influenced by our human feelings, Tuilaepa said. In his statement, Tuilaepa confirmed that Parliament has received an official response from the Judiciary. If you look at the report, there are many useful recommendations for the work of L.T.C. If you see the response from the Court, there are many good issues they have also highlighted. This is why we refer to this work as a women basket. If goes in line with the adage that we can catch more seafood when we have more torches." This is why the government needed to raise this matter. There would have been no refuge for our people if we did not initiate this Inquiry. The Court would not have done anything about the numerous complaints from people. Needless to say, the Prime Minister said the Inquiry has been extremely useful. For the Judges of the Land and Titles, it has made them aware about the grievances of our people and to know that they are not gods but rather they are servants appointed to serve Samoa with honesty and show Gods righteousness in their judgments." The truth is its not all the judges that are giving the Land Titles Court a bad name. There is a minority giving the Court a bad name. They should be sacked." We can never dry the tears of our people if these people who are unqualified, dishonest, reckless and abusive of our people, giving the Court a bad name, and all of us who are called leaders of this country, remain there. Tuilaepa then announced that once Parliament passes the report from the Commission, applications for all positions of Land and Titles Court Judges will be opened. We want to ensure that only qualified and honest judges are appointed to be Judges of the Land and Titles Court. We will also set a Commission for the Land and Titles Court to monitor and review their performance on a periodic basis." If good judges are appointed, the decisions will be good too. If the Judges appointed are honest, their decisions will also be righteous. The Ministerial statement from Tuilaepa was widely supported by Members of Parliament appointed to speak about the report including the Chairman of the Inquiry, Lopaoo Natanielu Mua, Tautua Samoa MP, Aeau Peniamina Leavai, Minister of Justice and Courts Administration, Faaolesa Katopau Ainuu, Tafua Maluelue Tafua, Gatoloaifaana Amataga Alesana-Gidlow and Faasootauloa Pati Taulapapa. The Inquiry was ordered by Prime Minister Tuilaepa last year to look into the performance of L.T.C. judges, on the back of a growing number of grievances about the performance of the Land and Titles Court. Chaired by Lopaoo, Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Nafoitoa Talaimanu Keti was the Vice Chairman with members including Lauofo Fonotoe Meredith, Aliimalemanu Alofa Tuuau, Ili Setefano Taateo, Faaulusau Rosa Stowers and Faumuina Wayne Fong. In its report, the Commission makes 30 recommendations on ways to address concerns raised by members of the public, especially in relation to ways to speed up the process. The Inquiry recommends a restructure of the Land and Titles Court. As part of this, Parliament has been urged to appoint two Vice Presidents of the Land and Titles Court to help the President. The Commission is also calling for a legal time frame on decisions. For instance, a verbal ruling on all Court matters must be delivered within three days when the hearing ends. Written rulings are urged to be delivered within seven days from the end of a matter. The Inquiry also recommended ways to address questions of bias and abuse. This includes a recommendation to stop the practice of Judges accepting food, gifts and other material things from parties during inspection visits. Parliament was also asked to look into Rules and Procedures for all Judges to follow in the conduct of their duties. In relation to the question of adjournments, the Inquiry recommends a period of no more than 6 months if a matter must be adjourned. When it comes to parties in a hearing, the Inquiry recommends that there must be at least three leaders at one time so a hearing is not delayed when one of them doesnt turn up. A young man from Siufaga, Falelatai, has perhaps unknowingly done what the elders of the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa (C.C.C.S) have been hoping for. He has removed the statue of Mary from inside the Siufaga C.C.C.S church. The statue has been the subject of much controversy, which led to the decision by the churchs mother body to strip Reverend Opapo Soanai of his pastoral position. The only problem for the young man, identified as Tavita, is that he has now been charged by the Police. And thats not all. His actions have become the subject of an investigation to find out if there were not more people involved in forcefully removing the statue gifted to the church. Police Spokesperson, Sua Muliaga Tiumalu, confirmed the charges yesterday. The accused, whose name is withheld for now, is scheduled to appear in Court on 7 February 2017. Contacted for a comment, Rev. Opapo was reluctant to discuss the issue. I cannot comment on the issue, he said, except to say I confirm that he has been taken by the Police." Thats all I can say for now because I have been told not to say anything anymore because of the multiple issues happening right now. Rev. Opapo also believes the removal of the statue was not a one man job given its size and weight. A source, who spoke to the Samoa Observer on the condition of anonymity, said the incident occurred last the weekend. Tavita was drunk when he decided to remove the statue of Mary from the church, said the source. Members of the church were looking for the statue and they found it at Tavitas home. She was broken." The statues arms were missing. I understand that Police are holding him in custody. Last weekend, Rev Soanai, the father of a woman who claims to be carrying the marks of Jesus Christs suffering, said he been stripped off his pastoral by the Elders Committee. Theyre giving me conflicting reasons, Rev. Soanai said. On Monday, Senara called to inform me that I had been stripped of all my duties. I asked him why and he said its because of the statues of Mary and Jesus inside our church." So our congregation has written to them. I will not leave because of this." Rev. Soanai protested his innocence saying he has done nothing wrong. There is no clause of the Church Constitution that I have violated. Ive been mistreated for something Im not sure what it is. Told that perhaps the leadership of the church is unhappy about the emphasis on the statues of Mary and Jesus placed in their church since his daughter started to receive the messages, Rev. Soanai said that could possibly be the case. I havent done anything wrong. I havent committed adultery, I havent used any of the churchs money and I havent been caught drunk." In the Church Constitution, there is nothing in there against statues of Mary and Jesus. If you look at all the churches, there are images of Jesus and Mary everywhere. Those are statues too. Rev. Soanai added that he did not acquire the statues himself. See, I didnt get those statues myself. They were brought over as a present and our church membership are fearful to reject it because they are of Jesus and Mary. If it was of anything else, then they mightve considered rejecting it. There is a history to the statues. When the statues were brought over, Toa received a message which said if anyone rejects them, they will suffer forever So what we are saying is that if they want to remove it, they can come and do it themselves but we cant because we received the translated message in Hebrew." Our congregation will not stop anyone who wants to remove them but we are fearful because we are aware of what the translation of the message from the Hebrew language said. Miss Samoa, Priscilla Olano, has rejected reports that she is contemplating relenting the crown over an alleged dispute about her salary. Ms. Olano was contacted for a comment after a source inside Samoa Events Inc told the Samoa Observer the reigning Miss Samoa is threatening to cut her term short due to a disagreement over her salary. Having worked at S.P.R.E.P as a Pacific Climate Change Portal Technical Assistant for over four years, the source said the Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A) could not match her salary from her previous employer. But Ms. Olano downplayed the reports yesterday, saying she doesnt know where they come from. As far as she knows she is still the Miss Samoa. I was shocked when I heard of the news because I wouldve known myself if I was resigning, she said. Its never about the money when I became the Miss Samoa. There was a contract signed between S.T.A and S.P.R.E.P." That contract states that I can still work at S.P.R.E.P but whenever I am needed by the Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A) to carry out my role as the Miss Samoa I can still come." So I am basically working for S.P.R.E.P as well as the Samoa Tourism Authority. She went on to say that money is not the problem. It was never about the money, she said. I have been with S.P.R.E.P since 2012 and I loved it there and because S.P.R.E.P is a regional organisation and I have enjoyed my time working in the regional organisation so I have never thought of resigning." When you approached me I was in shock because if I was to resign, I think I wouldve come out and publicly say I was going to resigned." Its also funny because at the Miss Pacific Island Pageant, there were also rumours that I have a baby but I just brushed it off because I know its not true." I dont know what else to say because this is just too funny for my ears. Attempts by the Samoa Observer to get a comment from the Samoa Events Inc Chairperson Laeimau Oketevi Tanuvasa were unsuccessful. Contacted for a comment, Samoa Tourism Authority Events Coordinator Kristian Scanlan also rejected the claim saying that Ms.Olano is still the Miss Samoa. Its just a rumour, he said. Priscilla is definitely still the Miss Samoa." She is still working at S.P.R.E.P and she is still carrying out her role as Miss Samoa so whenever she is needed as Miss Samoa shell come and do her things." Shes got a programme from S.T.A, S.P.R.E.P and S.E.I.". S.E.I. are the pageant organisers so they also have a programme with the Miss Samoa throughout the year so we work with them and SPREP." But there is no such thing that she is resigning because she still carrying out her role as the Miss Samoa 2016-2017. The government has found an unlikely supporter in its condemnation of the Land and Titles Court Judges for refusing to submit to a Parliament-ordered Inquiry. The support comes from Opposition Member of Parliament, Olo Fiti Vaai, who said the decision by the Judges to abstain from the Inquiry was unpleasant and disrespectful. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Olo urged the Speaker of the House, Leaupepe Toleafoa Faafisi, to straighten up the matter. This is a new Commission, said Olo. The Judges probably didnt know much about it and thats why they were on strike. But this is why it is important to make things clear." They should know that in any country, the highest Court is Parliament. But this situation just makes me sad because it seems like they dont respect and obey an order from Parliament. Olo reminded that no one is above the law. Judges are not immune. We are to follow the laws, he said. Because in reality, most of us have been to Court, but have they ever come up with a decision to forgive whatever matter we were there for in the first place? No nothing like that has ever happened." Olo said the Judiciary should have respected the order from Parliament. You see every time we go to Court, we always have to obey and abide by the laws of Court and the rules given by the judges, he said. And if someone does not abide by these laws, they will give us a contempt of Court order. So it is a must for all of us to obey the laws from Court otherwise we will be penalised for contempt of court. For Parliament, they have a law and Standing Order where any Parliamentary Committee can summon anyone in the country except the Head of States." In this case, the Judges were summoned by the Commission but they chose not to, and this is a contempt of Parliament. Olo believes the Speaker of Parliament should act. He is the Judge of the Parliament Court and he should make the decision for Parliament." Like I mentioned earlier, some have pleaded to forgive the judges. But for me, I believe that the Parliament should make their decision." They should follow the guidelines and laws of Parliaments. Because every time a Member of Parliament stands in Court, the judges always say that no one is above the law, even if you are a Member of Parliament; we are no exception." And thats the same for Judges as well. If a Parliamentary Committee has summoned them, they shouldve obeyed and followed it. Olo added that such behavior is embarrassing. The way I see it, this is very embarrassing because it seems like the judges are depreciating the call by Parliament." You have to remember, this is where decisions are made for everyone in Samoa. This is highest Court in any country." Each M.P represents their people in this Court and we are making decisions for everyone in Samoa. And if they are going against it, then it shows that they disagree with the whole of Samoa as well." A call from Parliament is a call from Samoa as well. The Court is just a small institution. The special Commission of Inquiry was tasked to investigate the performance of Land and Titles Court (L.T.C) Judges." The call to set up the Commission was made by Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi in June last year. And Olo immediately gave the P.M his support. He said the Commission was long overdue. According to Olo, the public has long suffered from the delays in the decisions made by the Land and Titles Court. The Courts have been advised by Parliament for quite some time about the grievances from our people, said Olo. We have cases that have been dragged on from ten years ago without any final decision. I fully support the call because if Parliament doesnt make the call on the Land and Titles Court then no one will. The M.P. pointed out that allowing the Commission of Inquiry would mean that Parliament is assisting the other arm of democracy. He added that the ruling Human Rights Protection Party will always have the upper hand when making such decisions for a Commission of Inquiry. GREENE | Darwin Keith Ebling, 84, of Greene, died Monday Jan. 23, 2017, at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit, Mason City. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, at the United Methodist Church in Greene, with Pastor Cathy Belles officiating. Burial will be in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Greene, with military honors conducted by Tack Barnett Post 268 American Legion of Greene. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 27, at Retz Funeral Home, Greene. Memorials may be directed to the family at: P.O. Box 219, Greene, IA 50636. Retz Funeral Home, Greene, is in charge of arrangements. El Cajon is getting everybody involved in the business of homelessness. At a three-hour forum last week at the Rock Church, more than 100 people from nearly a dozen organizations and communities showed up to find ways to end the chronic problem in the region. Advertisement There is a real awareness that this is a severe problem in our community, said Sheila Hardison, who works with the East County Transitional Living Center. The center is a faith-based shelter in El Cajon for homeless and those battling drug/alcohol addiction. Bringing all these people together is the only way helping the homeless can be successful, she said. You have to have everybody involved. The forum was hosted by the East County Regional Homeless Task Force, spearheaded by the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce. East County civic and school leaders, business owners, public safety personnel, faith-based groups, social service organizations and other interested parties participated in roving round table discussions. Moderators moved from table to table every 15 minutes, posing a different question in hopes of sparking conversations that might lead to tangible solutions. A Honda dealership is coming to Vista, the citys mayor announced Monday. The dealership should open in roughly 18 months at a site thats yet to be nailed down, Vista Mayor Judy Ritter said Monday during the her annual State of the City address. Ritter said the American Honda Motor Company selected The CAR Group as the owner of the coming Norm Reeves Honda dealership. Advertisement Taylor Conant, executive vice president of strategic development of The CAR Group (CAR stands for Conant Auto Retail), said it was an honor to be selected to own the new dealership. The family-owned company has a total of 12 dealerships selling a variety of makes throughout Southern California (and one in Florida), and bills its Honda Superstore in Cerritos as the highest-volume Honda dealer in the country. In San Diego County, the group owns Toyota San Diego in Mission Valley. The Vista site will be the companys sixth Honda dealership and will sell new and used cars, and include a parts and service department. He said that what the company is really excited about is the fact that this is not a mature market but a brand new one that is growing we have confidence that the Norm Reeves Honda Superstore Vista location will be a significant contributor to our operations and to the local economy in time. Initially the Vista site will hire about 100 people, Conant said, adding to the companys workforce of more than 1,200 employees. The CAR Group had more than $1 billion in sales last year, he said, including 45,000 new and used vehicles and more than 210,000 repair and maintenance visits. Conant said the company has identified a few potential locations in Vista, but he declined to give specifics. Kevin Ham, Vistas director of economic development, said there are perhaps four potential sites that would work. Theyre all zoned for commercial uses and front state Route 78, he said, but declined to be more specific. Vista already has two car dealerships North County Ford and BMW of Vista as well as several used-car businesses including Classic Chariots and Enterprise. He said the seeds of the Honda deal were planted about eight years ago when the city started reaching out to dealerships about opening in Vista. The closest existing Honda dealerships are in auto malls in Carlsbad and Escondido. Ritters surprise announcement drew applause and cheers from the roughly 200 people who attended the annual address at the Civic Center, part of a luncheon sponsored by the Vista Chamber of Commerce. It is great to get another high quality car dealership in Vista, Chamber CEO Bret Schanzenbach said afterward. It brings jobs and sales tax revenue and is an asset to the whole community. Ritter said later that its also a great convenience for residents who wont have to drive out of town to use the dealerships services. I just cant say enough about the good things that are happening in Vista, she said. teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT UPDATES: This story has been updated to correct the name of auto dealership Toyota San Diego. Seventy-three years ago, Blaine Briggs parachuted from a burning B-24 bomber, broke his shoulder in a hard landing in the Italian Alps, was nearly shot to death by his German captor and then spent more than six months starving half to death in a prison camp. Yet for all the hardship he endured and the millions of lives lost during the years-long conflict, the 92-year-old Briggs said he believes the war experience shaped him into the man he became. His time in the military and the camaraderie of the prisoners in the camp taught him lessons in courage, self-reliance, teamwork and trust. In short, he calls it the greatest educational experience of his life. Every person should have the same opportunity I had to train and work and help my fellow man. I wouldnt trade it, he said. Advertisement Blaine Briggs and his wife of 70 years, LaVerne, pose for photos at their home in Carlsbad, California. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune ) Now retired with his wife of 70 years, LaVerne, Briggs lives in a hilltop home inside the La Costa Glen retirement community in Carlsbad. Two years ago, the couple was honored by The Patriots Initiative with the inaugural Lifetime Patriot Award. The award honored both his service in the military and the couples lifetime of philanthropic service to military veterans and others. Born in 1924, Briggs was the son of a Methodist minister who moved from congregation to congregation, so his family lived in a number of Midwestern towns before settling in Des Moines, Iowa, when he was 16. On Dec. 7, 1941, he and his family were enjoying lunch at home after Sunday morning services when news of the Pearl Harbor attack came on the radio. He couldnt wait to join the Army, but at 17 was too young to apply. Eight months later, on his 18th birthday, he enlisted. His two older brothers also signed up, one joined the Marines and became a correspondent in China, the other served in the Navy on a battleship. All three returned home safely. A 1944 Telegram sent to the family of Blaine Briggs, who was a navigator on a B-24 plane in World War II. His plane was shot down and he was captured by the German army. His family didnt know he was alive for several weeks. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune ) Because Briggs was a college student when he signed up, he was eligible for officers school. After two years of training in Texas as a navigator for the Army Air Corps, 2nd Lt. Briggs and his B-24 crew shipped out on June, 3, 1944, to join the 451st Bombardment Group in Europe. Together, they flew 26 successful bombing missions over Germany, but their 27th mission was star-crossed from the start. On Oct. 16, 1944, their plane was assigned to lead the 15th Air Force on a bombing raid but their plane wasnt cooperating. After they took off, the planes nose wheel wouldnt retract and the bomb bay doors didnt open properly. German ground guns shot out one engine, but they were able to manually open the bomb doors and drop their payload before a second barrage of gunfire took out their second engine and set the plane on fire in the foothills of the Italian Alps. When the captain gave the order to abandon the plane, we were happy to do it, he said. My main thoughts at the moment was to get the hell out of that plane. The navigators seat was at the front of the plane below the cockpit, just a few feet from where the broken nose wheels bay was wide open, so Briggs dropped through the hole at an altitude of 11,000 feet and fell like a stone with the orders to open his chute as close to the ground as possible to avoid detection by German search crews. He pulled the cord at 2,000 feet and broke his shoulder when he hit the ground. Over the next two days, he made his way alone down the mountain in the hopes of escaping into Italy. He came upon a German village where two homes had Christian creches in their front yard. As a ministers son, he considered asking the families for sanctuary but worried that the villagers would pay too steep a price from their government for showing mercy, so he moved on. Eventually he was caught by a German officer and private on foot patrol. The private put a gun to Briggs forehead and prepared to shoot, but the officer stopped him. During two interrogations by Gestapo officers, Briggs learned that 10 of his fellow B-24 crew members survived. The flight engineer, whose hands became frozen while trying to save the plane, is believed to have died in the crash. Photo of a German document obtained by Blaine Briggs that details his capture as a POW during World War II. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune ) The men were taken to Germanys Stalag 3 prison camp just four months after an infamous mass escape of more than 50 British POWs that was later chronicled in the book The Great Escape. Most of those escapees were shot dead, but Briggs said he and the American officers he was imprisoned with were treated well. In fact, at a reunion some 20 years after the war, the prisoners invited their German guard to join them because they thought he treated them fairly. By November it was obvious Germany was losing the war. The Russians were closing in from the east, so the prisoners were marched 100 miles to another camp near Munich. Food was so scarce, the prisoners survived on bread made with sawdust and watery stew with little meat. Briggs dropped 40 pounds before the camp was liberated by U.S. troops in May 1945. He and a buddy walked to an abandoned Germany air base and stole a Jeep that they drove to Frankfurt and caught a transport plane to Paris on the very day the citys electricity was restored. That was the night the lights came back on in Paris, Briggs said. Ive never kissed so many girls in one night in my life. Briggs returned to the U.S. on a freight ship that dropped its gangplank on June 3, 1945, exactly one year to the day since he left for Europe. He was greeted with a heros welcome in Des Moines and returned to his political science studies at Drake University, where he soon met LaVerne at a local roadhouse. This beautiful woman came in and she was carrying a fifth of whiskey, he said. I went over and talked to her and fell in love in 30 minutes. When I got back to my table I told my friends thats the girl Im going to marry. A 1948 photo of Blaine and LaVerne Briggs on a trip in Colorado Springs visiting family. They married in 1946 and have been married nearly 71 years. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune ) And they did, a year later, and had two sons. Their youngest, Jim, died at age 16 from leukemia but their oldest son, Bob, now 66, is a Memphis pilot who once set a Guinness World Record for being certified to fly 104 different aircraft. After the war, the Briggses ran a suburban newspaper for a few years, then a large printing operation until the 1960s, where all of their male employees were veterans or active servicemen. Later they ran one of the nations largest medical records businesses. They retired to Rancho Santa Fe in 1980 and moved into La Costa Glen nine years ago. Since retiring, the Briggses have underwritten a rehabilitation clinic at Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, served on several charitable foundations and support La Costa Glens boxes overseas program for deployed military. It was these efforts that earned them the Lifetime Patriot Award. Briggs said his war experiences positively shaped the man that he would later become and he owes a great debt to his country. He said the America he returned to in June 1945 was far different from todays troubled world, which makes him especially appreciative of his time in uniform. Were not very political but we do have great concern for where the world may be going in the next 20 years, he said. Were blessed that we spent our lives the way we did. pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com A mysterious poet, cast adrift in space and time, wanders through the centuries, bearing witness to the endless cycle of human suffering. This poet, who first found voice in the Trojan War more than 3,000 years ago, seems fated in the bracing play An Iliad to sound a warning that may never be heeded. And yet, the poet says: Every time I sing this song, I hope its the last time. Advertisement An Iliad, the spare but deeply affecting 2012 work by Denis OHare and Lisa Peterson, is a piece that brings the carnage and heroism of ages past right into the present moment, with a modern-day vernacular and references to such familiar expressions of 21st-century aggression as road rage. And any piece that carries Homers epic poem The Iliad into our own era certainly needs to be open to contemporary conceptions of who the Poet represents. So when New Village Arts Theatre puts this singular play onstage in Carlsbad starting tomorrow, itll be with a woman at the center of it. The esteemed San Diego actor Linda Libby is taking on the role of the Poet in the near-solo show, which revolves around just one actor plus an onstage musician (Gunnar Biggs). While a male actor, Henry Woronicz, played the role in the only other professional production thats been done locally, at La Jolla Playhouse in 2012, the piece has occasionally (though not frequently) been staged elsewhere with a female Poet. Its a choice that the playwrights have been entirely open to from the time An Iliad premiered the script specifies that there are no limits on gender, age or race for the role, notes Jacole Kitchen, whos directing the NVA production. And its a choice, Kitchen says, that seems to inspire all kinds of new insights into this often male-dominated story, which circles back frequently to the figures of the Greek warrior Achilles and the Trojan hero Hector. There have been so many times when we look at each other in the rehearsal room and go, How could a man do this? says Kitchen, who recently joined La Jolla Playhouse as artistic programs manager. It just adds layers, or starts (working) through the layers in a different way, when its coming from a female voice. Having the softness of a woman talking about the rage of Achilles, and where this all comes from it takes it to a different level. Kitchen, who was previously casting director and artistic associate at San Diego Rep (and started her theatrical career as a talent agent in Los Angeles), wasnt particularly familiar with An Iliad when NVA artistic chief Kristianne Kurner asked her to consider directing it. But its about storytelling, and Im a storyteller, she says. And the more that I read it, and the more I was diving into it, I really started picturing Linda Libby (in it). And once I started picturing her, I couldnt stop. Libby, named actor of the year by the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle in 2013, is known for taking on big roles (she was most recently Mama Rose in Cygnet Theatres Gypsy), and for her careful preparation. Way back in August, she began consulting with teachers at a Greek language school in Cardiff to try and get a better grasp on the pronunciation and meaning of a few passages from An Iliad in the original Greek. Libby says one aspect of the piece she feels she brings out is what she calls the mama bear instinct (informed by her own experience as a mom). Both she and Kitchen also say theres an element of male pride that a woman can engage from a different vantage point. The play shows that pride and that stuck-ness, but then it also has moments where one of the warriors drops his rage and softens for a moment, Libby says. And in my opinion, thats the way we end conflict to see things from the other perspective. They talk of this addiction to rage in the script as well. Were all addicted, if you come down to it. So the fact that the greatest warrior who ever lived could turn off his rage (as Achilles does in the play) if he can do it, so can we. An Iliad When: Previews begin Friday. Opens Feb. 4. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Through Feb. 26. Where: New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State St., Carlsbad Tickets: $33-$36 (discounts available) Phone: (760) 433-3245 Online: newvillagearts.org Kitchen also notes that Andromache, Hectors wife, really is giving Hector strategies for war that mightve given the Trojans a leg up. And it was ego that made him say no, I have to go out to the front line. And of all the gods, Athena was the one who put on her helmet and fought. Zeus was ready to just leave Hector for dead, but Athena put on her helmet. I think those things are so easily glossed over, but when you have the female perspective, you cant gloss over it. Kitchen adds that Libby seems to her ideal for the role because the Poet is a character who is ageless, timeless, but obviously has lived. Theres just something about all those things that is encompassed in Linda. Shes definitely timeless and has this youthful energy. Libby also notes the importance of Biggs, a seasoned musician and performer, and his character: He urges me on; there are a couple of places in the script where I say, I cant do this. And the music informs the story, it drives the story. But what drives the Poet? Just a faint imagining that someday, somehow, things might turn out differently. As Libby puts it: I think the point of the play is that we tell this story in the hope that we can stop telling the story. San Diego Theater On Now Video: Bruce Springsteen's solo trip to Broadway On Now Video: Inside the rehearsal room of SDMT's Damn Yankees! 2:22 On Now Video: La Jolla Playhouse-bred shows earn key Tony nominations 3:05 On Now Video: Broadway moment has arrived for La Jolla Playhouse's 'Come From Away 0:33 On Now Video: Lamb's Players Presents "An American Christmas" 2016 1:21 On Now Old Globe's 'Grinch' ready to rumble again 0:52 On Now Little Miss Sunshine at La Jolla Playhouse On Now Working the Magic On Now San Diego Repertory Theatre presents "Federal Jazz Project" On Now An American Christmas Twitter: @jimhebert jim.hebert@sduniontribune.com Once a year Americans can visit the island of Iwo Jima, where the famous World War II battle took place from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945. A Reunion of Honor trip is slated for March 20-27, sponsored by the Iwo Jima Association of America and coordinated by Military History Tours. Community members can join service members on the remembrance journey, which is slated to include veterans from Camp Pendletons 5th Marine Division. Advertisement Members of the 5th Marine Division were trained at Camp Pendleton before capturing the island in one of the wars bloodiest battles. Their heroism is memorialized in the famous photo of the flag raising on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal taken Feb. 23, 1945. The 72nd Anniversary Commemoration will be held March 25 on Iwo Jima as a joint ceremony with the Japanese to honor those who fought and will be conducted at the memorial above Red Beach. The trip includes visits to Mt. Suribachi and the Landing Beaches to walk the Black Sands. The Iwo Jima Association of America has planned a daylong visit to walk the battlefields. Guam will be the base of operations for the IJAA Battle Symposium and 72nd Anniversary Banquet. For information and reservations, visit miltours.com or call (703) 590-1295; email mht@miltours.com. Theres some good news at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the busiest land port in the Western Hemisphere: After years of declining numbers, more people are crossing between Tijuana and San Diego. But theres bad news too: Many drivers report that their wait times have been climbing back up since the opening of new inspection booths nearly a year ago led to dramatic drops. With reports that more Mexicans are crossing to shop in San Diego, and greater numbers of U.S. tourists have been vacationing in Baja California, the spike in vehicle crossings should come as no surprise. Still, the increased traffic has drawn new complaints about rising wait times. If its morning, Ill bet you it takes two hours, said Carolina Rodriguez, a 36-year-old mother of four who crosses several mornings a week from her house in Tijuana to her job cleaning airplanes at Lindbergh Field. Advertisement Pete Flores, who heads U.S. Customs and Border Protections San Diego field office, said passenger traffic is up at all ports of entry in his jurisdiction, with San Ysidro showing the biggest increases. Vehicle traffic at the port is up 26 percent in the first nine months of the fiscal year October through June compared with the same period last year, Flores said. The increased numbers have been been especially marked in the general traffic lanes for drivers who are neither in the pre-cleared Sentri program nor qualified to cross in the Ready Lane for those with RFID-enabled cards such as the U.S. passport card. A case in point: CBP counted 420,428 vehicles crossing through the ports general lanes on weekdays in April, up from 245,331 in April 2014, a 71 percent increase. General traffic takes us longer to process, Flores said. The large increases have prompted the shifting of manpower, and as a result, we have had some additional wait times in Sentri and Ready over the past several months because of the increase in trying to scale down the wait times for the general traffic lanes. CBPs aim is to get Sentri users through in fewer than 15 minutes, Flores said. The agencys goal for Ready Lane users is for wait times to be half those in the general lanes. Border wait times have long been an issue. A study by the San Diego Association of Governments found that inadequate infrastructure on the San Diego-Baja California border cost the U.S. and Mexican economies $7.2 billion in output and 62,000 jobs in 2007. The expansion of the San Ysidro Port of Entry that is currently under way a $741 million project has raised expectations for reduced wait times, both for vehicles and pedestrians. Last September, the wait times for all vehicle categories plummeted with the completion of a phase that expanded northbound inspection capacity to 25 lanes, most of them double-stacked for a total of 46 booths. CBP figures showing month-to-month comparisons from April to July show wait times have fallen in all vehicle categories since 2014. But while vehicle crossings are easy to count, measuring wait times is more complicated. Its hard to judge how much wait times have improved because no border crossing between California and Mexico has any kind of technology in place to measure northbound delays, said Kenn Morris, president of Crossborder Group, which has conducted surveys of border crossers. The CBP last year launched a smartphone app providing estimated wait times, but users complain it is not a reliable indicator.The app unfortunately has not reflected accurate wait times, said Paola Avila, vice president of international business affairs for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. We need to have some reliable information mechanism to tell people when we can cross. The uncertainty is a persistent problem, said Oscar Escobedo, Baja Californias tourism secretary. If you know its always going to be an hour, then you can administer your time, he said. On Thursday morning, Carolina Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana to save costs, got into the Ready Lane line at 5:33 a.m. and crossed the border at 7:27 a.m. She is one of more than 30,000 members of Como esta la linea Tijuana (Hows the Tijuana line) a Facebook group whose members regularly post their progress. Another member, Joel Daza, a Tijuana resident who works part time as a bookkeeper at Otay Mesa, on that same morning reported a surprisingly rapid crossing in the general lanes a half-hour. Today has been the best time ever, Daza said. Usually, it takes me from 50 minutes to an hour and a half. Frequent crossers such as Rodriguez and Daza say they often see the second booth go unmanned, even at times of heavy morning traffic. We in good faith made this investment in the port of entry, so why arent all the tools being utilized? asked Jason Wells, executive director of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce, whose members depend heavily on clients from Mexico. We can stand recession, devaluation, but when wait times go up, we get killed. The CBPs Flores said that having the second booth operating increases efficiency only by 30 to 40 percent. We prefer to operate in the single-stacked capacity, Flores said. In managing our wait times, there are a number of options we implement to ensure security and facilitation, he said. The opening of stacked booths is one of those options given the resources available at the time. CLEAR LAKE | An Osage man taken into custody after a brief standoff with law enforcement near Clear Lake was given a suspended prison sentence Monday. Andrew Robert Koenigs, 35, formerly of Grafton, entered an Alford plea to felony going armed with intent in November. In an Alford plea a defendant doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges the state can likely prove the charge. Grafton man jailed after standoff CLEAR LAKE A Worth County man was taken into custody Saturday after a brief standoff with He was given a five-year prison sentence, which was suspended. He was put on probation three years. A $750 fine was suspended. An additional charge of attempted first-degree burglary was dismissed. Deputies were called to 18493 Finch Ave. at 3:17 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2016, on a 911 report of a man trespassing and discharging weapons. Koenigs was taken into custody after a brief standoff, according to the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office. Mary Pieper Long Beach police shot and killed a man armed with a handgun who broke into a home in Carson while trying to evade capture on Sunday, sparking an hours-long standoff, officials said Monday. The man, whose identity was not immediately released, was wanted in connection with a Saturday night shooting in the Carmelitos housing projects that left one man critically injured, police said in a news release. Detectives from the departments Gang Enforcement Division were able to identify the suspect the next morning and tracked him to a home in the 2700 block of East 220th Place in Carson, investigators said. Advertisement SWAT officers were called to the scene in Carson, but the suspect fled on foot, hopping over several fences, police said. The man then broke into a nearby home, causing some of the occupants to rush outside. Police quickly discovered there were two juveniles inside the home with the suspect, and SWAT officers entered the residence to attempt a rescue. The suspect fled again, this time barricading himself inside a utility shed. The children were not injured, police said. Detectives negotiated with the man for several hours, repeatedly asking him to surrender, but he refused. Police also fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the shed, hoping to flush him out. At 5:10 p.m., police said the suspect exited the shed while still armed.The man threatened the officers, according to Police Chief Robert Luna, and was shot and killed. His identity is being withheld until police can notify his next of kin, according to Luna. james.queally@latimes.com For more breaking crime and cops news in Southern California, follow me on Twitter: @JamesQueallyLAT It surprised no one last fall when Los Angeles and California at large overwhelmingly backed Hillary Clinton in her failed bid for the presidency. Just seven of the citys 1,700 precincts went for Donald Trump. But while nearly all of the surrounding region voted for the Democratic former secretary of state, one little chunk of Hollywood best known for the Church of Scientologys Big Blue complex went red, picking the Republican billionaire instead. The precinct, wedged between Hollywood Boulevard and Fountain Avenue, tipped to Trump by just three votes, 347 to 344. It marked the first time since at least 2000 that the area went Republican. In 2012, President Barack Obama defeated Gov. Mitt Romney by 81 votes, 316 to 235. Advertisement I honestly cant begin to fathom how or why that happened, said Erin Lee, a precinct voter and one of several Clinton supporters who said they were shocked to learn that Trump had carried their neighborhood. How can that be? asked Lemuel Balagot, another local voter. I went for Hillary, and everyone I know besides me went for Hillary. Who were the Scientologists for? Good question, and one thats not easily answered voting records dont reflect how individual ballots are cast. The church, like other tax-exempt religious groups and nonprofit organizations, is barred by law from participating in political campaigns and assiduously avoids taking sides in elections. The Church does not engage in election activities and cannot do so, Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw said in an emailed statement. Such decisions are not a matter of faith. The Creed of the Church makes clear that Scientology is open to all. This would include anyone regardless of their race, color, creed or political affiliation. Church members and others in the neighborhood said there was little advertising or campaigning for either presidential candidate, and none they knew of related to the church. Nor did voters with stated Scientology ties appear to contribute significantly to either side: One man, who listed his occupation as public relations for the church, contributed $28 to Trumps campaign, election records show. Pouw said that nothing in The Times analysis of results suggests a significant difference to the general leanings of the American people, noting that Trump won by just a few votes, with neither candidate landing a majority. She also said the Times findings inaccurately suggest a unique trend about a single religion. Scientologists live and work in many other precincts in Los Angeles, Pouw said. The Church remained neutral in the presidential election as we always do. We support this countrys electoral process and Americas representative form of government, and respect the right of parishioners, our staff and clergy to vote for the candidate of their choice. The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Of the roughly 1,100 voters registered in the precinct, about half list addresses of Scientology properties. More than 250 voters listed addresses on L. Ron Hubbard Way, named for the science fiction writer who founded the church in 1954 and parlayed his self-help system, Dianetics, into a worldwide religion without a deity. Some 170 voters in the precinct listed phone numbers at Scientology organizations as their primary numbers, according to The Times analysis. Although phone numbers are not required, statewide voter registration records show the most common one listed in California belongs to the church. So does the second most common number. And the fifth. And the sixth. Church staff members list whatever phone numbers they choose, Pouw said. I couldnt speak for them. Many, but not all, have cell phones. Perhaps you should look at the voting trends of the religious orders of other faiths to see what phone number they may list or whether they vote. Few of those contacted by telephone or on public sidewalks near the landmark Scientology building, a former hospital on Fountain Avenue that serves as the churchs West Coast headquarters, would speak for the record about their votes. Two women who identified themselves as church representatives approached a Times reporter on several occasions and told her she was making parishioners feel harassed and uncomfortable by asking questions and then hovered nearby. A few times, church security guards rolled up on their bicycles. One suggested to a church member that he move along to his next course. We dont talk to the press, the member said. Several spoke with reporters on condition of anonymity or using only their first names. None said there was any concerted effort by the church, its members or staffers to push for one candidate over the other. Scientologists are very conservative socially, said one church member, who voted for Clinton. Scientologists are very conservative in terms of economics and business. It really does make sense that it would be more aligned with the Republican Party. He said he based his perceptions of the political leanings of the church and its members on conversations with acquaintances, as well as Scientologists postings on Facebook and Twitter. They were divided between pro-Trump stuff thats anti-government and seeing Hillary as part of the establishment, seeing Hillary as part of the elite, he said. Part of it was pro-Trump. A lot of it was more anti-Hillary. Among those who did proffer a theory for publication was James Kronwall, a registered Republican who lives on L. Ron Hubbard Way, and said he knew why the precinct went for Trump. Scientology is the No. 1 foe of psychiatry, he said, adding that he and others in the church perceive Clinton to be an advocate for psychiatric programs. Kronwall, a carpenter who said hes been a member of the church for 40 years, didnt vote for either Trump or Clinton. Instead, he was one of about 50 in the area who cast their ballots for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. I wanted to make at least some kind of statement if I could, he said. jon.schleuss@latimes.com alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com kim.christensen@latimes.com Times staff writers Anthony Pesce and Joe Fox contributed to this report. The Times has released precinct-level results from the recent election for all of Californias 58 counties. You can download and explore the data yourself at latimes.com/pctdata Los Angeles will pay $5.2 million to end a legal battle with a man whose murder conviction was tossed out. The settlement with Reggie Cole is the latest in a string of legal payouts that are spurring the city to borrow at least $50 million to avoid dipping into its emergency reserve funds. Cole and his friend Obie Anthony were convicted in the murder of Felipe Gonzales Angeles, who was shot to death outside a South L.A. brothel in 1994. Advertisement At trial they insisted they were innocent, and no physical evidence connected the pair to the crime. The two were later freed and both sued the city for wrongful imprisonment. Attorneys alleged that LAPD detectives had used illegal methods and concealed crucial evidence in the case. Two years ago, the city agreed to pay more than $8 million to Anthony, though it admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement. Last week, the City Council backed a proposed offer from a mediator in the Cole case, according to city staff. A council committee then voted Monday in favor of authorizing the $5.2-million payment. Attorney Dale Galipo, who is representing Cole, said in a statement that he was hopeful the settlement would help Cole start the closure process. Mr. Cole was deprived of his liberty for 16 long and excruciatingly difficult years. While the settlement of $5.2 million cannot give Mr. Cole back the years he lost while in prison, it will hopefully help him to move on from the injustice he has suffered, a joint statement from attorneys Galipo and Vicki I. Sarmiento said. Budget officials have projected that legal payouts will total at least $135 million this fiscal year. The city usually budgets about $60 million annually for its legal liability fund, but it has seen a surge of costly settlements this year: In August, the City Council agreed to pay more than $200 million over the course of a decade to settle claims that it failed to provide enough apartments for people with disabilities in its publicly funded housing developments. Last month, the council agreed to pay more than $8 million to settle lawsuits tied to fatal police shootings of unarmed men. And under a settlement reached two years ago, the city is also paying out $1.2 billion over the next three decades to resolve claims that its broken sidewalks made the city impassable to people with disabilities. Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report. emily.alpert@latimes.com Twitter: @LATimesEmily A 23-year-old man was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on Monday for using threats of violence to coerce a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him on Camp Pendleton, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. Dylan Wayne Cowdrey, who is not in the military but lived on the Marine base, was 22 when he tricked the teen into having sex, according to the complaint. He pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court in October to engaging in a sexual act with a minor. Advertisement Between June 5 and June 9, Cowdrey admitted to sending anonymous text messages to the girl that threatened to hurt her family and loved ones if she didnt have sex with him, according to the plea agreement. Cowdrey pretended to be receiving the same types of text messages from a third party. If you dont comply tomorrow with what you agree then the people around you will be unsafe. ... You will do everything we ask to him (Cowdrey) because you want him (Cowdrey) safe. Sex and more, was an example of one text message sent to her. The messages also stated that Cowdrey would be psychologically tortured if she didnt comply and may just bang his own head against the wall until he dies. And: If you dont do it tomorrow you will lose him and your love[d] ones and everyone else you know. Cowdrey told the girl that he didnt want to die and urged her to comply, according to the plea agreement. The two met in a park near a community center on base and had sex in the cover of bushes and rock formations, according to the complaint. The girls parents called military police on June 11 to report the sexual contact. The girl told investigators she had sex with Cowdrey about three times over the course of a few days. Cowdrey told investigators that he was under the influence of heroin and alcohol at the time, the complaint states. He said he knew the victim was 14. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge William Hayes called Cowdreys actions manipulative and diabolical, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @kristinadavis It took a year, but the project labor agreement that sparked a political backlash and possibly cost the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District passage of another bond measure has been approved. The three-year deal between the college district and the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council is tied to remaining funds from Proposition V, the $398 million bond measure passed in 2012. The pact requires contractors who win construction bids to operate under union rules on wages, local hiring and worker benefits. Advertisement The governing boards approval in late 2015 to start negotiating the collective bargaining agreement was met with an outpouring of resistance and prompted a recall effort against trustee Edwin Hiel. It also sparked organized opposition to a much-needed bond measure trustees put on the November ballot. Measure X, a $348 million initiative, failed to get the 55 percent of votes it needed to pass. The No on X committee raised about $127,000 to defeat the measure, citing opposition to it giving priority to unionized labor for construction projects. The labor agreement was opposed by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, the districts bond oversight committee, the East County Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Builders and Contractors. The taxpayers group endorsed Proposition V in 2012 with a promise from the district that a project labor agreement would not be put in place. After governing board members moved forward on negotiations, the taxpayers group took the unprecedented action of revoking its support. It said the district gained its valuable approval after promising voters it would promote fair and open competition on all its construction projects. It also said it would oppose future bond measures needed by the district to continue its capital improvements. Work covered under the pact includes: Construction at Grossmont College of a 35,000-square-foot teaching and performance theater that seats 390 Total renovation of a 17,500-square-foot classroom and lab building in the Science, Math and Career Tech Complex An overhaul of the Ornamental Horticulture Complex at Cuyamaca College that includes new instructional space, greenhouses and storage Under the terms of the labor-friendly agreement, 40 percent of the contractors workers must be made up of laborers who live within districts boundaries, and all but 10 percent of the total workforce must be county residents or veterans. Supporters of the pacts say they are good for the community because they create good job opportunities for local workers. Opponents say they increase costs of taxpayer-funded projects and unfairly exclude nonunion workers. Trustees voted 4-1 to adopt the agreement at the November board meeting. Board President Bill Garrett, who in 2015 abstained from the vote on opening talks with the trade council, cast the dissenting vote. Follow me on Twitter: @HuardSDUT On his first full workday in the White House, President Trump took action highlighting the range of his campaign priorities: trade, abortion and tackling government bureaucracy. Trumps directives follow another he issued just hours after taking the oath of office Friday that marked a first step in the GOPs effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. None of Mondays additional actions were unexpected, but each requires some explaining. Heres what you need to know. Advertisement 1. Withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership The trade pact among a dozen Pacific Rim nations was one of the most significant legislative undertakings of former President Obamas second term. Trump spoiled those efforts quickly. What the order does: Trump simply made clear that he would not even consider putting the agreement to a vote in Congress. The U.S. will withdraw as a signatory to the deal, and permanently withdraw from any further negotiations. The member nations closed the agreement in 2015. But with most Democrats against it and pro-trade Republicans hesitant to support it in an election year, Obama decided to hold off on asking Congress to ratify the agreement until GOP leaders were confident it would pass. That moment never came. What it does not do: The directive does not mean Trump is taking the U.S. out of trade altogether. Indeed, Trump officials say he will consider seeking discrete trade agreements with many of the nations who were party to TPP. The U.S. has bilateral agreements with many already. Trumps move was a strong signal that the Trump administration wants free and fair trade throughout the world, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters. This executive action ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy in which the Trump administration will pursue bilateral trade opportunities with allies around the globe, he said. Still, there are potential national security implications to the withdrawal from TPP. The Obama administration had sold some lawmakers on supporting it with the argument that it was essential to curbing growing Chinese influence in the region. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a supporter of the deal, said the decision would have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region. It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. 2. Reinstating a ban on funding some abortion services What the order does: Trumps order reimposes a ban, initiated in 1984 by then-President Reagan, on government support for international aid groups that provide or counsel women on abortion services. To receive any U.S. aid, nongovernmental organizations will now have to certify that they will not perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning, even if that work is supported by funding from sources other than the U.S. government. This ban, often called the global gag rule, was lifted by Obama shortly after he took office in 2009 in response to widespread criticism of the restriction by global health advocates who say it imperils womens health by cutting access to family planning services and forcing women to seek unsafe abortions. What it does not do: The order does not affect family planning or abortion policy in the U.S.. Congress already restricts federal funding for abortion, but groups that perform abortions, such as Planned Parenthood, can receive government funding for other healthcare services. Planned Parenthood, for example, provides preventive health services such as cancer screenings to many poor women around the country. These are often reimbursed through the government Medicaid program. Congressional Republicans are now trying to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, even for non-abortion services. 3. Ordering a government-wide hiring freeze What the order does: The Trump administration directed the leaders of all federal agencies and departments to freeze hiring of new personnel. Any vacancies in the federal workforce as of noon on Sunday must remain unfilled, and no new positions may be created except in limited circumstances, the order stated. The decision is meant to counter the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce since the Clinton administration from 1.8 million civilian employees to 2.1 million. The costs of health and retirement benefits are unsustainable, the administration said. Theres been frankly, to some degree, a lack of respect for taxpayer dollars in this town for a long time, Spicer told reporters Monday. What the order does not do: The military is exempt from the freeze. Each department or agency can also exempt any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities. michael.memoli@latimes.com, noam.levey@latimes.com Twitter: @mikememoli, @noamlevey ALSO: What to expect in Trumps first 100 days Trump opens his presidency with signals of the conservative era to come As soon as he is inaugurated, Trump will move to clamp down on immigration Seeking to help San Diego achieve the goals of its ambitious climate action plan, local leaders launched on Monday a proposed district of commercial buildings where owners would pledge to reduce energy consumption, water use and transportation emissions. San Diegos district, which could include buildings all over the city not just in one geographic area, would be modeled after similar partnerships in 15 other cities across North America, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto. In each city, the owners of commercial buildings have pledged to make upgrades that boost efficiency and produce a 50 percent reduction in energy, water and transportation emissions by 2030. Advertisement So the partnerships are called 2030 Districts. In many cities the majority of participants have been newer office buildings, but some older, less efficient buildings have also joined. While San Diego has just begun recruiting participants, city officials say the goal is to have buildings comprising millions of square feet participate. The city of San Diego has already made great strides in its landmark climate action plan, but to achieve our goals, the city cant do it alone, Mayor Kevin Faulconer said. It takes the commitment of private and public industry leaders to protect our environment and improve the quality of life for our children and grandchildren. San Francisco launched its 2030 District two years ago with 23 buildings and more than 9 million square feet of space. Overall, the 15 districts across North America include 294 million square feet of office space. As a proven leader in climate policy, cleantech innovation and sustainable business practices, San Diegos entry into the 2030 Districts network of similarly-focused regions across the continent will add tremendous value to our collective efforts, said Dave Low, network liaison for the 2030 Districts. Nonprofit Cleantech San Diego will manage San Diegos 2030 District. Cleantech San Diego is proud to add support of San Diegos 2030 District to our regional efforts to promote private-public partnerships that benefit both the economy and the environment, said chief executive Jason Anderson. Other local partners in the project include the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Intuit, DNV GL, Verdani Partners and Measurabl. San Diegos climate action plan, proposed by Mayor Faulconer and adopted by the City Council in late 2015, requires the city to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2035. It is a legally binding document, so if the city doesnt follow through on its promises, environmental groups or state officials could file lawsuits to force elected San Diego officials to comply. david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick A man is wanted in a series of bank robberies committed between December and Sunday, and authorities are asking the public to help find him. The so-called Bag Trick Bandit first tried to rob a Bank of America on Ulric Street in Linda Vista on Dec. 21., FBI officials said. He was unsuccessful, but later that day, he hit a U.S. Bank on Genesee Avenue in Clairemont. The thief demanded cash while keeping his hand concealed inside a bag, as if he was hiding a weapon. He got away with an undisclosed amount of money. Advertisement On Jan. 5, he used the same bag ruse to try to rob a Clairemont Wells Fargo bank on Clairemont Drive, but he walked away empty handed. On Jan. 8 and again on Sunday, the man robbed a U.S. Bank inside a Vons on Midway Drive in the Midway District. In the two most recent robberies, he ditched the bag trick and brandished a handgun. He left both times with an undisclosed amount of cash. The suspect was described as white, in his 30s and 6 feet tall, with dirty blonde hair and a thin build. He has a tattoo on the right side of his neck. During each robbery, he wore a dark-colored hoodie. In some, he wore sunglasses or a hat. In the Jan. 5 robbery, witnesses said the thief left in a newer-model white Ford SUV, similar to an Explorer or Escape. Anyone with information about the robberies was asked to call the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force at (858) 320-1800, the San Diego Police Department Robbery Unit at (619) 531-2299 or the Crime Stoppers tip line at (888) 580-8477. Breaking News Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez A man armed with a hammer carjacked another man while he was sleeping in Mission Beach early Monday, San Diego police said. The 35-year-old victim was in his car in a parking lot off Sea World Drive about 4:40 a.m. when he woke up to a man smashing his car window with a hammer, police said. The thief then attacked the victim, forced him from the gold 1993 Acura Integra and drove off. Police did not release the license plate number. Advertisement The victim was taken to a hospital with a skull fracture, police said. A detailed description of the suspect, who was dressed in dark clothes, was not provided. Breaking News Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez OSAGE An Osage woman was sentenced Tuesday to up to 10 years in prison for vehicular homicide by reckless driving following an accident that killed her fiance last year. Shannon Henaman, 43, who pleaded guilty to that charge in November, wiped away tears after District Court Judge DeDra Schroeder pronounced her sentence. Others sitting in the courtroom wept and hugged each other. Several family members of the victim, Ted McPhail, 50, Osage, who was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Henaman, read statements in court or had statements read on their behalf during the sentencing hearing. Osage woman charged with vehicular homicide OSAGE | An Osage woman has been charged with vehicular homicide and operating while under th They requested Henaman receive a suspended sentence and probation rather than prison time. McPhail's son, Kyle, said to him Henaman is "like a mom and always will be. I don't want to lose her." "I've already lost my dad and don't want to lose Shannon, too," said McPhail's daughter, Mariah. A statement read aloud on behalf of McPhail's mother, Donna, stated Henaman loved him and what happened was an accident. Henaman originally was charged with vehicular homicide by operating while under the influence, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison. The reduced charge carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Osage woman charged with vehicular homicide OSAGE | An Osage woman has been charged with vehicular homicide and operating while under th The accident occurred at 3:19 a.m. March 4, at the intersection of Kirkwood Avenue and 370th Street in Mitchell County. McPhail was killed when he was thrown out of the vehicle Henaman drove into the ditch. Alcohol was a factor in the accident, police said. The pre-sentencing report recommended Henaman receive up to 10 years in prison. Assistant Mitchell County Attorney Aaron Murphy said he agreed with that recommendation. Schroeder noted Henaman told the pre-sentencing investigator she planned to drink socially in the future. "That blows me away," Schroeder said. She also said she is concerned that Henaman admitted during her substance abuse evaluation to drinking beer the night of the accident, but did not mention the eight whiskey shots she also had. Schroeder questioned Henaman about her drinking on the night of McPhail's wake. "I was in shock," Henaman said. Her attorney, Scott Michels, said even though his client's substance abuse evaluation did not require her to seek treatment, she did so. Henaman, who was using a walker in the courtroom, is on disability due to a previous accident and has other medical issues, according to Michels. He said she realizes she made a poor decision that led to her losing "the love of her life" and feels deep remorse. Probation and community service, including talking to others about the dangers of drinking and driving, would protect the community better than "putting her in a cell," Michels said. Henaman declined to address the court before sentencing. Under Iowa law, those sent to prison for vehicular homicide by reckless driving do not have to complete a mandatory minimum sentence before being eligible for parole. The body of a man suspected of killing his daughter in Clairemont and trying to kill her boyfriend turned up in San Diego bay over the weekend, police said. Authorities had said Mark McClellan was seen jumping off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge soon after the stabbings earlier this month. His body was found in the bay on Saturday and identified on Monday by his fingerprints, San Diego police homicide Lt. Ray Valentin said Tuesday. Advertisement McClellan, 57, is suspected of stabbing to death his daughter, Katherine Mills-Perkins, 22, in an Ashford Street apartment in Clairemont. Police were sent to a nearby alley about 9:30 p.m. on Jan. 8, where a man lay bleeding from a serious stab wound. Medics took 26-year-old Jamar Walter to a hospital and he has survived his wound, Valentin said. The body of Mills-Perkins was found later. Forty minutes after the stabbing victims were found, police got a report of a man who had parked on the bay bridge and jumped over the side. Officers found McClellans black Hyundai on the bridge, but there was no sign of him. A gunman who witnesses said fired at a young man was later shot in the finger by police as he scaled over a fence into a Linda Vista preschool Tuesday afternoon, San Diego police said. Ferdinand Alarcio, 48, is accused of pointing a gun at officers before being shot. Advertisement As the suspect was attempting to climb the fence, armed with a handgun, he posed a significant threat to the children and the staff, San Diego police Capt. Brian Ahearn said. The officers had literally no time to provide a warning to the staff members to bring the children into a place of safety. There were at least 70 children and staff members inside the preschool, Ahearn said. None of them were hurt. Police were first called to the area about 2 p.m. after a passing motorist reported seeing a disturbance between two males outside of Filibertos, a Mexican restaurant on Ulric Street near Linda Vista Road. The witness said it sounded like one of the males had fired a gun. The two were gone when police got there. A short time later, an officer found the pair on Ulric near Comstock Street, about a block from the taco shop. Ahearn said the officer recognized one of the two as the described gunman. The officer told both males to get on the ground, and they did. But soon after, the man who matched the description of the gunman stood up and pointed a handgun at the officer, who sprinted to the rear of his patrol car and ducked for cover, Ahearn said. The suspect then bolted toward the Vine Child Care Center, not far from the corner of Ulric and Comstock. The officer gave chase, joined by a second officer who had arrived. The suspect unsuccessfully tried to open a gate to the preschool. He then climbed onto a planter box and started to climb over a fence, pointing his gun at officers for a second time, Ahearn said. Both officers opened fire, striking the man in the finger. The man finished hopping the fence, a few feet from classroom doors, and threw his gun over the fence, to where officers were standing, Ahearn said. He complied with their instructions and was arrested before being taken to a hospital for treatment. He later was identified as Alarcio, of San Diego. The officers, who were wearing body-worn cameras, have been with the San Diego Police Department for less than a year and a three years. One of them suffered an abrasion to his hand during the incident. The captain didnt say whether investigators had determined if the suspect had shot at anyone or not. The second male, who Ahearn said was not considered a suspect, ran away when police chased after the gunman. One witness, Irma Garcia, was walking north on Ulric, between Comstock and Burroughs streets, when she saw a man in his 50s with a handgun and some sort of bag. He shot at two teens, but missed, she said. I got really scared and started to run home, Garcia said. Soon after, David Cruz, 37, of Linda Vista, was in his car with his wife, stopped at a red light near the preschool when he noticed a man in his 50s arguing with a younger man, possibly 18 to 20 years old. Cruz said there was another teenager across Ulric Street. They were yelling things like, Drop whatever you have at each other, Cruz said. The older man was holding a duffel bag that seemed to have a gun barrel sticking out of it. His hands were inside the bag and he was aiming it at the younger man near him, Cruz said. One police officer drove up and yelled at the pedestrians to get down on the ground, Cruz said. He didnt see what followed because he drove away. The preschool was cordoned off with police tape and briefly locked down during the police activity. Children were released to their parents not long after the shooting. The site cares for children from infancy to kindergarten, according to its website. Comstock was closed between Ulric and Linda Vista Road into the night. UPDATES: 8:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from San Diego police. This article was originally published at 2:35 p.m. A Rancho Bernardo solar financing company facing two potential class-action lawsuits alleging it cheated its customers has now been targeted by email spoofing, the firm acknowledged Monday. Renovate America alerted nearly 800 current and former employees that it had wrongly provided W-2 forms to someone posing as the CEO, John Paul McNeill, following what looked like a legitimate email request. Advertisement Unfortunately, copies of all 2016 W-2 forms were provided before we discovered that the request was made from a fraudulent account by someone using an email address that appeared to belong to our CEO, the notification said. We discovered the fraudulent nature of the request within a few hours and have been working tirelessly to investigate and to mitigate the impact of the attack. A Renovate America spokesman acknowledged the attack after being asked about it on Monday, and noted that no customer data was compromised. We have also notified the FBI, the IRS, and the California Franchise Tax Board, and we are vigorously investigating the source of the phishing attack, the spokesman, Greg Frost, said by email. The spokesman said the incident was the result of human error and said the company would enhance its internal training. In total, Renovate America offered 784 current and former employees two years of identity-protection services at no cost. It also urged the victims to file their 2016 tax returns as quickly as possible to get out ahead of any identity theft. Contact your banking and financial institutions to understand what precautions they may recommend to protect your identity and accounts, the notice states. Former employee Michael Means said he was disturbed by the email he received Sunday. He said the company should have done a better job verifying the apparent request from the CEO. There is a great deal of negligence on their part, said Means, who said he was laid off in a restructuring plan last fall. Obviously somebody wasnt paying attention. Renovate America partners with state and local governments to provide financing for homeowners interested in installing solar panels or completing other clean-energy projects. Last year the company was sued in lawsuits seeking class-action status filed by customers who claim their costs were excessive. Complaints in Los Angeles and Riverside were moved to U.S. District Court and may be consolidated into a single case. Watchdog Videos On Now Sexual misconduct accusers worry deputy is being protected 6:16 On Now City funded $2-million waterfront bathroom 1:26 On Now Public water district charges customer for legal work, response to records request On Now Video: Tiny homes won't be reused amid housing, homeless crisis On Now Attorney General seeks documentation for Miss Middle East On Now Rep. Hunter probe covers possible fraud On Now Video: SDG&E delaying solar credit for some low-income housing tenants On Now Video: Former San Diego Junior Theatre teacher sentenced for sex with teen girl 0:24 On Now Video: Shelter volunteers believe they were fired for finding a dog a home 0:49 On Now McKamey Manor is leaving San Diego 3:35 jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald Three sheepdog puppies trapped beneath the rubble of an Italian hotel destroyed by an avalanche were rescued Monday, giving emergency workers a bit of joy as they continue the difficult search for survivors. The white balls of fur were discovered beneath the ruins of the Rigopiano Hotel in Central Italy where rescuers continue to search for at least 20 people still missing after four powerful earthquakes shook the region Jan. 18. Nine bodies have been recovered from the destroyed resort and tourist destination so far, as firefighters and others continue to comb through the wreckage, according to the Associated Press. Advertisement The Abruzzo sheepdogs, which were born in December to the Rigopianos resident canines, were hard to find as they were isolated in a boiler room of the luxury hotel. They just started barking very softly, said Forestry Corps member Sonia Marini to the AP. Then we heard this very tiny bark and we saw them from a little hole the firefighters had opened in the wall. Then we expanded the hole and we pulled them out. The discovery sent ripples of joy through the cadre of firefighters and others who have been toiling at the site for days where the tons of snow and debris is turning into ice. Firefighters were seen burying their faces into the dogs white fluffy fur as they smiled and carried the pups out of the ruins. A firefighter kisses one of the three puppies found alive in the rubble of the Hotel Rigopiano after the avalange, near Farindola, central Italy. (HANDOUT / Reuters Photo) Nuvola and Lupo, who are the pups parents, were found earlier wandering a nearby village by a bartender who had worked at the hotel. The dogs belong to hotel owner Roberto del Rosso, who is still listed among the missing, the International Business Times reported. The discovery of the adorable pups was only a brief respite from the work at hand. A fire department spokesman told the AP that crews were still operating with the hope that some victims could still be alive but he said that they were fighting against time. Luca Cari said crews were happy to have saved the dogs but he doubted that would correlate to finding more people. 619-293-1710 debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com twitter.com/Debbi_Baker They are drawing comparisons to the tea partys earliest rallies over economic issues, but the huge womens marches around the nation on Saturday President Trumps first full day in office have no historical precedent. The passion, angst and anger millions displayed from San Diego to Boston illustrated yet again how divided America has become. The tea partys activism led to congressional victories in the 2010 midterm elections and later gave Trump a populist road map, but its too soon to say if Saturdays protests will have grassroots gains. Advertisement Millions opposed the president, but different marchers had different reasons for marching, different grievances to lay at Trumps feet. Yet Trump won. So whats next? At some point, Trumps opponents need to realize anger is not an agenda. Yes, Trump may have lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes to Hillary Clinton. But outside of California, Democrats have become steadily less popular over the last four elections. Republicans didnt just take control of Congress. They now hold 33 of 50 governors offices and have never held more state legislative seats. They are in prime position to control redistricting after the 2020 census and further cement their stranglehold on the House. CNN host Anthony Bourdain, a proud liberal, gets it. Just repeating and repeating and repeating the outrages of the opposition ... does not win hearts and minds, the celebrity chef told Reason magazine in December discussing America. If he remains the minority among Democrats, the Democrats outside of California may remain the minority party. Twitter: @sdutIdeas Facebook: UTOpinion The controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines have become well-known as symbols of a divide between environmentalists and pro-oil developers and their supporters. President Donald Trump made clear which side he was on Tuesday. He signed two executive orders giving the go-ahead to both projects, rolling back the decisions of former President Barack Obamas administration to reject the Keystone XL pipeline and block the Dakota Access pipeline in December. Protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and supporters who opposed the pipeline on grounds that it would threaten drinking water and Native American cultural sites reached a dangerous head at the end of 2016. The Keystone XL pipeline project saw its own protests in 2011. Despite deep backlash, Trump decided to move both forward. The outrage at his decision has been well-documented. Here are the reasons some people are excited to see the pipelines be built. 1. Trump is keeping a campaign promise Trump said months ago that he would be willing to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline as president. Any regulation that's outdated, unnecessary, bad for workers or contrary to the national interest will be scrapped and scrapped completely," Trump said in Bismarck, North Dakota, in May. "We're going to do all this while taking proper regard for rational environmental concerns." 2. Job creation As Trump signed the executive actions on Tuesday, he emphasized job creation. A lot of jobs...great construction jobs, he said from the Oval Office. The State Department has projected the number of jobs supported by the Keystone Pipeline alone to be about 42,000 during the construction period. However, many opponents raise the argument that most of those jobs would disappear after construction. 3. The demand for more oil The point of the Keystone XL project is to bring crude oil from Canada to the United States in response to large demand, particularly from southern states. The Dakota Access Pipeline would carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. Supporters want to see the demand met in North America where possible, rather than from Latin America or the Middle East. Trumps decision received some backlash, too. On top of environmental and cultural concerns, critics pointed to the fact that Trump previously owned stock in the company which owns the Dakota Access Pipeline. A spokeswoman said he sold the stock over the summer. What do you think of Trumps decision? Let us know at @sdutideas. Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @abbyhamblin County supervisors will consider options to amend the county zoning ordinance regarding regulations for medical marijuana collective facilities and non-medical marijuana dispensaries on Wednesday, Jan. 25. The board is also scheduled to consider extending the medical marijuana collective facilities moratorium that will expire on March 16 for one more year -- until Jan. 25, 2018. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. in Room 310 of the County Administration Center, 1600 Pacific Highway, San Diego. The item is the first on the supervisors agenda, available at www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/cob/bosa.html. Three members of the Ramona Community Planning Group Jim Cooper, Dan Scherer and Casey Lynch said they plan to attend the hearing. Ramona has two licensed dispensaries, one at 736 Montecito Way and another at 1210 Olive St. Supervisors will consider county staff options: Require a separation buffer from a residential use rather than a residential zone. Increase the sensitive land use buffer from 1,000 feet to mile. Increase the sensitive land use buffer from 1,000 feet to mile. Increase the sensitive land use buffer from 1,000 feet to 1 mile. Require a 1,000-foot separation buffer from incorporated cities. Require a major use permit for a medical marijuana collective facility. Limit the number of medical marijuana collective facilities to four per supervisorial district. Also under consideration will be the county Planning Commissions Nov. 4, 2016 recommendations that were largely supported by the Ramona planning group. They include points in a memorandum of understanding submitted to the planning group by the two Ramona dispensary owners as a compromise to ease concerns. The commissioners recommendations include: Limit the number of medical marijuana dispensaries to four per supervisorial district. Limit the number of dispensaries to two in any one community. Restrict the minimum age to purchase medical marijuana in the county from 18, as allowed by state law, to 21. Restrict dispensary hours to 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (current ordinance allows 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) Impose fines for violations of the ordinance and accelerated fines for repeat violations. Require a minor use permit. Supervisor Dianne Jacob, 2017 board chair, told those at the Ramona Community Revitalization Steering Committee in November that she has not ruled out a ban on dispensaries. Consideration of ordinance amendments comes about a year after the planning group reached out to Jacob about the number of applicants seeking building permits for medical marijuana collectives in Ramona. On March 16, 2016, the supervisors adopted a 45-day ban on dispensaries that was extended the following month until March 2017, and directed staff to prepare options for regulatory changes regarding the siting of dispensaries and enforcement of illegally established facilities. At the planning groups Jan. 12 meeting, resident Joe Minervini asked what the members intend to say at the supervisors meeting. Dont send somebody down there who does not represent Ramona, he said, adding that maybe the board will consider amortizing the existing ones out of business, a course of action that he has repeatedly recommended. Everybody on this board represents Ramona. And everybody on this board is looking after the best interests of the residents of Ramona, said Scherer, planning group acting chair. So with that in mind, the three of us who go down there, thats the direction were going to go. Lynch said Ramona could have had eight dispensaries and through negotiations got that number reduced to two. My goal is, if we are called on, is to talk about how the community came together and came to those points of consensus, he said. Planner Donna Myers, however, noted that the amendments submitted by the planning group did not receive unanimous support. She and planner David Ross voted against them. Bill Whittle will be the speaker at Ramona Teads first free public forum of 2017 on Saturday, Jan. 28. This will be Whittles fifth appearance in the past five years at Ramona Tead forums held in Ramona Mainstage, 626 Main St. A political commentator, director, screenwriter, editor, and author, Whittle represents Right Angle, Firewall, Afterburner, and www.billwhittle.com. Dont miss this important free public forum as Mr. Whittle will surely have some encouraging words and opinions to share with us concerning the Trump agenda, Ramona Tead said in its announcement. Doors to Ramona Mainstage will open at 11 a.m. and the program will begin at noon. Early arrival is recommended to get the best seats. Comments and questions are welcome. For more information, see www.ramonatead.com. MASON CITY | More than 5,000 residential properties in Mason City have been reappraised, meaning the project is about halfway done, according to City Assessor Dana Naumann. Appraisers have been going door to door since April 1 and have been at about 5,500 homes. There are 11,000 homes to be reappraised as well as about 3,000 other parcels, she said. Door-to-door residential property appraisals begin in Mason City MASON CITY | If you live in Cerro Gordo County, your residential property will be reappraise Representatives of Vanguard Appraisals of Cedar Rapids are assisting with the project. Naumann said the project should be done by the end of summer. They are working in the southeast part of Mason City this week. Naumann said the purpose is to equalize property assessments so that each taxpayer is responsible for paying only his or her fair share of the property tax burden. "It is to establish the current market value of each property and to ensure that like properties are equitably assessed," Naumann said. She said the last time properties were reassessed door to door was in 1992. Periodic inspections and reappraisal of properties are necessary because all properties do not increase or decrease in value at the same rate, she said. Skyrocketing appraisals have Mason City property owners concerned MASON CITY Appraisals of some commercial properties have skyrocketed on Mason Citys west The information collected will be used to estimate the fair market value of each property. Naumann said Iowa law requires property owners to assist with appraisals, including allowing access into a home. "It's gone pretty well so far," Naumann said Monday. "We've had both extremes from quick and easy access to 'I'm not letting anybody in my house.' " She said there have only been a few instances in which the police were called because of a "suspicious person" in the neighborhood. In one instance, she said, the appraiser called the police because of intense heckling and harassment from a homeowner. Assessor: Three primary ways your property taxes can go up MASON CITY | The woman who assesses the value on more than 11,000 properties in Mason City i She said appraisers all have photo IDs and their photos are also on the city assessor's web page. Notice of final value estimates will be mailed to each property owner after Jan. 1, 2018. The property owners will have an opportunity to meet informally to discuss their revaluation in spring 2018. The new assessed values will be effective for Jan. 1, 2018, for taxes payable in fiscal 2019-20. Lemon Grove has taken the first step in amending its law that bans medical marijuana businesses in the city. In 2012, voters turned down two separate measures that would have allowed pot shops. Four years later they changed their minds and approved Proposition V, repealing the ban by a slim margin of 90 votes. La Mesa residents approved a similar measure in their city. Advertisement The Lemon Grove City Council on Jan. 17 unanimously approved a change to its laws that will go into effect in the next two months, legalizing medical pot dispensaries. No business, however, will be able to start operating without a conditional use permit issued by the City Council. Marijuana stores will not be able to open near any of the citys schools, parks, playgrounds, daycare facilities or substance-abuse treatment facilities. A map provided by the city shows that a maximum of 15 collectives would be allowed in Lemon Grove, which has a population of about 25,000. The City Council also reiterated its stance against recreational pot stores and recreational use, which will remain prohibited in all parts of the city. While the statewide passage of Proposition 64 allows for the cultivation, processing and sale of recreational marijuana in California, it also allows cities to ban all or part of the uses allowed under its provisions. Dana Stevens, executive director of Community Action Service Advocacy for Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, told the City Council she was disappointed and regretful that marijuana collectives would be coming to Lemon Grove. She said she hoped the City Council would stay focused on keeping marijuana away from children. Marijuana is still a dangerous drug and is associated with increased crime, Stevens said. This has been an ongoing discussion for many years. Other speakers said they wanted Lemon Grove to outlaw collectives entirely, and one suggested the city act quickly to fill empty storefronts with other businesses to keep pot shops from opening up instead. Councilman Jerry Jones reminded them that while voters passed the ban in 2012, attitudes have changed since then. It didnt pass by much, but it did pass, Jones said. We have to abide by that. A caregiver accused of insinuating herself into the life of an elderly Rancho Bernardo man, killing him and then taking more than $594,000 from him was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and a string of other felony charges. Denise Michelle Goodwin, 47, was charged in the death of Gerald Rabourn, 88, who was last seen in October 2010. His body was never found. After deliberating about four days, a San Diego Superior Court jury found Goodwin guilty of murder and a special-circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain. The panel also found her guilty of several other charges including caretaker theft from an elder adult, fraudulent appropriation by a trustee, grand theft of personal property and forgery. Advertisement She faces life in prison without parole at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 5. Deputy District Attorney Bill Mitchell argued Goodwin was a predator disguised as a caregiver who actively sought out victims before finding a target in Rabourn. Goodwin, then 44, advertised herself online as a 74-year-old woman on a senior dating site, the prosecutor said. Then in September 2010, she applied for a caregiver position through a service and asked to work with hospice patients. Mitchell said the defendant entered Rabourns life that year, when his wife Carolyn was in the end stages of lung cancer. After the wife died, Goodwin was able to gain control over the husbands assets, sell his home and funnel his money into her own accounts. She endeared herself (to him), the prosecutor said in his closing arguments. Gerald Rabourn was suckered in, taken to the cleaners and it eventually led to his demise. Mitchell said the defendant forged Rabourns name on numerous documents to get access to his money and sell his house. She ended up taking more than $594,000, some of which she transferred into personal accounts and used to try to buy a home and other rental properties. Family members noted that Rabourn, a retired mapmaker, was frugal with his money and would not have given it freely to Goodwin for her personal use. Although he was not wealthy, Rabourn had enough money to pay for the things he needed at that stage in his life, according to testimony. He had planned for the rest of his money to go to his daughter after his death. Rabourn was not seen again after Oct. 21, 2010. The prosecutor said Goodwin lied repeatedly to Rabourns family members about where he was, and even persuaded a woman to leave a message for his daughter, pretending to be his new wife. The woman said in the message that she and Rabourn had gotten married in Las Vegas and that the family should give them time to themselves. Ronald Bobo, Goodwins lawyer, argued that his client had taken money from Rabourn, but did not kill him. Goodwin held her lawyers hand in the moment before the verdicts were read. She let go of his hand when she heard she had been convicted of murder. Her body trembled a little as she cried in the courtroom. The jury acquitted her of a theft-related charge related to another elderly man in 2009 and 2010. Goodwins 21-year-old son, Michael, faces one count of concealing a stolen vehicle that had belonged to Rabourn. He has pleaded not guilty. U-T reporter Sandra Dibble.mp4 Hi, Sandra. Thats how one high ranking San Ysidro/Tijuana official responded to Sandra Dibble, the San Diego Union-Tribune border reporter, while addressing everyone else by maam and sir. Advertisement Dibble has covered the California-Mexico border for 22 years, allowing her to immerse herself in the community through language and culture. She knows Tijuana and Tijuana knows her. "(I like) the variety, Dibble said. If its environment in Tijuana, I cover it. If its medical in Tijuana, I cover it. If its public safety in Tijuana, I cover it.... I have a whole, huge beat to myself. To Dibble, no day is the same. "(When) I come in the morning, I often know what Im doing, but something can come up that can completely change the course of what I do in a day, Dibble said. Dibble generally writes a long-term feature for the Sunday edition and a few smaller stories for the Local section each week. Her favorite part of her job is interacting with others on assignment. You get quotes and better reactions when you see people in person, Dibble said. During time spent at her desk, Dibble actively prepares for stories by conducting phone interviews and reading background material. When writing, it is important to Dibble to convey information in a concise, comprehendible manner. "(I strive for) clarity as opposed to fancy writing, Dibble said. I try to be clear and not bore people. I try to tell them way up high (in the story) why this matters. Others appreciate the commitment Dibble has to the information she covers. Sandras real strength is her deep knowledge of the border region in Tijuana, Jim Watters, Dibbles editor, said. She basically knows all the background and context to any of the major stories that are developing there. Dibble always finds her most current story to be the most exciting. I think to keep engaged, you have to fall in love with the story, she said. You have to think, this is the story that I love and Im going to do my best job on it. Kate Sequeira and Allen Siegler are members of the U-T Community Journalism Scholars Program. Baja Californias ambitious plan to build the largest desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere took an important step forward this week with the signing of a public-private partnership for a project in northern Rosarito Beach. At full build-out, the reverse osmosis facility would produce 100 million gallons of water per day, a volume twice the capacity of the Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad. While the aim is to reduce the Tijuana-Rosarito Beach regions heavy dependence on the Colorado River, some of the water could be sent in the future across the border through a pipeline to the Otay Water District in San Diego County. The contract signed Monday commits a private consortium to build the plant in two phases and operate it for 37 years before turning it back to the state, according to the Baja California Secretariat of Infrastructure and Urban Development. The plants first phase would launch in late 2019 or early 2020 and produce 50 million gallons a day. The plants capacity would be doubled under the second phase in 2024. Advertisement The proposal, still in its early stages of development, would be the largest to date built under Baja Californias 2014 public-private partnership law. The water would be sold to the states water agencies, which in turn would be in charge of its distribution. With the agreement reached, the next steps involve drafting final construction documents and securing financing for the project, whose estimated cost is more than $490 million. Construction would take about three years. Like San Diego, the Tijuana region receives most of its water supply from the Colorado River, carried across the state from Mexicali through a large aqueduct. Water planners in Baja California have been eager to reduce the areas heavy dependence on the aqueducts deliveries, even more so since a 2010 earthquake in Mexicali caused widespread damage to the water delivery infrastructure. A key player in moving the project forward is the North American Development Bank, an institution financed by the U.S. and Mexican governments that supports border environmental projects certified by the Border Environment Cooperation Commission. The bank believes that this project is critical to the sustainability of Tijuana and adjacent municipalities, said Jesse Hereford, the banks director of public affairs. The NADB is serving as lead arranger and working with a group of banks to structure the financing, he said. He expects that to be completed in the first half of next year. The private consortium that won the bid to build and operate the plant is spearheaded by NSC Agua, a Mexican company that is the subsidiary of Consolidated Water, a Cayman Islands-based company. The other two partners in the project NuWater of Singapore and the French company Degremont. Rick McTaggart, president and CEO of Consolidated Water, was not immediately available for comment on the projects latest development. To build the plant, NSC Agua has aquired 50 acres near the the Presidente Juarez thermoelectric plant in Rosarito Beach, a location that would provide the facility with a power supply, as well as access to the power plants outfall and intake systems. The desalination plant would ensure the Tijuana-Rosarito Beach regions water needs are met for the next 50 years, said Oscar Gracia Valencia, who heads the public-private partnership unit in the Secretariat of Infrastructure and Urban Development. North of the border, the Otay Water District has been closely following the projects progress. The water agency, which has more than 220,000 customers in southeastern San Diego County, is hoping to purchase some of the water to diversify its supply. The district is applying for permit from the U.S. State Department to allow construction of a pipeline that could carry up to 50 million gallons of water a day across the border. If we can get the water at a cost that makes sense, why wouldnt we? said Mark Watton, the Otay Water Districts general manager. Thats true whether were importing solar panels or machine parts or automobiles. Youve got a trading partner thats close by, why wouldnt you engage them? The cross-border transfer, if approved, wouldnt occur until the second phase. Watton said the district is interested in purchasing about 10 percent of the plants output initially, growing to as much as 20 or 30 percent. To move forward, the district would also need approval from U.S. agencies to ensure the water meets California drinking water standards. Both the planned desalination plant and the Otay Water Districts proposal have come under fire in recent weeks from two U.S. environmental groups: the San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation and Wildcoast. In a letter to the U.S. State Department last month, the groups cited concerns about the coastal water quality in the plants vicinity due to renegade discharges and the large amounts of semi-treated and untreated waste water emanating from a sewage treatment plant north of the proposed desalination plant. Another challenge to the project has come from a San Diego resident, Gough Thompson, who is alleging that his ownership stake in NSC Agua was illegally reduced from 25 percent to .01 percent. McTaggart of Consolidated Water has said that Thompson was paid a settlement releasing the company from future claims, but litigation in the case has continued. Thompsons attorney, Roberto Vega, said we will look into every transaction NSC enters into with great detail, to ensure his clients rights are not violated. sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com RELATED ST. ANSGAR A St. Ansgar man was compassionate to the youngest victims of the Korean War while stationed near Seoul. "Theres no one that suffers more in war than the children," said Nels Goldberg, 83. Goldberg, then a 23-year-old carpenter, was drafted and assigned to the military police. He joined the 728th MP BN, part of the 8th Army, which was responsible for guarding a highly-classified Air Force installation about 10 miles north of the capital that was surrounded by rice paddies. He was sent to Korea in March 1956, after the war had ended. "We never knew what they were doing, but our job was to make sure the airmen were secure," he said. "We were all alone but no harm was going to come to any of us." Although there during peacetime, Goldberg said his unit was instructed to leave the area in case of attack, and the installation would be blown up. He believes that unit is still guarding the same spot today, which is located near the 38th parallel, or the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. St. Ansgar man lays legacy in stone ST. ANSGAR Most of us would consider stone work a tough job, but Nels Golberg, 82, of St. The Pubwoon Orphanage, which housed about 60 children, was about three-fourths of a mile away from where Goldberg was stationed. "We could see the kids any time we wanted to," he said. "We were always welcome." During a Christmas party, the children sang carols in English and Korean to the soldiers, who gave them a meal and fresh fruit. His mother and church women in his hometown of Lyle, Minnesota, collected and mailed warm clothing for the orphans for the winter, weather Goldberg said was similar to Iowa. He continued to send clothing to the orphanage two years after he returned home in August 1957. The children, however, craved attention the most. "What I couldn't bring them didn't compare to me sitting and holding them in my lap," he said. His unit even took in a 13-year-old boy, Lee In Soon, otherwise known as Tony, who had no known living relatives. He had been found alone during the war. Tony lived in the barracks with the officers, wearing a khaki uniform with master sergeant stripes a village woman had tailored for him. "He spent an awful lot of time with us guys," Goldberg said. "He just loved the GIs." Two years after he returned home, Goldberg received a letter saying Tony had found a grandmother but didn't hear from him again after that. He would be in his early 70s today. "When I knew him, he spoke fluent English, so I think he could have gotten a tremendously good job in Seoul," Goldberg said. Whenever he visited Seoul then a city of about 1 million Goldberg always brought a camera. "You'd never know what you'd see along the way," he said. Upon returning home, Goldberg returned to his building career, constructing homes, the bell tower of First Lutheran Church and 14 signs around Lyle and St. Ansgar, one of which was completed this fall. Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe MASON CITY A dozen children on a West Fork school bus that crashed south of Mason City Tuesday afternoon were sent home with parents after being evaluated by paramedics, officials say. The No. 14 bus collided with a Ford F-150 pickup about 2:40 p.m. at Quail Avenue and 210th Street. The Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office says bus driver Kimberlee Kephart, 55, of Swaledale, and a passenger in the truck, Ana Baquedano-Avila, 33, were both taken to the hospital. The truck driver, Terry Swant, 51, of Rockford, was not transported. Sheriff's deputies did not release details of their injuries. West Fork Superintendent Darrin Strike said the district's driver was taken in for evaluation. "We are grateful that the accident wasnt worse, and we extend a huge thank-you to the medical and law enforcement personnel who assisted with the accident," Strike said in a statement via email Tuesday evening. Cerro Gordo sheriff's deputies were still investigating the crash early Tuesday evening. They were assisted at the scene by the Iowa State Patrol, Rockwell EMT and Mason City firefighters. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Update: West Fork bus driver taken to hospital, kids O.K. 3:45 p.m. Update MASON CITY | A West Fork bus driver was taken to a local hospital for evaluation after one of the school's buses crashed Tuesday evening while several children were aboard, officials said. The bus crashed about 2:40 p.m. at Quail Avenue and 210th Street. West Fork Superintendent Darrin Strike said none of the children were hurt. The bus and a badly damaged blue pickup were both in the ditch just south of 210th Street. Information about the driver of the pickup was not immediately available. Children were taken home by their parents, Strike said. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Our previous story West Fork school bus involved in collision MASON CITY | Children aboard a West Fork school bus that crashed Tuesday in rural Mason City did not appear to be hurt, according to a sheriff's deputy at the scene. The school bus and a badly damaged blue, extended cab pickup were both in the ditch on Quail Avenue just south of 210th Street. The crash was reported about 2:40 p.m. The bus, No. 14, sustained damage to its side and was in the east ditch. The pickup, which had severe front-end damage, was in the west ditch. Debris from the collision littered the Quail Avenue. First responders and school officials helped several children walk off the bus. They stood briefly as a group on the gravel road and then were taken from the scene. A sheriff's deputy said it appeared none of the children were hurt. A woman was taken on a stretcher to an ambulance. It was not immediately clear if she was on the bus or the truck. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Many would be surprised to find out that the author who was best known for writing about Americas privileged classes not only worked tirelessly to support refugees in Europe but also reported from the front lines of World War I. Weekly Newsletter The best of The Saturday Evening Post in your inbox! Join Edith Wharton, who was born 155 years ago today, is best remembered for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Age of Innocence. Though she often wrote about American high society, she was well aware of the sufferings of the disadvantaged. During the First World War, she helped set up shelters for the thousands of refugees streaming into Paris from Belgium. She gathered clothing and food and raised money for the relief efforts. Her Children of Flanders Rescue Committee sheltered almost 900 refugee children and their families. She was recognized for her work in 1916, when the French government awarded her the prestigious Legion of Honor. Appreciative French officials also gave her permission to visit the front lines and report on the fighting. She toured the French lines from Dunkirk to Belfort, in eastern France. In Alsace, which appeared in the November 20, 1915, issue of the Post, she prominently mentions the destruction of the cathedral at Rheims. At this early point of the war, before the casualties reached into the millions, the German shelling of the cathedral could still be considered one of the worst results of the war. Subscribe and get unlimited access to our online magazine archive. Subscribe Today Another interesting point about Whartons report is her mention of the French cavalry. In previous European wars, the cavalry had been greatly feared by the common soldier. But the arrival of the machine gun eliminated any threat posed by men on horseback with lances. The front lines of the war had stabilized a few miles outside of Rheims, and would remain there for the next three years. In 1918, it would see Germanys last, desperate attempt to win the war with a new offensive. The Germans started falling back and continued to withdraw for the next 100 days until they signed the armistice. Alsace was not only the most forward position of the French army, its recapture was a matter of pride to the French, which had surrendered it in the Franco-Prussian War. The fighting in this region was so important to the national cause that no visitors, including high-ranking officials, were permitted to enter. It is a mark of the high regard the French government felt for Edith Wharton that she was allowed to visit this crucial point of the western front. Featured image: Edith Wharton (Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University/ Public Domain) Toronto, ON -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/24/2017 -- Homeowners across every Canada province can now take advantage of economical home security system installation and activation. With CanadaHomeSecuritySystems.com, they also have access to an offer that provides the delivery of a complimentary alarm system for homes when you sign up for round-the-clock alarm monitoring which includes two-way voice communication. The company's website details the advantages of home security systems and promotes an offer that includes: a comprehensive home security system, activation with 24/7 monitoring centers, registration with the local fire and police departments and a keychain remote for convenient arming and disarming. The home security system includes the following: a high decibel siren, a wireless control panel, a large illuminated keypad display plus three points of protection for doors and windows and a pet motion detector. At canadahomesecuritysystems.com homeowners can choose the type of security system that suits their needs. Thus, they can opt for motion detectors, audible burglar alarm, fire and smoke detectors, as well as sensors that accommodate pets. The company provides wireless systems, so that customers can have access to the latest and most reliable technological development to help keep their property safe. In addition to helping secure properties and possessions and deterring burglars, the service can ensure a prompt response in case of emergency. Thus, it is possible to connect the alarm system with the appropriate local emergency services (fire or police department etc.). The feature is extremely useful in case of medical emergencies or whenever anyone in the house is at risk. For added security, the company can connect clients to the country's 24/7 top alarm monitoring service. All systems are compatible with mobile phones and no landline is required. It is possible to interact remotely with the system. Canadian residents also benefit this month of a special offer of a two-way voice option. Thus, any family member who is away can get in touch with the ones staying at home and communicate in emergency situations. About Canada Home Security Systems Canada home security systems is a Canadian authorized dealer selling, installing and activating home security systems for homes, connecting to 24/7 services for monitoring. To find out more about current services and offers, go to canadahomesecuritysystems.com or call 877-575-0809. Contact: Scott Murray Canada home security systems http://canadahomesecuritysystems.com/ info@canadahomesecuritysystems.com Toronto Ontario Canada Arizona State University Professor Sherry Towers has examined the Sun Temple archaeological site at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, and found evidence that the site was laid out with a Golden rectangle, equilateral and Pythagorean 3:4:5 triangles. The researcher has also found evidence of a common unit of measurement underlying the site layout. The Sun Temple is an ancient complex prominently located atop amesa, constructed by the ancestral Pueblo peoples approximately 800 years ago. While the D-shaped structure is generally recognized by modern Pueblo peoples as a ceremonial complex, the exact uses of the site are unknown, although the site has been shown to have key solar and lunar alignments. The site is known to have been an important focus of ceremony in the region for the ancestral Pueblo peoples, including solstice observations. My original interest in the site involved looking at whether it was used for observing stars as well, explained Prof. Towers, author of a paper published this week in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. However, as she delved deeper into the sites layout and architecture, interesting patterns began to emerge. I noticed in my site survey that the same measurements kept popping up over and over again, Prof. Towers said. When I saw that the layout of the sites key features also involved many geometrical shapes, I decided to take a closer look. The geometrical shapes used within this location would be familiar to any high school student: equilateral triangles, squares, 45-degree right triangles, Pythagorean triangles, and the Golden rectangle, which was well known to architects in ancient Greece and Egypt and is often used in Western art due to its pleasing proportions. With some geometrical know-how, a straight-edge, a compass or cord, and a unit of measurement, all of the shapes are fairly easy to construct. But, unlike the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Maya, the ancestral Pueblo people had no written language or number system to aid them when they built the site. Incredibly, their measurements were still near-perfect, with a relative error of less than one percent. This is what I find especially amazing. The genius of the sites architects cannot be underestimated, Prof. Towers said. If you asked someone today to try to reconstruct this site and achieve the same precision that they had using just a stick and a piece of cord, its highly unlikely theyd be able to do it, especially if they couldnt write anything down as they were working. Prof. Towers found evidence that some of the same geometrical constructs from Sun Temple were used in at least one other ancestral Puebloan ceremonial site, Pueblo Bonito, located in New Mexicos Chaco Culture National Historic Park. The researcher also discovered that the Sun Temple site was laid out using a common unit of measurement just over 30 cm in length equal to about one modern-day foot. I also find evidence that a common unit of measurement was used to layout many features of the Sun Temple site. The base unit is either L = 30.5 cm, or one third of that, Prof. Towers said. Interestingly, several past societies in the world developed a unit of measure close to L, including the modern imperial foot, which is 30.48 cm, the Greek common foot of 31.50 cm, the Roman foot of 29.59 cm, and the northern foot of 33.53 cm (used particularly by Germanic peoples). The findings represent the first potential quantitative evidence of knowledge of advanced geometrical constructs in a prehistoric North American society, which is particularly remarkable given that the ancestral Pueblo peoples had no written language or number system, she added. _____ S. Towers et al. 2017. Advanced geometrical constructs in a Pueblo ceremonial site, c 1200 CE. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 12: 1-11; doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.01.009 LGBT+ people in Nigeria experience discrimination that hinders their access to health care, including for mental health problems that have been overlooked by many organisations, the Bisi Alimi Foundation has reported based on an online survey. The survey, published this month (13 January), aims to raise awareness about physical and mental health in Nigerian LGBT+ people, human rights violations against them and barriers to care. It is the deliberate attempt by healthcare providers to moralise healthcare by deciding who is fit to have access to it and who is not. Bisi Alimi, founder of the Bisi Alimi Foundation It adds to evidence of a correlation between experiencing discrimination and having mental health issues in Nigerian LGBT+ communities. It also found that the more internalised homophobia one faced, the lower their life satisfaction and therefore the worse off their mental wellbeing. But access to medical services for LGBT+ people is almost non-existent beyond what NGOs provide. Laws such as the Same Sex Marriage Prohibition Act (SSMPA) bar same-sex partnerships, and even outlaw support for them by non-LGBT+ people. These laws reinforce and maintain limits to medical care due to the stigma associated if health care practitioners treat LGBT+ people, according to the report. Bisi Alimi, founder of the Bisi Alimi Foundation and author of the report, tells SciDev.Net the report reveals the reality of what it means to be an LGBT+ person in Nigeria. It is not just about the police brutality and harassment, but more importantly, it is the deliberate attempt by healthcare providers to moralise healthcare by deciding who is fit to have access to it and who is not. The online survey contained 63 questions about physical and mental healthcare, public perceptions and reactions to gender identities and sexualities, harassment and violence, daily life experiences related to sexual orientation, legal issues as well as demographic information. Of 446 LGBT+ Nigerians who responded to the survey, 44 per cent did not seek medical care when they had a physical health problem. Alongside practical reasons such as clinic opening hours or distance, the biggest concern reported was feeling unable to trust healthcare providers. Of the 22 per cent who did seek medical care, many (12 per cent) were told their problems were their own fault, experienced verbal abuse from doctors or nurses (12 per cent) or even rough physical treatment (7 per cent). The report states that this range of negative experiences is directly related to the cultural attitudes imbued by legislation against LGBT+ people, as well as a lack of training, supervision and awareness among healthcare staff. William Rashidi, founder and director of the Queer Alliance Nigeria, a human rights, health advocacy and support group, told SciDev.Net that this data contributes to gradually forcing policy makers to begin to consider the toll of discrimination on a wider platform. Researchers have failed to detail the toll of discriminatory laws on healthcare and peoples psychological well-being, says Rashidi the focus has been on sexual health and HIV for too long. The report urges organisations to train and protect healthcare staff, to increase services that cater to wider health needs and to extend services to lesbians, bisexual women, transgender people and those with disabilities. These actions, it says, are in line with the UNs Sustainable Development Goals to reduce inequalities and promote social, economic and political inclusion. It also calls for the media to share more specific guidance for LGBT+ people on when and where to seek health care, and what to do if there is no access so as to live more comfortably until attitudes change.While Rashidi agrees the recommendations are positive, he calls for action within the health sector specifically institutions such as the Nigerian Medical Association, the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, psychiatrists and psychologists.The media has the power to educate and create change, but they also need information from the health sector, he says. Whilst not perfect, the data is a good start to discussing mental health issues within the context of sexual orientation and gender identity. This is far overdue. The Biblical prophecy of the alliance between the descendants of Ishmael and Esau -- an indicating sign of the End of Days -- may have been fulfilled. Breaking Israel News reported that Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas visited Pope Francis in the Vatican to talk about the opening of the "State of Palestine" embassy in Rome. Commentaries have linked Abbas to the descendants of Ishmael (Muslims) and the Pope to the descendants of Esau (Romans) -- a partnership that reportedly precedes the final judgment. "During the End of Days, Ishmael and Esau will join forces to seek the destruction of the Jewish people," Rabbi Yechiel Weitzman wrote in his book The Ishmaelite Exile, containing the medieval Jewish Bible commentary, Yalkut Shimoni. According to the Bible, Ishmael is the son of Abraham through Hagar, his wife's Egyptian maid. As he was waiting for God's promise -- the birth of his son, Isaac, through his barren wife, Sarah -- she asked him to make a family through Hagar, which she eventually regretted when Ishmael did not treat Isaac kindly. "Do not be troubled about Ishmael and his mother," God told Abraham in the Book of Genesis. "Do as Sarah has asked you to do, and send them away. It is best that Isaac should be left alone in your tent, for he is to receive everything that is yours. I the Lord will take care of Ishmael, and will make a great people of his descendants, those who shall come from him." Meanwhile, Isaac had two sons: Esau and his younger brother Jacob, whom God later named Israel. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob so he ended up with a bitter fate of not receiving their father's inheritance. Both Ishmael and Esau's descendants, the Amalekites and Edomites respectively, have become enemies of the Israelites in the Old Testament. "At the very outset of their history, Ishmael and Esau forged a bond through marriage [Genesis 18:9]. And so it shall be at the End of Days," Rabbi Weitzman wrote in his commentary. "This alliance between them will bring history to its culmination in the redemption." Archaeologists found the remains of a possibly ancient medieval synagogue at the site of Huqoq, which is a village near the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The synagogue contains stunning mosaics that include the montage of the story of Noah's Ark. ICS Shohet Scholar project update: Possible Medieval 'Synagogue' Uncovered Near Sea of Galilee https://t.co/7wFjgP1QPR via @LiveScience Catacomb Society (@CatacombSociety) January 23, 2017 Jodi Magness, the director of the Huqoq excavation project, explained that the monumental public building was erected on the same spot as the late Roman synagogue, reusing some of the earlier structure's architectural elements, but expanding it in size. She further explained that the building would likely use as a church, a mosque or a synagogue. Dr. Jodi Magness shares her Huqqoq synagogue discoveries. An archaeological project sponsored by @NatGeo. https://t.co/SBnlX5lYaC Ancient Jew Review (@ancientjew) February 10, 2015 It is theorized that the synagogue was constructed during the 12th to 13th centuries. It is situated on top of the ruins of a fifth century Roman synagogue. During these centuries, the Crusaders and Mamluks (a Muslim people) fought for control of the area around Huqoq, according to CBS News. The archaeologists also discovered that the medieval building contains benches lining the east, north and west walls. This indicates that the medieval building could possibly be a synagogue. Magness stressed that such benches could be found in synagogues. On the other hand, Magness added that they had not found any historical information about a Jewish population in the area during that time. Arnold Franklin, a study researcher and a history professor at Queens College of the City University of New York, said that he had found very little evidence of a Jewish presence in the area, which makes this structure both extremely exciting and frustrating, as noted by WDEF. Donald Trump has promised to "unlock the mysteries of space" during his tenure as the U.S. President. The statement was the first to be made during his inauguration speech alongside various other future commitments. "We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow," Trump said. "A new national pride will stir ourselves, lift our sights and heal our divisions." However, it was not clear which mysteries pertaining to space that he was looking forward to unlock. According to The Independent report, Donald Trump has disclosed little about his plans related to space and exploration. However, what the 45th U.S. President suggested during the inaugural address implies that he is interested in exploring the Solar System and beyond. Consequently, many want to increase NASA's budget to carry out the related work. Earlier, at a rally that took place two weeks before the election, Donald Trump said that he would make the U.S. lead the way into the stars by looking toward focusing on exploring deep space and "free NASA from the restriction of serving primarily as a logistics agency for low-Earth orbit activity." He also said that NASA's focus and goal should be human exploration of the entire universe by the end of the 21st century. Incidentally, Donald Trump also implied that he wants to defund NASA's climate change analysis work, because that can be better handled by other agencies. President Donald Trump's statements about space exploration and travel seem to suggest that he will support the involvement of private businesses in this field, a trend that also increased during Barack Obama's presidency. According to The Daily Caller, the President's inaugural speech also lends credence to reports that Donald Trump discussed sending humans to Mars in a private meeting with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk earlier last week. A deadly storm that generated tornadoes hit the Southeast in the U.S. during the weekend. It took 19 lives and over 60 people injured. Damages also include ruined mobile homes, uprooted trees and other casualties. Communities from Mississippi to Georgia were the most affected. Meanwhile, the violent weather continually threatened till Sunday night the areas in South Carolina and north Florida. The National Weather Service stated that one woman was injured when two tornadoes hit South Carolina during the weekend, according to CBS News. Meanwhile, in South Georgia, a tornado destroyed a mobile home park last Sunday. It killed seven people and ruined half of its structures. It is also reported that another four people died in the same area and 23 people injured. Catherine Howden of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency said that the dead people were found in Cook, Brooks and Berrien counties in southern Georgia. She further said that the deaths were related to extreme weather but could not specify whether tornadoes were the cause, as noted by Fox News. There were other deaths reported in Georgia and several more injured. President Donald Trump stated during a White House ceremony that tornadoes were vicious and powerful and strong. He added that they suffered greatly and they will be helping the state of Georgia. Mr. Trump had spoken with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and gave his sincerest condolences for the family of the people whose lives were taken during the violent storm. Patrick Marsh from the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said that while the central part of the U.S. has a defined tornado season -- the spring -- the risk of tornadoes never really goes to zero for most of the year in the Southeast. He further said that the last time the prediction center issued a high-risk weather outlook was in 2014. He added that Sunday marked only the third time since 2000 that any part of Florida had been at a high risk for severe weather and it is a rare event in this area. MASON CITY | It's almost here. The first band of snow in a winter storm expected to dump up to a foot of snow in Mason City is expected to hit about 2:45 p.m. Meteorologist Rod Donovan said light snow should begin falling around 2:45 p.m. Heavier snow should move into Mason City between 3-3:30 p.m. "It's pretty intense when it arrives -- a quick inch, inch and a half," Donovan said. That amount could fall within about an hour, he said. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Update: North Iowa cities, school districts brace for snowstorm 10:30 a.m. Update MASON CITY | City officials and school districts began taking precautionary measures Tuesday in anticipation of a snow storm expected Tuesday afternoon and evening. At 10:30 a.m., Mason City officials announced the city's alternate side parking ordinance would be in effect at 4 p.m. until further notice. Several North Iowa school districts have announced early dismissals in order to get students home safely before a snowstorm capable of dumping more than 10 inches of snow in the region. Cancellations and postponements: * Algona Community School District -- high school kids and elementary students will be out at 12:15 p.m. Middle schoolers out at 12:30 p.m. They will get lunch first. No afternoon kindergartner, Bulldog preschool, afternoon activities or evening activities. * Area Education Agency 267 in Clear Lake -- Professional development planned for today is canceled. See instructor for rescheduling details. * Central Springs -- Dismissing at 2 p.m. Varsity basketball practices will be from 2-3 p.m. * Clarion-Goldfield-Dows -- Out at noon. * Clear Lake Community Schools -- High school basketball games against Algona postponed until Monday, Jan. 30. The middle school and high school wrestling meets are canceled. * Forest City Community Schools -- Elementary out at 12:30 p.m. Middle school and high school students out at 12:40 p.m. No evening activities. * Hampton-Dumont Schools -- Out at 2 p.m. There will be afternoon preschool. No afternoon activities. * Hancock County Health System Clinics (located in Britt, Garner, and Kanawha) - -- will be open at 10 a.m. Wednesday due to the storm. * Mason City Community Schools: Basketball games against Ankeny Centennial postponed until Feb. 6. Bowling games against Johnston moved to Jan. 31. The boys swim team's meet against Decorah will be held on Thursday. Seventh and eighth greade boy's basketball games against Austin Ellis are postponed to an undetermined date. The wrestling meet against Clear Lake has been canceled. * Northwood-Kensett Community Schools -- Elementary out at 2 p.m. Secondary students out at 2:10 p.m. No evening activities. * North Butler Schools --- Out an hour early. All preschool children will dismiss at 2 p.m. No evening activities. * Riceville Community Schools: Varsity basketball games against CAL postponed for a date to be determined. * West Fork Community School District -- Out at 2 p.m. No evening activities. * West Hancock -- Out an hour early. Evening activities and practices are postponed. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Weather: 10+ inches of snow possible in Mason City 9:15 a.m. Update MASON CITY | A storm moving into Mason City Tuesday afternoon could bring more snow than previously expected, forecasters say. The National Weather Service's local forecast for Mason City calls for 6 to 12 inches of snow in Mason City through Wednesday night. Forecasters say the city could receive an inch of snow during the day Tuesday, 4 to 8 inches Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning and another 1 to 3 inches during the day on Wednesday. However, forecasters expect a widespread 8 to 10 inches across northern Iowa. All of North Iowa is under a winter storm warning from 3 p.m. Tuesday through 6 p.m. Wednesday. Winds will increase over night with gusts up to 23 mph. They'll increase to near 30 mph on Wednesday, causing dangerous travel conditions. Check back at globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. Space technology has made immense progress in the past few years and it is not just limited to landing on the Moon. Space agencies and companies have and will try to explore other celestial objects including planets like Mars, Venus and Saturn and their moons. The most recent and groundbreaking concept of mining the Moon and nearby asteroids have raised the need of formulation of a set of laws, which need to be followed while planning and accomplishing such space activities, whose consequences both good and bad will affect the entire human population. Barack Obama, previous president of the United States, initiated and signed the SPACE Act in 2015, which legalized private property ownership of space resources and their utilization by American astronauts. However, similar laws have not been implemented in other countries, The Space Review reported. In such cases, government organizations and privatized companies need an expert or "space lawyer" who can look after the legal issue involved in future space launches. In addition, the space lawyer will also play a major role in contributing to the furtherance of space research and exploration activities by drawing the attention of the space agency towards recent developments and innovations in the space technology. Sireesh Pallikonda, space lawyer and facilitator for ISRO and the CEO of Marici Space, plays that role for Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO), Deccan Chronicle reported. Sireesh Pallikonda tried to explain the importance of such space laws by saying, "There is an outer space treaty on principles governing the activities of countries in the exploration and use of outer space, which includes space and other celestial bodies." Sireesh Pallikonda further explained by giving an example of a hypothetical incident in which two different countries have launched their satellites into the outer space. In case the satellites meet with any accident in the space, then its outcomes will not only affect those two nations. Rather, the debris generated will also affect the functioning and safety of other satellites, too. Sireesh Pallikonda added that, "In this scenario, the country that should be liable for all the damage is determined by space law. However, this is just one scenario; there are various other things that the law takes care of." New Zealand is now joining the ambitious space race just like the U.S., Russia and China. It will test launches in the coming months to send a rocket to the Moon. Peter Beck, who founded the Rocket Lab in 2006, said that they recently qualified the first stage of the vehicle. He further said that this was the last major technical milestone ahead of the first test flight. They are now completing various final checks and working through international licensing. Rocket Lab is in partnership with the United States Moon Express in agreement to send three rockets to the Moon as soon as 2017. The three test launches are scheduled for the coming months on the east coast of the North island between Napier and Gisborne. This will be followed by several commercial missions, according to NZ Herald. The financial investors of Rocket Lab are the Silicon Valley venture capitalists, Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 investment fund and Lockheed Martin. It received up to $25 million of government funding for five years. Rocket Lab also signed a Commercial Space Launch Act Agreement with NASA. The company could then utilize NASA resources including facilities, personnel and equipment for launch efforts, according to New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Meanwhile, Moon Express is a San Francisco-based company that focuses on building sustainable, full-service space exploration business. It aims to achieve the Google Lunar XPRIZE, which is a competition to land a privately funded spacecraft on the Moon. The company received a $1 million grant from Google earlier this year. With regard to the dates of the commercial launches, Beck said that they will announce the completion of the test flight program. Likewise, they will also make further announcements once the test flight phase is completed. Sharks were found off the coast of an electric power plant in Northern Israel lately, where waters are significantly warmer. Of course, due to their nature, local authorities warned people on Monday to keep away from the predators. This is especially considered after images of the sharks created a stir among divers, who are seeking to "ultimate thrill" of swimming with the great fishes. Middle East Eye noted that dozens of sandbar and dusky sharks, which can reach up to 10 feet long, are attracted to the waters of the Hadera plant, as the company uses seawater to cool their turbines, leaving the warmer water to get back to the sea. The Israeli Anture and Parks Authority, as well as the Israel diving Authority, issued a warning to protect not only the public but the sharks as well. Marine ecologist Ruth Yahel shared that it is a known fact that sharks prefer warm waters, although the reasons are unknown. Yahel shared, "You can see they're drawn to the warm water -- they enter its stream and perform a Rondo-like dance, fly out with the stream, circle around and do it again." Japan Times also noted that there had been a steady growth of the number of sharks seeking warmer spots off Israel's Mediterranean coast. A reason to their presence may also be explained by the abundance of preys in the area, as well as protection from parasites. Their presence could even be a meeting point for mating. However, these are mere theories. Yahel pointed out that the populations in the Mediterranean are actually in decline, leading to the impression that they are arriving in the Israeli coast more. They might as well stay. There have been no recorded incidents of these sharks attacking people, however -- at least, not in the last few decades. An experiment indicates that a dried slime also referred to as "biofilms" could help microbes survive in the salty waters on the planet Mars. The biofilms, when exposed to the salty waters of Mars, could live longer than single cells and even longer when they are dried out first. A biofilm is a group of microorganisms, wherein the cells stick to each other. The cells adhere to the surface and embedded within a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). Its extra polymeric substance is known as slime, in which its polymeric conglomeration comprises of extracellular DNA, proteins and polysaccharides. In the experiment that was led by Adam Stevens from the University of Edinburgh and other colleagues, they examined how the biofilms would react to the Martian waters. They put the biofilms in seven Mars-like brines that contained a range of chemical compositions and strengths. They discovered that all the biofilms lasted well for the past 5 hours of observation time in the weakest brines. As the waters become salty, they found that biofilms that were dried did much better than the regular biofilms. This difficult incident could prepare them to survive on Mars. Meanwhile, after 5 hours in the harshest brines or about 70 times saltier than the weakest one, all the microbes in the dried-out biofilms were dead. Likewise, the regular and hydrated biofilms in the harsher brines became worse, too. Their cells died within an hour. Some of them died in half an hour or less, according to New Scientist. Stevens said that this research provides them some information about what they could possibly look for if they do go and investigate these brines, which, on the flip side, they are saying maybe they should not. Meanwhile, Jennifer Macalady from Penn State University in University Park said that this is a kind of a call to pick up the baton of this area that they really need to understand as they launch into an era of space travel. Fake news has been quite spreading lately, especially on social media. This happening has inspired scientists to create a so-called "vaccine" to immunize people against this false news. In a report by BBC, a study from the University of Cambridge devised a psychological tool to combat this fake news problem. The researchers suggest to "pre-emptively exposing" readers to a small dose of the misinformation can help the organizations cancel out the bogus claims. The report shows that among the other fake news, the most concerned would be the stories regarding Syria and the U.S. election. Thus, the study lead author at the University of Cambridge, Dr. Sander van der Linden, said that "Misinformation can be sticky, spreading and replicating like a virus. The idea is to provide a cognitive repertoire that helps build up resistance to misinformation, so the next time people come across it, they are less susceptible." The study, that is published in the journal Global Challenges include more than 2,000 U.S. residents. They were presented with two claims regarding global warming. The researchers said, when they presented consecutively, the influence of the well-established facts had on people were canceled out by the bogus claims conducted by the campaigners. However, when the information combined with some misinformation, in a form of warning, the so-called fake news had less resonance. Dr. Sander van der Linden said that, "It's uncomfortable to think that misinformation is so potent in our society. A lot of people's attitude toward climate change aren't very firm. They are aware there is a debate going on but aren't necessarily sure what to believe. Conflicting messages can leave them feeling back at square one," according to Phys.org. Also, formulated stories that the Pope allegedly was backing Donald Trump and also his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton sold weapons to the so-called Islamic State group were read and spread by millions of Facebook users during the time of the U.S. election campaign. Meanwhile, the largest social media network had announced that the new features can help combat this so-called fake news stories. Thus, Google and Twitter had to make more effort to handle this issue. China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar mission aboard the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5 in November this year. The probe will reportedly be the first to collect samples from the Moon's surface and bring these back to Earth. According to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), there are a lot of firsts that will be associated with the upcoming lunar probe. The mission will be China's first automated Moon surface sampling, first Moon take-off, first unmanned docking in a lunar orbit about 3.80 lakh km from Earth and first return flight in a speed close to second cosmic velocity, as reported by the Deccan Chronicle. China aims to accomplish three strategic steps with the launch of Chang'e-5, namely, orbiting, landing and returning. One of the leading aerospace experts in China and consultants to the upcoming program, Ye Peijian, has said that the lunar probe that will weigh 8.2 tons will comprise of four parts. These will include an orbiter, returner, ascender and a lander, according to official broadcaster CCTV. After the Moon landing, the lander will put the lunar samples in a vessel inside the ascender, which will then take off from the Moon's surface for the orbiter and the returner orbiting the satellite. After the completion of the procedure, the orbiter and returner will head back to planet Earth. The orbiter will separate from the returner several thousands of kilometers from Earth. Only the latter will re-enter the planet. Meanwhile, CASC said that Chang'e-5's development has entered the end of its flight model phase. The associated work is progressing smoothly. Incidentally, China also wants to launch the Chang'e-4 lunar mission in 2018 and carry out the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon. The successful completion of the feat will make it the first achievement of its kind by humans. Additionally, the probe also wants to conduct in situ and roving detection and relay communications at Earth-Moon L2 point. SpaceX will be launching again for the EchoStar Corp. It will be riding on the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The private space company is planning to use its new launchpad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), after midnight on Jan. 30, 2017. The upcoming launch will be Elon Musk's SpaceX's first from NASA's historic Launch Complex 39. It is previously used by the Saturn V moon rockets and space shuttles. Back in 2014, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease with NASA, for the company to use the pad for the Falcon 9 and future Falcon Heavy rockets. The company has not said how much it has spent for the refurbishments, according to Long Room. According to a Space.com report, it takes fresh urgency for the company to get Launchpad 39A ready after the Falcon 9 rocket burst into flames on what had been the private space company's primary launchpad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). It is located just in the south of KSC in Florida's Space Coast. The accident last Sep. 1 destroyed the rocket and the Israeli communications satellites worth $200 million it was supposed to drop into orbit. Also, it caused heavy damage of the launchpad. Thus, SpaceX has not yet disclosed the repair costs. Despite the explosions, the company successfully returned flight last Jan. 14. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with 10 satellites for Iridium Communications Inc. During the mission, the first stage of the rocket also came down for a successful landing on a robotic "drone ship" that is stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for the U.S. commercial launches, has not yet issued a license for the EchoStar flight and a possible landing of the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage. A new study gives an explanation as to how the Earth was shaped into what it is now -- battle scars and all. Gizmodo reported that young Earth was apparently a victim of a series of space bullying. While other scientists believe that asteroids, now located within the asteroid belt, have hit the Earth along with its Moon and Mars, a new study pointed the failed planets as the culprit behind the huge craters these Solar System buddies have now. These sore losers must have taken their revenge for not growing into full-fledged planets. According to scientists David Nesvorny and William Bottke from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colorado, these groups of massive space debris collided with Earth, its Moon and Mars during the Late Heavy Bombardment. This study was presented at the 229th American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference earlier this month. Their observations on planet migration also led them to another conclusion. "We think the giant planets [Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune] may have started in a different configuration," Bottke said. "They did migrate to their current orbits...the question is, how precisely did that happen?" They theorized that these huge planets may have left some massive space trash during their migration. Larger than the asteroids in the asteroid belt, these space boulders may better explain the giant craters on Earth, its Moon and Mars. "We have evidence for two early-bombardment populations and a time difference between them -- a late one, plausibly made by escapees from the asteroid belt, and an early one from elsewhere," he said in an interview with Space.com. The researchers are also planning to conduct further studies on the time of the Late Heavy Bombardment, which they said preceded life on Earth. "Did life start and then get obliterated and then make a comeback?" Bottke wondered. "Or did it manage to survive this massive bombardment? How does bombardment effect our atmosphere and our biosphere?" GREENVILLE, S.C. Duke Energy is powering South Carolina with more than just electricity. Last year, the utility donated more than $2.8 million to nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Palmetto State grant recipients in 2016 included the Urban League of the Upstate, United Way of Pickens County, Piedmont Agency on Aging, The Felician Center, Anne Springs Close Greenway, Florence-Darlington Technical College, Chapman Cultural Center, along with dozens of others. Community and service are integrated into everything our company does, said Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, Duke Energys South Carolina president. Through the Duke Energy Foundation, we provide philanthropic support to address the needs of the communities where our customers live and work, and we look forward to continuing that legacy of charitable giving and employee volunteerism in 2017 and beyond. Duke Energys philanthropy helped fund projects such as STEM-focused after-school programs for at-risk and underserved children, technical college programs that are focused on breaking the cycle of poverty through education, environmental education programs in public schools, multiple library systems to provide summer reading programs and supporting cultural arts and arts-infused educational programs. The Duke Energy that we know is local, said Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of the Chapman Cultural Center. Our Duke Energy has been supporting the arts and sciences in Spartanburg for more than 30 years. Duke Energy has sponsored countless education programs and helped us put STEM and STEAM programs in every school in Spartanburg County. Duke Energy has always been a generous partner to Florence-Darlington Technical College said FDTC President Dr. Ben P. Dillard. They have been instrumental in providing a funding source for pipe welding and other STEM-related scholarships that make it possible for Pee Dee area students to obtain the kind of workforce training that leads to a secure career. The Duke Energy Foundation also proactively responded to the emergent needs of communities that arose in 2016, by giving $100,000 to the One SC Fund, Harvest Hope Food Bank and American Red Cross for relief after Hurricane Matthew, as well as $25,000 to the South Carolina State Firefighters Association in response to wildfires in the Upstate. The grants are administered through the Duke Energy Foundation, which provides philanthropic support to address the needs vital to the health of its communities, with a focus on K to Career educational and workforce development initiatives, the environment and community impact. The foundation annually funds more than $30 million to communities throughout Duke Energys seven-state service area. Additionally, Duke Energy South Carolina employees volunteered nearly 14,000 hours of community service last year through the Duke Energy in Action program. In 2016, Duke Energy employees rolled up their sleeves to help their neighbors throughout South Carolina, including revitalizing playgrounds for at-risk youth, supplying turkeys and helping to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for those in need, and organizing food and school supply drives, just to name a few. For additional information on Duke Energys community giving programs visit www.duke-energy.com/foundation. MASON CITY Much of North Iowa will be under a winter storm warning beginning at noon Tuesday and continuing through Wednesday evening. Four to seven inches of heavy wet snow is expected in Mason City, according to the National Weather Service. North Iowa could see accumulations as high as 9 inches. High winds and blowing snow are expected throughout the area. Visibility will be diminished with wind gusts between up to 30 miles per hour Tuesday afternoon and up to 35 miles per hour through the day Wednesday. The warning is in effect for noon Tuesday through 6 p.m. Wednesday. North Iowa counties under warning include Cerro Gordo, Worth, Winnebago, Kossuth, Butler, Wright, Hancock and Franklin counties. Check globegazette.com for updates on this developing story. On Jan. 6 the Morning News published an article by Joshua Lloyd: "Lawmakers: Schools need more funding, consolidation." Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said the conversation concerning the corridor of shame is more than two decades old, and the time for talk has passed. Sen. Tom Davis said the education funds are already there. They are just being poorly allocated and woefully mismanaged. Both of these statements are right on target. There are many reasons why public education is not very successful. The shortage of quality teachers in public education has always been a problem in our state, and it is becoming a problem throughout our country. There are several reasons for this shortage. Teachers want job satisfaction, decent pay and a decent working environment. And good ones want to teach. Until the state and the school boards provide these things, good teachers will only stay until they find jobs that do, such as industrial or private teaching or other school districts. Several things must be done to accomplish the items mentioned above. Get the federal government out of education. Politics has ruined public education. The "No Child Left Behind" program is a failure. It has been called the "Dumbing of America." Get rid of Common Core. One size does not fit all. "Progressives" talk about individuality but then establish programs that attempt to educate everyone the same way and to the same standard. Educating each child according to his individual talents is progress. Sixty years ago, educators understood this; of course, the federal government wasn't involved then. Create a proper learning environment. Remove disruptive students. Pay teachers a competitive wage. This includes teachers in poor and underpopulated areas. The Rural Teacher Recruiting Initiative is a joke. Since the state Supreme Court order in the Abbeville case, our state still has done absolutely nothing meaningful to address the issue. How many studies does our legislature need to determine that the state must permanently finance education in the corridor of shame if there is to be any improvement? These areas do not have the resources to fund education on their own. Get rid of teacher's administrative duties so they can devote their time to teaching. Get rid of school board members and administrators who use their position for their own gratification or to promote their own agendas. They are a detriment to retaining good teachers. Put the education money into materials required for education rather than into empire building. As Sen. Tom Davis said, "Pumping money into a broken system isn't the answer." The state superintendent of education is an elected position. That makes it a political position and deters the superintendent from doing necessary things that are unpopular. Make it a position appointed by the superintendents of the school districts who, hopefully, are people who know something about education. Get rid of the House Education and Public Works Committee and establish a House Education Committee. Will we put the education money where it belongs? Will we pay the price to get good teachers? Will we continue to waste taxpayer money on programs that won't work just to try to look good? Or will we just continue to blow smoke? LAWRENCE D. WEBER Quinby Believe it or not, there was a time in this country when a nurse was not required to have any schooling. A nurse could be a well-meaning soul looking for a job or a convicted female criminal working off her time in a hospital. During the 1860s, a nurse received about six months of education. The demand for educated nurses grew. By 1920, the first nursing doctoral degree was available through a major U.S.. university. At this point in early U.S. history, nurses were employed by hospitals, making house calls on horseback with the Frontier Nursing Service, serving in military hospitals and establishing community health centers to care for the community ill. Nursing leaders saw the need for well-educated nurses to lead the profession. Doctoral programs spread throughout the U.S. Now there are doctoral nursing programs in all 50 states. In the 1980s, USC established a nursing doctoral program for South Carolina. The first doctoral-prepared nurses became educators and researchers. Nursing, like all health professions, evolved. Today nurses with doctoral degrees can be nurse administrators, educators, researchers and advance practice nurses. Midwives, nurse anesthetists and nurse practitioners are considered advance practice nurses. In 2016, FMU announced plans to create a doctor of nursing practice program as a part of its existing nursing program. Multiple research studies show that patient care improves as nursing education increases. Congratulations to FMU for its contribution to South Carolina by preparing a well-educated nursing workforce. ANITA CURL, DNP RN CS Florence MARION, S.C.-- Congressman Tom Rice, R-SC, announced Tuesday that $52 million of South Carolinas $65 million allocation in relief aid has been secured for Marion County to help recover from Hurricane Matthew damages and subsequent flooding in October. The vast majority of the Seventh District suffered damages from Hurricane Matthew, Rice said in a press release. The Housing and Urban Development Department has deemed Marion County as the most impacted and distressed area of South Carolina, qualifying 80 percent of the states allocation to the county. During my district tours after the storm, I saw entire towns underwater many that do not have the resources needed to fully rebuild. Rice said although other areas of South Carolinas 7th Congressional District have significant needs, the funding is critical to helping Marion County residents rebuild and get their lives back to normal. According to the release, Congressman Rice and his staff worked with members of the House Appropriations Committee to secure storm recovery funding in the Continuing Resolution for 2017 that was passed on December 8, 2016. Marion County Administration Tim Harper said he was encouraged by Congress seeing the need for Marion County and looks forward to learning more details about the allocation. Were encouraged by the support and look forward to working with officials to determine how this will be used for recovery, he said. Harper said he was thankful for the support from representatives on the federal level. MASON CITY | An Indianola woman facing felony meth charges will spend 60 days in jail after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. Bethany Karnes, 26, was sentenced Monday to 365 days in jail with all but 60 days suspended for misdemeanor methamphetamine possession. She was initially charged with felony possession of meth with intent to deliver after a Mason City traffic stop. She was put on probation for one year and fined $315. Karnes pleaded guilty last month. A felony charge of failure to affix a drug tax stamp and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of a prescription drug are to be dismissed. Karnes was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Jacob Ganseveld, 24, Klemme, that was stopped Oct. 10 at the intersection of 14th Street Southeast and South Delaware Avenue. More than 7 grams of ice methamphetamine was found in the vehicle, and Karnes also had a bottle with three Latuda pills in her purse, according to criminal complaints. Ganseveld has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of intent to manufacture/deliver under 5 grams of meth and will be sentenced Feb. 27. Mary Pieper In 1976, 10 presidential terms ago, an adviser to then-President-elect Jimmy Carter told him he should keep campaigning forever, even after his inauguration. "Governing with public approval requires a continuing political campaign," Patrick Caddell told Carter. The doctrine became known as "the permanent campaign," and every president since has followed it. President Trump has now extended the principle even further than his predecessors: He seems to think "permanent" means "constant." Most new presidents use their inauguration to move forward, appeal to opponents for a joint effort at unity, and set some clear goals for the next four years. Not Trump. He's still stumping. After stretching his campaign past Election Day with a series of raucous victory rallies, he gave an inaugural address on Friday that replicated, in only slightly more elevated language, the pitch that helped him win the presidency. His speech reprised all the themes that built a successful insurgency among mostly white, mostly middle class voters. He didn't say or do much, if anything, to try to expand his coalition. There was no explicit outreach to the majority of voters who didn't choose him in November. Most important, he didn't signal how he plans to get anything done. That's a problem. A permanent campaign can help a president bolster his base of support, but it's not enough to enable him to achieve his goals. And Trump has promised the world. "America will start winning again, winning like never before," he said Friday. "We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. ... We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work." He also said he'd rid the country of crime, gangs and drugs: "This American carnage stops right here ... right now." As for the threat of Islamic terrorism, he vowed to "eradicate (it) completely from the face of the earth." Ask Trump voters what they want him to do, as I have since the election, and they often begin with: "Keep his promises." "I want him to improve the economy, bring back jobs," Matthew Szramoski of Lorton, Virginia, told me as he waited on the Washington Mall for the inaugural ceremony Friday morning. "Do something about illegal immigration, build a wall." "Health care," added a woman who didn't want to give her name. "He's promised to fix health care." Some of Trump's pledges are simply unrealistic. He's not going to eliminate crime or drugs. He might succeed in suppressing Islamic terrorism (although he hasn't spelled out a strategy), but he's unlikely to "eradicate" it. Even his top ambition of bringing back jobs -- especially in manufacturing, steel and coal-mining -- will be difficult. His economic program, outlined without much detail on his new White House website, relies on tax cuts (especially for the wealthy), deregulation (especially for coal and other energy industries) and renegotiated trade agreements. It's not clear, however, that higher trade barriers will do much to increase manufacturing employment, which economists say has fallen mostly because of automation. And there's nothing at all on the website about Trump's vaunted infrastructure program -- perhaps because there's a divide in his administration on how to pay for it. Trump's economic advises have proposed a modest plan that would use tax credits to subsidize for-profit toll roads and bridges; adviser Stephen K. Bannon, who helped write the inaugural address, has called for something bigger, broader and more expensive. That divide between traditional Republicans and populists could get in the way of fulfilling some of Trump's other promises, too. Trump says he wants to replace President Obama's health-care plan with a system that covers at least as many people at lower cost; most conservatives don't want to spend the money that would require. Trump says he wants to protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts; conservatives are eager to trim those entitlements. "Now arrives the hour of action," Trump said. "Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. ... We will not fail." The new president will continue to campaign because that's what he knows how to do, and he's good at it. But at some point he needs to deliver. Just ask Jimmy Carter. The company, which is part of the Maersk Group, has added two new Brazilian-flag tugs for operations at the Paranagua Port in January 2017, strengthening Svitzers position in the south of the country where it already operates at Sao Francisco do Sul and Itapoa. Additionally, Svitzer is building four new tugs at Inace shipyard in Fortaleza and expects delivery in the second half of 2017. This means Svitzer will have 10 Brazilian-flag ships in operation by year-end. Recently, Svitzer started operations in Argentina with nine tugs, assigning there some of the foreign-flag ships originally brought to Brazil in 2015. On top of this, Svitzer that also operates a PSV in Brazil, has appointed Rutger Thulin to head operations. Thulin is the former cfo for Svitzer in Europe, where Svitzer operates 110 tugs. Thulin explains why Svitzer increases its presence in Brazil even at the height of difficult times for the Brazilian shipping market: There is strong demand for a provider that offers world-class services, best practices, reliability and punctuality in Brazil, and this is especially important for our portfolio of global and local clients. Paranagua is part of our growth strategy and strengthens our position in the south of Brazil as we continue to invest in Brazilian flag ships. The new Paranagua vessels - 77 and 75 TBP tugs are of Robert Allan design and were built at the Cheoy Lee Shipyard. HOUSTON, Jan. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Targa Resources Corp. (NYSE:TRGP) ("Targa" or the "Company") announced today that representatives from the Company will participate in the U.S. Capital Advisors Midstream Corporate Access Day on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 in Houston. Targa has posted a new presentation for the conference that can be accessed through the Events and Presentations section of the Companys website at www.targaresources.com. About Targa Resources Corp. Targa Resources Corp. is a leading provider of midstream services and is one of the largest independent midstream energy companies in North America. Targa owns, operates, acquires, and develops a diversified portfolio of complementary midstream energy assets. The Company is primarily engaged in the business of: gathering, compressing, treating, processing, and selling natural gas; storing, fractionating, treating, transporting, and selling NGLs and NGL products, including services to LPG exporters; gathering, storing, and terminaling crude oil; storing, terminaling, and selling refined petroleum products. The principal executive offices of Targa are located at 1000 Louisiana, Suite 4300, Houston, TX 77002 and their telephone number is 713-584-1000. For more information please go to www.targaresources.com. Contact investor relations by phone at (713) 584-1133. Jennifer Kneale Vice President - Finance Matthew Meloy Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Last years throughput rose by 2.7% from the 19.46m teu recorded in 2015, figures from BPA showed. The port authority, however, is anticipating transhipment cargoes in 2017 to drop by 3% year-on-year due to cargo losses from the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping and a reshuffling of container carrier alliances from this year. BPA said it will continue to bolster its marketing efforts to increase cargo volumes and new services in order to attract volumes from regions with growth potential including Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East. Earlier this year, BPA said it secured a 2017 budget of KRW670.2bn ($564.3m), which will go toward port construction, the Busan North Port development and investment, port facility maintenance, and incentives such as attracting transhipment cargoes. The group said in a stock market announcement that it is expected to record a substantial decrease in net profit compared to the previous corresponding period. Profit is expected to be either flat or come in at RMB9987.0m ($144m) at most, resulting in a drop of 50% to 100% from RMB1.97bn in 2015. CIMC blamed weak economic conditions and impairments from the failed SOE deal for the poor performance. "In 2016, the international trade was shrinking; the economic growth of China continued to slow down with sluggish exports and increased volatilities in the RMB exchange rate. The market downturn had different degree of impact on each of the groups principal businesses. In particular, affected by the depressing global container-transportation trade, the imbalance of demand and supply in the market and other factors, the sales volume and operating income of our container business recorded substantial decline as compared with those for the corresponding period of the previous year, which resulted in declining profitability of the group," CIMC said. Meanwhile its CIMC Enric Holdings unit made a provision for impairment of about RMB1.21bn for the paid/provided amount of consideration, consideration pre-paid, loans and guarantee in its 2016 half-yearly report due to the failed deal. CIMC added that it expected a relatively large amount of provision for impairment will have to be made to the full-year figures which will ultimately affect net profits. Singapore-listed Uni-Asia has entered into an implementation agreement with NewCo Group, a new investment holding firm incorporated in January 2017 with no business operations, for it to acquire all existing issued ordinary shares of par value of $1.60 each held by shareholders. Upon completion of the proposed restructuring, Uni-Asia will become wholly-owned by NewCo and relinquish its status as a listed company on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). NewCo will instead be listed and traded on SGX. The company will cease its function as the listed vehicle within the NewCo Group and continue as the investment holding and operational company carrying out its existing businesses, Uni-Asia announced. Apart from dry bulk shipping, Uni-Asia has businesses in property investment and management, and hotel operations. Uni-Asia also pointed out that by having NewCo as the listed entity on SGX, it will ring-fence the listed entity from NewCos operating entities and direct operational risks including possible claims and litigation. The proposed restructuring also seeks to achieve ease and flexibility for NewCo to acquire new businesses, as well as expand or divest existing business segments when opportunities arise. It is purely an internal restructuring exercise undertaken by the company and NewCo to enable a transfer of the shareholding interests of the scheme shareholders in the company to shareholding interests in NewCo, Uni-Asia explained. In an update on its website, Yang Ming said the recapitalisation plan will result in a larger percentage of government owned and controlled interest, beyond the current approximate 33.3% held by the ministry of transportation and communications. At a shareholders meeting held on 22 December 2016, shareholders voted to approve a share consolidation plan. This move was designed to pare down accumulated loss. Additionally, it was announced at the meeting that Yang Ming would receive injection of fresh capital from new investors, Yang Ming stated. The first stage of this injection of capital will be from various government and private entities, including banks and financial institutions. Yang Ming will issue new stock to these investors, and with the new capital Yang Ming expects immediate benefits to its balance sheets. With this strong showing of government support, it is also expected to help enhance additional private sector investment in Yang Ming. The help for Yang Ming followed the announcement of the Taiwanese governments assistance program for the countrys shipping industry. While the predictions for 2017 appear to show some improvements for carriers, Yang Ming remains prepared to take any measure necessary to maintain its competitiveness, without sacrificing its dedication to its customers, Yang Ming said. Yang Ming will continue to take a conservative approach in its actions, but Yang Ming is fully aware of and prepared to exercise on its option to draw on the $1.9bn in government-backed funding should circumstances in the market arise requiring for such assistance. The container line further assured customers and vendors that the company is not in default of any obligations and any suggestions otherwise are patently false. The company added that it has never approached its creditors with any demands to restructure any part of its debt, and does not have any intentions to do so going forward. NORCROSS, Ga., Jan. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) today announced that it will host a conference call to discuss its fiscal 2017 first quarter results, as well as a strategic announcement on Tuesday, January 24, at 8:30 am EST. This will replace WestRocks first quarter earnings conference call, previously scheduled for Thursday, January 26, 2017. The webcast of the call, along with a presentation, press release and other relevant financial and statistical information, will be accessible on the Investors section of WestRock's website at westrock.com. The webcast and presentation will also be archived on westrock.com. Investors who wish to participate in the webcast via teleconference should dial 877-201-0168 (inside the U.S.) or 647-788-4901 (outside the U.S.) at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call and enter the passcode 56989237. About WestRock WestRock (NYSE:WRK) partners with our customers to provide differentiated paper and packaging solutions that help them win in the marketplace. WestRocks 39,000 team members support customers around the world from more than 250 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Learn more at www.westrock.com. CONTACT: WestRock Investors: Matt Tractenberg, 470-328-6327 Vice President, Head of Investor Relations matt.tractenberg@westrock.com John Stakel, 678-291-7901 Senior Vice President - Treasurer john.stakel@westrock.com Media: Chris Augustine, 470-328-6305 Director, Corporate Communications mediainquiries@westrock.com A drinking game could prove costly for a UK man after he swallowed a goldfish on a dare and now may see jail time for it. In an office above a Devon pub in March 2016, the Guardian reports, Daniel Challis, 24, accepted a dare to swallow a goldfish and his friend, Cheryl Stevens, posted video of the challenge to Facebook. Challis and Stevens have since been convicted of bringing unnecessary suffering to the animal. Challis was participating in an online game called neknominate, in which people field extreme drinking challenges and then nominate friends on Facebook to follow suit. When the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) learned of the video, after social media users flagged it, the organization kicked off an investigation. Challis and Stevens testified that the fish was dead before it was swallowed, but UK magistrates disagreed, after viewing the video Stevens had posted online. RELATED: George the Goldfish Recovering from Tumor Surgery Veterinarian David Martin testified before the court that the fish would have experienced suffering and that it was clearly alive before it was swallowed, based on movements it made in trying to avoid being picked up. Challis and Stevens, while guilty on the count of causing suffering, were found not guilty of failing in their duty to protect the fish, the Torquay Herald Express reported. The pair will be sentenced on February 3 and were told they could face jail time. WATCH VIDEO: Monster Goldfish Invade Lake Tahoe A substantial part of the day in biophysicist and RNA folding expert Alan Chen's lab is consumed by combing through research journals to ensure that he and his team are aware of new studies pertinent to their field. Such drudgery is typical of many laboratories. "Right now, literally, most labs split up all the major journals, two to three per student, and we each spend 30 minutes a day wading through hundreds of articles to see if anything relevant comes out every day," said Chen, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University at Albany in New York. "It's super tedious." A newly announced plan could help ease that task and enable thousands of researchers around the world to find research connected to their studies efficiently and for free. Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan's $45 billion charitable company announced plans this week to acquire the Toronto-based company Meta, an AI-powered search engine that is tailor-made for scientists. The startup was founded in 2010, charging users for subscriptions and custom-made products. Now the product will be made fully accessible for free to anyone who signs up. RELATED: Now You Can Mine Two Million Hours of Network News The idea is to link up research with common themes, citations and goals, according to Sam Molyneux, a geneticist who co-founded the company with his sister, Amy Molyneux, a web developer. More than 4,000 scientific papers are published each day in biomedicine alone, he noted. "Using current tools, most will not be read by other scientists who can learn from them," Molyneux said in a statement announcing the acquisition. "Scientists lack the means to make sense of the vast amount of research being produced around the world. To speed up progress, researchers need to be able to learn from each other's insights in real time." India's Irula people, who catch snakes for a living in their native country, are coming to the aid of Florida wildlife officials in their battle against invasive Burmese pythons in the Sunshine State. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), in their first week members of the tribe have already captured 13 pythons. Of those, four were removed from the Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge on North Key Largo, including a 16-foot female. "It is outstanding that they have been able to remove pythons from Key Largo," said University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences biologist Frank Mazzotti, who is working with the Irula tribe members in South Florida, in a statement. "And to get four pythons, including a 16-foot female, is just incredible." The early results might not be too surprising. The Irula, who live in the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, are known for their snake-catching prowess in rural India, where the skills to spot and carefully remove snakes from an area are handed down from parents to children. The skills are welcome in their country. Tens of thousands of people die from snake bites each year in India, and more than a dozen deadly snake species live there, among them the common cobra and the Russell's viper. Burmese pythons, native to Southeast Asia, somehow ended up in the Florida Everglades in the 1980s and have been a problem ever since. Apart from alligators and people, the adult pythons with the capacity to grow to 16 feet and longer - don't face many predators and will themselves prey on a wide variety of animals. Wherever raccoons, foxes, rabbits and other mammals suddenly become scarce, that's where the pythons have been found settling in. British researchers have identified a unique deviant burial of a skeleton with a stone in place of the tongue. The body part had apparently been cut off and replaced with a flat stone wedged into the mouth. Belonging to a male individual in his 30's, the 1,700-year-old skeleton was found in 1991 at a cemetery in Stanwick, in Northamptonshire, UK. "When we dug it up we realized he had a stone in the mouth, so we lifted the skull in a block of soil. Only now we had the opportunity to study the remains in a laboratory and in controlled conditions," Simon Mays, human skeletal biologist at Historic England, told Seeker. The skeleton dates to the 3rd or 4th century A.D., when England was part of the Roman empire. The man was interred face down - a position found in many deviant burials. The custom was used across societies to humiliate the dead. In most cases, prone burials were linked to the belief that the soul left the body through the mouth. Burying the dead face-down was a way to prevent the impure soul from escaping and then threatening the living. RELATED: Headless Skeletons Found in 2,500-Year-Old Burial According to Caroline Ahlstrom Arcini, author of the first global study on facedown burials, such burials are not as rare as it may seem and have occurred across the word from 26,000 years ago up to the early 20th century. In her 2009 survey, Arcini recorded at least 600 bodies who had suffered the indignity of a facedown burial from 215 grave sites. Such data suggests the phenomenon is "a conscious act, a deep-seated form of human behavior occurring in all cultures and religions," Arcini said. "There is a clear pattern indicating that prone burials were used for those who were different," she wrote. Facedown burials have been found in England in late Roman and early Saxon cemeteries. Yet, according to the researchers, the skeleton from Stanwick is pretty unique. "We couldn't find anything similar in the archaeological record. The closest we could get is the case of two skeletons from the same period and a different part of England which were found with nails into the mouth," Mays said. The same cemetery that held the skeleton with the stone in place of the tongue featured other deviant burials. "We found decapitated skeletons whose heads were replaced by stones and pots," Mays said. President Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday advancing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, breathing new life into projects that were halted by the Obama administration and vehemently opposed by environmental and Native American groups. Trump said that the U.S. would renegotiate both pipelines, which were stopped by the Obama administration because of their effects on the environment and climate. In taking the action, Trump fulfilled a pledge he made to voters on the campaign trail. "This is with regard to the construction of the Keystone pipeline, something that's been in dispute and it's subject to renegotiation by us," Trump said Tuesday as he signed the executive orders. "We're going to renegotiate some of the terms and if they'd like, we'll see if we can get that pipeline built." If built, the Keystone XL Pipeline would carry crude oil from the oil sands of Alberta and the oil fields of North Dakota to refineries in Texas. It was proposed nearly a decade ago by the Canadian energy company TransCanada. The Obama administration declined to permit Keystone XL in 2015 because it would not substantially contribute to the U.S. economy and did not align with U.S. climate policy, which at the time called for cutting U.S. carbon emissions to keep global warming below levels scientists consider dangers - 2C (3.6F). RELATED: Canada's Oil Sands Industry May Go Bust The Canadian oil sands are among the continent's worst climate polluters, dumping at least 17 percent more carbon emissions into the atmosphere than conventional oil. Oil sands are among the dirtiest fossil fuels on Earth. They're a thick, clay-like substance laden with a hydrocarbon called bitumen that has to be strip mined. Refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast are best outfitted to process oil sands crude. The Dakota Access Pipeline, a nearly-complete oil pipeline that would send crude from the shale oil fields of North Dakota to refineries in Texas, incited protests among members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe last year at a construction site in North Dakota. The tribe opposed the pipeline primarily because of its environmental impact and potential damage it would do to nearby cultural sites. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under the Obama administration stopped the project in December to study an alternative route for the pipeline. Trump, who has falsely claimed that climate change is a hoax, told a group of auto executives on Tuesday that "environmentalism is out of control." He has scoffed at controls on carbon emissions and pledged during his campaign to order the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to be built. "It should not be a surprise that the Trump administration would reopen Keystone XL pipeline permit application process, as the president repeatedly pledged to do so during the campaign," said Robert Stavins, director of the Environmental Economics Program at Harvard University. "As for the consequences of the Keystone XL pipeline itself, it should be acknowledged that - despite what the Trump administration will likely claim - the positive effects on U.S. employment will be exceptionally small during the construction phase and trivial to non-existent after that." Stavins said there may be benefits to restarting Keystone XL, however, including maintaining good relations with Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he supports the pipeline. Michael Wara, a professor of energy and environmental law at Stanford University, said the Keystone XL Pipeline has become much less important for oil sands producers since oil prices fell in 2014. "Oil sands projects are being put on hold or cancelled," Wara said. "So it's much less clear that the project proponents would move ahead even if it were approved." RELATED: Wildfires Disrupt Oil Sands, Exposing Climate Risk The Dakota Access Pipeline order, however, is different because it will displace oil tanker trains that are carrying North Dakota oil to refineries, he said. Trains are more expensive and hazardous for oil shipping than pipelines, making Dakota Access a more economical option for energy companies. Warren Mabee, Canada Research Chair in Renewable Energy at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, said Trump's order would mean TransCanada could restart Keystone XL fairly quickly because much of the pipeline has already been built. Mabee said environmental groups and Native American and First Nations groups who live along the Keystone XL route will see Trump's order as a battle cry, opening it up to possible protests and legal action. Rob Jackson, a professor of earth system science at Stanford University, said he is not surprised that Trump is reviving the Keystone XL. "You can view this decision through different lenses," Jackson said. "Transporting oil by pipeline is safer than by truck and rail. However, completing the Keystone pipeline makes it more likely that dirtier tar sands oil reaches the market, and at cheaper cost." Photo: President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House on Jan. 24, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque WATCH: The Keystone XL Pipeline Debate Explained FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Southampton, Pa., USA, January 24, 2017 - Environmental Tectonics Corporation's ("ETC" or the "Company") Simulation business unit, located in Orlando, FL, has been awarded a contract from the Netherlands Defense Materiel Organization for the delivery and support of multiple Advanced Disaster Management Simulators (ADMS(TM)). The simulators will be used to educate, assess, and train fire and rescue services personnel from the Royal Netherlands Air Force. The portable ADMS-Airbase virtual reality training systems will be delivered to the Fire Academy of the Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF) at Woensdrecht Air Force Base, and from there deployed by mobile training teams to provide on-site training to all other bases and facilities in the Netherlands. The training system includes RNLAF vehicles with crews, a variety of aircraft and helicopter incidents such as a F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter), F-16, Pilatus PC-7, KDC-10 Tanker, Hercules C-130, Apache AH-64D, Chinook CH-47F, and NH-90; including emergencies during take-off and landing. Other scenarios include road traffic accidents, hazmat situations, wildland, and structural fires. The included military airbase comes with hangars, aircraft shelters, support facilities, ammunition storage, residential areas, and runways. The system features ETC's Signature Simulation Technology including the Scenario Generator with SmartModel(TM) library, for rapid scenario creation. "We have been using ADMS successfully for several years now and are very happy that a new contract is awarded to ETC. ADMS simulation fits very well in our vision to provide blended learning to our fire and rescue personnel." said Captain Van Laar, Chief of the RNLAF Fire Academy, "With the virtual reality simulator we are able to offer incident scenarios that cannot be practiced live due to safety, facility, and environmental limitations, and it saves us time and money because we do not need to call in extra vehicles with crews. We will also go to our bases for on-site training." About ADMS ADMS(TM) is a high-fidelity Virtual Reality Simulation Training Platform that comprises multiple products including Incident Command training from technical to strategic level (ADMS-Command), emergency response and force protection specific to a military environment (ADMS-Airbase), firefighting techniques and tactics (ADMS-Fire), driver training and vehicle operation (ADMS-ARFF and ADMS-Drive) and multiple level police coordination for crowd management and riot control (ADMS-Control). ETC's signature True Simulation Technology blends physics-based simulation, embedded artificial intelligence, accurate animations, photo-realistic graphics, ambient sounds, vehicle controls, and motion platforms to totally immerse trainees in the exercise. ADMS enables first responders and emergency managers to prepare at all levels of response in a safe, economical and environmentally-conscious way. About ETC Simulation ETC Simulation (www.ETCsimulation.com), located in Orlando, FL, specializes in virtual reality emergency response and disaster management training systems. Their hallmark product, ADMS(TM), is a proven tool for training emergency management personnel at all levels, with more than one million successful training hours completed globally. About ETC ETC (OTC Pink: ETCC) designs, manufactures and sells software driven products and services used to recreate and monitor the physiological effects of motion on humans and equipment and to control, modify, simulate and measure environmental conditions. These products include aircrew training systems (aeromedical, tactical combat and general), disaster management systems, sterilizers (steam and gas), environmental testing products and hyperbaric chambers and other products and services that involve similar manufacturing techniques and engineering technologies. ETC's unique ability to offer complete systems, designed and produced to high technical standards, sets it apart from its competition. ETC is headquartered in Southampton, PA. For more information about ETC, visit www.etcusa.com. Forward-looking statements This news release contains forward-looking statements, which are based on management's expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in circumstances. Words and expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements, and these statements may include terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "future", "predict", "potential", "intend", or "continue", and similar expressions. We base our forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events or future financial performance. Our forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions about ETC and its subsidiaries that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results implied by these forward-looking statements. We caution you not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. 1) Giant gravity wave The latest weird cloud formation seen on Venus was spotted by the Japanese Akatsuki spacecraft. Recent research describes this formation as an "enormous bow-shaped bright region" that is 10,000 km (6,213 miles) long. It doesn't move with the rest of the clouds, but hovers over mountains on the planet's surface. "The authors suggest that the bright region ... is the result of a gravity wave generated in the lower atmosphere as it flows over mountain topography - a phenomenon similar to when air passes over mountains on Earth," the researchers said. (Gravity waves are different than gravitational waves; the latter describe ripples in space-time.) 2) Glories In 2014, scientists using the European Space Agency's Venus Express noted a strange feature known as a "glory", based on pictures taken three years beforehand. The image you see here is the first time a glory, described as a "rainbow-like feature," was ever captured on another planet. "A glory requires two characteristics: the cloud particles are spherical, and therefore most likely liquid droplets, and they are all of a similar size," ESA wrote in a statement. "The atmosphere of Venus is thought to contain droplets rich in sulfuric acid. By imaging the clouds with the sun directly behind the Venus Express spacecraft, scientists hoped to spot a glory in order to determine important characteristics of the cloud droplets." 3) The Y shape In ultraviolet wavelengths, a strange Y shape covers most of the planet and baffled astronomers for more than half a century. At first astronomers thought it was simply clouds in the wind, but observations with the Mariner 10 mission in 1973 showed that the Y was moving independently of the surrounding environment. A 2015 study suggests that the wave happens due to centrifugal forces, which move stuff away from a rotating body's center of rotation. But other mysteries abounded. For example, astronomers tracked the movement of the Y using unknown compounds that absorb ultraviolet radiation. 4) Life in the clouds? Could the dark streaks in the clouds actually be microbial life? It's admittedly a far-out idea, but that's one answer scientists are considering when looking at Venus' environment. The United States and Russia are working together on a proposal called Venera-D that would deploy an orbiter and a lander to Venus around the year 2025. It would be the first time anybody has gone to the surface of Venus since the 1980s, when the Soviet Union sent the Venera spacecraft to its surface. A recent NASA astrobiology article cautions there could be other explanations: "It could be particulate matter mixed into the clouds, or a substance that has been dissolved by the droplets of sulfuric acid, or perhaps crystalline in nature, like ice," read the article by Keith Cooper. "Iron chloride has been proposed, but there is no confirmed mechanism that could loft particles of iron chloride 50 to 60 kilometers above the surface, particularly as winds near the surface only blow weakly through the dense lower atmosphere." 5) Close link between surface and atmosphere Admittedly, Venus is tough to observe because the thick clouds completely obscure the planet below. That said, scientists are coming to understand that by looking at the atmosphere, we can get a sense of what the surface environment is like. Observations from Venus Express between 2006 and 2012 showed that winds, water content and cloud composition were connected to the surface. One example takes place over the Aphrodite Terra mountains, where water-rich air (from lower in the atmosphere) moves over the mountains in a process nicknamed the "fountain of Aphrodite." The scientists also found that water and ultraviolet-dark material in the clouds are more pronounced in certain areas above the equator. WATCH VIDEO: There Could Have Been Life On Venus! Press Release January 24, 2017 Bam sponsors free tuition in SUCs bill, eyes more college graduates To unlock the door to a brighter future for more Filipinos, Sen. Bam Aquino urged colleagues to provide free tuition fees in state college and universities (SUCs). "I believe it's high time we invest boldly on education, especially now that we have the means and resources to make this happen," said Sen. Bam, chairman of the Committee on Education, in his sponsorship speech for Senate Bill No. 1304 or the "Free Higher Education for All Act". Sen. Bam's Senate Bill No. 177 was consolidated in Senate Bill No. 1304 together with other similar measures, which seek to provide free tuition fee to all students in SUCs. In his speech, Sen. Bam expressed hope that institutionalization of free tuition in SUCs will lead to more college graduates. Based on data, only one of four students in SUCs will earn a degree while the rest will drop out. The number one reason for drop outs is financial issues or poverty. "Our proposed measure seeks to improve access to higher education and empower more Filipinos with the promise of a college diploma," Sen. Bam stressed. At present, the senator said about 1,645,566 students are enrolled in different SUCs, where the average weighted annual tuition is P9,407. If passed, Sen. Bam said the government will shell out around P16 billion every year to subsidize tuition fees in SUCs. On top of the free tuition in SUCs, Sen. Bam also assured private stakeholders that the government will also strengthen its Student Financial Assistance Program or StuFAP. At present, 19 StuFAPs are lodged in different government agencies such as the Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Department of National Defense (DND). These programs include scholarships, grants-in-aid, student loans, subsidies and incentives that cover other educational expenses and the living allowance incurred by students pursuing higher education. With the proposed measure and other policies and laws, such as the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, StuFAP through UNIFAST, and scholarships lodged in CHED, DOST and DND, Sen. Bam is confident that more Filipinos will be empowered by a college degree. In addition to the free tuition in SUCs, Sen. Bam also filed several education-related measures -- Senate Bill No. 1278 or Trabaho Centers in Schools Act and Senate Bill No 171 or the Abot Alam Bill. Senate Bill No. 1279 is now being tackled in the plenary. "Isa lang po ito sa inaalay naming reporma sa hanay ng edukasyon. Marami pa po tayong ibang kailangang i-trabaho at gawin upang tunay na umasenso ang buhay ng bawat Pilipino," Sen. Bam pointed out. Press Release January 24, 2017 Sponsorship Speech: An Act Providing Full Tuition Subsidy for Students Enrolled in SUCs SENATE BILL NO. 1304 UNDER COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 28 AN ACT PROVIDING FOR A FULL TUITION FEE SUBSIDY FOR STUDENTS ENROLLED IN STATE UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES (SUCs), AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREOF OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "FREE HIGHER EDUCATION FOR ALL ACT" Senator Paolo Benigno "Bam" A. Aquino IV 17th Congress, Senate of the Philippines Sponsorship Speech, January 24, 2016 Good afternoon, Mr. President and esteemed colleagues! Mga kaibigan at mga kababayan, magandang hapon sa ating lahat. Today, I am privileged to address you to sponsor a measure that can help make the dream and promise of a college degree a reality for a number of Filipinos and their families. This measure has received tremendous support from our colleagues, from the public and especially our youth, the students. I stand before you to sponsor Senate Bill No. 1304, entitled "An Act Providing for a Full Tuition Fee Subsidy for Students Enrolled in State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) and Appropriating Funds Thereof", otherwise known as the "Free Higher Education For All Act", which seeks to subsidize tuition fees in all our SUCs. Mr. President, simply put, kapag naisabatas na po ang batas na ito, magiging libre na ang tuition fee sa ating SUCs! Ang batas po na ito ay para sa mga kabataang Pilipino na nagsusumikap upang makapagpatapos ng kanilang kolehiyo, at para na rin po sa kanilang mga magulang na nagtatrabaho upang mabayaran ang gastos sa pag-aaral. Mr. President, let's imagine the lives of four students ready and eager to earn a college degree in a state university and college. Let's imagine the lives of Liza, Kathy, Norman, and Trisha. All four of them have graduated from Grade 12 and now have the opportunity to study in an SUC! Perhaps Liza dreams of graduating and earning a degree so she can work as a manager in a 5-star hotel all the way in Singapore! Kathy is hopeful that becoming an engineer will provide her with higher pay so she can contribute to her family's monthly expenses. Norman is determined to graduate so he can find a challenging and profitable job in media to help put his sister through elementary school. And Trisha is studying hard so she can become a public school teacher and help shape the next generation of Filipinos. Mr. President, the key to all four of these dreams is to graduate from a college or university. But sadly, Mr. President and honored colleagues, most likely only one out of the four will earn a degree. And the number one reason for students dropping out of a Higher Education Institution? That number one reason, Mr. President, is Financial Issues or Poverty. Ipagpalagay na po natin na kay Liza, Kathy, Norman, at Trisha, si Kathy po ang nakapag-graduate. Masaya po tayo para sa kaniya at kaniyang pamilya! Congratulations, Kathy. At tuluy-tuloy ang pagtatrabaho natin para makakuha ng magandang trabaho si Kathy! Ngunit paano naman ang pangarap ni Liza na makapagtrabaho sa isang 5-star hotel sa ibang bansa? Paano po si Norman na magtrabaho sa media at tulungan ang kaniyang kapatid sa elementarya? Paano po matutulungan si Trisha na gustong maging guro at gusto pong magsilbi sa bayan? What happens to the other 3? What happens to the rest of the youth who cannot finish because of a lack of finances? Mr. President, esteemed colleagues, we now have an opportunity to unlock the door to a brighter future for more Filipinos. Let's make higher education more accessible to our struggling students! Currently, there are 1,645,566 students in our State Universities and Colleges and the Annual Weighted Average Tuition in SUCs is 9,407 (Philippine) pesos per year. That gives us a cost of about 16 billion pesos every year to make tuition fees free across our SUCs. This measure covers only tuition fees, which refers to the cost of instruction and training of our students. This is about 30 percent of the cost of expenses of our students. Mr. President, I believe it's high time we invest boldly on education, especially now that we have the means and resources to make this happen! It's a fair price to pay to embolden and empower more Filipinos like Liza, Kathy, Norman and Trisha to achieve their dreams - for themselves, for their families, and for their country. Mr. President, we need to take a look at our proposed measure as one, albeit, important reform that we wish to pass to address the perennial issue of access to quality education. Our proposed measure can be coupled with other policies already found in our laws, like the Iskolar ng Bayan Act, streamlining the StuFAP or Student Financial Assistance Program (StuFAP) found in UNIFAST in the UNIFAST Law, and scholarships lodged in CHED, DOST, DND, among other agencies. Together, they can improve access to higher education and empower more Filipinos with a promise of a college diploma! Together with policies already passed, laws already passed, programs already being implemented, our measure can complete the picture and support our students and our SUCs further. Isa lang po ito sa mga inaalay naming reporma sa hanay ng edukasyon. Marami pa po tayong kailangang i-trabaho at gawin upang tunay na umasenso ang buhay ng bawat estudyante at buhay ng bawat pamilyang Pilipino. Marami pa po tayong kailangan gawin, at tuluy-tuloy lang po ang pagtatrabaho ng ating kumite! Pero makakasigurado po tayo na ang batas na ito ay isang napakahalagang reporma sa pangarap at pangakong iyan. Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, let's give our countrymen, not just hope, but tangible support in achieving their dreams. Together, if we pass SBN 1304, the Free Higher Education for All Act, we're investing in the future of our promising young Filipinos! Maraming salamat Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, thank you for your support. Press Release January 24, 2017 Privilege Speech 24 January 2016 ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: The Rise of Fake News and the Death Knell for Philippine Democracy HON. LEILA M. DE LIMA Senator I rise on a matter of personal privilege and public interest. As a freshman Senator and as the favourite whipping girl of the current Administration, I must say that I have learned a lot about myself in the last seven months. Talagang nakagugulat mapagtanto kung gaano karaming bagay pala ang hindi ko pa pala nalalaman tungkol sa sarili ko. Mabuti na lamang at nandiyan ang Internet, lalo na ang social media, para ipaalam at ikwento sa'kin ang mga importanteng bagay at kaganapan sa buhay ko. Halimbawa na lamang, nalaman kong nag-resign na pala ako bilang Senador.[1] Imagine that. I never even knew that I had tendered my resignation until someone showed me an article published online. Thank you, cnn-alive.com. No, not CNN as in "Cable News Network", but ccn-alive as in "Carl Nixon Newton All Alive", whoever that may be. Maybe my resignation had something to do with the other (quote, unquote) news about my election as the new U.N. Secretary General to replace outgoing Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.[2] That's really news to me, but maybe it really shouldn't have come as a surprise because, as I also discovered online, I apparently have such a high profile on a global scale that world leaders like Queen Elizabeth II and then US President Barack Obama all felt compelled to comment on the status of my career and mental health. So much so that, back on September 19, 2006, Queen Elizabeth II personally expressed her "joy" and congratulations to you, my colleagues in the Senate, for successfully ousting me because, after all, as reported by the so-called news article, I "wanted to bring confusion in Duterte's government" and, therefore, I obviously "should be dealt with".[3] Former President Obama, for his part, is quoted by an article published on the site dutertemedia.com as saying that I must be "abnormal" for not appreciating the extrajudicial killings being committed in the name of the so-called "War on Drugs" as "the good thing leaders are doing to this world."[4] To that, I could only respond, in the parlance of our times, "Eh di wow." Aside from those (quote, unquote) "news" stories about my career, I also learned some shocking "news" about my personal life. I apparently attempted to commit suicide. Thanks to a webpage that came complete with advertisements for an online shopping site and invitations to like and/or join "Pres. Rody Duterte Worldwide", "Duterte-Marcos Tandem" and "Pres. Rody Duterte 'The Real Change'Group" pages on facebook;[5] and another article published by dutertemedia.com, [6] I found out some interesting information about my suicide attempt. It's starting to look like President Duterte's supporters care more about my welfare than they let on, given how much information they know about me that I myself had no clue about! How so very touching. Another that should have not surprised me was a headline that reads "DOJ Sec. Aguirre sinapak si De Lima, De Lima natulala."[7] After all, it is well known that Secretary Aguirre has disrespected another Lady Senator at least once before in his legal career. These are all fake news articles, of course. I sincerely hope it wasn't that hard to figure out because these ones are so downright absurd that, a few months ago, I would have simply laughed them off or waved them aside, believing that no self-respecting person would fall for them, let alone be associated with the embarrassing act of spreading them around. After all, I am far from being the only person, or even Senator, to be targeted by fake news. For instance, back in the day, about 6 years ago - I don't know if he knows this, but - there was a so-called "Ping Lacson Tracker" that was put up on the website of MosquitoPress's tumblr page[8]. It asked and purported to provide the answer to the simple but nagging question that once preoccupied the entire Filipino nation's mind, including yours truly's, that is, "Where has Sen. Ping Lacson been hiding?" The site invited visitors to "Click through to use MosquitoPress's Ping Lacson Finder!", which consists of an interactive Google map view of the Philippines, with various locations marked up, along with the instructions to "Click on the blue pins to see details of the Ping Lacson sighting." Eleven locations are pinned, with accompanying details that explain what Senator Lacson was supposedly doing in each. For instance, in Siargao Islands, he was "surfing"; in Albay, he was (quote, unquote) "playing with Mt. Mayon's..." ahem, peak; somewhere off the coast of Donsol, he was "making friends with a butanding"; to the South, he was supposedly "riding Asia's longest zip line" in Bukidnon and, I kid you not, supposedly "working for the Davao Death Squad". My personal favourite, however, is perhaps his supposed skill for multitasking while in Metro Manila, where he was "partying" while, at the same time, "Hiding under Leila de Lima's nose." At least that page was obviously meant to be a joke, and I am pretty sure no one tried to ask Senator Lacson to confirm or deny any of these alleged activities. The same, however, cannot be said about the satirical piece that once plagued Senator Jinggoy Ejercito back in November of 2013, when his camp was forced to acknowledge and deny the fake "news" that he was arrested in the US after he was caught trying to smuggle millions of pesos that were surgically implanted in his breasts,[9] after the article was picked up by mainstream media. But things are getting much, much worse. Kung ano-anong iniimbento nila laban sa akin, sa pamilya ko, sa anak ko, sa kapatid ko, kahit sa pamangkin ko. "NBI confirms Leila de Lima is the Queen of all drug lords in Philippines and pork barrel,"[10] "Leila de Lima does pole dancing in front of Jaybee Sebastian in Bilibid,"[11] "Leila De Lima thrown out of conference hall in Berlin Germany,"[12] "De Lima's sister Caroline De Lima arrested in China for drug trafficking,"[13] "De Lima's son arrested at airport with 50kgs of drugs,"[14] "Bagman at pamangkin ni Sen. De Lima dawit sa kalakaran ng droga."[15] I am fortunate to have the strength to stand up and defend myself, but my relatives and family members who have done nothing to deserve being at the receiving end of these lies should not have to be obliged to even acknowledge these lies. More importantly, I will not stand here and wait for them to invent hurtful and damaging rumors about my special child, Israel, or my ailing mother. I am here to say, enough is enough. And it isn't just me or my family. The rush of fake news is complemented and sustained by spurious accounts, or the so-called "trolls," who vigorously disseminate and promote fake news in social media, as if these are gospel truth. Sila ang tagapagtanggol ng kasinungalingan at mga nang-aapi. Wala po silang pinapalampas: sa kababaihan nga, mas malala at mas matindi pa ang pambabastos at pagpapahiya nila sa social media. Sinuman ang makipagdiskurso nang maayos, babantaan nila: "Mamatay ka na sana pati magulang mo," "ma-rape ka sana at yung anak mo." Di pa nakuntento, may nagkakalat pang isa kang prostitute, o babaeng nagpa-abort. Have we lost our sense of decency and respect? Fake news is also damaging political careers and serious advocacies that seek to protect the national interest by undermining the integrity of advocates like myself and Senator Trillanes, who one website accused of having received a P500 Million peso check from me, which he allegedly used to pay for political ads against the President during the election period.[16] The website claims this to be "viral news", but is actually just a personal blog that lures people to click and visit it so that its owner can make money from the lies it publishes. Even the Ombudsman has been the victim of fake news. Ayon sa isang headline, "Sabwatang De Lima at Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Nabunyag Na!!" May dalawang exclamation points pa! At nag-aanyaya pang "Alamin" ang istoryang naka-tag na "local news", "news" at "video" kuno, pero wala namang video na mapapanood! That site even has the guts to hold itself out to the cyberspace public as a "social news" site publishing "breaking news", but, curiously does not even state a date or time stamp for its article, or even the name of the author or contributor and, worse, contains a moronic disclaimer that it "cannot guarantee the legitimacy of some of the information" it publishes on its own site. I bring these up in order to demonstrate a clear pattern of escalation here. Fake news went from being so absurd that it cannot be taken seriously, to something that is getting more and more indistinguishable from the real thing - so much so that netizens, public officials, and even seasoned journalists are falling for them. Even the conscious act of compiling fake news articles is becoming tricky because these fake news sites are not named satirically like "The Adobo Chronicles", but are mimicking legitimate news outfits like BBC and CNN. But what is most disturbing - and the reason why I am standing here today bringing it front and center of the attention of the Senate and of the nation - is the evident fact that this escalation is not happening by chance. Fake news articles these days are, in fact, deliberately being manufactured, delivered and spread around in ways that disguise their fakeness, with the clear intent to fool people. We only need to ask "cui prodest"? Whom does it profit? Sino ang nakikinabang sa mga kasinungalingang ito? For he who derives advantage from these fake news is the one most likely to be actively working towards its proliferation. If we even stop for a moment and think about it, it does not take a genius to know that these are all connected -- The so-called "war on drugs", which is really nothing but a continuing shameless, dishonourable, cowardly and lazy act of serial killing and butchering of the vulnerable, the poor, our economically and socially challenged brothers and sisters by the very people who are responsible for their well-being; The apparent downplaying, if not attempted whitewashing, of the apparent involvement of certain personalities in questionable, if not downright criminal activities, such as the alleged unsuccessful bribery attempts made by Jack Lam, or the fading into obscurity of the inclusion of Peter Lim in the President's drug list; The Duterte administration's curious and suspicious cowering and kowtowing to Chinese authorities - even conveniently forgetting that, back in April 2016, when he was still a candidate courting the people's votes, he claimed that, if China refuses to honor the arbitration ruling regarding the West Philippines Sea, he will ask the Philippine Navy to bring him to the boundary of the Spratlys so he can "ride a jet ski while bringing the Philippine flag," so that he can plant the Philippine flag on the reclaimed land in the Spratlys[17]; and even denying inconvenient truths, such as the real source of the illegal drugs flowing into our country and, thus, the real identity of those who are reaping the economic benefits of the illegal drug trade[18]; Even the reality that the blind faith and license to kill that Duterte has given his police officers is not really solving our criminality problems or even really strengthening our law enforcement agencies, but is, in fact, creating a moral vacuum that enables corrupt and evil elements in the police force to prey on people - such as the rise of tokhang-for-ransom incidents - and, thus, further weaken the people's trust and confidence in the police; The murmurs and whispers about Martial Law that are growing louder and louder every day, and becoming more and more of an overt threat on our rights, freedoms, security and democratic way of life; These are all connected to the proliferation of fake news. Fake news, the outrageous, the half-truths, the outright lies, the misleading headlines, and even the crass jokes and the profanity that accompany the President's every appearance on our television screens - these are all nothing but the sticks that make up the broom that this Administration and its supporters use to sweep under the rug their crimes, their incompetencies, their laziness, their lack of dedication to the public's interests, their broken campaign promises that are, apparently, nothing more than empty boasts, and their betrayal of our independence in favor of their newly minted foreign BFFs ("best friends forever"). And I am standing here today to say that I am not fooled, at hindi ako papayag na patuloy maloko ang mga tao. That is what makes it a matter needing legislative attention from the Senate: because fake news has become, and has been for a while, a weapon that is being wielded against the Filipino people and their exercise of their rights, freedoms and the enjoyment of their democratic way of life. Hindi po ako nagiging eksaherado. This is serious business. Democracy is the power of choice; and that power belongs to the Filipino people. The true value of that power of choice is its ability to address and solve the real conditions, problems and challenges that are facing our people. Anong uri, kalidad at klase ng mga desisyon sa buhay at pagpapalakad sa Estado ang magagawa natin kung puro kasinungalingan ang ipinapalunon sa atin? In other words, the power of choice must be based on accurate information, and it is useless if it is based on false information. Need I remind my colleagues in the Senate that our role as lawmakers and, indeed, as one of the safeguards against grave abuses that may be committed by the other branches of government, including an arbitrary, whimsical or capricious declaration of Martial Law, heavily relies on the accuracy of the information we know to be true or factually established? Now, we are faced with the situation where there are elements in our society who are deliberately poisoning the well of information that is readily available to the Filipino people and to us, their public servants. Certainly, fake news is old news. We've known it all our lives, albeit by different names: some may call it a joke, some may call it speculation or rumors - but if it is used to subvert the Rule of Law, the mandate of the Constitution, the true welfare of the people, and is being used to perpetuate a false idea of the status quo, then it is something more sinister, and one that has been in existence since the dawn of society: it is nothing more, and nothing less than propaganda. Puro pagpapaganda sa sarili, at puro paninira sa kapwa. As the saying goes, it's all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. With this fake news epidemic we are experiencing, we're in a very real danger of not just losing eye, limb or even life, but of gouging out our own fundamental rights and freedoms, the safeguards from abuse and authoritarian rule and all the other benefits of democracy that we once secured for ourselves through our Constitution, but now seem to take for granted. Ika nga, ang katotohanan at demokrasya ay parang pag-ibig, you don't know what a great thing you have until you lose it. Our rights and freedoms are like the devoted girlfriend, boyfriend, best friend, parent or family member you always took for granted: you know how good they are for you, and how your world will crumble without them, but you neglected them because you never thought they'd ever leave you. But leave you they will. Every lie, every piece of fake news, every form of propaganda that is manufactured and shared by people is like a disease or a poison that will kill everything that is good and just about our beautiful nation. It does not matter that not everyone is fooled. It only matters that there are people being fooled. Ano ang silbi ng tahasan at paulit-ulit na pagtanggi kung napakadaling magtahi ng kwentong bubulag sa tao. Kung noon ang paniniwala natin ay may dalawang klase ng tao sa mundo: iyong nanloloko at iyong nagpapaloko, sa kasamaang palad, hindi na ganoon kasimple ang problema. Hindi lamang kamangmangan o katamaran ang problema. The ugly and shameful truth is that the bigger, more insidious and more destructive problem we are facing is truly an unholy trinity made up of: (1) the power-hungry who have no scruples about lying to people's faces in order to destroy and silence their critics; (2) the money-hungry people who are willing to sell their services in order to help them achieve that goal by manufacturing, delivering and perpetuating those lies in exchange for profits or influential posts in government; and (3) an unchecked medium that not only makes it easy to spread these lies to the most number of people in the shortest possible time, but is also driven by the mentality that being "first!", "viral" or "famous", and having the most "likes", "shares", "follows", "re-tweets" and so forth are more important than being "right", "credible" or "truthful. Make no mistake, the worst form of cancer afflicting our society are the people who fall under the first category. But what enables them to do what they want is the fact that it is profitable to assist them, as reports by the Washington Post[19] and The Straits Times,[20] have indicated, through paid services and advertisement money. People get paid to troll and to spread discord. People's integrity now has a going market price. Blood money is what that is. Some people might not think that there is anything wrong about making money by making up stories, but they cannot be more wrong. People's morals are degraded by fake news, some of which thrive on plain salaciousness o kabastusan at kalaswaan. Nothing is off limits. The personal life, good name and reputation of women, and even men, are fair game. It's open season for anyone who dares criticize this government, and it's severely skewing the moral compass of our people, not to mention our youth. People die from false information. How many news stories have we heard of people killing people because of tsismis? How many of those killed because of the "war on drugs" were victims of unverified accusations? And, yet, there is an even bigger public safety and security aspect to it, not just because hate crimes are committed because of propaganda that thrive in sowing divisiveness in an otherwise civilized society, but also because how can we protect ourselves adequately against real threats, while living full and normal lives, when we have lost the ability to tell what is real from what is fake? Nations are weakened by false information. External forces gain footing in domestic affairs through false information. I would like to think that, though we are not a rich nation, we are, at least, a proud nation. Proud of our independence. Proud of our freedoms. Proud of our ability to determine our own fate through the exercise of our basic and constitutionally guaranteed rights. Tayong mga Pilipino ay mga tunay at lubos na mga tao, hindi parang mga palakang may tiyan, walang sikmura. We must break up this unholy alliance. Or, at the very least, make them feel that crime does not pay - and, yes, lest people forget rumor-mongering was declared a crime under our laws, particularly Presidential Decree No. 90. Some of us may be well-versed about the nuances and differences between "fake news", "satire", "fiction" or "yet unverified information", but not everyone is. And, worse, there are elements who cowardly hide behind the alibi of "satire" and deceptively worded and/or located disclaimers, while actively dressing themselves up in the clothing of real "news", hoping that there are enough people that they can fool. Such exploitation must be stopped. After all, if we have laws that protect against intellectual property right infringement, and consumer protection laws that protect against false advertisement, fraudulent products and product-labeling, and protecting the people against products not fit for human consumption, there is all the more reason for Congress to protect the people from misleading or outrightly false information that contaminate the very life source of our nation: Truth, from which everything else, including Justice, flows. Therefore, I call on our people not to believe everything they hear or read; but, instead, to be critical and to be inquisitive. Magtanong. Magmatiyag. Magsaliksik. Mag-isip. Ika nga, chew before you swallow and, as one children's safety public service announcement goes, "Don't Put It in Your Mouth" until you've checked what it is, and know where it's from. Hindi ka si Snow White. Sabi nga ng Eraserheads, "May mga kumakalat na balita/Na ang kaligtasa'y madaling makuha/Bago maniwala/Mag-isip-isip ka muna/Marami ang namamatay/Sa Maling Akala." Remember, fake news is like a drug: it makes you feel good by making you see or hear things that you badly want to believe are real; but, in reality, it is a form of poison that will destroy from within. The virus that will bring about a zombie apocalypse in form we least expected. To my colleagues in the Senate, I implore to all of you - whether you feel personally invested in combating fake news or not - to support, as I wholeheartedly do, the Senate Resolutions no. 259 and 271 of Senators Sonny Trillanes and Kiko Pangilinan, respectively, calling for the conduct of an inquiry on the spate of fake news in social media, in order to find legislative measures to stem their proliferation, such as imposing stronger requirements for websites to take effective responsibility for what they publish, such as by limiting the legal effect of disclaimers, especially those that are inadequately phrased or positioned to give their readers sufficient notice of the nature of what they are publishing, and the imposition of severe penalties that will make it financially burdensome to spread false news, as such, for profit. These are but some legislative measures we can look into in order to address the problem of proliferation of destructive fake news on the purveyors' end. But I am also calling for an inquiry on how we can strengthen the fight against fake news and propaganda on the other end: the recipient's or the receiver's end. I believe that a strong foundation in critical thinking, established as part of free basic education, will help our nation achieve its goal of establishing a strong and productive citizenry, who will not fall for the tricks of conmen and cult leaders so easily. There comes a point where we can only do so much to protect our people from fraudsters, beyond that it falls upon them to protect themselves. But our duty is to adequately equip them to make the distinction and to think for themselves. That is the least that we owe to ourselves, our children, and to the future of our nation. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society." Our present leaders have already given lawless elements the guns, the license, the impunity and the opportunity to butcher us. Let us not make it easy for them to kill us by willingly and submissively swallowing the poison they feed us. ________________________________________ [1] http://cnn-alive.com/gy-breaking-news-leila-de-lima-resigns-as-senator/ (last accessed 23 January 2017). [2] http://theguard1an.com/breaking-leila-de-lima-elected-as-the-new-un-secretary-general/ (last accessed 23 January 2017). [3] http://thet1mes.com/uk-congratulates-philippines-senate-for-ousting-de-lima/ (last accessed 23 January 2017). [4] http://www.dutertemedia.com/2016/10/barack-obama-de-lima-must-be-abnormal.html (last accessed 23 January 2017). [5] http://www.pinoyworld.net/2016/09/breaking-news-de-lima-under-tight.html (last accessed 23 January 2017). [6] http://www.dutertemedia.com/2016/09/breaking-news-de-lima-nasagip-ng.html (last accessed 23 January 2017). [7] http://www.pinoyarticle.com/2016/11/doj-sec-aguirre-sinapak-si-de-lima-sa.html [8] http://mosquitopress.tumblr.com/post/4020506678/ping-lacson-finder (last accessed 23 January 2017). [9] https://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2013/11/04/jinggoy-estrada-arrested-after-trying-to-smuggle-money-inside-his-breast-to-us/ (24 January 2017). [10] http://www.socialnewsph.com/2016/09/nbi-confirms-leila-de-lima-is-queen-of.html. [11] http://cebudavao.com/politics/leila-de-lima-pole-dancing-fron-jaybee-sebastian-bilibid/2/. [12] http://fox-channel.com/breaking-leila-de-lima-thrown-out-of-conference-hall-in-berlingermany/. [13] http://philstar.i-telecast.com/de-limas-sister-caroline-de-lima-arrested-in-china-for-drug-trafficking/. [14] http://www.newsfileph.com/2016/12/breaking-de-limas-son-arrested-at.html. [15] http://www.gisingph.info/2017/01/bagman-at-pamangkin-ni-sen-de-lima.html. [16] http://whattrendz.blogspot.com/2016/09/viral-news-trillanes-and-his-500.html?m=1 (accessed 21 January 2017). [17] http://news.abs-cbn.com/halalan2016/nation/04/24/16/duterte-wants-to-be-a-hero-in-dispute-vs-china (Accessed 21 January 2017) [18] http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/philippines-drugs-china/ (Accessed 21 January 2017). [19] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/18/this-is-how-the-internets-fake-news-writers-make-money/?utm_term=.c07dec1fc2a6 (last accessed 23 January 2017). [20] http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/fake-news-makes-really-good-money (last accessed 23 January 2017). Press Release January 24, 2017 Drilon: PHL in deep trouble if killings remain unabated The killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo inside Camp Crame and the mounting number of unresolved deaths related to the war on drugs showed that the country is heading toward a serious problem, according to Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin M. Drilon today. "The country is heading towards a serious law enforcement problem when these killings remain unabated and unresolved and culture of impunity among law enforcers perpetuates," Drilon said. According to Drilon, "if such crime could be committed inside the PNP's very headquarters, then how can anyone feel safe anywhere?" "If policemen are always suspected of participating in gruesome crimes, then how can Filipinos trust them?" he asked. A lawyer and former justice secretary, Drilon stressed: "The government and the PNP should resolve these rampant killings immediately, for that is the only way respect and trust to the institution will be restored." Drilon also said that the killing of Ick-joo, the murder of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa allegedly committed by members of the PNP, the so-called "tokhang for ransom", and the "hulidap" "highlighted the weakness of the PNP to police its own ranks which undermines the administration's campaign against drugs." ""The killing of Ick-joo inside Camp Crame is one of the most horrific, alarming, and shameful episodes in PNP history," he added. "There seems to be a leadership crisis in the PNP and a breakdown of command at some levels, if not at all levels," according to Drilon. He said that became more apparent during the Senate's investigation into the murder of Albuera Mayor Espinosa, as well as in the killing of Ick-joo, where Dela Rosa was not informed of the whereabouts of one of the suspects in the killing, SPO1 Ricky Sta. Isabel. "PNP Chief General Bato Dela Rosa must exercise leadership and regain full control and supervision of his men and women in the PNP," he emphasized. "I remind PNP of its mandate to enforce the laws, prevent crimes, and ensure public safety. To abide by it faithfully would mean that anyone among its ranks who breaks the laws they swore to enforce and perpetrates the very crimes they are duty-bound to prevent will not go unpunished," Drilon concluded. Bionor Pharma ASA STOCK EXCHANGE ANNOUNCEMENT NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN, HONG KONG OR THE UNITED STATES Primary insider notification - Unni Hjelmaas and Gunnar Flaten (Oslo, Norway, 24 January 2017) Reference is made to the announcement on 13 January 2017 by Solon Eiendom ASA ("SOLON" or the "Company", ticker "SOLON") regarding the primary insider notification from certain primary insiders of the Company that have received Subscription Rights in the Rights Issue. Unni Hjelmaas and Gunnar Flaten, primary insiders of the Company, has today exercised 308,370 and 1,053,462 Subscription Rights respectively at NOK 0.15 per share and following registration of the shares to be issued in the Rights Issue they will hold the following interests in the Company: Name Position Shares Subscription Rights in the Rights Issue Unni Hjelmaas through Hjelmaas AS CEO in Bionor Pharma AS (*) 781,846 0 Gunnar Flaten VP Director of Finance in Bionor Pharma AS (*) 2,670,962 0 (*) Bionor Pharma AS (previously Bionor Immuno AS) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Solon Eiendom ASA. Further information Simen Thorsen Chairman of the Board, Solon Eiendom ASA E-mail: st@soloneiendom.no Cell Phone: +47 918 86 886 Andreas Martinussen Chief Executive Officer, Solon Eiendom ASA E-mail: am@soloneiendom.no Cell Phone: +47 400 00 405 About Solon Eiendom Solon Eiendom is a Norwegian residential real estate development company focusing on the Oslo and Akershus region. Solon Eiendom was established in 2006 by founder Simen Thorsen and investor Tore Aksel Voldberg. The company has since its incorporation delivered 570 units with a corresponding sales value of close to NOK ~3 billion and sold more than 800 units with a total sales price of more than NOK ~4 billion. Solon is listed on Oslo Brs (OSE:SOLON). More information about Solon is available at www.soloneiendom.no. About Bionor Bionor Pharma's mission is to enable the immune system to fight HIV infection. Bionor is the first company, which has successfully completed a clinical trial using the shock and kill approach, thereby creating a strong foundation for further advancing its therapeutic vaccine Vacc-4x in combination with other agents towards a functional cure. The company believes it has first mover potential based on clinical results to date and early adoption of the shock and kill strategy. In December 2015, Bionor announced that the HIV trial REDUC with Vacc-4x and romidepsin successfully met its primary endpoint by reducing latent HIV reservoir and further demonstrated control of viral load. Bionor currently retains full ownership rights to the HIV immunotherapy Vacc-4x, i.e., the upside potential from partnering or licensing remains with the company's shareholders. More information about Bionor is available at www.bionorpharma.com. Important Information The release is not for publication or distribution, in whole or in part directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong or the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia). This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. It is issued for information purposes only, and does not constitute or form part of any offer or solicitation to purchase or subscribe for securities, in the United States or in any other jurisdiction. The securities mentioned herein have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The securities may not be offered or sold in the United States except pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The Company does not intend to register any portion of the offering of the securities in the United States or to conduct a public offering of the securities in the United States. Copies of this announcement are not being made and may not be distributed or sent into Australia, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong or the United States. The issue, exercise, purchase or sale of subscription rights and the subscription or purchase of shares in the Company are subject to specific legal or regulatory restrictions in certain jurisdictions. Neither the Company nor SpareBank 1 Markets AS assumes any responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. The distribution of this release may in certain jurisdictions be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this release comes should inform themselves about and observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Press Release January 24, 2017 Senator Loren Legarda's Co-Sponsorship Speech Free Higher Education for All Act Senate Bill No. 1304, Committee Report 28 24 January 2017 | Senate of the Philippines Mr. President, I have the honor to co-sponsor this landmark legislative measure which aims to institutionalize on a national scale the provision of a full tuition fee subsidy for students enrolled in all of the country's 114 state universities and colleges. Under the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017, this august chamber approved the amount of five billion seven hundred fifty three million five hundred thirty seven thousand pesos (P5,753,537,000.00) for the CHED's Student Financial Assistance Programs (StuFAPs) which covers both the Regular StuFAPs such as its Scholarship Program, Grants in Aid Program and Student Loan Program and Other StuFAPs like the Tulong Dunong and the Iskolar ng Bayan Program. Moreover, an additional eight billion pesos (P8,000,000,000.00) has been appropriated for the CHED's Higher Education Support Fund while another three hundred million pesos (P300,000,000.00) has been approved to serve as Cash Grants to Medical Students enrolled in the country's SUCs offering the Doctor of Medicine Program. With the passage of this bill, we will be legislating in effect the system or mechanism by which the funding for free tuition, already appropriated for this year, will be utilized. However, mindful of the government's limited resources, we must also ensure that public funds will be used equitably and serve first the poorest of the poor. I urge my colleagues to lend their valuable support so we can enact the best possible version of this bill as we seek to uphold the Constitutional mandate that education shall be the State's highest priority in terms of allocation of resources. Thank you, Mr. President. Press Release January 24, 2017 SEN. GRACE POE'S CONCLUDING REMARKS Public Hearing of the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media on MMFF In this public hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, we discussed in particular Senate Resolution No. 257 filed by Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto. We also discussed various issues and controversies surrounding the MMFF. We wish to extend appreciation to various stakeholders present in this public hearing - Mowelfund, MTRCB of course, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Film Academy of the Philippines, the MMDA, members of the MMFF executive and selection committees, and the filmmakers for their valuable contributions in the industry. This seems to be a golden age for the Philippine cinema; mainstream and indie films can thrive together. To sum up the hearing: 1. Sen. Sotto proposes that the MMFF be nationwide so that it will not be concentrated in Metro Manila. 2. MMFF overall chairman Thomas Orbos supports calls for the establishment of a separate film fest for indie films although we've also discussed that we can let them show together in the Christmas season. 4. FDCP Chairperson Liza Dino defines indie films as films produced by non-studio producers. 5. Mr. Edward Cabagnot points out that boundaries between indie and mainstream have become blurred and calls for re-evaluation of the present state of Philippine cinema. This is also the sentiment of Ms. Manet Dayrit. 6. Sen. Sotto calls for a balancing act specifically on commercial viability and quality of films being shown in the MMFF, as he noted more than 60 percent drop in the MMFF 2016 revenue to P373 million from over P1 billion a year earlier. 7. Ms. Dino said a separate festival may be premature and we should give the current MMFF format a chance. There is also a call for unity in the film industry to bridge the gap between independent and commercial film makers. But Sen. Sotto said we should be careful and we should listen to theatre owners and stakeholders because they can refuse to participate in the MMFF if we push them too hard and it is not anymore commercially viable for them. 8. Ms. Boots Anson Roa agrees in the changes of MMFF in terms of goals, structure, but not too drastic also. She agrees with Sen. Sotto on the idea of infusing greater quality in the commercially viable films. 10. Ms. Mae Paner, member of the MMFF selection committee, read the statement of 2016 MMFF selection committee, saying that a separate indie film fest is superfluous. They recommend legislation to turn the MMFF into a national film fest for all types of films, covering all theatres in all regions, for all genres, both mainstream and indie. 12. MTRCB Chairman Atty. Villareal suggests to have a Philippine Film Promotion Act where all stakeholders are considered; other countries have "film quota" as a promotion measure. 11. Sen. Sotto for his part says we need an enabling law, not just a proclamation. Theatre owners can't be compelled to show all MMFF participating films because its legal basis is a mere presidential proclamation. It's actually them trying to cooperate with the film industry. He also says that he will immediately draft the proposed Philippine National Film Promotion Act. 13. Mr. Leo Martinez of the Film Academy of the Philippines clarified that some of the major commercial films that were not shown in the 2016 MMFF were not included due to their inability to meet their deadline, most submitted only "picture lock" films. Chair Orbos suggests to have a financial target for the MMFF. Although the profits were less this time, let us also remember that a particular group of people enjoyed having this MMFF. This is the first time, I think, the indie filmmakers were able to earn this much. Let's also not forget that the public also has the right to choose what they want to watch. It may not be palatable to us, but it's something that they watch and it's safe for the family and it's not a violation of a Republic Act. We should also take into consideration what is the true appeal to the public of movies produced by Vic Sotto or Vice Ganda. Excellent films were produced in this past MMFF pero wag din nating kalimutan na may mga bata ring kasama sa kapaskuhan na dapat ay makasama ng kanilang pamilya. We also reiterate that aimal rights should be respected. If there is a law, we follow it and we do not hide behind culture or artistic expression. Inamin naman po nila ang kanilang pagkakasala, but I shall also constitute a technical working group that will continue drafting a bill, with respect also to workers rights in the film industry, should also be under the committee of the good senator here, the committee on labor. If there will be a second hearing as suggested by Sen. Angara, we will invite you to the TWG... To all of you, this hearing is hereby suspended. Press Release January 24, 2017 POE: REVITALIZE PH MOVIE INDUSTRY Sen. Grace Poe today said legislation is necessary to strengthen and revitalize the local movie industry and that she is ready to defend the bill in an effort to level the playing field for both mainstream and independent films. Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, said an enabling law that would institute reforms in the largest and highest-earning film festival in the country, the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), and turn it into a national film festival for all types of films covering all genres, both mainstream and indie. "Kailangang patuloy ang paggawa ng batas na makakatulong talaga sa industriya kasi ngayon wala namang batas ang MMFF. Kaya minsan, yung parte na nakukuha ng mga benepisyaryo katulad ng Mowelfund o ng MO Film academy, paliit nang paliit," said Poe, who spearheaded a hearing on Senate Resolution No. 257 filed by Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto. "Pagdating sa working conditions ng mga artista at ng mga kasama sa paggawa ng pelikula [isasama rin natin iyan kasi] marami talagang contractual sa industriya kasi hindi naman consistent ang paggawa ng pelikula. Pero dapat kasama pa rin ang kanilang kalusugan, ang kanilang kaligtasan sa ating binabantayan," the senator added. Poe said she will constitute a technical working group and invite stakeholders to craft a measure that will consider the welfare and the rights of workers in the industry. The MMFF, first called the Metropolitan Film Festival, was created in 1975 by virtue of Proclamation No. 1459 "in recognition of the value and importance of the local movie industry in the overall developmental effort for the country, a fitting celebration to encourage quality film production both in substance and in form, as well as provide incentives to the performing artists and the technicians in the industry." Part of the proceeds from the MMFF go to the Movie Workers' Welfare Fund, a foundation established in 1974 to provide aid to movie workers, Film Development Council of the Philippines, Film Academy of the Philippines, Motion Picture Anti-Piracy Council and the Optical Media Board. During the hearing, beneficiary organizations lamented the dwindling shares from the proceeds of the MMFF, which was reduced to a mere 1 percent since 2009 from an earlier 11-19 percent. The MMFF selection committee and filmmakers, in defending the selection of the "Magic 8" indie films in the December MMFF, said some theatres were able to pull out participating and non-commercially viable films even during the duration of the MMFF. Poe said a mere presidential proclamation is not enough and the MMFF rules are not binding, thus the current predicament. Poe said this would be addressed in the bill, adding that her committee will closely work with Sotto in drafting the proposed Philippine National Film Promotion Act. "Let's also not forget that the public has the right to choose what they want to watch. We should also take into consideration what is the true appeal to the public of movies of Vic Sotto and Vice Ganda. 'Wag nating kalimutan na may mga bata ring bahagi ng Pasko," said Poe. Press Release January 24, 2017 Senate commends 2016 TOYM awardees The Senate today unanimously adopted a resolution commending the 11 awardees of last year's "The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines." Senate Resolution No. 252, authored by Senator Nancy Binay, taking into consideration Senate Resolution No. 263 introduced by Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito, commended the achievements "of remarkable men and women of competence and deeds who symbolize the character of a true Filipino." Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III led the other senators in presenting copies of the Senate resolution to TOYM awardees lawyer Carmela Andal-Castro for law, Clarisse Delgado for education, Ryan Guinaran for his advocacy on indigenous people, Randy Halasan for education, Richard Heydarian for social science, Richard Muallil for marine science, Ronivin Pagtakhan for youth leadership, Geraldine Racaza for medicine, Saturnino Tiamson for arts in music, Jhett Tolentino for arts in theatre, and Earl Martin Valencia for entrepreneurship. "This Senate commends and lauds the 11 TOYM awardees for their excellence and steadfast constancy in their crafts, and in transforming communities and creating positive change," Binay said in her resolution. Ejercito, himself a former TOYM awardee, said the recipients of the 2016 TOYM award are all outstanding individuals who "ran the extra mile, and responded beyond the call of duty." "The 2016 awardees who came from the fields of medicine, education, law, social sciences, leadership and arts, among others have showed great dedication and commitment not just in enriching their profession but more so the well-being of their constituents and the country as a whole," he said in his resolution. "I believe that much of being a TOYM awardee is the fact that you were able to bring significant changes to your respective fields and you were able to uplift the living conditions of the people," he added. Ejercito noted that apart from him, a number of incumbent members of the Senate - including Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon and Senators Juan Edgardo "Sonny" Angara, Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino, Francis "Chiz" Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, and Loren Legarda - have also been recipients of the prestigious award in the past. The TOYM awards is an annual project organized and presented by the Junior Chamber International-Philippines otherwise known as the Philippine Jaycees, the Gerry Roxas Foundation, Inc. and the TOYM Foundation since 1959. (Yvonne A. Almiranez) Press Release January 24, 2017 Villar: LPPCHEA protectors score victory with DENR move stopping the Manila Bay reclamation project In lauding the move of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) stopping the Manila Bay reclamation project, Sen. Cynthia Villar said that volunteers scored a victory for the protection of the Las Pinas-Paranaque Critical Habitat and Eco-Tourism Area. "This is a welcome development to the cause I'm pursuing along with residents of Las Pinas, Paranaque and Cavite, as well as groups in religious, private and environmental sectors. We hope the Manila Bay reclamation project, which experts see as detrimental to the environment and livelihood of 300,000 fishermen, will be permanently shelved," Villar said. Villar, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, also expressed gratitude to DENR, her new-found ally in the cause of protecting Manila Bay and LPPCHEA, considered as Metro Manila's last frontier. "Our volunteers, residents and students who regularly go to LPPCHEA to conduct clean-up operations and tree-planting activities, scores a victory with this DENR decision," Villar said. Last week, DENR Sec. Gina Lopez announced that along with five other companies, the environment clearance certificate (ECC) issued in 2011 to Alltech Contractors, Inc. for the Paranaque-Las Pinas Coastal Bay Project Land Reclamation has been cancelled due to its potential to harm the environment. Villar noted that a reclamation project involving LPPCHEA will kill mangroves and will negate government's plan to plant mangrove trees as a climate change adaptation measure. LPPCHEA has 36 hectares of mangrove forest and known to be the thickest and most diverse in Manila Bay. To date, 11 species of mangroves are growing in the area. In March 2013, LPPCHEA was recognized as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention because of the critical role it plays in the survival of threatened, restricted-range and congregatory bird species. It is home and known breeding area of the Philippine Ducks, a vulnerable specie as listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Chinese Egret, Common Greenshank, and Black-Winged Stilts can also be found here along with 82 other wild bird species coming from as far as China, Japan and Siberia. Six other areas in the Philippines are identified as Ramsar sites, namely: the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park in Palawan; the Tubbataha Reefs National Marine Park in Sulu; the Agusan Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary; the Naujan Lake National Park in Oriental Mindoro; the Olango Island Wildlife Sanctuary in Cebu; and the Negros Occidental Coastal Wetlands Conservation Area in Negros Occidental. LPPCHEA covers 175 hectares of wetland ecosystem and declared a critical area by virtue of Presidential Decree Nos.1412 and 1412-A. It is also an identified spawning area of fingerlings. Villar has been in the forefront of the campaign for the protection and preservation of the critical habitat, hosting monthly clean-up, tree planting, and study tours in the area. She works for the development of LPPCHEA as a tourism destination so that more support can be gained for its continued protection. In 2011, Villar asked the Supreme Court to issue a Writ of Kalikasan to block reclamation projects in Manila Bay. She also sought the opinion of a hydrologist who stated that reclamation in the area will cause flooding as high as eight meters in surrounding communities of Las Pinas, Paranaque and Cavite. Houston, Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. (NYSE: SHLX) will host a conference call on Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. CT to discuss 2016 fourth-quarter financial results, which will be released earlier that day. SHLX participants will be John Hollowell, president and chief executive officer, Susan Ward, vice president and chief financial officer, and Kevin Nichols, vice president commercial. Interested parties may listen to the conference call on the partnership's website at www.shellmidstreampartners.com by clicking on the "2016 Fourth-Quarter Financial Results" link in the "Events & Conference" section. Financial information, including the earnings release and other investor-related material, will also be available online. A replay of the webcast will be posted on the partnerships website following the event. ### About Shell Midstream Partners, L.P. Shell Midstream Partners, headquartered in Houston, Texas, is a fee-based, growth-oriented midstream master limited partnership formed by Royal Dutch Shell to own, operate, develop and acquire pipelines and other midstream assets. Shell Midstream Partners' assets consist of pipelines, crude tank storage and terminal systems that serve as key infrastructure to transport and store onshore and offshore crude oil production to Gulf Coast and Midwest refining markets and to deliver refined products from Gulf Coast markets to major demand centers. Inquiries: Shell Media Relations Americas: +1 713 241 4544 Shell Investor Relations North America: +1 832 337 2034 San Franciscos politicians spend a lot of time arguing about what to do about the citys homeless problem, but not a lot of time evaluating after the fact whether their ideas actually worked. Remember the big fights over banning sitting or lying on sidewalks and aggressive panhandling? Those measures arguably didnt do much, but the politicians who were so sure theyd help have long moved on to other potentially pointless debates. Well, believe it or not, theres actual evidence to show that one proposal that was fought over for years is making a difference. Lauras Law, which allows for the compelled treatment of mentally ill people, has proved in its first year in San Francisco to be a small but helpful step toward addressing a problem obvious to anyone who walks around the city. After four years of on-and-off bickering, the Board of Supervisors finally passed Lauras Law in 2014. It took effect in November 2015, and new statistics show that in the following year, many of those referred to the city for help under the law wound up voluntarily accepting it. Just three of the 108 people who came into the system had to be ordered by a judge to receive treatment. It helps people get on their own two feet and out of their mental health crisis, said Supervisor Mark Farrell, who pushed the 2014 version. Thats the outcome we want. Lauras Law was named for Laura Wilcox, a college sophomore who was working as a receptionist at the Nevada County Department of Behavioral Health when she was slain on Jan. 10, 2001, by a man who suffered from paranoid delusions but had refused his familys pleas to get treatment. California adopted Lauras Law in 2002, but it is up to individual counties to decide whether to participate. The law allows a relative, roommate, mental health provider, or police or probation officer to petition the courts to compel outpatient treatment of a person with mental illness. The person must have been jailed or hospitalized twice in the previous five years because of mental health issues or have had a violent outburst within the previous four years. The law does not provide for a patient to be forcibly medicated. Some advocates for the homeless argued that Lauras Law would criminalize the mentally ill, and some medical experts said it wouldnt work without forced medication. After San Francisco finally adopted it, several counties followed suit, including Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo. Almost all of the 108 people referred to San Franciscos Department of Public Health in the laws first year were flagged by relatives or mental health providers, according to a new report from the health department. Forty percent had been homeless in the previous three years. Sixty percent accepted voluntary services. Of the remaining 40 percent, some didnt meet the criteria for Lauras Law, and nothing much could be done. The Public Health Department opted to take just seven cases the most severe to court. Three people settled by agreeing to treatment and the department withdrew one case, leaving just the remaining three who had to be ordered into treatment by a judge. Weve had great initial success in engaging people in voluntary services, said Angelica Almeida, director of assisted outpatient treatment for the Public Health Department. Were using the court petition as a last resort. Almeida was especially proud of one success story, involving a homeless man who had been taken to the psychiatric emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital 50 times in 2015 an average of nearly once a week. Under Lauras Law, hes averaging less than one visit per month, Almeida said, and is housed and working with a mental health provider. This is a program thats based in recovery and wellness, Almeida said. We believe people can get better, and this is one of the pathways to do that. In more good news related to homelessness in San Francisco (say what?), the citys Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing finally has the long-sought data system that will store all information related to the citys homeless. The city controller called for such a system 15 years ago, and in the incredibly slow, bureaucratic world of City Hall, its finally ready. It will replace the 15 separate data systems that city workers and nonprofits now use a frustrating setup that has meant homeless people having to tell their same harrowing story over and over again. The department put out a request for proposals in March and had a panel of experts winnow the eight responses down to three. Engineers from Google, Airbnb and Foursquare then helped the department choose the winner: a product called Clarity Human Services made by the company Bitfocus. Nonprofit workers, city employees and yours truly saw a demonstration of the product the other day, and it appeared to be an easy, intuitive system. It stores a host of information: names, birthdays, Social Security numbers, gender, race, ethnicity, photographs, where in the city homeless people have been encountered by outreach workers, the benefits they receive and more. It also shows which housing they qualify for and where they are on the waiting list. Google is giving $1 million to San Francisco to pay for tailored improvements to the Clarity system, which is used in cities around the country. The company is donating another $1 million in staff time to help train people to use it. Justin Steele, who leads Bay Area giving efforts for Google.org, the companys charitable arm, said the database will provide real-time client data to help allocate resources, make better policy decisions and more effectively address homelessness. Google and other tech companies are also working on an app for future homeless counts, so the volunteers and officials who go out on the citys streets wont have to use pencil and paper. This years count is Thursday, and we hear San Francisco is likely to start counting the homeless every year rather than every other year, which is all the federal government requires for a city to be eligible for assistance. Jeff Kositsky, director of the citys homeless department, said it would have been possible decades ago for the city to create a shared database of such information they were called index cards. But hey, better late than never. For the first time ever, weve got the technology and leadership in the city and the resources to actually build this system, Kositsky said. I dont think its going to solve homelessness, but its going to make homeless peoples ability to access services much easier and more efficient. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Tuesday and Friday. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknighsf One family slept on the kitchen floor to avoid a bedbug infestation. Another lived in an apartment with no working fire alarm, and a tenant and her 8-year-old daughter became aware a fire had broken out in the building only when smoke began to billow from the walls of their bathroom. Those incidents appeared in court documents that detail harrowing conditions endured by the tenants of a 30-unit Oakland apartment building at 1620 Fruitvale Ave., whose owners have been ordered by a judge to fix the building within 40 days or face possible contempt of court charges. Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker filed a request for relief with the Alameda County Superior Court this month and won last week when a judge issued an order against the landlords. It is critical that the City hold accountable landlords who violate tenants rights and turn a blind eye to inhumane conditions that persist at their properties, Parker said in a news release. The building is infested with cockroaches and bedbugs, lacks a functional fire alarm system in many of the units and has raw sewage problems, court documents say. Alameda County has assessed the value of the property at around $1 million. Most of the tenants are predominantly Spanish-speaking families. Since the building was purchased in 2007 by a group of landlords Jad and Suad Jaber; Najeeb and Mary Christina Shihadeh; Daoud, Hala, Fahed and Haifa Salfiti; and 20 other people unnamed in court paperwork it has been the subject of 20 complaints, according to city records. The property, built in 1930, was dogged by problems even before its purchase by the current owners. City records show several complaints of failing plumbing, moldy walls, leaky ceilings, lead paint, roach infestations and a collapsed ceiling in the period from 1997 to 2003. The landlords could face contempt charges and sanctions if they fail to fix the problems within 40 days, according to the court order. 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. The case is one of several lately being brought by the city of Oakland in an increased focus on improving livability for tenants and cracking down on practices of predatory landlords. Oaklands Tenant Protection Ordinance passed in November 2014, an effort to discourage landlords from creating a hostile environment to push out tenants and subsequently increase rents. At the time, Oaklands Rent Adjustment Program office was receiving an average of 100 to 200 complaints of landlord harassment per month, according to the city. My clients intend on complying in making the adequate expenditures and fixes that are necessary regarding the building said Jonathan Black of Weston Law Group PC, who represented the landlords. Filipa A. Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email fioannou@sfchronicle.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The stakes are high for Oakland political leaders, who are facing pressure to beef up building safety but shield a warehouse community that gives the city its hipster cachet. On Monday, the City Council tried to strike a compromise, passing a law that will ease the burden for tenants who get displaced when a landlord makes safety improvements. The law, pushed by Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, nearly doubles the relocation fee that landlords must pay tenants they evict to repair code violations. It passed by a unanimous vote, during a meeting filled with wrenching, tearful speeches. Artists said they live in fear of losing their homes if they complain about safety deficiencies. Others chided the city for failing to protect people who get pushed out of subpar buildings. Most people who are evicted, thats that, a curator named Tyler Hanson told The Chronicle. Theyre either out of the city or theyre forced into a more dangerous space. He deemed Kaplans ordinance a small but necessary step for a city that has been in crisis for a long time. Zac Unger, vice president of the Oakland Firefighters Union, said its members wholeheartedly back Kaplans legislation. Were in and out of homes every day, and we see buildings that arent safe, he said. We understand that safety and affordability dont have to be in conflict. The councils vote followed weeks of concern over the citys many non-permitted live-work spaces, which are seen both as safety hazards and important cultural incubators. These buildings became the focus of a testy debate after the Dec. 2 Ghost Ship fire, which killed 36 people at a non-permitted warehouse in Fruitvale. Steven DeCaprio, founder of the housing activist group Land Action, said he moved into a warehouse similar to the Ghost Ship because it was the only option he could afford. It was my path out of homelessness, he said. Relocation fees apply to residents of non-permitted housing as well as to people living in legal spaces that have been poorly maintained, so the new law could affect many vulnerable populations in Oakland. While the city has long harbored artists who move into derelict industrial buildings, its also home to low-income families and immigrants in the country illegally who live on the margins, in illegally converted storage sheds or garages. The current fees are $3,446 for a one-bedroom and $4,346 for a two-bedroom, plus $200 for move-in costs. The new ordinance raises payments to $6,500 for a studio or one-bedroom unit and $8,000 for a two-bedroom unit. Tenants evicted from a three-bedroom unit will be entitled to $9,875 far more than the current payment of $6,034. Those hikes irked some property owners, even though none spoke out against the ordinance Monday. Jill Broadhurst, head of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, a group that represents property owners, said in an email to The Chronicle that the fee increases do nothing to encourage landlords to convert these unconventional spaces into safe and livable ones. She noted, further, that the new law fails to distinguish between a mom-and-pop landlord and a profiteer who illegally rents a warehouse to 50 people, or a large developer who clears all the tenants out of a warehouse to turn it into high-priced lofts. Kaplan deflected those points, saying the language in the ordinance does not mean we think all property owners are the same, but rather that all tenants are faced with the current market costs of relocating. The council also grappled with an emergency ordinance brought by members of the warehouse community, which would place a moratorium on evictions from non-permitted live-work spaces and temporarily stop the city from red-tagging buildings for non-life-threatening code violations. 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. Several council members raised concerns about whether the proposed law would preempt another disaster on the scale of the Ghost Ship fire, which happened when the buildings lessee, Derick Ion Almena, had allowed a promoter to hold an illegal event there. Two property owners also challenged the ordinance, saying they had no desire to displace tenants, but that they do not want to be held liable if a commercial lessee surreptitiously converts a building into a residence. But the proposal, which was not up for a vote, mostly drew rousing support from dozens of speakers, including punk musicians, activists and Almenas wife, Micah Allison. I really dont want to be here Ive given up on the City Council, Ive given up on the city, said DeCaprio, recalling how he slept on the street or squatted in abandoned buildings between 2000 and 2006 because I refused to leave this community. Another member of Land Action, Kelly Jewett, said that Oaklands soaring rents have pushed many people herself included into housing situations that are less than traditional. What we need to focus on now is making the places where we are living safe and accessible, she said. Allison apologized for the Dec. 2 fire, saying she wished that more had been done to prevent it. She also cast herself as another victim of the affordable housing crisis in Oakland. I have kids who go to school in Fruitvale, she said. In order to keep my kids in school, I need a house. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan Donald Trump may have made his fortune in real estate, but one of his administrations first moves has upset the state and national Realtors associations. Shortly after the inauguration on Friday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended indefinitely a planned cut in the annual mortgage insurance premium on home loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. Whats not clear is whether the Trump team is signaling that it wants less government involvement in housing and mortgage markets or whether it was simply reacting to a move the Obama administration made on its way out the door. The Obama administration announced the cut Jan. 9, and it was supposed to take effect this Friday. It would have reduced the annual insurance premium on most new FHA mortgages to 0.6 percent from the current 0.85 percent. That quarter-point cut would have saved someone with a $500,000 mortgage $1,250 per year. Realtor groups immediately urged Trump to review its decision and reinstate the cut. According to our estimates, roughly 750,000 to 850,000 home buyers will face higher costs and 30,000 to 40,000 new home buyers will be left on the sidelines in 2017 without the cut, National Association of Realtors President William E. Brown said in a statement. Home buyers in California, who would have saved an average of $860 a year, will be negatively impacted more than any other state by the decision to not reduce the FHA premium, California of Realtors Association President Geoff McIntosh said in a statement. On the other hand, Ed Pinto, a resident fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, said that halting the premium cut is actually good news for first-time buyers. His research shows that when you cut the mortgage insurance premium in a sellers market where theres very little inventory, like we have in most parts of the country, it increases demand for FHA loans and increases home prices, making homes less affordable for FHA borrowers. FHA loans are popular with first-time home buyers because they require lower down payments (as little as 3.5 percent) and lower credit scores (generally down to 580) than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie require mortgage insurance on loans with less than 20 percent down, but it comes from private-sector companies. The FHA accounted for 12.1 percent of loans in the San Francisco metro area in the 12 months ending in September. That compares with 24.4 percent in California and 22.3 percent nationwide, according to the AEI/First American National Housing Market Index. FHA loans are somewhat less popular here because the maximum loan amount this year on a one-unit home is $636,150 in all Bay Area counties except Solano, where its $431,250, and Sonoma, where its $595,700. In November, the median home price across the nine-county region was $695,000 according to CoreLogic. The FHA charges borrowers a one-time mortgage insurance premium, which can be rolled into the loan, and an annual premium that is added to the monthly payment. These premiums go into the FHAs Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which absorbs losses on FHA loans. Before the housing crisis, the annual premium on FHA loans with less than 5 percent down was 0.55 percent, but steep losses forced the FHA to raise this premium as high as 1.35 percent in April 2013. Since then, the fund has improved and the premium was cut. In November, HUD announced that the fund had a capital ratio of 2.32 percent, marking the second consecutive year it had met its statutory requirement to maintain at least a 2 percent capital ratio. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes In fairness to the Trump administration, had the Obama administration felt (a premium cut) was appropriate, they should have done it back in November, said Guy Cecala, publisher of trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance. He added, however, that the Obama administration could have been responding to the half-point jump in mortgage rates that took place after Trump won the election. Edward Mills, an analyst with FBR & Co., said the move last week was less about sending a message and more about meeting disclosure timelines required under federal mortgage regulations. These rules generally require final loan documents to be sent out seven days before closing. If they had waited until Monday (to suspend the premium cut), loans set to close between the 27th and 30th probably would not be able to close. You would have had to re-disclose, he said. Mills said we wont really know where Trump will stand on real estate until we see who he chooses as FHA director. He said that two potential nominees, Mark Calabria (a director at the libertarian Cato Institute) and House Financial Services Commission staffer Clinton Jones, come from the Republican Partys conservative wing and would likely back limited federal support for housing. Two other potential nominees, Shawn Krause (a top executive with Quicken Loans) and Edward Brady (an Illinois home builder) come from the mortgage/home building world and would likely push to expand the FHAs role in the market, he said. Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender A century-old policy requiring Asian American students to attend an Oriental school is still on the books in San Francisco, a historical oversight the citys school board intends to rectify Tuesday. It will be a symbolic vote, said school board member Emily Murase, given that the present-day board is clearly committed to the education of all children, in a district now led by a Korean American superintendent and in a city with a Chinese American mayor. There was a time 110 years ago when that was not the case, said Murase, who is co-authoring the repeal with board member Stevon Cook. We have this really dark part of history in our school district, and its important to acknowledge that happened. The policy was passed in 1906, when anti-Asian sentiment was surging in California. For decades, the school district had balked at educating any student of Asian descent, but the state Supreme Court ruled it had to even if in segregated schools. The San Francisco school board took the broad hint, and mandated that students of Chinese, Korean and Japanese descent attend what was called the Oriental School in Chinatown. Photographer Unknown/The Chronicle A presidential intervention from Theodore Roosevelt forced the board to amend the policy and allow students of Japanese descent to attend school with whites. All other Asian American students were relegated to the Oriental School on Clay Street. By the late 1920s, the school, renamed Commodore Stockton, was overflowing and students were allowed to attend other nearby schools. Eventually, the forced segregation of Asian American students was relegated to history. But theres no evidence the school board ever repealed the resolution, said local historian and documentarian Ken Maley. It is expected to do so at its meeting Tuesday night. Wiping the policy off the books is important, even if it has long been moot, Maley said. Theres no hiding from the past, he said. You have to know where youve been to know where you are. The repeal is an opportunity to remind people that although open discrimination is a thing of the past, its part of San Franciscos history, said Irene Dea Collier, a former teacher at Spring Valley Elementary and a representative of the Association of Chinese Teachers. We can say its all in the past, but unless kids know about how hard the struggle was to even have the right to attend school ... they dont appreciate what they have, Collier said. Collier also believes the district can do more to spread knowledge of Asian culture among its students. She said that of the 995 titles on the elementary-school reading list, just nine are about Asian Americans and 16 are about Asia. Although the outright segregation and feeling against Chinese have kind of disappeared, I sometimes feel that were not in anybodys forefront when they think of inclusion, Collier said. Things have changed. Things have moved forward, but I think we can push it a little more. Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker Recovery crews pulled a missing womans car from Alameda Creek along Niles Canyon Road near Fremont on Tuesday, but found no sign of the driver who was believed to be inside when it plunged into the swift water over the weekend. The driver, identified by her mother as 18-year-old Jayda Jenkins, is considered missing. Search-and-rescue crews continued to scour the river Tuesday afternoon for any sign of the Tracy woman. The plan is to continue the search, Jenkins mother, Danielle, told reporters gathered at the scene Tuesday. We are still dealing with the fact that we do not have our daughter, sister and our child home. Crews from multiple agencies worked throughout the day to recover Jenkins Honda Accord that was spotted upside down and under water by family members the day before. The car ended up in the creek after Jenkins crossed the double-yellow line on Niles Canyon Road south of Palomares Road at 10:45 a.m. Saturday and slammed head-on into another vehicle, sending her car careening down an embankment into the creek where it disappeared, California Highway Patrol officials said. Days of heavy rain made Alameda Creek too dangerous for divers on Monday. But state water resource officials worked with the Alameda County Sheriffs Office to temporarily reduce the flow into the creek so teams could reach the car Tuesday and pull it out. CHP officers closed Niles Canyon Road between Fremont and Sunol for several hours while crews recovered the car. The drivers seat belt was unfastened and several of the cars windows had been broken, but there was no sign of Jenkins in the vehicle, said Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the sheriffs office. I cant tell you how disappointed we are, he said. Were throwing every resource at this situation so that we can find Jayda. Officials from multiple agencies were using drones, helicopters and airplanes to search the creek. Meanwhile, teams on the ground probed the waters from the point of the wreck to where the water dumps into San Francisco Bay. Water resource officials planned to reopen spillways to relieve two reservoirs that were nearing capacity on Tuesday afternoon. The move will increase the flow in the creek, and make the search more challenging. Even though things seemed bleak, Jenkins mother was holding out hope they would still find her daughter alive. Im praying that my child is coming home, she said. Until I find her, she is coming home. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky A 42-year-old ski patrol worker was killed on Tuesday morning while doing avalanche control on a ridge above Squaw Valley, resort officials said. Joe Zuiches, an Olympic Valley resident and member of the Squaw Valley ski patrol since 2012, died around 8:35 a.m. at the top of Gold Coast Ridge. McCann and R/GA Hold Two of the Three Highest Industry Rankings MullenLowe Group, Momentum and Weber Shandwick Named A-List "Standouts" The Martin Agency and McCann NY also Recognized, as are Deutsch and Hill Holliday New York, NY - January 24, 2017 - Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) announced today that McCann and R/GA were named #2 and #3, respectively, on the Ad Age Agency A-List, the annual ranking of the industry's ten most innovative and creative agencies. This makes IPG the only holding company to have multiple agencies on the prestigious list. Additionally, MullenLowe Group, Momentum and Weber Shandwick were all named Agency A-List "Standouts" and The Martin Agency and McCann New York were named "Creativity Innovators." Additional IPG agencies recognized by Ad Age include Hill Holliday, named an "Agency to Watch," and Deutsch LA, honored as a "Creativity Innovator Standout." "In today's communications environment, getting people to listen and engage is harder than ever before," commented Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO, Interpublic. "Whether you are a marketer or a provider of marketing services, compelling content is absolutely vital for success. The Ad Age A-List confirms just how well-positioned Interpublic agencies are in this regard," Roth continued. The complete list of IPG agencies included in the Ad Age A-List includes: McCann, A-List R/GA, A-List MullenLowe Group, Momentum and Weber Shandwick, A-List Standouts The Martin Agency and McCann New York, Creativity Innovators Hill Holliday, Agency to Watch Deutsch LA, Creativity Innovator Standout Looking at some of the specific accomplishments across these best-in-class agencies: McCann and R/GA had stellar years, which led them to the #2 and #3 positions in the 2017 ranking. Ad Age noted that McCann produced top work for global clients including Lockheed Martin, Chevrolet and MasterCard. McCann is the only large global network among the Top 5. R/GA's breadth of talent, work for clients, and the successful launch of its consulting and ventures practices resulted in record growth for the agency year this year. MullenLowe Group, Momentum and Weber Shandwick were all named Agency A-List Standouts. Ad Age highlighted MullenLowe's sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth and notable business wins, including Hyatt and Western Union. On the heels of one of its most successful years, Momentum is the first brand experience agency to be named to the list. Weber Shandwick, while known for its standout PR practice, has worked to develop other areas of expertise including digital, social and content marketing, which together helped lock its place on the list. # # # About Interpublic Interpublic is one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Major global brands include BPN, CRAFT, FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding), FutureBrand, Golin, Huge, Initiative, Jack Morton Worldwide, MAGNA, McCann, Momentum, MRM//McCann, MullenLowe Group, Octagon, R/GA, UM and Weber Shandwick. Other leading brands include Avrett Free Ginsberg, Campbell Ewald, Carmichael Lynch, Deutsch, Hill Holliday, ID Media and The Martin Agency. For more information, please visit www.interpublic.com. # # # Contact Information Tom Cunningham (Press) (212) 704-1326 Jerry Leshne (Analysts, Investors) (212) 704-1439 On his fourth day in office, President Trump signed an executive order to end the United States participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, putting the world on notice that U.S. economic partnerships will be subject to a period of change and renegotiation. The eventual outcome of this period remains to be seen. But the first winner of the U.S. exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not American businesses or workers. Its China. Its unfortunate that the TPP was the subject of so much misplaced resentment about trade and wages. The trade pact, which partnered the U.S. with multiple Pacific Rim countries representing about 13.5 percent of the global economy, would have reduced trade barriers and opened markets for American companies. But the pact would have also strengthened the U.S. leadership position in Asia. In the long term, it would have also protected our workers. That role will now go to China. While the U.S. is retreating into damaging policies of economic protectionism, China is eagerly ramping up its globalization efforts. In an address to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping compared protectionism to locking oneself in a dark room. Economic history has proved Xi right. Protectionism and the trade wars and tariffs that come with it hurt American workers. Meanwhile, China is advocating for a 16-nation pact with the Asian region that would exclude the U.S., as well as many of the environmental and labor protections that former President Barack Obama negotiated with the TPP. Given the snub they just experienced from the U.S., its hard to imagine why at least some of our erstwhile Asian partners wouldnt agree to sign on. It couldve been the U.S. Instead, weve practically invited China to reshape the region. Even before Trump won the election, the partnership was struggling in Congress. The U.S. citizenry is in an anti-trade mood, thanks to stagnant wages and the failure of American companies to produce jobs that would make up for the disappearance of manufacturing from the Rust Belt. A new president who appreciated the overall benefits of free trade for Americans could have made a strong case for the partnership. But Trump doesnt seem to understand that America is great when Americans enjoy the consumer and business benefits of free markets. Gov. Jerry Brown will give his State of the State address Tuesday. In that speech, I hope the governor will outline a plan for working constructively with the federal government. While there are differences of opinion between federal and state officials, we are united in our desire to achieve the best outcomes for our constituents. As such, I hope we can brush aside any lingering emotions from the 2016 campaign and focus on the future. Simply put, working well with Washington is good for California. The governors speech presents a platform for him to continue making the case for fiscal prudence. And it is fiscally prudent to have a good working relationship with Washington. After all, more than $100 billion of the governors recently released budget is from federal funds. This is nearly 40 percent of our state budget. At a time when our state is facing deficits, we must ensure we get back from Washington every dollar we can. We can also put our state in a position to help improve critical policies. As Congress is considering health care reform, California must take advantage of the opportunity to help deliver more affordable and higher-quality health care. Families in our state are struggling with the increasingly high cost of insurance. Covered California premiums rose on average by double digits just this past year. There is also the ability to help improve our Medi-Cal system for the 11.3 million Californians who rely on this safety net. The need for improved state transportation infrastructure is another reason to have a good working relationship with Washington. The federal government supplies 44 percent of our states transportation budget. In President Trumps inaugural speech, he highlighted the need to build roads, highways and bridges all across our wonderful nation. Imagine how important this relationship will become if the federal government moves forward with that infrastructure plan. The outcome could be improved roads and highways here, which means less traffic and more time for Californians to spend at home with their families. This not only improves quality of life and commuting costs, but also our air quality with less pollution from cars idling in traffic jams. Gov. Brown recently responded to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys request for input on health care reform and expressed his willingness to work together. I hope these words lead to action and I have offered to help in working with Republican federal lawmakers in Washington. In the end, a good working relationship with Washington will provide Californians a better future. Poor Scott Fitzgerald. Thats how a character in Ernest Hemingways The Snows of Kilimanjaro described the author of The Great Gatsby. It had to do with something Fitzgerald wrote about rich people, but the statement could have been applied to nearly every film or television adaptation of the works and lives of Fitzgerald and his Alabama-born wife, Zelda. No one ever gets it right, but few get it as painfully wrong as the creators of Z: The Beginning of Everything, a new Amazon series that has almost nothing to recommend it and is available for streaming on Friday, Jan. 27. Christina Ricci plays Zelda, or, more accurately, a character named Zelda Sayre who shares her name and some basic biography with the actual woman F. Scott Fitzgerald married in 1920. After meeting Zelda in 1918, Fitzgerald determined he was going to marry her, but she kept him dangling for a while. At the time, he was on the rebound from the loss of his first great love, a young woman named Ginevra King, who came from a well-off family. The breakup left Fitzgerald embittered, and fed his fundamental feeling of inferiority and insecurity. But King not only served as the inspiration for several Fitzgerald heroines, including Gatsbys Daisy Buchanan, she was in the authors mind when he wrote that Poor boys shouldnt think of marrying rich girls. None of this is in the Amazon series, but the shows creators, Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, have done some homework. Like high school students wanting to prove they read the subject of a book report, they lightly pepper their script with factual details about the Fitzgeralds. There may, however, be no context for the details, which renders them rather pointless. For example, after Scott (David Hoflin) and Zelda are married, he invites a number of people up to their suite at the Biltmore, including pals from his days at Princeton. Theres a reference to the Triangle Club, of which Fitzgerald was a member, and a passing remark about a couple of Princeton linebackers being attracted to him. It would have been helpful to know that the Triangle Club is famous for featuring a chorus line of men in drag. Prestwich and Yorkin have also read that after Zelda died in a 1948 fire at the North Carolina mental hospital where she was living, a womans slipper found in the ashes was identified as having belonged to her. The creators also know that Fitzgeralds first novel was originally titled The Romantic Egoist and that, renamed This Side of Paradise, it received strong reviews, with the notable exception of a savage review from Heywood Broun. Good for them. Z is supposed to be the Fitzgeralds from Zeldas point of view and is based on the book Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, by Therese Fowler. Because its based on a novel, the series has a right to take some license. That doesnt excuse the writers for failing to create credible characters. Hoflins Fitzgerald is harmlessly one-dimensional. Zelda was more than just headstrong and slightly madcap, but Zs Zelda is all over the map. Shes a pouting child and then a pouting wife. Shes awed by her new surroundings when she travels to New York to get married, and comes across as a subservient child-bride, until she strips completely naked and walks into the post-wedding bash to tell the drunken hangers-on to vamoose. Its possible that an acceptable performance could have patched over some of the cavernous inconsistencies in Zeldas characterization, but Riccis performance is abominable. She shows no grasp of the character, even as written, seeing her as a flighty Southern belle out of some old magnolias-and-julep melodrama. Prestwich is quoted in the press materials for Z as saying Zeldas story has never been told on the screen before, but thats not true. Blythe Danner played Zelda to Richard Chamberlains Scott in the 1974 TV film The Last of the Belles. It wasnt very good, but she was better than Ricci. It is true that Zeldas story has never been adequately told, however, except perhaps by the woman herself in her one novel, Save Me the Waltz. After he died in 1940, F. Scott Fitzgerald was buried in Rockville Union Cemetery in Maryland. He was denied burial in a Catholic cemetery because his books had been proscribed by the Catholic Church. Zelda was interred there as well after her death. At the urging of their daughter, Scottie, Scott and Zelda were reinterred in 1975 across the street in the small graveyard of St. Marys Catholic Church. It is ironic that in the last phase of his life, Fitzgerald toiled as a Hollywood screenwriter. He longed to see his name on the screen when the credits rolled, but only received a single screen credit in all his time in Hollywood. Since his death, though, his name has popped up with dismaying regularity on large and small screens, in one off-the-mark project after another. Scott and Zelda were dug up once. Literature, and the Fitzgeralds reputations, would be far better served if they were never dug up again. David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle and co-host of The Do List every Friday morning at 6:22 and 8:22 on KQED FM, 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV Z: The Beginning of Everything: Dramatic series. Season one available Friday, Jan. 27, on Amazon. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It may seem hard to believe now, but the Nazi Party once held offices in San Francisco. The Whittier Mansion, located on Jackson Street at Laguna Street, was once home to the Nazi consulate. Fritz Wiedemann, once a top aide to Adolf Hitler, lived in the house until shortly before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, when he fled the country. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from Jan. 30, 1950, the original owner's daughter, Mrs. W.B. Weir, sold the house to the Nazi government in April 1941 for $44,000. "A black limousine, once the property of Adolph Hitler, drew up at the curb and a dapper, heavy-browed man named Fritz Wiedemann took over the house," read the article. The German Consul General set up desks and safes, barred doors and piled file cabinets in the old dining room, and moved his consular staff into suites of rooms on the second floor. Wiedemann, his wife and children took up residence on the third floor. In July of 1941, Wiedemann was ordered to leave San Francisco before the middle of the month. He booked passage east on the Japanese liner, Yawata Maru. But as the ship sailed through the Golden Gate on July 14 Wiedemann was still in the house on Jackson Street, awaiting a guarantee of safe conduct from the British. The next day, the limousine took Wiedemann and his family and consular staff to the San Francisco Airport. There they boarded chartered planes and took off for New York, where the consular party sailed for his Nazi homeland via Portugal. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government seized the mansion and everything left inside. The mansion remained bolted shut during the war years. In 1947 it was turned over to the Attorney General, who put it up for sale. The 1950 article announced the sale of the contents in an auction. The headline read, "A Treat for Souvenir Hunters. German Consulate Up for Auction." In an earlier San Francisco Chronicle article, dated Dec. 11, 1937, Wiedemann was interviewed during a visit to the city. The headline read "Hitler's War Captain in S.F., Tells of Association in New Regime." Wiedemann was dressed in "pin-striped tailored flannel, brown suede shoes, fancy tab collar, blue and red silk handkerchief and monocle." The article stated "this Beau Brummel, although he looked right out of Hollywood, tall, well knit, handsome, is no mere fashion plate. He probably knows more about Adolf Hitler than any man living." This was due to the fact that "Captain Fritz Wiedemann is top personal aid in the chancellery household, a super private secretary who handles all Der Reichsfuehrer's most confidential matters, a longtime friend of the German leader." Wiedemann was Hitler's superior during World War I, barking orders. Hitler addressed him as sir. When World War I ended, Wiedemann retired to his Bavarian farm in the foothills of the Alps. He "watched in amazement the development of the Nazi movement and the young soldier he knew so well," read the 1937 article. The video below was filmed in San Francisco on March 07, 1941. Wiedemann stated that he took no part in Nazi activities during that time, and never once heard from Hitler. But, in 1933, when Hitler rose to chancellorship, a messenger "appeared straight from Der Fuehrer, requesting Captain Wiedemann's presence in Berlin." He was one of the soldiers Hitler remembered from the war days, according to Wiedemann's account. Wiedemann went to Berlin immediately, and had "been there ever since in a position of trust." During the interview in San Francisco, Rudolph Hubner asked Wiedemann about the Hitler household through an interpreter. Wiedemann stated that "Der Fuehrer likes American movies, has seen the film, 'San Francisco' three times, and likes Shirley Temple best of all. His hobby is architecture, and on this pleasure visit to America, Captain Wiedman is collecting pictures and data of American architecture and engineering achievements for him." Captain Wiedemann stated that "He thinks Der Fuehrer, should he ever come to America, would be tremendously impressed, particularly with technological achievements." Wiedemann never regained his status with Hitler. The mansion itself is not on the National Register of Historic Places. Bob Bragman is a producer for SFGATE. His writing reflects his love of the Bay Area, in addition to his passion for vintage pop culture, ephemera and vernacular photographs. To see more of his content, please click here. One family slept on the kitchen floor to avoid a bedbug infestation. Another lived in an apartment with no working fire alarm, and a tenant and her 8-year-old daughter became aware a fire had broken out in the building only when smoke began to billow from the walls of their bathroom. Those incidents appeared in court documents that detail harrowing conditions endured by the tenants of a 30-unit Oakland apartment building at 1620 Fruitvale Ave., whose owners have been ordered by a judge to fix the building within 40 days or face possible contempt of court charges. Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker filed a request for relief with the Alameda County Superior Court this month and won last week when a judge issued an order against the landlords. It is critical that the City hold accountable landlords who violate tenants rights and turn a blind eye to inhumane conditions that persist at their properties, Parker said in a news release. The building is infested with cockroaches and bedbugs, lacks a functional fire alarm system in many of the units and has raw sewage problems, court documents say. Alameda County has assessed the value of the property at around $1 million. Most of the tenants are predominantly Spanish-speaking families. Since the building was purchased in 2007 by a group of landlords Jad and Suad Jaber; Najeeb and Mary Christina Shihadeh; Daoud, Hala, Fahed and Haifa Salfiti; and 20 other people unnamed in court paperwork it has been the subject of 20 complaints, according to city records. The property, built in 1930, was dogged by problems even before its purchase by the current owners. City records show several complaints of failing plumbing, moldy walls, leaky ceilings, lead paint, roach infestations and a collapsed ceiling in the period from 1997 to 2003. The landlords could face contempt charges and sanctions if they fail to fix the problems within 40 days, according to the court order. The case is one of several lately being brought by the city of Oakland in an increased focus on improving livability for tenants and cracking down on practices of predatory landlords. Oaklands Tenant Protection Ordinance passed in November 2014, an effort to discourage landlords from creating a hostile environment to push out tenants and subsequently increase rents. At the time, Oaklands Rent Adjustment Program office was receiving an average of 100 to 200 complaints of landlord harassment per month, according to the city. My clients intend on complying in making the adequate expenditures and fixes that are necessary regarding the building said Jonathan Black of Weston Law Group PC, who represented the landlords. Filipa A. Ioannou is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email fioannou@sfchronicle.com A San Bruno woman who lost her 20-year-old daughter in the deadly explosion of a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. pipeline in September 2010 urged a federal judge Monday to punish PG&E for criminal violations of safety laws and lamented that only the company and not its executives would be penalized. Unfortunately, not one of the CEOs will see the inside of a jail cell, Rene Morales said in tearful testimony at PG&Es sentencing hearing for six felony convictions. They didnt take public safety first. After hearing from witnesses and opposing lawyers, U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson postponed a sentencing decision on PG&E until Thursday. But he said he intended to impose the maximum fine allowed by law, $3 million, and to appoint a monitor to supervise the utilitys compliance with safety rules, a condition the company has accepted. A jury in San Francisco convicted Californias largest public utility in August of five felony charges of failing to adequately inspect and maintain its aging gas lines, and a sixth charge of obstructing the federal investigation of the September 2010 explosion and fire. No company executives were charged with crimes. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Noah Berger/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Jeff Chiu/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Paul Chinn/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 5 of 5 PG&Es criminal conduct in this case was quite serious and, if continued, makes such incidents more likely in the future, Henderson said in explaining his decision to fine the company $500,000 per violation and impose the maximum period of probation, five years. He said he was also inclined to require the company, as a condition of probation, to mention its criminal convictions in future advertisements proclaiming its devotion to safety. The explosion and fire on Sept. 9, 2010, destroyed 38 homes in San Brunos Crestmoor neighborhood, killing eight people and injuring 58. The cause was a defective seam weld in a PG&E pipeline, installed a half century earlier, that company records had described as seamless. Jessica Morales, who was studying to be a fashion journalist, was watching a football game at her boyfriends home that night and was caught in the flames. Her boyfriend, Joseph Ruigomez, had stepped outside the home, then rushed back to try to save her but was severely burned. He spent more than a month in a coma but survived. We were sisters at heart, Rene Morales told the judge, wiping her eyes with a tissue. She remembered her daughters last words to her before leaving for Ruigomezs home: Dont worry, Mom. I promise Ill be back by 9. I wish I hadnt let her out the door, she said. Also testifying was Sue Bullis, who lost her husband, Greg Bullis, 50, his 17-year-old son, William, and Greg Bullis 82-year-old mother, Lavonne. My life changed forever ... due to the negligence of the greedy company, Sue Bullis said. I truly did not want to live, she said. After she sued the company, she said, its lawyers were cruel and insensitive ... to the victims. Julie Kane, hired by PG&E in 2015 as its chief ethics and compliance officer, gave a brief statement at the hearing saying the company was profoundly sorry to the victims and their families and will remain forever committed to taking action to meet the high safety standards that our customers, and we, demand and respect. While PG&E contended the explosion was unforeseeable, current and former employees testified during the six-week trial that the company had deliberately chosen the least expensive inspection method for its lines, knowing it could not detect internal flaws. Jurors also found that PG&E had tried to interfere with the federal investigation by covering up its practice of pumping natural gas through the lines at pressures up to 10 percent higher than those allowed by federal law. The jury acquitted PG&E of six charges of knowingly keeping defective records of pipeline tests and repairs. Prosecutors had initially sought a fine of up to $562 million, which they said was twice the amount PG&E had saved by cutting safety programs. But they lowered their request to $3 million, the maximum criminal penalty provided by law, after Henderson barred much of the evidence they had planned to use to prove illegal cost-cutting. The state Public Utilities Commission has already fined PG&E a record $1.6 billion for the explosion, an amount charged to shareholders rather than to customers. The appointment of a monitor to oversee PG&Es compliance was initially proposed by the city of San Bruno, a day after the jury verdict, and later endorsed by federal prosecutors. Henderson said Monday that PG&E had accepted the idea, but he did not say whether the monitor would have any authority over the companys operations, information that presumably will be revealed at Thursdays sentencing. The judge said he was unlikely to go along with prosecutors request for a PG&E advertising campaign that would focus on the criminal case. But he said hes inclined to order, as part of the companys sentence, that advertising touting PG&Es commitment to safety must include its criminal convictions, that it was found liable for knowingly and willfully violating safety laws. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Some 100,000 people descended on the streets of Oakland to protest over the weekend, but no storefronts were shattered, and no assaults were reported, and no trashcan fires were lit. For downtown Oaklands business-owners, many of them mom-and-pop operations, Saturdays daytime Womens March brought a welcome respite from the looters and self-described anarchists who have a habit of disrupting otherwise peaceful protests, smashing the same storefronts over and over, spraying graffiti on walls used to the treatment. Even during Fridays rowdier protest of President Trumps inauguration in which a small, but determined band of protesters clashed on occasion with police by nightfall long after the days larger, and peaceful, march had subsided, resulting in three arrests the damage was minimal. Two of the arrests were for minor vandalism, and the third for obstructing a police officer, said Officer Marco Marquez, a spokesman for the Oakland Police Department. Owners of businesses on and near Broadway near Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, which abuts Oaklands City Hall, said they did lose money with wary would-be customers avoiding the scene entirely. But the toll often tends to be worse. On Friday night, Oakland Police officers wearing riot gear prevented a group of about 50 vocal protesters from marching down Broadway a crackdown that Steve Snider, executive directors of the Downtown Oakland Association, credited with saving storefronts that have been smashed one too many times before. I think were going in the right direction Snider said. Oaklands always going to be the center of this protest activity, and most of us want it to be without vandalism or violence. Snider and other business owners are quick to mention that they support the rights and more often than not, the causes of marchers. Theyre just asking for more enforcement on those who use the crowds as cover for mayhem. Maria Alderete, the owner of Lukas Taproom & Lounge at West Grand Avenue and Broadway, had braced herself for the weekend. In the past, dating back at least to the protests that roiled Oakland following the shooting by police of Oscar Grant in 2009, her bar has had at least five windows bashed in, she said. And one of her managers was assaulted in one of the more recent election protests, she said. This time around, on Friday, she said she thought police did a really good job of containing the crowd, adding that it took a letter she sent before the weekend to Mayor Libby Schaaf and incoming Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick calling downtown businesses the local punching bag. City officials worked with downtown businesses especially this weekend to help them prepare for the protests, Alderete said, suggesting they haul in flower pots that could be used as projectiles, as well as other preemptive measures. Saturday, however, there was no need for any of it, as thousands of people filled Oaklands streets with pink and chants protecting womens rights. Though the nationally coordinated march, with so-called sister marches in San Francisco and all over the country, wasnt technically a repudiation of President Trump, marchers in Oakland made the connection on their own, wielding signs that said Dump Trump. Alderete and Snider said they both joined in Saturdays march, calling it an example of how to protest the right way, adding that its daytime scheduling was a plus for warding off would-be dissidents lurking in the crowd. The whole dinner-and-a-riot concept just doesnt work, Alderete said, adding that the Womens March certainly did work. Though Alderete said she lost about 45 percent of her normal Friday night revenue, things evened out with Saturdays swell in business from peaceful protesters. That normally doesnt happen, she said. She was lucky, she said. Well, I guess the next protest is tax day, Alderete said. So, well see. Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com El Dorado Hills, CA , Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- THINCI Inc. today announced that its co-founder and CEO, Dinakar C. Munagala, will present Machine Learning & Vision Processing for Automotive and Emerging Applications, during the Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit 2017, being held January 25-27 in Sonoma, Calif. WHAT: GCVI Summit 2017 will provide corporate venture capitalists (CVCs), corporate strategy executives, C-level innovation officers and corporate development executives with ways to maximize innovation business practices and drive strategic investment opportunities. Attendees will have access to the worlds most active CVC executives and innovation officers through networking events, un-panels, and program sessions. WHO: Dinakar C. Munagala, Co-founder and CEO, formed THINCI Inc. to build a highly efficient, multi-core, multi-threaded, deep learning and vision processor that will uniquely enable deep learning and visual processing. He assembled a highly competent and synergistic team, and succeeded in building a company from the ground up through final product development and key customer design wins. WHEN: The GCVI Summit 2017 takes place over two days: * Wednesday January 25th, 2017, from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm * Thursday January 26th, 2017, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm WHERE: The GCVI Summit 2017 will be held at The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, which is about an hour's drive from San Francisco International Airport. For more information about the panel or the conference, visit http://www.gcvisummit.com/. About THINCI Inc. THINCI Inc. is a venture-backed, deep-learning vision processing start-up, based in El Dorado Hills, California, with teams in California and Hyderabad, India. The company was founded by a highly skilled management team with years of experience in massively parallel processing architectures and the software structures to execute on these computing engines. The company is currently in the final phase of producing its deep learning and vision processing solution, comprising silicon and software that can be integrated into a wide range of applications. These include autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems in automotive; intelligent agents for personal electronics that enhance photos and video, explain the real-world elements surrounding the user, protect the user from potential danger, and more; smart home automation systems that detect and prevent hazards, intelligently manages home energy consumption, and provides the optimum indoor climate. The companys investors comprise CVCs DENSO Corp. and Magna International, in addition to ten individual investors, including Dado Banatao, Managing Partner of Tallwood Venture Capital and David Perlmutter, former Chief Product Officer at Intel Corp. For more information visit http://www.thinci.com/ Hashtag this #AlternativeFact There are many variations, such as #AlternativeFacts or #SpicerFacts, but the gist is the same: Tweeters love ridiculing White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer over falsely saying that President Trumps inauguration crowds were the biggest ever, and Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway for describing Spicers misstatements as alternative facts rather than, say, bald-faced lies. There are tons of fun ones to choose from, including Courtney Love Cobain saying that shes never done drugs nor smoked in public. Another portrayed Conway as Propaganda Barbie in her red, white and blue inauguration outfit, with the slogan, Telling the truth is HARD! Be careful, though: The box says, Alternative Facts Sold Separately. Number of the day $917 billion That the estimated LGBT buying power as of 2015 in the United States, according to a fresh report from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. The trade group estimates that LGBT businesses contribute more than $1.7 trillion to the U.S. economy and have created over 33,000 jobs. Doh! Asking whether Melania Trump is the first sexy first lady might have gotten the Philadelphia Inquirer a lot of clicks on Sunday, but the question also came with a huge helping of Internet blowback. The Billy Penn blog reported the Inquirer received critical tweets from such people as actress Holly Robinson Peete and state Rep. Jordan Harris. A couple of hours later, the Inquirer tweeted an apology: The headline and tweet were inappropriate. Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing Suds away A team of engineering students at UC San Diego wants to brew beer on the moon. We thought we could combine our hobby with the competition by focusing on the viability of yeast in outer space, team member Neeki Ashari told Mashable. The students are tagging on to TeamIndus, which is competing for the $30 million Google Lunar Xprize by launching a spacecraft onto the moon. This would not be a first for extraterrestrial alcohol, however: NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin once took communion on the moons surface, including some wine. Make it so You may have heard of Amazons Star Trek-like Echo, whose Alexa voice assistant can play music, report the weather, and do other simple tasks. Well, the technological homage just got a lot more explicit, according to the Verge . You can now make Computer the word that wakes up Alexa, instead of Amazon, Alexa, or Echo. Put on your best Jean-Luc Picard voice and start issuing orders, captain. Number of the day $100 million Thats how much real estate developer John Sobrato and his wife Susan have given to Santa Clara University. The Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation will promote undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. John Sobrato graduated from Santa Clara in 1960. Their gift is the largest in the universitys history. Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: @techbriefing This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The U.S. Justice Department asked a judge Monday to throw out a lawsuit from Microsoft and keep a law that prohibits technology companies from telling customers when the government demands their electronic data. Microsoft says its customers have a constitutional right to know when the government collects their private information during criminal investigations. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act compels companies to divulge the data and keep the move secret, violating the companys First Amendment right to speak with its customers, according to its complaint filed last year. People need to get notice when the government comes knocking at the door to seize all that stuff that historically would have been stored in a file cabinet, Microsoft lawyer Stephen Rummage told U.S. District Judge James Robart. Companies including Apple, Twitter and Amazon as well as media outlets such as the Associated Press, the Seattle Times and Washington Post filed court briefs supporting Microsoft. In its filing, Apple said it received more than 1,000 secret warrants from law enforcement agencies for iCloud data during the last six months of 2015. Microsoft said the government made 2,576 demands for data over an 18-month period before April 2016, the most recent numbers available, and about 68 percent of those had no end date. Eric Soskin, a Justice Department lawyer, said the federal government has an interest in keeping criminal investigations confidential and customers often eventually learn about the data demands when charges are filed. Jennie Kneedler, another government lawyer, told the judge that Microsoft does not have the legal standing to argue for its customers Fourth Amendment rights, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. Only the customers can challenge perceived violations of those rights, she said. That creates a catch-22, Rummage said. The company is not allowed to tell customers about the warrants, so they cant file objections. Those people cant protect their rights, he said. Robart said he would issue a ruling later, but that the law troubles him. Im disturbed by the idea that you can have an invasion of rights or privacy without ever disclosing it, he said. Microsoft customers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content they have stored. Consumers Watchdog boss gets support Attorneys general from 17 states are seeking to defend the U.S. consumer watchdog agency in court amid speculation that President Trump may fire its director, Richard Cordray. The attorneys general, all Democrats, said in a court filing Monday they have a vital interest in defending an independent and effective Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and are seeking to intervene in a case over whether its structure is legal. They said its urgent for them to intervene because Trump as a candidate expressed opposition to the 2010 law that created the CFPB while tightening regulation of the financial industry. A federal appeals court ruled in October that the agencys structure violates the Constitutions separation of powers by limiting the presidents ability to remove the agencys director. That ruling is being appealed. After Trump won election, some Republican lawmakers urged him to fire Cordray, an Obama appointee whose five-year term doesnt end until next year. Citigroup settles Citigroup agreed to pay $28.8 million to settle allegations by U.S. regulators that two of the banks mortgage-servicing units misled borrowers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said. The company failed to inform consumers of options to avoid foreclosure and misled them about the impact of postponing payment deadlines on their ability to pay down debt, the CFPB said Monday. Philadelphia Bosses cant ask pay history Philadelphia is banning employers from asking potential hires to provide their salary history, a move supporters say is a step toward closing the wage gap between men and women. Comcast has vowed to challenge the measure in court, and the citys Chamber of Commerce is backing the cable giant. They say the law goes too far in dictating how employers can interact with potential workers. Advocates contend that since women have historically been paid less than men, the practice of asking for a salary history can perpetuate a cycle of lower salaries. Communications FCC has a quick shift in power President Trump has picked a fierce critic of the Obama-era net neutrality rules to be chief regulator of the Federal Communications Commission. Ajit Pai had been one of the two Republicans on a five-member panel that regulates the countrys communications infrastructure, including TV, phone and Internet service. There are currently just three members on the panel. The Republicans new majority is expected to help them roll back pro-consumer policies that upset many phone and cable industry groups. Chronicle News Services A federal judge ruled on Monday that a $37 billion merger between health insurance providers Aetna and Humana should not be consummated on antitrust grounds, siding with the Justice Department, which had been seeking to block the deal. The court mostly agrees with the governments argument that the deal would lessen competition for Medicare Advantage plans and health insurance sold on public exchanges, Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in the ruling. Bates disagreed with Aetnas rebuttal, arguing that regulation would be unable to prevent the combined firm from raising prices or reducing benefits. He said that neither new competitors nor divestitures would be enough to attenuate the concentration in the industry from such a deal. An Aetna spokesman said the company is reviewing the opinion and giving serious consideration to an appeal. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Ed Reinke/Associated Press Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jessica Hill/Associated Press Show More Show Less 3 of 3 In California, the ruling puts in jeopardy a $50 million investment that Aetna had agreed to make to improve health infrastructure and facilities in the state, including building out a facility in Fresno. Those terms were laid out in a 2016 agreement between Aetna and state insurance regulators at the California Department of Managed Health Care, which approved the merger as long as Aetna met those conditions. As part of the agreement, Aetna also said it would keep future premium rate increases to a minimum. Those steps will not take effect if the merger is not completed, said a spokesman for the Department of Managed Health Care. The department is one of two state agencies that regulate health insurance. The other, the Department of Insurance, has opposed the merger, arguing it would lessen competition among insurers and lead to higher prices for consumers. Representatives for both Humana and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The ruling came six months after the Justice Department sued to block the deal, along with a similar one between health insurance providers Cigna and Anthem. Another judge, Amy Berman Jackson, has yet to issue a ruling on Cigna and Anthem, a merger that had been seen as the riskier transaction because the two companies have more overlap nationally. Over the last few years, the Obama administration became more aggressive in blocking deals, especially in the health care industry. The government has blocked mergers among large hospital systems and contributed to dismantling the $152 billion deal between Pfizer and Allergan for tax resources. Since the health insurer deals were announced in the summer of 2015, however, the future for the industry has become more uncertain. President Trump during his first few days in office has signed an executive order urging government agencies to lessen the regulatory burden of the Affordable Care Act. In doing so, he continued to focus on his campaign promise to repeal and replace the controversial law, making it unclear what that means exactly for health insurance companies. One of the driving factors behind the flurry of health insurance mergers was so that the companies could remain efficient in light of the law. Regardless of what happens with the health care law, the judge did not believe the combination would help a large portion of Americans. The court is unpersuaded that the efficiencies generated by the merger will be sufficient to mitigate the anticompetitive effects for consumers in the challenged markets, Bates wrote. San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report. Leslie Picker and Reed Abelson are New York Times writers. GRIFFIN, Ga. A judge has dismissed claims against Snapchat that blamed the companys speed filter for a highway crash. The judge said the Communications Decency Act provides the social media company with immunity. Snapchat attorney Mark Trigg said Monday in an email that the the judges ruling in this case is precedent setting for the entire mobile app and product industry. A loss for Snapchat would have been dangerous, opening a floodgate of lawsuits for everyone from cell phone manufacturers to billboard advertisers to makeup brands virtually anyone that can potentially cause a distraction from driving. Snapchats win instead diverts blame from these companies and requires responsible use of these technologies by the driver, Trigg wrote. Wentworth and Karen Maynard sued Snapchat and the driver, Christal McGee, in April, saying McGee was trying to reach 100 mph on a highway south of Atlanta when her car hit theirs, sending it across the left lane and into an embankment. The collision in September 2015 left Wentworth Maynard with brain damage. The dismissal by Spalding County State Court Judge Josh Thacker on Friday leaves pending the claims against McGee, who allegedly hit them while using a Snapchat filter that puts the rate at which a vehicle is traveling over an image. We disagree with the judges ruling that the Communications Decency Act provides Snapchat with complete immunity for its negligent actions, Naveen Ramachandrappa, a lawyer for the Maynards, wrote in an email. He added that they are considering an appeal. The judge found that the claims against Snapchat were barred by the immunity clause of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which says, No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. A key question is whether Snapchat had a legal duty because Wentworths injury was predictable, given that other users are alleged to have had wrecks while using the speed filter, and therefore should have removed or restricted access to the filter once it found out about those crashes, the judge wrote. That duty would stem from Snapchats status as a publisher, and the law grants immunity on those grounds, the judge wrote. The murder convictions of a Fishermans Wharf shopkeeper who fatally shot two neighboring merchants in 2011 must be reconsidered because of evidence that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, a state appeals court has ruled. Hong Ri Wu, then 59, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2014 for killing Qiong Han Chu and Fen Ping Ou, both 30, in the victims Jefferson Street shop because he was angry with them for selling the same cut-rate purses he was trying to sell. A defense lawyer also said the victims had bullied Wu. Wu made some delusional statements in jail and went on a hunger strike, but a court-appointed psychiatrist concluded that Wu was trying to manipulate the system. The psychiatrist said he was competent to assist his lawyers and go to trial and, in 2012, Superior Court Judge Donald Sullivan agreed. The case was delayed for nearly two years, however, by Wus refusal to cooperate with the legal system or his jailers and their medical staff. When he attended court hearings, he swore at the judge and said people were trying to harm him. He was transferred in March 2014 to San Francisco General Hospital, where he again refused to eat and was force-fed through a tube after a different judge declared him gravely disabled. A hospital psychiatrist reported in 2014 that Wu was incompetent to make medical decisions or to cooperate with his lawyers at a criminal trial. But Sullivan reaffirmed his 2012 ruling that Wu was competent and ordered the trial, which Wu did not attend. He was released from the hospital the day of the jury verdict and, when asked by Sullivan for a statement, uttered a two-word profanity before the judge sentenced him to life in prison. On Friday, the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco said Sullivan should have ordered a hearing on Wus mental competence in 2014, rather than relying on the first psychiatrists report. Wus mental condition had changed since 2012, based on evidence that he was hospitalized, adjudicated to be gravely disabled, authorized to be forcibly fed and involuntarily medicated, and diagnosed by (another) psychiatrist to be incompetent to stand trial, Presiding Justice James Humes said in the 3-0 ruling. The court set aside Wus convictions but said they could be reinstated if he was found, at a new hearing, to have been mentally competent at the time of his trial. Otherwise, Humes said, Wu would be entitled to a new trial when, and if, he was found competent to face trial. The decision on whether to hold such a hearing, and its outcome, would be made by a new judge, since Sullivan has retired from the bench. Attorney Neil Rosenbaum, who represented Wu in his appeal, said he was pleased by the ruling and doubted a judge could make a meaningful decision now on whether Wu had been competent in 2014. Alex Bastian, spokesman for District Attorney George Gascon, said prosecutors were considering an appeal of the ruling. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko A 66-year-old woman heard a knock at her door in San Franciscos Western Addition neighborhood, police said. When she opened it just after 11 p.m. Friday, a man and a woman pushed their way inside, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The man punched the woman in the face, and the two pushed her into her kitchen in the 900 block of Laguna Street, police said. While the man held the woman down with her own cane and threatened her with a knife, his female accomplice ransacked the residence for valuables, police said. The two then fled the house, and its unclear what they took, police said. The woman living there was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries to her face, police said. No arrests were made in the case, and the investigation is ongoing, police said. Michael Bodley is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mbodley@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @michael_bodley This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Kara Cooper/Kara Cooper Photography Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Candace Smith/Candace Smith Photography Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Kara Cooper/Kara Cooper Photography Show More Show Less 5 of 5 In 2015, Sound Meditation SF introduced its namesake practice sound meditation is the practice of deepening meditation with the use of sound and music, according to the groups site to San Francisco through pop-up events across the city. On Friday, Jan. 27, its latest pop-up, the Sound Healing Symphony, at Grace Cathedral is expected to be its largest and most audacious to date, with a projected 1,200 attendees, says Charlotte Medlock, the events media coordinator. We wanted to showcase the different varieties of sound and put together something for the community that feels like a celebration, especially in this political time and with so much feeling of stress in the community lately, said Medlock. YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories, Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northwest Territories Tourism is seizing the opportunity provided by Canadas 150th anniversary to reveal 150 spectacular secrets about Canadas Northwest Territories (NWT); and give 150 Canadians the extraordinary chance to travel to the NWT. Wed love to see more Canadians visit the Northwest Territories and share the spectacular secrets of the place we call home, said Don Morin, Chairperson of Northwest Territories Tourism. When you connect with the land, the people and our stories, there is something about the Northwest Territories that reaches inside you and then with a sense of surprise and awe, subtly changes you. Its a land of many secrets just waiting to be discovered by you. For 150 days, from January 1 to May 30, NWT Tourism is sharing one secret each day at nwtsecrets.com and via social media. These include: Big secrets like the fact that the Northwest Territories offers the best Aurora viewing in the entire world. Unusual secrets like the celebration of the return of the sun after six weeks of darkness. Fun secrets about a Snow King, who builds an exotic snow castle on frozen Great Slave Lake and hosts a month-long festival in it each March. Culinary secrets like having the best fish and chips in Canada. Superlative secrets: the biggest fish, tallest teepee, oldest rock and longest river. Giving 150 Canadians an opportunity to see our secrets up close is also part of the reveal. In association with Air Canada, NWT Tourism is offering 150 complimentary round-trip tickets from one of seven major Canadian airports to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. These tickets will be awarded to individuals in various ways: an online contest, at Outdoor Adventure shows, in restaurants, on city streets, and at Go Transit stops. Our contest draw will also feature five Super Prizes, one for each of the five regions of the NWT. These consist of travel packages for two including airfare to the Northwest Territories, local transportation within the NWT, hotel accommodations, and a sampling of travel experiences in the region. Complete contest rules and entry forms are available at nwtsecrets.com. Northwest Territories Tourism is the destination marketing organization for the Northwest Territories. It is an industry-driven, government-funded organization responsible for marketing the Northwest Territories and advocating for the NWT tourism industry. The contentious first few days of Donald Trump's presidency have not produced the approval numbers normal for a president's so-called honeymoon period, according to a new national Gallup Poll. "President Donald Trump is the first elected president in Gallup's polling history to receive an initial job approval rating below the majority level," Gallup reported. "He starts his term in office with 45 percent of Americans approving the way he is handling his new job, 45 percent disapproving, and 10 percent yet to form an opinion." By contrast, President Obama had a 68 percent approval rating for his first days in office. George W. Bush was at 57 percent and Bill Clinton at 58 percent. But just 25 percent disapproved of Bush's early performance, and only 20 percent gave Clinton a thumbs down. "Trump now holds the record for the lowest initial job approval rating as well as the highest initial disapproval rating in Gallup surveys dating back to Dwight Eisenhower." Ike, incidentally, had a 68 percent approval rating early in 1953, with just 7 percent approving the general's performance in office. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 GENNA MARTIN/SEATTLEPI.COM Show More Show Less 3 of 3 The new Gallup Poll showed a divided America, and no evidence of effort or result by the 45th President to pull it together. Its findings: --Ninety percent of Republicans approve Trump's performance, while 81 percent of Democrats disapprove. Forty percent of Independents give thumbs-up to Trump, while 44 percent disapprove of the job he is doing. --Women tilt against Trump, with 49 percent disapproving and 42 percent approval. Men are favorable to Trump by a 48-41 percent margin. --Trump gets his highest rating among whites and those aged 65 and older. Sixty four percent of nonwhite voters disapprove of his performance, while only 22 percent approve. --Trump gets his worst marks among young voters aged 18 to 29, with a 38 percent approval rating while 54 percent disapprove of the job being done by the 45th president. "Gallup's day-to-day results indicate Americans reacted positively to Trump on Friday, just hours after his inauguration," the pollster reported. "But the weekend's events may have been corrosive, as his approval score trended downward on Saturday and Sunday. An estimated 3.5 million people across America participated Saturday in women's marches, with as many as 120,000 taking to the streets in the largest demonstration Seattle has ever seen. The Gallup findings were based on interviews, done January 20-22, with a random sampling of 1,525 adults aged 18 and older. The poll's margin of error is plus/minus 3.5 percent. SF Symphony Whether you call it Bohemia or Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic or (in the latest twist of geopolitical nomenclature) Czechia, the land that looks to Prague as its capital has always been fertile ground for music. Both the pastoral strains of the Czech landscape and the urban traditions of its cities make themselves felt in the work of its native composers. That confluence will be on display during this weekends rare visit by the Prague Philharmonia, playing music by Smetana and Dvorak. The powerful French cellist Gautier Capucon will be the soloist in the Dvorak concerto, and Emmanuel Villaume conducts. 1 Police settlement: New York City has agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle a lawsuit accusing police of issuing hundreds of thousands of summonses that were later dismissed. Some 900,000 summonses, issued from 2007 to 2015 for offenses like disorderly conduct, trespassing and drinking in public, were later tossed out. The maximum compensation would be $150 per person per incident. The settlement requires approval by a federal judge. 2 Activist killed: A man walking barefoot across the U.S. to raise awareness about climate change was struck and killed on a Florida highway Sunday. Police said Mark Baumer, 33, was walking along the shoulder of U.S. Highway 90 in Walton County when a driver lost control and hit him. Police say the SUV driver will face charges. 3 Governor faints: Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton collapsed while delivering his State of the State speech Monday night in St. Paul. The Democrat was helped into a back room, and colleagues said he appeared to be OK. House Speaker Kurt Daudt said that Dayton, who turns 70 on Thursday, was up and about and that the governor would be all right. Sen. Dan Schoen, who is also a paramedic, said Dayton was acting normally within 20 minutes of the collapse and poking fun at himself. A spokesman for the governor later reported that he walked out of the Capitol under his own power. 4 Tracking devices: Police in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale are hoping to reduce the time it takes to find missing people diagnosed with dementia by providing patients with tracking devices. The Police Department has partnered with the nonprofit group Project Lifesaver to provide tracking devices to families with members who suffer from cognitive issues such as Alzheimers disease. If that relative wanders away, the device would allow authorities to find the person in minutes instead of hours. 5 Lawmaker resigns: A South Dakota legislator who acknowledged having sexual contact with two interns resigned Monday, saying he regretted his actions. Last week, Republican Rep. Mathew Wollmann, 26, said that both interns were over age 21 and that the contact was consensual. But his colleagues voted to set up a committee to investigate his actions. Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard said in a statement that he thinks Wollmann made the right decision and that he will act quickly to name a replacement. 6 Chicago violence: As of Monday, at least 228 people had been shot in Chicago so far this year, a 5.5 percent increase from the 216 shot in the same time last year. There have been at least 42 homicides, up 23.5 percent from the 34 homicides from the same period in 2016. Last year ended with 783 homicides, the most since 1996, according to data collected by the Chicago Tribune. This January has seen several violent weekends. Over the New Years weekend, 55 people were shot, five of them fatally. Over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, 39 people were shot, 10 of them fatally. Chronicle News Services WASHINGTON Senate committees gave the green light Tuesday to several of President Trumps picks for Cabinet posts, putting the top-level nominations on a glide path to confirmation just days into the new administration. As Republicans criticized Democrats for not moving quickly enough on Trumps selections, the GOP-led panels easily approved his choices to lead the Transportation, Housing and Commerce departments. The presidents nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, also won broad support. But several of Trumps nominations were moving slowly, escalating the partisan bickering. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, forced a one-week delay until Jan. 31 of the committees vote on Trumps attorney general nominee, Sen. Jeff Sessions. Feinstein said senators owe it to the more than 1 million women who marched in Washington and other locations on Saturday to be careful in considering Sessions nomination and his willingness to protect equal rights. She also said the committee received 188 pages of new material Sunday that needs to be reviewed. Committee rules allow any member of the committee to delay a vote. Deliberations over two of Trumps picks turned testy as both nominees faced questions from Democrats over their personal finances. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the presidents choice for health secretary, defended his decision to invest in health care companies as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee. Panel staffers found Price undervalued around 400,000 shares of stock in Australian drug company Innate Immunotherapeutics that he purchased in August. He reported the shares were worth $50,000 to $100,000, but those shares were worth up to $250,000. Price blamed a clerical error. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Trumps nominee for budget director, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, should be disqualified because he failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter more than a decade ago. Richard Lardner is an Associated Press writer. Win McNamee/Associated Press WASHINGTON President Trumps Cabinet continued to take shape Monday, as Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas earned approval to lead the Central Intelligence Agency and Rex Tillerson, the secretary of state nominee, cleared a key Senate hurdle to all but assure his own confirmation. Despite some shaky appearances from his nominees on Capitol Hill and often blistering Democratic opposition, Trump has thus far faced few meaningful obstacles in installing the team of his choice aided by Senate Republicans who are eager to expedite the confirmation process. WASHINGTON Charting a new American course abroad, President Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, using one of his first actions in office to reject a centerpiece of Barack Obamas attempts to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia. For Trump, the move was a fulfillment of a central campaign promise. He has repeatedly cast the 12-nation trade pact which was eagerly sought by U.S. allies in Asia as detrimental to American businesses Great thing for the American worker that we just did, Trump said in brief remarks as he signed a notice in the Oval Office. The Obama administration spent years negotiating the Pacific Rim pact, though the mood in Washington on trade soured over time. Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification, making Trumps actions Monday largely symbolic. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Pool / Ron Sachs / Getty Images Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Chip Somodevilla Show More Show Less 5 of 5 For Trump, the start of his first full week in office amounted to a reset after a tumultuous weekend dominated by his and his spokesmans false statements about inauguration crowds and their complaints about media coverage of the celebrations. While Trumps advisers have long accepted his tendency to become fixated on seemingly insignificant issues, some privately conceded that his focus on inauguration crowds was unhelpful on the opening weekend of his presidency. On Monday, the new president tried to regroup. In addition to his executive action on TPP, Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring though he noted an exception for the military and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. The regulation, known as the Mexico City Policy, has been a political volleyball, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984. The actions were among the long list of steps candidate Trump pledged to take on his opening day as president. But other Day One promises were going unfulfilled Monday, including plans to propose a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress and terminating Obamas executive actions deferring deportations for some people living in the U.S. illegally. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Trump intended to follow through on his proposals, though on a more extended time frame to ensure maximum attention for each move. Yet he appeared to suggest that Trump would not move quickly or perhaps at all to reinstate deportations for young immigrants protected from deportation under the Obama administration. Spicer said Trumps focus would be on people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal records or who pose a threat. Thats where the prioritys going to be, and then were going to continue to work through the entire number of folks that are here illegally, he said. Spicer making his first appearance at the briefing room podium since his angry tirade against the press on Saturday also appeared to back away from Trumps assertion that he could move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While presidential candidates have long made similar pledges, all have abandoned the idea over concerns that following through would further inflame tensions in the volatile region. We are at the early stages in this decision-making process, Spicer said of the possible embassy relocation. If it was already a decision, then we wouldnt be going through a process. Spicer struck a far more conciliatory tone with reporters in Mondays briefing and attempted to make light of his weekend appearance, which included multiple inaccurate statements about the inauguration. He conceded that he was relying on incomplete information when he used public transportation figures to boast about the crowd size, but stood by his unverifiable claim that Trumps swearing-in was the most watched in history, counting internet views as well as TV. The crowd actually in attendance was clearly smaller than for Obamas 2009 inauguration, though Trump denied that fact. Monday was mostly a business day for Trump. The new president, who prefers to solicit opinions from numerous people before making decisions, huddled with corporate leaders, including Teslas Elon Musk, and union heads. In his discussions with executives, Trump warned that he would impose a substantial border tax on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States. Julie Pace is an Associated Press writer. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump moved swiftly Tuesday to advance the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, signing executive actions to aggressively overhaul Americas energy policy and deal a sharp blow to Barack Obamas legacy on climate change. Obama had personally halted the Keystone XL project, which was to bring oil from Canada to the U.S., and major protest demonstrations have frozen work on the Dakota pipeline. Trump, in his continuing effort to undo the past eight years of a Democratic president, invited the Keystone builder, TransCanada, to resubmit its application to the State Department for a presidential permit to construct and operate the pipeline. The company said it would reapply. Obama halted the proposed pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental agenda. Trump also ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to quickly review and approve construction and easement requests for the Dakota Access pipeline, a project that has led to major protests by American Indian groups and their supporters. From now on we are going to start making pipelines in the United States, Trump said from the Oval Office, where he also vowed to require the actual pipe for Keystone to be manufactured in America. Trumps actions four days after he took office came on the heels of his decision to withdraw from a major trade agreement as he upends Obamas policies, winning praise from congressional Republicans. Democrats in energy-producing states also hailed Trumps actions on the pipelines as long-awaited steps to boost jobs and move the country toward energy independence. But environmental groups and Native American tribes who have fought both projects for years pledged to defy Trump. President Trump will live to regret his actions today, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. Unwittingly he is beginning to build a wall a wall of resistance. This fight is far from over. The 1,179-mile Keystone XL pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska, where it would join other lines already leading to refineries along the Gulf Coast. Trump directed the State Department and other agencies to make a decision within 60 days of a final application and declared that a 2014 State Department environmental study satisfies required reviews under environmental and endangered species laws. Environmental groups promised a legal challenge, arguing a new application requires a new review. State Department approval is needed because the pipeline would cross the northern U.S border. Julie Pace is an Associated Press writer. Although it often seems like it, San Francisco is not home to the most expensive housing market on Earth. That burden falls on the economic shoulders of four cities outside of the United States: Hong Kong, Sydney, Vancouver, and Auckland, New Zealand. That's according to the 13th annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey for 2017, a study of 406 urban markets in nine countries. The study proved San Jose, at fifth place overall, was the most "unaffordable" major American locale. It's considered by researchers to be "severely unaffordable." San Francisco was the fourth most expensive urban area after Honolulu and Los Angeles, and ninth overall. Although it didn't land in the top 10, Sacramento was also noted as a "new entrant to severe unaffordability." "[Housing] prospects appear to be particularly bleak in California," the survey reads. "Already, there is an increase in short term investments ('speculation') in California, which is not surprising given the potential for windfall profits as housing supply is kept to well below normal demand." The study measured housing markets in urban areas (both major and smaller) using the "median multiple" methodology, which is the ratio of the median house price in a given area by the median annual gross income. Such an approach is not unanimously respected, but as CNN notes, it has been recommended by the United Nations and the World Bank as a way of calculating housing affordability. Unsurprisingly, the most affordable major housing markets in the United States are nowhere near California. Rochester and Buffalo, both in New York, are the most accessible, with Ohio's Cincinnati and Cleveland following. Fifth most affordable went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Read the study in full here, and see the 10 most unaffordable major markets in the above gallery. Authentic Leadership COLOMBO The theme of this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is Responsible and Responsive Leadership. But one possible reading of Donald Trumps victory in the United States presidential election is that voters these days care less about responsibility than authenticity. Voters welcomed Trumps reckless comments on sensitive issues because he was speaking his mind and being true to himself. Ordinary politicians, by always saying the right thing, seem packaged and staged. But does authenticity need to involve recklessness? Alternatively, can politically correct behavior be a form of recklessness, to the extent that it evades difficult issues and focuses on what is easier to justify rather than what is right? Does authenticity involve facing the anxiety and anguish that Jean-Paul Sartre thought was the inevitable companion of freedom and responsibility? These are questions for economic policymakers as much as for anyone else. Policymakers approach their task in two fundamentally different ways. One paradigm regards economic policies as a set of universal best practices. The more you adopt, the more they (investors) will come. The other paradigm views policies as solutions to specific problems. Because each society has a unique set of characteristics, constraints and goals, policies are necessarily idiosyncratic: the path is made by walking. This does not mean that one should disregard what can be learned from others; but imitation without adaptation is a recipe for ineffectiveness, if not worse. It can easily imply importing solutions to non-existent problems, while letting real problems fester. Colombia and Panama illustrate the contrast between these approaches. For much of the recent past, economic policymaking in Colombia has been driven by two goals: signing a free-trade agreement with the US (in effect since 2012) and joining the OECD (in negotiation since 2013). (True, other important initiatives have been the peace process and the expansion of the road network, though these are not, strictly speaking, economic policies). This stands in marked contrast to the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on Mexicos exports: between its entry into effect in 1994 and 2000, exports to the US tripled, from $50 to $150 billion. In the following decade, Vietnam generated an even larger export boom, with no major trade agreements. Clearly, NAFTA was crucial for Mexico; but whatever is preventing Colombia from becoming a more successful exporter is not the kind of transaction costs that FTAs can address. But it is highly unlikely that these issues will be tackled by joining the OECD. The OECD demands a smorgasbord of reforms affecting corporate governance, private insurance markets, competition policy, statistics, health, technology, agriculture, and many other regulatory areas. Whether any of these reforms nurture a new suite of export industries that can propel Colombia forward is, to put it bluntly, a crapshoot. Now consider Panama by far Latin Americas fastest-growing economy during the 2004-2014 commodity price boom. Panamas annual GDP growth averaged 8.2%, despite the fact that it did not profit directly from the commodity bonanza that benefited Colombia and much of South America. How did Panama do it? After the Panama Canal reverted to national control in 1999, policymakers started to think about how to maximize the Canals potential spillover effects. Ultimately, they transformed the US military bases into special economic zones. They granted concessions to build new ports, in order to facilitate logistics activities around the Canal. They developed the airport, to support the local private airline COPA as it became a regional player. They invested 7% of GDP in expansion of the Canal, a project completed in 2016. And they created a special tax and migration regime to attract regional headquarters of multinational companies. Panamas leaders also authorized a pipeline to transport oil across the isthmus, with port facilities on either side. Together with the pre-existing Colon Free Trade Zone and the International Financial Center, the whole ended up being much more than the sum of its parts. The synergies between the airport, the new ports, the logistics facilities, banks, and the regional headquarters generated a boom in services exports and investment, underpinning rapid economic growth. And with it have come gastronomy, arts, and tourism. The non-residential construction boom this created helped not only to absorb the labor force that was leaving rural areas but also to achieve a remarkable reduction in inequality. In this services-export-led growth strategy, skill shortages did not become a major problem, thanks to a fairly open immigration policy, which allowed the country to use the talent that Colombia, among other countries, was unable to keep. The comparison between these two approaches is clear. Colombias policymakers have been hoping that if they adopt best-practice legislation and regulation, somebody will come. And if they do not, they can still bask in the international accolades they receive from foreign entities. Panama, by contrast, took the risk of imagining some key strategic, export-oriented investments, and then focused on creating the conditions to make them happen. In many cases, the private sector took the initiative. But policymakers did not shy away from large strategic public investments when needed, as in the case of the Canal expansion or the airport. The special tax regimes and other policies they adopted may make some at the OECD cringe. But, arguably, this helped create the ecosystem that makes Panama so attractive to so many Fortune 500 companies. Authentic leadership requires a commitment to real goals. But, to achieve them, there are no pret-a-porter solutions. Tailoring policies to specific problems, without disregarding the lessons from the past or from elsewhere, involves risks, and any responsible leader will necessarily feel the anxiety this creates. Authenticity does not, in the end, require Trumpian recklessness. But abandoning economic goals and imitating the means taken by others is not only inauthentic: it is also deeply irresponsible. SAN FRANCISCO A man was injured in a shooting along San Francisco's Panhandle on Monday evening, according to police. The shooting was reported at 7:46 p.m. in the 1700 block of Fell Street. The 24-year-old victim was in front of his home when he heard someone yell at him, then was shot as he turned toward his residence, police said. Three suspects fled west on Fell Street and remain at large this morning. Descriptions of the suspects were not immediately available from police. The victim was taken to a hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds that are not considered life-threatening, according to police. Anyone with information about the case is encouraged to call the Police Department's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to send a tip by text message to TIP411 with "SFPD" in the message. Estimados amigos, Les doy cordialmente la bienvenida a este Blog informativo con articulos, analisis y comentarios de publicaciones especializadas y especialmente seleccionadas, principalmente sobre temas economicos, financieros y politicos de actualidad, que esperamos y deseamos, sean de su maximo interes, utilidad y conveniencia. Pensamos que solo comprendiendo cabalmente el presente, es que podemos proyectarnos acertadamente hacia el futuro. Las convicciones son mas peligrosos enemigos de la verdad que las mentiras. There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen. You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out. No soy alguien que sabe, sino alguien que busca. Only Gold is money. Everything else is debt. Las grandes almas tienen voluntades; las debiles tan solo deseos. Quien no lo ha dado todo no ha dado nada. History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. If you know the other and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. New York City has agreed to pay out as much as $75 million in taxpayer money to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit regarding hundreds of thousands of bogus summonses that lawyers alleged were the product of the NYPD's quota system. The proposed settlement hit the Manhattan federal court docket this afternoon and still needs a judge's sign-off. If approved, the agreement would set aside $56.5 million for recipients of 900,000 criminal summonses. The tickets were ones issued by police officers between 2007 and 2015 that courts later threw out for being legally insufficientthese constitute about a quarter of all summonses in that period. The remaining $18.5 million would go to attorneys' fees. Under the terms, the city would reach out to each of the recipients of the bogus summonses by mail, and class members would be limited to $150 each per police encounter (multiple summonses from one encounter would garner an amount capped at $150). "We have achieved a landmark settlement in a civil rights case that advances the cause of justice," said Elinor Sutton of the firm Quinn Emanuel, one of those representing the 30 named plaintiffs in the case. The falsely ticketed New Yorkers first sued in 2010. In the proposed agreement, the city cites efforts it and the state have made to clamp down on quotas. The same agreement explicitly denies the existence of quotas, as police officials have for decades, despite substantial documentation of consistently structured quota systems across precincts over the course of years. The agreement cites a 2010 state law outlawing retaliation against officers who fail to meet quotas, a 2013 NYPD patrol guide revision doing the same, and the official pulling back from the unconstitutional use of stop, question and frisk in response to a federal judge's ruling in another class-action lawsuit that same year. Also touted are the recent revision of the criminal summons form to require officers to provide more information, rolled out in February of last year as part of an initiative called Justice Reboot, and laws giving officers the option to treat common low-level offenses such as public urination as non-criminal. The city has about 1.5 million open arrest warrants dating back to 1980, and about a third of criminal summonses issued annually turn into arrest warrants when those ticketed fail to appear in court. Going forward, the NYPD is supposed to send department-wide messages reiterating the policy against quotas; go over the issue in training; create new structures for Internal Affairs Bureau investigations complaints, in an apparent nod to retaliation against past IAB whistleblowers; and require officers provide cards with their shield numbers and command posts upon request. Asked if he was frustrated to include yet another official denial of the quota system in the settlement, plaintiffs' lawyer Gerald Cohen said, "Its generally a practice when a settlement is reached that there is no acknowledgment of fault. However, I think the terms, both the size and magnitude of the settlement, speak volumes of how the city viewed the issues raised in the complaint." Zachary Carter, corporation counsel for the city, told the Times in a statement that the settlement was "in the best interests of the city," and that "This settlement reflects the remarkable progress the NYPD has made to ensure that summonses are properly drafted and include sufficient details to document probable cause." The settlement would be among the largest city payouts in history, almost twice what the city paid to the Central Park Five, whom Donald Trump still wants the state to kill even though they were acquitted of rape and paid extensively for their trouble, but less than the $98 million not including legal fees paid to black and Hispanic firefighters and would-be firefighters who alleged discrimination by the FDNY. A separate class-action lawsuit by a dozen black and Hispanic NYPD officers is underway, with the cops claiming, backed in some instances by surreptitious recordings, that bosses and union reps demanded ticket and arrest quotas and retaliated against those who complained. The city settled a similar lawsuit by whistleblower Bedford-Stuyvesant officer Adrian Schoolcraft last year for $600,000. Schoolcraft's fellow officers had him involuntarily committed in Jamaica Hospital's psychiatric ward six days after he blew the whistle. NYPD brass suspended Schoolcraft without pay and charged him internally after he exposed the misconduct of top cops at his precinct. He filed for retirement in December 2015. The city spent $228.5 million settling and paying out judgments for police misconduct lawsuits in the last fiscal year, which was the latest peak in a dozen years of escalating NYPD lawsuit costs. With this latest big-ticket settlement nearing finalization, 2017 is shaping up to be another expensive year for taxpayers. Proposed NYPD false summons settlement by Nathan on Scribd A Manhattan teacher has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands from her foreign students after she promised to get them green cards in exchange for cash. Jenetta Ferguson, who teaches English as a Second Language, admitted that she asked students from Italy, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines to hand over cash payments between $8,500 and $10,500 in exchange for permanent resident green cards. According to Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Ferguson pocketed the students' money over a six month period in 2014, and collected a total of roughly $42,000. In a statement Tuesday, Vance claimed Ferguson never even filed applications for the green cards. All New Yorkersregardless of national origin or immigration statusdeserve protection from those who prey upon their unfamiliarity with a new language and a complex legal system, Vance said. In this case, the defendant took advantage of her position as a teacher of English as a Second Language to mislead her foreign students into believing that she could provide them with Green Cardsfor a fee." In some instances, Ferguson allegedly told her pupils not to renew their student visas, leaving them stranded without legal documentation in the midst of her green card scam. Ferguson pleaded guilty in New York State Supreme Court to Grand Larceny in the third and fourth degrees, and will be sentenced on March 7th. Law360 notes that when first charged in April 2015, Ferguson entered a not guilty plea to an initial felony charges of scheme to defraud. More mourners will be allowed to visit the mass graves on Hart Island, the burial site for New York City's indigent dead, according to a new modification of a 2015 settlement between the New York Civil Liberties Union and the city. The Department of Correction, which has managed the island since the 1940s, has also agreed to photograph grave visits for families as part of a three-month pilot program. Previously, monthly visits to Hart Island were capped at 50 people. That cap has been raised to 70. "Hart Island is sacred ground for family members of the generations of people who suffered the indignity of mass burial, and this increase in gravesite visitation is one more step towards honoring the memory of people buried there," said NYCLU attorney Christopher Dunn, lead counsel on the case. The 131-acre island at the west end of the Long Island Sound has been under the jurisdiction of the city since 1868, and operated solely by the DOC since 1946. It is the largest tax funded cemetery in the world, and the only one operated by a corrections department, according to the city. More than 1,000 New Yorkers are buried on the island each year, by a skeleton crew of fewer than 10 inmates overseen by five officers and a captain. Many of the dead were homeless in life or unidentifiable at the time of death. Stillborn infants are buried on the island, as well as veterans, and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Access to Hart Island has been hard won for the families of those buried there. The NYCLU reached a settlement with the city in July 2015, giving the bereaved the right to visit graves on a designated day each month with armed escorts. Until that summer, visits were contained to a gazebo near the island's ferry dock, out of view of the graves. Visitors are still subject to search, and guards have the right to confiscate graveside offerings that could be deemed a "security risk." According to the DOC's website, only small stuffed animals, photographs, prayer cards, small flags, blankets, and flowers without vases are permitted. As part of the initial settlement, the city agreed to provide quarterly statistics on the number of gravesite visit requests processed, granted, and denied. Both parties met following the second quarter of 2016 to revaluate the visitation cap. "We think it is a fair expansion for now," Dunn told Gothamist via email on Tuesday. "But we will continue to monitor visitation, and to push for even greater access if that becomes necessary." A group of advocates and City Council members, including Manhattan Council Member Mark Levine, support legislation that would shift Hart Island jurisdiction to the Parks Department, ideally expanding public access. "You should want to visit Hart Island," Levine said at a hearing last January. "It's a spectacular place with views of the city and a dozen historical buildings. Unfortunately you can't, because it's run by the DOC." Both Parks and the DOC have dug in their heels on the matter of public access. A cemetery "is not a department that Parks has any experience managing," Parks Deputy Commissioner Liam Kavanagh told the Council last month. Carleen McLaughlin, the DOC's director of legislative affairs, testified last winter that the DOC's Hart Island stewardship advances Mayor de Blasio's 14-point plan for reducing violence on Rikers Island. "[Inmates] reduce their idleness, and are out there for several hours a day, so it meets that goal perfectly," she said. Neither the DOC, nor the City Hall Law Department immediately responded to a request for comment. [Update 1:00 p.m.]: DOC issued the following statement: We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today Blog Archive November (1) October (2) September (2) August (2) July (2) June (3) May (2) April (2) March (3) February (2) January (2) December (3) November (2) October (2) September (2) August (3) July (3) June (3) May (2) April (2) March (3) February (2) January (2) December (2) November (2) October (2) September (3) August (3) July (4) June (4) May (5) April (4) March (4) February (4) January (4) December (4) November (6) October (2) September (3) August (2) July (10) June (3) May (2) April (8) March (5) February (3) January (4) December (4) November (5) October (5) September (4) August (7) June (4) May (4) April (2) March (5) February (2) January (4) December (3) November (4) October (4) September (3) August (4) July (4) June (5) May (3) April (3) March (4) February (5) January (5) December (2) November (3) October (4) September (4) August (4) July (4) June (5) May (4) April (4) March (5) February (4) January (4) December (5) November (4) October (4) September (4) August (4) July (4) June (4) May (3) April (4) March (3) February (4) January (2) December (5) November (5) October (8) September (7) August (7) July (8) June (8) May (5) April (7) March (6) February (2) January (4) December (3) November (7) October (3) September (3) August (4) July (5) June (8) May (7) April (7) March (5) February (6) January (8) December (6) November (5) October (7) September (4) August (7) July (7) June (6) May (8) April (10) March (12) February (3) January (8) December (9) November (7) October (7) September (8) August (9) July (5) June (7) May (4) April (4) March (5) February (8) January (6) December (5) November (5) October (5) September (2) August (2) July (3) June (2) May (5) April (1) March (3) February (4) January (1) December (3) November (3) October (3) September (2) August (2) July (2) June (4) May (4) April (4) March (4) February (4) January (3) December (5) November (5) October (4) SACRAMENTO Rep. Xavier Becerra will be sworn in as Californias first Latino attorney general Tuesday after the state Legislature gave final approval to the veteran Los Angeles lawmakers interim appointment. In a 26-9 vote Monday, the state Senate approved Gov. Jerry Browns appointment of Becerra, who will serve the final two years of the position previously held by Kamala Harris. Harris was sworn in to the U.S. Senate this month. Brown said Becerra will be a champion for all Californians. The state Assembly voted to confirm Becerra in a 56-23 vote on Jan. 13. Brown will swear Becerra in Tuesday before he gives his State of the State address at the Capitol. The congressman will resign from his current position prior to being sworn in. Becerra, a Sacramento native and son of Mexican immigrants, will take the helm as the state finds itself at odds with the proposals and policies of the Trump administration. The states anticipated battles with the federal government became a key concern for Democratic lawmakers, who pressed Becerra during confirmation hearings over the past two weeks on how he would handle those potential conflicts. Becerra, 58, said he would fight to protect Californias environmental, health, gun-control and immigration laws against expected attacks at the federal level. There is no question he is qualified, he is capable and he is ready to take on the challenge on behalf of the people of California, said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles. He will be a very strong partner for our state to help us work with the federal government when we can and to resist when we must. Republicans in both houses voted against Becerras appointment, saying they were concerned about the adversarial and partisan tone taken during the confirmation. Im very much afraid of the rhetoric going on not only in California, but in the United States, said Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller, R-Bakersfield. I want someone who will say they will work their hardest for Californians. I dont want someone who says they are going to fight, because there are 49 other states. We are one. The attorney general position is considered the states second-most-powerful elected position behind the governor. Becerra attended C.K. McClatchy High School in Sacramento before earning his undergraduate degree in economics and law degree from Stanford University. He was a state deputy attorney general for three years and served one term in the California Assembly before his 1992 election to Congress. Becerra served on several high-profile deficit-reduction committees in Congress, where he defended Social Security from GOP efforts to cut benefits and raise the retirement age. Becerra considered running for the U.S. Senate seat won by Harris, but ultimately did not jump into the race. One point of contention with de Leon was whether Becerra would commit to the attorney general position beyond the interim two-year appointment and not use the job as a launch pad for higher office in 2018. To that, Becerra said he would absolutely stick around. I hope I have the opportunity to do this for a long time, Becerra said during a Senate committee hearing to vet the appointment. I intend to try to do it as well as I can and as long as the people of California allow me. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: MGutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez TOKYO A government panel studying a possible abdication by Japanese Emperor Akihito released an interim report Monday in favor of enacting special legislation that would apply to him but not to future monarchs. The panel is looking at how to accommodate Akihitos apparent abdication wish, which he expressed in August when he cited concerns that his age and health may start limiting his ability to fulfill his duties. Akihito turned 83 last month. The report paves the way for a parliamentary discussion. The panels final report is expected in the spring, while the government is reportedly eyeing an abdication bill adopted in several months. The six-member panel, after interviewing constitutional and monarchy experts, compiled the report suggesting that an abdication under a one-time law would provide flexibility in adapting to each emperor and social environment in the future, while setting a permanent system covering all future emperors would be difficult. Some experts have said the Imperial House Law, the supreme law overseeing Japans monarchy, needs to be revised. The panel deliberately avoided spelling out a conclusion because we wanted the people to think and discuss what would be best to relieve concerns of the Emperor, panel chief Takashi Imai, honorary chairman of a powerful Japanese business lobby Keidanren, said after handing the report to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. An abdication of the emperor is an extremely important issue involving the foundation of our country, its long history and the future and needs to be discussed thoroughly, Abe said. If legislation is enacted, Emperor Akihito would be the first to abdicate since Emperor Kokaku 200 years ago. Media reports have said officials were eyeing an abdication at the end of 2018, when Akihito turns 85 after and his reign marks the 30th year. The current law, established in 1947, is largely inherited from a 19th century constitution that banned abdication as a risk to stability. But experts say there is no such risk as far as Akihitos abdication is concerned. Throughout much of its history, Japans monarchy served more of a ceremonial and religious function than a governing one. But late 19th century modernizers elevated the throne to use as a rallying point for the nation. Akihitos father was worshiped as a living god during Japans wartime aggression in Asia before renouncing his divinity. Akihito devoted himself to being a symbolic figure, while trying to soothe the wounds from his fathers era. The government panel in its report avoids some heated issues, such as whether females should be allowed in the current male-only succession and concerns about a shortage of successors to the Chrysanthemum throne. Akihito has two sons but only one of his four grandchildren is male. Mari Yamaguchi is an Associated Press writer. 1 Missing plane: The ship involved in the recently halted hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 returned to port in western Australia on Monday, where officials from the countries that funded the fruitless search gathered to thank the crew and to defend their decision to end the hunt. Transport officials from Australia, Malaysia and China met in Perth to greet the crew of Fugro Equator, who were ordered to return last week after the countries officially suspended the nearly three-year search for the plane in the Indian Ocean. The $160 million deep-sea sonar search off Australias west coast failed to find any trace of the plane, which vanished March 8, 2014, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. 2 German nationalist: A leading member of Germanys rising rightist party Alternative for Germany will be disciplined but not expelled after causing widespread alarm with a speech challenging the national atonement for the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes. Last week, Bjorn Hocke gave a speech in Dresden in which he lamented that a memorial to Europes murdered Jews had been erected by the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Germans were the only people in the world to plant a monument of shame in the heart of its capital, Hocke said. MOSUL, Iraq For the first time in over two years, flocks of white and gray pigeons can be seen circling Mosuls rooftops. Among the many rules imposed by the Islamic State when it seized the northern Iraqi city was a ban on breeding or flying the birds, which many Iraqis keep as pets or raise for food. The extremists feared young men practicing the hobby would neglect their religious studies or spy on female neighbors from the rooftops. Many Mosul residents slaughtered their flocks or confined them to cages, fearing detention or death if they were found out but 17-year-old Mustafa Othman couldnt bring himself to do it. I couldnt bear locking them up; my heart wouldnt allow me to do it, he said. They were created to fly. Othman would sneak upstairs to feed his birds. He couldnt clap or yell to fly them in formation, but he left the hatches open so they could come and go. Every time he came up here, he risked his life, said his brother, Afan. Its crazy, but he loves them. Othmans father gave him his first birds when he was just 11 years old. He always loved animals, and the pigeons were one of the few pets his family allowed him to have in their small home. Their rooftop and the balconies betrayed other secrets kept from Islamic State militants, who overran Mosul in the summer of 2014 and imposed their harsh version of Islamic law. The Othmans threw a blanket over a satellite dish near the pigeon coop, so they could keep up with the news. They hung thick curtains across balconies so that women in the family could water plants and hang laundry without wearing the all-encompassing veils mandated by the extremist group. When Iraqi forces at last drove Islamic State from the neighborhood this month, Othman celebrated their liberation by releasing his birds into the smoke-filled sky. All I felt was happiness, he said. Today, the birds share the skies with U.S.-led warplanes and Iraqi helicopters, as Iraqi forces work to drive Islamic State out of the remainder of the city. Over the past three months, they have fought their way from the east to the Tigris River, which divides the city in two, but Islamic State still rules western Mosul. Sometimes, birds we dont know land on our roof and they have cigarettes tied to their ankles, said Younis Fathi, Othmans uncle. He assumes the birds are used by smugglers to reach Islamic State-ruled neighborhoods, where smoking is forbidden. Susannah George and Mstyslav Chernov are Associated Press writers. ASTANA, Kazakhstan Russia, Iran and Turkey presented a united front at the conclusion of two days of talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and the armed opposition, pledging support for the countrys shaky cease-fire and a joint mechanism to ensure compliance. They did not specify how that would work, and continued differences among the warring sides as well as rebel infighting back home threatened to quickly scuttle the deal. Its going to be a challenge. Its not going to be easy, the United Nations Syria envoy, who mediated between the two sides in the Kazakh capital of Astana, told reporters later. Russia and Iran, President Bashar Assads main supporters, and Turkey, the rebels chief backer, said they will use their influence to strengthen the truce, which has been in place since Dec. 30. Their joint efforts have raised hopes for a diplomatic end to the brutal six-year conflict. Previous efforts by the U.S. and Russia for a lasting cease-fire led nowhere. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday the U.S. welcomes actions that de-escalate violence in the country and called on Russia, Iran and Syria to press the Syrian sides to abide by the cease-fire in order to create an environment more conductive to political discussions. The U.S., busy with the presidential transition, had no significant role in the talks between the Syrian government and its armed opponents in Kazakhstan this week. Following Tuesdays declaration, read out by Kazakhstans foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Syrias delegates to the Astana meeting held competing news conferences that underlined the enormous differences between the two sides. We dont accept any role for Iran in the future of Syria, said Mohammad Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, insisting that all Iranian-backed foreign militias fighting alongside the Syrian government withdraw from Syria. Syrias U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari called it pitiful that the opposition was criticizing one of the three guarantors who facilitated the agreement. The issue here is that finally we have a consensual paper called final communique or final declaration agreed upon by everybody. ... This is what we care about, Jaafari said. Jaafari, however, said that military operations in an area near the Syrian capital would continue despite a pledge to enforce the cease-fire as long as there are terrorists depriving 7 million people in the capital Damascus from drinking water. The government says al Qaeda-linked militants are present in Ain al-Fijeh, which is located in the water-rich Barada Valley northeast of Damascus.The rebels, however, deny an al Qaeda-linked group is in the area. Philip Issa is an Associated Press writer. ASTANA, Kazakhstan Talks between the Syrian government and representatives of rebel factions got off to a rocky start Monday after their first face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan that marked a major shift in the wars dynamics and confirmed Russias role as regional heavyweight. The gathering in Astana, the Kazakh capital, is the latest in a long line of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the nearly 6-year-old civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced half of Syrias population. The talks are focused on shoring up a shaky cease-fire declared Dec. 30, not on reaching a larger political settlement. Syrias bitter divide was on vivid display as the delegates emerged from a closed, hour-long session marked by cold glances and sharp exchanges. Syrias U.N. envoy Bashar Jaafari said the opposition delegation represented terrorist armed groups, and denounced the opening address delivered by the chief rebel negotiator, calling it provocative and insolent. The head of the rebel delegation, Mohammad Alloush, had described Syrian President Bashar Assads government as a terrorist entity. He called for armed groups fighting alongside it, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, to be placed on a global list of terrorist organizations, according to a video leaked by opposition delegates. The presence of foreign militias invited by the regime, most notably the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iraqi Hezbollah ... contributes to the continuation of bloodshed and obstructs any opportunity for a cease-fire, Alloush said. Such groups were no different, he added, than the Islamic State, which is excluded from the cease-fire. Talks are to resume Tuesday in what was a significant departure from past meetings, given the fact that Syrias government delegation sat opposite representatives of more than a dozen armed factions it describes as terrorists. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura mediated the talks, which are to be followed by more negotiations in Geneva next month. A year ago, he was shuttling between government and opposition delegations in separate rooms in Geneva, in talks brokered by the U.S. and Russia that led nowhere. The talks in Astana, a former Soviet republic, reflected the shifting dynamics in Syria since then, with Russia emerging as the main power broker and the U.S. relegated to observer status. The Trump administration is not directly involved because of the immediate demands of the transition, the State Department said Saturday. The U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan, George Krol, attended Mondays session. The two sides were brought to the table by Russia and Iran, which have provided crucial support to Assad, and Turkey, a leading sponsor of the opposition. Philip Issa is an Associated Press writer. Blue Sky Meats' directors say they want China-based Heilongjiang Binxi Cattle Industry Co to lift its takeover offer by 30 cents a share before they'll recommend it to investors after a strategic review that showed potential to drive profit growth. The board told shareholders at a meeting last Friday that it recommended they wait for the outcome of negotiations with Binxi, which may conclude this month, well before the offer expires on Feb. 18. NZ Binxi (Oamaru) Foods, a subsidiary of the Chinese company referred to as Binxi Cattle Group, is offering $2.20 per share for the 86.5 percent of Blue Sky that it doesn't already own. That's at the top end of independent adviser Campbell MacPherson's $1.93 and $2.21 valuation range. The board told shareholders that chief executive Todd Grave led a strategic review by Blue Sky's management team that was "unconstrained" in its thinking and "identified a significant amount of unexploited potential". Grave, a former Fonterra marketing executive, only took up the job in October, just a month before the $25.3 million offer was announced. They said the review used Campbell MacPherson's capitalisation-of-earnings approach that estimated a "full potential" value of the company of $3.20 a share and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation reaching $8.4 million in 2020, compared with a business-as-usual estimate of just $600,000. The company posted a 2016 ebitda loss of $900,000. It also used the adviser's ebitda multiple of 6.75. To reach the 2020 goal, the company would embark on a three-year work plan that targets a lift in yield, a jump in the proportion of chilled versus frozen meat exports and steps to return its beef line to profitability. That includes changes to shifts and practices in its processing and carcass trimming, lower freight costs, changes to effluent waste management, lower administration costs, an overhaul of energy usage and marketing of chilled product. It described the plan as "playing catch-up with the wider meat industry in New Zealand." Notes for the briefing were released on the Unlisted platform. The board's responsibility is "to maximise value to shareholders, $2.50 vs $2.20, it's a negotiation." However, the directors said Benxi will win their backing if the offer price is increased to $2.50, which implies "future sustainable earnings" of $7.2 million. Blue Sky chair Scott ODonnell said last week that if the company can lift profits "you're worth more". Blue Sky "probably had dropped behind industry best. All were trying to do is bring it back to best practice," he said. Binxi Cattle Group built its stake in Blue Sky last year, becoming the third-largest shareholder behind Lowe Corp and HW Richardson Group. It operates a vertically integrated beef business in China, owns New Zealand meat processor Lean Meats Oamaru and wants to acquire Blue Sky to grow its New Zealand Binxi business. The offer is conditional on it receiving acceptances for at least 90 percent of Blue Sky shares, which will enable it to compulsorily acquire all of the remaining shares. It can waive that condition, but can't declare the offer unconditional unless it receives acceptance taking its holding to more than 50 percent. The offer is also conditional on the Chinese company obtaining consent from New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office. Blue Sky shares last traded at $1.30 on the Unlisted platform, valuing the company at $15 million. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022 Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update November 4th Morning Report FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022 ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022 GEO - Quarterly Operating Update Prime Minister Bill English's first press conference since taking over last month from John Key was dominated by questions about the potential for either a bi-lateral free trade agreement with the US or the survival of the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the participation of the US. Newly installed president Donald Trump withdrew the US from the controversial trade and investment pact as a first order of business this week. New Zealand spent some six years pursuing the 12-nation Pacific Rim pact in the hope of securing a historic first trade deal with the US. Now, signatories including New Zealand, Australia, Japan and Singapore are thinking aloud about whether TPP can be revived without the US as a signatory and whether the deal should be rewritten to accept the US absence or kept alive in a way that would allow the US to rejoin at some point in the future. English acknowledged it would be "a significant challenge" to amend the TPP as currently written to remove the US. The pact currently only comes into force if signatories representing 85 percent of the TPP countries' economic activity has ratified it. That target cannot be reached without US ratification. Despite predictions that he would use his first Beehive press conference of 2017 to announce a date for the general election, English said he wanted to discuss it with his caucus first, and indicated the issue would be on the agenda at an all-day caucus meeting next Wednesday at Premier House, in Wellington. He would announce an election date "in the next few weeks," he said. English said he had also asked Trade Minister Todd McClay to travel to the US once a new US Trade Representative has been appointed, to explore the Trump administration's stated interest in bi-lateral trade deals, while noting that the new president's presumption that any such deal would "expect the US to come out better than the other party" was "unattractive" in principle. While New Zealand was unlikely to be high on the US list of priorities for new bi-lateral trade agreements, it would be "easier than some" to negotiate with, English suggested. In the meantime, trade agreements continued to progress with the Gulf States and the European Union, along with progress on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a less ambitious FTA than TPP, led by ASEAN and involving China, Japan, India and Korea. English was speaking after starting election year politicking a day earlier at Ratana Pa, where his comments that the government had "reached the limits" of what it could do for Maori were seized on by the Labour and New Zealand First parties, who both made speeches at Ratana this morning. Labour leader Andrew Little said English's comments were an "abdication of leadership" and that with Maori still disproportionately represented in statistics such as imprisonment, poor health, and low home ownership rates, there was plenty for governments still to do. While the Maori Party co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell, had claimed on Monday that Ratana's traditional loyalty to Labour was "finished" and the product of an earlier age, there was no formal distancing by Ratana leadership from Labour today. If anything, the warmest reception from the crowds attending the Ratana events was for NZ First leader Winston Peters, after a savaging by the leader of the newly registered Opportunities Party leader, Gareth Morgan, who said it was time for Maori voters to "call out" Peters as "racist" and an "Uncle Tom". Peters laughed off the attack, saying it was "a long time since I was ravaged by a toothless sheep". Quoting Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, Peters said only NZ First understood grassroots New Zealanders, and finding a ready audience for his anti-immigration stance. "When you are bringing in 71,000 people annually, the population of New Plymouth, where 45 percent of the Auckland workforce are migrants, where do you fit in?" he asked the crowd. "The answer is: 'you don't'." English announced today he would spend Waitangi Day at the Orakei marae of Auckland iwi Ngati Whatua and on West Auckland's Hoani Waititi marae, rather than attending traditional national day events at Waitangi, where discomfort with Ngapuhi iwi stipulations about speaking rights and a tradition of protest have often created political headaches for the Prime Minister of the day. BusinessDesk.co.nz Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: SKC - ADDITIONAL US PRIVATE PLACEMENT FUNDING SECURED Spark New Zealand Limited's Annual Meeting Results 2022 Fonterra Australia settles class action proceedings PFI - Q3 Dividend, Development and Divestment Update November 4th Morning Report FPH to announce half year results on 29 November 2022 ATM - FDA approval to supply infant milk formula to United States Steel & Tube - Adopts ESG World Platform BGP - 3rd Quarter Sales to 30 October 2022 GEO - Quarterly Operating Update A Helena man faces a felony charge on accusations he drove while intoxicated with children in the vehicle. Creek J. Kuser, 43, was jailed on a charge of criminal child endangerment. He is accused of putting two children under the age of 14 at risk by driving drunk with them as passengers. A Montana Highway Patrol trooper pulled over Kuser on Friday on Green Meadow Drive. Court documents state Kuser was driving 69 MPH in a posted 55 MPH zone. After failing several sobriety tests, Kuser provided a breath test that showed a blood alcohol content of 0.13, the documents note. On small ranch parcels and near wooded nooks, hidden cameras triggered by anything that moves are capturing images of the North's mightiest winged predators this winter in the Bitterroot. No one knows for certain what researchers will learn from the thousands of images of eagles swooping down to feed on carcasses strategically placed around the valley. But through the magic of the internet, people from both near and far will have a chance to take part in helping identify the golden and bald eagles that have stopped in for a bite on private lands scattered about the valley floor. This winters camera trapping operation in the Bitterroot Valley is being led by Rob Domenech, executive director of Missoula-based Raptor View Research Institute, and MPG Ranch ecologist Kate Stone. As of last week, the project had 12 cameras recording everything that has fed on deer carcasses from Lolo to Sula since December. The photographs theyve captured so far have been remarkable. In one, a bald eagle with its wings spread wide stares down a magpie resting on a rib cage bleached white against the snow. A second photo shows a group of crows watching intently as a bald eagle swoops down on a golden eagle standing atop a carcass. The photographs captured between December and March may add a puzzle piece or two to the understanding of how eagles make use of the winter habitat offered in the Bitterroot. We already know that eagles have an incredible fidelity to the Bitterroot Valley, Stone said. Golden eagles return here year after year to winter after breeding in the far northern reaches of Canada and the wilderness of Alaska. *** Since 2011, the two research organizations have been working together to capture and either band younger birds or place tiny GPS transmitters on older eagles that provide exact locations of the birds up to 12 times a day. Some of the birds that weve fitted with transmitters here in the Bitterroot have summered in the Brooks Range in Alaska, Domenech said. And then they come back down here to winter. The transmitters have been a great way to learn about how eagles use the mixed habitat here in the Bitterroot and to find important migration corridors. The solar-powered transmitters weigh between 45 and 90 grams and are about half the size of a pack of playing cards. They are designed so the eagles can pull them off whenever they choose. One eagle that researchers have nicknamed Wanderer for its frequent forays from the Bitterroot to Glacier and the Rocky Mountain Front has been packing a transmitter since 2013. That transmitter is still going strong, Domenech said. Since the transmitters are expensive, they are reserved for adult birds. The reason we target adults is because they are the tried and true survivors, he said. We know that they can make these long migrations because they have done it before. We know from band returns that eagles can live up into their mid-30s. I think they can live longer than that. I believe there are bald and golden eagles that are 40 years plus. *** While the conservation success story of bald eagles is well known, Domenech said there is a lot of evidence that golden eagles are in decline. No one is certain why thats occurring. Many are lost to vehicle collisions that happen when an eagle feeds on carrion too near a road. Some die from electrocution from power lines or from being shot. Changes in habitat can be a problem, too. In the Bitterroot, the presence of lead in blood samples taken from captured eagles has been a troubling trend. Of the 70 eagles that researchers have captured in the valley, 89 percent have had elevated levels of lead in their blood. The wintering birds here show really high levels of lead, Domenech said. We have to assume that they are getting that here in the valley. And eagles arent the only creatures being impacted. Both Stone and Domenech believe that eagles pick up most of the lead while feeding on gut piles left behind by hunters. Stone said a lead bullet can lose up to 20 percent of its mass after striking an animal. X-ray scans show elk and deer killed by a lead bullet are full of lead fragments. That means the hunter is consuming the lead and anyone in their family who eats the meat is consuming it, too, she said. Thats a conservation message that were trying to spread. There are private landowners and block area managers who dont want lead used on their property anymore. We have long accepted lead as poisonous in so many other uses, she said. Its a conservation message that people can actually do something about. Finding a way to impact global climate change might seem daunting, but everyone who hunts can do something about lead. *** By tracking the movement of eagles in the Bitterroot, Stone said the researchers have also learned just how important private lands in the valley are to the raptors. Many of the camera sites have been set up on land protected by conservation easements. This research really provides some solid data on how important those working lands are to wildlife, she said. Its been a way to open up dialogue with the ranching and farming community that is really valuable. The hope is that others interested in citizen science will find time to log on to zooniverse.org to help the two researchers sift through the thousands of photos captured this winter. The website allows anyone in the world to help tag animals in images, Stone said. Anyone can participate. They can look at our images and help us identify the birds that show up. If they see an eagle with a tag, they can let us know about that, too. So instead of me going through 5 million images which wouldnt be possible we can get some help from others, she said. Last night, I was tagging penguins. Anyone interested in learning more about the ongoing project can attend a talk and fundraiser from 5:30-8 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Stevensville Cafe. People can learn how they can participate and see how to process images there, she said. The researchers will also be set up at the MPG Lab on Missoulas First Friday in February. The lab is located in the Lambros Center at 1001 S. Higgins. Stone has also started a crowd sourced fundraising effort for the project: crowdrise.com/bitterroot-valley-winter-eagle-project/fundraiser/katestone3. The presidential election was fraught with heightened emotions, personal attacks and vitriol that reached new lows. Individuals and groups on both sides of the aisle fought tooth-and-nail for their candidate, at times losing sight of what actually matters. At the end of the day, we all want to ensure a safe and positive future for Americans. It is a new year, and time to move forward as one together, which is why it is important for Sen. Tester, and all those in the U.S. Senate, to work together to confirm Betsy DeVos as the next Secretary of Education. Part of ensuring that positive future includes expanding options in education so that students are not relegated to failing schools. Betsy DeVos is a 30-year school reformer who is a qualified and experienced advocate for children, especially at-risk kids who fall through the cracks. DeVos has worked tirelessly to expand school choice and to give parents more control over education decisions. Though some have criticized her support for school choice, DeVos believes in providing the opportunity for a path to success for all students in all communities. Quality education should not be a privilege that just those who can afford it should be able to access. DeVos has advocated for both improving public schools and for providing another option to parents and students who feel trapped in the current system. Public schools are important and should be supported, but when a school fails to provide a quality education to a child, there should be another option. Its encouraging to see Montanans embrace this open-minded approach, rather than resisting change for the sake of resistance. DeVos will bring a fresh perspective to the federal Education Department. Through her work to expand school choice, virtual schools, school vouchers, tuition tax credits, and education savings accounts, thousands of students have already been able to access a quality education that would otherwise have been lost. It would be shortsighted to neglect these ideas that would allow our own children to tap into these opportunities. When it comes to education, we do not have the luxury of waiting. Our kids need to be able to compete on a national level now, and if they cannot receive a quality education then we are setting them up to fail in the long run. DeVos will fight for education equality and better academic outcomes for all communities. We have seen public schools fail, and we have seen them succeed. Montana needs the support of its leaders, like Sen. Jon Tester, to confirm DeVos as Education Secretary so she can stand for our students. Jeff Laszloffy is president of the Montana Family Foundation. NEW DELHI: Electric two-wheeler maker Okinawa Autotech plans to invest around $40 million (over 270 crore) over the next three years in the country to expand operations and introduce new products. The company, which today launched its first electric scooter 'Ridge' priced at 43,702 (ex-showroom Delhi), has already invested around 35 crore to set up operations including a manufacturing facility at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan. "We plan to invest USD 40 million over the next three years to set up R&D capabilities, expand sales network and establish another manufacturing plant," Okinawa Scooters Managing Director Jeetender Sharma told PTI. Currently the company has 24 dealerships in states like Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and going ahead it plans to expand in smaller towns as well. "Over the next three years our target is to have 450 dealerships across the country. In the first phase we are focusing on cities, followed by rural markets in the future," Sharma said. The company also plans to come up with a new plant and roll out other models. The present manufacturing plant has an annual production capacity of 90,000 units. "We plan to launch other models as well. The next product which we plan to launch in the next quarter would have a range of 200 kms," Sharma said. Commenting on the Ridge, he said the e-scooter has a range of around 90 kms and comes with two charging setups. The fast charging unit charges the battery in 1-2 hours while the normal one takes 4-6 hours to charge the battery fully. The scooter comes with alloy wheels, tubeless tyres and telescopic suspension. The e-scooter is also compliant with regulatory standards. Read Also: NEXTracker To Set Up Manufacturing Unit In India Motherson Sumi Launches $600 Mn Open Offer For Finnish PKC Group STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Catholic schools on Staten Island will be celebrating their past and looking toward a bright future during the kickoff of Catholic Schools Week on Sunday. The celebration which will be observed through Feb. 4th, traditionally focuses on the achievements of the borough's Catholic schools, which join in solidarity with schools throughout the Archdiocese of New York, as well as Catholic schools throughout the country, to mark the occasion. Throughout the week, students participate in special masses, events and fun activities, and individual schools host open houses. "It's just a great way for our school communities to come together," said Zoilita Herrera, regional superintendent for the borough's Catholic schools. "The children see the other children from other schools and they know they are one community." The theme for National Catholic Schools Week 2017 is "Catholic Schools: Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service," according to the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), which has organized the event for 43rd years. Students from Catholic elementary and high schools boroughwide, along with their parents, principals, staff and teachers, are expected to pack Sacred Heart R.C. Church on Castleton Avenue in West Brighton for a special mass to launch the week's events, according to Diana Gatto of the Staten Island Catholic School Region. The regional office is coordinating the mass. The mass, which begins at 1:00 p.m., will give participating schools a chance to come together in solidarity for the day, she said, "because although individuals, we are one, and as one community, we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass." A delegation of students from each school, wearing school uniforms, will begin the mass with a procession to the altar. The mass will be followed by a reception given by the school. The mass is also open to the community. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the minimum wage in New York state is going up and will increase to $15 by 2021. The increase will allow New Yorkers, many of whom are working paycheck-to-paycheck, to better provide for their families. But there is the potential for it to have a devastating impact on workers who care for our most vulnerable citizens: Those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Just as many small business owners have said that the increase could lead to layoffs; Direct Service Professionals who provide daily care for those living with intellectual and developmental disabilities could lose their jobs. Those Direct Service Professionals (DSPs) are critical to many living with disabilities, helping them with essential life skills like bathing, shopping, eating and other day-to-day activities. There are more than 110,000 DSP workers in the state, with more than 97,000 working for nonprofit agencies, according to a NYSARC report. NYSARC is the state's largest nonprofit organization, serving more than 60,000 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While your local fast food joint can raise the price of a burger or a medium fry to offset the cost of the minimum wage increase, nonprofits do not have the ability to raise the cost of service make up the difference. DSP salaries are set by the state, because the organizations that employ them are largely funded through Medicaid programs. Government funding isn't enough to keep many nonprofits afloat as is; many programs run at a deficit and make up the difference through fundraising, leaving little to no room for cash reserves to pay for things like a minimum wage increase or overtime. So what happens now? NEW YORK PLEADS WITH CUOMO Despite two cost of living adjustments (COLAs) in 2014 and 2015, the state budget that funds the agencies usually does not account for COLAs, restricting nonprofits from paying their employees more money. Rallies have been held across the state, including on Staten Island, begging Cuomo to increase state funding. In October, three members of Syracuse's Assembly wrote to Cuomo asking for additional funding in next year's Executive Budget. "Nonprofit organizations that care for the disabled rely on government support for 90 percent of their funding, 80 percent of which goes to staff wages. These workers deserve an increase in pay," Assemblymembers William Mangnarelli (D-Syracuse), Albert Stirpe (D-Syracuse) and Pamela Hunter (D-Syracuse) stated in the letter. The letter's statements echo what advocates, parents and DSPs on Staten Island say they've been begging Cuomo to do for years. "Therefore, we urge you to add additional funding in next year's Executive Budget to provide a pay increase to direct care workers for the disabled. New York needs to recognize the important service these workers perform. No worker should receive a minimum wage for a job that requires maximum support," the letter went on to say. Last January, members of the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council (SIDDC), parents and advocates rallied at the offices of local Senate and Assembly offices, urging pressure on Cuomo to allocate funding for resources, housing, programming and to offset the cost of the minimum wage increase. ADVOCATES CONTINUE TO FIGHT For nearly 50 years, the Staten Island Developmental Disabilities Council has been informing, serving and advocating for the intellectually and developmentally disabled community on Staten Island. The number of those in need of help continues to grow each year, while funding and available resources continue to decline. "In the billions of dollars the governor has proposed to be spent in an hourlong address in more than 25 pages and over 12,000 words, we are not mentioned once," Michael Weinberg, SIDDC chairman, said about Cuomo's State of the State address in 2016. Low salaries force many of the workers to find other, better-paying jobs -- with the Department of Education, for example -- making it harder for the nonprofits to employ enough workers to serve the growing number of clients. "If the governor fails to do this, if the legislature fails to cover the cost of the wage increase, service providers anticipate a $1.7-billion-dollar loss. Supports and services will be impacted, eliminated in some cases, and there will be layoffs of full-time personnel to off-set the wage increase," Weinberg explained. TURNOVER RATE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW Low wages often cause DSP workers to leave a job that they love in search of higher pay. In a state where there is already a job vacancy of at least 8 percent, losing additional DSPs could be devastating for individuals with I/DD, who rely on DSPs to assist them in everyday tasks. Without competitive, or at least livable wages, people will have no incentive to pursue employment as a DSP. The current shortage of DSPs and compounded issues of high-turnover and low-retention rates resulted in more than 2.9 million overtime hours in 2014. With little extra funds on hand, it is difficult for nonprofits to pay the added expense. LESS WORKERS, LESS PROGRAMS Many of the borough's educational programs and early-intervention centers have been forced to close or do not have enough seats to properly serve the ever-growing I/DD community, creating a lengthy wait list for those in need. If centers can no longer afford to hire additional staff or offer a wage increase to match Cuomo's minimum wage increase, additional programs could be at risk of closing; opening new programs would be out of the question. The unfunded wage increase could lead to almost 8,000 New Yorkers with I/DD at risk of losing services within the 48 chapters of NYSARC across the state, according to calculations done by NYSARC. "Our numbers are growing, even our little kids; after-school programs, recreational programs, housing, education and early intervention programs. They're cutting everything or they're not growing them fast enough to keep up with the need," said Diane Peruggia, who sits on the executive board of the SIDDC and has a daughter with autism. Dignity in Danger is the Advance's depth report on the crisis of care facing Staten Island's developmentally disabled. View the full package. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Cristy Matteo knew it would not be an easy fight to stop the city from removing her pet pig, Wilbur, from her home. What she didn't expect was that thousands of Staten Islanders would be by her side each step of the way. "I just wasn't expecting such compassion from people," said Matteo. "I knew Staten Island has good people but I wasn't expecting it to go this far." The Staten Island Advance has received dozens of emails from concerned Staten Islanders about Wilbur, a pig who provides comfort to Matteo's father who is fighting cancer. Wilbur is being forced to leave his home by Jan. 31 after someone called 311. Matteo was then taken to court for "harboring a wild animal." Matteo's case was dismissed, but the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene overturned the decision and took her back to court in Manhattan, claiming that if Wilbur didn't have a rabies vaccination he would have to leave her home. There is no FDA-approved rabies vaccination for pigs in the United States. PETITION FOR WILBUR Matteo was particularly touched to find out that Midland Beach resident Joanna Tierno was so moved by her story she started a petition to the Health Department on Jan. 16. As of Tuesday, the petition had more than 6,000 signatures. "I think it's amazing," said Matteo, who added she thinks that people can relate to her story because anyone who has a pet knows the close bond that's formed. "I have no kids. My pig and my dog are my children," said Matteo. "No matter where he (Wilbur) goes nobody is going to treat him like I treat him." Tierno sent a message to the Health Department about the petition and encourages readers to keep signing and sharing the link with friends and family. She will continue to update the agency as the numbers continue to grow. "You are all amazing!" Tierno posted Monday. "I will increase the goal again so people can keep signing as I reach out to the Department of Health. I hope and pray Wilbur can stay at home!" Tierno said she was touched when she read about Wilbur because she can relate to Cristy's dad, Thomas Matteo, who suffers from cancer. Wilbur is so much of a comfort to Matteo, he's been deemed an "emotional support animal' by the National Service Animal Registry. "It's heartbreaking...I thought of how I would feel if someone told me I had to get rid of one of my pets," said Tierno. Tierno, who has two birds and five cats, said her pets are extremely comforting to her, particularly since she suffers from primary immunodeficiency disease as well as a rare skin condition. In fact, when Tierno gets weekly infusions at home, her cats come and hang out with her on the couch, which keeps her relaxed. "That reminded me of Wilbur with him (Thomas Matteo). To cause him all this stress while he's already in a a health crisis is extremely detrimental," said Tierno. "If you've gone through something, you recognize how hard it is for somebody else," she added. RESEARCH AND ADVICE Staten Islanders are also showing their support by reaching out with suggestions for Matteo -- from contacting local elected officials to suggesting alternative homes for Wilbur that are closer than Ziggy Refuge in Greensboro, N.C., where Wilbur is slated to go if the decision can't be changed. Residents are also busy researching information to help build Wilbur's case to stay put. Grasmere resident Michael Cala, a writer and photographer with a background in medicine as a former medical educator, had this information to share with Matteo after spending time doing research: According to the North American Pet Pig Association, rabies cases in pigs are "extremely rare in the USA. The largest rabies exposure risk for pet pigs is outdoor housing or unsupervised exercise time where contact with infected wildlife is possible. Pigs housed indoors are extremely unlikely to be exposed to the rabies virus if the other feline and canine household pets have been properly vaccinated." Cala, a dog-lover himself, said he was moved by Matteo's story, as he couldn't imagine how Matteo or her dad will deal with being separated from the pet they've had for five years. "He's basically functioning as a therapy animal...and that to me was very important. That's what really struck me," said Cala. Sally and Lenny Robusto of Annadale were also moved by Matteo's story. "I'm so heartbroken about this pig," said animal rights lover and activist Sally Robusto, who said she's praying Wilbur will be able to stay in his loving home. "I love animals and to see this poor animal who is used to being in a home environment taken away...it's just not the same. You don't know if he will be cared for that well." A LIST OF RESOURCES Her husband, Lenny, a resourceful retired attorney, compiled a list with more than a dozen resources for Matteo, from the Animal Legal Defense Fund to the Associated Humane Society in Forked River, N.J. He even suggested getting a temporary restraining order against the city to protect Wilbur. "The bureaucrats go in and follow the rules...they carry out the letter of the law," said Lenny Robusto, who has experience in challenging situations -- having been an activist with local organizations like Protectors of Pine Oak Woods and Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries of Staten Island. "But sometimes you have to balance the letter of the law with the spirit of the law." And the law, Robusto said, was to stop wild animals from being kept as pets -- pointing out that Wilbur, however, is far from a wild animal. In addition to signing the petition, the Advance asks readers to share the hashtag #SaveWilbur on social media to show and spread support for Matteo's fight to keep her beloved pet pig. Lets think about it, just for a moment. What exactly, if anything, would justify the purposeful infliction of intense animal suffering? Frame your answer by imagining a feral animal building a shelter, or searching for food or wateryou know, simply executing the elementary tasks of survival. Suddenly, its endeavor is abruptly disrupted as powerful steel jaws snap shut around a front leg. At first overwhelmed by sheer indescribable pain, this nightmare is quickly exacerbated and overtaken by panic and terror. It is pinned, the cruel jaws unyielding against the now crushed and broken skeletal mass. Immobile, its life is now reduced to the horror and agony of entrapment. There is no respite: no solace, no hope, no relief. Traumatized, the torture can only be endureduntil it intensifies as its sense of vulnerability is increasingly heightened. Minutes pass into hours, then days. The tongue, now severely swollen from dehydration, accentuates both the anguish of its ever-more-belabored breathing and the thirst which by now has itself become unbearable. There are only two avenues of escape: chew through its own flesh (can you imagine this?!) and perhaps bleed out; or, await an ugly death at the hands of its captor or some other predator. I ask again, what could possibly justify the conscious infliction of such misery? Lets summarize the primary candidates that parade as satisfactory answers. How about: the opportunity to experience and become educated in the ways of the natural world? Really? Have we ever heard of hiking, exploration and observation? Or, how about: the need to control the proliferation of a species? Are you serious? The benefits of population control licenses the above described carnage? Please explain this. And are we going to pretend that our goal as trappersthe occasion for donning our trapping gearis the enhancement of the natural order? Good luck. What of livestock protection? Sorry. Did you know that wolf predation of Montana livestock in 2015 was a staggering 0.002 percent? Notice: even doubled, the number still doesnt matter, does it? Or how about our God-given right to recreate, and also earn a living by marketing fine furs? Recreate? Again, really? You enjoy this? Profiteering? We have a right to impose this nightmare upon the life of another? Why not step up to human trafficking, which is much more lucrative? But isnt trapping a vital and essential method of animal disease control? Again, sorry. This unfortunate and disingenuous contention is decisively undermined by common knowledge: sickly animals are simply not attracted to the bait. Worse, it would have us believe in magicas if the traps themselves were capable of selecting their own catch. But in fact we know that traps are notoriously victim-indiscriminate. The documented, not to mention the unreported, capture of non-targeted species is staggering (42 percent of respondents to a 2012 Idaho wolf-trapping survey reported non-target captures. Over 55 percent of those captured died. They all suffered.). Yes, the victim is too often deer, moose or even your beloved pet. I doubt that this is your idea of fair-chase hunting. Is it? So let us be clear. The haunting challenge here is profoundly moral in character; at issue is the progressive corruption of the dignity of the natural world. It is about the unspeakable trauma inflicted upon beautiful, unique and precious animal livesthe well-being of which is tragically wasted under a misguided, and I fear too often, indifferent, if not callous rationale. The defeat of Initiative 177 in this past electionwhich sought to curtail the exercise of trapping on public landssignals the depth of public misunderstanding of what is at stake. So, if you find it difficult to embrace the very idea of the massive suffering generated by this practice, then please help locate the resources which will deliver this grim message with the widespread impact it deserves. Even now, legislation which would further enshrine animal trapping is under consideration. Your leadership is needed. Contact info@footloosemontana.org. David K. Clark is a recently retired 20 year philosophy professor at the University of Montana. He specializes in the area of ethics and metaphysics, with multiple professional publications. Page Content On Friday, January 20th, 2017, Minister of the Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Affairs, Ms. Silveria Jacobs attended the Slumber Party Reading event at the Oranje School. The activity was part of events leading up to the 30th Annual Book week celebrations, which is celebrated from February 20th to February 25th, 2017. The theme for this years book week at the Oranje school is No Gas Required, Depend on Reading to Travel the World. Minister Jacobs along with other employees within the Ministry ECYS as well as community police officers and concerned citizens took time out of their schedule to take part in the literacy event and read to the students of various grades. Minister Jacobs is very proud of the management, teachers, committee members, parents, volunteers and students who participated in this event and would like to encourage citizens on St. Maarten to drop everything and read for 20 minutes on a Friday morning as long as their job type permits. If that time does not work out, Minister Jacobs would like to encourage all to take time to read at some point during the day, every day. By modeling positive behavior related to reading, parents and other adults can be role models for our youth and promote lifelong learning as well. Reading helps build knowledge and knowledge is powerful. Oranje school is being commended for being an example of Education on the Move year round, Minister Jacobs added. Minister Jacobs would also like to commend the Hillside Christian School on their book week as well. Whilst she was off-island and unable to attend, she was able to follow its success via social media. This is also a wonderful activity to promote literacy and is also a prime example of Education on the Move. All schools are encouraged to celebrate and promote literacy beyond the classroom to include parents and the community in these efforts as much as possible. In a high-tech container, Dan Marino '08 shares pink grow-lights with chard plants. (Photo by Mark Morelli) In a high-tech container, Dan Marino '08shares pink grow-lights with chard plants.(Photo by Mark Morelli) Growing crops in shipping containers, using closed-loop watering and very little electricity, is the mission of Freight Farms, founded in 2010 as a pioneer in containerized farming. The idea is to bring sustainable year-round food production closer to consumers, particularly in urban, arid, or other non-agricultural areas. Its drawn great interest from the US space agency NASA, but for Dan Marino 06, the name caught his eye first. After working at Burton Snowboards and at a Yale University psychiatry lab, Marino was looking for startup companies. He discovered Freight Farms, determined that he would do whatever it took to get a job there, and within two weeks became part of mission control for a fleet of shipping containers outfitted to grow lettuce, herbs, and other greens. He soon became head of operations, a job that offers a taste of almost everything, from overseeing farm-building teams and managing inventory to tending vendor relationships to coordinating logistics and transportation of the 40-foot steel boxescalled Leafy Green Machinesthroughout North America. The firm has sold more than 85 LGMs to small urban farmers, restaurant suppliers, educational institutions such as Clark University, and eco-conscious companies like Google. He says, The job keeps me on my toes; no two days are ever the same. Last year NASA awarded Freight Farms a small-business technology transfer grant to work alongside Clemson University in developing a self-sustaining crop production unit that could have applications in deep space as well as in commerce, disaster relief, the military, and remote living in harsh climates. Shipping-container farming may ultimately help humans boldly go where no man has gone before, but for now, Marino notes, its tapping into a much older and earthlier agricultural model: growing food where its consumed. With its space-age technology, Freight Farms is bringing a new concept to an old economy. And Marino is using time-honored skills too. Whats surprised me, he says, is how all business boils down to the same fundamental principle no matter the size of the company. Whether you are trying to build a farm, create a search engine, source cheaper aluminum, or get a haircutits one individual coming to an agreement with another over a need or want. By supplying fresh, healthy produce in any environment, Leafy Green Machines may well find a niche in every corner of the globe. In fact, even the skys no limit. Kathryn Gallien Montana is the only state in the country that does not provide funding to schools for students older than 18, a distinction Rep. Jean Price, D-Great Falls, hopes to end. On Monday, she introduced House Bill 178 to the Education Committee. The measure would provide ANB funding essentially a lump sum, per-student payment from the state to schools that choose to educate a student who is 19 years old. Currently, the state only funds students who are age 18 or younger at the start of their final academic year. Passing this bill would not mandate that all schools allow 19-year-olds to attend their schools, she said, noting school districts would still make that decision. It simply will allow ANB funding for schools if they choose to take this position. Some districts do allow students to stay in school past age 18, paying for that instruction with all-local funds. In other districts, school boards write age-out policies that, in some communities, effectively block 19-year-olds from continuing to work toward a high school diploma. Several school officials, students and education advocates spoke in support of the bill. Dylan Champagne, a 19-year-old student from Great Falls, said he always put his education first and even was elected to top positions on student council, Key Club and Kiwanis. Nonetheless, he said completing school has been difficult because he has lived on his own for the last two years, working a full-time minimum wage job and paying his own bills. I hope to graduate in June this year and further my education in journalism or business management, he said. Drew Uecker, a Great Falls principal, noted the district has 282 students, about a dozen of whom are 19 years old, calling it an ethical duty to teach them even when the state won't provide funding. He said he was frustrated by arguments he heard against the bill last session describing those students as thugs. I could tell you story after story of kids that were not thugs. These are kids that have life circumstances who just need a break, he said, describing teens who hold down jobs and care for younger siblings because of disabled parents or effectively lost a school year when raped by a family member and had to go to court and counseling. We need your help, and its the right thing to do. Supporters also noted the bill could help students with disabilities who would be able to earn a diploma if they had more time. Advocates have noted that Montanas law as written also blocks the state from receiving federal funding to provide job training and some transitional services for teens and young adults with disabilities. No one spoke in opposition to the bill on Monday, although previous versions of the proposal have died in committee. In 2015, the measure carried by Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe, D-Great Falls, passed the Senate 34-16 but was tabled in the House Education Committee. Before becoming Superintendent of Public Instruction this month, Elsie Arntzen served as a legislator. In 2015, she was one of four Republicans to oppose Moes bill in the Senate committee. Rep. Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, seemed to allude to that vote Monday with a question he asked Kara Sperle, an informational witness from the Office of Public Instruction. He wondered why the superintendent had not taken a stand on the measure. Given the situation of the state budget as it is, I am here to provide numbers so you can make the decision you need to, Sperle said. The measure is expected to cost an extra $536,615 in the states two-year budget for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. Last academic year, schools reported teaching 50 students who were 19 years old. The Legislative Fiscal Division estimates that number would increase to about 70 by 2019 because of overall school growth and some districts who might change their age-out policies to accept 19-year-olds they might have previously turned away. This is a nickel-and-dime investment in the future of our kids, said Eric Feaver, lobbyist for the teachers union. We can afford it. Everyone in this room knows we can afford it. All the reasons to afford it have already been said. The committee took no action on the bill Monday. MISSOULA -- Federal workers scrambled on Tuesday to interpret how President Donald Trumps hiring freeze of civilian employees might affect seasonal firefighters and other part-time employees. Trumps order, issued Monday, stated no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. The head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities, the order continued. In addition, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Council President Melissa Baumann said the order left her in the dark about U.S. Forest Service staffing, especially with hiring fairs for permanent firefighting professionals starting next week. We all had a hard time just trying to get ahold of the executive order itself yesterday, Baumann said. Were waiting to see where the chips fall. Baumann said in 2015 the Forest Service hired about 11,000 seasonal workers. At least 6,200 of those were firefighters or had firefighting-related duties. But many were for positions such as logging sale analysts, trail maintenance workers and forest rangers. Forest Service officials told the Missoulian they were preparing a response to the order on Tuesday morning, but had not delivered their comments as of 1 p.m. MST. Trumps order also stated contracting outside the government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted. That also raised concerns within the Forest Service, where many tasks such as drafting environmental impact statements are handled case-by-case through private contracts. The Forest Service has struggled to accomplish regular tasks in recent years because of increased demands of firefighting nationwide. In whats known as fire-borrowing, the agency has had to spend more than 50 percent of its total budget on firefighting activity, by raiding budgets for other services. It has reduced its non-fire personnel by 39 percent between 1998 and 2015, from 18,000 workers to less than 11,000, according to FEDManager.com, a Washington, D.C., news service for federal executives. Firefighting personnel have more than doubled in the same period. While Montanas congressional delegation has proposed legislative fixes to let the Forest Service pay fire costs similar to how other national disasters are funded, those measures have not passed Congress. Trumps order advised department leaders to make reallocations to meet the highest priority needs and to ensure that essential services are not interrupted and national security is not affected. That raised questions of whether seasonal firefighters would be considered an increase in federal workforce that would have to be offset by reductions in other areas. Is all the attrition going to come from the rest of the workforce? asked NFFE regional vice president Lisa Wolfe. Weve got seasonal people doing things like wildlife, hydrology, recreation, timber, archaeology pretty much anything, we have a temporary work force there somewhere. By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is expected to take executive action Tuesday to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, according to multiple news reports and a source with knowledge of the action. The president is scheduled to sign orders at the White House late this morning. Former President Barack Obama killed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needed to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. The Army decided last year to explore alternate routes for the Dakota pipeline after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the pipeline threatened drinking water and Native American cultural sites. The person with knowledge of the decisions insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to confirm the moves ahead of a formal announcement. What happened and why? Medicaid is a federally funded program run by individual states for people who cant afford health insurance. In Illinois, for many years Medicaid recipients were issued a medical card that hospitals and doctors offices accepted and charged the state directly for each encounter. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act, states began outsourcing Medicaid to private insurance companies, the idea being that those companies could handle the process of running Medicaid better and more efficiently than state governments. This is called managed Medicaid. In this system, the state would send the managed Medicaid provider a previously agreed-upon payment and the provider would reimburse the hospitals. But that system has broken down in Macon County. Ideally there would be several providers for Medicaid recipients to choose from. Last year at this time there were two: Health Alliance and Molina. But Health Alliance dropped out at the end of 2016 because of lack of payments from the state. Now, both hospitals in Decatur HSHS St. Marys and Decatur Memorial are severing ties with Molina. St. Marys ended its relationship as of Dec. 31 and DMH has notified Molina that it is ending its relationship on March 23. DMH, citing its contract with Molina, will not comment until after the contract officially ends. HSHS released a statement saying the termination was because of ongoing and unresolved issues around medical management, claim payments and credentialing of physicians. HSHS recently added Meridian Medicaid Managed Care as an option. The state is currently trying to find more managed care provider options for Macon County Medicaid recipients. How many people does this affect? There are 32,627 Macon County residents on Medicaid. All of them will need to find a new Medicaid provider or sign up with the state for the medical card. This does not affect anyone on Medicare or with insurance through the ACA Marketplace. I live in Macon County and am covered by Medicaid. What does this mean for me? Anyone signed up with Health Alliance or Molina will need to find a new carrier or sign up with the state for the medical card. Hospital emergency rooms have to accept patients in need and the hospital will help incoming patients get the coverage they need. But Medicaid recipients will have to check with their primary care physicians and specialists to see if they accept the medical card or whatever new insurance they receive. Because of delays with payments from the state, not all doctors accept the medical card. According to Molina, patients at both HSHS and DMH have coverage for 90 days after the effective termination date March 31 at HSHS and May 23 at DMH. What should Decatur Medicaid recipients do right now? HSHS patients should call (877) 912-8880 to switch to Meridian or find out what other options they have. DMH patients should call the business office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at (217) 876-3785. Another resource for Decatur Medicaid patients is Crossing Healthcare. Crossing can be reached at (217) 877-9117. System error error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. context: ... 21: 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: 28: 29: ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25 /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948 /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17 /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149 Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0231bb0)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03b72d8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0231bb0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03b72d8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x5612f0246300)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03b72d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612f03b72d8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x5612e1d8c4c8)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03bea90)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x5612f03bea90)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0 The cost of renting a room in a Canberra share house has risen by 27 per cent in the past year as demand outstrips supply. New figures show Canberra residents of all ages are looking to beat rising accommodation prices by house sharing, but they're finding it harder. Property listings on Flatmates.com.au declined 32 per cent in the final three months of 2016 compared with the previous year, while 271 per cent more people were searching. The ratio of people looking per room was 10 to one, five times greater than a year ago. The union for prison guards says it is "deeply concerned" after at least one prison guard was injured by a detainee at Canberra's Alexander Maconochie Centre. Authorities have been reluctant to release more information about the "incident" at the jail on January 15. At least one prison guard was injured in the incident. Credit:Jay Cronan However it is understood three prison guards were hurt while trying to restrain an inmate. "The incident was quickly responded to and contained through normal response actions," a spokesman for the ACT's justice directorate said. The New York Times is setting up a small team in Sydney to create local stories it hopes will encourage Australians to subscribe and engage with the Times' global network. The team will be spearheaded by one of its journalists, Damien Cave, who says its website already has a strong reader and subscriber base here. The New York Times office in ... New York. Credit:Mark Lennihan "This, for us, is an experiment in terms of both audience and journalism," Mr Cave told Fairfax Media. "What we are doing here is actually pretty unique ... We may or may not partner with some people along the way. This for us is a pretty ambitious start-up model that is different than anything we have done before." Its shares have slumped 60 pct over the past year following a dismal sharemarket float. But are its shares worth a punt? Who knows, but at least one of the brokers which underwrote its sharemarket float a year ago reckons the worst could be over - for now. Broker Bell Potter, along with investment bank JP Morgan underwrote the sharemarket listing of property agent McGrath a year ago. That IPO, at $2.10 a share, saw John McGrath pocket a handy $37 million. John McGrath in happier times, ringing the bell as his real estate company floated on the ASX. Credit:Edwina Pickles He is still a shareholder, with 29 per cent of the capital, but cannot sell until after full year to June earnings are announced. He stepped back from running the company in August last year. On Monday, McGrath said earnings in the second half to June would be "materially lower" than the first half which saw the shares punished, closing down 5.3 per cent at 81c after touching a new low of 71c. It blamed both a decline in property listings and the walk out of a large number of its sales team who have shifted to a start-up. Instead of a random 50 per cent tax concession on capital gains made from property and shares, we should tax all forms of saving at a uniform rate. This would reduce the incentive for investors to pile into property. Also, it's just unfair that many first homebuyers have their money sitting in bank deposits, with any interest earned slugged at their full marginal tax rate. Former federal Treasury Secretary Ken Henry suggested a tax discount of 40 per cent should apply to all income or capital gains from all savings vehicles. 3. Advocate taxing the family home You're gonna love this one! He didn't say it, but Henry's reasoning also implies increases in the value of the family home should also be taxed at the same rate. Why should homeowners get a free-ride from rising house prices when workers get taxed on their income from hard work? While we're at it, the value of the family home, above appropriate thresholds for different areas, should also be included in the assets test for the age pension. You're welcome. 4. Relocate parliament to Parramatta You heard me. Get government out of the city. Heard of teleconferencing? There is no need for bureaucrats to crowd into the CBD every day. The further politicians are kept from business interests in this state, the better. If we're going to stop people clinging to the harbour and rapid inner-city home price growth, we need more decentralisation of jobs. You'll also need to fix traffic congestion too, while you're at it. 5. Axe stamp duty and introduce a land tax Pretty much every economist agrees taxing land is the most efficient and stable form of taxation. It's hard to avoid paying the tax they know where you live. They also agree that stamp duty is pretty much the worst form of tax it discourages people from moving. Replacing stamp duty with a broad based land tax on all owner occupied housing, with certain thresholds, would provide more incentives for efficient land use, including more subdivision and older people downsizing. 6. Ease the land tax burden for large landlords While you're at it, restructure the land tax regime so that large scale landlords get a tax-free threshold per dwelling they lease out. Currently they are assessed on the total value of their portfolio, and only get the value of one tax free threshold. This discourages bigger, more professional, landlords from servicing the rental market, arguably providing greater security and amenity for renters. 7. Don't boost first home buyer grants There are already calls for you to extend greater subsidies to first home buyers, by either reinstating first home buyer grants for purchasers of established properties or by increasing the threshold for stamp duty concessions. Stop. Don't take the easy route. Anything you do to put money in the pockets of buyers, without increasing supply, will only be used to bid up prices. Grants for home sellers, more like. 8. Slug foreigners You've already introduced a new tax on foreigners who purchase property in NSW. Make it bigger. 9. Get on board ScoMo's plan Treasurer Scott Morrison flew to London this week to, among other things, see if a highly successful UK model for boosting the provision of affordable rental housing can be replicated here. The British Housing Finance Corporation helps providers of affordable housing to band together to access cheaper and longer term debt for the construction of new homes. It's a great idea and well worth exploring. 10. Explore 'value capture' To the extent that existing homeowners would benefit from new infrastructure to their area increasing their land values, they should be taxed on that increase in value. Again, there should be no unfair windfalls when it comes to property ownership. Revenue raised can be used to fund the projects themselves and not front-loaded as additional costs for new housing developers costs which are only passed onto buyers. 11. Gag NIMBYs Don't actually hurt anyone, but certainly deny them as much oxygen as possible. Overhaul planning rules to make planning approval processes more transparent, quicker and harder for NIMBYs to make vexatious claims. Anyone lucky enough to live in the most beautiful city in the world must be prepared to share. Look, Gladys, I assume this is all very helpful for you. Feel free to cut out this article and stick it wherever you deem appropriate. The government is being urged to revisit bilateral trade deals with Australia's big Asian trade partners, after Donald Trump pulled the plug on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Mr Trump's decision to pull the United States out of the TPP this week would likely to deprive Australian exporters of deeper access to key overseas markets, businesses said on Tuesday. The TPP, one of the world's biggest and most controversial trade deals, was forecast to benefit a range of Australian export industries including agriculture, financial services and manufacturing. But without its largest member, the deal is in disarray. As the government looks to salvage some sort of regional agreement by including China, which was excluded from the TPP, business leaders say Mr Trump's "America First" stance should prompt Australia to look at other trade options. Super-rich American "preppers" are buying up New Zealand land to escape to in case the US collapses or the poor rise up in revolt against them, The New Yorker reports. It's unclear exactly how many wealthy Americans are buying property there with the apocalypse in mind - many just want a holiday home - but the amount of land they have bought in the past few years has increased dramatically. New Yorker journalist Evan Osnos talked to several of the "preppers". Preppers, or "survivalists", believe in preparation in case of societal collapse. In the past, preppers were usually associated with guns, powdered food and underground bunkers - but now it seems New Zealand is a focus, especially for the cosmopolitan Silicon Valley set. CHARLESTON -- For years, Max the dog seemed perfectly content to live outside a Charleston restaurant, getting help from people who fed and looked after him. But a recent change in the dog's health convinced his caregivers to try to catch the little pooch who'd always been leery of people and never let them get too close. Max was losing weight, not eating and wasn't active, explained Betsy Miller, one of the people who looked after him. "We thought he needed help," Miller said. "We wanted to give him a chance if he would allow us." She said the caregivers first consulted with a veterinarian and the Coles County animal shelter about what to do. One day last week, she put a sedative in the food she gave him each morning at the restaurant, Smoky's House BBQ. That, along with his weakened condition, meant Max allowed them to put him in a pet carrier, Miller said. Max lived outside Smoky's House BBQ since at least the time the restaurant opened seven years ago, and he was mostly likely abandoned. He's had a steady group of people looking after him, but he never allowed anyone to get too close to him before. "He was OK where he was," Miller said. "We never would have attempted it unless he was ill. We knew something was going wrong." A veterinarian's examination determined that Max was in kidney failure. Miller said the outlook wasn't good at first but now there's a chance he could still be around awhile with medication. "We'll see how he responds," she said. "We'll never let him suffer." Max is now in foster care at a private residence that has pet shelter facilities along with the dog house and some of his other items from Smoky's House BBQ. "He'll at least have a few good months," Miller said. "It was his choice. If he didn't want to do this, he wouldn't." She said the caregivers and restaurant owner Joe Evans all agreed that returning him to that location wouldn't be best. "He is not healthy enough to be on his own," she said. The vet bills for Max's care at are $700 "and climbing," and his caregivers will continue to pay for his food and medicine, Miller said. She said anyone wanting to help with the expenses can make a donation to the "Max Memorial Fund" at any First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust facility. With reporters and photographers invited in on his first full day in office and cameras rolling, President Donald J. Trump signed, as one of his first acts, the memorandum to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. "Everyone knows what that is, right?" he asks as the cameras go off. "We've been talking about this for a lo-o-ong time." With those words he begins the process of turning the United States in on itself, of building the walls which look set to shut it off from the world. It is the end of an era for US trade and foreign policy. Donald Trump has begun a process of turning America in on itself. It is the end of an era for US trade and foreign policy. Credit:AP Mr Trump has indeed been talking about doing this for a long time but the Australian government appears not to have been listening. Or perhaps it has been so appalled at the prospect that the years of delicate negotiations that produced the TPP might go to waste, that it refused to believe Mr Trump meant what he said. Could the TPP continue without the United States? The Trade Minister, Steve Ciobo, doesn't know. He told ABC Radio that no work had been commissioned on the likely benefits of the pact if the United States withdrew. Mr Ciobo may have been caught off guard by the question, because what he said is hard to believe. If true, it would be an appalling admission a failure of Australian diplomacy which suggests incompetence. The Trans-Pacific Partnership itself was no great triumph of the multilateralist system, but rather evidence of its failure. A trade deal which might have encompassed every nation has petered out as a goal with the stalling of the comprehensive trade talks which began at the end of last century within the World Trade Organisation. In the absence of a global agreement to lower all trade barriers, individual countries have negotiated side deals with others. Australia now has many of these, and is negotiating more. The TPP was a larger and more complex version of the same process, but for the United States and to a lesser extent Australia, the TPP's benefits went beyond the economic. The previous US administration intended it not only to entrench US economic interests in the Pacific region through freer trade, but also to provide substantial backing for a new forward posture in the region, President Obama's pivot to Asia. There are many who have questioned the economic value of the TPP for Australia. Some, including the Productivity Commission, questioned the secrecy of the whole process. The World Bank found early last year that while it would greatly benefit smaller economies in the region, it would result in economic growth in this country of just 0.7 per cent between 2016 and 2030. Not 0.7 per cent a year 0.7 per cent over 15 years. For the United States, the figure was even smaller: 0.4 per cent. Those numbers are aggregates for national GDP growth; within each national economy some sectors agriculture in Australia, for example would fare better and others worse as a result of the TPP. Within the United States, Mr Trump gained the votes of large numbers of those in economic sectors which would do worse. His appeal largely to white, non-college-educated voters was a shock for conventional politics. In hindsight, what is more surprising is that it was unexpected, because the anger of his supporters is reasonable. Internationalisation had exported their jobs overseas, and was threatening through the TPP to export more. America's values and its worship of success, not failure, have produced a patchy social welfare system; the redistribution of wealth through the tax system is viewed with deep suspicion. Tax cuts are for rich people. Thus globalisation's victims within the United States were doubly helpless: out of work in a society that gives little help to those who cannot help themselves. An unusually quiet period for cyclones in the Australian region may come to an abrupt end within days as forecasters predict a major storm will develop off the Kimberley by Friday. Any breakup of the abnormally warm waters off northern Australia would be welcomed, as much of the Great Barrier Reef off central and north Queensland faced a "warning" level risk of coral bleaching, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch service. Phil Klotzbach, a US-based storm researcher, said the whole southern hemisphere had not had a hurricane-strength storm for 275 days, the longest absence since 1974. "There have only been two named storms so far in the southern hemisphere season and zero hurricane-strength storms," Dr Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University, said. "On average, we should have had 10 named storms and five hurricanes so far." Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has a solution for Sydneysiders who can't afford to buy a home: get out of Sydney. Declaring himself fed up with the focus on Sydney and Melbourne in the housing affordability debate, Mr Joyce suggested homebuyers give up on water views and relocate to the regions, where property is cheaper. "I get annoyed when people talk about that the only house that you can buy apparently is in Sydney and it's too dear," he told ABC Radio National. "There are other parts of Australia. I live in one, it's called Tamworth." Mr Joyce was responding to yet another report showing homes in Australia's two biggest cities are among the world's least affordable. The Demographia survey released on Tuesday found Sydney was the second most expensive city in the world for housing, behind only Hong Kong, while Melbourne ranked fifth - more expensive than London and San Francisco. East Timor has dumped its spying case against Australia in the international court, raising hopes of an eventual end to the bitter stand-off over $40 billion in oil and gas fields. After a week of confidential talks in Singapore, both countries also pledged on Tuesday to negotiate in "good faith" to finally declare a maritime boundary in the Timor Sea, setting a September deadline for progress. East Timor's then prime Minister Mari Alkatiri with John Howard and Alexander Downer in 2006 after signing a "Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea". Credit:MickTsikas But Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has previously emphasised the unprecedented conciliation process East Timor has initiated against Australia to be non-binding. The latest move in the long-running dispute follows a decision by East Timor this month to tear up a Howard-era treaty that had governed the development of multi-billion dollar oil and gas resources in the Timor Sea. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has defended publicising "secret briefings" from intelligence officials on the risk MPs face from Russian-style hacking after the opposition accused him of being "irresponsible in the extreme". Mr Turnbull and his cyber security minister Dan Tehan held a press conference on Tuesday to announce the government would make the Australian Signals Directorate available to all the major political parties to brief them on the threat of cyber attacks, including by foreign actors. The offer of the briefings had already been reported that morning in a front page article in The Australian newspaper, which carried quotes from Mr Turnbull and described them as "secret" and "unprecedented". Mr Tehan said he had spoken to his Labor counterpart on Tuesday - after the publication of the article - to explain the offer of the briefing. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has acknowledged foreign agents may be trying to gather compromising material on individual Australian politicians through cyber attacks, while a Labor MP has said parliamentarians themselves are the "weakest link". Following political ructions after Russia used hacking to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, and unconfirmed reports that Moscow has gathered embarrassing material on President Donald Trump, Mr Turnbull announced that Australia's electronic spy agency would brief political parties on what they needed to do to protect themselves. He did not rule out that malicious actors could already have gathered material in a bid to embarrass or blackmail Australian politicians. "I would only be speculating on that but clearly that is a vector," he said. A 31-year-old man detained at Australia's offshore processing centre on Manus Island has been charged with raping a young woman in the provincial centre of Lorengau, Papua New Guinea police say. Manus Province commander David Yapu said the accused was alleged to have met his 18-year-old victim in the town, before taking her to the nearby Harbourside hotel and raping her multiple times. "The victim suffered loss of blood until she managed to escape from the room," Mr Yapu told Fairfax Media. The incident occurred on January 17. The victim attempted to reach safety at a relative's house but "fainted" at the side of a river until she was rescued by a passersby, he said. She was then taken to Lorengau General Hospital for treatment. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has flagged bringing China into a reworked Trans-Pacific Partnership to replace the US - or rewriting the deal to exclude Washington - as he lashed out at Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, calling him "the greatest example of Labor gutlessness for generations". Speaking in the hours after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order consigning the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal to the dustbin, Mr Turnbull condemned Mr Shorten's claims that the contentious pact was "dead", revealing instead that Australia would not back down on its trade agenda because it is in the national interest. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten are at odds over free trade. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Forty years of Labor leaders have stood up for trade, have sought to open up opportunities for Australians to export their products, export their services, because they've recognised that trade is good for jobs," he said. "Now Mr Shorten has put himself in the position where he's against trade and he's for higher energy costs . . . Bill Shorten is the biggest threat to Australian jobs, especially in any business, any industry that has an export market or wants to take on export opportunities and that applies to most of our fastest-growing industries." "And generally speaking, we're going to give you your permits," the President said. [Peter Nicholas/The Wall Street Journal] 2. TPP Interestingly at the end of that last report, Ford is cited as praising Trump's order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Pro-trade Australia is picking up the baton dropped by the United States and is pushing hard for the TPP's future. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with Former Trade Minister Andrew Robb and Trade Minister Steve Ciobo. Credit:Louie Douvis Trade Minister Steve Ciobo is advocating the so-called 12 minus one option (proceeding without the US as is), while former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, now High Commissioner to Britain, is suggesting an Asian nation sub in the for the US. [My report/Fairfax] In other politics news: Liberal Senator Dean Smith is advocating a reform-now-review-later approach to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act which currently makes it unlawful to "offend" or "insult" a person based on their race. [Op ed/The Australian] China is now the single biggest coal-miner in Australia after Rio Tinto offloaded its New South Wales mines to Yancoal for $US2.5 billion. [Brian Robins/Fairfax] 3. Israel A construction site in the Israeli-occupied West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim. Credit:AP Israel is further flexing its muscle, emboldened by Trump's occupancy of the White House. The Defence Ministry has announced plans for a further 2,500 homes in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians say the decision will "reinforce extremism." [Reuters] 4. Brexit ruling British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street. Credit:Getty Images Theresa May's government has suffered a loss in the Supreme Court with Britain's highest court ruling that the government must seek parliament's approval before triggering the formal process to leave the European Union, commonly referred to as Article 50. [Nick Miller/Fairfax] At first blush this sound ominous but it's not, in fact it's actually good news for the government which I'll get to in just a sec. Labour won't block Brexit as such so the government has the numbers in the Commons to trigger Article 50 in March, as May intends. But the government does now need to legislate to give itself the power to trigger Article 50. Brexit Minister David Davis told the Commons the legislation would be presented in coming days. So what's good about this? Well the Supreme Court ruled that the British parliament doesn't need to go to the devolved administrations for approval - read Scotland. Really good analysis on this by Laura Kuenssberg. [BBC] Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wants Scotland to stay in the EU despite the 'Brexit'. Credit:Geoffroy van der Hasselt Scotland opposed Brexit and voted in favour of Remain. The Brexit result plays into the SNP's hands as it agitates for a second referendum for Scottish independence. The SNP lost the first referendum, partly because Westminster was successful in pointing out that leaving the UK would mean leaving the EU. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Supreme Court ruling showed Scotland's voice is being ignored hence a second referendum is needed. [Tom Peterkin/The Scotsman] So short-term, it's a relief for the May government that it doesn't end up in the Scottish parliament but long-term there's still a way to go before we see just what effect Brexit has on the United Kingdom as an entity. 5. Mosul Iraqi special forces advance inside Mosul University grounds during fighting against Islamic State militants in the eastern side of Mosul, Iraq. Credit:AP As Iraqis make gains in Mosul against Islamic State, the humanitarian crisis worsens. The United Nations believes 750,000 people remain in the western part of the city, still held by ISIS. [Reuters] 6. Oscar nominations Sunny Pawar as the little boy lost in India before he was adopted in Australia. Credit:Mark Rogers This is my third Number Six devoted to Lion and with good reason. This wonderful true-life story of Indian-Australian adoptee Saroo Brierley tracking down his birth mother using Google Maps is up for Oscars including Best Picture! But Lion faces fierce competition against La La Land. [Gary Maddox/Fairfax] It is known as the City of Light. But a shadow has been cast over Paris, where some of the wealthiest women in the world have arrived for the start of the January couture shows. Instead of swanning freely into the arching halls of the Grand Palais and other local landmarks where the lavish events are held, most will be forced to open their handbags, doff their furs and regularly submit to full body-wand checks at almost every event as part of a set of stringent new security measures. Models walk the runway during the Christian Dior Spring Summer 2017 show as part of Paris Fashion Week Credit:Pascal Le Segretain Terrorist attacks and a spate of vicious high-profile robberies have tarnished the French capital's reputation as a playground for the very rich, and raised concerns that the clients usually wooed during such fashion events may start to avoid them. In October, thieves broke into the residence of Kim Kardashian West during Paris Fashion Week, tied her up and stole millions of dollars worth of jewels. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump moved to pull the United States out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact Monday, dealing a quick blow to Barack Obama's legacy as the new chief executive began fulfilling campaign promises in his first full week in office. "Great thing for the American worker that we just did," Trump said in brief remarks as he signed a notice in the Oval Office. The president also signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring, though he noted an exception for the military, and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. The regulation, known as the "Mexico City Policy," has been a political volleyball, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984. Following a tumultuous first weekend in office consumed by Trump's criticism of the media's inauguration coverage and his spokesman's angry, inaccurate tirade against journalists the president was seeking to refocus on the sweeping, yet often vague, promises he made as a candidate. He campaigned as a fierce opponent of multilateral trade agreements, particularly the 12-nation Pacific Rim deal. The deal was the cornerstone of Obama's attempt to counter China's influence in Asia. The Obama administration labored for years to finalize TPP. But Obama's own Democratic Party was skeptical of the pact, and the former president never sent it to Congress for ratification. Trump's action was praised by U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorvillde. "I support free and fair trade because of the market it provides farmers and the jobs it creates at companies like ADM and CAT in Decatur," Davis said, "but I have had concerns with the enforcement provisions in many of these trade agreements. That's why I fought to include provisions in the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill that passed last Congress to help industries like steel go after countries who break our trade laws and put American workers at a disadvantage. "I'm glad President Trump is focused on helping American workers and hope he can negotiate fair trade deals that allow our companies to grow and create jobs here in the U.S.," the congressman said. As Trump pressed forward with executive actions, a legal watchdog group filed a lawsuit alleging he is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments. The liberal-funded watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics says the clause prohibits Trump from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or from foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings. Asked about the suit, Trump said it was "totally without merit." The president was spending much of the day reaching out to lawmakers and others with a stake in his economic policies. Congressional leaders from both parties were attending an evening reception at the White House. The president was also scheduled to meet with union leaders and workers. He began the day huddling with business leaders. He warned that he would impose a "substantial border tax" on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States. He also promised tax advantages to companies that produce products domestically. "All you have to do is stay," he said during a meeting in the White House's Roosevelt Room. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin were among the executives at the meeting. Trump ran for office pledging to overhaul U.S. trade policy, arguing that massive free-trade agreements have disadvantaged American workers. Since winning the White House, he's aggressively called out companies that have moved factories overseas, vowing to slap taxes on products they then try to sell in the U.S. "Some people say that's not free trade, but we don't have free trade now," Trump said Monday. The president also reiterated his campaign pledge to lower taxes for companies, as well as the middle class, "anywhere from 15 to 25 percent," although Trump has not been clear on how he intends to make up for the lost tax revenue. He also called for cutting 75 percent of federal regulations and insisted that doing so would not compromise worker safety. In his first days in office, Trump has been reaching out to world leaders, including a call Monday with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. On Sunday, the president spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who accepted an invitation to visit the White House in early February. The prime minister said he is hoping to forge a "common vision" with Trump that could include expanded Israeli settlement construction and a tougher policy toward Iran. Trump also announced that he's set up meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose countries are partners with the U.S. in the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trump has vowed to renegotiate the terms of that pact. Later in the week, he'll address congressional Republicans at their retreat in Philadelphia and meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May. A five-year-old girl has died in hospital several days after she suffered a suspected methadone overdose while in her grandfather's care. The young girl was being cared for at a home in Quakers Hill in Sydney's north-west last week. The house where the five-year-old girl suffered a suspected methadone overdose. Credit:SMH It is understood police have been told the little girl and another child fell asleep after watching TV on Tuesday. The grandfather tried to wake the girl up and found her barely breathing. Premier Gladys Berejiklian is being called on to consider giving strata residents and owners corporations the power to ban short-term letting of apartments through sites like Airbnb, arguing the practice is driving up rents. A day after Ms Berejiklian declared that she would prioritise the issue of housing affordability, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN) said a crackdown on short-term letting was "the first, easiest and cheapest step" she could take. The OCN says the number of rental properties being made permanently available for short-term letting is driving up rents. The claim is backed up by recently published research by the University of Sydney's Urban Housing Lab that showed the number of Airbnb rentals had doubled year on year since 2011 to reach about 15,648 in January 2016. Labor says if Premier Gladys Berejiklian is serious about tackling NSW's housing affordability crisis, she would reverse cuts made to the first home owner grant and push for limits on negative gearing. On day one of her premiership, Ms Berejiklian declared her top priority was to curb soaring real estate prices that were preventing hard-working people from buying their first home. In response, Opposition Leader Luke Foley said that Ms Berejiklian, in previous senior positions, had supported decisions that did nothing to address affordability concerns. On January 1, 2016, the first home owner grant for new homes was slashed by a third to $10,000. He said this cut should be reversed. A bushfire burning near the village of Camberwell, in the Hunter region of NSW, is no longer directly threatening properties, the Rural Fire Service says. An emergency warning had been issued just before 11am on Tuesday for the blaze, which was burning east towards Camberwell, just north of Singleton. Firefighters quickly gained the upper hand and, just before 11.45am, the Rural Fire Service downgraded its warning to "watch and act". "Residents should monitor conditions and take advice from firefighters in the area," the RFS said. The fire came as the temperature hit 36 degrees in Singleton on Tuesday morning, with north-westerly winds blowing at nearly 40km/h, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. Sydney University is pressing for a new train station on a planned metro line between the city's CBD and Parramatta to be built at its Camperdown campus in the inner west, arguing it will be crucial to helping transport 30,000 students a day. Having lost out to Waterloo just over a year ago as the site for a station on a new metro line from Chatswood in the north to Sydenham in the south, the sandstone university has now suggested a site near Oval No.2 for a station on the so-called Sydney Metro West line, which the NSW government committed to late last year. The university has also highlighted the fact that a station near Oval No.2 would be within walking distance of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. While the government has named the Bays Precinct around Rozelle as a site for a new station, the university insists one built on or near its campus is viable despite another in close proximity further north. Premier Gladys Berejiklian may be hedging her bets on council amalgamations, but one player in local government is doing well out of the mergers. Queensland-based company TechnologyOne appears set to win millions of dollars worth of contract extensions to standardise IT systems across newly-formed mega councils. But Greens MP David Shoebridge has questioned the decision of multiple councils to negotiate directly with TechnologyOne rather than tender for contracts that can be worth up to a combined $10 million. Three amalgamated councils the Inner West Council, Georges River Council and Cumberland Council each resolved late last year to negotiate directly with TechnologyOne. Controversial Queensland policeman Chris Hurley has been fined for assaulting a former female colleague while she was on patrol at a Gold Coast shopping centre. Hurley, 48, was off-duty in February 2016 when he grabbed a uniformed senior constable by the wrist at Robina Shopping Centre. Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley pictured in Townsville in 2007. Credit:Ian Hitchcock Brisbane Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday that Hurley dragged the woman away from her junior colleague and swore at her over a private matter. "It's your fault, it's your f***ing fault," Hurley said. Brisbane detectives are hunting for a man who pulled off a high-priced watch heist, replacing two expensive time pieces with replicas. The thief's modus operandi was to try on the expensive watch and replace it with a high-end replica. Brisbane detectives want to speak to this man over the theft of high-priced watches. Credit:QPS Police have released security footage of the two heists, which occurred almost exactly a year apart, as the anniversary approaches again this week. A men's Tag Heuer wrist watch valued at more than $5000 was stolen from a jewellery store in Indooroopilly Shopping Centre between 2.30pm and 2.52pm on January 28, 2015. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian speaks with Professor Michelle Simmons, Governor David Hurley and his wife Linda after the 2017 Australia Day Address. Credit:Wolter Peeters Professor Simmons' Australia Day speech focused on the need for Australians to attempt the difficult things in life. "It is better to do the things that have the greatest reward; things that are hard, not easy," she said. Professor Michelle Simmons in her labs at UNSW in 2015. Credit:Stephen Dodd "If we want people to be the best they can be we must set the bar high and tell them we expect them to jump over it," she said. "My strong belief is that we need to be teaching all students girls and boys to have high expectations of themselves." Professor Simmons has certainly set the bar high for herself. She wants to realise her dream to build a working quantum computer, here, in Australia. For her Cambridge was "too hierarchical and esoteric". The American culture, she said, restricts early-career researchers. When she arrived, people asked her "Why on Earth did you come?" But for Professor Simmons the choice was easy. "Australia offers a culture of academic freedom, openness to ideas and an amazing willingness to pursue ambitious goals," she said. Professor Simmons is so proud of the one-way ticket to Australia she bought 18 years ago that she had it framed and sent to her brother for his 50th birthday. From what she said was a "pretty rough" part of south-east London, she moved to Australia in 1999 after studying at Cambridge. Her big brother Gary went to the United States. In her Australia Day Address on Tuesday, she said she often jokes with him that she got the better deal. "Only I'm not joking," she told an audience, including NSW Governor David Hurley and Premier Berejiklian. "It's the truth. I genuinely believe it is better here." Ms Berejiklian introduced Professor Simmons in what was her first official function as Premier. Professor Simmons said: "On occasions like this, we tend to emphasise the beauty of our natural environment, our great lifestyle and the easygoing character of our people. "This is a mistake ... it encourages us to shy away from difficult challenges. It will stop us from being as ambitious as we might be," she said. Professor Simmons leads a storied team of dedicated scientists trying to do what many think impossible: build a new type of computer a quantum computer based on individual phosphorous atoms in silicon. She said said: "Quantum physics is hard. Technology at the forefront of human endeavour is hard. But that's what makes it worthwhile." Building a quantum computer is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Professor Simmons calls it the "space race of the computing era". There are three dedicated centres of excellence in Australia working on quantum technology, with a strong presence across Sydney's universities. "Australia, for some reason, is disproportionately strong in quantum science. And, with billions of dollars of investment coming into this field from across the world, our challenge is to see if we can translate our international lead into high-technology industries," she said. A working quantum computer would make currently impossible computing tasks possible. "Instead of performing calculations one after the other like a conventional computer, quantum computers work in parallel, looking at all possible outcomes at the same time," she said. This would allow us "to solve problems in minutes that could otherwise take many thousands of years". Australia, she said, is a great place to discover things. "I am grateful for that Australian spirit to give things a go and our enduring sense of possibility." Professor Simmons said: "I want Australians above all to be known as people who do the hard things." A desperate hologram from Princess Leia was the spark of inspiration behind this research breakthrough by a team of ANU physicists. The team, lead by Lei Wang and Dr Sergey Kruk, has created a device capable of producing the best-quality holographic images ever seen. "As a child, I learned about the concept of holographic imaging from the Star Wars movies," said Mr Wang, a student at the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering. "It's really cool to be working on an invention that uses the principles of holography depicted in those movies." Generous Victorians are being warned about possible scammers trying to take advantage of the Bourke Street tragedy. As official donations topped nearly $850,000 on Tuesday, people were warned of fraudsters trying to dupe kind-hearted donors. A woman told radio station 3AW that she was nearly scammed by someone claiming to be collecting money for the Bourke Street Fund. The woman, identified only as Mel, said she received a call from a man who said he was from the City of Melbourne and asked for her bank and credit card details. When Mel questioned the caller, he hung up. A five-year-old girl spent more than 30 terrifying minutes in the back seat of a car driven at high speeds by a drug-fuelled thief, a court has heard. The girl was in the car when her father went inside their Wyndham Vale home to get his wallet and left the key in the ignition, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday. "You know you are in a lot of trouble," deputy chief magistrate Jelena Popovic told the 18-year-old on Tuesday. Credit:Scott Barbour While the father was inside, an 18-year-old man who had been smoking ice jumped in the car and sped from the house and took back roads towards Geelong, before he was pursued by police when he drove the BMW against oncoming traffic. The teen stole the car about 6.30am on August 18 last year and about 25 minutes later was seen by police, who followed the stolen car. The Andrews government was warned in an explosive secret report months before the latest riots in Victoria's youth prisons that the system was spiralling out of control in "a continued and ongoing threat to the safety of staff and clients". Fairfax Media can also reveal that the man who ran the Parkville and Malmsbury youth justice facilities, Ian Lanyon, has recently been moved from his post, leaving an acting director in his place. Fairfax Media was unable to reach him for comment. The leaking of a confidential report commissioned by the Labor government after riots at the Parkville youth jail precinct in March 2016 reveals for the first time the depth of dysfunction inside the system, along with the warning that more unrest should be expected and staff and prisoners were exposed to harm. Consultant Peter Muir, who produced the report, was staggered that young inmates "were able to get access to so many weapons". Some designers are delighted to dress First lady Melania Trump but others, less so, writes Marion Hume. Credit:AP It could be described as an ordinary first day at the office, but we can't speak in such terms because it might upset the Trumpettes. But its pedestrian nature was all the more apparent because of how the Trump team conducted themselves through the weekend and because of their claims that they would be the best administration and that they were ready to go. "Our job is to be ready on Day 1," Vice-President Mike Pence declared last week. "The American people can be confident that we will be." President Donald Trump speaks at his inauguration. Credit:New York Times And for good or ill, the way media work in this town, they hold things up to the light and they compare and contrast; they treat the improbable as improbable and the mundane as mundane and if Dr Jekyll is at the lectern in the press briefing room today, they ask what happened to Mr Hyde. This was the context in which Spicer's first formal briefing inevitably went back to the issue of crowd sizes for the Trump inauguration as compared with Saturday's women's march and the two Obama inaugurations. An image of the inauguration of President Donald Trump is displayed behind White House press secretary Sean Spicer as he speaks at the White House. Credit:AP The questions were about why why did Trump think it was appropriate to use a Saturday speech to staff of the CIA to bang on about his "war with the media," and why was he, Spicer, sent into the briefing room on the same day to tell demonstrable lies on the crowd issue especially when the new administration had such bigger fish to fry. Spicer must have felt he was on a therapist's couch, because he opened up and it's worth reading at length. President Trump reinstates the Reagan-era ban on US aid donations to foreign health care providers that offer abortion counselling. Credit:AP Spicer: I will tell you it's not, it's not just about a crowd size. It's about this constant - you know, he's not going to run. Then if he runs, he's going to drop out. Then if he runs, he can't win, there's no way he can win Pennsylvania, there's no way he can win Michigan. There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has. And I think that it's just unbelievably frustrating when you're continually told it's not big enough, it's not good enough, you can't win. Question: And, and if I may Anti-abortion protesters rally in Washington on January 23, the day that President Trump signed the executive order. Credit:AP Spicer: Hold on, because I, I think it's important. He's gone out there and defied the odds over and over and over again. And he keeps getting told what he can't do by this narrative that's out there. And he exceeds it every single time. And I think there's an overall frustration when you -- when you turn on the television over and over again and get told that there's this narrative that you didn't win. You weren't going to run. You can't pick up this state. But when you're constantly getting told that can't be true, we doubt that you can do this, this won't happen, and that's the narrative when you turn on television every single day, it's a little frustrating. And I think that for those people around him, his senior team especially, but so many of the other folks that are either here in the administration, that gave up their time during the transition, they left a job to work for three or four weeks because they are so committed to having his nominees get through, it's a little demoralising to turn on the TV day after day and hear, can't do this, this guy's not going to get confirmed, not way they're going to go through. Question: But isn't that just part of the conversation that happens in Washington... Spicer: No, it's not. I think... And I think that it's important to understand, that whether it's the president himself, the vice-president, the senior team, the volunteers or the people who are out there just in America that voted for him or walked the streets or put up a sign, that to constantly be told no, no, no and watch him go yes, yes, yes every time and to come up to the next hurdle and see someone put a block up gets a little frustrating. Question: Isn't it a fair criticism that you've got bigger fish to fry? Why worry about a couple of tweets about crowd size? Spicer: Because it's not -- because that's what I'm saying, you're minimising the point here, Jim. It's not about one Tweet. It's not about one picture. It's about a constant theme. It's about sitting here every time and being told no. "Well, we don't think he can do that, he'll never accomplish that, he can't win that, it won't be the biggest, it's not gonna be that good. The crowds aren't that big, he's not that successful." Washington: FBI Director James B. Comey told his top agents from around the country that he had been asked by President Donald Trump to stay on the job running the federal government's top law enforcement agency, according to people familiar with the matter. A decision to retain Mr Comey would spare the president another potentially bruising confirmation battle. It also would keep Mr Comey at the center of the FBI's investigation into several Trump associates and their potential ties with the Russian government. President Donald Trump greets James Comey during a reception at the White House on January 22. Credit:Bloomberg Retaining Mr Comey could also help calm the bureau's workforce, which has been rattled after a tumultuous few months in which the FBI and the director himself were sharply criticised for moves that many felt influenced the outcome of the presidential election. During the campaign, President Trump harshly criticised the FBI and Justice Department for not bringing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in connection with her use of a personal email server. After Mr Trump was elected in November, he said in a nationally televised interview that he had not made up his mind about whether he would ask Mr Comey to resign. London: The jury that found Rolf Harris guilty in his first sexual assault trial "got it wrong" partly because an Australian woman lied about being groped by him, his defence lawyer says. It was also revealed Harris won't appear in court to defend himself in the latest trial. Harris was convicted in 2014 on 12 counts of indecent assault, including two against the Australian woman, whom he attacked in a London pub when she was 15. But on Tuesday a court was told of a voicemail recording in which the victim's estranged boyfriend told her "you lied about the Rolf Harris s**t", and shown an email the same man sent to police saying the woman's claims were not true. Just say 'stop!': Britt Roberston in Disney's Tomorrowland. Credit:Disney The passivity with which the US - its media, government and citizenry - has reacted to the Russians interfering in our affairs, to Trumpism, to the nauseating new lows to which activists on the left and the right have brought discourse on social media and the eroding of moral norms and civic society are cause for alarm. Trump's core support was purely economic white and middle-working class in the rust belt. But this was also the core of anti-Soviet support in the Reagan coalition, which stretched across parties from evangelical Conservatives to blue dog Democrats. Given Trump's supporters were heavily Republican to begin with, why aren't they more concerned over Russia interfering in the US election? Much of it is the damage of 30 years of conservative talk radio and internet "media" which painted the Democrats as a bigger threat to the country than any outside force. Obama has been equated with al-Qaeda before, conspiracy theorists have tied people in his administration to the Muslim Brotherhood, the birthers (where Trump's first true political foray began) were emboldened by this and continued to push Obama as illegitimate. When the Arab Spring occurred, the US backed democracy movements across the Middle East, including then secretary of state Hillary Clinton vocally supporting democracy marches in Russia. This made her a top enemy to Putin and the Russian government, especially after the US voiced support for protesters during the Ukrainian revolution. The fact that press statements from the US secretary of state set this path shows how shaky the ground is that Putin stands on in Russia. It also shows how Putin portraying himself as an enemy to Clinton made him friendly to a percentage of Republicans. All politics are local, as the saying goes, but it does little to explain how gutless leaders in both American parties have been in dealing with Putin. Obama's language was strong at times, but action was weak. He expelled 35 Russians from the US but did little else. The Russians declared Clinton's embrace of liberal international relations a precursor to nuclear war during the election and not one politician decried this as ridiculous, or pointed the finger at Putin's responsibility for the hostility. Fyodor Lukyanov, who writes about foreign policy from Moscow, went on CNN to say the post-Cold War global order is based on the falsehood that the US won the Cold War, which went mostly unchallenged, as well as the assertion that Russia is simply taking its rightful place in deciding how things work in the world. Americans are shrugging their shoulders at this nonsense, and it's nauseating. Even during the Cold War, for all the influencing of elections by both superpowers, neither actively tried to change the leadership of the other. That's how huge the Russian interference story is. Maybe this apathy is the result of too many movies and television shows where the CIA and FBI are up to no good. With so few who can stand up to American hegemony, we had to make ourselves into our own bad guys. Middle Americans have taken this literally. When was the last movie where the CIA was the good guy? For certain, Russia isn't the good guy. That this hasn't been plainly spoken is in itself an American tragedy that goes further than the Obama administration. It's a fraying of our moral fibre and our willingness to confront collective challenges. To those Americans whose grandparents and parents lived through and fought the Cold War and won it without a global conflict, it's a slap in the face. Any country that counts itself as part of the West, of the world of democracy and individual liberty should put forth a vigorous defiance to Putin and a call on Trump and Congress to denounce Russia, its international provocations and its war on democracy worldwide. One dummy Twitter account from Russia posting misinformation is one too many, and if Putin doesn't back off, his country's newfound power in cyberwarfare should meet a quick end. Establishing a new detente, as Stephen Cohen at The Nation suggests, is not acceptable. Russia made tentative steps towards political liberalisation early on in its post-Soviet existence. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser (Panel discussion organized by the Conscious Lyrics Foundation, on occasion of the 30th Anniversary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture, Jubilee Library, St. Martin, Friday, January 13, 2017.) 1. I wish to start by thanking Conscious Lyrics Foundation for the honor to participate in this panel discussion 30 years after I gave the first MLK Jr. lecture at the Mairie under the auspices of SMECO. At the time, the evil regime of apartheid was still in full force and Mandela was still behind bars and considered a terrorist by the US and other western powers. When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948, three years after the Allied victory over Germany in WWII, the Union of South Africa was one of the few member states that abstained from voting on it. Thirty years ago, there was only one African-American in the US Senate of 100 members. He was the late Senator Brooks with close family ties to St. Martin. 2. In preparing for this panel, I tried to toss around the theme in my head. What does "Reporting Human Rights and Civil Rights in St. Martin and the Caribbean" really mean? "Reporting" in what sense? In the journalistic sense? Or in the sense of keeping a tab on human rights and civil rights violations? Who is doing the reporting and to which body/ies or authority/entity? What, in fact, are human rights and civil rights and how are they upheld or not in St. Martin and the Caribbean? The last question is the one I have decided to address, in other words, to report on today as we celebrate the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., perhaps the greatest civil rights leader we have ever known. 3. Human rights Human rights are universal in nature. They are indivisible and applicable to one and all. They are rights that recognize the dignity of the individual person. The UN Declaration of Human Rights is not in and of itself international law, although virtually all the member states of the UN have approved it. However, it has influenced legislation all over the globe and ranks as the most translated document in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. It consists of 30 articles and I will focus on a handful of these and how they affect us here on St. Maarten and the region. 1. The St. Maarten Constitution in its section on Fundamental freedoms has 31 articles, the last of which curiously speaks about restrictions to some of the rights set out in the same section. It is unbelievable that on the one hand, the Constitution grants all these freedoms, and in the end seems to take some of them away! I am not a lawyer, but Im sure this should be something for our constitutional experts to figure out. However, let's go back to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. 2. Article 11 states inter alia: (1) Everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. Now, we all know that here on St. Martin (South) where it concerns justice you are deemed guilty until you prove yourself innocent. I can say this from personal experience. You all know I am considered a suspect in an ongoing criminal investigation which has not gone to court yet in six years! That is 72 months and counting! What kind of investigation lasts that long on a 16 square mile territory with a population of 50,000? In the meantime, my life and those of others who are co-suspects in the investigation has been turned upside down. I believe as the saying goes that justice delayed is justice denied. We know the cases of others who have had to drag the Public Prosecutors office to court in order for this to bring their case to court after so many years of investigation. And what is the public reaction to this? Well, boy, where theres smoke, theres fire, some would say. Others simply dont care until it affects them or their loved ones directly. Remember, when they come for me in the morning, they will come for you at night. The U.S. State Department issues a yearly report on Human Rights performance around the world. In its 2015 report, published in April last year, it stated regarding the Caribbean that Other human rights problems included trial delays resulting from court backlogs. With regards to the Bahamas it said A significant backlog of cases awaiting trial remained a problem. Delays reportedly lasted five years or more. Local legal professionals attributed delays to a variety of longstanding systemic problems. Unfortunately, the report did not contain any section on St. Maarten. 3. Lets take a look at article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It states as follows: (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Well, Im sure you know several youngsters, some of them born here, who cannot obtain the Dutch nationality because neither of their parents is Dutch. Many of them are children without a nationality. This is not only a contravention of the UNDHR but also of the UNICEF Convention on the rights of the child. Curiously, we brag about St. Martin (South) having 150 (or whatever the number may be) nationalities yet we do not have a St. Martin nationality. As far as I am concerned, that is no more than a census data. If we were to put 200 people on Pinel Key, each from a different sovereign country in the world, there would be 200 nationalities there. Saba, with some 2,000 inhabitants has over 70 nationalities! What then is there to brag about in the number of nationalities on St. Martin? We also saw at the regional level, the international outcry that greeted the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Dominican Republic to render stateless thousands of its citizens mainly of Haitian descent in a retroactive manner as a way to solve its immigration problem. The international community weighed in on the decision because it was seen as a violation of human rights. Had this been viewed as a matter of civil rights, it would have been a domestic issue (as the government of the Dominican Republic tried to claim) and the principle of non-interference in the domestic affairs of sovereign states would have applied. 4. Let me fast forward to Article 21, section 3 which states: The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures. We recently held parliamentary elections on September 26, 2016. The UP party won the election yet ended up with the same number of seats as the party which came second. The UP leader, Theo Heyliger, who was the largest vote-getter, could however not become a minister. Can we honestly argue then that the will of the people, as expressed in the election, is the basis of the authority of government? Im sure there will be arguments in both directions, but no one can seriously state that the system does not need some revamping. 5. It will be remiss of me if I do not mention article 3 of the UNDHR which says: Everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. This right also applies to those serving prison terms. In fact, being in the custody of the state, each inmate should feel even more secure than they would be outside the prison walls. Yet, here in St. Martin, an inmate was gunned down in broad daylight in the Point Blanche penitentiary and no heads have rolled. Another was stabbed, and it is business as usual for all those supposed to guarantee the security of these persons. Isnt this a flagrant violation of human rights? 6. But what value would human rights have if there is nobody to preserve them, to protect them and to guarantee them? We have perhaps 200 non-governmental organizations on St. Martin and not one of them is dedicated to ensuring that human rights are not violated on the island. Who guarantees human rights on St. Martin (South)? Of course, the Kingdom government. 7. One important action that needs to be taken, therefore, is to set up a Human Rights Watch Group here that can link up with similar organizations in the region and beyond, to report on human rights violations on the island. Finally, article 26:3 of the UNDHR stresses the need to teach and promote human rights in our educational system. It states: Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance, and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. Are we teaching our children about human rights? The UNDHR should be an integral part of our school curricula. I thank you. Fabian A. Badejo MARIGOT:--- On January 13, 2017, at approximately 03:00, a 55-year-old man was assaulted on the public road, Rue Black Berry in Saint-Martin. The victim received injuries from a firearm on the knee. The gendarmerie started an investigation shortly after by gathering elements during the attack. Due to the diligent investigation carried out by the gendarmerie, the investigators managed to identify the suspect on January 21st 2017. The suspect was arrested on the public road in Marigot. Due to the indebt investigation, the investigators managed to establish hat the suspect was also involved in several other criminal offences that were committed both the French and Dutch sides of the island. A press release from the gendarmerie stated that the suspect was transferred to Guadeloupe where he appeared before the investigating judge in Pointe Pitre. A judicial investigation has been initiated while the suspect has been placed in pretrial detention at the Baie Mahault Prison. Dear Dr. Roach: I have been suffering from cold urticaria for about nine years. It manifests itself in itchy skin or hives, generally from skin contact with the cold. Anything below 68 degrees brings mild itching, and hives appear with lower temperatures. I have tried a few different allergy medications, with 24-hour fexofenadine having the best result. As with other medications, I try to avoid taking it unless I know I will be exposed to lower temperatures. This even might include working out in a commercially air-conditioned environment. Living in the upper Midwest, I take it quite often this time of year. This year, I have noticed that it is not as effective. Is it better to take this drug or other allergy medications regularly or back to back for a number of days rather than sporadically? Will fexofenadine become less therapeutic depending on use, or is it more likely that my allergy symptoms are getting worse? -- G.B. A: Urticaria, from Latin roots meaning "nettles" and "burning," are a series of related disorders with the familiar wheals or hives: typically raised, itchy, pale areas of skin over a reddened area underneath. These can be caused by many triggers. For some people, it is food, but in cold urticaria, also called cold contact urticaria, it's the presence of cold that triggers the response. It can be easily diagnosed by placing a small plastic bag of ice water on the skin, which causes the typical skin reaction. Different people have different temperature thresholds. The primary treatment is avoiding the cold. Unfortunately, that isn't always possible, especially in colder climes in the winter. Cold water is the strongest stimulus and can be very dangerous to people with cold urticaria. Antihistamines like fexofenadine (Allegra) are effective at preventing symptoms in many people. Sometimes, very high doses, much higher than recommended, are required for effectiveness. Over time, the dose can be brought down in most people. Your question is about a phenomenon called tachyphylaxis: the body "getting used to" a certain dose of a medication, and it becoming less effective over time. This phenomenon is true with many drugs, especially opiates for pain. Fortunately, tachyphylaxis appears to be minimal or nonexistent with antihistamines, so I would recommend continuous use of the fexofenadine, at least during days you cannot avoid contact with the cold. I can't say why this year seems to be worse, apart from the fact that it has been especially cold this year! There are additional treatments that can be tried if antihistamines are ineffective. Dermatologists tend to be experts in managing this condition. Breathing issue Dear Dr. Roach: I had a colonoscopy last year and an endoscopy this year. Both times, I stopped breathing during the procedure, and they had to bring me out of the anesthesia to get me to breathe. What can I do so this never happens again? It is very scary, and the endoscopy was horrible because I started gagging and trying to throw up because of what was down my throat. -- N.B. A: In outpatient procedures, such as endoscopy, patients are treated with medication for sedation and pain relief, but they don't undergo full anesthesia. The medications used can cause decreased breathing, and physicians need experience to safely monitor patients. Some people have much greater needs for medication than others; I suspect you may be one who needs less, and this would be important to share with the medical team before a procedure. Some people may require more careful monitoring by an anesthesiologist, perhaps even in the operating room. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Omololu International School, a private primary school located in Anguilla, is prepped for big changes over the coming months. The changes really began back in July of 2016 when the school received official authorization from the International Baccalaureate Organization, certifying it as a Primary Years Programme World School. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) is a worldwide educational group headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The three programmes that run under the IBO are the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP) and the Diploma Programme (DP). Omololu International School becomes the first school in Anguilla to receive the designation. Recognized around the world as a progressive and rigorous programme, PYP stresses the importance of a student-centered, inquiry based education. The programme itself is a framework that can be used with any curriculum. Omololu International School will continue to teach the Anguilla National Curriculum with added international components, ensuring that students take ownership of their learning through frequent field trips, projects, and engaging units of study. Through this programme, all OIS students are exposed to a global perspective, preparing them for whatever challenges come along as they move through life and around the world. Omololu joins a small and elite group of schools in the region with IB Authorization, including St. Dominic High School in St. Maarten, Cedar International School in Tortola, and Island Academy in Antigua. Less than 1,000 schools globally have been authorized as PYP schools with other regional PYP Schools in Tortola, Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. For those wishing to know more about the International Baccalaureate Organization Primary Years Programme, visit http://ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/. With the PYP Programme now in full operation, the school will be setting its sights on another project expanding into a Secondary School. Plans are now moving forward to open a Grade 7/ Form 1 program for September 2017. If demand is there, consideration will be given to opening a Grade 8/ Form 2 in 2017 as well. The program of instruction will be an innovative and comprehensive education, geared towards preparing a diverse group of students for whatever challenges come next. Based upon the Caribbean Examination Councils Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC), but infused with a global perspective, students graduating from the program will be ready for whatever institution they enter into next. Broken into four Thematic Units, each taking up a quarter of the year, the curriculum will challenge students to ask questions and seek answers, and to go deeper into local, regional, and global topics. Each unit will include components of Math, Language, Science, History, Civics, and Geography. The unit Sun will investigate sources of energy, agriculture, the native flora and fauna of the region, and some of the historical factors that influenced the culture of Anguilla and the region today. Sea will look at transportation in the region, both today and in a historical context. It will investigate the coral reefs that make up the region and look at their impact on life in the Caribbean. Among other topics Sand will focus on the land itself. How each island is formed, the impact of potential natural disasters, and how people prepare for them. Finally, Self will take a look at how students will fit into a world that is constantly changing. It will prepare them for the challenges that they will face as they continue to move through life and give them the tools they will need to successfully navigate through them. This final unit will include a personal project, community service, and a potential internship component as well. Omololu International School embraces holistic and experiential approaches to learning about our world, equipping students with meaningful understanding and skill sets to lead successful lives and to make a positive contribution to society. As an authorized Primary Years Programme World School, OIS upholds the ideals of preparing our students for lives as global citizens. Registration for the 2017-18 School Year is now open and offers special pricing for Anguillian students. For more information kindly see us at www.omololuschool.org, follow us on Facebook, or contact us via phone at 1 (264) 497-5430 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . SilverSun Technologies Announces $0.02 Special Cash Dividend Posted by Publisher Hardware LIVINGSTON, NJ (Marketwired) 01/23/17 (OTCQB: SSNT), a national provider of transformational business technology solutions and services, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a special cash dividend on the Companys common stock of $0.02 per share. The record date will be January 26, 2017, and the payment date will be January 31, 2017. As we continue to profitably execute on our business plan, we believe this special cash dividend the second in our Companys history is an appropriate way to reward our shareholders for their support, commented Mark Meller, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. We are fortunate to be able to share the financial success of the Company with our owners, and look forward to more such distributions in the future, business conditions permitting. The payment of future dividends, if any, will be subject to SilverSuns cash requirements. The Companys board of directors will assess any future quarterly and/or annual dividend payout levels in light of the Companys financial performance and its current and anticipated business needs at such time. We are a business application, technology and consulting company providing strategies and solutions to meet our clients information, technology and business management needs. Our services and technologies enable customers to manage, protect and monetize their enterprise assets whether on-premise or in the Cloud. As a value added reseller of business application software, we offer solutions for accounting and business management, financial reporting, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Warehouse Management Systems, Customer Relationship Management, and Business Intelligence. Additionally, we have our own development staff building software solutions for Electronic Data Interchange, time and billing, and various ERP enhancements. Our value-added services focus on consulting and professional services, specialized programming, training, and technical support. We have a dedicated network services practice that provides managed services, hosting, business continuity, cloud, e-mail and web services. Our customers are nationwide, with concentrations in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area, Chicago, Dallas, Arizona, Seattle, Greensboro, and Southern California. This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding, among other things our plans, strategies and prospects both business and financial. Although we believe that our plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that we will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many of the forward-looking statements contained in this news release may be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as believe, expect, anticipate, should, planned, will, may, intend, estimated, and potential, among others. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements we make in this news release include market conditions and those set forth in reports or documents that we file from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements attributable to SilverSun Technologies, Inc. or a person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary language. SilverSun Technologies, Inc. Mark Meller 973-758-6108 ZoomerMedia Limited Announces Results for the Three Months Ended November 30, 2016 TORONTO, ONTARIO (Marketwired) 01/23/17 ZoomerMedia Limited (TSX VENTURE: ZUM) (the Company), the leader in serving the interests of the 45+ Zoomer market in Canada, today announced its financial results for the three months ended November 30, 2016. Results for the Three Months Ended November 30, 2016 For the three months ended November 30, 2016 the Company had revenues of $14.3 million, operating expenses of $12.2 million and EBITDA of $2.1 million. Net income for the three months ended November 30, 2016 was $1.2 million. For the three months ended November 30, 2015 the Company had revenues of $15.3 million, operating expenses of $12.0 million and EBITDA of $3.3 million. Net income for the three months ended November 30, 2015 was $1.7 million. EBITDA is a non-IFRS earnings measure which does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to EBITDA presented by other companies. EBITDA represents earnings before interest expense, income taxes, depreciation and amortization. This measure is important to management since it is used by potential investors to evaluate the Companys operating performance and ability to incur and service debt, and as a valuation metric. Investors are cautioned that this non-IFRS financial measure should not be construed as an alternative to other measures of financial performance calculated in accordance with IFRS. Additional Information Detailed financial information and Managements Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended November 30, 2016 can be found on SEDARs website at . The financial information included in this release is qualified in its entirety and should be read together with the interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended November 30, 2016, including the notes thereto. About ZoomerMedia Limited ZoomerMedia is a multimedia company that serves the 45plus Zoomer demographic through television, radio, magazine, internet and trade shows. ZoomerMedias television properties include; Vision TV, Canadas only multi-faith specialty television service; ONE: Get Fit, offering programs on exercise, meditation, yoga, natural health and living a planet-friendly lifestyle; JoyTV in Vancouver, Victoria, Surrey and the Fraser Valley, and HOPETV, a lifestyle television service out of Winnipeg devoted to broadcasting Christian programming and is available in approximately 6 million Canadian homes. ZoomerMedias radio properties include CFMZ-FM Toronto The New Classical 96.3FM, CFMX-FM Cobourg The New Classical 103.1FM, CFMO-FM Collingwood The New Classical 102.9FM, Canadas only commercial classical music radio stations serving the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), eastern Ontario and Collingwood, CFZM-AM 740 Toronto and CFZM-FM 96.7FM Toronto Zoomer Radio, Torontos Timeless Hits Station. ZoomerMedia also publishes ZOOMER Magazine, the largest paid circulation magazine in Canada for the mature market. ZoomerMedia is Canadas leading provider of online content targeting the 45plus age group through many properties, the key one being . ZoomerMedia also has trade show and conference divisions that produce the ZoomerShows, annual consumer shows directed to the Zoomer demographic and ideaCity, an annual Canadian conference also known as Canadas Premiere Meeting of the Minds. Cautionary note on forward looking statements The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Certain statements made in this report are forward-looking statements which may include, without limitation, any statement that may predict, forecast, indicate or imply future results, performance or achievements, and may contain the words believe, anticipate, expect, estimate, project, will be, will continue, will likely result or similar words or phrases. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in filings by ZoomerMedia Limited with provincial securities commissions. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to predict all such risk factors, nor can it assess the impact of all such risk factors on the Companys business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the following: Given these risks, and uncertainties, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. ZoomerMedia Limited does not intend and does not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Contacts: George Kempff Vice President and Chief Financial Officer ZoomerMedia Limited (416) 607-7735 Leanne Wright Vice President Communications ZoomerMedia Limited (416) 886-6873 Infomart Data Centers Exceeds 2016 Growth Expectations and Celebrates Operational Milestones DALLAS, TX (Marketwired) 01/24/17 , a national wholesale data center provider, today recognizes a year of exemplary achievements in operations, innovation and growth. In addition to several existing tenant expansions, Infomart added 25 new customers and completed over $120 million of development across its portfolio. Investment highlights include adding 8 MW of new capacity and 100,000 square-feet in , beginning development of 6 MW of new capacity, as well as improving and re-commissioning 8 MW in , and completing Phase 1 of a facility-wide security upgrade at Infomart . 2016 was a remarkable year for Infomart, remarks John Sheputis, President of Infomart Data Centers. We completed a record amount of development and we did so while maintaining our track record of zero SLA events since inception. We met the fast-scaling demands of several new tenants, and our projects included notable innovations in efficiency and sustainability. As cloud usage reshapes the IT landscape, Infomart has become much more than an owner and manager of premier data center locations. We have established Infomart as an industry leader in enabling the most sustainable IT operations in the world. In November, LinkedIns data center in Infomart Portland was the Efficient IT (EIT) Stamp of Approval by Uptime Institute. The award certifies the organizations sustainable leadership in IT, evidencing better control of how resources are both consumed and allocated. The project, which went from concept to commissioning to hosting production IT operations within a year, included building construction, sustainably sourcing electricity, and installing a hyper-efficient cooling design to meet the clients dynamic IT demand. This effort was the first enterprise colocation partnership to receive the Efficient IT Stamp of Approval, obtaining several of the highest scores ever awarded for efficiency and sustainable operations. Additionally, a 25,000-square-foot office lease at Infomart Portland added 125 staff to an existing tenants IT operations. Even with zero SLA events since inception, Infomart Silicon Valley implemented substantial improvements to further enhance the reliability and completed fit-outs for three new wholesale tenants. Capital enhancements included additional backup generation and UPS capacity for 2(N+1) reliability, with 8 MW of existing critical capacity being re-commissioned at a higher tier rating. The facility also added multiple office suites to accommodate 25 new IT operations staff for new tenants. Other improvements included a second network Meet-Me Room (MMR), and preparations for adding another 6 MW of new capacity in 2017. Last, but not least, Infomart Silicon Valley became the first facility in the world to become a three-time recipient of the Uptime Institutes Management & Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval. Infomart also significant, building-wide security enhancements to its iconic Dallas facility in 2016. This included a new Security Operations Center (SOC), updated access controls, additional surveillance capabilities and an expanded security staff. Along with the physical security upgrades, building management also formed a Security Council with a group of representatives comprised of building tenants to collaborate on new access and visitor management policies and procedures. Infomart Dallas also achieved several new industry certifications in 2016 including Uptime Institutes M&O Stamp of Approval, SSAE 16 Type II, SSAE 16 SOC 2 Type II, PCI DSS and HIPAA/HITECH. With these enhanced features, the security at Infomart Dallas is now consistent with that of the worlds leading mega data centers. In addition to exceeding its operational and growth milestones, Infomart clocked over 200,000 hours of construction in 2016 with zero OSHA recordable injuries throughout all construction and maintenance projects. Most notably, Infomart closed out the year at 70 percent occupancy within its operational facilities, and expects to bring an additional 12 MW of supply online in 2017, including Infomarts entry into the Ashburn, VA market. To learn more about Infomart, visit . Founded in 2006, Infomart Data Centers (formerly Fortune Data Centers) is an award-winning industry leader in building, owning and operating highly efficient, cost-effective wholesale data centers. Each of its national facilities meet or exceed the highest industry standards for data centers in all operational categories of availability, security, connectivity and physical resilience. Infomart Data Centers offers wholesale and colocation facilities in four markets throughout the United States: San Jose, Calif.; Hillsboro, Ore.; Dallas; and Ashburn, Va. For more information, please visit or connect with Infomart on and . Parks Associates: 15% of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase solar panels in 2017 Posted by Publisher Internet DALLAS, TX (Marketwired) 01/24/17 Parks Associates announced new IoT research today showing that 15% of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase solar panels in 2017. notes 8% of U.S. broadband households currently own solar panels. Parks Associates and other industry leaders will address the market for solar energy during , February 20-22, 2017, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas. The event, which includes more than 300 executives in an intimate networking environment, focuses on the convergence of smart energy and IoT with the smart home. Residential solar has already proven its ability to cross the chasm into the early majority in various regions of the world, said , Director of IoT Strategy, Parks Associates. The primary motivation for installing residential PV systems is to save money on energy bills, a purchase driver that resonates with all technology adoption segments. At Smart Energy Summit, we will address opportunities for a more comprehensive smart home/energy management solution and examine trends driving partnerships between residential solar and smart home solution providers. The Smart Energy Summit session on Wednesday, February 22, at 8:45 a.m., will examine the residential rooftop solar market and opportunities for partnerships with storage vendors and smart home and energy providers. Speakers for the session, which will be moderated by , President of Parks Associates, include: Bryan Christiansen, Chief Operating Officer, Vivint Solar Jordan Fruge, Chief Marketing Officer, Sunnova Jason Sears, Senior Lead, Solar Strategy and Development, Green Mountain Energy, an NRG company Ilen Zazueta-Hall, Director of Product Management, Enphase The energy sector is rapidly evolving thanks in large part to pressure placed on the system by solar and other distributed technologies, said , Chief Marketing Officer, Sunnova. Consumers now have more efficient and affordable options for meeting their energy needs. Its an exciting time to be a part of this industry. In order for the solar energy industry to continue to grow, it needs to move beyond the roof and provide complete home energy solutions. This means that all elements of the home energy ecosystem have to work together safely, reliably, and seamlessly, both for homeowners and utilities, said , Director of Product Management for Energy Management at Enphase Energy, Inc. At Enphase we are realizing the vision of advanced energy management by integrating solar, energy storage, bi-directional communications, and advanced analytics. Parks Associates will also host the research workshop prior to Smart Energy Summit. The workshop, which will be held on Monday, February 20, from 1:00 5:00 p.m., includes detailed findings from the firms consumer and industry studies on the smart home, IoT, and energy management markets. Parks Associates analysts will present new consumer data during the workshop, which will also feature the following industry speakers: Amena Ali, Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs Derek Okada, Senior Manager, Policy & Planning, Southern California Edison (SCE) Dr. Kenneth Wacks, President, Home, Building & Utility Systems Topics for the workshop include: The Value of Data Making Data Meaningful Energy Management in the Smart Home Smart Home Service Providers and Energy Management Interoperability Failures The Role of Energy Providers in the Smart Home Solar Power and the Smart Home Solar Industry Perspective Incentivizing the Smart Home Utility Perspectives on Incentives Unlocking the full potential of the connected home will in many ways come down to providing consumers with energy data that is made accessible and meaningful not just for emerging smart home devices, but also for the legacy unconnected appliances that hundreds of millions of homes rely on, said , Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs. The Smart Energy Summit workshop will examine proven and emerging utility and consumer engagement strategies for engaging the consumer with meaningful data. Industry expert Ken Wacks will share his insights on interoperability (making everything work together): For too long, interoperability has been a stated goal but in reality rarely crosses application domains. I have personally wrestled with interoperability failures because manufacturers focused on products rather than systems. This must change in order to achieve a mass market for integrated home systems. include People Power Company, Austin Energy, Bidgely, Carrier, ecobee, EnergyHub, Hampton Products International, The Manchester Group, Powerley, The Weather Company, Whisker Labs, Grid4C, ipCapital Group, MivaTek, and State Farm. include Advanced Energy Economy, Internet of Things Consortium, AltEnergyMag.com, Antenna, B2 Group, CIOReview, Conference Guru, Engerati, Green Button Alliance, HomeGrid Forum, Hometoys, IoT Today, ISE Magazine, Israeli Smart Energy Association, KNXtoday, Mission Data, NEEP, oneM2M, OpenADR Alliance, Open Connectivity Foundation, POWERGRID International, Smart Energy Journal, Smart Grid Spain, Smart Grid Today, TD The Market Publishers, TelcoProfessionals, USNAP Alliance, Utility Dive, Utility Post, Wi-Fi Alliance, and WSNBuzz.com. More information about the Smart Energy Summit is available at . To register for the pre-show research workshop, go to . To speak with an analyst or request specific research data, contact Holly Sprague at or 720-987-6614. examines new cross-industry opportunities in the expanding market for energy solutions, including connected devices, energy management, utility services, and home control platforms and services, as they evolve within the smart home and consumer-based Internet of Things. Smart Energy Summit focuses particularly on the challenge of engaging consumers with energy-related solutions. Research analysts, thought leaders, and industry executives present and discuss business strategies, case studies, partnership opportunities, and consumer research that utilities, service providers, retailers, and manufacturers can use to expand and monetize their energy offerings. The eighth-annual Smart Energy Summit will take place February 20-22, 2017, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas. The summit agenda features leaders from utilities, state and national regulators, telecom and security companies, retailers, and OEMs. Follow the event on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt and #SmartEnergy17 and on the . For information on speaking, sponsoring, or attending Smart Energy Summit, visit . Image Available: Holly Sprague Parks Associates 720.987.6614 Solar Novus Today Has Been Integrated With Novus Light Technologies Today Visit Novus Light Technologies Today to see all the cutting-edge stories and products that you have come to enjoy on Solar Novus Today. In addition, you will find more information on related light-based technologies. Get the latest solar and renewable energy news delivered right to your inbox. Sign up for the Green Technologies newsletter CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR GREEN TECHNOLOGIES NEWSLETTER SPRINGFIELD Public universities in Illinois would see state funding restored to the level it was before the start of the ongoing budget impasse under a bipartisan grand bargain being considered in the state Senate. While university officials welcome the prospect of additional funding, they stressed that the Senate proposal would still represent a funding cut over a two-year period. The states nine public university systems have been funded through a series of emergency and stopgap spending measures since the 2014-15 school year ended and the standoff between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly began. As a result, some schools, including Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois universities, have laid off hundreds of employees, and others haven frozen hiring and made additional spending cuts. The Senate package, which also includes tax increases, gambling expansion, pension reforms and a host of other issues, would allocate an additional $1.1 billion in the current year for higher education. That includes money for universities, community colleges and grants to low-income students through the Monetary Award Program. Combined with nearly $1 billion for higher education that was included in a stopgap spending deal approved in June, the Senate plan would restore university funding for this year to the level of the 2014-15 school year. Schools currently arent receiving any state funds because the stopgap deal expired after Dec. 31. The components of the package constructed by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont are scheduled for committee hearings beginning today. Anything that gets us more money, were certainly supportive, said John Charles, executive director for governmental and public affairs at Southern Illinois University. Under the Senates proposal, SIU would receive $93.4 million on top of the $106.2 million it was provided from the June stopgap spending plan. But the university, like others across the state, used the stopgap money to pay for expenses from the 2015-16 school year, during which it received only $57.5 million from an emergency funding measure approved in April. In effect, Charles said, because the June stopgap money was used for last years expenses, the $93.4 million from the Senate plan would be SIUs only state funding for the current year, compared with $199.6 million for the 2014-15 school year. However, the university supports the plan, Charles said. If its approved, SIU will get through the rest of the year by continuing a hiring freeze and spending cuts at its campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville and medical school in Springfield, he added. EIU Treasurer Paul McCann likewise said the university would be grateful to receive any state funding. We have done the things that we need to do to make the university viable, and so we are appreciative of anything they can do for us, he said. EIU, which has laid off more than 400 workers in the past two years, would receive nearly $11.2 million in additional funding under the Senate plan. Thats on top of $26.2 million it received from the June stopgap and $12.5 million from the April funding measure, which were used for expenses from last school year. The university received another $5.6 million in emergency funding from the Illinois Board of Higher Education in November. It put that money toward payroll and other expenses from the current year. Meanwhile, Western would be given nearly $11.7 million under the Senate plan. It received $31.4 million from the June stopgap, $14.9 million from the April measure and $8.4 million from the Board of Higher Educations November allotment. Matt Bierman, WIUs budget director, said the Senate proposal is a good first step toward restoring appropriate state funding for higher education. We take (it) as a really good sign, as recognition that the universities have unfortunately been collateral damage in this budget process, he said. Bierman added that while the new funding would make a difference, the university wants to remind legislators that the lack of full funding for last school year took a toll on the universities. Western laid off nearly 150 employees last school year. Illinois State University is in a stronger financial position than some other colleges, Chief of Staff Jay Groves said, but the lack of consistent funding has been a problem for the entire public higher education system. ISU would receive $33.9 million under the Senate plan, on top of $38.3 million from the June stopgap and $20.9 million from the April measure. Its important and significant that they are having productive discussions about a full budget, Groves said. Even if the proposal is approved, schools will still have some financial difficulty that we will have to address, he said. We certainly look forward to a solution on predictable and stable funding for public higher education going forward, Groves said. Justin Omans of Roseville said he was devastated to learn his mothers' body was discovered in the covered bed of a truck. What you need to know about Powerball's $1.6 billion lottery jackpot News Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. In August and September 2016, three times more citizens, for the first time, of Armenia applied for asylum status from Europe than the average over the past nine years. If, on a monthly average, 385 citizens of Armenia applied for asylum status since 2008 from EU countries, in August 2016, that number was 1,110 and 1,185 in September of that year. (These figures are from the EUs database Eurostat). The above numbers follow the July armed seizure of a Yerevan police building by the Sasna Dzrer group. The demonstrations and clashes subsequent to the seizure, that lasted for 15 days, started in Yerevan. On July 31, members of the group laid down their weapons and gave themselves up. Three policemen died during the incident. Scores of protesters were injured in clashes with police and some fifty were hospitalized. More people applied for asylum status in Europe after the July 2016 incidents in Yerevan than after the March 1, 2008 presidential protests. According to Eurostat, 49% of Armenian citizens who applied last August and September were women. 33% were between the ages of 35-64, bringing with them children under the age of 14 (32%). 18-34-year-olds comprised 32% of the total. 5% were between the ages of 14-17. 2% were 66 or older. It seems that domestic instability in Armenia during 2016, coupled with excessive use of force by law enforcement, spurred greater numbers of young families to leave. Between January 2008 and December 2016, 41,310 citizens of Armenia applied for European asylum status for the first time. The map below shows the countries where applicants requested to be granted asylum status. Top photo: Sona Kocharyan Photos: Narek Aleksanyan This article was produced during #ddjcamp, a data journalism training organized by European Youth Press - Network of Young Media Makers. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. An investigation is under way after the parents of a five-year-old girl claimed she was left outside a closed school by a taxi. Little Phoebe Allen had to walk on narrow country roads as she headed home alone from Talley CP School, which had been closed for an inset day, before managing to find a Good Samaritan to take her the three miles to her mum. Phoebe's mother, Rachel, said she was not informed of the inset day, and is now withdrawing her children from the 44-pupil Carmarthenshire school near Llandeilo. "It was just like any other day, I got her fed, washed, and ready to go," she said. "I walked her to the bus stop and she got on the minibus. The driver waved and I went inside. "Later, there was a knock on the door and a woman said 'I think I've got your daughter in my car'." Mrs Allen added: "The woman was loading her own children into the car when Phoebe found her and asked if the woman could drive her home. "She picked the right person, and she didn't try to walk the whole way, thank goodness. "I can't believe the school could do that. My daughter could have died, been hit by a car, kidnapped, got lost in the cold, anything could have happened to her. She's only five." Dad, David, added: "Phoebe's so clever, sometimes too clever. "It's hard to believe the school didn't inform the transport company." The transport is organised by Carmarthenshire Council, whose Head of Transport, Steve Pilliner said: "The council is sorry to hear of this matter and is in the process of fully investigating." A spokeswoman from taxi firm M and J Llangadog Cabs said the firm was not at fault, adding: "It is the parents' job to inform us of inset days. "Why was she at the bus stop that day?" In the Welsh SWWITCH home to school transport code of conduct it states that transport operators should "never drop the pupils at the school without formally handing them over to a responsible member of staff". When asked why this had not been done on Monday, January 16, the spokeswoman added: "Sometimes there's people about, sometimes there's not." Rachel and David are taking both Phoebe and their nine-year-old son, Oliver, out of Talley CP School to attend a different primary. "It was my daughter's life at risk, she's never going back there," said Rachel. Sheila Speake, school governor and grandmother of three children in the school, said: "There were three school letters in November, December, and January about the inset day, also on school website and on the school community website, and on the school notice board in the school." She added one of the letters contained details about a school trip to London, which was why there was an inset day, including details of the closure, which, she says, "suggests they had been informed about the inset day". At the time of publication, Talley CP School had not responded to questions. "Climate-engineering" efforts could increase urban light pollution by 25 percent or so, a new study suggests. Tinkering with the sky to fight climate change would make it more difficult for astronomers and skywatchers to observe the heavens, a new study suggests. Spraying particles into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight and help cool the Earth down a strategy known as stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) would brighten city night skies considerably and decrease light clarity in rural areas, the study said. SAI would be "very, very bad news for astronomy," said study author Charles Zender, a professor in the departments of Earth system science and computer science at the University of California, Irvine. [Changing Earth: 7 Ideas to Geoengineer Our Planet] A warming world Earth's average surface temperature has risen by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since record-keeping began in the late 19th century, according to new analyses by scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Furthermore, 16 of the 17 hottest years in recorded history occurred from 2001-2016, and the last three years have been the hottest of all, the researchers found. This warming trend which climate scientists attribute primarily to the huge amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide that humanity pumps into the atmosphere every year has already affected the planet in significant ways. Glaciers are retreating around the globe, for example, and more and more Arctic sea ice is melting every summer. A variety of plant and animal species are shifting their ranges toward the poles or up mountain slopes as their habitats warm, and some birds are migrating significantly earlier in the spring than they used to. Such impacts will intensify the more that Earth warms, scientists have said. Indeed, the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended that humanity work to keep average global temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C), in order to stave off climate change's worst effects. Climate engineering SAI provides one possible way to help accomplish this goal, some researchers have said. The basic idea involves using planes, balloons or artillery to seed the atmosphere with sulfates or other particles that would reflect sunlight back into space. SAI and other "climate engineering" concepts have not yet been widely applied; scientists are still trying to determine how effective such efforts would be, and identify likely side effects, before putting the ideas into practice. Zender's new study, which he presented last month at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco, is part of this sussing-out effort. He used computer models to estimate how a large-scale SAI project would affect humanity's view of the night sky. The results should interest professional and amateur astronomers alike, he said. For example, Zender found that SAI would increase the brightness of urban night skies by about 25 percent, bouncing artificial light back down to Earth and making it even harder for city dwellers to appreciate celestial sights. "Basically, take a magnitude or two off the faintest visible galaxies and stars," he told Space.com at AGU. Zender's modeling work also indicated that SAI would make rural night skies slightly darker, by reflecting starlight back into space. This would cause a large drop in light clarity, Zender said. "It would be considerably more challenging to do optical ground-based astronomy," Zender said, though he noted that infrared instruments, which collect longer wavelengths of light, would not be affected. Some astronomers may be willing to accept this trade-off as long as SAI works as advertised. "Fixing global warming is more important than astronomy," David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, said during a panel discussion at the 229th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Grapevine, Texas, earlier this month. "There's no question to my mind that saving our civilization and many other species is more important than our ability to do ground-based astronomy for a few decades," Grinspoon added. Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. On January 11, 2017, Armenias Special Investigative Service (SIS) received a notice from Switzerlands Federal Department of Justice and Police, saying that it couldnt offer legal assistance in the offshore business case of Mihran Poghosyan. The SIS, replying to a Hetq inquiry on the refusal, offered no specifics. The SIS adds that it hasnt received any response from Panama since it filed a request for legal assistance six months ago. Hetq wrote about the Poghosyans (Armenias former Chief Compulsory Officer) shady financial dealings in Panama and his Swiss banks accounts in April 2016, after data was uncovered in the Panama Papers. The data was obtained by the German newspaper SuddeutscheZeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 110 media partners from 82countries, including Hetq. The criminal case filed against Poghosyan by the SIS has stalled ever since. Hetq asked the SIS what specific agency in Panama had it filed its request to intervene in the case. We have yet to receive a response. Hetq also asked the SIS if it was aware of the material (documents/correspondence) on Poghosyan in the Panama Papers. There was no answer to this as well. SIS Press Secretary Marina Ohanjanyan told Hetq that they couldnt provide such information since the preliminary investigation regarding Poghosyans alleged illegal business activities while the chief compulsory officer was ongoing. During the investigation, Poghosyan, his relatives, and other individuals, both in Armenia and abroad, named in the Hetq piece have been questioned. Important evidentiary material has also been obtained during the investigation from Armenias Compulsory Enforcement Service (CES) and the State Registry of Legal Entities (arms of the justice ministry), and other organizations. In May 2016, one month after the Hetq expose appeared and the SIS launched its criminal investigation, Poghosyans companies registered in Panama transferred their stakes in Armenia to other individuals. Sigtem Real Estates Incorporated and Hopkinten Trading Incorporated, two companies registered in Panama in which Poghosyan owned shares, were equal owners of Best Realty Ltd. registered in Armenia. Best Realty is linked to the Compulsory Enforcement Service in that the company carried out appraisals of fixed and moveable property in CES cases. Mary Jackson was one of the "human computers" portrayed in the film "Hidden Figures." In the 1960s, astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn and others absorbed the accolades of being America's first men in space. They reached the orbit with the nation's first crewed space program, project Mercury. Behind the scenes, their triumphs were enabled by hundreds of unheralded NASA workers, including "human computers" who calculated their orbital trajectories. "Hidden Figures (opens in new tab)," a 2016 book by Margot Lee Shetterly and a movie based on the book, celebrates the contributions of some of those workers. History of human computers at NASA Beginning in 1935, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor of NASA, hired hundreds of women as computers. The job title described someone who performed mathematical equations and calculations by hand, according to a NASA history. The computers worked at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia. Human computers were not a new concept. In the late 19th and early 20th century, computers at Harvard University analyzed star photos to learn more about their basic properties. Those computers were women who made discoveries still fundamental to astronomy today. For example, Williamina Fleming is best known for classifying stars based on their temperature, and Annie Jump Cannon developed a stellar classification system still used today (from hottest to coolest stars: O, B, A, F, G, K, M.) During World War II, the computer pool was expanded. Langley began recruiting African-American women with college degrees to work as computers, according to NASA. However, segregation policies required that these women work in a separate section, called the West Area Computers although computing sections became more integrated after the first several years. As the years passed and the center evolved, the West Computers became engineers and electronic computer programmers. The women were the first black managers at Langley and it was their brilliant work that propelled the first American, John Glenn, into orbit in 1962. "Hidden Figures" focuses on three computers: Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan. Here are brief biographies of these women. Mary Jackson (1921-2005) Mary Jackson was a successful NASA engineer and advocate for women and minorities in the field. (Image credit: NASA/LRC) Jackson hailed from Hampton, Virginia. She graduated with high marks from high school and received a bachelor of science degree from the Hampton Institute in Mathematics and Physical Science, according to a biography written by Gloria R. Champine for NASA (opens in new tab). Jackson began her career as a schoolteacher, and had several other jobs before joining NACA. As a computer with the all-black West Area Computing section, she was involved with wind tunnels and flight experiments. Her job was to extract the relevant data from flight tests. She also tried to help other women advance in their career, according to the biography, by advising them on what educational opportunities to pursue. "She discovered that occasionally it was something as simple as a lack of a couple of courses, or perhaps the location of the individual, or perhaps the assignments given them, and of course, the ever present glass ceiling that most women seemed to encounter," Champine wrote. After 30 years with NACA and NASA (at which point she was an engineer), Jackson decided to become an equal opportunity specialist to help women and minorities. Although described as a behind-the-scenes sort of worker, she helped many people get promoted or become supervisors. She retired from NASA in 1985. Jackson died on Feb. 11, 2005 at the age of 83. Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) Katherine Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's mission in 1961 and John Glenn's mission in 1962. (Image credit: NASA) Johnson showed early brilliance in West Virginia schools by being promoted several years ahead of her age, according to NASA (opens in new tab). She attended a high school on the campus of West Virginia State College by age 13, and began attending the college at age 18. After graduating with highest honors, she started work as a schoolteacher in 1937. Two years later, when the college chose to integrate its graduate schools, Johnson and two male students were offered spots. She quickly enrolled, but left to have children. In 1953, when she was back in the workforce, Johnson joined the West Area Computing section at Langley. She began her career working with data from flight tests, but her life quickly changed after the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957. For example, some of her math equations were used in a lecture series compendium called Notes on Space Technology. These lectures were given by engineers that later formed the Space Task Group, NACA's section on space travel. For the Mercury missions, Johnson did trajectory analysis for Shepard's Freedom 7 mission in 1961, and (at John Glenn's request) did the same job for his orbital mission in 1962. Despite Glenn's trajectory being planned by computers, Glenn reportedly wanted Johnson herself to run through the equations to make sure they were safe. "When asked to name her greatest contribution to space exploration, Katherine Johnson talks about the calculations that helped synch Project Apollo's Lunar Lander with the moon-orbiting Command and Service Module," NASA wrote. "She also worked on the space shuttle and the Earth Resources Satellite, and authored or coauthored 26 research reports." Johnson retired from NASA In 1986. At age 97, in 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. Johnson died on Feb. 24, 2020 at age 101. Dorothy Vaughan (1910-2008) Dorothy Vaughan became the first black supervisor at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), a precursor of NASA, in 1949. (Image credit: NASA) Vaughan joined the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1943 after beginning her career as a math teacher in Farmville, Virginia. Her job during World War II was a temporary position, but thanks in part to a new executive order prohibiting discrimination in the defense industry, she was hired on permanently because the laboratory had a wealth of data to process. Still, the law required that she and her black colleagues needed to work separately from white female computers, and the first supervisors were white. Vaughan became the first black NACA supervisor in 1949 and made sure that her employees received promotions or pay raises if merited. Segregation was ended in 1958 when NACA became NASA, at which point NASA created an analysis and computation division. Vaughan was an expert programmer in FORTRAN, a prominent computer language of the day, and also contributed to a satellite-launching rocket called Scout (Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test). She retired from NASA in 1971. Vaughan died on Nov. 10, 2008 at the age of 98. Additional resources: This article was updated on Jan. 31, 2022 by Space.com senior writer Tereza Pultarova. The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement Investigative Journalists NGO is looking for two talented young reporters from Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan) who wish to acquire investigative journalism skills. Those selected from a pool of candidates will undergo a two-week practical training session at Hetqs Yerevan office. Afterwards, a Hetq staff mentor will work online with the selected individuals for an additional six months. At the end of the internship, an investigative piece will be published in a news outlet in the trainees home country. In the case of a safety risk to the reporter, the piece will be published in Hetq. Investigative Journalists NGO will cover the cost of the selected individuals flight to Yerevan and local transportation, as well as lodging and food expenses. All candidates must forward the following to [email protected]: CV A letter explaining their interest in the program Samples of writings or links to them Proposing a future investigative topic in the letter will be regarded as a plus. Fluency in Russian or English is required. The deadline for sending applications is February 7. Selection results will be announced on February 14. The first two-week session will take place from February 26 to March 11. The second session will take place sometime in May. The exact time will be agreed to with the selected candidate. Comparably few refugees cross the borders into neighboring France, Austria or Switzerland -- largely due to the strict measures taken by Italian authorities. In southern Italian registration centers, the police force refugees to have their fingerprints taken. In the north, border police patrol the frontiers. A majority of migrants stranded in Italy would prefer to continue their journey northward -- at least that's what the numbers suggest. Tens of thousands of people arrived in southern Italy in 2016, but only around half applied for asylum. Even when considering that it usually takes months before an application can be filed, the numbers still show a clear trend: Many refugees do not want asylum in Italy. What does this mean for Europe? If the political and economic problems in Italy continue to deteriorate, African refugees could soon become a more pressing matter at the European level. The populist parties in particular -- Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement and Matteo Salvini's Lega Nord -- may have an interest in trying to get as many refugees as possible to leave Italy. If the populists gain in clout, they could also revive Italy's former practice: Instead of registering new arrivals and letting them apply for asylum, the authorities might instead hand them expulsion orders. Migrants would then be required to leave the country within two weeks. So far, the Italian government has refrained from this practice -- in no small part because the EU offered it money in return, along with the promise of redistributing refugees among its member states. A European solution is becoming more urgent, especially given that the heavy strain placed on the Italian authorities has long been obvious. Although relatively few refugees have illegally entered Switzerland so far, the numbers have risen recently. And media reports suggest that half the asylum-seekers who came to Switzerland via Italy in fact want to reach Germany. There are no official statistics or reliable estimates, but the German government has nonetheless recognized that the influx of African asylum-seekers through Italy and Switzerland could soon rise. To prevent this from happening, the Interior Ministry has drafted a plan that, if approved, would see migrant boats sent back to North Africa directly after their rescue at sea. Of course, it's questionable this would somehow solve the problem. In a federal election year, though, the German government doesn't appear to want to risk a new wave of refugees -- this time coming over the Brenner Pass. The article was written as part of a European Youth Press data journalism workshop by that took place recently in Berlin . Research and fact-checking: Almut Cieschinger, Mara Kupper, Claudia Niesen, Mirjam Schlossarek Midrand, January 22, 2017 (SPS) - The Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament, meeting on 20 January 2017 in Midrand, South Africa, has strongly condemned the "inhuman and degrading treatment" to the the Honorable, Ms. Suilma Haj Enhamed Saleh, Vice-President of the Pan-African Parliament, who was set to attend COP 22 held in Marrakech in November 2016. After the inhuman and degrading treatment of the Honorable Vice-President Suhamma Enhamed Haj Saleh from the Pan-African Parliament between 6 and 8 November 2016, the Moroccan authorities refused to allow him to enter the territory. COP 22, "the PAP bureau firmly condemns this practice that affects the human right of an African, in this case the vice president of one of the organs of the African Union, indicates the communique signed by the President of the PAP, Honorable Roger Nkodo Dang.SPS 125/090/TRA Paris, January 23, 2017 (SPS) - Some sixty Sahrawi people, backed by representatives of French associations, staged Monday afternoon a rally in Trocadero, in Paris, followed by another outside Morocco's Embassy. The protesters demanded the "immediate and unconditioned" release of Sahrawi political prisoners, whose trial is taking place in Rabat, as well as the "end of repression" in the occupied Sahrawi territories. On 8 November 2010, Morocco's security forces violently demolished the camp of Gdeim Izik set up by more than 20,000 Sahrawis, of whom twenty-two were sentenced to heavy prison terms (from 20 years to life). Paris rally aims at "breaking silence of major media and demanding that the French government changes its policy and no longer support Morocco," according to the organizers. The rally was staged by the Association of Sahrawis in France (ASF), the Association of Sahrawi Community in France (ACSF), the Platform for Solidarity with the People of Western Sahara and the Association of the Friends of Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.SPS 125/090/700 Armenias Special Investigative Service (SIS) has dropped the offshore business case against former Compulsory Enforcement Service head Mihran Poghosyan. The SIS says that its investigation into the offshore business interests of Poghosyan failed to reveal any incriminatory evidence of wrongdoing. Hetq wrote about the Poghosyans (Armenias former Chief Compulsory Officer) shady financial dealings in Panama and his Swiss banks accounts in April 2016, after data was uncovered in the Panama Papers. The data was obtained by the German newspaper SuddeutscheZeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and more than 110 media partners from 82countries, including Hetq. Just yesterday, after working hours, the SIS reported to Hetq that on January 11, 2017, Switzerland had turned down its request for legal assistance in the case. No details were given. The SIS also alleged that it had not received any word from Panama regarding its request for legal assistance in the Poghosyan investigation. The criminal case filed against Poghosyan by the SIS has stalled ever since the April 2016 revelations regarding Poghosyans offshore business activities. (Poghosyan resigned soon afterwards, always maintaining his innocence.) SIS Press Secretary Marina Ohanjanyan told Hetq that the decision to drop the case against Poghosyan was reached yesterday as well, after the SIS conveniently announced the rejections of legal assistance by Switzerland and Panama. Madrid, January 24, 2017 (SPS) -Tens of Sahrawis and Spanish of the movement of solidarity with the Sahrawi people demonstrated Monday before Moroccos embassy in Madrid to require the release of the Sahrawi political prisoners and cessation of the Moroccan repression in the occupied territories. Chanting release political prisoners, the struggle will continue and Frente POLISARIO will overcome, Morocco is guilty and Spain is responsible, and We are with Gdeim Iziks prisoners, tens of Sahrawis and Spanish, including two Euro-MPs from the Spanish party izquierda unida namely Willy Meyer and Paloma Lopez, responded to the call launched by the Spanish coordination of associations of friendship with the Sahrawi people to demand the release of the political prisoners whose trial will be in Rabat and to denounce the repression exerted by the Moroccan occupying forces. In a statement to APS, the Euro-MP Willy Meyer lamented the tragic situation of Western Sahara following the continuing repression by the Moroccan police and army. This situation deprives the Sahrawi people of their basic rights notably their right to self-determination and we insist, as European deputies, on the withdrawal of the colonial forces so that to hold a referendum on self-determination in Western Sahara. For her part, Paloma Lopez said that the trial of Gdeim Iziks prisoners is illegal and doesnt include any guarantee or respect of the international law and this is why we insist on the immediate release of these prisoners.SPS 125/090/TRA Algiers, January 24, 2017 (SPS) - President Sahrawi Brahim Gali said Tuesday in Algiers the request made by Morocco to join to the African Union was a major asset for the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, recalling Western Sahara and the Frente POLISARIO were determined to further entrench their diplomatic assets until the Sahrawi people enjoys the right to self-determination. The request made by Morocco to join the African union, which includes SADR, a founding member of the pan-African organization, is a major asset for the Sahrawi cause, 32 years after Morocco left the Organization of African Unity following SADR's full member, Gali said in an interview with APS. This process (Moroccos request led to victory of the Sahrawi people, the Sahrawi cause and the African Union that requires member states to respect post-independence borders, member countries and their sovereignty while favouring peaceful resolution of problems, whilst Morocco occupies a part of the territory of Western Sahara. In this regard, he stressed the Moroccan system and media conduct a massive information campaign to try making the international public opinion believe that Moroccos request to join the AU was a success not a defeat. The Sahrawi president expressed the hope Morocco's membership in the AU will be followed by other daring steps from the Moroccan system, including the definitive recognition of SADRs sovereignty over the internationally-recognized territory to achieve peace, security and stability in the Africa continent. Moreover, I hope Morocco will contribute to the preservation of Africas unity through respect for the Constitutive Charter and countrys borders and sovereignty, including Western Sahara while assuming a positive role in the pan-African Organization , he added. SPS 125/090/700 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate STAMFORD After three years on wheels, the Americares Free Clinic of Stamford has transitioned to more permanent digs. Nestled next to Tomato Tomato on Shippan Avenue, the 2,200-square-foot clinic houses five exam rooms. The clinic spent the last three years in a 40-foot bus with only two exam rooms. We always planned to open a permanent clinic eventually ... its more important now than ever before, said Karen Gottlieb, executive director of Americares Free Clinics. The Stamford mobile clinic opened in 2014, just as the Affordable Care Act went into effect. The future of the health law is uncertain as President Donald Trump has already begun clearing the way for a repeal. I dont know what is going to happen to ACA I wish I had a crystal ball but anything that diminishes access to insurance will increase the flow of patients to us, Gottlieb said. We have a better capacity to serve that population now. Americares Free Clinics only serve patients who have no feasible access to health insurance, Medicaid or Medicare. The new clinic at 401 Shippan Ave. exclusively serves residents of Stamford and Darien. It is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. Sonia Godinez, a single mother of three who works as a housekeeper in Stamford, has never been able to afford health insurance. Frequent doctor visits became necessary eight years ago when she was diagnosed with diabetes. Godinez is one of about 13,000 Stamford residents without access to affordable health care. Lab work and other things I needed are very expensive, Godinez, 45, said through a translator Tuesday morning during her first visit to the new clinic. Im much healthier since I started coming to Americares three years ago ... they help me with medication, nutrition counseling and advice on my weight and the food that I eat. Godinez was one of the first mobile clinic patients in 2014. She was pleased to see the clinic transition into the space on Shippan Ave. Im much more comfortable here, she said as she left the exam room. Dr. Marcie Molloy, an internal medicine specialist and Godinezs primary physician, said the permanent clinic makes patients feel more at home. The permanence of this facility eases some of the patients anxiety for medical concerns, said Molloy, who was one of the first physicians to join the mobile clinic in 2014. We gave excellent care on the bus, but here we have more space, were able to see more people and offer more physical work. The new Americares Stamford clinic, which opened its doors earlier this month, will celebrate its grand opening Wednesday with several of its local supporters. Patients at the clinic receive critical health care resources like medicine, lab work and diagnostics testing thanks to donations from individuals, foundations and corporations and donated services from Stamford Hospital and Quest Diagnostics. We have the space now, but next we need dollars and doctors, Gottlieb said. We have about 40 regular volunteers right now, which allows us to maintain the facility but not grow quite yet. nnaughton@stamfordadvocate.com; @noranaughton Which are your favorite 3 combos? You can vote for one of them, or two or three, its entirely up to you; the maximum, however, is three. Only one vote per person is allowed. Voting for this category will end on Friday January 27th. Combo #434 (Sebastian Oskar Kroll) Flash: off "Exactly one year ago, I was on a road trip from Cape Town to Johannesburg, in South Africa. It was a very hot summer and I saw some beautiful places. For most of the pictures I used the Blanko 1 film: it's one of my favorites for nature shots in summer, because it makes the pictures look like old paintings. The Ray Mark II lens that I used for this series reflects the constant heat in the best way and wraps everything in warm and brown color tones. I'd like to travel this route again one day with Hipstamatic 300 on my phone, so I can make some more shots in other formats." Sebastian Oskar Kroll Combo #441 (Guido Cubo Quadro) "Ive always been fascinated by 'painterly effects', which is why I have taken a liking to the Cheshire film. I love the frame but the textured effect is a bit too strong to my liking, so I first did some testing. I edited a few pictures in Oggl and a few more with Hipstamatic 311 to soften the effects, and paired Cheshire with one of my favorite lenses, Foxy." Guido Cubo Quadro Combo #468 (Ger van den Elzen) Clarity: 25 Definition: 25 Highlights: -50 Shadows: +30 Vibrancy: 10 "This series is an ode to the great Dutch landscape painters, back in the 17th century. Where they used brush and canvas, I use the iPhone 6s and Hipstamatic. Somehow the way of looking at things in nature is still the same and the final result sometimes looks like a 'digital' painting." Ger van den Elzen Combo #472 (Lydia Cassatt) Clarity: 30 "It was difficult to pick a particular combo for my recent trip to Iceland. The light and weather change constantly and the palette can be quite somber, particularly in the fog and the rain. But, the greens are intensely green, almost fluorescent, especially against a darker sky, and I wanted a combo that would bring out these colors. Lowy captures those greens and Robusta is one of my all-time favorite films. I tweaked the clarity to 30, just enough to add a little more crispness. This is an extraordinary country, truly a photographer's dream. I shot with Hipstamatic Classic for the more intimate scenes and with Hipstamatic Pro to capture the great expanses of the landscape. " Lydia Cassatt Combo #485 (Lee Atwell) "The world turns softly Not to spill its lakes and rivers. The water is held in its arms And the sky is held in the water. What is water, That pours silver, And can hold the sky? ~ Hilda Conkling, 1920" "This series was taken in the Yukon, Canada and in Washington State. The Yukon in northern Canada is a place of extremes and contrasts - long days of daylight in the summer, and long and frigid days of darkness in the winter. It is also a place to lose yourself and find your soul. My sister has lived in Whitehorse for the last 3 decades and I was fortunate to be able to visit her for a week in August where I spent time in the pristine landscape filled with lakes and rivers, as well as visiting a small town where the Tlingit First Nations people live. The other photos in the series are in the Cascade Mountains and in the Columbia River area. Spending time in places such as these feels very sacred to me and helps to nourish my soul. Although I gravitate toward Hipstamatics black and white combinations, I adore how this app has incredible lens and filter combinations that help create specific moods." Lee Atwell Combo #490 (Stavros Dimakopoulos) Shadows: +24 Vibrancy: +20 "This is a series of pictures made to replicate the vibe of old, shadowy memories. Florence Lens is responsible for the palette of desaturated colors, while Daydream Film adds a slightly blurry and cloudy effect. Cadet Blue Gel Flash with the increased vibrancy (+20) of this combo enhances the blue hues; yet the pictures have a matte feel and are not too bright, as the shadows are also augmented (+24). To ensure that the pictures have the desirable vague and hazy feel of an obscure memory, the depicted people are all either far from the lens or in the foreground but without revealing their facial details." Stavros Dimakopoulos Combo #493 (Marco Gianfranco Spampinato) "Bosa, Sardinia is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy. The river Temo, which runs through the village, is what makes it unique and unforgettable. Thanks to the Hipstameeting Sardinia I was able to admire and take pictures with many great Hipstafriends." Marco Gianfranco Spampinato Combo #495 (Anita Elle) "With this combo, I hope to share the fantastic ambience of this place, during these first days of autumn. Normandy in the fog, the shortening days and the melancholy feeling, but also, and above all else, the sense of freedom." Anita Elle Share this: Facebook Twitter Email Google Pinterest Like this: Like Loading... This post is also available in: French The Department of Children and Families has been under court oversight since 1989 as the result of a federal lawsuit, due to the states inability to adequately care for abused and neglected children. In the next few weeks Connecticuts legislators will be voting on acceptance of a revised exit plan that would end court oversight in areas the state has proven to the court monitor are no longer endemic. The plan would require reducing caseloads for DCF social workers, increasing spending by $6.4 million for mental health and substance-abuse programs, and safeguarding DCF from budget cuts as long as the agency is under court oversight. In the time that the state has been under court oversight there have been significant improvements in timely access to quality mental health treatment. Gone are the days of long waiting lists for mental health and substance abuse treatment for children and adolescents. In 2014 the bipartisan Connecticut Childrens Mental Health Task Force issued its report recommending that: All children in Connecticut have support and appropriate treatment for optimal well-being. STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. A news story ostensibly written on January 23rd 2017 by somebody named Ike A. Offor on a site calling itself "The Republican News" claims President Donald Trump ordered the removal of all islamic symbols and practices from the White House. Some choice quotes from the article: Obama was seen storming away from the West Wing after staffers from Donald Trump's transition team began preparing the executive offices for the new administration. On Trump's orders, one of Obama's most secretive rituals is being reversed and all signs of it removed from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. For the past 8 years, to appease any Muslims working at or visiting the White House, silence has been ordered during the 5 times of Islamic prayer each day. In addition, prayer rugs and crescent moon symbols are available in several areas of the executive mansion to make Muslims more comfortable. It gets worse: Jim Mergernerlerny, head of the team that will transform the White House from the Obama's home to the Trumps' second home, told MSNBC: "Mr Trump doesn't see the need to provide prayer rugs and false idols in a house built by Christians. Washington, DC offers a diverse cultural centre for the worship of any kind. You won't find any special considerations for Judaism or crucifixes to appease Catholics, either. There is a simple chapel with a single cross on one wall that is suitable for prayer by anyone. Our government doesn't need to be forcing prayer rituals down people's throats just so we don't "offend" apologising people looking to blow us up. The genius of this hoax article is that it manages to get a rise out of both sides of the political divide: liberals see it as a confirmation that their worst fears about Trump are coming true while conservatives are happy Trump is finally undoing the things they feared Obama had been doing... But a quick Google search reveals that the story is mostly copy pasted from a 2016 article on another fake news website that bills itself as 'satire' in a well hidden disclaimer: DISCLAIMER: The Resistance may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don't necessarily exist. All articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. Pictures that represent actual people should be considered altered and not in any way real. But that didn't stop over 30.000 people from sharing the new version of this fake story online as this graph from Trendolizer shows. Remember people: just because a site has 'Republican' in the title and the news it reports seems to confirm what you are already thinking doesn't mean it is actually true. Maybe you are just being played for advertising revenue by an obscure African 'journalist' looking to cash in on gullible people from both ends of the political spectrum... T he energy-industry watchdog today fined British Gas 9.5 million after a botched IT upgrade left tens of thousands of business customers with delayed and inaccurate bills. Ofgem said the supplier let customers down when the introduction of a new IT system led to failings in registrations and billing processes. Customer complaints significantly increased as a result and many were handled poorly or not on time, Ofgem concluded. The regulator praised British Gas, owned by Centrica, for voluntarily reporting the matter but ruled it had not acted quickly enough to correct it. Ofgem boss Dermot Nolan said the penalty sends a strong reminder to all energy companies that they must treat consumers fairly at all times. British Gas has compensated some customers, reduced levels of delayed bills and contacted customers to explain the issue. Others have been allowed to switch supplier despite being in debt, if the debt was related to a failure to produce a bill. C hatter in the Square Mile that Liberty Global could buy out ITV is nothing new, but rumour has it that the Virgin Media owner may face competition from some of the worlds largest companies. The word on the street is that major shareholders of ITV have been sounded out by tech giants Apple, Amazon and Netflix about a possible takeover. They are thought to have been enticed by the cheap pound and ITVs production arm behind shows such as Mr Selfridge and which has been growing over the past few years through acquisitions. The gossip suggests the US giants are willing to pay 300p a share, valuing ITV at around 12 billion. Thats 50% up on the present share price, which edged down 1.1p to 200.2p today, although ITVs shares were trading as high as 268p at the end of 2015 before collapsing amid concerns about TV advertising spending. Sources said the purported interest could prompt Liberty, which has built a near-10% stake in ITV, to make a move for the entire company. ITV, Amazon, Apple and Liberty said they did not comment on market speculation. Netflix did not respond for comment. The pound weakened after the Supreme Court ruled that Parliament must vote on whether to trigger Article 50. This had the effect of boosting the FTSE 100 which is dominated by dollar-earning companies by 20.03 points to 7171.21 points, with miners driving gains. Rio Tinto was up 121p, or 3.5%, at 3595.5p as it sold its Aussie coal subsidiary Coal & Allied for $2.45 billion (1.96 billion). Investors cashed in their William Hill shares after UBS downgraded to Sell, warning that they were underestimating the impact of the regulatory clampdown on addictive fixed-odds betting terminals dubbed the crack cocaine of gambling. The shares tumbled 9p or 3.3% to 267.8p as UBS claimed that the average hit to profits in shops would be around 40% after assessing a number of regulatory outcomes. Beleaguered tech firm Laird enjoyed a rare day in the sun, rising 9.68p, or 7%, to 154.18p after showing signs the business had stabilised following a shock profit warning in October that forced the business to shelve the divi. The company, which designs antennas for iPhones and Samsung handsets, said it secured an extension to its debt covenants at the end of last year as a precaution. Meanwhile, North Sea oiler EnQuest strengthened 1p to 50.25p after buying a 25% stake in the Magnus field from BP for $85 million, which will be funded by cash generated from the assets. I t comes as no great surprise that the Supreme Court has ruled, by a majority of 8-3, that parliament must vote on triggering Brexit. This means the Government cannot use its so-called prerogative powers here: as Lord Neuberger said, to trigger Article 50 without a vote would be a breach of settled constitutional principles. But since the PM had already conceded sensibly that parliament would have a vote, the political fallout from the ruling is likely to be limited. Usefully for ministers, the Scots will not get any kind of veto over the terms of Brexit: we are, as a country, all in this together. Plainly the ruling poses a challenge for the opposition parties in both Houses of Parliament as well as for the Government. No one wants to be seen to thwart the will of the people as expressed in the referendum, at least, not overtly. Jeremy Corbyn has said that Labour will not impede the Government triggering Article 50, though some backbenchers will try. There is no good reason why parliament cannot vote on it by Mrs Mays deadline of the end of March. The Lib-Dem leader, Tim Farron, has said his party will aim for a second referendum to ratify the results of the negotiations, but frankly, the chances of this are slim. And while Lib-Dem and pro-EU peers could make trouble for the Government, it would be a rash gambit for an unelected House. The danger for the Government would be if opposition members and peers table unhelpful amendments, falling short of outright opposition. But the Bill must have proper scrutiny. There is little for the Government to fear from a full debate on triggering Article 50; indeed, there would be something paradoxical about refusing to put a measure to parliament that is intended to restore sovereignty to parliament. This is an opportunity for Remain MPs and Labours shadow Brexit Secretary, Keir Starmer, in particular, to make their case for the most rational approach to Brexit. It is a chance for the 48 per cent who voted Remain to be heard. Mrs May and David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, should make the most of the chance to argue their case. This debate will be good for the nation. Tragic death of a boy It is quite scandalous that a teenage boy should be stabbed to death outside his school in the middle of the afternoon broad daylight in London, in front of his terrified schoolmates. That is what happened yesterday when Quamari Barnes, 15, was attacked as he waited by a bus stop in Willesden after school. His death comes in the week when the Met launched phase seven of Operation Sceptre, the initiative against knife crime first started in July 2015. That initiative has sensible elements: it means more targeted stop-and-search, more weapons sweeps in areas where police suspect they are kept and more tests for shops selling knives. And yet, and yet, teenagers overwhelmingly black boys continue to lose their lives in this hateful exercise of power and violence. Some victims are in gangs, some caught up in random attacks. This scourge must end. Black lives matter. All lives matter. H aving lived all over England I feel that London is my home. I love it it is a truly great city. It has incredible culture, great job prospects and it is home to some of the most forward-thinking minds in the world. But we need to ensure that it stays this way for generations to come. In order to do this we need to listen to young people. We need to understand what challenges they face within the city, what change they want to see and how we go about making that change. At the Roundhouse we see so many young people from different walks of life with a story to tell or a great idea but theyre not sure how to tell people or who to tell to make meaningful change. This is where for so many of them creativity comes in. All ideas are creative and every inch of London is bustling with invention and innovation. Encouraging young people to be creative enables them to articulate their own story, opinions and ideas, in their own words, in their own way through music, performance, spoken word, drawing, dance. Being creative has the power to transform peoples lives, to speak to people in different ways, to mobilise and to start conversation and drive change in the life of an individual or wider society. You only need to look at some of the incredible performances or projects that use art for change. The Good Chance Theatre builds temporary theatres of hope for refugees where they can express themselves in a safe environment. Our associate artist Scottee recently devised a political performance based on interviews recorded with working-class LGBT people in the UK. It offered a platform to discuss difficult issues with the outside world. This is why weve joined forces with the Evening Standard to present Young Progress Makers, an event at the Roundhouse to provide a platform for young people to hear how change can be made and learn more about the tools available. Its for all young people living and working in the capital who want to make a difference. As well as looking at how we can use art for social change well be discussing how we use technology for good and how we turn our ideas into reality. Well hear from entrepreneurs, artists and technology experts in an afternoon of talks, debates and networking. We want young people to hear from and meet with people who are already doing great things in the capital. We hope the Young Progress Makers day will spark inspiration, conversation and action. The event is ambitious but every young person faces challenge in their life and it is our duty to turn challenge into opportunity. So we want to start the conversation between the influencers of today and those of tomorrow to ensure that the opportunities and talent remain within this city and we make a bright and brilliant future for London. Tomorrow we want young people to join us in this discussion about how we create change and opportunity and how we use technology and art to do this. How can we ensure that London remains a world-class city full of opportunity for young people, from all backgrounds? Find out tomorrow. Marcus Davey is chief executive and artistic director of the Roundhouse For more information and tickets, visit roundhouse.org.uk/ypm I t was hugely concerning to read your article about the scale of Londons pollution [School cuts outdoor play amid soaring pollution, January 23]. The decision from one school in London to restrict childrens outdoor activity was made because it has access to pollution monitors something all schools need but only a few have. It has been estimated that at least 3,000 schools are located within areas with potentially dangerous levels of pollution, putting childrens lungs at risk. Schools and parents urgently need accurate pollution information from monitors to be able to protect childrens health. It is time for the Government to implement a new fair and ambitious Clean Air Act to tackle this modern pollution problem and protect all our health. Dr Penny Woods, British Lung Foundation With traffic pollution in London now at an all-time high, the Mayor ought to be providing us with gas masks. I would suggest the first in the line to get them should be children, for their developing young lungs need to be protected from the appalling effect of traffic fumes. Antony Porter It is truly a shocking situation for a leading world city like London to have to issue air-quality alerts. People in London are suffering from the health impacts of long-term exposure to air pollution and the impact is only getting worse. As a flexible car-sharing club with a large fleet of electric cars, DriveNow wants to work with Londons boroughs to tackle air pollution. However, a fractured decision-making structure has undermined Londons ability to implement ideas such as ours, and without solutions we will continue to see levels of pollution damaging our great city. Incremental change will not deliver the results; we need drastic action. A clear first step would be to support innovators and new transport technology to help solve Londons air-quality problems. Joseph Seal-Driver, DriveNow UK There are a number of self-inflicted factors that have been overlooked in the causes of congestion and poor air quality. Within half a mile of where I live in Holborn, roads have been closed to allow contractors room for temporary offices and scaffolding lorries, as well the general convenience for construction companies. The latter is exemplified by years of chaos caused by the works at Tottenham Court Road station, while The Strand westbound is still affected due to the closure of Trafalgar Square. The consequence of this is vehicles travelling further and sitting stationary for longer at junctions, which has a negative impact on our air quality. Richard Walker Trump should stop fighting the media When Donald Trump was voted in as President, many feared it would lead to aggressive policies and uncertainty in the United States. But the events over the weekend suggest that Trumps tenure will largely consist of ego-boosting and embarrassing disagreements with the press. In a short but bizarre five-minute speech, Trumps press secretary, Sean Spicer, ruined his chance of being considered credible by ranting about the reporting of estimated crowd numbers at Trumps inauguration. Afterwards, one of Trumps aides, Kellyanne Conway, defended Spicers comments by calling them alternative facts rather than lies. After just four days, the Trump administration has probably had as many run-ins with American journalists than Barack Obama did during his eight years in the Oval Office. It will not turn out well for Trump if he intends to create division between himself and the media. While I think Trump needs to time to adapt to the role of President, he must make peace with the press or risk becoming a laughing stock on the global stage. Neil Burns Dont make cost an issue for cancer drug It is devastating to hear that Kadcyla, a crucial life-extending treatment for women with incurable secondary breast cancer, faces being withdrawn from the NHS after the National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) and the drugs manufacturer, Roche, failed to reach an agreement. Kadcyla can offer patients precious extra months even years of quality time with their loved ones, with fewer side-effects than other treatments. It is available in many other countries, including France, Germany and Australia. However, unless the draft decision by NICE is overturned next month, this fantastic medical advance will bypass patients in the UK for ever. NICE and Roche must do everything in their power to keep this drug available for English patients. Courtney Pires Reading how a mother is being denied a live-extending drug was heartbreaking [Dont scrap cancer drug that can give me more years with my children, January 20]. It is a chilling situation when an unelected quango can effectively oversee such decisions. As taxpayers we have no choice but to pay into the NHS and have the drugs we receive rationed by NICE. Are we now getting to the point of being equally fed up with the state telling us what healthcare we can and cant have? Lewis A Feilder EU workers are not just bargaining chips Am I the only one appalled by the Government openly regarding the residency rights of immigrants from other EU countries to the UK as negotiating capital? If the 27 EU member states refuse to allow UK migrants to remain in their countries, are we really going to indulge in tit-for-tat expulsions? Many migrants have lived here for decades and have brought children up here, as well as the estimated 100,000 European citizens who work in the NHS. We should unilaterally announce that all EU citizens who legally resided in the UK before the referendum can stay. This would put pressure on EU nations to do the same for UK citizens and be a display of good will in the run-up to the Brexit negotiations. Pierre Royan T ate director Sir Nicholas Serota and his successor Maria Balshaw have joined forces to call for an end to the erosion of the arts in schools. They have both backed a new report by the Cultural Learning Alliance which says changes to the national curriculum, qualifications and teacher training have damaged arts education. The report is signed by major creative industry figures including filmmaker David Puttnam and National Theatre boss Rufus Norris. It states: Every effort must be made to halt the erosion of the arts as an essential pillar in the structure of education. It includes research showing students from poor families who take part in the arts are more likely to get a degree, do voluntary work and vote. Sir Nicholas said creativity was one of the essential ingredients of a rich and tolerant society and of personal and national identity. It should be one of the cornerstones of education, not an option or an afterthought and we should be celebrating all kinds of intelligence and intuition, not creating hierarchies, within the disciplines of the mind. He will step down from his directorship later this year to be replaced by Ms Balshaw, having overseen the creation and expansion of Tate Modern. The Cultural Learning Alliances report was launched today at a reception at the House of Commons attended by Grayson Perry, Darcey Bussell and former arts minister Ed Vaizey. Lord Puttnam, chairman of the alliance, said the report was a wake-up call, adding: This demonstrates that the arts empower children, create a culture of citizenship and help them to achieve their true potential. It is essential that access to arts is a right and not a privilege. There has been a decline in the number of children taking part in arts subjects in schools, a reduction in arts teaching hours, and fewer arts teachers employed in schools. We are calling for everyone to work together to ensure more commitment, focus and action to protect and expand the arts curriculum in schools. A Department for Education spokeswoman said: We want all pupils to have access to an excellent, well-rounded education. We know that music and the arts can transform lives and introduce young people to a huge range of opportunities. There is no evidence that since the introduction of the EBAcc arts entries have decreased. We have also recently announced that were investing more than 300m over the next four years to get more young people involved in music and the arts, ensuring opportunities are open to all, not just the privileged few. @RobDexES Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout " When youre young, youre just not at the top of the list of people who get listened to, says Caleb Femi, 26, Londons Young Poet Laureate. London moves so quickly, because its so focused on improving itself and being bigger, being better, that sometimes it doesnt give you a chance. Sitting on the Southbank Centres ground floor, a beanie cap pulled low over his hair, Femi, a former English teacher, doesnt just talk the talk. Since being appointed Young Laureate last October by the writers group Spread the Word, he has hosted workshops and classes at schools around London to discuss poetry and cultivate confidence and creativity. Tomorrow he will be performing at Young Progress Makers, an event presented by the Evening Standard and the Roundhouse in Camden designed to inspire, inform and entertain Londoners aged 18 to 25. As a child, you think youre the only one like you. Poetry is just another way of finding people, not only who see the world as you do but from the perspective of those who dont. It shows you where you fit in. Right now, poetry sales are booming, driven by a surge in interest from young readers. The Bookseller reported last year that annual poetry-book sales were set to smash the 10 million mark for the first time. Celebrity endorsements have helped, with Beyonce using the work of London poet Warsan Shire Femis predecessor as Young Poet Laureate on her Lemonade album. A decade ago the only place youd find poetry was at a show, in a bookshop or at school, says Femi. Nowadays its on your phone, its on your Instagram, its on your Twitter, its on your eBooks, while there are poetry films and recorded versions of readings by artists such as Kate Tempest on YouTube. Its much more accessible. Femi, who grew up in Peckham having moved to London from Nigeria at the age of seven, believes poetry can provide an education that schools cant. He left teaching at Gladesmore Community School in Tottenham in 2014 to pursue poetry full time, because he felt the education system was stifling the students. He adds: I was contributing to creating a generation of robots. Teachers are under so much stress because theyre directed to look at grades, data and performance-related numbers. In English, for me, its no longer about exercising any skills beyond technical writing, nothing that explores humanity or imagination. Its not about creativity, its become about how well you can regurgitate or memorise. Whats the solution? For me, learning isnt a destination. Its not about just being asked to work out X and getting the right answer, its about all the ways that journey to the right answer is possible. Thats how all the greatest inventions came to be. Poetry has helped Femi solve his own problems. Suffering from bouts of anxiety and depression at school after his first heartbreak at 16, writing poetry for the first time was a good type of therapy. Despite three older sisters, a younger brother, a bishop father and a mother who runs a teenage pregnancy charity, he found himself unable to talk to anyone, trapped by doctrines of masculinity. Couldnt he talk to his friends? We talked about trainers and clothes. We talked about girls but it was in a fleeting way, to be one of the lads. No one talks about the vulnerable elements of being in a relationship because you might be seen [as] weak. None of his friends was a girl, he says. He felt alone. Thats part of being a man; no one expects you to be the one who wants to cry. Femi recently spoke at the Southbank Centres Being a Man festival about breaking down gender stereotypes, using the theme of superheroes with young boys to discuss the set of performances theyre expected to adhere to. Theyre expected to be physically strong, mentally strong, and this idea of mental strength seems to mean being void of emotions. Theyre the ones who are meant to always have it together. He says binary gender divisions such as black toys for boys and pink for girls are toxic. I dont see feminine as being the opposite of masculine, he says. I see them co-existing in humanity. When you have these perceptions of men being on one polarised side and women being on the other, then what you are doing is separating the natural state of being a human. Poetry is becoming an easy medium for young people to find a voice through, Femi says, because Our generation has learned how to appreciate and embrace technology, and therefore take ownership of our own were not waiting for companies or publications any more. While he believes self-publishing through Amazon is cutting out the red tape, Femi is still to be published himself. There are so many gatekeepers that stop people getting their voice heard. There are hoops you have to jump, and so many rejections. So it makes sense that a lot of people say, Whatever and do it themselves. He has supported his own writing with jobs as a professional photographer of weddings, birthday parties and, for a while, at London Zoo. London is his natural habitat. Despite Brexit, despite Trump, he says young people need to have hope and you need to think things will get better, because if you dont, they never will. But he says you need to take as much ownership as you can. When there arent opportunities, you make opportunities. I know its so easy to say, but you can turn good ideas into whole new industries, or simply carve yourself a new slice. Whos an inspiration? Even something as basic as the Chicken Connoisseur. The chicken-shop YouTube video guy? Yeah. He was like, you know what? Im going to do this. Maybe he wants to be a food critic. So he went out and became a food critic with the food that he loves. But even he has had his critics, I say. Forget about the critics. Once youre able to pay your rent, the least of your worries is what critics have to say. @Fish_o_wick Young Progress Makers takes place at the Roundhouse tomorrow (January 24). For details, go to: standard.co.uk/ypm. To buy tickets for the event go to: roundhouseorg.uk/ypm. #ESYPM The Office Group are proud supporters of Young Progress Makers The event is also partnered by the Gates Foundation and Citi Visit standard.co.uk/arts for the latest news and reviews from Londons arts scene Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout T he team behind street food sensation Bao have announced plans to launch an upmarket Taiwanese restaurant this spring. It will be named Xu after co-founder and chef Erchen Changs late grandfather, and will showcase traditional Taiwanese cooking. It will be set on Sohos Rupert Street close to Chinatown, and will seat 68 diners across two floors. The menu will start with xiao tsai bar snacks including century quails egg and smoked Taiwanese sausage, while mains will include crab with chilli egg drop sauce and vrying braised meats including goose and pork served in typical Taiwanese 'Lu Wei' style. The menu will include a stand-out stuffed chicken dish, 'sho pa chicken', served with the head still on, for which diners will be given gloves and encouraged to tear it apart with their hands. Street food-inspired options will include pan-fried dumplings known as shengjian bao and pancakes filled with 40-day aged beef shortrib, marrow and pickles. Alongside other drinks there will be a wide selection of Taiwanese tea available, and diners can expect to be served by a dedicated tea master, who will effectively be a sommelier for tea. Tea will also be available to take home, with bespoke batches roasted to any customer's desired level. The interiors, which will feature dark wood panneling, are being described as a cinematic reinterpretation of 1930s Taipei. Taiwanese food in London 1 /6 Taiwanese food in London Bao London Pig Blood cake with soy pickled egg at Bao London Alex Lentati Bao London Gua bao at Bao London Taiwan Village Steamed seabass at Taiwan Village Yum Bun Lisa Meyer prepares a steamed pork belly bun at Yum Bun (photo: Rebecca Reid) Chaboba Bubble tea at Chaboba It is not known whether reservations will be taken, or whether diners will have to contend with the long queues which the Bao restaurants have become known for. As with the two existing Bao sites, Xu will be backed by JKS Restaurants, which runs Gymkhana and Hoppers. Visit xulondon.com. Also see: A beginner's guide to Taiwanese food in London: where to eat and what to order Visit standard.co.uk/restaurants for the latest news and reviews from Londons food scene. Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout O n Wednesday January 25 designers, entrepreneurs, tech innovators and politicians will rub shoulders and swap ideas at the Evening Standard's Young Progress Makers event at the Roundhouse. Here's everything you need to know about the schedule: Section 1 Technology The Main Stage 2.00PM Welcome 2.10PM Speaker Session Humza Arshad - The power of the personal brand 2.25PM Panel Q&A Session Technology How do we make it a force for good? Baroness Shields, Ella Grace Denton, Alex Klein, Grace Cassy 3.10PM Speaker Session Demis Hassabis - How AI will shape your life Break The Circle Bar 3.45-4.45PM Speed Mentoring Session Section 2 Enterprise The Main Stage 4.10PM Speaker Session Rohan Silva, Lloyd Dorfman - David vs Goliath How a challenger business can win Sadiq Khan - The Power of London Fabien Riggall - How to stand out from the crowd 4.55PM Panel Q&A Session Be your own boss Bejay Mulenga, Tommy Stadlen, Jusnah Gadi, Beanie Major The Circle Bar 5.00-6.00PM Speed Mentoring Session The Main Stage 5.40PM Speaker Session Brent Hoberman - How to make it happen 5.50PM Business Makers Break The Circle Bar 6.15 -7.15PM Speed Mentoring Session Section 3 Change The Main Stage 6.30PM Speaker Session The Princes Trust - My story Baroness Jowell - We are the change makers Good Chance Theatre - Hope trumps despair Campaign Bootcamp - Hearts & minds 7.20PM Panel Q&A Session Disrupt! How to create social change Ione Wells, Elspeth Hoskins, Damsel Productions, Karl Lokko, Daniel Hannan 7.55PM Closing Performance Young Progress Makers takes place at the Roundhouse tomorrow (January 24). For details, go to: standard.co.uk/ypm. To buy tickets for the event go to: roundhouseorg.uk/ypm. #ESYPM A 15-year-old boy is facing jail today for stabbing to death a schoolboy near to London's world famous Portobello Road. Fola Orebiyi, 16, was knifed in the neck and back following a "trivial" argument in the streets of Notting Hill on July 3 last year. The 15-year-old who wielded the knife was today found guilty at the Old Bailey of murder following a trial. He remained emotionless as he was remanded in custody to be sentenced on February 10. A 17-year-old boy who was accused of involvement in the killing broke down and sobbed as he was cleared by the jury. Prosecutor Tim Cray told the court Fola lived close to the Portobello Road area where he was killed. "The cause of the trouble that led to the stabbing seems to have been trivial, compared to the harm that came from it", he said. In the weeks before the murder, one of Fola's friends had a fight with the 15-year-old killer, trading insults. When they met again, Fola and his friends ran at the killer and his pals near the Portobello Road. "Fola thought that the dispute was going to be sorted out by a fist fight and they all went to a location off the main roads", said Mr Cray. "It turned out that this wasn't so much a fight as an ambush where, within seconds, Fola was singled out and stabbed to death." The 15-year-old killer and his 17-year-old co-defendant both denied involvement in the attack. Neither could be identified because of their age. A dog walker is set to win up to 100,000 damages after he was badly injured wrestling a nine-stone Rottweiler that snatched up a Chihuahua-sized pet in its jaws. Peter Viner, 47, intervened when he heard screams and saw the tiny dog dangling limply from the mouth of the bigger animal near Bethlem Royal Hospital in Beckenham. The Rottweiler named Buddy dropped the other dog and lunged at him, forcing him to grab its collar and wrestle it into a headlock. He got it under control but injured his shoulder and needed extensive surgery. Mr Viner sued Buddys owner, Christine Glover, of Beckenham, and has now been awarded damages at Central London county court. Peter Viner has claimed for 100,000 but the exact settlement is still to be decided He told the court he heard Mrs Glover and the owner of the other pet a Griffon named Dylan screaming in panic. She contested the claim, insisting Buddy was just playing and that she had seen him interact gently with cats and dogs in the past. She claimed Mr Viner brought trouble on himself by grappling with the Rottweiler. However, Judge Heather Baucher found she had been in a state of abject panic during the incident in February 2012 because she had let her dog off his lead and could not control him. The judge said Christine Glover (pictured outside court) was in a 'state of abject panic' Buddy was snapping and snarling but Mr Viner managed to get him in a headlock using both hands, during which Buddy kept struggling, said the judge. Mr Viner was able to get the dog to the ground by using his body weight, controlling him so Mrs Glover could put a collar and lead back on Buddy. It was sheer good fortune he wasnt bitten. The judge found Dylan who escaped injury had been in the Rottweilers mouth for about two-and-a-half minutes and Mrs Glover was negligent in allowing her dog to run free when he wasnt sufficiently trained to respond to her commands. Mr Viner, a cabinet maker of Tatsfield, Kent, will be compensated for his suffering and financial losses. He has claimed for 100,000, though the exact settlement is still to be decided. A hero armed police officer has been handed an award after taking on a hooded gunman during a gang feud in north London. Undercover firearms officer Martin Finney was shot at seven times by his attacker Sedat Meric in a Tottenham street in May 2014. Meric, then 25, who was eventually jailed for 15 years for the attack, had already fired three shots at a pool bar before he saw the officer, swung round and opened fire. Mr Finney, known as NC32 at the time, fired several shots back as he dived for cover. He hid behind parked cars and relentlessly pursued his attacker into a dark residential street. Firearms officer Martin Finney fires at his attack Sedat Meric / NCA The gunman finally surrendered when he had emptied the magazine of his 9mm self-loading pistol. The National Crime Agency firearms officer has been awarded the George Medal, which is the second highest civil decoration presented to those who have performed acts of bravery. He said: I wasnt going to cower behind a car. I wanted to arrest him. I just tried to make myself as small as possible and get a good shot back. He went around the corner and I moved for cover. Sedat Meric shoots at a pool hall in Tottenham, north London / NCA I could see his eyes looking at me and the gun coming up. The officer added: At the back of my mind I didnt know if he had already killed someone. His firing was totally indiscriminate; he had no regard for life. I was terrified somebody might have been hit. Mr Finney was on a surveillance operation in Tottenham at 10.45pm on May 23 when Meric started firing at the pool hall as part of an on-going gang feud. The officer was walking back to his car after being stood down for the evening when he saw Meric shooting at the pool hall with about 30 people inside. Mr Finney, who was alone and wearing no body armour, identified himself, drew his gun and told the attacker to drop his weapon. But Meric ran at the officer and opened fire with one bullet missing by just centimetres. He returned fire and took cover behind the parked cars until Meric, from Tottenham, surrendered. The attack was caught on CCTV and shown during Merics trial. He was jailed for 15 years for possession of a firearm with intent to danger life in December that year. Mr Finney, who has been a firearms officer for 12 years following a career in the army, added: I was gobsmacked finding out about the medal. I have colleagues who have received awards, some posthumous, and to be honest I really dont feel worthy to be in the same bracket as them. Receiving the George Medal is amazing, I cant express it. All my family are incredibly proud of me. A man is fighting for life in hospital after he was chased by a gang and stabbed in an east London residential street. Police and paramedics rushed to Harrowgate Road in Homerton just after 6pm on Monday when reports of the stabbing came in. A man, aged in his 20s, was found suffering from multiple knife wounds, police say. He was taken to an east London hospital where his condition is described as life-threatening. Detectives probing the attack believe he was chased by a group of people before being knifed. After the stabbing, the group fled the scene, leaving the stricken victim in the road. The road was cordoned off by police on Monday evening as an investigation was carried out. It came hours before a 15-year-old boy died after being stabbed outside a school in Kensal Rise. Anyone with information should contact Hackney CID on 101, via Twitter on @MetCC or get in touch with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org A young man desperately staggered down a street and collapsed in a pool of blood after being stabbed repeatedly by thugs, witnesses said. The man is said to have stumbled down a residential street and hammered on a door begging for help before collapsing on a pavement after the attack in Homerton. Neighbours told how the victim, who is currently fighting for his life in hospital, was then given first aid by bystanders. He is said to have left a trail of blood after being stabbed up to six times having been pursued into Harrowgate Road from nearby Victoria Park. One neighbour said he was alerted to the horrific incident after hearing screaming and moaning from the street outside. Knife attack: Police at the scene in Harrowgate Road on Tuesday He told the Standard: He was shouting 'Open the door, I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed.' I think the woman who lives there was too scared to open it. When I looked he was lying in the entrance to the house. He got up and went across the road and fell between two cars. "That's where he stayed until police came. He went on: I think he got stabbed about five or six times. "When the police came they had to strip him naked and count out the stab wounds. Begging for help: The man collapsed after banging on a neighbour's door It seemed like everybody wanted to help because it was a mad situation. Another neighbour described how several people came out of their homes to comfort the man, aged in his 20s, for several minutes until paramedics could arrive. He told the Standard: I saw a guy come over to the house and there was a real commotion. He managed to get up and staggered across the road. Then he lay on the floor and the neighbours came out. A bloke across the road was helping him out, pumping his hands on his chest. "Other people were getting blankets for him. Another man called the police. Everyone was trying to help. Detectives believe the man was chased by a number of individuals before he was knifed. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Police were called at 18:08hrs on Monday, 23 January to reports of a stabbing in Harrowgate Road. "Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended the scene and found a man in his 20s with a number of stab wounds. He was taken to an east London hospital where he remains with life threatening injuries. "At this early stage detectives believe that the victim was chased by a number of individuals before being stabbed. They made off from the scene shortly afterwards." Anyone with information should contact Hackney CID on 101, via Twitter @MetCC, or get in touch with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or at crimestoppers-uk.org.Young man A tech expert has been left blind in one eye after he was glassed in the face in a row over a spilt drink at a New Years Eve party in north London. Ivano Pacini, 28, said he was attacked minutes before midnight after a man carrying a tray of drinks walked into the back of him, spilling one, at The Salisbury Hotel in Green Lanes. Mr Pacini turned to apologise and righted the glass on his tray but as he went to walk away, the man shouted and allegedly threw the glass tumbler at his face from close range. Six shards embedded in his right eye when the tumbler shattered on his cheekbone. The financial technology salesman from Holloway said: The whole altercation lasted five or six seconds but I will have to live with it for the rest of my life. All because someone has taken offence to a spilt drink which costs about 4.10. "All I remember was being ushered out of the pub by one of my friends. I couldnt open my eye because it was so painful. He was treated at the Royal London and has been kept off work since the attack. A 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and bailed until a date in late March. Anyone with information is asked to call Wood Green police station on 020 3276 3079 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. T en London motorcyclists were condemned as suicidal today after being caught by police riding their machines while using mobile phones. The bikers were among 4,878 motorists caught on the phone while driving in the capital as part of a UK-wide campaign. Chief Inspector Colin Carswell, of the Mets Roads & Transport Policing Command, said : Every single driver who uses a mobile phone while driving is a risk but a motorcyclist using one is suicidally crazy, it is nuts. The figures showed that more than half of the 8,500 drivers caught using a mobile in the nationwide campaign were stopped in London. Among them were 171 lorry drivers using phones at the wheel. The figures were released as police launched a new week long crackdown on motorists using mobiles. Ch Insp Carswell said: We want to educate the public not to do this because I believe that, after speeding, using a mobile while driving is probably the single most dangerous thing a driver can do. He added: Every driver knows it is illegal, it is an offence that one does not commit accidentally. Hundreds of officers will be deployed across London this week carrying out spot checks and stops on motorists using phones while driivng. Ch Insp Carswell said there was widespread support from motorists and the public to the last week long crackdown in November. He said : There is a widespread recognition that there is flagrant law breaking. Everyone can see people breaking the law and most people appreciate it is dangerous. Every day we stop people doing it but we would prefer to educate people so that we did not have to stop people. The officer said many people saw the video footage of lorry driver Tomasz Kroker - who killed Tracy Houghton, 45, her two sons Josh Houghton, 11 and Ethan Houghton, 13, and her boyfriends daughter Aimee Goldsmith while distracted by his phone on the A34 in Berkshire - and he added: That is why we can never let up on this. This weeks crackdown will involve high visibility officers stopping cars as well as patrols using unmarked vans, high vantage points and helmet cameras. From March the Government is to double the penalties issued to drivers caught with phones so that they face 200 fines and six points on their licence. A mother's five-month-old chihuahua was mauled to death by another dog in a south London park. Sophie Tancos, a single mother, was out walking puppy Rio in Crystal Palace park on Saturday afternoon with her nine-year-old son Abrish. Two Staffordshire bull terriers grew vicious and one attacked the puppy, carrying him off between its teeth while passers-by tried in vain to wrestle Rio free. After a desperate scrap, Rios lifeless body was dumped in a nearby bush by the Staffie. The male owner allegedly ignored pleas from irate witnesses to wait for the police and instead cycled off. The Staffies' owner was seen remonstrating with passers-by before allegedly fleeing / Lindsay Scigliano Ms Tancos, who suffers from an auto immune disease and requires frequent hospital treatment, receives help from Canadian expat Lindsay Scigliano to care for Rio through a volunteer scheme. Ms Scigliano, a headhunter, said Ms Tancos had desperately tried to save Rio from the jaws of the Staffie while her son watched on in horror. She told the Standard: It is heartbreaking that Rio had to die in such a horrible way, and with Sophie and her son watching the whole time. Pals: Ms Tancos' son Abrish, nine, playing with Rio / Lindsay Scigliano "The dog gripped Rio between his teeth and ran away before dropping him in a bush. The vet said Rio died in the dog's mouth. "I'm completely heartbroken and am trying to raise the money to get Rio cremated and out of his blanket which he has been wrapped in for the last 24 hours." Devastated: Lindsay Scigliano with Rio, who she helped to look after / Lindsay Scigliano The crowdfunding campaign to pay for the cremation and possibly buy a new puppy has already raised over 500. Rio was such a loving and trusting boy, he loved everyone he met and loved to sleep in the arms of anyone who held him, added Ms Scigliano. We are all devastated for Sophie and her son for having to witness such a tragedy and for the loss they are suffering. Were trying to track down the owner so that his dogs cant hurt anybody else. A police spokesman said: "Police were called shortly after 15:00hrs on Saturday, 21 January to reports of a dog having attacked another dog in Crystal Palace Park. "Officers attended and have since been informed that the dog has died. "There have been no arrests and enquiries continue." Anyone with any information is asked to contact officers at Bromley via 101 or @MetCC T hree men have been arrested on suspicion of a gang rape that was broadcast live on Facebook. Police in Sweden raided an apartment and detained the suspects, who were aged between 18 and 24. The alleged gang rape of a 30-year-old woman on Sunday took place in Uppsala, about an hour north of the capital, Stockholm, and has shocked the Nordic country. "This rape was broadcasted live in a Facebook group," police said in a statement. Several viewers of the live broadcast reported the rape, according to the statement. A woman who witnessed the assault and reported it to police told Sweden's Expressen newspaper that one of the attackers had filmed everything using a mobile phone and also posted pictures on the Snapchat messaging site. Police swooped on the apartment in the city and detained the three men while they were still with the victim. The broadcast is the latest graphic video to bring into focus the complex ethical and policy issues faced by Facebook Live and others. Facebook Live allows anyone to broadcast a video directly from their smartphone. Local media reported that the video had been removed and police were appealing for anyone who has a copy of the film to hand it over. On its website, Facebook says it will "remove content, disable accounts, and work with law enforcement when we believe there is a genuine risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety." T he 50 most polluted primary schools in London are to get toxic air audits to help them dramatically cut pupils exposure to filthy fumes. Announcing extra help for them to bring in anti-pollution measures, Sadiq Khan branded the air quality around schools shameful. He warned that 360 schools in the capital are in pollution hotspots. He spoke as the capital emerged from its worst dose of toxic air in six years. Yesterday Mr Khan declared the first black alert for very high air pollution since he came to power in May. With a high pressure system creating cold, calm and settled conditions in the past week, severe particulate pollution hung over London, with levels reaching very high on Sunday evening the worst since April 2011. Toxic air hot the top black alert early yesterday morning, leading to one school Sir John Casss foundation primary in the City restricting time outdoors for young children. All Londoners warned over breathing toxic air By 9am today the level of PM2.5 particulates had fallen below the black level of 100 microgrammes per cubic metre at the school. However it was still on red alert for high pollution. Similar peaks were recorded at Swiss Cottage and Ley Street in Redbridge. Pollution in London 1 /8 Pollution in London This image taken near the Royal Observatory in Greenwich shows a thick layer of smog hanging over London Anna Rolls This image, taken in December 2016, shows the smog over London Pete Buckney This shot taken in 2015 from Hampstead Heath shows smog hanging over the centre of London Getty Images Pollution: thick smog hangs over London's Docklands PA Pollution hanging over the City of London 2011 FILE IMAGE AFP via Getty Images Smog: A thick layer of smog visible above London's skyline William Smith/@williamsmithorg Mr Khan set out plans for transport and environment experts to carry out audits of the 50 most polluted schools and make recommendations to reduce dirty air. All the schools are in areas where levels of nitrogen dioxide exceed the legal limit. Measures could include: moving school entrances and play areas away from busy roads; banning engine idling; planting barrier bushes along roads and in playgrounds to block fumes; minimising emissions from school boilers and kitchens; organising walking buses, with large groups of pupils walking together along pavements to get them out of cars. Councils changing street layouts, restricting the most polluting vehicles from driving around schools, and pedestrianising entrances. The Mayor has allocated 250,000 to the audits, which if successful could be extended. Boroughs will then work with schools to bring in the changes, using part of 1 billion Healthy Streets funding over the next five years. Mr Khan announced the audits at an event with pupils who have worked with Greenpeace on a letter signed by 100 schools urging him to continue fighting air pollution. He said: Every child deserves the right to breathe clean air in London and it is a shameful fact that more than 360 of our primary schools are in areas breaching legal pollution limits. Yesterday I was forced to issue the first very high air pollution alert under my new system, Londons filthy air is a health crisis and our children are particularly vulnerable. F orget ping-pong tables, slides and craft beer taps in a noisy Shoreditch warehouse. The founders of what is claimed to be the capitals first tech co-working space to provide childcare say mature millennials want a creche. Up to 450 tech entrepreneurs and freelancers will be able to book in their babies and toddlers at a new Google-style facility at the BBCs former White City Place development near Shepherds Bush when it opens in summer. Co-founders Gabriela Hersham and Andrew Lynch, who each have a one-year-old child, say it will allow the growing numbers of young tech workers in west London the chance to spend more time with their offspring in the week. Mr Lynch, 29, said: The millennials are growing up, theyre getting into their thirties, getting married and having kids. Their needs are evolving from ping-pong tables to childcare. They want to have the option of taking their child to the park at lunchtime and having some time with them during the day. "They want to work somewhere they can actually live, somewhere with gym classes, yoga studios, healthy eating restaurants. Mr Lynch contrasted the lifestyle of his father a lawyer who he rarely saw in the week due to his long hours with his relationship with daughter Edie who I get to visit every day. The childcare provision will not be at the co-working space itself called Huckletree West but by local specialists at a price likely to be from 1,400 to 1,600 a month. Typical: Google's new Victoria office A desk at Huckletree West will cost about 150 a month while a shared office will be up to 650 a month. There will also be half-day rates for parents who have children at nursery and can only work in the morning. The company, backed by six investors, has opened two sites in Clerkenwell and Shoreditch after raising 2.4 million. It hopes to have at least six in London and 15 in total by 2020. Ms Hersham, mother to one-year-old Jack, is married to tech investor Antoine Nussenbaum, whose venture capital firm Felix Capital was one of the early backers of Deliveroo. The founders believe west London has been passed by so far in the co-working revolution. Ms Hersham said: There are a lot of start-ups, tech businesses and venture funds in west London, but they are quite dispersed, there is no one hub. We want to make sure west London has its own innovation community. The capital already has a handful of co-working spaces with creches, such as Playpen in Mile End and Third Door in Putney, but they do not specialise in the tech sector. Generation game: Huckletree founders Gabriela Hersham with son Jack, one and Andrew Lynch with Edie, also one. Above, Googles office in Victoria T he Met Office has issued a severe warning for London ahead of more dense freezing fog and ice. This week has seen the capital hit with a thick blanket of fog which has grounded more than hundreds flights at Londons airports. On Tuesday the Met Office extended their weather alert for another 24 hours, warning conditions will become hazardous and even more fog is set to descend. The fresh bout of dense, freezing fog is likely to form on Tuesday night and last into Wednesday morning, forecasters warned. The fog will become more widespread overnight with roads and pavements likely to become icy and slippery in time for Wednesday morning rush hour. Fog in Westminster. / Jeremy Selwyn Journeys are likely to take longer and airports might be hit with more delays, the forecasters said. The yellow weather warning which has been issued for much of England including the Midlands and south east is set to be in place from 6pm on Tuesday until 11am on Wednesday. Fog at Kew Gardens and Imperial Wharf But conditions are set to improve from Wednesday, the Met Office said. Forecaster Grahame Madge told the Standard: Generally conditions are conspiring against fog after tonight. London Eye: The iconic landmark in the mist. (Yui Mok/PA ) / Yui Mok/PA It may be that we will still get patches of fog but as we go later into the week and Thursday we are expecting more cloud and importantly winds to pick up a little bit which will encourage more mixing of air. Its when the air is very still that the air is not mixing and where the water vapour in the air condenses out. Overnight temperatures this week dropped to below freezing point as Londoners woke up to morning commutes accompanied by frost and ice. On Tuesday night temperatures are forecasr to drop to 2C before two chilly days on Wednesday and Thursday which are expected to be around 4C and 3C. Friday is set to be slightly warmer with the weekend expected to be around 8C or 9C. After many flights were cancelled on Monday, Heathrow airport told passengers further flights were likely to be disrupted if the fog continues. Fog in London: 23 January 2017 1 /26 Fog in London: 23 January 2017 Westminster: The Houses of Parliament looking eerie on Monday morning. Gawain Towler Atmospheric: Mill Hill Park in Barnet Hugh Schermuly Landmark: The London Eye on the South Bank shrouded in fog Yui Mok/PA Blanket of white: People on Primrose Hill in the dense fog Jeremy Selwyn Commute: People walk across Millennium Bridge in London towards St Paul's Cathedral shrouded in fog Jonathan Brady/PA Skyscraper: The Shard rising above the fog David Vicary Beautiful: The view from Putney on Monday morning. Sally Owen Bright lights: Traffic appearing through the fog in Westminster Jeremy Selwyn Dickensian: The River Thames obscured in a heavy mist. Tim A Roberts Eerie: Commuters wait on a foggy platform at Kingston station Abdulaziz Lamlum Foggy park: Fulham in the mist. Tucumano in London Delayed: British Airways planes on the tarmac in dense fog at Heathrow Airport, London Steve Parsons/PA Stunning: Craig Park in Enfield, north London, looking icy and foggy. Abidemi Sanusi Foggy trees: Dense freezing fog which has descended on Chigwell @chilledflyer Freezing: A jogger runs through a foggy Primrose hill Jeremy Selwyn Beacon: The Inner Temple Library, a private law library for barristers, said they were "switching on the library beacon". The Inner Temple Library South London: Brockwell Park looking like a set for a film. Andrew Neather Financial heart: Canary Wharf is obscured under the thick fog. Robert Harries The Elizabeth Tower covered in fog in Westminster, London Yui Mok/PA The Houses of Parliament (right) in Westminster, London, are hidden in fog Yui Mok/PA The west London airport tweeted on Tuesday: Heavy fog across London is expected to cause disruption to flights at Heathrow today, leading to delays and some cancellations. If youre due to travel, please check the status of your flight with your airline before travelling to the airport. Many Londoners made the most of the atmospheric mist and photographed stunning scenes across the capital. Striking photos taken by commuters on their way to work showed the Shard skyscraper and Tower Bridge part-obscured in the heavy mist. A motorcyclist has died after a crash with a lorry during the morning rush hour on a busy road in east London. The motorcyclist, aged in his late 30s, was involved in a collision with a HGV in Wapping on Tuesday morning. Medics fought to save the victim but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Police and paramedics raced to the scene of the crash on The Highway at about 9.30am. Witnesses reported seeing a forensics tent set up and a tipper truck inside the police cordon. The road was cordoned off between Limehouse Link tunnel and Cannon Street Road for more than four hours as officers investigated. A witness posted on Twitter: Looks like a big crash on the Highway. By big, I mean serious as theres a tent up and the Highway is closed. Looked like a tipper truck in the distance. The Wapping Conservatives account tweeted a link to correspondence with an officer at Limehouse Police station confirming the accident and wrote: Very, very sorry to hear this and our thoughts are with the family of those involved. Abdul Odud posted a photo of police at the scene with the caption on Facebook: Highway Close both ways motorbike accident. A Met Police spokesman said: Next of kin have not yet been informed. A post mortem will be conducted in due course. Road closures remain in place, and officers from the Met's Roads Transport Policing Command are investigating. There have been no arrests, and enquiries continue. F ire crews battled a huge blaze at an industrial site throughout the night. Residents were advised to keep their windows shut as around 120 firefighters tried to bring the Wembley blaze under control. Photos from the scene showed smoke billowing up from the buildings in Magnet Road, near East Lane and North Wembley station. The London Fire Brigade said the incident began shortly after 8.47pm on Monday and they were still on the scene at 7am the following morning. Complex: The incident lasted throughout the night / London Fire Brigade Fire ripped through the lower two floors and reached the roof of a number of two storey units. Station manager Keith Wilson said the strange layout of the site had made it difficult to bring the roof fire under control. Warning: Nearby residents were told to keep their windows shut / London Fire Brigade He said: "Crews have been working tirelessly through one of the coldest nights of the year to bring this complex fire under control. The nature of the building's roof structure has made it challenging for our firefighters to gain access to the roof voids and extinguish the fire. He went on: "The fire is still producing quite a bit of smoke and although it is on an industrial estate with relatively few homes nearby, we would advise people who do live and work in the area to keep their windows closed as a precaution." The cause of the fire is not currently known. It was the second major incident tackled by the London Fire Brigade on Monday evening after an explosion at a block of flats in Hornchurch. L abour and the SNP have vowed to rewrite the Governments Brexit bill when it goes before Parliament. Both parties will table a raft of amendments to ensure their voices are heard when the details of triggering Article 50 go before Parliament. London MP and Labours shadow Brexit minister, Matthew Pennycook, said: Labour will not seek to block the triggering of Article 50 out of hand but that doesnt mean that we intend to give the Government a blank cheque. The Greenwich & Woolwich MPs comments came after the Supreme Court ruled that Theresa May must put her plans for how she will carry out Brexit to a Commons vote. Labour, SNP and Lib Dem MPs react to Supreme Court's Brexit ruling Labours amendments include securing barrier-free access to the single market and that the legal status of EU citizens is resolved before negotiations begin. Loading.... The SNP will push for regional governments to be treated as equal partners in the decision to trigger Article 50 after the court made no provisions for the devolved nations to intervene. The party have said they will table 50 amendments to the Governments bill including demanding the UK government publish a White Paper before invoking Article 50 and seek unanimous agreement of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are catered for. David Davis statement on Supreme Court Brexit ruling- SNP International Affairs spokesperson, Alex Salmond MP, said: The Prime Minister and her hard Brexit brigade must treat devolved administrations as equal partners - as indeed she promised to do. Our amendments will address the very serious concerns facing the UK and the very real issues that the UK government has, thus far, avoided. Brexit round-up: Supreme Court rules against Government A number of pro-Remain Labour MPs in London remain undeterred by todays judgement on Article 50, and will vote against it despite Jeremy Corbyn asking his party to back Brexit. Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey, said Labour members in the capital are pushing to be allowed to abstain in the vote as they maintain Brexit means economic suicide for the city. He said: We need to be bold and ahead of the curve and in London there is much more unity on this and there are more people joining the call for a whipped abstention so we are not complicit. When it goes to a Parliamentary vote, the Government is effectively writing an economic suicide note for the country and Labour must not sign it. Tottenham MP David Lammy, who has repeatedly pledged to vote against the triggering of Article 50, said it was absurd Theresa May and her Cabinet thought they could proceed without consulting Parliament. He said: The Government alone cannot interpret what the referendum result means and where we go from here they have to bring forward legislation that will be scrutinised and debated by Parliament. Shadow front-bencer Tulip Siddiq, MP for Hampstead & Kilburn, and Catherine West, Hornsey & Wood Green, and Ilford South MP Mike Gapes are also expected to vote against triggering Article 50, which is due to take place in March. Conservative MP Mark Field, who campaigned for Remain, said the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the High Court ruling was expected and the Government does not anticipate any hold ups to their timetable. He said: We realised which way the wind was blowing on this use. Im aware the Government have already done a lot of preparatory work and will take seriously the judgement. I would envisage that in the next 48 hours we would have a bill ready to go. That should be dealt with in the Commons in the first week of February. It will go through the Commons thats pretty clear and the Lords while they will go through the process. and perhaps have a few amendments to it, they will do nothing to delay the timetable. T he seaside town of Skegness has been ranked alongside Syria and North Korea as one of the worlds worst holiday destinations. Famous for its pier, arcades and amusement park, Skeggy was rated ninth in travel website Destination Tips damning list. The Lincolnshire resort, home to the UKs first ever Butlins, was placed alongside war-stricken Damascus in Syria and Kim Jong-Uns totalitarian state of North Korea. The website says: Once thought of as quaint seaside town in northern England, Skegness is now a pile of dirt bordering the North Sea with a run-down amusement park idly resting on the land. Dictator Kim Jong-un's North Korea also made the top ten (Rodong Sinmun/AFP/Getty Images) But Skegness mayor Dick Edginton was quick to defend the town, deriding the comments as absolutely offensive. Top ten worst holiday destinations Kiev, Ukraine Port au Prince, Haiti Damascus, Syria Mogadishu, Somalia Pyongyang, North Korea Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Bogota, Colombia Dhaka, Bangladesh Skegness, Lincolnshire Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea He told the Skegness Standard: There seems to be certain people who seem to do nothing but denigrate British seaside resorts. Skegness is one of the best resorts in the country with the highest visitor numbers. There are record levels of investment in the resort at the moment which shows confidence in business, both from local and national companies. How anyone can compare Skegness to North Korea - one of the most oppressive regimes - is absolutely offensive. These comments should be held up to ridicule and contempt. Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, topped the list with anti-Government protests and Russian intervention having left large swathes in ruins. Port au Prince, Haiti, devastated by an earthquake in 2010, and Mogadishu, Somalia, Africas most violent city, also made the list. T he grieving parents of a three-month-old boy who was among five killed when a car ploughed into crowds on a busy Melbourne street today paid tribute to their perfect baby. Images of Zachary Bryants overturned buggy after it was struck by a red Commodore last Friday shocked Australia. His two-year-old sister, Zara, was also injured and remains in hospital in a stable condition. Their heartbroken parents, Matthew and Nawwar Bryant, today said Zachary was a loving, happy, and perfect little baby. They added in a statement: We were so lucky to be gifted with Zachary. He was the light of our lives, constantly filling our days with smiles and laughs. He leaves us with the best three months and 14 days of wonderful memories spent in this world. Zac, Mummy and Daddy love you very much, and always will. The alleged driver, Dimitrious Jimmy Gargasoulas, 26, has been charged with five counts of murder. He was remanded in custody yesterday and will face court in August. Police had been looking for Gargasoulas after he allegedly stabbed his brother earlier on Friday. Officers had called off a pursuit because of Gargasoulass dangerous driving before he drove into Bourke Street. The other victims have been named as Thalia Hakin, 10, Jess Mudie, 22, and Matthew Si, 33. Another victim, a 25-year-old man from Japan, has not been named by police. Some 37 others were injured. Ms Mudies family today paid tribute to the insurance broker. We are constantly inspired by your love for everyone around you and the lengths you will go to for the people you love, they said. Thousands attended a vigil in Australias second largest city last night. R esidents of a picturesque Irish town have been bombarded with calls to X-rated chat lines advertised on the 'Babestation' TV channel. People living in Westport, County Mayo, have been besieged by men intending to reach the adult phone lines in recent weeks. Regional Development Minister Michael Ring, who represents the area, has called for action over the mix-up. The problems appear to have happened because the premium rate numbers are similar to the areas local landlines, the Irish Independent reported. Irish callers who failed to enter the UK area code before dialling the number were ending up speaking to confused Westport residents instead. Mr Ring told the paper: "They are getting these calls in the middle of night. One of those people has an elderly mother and family members all over the world and there could be a call at any time that they would have to take. The Fine Gael politician has contacted police, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and service regulator ComReg over the blunder and warned some constituents were considering changing their numbers becuase of the ditress. BAI chief executive Michael O'Keeffe said Babestation had been contacted over the problem, adding it was unfortunate that this issue is still continuing. ComReg said it was trying to "identify a solution as soon as possible". E wan McGregor has pulled out of an interview on Good Morning Britain after finding out that Piers Morgan was hosting. The Scottish actor, who was due to appear on Tuesdays show, refused to be interviewed by Morgan following his disparaging comments about the Womens March. Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise @piersmorgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch, the actor wrote on Twitter. Morgan responded to the comments by writing: Sorry to hear that mcgregor_ewan - you should be big enough to allow people different political opinions. You're just an actor after all." He followed this up by simply tweeting the word: Vainspotting. Morgan went on to say that he had no intention of talking to McGregor about the Womens March, and had simply planned to discuss his new film Trainspotting 2. T2 Trainspotting World Premiere Report The controversial broadcaster then told his followers that he was in the process of writing an entire column about the actor. I'll be writing a column about @mcgregor_ewan today, once I have sent it to him for his approval, he posted. Women's March London 2017 1 /22 Women's March London 2017 Activists marched through London in support of equality Activists marched through London in support of equality Activists marched through London in support of equality Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality PA Activists marched through London in support of equality PA Activists marched through London in support of equality PA Activists marched through London in support of equality PA Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images Activists marched through London in support of equality Getty Images His co-host Susanna Reid added: Such a shame. Challenge views where there's difference. Would have liked to see that debate on air - it's an important one. #WomensMarch. McGregors interview refusal comes after Morgan announced that he was organising a Mens March'. He wrote on Twitter: I'm planning a 'Men's March' to protest at the creeping global emasculation of my gender by rabid feminists. Who's with me? News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-11-05. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. M el Gibson has become a father for the ninth time at the age of 61. The actor and director has welcomed a baby boy with 26-year-old girlfriend Rosalind Ross, who gave birth in Los Angeles on Saturday. According to People Magazine, the couple are thrilled with their first child together, who they have named Lars Gerard Gibson. Theyre thrilled and Lars is adorable. Their family is all around them and Mel is over the moon. Theyre home and everybody is healthy and happy, a source told the publication. Parents: The couple have welcomed their first child together (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) / Getty Images Gibson and Ross, who were pictured together on the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards earlier this month, have reportedly been dating for two years. The Hacksaw Ridge director has seven children with his ex-wife Robin Moore, Hannah, 36, twin sons Christian and Edward, 34, William, 31, Louis, 28, Milo, 26 and Thomas, 17. Hacksaw Ridge Featurette - The Making Of Hacksaw Ridge He is also father to six-year-old Lucia, with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Just a few weeks ago, Gibson admitted that he was still trying to come up with names for his ninth child and was keen on names Regis and Remis. Gibson is expected to attend this years BAFTA Awards, where his new film is nominated in five categories including Best Leading Actor for Andrew Garfield. He is also in the running to be nominated for Best Director for the film at this years Oscars. E astEnders fans have criticised the soap over an insensitive scene where a bus crashes into a market just a month after a terror attack in Berlin. Monday night's shocking episode saw a double decker bus smash through market stalls in busy Albert Square with up to 11 characters now fighting for their lives. But viewers hit out at BBC producers for bad taste in light of the 12 people who died when a truck was deliberately driven into a Berlin Christmas market in December. Taking to Twitter to vent their astonishment, one said: Such bad taste airing that after the recent terrorist attack on the market in Germany...awful. Cliffhanger: a doubledecker bus crashed through Albert Square at the end of Monday's episode / BBC Another, Selena Cochrane added: How disgusting ramming the market with a bus after what happened in Germany . Disrespectful not a good move poor taste. Many compared the horrific scene, in which the bus driver suffers a heart attack and accidentally crashes, to the Isis-inspired terrorist attacks on Berlin and also Nice. Carnage: A truck driven intentionally into a Berlin Christmas market killed 12 people in December / Markus Schreiber/AP In July 2016, a truck deliberately driven into the Bastille Day crowds on a Nice promenade killed 86 people. One Twitter user said: Nice, France and Berlin, Germany... Where's the respect?! I'm appalled at EastEnders! Terror in Nice: The truck which was driven into crowds in a deadly attack last July / Reuters Geoffrey barker, from Hertfordshire, said: Very very poor story line in EastEnders considering the true life lorries killing people in Nice and Germany. Jack Snelling, from Essex, admitted: Well #eastenders was explosive yes, but a bus through a market? Can't help but feel it's too soon after the Germany bus attack" The show hit back at the criticism, saying: "EastEnders is a fictional drama and the crash in tonight's episode was not based on any real-life event. We are always mindful of the content within our episodes." Not all fans were upset by the similarities between the soap and the recent terrorist attacks. One said: Some people really aren't happy unless they are moaning. Change the channel and let the REAL fans enjoy #eastenders. Another tweeted: It's pathetic how easily offended people are these days. Like I said #eastenders is filmed months in advance. Do some research. The cliffhanger ending will continue in Tuesday nights episode at 7.30pm. With one hand holding a bottle of champagne and the other an oversized certificate declaring him the winner of $1 million from Publishers Clearing House, Bruce Saunders stood on the front porch of his western Davie County Monday and rattled off a list of things he plans spend his spend money on medical bills, fixing his lawnmower and helping family members. By MARK EVANS STE. GENEVIEVE HERALD Scott Schmieder, county road and bridge foreman, reported to the county commission last Thursday that temperatures are getting too cold at night for much more asphalt work to be done. He said potholes had all been patched. His crews were working on Bodine Road and made call-ins to locate Boy, I wish we werent a slave to so much. I crave that slower pace of life I once had. Maybe the French have a better idea of it, with the 3-hour lunches and all where you never end up going back to work. Latin America (and the Middle-east) even have their siestas. All I know is that I want more more of less. More: Sleep, leisure, relationships, reading, writing, coffee, thinking. Less: Work, meetings, emails, stress, hurry, deadlines, physical things. Walt Whitman had it right. Greatness and late rising are natural bedfellows. Late rising is for the independent of mind, the individual who refuses to become a slave to work, money, ambition. In his youth, the great poet of loafing, Walt Whitman, would arrive at the offices of the newspaper where he worked at around 11.30 a.m., and leave at 12.30 for a two-hour lunch break. Another hours work after lunch and then it was time to hit the town. -Tom Hodgkinson, How To Be Idle (Amazon) Businessman Dan Adamescu has passed away on Monday night in a hospital unit outside Jilava Penitentiary, prisons' inspector Carmen Utoiu told agerpres. Dan Adamescu was 68. "It is not a public interest information (the medical unit Adamescu was hospitalised - editor's note), I could not tell you such data, and those related to the health state and diagnostic of the person in case, are confidential, too, in accordance with the Patient Law," said Utoiu. She added that the businessman had been transferred to the Bucharest private medical unit in September 2016. Dan Adamescu had been sentenced to four years and four months imprisonment in a corruption case regarding favourable solutions in insolvency cases, and on 21 December a court of law had rejected his application for conditional release. Decision was final. President Klaus Iohannis sent the two heads of the Parliament chambers a letter by which he announces he has launched the procedure on a national referendum through which the people are called to express their will regarding the furthering of the fight against corruption and the assurance of the public job's integrity, says a release by the Presidential Administration. The head of state has started in accordance with the provisions of Art. 90 of the Constitution of Romania a procedure regarding the organisation of a national referendum through which the people would express their will on the following matter of national interest: Continuation of the fight against corruption and assurance of the public job's integrity. President Iohannis has sent the letter to the heads of the two chambers, Senate's Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, and Chamber of Deputies' Liviu Dragnea, asking for the Parliament's consultation on the above-mentioned matter. According to the Presidential Administration, Prime Minister Sorin Mihai Grindeanu was also informed of the President's request. "This topic has unfortunately turned into a national matter. A large interest obviously exists for this topic of amending the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code and of the pardon and if it is so, then I shall submit this matter to the public debate and the people's vote. I'll start approaches for a referendum by which the Romanians could express, say whether they agree these approaches or not, because when they cast their vote, these issues were not in the ruling programme of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and therefore, if the rulers have made an issue out of it, then they'll have to suffer the people's vote on this matter," said Iohannis at an event at the Cotroceni Palace's Museum. agerpres. President Klaus Iohannis is paying Tuesday and Wednesday an official visit to Strasbourg, where he will deliver a speech in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), at the invitation of the president of this body, Pedro Agramunt, and will have meetings with the CoE Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland, as well as with other high officials. On Tuesday, the head of state will participate along the President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades whose country is currently holding the rotating Chairmanship of the Council of Europe, as well as the Secretary General of the organisation in the ceremony of marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day where he will deliver a speech, and in the inauguration of the Expo Holocaust, an exhibition organised by Romania. President Iohannis will participate in a working lunch offered by the President of the PACE, Pedro Agramunt, on the occasion of the first plenary session of the Council of Europe in 2017. President Iohannis will hold talks with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, and will deliver press statements alongside the latter. On Tuesday as well, the head of state will have talks with the President of Venice Commission, Gianni Buquicchio and the CEDO President, Guido Raimondi. The main message of the Romanian President will reiterate Romania's commitment and firm support to the Council of Europe's values and standards, prevalently those regarding democracy and the rule of law. The head of state will also underline the importance of the Council of Europe and its bodies in the building in Romania of a viable rule of law, based on democratic principles and the observance of human rights, and will talk about the initiation of new cooperation projects with the Strasbourg organisation focused to promote and support the values and standards of the Council of Europe on the continent. On the same day, Klaus Iohannis will meet the Romanian staff working with the Council of Europe's structures and the representatives of the Romanian community of Alsace. On Wednesday, the head of state will have talks with the President of the PACE, Pedro Agramunt, deliver a speech in front of the PACE and participate in a working lunch offered by Pedro Agramunt. After the speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the parliamentary delegations to the PACE will have the opportunity to have a Q&A session with President Iohannis. The visit to Strasbourg is this year's first foreign travel of President Iohannis. agerpres. The Romanian diplomacy every year celebrates with gratitude the unity of thought and sentiment, the national spirit, the manifest dedication in the service of creation and consolidation of a strong state, internationally recognised, principles that made possible the union of the Romanian Principalities through the double election of ruler Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Moldova and Wallachia, a message sent by the Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) reads on the occasion of the Union Day. MAE adds in the release sent to agerpres on Tuesday that we celebrate 158 years since the Union of the Romanian Principalities, "a reference moment of the national history, the plunge to fathering the Romanian unitary national state." "The sustained European path of the Romanian nation to getting independence and carrying out the Romanian unitary national modern state has led Romania to its today's status, of recognised, appreciated partner within the European Union and NATO, of regional, European stability pillar. The achievement of these ideals has started with the Little Union, a moment of absolute greatness, through the deep changes it has determined and the symbolic value it holds in the souls of Romanians," the release says. The taking over of the rotating Presidency of the Council of Europe in January 2019, in the context of the 160th anniversary of the Union of Romanian Principalities "puts in harmony the current action and the great achievements of the Romanians history, by keeping alive this spirit of unity to accomplishing the national ideals," the quoted source concludes. President Donald Trump is offering business leaders who keep jobs in the United States a dramatic cut in taxes and regulations. For U.S. companies that decide to offshore factories, he promising a substantial tax. Whether that approach works depends on how companies measure the benefits Trump is offering against the potential higher costs of keeping production in the U.S. But in Trump's statements, he has asserted that making products in the U.S. would have no cost at all or could even be less expensive. It's an assertion that rankled some economists. "There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here," Trump said. "And I've always said, by the time you put them in these massive ships or airplanes and fly them and I think it's going to be cheaper." Economists disagreed. Though some said the policy could benefit some American workers by creating jobs and in turn expanding the U.S. economy, most said it would also impose a greater cost on companies, who would in turn pass those costs on to consumers. Either consumers would buy goods made in the U.S., which would be more expensive due to the higher cost of American wages, or they would buy foreign goods that would be pricier because they had been subject to an additional tax. "Companies of course have these international supply chains because it makes it cheaper for them to produce their products. So almost inevitably, if you don't let them do that, their products will become more expensive for consumers," said Stan Veuger, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. "For sure it's going to increase prices." Just how much prices would increase if more goods are made in America is unclear, but it could be substantial. Research firm IHS Technology has estimated that producing an iPhone domestically might inflate its cost to as much as $2,000. As Business Insider has pointed out, U.S.-made jeans by Levi and JCrew range from 40 percent to 170 percent more than foreign-made styles. The same is true of a range of products, from shoes to solar panels. The ultimate price increase would likely be determined by two factors, economists said. One is how much the high cost of American wages would factor into the goods final price. For some products that require a lot of human labor like clothing or shoes the cost of worker wages represents a big chunk of the final price. For others, it's less significant. The other factor is the likelihood that a worker in any given industry would be replaced by a robot. Some jobs, for example auto manufacturing, can be automated more easily. Economists like Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics says that if companies are forced to bring facilities back to the U.S., we're likely to see much more automation. "If [manufacturers] can't lower costs by producing in other countries, they'll lower their costs by producing with fewer workers, figuring out ways to automate the making of their products," Bown says. Companies that can automate might be able to keep costs low even if they bring facilities back to the U.S., says Bown. But in that case, the ultimate benefit for U.S. workers might be negligible. For Veuger and Bown, these dynamics create a paradox at the heart of Trump's job plan. If more products are made by American workers, prices will rise for American consumers. If prices don't rise for American consumers, it's because the products are being made not by American workers, but by robots. "If we're worried about the manufacturing blue-collar worker that's non-educated, this does nothing to help them ... So no, I don't see any benefits. I would much prefer to directly attack the problems facing those workers," Bown says. Not all economists agree. William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, says that of course manufacturing jobs that return to American shores would be less labor intensive but that would be a good thing, since working conditions in places like China are too inferior to American standards. "I would want it to be automated and high productivity work with high wages," he said. Offshoring did have a substantial impact on undermining the manufacturing industry in the last two decades, and coaxing production back could help reverse that, Spriggs said. Economists also widely disagreed with Trump's claim that the greater cost of manufacturing in the U.S. would be offset by lower costs for transporting products by ship or airplane around the world. "If that were the case, then they would already be produced in the US. Presumably, companies realize that they are paying transportation costs when they bring stuff in from abroad," said Veuger. While shipping costs are substantial for some heavier items like steel, for many consumer products transportation costs make up a far smaller percentage of the final cost than worker wages. Veuger points to the example of the Trump apparel collection, much of which was made elsewhere and imported. "[Trump] himself imports his ties from China. Presumably if the transportation costs were such a big deal, he'd make them in Wisconsin." CALGARY, Alberta Canada will focus on preserving its U.S. trade ties during talks to renegotiate NAFTA and may not be able to help Mexico avoid being targeted by the Trump administration, Canadian government sources say. "We love our Mexican friends. But our national interests come first and the friendship comes second," a source said on the sidelines of a cabinet retreat in Calgary, Alberta. "The two are not mutually exclusive," the source added. The comments are some of the starkest yet by Canadian officials, who are increasingly convinced Mexico will suffer the most damage from changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement. President Donald Trump on Sunday said he planned talks soon to begin renegotiating NAFTA, under which Canada and Mexico send most of their exports to the United States. The Canadian sources stress Ottawa has not taken any final decision on how to approach the NAFTA talks, since Trump's opening stance is largely unknown. The government dismisses the idea that Canada will formally abandon Mexico. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday that Canada supported NAFTA as a trilateral agreement and noted that Trudeau had talked to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto over the weekend. That said, the government sources note Mexico and Canada would appear to have little in common. Trump is unhappy about the large U.S. deficit with Mexico and has promised to punish firms with manufacturing bases there. "Our negotiating positions are totally different. Mexico is being hung out of an skyscraper window by its feet," said a second government source. "Mexico is in a terrible, terrible position. We are not," said another Canadian person involved on the trade file. Officials familiar with diplomatic contacts between Mexico and Canada say there has been no talk of creating a joint front against the United States over NAFTA on the grounds that such a move would raise tensions and be counterproductive. Bilateral trade is critical for Canada, which sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States. Statistics Canada data for 2015 show two-way trade in goods with the United States totaled C$760 billion ($580 billion) compared to just C$26 billion with Mexico. Canada has a "very special status" and is unlikely to be hit hard by changes to NAFTA, the head of a business advisory council to Trump said on Monday. Derek Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to Washington, told CTV News on Monday that Canada should distance itself from Mexico on NAFTA. "We have security agreements, both continental and multi-lateral Mexico does not. Mexico has a huge border problem with the United States in terms of immigration and drugs Canada does not," he said. CHICAGO President Donald Trump's decision to back out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, a $62 billion market for U.S. farmers, provides a fresh threat to a slumping agricultural economy that has grown increasingly dependent on exports. Agricultural groups expressed disappointment over the move and urged the new administration to find alternative ways to boost product shipments to Asian countries. Trump announced the cancellation on Monday, quickly fulfilling a campaign promise. Trump won nearly two-thirds of the rural vote in November, with big agricultural states including Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio and Indiana all lining up for the Republican. The TPP, which was never approved by Congress, was a 12-nation trade pact which the Obama administration framed as way for the United States to establish economic leadership in the region. But Trump, who wants to boost manufacturing, claimed the deal hurt the U.S. job market. "The TPP held great promise for us, and has been a key priority for several years now. We're very disappointed to see the withdrawal," said Ron Moore, president of the American Soybean Association. Soybeans have been a rare bright spot in the struggling agriculture sector and even helped boost overall U.S. economic growth as prices for most crops have faded. But strength in the oilseed's price was largely due to overseas demand. A 10 percent jump in soybean shipments during the third quarter helped spur the biggest gross domestic product gains in two years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects 2016-17 soy exports to hit a record 2.05 billion bushels, accounting for nearly half of the recently harvested U.S. crop. The United States is a net exporter of agricultural goods, and shipments to the 11 other countries in the TPP deal totaled $61.735 billion in 2015, latest data shows. The Obama administration had touted TPP as a trigger for further gains. At its annual Outlook Forum in 2016, the USDA had themed its trade-related sessions "U.S. Exports in the warm glow of a completed Trans-Pacific Partnership." Trump signaled he wants to strike trade pacts with individual countries instead of joining TPP, said U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa. The message to the country was: "I like trade and we need to negotiate down barriers," Grassley told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday. Negotiating bilateral deals could take years, though, Grassley said, adding that "it's just not an easy thing to do." Japan is the top priority, he added. The China factor U.S. farmers and trade groups are also concerned that backing out of the deal could provide other countries with better access to China, a major agriculture goods importer that was not part of the TPP negotiations. "Mounting competition and new trade agreements within that region that exclude the U.S. continue to block opportunities for the U.S. feed industry to capture this demand," Joel Newman, president and chief executive of the American Feed Industry Association, said in a statement. Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they would encourage China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact. The U.S. Meat Export Federation, a trade group that promotes sales of U.S. meat overseas, wants to hear details on what the Trump administration plans to do to improve trade now that TPP is officially dead. "We urge the new administration to utilize all means available to return the United States to a competitive position, so that our industry can continue to serve this important international customer base and further expand our export opportunities," Philip Seng, the federation's chief executive, said. U.S. meat exporters could have made their biggest potential gains in Japan, which bought $2.88 billion of U.S. beef and pork in 2015, and Vietnam if TPP had been implemented, said Joe Schuele, federation spokesman. He declined to quantify in dollar amounts those possible gains. "We look at access to the Asia Pacific region as being very, very important to both the beef and pork industries," Schuele said. Additional reporting by Tom Polansek and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago. ST. LOUIS The advocacy group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests has for decades pressured Catholic church officials and helped expose clergy sex abuse cases that resulted in large payouts to victims and their attorneys. Now the table is being turned on SNAP. A former development director for the nonprofit organization claims that SNAP fired her in retaliation for confronting the organization for colluding with survivors attorneys. Gretchen Rachel Hammond, 46, of Chicago, who raised money for SNAP from July 2011 until February 2013, filed the lawsuit last week in Cook County, Ill. Hammond alleges that the advocacy organization, which was based in Chicago until moving to the Central West End in late 2016, didnt have grief or rape counselors on the payroll and that SNAP ignored some victims seeking help. SNAP does not focus on protecting or helping survivors it exploits them, the lawsuit says. SNAP routinely accepts financial kickbacks from attorneys in the form of donations. In exchange for the kickbacks, SNAP refers survivors as potential clients to attorneys, who then file lawsuits on behalf of the survivors against the Catholic Church. Those cases often settle out of court, the suit alleges, which financially benefits plaintiff attorneys and sometimes SNAP. Attorneys and SNAP base their strategy not on the best interests of the survivor, but on what will generate the most publicity and fundraising opportunities for SNAP, the lawsuit claims. SNAP denies the allegations. Thats simply just not true, outreach director Barbara Dorris said about misrepresenting the best interest of abuse victims. We have been and always will be a self-help support group for victims. Dorris said she couldnt remember if Hammond had been fired from SNAP. Its been four years, she said. I need to find my notes and find my files. Hammond alleges in the lawsuit that leaders didnt allow her to sit in on SNAP programs for victims, such as group therapy meetings. She alleges leaders told her not to tell anyone about donations from attorneys and was to use the moniker Roses list to discuss the donations. Of $440,000 in total contributions to SNAP in 2003, 54 percent of the contributions came from plaintiffs sex abuse attorneys, according to the lawsuit. The plaintiff attorneys in question are not named in the lawsuit but described, including a prominent Minnesota attorney who donated $179,000 to SNAP in 2003, or 41 percent of total donations. The same attorney was reported to donate $170,000 in 2007, or 38 percent of total contributions to SNAP that year. Jeff Anderson, a prominent Minnesota attorney who has represented victims of clergy sex abuse, told the Chicago Tribune he makes regular donations to SNAP and other child safety organizations but not in exchange for referrals. The allegation is explosive because its unethical, he said. Ive never done it nor would I ever do it. Hammond alleges in the lawsuit that she accidentally received an email sent by SNAP Executive Director David Clohessy to an attorney who represents abuse victims: In that email, Mr. Clohessy provided information regarding a survivor to the attorney for the purposes of filing a lawsuit on behalf of the survivor. Also, in that email, Mr. Clohessy asked the attorney when SNAP could expect a donation. Reached by telephone, Clohessy said the idea that SNAP was getting kickbacks was utterly preposterous. Asked about the specific email, he said: I have written tens of thousands of emails. I cant imagine that thats true. Clohessy, of St. Louis, started with SNAP in the late 1980s. In 2007, he received the Lifetime Achievement in Advocacy Award from the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma, according to the SNAP website. Hes been interviewed by 60 Minutes and countless media outlets across the country. He confirmed Monday that he no longer works for SNAP. He said he quit about five weeks ago. He said the recent lawsuit had nothing to do with his departure. I am just ready for something different, said Clohessy, 60. It was almost 30 years. Ive read a lot about nonprofits and organizational development. Its clear that some new blood always helps. By Carly Hafner, Contributor Everyone knows the name Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Saint Louis named a street after him. Kids get a day off school in January because of a national holiday in his honor. Last week's holiday in his name hopefully reminded people of what Dr. King stood for. He had a dream of equality, love and respect. The front end of the year holds this special holiday as a prelude to Black History Month in February. Known as African-American History Month in the United States, it also is an annual observance in Canada and the United Kingdom. His memory should ignite a spark for this great man's ideals. These books help kids understand the importance of keeping his dream alive today and find their own connection to Dr. Kings dream. I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012) tells about this dream through the words of King's most famous speech. The words of his "I Have a Dream" speech are accompanied by beautiful paintings by Kadir Nelson. People of all ages will enjoy the colorful and moving images of people of all skin tones against images of the American landscape. Its illustrations garnered selection as a Coretta Scott King Honor Book in 2013. The entire speech is printed at the end of the book and a CD recording of the original is included. Coretta Scott (2009) also was illustrated by Kadir Nelson. Ntozake Shange's simple poetry meshes with the illustrations to portray the hopeful determination of Mrs. King and the movement. Although not a Coretta Scott King Award winner itself, its connection to greatness is the artist who has been recognized many times by the award. I, Too, Am America (2012) illustrates the text of Langston Hughes short, but powerful, poem. Bryan Collier adds his collage-style illustrations. Highly symbolic, they tell the story of black Americas painful past and paint a hopeful vision of the future. In an illustrators note at the end, Collier explains his choices for the images and symbols. Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America (2012) was written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by her husband, Brian Pinkney. This thick, yet accessible, non-fiction book for older elementary-school students tells stories of African American leaders. Spanning decades and generations, it includes Booker T. Washington, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack H. Obama II. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans merited recognition for Nelson in two Coretta Scott King Award categories. Its writing and illustrations drew attention for the award in 2011, the year it was published. This book makes history accessible. A conversational tone weaves complex history into an easy-to-read narrative. The narrator is modeled after Nelsons own grandmother. He used family photos as models for many of the oversized images. The book includes a timeline, bibliography and index. Not all awards are equal. The Coretta Scott King Award is a terrific way to identify picture books and youth novels that are stellar African American contributions to literature. The awards, created in 1970 by librarians Glyndon Flynt Greer and Mabel McKissick, are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values." Of course, it commemorates the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but it also importantly honors his wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, "for her courage and determination to continue the work for peace and world brotherhood." St. Louis Public Library and other libraries across the nation and beyond hold solid information about ways to celebrate the special month ahead. A complete list of books honored with the Coretta Scott King Award is found at http://bit.ly/Coretta-King-Award. It is not too late to make a New Years Resolution to read them all. Carly Hafner is Regional Youth Services Librarian at the Julia Davis Branch of the St. Louis Public Library, which houses the Juvenile Julia Davis Collection. This collection celebrates authors and illustrators who have won the Coretta Scott King Award plus other award-winning books from this prestigious source. The recent childrens literature addition builds on The Julia Davis Collection, begun with books and studies of African American history and culture which Dr. Davis donated from her own collection when she retired from the St. Louis Public Schools in 1961. The Julia Davis Branch offers this information to the public at 4415 Natural Bridge Ave. EAST ST. LOUIS A former paramedic has been charged in federal court here with 37 felonies after being accused of stealing the painkillers fentanyl and morphine from Metro East ambulance inventories and hiding it with falsified records. Jason Laut, who had been a paramedic, supervisor and dispatch manager with MedStar Ambulance, altered numerous reports and logs to falsely show that the drugs had been used, his indictment claims. He logged drugs as having been used on trips that were never taken and for patients who never existed or whose condition precluded the use of the drugs, the indictment says. He falsely claimed authorization to use the drugs, including at least once naming a doctor who no longer worked for the hospital cited, it says. Memorial Hospital in Belleville is the listed victim in the case. Southwestern Illinois EMS System is operated out of Memorial, and the hospital and its doctors maintain the drugs and supply them to paramedics, the indictment says. Prosecutors said that both Memorial and MedStar participated in the investigation, which was conducted by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and Sparta, Ill., police. In an email, Memorial Regional Health Services spokeswoman Anne Thomure referred questions about Laut to MedStar, which has not responded to inquiries. Thomure said that the Southwest Illinois EMS System, which is responsible for training, monitoring and oversight of MedStar and 10 other ambulance services, has been cooperating with multiple law enforcement agencies since late 2014. The diversion of fentanyl was suspected in the third quarter of 2014, she wrote, and the drug was removed from the ambulances for the first time in September 2014 so additional safety measures could be implemented. It was restored in January 2015 after policies had been changed and removed again in May of that year, she wrote. On June 10, 2015, the EMS medical director requested fentanyl records from all ambulance providers from May 25, 2013, to May 25, 2015, she wrote. Thomure wrote that the investigation does not center around any illegal activity at Memorial Hospital or by a Memorial employee; nor failure by Memorial or Memorial employees to monitor and follow (EMS System) polices concerning handling of narcotics. Other pain medications, including morphine, are being used as substitutes for fentanyl, she said, and patients are not suffering. Thomure wrote that the system now has sophisticated tracking and security measures in place. Lauts indictment says that on or before Jan. 13, 2013, tampering, theft, misuse and abuse of controlled substances, including Fentanyl and Morphine, was identified as taking place within the EMS ambulance community. An August 2014 inventory found eight intact vials of fentanyl, and 55 that showed evidence of tampering, the indictment says. The indictment does not say that Laut is responsible for all of the missing drugs. Laut, 39, of OFallon, Ill., was indicted Jan. 18 on six counts of wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft and 29 counts of making false statements. The indictment was sealed until his arrest by the FBI. If convicted, Laut could face up to 20 years in prison, although he would likely face much less. The married father of five was wearing a hooded long-sleeved shirt and pajama pants in court and was shackled at his ankles and wrists. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Wilkerson said that he would be released on $10,000 unsecured bond later Tuesday. The judge also ordered drug testing while Laut is out on bond. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranley Killian said that Laut had tested positive for fentanyl once, but did not provide details during the hearing. Lauts public defender declined to comment after the hearing. Lauts emergency medical dispatcher and lead instructor licenses are current, according to state records. His paramedic license expired in 2015. A spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Public Health said that he is not allowed to teach, and officials could take action against his existing licenses if he is convicted of a serious felony. The far east side of Madison isn't exactly swimming with fresh seafood stores, but a new company, a combination fish market and seafood restaurant, is looking to fix that. ST. LOUIS Fourteen people were inside a St. Louis townhouse with no working smoke detector early Tuesday when a fire broke out, critically injuring three adults and five young children. The children ranged in age from about 10 months to 5 years. Aside from the eight critically injured, firefighters said three other people were seriously injured. One adult suffered burns, the rest smoke inhalation. The fire at a townhouse at 4659 Evans Avenue was reported at 1:54 a.m. Tuesday. The home is in the Lewis Place neighborhood, near Page Boulevard and North Newstead Avenue. The first engine company of the St. Louis Fire Department arrived in less than four minutes, said Fire Capt. Garon Mosby. Firefighters saw heavy smoke pouring from the building. Someone was yelling that children may be trapped inside. Firefighters forced their way in and found eight people in a back bedroom. They carried the children out, and the adults were helped down the stairs. It was a shotgun-style home, with a long hallway and three bedrooms. Mosby thinks they may have gone to the back bedroom, instead of exiting, after becoming disoriented by smoke. "A couple of breaths of smoke and you become disoriented, and you go down," Mosby said. The cause of the fire is under investigation. There was a smoke detector, but it wasn't working, Mosby said. He said a working detector might have warned them in time to escape the smoke. 'The building's on fire!' The building is a townhouse that houses two families. Don Ransom lives in the side that didn't burn. "My wife woke me up, screaming, 'The building's on fire!'" Ransom said. Smoke was seeping through the wall that separates his home from the one on fire. He said he didn't hear a smoke detector. Ransom ran outside to see fire trucks everywhere and firefighters on the front balcony, using an ax to try to break down a door on the second floor. "It was kinda crazy, man," Ransom said. "They brought a baby out, and the baby was kinda flimsy, not life-like," Ransom said. Rescuers put the child on the grass and performed life-saving measures. They carted another child directly to the ambulance. "One of the kids was in Pampers," Ransom said. "It was sad to see." EAST ST. LOUIS A man who got off a MetroLink train in East St. Louis Monday night was shot in the abdomen, apparently by robbers who had followed a different victim to the Emerson Park station, authorities said. The man, 36, was taken to a hospital, but authorities said the wound did not appear to be life-threatening. The incident apparently began when robbers tried to hold up a man at an apartment sometime before 10:45 p.m., according to the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department. The victim, 29, ran to the MetroLink station for safety and to try to find a police or security officer. The robbers followed. A train arrived, and a man got off and began walking away, police said. One of the robbers fired a shot, which hit the man who'd gotten off the train. It wasn't clear who the robber was shooting at. The robbers ran off. Authorities are investigating. They said they are checking with MetroLink to see if surveillance images might help the investigation. JEFFERSON CITY The Missouri Senate only just began to debate right-to-work legislation on the floor on Monday, but neither the proposal's supporters nor the states labor unions are waiting for final passage to make contingency plans. Sensing an inevitable passage of right to work legislation, which would limit unions abilities to collect dues from their members, AFL-CIO President Mike Louis in December filed petitions for the 2018 ballot that would essentially reverse any right-to-work law passed this year. They would give employers and employees the unalienable right to negotiate contracts that would require workers to pay fees covering the cost of union representation. Former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander approved the ballot title language of those petitions, among dozens of others, before leaving office on Jan. 9. Backed by the National Right to Work Foundation, a Missouri nurse and two Kansas City police officers are now challenging the petitions on the grounds that their summaries are insufficient and unfair, asking a court to rewrite them with more detail about union dues, collective bargaining agreements and the right-to-work law they would supercede. Louis petition would amend the Missouri constitution to read the following: "That employees shall have the right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing," it reads. "No law or ordinance shall restrict or impair an agreement which requires employees to support their chosen collective bargaining representative." The lawsuits filed Monday one for each of Louis petitions allege that the language is misleading, as it fraudulently presents itself as an employees rights proposition when it only protects those organized in labor unions, not employees who choose to withhold their support. The petitions would block lawmakers efforts to prohibit forced-unionism agreements, to the detriment of employees who seek to exercise their Right to Work without being compelled to subsidize a labor organization. These deliberately misleading initiative petitions are nothing more than an attempt by Big Labor to confuse voters in hope that the confusion will result in overturning popular Right to Work protections, said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, in a statement. Louis, in a statement, dismissed the foundation as a "dark money group." Why is a DC-based special interest group, funded by the uber-rich, challenging the rights of hard-working Missourians to have their voices heard at the ballot box?" Louis said. "Missouri voters wanted to see the swamp drained, that means putting the power back with the people." Senate lawmakers have begun to debate right-to-work proposals this week. Measures have already passed the House 100-59 on Thursday. Republicans, who say the proposals will create jobs and bring in more business, have worked quickly to make Missouri into a right-to-work state now that Gov. Eric Greitens has assumed office with vows to sign legislation that would do so. Meanwhile, Democrats have tried to attach a voter referendum to the bills that would put the issue before voters, but havent been successful. During initial debate in the Senate on Monday, a similar attempt by Sen. Jason Holsman, a Kansas City Democrat, proved futile. The Senate bill differs from the House legislation with its inclusion of a grandfather clause protecting labor contracts negotiated before the law takes effect, until they expire on their own. We felt it was probably proper to honor those contracts that are in effect now, said Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City, said last week he intended to allow plenty of time for debate on the Senate floor, but that he ultimately expected the bills to sail through. Its been a priority issue that everyone has been talking about for a long time, its been through this chamber before, several times, and its going to go through it again, Kehoe said. But Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh said she hoped the Republican supermajority didnt try to slam-dunk this and move-on. I just think we need to have a thorough discussion on this. And I dont think a thorough discussion is two hours on the Senate floor on a Monday night, she said. ST. LOUIS Matt Mulholland looked like he had seen a ghost when Tom Lake walked into his sandwich shop this month in Lindenwood Park. Oh, my God, Mulholland said, abandoning the preparation of Italian beef to embrace his friend. Tears filled their eyes. You had to come on Dirty Rob day, Mulholland said, referring to Lakes favorite sandwich at Vinnies Italian Beef & Gyros. I wouldnt have it any other way, Lake responded. Then Mulholland stepped back to scan the St. Louis police sergeants face for signs of the bullets that almost killed him two months before as he sat in traffic in his department SUV. One slug entered just below his left nostril, the other pierced his left cheek. Both wounds have scarred over, looking like nothing more than the remnants of a nasty cold sore and a shaving accident. I can still talk, I can still hear, and I can still see, but a quarter-inch in either direction, Im a dead man, Lake told Mulholland. But can he still be a cop? Its a question Lake has wrestled with since that fateful day. As a police officer, you are trained on how to defend yourself in all sorts of situations, Lake explained. But I was completely defenseless. I just surrendered. I had nothing else I could do, and that is a huge thing to policemen. That macho command presence, when you compromise that, it compromises who you are, and its compromised me. I have to find a way to get back to me. Even though I wont be the same person I was, I have to find some sense of normalcy again. The shooting It happened Nov. 20, just after Lake and other officers answered a burglary call in the 6500 block of Scanlan Avenue. It turned out to be unfounded. Lake said he had a bad feeling and purposely drove a different route back toward the station. He stopped to buy a lottery ticket. And he called his father, who lives in Nebraska. Sitting in traffic at Hampton and Pernod avenues, he said, he saw a car pull into the left turn lane beside him. Then he saw a handgun with an extended magazine rise up and flash. I couldnt see, I couldnt hear, I let out a big scream, Lake recalled. His father, still on the phone, heard it all. He called Lakes wife, who called 911. When other officers arrived, they found Lake slumped toward the passenger side of his car. Lake recalls one of them saying, Oh, God, hes dead. Far from it, he kept a sense of humor as comrades pulled him out. Sorry guys, I just ate, he quipped as they heaved him into the back of a patrol car for a dash to a hospital. There, he called his father to reassure him and suggest that he buy lottery tickets. I told him I wasnt going to win because I already won the lottery. It took about 100 stitches to repair damage to Lakes mouth. The left side of his face remains numb, and droops somewhat. He expects to lose several teeth, as one of the bullets ripped through their roots and stopped in his nasal canal. Doctors believe he swallowed and passed it. Fragments from the other bullet remain lodged in his cheek, and doctors expect they eventually will work their way to the surface and fall out. Lake and other officers believe resistance from Lakes closed SUV window may have lessened the impact of the bullets enough to spare him greater injury. I can survive this The call on Scanlan involved the home of friends of a man named George Bush III. Within hours of Lakes shooting, Bush, 19, would be shot to death in a confrontation with police. They said evidence showed he had shot Lake. Investigators have since tied Bush to several other crimes, including the murder of Joseph Hults, 52, a locksmith slain on that same block of Scanlan. Police said the car Bush used when shooting Lake had been taken from a man shot in a carjacking in the Affton area the day before. It was not clear why Bush would ambush Lake. The sergeant believes Bush was lying in wait for him along Marquette Avenue and followed him south on Hampton. Bushs death has done little to ease Lakes fears, or his familys. His nervous 5-year-old son includes the scars on drawings of his father, and checks under his dads coat to make sure hes not in uniform when he leaves the house. His other son, 8 and daughter, 9, dont want him to go to work, either. He said he cannot imagine putting his wife, or father, through another close call. As policemen, were supposed to be the toughest one on the block, and I aint no more, he said. I will never be the same policeman as I was when I started; I feel like I dont know how to be a policeman anymore. This man has taken my livelihood from me. But encounters like the one with Mulholland, his sandwich shop buddy, pull Lake back toward the job. Mulholland said he enjoyed a cordial friendship with Lake, and that having his patrol car in front of his business and his cellphone number at the ready made him feel safer. I feel like I would be letting them down if I dont come back, Lake said, rattling off Second District business owners and residents who know him by name. He said he wakes up in the night, replaying the attack in his mind. His anxiety rises when he drives near the scene. And hes always checking his vehicles mirrors. Lake will be eligible to retire in March when he completes 20 years on the force. His retirement pension would be 40 percent of his pay. If the pension board determines that his physical and emotional wounds qualify as a disability, he could get 75 percent. If the unseen scars end his career, Lake said, he will accept it. I survived the shooting, he said, taking a bite of his favorite sandwich as Mulholland looked on. I can survive this. School staff and families are racing to raise tens of thousands of dollars to save one of St. Louis city's last Lutheran schools. The River Roads Lutheran School board gave its staff a steep ultimatum last week: if they don't raise $175,000 in just 45 days, it plans to close the school, said the school's principal, Yvonne Boyd. "It's tough right now, but we just got to keep pushing through and trust that God is overseeing it and it will all work out some way," said James Mitchell, the school's third- and fourth-grade teacher and an alumnus. The River Roads school, founded in 1869 and situated in the high-poverty and high-crime Baden neighborhood, currently has 78 students and 14 staff members. Boyd, Mitchell and others say the school provides a needed, Lutheran faith-based school option for families in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County, from which it also draws students. Like other parochial schools in the city, River Roads has struggled to stay affordable for families while facing competition from an increasing number of tuition-free charter schools. "The community that we're in, it's really difficult for a lot of these families to afford to send their kids to a tuition-based school," Boyd said. "Yet they want this to be their school choice." Boyd said she's hopeful that the board will be flexible in its request. If the school fails to raise the money, it's possible the board could decide to close the school in the middle of the semester, but she said she hopes the board would wait until at least June if it decides to close the school. If the school were to close in the middle of the semester, "that would just truly be devastating" for students, Mitchell said. River Roads is a member of the Lutheran Elementary School Association, a St. Louis-area consortium of 31 elementary and four high schools. The association has just two member schools left in St. Louis city: River Roads and Word of Life in St. Louis Hills. On top of facing competition from charter schools, Lutheran congregations have been receiving less in tithes and are finding it harder to support Lutheran schools, said Sue Nahmensen, CEO of the Lutheran Elementary School Association. The need is so much greater than the funds we have available, Nahmensen said. These schools are doing their real best to keep their doors open and serve an under-served population. JEFFERSON CITY In the face of a push by Gov. Eric Greitens and Republican lawmakers to alter the states legal landscape, the states top judge defended her branch of government Tuesday. In a speech to a joint session of the House and Senate, Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge said the changes sought by Greitens and members of the Legislature should not be viewed as an indictment of the states judicial branch. Missouri has a judicial system of which we can be proud, Breckenridge said in her second State of the Judiciary speech. Greitens, the first Republican governor in eight years, has called for pro-business changes to the legal system that would address concerns over large verdicts won by plaintiffs in civil cases. Our judicial system is broken, and the trial lawyers who have broken it, well, their time is up, Greitens said during his State of the State speech last week. The governors GOP colleagues are working to forward several initiatives to his desk, including a plan to alter expert testimony rules that was vetoed by former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon last year. Nixon said the legislation targeted injured litigants by making it too expensive for them to file claims and recover damages. Also on the agenda are changes to the way juries can determine monetary damages. Breckenridge said the civil law changes represent a small fraction of the work of the judicial branch. Of the 1.8 million cases filed in the court system, with the majority of those coming in local municipal court. Fewer than 1 percent of all of the cases involve the kinds of claims that would be affected by the changes sought by the governor and GOP legislative leaders, she said. Do not view these calls for action as a condemnation of our judicial system, Breckenridge said. Breckenridge said there are other issues facing the judicial branch that need to be addressed. For example, she said pay for state workers, who are the lowest paid in the nation, should be boosted. ST. LOUIS City alderwoman and mayoral candidate Lyda Krewson released her first two television ads on Tuesday, with both highlighting her track record taking on special interests, including the National Rifle Association. The first ad, called Tough Fights, references her husband's murder during a 1995 carjacking in front of their Central West End home. It changes your life forever, Krewson says in the ad, before referencing her push for new gun laws and tougher background checks. There's no sense in having this job if you're not going to try to make a difference and take on the tough issues, Krewson says. In the second spot, called Hope, former Missouri Governor Bob Holden praises Krewson for her strong set of core values. The ad squeezes a number of issues into 30-seconds, saying that Krewson took on tobacco companies and worked to reduce the number of aldermen on the board. It also reiterates a campaign talking point, saying she will work on creating economic opportunities in the city's different neighborhoods. The two ads will air on broadcast and cable television. JEFFERSON CITY A debate about right-to-work legislation in the Missouri Senate took a turn on Tuesday when Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, accused a fellow lawmaker of touching her inappropriately. Speaking on the Senate floor, she said that after a state of the judiciary speech Tuesday morning, Rep. Joshua Peters grabbed her arms in a forceful embrace that was unwarranted and unwanted, calling her boo, and later, bitch. Peters, a St. Louis Democrat, flatly denied the allegations. This is categorically false, he told the Post-Dispatch. In a statement issued later, Peters said Chappelle-Nadals floor speech was a vicious personal and politically motivated attack, adding he would not rule out taking legal action against her. It saddens and angers me that a member of the state Senate would make a false accusation against me in order to try to grab attention and headlines, Peters statement says. Senator Chappelle-Nadal is known for being mentally unstable as demonstrated time and time again by her words and actions. Chappelle-Nadal said she wanted to speak on the issue in the chamber because of a culture in the Capitol where such incidents have become commonplace. Any time a state rep refers to a state senator as boo, or uses the other b-word that rhymes with witch, thats a problem I know so many people in this building, including myself, who have had their personal space violated, she said. Im not going to tolerate it. House and Senate leadership could not be immediately reached for comment. Its not the first accusation of impropriety between legislators currently in office. In a letter to House Speaker Todd Richardson and other legislative leaders last fall, incoming Rep. Cora Faith Walker, D-Ferguson, alleged that incoming Rep. Steven Roberts Jr. sexually assaulted her. Roberts, D-St. Louis, maintained that he and Walker had a consensual sexual relationship. In October, a St. Charles County prosecutor said the office has no plans to file charges against Roberts, citing lack of evidence. Missouri lawmakers have also been under a microscope after legislative scandals led two lawmakers to resign. In May 2015, former House Speaker John Diehl, a Republican, resigned after sexually charged messages he exchanged with a 19-year-old intern came to light. A few months later, Sen. Paul LeVota, a Democrat, resigned amid sexual harassment allegations from multiple interns. House lawmakers later updated their sexual harassment and college intern policy, expanding the list of people required to report complaints. Changes also included a requirement for annual sexual harassment training for House members and staffers and a ban on romantic relationships between House members and their staffers or interns. JEFFERSON CITY Todd Graves knows the question is coming. Missouri Republicans have controlled both houses of the Legislature for more than a decade. Gov. Eric Greitens recaptured the Governors Mansion for the party in November, removing the veto pen that has stymied conservative priorities for the past eight years. And Democrats are on the run: Only two districts went blue outside the states four largest cities last year. So what exactly can the new chairman of the Missouri Republican Party improve on? Graves, a former U.S. attorney under President George W. Bushs administration, points to the third branch of government: the courts. I think the Democratic Party clearly controls the judiciary in this state, Graves said. Id say the courts of appeals and the Supreme Court are probably at a low-water mark in modern times. The Missouri Supreme Court, for instance, has four justices who owe their seats to Democratic Govs. Bob Holden and Jay Nixon. The other two were appointed by Republican Gov. Matt Blunt. Graves is concerned they could provide a key obstacle to the suite of business-friendly measures GOP lawmakers are pushing this session, including several meant to make it harder and less lucrative to sue businesses in state court. Republican legislators held majorities in the early 2000s when they rebuffed trial lawyers attempts to add a right to jury trial to the Missouri Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in the workplace. But in 2003, the Missouri Supreme Court found employees had a constitutional right to a jury trial under the MHRA, effectively voiding GOP opposition. That ruling totally changed the landscape in this state, Graves said. It made it easier for plaintiffs to get bigger settlements in those cases. The November death of Justice Richard Teitelman, appointed by Holden in 2002, will allow Greitens to make his mark on the states highest court in the early days of his administration. But Graves remains wary. Right-to-work, tort reform, business reform all of these things are going to be passed, Graves said. But theyre going to be looked at by a court system that doesnt see the world the way the governor and Legislature see the world. The states new voter identification law may see a challenge, for instance, and the Missouri Supreme Court declared the last one unconstitutional. Graves, who received Greitens endorsement for the chairmanship in December, has racked up plenty of experience defending conservatives since leaving the Justice Department in 2006. In 2013, he formed a class-action lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for subjecting Tea Party groups to extra scrutiny when they filed for tax-exempt status. He also successfully defended the Wisconsin Club for Growth against a politically motivated investigation into its coordination with Republican Gov. Scott Walker. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ultimately declared the investigation unconstitutional. Outside the courtroom, Graves will have little to prove. Graves predecessor, St. Louis political consultant John Hancock, warned that the party could get complacent with its power and let selfish interests corrupt their message, but top Republican lawmakers have no plans to let that happen. Once you get your major priorities finished, sometimes you dont need to pass anything else around here to be effective, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said. Sometimes youre smart enough to let the market take care of itself and live to fight another day. Graves could worry about the fight among House and Senate Republicans that has kept them from addressing ethics issues like banning lobbyist gifts, but voters have hardly punished their division. Former House Speaker John Diehl resigned in 2015 after sending sexually charged texts to a 19-year-old intern; west St. Louis County voters just sent another Republican in his place. The only real ballot box concern could be holding on to recent converts, said Dave Robertson, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Jefferson County, which was reliably Democratic for years and then took a chance on Republicans, looks safe, Robertson said. But I wouldnt take that for granted in a heavily union county when your party wants to pass right-to-work. Democrats are hoping Robertson is right and are planning to push pocketbook issues such as jobs, Medicaid and public education funding in 2018 and 2020. But Graves, whose brother is U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Tarkio, showed little fear of an electoral backlash to his partys pro-business agenda. I think the people of Missouri believe in capitalism, Graves said. They believe more in broad economic opportunity than narrow government intervention, and thats what were offering. He also rests easy knowing that the national Democratic Party appears well to the left of his voting bloc, even without accounting for divisive social issues such as abortion and guns. New state Democratic Party chairman Stephen Webber can say whatever he wants, but no one is going to see him or me, Graves said. People in rural Missouri are going to turn on their TVs and see (Democratic presidential candidate) Bernie Sanders, who is an actual socialist, and that scares them. JEFFERSON CITY In a repeat of last years action, the Missouri House initially approved a proposal to make life easier for ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft through statewide regulation Tuesday. The argument for Eureka Republican Rep. Kirk Mathews bill hasnt changed much since the 2016 legislative session, when the measure was debated but came up short in the Senate. Local regulations form barriers to entry, Mathews said, citing the need for drivers to register in multiple cities to legally complete a trip from St. Louis to St. Charles. The measure would alleviate this problem by exempting ride-hailing companies from local rules like those set by the St. Louis Metropolitan Taxicab Commission. It would require the companies pay an annual $5,000 fee to the state but not local or municipal fees or taxes and allow them to conduct their own background checks and vehicle inspections. In return, Uber has again promised 10,000 new jobs for part-time drivers if the legislation passes. Lyft will arrive Thursday in Springfield, Mo., under similar rules and indicated it could expand further if the bill succeeds. Unlike last year, if the bill makes it through a final vote in the House, it could find a more open road in the Senate thanks to a new approach in Kansas City. Last year, Uber came to the Capitol for new rules just months after hammering out an agreement with Kansas City to share background check data and pay driver registration fees. Area senators were outraged and threatened filibusters that killed the bill. They went to Kansas City, negotiated an ordinance and then four months later came to the Legislature asking for new rules, said Ryan Silvey, R- Kansas City. That, to me, was disingenuous and in bad faith. But this year, Mathews has tacked on an amendment allowing Kansas City to audit the companies driver-background checks twice a year. Uber and Lyft would pay up to $5,000 for audit costs and $500 fines if the city found they allowed someone to drive who should have been turned away. Silvey and Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, applauded the change. Kansas City going neutral helps a lot, Holsman said. And for me, the most important thing for this bill is public safety and before, we had a problem with sharing information. Uber wasnt going to be sharing any of the background checks with Kansas City, but now it seems like theyve agreed to do that. St. Louis has reached no such agreement. The citys taxicab commission is bound by its state statute to require the fingerprint background checks and chauffeurs licenses ride-hailing companies have called onerous for their drivers. Uber has operated its low-cost service in St. Louis illegally since negotiations with the taxicab commission broke down in September 2015. Commission President Tom Reeves asked the Legislature in a letter to resolve the question of fingerprint background checks but leave other local regulation intact. Cab company owners say they would gladly accept changes, so long as they get the same regulatory breaks. Were a St. Louis company, so we pay the city property tax and sales tax and Uber doesnt, said Adam McNutt, president of Laclede Cab. Were happy to compete, but we want a level playing field. Basil Rudawsky, president of St. Louis County Cab and Yellow Cab, offered a simple solution in a House committee hearing earlier this month. Everywhere in this bill that it says (ride-hailing companies), just add taxis, he said. The sticking point for opponents, however, will likely remain the fingerprint background checks. Taxi advocates nationwide have long argued that law enforcement-conducted searches provide the best picture of a drivers history. The Missouri Highway Patrol currently runs the checks performed on St. Louis cabdrivers. Last session, Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, vowed to filibuster the bill over the fingerprint checks and the override of commission authority. Sen. Jacob Hummel, who took Keavenys place when he became a judge last year, said he shared the same concerns. I understand that thousands of people sign up for this, he said. But safety has got to be the No. 1 priority. Madison School's ad hoc committee on Educational Resource Officers heard from restorative justice practitioners who recommended that the district move away from police in schools to more positive responses to student misconduct. SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE Parts of Scott Air Force Base were shut down Monday after a bomb threat was called in and a suspicious package was spotted, but authorities say a search found nothing of concern. Authorities checked buildings near the 37th Medical Clinic after a bomb threat was called into an employee there about 2 p.m. Emergency responders set up a cordon around the clinic and swept nearby buildings at the base near Mascoutah, officials said in a news release. Personnel were asked to stay clear of the area. Emergency responders had also secured the James Gym at the base and lifted a cordon there after responding to a suspicious package incident, officials said. Two suspicious bags near the gym were reported about 4 p.m., officials said. The bags near the gym were determined to be safe and a member of the gyms claimed the bags. After every major Trump speech or event, the person I was before it seems desperately naive. I have been a consistent Trump critic, but my expectations are never quite low enough. Some of us approach Inauguration Day with a kind of democratic reverence. Its customs encourage the love of country. The best inaugural addresses offer historical context, emphasize shared values, encourage engaged citizenship, express goals worthy of a great nation, and at least attempt to wrap it all up in a neat package of rhetorical ambition. For Donald Trump, who lives in an eternal now, Inaugural Day was Friday, offering another opportunity to deliver a less raucous version of his stump speech a chance to slam the establishment and make Peronist promises to reverse globalization. Apart from a few nice phrases undoubtedly borrowed from other, superior drafts, the American Carnage speech was blunt, flat and devoid of craft. Also devoid of generosity, humility and grace. Making it perfectly credible as the work of Trumps own hand. Trumps inaugural was instructive in this way: America has chosen a man for whom traditions and norms mean nothing. (Less than nothing when he finds them constraining.) He used the center stage of American public life to belittle nearly everyone seated around him. They have reaped the rewards of government, prospered at the expense of the people, celebrated while families struggled, and are all talk and no action. These, of course, are the only people who can take action legislative action after the Obama-era executive orders get rescinded. Trump certainly did not appeal to members of Congress for help. So he must be counting on the people to intimidate their representatives into supporting the Trump agenda. I wonder, for example, how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell might respond to this pressure tactic, particularly after being treated to Trumps rhetorical version of the Red Wedding on the West Front of the Capitol. (Non- Game of Thrones fans will need to look this up). Though I doubt the inspiration is conscious, Trumps inaugural address owes a great deal to philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (or at least one interpretation of him). Rousseau wrote of leaders who incarnate the general will. Trump argues that the American people have been betrayed by the venal people they elect and re-elect. Since the normal processes of democracy have been corrupted, bringing America to the brink of ruin, a strong hand is required. In Trumps speech, there are just two uncorrupted actors: the people and the president. The only thing that Trump asks of citizens is to support him. So this really leaves only one actor who actually acts a leader who claims to embody the general will. When Trump asserts, We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth, who is the we? It is the forgotten men and women and the single leader who has not forgotten them. In this light, Trumps announcement of the hour of action has an ominous ring. He demonstrates no respect for norms of presidential magnanimity and self-restraint. He has declared that his oath of allegiance was taken to all Americans rather than to the Constitution. He is impatient with a corrupt and paralyzed legislature. And he has claimed a general mandate to interpret and pursue his vision of the peoples interests. In the past, we have, I have, been mistaken to discount and downplay the plain meaning of Trumps words. The oath of office has turned a laughable Putin imitation into a very real concern. This view of presidential leadership involves an almost unlimited faith in government. Never shying from contradiction, the American Carnage speech starts out, We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people. But by Trumps argument, only the president truly represents the people and acts on their behalf. And so it is the state that will bring back jobs, borders and wealth. It is the state that will build new roads and railways. It is the state that will get people off welfare to rebuild the country. It is the state that will bring back our dreams. Trumps inaugural speech is a funeral oration at the death of Reaganism, and of conservatism more broadly. In his first inaugural, Ronald Reagan declared government to be the problem. When Trump says that government is the problem, he means all government but himself. The rest of the American government both Congress and the courts has been given fair warning. Michael Gerson Copyright The Washington Post More than a million protesters around the world including about 13,000 in the St. Louis area are estimated to have turned out for womens marches to raise concern about Donald Trumps presidency. The challenge going forward is to ensure that Saturdays events arent remembered as a one-time phenomenon and instead are marked as the dawn of a new political movement. The movements longevity could well hinge on its ability to harness broad-based themes such as respect and equal pay, opportunity and health benefits. If the movement gets bogged down in divisive issues like abortion, it risks being short-lived. A lack of focus also can be deadly. The Occupy movement, which began as Occupy Wall Street in 2011, was originally a protest against social and economic inequality. It had no organized leadership. Over time, Occupy broadened its scope to include a long list of ill-defined social complaints. The movement eventually lost momentum and stalled. Some womens march leaders say the common thread of disdain for President Trump may be enough to sustain the movement. But they need to ask themselves critical questions such as what protesters reasonably can do about Trumps presidency and Cabinet appointments. The president has demonstrated a tone-deafness to the unpopularity of his statements and policies, while asserting a popular mandate despite the fact that Democrat Hillary Clinton outpolled him on Nov. 8 by nearly 3 million votes. The key to getting his attention is for this protest movement to muster voters at the polls for the 2018 midterm elections, when the presidents party typically loses seats in Congress. All 435 seats in the U.S. House and about a third of the Senate seats will be up for election at that time. A movement that seeks such things as equal pay and health benefits will achieve more by exerting influence over congressional leaders than by mounting a symbolic fight against a president who often bristles at being criticized. Trump has the power to overturn executive actions undertaken by former President Barack Obama, but he needs Congress to pass the laws that will have a more lasting impact on the nation. As movement organizers debate strategy, some, like former Democratic Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, are urging a continued effort to attract white Rust Belt voters who may be more interested in jobs than opposing Trump. Others are convinced the only way to get support is to enlarge the tent to include minority, immigrant, Muslim and other women who may see themselves as marginalized. Obama and former attorney general Eric Holder say donors and activists should work on redistricting and winning statehouse races. All are legitimate goals, but itll take discipline and organization to ensure this movement has lasting impact. Leaders should not squander this opportunity. When President Donald Trump spoke at CIA headquarters Saturday, his backdrop was a memorial wall of stars anonymously representing the intelligence personnel who died in service. On the opposite wall, which Trump faced while speaking to CIA staffers, are words from the Bible boiling down the agencys core mission in service to the president: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Too often with Trump, the truth is a ball and chain. What he said Saturday was anything but true, and sought to minimize the very real harm Trump had inflicted on the CIAs credibility. Trump tried falsely to blame the news media for words he himself had spoken and tweeted. He then doubled down by having his aides repeat lies in his defense. This newspaper, like hundreds of other daily newspapers around the country, is committed to the truth above all else. We admit our imperfections. When we get the facts wrong, we publish corrections and commit ourselves to doing a better job the next time. Americas 45th president, less than 100 hours into office, has openly marketed lies as truth, and seems unwilling to correct his mistakes, much less commit himself to do better the next time. A president who cannot be trusted to tell the truth is a president who cannot lead effectively. Trump is within his right to be brash, bold and even insulting. He is not entitled to his own set of facts. The nation cannot afford a leader who abuses the truth and attempts to present lies as alternative facts. Trumps CIA visit was an obvious attempt to heal wounds created after he accused the intelligence community of leaking disreputable information about him. Trump invoked Nazi Germany in reference to the CIA. He earlier minimized the importance of the daily top secret briefings that the CIA offers to the president. Trump tried to blame his tension with the agency on the dishonest news media, as if to suggest that when reporters quote him saying what he actually says, they are wrong, not Trump. Thats downright Orwellian. Then, while standing before a wall dedicated to the CIAs fallen heroes, he had the gall to turn his appearance into a platform for self-aggrandizement regarding the crowd turnout at his inauguration. Spokesman Sean Spicer later went before reporters and falsely declared, This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period. Trump seems to be on a mission to feed his own ego by any means necessary. Trust me. Im, like, a smart person, he said. Trustworthy people typically dont need to repeatedly urge others to trust them. Smart people dont need to continually protest their intelligence. The new presidents insecurities are embarrassing both to himself and the nation. I took my children into the voting booth with me and later my grandchildren so they could learn the procedure and why it is so important. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. A BID has been submitted for around 2.7million of government cash to try to help resolve the gridlock on Birmingham Road in Stratford-upon-Avon. Details of the bid have emerged following the publication of the much-anticipated Stratford Transport Strategy last week. The 31-page strategy reads as a damning assessment of the towns creaking transport network, describing Clopton Bridge as substandard, bus services as limited and patchy, train services as infrequent, town centre pavements as being overcrowded, the presence of HGVs as intimidating, and says congested roads and poor pedestrian routes between the train station and Bridgefoot car parks create a negative first impression among visitors. It goes on to say that car dependency is too high in Stratford while predicting an extra 29,000 cars will be added to the districts roads in the next 15 years, and even suggests the cost of car parking in the town centre is too cheap to encourage drivers to use the Bishopton Park and Ride on the outskirts of town, and moots the offer of incentives to drivers for people to ditch their cars and use public transport for journeys into town. The strategy does contain some new proposals, as well as others that appear to have been recycled from the existing Warwickshire-wide transport strategy that was drawn up five years ago. It says the relief road that will link the A46 Alcester Road and the A3400 Shipston Road with a third river crossing both of which are already being planned was essential to the future of the town and a key component to the implementation of the other measures. But it also sets out the need for an eastern bypass, the route of which, the Herald has been told, would likely run from opposite the business park on Banbury Road, across to Tiddington Road, emerging near to Baraset Barn. Also in the strategy - which was approved by Warwickshire County Council this week - are: A focus on out-of-town parking, with more park and ride facilities. l More frequent bus services with bus priority on roads into the town. More frequent train services, specifically at evenings and weekends. Restrictions placed on certain vehicles using the town centres roads. The dualling of the A46 including improvements at the Marraway, Bishopton and Wildmoor junctions. Full pedestrianisation of more town centre streets, and wider pavements on others. The revival of a weight limit on Clopton Bridge. The strategy has been put together by Warwickshire County and Stratford District councils. Other organisations including Stratford Town Council, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Royal Shakespeare Company, business group Stratford Vision and the Town Transport Group have been briefed on its contents prior to its publication this week. However, it could be 15 years until many of its components are implemented. Cllr Robert Vaudry, the district councils portfolio holder for infrastructure, said: We cant hide the fact that our transport network is not fit for purpose." The strategy will get its first public airing at the next traffic summit, which takes place on Thursday, 9th February, at Stratford ArtsHouse, from 6pm, triggering a six-week consultation. An update will also be given on the initial proposals for Birmingham Road, including the bid for government cash through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership. Those proposals were set out exactly a year ago and include a slip road into Tesco, a left in and left out-only junction at Western Road, another link to Alcester Road, and widening Birmingham Road itself and the pavements where possible. See the full strategy HERE Streamroot and GlobalDots Ink Worldwide Reseller Agreement for Hybrid-CDN Acceleration Streamroot announced today that it has entered into an agreement by which GlobalDots will become a worldwide reseller of Streamroots industry-leading peer-accelerated delivery technology. New York, NY( ) Streamroot, the leader in hybrid over-the-top (OTT) video delivery, announced today that it has entered into a global reseller agreement with GlobalDots, leading web performance, cloud optimization and cloud security system integrator. Through this agreement, GlobalDots becomes a worldwide reseller of Streamroots industry-leading peer-accelerated delivery technology. It allows existing and new GlobalDots customers to use Streamroots peer-to-peer solution as a complementary technology to their existing content delivery infrastructure, all via a single service provider. Entirely compatible with traditional CDNs, Streamroot enables higher quality video delivery by smartly requesting content segments from the CDN as well as from peer-users. As a result, the technology promotes improved QoS, farther reach, better scaling and optimized CDN costs for publishers delivering large quantities of streaming video. Offering high-quality video at scale is of paramount importance to our customers; we naturally sought to partner with Streamroot, says Yuval Rachlin, Founder and CEO of GlobalDots. Streamroot can be used in tandem with the existing CDN solutions in our portfolio, and brings great value in its ability to improve performance, streamline cost and more intelligently provision bandwidth. Streamroot Co-founder and CEO Pierre-Louis Theron agrees: Streamroot is the perfect complement to GlobalDots video CDN solutions. This is an unparalleled opportunity for customers who are looking to gain a competitive edge, fortify their delivery infrastructure and deliver more or higher quality video within their current CDN budget. Pursuant to the agreement, GlobalDots enjoys the right to sell Streamroots technology across its existing and new customer base. Streamroot in turn greatly expands its geographical sales reach and gains access to GlobalDots global network of highly skilled professionals. We look forward to the mutual benefits of this partnership. GlobalDots is trusted throughout the industry for its added-value consulting and customized delivery solutions. We are thrilled to be working together to offer customers the most high-performance video delivery architecture available, adds Theron. About Streamroot Streamroot is a leading provider of innovative OTT video optimization technologies for content publishers, network service providers and enterprise customers. Its robust, reliable and lightweight stream acceleration solutions offer improved quality of service, global reach and unique fixed-fee economics. They are based on open standards such as WebRTC, Media Source Extensions and HTML5, and are widely adopted by broadcasters around the world. Founded in 2013 in France, the company today benefits from VC funding and serves premier media groups from its Paris and New York offices. About GlobalDots GlobalDots is a leading web performance and cloud security system integrator with over 15 years of experience. Our unique positioning on the global market enables us to be at the forefront of every new technology and with that unique expertise we help our clients to quickly and cost effectively choose, test and deploy the best solutions to service their customer base. Our clients range from Fortune500 to small & medium enterprise to promising startups in practically every industry and vertical. Iconic brands all over the world trust GlobalDots to help them accelerate and secure their digital assets. FILE PHOTO: Director Damien Chazelle after winning Best Screenplay - Motion Picture for "La La Land" during the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/ File Photo By Piya Sinha-Roy LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Romantic musical "La La Land" became the movie to beat at the Academy Awards after earning 14 nominations on Tuesday in a diverse list that silenced the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of the last two years. With nods that included best picture, actor, actress, director, score and screenplay, the musical about a struggling actress (Emma Stone) and her jazz pianist boyfriend (Ryan Gosling) equaled the record set by the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" and the 1950 film "All About Eve." "La La Land" also became the first original musical to win a best picture Oscar nomination since "All That Jazz" in 1979. Director Damien Chazelle called the acclaim "a delirious, wonderful moment." He told Reuters in a phone interview the musical resonated because it looked at "what it means to be young and in love today, what it means to be an artist today and chase a dream." The 6,600 member Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on the Oscars, has a history of responding well to movies about show business, including past best picture winners "Birdman" and "The Artist." However Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said the multiple nominations for "La La Land" reflected its craftsmanship. "I think Hollywood likes any film that has a tremendously good script, very well directed, acted and all aspects together, which is what you're talking about with the 14 nominations," she told Reuters Television. The film will vie for best picture with black coming-of-age movie "Moonlight and sci-fi film "Arrival" each with eight nods; Mel Gibson's Hollywood comeback war movie "Hacksaw Ridge"; dramas "Manchester by the Sea," "Hidden Figures," "Lion"; modern western "Hell or High Water"; and Denzel Washington's adaptation of stage play "Fences." Whereas last year all 20 acting nominees were white, unleashing an #OscarsSoWhite backlash, seven people of color were among this year's acting nominees - the highest ever ethnic representation. Four of the nine best picture contenders told African-American or Asian stories. They included supporting actor nominees Dev Patel for the Indian adoption story "Lion," Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris for "Moonlight" and Viola Davis who is expected to win for "Fences." "The Oscars have rallied to do a better job reflecting the diversity of America and the world," said Tom O'Neil, founder of awards website Goldderby.com "Moonlight" director Barry Jenkins called the nominations for his low-budget film "an affirmation that film has the power to erode barriers and reveal what makes us all human." "Hidden Figures," a feel-good box-office hit about three black female mathematicians working on the U.S. space program in the 1960s, brought a supporting actress nod for Octavia Spencer. AMAZON BREAKS THROUGH In the best actor field, "La La Land" star Gosling is thought to be in a close race with Washington and Casey Affleck, who plays a grieving father in "Manchester by the Sea." It was a big day for Amazon Studios (NASDAQ: AMZN), which becomes the first streaming service to land a best picture Oscar nomination with "Manchester by the Sea," which also earned five other nods.. The lead actress race includes front-runner Natalie Portman for her role as the late Jacqueline Kennedy in "Jackie," French actress Isabelle Huppert for thriller "Elle," Stone and Ruth Negga for mixed-marriage story "Loving." Meryl Streep, who earlier this month attacked new U.S. President Donald Trump in a Golden Globes awards speech, earned a record 20th Oscar nomination for playing a tone-deaf singer in "Florence Foster Jenkins." Streep celebrated by releasing a GIF of herself dancing with joy Some notable absences from Tuesday's list included Annette Bening's turn in "20th Century Women" and "Arrival" star Amy Adams. Martin Scorsese's film "Silence," which was 28 years in the making, earned just one nomination, for cinematography. Jimmy Kimmel will host the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood on Feb. 26. (Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Melissa Fares; Writing by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Cynthia Osterman) By Olivia Oran (Reuters) - A team of managers from fixed income hedge fund Structured Portfolio Managers are starting a new firm called Nara Capital Partners, co-founder Charles Smart said. Smart, who managed SPM's Structured Servicing Holdings fund for the past six years, is leading Nara Capital alongside former SPM head of global marketing Alex de Calice. New York-based Nara, which will launch its Nara Capital Master Fund in March with $150 million to $200 million in capital, will invest in both commercial and residential mortgage-backed securities. Former SPM portfolio managers Joe DeGregorio, Munish Gupta and Frank O'Neill are also joining Nara. Risk manager Qian Yang and chief technology officer Kyle Johnson also join from SPM. The firm was seeded from a European investor that it declined to name. SPM, founded by Don Brownstein and specializing in U.S. mortgage-backed securities, manages more than $2 billion. The Structured Servicing Holdings fund produced returns of 4 percent in 2015, 10.5 percent in 2014, 4.2 percent in 2013 and 28.1 percent in 2012. Raising money for hedge funds is becoming increasingly tough as investors withdraw cash and complain about costs and complexity. The third quarter of 2016 saw the lowest number of new funds since the beginning of 2009, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. The total of 578 in the first nine months of the year was a sharp drop from 785 of a year earlier. (Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) Appleton, WI (PRWEB) January 23, 2017 Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd., located in Appleton, Wisconsin, is proud to announce that Senior Shareholder Robert B. Loomis has accomplished recertification as a national family law trial advocate. The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA) has issued the recertification. Board certification is one of the highest certifications an attorney can achieve. Herrling Clark Law Firm President, Kevin Lonergan, has nothing but praise for Loomis and his achievements. "We are very proud of Bob and his accomplishments. Bob is one of the top family law attorneys in the State of Wisconsin. He is not only respected here at Herrling Clark Law Firm, but among other family law lawyers and judges around the State. He is looked to as one of the top, if not the top, family law lawyers in Northeast Wisconsin." Loomis joins an elite group of professionals, as only three percent of attorneys in the United States hold board certifications. The NBTA requirements for board certified attorneys include: substantial trial experience, exceptional judicial and peer recommendations, and ongoing participation in continuing legal education programs. Appleton Divorce Attorney Robert B. Loomis is a senior shareholder at Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Lawrence University, and went on to obtain his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin. A large part of his practice is devoted to litigation, and he focuses specifically on cases related to family law and divorce. He is also a successful family law mediator, facilitating the settlement of complex divorce and high net worth cases. Loomis is a "Top Rated Attorney" on AVVO within the practice areas of family law and divorce. He has also been rated as one of the "Best of the Bar" by Fox Cities Magazine. Additionally, Loomis has been selected as a Wisconsin Super Lawyer every year since 2006. The Super Lawyers distinction is only awarded to the top five percent of attorneys within the state. Loomis is a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin, the Outagamie County Bar Association, the Winnebago County Bar Association, and the Brown County Bar Association. Aside from the practice of law, Robert has a passion for running. Just before a recent milestone birthday, Robert completed a 100 mile endurance race (the Pine to Palm) alongside his daughter, Krista. About Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd.: Herrling Clark Law Firm, Ltd. has served the Fox River Valley community for over 50 years. The veteran attorneys at Herrling Clark bring together over 200 years of combined legal experience to effectively represent individuals, families, and businesses. Herrling Clark has been named "Best Law Firm in the Valley" for 13 years straight by the Post-Crescent newspaper. The firm works with clients located throughout Wisconsin including the cities of: Appleton, Green Bay, New London, and Oshkosh. For more information call 920-739-7366 or visit http://www.herrlingclark.com. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/appleton-law-firm/herrling-clark-law-firm/prweb14008435.htm Lima, PERU, January Tuesday 24th, 2017 - Credicorp Ltd. announces to its shareholders and the market that its 4Q16 Earnings Release Report will be released on Monday, February 06th, 2017 after market close. Credicorp's Conference Call to discuss such results will be held on Tuesday, February 07th, 2016 at 9:30 am EST (9:30 am Lima, Peru Time). The call will be host by: Walter Bayly, Chief Operating Officer, Fernando Dasso, Chief Financial Officer and Giuliana Cuzquen, Investor Relations Officer. To access the call, please dial: 1 800 933 4955 within the U.S. 1 334 323 7224 from outside the U.S. Passcode: 643525 To access the live audio webcast, please visit our website: www.credicorpnet.com An accompanying presentation will be posted prior to the call / webcast on the front page of the website under the heading: "Recent Reports: 4Q16 Conference Call Presentation". To replay the call, a webcast replay audio file will be posted on the company's website approximately 3 business days after the conference call. Credicorp reminds you that we filed our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2015 (2015 Form 20-F) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 29th, 2016. The 2015 Form 20-F includes audited consolidated financial statements of Credicorp and its subsidiaries as of December 31st, 2014 and 2015 and for the years ended December 31st, 2013, 2014 and 2015 under IFRS. Our 2015 Form 20-F can be downloaded from Credicorp's website www.credicorpnet.com. Holders of Credicorp's securities and any other interested parties may request a hard copy of our 2015 Form 20-F, free of charge, by filling out the form located on the link "mail request" on Credicorp's website. About Credicorp Credicorp Ltd. (NYSE: BAP) is the leading financial holding company in Peru. It is composed of Banco de Credito del Peru (BCP), Atlantic Security Holding Corporation (ASHC), Grupo Pacifico Seguros, Prima AFP, and Credicorp Capital, which are among Peru's top-rated brands. Credicorp 's primary businesses are banking (commercial & investment banking and retail banking, including SME and micro-lending); insurance (including property and casualty, life and health insurance); pension funds (private pension fund management services); and brokerage services (including trust, custody and securitization services, asset management and proprietary trading and investment). For further information please contact the IR team: [email protected] Investor Relations Credicorp Ltd. 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: Credicorp Ltd. via Globenewswire San Antonio, Texas (PRWEB) January 24, 2017 Hotel Valencia Riverwalk is undergoing a dramatic transformation with the first major renovation in the boutique hotel's 14-year history. The hotel, long recognized for its distinctive sleek and modern style, is being completely reimagined by internationally acclaimed architect and designer, Lauren Rottet. The renovation is scheduled to be completed in mid-March 2017. Rottet, along with her team at Rottet Studio, immediately envisioned an opportunity to fully immerse the property into the charm and heritage of San Antonio and the hotel's serene River Walk location. The resulting design concept is an alluring blend of Spanish Colonial and Modern Mediterranean styles. The Spanish Colonial influence represents a nod to San Antonio's Spanish Colonial heritage dating back to the time the Missions were built, while the Modern Mediterranean flair reflects the building's Tuscan-style architecture and the hotel's namesake, Valencia, Spain. "On January 19, 2003 almost exactly 14 years ago -- Hotel Valencia opened its doors as the first boutique hotel in San Antonio, thus launching a trend that has transformed the downtown hospitality landscape," said Roy Kretschmer, Executive Vice President of Operations for Valencia Group. "Today, Valencia Group is investing an additional $10 million into Hotel Valencia Riverwalk to create a completely new hotel experience and reset the bar for the entire San Antonio hospitality industry." Top-to-Bottom Transformation The top-to-bottom renovation incorporates warm, rustic woods, elegant ironwork, hand-crafted tiles and textiles that reflect the design sensibilities of Spanish Colonial style, along with the color palette and elegance of Modern Mediterranean design. The public spaces on the hotel's second floor are receiving the most dramatic makeover, with a complete reimagining of the former restaurant and bar, Citrus and VBar. "This new incarnation of Hotel Valencia Riverwalk represents the next chapter for this unique and very special property," said General Manager Trent Freeman. "Our completely reimagined approach to providing timeless hospitality and modern luxury will entice visitors and locals alike to come and enjoy a hospitality experience unlike any other in San Antonio." The Entrance New lighting on the front columns, flanked by citrus trees in large over-scale pots, will make the entrance more dramatic and prominent. Just inside the entrance is a redesigned fountain with a new water feature that is more visible than before. This is an inviting area where people can relax for a moment if they wish before going up to the second floor lobby. On the wall next to the elevators are four black and white mosaic-patterned cow skulls created by Shannon House of "Of the Earth Boutique" based in Northern California. The Reception Area The reception desk, now more visible from the stairs and elevator, is a statement piece a custom hand-carved desk featuring scalloped detailing. Behind the front desk the Alhambra-style plaster treatment, called Esgrafiado, utilizes a historic technique widely used in Spanish Colonial design. This stamped process creates a three-dimensional relief on the featured wall. Typically, the impression is used on an exterior faade, but here it is utilized on the interior. A laser-cut leather tapestry created by Miami-based Artehide is hung on the wall opposite the front desk. Columns throughout the second floor are cladded in warm walnut woods. Dorrego The new restaurant, Dorrego, is named for the famed Plaza Dorrego, a public square located in the historic San Telmo neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Plaza Dorrego is filled with cafes, bars and pubs, and is a popular gathering place for locals and visitors alike. Hotel Valencia Riverwalk's Executive Chef, Anthony Mesa, is developing an innovative new menu for Dorrego that draws its inspiration from the rich culinary heritage of Argentina. An extensive wine list, which includes a wide variety of Argentinean wines, will be a focal point for diners. The restaurant's decor reflects the Spanish Colonial design and architectural heritage of Argentina, with a touch of Parisian bistro panache. It features Argentinean-style tile work and woods with dark metal accents. The new dining space includes a private dining area that showcases a Talavera Mexican tile accent wall, a tin tile ceiling and a dramatic chandelier. Dorrego also features a new restaurant bar, and the welcoming space is ideal for gathering and lingering. "Dorrego's menu will capture the unique blend of Italian and Spanish cultures that is the cornerstone of Argentina's heritage and cuisine," noted Kretschmer. "As a result of a major influx of Italian immigrants to Argentina over the years, Argentina's cultural roots lie in both Spain and Italy. Hotel Valencia Riverwalk and Dorrego personify this distinctive fusion in both the hotel's design and in the restaurant's offerings." Dorrego's appealing terrace features additional seating topped with comfortable Spanish/Mediterranean-style cushions. The terrace features numerous planter pots, which blend the space into its tranquil River Walk setting. New Bar and Cafe The former VBar is being transformed into a soon-to-be-renamed bar and cafe. This re-energized space is now enveloped in Modern Mediterranean flair. Among its features are a hammered metal ceiling, Mediterranean-style textiles and hexagonal porcelain tiles and hardwoods on the floor. In the evenings, the space remains an ideal spot to meet over cocktails and small bites in the evening. In the mornings, the bar becomes a cafe featuring specialty coffees and a complimentary European-style continental breakfast for hotel guests. Other public spaces on the second floor The Library Rottet Studio has created a new library space where the former registration desk was located. This cozy space is reminiscent of an old-school cigar lounge at a gentlemen's club, with wood paneling and wood shutters. Artwork on the walls depicts graceful flamenco dancers. Artist Maksim Koloskov has been commissioned to paint a map of San Antonio on the spines of the books in the bookcase spanning one wall of the library. Another grouping of commissioned artwork will showcase the bridges of San Antonio found along the River Walk. The Living Room The central area of the lobby, which formerly featured a "Candle Wall" and cozy seating, now features a dramatic wrought iron chandelier and inviting Spanish Colonial-style furnishings and seating. A welcoming fireplace flanked by wrought iron scones replaces the previous "Candle Wall." Guest rooms showcase Spanish Colonial design The focal point of the redesigned guest rooms is the curved iron headboards. This rustic style is reminiscent of San Antonio's Mission-based Spanish Colonial influence. New bathroom vanities with a custom gray-brown wood stain, integrated mirror and bronze fittings were designed specifically for the hotel. Several renderings are available at this link, click here. About Lauren Rottet and Rottet Studio Lauren Rottet is one of the most celebrated interior architects in the world today. She is the only woman in history to be elevated to Fellow status by both the American Institute of Architects and International Interior Design Association. After graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Texas with Highest Honors, the Waco, Texas, native began her career in San Francisco, where she practiced with the accomplished residential design firm Fisher Friedman Associates. She later relocated to Chicago to join Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and focus on high-rise office design. She later transferred to Texas to work as Senior Designer for SOM on several major high-rise buildings, museums and planning projects. Next, she started an Interiors practice for SOM in Los Angeles. After successfully building that practice, Rottet and several SOM partners joined forces to create the architecture and interiors firm, Keating Mann Jernigan Rottet. The partners later joined Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall (DMJM) to further expand their growing practice. Rottet was Principal-in-Charge of the interiors practice, DMJM Rottet, for 14 years. In 2008, she left DMJM to form the privately held, WBE-certified, Rottet Studio. Today, Rottet Studio is an international architecture and design firm with an extensive portfolio of corporate and hospitality projects for the world's leading companies and brands. The firm is consistently ranked among the corporate and hospitality Top 100 Design Giants by Interior Design magazine and was recently recognized as one of the Top 3 Most Admired Design Firms in the World. About Valencia Group Houston-based Valencia Group is a fully integrated hospitality company that provides management, development, branding and repositioning services for independent, full-service hotels owned by the company, in addition to third parties. Exceptional service, style and location have become brand trademarks. Earning both national and international recognition for their distinctive designs, amenities and settings, Valencia Group properties are destinations and gathering places within their respective communities, some further benefitting from and enriching their space within the cultural heart of a city. The company continues to forge a niche with hotels that anchor and add value to urban, mixed-use environments, which further support or enhance the guest experience with superior residential, restaurant, retail and office components. The Valencia Group portfolio currently includes the Valencia brands: Hotel Valencia Santana Row in San Jose, CA and Hotel Valencia Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX. The Sorella brands include Hotel Sorella CITYCENTRE in Houston, TX by developer Midway and Hotel Sorella Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, MO. The newest court concept brands include Lone Star Court in Austin, TX and Midway and Valencia Group's Cavalry Court in College Station, TX. New openings in 2017 will include: Midway and Valencia Group's The George" in College Station, TX and Midway's Hotel Alessandra in Houston, TX. For more information, please visit http://www.valenciagroup.com Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2017/01/prweb14006906.htm You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close MIAMI, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Miami International Airport experienced another record-breaking year in 2016, serving nearly 44.6 million travelers an increase of 234,000 over 2015 that also secured the airport's seventh-consecutive year of passenger growth. The busiest U.S. airport for international freight broke its 2015 record for annual freight traffic as well, growing 0.37 percent to 2.18 million tons in 2016, according to final audited statistics from the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD). Despite a large downturn in travel between MIA and top South American markets with struggling economies, in addition to the presence of Zika in South Florida, the global gateway's annual passenger traffic still increased by 0.53 percent. While travel between MIA and Brazil alone the airport's top international market - fell 600,000 passengers in 2016, increases in other countries and domestically kept the global gateway on an upward trend. Domestic passengers rose by 0.26 percent to 23.2 million, while international traffic grew by 0.82 percent to nearly 21.4 million passengers. MIA continues to be among the world's top 10 hubs for international freight, with 1.9 million tons of international shipments and 287,953 tons of domestic freight. "MIA's continued growth in 2016, especially in the face of severe challenges to tourism locally and throughout our world region, is very encouraging," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "I thank the Board of County Commissioners for their continued support of MIA, and MIA's leaders for the work they do to keep our County's top economic engine moving forward." Adding to MIA's growth were the launches of 10 new entrant airlines: AeroUnion, Dominican Wings; Eurowings; KF Cargo; Northern Air Cargo; Pan American World Airways Dominicana; Scandinavian Airlines; Silver Airways; Surinam Airways; and 21 Air. MIA is now home to 109 carriers, the most of any U.S. airport. MIA also welcomed six new international nonstop routes: Bimini, Bahamas; Cologne, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Oslo, Norway; Paramaribo, Suriname; and Varadero, Cuba. "I join our community in being incredibly proud of another record-breaking year at MIA," said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa, Chairperson of the County's Economic Development and Tourism Committee. "MDAD continues to be one of our community's strongest economic engines by bolstering tourism and creating local jobs for our residents. I wish the Aviation Department continued success in 2017." MIA's airline roster will expand further in 2017 with the addition of four more carriers, all of which will serve international destinations. Low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris will fly daily to Mexico City and four times a week to Guadalajara, Mexico, beginning on February 1. Following Volaris three days later will be First Air, which will begin weekly charter service to Mount Hope, Ontario in February 4, on behalf of Celebrity Cruises. Low-cost European carrier WOW Air will begin flying to Reykjavik, Iceland three times a week in April, and Aer Lingus will begin three weekly flights to Dublin, Ireland in September. "We had a 30-percent decrease from our busiest international market, and we still ended 2016 better than 2015," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez. "With sustained growth by hub carrier American Airlines, more international carriers on the way, and new business opportunities for our cargo airlines, we expect another prosperous year in 2017." MEDIA CONTACT: Greg Chin 305.876.7017 [email protected] www.miami-airport.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mia-breaks-all-time-passenger-record-in-2016-300395047.html SOURCE Miami International Airport HORSHAM, Pa., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Selene Finance is pleased to announce that Mitch Oringer has joined the firm as Senior Vice President, REO and Valuations. "Mitch's extensive experience will not only bring a fresh outlook and strategy for our growing REO business, but skilled leadership to foster the talented team we have here," said Diane Bowser, executive vice president, special servicing. "Selene is well-regarded in the industry and has a strong foundation of success in the REO space," said Oringer. "I'm excited to hit the ground running and further strengthen the relationship between the company and its clients." Oringer brings key knowledge to the role, having experience in the acquisition, oversight, and servicing of non-performing loans with an emphasis on REO disposition, portfolio management, loss mitigation, and call center outreach. He joins Selene most recently from Auction.com, where he was vice president of residential operations and responsible for increasing the bidding activity leading to the sale of REO properties on the website. Throughout his career, he has held leadership roles at companies such as Shelving Rock Partners, The National Group and GMAC Rescap. Selene Finance uses proprietary technology combined with unmatched customer service to propose flexible and creative servicing strategies to address the different needs of nonperforming, re-performing, REO, and performing loans. Selene is able to service in all 50 states and has approval to service Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, HUD, and Federal Home Loan Bank loans. About Selene Finance: Selene Finance (www.selenefinance.com) was founded in 2007 and is a trusted name in the specialty servicing business. Selene is owned indirectly by investment funds managed by two respected names in the investment management industry Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. and Ranieri Partners Management. Selene is one of only two servicers in the country selected to be a Ginnie Mae Single Family Master Sub-servicer. Selene has more than 500 employees at locations in Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; and Horsham, PA. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/selene-finance-names-mitch-oringer-senior-vice-president-reo-and-valuations-300395442.html SOURCE Selene Finance St. Charles, IL (PRWEB) January 23, 2017 Goostree Law Group, P.C., located in St. Charles, Illinois, is pleased to welcome Attorney Robert J. Bigelow to the firm. He will focus his practice primarily in family law, but also has experience in handling matters related to criminal defense through his tenure as an assistant public defender in Boone County. "We are excited to welcome Robert as a part of our team. His passion for both the law and helping others make him an exceptional family law attorney and advocate to our clients," says Founding Partner, Tricia D. Goostree. St. Charles Divorce Attorney Robert J. Bigelow graduated cum laude with his J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law. While attending law school, Bigelow completed an internship with Administer Justice in Elgin, Illinois. The organization helps provides low-income individuals and families with adequate legal services within the areas of family law, immigration, tax law, and bankruptcy. He also worked as a teaching assistant at NIU's political science department, and served as assistant editor of the NIU Law Review publication. Bigelow is an active member of the Kane County Bar Association, DuPage County Bar Association, and the Boone County Bar Association. About Goostree Law Group, P.C.: The Kane County family law firm of Goostree Law Group, P.C. proudly serves the communities of St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Oswego, and Wheaton. The Illinois family law attorneys at Goostree Law Group, P.C. are dedicated to advocating on behalf of their client's rights to achieve the best possible outcome for each case. If you are seeking compassionate and experienced legal representation within Northern Illinois, contact Goostree Law Group, P.C. today to schedule a free consultation. Call 630-584-4800 or visit http://www.familydivorcelaw.com to get started. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/kane-county-divorce/goostree-law-group/prweb14008429.htm Trump Met Today with Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- On the heels of President Donald Trumps meeting with automakers in Washington today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), the non-partisan, not-for-profit global advocacy organization, is raising concerns with the White House about Fiat Chryslers ties to the Iranian regime. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, one of three executives from leading automakers to participate in todays meeting with the President, is reported to be pursuing re-entry into the Iranian market through a joint venture with Iran Khodro Group, one of Irans largest automakers. Iran Khodro is a subsidiary of IDRO, an Iranian government body that controls companies involved in developing the regimes nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Fiat previously halted its Iran business in response to a UANI campaign which highlighted photographic evidence of Fiat Iveco-brand trucks being used in public executions in Iran and to transport Iranian missiles. Automakers have long known the risks of doing business with Iran, the worlds leading state sponsor of terror. Any company meeting with the Trump administration should be transparent about its activities, and be prepared for the consequences of working with an Iranian regime committed to its long-standing Death to America dogma, said UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform. Fiat Chrysler, as a leading U.S. government contractor, should not be engaging the Iranian regime, which threatens the security of the U.S. and is already responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers from Lebanon to Iraq, added UANI Chairman and former U.S. Senator Joseph I. Lieberman. Fiat should also be mindful and respectful of the fact that President Trump is opposed to the current nuclear deal with Iran and may either withdraw from the agreement, more aggressively monitor Irans compliance with it, and/or impose new sanctions on companies doing business with Iran. President Trumps meeting follows the annual North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), where UANI led a campaign warning participants of the numerous business risks they face in engaging with the Iranian auto industry. UANI will continue to highlight industries whose efforts in Iran undermine international security. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006508/en/ United Against Nuclear Iran Steven Cohen, 212-922-0063 [email protected] Source: United Against Nuclear Iran Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrives to greet people gathered at the Gandan Tegchinlen monastery in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, November 19, 2016. REUTERS/B. Rentsendorj BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it hopes Mongolia has learned a lesson and will keep a promise not to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama again after his visit in November led to a chill in relations. The Dalai Lama is upheld as a spiritual leader in predominantly Buddhist Mongolia, but China regards him as a dangerous separatist and warned Mongolia before the visit that it could damage ties. "The Dalai Lama's furtive visit to Mongolia brought a negative impact to China-Mongolia relations," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mongolia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsend Munkh-Orgil by telephone. "We hope that Mongolia has taken this lesson to heart," he said, according to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website. China also hoped Mongolia would "scrupulously abide by its promise" not to invite the Dalai Lama again, Wang said. The Mongolian minister was not available for comment but the Chinese ministry said he expressed regret at the negative impact caused by the visit and reaffirmed his government's position that the Dalai Lama would not be invited again, first stated in December. A week after the November visit, China imposed fees on commodity imports from Mongolia, charging additional transit costs on goods passing through a border crossing into China's northern region of Inner Mongolia. "Mongolia firmly supports the one China policy, consistently holds that Tibet is an in separable part of China, that the Tibet issue is China's internal affair," the Mongolian minister was quoted as saying. Mongolia has been working to boost economic ties with its powerful southern neighbor and use Chinese investment and know- how in mining and infrastructure projects. Mongolia had previously said the Dalai Lama's trip had nothing to do with the government and he had been invited by Mongolian Buddhists. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. He is based in India. Beijing regards him as a "splittist", though he says he seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland, which Communist Chinese troops "peacefully liberated" in 1950. Rights groups and exiles say China tramples on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, accusations denied by Beijing, which says its rule has ended serfdom and brought prosperity to a once-backward region. (Reporting by Christian Shepherd; Editing by Robert Birsel) Sammy Morales, (L) brother of Guatemala's president Jimmy Morales, arrives at the court after being arrested for his alleged involvement in a corruption case in Guatemala City, Guatemala, January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Luis Echeverria By Sofia Menchu GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala on Wednesday arrested the brother and a son of the country's president, who swept to victory with an anti-graft campaign, for their alleged involvement in corruption. Jimmy Morales was elected president in 2015 pledging to clean up Guatemalan politics after riding a wave of public anger over a corruption scandal that led to the arrest and trial of his predecessor, retired General Otto Perez. The alleged corruption in Morales' family represents a major blow to the former comedian's credibility in a country roiled by years of armed conflict and political corruption. Last September, a judge barred Samuel "Sammy" Morales, an older brother and a close adviser to the president, and Jose Manuel Morales, one of his four sons, from leaving the country over suspicious payments linked to the mother of Jose Manuel's then-girlfriend in 2013. On Wednesday, Guatemala's Attorney General Thelma Aldana said Sammy Morales had been arrested, and that Jose Manuel had turned himself in. Aldana asked that the two men be detained pending a trial for fraud and, in the case of Sammy Morales, money laundering. The charge of money laundering was later dismissed. Another eight people, including officials from the general property registry, were also detained. Aldana said that so far, it had been determined that neither Sammy Morales nor Jose Manuel Morales made any money from the scheme, which she called an "illicit favor." "The support to my family is 100 percent. My respect for the law, as a citizen and president, is also 100 percent, as it always has been," President Morales said to reporters after inaugurating a school outside the capital. Aldana said the president had "not interfered once" during the investigation into his brother and his son, who studies in the United States and returned to Guatemala to answer questions in the case. After his arrest, Sammy Morales told reporters he was willing to answer any questions. "This doesn't affect me because it shows nobody is above the law," he said. The alleged corruption arose when the mother of Jose Manuel's then-girlfriend agreed to supply Christmas hampers to officials at the national property registry, which is being investigated for suspected graft, according to testimony given during a public hearing about the registry. Guatemala's general property registry records land and property ownership across the country. The woman sent the registry a bill for 90,000 quetzal ($11,936) made out in the name of a local restaurant for 564 breakfasts, not Christmas hampers, according to the attorney general. The breakfasts were not delivered, according to statements given by a witness during the public hearing. Sammy Morales, the president's brother, said at the time he had helped obtain the bill from the restaurant as "a favor" to his nephew, but denied it was fraudulent. It was not clear what happened to the Christmas hampers or why the woman submitted the bill through the restaurant. ($1 = 7.5400 quetzals) (Writing by Gabriel Stargardter and Enrique Pretel; Editing by Simon Gardner and Jeffrey Benkoe) By David DeKok HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - A sweeping corruption case against a former mayor of Pennsylvanias capital city Harrisburg ended on Monday when he pleaded guilty to 20 counts of receiving stolen artifacts bought with public funds for a proposed museum that was never built in the city. Former Mayor Stephen R. Reed, 67, made the plea on the morning when jury selection in his trial was scheduled to begin in Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped 94 other counts. Reed, who was originally charged in 2015 with nearly 500 criminal counts, could receive up to nine months in prison under state sentencing guidelines when Judge Kevin Hess sentences him on Friday, although he may only get probation. Many of the more serious charges, including bribery and siphoning money from bond issues, were dismissed last year on statute of limitations grounds. "Todays guilty plea marks the final chapter in a case that has gone on for several years," said Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Frantz. "This will help the city of Harrisburg to move on." Reed, known as an avid private collector of Civil War and American West memorabilia during his 28 years in office, pleaded guilty to illegal possession of 20 historical documents and photographs with a total value of more than $18,000. The artifacts were among thousands acquired by Reed with public funds for a proposed Museum of the American West that he had hoped to build in financially strapped Harrisburg. After his plea, Reed told reporters he experienced "gut-wrenching humiliation and embarrassment" over his arrest, after serving as Harrisburgs mayor for decades. He said many of the artifacts seized from his home and warehouse during a raid in 2015 were legally owned by him, but similar to ones acquired with public funds for the museum. He believes the 20 items in the plea were accidentally placed in boxes of his own papers after he hastily left office following his defeat in 2010, but acknowledged the packing was done under his supervision. "The precepts of my faith require that I take responsibility for this error, and that was my ultimate deciding factor in doing this plea," Reed said. A hearing is scheduled in March on Reeds petition for the return of artifacts he believes belong to him. Frantz said prosecutors would oppose that request. Harrisburg has been under state financial supervision since 2011, primarily because of cost overruns on an incinerator retrofit project. (Editing by Frank McGurty and Bernadette Baum) Romanian President Klaus Iohannis waves to protesters gathered at a demonstration against government plans to grant prison pardons and decriminalize some offences through emergency decree, in Bucharest, Romania, January 22, 2017. Inquam Photos/Liviu Flori By Radu-Sorin Marinas BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday he could hold a referendum on the government's plans to decriminalize certain offences and to pardon convicts through decrees, moves critics say could harm efforts to stamp out high-level corruption. Thousands of people have rallied in Bucharest and cities in recent days to protest against the plans, which have been criticized by Iohannis, the prosecutor general, the supreme court, the chief anti-corruption prosecutor as well as civil rights groups. "Unfortunately, this topic has become a national topic," Iohannis said an event at the Cotroceni Palace museum. "There's clearly a wide interest to amending the criminal code...If that's the case I will subject this topic to the public debate and the popular vote." Iohannis did not offer a time frame for the referendum and the leftist government has not commented. He must first get a non-binding opinion from parliament on his plan. "I will launch the needed proceedings to allow Romanians to say whether they agree with these moves or not because when they voted (last December), these plans were not included in the (ruling) Social Democrat Party's governing program." On Sunday, leftist leader Liviu Dragnea -- himself given a two-year suspended jail sentence for a 2012 referendum-rigging conviction -- branded the street protests as an attempted coup. Iohannis joined protesters briefly on Sunday. According to the drafts, the government intends to decriminalize abuse of power actions causing financial damage of less than 200,000 lei ($47,500). It is also seeking to pardon convicts sentenced to less than five years for committing certain crimes, and cut sentences by half for all prisoners aged over 60, and those having a terminal illness, regardless of their crime. Iohannis urged the government on Friday to scrap the decrees, which he said would undermine the rule of law and anti-corruption efforts. The European Union Commission has praised prosecutors' efforts to fight graft while saying that local politicians have a history of trying to pass legislation which could weaken investigative powers. (Editing by Angus MacSwan) People walk beneath a Citibank branch logo in the financial district of San Francisco, California July 17, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith/File Photo (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) each agreed to pay more than $2.96 million to settle charges they misled investors about a foreign exchange trading program they were selling, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday. The SEC said the civil case arose from the marketing of CitiFX Alpha to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney customers from August 2010 to July 2011, when Citigroup held a 49 percent ownership stake in that joint venture. According to the regulator, brokers failed to adequately disclose that investors would be taking on more leverage than suggested by the program's past performance and risk metrics, which had been used in the marketing. The SEC also said brokers failed to adequately disclose the markups charged on trades. Some of the investors had no experience in foreign exchange trading, and did not understand some basic information about that market, the regulator added. Neither bank admitted or denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Their payouts each include a $2.25 million civil fine, plus disgorged profit and interest, the SEC said. Morgan Stanley bought out Citigroup's stake in the joint venture in June 2013. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Tom Brown) Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro talks to the media during a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela January 18, 2017. REUTERS/Marco Bello By Diego Ore and Anggy Polanco CARACAS/SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela (Reuters) - Offering prized bags of flour to police and hurling empty medicine boxes on the floor, Venezuelan opposition protesters launched a new push on Monday to force President Nicolas Maduro from power and end 18 years of socialist rule. Turnout for the opposition's first rallies of 2017 was not massive, reflecting disillusionment over last year's failure to bring about a referendum to recall the 54-year-old leader and successor to Hugo Chavez. But those who did march in a string of rallies around the country turned creative in their complaints about the South American OPEC nation's unprecedented economic crisis. In the politically volatile western state of Tachira, long a hotbed of anti-Maduro sentiment, some demonstrators proffered flour - an increasingly scarce and expensive commodity during the nation's three-year recession - to police, witnesses said. In Caracas, where several thousand opposition supporters marched, some threw empty medicine cartons on the floor to symbolize shortages afflicting the health sector. Security forces fired teargas in Tachira to stop protesters from reaching an office of the National Election Council, while in Caracas they used tear gas against people blocking a highway. With many of Venezuela's 30 million people skipping meals, unable to pay soaring prices for basic goods and facing long lines for scarce subsidized products, Maduro, who won a 2013 election to succeed Chavez, has become deeply unpopular. Polls showed a majority of Venezuelans wanted a referendum last year which could have brought his rule to an early end and sparked a presidential vote. But compliant courts and election authorities thwarted the move, alleging fraud in signature collections. "This government is scared of votes, and the election council is the instrument they use to avoid them," said housewife Zoraida Castro, 46, during a march to the election council's office in southern Ciudad Bolivar city. The opposition Democratic Unity coalition is demanding dates for regional elections that are supposed to happen this year, and also urging Maduro to hold a new presidential ballot. "It's a day of struggle in Venezuela," said coalition secretary general Jesus Torrealba, in Barquisimeto town to show solidarity with a Catholic archbishop whose residence was recently attacked after he criticized the government. Maduro's six-year term is due to end in early 2019. Red-shirted government supporters, who accuse the opposition of seeking a coup with U.S. connivance, were also marching on Monday, a politically significant day for Venezuelans: the anniversary of the 1958 fall of dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez. They gathered at the National Pantheon building to honor leftist guerrilla Fabricio Ojeda, who was murdered in 1966. (Additional reporting by German Dam in Ciudad Bolivar, Anggy Polanco in San Cristobal; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and Paul Simao) UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 Date of Report (Date of Earliest Event Reported): January 23, 2017 REAL GOODS SOLAR, INC. (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter) Colorado 001-34044 26-1851813 (State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.) 833 West South Boulder Road, Louisville, CO 80027-2452 (Address of Principal Executive Offices, Including Zip Code) Registrants telephone number, including area code: (303) 222-8300 Not Applicable (Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report) Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions (see General Instruction A.2. below): Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communication pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Item 5.07. Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders On January 23, 2017, Real Goods Solar, Inc. (the Company) held a special meeting of shareholders. The final voting results for Proposal 1, the only matter submitted to a vote of shareholders at the special meeting, was as follows: The Companys shareholders approved a reverse stock split of all of the outstanding shares of the Companys Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, at a specific ratio within a range from one-for-five to one-for-thirty-five and to grant authorization to our board of directors to determine, in its sole discretion, the specific ratio and the timing of the reverse stock split at any time before January 23, 2018, with the following vote: For Against Abstain Broker non-votes 14,546,169 6,485,099 26,778 0 The proxy statement for the special meeting also solicited proxies with respect to a proposal for the adjournment of the special meeting, if necessary to solicit additional proxies, in the event that there were not sufficient votes at the time of the special meeting to approve Proposal 1. The Company determined at the time of the meeting that, as a result of the approval of Proposal 1, a vote on Proposal 2 was not necessary. However, based on the proxies received, Proposal 2 would have been approved with the following vote had the Company called a vote on Proposal 2: For Against Abstain Broker non-votes 15,015,864 5,312,255 729,927 0 Item 8.01. Other Events. On January 23, 2017, the Company held a special meeting of shareholders where the Companys shareholders approved a reverse stock split of all of the outstanding shares of the Companys Class A common stock, par value $0.0001, at a specific ratio within a range of one-for-five to one-for-thirty-five. The shareholders granted the Companys board of directors the authority to determine, within a range of one-for-five to one-for-thirty-five, in its sole discretion, the specific ratio for and timing of the reverse stock split at any time before January 23, 2018. Following the special meeting, the Companys board of directors authorized a reverse stock split at a ratio of one-for-thirty to become effective on January 25, 2017 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. SIGNATURE Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. REAL GOODS SOLAR, INC. By: /s/ Dennis Lacey Dennis Lacey Chief Executive Officer Date: January 23, 2017 UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (date of earliest event reported): January 23, 2017 WESTLAKE CHEMICAL PARTNERS LP (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 001-36567 32-0436529 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.) 2801 Post Oak Boulevard, Suite 600 Houston, Texas 77056 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) Registrants telephone number, including area code: (713) 585-2900 Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions: Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Item 7.01 Regulation FD Disclosure. On January 23, 2017, Westlake Chemical Partners LP (Westlake Partners) issued a press release regarding the instruction by the new administration of President Donald J. Trump to all federal departments and agencies to delay the implementation of all new or pending regulations to permit the new administration to review and approve the regulations before their implementation. A copy of the press release is furnished with this Current Report as Exhibit 99.1. The information furnished pursuant to this Current Report, including Exhibit 99.1, shall not be deemed to be filed for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and will not be incorporated by reference into any filing by Westlake Partners under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, unless specifically identified as being incorporated therein. Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits. (d) Exhibits The following exhibit is furnished herewith: 99.1 Press Release dated January 23, 2017 2 SIGNATURE Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. WESTLAKE CHEMICAL PARTNERS LP By: Westlake Chemical Partners GP LLC, its general partner By: /s/ L. Benjamin Ederington L. Benjamin Ederington Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Date: January 23, 2017 3 EXHIBIT INDEX Exhibit Number Description 99.1 Press Release dated January 23, 2017 4 Exhibit 99.1 Westlake Chemical Partners LP Statement on the New Administrations Regulatory Freeze HOUSTON, TX January 23, 2017 As noted in the January 19, 2017 press release issued by Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE: WLKP) (the Partnership), on January 19, 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations under section 7704(d)(1)(E) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to qualifying income from the processing, refining and transportation of minerals or natural resources, which allows a business to be treated as a partnership for U.S. federal tax purposes. The final regulations uphold a previous private letter ruling that Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE: WLK) had received from the IRS that the Partnerships production, transportation, storage and marketing of ethylene constitutes qualifying income within the meaning of section 7704(d)(1)(E). On January 20, 2017, the new administration of President Donald J. Trump instructed all federal departments and agencies to delay the implementation of all new or pending regulations to permit the new administration to review and approve the regulations before their implementation. Similar reviews have been a common feature of all recent Presidential transitions. We look forward to the new administrations prompt review of the regulations issued by the IRS and Treasury, said Albert Chao, Westlakes President and Chief Executive Officer. Westlake Chemical Partners LP Westlake Chemical Partners LP is a limited partnership formed by Westlake Chemical Corporation to operate, acquire and develop facilities for the processing of natural gas liquids as well as other qualifying activities. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, the Partnership owns a 13.3% interest in Westlake Chemical OpCo LP. Westlake Chemical OpCo LPs assets include three facilities in Calvert City, Kentucky, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, which process ethane and propane into ethylene, and an ethylene pipeline. For more information about Westlake Chemical Partners LP, please visit http://www.wlkpartners.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Partnership expects, projects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as believes, intends, may, should, could, anticipates, expects, will or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategies or trends. Although the Partnership believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Partnership cannot give any assurances that these expectations will prove to be correct. Contacts Westlake: Investor Inquiries: Mr. Steve Bender 713-960-9111 [email protected] Media Inquiries: Mr. Ben Ederington 713-960-9111 [email protected] According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Multan Strike Corps on Monday. He appreciated the Multan Corps for taking part in operations against terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwan and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). #COAS visits elite strike Corps at Multan. Our experience of CT ops has made us battle hardened: a valued add-on in operational preparedness pic.twitter.com/tS3Hg7CZTZ Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) January 23, 2017 He addressed the young soldiers stating that experience gained from fighting against terrorism has made us strong. This capability helps us in preparing for more operations, he added. Army Chief claimed that the soldiers of Pakistan Army are best among soldiers in all armies around the world. He affirmed, "Our soldiers are brave, selfless and patriotic." #COAS visit to Multan. Pak Army's soldiers are best in the world; brave, professional, patriot and selfless. Army is what its soldiers are. pic.twitter.com/Exzf5U55BS Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) January 23, 2017 According to him, he is proud to lead one of the most courageous and professionally trained armies.. The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said it may summon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to record his statement in the ongoing Panamagate case. The remarks were made by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who is heading a five-judge larger bench of the apex court to hear a slew of petitions against the Sharif family over corruption, in response to a plea made by Jamaat-e-Islami counsel Advocate Taufiq Asif. Asif requested the top court to summon the prime minister and record his statement regarding the ownership of luxury apartments in an upscale London neighbourhood. Justice Khosa told the JI counsel that the court will first hear the stance of the counsels of PM Nawazs children and if there is anything required, then the premier may be summoned. The judge, however, clarified that such a move will only be taken after hearing the arguments of the counsels. Meanwhile, Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the apex court had declared in the Khewra Mines case that it can record evidence under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Concluding his arguments, the JI counsel said Nawaz had appeared in the top court several times in different matters, therefore, the court should summon him in this matter as well. Everyones has doubts regarding the money trail of London flats given by the Sharif family, he argued. Prime ministers daughter Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday once again denied allegations she was the beneficial owner of London properties. In her reply submitted in SC, the premiers daughter also rejected the correspondence between Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca. Maryams response came a day after German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung the original source of the Panama Papers leaks , reaffirmed that the prime ministers daughter was connected with Minerva Financial Services Ltd, the company that owns the Park Lane flats in London. The family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was named in the Panama Papers, one of the biggest leaks in history. The leak, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, shows how some of the worlds most powerful people have secreted away their money in offshore jurisdictions. Among those named are three of Sharifs four children Maryam, who has been tipped to be his political successor; Hasan and Hussain, with the records showing they owned London real estate through offshore companies administrated by the firm. US President Donald Trump is open to conducting joint operations with Russia to combat the Daesh in Syria, his spokesman said Monday. "If there's a way we can combat Daesh with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it," press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters when asked about the prospect of joint military action in Syria. The White House reasserted that illegal immigrants with criminal records would be the focus of the stepped-up deportation drive promised by President Donald Trump. "People who can do harm or have done harm and have a criminal record are the focus," press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters, when asked about the future of a program that shields from deportation undocumented immigrants who arrived as children. "Weve got a series of individuals we have to figure out -- people who overstayed their visas, have committed a crime. Well go through that in a systematic and methodical way. Right now the focus is on people who have done harm to our country," Spicer said.. The Women's March in Elkhorn was not as large as the events in Madison and big cities across the nation it numbered about 50 but the protesters were calling for the same things that people elsewhere were calling for: health care, good education, equal pay and workers' rights. The marchers are a reminder that rural and small-town America is far more diverse and dynamic than major media outlets bother to note. PHOTO BY JOHN NICHOLS US President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Monday to Egyptian President Fattah al Sisi, a day after a similar call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. US media reported that the calls were part of the new presidents consultations for a proposed shifting of the United States embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The White House, which confirmed the two calls, did not give a readout. The calls were Mr Trumps first to foreign leaders as president, as the new administration considers the pros and cons of moving the embassy to the city disputed between the Israelis and Palestinians. The media noted that while the change would please several American Jewish groups, it would have a negative reaction among the countrys Arab allies. Egypt is one of just two Arab countries that have signed a peace treaty with Israel and the Trump administration believes that Cairos support could be very useful in persuading others not to oppose the proposed move. A US law, passed in 1995, suggests shifting the embassy to Jersusalem but leaves it to the president to determine when is the right time to do so. The president, however, has to send a certificate to the Congress twice a year that the proposed move does not serve US interests. The next certification is due in May. The US media noted that Mr Trump had cordial relations with Mr Sisi who praised him after he was elected in November. The Egyptian president also expressed hope that Mr Trump would mend ties with Arab states that frayed under former president Barack Obama. The White House said President Trump was also expected to sign a host of executive orders on Monday and Tuesday, including one that would give more powers to the US military to combat the militant Islamic State group (IS). Another order will authorise the administration to start building a wall on the US border with Mexico, a major election promise that helped Mr Trump win much support from rural America where anti-immigration sentiments are high. The media reported that President Trump would also make full use of his executive authority to halt work on former president Obamas health and trade policies. On Friday, Mr Trump signed an order to minimise the financial support to Mr Obamas healthcare policy known as Obamacare that the former president wanted to continue as his legacy. But more action is needed to undo the law. The new president is also expected to sign orders to start undoing foreign trade agreements initiated by the Obama administration, slapping a lobbying ban and prohibiting non-governmental organisations from receiving foreign aid if they perform abortions. Another order would authorise his administration to begin a 90-day review of alleged Russian hacking and cyber security vulnerabilities within the government. The order authorising the joint chiefs of staff panel to expedite the fight against the IS would endorse a plan the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US defence department, prepared this month for the new administration. The Pentagon said the plan included suggestions for speeding up the fight without using huge numbers of US troops on the ground. There are about 6,000 US troops in Iraq and 500 special operations personnel in Syria, fighting IS extremists. A senior Iranian official says the recent Syria peace talks in Kazakhstans capital city of Astana have bolstered the legitimacy of the Arab countrys government. Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, made the remarks while speaking to reporters in Tehran on Tuesday in reference to the two-day Astana talks, which concluded earlier in the day by issuing a final statement. The Astana meeting showed that all sides, including Turkey and those groups, which follow this country and even countries not present there (in Astana), have acknowledged the Syrian governments legitimacy either directly or indirectly, Velayati said. The peace talks started in Astana on Monday in the presence of representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups to explore whether or not they can find a mutually-acceptable solution to the almost-six-year conflict in their country. Iran, Russia, and Turkey organized the Astana talks. The three also played intermediary roles at the talks, where the United Nations envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was also present. Velayati further assessed as positive the fact that representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition, except the Takfiri terrorist groups of Daesh and al-Nusra Front, had agreed to accept a nationwide ceasefire and operate under the Syrian government in the future. There are high hopes that the peace talks would lead to the extension of the ceasefire, he added, noting that it is not, however, reasonable and correct to expect the Astana meeting to resolve all the disputes in Syria. The senior Iranian official emphasized that such meetings must continue in the future. At the end of the Syrian peace talks in Astana, Iran, Russia and Turkey agreed to establish a trilateral mechanism to support the ceasefire in the country and monitor possible violations. A final joint statement also underlined the importance of maintaining the national sovereignty of Syria. Last month, Iran, Russia, and Turkey worked out a deal enabling the evacuation of civilians and militants from Aleppo as the Syrian forces were about to retake the northwestern city from Takfiri militants. The deal also paved the way for a ceasefire applying to the entire country, which has been largely holding. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Republican Gov. Scott Walker is so enamored of states rights that hes willing to welcome the inauguration of an admitted sexual abuser and leader in the birther movement whose spokesman talks as if hes on loan from North Korea. Hes not the only one to believe Donald Trumps administration will allow states greater control over issues such as the environment and welfare. The Wisconsin Legislatures Republican leaders have also created two committees focused, in part, on delving into this hoped-for shift in power: The Assembly Committee on Federalism and Interstate Relations and the Senate Committee on Financial Services, Constitution and Federalism. Where Republican lawmakers arent so interested in returning power to lower levels of government is those governments that are not controlled by them. The latest example in the GOPs penchant for wresting control of local government away from the locals is a GOP bill to prohibit local governments from requiring the use of union labor on public works projects. Bill backers say this will lower costs to local government by increasing competition for government contracts and, if passed into law, it may well do exactly that. But its a little ironic for a party that has long touted its preference for local control and is looking forward to the new president relinquishing some federal control to the states to be telling Wisconsin municipalities whats best for them. The epitome of state GOP paternalism, of course, was 2011s Act 10, which dramatically rejiggered local governments relationships with their employees by drastically restricting what they could include in their collective bargaining agreements. Act 10 was the brainchild of Gov. Walker yes, that same Gov. Walker who in a Friday memo welcoming President Trump wrote: To truly Make America Great Again, we need to move power from the federal government to the state and local governments and ultimately to the people. I guess power to the people only applies if those people arent the pro-union people elected as mayor and city council and school board members in a place like Madison. Reducing local control and reducing the power of unions dovetail nicely for Wisconsins GOP, given that unions have traditionally provided lots of the muscle and money for defeating GOP candidates. But the partys paternalism isnt confined to union-busting. In the six years Republicans have had full control of state government, lawmakers have made pipeline expansion easier, meddled in sewer system oversight and diluted control over new development all in Dane County specifically as well as usurped cities ability to regulate apartment rentals and transportation network companies such as Uber and Lyft, among many other changes targeting municipalities. I understand that the animating principles of both major political parties are ideology and power. Lately, Republicans at the state and national levels are doing a bang-up job of proving that if they have to pick one or the other, power will win every time. The driver of a minivan was seriously injured early Tuesday morning when the vehicle hit an ambulance on Highway 12/18 near Nora Road in the town of Cottage Grove. No one was being transported in the Ryan Brothers ambulance at the time of the crash around 3:20 a.m., the Dane County Sheriff's Office said. The report said Beatrice Bender, 37, was driving a Honda Odyssey that appeared to have crossed the center line and hit the ambulance. Bender was extricated from the minivan and taken to a local hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A 4-year-old passenger was taken to the hospital as well, but showed no injuries. The ambulance crew was not injured. Highway 12/18 was closed for two hours so crews could clean up debris and a gasoline spill from the ambulance. One of the two men accused of indecently assaulting two girls on the Mount Main Beach on January 2, has been further remanded following a brief court appearance this week. Pradeep Jain, 21, is facing two counts of indecent assault and appeared before a Tauranga District Court registrar this week. He will next appear on the Registrars List on February 9. Harpreet Mavai is accused of a single indecent assault, and is on bail until his appearance before a District Court registrar on January 27. Police say two teenage girls were approached by four men around 12.30am on Mount Main Beach and were indecently assaulted on the beach between Pacific Ave and Banks Ave. The females flagged down a passing patrol car and reported the incident. Two of the men were subsequently arrested, says a police spokesperson. Two others were being spoken to by police. Tauranga City Council has received several complaints recently from residents over freedom campers flouting the rules. Among the sites popular with freedom campers is Nikau Crescent in Mount Maunganui, which has been subjected to litter by careless overnighters. Last week Mount resident Rosalie Liddle Crawford noted a lot of vans overnighting in Nikau Crescent, as well as self-contained campervans. She says there have been around 15-20 far more than most freedom camping spots allow. A German couple staying in a van told Rosalie they couldnt afford the $30 per night fee at the local backpackers. Freedom camping is permitted in Nikau Crescent, but vehicles must be parked on the grass road berm, and must be self-contained. Tauranga City Council bylaws and parking team leader Stuart Goodman says the council has received a number of complaints recently regarding freedom camping, including complaints about those at Nikau Crescent. The majority of complaints are around the number of freedom campers at each site. Last week, an enforcement officer investigated a complaint regarding Nikau Crescent arrangements were made to clear the site of any litter. He says Tauranga is a popular location and well-regarded in the freedom camping community, and the campers are mostly very respectful. Council receives very few complaints around anti-social behaviour at our freedom camping locations. Any such complaints are investigated and some are referred to the police. The council conducts proactive patrols and provides education to the campers around Taurangas Freedom Camping Bylaw. Council may look at further enforcement action in the future. Freedom campers have proved a challenge to rural New Zealand as well, according to Federated Farmers. They allege there have been situations where farmers were left to sort out the mess left by campers situated on, or crossing, their land. Federated Farmers local government spokesperson Katie Milne says tourism is at record levels and freedom camping is on the rise. 44,000 international visitors took the option to freedom camp last summer. The government is making plenty in GST but doing little to fund the needs of small communities in need of significant investment to cope. Freedom Camping: What are the rules? Five years ago Richard OBrien gave up his 70th birthday to fundraise for the Starship Foundation, and hes doing it again this year. On March 24, the Rocky Horror Picture Show creator will be taking to the stage at Baycourt in Tauranga holding a 75 Years of Frock n Roll fundraising event in celebration of his 75th birthday, which also coincides with Starships own 25 year celebrations. Ten years after Richard entered the world, he says his parents decided to come to New Zealand and thankfully they decided to bring me and my siblings along with them, what joy. I sailed through puberty and adolescence in a stereotypical, rebellious, text-book fashion, leaving no cliched stone unturned in my quest to further my stupidity. Richard says reaching three quarters of a century has, so far, been easy, the secret is to keep breathing. I encourage others to come and spend the evening of March 24 with me at the Baycourt Theatre as I natter with my old chum and moustachioed, media man of the people, Mark Sainsbury, Richard says in a statement on taurangamusic.com. Starship Foundation Chief Executive Brad Clark says Richard is a wonderful supporter of Starship Foundation. We are so honoured he has chosen to support us again by giving up his 75th birthday for Starship. Its a brilliant concept, and one we hope will inspire others to jump on board and give up their own birthdays to help children, young people and their families from all over New Zealand. Tickets for the show are available through Baycourt or Ticketek. A Madison man accused of shooting to death a man with whom he was in a business dispute in 2015 testified Tuesday that he felt threatened by the man, but that there was no physical contact between them before the fatal shots were fired. Testifying in his own defense, Sophea Mouth, 53, told a Dane County jury that Thomas Dreger, 70, came to the auto repair shop that Mouth operated at 2003 Freeport Road on Nov. 13, 2015, and used profanity as he loudly told Mouth that he had to leave the shop following the conclusion of a foreclosure proceeding that ended in Dregers favor. Dreger had yelled at Mouth, who is Cambodian, and berated him using racial epithets on many other occasions, Mouth testified, but this was the highest degree of anger I had ever seen. He said he feared that Dreger and Greg Pongratz, 53, who had come with Dreger to help change the locks on the buildings, were ready to hurt me. Mouth has admitted shooting Pongratz and Dreger. Pongratz, who was shot once in the face, survived but is now a quadriplegic. Dreger was struck in the face, chest and arm. Mouth has claimed he fired the shots in self-defense. Mouth testified that Dreger kept coming toward him, and he had no room to get away and no time to ask for help from his friends, Ken Mohd and Mark Gerke, who were in the shop, so he pulled out a gun and shot Dreger three times. He said his leg was pinned under Dreger after Dreger fell from the shots. Mouth is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide. But on cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Andrea Raymond, Mouth admitted that he hadnt actually seen Dreger since late 2014, about a year before the shooting incident, because he was no longer paying his mortgage while the property, which he had been buying from Dreger, was in foreclosure. Raymond also hammered at Mouth over his statement to Officer Stephen Mackesey, one of the first officers on the scene after the shooting, that Dreger had pushed me. He pushed me hard. Earlier, on questioning by Mouths lawyer, state Assistant Public Defender Stan Woodard, Mouth had said that Dreger hadnt touched him. But confronted by Raymond with the apparent conflict between his statements, Mouth hedged repeatedly, ultimately saying that maybe Dreger pushed him, maybe he didnt, because everything happened so fast. Mouth also contradicted the testimony from Mohd, Gerke and Pongratz, who all said that Pongratz was alongside Dreger when Mouth started firing. Mouth said the others were wrong, and that Pongratz was behind Dreger, and was struck by gunfire that was fired at Dreger. Pongratz has said that Mouth shot him first, and then shot Dreger. Mouth also testified that he was aware of an object in Pongratzs pocket but didnt know what it was. He said Pongratz never took it out of his pocket. The object was an expandable baton that Mouths lawyers claim made Mouth feel fearful. Mouth said repeatedly that he was afraid of Dreger because of past run-ins with him over late mortgage payments, and said that Dreger had threatened to break his leg unless he agreed to renegotiate terms of their land contract. He also said that Dreger had once pushed him during one of those earlier contacts, nearly causing him to fall over. Mouth said he often hid from Dreger when he came to the shop. But responding to questions from Raymond, Mouth said that in response to those incidents, he never called police, never sought a restraining order against Dreger and never stopped doing business with Dreger. Later, a defense homicide investigations expert, retired Arizona police officer Weaver Barkman, testified that he believes based on his reading of the evidence that Pongratz was wounded by bullet fragments that passed through Dreger, showing that Pongratz was behind Dreger, who was advancing on Mouth as at least the second and third shots were fired. Yes, we need to keep it under control No, we need to learn to live with it The prosecution rested Monday as the trial for a man accused of shooting one man to death and injuring another entered its second week. Sophea Mouth, 53, of Madison, who is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death of Thomas Dreger, 70, and attempted first-degree intentional homicide for shooting Greg Pongratz, 53, leaving him a quadriplegic, on Tuesday will begin presenting witnesses who are expected to bolster Mouths claim of self-defense. Mouths lawyers have said that Dreger, who owned the Southwest Side property containing the auto repair shop that Mouth was buying, bullied Mouth over late payments and have asserted that Dreger was at the property illegally to evict Mouth once the redemption period that followed a foreclosure had ended. Dane County Circuit Judge Nicholas McNamara has not yet ruled on whether the defense can assert that Dreger had come onto the property at 2003 Freeport Road forcefully and unlawfully, which would help Mouths self-defense claim. Witnesses during the prosecutions case have testified that while they heard raised voices and saw Dreger come to the shop with Pongratz on Nov. 13, 2015, they didnt see Dreger have any physical contact with Mouth before Mouth pulled out a gun and shot Dreger and Pongratz. Defense witnesses are expected to testify that in the past, they saw Dreger bully and threaten Mouth over late and missed payments for the property. Dregers widow, Constance Dreger, testified Monday that the missed payments were a burden for the Dregers, who had to close a bank account and take out a loan to pay property taxes that Mouth was supposed to have paid under the land contract. She also testified that her husband ran an auto repair shop on the premises until he was badly injured after falling from a roof in 2004. After multiple surgeries, she testified, the strength in his arms was greatly reduced, to the point where he could no longer work with tools by himself. Mouth, expected to testify this week, initially told police who arrived at the shooting scene that Dreger pushed him before he shot Dreger. A police investigations expert from Arizona, called by the defense, will also testify about what he believes happened at the scene before and during the shooting. Madison streets, state highways and the campuses of UW-Madison and Epic Systems could soon be laboratories for driverless cars, after federal regulators gave a team of UW researchers approval to test the emerging technology at sites around Wisconsin. UW-Madisons Traffic Operations and Safety Laboratory was one of 10 groups nationwide that the U.S. Department of Transportation designated last week as proving grounds for autonomous vehicles, as the cars are also known. The lab doesnt have any driverless cars of its own, and it has not yet partnered with a company that wants to test the technology in Wisconsin so dont count on seeing an empty car piloting itself around city streets on your next commute. But researchers say the federal designation boosts Wisconsins profile in research that will likely shape the future of transportation. It really helps put our name out there, said Peter Rafferty, a researcher in the transportation lab. The lab is in talks with companies about testing vehicles here, Rafferty said. If they do, he said, theres no reason why we couldnt be months away from seeing driverless cars in Wisconsin. Test sites in Madison The sites where companies and UW researchers can test autonomous vehicles range from closed courses to busy state highways, and are meant to match the different capabilities of driverless cars. Vehicles with technology still in the early stages of development would start at the MGA Research Corp.s large test facility near Burlington or the Road America race track near Elkhart Lake. Researchers will use those closed facilities to ensure the cars which employ a mix of GPS, cameras and laser-sensing systems to detect other cars, road signs, traffic signals and pedestrians are ready for use at the next level of testing sites: UW-Madison and the Epic Systems campus in Verona. The most advanced vehicles would be tested on Madisons city streets and on state highways. Driverless cars will face an array of challenges on different roads from the complex, low-speed flow of people, bicycles, mopeds and cars at UW-Madison to the high-speed trial of freeway driving. But Rafferty said researchers will rigorously test the technology to ensure its ready to interact with the public, and cars will still have human attendants who can take over the controls if necessary. Safety really is an underlying, fundamental priority of all of this, Rafferty said. Other organizations chosen as proving grounds for autonomous vehicles include transportation and government agencies in California, Texas and Florida, as well as the city of Pittsburgh, where the ride-hailing company Uber started ferrying passengers in a fleet of driverless cars last year. Federal officials say the proving grounds will advance the technology by sharing information and findings about how to safely test and operate the vehicles. Plenty of research questions Along with the convenience of hopping into a car that can drive itself, proponents of autonomous vehicle technology say it has the potential to make roads much safer by cutting down on crashes caused by mistakes, inattention or intoxicated driving. UW is also partnering with engineers from the city of Madison to explore how driverless cars could make the city more equitable. One potential use for the technology is self-driving mini-buses that could provide another transportation option for people who cant afford cars and live far from bus lines. Testing the technology in Wisconsin could also answer questions about how autonomous vehicles perform in cold and snowy conditions, researchers noted in their proposal to the Department of Transportation. Theres plenty of research questions that were eager to tackle, Rafferty said. Raffertys lab is doing more technical research as well into how the cars could affect an age-old scourge of human drivers traffic jams since autonomous vehicles faster reaction times could increase the capacity of roads. And researchers are looking into the transitional period that will soon be upon us, when the shift from all-human to all-driverless transportation means people and autonomous cars will share the same roadways, Rafferty said. This is coming whether we do anything or not, and we are eager to be a bigger part of this, Rafferty said. xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx Syracuse, NY - Syracuse police didn't have enough riot shields to defend themselves from the onslaught of rocks, household appliances and glass bottles hurled by an angry crowd. It was so bad city police called in every available officer across Onondaga County - and asked suburban departments to bring their riot shields with them. Those are some of the new details to emerge at an ongoing trial this month that reveals that the Father's Day 2016 riot on Syracuse's Near West Side was worse than previously known. Veteran officers who testified in the trial of six people accused of participating in the riot said it was the worst confrontation they'd ever seen. The June 19 riot was a horrendous end to what had been a daylong party to celebrate fathers. The following account of the riot is based on trial testimony and police statements released to Syracuse.com under the Freedom of Information law. Police armed with riot shields and pepper spray clashed with protesters throwing everything from cinderblocks to a VCR to a bicycle tire. An empty Hennessy cognac pint connected with an officer's jaw. A rock struck one officer before landing on another's foot. Police flooded the scene from as far away as Baldwinsville and Skaneateles. After city police ran out of riot shields, suburban departments brought in more. The frontlines of the riot centered on a small area in the 300 block of Tully Street, between two brick rowhouses. There were 15 to 20 people hurling insults and objects in the faceoff with police, with another 50 to 60 people behind them. The build-up to the tense confrontation has been well-documented by authorities: A group of suspected gang rivals had opened fire among the throngs of hundreds of people. A police officer had rushed into the fracas alone. Officer Kelsey Francemone engaged one of the armed men and shot him to death. As the man - identified as Gary Porter - lay dying in the courtyard of the James-Geddes housing complex, Francemone went to disarm him and try to help him. An angry crowd attacked her. The officer later escaped. Officers were ordered to "hold the line" - a tight human barrier with riot shields facing the crowd - as others investigated the shooting. Much of the testimony at the riot trial revealed disturbing details about the crowd's behavior that night. People in the crowd shouted threats - "Who's got a gun? Let's kill these (bleeping) pigs!" - and hurled objects ranging from a bicycle tire and bricks to a bag of garbage and clods of dirt, Sgt. Sean Ryan testified. Video played to the jury showed officers holding the line while being taunted, spit on and targeted with makeshift projectiles. An African-American officer was targeted with racial slurs as he silently held a police shield. Ryan, who coordinated the police line, testified that officers had to take the abuse to keep the line intact. Police were ordered not to go into the crowd to make arrests for thrown objects because it was too dangerous and opened a weakness in defenses. "An officer was hit with rock," Ryan testified. "He tries to arrest the individual. I told him not to go. It was unsafe. It would take two guys to take someone into custody. It could have broken the line." In court, Ryan identified a 25-pound police shield that had been dented by a cinderblock thrown from the crowd. Some of the rioters tried to hurl objects over the initial line of officers to hit others behind them, Ryan said. Some people in the crowd were trying to calm things down, but they were outnumbered by those causing the riot, Ryan testified. Twice, officers fired pepper spray into the crowd. At one point, Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler arrived in civilian clothes and tried to talk to the crowd across the police line. He called to someone he knew in the crowd, who crossed a police tape to chat with him. But others in the crowd hurled insults at the chief. Someone taunted him for his son's criminal record: "Your son's a criminal, Frank!" (Fowler Jr. is currently facing drug charges.) The chief eventually left the frontline, unable to calm the crowd down. The six men on trial are accused of felonies for engaging in "tumultuous and violent conduct." They don't deny the riot happened, but say police arrested the wrong people. A violent night Testimony at trial described a crowd so rowdy that it tried to stop emergency personnel from helping the dying Porter. First, the crowd refused to let officers near his facedown body. Then, the crowd did not allow an ambulance into the scene. It had to go around the block to get anywhere close, Ryan testified at trial. It took nine minutes for ambulance workers to arrive on-scene, he testified. Then, the crowd made it unsafe to treat Porter at the scene, according to police statements. As Porter was wheeled back to the ambulance on a stretcher, people kept trying to pull Porter away, Officer Shawn Hahn wrote in his police report. "As we arrived at the ambulance, people were still getting in the way and preventing us from getting the victim inside the ambulance," Hahn wrote. "I then had to push several people away from the stretcher." As officers tried to move crowds away from the shooting scene, they began throwing objects and threatening police. One man implored someone to get an AK-47 assault rifle and "just spray" the police with bullets, Officer Jacob Breen wrote in his report. Meanwhile, rumors circulated among the angry crowd that a white police officer had fatally shot an unarmed black man in the back. Even a police officer reported the erroneous information in a 911 dispatch. The false information spread like wildfire, inciting the crowd to attack and threaten officers who responded that night. Eventually, officers formed the police line in-between the two rowhouses. The police tape was slightly ahead of the buildings, but officers retreated between the buildings due to the potpourri of objects being hurled at them, Ryan testified. That didn't work, either, though because people then tried ripping down the police tape. So officers advanced again to the tape and continued getting pelted with items, Ryan testified. The aftermath About 20 minutes after Chief Fowler left the frontline early June 20, a SWAT team arrived to clear out the area, Ryan said. That came more than an hour after the confrontation at the police tape began. The crowd was moved to the perimeter of the housing complex. Officers moved in to secure the scene. In the days afterward, police arrived in force to make arrests. A total of 13 people were charged with rioting. Seven of them have pleaded guilty; the other six are on trial right now. Officers counted 37 gunshots fired that night. A grand jury was convened to investigate Officer Francemone's shooting. She was found to have been justified. At trial, Ryan said it was the worst situation he's faced in 19 years as an officer. Another wrote in his police report it's the only time that he's actually felt frightened for officers' lives. And Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick called it "one of the ugliest and disgusting scenes of incivility" in Syracuse history. SANDY CREEK, N.Y. -- Two ice fishermen died Monday in northern Oswego County when they fell through the ice on a pond just off Lake Ontario. Oswego County 911 said it received the call at 11:03 a.m. Police, firefighters, paramedics and divers rushed to the southern side of North Sandy Pond in the town of Sandy Creek. Coast Guardsmen and firefighters were able to get to an area far out on the ice, but apparently could not rescue the fishermen. Officials called in a Canadian rescue helicopter, which could be seen around 1 p.m. A C-130 circled overhead and a LifeNet helicopter also briefly appeared on the scene. The Canadian helicopter lowered at least one rescue diver down to other rescuers on the ice before circling the area. The plane and helicopters, however, eventually left the area without hoisting any patients. Shortly after 2 p.m. an investigator with the Oswego County Sheriff's Office said the effort had gone from a rescue operation to a recovery effort. Rescuers returned to shore and an air boat and inflatable raft were pushed into the water. Divers piled in and skidded back out onto the ice. The ice on the pond was thick enough to support rescuers. But the ice was much thinner in some places and, after days of temperatures reaching into the 40s, there were spots of open water. Ice fishing guidelines recommend staying off ice that is 2 inches or less thick. Four inches is recommended to safely walk and fish on the ice and 5 inches to ride a snowmobile. However, experts say the thickness of ice on any body of water can vary greatly from place to place. Rescuers returned to land around 4 p.m. and removed two bodies, which were loaded into an ambulance. A spokesman for the sheriff's office confirmed two deceased people had been removed, but declined to provide other information. North Sandy Pond is a large bay - 3.6 miles long and 2.1 miles at its widest - off of Lake Ontario, according to the state DEC. North Sandy's maximum depth is 13 feed, according to the DEC. DeWitt, N.Y. - Film industry experts in Central New York - yes, there are a few -- said they were not consulted before Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to build a $15 million film studio near Syracuse. That may help explain why the cavernous Central New York film hub, which opened last year in a suburban DeWitt office park, has been little used thus far. Now Onondaga County officials are scrambling to bring activity to the 52,000-square-foot facility. County leaders are forming a community advisory board of local film professionals and others to make the most of the asset. Here are five problems they will confront: 1. There is no film industry in Syracuse. "Hollywood comes to Onondaga,'' Cuomo said when he announced the Central New York film hub in 2014. The idea was to create a movie industry from scratch by building a soundstage to attract filmmakers. But Central New York does not have a pool of union and free-lance movie professionals that filmmakers can draw from for behind-the-scenes labor, said Larry Elin, a professor of TV, radio and film at Syracuse University. Elin worked 25 years in television, feature films and animation. It's a chicken-and-egg problem: Without a steady stream of films to provide work, it's difficult to establish a pool of labor; without labor available, it's hard to attract filmmakers. Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney said she recently discussed possible training programs with a local stagehands union. Until there are local gaffers, costume makers and lighting experts, the film hub will have limited appeal, Elin said. "A production would have to import nearly everyone,'' he said. That's "a great expense.'' 2. The film hub was not linked to educational programs. Officials at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, which developed the film hub, promised the facility would benefit from research and educational programs at the university. But no specific programs were developed. And SUNY Poly's is not expected to have an ongoing role at the film hub, said Howard Zemsky, the state's economic development commissioner. Zemsky's agency, Empire State Development Corp., took over the project after Alain Kaloyeros, the former head of SUNY Poly, was charged in connection with alleged bid-rigging that involved several state projects, including the film hub. Kaloyeros denies the charges. County officials said they are now exploring possible training programs with local colleges. 3. The film hub is conveniently located "in the middle of nowhere." Syracuse University has two film departments, one in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the other in the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Both could provide collaboration, advice and training to the film hub. But the film studio is 10 miles from the SU campus, in a woodsy office park that is not even on a bus line. "It's literally out in the middle of nowhere,'' Elin said. "We at Newhouse would love to have access to the stage for our classes, but it is such a hassle to get out there with 20 students.'' Compare that to another state-supported Upstate film studio in the works, the $34 million MAGIC Spell Studios being built on the campus of Rochester Institute of Technology. The MAGIC facility, which received $13.5 million in state money, will build off of RIT's successful academic programs in gaming, film and animation. Cisco and Dell are contributing $15.4 million for equipment. Syracuse film professor Owen Shapiro, a filmmaker who also founded the Syracuse International Film Festival, disagreed with Elin. He said the CNY film hub's location is convenient, because it's near major highways and surrounded by lots of open space for outdoor shooting. Shapiro is collaborating with county officials to promote greater use of the facility. But SU screenwriting professor Keith Giglio said the facility would have benefited from being downtown, near restaurants and the nightlife of Armory Square. ''I think the location was a poor choice,'' said Giglio, a veteran screenwriter and producer. "Do I wish it was near the Armory? Of course.'' 4. The film hub opened without basic equipment. More than a year after it opened, the film hub lacks basic equipment that most filmmakers need. The soundstage has no ceiling grid lighting system or green screen. There is no equipment for film editing, sound mixing or other post-production work. There is no carpentry shop in which to build sets. Those shortcomings likely were exacerbated by the corruption probe, which caused state officials to put the brakes on several SUNY Poly projects. And the equipment issues can be resolved, depending on how much more the state is willing to invest in the facility. Huayu Xu, who was hired in July by the SUNY Research Foundation to manage the film hub, recently got authorization to buy a green screen, which is vital for many productions, Shapiro said. Xu declined an interview request. 5. The 'anchor tenant' was in town for about a month. State officials said the "anchor tenant'' of the film hub would be The Film House, a four-person startup movie company. Kaloyeros said in 2014 that the company would make five to 10 movies a year in Syracuse, which would kick-start a local film industry. In fact, The Film House shot one low-budget movie on location in Central New York, "American Dresser.'' The movie, shot in late August and September 2015, is expected to be released early this summer, said Ryan Johnson, president of The Film House. Shapiro, who runs the film program at SU's College of Visual and Performing Arts, said he was asked last year to advise SUNY Poly officials on the film hub's business model -- after it was built. He and others recommended trying to lure visual effects and post-production companies in addition to filmmakers, he said. State officials were receptive, but their initial plan for the building relied on The Film House to spark the film hub to life, Shapiro said. "When the hub did open, there was a building and nothing else in there to move it forward, except a promise from Film House to produce all these films each year,'' he said. "I think that's what they were counting on.'' Mahoney: Accentuate the positive Mahoney, whose 2014 State of the County speech Cuomo and Kaloyeros crashed to make their announcement, has been a strong supporter of the film hub. She hired a $53,000-a-year film commissioner and leased him a $1,000-a-month office at the film hub to help market the facility. But even Mahoney was not consulted when plans for the project were being drawn up, she said. "I learned about it when it was a cooked plan, looking for a location,'' Mahoney said. "And I pitched us." About a month ago, Mahoney beefed up the county's role to generate more film hub business. She assigned Deputy County Executive Bill Fisher to work on it. Fisher told business leaders last week that the county plans to form a community advisory board to guide their efforts. Shapiro recently reached an agreement with the county to move the office of the Syracuse International Film Festival into the film hub. County officials, who already lease one office, got permission from the state to let the film festival use a second office at no additional cost, Fisher said. "I could say, 'This is a state project and a state problem,' and walk away,'' Mahoney said. "Or I can say, 'This is a tremendous opportunity for the locals. Let's roll up our sleeves and try to make it work.' And that's what we're trying to do.'' Contact reporter Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023 Everingham, Drew_new.jpg Drew T. Everingham (State Police) A Liverpool man has been accused of having stolen merchandise taken from various Wal-Mart stores across the state and then selling the goods on social media websites, the New York State Police said. Drew T. Everingham, 21, was charged Friday with 3rd-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a felony, and 5th-degree conspiracy, a misdemeanor, state police in Lysander said. Everingham, who had been living at the Super 8 Motel in Liverpool, was selling thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise online, state police said. A joint investigation by Camillus Police and State Police led investigators to Everingham. Police found $21,000 worth of merchandise, mostly consisting of electronics accessories such as micro SD memory cards, phone chargers, phone cases, computer hard drives and headphones, police said. Police also recovered household goods including high-end vacuum cleaners. Everingham was arraigned in the Town of Clay Court before Judge Brian Lauri, who remanded him to the Onondaga County Justice Center in lieu of $2,500 cash or $2,500 secured bond. The investigation is continuing and additional charges and arrests will be forthcoming, police said DeWitt, N.Y. -- Livvie was picked up in October in Jacksonville, Texas. The heavily pregnant mutt, lost but healthy, was named for the street where she was found: Livingston. Then she was slated for death. The already overburdened animal shelter in the Texas town of 14,500 people could take no more dogs, and certainly not Livvie and her soon-to-be 10 puppies. Lori Bowlin Davidson's phone soon rang in nearby Crockett Texas. Could she help? Davidson, president of the Coalition for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty in Crockett, said yes, as she almost always does. She took Livvie in and set up a make-shift kennel in her massive bathroom. The dog labored for 10 hours Oct. 30, an hour for each puppy she birthed. One was born still. But the rest were goofy, docile, floppy-eared mutts. Davidson, who with her husband has fostered other pregnant dogs, had named previous litters for oil fields. She and her husband work offshore, as do most of the people in her town. But she could think of no more oil fields that night. Soda pop was the next thing that popped into her mind. And so the puppies were named: Pepsi, Shasta, Barq, Mr. Pibb, Soda Pop, Fanta, Fresca, Sprite and Tab. The Soda pop puppies, marked for death before they were even born, stepped into a world rich with second chances in Davidson's home. She is part of a network of Texas animal rescue groups that send dogs to Helping Hounds in DeWitt. Those nine puppies were loaded onto a truck with 52 other dogs last week. When they arrived in DeWitt Saturday, half of the puppies were already spoken for. By Sunday, they were all in new homes. Helping Hounds brought nearly 1,700 dogs from high-kill shelters in the south to new homes in Central New York last year. The latest truckload, 61 dogs in all, was almost completely adopted out two days after they were delivered. "Here in Texas, it is so different from up there," Davidson said. "The police chief wanted her euthanized." He wanted to avoid the "swarm" of dogs, she said. Livvie doted on her puppies while they were there, Davidson said. The day they left, she whined and wandered the house, looking for them. But they are with people like Bridget Lewis, who was cuddling Soda Pop in her lap Tuesday morning. Lewis lives in Gouverneur; she drove two hours each way Sunday to bring Soda Pop home. Now he plays with Daisy, the family's other dog, and Lewis' 4-year-old daughter. Pepsi went to Onondaga Hill to fill an ache left by Mik, the McHugh family's dog who died Christmas Eve. "We've been heartbroken ever since," said Linda McHugh. She, her daughter Maura and her niece, Nora, went to Helping Hounds Saturday intending to only bring home one puppy. But they found themselves with two: Pepsi and Beth, another Texas puppy from a different litter. The two dogs are keeping each other company as they learn the ropes in their new home. "We still had a lot of love left," McHugh said. Mr. Pibb went home to Tipp Hill with Marisa Lostumbo and her boyfriend, Kenny Spear. When she saw the puppy's picture online, Lostumbo fell in love with the black face and spotty paws. She walks Mr. Pibb around the neighborhood and has already taken him to play with her friends' puppies. The best thing about having her own dog? "The love is coming home and seeing how excited he is to see you," Lostumbo said. Mr. Pibb's brothers and sisters are on farms and in neighborhoods, with little kids and retirees. Once cast off, they were all chosen. And Livvie? Soon she will share their fate. She will be on a future Helping Hounds transport from Texas to Central New York. Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246 The consolidation of beer distributors has taken another step in southern Wisconsin and could cost more than 100 people their jobs. Wisconsin Distributors of Sun Prairie is purchasing River City Distributing Co. in Watertown, according to a notice filed Monday with the state Department of Workforce Development. The sale, scheduled to to be finalized in late March, will close the Watertown facility on the citys west side and eliminate 72 full-time and 35 part-time positions. It was not clear how many positions would move from Watertown to Wisconsin Distributors facilities in Sun Prairie and Appleton. I hate to see River City Distributing close, Watertown Mayor John David said late Monday. They have been a business fixture in Watertown for many years and theyve always been very supportive of community events and organizations. I do hope that the new owners will continue to support our community. Casey Trudgeon, executive vice president and general manager at Wisconsin Distributors, and Don Kwapil, president of River City, could not be reached for comment late Monday. Kwapil, in a letter notifying the state of the job losses, said the positions will include 21 sales positions, 20 service representatives and 15 part-time merchandiser jobs. River City was founded by Kwapil in 1981 and has been a distributor of Budweisier and other Anheuser-Busch products and 19 national craft beer brands including Goose Island. The companys Wisconsin craft beer roster includes New Glarus Brewing, Oso Brewing of Plover, Tyranena Brewing of Lake Mills, Potosi Brewing Co. and 3rd Sign of Waunakee. River City has distribution rights for some of those brands in the Madison area. Like River City, Wisconsin Distributors is also a major Anheuser-Busch distributor, but the purchase will beef up the companys Wisconsin craft portfolio that is limited to products from Veronas Wisconsin Brewing and Madisons Vintage Brewing and One Barrel Brewing, according to the Wisconsin Distributors website. The closure has been prompted by the companys decision to sell substantially all of its assets to WDI, Kwapil wrote. The company will ensure that employees will be paid all earned wages and agreed-upon benefits in accordance with Wisconsin law and any applicable agreements. Wisconsin Distributors serves over 22 counties in southern Wisconsin and traces its roots to 1986 with the merger of McCarville Distributing of Spring Green and Mergen Wholesale in Prairie Du Chien. In 2000, the McCarville family established a majority interest in Wisconsin Distributors. In 2002 the company consolidated operations in Sun Prairie, closing facilities in Janesville, Spring Green and Fond du Lac, and in 2006, Wisconsin Distributors purchased Tri-County Distributors in Appleton. The sale of River City is the second high-profile change in distributor ownership in the last three months. In October, Middleton-based Frank Beverage Group purchased Beer Capitol Distributing Co. in Sussex, a move that created a territory from La Crosse through Madison to the metro Milwaukee area. Frank Beverage brands include MillerCoors products such as Miller Lite and Blue Moon, as well as Heineken and Corona, a similar mix to those carried by Beer Capitol, which retained its name and 320 employees after the sale. The Android-x86 Project eventually may become a viable operating system alternative for your desktop and laptops computers, but its not there yet. You will have to wait a while for the developers to fix a number of failures with the latest release upgrading Android-x86 to Marshmallow 6.0.1. The developers late this summer released the first stable version of Android-x86 6.0, codenamed Marshmallow. Android-x86 lets you run the Android OS with the Google Chrome browser on your desktop and laptop computers, rather than buying one of the qualified Chromebooks with the Google Play Store features bolted on. The latest Marshmallowrelease for putting Android on the PC closely resembles the basic Android6. This latest release may be stable in name only, however. I had much more difficulty with it than with earlier versions. I ran into lots of trouble running this Marshmallow release on several of my test computers, which range from low-memory legacy rigs to top-of-the-line boxes. Even worse is its crippled performance in a virtual machine. Android-x86s sluggish performance in a VM is particularly disappointing. I had high hopes for running the Android OS on my main work desktop without having to adding yet another dual-boot option to the hard drive. I have followed the progress of the Android-x86 project from its early stages through Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 4.4-RC1 (KitKat-x86) to this current Marshmallow 6.0.1 release. Given the growing popularity of the Chrome OS paired with Android apps on selected Chromebook models, the Android-x86 Project could offer a productive alternative once the kinks are ironed out. Disappointing User Experience Android-x86 Marshmallow is slow, sluggish and locks up often. The installation routine is much clunkier than earlier releases. Some of the installation screens seem ridiculous for their intended use on PCs. For instance, one screen directs users to insert a SIM card. Multiple screens direct users to check instructions that came with the tablet for completing various setup steps. I experienced little difference in running the live DVD or full hard drive installation. Every instance suffered the same failure when it came to the setup screen that gives an option to restore installed apps from one of my Android devices. Each attempt, on every device, resulted in a message saying restore can not be done. The installation process was marred further when I could not advance the screens by clicking on the circled arrow that served as the next page input. That problem seemed connected to a larger issue involving input device incompatibility with touchscreens, mouse and keyboard navigational keys. Much Not Working Even when I was able to advance pages to complete the setup process, actually using the desktop posed problems with input and navigation. Those issues were not present in earlier Android-x86 versions. Hopefully, this is a performance issue that the developers can tweak. Not being able to use the normal computer keyboard and mouse navigating controls mars the user experience. However, Android-x86 is otherwise functional on hardware that succeeds in running it. How about using it on a touchscreen? No dice! The touchscreen on my very new HP wide screen laptop (with Windows 10 excised from it) was completely unresponsive to touchscreen input. The touchpad was just as nonfunctional. A plug-in mouse made no difference. No mouse was detected, and no mouse pointer was displayed. Some of the Google Android apps worked reasonably well. Those are the apps that require little in the way of input or gesture controls. I found that I could pull down menus and items that reside in the notification bar if the mouse worked but the window slid back out of sight. The cure was to double-click on the bar. That kept the dropdown display visible. I found similar navigational workarounds through an app-by-app trial and error process. Desktop Environment Using Android-x86 is very similar to running the Chrome OS on a Chromebook with the Google Play Store feature meshed into the user experience. For example, selecting a Google Now news or event card opens the display in a new tab window if the Google Chrome browser already is running. If it is not running, then Google Chrome opens with the selected item displayed. The Android-x86 release putsGoogle Now cards with news and personal calendar items on the standarddesktop or laptop computer. Android-x86 has two home screens. Both show the Google search window. At the top of the screen is a translucent panel bar that does nothing but anchor on the right side a digital clock, battery status icon and WiFi indicator. Each home screen has a Google search box for typing and a voice input icon at the top center of the screen. The home screen layout is considerably changed from previous versions of Android-x86. Across the bottom of the Android screen are the expected Return, Home and Recent Apps buttons. Above them are the launch icons for Google Mail and Google Music Play, the apps drawer launcher button, and the image gallery and Web browser launchers. Above them are the launch icons for Contacts and the Play Store. The Android-x86 Projectdisplays recent apps by pushing the Android square on the bottom icon row,but navigating through the flip cards view is hardware-dependent. Using Android-x86 The first run with Android-x86 for the PC is identical to the setup process for an Android tablet or smartphone. It requires creating or signing into a Google account. The process also involves configuring the WiFi connection. If you do not have or decline to set up a Google account, a plain vanilla Android OS desktop loads. It gives you access to the Internet through the default Android Web browser. There is no other browser option available. Accessing the Google Play store requires Google credentials to proceed. You have basic functionality to use the preinstalled apps without registering your Google account. If you sign in to your Google account, all of your Google Chrome or other mobile Android settings populate your PCs new OS that is, except for the failed option to restore apps from your backup file for your other Android devices. Whats New Inside This release contains two files; one is the 32-bit x86 ISO image, and the other is the 64-bit x86_64 ISO image. Both can be booted from legacy BIOS and newer UEFI firmware. Improvements in the current release include an upgrade to version 4.4.20 of the Linux kernel. One of the known issues is the display. The built-in browser messes up sometimes on the Skylake GPU. Also, suspend and resume do not work on some devices. The ISO file shows on the first screen the choice of running in live session without installation or going directly to the installation mode. Definitely try the live session option first. Getting to this first screen is no guarantee that the current version will run on your hardware, even it that same hardware ran earlier versions. Bottom Line Do not confuse the standalone Android-x86 Project with a similar commercial product, RemixOS by Jide. Android-x86Project developer Chih-Wei Huang earlier this year announced a partnership with the Jide Company. Jide was pursing a similar effort to have an Android OS run on PCs, as RemixOS. The partnership will accelerate both projects to achieve the goal of putting a complete Android experience on both Windows and Mac hardware, Huang said. Jide also has a September release of the Android Marshmallow upgrade. This review is not based on the Jide release. I took a quick peek at the RemixOS Marshmallow release for comparison. It has a much different look and feel one that resembles a more traditional Linux desktop. You have the option to activate access to Google Play Store and integrate Android apps or use Jides own app store. RemixOS runs the Google Chrome Web browser, but Chrome is just the Web browser app rather than the desktop interface. Want to Suggest a Review? Is there a Linux software application or distro youd like to suggest for review? Something you love or would like to get to know? Please email your ideas to me, and Ill consider them for a future Linux Picks and Pans column. And use the Reader Comments feature below to provide your input! Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., better known as Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, is considering a joint investment with Apple to build a display production facility in the US. The $7 billion deal would also involve Sharp, the Japanese electronics maker that Foxconn purchased a controlling stake in last year for $3.5 billion. Gou told reporters after his company's year-end party that Apple is willing to invest in the facility because they also need display panels. The executive added that the increase in demand for larger display panels makes local production a better solution versus manufacturing units in China and exporting them to the states. A US production site could create anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs, Gou said. There's no guarantee of a deal at this point. Gou said a deal would depend on many factors, some of which would have to be negotiated at the state and federal levels. Investment conditions would also be considered, he added. Apple as of writing hasn't publicly commented on the matter. Rumors of Apple moving its iPhone production to the US have persisted for months. In November, Nikkei cited unnamed sources that said Apple had asked both Foxconn and Pegatron (another iPhone manufacturer) about moving operations to the US. Doing so, however, could cause the cost of Apple's handset to more than double, another source said. Image courtesy Bobby Yip, Reuters Prior to the arrival of humans in Australia, the continent was marked by dense forests and massive animals the size of cars. Australia's Super-Large Animals About 45, 000 years ago, however, a large percentage of the Australian megafauna, large animal species with body mass about 130 percent greater than those of their closest relatives that live today, went extinct. The cause of these gigantic animals' extinction has long been debated by scientists but findings of a new study, which was published in the journal Nature Communication on Jan.20 indicate that human activity could be blamed for the gradual extinction of Australia's megafauna, which includes 2-ton wombats, 1,000-pound kangaroos, 25-foot-long lizards,300-pound marsupial lions, 400-pound flightless birds and Volkswagen-sized tortoises. More Than 85 Percent Of Megafauna Went Extinct After Humans Arrived In Australia Study researcher Gifford Miller, from the University of Colorado Boulder, said that more than 85 percent of Australia's super large birds, mammals, and reptiles were decimated after the arrival of humans in Australia. Scientists also consider climate fluctuations as a possible cause of the gigantic animals' demise but Miller said that there is no evidence that a significant change in climate occurred during the period when the megafauna went extinct. He said that the demise of the animals could be blamed on imperceptible overkill. Extinction Not Necessarily Through Intensive Hunting Although the study blames human activity as an important cause of megafauna extinction, researchers think that the animals' extinction is not necessarily through intensive hunting. They think that even low-intensity hunting could have significant effect on the animals' likelihood to survive. A research published in the Quaternary Science Reviews journal showed that early human settlers in Australia lived alongside some of the megafauna for thousands of years prior to the extinction of the animals which means the megafauna did not go extinct soon after the first Australians arrived. Vulnerable Even To Low-Intensity Hunting An earlier study though suggested that even low-intensity hunting of the Australian megafauna, or killing one juvenile mammal per human per decade, could still have an eventual impact on the species' ability to survive. "We show that remarkably low levels of exploitation of juveniles (the equivalent of one or two kills per 10 people per year) would have been sufficient to drive these large species to extinction within centuries, as a consequence of their "slow" life-histories," the 2006 study reads. Low-intensity killing could have led to the extinction of the species in a few hundred years since large mammals are demographically vulnerable to the effects of hunting due to their low reproduction rates and low population. By killing just one juvenile male every year, humans limited the animals' ability to reproduce which led to a gradual decline in their population and their eventual extinction. "Our results provide the first stratigraphically constrained sequence of events for Australian megafaunal extinctions, rule out extreme aridity and habitat change as causal mechanisms, leaving human agency, specifically imperceptible overkill as the most probable extinction cause," Miller and colleagues wrote in their study. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently investigating two enormous data breaches at Yahoo and is looking into the matter to determine whether the company should have reported it to the investors sooner. The SEC started conducting its investigations in December 2016 and proceeded with the request for relevant documents, as it looks to determine whether Yahoo complied with the civil security laws on the disclosure of the cyberattacks that took place in 2014. According to legal notifications, tech companies are required to declare the various risks involved while engaging with such disclosures as these may have a detrimental effect on investors. Yahoo 2014 Data Breach The Wall Street Journal says that the investigation surrounding the Yahoo security breach is still in its early stage. Therefore, with regard to any penalties or legal implications involved, one would still have to wait. The investigation is expected to center on a data breach at Yahoo which took place in 2014. During the security breach, at least 500 million users' personal data was compromised. Yahoo went on to reveal this breach two years later in 2016, even though it had linked the incident to state-sponsored hackers in 2014. Yahoo hasn't been able to explain why it took two years to reveal a breach this massive or who took the decision of not going public with this matter. In mid-December 2016, Yahoo revealed that it had recently discovered that more than 1 billion users' private information was exposed during a data breach in August 2013. Yahoo-Verizon Deal Amid all this, Yahoo faced several hurdles on its way to finalizing the acquisition process with Verizon. With the company's recent claims of hackers stealing the data of almost 500 million users in 2014, there were rumors that Verizon was contemplating backing out of the deal or ask for a $1 billion discount. The situation worsened with the disclosure of the data breach of 1 billion Yahoo users by an "unauthorized third party." The investigation now not only lays emphasis on what information that was not revealed to investors but will likely include Verizon. Verizon has also repeatedly stated that it will "evaluate the situation as Yahoo continues the investigation." The Wall Street Journal states that this could be the first time a federal agency has brought a case against a company for failing to disclose the cyber breach. Yahoo asserts that it is cooperating with "federal, state, and foreign governmental officials and agencies seeking information and/or documents about the Security Incident and related matters, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a number of State Attorneys General, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York." 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Researchers from the University of Adelaide have developed a high-tech medical device in an effort to increase safety during brain surgery. Called a "smart needle," the device is a small imaging probe. Fitted inside a brain biopsy needle, it provides surgeons a look at at-risk blood vessels when the needle is inserted, helping prevent potentially fatal bleeding in the brain. Aside from offering surgeons a view of the surgical site, the device is also able to recognize blood vessels on its own, giving out warnings when at-risk blood vessels are in proximity. Robert McLaughlin, Biophotonics chair at the University of Adelaide's Center for Nanoscale Biophotonics, explained that the smart needle contains a small fiber optic camera that's just the size of a human hair. It works by shining infrared light on the intended area to let surgeons see the blood vessels before they are accidentally damaged. The smart needle was used over the course of the last six months on 12 patients for a pilot trial program at Western Australia's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Developing The Smart Needle The smart needle and the laboratory it was developed in was shown to Australia Sen. Simon Birmingham on Jan. 20. The lab received partial funding support from the South Australian Government, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Australian Research Council. According to Birmingham, the Turnbull Government had entered into a $23-million commitment to spur vital research until 2021 via the Australian Research Council's Center of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics. He also cited the smart needle as a perfect representation of how research investments can lead to real benefits and improve the lives of Australians. "We will see this as one of the first in the next generation of research breakthroughs supported by the Turnbull Government's National Innovation and Science Agenda," he added. The smart needle is set to begin formal clinical trials in 2018 and discussions are in place to manufacture the medical device in Australia. Watch McLaughlin discuss their work on the smart needle below! Other Advancements In Brain Surgery Last year in December, neurosurgeons from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center unveiled a high-definition imaging device called the BrightMatter Guide that will allow them to see inside a human brain during surgery. With it, surgeons will be able to map pathways safely, offering easier access for reaching and removing tumors. In the United States alone, about 62,000 primary tumors and 150,000 metastatic tumors in the brain are diagnosed every year. With these many potential brain surgeries, the BrightMatter Guide offers hope for better outcomes. Cedars-Sinai is the first facility to use the 3D imaging technology in California to carry out brain surgeries. Seeing some 600 brain surgeries each year, the hospital's medical staff will now be able to assess in real-time any issues that may occur during the procedure. Before the BrightMatter Guide, surgeons had trouble creating MRI mapping techniques that would be able to scan brain tumors in better detail. The new 3D imaging device may also be considered as a replacement for surgical microscopes as it offers a more sensitive means of scanning the brain, which can affect how the surgical procedure turns out. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. When it came out, the Galaxy Note 7 was nearly universally revered for standing as a sterling flagship released by Samsung in the second half of 2016. That is until several units began exploding. Thought at first as simply battery charging mishaps, a continuous influx of reports soon revealed that the problem was more insidious, and it may have stemmed from battery flaws or the phone's manufacturing process. That problem has largely been speculated sans Samsung's official word about a definite cause. The company has recently closed its investigation of the whole dismal affair, and it has just finished disclosing the findings at an event Sunday (U.S. time) that was livestreamed via its own website. During that hourlong press event held in South Korea, Samsung offered a highly detailed explanation of what went wrong, laying down slides full of findings from three independent agencies that the company ordered to conduct an investigation. These agencies burrowed deep, scrutinizing various fronts from battery chemistry, to manufacturing procedures, to Samsung's phone transport logistics so as to arrive at a logical explanation. Here are the most important things we learned from the event. Note 7 Battery Problems Two different types of batteries combusted for two different reasons, according to Samsung. The first one that shipped with the Note 7 burst to flames because of a design flaw that paved the way for the battery's positive and negative electrodes to come into contact, which caused it to short-circuit. After recalling the problematic handsets, Samsung then issued replacement units with different batteries given by a new supplier, but quality control couldn't keep up with stacked orders, thereby initiating a manufacturing flaw: a welding error that left a large enough nutter of material to open up a hole in the separator that kept chemicals apart. Investigators found out that at times, the separator wasn't even present. Not too long after issuing the replacement units, Samsung initiated a second recall, eventually leading to a complete production halt of the Note 7. Samsung opted not to disclose its battery suppliers, but as CNET reports, citing people familiar with the matter, Samsung SDI was responsible for the initial batteries; Amperex Technology made the batteries for the replacement units. Samsung Will Uphold A New Eight-Point Battery Safety Check To prevent the Note 7's disastrous stint from ever being replicated in the future, Samsung announced that every phone it'll release moving forward will undergo its new eight-point battery safety check, which includes new protocols and enhancements to Samsung's original safety check. Part of the new protocol sees Samsung more involved in aspects such as types of material used, and more. In fact, Samsung believes its new safety check is so thorough that it's encouraging other companies to leverage it for their own testing procedures, too. Galaxy S8 Delay Samsung's next flagship, the Galaxy S8, has been confirmed to skip a late February launch. The release date has been pushed back because the company had to deal with the Note 7 recall and investigation. That being said, many are expecting Samsung to officially unveil the handset at this year's Mobile World Congress happening late February in Barcelona, Spain. That prospect, however, has since been debunked by a Samsung executive, so all eyes and ears are on Samsung for an official unveiling date. In the meantime, a trove of rumors populate online space in relation to the Galaxy S8's internals, externals, and so forth. By all means dive into those for a detailed, if speculative, look at what the Galaxy S8 could be, but needless to say that all rumors should be treated with generous suspicion. Note 8 Will Still Happen There will still be a Note 8 even after the Note branding has already been tainted in the public eye. In fact, the new iteration will be a "better, safer and very innovative Note 8," according to D.J. Koh, Samsung's mobile chief. The company typically releases Galaxy S series smartphones during the first half, and the Note series during the year's latter half. While it remains to be seen if consumers come crawling back to the Note brand, Samsung seems hopeful that it recapture the dedicated followers of its Note smartphones. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nokia is making its comeback in the smartphone scene with the Nokia 6, which famously sold out in just one minute in a flash sale held in China. The company, now owned by HMD Global, is not banking its return on just one device though, as it is believed that Nokia will be revealing at least one more new Android-powered smartphone at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in February. One of Nokia's upcoming devices could be the so-called Nokia Heart, which recently surfaced on the benchmarking website GFXBench. Nokia Heart Benchmark A benchmark that appeared on GFXBench for a device named the Nokia Heart reveals a smartphone that will be powered by Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, similar to Nokia 6. Also like the Nokia 6, the Nokia Heart will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor. However, all similarities between the Nokia 6 and the Nokia Heart end there. Compared to the 5.5-inch display of the Nokia 6 at 1080p, the Nokia Heart will only have a 5.2-inch display at 720p. The Nokia Heart will also only offer 2 GB of RAM with internal storage of 16 GB, compared to the 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage offered by the Nokia 6. The benchmark also reveals the 12 MP rear-facing camera and a 7 MP front-facing camera of the Nokia Heart, though the likely actual specs of the device's cameras are 13 MP for the rear-facing camera and 8 MP for the front-facing camera. With the Nokia Heart's Adreno 505 GPU, the device was able to gain fairly decent scores in the graphical tests of GFXBench, beating the likes of the Moto Z Play that is powered by the more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. The benchmark tests, however, did not reveal other details regarding the Nokia Heart, including the performance of its processor and its battery life. Cheaper, Less Powerful Version Of The Nokia 6? While the Nokia Heart could be a different smartphone altogether, it could also be a cheaper and less powerful variant of the Nokia 6. Customers who are looking for an even cheaper device than the Nokia 6, which is priced at about $250 in China, should look forward to the Mobile World Congress if the Nokia Heart will be unveiled at the annual event. There is the possibility that the Nokia Heart, or whatever its official name will be upon release, will not arrive in the United States. If it does, Nokia might have a hard time selling the device if it would have a price tag of more than $100. Nokia Smartphones With Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 Nokia is expected to unveil its flagship P1 smartphone at the Mobile World Congress, with the device to be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and an expected 6 GB of RAM. The smartphone is also rumored to have a 3,500 mAh battery with Quick Charge technology, along with a fingerprint scanner located at the right side. A recent report saw Nokia confirm that the Nokia P1, in addition to the Nokia 8, will indeed feature Qualcomm's latest processor, but it might take some time before they are released into the market. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. LG's latest flagship smartphone, the LG G6, is expected to be unveiled at the upcoming Mobile World Congress, which will be held in Barcelona next month. LG has released invitations for its Feb. 26 press event at MWC 2017, further drumming up excitement on the announcement of the LG G6. The company has so far been very secretive on the details regarding its new flagship smartphone, which has sent rumor mills going on overdrive for the LG G6. The Verge, however, claims that it has acquired the first image of the upcoming device, giving consumers a sneak peek on what the LG G6 looks like. LG G6 Image Acquired By The Verge The image of the LG G6 that The Verge acquired shows the top half of the smartphone, from which more information regarding the device could be assumed. From the image, it is apparent that LG has given up on creating a smartphone without antenna bands, as the antenna bands are visible near the top of the LG G6. An even more interesting detail that can be gleaned from the picture, however, is that the display has rounded corners, which is something that was recently seen in the Xiaomi Mi Mix and is rumored to also be found in the display of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S8. However, the rest of the design of the LG G6 could be said to be a generic one. The curves in the smartphone's metal chassis and the arrangement of its sensors are nothing new, though it is worth noting that the screen-to-bezel ratio of more than 90 percent for the LG G6 made possible with its minimal top bezel is impressive. The back of the device has not yet been shown though, and so it is unknown if there are any interesting design elements that LG will have there. It has been said that it will have a dual camera with a fingerprint scanner, which has been seen in rendered images by case maker Ghostek. LG G6 Moves Away From LG G5 LG is said to be focused on design for the LG G6, as the company moves away from the poorly executed modular capabilities and subpar build quality of its predecessor, the LG G5. The LG G6 is said to be made completely out of metal and glass components, which sees the company departing from the plastic components that have been seen in past flagship devices. It will have a headphone jack, and it will also have waterproofing features. The battery of the LG G6, however, will not be replaceable. Other LG G6 News Another recent rumor regarding the LG G6 is that it will be featuring the Google Assistant, as part of a collaboration with Google that looks to boost its lineup of smartphones for 2017. If this rumor is true, LG will be the first smartphone manufacturer that Google will allow to utilize Google Assistant, as the software has only so far been seen in Google's Pixel smartphones. The LG G6 was also previously said to be safe from overheating issues through the use of copper heat pipes, which has become a necessary promise given the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco that Samsung suffered through. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Despite a $1 billion lawsuit filed by Apple, Qualcomm has affirmed that it would continue its usual supplies to the company. Apple states that the chipmaker is involved in monopolistic practices, extortion, price gouging, and other unethical business strategies. According to a new report, even as Qualcomm allegedly considers filing a countersuit against Apple, it will not let the legal tussle affect business policies and will continue to supply the company with mobile modems and other components. Apple Vs. Qualcomm The allegations made by Apple is due to Qualcomm's refusal to pay $1 billion as licensing rebates. With the cooperation from the Korea Fair Trade Commission, Apple has probed into the business practices of the chipmaker. According to investigations, Qualcomm was fined and asked to pay $854 million, which it subsequently denied paying. Apple accuses Qualcomm of "double dipping" as it practices selling chips to those who have first agreed to license the SEPs first. Another allegation leveled by the FTC suggests that Qualcomm forced Apple to buy wireless chips for higher royalty rates. Countersuit From Qualcomm It is reported that Qualcomm will not take things lightly and is considering filing a countersuit against Apple. "Sources close to Qualcomm say the company is considering filing its own lawsuits in response, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere, as well as trying to get Apple's case dismissed," notes a report from ReCode. This news suggests that the chipmaker will put aside any differences and continue to work on the production process apart from supplying mobile modems to Apple for its smartphones. With its reputation in jeopardy, Qualcomm needs to fight the claims made by Apple or at least prove its point. Since it cannot afford to lose its prospective clients, the company is left with very little choice but to fight the case while working on improving its business acumen. Apple, too, is dependent on Qualcomm for support even if the company has its own processor. Qualcomm avers that the iDevice maker is converting what is simply a contractual dispute into a regulatory offense. Qualcomm has termed the allegations baseless and reportedly believes that Apple could be instrumental in provoking the chipmaker to retaliate with a potential countersuit. Photo: Jason Ralston | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Qualcomm is on the verge of a major financial crisis following a $1 billion lawsuit filed by Apple for inflated royalty payments. If recent reports are to be believed, Qualcomm could be in a state of huge catastrophe if the payment continues to get delayed. According to the allegations leveled by Apple against the chipmaker, Qualcomm is alleged to have collected billions of dollars as royalties for technologies it is not associated with. The chip making company on its part has rejected this insinuation. "Apple has intentionally mischaracterized our agreements and negotiations, as well as the enormity and value of the technology we have invented, contributed and shared with all mobile device makers through our licensing program," says Don Rosenberg, Executive VP of Qualcomm. The lawsuit happens to be filed at a time when Qualcomm is already in deep trouble with the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) anti-trust lawsuit. The regulators in Europe and the United States will examine the business practices of the company regarding its deep well of patents used in most of the wireless devices. Royalties from these patents contributes to about 80 percent of the company's pre-tax profit. Lawsuit Filed By Apple And FTC While Qualcomm has already witnessed many legal issues and challenges pertaining to its patent-driven business model, this one posed by Apple appears to be the toughest it has faced in recent times. As Tech Times reported, in its allegations, Apple holds Qualcomm responsible for baselessly charging billions of dollars as royalty. The chipmaker has also been held responsible for withholding a payment of $1 billion for Apple's truthful response to the regulators. FTC's allegation has further revealed Qualcomm's indulgence in unfair practices like threatening smartphone manufacturers with disruptions. It further indicated, that Qualcomm wanted to prevent the supply of chips provided if the contract was not made in a manner that would suit the chipmaker. Qualcomm's Financial Crisis Qualcomm's shares declined by 11 percent on Monday, registering its second biggest decline in last seven years as a result of the lawsuit filed by Apple. Investors noted this situation with great interest, withdrawing $13 billion away from Qualcomm's market value. The decision also happened to coincide with the news on the lawsuit. Analyst Rod Hall of JP Morgan predicts a fall of 32.5 percent in Qualcomm's earning per share this year by assuming that Apple pays a standard royalty for the iPhone modem. The downward trend may continue for Qualcomm as this incident may spark a similar reaction among other companies using its products. If they all start filing lawsuits one after the other, the chipmaker's entire licensing model will suffer a huge jolt. FTC South Korea has recently imposed a fine of $853 million as a penalty for Qualcomm's unfair licensing practices. Qualcomm's $39 billion deal with NXP also hangs in the balance following this lawsuit. Qualcomm was eyeing to close the deal by the end of 2017, but now that its stock has taken a sharp dip, shareholders predict that the deal is not going to materialize anytime soon. Photo: Jon Jordan | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Snake catchers from India are helping find and remove Burmese pythons in environmentally sensitive areas in Florida. Snake Catchers Captured 14 Snakes In Just Two Weeks In just two weeks since their arrival early this January, a pair of Irula tribesmen from India, in collaboration with biologists from the University of Florida, managed to catch 14 pythons, which include a 16-foot female snake. The Indian trackers and biologists found the python along with three other snakes. Skilled Snake Hunters Based on the number of snakes they captured, the skills of the tribesmen are exceptional in that they were able to catch 14 snakes in just two weeks. For perspective, hunters who participated in the Python Challenge, a yearly contest that aims to give attention to the python problem in Florida, were able to capture just 106 snakes last year. The Python Challenge was participated in by 1,000 snake hunters who are mostly amateurs. The hunters who participated the year before that snagged only 68 snakes. Non-Conventional Tracking Techniques The snake trackers use non-conventional tracking techniques to catch their targets but these appear to work. UF biologist Frank Mazzotti, who is part of a team that investigates pythons and other wildlife, said that seven of the snakes that have so far been captured would not have been found without the help of the tribesmen.The tribesmen are members of the Irula tribe whose members are famed snake hunters in India. "Since the Irula have been so successful in their homeland at removing pythons, we are hoping they can teach people in Florida some of these skills," said Kristen Sommers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "We are working with our partners to improve our ability to find and capture pythons in the wild." $68,888 For Pair Of Snake Hunters From India And Two Translators The snake hunters are not only efficient. The pilot project involving them is also comparably cheap. The project costs only $68,888 for tribesmen Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal and two translators for two months. Since their arrival early this month, the two men who are both in their 50s, have been heading into the Everglades nearly every day armed with tire irons for punching through dense Burma reed and sharp limestone rock. Assisted by biologists, the pair search for the sparkle of snakeskin in the bush and look out for what snakes leave behind, such as ripples in the sands and tunnels through grass or scat. The signs alert them of the presence of snakes. Florida's Snake Problem Although Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia, they have managed to establish a breeding population in South Florida, which became a problem since these slithering animals prey on birds, crocodilian species, and mammals. Experts have observed that the pronounced reduction in the number of animal species coincided with the spread of pythons in Florida, suggesting the impact of the snakes' population on native animals. Biologists have tried using radio-tagged "Judas" snakes, trained dogs, and even poisoned prey to combat the problem but the snakes' number keeps growing. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Nokia Smartphone With Snapdragon 835 SoC In The Works | TechTree.com Ever since Qualcomm rolled out Snapdragon 835 SoC at CES 2017, it has kind of become a mandatory rule for most of the smartphone manufacturers to come up with a phone powered by the latest processor, to keep itself active in the competition. Well, Nokia seems to be no different. The company has recently hinted at a phone powered by the latest Snapdragon 835 processor via Weibo. The hint comes in the form of a reply to a Weibo users query. However, the company has mentioned that it may take a while for the smartphone to be available for public. According to Google Translate, heres the exact translation of the reply sent by Nokias Weibo account: "Understood your mood, because the new high-end Snapdragon SoC has just released, please give us some time to prepare, when the time will be made public." However, if you recall, we recently witnessed a couple of Nokia P1 smartphone leaks which suggest that the smartphone would be powered by Snapdragon 835 SoC, along with 5.3 inch display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and 6 GB RAM. A couple of rumours have also suggested that the smartphone may be launched at MWC 2017. Source TAGS: Nokia, Qualcomm Google Updates Its Voice Apps | TechTree.com It has been almost five years since Google updated its Voice apps that allow users to use Google Voice to call, text, and get voicemail on all their devices. However, the tech giant has finally made up its mind to roll out a fresh set of features to Google Voice apps on Android, iOS, and the Web. According to Googles official blog post, the updated Google Voice apps is a cleaner, more intuitive design that keeps everything organized. Also, Google has mentioned that the inbox now comes with separate tabs for text messages, calls, and voicemails. Additionally, the tech giant has upgraded the messaging experience with support for group and photo MMS as well as in-notification replies. Having said this, Google has promised to provide more and more updates and features to its Voice apps, in the recent Google blog post. Speaking about the current update, the company has announced that the roll out will start from today, and would gradually reach everyone in the coming weeks. TAGS: Google The Venezuelan government will increase cooperation with Colombia's military and police forces to face transnational crimes caused by drug trafficking, announced Friday by the Minister of... | Read More CHICAGO - Illinois families will notice a substantial hike at the grocery checkout if a new tax on sugary drinks to be voted on this week in the Illinois Senate becomes law. The new statewide tax will add a one cent per ounce tax to sugary drinks such as soda pop, fruit drinks, flavored drink powders and chocolate-flavored drink. The proposed one cent per ounce tax will double the Cook County one cent per ounce tax that is already poised go into effect in July 2017. The so-called soda pop tax will increase the cost of a gallon of chocolate drink by $1.28 statewide and $2.56 in Cook County. Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome started filling cabinet positions on Monday, tapping three new faces to lead her administration while keeping three more department heads who served under former Mayor-President Kip Holden. Broome's office announced Monday that Tamiara Wade, Rowdy Gaudet and James Gilmore will be her assistant chief administrative officers. The three are among the first high-profile positions Broome has appointed and will be among her closest advisers. Thus far, Wade has been the most visible of the new hires. She has been the senior executive adviser for Broome's transition, and has frequently accompanied her during public events since Broome was elected. Wade previously worked as a learning expert and integration manager for NASA, and helped Broome hold a STEM-focused event earlier this month for young girls to watch the movie "Hidden Figures." Broome said in December that "no one, let me repeat, no one on the transition leadership will be considered for a job in the administration." Broome's office clarified both then and Monday that the mayor meant the co-chairs of her transition committees would not be considered for jobs, but that her proclamation did not apply to transition staff or members of transition committees. Gaudet could be instrumental in the city-parish's flood recovery efforts, as he is the current chief of staff for Louisiana's Disaster Recovery Unit. Gaudet has also been involved with many boards for local nonprofits, including the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank and the YMCA. Gilmore is known in both state and local political circles. He was the executive director of Gov. John Bel Edwards' Louisiana Children's Cabinet, and is a former member of the city-parish's planning commission. Broome's office also announced she will keep three veterans of local government: Carey Chauvin as development director, Brian Bernard as human resources director and Eric Romero as director of information services. Chauvin has spent 23 years working for the city and was one of the go-to sources of information under Holden about the different departments comprising public works. Bernard has spent 22 years working for the city and ran human resources for Holden. And Romero has also worked for the city for 22 years and spent the past four years as interim director of information services. Broome is still searching for her chief administrative officer, who will be her closest adviser and run daily operations of local government. Im excited to work with these highly-qualified individuals who will be a part of my new cabinet, Broome said in a statement. Im confident that I have chosen the right people to help move this city forward. Starting this fall, Baton Rouge Magnet High School will offer two new Advanced Placement courses that focus on critical thinking and research, only the second school in Louisiana to offer them. Students at the Capital City's flagship public school will have the chance to earn a special AP Capstone diploma if they complete those new courses, pass the accompanying exams and pass four more AP subject exams. High school scores that produce college credit up 11 percent High school students this year earned 11 percent more qualifying scores for college credit t Were are excited for the students to have this opportunity, one that few students in the state have at this time, said Nan McCann, principal of Baton Rouge Magnet. The students McCann is referring to attend Lusher Charter School in New Orleans, the first school in the state to offer the courses. The College Board, which runs Advanced Placement, launched AP Seminar and AP Research courses in 2014. Since then about 1,000 schools around the world have agreed to teach them, and The College Board is picky about who it lets in. You have to be invited to teach the courses, McCann said. Sarah Kirkpatrick, an AP English literature teacher at Baton Rouge Magnet, has been tapped to teach the first class, the AP Seminar class, to a group of sophomores and juniors starting in August. For the 2018-19 school year, Kirkpatrick is planning to continue with that cohort and teach the AP Research class. Kirkpatrick is set this summer to attend a five-day training session. McCann said the school is seeking a grant from The College Board to help pay for the training session's $1,050 cost. The AP Seminar course is one where students tackle a wide variety of material, from research studies to philosophical texts, and then use them to address complex questions. Students do projects and presentations, both individually and with teams, and take an end-of-course written exam. In the subsequent AP Research course, students devise and carry out a year-long research project based on a topic the student selects, documenting what they doing through a portfolio. Baton Rouge Magnet already offers 26 AP courses, in foreign language, English, social studies, math, science and art. Last year, the school had 1,400 students take AP courses and 887 of them earned passing scores of 3 or better, the highest totals in Louisiana. A total of 197 students were named Advanced Placement Scholars, also tops in Louisiana. The AP Capstone diploma resembles the special diploma long offered by APs main competitor, the International Baccalaureate program. Six schools in Louisiana offer IB diplomas, including Baton Rouge International School and LSU Lab School. Other local high schools, including Episcopal High School, offer in-house courses centered around student research projects. A vehicle sits on the side of Interstate 12 near Hammond after crashing into a state trooper vehicle on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. The man officials say shot and killed Corey Graham during a Jan. 18 robbery in Denham Springs was arrested Monday in Florida, the result of four agencies working together, according to the Livingston Parish Sheriff's Office. Thomas Fefee, 26, was booked in Florida as a fugitive and faces counts of first-degree murder and armed robbery in Livingston Parish, said LPSO spokeswoman Lori Steele. A tip shared with Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers led law enforcement to an apartment complex in Tampa, Florida, where the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office located and arrested Fefee around 5 p.m., Steele said. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office worked with LPSO on the investigation. Fefee is accused in the shooting death of Graham, 27, Greenwell Springs Road, Baton Rouge. Fefee's last known address was 23816 Rosemont Ave., Denham Springs. To be expected in a gathering of Republicans after President Obama's eight years in office, there was much excitement and anticipation in the room while waiting for the Swearing in Ceremony to begin. As a member of the Women's Republican Club of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff, I signed up to attend a private Inauguration Viewing of the Swearing in Ceremony and Inaugural Address of Donald J. Trump at a local restaurant in Lake Bluff, Graffiti Grill, owned by a Club member. A brief Annual Meeting of the Club preceded the event, at which time Officers and Committee Chairmen were nominated and confirmed. View President Trump's Full Inauguration Speech: https://youtu.be/sRBsJNdK1t0 Chuck Schumer's Inauguration Transformation It wasn't surprising when Senator Chuck Schumer's remarks as Minority Leader of the Senate during the Inaugural Ceremony sounded hollow when he spoke about following the Rule of law and what makes America great. Schumer even had the audacity to read a letter written by Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah in which Ballou stated how he was willing to give his life for a cause greater than himself. Ballou later died in the 1st Battle of Bull Run. Schumers Inaugural remarks were in direct contrast to those sentiments Schumer had expressed on the floor of the Senate a few days earlier when warning Trump that he should not try to jam his nominees through the Senate. Such double talk, whether coming from Republicans or Democrats, is one reason why voters chose Trump to be our 45th president. Although before being sworn in Trump was criticized for his sometimes blunt remarks and rhetoric and given no chance to win, enough voters recognized that Trump would make every effort to fulfill his promises, that his rhetoric was not just idle chatter to satisfy a certain category of voters. Putting America First vs Globalism Deeply appreciated was Trump's promises to put the interests of America first, which represent the views of our Founding Fathers and the language of our Constitution. Putting America first is in contrast to the idea of globalism which was nourished and promoted by the Obama administration and before that by the administrations of both Bushes and Bill Clinton. It was G.H. Bush who enthusiastically signed on to the Earth Summit (UN Conference on Environment and Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. And who could forget the references made by President Obama when on several occasions he questioned the exceptionalism of this nation. Early in his presidency President Obama remarked how America should get over the ideal that she is anything special, as every nation thinks highly of itself. But this nation is exceptional because more than any other nation, and because of principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence, she has a special responsibility to defend the cause of liberty at home and abroad. Although not appreciated by those on the Left who ascribe to globalism and who, in turn, consider themselves as "citizens of the world, the far Left scoffs at the idea that God even exists. Nonetheless, Trump's statement that Americans are "protected by God", although not politically correct, is what millions of Americans believe. As such, Trump's acknowledgment of God was received joyfully by the event participants. There is a common belief among conservative Republicans that God gave us the strength and the courage to fight for our freedoms by choosing a committed patriotic leader, Donald J. Trump, through our prayers and supplications to Him. By the same token, God is being asked to bless, guide and protect Donald Trump and his family. President Trump himself ensured the American people they had nothing to fear as they were protected by the great men of the military and by God Negative Criticism Unfounded More than in any previous president, six religious leaders took part in Trump's inauguration each being given 60 to 90 seconds to offer a reading or lead a prayer. Among the six was Reverend Franklin Graham. Reverend Graham offered a lovely blessing from God when rain started to fall just as Trump stepped to the podium to speak: In the Bible, rain is the sign of Gods blessing." Listen here: The negative critique of Trump's speech that came from the lips of progressives and liberals almost from the moment Trump ended his Inaugural address was not unexpected. In this divided nation, it is almost as if the other side had heard a far different address from Republican listeners. Trump's message was summarily described by the Left as a "dark speech" which didn't explain how Trump was going to make American great again. Yet Trump did reinforce in his speech those polices upon which he had campaigned, policies that would make America great again, with assurance further given that he would carry through with his promises on issue such as school reform, which is vigorously opposed by Democrats who are aligned with teacher unions. Rather than speak about the plight of people living in inner cities and the many burnt out factories dotting the landscape, critics, and there were many, thought Trump should have painted a rosier picture of this nation. But aren't the American people able to handle the truth? Many Republicans are weary of being treated like children, as when President Obama would falsely declare that the job situation was good and that the economy had improved greatly under his administration. Misplaced Anxiety on a Celebratory Occasion? Could the anxiety and fear many voters are presently experiencing now that Trump has been sworn in as the 45th president stem from their belief that Trump would act like a bully in the White House, an image the media was only too happy to circulate (fake news) with endless stories that portrayed Trump in extremely negative terms, while not laying a glove on Hillary before the November election. The Chicago Tribune became unreadable. Every American should have been pleased to see that the genius of the American Experiment was on display. The peaceful transfer of power, a model for the world as displayed by the outgoing and incoming administrations, reaffirmed this nation's uniqueness which has remained unbroken from President Washington to President Trump. What was upsetting to liberals, progressives and Never Trump Republicans was how Trump's inauguration marked a fundamental shift in our government and the political direction of our nation, one where old rules (the status quo) no longer will hold true and political reshuffling will happen. President Trump is also unlike any other president in our nation's history. He is the first president not to come from a political or military background. Trump is likewise of a different composition than former presidents. He will not be intimidated or bullied by the entrenched Establishment that is determined to fight Trump to keep its stranglehold on power. Instead of trying to make nice with the town that has done so much to destroy this nation, Trump boldly declared war on it. Trump Declares Time for Action As Trump stated in his Inaugural address, which was both a populist and a patriotic speech: "The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs," Trump said. "And while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land." Trump declared that the time for empty talk is over. "Whether black or brown or white we all bleed the same blood of patriots. We all salute the same American flag. Together we will make American Great Again". . . "If we have an open heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice." Trump's considers his election a movement that the world has never seen before. As far as Trump's own goals: he wants to be remembered, not by his oratory, but by his deeds. Trump offered these two rules to follow: BUY AMERICAN and HIRE AMERICAN. It is important in the first 100 days for Trump to keep Republicans unified, for there are Republicans who have voiced opposition over some of Trump's promises and/or the way Trump intends to fulfill them. Those who now oppose Trump on the Right and the Left will have to decide whether they want to continue to work against or help Trump make this nation great again. It is easy to underestimate and misunderstand Trump, but he is a man of his word. President Trump's legacy is likely to resemble the following when his presidency ends in either one or two terms: Erasing the fool-hearty legacy established by President Barack Hussein Obama during his two terms in office, and, together with and for the people, enacted policies to make America strong again, wealthy again, proud again, safe again, and GREAT AGAIN. Republican Women's Club of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff President Peggy Siebert Results of January 20, 2017 election of the Republican Women's Club of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Officers: President Peggy Siebert First Vice President Michelle Parnell Second Vice President Hilary Till Recording Secretary Susan Somberg Treasurer Diane Kledzik Standing Committees: Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission A defunct personal care company that had offices in Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Lafayette is balking at the nearly $7 million that a judge ordered it to pay in restitution last month for its 2015 conviction in a Medicaid fraud case. Millennium Health Care Services LLC, through attorney Michael Bell, claims the multimillion-dollar restitution amount is excessive and was not supported at trial by any witness testimony or written documentation. Bell also argues in court documents filed last week that Millennium was not given a chance at its Dec. 16 sentencing to question the restitution amount. Ad hoc 19th Judicial District Judge Bruce Bennett ordered Millennium and former company owner Dwaine Joseph Woods Sr., of Prairieville, to pay more than $6.9 million in restitution. He also sentenced Woods to 10 years in prison. Prairieville couple sentenced in $7 million Medicaid fraud scheme The owner of a now-defunct south Louisiana personal-care company has been ordered to spend 1 Woods, who is represented by lawyer Sherman Mack, filed court papers Jan. 3 calling his sentence excessive and asking Bennett to reconsider it. Millennium also is asking for a sentence reconsideration. Prairieville man: 'Considerable' 10-year fraud sentence 'setting him up for failure' to pay back state An Ascension Parish man sentenced last month to 10 years in prison in a Medicaid fraud schem The state Attorney General's Office, which prosecuted the case, is standing by the sentences imposed in the case. Bennett has scheduled a hearing March 7, but it is not clear who will hear the motions. Bennett has been filling in since mid-November for state District Judge Trudy White, who is on paid leave through Feb. 12. She took a leave of absence but has declined to publicly state the reason. White presided over the trial of Millennium, Woods, 47, and his wife, Dynetta Hadrick Woods, 43. An East Baton Rouge Parish jury found Millennium guilty of conspiracy to commit forgery, 19 counts of forgery and one count of theft by fraud. Woods and his wife were convicted of taking part in a plot to forge CPR and first aid training certification documents for 19 Millennium employees who never attended training for personal care attendants. Dwaine Woods also was found guilty of theft by fraud. Bennett put Dynetta Woods on probation for five years and ordered her to pay almost $55,000 in restitution and $5,000 in fines. Personal care attendants help elderly and disabled Medicaid patients with daily activities such as bathing, grooming, dressing and eating. Millennium operated from 2004 to 2010. Prosecutors say the theft activity spanned from 2006 to 2010. A committee of Louisiana's top school board Monday authorized four charter schools despite complaints that the move is a mistake amid a court fight over funding. The school that sparked lengthy discussions, Baton Rouge University Preparatory Inc., is one of a handful that the state Department of Education recommended for approval by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Three others were later endorsed, including one not recommended by the department. The two Baton Rouge schools were earlier rejected by the East Baton Rouge Parish school board. They also got caught up in a larger debate on whether BESE should approve one specific type of charter school whose state funding has been ruled illegal by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal. That decision, which already affects 32 schools and more than 16,000 students, is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court. State Superintendent of Education John White said last week the state cannot wait to offer new options for students, especially since the lawsuit will take months or longer. Speed bump for some Louisiana charter schools, their funding after important court ruling Louisiana's funding of certain types of charter schools hit a snag following a ruling Monday The school, known as UP Elementary, is part of the Recovery School District. It serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade. "We are doing great things for our students," Meghan Turner, founder of the school, told BESE. "We are out of space." White made the same point earlier. "We have a space situation at this school," he said. Backers said the fact the state Department of Education recommended approval is significant because the state has one of the most rigorous charter school reviews in the nation. "It is clear the department has followed the letter of the law," said Eva Kemp, state director of the Louisiana branch of Democrats for Education Reform. Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, whose group is one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said the prudent move would be for BESE to delay action on the application. Meaux said state officials have to be careful about making education promises to families. The proposal also sparked criticism from East Baton Parish School District Superintendent Warren Drake. The school has shared space at what used to be Glen Oaks Middle School. Drake said school officials sought more space and he tried to answer those concerns. He also questioned how the school was authorized initially. "We are not against charters," Drake said. "But there is a decorum and a policy here." School backers said a new building is needed for the school to thrive and expand. Turner said school officials have waited three years to have their concerns addressed. "Our kids don't have time to wait," she said. The vote on UP Elementary was 5-2. Jada Lewis, a BESE member from Baton Rouge, abstained. The committee also approved charter applications for Collegiate Academies in Baton Rouge, Jefferson Chamber Foundation Academy in Lafayette and Red River Charter in Avoyelles Parish, which was not recommended by White's agency. The Louisiana Governor's Mansion is lighted in blue after Gov. John Bel Edwards announced Monday as Law Enforcement Appreciation Day during a ceremony Monday. Law Enforcement officers and families of slain officers also tied the ribbons on the Mansion fence. Now that we've official embarked on the nation's first Twitter-driven presidency, it seems like a good time to explore more of what President Donald Trump's favorite social media platform has to offer. Might I suggest giving the good folks at Merriam-Webster a follow? Intermingled with a steady stream of word lovers' trivia are some definite signs of the times, based on which words people are looking up each day. Trump's doom-and-gloom inaugural address from Friday prompted a big spike in searches for the definition of "carnage." In graphically vowing to end "this American carnage," Trump was surely leaning on the second definition listed on the site, "great and usually bloody slaughter or injury (as in battle)." Saturday's massive women's marches in cities across the country and world prompted plenty of searches on "feminism," which was the site's "#3 lookup" Sunday morning, according to the feed. It's defined both as "the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes" and "organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests." Coming in first was a word that's been "trending consistently for the past few months," according to the Twitter feed "fascism." Here's the definition: "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition." All these search trends provide just one more measure of how divisive an era we're entering. Trump's overwrought description of "carnage" in inner cities, which he thematically conflated with lost factory jobs elsewhere, may have played well with his most ardent supporters, even as many others recoiled. But his use of battle imagery fit right in with the address' overall tone, which was that he had arrived in Washington as some sort of conquering hero. It confirmed that President Trump will be very much like candidate Trump. He read from a teleprompter and skipped the personal insults, but otherwise, he addressed the country as commander-in-chief for the first time in the same defiant tone he used to get elected, and sprinkled the speech with the same sort of scary imagery he'd used during the campaign. That included a dystopian view of cities that hardly reflects full reality and that has particularly galled many who call urban areas home. They include New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who said Trump had painted cities with too broad a brush and argued that the country is not the dark and ominous place he described. It was the gist of Trump's attack against Georgia U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon John Lewis. Responding to Lewis' contention that reports of Russian interference made Trump an illegitimate president, Trump painted Lewis as a do-nothing representative of a crime-infested district that's "in horrible shape" and "falling apart," which pretty much the whole city of Atlanta angrily denies. It's one reason why U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans, who just became head of the Congressional Black Caucus, did not join Lewis in boycotting the inauguration but did make a point of saying that he was not there to celebrate the new president. "My goal remains to move the ball forward for the underserved throughout this country. I expect the president-elect will recognize that, and gain a better understanding of his obligation to be President for all Americans, Richmond said before the inauguration. For all the bad feeling, it's good that Richmond showed up. His new role positions him to try to bring a more fact-based view of cities, their problems and their strengths to the administration's attention. Speaking of facts, Merriam-Webster also chimed in after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway went on "Meet the Press" Sunday and defended press secretary Sean Spicer's claim that the media had falsely reported on relatively low inaugural crowds, all available evidence to the contrary. Conway said, to widespread derision, that Sean Spicer was merely presenting "alternative facts." Soon after the interview, Merriam-Webster tweeted out that "a fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality." It's definitely a sign of the times that people need to be reminded of that. A state senator and one-time candidate for Baton Rouge mayor has taken issue with the process Louisiana is using to divvy up the nearly $1.6 billion in flood recovery aid the state has received from Congress, and now he's seeking an official opinion as to whether the state Legislature should have a more significant role. Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, has accused the Restore Louisiana Task Force members of not understanding their duties in the process and implied that the Legislature could ultimately take up its own plan for the federal disaster assistance. "It's always a possibility," he said during the task force's most recent meeting. Gov. John Bel Edwards' administration, meanwhile, says it is following the federal process for drawing down funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as required by law. Edwards appointed the 21-member task force to hold public meetings throughout the state and make recommendations that have then been submitted to HUD to access money that will go toward homeowner rebuilding programs later this spring. "There's nothing different about how we are going to work this money," said Edwards deputy chief of staff Julie Baxter Payer. "There's no place in the process for the Legislature to change the plan." A battle has been steadily brewing over the pot of federal disaster money that leaders say is about $2 billion short of meeting the state's recovery needs. Congress approved $437.8 million in September and added $1.2 billion in December. Edwards is expected to return to Washington, D.C., to lobby for more funding next month. Meanwhile, the task force has been meeting to develop plans for the first two rounds of money, much of which will go toward rebuilding thousands of homes that were damaged or destroyed in last year's catastrophic floods. On Friday, the panel approved a plan that would provide homeowners without insurance who suffered the most severe damage the opportunity to secure at least 50 percent of the amount they need to rebuild through the state. But some legislators have raised concerns over how those programs have been developed and questioned whether the Legislature is being sidestepped in the process. The task force includes four members of the state Legislature, as well as representatives from local governments, businesses, schools and other entities impacted by the floods. White said he's asked for an advisory opinion from Attorney General Jeff Landry, a Republican who has frequently found himself at odds with the Democratic governor in the year since they have taken office. White, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Homeland Security, is also expected to hold a hearing later this week on the process. He said he believes that the Legislature will get the chance to have its say over the funding because money is appropriated through the legislative budget process. "The feds don't just give people money," White said Monday. "You have to go through the state Legislature, and they have to account for it." He further told the task force on Friday that he was more informed than its members. "I understand how the money flows," White said. "I think a bunch of you don't know the process." White said he was disappointed in an initial plan for the $437.8 million that prioritized funding for low income families. That program also went largely toward the elderly and disabled. "I'm concerned that the criteria that they laid out," White said Monday. "There's a whole bunch of folks in my district that's not going to qualify for any money." Payer defended the process planned as standard with community development block grant dollars that come to the state from HUD. She said they are tightly regulated by the federal government, which requires spending plans that must receive HUD's approval before any money is released. She said that the state Office of Community Development, which is overseeing the planning process, has a line item within its existing budget through which it can draw down federal dollars. "I would hope that we don't have any confusion," she said. "There is no special process that we are using for the federal funds. It will go through the regular process." If an expanded budget line is needed, Payer said, it could be sought through the Joint Legislative Budget Committee or the full Legislature when it meets in regular session. Payer said that any Legislative approval would be in the form of approving or disapproving of the budget line, so a vote against would serve as a rejection of the federal funds and not a rejection of the submitted plans. "I don't know how it would help Louisiana people for them to reject the amount in total," she said. What we know, don't know about Landrieu's proposed 3 a.m. closed-doors rule for bars What we know, don't know about Landrieu's proposed 3 a.m. closed-doors rule for bars William Boartfield Jr. is running for mayor of Gretna in the election on March 25, 2017. TwelveAngryMen Dylan Cole, left, ?and Soren Jensen in Twelve Angry Men, directed by Chris Baldock.? Credit:David Belton And he's no stranger to Canberra. Back in 2004 he brought a play, Out of the Flying Pan to a short-play festival here and won awards for best production and best director. "That was my introduction to Canberra," he says. Baldock, 50, was born in New Plymouth, New Zealand and began acting at 14 in the show Jack the Ripper. "I had a wonderful teacher, Dawn Arthur, who was like a second mother and inspired me ... She taught me everything I know." He joined New Plymouth Repertory and acted in many shows and when he was 24 began directing ("Everyone else thought I could it").Among his directorial credits was Chicago for Auckland Musical Theatre. In 1992, seeking more opportunities, he came to Australia and "fell in love with Melbourne", basing his home and career there until the position came up in Canberra. Over the course of his career, he says, "I've directed more than 60 productions.". His range is wide, encompassing comedy, drama, and musicals and plays old and new, and he's directed for his own company, Mockingbird Productions, as well as many others. "I've just finished One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean in Melbourne for Heidelberg Theatre," he says. That 2011 British play is an adaptation of Goldoni's 1743 comedy Servant of Two Masters. He's leaving Melbourne on a high note. 2016 was a busy and successful year for Baldock. Early in the year, he designed the set and sound for a friend who was directing a February production of Killing Jeremy at STAG Theatre Company. Then, he says, "I directed the Australian premiere of The Nance for Williamstown Little Theatre for an April/May production," he says. This comedy by Douglas Carter Beane recreates the world of 1930s burlesque. "A week after The Nance opened, my production of 12 Angry Men opened at Heidelberg Theatre Company which I also directed for them. And yes, I was directing two shows at the same time!" The production of Reginald Rose's jury-room drama starred former Canberran Soren Jensen as Juror Number Eight, the lone holdout against immediately convicting a defendant of murder, "I then spent the winter in Canberra and decided, for something to do and to meet a few Canberra thespians, to direct something for the Canberra Short+Sweet Festival which was in July/August. The play was a one-man monologue called It's All The Rage by Melbourne writer Carl J. Sorheim and featuring CADA graduate Nick Steain." The production won four of the six awards in the festival - best performance for Steain, best director for Baldock, best production AND People's Choice. "I didn't have time for any Mockingbird productions last year!" And Baldock left Melbourne with a swag of honours. "The Nance won Williamstown Little Theatre's in-house Craven Award for best director/production. It also won best supporting performance and best Lead performance. They only have three awards so it won all three," he says. "I won a special award for my direction of Twelve Angry Men and One Man, Two Guvnors at Heidelberg Theatre Company (they usually only have two acting awards nowadays). My main actor in One Man, Two Guvnors, Benjamin Watts, also won one of the two acting awards for his performance." He also won best sound design at the Victorian Drama League (VDL) Awards for Killing Jeremy (also nominated for Best Set Design). It's his seventh VDL Award (the equivalent of the Canberra Area Theatre Awards). Overall, he says, "I also have two directing (Old Wicked Songs and The Grapes of Wrath), one acting (best actor in a drama for Side Man) and three other sound design awards (Old Wicked Songs, Kindertransport and 33 Variations) from the VDL Awards from 14 nominations. "Unlike the CAT Awards, each company can only submit one production each per year to represent them," he says, because there are so many productions. Still, he hasn't done badly: "My productions over the years have gained 71 nominations and 26 wins at these awards." Baldock launched his company Mockingbird in 2013 with a new production of Moises Kaufman's The Laramie Project, about the murder of Matthew Shepard, which had won a Green Room Award for best independent production in 2005 when he originally directed it for Act-O-Mactic 3000. Other productions for the company have included Peter Shaffer's Equus. While in Canberra, Baldock will also be directing a production for Canberra Repertory Society, Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge, that will be on in May. He heard about the long-established company from Jensen. Although Rep's company-centred method of operation was different from the more director-oriented way of doing things in Melbourne, he liked what he heard about their organisation and sent his CV to them. The friends of missing Canberra man Gregory Bond are desperately calling for public assistance to help find the army veteran. The 43-year-old has not been seen since about 10.30am on Sunday when he left his house in Monash. Police are searching for missing Canberra man Gregory Bond in the Blue Mountains. Lieutenant Colonel Steve Brumby served in the Australian army with Mr Bond in the 1990s and has joined the team of 40 volunteers searching for him in the Blue Mountains. He said his friend was a caring and quiet man who loved to help others. The trifecta of tax breaks, pay freezes and strong steel prices all combined to enable Bluescope to surprise investors with a forecast of better than expected earnings which sparked a surge in its share price on Tuesday as analysts upgraded their forecasts for the group. Coming in the wake of the profit downgrade by Brambles on Monday which resulted in a steep 15 per cent share price slide, Bluescope shares surged 8 per cent to a long-term closing high of $11.21, the top end of analysts' forecasts for where they thought its shares would be in a year's time. BlueScope's profit surged 79 per cent in the first half. Credit:Louie Douvis Before the start to sharemarket trading on Tuesday, the steelmaker said it now expects to post a pretax profit of around $600 million for the December half, which is well ahead of the November forecast of "at least $510 million" with sentiment at that time buoyed by the election of Donald Trump as the US President which was expected to see a lift in infrastructure spending in that market. Along with higher steel prices, the big uplift in the rice of iron ore has given its New Zealand iron sands unit a fillip. In an abrupt about-face that has shocked homeless services, last Thursday Lord Mayor Robert Doyle proposed new laws making it illegal to sleep on Melbourne's streets. "I welcome any move by police to bring an end to what has become a blight on our city," he said. Yet the day before, he'd sensibly said the opposite: "There are cities around the world where they simply bundle homeless people up and ship them out. I'd hate to think that we were ever that sort of city." What's behind his sudden change of heart? Signs point to intense pressure from senior police, disgruntled city traders and tabloid media, who've been vocal about Melbourne's visible homelessness problem. A mother and child pass the homeless camp along Flinders Street. Credit:Joe Armao, Fairfax Media. Criminalising rough sleeping is a disastrous idea: misguided, dangerous and doomed to fail. It assumes rough sleepers have viable alternatives. But they don't our homelessness crisis is real. Despite new funding announced in November, Victoria still has a chronic lack of affordable long-term housing. We have 22,000 people homeless and 33,000 on the public housing wait list. Last year a City of Melbourne survey found 247 people sleeping rough around the CBD, a 74 percent increase since 2014. Experts say banning rough sleeping would simply shift the problem elsewhere, unjustly punish vulnerable people, and impose a huge burden on police and courts. It would also disconnect rough sleepers from support services, exacerbate stress, drug use and isolation, and may force people into dangerous housing situations for example, back with violent partners. Stop using innovation as a meaningless buzzword Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Nothing says prison in the US quite like the name San Quentin, an outcropping of drab yellow cell blocks on 100 hectares of land jutting into San Francisco Bay. Ferries from San Francisco pass close enough for passengers to wave at inmates in one of the exercise yards. It is the oldest prison in California, dating to 1852, and the most notorious, largely because of its popularity as a backdrop for Hollywood films, dating to 1937, and the famous 1969 Johnny Cash album recorded inside a prison dining hall, San Quentin you've been living hell to me. UC Berkeley Professor William Drummond (with glasses standing in centre) at the offices of the San Quentin News with inmate editors (standing) and (seated) civilian advisers. Credit: Sam Robinson The penitentiary houses 4000 mainline prisoners and the 750 souls condemned to die on Death Row. San Quentin, I hate every inch of you.You've cut me and have scarred me thru an' thru.And I'll walk out a wiser weaker man;Mister Congressman why can't you understand. On Monday a Senate committee began three days of public hearings on the federal government's draft same sex marriage legislation. The bill proposes to introduce exemptions from anti-discrimination law for people who have religious objections to same-sex marriage. Those proposed exemptions would probably be unconstitutional if Parliament enacted them because they play favourites among different religious groups. The bill proposes to exempt ministers of religion, civil celebrants and religious bodies that sell goods or services from having to comply with anti-discrimination laws if they have a genuine religious objection to same-sex marriage. However, the exemptions aren't really about religious freedom. There is no exemption in the case of a conscientious religious objection to any other types of marriage, such as marriages involving a divorcee or a couple of different faiths. If the bill was really about religious freedom, the exemptions would not be limited to religious objections to same-sex marriages. When the first pictures of Karen Gillan in the Jumanji remake were released last September, fans noticed something odd. While co-stars Kevin Hart, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jack Black appeared in practical expedition gear for the promotional shots, the Doctor Who actress was standing in the jungle in a midriff top and mini skirt. Kevin Hart, Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Karen Gillan and Jack Black in the new Jumanji sequel. Credit:Sony Pictures But Gillan has defended her costume, stressing that there is "a really valid reason" for her character's lack of clothes. Comparing the situation to that which she faced while on Doctor Who, where her character Amy was known for wearing short skirts, she told the Hollywood Reporter she would never take on a role that was "truly gratuitous for no reason". A sailor who sparked a massive air and sea search off Sydney's northern beaches told authorities he swam to shore after falling off his yacht, and then caught a taxi home, oblivious to the massive operation that had been launched to find him. Police on Tuesday are expected to interview the man, whose yacht was discovered floating about 18 kilometres out to sea off Barrenjoey Headland just after 4pm on Monday. The Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter crew took this photo of the abandoned yacht off the Sydney coast. Credit:Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter A passing vessel raised the alarm after discovering the seven-metre Etchells yacht, which appeared to have no one on board. A NSW Police spokeswoman said a Marine Area Command vessel went out to the yacht, and confirmed no one was on board. A Sydney Uber driver stopped at a petrol station to buy condoms and a bottle of water before he allegedly raped a sleeping woman in the back seat of his car, a court has head. Muhammad Naveed, 41, is on trial in the Downing Centre District Court accused of raping the woman after he picked her up near The World Bar in Kings Cross in the early hours of October 18, 2015. Muhammad Naveed arrives at Sydney's Downing Centre. Credit:Kate Geraghty In his opening address, Crown prosecutor James Trevallion told the jury he expected the woman would give evidence that Mr Naveed helped her into the back of his car and she later woke up and found him on top of her. Mr Naveed has pleaded not guilty, and the court heard that, in an interview with police, he claimed he had asked the woman if she wanted to have sex and she agreed. As far as charge sheets go, this was a thesis. Former Education Department bigwig Nino Napoli fronted Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday over allegations he was involved in an alleged rort that swindled millions from the state's neediest schools. Nino Napoli is facing 152 separate criminal charges. Credit:Darrian Traynor Charge sheets released by the court show that Mr Napoli, the alleged ringleader of the scam, faces 152 separate criminal charges. The 76-page document detailed more than $400,000 that Nino Napoli allegedly dealt with as proceeds of crime between 2007 and 2014. A man with links to the Hells Angels bikie gang has been charged with firearm related offences after police seized a military style rifle from a house in Williamstown on Tuesday. Detectives executed a warrant about 6am at a Queen Street house and found a rifle, a handgun and ammunition. A man armed with a knife has threatened a female postal worker in Kingston at lunch time on Monday. Credit:Marina Neil/Fairfax Media The 43-year-old Williamstown man will appear before the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday afternoon. The teenage girl hurled the phone against the wall and it smashed into pieces. She was furious that a worker in the residential house where she lived had disconnected it while she was in the middle of a conversation. So the residential home worker called the police, who charged her with criminal damage and discharging a missile. Children placed in out-of-home care are considered among Victoria's most vulnerable. If the girl had grown up in a typical family household, her parents might have shouted at her or sent her to her room. But Jess* had to be removed from her childhood home after suffering torturous abuse at the hands of a sadistic stepfather. Many young people who cannot live with their parents are being slapped with criminal records for relatively minor outbursts like smashing a cup or a sink plug, a report from Victorian Legal Aid shows. In the animated TV series The Legend of Korra, the lead character is a cross-cultural, arse-kicking heroine. Similarly, Korra Hewitson, 15, who took her moniker from the subversive show, is breaking ground herself. Korra Hewitson, 15, is desperate to start stage two of her transition. Credit:Mathew Lynn Korra was born as a boy. "People called me male, but I didn't feel like it," she says. "I started to realise when I was older that wasn't me, but I didn't know what to do." Bangkok: South-east Asian nations have expressed concern they will become caught up in superpower rivalries after the Trump administration ended the 12-nation Pacific trade deal. The Philippines, which has taken chairmanship of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, has told the US and China the region is not a "proxy" for superpower competition and that it is time for outsiders to allow ASEAN to determine its own course. "We have to remind our friends, firmly if necessary, not to use ASEAN as a proxy for their rivalry," Philippine Defence Minister Delfin Lorenzana told a security forum in Singapore. Malaysia's Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also hit out at what he called a regrettable tendency for regional countries to be forced to choose between the US or China, saying it went against Asia's unique tradition of pluralism, where different cultures, faiths and belief systems had co-existed for centuries. London: Former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer is pressing the possibility of subbing Indonesia or China into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) now President Donald Trump has withdrawn the United States from the trade deal. But the Trade Minister Steve Ciobo is stressing Australia's bilateral trade deals and touting the likelihood of the deal going ahead without the United States - the so-called 12 minus one option. Mr Downer spent most of Tuesday at 11 Downing Street for talks with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond and Treasurer Scott Morrison who is in London and Frankfurt this week for talks. Mr Downer said they discussed housing policy and Brexit. Jerusalem: Israel announced plans on Tuesday for 2500 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, the second such declaration since US President Donald Trump took office signalling he would be less critical of such projects than his predecessor. A statement from the Defence Ministry, which administers lands Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, said the move was meant to fulfil demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised the settlements. Credit:AP Most of the construction, it said, would be in existing settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep under any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. However, a breakdown provided by the prime minister's office showed large portions of the planned homes would be outside existing blocs. About 350,000 settlers live in the occupied West Bank and a further 200,000 in occupied East Jerusalem. Beyond the major blocs, most of which are close to the border with Israel, there are more than 100 settlement outposts scattered across hilltops in the West Bank. Mesothelioma Victims Center - Act Now Don't Wait Editor's Note: My Dad died about 31 years ago at the young age of 64 from lung cancer caused by Mesothelioma from the asbestos in his lungs. During WWII he was a pipe fitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. I am told its too late for me to bring suit, so if you suspect your loved one died from Asbestos poisoning contact help today. Mesothelioma Victims Center Asks the Family of a Diagnosed Auto/Maritime Mechanic to Think Nationally When Hiring a Lawyer to Pursue a Compensation Claim Because Skill Matters NEW YORK- The Mesothelioma Victims Center is appealing to the family of an auto, marine, or factory mechanic who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma and they are asking them to call 800-714-0303 for the nation's most honest advice on dealing directly with the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys as getting the best possible financial compensation depends on it. There is a direct correlation between having the nation's most skilled mesothelioma attorneys and receiving the best possible financial compensation for a person like an auto, maritime, or factory mechanic; the skill of the lawyer matters as the Center would like to discuss anytime at 800-714-0303. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com Mesothelioma Victims Center specializes in assisting the following types of people with mesothelioma: US Navy Veterans who were exposed to asbestos in an engine room or as a mechanic Auto mechanics Heavy vehicle mechanics Marine mechanics A factory worker who served as a mechanic or maintenance repair person to keep the manufacturing facility operational The Mesothelioma Victims Center is focused on making certain that people with mesothelioma receive the very best possible financial compensation. If the group had only one incredibly vital tip for a person with mesothelioma or their family members it would be: "Please don't think locally when it comes to hiring a lawyer to advance a financial compensation claim for mesothelioma. In most instances, the nation's top mesothelioma attorneys will travel to the home of a diagnosed person to get the specific information about how/where they were exposed to asbestos. The specific lawyers we suggest typically get the best financial compensation settlements for their clients nationwide as we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com Each year about 3000 US citizens will be diagnosed with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. High risk work groups for exposure to asbestos include US Navy Veterans, power plant workers, shipyard workers, oil refinery workers, steel mill workers, miners, manufacturing workers, pulp or paper mill workers, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, machinists, construction workers, rail road workers, and firemen. Typically, the exposure to asbestos for these types of workers occurred in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, or 1980's. The average age for a diagnosed victim of mesothelioma is about 70 years old. Frequently victims of mesothelioma are initially misdiagnosed with pneumonia. http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com The states indicated with the highest incidence of mesothelioma include Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Louisiana, Washington, and Oregon. However, based on the calls the Mesothelioma Victims Center receives a Navy Veteran, a former auto or marine mechanic with confirmed mesothelioma could live in any state including New York, Florida, California, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, or Alaska. The Mesothelioma Victims Center says, "As we would like to explain anytime at 800-714-0303 if a person who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma wants the best possible compensation it is vital they have the nation's most skilled, and experienced mesothelioma lawyers." http://MesotheliomaVictimsCenter.Com For more information about mesothelioma please refer to the National Institutes of Health's web site related to this rare form of cancer: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mesothelioma.html if the people of Biafra want Republic of Biafra, it will be a reality during my administration. ----Donald Trump Donald Trump I wi... Monday 05 September, 2016 Reliable information reaching Biafra writers desk has it that the life of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indi... Well, I suppose a man who derives verbal inspiration from Charles Lindbergh, James Cameron and Bane, a man who celebrates fallen American intelligence operatives by comparing his cover appearances on Time magazine to those of Richard Nixon, cant really be faulted for naming a holiday after his own resistible rise to power. But the floridity that strikes the eye and ear in Donald Trumps first presidential proclamation, heralding the day of his inauguration as a National Day of Patriotic Devotion, eerily echoes another insecure authoritarians advertisement for himself. Today, feelings of patriotism and love for the Motherland are truly invaluable for our vast multiethnic country. These noble qualities and the steadfast civic-mindedness of our people underpin the countrys unity and sovereignty. Of course, many factors are essential for the security of the country and its stable development. But they are only effective if people believe in their Fatherland, have respect for it and support it, if they consider our country the best and aspire to live and work for its prosperity. Thus spake Vladimir Putin on Russia Day, June 12, 2016. Now compare. A new national pride stirs the American soul and inspires the American heart, the new commander-in-chief informs us, referring to nothing so new as his own state of becoming commander-in-chief. We are one people, united by a common destiny and a shared purpose. I wouldnt quite put it like that to the millions of women and men who marched in every major American city on Saturday, much eclipsing the headcount at Trumps rainy Friday anointment. They seemed to declare their destiny and purpose distinctly at odds with how the pussy-grabbing, wall-building executive chooses to define these. And any sensible viewer of White House press secretary Sean Spicers first two performances on the size of the crowd at the National Mall, or Kellyanne Conways reference to alternative facts on Meet the Press by way of justifying that lie, emblematic of every wobbly despotism, will have been stirred by a feeling other than pride. Nor does the text of this document, consecrating a single day which came and went before any of the proud multitude can have even noticed it, improve much from there: Freedom is the birthright of all Americans, and to preserve that freedom we must maintain faith in our sacred values and heritage. By the known rules of ancient liberty was how Milton, in a formulation favored by Orwell, referred to what Trump may have been trying to get at herenamely, that there are freedoms that endure because they are right and true and self-evident. As for Americas values and heritage, faith in those mixed concepts has been shaken and revised repeatedly (in one instance in fratricidal warfare), and typically in deference to the U.S. constitution, a far more readable text which Trump embarrassingly cites to justify this superfluous proclamation. The rest of Trumps proclamation is a mash of purple prose and logical nonsense: Our Constitution is written on parchment, but it lives in the hearts of the American people. There is no freedom where the people do not believe in it; no law where the people do not follow it; and no peace where the people do not pray for it. There are no greater people than the American citizenry, and as long as we believe in ourselves, and our country, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. Most Americans, including probably the author of this proclamation, cant recite the Bill of Rights. Laws exist whether or not they are obeyed; otherwise theyd be unnecessary. Peace has nothing at all to do with prayer. And there is actually a great deal that even the greatest people on earth cant accomplish, such as winning complicated land wars in the Middle East. In 2009 Barack Obama took the occasion of his own inauguration to issue a proclamation, the National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation. Coming months after his pompous nomination victory speech in St. Paul, in which he announced that the oceans would recede and the planet would heal itself by virtue of his delegate count, there was at least a solemnity in asking the American people to overcome adversity and uncertainty in the spirit of solidarity. Obamas forced references to an awesome God were also meant to signpost humility, not triumphalism. [W]e are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, Obama intoned, and that this legacy is not simply a birthrightit is a glorious burden. Thats actually a nice way of putting it, particularly in hindsight. Obamas successors bizarre day of patriotic devotion is not really about America or its people. It is, as ever, about Donald Trump. Donald Trump found himself an unlikely cheerleader on his third day in the Oval Office: Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist who for months called Trump every name in the book. Thats because Trump signed an executive order withdrawing from the negotiations over a controversial trade deal that both he and Trump swore was toxic to American workers. I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone, Sanders said. For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade dealsincluding the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and otherswhich have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom which has lowered wages for American workers. The Trump-Sanders agreement on the issue underscores the odd position in which labor activists and progressive Democrats now find themselves. They like Trumps executive order, even if they consider it a symbolic gestureTPP wasnt ratified by Congress so the order doesnt have an immediate impact on the U.S. economyand even if it does nothing to assuage concerns about the many billionaires with whom Trump has stocked his cabinet. However, it did signal that there at least are some arenas in which Democrats and activists can in fact agree with the new presidenta president many of them profess to loathe. I think that symbolic or not, it does lay out at least a priority that we need to think about trade in a different way, Charlie Wishman, the secretary-treasurer of the Iowa Federation of Labor, told The Daily Beast in a phone interview. He cautioned though that its too early to tell exactly how Trump is going to prioritize a new trade approach with actual policy. The policy specifics of what Trump will do about trade issues are going to be very important, Wishman said. We have yet to see exactly what thats going to look like. Throughout the campaign, Trump railed against TPP, for which the Obama administration advocated despite general disapproval. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country, Trump said during a stop in Ohio last year. During the campaign, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton waffled on TPP, first calling the deal the gold standard in trade agreements, and later changing her tune during a debate with Sanders. The senator from Vermont and the reality show king from New York were more consistent , both agreeing that the deal was a disastrous proposition. In response to Mondays executive order, Sanderswho has signaled that he is willing to work with Trump on these issues while criticizing him for his divisive rhetoric and other policiesheld out his promise of holding him to account. Now is the time to develop a new trade policy that helps working families, not just multinational corporations, Sanders said. If President Trump is serious about a new policy to help American workers, then I would be delighted to work with him. The issue of trade was something that Trump used to try to woo Sanders supporters and union members in the campaign, constantly reminding his crowds that he wanted to dissolve TPP. It was successful enough that he won over almost as many union households during the election as Ronald Reagan in 1984. This was not lost on people like Wishman. But his concern is that the rest of the administrationparticularly Trumps appointment of Andrew Puzder, the former CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of the Carls Jr. fast food chain, and an opponent of minimum wage increases, to head the Department of Laborwill lead to unfulfilled promises for the workers who voted Trump into office. They didnt vote to have the Carls Jr. guy be the labor secretary, Wishman said. While a lot of the overall policy points that were emphasized in the campaign is what union members may have voted for, my fear is that they may have bought into something.a package that is a whole lot different than what they thought. Other champions for the dissolution of TPP like Representative Keith Ellison, a candidate for DNC chair, and the leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus said Trump wasnt the one who brought an end to the trade agreementprogressive activists who had fought it for years did. Today was the final nail in the coffin for the TPP, the CPC said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. The activists, advocates, and American workers who have spent the past 5 years fighting this trade deal deserve the credit for bringing about the end of the TPPnot President Trump. Together with its partners, the CPC has consistently opposed the TPP and laid out a vision for fair trade that must be incorporated into any future multilateral or bilateral trade agreement to receive progressive support. They added a familiar reservation about Trumps cabinet however. It is up to President Trump to stand up to his billionaire cabinet and corporate boardrooms to create trade policies that benefit American workers, instead of increasing the profits and power of big corporations, the statement read. Trump is in a unique position not only as a Republican who seems to share a vested interest in trade reform with some Democrats, but also as a businessman with sprawling international interests and investments in overseas production for his products. This last point was emphasized by Pete DAlessandro, a former campaign coordinator for Sanders. He should move his own companies back over here, DAlessandro told The Daily Beast in a phone interview. Imagine if he shut those plants down and brought them back to America. I dont know if hes sincere or not but thatd be one way to prove it. The moment provides an opportunity for Democrats to find common ground with the new president which could bolster the legitimacy in their arguments when they disagree with him on other issues. I just dont believe in opposing someone to oppose them if theyre doing something that you dont disagree with, DAlessandro said. Then it becomes a pretty cynical operation. So its with muted optimism that Democrats view this new ordera mostly symbolic gesture that cant tell the whole story about Trumps plans for trade or his sincerity as the proclaimed greatest jobs president that God ever created. As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a tweet, TPP was dead long before President Trump took office. We await real action on trade. It was more than an hour into White House Press Secretary Sean Spicers first formal briefing to the media on Mondaya much-hyped event that dragged on so long that it resembled War and Peace (surprisingly, mostly peace)that President Trumps pugnacious mouthpiece called on Jim Acosta. First of all, congratulationsand thanks for the taking the question, began CNNs senior White House correspondent. Less than two weeks ago, Spicer had threatened to toss Acosta out of a briefing in Trump Tower, where the then-president-elect refused to recognize a very persistent Acosta while insulting CNN as a terrible organization that disseminates fake news. Trump had been enraged by a completely accurate CNN report that he learned in an intelligence briefing a few days earlier of a scandalous unverified dossier about his alleged misdeeds during a 2013 trip to Moscow. But now Spicerwho was widely panned for his angry five-minute tirade against the Fourth Estate on Saturday, when he accused reporters of being irresponsible and reckless and told nutty whoppers about the size of the crowd at his bosss inauguration, among other fibswas hoping for a tonal reset in his relations with Washington journalists. So Acosta got to ask his question, which addressed a mystery that has prompted collective head-scratching in the nationals capital and beyond. Why make this crowd-size issue something to talk about at all? Why did it bother the president that much that he felt you needed to come out here and straighten that out for us? And why, Acosta went on, did the brand-new president use his remarks to staffers of the Central Intelligence Agencya critical national security organization that Trump had repeatedly belittled and compared to Nazi Germanyto complain about the medias dishonest coverage of him? Spicers answer was revealing. Basically, he indicated, the president and his staff had gotten their feelings hurt by the skeptical media coverage accorded to all the heroic accomplishments of the fledgling Trump White House. Theres this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he [Trump] has, Spicer complained, adding the crowd-size issue was simply representative of a disturbing trend. Its just unbelievably frustrating when youre told its not big enough, its not good enough, you cant win. Clearly wounded and aggrieved, Spicer went on in this heart-rending mannerrecalling countless slights during the recently-ended campaign, lamenting the less-than-worshipful portrayals of Trumps cabinet nominees, and the medias constant attempts to undermine his [the presidents] credibility and the movement he represents. Watching this poignant spectacle on television, one almost wanted to reach into the screen and kiss Seans boo-boo. We want have a healthy dialoguenot just with you, but with the American people, Spicer continued. Its a little demoralizing to to turn on the TV day after day But doesnt that come with the territory in Washington, Acosta asked, isnt it par for the course for any president of the United States? Ive never seen it like this, Jim, Spicer replied, addingperhaps ominouslythat its a two-way street, possibly a dark alley in which reporters might well become mugging victims (metaphorically, of course) if they obstinately refuse to accentuate the positive. Sometimes well make mistakes, I promise you, Spicer conceded. But it doesnt always have to be negativeSometimes we do do the right things. Spicer kvetched on, occasionally sounding a little overwrought, but that was in stark contrast to Saturdays ill-fated outing, in which he sometimes shouted, in a display of indignation, as he read his indictment of the media from a sheet of paper. This time he was mostly loose, glib and frequently showed off his nice smile (occasionally an indulgent smile, sometimes a patronizing smile), and his suit jacket fit much betternot Saturdays weird and distracting hiking-up over his neck and shoulders, as though it was a couple of sizes too large. As White House staffers listened appreciatively from their seats against a side wallan all-female contingent that included Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee, Hope Hicks, and (sign of the times) Omarosa ManigaultSpicer opened with a quip. To scattered laughter, he noted that Josh Earnest, President Obamas just-departed spokesman, had been voted the most popular White House press secretary by the assembled press corps. So after checking my Twitter feed, Spicer said, a reference to the wretched reviews of his Saturday shtick, I shot Josh an email letting him know that he can rest easythat his title is secure for at least the next few days. A willingness, however grudging, to sound self-deprecating? Check. And unlike his encounter with CNNs Acosta, Spicer was more successful in managing the briefings other moment of dramabatting away a less than razor-sharp interrogation concerning his fidelity to facts by ABC Newss Jonathan Karl. That exchange, too, came very late in a piece of political theater in which the lead actor defied White House protocol and conspicuously dissed the Washington media establishment in the front row of the jam-packed, standing-room-only briefing area by calling first on the Trump-endorsing New York Post. And then Spicer, consulting a list, took questions from a series of back-benchers like the Christian Broadcast Network and Newsmax (both outlets sympathetic to Trump) before recognizing ABC, CBS, NBC, the Associated Press, Reuters, and even Fox News. Karl, who has a reputation for pitching hardballs, began by telling Spicer that he wanted to ask about the nature of your job. All right, here it comes. Is it your intention always to tell the truth from that podium? Karl prosecuted. Will you pledge never knowingly to say anything that is not factual. It is, Spicer answered unflinchingly. Its an honor to do this and I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out. But our intention is never to lie to you, Jonathan. Overlooking Spicers verbal tic about disagreeing with the factsperhaps an unconscious homage to Conways now-infamous reference to alternative factsthe press secretary seemed nearly reasonable when he added: There are times when you guys tweet something out or write a story, and you publish a correction. That doesnt mean you were intentionally trying to deceive readers or the American people, does it? And I think we should be afforded the same opportunity. There are times when we believe something to be true or we get something from an agency, or we act in haste because the information available wasnt complete, in our desire to communicate to the American people, and make sure you have the most complete story at the timeand we do it. Im going to come out here and tell you the facts as I know them, and if we make a mistake well do our best to correct it. Its a two-way street. [That one again.] There are many mistakes that the media makes all the time. I dont think thats always you are intentionally lying. I think we all try to do our best job, and do it with a degree of integrity in our respective industries. Then Karl asked what he presumably believed was the gotcha question: Do you have any corrections youd like to make, or clarifications youd like to make? Sure, Spicer answered serenely. Ask away, Jonathan. There followed a down-in-the-weeds, nearly incomprehensible back and forth about Metro ridership, and Spicers widely-debunked claimfrom Saturdaythat his bosss inauguration was the most-watched in history. As Spicer spun through Nielsen ratings and estimates of viewership on mobile devices and tablets (including, ironically, the 16.9 million online visitors claimed by that otherwise disreputable outfit CNN) Karl seemed lost in a verbal cloud of dust. I dont want to get into numbers, he pleaded. Well, I do, Spicer declared triumphantly. Spicer was battle-ready. And this was a moment in which Karl, and indeed his colleagues in the Fourth Estate, were not. President Trumps pick for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is a sworn enemy of the free internet. Ajit Pai, whom Trump designated as FCC chairman on Monday, is vocal opponent of net neutrality, a policy that requires internet service providers to treat all data equally. The policy, championed by outgoing FCC head Tom Wheeler, is a key cause for internet activists and consumer watchdogs but has enemies among telecommunications companies. And Pai, a former attorney for Verizon who campaigned against caps on rate hikes for prison phones, has already promised to take a weed whacker to net neutrality under Trump. Pai, a senior official in Wheelers Democrat-dominated FCC, outlined his vision for the new FCC in a December speech. The Republican-run department need[s] to remove outdated and unnecessary regulations, he said in a speech to the conservative Free State Foundation. We need to fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation, and job creation. Bold claims about innovation and job creation are common cries from net neutrality opponents. But telecommunications companies are almost always the beneficiaries of the anti-neutrality innuendo. Net neutrality requires internet services providers to charge equal rates and offer equal speeds for all data usage. Without the policy, a telecommunications companylike Pais former employer Verizonwould be allowed to impose blocks on websites at its discretion or allow providers to create so-called fast lanes for preferred sites while other internet destinations lag on slower connections. The tactics are more than a hypothetical: In 2007, feds caught Comcast deliberately slowing internet users access to torrenting sites. In a February 2015 decision, the FCC voted on measures that would enforce net neutrality for internet service providers. Pai was one of the dissenters in the 3-2 vote. He said his colleagues had only voted for net neutrality because President Obama told us to. His vote, and his long-running stance against net neutrality, earned him the ire of internet freedom groups, like the Free Press, whose president and CEO issued a statement Monday condemning Pais appointment. Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue that has come before the FCC during his tenure, Free Press president and CEO Craig Aaron said. Hes never met a mega-merger he didnt like or a public safeguard he didnt try to undermine. Hes been an inveterate opponent of Net Neutrality, expanded broadband access for low-income families, broadband privacy, prison-phone justice, media diversity and more. Pais opposition to a cap on rate hikes for prison phones, which the FCC reported could cost up to $14 a minute for inmates, was another hallmark of his time at the FCC. While the FCC moved to block future rate increases, Pai dissented, implying that if the inmates were to pay lower rates for prison phones, the law would lose some of its authority. "Political expedience trumps everything else, he said in March 2016, criticizing the departments decision to cap prison phone rates. The rule of law is ridiculed rather than respected. Pais opposition reportedly led to friction with Democratic FCC staffers. Hes more interested in grandstanding than getting something done, an anonymous Democratic staffer told Politico in 2015. Hes always saying we wont negotiate with himthat we wont compromise, but when his idea of compromise is to gut the order, [then] why even negotiate? Another opponent offered a slightly more charitable description. Hes very much like Justice Scalia in terms of being a standard-bearer for a particular philosophical and ideological view that has a consistent, albeit very narrow, view, Harold Feld, senior vice president at Public Knowledge, told Politico. But Pais views have been eagerly received in the Trump administration. In November, Trump tapped two former telecommunications lobbyists to oversee the FCCs transition. The transition officials, Jeffrey Eisenach and Mark Jamison, are vocal opponents of net neutrality, both serving on staff at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. Trumps own views on net neutrality appear negative, although his only explicit statement on the issue came in an old tweet that suggests he did not know what net neutrality was. Obamas attack on the internet is another top down power grab, Trump tweeted in 2014. Net neutrality is the Fairness Doctrine. Will target conservative media. The FCCs Fairness Doctrine, defunct since 1987, required television broadcasters to air contrasting perspectives on controversial subjects, even if the opinions did not receive perfectly equal air time. The law is unrelated to net neutrality, which prevents a service provider from targeting a specific kind of media. But under Pai, the internet-equalizing policy could be out the door. Speaking to the conservative Free State Foundation in December, Pai recalled the day the FCC passed its broadest net neutrality protections. I do believe that its days are numbered, Pai recalled thinking. Today, I am more confident than ever that this prediction will come true. If so, it will be the end of the web as we know it. Millions of Americans from across the political spectrum have looked to the FCC to protect their rights to connect and communicate and cheered decisions like the historic Net Neutrality ruling, Aaron said. Pai threatens to undo all of that important work. Those millions will rise up again to oppose his reactionary agenda. Even before Americas most prominent one got punched in the face, it has not been a banner week for white nationalists. In D.C., white separatist Richard Spencer and anyone else who shared his supremacist sentiments were disallowed from attending an event for people who self-identify as deplorable. Then, of course, Spencer was clocked in the face by a protester on the day of Donald Trumps inauguration. And 2,300 miles away, the 6,000 residents of Whitefish, Montana, successfully pushed out resident Spencer and the neo-Nazi troll storm, as Yahoo! News called them, who had been harassing the towns 100 Jewish residents. Maybe Spencer and that troll storm shouldve seen it coming. Because two months ago, Montanans in the State House District 10 minutes away from Whitefish had a chance to vote for a man with ties to Spencer himself. All they had to do was vote Republican in one of Americas most conservative states. They didnt. In a state that Donald Trump won by over 20 percentage points, residents in Montana House District 3 voted for Democrat Zac Perry, a substitute teacher and liquor store clerk. Perrys opponent Taylor Rose was formerly the vice president of Youth for Western Civilization, a now defunct nonprofit dedicated to fighting multiculturalism. The Anti-Defamation League said the group has close ties to White Supremacists and served to offer a highly desirable platform to white supremacist Richard Spencer by inviting him to speak on two different college campuses. At one of the speeches for YWC, Spencerwho called himself a fan of the fantastic organizationargued against affirmative action, claiming intelligence is heritable. Five years later, Spencer was trying to take over Whitefish and Rose was angling for a state House seat just across district linesas a Republican, in a red state. And that scared the hell out of Zac Perry, the sitting state representative in House District 3. After all, in 2014, hed just won by 48 votes. I was very worried. My first win was by a plurality. Here we were going into that race in a conservative district where Republicans have done very well, Perry told The Daily Beast. It wasnt going to be easy. Rose had a bit of a national following on the far-right. Hed worked as a staff writer for far-right fringe website WorldNetDaily before his run. Plus, while Donald Trump barnstormed the country reactivating white supremacist figures like David Duke, national news organizations started to write stories with titles like Trumpism Goes Local profiling Rose. In those stories, he repeatedly insisted hes not a white nationalistdespite being labeled one in a detailed biography by the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Rose didnt respond to an email by The Daily Beast about the topic at press time.) It was very concerning, the assets that he had, said Perry. Even local Republican legislators like Montana state Senator Dee Brown started throwing in support. Perrys best accidental get-out-the-vote vehicle consisted of talking to customers at his liquor store. Meanwhile, Rose had managed to mainstream his ideas through what Perry called code words. Theres so many different names. They use so many different code words, said Perry. That was one of the things that motivated me: That type of ideology, I did not want represented in my community. I did not want that to take root. That got me up early every morning, the possibility of that taking root. Thats what motivated Philip, too. Philip campaigned for Perry. (He works at Columbia Falls High School in Montana, so he didnt want to use his full name with Spencers troll storm so close by. The Daily Beast confirmed Philip worked for Perrys campaign.) He was worried Perry might have the same problem as Stacey Schnebel, a Democrat who ran against a Republican county commissioner named Phil Mitchell. She ran on a bit of an environmental platform. She lost big against a guy named Phil Mitchell, whose whole platform was I dont have to debate you. Im a Republican. You know what I stand for, said Philip. And that worked. So Perry had work to do. And, in rural Montana, getting the word out might be harder work than anywhere else. Theres no cell service past West Glacier. Its a strange district. You can end up in a lot of different places. Its not easy to go door-to-door there, said Philip. The white nationalists were thinking Zac was weak. Turns out Perry wasnt weak, but he needed to knock on a lot of doorsan enormous pain in a district where the distance from one door to another can be dozens of miles away. Our ground game had to be much stronger than in the past. We had to go one on one. We had to get on doorsteps. Despite the fact that its a huge district, I thought, if we do that, we have a chance, he said. Im a guy thats from the community. I grew up here. I represent the values that reflect the community that I live in. I need to make sure everybody in the community knows that. Perry and his volunteers kept encountering the same problem: Winning over voters who would traditionally see a big R on a ballot and reflexively fill out the box next to it. Folks in the community would bring his name upthat hes a Republicanbut not his ties with some unsavory organizations or the unique ideology that he has, he said. The Perry campaign anticipated a nail-biter. It was only 48 votes last time, remember, and the state would be eager to turn out for the Republican at the top of the ballot. Enthusiasm for Trump could cost him the election on its own. But the door-knocking around mountains and rivers and places without cellphone service paid off. Perry won with 53 percent of the vote. Not a landslide, but a majorityand a lot more than 47 votes. It was a relief, hes said. Its so refreshing to see that response in the community. It was a rejection of a guy labeled a white nationalist by the SPLC who had temporarily co-opted a Republican ticket. It wasnt a punch in the face, but it was probably more impactful in the long run. Thats been one of the best things coming out of the last few months. Not just winning an election against Taylor Rose, but watching the Flathead [region of Montana] come out against the rhetoric of Richard Spencer and for the Jewish community in Whitefishseeing people call out the hatred and bigotry for what it is, and doing so publicly, said Perry. Thats the big lesson Perry wants the country to take away from the spectacular failure of a white nationalist coup in Montana in this last month: Almost nobody wants one. Not even Republicans in one of the reddest states in the country. When people think that were moving backwards toward a society that is amenable to hatred, you can look what happened to northwest Montana, said Perry. Those beliefs are rejected and not acceptable, and as a community we can rise up and attack those things from the root. After a brutal start, the CIA is set to mend fences and win over Customer Number One, President Donald Trump, putting aside his awkward address to the agency on Saturday and doing what they do best: recruit him to their way of thinking. Congratulations, hes already recruited. Where is first place he showed up? His main intelligence agency, said one former senior CIA official whose job used to be cultivating foreign sources. The CIAs main job overseas is to get into the mind of foreign leaders, and to recruit foreign intelligence assets to help them do that, wooing and winning them into becoming useful to the CIA and the United States. Intelligence officials current and former say thats what theyre now doing with Donald Trump, though slightly in reverse: studying whats important to him to learn how best to get through to him, and how the intelligence agency can be a useful tool to his presidency. There are also key policies various factions of the CIA would like to see addressed. Some want to shore up the agencys role as key operator of drone strikes against overseas terrorist targetswhich the Obama administration had hoped to transfer in large part to the military. Others would like to roll back some of the recent reorganization of the CIA into 10 geographic or mission specific new centers. (Its something newly confirmed CIA director, conservative Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo has already said might need tweaking.) Other changes would be far more controversial. In written answers to the Senate Intelligence Committee, Republican Pompeo left the door open to resuming the harsh interrogation methods of the Bush era, saying that hed ask officers if current tactics were getting them the intelligence they need. He made similar comments about collecting Americans data, saying he may recommend changes if he finds CIA officers hands are being tied by todays regulations. Those answers were meant to serve as signs that the Trump White House has the CIAs backfence-mending that continued Monday with White House spokesman Sean Spicer explaining that Trumps beef was with the intelligence leadership of the Obama administration, not the rank and file. Theres a difference between having differences with the intelligence leaders, and the men and women who toil every single day, he said in his Monday press conference. But it will be a while before the blot of Trumps meandering speech at the agency headquarters Saturday fadesa rambling, stream of consciousness series of riffs that veered from blaming the media for making up a Trump-CIA feud (despite his previous comparisons of the agency to Nazis) to assessing his own intelligence, calling himself smart. Worse, to some agency staffers, he spoke in front of the CIAs Memorial Wall to its fallenwithout ever paying homage to those fallen. CIA officers said they were appalled and horrified that their new commander in chief was so tone deaf. Former CIA Director John Brennans comment over the weekendwhere he said he is deeply saddened and angered at Trumps despicable display of self-aggrandizementwas not helpful in building a new relationship between CIA and Trump, some insiders feel. Hes reminding them of all the people he put in top positions on the 7th floor (home to the agencys senior executive suites), his followers and acolytes, and that theyre still in touch with him, one said. He should shut up. But the CIA officers were also eager to explain it awaythat perhaps the newly assembled White House staff had failed to brief him, or perhaps Trump was simply displaying the inexperience of a successful businessman who has never had to send people into dangerous situations, and lose them. Its emotional ground zero for the agency, said former acting CIA director McLaughlin of the Memorial Wall. The president hasnt visited Dover yet, but he will, and then he will understand that. Dover Air Force Base in Delaware is where fallen troops, and fallen CIA officers, make the last journey to the United States to be reunited with their loved ones. CIA officers saw another flash of ignorance in Trumps comment that many of them had probably voted for him. For democracy and intel to coexist, CIA must be objective and apolitical as possible. Thats why content of Trump speech so wrong, tweeted former senior CIA official Carmen Medina. She pointed out that federal employees arent supposed to be partisan anyway, as per the Hatch Act of 1939, which bans federal employees from most partisan or political activities. (CBS News reported Monday that many of those cheering were actually Trump supporters, not agency emloyees, but CIA insiders pushed back saying many of those in the room were CIA professionals who jumped at the opportunity to meet the new commander in chief.) That said, she and others are treating the odd speech as a roadmap to decoding Trump. Theres nothing unusual about analyzing a new president, their style, their cognitive dispositions to figure out how you can support them, Medina said in an interview. The first step is actually getting access to the president, getting him to pay attention to what you write. The key to Trump? He likes to win. He has a nostalgia for a period in history when U.S. always won, Medina said. So on climate change, for instance, rather than pointing out that theres science behind it, or that the U.S. needs to set an example, an analyst could point out that the solar energy business is likely to be a gazillion-dollar business and the U.S. wants to be the winner, she said. Thats not politicizing the intelligence, its talking to the consumer. If Trumps style means talking to him rather than giving him a written report, thats fine, said former Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin. When I briefed Ronald Reagan, I was told to have a joke ready. I did, he said. It seems from his speeches that he does not want to dive deeply into a topic and assess it exhaustively, said former CIA briefer David Priess. Instead, he is thinking about implications and its effect on him and how it related to things he has said and done. Former commanders in chief have wanted to know what the foreign press or foreign publics say about them, something Priess details in The Presidents Book of Secrets. This is simply a different manifestation of that. A less flattering way to look at it? Multiple officers said: Flattering his ego will be key. He is extremely insecure like an adolescent boy, one former analyst said. If you are very secure with yourself, you dont talk about yourself all the time. People who are loud and bragging and projecting confidence, they are overcompensating for their own personal insecurities through their behavior. Thats a vulnerability that can be exploited both inside and outside the U.S. government. He could get hoodwinked on the details, if a foreign leader tells him what he wants to hear, but obscures key facts, another officer said. Trouble ahead will come in the form of briefing the Trump White House on things that dont match their understanding of events, like Russias attempts to influence U.S. voters by releasing hacked Democratic emails. Youre going to have to have your arguments really tight, a third former senior official said. When you say something they dont think is true, youre going to have to be standing on granite. The key will be getting a person into his inner circle whom he trusts as much as his National Security Adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn. Multiple Trump advisers and intelligence officials say Flynn has been playing the most prominent role in teaching Trump about intelligence. Flynn had a sometimes contentious relationship with the CIA when he was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, where he sought to expand its clandestine spy service which the CIA saw as an unnecessary addition to its own. They have got to get somebody in there to establish a personal relationship with Flynn or have a strong enough relationship with the president so they can be a voice to add to the debate, one of the senior former officers said. Thats going to be extremely difficult. Well get past this, McLaughlin said, especially now that Trumps pick Pompeo can get to work. People there are mature enough to know that this is Trump. At the end of the day, they are dedicated to supporting a president. Thats in their DNA. Early Tuesday, actor Ewan McGregor, star of such films as Trainspotting and the Star Wars prequels, explained why he wouldnt be appearing on the show Good Morning Britain that dayand it had to do with the shows embarrassing, sexist clown of a co-host, Piers Morgan. Morgan, as is his wont, responded with a series of acting tough online tweets, even though hes a total softy whos probably never thrown a punch in his life and McGregor is from Scotland, rides a motorcycle, and could kick the ever-living shit out of him whilst on a Mark Renton-sized dose of heroin: The comment McGregor took issue with came via Twitter, a medium where the desperate-for-attention Morgan spends his days searching for his name. On Saturday, the day millions of women took to the streets around the world to protest the election of a man who bragged about sexually assaulting women on tape, Morgan fired off the following tweet: Its here we should note that Morgan, with his little poof of hair, baby face, and saggy body, is far from a paragon of masculinity. An incompetent journalist whos failed upward his entire career, from being in breach of the Press Complaints Commission's financial code for investing in a stock prior to running an exclusive on the company, to being sacked from the Daily Mirror for running fake photos of British soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners (and refusing to apologize for it), to allegedly overseeing phone hacking as editor of the Mirror, Morgan is a complete and utter disgrace to the journalistic profession. Lately, Morgan has been serving as the Bib Fortuna to Trumps Jabba the Hutt, penning piece after piece praising the unhinged billionairethat is, when hes not cashing in on his brand of rank misogyny, criticizing everything from Susan Sarandons cleavage to Kim Kardashians nudes in his unreadable Daily Mail op-eds. Morgan, of course, owes a debt of gratitude to Trump, seeing as the former real estate heir dubbed the Brit the victor of the 2008 edition of Celebrity Apprentice, before keeping him on as a judge. In one of the shows most cringe-worthy scenes, Morgan can be seen snickering after Trump took it upon himself to sexually harass Brande Roderick on camera, saying to her, Must be a pretty pictureyou dropping to your knees. And McGregor, on the other hand, is not only Obi Wan Kenobi, but wields a real-life lightsaber that is, well, a heck of a lot bigger than Morgans. Two months after President Obama freed him from prison, two masked gunmen took his life. Damarlon Thomas was serving time for drug distribution when this president commuted his and 78 others sentences in November. Thomas, a former gang member, had served eight years of his 19-year sentence and was released to a federal halfway house in his hometown to serve out the final months before his new release date in March. But shortly after his arrival, he was shot dead in an execution-style hit, police say. On January 23, Thomas was living at Bannum Place, a federal halfway house in Saginaw, Michigan, where he was transferred sometime after his sentence was commuted in November. At approximately 9:40 p.m., two men wearing masks and carrying assault rifles entered the low-security lockup. They began searching the 24 inmates for their target. One gunman reportedly rounded up the group at gunpoint, while the other pulled Thomas, 31, aside. The masked man shot Thomas multiple times, including once in the head. One person watched over a group of them while another subject located the victim and executed him, Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser told the Saginaw News. They were looking for this person. The shooters left the rest of the onlookers unharmed, and fled the lockup without being captured. Police have yet to name any suspects in the slaying. Reached by phone on Tuesday morning, a Bannum Place employee said the facility did not have any new information on the shooting. This was a very targeted individual, for whatever reason, Kaiser told the Saginaw News. The people that shot this man knew who they were looking for and wanted him deceased. Thomas was arrested in 2008 as part of a federal investigation into Saginaws Sunny Side Gang called Operation Sunset. Thomas was among the former former gang members to enter a guilty plea, admitting to distributing five or more grams of cocaine. For that he was given 19 years behind bars in Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio. After his conviction, Thomas unsuccessfully appealed the 19-year sentence as unreasonable for what he said was his minor role as a drug distributor. But Obama appeared to agree with Thomass appeal and on November 22, announced that Thomas would be released in four months, instead of after the eight years remaining on his initial sentence. With four months left to serve on his sentence, Thomas was sent to the halfway house that is intended to help rehabilitate inmates and prepare them for release into society. He served half of those four months before he was shot dead. Over his eight years in office, Obama granted a record-breaking 1,715 commutations, many of which went to inmates serving sentences on drug offenses. He was more conservative with pardons, offering just 212, fewer than any recent president with the exceptions of both presidents Bush. PARISHistory will remember two images that symbolize the start of 2017: on one side, Donald J. Trump raising his fist the day of his inauguration in Washington, D.C.; on the other side, Chinese leader Xi Jinping smiling, and cheered by global business leaders, in the Swiss ski resort of Davos. Add to that, perhaps, the flourish of the pen with which Trump signed the death warrant of the hard-won Trans-Pacific Partnership, which might have hemmed in China, but now wont. Its worth reminding those who might have forgotten that its in Beijing, not in Washington, that the last major Communist Party on earth is still in power, and that the World Economic Forum in Davos was initially founded to celebrate and promote U.S.-style globalized capitalism. However, such images notwithstanding, roles havent been reversed. Not really. Donald Trump remains fundamentally a capitalist, albeit the nationalist and protectionist type, while Xi Jinping, however benevolent he appeared at Davosthe first Chinese president to go therehas not exactly been turned into the champion of free-trade and liberal globalization beyond serving Chinas short-term interests. A bit of history: When Deng Xiaopingthe great post-Maoist Chinese leaderput China on the path of reform and opening almost four decades ago, it was pure pragmatism, an attempt to catch up after years of ideological folly. China had missed the previous industrial revolutions in Asia, that of Japan and later of the South Korean, Taiwanese, and Singaporean dragons; but it found itself well positioned for the next wave. During the second half of the 1990s, and with even more energy following its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, China became the world factory, i.e., the favorite destination of Foreign Direct Investment, a land of outsourcing and mass production for the rest of the world. China found itself in the heart of the global economic engine not out of ideological conversion, but out of necessity to create jobs, pull part of its vast population from misery, and finance the largest exodus from rural to urban areas in history, with the need to build infrastructure on a huge scale. It also helped give renewed legitimacy to a Communist Party that had been seriously shaken in 1989. In the process, exports became a key element of the Chinese economic model, reaching a record 36 percent of GDP in 2006, compared with less than 5 percent during Maos time and 12 percent in the United States. Following the financial crisis of 2008-2009, which weakened all of Chinas export marketsthe U.S., the European Union and Japanthe share of exports in Chinas GDP fell to 21 percent while Beijing was attempting to promote domestic consumption among the newly emerged middle class as an engine for growth. The election of a protectionist president in the U.S. came too early for Xi Jinpings China, half-way through a delicate transition to a new economic model. Chinas two-figure growth of the first decade of the century has now turned to less than 7 percent in 2016, and the IMF predicts a modest 6.5 percent this year. More than ever, China needs stability and confidence, particularly in a year when the Chinese Communist Party holds a Congress where Xi Jinping hopes to reinforce his grip on power and place his men in key positions for a second mandate at the helm of the worlds emerging superpower. Donald Trump is depriving China of this international stability as he has made Beijing the favorite targettogether with Mexico and to a lesser extent Germanyof his America First economic nationalism. China has no other choice than to take the opposite stand and promote free trade, open borders, and broadcast its attractiveness to American-based transnational corporations that the new U.S. leader wants to keep at home. Xi pleased his Davos audience by comparing protectionism with isolating yourself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept out, so will light and air. But if he reassured business leaders gathered in Davos by refusing Trumps trade war rhetoric, Xi Jinping did not turn overnightas many commentators quickly concludedinto the champion of liberal economic policies. China remains a strictly controlled and regulated economy in which the state is and will remain the main actor, even if it allows a booming private sector. Foreign investors have realized that the full opening of the Chinese economy they were hoping for since Chinas admission into the WTO in the early part of the 2000s hasnt materialized, and sometimes has gone backward. One has to read the yearly reports of the American and European Chambers of Commerce in China to realize that fair competition is not possible in all sectors, that national preference is the norm, and that China defends its national interest much more vigorously than its partners and competitors. For that reason, China has yet to receive the status of market economy it was hoping for from the U.S. and the European Union, and in the current climate it is not about to get it. The turn of events has forced China to adapt to a world threatened by trade wars, the return of protectionist policies, and to regional blocs. Optimally, from Chinas point of view, this pressure from the new international climate could accelerate the transformation of its economic model and make it more self-sufficient and more self-centeredwhich its continental size allows. At the same time, its clout with client-states in Asia, Africa and Latin America will grow as it turns away from unwelcoming western markets. Xi Jinping showed in Davos a serenity that probably hides lots of worries due to the aggressiveness of the man with the clenched fist in Washington. The new game was not anticipated by Beijings strategists, but they still hold several cards that will allow them to come out stronger, and perhaps as outright winners. When unconfirmed reports alleged that Donald J. Trump had once paid sex workers in Russia to urinate on a hotel bed that had been slept on by the Obamas, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded himself, half joking about an event he said he doubted ever took place, and claiming that, after all, Russian sex workers are of course the best in the world. Certainly the Russian women working in the sex trades whom I have met during my time coordinating the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, both in the United States where I live and at health meetings elsewhere, have been lovely, and I have no doubt that they are good at what they do. But I am also certain that they do not receive health services that they desperately need. Russia has one of the fastest growing HIV epidemics in the world, accounting for eight out of 10 new infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Russias regressive policies on sex work, LGBTQ people, and sex education are counter to good health. LGBTQ people are stigmatized and discriminated against and face grave violence, sex work is prohibited, the most effective HIV prevention strategies for people who use drugs are against the law, and comprehensive sexuality education is not offered in schools. Putins glib remark, so widely quoted, is its own variation on fake news: a distraction from what are, in reality, life and death issues. Russias pernicious influence has gone well beyond its own borders. Last June in New York it worked to prevent comprehensive sexuality education and reproductive health services from being included in the Political Declaration (PDF) of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS. Russia spoke out to object to the use of accepted public health terms like key populations (those most affected by the HIV pandemic) and supported the use of comprehensive education instead of comprehensive sexuality education, successfully obscuring the topic of discussion. The United States under the Obama administration created a $100 million Key Populations Investment Fund specifically to promote HIV programming among gay men and transgender people, sex workers, and people who use drugs, among others. Health wonks noted that this would be the most effective spending for HIV prevention. That was part of PEPFAR, the Presidents Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief, by which George W. Bush made HIV medications available in the most affected countries, saving lives and changing lives, and which Barack Obama transformed by investing in evidence-based, proven-effective strategies for HIV prevention, treatment, and care. Will Trump follow these bold moves with continued strong public health measures, or will he emulate Russias less effective, punitive, and ignorance-based measures? Lets hope he follows the model of his presidential predecessors, not the man he seems to admire so much in Russia. A Las Vegas restaurant allegedly bribed a crooked federal agent to raid their rival restaurant, the alleged victims claim. Club Yamang and Club Sonagi were two Korean supper clubs, which offered food and music, often accompanied by attractive hostesses. But the restaurants competition turned ugly in 2013, when Club Yamang allegedly began receiving frequent visits from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Joohoon David Lee. Club Yamangs former owners claim in a Jan. 14 lawsuit against the government that Lee targeted them for sex trafficking investigations, raided their restaurant, and entered misinformation on them in an ICE databaseall in exchange for free food and drink at Club Sonagi, where Lee was friends with the owner. At Club Sonagi, Lee would spend long nights drinking high-end whisky and routinely generated bills between $1,000.00 to $2,500.00 an evening, the lawsuit alleges. But Club Yamangs owners claim Lee never had to pay the exorbitant bar tab. Instead, they allege, Lee agreed to wage war on Club Sonagis rivals in exchange for unlimited free food and booze. It was commonly understood by employees of Club Sonagi that SA [Special Agent] Lee was never to be presented with a bill and/or required to pay any money. All of his food and drinks were to be comped, the suit, which names the United States as its only defendant, alleges. While drunk one evening at Club Sonagi in approximately June 2013, SA Lee boasted to some of the clubs waitresses that he was going to raid Club Yamang in a few weeks. Club Sonagis former owner could not be reached for comment. Lees former attorney did not return a request for comment and Lee, currently doing time for an unrelated bribery case, was unavailable. The former ICE agent previously admitted to accepting bribes in December 2015, when he pleaded guilty to accepting thousands of dollars in cash from a Korean businessman accused of trafficking a woman into the U.S. as a sex slave without her consent. Lee was sentenced to 10 months in prison in July 2016. An ICE spokesperson declined to comment on the new allegations against Lee, but told The Daily Beast that the agency has zero tolerance for public officials who abuse their authority and violate the publics trust to feed their own greed. Guarding against illegal or unethical behavior is not an option; its an obligation we have to the people we serve. Just as Lee had allegedly promised, Homeland Security Investigations led a raid of Club Yamang on July 11, 2013 under Lees direction, the restaurants former owners said. The raid was not supported by legitimate reasons, the suit claims. Instead it was based almost entirely upon SA Lees representations and appeal to crass racial/ethnic stereotypes of Asian clubs as dens of prostitution and human trafficking which SA Lee believed other government officials would be susceptible to believing. Paul Padda, an attorney for the former Club Yamang owners, thinks Lee invoked stereotypes of Asian sex work, without properly explaining the concept of a Korean supper club to other law enforcement officials. These types of lounges are not only common in Asia but exist right here in the United States in most major cities, Padda told The Daily Beast. Frankly, theyre not much different than the lounges youll find in the major hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. What I believe the evidence will show in this case is that ICE Agent Lee attempted to paint the worst possible picture of my clients establishment by playing upon stereotypes. During the raid, the restaurants female employees were allegedly detained, and questioned on their immigration status and whether they were sex workers. One of the detainees was Aeja Kim, the then-fiancee of Club Yamang owner Thomas Kim. During the raid, Aeja was taken to an ICE detention center where Lee subjected her to an intense interrogation and placed a Global Positioning System (GPS) device on her ankle, the suit alleges. During the hours-long interrogation, Thomas did not know where his fiancee had been taken. When Aeja finally returned, the couple was allegedly informed that Aejas ankle monitor would remain on indefinitely, despite the apparent lack of a court order for the device. When Padda met with Lee four months later to discuss removing the monitor, Lee freely admitted that the device was being used to build a criminal case against Aeja, the complaint reads. My client Aeja Kim had to wear an ankle monitor for almost six months, Padda told The Daily Beast, adding that, after another ICE agent took an independent look into Aejas case, the monitor was removed the same day. It was outrageous. But even without ankle monitors, the owners of Club Yamang and their families claimed they felt stalked. Lee would allegedly park his official ICE vehicle outside the restaurant, scaring away customers, and giving employees the impression of constant surveillance, they allege. In December, Lee and an investigator with the Nevada Attorney Generals Office allegedly visited the apartment of a female Club Yamang employee and interrogated her on her immigration status within earshot of her neighbors, questioning her on whether she used drugs or was engaged in sex work. Lee showed the employee several photographs of [the Club Yamang owners] and notified her that they would all be going to jail soon, the suit alleges. He further queried whether she wanted to end up in the same position. Two of the owners, a married couple, ran into other issues with ICE that same month. The couple, whom Padda said made trips to South Korea, found themselves interrogated every time they tried to board a plane. My client Mi Won Kim and her husband were being flagged for inspection at the airport and getting picked for interrogation by Homeland Security, Padda said. On some occasions the questioning would last for two hours. They felt very humiliated every time they were stopped and questioned at length as if they were criminals. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that Lee deliberately entered misinformation about the couple into the ICE database, so as to flag them as a flight risk. It wouldnt be the first time Lee was accused of tampering with ICE databases for bribes. In December 2015, he pleaded guilty to one count of accepting a bribe, after he accepted $9,000 to $10,000 in cash, plus an all-expenses-paid trip to Seoul from an unnamed South Korean businessman accused of sex trafficking. In 2012, Lee conducted an interview with a woman who accused the businessman of trafficking her into the U.S. as a sex slave, ICE announced in a statement, on his plea. He later issued the same businessman a favorable ICE report, after the unnamed man paid him up to $10,000 in cash, and funded his trip to Korea. But while Lee gave the alleged sex-trafficker the all-clear, his efforts at Club Yamang drove the restaurant out of business, its former owners said. With customers and employees retreating from the restaurant and its constant government surveillance, the supper club was forced to close its doors. All five plaintiffs in the case are seeking at least $100,000 in damages, for what they describe as extreme emotional distress. In the final days of the Obama administration, an immigration attorney based in Long Island made a remarkable discovery: that the Justice Department accidentally doxxed some of its most powerful employees. The mistake has implications for a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit the department is embroiled in, and it could get the DOJ sued by judges it employs. On top of that, it also has the potential to change the way we think about how the government decides who gets deported. This mistake happened in early 2015, when the Justice Department released a trove of heavily redacted documents on complaints filed with the department about immigration judges. U.S. immigration courtsthe tribunals that decide whether or not undocumented immigrants get deported or gain refugee statusare part of the Justice Department. As a result, their inner workings are often more secretive and obtuse than the federal judiciary. In an effort to make the courts more transparent, the American Immigration Lawyers Associationworking with attorneys from the liberal-leaning watchdog group Public Citizen Litigation Group and the American Immigration Councilsued the DOJs Executive Office for Immigration Review, demanding documentation on complaints filed against immigration judges and how those complaints were handled. After litigation, the Justice Department turned over more than 16,000 pages of documents. Those documents included complaints themselves, as well as internal DOJ communications on how to handle them. The documents also detailed what kind of discipline (or lack thereof) judges received for engaging in unethical or unprofessional behavior. But the names of the judges discussed in those documents were blacked out, along with the names of the lawyers who filed the complaints and the names of their clients. So the American Immigration Lawyers Association went back to court, arguing that the DOJ should reveal the names of the judges who generated those complaints. The Justice Department, in turn, argued that releasing the judges names would violate their privacy rights. That litigation is ongoing. A few days before Inauguration Day, meanwhile, an immigration attorney named Bryan Johnson was combing through that document trove in search of any tidbits that could help him. Johnson, of the Long Island, New York, law firm Amoachi & Johnson PLLC, represents children who come to the United States without legal authorization, fleeing drug violence in Central America. For these clients, who seek refugee status from some of the most violent parts of the world, deportation can be a death sentence. Johnson told The Daily Beast that as he was going through those documents, he switched from one document-viewing software program to another, in hopes of making it easier to scroll through. But when he made the switch, something happened that he hadnt expected: The redactions vanished. The documents, reviewed by The Daily Beast, show that black marks designed to obscure the names of immigration judges had disappeared, revealing their identities. Since the judges names werent the only thing redacted in those complaints, Johnson didnt post the unredacted text online; in order to protect the personal information of vulnerable immigrants trying to get legal status in the United States. Instead, he re-posted the redacted documents on his law firms blog, and used information in the unredacted documents to make a key matching judges with complaints. Lauren Alder Reid, a spokesperson for the DOJs Executive Office of Immigration Review, said Johnsons blog post contained inaccuracies. EOIR is aware that a private attorney viewed EOIR-provided documents that the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Plaintiff in the relevant litigation, posted to the Internet and that the private attorney took the time to seek data not accessible on the face of the documents themselves, she said. EOIR has determined that this unfortunate incident resulted in the attorney publishing an inaccurate key to the documents. EOIR will continue to defend its case in the referenced FOIA litigation, and remains committed to protecting the identities of the immigration judges against whom complaints, some substantiated and some unsubstantiated, have been filed. When The Daily Beast asked what inaccuracies were in Johnsons post, the spokesperson said, The key the private attorney released does not accurately pair immigration judges with complaints that have been filed. The key itself, therefore, is the inaccuracy. She didnt provide any further detail on any alleged inaccuracies, citing the ongoing FOIA litigation. Johnson said her claims that he erred are baseless. Julie Murray, a staff attorney for Public Citizen Litigation Group, didnt confirm or deny Johnsons work. We have not independently verified the accuracy of his findings, she told The Daily Beast. However, particularly in light of the possibility that the processing errors may also have revealed non-public information beyond immigration judges names, including private information regarding non-government employees, we determined to remove from AILAs website for now the affected documents specifically identified by Mr. Johnson. Some of the complaints he highlighted are disturbing. One complainant alleges that an immigration judge gave special leniency to the clients of another immigration attorney. In some complaints, immigrants allege that judges laughed at them, mocked them, and didnt take seriously their pleas for asylum. One complaint described a judge making lengthy and unjustified, unprofessional lectures on how to practice lawwasting valuable courtroom time. Another complaint described an attorney from the Department for Homeland Security trying to get an immigration judge to postpone a hearing because a lawyer for an immigrant was coughing frequently, and admitted to having the flu. The DHS attorney worried other people in the courtroom would get sick, and told the judge as much. The judge responded by spending 20 minutes berating the attorney for being overly sensitive to germs, and calling him a germaphobe. Documents showed multiple allegations of that judge rudely yelling at DHS attorneys. Another attorney alleged that an immigration judge accused her of wearing perfume when she wasnt wearing any, and also said she had tried to kill him by coming into court with a cold. Everyone is afraid of making complaints/comments/inquiries, the attorney wrote. Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney whose practice is based in Atlanta, told The Daily Beast he was appalled by some of the allegations, as well as what he believes were vastly inadequate responses by the Justice Department. This is an unprecedented number of complaints against judges that dont appear to be resolved in a way that fixes behavior, he said. If this was happening in federal district court, people would be screaming bloody murder, he added. But because the people who are harmed are usually deported, nobody complains. As for the Justice Departments redaction screw-up? In Kucks view, its a stunning level of incompetence. Bradley Moss, an attorney who specializes in FOIA litigation, described it as government incompetence in all its glory. And he said the immigration judges whose information was inadvertently revealed might have grounds to sue the Justice Department for violating their privacy. Moss isnt alone in that view. Denise Slavin is the executive vice president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, the union that represents them. She said she was astonished that the Justice Department didnt sufficiently protect the judges identities. They have spent so much time and money fighting this case in the courts, she said. That they didnt take the precautions to make sure that this would not happen is shocking. And she said theres chatter about potential lawsuits. Its something were looking into, and I know that some judges are looking into that too, she said. And the Justice Departments approach to handling complaints is also a problem, she added. Judges dont always know when complaints are filed against them, she said, and dont always get a say in how the Justice Department handles those complaints. This means the documents about complaints dont include their side. The union wants an overhaul of the entire system of handling complaints against immigration judges. We do want an accountable system for public transparency for complaints filed against judges and how theyre dealt with, she said. But this is not it, and releasing this is defamatory and prejudicial against the judges who are being reported in there. And she said this all raises a larger issue: the question of whether the Justice Department should be responsible for running the immigration courts. Since immigration judges are excluded from the independent federal judiciary, Slavins group argues that they are less transparent and accountable than they should be. The immigration courts have a huge backlogmore than half a million cases, according to Syracuse Universitys Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. And immigration judges have far fewer clerks than judges on the federal bench. The result is a system that is extraordinarily overburdeneda system where life-or-death decisions get made every day. When someone sees a Texas lawman, the first thing you notice is the hat, Sheriff Parnell McNamara told Jeff Bridges over the phone. McNamara, a Waco native, owns more than 50 cowboy hatssome Stetsons, some bespoke, some worn, some new. You dont want to look like Howdy Doody or Billy Crystal in City Slickers, he informed Bridges. A hat is very important. The two were having one of many phone calls in preparation for Bridgess Oscar-nominated role in Hell or High Water as a Texas Ranger named Marcus Hamilton. The character was inspired by McNamara, whose cousin Taylor Sheridan wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay. (The film was also nominated for Best Picture.) McNamara, 70, was a U.S. marshal for more than 30 years and now serves as the sheriff of McLennan County. He looks exactly how youd imagine: leather gun holster for his .45-caliber pistol, creased jeans, boots, a perfectly trimmed mustache, and of course, a cowboy hat. At the sheriffs advice, Bridges carried a .45-caliber automatic, grew a mustache, and drove a Dodge pickup truck for the movie. Its exactly the same model as McNamaras, only its silver instead of black. And the sheriffs unwieldy rack of long guns is missing in the film. The cool thing about him is that he wanted to learn everything he could about that lawman character, McNamara told me last week. He wanted to get everything right, from the hat to the guns to the shirt to the boots. The two read lines from pivotal moments in the film, and McNamara provided notes on how to carry a gun once youre retired. Undo your shirt and stick it inside, McNamara recalls telling Bridges, explaining how carrying a firearm in a boot would make it hard to reach in an emergency. If you have to get it out quickwatch the end of the movie, you can tell where his gun is. "He was so helpful," Bridges told a local TV reporter, of McNamara. "He was the first guy I called up, and ya know, showed him pictures of my uniform and said, ya know, 'is it lookin' right?' Hes the kind of fella that youd like to sit around a campfire with, the sheriff says now, of Bridges. I was just overwhelmed to get to know him, and I told him: hes the best of the best. Their chats must have worked: Bridges was nominated for an Academy Award (and a Golden Globe) for his role in Hell or High Water; McNamara was at one point mistaken for Bridges at the movie premiere. In total, the film was nominated for three Golden Globes and four Oscars. The film is a Western heist thriller about two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who rob banks in an effort to raise enough cash to save their familys land. Pursuing them is Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton, looking for one last big bust before hes forced to retire. Maybe one of these bank robbers is gonna want a gunfight and I can dodge my retirement in a blaze of glory, says Hamilton, in the film. The dialogue mirrors real-life idioms McNamara would use, as well as the light-hearted banter (often unabashedly un-PC) he employs with the men in his department. He wouldn't know God if he crawled up his pant leg and bit him on the pecker, Hamilton says at one point, of a TV evangelist. This is what they call white man's intuition, he says later. His partner Alberto responds: Sometimes a blind pig finds a truffle. One of the funnier quotes in the moviewith a small-town waitressinvolves an encounter Sheridan says he actually experienced in West Texas. Ain't nobody ever ordered nothing but a T-Bone steak and baked potato. Except one time, this asshole from New York ordered a trout, back in 1987, she said. We ain't got no goddamned trout. While a crime reporter in Waco, I interviewed McNamara countless times from his butter yellow office, sitting on the worn-in brown leather chairs, surrounded by his extensive firearm collection, an antique detonator, a full-scale weapons safe, and portraits of family members on horseback. A wall-mounted television plays Fox News all day long. Every item on McNamaras desk and on his person, down to his boots, echoes his passionate sense of tradition, conservatism, and pride. He even lives in the home his great-grandfather built in the 1880s after his family emigrated from Ireland. On a table in his office waiting room sits a photo of himself on horseback at the age of nine. McNamara comes from a long line of McLennan County lawmen. His brother, Mike McNamara, served beside him in the marshals. His father, T.P. McNamara, was a deputy U.S. marshal for 36 years, and his grandfather, Emmitt Parnell McNamara, was a U.S. marshal and a former McLennan County sheriffs deputy. And when Mike McNamara died in September 2015, Jeff Bridges called Parnell personally to offer his condolences. That shows what kind of guy he is, McNamara said. He is just a real gentleman. But truly no story about the sheriff can be told without mentioning infamous broomstick murderer Kenneth McDuff, who killed his first victim with a 3-foot-long broomstick. Parnells father, T.P. McNamara, encountered the McDuff case during his law enforcement career in the 1960s, a full 30 years before Parnell would help catch him for committing a second rash of murders after he was released on parole. McDuff is blamed by authorities for killing at least 14 women, but McNamara contends that it could be as many as 20. McNamara can list off the names and details of every victim who was killed by McDuff, and he still becomes emotional discussing it. The killer, who has been described as one of the most sadistic, vicious murderers Texas has ever produced, was executed by lethal injection in 1998. Despite the nuance in the film, McNamaras take on crime-fighting is stubbornly black and white. He has an extreme sense of right and wrong, best exemplified by a folder he keeps in his office labeled weird sickos, full of information about suspected child predators, pimps, and prostitutes. His language often reflects that vieweven before convictionand he has no qualms about calling inmates or suspects scumbags, or cockroaches. I describe some of these people as cold-blooded killers and sick perverts, especially the ones that prey on our children, McNamara told me in November 2015. But I really dont know what else to call them. The film's pace matches a lot of the feel of law enforcement work in Texas, especially in McLennan County. Reviews endlessly describe the movie as simultaneously relaxed and urgent, set at both a waltz and a run. Thats the way a lot of cases areyou have highlights and ups and downs, McNamara said. But, much like Hamilton, McNamara was forced to retire from the U.S. Marshals at the mandatory age of 57. Ten years later, hed had enough of retirement and won election as county sheriff in 2012. McNamaras start was blemished by a lawsuit alleging retaliation against nine current and former deputies. The deputies said they were punished by McNamaras new regime for publicly supporting his opponent in the primary election. Those accusers received more than $2 million from McLennan County over the case. (According to Tommy Witherspoon, of the Waco Tribune-Herald, County Judge Scott Felton said the settlement was more about financial risk than about who was right or wrong in the case.) McNamara still becomes visibly emotional about particularly tragic or seemingly unjust cases. When 48-year-old Crawford woman Laura Patschke was killed in her own bed with a shotgun, McNamara was extremely affected by walking through the crime scene. James Ray Brossett, Patschkes ex, allegedly broke into her home, shot her while she slept, and then shot her teenage son in the arm while he and his brother ran from him. Patschkes 13-year-old old daughter hid under her bed until deputies arrived. This was a very brutal, senseless, cowardly act, McNamara told me in July 2015. His emotional response to that vicious crime compelled him to spearhead the manhunt, arrest the suspect 98 miles from the crime scene, and personally drive the man all the way back to the McLennan County Jail. All in less than 24 hours. (Brossett has since been indicted on capital murder charges.) This was a very sweet, beautiful person who was gunned down in cold blood in her own home, he said then, his voice breaking. She was in bed asleep with her handsome sons and 13-year-old daughter in the house. It just shook me up, he says now, about walking through the home, which was covered in blood and bullet casings. In 1998, Texas Monthly ran a cover story featuring McNamara, then a U.S. marshal, entitled The Last Posse, about how the lawman was so incensed when a thief nabbed his daughters horse that he formed a posse to catch the suspects himself. Me and Parnell, we dont just have horses, we love em, said a cowboy who for a while lived in McNamaras stables and honest-to-God goes by the name Lonesome Dave Snyder. The suspects who lifted Marisas beloved sorrel (named Penny) were eventually caught, in a historic case that marked the first time a stolen horse has led to a conviction in modern federal court. (Unfortunately, the case wasnt cracked before the poor Penny was slaughtered.) The men in McNamaras assembled team, wrote Gary Cartwright, fell back on a century of Texas law enforcement tradition, recruiting an old-fashioned posse among close friends. The posse included Secret Service agent Robert Blossman, assistant U.S. attorney Bill Johnston, and Special Ranger Eddie Foreman. Cartwright called McNamara and his posse the spiritual descendants of an unforgiving school of frontier lawmen who recognized the fundamental, unbreakable bond between man and horse. (Its also worth noting that McNamara has now made Bridges part of his posse by giving him an honorary sheriffs deputy laminated badge with his face on it.) I grew up in a small town in Texas, and all those towns were so vibrant, Sheridan, McNamaras cousin, said. And all the people that remainedtheyre really really tough people. Sheridan grew up in nearby Cranfills Gap, and he often saw McNamara and his brother, Mike, as role models. I thought Id do something like that: go out during the day hunting bad guys and come home at night to the ranch, he told Texas Monthly. Instead, Sheridan became an actor and then a screenwriter, nabbing the role of Deputy Chief David Hale in Sons of Anarchy before writing 2015s Sicario. I wrote the movie thinking about [Parnell], who got forced into early retirement when he shouldve still been working, Sheridan said. The day before he was forced to turn in his badge he was kicking down some guys door and arresting him with a warrant, but because of a number, he was mandated to retire. That combination of things seemed to me really fascinating to explore in the movie. It seemed wrong to devote your life for that purpose and have it taken from you, McNamara told me last week. I had to leave my badges and my credentials in my office, and I didnt have a cotton-pickin thing in my billfold except a drivers license and a Sams card. Taylor was a little guy when my brother and I were U.S. marshals, he said. I guess we made an impression on him. Robert Smigels Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was one of 2016s most vital political satirists , hitting the campaign trail early in the primaries and sticking with it all the way through the conventions over the summer . So it was only fitting that he was at Donald Trumps inauguration this past Friday, on behalf of Conan OBrien, to meet the people who helped elect Americas first insult comic president. Yes, today Donald Trump will be sworn in and on Monday he will move into the White House, Triumph began, continuing his long tradition of evicting black families. From there, he was on fire, roasting both the new president and his followers, an inspiring mass of overweight, overaged, predominantly white humanity, nothing but Roseannes and Fieris as far as the eye can see. Triumph went on to grill Trump fans about whether theyve seen naked pictures of Melania they should call her Laura No-Bush and tried to sell them upgraded tickets to the anti-Semitic section. After the speech had ended, Triumph praised Trumps nod to Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he said all we have to fear is fear itself, and Muslims, and Mexicans, most of the Middle East, all of Africa except South Africa, BuzzFeed, Access Hollywood, chemtrails, lizard people, undercover cops posing as hookers, undercover dudes posing a lady hookers, snakes, Saturday Night Live and backstabbing Bruce Springsteen cover bands. By Christina Jewett and Marisa Taylor Tom Price, the Georgia congressman tapped for the nations top health job, pressed Medicare officials on a funding change that led to a windfall for the small biotech company run by one of his top campaign contributors, according to a document released under an open records request. Price is facing a Senate hearing Tuesday on his nomination to be secretary of Health and Human Services, a role that would put him at the helm of an agency overseeing billions in spending. His initial hearing revealed the depth of Democratic lawmakers concerns about Prices investments in health care stocks. The document shows for the first time the nature of the assistance Price provided for MiMedx, a firm in his district that would become a top campaign contributor, seeding his political funds with more than $40,000 in the years since Price directed the letter to Medicare officials. The Medicare letter that Price and seven other lawmakers sent on Oct. 9, 2013, was related to a product called EpiFix, a small graft made of pulverized placenta thats meant to aid wound healing. Prices signature is first on the letter, which was signed by five other physicians who are members of Congress. Senate Democrats may find it significant that MiMedx only began contributing to Rep. Price after he intervened with Medicare on their behalf, said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer in Washington. He was the companys congressman for 10 years before that, and no one at the company had contributed to him before the Medicare decision in the companys favor. Before President Donald Trumps swearing-in Friday, a spokesman for Trumps transition acknowledged that Price has helped the company in navigating regulatory waters, just as he would for any constituent. A request for comment Monday directed to the HHS press office was answered by a senior communications adviser at the agency who lauded Price as a physician who is grateful for the opportunity to bring his expertise to enacting better policies. Any suggestion that his motivations for public service have been anything other than to seek to improve the lives of the American people is simply wrong, said Ryan Murphy, the HHS adviser, who was previously a spokesman for Price in his personal office and most recently communications director for the House Budget Committee, of which Price is chairman. In an emailed response to questions, MiMedx chief executive Pete Petit said Monday that the company made a presentation to the Congressional Doctors Caucus in Washington in support of Medicares proposed payment change, in line with the letter Price and others sent. Petit said they did so even though the proposed change was worse for MiMedx, but the best policy for the industry. He acknowledged, though, that the policy Medicare ultimately approved was a win for MiMedx and the industry because the final rule amount reimbursement increased over the proposed rule amount. The company makes skin grafts and injections made of placentas and amniotic membranes, which are meant to help with wound healing. Federal campaign finance records show MiMedx, through its political action committee, chief executive and his relatives, has contributed more than $40,000 to Prices campaign and joint fundraising committees since 2014, with contributions starting six months after Price sent the letter. With combined PAC and individual donations, the company was ranked as Prices top contributor for 2015-2016 by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The 2013 letter to then-Medicare administrator Marilyn Tavenner has strong echoes of the same concerns MiMedx executives were airing at the time. It touches on the issue of waste in the use of oversized grafts used to help heal wounds around the ankle and on the feet of people with diabetes. The letter says $75 million in wound grafts were wasted in 2011 because of an inefficient pricing model that paid for sections of graft that were being thrown away. It encourages Medicare to move to a new, tiered system of reimbursing for the wound grafts. As stewards of our taxpaying constituents dollars, we are committed to ensuring public programs such as Medicare are administered in the most efficient manner, Price and seven other congressmen wrote in the letter to Tavenner released under a records request by CQ HealthBeat. We believe this proposal will reduce waste. In an earnings call that same month, Petit reported that the company had been quite busy in Washington meeting with Senators and Congressmen and encouraged them to support the CMS reimbursement change on skin substitutes. Also that October, executives briefed investors on concerns that resemble those detailed in the lawmakers letter. The earnings call transcript said competitors grafts result in massive wastage that they estimate at $100 million, given that 80 percent of competitors grafts are discarded. It wasnt long, though, before MiMedx had great news. During a Dec. 5, 2013, call with investors, the company reported that Medicare changed its wound payment policies in ways that exceeded its expectations. The changes include ending the waste and moving to a tiered payment system. Executive Bill Taylor estimated that doctors can pay the company $318 for a sheet of EpiFix and then bill Medicare for $1,371.19 in reimbursement. The result: Doctors who use EpiFix on patients would be able to keep about $1,000, a strong incentive to use the graft. Its a real win for MiMedx, Petit told investors. The company has seen significant revenue growth, reporting in a press release that its income for 2014the year the Medicare pay change took effectwas $118 million, double the amount it earned the year before. Company executives have told investors the advanced wound care market is expected to be worth $1.25 billion in 2018. Earlier this month, Kaiser Health News reported that Petit urged employees in 2015 to contribute to its PAC as he was publicly pressing the Food and Drug Administration to change its stance on the regulation of the injection. An email from Petits address sent to managers demanded donations IMMEDIATELY to the companys PAC, according to documents reviewed by KHN. Im going to ask one more time for our field management to send something to our PAC. And, IMMEDIATELY, said the email sent under Petits name. We have PAC business to transact, and we need at least 50 donors to do so. The ongoing FDA scrutiny could potentially affect the companys bottom line or lead to a recall of their injectable wound-care products, the firm told investors in 2013. The FDA declined to say whether it heard from Price about the company or to answer questions about its review of MiMedx products. Petit, a prominent businessman in the Atlanta suburbs, served as a Trump campaign finance chair in Georgia. Petit said he and his wife saw Price and his wife at an inaugural event but did not discuss MiMedx. This article is part of KHNs Repeal and Replace Watch project. (Twitter @Repeal_Replace) Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nike Cuts Ties With Kyrie Irving Over Hate Speech JUST DID IT The brand has suspended its relationship with Irving and will no longer release the Kyrie 8. Capacity grows at Midleton Distillery Midleton Distillery is to receive a 10.5m investment from Pernod Ricard's Irish Distillers. The move will see the Cork based distillery increase producion capacity of single pot Irish whiskey by over 30%. Three new copper pot stills will be installed and it is hoped the plans will support the Irish Whiskey Association's target of global growth of 300% by 2030. Irish whiskey is the fastest growing premium spirit globally and Irish Distillers has invested heavily to drive this growth. Since 2012, Irish Distillers has invested 120 million in the Midleton Distillery, 20 million at its Fox and Geese bottling facility in Dublin and is currently investing 100 million at its Dungourney maturation site. In August 2016, the company also announced an 11 million redevelopment project at the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield, Dublin to showcase the best of Irish whiskey to the 600,000 whiskey tourists that come to Ireland every year. Commenting on the latest investment, Jean-Christophe Coutures, chairman and CEO of Irish Distillers says: Irish whiskey continues to enjoy phenomenal global growth, led by Jameson with sales of 5.7 million cases in 2016. Irish Distillers has been driving the growth of the category since 1988, a commitment further underpinned by investments of over 230 million since 2012. With this additional investment of over 10 million at Midleton, the home of Irish whiskey, we will ensure that we are positioned to meet growing global demand and support the growth of Irish whiskey in the international spirits category. We are seeing growth accelerating across Jameson and the wider Single Pot Still Irish whiskey range and we will continue to direct our focus for growth here. With our increased production capacity, we are confident that the category will hit the ambitious targets set by the Irish Whiskey Association - increasing exports to 12 million cases by 2020 and 24 million cases by 2030. Paul Wickham, general manager of Midleton Distillery adds: Single pot still Irish whiskey is the quintessential style of Irish whiskey which Irish Distillers saved from virtual extinction in the mid-1900s. Since then we have been investing to protect this traditional Irish whiskey and todays announcement will help us grow Irish whiskey even further over the next 30 years and beyond. This investment will also see us increase our support for the wider Cork economy. All our barley comes from farms located within 100 miles of Midleton Distillery, supporting families who have produced barley for centuries. Using unmalted barley is a long-standing tradition of Irish whiskey and one which Irish Distillers continues, believing it contributes to the smooth characteristics of our products. At present, we spend 60 million annually on cereals, energy, capital projects and payroll in the local economy and this will increase with the installation of these new stills. The three copper pot stills, made by master coppersmiths Forsyths of Scotland and weighing a combined 24 tonnes, were delivered to Midleton Distillery last week. Installation has now commenced and the stills will be operational by June 2017. 24 January 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, editorial assistant On the 3,000-acre Bar W Ranch in Calvert, dozens of women from around the country gathered over the past few days to share in a common interest: meat. The four-day program sponsored by Grrls Meat Camp is designed for women to learn more about the fine art of butchery while developing the know-how to grow a business in the competitive meat industry. Dubbed Rendezvous, the $750-per-person event features sessions ranging from carcass break-down workshops and business seminars to information on the effects of cattle nutrition on human health and lessons from experts at Texas A&M. Calvert native Catherine Manterola, director of sales and marketing for the international organization, said the female-only initiative began in France roughly five years ago with founder and CEO Kate Hill. After teaching butchery for nearly three decades, Hill began to realize that women were an underserved part of the community, Manterola said. Coming together with former students and female colleagues from the industry, Manterola said they decided to create the Grrls Meat Camp. Were a womens organization not because we dont want to play with the boys, not because we want to be on our own, Manterola said. Whether you are a farmer, a butcher, a chef or just a home consumer interested in meat, this is an industry that is so heavily dominated by men. ... When the men are around, women dont ask the questions that they want to ask, and they dont jump in there and get involved. They wanted to create a place for women that is just for us. The cattle rancher said she was excited to help bring the event not only to her hometown, but to her familys Bar W Ranch. The fact it was the organizations first Texas event was a bonus. Parts of the event were filmed and documented by FarmHer, a new program on RFDTV that puts the spotlight on women in agriculture. Although she said they had been planning the event for more than six months, Manterola said it wasnt until it kicked off that she realized how really unbelievable the finished product was. Manterola said in addition to a few attendees from Texas, members travelled from Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan and Alaska, as well as a few other states, for the weekend. Manterola said 10 of the 32 attendees stuck around Monday for the All-Beef Add-On, which began Monday and is expected to wrap up Wednesday. The $425 ticketed event includes a cattle roundup along with vaccination, branding, notching and tagging, as well as a hands-on beef hindquarter butchering workshop by Julia Poplawsky, co-founder of the Central Texas Meat Collective. For those interested in joining the network or learning more, Manterola recommended checking out the Grrls Meat Camp Facebook page or visiting the website at grrlsmeatcamp.com. Our Life Plan addresses fundamental issues such as health, education, the economy, conservation and the good management and control of the forest and its resources. We are almost the only group in the country to organize our territory in categories of sustainable use and we leave more than 120,000 hectares under strict conservation, for the benefit of all Ecuadorians. In 2006 we were legalized by the Development Council of the Nationalities & Peoples of Ecuador (CODENPE) as Shuar Arutam People. Two years later we signed an agreement with the Government to maintain the forest in perfect condition for 20 years and receive contributions that allow us to develop and implement our Life Plan. This agreement is called Socio Bosque (Forest Partner). Nankints conflict: mining on our lands is not 'development' In 2014 we updated our Life Plan. Once again our Ordinary General Assembly pronounced against medium-scale and mega-mining within our territory. As we said to President Correa, do not tell us that you undertake mining projects to get us out of poverty because we, with our way of life, do not feel poor. Instead, tell us how you will protect us as a people and our culture. In the context of this history comes the conflict in Nankints. Since 2008 we have been requesting an institutionalized dialogue with the national Government but, despite our efforts, we have been unable to establish a serious, sincere, honest and equal conversation within the framework of the Plurinational State. This is the reason for the lack of interpretation and understanding of the requirements of the Shuar people. In the name of 'national interest' and by describing the situation in Nankints as an isolated case, the Government ignores other rights and issues that are also of national interest and enshrined within the Constitution: multiculturalism and conservation. In Nankints the 'revolutionary' Government acts like any colonizing government, forgetting even the international agreements it has signed. The problem is not the piece of land in Nankints that we share with settlers; people think that this never belonged to the Shuar. We never imagined that a mining company would buy our ancestral heritage land from the State and a few settlers. The Government forgets and, with its many methods of making itself heard, imposes its own truth. Our territory is not only Nankints. In fact, more than 38% of our territory has been concessioned to large-scale mining. All the riverbanks of the Zamora and Santiago basins have been concessioned to small-scale mining. A gigantic hydroelectric dam is about to be built. So our question is: where do they want us to live? Living under terrorist Government occupation That is why, nine years ago, we told the company to leave and we reclaimed Nankints. Nine years later, someone manipulates the President and convinces him to forcibly evict us before the end of his term. We did not leave, so violence came. We have been blamed for the tragedy of our murdered comrade, the police officer, but we have not given any orders to kill anyone. Instead of dialogue, the Government puts thousands of policemen and soldiers into our homes, on our land, to terrorize and threaten our children. As far as I know, no inhabitant of our land is a sniper, nor does anyone possess weapons that can pierce a police helmet. Why not investigate thoroughly before persecuting us and issuing orders to capture the heads of our families? Instead of talking to us to investigate and prevent violence, why condemn us to live in a State of Exception? It is reminiscent of the terrible dictatorships of Operation Condor which, according to the President, is being planned again. Why do they enter our homes? Why do they not let us live in peace? And the answer we have is that, in the name of the 'national interest', we have become a handful of folkloric Indians and terrorists who do not understand what good living is, neither Sumak Kawsay [1] nor, even worse, the project of the Citizen Revolution. [2] We demand only peace and justice I do not want to dwell on the details of the President's weekly public addresses. Instead, let us try to look at the big picture in which we find ourselves, avoiding provocation and primitive discussions that lead nowhere. With this first communique from the forests of the Cordillera del Condor, we say to the thousand families that we will not, under any circumstance, allow the violence and force of the Government to destroy our house, your house, the World's house. President Rafael Correa must create a climate of peace, withdraw his troops, suspend the State of Exception in our province and cancel the arrest warrants of our leaders and relatives. The only true way to end this path of destruction - which provokes Shuar inhabitants into acts of individual resistance to reclaim their territory - is through conversation, respect and mutual understanding. All inhabitants of Ecuador and Morona Santiago must join our demand for peace, the end of violence and a serious dialogue with the Government that respects our life as an original people. This article is an Open Letter published by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE) on behalf of the Governing Council of the Shuar Arutam People, 4th January 2017, from somewhere in the Cordillera del Condor. This translation is by Chakana Chronicles (18th January) and was previously published by Intercontinental Cry. Este articulo esta disponible en espanol aqui. Also on The Ecologist today: 'Blood and fire: mining and militarization in the Ecuadorian Amazon'. Notes [1] Translating literally as 'good living', the Quechua term 'Sumak Kawsay' refers to the indigenous cosmovision of living in harmony with our communities, ourselves, and most importantly, our natural environment. [2] The so-called 'Citizen Revolution' is the political and socioeconomic project of Alianza Pais, Ecuador's current ruling party All around the world, taxpayer money supports and subsidises agribusiness without which benefits it would not exist (Capellesso et al., 2016). In the final analysis, however, the GMOs-as-progress argument is circular. Agribusiness is innovative because it uses GMOs - and GMOs show how innovative they are. Smoke and mirrors, but politicians fall for it every day, delivering massive transfers of wealth every year from the public to the private sector (Lima, 2015). It's the biology, stupid! The biological truth of GMOs is equally disturbing. At one end of the food chain are the crops in the field. Many people have noticed the virtual disappearance of Monarch butterflies. There are three leading explanations of this disappearance. The loss from farmland of their larval host plants, milkweeds, is one possibility; poisoning of their caterpillar larvae after consuming insecticide-filled pollen from Bt insect-resistant GMOs is a second; and toxicity from the neonicotinoid pesticides used to treat GMO seeds is the third. The first two both stem directly or indirectly from GMO use in agricultural fields since before GMOs, milkweeds could not be eradicated and now they can. Most likely is that all three causes are true and that along with milkweeds GMO agriculture also decimated, or eradicated entirely, many other species too. Monarchs are lovely, but they are not otherwise special. Their significance is as sentinels. Planting milkweeds and pollinator way stations to specially preserve a sentinel species does not rescue an agricultural ecosystem, but it will mask the symptoms. Agribusiness is right now hoping that no one will notice the difference, and that by bringing back monarchs it can obscure the facts of their killing fields. Internationally too, GMOs threaten to transform agriculture in places like India where millions of people who make a living by labouring in fields could be displaced by herbicide-tolerant crops such as mustard. Who's protecting people? At the human consumption end of the food chain, if you live in the US, no one is protecting you from potential health hazards due to GMOs. Makers of GMO crop varieties don't even have to notify the FDA of a new product. And if the maker deems the product is not a pesticide they don't have to notify the EPA either. Trump won't make it worse because it can't be worse. It is non-partisan contempt for public health. What are those potential health hazards? One important example is the famous (or infamous) rat study of NK603 corn by the French research group of professor Gilles-Eric Seralini. It is the only longterm study of the effects of GMOs on a mammal. If you ignore the tumours that most people focused on, the study found major kidney and liver dysfunction in the treated animals (Seralini et al., 2014). This dysfunction was evident from biochemical measurements and was also visually apparent under the microscope. These results are of no interest to US regulators, even in principle, since they fall between jurisdictions. From this we can conclude that GMOs are often harmful, directly and indirectly, and further, that they are the leading edge of the business model of agribusiness. The question, however, was labeling. Imagine that organic food was not allowed to be labeled. Would there be such an organised and powerful challenge to industrial food? What labeling does for the agriculture and food system is to allow the public to express its dismay and disagreement with the direction of corporate agriculture and assert their democratic rights to protect themselves. Labeling allows the public to engage with specific policies and products within the vast complexity of the food system and push back in a focused way against corruption and dishonesty, in real time. There aren't too many chances to do that in America today. Dr Jonathan R. Latham is editor of Independent Science News. This article was originally published by Independent Science News (CC BY-NC-ND). Its creation was supported by The Bioscience Resource Project. References Millennial Moms Review: 2022 Acura MDX is pretty close to the perfect family car I dont know if perfect is attainable, especially considering weve got the world of options when it comes to modern vehicles. Were spoiled and, as such, we have very specific needs and wants. Driving-wise, the 2022 Acura MDX is one of my favourite ... How to watch, stream and listen to Iowa football's game against Purdue Netflix is moving into Stamford this April to film murder thriller "The Good Nurse," featuring Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain. It's not the only time Hollywood has taken over the Nutmeg State. Take a look at some of the movies filmed and set in the Connecticut state through the years. Earthplace held its Winterfest celebration at the center in Westport, Conn., on Saturday Jan. 21, 2017. Children made pinecone birdfeeders, played with insta-snow, built mini ice sculptures, and many more amazing winter crafts. Indoor activities included exploring crystals under a microscope and hourly visits with various animals in the center's auditorium. Families were able to hike trails throughout the woods around the center and a campfire and hot chocolate greeted visitors as well. NORWALK The Norwalk Housing Authority and developer Trinity Financial have gained control of two Day Street parcels that will become home to 80 apartments as part of the Washington Village Transformation Plan. On Monday, the citys law department filed with the Norwalk Town Clerks Office real-estate conveyance papers transferring the land at 13 and 20 Day St. from the city to the Housing Authority. Under plan, the Housing Authority purchased the parcels for $1 apiece and will lease them to Trinity Financial, the Boston-based real-estate development chosen to rebuild Washington Village. Curtis O. Law, Housing Authority executive director, anticipates that Dimeo Construction Co., the Providence, R.I.-based general contractor responsible for phase one of the transformation plan, will begin mobilizing shortly on the development site. We should see something within the next few days. Theyll start bringing in some equipment, Law said. It looks like its going to happen. If the weather holds up it will be a real blessing and, hopefully, they can make up some time. The Housing Authority and Trinity Financial had hoped to break ground in 2015 but a lawsuit filed by The Friends of Ryan Park halted that schedule. The nonprofit organization, which was founded to beautify the nearby two-acre public park, argued against rebuilding the public housing complex in a flood plain. In early 2016, a judge rejected the groups appeal, allowing the Housing Authority and Trinity Financial to restart the planning process for phase one. Were set to go, said Cesar Ramirez, chairman of the Housing Authoritys board of commissioners. Finally, after so many years and so many efforts and the work of a lot of people, I believe that our community is going to be very happily, especially the residents of Washington Village. Ramirez thanked Rilling, Common Council members and the citys delegation in Hartford and Washington, D.C., for supporting the rebuild plan. Built in the 1940s, Washington Village is among the oldest public-housing complexes in Connecticut. The Housing Authority anticipates that the new three-story building at 13 Day St. will open for residents at the end of 2017 and the five-story building at 20 Day St. will open in the first quarter of 2018. Reconstruction of the existing Washington Village will follow. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NORWALK More local restaurants are making the highest grade in the Norwalk Health Departments Lighthouse Certificate Award Program. Established in 2008, the lighthouse rating system recognizes establishments that employ safe food-handling practices. Three lighthouses go to those receiving the highest marks. Last year, 212 of 392, or 54 percent of Class III and IV food establishments, were awarded three lighthouses. Thats up from 27 percent in 2008, according Thomas Closter, chief environmental officer in the health department. Were happy with quicker compliance, Closter said. You wouldnt believe the food establishments that call us to say, Somebody was in here. We didnt get a good rating. All the violations were corrected. Could you please come out and do another re-inspection? On Monday afternoon, Mayor Harry W. Rilling and Norwalk Director of Health Timothy J. Callahan will announce the latest Top Lighthouse Ratings for local food service establishments. The announcement will be held at Primavera Italian Cuisine at 130 New Canaan Ave. Since opening in 2015, the restaurant has scored consistently high in inspections by health department sanitarians. The health board chose to showcase Primavera. You can see the scores 97, 96, 99, 99, said Closter, pointing at Primaveras scores on the inspection reports. Theyve been pretty solid since theyve been open. So they got three lighthouses for each inspection that we performed. Local food establishments are classified and inspected based upon their level of food handling. Class I establishments are typically convenience stores that handle sandwiches and other commercially packaged foods. Class II establishments sell commercially pre-cooked foods, such as soups and hot dogs. Class III establishments are often delicatessens with hot food prepared less than four hours before being served. Class IV establishments are restaurants, hospitals and caterers that serve meats, poultry, eggs, fish and dairy more than four hours after being heated. Collectively, health department sanitarians perform about 2,000 inspections across Norwalk each year, with Class III establishments requiring three inspections a year and Class IV establishments requiring four inspections. The sanitarians bring with them food inspection forms with 62 weighted items, including source of food, cleanliness of personnel, equipment and utensils cleanliness, vermin control and having a qualified food operator present. Risk factor violations, such as proper food temperature, are coded in red print. When your food is out of temperature, youre going to get somebody sick, Closter said. Thats a four- point demerit. Restaurants receiving a four-point demerit, or scoring less than 80 points overall, are subject to re-inspection in two weeks and will lose their licenses if the problems are not corrected. Three lighthouses mean a restaurant has received a rating score of 90 to 100 with no critical violations or less than four risk factor violations. Two lighthouses denote a score of 80 to 100, with one or no critical violations and several risk factor violations. Restaurants scoring below 80 with two or more critical violations receive one lighthouse. Such establishments typically exhibit poor levels of compliance and sanitation during the inspection, according to the health department. Theresa Argondezzi, health educator in the health department, said a Class IV food establishment could receive three lighthouses in three of its four annual inspections, but get only one or two lighthouses in the fourth inspection. It would not receive a Lighthouse Certificate Award for the year. The lighthouse certificates go to really the cream of the crop, Argondezzi said. That doesnt mean that the other restaurants arent doing well sometimes theyre not. But a lot of the time, theyre doing pretty well. They may have just missed it by a smidge. These folks that are getting their certificates have the highest possible ratings at all three or four inspections. The ratings may be found at www.norwalkct.org/723/Restaurant-Ratings NORWALK A registered sex offender was arrested by Norwalk police after he allegedly failed to comply with registry guidelines. Frankie Harris, 49, of Brookfield Street, was charged with non-compliance with registration of a person who has committed a sexually violent offense. The Connecticut State Police Sexual Offender Registry shows that Harris was convicted of third-degree sexual assault on Feb. 27, 1996 and of fourth-degree sexual assault on May 18, 2005. According to state statute, a person is guilty of sexual assault in the third degree when such person compels another person to submit to sexual contact either by the use of force against such other person or a third person, or by the threat of use of force against such other person or against a third person. Police say that based on information received from Connecticut State Police, Harris was in violation of the sexual offender registry guidelines to notify authorities of any address change. Harris failed to respond to a letter verifying his address, police said. A warrant for Harris arrest was applied for and he was taken into custody Monday morning. His bond was set at $10,000 and he was given a court date of Feb. 1. llake@hearstmediact.com NORWALK A team of researchers from Columbia University has moved into Norwalk and is seeking help from the community. The group from Columbia University Medical Centers Nurture Science Program in the Department of Pediatrics is partnering with the Norwalk Housing Authority to conduct a study of mothers and their children in order to test two interventions they believe could help parents connect better with their children. Mary Ann Austin, a nurture specialist in the Nurture Science Program in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University, said the premise for the study is simple and based on a theory of returning to the basics of parenting. I think the first thing is the relativity of whats happening in the world, Austin said. Weve moved away from the tribe mentality, but people werent always by themselves. So this is kind of going back to the basics and testing that on parents today as people are turning more inward than out to the community for help. We cant turn back time and technology, but we feel nurturing and time spent playing is worth exploring. The team is currently seeking eligible participants mothers with children aged 2.5 to 4.5 years old in the greater Norwalk area. Those selected will have the opportunity to earn up to $800 for participating in the yearlong study which will be conducted at the Choice Neighborhood Initiative office at 149 Water St. in South Norwalk. The study requires a total of 48 mother-child pairs, and has already recruited around a dozen. As soon as the first 16 families have been confirmed, the study will begin. Basically if a mother and child ... if mom feels like she cant control or get her child to pay attention to her, or if theres things mom feels in her gut that shes not connecting, if shed like a better relationship with her child ... many times mothers just have a feeling that something isnt right ... they might be eligible," said Katherine Velez, research coordinator for the Nurture Science Program in the Department of Pediatrics at Columbia University. The team chose Norwalk because Velez, Austin and nurture specialist Beatriz Preter, all have connections to Norwalk and were familiar with the community. Velez and Austin both previously worked for the Norwalk Community Health Center. Norwalk is a community that has a lot of resources that we can tap into and a network of community resources that can help connect us to people, Velez said. All of us have some tie to the community already so it made sense to partner with the Norwalk Housing Authority. Were really trying to reach out to the general community. Diversity produces better results, and the problems are the same regardless of demographics. Norwalk Housing Authority Director of Educational Programs Patricia Marsden-Kish said the NHA often partners with groups looking to connect with the larger community because they already have a network of connections. Were really excited to help with this study, Marsden-Kish said. If we do have moms who need transportation we will provide vans and the appropriate resources to help them participate. The study will test theories of the impact of community or group settings on mother-child relationships. Participants will attend a two-hour session once a week for six months and once at the end of the year. The sessions will be conducted in both English and Spanish. We have enough belief that what were doing is going to make a significant difference that were fully invested in this, Austin said. It doesnt seem like rocket science, but it will have a lot of value. Those interested in participating should call Velez at 646-618-2875. KKrasselt@scni.com; 203-354-1021; @kaitlynkrasselt We live in a country in which liberty is both exercised and preserved by free action. Such action is by its very nature preceded by thought, from which it follows that human beings, the young especially, ought to have a period of reflective learning as a prelude to both private and public action. Editors Note: This essay was originally delivered as a lecture at St. Johns College, Annapolis, Maryland. Friends of the college, Fellow Students and Fellow Tutors: The theme tonight is Liberty and Liberal Education; but the occasion is the two-hundredth anniversary of the founding of our college. Late in 1784 a bill, no. 37, was introduced into the Maryland Senate, entitled An act for founding a college on the Western Shore of this State and constituting the same, together with Washington College on the Eastern Shore, into a university by the name of the University of Maryland: The college on the Western Shore was to become St. Johns. (The fascinating tale of its naming has been convincingly reconstructed by our former librarian, Charlotte Fletcher.) So St. Johns was first conceived as one of the two colleges of a state university. We have the honor of having Professor Fallaw here tonight to represent our intended sister school. I will spare you the protracted, fitful and even tumultuous history of St. Johns metamorphosis into a private college. The legacy of its public origin is the Charter of 1784 which remains in essence our charter: It proclaims that institutions for the liberal education of youth in the principles of virtue, knowledge and useful literature are of the highest benefit to society, in order to train up and perpetuate a succession of able and honest men for discharging the various offices and duties of life both civil and religious with usefulness and reputation. The charter expresses the prevailing view in the early republic, propagated in numerous essays, that liberal education is the necessary support of a republic, that tyranny and ignorance, liberty and knowledge are to be equated. In this spirit, a frenzy of college founding followed the Revolution; nineteen colleges were established between 1780 and 1799, among whom St. Johns was one of the earliest, being chartered in the very first year of the present favorable occasion of peace and prosperity, in the words of the charter. The legislatures expectation for public usefulness were amply fulfilled. Between the first graduation in 1793 and 1806 (when its troubles with the state became acute), there came out of St. Johns four future governors, seven United States senators, five representatives, judges galore and one governor of Liberia. That time was later termed the Golden Age. So also is an early Golden Age attributed to the New Program, our present program, on the principle that the time is always goldener on the other side of this generation. Actually, it seems to me, the whole near half-century of the New Program, constituting almost a quarter of the colleges history, is a second Golden Age, though it has a distinction different from that of the first founding. Let me therefore propose a question to you which has a certain charm for me: Is this present college of ours an old school or a new school? To begin with I want to entertain youI hope you may be entertainedwith several circumstances which induce this question, some more wonderful than significant, but some significant as well as wonderful. For example, the first grammar master was called Peter McGrath; who knows but that our Hugh McGrath is his reincarnation? Similarly there was a friendly but unofficial relation between St. Johns and St. Annes Church in the person of the Reverend Ralph Higginbotham, the last master of the King William School and rector of St. Annes, who was one of the stalwarts of the first founding. Now we have our Winfree Smith. What is remarkable about this relation is that it is scrupulously unofficial (though there have been lapses between the first and second founding). The college charter stood early in a developing tradition of religious liberty which prohibited religious tests for students and forbade that they be urged to attend any particular religious service. St. Johns went even further: It was the first school, I believe, to have a principal who was not a clergyman, John McDowell, St. Johns first president (though three clergymen, a Roman Catholic, an Episcopalian, and a Presbyterian had taken a major part in its organization). Could this same spirit of religious liberty, a spirit whose merit it is that it manages not to be anti-clerical, not too be attributed to the present college? To descend from the spirit to sticks and stones, there is McDowell Hall, a half-finished ruin in 1784, which became the colleges first building, containing class rooms, the library in the octagonal room under the cupola, and the dormitory. Each student was furnished with a chamber pot under his bed, a service which has been discontinued. McDowell burned down in 1909 but was faithfully restored. Do we inhabit an old or a new building? But, of course, the question becomes really fascinating with respect to studies. In those early days the college proper (there was a preparatory department attached) was called the philosophy school. The curriculum was prescribed and unified. The students read original texts and studied mathematics as well as natural philosophy, that is, science. The languages were Greek and optional French. For example, the novitiates, or freshmen, read Plato and studied Euclid and the juniors read Aristotle and studied fluxions, that is, calculus. While we marvel at these detailed similarities to the present program, we must, however, remember that at that time these studies were but a version of the normal classical American college curriculum, with account taken of the science of a hundred post-Newtonian years. In histories of education our New Program is sometimes described as reviving the classical college curriculum. But grantingeven revelling inthe apparent parallelism, is it really such a revival? Let me try an answer: The present St. Johns is, to coin a phrase, new wine in old bottles, and that has some bearing on the theme of liberty and liberal education. First, the antiquity of the bottle matters. It matters that the physical place remains recognizably the same, that an alumnus of the first graduating class of 1796 could nostalgically poetize the liberty tree: And many a frolic feat beneath thy shade / Far distant days and other suns have seen (Dr. Shaw). It matters that this tiny, tough college has sprung back from two closings and several nadirs of mediocrity and that it has throughout the centuries attracted the oddly intense sentimentaccompanied, to be sure, until recently by rather more subdued financial solicitudeof its alumni. It matters that it is a microcosm in which have been played out all the perennially absorbing institutional issues of American liberty: the rivalries of local with centralized foundations, of well-off with poor mans schools, of public with private establishments, of religious with secular education. It matters even if we, tutors and students, have more urgent things to do than to absorb the history of this little local phenomenon. I would have to be an Edmund Burke to say well and clearly why the antiquity of the college matters to the cause of liberty, but I will try to say it briefly: First, in its phoenix-like propensity for reprise and revival the college is an off shoot and an index of American liberty, which seems to me quintessentially characterized by that second chance, that new departure, which does not kick its springboard under but rather preserves and absorbs its ground. And second, through its continuity, through the simple fact that it was there with its liberal tradition, the college could offer a home to a program which made a conscious and deep connection between liberty and liberal education. It is the making of that connection in the New Program which is the new wine, tart and heady, in the old bottle of the classical college. Let me conclude by saying, quite superficially, what I conceive that connection to be. The idea that political liberty and education go hand in hand was an article of faith with the educational writers of the early republic, a matter of preachment rather than inquiry. There was, however, much debate about the kind of education the republic required: Should it be primarily utilitarian training or liberal education, at least for youths destined for leadership? (Since Aristotles book on education, liberal in this context has properly meant non vocational.) But even in this discussion it was repeated to weariness that, to quote our character, institutions of liberal education are of the highest benefit to society. My point is: In the large enthusiasm of the founding such fine-grain question as just how the liberality of education was to underwrite the liberty of the republic fell through the cracks of the argument. To be sure, it was understood that liberal education somehow made for individual enlightenment. For example, the Marylander Samuel Knox wrote in an essay (which won a prize offered by the American Philosophical Society in 1799) that the one great object of education should be to inculcate independence of mind and consequently an aversion to the embracing of any species of knowledge, moral, physical, or religious, without examination and consequent conviction. (This same Samuel Knox, incidentally, nearly did us in. Belonging to what might be called the Jeffersonian faction in education, he prefaced his essay with an address to the Maryland legislature urging them to support local academies, that is, secondary education in the counties, rather than a college for the wealthy in the state capital. This advice was what it had long been looking for: It withdrew financial support and the college fell into its first decline.) But how one might implant liberty in a mind was as dark then as teaching students to think for themselves is now. It was a time not for theory but for turning out competent citizen-rulers, and that is just what the college did in its first Golden Age. In its second Golden Age it was right and timely for the college to ask the perennial question what is the relation of liberty to learning? and to make the ground of the inquiry the hypothesis that the connection may be found in the soul of the learner. Its doing so was timely because thus the college acknowledged that the easy and immediate relation of those early days between liberal learning and republican statesmanship had long been ruptured. And it was wise because thus the college brought forward the oldest and the newest, the most persistent and the most urgent, of all political questions: What is the relation of thought to action? So the hypothesis which discerning critics who charge the college under the New Program with being an ivory tower would have to refute are these: That we do live in a country in which there is liberty and that liberty is both exercised and preserved by true action, namely, free action. That such action is by its very nature preceded by thought, from which it follows that human beings, the young especially, ought to have a period of reflective learning as a prelude to both private and public action. That this pedagogical prelude should take the form of liberal, that is to say, non-vocational, education, not only because such learning is a deep need and a perennial possibility of the human soul, but even more because the theory that is meant to precede action can not be pursued otherwise than freely, that is to say, spontaneously. The St. Johns Program, then, is nothing but a coherent set of occasions for encouraging liberal learning. The question of real interest, just how it is specifically designed to induce liberty of soul, I leave, as is fitting, to one of the most characteristic of these occasions, the question period. Republished with gracious permission from The St. Johns Review (Volume 34, No. 3, 1984). The Imaginative Conservative applies the principle of appreciation to the discussion of culture and politicswe approach dialogue with magnanimity rather than with mere civility. Will you help us remain a refreshing oasis in the increasingly contentious arena of modern discourse? Please consider donating now. Bibliography: Charlotte Fletcher, 1784: the Year St. Johns College Was Named, Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol. 74, No. 2, June 1979. Richard Hofstadter, Academic Freedom in the Age of the College, (New York 1955). David Ridgely, Annals of Annapolis, 1649-1812 (Baltimore 1841), pp.237-244. Essays on Education in the Early Republic, ed. Frederick Rudolph (Cambridge 1965). Bernard C. Steiner, History of Education in Maryland (Washington 1894). J. Winfree Smith, A Search for the Liberal Arts College, (St. Johns College Press 1983). Tench Francis Tilghman, The Early History of St. Johns College in Annapolis, (St. Johns College Press 1984). The featured image is courtesy of Pixabay. With Americas political elite sitting behind him, President Trump accused them of enriching foreign industry, not ours, of subsidizing other countries armies but neglecting our own, of defending other nations borders while leaving Americas borders unprotected As the patriotic pageantry of Inauguration Day gave way to the demonstrations of defiance Saturday, our new America came into view. We are two nations now, two peoples. Though bracing, President Trumps inaugural address was rooted in cold truths, as he dispensed with the customary idealism of inaugurals that are forgotten within a fortnight of the president being sworn in. President Trumps inaugural was Jacksonian. He was speaking to and for the forgotten Americans whose hopes he embodies, pledging to be their champion against those who abandon them in pursuit of higher, grander, nobler causes. Declared Mr. Trump: For too long, a small group in our nations capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. Is this not true? American wages have stagnated as scores of thousands of factories were shut down or shipped abroad. Five of the six wealthiest counties in the U.S. today, measured by median household income, are the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Inaugurals should lift us up, wailed the media, this was dark. And President Trump did paint a grim pictureof mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash but which leaves our students deprived of all knowledge, and the crime and the gangs and the drugs But is this not also a reality of America 2017? Indeed, it carries echoes of FDRs second inaugural: I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. Some of the recoil to Mr. Trumps speech is surely traceable to an awareness by those covering and commenting upon it that this was a searing indictment of them and their own ruling class. With Americas political elite sitting behind him, President Trump accused them of enriching foreign industry, not ours, of subsidizing other countries armies but neglecting our own, of defending other nations borders while leaving Americas borders unprotected. Then, in the line that will give his address its name in history, he declared: From this day forward its going to be only America First. Prediction: President Trumps America First inaugural will be recalled as the most controversial, but will be among the most remembered. What did Mr. Trump mean by America First? Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. What does it mean for the world? We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of other nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow. Denounced as isolationism, this is in an old and great tradition. Ronald Reagan talked of America being a shining city on a hill for other nations to emulate. John Quincy Adams declared: Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled there will Americas hearts, her benedictions, and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher of the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. When the Hungarian patriot Louis Kossuth came to America seeking aid for the revolution of 1848, Henry Clay told him: Far better is it for ourselves, for Hungary, and for the cause of liberty, that avoiding the distant wars of Europe, we should keep our lamp burning brightly on the western shore, as a light to all nations, than to hazard its utter extinction among the ruins of fallen or falling republics in Europe. The charge of isolationist was thrown in the face of Clay. But he prevailed, and America stayed out of Europes wars until 1917 when Woodrow Wilson, fatefully, plunged us in. In 1936, FDR said, We shun political commitments which might entangle us in foreign wars. We are not isolationists except insofar as we seek to isolate ourselves completely from war. I hate war. What President Trump was saying in his inaugural is that we will offer our free and independent republic as an example to other nations, but it is not our providential mission to reshape the world in our own image. We will reinforce old alliances that are in our interests, President Trump declared. But we are approaching the end of an era where we fought other nations wars and paid other nations bills. We will no longer bleed and bankrupt our country for the benefit of others. Henceforth, America will be of, by, and for Americans. Is that not what the nation voted for? Republished with the gracious permission of Mr. Buchanan. Books by Pat Buchanan may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. We are seeing some impressive examples of the reawakening of Christian civilization in Eastern Europe, indicative of the re-traditionalization thats going on all over the world in response to the virulently anti-cultural, anti-traditional dynamics of secular globalization Recently, there have been some impressive examples of the reawakening of Christian civilization in Eastern Europe. Poland First, lets look at what happened recently in Poland. In a ceremony at the Church of Divine Mercy in Krakow last November 19th, the Catholic Bishops of Poland, in the presence of President Andreiz Duda and many Catholic pilgrims, officially recognized Jesus Christ as the King of Poland and called upon Him to rule over their nation, its people and their political leaders. At Mass, they prayed Immortal King of Ages Lord Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, bowing our heads before You, King of the Universe, we acknowledge Thy dominion over Poland, those living in our homeland and throughout the world. Wishing to worship the majesty of Thy power and glory, with great faith and love, we cry out: Rule us, Christ! This ceremony was repeated at many Polish cathedrals and parishes on the following Sunday, which was the feast of Christ the King on the Catholic liturgical calendar. The liturgical prayers dedicating the nation to Jesus Christ involved litanies such as: In our hearts, Rule us, Christ! In our families, Rule us, Christ! In our schools and universities, Rule us, Christ! Through the Polish nation, rule us, Christ! The priest went on to pray: We pledge to defend Your holy worship and preach Thy royal glory, and the people responded: Christ our King, we promise! Again: We pledge to do Your will and protect the integrity of our consciences, Christ our King, we promise! We pledge to care for the sanctity of our families and the Christian education of children, Christ our King, we promise! The fact that this liturgy was conducted with the President of Poland in attendance was the fruit of the most recent rounds of elections that put Polish nationalists in charge, who emphasized Polands sovereignty in light of European Union and Eurasian pressures. And this re-Christianization of Poland is currently accompanied with a brand-new effort to ban abortion almost entirely from the nation. Hungary and Croatia Of interest as well are the pro-life, pro-family revolutions going on in Hungary and Croatia. Since coming into office in 2010, the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, has led the way in ratifying Hungarys constitution to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman; hes been on the forefront of pro-life legislation and has brought religious education back to Hungarys public schools. And in Croatia, a recent study found that belief in God among Croats has risen from thirty-nine percent in 1989 to seventy-five percent in 1996 and eighty-two percent in 2004. Further, even though Croatias population has for a number of reasons declined over the years, the amount of priests studying in seminary has actually remained unchanged. And we further see the moral maturity of Croats in their overwhelming support to amend their national constitution to defined marriage as between a man and womannearly sixty-five percent of the population voted to keep so called same-sex marriage permanently out of Croatia. Georgia In Georgia, there was a relatively recent backlash against the pro-Western, pro-EU government that sought to take Eastern Orthodox curriculum out of the public schools, a development that galvanized Orthodox groups such as the Orthodox Parents Union. When the elections of 2012 came along, a far more traditionalist government was elected that reinstituted Eastern Orthodox education into the public schools, where icons and Orthodox crosses are displayed throughout the school buildings. And this has been accompanied by the Georgian Orthodox Churchs campaign to revitalize the family, with significant results: Georgia has gone from having one of the lowest birthrates in Eastern Europe to having one of the highest. Russia In Russia, there have been more than 15,000 churches rebuilt since the end of Communist rule. Article 148 of the Russian criminal code, which Vladimir Putin signed in June of 2013, threatens prison sentences of up to three years for insulting the feelings of Christian believers. And on the very day that law was passed, a law was approved that prohibits so-called homosexual propaganda. And of course, the laws against offending the church were used to incarcerate the punk rock band Pussy Riot when they desecrated two churches with lewd and inappropriate behavior. Mr. Putin has banned abortion ads, and signed legislation banning abortion after twelve weeks of pregnancy, all while the Russian Orthodox Church is calling for an outright ban of abortions. So, we are seeing some very impressive examples of the reawakening of Christian civilization in Eastern Europe, indicative of the re-traditionalization thats going on all over the world in response to the virulently anti-cultural, anti-traditional dynamics of secular globalization. I think we can expect only more examples of this re-Christianization throughout Eastern Europe in the foreseeable future, with an eye toward comparable re-traditionalizing trends in Western Europe and the U.S. as well, increasing significantly prospects for a post-secular future on the horizon. Books on the topic of this essay may be found in The Imaginative Conservative Bookstore. For years it seems that the family of Al-Saud was immune to the laws of political gravity. There was something unique in that family and in that rule that enabled them to cheat the pressures weighing on normal states and to go on with secret inner affairs of their own. The world tended to see the family as guided by an ideology, which they devilishly refer to as Islam, that left them free to disregard the pragmatic and humane consideration, which restrict policy choices in other states, democratic and non-democratic alike. Now we see in Saudi Arabia refreshing evidence that the universal laws do apply and the ruling familys belief is not entirely controlling. Thousands of informed citizens who had kept silent for years now loudly solicit a change. Evidently they concluded that continuance of such an oppressive rule, rather than advancing Islam might destroy it so unpopular has Al-Sauds rule become. The men/women who had been thought to be conforming with Al-Sauds rule are now ready to carry out a change. Politically and culturally Al-Saud have their reasons unwelcome as they are for the way they felt about the natives and the land their father conquered. However, it is very poor thinking for Al-Saud to indulge their oppression and inequality for 83 years. The people of Arabia are ready to change with or without Al-Saud. They seek no battle or confrontation with Al-Saud, but they are citizens, not subjects, which gives them every right to be treated equally and with respect. In the United States, it is the Bill of Rights, in Saudi Arabia, it is the Zilch of Rights and Islam does not accept that. King Salman, it is prudent for you to change. If you do not change, then the oppressed citizens of Arabia will react in ways that would cause the hodgepodge kingdom of yours to vanish. The decision is yours be well and do well. HS Football: North Penn upsets Pennsbury in instant playoff classic With the game on the line, North Penn coach Dick Beck opted to go for the win with a two-point conversion attempt against Pennsbury. Unlike most convicted murderers, Jeffrey Ewing will not be serving the typical 20 to 60 year prison sentence. In six to eight weeks, when the sentencing phase rolls around, Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli will be imposing a life sentence, as required by state law. Thats because Ewing, who was convicted of murder Friday by a Madison County jury, had been convicted of another murder in Alton in 1996. As a result of the earlier conviction, the 51-year-old former gang member had already been behind bars for supplying the gun used to kill Dwight Riddlespriger in a dispute over a craps game in Alton. Ewing represented himself at last weeks trial, which involved the death of Antonio Ray. Rays body was found on the pavement of U.S. Highway 67 on Jan. 20, 1996, just over the Clark Bridge. Police in Missouri initially believed he had been run over by several cars but investigators later learned that he had been severely beaten in Alton and dumped near the Clark Bridge, according to a news release from Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons. The Medical Examiners office, in 1999, ruled the death a homicide. Detectives determined that members of the Gangster Disciples had beaten him at the behest of Ewing, who was one of the gangs leaders. The trial was held at the Madison County Criminal Justice Center and lasted for two days. On Friday morning, Ewing attempted to call witnesses to testify on his behalf, though it quickly became apparent that he had not properly subpoenaed them. Closing arguments were given later in the day. Jurors returned about 30 minutes later with a guilty verdict, according to a news release from the States Attorneys Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant States Attorney Jim Buckley and Crystal Uhe, chief of the Violent Crimes Unit. Gibbons praised Buckley and Uhe as well as the Missouri Highway Patrol and medical personnel involved in the investigation. Ewing will remain at the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville until his sentencing date. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dimas Muhamad (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 07:52 2111 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0bc60b8c 3 Opinion Palestine,Palestine-Israel-talks,Israel,international-relations Free Salem Mutan, a Palestinian from the village of Burqah in the West Bank, was forced to move to the United States following the 1967 Israeli Occupation. After retiring, he decided to return home only to realize that the land where he was born was nothing like it used to be with the encroaching Israeli settlements and onerous roadblocks. Despite all the hurdles, he said Life in the US is easy, but I come here because I love my land, I miss it. (btselem.org). For 50 years Salem and the rest of the Palestinians have had to grapple with their ceaseless longing for home, the longing that reverberates throughout the world, including in Indonesia, where there is humongous sympathy for the Palestinians agony. While the Israel-Palestine conflict might seem like rocket science, there has always been an international consensus on what its resolution should generally look like, what is often referred to as the so-called two-state solution. The consensus was again reaffirmed in Paris, where more than 70 countries, including Indonesia, gathered to bolster international support for the two-state solution. The French initiative is undoubtedly commendable, but skepticism abounds as some argue that it is time to kiss the twostate solution goodbye. There are now roughly 600,000 Israeli citizens residing in the settlements built in the occupied Palestinian territory. With the settlements sprawling all over the West Bank it seems that carving out two separate territories which is a logical prerequisite for two-state solution has become virtually impossible. Furthermore, the naysayers point out that the international communitys appetite for the two-state solution may soon evaporate. As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said This [Paris] conference is among the last twitches of yesterdays world. Tomorrows world will be different. (cnn.com). The truth is the window for the two-state solution is closing claiming otherwise is just naive but it has not completely shut. The Israeli settlements constitute enormous stumbling blocks, but there are ways to overcome them. For instance, Israel and Palestine can mutually agree on land swaps, or on granting Palestinian citizenship to the settlers, or on facilitating the settlers relocation. Of course, it will be a herculean task that requires tortuous compromise from both sides but the point is that the settlements are not the end of the road. While international support for two-state solution may be dwindling, we cannot be oblivious to the growing international chorus supporting statehood for both Israel and Palestine. Now, 137 countries or more than 70 percent of UN members have recognized the state of Palestine. The British, French and even the European Parliament have each passed a resolution supporting the recognition of the state of Palestine. It is thus clear, those who oppose a Palestinian state and by extension the two-state solution, are on the wrong side of history. As one of the staunchest vanguards in the global endeavor to support the two-state solution, Indonesia has always been consistent in its support for Palestinian independence through numerous platforms including the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the New AsianAfrican Strategic Partnership (NAASP). The Paris Conference declaration urges countries to support Palestinian institutional capacity, which is something that Indonesia has done through its capacity-building assistance for over 1,300 Palestinians. In addition, Indonesia has opened an honorary consulate in Ramallah. In the end, however, Israel and Palestine are the only ones who can carry the peace process forward. Israel might think that it stands to lose if the occupation ends. Nothing can be farther from the truth. With a higher birthrate, it is only a matter of time before Palestinian Arabs outnumber Israeli Jews, and later the Arab majority will inevitably demand equal rights and vote. Then, Israel will either retain its Jewish identity by disenfranchising the Arabs or upholding its democracy by allowing the Arab majority to rule. Shortly, Israel would be either Jewish or democratic, it cannot be both. That is why former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert once said that if the twostate solution collapses, then Israel is finished (haaretz.com). Israels real partners are the ones who strive to save Israel from itself, to preserve the dream of a Jewish democratic homeland. The incoming US Secretary of Defense James Mattis is among them, as he once warned that Israel risked heading toward an apartheid if the settlements expansion continues. Mattis also said there was a military security price because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel. Palestinians suffering has fanned the flame of radicalism, which will hit those who are seen of enabling the occupation. Thus, it is in our own interest to support Palestinian independence and the two-state solution, which will eventually remove one of the most potent impetuses for global extremism. It may be too late for us to make it right for Salem, but we can still make it right for his grandchildren as well as the children of Sderot, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Jerusalem. We owe it to them to let them grow with freedom and dignity and to ensure that two-state solution will not just be a mythical illusion --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. For more information click here. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 12:50 2111 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0bc73435 1 Science & Tech ant,#ant,insect,research,#research Free Ants are thought to possess the ability to find their way even when they are walking backwards -- which is perhaps why some scientists think that these minuscule creatures could serve to inspire better robots. As reported by the AFP, researchers with the Journal of Current Biology studied a colony of desert ants and observed how they navigated home while they carried cookie pieces. The research found that as the ants carried small crumbs, they walked forward. When it came to larger bits of cookie, they hauled them backwards, dropping the piece periodically to check the suns position and reposition themselves while heading toward their nest. The act of stopping to check their surroundings and realigning their progress in relation to the memory of their immediate environment reveals a more complex brain structure in the ant species. (Read also: Animals are getting smarter, but only some of them) A professor at the University of Edinburghs School of Informatics suggests that "ants have a relatively tiny brain, less than the size of a pinhead. Yet they can navigate successfully under many difficult conditions, including going backward." She adds that understanding their behavior gives us new insights into brain function and has inspired us to build robot systems that mimic their functions." Researchers, which include scientists from the University of Lincoln, the Australian National University and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), claim that this ant trait could prove to be useful in terms of developing new computer algorithms to control robots. (nik/kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Youkyung Lee (Associated Press) Seoul, South Korea Tue, January 24, 2017 Samsung says a thorough investigation into the fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 phone has confirmed widely held suspicions that its batteries were to blame, marking a first but important step toward restoring consumer confidence. Samsung announced tighter quality controls and more rigorous testing and took responsibility for failing to ensure that design specifications given to its suppliers were failsafe. The South Korean company was also delaying its next Galaxy phone, the Galaxy S8, which is usually announced in February. The spontaneous fires, many chronicled in videos circulated on YouTube, prompted Samsung to recall millions of phones and take a $5.3 billion hit on its earnings and an unknown amount in reputation. While praising Samsung's frankness and apologies, analysts question whether the world's largest smartphone maker has really gotten to the bottom of the problem in blaming flaws in the design and production of batteries. (Read also: Samsung: Note 7 battery design, manufacturing caused fires) "Samsung said the weaknesses could make the phone prone to catch fire. That I understand, but what did trigger fires in such conditions? Did they discuss if there is another cause? No," said Park Chul Wan, a former director of the next generation battery research center at the state-owned Korea Electronics Technology Institute. Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said the company's emphasis seems to be on detecting problems in manufacturing, not preventing design problems earlier. The company, he said, needs to find ways to prevent commercial pressures, such as getting a phone out quickly, from causing engineers to make bad decisions. Samsung's Note 7 was timed, in part, to beat Apple's iPhone 7 by weeks. Ramon Llamas, an analyst at research firm IDC, said he would like to see Samsung show more of a "human side" to solving its problem and say what it's doing to work with consumers affected by this. During a two-hour press conference livestreamed in English, Chinese and Korean, Samsung said tests involving more than 200,000 phones and 30,000 batteries showed different problems with both kinds of batteries used in the Note 7. Though some experts had speculated that the phones' ultra-thin design or water-resistant features could have made them prone to overheat, Samsung says the investigation found no such problems. Samsung also ruled out software or design with the rest of the phone's hardware, as well as the supply chain. (Read also: Samsung's profit jumps 50 percent despite Galaxy fiasco) The Note 7 has one of the biggest battery capacities for a smartphone, but Samsung said the company and outside inspectors found no evidence that the high energy density alone was to blame. Samsung introduced the Note 7 on Aug. 2 and weeks later recalled the first batch after reports emerged that the phones were overheating and in some cases exploding. After replacement phones also started catching fire, aviation authorities banned them on flights and the company dropped the product for good. Having received complaints for failing to fix the problem after the first recall, Samsung brought in three private inspectors to help. Inspectors found damage to the upper corners of batteries made by one manufacturer likely sister company Samsung SDI and used in the initial batches of Note 7s. That, combined with overly thin separators and high energy density, caused the phones to overheat, Samsung said. The cell-pouch design of the battery also did not have enough space to safely accommodate its electrodes another flaw. In other batches of batteries from a second manufacturer, presumably China-based ATL, used in replacements for the recalled smartphones, the researchers found welding defects and a lack of protective tape in some battery cells. Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy, said the odds of two different suppliers having issues with the same phone are extremely low. The case "may signal we may have reached an inflection point in smartphone battery technology," Moorhead said. (Read also: Samsung likely to unveil foldable phones in Q3: source) Though Samsung faulted the batteries from its suppliers, it said it would bear all costs. It was unclear to what extent the battery makers were responsible, as Samsung said only that it had provided "targets," such as capacity and thickness. That may suggest a breakdown in communication between Samsung and its suppliers and in quality control and testing. The Note 7 isn't the only gadget to catch fire because of lithium battery problems. Manufacturers like the batteries because they weigh less and pack much more energy into the same space than other batteries. But they are also more susceptible to overheating if they are exposed to high temperatures, are damaged or have manufacturing flaws. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile division, said Samsung would use what it learned from its investigations to improve lithium battery safety for the industry. To avoid further problems, Samsung said it was introducing an eight-point battery safety check with more intense durability tests; a new test on accelerated usage and a charge and discharge test. The tighter safety measures will be implemented in "every element of the company's devices," it said, including overall design and materials used. Samsung said it also will seek advice on battery safety and innovation from a group of battery experts. The company has recalled 3.06 million Note 7 phones. About 4 percent, or 120,000 units, of the recalled Galaxy Note 7s have not been returned. ___ AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay contributed to this story from New York. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jessicha Valentina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 09:45 2111 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0bc65e95 1 Art & Culture Run-Island,new-york,Wesleyan-University,spice-island,Ron-Jenkins,Made-Wianta,Islands-The-Treaty-that-Changed-the-World,Treaty-of-Breda,theater,#theater Free In the 17th century, the Dutch and the British fought over Run Island in the Banda Islands, Maluku, as it was a nutmeg producer. Fast forward to 350 years later and Run Island is nearly unknown. A theater show inspired by the history of the island is slated to be performed at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, US, on April 21 to 23. Entitled Islands: The Treaty that Changed the World, the show revolves around the Treaty of Breda, an agreement between the Dutch and the English to trade Run Island for Manhattan, New York. The performance follows the ghost of Enrique, a slave of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Enrique, who narrates the story, will introduce the audience to the unheard voices in the history, such as the actual words of the treaty that mentioned all the killings on the island, testimony from a Dutch soldier about brutality on the island and a nutmeg farmer named Kajiri who was born and bred in the forest and felt a strong attachment to the trees. Playwright Ron Jenkins, a Wesleyan University professor of theater, told The Jakarta Post that the treaty was so valuable for history as it changed the life of the people on both Run Island and in New York. [The people of Manhattan] speak English, not Dutch because of this little island in Indonesia, he said. (Read also: Indonesian theater steals the show at Asian theater festival) Islands: The Treaty that Changed the World' was heavily influenced by traditional Indonesian theater, which makes Enrique's role similar to Semar in wayang (Javanese traditional puppet shows) or Tualen in Balinese mask performances. Enrique will be responsible to make the connection between all those stories to modern life, added Jenkins. Jenkins said although the treaty took place 350 years ago, it is still relevant to current life, as it portrays a multinational corporation controlling the lives of poor people. The show's goal is to make the people of Manhattan learn that their history was really connected with Indonesia. He also hoped that the mayor of New York would make a Run Street on Manhattan. The way to get to the nutmeg forest on Run Island is through Jl. Manhattan, which is the biggest road on the island. [Run's citizens] understand that Manhattan was part of their history [although] people on Manhattan do not know this." For the upcoming performance, Jenkins shared that the idea for the play came from Balinese artist Made Wianta, who asked Jenkins to create the show. Islands: The Treaty that Changed the World also features Made's designs. An illustration by Made Wianta. Made's designs will be included in the performance. (Ron Jenkins/File) Jenkins collaborated with Indonesian artist I Nyoman Chatra and Acehnese dancer Novirela Minang Sari for the show. In New York, Nyoman will act as Enrique and will also direct the performance on Bali, where it is slated to run in August. Meanwhile, Novirela is the choreographer for the performance. In addition to the performance at Wesleyan University, the group will also make a small presentation in the Indonesian Consulate General in New York. On another note, the Banda Culture and Heritage Foundation is currently raising funds to hold the show in Jakarta. If they manage to raise the funds, Hanung Bramantyo will be the director, Jenkins said. (kes) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Tue, January 24, 2017 Twelve Indonesian undocumented migrant workers have died after their boat transporting them to Malaysia capsized in Johor Bahru waters on Monday. Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) secretary Hermono said the victims were found not far from the capsized boat, which was carrying 40 undocumented workers to work in Malaysia. Two of them were found safe, while another 13 were still missing and the remaining 13 are thought to be hiding in the woods around Tanjung Leman waters, Johor Bahru. The boat departed from Tanjung Bemban in Batam, Riau Islands, early on Monday. The identification process was still ongoing, Hermono said on Tuesday. The two victims have been identified as residents of Ende, East Nusa Tenggara. The Foreign Ministry will repatriate the bodies to Indonesia and the BNP2TKI will then transport them [to Ende], he told The Jakarta Post. He admitted the incident demonstrated the recurring problem of the recruitment of migrant workers. The prevention efforts should be improved starting from the places of origin [of the workers]. People should be made clear about the consequences of using illegal recruitment schemes. Riau Islands Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Saptono Erlangga said the police were hunting the boat owner and related persons. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 A second round of negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Indonesia and the European Union (IEU-CEPA) kicks off on Tuesday and is set to end on Friday in Bali. "In this round, we'll follow up modal [negotiations], leveling perceptions of each party's ambitions and clarifying drafts suggested by each delegate," Iman Pambagyo, international trade negotiation director general with the Trade Ministry, said in a press statement. "Only then in the next rounds will we have comprehensive negotiations. Hence, this round is crucial to determine the direction ahead," he added. (Read also: Indonesia-EU CEPA set for 2019) The IEU-CEPA study has been conducted since 2010 but the scoping paper had been in progress since 2012 until it was concluded last year, before the first round of negotiations proceeded in Brussels, Belgium, in September. With an aim to be concluded by 2018, the deal could improve trade, investment and training cooperation between the two parties through a lack of tariffs and other facilities. Indonesia is Europe's fifth biggest trading partner amongst Southeast Asia countries and 30th biggest of countries worldwide. Europe, meanwhile, is the country's fourth-largest trading partner. In 2015, exports and imports between the bloc and Indonesia accounted for US$26.1 billion, with Indonesia enjoying a surplus of $3.5 billion, Trade Ministry data showed. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The government has formed an ad hoc team to study several technical issues surrounding its ambitious Patimban deep-sea port project. The team has been formed with representatives from several different ministries and has begun reviewing the project, which will be developed in cooperation with Japan, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said on Tuesday. An ad hoc team formed from several different departments is not finalizing [a study] surrounding land, legal and technical issues. We are currently preparing the material, he said following a meeting at the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Tuesday. The team is made up of people from the Agrarian and Spatial Planning Ministry, the Office of the Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister and the National Development Planning Board, he added. (Read also: Patimban Port expected to help boost automotive exports) Patimban Port is among a number of national strategic projects that are expected to ease logistics in the country. The port will have a container capacity of 1.5 million 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) once it is partly completed by 2019 and then 7.5 million TEUs by 2027, which is half the capacity of Jakartas Tanjung Priok Port, the countrys busiest port. The total investment value for the Patimban project is estimated to be around Rp 40 trillion (US$3 billion). The government is expected to control a 51-percent majority stake in the project, in which state-owned seaport operator Pelindo II will own 10 percent with investment worth Rp 4 trillion. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 State-owned airport operators Angkasa Pura (AP) I and AP II posted double-digit growth in 2016 on the back higher passenger traffic. AP I saw its revenue increase 15.21 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 6.05 trillion (US$452.44 million) in 2016, said president director Danang Baskoro on Monday. He attributed the higher revenue to increased traffic, which rose 14.33 percent yoy to 84 million passengers. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 Many House of Representatives factions have expressed opposition to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) taking the leadership position at the House, but the Democratic Party has swum against the tide and welcomed the bid. Democratic Party lawmaker Khatibul Umam Wiranu argued that the PDI-P deserved the position for securing the largest number of votes during the legislative election in 2014. For this reason, the Democratic Party endorses only one additional article in order to allow the PDI-P to be granted the chairmanship seats, Khatibul said. This is to restrict deliberations from having to accommodate more demands from other factions. The Democratic Party currently holds a deputy speaker position both at the House and the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) as part of the result of political lobbying with members of the then Red-and-White coalition that scrapped the proportional mechanism. The proportional mechanism grants leadership positions at the legislative institution to political parties according to the number of votes won in legislative elections. Factions that have expressed opposition to granting the PDI-P a leadership seat include the Gerindra Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), which have also demanded leadership positions at the DPR and the MPR. (evi) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Tue, January 24 2017 A new presidential regulation specifying procedures for handling asylum seekers has been lauded for its guarantee to protect asylum seekers, ending the frequent bottlenecks at harbors and immigration offices each time a large group of migrants hits the coast of Sumatra. Presidential Regulation No. 125/2016 assures that Indonesia will not turn back boats of asylum seekers approaching the nations shores, and instead obliges search and rescue teams and officials to help them and provide food and shelter. However, asylum seekers and migrant advocates are keeping a close eye on the implementation of the new rules. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 Political experts have claimed that growing public pressure for the government to disband violent mass organizations, in particular the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), could undermine Indonesias democracy. If it commits violence, just bring the members involved in the crime to justice, not immediately disband it, Airlangga Pribadi Kusman, an Islam and political expert from Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java, told The Jakarta Post. He was speaking on the sidelines of a discussion held by the Maarif Institute by the Muhammadiyah central executive board in Yogyakarta recently. Airlangga said if the government disbanded the FPI simply because of civil society pressure, there would be no basic argument to use against demands for the disbandment of any civil society organization. It could happen at any time that a civil society organization is disbanded because its members are branded communists, he said. Airlangga further explained the emergence of extreme mass organizations in Indonesian politics was because they were used by political elites who had an opposing stance to that of the ruling power. The elites used issues that could ignite ethnic, religious, racial and societal group (SARA) sentiments because they were easy to use to mobilize people who were disappointed with social injustices to fight against the ruling groups. The opposing elites do not use social injustice issues because they themselves do not have solutions to tackle the problems, said Airlangga. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries have agreed that multilateral trade negotiations are better than bilateral and plurilateral trade as it avoids the domination of trade rules by one country amid growing protectionism concerns. The system managed by the WTO is the best multilateral trade scheme today, Trade Minister Enggartiasto Enggar Lukita said after an informal meeting with WTO country members ministers on Saturday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Other alternatives would just be chaos, where one could punish the other on a unilateral basis without proper legal process, he said in a statement. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ivany Atina Arbi and Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 The first questioning session of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab over hate speech allegations brought parts of the citys downtown to a halt on Monday as hundreds of FPI members staged a rally to oversee the questioning at the Jakarta Police headquarters. The protesters, who called on the police not to criminalize an ulema like Rizieq, started to pack the busy Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta at around 10 a.m. They had gathered since dawn at the Al Azhar Mosque, and started to walk all the way to the headquarters at 9 a.m. after performing Dhuha morning prayers at the mosque. The crowd in front of the headquarters forced police officers to close the slow lane of Jl. Sudirman, forcing motorcyclists into the fast lane normally reserved for four-wheel vehicles. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 A third student of the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta has died, allegedly a victim of the endemic culture of violence associated with the freshman orientation program. The third victim, identified as Ilham Nurpadmi Listiadi, died on Monday. Fellow students Syaits Asyam and Muhammad Fadli died after enduring alleged bullying during the orientation program held by the UIIs mountain climbing club (Mapala Unisi) on Mount Lawu in Karanganyar regency, Central Java. Syaits died on Saturday while Muhammad succumbed a day earlier. Our preliminary investigation indicates violent acts [by seniors], UII rector Harsoyo told reporters while waiting for Ilhams body at the Bethesda Hospital in Yogyakarta. Harsoyo said that if found guilty of breaching the universitys regulations, the orientation program organizer would be held responsible. Harsoyo also welcomed any decision taken by the victims families. We welcome it if they take legal action. Ilhams father, Syafii, who came from Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara, said he deplored the bullying, adding that bruising was visible on his sons body. Syafii said he would report the case to Karanganyar Police. I hope the UII will solve the case. I sent my son to study at the UII with the expectation that he would become a pious person, but [it turned out] he became a victim of violence. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The government is confident in its decision to issue a new regulation permitting the establishment of state-owned enterprise (SOE) holdings, despite protest from the House of Representatives. Last year, government regulation (PP) No. 72/2016 was issued as a revision to PP No. 44/2005 that regulates state capital injections into SOEs. The government will go through with the new regulation as it is compatible with many other prevailing regulations, said State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno. (Read also: Govt engaged in power struggle with lawmakers over SOE holding) Of course well implement it. This regulation is also connected to PP No. 44, which is related to the State-Owned Enterprises Law, the State Treasury Law and the State Finances Law. It is all connected and all of it will be implemented, she said. The government claims that the new regulation is needed as a legal basis for any transaction mechanism, dubbed inbreng, in which the assets of one company are transferred to another and treated as a capital injection. With the regulation, the government will be able to carry out inbreng without having to change the state budget and seek approval from the House. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Grace D. Amianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 The government is ready to fight tooth and nail at the House of Representatives to defend a new regulation that changes the overall dynamics of a state-owned enterprise (SOE) holding establishment. Despite strong protests from lawmakers at the House over the rule, the government is convinced the process of establishing such an SOE holding will remain under strict governance principals. Its true that PP 72 is being questioned [by the House], but we will go on with the process. We are ready to explain [our stance] to the lawmakers that there is no issue [with the regulation], The Finance Ministrys directorate general of state assets, Sonny Loho, said recently. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 The government has decided to delay a plan to introduce Kuala Tanjung Port in North Sumatra as Indonesias new international marine freight hub in the western part of the country amid concerns about the cost of logistics and the limited infrastructure. The decision, made legal by the issuance of Transportation Ministerial Decision No. KP 901/2016 on national ports planning (RIPN), contradicted previous regulations that designated Kuala Tanjung as the countrys international port hub, including Presidential Regulation No. 26/2012 on the national logistics system (Sislognas). The ministerial decision, which was signed on Dec. 30, 2016, but only made public recently, has also designated Jakartas Tanjung Priok, the nations busiest seaport, as the new international port hub in western Indonesia, replacing Kuala Tanjung. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans Nicholas Jong (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The government has issued a ministerial decree in a bid to eradicate human rights violations in the country's fisheries industry. The decree is Maritime and Fisheries Ministerial Decree No. 2/2017 on a human rights certification mechanism in the fisheries industry. Maritime and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said that the decree would serve as the basis for a certification mechanism to ensure that companies did not violate their workers human rights. The mechanism is being established following a report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on human trafficking in Indonesias fisheries industry. This research report is the only publication that gives a complete and critical picture on human trafficking and forced labor in Indonesias fisheries industry, Susi said during an event to present the report and the ministerial decree on Tuesday. With this decree, the government will start to require all companies in the fisheries industry to submit detailed reports on their workers' conditions. (dmr) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stefani Ribka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 Sales of Indonesian products in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, increased by 13.76 percent from 2014 to 2016, an average annual increase of 6.88 percent, despite a declining number of retail shops in the city. Indonesian retail shops in Jeddah decreased by 2.08 percent during the same period, said Gunawan, the Jeddah chapter head of the Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC), in a statement. Every year, at least one Indonesian retail shop closes due to increases in rental costs, he said, adding that the other reasons for closures included the introduction of a local government policy to protect local workers and the return home of Indonesians from the city. (Read also: Indonesia AirAsia X launches flight to Jeddah) Furthermore, in addition to the Indonesians living in Jeddah, a city that serves as a gateway for pilgrims traveling to Mecca and Medina, businesspeople have begun to target other Asians living there, he added. Unlike retail shops, Indonesian restaurant and cargo service businesses have expanded thanks to a significant increase in the number of umrah pilgrims from Indonesia passing through the city. From 2014 to 2016, the number of Indonesian restaurants increased by 83.33 percent from 12 to 22. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Stephanie Chao (The China Post/ANN) Taipei Tue, January 24, 2017 It is difficult to leave this place ... Im often insulted by the captain, too. Here is a victim of violence on this ship, Indonesian seafarer Mualip said in his recorded video of fellow seafarer Supriyanto, who is shown sitting dazed on deck of a ship that left Pingtungs Dong Gang harbour in May. In his narration, Mualip describes Supriyanto as having been beaten by crew members of the ship before recording the video. Supriyanto was sporting swelling and bruising on his face. Thank you, Supriyanto. I hope you will recover soon, Mualip said. It would be one of the last visages of Supriyanto. In another video, he was shown at the brink of death in late August. With the 580,000 foreign blue-collar workers living in Taiwan (as of 2015, the Interior Ministrys figures showed there were approximately 630,000 foreigners in total) and a vast number of foreign spouses, with those coming from Southeast Asia making up almost 90 per cent (149,213 out of 165,902), one would assume that Taiwan would have already set up a comprehensive system in place to address the needs of a vast population. A recent probe into the case of Supriyanto's death suggests otherwise. In November 2015, the Pingtung District Prosecutors Office deemed the death of Supriyanto, who died onboard a fishing vessel in August, an accident. Prosecutors found that he died from illness caused by an untreated knee wound after falling from an elevated point on the ship while hanging clothes. However, the prosecutors office did not completely close the case. Prompted by petitions from non-government organisations upholding seafarers rights, who found details of the case and Supriyantos death suspicious, the Control Yuan ombudsman Wang Mei-yu relaunched investigations into the case last December. Misinterpretation or lack of interpretation? Wang found critical evidence in the case -- three videos of Supriyanto recorded by Mualip --- to be controversial. After bringing in an interpreter who was familiar with Supriyantos language, an obscure Javanese dialect, the Control Yuan revealed that his statement in the video vastly differed from the translation recorded by the prosecutors office. A factor neglected by prosecutors was misinterpretation of the videos: the two interpreters brought in by the prosecutors office in charge of the court translation did not understand Supriyanto and Mualips language and could not translate vital parts of the formers statement, revealing that he had been beaten by crew members as well as the Taiwanese captain. The Control Yuans probe concluded that the captains negligence in providing medical assistance to treat Supriyantos wounds had resulted in his death; as well as government negligence from the Executive Yuans Council of Agriculture and the Fisheries Agency to oversee foreign seafarers working rights and working environment. The Pingtung Prosecutors Office, prompted by Wangs report, has relaunched a probe into Supriyantos case. The nuances of language Supriyantos death refocused attention upon the poor working conditions of foreign seafarers, who are not fully protected under Taiwans labour laws. However, his case also turned attention to an overlooked factor, equally important to bringing about more equal treatment in court for blue-collar foreign workers or foreign spouses in Taiwan: language. Prompted by Supriyantos case, a January 10 public hearing was held to discuss Taiwans community interpretation problems. It urged the government to consider directing more investment toward community interpretation talent training and certification in order to uphold constitutional rights for Taiwanese and foreign workers. I once saw a case that unfolded like this: a Filipino seafarer spoke in a long-winding sentence in his local dialect, however the interpreter, translating through a video conference, only said two sentences, Lennon Wong, Serve the People Association Service Center and Shelter for Migrant Workers, told The China Post. Thats a definite misinterpretation of the truth. He added that foreign workers or spouses seeking medical treatment often ran into similar problems when their English or Chinese proficiency was not sufficient to accurately describe their symptoms. Awakening Foundation, a womens advocacy group, legal department director Chin Chi-fang said during the public hearing that addressing language barriers were often the pivotal point for foreign workers to receive their due at court. The impression among foreigners in Taiwan is that they dont get their due diligence in Taiwanese courts. Language is one issue, but there is also prejudice, interpreter Priya Lalwani Purswaney told the China Post, saying that foreigners try not to get into trouble here, but if they do, they try to get their cases heard elsewhere. Foreigners should be able to understand whats going on regarding the Taiwanese court system and constitution, and translation should be provided, but that is not always the case, she said. Compiling the resources A unanimous consensus among NGOs and lawmakers was the urgent need to address the talent gap in Taiwan, despite government agencies ongoing efforts to train interpreters and hosting talent banks. The government set up an interpreter talent bank back in 2009 which provided legal interpretation services, Immigration Affairs Deputy Director Yin Yu-hua said. The job bank currently boasts 1,431 interpreters and provides translation services for 18 different languages, ranging from Vietnamese, English, Indonesian and Thai, he said. However, Yu conceded that while the number of interpreters was sufficient, specific and lesser-known languages or dialects were much harder to find, citing a smaller talent pool and demand. He also addressed the quality discrepancy of interpretation since government training did not adhere to any sort of certification, and citied lack of legal regulations and insufficient budget. Yu promised to direct efforts and training to increase quality. In spite of the governments confidence in providing adequate quantity interpreters, TransAsia Sisters Association, Taiwan (TASAT) executive secretary general Hsieh Shih-hsuan said otherwise, citing unequal resource distribution nationwide. A case in Hualien County involved an interpreter who could not understand a local Indonesian dialect, Hsieh said. You cant say that (the government) has a sufficient number of Indonesian speakers, but should, consider whether there are enough resources to provide services for dialects of the language, and whether local agencies could obtain such resources in time. In the associations view, the government hasnt achieved that, Hsieh offered. In the end, the prosecutors or lawyers managed to reach out to them, and they provided a suitable interpreter. There are so many new immigrants and legal interpreters in eastern Taiwan, yet (we) couldnt find suitable resources, and we still had to look back to the capital for assistance, Hsieh said, calling out on the gaps in talent distribution and training. Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Yu Mei-nu and Tsai Pei-hui agree that the government should lead efforts to take stock of existing resources, specifically interpreters and second-generation offspring of new immigrants from Southeast Asia, who cpuld become Taiwans critical talent pool to draw from. Speaking to The China Post in a joint interview with Yu, Tsai said on top of coming up some sort of certification programme to ensure interpretation quality, creating an usable platform to aggregate talent must be considered. She suggested that the government could set up regional centers to provide professional interpretation around Taiwan: for example, centres overseeing services in eastern, central, northern or southern Taiwan, which would help relieve the burden from interpreters who might have to travel long-distances from their homes to work on cases in far-flung parts of the country. Yu said that criteria and compilation of data should be considered, ranging taking stock of interpreters who could provide services for certain languages, the ratio of foreign spouses, country of origin, the number of second generation offspring who could leverage their bilingualism. After the public hearing, both Yu and Tsai asked the Executive Yuan to consider assigning a minister without portfolio to oversee such undertakings, which they believe would require cooperation between multiple government agencies. There should be a schedule in place; like what we should do in two years, or a monthly agenda, Tsai said, in order to push the administration to carry out related work. Improving interpreters conditions However, both Hsieh, Purswaney and lawmakers echo similar sentiments that working conditions for interpreters must be addressed as well, specifically low pay, in order to motivate talents in the industry. Hsieh proposed at the public hearing that a special law should be drawn up to guarantee interpreters working pay and environment. Lawmaker Tsai pointed out that a price floor should be drawn up to ensure that interpreters of southeast asian languages can receive adequate and reasonable pay, who cited numbers mentioned at the public hearing of only a few hundred New Taiwan dollars per hour, compared to higher wages for English interpretation. A joint effort A silver lining in Supriyantos case was government attention from not only Taiwan, but also in his home country, Indonesia. Control Yuans Wang, before the interview wrapped up, brought up that when accompanying with Control Yuan President Chang Po-yas delegation to Indonesia, they received a positive feedback from Indonesian governments BNP2TKI, which oversees safety and protection for Indonesian workers abroad, when they expressed concern about cracking down on local illegal employment agencies that exploit migrant workers. Efforts to prevent illegal employment agencies in Indonesia and Taiwan should be carried out to ensure protection and basic human rights for foreign workers, Wang said, pointing out that joint efforts should be made. This article appeared on The China Post newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Corry Elyda (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 Acting Jakarta governor Sumarsono has vowed that the Jakarta administrations cooperation agreement with Finnish energy firm Fortum will remain intact despite a recent Supreme Court ruling revoking a relevant presidential regulation. Sumarsono said the central government should be able to issue another regulation to serve as the legal basis for building waste disposal facilities that would use incinerators to be built and operated by Fortum. We have signed the agreement. Despite the regulation having been revoked, the President can issue a new regulation, he said. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 Jakarta will set up a museum this year that reflects the development of Islamic civilization in Jakarta. The museum will be established in cooperation with the Louvre Islamic Art Museum of France. Shodri, head of the center for Islamic study and development at the Jakarta Islamic Centre (JIC), said the museum would showcase a collection of publications and contributions from various ulema. The museum will reflect the development of Islamic civilization in Jakarta and will hopefully offer a picture of the progress of Islam in Indonesia, Shodri said as quoted by Antara news agency on Monday. He further said the JIC had decided to cooperate with the Louvre Islamic Art Museum because the latter had a lot of experience in managing museums. The construction of the museum at the JIC compound in Kramat Tunggak, a former red-light district in North Jakarta, will be completed this year, he said. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The North Jakarta District Court judges presiding over the blasphemy trial of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama decided to continue the defendants seventh hearing on Tuesday even though three witnesses scheduled to give their testimonies did not yet show up. The three witnesses, namely Ibnu Baskoro, Iman Sudirman and Muhammad Asroi Saputra, were the men who initially reported the governor to the police for alleged blasphemy. It is the second time the three witnesses have skipped a hearing after failing to testify on Jan. 17. For Tuesdays hearing, five witnesses, including Yuli Hardi and Nurkholis Majid, who both witnessed Ahok talking to residents of Thousand Islands regency and referencing Surah Al Maidah 51 on Sept. 27, 2016, were also scheduled to give their testimonies. However, only Yuli and Nurkholis appeared at the hearing when the judges started the trial on 9 a.m. We want to inform you that we have summoned five witnesses. Four witnesses have confirmed their attendance. Two eyewitnesses are present now, prosecutor Ali Mukartono told the judges. Presiding judge Dwiarso Budi Santiarto said the panel would refer to prevailing laws that stipulate that a trial should be simple, quick and efficient. For that reason, Dwiarso said, he had decided to continue with the hearing despite the absence of three witnesses. (ebf) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Andi Taufan Garuda Putra (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 There are currently more than 2 billion people around the world categorized as unbanked, with most of them living in Asia and Africa, according to the World Banks 2014 Global Findex Report. The Asian Development Banks September 2015 report entitled, Financial Inclusion in Asia: An Overview, meanwhile, noted that 78 percent of the 255 million people in Indonesia are still considered unbanked, with the majority of them residing in the lowest levels of the socio-economic pyramid. The proportion is far higher than the global median for unbanked people, which is 38 percent. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The local unit of German car manufacturer Daimler AG says it wants to assemble more product lineups in Indonesia to help boost sales and increase the utilization of its local plant. President director of Mercedes-Benz Distribution Indonesia (MDI), the local distribution unit of the firm, Roelof Lamberts, said Tuesday that his side was considering assembling the entry level cars A-Class and B-Class in its plant in Wanaherang, Bogor, West Java after the E-Class recently. If realized, the two models will add to six models already produced there, namely the mid-size luxury sedan E-Class, the high-end luxury sedan S-Class and the sport utility vehicle GLC, GLS and GLE. "Hopefully we can create more demand by adding more types to the local lineup in the future, said Lamberts during the launch of the locally assembled E-Class.We have already produced the high end state of the art S-Class, so there is still a room below the C-Class, which belongs to the compact segment. (Read also: Mercedes-Benz begins local assembly of CKD E-Class) However, Lamberts said the local production of the additional lineup would not occur this year, but instead following the launch of the new generation of A-Class worldwide. The third generation of the hatchback A-Class has been produced globally since 2012. MDI marketing communication deputy director Hari Arifianto said the Wanaherang plant was able to produce 6,000 cars each year, but last year only assembled 3,371 cars, equal to 56 percent utilization rate. (lnd) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 The government is considering introducing different feed-in tariffs for renewable energy sources in the regions in an attempt to entice more investors to contribute to the sector. The government has set a goal to supply 23 percent of the national energy mix from renewable sources to wean off fossil fuels. However, development has been slow as current feed-in tariffs are often much higher than the production costs of state-owned electricity company PLN, the only off-taker in the country. To counter this problem, the government plans to compose specific feed-in tariffs according to demand and available potential energy in a particular region. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24 2017 A number of legal experts and environmental activists have taken a detour in their mission to challenge the newly revised mineral export ban by visiting the Indonesian Ombudsman. The Civil Society Coalition for the Constitution and Natural Resources reported Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan to the Ombudsman for alleged maladministration because of his regulations No. 5/2017 and No. 6/2017 that further ease a mineral export ban for the next five years. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fedina S. Sundaryani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The Tourism Ministry is largely optimistic that it can achieve its goal of welcoming 15 million tourists to Indonesia this year, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said on Tuesday. According to our calculations, if tourism grows by 10 percent [this year], well get 13.5 million tourists, he said following a meeting at the State Palace in Central Jakarta, adding that within the next 11 months, there would still be room to increase the number of foreign tourist arrivals. China will remain the countrys most sought-after market, but Indonesia also expects to see 1.5 million additional tourists from across the Southeast Asian region this year following the recent ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF). (Read also: Call to all tourists: Visit ASEAN, spend more, stay longer) Furthermore, Arief said ATF members had agreed to increase joint promotions of the region as part of celebrations for 50 years of ASEAN. This will be beneficial to Indonesia, as our tourist numbers are still relatively low compared to our neighbors. While we have around 10 to 12 million tourists, Malaysia has 25 million, Singapore has 15 million and Thailand has 30 million, he said. Indonesia expects to see an increase to 20 million tourist arrivals by 2019. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Justin Sink, Toluse Olorunnipa and Enda Curran (Bloomberg) Washington Tue, January 24, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trumps withdrawal from a long-planned Pacific trade pact creates a political and economic vacuum that China is eager to fill, potentially damaging American prestige in Asia. With Trump making good on his campaign pledge to nix a deal that was the centerpiece of predecessor Barack Obamas Asia policy, Chinas leaders are already ramping up support for globalization and free trade. In a speech last week to the World Economic Forum at Davos, President Xi Jinping likened protectionism to "locking oneself in a dark room." Trump opposed the pact because he said it could hurt American jobs. But the impact of his decision is likely to go beyond trade, giving more leeway to Xi to position China as an economic and military anchor in the western Pacific. Since coming to power, Xi has sought to expand Chinas trade ties with its neighbors and begun an ambitious infrastructure project designed to reinvigorate ancient trading routes to the Middle East and Europe. The failure of the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership -- which would have covered 12 nations and about 40 percent of global gross domestic product -- will see China step up its advocacy for an alternative pact first conceived by Southeast Asian countries. That deal doesnt currently include the U.S. and contains fewer measures to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade. The TPP was contentious in part because it addressed issues like environmental and labor protections. "The U.S. is now basically in a position where we had our horse, the Chinese had their horse -- but our horse has been put out to pasture and is no longer running in the race," said Eric Altbach, vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group in Washington and former deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China affairs. "Its a giant gift to the Chinese because they now can pitch themselves as the driver of trade liberalization." Under Obama, the U.S. used its Asia pivot to push back against China, which threatens over time to displace decades of U.S. dominance. While China has grown in clout it has also unnerved neighbors with its military expansion and its behavior over disputed areas of the East China Sea and South China Sea. The TPP was seen as a way to further bind countries, including smaller Southeast Asian nations, to the U.S. -- and act as a buffer. Aircraft carrier China is concerned alongside other nations that Trump will pursue protectionist policies, Zhang Jun, an economic affairs official at the foreign ministry, said on Monday in a briefing before the TPP announcement. If China has taken up a leadership role, it is because the front runners have stepped back, leaving that place to China, Zhang said. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, ripped Trumps decision. Obamas last defense secretary, Ash Carter, once said the TPP would be more strategically valuable than another aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific. The U.S. withdrawal "will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers," McCain said. "And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it." Its arguable that the U.S. would have in fact benefited more from the TPP than Asia as average tariff levels are higher in Asia than the U.S., said Shane Oliver, the Sydney-based head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors Ltd. Bilateral deals could ultimately have the same impact but will take a long time to reach, he said. I think the focus will now shift to regional deals involving China. The 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership being championed by China takes in Southeast Asia countries, plus Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. Some leaders from TPP nations signaled after Trumps election theyd shift their attention to the RCEP, with the next round of talks due to be held as soon as next month in Japan. While some TPP leaders have indicated they might try and push on without the U.S., the pact looks to have run its course, said Victor Gao, director of the China National Association of International Studies who was a translator for late leader Deng Xiaoping. "In China, we have an old saying: if a ship idles by the river bank by itself, other ships will keep sailing forward, and will leave the idled ship behind, he said. Obama regularly warned that failure to pass the TPP would let Beijing replace Washington in driving the rules of global trade. And his Council of Economic Advisers estimated the passage of RCEP would lead to the loss of market share among U.S. industries that now export more than $5 billion in goods to Japan. (Read also: The economic policy Trump should pursue) Economic impact But the TPP never had overwhelming support in Congress, where many Democrats applauded Trump for withdrawing from it. I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone," Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who campaigned for president as a Democrat on a promise to scrap the deal, said in a statement. Beyond trade, Asian leaders are stung after investing political capital in the deal. Killing TPP "really undermines the United States" in the eyes of Asian allies, according to Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group. "They put a lot of effort into it, and now they feel like they cant rely on the United States. Read more: QuickTake explainer on Chinas free-trade strategy Still, influence in Asia appears less important to the new president than his ability to deliver on a campaign promise and burnish his image as a champion of American workers. At his signing ceremony Monday in the Oval Office, Trump called the move a "great thing for the American worker, what we just did." And it may not be smooth sailing for China even if the TPP is finished. "China will try to fill the gap now, and yet China is a colossal net exporter, not importer," said Michael Every, head of financial markets research at Rabobank Group in Hong Kong. "Caveat Emptor for Asia if it rushes from TPP to RCEP. Beijing could find challenges rallying its neighbors, according to Barry Naughton, a professor of Chinese economy at the University of California in San Diego. They are not in position to take their own interests and merge that with a set of global interests and make the kind of sacrifices necessary to bring allies closer to them, he said on Bloomberg Television. Vietnam called on Trump to take into account the strategic aspects of the TPP. We hope the U.S. will be quick to send a message of reassurance about their leadership or at least their engagement here to prevent other powers from filling the vacuum the U.S. leaves, said Tran Viet Thai, deputy director general of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in Hanoi, where the countrys diplomats are trained. The ball is in the U.S.s hands. (dan) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Marguerite Afra Sapiie (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 The call is getting louder. The government may choose to remain silent or try and bury the issue with more empty promises. But there is no stopping the demand for justice and truth for past human rights abuse cases related to 1965 and other tragedies that have taken the lives of thousands in the country. It reverberates through generations, even among young people who now live decades after the violence took place. Christian Evander Lesnussa, 25, said he shared a deep concern about the unresolved cases of past human rights abuses, even those that occurred before he was born. Since 2013, Evander has regularly joined with activists and victims of human rights abuse during Kamisan, a silent protest held every Thursday to demand that the government resolve past human rights abuses, in front of Gedung Sate, the West Java gubernatorial office, in Bandung. Melanie Subono sings during the 10th commemoration of Kamisan Silent protest in Front of the presidential Palace in Jakarta, Thursday, January 19, 2017. The 477th kamisan reach its 10th year since the first protest in 2007 asking the govenrment to resolve past Human Rights Violation.(JP/Seto Wardhana.) Started in 2007 during the administration of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Kamisan first took place in front of the State Palace in Jakarta. Within a decade, the protests known for their characteristic silence, black attire and black umbrellas spread to other cities. If not us [the young generation], who else can push the government to resolve the cases? Evander told the Jakarta Post on Saturday. (Read also: Digital community Ingat65 remembers 1965) But 10 years on, the protesters demands have largely gone unanswered, even until the current administration of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, who during his presidential campaign lauded activist-cum-poet Wiji Thukul, who has been missing since the 1998 riots, as part of his pledge to resolve the human rights abuse cases. Kamisan has also inspired Usamah Zed, a university student from Bali, to always spare his Thursdays to join the protest during his visit to the capital. Usamah believes that youth can give strength to the victims and their families. We dont have to become victims to care about their struggles. As long as past cases of human rights abuse remain unresolved, there is always a possibility that someday I may become a victim too, the 23-year-old said. In recent years, Indonesia has seen more of its young people become concerned about the governments sluggish efforts to settle at least seven cases of human rights abuse that Jokowis administration promised to resolve, including the 1965 communist purge and the 1998 riots. Imam Sukri Nawawi, 19, chose to launch his campaign by posting his illustrations, including an illustration of human rights defender Munir Said Thalib, whose murder 12 years ago remains unsolved, on his Instagram account. For Prodita Sabarini, 34, establishing an online platform named Ingat65 (Remember 65), where young people can write and share their stories about how the tragedy affected them, is a way to raise awareness among young people who lack understanding about what happened. We realize that there is a lacuna in young peoples knowledge about 1965. What happened in the period affected our lives and the countrys political system, said the Ingat65 chief editor. Since its establishment in March last year, Ingat65, which can be accessed at atmedium. com/ingat-65, has published more than 50 reflective and personal stories that shed light on the countrys dark past. The platform is more like a storytelling space for young people to share what they think about it. It tries to make the issue less scary because the stories are personal, she said. From last week, the country has also seen the screening of Istirahatlah Kata-Kata, a biographical movie about Wiji. The film narrates Wijis life from 1996 when he was a fugitive until his disappearance before the fall of the New Order. Director Yosep Anggi Noen said the way young people responded to the movie showed that the younger generation had grown concerned and was now eager to learn about the nations history. There are many of them who are inspired and no longer show apathy, Anggi told the Post. Its important for young people to learn their own history. The democracy that has brought freedom for them has yet to be acknowledged as a struggle. They only enjoy it without knowing the process, he added. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Viriya P. Singgih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 In another move to expand its presence in the power plant business, publicly listed coal miner Adaro Energy, through its arm Tanjung Power Indonesia (TPI), has managed to conclude financial closure to partly finance the development of a coal-fired power plant in Tabalong, South Kalimantan. TPI, a joint venture between Adaro Energys Adaro Power and East-West Power Indonesia, a subsidiary directly owned by South Korean energy company Korea East-West Power, previously signed a power purchase agreement to sell electricity from the Tabalong facility, designed to produce up to 2x100 megawatts (MW) of electricity, to state-owned electricity company PLN for a period of 25 years. The Tabalong power plant, slated to begin commercial operations in the first half of 2019, will need a total investment of US$545 million, with 75 percent of the figure to be funded by bank loans and the rest covered by TPI. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 Witnesses for the prosecution who were present when Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama made an allegedly blasphemous statement said they heard no indications that the governor, a Christian of Chinese descent, had insulted the Quran. During the seventh hearing of the politically charged trial on Tuesday, the prosecutors, based on the witness accounts, failed to convince a panel of five judges that Ahok had intended to insult the holy book, an offense that carries a five-year prison term. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Farida Susanty (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 The government and state-owned enterprises have sent a strong signal that they will strengthen the role of Tanjung Priok Port as an international trade hub, taking over a slice of the transshipment market currently dominated by Singapore. Transportation Ministry Director General for Sea Transportation Antonius Tonny Budiono said the government and state-owned port firms, Pelindo I, II, III and IV, were discussing the so-called Indonesia Integrated Chain Port plan, which would consolidate the export of cargoes from various domestic ports nationwide, including Bitung Port in North Sulawesi and Sorong Port in West Papua, with the countrys busiest port. Such consolidation is aimed at making the transshipment more efficient and attractive for both local and global shipping lines. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 Indonesia needs to make the best of its foreign policy stances in the year ahead despite all the recent unsettling developments, a discussion of Indonesian foreign policy concluded on Tuesday. This is all the more necessary with United States President Donald Trump signaling a particular shift in US interests away from Southeast Asia. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Hans David Tampubolon (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 Istirahatlah Kata-kata (Solo, Solitude) from director Yosep Anggi Noen is a rare example of a properly made biopic in the Indonesian film industry. In the last few years, biopics of Indonesias most recognized national figures have been flooding local theaters, with most of them featuring the same boring narratives and straightforward linear plots that feel like nothing but cinematic visualizations of whats available on Wikipedia pages. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Wed, January 25 2017 Among the few things that Indonesians are proud of on the international stage are their UN peacekeepers, comprising valiant members of the military and the police. This is why Tuesdays report that members of a unit of our police were being held in North Darfur, Sudan, for allegedly attempting to smuggle dozens of firearms, including rifles, and ammunition is unthinkable and shocking. We demand a thorough investigation into the allegations and appropriate measures if they are found to be true and a full rehabilitation of the units honor if otherwise. Our embassy in Khartoum and the National Police headquarters are providing support and legal counsel to the police officers, who had served for a year under the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Batam Wed, January 25 2017 Twelve Indonesian undocumented migrant workers have died after their boat transporting them to Malaysia capsized in Johor Bahru waters on Monday. Agency for Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) head secretary Hermono said the victims were found not far from the capsized boat, which was carrying 40 undocumented workers to work in Malaysia. Two of them were found safe, while another 13 were still missing and the remaining 13 are thought to be hiding in the woods around Tanjung Leman waters, Johor Bahru. The boat departed from Tanjung Bemban in Batam, Riau Islands, early on Monday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has lambasted a civil society group for filing a report against its chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri for alleged blasphemy. Megawati was just trying to express the partys stance and vision. That was a political speech based on the current sociopolitical situation. The party was just trying to say that we oppose any threat to Pancasila [the state ideology] and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, PDI-P executive Aria Bima said on Tuesday. Spokesman for the Alliance of the Nation for Anti-Religious Blasphemy, Baharuzaman, who is also a former chairman of hard-line Islam Defenders Fronts (FPI) North Jakarta chapter, reported the fourth president and daughter of first president Sukarno for a speech she made on the occasion of the partys anniversary earlier this year. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Moses Ompusunggu, Haerim Halim, Tama Salim and Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, January 25 2017 Indonesia has won recognition for its active participation in United Nations peacekeeping programs over the years. However, its good reputation is at risk of being tarnished amid weapon-smuggling allegations lodged against Indonesian police officers seconded to the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) in the war-torn country of Sudan. The government threw its weight behind the police officers currently held in the African country, saying it was too risky to commit such an illegal activity in a multinational mission. Its impossible that our police officers tried to smuggle weapons. This incident needs to be clearly clarified, because it relates to the dignity of the state, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said on Tuesday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra Wed, January 25, 2017 One month has passed, but Jamal Husein has not received the results of his interview with the team from the United States government. Jamal is one of the hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar being accommodated in Medan, North Sumatra, who are seeking asylum status and resettlement in the US. We are anxious because there is no announcement on the result as of today and I am worried that the plan to send us to the US could fail to materialize, he told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Jamal was about to leave the Pelangi Hotel in the provincial capital with his child to attend a government-sponsored immunization program. The hotel has served as a temporary residence for Rohingya refugees brought to Medan from Aceh and Pangkalan Berandan, Langkat regency. Jamal said the refugees had hoped the outcome of the interviews could be announced before the succession of the US presidency. Now, after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, they have become worried their hopes of setting foot on US soil might have been thwarted. Husein said the refugees anxiety was aggravated by Trumps campaign, which was strong on anti-immigration rhetoric indicating Trumps immigration policy will be less welcoming of refugees compared to that of former president Barack Obama. We dont understand politics but we fear President Trump will not allow us to enter the US, he said. I am looking forward to staying and living in the US. The US, he said, was the preferred asylum destination for a large number of Rohingya refugees sheltered in Indonesia. There were 270 Rohingya refugees sent to Medan to take part in the interviews, he said. Those who have not been interviewed are scheduled for February, including Mohd. Masud, a Rohingya who entered Indonesia in 2015. He was optimistic his dream of starting a new life in the US would not be shattered by Trumps presidency. A promise has been made and I dont think the US government will reject us, he said. Even if that dream fails to come true, Masud said he would refuse to be deported back to his home country especially after President Joko Jokowi Widodo signed a 2016 presidential regulation that could allow them to stay in Indonesia. Another Rohingya refugee, Sofih Alam, however, offered a different view. He said he would be ready to be deported back to Myanmar if the Australian government rejected his asylum. As long as the Indonesian government could guarantee my safety in Myanmar, I would not mind being deported back. If there is no guarantee, Id prefer to stay here, Sofih said. The spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Indonesia, Mitra Salima Suryono, stated that not all refugees would get resettlement as a solution. Asylum requests submitted by several refugees had been rejected by the destination countries, she revealed. We will find alternative solutions for those whose asylum requests are denied, such as by searching for resettlement in other countries, she said. Separately, US vice consul for Sumatra, Tamara Greig, stated that the resettlement of Rohingya refugees in the US was organized by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Thousands of people of Rohingya ethnicity, who are Muslim, have fled Myanmar in recent years as a result of prolonged persecution by local authorities. Many of them have traveled to Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia aboard rickety boats via the Malacca Strait. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, January 24, 2017 10:40 2111 9b519824cb3263083aedb70a0bc6a467 1 News travel,tourism,#tourism,gay,lesbian,LGBT,#LGBT Free The Spanish travel sector is gearing up to cater to gay tourists who are inclined to spend more money than most when they are on vacation. This notion was emphasized at Madrids Fitur Tourism Fair that ended on Sunday. For instance, Extremadura in West Spain highlighted the annual gay pride celebrations in the city of Badajoz, which were sparked off because of homophobic remarks from a local politician. As reported by AFP, Extremadura's tourism promotion agency hopes to increase the number of gay and lesbian tourists with children. Furthermore, volume is of prime interest to the agency as lesbians and gays make up 10 percent of all tourists. For the most part, this market is targeted because of its flexibility, as homosexuals tend to travel all year round because they are not stymied by school holidays. Juan Pedro Tudeal, the director of Diversity Consulting International adds that they have more disposable income since there are fewer couples with children." (Read also: Bangkok to hold first gay pride parade in 11 years) The United Nations World Tourism Organization said in a recent report that "there is no denying that the gay segment is dynamic and influential. Up to 150 million euros (US$161 million) was taken in from gay pride festivities in Spain last summer. Even more proceeds are expected to be earned this year as 3 million people are predicted to participate in Madrids World Pride Parade in late June and early July. Meanwhile, unique offers have been tailored to the needs of the gay segment for this time of year by Iberia airline and several hotels in Spain. Moreover, many cruises, vacation clubs and bungalows are also being prepared for the gay market. However, Thomas Bomkes of Diversity Tourism opines that it can be challenging to attract this target group because gays and lesbians sometimes neglect special offers. According to US marketing firm Community Marketing, this is because homosexuals value location and price-quality relationship factors more than the gay-friendly aspects of a package deal. (nik/kes) Belgian supermodel Hanne Gaby Odiele has released a YouTube video revealing she is intersex in an effort to raise awareness of the discrimination and abuse intersex people suffer. The 29-year-old model, who has graced the catwalks of Marc Jacobs, Dior and Versace and appeared in Vogue magazine, told USA Today: It is very important to me in my life right now to break the taboo. InterACT The video appeared on Monday on the website of the charity Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that dont fit into typical binary notions of male or female bodies. These can be different genitals or internal organs or chromosomal differences. They are often subjected to surgery to assign them a sex due to societal pressures rather than medical necessity. In some cases the UN says this may amount to a human rights violation. Odiele has joined interACT to campaign for intersex people to be able to choose their own identity. It is time for intersex people to come out of the shadows, claim our status, let go of shame, and speak out against the unnecessary and harmful surgeries many of us were subjected to as children, Odiele said. People with intersex characteristics make up 0.5 1.7% of the world population. The upper estimate is around the same as the proportion of red-heads, according to the UN. Kimberley Zieselman, interACTs executive director, welcomed Odieles statement, saying We congratulate Hanne for her courage in sharing her intersex status with the world. We are extremely grateful to have her join interACTs efforts in strongly advocating for the protection of intersex children from harmful medical treatment and surgery. reinstated the Global Gag Rule As one of his first acts in office, the newly inaugurated President Trump hasto set the tone for his presidency as being firmly anti-choice. The Global Gag Rule, known formally as the Mexico City Policy after the city in which the policy was announced, was signed into law by Ronald Reagan in 1984 and came into effect the following year. It forbids all foreign non-governmental organisations that receive any funding from the US government from promoting or providing abortion services as a method of family planning. This even includes abortion being mentioned as an option for women, which is why the policy has been referred to as a global gag. Though the policy does include exceptions where abortions are used in cases of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions, these circumstances can be notoriously hard to prove. Trump is not the first US president to reinstate the Global Gag Rule, as the policy has proven extremely controversial, and has often acted as a crucial point of differentiation between Republican and Democrat presidents. President Clinton rescinded the policy in 1993, as did Obama in 2009, saying that the policy undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. Republican President George W. Bush then reinstated it in 2001 due to his belief that taxpayer funds should not be used to fund or actively promote abortions. This policy was originally intended to target abortions only, but was expanded to cut off funding for any NGO promoting voluntary family planning in other countries, such as those advertising means of contraception and providing condoms. Critics argue that this has been extremely harmful to women worldwide, particularly in developing countries, as it has meant that NGOs have had decreased access to birth control, and rates of unwanted pregnancies have increased. This is particularly dangerous in countries where maternal death rates are higher and quality of healthcare is worse. A report by EngenderHealth revealed that NGOs in Nepal lost $100,000 of funding per year as a result of the policy from 2001-2006. US aid is vital to womens health programs worldwide. Unsafe abortions kill almost 50,000 women a year according to the WHO, and the reintroduction of the Global Gag Rule could put many more women in developing countries at risk. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. Please check our main navigation pages for other content: Home Page Tentang Situs Slot Online Resmi MGS88 Nama Situs MGS88 Minimal Deposit Rp. 10.000,- (Sepuluh Ribu Rupiah) Proses Deposit 2 Menit Metode Deposit Bank Transfer, Pulsa, E-Wallet Judi Online Terbaik Slot Online, Judi Bola, Casino Online, Togel Online, Tembak Ikan Provider Slot Gacor Mudah Maxwin Pragmatic Play, PGSoft, MicroGaming, Habanero Slot Gacor Gampang Menang Gates of Olympus, Sweet Bonanza, Wild West Gold, Starlight Princess Win Rate 98% RTP Live Slot Gacor Tertinggi Hari Ini Terbaru Terlengkap Selamat datang di halaman RTP live dan informasi soal slot gacor hari ini dari situs MGS88 yang setiap hari selalu update. Berdasarkan RTP Live MGS88, Anda bisa mendapatkan informasi tentang slot online yang saat ini yang sedang Gacor atau onfire dengan persentase yang terbukti akurat, ini bisa menjadi rekomendasi anda sebelum memilih permainan slot online di situs MGS88. Cek RTP Slot sekarang juga bosku Klik Provider Slot Untuk Mengetahui RTP Slot Secara Real Time Selamat datang bagi kalian yang sedang mencari situs RTP Live terlengkap dan terkini hari ini. Sangat sesuai jika Anda mengunjungi website MGS88 RTP live untuk informasi tentang permainan slot yang lagi gacor dengan slot RTP yang terupdate. Persentase kemenangan yang kami berikan tentunya diambil dengan data yang sangat valid dan hanya untuk permainan slot yang tersedia di situs MGS88. RTP yang tersedia juga akan selalu diperbarui setiap hari berdasarkan level kemenangan yang diberikan kepada member kami. Memang sih untuk bermain slot itu tergantung hoki dari setiap pemain, Namun RTP live atau bocoran slot dari yang kami sediakan ini adalah data autentik dari banyaknya pemain yang telah bermain dan mencapai kemenangan tinggi. Sederhananya, kalau banyak pemain yang menang di dalam 1 permainan slot, karena itu permainan slot tersebut akan mempunyai persentase RTP yang sangat tinggi. Namun kami tegaskan sekali lagi, ini bukan sebuah paksaan kami situs MGS88 untuk anda bermain di game slot yang mana. Ini bisa dijadikan sebagai referensi atau tolok ukur, boleh dicoba kalau anda mempunyai feel yang kuat dalam memainkan permainan game slot. Anda dapat mengakses kapan saja dan di mana saja selama anda siap bermain. Jangan ragu untuk bertanya ya seputar pola putaran terhadap kami, sebab kami juga menyediakannya loh. Apa itu RTP Live? RTP Live ialah informasi mengenai persentase tertinggi saat ini dari hasil RTP Live dengan bocoran kemenangan pemain saat ini. RTP Live merupakan singkatan dari Return To Play atau bisa juga diartikan sebagai Return to Player. Karena itu, para pemain slot sekarang jika ingin mengetahui seberapa besar kemenangannya, bisa dengan memainkan permainan yang akan dimainkannya dan bisa untung dengan mudah dan tentunya maksimal. Apa itu RTP Slot? RTP Slot juga dikenal sebagai return to player atau pengembalian ke Pemain. RTP slot ialah persentase dari nilai pengembalian semua uang yang dipertaruhkan pemain dari waktu ke waktu. Dengan kata lain, RTP juga dianggap sebagai salah satu fitur slot yang mengembalikan uang pemain saat pemain kalah. Persentase digunakan untuk menghitung RTP dalam permainan slot. Misalnya, jika slot memiliki RTP 97%, itu berarti untuk setiap 100.000 koin yang hilang di slot, slot dapat mengembalikan 97.000. Jika Anda mengetahui RTP sebuah permainan slot, Anda dapat memutuskan permainan slot mana yang akan dimainkan tanpa kerugian besar. Apakah Angka Persentase RTP Slot Itu Penting? Biasanya pemain slot itu tidak memperhatikan RTP dalam permainan yang akan dimainkan, biasanya setelah anda mengisi saldo utama anda akan langsung buru-buru memainkannya. Yang terakhir 90-96% mempengaruhi jumlah kemenangan. Semakin tinggi jumlah RTP yang digunakan, semakin luas peluang untuk mendapatkan keuntungan. Akan namun itu segala tak secara 100% menjamin kemenangan kau dalam bermain, RTP itu cuma sebagai kalkulasi pengeluaran anda saja selama bermain slot.Dengan adanya RTP, kau dapat mengerjakan pengaturan atas uang yang akan kau pertaruhkan nanti pada ketika bermain.Untuk itu pada ketika kau bermain slot dan telah mengalami banyak kekalahan di satu permainan, direkomendasikan kau pindah ke permainan slot lainnya yang RTP nya lebih tinggi dari permainan yang tadi kau mainkan. Keuntungan Menggunakan Bocoran RTP Slot Hari Ini Situs MGS88 Akan dengan senang hati akan beberapa keuntungan yang didapatkan jika anda bermain slot dengan menggunakan RTP Live yang telah disediakan. Berikut Keuntungannya : Peluang Kemenangan Meningkat Tentu saja, saat bermain slot online, menang adalah hal yang paling penting. Di sinilah RTP berperan sebagai metode atau metode baru yang akan membantu Anda memilih permainan slot persentase tinggi. Mendapat variasi dalam Memainkan Game Slot Pastinya banyak pemain slot online yang hanya memainkan 3-5 permainan slot saja. Namun dengan RTP Live slot akan memberikan banyak game slot lain yang bisa anda coba. Tentunya semua permainan slot memiliki potensi kemenangan yang besar, jadi jangan hanya mengandalkan beberapa permainan saja. Menambah Pengalaman Dalam Bermain Slot Keuntungan terakhir adalah Anda tentu saja menambah pengalaman dan keahlian dalam permainan slot online. Dengan berbagai macam permainan slot yang dimainkan, Anda pasti mengetahui karakteristik dari setiap permainan slot yang Anda mainkan. Akibatnya, Anda pasti bisa dianggap sebagai pemain slot yang andal, yang pasti akan meningkatkan peluang Anda untuk menang besar menggunakan RTP. Daftar 8 Situs Dengan RTP Slot Live Tertinggi Hari Ini Ada banyak penyedia mesin slot online di internet. Tetapi tidak semuanya memiliki peluang tinggi atau RTP Live Slot yang sangat tinggi. Tapi jangan khawatir, berikut ini adalah situs slot gacor yang akan memberikan bocoran slot dengan RTP Live Tertinggi: RTP Live Slot Pragmatic Play (RTP Slot 97.85%) RTP Live Slot PG Soft (RTP Live 96.15%) RTP Live Slot Habanero (RTP Slot 95.89%) RTP Live Slot CQ9 (RTP Live 98.83%) RTP Live Slot Spade Gaming (RTP Live 94.99%) RTP Live Slot Micro Gaming (RTP Slot 95.39%) RTP Slot Live Top Trend Gaming (RTP Live 96.14%) RTP Slot Live JOKER123 (RTP Live 97.45%) Itulah Daftar 8 Provider Slot Gacor dengan RTP Live teratas diatas tentunya kami analisa terlebih dahulu. Anda bisa membuktikannya langsung dengan mengklik banner atau meprovider game slot yang sudah tersedia di atas. Saran kami yaitu Anda harus memainkan semua penyedia slot di atas untuk mencapai peluang kemenangan terbaik. Daftar Slot RTP Live Tertinggi Sering Kasih Jackpot Selain mempertimbangkan RTP Slot Gacor yang ada, sebenarnya ada banyak faktor penting untuk menang dalam permainan judi online. Sebab ada banyak game yang memiliki fitur dan mekanisme unik dan bisa membantu anda meraih Jackpot yang sangat besar. Berikut ini akan kami ulas daftar 5 game slot paling populer karena sering memberikan jackpot: RTP Live Gates of Olympus Gates of Olympus adalah game slot teraneh dan terbaik di Indonesia. Karena permainan mesin slot ini paling populer karena kakek Zeus dapat mengizinkan pengganda x500. Selain itu, fitur dan mekanik Gates of Olympus juga sangat menguntungkan untuk memenangkan Grand Jackpot. Secara teoritis, RTP slot langsung Gates of Olympus bernilai 96,50%, yang berarti peluang Anda untuk memenangkan MaxWin cukup tinggi. RTP live Sweet Bonanza Sweet Bonanza adalah permainan slot terpopuler kedua. Game slot bertema buah dan permen yang lezat ini sepertinya akan menarik banyak perhatian karena tergolong slot gacor yang mudah menang. Secara teoritis, slot Sweet Bonanza RTP bernilai 96,48%, yang berarti peluang Anda cukup tinggi untuk memenangkan jackpot. RTP Live Wild West Gold Wild West Gold adalah permainan slot bertema koboi yang juga populer di kalangan penggemar konspirasi. Permainan slot Wild West Gold sendiri kerap menawarkan kejutan jackpot bagi para pemainnya. Selain itu, nilai RTP Live Slot menunjukkan indeks tertinggi hari ini, yang berarti sangat layak dan sangat direkomendasikan. RTP Live Starlight Princess Slot Starlight Princess ini memiliki gaya dan fitur yang mirip dengan Gates of Olympus. Perbedaannya hanya pada desain dan karakter gamenya saja, karena memiliki fitur dan mekanik yang sama tentunya RTP slot teoritis pada game slot ini sama yaitu 96,50%. RTP Live Cash Elevator Mungkin sebagian dari Anda baru mengenal slot Cash Elevator. Namun dari data benchmark yang diungkap, ternyata banyak sekali yang menikmati permainan slot ini. Dengan fitur dan mekanisme unik seperti Lift up and down asli, slot ini juga memiliki slot RTP Live dasar 96,64% yang juga memiliki mekanisme yang sangat menguntungkan untuk memperlancar tingkat kemenangan besar. Bocoran Jam Main Slot Gacor Hari Ini Dalam bermain permainan slot online itu tidak bisa dilakukan dengan sembarangan yah. Jadi, Jika anda bermain pada waktu tertentu seperti yang akan kita bahas sesaat lagi, ada kemungkinan anda untuk mendapatkan kemenangan lebih tinggi. Jam RTP Slot Gacor merupakan bocoran jam main slot yang akan memberikan anda kapan waktu yang pas dalam bermain game slot. Tentu saja seluruh provider slot online memiliki jam tertentu dalam memberikan peluang kepada para pemainnya untuk mendapatkan kemenangan. Disini kami akan memberikan anda Bocoran Jam Slot Gacor yang Paling Akurat Hari ini: Jam Slot Gacor Pragmatic Play 02:30 WIB - Jam 05:25 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Habanero 14:26 WIB - Jam 17:38 WIB Jam Slot Gacor CQ9 00:45 WIB - Jam 05:53 WIB Jam Slot Gacor PG SOFT 14:25 WIB - Jam 17:35 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Joker123 17:41 WIB - Jam 20:42 WIB Jam Slot Gacor Microgaming 22:30 WIB - Jam 00:35 WIB MGS88: Situs Judi Slot Online Gacor Pay4D Resmi dan Terpercaya MGS88 adalah situs game slot online Gacor terbaru yang bermitra dengan Pay4D, Pay4D sendiri merupakan daftar situs game slot online terpercaya dengan berbagai macam permainan judi yang mudah dimenangkan seperti Game Bola, Casino Online, Slot Pay4D, Tembak Ikan dan Pay4D Online Permainan togel seperti Singapura, Hongkong, Sydney dan lain-lain. Tujuan utama kami adalah menjadi situs judi online Pay4D yang menyediakan layanan judi online terbaik di Indonesia. Kami juga salah satu situs resmi PAY4D di Indonesia yang pasti akan membayarkan semua kemenangan kepada semua member kami, karena kepercayaan dari semua member kami adalah prioritas utama kami sebagai mesin slot 4d Asia terbaik di Asia, khususnya di Indonesia. Dalam melakukan sistem transaksi sistem simpanan dapat dilakukan dengan mudah melalui mobile banking dan electronic banking berupa bank BCA, BSI, BRI, BNI, Cimb Niaga, Permata dan Mandiri. Selain itu, transaksi e-wallet juga tersedia melalui Dana, Gopay, LinkAja dan Ovo serta dapat digunakan untuk pulsa tanpa dipotong. Untuk mempermudah dan kenyamanan dalam melakukan registrasi atau melakukan setiap transaksi, MGS88 menyediakan layanan live chat dan Whatsapp terhubung langsung dengan customer service online 24 jam. Mengenal Istilah Dalam RTP SLOT Di slot RTP Live Anda akan melihat berbagai fitur yang mungkin tidak Anda pahami masing-masing. Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. Angsana appoints new head chef Angsana Laguna Phuket has announced the arrival of new Executive Chef Michael Kratz to the resort. Chef Michael brings over 30 years of knowledge and experience in the food and hospitality industry to the dining table. By The Phuket News Tuesday 24 January 2017, 01:00PM With his passion for classical French, and modern Western cuisine as well as a profound love of Thai cooking, Chef Michael will enhance the menu offerings for all four restaurants at Angsana Laguna Phuket and develop a new range of signature food and wine pairings. Describing his management style as empowering and flexible, Chef Michael cultivates a level of trust in his staff in the knowledge that they are capable of achieving their tasks. According to Chef Michael, this supportive and hands-off approach to the kitchen dynamic engages the people working for him and empowers them to work independently. Some of the chefs who have worked under him have gone on to run their own kitchens in hotels and resorts, and some have become part of the food team for the Australian Olympic Team. His former apprentices Jodie Gentle and Robert do Carmo went on to win Best National Apprentice Chef Australia and Robert himself came second in Chef of the Year in Western Australia in 2005/2006. Born in Germany, Chef Michael moved to Australia in 1982 when he was just 17 years old to embark on a career in the restaurant industry. He enjoyed working in the kitchen immensely and marked his development as a chef with every passing year. His work ethic, leadership style and approach to cooking earned him the respect of his peers and the admiration of his staff from very early on. He previously worked as the executive chef and food operations manager for Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group (ALH) where he was in charge of four states in Australia. At ALH, he was involved in many acquisitions and the transformation of struggling food outlets to profitable and exciting food destinations. He has also worked for the Disney Cruise Line. Austrian man, 58, dies in Patong of suspected blood-pressure condition PHUKET: Police have yet to confirm the cause of death a 58-year-old Austrian man who died in his rented holiday serviced apartment in Patong today (Jan 24). patongdeathhealthpolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Tuesday 24 January 2017, 07:44PM The Austrian man was found dead in his serviced apartment in Patong this morning. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The man, Vienna native Christian Slama, was found dead in the bathroom of his holiday apartment at Sunset Apartment complex on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd by his wife, Gabriella, at about 10am, reported Lt Col Pattapee Srichai of the Patong Police. The couple checked in on Saturday (Jan 21), Col Pattapee said. The wife said her husband went into the bathroom, but had been there a long time. She knocked on the door and called out, but got no response, she opened the door and found him on the floor, he added. There was no evidence of a struggle, but there was a split on his forehead that may have been caused when he fell to the floor, he added. Officers found a packet of blood pressure medication with three pills missing inside the room, he added. The man might have died as a result of taking too many of these pills or from his condition, but we are waiting for doctors at Patong Hospital to confirm his cause of death, Col Pattapee said. Police have informed the Austrian Embassy in Bangkok of the mans death, he added. Hospitals must treat emergencies without cost NATIONWIDE: Hospitals which charge emergency patients will face legal action under the new sanatorium law, according to the Health Service Support Department (HSSD). health By Bangkok Post Tuesday 24 January 2017, 09:19AM All hospitals are on official notice: Treat emergency cases without charge, or face legal action under a law that came into effect a month ago. Photo: Bangkok Post Boonruang Triruangworawat, Director-General of the HSSD, said yesterday (Jan 23) that the 2016 Sanatorium Act stipulates that hospitals must waive medical fees for patients who are admitted to the emergency unit. The law is aimed at standardising the quality of state and private hospitals for better patient care. The act was published in the Royal Gazette on Dec 20 last year and has been in effect since Dec 21. Under the act, hospitals are also required to disclose to the names of their medical staff, medical and drug fees and other expenses associated with non-emergency cases and they must charge patients in accordance with the rates they announce. Hospital managers who charge their patients more than the stipulated rates will face a maximum jail term of one year and/or a fine of up to B20,000. Dr Boonruang said the department has written to hospitals nationwide about the matter, instructing them to comply with the regulations in the new law. Meanwhile, Bureau of Sanatorium and Arts of Healing Director Arkhom Praditsuwan said that along with the medical fees, the new law would help regulate exaggerated advertisements by sanatoriums as well. All hospitals in Bangkok are required to get permission from the HSSD before they can release public advertisements, while sanatoriums in other provinces must receive approval from provincial health offices for their advertisements. Under the act, hospitals that are found guilty of exaggerations in their advertisements would face a harsher penalty than in previous years. The penalty has been increased from only a fine to a one-year jail term, a maximum fine of B20,000 or both. Offenders will also face a B10,000 fine every day until they cease the false advertising. Those who launch ads without permission will also face a B20,000 fine along with a fine of B10,000 a day until they stop advertising. Backers of advertisements that have been released to the public before the law came into effect are required to ask permission from the HSSD or provincial health offices within 90 days from when the law became active. Those who run sanatoriums illegally also face tougher punishment now a maximum jail term of three to five years along with a maximum fine of B100,000, Mr Arkhom added. The fine was previously capped at B60,000. Read original story here. Ikea says bring your Phuket beach chairs back PHUKET: The Phuket branch of Swedish furniture giant Ikea is urging customers who bought a MYSINGSO beach chair before Jan 31 to return them for a full refund. By The Phuket News Tuesday 24 January 2017, 04:03PM Ikea is offering a full refund for MYSINGSO beach chairs bought before Jan 24. The recall was announced in a public notice issued today (Jan 24). After washing the fabric seat it is possible to re-assemble the chair incorrectly leading to risks of falls or finger entrapments, the notice read. IKEA has received five incident reports in which MYSINGSO beach chair collapsed during use due to incorrect re-assembly. All five reports included injuries to fingers and required medical attention. The reported injuries happened in Finland, Germany, USA, Denmark and Australia, it added. Safe products are a top priority at IKEA and all our products shall comply with international and national legislation as well as relevant standards. MYSINGSO beach chair has gone through relevant mechanical, fabric and chemical tests with approved result, the release noted. The MYSINGSO beach chair can be returned to any IKEA store or Pick up and order point for a full refund. According to the Revenue department of Thailand (tax office), a receipt number should be stated in the credit note when issuing a refund, so we would appreciate if you can present the receipt. In case of no receipt, we will have to return in the form of an IKEA gift card. Thank you for your understanding, the notice read. IKEA apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause, it added. The Phuket News reminds readers that beach chairs are banned anywhere on Phuket beaches, a ban reinforced last week by provincial authorities who sunk an appeal by Patong Mayor Chalermluck Kebsup to allow them in at least a restricted area on Patong Beach. (See story here.) However, Phuket authorities have yet to make any attempt to ban beach chairs entirely from the island, leaving residents and tourists to enjoy reclining elsewhere. For more information about the Ikea recall, visit www.IKEA.co.th or contact IKEA Customer Relations at 02-7087999. Indian tourist held for Gujarat kill plot BANGKOK: An Indian national has been detained in connection with the attempted murder of a municipal councillor of Borsad town in Indias Gujarat state on Jan 13, the Immigration Bureau (IB) said yesterday (Jan 23). crimeimmigrationpolicemurder By Bangkok Post Tuesday 24 January 2017, 08:49AM Chadreshkumar Rameshbhai Patel, 40, is questioned by Immigration Bureau chief Gen Nathathorn Prousoontorn. Photo: Apichit Jinakul The suspect was identified as Chadreshkumar Rameshbhai Patel, 40, who holds an Indian passport and is travelling in Thailand on a 15-day tourist visa, said a source. The man was detained on Friday night (Jan 20) by a team of IB officials at a hotel in the Pratunam area of Bangkok, said IB chief Nathathorn Prousoontorn. Mr Chadreshkumars visa expires today (Jan 24). The IB investigation team had learned Mr Chadreshkumar was named by suspects arrested in India as the mastermind of a Jan 13 shooting attack on Pragnesh Patel, a Borsad municipal councillor, the source said. Indian police believe the motive behind the attack concerned political, business and personal conflicts with the victim, said the source, adding Mr Chadreshkumar had fled to Thailand after allegedly hiring the attackers to carry out the shooting. According to the source, the IB investigation team identified Mr Chadreshkumar as a member of Ravi Pujari, a criminal gang with networks in South East Asia. Mr Chadreshkumar, a former telecommunications businessman in India, is the leader of the Ravi Pujari gang which is as influential as the Yakuza in Japan, Lt Gen Nathathorn said. An Indian embassy source takes issue with that claim, however, insisting he is just a small-time businessman. Four suspects had been detained in connection with the Jan 13 attack on Mr Pragnesh, said Lt Gen Nathathorn, adding India and Interpol had asked Thai police to help locate and arrest Mr Chadreshkumar. Mr Chadreshkumar had previously visited Thailand on three occasions and his latest arrival was recorded on Jan 10. That raised questions as to whether he had ordered the Jan 13 shooting while in Thailand, said Lt Gen Nathathorn. Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in Bangkok expects the suspect to be deported to India this week. Deportation is possible only after the Thai side finishes its investigation, which was likely in a few days, he said. An Indian official maintained Mr Chadreshkumar is not linked to the Indian gangster Ravi Pujari. He is a local TV satellite operator in a very small town in Gujarat state, he said. It was just a personal dispute, he said. Yet one of the shooters whom Mr Chadreshkumar allegedly hired from Mumbai to kill his opponent might have ties to Ravi Pujari, he said. In a second case also revealed yesterday, another IB investigation on Jan 16 tracked down to Chonburis Pattaya region a Hungarian husband and wife wanted in an Interpol red notice for fraud, said Lt Gen Natthathon. Lajos and Lajosne Deaki allegedly fled to Thailand after a Hungarian court sentenced them to eight years imprisonment for multiple fraud cases, said Lt Gen Natthathon, adding the two arrived in Thailand on July 4, 2009 and had made eight requests to stay in Thailand. Their latest permit allowing them to stay in Thailand expires on July 11, he said. After being alerted by the Hungarian police, Thai police found they were staying at a house in Chonburis Bang Lamung district, just north of Pattaya, he said. No word was to hand on whether they will be deported. Read original story here. I would say also not used to riding motorbikes either. What licence did he have to rent the bike in ...(Read More) Phuket Expat Finance: Trumping the Electoral College system PHUKET: This article is a bit of a deviation from the norm. While not strictly a business or economics article, since that Donald Trump has now been inaugurated as the 45th President, it seems appropriate to explain the process by which he was elected in the first place. economics By Phuket Expat Finance Tuesday 24 January 2017, 03:42PM Donald Trumps Electoral College margin of victory represented just 0.0569% of all votes cast nationwide. Photo: AFP It is inarguable that the economic decisions made by a President, Senate and House of Representatives all controlled by the same party (with a soon to be right-of-centre Supreme Court) will impact not just America, but the world. So to any Americans reading this: apologies if it makes you feel like you are back in school. To the rest of you: we trust this will be informative, but above all, interesting. The College The Electoral College is not a place, and it has never awarded a single diploma or degree, but every four years it exerts a massive influence on the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The Electoral College is rather a process of indirect election which has its roots in the Holy Roman Empire. Starting with Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emperors enjoyed heredity succession, the legitimacy of which was confirmed by a select group of princes called electors. These Prince-Electors eventually took over the role of choosing, not merely confirming, the succession of the Holy Roman Emperor until heredity succession returned under the Hapsburgs. Even then, when an Emperor died, an Electoral College would convene to confirm his successor. In the newly-formed United States of America, the founding fathers established an Electoral College in the Constitution as a compromise between two factions who alternately wanted the President to be elected by a vote of Congress or by a popular vote of qualified citizens (qualified citizens meant white men who owned land, but that definition was eventually changed.) How it works The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors, and a simple majority of 270 electoral votes are required to be elected President. The 538 figure is not random, but is the sum total of US Senators and Representatives from all 50 states (100 senators + 435 representatives), plus three electoral votes for Washington D.C. A large state such as California has 55 electoral votes because its population gives it the greatest representation in the House (53 seats), while every state has two senators (53+2=55). A state with a smaller population, such as Hawaii, has only 1 representative (1+2=3 electoral votes). Every candidate running for President has his/her own electors in each state. Unlike the Prince-Electors, who wielded great political power of their own, American electors may not be government officials, nor may they hold elected office. Each candidates political party typically chooses its own electors, but the states govern the process by which they are chosen. When voters go to the polls, they mark their ballots next to the name of the candidate whom they support; however, what they have actually voted for is their partys slate of electors, who must then confirm the voters decision. Each states Electoral College members then convene in December typically to award 100% of that states electoral votes to the winning candidate. (Nebraska and Maine are the exceptions to the winner-take-all rule, and instead have a modified proportional allocation method.) It is technically possible for an elector to cast their vote for someone other than their partys candidate. This has happened in the past, and it happened in 2016. The Trump In the 2016 Electoral College, Donald Trump won by 56.5% to 42.19% (seven rogue electors voted for neither), which on the surface sounds like a resounding victory, but the outcome actually hinged on three swing states: Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. They are called swing states because there is typically no absolute Democratic or Republican leaning at election time, and voters are prone to swing one way or the other. Donald Trumps margin of victory in these states was: Pennsylvania (44,292 votes), Michigan (10,704), Wisconsin (22,748). But what of the popular vote? The ballots actually cast? Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million, but this is absolutely immaterial, as the indirect Electoral College system determines the winner. This is the part that non-Americans, or people who do not follow US politics, have a hard time getting their heads around. While Hilary Clinton had 2,864,974 more votes than Donald Trump, Trump nevertheless won the election as the result of 77,744 votes cast across three states. And while third party candidates (such as the Libertarian and Green parties) received 5.71% of the total votes cast for President normally enough to give them parliamentary representation in other countries the direct election of congressmen and senators in America means that segment of the population will remain under-represented until they successfully run more candidates for the House and Senate. So after a campaign that seemed to last an eternity, Donald Trumps Electoral College margin of victory all came down to less than 1% in each of three swing states. And the votes which won it for him represented just 0.0569% of all votes cast nationwide. It may be a complicated system, but who says politics isnt interesting. For more expert explanations of all things financial, email chatwithus@phuketexpafinance Phuket police chief says no explosion in marina accident, blames fire extinguisher PHUKET: Police believe that last Fridays Phuket boat marina incident that injured two workmen, one seriously, was caused by a fire extinguisher releasing its contents within the tight confines of the engine area, overwhelming the two workers. tourismmarineaccidentspolice By Eakkapop Thongtub Tuesday 24 January 2017, 10:21AM Police say a nitrogen fire extinguisher pin 'slipped off'' and released its contents, overpowering the two workmen. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Police say a nitrogen fire extinguisher pin 'slipped off'' and released its contents, overpowering the two workmen. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub Phuket Provincial Police Commander Maj Gen Teeraphol Thipjaroen contacted the Thai press on Friday night (Jan 20) to expressly explain that there was no (in Thai, can mean bomb or explosion) in the incident, despite the initial report by people at the scene. In the incident last Friday, Chakkri Sawekwang, 31, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, remained unconscious and unresponsive at the scene. Rescue workers performed CPR on Mr Chakkri while he was still on the boat then rushed him to Vachira Phuket Hospital. The first-responders managed to revive the other workman, who gave his nickname as Got. Mr Got said that an explosion came from below deck. A red extinguisher was found on the main deck of the boat, where the two workmen were found. However, rescue workers did not report any serious burns or broken bones on either of the two men. (See story here.) There was no explosion in the engine room. The cause of injures was lack of oxygen, Gen Teeraphol said. The workers took a fire extinguisher which contained nitrogen gas inside the engine room while they were doing their work, he said. After they finished their work, they put the fire extinguisher back. The pin on the extinguisher slipped off, which released nitrogen gas. The nitrogen replaced oxygen in the air. The engine room had little space, so there was a little air flow, he added. The two workers were deprived of oxygen and fell unconscious. There was no explosion in the engine room, Gen Theerapol repeated. Gen Teeraphol made no explanation of the explosion reported by Mr Got, one of the workers involved in the incident. Gen Teeraphol also made no mention of the condition of Mr Chakkri, who at last report at the scene was being kept alive through CPR. Staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital yesterday confirmed to The Phuket News that Mr Chakkri was alive and still recovering in the intensive-care unit (ICU). However, they declined to reveal more details. Maj Somchai Noobun of the Phuket Provincial Police, who is investigating the incident, told The Phuket News yesterday, Phuket Forensic Police are investigating this and we are waiting for Mr Got to come in for questioning. For now we presume that the cause of the incident was lack of oxygen as the pin of a gas extinguisher had slipped off, he added. There was no explosion, he said. However, Maj Somchai said he could not personally confirm anything about the state of the fire extinguisher found at the scene We have to wait for forensic police to present their findings, he said. Phuket warning issued as man fights to save leg from flesh-eating bacteria PHUKET: Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital have warned people to seek urgent medical attention if wounds from an animal, including pets, fail to heal after a man nearly had a leg amputated from a cat scratch. animalshealth By Eakkapop Thongtub Tuesday 24 January 2017, 12:57PM Vachira Phuket Hospital Director Dr Chalermpong Sukonthapon (right) explained that the patient, Veera Panthip, was still in a dangerous phase in fighting the flesh-eating bacteria. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub The man, 63-year-old Veera Panthip, contracted the flesh-eating bacteria necrotizing fasciitis, which continued to spread, Hospital Director Dr Chalermpong Sukonthapon held a press conference yesterday (Jan 23). Mr Veera was admitted to the hospital on Jan 18 after a scratch on his right shin and calf from a neighbourhood cat two days earlier had failed to heal. On Jan 18, doctors cleaned the wound but found he was infected necrotizing fasciitis. This infection damages the skin and fat tissue, then it infects muscles, Dr Chalermpong said. Later that night doctor removed the dead flesh. If we left this we would have had to amputate his leg because this disease is severely toxic. It destroys tissue and spreads widely, he added. Doctors administered antibiotics, but the patient had a problem with low blood platelet count and kidney disease, which made the antibiotics less effective, Dr Chalermpong explained. Three days later, on Jan 21, doctors found that the infection had spread down to patients feet and up to his thigh. The doctor decided to cut off the dead flesh, but not all of it in order to let new flesh grow, Dr Chalermpong said. This patient is in a dangerous phase. We treated the patient as best as we can in order not to amputate his leg, he added. It will take one to two weeks for the wound to start getting better. The patient may need to stay in hospital for a month before he can go home. We might have to cut off more dead flesh if necessary, he cautioned. Necrotizing fasciitis is rare, but it can especially affect people with low immunity, including those who take steroids. People with normal immunity levels should find that the wounds will heal by themselves, Dr Chalermpong said. However, Dr Chalermpong did not reveal the area where Mr Veera was scratched or if any steps had been taken to bring the infected cat into care. Dr Weerasak Lawtongkum, Deputy Director of the hospitals so-called Medical Department, urged all people bitten or scratched by animals, including pets, to apply basic first aid, but to seek medical care if the wounds do not heal. People should clean the wound and apply an antibiotic solution, but if the wounds does not heal you must seek professional medical attention, he said. How many people have already voted absentee in South Dakota ahead of Election Day? elections Legendary action star Jackie Chan, who is here to promote his forthcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga", met Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, during his visit. Salman posted a photograph with the Rush Hour star from their meeting on Monday. The image shows the two actors posing with two stuffed panda toys, sharing a light moment for the camera. Previously, Salman had thanked Chan on Twitter for offering this film to his Dabangg co-star Sonu Sood. Sonu had replied to the Bajrangi Bhaijaan star by tweeting: "Bhai Salman Khan I have an unusual power-packed surprise for you. See you soon in India Pandeji Hum aah rahe hai. Jackie Chan." Kung Fu Yoga is part of the three-film agreement signed between China and India during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to India. The film also stars actors Disha Patani, Sonu Sood, Amyra Dastur and Sonu Sood. Directed by Stanley Tong, the action comedy film was shot in India, Dubai and Beijing. The Indian School of Development Management, Delhi, is a non-profit institute focused on creating value driven leaders that aims to facilitate the creation of professional managers. This will make a significant difference to the impact, scale and sustainability of organisations working for the betterment of society. Ravi Sreedharan, founder of ISDM shares about the contribution of the institute and how different it is from other universities. Experts from an interview: What are the key challenges for management education in India? Historically, management education finds its origins in industrial revolution and therefore, the US and European universities like Wharton and Harvard became premier centres. In India, IIMs and XLRI were started on similar lines and have played a key and vital role. Arguably, IIMs alone have groomed a significant percentage of talent in the country. Over the past decade, Public Sector Units are attempting to capture these top management brains to lead some of the largest PSUs like ONGC, NTPC and Coal India. Many management professionals today are also taking up social responsible roles through civil services and development consultancies. However, this sector currently faces critical challenges. A large proportion of professors from these top management institutes do not have the practical experience. They are focused on theoretical perspectives without any engagement with the sector and its workings. Lack of new research has created gap between educational researchers and practitioners. Lack of comprehensive documentation culture like the Harvard Business Schools case study methodology has failed to capture the real life experience of the professionals. What can ISDM offer that other universities/ institutes cant? We are creating a new space within the management education paradigm. India does not have any discipline called development management as of now. Our interaction with professionals in the sector, as well as our own experience has provided us the evidence of a need for management practices, systems, structures and processes appropriate for development. We have set out to fill this vacuum and design a programme that is based on real experiences in the social sector and build the body of knowledge for development management. This body of knowledge will be built through engagement with practitioners. We are envisioning a new approach where development management knowledge will be built by theorising on field experiences, conducting research on the ground, documentation of actual practices, development of case studies, etc. For example, 25 per cent of our course will be spent outside the classroom on the field where students will face real-life development issues. What are the competitive advantages for your students? ISDM is born out of a constant and long term discussion with the experienced and respected practitioners in the sector who have felt a dire shortage of development management professionals. Therefore, the course is carefully crafted to meet specific requirements of this sector. So, students who go through the Development Leadership programme will be equipped to hit the ground running. They will be prepared to move quickly into the work environment and begin contributing in a very short period of time. We are also working with several organisations to create a buy-in, demand and thereby creating job opportunities for all its incoming students. We have already ensured enough jobs for our first batch of students. Could you share on the programmes structure, content and pedagogy offered? We have planned out a one-year rigorous academic and field experience. There are three terms that include two weeks of structured field programme in various districts of India, eight weeks of residency with various prospective employers along with core and elective courses. On the lines of the Australian Qualification Framework, we have created a balance between the Knowledge, Skills and Application components in the programme. While the first few terms will expose the students to various theoretical perspectives of development, the latter terms will address the management challenges in the development sector. Broadly, the problem-based learning approach is to be followed. This will support students in the journey of building expertise. Therefore, the pedagogy will be largely case-based. Other structured experiences will include film shows, book/article discussions around contemporary news, guest lectures and interactions with practitioners and activists. Whats your say in regard to acute shortage of professional management talent in the development sector? Our interaction with the experts has provided us enough evidence for the acute shortage. This manifests itself into limitations for the various actors in the development space. While the NGOs struggle to find qualified professional for leadership roles, the funders remain apprehensive to make investments due to the lack of good leadership and management skills. Despite government regulations, organisations fail to effectively utilise the CSR funds in localised development context. Therefore, this sector needs professionals to improve the quality, sustainability and scalability of impact within the development space. How do you plan to create an aspirational sector for individuals? A big part of professionalising development management is the presence of aspirational anchor institutions which help create an entire ecosystem around it. We are focused on building such an innovative, pioneering institution for the future students. Through teaching and research programmes, collaborative/ collective building of the knowledge in the sector, growing the community of professional development managers/leaders, and creating visible impact in organisations. An extensive report released by the Higher Education Policy Institute suggests nearly three quarters of new higher education providers opening in the next two years will remain unregulated after the Government's controversial new Higher Education and Research Bill comes into effect. Of 760 new alternative higher education providers, 553 are expected to remain outside of the new regulatory system, prompting concerns that taxpayer money will be used to fund unaccountable private companies marketing poor-quality courses for profit. Ministers say the bill is designed to widen choice for students and deliver value for money in line with increasingly high tuition fees. Labour, Liberal Democrats and crossbench peers in the House of Lords have reacted against the new bill, however, stressing the move could lower standards and damage the reputation of British education altogether. The Hepi report, alternative providers of higher education: Issues for policymakers, claims the new bill risks missing the Government's own declared objective of encouraging a vibrant and high-quality range of alternatives to traditional universities and private institutions offering degrees and other qualifications. Speaking to The Independent, Hepi Director, Nick Hillman, said while the 553 unregulated providers are not registered with the government, they are not deemed illegal. These companies are not obliged to provide any information as to how they are run, however, causing potential problems with scam universities offering low standard degrees. He said, The Governments rhetoric implies the bill is going to sort out the regulation of higher education in the UK. The Government's position is that since tuition fees have tripled in 2012, higher education has needed to be reviewed. It certainly does not give the impression that there are going to be more than 500 higher education providers going unregulated. Almost 3 lakh students currently attend 732 of the alternative institutions open in England. At many of them (122), students are authorised to draw tuition and maintenance loans from the Student Loans Company. Both parliamentary peers and academic leaders have raised concerns that the new Government reforms will make it easier for new institutions to be awarded university status, encouraging private companies to use institutions for a profit. All higher education institutions were new entrants once, and many alternative providers are providing flexible and innovative provision to under-represented groups. But, as the higher education market continues to change shape, we must be vigilant in ensuring bad apples do not contaminate the sector as a whole. University and College Union said the Hepi forecast should sound alarm bells in government. UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said, If we are to protect our students and the global reputation enjoyed by UK universities, the new legislation must protect taxpayers' money from being handed over to a potential pool of unscrupulous providers. We must have more rigorous quality measures applied before any new provider is allowed to access either degree awarding powers or state funding via the student loans system. Robin Middlehurst, another of the paper's authors, said, Better protection of the public purse is overdue, especially given the growth in the number of for-profit providers. Experience in the USA and Australia shows overly generous rules for alternative providers are a magnet for questionable business practices. The end results can include stranded students, a bill for taxpayers and regulatory intervention. A Department for Education spokesperson said, More alternative providers than ever will be regulated thanks to the reforms . As well as regulating all those receiving public funding, the Office for Students will have the ability to regulate alternative providers outside of public funding. The Bill that is currently going through Parliament will build a higher education system that offers students high quality teaching, more choice and greater competition. When union human resource development minister, Prakash Javadekar, announced his intent to return to the conventional board examinations for class X in order to promote homogenisation in education, it was met with a mixed response. The no-detention policy adopted by the Central Board of Secondary Education schools for was an attempt to lighten the burden of studies and provide some space for extra-curricular activities. Students were motivated to look beyond textbooks, exhibit their talent and skills and indulge in extra-curricular activities. The schools provided umpteen possibilities to develop life skills, with continuous evaluation of performance throughout the year. In its overwhelming desire to include many dimensions under its ambit, the existing Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation system created another kind of burden, those of performing a variety of tasks and completing a barrage of cumulative tests, projects, activities, etc. Furthermore, the system failed to inculcate a competitive spirit amongst students due to the lack of any clear benchmark that is assured with numbers. Intelligent students also lost motivation to score that perfect 100 as they saw that even those who scored 10 marks lesser ended up with the same grade. However, after feedback from states and representative organisations of parents and teachers, the common consensus was that doing away with the board exams along with the no-detention policy was hampering academic standards. Following this consensus, the government recently announced the reintroduction of board exam from this academic year. With increased stress on allied activities, teachers were also burdened with extra work such as record maintenance, continuous grading, mentoring in every project which kept them away from their core responsibility of teaching. Even after CBSE launched massive training programmes for instructors, the pressure was enormous on the teaching staff. Now, with the return of board exams, teachers can breathe a sigh of relief and focus on their teaching wholeheartedly. The board exams is the first step towards achieving the goal a student has set in his/her life. It is considered as a qualifying examination to decide a suitable academic stream and also a good benchmark to assess level of learning and knowledge. As such, a good performance in the board exam has motivated students and positively influenced their study strategies. This exam will play a crucial role in ensuring discipline to take studies seriously. This pattern adopted a lax attitude and concentrated more on activities. Students had no fear of board exams and academics took a back seat. Under CCE, marks were replaced with grades, which were given through a series of curricular and extra-curricular assessments. There was a great scope of manipulation that affected the overall academic standards. The decision to reinstate board exams will help maintain balance and follow a uniform assessment procedure in schools across India. While a majority of schools and teachers are in favour of board exams, students will have to work harder and be mature enough to handle the pressure that comes with an examination. The aim of the government was to raise the academic standards of the country, and CCE provided for tests and grading through the year as a means to reduce pressure on students. However, a large number of government school students performed poorly in Classes XI and XII. The evaluations became more demanding at the senior school level and students found it difficult to cope up with the exam pattern. With the boards, however, the pressure to outperform helps the students plan out their exam strategies in advance. Even though studies indicated that the number of dropouts has reduced with evaluation, it failed to provide academic acumen to the young generation. The board exam was seen, by those arguing for its retention, as a means of preparing students for the more important exams in the future. Individual assessment was barely done and marks were given on the basis of group assignments. This was a highly skewed platform. With the reintroduction of board exams, all students will be given an equal chance to perform. It will increase the competitive spirit amongst students and mentally gear them up for the bigger challenges ahead. The writer is Director, Aakash Educational Services Pvt Ltd. An unnamed taxpayer owed the government Rs.21,870 crore (over $3 billion) for the assessment year 2014-15, which was 11 per cent of they income tax to be paid by all Indians, according to 2016 data, the latest available, from the Income Tax Department. While three individual taxpayers declared business incomes of over Rs.500 crore, two individual taxpayers declared long-term capital gains of over Rs.500 crore in 2014-15 (for the year 2013-14). The names of these taxpayers are not made public. The richest 1 per cent Indians own 58 per cent of India's wealth, and 57 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom 70 per cent of India, according to data published by Oxfam India, a think tank. In comparison, the top 1 per cent in the US accounted for 19 per cent of income and 38 per cent of taxes paid, US government data show. It is not possible to say what proportion of income and taxes are similarly paid by Indians because the government does not release such data. The wealth of 388 people equalled that of the poorest half of the world's population in 2010, and this has narrowed to only 62 in 2015, according to recent data from Oxfam. India had 36.5 million individual taxpayers who declared taxable income of Rs.16.5 lakh crore and were liable to pay Rs.1.91 lakh crore as income tax an increase of 23 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, over assessment year 2013-14. In 2014-15, over 36 million Indians declared a salary income of nearly Rs.9.8 lakh crore ($144 billion), the equivalent of 7 per cent of gross national income of Rs.134.2 lakh crore in 2015-16, followed by business income of Rs.5.6 lakh crore ($82 billion) and income from other sources at Rs.2.4 lakh crore ($35 billion). The maximum tax payable (Rs.43,964 crore) was in relation to income below Rs.150,000 annually, followed by a tax payable of Rs.17,926 crore in the tax slab of Rs.550,000-950,000. The tax liability of individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUF), companies and other entities in assessment year 2014-15 was Rs.446,719 crore, an increase of 13 per cent from the previous year. There were 64 taxpayers with a tax liability of over Rs.500 crore in 2014-15 with a total tax payable of Rs.113,068 crore, which was 25 per cent of the total tax payable of Rs.446,719 crore. The collection of income tax (including securities transaction tax) increased nine times to Rs.2.9 lakh crore in 2015-16 from Rs.31,764 crore in 2000-01, Income Tax Department data show. Just two states Maharashtra and Delhi accounted for 53 per cent of all direct taxes collected in 2015-16. There is no record available of the fake currency which has been detected in the demonetised notes deposited in banks, Reserve Bank of India has said. Responding to an RTI inquiry from Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali seeking to know the extent of fake currency found in demonetised notes of Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 deposited in banks till December 10, 2016, the RBI has said no information is available with it. Earlier, RBI had refused to disclose information about consultation undertaken before the demonetisation move was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8. Even Prime Minister's Office had refused to disclose if Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Minister were consulted before the decision was announced. The recent demonetisation in India led to an immediate jump in current account and savings account (CASA) deposits, incremental lending saw a massive drop, while digital banking witnessed a major surge, a report said on Monday. "Demonetization led to an immediate surge in CASA deposits and CASA ratio jumped 2-4 per cent QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) for banks," American investment banking firm Jefferies said in the report. The CASA ratio indicates the ratio of deposits in current and saving accounts to total deposits in a bank. A higher CASA ratio signifies a lower cost of funds. "Disbursal, sanctions and inquiries fell significantly in November, started to recover mid-December. However, on absolute level, incremental lending activities are still below pre-demonetisation months for most lenders," the report said. It said the growth in bank loans during the third quarter ended December was "muted on lower disbursements and prepayments". "Lower disbursements and higher prepayments were the two key reasons for the moderation in loan book growth." Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8 announced demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, saying the move was aimed against black money, counterfeit currency and terror financing. The unprecedented measure set off a massive cash crunch, while citizens were given till December 30 to deposit the old notes in the banks. Jefferies also noted that the other offshoot of the demonetisation drive was a major surge in digital banking. "Cash crunch led to significant increase in Debit/Credit card usage, along with major surge in mobile/internet banking and latest Unified Payment Interface apps," the report said. Stocks rose for a second session on Tuesday as traders positioned themselves for the end of the monthly expiry of derivatives contracts. Investors bought into select blue chips and there was a mild bit of green across the board as the seeds of a pre-budget rally were sown in the market. India's annual budget for the year to March 2018 has been advanced by nearly a month to February 1st. Traditionally, stocks have rallied ahead of the budget in anticipation of tax breaks, lower duties and a better business environment for companies. And it is this climb that is reflected in markets consolidating near 2-month highs. Traders are also grappling with an early expiry of monthly derivatives contracts on Wednesday instead of the usual Thursday as its a national holiday on account of Republic Day. The Nifty rose 48 points to trade at 8,440 points, its day's high. All indices gained ground except for minor losses on the FMCG and software benchmarks. Here is a snapshot of Tuesday's trade so far: * The Sensex rose 128 points to 27,245 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Coal India was the top gainer while Hindustan Unilever, post earnings, slumped the most. ICICI Bank was the top traded stock by value on the Sensex. * Coal India, BHEL, Idea Cellular, Adani Ports and HDFC rose between 1.5-2.2 per cent. They were among 42 gainers on the Nifty. * Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, HCL Tech and TCS fell between 0.2-1.7% and were among 9 losers on the Nifty. * Ajanta Pharma, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank were the top three traded stocks by value on the National Stock Exchange. * JP Associates, Suzlon and ICICI Bank saw frenetic volume trade. * All wider benchmarks were in the green as the bulls remained firmly in command of sentiment on Dalal Street. The Nifty 100, 200 and 500 indices rose 0.5-0.6 per cent each. Similar gains were seen on the Mid cap and small cap stocks. * Modest to strong gains were witnessed in the sectoral space with the pharma, auto and metals benchmarks rising the most. The four banking indices, too, inched higher. * The mood was intensely bullish in the broader market with 1,054 shares rising compared with 489 that fell. The State Bank of India and other public sector banks on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking to intervene in the Aircel-Maxis case as a substantial amount of theirs was involved as loans. A bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice NV Ramana and Justice DY Chandrachud agreed to hear the plea by the bank after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the matter before the bench. The Aircel-Maxis matter was listed for hearing on February 3. The top court had on January 6, proposed to cancel the 2G licence and spectrum granted to Aircel if the owner of Maxis Communication, Malaysia-based Anantha Krishnan Tatparanandam, who bought the majority shares of the Indian telecom company, and his one-time key aide and Director Augustus Ralph Marshall failed to present themselves before the court. The court had sounded the course after it was told that Krishnan and Marshall were not appearing before the trial court which was holding the 2G trial and were also evading summons. Marshall was shown by the CBI as a Director of UK-based M/s Astro All Asia Networks Plc, and Malaysia-based M/s Maxis Communications Berhad. The Court by its January 6 order, had also restrained transfer or trading in 2G spectrum originally granted to Aircel to any other entity. "In the meantime, the selling and trading in the 2G Spectrum under consideration shall remain stayed," the court had said. Aircel was granted a 2G licence with spectrum bundled with it in November 2006. Proposing to cancel the licence and spectrum, the court had said that Krishnan and other accused would not be allowed to frustrate the law by not appearing in court. "It is imperative to ensure, in our considered view, that the process of law should not be permitted to be frustrated by non-service of summons on the accused," the court had said in its order. It had further said that in order to "enforce the presence" of the accused "we propose to restrain, earning of any revenue, by using the 2G Spectrum licences, which were originally granted to M/s Aircel Telecommunications." The court had also made it clear that Krishnan, Marshal or any other two accused would not be permitted to raise any issue of financial loss, that they might suffer on account of the proposed cancellation. It also clarified, that in case the proposed order is passed, it would not be open to any of the accused, to raise an objection with reference to any monetary loss, emerging out of the proposed order, the court said. US President Donald Trump has warned business leaders that he would slap a "substantial border tax" on American firms that set up manufacturing bases abroad while offering to "massively" cut down regulations and taxes to encourage companies to produce products domestically. During a breakfast meeting with America's top 12 business leaders in the White House on his first full day in office yesterday, Trump said a "wave" of manufacturing is now headed back to the US and warned the CEOs of consequences if they shift jobs abroad. "There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here. So we've seen it. It's gonna be wave. You watch, it's gonna be a wave. I've always said, by the time you put them in these massive ships or airplanes and fly them I think it's gonna be cheaper," Trump said. "A company that wants to fire all of its people in the US and build some factory someplace else and then thinks that that product is gonna just flow across the border into the US, that's not gonna happen. They're gonna have a tax to pay, a substantial border tax," said the new President. "Some people would say that's not free trade, but we don't have free trade now because we're the only one that makes it easy to come into the country. If you look at China, if you look at many other countriesmany other countries, they can't believe what we do. "So we take in things free, and yet, if you wanna take a plant or you wanna do something, you wanna sell something into China and other countries, it's very, very hard," he said, arguing that massive free-trade agreements have disadvantaged American workers. "In some cases, it's impossible. They won't even take your product. But when they do take your product, they charge a lot of tax. So I don't call that free trade. What we want is fair trade, fair trade. We are gonna treat countries fairly, but they have to treat us fairly," Trump said told the business leaders, including Michael S Dell of Dell Technologies, Mark Fields of Ford Motor Company, Elon R Musk of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. "If they're gonna charge tax to our countries if as an example, we sell a car into Japan and they do things to us that make it impossible to sell cars in Japan, and yet, they sell cars into us and they come in like by the hundreds of thousands on the biggest ships I've ever seen, we have to all talk about that. It's not fair, it's not fair," Trump said. In a huge setback for British Prime Minister Theresa May that could delay her Brexit plans, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that she cannot trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union (EU) unilaterally and must seek Parliament's consent over it. The judgement means the British Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to officially begin Brexit negotiations with the EU until Britain s MPs and peers give their backing. The government had argued that it already had the executive powers to trigger Article 50 but Supreme Court judges rejected the case by a majority of eight to three. Reading out the ruling, Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." The official judgement in the case concludes: "The change in the law required to implement the referendum s outcome must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by legislation." In a joint judgment of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union." The government had lost a High Court case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners last November, leading to the landmark appeal in the Supreme Court heard by all 11 justices of Britain s highest court. The hearing also included arguments from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as interested parties in the case. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say in the formal Brexit process. Gina Miller, the lead campaigner in the case, said: "Brexit is the biggest decision for a generation. But this case was about process, not politics. "Only Parliament can grant right to the British people and only parliament can take them away. No prime minister, no government, can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Parliament alone is sovereign." UK Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but would "comply" and do "all that is necessary" to implement the court's judgement. Downing Street stressed that the ruling will not derail May's timetable to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that," a Downing Street spokesperson said. "It s important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. We respect the Supreme Court's decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly," the spokesperson added. UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons. Downing Street has been preparing for the result for weeks and is understood to have drafted a short bill to seek parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha on Tuesday launched the all new FZ 25 bike here sporting a price tag of Rs.1.19 lakh (ex showroom, New Delhi). Eyeing a bigger share of the rapidly expanding 200-250cc segment market, deliveries for the all new Yamaha motorbike will commence from the 1st week of February. If you are in the market for a new bike, here are the top 10 reasons why you should consider the new FZ 25: 1. The all new Yamaha comes with a new age 249cc, air-cooled, 4-stroke engine that produces 20.9 PS. 2. Despite the powerful engine, the company claims that the bike returns a fuel efficiency of 43kmpl. 3. The bike has a robust built along with a masculine appeal reflected on the chiselled fuel tank, muscular tank shrouds and a low-slung, sharp headlamp. 4. The new FZ 25 gets 282mm disc brake at the front and a 220mm brake at the rear. 5. It has a wheelbase of 1360mm and is 2015mm in length, 770mm in width and 1075mm in length with a ground clearance of 160mm. 6. The new bike receives beefy 43mm telescopic forks at the front and the monocross suspension at the rear. 7. Its loaded with features like LED auto headlight and a LCD instrument cluster that only add bling to the bike but also make it safer. 8. The FZ 25 gets new split-spoke alloys with slightly wider tyres as compared to the smaller FZs. 9. The new FZ 25 will be available in three colours- Ballistic Blue, Warrior White and Knight Black. 10. The all-new bike is the most powerful Yamaha to be manufactured in India. Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) on Tuesday mounted attack on Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal for his alleged links with the extremists and instigating violence in the border state to meet his vested political interests during the dark decade of militancy in 80s. AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich while referring to declassified papers of CIA, the spy agency of USA , said that the fresh revelations on Operation Blue Star and spread of militancy in Punjab has unmasked an opportunist face of Badal. The document India and the Sikh challenge posted on the website of CIA has underlined the fact that Badal had stood with the extremists against the state to further his political career. AAP leader said that Badal was solely responsible for exploiting sentiments of Sikhs in the name of religion and fomenting confrontation with the state to make his political fortunes. He said that thousands of Sikh youth, innocent Sikhs and Hindus were killed during the troubled periods. Badal is fully responsible for the turmoil and its consequences that Punjab continue to face even after four decades. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday kicked off the Samajwadi Party's election campaign by promising to provide better living conditions if he was re-elected. In his first public meeting after a bitter feud with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav said his party had fulfilled all promises made in the 2012 manifesto. If people reposed trust in the Samajwadi Party again, it would usher in an era of prosperity in the state, he said. Listing various work down by his government, the 43-year-old said the biggest achievements were in infrastructure and power sectors and maximum budget had been allocated for farmers' welfare. "The US is a powerful country. It became so as governments there focussed on building fast lane roads. We propose to do the same here in Uttar Pradesh so that economic progress is expedited," he told the gathering. "We have completed the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in record time and we will build the Poorvanchal Expressway in 30 months," he added. This is also the first public rally by the Chief Minister after his party sealed an alliance with the Congress for the staggered assembly polls starting on February 11. Mulayam Singh was expected to join the Chief Minister in the campaign but he did not turn up. Akhilesh Yadav also came down heavily on the Narendra Modi government and blamed it for making people stand in long queues with its demonetisation decision that caused an unprecedented cash crunch. He also slammed the BSP and said its leader Mayawati was busy building parks and erecting statues when she ruled Uttar Pradesh. A terrorist was killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district as the army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS here that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. Life is back to normalcy on Tuesday here and in other parts of Tamil Nadu a day after the violence by supporters of Jallikattu-the bull taming sport. "The area is calm now. Buses, suburban and metro trains are operating," a resident of Triplicane told IANS. Triplicane is near Marina Beach and its streets saw pitched battle on Monday between police and the protesters. A large contingent of police force is deployed at Marina as a precautionary measure. The Southern Railway for the first time during the past couple of days did not cancel any train fully, though partial cancellations and rescheduling and diversion of trains were announced. On Monday police resorted to forcible removal of youth protesting for Jallikattu which in turn resulted in the large scale violence here. Commissioner of Police Chennai S. George on Monday told reporters that anti-national forces had infiltrated the protest and hence the police action. In other parts of the state protesters were dispersed by the police. In the evening the Tamil Nadu assembly passed a law legalising Jallikattu. The local community at Alanganallur in Madurai announced their decision to hold Jallikattu on February 1. Alanganallur is famous for the sport. As the Punjab Assembly polls draw near, the illegal drug trade and unaccounted money in the state has come under the scanner. According to the details, the police department has so far recovered drugs worth around Rs.5.50 crore, cash of Rs.3.62 lakh, gold worth Rs.22 crore and liquor worth Rs.35 lakh in various parts of Punjab. The officers of police and election department claimed that they were expecting similar recoveries in coming days as their teams are on the task to control illegal flow in terms of cash, gold, drugs and liquor or in any other means. V K Bhawra, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) and nodal officer elections said that they have been receiving complaints from various districts and have alerted their teams to keep a vigil. We have taken the action on the basis of inputs by our teams and few complaints with the election commission. We have also seized 350 unlicensed weapons since January 4, 2017, he said. The ADGP said that 1.60 quintal raw gold worth Rs.22 Crore was recovered in Mohali district on January 17. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday flagged off a new rail line beyond Agartala up to the southern temple city of Udaipur. Prabhu inaugurated the service through video-conference from New Delhi. Tripura PWD and Health Minister Badal Choudhury, Transport Minister Manik Dey and others were at the inaugural at the Agartala station. Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Engineer Harpal Singh said the 44.76-km rail line up to Udaipur (Gomati district) is part of the Agartala-Sabroom (114 km) new broad gauge line project. "The anticipated cost of the Agartala-Sabroom project is Rs 3,351 crore and it will be completed by March 2019," Singh said. There are three crossing stations Bishalgarh, Bishramganj and Udaipur and one halt station at Skerkote on the Agartala-Udaipur railway line. There are 58 road crossings and 87 major and minor bridges across the new line. Sabroom is to be connected by rail to secure access to the Chittagong port in Bangladesh. Sabroom is the last border town of Tripura along the Bangladesh border and the sea port is just 75 km away. "After extending the railway line to Sabroom, Tripura and the entire northeast India would be linked with Southeast Asia very easily," Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said. National Highway-8, the lifeline of Tripura, has already been extended up to Sabroom, 135 km south of Agartala. "We completed laying railway tracks up to Udaipur before the March 2017 schedule," the NFR Chief Engineer said. In October 2008, with the extension of the erstwhile metre gauge track up to Agartala, Tripura was put on India's rail map. Subsequently, the metre gauge was converted into broad gauge. Meanwhile, the railways have undertaken work to lay a 15-km track to link Agartala with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station adjoining Tripura. Filing of nominations for the third phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh began on Tuesday with issuance of notification for the February 19 election. In the third phase, 69 assembly seats spread over 12 districts will go to polls. The process of filing papers will continue till January 31 and the last date of withdrawal is February 4. The polling in the state will be done in seven phases between February 11 and March 8 and counting of ballots will take place on March 11. The districts going to polls in the third phase are Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur. In the 2012 assembly polls, out of these 69 seats, SP had won 55, while BSP and BJP secured 6 and 5 respectively. Congress had two and one seat went to an Independent. Prominent among those whose prestige will be at stake is Nitin Agarwal, son of SP leader Naresh Agarwal. Besides, BJP will have the additional challenge to fare well in Home Minister Rajnath Singh's parliamentary constituency Lucknow. This phase includes Etawah, the native place of SP patron Akhilesh Yadav, and districts like Mainpuri, where Tej Pratap Yadav is an SP MP. From Kannauj Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, is MP. SP, BSP and BJP have announced their candidates for the 10 seats. Samajwadi Party has also fielded its candidate from Kidwainagar, which is currently with Congress. SP and Congress have forged a pre-poll alliance for the state elections. The upcoming action-packed film 'Commando 2' starring Vidyut Jamwal will be released in three languages Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. "All the Big Bang action films dub in Tamil and Telugu because the audience there loves action. Commando is as big as it can get in the kind of action that Vidyut does," producer of the film Vipul Shah said. Talking about the female lead in the movie, Adah Sharma whoo too will be performing action sequences, Shah said: "Adah had a huge success in Kshanam in Telugu so her fans would love to see her doing the action." Kshanam was one of the biggest Telugu hits of 2016. The film is directed by Deven Bhojan, which happens to be his debut action film. 'Commando 2' will release on March 3. Country star Blake Shelton surprised fans at a concert by bringing his girlfriend Gwen Stefani out to perform. The country star was headlining pal Luke Bryan's four-day 2017 Crash My Playa event in Riviera Maya, Mexico when he was joined for an encore of his "Footloose" cover song by Stefani. The No Doubt frontwoman also performed her band's song "Hella Good" and later showcased photos and video from the show on Snapchat, reported Contactmusic. Gwen and Blake have been dating since they hit it off while judging US TV talent show "The Voice" in 2015. Actress Eva Longoria said it wasn't love at first sight for her when she was introduced to her now-husband Jose 'Pepe' Baston. The former "Desperate Housewives" star wed the television executive in Mexico back in May last year, with celebrity guests including Melanie Griffith, Ricky Martin, and Victoria Beckham, who also designed the bride's wedding dress. But the actress reveals when she first met Jose sparks did not fly between them, reported Access Hollywood. "It was love at second sight. A mutual friend of ours introduced us and we were like, 'Hey', and then like six months later that same friend reintroduced us and I was like, 'Who is that?' "And he was like, 'I introduced you, like, six months ago'. I was like, 'I don't remember meeting that guy. He's the most handsome man I've ever met' It's all about timing and the universe and destiny." The 41-year-old actress and Baston are looking forward to celebrating their one-year anniversary at the start of this summer. He may be called the King of Romance but superstar Shah Rukh Khan says he is now too old to do larger than life love stories. The 51-year-old actor has often been hailed for ushering in modern day romance with films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai among others and when asked if romantic films do not interest the audience anymore, Shah Rukh said the language of romance is different now. "I think the times have changed a lot in terms of the language. Romance hasn't changed. I think people have less time. I also find this whole rightly-so pushed for equality I think creates more buddy-feel between men and women," Shah Rukh said in an interview. "When you are buddies, you can't romance. There is a whole wave which I notice with youngsters, because I have kids and some young actors and actresses talk to each other very differently," he added. The actor was speaking en route Delhi in August Kranti Rajdhani train, last night. He is visiting the capital to promote his latest crime-thriller "Raees". Shah Rukh feels there has to be some tenderness and chivalry in romance which is classic old school. "Romance has to have a little formality. Whether it's 'tehzeeb,' going down on your knees, whether it is saying couplets in praise of a girl. I am from that school, I still believe in it. "I think romance has to be formal. 'Aur phir kya kar rahi hai?' It can't work like that, even if there is equality." The Fan actor says his forthcoming film with Imtiaz Ali will have a mix of both the world- the old world romance and the new language. "I think I am too old for a romantic film now, of that genre. May be the youngsters will have to find language which has formality but still of today. "May be in Imtiaz's film it might be there because I am playing kind of my age, 40s, the lady of course Anushka is younger than me. There is this formality because he (Ali) belongs to that world, but the language is very Imtiaz. He is very modern thinking, has a different take on romance." While the actor may say it is the buddy-feeling between youngsters today which is opposite to the old world romance, his film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai popularised "pyaar dosti hai" to the generation of 90s. When asked about the same, he said, "It must be, I am sure, for some it works. I don't believe in everything that I do. My daughter calls me bro. I want to ask her, and everyone, do they say it to other boys also? I am not saying it's wrong, it's really cool. "But romance requires a little bit of formality, space, enjoyment. From the days of walking on the beach holding hands, to under starlit night to full moon night. All the connotation of romance need time and formality." Directed by Rahul Dholakia, Raees is set to release on January 25. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday warned Pakistan of stern action if it continued trying to destabilise India through smuggling of drugs and terrorism. Addressing an election rally here in Fazilka district of the poll-bound state, Rajnath Singh dubbed the Congress as a "sinking ship" and called upon the people to bring the BJP-SAD to power again in Punjab. Targeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for supplying drugs into India. "There is this young Congress leader, who celebrated New Year in a foreign country, calling Punjab youth as addicts," said the Home Minister referring to Gandhi's earlier remarks that 70 per cent of Punjab youth were addicted to drugs. "I admit our neighbouring country Pakistan constantly endeavours to smuggle drugs to India to destroy the Indian youth. But I want to assure you that if you bring the BJP-SAD to power in Punjab we will take to task all those who indulge in this. "From drugs to terrorism, Pakistan has been constantly engaged in its bid to destabilise India. But I am here to warn Pakistan that get rid of all these habits or else we have already shown what we can do. "Our armed forces have already proved that if the need be, we can cross the line," he said referring to Indian Army's September 29 cross-border surgical strikes. Flaying the Congress over corruption, Rajnath Singh said: "It has been more than two and half years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, but even our staunchest critics cannot bring corruption charges against us." "The Congress which indulges in corruption is now asking for votes. I can say only one thing to Captain Sahab (Congress' chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh), steering a sinking ship is a very tough ask. "Congress is a sinking ship not just in Punjab but in entire India," added Rajnath Singh. Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy on Monday demanded President's rule in Tamil Nadu to redeem the state from the "Naxals, Jehadis and Porkis", after the protests over Jallikattu at Marina Beach in Chennai turned violent. "President's Rule necessary. CRPF, BSF and Army must be mobilised for strike. It is now or never to recover TN from Naxals & Jehadis & Porkis," Sawmy wrote in Twitter. In this tweet, he contradicted his earlier position where he asked for Sasikala Natarajan to be made the Chief Minister of the state in place of incumbent O. Panneerselvam. "Sasikala should take over. NRH Natarajan be kept far away from power. Panneer (O. Panneerselvam) is a good man but the road to hell is paved with good intentions," Swamy, a Tamil himself, had tweeted earlier. Later, speaking with India Today, Swamy said that the sudden violence in Chennai was actually triggered by Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI. "Genuine agitators have dispersed. The main organiser said he is leaving Marina. Today there are people with Prabhakaran's and Hafiz Sayeed's posters. This is now an ISI-financed agitation," Swamy said. Earlier in the day, the peaceful protest at Marina Beach turned violent as large posse of police personnel swooped on the huge crowd which had massed at the sprawling beach since January 17 and began to drag away the young protesters. The state government on Sunday had organised Jallikattu at several places, but the protesters asked for a "permanent solution". A group torched several vehicles parked at the Ice House police station. At most protest venues across Tamil Nadu, slogans were raised against both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Panneerselvam, and there were random calls too demanding an independent Tamil state. The bulls have been tamed, albeit with hiccups like two men being gored to death and the chief minister forced to stay away from the festivity. It would, however, be silly to believe that the Jallikattu controversy will blow over for what transpired in Tamil Nadu raises queries that threaten the core of the system in which the rule of law generally prevails. The fire-fighting by the state and central governments functioning in tandem sets potentially dangerous precedents, it is no secret that the worst precedents are those most emulated. The fall-out of the ordinance issued by the government in Chennai, and acquiesced by New Delhi, points to the bankruptcy of the political leadership when facing a mass protest on an admittedly emotive issue. Attempting to undo the law is the easy way out, yet whether the Supreme Court (already irked by the government on several issues) will play ball with those using a clever escape route is a matter that will be carefully monitored. The apex court cannot be expected to approve a blatant reversal of its order, though their Lordships are sensitive enough not to react immediately. The complex, ominous, legal tangle has only just begun. The Tamil Nadu governments trying to wriggle out of a tricky situation may be understandable, the Modi governments wilting under pressure from a potential political ally in the South is inexcusable. The argument that the Marina Revolution is a reflection of popular sentiment is specious: not because it is suspected that it was covertly fuelled by political elements, but because the pressuring of the law to bow to a display of mass emotion can be replicated. Note that already have demands been made for reviving buffalo and bullock-cart races in Karnataka and Maharashtra ~ and that is only the thin edge of the wedge. Will, for example, the people of the North-east, whose unique culture has been hit much harder than the alleged ignoring of Tamil sentiment, now be justified in reacting violently to being forced into the mainstream? Similar parallels could easily be drawn, some too frightening to even mention. For what has just been witnessed suggests that only a very thin line divides mass protest and mob rule. And whipping up religious and caste sentiment is a super-speciality of our netas. There is another lesson to be learnt by those who make pretence to be progressive. Dubious social customs and traditions cannot be eradicated by legislative or judicial action. Had a serious campaign been mounted to explain to the masses that Jallikattu was a source of cruel shame, not a cultural pride, there may have been no Marina Revolution: instead it could have a ripple effect that might make Pandoras Box appear benign. Internet and mobile phones, smart and otherwise, may have made communications and information access to information instant but also leave users vulnerable to surveillance from state agencies, warns a British journalist who had a role in publicising both Julian Assange and Edward Snowden's explosive revelations of US government secrets. But Guardian journalist Luke Harding admits that while openness and transparency by governments is laudable and needed for accountability, there is some information needed to be kept confidential for national security, citing how the Wikileaks trove fell into the hands of the Russians, who purportedly used it to influence the 2016 US Presidential Elections. Part of a team of international journalists who published the leaked files of Snowden, a former contractor of US' National Security Agency and the "biggest whistle-blower in history", Harding, author of "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World's Most Wanted Man", in a session on the Jaipur Literary Festival 2017's final day on Monday, related the intrigue-laden story. Noting Snowden, who had in 2013 become disillusioned with the US intelligence services' massive operation to spy on its own citizens, via the internet and smartphones "without democratic discussion, approval, or consent", he said that the American gathered evidence and fled the US for Hong Kong from where arranged a meeting with Guardian journalists. After examining the files he took from the NSA, they texted their editor a succinct message: "The Guinness is good", pre-arranged to mean that the material was legitimate. A Guardian team, including Harding, then confined themselves themselves up in a "bunker" in London to pore over the thousands of leaked documents and found the surveillance operation, which had included German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a target, also involved other intelligence services, including the British. "You Brits are the worst of the lot", he recalled Snowden as saying. Harding went on to describe the inept attempts by the British government to stop the leak, after the Guardian had published several explosive stories with Prime Minister David Cameron ordering several Guardian computers to be destroyed, despite the fact the material was also held by the New York Times, and by Snowden himself. Asked about the ethical implications of leaks such as those of Snowden and Assange, which had also been published by the Guardian, Harding, who has also written "Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy" said: "Julian's view is that if you release all information, governments can be made accountable. My view is that there are times when some messages and sources need to be confidential, for national security. "We fell out over that," he said, adding that lately "Wikileaks has been captured by the Kremlin and used to undermine the US election". But he went on to warn the audience of state snooping and steps they could take. "Governments are listening to all of us, here and around the world. They can remotely activate the microphones on your phones, they can track you using the location GPS on your phone," he said. After analysing minerals from 43 rare meteorites that landed on Earth 470 million years ago, a team of scientists proposes to revise the current understanding of the history and development of the solar system. There was a giant collision in outer space 460 million years ago. Something hit an asteroid and broke it apart, sending chunks of rock falling to Earth as meteorites since before the time of the dinosaurs. The discovery confirms the hypothesis presented by geology professor Birger Schmitz at Lund University in Sweden. He found what he referred to as an "extinct meteorite" a meteorite dinosaur which was named "Osterplana 065". The term 'extinct' was used because of its unusual composition, different from all known groups of meteorites, and because it originated from a celestial body that was destroyed in ancient times. The discovery led to the hypothesis that the flow of meteorites may have been completely different 470 million years ago compared to today, as meteorites with such a composition no longer fall on Earth. "The new results confirm the hypothesis. Based on 43 micrometeorites, which are as old as Osterplana 065, the new study shows that back then, the flow was actually dramatically different," said Schmitz. Schmitz conducted the study with colleagues at Lund University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We can now recreate late history of not only the Earth but of the entire solar system. The scientific value of this new report is greater than the one last summer", Schmitz added in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy. "We found that the meteorite flux, the variety of meteorites falling to Earth, was very, very different from what we see today," added the paper's lead author Philipp Heck of The Field Museum in Chicago. Scientists have found a way to spin artificial silk out cow's whey proteins, an advance that may pave the way for a new generation of novel biosensors or self-dissolving wound dressings. Due to its many remarkable characteristics, silk is a material high in demand in many areas. It is lightweight, yet stronger than some metals and can be extremely elastic. Currently, silk is harvested from farmed silkworms, which is quite costly. "Across the globe, many research teams are working on methods to artificially produce silk," said Stephan Roth from DESY. "Such artificial materials can also be modified to have new, tailor-made characteristics and can serve for applications like novel biosensors or self-dissolving wound dressings, for example," said Roth, an adjunct professor at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden. However, imitating nature proved hard in the case of silk. Researchers focused on self-assembling materials. "Some proteins assemble themselves into nanofibrils under the right conditions. A carrier fluid with these protein nanofibrils is then pumped through a small canal," said Fredrik Lundell from KTH. "Additional water enters perpendicular from the sides and squeezes the fibrils together until they stick together and form a fibre," said Lundell. The latter process is called hydrodynamic focussing and the team has used it before for producing artificial wood fibres from cellulose fibrils. "In fact, the process has several similarities with the way spiders produce their silk threads," said Christofer Lendel, also from KTH. In the new study, the nanofibrils were formed by a protein from cow's whey under the influence of heat and acid. The fibrils shape and characteristics strongly depend on the protein concentration in the solution. At less than four per cent, long, straight and thick fibrils form. They can be up to 2,000 nanometres long and four to seven nanometres thick. However, at an only slightly higher protein concentration of six per cent or more in the initial solution, the fibrils remain much shorter and thinner with an average length of just 40 nanometres and a thickness of two to three nanometres. Also, they are curved looking like tiny worms and 15 to 25 times softer than the long, straight fibrils. In the lab, however, the short and curved fibrils formed much better fibres than the long and straight fibrils. Researchers obtained artificial silk fibres that were roughly five millimetres long and of medium quality. "We used the whey protein to understand the underlying principle in detail. The whole process can now be optimised to obtain fibres with better or new, tailor-made properties," said Lendel. This way, the results of the study could help to develop materials with novel features, for example artificial tissue for medical applications. The study was published in the journal PNAS. The Bangladeshi government has made jute bags mandatory for packaging of 11 more products to boost domestic use of the golden fiber, in wake of the imposition of anti-dumping duty on jute goods imported from Bangladesh by the Indian government. An official order issued on Tuesday made the use of jute bags for onion, ginger, garlic, pulses, potato, flour, chilli, turmeric, coriander seeds and husks of rice and wheat mandatory, Xinhua news agency reported. The use of jute bag is now compulsory in the preservation and transporting of 20 kg or more of 17 commodities. The Bangladeshi government in a similar order had earlier made use of jute bags mandatory for six products paddy, rice, wheat, corn, fertilizer and sugar. India on January 5 imposed anti-dumping duty ranging from $6.30 to $351.72 per tonne on imports of jute and jute products from Bangladesh and Nepal to protect the domestic industry. Heavy fog across the UK forced cancellations of 100 more flights from London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday. The Met Office has issued a yellow "be aware" fog weather warning for most of southern England, the BBC reported. A Heathrow spokesman said "persistent freezing fog" had reduced visibility at the airport and warned passengers to check their flight status. On Monday, Heathrow, London City, Gatwick and Southampton airports also had cancellations. Bangladesh authorities have culled 2,268 chickens following a fresh outbreak of bird flu at a commercial farm last week in Dhamrai on the outskirts of capital Dhaka, an official said on Tuesday. "We've detected avian influenza, known as H5N1, in a commercial farm last week," Habibur Rahman, a bird flu control official in the government, told Xinhua news agency. "Some 2,268 chickens were culled on January 16 after detecting avian influenza in the commercial farm," he said. Apart from this, he said eight to nine crows were found dead in Rajshahi district, 256-km northwest of capital Dhaka, earlier this month. The wild crows were later tested positive for highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus, he said. Rahman said his department is yet to confirm the sources of fresh attacks of the disease, "but it may be due to germs of bird flu remained as we faced huge outbreak in the past years". Special steps have already been taken to further motivate farmers to adopt preventive measures since the disease found to reemerge after no-outbreak during winter last year, he added. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi declared on Tuesday full liberation of the eastern side of the city of Mosul after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist militants of the Islamic State. Abadi, according to Xinhua, urged the security forces to move quickly to liberate all the remaining areas of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, in particular the western side of the provincial capital city of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. He made the remarks at a press conference here, praising the "heroic forces and the unity of all Iraqis". In addition, a military statement said that the army soldiers fulfilled liberation of eastern Mosul after they swept the remaining areas left in the hand of IS militants in the northern outskirts of the eastern bank of the city. The troops, backed by the US-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, freed the neighbourhood of Rashidiyah and the nearby villages of Ba'wiza, Baysan and Shrikhan after heavy clashes with the IS, leaving dozens of them killed and destroying eight car bombs, according to a statement from the Joint Operations Command. The troops also killed two suicide bombers, shot down five unmanned drones carrying bombs and destroyed three vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, the statement said. Experts believe that with the recapture of the whole eastern side of Mosul, the troops will soon begin a new phase of the anti-IS major offensive on the western part of the city. On October 17, Al Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city. The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on December 29. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under the IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. A powerful snowstorm in Japan on Tuesday trapped hundreds of vehicles in massive traffic snarls which lasted for over 20 hours and required army assistance to clear. In Tottori, the snow has reportedly already surpassed 1 metre in depth. Other regions are also expecting heavy snowfall, with areas near Tokyo expecting up to 40 cm of snow in the next 24 hours, Efe news reported. The snow caused traffic snarls that stretched up to two km in western Japan and more than 300 cars were trapped in snow in a mountainous region of Tottori. The traffic hold-up began at 2 p.m. on Monday and continued in some places until well into Tuesday morning. The governor of Tottori requested army assistance for bringing food to those affected and to help clear the snow and move vehicles. The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may summon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to record his statement in the ongoing Panamagate case trial. The remarks were made by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who is heading a five-judge larger bench of the apex court to hear a slew of petitions against the Sharif family over corruption, in response to a plea by Jamaat-e-Islami counsel Advocate Taufiq Asif. Asif requested the apex court to summon the Prime Minister and record his statement regarding the ownership of luxury apartments in an upscale London neighbourhood. Justice Khosa told the JI counsel that the court will first hear the stance of the counsels of PM Sharif's children and if there was anything required, then the Prime Minister may be summoned, Geo TV reported. The judge, however, clarified that such a move will only be taken after hearing the arguments of the counsels. Meanwhile, Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the apex court declared in the Khewra Mines case that it can record evidence under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Concluding his arguments, the JI counsel said Sharif had appeared in the top court several times in different matters, therefore, the court should summon him in this matter as well. "Everyone's has doubts regarding the money trail of London flats given by the Sharif family," he argued. In her reply submitted in SC, Prime Minister's daughter Maryam Nawaz also rejected the correspondence between Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca. Maryam's response came a day after German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung the original source of the Panama Papers leaks -, reaffirmed that the Prime Minister's daughter was connected with Minerva Financial Services Ltd, the company that owns the Park Lane flats in London. The family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was named in the Panama Papers, one of the biggest leaks in history. The leak, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, shows how some of the world's most powerful people have secreted away their money in offshore jurisdictions. The UK Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the process of Brexit Britain's exit from the European Union (EU), the media reported. Reading out the judgement, Supreme Court President David Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today (Tuesday) rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 (the mechanism that formally initiates a two-year negotiation period to leave the EU) without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." The judgement means that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot begin talks with the EU until MPs and peers give their backing although this is expected to happen in time for the government's March 31 deadline, the BBC reported. The apex court also rejected arguments that the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly should get to vote on Article 50 before it is triggered. Neuberger said: "Relations with the EU are a matter for the UK government." Some 52 per cent of the UK electorate opted to exit the EU in a historic referendum on June 23, 2016. Outside the court, Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but would "comply" and do "all that is necessary" to implement the court's judgement. Brexit Secretary David Davis will make a statement to MPs later on Tuesday. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50." Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said he would press for a second referendum on the final deal reached between the UK government and the EU, the BBC reported. The case against the government was brought by Gina Miller, an investment manager, and hairdresser Deir Tozetti Dos Santos. Miller said Brexit was "the most divisive issue of a generation", but added that her victory was "not about politics, but process". The Supreme Court's judgement backs that made by the High Court last year, against which the government appealed. With a stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump on Monday unravelled the Trans-Pacific Partnership, withdrawing the US from the controversial free-trade pact. Without Washingtons participation, the TPP would have to be renegotiated or scrapped altogether. The largest global trade agreement in 20 years, the TPP would have included the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. It was championed by former President Barack Obama as a way to open Asian markets for American goods and create a trade bloc to counter China. Opposition to the TPP was one of the key planks of Trump's presidential campaign, with the billionaire businessman calling the trade pact a "potential disaster" for the US. He said he would prefer bilateral trade deals with individual TPP countries instead. Monday's executive order signaled the new administration's determination to address its priorities quickly. Trump has also targeted the North American Free Trade Association, which eliminated commercial barriers between the US, Canada and Mexico during the Clinton administration. If Wilbur Ross gets the Senate confirmation to head the Department of Commerce, he will be charged with renegotiating the trade deals, alongside US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and chief of the newly established White House Trade Council, Peter Navarro. "We are going to start renegotiating on NAFTA, on immigration and on security at the border," Trump said on Sunday, after the swearing-in ceremony for senior White House staff. Trump's animosity for the TPP was shared by some of the Democrats, led by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. His rival in the November 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, initially supported the trade pact. On Monday, Trump assembled chief executives of major US corporations at the White House and promised to lower the tax and regulatory burden on doing business within the country. His administration will be scrapping free trade in favour of fair trade, he said. "The regulations are going to be cut massively, and the taxes will be cut with them," Trump said, warning that those who relocate factories will face a "substantial border tax. US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the has White House said. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for Tuesday. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Monday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. Job Title: Assistant Public Health Officer Organisation: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Position No.: 10026741 Vacancy Notice: 003/2017 Reports to: Head of Field Office Head of FieldOffice Duty Station: Uganda Post Grade: NOA About Us: The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCRs mandate under the Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is to lead and co-ordinate action for international protection to refugees; seek permanent solutions for the problems of refugees and safeguard refugee rights and well-being. UNHCR has an additional mandate concerning issues of statelessness, as it is given a designated role under Article 11 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Job Summary: The Assistant Public Health Officer will provide support in the programme coordination, planning, monitoring and evaluation. The major external interlocutors are the medical staff of UNHCR Implementing partners and the counterparts in the Ministry of Health. S/he supports the Public Health Response in Yumbe, Moyo and neighboring refugee settlements of Rhino camp, Lobule and border crossing. Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities: Undertake needs and resources assessments in coordination with Government and partners in order to prioritise needs and activities in the provision of services to refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR. Work closely with UNHCR programme officers to ensure co-ordination of and the timely finalization of implementing instruments. Ensure that project plans or proposals submitted to UNHCR for funding adhere to internationally accepted standards, and are based on a comprehensive PHC strategy including school health programs. Maintain and update contingency plans for potential epidemics, refugee and returnee movements. Actively participate in the review and analysis of relevant project proposals and budgetary submissions presented by UNHCR partners within the context of the UNHCR programming cycle. Ensure that health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV programmes are evidence-based and implemented in a comprehensive and cost-effective manner. Regularly monitor technical and financial aspects of the programmes efficiency and effectiveness of interventions. Apply various mechanisms and tools to ensure proper monitoring of the programmes. Ensure that health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV programme planning and implementation is streamlined, resources are optimally utilised and there is active participation of the refugees, the government, partners and UN agencies. Take a lead role in co-ordinating health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV activities and ensure that decisions are implemented as agreed upon. Actively promote information sharing on all aspects related to refugee health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV. Promote inter-sectorial co-ordination outside and within UNJCT in all matters related to health, nutrition, reproductive health and JIV based on standard practices and policies. Represent UNHCR in relevant (technical meetings which lead to operational guidance) local and international fora concerning refugee health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV. Update and disseminate, within UNHCR and among partners, information materials on health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV based on standard practices and policies. Provide support where health component is indicated in various program activities such as WASH, community services, protection and repatriation. Work closely with relevant government health departments. Take lead in the periodic technical preparation with UNHCR programme and other public health, nutrition, reproductive health and HIV projects in the refugee settlements. Key Performance Indicators: Continuous cost-effective, needs-based preventive and curative primary health care is delivered to the persons of concern. UNHCRs health programmes meet minimum UNHCR and international standards. Health data is collected regularly, checked and verified to ensure good monitoring of the health status of the persons of concern. Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience: The ideal candidate for the United Nations UNHCR Assistant Public Health Officer career opportunity should hold a University degree in Medicine or Nursing with qualifications in Public Health or related fields or clinical background. At least two years of previous working experience in the field of public health, preferably in refugee settings and/or emergency situations. Fully competent and experienced in the use of computers using a Word, Excel, Email, PowerPoint Presentations. Excellent knowledge of Aringa is an added advantage. Excellent knowledge of English. How to Apply: All interested Ugandan nationals who wish to join the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the aforementioned capacity are encouraged to click on the link below and follow the application instructions after reviewing the job details. nd February, 2017 Deadline: 2February, 2017 Still Standing: Four the Moments legacy honoured at Nova Scotia Music Week When a quartet of Halifax women began singing together a cappella in the name of social justice in 1982, there was little in the way of a music industry at play in Atlantic Canada. And even if there had been, its likely that Four the Moment would ... Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are all set to give a renewed thrust to agriculture in the Union Budget as unemployment in rural India has peaked in the recent years. According to a budget wishlist from the Agriculture Ministry, more funds have been sought to mitigate the debts of farmers. The government could be looking at announcing some special schemes aimed at farmers. "We have suggested that computerisation of primary agricultural credit sources in states and a central scheme to give concessional loans to farmers be introduced in this budget," said an Agriculture Ministry official. "The same scheme will also look to incentivise states for taking measures to computerise records of farmers' primary credits. NABARD (The National Bank for Agricultural and rural development) would get a higher allocation for implementing this scheme," the official said. There is also the likelihood of another easy finance scheme for farmers for promoting floriculture and horticulture. The Agriculture Ministry has also set in motion a long term demand for having more budget allocated for development centres to promote farming skills. "Krishi Vikash Kendras are already there. Now we would like to introduce new employable skills related to farming and food processing," said agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain. The Food Ministry, too, had sought higher allocation for food subsidy in the form of a Rs 41,000 crore kitty for offering states loans on purchase of subsidised grains. Even before the presentation of the budget, the Food Corporation of India (FCI), have been cleared to receive that amount by the Union Cabinet on Monday. In the budget, there is a likelihood of a 're-look' at some of the ongoing food subsidy schemes of the government, a Food Ministry official said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may announce measures to upgarde farm infrastructure. "There are problem areas in the rural economy which will be addressed," said a Finance Ministry official. "The drought situation of two years had caused more distress than demonitisaton," said Hussain. The Agriculture Ministry also hopes that the Union Budget will allocate funds for irrigation and other rural-friendly measures. "We think the government is likely to increase rural spending in FY18 through irrigation, low cost housing and electrification to boost demand," said Goldman Sachs in a research note. In the last budget, the government had allocated Rs 5,300 crore to support micro-irrigation through schemes like watershed development and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY). New Delhi is getting into the Republic Day celebration fervour, with the application of final licks of paint throughout the city. Chief guest at the parade, Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, arrived on Tuesday with a big delegation of ministers and businessmen hoping to finalise a number of deals ranging from defence and security co-operation to strategic partnership on energy. The UAE is India's fifth largest supplier of energy (oil). India has high hopes that the UAE will invest 75 billion dollars in the National Infrastructure Investment Fund, through the UAE's Sovereign Welfare Fund. Amar Sinha, secretary of economic relations at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said that ties with the UAE have been on an upward swing since 2015, this being the second visit of the crown prince in a year. In fact, the UAE government had even allowed a plot of land for the construction of a temple in Abu Dhabi. Elaborating on defence tie-ups, Sinha said that both countries were exploring the possibility of joint manufacturing. India is also keen to export its defence products, like armaments and armoured vehicles, while the UAE is on the lookout for a source of supply which doesn't come with conditions. He added that India was also looking for visa exemption for diplomatic, official and special passport holders. While the crown prince will depart after the event at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday evening, the business delegation will travel to Visakhapatnam to participate in the Confedration of Indian Industries Partnership Summit on Friday. A day after the violence and arson by supporters of bull-taming sport jallikattu, life has limped back to normalcy in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday. "The area is calm now. Buses, suburban and metro trains are operating," a resident of Triplicane told IANS. Triplicane is near Marina beach and its streets saw pitched battle on Monday between police and the protesters. A large contingent of police force is deployed at Marina as a precautionary measure. The Southern Railway for the first time during the past couple of days did not cancel any train fully, though partial cancellations and rescheduling and diversion of trains were announced. On Monday police resorted to forcible removal of protestors which in turn resulted in the large scale violence. Chennai Police Commissioner S. George on Monday told reporters that anti-national forces had infiltrated the protest and hence the police action. In other parts of the state protesters were dispersed by the police. In the evening the Tamil Nadu Assembly passed a law legalising jallikattu. The local community at Alanganallur in Madurai announced their decision to hold jallikattu on February 1. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu asserted that the government would not give permission to hold a 'silent protest' being planned on the Republic Day at Visakhapatnam's Ramakrishna Beach to demand special category status for the state. While social media has been abuzz with posts and discussions over the proposed protest along the lines of the Jallikattu protest in Chennai, YSR Congress and Jana Sena Party have already come out in support of it. Naidu, however, hit out at the opposition parties and said the protest was aimed at creating disturbances in the state. "We will be firm and will not allow this," he said ominously. Though the Centre has announced a 'special economic package', parties in the residual state have not been impressed with this. Actor-turned politician and Jana Sena Party leader Pawan Kalyan has praised the concept of the meet at the beach and said his party would support it. Leader of Opposition and the YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy also has lent his support by saying he would stand by any programme to achieve special status. Several other actors have also offered support to the protest. Former bureaucrat and Lok Satya Party founder Jayaprakash Narayan has decided to join the band wagon of those seeking special status for AP, but says He wrote on FB that "It is time we stand united and achieve our right." While he said that the 'silent protest' event will not bring any solutions other than getting publicity, he added that the only way to resolve the issue was to find a political solution. A few weeks ago, a friend asked Ratan Tata how he was going to find a new chairman for Tata Group in such a short time. Tata, who has been the interim chairman of the group since the unceremonious sacking of Cyrus Mistry last October, retorted: What makes you think that a new chairman cannot be from within the group? It seems N. Chandrasekarans ascension to the top job in the group had already been decided. THE WEEKs cover story of the issue dated November 9, 2016, had presciently identified him as the frontrunner for the job. It might not have been a difficult choice for Tata and other members of the search panel, considering Chandras outstanding track record at Tata Consultancy Services, the crown jewel of the group. A Tata lifer, Chandra was mentored by former TCS chief S. Ramadorai. Chandra has always been extremely focused and driven by a passion to excel in all that he takes up. He has driven business across various verticals in TCS, be it manufacturing, engineering or banking, both in India and in several geographies abroad, which he has been able to do by understanding the customers business models and needs, said Ramadorai. During Chandras seven years at the helm, TCSs revenues increased about 30 per cent every year. The IT giant accounts for some 80 per cent of the net profit of Tata Group. A day after an official announcement came from Tata Group on his selection as chairman, Chandra met all top Tata officials at Bombay House, the groups corporate headquarters in Mumbai. His next official programme was the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Chandra commands respect in the group. He is a thorough numbers man; he expects you to have all your numbers on your fingertips, said a Tata employee at an eatery near Bombay House. A former TCS employee said Chandra was an astute people manager who took care of employees. Earlier we would get our appraisal letters in June, almost a quarter after the dividends of the previous fiscal were paid to shareholders, she said. It was Chandra who suggested a change in this tradition, and said that he would want all TCS employees to have their appraisal letters in hand on the same day as the dividends were announced. Under Mistry, Tata Group had taken some bold steps, which included winding up some businesses. While many analysts felt that such steps were necessary for the well-being of the group, it did not really suit Tatas business philosophy. With Chandra, the Tata Sons promoters could be keen on reviving business like Tata Aviation that Mistry had criticised, said A.K. Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, an investment advisory firm. For Chandra, it would be best to take the middle path between his own conservatism, Ratan Tatas ambition and Cyrus Mistrys initiatives to consolidate the group. Shareholders of Tata Group companies are particularly enthused over the appointment of a professional chairman. He likes profitable growth and is conservative about mergers and acquisitions, said Prabhakar. He is a disruptive leader and he was always given a free hand by Ratan Tata at TCS. He will be keen on turnaround and an improving performance and margins of all group companies if he gets the same independence to act on his own. Chandra is expected to be appointed chairman of most of the major group companies soon. Tata Steel has already started the process, said a Tata official. Most of the Tata Group companies stocks reacted positively to Chandras appointment, except TCS stock. His exit from TCS could not have been at a more tumultuous time for the software giant. Managing relationships would be challenging, especially when TCS is facing increased competition from startups in the US, said Urmil Shah, an analyst at IDBI Capital. The agency has downgraded TCS stock to hold from accumulate. Many Tata watchers are keen to know what Chandra would do about the mounting debt of group companies. It was Rs 2,25,740 crore in 2016 fiscal. He would have to address the debt issue on a priority after taking over. So far indications are that once he comes in, corporate governance will improve for the group companies and some of the borrowings will be pared down. This will be better for improving corporate bond prices of Tata Group companies, said Ajay Maglunia of Edelweiss Securities. Tata Group has already engaged a top consultancy company for restructuring some of its businesses. The firm refused to share any details citing confidentiality clauses, but a key executive said it had just started working on Tata. We are taking a hard look at the investment and returns from some of the businesses, he said. Chandra will have to immediately address a few issues, like taking a call on Tatas telecom business and some sick assets. The telecom business has been on the back burner; he will have to bring it to the front quickly, said a Tata executive. Even with Chandra in charge, Ratan Tata is expected to continue supporting the new chairman. According to Prakash Diwan, director of investment firm Altamount Capital Management, the next challenge for Chandra would come from the legal battle initiated by Mistry over his removal as chairman of Tata Group. Chandra will be left to focus on the business, while Ratan Tata and his team would concentrate on dealing with the legal hurdles, he said. Notwithstanding the challenges, appointment of Chandra as chairman has ensured that Indias most prestigious corporate group is coming out of one of the worst crises in its history. Most market watchers view Chandras quick appointment as a masterstroke by Ratan Tata. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for Chandra to prove his detractors wrong that he is not just Ratan Tatas remote control. The ship involved in the recently halted hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 returned to port in western Australia on Monday, where officials from the countries that funded the fruitless search gathered to thank them and to defend their decision to end the hunt despite recommendations from investigators that it continue. Transport officials from Australia, Malaysia and China met in the Western Australia state capital of Perth to greet the crew of Fugro Equator, who were ordered to return last week after the countries officially suspended the nearly three-year search for the plane in the Indian Ocean. The $160 million deep-sea sonar search off Australias west coast failed to find any trace of the plane, which vanished March 8, 2014, on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. But Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester denied that the effort had been a failure, saying crews had managed to eliminate the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone as a possible crash site. Several relatives of the 239 people on board the plane have fiercely criticized the decision to end the search before finding their loved ones, and called on officials to scour a new 25,000-square kilometer (9,700-square mile) area immediately to the north of the old search zone that a group of international investigators recently identified as the likeliest resting place of the wreckage. The investigators calculated the possible new crash site by reanalyzing satellite data that tracked the planes movements and looking at a new drift analysis of debris that has washed ashore on coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean. The experts recommended in a report released last month by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau that the new area be searched. On Monday, the bureaus chief commissioner expressed confidence that the plane probably lies in that new zone. Its highly likely that the area now defined by the experts contains the aircraft but thats not absolutely for certain, Greg Hood told reporters. But the three countries agreed months ago that the hunt would be suspended after crews finished combing the official search zone unless credible new evidence emerged that pinpointed the specific location of the aircraft. The investigators recommendation, they said, wasnt precise enough to justify an extension of the search. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said he was meeting later Monday with a representative of the families to hear their concerns, but said Malaysia had no plans to fund a new search based on the investigators recent recommendation. We need more credible evidence before we move to the next search area, Liow said. Liow said the investigation into the planes disappearance would continue, with Malaysia taking the lead in analyzing future debris that washes ashore in the hopes it can provide clues to the location of the underwater wreckage. Australian officials would assist when needed, he said. Liow also contradicted an earlier statement from his deputy that the Malaysian government was offering a reward to any private company that found the planes fuselage. Liow said the comment last week by Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi reflected his deputys personal opinion, and was not an official proposal by the government. (AP) MK (Shas) Yaakov Margi, who chairs the Knesset Education Committee, announced on Monday 25 Teves during a committee session on discrimination against Sephardi girls in high schools, expressing sharp criticism against the head of the Chareidi Education Unit in the Ministry of Education, Itzik Zahavi. He blames him for turning the girls into a problem, bringing in outsiders, non-chareidim to address the issue. From Margis perspective, the State of Israel encourages the discrimination against the girls, nothing less. Failure to implement regional registration is a major reason for continued discrimination he explains, adding it appears that for as long as Yahadut Hatorah opposes the law, it will not happen, as is the case today. he blames the state for it permits schools to decide what percentage of Sephardi girls a school will accept, usually 20-25% and the state only finds out how many have been accepted, not how many have been rejected. Then he explains, the girls who have not been accepted are viewed as a problem and the state has not imposed sanctions against schools as it can and should according to the law, resulting in the state encouraging discrimination by failing to enforce the law. He insists that bringing in inspectors from the outside is futile and they must bring in chareidim who know what is really taking place. Committee member MK (Yesh Atid) Meir Cohen attacked the Education Ministry as well for playing a role in the ongoing discrimination. Jerusalem Deputy Mayor (Shas) Tzvika Cohen, who is in charge of education, called on Zahavi to do something for just threatening a school with sanctions has proven to be insufficient. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Lawmakers say theyre concerned about the New York Police Departments handling of the case against a white officer who shot an unarmed black teen to death in his own bathroom. Members of the City Councils Black and Latino Caucus wrote to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner James ONeill in a letter dated Friday. They questioned why the decision by Officer Richard Haste to fire on 18-year-old Ramarley Graham in 2012 was considered justified. Haste trailed Graham into his apartment amid a drug investigation and shot him near his grandmother and 6-year-old brother. Haste testified that he thought he was about to be shot. The lawmakers also questioned why no misconduct charges were brought for what they say was an expletive-laced tirade Haste unleashed at Grahams grandmother. (AP) A military court will convene on Tuesday afternoon 26 Teves for the sentencing hearing of IDF Sgt. Elor Azariya, who was found guilty of manslaughter. The case dealt with Azariya firing at close range at a wounded Arab terrorist in Hebron on Purim, a terrorist who a short time earlier stabbed and wounded a soldier. It is reported the prosecutor will see a 3-to-5-year jail term for the soldier. A number of character witnesses will be testifying on behalf of Elor, including his mother. An appeal by the defense is expected. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Rep. Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trumps staunchly conservative choice to lead the White House budget office, says the governments debt is a problem that must be addressed sooner, rather than later. But in remarks prepared for a Tuesday appearance before the Senate Budget Committee, the South Carolina Republican says its too early to say what steps the new administration will take to reduce intractable government deficits. Mulvaney will appear as the Congressional Budget Office reveals new estimates about the deficits the administration will inherit. The government ran a $587 billion deficit last year and that level of red ink is predicted to rise steadily. Fundamental changes are needed in the way Washington spends and taxes if we truly want a healthy economy, Mulvaney says in testimony prepared for the hearing. This must include changing our governments long-term fiscal path which is unsustainable. But Mulvaney stops short of saying the new administration will attempt to balance the budget as Capitol Hill Republicans promised but never sought to carry out while Democrat Barack Obama was president. Fixing the economy doesnt mean just taking a green eyeshade approach to the budget. Our government isnt just about numbers. A strong, healthy economy allows us to protect our most vulnerable, he says. Mulvaney was elected in the 2010 tea party wave and is among the purest of deficits hawks on Capitol Hill. Hes been a supporter of the House GOPs controversial plan to cut back Medicare by turning it into a voucher-like program for future retirees. Trump opposes the idea and has made it clear he doesnt support dealing now with the programs financial shortfalls. My mother-in-law relied on Social Security when she retired; she relied on Medicare to see to her medical needs before she died of cancer, Mulvaney said. The safety net was there for her. We would also like it to be there for her grandchildren. Mulvaney is also sure to face questions from Democrats on his failure to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a household worker more than a decade ago. The lapse doesnt appear likely to derail his nomination, however. Tax issues failed to derail some past Cabinet nominees, including former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, a Democrat, but have claimed others like former Sen. Tom Daschle. Trumps budget goals arent known, though hes promised sizable increases for the Pentagon and repealing the Affordable Care Act, including its tax increases on the wealthy. The new administration has also endorsed a controversial proposal to cut the Medicaid program for the poor, elderly, and disabled, and turning its funding into a block grant given to the states. Its also unclear if Trump has the stomach for reprising past budget controversies such as cutting Amtrak subsidies, eliminating funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, or cutting law enforcement grants to local governments. Trump on Monday signed an order imposing a hiring freeze at the federal government, however, and Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday said: Weve got to look at how were spending the American peoples tax money. At the budget office, Mulvaney will be responsible for drawing up Trumps budget submission, likely to come in April. Then would come a budget debate in the House and Senate and follow-up legislation to fund agency budgets, reform the tax code, and perhaps cut benefit programs like Medicaid. Actually balancing the budget, as Republicans have promised in past years, is highly unlikely, given the size of the cuts that would be required. (AP) Israeli officials are awaiting what could be one of the first announcements from the new Trump administration: a decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Such a move, which Trump repeatedly promised on the campaign trail, may please many Israelis but anger Palestinians as well as officials in Arab nations, who could see it as directly provocative and a hindrance to future peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Trump, like the Israeli government, views Jerusalem as Israels eternal capital. Since Israels creation, the United States has maintained that the status of the holy city of Jerusalem should be settled only in negotiations between the two parties, and Trump appears prepared to dramatically break with tradition. Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, but neither leaders report of their conversation referred to a U.S. Embassy move. The president emphasized that peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only be negotiated directly between the two parties and that the United States will work closely with Israel to make progress towards that goal, the White House said in a statement. It also said that Trump invited Netanyahu to visit the White House in early February, making him one of the first foreign leaders invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. under the new administration. We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing the subject, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told ABC News on Sunday about the embassys location. Aides to Netanyahu told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz over the weekend that that no announcement of a U.S. Embassy move was imminent, leaving questions about when a decision could be announced or if it might be a gradual process. The right-wing mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, said that the Trump administration is committed to the move, telling Army Radio today that hes had conversations with people in the new administration that show they are serious about their intentions. Barkat has long advocated for the move. I applaud President Trump on his historic announcement that the White House has begun discussions regarding moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, Barkat said in a statement. President Trump has proven that he is a true friend of the state of Israel and a leader who keeps his promises. This evenings announcement has sent a clear message to the world that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of the state of Israel. We will provide any and all necessary assistance to the U.S. administration to ensure that the embassy move is done seamlessly and efficiently. In December, Trump spokesman Jason Miller affirmed Trumps commitment to moving the embassy, telling reporters on the phone that Trump made that promise numerous times during the campaign. Miller did not speculate on a timeline for a move or a site for the embassy. At an October Trump rally in Israel, Trumps nominee for the next U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, told ABC News that if State Department employees refuse to move the embassy, they would be fired. The most recent ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, a veteran policy adviser, has already packed up and vacated his office in Tel Aviv. (Source: ABC News) The government, acting in line with recommendations from Israel Police, recently announced it would no longer turnover the bodies of terrorists for burial as part of an overall deterrence effort to prevent future attacks. The family of the Bedouin who rammed his vehicle into police at Um Chiran in southern Israel last week petitioned Israels High Court of Justice seeking to have his remains released for burial. The government and police opposed the release, adding if a levaya is held is may led to provocative and political activities. Arab MK Taleb Abu Arar told the court that He was killed three times. Once when they fired at him, a second time when they called him a terrorist and then a third time when they would not release his body for burial. Abu Arar and the Bedouin community insist it was not a terror attack that killed Yassam policeman Sgt. Erez Levi HYD, 38, explaining the driver lost control of his vehicle. Police investigators have ruled without a doubt that it was an act of terror. Despite state and police objections, the court ruled 2 to 1 in favor of the immediate release of the body. The funeral took place on Tuesday, 26 Teves, without restrictions requested by police. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) A 22-year-old Israeli, a Jew, is facing murder charges in a nation that does not maintain diplomatic ties with Israel. Ben Hessin, who went abroad to battle ISIS, fired two shots at a driver who tried to kill him. the driver died of his wounds a number of days later. He has been in custody since June 6, 2015 in a nation that does not maintain ties with Israel. Hessin traveled to the unnamed country to visit his grandparents, who still live there. He joined local forces in the battle against ISIS. On leave, the driver of the vehicle transporting him tried to kill him when he learned he is an Israeli. Armed, Hessin fired in self-defense, killing the driver/attacker. He remains imprisoned until the death sentence is handed down against him. Ilan Hessin, his father, told Walla News of his concern, explaining it has been a year and seven months. He adds the taxi driver that his son shot wanted to turn him over to ISIS after learning he was an Israeli Jew. Israel Foreign Ministry officials report they have been in touch with the mans family for some time, stressing his safety and well-being as an Israeli citizen is of paramount importance. The case was revealed two months ago by Deputy Minister [at the time] Ayoub Kara, who was then compelled to remove the information from social media due to security establishment censorship on the case. He came under fire for releasing information on the case. Kara has since been appointed as a Minister in the Prime Ministers Office. A fund has been launched by ZAKA to save the mans life. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Foreign buyers planning to snap-up key British technologies and infrastructure will be breathing a sigh of relief. Theresa May's pledge in July to curb foreign takeovers has sunk in a sea of verbiage in the Government's Industrial Strategy. Indeed, Business Secretary Greg Clark goes as far to suggest that Softbank's 24billion acquisition of Cambridge-based ARM is an example of the nation's industrial success. All talk? Prime Minister Theresa May walks with Business Secretary Greg Clark and Chancellor Philip Hammond to the regional Cabinet meeting at Ski-Tech Daresbury in Cheshire There is no doubt that ARM is a technology triumph, built upon the excellence of scientists and technicians at one of our great universities. With its pioneering work in the internet of things, from fridges to cars, ARM had the opportunity to become Britain's finest contributor to the new digital world. The Softbank bid ended all that. It symbolised what has become known as the 'financialization' of business under which short-term gains for investment bankers, advisers and shareholders are the overriding interest. The only 'Soft' thing about this deal was the soap applied by Masayoshi Son on his visits to Downing Street, with his promises of doubling the workforce. Since then the Softbank boss looks to have lost focus on post-Brexit Britain and transferred his affections to the US. He has promised Donald Trump he'll put his muscle behind a $100billion fund to invest in American technologies. The speed with which his attention switched to ingratiating Softbank with the new commander-in-chief is almost comparable with the way Softbank snaffled ARM patents, the results of the hard work of a generation of British scientists, many of them recipients of generous taxpayer funding. Much of what the Green Paper says on investing in infrastructure is also unwelcome. The dangers of allowing overseas owners to control vital infrastructure are evident almost every day. The prospect of Japan's Toshiba becoming a major investor in new nuclear in Cumbria has become less and less likely with the group's accumulating financial difficulties. It demonstrates the problems of handing command and control on infrastructure projects to overseas companies and governments. Yet the May Government is allowing the mistakes to be repeated. National Grid is selling gas distribution networks to the 'vampire kangaroo' Macquarie. One only has to look at the past of Thames Water to see how short-sighted this has become. Only last month, Camden Passage, in Jeremy Corbyn's backyard, was flooded as a result of under-investment in the capital's pipes. Under Macquarie ownership, the pension fund deficit at Thames has soared to 250billion and more than 1billion in dividends shipped off to shareholders. Thankfully, as a result of questions by MPs, the proposal to sell the Green Investment Bank to Macquarie and a consortium of investors looks as if it may have been canned. There is much in the Green Paper that makes a great deal of sense. The redirection of the education system to focus more on science, technology, engineering and maths clearly is a good thing. It is also encouraging that the Tories recognise there is a role for government in backing key sectors of the economy, such as the creative industries in which the UK has competitive advantage. It also wants to strengthen investment and commerce in the regions. The report draws attention to the frightening gap between the gross value added to the economy in London and that in other parts of the country. But the financial and institutional support proposed is negligible. The British Business Bank is getting extra funding, but it is as nothing compared with the resources of the KfW in Germany or the Small Business Administration in the US. We may live in budget-constrained times, but the post-Brexit economy is not going to be transformed by the 170million set aside to create 'prestigious new Institutes of Technology'. If Britain is serious about the skill shortages domestically, it needs to talk billions rather than millions, and the same for the British Business Bank. Similarly, if the Government wants to keep the economy competitive, it needs to make sure the Competition and Markets Authority works in the interest of citizens, not corporations. An industrial strategy is the right idea, but so far the execution is feeble. Copper plated The abrupt departure of Garry Jones as chief executive of the London Metal Exchange is just the latest setback for the Hong Kong Exchange & Clearing, which spent 1.8billion on the City bauble in 2012. A cursory glance at the LME's history might have offered some clues to the exchange's mixed pedigree, including the adventures of Britain's Charles 'Copperfingers' Vincent in the 1990s and the disgrace of a Sumitomo trader after the bank took a 1.3billion trading loss. Among the LME's alma mater is none other than former Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Need one say more. Trump trade How do investors trade Trump, given his habit of making market-sensitive tweets? One suggestion is an active Trump Tweet ETF (exchange trade fund) that buys and sells on the President's words. Could be highly volatile. The Serious Fraud Office's successful 13million probe of Rolls-Royce, which resulted in a 671million fine, was a boon for SFO boss David Green. But his subsequent remarks ('I think it shows very clearly that the SFO has teeth and that the SFO will not go away') seemed overtly bullish. Is dry-as-a-dog's-bone Green, 62, sensitive to rumours that Theresa May wants the SFO abolished? Summarising the World Economic Forum in Davos, Schroders' head of strategy Huw van Steenis reflects: 'The impact of populism remained a number one concern.' So-called populism certainly had an impact chez van Steenis. The Brexit vote cost his wife, David Cameron's swotty ex-policy chief Camilla Cavendish, her 130,000-a-year job. Words of wisdom from Unilever's 6.9million-a-year boss, Paul Polman: 'If you invest in people, they invest in you. I compare it to the sun, which selflessly gives its rays to the plants and trees which then in turn grow towards the sun itself. It's about unleashing the energy in people.' A strange analogy. Few who have endured one of clog-wearing Polman's monosyllabic conference calls would ever mistake him for a sunbeam. London Stock Exchange boss Xavier Rolet's vineyard in the Rhone valley is the subject of a glowing piece by merchants website The Buyer. Multi-millionaire Xavier and his wife Nicole bought the abandoned property in 1993 when it was 'a few walls of an abandoned priory filled with sheep dung'. Ten years later they began producing award-winning wines called Chene Bleu, and, it says, jolly fragrant they are too. Business Secretary Greg Clark was afforded the prestigious 8.10am slot on Radio 4's Today to outline the Government's long-term industrial strategy. His pitch was overshadowed by questions on the botched Trident missile test. Later he got himself tangled up over the same issue on Sky News. Poor Clark. He's yet to dazzle in this coveted ministerial role. But colleagues report that he's doing his best, so for now perhaps that's the best we can hope for. One of Britain's biggest housebuilders has suspended at least three more staff following the arrest of an executive on suspicion of bribery in a cash-for-contracts scandal. Alastair Baird, managing director for London at Barratt Developments, was arrested in October as part of an inquiry by the Metropolitan Police. The 52-year-old, who has overseen some of the capital's biggest housing projects in recent years, was suspended by Barratt following his arrest at his pig farm in Gloucestershire where his wife Irayne Paikin makes award- winning sausages. Three staff members have been suspended from Barratt Developments following the arrest of an executive on suspicion of bribery in a cash-for-contracts scandal But it has now emerged that at least three more employees within Barratt's London business have been suspended as part of the investigation into potential misconduct in the awarding of contracts. Barratt shares fell around 3 per cent in a matter of minutes yesterday as investors digested the latest setback for the firm. They finished the day down 1.7 per cent, or 8.2p, at 486.4p. A spokesman for Barratt said it would be inappropriate to comment given the investigation by the company and the police. Just last week Barratt was rocked by the departure of Neil Cooper, its finance director, after little more than a year in the job following clashes with other directors. The company said Cooper's resignation was unconnected to the bribery probe. The arrest of Baird came after the company launched an investigation into possible misconduct in the way contracts were awarded in London and passed its findings to the police. Baird was quizzed along with a 47-year-old woman from East London, who used to work for the housebuilder. They were released on bail until April. In October, Barratt chief executive David Thomas said the company 'acted decisively' by launching its own investigation and referring the matter to the police. Baird had previously been described by the firm as 'one of the most experienced and respected residential developers in the capital'. Projects he has overseen include the purchase of West Ham United's former home, the Boleyn Ground, where Barratt plans to build 842 houses. Baird and his wife, who have two daughters, paid 4million in cash for their Gloucestershire pig farm in 2005. They spend weekends there and the week at their 15million home in Hampstead, North London. Barratt's inquiry led to a civil case against another former employee, thought to be Michael Fitzpatrick, who was sacked in February last year after allegedly receiving secret payments from sub-contractors in return for influencing the award of tenders. He is understood to be defending the claim. Theresa May will outline her plans to improve broadband and transport in a Green Paper tomorrow Britain will slash bureaucracy, boost broadband coverage and improve transport links in a post-Brexit industrial strategy, the Prime Minister will announce tomorrow. Theresa May also wants to introduce a fund to invest in smart energy technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics and the 5G mobile network. In a Green Paper, she will set out the ten pillars that underpin the strategy, including getting firms to identify any red tape that can be cut after Britain leaves the EU. The industrial strategy, which aims to create better paid jobs, was due to be unveiled by the Cabinet today in the North West. In a comment that will be seen as critical of David Cameron and George Osborne, Mrs May said she would make the Government play a more active role in helping business and spreading wealth around the country, rather than step back like previous administrations. Her strategy for a global Britain also includes a 170million fund to set up institutes of technology to train youngsters who do not go to university in science, technology, engineering and maths. She also wants to put Britain at the forefront of the rollout of the 5G mobile phone network, which promises to be faster and more robust than the 4G technology in use now. However, many Britons still cannot get a decent signal using 4G or even the older and slower 3G network. No 10 said the goal was to improve physical and digital connectivity across the UK. Mrs May said: The modern industrial strategy will back Britain for the long term, creating the conditions where successful businesses can emerge and grow and backing them to invest in the long-term future of our country. It will be underpinned by a new approach to Government, not just stepping back but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business and ensures more people in all corners of the country share in the benefits of its success. She told BBC Ones Andrew Marr Show today: Its about saying, What are our strengths? as we come out of the European Union. On Sunday Theresa May told BBC One's Andrew Marr that her industrial strategy is about shaping the future economy Were coming together as a country, were forging our shape, our future. What the modern industrial strategy will be about will be saying what is the shape of the economy that we want in the future. The Government will announce a cash boost of 556million to support jobs and encourage growth in the North, including an intermodal terminal at Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire, linking rail, sea and road transport, a modern conference centre in Blackpool and an innovation fund for businesses in Manchester and Cheshire. The aerospace industry will be used as an example of how the state and private sectors can work together to create thousands of well-paid jobs. Greg Clark, the Business and Energy Secretary, said the strategy will improve living standards and drive economic growth across the country. The news comes as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on steel publishes its report tomorrow on the future of the industry. MPs will warn that it faces an existential crisis, and will demand cheap energy deals, a post-Brexit plan and stronger defences against the dumping of cheap steel by China. Miss Swaziland 2016/2017 Linda Hutchinson flanked by her First Princess Zethu Manana (R) and Second Princess Baby Mthimkhulu after their crowning in 2016. This pageant is the main one attracting directorship proposals. MBABANE The difficulty faced by Pageant Swaziland (SD) in finding individuals or companies to direct some of the local pageants has intensified. Pageant SD has found it difficult to attract suitable candidates to direct the Mr Swaziland and Miss Deaf Beauty Pageants. This transpired after the call to the public to submit proposals to run any of the pageants failed to attract any interested directors for the two pageants. These two pageants are among those that are directed by Pageant SD. While Pageant SD was hoping to receive a number of proposals from people interested in running these pageants, it turned out that most people have absolutely no interest in them. Instead, Pageant SD received a number of proposals for the Miss Swaziland and Miss Teen Beauty Pageants only. These two pageants have been the most popular as most of the aspiring pageant directors showed keen interest in them. Deadline The deadline for the submission closed on Friday, January 20, 2017. Pageant SD and the Swaziland National Council of Arts and Culture (SNCAC) had given the interested candidates two months to submit their proposals, as the announcement was made in November 2016. Pageant SDs Chairperson, Catrien Potgieter, confirmed that the last day to submit the proposals was on Friday, and they were disappointed that there were no entries for Miss Deaf and Mr Swaziland. She said after the submission, they would go through all of the submitted proposals to see who has all the qualities to direct the Miss Teen and Miss Swaziland pageants. The application was open to anyone interested and believes that they have the qualities of being a pageant director. The submission of profiles came to an end on Friday, and we shall make our choice soon, she said. MBABANE He brutally murdered Nhlangano socialite Kayla Glover, and the court has ruled that he be kept away from society for the next two decades. Yesterday Chief Justice Bheki Maphalala sentenced Tony Zola Mamba (36) to 20 years imprisonment. This was after the High Court convicted Mamba of murder with extenuating circumstances. He violently butchered to death Glover who was 26 years old. The deceased died after Mamba hit her with the backside of an axe on the back of her head twice while at Club Rehab in Nhlangano in March 2015. Glover was pronounced dead on arrival at Nhlangano Health Centre. The sentence has been backdated to September 16, 2015 when Mambas bail was terminated in terms of the Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act of 1938. The chief justice described Glovers death as gruesome and horrendous. He said the evidence that was led showed that her murder was brutal. The accused assaulted the deceased by hitting her twice on the head with the backside of an axe and she fell to the ground and became unconscious. Notwithstanding the vicious assault, the accused kicked the deceased several times as she lay on the ground. The vicious attack on the deceased was unprovoked; on the contrary, it was the accused who had provoked the deceased, said the chief justice who added that the extent of the injuries on Glover were severe in that her skull was fractured. Chief Justice Maphalala said he took into account Mambas circumstances, particularly that he was a young man and should be given a second chance in life. The court also considered that Mamba had three minor children who depended on him for maintenance. MANZINI A man from Mafutseni allegedly tricked his wifes secret lover into a death trap by pretending to be her over the phone. Sicelo Langa (40) was allegedly murdered on Saturday night by his girlfriends husband. The husband is alleged to have later tried to conceal the murder by reportedly hiding the body in a nearby bush. The deceased was found with multiple wounds on his head. This incident took place at an area called Mahlabane in Mafutseni, where Langa was employed in one of the homesteads. The suspect will not be named as he is yet to appear in court. According to well placed sources, Langa and his married girlfriends relationship was no secret to the community. They revealed that the deceased had previously been warned against being in a relationship with the married woman. The warnings, however, fell on deaf ears as the pair continued with their illegitimate relationship. The two are said to have been able to carry-out this affair due to the fact that the womans husband resided in Manzini where he worked and was seldom home. The accused and his wife lived at the husbands parental homestead. Narrating Saturdays events, the sources revealed that unlike many other weekends, the accused was at home with his wife when her phone suddenly rang and instead of answering it, she allegedly ignored it. This went on a few more times until the husband reportedly realised that his wife was deliberately not answering her phone. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to take his wifes phone without her noticing and went outside to call the number that kept appearing on the screen. MBABANE BOTH PICS: It was mixed reactions as pupils arrived with their luggage yesterday ready for their first night at hostel. MBABANE Some public primary schools will be starting the first day of the 2017 academic year with E0.00 in their bank accounts. This is because government has failed to issue them cheques for their operation following the full implementation of the Free Primary Education (FPE). Its going to be disaster today as schools open, were the sentiments shared by Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General Zwelithini Mndzebele. Vice President of the Swaziland Principals Association (SWAPA) Welcome Mhlanga has also pleaded with the Ministry of Education and Training to issue the cheques with immediate effect. The duo said the schools would not be able to fully operate without any money in their accounts citing that in high schools at least parents had paid some of the fees. Mhlanga reported that very few schools in the Hhohho region had been called by the office of the Regional Education Officer (REO) to come and collect their cheques. He said these normally come in trenches, as they are called, and for example each school receives E100 000. Our plea is that they give the head teachers the money now and at least the second batch when the second term starts, said Mhlanga. He said it was not fair that other schools had been called to collect their cheques as they would be at a better advantage than others. Mndzebele on the otherr hand also wondered what the ministry had been doing since schools had closed last year. When schools closed on December 9, 2016 the ministry knew that they would reopen today so I believe that the ministry is killing the education itself, said Mndzebele. MBABANE It seems as if desperate times have caused some parents to take desperate measures. In a desperate bid to ensure that their children get an education, some parents missed work and accompanied their children to Lozitha High School to apply. The parents were found queuing to see the schools Head teacher, Mandla Mathabela, while others sat outside with their children. Some of the parents found at the school admitted that their children had applied at other schools as well but had been rejected. They said they believed that their children would be admitted at Lozitha before the end of the week. They also said some of their children who had applied for Form I had already been admitted and only those looking for spaces in Form II had challenges. A parent who spoke on condition of anonymity said her daughter had applied for space in Form II at the school. She added that her daughter had failed the same class at another school. Like other parents at the school, she said she had been to other schools with her daughter but she was rejected. The parent was asked if she believed her daughter would pass at the school. Teachers can never force children to pass, it has to come from within the children to want to pass, explained the parent. The parent added that she did not believe that pupils failed because of teachers. She said pupils always made up reasons why they had failed. She also said pupils need to take responsibility for their actions and not shift the blame to teachers. MBABANE Government has made a whopping over E3 million in a space of three hours in the sale of damaged vehicles. The auction sale took place yesterday at the Central Transport Organisation (CTO) site. Over 200 bidders gave each other stiff competition and wouldnt budge for their competitors. The cheapest item sold was a motorcycle that went for only E50 with no competitors. Vehicles ranged from sedans, double cabs, quantums, an ambulance, tippers, trucks, motorcycles, all belonging to government and which come from the various departments including the police, army, Correctional Services, and other government ministries. They are brought to the CTO with varying faults. Some of the vehicles broke down, and others were involved in accidents. Auctioneer Christopher Dovololo Gamedze warned bidders before the start of the auction, giving them the conditions they should abide by. These included that bidders strictly remove the force colours before they can use their vehicles. They were also warned that only card bearing bidders were allowed to participate for the auction sale and that they should use one card for buying each item. He said after winning the bid, the owners were not allowed to touch the vehicles until payment was completed. Ownership of the vehicle starts after payment has been done, he said. Gamedze said in most cases, people would bid then go to the vehicle to steal parts before even paying for it. We believe that bidders have had enough time to view and know exactly what they want, Gamedze elaborated. Further, he notified the bidders that only bank guaranteed cheques were allowed. PIGGS PEAK Geza Primary School will likely reopen once parents are convinced that the head teacher has been removed. This is the view of parents who gathered at the school yesterday and blocked the entrance. Geza Primary School is situated in Nkamazi and it is one of the worst performing schools. While thousands of pupils returned to school, some for the first time yesterday, it was not the case for Geza Primary School pupils. In a chaotic scene parents, accused the head teacher of several transgressions. Pupils who arrived for lessons yesterday were turned away and only advised to return once the head teacher had left the school. The parents insisted that as long as the head teacher was still in the school, the pupils would continue to fail. We wont let our children return to the school because they will be abused, said angry parents. Parents were eventually called to a meeting within the school premises, which was attended by Deputy Regional Education Officer (REO) Mvangeli Simelane. Also in attendance were officials from the Swaziland National Association of Teachers, Head teacher Lucky Zondi and the aggrieved parents. Members of the Royal Swaziland Police (RSP) service were also present in the meeting to ensure safety at the school. They presented their grievances to the deputy REO. They accused the school of misappropriating the food that was normally used for the feeding scheme. Parents said their children ended up not having enough food during the school curriculum such that this contributed to their poor performance during the examination. By Press Trust of India: Jaipur, Jan 24 (PTI) In a first of its kind move, three girls from Rajasthan were appointed as ministers for a single day today on the occasion of National Girl Child Day. Conferring the girls with Garima Balika Sanrakshan Samman, minister of state for women and child development Anita Bhadel gave charge of her post to Jashoda Gameti of Rajsmand, Sona Bairwa of Tonk and Preeti Kanwar Rajawat for a day. advertisement The girls after taking charge approved the scheme of distributing 10,500 mobile phones to Aanganwadi workers and iPads to 282 women supervisors. Bhadel also apprised the one-day child ministers about the functioning of the ministry. All three girls had raised their voice against child marriage. "We wanted to give a message that girls are no less than boys. If they are given freedom then they can fly high. Society should provide them equal opportunity to grow. It will develop their self-confidence to prove themselves," Bhadel said. Prior to it, Bhadel had addressed a state-level gathering at B M Birla Auditorium urging them to bring about change in societys mentality towards girl child. She said that state government through its various schemes is trying to uplift girls. On the occasion, secretary for women and child development department Kuldeep Ranka, director of integrated child development services Samit Sharma and representatives from non-profit organisations were present. PTI AG KUN --- ENDS --- Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gina Martinez Preparations are underway for the upcoming 29th Annual Phagwah Parade in Richmond Hill. The Joint Planning Committee of Phagwah Parade 2017 held a news conference Tuesday to update the community on the progress being made and reported that the event would take place come rain or shine March 12. The parade is set to begin at noon on 133rd Street and Liberty Ave. and end at Phil Rizzuto Park where cultural programs, which include dances and live music, will take place. Richmond Hill is home to the largest Indo-Caribbean community in the United States. Phagwah, or Holi, is a Hindu spring festival also known as the Festival of Colors. During Holi, Hindus usually celebrate in the streets and spray friends and family with colored powders. Just two years ago the parade was involved in controversy due to infighting. The parades permits were canceled by the NYPD for the first time in 2015 after disputes between the Hindu Parades & Festivals Committee and The Federation of Hindu Mandirs. The Hindu Parades faction had made accusations against the Federation of Hindu Mandirs and the NYPD. The Hindu Parades and the Federation both applied for permits on the same day last year, but the Hindu Parades had its permit pulled. Hindu Parades claimed it filed first in a civil suit against the NYPD. The Federation stopped the parade from being held for the first time since 1988. Since then the planning committee has been composed of members from the both the Hindu Parades & Festivals Committee Inc., Hindu Mandirs Inc. and The Arya Spiritual Center, which are all working together to organize the parade. The committee only had good news, telling reporters that all permits have been approved by the NYPD and that all key elements of the parade, including floats, performers, vendors and music, are in place. The committee members said they plan on making this years parade the best it has had in years by reaching out to the community and working with them. We are proud to contribute to the cultural diversity of the great city of New York by organizing and implementing an event like this parade, Sagar Rajpal, a member of the planning committee, said. We recognize that the Phagwah Parade is the communitys main cultural event and are committed to ensuring that we produce a spectacular parade. Rajpal hopes this year more members of the community will be included. We want to be inclusive of the entire community, he said. Not just Hindus in the Caribbean community but from India, Sri Lanka and from all different places. We are reaching out for everybody to join. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Philip Newman Two admitted con artists have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to bilking an 88-year-old Queens woman out of more than $10,000 in what police called a found money scheme. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown identified the defendants as Juanita Lamb, 58, of West Palisade Avenue in Englewood, N.J. and Deanna Rhett, 60 of West 145th Street in Manhattan. Lamb pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property on Nov.17, 2016.Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Schwartz sentenced her to 2-1/2 to five years in prison. On Oct. 27, 2016 Rhett also pleaded guilty to third-degree grand larceny and Schwartz sentenced her to two to four years in prison. A case against a third defendant is pending. Brown said that according to the charges, an elderly woman was approached around 1:30 p.m. on the afternoon of Aug.1, 2015 at 77th Street and 31st Avenue in Jackson Heights by the defendant , who engaged the older woman in conversation. As they chatted they were approached by Rhett, who showed a purse filled with what appeared to be $100,000. Rhett told the elderly woman she had found the money and would share it with the victim if she helped pay the taxes due on found money. At that point Lamb drove up and offered to give the older woman a ride home, The three then concocted a plan to meet again to pay the taxes, then split the money, On Aug. 3, 2015 thee three defendants picked up the older woman at her Queens home and drove her to the Queens County Savings Bank, where she went into the bank and withdrew $10,300 in cash. The trio drove her back home and said they needed identification to pay the taxes, but the woman discovered they had disappeared with her money when she came out with the papers.y. The Police Organized Theft Squad said stopped the defendants car and a search revealed $3,100 on the door beneath the drivers seat. Another $4,100 was on the floor of the front passenger seat as well as $3,100 discovered in the third defendants waistband. The police also found an assortment of wig wigs and $100 bills with the paper wrappers saying for theatrical use. Beaver County preparing for robust Election Day turnout As the Nov. 8 midterm election approaches, nearly 114,000 people are registered to vote in Beaver County. By Press Trust of India: Beijing, Jan 24 (PTI) Six former employees of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the worlds third-largest smartphone maker, have been arrested by Chinese police for allegedly leaking commercial secrets to rivals. News portal sina.com reported that an internal letter issued by Huaweis consumer unit, which includes its smartphone business, said that the six, chiefly engineers and smartphone designers, had been arrested. advertisement The incident came as the Shenzhen-based company is engaged in a fierce battle for market dominance with players such as Oppo Electronics Corp and Coolpad Group Ltd, state-run China Daily reported. According to the report, the six were suspected of leaking commercial secrets to Coolpad and its largest shareholder LeEco after some of them left Huawei to join the two companies. Huawei confirmed to China Daily that six of its former employees were arrested, but said the case has nothing to do with LeEco and CoolPad. LeEco also denied the report. Xiang Ligang, a smartphone expert and CEO of the telecoms industry website cctime.com, said the dispute underlines once again that China is the worlds most competitive smartphone market, with the largest number of handset vendors. "For any new player which wants to scale up rapidly, such as LeEco, it has no other choice but to poach experienced talent from established companies," Xiang added. In 2016, Huawei shipped 139 million handsets, up 29 per cent year-on-year, International Data Corp said. Huaweis stellar growth has lured rivals to vie for its talent with handsome salary packages, the Daily report said. Last year, a string of ex-Huawei senior executives joined LeEco and CoolPad. Liu Jiangfeng, the former president of Huaweis smartphone sub-brand Honor, took the helm of CoolPads smartphone business in August. Last month, Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, said at an internal meeting that the company would step up staff management and crack down on corruption and bribery. PTI KJV ZH --- ENDS --- Guilderland In a challenging retail environment, Crossgates Mall is seeing some stores leave and a large retailer arrive. J. Crew, Ann Taylor and The Limited all have shut their doors at the Guilderland mall. European clothing retailer Zara, however, is slated to open this spring. At the same time, the Matthew's Hallmark store is closing. Mall management could not be reached Monday for comment on the latest comings and goings. While J. Crew closed its Crossgates Mall store, the retailer opened one of its J. Crew Mercantile outlets at Colonie Center. The Limited closed all of its stores across the country after declaring bankruptcy. The company's website says its online presence is shut down "temporarily." Zara is arriving this spring. A large, two-story space is now covered with a sign asking shoppers to guess what retailer is coming. On its website, the mall also says Waxys, a "modern Irish bar and kitchen," is coming to the mall this spring. tobrien@timesunion.com 518-454-5092 @timobrientu This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Gov. Andrew Cuomo's top energy regulator, Audrey Zibelman, is leaving the state Public Service Commission for a job overseeing Australia's electric grid. Zibelman has led efforts to overhaul New York's energy markets and the way utilities operate under a program called Reforming the Energy Vision, or REV. The news was announced Monday morning by the Australian Energy Market Operator, or AEMO, Australia's grid operator. A release issued by AEMO Monday appears to have taken New York officials by surprise. It was not immediately clear who would assume Zibelman's position as chair when she leaves for the new job in March. A PSC spokesman did not immediately have a comment on Zibelman's move Monday. However, Zibelman is taking over AEMO at a critical time after the sudden death in July of its longtime CEO, Matt Zema. "Audrey's vast experience in creating and managing new wholesale electricity markets, and transforming existing energy markets and large power systems, will further strengthen the work that AEMO has undertaken to support Australia's energy industry transformation," Tony Marxsen, AEMO's chair, said in a statement. "Audrey has the vision to lead, guide and support our organization and the broader Australian energy industry as we transition our energy markets and reform power systems planning and management." Zibelman, who will be based in Melbourne, will start March 20. She joined the PSC in 2013 and her current term was set to run out in February 2018. Before joining the PSC, Zibelman had also been chief operating officer of the PJM, which oversees the electric grid in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and nine other states. The PSC, which oversees electric and gas rates in the state and also approves major energy transactions and construction projects, currently has four members, including Zibelman, but is supposed to have as many as five. lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany A coalition including cooling industry representatives and environmental activist Erin Brockovich called on the state Tuesday to enforce federal water regulations, regularly test the water supply statewide and improve New York's water infrastructure, as data show the state has the highest number of Legionnaire's disease cases in the nation. The Alliance to Prevent Legionnaire's Disease said state regulations put into effect after a 2015 outbreak of the illness in the South Bronx are insufficient. The regulations are aimed at increased monitoring of cooling towers, structures on large buildings that recirculate water to keep them cool. It's municipal water supplies that need to be tested, according to the group, which includes cooling tower manufacturers who have previously said they are being made scapegoats. "Let's get to the root cause of the outbreak the entire water supply rather than address a symptom, which is the cooling tower," said Tonya Winders, president of the Allergy & Asthma Network, during the news conference at the Capitol Tuesday. The state Health Department said in a statement that "current regulations are focused on the sources of Legionella which pose the highest risk to New York residents." The rules require cooling towers to be routinely inspected and tested for the Legionella bacteria that cause the disease, as well as testing drinking water systems in hospitals and nursing homes, where more than half of cases originate and where 85 percent of the Legionella-related deaths occur. The Allergy & Asthma Network was represented at the news conference because Legionnaire's disease can cause shortness of breath and pneumonia. The illness is caused by Legionella bacteria, which do not spread from person to person, but are breathed in, often through a mist. New York had 718 cases of Legionnaire's disease last year, 445 of them outside New York City. Among them were 21 cases in the Saratoga Springs area between October and December. Of those cases, 15 were residents or visitors at Wesley Health Care Center. The nursing home took actions to treat its water system. The cause for the other six patients' illness was never uncovered. At least two patients died. The activist group could not say Tuesday how much their recommendations would cost. Infrastructure investments run into the billions. Estimates to build water filtration plants for New York City run from $10 billion to $12 billion, said Daryn Cline, a spokesman for the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaire's Disease. The push comes at a time when contaminated water has been a key issue in New York, in the wake of findings that the industrial chemical PFOA had tainted drinking water in Hoosick Falls. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has requested $2 billion in his state budget to upgrade old water and sewer systems. Asked how the potential confirmation of Scott Pruitt, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, might affect the group's goals, Brockovich said it was too early to say. She called it a time to "shore up and enforce what we have." The Trump administration told the EPA to freeze its grants and contracts, which could affect water-quality initiatives, according to the Washington Post. chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire Cohoes The Cohoes Republican Committee shared a Facebook meme on the weekend's Women's March that calls out the marchers as being overweight, sparking anger from a Democratic city councilman. The caption over a photo taken at Saturday's march says, "In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years." Marches took place in Washington and around the country, including Albany. The marches came the day after President Donald J. Trump's inauguration. "I was shocked. This was on a official political organization's page," Councilman Randy Koniowka said Tuesday. The meme initially caused controversy when two Republican state senators in Indiana posted it over the weekend. Anger erupted across the country, including Democrat-dominated Cohoes when it was posted Monday. The post on @CohoesGOP, the Cohoes Republican Facebook page, was removed from the site Monday. "While our moderators often share GOP-related memes and posts, this one, which I assumed was done under the guise of being comedic, clearly missed the mark," Cohoes GOP Chairman Chris Davis said in a statement. Davis quickly backed away from the posting, saying the meme didn't originate in Cohoes and was causing "similar issues across the nation." Cohoes Democrat Chairman Gil Ethier said several committeewomen contacted him to complain about the GOP posting. "It's in poor taste to put it on the site," said Ethier, adding that the failed attempt at humor never should have been made. Davis accused Koniowka of targeting the city Republicans for political purposes. "It didn't originate with us but was shared on our page at some point in the morning and taken down shortly thereafter. I wasn't made aware for many hours. I issued a statement and subsequent apology," Davis said via email Tuesday. "That said, the issue blew up for political reasons from a Councilperson hell bent on destroying his own city, undermining his own party and battling every politician in the city at some point," Davis said. The GOP chairman is just trying to deflect attention from the meme's appearance on the party site with the personal attacks, Koniowka said. The meme and the attacks are examples of Davis stooping low for a political purpose, Koniowka said. "This type of gutter politics has no place in the city of Cohoes. It needs to be called out," Koniowka said. Koniowka said his concern is for women who struggle with weight issues and the attacks against them. kcrowe@timesunion.com 518-454-5084 @KennethCrowe An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of Momentive employees and the company's annual revenues. SARATOGA SPRINGS Momentive workers took their strike to a wealthy enclave here, going door to door to hand out leaflets Monday to the neighbors of Jack Boss, CEO of the manufacturing firm. The action drew an angry response from a passing motorist who denounced unions, then jumped out his car and appeared to be ready to fight. Police quickly stepped in and the man, who had a child in the vehicle, was not charged. "We're just taking the fight to the neighborhood," said Craig Finigan of Mechanicville, one of the Momentive workers whom the driver confronted. "These are the people he lives amongst. He's not listening to his workers, maybe he'll listen to his peers." About 700 members of IUE-CWA union locals have been on strike since Nov. 2 at the Waterford plant and have sought to draw attention in recent weeks to the hedge fund moguls and private investors who own Momentive Performance Materials. The company was a General Electric silicones chemical plant until it was sold in 2006. Boss' house is in a development of luxury homes in a rural section of the city. On Monday, keep out signs were posted on the property. The strikers stood at the end of the street doing media interviews before the run-in with the passing driver who stopped to ask what was going on. Momentive has just under 5,000 employees and approximately $2 billion in annual revenues. The owners are demanding healthcare and pension cuts, on top of private wage and pension cuts previously negotiated, Local 8139 Vice President Darryl Houshower said. Workers at a second Momentive plant in Ohio have also gone out on strike. Two weeks ago, Momentive workers traveled to New York City to demonstrate outside the offices of Apollo Global, one of the hedge funds that own the company. On Monday, the group Hedge Clippers released a report pointing to the wealth of two of Momentive's owners, billionaire hedge fund moguls Leon Black and Stephen Schwarzman. "Job cuts, wage cuts, outsourcing, special tax breaks for the rich, elimination of pensions and benefits and the way connected insiders have benefitted from the economic destruction suffered by our communities didn't come from nowhere: it's the result of the actions of powerful men like Stephen Schwarzman and Leon Black," the report said. "Black and Schwarzman are the billionaire Wall Street fund managers who've taken over Momentive Performance Materials in Waterford, New York and driven down pay, wages and benefits for workers and their families over the past decade." Schenectady The City Council approved a $1.75 million settlement that resolves a lawsuit over tax delinquent liens on hundreds of Schenectady properties. The agreement calls for the city to pay $583,000 annually without any interest over three years to Florida-based American Tax Funding Servicing, LLC, or ATF. At Monday's City Council meeting, Councilman Vince Riggi explained that the city reaped $45 million in revenue from ATF, "so $1.7 million, while a lot of money, is a small percent over the overall contract." He said the settlement avoids a civil trial, which saves the city more than $100,000 in legal costs and more than $10 million if they had lost the case. Additionally, ATF has agreed to give back all of their outstanding liens except for 14 to the city so nonprofit groups in Schenectady will not be saddled by ATF liens in the future. ATF CEO Matthew Marini has previously said that the original contract with the city dates back to October 2004 and that the company enjoyed an excellent relationship with the city until Gary McCarthy became mayor in 2011. By the next year, the city stopped selling its liens to ATF because the company lowered its payments. As a result, both the city and ATF had liens on the same properties. Marini's email said that when it comes to tax liens, the holder of a new tax lien can start foreclosure proceedings and wipe out the older liens that were owned by ATF. He went on to say that the city, using liens that it refused to sell to ATF, then initiated foreclosure proceedings. In a federal lawsuit dating back to 2011, ATF had alleged that Schenectady breached the terms of the contract by foreclosing on properties the company had liens on. At issue are roughly 214 properties, many abandoned dwellings on which the owners had not paid taxes for years. ATF purchased the tax liens for those dwellings, which allowed it to foreclose and sell the homes if they owners didn't pay up. In some cases, unsuspecting city homeowners were caught in the middle of the dispute because on one hand they had a payment plan with ATF but were receiving letters from the city warning them they risked losing their property if they didn't pay their property taxes. Once the original civil actions in state and federal courts were dismissed without prejudice, ATF in 2015 filed a second lawsuit in federal court that consolidated the litigation. pnelson@timesunion.com 518-454-5347 @apaulnelson By Priyanka Sharma: With the present AIIMS director set to retire soon, the five-member selection panel headed by Union health secretary CK Mishra is expected to hold a final meeting on Tuesday to finalise three names for the post, which, in turn, would be sent to the PMO for approval. The present AIIMS director MC Misra is superannuating on January 31. "On Tuesday, the panel will shortlist at least three names at a meeting at Nirman Bhawan. After the approval from the institute's governing body, the shortlisted names will be sent to the appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister for the final approval," said a senior health ministry official. advertisement So far, the top five contenders for the premier job include head of pediatrics Dr VK Paul; head of department of gynaecology Dr Alka Kriplani; head of department of respiratory medicine Dr Randeep Guleria; Dr AB Dey, who heads the geriatrics medicine department; and Dr DK Sharma, AIIMS medical superintendent. The search committee comprises Prime Minister's principal scientific adviser R Chidambaram; secretary in department of health research Soumya Swaminathan; director general of health services Jagdish Prasad; and Delhi University vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi. According to sources, Guleria may turn out to be the dark horse. Mail Today had earlier reported that at least 53 eminent doctors, including 35 from outside AIIMS and abroad, have applied for the top post. Dr Rasik Vajpayee, a nephew of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was one of the applicants. Last month, the DoPT had rejected the selection committee headed by Union health minister JP Nadda and recommended for the formation of new search panel based on DoPT guidelines. Also read | Don't have an Aadhar card? Be ready to pay 10 times the fee at AIIMS --- ENDS --- Were you Seen at the 13th Annual STOP Conference in the Sarazen Student Union on the Siena College campus in Loudonville on Friday, January 13, 2017? Siena College and the Anti-Defamation League's A World of Difference Institute hosted 250 students from 30 area middle schools and high schools to talk about tolerance, diversity and respect, and how they can bring what the learned back to their schools. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany A plan by Apple supplier Foxconn Technology Group to build a $7 billion flat-panel display screen factory in the United States could provide a new opportunity for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to bring high-tech jobs and investment to New York state. But it already looks like he has some tough competition. Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told reporters on Sunday in Taiwan that Foxconn wants to move fast to find a site for the plant, which will likely command a large government-subsidized economic development package. Right now it appears that Pennsylvania has the edge. "I have discussed with my major clients about going to (the U.S.) and they are also willing to invest, including Apple," Gou said, according to Agence France-Presse. "Pennsylvania is active and I urge other states to act more quickly or I will sign the contract with Pennsylvania." New York state already has a shovel ready site, as well as $600 million in funding, lined up at the Marcy Nanocenter owned by SUNY Polytechnic Institute outside Utica. State economic development officials have been working to find a tenant for the Marcy Nanocenter after ams AG, an Austrian chip maker, backed out of plans to operate a state-owned factory in November. A spokesman for Empire State Development, the state agency that is overseeing SUNY Poly's research and development projects across the state, declined comment. Economic development executives for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf have already been in contact with Foxconn about the project. Heidi Havens, a spokeswoman with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said that Foxconn reached out to her department's Taiwan office in mid-December inquiring about programs available to companies that locate to the state. And last week, Gou met with Pennsylvania representatives again in Taiwan to talk "about a desire to invest in Pennsylvania," Havens said. "But the meeting did not address specifics on a proposed project as of yet." Pennsylvania officials will continue to work with Foxconn on its plans. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Foxconn told the Times Union on Monday that the company is "conducting an evaluation of the conditions and potential locations for establishing manufacturing facilities in the U.S.," but has not yet decided on any particular state or site. It is unclear what Foxconn's financial requirements would be. "As a company practice, we would only announce an investment plan after related negotiations have been completed and only after we have received the relevant approvals from our company's board of directors and any other relevant authorities," the statement reads. Foxconn was also rumored five years ago to be scouting the United States to build a display screen factory for its Apple business, and may have considered New York state at that time. Gou was pressed to address plans for the $7 billion plant after details were shown on a document photographed during a meeting last month in the lobby of Trump Tower between President Donald Trump and Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of Softbank of Japan. Softbank owns ARM Holdings, the company that provides chip designs to Apple. lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison Flu season has arrived in the Titusville area and Titusville Area Hospital staff say its not too late for residents to get a flu shot. Overcoming the Last Barriers to Cloud Contact Center Adoption Many small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have made the jump to cloud-based technology, particularly when it comes to their communications and their contact center solutions. They may have made the step to the cloud to save money it means they can implement state-of-the-art technology with little to no upfront capital or because their business is very cyclical and theyre tired of paying for software licenses they dont need. Whatever the initial reason for the move to the cloud, these same SMBs are finding a variety of other compelling benefits to cloud-based solutions, including features they couldnt afford before, or the ability to use home-based or remote workers. Adoption rates for the cloud solutions model has been slower in larger enterprises, perhaps because these organizations can afford to continue using premise-based software. A study conducted last year by Right Scale of IT professionals in companies with 1,000 employees or more found that only 42 percent had adopted cloud infrastructure and related technologies. Even some SMBs remain wary of moving to the cloud, and its worth examining these reasons. Even if call center management is sold on the idea of the cloud, there are some issues to examine before you buy, according to a recent blog post by Mitel (News - Alert). Can it be integrated with other systems? The core of the omnichannel customer experience that most companies are seeking to implement today is interoperability. A cloud solution wont help you if it wont work with your CRM, workforce management, telecom platform or other solution to retrieve needed data. Youll need this data (for example, customer information from a CRM) to flow well between systems to support self-service applications, as well as the ability of your agents to address key concerns and escalate conversations to the right person when needed, according to Mitel. Does it offer disaster recovery and backup? Cloud solutions actually have an advantage here over premise-based solutions, so they can help contact center management ensure seamless operations even in the event of a storm or power outage. The best cloud contact center systems offer highly available, geo-redundant, survivable service that eliminates the need for additional investment to protect the connection between your business and your customers, wrote Mitel. Choose a vendor that offers the disaster recovery options that fit your needs. Is it secure? Security is one area in which cloud solutions have a reputation for being less reliable than premise-based solutions. The truth is that with a reputable vendor following best practices, cloud solutions are just as secure as premise-based solutions, and perhaps even more so: the solution provider is better staffed to protect sensitive customer data. Cloud-based contact center providers have invested a significant amount of resources to improving their security systems, often times with elaborate security protocols and best practices that on-premise contact centers may lack, wrote Customer Thinks Veronica French in a recent article. If you no longer wish to maintain infrastructure on-site or worry about hardware obsolescence, cloud-based contact centers eliminate the need for on-premises servers and, in addition to lowering costs, shift the burden for keeping pace with changing technologies to your service provider. Edited by Alicia Young By Press Trust of India: Sultanpur (UP), Jan 24 (PTI) Having won the intra-party battle and cobbled together an alliance with Congress, Akhilesh Yadav today hit the campaign trail, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his achhe din promise and asserting the new coalition will win over 300 of states 403 assembly seats. However, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister set tongues wagging as he kicked off his campaign with controversial Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati by his side, drawing ridicule from BJP, which dubbed the "tainted" minister the new SP chiefs brand ambassador. Akhilesh not only shared the stage with Prajapati, but went a step further by telling the audience that he (Gayatri) would not only win his seat, but ensure victory of other SP candidates in the adjoining areas. "Gayatri Prajapati is sitting on the stage. He will not only win his seat (Amethi), but also ensure that other SP candidates in the nearby constituencies come out triumphant," the Chief Minister said in his new role as the SP national president. Taunting Akhilesh, state BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya said that by sharing dais with Gayatri and by praising him, the Chief Minister has proved that "Gayatri is his brand ambassador and corruption is his (CMs) priority." Under the SP-Congress alliance, SP will contest the Amethi seat and Prajapati, who was sacked by Akhilesh from the post of mines minister over his alleged involvement in a mining scam, will be its candidate. Addressing the election rally, Akhilesh targeted the Modi government at the Centre, saying in order to take credit it will incorporate in the Union Budget some of the ambitious schemes of UP government and promises made in SP manifesto. The SP National President also sought to ridicule the achche din promise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying instead of good days, people got jhadu (broom) or were asked to do yoga. "Our manifesto has so many ambitious schemes for women and youth. I think the Union Budget might incorporate some of them so that BJP can take credit," he said and made a scathing attack on BJP for its demonetisation decision because of which people in the rural areas were facing severe hardships. Akhilesh, who took over the mantle of SP president last week, said, "Now after alliance with Congress, we will bag over 300 of the 403 Assembly seats." Having won internal power game in the Samajwadi Party, the Chief Minister said he had faced many ups and downs and whatever stand he took was meant only for the welfare of the people. He dwelt at length on the SPs manifesto and reminded the people that whatever promise he had made in 2012 had been fulfilled. Akhilesh highlighted the achivements of his government during the past five years to drive home the point that he believed in development "while others believe in doing dirty politics". PTI SMI SK SK --- ENDS --- advertisement [January 24, 2017] AsiaInspection Has Acquired Produce Inspectors of America (PIA), the Leader in Berry Inspections AsiaInspection (AI), a leading quality control and supplier compliance service provider, announces it has completed the acquisition of Produce Inspectors of America (PIA), a global perishable food product inspection company. PIA's team of 400 operates in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia on behalf of fresh produce farmers, traders, brands and retailers, and performs on-site inspections before and after shipment, to ensure the quality and conformity of products. The company, headquartered in Miami, USA and Santiago, Chile has gained a position as a global leaer in the market for berry inspections. "PIA customers can benefit from AI's unique quality control management software and expanded global coverage in 77 countries," said Sebastien Breteau, AsiaInspection's Founder & CEO. "This has been a strategic acquisition for AI, as PIA's expertise on fresh produce complements our offering to the food industry, and PIA, much like AI, has put technology at the core of their operations to provide their customers with supply chain data intelligence." "We are delighted to have joined a larger network that allows us to offer our clients a wider geographical coverage and increased quality control services, from lab testing to site audits," said Edmundo Elissetche, PIA's founder and president. PIA's strong presence in Latin and North America increases AI's footprint in the region, where it already services clients with supplier audit programs, laboratory testing and product inspections. About AsiaInspection AsiaInspection (AI) is a leading quality control and supplier compliance service provider that partners with brands, retailers and importers globally to secure and optimize their supply chain. AI performs Supplier Audit Programs, Product Inspections and Lab Testing in 77 countries. With its unique online and mobile management platform for quality control, AI guarantees to be onsite within 48 hours of booking, compiling a detailed report available online the same day as the inspection. Headquartered in Hong Kong, AI has 20 offices, 4 in-house labs and over 2,000 employees. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005999/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Association for Advancing Automation (A3) Announces Launch Pad Competition for Startups Today the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the leading global advocate for the benefits of automating, announced a call for startup companies in robotics, machine vision and motion control to enter the Automate Launch Pad Competition. The competition is a chance for the industry's most innovative young companies to vie for the spotlight at the Automate 2017 Exhibition and Conference-the industry's largest gathering in North America, taking place in Chicago, Illinois April 3-6, 2017-as well as a $10,000 cash award. The Automate Launch Pad Startup Competition seeks out startup companies looking to generate awareness of their technology and find new sources of funding. "Investment in the automation and robotics market is rising sharply, with a record 128 companies receiving funding of $1.95 billion in 2016-which is a 50% increase over the previous record-breaking year," noted Jeff Burnstein, president of A3. "The Automate Launch Pad Competition is a great opportunity for innovative young companies to gain some extra funding and garner the attention of key players in the automation industry." Call for submissions and application form for the Launch Pad Competition are now open. Eligible companies include those in the automation space (robotics, vision, motion control, etc.) who were founded in the last five years; raised less than US $2 million since creation; and are not affiliated with a larger group. Eight semi-finalist companies will be invited to participate in the competition at Automate on April 3, where they will have three minutes to pitch their technology to a panel of investors and automation experts. All semi-finalists will also be provided booth space on the Automate show floor, putting them in front of an expected audience of over 20,000 automation professionals, investors, scientists and journalists. The Automate Launch Pad Competition is sponsored by GE and the event is co-produced with Silicon Valley Robotics. The Automate Launch Pad Competition call for submissions and application form can be found on the Automate 2017 web site. Deadline for applications is February 17, 2017. About Association for Advancing Automation (A3) The Association for Advancing Automation is the global advocate for the benefits of automating. A3 promotes automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done. A3 is the umbrella group for Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA - Advancing Vision + Imaging, and Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA). RIA, AIA, and MCMA combined represent over 1,000 automation manufacturers, component suppliers, system integrators, end users, research groups and consulting firms from throughout the world that drive automation forward. For more information, please visit our websites: A3 - www.A3automate.org. RIA - www.robotics.org. AIA - www.visiononline.org. MCMA - www.motioncontrolonline.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005307/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Automotive Inductive Wireless Charging Systems Market - Drivers and Forecast from Technavio Technavio analysts forecast the global automotive inductive wireless charging systems market to grow at a CAGR of close to 53% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005622/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global automotive inductive wireless charging systems market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global automotive inductive wireless charging systems (WCS) market for 2017-2021. To determine the market size, the study considers revenue generated from the total global shipments of wireless charging systems by considering 2016 as the base year. APAC is the global leader in the global automotive inductive wireless charging systems market. Almost 50% of the incremental growth is expected to originate from here through the forecast period. China and Japan are expected to generate maximum revenue from the region. The presence of several domestic automakers and aggressive green-car policies by governments in the region is the main factor behind its dominance in the automotive WCS market. The combined efforts of government agencies, original equipment manufacturers, and charging station installers to promote this technology will ensure this region's continued dominance. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=56027 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Technavio analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global automotive inductive wireless charging systems market: Increased sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in major regions globally /li> Increased investments in infrastructure development and in-house charger development Demand for rapid charging to alleviate range concerns Increased sales of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) in major regions globally "Many countries are introducing strict norms to curb greenhouse gas emissions by vehicles, which is pushing for increased adoption of green vehicles. Tax incentives and subsidies provided by the government for acquiring plug-in electric vehicles are sturdily pushing for the increased adoption of these vehicles," says Neelam Barua, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for automotive electronics research. China, Japan, the US, and many European countries have some of the best policies that promotes the sales of green vehicles like PEVs. For instance, the US allows a federal tax discount of up to USD 7,500 on the purchase of a PEV. Subsidies and tax incentives like these will fuel the production of EVs locally, which, in turn, creates a demand for automotive WCS. Increased investments in infrastructure development and in-house charger development Governments worldwide have realized the importance of saving energy and reducing GHG emissions to ensure a sustainable future. For instance, the US and Canadian governments are investing towards the indigenous development of charging infrastructure across North America to promote adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Additionally, to increase the adoption of WCS in residential buildings, vendors are coming up with financing for EV end users to cover initial installation costs and later repairs. Demand for rapid charging to alleviate range concerns "PEVs must be regularly recharged within a certain timeframe to obtain optimal performance from them. Inductive wireless charging systems are extremely suitable for PEVs as they offer quick charging times and hassle-free operation," says Neelam. WCS systems are extremely easy to be installed and can be powered through a number of renewable energy sources such as solar panels or windmills, which have resulted in reduced dependency on the national power grids. Also, the dynamic charging capability of WCS allows for the users to charge vehicles even while moving, thereby eliminating any range concerns. The possibility of endless range will greatly increase adoption among consumers. Browse Related Reports: Global Wireless Chargers Market 2017-2021 Global Automotive Solar Carport Charging Station Market 2017-2021 Global Electric Vehicle Charger Market 2016-2020 Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like auto accessories, automotive manufacturing, and powertrain. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005622/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Outcome Capital Expands Biotech Practice With Hire of Dr. Ellen S. Baron Outcome Capital (www.outcomecapital.com), a highly specialized investment banking firm that serves growth companies in the life sciences and technology sectors, strengthened its leadership by adding Ellen S. Baron, Ph.D., to its executive team. A pharmaceutical and biotechnology veteran, Dr. Baron has more than 30 years of operational, strategic and investment expertise with an emphasis in oncology, neurology, and infectious disease. She joins Outcome from Healthios Capital Markets, LLC, where she was Managing Director, Biopharmaceuticals. There she was responsible for leading the company's therapeutics practice, orchestrating sophisticated private placements, partnerships and mergers and acquisitions transactions for emerging growth companies. Dr. Baron previously led numerous therapeutic and diagnostic investments as a Partner with Oxford Bioscience Partners, a healthcare venture capital firm. She currently serves on the board of directors of several companies, including Sixth Element Capital, a UK-based oncology focused venture capital fund, and SFH, a Maine-based nutraceutical compan. She holds a Ph.D. in Microbiology from Georgetown University School of Medicine and a post-doctorate from New York's Public Health Research Institute. "I have committed my 30-year career to working on innovative scientific and business solutions to the most challenging health problems," said Dr. Baron. "I believe my unique blend of high science and business acumen, coupled with many years of operational, investing and proven deal execution, will deliver new dimensions of service and value for Outcome's client base." Dr. Oded Ben-Joseph, Managing Director at Outcome Capital commented: "This is a strategic hire for Outcome Capital and a central component of our global growth plan. We believe that Ellen will further hone our ability to carve out a clear path to liquidity for our clients as she has been on the front lines of equity financing in the pharmaceutical and biotech segments both in the US and Europe. Ellen brings deep domain expertise across multiple disciplines and will complement Outcome's entrepreneurial culture." About Outcome Capital Outcome Capital is a unique investment banking firm that provides middle-market growth companies in the life sciences, health care services and technology markets with a value-added client-centric approach to merger, acquisition and corporate finance advisory services. The firm utilizes its proven approach to value enhancement by assisting boards and management teams in navigating both the financial and strategic markets and in implementing the best path for success. Outcome Capital's strength stems from its unique ability to draw on its wide range of operational, strategic and private equity experience, its expertise across the value chain, and its broad industry relationships. The professionals at Outcome Capital take pride in their ability to help their clients to make well-informed strategic decisions and recognize the full value created by their vision. For more information, visit: http://www.outcomecapital.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005632/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Qlik Sense Cloud Business Now Available for Immediate Web-Based Visual Analytics Qlik, a leader in visual analytics, today announced that Qlik Sense Cloud Business, its SaaS (News - Alert)-based visual analytics solution is now available for SMBs, groups, and teams to create, manage, and share analytics in the cloud. Powered by the patented QIX Associative Indexing Engine, Qlik Sense Cloud Business provides the scalability and performance of the industry-proven Qlik visual analytics platform in a complete cloud environment. By lowering the barrier to entry with a flexible, low-cost monthly subscription, streamlined administration and a fully web-based experience, customers can now benefit from Qlik Sense Cloud Business immediately with no capital costs or commitments. "Business groups are increasingly distributed, with members in different geographies and environments. The ability to have a consistent experience on any device, anywhere in the world ensures teams can work together quickly and seamlessly. Evolving requirements are driving the replacement of a monolithic stack solution with Qlik, a micro-services platform designed for the cloud," said Anthony Deighton, Qlik CTO and SVP of Products. "We built the category for user-driven, self-service BI and now we continue to expand the market by creating an extensible, cloud-first platform that companies of all sizes can consider the centerpiece of their analytics strategy." Pure Cloud-Based Solution Fosters Data-Driven Insights With its drag-and-drop interface and cutting-edge visualization experience in a responsive, HTML5 client, Qlik Sense Cloud Business extends the power of data-driven insights to users and groups throughout an organization of any size. Its intuitive design enables users of all technical skill levels to quickly and easily create, manage, and collaborate with meaningful analytic pps. Responsive design capabilities offer analysis on-the-go from any device - regardless of size - including touch, drill, and interact features, with no additional steps necessary. Because Qlik Sense Cloud Business offers a completely web-based experience, users of all technical skills can get started instantly, and data and applications are always easily available and accessible. In addition, one-click sharing makes it easy to share apps and insights - both inside and outside of the organization - amplifying the value of data and accelerating decision making. With visual data prep, users can combine multiple data sets from multiple sources, to quickly create rich, interactive apps that show the whole story in the data. This user experience is underpinned by Qlik's Associative Model, which enables users to probe all the possible associations that exist across all of their data. "I have worked with other products, such as Microsoft (News - Alert) Power BI and Tableau. Compared to competitors, Qlik Sense Cloud Business is very advanced and user friendly," said Lakshmikandh Karthikeyan, Senior Consultant at Corporater. (Source (News - Alert): TechValidate. TVID: 38C-A93-99D) Simple, Governed Collaboration Delivers More Value Faster Qlik Sense Cloud Business includes governance features for groups to deploy and manage a series of analytical apps. For example, Qlik Sense Cloud Business includes: A group work area to collaboratively create, edit, and access group content and apps, enhancing collaboration without limiting flexibility. to collaboratively create, edit, and access group content and apps, enhancing collaboration without limiting flexibility. Group data space to contribute data that contains reusable and consistent definitions, expediting the process of creating new apps and eliminating the guesswork in maintaining apps as business requirements evolve over time. to contribute data that contains reusable and consistent definitions, expediting the process of creating new apps and eliminating the guesswork in maintaining apps as business requirements evolve over time. Group shared networks to manage multiple shared networks or streams that users may be invited to follow, enabling control for which users have access to which apps. With this cloud-based model, organizations can add new users and apps as requirements change, with the elasticity to support current and future needs. Qlik Sense Cloud Business follows industry-leading best security practices, with all upgrades and infrastructure needs managed by Qlik. Pricing and Availability More than 100,000 users are visualizing data with Qlik Sense Cloud. Qlik Sense Cloud Business is available now for $25 per user, per month. For more information on Qlik Sense Cloud offerings, please visit: http://qlik.com/cloud. About Qlik Qlik is the leading visual analytics platform and the pioneer of user-driven business intelligence. Its portfolio of cloud-based and on-premise solutions meets customers' growing needs from reporting and self-service visual analysis to guided, embedded and custom analytics, regardless of where data is located. Customers using Qlik Sense, QlikView and Qlik Cloud, gain meaning out of information from multiple sources, exploring the hidden relationships within data that lead to insights that ignite good ideas. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Qlik does business in more than 100 countries with over 40,000 customers globally. 2017 QlikTech International AB. All rights reserved. Qlik, Qlik Sense, QlikView, QlikTech, Qlik Cloud, Qlik DataMarket, Qlik Analytics Platform, Qlik NPrinting, Qlik Connectors, Qlik GeoAnalytics and the QlikTech logos are trademarks of QlikTech International AB which have been registered in multiple countries. Other marks and logos mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005016/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 23, 2017] "RETAILTECH JAPAN" and "SECURITY SHOW": Japan's Largest Exhibitions Specializing in Retail Information Systems and Security Solutions to Be Held Nikkei Inc. will hold two popular exhibitions simultaneously. The first, "RETAILTECH JAPAN", will showcase the very latest in IT equipment and systems designed to drive forward marketing and supply chain activities in the retail and distribution industry. Held at the same time, "SECURITY SHOW" will feature a wide range of products and services that contribute to public safety such as security cameras and access control systems. "RETAILTECH JAPAN" is Japan's largest exhibition dedicated to introducing information systems designed for the retail and distribution industry. This exhibit will introduce the latest in information equipment and systems that cater to a wide range of retail and distribution business formats. Among the many products and services available will be POS (point-of-sale) and other payment systems, head office systems, logistics, mobile sales promotion, omni-channel retailing, big data, IoT, artificial intelligence, cloud services, distribution industry robots, online shopping systems, and more. There will also be a special zone set up to focus on introducing digital signage and POP systems. "SECURITY SHOW" will feature the latest in securitycameras, access control systems, security services, as well as countless other cutting-edge products and services that ensure safety, protecting businesses and the public from a variety of risks including crime, terrorism, and disasters. A number of Japan's highly regarded state-of-the-art security technologies aimed at the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for 2020 will also be unveiled. These include services that utilize drones to secure facilities from the air, and an image analysis system capable of identifying suspicious individuals via face recognition captured from high-quality camera images. Nikkei Inc. is simultaneously holding a total of eight exhibitions, including these two, under a comprehensive event entitled "Nikkei Messe." Admission to any of the exhibitions is available free of charge simply by pre-registering on the official website. Overseas guests, we look forward to seeing you there! "RETAILTECH JAPAN" and "SECURITY SHOW" Event Dates: March 7 (Tue) to 10 (Fri), 2017 Venue: Tokyo Big Sight Expected attendance: 130,000 Exhibition scale: RETAILTECH JAPAN, 207 companies, 977 booths / SECURITY SHOW, 186 companies, 666 booths For more details, please visit the respective exhibit websites below: RETAILTECH JAPAN= http://www.retailtech.jp/en/ SECURITY SHOW= http://www.securityshow.jp/en/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123005386/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Tektronix Delivers Automated 100G Electrical Test Solutions for DSA8300 Sampling Oscilloscopes BEAVERTON, Ore., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of measurement solutions, today introduced new equivalent time automated compliance test solutions for 4-lane 100G electrical interfaces defined in the IEEE 802.3bm and 802.3bj specifications. The new capabilities along with the full set of Tektronix solutions for 100G and 400G characterization and validation will be demonstrated February 1-2 at DesignCon 2017, Booth 741. Available for Tektronix performance oscilloscopes including the DSA8300 >70 GHz bandwidth sequential equivalent-time sampling oscilloscope and the DPO70000SX real-time oscilloscope series with bandwidth up to 70 GHz, this TekExpress application supports 100G Ethernet (IEEE 802.3bj and IEEE 802.3bm Annex 83) electrical validation and characterization needs. Specific supported technologies are 100GBASE-CR4, 100GBASE-KR4 and CAUI-4, which are the principal electrical specifications for 100G Ethernet. With these additions, Tektronix now offers the industry's most complete set of IEEE 802.3bm and 802.3bj solutions covering both optical (100GBASE-SR4) and lectrical validation tools. The DSA8300 offers the unique ability to perform both optical and electrical validation using one system with industry leading optical and electrical bandwidth. The IEEE 802.3 specification is lengthy and continually evolving, making it challenging for test engineers to come up to speed on such a massive specification. Tektronix works in collaboration with standards bodies and leverages its expertise to help translate industry standard test requirements into easy-to-use turnkey test solutions that offer clear and concise characterization reports. Reducing test and validation complexity is key to bringing interchangeable 100G optical and electrical modules to market in a timely manner. "The latest 100G and emerging 400G Ethernet standards require both electrical and optical validation to ensure interoperability and also introduce many new measurement challenges," said Brian Reich general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "Tektronix is offering a full complement of industry leading optical and electrical standards verification solutions to serve this demanding market." The Tektronix CAUI-4/KR4/CR4 test automation solution operates on either the DSA8300 sampling platform or the high-performance DPO70000SX 70, 59 and 50 GHz real-time oscilloscopes. These platforms deliver unprecedented low noise and measurement accuracy. Tektronix offers these software validation tools on both systems to give customers the flexibility of real-time or the precision of equivalent time instruments. Pricing & Availability The Tektronix 80S100G-TXE (DSA8300) and 100G-TXE (DPO70000SX) solutions for CAUI-4, KR4 and CR4 are available to order now. Pricing starts at $9,000 US MSRP. For more information please visit: http://www.tek.com/100g-optical-and-electrical-tx-rx Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook. About Tektronix Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM. Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tektronix-delivers-automated-100g-electrical-test-solutions-for-dsa8300-sampling-oscilloscopes-300395419.html SOURCE Tektronix, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Tektronix Introduces Industry's First Comprehensive Receiver Testing Solution for MIPI D-PHY v2.0 BEAVERTON, Ore., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tektronix, Inc., a leading worldwide provider of measurement solutions, today introduced the industry's first receiver test solution with 100 percent coverage of the MIPI Alliance's recently released D-PHY v.2.0 specification along with full support for the C-PHY v1.1 receiver test specification. Tektronix now offers MIPI designers, such as those working on autonomous driving systems or in-vehicle infotainment, simplified PHY receiver test set up and faster test execution combined with industry leading signal fidelity and flexible support for in-depth debug and margin testing. This solution expands Tektronix' extensive portfolio of MIPI PHY transmitter and receiver and protocol test solutions for its industry leading real-time oscilloscopes, arbitrary waveform generators and BERTScope bit error rate testers. MIPI standards continue to evolve quickly to support consumer demands for ever more powerful devices. In addition, the latest high-speed MIPI standards are seeing broad adoption in the automotive sector for applications ranging from self-driving cars to vehicle telematics. Receiver testing has emerged as one of the more difficult challenges due to increased complexity, higher speeds, different data rates and modes (HS, LP, HS-LP) and backward compatibility requirements. With this latest release, Tektronix is keeping pace with the rapidly changing MIPI standards landscape while giving designers the future-proof test solutions they need to efficiently bring new products o market. "In highly competitive sectors like automotive and mobile, engineering teams face uncommon challenges to bring highly differentiated solutions to market while demonstrating compliance to increasingly complex standards," said Brian Reich, general manager, Performance Oscilloscopes, Tektronix. "With our industry leading signal generators and oscilloscopes and advanced software support for the latest MIPI standards, we are giving our customers the compliance testing and debug tools they need to meet these challenges." The latest Tektronix MIPI receiver test solutions consist of DPHYXpress and CPHXpress software packages running on AWG70000 Series arbitrary waveform generators. These solutions offer industry leading signal fidelity with up to 50 GS/s sampling rate and 10-bit vertical resolution. The software gives users full control to change receiver test parameters such as rise time, amplitude, jitter, setup/hold time for CLK, skew, noise, duty cycle distortion and more. It also allows users to de-embed cable effects using a direct synthesis method. To reduce test times, the applications offer a batch mode for receiver margin testing to easily create and replay libraries of complied stress waveforms with different jitter and noise parameters. Availability and pricing The DPHYXpress and CPHYXpress solutions are available for download now from the Tektronix website. Pricing is $10,000 US MSRP. Wondering what else Tektronix is up to? Check out the Tektronix Bandwidth Banter blog and stay up to date on the latest news from Tektronix on Twitter and Facebook. About Tektronix Headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, Tektronix delivers innovative, precise and easy-to-operate test, measurement and monitoring solutions that solve problems, unlock insights and drive discovery. Tektronix has been at the forefront of the digital age for over 70 years. Join us on the journey of innovation at TEK.COM. Tektronix is a registered trademark of Tektronix, Inc. All other trade names referenced are the service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tektronix-introduces-industrys-first-comprehensive-receiver-testing-solution-for-mipi-d-phy-v20-300395160.html SOURCE Tektronix, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Tupperware Brands Announces Arrival of Third Global Links Scholar, Dr. Rumpa Chakraborty Tupperware Brands Corporation (NYSE:TUP) announced the Orlando arrival of Dr. Rumpa Chakraborty, the third scholar selected to participate in Global Links, a cross-cultural exchange program. Developed with the support of U.S. Secretary of State's Office of Global Women's Issues and co-founders Rollins College and Tupperware Brands, Global Links expands women's entrepreneurship opportunities in developing and post-conflict countries. Dr. Rumpa Chakraborty, a professor of finance and accounting at Shri Shikshayatan College in Kolkata, is the second Global Links scholar from India. Global Links espouses the values of women's economic empowerment and social change held by Tupperware Brands. From January through May, Dr. Chakraborty will spend five months in the United States. She will receive ongoing academic and social-entrepreneurship training and participate in business classes at the Rollins College Social Entrepreneurship and Business Department and Crummer Graduate School of Business, in addition to a hands-on externship focused on business fundamentals at Tupperware Brands global headquarters in Orlando. After this immersion experience, Dr. Chakraborty will return to Kolkata to introduce social entrepreneurship concepts to her students. She will also develop a community service project for students that includes mentoring women in the local community on various business skills needed to maintain successful enterprises. Dr. Chakraborty has been teaching at Shri Shikshayatan College, a liberal arts women's college, since 1999. She is the faculty coordinator of the college's entrepreneurship program, and mentors students interested in pursuing entrepreneurship as a career. In addition, Dr. Chakraborty teaches finance, business management and accounting an offers career development workshops and seminars. She completed her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies at the University of Calcutta. "I am thrilled to have been selected to participate in Global Links," said Dr. Chakraborty. "I am grateful for the opportunity to enrich my knowledge of entrepreneurship and women's economic empowerment. Most of all, through Global Links, I look forward to helping my students work with real-life entrepreneurs in India, especially those from underprivileged communities and rural areas." In 2015, Dr. Sharmistha Banerjee, a professor of Business Management at the University of Calcutta, was selected as the first Global Links scholar from India. Since her return to Kolkata, Dr. Banerjee has held nine workshops where more than 400 students and 50 faculty members have been engaged in social entrepreneurship seminars. Global Links not only teaches these students business fundamentals, it inspires them to work on business projects that give back to their community. Dr. Chakraborty's appointment as the third Global Links scholar, through the "learn and return" model, will help further entrepreneurial opportunities for women in India. After a successful 2012 pilot in Iraq, the program expanded to India - a country with only 35% female participation in the job market, despite it being the 10th largest economy with respect to GDP. Women in India continue to face many cultural, societal and educational barriers to labor force entry and economic empowerment. "Tupperware Brands has long believed in the business value of empowering women," said Rick Goings, Tupperware Brands Corporation Chairman and CEO. "For more than 70 years, we have provided women with opportunities to grow as entrepreneurs and business leaders. Global Links takes this effort a step further, connecting scholars across cultures to disseminate best practices in entrepreneurship to communities in developing countries." Grant Cornwell, Rollins College President, says: "Each year, the Global Links scholar brings a unique perspective to our classrooms, strengthening our understanding of entrepreneurship around the world today. Our faculty, staff and students look forward to partnering with Dr. Chakraborty this semester, and we are grateful for our partnership with Tupperware Brands on the Global Links program as it reinforces our commitment to higher education and life-long learning." About Tupperware Brands Corporation Through an independent sales force of 3.1 million, Tupperware Brands Corporation is the leading global marketer of innovative, premium products across multiple brands utilizing social selling. Product brands and categories include design-centric preparation, storage and serving solutions for the kitchen and home through the Tupperware brand and beauty and personal care products through the Avroy Shlain, BeautiControl, Fuller, NaturCare, Nutrimetics, and Nuvo brands. About Rollins College Located in Orlando in the community of Winter Park, Rollins College is Florida's oldest recognized college. For more than 20 years, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Rollins among the top two regional universities in the South. As part of its mission to educate students for global citizenship and responsible leadership, Rollins offers full-time undergraduate programs, undergraduate and graduate degree programs through its evening program at the Hamilton Holt School and graduate business degree programs through its Crummer Graduate School of Business, which has been ranked a top MBA program by Forbes and Bloomberg (News - Alert) BusinessWeek. Rollins serves approximately 3,300 degree-seeking students annually. For more information, visit www.rollins.edu. "Like" Rollins on Facebook and follow on Twitter (News - Alert) @RollinsCollege. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005423/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Xignite Scales Leadership and Sales Teams, Adds Financial Services Industry Veterans SAN MATEO, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Xignite, Inc., the leading provider of cloud-based financial data application programming interface (APIs), announced today it has expanded its leadership team adding two senior financial services executives, Ryan Burdick, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales and Marla Sofer, Senior Director, Strategic Business Development. The company also announced that it has opened an office in the New York financial district to serve Xignite's East Coast activities and hired market data industry veteran Dina Xu as its first New York-based sales director. Xignite is leveraging capital raised in a Series C funding to further scale its sales and marketing efforts in order to fuel the company's continued global growth in financial services technology. The company is looking to add upward of 20 employees globally in 2017. "Ryan, Marla and Dina bring incredible financial services technology experience that will help us tremendously in educating the capital markets industry about the challenges and opportunities they face as they prepare to migrate their market data infrastructure to the public cloud," said Stephane Dubois, Xignite CEO and Founder." Ryan Burdick joins the company as Senior Vice President, Sales and will be based in New York. Burdick brings over fifteen years of expertise in financial information technology and has led several companies through rapid growth and profitability. At Xignite, he will be responsible for the worldwide sales team and partners, as well as continue to build on Xignite's record 2016 results and rapid expansion in Asia. Prior to Xignite Burdick served as Head of Client Management North America for Markit, leading a team responsible for managing the company's enterprise software clients. Prior to Markit he was Vice President at S&P Capital IQ responsible for building partnerships and alliances to grow sales for the company's large portfolio of complex enterprise data and analytics solutions. Burdick also has heldsenior sales positions at Standard and Poor's. He graduated from St. Lawrence University Canton, NY. Marla Sofer has been appointed Senior Director, Strategic Business Development. She will be responsible for managing key partners, redistribution clients and special marketing initiatives, including the #FinTech API Ecosystem. Sofer joins Xignite from Lending Club where she was Head of Third-Party Monitoring and Oversight. Prior to Lending Club, she was a founding member of the team that launched the Global Provider Strategy function at BlackRock responsible for developing and executing BlackRock's operating strategy for selecting, managing, and partnering with global banks, index licensors, and market data providers. Previously she was at J.P. Morgan responsible for servicing asset management and institutional clients. She holds an MBA in Business Strategy and International Business from Rutgers University and a BA in Sociology and Hebrew from the University of Texas at Austin. Dina Xu joins Xignite as Director of Global Sales Director. Based in New York, Xu brings 14 years' experience from S&P Capital IQ where she helped to build the company's business in Asia and North America, opening Capital IQ's first office in China. About Xignite Named one of the ten coolest brands in banking, Xignite, Inc. empowers innovation across financial services. Xignite provides cloud-based real-time and reference market data to financial services and fintech companies for easy integration with websites, apps, and software. The Xignite Market Data Cloud platform, hosted by AWS, allows companies to simplify infrastructure, scale quickly, and innovate faster. Xignite's clients include more than 1,000 financial services, media and software companies including BMO, BlackRock, Charles Schwab, and IEX, as well as leading fintech disruptors such as Betterment, FutureAdvisor, IEX, Motif Investing, Personal Capital, Robinhood, SoFi, StockTwits, Wealthfront and Yodlee. Visit http://www.xignite.com or follow on Twitter @xignite. Media Contact Xignite Kerry Langstaff +1 650-242-4466 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xignite-scales-leadership-and-sales-teams-adds-financial-services-industry-veterans-300395340.html SOURCE Xignite On December 22 last year, the Samajwadi Party government had issued an order naming 17-sub-castes, earlier classified in the Other Backward Classes category, into the Scheduled Castes list. By India Today Web Desk: In a blow to Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the crucial Assembly election, the Allahabad High Court today stayed the Uttar Pradesh government's order to include 17 sub-castes in the Scheduled Castes (SC) category. On December 22 last year, the Samajwadi Party government had issued an order naming 17-sub-castes, earlier classified in the Other Backward Classes category, into the Scheduled Castes list. advertisement On January 12, the Allahabad High Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply on a petition challenging the decision. Also read: UP polls: SP-Congress alliance official; Akhilesh to lead coalition WHAT PETITIONER SAID Petitioner Raj Kumar had alleged that subsequent to the Cabinet decision, the state government's personnel department issued a notification on December 31 whereby it was ordered that all benefits provided to the SCs be extended to the aforementioned 17 caste groups. This, the petitioner contended, was in violation of Article 341 of the Constitution which empowers only the Centre, and not the states, to decide the inclusion or exclusion of any caste group in the list of the Scheduled Castes. Also read: Telangana to pressurise Modi govt for 12 per cent Muslim quota: CM Chandrasekhar Rao --- ENDS --- [January 23, 2017] Parker to Announce Fiscal 2017 Second Quarter Earnings on February 2; Conference Call and Webcast Scheduled for 11 a.m. Eastern CLEVELAND, Jan. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Parker Hannifin Corporation (NYSE: PH), the global leader in motion and control technologies, today announced that it will release its fiscal 2017 second quarter earnings before the market opens on Thursday, February 2, 2017, followed by a conference call at 11:00 a.m., Eastern time. During the call, the company will discuss fiscal 2017 second quarter financial performance and respond to questions from institutional investors and security analysts. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously on Parker's investor information website at www.phstock.com with an accompanying slide presentation. The call also will be archived on the site and available for replay later that day. Parker Hannifin is a Fortune 250 global leader in motion and control technologies. For 100 years the company has engineered the success of its customers in a wide range of diversified industrial and aerospace markets. Parker has increased its annual dividend per share paid to shareholders for 60 consecutive fiscal years, among the top five longest-running dividend-increase records in the S&P 500 index. Learn more at www.parker.com or @parkerhannifin. ### Contact: Media Aidan Gormley, Director, Global Communications and Branding 216/896-3258 [email protected] Financial Analysts Robin J. Davenport, Vice President, Corporate Finance 216/896-2265 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 23, 2017] Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP Files Securities Class Action Lawsuit Against Banc of California, Inc. Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP ("GPM") announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of a class (the "Class") consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Banc of California, Inc. ("Banc of California" or the "Company") (NYSE: BANC) securities between October 29, 2015, and January 20, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). If you are a member of the Class described above, you may move the Court no later than sixty days from the date of this notice, to serve as lead plaintiff. Please contact Lesley Portnoy at 888-773-9224 or 310-201-9150, or at [email protected] to discuss this matter. The complaint filed in this lawsuit alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects, including: (1) that the Company had extensive ties t an alleged "fraudster" named Jason Galanis ("Galanis"); (2) that, given Galanis' history, the Company's ties to Galanis created substantial regulatory risk; (3) that revelation of Galanis' ties to the Company could cause a substantial decline in the market price of the Company's securities; (4) that the Company allegedly misled investors concerning the Company's connections with Galanis; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about Banc of California's business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On January 23, 2017, Banc of California announced the resignation of its CEO, Steven A. Sugarman, and that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had opened an investigation into whether the Company had misled investors in its response to an October 2016 Seeking Alpha report disclosing a connection between the Banc of California and an alleged fraudster named Jason Galanis. On this news the Company's shares fell $1.50 per share, or nearly 10%, to close on January 23, 2017 at $14.65 per share, on unusually high volume of over 6 million shares. If you purchased shares of Banc of California during the Class Period you may move the Court no later than sixty days from the date of this notice to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff. To be a member of the Class you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the Class. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Lesley Portnoy, Esquire, of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, 1925 Century Park East, Suite 2100, Los Angeles, California 90067, at (310) 201-9150, by e-mail to [email protected], or visit our website at www.glancylaw.com. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006152/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 23, 2017] Hagens Berman: Court Approves $1.67 Billion Volkswagen Dieselgate Settlement on Behalf of VW-Branded Dealerships A federal judge today granted final approval for a $1.67 billion settlement for hundreds of Volkswagen-branded franchise dealers following the automaker's Dieselgate scandal that blindsided dealers, according to Hagens Berman. The settlement brings $1.67 billion in benefits to Volkswagen dealers, including nearly $1.2 billion in new cash, $270 million through a non-offset provision for prior payments and $175 million in continued sales incentives. The settlement garnered nearly unanimous approval of dealers, with 99 percent participation in the settlement. Participating dealers will receive an average settlement payout of $1.85 million. "The Volkswagen-branded franchise dealer class-action settlement finalized today represents an outstanding result for Volkswagen's affected franchise dealers who, like consumers, were blindsided by the brazen fraud that VW perpetrated," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and the lead attorney representing the class. "We are pleased to have been able to reach a swift resolution to allow these small business owners to get back to business and offset the tremendous hit to franchise value, revenue and profits suffered due to VW's Dieselgate scandal." The order, granted by Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, states that franchise dealers will share just under $1.2 billion in payments intended as compensation for the alleged diminution in the value of their franchises. The court approved allocation of the cash payments based upon the formula that Volkswagen used to provide its monthly support payments to franchise dealers, specifically the monthly support payments that began in November of 2015 and, pursuant to the settlement, continued through December 2016. Hagens Berman has established a dedicated email, toll-free number and website to answer dealers' questions about the proposed settlement. Dealers are invited to contact Hagens Berman's legal team: [email protected] 1-800-657-1758 www.vwdealersettlement.com Half of the settlement payment will be made up front, and the remaining 50 percent will be paid in 18 equal, consecutive monthly installments beginning the month following the initial payment. Approximately 85 percent of Volkswagen's dealers have already executed Individual Release forms that have allowed VW to pay the initial payments in December 2016 and January 2017. Franchise dealers who chose not to complete the individual release will receive their initial payments within 30 days of the effective date of the settlement. In addition to the cash compensation and continued incentives, the Settlement limits VW's ability to require its dealers to make costly capital improvements for two years and establishes parameters to resolve dealer inventory issues with the diesel cars that have been stuck on dealers' lots since the emission scandal when Volkswagen issued broad stop-sale orders covering diesel-powered cars. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a consumer-rights class-action law firm with offices in 10 cities. The firm has been named to the National Law Journal's Plaintiffs' Hot List eight times. More about the law firm and its successes can be found at www.hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006166/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Valley Presbyterian Hospital Welcomes New Vice President of Human Resources Valley Presbyterian Hospital welcomes Deborah Gac as its new Vice President of Human Resources. Ms. Gac brings more than 35 years of health care industry experience in human resources to Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Previously, Ms. Gac served as Director of Human Resources at Providence Health and Services. She also served as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif., and held various roles at Scripps Health in San Diego. "Ms. Gac's vast hospital experience in human resources will provide strong support for our hospital," said Gustavo Valdespino, President & Chief Executive Officer. "We are pleased to welcome her to the team at Valley Presbyterian Hospital." In her new role, Ms. Gac oversees all functions of human resorces, including learning and development, talent management, compensation, benefits, succession planning, talent acquisition, employee and labor relations, process improvement and organizational development. Ms. Gac received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at San Diego State University and an MBA from National University in San Diego. ABOUT VALLEY PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL Valley Presbyterian Hospital (VPH) is an independent, nonprofit and nonsectarian hospital serving the medical needs of the San Fernando Valley community for more than 50 years. VPH has grown to become one of the largest acute care hospitals in the Valley region and continues to provide patient-centered care for a healthy community. The 350-bed facility offers advanced technology and a full range of medical services to improve and save lives. For more information, visit www.valleypres.org. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006201/en/ [January 23, 2017] Loyalty Prime Secures Series A Funding to Disrupt the Loyalty Marketing Industry With Their Pioneering Software-as-a-Service Platform MUNICH, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Senovo, Unternehmertum Venture Capital and angel investor Alexander Bruehl invest to accelerate market penetration of unique cloud-based enterprise loyalty platform. Loyalty Prime, the leading SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) loyalty platform provider, secured its Series A funding from the financial consortium consisting of Senovo, Unternehmertum Venture Capital (UVC) and angel investor Alexander Bruehl, to rapidly grow their business across Europe, North America and Asia. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/460017/Loyalty_Prime_Logo.jpg ) In relation to the above deal, Christoph Straub, Managing Director at Loyalty Prime said: "We at Loyalty Prime are thrilled to have found the perfect set of investors in Senovo, UVC and Alexander Bruehl, who bring the right balance of SaaS experience and growth financing, which will help us to accelerate our growth story." "Loyalty Prime has proven that its excellent and innovative product is the right answer to today's needs of a modern loyalty program," said Johannes von Borries, Managing Director at UVC. Frederick von Mallinckrodt, Managing Director at Senovo, adds: "We are impressed by the experience of the founders Christoph and Kunal and by Loyalty Prime's ability to attract top international clients." Loyalty Prime kicked off as a self-funded start-up in 2014. Spearheaded by its two founders - Christoph Straub (based in Munich) and Kunal Mohiuddin (based in New Delhi) - Loyalty Prime has achieved remarkable success in winning large projects in such a short time including winning the award for the Best B2B Loyalty Program at the prestigious Loyalty Awards in 2015. It is the first of its kind coud-based loyalty solution, which delivers enterprise class functionality to small, medium and enterprise clients, such as Fraport AG, TRW ZF, Preferred Hotels & Resorts to name a few. Casey Ueberroth, Chief Marketing Officer at Preferred Hotels & Resorts underlines the above when he says: "Loyalty Prime's platform excels due to its fast set up time & quick integration into existing IT systems. Moreover, it's incredibly easy to use." Jan Boluminski, Managing Director at Envolved and co-founder of Payback, who supports Loyalty Prime as advisory board member, says: "Loyalty Prime's SaaS platform is first in class. With the funding, LP will be able to accelerate market penetration and is well prepared to become the 'Salesforce' of the loyalty industry." About Senovo Senovo is a Munich based early stage fund with a focus on B2B SaaS Investments. The Senovo team believes that SaaS should be the dominant model for delivering software and is thrilled about the great market opportunities which are continuously created by the tectonic shift towards SaaS. Senovo funds outstanding entrepreneurs and teams building world class products and generally gets involved soon after product launch. http://www.senovo.vc About Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC) Unternehmertum Venture Capital Partners (UVC) is an early-stage fund investing in new businesses with innovative technologies and international market potential. UVC focuses on Industrial Technologies & Smart Enterprises with a preference for B2B business models. Even though UVC is fully independent it can leverage the overall UnternehmerTUM ecosystem to support its portfolio companies. UnternehmerTUM is the largest German innovation and entrepreneurship centre and is partnering with many leading corporates, universities as well as research institutes. http://www.unternehmertum.de/venture-capital.html About Alexander Bruehl Alexander Bruehl is a renowned SaaS expert, passionate mentor and committed angel investor. He is a serial entrepreneur himself, has been a Senior Partner in a large, transatlantic Venture Capital firm and since 2009 helps ambitious entrepreneurs to manage go-to-market and growth challenges of SaaS companies from positioning, sales modelling, internationalization to proper funding. He is an active Seed investor in many leading European SaaS companies such as FreeAgent, Geckoboard, Contentful and Riskmethods. http://www.saasgarage.com About Loyalty Prime Since 2014 our team of loyalty experts is driving the growth of our award winning loyalty cloud platform serving clients worldwide to run the leading loyalty programs in their industries. Our international team includes 60 employees and is located in three offices: Munich (head office), London and New Delhi (delivery centre). Together with our channel partners we are serving our clients around the globe. http://www.loyaltyprime.com UnternehmerTUM Press contact Sabine Hansky Head of Communication & Development UnternehmerTUM GmbH Tel +49-89-18-94-69-1311 | Fax +49-89-18-94-69-1199 [email protected] Loyalty Prime Press contact Anja Zschoernig Head of Communications Loyalty Prime [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 23, 2017] Introducing Pepsite to India: The World's First Mobile Website Builder App BANGALORE, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Starthosting announces the launch of Pepsite, the world's first mobile website builder app on the Indian market. Pepsite is a drag-and-drop editor, which allows anyone to create a unique and professional website. Worldwide, many thousands of small and medium enterprises already use Pepsite, as what they commonly describe as their best choice to make an appearance on the Internet. (Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/460411/PRNE_Pepsite_Infographic.jpg ) Website Creation on-the-go - Start Free Pepsite is the first mobile website editor to create and update websites on-the-go - any time, any place and from any device. It offers great professional templates and users can just drag-and-drop content without any hassle or technical knowledge. Pepsite allows users to Start Free with a basic version of the app, without paying a single penny and create their very own appealing and professional looking website in just minutes. Digital India: Internet per Smart Phone/b> Thanks to the low-costing smartphones and free accessibility of Wi-Fi Internet, India is witnessing a massive growth of mobile Internet usage from every nook and corner. As of today, there are already approximately 400 million mobile Internet users across the nation. Pepsite provides a great opportunity to access the net and also contribute to it, through the creation of personal and professional websites. Joeri Borstlap, Starthosting's MD and Pepsite Evangelist, says, "We have developed Pepsite for the people of India and for anyone willing to pursue business online. Our main goal is to make it easy to create digital identity, and help to take the first steps in going online successfully." Product Features and Packages Pepsite provides a range of high-end, exciting features, all at the touch of one's own fingertip and thereby saving substantial web design costs. The premium plans start from only 89 INR/month and include unlimited website hosting, professional email accounts as well as a free .COM or .IN domain name in the first year. Ankit and Rashi Shroff, Founders of Exquise Chocolates summarize: "We started our first company website with Pepsite with the professional plan, which was really good, easy to design and hassle free. Our next step will be the e-commerce package to sell our chocolates online." About Starthosting Starthosting offers domains, web-design and a full range of related web hosting services. The international team has more than 16 years of experience with supporting online presence in over 120 countries around the world, and has an Asian support centre in Bangalore since 2012. For more information, click here: https://starthosting.in/pepsite Start Free: http://www.pepsite.in Call Free: 080-23433852/1800-4253-00000 Media contact: Venu Gopal [email protected] Phone: +91-9108014276 General Manager Realtime Register India Pvt Ltd [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] International Coalition files Lawsuit in District Court of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for Damages Caused by Alleged Corruption and Fraud Perpetrated by Petroleo Brasiliero, certain affiliates and its Executives. An International coalition announced today that a lawsuit was filed in Dutch Court yesterday on behalf of institutional investors who suffered billions of dollars in losses in their investments in Petroleo Brasiliero SA ("Petrobras"). Seeking declaratory relief as a result of the alleged corruption of the company and its executives, the coalition represents investors who purchased Petrobras securities on the BM&FBOVESPA exchange in Brazil and other securities purchased via transactions outside of, and not covered by, litigation in the United States. The damaged investor group believes the Netherlands is the optimal jurisdiction for pursuing legal action, as this is where Petrobras Global Finance B.V. and several other Petrobras entities and divisions are domiciled. In addition, the Dutch legal system has an established global settlement precedent for international investors who seek compensation pursuant to damages caused by fraud and violations of international securities laws. The 172-page Writ alleges that when years of complex fraud and bribery schemes orchestrated by management and officials of Petrobras were finally revealed to the public in 2014, investors lost billions of dollars, euros and Brazilian reals, resulting from significant asset write-downs and precipitous declines in Petrobras share prices. The Writ has been filed by the Dutch based Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation ("Foundation") represented by a coalition of Dutch, US, Brazilian and UK law firms and supported by a large group of international investors and International Securities Associations and Foundations Management Company Ltd. ("ISAF"). The Foundation is a not for profit entity acting on behalf of a class of damaged Petrobras investors. The Foundation is led by highly experienced and independent board members, including: Mr. H. Th. Bouma (Chairman), a former law partner at Pels Rijcken & Droogleever Fortuijn and former deputy judge at the Court of Appeal in The Hague; Mr. A.H. Korthals, former Defense Secretary of the Dutch government and former Justice Secretary of the Dutch government; Mr. C.J. Vriesman, former acting Mayor of the municipality of Den Helder and former Director General for the National Forest Service and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. More information about the Foundation's board and Supervisory Board can be found on the Foundation website (http://www.pbcompensation.com/). Goals of the Legal Action & How to Recover Losses Thelitigation in the Netherlands is supported and financed by ISAF and provides a vehicle for damaged investors to litigate for compensation and to establish a binding settlement for the securities involved in the litigation. Eligible Petrobras investors are participating on a "success fee only" basis, with no risk or upfront cost. The Foundation invited Petrobras et al to discuss an equitable resolution for the damage caused to investors represented by the Foundation. To date, that invitation has not been accepted, hence litigation has now commenced. Jurisdiction The Netherlands is the Optimal Jurisdiction for suing Petrobras in this case Via the Foundation, Dutch and International investors are pursuing legal action in The Netherlands, where Petrobras Global Finance B.V. and several other Petrobras entities and divisions are domiciled. Furthermore, the effects of the alleged Fraud extended into The Netherlands. The Foundation litigation and settlement efforts cover the principal Petrobras equity securities traded on the BM&FBOVESPA in Sao Paolo and via linked markets such as Latibex on Bolsa De Madrid, together with certain Euro, Sterling and USD denominated bonds issued via Petrobras Global Finance B.V. The coalition's decision to pursue litigation in The Netherlands, also considers the fact that if the parties decide to settle during the litigation, the Dutch legal system has an established global settlement precedent for international investors who seek compensation caused by fraud and violations of international securities laws. United States Securities Lawsuits The lawsuits filed in the US on behalf of investors cover losses in American Depository Shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and certain US dollar denominated bonds. That means investor losses stemming from shares that traded on the BM&FBOVESPA and certain bonds, including Euro denominated bonds, are not included in the US class action and opt-out lawsuits. Brazil Arbitration ISAF, in conjunction with a coalition of international and cross-jurisdictional law firms, has extensively researched the prospect of initiating arbitration between damaged investors and Petrobras before the Market Arbitration Chamber of the BM&FBOVESPA exchange in Brazil. This analysis, coupled with analysis executed by institutional investors independent of ISAF, leads to the conclusion that the Dutch litigation strategy organized by the Foundation and ISAF is the optimal and most likely route to a meaningful recovery for damaged investors. About the Shareholder Foundation Foundation Organizers. Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation, a Netherlands-based foundation that acts on behalf of damaged Petrobras investors, has appointed ISAF to interact with investors, law firms, service providers, and media and to undertake all administrative tasks, including the collection of client trading data, loss calculations, loss certification, and all aspects of documentation handling. In addition, ISAF will finance all litigation costs, including legal fees, experts' fees, processing, data collection, administration, and claims administration, including potential payout administration. Law Firms. Lemstra Van der Korst N.V., a leading Dutch litigation and class action law firm acts on behalf of the Foundation and is consulting with securities litigation firms, Motley Rice and Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart and Withers LLP and Brazilian law firms. Claims Analysis and Processing. Battea Class Action Services, LLC, an international leader in the class action securities claims filing space, has been retained to collect client data and process and validate investor loss calculations. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006220/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Aldevron Announces Growth Investment from TA Associates Aldevron, a contract development and manufacturing organization specializing in the production of plasmid DNA, proteins and antibodies, today announced it has received a growth investment from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm. Aldevron's management retains a significant portion of ownership in the company and will continue to run the company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005389/en/ Founded in 1998, Aldevron manufactures biologics for research, clinical and diagnostic applications. The company's products are used to manufacture novel treatments for a wide range of indications, including cancer, infectious disease, pediatric disorders and rare diseases. Aldevron's custom products are used extensively in the fields of gene therapy and gene editing. The company is headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota and has additional facilities in Madison, Wisconsin and Freiburg, Germany. "Since Aldevron's founding, we have strived to be the organization of choice for producing high-quality biologics that support the drug development objectives of our clients," said Michael Chambers, CEO of Aldevron. "In 2016, we broke ground on a new 50,000-square-foot GMP facility that will be the first building on our new seven-acre campus. We also launched our new GMP-source facility and expanded our research grade plasmid service. With TA Associates' partnership, we will increase our manufacturing capabilities and capacity, and advance our ongoing efforts to consistently provide the best-in-class products with the highest levels of client service. We look forward to working with TAand expect to benefit from their extensive healthcare experience and insights." "We are thrilled to invest behind Aldevron's current management team to support the company's tradition of serving its clients with industry leading manufacturing and development capabilities," said Ethan K. Liebermann, a Principal at TA Associates who will join the Aldevron Board of Directors. "Since its founding, the company has generated a broad and diversified client base of leading global biopharmaceutical companies that we anticipate will continue to expand. We are thrilled to begin collaborating with the entire Aldevron management team and are very much looking forward to a longstanding partnership focused on continued growth and outstanding client service." "With significant demand for research and development focused on treatments for cancer, genetic defects, inflammatory conditions and other rare diseases, the biopharmaceuticals sector continues to be an attractive area of growth," said Mark H. Carter, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will also join the Aldevron Board of Directors. "Aldevron's development and manufacturing services have provided scientists with essential components to accelerate groundbreaking research and innovative discoveries that have the potential to help people live healthier and more productive lives. We are excited about our partnership with Aldevron and look forward to building upon the company's foundation and expanding its position as a leading global biomanufacturer." Vogel LLP served as legal counsel to Aldevron and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel to TA Associates. About Aldevron, LLC Aldevron serves the biotechnology industry with custom production of nucleic acids, proteins and antibodies. Thousands of clients use Aldevron-produced plasmids, RNA and gene editing enzymes for projects ranging from research grade to clinical trials to commercial applications. Aldevron specializes in GMP manufacturing and is known for inventing the GMP-Source (News - Alert) quality system. Company headquarters are in Fargo, North Dakota, with additional facilities in Madison, Wisconsin and Freiburg, Germany. For more information, please visit www.aldevron.com. About TA Associates TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. The firm has invested in more than 470 companies around the world and has raised $24 billion in capital. With offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong, TA Associates leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the consumer, business services, financial services, healthcare and technology industries. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005389/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Flexpoint Sensor Systems Expands Channel Distribution DRAPER, Utah, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. (FLXT) today announced it has established a strategic supplier relationship with Montreal, Quebec-based RobotShop Inc. This relationship demonstrates the previously announced Flexpoint commitment in 2017 and beyond to expanding a robust channel sales partner ecosystem. RobotShop is "the World's Leading Robot Store for Personal and Professional Robot Technology". Since being established in 2004, RobotShop Inc. has established a market-leading, global e-commerce presence focused squarely on the robotics industry. After being named as one of Canada's 200 fastest growing companies in 2008, the company has continued to experience rapid and sustained growth which continually expands and extends their reach across the global robotics marketplace. RobotShop caters to R&D professionals - public and private, the burgeoning robotics education markets, DIY'ers and others and is a leading supplier of "all things robotics" including the best selection of Robot Vacuums and other Domestic Robots, Professional Robots, Robot Toys, Robot Kits and Robot Parts for building your own robots. The company hosts e-commerce websites in Canada, USA, Europe, the UK and Japan all in support of a growing global customer base. Having experienced a significant increase in interest in flexible sensor technologies, this relationship dramatically broadens the offerings this new partner can make available to their customers. Commenting on the relationship, Paul Sexauer, Flexpoint Vice President of Sales & Marketing stated, "The Bend Sensor has shown tremendous efficacy and a clear competitive market differentiation in robotics applications. RobotShop has chosen a variety of Flexpoint sensors to add to their electronics/sensor solution portfolio and we couldn't be happier to become their leading supplier in this increasingly prominent technology sector." Flexpoint anticipates channel/distributor/reseller revenues to become a significant contributor to overall cash flow and profitability in 2017. In addition, these relationships increasingly improve brand awareness and market differentiation. Added Sexauer, "We expect overall channel revenue contribution in 2017 to be in the 15%-20% range and we intend to further increase this over time." Please visit http://www.flexpoint.com/ for more information. About Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. (FLXT) is an innovative technology firm specializing in developing products that feature the Company's patented Bend Sensor and related technology. The Bend Sensor is a groundbreaking sensing solution that is revolutionizing applications in the automotive, safety, medical and industrial industries. The Bend Sensor's single-layer, thin film construction cuts costs and mechanical bulk while introducing a range of functions and stylistic design possibilities that have never before been available in sensing technology. Flexpoint's technology and expertise have been recognized by the world's elite business and academic innovators for over 17 years. The company is setting a new standard for sensing solutions in the "smart" age of technology. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that certain statements in this release are "forward-looking statements" and involve both known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Such uncertainties include, among others, certain risks associated with the operation of the company described above. The Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. Contact Information: Flexpoint Sensor Systems Clark Mower, President 801-568-5111 Brokers and Analysts Chesapeake Group 410-825-3930 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flexpoint-sensor-systems-expands-channel-distribution-300395337.html SOURCE Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] OptimizeRx Integrates with Eye Care Leaders to Deliver Improved Eye Care and Cost Savings on Prescriptions DURHAM, N.C. and ROCHESTER, Mich., Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eye Care Leaders (ECL), the leading provider of practice performance solutions for ophthalmologists and optometrists, has integrated with OptimizeRx Corp. (OTCQB:OPRX), the leading aggregator of pharmaceutical-sponsored services in electronic health record (EHR) platforms. Through a dynamic platform integration, ECL and OptimizeRx will provide cost saving and patient information services within EHRs that are part of ECLs portfolio of performance solutions for more than 6,800 ophthalmologists and optometrists. ECL brings together the most trusted names in EHR technology, including Medflow, Integrity EMR, MDoffice, ManagementPlus, IO Practiceware and EyeDoc. OptimizeRx will operate seamlessly within the EHR platform to provide support for health care providers (HCPs) and valuable services for patients. The EHR will alert HCPs to potential savings and information for patients that can result in reduced prescription costs and improved overall health outcomes. Further, multiple independent studies confirm that leading pharma manufacturers have realized ROI ranging from 300% to 1,200% in terms of pharma-sponsored patient financial support programs that are integrated into the EHR workflow. OptimizeRx core EHR workflow solutions include: Financial Messaging : Copay savings, vouchers and other valuable patient support can be delivered to patients electronically at the point of care and support more affordable prescriptions. : Copay savings, vouchers and other valuable patient support can be delivered to patients electronically at the point of care and support more affordable prescriptions. Brand Messaging: Patient education and key clinical brand messaging materials can be delivered at the point of care, in electronic or printed versions, offering pharmaceutical and healthcare companies more effective ways to expand HCP and patient support. Our integration with OptimizeRx puts cost savings and patient education tools at the fingertips of thousands of physicians using our EHR platforms, said Jim Alland, president of Eye Care Leaders. Incorporating these tools furthers our mission of providing the best, most comprehensive solutions to physicians, while ensuring patents receive the highest level of care and services in the industry. OptimizeRx has grown to more than 350 EHR and eRx network partnerships that reach over 300,000 physicians in North America. OptimizeRxs services can be integrated quickly and seamlessly into virtually any EHR platform, usually within a matter of hours. OptimizeRx then operates easily within the workflow to alert physicians to cost savings opportunities and patient information. As a leader in the EHR industry, we welcome Eye Care Leaders to our growing OptimizeRx family of EHR partners, which represents the healthcare industrys largest point-of-prescribe promotional network, said OptimizeRx CEO, William Febbo. Given how healthcare providers are now spending more than three hours a day on average engaged in their EHR, ECL can now enable physicians to better connect with their patients and provide valuable cost savings and essential eye health information. About OptimizeRx Corp Based in Rochester, Michigan, OptimizeRx Corporation (OTCQB:OPRX) is a health technology software company that is revolutionizing the point of care experience through technology to improve clinical decisions and outcomes. OptimizeRxs unique consumer and physician platforms help patients better afford and comply with their medicines and healthcare products, while offering pharmaceutical and healthcare companies effective ways to expand awareness, access and adherence to their medications. OptimizeRx core product replaces drug samples with electronic trial vouchers and copay coupon savings that are electronically added to an e-Prescription and sent electronically to the pharmacy and is integrated within leading electronic health record (EHR) platforms in the country, including Allscripts, DrFirst, NewCrop, Quest Diagnostics, Practice Fusion and other EHRs to reach over 300,000 healthcare providers. In turn, OptimizeRx promotes patient savings and support from the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Lilly, Novartis, AstraZeneca and many others. For more information, visit www.optimizerx.com. About Eye Care Leaders Eye Care Leaders (ECL) is a family of companies that serves more than 6,800 ophthalmologists and optometrists, with the common goal of improving the efficiency, profitability and competitiveness of eye care practices. ECL brings together the most trusted names in electronic health records including Medflow, Integrity EMR, MDoffice, ManagementPlus, IO Practiceware and EyeDoc, in addition to a comprehensive suite of business solutions including revenue cycle solutions, analytics and benchmarking, patient retention and acquisition and capital financing. With a sole focus on eye care, ECL understands the challenges physicians face, and brings solutions to complex challenges to help practices reach their goals and succeed. For more information, please visit www.eyecareleaders.com or join us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Important Cautions Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the definition of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and such section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, amended. These forward-looking statements should not be used to make an investment decision. The words 'estimate,' 'possible' and 'seeking' and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as to the date the statement was made. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted, or quantified. Future events and actual results could differ materially from those set forth in, contemplated by, or underlying the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties to which forward-looking statements are subject include, but are not limited to, the effect of government regulation, competition and other material risks. Eye Care Leaders Press Contact: Jeff Stoecker Racepoint Global [email protected] Tel (617) 624-3275 OptimizeRx Contact: Doug Baker, CFO Email Contact Tel (248) 651-6568 x807 OptimizeRxs Investor Relations Contact: Ron Both CMA Email Contact Tel (949) 432-7557 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By Samrudhi Ghosh: Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan's marriage is making headlines again. This time, the Bachchans' former friend and politician Amar Singh has alleged that the couple have not been living together for years. "Even before I met Amitabh Bachchan, he and Jaya Bachchan were living separately. One of them was living in Pratiksha and the other lived in his other bungalow Janak," he told ABP Majha. advertisement ALSO READ: Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan living separately, says Amar Singh ALSO READ: Amitabh-Rekha's silsila still baffles India. Google would vouch for that Amitabh and Jaya's romance dates back to the early 70s, and they have been married for over four decades. Jaya was impressed by him in their very first meeting and it was almost a case of love at first sight. Amitabh wrote in his blog that they both were planning a trip to London to celebrate the success of his film, Zanjeer, but his father would have none of it. "My father came down heavily on me - 'If you are planning a holiday with this girl, you will have to marry her and go, else your decision is denied.' I was an obedient child! I got married the very next day in a quickly organized wedding with family and some dear friends, without any fanfare, and left for the holiday that very night," he wrote. But rumours of trouble in Amitabh and Jaya's paradise cropped up soon. Amitabh started shooting for Do Anjaane (1976) with Rekha and stories of their torrid affair spread like wildfire. The two reportedly had clandestine meetings at a friend's house and rumours of a secret marriage gained momentum. To add fuel to the fire, Rekha attended Rishi and Neetu Kapoor's wedding with sindoor. Yash Chopra's Silsila, where Jaya played Amitabh's wife and Rekha played the 'other woman', was believed to be a reflection of the trio's real life. Rekha's biography quotes Jaya Bachchan saying in an interview, "Let the whole world say what they want. He [Amitabh Bachchan] has made a commitment to me and he has to have the courage (to say he's in love with somebody else!), and if he is doing something behind my back, it's his problem. Not my problem. He has to live with it. And with his conscience!" Rekha's is quoted as telling Stardust, "Jaya did not mind the relationship as long as she thought her husband was only having a fling. It's when she realized that he was really emotionally involved, that is when it began hurting her. She called me for dinner one evening and though we spoke about everything but him, before I left that day, she made sure to tell me, 'I will never leave Amit whatever happens'." Amitabh also said in an interview that a divorce was out of the question. advertisement Rekha reacted to Amitabh's denial of the affair in an interview with Filmfare, "He did it to protect his image, to protect his family, his children... I love him, he loves me - that's it! I don't care what anybody thinks... So why should I care about what he's said in public?" However, Amitabh stopped working with Rekha. Throughout the controversy, the Bachchans did not indulge in any mudslinging and kept their poise in public. Jaya said on Rendezvous With Simi Garewal that she never questions her husband when his name comes up in gossip columns because she finds it "cheap". She said that she has always trusted him completely. Amitabh also said that he never feels the need to explain anything that is written about him because he finds it "demeaning" to clarify to his wife and just thanked his stars saying, "I'm very fortunate that Jaya is in the same profession. She understands what the media is all about and the various pitfalls and hazards that leading men and women go through." advertisement In fact, the media did not spare Aishwarya Rai Bachchan either and rumours of a saas-bahu tiff with Jaya Bachchan filled up innumerable gossip columns. But the Bachchan bahu has always spoken fondly about Jaya and the two even shared a heartwarming moment at the recently held Stardust Awards. While neither Amitabh or Jaya have responded to Amar Singh's allegations, we are sure that the Bachchans aren't ones to wash dirty linen in public and their response, if any, will be classy as usual. ALSO WATCH: 33 years on, Amitabh, Jaya Bachchan greet Rekha at Screen Awards --- ENDS --- [January 24, 2017] Canadian Bioscience Advances Industry Building Solutions The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) hosted a summit of industry, academic, government and investment leaders about the future of health science innovation in Canada. Attendees engaged in group discussions and heard from subject matter experts to extrapolate a mandate of action for anchoring health science companies in Ontario. The outcome of the summit lays a foundation for actionable business cases for private and public sector solutions to the health science industry's biggest challenges: Innovation Pull, Adoption and Capital Attraction. Ontario has been recognized for excellence in research and innovation, but building and retaining innovative health sciences companies in the province and the country remains a challenge. Despite the growing number of innovative start-up companies, Ontario struggles to attract meaningful investments and the "sticky" capital that is required to grow and sustain leading health sciences companies in the region. "This Summit is a great opportunity to discuss the challenges, successes, and the future of bioscience in Ontario. Our shared goal to grow our life science companies, entrepreneurs, and scale ups can only be reached by working together." - The Honourable Reza Moridi, Minister of Research, Innovation and Science "Today's gathering of thought leaders focuses on the elements of success and commits to bold solutions for building strong health science companies," said Gail Garland, CEO, OBIO "We are honored that so many people have come together to ensure that Ontario and Canadians reap the full economic rewards from commercializing technology and the health benefits that accrue to us all." In attendance were visionaries who have succeeded in anchoring companies in Ontario and Canada who have established a foundation from both the corporate and investment perspectives, for what success looks like. The half-day agenda included speakers from investment and leading bioscience companies in the Canada and the US. Three separate break-out Action Team sessions were hosted by corporate leaders and venture capital executives in Toronto. OBIO will publish and launch a report with the recommendations from the OBIO Leadership Summit in early 2017. The keynote, speakers and action team leaders bring deep experience and insight to facilitate discussion about solutions. A wide range of industry, investment, government and acadeics offer both a Canadian and a U.S. perspective on the challenges. Speakers include: David Caluori, Principal, General Atlantic; Cameron Piron, CEO, Synaptive Medical, Arun Menawat, CEO, Profound Medical, Scott Phillips, President StarFish Medical and Michael Cloutier, Partner Mirador Global and OBIO board Chair. "General Atlantic is dedicated to helping businesses scale and grow to new levels," said David Caluori, Principal, General Atlantic. "We are proud to be working with Canadian anchor companies like Synaptive Medical, as we recognize the assets and investment opportunities available in Canada. The OBIO Leadership Summit has brought together Health Science leaders from Ontario and Canada who embrace a culture of entrepreneurship, partnership and act as active champions to better the domestic economy and we look forward to evaluating future investment opportunities with Canadian companies." "Synaptive Medical is proud to be an Ontario-based medical device and technology company growing our R&D, manufacturing and corporate headquarters here in Canada," said Cameron Piron, President and Co-founder. "Since our founding in 2012, we've expanded from six people to approximately three hundred employees across North America and launched eight commercial products in three countries. With General Atlantic as our equity partner, we're scaling our international expansion and exporting Canadian know-how to the world. There's never been a more exciting time for Ontario's life sciences and medical technology ecosystem." "The OBIO Leadership Summit is not a run-of-the-mill roundtable, the vision for the event is not to re-state challenges but rather to rally people to focus on bold solutions to support the development of health science anchor companies," said Michael Cloutier, Partner, Mirador Global and OBIO Board Chair. "OBIO with its strong track record of successfully bringing people together has once again engaged leadership from a wide range of backgrounds including industry, investment, government and academia who are dedicated to making Canada an innovation investment hub and home to health science companies." OBIO would like to thank the following sponsors and collaborators: Norton Rose Fulbright www.nortonrosefulbright.com/ca Business Development Bank of Canada www.bdc.ca National Research Council of Canada www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng (collaborator) Novartis www.novartis.ca Synaptive Medical www.synaptivemedical.com About OBIO www.obio.ca The Ontario Bioscience Innovation Organization (OBIO) is a not-for-profit, membership-based organization engaged in the development of an integrated health innovation economy for Ontario and one that will become a global leader in providing health technology products and services to the international marketplace. OBIO advances this goal through advocacy, promotion and strategic leadership and via collaborative partnerships with industry, academia, patients and government. For more information, visit the OBIO website and follow OBIO on Twitter (News - Alert) @OBIOscience. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005582/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] MEDIA ALERT: THINCI Co-Founder/CEO Dinakar C. Munagala to Present at 2-Day Global Corporate Venturing and Innovation (GCVI) Summit 2017 El Dorado Hills, CA , Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- THINCI Inc. today announced that its co-founder and CEO, Dinakar C. Munagala, will present Machine Learning & Vision Processing for Automotive and Emerging Applications, during the Global Corporate Venturing & Innovation Summit 2017, being held January 25-27 in Sonoma, Calif. WHAT: GCVI Summit 2017 will provide corporate venture capitalists (CVCs), corporate strategy executives, C-level innovation officers and corporate development executives with ways to maximize innovation business practices and drive strategic investment opportunities. Attendees will have access to the worlds most active CVC executives and innovation officers through networking events, un-panels, and program sessions. WHO: Dinakar C. Munagala, Co-founder and CEO, formed THINCI Inc. to build a highly efficient, multi-core, multi-threaded, deep learning and vision processor that will uniquely enable deep learning and visual processing. He assembled a highly competent and synergistic team, and succeeded in building a company from the ground up through final product development and key customer design wins. WHEN: * Wednesday January 25th, 2017, from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm * Thursday January 26th, 2017, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm WHERE: The GCVI Summit 2017 will be held at The Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa, which is about an hour's drive from San Francisco International Airport. For more information about the panel or the conference, visit http://www.gcvisummit.com/. About THINCI Inc. THINCI Inc. is a venture-backed, deep-learning vision processing start-up, based in El Dorado Hills, California, with teams in California and Hyderabad, India. The company was founded by a highly skilled management team with years of experience in massively parallel processing architectures and the software structures to execute on these computing engines. The company is currently in the final phase of producing its deep learning and vision processing solution, comprising silicon and software that can be integrated into a wide range of applications. These include autonomous driving and advanced driver assistance systems in automotive; intelligent agents for personal electronics that enhance photos and video, explain the real-world elements surrounding the user, protect the user from potential danger, and more; smart home automation systems that detect and prevent hazards, intelligently manages home energy consumption, and provides the optimum indoor climate. The companys investors comprise CVCs DENSO Corp. and Magna International, in addition to ten individual investors, including Dado Banatao, Managing Partner of Tallwood Venture Capital and David Perlmutter, former Chief Product Officer at Intel Corp. For more information visit http://www.thinci.com/ Contact: Jonah McLeod THINCI (510) 449-8634 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Foundation Tackled Complex Health Needs in 2016 The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia (BCBSGa), works with organizations throughout Georgia to improve the health of our communities. Through its focus on heart health, cancer prevention, prenatal care, diabetes prevention, active lifestyles and behavioral health, the Foundation is teaming with organizations that are setting the standard when it comes to innovative programs that offer long term solutions. In Georgia, the Foundation provided nearly $1.7 million in grants during 2016. BCBSGa contributed another $253,650 in additional community support during 2016. "We know that when our communities are healthy, residents are able to thrive, grow and prosper," said Jeff Fusile, president of BCBSGa. "We are proud to work with these organizations, dedicated to improving the health of our communities and working to change the lives of so many people throughout the state. Together, we're one step closer to achieving a healthier future for all." From teaching lifesaving skills to increasing cancer screening and helping youth discover that eating healthy and staying active can be fun, the Foundation continues to tackle some of the state's most complex health issues. A quick look at some of this year's highlights illustrates how our work with these non-profits is helping to reduce health disparities and empower local community residents to take control of their health: American Heart Association trained 8,618 people in Hands-Only CPR through a mobile tour, CPR in School kits and other events, and placed a training kiosk at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. trained 8,618 people in Hands-Only CPR through a mobile tour, CPR in School kits and other events, and placed a training kiosk at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Boys & Girls Clubs of America engaged 1,509 youth in healthy, active lifestyles through seven local Triple Play (News - Alert) Club grants. engaged 1,509 youth in healthy, active lifestyles through seven local Triple Play (News - Alert) Club grants. American Cancer Society provided 797 colorectal cancer screenings and 4,812 interventions through the Family Health Center of Georgia in Atlanta. provided 797 colorectal cancer screenings and 4,812 interventions through the Family Health Center of Georgia in Atlanta. March of Dimes enabled 247 women to participate in Centering Pregnancy prenatal care programs. As a result, a 6.3 percent preterm birth rate was reported, compared to the 9.6 percent U.S. average rate. enabled 247 women to participate in Centering Pregnancy prenatal care programs. As a result, a 6.3 percent preterm birth rate was reported, compared to the 9.6 percent U.S. average rate. United States Association of Blind Athletes increased physical activity levels among 42 individuals ho are blind or visually impaired, through Georgia Blind Sports. increased physical activity levels among 42 individuals ho are blind or visually impaired, through Georgia Blind Sports. Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and its school nutrition program, Strong 4 Life, trained 1,432 school dietitians and staff members across 795 schools, reaching more than 270,000 students. More than 96 percent of nutrition managers made at least one change to the cafeteria environment, 54 percent reported increase in fruit sales and 38 percent reported increase in vegetable sales. and its school nutrition program, Strong 4 Life, trained 1,432 school dietitians and staff members across 795 schools, reaching more than 270,000 students. More than 96 percent of nutrition managers made at least one change to the cafeteria environment, 54 percent reported increase in fruit sales and 38 percent reported increase in vegetable sales. HealthMPowers provided more than 1,500 students in 40 schools with training, tools and resources to increase physical activity. provided more than 1,500 students in 40 schools with training, tools and resources to increase physical activity. Camp Kudzu educated 500 overnight youth campers on how to use a glucose monitor, understand how physical activity affects their diabetes, master insulin delivery and understand warning signs of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia Foundation Through charitable grant making, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia Foundation LLC, an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, promotes Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia's inherent commitment to enhance the health and well-being of individuals and families in communities that the company serves. The Foundation focuses its funding on strategic initiatives that address and provide innovative solutions to health care challenges, as well as promoting the Healthy Generations Program, a multi-generational initiative that targets specific disease states and medical conditions. These include: prenatal care in the first trimester, low birth weight babies, cardiac morbidity rates, long term activities that decrease obesity and increase physical activity, diabetes prevalence in adult populations, adult pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations and smoking cessation. The Foundation also coordinates the company's annual associate giving campaign and its parent foundation provides a 50 percent match of associates' campaign pledges. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc. and Blue Cross Blue Shield Healthcare Plan of Georgia, Inc. are independent licensees of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The Blue Cross Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Additional information about Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, Inc. is available at www.bcbsga.com. Also, follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) at www.twitter.com/AskBCBSGa and www.com/BCBSGaPR.com or on Facebook (News - Alert) at www.facebook.com/AskBCBSGa. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005270/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] HRchitect honored as one of Dallas/Fort Worth's Best and Brightest Companies to Work For FRISCO, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HRchitect, a leading provider of Human Capital Management (HCM) technology consulting services, announced today that it has been deemed one of Dallas/Fort Worths Best and Brightest Companies to Work for. This recognition was earned after a nomination was submitted by the local community and was validated by anonymous, voluntary surveys submitted by its Dallas/Fort Worth based employees to independent analysts associated with the Best and Brightest program. The company was subsequently honored for its innovative and thoughtful human resources approaches at a Dallas/Fort Worth awards ceremony held January 23, 2017 at the Dallas Arboretum. HRchitect was named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work for in the Dallas/Fort Worth region. We are honored to be named to this list, particularly in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, competing against many notable organizations including several Fortune 100 companies, commented Matt Lafata, President and CEO of HRchitect. Our team is incredibly proud of the employee first culture which we have established and maintained at our Frisco, Texas headqarters as well as with all of our employees throughout the United States and Canada. Its something that has greatly contributed to our success over the past two decades, separates us from our competitors, and something we are always focused on as our employees mean the world to us. Surveys were sent to a random cross-section of HRchitect employees who work out of the Frisco, Texas headquarters location, producing a 100 percent response rate. The winning companies were evaluated based on key measurements such as communication and shared vision, community initiatives, compensation, benefits and employee solutions, diversity and inclusion, employee achievement and recognition, employee education and development, employee engagement and retention, recruitment, selection and orientation, strategic company performance and work-life balance. Lafata continued, Many companies like to say that the client comes first, but that is not how it should be. We value our clients greatly, and have over 1,000 across the globe of all sizes and industries. However, if you focus on an employee first culture and treat your employees in the best way possible, they will in turn take care of your clients in the same way. Its a philosophy that is at the core of our business which includes things such as Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO), open communication, and more, which in turn has led to very low turnover, and a successful growth rate. HRchitect would like to extend congratulations to the Grand Hyatt DFW and Total Quality Logistics, two of the companys clients which were also honored in the Dallas/Fort Worth market. This award is the latest in a series of notable achievements for the company. HRchitect was also recently presented with the 2016 Great Place to Work certification by Great Place to Work Institute. To view the complete list of Dallas/Fort Worths Best and Brightest Companies to Work for, please visit http://101bestandbrightest.com/events/dallasfort-worths-2017-best-brightest-companies-work-2/winners/. To learn more about HRchitect, please visit www.HRchitect.com. About HRchitect As the leader in HCM Systems strategic consulting, HRchitect offers end-to-end HR technology consulting services focused around strategic planning, evaluation and selection, change management, implementation, project management and ongoing support of HCM systems of all types including Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Learning Management, Workforce Management, Benefits, Core HR/Payroll, and more. Over the past two decades, working on thousands of successful engagements for clients of all sizes and industries across the globe, our experience is vast and unsurpassed. We have expertise around all major HCM systems including Benefitfocus, WorkForce Software, Ultimate Software, Oracle, Taleo, SAP, SuccessFactors, Saba, IBM Kenexa, and more. HRchitect is a name you can trust for all of your organizations HCM technology-related consulting needs. Media Contact: Samantha Colby +1 214 619 6609 [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A look back on all of our reporting of the Delphi murders since 2017 crime By Press Trust of India: Tezpur (Assam), Jan 24 (PTI) Army Chief General Bipin Rawat today made his first visit to the Eastern Command after taking over the office and also went to the forward areas at the international borders with China. Gen Rawats visit is significant after the terrorist ambush, in which three Assam Rifles personnel were killed on Sunday at Wara village near Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border, Defence sources said. advertisement The Army chief also visited the strategic Gajraj Corps where he was received by GOC-in-C Eastern Command Lt Gen Praveen Bakshi and Gajraj GOC Lt Gen A S Bedi at Tezpur Air Force Station. The sources said a high level security meeting with senior officials of Gajraj corps was held this evening. Defence spokesperson Lt Col Suneet Newton told PTI that a security review meeting on the areas falling under under Gajraj Corps was also held. The Army chief was satisfied with the operational preparedness of Gajraj Corps and encouraged all its ranks to keep up the high state of alertness and professionalism displayed by them. Gen Rawat had commanded a Corps in the Eastern Command and is well acquainted with the nuances of operational scenario here, he said. The Army chief accompanied by the Eastern Army Commander and the Corps Commander also visited Tawang and the forward areas at the international borders with China in western Arunachal Pradesh, the Defence sources said. The Chief was briefed by the Corps Commanders on the security situation in the Corps, both from external threat and internal security point of view in the bordering area, they added. PTI COR ESB KK SMJ --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Jammu, Jan 24 (PTI) A militant was today killed as Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district The troops deployed along the LoC detected the movement ofterrorists along the LoC, a Defence Spokesman said. Troops engaged the infiltrating terrorists with effective automatic fire while drawing heavy retaliatory fire, he said adding a militant was eliminated in the operation while the other members of the group fled towards Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. advertisement The body of the militant has been recovered alongwith a weapon and ammunition, he said. "This action by the Army assumes significance in view of the large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around 26 January," the Spokesman said. "Pakistan continues in its nefariousdesigns of supporting and abetting infiltration across the LoC," he said adding the Army is keeping a strict vigil across the LoC and is prepared to thwart any designs of Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. PTI AB DV --- ENDS --- A baby born with four legs and an extra genital in Karnataka is a 'gift from god' according to parents who are poor and are worried about the costly treatment. By India Today Web Desk: The unusual event happened in the state of Karnataka where a baby boy was born with four legs and two penises. The baby who is described as "gift from God" by his parents was delivered at the Dhadeasugure Primary Health Centre in Raichur on Saturday, according to a Times of India report. "It's God's gift to us," the boy's mother told the daily newspaper. "My first son, born three years ago, is healthy. We are poor and cannot afford expensive treatment." advertisement Boy's parents Lalitamma, 23, and Chennabasava, 26, belong to a village of Puldinni. They were reluctant first, but later agreed for the newborn to have surgery at Vijayanagara Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS), in Ballari. "I referred the family to VIMS. I spoke to the surgeons there on Sunday, and they told me that the baby was being kept under observation. I hope the infant becomes normal," Dr Virupaksha told the newspaper. "The doctors and members of my family advised me to take the baby to VIMS for advanced treatment. Now, I am hoping he becomes normal," mother of the newborn, Lalitamma said. Watch: Baby Boy born with four legs in Ballary , Karnataka --- ENDS --- Google announced new hardware, Android software compatibility, and other improvements meant to make Chromebooks even more welcome in the classroom. The changes--plus updates to the company's suite of education products--could extend Google's influence over the American school system. Chromebooks are popular with schools because they're much cheaper than PCs or tablets. Schools also have the ability to ensure students have internet access, which is critical to accomplishing many tasks with a Chromebook, so the platform's main limitation isn't an issue within the halls of academia. Combine those factors with Google's school-focused services and the rush to deck out classrooms with modern technology and you have yourself a hit. Google said in its announcement that more than 20 million teachers and students use Chromebooks; another 70 million use its G Suite for Education. Now the company's expanding on that lead by calling attention to the Asus Chromebook C213 and Acer Chromebook Spin 11 convertible laptops, which were designed with input from Google and educators, as well as new software tools arriving with the addition of Android app support to Chrome OS. Chromebooks For The Classroom The main draws of the Asus Chromebook C213 and Acer Chromebook Spin 11 are their stylus compatibility, new cameras, and USB Type-C charging. Here's what Google had to say about the styluses: Both Chromebooks come with an intelligent, affordable stylus for student note-taking and drawing. The low-cost pens resemble #2 pencils with a unique eraser for correcting mistakes and dont need charging or pairing, so they can be shared and easily replaced if lost. These Chromebooks use an input prediction model built using Google's machine learning to ensure writing is extremely responsive. And with Optical Character Recognition in apps like Google Keep you can easily search handwritten notes. Those styluses could allow these Chromebooks to be used for more activities. Instead of having to wait for a paper that needs to be typed up for English class, for example, students could doodle in art class or take notes in History class. Meanwhile, the new cameras will face out when students fold the Chromebooks into tablet mode to "capture photo and video from all directions." Both are supposed to make Chromebooks better learning devices. The USB Type-C charging is all about convenience. Google said it "heard from educators that multiple chargers and slow charging wastes precious time for students," so it made sure "all Chromebooks will have standard super-fast USB-C charging, so one Chromebook cart can charge any device quickly." This could make it easier for teachers to plan around using Chromebooks in their lessons without having to waste valuable time fiddling with chargers. Say Hello To Android Along with the new hardware, Adobe released (opens in new tab) "a suite of Android apps optimized for Chromebooks," which schools can download for free. This will give them the opportunity to use the Creative Cloud product suite--which includes PhotoShop Sketch, Lightroom Mobile, and other apps--without requiring schools to break the bank. The hope is that providing access to these tools will encourage students to use their Chromebooks in more creative ways. Having access to free creative tools like Adobes on Chromebooks allows for much more creative freedom for students with different learning styles or talents to shine, said Nicole Dalesio, Teacher on Special Assignment (ToSA) for the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District, CA. It gives them an opportunity to demonstrate their learning in a much more powerful way. Now all students can get the skills they need to create and share in a digital world. Google previously said that all Chromebooks released in 2017 and beyond would be compatible with Android apps from its Play Store. These education-focused devices are no exception: the company said that "in the coming weeks" Chromebook administrators will be able to approve specific apps for installation on the devices they manage. This will give students access to apps like Adobe's without letting them get distracted with mobile games. When Will These Arrive? Google revealed precious few details about the Asus Chromebook C213 and Acer Chromebook Spin 11. It said on the Google for Education device page that both products are "coming soon" and that all Chromebooks start at $149. It wouldn't be a surprise if these products cost more--they do have a bunch of new features, after all--but the company might also try to keep the prices down just so it can get its software platforms into more schools. Both devices sport a 294mm displays with a 1366 x 768 resolution. Google claims they boot in seconds. The Asus Chromebook C213 boasts 12 hours of battery life; Acer's Chromebook Spin 11 gets just 10. Still, both have more than enough power to last an entire school day, and the additions revealed today could push schools to purchase these devices instead of going for more expensive Windows laptops or cheaper but more limited Chromebooks. G-Sync looks likely to remain a stalwart of premium gaming displays for at least the near future. The AG271QG offers a full feature set and excellent performance for the money, especially when compared to the high-end offerings from enthusiast-catering companies like Asus and Acer. AOC has always been about value, and by packing its Agon products with every conceivable feature it has positioned its screens very competitively. With a few tweaks in the OSD, the QG provides an excellent image worthy of any high-end gaming system. Gaming performance is beyond reproach making it a compelling choice. Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test . Introduction AOC made a bold introduction of its new line of premium-branded gaming monitors called Agon just recently. Weve already reviewed the excellent AG271QX, a 27-inch screen with Freesync that works over a wide 30-144Hz range. Our only wish? That it was an IPS panel. That dream can come true for Nvidia GPU customers with the companion to that display, the AG271QG. Not only do you get IPS at QHD resolution, it runs at 165Hz and offers G-Sync and ULMB along with high-end build quality and slick styling. Some users are in the position of being able to choose which adaptive refresh technology theyd like to commit to. Perhaps they havent decided on a particular video card or theyre looking for a change and embarking on a new system build. Weve mentioned the price differential in nearly every review weve written in the past two years. A display supporting Nvidias G-Sync will cost you about $200 more for roughly the same feature list. FreeSync can offer great performance but you have to watch the operating range closely. Some screens switch out of adaptive-sync mode below 40 or as much as 50Hz. This can impact quality when a particular game/graphics card combination cant sustain framerates above that number. G-Sync monitors always work from 30Hz up to their maximum refresh rate. In the case of todays review subject, thats a huge range of 30 to 165Hz once you engage the overclock. G-Sync is also more common in premium monitors and that makes it more likely youll find an IPS panel in the more expensive products. AOCs new AG271QG meets that goal. Yes, it costs about $200 more than its FreeSync counterpart, the AG271QX. But in addition to G-Sync, you get blur-reduction, an IPS screen, and a higher 165Hz refresh rate. Is there anything missing here? The OSD controller is the most notable omission. We loved the multi-function part included with the QX. You also get fewer inputs, only one each of HDMI and DisplayPort. The HDMI port is version 2.0 compatible though, something we have only seen on a few displays thus far. So if youre leaning towards Nvidia on your next build, or if you already have a G-Sync-ready graphics board, the AG271QG might be worth considering. Lets take a look. Packaging, Physical Layout & Accessories The carton is substantial and protects its contents with two large foam blocks, sandwich style. The panel, upright, and base are separate and must be assembled. The latter two parts mate with a captive bolt. To attach the panel, find the four black screws taped to the uprights plastic bag. Theyre treated with blue Loctite so a little extra torque is necessary to snug them up. The power supply is a large external brick with its own detachable power cord. Video cables include good quality HDMI and DisplayPort wires. You also get analog audio and USB 3.0 cables. There is no CD. Any documentation beyond the printed quick start guide will have to be downloaded from AOCs website. Product 360 Image 1 of 4 If you put an AG271QX and AG271QG next to each other, you wont be able to tell them apart. Physically, they are identical. The QG has the same solid-aluminum stand with its satin finish and solid workings. Movements are firm and precise. The height adjustment ranges over 5" and there is a portrait mode. Swivel is modest at just 20 in each direction. Tilt is also 20 back and 5 forward. We missed the cool OSD controller found in the AG271QX but had little trouble mastering the QGs buttons arranged beneath the right lower bezel. They click with a quality feel and are very responsive. The bezel is very narrow at just 11mm around the top and sides. The side input panel features two USB ports, one of which remains powered during standby to facilitate charging. Also there's a headphone output and a microphone input, perfect for combo headsets. You can see in the photo that the upright features tick marks and a sliding pointer so you can easily recall position adjustments when transporting the monitor from place to place. AOCs Agon-specific styling is most apparent across the back where a large red chevron is featured against a textured black background. The red plastic is also finished with a brushed-metal look. The upright can be removed to access a 100mm VESA mount. The lugs are recessed so a metal bracket is included in the box that brings the mounting surface out flush. It attaches with its own hardware which is also included. The input panel, like all G-Sync monitors, includes just one DisplayPort and one HDMI jack. The latter is 2.0 compatible and its support level can be changed in the OSD in case your video card requires an older version. Also there's a microphone output that links to your PCs mic input to transmit your voice into the cloud, or the gaming world as it were. MORE: Best Gaming Monitors MORE: Best Professional Monitors MORE: How We Test Monitors MORE: How To Choose A Monitor MORE: All Monitor Content Were sure a lot of people have tried to summon Satan over the years, and that relatively few have succeeded, but if this documentary evidence is anything to go by, Adelaide psych rockers Jungle city are one of those lucky few. Well, lucky may be a bit misleading, as it turns out that summoning the Dark Lord isnt quite what its cracked up to be. In fact, as Mickey Masons new clip for Sexwitch confirms for us, hes really just the housemate from hell. Sexwitch is the second single taken from the trios self-released 2016 album, and is apparently an occult tale of sex, lust and magic although the clip is more a tale of laziness, disappointment and straight-up dickishness. You may have caught these guys on their debut East Coast tour last year, or on dates supporting fellow psych rockers Stonefield, and theyve got bigger things planned for 2017, including the announcement of Sexwitch tour dates tomorrow keep an eye on their Facebook page for more info. Returning to Australian shores this March and April will be former Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss bassist, and now frontman of Mondo Generator, Nick Oliveri. Making his way to Australia as part of Brisbanes Mojo Burning Festival on March 25, the divisive figure will also be making his way across the country for a seven-date Death Acoustic solo tour in support of his new chunk of vinyl N.O Hits At All Vol. 1 (Heavy Psych Sounds), which is dropping this Friday Jan 26. For his part, Oliveri sounds pretty excited about his first trip to Australia since 2010 especially where our crowds, bands and beverages are concerned. I told you Id back for a sing along! Australia the best crowds, the best beer, Rose Tattoo, AC/DC, Hard-Ons, TumbleWeed Whats not to love?! Cant wait to hang with all me mates! Whether hell keep his clothes on for this one and behave himself is anyones guess, but if you want to catch him in action, check out the dates below. If youd rather treat yourself to a whole day of monster guitar bands like Badlands, Chase The Sun and Cheap Fakes, youll find Oliveri perched atop the all killer, no filler lineup at Mojo Burning, with tickets on sale now. Nick Oliveri Death Acoustic Tour Dates Proudly sponsored by Mojo Burning, Beats Cartel and Young Henrys. Thursday Mar 23, Sydney Frankies Pizza By the Slice Friday Mar 24, Canberra Transit Bar Saturday Mar 25, Brisbane Mojo Burning Festival Sunday Mar 26, Port Macquarie Pier on Clarence Wednesday Mar 29, Melbourne Cherry Bar Thursday Mar 30, Frankston Pelly Bar at Pier Friday Apr 01, Adelaide The Producers Bar Sunday Apr 02, Perth Rosemount Hotel Tickets available through Mojo Burning New York Times: Cast-Out Police Officers Are Often Hired in Other Cities Police say around 2:19 a.m. officers were pursuing a vehicle near Mcbride Street and Barreto Lane in Sugar Creek. At some point during the pursuit, both suspects were shot. One of those suspects was pronounced dead at the scene. The other sustained a serious but non life-threatening injury. A reminder that smokies working in the outskirts of Kansas City don't play around.Pro-tip . . . Cops who can't cut it in the big city (or even in one of the smaller surrounding cities) usually end up working in one of the many smaller police departments out in the sticks and this is yet another reason that suburban exploring or the search for the perfect walnut bowl in rural Missouri is far more dangerous pastime than most people would expect . . .Proof . . .On the other hands, there are many hardline keyboard warriors who applaud whenever somebody gets killed.Reserving judgement . . . Here's a roundup of morning news coverage . . .Deets:Links:Developing . . . The biggest loser under the scenario would be K-12 public school districts, which would surrender $225 million. Other big hits: Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, $25 million; Kansas Board of Regents, $13 million; Kansas Department of Corrections, $11 million; Kansas State University, $11 million; Kansas Department for Children and Families, $9.4 million; University of Kansas, $9 million; University of Kansas Medical Center, $7.4 million. Here's a quick review of the real impact of supply side economics making Sunflower State public school students stupid . . .Developing . . . The 2015 cost estimate is now closer to 2 BILLION. The "status" of the project says it's already "In Progress" but nobody remembers voting on it. The document also reveals that Terminal A has been "mothballed" but good luck getting local officials to admit as much . . . Oh yeah, and NOBODY believes that Southwest is paying for all of this . . . The newspaper wants readers to believe that Prez Trump is going to go into a GOP Congressman's backyard, help finance a new airport just to help out a Democratic Mayor who has been campaigngin for Hillary Clinton for the past two years??? As the newspaper circles the toilet bowl of history . . . They're now simply running propaganda for City Hall and misleading their readers for the sake of the current Administration that controls their tax break purse strings.To wit . . .Just nowfor national infrastructure projectsJust a few things wrong with this slide promoted by Mayor Sly & Co . . .But one incontinent fact stands in the way of all this . . . GOP Congressman Sam Graves hasexpressed his skepticism about the project touted by City Hall.So, because of something they found online . . .You decide . . . The party said a "grand" temple will be built in Ayodhya if the party comes to power with clear majority in India's most populous state. By India Today Web Desk: The BJP today once again raked up the contentious Ram temple issue ahead of the first phase of the crucial seven-phase Uttar Pradesh election starting February 11. The party said a "grand" temple will be built in Ayodhya if the party comes to power with clear majority in India's most populous state. "Ram Mandir is a subject of faith. It is not going to be built in two months. The temple will be constructed after the elections. The BJP will come to power with a full majority," the party's Uttar Pradesh chief Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters in New Delhi. advertisement Last week, the chief priest of the makeshift temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid site in Ayodhya said Hindu saints in Uttar Pradesh will support the BJP if Prime Minister Narendra Modi promises to get the Ram temple constructed. "After the Modi government took over, we hoped that now the temple would be constructed. Modi must visit Ayodhya, give us a guarantee and announce that that he will get the Ram temple constructed during his tenure," Acharya Satyendra Das said. "Then we will mobilise the Hindu masses to vote for BJP as 'mahant' and 'sadhu' in Uttar Pradesh enjoy a strong following. If we support the BJP, it will definitely win," he said. Also read: Uttar Pradesh election: SP-Congress alliance gets BJP thinking about how Muslims will vote Also read: UP election: Sons and daughters figure prominently in BJP's second list of candidates --- ENDS --- CHECK THIS FACT CHECK FROM THE JACKSON COUNTY PROSECUTOR NOTING THAT 'THE AVERAGE SCHOOL FIGHT' DOES NOT QUALIFY FOR FELONY CHARGES!!! There's a great deal of concern across Kansas City about. Throughout Kansas City there has been a great deal of conversation on this aspect of the so-called "prison industrial complex" and measures to criminalize youngsters.Accordingly . . .This one kinda got lost in the mix over the weekend but tonight serves as an important bit of homework for locals wanting just a bit more insight into the local application of criminal justice...Several inquiries have come to our office regarding changes in Missouri law, effective in 2017, that might make it more likely that students involved in school fights would be charged by a prosecutor with felony assault.First, there is no change in the law that would make that more likely. No additional pathways are created that would result in more juveniles in school fights being prosecuted for felonies.Most school-age children, those under the age of 17, are under the jurisdiction of the Family Court. While certification of juveniles to stand trial in adult court does occur, it is still fairly rare. If they are certified, they almost certainly have been accused of an extremely violent act. The average school fight will not qualify.Finally, I can assure you that my office will use its broad discretion in pursuing felony cases against young offenders. Weve demonstrated an ability to use such discretion. Under Missouri law before 2017, a suspect in a school fight could have been charged with a felony.We are not interested in saddling a young offender with a felony conviction if we believe justice can be served in other ways. Our county has a long tradition of diversion for drug and other low-level cases, and I would prefer to see these young offenders get help, rather than burdening them with a felony conviction.##############You decide . . . Mexicos international reputation isnt exactly the greatest. Plagued by drug violence, hampered by poverty, and constantly getting bashed by US politicians, it can seem like a scary, far-away place where bad things happen. Even in the carefree days before the drug war, lots of Americans just saw it as the land of tequila, siestas and rowdy spring breakers. Well, were here to tell you that theres a lot more to Mexico than its popular reputation suggests. A lot more. Stretching over nearly 2m km2, and with a history that goes back to the Aztecs and ancient Mayans, Mexico is a place of endless fascination. It has dozens of indigenous peoples. Its capital has more museums than any other city on Earth. Its a place of culture, history, and great, historic achievements. Here are ten fascinating facts about North Americas only Spanish-speaking nation that you rarely hear north of the border: 10. It Used to be the 5th Biggest Nation on Earth Modern Mexico is a big place. While it might pale beside Canada and the USA, it dwarfs the nations of Europe, and is bigger than all but one of Africas countries. Ranked, it would be the 13th biggest nation on Earth. But thats just modern Mexico. The Mexico of the 19th century used to be much, much bigger. Go back to 1821, and youd find yourself standing in one of the biggest countries in the world. That map there is independent Mexico at its fullest extent. As you probably remember from history class, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California were all once part of the USs southern neighbor. But Mexican territory extended further south, too. Modern Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were all part of Mexico. Taken altogether, the Mexico that existed at independence was larger than the entire European Union. If it existed today, it would be the 5th largest nation on Earth. This super-Mexico didnt last long. Before the 1820s were out, it had lost most of the nations that now make up Central America. About 25 years after that, the Mexican-American War eliminated its territory in the modern US. 9. It Has the Oldest University in North America Quick, whats the oldest university in North America? A good number of you just yelled Harvard! at your tablet screens. Sure, Harvard is pretty old; it was founded in 1636. But even that august institution is a baby compared to its Mexican equivalent. The National Autonomous University of Mexico, based in Mexico City, was opened in 1553. To demonstrate just how mind-blowingly old that is, consider this: NAUM was opened when Mexico was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. It was given its charter by Emperor Charles V, who headed both the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire (dynasty was a complicated thing back then). At that time, Shakespeare was still over a decade away from being born. Isaac Newton was over a century away. Right now, you are closer in time to George Washingtons last breath than NAUM was at its founding. Not that it was called NAUM back then. It was the Royal and Pontifical University of New Spain. Unlike Harvard, it also hasnt been in continuous operation. The dictatorship closed it down in 1867, and it wasnt reopened until the Revolution. 8. There are Over 60 Official Languages Ask most people to name the official language of Mexico, and theyll say Spanish. And theyd be right to a degree. See, while Spanish is the most widely-spoken official language in Mexico, its not the only one. Ever since the government enacted the Law of Linguistic Rights, over 60 indigenous tongues have been recognized as co-official languages. The largest of these is Nahuatal. About 1.3 million people speak the language, roughly equivalent to the entire population of New Hampshire. This is the language of the Aztec Empire, the language that once dominated the whole of Mexico. But its far from being the only one. Over 700,000 people speak the Yucatec Maya language, and another half a million or so speak Mixtec. Over all, nearly 7 million Mexicans speak a language other than Spanish (although most are bilingual). Interestingly, not all co-official languages are so widely-spoken. While the next 30 most popular are all spoken by between 10,000 400,000 people, some like Aguacatec are spoken by less than 30. 7. They Had the Shortest Presidency in World History William Henry Harrison is famous in the US for his horrendously short presidency. The 9th President contracted pneumonia on Inauguration Day and died a single month later. But even WHHs reign lasted longer than that of Mexicos 34th president. By one count, it lasted nearly three thousand times longer. Pedro Jose Domingo de la Calzada Manuel Maria Lascurain Paredes was President of Mexico for anywhere from an hour to just 15 minutes. So basically he was president just long enough for someone to get through his name. The reason for this was the crazy politics of Revolution-era Mexico. General Victoriano Huerta had just overthrown President Madero in a coup. Under Mexicos constitution, power of a deposed president automatically passed to either his vice-president, attorney general, foreign minister or interior minister. At the time, Lascurain was foreign minister. To make his coup look less like a coup, Huerta convinced the government to appoint Lascurain president. The two men then cut a deal, and he moment he was sworn in Lascurain appointed Huerta his interior minister and then resigned. Power automatically, and legally, passed onto Huerta. To date, no other world leader has ruled for such a short time. The closest is Diosdado Cabello, who ruled Venezuela for around six hours in 2002. His reign was still over twenty times longer than Lascurains. 6. In Some States, There are Three Genders Mexicos relationships with LGBT rights is complicated, to say the least. While drugs gangs have been known to shoot up gay bars in some states, places like Mexico City have legalized same-sex marriage. Then theres Oaxaca. The southern state has an approach to trans-people that is possibly unique in North America. Among the indigenous Zapotec people, theyre legally recognized as a third gender. Known as Muxes (Moo-Shays), the third gender are people born as men, who choose to live instead as women. Concentrated around the town of Juchitan, theyre treated as a fact of life, in the same way men and women are. They own businesses, are admired for their cookery skills, and even have a yearly ball which the mayor of Juchitan attends. For American readers, this might seem like PC gone mad. But the Muxes are far from a modern invention. Theyve been around as long as the Zapotec themselves. Pre-Columbian societies in Mexico tended to have a third gender of men who lived as women. While most traditions died off with the coming of the Spanish, among the Zapotec it thrived. In short, the Muxes have been around since long before anyone could say what the acronym LGBT stood for. 5. Its Home to the Worlds Smallest Volcano So, apparently Mexico has an aptitude for leading the world in the unlikely smallest things stakes. After the record beating barely-a-presidency of Lascurain, the country has since thrown up yet another tiny marvel. Welcome to Cuexcomate, the smallest volcano in recorded history. Now, pay attention, kids, because just looking at images of Cuexcomate is about as exciting as watching your toenails grow. Its the facts behind it that make it fascinating. Cuexcomate formed way, way back in 1664, an offshoot of the bigger Popocatepetl volcano. Somehow, it began to grow and then just stopped. Like a kid who doesnt get any bigger after their first birthday, Cuexcomate topped out at a mere 43 feet. Thats tiny. You could stack 7 averagely-tall dudes on one anothers shoulders, and the top guy would be able to peer into the crater. So small is the long-dormant volcano that no-one thought twice about building around it. If you want to visit Cuexcomate, you have to drive out into a suburb of Puebla, work your way around the Volkswagen factory, and locate it among peoples yards. 4. Net Mexican Migration to the US is Actually Negative Mexican immigration has become a political flashpoint in the US. While we dont want to get into the politics of it here, its worth noting that things may not be quite so explosive as they seem. While plenty of Mexican still travel to the US looking for a better life, plenty more come to the US, look around, then decide to go back to Mexico. We know this because, according to PEW Research, net Mexican immigration to the US over the last decade has fallen to negative levels. This means there are actually more Mexicans permanently leaving the US than there are arriving. Prior to the recession, it was the other way. The period 1995-2000 saw a net migration of 2.27 million Mexicans to the US. The period 2009-2014, on the other hand, saw a net migration of minus 140,000. The factors for this are manifold. Better border policing, the Great Recession, and increasing job opportunities in Mexico have all played a part, as has the desire to reunite with family members still in Mexico. 3. Mexico Once Went to War With France Over Pastries In the annals of warfare, there cant be many dumber reasons for attacking another state than the fate of a pastry shop. Yet thats exactly what transpired between France and Mexico in 1838. After a rioting mob ransacked a Mexico City bakery owned by a Frenchman named Remontel, he sued the nation of Mexico for compensation. When Mexico laughed him out, he returned to France and demanded an audience with King Louis-Philippe. Amazingly, he got it. Even more amazingly, Louis-Philippe agreed to help him. Paris wrote to Mexico and demanded payment of 600,000 pesos, some 600 times the value of Remontels shop (to be fair, some of it was for unpaid Mexican debts incurred a decade earlier). When Mexico balked, the French navy invaded. They bombarded San Juan de Ulua, captured Veracruz, and blockaded the entire country. It was only thanks to a British-brokered agreement that the war ended in early 1839. Remontel got his money. All in all, the Pastry War dragged on for four months, killed over 100 people, and injured nearly 200 more. 2. They Briefly Had the Most-Deluded Emperor in History Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph has the distinct honor of being just Mexicos second and final Emperor. A member of Europes royal Habsburg line (the guys who ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire), Maximilian was just drifting along when, in 1863, he received a letter telling him the people of Mexico had voted to make him their king. Rather than treat it as we would an email from a Nigerian prince, Maximilian hightailed it to Mexico and declared himself Emperor. Bad move. The letter had been issued by Napoleon III of France, who was conspiring with conservative Mexicans to place a loyal French puppet on the throne. Unknown to Maximilian, theyd chosen him as their useful idiot. When Maximilian crowned himself emperor, it triggered a civil war in Mexico that lasted three years. Apparently, Maximilian didnt realize this, and thought he was a beloved, paternal figure whod finally found his true calling. When the US intervened to push Frances pro-Maximilian troops out, the Emperor even refused to leave, saying the Mexican peasants needed him. Those same peasants executed him on a hillside outside Queretaro in 1867. The deluded reign of Mexicos last Emperor was over. 1. Their Capital City is Sinking At 2,240 meters above sea level, Mexico City is one of the highest capital cities on Earth. Only seven other capitals (out of nearly 200) sit at a higher altitude. Pretty neat, huh? Well, wait till you get a load of this next part. If things keep going the way they are, Mexico City may not hold its coveted 8th position much longer. This is for the simple reason that the capital is sinking at an incredible rate. Yeah, sinking. Every year, this vast megacity, home to over 21 million people, loses roughly one meter (3 feet) in altitude. In the last 60 years, the entire city has dropped 10 meters closer to sea level. That might not sound like much, so lets put it this way. The 7th highest capital city in the world is Sanaa in Yemen. It stands at 2,250 meters above sea level, ten meters higher than Mexico City. Over the course of six decades, the entire Mexican capital sank so low that it passed Sanaa, dropping from 7th to 8th place in the ranking of capitals by altitude. The reason for this is simple: water. Mexico Citys residents draw their water from beneath the capital, draining the water table and causing it to subside. As the citys population keeps growing, it will sink faster and faster, until eventually dropping out of the top 10 highest capitals altogether. While thats still a way off yet, (Nairobi, the current #10, is nearly 450 meters lower than Mexico City), the simple fact it could happen is mind-blowing. Other Articles you Might Like Reports in Athens at the beginning of the week purport that Greece's privatization fund (TAIPED or HRADF) wants a lump sum payment of 580 million euros in order to extend the concession contract for the Athens International Airport Reports in Athens at the beginning of the week purport that Greece's privatization fund (TAIPED or HRADF) wants a lump sum payment of 580 million euros in order to extend the concession contract for the Athens International Airport, as well as a percentage of the annual pre-tax profits. The last time negotiations over the contract took place, over 2011 and 2012, the administration of the privatization fund at the time put its demand at 220 million, with the concession holder, Germany's Hochtief offering no more than 180 million euros. Additionally, finance ministry officials calculate that an extension of the contract for the airport, officially named the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport of Athens, will increase the value of the stake still held by the state, and therefore generate more revenue for state coffers in case the shares are sold off. Talks over an extension refer to a date of 2046. The Greek state holds 55 percent of the airport's shares, of which 30 percent are controlled by the privatization fund. Two holding companies controlled by Canadian pension fund PSP Investments together hold 40 percent of the shares, while the Copelouzos family holds the remaining 5 percent. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Egypt-based leading contracting company Al Abd aims to deliver 16 residential buildings at a total cost of E200 million ($10.6 million) in Al Asmarat City, Mokattam, by the end of June this year, said a report. Al Abd is carrying out the buildings for Cairo Governorate as part of the residential projects in Mokattam, reported Amwal Alghad. The projects include three housing districts to relocate slum-dwellers, stated the report. Al Abd is in talks with several contracting firms to install utilities worth E50 million, it added. Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) 2017, held last week, was a major success with the event hosting 4,080 senior executives and key conferences. The event, hosted by Masdar, Abu Dhabis renewable energy company, came to a successful conclusion on 21 January after further building on its reputation as a significant platform for international dialogue, cooperation and action among governments and businesses, a statement said. This years edition, which ran under the theme "practical steps towards a sustainable future", was the first global gathering dedicated to sustainability since the COP22 climate change conference in Marrakesh, Morocco, last November. It was appropriate, therefore, that ADSW 2017 began by bringing together government officials and policy makers at two key events: the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum on January 12 and 13, held in partnership with the UAE Ministry of Energy and Adnoc; and the fifth General Assembly of the International Renewable Energy Agency on Janaury 14 and 15, the statement added. The opening ceremony for ADSW, on 16 January, was attended by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. Six heads of state, from Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Seychelles and Nepal, joined the event, as well as former presidents of Iceland and Mexico. ADSW 2017 also welcomed 73 government ministers and 4,080 senior executives an increase of 12 per cent compared to 2016 from 125 countries. International pavilions were hosted from 20 different countries, representing an 11 per cent increase on last year, and initial indications show that the total number of attendees was consistent with pre-show estimates of around 38,000 visitors from 175 countries. During the week, 15 global events were held including five exhibitions; three conferences; two country focused events; three leadership events; and two policy events. Business meetings were up by more than 60 per cent year on year, totalling 8,600, showing that Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week is now truly established as a global platform where commercial agreements are made. The ninth edition of the awards ceremony for the Zayed Future Energy Prize also took place, honouring the achievements of winners from across the world for their leadership in renewable energy and sustainability. Once again, this important event attracted significant media attention, with around 1,200 local and international print and online articles, while reaching more than 2 million Twitter users and 50,000 Facebook users. The World Future Energy Summit (WFES), the anchor event of ADSW, celebrated its 10th edition this year from January 17 to 19. This took place alongside the fifth International Water Summit and the fourth EcoWASTE exhibition. For the first time, ADSW welcomed a major delegation from Saudi Arabia, which was designated as a WFES Country Partner. The Saudi delegation was led by Khalid A Al-Falih, Minister of Energy, Industry & Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia and chairman of Saudi Aramco, who used the platform of ADSW to announce plans to invest up to $50 billion in renewable projects by 2023 to generate 9.5 gigawatts, mainly from wind and solar plants. The Saudi delegations 700 industry professionals, which included 405 chief executives, held more than 2,000 meetings with ADSW participants during the week. In addition, 14 workshops and business round tables were organised, while more than 100 investors and developers from five countries took part in a private investment meeting hosted by officials from the kingdom. In addition to Saudi Arabia, the other WFES Country Partner was India, whose senior-level delegation was led by Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines. Indias clean energy plans make it one of the worlds most exciting markets for developers. Its delegation provided details about the countrys target to have an installed capacity of 100GW of solar energy, 60GW of wind, plus 15GW from other renewables by 2022. As host of ADSW, Masdar used the occasion to announce a series of key business milestones on the sidelines of the event. These included: the purchase of a 25 per cent stake in Hywind, an innovative floating offshore wind project in Scotland, from Norwegian oil and gas company Statoil; a 300,000-tonne waste-to-energy plant in Sharjah with environmental management company Beeah; a solar power project in the Seychelles; and an industry competition to devise new sustainable mobility solutions to serve Masdar City. Together with DEWA, Masdar also announced the ground-breaking of Phase 3 of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. - TradeArabia News Service New US President Donald Trump has taken an executive action to pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, carrying out one of his campaign pledges. "Great thing for the American worker, what we just did," Trump said in the Oval Office as he signed the order, said a CNN report. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a 12-nation deal that had been negotiated under former President Barack Obama. The TPP -- which includes Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei -- would have slashed tariffs for American imports and exports with those countries. In exchange, the US had negotiated labour, environmental and intellectual property protections that major businesses sought. The deal's critics complained that it didn't directly address the issue of currency manipulation, a CNN report said. Because the TPP hadn't taken effect, there will be no immediate impact. Congress had not yet approved the TPP -- its fate was bleak on Capitol Hill no matter what the White House did -- and the deal had not yet taken effect, CNN said. However, by pulling the US out of the deal, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise and ended all hopes for a deal Obama wanted as a major part of his legacy. Trump hopes that, through his negotiating prowess, force of will and willingness to walk away from the table, he can convince other countries to accept terms that previous presidents -- from George H W Bush and Bill Clinton on Nafta to Barack Obama on the TPP -- have not been able to achieve, the report said. Trump, who wants to boost U.S. manufacturing, said he would seek one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days "if somebody misbehaves." "We're going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country," the Republican president said as he met with union leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room. Big businesses have criticised the move saying that Trump is undercutting their ability to sell to the vast majority of the world's consumers -- a particularly damaging move if manufacturing jobs that have already left the US are gone for good. Labor groups are sure to celebrate the move. They've long argued it would continue a trend of shifting American manufacturing jobs overseas to nations with lower wages and fewer labor protections. Businesses will, however, lose access to potential new markets. US automakers hoped to see tariffs slashed in Asia. Farmers were set to see the removal of trade taxes that currently prevent them from selling products, particularly poultry, overseas. Pharmaceutical drug-makers had received years of patent protection that would have lessened the competition from generics in Asia. And tech companies, from Google to cell phone providers, sought to lessen regulations and gain entry into some of the countries involved in the deal. "This decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets, and protect American invention and innovation," Arizona Senator John McCain said in a statement. The Shiv Sena is upset with BJP for attacking Uddhav Thackeray as well as staking claim on its 40 sitting seats in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation By Kiran Tare: The chances of alliance between ruling partners in Maharashtra, BJP and Shiv Sena in the upcoming elections to local governing bodies in the state are remote, one leader each from both the parties said today. "The BJP deliberately put forth the demand for 114 seats which included 40 currently held by the Sena. This was never going to be acceptable to the Sena," a senior Sena Minister said, requesting anonymity. advertisement Similarly, a senior BJP minister too claimed that the alliance would not become a reality following several differences between the two parties. In Mumbai, the BJP has staked claim on 40 seats won by Shiv Sena in 2012. That hurt the latter. As a result, Shiv Sena offered to spare 60 seats for the BJP against its demand of 114 seats for the 227 member Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). "Even though the CM and Uddhavji enjoy cordial relations at personal level, a section within the BJP has continued to target the Sena President which is not unacceptable to the Shiv Sainiks," the Minister added. Shiv Sena minister Ramdas Kadam confirmed that Thackeray held a meeting of party leaders at his residence in Bandra on Tuesday. "A decision pertaining to the alliance will be taken in two days before a final round of talks with the BJP," he said. "We had deliberately given a list of seats which we know the Sena would not be willing to part with. This is because party cadres are firm against an alliance," said a senior BJP functionary. Meanwhile, a source said that Thackeray and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis are likely to meet at an industrialist's house here on Wednesday. "They will talk nothing else than the possibilities of forging an alliance," he said. ALSO READ| BMC polls: Fadnavis calls Uddhav Thackeray to discuss alliance, but party leaders continue to fight ALSO READ| Uddhav follows kejriwal's footsteps, announces freebies ahead of BMC polls ALSO READ| I am always positive about alliance with BJP: Uddhav Thackeray --- ENDS --- A high-level delegation led by Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, arrived on Tuesday in New Delhi on a three-day state visit. Sheikh Mohamed is in the country as part of his visit to attend the 68th Republic Day celebrations of India as a chief guest, reported state news agency Wam. He was received at the airport by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and a number of senior government officials. The delegation included Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemi, Minister of State for International Cooperation, Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Bowardi, Minister of State for Defence Affairs and Dr Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of State, Khaldoun Khalifa Al Mubarak and other senior officials. Upon his arrival, Sheikh Mohammed said: ''I am very delighted to be in this great country for the second time in less than a year, and I would like to seize this opportunity to convey the best wishes of the people and government of the UAE to the Indian people and government on the occasion of 68th Republic Day." "I thank the Indian people and their government for their warm welcome and I look forward to participating in Republic Day celebrations. I am filled with happiness as I share this historic occasion with Indian people, and I look forward to meeting Indias leadership, especially Prime Minister Modi," he noted. Lauding the historic ties, Sheikh Mohammed said: "UAE-India relations enjoy a deep history that extends to hundreds of years before the founding of the UAE in 1971. The UAE founder late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan cemented this relationship when he made a historic visit to India in 1975, laying the founding stones of modern UAE-India relations." "Today, the UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, treats our relationship with India as a priority and views India as a linchpin of stability in Asia and a major partner in the global efforts towards stability, development and the battle against terrorism," said the Crown Prince. "UAE-India relations transcend political and economic levels as the two nations have always enjoyed cultural ties which linked the Indian people and those of the GCC, especially the UAE, for centuries. The Indian community has contributed massively to the development of the UAE and continues to do so. We are deeply thankful for their contributions to our nation," he added. Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company (Ooredoo) has welcomed Ian Dench as the companys new chief executive officer. Dench joins the company from Qatar-based Ooredoo Group, where he served as the group chief commercial officer. With over 25 years of experience in leading telecommunications companies from around the world, he will continue to grow Ooredoos established success. He has worked in telecommunications companies across Europe, Asia & Middle East. Prior to joining Ooredoo he was the head of sales and marketing operations for Batelco. He also held various senior leadership positions with O2 and British Telecom. Dench joined Ooredoo Qatar operations in 2006 as executive director, corporate and VIP accounts. In 2012 he was appointed as the chief marketing officer. He was a key member of the Ooredoo Qatar leadership team and had significantly contributed in building Ooredoos market share in Qatar through developing and maintaining strong product and service portfolios. He is a member of the board of Indosat Ooredoo, also ICT Company NavLink and an advisory board member for the Asia Pacific Internet Group. As CEO of Ooredoo, Ian will lead the company through the next phase of network enhancements and the digital evolution of products and services to customers across Oman. TradeArabia News Service The Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), to be held in Dubai, UAE, in April, expects a huge participation of Ukraine, one of the official supporting partners of the event. Dawood Al Shezawi, head of the organising committee, announced this. The 7th edition of the AIM will be held from April 2 to 4 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. We have signed a partnership agreement with UBA (Ukrainian Business Association) represented by its President Chepovy Volodymyr in the Ukraine-UAE Networking Forum held last month. Representatives of the private sector, government and NGOs were invited in the UAE to connect with their counterparts to discuss investment possibilities in both markets. We took this opportunity to strengthen ties with UBA and as you can see, the results are promising. Ukraine will take part in AIM as an exhibitor and many Ukrainian companies have confirmed their presence at the event; there will also be a Country Presentation and we hope that AIM 2017 will enable more deals and opportunities for collaboration between Ukraine and UAE, as well as other countries, said Al Shezawi. The Ukraine-UAE Networking Forum offered a matchmaking platform and was organised by the UBA in cooperation with the Annual Investment Meeting, Ministry of Economy of the UAE, Organising Committee of Expo 2020 Dubai and other partners. The Forum was a great opportunity to find out about the investment potential in the UAE and for our businessmen, operators in several industries, from the private and public sector to exchange information about our country, to get in touch with new partners and contacts, and to cooperate, commented Daniel Bilak, director of Ukraine Investment Promotion Office and Chief Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister of Ukraine. Our delegation met with HE Juma Mohammed Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Trade at UAE Ministry of Economy. We have been also agreeably surprised by the UAE preparations to host the Expo 2020. So we believe that our participation in the AIM 2017 will reinforce these relations that have been established during the previous event in a more concrete way as our companies will be exhibiting their products and services in various sectors including agriculture and agribusiness, construction, pharmaceutical and energy, added Bilak. "We are very pleased that the reputable Ukrainian companies will participate in the Annual Investment Meeting for the first time. The participation of the Ukrainian Business Association members in such a prestigious event is a great honour and a big responsibility. Our participation will boast top Ukrainian companies from the agro-industrial sector, innovation, production, as well as companies operating in the renewable energy sector," added Oleksii Chuiev, executive director of the Ukrainian Business Association. TradeArabia News Service Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has unveiled plans to launch flights to Georgia with direct flights to/from the capital city of Tbilisi commencing in June. Commenting on the upcoming addition of Georgia to the airlines network, Gulf Air chief executive officer Maher Salman Al Musallam said: We are pleased to respond to passenger demand by opening this newest destination. Launching in June 2017 our new route to Tbilisi, Georgia will cater to summer movement and leisure travellers from the GCC region. As part of our longstanding mission we are always looking for ways to introduce and strengthen business and tourism links between key global destinations and the Kingdom of Bahrain and the region. The addition of Georgia to our network map follows extensive discussions and negotiations with the Georgian aviation authorities and we thank them for their support to date and their contribution to our efforts going forward in ensuring the success of our newest route. I believe this is yet another positive development for Gulf Air in 2017 and one that will appeal to our passengers around the world. The airline will fly three times weekly to/from Shota Rustaveli Tbilisi International Airport in Tbilisi. Gulf Air operates one of the largest regional networks, with double daily flights or more to 10 regional cities, providing seamless connectivity for passengers travelling across its network via its efficient Bahrain International Airport hub. - TradeArabia News Service Qatar Executive, the private jet charter division of Qatar Airways, has unveiled a newly designed website (www.qatarexec.com.qa) where clients can explore luxurious private jets via 360 degree interactive panoramic photography, discover flight availability, and access VIP online enquiry and charter management services from any mobile device anywhere in the world. Qatar Executive is renowned for offering bespoke charters that focus on the needs of VIP travellers and providing an unrivalled experience on board the worlds leading private jet fleet. The newly enhanced website reflects Qatar Executives boundless commitment to excellence and utilises the latest online technology to provide clients with fast and convenient access to booking information, including real-time worldwide flight availability of return leg charters. Reflecting the refined and elegant style of Qatar Executive, the new website has been designed to provide an intuitive online experience offering clients a virtual tour on board any one of its exceptional 11 aircraft, including the fastest ultra-long-range business jet in the world, the Gulfstream G650ER, which is one of the most coveted aircraft among the global travelling elite. The Qatar Executive G650ER aircraft can easily fly a group of up to 13 guests non-stop from the Middle East to North America or from destinations in Asia to Africa. It can fly further, faster than any other jet of its kind, and is perfectly suited for those whose travel needs include flights halfway around the globe. The Qatar Executive fleet comprises four Global 5000s, one Global XRS, three Challenger 605s and three brand new Gulfstream G650ERs, each offering the highest levels of personalised service comfort, privacy and convenience, through flexible and individual travel to any place in the world. Qatar Executive vice president Ettore Rodaro said: With Qatar Executive customers can fly wherever they want, whenever they want, and our new website has been enhanced to provide them with more accessibility to our exclusive and luxurious private jets. With new interactive tools, mobile optimisation and improved responsiveness our customers will begin their extraordinary experience with Qatar Executive from the moment they visit us online. Private travel is the most comfortable and convenient way to fly and tailor-made services ensure that all clients travel needs are accommodated. - TradeArabia News Service "The Brexit discussion is a good opportunity not only to discuss and negotiate a new agreement, a new partnership with Britain, but also to fix that now it is time to have a real government in Europe," European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt said. By Reuters: The European Union Parliament's chief Brexit negotiator on Monday said Britain's decision to make a clean break from the EU was an opportunity to reform Europe and avoid a further breakdown in ties between its remaining member states. Former Belgian Prime Minister and member of the European Parliament Guy Verhofstadt also said the election of US President Donald Trump, and what he views as Washington's move toward more protectionism, is a wake-up call for the EU. advertisement "The Brexit discussion is a good opportunity not only to discuss and negotiate a new agreement, a new partnership with Britain, but also to fix that now it is time to have a real government in Europe," Verhofstadt said in an interview with Reuters in New York while promoting his new book: "Europe's Last Chance." From the magazine: Exit wounds BREXIT In June, Britons voted 52-48 percent to leave the EU, triggering a change of government leadership and the appointment of Theresa May as Prime Minister. On Jan. 17 May said Britain will leave the EU's single market when it exits the European Union. She wants to start the process by the end of March. However, Britain's Supreme Court will rule on Jan. 24 on whether parliament must first agree to triggering Article 50, which formally starts Britain's two-year divorce process. Verhofstadt said it was "far too early" to speculate on the impact for Britain, or the City of London, Europe's biggest financial center. "It is clear the transition needs to be limited in time. I have seen temporary things become eternal," Verhofstadt said, adding: "What is far more important is a clear triggering of 50, a clear proposal by the British government and how they see the partnership in the future." "We have to see if they ask for a free trade agreement. It could be something different," he said. Verhofstadt is working to get Parliament a seat at the negotiating table rather than be consulted before and after each round of talks. "We have to conclude before the European elections of 2019," he said, reiterating that Britain will not be able to choose policies allowing it to fare better by being outside of the EU instead of being a full member. Rather than retreat and fracture, Europe should create a political and defense union, and unify its common market across more industries and service sectors, Verhofstadt said. "It is a wake-up call," he said, driven by "Brexit, and amplified by the elections in the United States." Donald Trump: Brexit will be 'a great thing', NATO is 'obsolete' --- ENDS --- advertisement As Tony Bourdain visits the land of the rising sun, he explores the best places and spots in Japan from scenic views to mouthwatering food, he does it all. Japan is not only known for its very fine and unique set of technology but Japan is also well known for their food and local cuisine that is just super delicious making it a perfect place for travelers who want to seek the perfect sushi. NipponBudokan. As stated in Travel Channel, Tony visits a Buddokan where he is treated to a practice of Kendo which is a Japanese fighting style of art taught by the masters in the school. NipponBudokan was originally built for Judo competitions which first appeared in the 1964 Olympic games, with this Buddokan translates as the martial arts hall. Over the years it has not only served Judo events but all martial arts events as well from karate, aikido, and many more. Muhammad Ali once fought a right which was held in Budokan. This place is very historic and a must visit for tourists. Rokkakudo Temple. Rokkakudo Temple located just south of Karasuma Oike Station center of Tokyo is where you can learn the ancient Japanese art of flower arrangement and bonsai art as well. The flower arranging is also known in Japan as ikebana, which is one of the arts and crafts of Kyoto being taught by master teacher Manabu Noda. INOTADA Knife Productions. Japan is known for its durable, world class blades and Bourdain made sure that he visited one of the best. He visited a famous knife maker in Sakai where the knives that they produce also known as Sakai Knives are not just for chefs of Japanese dish but also for different dish styles as well. Sarashini Horii. This is a modest and calming soba shop where neighbors know each other's names. For many years the current Horii family's children would run over after school and occupy a table near the kitchen while they did their homework. The waitresses have been there forever and often remember their customers favorite dishes. According to Culinary Backstreets, the signature dish here is kakiage soba, a tempura fritter of mizuna studded with sakura ebi which is a small shrimp that is accompanied either by a bowl of hot tanemono soba noodles in a fragrant soybased dashi broth or cold seiro soba noodles for dipping in a special cold sauce. Toriki. This restaurant offers their special that is creating yakitori from all parts of the chicken. For the atmosphere this place offers a very inviting vibe and calming feeling while you enter it and is very convenient since its near the train station. Toriki is well known for its chicken based meals from heart to liver and all, the menu in this restaurant is a must try and surely you will come wanting for more. For more about Japan stay tuned to Travelers Today. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 The Elbphilharmonie is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is one of the largest and most acoustically advanced concert halls in the world. It is popularly nicknamed Elphi. According to USAToday, Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert hall opened on January 11, delivering one of Germany's most prestigious 21st century cultural projects - albeit some seven years late and busting its budget. Despite all the controversy and acrimony, Hamburg now has a remarkable new architectural symbol. Its inhabitants hope will help redefine and reinvent their city. Hamburg, the richest and second-biggest city in Germany has an extraordinary musical heritage evident in the stunning array of classical composers it has spawned or nurtured. The new landmark, with a red-brick base and glass structure on top, curved windows and a roof that resembles the crest of a wave, is built on a 1960s warehouse that stored tea, tobacco, and cocoa. Overlooking Hamburg harbor, it evokes a ship floating on water and is part of a development that uses old warehouses to create residential and office space in Germany's biggest port. As reported by DW, the Elbphilharmonie has been both "dream and nightmare, a world-class star and a joke, an embarrassment, and a miracle," said Joachim Gauck in his opening speech. Germany's President was referring to the bitter augments and budgetary excesses that made the Elbphilharmonie the paradigmatic building scandal. 220,000 individuals from every part of the world participated in the random drawing for a ticket to the opening concert. The roughly 1,000 lucky ones took their seats next to invited guests including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Parliamentary President Norbert Lammert as well as Andreas Vosskuhle, President of the Federal Constitutional Court and Olaf Scholz, and Mayor of Hamburg. Hamburg shows how a different city will weigh priorities differently. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 This arid Saharan country does not seem very aesthetic, especially in terms of its overall economic performance. In fact, the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Algeria 154th, right after Russia and before Laos. Fortunately, a country is more than just its wealth. In fact, a more captivating aspect about Algeria is the Algerians themselves. Here are the top 5 facts about Algerian society that visitors may find very interesting: Honor Is Everything Honor may seem like a concept that usually applies to old medieval cultures. In Algeria, this principle is a non-negotiable demand for both locals and foreigners alike. It stands to reason that Algerians price courtesy and politeness in every social interaction. At the same time, anything that causes people to lose face such as criticism, humiliation, and vexation, no matter how justified, can easily be taken as an attack. Same-sex Hand-holding One of the strangest facts about Algeria is that people of the same sex often hold hands. This may seem perfectly normal for females but even men behave the same way in public. New-comers visiting Algeria may find this unusual (and funny) but it is best to restrain expressing such disapproval, no matter how mild and innocent. Remember 'honor'? Exactly! Title Is (Also) Everything Speaking of honor, the emphasis on acknowledging titles may seem to be one of the top 5 facts about Algerian society that don't sit well with people raised in a liberal society. Algerians are often all about prestige. Generals, professors, lawyers, and doctors are highly respected in this land - to a point that it is inappropriate to address these accomplished individuals by their first name alone. Hands Off Our Women! Among the important things men should observe when visiting Algeria is to avoid getting close with their women. In other words, take note of the two N's: Nod only when you greet. Never make prolonged eye contact. Because They Are Smarter! Though women are often kept at bay by non-relative males, they weren't actually being disrespected at all. In fact, one of the strangest facts about Algeria is that it is probably the only predominantly Muslim country where a larger portion of its educated population is of the fairer sex - excelling in law, medicine and other sciences. Hence, women hold more erudite titles than men. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" star Nina Dobrev found a perfect film where the female character Becky possesses the traits that she admires. Given the role, there was still one thing that she wants to do. She wants to try some action scenes. The 28-year-old actress asked Director D.J. Caruso to allow her to so some hard-hitting action. She just wants her friends to get impressed. She plays Agent Becky Clearidge, a tech-savvy and smart. Her role allows her to act with Vin Diesel who plays the lead character. Mirror reported that the ex-girlfriend of Ian Somerhalder told her friends with pride on Twitter that she convinced the director to allow her to have daredevil scenes. She added that she does not want her friends to laugh at her for doing no big thing on the movie which is hard action. She asked to be given a gun and do some death-defying actions. She did get what she asked but ended up with some bruises on her thigh. The story revolves around Vin Diesel fresh from his isolation and wants to gather a team that will chase the villain Xiang (Yen) and its supporters. They want to stop the bad guys from getting hold of the device that can seize military satellites. Vin Diesel's movie is breath-taking based on the trailer released. "The Final Girls" star said according to Refinery that the movie attracted her because of Becky's character. She described her as awkward, spunky, clumsy, but smart. The "Vampire Diaries" star was a bit nervous when she came to the set and saw the formidable Vin Diesel. But she shared that the nervousness has helped her perform her clumsy and nervous roles. "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" Nina Dobrev has aside from the lead actor, Samuel L. Jackson, Tony Jaa, Roby Rose, and Donnie Yen as her co-stars. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 There is a place on earth that has been burning for decades now. Gate to Hell or Door To Hell as it is popularly known is blazing in the desert in Turkmenistan. Located in the Karakum Desert of central Turkmenistan approximately 150 miles from the country's capital, the Gate to Hell attracts hundreds of tourists each year. In addition, it also entices nearby desert wildlife reportedly. Repeatedly, local spiders are seen diving into the pit by the thousands, attracted to their deaths by the radiant flames. History of the Gate To Hell In 1971, when Turkmenistan was still part of the Soviet Union, a group of Soviet geologists went to the Karakum to look for oil fields. They found what they thought to be a substantial oil field and began drilling. Regrettably, for the scientists, they were drilling on top of a hollow pocket of natural gas, which could not support the weight of their equipment. Smithsonianmag notes that the site shrunk, pulling their equipment along with it and the event prompted the brittle sedimentary rock of the desert to collapse in other places too. This created a domino effect that caused in several open craters. The natural gas then escaped from the crater displacing oxygen in the atmosphere, soon animals started dying. In addition, the escaping methane posed dangers due to its flammability. The scientists decided to use flaring or in layman's term, they light the crater on fire, hoping that all the dangerous natural gas would burn away in a few weeks' time. According to Daily Mail, the supposedly few-week burn has turned into almost a half-century-long desert bonfire, thus, it became popular as the gate to hell. In 2010, Turkmenistan's president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, in distress that the fire would impend the country's ability to develop nearby gas fields, ordered local authorities to come up with a plan to put the fire off the gate of hell. However, no action has been taken, and the crater continues to burn, attracting unsuspecting wildlife and international tourists. To visit the Darvaza gas crater or the gate of hell, it is best to go at night, when the fire can be seen even from a distance. Tours can also be booked through agents in Ashgabat. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Traveling with a dog man's requires a lot of preparation. Here is a rundown of the effective tips when traveling with a dog. Book a Non-Stop Flight When Traveling With A Dog Like normal people, our dogs do not like the feeling when the plane takes off and lands. Try to schedule your trip so that you will only have one flight instead of a connecting flight. Know The Airlines Policy About Traveling With A Dog There is a lot of factors to consider when taking your dog on the plane. If it is a small dog, most airlines will let place your dog in a carrier that fits under the seat with an additional charge. For bigger dogs, it will have to travel in cargo. There are however airlines that do not allow dogs in cargo. Several airlines require updated immunizations and other details about your pet. Some breeds are not even allowed on airplanes. As a pawrent, make sure to know these policies prior to booking nonrefundable tickets, says PETA. Go For A Long Walk Prior To Travel Exercise your dog if you plan to take him with you on a travel. According to Hello Giggles, it will help him relax and prepare him for the travel ahead. Clip Your Dog's Nails When Flying In Cargo Cargo area where bigger dogs are placed during the flight most of the times has nails or wires. Prior to the scheduled travel, clips your dog's nails to avoid getting their nails stuck in the kennel. Since it is such a high-stress situation, it is best to make sure your dog is prepared. Conduct Pre-Travel Test Runs Place your dog in the kennel for several times habitually before the flight. This is to prepare him for the big travel day and to make him familiarize the environment. This will relax him and cause him lesser stress on the flight date. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Is it true that some souvenir items are cursed? Last week, a man stole a cobblestone off from Rome's street and delivered it back to a restaurant with an apology note. However, this is not the first time the city received their own items from tourist-thieves. In fact, the reason why most people gave it back because it cursed their lives and families as well, without explaining further what the "curse" did to them. Here are some true events and items which people took and gave it back to where these memorabilia belong. Pompeii. We all know the devastating story behind the city when Mt. Vesuvius erupted and blanketed the Roman city with its ashes. Perhaps the relics are cursed and are meant to be left on the city - a sad memory of what happened. Many people have stolen some stones, tiles or a bronze statue and returned it as soon as they can because a haunting feeling enveloped their homes. Pompeii's archaeological superintendent, Massimo Osanna, received more than 100 parcels containing the stolen relics with a note saying their apologies and bad luck. Hawaii. The beautiful island of Hawaii will curse you - or rather, the Hawaiian goddess Pele, if you take her rocks, stones or solidified lava in her home. These stones are her children and people stealing them would make her mad, making her send her curse to anyone who has her children. According to PS Mag, Alton Uyetake of the United States Postal Service has received mails containing just rocks and stones of Hawaii and a letter to Pele. Some of these misfortunes are death, divorce, imprisonment and car accidents. Ayers Rock, Uluru Australia. Never take or move the rocks or you'll be cursed yourself. The Anangu locals will tell you that the rocks have a spiritual significance in the land and therefore the gods will bring you misfortune if you do anything to desecrate the Aboriginal's holy land -even just peeing on the rocks. People who stole the rocks have returned them via the post office saying it brought them diseases, deaths and emotional turmoil. Africa. Mostly native artifacts are considered as a curse. From ritual masks to pagan trinkets, the shaman king or witch doctor has his eyes on you. But perhaps it depends upon your attitude. One woman, however, was blessed after given a fertility icon. The woman and her husband have always wanted a child through the years. Who knows whether it was a coincidence or a miracle. Japan. Japanese dolls make cute souvenir items unless they're cursed. A doll specifically made for a religious ritual should not be stolen lest a traveler would want to be cursed. Sometimes, taking home an antique doll would cause a lot of misfortunes especially if it believed to have inhabited by a human spirit. Do you believe in all of these things? It's up to you if you do. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Who says Indiana Jones only happens in movies? Whether you are in the mood for ancient mummy hunting, exploring the great Machu Picchu or hiking around the cloud forests, Peru is among those countries that you must experience for your life. Here are some of the reasons why you must make Peru your next travel destination this year. 1. The Most Amazing Peruvian Cuisine The culinary delights of Peru celebrate the traditional and indigenous influences of ingredients and recipes which are fusions of international cuisines including the Spanish cuisine, Chinese cuisine, German cuisine, West African cuisine and Italian cuisine. The traditional staples of the Peruvian cuisine are legumes, quinoa, potatoes, corn and other legumes. According to The Telegraph, despite being more expensive compared to other, Peru is where you will find the best ceviche in the world. Among the famous authentic Peruvian classics are Chupe de camarones or the shrimp cioppino and Leche de Tigre (tiger's milk). 2. The Breath-taking Archaeological Sites There is no question of doubt when it comes to Peru, being one of the most diverse and unique countries in the world when it comes to ancient archaeological destinations. From fortresses and temples, to the most amazing ancient Inca ruins, name it and Peru has it stored for you. One of the things that you can do in Peru is to hike the Inca trail. This is where you will get a closer encounter to the ruins in Machu Picchu - an Inca citadel that was declared as a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and also considered as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1983. 3. The Geoglyphs Called the Nazca Lines Found in the Nazca Desert in the south of Peru, Nazca Lines are prehistoric geoglyphs which are believed to be produced by the ancient Peruvians between 500 BCE and 500 CE. In 1994, the Nazca Lines, which are composed of thousands of geometric shapes and lines, have been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite the minor alterations due to the extreme weather changes, Nazca Lines are actually preserved since the plateau where they were located is isolated. From a bird's eyeview, tourists can also spot figures such as birds, spiders, other animals, as well as an image of a man. 4. The Traditionally-Inclined Peruvians Travelling around the world does not only mean of seeing new destinations and tasting culinary heritages that are new to your taste buds. Visiting a foreign country will also give you a chance to meet and encounter different people and get to experience the uniqueness of their way of living. Some of the most accommodating locals in the world can be found in Peru. Because of their way of living and status in life, only a small number of Peruvians have visited a country other than Peru. This actually makes what makes them more welcoming to their foreign guests. According to GloboTreks, the natives in Peru have the heart to preserve connection to their ancestors, which makes their way of living more exciting and appealing among any other countries. 5. The Splendid Beaches Peru is not only notable for its numerous ancient ruins and mountains. This South American country also has over 1,400 miles of beaches down to an extensive coastline that almost touches the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Be sun-kissed with Peru's most incredible beaches including the Puerto Inca, the Lima, Paracas and Mancora, which is also known as the "Hawaii of Peru". With all these ideas together with the famous local drinks and handicrafts of Peru, travelling to this amazing country is surely worth the money you have to spend for it. Hence, the most worthy investment that you will get for your life is experience. See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018 Even as the BJP and Shiv Sena remain non-committal for an alliance, Uddhav Thackeray is being pitched as the star campaigner of the BMC polls. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: Even as the BJP and Shiv Sena have not committed to an alliance, the latter has prepared a campaign schedule for the upcoming Brihanmumbai municipal polls, with Uddhav Thackeray as the star campaigner. According to sources Uddhav had called an emergency meeting of party leaders at his residence to decide the strategy for the polls. The part has prepared a list of candidates for all 227 seats of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. advertisement Uddhav also discussed the list of candidates for other Municipal Corporations of Pune, Nashik, and Nagpur with his party leaders. CAMPAIGN SCHEDULE Uddhav and his son, Aditya Thackeray, will be addressing two rallies every day during the campaign. Uddhav will address rallies in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Pune, while Aditya will be responsible for road shows. Uddhav will also address a rally in BJP's turf, Nagpur and the grand concluding rally will be held in Thane. Apart from the municipal polls Uddhav will also be the star campaigner for his party in Goa Assembly polls. Shiv Sena is fighting the Goa Assembly polls in alliance with Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM), and Uddhav will be touring the coastal state on Jan 31 and Feb 1. He will address rallies and also do a road show. Other than the Thackeray father-son duo other leaders like Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam, Industries Minister Subhash Desai, Actor Amol Kolhe, Aadesh Bandekar, Nitin Bangude-Patil will also lead the campaign for the party. Also Read BMC polls: Shiv Sena releases party manifesto amid talks over seat sharing Uddhav Thackeray takes a dig at PM Modi's spending on advertisements --- ENDS --- The recommendations submitted also suggested putting a curb on large transactions and wanted levying of banking cash transaction tax on Rs 50,000 and above. By Ashish Pandey: The Committee of Chief Ministers, headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu today submitted a copy of recommendations on encouraging digital economy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. The Committee on demonetisation has recommended abolition of the Merchant Discount Rate charges (MDR) to incentivise the digital transactions. It has also suggested putting a curb on large transactions and wanted levying of banking cash transaction tax on Rs 50,000 and above. advertisement Highlights of the recommendations: 1. Capping on maximum allowable cash limit in all types of large transactions is another key recommendation of the committee. 2. It suggested measures to enable all sections of the population to migrate to the digital payments. 3. The panel has suggested to bring all government insurance, educational institutes, fertilisers, PDS and petroleum sectors within the ambit of digital payments. 4. Briefing media after submitting the report, Naidu said the committee wants Aadhaar-enabled micro ATM infrastructure in all the 1.54 lakh post offices. 5. He said the non-income tax payees and small merchants should be given a subsidy of Rs 1,000 for purchasing smart phones. 6. He also said there should be no retrospective taxation to merchants doing digital transactions. 7. Naidu said digital transactions are cost-effective compared to physical currency. 8. The biggest constraint in the exercise is attitudinal changes in the people. 9. The committee was constituted on November 30, 2016 to prepare a road-map for transition into digital economy post- demonetisation. 10. Earlier in the day, Andhra Pradesh CM also held a meeting with committee members. Also read: Demo race: Digital banks race begins --- ENDS --- A 40-day spiritual journey from the Source to the Sea May 31 - July 9, 2017 (TRAVPR.COM) USA - January 23rd, 2017 CONCORD, NH - The first-ever spiritual Pilgrimage along the length of the Connecticut River, from northern New Hampshire to the Atlantic Ocean will be held this spring to highlight the Rivers ecological, social, historical, economical, and spiritual impact throughout New England. The Pilgrimage is hosted by The Episcopal Churches of New England, the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Kairos Earth, in partnership with local, statewide, and regional organizations along the River. This 40-day Pilgrimage is open to people of all backgrounds, faiths, and beliefs. For more information, visit the River of Life website: www.kairosearth.org/river/. Mark Kutolowski, guide for the River of Life Pilgrimage, explains, Water is central to life and the Connecticut River and its tributaries are a prime example of waterways sustaining the myriad aspects of a region. For anyone interested in engaging in a sacred relationship with the natural world, the River of Life Pilgrimage will allow that on multiple levels along the Connecticut River: from being a core river pilgrim and paddling segments of the river, to attending shore-based events hosted by local churches and conservation organizations, to being a Pilgrim in Prayer by joining in the daily spiritual readings and lessons from your own location, everyone has the ability to participate. Rev. Stephen Blackmer, Executive Director of Kairos Earth, says, This journey, like any true pilgrimage, is intended to be a doorway to interior transformation and lasting change. The daily prayer and spiritual exercises of the pilgrimage, as well as the land-based gatherings, will be held in the context of the Christian tradition. On a daily basis, we will also be focusing on the health and conservation of the flora and fauna of the Connecticut River. Registration for the three- to seven-day paddling segments is now open; space is limited and filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so interested participants should sign up early at the website: www.kairosearth.org/paddle-the-river. Events along the Connecticut River will be added throughout the spring featured locations will be Canaan, VT; Littleton, NH; Hanover, NH/White River Junction, VT; Brattleboro, VT; Springfield, MA; Hartford, CT; Essex, CT; and many others. - 30 - NOTE: Media are welcome to cover any portion of the Pilgrimage desired. Please contact Jo Brooks for more information. ### The trio including Inspector Shiv kumar, Assistant Sub Inspector Chandervir and constable Ravi Dutt were nominated by Delhi Police for "their dedication and devotion to duty and exemplary gallant act in eliminating a gangster and cop killer Firoz alias Fauzi." By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: Three personnel of Delhi police special cell have been given president police medal for gallantry. The trio including Inspector Shiv kumar, Assistant Sub Inspector Chandervir and constable Ravi Dutt were nominated by Delhi Police for "their dedication and devotion to duty and exemplary gallant act in eliminating a gangster and cop killer Firoz alias Fauzi." Fauzi is said to be involved in 23 cases of murder, attempt to murder, assault of police personnel. The encounter of gangster took place a month after he killed Delhi police constable Shivraj Tomar in July 2014. advertisement Fauzi, was gunned down in August morning the same year on Pushta Road in Sonia Vihar, Northeast Delhi. As per the citation, the gangster had whipped out his pistol and shot two bullets, one of which hit Inspector Shiv kumar who was saved because of a bullet proof jacket. The dreaded gangster was gunned down in retaliation. Police said Fauzi was intercepted near Pushta Road after they received a tip off about him visiting an associate, and was killed in an encounter. Fauzi's family, however had contested the claim and pointed to a news report in a local newspaper about Fauzi's arrest on August 17. ALSO READ: Republic Day 2017: Delhi Traffic Police makes elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth traffic Republic Day: Who's going to be India's chief guest --- ENDS --- We can't keep building useless things like this. When some of the biggest firms in the UK announced Architects Declare, promising to meet "the needs of our society without breaching the earths ecological boundaries," I wondered if that meant Norman Foster would give up on his silly Tulip. Fortunately, Lord Foster has been saved by the Mayor of London, who has just rejected the Tulip, writing that the proposal would not constitute the high standard of design required for a tall building in this location. Mayor Khan lists a number of reasons for rejecting the Tulip, including urban design, its effect on the historic environment, strategic views and even bicycle parking. My objection was more fundamental: If you care at all about upfront carbon emissions (UCE), you don't build things that we don't actually need. I wrote: Foster, who famously was asked by Bucky Fuller, "How much does your building weigh?", doesn't tell us how much this tulip-shaped tourist trap weighs, or what the Upfront Carbon Emissions are. Given its function, namely building a very tall elevator with a building on top, I suspect that the UCE are really high and really pointless. So this is a dumb tower sitting among the dumb Gherkins, Walkie-Talkies, Cheesegraters and Scalpels, but why is this of interest to TreeHugger? Because it is such a good example of what is wrong with architecture today. Because every building should have the following attributes: Radical Decarbonization: Design to minimize Upfront Carbon Emissions. Radical Sufficiency: Design the minimum to do the job, what we actually need, what is enough. Radical Simplicity : Design to use as little material as possible, whatever it is. Radical Efficiency: Design to use as little energy as possible. A glass restaurant on a stick has none of these. The fact that it has been rejected is great news everywhere. Mumbai, India's financial hub and a magnet for migrants from across the country, has traditionally had enclaves for Catholics, Parsis, Bohri Muslims and others. By Reuters: On the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, an Indian real estate company ran an advertisement (ad) with the slogan 'Homes that don't discriminate', calling for an end to prejudice in India's housing market based on gender, religion or caste. While the ad was unusual, the sentiment was familiar to millions of Indians who have tried to rent or buy city homes only to be denied because they were single, ate meat, were of a certain caste or from a certain region. advertisement Informal rules and discrimination by Indian landlords to keep out religious minorities and single people are eroding the multi-cultural nature of India's cities and dividing communities into ghettos, analysts say. "It's 2017 and we're still encountering discrimination," said Rishi Dogra of NestAway Technologies that ran the ad. Also read: Donald Trump, Narendra Modi to speak tonight: 5 big issues likely to come up "People should be able to move freely and find a living space anywhere in the country," said Dogra, marketing head for the company founded by four young male graduates after they had trouble finding a home in Bengaluru. Such discrimination has forced many people to the suburbs, making Indian city centres less diverse and cosmopolitan, with high rents already making them unaffordable to poorer workers. Mumbai, India's financial hub and a magnet for migrants from across the country, has traditionally had enclaves for Catholics, Parsis, Bohri Muslims and others. They set up housing societies, or co-operatives, to help other community members. As the city grew and drew more migrants, powerful housing societies have often denied homes on the basis of religion, caste, food preferences and even professions. Also read: Trump properties face global terror risk with presidency The divide grew after bloody Hindu-Muslim riots in 1992-93 and still persists, said Zakia Soman, a co-founder at Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a non-profit organisation for Muslim women. A Facebook group called 'Indians Against Discrimination' was set up in 2015 after a young Muslim woman was asked to leave her flat a week after she moved in, because of her religion. "When it comes to living spaces, we have become very insular," Soman said. "The city is getting increasingly ghettoised as a result, weakening our social fabric and polarising us further. That doesn't bode well," she said. Also read: 7 Modi-isms in US President Donald Trump's inaugural speech Local courts have ruled against discrimination by housing associations in several cases, but there have also been contradictory rulings.DISCRIMINATION: In a 2005 case, India's top court ruled in favour of a Parsi housing society in Ahmedabad, saying it could limit its membership to Parsis and not admit others. "The constitution guarantees our right to equality, but housing societies can still frame their own guidelines which may be discriminatory," said Vinod Sampat, a real estate lawyer. advertisement A draft housing policy for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, has dropped a clause that prevents discrimination in housing. This may leave those looking to rent or buy property with fewer protections, Sampat said. Also read: Twilight actor Kristen Stewart: Donald Trump was really obsessed with me Government officials have said non-discrimination is already protected by the constitution, so there is no need for the clause. That has not reassured people like Shikha Makan, who made a film called 'Bachelor Girls' on housing bias against single women - including Bollywood actors - in Mumbai. "Not being able to find a home in a big city like Mumbai is a shame," she said. "It is marginalising single women and other minorities." Also read: US President Donald Trump to speak with PM Narendra Modi tonight --- ENDS --- Ramkrishan Upadhyay Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 24 Within a month of its landslide victory in the MC elections, the BJP today received a major jolt in a general house meeting when one of its five candidates, Heera Negi, lost the election of the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) due to cross voting by its members. Despite the party having only four councillors, Congress candidate Devinder Singh Babla, was elected to the committee by bagging six votes. The result brought the infighting in the party to the fore as an agitated Heera Negi blamed Mayor Asha Jaswal for her defeat in the House. She alleged that history had been repeated by Jaswal as the same thing happaned during the election of Mayor in 2015 when she lost by one vote. Negi also boycotted the lunch. The election for five members of the F&CC was held after no candidate withdrew his or her name. While the Congress fielded Devinder Singh Babla for the committee, Arun Sood, Jagtar Singh, Kanwarjeet Singh and Heera Negi of the BJP and nominated councillor Ajay Dutta were sure of their victory due to the clear-cut majority. With 21 members of the BJP and the Akali Dal and support of nine nominated councillors, the BJP candidates were sure of their victory. Kirron Kher could not attend the meeting due to ill health. The election of the committee was held on the preferential vote system. The result was declared in the first round. Jagtar Singh, Kanwarjeet Singh, Devinder Singh Babla and Ajay Dutta secured six votes and Arun Sood got seven votes. Heera Negi could got only four votes. Sources said the BJP had prepared a foolproof plan for the victory of its candidates. However, the result has perplexed party leaders, including Negi. BJP to hold probe "A thorough inquiry will be conducted to find out the reasons behind the defeat of the BJP and those found having committed a wrong will not be spared." Sanjay Tandon, city BJP president "I will write to national BJP president Amit Shah and Member of Parliament Kirron Kher to initiate an inquiry into my defeat. It is not my defeat but the defeat of the party." Heera Negi, BJP councillor "It is the victory of truth. It is time for the BJP to wake up as it has been demolishing democratic values and principles and is dreaming of a Congress-mukt MC." Pradeep Chhabra, city Cong president The conversation between the leaders of the two biggest democracies in the world may touch upon a range of issues, including trade, defence, and the new US visa regime. By India Today Web Desk: Donald Trump is expected to call Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight, the American leader's first call to Modi since taking over as the 45th President of the United States last week. Given Trump's earlier statements on India - both critical as well as complimentary - it is likely that the conversation between the leaders of the two biggest democracies in the world may touch upon a range of issues, including trade, defence, and the new US visa regime. advertisement Here's a lowdown on what might transpire: 1. Trade Since the new US regime is not a votary of multilateral trade deals, it is likely that the US will offer India a bilateral deal that could be a "win-win situation" for the two countries. However, the offer of first such trade deal could go to the United Kingdom, a close US ally. Once that is finalised, the Trump administration is expected to engage India on a similar bilateral offer. ALSO READ | US President Donald Trump to speak with PM Narendra Modi tonight Trump today issued a memorandum withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral agreement that includes the US and 11 other countries. 2. H1B Visa However, it is on the question of H1B visas that the Trump administration's hawkish trade policy of 'America First' and bringing jobs back to America is likely to have the most impact. Trump's 'Buy American-hire American' rallying cry has already put the US $150-billion Indian IT industry on the edge. The US market accounts for a whopping 60 per cent of India's IT exports. Trump has called the H1B visa programme "unfair" and has indicated that he may end the programme. Indian IT majors like Infosys and TCS are likely to be the first victims of this policy. 3. Make In India vs Make In America A clear clash between the new American regime and a growing economy like India could be the issue of manufacturing industries. So far, Modi has successfully sold his Make In India slogan to the world, resulting in massive investment by global companies in the country. ALSO READ | 7 Modi-isms in Donald Trump's inaugural speech Now, a similar policy in the US would mean big-ticket Fortune 500 companies, most based in US, closing their offshore operations and going back to establish or reopen closed units in thier country. 4. Defence In a post-9/11 world, India and the US already have a long-term strategic relationship. America has already recognised India as a "major defence partner". Trump's pick for US Defence Secretary James Mattis has said the India-US relationship is "of the utmost importance" and that India will play a key role in securing the Asia-Pacific region. advertisement In December last year, shortly before demitting office, Barack Obama had signed into law a $618 billion defence budget for 2017, which enhances security cooperation with India and conditions nearly half of the funding to Pakistan on a certification that it is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani Network and other terror groups. WATCH: US PRESIDENT TO SPEAK TO PM NARENDRA MODI 5. Visits The inevitable question of the two leaders meeting, or visiting each other, is bound to come up. In just two years of his government, Modi has already made four visits to the US, which were marked by bonhomie between him and Obama. While there has been no announcement by the Modi government of his fifth visit to the US, it is likely that the Prime Minister may invite Trump to India soon. ALSO READ | Donald Trump's 'Buy American-hire American' pledge unnerves Indian IT --- ENDS --- Akash Ghai Tribune News Service Mohali, January 24 The chilly winter morning seems to have no effect at the residence of IAS-turned-politician Capt Tejinder Pal Singh Sidhu in Sector 34, Chandigarh, where Akali workers start turning up to meet him at 7 am. An ex-Army man and former bureaucrat, Sidhu, has no grudge against it as he knows it would continue till February 4, the day of voting for the Assembly elections. The SAD-BJP combine candidate from Mohali, Sidhu further said, Its the time to give a final shape to my todays schedule, meet dissidents, party activists and other people from the constituency. Sidhus breakfast with his wife Mandeep Kaur, daughter of Akali stalwart Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, concluded in a jiffy while giving instructions to a party leader over the phone to make Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badals rally at Chashme Shahi Banquet Hall on January 26 evening a simple affair. Its 9.30 am, the time to set off in a Toyota Fortuner with some local Akali leaders on a tour of six villages and two venues in Phases and VII under the todays election campaign. Sidhus cavalcade, comprising six cars, started from Kandala, a Congress-dominated village, before going to Barri and Matran villages, where votes are said to be divided between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). First-timer Sidhu was evidently happy with the response he received at these villages. I will have to go to these villages, which are known as the Congress strongholds, said Sidhu after reminding achievements of the SAD-BJP government with a request to test him this time. During a brief halt at a banquet hall in Nagari village, where a meeting of local sarpanches and panches was held for finalising the arrangements for the Badals rally, the campaigners got a chance to have some snacks with tea. Mostly, we dont have time for lunch. My life has entirely changed, said Sidhu before proceeding to Daun and Raipur villages. Though I got little time, I am satisfied with my campaign, said Sidhu while entering the urban area. When asked when he would return home, Sidhu had no reply. I dont know. However, I will try to have my dinner with my family, he said. Rajinder Nagarkoti Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 23 Had Chandigarh Municipal Corporation taken the pain of filling the pond with sand, my daughter would have been alive today, said Laxman, father of a two-year-old girl, Nandini, who was killed after falling into a 3-feet deep pond at the Valley of Animals park in Sector 49 on January 22. On the MC filling the pond after his daughters death, Laxman, who works as a labourer, said it was a good move and will prevent such incidents, but this exercise would not bring back his daughter. Nandinis mother Komal, a housewife, wanted action against the negligent MC officials. She said the area residents had raised the issue of filling the pond many times in the past, but in vain. Action should be taken against officials who had left the pond half-filled, Komal demanded. Avdesh Yadav, another resident of EWS flats in Sector 49, said they had even submitted a representation in writing before the MC and the UT Administration officials, but nobody took the pain to fill the pond with sand. In 2012, when a youth had died, the authorities had filled only half the pond with sand. Had the authorities filled the entire pond with sand in 2012, this unfortunate incident would not have occurred, Yadav said. Meanwhile, the cremation of the child took place at the cremation ground in Sector 25 this afternoon. Nandini alias Ananya died after falling into a 3-feet deep pond at the Valley of Animals park in Sector 49, popularly known as the Dinousaur Park on Sunday afternoon. The deceased went to the park to play, along with her mother at 11 am. The family resides in the Sector 49 EWS Colony. After some time, when the woman failed to locate her child, she raised the alarm and informed her husband, Lakshman, a labourer. She was found unconscious in the pond and was rushed to the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH)-32, where doctors declared her brought dead. Chandigarh: The UT Administration has also rationalised extension fee for those who failed to start construction within the stipulated period of three years on the plots allotted to them. Sources said the Administration had taken the decision to provide relief to the owners on the pattern of the policy of the Government of Punjab. The Administration has amended the Estate Rules 2007 to incorporate the new fees. Under the new rates, the allottees will have to pay 2 percent of the collector rates of the property for the fourth, fifth and the sixth years, 3 percent for seven, eight and nine years, 4 percent for 10, 11 and 12 years and 5 percent for 13, 14 and 15 years. TNS No multi-storeyed buildings in villages Chandigarh: Now, no buildings beyond three storeys will be allowed in the villages of Chandigarh with the UT Administration notifying the rural bylaws after it was approved by UT Administrator VP Singh Bandore on Monday. Besides fixing the height, the bylaws wont allow guest houses, hotels and other commercial activities which go against the spirit of the villages. Also, a basement will not be allowed in the houses. The UT Administrations indecision and delay in finalising the bylaws over the years has led to haphazard construction in most of the villages. Under the bylaws, all buildings will have to follow the norms for structure stability, light and ventilation. No industrial activity will be allowed in the villages except for those permitted by the Chandigarh Administration. The bylaws will have a procedure for the submission of building application. TNS To start conversion from lease to freehold Chandigarh: The transfer of residential properties from lease to freehold will start soon as the Administration has approved the new conversion charges. Now, the Administration will send a proposal to the Ministry of Home for approval.The Estate Office and the Chandigarh Housing Board have put on hold the conversion of properties from leasehold to freehold as the decision on the revision of rates for conversion has been pending for more than three years. The Administration has now proposed the rate of conversion on the pattern of Delhi Government. The applicants will have to pay a fixed percentage of the prevailing collector rates according to the size of the plots. No charges will be levied for the plots below 50 sq/meter size. The owners will have to pay between 7 to 20 percent as their plot size goes up .Earlier, the Administration was charging a rate of Rs 1,716 per square yard for conversion. TNS Hasan Suroor I DONT have a vote in India. But, watching the run-up to the next months Assembly elections in five states, I am wondering what are the choices available to a Muslim voter in India today. Lets say, I were a voter in UP or Punjab, who could I possibly vote for from the lineup on offer?In UP, we have the Congress, the BJP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BSP. The BJP can be ruled out straightaway; it is a false choice because I have yet to come across a Muslim (liberal or otherwise) who is inclined to vote for it. Especially after Modi captured the party, it has become a no, no for Muslims, even for the odd Muslim who might have gambled on it once. Call it prejudice or what you will, but thats the reality. That leaves us with the Congress, the SP and the BSP. In another era, the Congress would have been an automatic choice for Muslims (for more than 50 years it was), but they fell out of love with it after its scandalous handling of the Ayodhya crisis. The hiatus has only grown wider since, and most Muslims flinch at the very idea of voting for the Congress. So, the toss-up is between the SP and the BSP, which is like choosing between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Both are part of a faux secular cabal that thrives on Muslim discontent, and populism. Far from being interested in addressing their concerns theyve a vested interest in perpetuating them so they continue to play on their insecurities for votes. Mulayam Singh Yadav has publicly accused Akhilesh Yadav, his son and UP Chief Minister, of having a negative approach towards Muslims. Ive been suspicious of Mulayams own secular claims and his assiduously cultivated image of a bleeding-heart Muslim saviour, the so-called Maulana Mulayam. His claim that I will live for Muslims and die for them is akin to Narendra Modis phoney concern for my Muslim sisters. At its heart, the SP is a casteist party which needs Muslims to dress itself up as an inclusive platform for minorities and weaker sections. And as an alternative to the Congress. Muslims have been blindsided by their anger with the Congress to swallow Mulayams secularism claims citing his stand on Ayodhya. In reality, his opposition to the Ram Mandir campaign had more to do with his political turf war with the BJP than with secularism. His flirtation later with Kalyan Singh, the man who masterminded the demolition of Babri Masjid, speaks for itself. Between them, the SP and the BJP feed on each others sectarianism fuelling communal tensions and frequently violent riots, as in Muzaffarnagar. Add to this the poor record of successive SP governments on protecting minority interests, and the Maulana Mulayam narrative comes unstuck. The BSPs secular credentials are even less credible. Remember how it was quick to jump into bed with the BJP in 1995 to form a government after withdrawing support from a SP-led government. Neither Mulayam nor Mayawati has anything to offer to Muslims or other minorities except the fear of the BJP, according to one close observer. The Aam Aadmi Party, which Muslims embraced with such enthusiasm, has proved no better leaving some of its biggest Muslim cheerleaders disappointed. It is accused it of using them as a vote bank; and then trashing them like a used tissue paper, a former AAP Muslim official has been quoted as saying. What I find astonishing is that after abandoning the Congress for exploiting their insecurities, and treating them as a vote bank, Muslims have swapped it for a lot that is even more opportunistic. Many, indeed, are disillusioned but say theres no other credible secular alternative. The argument is that with the Congress in the doldrums they have no choice but to go with anyone who looks like being in a position to keep the BJP out. Whats happening in UP is typical of what passes for liberal politics in North India generally. A phenomenon that can be best described as the rise of the secularati, a clutch of caste-based parties (SP, BSP, RJD, plus an assortment of splintered factions of the erstwhile Janata Dal) who stepped into the vacuum caused by the decline of the Congress. Spouting socialist rhetoric and masquerading as messiahs of oppressed communities, theyre quick to jump on to any passing liberal/secular bandwagon portraying themselves as the only force capable of taking on communal forces. And theyve been so successful in marketing themselves that even the Left the only truly secular force has fallen for the con. Yet, they harbour some of the most reactionary Muslims (Azam Khan, Abu Azmi et al), whose views bear no resemblance to the mainstream Muslim viewpoint. Theyve a tendency to hijack Muslim issues and present them in a way that not only reinforces the communitys regressive image but also fuels polarisation. Theres nothing liberal or secular about the secularati. Barring a few exceptions such as Nitish Kumar most of its leaders are, at heart, sectarian, feudal, sexist, homophobic and inward-looking with a provincial worldview. One can rationalise the conservative Muslim support to them in terms of an insecure community wanting to clutch on to any straw. But whats going on with liberals (Muslims as well as non-Muslims) who have succumbed to their sales talk? The only explanation one can think of is an intense anti-Congressism an attitude of anyone but Congress. It used to be said the worst enemies of communists are ex-communists. It appears that the worst enemies of the Congress are its ex-supporters. Their anger and sense of betrayal are understandable: the party became too smug, arrogant and disrespectful of its voters, and it deserved to be told off. But the alternatives have turned out to be worse. For all its many sins, the fact is that outside of the Left, the Congress is the only party that gets secularism or has leaders who do. Besides it has a solid secular pedigree, though in recent years it has messed up badly. Its self-styled alternative, on the other hand, is a collection of fissiparous tendencies openly seeking votes in the name of caste and religion the same way as the BJP except that unlike the BJP they dont actively promote hate. Its an alternative that does not work for me either as a liberal or a Muslim voter. If I were a voter, I would feel disenfranchised in such a climate as Im sure many others do. Just as well, I dont have a vote in India. The writer is a London-based commentator Tribune News Service Hisar, January 24 A prominent lawyer of the town, Subhash Gupta, was stabbed to death by a group of assailants in broad daylight near the Town Park on the Hisar-Delhi road here this evening. The lawyer was returning to his home in Urban EstateII from his office in the new Courts Complex in an Innova car driven by Laxmi Narayan when one of the assailants waylaid him by stopping his motorcycle in front of the car. As the driver applied brakes, around four-five youths armed with sharp-edged weapons and rods smashed the windowpanes of the vehicle. The accused also attacked Gupta inside the car and one of them stabbed him repeatedly. The accused fled from the spot soon after the incident. Though in a shock due to the attack, the driver managed to take the badly injured Gupta to a hospital where he was declared dead. SP Rajender Kumar Meena said the deceased had three stab wounds, including two in the chest and one in the head. We have got specific clues about the accused and five police teams have been formed to solve the case, he said. When asked about any suspected motive behind the killing, the SP said it was premature to say anything. MP slams govt INLD MP Dushyant Chautala has lashed out at the state government stating that the incident exposed the weak law and order situation in the city. The incident occurred in the high security zone having the SPs residence and the district jail, he said. The occurrence of the incident revealed that the police failed to take a lesson from the murder that took place in Hansi town just two days ago. Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 23 The Jat leadership pushing for Other Backward Class status for the community in Haryana is divided as it gears up to launch another agitation to press for its demand even as the BJP government in the state seems to be banking on factionalism and its preparedness to deal with the situation. The Yashpal Malik-led faction, claiming support of a majority of khaps, will start an indefinite agitation in 19 districts on January 29 as per its announced schedule. The Mool Chand Dahiya group, which parted ways with Malik during the agitation in February last year, will open its account in Rohtak with a demonstration on January 27. Another Jat leader, Hawa Singh Sangwan, said he would hold a meeting of supporters in Sonepat on January 26 to convince them against participating in any agitation till the court verdict on the fate of FIRs registered against members of the community during the February agitation, which turned violent. Our programme is final and there is no scope for any postponement. We will begin our protest simultaneously from 19 districts of the state on January 29. While a token day-long protest will be held in Gurugram, the district, along with Panchkula and Mewat, is not in our protest plan, Malik said. He added that khap leaders would begin announcing their support to the agitation shortly. Dahiya, who worked closely with Malik in the previous agitation, fell out with him over clearing railway tracks after a meeting with the Union Home Minister. Malik is an outsider and we dont need him to fight our battles. We will launch an indefinite protest in Rohtak on January 27. This time, no matter how many sacrifices it requires, we will get our reservation. Nobody martyred during the agitation will be cremated, Dahiya said. The states court route to settle matters was only a time-buying tactic, he claimed. Meanwhile, openly declaring his disinterest in any agitation for the time being, Sangwan said the court was hearing cases pertaining to FIRs registered against members of the Jat community for the arson that followed last years agitation. Any protest now will only irk the courts and we will not be able to get justice for our people. I will try and convince community leaders to wait for the outcome before deciding the next course of action, he said. Sources in the government said the police were in a state of preparedness to deal with any eventuality. He said senior officers were being designated supervisory duties in the field. All dharnas would be videographed, he added. For the agitation on January 29, the Haryana Government had sent a requisition for 55 companies of Central security forces and issued a call-out notice to depute 7,000 Home Guards in the state. Ram Niwas, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, said leaders of various organisations had promised to hold dharnas in a peaceful manner, but the administration was geared up to maintain law and order. While District Magistrates had been appointed, all Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) had been directed to ensure that highways and railway tracks were not obstructed and no damage caused to property. Ram Niwas reviewed security with DCs and SPs through video-conferencing. He directed DCs and SPs to deal with any violence during the agitation with a heavy hand. Saurabh Malik Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 23 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has rapped Haryana for passing illegal, arbitrary and unsustainable dismissal orders in the case of four cops booked for dacoity but acquitted by the trial court. Nearly four years after they were shown the door, Justice Rajiv Narain Raina ordered their reinstatement with all consequential benefits after observing that the high and mighty found the administrations favour and obtained reinstatement while the underlings were before the court craving for justice. The judgment came on a petition by Vijay Pal and three cops for quashing the orders of their dismissal from service. The case has its genesis in an FIR lodged on March 11, 2010, by Rajat Aggarwal at Panipat city police station, alleging dacoity of Rs 6 lakh from his shop. On the basis of suspicion and without identification by any witness, the petitioners were arrested on March 15, 2010. They remained under custody for 18 months. The trial eventually ended in their acquittal on November 6, 2012. After hearing senior advocate Sanjay Kaushal for the petitioner and the rival contentions, Justice Raina asserted a chargesheet was issued shortly before the conclusion of a protracted criminal case when the trial was all but done and awaiting judgment. The only reason the court could think of was that the police department was conscious that the trial was going to fail. The only way to keep the petitioners out of service was to embroil them in disciplinary proceedings, which was not a fair thing to do. Justice Raina added the punishing authority fell in grave error in observing that the prosecution had been won over. Justice Raina asserted a co-accused, Ashok Kumar Sheoran, was reinstated in July last year. What was once a very grave accusation has turned into a verdict of not guilty. What the police could not achieve in the criminal trial cannot be allowed to be achieved in a domestic inquiry on the same evidence, same incident and charge. Justice Raina added the petitioners had been wronged. They were innocent of the crime and not guilty of misconduct. The impugned orders were not sustainable. Tribune News Service Rohtak, January 24 Local traders have approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the elevated road project. As per the petitioners, the High Court has posted the matter for hearing on March 4. The foundation stone for the project was laid by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here on November 13 last year and work on it began in December. The 2-km elevated road is slated to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 152.83 crore in two years. The project is being opposed by residents and businessmen whose establishments are located along the stretch of the Delhi road where the elevated road is to be constructed. The residents and owners of commercial establishments located on the said stretch between Ambedkar Chowk and the old bus stand are apprehensive that the project would adversely affect their day-to-day life and business and not serve any worthwhile purpose. A group of local traders and Congress leaders, including former state Home Minister Subhash Batra and several leading medical practitioners, hoteliers and other professionals/businessmen, have now filed a writ petition in the High Court. Representatives of varous organisations of traders have maintained that they had conducted a survey and a vast majority of traders of the area in question had opposed the project. Those opposing the project point out that it would not serve any purpose as heavy vehicles do not enter this part of the town nor would auto-rickshaw operators ply their vehicles on the elevated road. On the other hand, local MLA and Haryana Minister of State for Cooperatives Manish Grover has asserted that the project would be beneficial to the residents and those opposing it owed allegiance to Opposition parties. Our Correspondent Kaithal, January 23 A 30-year-old resident of Pinjupura in the Kalayat area has lodged a complaint at the womens police station here that Rajesh Puri of the same village had raped her about six months back when she was alone at home. She reported that the accused had threatened her of dire consequences if she reported the matter to anyone. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case. In another case, a 17-year-old resident of Kaul village in the district lodged a complaint at the womens police station that Gourav of Bandrana village outraged her modesty on January 15. She reported that he threatened to kill her. The police registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC and POCSO Act. Girl missing Som Nath of Kalayat town in Kaithal district lodged a complaint with the police that his 19-year-old daughter Geeta had gone missing from their house around midnight on January 20. He said neither did she inform her parents nor could they find any clue about her whereabouts. He suspected that someone had confined her at some place. The police have registered a case. Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, January 24 Governor Acharya Devvrat final gave assent to the pending Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning (Amendment Bill), 2016 which will pave the way for regularisation of over 25,000 unauthorised structures built in violation of the norms in the state. Sources confirmed that the Governor today signed the pending Bill and sent it to the government, who had been waiting anxiously for the approval of the Bill for the last almost five months. The Governor had on December 31, 2016 written to the state government seeking some clarification with regard to the pending TCP Bill with him. It is in response to those queries that the state government sent its reply to the Raj Bhawan on January 20 earlier this month. Aimed at regularizing over 25,000 illegal structures in the state, it was on August 27, 2016 that the Vidhan Sabha had passed the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning (Amendment Bill), 2016 and sent it to the Governor for his assent. The Bill will amend the Town and Country Planning Act, 1977, to facilitate the regularisation of unauthorized structures in the state with the maximum number of violations being here in the state capital. The Governor had sought four major queries from the Government with regard to the government stand on those structures which fail to qualify the structural stability certification and those which have been raised on encroached land, be it private or government. Interestingly, the Governor has raised a very pertinent question as to what action has been taken or the government contemplates taking against those erring officials of the concerned departments who failed to check the coming up of these illegal structures while they were being raised. The Governor had also asked the government to ensure that the proposed amendment was not contradictory to the High Court observations made earlier with regard to retention policies brought to legalise the unauthorised structures. Interestingly, the anxiety of the Congress regime on the issue of amending the TCP Act to give benefit to thousands of violators is understandable with elections due later this year. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, former CM PK Dhumal, TCP Minister Sudhir Sharma and local BJP legislator Suresh Bhardwaj had personally called on the Governor to urge him to give his assent to the pending Bill as a one-time settlement of these unauthorized structures. In fact, the TCP Minister Sudhir Sharma had written a letter to the Governor on January 14, 2016, pointing out that the uncertainty over the pending Bill was encouraging violators and the department was not in a position to check this trend. In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the "alternative facts" briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump's crowd was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period." By Reuters: President Donald Trump's press secretary promised reporters on Monday that he would never lie after a weekend briefing in which he made statements about the crowd size for Trump's inauguration that were debunked. In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the "alternative facts" briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump's crowd was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period." advertisement Photographs showed the crowds at Trump's swearing-in on Friday were smaller than Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration in 2009. Spicer's statement drew further criticism after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Sunday the White House had wanted to "put alternative facts out there" to counter what she said was a biased media. At his first formal White House briefing on Monday, Spicer was asked by a reporter if he intended to always tell the truth from the lectern. "Our intention is never to lie to you," he replied. Spicer defended his right to give the administration's point of view. Also read: Donald Trump signs executive order withdrawing US from free-trade pact He said he had been including television and online viewers in his remarks on Saturday about the size of the inauguration crowd. He told reporters that Trump and his advisers had been frustrated by "demoralizing" coverage that he called a "constant attempt to undermine his credibility." "I want to have a healthy relationship with the press," Spicer said. Spicer answered questions on a wide range of policy issues, with a focus on trade policy. He did not take questions from reporters on Saturday. "That moves it away from the acrimonious session on Saturday," said Martha Kumar, a political scientist and emeritus professor at Towson University in Maryland who studies the relationship between the White House and its press corps. Also read: Trump properties face global terror risk with presidency Spicer took questions from 43 reporters - more than twice the average, Kumar said in an interview. He also said he would start taking questions from four "Skype seats" later this week to allow news organizations outside of Washington to participate. Also read: White House vows to fight media 'tooth and nail' over Trump coverage Watch the video --- ENDS --- Majid Jahangir and Amir Tantray Tribune News Service Jammu/ Srinagar, January 24 Three militants were killed by security forces in two separate incidents on Tuesday. Two unidentified militants were killed in a gunfight at Hadoora in Ganderbal district, some 20 km from Srinagar, when forces launched a search operation in the area after an input about militant presence. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "As the forces began searches, the hiding militants opened fire triggering a gunfight. In the operation two militants were killed," a police officer said. Two AK rifles were recovered from the gunfight site. The identity and group affiliation of the slain militants could not be established immediately. However, sources said the two were foreign militants. The forces have stepped up anti-militancy operations across Kashmir, and nine militants have been killed in January. Meanwhile, a policeman was injured in a grenade attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama. Army foils infiltration bid on LoC; terrorist killed The Army deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Sunderbani sector foiled an infiltration attempt in the early hours of Tuesday. The troops detected the movement of terrorists along the LoC. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with effective automatic fire while drawing heavy retaliatory fire. One terrorist was eliminated in the operation while the others fled towards Pakistan. The body of the terrorist has been recovered; a gun and ammunition was also seized. The action by the Army assumes significance in view of the large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around Republic Day. Sumit Hakhoo Tribune News Service Jammu, January 24 The series of statements by political parties regarding the rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri Hindus and the recent passage of resolution by the Legislative Assembly for creating a conducive atmosphere for their return to the Valley has evoked little enthusiasm among Pandits. The slogan of the community being an inseparable part of Kashmir has been repeatedly raised by mainstream political parties during 27 years of Pandits exile from their homeland, but no sincere efforts have been made to start processes, mainly because of security factors and opposition from radical elements. It was for the first time that such a resolution was passed by both the Houses of the state Legislature. Though Hurriyat Conference has been parroting view that Pandits are a part of the society, but they have opposed any move to create composite township-cum-transit camps, proposed by the government to allow phase-wise resettlement. The idea first proposed in 2014 was to create housing societies so that the community can start life afresh as they cannot live in villages of their origin because the property was either damaged or disposed off under distress sale. On several occasions, the successive governments had backtracked from its plans to rehabilitate the community. Even the Distress Sales Act passed by the Legislative Assembly in 1996 during the tenure of Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah to safeguard the properties of Pandits has not been enforced properly. In the past seven years, since 2,000 youths returned to the Valley under the Prime Ministers employment package announced by the Congress-led UPA government in 2008, no major initiative has been taken to implement the Confidence Building Measures. The community welcomes the concern expressed by political parties. But what is the government planning to do? The Central Government dropped the idea of township in April, 2015, as separatists had threatened violence and so far, no new plan has been announced, said Dr TK Bhat, general secretary, All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC). Another fear factor for Pandits is the revival of terrorism and radicalisation of youngsters. The new generation of militants is influenced by pan-Islamic Jehadi world view plunging the Valley in another bloody phase of violence. The rehabilitation plans announced in 2004-05, 2008 and 2014-15 was built on the narrative that separatists will support the process, but they have not shown willingness to facilitate its implementation on the pretext of demographic change if the community is settled at one place. During the five-month-long unrest, transit camps were attacked and damaged by stone-throwers. There is no need to oppose separate neighbourhood because with time there will be interdependence of majority and minority communities. All steps should be taken to encourage the Pandits to return and ensure their sense of security. The civic society has to create situation too, said Wahajat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner. He was also a part of peace delegation which recently visited Kashmir. Year 2016 which saw widespread violence in Kashmir also rattled Pandits who were targeted by the stone-throwers. It was after years that the community had to face the rampaging stone-throwers who targeted transit camps housing the PMs package employees. If the government is sincere, it should first implement the 2008 package. Except filling 2,000 vacancies, no help has been extended to ensure their resettlement in Kashmir. Youths continue to live in makeshift huts with poor facilities while the work on the multi-storey buildings to house them is going on at snails pace, said RK Bhat, president, Youth All India Kashmiri Samaj. Ishfaq Tantry Tribune News Service Srinagar, January 24 Ever since the state government announced compensation to the pellet victims, more and more victims are visiting Kashmir hospitals to correct their medical records and obtain certificates from the hospital authorities. Fearing penal action by the police and other security agencies, majority of the civilian victims who were treated in government hospitals of the Valley had furnished wrong names and addresses during admission in hospitals. This was to avoid arrests or being summoned to police stations later on. But, most of the victims are now visiting hospitals for correction in records, hospital authorities reveal. Maximum people who were admitted and treated in this hospital had provided wrong credentials and not revealed full names or residential addresses as they feared police action. But, they are now coming back to correct their admission records, revealed Dr Tariq Qureshi, HoD, Ophthalmology Department, Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital, where majority of the severely injured civilians due bullet and pellet firing by the police and CRPF were admitted and treated. He, however, added that it was now difficult for the hospital authorities to correct the records, as all the records related to the 2016 unrest victims till December 30, 2016, had been submitted to the government, which was preparing a list of pellet victims and other victims to arrive at a correct picture about the civilian casualties suffered during the unrest last year. As per the records submitted by the SMHS Hospital, 932 civilians with pellet injuries sustained in eyes were admitted to the ophthalmology department. Out of these, six patients had been certified by the hospital authorities that they had lost 100 per cent vision in both eyes dud to pellet injuries, Dr Qureshi revealed. Besides, the data collected by the states health department from various hospitals in the Valley reveals that till November 2, 2016, the number of injured admitted was 9,010 and of them 6,205 suffered pellet injuries. Asked, why many victims are now visiting hospitals to correct records and demanding certificates by the hospital authorities, Qureshi said because they now expect compensation and ex gratia from the government. Some people now want to misuse it and are now putting pressure on us to issue them blind certificates, whereas the fact is, they can see and have not lost complete vision, he claimed. Winding up the discussion on adjournment motion in the Legislative Assembly on January 9, J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had announced arrangement for education in Delhi or any other place for students who had been blinded by pellets. The government had announced to provide job opportunities to persons who had lost eyesight during the unrest. Majid Jahangir Tribune News Service Srinagar, January 24 Two days ahead of Republic Day, two top Pakistani militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in a gunfight on the outskirts of Srinagar on Tuesday. The gunfight took place amid stepped-up security across Kashmir to thwart militants attempt to disrupt Republic Day functions in the region. The two militants were killed at Hadoora village near the Shuhama belt of central Kashmirs Ganderbal district, over 20 km from Srinagar, when joint teams of the police, Army and the CRPF cordoned off the area early Tuesday after an intelligence input about their presence. As the forces began searches and zeroed in on the suspected house, the militants opened fire, triggering a gunfight. In the nearly five-hour operation two Pakistani militants were killed, said Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, Imtiaz Ismail Parray. The two slain militants were identified as Abu Anas and Qari Hanzullah, both categorised as A-plus-plus militants. The two militants were members of the Abu Hurraira-led group of the Lashkar which has carried out attacks in Srinagar and Ganderbal. On October 14 last year, the group had attacked Sashastra Seema Bal convoy at Zakoora, Srinagar, killing a jawan and injuring many others, Parray said. The Abu Hurraira group operates in Srinagar and its adjoining district Ganderbal. The commander of the group is believed to have shifted base to Bandipora recently. Two AK 47 rifles, one grenade, six magazines, 180 rounds and some documents were recovered from the encounter site. Protests and clashes erupted in the area after the killing of the two militant commanders. Another police officer said they were analysing the recoveries made from the militants. The duo was recently directed by mentors in Pakistan to carry out the attack on security forces and civilians on the eve of the Republic Day celebrations in Ganderbal and Srinagar, he said. In the run-up to the R-Day in Kashmir, the entire security grid has been put on alert across Kashmir amid input about militant movements. Security forces as part of area domination have also been carrying out searches in various parts of the Valley to ensure peaceful R-Day functions. The main function of the Republic Day will be held at Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar where a three-tier security cover would be in place to secure the venue. The forces have set up many checkpoints in the city and other parts of the Valley. Forces are also seen carrying surprises searches of vehicles. Amarjot Kaur A 17-year-old inmate at the Short Stay Home in Dhariwal (which was shut down last year) ran and locked herself inside a room when author Satinder Kaur Sachdeva, who penned the book AbandonedDark reality of homeless women, offered her chocolates. She did not come out the entire day and the next day when she saw me there, without chocolates, she hugged me and wept... she later told me that her father, who wasnt her step-father, would bring her chocolates and molest her. Each time she told her mother about it, she rebuked her, ignored her. Eventually, she was raped by her father, she says. As Satinder set out to interview the inmates of five Short Stay Homes in Punjab - Dhariwal, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, and Faridkot - out of which only those in Amritsar and Jalandhar are now operational, there were many other stories of such women that came to the fore, some of whom are post-graduates and professional diploma-holders. There was a woman, a post-graduate, who was forced to have unnatural sex with her husband and when she denied, she was not only abandoned by her husband but even her parents withdrew support, shares Satinder. True inspiration Mostly, women suffering from physical or mental disabilities, and victims of sexual abuse and assault, were the inmates of these Short Stay Homes. What triggered Satinder to write a book was the alarming difference between the rising number of crimes against women and the scarcity of Short Stay Homes, and the number of inmates in the homes. There were 20 inmates in Jalandhar, 18 in Dhariwal, 3 in Faridkot and 10 in Chandigarh. Also, it was rather worrisome that the superintendent in Dhariwal was a man. In fact, most of these homes had ad-hoc staffers who stayed there for a brief time. Besides, when I went there to know the case history of inmates, their registers werent maintained. They didnt even maintain the visitor logs, said Satinder, who would often cloak her identity or her intention to write a book about the inmates when she visited these homes. I went there saying that I wanted to use the loo. It was then that I saw that even the basic provisions under the Scheme of Short Stay Home, launched in 1969 by the then Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Women & Child Welfare, were not being provided to the inmates. Now, the Scheme of Short Stay Home comes under the Swadhar Scheme, 2013, she adds. Not only did Satinder find that the taps and flush werent working, even the ceiling of the washrooms was chipping off. In fact, the location of these homes was in remote areaslike the one in Dhariwal was next to a cycle shop and didnt even have a gatekeeper or a guard. The walls could be easily trespassed. Also, these homes didnt clearly list the names of the beneficiaries. Even in Chandigarhs Nari Niketan, despite having the papers, I was not allowed to go inside. The guards stopped me until I rang up a friend in a reputed newspaper, she shares. Future course While the situation at these homes, according to Satinder, was nothing but deplorable, she has prepared a proposal for the Swadhar Scheme to ensure that these homes accommodate its inmates while adhering to the provisions made in the scheme. At these homes, there are no counsellors or doctors and most inmates are staying there for more than three years. I feel a room or two, at these homes, which serve as working women hostel, could be better. Also, there needs to be an inter-department strategy that accommodates a tie-up of these homes with recreational centres and libraries. Vocational training too should be imparted to give them basic knowledge of computers, she suggests. Of her book, she is honest, This is not a novel. I was inconsolable each time I interviewed an inmate. Its a research book and I am a researcher. The language could be wrong here or there, but not the research, she signs off. amarjot@tribunemail.com Los Angeles, January 24 La La Land, Damien Chazelles dreamy ode to classic Hollywood musicals, swept the 89th Academy Awards nominations on Tuesday by becoming the only third movie in the Oscars history to bag a record 14 nods. The movie, about two artistes who fall in love while trying to make a career in Hollywood, bagged nominations in all the key categories including the best picture, best director for Chazelle and best actress and actor for its leading starsEmma Stone and Ryan Gosling, respectively. La La Land equalled the record 14 nominations of All About Eve in 1959 and Titanic in 1997. The second most nominated films this year are sci-fi drama Arrival and coming-of-age story Moonlight with both bagging 8 nods each. British-Indian actor Dev Patel bagged his first nomination in the best supporting actor category for his moving India-set drama Lion. Past Oscar winners and nominees Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, Emmanuel Lubezki, Jason Reitman and Ken Watanabe joined Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs in presenting the 24 categories for the 89th Academy Awards. The 2017 Academy Awards will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and take place at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood on February 26. The complete list of nominees is as follows: Best Picture Arrival Fences Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water Hidden Figures La La Land Lion Manchester By the Sea Moonlight Best Actor Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw Ridge) Ryan Gosling (La La Land) Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic) Denzel Washington (Fences) Best Actress Isabelle Huppert (Elle) Ruth Negga (Loving) Emma Stone (La La Land) Natalie Portman (Jackie) Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) Best Supporting- Actor Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water) Lucas Hedges (Manchester by the Sea) Dev Patel (Lion) Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals) PTI Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 24 The Union Cabinet today approved a pension scheme for senior citizens. To be implemented through the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the scheme will provide a guaranteed return of 8 per cent for 10 years. The Cabinet gave post facto approval for launching the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana-2017 (VPBY-2017), which is part of the governments commitment for financial inclusion and social security, an official statement said. The scheme would be implemented during the current financial year to provide social security during old age and protect the elderly (aged 60 years and above) against any future fall in their interest income. It will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of return of 8 per cent per annum for 10 years, with an option to opt for pension on monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual basis. The differential return or the difference between the return generated by the LIC and the assured return of 8 per cent per annum would be borne by the Centre as subsidy on an annual basis. The pension scheme is proposed to be open for subscription for one year from the date of launch. The earlier VPBY-2014, announced in the Union Budget 2014-2015, for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above, offered an income at an overall rate of 9.38 per cent per annum on deposits being paid on a monthly basis. It effected into a guaranteed 9 per cent return assured by the government. The VPBY-2014 was open from August 14, 2014, to August 14, 2015. 60-day farm loan interest waiver New Delhi: The government on Tuesday approved its ex-post facto interest waiver for two months November and December in 2016 for farmers accessing short-term crop loans from cooperative banks. An additional liability of Rs 1060.50 crore, the move aims to reduce the aftershocks of demonetisation on the farm sector in the rabi season. It also provides for interest subvention to the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) on additional refinance by NABARD to cooperative banks, a statement said. TNS Nod to IIM Bill, can grant degrees New Delhi: The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bill, 2017, was on Tuesday cleared by the Cabinet, enabling the premier management institutes to be declared institutions of national importance, thus allowing them to grant degrees. The CAG will audit accounts of IIMs and their annual reports will be placed in Parliament. The management of these institutions would be board driven, with the chairperson and director being selected by the board. The Bill also enables greater participation of experts and alumni in the board. TNS Feb 1 Budget fine, no sops for poll states: EC New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has said the government can present the Union Budget on February 1 without any proposal that can influence voters in five poll-bound states, while it also has the option of taking a vote-on-account. In its communication to the Cabinet Secretary, the ECI said the Budget proposals should not contain any schemes specific to the five states going to the polls which may have the effect of influencing the voters in favour of the ruling party (ies). It also asked the government to ensure that the Budget speech does not mention its achievement as regards the five states of Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, where polling is scheduled between February 4 and March 8. TNS New Delhi, January 24 Delhi Police has launched a preliminary inquiry into allegations of forgery, cheating and fraud against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his brother-in-law and a public servant for alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines. Delhi Polices Economic Offences Wing has initiated a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, a senior officer said today, adding that no FIR has been lodged in the matter. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) A complaint in this regard was lodged by Kislay Pandey, a lawyer, on behalf of the Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), an NGO. The complainant accused Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal, the proprietor of a construction company, and PK Kathuria, the then Executive Engineer in the Delhi Governments Public Works Department (PWD), of indulging in corruption. The NGO, which claims to monitor public works, alleged that Bansal had submitted fake bills and invoices to the PWD. It also claimed that there were documents that showed no material was actually purchased for completing the works. The complaint alleged that the documents given to the PWD were concocted and forged by the accused, causing a loss of over Rs 10 crore to the public exchequer. It also alleged that the chief minister had caused substantive gains to Bansal and others by using his influence, adding that his role must also be probed. The complaint alleged that Bansal operated through several dummy firms to obtain government contracts in connivance with various senior PWD officials, which never got executed whereas, shockingly all the payments have been cleared under the pressure of Kejriwal. PTI Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 23 The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced its third list of candidates for next months assembly elections. Swami Prasad Maurya, formerly Bahajan Samaj Partys general secretary before he joined the BJP in August 2016, will fight the elections from Padrauna in Uttar Pradeshs Kushinagar district. Other former BSP leaders to find themselves in the third list are Fateh Bahadur, RK Chaudhary and Dara Singh Chauhan. The latest announcement brings BJPs total number candidates for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly to 370. Australia now hopes to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership by encouraging China and other Asian nations into the agreement in the wake of US pulling out of it, its trade minister said By Reuters: US President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies, as China's influence in the region rises. Fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States out of the 12-nation TPP. advertisement Trump, who wants to boost the US manufacturing, said he would seek one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days "if somebody misbehaves". "We're going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country," the Republican President said as he met with union leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room. ALSO READ: White House vows to fight media 'tooth and nail' over Trump coverage TPP WAS NEGOTIATED BY OBAMA The TPP accord, backed heavily by the US business, was negotiated by former Democratic President Barack Obama's administration but never approved by the Congress. Obama had framed TPP, which excluded China, as an effort to write Asia's trade rules before Beijing could, establishing US economic leadership in the region as part of his "pivot to Asia". China has proposed a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific and has also championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Trump has sparked worries in Japan and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific with his opposition to the TPP and his campaign demands for the US allies to pay more for their security. His trade stance mirrors a growing feeling among Americans that international trade deals have hurt the US job market. Republicans have long held the view that free trade is a must, but that mood has been changing. ALSO READ: Trump properties face global terror risk with presidency TRUMP MUST FIND AN ALTERNATIVE "It's going to be very difficult to fight that fight," said Lanhee Chen, a Hoover Institution fellow who was domestic policy adviser to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. "Trump is reflecting a trend that has been apparent for many years." Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said Trump must now find an alternative way to reassure allies in Asia. "This could include multiple bilateral trade agreements. Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam should be approached first as they are key to any new Asia strategy that President Trump will enact," he said. advertisement Trump is also working to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to provide more favorable terms to the United States, telling reporters he would meet leaders of NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada to get the process started. AUSTRALIA WANTS TO SALVAGE THE DEAL Australia now hopes to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership by encouraging China and other Asian nations into the agreement in the wake of US pulling out of it, its trade minister said today. New Zealand's trade minister said ministers from the remaining TPP countries would meet in the next few months to discuss how to save the trade deal, which was seen in Asia as a counterbalance to China's rising influence. TPP member Australia said China and Indonesia could join in the vacuum left by the United Sates. The TPP had yet to come into force with many countries still to ratify it. "The original architecture was to enable other countries to join," Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed interest and there would be scope for China if we are able to reformulate it," said Ciobo. The remaining 11 TPP nations are Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand. advertisement ALSO READ: Indian-American lawmakers join women's march against US President Donald Trump Pope Francis to 'wait and see' before forming opinion about Donald Trump ALSO WATCH --- ENDS --- KV Prasad Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 24 The Election Commission of India on Tuesday allowed the government to present Union Budget on February 1. The ECI said while doing so specific announcement in regard to the five poll-bound states cannot be made, adding that the government should also not recount achievements in regard to these states in the Budget speech. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) In a communication to the Cabinet Secretary, the ECI also re-circulated its March 2009 advisory suggesting that the states may go in for vote-on-account in view of the General Election. The ECI order of January 23 was released officially this morning by its spokesperson Rajesh Malhotra. Polling to elect assemblies in the states, including Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, is scheduled to be held between February 4 and March 8. A combined opposition had petitioned the ECI urging it to restrain the Central Government from presenting the Union Budget on February 1, as announced. The opposition had argued that the Budget proposals could influence voters. In its letter, the opposition leaders had suggested that the government could present the Budget on March 9, a day after the voting is over. The Budgets session of Parliament was advanced this year, and the earlier practice of presenting the Union Budget on the last day of February has also been changed from this year. Legal Correspondent New Delhi, January 23 The Delhi High Court today stayed an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) asking Delhi University (DU) to disclose details of Prime Minister Narendra Modis BA degree issued in 1979. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also issued a notice to Neeraj Sharma, an activist of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), seeking his response to DUs appeal against the CIC order. The HC slated the next hearing for April 27. Appearing for the university, Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta pleaded the CIC had failed to appreciate the fact that the institution was not supposed to show its record on bachelors degree issued to any student to third persons. The university had a fiduciary relationship with its students and as such details of degrees and mark sheets could be provided only to the respective students, and not to others, Mehta said. Sharma had initially approached the university pleading for a copy of Modis BA degree under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The university rejected the plea, stating that such information was not covered under RTI as no public interest was involved in it. Upon this, Sharma went to the CIC. The CIC slapped a fine of Rs 25,000 on DUs Information Officer for denying information and directed her to provide it. Earlier, the university had confirmed that Modi completed his BA course in 1978 and obtained the degree in 1979. Delhi Chief Minister AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal has raised doubts over Modis educational qualification. Chennai, January 23 Violence broke out today in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu as the police cracked down on protesters even as the six-day-old Marina uprising was called off after the state Assembly passed a Bill to replace the ordinance allowing the banned Jallikattu. The agitations in Madurai, famous for its Alanganallur bull-taming event, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore and other places were also withdrawn late in the evening. After the crackdown in the morning, the sands of Marina beach and areas around it in Triplicane, Teynampet and Sellur in Madurai and Gandhipuram in Coimbatore witnessed pitched battles between protesters and the police who fired teargas shells and resorted to lathicharge to disperse crowds. There were incidents of stone-throwing and burning of vehicles and sundry items at various places in protest against the police action. Police personnel and their vehicles along with those of the public were targeted. A number of policemen and members of the public were also injured. The police suspected some protesters belonged to ultra-Left organisations like CPI-ML and the Revolutionary Youth Front of India as the agitators said the students and youth who had given the call were not involved in the violence. Initially, crowds defied appeals for withdrawing the agitation, but the protesters were not in a mood to relent. Acting quickly, the AIADMK government tabled the Bill in the Assembly after the Governors address to replace the ordinance for conducting Jallikattu without any hindrance. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017 piloted by Chief Minister O Panneerselvam was adopted unanimously by a voice vote after a brief debate. After the ordinance was enacted, pro-Jallikattu organisations and film Director Gautaman appealed to the protesters to withdraw the stir. Tamil stars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan also expressed concern over the violence and called for restraint by the agitating students. The protesters fought pitched battles with the police in several pockets in Chennai, especially around Marina Beach from where thousands were evicted, and blocked roads in various parts of the city. PTI Ashis Ray London, January 24 India and Britain could be heading for a flashpoint in bilateral relations over alleged anti-India activities of a pro-Khalistan leader in the United Kingdom Dabinderjit Singh Sidhu. Sidhu, an executive at the National Audit Office (NAO) which equates to Indias C&AG demands a separate homeland for Sikhs carved out of Punjab and was reportedly an activist with the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), which was banned by the British government until un-proscribed by Theresa May as Home Secretary last year. The ISYF, after being outlawed, created a successor organisation called Sikh Federation UK (SFUK). Londons widely distributed Standard newspaper maintained Sidhu continued to be associated with it. Sidhu, though, told the paper: I was a sympathiser of the ISYF. He also argued: When an organisation is proscribed, its the organisation, not individuals, that is banned. However, Indian intelligence not only brands Sidhu as a hardcore member of the ISYF and now SFUK, but as one of its spearheads. Videos on the Internet reveal he delivers passionate speeches in favour of Sikh rights, which he suggests are denied in India. A few years ago, he addressed a major rally at Trafalgar Square. Adrian Hunt, an expert on counter-terrorism law at Birmingham University, told The Tribune statements made there constituted an offence under section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006. In other words, he explained, making a statement that is likely to be understood by some or all members of the public to whom it is published as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to them to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. At least one of the Sikh Federation UKs calendars glorified assassins of Indira Gandhi and one of the masterminds of the 1985 mid-air bombing of an Air India flight, which killed 329 people. They are hailed as martyrs. In 2000, Sidhu was conferred the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work for the NAO. An acceptance message attributed to him said: It is perfectly legitimate and a duty upon every Sikh to peacefully work towards the establishment of an independent Sikh state. He wore the ISYF insignia at the investiture. When asked about his views on violence, he told the press: If someone has had their mother and father killed and they decide to take up arms because they feel there is no justice for them, its very difficult to condemn them. In 2008, Londons mayor, Ken Livingstone, appointed him as a director on the citys board of transport. The ISYF had by this stage been banned for alleged involvement in terrorism. The Standard story, headlined Kens adviser is linked to terror group, went on to quote a British minister, Lord Bassam, who said ISYF was a group which had carried out assassinations, bombings and kidnappings. The Home Office believed the body channeled money and arms to Punjab. Historically, the ISYF or the SFUK has enjoyed limited support in the London area. Its base is really in the West Midlands of England, where it controls half a dozen or more gurdwaras. An intelligence source disclosed, Indian security agencies have raised the matter of Sidhu several times with their British counterparts, including MI5 which is responsible for domestic intelligence gathering in the United Kingdom. The same source said there have been no positive results. It is a moot point whether Sidhu is protected by a technicality that of working for the NAO. The British cabinet office said an NAO employee is an officer of the House of Commons, therefore answerable to the legislature, not the executive, and not required to observe the civil service code. But the NAO has its own code of conduct. Under this code, an official is restricted from engaging in political activities pertaining to Britain and Europe, but not beyond. In effect, being part of a political movement relating to India is not restrained. Unsurprisingly, Stephen Luxford, spokesman for the NAO, stated: We are satisfied that Mr Sidhu has met and continues to meet the NAOs Code of Conduct. Peerage for Sidhu? The British Labour Party has always been close to the Sikh community in the UK and vice versa. Even in the 2015 general election, while other sections of Indian-origin people in Britain largely voted for the Conservative Party, Sikhs remained loyal to Labour. The ultra-left of the Labour has, of course, tended to fish in troubled waters on Punjab. Presently, its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, like Livingstone, is of this persuasion. Besides, the revelation that Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher offered assistance to the Indian government in respect of Operation Bluestar has veered Sikhs supportive of Khalistan further away from the Conservatives. Amid shrinking support from the British electorate in general, Labour is desperate to retain Sikh votes. It is, therefore, susceptible to pressure a party MP disclosed to nominate a Sikh to the House of Lords. Indeed, there is speculation Corbyn could be considering recommending Sidhu for a peerage to appease the community. Such a move is likely to be seen by India as highly provocative. Corbyns spokesperson, Sian Jones, when asked to react, did not issue a denial. She said: We dont comment on Labour Party nominations to public bodies or recommendations for political appointments. A British Foreign Office official, when asked about Sidhu, seemed to be unaware of him. A diplomatic source, however, asserted ISYF and SFUK have been taken up with Whitehall. The same source underlined intelligence has also been exchanged by India with Britain about individuals. The Indian argument is if Britain deems India to be a friendly country, then it should be discouraging forces inimical to India on its soil. Londons defence is it cannot prevent peaceful activities. New Delhi says there is evidence of violation of Britains counter-terrorism laws. Hunt is of the view: Membership of and directing a proscribed organisation is an offence. As is seeking support for and giving support to such an organisation. Bengaluru: Four executives of Kingfisher Airlines and three former executives of IDBI Bank were arrested on Monday in the Kingfisher loan case. A team of CBI officials visited the offices of the UB Group headed by Vijay Mallya, who is facing the process of recovery of Rs 6,203 crore from banks in the Kingfisher case and has been declared a proclaimed offender by the court. Earlier, the CBI had filed a case of alleged default in loan repayment by the Kingfisher Airlines to IDBI Bank. PTI New Delhi, January 24 Signifying the high importance India attaches to its ties with the UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday personally went to Delhi airport to receive Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who arrived here to attend the Republic Day celebrations as chief guest. "Special gesture for special guest! PM @narendramodi receives H.H. Mohammad Bin Zayed The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders. Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed after he alighted from the aircraft with a warm hug. This is Sheikh Mohamed's second visit to India after his visit in February 2016. Ties between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on the upswing ever since Modi made a historical visit to the Gulf nation in August 2015. It was the first prime ministerial visit from India to the UAE in 34 years after the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1981. On Wednesday, Modi and Sheikh Mohamed will head bilateral delegation-level talks following which a number of agreements, including one on creation of an investment fund, are expected to be signed. The visiting dignitary will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and have a meeting with Vice President Hamid Ansari. On Thursday, Sheikh Mohamed will attend the Republic Day parade as the chief guest. A contingent of the UAE armed forces will also march along with the Indian armed forces during the parade. The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians. IANS Jitendra K Shrivastava Tribune News Service Patna, January 24 Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose prohibition in at least the BJP-ruled states of the country. The prime minister had appreciated liquor ban in Bihar, while his leaders in the state have yet to follow him. If he really appreciated liquor ban in Bihar, he should impose prohibition in at least BJP-ruled states, Nitish said while addressing the audience at SK Memorial Hall here. Talking on demonetisation, Nitish urged Modi to make the good effects from the exercise public. We came to know that some people have suffered from demonetisation so should they be compensated. There should be a provision in the Budget, Nitish said. Nitish also said that Benami property law should be brought to check corruption. He also said the JD-U would declare its stand on uniform civil code by tomorrow as it had discussed it at party and government level. Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 24 While commoners can land in jail for hiding income, political parties continue to thrive on anonymous donations, no questions asked. A new report by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) has shown that two-thirds of the income generated by six national and 51 regional political parties between 2004 and 2015 was from unknown sources and hence untraceable. Based on the analysis of income tax returns filed by political outfits, the ADR has put the total income of political parties at Rs 11,367.34 crore over the 11-year period under study. Of that, a whopping Rs 7,832.98 crore was from unknown sources. Among the national parties (Congress, BJP, BSP, NCP, CPI and CPM), 83 per cent of the total income of the Congress and 65 per cent of the BJP came from unknown sources. Among regional parties, the Samajwadi Party received 94 per cent of its total income (in 11 years) from unknown sources. The second highest percentage (86) of income from unknown sources is that of the Shiromani Akali Dal. At present, political parties are not required to reveal the name of individuals or organisations giving less than Rs 20,000. The result: Bulk of the money received by political parties remains practically hidden. We demand that all political parties start accepting donations digitally and promote financial transparency, said Jadgeep Chhokar, founder member of the ADR, an NGO that works to promote electoral reforms. Chhokar also called upon parties to stop evading coverage under the Right to Information Act and to promote democracy in real terms. The analysis shows the income of national parties from unknown sources increased by 313 per cent from Rs 273.13 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 1,130.92 crore in 2014-15. The corresponding increase for regional parties was much higher at 652 per cent from Rs 37.393 crore to Rs 281.01 crore over the 11-year period. The BSP, a principal contender in UP, is the only party to consistently declare receiving nil donations above Rs 20,000 in 11 years! This means 100 per cent of the BSPs donations came from unknown sources even as the total income of the Mayawati led outfit rose by 2,057 per cent from Rs 5.19 crore in 2004 to Rs 111.96 crore in 2014-15. Out of the 51 regional parties considered for the ADR report, 45 have not submitted their donations statements to the EC for at least one financial year. Jammu and Kashmirs ruling PDP is one of the 12 regional parties to have never filed their contribution report to the EC since 2004-05. Among national parties, the Congress has the highest total income of Rs 3, 982.09 crore during the 11-year period under study, which is almost 43 per cent of the total income of all six national parties. The BJP has the second highest income of Rs 3,272.63 crore over these years, which is 35.27 per cent of the total income of national parties. The CPM declared the third highest income at Rs 892.99 crore, followed by the BSP at Rs 763.95 crore, the NCP at Rs 351.28 crore and the CPI at Rs 15.36 crore. Based on these findings, the ADR today said since a large percentage of the income of political parties could not be traced to original donors, these should be made available to the public under the RTI Act. Anil Sharma of ADR said, In several countries, including Nepal, Bhutan, Germany, France, Italy, Brazil, the US and Japan, 75 per cent of the funding of political parties has to be from known sources. Washington, January 24 US President Donald Trump tonight spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn in as the 45th President of America. President Trump had a telephonic conversation with PM Modi, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Modi is the fifth foreign leader Trump has spoken with over the phone after being sworn in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised Indias increasing growth rate and Modis bureaucratic and economic reforms. PTI The call to Modi so soon after Trump's inauguration is itself a sign of India's importance to Trump. By Indo-Asian News Service: The leaders of the world's two greatest democracies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, spoke over phone on Tuesday in the fifth interaction by the newly elected US head with a foreign leader after he assumed office. US President Donald Trump invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the United States later this year, during the phone call and discussed economic, defense cooperations and regional security issues, the White House said in a statement. Had a warm conversation with President @realDonaldTrump late last evening.&; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2017 advertisement Trump also emphasised that US considers India a true friend and a partner in addressing challenges around the world.They discussed security in the region of South and Central Asia, and resolved to stand shoulder to shoulder in fight against terrorism. White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer said details of their conversation that took place around 11 p.m. (IST) would be provided soon. During his campaign, Trump praised Modi as a "great leader" and sought a kinship of ideas with him as a "pro-growth leader". President @realDonaldTrump and I agreed to work closely in the coming days to further strengthen our bilateral ties.&; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2017 The call to Modi so soon after Trump's inauguration is itself a sign of India's importance to Trump. So far, Trump has spoken only with the neighbours -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Pena Nieto and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who will have a major role in helping Trump deal with the Middle East and with terrorism. Have also invited President Trump to visit India.&; Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 25, 2017 PRESIDENT MUKHERJEE INVITES TRUMP The call took place shortly after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared the first phase of the appointment process for Nikkai Haley to become the US ambassdor to the United Nations. When appointed, she would be the first Indian-American to hold a cabinet-level post in the US. President Pranab Mukherjee has invited Trump to visit India. Trump has made business trips to India before. Also read: Donald Trump picks Indian-American Ajit Pai to head Federal Communications Commission Also read: Donald Trump's 'Buy American-hire American' pledge unnerves Indian IT Among issues of concern to India are exports to the US and the flow of technically qualified people there through H1-B visas to buoy the Indian technology companies there. However, India is likely to face problems in these areas. INDIA, US SHARE SOME WORRIES Earlier in the day, Trump met auto industry leaders to to promote his programme of "Make in America". On Monday, he met union and industry leaders and emphasised his campaign mantra of "Buy American, Hire American". Also read: Japan threatens India with WTO on steel as Donald Trump era heralds rising tensions Also read: 7 Modi-isms in Donald Trump's inaugural speech advertisement India and the US share a common worry about Islamic radicalism. Trump has also been critical of China over its trade and regional policies. --- ENDS --- New Delhi, January 23 The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a CBI inquiry against the agencys former director Ranjit Sinha for allegedly interfering in coal scam investigations. A Bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said: A prima facie case has been definitely made out for investigation for abuse of authority. The court said Central Bureau of Investigation Director Alok Verma could select two senior officers to carry out the probe. The court, while rejecting an SIT inquiry, said it was reposing faith in the CBI because of the change of guard there. It asked the CBI Director to inform the court about the composition of the team and duration of probe by January 30, the next date of hearing. The petitioners counsel, Prashant Bhushan, told the Bench that CBI Joint Director Vineet Vinayak, who has been supervising the coal scam probe, had conflict of interest in the matter. The court asked the CBI to verify the allegations. It also asked the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to submit status reports. Pull up your socks, Justice Lokur told senior counsel Amarendra Sharan, who represented the CBI. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi had told the top court last year that a panel headed by former CBI special director ML Sharma had indicted Sinha for meeting some high-profile accused. TNS Manas Dasgupta Ahmedabad, January 24 One person was killed and five others injured in a stampede at Vadodara railway station platform where a massive crowd had gathered for a glimpse of actor Shah Rukh Khan travelling by train from Mumbai to Delhi. The crowd had started gathering hours before the MumbaiDelhi August Kranti Express was to arrive last night following rumours that the actor, travelling for the promotion of his film Raees, would shake hands and possibly pose for photos with his fans. But nothing of the kind happened as Shah Rukh Khan only came to the door of the compartment and threw some balls, flowers and tokens towards the crowd. As the train started chugging off, the crowd, probably thinking they might have missed an opportunity, rushed from all sides towards the compartment in which the film actor was travelling in a bid to shake hands with him. In the melee, 45-year-old Farid Khan Pathan fell down and was killed in stampede. He was rushed to hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. Witnesses claimed though the railway authorities were in the know of things that huge crowd was gathering at every railway station through which the train was passing, no additional security measures were taken either at Surat or Vadodara. Following an advice from the Vadodara police, the railways at the last moment changed the platform on which the train was to arrive from number two to six, which was bigger and could accommodate more people. But the crowd surged beyond the expectations of the authorities concerned, said witnesses, causing inconvenience to other passengers too. The police even resorted to a mild lathicharge, which contributed to the stampede, said a witness. She is the surprise entry at the 10th edition of the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival and lends a dramatic twist to the proceedings with her no-holds-barred opinion. Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen who has been in exile for over two decades questions all those who have put a price on her head. More importantly, those like then Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and incumbent Mamata Banerjee come under her circle of censure. They have stood by misguided zealots, the fatwabaaz, as she puts it while calling herself the victim. Unsparing in her criticism of religious fanatics of all hues, she states: I dont believe in religion, nor in nationalism. I am all for one world. India is where she feels at home. Yet she has no compunctions in questioning its so-called secular ethos. Attacked both by right-wingers and Islamic fundamentalists, she wants to exercise her right to criticise religions, particularly Islam. Islamic societies have to learn to be tolerant and accept criticism. Religion, she says, is a personal belief, adding she respects those who repose faith in it. But then her right not to believe should be equally respected. All for the Uniform Civil Code in India, she is rather forceful in stating: Why should Muslim women be denied equal democratic rights, why should religion decide laws? Hindu personal laws too did not grant Hindu women equal rights like the right to divorce and property rights. But if they are being governed by modern rights, why shouldnt Muslim women be? All laws should be based on equality and justice. The state has to be secular and should have nothing to do with religion. Taslima, a Swedish citizen, is equally pained at the treatment meted out to her in India as in her home country. In places like Delhi, she shares how she was denied even a place of rent by the very Bengali people who openly expressed admiration for her writing. Interestingly, those who turned against her in Bangladesh initially admired the first part of her biography where she came across as a subservient tortured woman. But the moment she wrote about her sexuality and spoke about her right over her body, she was hounded. While she continues to stand for one world, humanism and rationalism, those on the other side continue to oppose her. At the JLF, too, a small group owing allegiance to the Muslim Front, Zamaat-E-Islam Foundation, protested the Lajja writers presence at the festival. Simran Sodhi Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 24 The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations this year, arrived in the national capital today. He was received at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was seen giving the Crown Prince a hug on his arrival. For India, the visit of the Crown Prince is significant in more than one way. One: it signifies UAEs movement away from being a traditional Pakistan ally to now developing relations with India. It is important to mention here that the UAE had come out in support of India following the Uri attacks. Two: India and the UAE are all set to upgrade their relationship to the level of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during this visit. Third: 13 pacts are expected to be signed during this visit. Al Nahyan is also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces. Defence ties are expected to be a priority during the visit and maritime cooperation will be one of the key issues on agenda when the two leaders hold talks on January 25. A contingent of around 200 UAE soldiers will lead the Republic Day parade this year. Since they are guests here, they have been given the honour of leading the parade. This is in keeping with a tradition started last year when a French band marched alongside Indian contingents to honour French President Francois Hollande who was the chief guest then. Apparently, the UAE wanted its skydivers to perform at the Republic Day celebrations but the Ministry of Defence turned down the request, citing security concerns. Modis visit to the UAE in 2015 was instrumental in getting the relationship back into an active mode. During the PMs visit, the two countries agreed to have a $75 billion fund for infrastructure development in India. Critics, however, point out the fact that since 2015 there has been little or no movement on developing the fund further. Interestingly, the Crown Prince is accompanied by a tolerance delegation that would be holding discussions with various stakeholders on issues such as religious tolerance and harmony. Bilateral trade between the UAE and India stands around $60 billion. There are also more than 2.6 million Indians who live in the UAE and their annual remittance is estimated to be around $14 billion. New Delhi, January 23 The Supreme Court today issued notices to the Centre and states on a PIL seeking direction to check drug menace in schools and colleges. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar asked the respondents to file their response in three weeks. The court had in August asked the Centre to file a status report on the implementation of the courts guidelines for fool-proof storage and disposal of seized drugs to prevent theft and illegal sale that had resulted in rampant drug abuse, particularly among the youth in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, HP and other states. It had told the Centres counsel to find out from the states the steps taken to enforce its directives and file a report, particularly on the de-addiction and rehabilitation centres and destruction of the seized drugs. The Bench passed the order on a fresh PIL pleading for fresh laws to effectively deal with the growing menace. TNS Verify SIMs: Apex court New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to put in place a proper verification process for issuance of SIM cards for cell phones . A Bench headed by CJI JS Khehar asked the Centre to inform it about the verification process in two weeks. It was needed to check misuse of unverified cell phones for criminal purposes, the Bench said. TNS New Delhi, January 24 The central government told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it would withdraw a 2016 notification that lifted a ban on Jallikattu. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the court that the central government's decision was prompted by Tamil Nadus new law that amends the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act that made Jallikattu a rural bull-taming sport an exception. The court said an appropriate Bench would take a decision when the central governments application came up for consideration. The Tamil Nadu Assembly unanimously adopted The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment), Act, 2017 a legislation that Chief Minister O Panneerselvam piloted on Monday as protests against the ban entered its sixth day. The protests took a violent turn on Monday. The Bill would now be sent for approval to the President. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) The central governments January 6, 2016, notification lifts a ban on Jailikattu, more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled that the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act was unconstitutional and banned using bulls as performing animals. (Also read: Kamal Haasan shocked over police action on jallikattu protesters) Several animal rights organisations, including Animal Welfare Board of India, contested the notification in court. PTI Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 24 Dissatisfied with the Punjab Governments reply on the proposed road connecting Deputy CM Sukhbir Badals luxury resort Sukhvilas to the international airport, the Election Commission (EC) has sought a report within 24 hours on email. Read: Curious land notification day before model code The notification to acquire land for the road was issued on January 3, a day before the code of conduct came into effect. The most urgent communication has been sent by VK Singh, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), to the Special Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development. Read: Green trouble for Sukhbir resort, Centre seeks report The government has been asked to clarify the exact alignment and end point of the proposed road. The alignment shown includes the present road from Kurali to Siswan and Baddi. If the road is already there, then for what purpose is your department acquiring land on this section? the communication asked. Your report mentions that the end point is 5-6 km from the said resort, it added, asking that the area of the resort be marked on a map. Two weeks ago, the CEO had sought a report from the government. The Tribune had highlighted that the notification to acquire 112 acres of eight villages was issued in haste and that several other projects for which the Social Impact Assessment was done were overlooked. EC officials said they had acted on a complaint given by AAP. Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 24 Rebel Congress leaders sitting MLA Tarlochan Soondh and former MLA Gurbinder Atwal contesting as Independents from Banga and Nakodar, respectively today came on a common platform. They said that they were not bothered about the warning and todays ultimatum given to them by the party president. At the joint press conference here, both lashed out saying, Capt Amarinder Singh, who is now giving us the ultimatum, had himself left the Congress, joined the rivals, floated his own party and later returned to the Congress. How can he tell us that we cant return? He is saying that there would be lifetime bar on our entry. No one knows who will be at the helm of affairs after the poll. The duo said that they hated being called rebels. Atwal went a step ahead and said, Are we rebels or Capt Amarinder Singh who violated all the rules to assert himself and become the party president. We are Congressmen to the core and will remain so till the end of our lives. Atwal said, There is a buzz about Amarinder being declared the CM candidate. The party announced him so in 2012 and we all know the results. Soondh targeted Rajya Sabha MP Ambika Soni for spoiling his prospects. He said he had been targeted for being a Dalit. Earlier, I was stopped from holding a press conference in Jalandhar after the shoe-throwing episode in the Assembly as my rivals were thinking that despite being a Dalit, I was growing too big for them, he said. Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 23 Anand Sharma, Deputy Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, today said that Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh would be declared the Chief Ministerial candidate soon. He said this here after campaigning for Congress candidate Rana Gurjit Singh Singh in Kapurthala. There are 10 days for voting, a pretty long time to make the announcement. You will surely get to hear it, the former Union minister told the media. The partys star campaigner hinted at the time of the announcement when he said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi would be visiting Punjab on a three-day tour from January 27. The Congress has endorsed whatever Capt has said. The Congress leader quoted a survey of AIIMS on drug abuse in Punjab. There are 1.25 lakh heroin addicts in the state and about 2.3 lakh are addicted to other habit-forming drugs, he said. He said those responsible for the 1984 riots had still not been punished. Several commissions headed by Chief Justices have been formed. Even courts took time. Those who committed the barbaric incident should have been behind bars. To blame the Congress alone is wrong, he said. Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said, I hope people will neither vote for the goonda government nor bhagoda (runaway) government of AAP. Meanwhile, posters kick up row Amritsar: Posters projecting Navjot Singh Sidhu as the Congress' CM candidate have triggered a controversy. These were spotted in Amritsar East constituency, from where Sidhu is contesting. AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, "Just a few days before elections, ugly war starts between Captain n Sidhu". Later, Sanjay Singh tweeted, "Kaha tha Congress aapas me achha ladegi.... Congress buri tarah se haar rahi hai lekin CM ka sapna Sidhu va Amarinder dono dekh rahe hain." The posters don't mention the name of the printer and publisher, which is mandatory under the election norms. GS Paul Kulwinder Sandhu Tribune News Service Moga, January 24 The Election Commission of India has asked the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab to probe the allegation against Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal furnished incomplete information and submitted a false affidavit while filing his nomination papers from Jalalabad. The matter pertains to an attempt-to-murder case against Sukhbir, which was registered at Kotkapura police station in Faridkot on June 30, 2006. Naresh Sehgal, who had lodged the complaint, alleged that Sukhbir did not disclose that he was released on bail by the District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot, and the case was still pending under appeal. Further, it is learnt that the District Magistrate was looking into the role of the SDM-cum-Returning Officer, Jalalabad, in giving a clean chit to Sukhbir for concealing the information in his nomination papers. A report from the DIG, Faridkot Range, has also been summoned on the directions of the ECI to ascertain the facts. Sehgal, meanwhile, has demanded the cancellation of Sukhbirs nomination. He has also sought police protection claiming that he and his family had started receiving threats. Swati Dwivedi (name changed), who was caught in the legal tangle, found her nude pictures circulating on porn websites, allegedly uploaded by an ex-boyfriend for more than two weeks. By Sneha Agrawal: For more than two weeks, a 22-year-old Delhi University student frantically pleaded with authorities for help, cringing at the thought of total strangers and friends stumbling across a burst of embarrassing photographs featuring her on the internet. But the law stood in the way of any relief. The government's department of technology asked her to get a court order before taking any steps to remove the content under new guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. advertisement The new law has not gone well with cyber experts who say it does more damage to victims of cyber-bullying and other forms of online abuse. "Getting a court order is such a lengthy and exhaustive process and it adds to the woes of the victims," said cyber expert and advocate Prashant Mali. Swati Dwivedi (name changed), who was caught in the legal tangle, found her nude pictures circulating on porn websites, allegedly uploaded by an ex-boyfriend. She says that her decision to join the college's dance society did not go down well with the accused, resulting in a breakup. Three months later, she received a text message from a friend who informed her about the photographs. "My friend told me that they have been allegedly uploaded by my ex. However, it was not just my friends; I also received messages from strangers. The links went viral and made it difficult for me to go out of the house," she said. Experts say youngsters are increasingly using webcams and videos to experiment sexually, not just with their boyfriend or girlfriend but with a wider audience - via services like Skype and webcam chatrooms. But these actions can have dangerous consequences. WHAT HAPPENED Swati decided to approach the police and registered an FIR on January 7. Cops lodged a case under the Information and Technology Act and also booked the accused for criminal intimidation. When the department of technology was approached to block the sites and pull down the content, it said a court order was required to take any action. The police finally obtained the order on January 23. The investigation officer in the case, inspector Kamini Gupta, said the content was removed immediately after that and a team was sent to Guwahati to look for the accused. Also read: Hyderabad: 47 minors caught watching porn, police in soup for parading them before reporters Also read: Centre wants porn jammers in school buses "In the judgment Shreya Singhal V Union of India, the Supreme Court in 2015 laid down that the intermediary must receive a court order or a notification from a government agency for removing specific information and only then can be obligated to take down the content. Whereas before that, the intermediary would be required to block or remove access to illegal content upon receiving knowledge of any such illegality by either on its own or by an affected person," said Mali. advertisement The advocate said India needs a Europe-style "Right to be Forgotten", under which an individual can have certain data deleted so that others can no longer trace them. "Sites like Facebook and Google should suo moto remove the content as and when they come across anything which is prima facie defamatory and cause damage to somebody's reputation," he said. Damage caused in the cyber world is irreparable, pointed out cyber expert Pavan Duggal. Also read: Hyderabad: US national held for sharing child porn "Given the massive abuse of internet, the ministry of information technology needs to come up with fresh regulations that are victimfriendly," he said. "The courts may not direct immediate removal but at least order suspension of the content as an immediate relief. NCRB data show that there is a massive increase in cyber abuse after 2015. The amended IT Act of 2008 has made almost all cyber crimes bailable." Mental health experts say ham-fisted treatment of online abuse can scar a victim's mind for life. Doctor Rajeev Mehta said such rules can affect the mental condition of a victim to such an extent that it could lead to even schizophrenia. "A person who is being bullied by the abuse of cyber space undergoes trauma and can develop serious mental illness. From feeling suicidal to killing somebody in a fit of rage are the consequences of prolonged depression," he said. --- ENDS --- advertisement Sanjeev Singh Bariana Tribune News Service Hoshiarpur, January 23 Sukhdeep Kaur (25) has taken upon herself the task of bringing about a change in the system to address the basic issues of education, health, jobs etc. Walking on the streets of the Police Lines here, Sukhdeep is convincing voters to be part of the first step towards a revolution. Only a revolution can resurrect the collapsed system in Punjab, she says. She is contesting on the ticket of little-known Democratic Party of India. And she is not alone. There are several others who are in the poll fray from parties having little presence. Among them are Ajit Ram (Bharat Rashtriya Democratic Party), Kuldeep Kumar (Hindustan Shakti Sena), Bhajan Singh (Bharatrashtra Democratic Party) and Paramjit Singh (Hindustan Nirman Dal). Having quit her job as a receptionist at JW Marriott in Chandigarh, Sukhdeep Kaur says: I know I cannot win. I am only attempting to educate people about their rights. Elected parties are merely befooling people with populist schemes. She is the daughter of a head constable who died while on duty. I know I have undertaken an ardous task, but I am glad with the fact that youngsters are joining me. I will speak till I am heard, she said. Ajit Ram, who retired as a teacher, is telling youngsters, We missed the train for an alternative government when we were young. We will fight with you for your bright future. Education for the poor in government schools where no one is failed till class VIII has no meaning. Hospitals without doctors serve no one. Join us because we are fighting for your future. His is often accompanied by an elderly Kewal Lal Heera, a retired MC employee. Bhajan Singh from Mukerian says: I am contesting the election as an attempt to educate people to questioning the authorities for failing to serve them honestly. I have served as a granthi in various gurdwaras and learnt that we should never tolerate injustice. A retired soldier of the Sikh Light Regiment, Paramjit Singh, associated with the Hindustan Nirman Dal, is fighting to get the rightful place for the Hindus that they deserved. Chandigarh, January 24 The minimum temperature hovered above normal across Punjab and Haryana on Tuesday with the weather office predicting possibility of rain in the two states over the next three days. Chandigarh recorded a low of 9.7 degrees C, up four notches above normal, a MeT Department official said here. Ambala in Haryana recorded a minimum temperature of 10.2 degrees Celsius, up four degrees while Hisars low settled at 8.9 degrees Celsius, up two notches. Karnal registered a low of 6.6 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, the minimum temperature at Amritsar settled at 9.7 degrees Celsius, up seven notches against normal. Ludhiana recorded a low of 9.3 degrees Celsius, up five notches while Patialas minimum settled at 9.1 degrees Celsius, up three degrees. Among other places in Punjab where minimum temperature settled above normal limits included Adampur (8.4 degrees Celsius), Halwara (8.1 degrees Celsius), Pathankot (10.8 degrees Celsius), Faridkot (7.4 degrees Celsius) and Gurdaspur (8.9 degrees Celsius). However, Bathinda had a cold night at 4.8 degrees Celsius. The MeT official said a Western disturbance lies over Northeast Afghanistan and neighbourhood, which was likely to bring showers in Haryana and Punjab over the next few days. On Tuesday evening and on Wednesday, rain is likely to occur at a few places in Punjab and Haryana, including in Chandigarh. On January 26 and the subsequent day, rain is likely to lash most places in the two states and the Union Territory, he said. PTI Abohar, January 24 Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday warned Pakistan of stern action if it continued trying to destabilise India through smuggling of drugs and terrorism. Addressing an election rally here in Fazilka district of the poll-bound state, Rajnath Singh dubbed the Congress as a "sinking ship" and called upon the people to bring the BJP-SAD to power again in Punjab. Targeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for supplying drugs into India. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd) "There is this young Congress leader, who celebrated New Year in a foreign country, calling Punjab youth as addicts," said the Home Minister referring to Gandhi's earlier remarks that 70 per cent of Punjab youth were addicted to drugs. "I admit our neighbouring country Pakistan constantly endeavours to smuggle drugs to India to destroy the Indian youth. But I want to assure you that if you bring the BJP-SAD to power in Punjab we will take to task all those who indulge in this. "From drugs to terrorism, Pakistan has been constantly engaged in its bid to destabilise India. But I am here to warn Pakistan: get rid of all these habits or else we have already shown what we can do. "Our armed forces have already proved that if the need be, we can cross the line," he said referring to Indian Army's September 29 cross-border surgical strikes. Flaying the Congress over corruption, Rajnath Singh said: "It has been more than two and half years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, but even our staunchest critics cannot bring corruption charges against us". "The Congress which indulges in corruption is now asking for votes. I can say only one thing to Captain Sahab (Congress' chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh), steering a sinking ship is a very tough ask. "Congress is a sinking ship not just in Punjab but in entire India," added Rajnath Singh. IANS Tribune News Service Faridkot, January 23 A complainant in a 17-year-old case against Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has demanded the cancellation of his nomination from the Jalalabad Assembly seat. Accusing Sukhbir of furnishing incomplete information and submitting a false affidavit to the Returning Officer, Kotkapura resident Naresh Sehgal has lodged a complaint with the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab. He alleged that Sukhbir did not disclose that he was released on Rs 50,000 bail by the District and Sessions Judge, Faridkot. Sehgal has demanded police protection for him and his family members, alleging that he is getting threats. An attempt-to-murder case was registered against Sukhbir at Kotkapura police station in Faridkot district on June 30, 2006, on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after Sehgal moved the court. He had accused Sukhbir and his associates of attacking him on September 5, 1999, in Kotkapura during electioneering for the parliamentary elections. Sukhbir was then contesting from Faridkot. Avikesh Gupta, Returning Officer, Jalalabad, said, We did not receive any objection during the scrutiny of nominations. Since the papers have been accepted, Sehgal should approach the court. Anything but Khamosh Shatrughan Sinha Shatrughan Sinhas biography penned down by writer Bharathi S Pradhan reveals some deep, dark confessions by the actor. Sinha has never shied away from talking about his relationship with Amitabh Bachchan, but this time the Khamosh actor takes his dislike for Bachchan Sr a notch higher with his book. One such statement reads, On the sets of Kaala Patthar, the chair next to Amitabh Bachchan would never be offered to me, nor was his umbrella shared. One of the chapters in the biography also talks about actors off-screen intimacy with co-actor Reena Roy and how he continued with her even after marriage with Poonam. At the launch event, Shatrughan Sinha had shared, The book is about my life, from how I left home to study films at Pune, my struggle in the industry and the girls who came in my life. Conversations with Waheeda Rehman Waheeda Rehman Book on veteran actress Waheeda Rehman shares a lot about her career graph and films. However it missed out on her personal life. Even in the biography, Waheeda Rehman has chosen not to talk about her private life. The actress has mentioned, I dont want to get into it. My private life should remain private. It is nobodys business. I know we are public figures, so when I fight with my husband do you want to know about it? Rekha: The Untold Story Rekha Veteran actress Rekha has a four-decade long career that boasts of more than 180 films. Rekhas autobiography, Rekha: The Untold Story, written by Yasser Usman reveals some of the most twisted highs and lows of Rekhas personal life. The cover of the book reads She was sexy and bold and Bollywood tried hard to tame her. One of the chapters in the book describes the incident when Rekha walked in at Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singhs wedding, wearing a mangalsutra and sindoor dabbed on her head. From her fondness towards Amitabh Bachchan to a forced smooch at the age of 15 to how Bollywood turned against her after her husbands suicide, the book indicates Rekhas life hasnt been a happy one. And Then One Day Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shahs autobiography recounts his life from childhood to the beginning of his career in Bollywood and ends with an account of his marriage to actress Ratna Pathak Shah and his daughter (from his first marriage) returning to India. In the book the actor shares how it was love at first sight with Ratna Pathak. Shah also shared that he did not had a happy relationship with his father as his father was against him joining theatre. The Substance and The Shadow Dilip Kumar One thing about veteran actor Dilip Kumar that still intrigues fans across is his relationship with Madhubala. Actors autobiography describes that their relationship worsened because Madhubalas father who put a condition for their marriage that after marriage, Dilip Kumar would work only with Madhubala, no other actress. This created issues and their relationship broke. In his book, Dilip Kumar reveals that the feather scene in Mughal-E-Azam, described as one of the most sensuous moments in Hindi cinema, was shot when they had stopped speaking to each other. Ajay Ramola Tribune News Service Mussoorie, January 24 Independent and rebel candidates in fray in the Assembly elections from the Yamunotri, Gangotri and Purola (reserved SC) seats pose a serious challenge to national parties in Uttarkashi district. The elections results could change drastically for the BJP and Congress candidates if rebel and independent candidates manage a good chunk of votes. The situation is becoming challenging for the BJP and Congress candidates as independent candidates have filed their nominations from the three Assembly seats. Sitting Gangotri MLA Vijay Pal Sajwan is the Congress candidate and he is pitted against old rival and former MLA Gopal Rawat of the BJP. Surat Ram Nautiyal, former Char Dham Vikas Parishad vice-president, has filed his nomination as an Independent candidate. He alleges nepotism in distribution of ticket by the BJP and blames senior party leaders for ignoring his candidature. Former Uttarkashi Municipal Council president Bhupendar Singh Chauhan form the BJP has also filed his nomination from Gangotri. He is likely to hurt the poll prospects of BJP candidate Gopal Rawat. Independent candidate Dharmanand, BSP candidate Raj Bahadur and UKD candidate Vishnupal Singh Rawat are also in the fray and they can make Gangotri a tough seat for the national parties to win. A similar situation is being witnessed in the Yamunotri seat where the BJP has given ticket to former Congress leader Kedar Singh Rawat, resulting in widespread resentment among the party cadre. The Congress has fielded Sanjay Dobhal, leading to a rebellion in the party. Congress leader Prakash Ramola has said he would contest the elections from Yamunotri and would file nomination papers on January 25. Ranvir Singh Rana, who with the BJP, has said he will be contesting the elections on the UKD ticket from Yamunotri, which is considered a bastion of the party. PDF leader Pritam Singh Panwar won the previous elections on the UKD ticket and now will be contesting from Dhanaulti as an independent candidate. Voters are divided into the Ganga valley and the Yamuna valley in the Yamunotri constituency. Both BJP and Congress are facing rebellion in the Purola (SC) seat. The BJP has fielded Mal Chand while the Congress has fielded Rajkumar, a BJP rebel who joined the party after he was denied ticket. The decision of 92 villages in the Mori block to support independent candidate Durgesh Lal can also hurt the electoral prospects of the leaders of the two parties. Tribune News Service Dehradun, January 24 Supporters of dissident Aryendra Sharma continued with their protest at the state Congress office here today. They raised slogans in favour of Aryendra, who has been denied ticket from Sahaspur this time. The party has fielded Kishore Upadhyay from Sahaspur. The protesters had vandalised the Congress office on the Rajpur road two days ago. They uprooted billboards and damaged chairs and tables after the party released its list of candidates for the Assembly elections. However, they looked subdued today and resorted to just raising slogans in favour of Aryendra Sharma. In the last Assembly elections, Sharma was the runner-up from the Sahaspur Assembly seat. The Congress leadership has pitted state Congress president Kishore Upadhyay from this seat, infuriating his (Sharmas) supporters. Meanwhile, Congress workers from Raipur too staged a protest here against the apparent candidature of Rajni Rawat from the Assembly constituency. They said, Rajni Rawat was an outsider. She shouldnt represent the Congress from Raipur. Surat Singh Negi, who led the protest, said Rajni Rawat had no base in the Raipur Assembly constituency. However, supporters of Congress leader Naveen Bisht appear to have mellowed out as they didnt turn up at the Congress Bhavan. Bisht has been demanding Congress ticket from the Dehradun Cantt Assembly seat. The party faced embarassment two days ago when angry suporters of Aryendra Sharma went on a rampage over denial of ticket to him. Rome: Firefighters pulled out alive three puppies from under the rubble of an Italian mountain hotel that was hit by an avalanche five days ago. A firefighter said the discovery of the puppies indicated that there were still air pockets in the collapsed building, raising fresh hopes that some of the missing 22 people could be found alive. Agencies Dubai remains busiest international airport Dubai: Dubai remains home to the worlds busiest international airport after seeing 83.6 million passengers in 2016, though the figures fall short of the 85 million passengers authorities had hoped to have. Dubai first surpassed London Heathrow as the worlds busiest airport for international traffic in 2014. AP Sydney housing second most expensive Sydney: The Australian city of Sydney has been named the second most expensive city for housing in the world while Hong Kong was ranked as the most expensive urban centre. Since 2012, the price of a house in Sydney has increased by 69 per cent. ians Wellington/Tokyo, January 24 Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after US President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former US President Barack Obamas policy to pivot to Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China, which is not a TPP member. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday pulling the United States out of the 2015 TPP agreement and distancing the United States from its Asian allies. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had held discussions with Abe, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong overnight about the possibility of proceeding without the US. Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that, Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. But we are not about to walk away ... certainly there is potential for China to join the TPP. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but that at a time of economic uncertainly the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness. We think that in the present situation, no matter what happens, all should keep going down the path of open, inclusive, continuous development, seeking cooperation and win-win, Hua told a daily news briefing. Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asias trade rules before Beijing could, establishing US economic leadership in the region as part of his pivot to Asia. China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). New Zealands English said the US was ceding influence to China and the regions focus could switch to alternative trade deals. Reuters Berlin, January 24 Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the governments efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived today in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Dpa reported around 100 people had protested against the deportations last night at Frankfurt airport, saying Afghanistan wasnt a safe country. AP By Priyanka Sharma: There are black sheep lurking among the men in white at the city's top hospitals. Authorities caught a fake doctor on Monday who conned patients by offering to get them admitted to the state-run All India Institute of Medical Sciences or the neighbouring Safdarjung Hospital in south Delhi. Thirty-year-old Avinash Anand claimed to be an assistant professor in the orthopaedic department at the AIIMS trauma centre. He was unmasked while trying to arrange admission for some patients at Safdarjung Hospital's orthopaedic block. Anand also produced a bogus ID card as proof. advertisement Dr Balvinder Singh, assistant professor in the orthopaedic department of Safdarjung Hospital, found his medical jargon fishy. "It seems that he was running this illegal business of making money from patients," he told Mail Today. "He used to force the resident doctors here to arrange beds and in return he charged his patients." Even the government's note ban move failed to hurt his business. "A large number of bank account slips of Rs 15,000, which he charged from patients, have been found on him. Strangely, this transfer of money has been done in the time of demonetisation," said Singh. Also read | Nano cancer drug being developed by AIIMS could cure ills of chemotherapy In 2012, cops arrested 40-yearold Harish Goswami from Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital for allegedly posing as doctor. With a stethoscope around his neck and fake ID cards, Goswami used to move around the OPDs of major hospitals like AIIMS, Safdarjung, RML etc. He would dupe patients who were recommended diagnostic tests by sending them to private labs and taking 30 per cent commission in return. Mail Today has accessed a video of police and doctors questioning Anand. On being repeatedly asked why he conned patients and if he had any actual medical knowledge, the imposter says, "I don't have deep knowledge of medicine like you doctors here. I just have a little knowledge of yoga." He then claims that he holds a PhD and because of this he uses the honorific, "Doctor", before his name. Also read | South Delhi now hub for abandoning foetuses, says AIIMS report Ending the conversation, he says, "I am not a doctor. Sorry, and please forgive me." A senior doctor from AIIMS, requesting anonymity, told Mail Today, "There is no Dr Avinash Anand at the AIIMS trauma centre. This is a security breach. Mostly, we, the senior faculty, don't ask the junior doctors to show their ID cards. Departments have expanded and so the number of doctors has also increased enormously. Every year, hundreds of new doctors join the institute. So, it becomes very difficult to know each other." But after this shocking incident, which could put patients' lives at risk, security should be enhanced at the hospital, another AIIMS doctor said. Speaking to Mail Today, the medical superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, Dr AK Rai, said, "Avinash, who claims to be AIIMS doctor, is in police custody and an FIR has been lodged at Safdarjung Enclave Police Station." advertisement Also read | Don't have an Aadhar card? Be ready to pay 10 times the fee at AIIMS --- ENDS --- Singapore, January 23 Myanmars Deputy Defence Chief today urged the world to give his government time and space to resolve a crisis involving the Rohingya Muslim minority amid concerns jihadists could exploit the situation. Rear Admiral Myint Nwe told a security forum in Singapore his government is fully aware of the growing concern about the widespread reports on (the) situation in Rakhine state where the Rohingya live, and was committed to address the issue and punish wrongdoers. Since October Myanmars army has carried out clearance operations in the north of the western state to root out insurgents accused of raids on police border posts. At least 66,000 Rohingyas have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, alleging rape, murder and torture at the hands of security forces. Myanmar has long faced international criticism over its treatment of the Rohingya. Most people in the majority Buddhist community consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The government does not condone rights abuses against innocent civilians. Legal action will be taken in response to any substantiated claim, Myint Nwe said. The admiral was responding to a keynote address by Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein at the Fullerton Forum organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Hishammuddin warned that the situation in Rakhine if not addressed properly could be exploited by the Islamic State as it seeks a base in Southeast Asia. This horrific possibility has the potential to cause death and destruction well beyond the borders of ASEAN, he added, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Answering a delegates question, Hishammuddin said the Rohingya issue is going to test ASEAN solidarity... It needs to be resolved, we cannot sweep it under the carpet, it affects a lot of Muslims and its very emotional. Myint Nwe said both Yangon and the international community should focus on finding a lasting solution to the problem. Allowing time and space is essential for the governments efforts to bear fruit in finding a sustainable solution of this complex issue. Hishammuddin said ASEAN should play a key role in working out a solution with Myanmar's leaders. AFP Washington, January 23 The Trump administration will rethink its ties with the media if the obsessed press tries to delegetimise Donald Trumps presidency by false reporting, his top aides warned, saying they will fight such coverage tooth and nail every day. Theres an obsession by the media to delegitimise this President, and we are not going to sit around and let it happen. Were going to fight back tooth and nail every day, the White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said, triggering a fresh round of war of words with the media mainly sparked by the number of people attending Trumps inauguration. The point is not the crowd size, the point is that the attacks and the attempts to delegitimise this President in one day and were not going to sit around and take it, Priebus told Fox News today. Earlier, unhappy over media reports on the crowd size at presidential inauguration on Friday, Trump has described journalists as the most dishonest human beings on Earth. Priebus said President Trump was trying to unify the country from Day 1 in office, but the media was resorting to false reporting to delegitimise him. The media, from Day 1, has been talking about delegitimising the election, talking about the Russians, talking about everything you can imagine, except the fact that we need to move this country forward, Priebus said. He said Trumps presidency would fight such coverage tooth and nail every day. Meanwhile, another top aide, Kellylanne Conway, Counsellor to the President, told ABC News that the Trump administration could rethink its relationship with the media, if false reporting continues. Conway said it is completely irresponsible for the media to be calling the White House press secretary a liar on Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere in articles. That is not the way to start relationships, she said. We have not been treated very well. This man (Trump) is the President of the US. If people would just go back, and listen to and watch his inaugural address again, that goes for everybody, calling for unification, being aspirational, talking about giving power back to the people. We cant invite a press pool on the first day of the Oval Office with the President of the US signing executive orders and then a big lie told about the bust of Martin Luther King Jr, days after our President Trump met with Martin Luther King III in New York and had an incredibly powerful and constructive conversation with Martin Luther King Jr.s son saying that he wants to support this President, that he believes he must unify and heal the nation, Conway said. PTI Astana, January 24 Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to shore up a shaky truce in war-torn Syria on Tuesday, but rebels and Damascus made no breakthrough towards a political settlement of the conflict after indirect talks. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, the sponsors of the negotiations in the capital of Kazakhstan, announced they would "establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire" in place since late December. The three powers also backed the participation of the armed rebel groups at a new round of peace talks set to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and... it can only be solved through a political process," the final statement by Russia, Iran and Turkey, read out by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said. The two days of meetings in Astana which have left the West sidelined were mainly a Kremlin initiative and come as Russia has made itself the main powerbroker in Syria with its game-changing military support for leader Bashar al-Assad. The meeting was expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, but the rebels backed out and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria that has cost 310,000 lives comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the country's second city Aleppo. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and rebel-backer Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels who insisted they would use the Astana talks to push Damascus to respect the truce refused direct talks with the regime on Monday because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. Regime negotiator Bashar al-Jafaari said after the end of the talks that the meeting "succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians". "Astana has only one goal: consolidating the regime of the cessation of hostilities," he said. AFP London, January 24 The UK government on Tuesday lost a landmark legal challenge after the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must seek Parliaments consent to take Britain out of the European Union (EU). The judgement means the British Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to officially begin Brexit negotiations with the EU until Britains MPs and peers give their backing. The government had argued that it already had the executive powers to trigger Article 50 but Supreme Court judges rejected the case by a majority of eight to three. UK Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was disappointed but would comply and do all that is necessary to implement the courts judgement. UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons within hours after the government lost its appeal. Downing Street has been preparing for the result for weeks and is understood to have drafted a short Bill to seek parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. May has insisted that she will keep to her plan to trigger Brexit by the end of March. The United Kingdoms withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit. Following a referendum held on June 23, the UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union by the end of March 2017. PTI Revitalizing infrastructure is one issue that everyone can agree on, but the trillion-dollar question is how to pay for it. Historically, roads and bridges are financed through state and local governments using a mix of their own revenues, federal highway aid, and bonds. But today 31 states allow some form of private-public partnership 3Ps to make up for budget shortfalls. Those private investors expect a healthy return, and tolls are an obvious option. No matter what you think about 3Ps not to mention the various authorities that pre-date the National Highway System they can make fleet compliance complicated. Each authority has its own set of rules and systems for toll collection. Electronic tolling systems make it easy to flex the rates depending on the time of day or traffic congestion so its hard to forecast exactly what your toll charges will be. Transponder services like E-ZPass, Bestpass, and PlatePass promise compatibility across different systems but none is universally accepted. Electronic tolls are still cheaper and simpler to manage than using cash. I remember passing through Indiana on I-90 when one of the toll booth gals must have sensed my panic at running out of change. She changed my paper money into enough coins to finish out the route. What did a girl from the Alberta prairies know about toll roads? Im learning. Here are a couple of lessons I want to pass along: Non-Taxable Distance In general, toll miles are taxable miles but some jurisdictions allow nontaxable distance for travel on a toll highway. For example, New York imposes a highway use tax (HUT) based on distance traveled on public highways there excluding toll-paid portions of the New York State Thruway. It would be a double-tax if you paid to use the Thruway and were charged HUT. Therefore, you can subtract the toll distance traveled on the Thruway system from your HUT-reported distance. Toll miles in New York are exempt only on your HUT return, though. Dont try to take credit on your HUT return for all the tolls you pay in New York on your IFTA return. The only toll miles that are tax-exempt from paying fuel tax under IFTA are on the Massachusetts Turnpike. If you have traveled and paid a toll that qualifies for a tax credit, include these miles in your total IFTA miles and exclude them from taxable miles. If youre audited, you will need to provide copies of the toll receipts. Know Before You Go In 2012, Congress gave tolling agencies until Oct. 1, 2016, to make the countrys electronic toll collection systems interoperable. That deadline came and went. Tolling agencies across California are interoperable by law, and Washington State has adopted the same tag. Oklahoma is interoperable with Texas, and Kansas is offering a second tolling transponder to make its turnpike interoperable with Oklahomas. Florida and Georgia have harmonized their systems. In the northeast, the E-ZPass Group has moved south into Virginia and as far west as Indiana. Do your homework. In locations with electronic toll collection, if your transponder isnt valid or doesnt match the vehicle its registered to, youll be subject to a camera charge plus higher tolls per trip. Transponder lease fees, periodic maintenance fees, paper statement fees They add up, especially if you have accounts with multiple tolling authorities. Are you reviewing those bills to make sure the charges are correct? Tolls are not a fuel tax or a mileage tax; they are a user fee. But like taxes, they can be managed and kept in check. Every bit helps when you need the stretch your money to the end of the month. Sandy Johnson has been managing IFTA, IRP, and other fleet taxes for more than 25 years. She is the author of the free book, 7 Things You Need to Know About Fleet Taxes, and operates FleetTaxPro.com, which provides vehicle tax and license compliance services for trucking operations. She can be reached at 877-860-8025 or FleetTaxPro.com. The Delhi CM had earlier asked the Election Commission to make him its brand ambassador if it really wanted to end use of money to lure voters during elections. By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused the Election Commission of promoting bribery, saying the poll panel has failed to curb the flow of money used to influence voters. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener took to Twitter slamming the Election Commission quoting a tweet from his colleague Ashutosh. Ashutosh, in his tweet, had claimed party volunteers witnessed some people distributing money among voters in Cumbarjua, Goa. advertisement "EC fails to stop this. EC prevents me from saying-"Take money from them and vote for us. EC's message - vote for those who give you money," Kejriwal said. EC fails to stop this. EC prevents me from saying-"Take money from them n vote 4 us". EC's msg - "vote 4 those who give u money" https://t.co/NppXPnlxIU Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 24, 2017 MAKE ME YOUR BRAND AMBASSADOR: KEJRIWAL TO EC The Delhi CM on Monday (January 23) asked the Election Commission to make him its brand ambassador if it really wanted to end use of money to lure voters during elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's letter to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi came after the poll panel censored him for violating the Model Code of Conduct and warning of stern action. Kejriwal was accused of "deliberately and intentionally" instigating the public to take bribes for voting in the Goa assembly election of February 4. "The allegation is baseless. The truth is I am trying to curb bribery. The whole nation knows the AAP was born to fight corruption and bribery and is committed to put an end to it," Kejriwal wrote in his letter. Kejriwal said he was not instigating people to take bribes. "What wrong am I saying? If I asked them to vote for the same party that they take money from, that would be bribery. I am telling them not to vote for the party which gives them money," he wrote. WATCH: Exclusive - 4 explosive takeaways from Arvind Kejriwal's interview to India Today ALSO READ: Bribery remark: Election Commission censures Kejriwal, AAP to move court Kejriwal self-proclaimed Chief Justice of Indian politics: BJP Delhi Aam Aadmi Party workers launch smear campaign against Kejriwal in Punjab --- ENDS --- A survivor of an April 2015 truck crash that killed five nursing students from Georgia Southern University and led to calls for mandatory collision avoidance systems has been awarded $15 million in a civil suit, according to an AJC.com report. The nursing students were caught up in a seven-vehicle crash on Interstate 16 in Georgia when a truck driver for Total Transportation of Mississippi failed to stop when traffic slowed. Total Transportation and its parent company, U.S. Express, are ordered to pay the $15 million to survivor Megan Richards. Richards told jurors that as a result of the crash, she still suffers from traumatic brain injury. While the District Attorney General of the Georgia Atlantic Judicial Circuit decided not to pursue criminal charges against the company, Total Transportation of Mississippi has already settled wrongful death lawsuits related to the case, with one victim receiving $14 million. The driver, John Wayne Johnson, was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide. Through civil suit depositions, it was revealed that Johnson was hired by Total Transportation of Mississippi despite disclosing to the company that he had been fired from a previous job for falling asleep at the wheel. While Johnson admitted fault for the crash, he insisted that he was awake. Photo via Geneva Rock Products Salt Lake City, Utahs, Geneva Rock Products has invested more than $8 million in a new compressed natural gas fueling station and fleet of 25 CNG ready-mix concrete trucks. The fueling station is located on the companys property and can fill all 25 trucks simultaneously. Geneva Rocks investment in clean air and sustainable practices is one of the largest such investments made by a construction company in Utah, according to Geneva Rock. Lowering our emissions is of utmost importance to us as a company and guides our overall operating decisions, said Jim Golding, president at Geneva Rock. This specific purchase and installation is just part of the companys overall clean air initiative, in which the company has already invested more than $30 million to lower emissions and improve Utahs air quality. Geneva Rock said its fleet of CNG concrete mixer trucks will be the largest fleet of that type in the state and is a part of a larger clean air initiative to improve Utahs air quality. The company also donated $25,000 to the Utah Clean Air Partnership to support its grants and education programs in 2017. It is important to Utah and the local economy to have proactive businesses do what they can to help resolve our air quality issues," said Senator Gene Davis, minority leader at Utah State Senate. Geneva Rock is one of those companies that has continually invested in clean air technologies for their operations. I am proud to have this installation and new fleet of concrete trucks in my district. Since 1954 Geneva Rock has been a top supplier of ready-mixed concrete, sand and gravel, asphalt, and construction services along the Wasatch front and is the largest supplier of ready-mix concrete in the State of Utah, according to its website. I grew up in the mean Mississippi Delta. Mosquitoes made it mean. Big ones! Farmers who raised turkeys often found one with an extremely long beak. I was sure it was the effect of mating with some of the mosquitoes. It was in preparing a Mississippi cotton field for planting that I learned a great life lesson. My grandfather could plow the straightest rows I had ever seen. I couldnt wait to get my opportunity. Finally, I got my chance and climbed aboard his Ford N tractor and began to plow my first row. I kept looking back to check on the plow and make sure it was carving a straight path through the twelve feet of delta topsoil. Everything looked good until I got to the end! I had just plowed the most crooked row I had ever seen. That meant every row that followed that one would be crooked. Grandpa was there to give his advice. Boy, you cant cut a straight row looking back! You have to set your eye on a marker way out in front of you and drive straight toward it. At the end of the day of much straighter rows, I took a bath and prepared to go to my church youth group meeting. I quickly read my scriptures so I could make my mark on the church envelope that recorded such great spiritual prowess. Ill never forget the scripture that night. Luke 9:62 No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Federal prosecutors filed a civil complaint Monday naming EMSA and its director, Stephen Williamson, in an alleged kickback scheme regarding a lucrative ambulance services provider contract. The complaint, filed in federal court in the eastern district of Texas, claims that a Texas hospital and ambulance provider, Paramedics Plus LLC, entered into a kickback scheme to obtain and retain a lucrative public ambulance services contract awarded by Williamson and the Emergency Medical Services Authority, a public trust that administers the ambulance service in the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metro areas. Prosecutors allege that the defendants created a slush fund controlled by the Texas hospital, East Texas Medical Center Regional Health Services Inc., and Paramedics Plus that was used to pay over $20 million in kickbacks, including at least $50,000 for Williamsons personal benefit as well as to pay political contributions, marketing expenses and direct payments to EMSAs contractors. The complaint alleges that the Texas hospital and ambulance company it formed functioned as Williamsons all purpose slush fund, to pay for gifts, spa treatments, campaign contributions and travel costs, among other items. The lawsuit claims the so-called pay to play scheme violated anti-kickback statutes and the False Claims Act, costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars over a six-year period ending in 2013. A statement from EMSA says: This case is in no way related to the high quality care that the EMSA system provides to all patients. EMSA makes every effort to adhere to applicable rules, regulations and laws. EMSA has earned a reputation of providing Oklahomans with excellent ambulance service and looks forward to continuing our mission long after this issue is resolved. Williamson did not respond to a request to comment sent through an EMSA spokesperson. Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum issued a statement Monday, saying that the city has been assured that the delivery and quality of EMSAs ambulance and medical services will not be affected or disrupted by todays announcement. EMSA is an independent public trust and, as such, is an entity entirely separate from and not controlled by the city, the statement continues. It operates for the benefit of both the city of Tulsa and Oklahoma City as the beneficiaries of that trust. The city intends to cooperate in any way necessary with the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Texas that filed the civil lawsuit. As a beneficiary of EMSA, the city expects that EMSA will cooperate as well to resolve the matter. Paramedics Plus had the ambulance service contract with EMSA from 1998 to 2013, when the contract was awarded to American Medical Response. Many of the allegations in the federal complaint are contained in a lawsuit filed under seal in 2015 by a former employee of Paramedics Plus. The employee, Stephen Dean, worked for the ambulance company in Oklahoma from 2007 to 2013 as a chief operating officer overseeing the EMSA contract. Dean filed the action under provisions of the False Claims Act that permit private parties to sue as whistleblowers on behalf of the U.S. government and receive a share of any recovery. The False Claims Act permits the government to intervene in such a lawsuit. The law prohibits paying kickbacks, such as those alleged in this lawsuit, in order to gain access to Medicare and Medicaid funds, Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherstone said in written comments. Kickback schemes are anti-competitive, undermine the integrity of our nations health care programs, and wrongly prioritize profits over patient care. The lawsuit claims that Paramedics Plus and East Texas Medical Center had a secret, unwritten agreement whereby they would pay EMSA and Williamson kickbacks that it would later describe as a profit cap. The secret agreement called for Paramedics Plus to pay EMSA any excess profits over 12 percent of gross revenues. The lawsuit claims that EMSA officials attempted to legitimize the arrangement in 2012, just before the Oklahoma state auditor and inspector performed a special audit of the public trust. While the auditor was not charged with looking into potential violations of federal law, including the anti-kickback statute, EMSA officials nevertheless prepared a ghostwritten letter that was inserted into the contract file, which purported to confirm the existence of the profit cap arrangement, prosecutors allege. The fraudulent letter was purposely undated and contained false information, the lawsuit alleges. The Texas hospital and Paramedics Plus also gave gifts to several high-ranking EMSA employees as an inducement to keep the ambulance contract, federal authorities allege. The lawsuit alleges that the gifts include $50,000 paid to Williamson for travel expenses as president of a different organization, the American Ambulance Association. The gifts were incentives to a source of business intended as quid pro quo payments, according to the lawsuit. Among the political contributions, the lawsuit notes two $1,000 campaign donations made to former Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett by East Texas Medical Center in 2010 and 2011. Bartlett said he had been made aware that the lawsuit was coming but said he had no knowledge of alleged wrongdoing by Williamson when he accepted the campaign donation. I honestly dont recall receiving a check either from Steve Williamson or whatever the company is, Bartlett said. The first check, for $1,000 to Bartletts campaign for mayor in January 2010, is alleged in the lawsuit to have come from Paramedics Plus at Williamsons request. Bartlett said he thought that would have gone to his campaign win in 2009 and that it would have been among hundreds of donations. That was, of course, a couple months after the election, Bartlett said. Its common for some company or individual to give a check to a campaign to help get rid of a campaign debt. Everything was done properly. Prosecutors note in the complaint that the 2011 Bartlett donation was made after he issued executive orders prohibiting city of Tulsa Fire Department employees from taking part in local political campaigns or using their position to influence the outcomes of local political campaigns. The Tulsa Fire Department has in the past campaigned to assume control of the ambulance service in Tulsa. The insinuation that that check had something to do with my signing an executive order is entirely wrong, Bartlett said. That executive order had to do with the city charters very explicit prohibition against city employees being involved in campaigns. Bartlett added that the executive order applied as much to Tulsa police officers as to Tulsa firefighters and in no way was influenced by the check ordered by Williamson. Paramedics Plus lost the contract with EMSA in 2013, when it sought competitive bids from other ambulance service providers. Colorado-based American Medical Response won the bid for what was described at the time as a $247 million contract. AMR offered to perform the services for approximately $44 million less than Paramedics Pluss bid, according to the lawsuit. In other words, although Paramedics Plus claims it gave money back to the public through its unwritten profit cap scheme, its anti-competitive behavior likely cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars from 2008 through 2013 alone because AMR and other companies never had a chance to bid in 2008, according to the complaint. Rather than seek competitive bids, Williamson renegotiated the contract with Paramedics Plus in 2008 after receiving approval to do so by the EMSA governing board, according to the lawsuit. On Google Playstore, there are several applications which include gaming and photo app that carry the name of Modi. By Mail Today Bureau: Scamsters are cashing in on Digital India drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more aggressively post demonetisation scheme by creating fake mobile recharge and government websites carrying name and picture of Modi and circulating the malicious link on social media platforms. These links are claiming to offer free recharge, increasing withdrawal and deposit bank limits after taking all the banking and personal details. advertisement Security agencies claimed that indepth investigation revealed that the criminals are taking advantage of transition to digital payment by giving lucrative offers. There are dozens of dubious websites and apps functional, which have mushroomed recently to dupe people. "We have received complaints that a link of a website carrying name and picture of the prime minister was circulated which asked the user to recharge their mobile phone by `500-1,000 and in return their telecom company will recharge it by double the amount. It also said this recharge offer is part of PM's latest scheme. Once the payment is made the website shows transaction failed but the money gets deducted. So the customer receives no bonus and ends up paying recharge amount to the fake portal," said a senior police officer of cyber cell. He explained that the amount of recharge is so low that usually people don't turn up to register an FIR but the website successfully makes huge gain. Gullible customer also believes on such links as they are look-alike of government or popular recharge portals. People fall prey to such online offers as many online companies have started giving attractive deals as central government is giving a push to digital transaction. Also read | WhatsApp messages spice up rumours on salt and sugar prices, govt says no shortage Cyber experts claimed on Google Playstore there are several applications which include gaming and photo app which carry name of Modi. These apps are under scanner as these are not Fake NaMo apps in use for fraud owned by any government body or a political party but gains access to contacts and other important features of the phone making it more suspicious. Police explained that recently WhatsApp was flooded with forwarded message, which read, "`500 balance for every Indian. Reforming India. Modiji giving free balance." This message was followed by a link which took the user to a dodgy website. No balance got transferred to any account, and an user just ended up sharing personal details with spammers. advertisement The website asked for your details such as phone number, operator and state. The fake website can easily fool anyone with no knowledge of cybercrime as it features logos of all major telecom operators including Idea, Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance and Aircel. The website also asks the user to share the link with other contacts. "It is highly advised, that if any user receives such a message, they should immediately delete it so that even by mistake they don't end up tapping on this and forwarding it to their contacts. Such malicious links not only can affect your device, but may also seep into your phone and steal data," said Kisalay Chaudhary, cyber crime expert. "These bogus websites try to appear like an official Government of India website or related to telecom operators to trap gullible customers. Government website are .gov.in or .nic.in but fraud websites are -gov.in or _nic.in which may appear real but do not belong to government. So all people making online transaction should be very alert about the website they are browsing. WhatsApp has been a breeding ground for such activities and spreading malicious links," he said. Also read | Puducherry CM bans WhatsApp, Facebook for govt officials; L-G Kiran Bedi rejects order --- ENDS --- advertisement RATING: 3 STARS (on a scale of zero to four stars) The real power, as well as beauty, of Hidden Figures the story of three black women essential to NASAs success in the 1960s is that it tells its story of inspiration with such a triumphant spirit. These ladies had every right to be angry about the treatment they endured, even at NASA, in that era. They were women; they were black; they were often the smartest people in the room, and that didnt sit well with some co-workers. But Hidden Figures isnt about anger; weve seen that movie many times, and The Birth of a Nation fills that spot this year just fine. This film is about empowerment that will surprise people. Its about pioneers hidden in the dark, in the back of the bus, in the back of peoples minds, who made their mark with the power of their convictions and what else? the power of their minds. Its also a gorgeously crafted film that re-creates the early 1960s, from costuming and production design to the R&B music of the era, which is mixed with original music from Pharrell Williams thats jazzy cool. That smart screenplay, chic style and brisk pace are the product of director Theodore Melfi, creating a sweet, sentimental picture that just veers away from being sappy. He gives the movie a bit of an edge similar to his debut feature film St. Vincent, in which he so smartly directed Bill Murray in how to show his heart to balance his crankiness. Theres a ton of heart in this story about three brilliant women Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson as the math whiz whose calculations help John Glenn safely return from space); Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer as an early computer expert and NASAs first black supervisor); and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae as NASAs first black female engineer). Henson shows impressive range in her emotions, Spencer plays her overlooked manager with a serious wit, and Monae, wow the musical dynamo is just as charismatic on the big screen, delivering quips with a force that says, Make this woman a movie star. These actresses are all superb here playing fast friends and collaborative colleagues. They combine forces to carry this film opposite some strong performances (Kevin Costner as a NASA leader looking for the best people no matter their color) and some weaker ones (Jim Parsons looks awkward as an insensitive co-worker). Set in 1961, the launch of Glenn into orbit is the focal point for the story about an equally amazing achievement putting a man on top of a rocket and sending him to orbit the Earth for the first time. When you consider the risk and fascination with that event, of finally surpassing the Russians space achievements at the height of Americans Cold War fears, the movie still has a built-in tension. Theres a clock ticking, and these women all show grace under pressure. Thats despite colored restrooms that can be a roadblock, home-life pressures and undependable carpooling elements that the filmmakers smartly use to show the challenges this trio faced, almost always balanced with a comedic edge. As when their car breaks down, landing three black women in the middle of the road with a white police officer questioning the credibility of their NASA employment. I had no idea they hired ... he says, with a clear intent, before the whip-smart Dorothy interrupts with, Yes, theres quite a few women working in the space program. Thats how smart these women, referred to literally as human computers (colored computers to be precise), were and how smart the screenplay is at handling these Civil Rights-era challenges. I cant help but think about how America saw itself after the events of this film, of the Mercury 7 astronauts raising our confidence and serving as a beacon to the world. Hidden Figures is triumphant in a way that can restore your faith in the dreams we can achieve in this nation if we all are willing to work together as one. OPENING THIS WEEK Gold, Matthew McConaughey, R A Dogs Purpose, Dennis Quaid, PG Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Milla Jovovich, R AT CIRCLE CINEMA Things to Come, Isabelle Huppert, PG-13 Lost & Found, family treasure hunt adventure Footprints in the Dew, Mullendore murder documentary NOW SHOWING Movie Rating (on 4 star scale) La La Land 4 Stars Jackie 4 Stars Moonlight 4 Stars Moana 3.5 Stars Fences 3.5 Stars The Accountant 3.5 Stars Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3 Stars Arrival 3 Stars Hacksaw Ridge 3 Stars Manchester By the Sea 3 Stars Lion 3 Stars Rogue One: A Star Wars Story 2.5 Stars Silence 2.5 Stars Patriots Day 2.5 Stars Sing 2 Stars Office Christmas Party 2 Stars Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children 2 Stars Live By Night 1.5 Stars Passengers 1.5 Stars Allied 1.5 Stars Trolls 1 Star The West Indies are not going to Australia just to make up numbers, but aim for a Test series win. Hit LifeStyle series Selling Houses Australia will mark its 10th season from March. To mark the occasion Andrew Winter, Shaynna Blaze and Charlie Albone will be renovating a 100 year old home in Sydney the Salvation Army has owned since the 1930s. The charity has decided to sell the house to raise much-needed funds for their homeless services, with the auction hammer to will fall just days before the episode goes to air. Season 10 heads to Far North QLD, an island off the SA coast, a dairy farm in rural Victoria and their first property in Tassie. Andrew Winter says, What better way of celebrating a TV milestone than giving something back to the community the Salvation Army is one remarkable charity that does exactly that. The 100th episode is far more than a little celebration; it is a chance for us all to be reminded of the work these guys do, often in very challenging circumstances. The stories, their history and the classic Aussie home we focus on, will not only raise money for the Salvos but it will be a unique and incredible way to celebrate 100 episodes! Wed like to say a huge thank you to Foxtel, Lifestyle and all involved in Production for making a show not only watched here, but in many other countries in the world! Its all because of the incredible support and loyalty of the Aussie viewing public. Lifestyle is offering 25 lucky viewers a double-pass to the 100th episode auction in Sydneys inner west. To enter, head to lifestyle.com.au/sellinghouses. Comp opens on Wednesday 25/01/17 at 9am AEDT. Wednesday March 1 at 8:30pm on LifeStyle. Stan has appointed former media writer at The Australian, Jake Mitchell, as its Business and Corporate Development Manager. He will work on developing new commercial opportunities with business partners for the Nine / Fairfax company. Jakes background in business media and his extensive network within the industry makes him the perfect choice to expand our presence and develop new opportunities with our commercial partners, Stan Chief Executive Mike Sneesby said. We are excited to have Jake on board. The appointment follows Nine recently hiring Mumbrellas Nic Christensen as Head of Digital Communications. Prior to The Australian, Mitchell was previously joint Street Talk editor at The Australian Financial Review. A father and his son raped 13-year-old over a three-year period. They will act as their own attorneys and want to use The Bible, "the only law book that truly matters," as their defense. By India Today Web Desk: A father and son from Ohio in the US are accused of keeping a 13-year-old girl in their basement in shackles. They have been accused of repeatedly raping the teenager from 2012 to 2015. While they defend themselves facing Ohio jury in court, they want to rely on "the only law book that truly matters," the Bible. advertisement Former firefighter Timothy Ciboro, 53, and Esten Ciboro, 28, go on trial next week on charges that they abused and molested children in their home. Screenshot: Reuters Video The teenage girl they shackled is Timothy's stepdaughter, who managed to escape while her alleged abusers had gone away from home, authorities said, according to a Washington Post report. Timothy is also facing rape charges involving another child. THE BIBLE According to the Toledo Blade report, Tomothy and Esten Ciboro will act as their own attorneys and they intend to "use God's holy word to ask questions, questions that we believe are absolutely vital to our case," said Timothy. "There's a great deal of strategy in Scripture and I use those strategies in everything I do," Esten Ciboro, who is charged with multiple counts of rape, endangering children, and kidnapping with his father, told the judge. According to Esten, "It's a vital part of everything I do." Although the judge has her concerns about the men representing themselves but both have insisted they did not want a lawyer, according to a Toledo Blade report. Watch: Father, son accused of rape, act as own lawyers --- ENDS --- Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court today directed Home Secretaries of all states to file affidavits giving details of vacancies in police services at all levels. A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar observed that vacancy in police services was an "important issue" and asked all the states to file the affidavits within four weeks. advertisement The bench, also comprising Justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud, also said that if any of the states do not file the affidavit, it would "ensure the presence of Home Secretaries along with necessary records to assist the court in disposal of the matter". "In view of the importance of the issue, we require Home Secretaries of all the state governments to file affidavits in this court depicting the necessary position. In order to ensure compliance of the order, we hereby direct respondent number one (Centre) to communicate the instant order to the Home Secretaries of all the state governments within one week," the bench said. The apex court was hearing a petition which claimed that law and order situation in the country is deteriorating due to a large number of vacancies in police services at all levels across all states. The petitioner claimed before the bench that there were around 5.42 lakh vacancies in police services across the country. PTI ABA MNL SJK ARC --- ENDS --- Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Thank you for your support! Many Thanks to our Advertisers When choosing between competing products and services, please consider our advertisers, who help support Brand New. Gambian children waiting for a car at Selety border crossing, Senegal, to drive them home to the Gambia. UNHCR/Helene Caux ZINGUINCHOR, Senegal John* could not hide the relief on his face as he waited with his wife and children for a bus at Senegals Selety border crossing to take them back to their home in the Gambia after two weeks of awful uncertainty. It is over, we are going back home, he grinned, one of more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, who have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended when former president Yahya Jammeh ceded power on Friday and went into exile a day later. John explained that he decided to leave his home in the town of Kunkujang-Mariam, in the Serrekunda region, a fortnight ago, as Jammeh refused to accept the results of the December 1 presidential election, which was won by opposition leader Adama Barrow. This sparked a regional crisis and prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal according Senegalese authorities. We just did not know how things would turn out. Thank God, the blood bath has been avoided, 42-year-old John said, echoing the thoughts of many who had feared the situation in the Gambia could tip into violence. Like many he praised host families for their warm welcome in Senegal. It is over, we are going back home. People have opened their homes for us, we stayed with a family we did not even know. They have been very, very nice. Authorities in the Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home. John and his wife and children prepared to take one to West Field Junction, in the Serrekunda region. From there, they planned to hire a car or take a taxi. On Saturday, 530 people crossed back through the Selety border crossing in Senegals Ziguinchor region. On Sunday, the number grew to over 3,700, with as many again on Monday, some heading home in private cars, on motorcycles, or hoping to board a bus. Others have been going back to the Gambia through informal crossings on the northern and southern borders. Some returning by boat to Banjul, the Gambian capital, are arriving on crowded ferries which are reportedly old and unsafe. During the crisis, people fled or hid in their homes, turning Banjul into a ghost town. A team from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Banjul says that some normalcy has begun to return, as some schools and shops re-open. During the political impasse, thousands of displaced people from the Gambia have been hosted by families in Senegal. Many, like Mariama* - who is hosting up to 15 people in her home, including a cousin and her baby - have struggled to feed them. People have opened their homes for us. We stayed with a family we did not even know." I used to cook one kilo of rice a day for my own family, said Mariama. Now, with the new people I am hosting in my home, I cook three to four kilos a day. I had to dig into our food resources to feed everyone. It is okay we need to help them but now, in order to have extra money to buy rice, I prepare and sell breakfasts to people in my neighbourhood. To meet the needs of both displaced people and their hosts, the Senegalese government has been quick to act. The authorities have delivered and distributed several tons of food to the displaced and host families including rice, oil and sugar. Forty tons of rice arrived in Ziguinchor region in last week and distribution has started in several villages hosting displaced people. In addition to food aid, the government is also providing mattresses, matts, sheets, blankets, and soap to those in need. UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies and NGOs continue to stand ready to help the Senegalese authorities to assist the displaced, as needed. Together, UN teams continue to monitor the border. An estimated 3,500 people also sought safety in Guinea-Bissau in the past 10 days. The Gambian embassy there has asked for UNHCR s assistance to help those people return home. * Names changed for protection reasons A woman packs her belongings at the M'Poko site for the internally displaced, in this 2015 file photo. She planned to move back to her home in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. UNHCR/Olivier Laban-Mattei CARMEL SITE, Central African Republic Antoine Nambeyam shuffles forward on his crutches towards the head of the queue. It is a line that will finally take the amputee home after three years in a dilapidated site for thousands of people displaced by conflict in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, or CAR. He has come to collect his familys cash grant of US$80 from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, that will help the 60-year-old and his family rebuild their lives and damaged house in Bangui, some 15 kilometres north of the Carmel site for internally displaced people. We stayed here for three years because we had no choice. The security situation was so bad that we had to save our families, he says. Given that the violence has reduced in Bangui, we are happy to return to our districts," adds the father of four, who lost his leg during his internal exile because he could no longer work and pay for drugs to treat his severe diabetes. Given that the violence has reduced in Bangui, we are happy to return to our districts." Almost 80,000 residents of Bangui are still displaced by the conflict. Nambeyam is among more than 4,250 residents who have returned under a voluntary programme launched in the first week of January by UNHCR and the government. Among those who returned to the capital under the scheme were 3,000 people from Carmel. UNHCR and government teams will be helping others in the coming days. A separate return programme, managed by the Government with technical support from UNHCR has enabled another 15,000 displaced people to leave the squalid camp at Banguis MPoko International Airport - where they lived in dire conditions and were dangerously close to air traffic - and return home. CAR slipped into chaos in the months after former Seleka rebels seized power in March 2013, ousting then-President Francois Bozize and sparking a brutal backlash from anti-balaka militias in December of that year. Antoine Nambeyam receives a cash grant from UNHCR to help him settle back into his home in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. UNHCR/Djerassem Mbaiorem This and subsequent violence displaced almost one million people and left parts of Bangui looted and in ruins. Some 475,000 residents fled to neighbouring countries and more than 434,000 people made their way to safer areas within CAR. Going back to Bangui is a big step, given the bad memories of the explosion of violence that drove people to run for their lives. Nambeyam, who has since returned to the capitals Boeing district with assistance from relatives, explains why he opted to return. Although my house was destroyed, I am relieved to leave the Carmel site because the living conditions are extremely difficult. We slept on cardboard and it was very cold at night." He said UNHCR supplied blankets, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets and other aid to displaced residents, but they sold these to buy food. After reaching the head of the queue and collecting his cash, Antoine said he was going to use some of the money to buy two mattresses on which he can sleep with his family in his plundered and destroyed house. "After the return, the next step will be to support the reintegration of the returnees. "After the return, the next step will be to support the reintegration of the returnees, said UNHCR Deputy Representative Charles Mballa. UNHCR and its partners plan to focus their interventions on programmes supporting social cohesion and reconciliation, livelihoods, rehabilitation of houses and mobilization of other actors in areas of return to enable the returnees to start a new life in dignity." UNHCR is already working on reintegration projects in parts of the country such as Ouham Pende and Lobaye prefectures in the west, where the agency and partners have been rebuilding homes and infrastructure to enable a sustainable return of internally displaced people and refugees. But CAR remains fragile a year after the democratic elections that brought President Faustin-Archange Touadera to power. Fighting in the second half of last year has displaced another estimated 150,000 people in an area running from Bria, Alindao and Bambari to Ippy and Bakala. This pushed the number of internally displaced people to a record 434,174 at the end of November 2016. With the ongoing returns in Bangui this number had again decreased to 411,785 by mid-January. Syrian refugee Mais, and her younger sister Anaghem, stand at the door of their apartment in Amman, Jordan, in this 2014 file photo. UNHCR/J. Kohler HELSINKI, Finland Nearly six years since the start of the Syria conflict, United Nations agencies and NGO partners on Tuesday appealed for US$4.63 billion in funding to meet the growing needs of Syrian refugees that have fled the fighting, as well as the struggling communities hosting them in neighbouring countries. The funding is designed to provide lifesaving support to more than 4.7 million Syrian refugees, the vast majority of whom live below the poverty line and face a constant struggle to pay for food, rent and health care. Assistance is also needed to help ease the burden on local communities in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, where the protracted crisis has placed a huge strain on limited resources, infrastructure and vital services. Syrian refugees and host communities need our support now more than ever." Syrian refugees and host communities need our support now more than ever, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in remarks ahead of an event in Helsinki to launch the funding appeal. The international community must send a clear message that it stands with them and provides the urgently needed support. UNHCR and partners are ready to address the needs and vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them, but require the necessary and flexible funding to do so. Kai Mykkanen, Finlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, said the international community has a duty to support the humanitarian relief effort as best it can. The news from Syria has been heartbreaking. We've observed a huge increase in humanitarian need and are aware of the great burden carried by the neighbouring countries. By hosting this key event, Finland wants to highlight the vital work done by the UN and Syria's neighbours, he said. Around 70 per cent of all Syrian refugees are women and children, with half of school-aged children currently not enrolled in formal education. Among the priorities of the funding plan for 2017 is the need to boost educational opportunities for young Syrian refugees to avoid the threat of a lost generation. Other features of the response include protecting the rights and safety of refugees, creating new livelihood opportunities for Syrians in exile, and ensuring access to basic and lifesaving healthcare for both refugees and host communities. The great need for aid was highlighted by refugees themselves, among them Wardah, a 32-year-old Syrian refugee from Raqqa, who lives with her five children and mother-in-law in a one-room apartment in the Jordanian capital, Amman. With her husband currently back in Syria and unable to join them, she says the family is utterly reliant on the assistance they receive from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and other UN agencies to survive. "Just paying the rent is a constant worry, and I live in fear that we will end up on the streets. She receives 215 Jordanian dinars (US$300) each month in UNHCR cash assistance, which is barely enough to cover rent and utility bills, plus 120 dinars (US$170) in World Food Programme food vouchers, which must feed the family of seven for a month. Weve been here for three years, and Jordan has been like a second home for us, Wardah said. But just paying the rent is a constant worry, and I live in fear that we will end up on the streets. Her two eldest children, aged eight and nine, attend a local Jordanian school free of charge, but during winter Wardah must find extra cash to pay for warm clothes and public transport to get them to class. As a result, she has fallen two months behind in her rent payments. My landlord is very kind and he allowed me to delay paying the rent, but even he cannot wait for ever. Even with the extra money I make sometimes cleaning houses, it is not enough, Wardah explains, the anxiety clear in her voice. I dream that we will go back to Syria and be reunited with our family again, but it is still impossible. Until then, all I want is a safe place where my children can grow up in peace. Writing and additional reporting by Charlie Dunmore in Jordan. STOCKHOLM, 24 JANUARY 2017 A global campaign by non-profit H&M Foundation has generated $3.3 million [2.7m] to support UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in its work to provide education for refugee children. Launched in November 2016, the campaign aimed to help refugee children get the school supplies they need to go to school. For every H&M gift card sold during the holidays in some 4,000 H&M stores worldwide, H&M Foundation made a donation in support of refugee children. This will benefit refugee children across the world, including in Chad, Ethiopia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Uganda and Yemen. Over half of all refugees are children. Only 50 per cent have access to primary school and even less have the chance to continue to secondary school. Ensuring that they have access to education is central to UNHCR. It is also critical to help refugee children build better futures for themselves and their communities. Thanks to the campaign, refugee children will receive supplies such as textbooks and stationery. These supplies are important to ensuring that refugee children can go to and stay in school. Refugee children are five times more likely to be out of school than other children. This is why providing the supplies they need to go to school is so crucial. With this donation, UNHCR can ensure an education for many children in crisis settings across the world, said Diana Amini, Global Manager for H&M Foundation. We want to thank H&M employees and customers for supporting H&M Foundations global campaign with UNHCR. Education is critical to ensuring that refugee children can go on to lead more productive lives. Yet it remains underfunded. Through campaigns like these, the public can make a real difference in the lives of refugee children around the world. said Lionello Boscardi, UNHCR Head of Partnerships. Read more about the partnership between H&M Foundation and UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/hm-foundation.html Media contacts: Alison Cassells Associate Fundraising Communication Officer, UNHCR [email protected] +45 45 33 65 30 Malin Bjorne PR & Communication Responsible, H&M Foundation [email protected] +46 (0) 70 796 39 75 About UNHCR: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. UNHCR leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. UNHCR delivers life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, helps safeguard fundamental human rights, and develops solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. UNHCR also works to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. UNHCRs dedicated teams are on the ground in some 128 countries across the world, working in partnership with governments, NGOs, the private sector, community groups, host communities as well as refugees. About H&M Foundation: H&M Foundation is a non-profit global foundation, privately funded by the Stefan Persson family, founders and main owners of the fashion company H&M. Its mission is to create long lasting positive change and improve living conditions by investing in communities, people and innovative ideas. Through partnerships with prominent organizations around the globe, H&M Foundation drives change within four focus areas; Education, Clean water, Equality and Protecting the planet. In addition, H&M Foundation can also provide emergency relief. H&M Foundation has been working with UNHCR since 2015, when it donated US$500,000 in support of UNHCRs response to the Europe emergency, helping to provide much needed food, shelter, medical care as well as registration services and special support for children. By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Business process management and services provider Genpact today said it has increased fully paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for its employees in India. Applicable to not only birth mothers but also adopting and commissioning mothers, the maternity leave is accessible to women employees for giving birth to or adopting up to two children, a company release said. advertisement "We are committed to finding ways to bring more women into the workforce and once they are in, finding ways to enable continuity of employment as they balance family and work," Genpact SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Piyush Mehta said. The changes to the maternity leave policy came into effect from this year for employees in India. The company also has other women-friendly initiatives under its Returning Moms programme ? like access to day care facilities at or near the office locations, stork parking at all locations, work-from-home or flexible hours if the nature of work permits, and shift timings and location of their choice for up to an year upon return from maternity leave. "Gender diversity is among our top organisational priorities and creating a supportive ecosystem for our women is the first step in that direction," Genpact SVP and Diversity and Inclusion Leader Sasha Sanyal said. PTI DRR SRK JM --- ENDS --- Sycophants aside, some Hollywood stars and famous people who did not support Donald Trump earlier are now pitching the idea of giving the brand-new president a chance. By India Today Web Desk: US President Donald Trump did not have the smoothest ride into presidency when it came to being cheered on by celebrities and other famous people. Some of them hated him, some openly protested, and some simply bit him him with words. But now, winds of change are here. Sycophants aside, some Hollywood stars and famous people who initially did not pitch for Trump, are now simply giving in. Or in other words, they are now giving the brand-new president a chance. advertisement Because, yes, everyone deserves a chance. Is it really too early to judge Trump as a president? Should American cut him some slack and give him a shot? Well, these people think so: POPE FRANCIS Speaking to El Pais about Trump, Pope Francis said that he does not like "to judge people prematurely,". "We will see how he [Trump] acts, what he does, and then I will have an opinion," said the pontiff. Read more: Pope Francis to 'wait and see' before forming opinion about Donald Trump Keep in mind that Pope Francis did remind people of how Hitler came to power when talking about "the populist leaders" like Donald Trump of recent years. "And all Germans voted for Hitler. Hitler didn't steal the power. His people voted for him, and then he destroyed his people." Point. MICHEAL KEATON The Birdman star thinks it's time Hollywood cut the "bullsh*t", and gave their new president a chance. Or so say reports. Report has it that during a meet-up of some hot-shot stars at West Hollywood's Tower Bar last Saturday, which included Al Pacino and John Travolta, Keatan stood up to the Hollywood uprising against Trump. "Enough with the Hollywood BS," Keaton was overheard saying. "I didn't vote for him, but we've got to just give him a chance at this point..." NICOLE KIDMAN The Australian-origin actor had a softer message for fellow Hollywood stars and rest of America. "I just say he's now elected and we as a country need to support whoever's the president because that's what the country's based on," Kidman to BBC Two. "However that happened, he's there, and let's go." Kidman made this comment after pointing out that she is "always reticent to start sort of commenting politically." Predictably, she quickly came under fire on social media for her comments. ROBERT DE NIRO Prior to the US elections, actor Robert De Niro had torn apart Trump in a video without even taking his name. He had called the Republican president "stupid," "a punk," and had expressed his desire to "to punch him in the face." advertisement Missed it? Take a look here: Robert De Niro takes down Donald Trump with series of most toxic insults Upon receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November last year, De Niro mellowed a little. According to The Hill, the Taxi Driver star said: "I would only say that we're all hoping, waiting and hoping, that he [Trump] will lead the country in a way that'll benefit everyone and benefit our neighbours around the world." Where's the "You talking to me?" spirit, Bob? Read more: Trump is a bad example of this country: Robert De Niro PIERS MORGAN British journalist Piers Morgan is known to be chummy with Trump, but now he is pleading people to judge Trump based on his work as a president rather than his previous, "locker-room boy" image. "What I say to people about Trump is this. Give him a chance. You don't have to like him, you can be offended by some of the things he says, he shoots from the hip, he says what he's thinking, sometimes he goes over-the-top," Morgan told the Question Time audience. "But give the guy a chance and judge him on his actions and you might be pleasantly surprised." advertisement So, what do you think? Should America and the world cut Donald Trump some slack, and let time tell if the protests against him were right or not? --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) The board of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), a Vedanta group firm, is likely to deliberate next month on the issue of Rs 15,000-crore dividend payout to the government for the ongoing fiscal. The government has demanded dividend from HZL as the partly state-owned mining firm is sitting on surplus cash reserve. advertisement "Hindustan Zinc has intimated the Mines Ministry that it will bring the matter (of dividend payout) before its board for its consideration," a source privy to the development said, adding that ultimately the authority to take the final call lies with the board. The board meeting of Hindustan Zinc is likely to be held on February 10, sources said. In 2002-03, the government sold its 64.92 per cent stake in HZL to mining baron Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources, while retaining 29.54 per cent. The company is sitting on about Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 crore of surplus cash, a company official said. Last year, Hindustan Zinc had announced that it will pay Rs 10,141 crore as dividend, which includes Rs 3,000 crore to the government, to its shareholders for the 2015-16 fiscal, the highest by any private company. HZL CEO Sunil Duggal had informed that the firms Board has declared a special golden jubilee dividend at the rate of 1,200 per cent -- Rs 24 per equity share of Rs 2 each -- for 2015-16 fiscal. "Since 2002 (disinvestment of HZL), the firm has paid Rs 32,500 crore to the government in terms of royalties, direct and indirect taxes, dividend distribution tax, etc. And if the dividend tax on dividend announced today is included, this contribution would go up to Rs 34,500 crore," Duggal had said. Meanwhile, in a statement, HZL had said the special dividend is in addition to the first interim dividend paid (Rs 3.80 per share or 190 per cent) in October 2015 of Rs 1,932 crore, including dividend distribution tax. A subsidiary of Vedanta Ltd, HZL is an integrated producer of zinc-lead and a leading producer of silver. The Udaipur (Rajasthan)-headquartered firm has zinc-lead mines at Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd, Rajpura Dariba, Zawar and Kayad and primary smelter operations at Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari, all in the state of Rajasthan as well as finished product facilities in Uttarakhand. PTI SID SBT MKJ --- ENDS --- A tanker being loaded in an IAF aircraft for Manipur, in New Delhi on Monday. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: With less than two days' fuel left in pollbound Manipur, the Centre deployed the mighty C-17 Globemaster, the Indian Air Force's largest military transport aircraft, to airlift 96,000 litres of fuel. This happened after Indian Oil Corporation made a formal "urgent" request to the IAF, requesting an airlift, from Guwahati's Borjhar Air Force station to Imphal. Official sources confirmed that since Sunday, three sorties have been made. An emergency measure taken to mitigate the impact of the fuel crisis triggered by the indefinite economic blockade by United Naga Council, which has been raging on for the past 84 days. advertisement While 35 tonne petroleum and diesel were sent through an Indian Airforce C-17 Globemaster plane, 70 tonne more petroleum products will be sent soon, official sources said. The move came two days after an interministerial meeting, chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and attended by Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, reviewed the stock of food grains and petroleum products in Manipur and how to replenish the supply. Pradhan Monday met Singh and briefed him about the supply position. The central government has informed the Election Commission about the move as assembly election is due in Manipur on March 4 and 8. Also read | IAF's Garud commandos to be equipped with new arms and bullet proof jackets Prices of all commodities, especially food grains, have skyrocketed while petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders are being sold at high prices in black markets, raising serious concerns in the central government, they said. Since November 1, the United Naga Council has imposed the economic blockade on NH2 (Imphal-Dimapur) and NH37 (Imphal-Jiribam) that serve as lifelines for the landlocked Manipur. While NH37 was partially reopened, there is no traffic movement on NH2. The ministry of home affairs has been making repeated efforts to find a way to have the NH2 opened. On November 15, 2016, tripartite talks with government of Manipur and United Naga Council were called at New Delhi to discuss the economic blockade, which were not attended by Government of Manipur.(With inputs from PTI) Also read | 36 Rafale jets not enough, India needs 200-250 to maintain combat edge: IAF chief Arup Raha --- ENDS --- Choosing healthy food is where healthy eating habits begin, and for students, healthy eating is just as important. This paved the way to study conducted by the researchers from the University of Iowa. The study suggests that concession stands can actually benefit from selling or adding healthy food options, according to Good News Network. Brian Wansink, the study's co-author said that 77% of students purchased healthier foods so long as they are available, and the concession stands had an increase in their revenue upon selling healthy foods. The researchers from the University of Iowa together with Cornell University joined forces with a booster school. They added 8 new healthy items which increased the overall sales of the concession club president who is in charge of running the concession at a large high stand by 4%. Helena Laroche, the lead researcher and assistant professor in internal medicine and pediatrics in UI said that this is the first time that they had to evaluate the results on satisfaction and sales of making changes to whatever is being offered and sold in the concession stands in schools, Red Orbit reported. She also added that the results are evidence that adding healthy food options can be possible and can provide reasonable profit without negative effects on customer satisfaction. A survey was conducted which 314 students responded to and what the researchers discovered was that those who purchased healthy foods were also more satisfied with the offerings. Even those students who did not really value going for healthy food options were still found to have purchased at least one healthy food throughout the school year. Because of these test results, the researchers emphasize the significant of making healthy food options available for students at any place where food is sold. A STEM initiative called Build IT by Girls sends out a message to all girls everywhere to pitch STEM business ideas. A panel of judges in the I Wish organization is excited to announce that the competition is directed towards girls in order to get their business idea ahead of their future careers. The I Wish partnership, founded by Cork entrepreneurs, encourages girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. And Build IT by Girls is going to tie all of that in with business ideas, as reported by Silicon Republic. The competition is based on requiring teams of students to submit a business summary of their idea. It should also include the details of their market and their business trajectory. Young women are going to pitch their business ideas in front of a panel of experts in the business field. They will also get the chance to take home some tech devices and a chance to intern at the Dell facility in Cork or win a trip to Google's Dublin headquarters. Build IT by Girls equips young women to become future leaders of tech, as reported by Silicon Ireland News Wire. The events are free but are now reportedly fully booked. Aside from hearing business pitches from young women, the events also feature talks and features by women in STEM roles. This is a real life environment platform that has the capacity to become the next big global business. The I Wish event is going to happen in City Hall, Cork on Feb. 9 and 10. It is also going to happen in RDS, Dublin on Feb. 13 and 14. The competition is still open and the submission for proposals will close on Feb. 3. Caroline O'Driscoll, the co-founder of I Wish, is excited for the event. She explains that the next big idea could come from these teams of girls. Watch the I Wish promo video for "Build IT by Girls" below. Managing a top restaurant anywhere can be a stressful job. It is especially most stressful when celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Drake and even One Direction wants to get a table or two reserved. But there is one University of Notre Dame graduate that can handle all that stress. It turns out this person is the go-to guy for celebrities when it comes to Japanese food. At Crown Perth's Nobu, a maitre d' named Declhan Lee can organize the security placement for these celebrities, inside and outside the restaurant. Declhan is a graduate of marketing and public relations. He knows what to do when a celebrity comes knocking on the Nobu doors, as reported by the Fremantle Gazette. He knows exactly where they should enter and exit, just so they can enjoy the food and the atmosphere the restaurant is known for. Declhan Lee says that one time, a celebrity's security team has asked if they can drive the car right into the lobby if an emergency happens It all started during his four-week internship at Nobu. He has reportedly helped create an e-commerce venture and would like to do more to increase his profile. He wants to open more marketing and PR opportunities to support the brand. During a University of Notre Dame interview, Lee says that he is heading to Japan for further studies and earn his masters degree. However, his career with Nobu will still remain but he is only going to work remotely. This graduate hopes to break into the world of international consulting and expand in Japan. He is happy to apply his marketing knowledge to a practical environment. When asked if he has any advice for those aspiring to do the same, Lee says it is always best to seek and learn. He says there is always time and people can always make time to learn new things. Watch Crown Perth's Nobu cuisine team in action below: Cambridge University researchers have created psychological tools that can combat fake news. Apparently, mixing misinformation with actual facts can help cancel out the effects of bogus claims. BBC reported that researchers at Cambridge University have suggested that "pre-emptively exposing" readers to small bits of misinformation can negate the effects of fake news. The study's lead author, Dr. Sander van der Linden, said that the concept is about providing a "cognitive repertoire" that can increase resistance to misinformation.This way, the next time people are exposed to fake news, they are less susceptible. The study was published in the journal "Global Challenges." The study was conducted as a disguised experiment. Researchers presented over 2,000 U.S. residents with two claims about global warming. It was found that, when presented consecutively, the effects that well-established facts had on people were eliminated by fake claims. However, when accurate information was combined with misinformation, like a warning, the fake news had less effect. According to Phys.org, participants were tasked to rate current levels of scientific agreement on climate change to gauge shifts in their opinions. The inoculation messages were effective in changing the opinions of the participants, regardless of political beliefs. Tech Crunch added that the more detailed warning was nearly twice as effective as the general warning. This is with regards to shifting the participants' opinions toward accepting climate science consensus even when exposed to fake news. Fake news has raised a lot of concerns especially on how easily it spreads on social media. University of Oregon's Nicole Dahmen has previously warned users about Facebook's New Feed. She noted that what the 1.13 billion Facebook users are actually getting daily is a "dangerously manipulated" world view. Researchers at Indiana University have also developed "Hoaxy." It is a website where users can type the keywords of a story and check how far it has spread as well as how it went viral. Hoaxy checks a public list of known fake news sources when a user searches for a story. It looks for matches in the headlines and bodies of published stories. Cambridge University will be appointing its Lego professor of play, development and learning. The school stopped receiving applications last Friday, Jan. 20. The Guardian reported that the successful candidate will be able to enjoy the perks of being a professor at the institution, which includes an average salary of 83,981. The Lego professor of play will also lead the school's newest Centre for Research on Play in Education. Professor Anna Vignoles, interim director of Pedal and a member of Cambridge University's faculty of education, said that play's part in education is "relatively under-researched." She revealed that the aim of their new facility is to be able to conduct research on the importance of play and how it can be used to improve students' performance. The Lego Foundation, which owns 25 percent of the Lego business, will not be part of the decision on who will be appointed. The foundation has committed to fund the role in perpetuity and has made a 4m endowment to Cambridge University. 2.5m has been set aside for the professorship while the remaining 1.5m will be used for the Pedal center. The role may be offered to someone in the field of educational psychology. This way, the center can improve its research capabilities in this particular area. According to BBC, details about the position were first announced two years ago, in 2015. The year before that, the school was in search for a doctor of chocolate to study the substance. Wired noted that this marks an increase in the focus of how important play is in education. Bill Gates' company recently launched the "Minecraft: Education Edition" which is specifically developed for school use. This allows teachers to have interactive lessons with students. It was also previously reported that video games may be the future of education. Research suggests that students who are successful in playing video games can translate that to school. Apparently, students who played online games were able to get higher scores on standardized tests compared to students who spent a lot of their time on social media. Oxford University will be facing a landmark trial after it was sued by one of its graduates. A 1m compensation claim was filed by Faiz Siddiqui, saying that he failed to graduate with a first-class degree. Last month, Faiz Siddiqui took his case to the High Court, claiming that the Oxford University's "appallingly bad" tuition prevented him from having a first-class degree. Siddiqui believes that the 2:1 degree he achieved 16 years ago stopped him from becoming a successful international commercial lawyer. He also linked his depression and insomnia to examination results. With this, he is unable to keep a job for a significant period of time. Siddiqui studied modern history at Brasenose College. He claimed that, during his final year, four of the seven teachers of Indian imperial history were on sabbatical leave, which led to the shortage of professors. Julian Milford, who represents the University, believes that Siddiqui took too long before bringing his case to light. He has asked the judge to strike out the claim. The Independent reported that Mr. Justice Kerr has ruled that the institution has to answer the case. A trial is also set to take place as soon as possible.Mr. Kerr said that the university is fit for trial. He believes that Mr. Siddiqui has "a real prospect of succeeding in persuading the court to entertain his claim." The publication noted that, if ever Mr. Siddiqui succeeds in his case, this could pave the way for more students to file similar claims against their schools. This would pose a problem if students claim that they were not given the grade that they believe they deserved. According to Huffington Post UK, Professor Alan Smithers of Buckingham University noted that Mr Siddiqui's case against Oxford is a test case. Moreover, in the future, he warns that universities will need to make sure that their standards can brave the critical inspection in the courts. The University of Miami has urged its students to take an active part in calling out microaggressions in campus. The students are asked to monitor their classmates' speech and let them know if they said anything that may be deemed offensive. Heatstreet reported that University of Miami's resident assistants are encouraging students to call out fellow students who may have said something offensive. A new display on campus urges students to ask "what makes you say that?" or "did you know that can actually be taken as offensive?" The new display is part of the RAs "SAY WHAT?!" initiative. It is aimed at educating students on the dangers of insensitive statements and questions, known as microaggressions. The initiative is a call to political correctness. The display shows that people are prone to receiving many microaggressions in a day, which can ultimately build up. According to Study International, microaggresions are described as "brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral or environmental indignities." This can send hostile, derogatory or negative messages to people of different color, race, religion, ethnicity and disability, among others. The school reminded all students that it has a diverse community and that everyone should be treated with respect. Psychologist Alvin Poussaint described it as "death by a thousand nicks." The RAs clarified that students should not goad each other to a verbal war. Instead, students should encourage each other by letting others know that what they are saying is hurtful and teach them better ways to approach those conversations. Last September, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln has rolled out its new respect policy as part of its efforts to embrace diversity and value acceptance. Newly-installed Chancellor Ronnie Green welcomed students by sharing a list of "non-negotiable" things that they should or should not say. The new policy comes at a time when accusations of microaggressions or unintentional slights are commonly misinterpreted as racist acts. UNL's commitment to diversity and inclusion requires everyone in the community to be respectful, protect free speech and inspire academic freedom. While a great many people are looking for someone to make them happy, research shows that having a happy marriage generally makes people happy and healthy. This might sound cliche, but the saying "happy wife, happy life" is more than just a saying by happy husbands - it's actually backed by a study published in Health Psychology. William B. Chopik of Michigan State University and Ed O'Brien of the University of Chicago, wanting to look into how a romantic relationship influences the health conditions of both the man and the woman, analyzed data from the Health and Retirement Study, which is sponsored by the National Institute of Aging and conducted by the University of Michigan, Psychology Today reported. Chopik and O'Brien compiled data from 1,981 heterosexual couples, with ages ranging from 50 to 94. All of them self-reported measures of life satisfaction, health status, level of overall physical activity, degree of physical impairment, history of chronic disease, and concerns about physical or emotional problems in their partner. The results were divided into two estimates: actor effects, or the link between a person's happiness and personal health; and partner effects, or how a person's happiness affected his/her partner's health. Data from the first assessment was used as baseline for measurement of differences in succeeding assessments. Chopik and O'Brien found that, as expected, a person's happiness is linked with better self-health and healthier lifestyle choices, starting from the first and into succeeding assessments. They also found that if a person has a happy partner, his or her health and kinds of lifestyle choices, such as physical exercise, improve over time. Moreover, results show that even if a person isn't that happy, his or her health is still positively affected by a happy partner. This suggests that unhappy people can still receive the health benefits that having a happy partner brings. Chopik and O'Brien explained that this could be brought about by several factors: Following demonetisation, the government had directed Income Tax officials to ensure that the common man is not harassed in the name of scrutiny of their income documents. The latest tax amendments would certainly add to the discomfort already being faced since the banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. (FILE PHOTO) By India Today Web Desk: With an aim to further curb the flow of black money after the November 8, 2016 demonetisation move, the government made certain amendments in Income Tax laws giving additional powers to tax officials. As per the amendments, any taxpayer who fails to justify his or her income or expenditure will be liable for a whopping 83 per cent tax, up from 35 per cent. advertisement Following demonetisation, the government had directed Income Tax officials to ensure that the common man is not harassed in the name of scrutiny of their income documents. However, the latest tax amendments would certainly add to the discomfort already being faced since the banning of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. Here are 5 instances where the new law could trouble taxpayers: 1. MONEY TAKEN FROM A FRIEND: Lending money to a friend could get you quizzed by the Income Tax Department. If one fails to provide sufficient explanation for income shown as money taken from a friend then he/she is liable to be taxed. The tax slapped on an individual would be same as imposed on those depositing unaccounted money in bank. 2. ANCESTRAL JEWELLERY: Amendments to the I-T laws do not seek to tax inherited gold and jewellery and also those items that are purchased through disclosed or agriculture income. However, one can come under the I-T radar if an individual fails to present sufficient evidence in support of such claims. 3. CAPITAL FUND FOR SMALL INDUSTRY: It is advisable for an individual to keep complete record of the seed money arranged for setting up of a small scale industry. Failing to submit the required details could spell trouble for you as the Income Tax Department may slap hefty tax on the capital amount you've arranged. 4. MONEY SPENT ON DAUGHTER'S WEDDING: Planning that 'grand Indian wedding' for your daughter? Think twice before splurging a huge sum, you may have Income Tax officials as uninvited guests. If the record of your bank balance doesn't support the money you've spent on the wedding function of your daughter, be prepared with an explanation for the Income Tax Department. 5. SUDDEN RISE IN MONTHLY SPENDING: If the department notices sudden rise in one's monthly spending after demonetisation (November 8, 2016), he/she may be inviting trouble. The department may scan your bank accounts and depending on the payments made through it ask you to explain the source of income. Failing to provide details may invite huge penalty. WATCH: What are the new income tax rules okayed in Parliament to fight black money? ALSO READ: 15 words to help you decode Arun Jaitley's forthcoming Budget advertisement Budget on February 1: Here is wishlist of Dabbawalas for Mumbai local trains --- ENDS --- Oct. 26, 2022 U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. Cadets got the unique experience of interacting with and learning from the 12 Outstanding Airmen of the Year for 2022 at the U.S. Air Force Academy Sept. 27-29. The National Character and Leadership Symposium sponsored the visit and three days of activities.The 12 Published: January 23, 2017 John B. West and Dan Ciprari to Discuss Entrepreneurial Alchemy Feb. 2 On Thursday, Feb. 2, The University of Tampa will welcome John B. West, chairman of Hire Velocity, and Dan Ciprari, CEO and co-founder of Pointivo, as part of the Sykes Hall of Fame Business Speaker Series. This event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and registration is required. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. in Falk Theatre, 428 W. Kennedy Blvd., with networking and refreshments. The presentation, Entrepreneurial Alchemy: Transforming Ideas into Business Success, begins at 6 p.m. West and Ciprari have an impressive track record of transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses. At the presentation, they will speak about how creating the right entrepreneurial ecosystem makes all the difference between success and failure and share their winning formula for Entrepreneurial Alchemy. West draws upon a distinguished career as an entrepreneur, business executive and investor to provide board-level oversight and input into Hire Velocitys intelligent Recruitment Process Outsourcing model. For the last 15 years, he has focused on providing capital and performance mentoring to high-growth businesses. West has played an integral role in supporting Hire Velocity and offering insight into its recruiting model since its inception. Ciprari is a serial entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience founding, leading and successfully exiting technology companies. While serving as entrepreneur-in-residence at the Advanced Development Technology Center at Georgia Tech, he advised Habib Fathi and together they co-founded Pointivo the only technology that captures dimensionally accurate 3-D models and measurements of any scene or structure using just a smartphone video camera. Register for this event by Tuesday, Jan. 31, at sykeshalloffame2017.eventbrite.com. For more information, contact Whitney Vance, coordinator, Sykes College of Business operations, at wvance@ut.edu or (813) 257-3782. Page Content Learn how studies of Wisconsin's climate may offer hints about its future at a free lecture offered by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. "Wisconsin's Climate: The Past as Key to the Future" will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7, presented by Samantha Kaplan, associate professor of geography and geology. Held in the Pinery Room of the Portage Country Public Library, 1001 Main St., Stevens Point, this is the fifth talk in the eight-part College of Letters and Science 2016-2017 Community Lecture Series. The public may attend free of charge. "Computer climate models give us scenarios based upon projections of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, but what will that look like in terms of the Wisconsin landscapes we know?" Kaplan said. "This talk will explore how Wisconsin's environment has changed through time in response to climate, the tools scientists use to uncover the climatic past, and what these discoveries can tell us about the future." Kaplan received her Ph.D. from UW-Madison. Her interests include climatology, paleoecology, environmental change, geomorphology, sedimentology, lakes, soils, wetlands and remote sensing. For more information on the Community Lecture Series, visit www.uwsp.edu/cols/lectureseries or email stappa@uwsp.edu. The army is contemplating withdrawing combat soldiers working as Sahayaks from peace stations across the country and post the soldiers back to their field formations. By Gaurav C Sawant: Army officers in peace stations could lose their `buddies' or Sahayaks with the army exploring the possibility of doing away with the buddy system in peace stations. The army has proposed raising a new cadre of non-combatant assistants to help officers with their routine personal administration in peace stations. The file is currently with the Ministry of Defence (MoD). advertisement The age old buddy system made headlines once again after certain mobile phone videos of jawans of the army and constables of the central armed police forces (CAPF) made it to the social media. Lance Naik Yagya Pratap Singh posted a video complaining about the Sahayak system. Similarly two constables of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) also complained about being made to work as domestic help in the house of superior officers. A CRPF constable complained about being made to mop floors and walk and clean the dogs of officers. ARMY CONTEMPLATES The army is contemplating withdrawing combat soldiers working as Sahayaks from peace stations across the country and post the soldiers back to their field formations once the proposal for creating a cadre of non combatants is approved. "An officer is entitled to a Sahayak (aide) to assist him with his uniform or other personal chores while he concentrates on his military responsibilities. This is not restricted to the army. There are aides that bureaucrats and diplomats are entitled to. As far as diplomats are concerned, the government pays for one domestic help when they are posted in missions overseas. Similarly, several state governments pay for aides for bureaucrats. We are not seeking anything extra," an official privy to the exercise told India Today. Also read: Buddy no more? Army chief supports restricting 'sahayak' system Reforms in Military Affairs have been carried out more effectively in the younger services - the IAF and the navy. The two services have already done away with the Sahayak system enrolling civilian non combatants as assistants. NO BUDDIES IN IAF At IAF bases there are civilians who are hired and trained in basic military drills (does not include firing weapons) like saluting and following other military courtesies. Also read: Army orders analysis of buddy system over exploitation claims by jawans "So for polishing shoes, ironing uniforms, clothes or other chores there are civilians who are hired by the establishment. They are paid for by the officers or the establishment depending on the duties," says Air Marshal (retd) Jimmy Bhatia, former Air Officer commanding in chief, western Air Command. The NCE (non combatant enrolled) in the IAF have a different uniform from the service uniform which gives them a sense of belonging and yet sets them apart from the combat forces. Similarly the navy has also hired civilian NCs both for ship and shore establishments. "The army is now going to formalize the arrangement. While the Sahayak system will remain in field areas as it is, peace stations will see a change," sources added. advertisement The army however remains tight-lipped about salaries and other benefits for the civilian non combatant cadre, saying talks with the government are work in progress. --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 22 (PTI) India-US relationship is headed for the best days ahead under new President Donald Trump, his Indian American supporters believe. "This is the beginning of a new era, new dawn of new (India-US) relationship," Indian-American Digvijay Singh Danny Gaekwad from Florida told PTI. Having closely worked with Trump and his campaign during the grilling election campaign last year, Gaekwad, who is a hotelier and a first general successful entrepreneur, said. advertisement "With Trump becoming the president, a new India-US relationship will begin. This is one President in my life time, who has come on a national television and said I love India, I love Indians, I want to help India, I want to fight terrorism. If that is not enough then what is enough," said Gaekwad. "No President has ever said this on a national television at the election time. He is not afraid. He is the new breath in the time," he said adding that during the election campaign he had a chance to interact with Trump. "He understands India very well. I have not met a presidential candidate in my life time who knows about India, who has been to India and who understands India and who ever dared to say in the middle of a heated political debate that I love India and I love Hindus," said Gaekwad, who hails from the illustrious Gaekwad family of Baroda. He has been living in Florida for 29 years. Concurred Harry Walia, a member of the Trumps Asian American and Pacific Islanders Advisory Committee. "The relationship is going to be fantastic, because we are natural allies. Trump has already made a statement that we are going to be best friends," he told PTI referring to the October Edison speech of the 45th president of the United States. With Trump inside the White House, Walia said is expects "a very open dialogue" between India and the US. "And it would be fruitful on defense side and economic side. Trump recognizes US relationship with India is very different than the rest of the countries that he has been mentioning. Because we bring talent, we are economic engines in America. We are peaceful community. We are activist in mainstream and we do not talk trash to anyone. We contribute a lot to the American society," he said. "Under Trump, the US India relationship would be far better than it has been under any other American president," said California-based K V Kumar. "He is a businessman. He is going to establish a good business relationship with India. And India will greatly benefit from his administration," Kumar said. A large number of Indian Americans from across the country have gathered in Washington to participate in Trumps inauguration. PTI LKJ UZM --- ENDS --- advertisement Alert troops engaged the infiltrating terrorists with effective automatic fire while drawing heavy retaliatory fire. One terrorist was eliminated in the operation while others fled towards Pakistan. Body of the eliminated terrorist has been recovered from the LoC with a weapon and ammunition. This action by the Army assumes significance in view of the large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26, 2017. Pakistan continues in its nefarious designs of supporting and abetting infiltration across the LoC. By Mike Vinkenborg 2016 has been a successful year for Vietnam, continuing its emergence as both a leading ASEAN economy and a global player. Falling commodity and energy prices and severe water shortages early in the year caused Vietnams failure to reach its goal of 6.7 percent GDP growth, but with a year-on-year growth of 6.2 percent the country still managed to outpace most of its neighbors. For 2017, the government has set Vietnams GDP growth target at 6.7 percent, while growth levels for the following years are expected to reach levels of at least seven percent. For a large part, this growth will be fueled by increased trade. Last year, Vietnam signed a free trade agreement with the European Union (EVFTA), eliminating trade tariffs by 2018, among other provisions. While the presidency of Trump resulted in a setback due to US abolition of the Transpacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Vietnam continues to diversify its economic partners, such as through increased ASEAN integration, the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP, covering 3.4 billion people and which may emerge as the alternative to the TPP), and the EVFTA. The country is becoming increasingly more attractive for foreign investments as Vietnam keeps giving new reasons to invest. Following last years outlook by Vietnam Briefing, this article analyzes Vietnams trade in 2016 and spots trends and opportunities for foreign investments in 2017. Breakdown of FDI in 2016: numbers and partners FDI inflows reach new heights As Vietnam is becoming increasingly accessible to foreign investments, FDI inflows have seen a steady and strong increase over the previous years. In 2016, these climbed to to US$24.4 billion, indicating a nine percent growth compared to 2015. Of these, US$15.1 billion flew to 2,556 newly registered projects, 1,225 existing projects added a total of US$5.76 billion to their capital, and foreign investors purchased stakes in 2,547 companies for a total value exceeding US$3.4 billion. RELATED: Dezan Shira & Associates Corporate Establishment Services FDI sources: Pan-Asian investments The Republic of Korea was the main provider of FDI in 2016. Largely due to investments by LG, the country invested over US$ 7 billion in Vietnam. In total, investors coming from 95 countries capitalized on investment opportunities in Vietnam. Most investments came from within Asia; the only non-Asian country in the top 10 of FDI providers are the British Virgin Islands. Trade surplus in 2016: EU, US main export destinations Looking at international trade, Vietnam managed to grow exports by 8.6 percent year-on-year, following the impressive 29 percent growth rate in 2015. Consequently, it turned its trade deficit into a surplus in 2016, totaling US$2.1 billion, the highest in six years. With the increased trade exports and imports totaling US$176.57 billion and US$174.47 billion, respectively the countrys export-to-GDP ratio is currently standing around 90 percent; one of the highest in the world. Top export destinations for the first seven months of 2016 were the US (22 percent), China (11.2 percent), ASEAN (9.9 percent), Japan (8.2 percent), and South Korea (6.2 percent), while imports were mainly coming from China (28.9 percent), South Korea (18.5 percent), ASEAN (14 percent), and Japan (8.6 percent). The EU as a bloc is one of the largest export markets as well; similar to the countrys trade with the US, Vietnams trade balance with the EU is highly positive. Industries and locations 2016 showed the further establishment of Vietnam as a main manufacturing hub, with the large majority of FDI flowing into the manufacturing and processing sector, namely 63.7 percent of FDI (US$15.5 billion). The automobiles and motorbike wholesale (7.8 percent) and real estate sector (6.9 percent) followed suit. Ho Chi Minh City was the main receiver of Vietnams FDI, accumulating US$3.4 billion (14 percent) of total FDI inflows. Other popular destinations were Hai Phong, Hanoi, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai, which received FDI totaling US$3 billion, US$2.8 billion, US$2.4 billion, and US$2.2 billion, respectively. 2017: Emergence of new opportunities In 2017 Vietnam is poised to continue on its current trajectory. After years of significant growth, Vietnams GDP per capita has reached an estimated US$2,215 at the end of 2016, an increase of US$106 compared with the year before. For 2020, the government has set a target of US$3,000 per capita. This follows the general trend within Vietnam, where the middle class is slowly becoming more populous. Standing at 16 million in 2014, the population within or above the middle class is expected to double to 33 million by 2020 according to the Boston Consulting Group. Combining this with a young and large workforce that is more and more becoming high-skilled, there are no signs of Vietnam slowing down in the foreseeable future. RELATED: Customs Procedures in Vietnam Vietnams growth pattern shows striking similarities with Chinas development a decade ago. Similar to China during that time, new opportunities emerge as the growing emerging middle class has more disposable income at hands. As such, now is a better time than ever to enter the market and capitalize on opportunities arising from increased local consumption. With a large demand for foreign expertise, this brings opportunities in several sectors, including education, healthcare, food and beverages, and e-commerce, among many others. Having said that, it is important to realize that certain sectors have restrictions in place on FDI, while import and export regulations in Vietnam also vary from other countries. Despite increased domestic consumption, there are still many areas requiring large investments to catch up with regional standards. For example, opportunities prevail in the infrastructure sector. Ho Chi Minh Citys congestion is increasingly becoming more problematic and the city is desperate to improve this situation in the coming years. Another example includes renewable energy, the development of which is expected to lift-off in the coming years. These types of projects are frequently open to private investors through Public Private Partnerships, giving them the opportunity to get involved in public projects through extensive cooperation with public institutes. However, primarily, Vietnam has definitively established itself as a manufacturing hub. As wages in China have reached a point where manufacturers are moving elsewhere, Vietnam remains highly competitive with minimum wage levels ranging from VND 2,580,000 to VND 3,750,000 (US$113 to US$165), depending on the region. What puts Vietnam a few steps ahead of its competitors is its openness. Besides the countrys integration with ASEAN and the free trade agreements (FTAs) resulting from this bloc, it has also agreed on its own FTA with the EU (EVFTA), deepening its ties with its largest non-Asian trading partner. And while the US pulled out of the TPP, Vietnam is quick to make sure its growth in global trade will not stagnate by shifting its focus to the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). As such, it is set to see a continued flow of investment coming into the countrys garment and electronics manufacturing, among others. RELATED: Introduction to Personal Income Tax in Vietnam Setting up manufacturing facilities in Vietnam requires in-depth information on the various regions in the country. With special economic zones in place that often offer incentives to foreign investors, choosing the right location can result in significant tax exemptions. For example, export processing enterprises located within export processing zones are exempt from paying custom duties and VAT on exports, while operating in an industrial zone can also lead to various tax incentives. Ease of doing business The trajectory of Vietnam is highly encouraging. As a result, the countrys ease of doing business while still leaving room for improvement is developing; according to the World Banks Doing Business in 2017 research, Vietnam ranked 82nd out of 190 countries, up nine positions from 2016. This can largely be attributed to the governments efforts. Besides its involvement in the mentioned FTAs, it is also actively privatizing its state-owned enterprises (SOEs). A recent study of Baker McKenzie estimates that IPO activity in the coming years will see a surge, steadily rising from US$172 million in 2016 to US$948 million in 2019. Since 2015, nearly 170 companies have been privatized and this trend will continue in the coming years. For example, Sabeco, a beer maker with an estimated value of US$2 billion, is set to be privatized in 2017, and many other large SOEs will follow in the coming years. While this creates many opportunities to foreign investors, one should always be aware of difficulties when dealing in the country and comply with local laws. As Vietnam is undergoing rapid developments, regulations are frequently updated and it is key to stay abreast of current regulations. That being said, these regulatory updates are more often than not encouraging, not discouraging, more FDI. Over the past years Vietnam kept giving investors reasons to invest in the country; there are no reasons to expect that the country will stop doing so in 2017. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. Annual Audit and Compliance in Vietnam 2016 In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we address pressing changes to audit procedures in 2016, and provide guidance on how to ensure that compliance tasks are completed in an efficient and effective manner. We highlight the continued convergence of VAS with IFRS, discuss the emergence of e-filing, and provide step-by-step instructions on audit and compliance procedures for Foreign Owned Enterprises (FOEs) as well as Representative Offices (ROs). Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam. Tax, Accounting and Audit in Vietnam 2016 (2nd Edition) This edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, updated for 2016, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who must navigate Vietnams complex tax and accounting landscape in order to effectively manage and strategically plan their Vietnam operations. Malaysia-based Toyo Ink Group Bhd, which first received approval to build a thermal power plant in Vietnam seven years ago, has moved closer to its objective with the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoU) for land lease rights last week. The deal was signed by the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giangs Department of Natural Resources and Environment and Toyo Ink. The land lease lays the groundwork for the eventual signing of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) contract. The project is invested with $3.5 billion and has a concession period of 25 years. It plans to use imported coal for fuel. According to a VIR source, Toyo Ink expects to reach agreement on all outstanding terms and issues regarding its BOT contract and the eventual power purchase agreement before August of this year. The 2,000MW Song Hau 2 coal-fired power plant is part of the 5,200MW Song Hau Power Centre in Hau Giang Industrial Park. This complex will comprise three power plants, including the 600MW Song Hau 1 plant, built by state-run Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam). According to a company spokesperson, the MoU brings together the best interests of Toyo Ink and Hau Giang. The local province shall employ commercially reasonable efforts to accommodate certain changes raised by international lenders in the land lease agreement, which are standard and usual for this type of non-recourse financing and are in accordance with the laws of Vietnam. Other foreign investors are looking for opportunities within the power generation industry in Vietnam. Korea Western Power Co., Ltd. (KOWEPO) signed an MoU with the Quang Tri Peoples Committee last week to develop the Quang Tri 2 thermal power plant. Quang Tri and KOWEPO expect the Quang Tri 2 thermal power project to be added to the National Power Development Plan. Also in the central province of Quang Tri, Russias VietGazprom is planning to invest in a gas-to-power project, according to Kovtun Andray, head of Gazprom Internationals representative office in Vietnam. The project is expected to be green-lit by Gazprom International after it completes a survey in March 2017. The project plans to bring gas to the mainland of Quang Tri from the Bao Vang field, 120 kilometres offshore on the continental shelf of central Vietnam. Just two weeks ago, PetroVietnam signed an agreement with the Vietnamese unit of the US ExxonMobil to develop the countrys biggest gas project for power generation. In the initial stage, the gas output would be supplied to a complex that includes four power stations with combined capacity of about 3,000MW. Ngo Son Hai, deputy director of Electricity of Vietnam said that the state-run power company submitted to the government a request to invest in two of these four gas-to-power projects. In recent years, power projects have become main drivers for foreign direct investment growth in Vietnam. Case in point: two large thermal power projects are scheduled to be licensed in the early part of this year. Investment certificates are expected to be granted to the $2 billion Nam Dinh power plant, developed by Saudi Arabias ACWA Power International and South Koreas Taekwang Power, and the $2.2 billion Nghi Son thermal power plant, by Japans Marubeni Corporation and Koreas Power Company (KEPCO). The list of foreign-invested BOT power projects in Vietnam will increase as several foreign companies are currently in negotiations or are conducting feasibility studies to build power plants nationwide. How important is the Vietnamese market to Indian investors? Vietnam is an important trading partner of India and is also an important pillar in Indias Act East Policy. Indian companies can take advantage of preferential policies, lower wages, and the availability of raw materials. They can also utilise the opportunities presented by the numerous free trade agreements (FTA) between Vietnam and other countries. Vietnam is an important gateway to access the ASEAN market, making it an attractive investment destination for Indian industry. During Indiaian Prime Minister Narendra Modis official visit to Vietnam in early September 2016, Vietnam and India lifted their strategic partnership to the rank of comprehensive strategic partnership. How will the new partnership impact the two countries investment and trade ties? The comprehensive strategic partnership is a clear indication of the importance the two countries place on their relationship of long standing traditional friendship and trust. They identified enhanced economic engagement as a strategic priority. Co-operation in the defence industry, energy and energy conservation, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, engineering, agriculture and food processing, garment and textiles, leather, and infrastructure projects will be greatly improved due to our enhanced relationship. Prime Minister Modi, during his visit to Vietnam, also announced a new defence line of credit for Vietnam of $500 million for facilitating deeper defence industry co-operation. A series of agreements have been signed in the time since, in the areas of healthcare, mutual recognition of standards, finance, and information technology. These pacts have created a good framework for enhancing economic co-operation. Bilateral trade is growing at a healthy pace and is currently around $8 billion. Our leaders have set a trade target of $15 billion by 2020, and both sides are committed to achieving it. We have identified priority areas for co-operation such as power generation, renewable energy, infrastructure, tourism, footwear, medical services and pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbons, ICT, electronics, chemicals, textiles, agriculture, agro-products, machine tools, and other supporting industries. Leaders of both countries have set an ambitious target of raising the bilateral trade turnover to $15 billion by 2020, from the $5.1 billion generated in 2015. What should be done to make this target feasible? Though India and Vietnam share excellent political ties, the economic relations have not kept pace. In order to realise the trade target of $15 billion by 2020, set by our leaders, we need to actively collaborate to enhance the exchange of trade delegations, reach out to business and industry, and encourage mutual investments which will boost trade. Certain products and commodities have been identified, such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, gems and jewellery, commercial vehicles, auto components, machinery and equipment, leather products, and footwear. Numerous trade promotion activities have been planned in these fields. The trade between our countries also includes trade destined for other countries, and this has an impact on trade statistics. Indian trade statistics indicate that bilateral trade in 2015-2016 was $7.83 billion. Our ministries of Commerce and Trade are committed to synchronising and sorting out these statistical discrepancies. Tariff and non-tariff barriers, including some technical barriers to trade, remain significant impediments to the development of bilateral trade, and they are being addressed by both sides. India and Vietnam have agreed to facilitate trade flows between the two countries by minimising the application of trade barriers, and removing or abolishing trade barriers step-by-step in accordance with the Framework Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Co-operation between ASEAN and India. Vietnam and India have great potential to further their co-operation in the sector of energy, textiles and garments, and science and technology. Could you elaborate more on this? What other sectors are Indian investors eyeing in Vietnam? Energy, energy conservation, and textiles and garments have been identified as growth areas for our economic co-operation. The November 2016 visit of the CEO delegation led by the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry generated immense interest in investing in renewable energy. Many Indian companies are in discussions with Vietnamese partners and provincial authorities for undertaking large scale solar and wind energy projects. We are optimistic that new projects in renewable energy will be commencing in the near future, especially because Indian companies have unique expertise, scale, and experience in the renewable sector due to Prime Minster Modis decision to install 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power in India, of which 100GW will be solar and 60GW will be wind-based. Energy conservation is another potential area in our bilateral economic co-operation. During the recent visit of Vietnamese National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to India, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between Energy Efficiency Service Limited (EESL) and Vietnams state-run Electricity of Vietnam. EESL is in touch with several provinces for providing various energy efficiency solutions based on its experience replacing 197 million ordinary bulbs with LED bulbs, saving over $1.5 billion and 25,000 million kWh annually, and causing a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. In garments and textiles, India and Vietnam share complementary strengths. Vietnam is strong in spinning and garments and is trying to diversify the sources of imports of fabrics, fibres, yarns, and other accessories; India is a potential market to source these commodities. Science and technology co-operation is a very important sector. Our governments are closely collaborating to realise the peaceful uses of space and atomic energy technology, and both sides signed agreements in this regard during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Vietnam in September 2016 and Chairwoman Ngans visit to India last month. Vietnam is expecting a lot from Indian high-technology transfer in human resource training. What is your comment on this? Capacity building is one of the pillars of our comprehensive strategic partnership. At the moment, Vietnam is the biggest recipient of scholarships under India Technical and Economic Co-operation Programme with 150 slots being extended to Vietnam every year. India also extends various other scholarships to Vietnamese students under the Mekong Ganga Co-operation and Cultural Exchange Programme. India has also helped establish numerous projects in science and technology such as the Advanced Resource Centre in Information and Communications Technology in Hanoi, a high performance computer facility at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the Vietnam-India Entrepreneurship Development Centre, and numerous English language and Information Technology training centres. We are currently in advanced talks with the Vietnamese authorities for setting up the Tracking and Data Reception Station and Data Processing Facility in Vietnam under the ASEAN India Space Co-operation Programme, which would greatly enhance the capabilities for weather, rain, and cyclone predictions with numerous applications in the field of agriculture and research. What progress has been made on connectivity between the two countries? Both direct sea and air connectivity are important for boosting bilateral economic engagement and person-to-person contact. India and Vietnam signed a maritime shipping agreement in May 2013, and both sides have nominated members to a Joint Maritime Liaison Committee in 2015. The Shipping Corporation of India Limited and Vietnam Shipping Lines are exploring the possibilities of opening direct sea routes between the two countries and starting direct containerisation. For a direct flight, we are happy to note that VietJet Air will fly from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Bodh Gaya and other Indian cities in 2017. In the spring of 2003, Kien was tasked by the White House to set up Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF) that would grant scholarships to the brightest Vietnamese students to attend graduate programmes in the US. To do so, he was traveling back and forth between the two countries to ensure the programme would run smoothly and efficiently. Kien is currently the president and co-founder of Vietnam Foundation, a US non-profit organisation that provides educational support to Vietnamese people. A renowned business investor in Vietnam, he is also a senior advisor to private equity firm TPG ($75 billion globally) and has invested in national champions like Vinamilk, FPT, Masan, VMG, among others. Additionally, he is the vice chairman and founding shareholder of Topica, the top online education company in Vietnam, and is also an advisor to GotIt!, the rising Silicon Valley startup. Kien holds a bachelors degree in international marketing from the University of Colorado Boulder, an MBA, and an MA degree from the renowned Stanford University, where he was honoured as one of the 100 most outstanding alumni in the first 100 years of the school. Currently residing in Ho Chi Minh City with his wife and three children, he went back to the US on the last days of 2016 to spend the Christmas holiday with his family. You have become known for connecting Vietnamese and US education. When did it all start? You could say that education was my joy at the springtime of my life. My belief in education came from the foundation that my parents, my family, my teachers, and the Vietnamese society have given me during the first 18 years of my life, before I even had the chance to come to the US in the autumn of 1977. In the US, I was lucky to meet kind-hearted people who encouraged and guided me during the course of my studies. Understanding how important education is for personal development, I realised I have an obligation to help Vietnamese youths have the opportunity to get educated both domestically and at top US schools. From this realisation came ideas and then actions. I have since endeavoured to bridge the gap between the educational systems in Vietnam and the US. I am aware that you have worked through many jobs, from physical work to assisting top officials at the White House. Does any of that experience affect VEF in any way? Maybe due to my optimism, I always find interesting and rewarding aspects in my work. However, the most rewarding thing is to see my beliefs come through and be affirmed by positive results. When I set out to run VEF, people were very sceptical as they thought Vietnamese students did not have what it takes to win admission to top US universities like the MIT, Harvard, Stanford or Berkeley. The pessimism all came from people with years of experience in education, and they all said our programme was doomed to fail before it even started. But I, personally, saw it in a different light. I believed that despite the fact that Vietnam was still under-developed and full of difficulties, the country had many young talents that could compete at top US schoolswith considerable success, no less. To me, the most important thing is the selection process, which must be fair, transparent, and open. It must not be tampered with in any way or by anyone. And what were the results? Having overcome a few initial obstacles, I completed an operational procedure for VEF. Within two years, there were more than 100 Vietnamese students who got accepted to Masters or Doctorate programmes at top US universities. This was an incredible achievement, not only for our programme, but also for the students, their families, and those who contributed to their education in Vietnam. 20 years is not a short time, but we have begun to see the fruits of our tireless efforts. Even though we only see the blooming flowers now, I believe the spring is coming for education in Vietnam. And from the flowers of today, we will see the fruits of tomorrow. Why will the VEF program end in 2018? The act passed by the US Congress that regulates the operation of VEF and guarantees an annual grant of $5 million, will expire in 2018, and along with it the programme. With VEF, the US has opened the door for Vietnamese talents to access world-class education at top US schools. The next step will rest entirely on Vietnam. Vietnamese students can now apply directly to Masters or doctorate programs in the US, and the institutions are already familiar with Vietnamese applicants. The Vietnam Foundation will have a new programme in place to assist these new young talents. Besides, I believe the Vietnamese government or any group of Vietnamese business people can establish a programme similar to VEF. I have discussed with the US National Academies to provide support should domestic funding be made available. It is a smart investment to put a lump sum of $5 million a year to help the most talented Vietnamese to attend the best graduate programmes in science and technology in the US. Looking back, are you satisfied with what you have done for Vietnamese education? I have yet to finish what I set out to do, so it is hard to say that I am satisfied. However, I am happy and proud of the achievements of young talents that I have had the pleasure to support. They are the people who will make a difference and will bring Vietnam to the global stage. When he was still alive, General Vo Nguyen Giap gave me a calligraphy frame with the saying: For the benefit of ten years, plant trees. For the benefit of 100 years, educate people. Maybe I need 100 springs before I could say that I am satisfied. What nickname would you like people to call you? I am just a bridge builder. Each bridge has its own name, but the builder normally remains anonymous. And I smile with satisfaction with such default anonymity. As a graduate from America as well as the founder of VEF, what do you think about the current hurdles in front of the Vietnamese education sector? For me, good education must have three things: good teachers, good students, and good curriculum. We do not need an impressive campus with expensive teaching materials as long as we cannot focus on these three things. Fortunately, through open educational platforms, such as VOER, OCW, and OpenStax, we can easily access world-class curriculum freely through the internet. Hence, we can focus on getting good teachers and students. However, it is difficult to be a good teacher if you have to run from one school to another to earn enough to survive. It is difficult to be a good student if you have to pay bribes for a decent grade, instead of preparing for your exam. We need to take a long, hard look at the reality of the situation and must relentlessly strike to stop corruption, which erodes the moral fibre of Vietnamese education. For me, education is the only and the shortest way to personal prosperity and independence. It is also part of the national roadmap to future development and success. While loudspeakers help disseminate information, many people are disturbed by the blaring noise The Hanoians headache It is 11:28 in the morning and Vu Trai, a 78-year-old man residing in Hanois Khuong Dinh ward in Thanh Xuan district, rushes to close all the doors, turning off his television and nervously listening to see if any sound could still break into his house. Its so close, he said, looking at the clock which is now pointing to 11:30 am, the time of the public loudspeakers mid-morning address. Three times per day, two loudspeakers hang over the electric pole in front of his house emit loud sounds. The excessive sound annoys my family every day, Trai said. The worst time for the intrusion is on the weekends, when his grandson visits and is sometimes startled to tears by the sound. It reminds me of the war, when we had to hide in the cellar to avoid bombings, Trai said. For years, locals have been vocal about the use of public loudspeakers because of their intrusiveness. Hanoi authorities began to listen to their citizens complaints and have decided to work on these issues. In a meeting on January 9 to discuss the key tasks for the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications (DIC) for the year, Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung requested municipal districts to conduct reports on the use of public loudspeakers. Chung urged the comprehensive report to include the citizens concerns and be submitted within the first quarter of 2017. If such systems are found to be unnecessary, the city will remove all the speakers. They used to be very useful in the past, but nowadays, everybody communicates using the internet. What is its use today? Chung asked. These old-style loudspeakers came into use in Hanoi during the 1960s and 70s, when North Vietnam was at war with the US-backed South Vietnam. During this time, speakers were the fastest way to deliver news from the front lines and to warn people to take shelter from American bombings overhead. But they are obviously outdated in the inner city, where broadband, wireless internet connections, cable and satellite TV, and hundreds of newspapers and magazines are so popular, said the 28-year-old Hanoian Nguyen Phuong Anh. Presently, the broadcasts blast for 15 to 30 minutes each, announcing topics like times to pick up pension payment, when to bring children to public vaccination agencies, vitamin regimens, sanitation information, and avian flu prevention. With the exception of a few elderly people, most respondents told VIR that such information can be transmitted more quickly and precisely by other means. Praising Chungs initiative, Tran Minh Hoa, a 35-year-old resident of Hanoi, told VIR, If it was not because of those scratchy, nasal sounds, we would not have to move to a new house. We already bear enough street noise pollution as it is. I wish this move would have come a few years earlier. For a long time, travel agencies have advised tourists about the disruptive effects of loudspeakers while choosing a hotel. Foreigners have said that the communal announcements are not an easy part of the morning. Today, young locals use loa phuong, the Vietnamese term for public loudspeakers as slang to refer to a loud, annoying person who talks too much. A recent survey conducted by the local newswire VnExpress, shows that among the 13,000 respondents questioned, 50 per cent are for the removal of the loudspeakers system, while 40 per cent say that the PA systems should only be used in rural areas. A mere 10 per cent think the speakers are an effective tool to deliver information. Some say these loudspeakers are better off in a museum as a part of Vietnamese history rather than a communication system for present-day society. Many still cling to the speakers as a way to reminisce about the past as the world has evolved into what it is today. But theres no way they would think this if there were two speakers hanging as close to their homes as they are to mine, the 78-year-old Trai said. Countryside proponents The main supporters of the use of the public loudspeakers mainly live in agricultural villages outside the city centre. Residing in the suburban North Tu Liem district, which is only 8 kilometres from central Hanoi, Nguyen Thanh Tu, 36, said the loudspeakers play an important role in his communitys daily life. They wake us up in the morning at 6 am to do exercise. Then during the day, they reminds the neighbours to keep our area clean or entertain the elderly with patriotic music, said Tu. Meanwhile, many municipal authorities expressed their views for the use of these public announcement systems. It is the fastest channel to disseminate information in our area, said Nguyen Tien Dung, deputy head of Published Press under the Ha Tinh Department of Information and Communication. Likewise, in the northern province of Quang Ninh, loudspeakers have proven to be effective as a way to communicate official initiatives with ethnic minorities whose villages are situated in isolated areas on hillsides, according to Quang Ninh DICs director Vu Cong Luc. Luc has actually proposed further investment to upgrade the current loudspeaker system, across 40 communes within his province. Residents of central provinces, including Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Thua Thien-Hue, and Quang Nam, have advocated the loudspeakers use in their communities, commenting that the announcements have helped get the word out during natural disasters such as flooding or forest fires. The results of using public loudspeakers will likely vary from region to region, stemming from their different roles in each location. Infrastructure Development Investment Demand in Vietnam, 2016 - 2020 According to StoxPlus Vietnam Logistics Market 2016 report, total logistics costs reached $38.85 billion in 2015, equivalent to 20.8 per cent of total GDP. In general, the proportion of total logistics costs in relation to a countrys GDP reveals the state of its logistics sector. The rate in China is 15.4 per cent, while in developed countries like the US and Singapore the rate is about 8-9 per cent. There are two main reasons that could explain the high proportion of logistics costs over GDP in 2015. Underdeveloped infrastructures like roads and seaports result in increased traffic jams and low productivity, in turn leading to a high logistics cost. In addition, the delay of transportation and delivery due to traffic jams and clearance time for in-port inspections have also contributed to the overall cost, according to the report. There are around 1,300 domestic logistics firms, the majority of which are asset-based service providers (1PL) or contract logistics providers (2PL). Roughly 70 per cent of these companies are small, family-run businesses, providing low-value-added logistics services such as customs clearance, warehousing, and transportation by trucks or containers. 3PL logistics providers mainly serve fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). These are the type of services that manufacturers such as Unilever, P&G, and Masan require, as do retailers and distributors like Big C and Metro Cash&Carrry. In this segment, foreign-invested companies dominate the market though local players like Gemadept and Vinafco are trying to break in. The report says that the Vietnamese logistics sector holds opportunities for both domestic and foreign investors, especially for 3PL services. The three main sources of demand are export, industrial expansion, and the FMCG market. Among them, export and grocery retailers are expected to be drivers for logistics demand growth in the future thanks to a number of free-trade agreements signed in 2015, such as the Vietnam-Korea Free Trade Agreement and the opening of the ASEAN Economic Community. Logistics demands including cold storage for preserving import and export goods are expected to rise. In addition, Vietnam has become a popular production base for several Japanese and South Korean manufacturers, including Samsung, Panasonic, and Bridgestone. The combination of tax incentives and low labour costs have made Vietnam attractive to foreign manufacturers, as well as their associated suppliers and supporting industries. In turn, this has boosted the export of finished products and the import of parts and components. The government is expected to provide more support for the logistics sector, which forms the backbone of domestic and international trade in any economy. During the period from 2016-2020, Vietnam is expected to require almost $176.6 billion for infrastructure investment. This amounts to $35.3 billion in annual investment needed in the period. The logistics sector recently opened to foreign investors, with loosened foreign ownership limits in a number of subsectors, including storage, freight forwarding services, distribution, and express delivery. Businesses specialising in these sectors can now be wholly foreign-owned. Driven by this momentum, there were eight recorded merger and acquisition deals in the first half of 2016. Major foreign entrants to the sector included Japans Shibusawa Warehouse, Frances Aeroports de Paris, and Germanys DB Schenker. During January 2017 there have been two upward adjustments in oil and gasoline prices. Will these exert an upward pressure on the CPI in the first months of the year? On January 4, 2017, the price of A95 gas and other oil products increased by VND300-500 (US cent13-22) per litre, which also led to the rise of the CPI in January by approximately 0.03 percentage points. Then on January 19 2017, diesel oil grew by VND290 per litre, which generally left the CPI unaffected. In summary, the two upward adjustments in January have proven inconsequential. How do you think will the rising medical services prices impact the CPI? In December 2016, the Ministry of Health adjusted the price of medical services in 4 provinces (the price in 27 more provinces would be adjusted later in 2017). Step 1 (including direct costs and some allowances to medical workers) has already been implemented, and step 2 (comprising of direct costs, allowances to medical workers, and wages in 36 provinces) is currently in work , therefore, the price of medical services increased by 77.57 per cent in 2016, making up 2.7 percentage points of the overall growth in CPI during the year, which was 4.74 per cent. Step 2 of the adjustment in some locations this year will put further upward pressure on the CPI, however, at a lower level. However, 80 per cent of citizens at the affected locations have health insurance, so this upward adjustments does not have a significant effect on them, as the expenses are mainly financed by the insurance. In conclusion, do you think that the CPI will increase during this Lunar New Year? In comparison with December 2015, the CPI in January 2016 did not increase And the CPI in February 2016 increased by 0.42 per cent. During 2015, it decreased by 0.2 per cent and 0.25 per cent compared to December 2014, which derived from the sharp reduction in fuel prices and the old medical services price (this price was adjusted on January 3, 2016). This year, due to rising fuel prices, which increased the CPI by 0.03 per cent, and with the upward adjustment in medical services, the CPI in January and February 2017 will certainly be higher than in 2015 and 2016, but the rise would not be as steep. Why so? January and February 2017 is the time for Lunar New Year. Food consumption in this period surge momentarily, thus, food prices often increase. Nevertheless, pork is very cheap this year. Half a kilogramme is not as expensive as a bowl of Pho (only VND28,000-30,000/kg). Pork is the main meat ingredient during the Tet holiday, yet its price did not rise, which implies that despite the higher demand, the price of other food products is unlikely to rise. Besides, this year is the year of the Rooster, so people will avoid eating chicken, which will keep the price from increasing dramatically, as it is wont to do at this tie of the year. What about cereals and vegetables which are widely consumed during the Tet holiday? Cereals are abundant and the supply is far higher than the demand. In addition, the demand during Tet does not rise, so prices are unlikely to increase. Fortunately, the weather this year was very favourable for farming, which resulted in ample supply of various vegetables and fruits during the Tet holiday, so the price of these products will probably not increase. Because of higher incomes, peoples standard of living is constantly improving, so in recent years, people have given up the habit of storing cereals and other foods for the Tet holiday, thus, the consumption is only slightly higher at this time and prices will not rise as much as in previous years. Is this the reason why the price stabilisation programme is not implemented in some locations as it was in previous years? Actually, this year the programme is still conducted, but due to the negligible rise in product prices, the programme is largely unnecessary. Global business leaders are ecstatic about opportunities opening up in Vietnam Photo: VNA While attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the prime minister met directly with CEOs of many global companies like Microsoft, German conglomerate Siemens Group, investment firm Carlyle, Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the Bank of Tokyo - Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), and the Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba. Other firms also include General Electric, Bank of America, UPS, Kirin, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Motors, Japanese bank Mizuho, South Koreas Hanwha, American insurance company Marsh & McLennan, American-based chemicals company Ecolab, Japanese transportation specialists Sagawa, Japanese building materials manufacturer Lixil and French-based utility company Suez. These firms have a total market capitalisation value of about $1 trillion. Within a one-hour meeting, PM Phuc successfully connected with 15 global companies and how they would benefit from the Vietnamese economy. These groups operating in various business sectors have committed to both doing business and investing in Vietnam, said Truong Gia Binh, chairman of Vietnams IT giant FPT Group. The meetings can mean a substantial fortune for these international corporations because the opportunities will be plentiful in Vietnam, as the prime minister has promised to further open the economy, Binh said. In response to a question from one of a BTMU leader about whether the company can raise its charter capital from the existing 20 per cent in Vietnams Vietinbank, the PM said that the Japanese bank will be allowed to buy more stakes [at the bank], and we will allow Vietinbank to increase its charter capital. Local media cited Phuc as telling UPS that Vietnam will allow the logistics company to fly and land aircrafts in Vietnam, and they can recruit local pilots for its business expansion. The PM also told Marsh & McLennan that Vietnam has opened its insurance market under its World Trade Organization commitments. Marsh & McLennan will further its co-operation with Vietnamese partners in fintech projects. Meanwhile, Fujitsu said it wants to expand its hi-tech agricultural projects in Vietnam. In December 2015, Fujitsu and FPT established the Fujitsu-FPT Akisai Farm and Vegetable Factory to showcase the FUJITSU Intelligent Society Solution Akisai Food and Agriculture Cloud in Hanoi. FPT will work with Fujitsu to establish an agricultural value chain focused on creating a strong agricultural base and transfer this technology to the country. In another case, Microsoft president and chief legal officer Bradford Smith said the technology giant has invested significantly into Vietnam and wants to strengthen its co-operation in the cyber security, IT, human resources training, and software industry development sectors. In September 2016, Microsoft Vietnam and Vietnam Silicon Valley (VSV), a project backed by the government, inked a memorandum of understanding to forge a partnership to support the Vietnamese startup ecosystem. Microsoft Vietnam pledged to assist VSVs startups with the most potential in the form of training, consultancy, technological support, and product launches. A Siemens Group leader also told Phuc that the company is expected to invest more in Vietnam through projects in health care, supplying equipment and machinery for power plants, and renewable energy. The Siemens leader has also stressed the need for the German conglomerate to solidify its co-operation with Vietnam in digital technology and train the best engineers. Meanwhile, Jack Ma, chairman of Chinas e-retail giant Alibaba, told PM Phuc that his company is exploring business and investment opportunities in Vietnam in consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer, and business-to-business services. We want to boost our co-operation with Vietnam, especially in the sector of digital technology, Ma said. The prime minister told the companies that in order to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI), Vietnam will need to create a level playing field for all investors. I know that many want to buy stakes in Vietnams state-owned enterprises (SOEs), so we will give these opportunities to you by accelerating SOE equitisation, including SOEs that produce high profits in the beverage and dairy sectors, Phuc commented. We will especially raise the ownership stakes of many SOEs for foreign investors to engage in, he stressed, adding that FDI is extremely important to Vietnams economic growth. Currently, FDI flows account for 20 per cent growth of the countrys GDP. In order to attract more FDI and enhance its global prestige, in Davos last week, Vietnam also inked a co-operation agreement under the public-private partnership model with WEF, a first of its kind. Under the agreement, WEF will support Vietnam in all necessary industries, so that the country may soon enter the fourth industrial revolution, said WEF managing board member Philip Rosler. Rosler said many WEF members wish to invest in Vietnam, and the arrangements made at WEF will come into fruition. PM Abes visit highlighted efforts to bolster Japanese investment in Vietnam -Photo: VNA More and more Japanese firms will come to Vietnam, focusing on many sectors such as construction, general commerce, high technology and agriculture, and Japans government will continue encouraging more Japanese firms to come to Vietnam to invest, Abe stated during his visit. In the eye of Japanese firms, ASEAN is the worlds growth hub, and Vietnam is strategically considered to be the core of that hub, he said. Six co-operation agreements were inked during this visit (see box). Among the deals is one between the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trades General Department of Energy and Vung Ang 2 Thermal Power JSC about constructing the $2.5 billion Vung Ang 2 thermal power plant in the central province of Ha Tinh. The project will be constructed by Japans Mitsubishi Group under the build-operate-transfer model. It is expected that the plant will become operational with its first 600 MW turbine in 2021 and with the second 600MW turbine in 2022. During Abes visit, the CEOs of 25 large Japanese groups worked with leaders of over 30 Vietnamese provinces and cities nationwide and many Vietnamese partners about possibilities for them to invest in various industries like infrastructure, energy, electronics, machinery, agriculture, and health care. The groups include Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Ltd, Itochu Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Canon Inc., Showa Denko K.K, NEC Corporation, PREC Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd., JGC Corporation, and JFE Engineering Corporation. Many firms are keen to invest in public-private partnership projects constructing infrastructure and energy developments in Vietnam. Recently, two delegations of nearly 70 Japanese companies operating in agriculture, food, household commodities, and consumer goods industries also came to Vietnam seeking business and investment opportunities. A source from the Lam Dongs Peoples Committee told VIR that the province has worked with a big Japanese infrastructure group to build a 300 hectare high-tech agricultural park in the province. It is expected that after Abes visit, the group will officially commence the project, the source said, revealing that the projects total investment capital may be nearly $100 million. After the park is built, the investor will attempt to attract Japanese agricultural firms. As of December 20, 2016, Japan was Vietnams second largest foreign investor, with 3,280 valid investment projects registered at nearly $42.1 billion. While holding bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart, Abe committed to give Vietnam a fresh sum of official development assistance worth 123 billion yen ($1.05 billion) in the fiscal year of 2016 - in the fields of maritime security, climate change response, water drainage, and waste treatment. Both leaders also vowed to continue the construction of major infrastructure projects such as the North-South highway in Vietnam. Abe also announced that Japan will officially allow imports of Vietnams red-fleshed dragon fruit, and Phuc also agreed that Vietnam will do the same with Japans pear fruit. Vietnam and Japan have also deepened their security and defence co-operation. Abe announced that Japan will provide six patrol vessels to Vietnam, with an aim to strengthen the latters maritime safety. Currently, Vietnam already has six patrol vessels provided by Japan. Having a signed commercial invoice for imported goods is not a new requirement in importation and customs clearance procedures. However, this requirement has caused difficulties to importers when they import goods, as there are still a number of discrepancies between the laws of Vietnam and international practices. From the legal perspective, the requirements of the Ministry of Finance and Vietnamese Customs Authorities are based on Decree No.51/2010/ND-CP, which stipulates that invoices must present signatures of the seller, the seal of the buyer (if any), and the signature of the buyer. The entities who must comply with Decree 51 are Vietnamese organisations or individuals who are selling goods or providing services in Vietnams territory or abroad; and organisations or individuals importing goods for the local market, regardless of whether the producers or suppliers are Vietnamese or foreign organisations or individuals. This is explicitly spelled out in Circular No.64/2015/TTLT-BTC- BCT- BCA- BQP: With regard to goods sold or stored by entities other than importers, it is required to have invoices and/or documents of the selling entities, as prescribed in Decree 51. From the practical perspective, this regulation creates a conflict with the invoicing methods common in Europe, in which invoices are formed and retrieved electronically, without sellers signatures and seals on every single invoice. In an example of the kind of waste of human resources and expenses this requirement creates, a foreign automobile manufacturer can export hundreds of thousands of products per year but to complete the import procedure, local enterprises must convince the manufacturer to provide a signature for each product. This step has caused a lot of difficulties for enterprises, because it is too costly for manufacturers to change their goods trading management method specifically for Vietnam. illustration photo As a result, the completion of customs clearances is often months behind schedule, which causes a loss in terms of business opportunities and increases costs. In addition, the fact that the requirement on provision of invoices is still retained contradicts the principle of Article 3.6(b) of Resolution 30c/NQ-CP, enhancing the application of information-telecommunications technology in the process of handling of works of administrative authorities, among administrative authorities, and within transactions with organisations and individuals. With the understanding of these international practices, the World Customs Organization (WCO) recommends its members not have sellers sign commercial invoices when conducting customs declarations. In its Recommendation of the Customs Co-operation Council concerning customs requirements regarding commercial invoices, issued May 16, 1979, WCO recommends that members should refrain from requiring a signature, for customs purposes, on commercial invoices presented in support of a goods declaration. The Vietnam Customs Authorities has been a member of WCO since 1993, and acceded into the revised Kyoto Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures in 2008. After many renovations to adapt to these contemporary objectives and policies, Vietnam Customs procedures have been modernised and reduced significantly but they have not yet abrogated the requirements on signatures affixed to invoices due to existing barriers in Decree 51. The main purpose for presentation of commercial invoices in customs procedures is to make a basis for determining customs values of the goods, the goods origin, and tax amounts imposed on goods at the time of import. In the internet age, the authenticity of invoices can be checked by various methods. Therefore, we should adopt a workable way of checking manufacturers databases to ensure the accuracy of total goods value, rather than requesting a signature for each invoice. Customs authorities can request the manufacturer send detailed information on the imported goods for checking, or confirm the accuracy and completeness of such invoices. From the authors perspective, by taking advantage of the digital route, checking and verifying the accuracy of commercial bills will become easier and more efficient for all involved. Earlier, the IRF manager was summoned by the agency to be present on Tuesday for the interrogation. Owing to the demise of the manager, the legal advisor decided to face the investigators and recorded his statement, between 11 am to 6 pm. By Virendrasingh Ghunawat: Shaukat Jamati, legal advisor of Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and evangelist Zakir Naik, was interrogated for six hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) team in Mumbai office, on Tuesday and denied involvement with ISIS. "The Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) has no links with the terrorist organization ISIS," Jamati said. For the first time, after filing an ECIR, the ED officials questioned the representative of IRF in a money laundering case. Earlier, the IRF manager was summoned by the agency to remain present on Tuesday to face the investigation. Owing to demise of the manager, Jamati decided to face the investigators and recorded his statement, between 11 am to 6 pm. advertisement During the interrogation, the ED questioned Jamati on various issues related to: role of IRF and its activities, business of television show, source of funds, flow of foreign money, diversion of money, financial transactions, violations of foreign exchange and the terror linkages. A source told India Today, one of the senior officials of ED questioned Jamati about IRF's links with ISIS. In his statement to the agency, Jamati has categorically denied any direct or indirect linkages between IRF and ISIS. ISIS CONNECTION Some days back, National Investigative Agency (NIA) who is probing funding and other activities of Zakir Naik-led IRF had claimed ISIS recruit Abu Anas received Rs 80,000 from the foundation as scholarship in October 2015. "In my statement, I have told the ED officials that IRF have no links with ISIS, which is being alleged," Jamati admitted to India Today, exclusively, soon after coming out of Mumbai ED office. For the cross examination of statements made by Jamati during those six hours on the financial transaction and flow of money aspects, the agency has sought bank account statements and details of income tax returns of last 10 years from IRF. Jamati confirmed saying, "It seems, the ED has not got the complete evidences and documents from the NIA team, till now, which were seized by NIA during the searches. Therefore, details of bank accounts and IT return of last 10 years have been asked from us. We would ensure to give them at the earliest." Simultaneously, the agency is also taking the help of IT department to get the details of IT returns filed by IRF and Naik's family in last 5-10 years. FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS UNDER SCANNER Meanwhile, the ED is coordinating with the NIA and the banks to get the data of financial transactions made by IRF, Zakir Naik and his relatives. Off late, NIA had told India Today that around 78 bank accounts of Zakir Naik and IRF is under probe. The investigators would like to scrutinise the papers to check if the discrepancies amount to a case of violation under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act or if shell companies were floated to launder money. advertisement In the recent development, the ED has issued the second summon to Zakir Naik himself at his residential address in Mumbai. "But it seems owing to lock at home, Naik and his family has not received the summon and thus, it might have gone back to the ED," Jamati said. However, the agency has not confirmed that the sent summon has returned back. NAIK HAS NOT RECEIVED ED SUMMON In such situation, the agency might issue another summon to Naik, but at which address and how that needs to be seen. But whether Naik would come to India and face the investigation, on this query, Jamati said, "It remains uncertain whether Zakir Naik would face the probe, but till today he has not received any communication from the ED team." The ED had registered a Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA) case against IRF and Zakir Naik, in December last year with the probe revolving around Naik's funding and investments. --- ENDS --- US President Donald Trump signs an executive order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, alongside US Vice President Mike Pence (L) and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (R) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. (SAUL LOEB/AFP) Embarking on his first full week in office, the 45th US president began rolling out his policy agenda after a tumultuous first weekend for his administration by signing a series of executive orders. Among the first was a memo on withdrawing from the vast TPP trade pact, which aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century and bind US allies against growing Chinese economic clout. "We've been talking about this for a long time," Trump said as he signed the executive order in the Oval Office. "Great thing for the American worker what we just did." Promoted by Washington and signed by 12 countries in 2015, the TPP had yet to go into effect and US withdrawal is likely to sound its death knell. Its signatories - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Brunei - together represent 40 percent of the world economy. The real estate mogul's White House bid was fuelled in part by a pledge to overturn trade deals - such as TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement - that he says have drained US jobs and destroyed its industrial heartlands. Trump also signed two other orders, on freezing the hiring of federal workers and hitting foreign NGOs that help with abortion. WHITE HOUSE PILLORIED The Republican leader is looking to shift attention firmly back onto his policy agenda after a first few days that put his incoming administration on the back foot. "Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security," he tweeted early Monday. Since he was sworn in on Friday, Trump's White House has been pilloried for lying to the public about inaugural crowds and over a campaign-style speech by the president before a memorial to fallen CIA officers. On Saturday several million Americans poured onto the streets for women-led demonstrations against Trump, the scale of which were unseen in a generation, in a potent rebuke to the president. Trump has upbraided top aides over unfavorable media coverage on everything from crowd sizes to suggestions he has ruled out releasing his taxes. He is the first presidential candidate in recent memory not to do so. On Sunday the president vowed to swiftly start renegotiating NAFTA in upcoming talks with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. Trump has already moved to curb Obama's health care reforms and more quick legal tweaks - in the form of executive orders - are expected on immigration and limiting environmental legislation. But more substantive changes will need buy-in from the Republican controlled Congress. 'MASSIVE' TAX CUTS? On Monday, Trump was hosting separate meetings with business leaders, unions and members of both houses of Congress. He will also meet the speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan. Tax reform is likely to be high on the agenda. "What we're doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, and that's massively," he said. "A bigger thing, and that surprised me, is the fact that we're going to be cutting regulation massively." Reform of Obama's healthcare laws is also likely to be on the menu. Trump has publicly promised that none of the tens of millions of Americans who obtained health insurance under Obama will lose it. That makes any meaningful changes difficult to pay for. But the more urgent task for Trump may be to keep always skeptical establishment Republicans on board the "Trump train." DISSENT IN CHECK Trump's approval rating is around 40 per cent, according to the RealClearPolitics average, low for a president just starting out. That could make legislators think twice about toeing the line with an unpopular leader. But Trump's bareknuckle style has also kept dissent in check, with some terrified they will become the object of a presidential tweet that sets off a world of political pain. Senator Ben Sasse was among the few who had mild criticism for Trump's decision on the trans-Pacific trade deal. "It's clear that those of us who believe trade is good for American families have done a terrible job defending trade's historic successes and celebrating its future potential," he said. "We have to make the arguments and we have to start now." On Thursday, Trump will travel to a Republican Congressional retreat in Philadelphia to further build ties. The following day, he will host British Prime Minister Theresa May - the first White House visit of a foreign leader under the new administration. Photo AFP A great thing for the American worker, what we just did, he said in front of the media right after signing the order. The order to withdraw is among the first orders he signed when he officially entered into office on Monday, besides the federal hiring freeze (with the exception of the military) and the Mexico City policy, which bars foreign aid to abortion counselling. The TPP, negotiated by the Obama administration, failed to be ratified by the US Congress during Obama's two terms. Talking to Dat Viet newspaper, economist Le Dang Doanh, said the order came by no means as a surprise, because Trump had been stressing his intention to withdraw in his campaign speeches and later as the president elect. However, this is the first thing he did as soon as he was inaugurated. This is going to be a big blow to globalisation. The world is going to need a while to figure out what this decision means and adjust, he said. In terms of effects on Vietnam, Doanh expressed hope that the bilateral trade agreement signed in 2011 would still remain, Earlier, in an article for VIR, US ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said, Even in the absence of TPP, we are not giving up on pursuing our positive trade agenda within the region. Right after Trumps move, Australian Trade Minster Steven Ciobo was quoted by Sky News as saying that Australia is working on a 'TPP 12 minus one,' effectively continuing the deal without the US. As reported by Reuters, Japanese Minister of Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko said that Japan will continue to stress the strategic and economic importance of the Trans-Pacific Partnership to the United States, adding that it would be important for the TPP to have the United States as a member. With technology becoming more and more a part of our lives, it was only a matter of time before it started to impact the way Rs 41 lakh in cash and over a dozen kilograms in gold and jewellery were also recovered during searches conducted on the premises of the duo. By Press Trust of India: The income tax department has detected undisclosed assets worth over Rs 162 crore and seized Rs 41 lakh in cash, apart from over a dozen kilograms in gold and jewellery during searches conducted on the premises of a Karnataka minister and state Mahila Congress chief. Officials said the department had also got inputs about a number of "benami" assets and "unexplained investments" during the searches at the premises of Small Scale Industries Minister Ramesh L Jarkiholi and Mahila Congress president Laxmi R Hebbalkar in Gokak, Belgaum and Bengaluru last week. The searches followed allegations of tax evasion. advertisement In his defence, Jarkiholi said that he had not done anything wrong and alleged that there was a "political conspiracy" behind the income tax raids on his premises. HAVE COMMITTED NO MISTAKE: JARKIHOLI "I have not committed any mistake and I believe there is a political conspiracy behind the I-T raids. Income tax officials had visited us in Belagavi and we have cooperated with them. We would cooperate with them even in the future", Jarkiholi told PTI. Hebbalkar was not available for her comment. Also read | Demonetisation effect: Income Tax department detects Rs 4,807 crore black income "The searches led to the admission of undisclosed income worth Rs 162.06 crore and unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 41 lakh, besides 12.8 kg gold and jewellery. Many people who had large incomes and investments were found not to be filing I-T returns and the probe in the case is going on," they said. The searches, they said, were launched on January 19 to probe allegations of tax evasion in the sugar business, apparently run by groups associated with the duo. The investigators, sources said, found "huge unexplained cash deposits" had been made in the bank accounts of their family members and associates, and in benami names in primary cooperative societies, which were transferred to business entities engaged in sugar manufacturing. NON-EXISTENT PEOPLE MADE SHAREHOLDERS IN SUGAR FIRMS "It was also detected that non-existent persons have been made share holders and investors in one of the sugar companies. Evidences of creation of bogus assets and syphoning off money from the company through various concerns engaged in turn-key projects for setting up sugar factories have also been gathered," they said. Sources in the income tax department said, "Entry operators and people who facilitate in hawala-like transactions were involved in making huge deposits in banks, which were routed through various intermediaries to escape the tax net." Also read | Income Tax Department asks banks to report pre-demonetisation cash deposits The department has also issued summons to a number of people allegedly involved in the case to take the probe forward, they said. --- ENDS --- advertisement Jim Beaux Black, of Lyme, N.H., wears his handmade "pussy hat," a popular accessory among marchers for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Dressed as a dinosaur, Britta Baker, of Asheville, N.C., takes a break next to the National Air and Space Museum during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Sarah Priestap photograph After climbing on a concrete pier, Mary Brodsky, of Essex, Vt., picks out a clear route for her group of Burlington-area residents to depart amongst the tens of thousands of people attending the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Thousands of marchers flood the National Mall following a four-hour rally for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Marchers react to Gloria Steinem's speech during the rally at the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Flora Krivak Tetley pins a handmade patch onto her husband, Jim Beaux Black, both of Lyme, N.H., while taking the train to the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017. (Sarah Priestap photograph) On her way to the Women's March on Washington, Dartmouth College freshman Hana Warmflash listens to the friendly singing and conversation ringing through the train car on January 21, 2017, the day after President Trump's inauguration. (Sarah Priestap photograph) While waiting for the rest of the group to make it through the turnstiles at the Shady Grove Metro Station in Rockville, Md., Dartmouth graduate students Ruth Heindel, left, and Melissa Desiervo joke with each other on January 21, 2017. The group was on their way to the Women's March on Washington, a demonstration following President Trump's inauguration the day before. (Sarah Priestap photograph) As Ruth Heindel eats a quick dinner of Thai takeout at Dartmouth College's Life Sciences Center in Hanover, N.H., on January 20, 2017, Carissa Aoki finishes a poster to take along to the Women's March on Washington. Heindel, a Dartmouth graduate student, and Aoki, a post-graduate student at the college, were amongst a group of Upper Valley women driving in a rental van to Washington for the demonstration following President Trump's inauguration. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Before the rally begins, a group of women lift a colorful cloth with the words "protect your mother" on Independence Avenue on the day of the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017, the day after President Trump's inauguration. (Sarah Priestap photograph) Sarah Priestap photograph Related stories Washington, D.C. After Ruth Heindel and Carissa Aoki had listened to speakers at the Womens March on Washington for four hours outside the Air and Space Museum on Saturday, the Dartmouth College graduate and post-doctoral ecology students became ecstatic when they learned that organizers were changing the route. It wasnt the last-minute change they celebrated, but the reason: The event had drawn so many marchers that they were already filling up the route. They would have to add some new twists and turns to give marchers room to walk. This felt like a really big deal, Heindel, 28, said at the marchs conclusion. To feel like I was one of the people in one of those enormous historical photos and that it was made up of all these individuals. Tens of thousands of marchers organizers estimated the crowd at 500,000 boisterously joined the demonstration, forming a sea of colorful signs and pink hats, most often shown by the people wearing the gone-viral pussy hats the homemade knitted and sewn pink hats with cat ears alluding to Donald Trumps infamous use of the word to describe groping women that was caught on video and became an issue during the election campaign. From time to time, single pink balloons escaped into the air. As one section of marchers turned onto the Washington Mall, a police officer standing on a landing above the crowd enthusiastically directed them, drawing one of the days countless moments of whooping and cheers. Right when we started marching, I felt like my energy surged, and theres something just about moving with everyone, Heindel said. And thats where the chants started ... and then it felt really exciting and empowering. Sass was on full display in the signs We shall overcomb, read one, while another, simply, OMG GOP WTF and in the chants, ranging from serious and familiar chants about democratic involvement to We want a leader / not a creepy tweeter. Through it all, Aoki and Heindel said, the marchers upbeat attitudes kept the mood joyous, even through the hours when things remained at a standstill. For how enervating a situation it was, everybody was super nice, Aoki, 45, said. It could have been really awful. People were really smiley, going with the flow, and even though standing shoulder to shoulder for four hours is not ideal, people only got really antsy toward the end. Aoki, who carried a sign about the importance of science, and Heindel, who wore a white lab coat, said it was uplifting to have so many people come up to them and thank them, Heindel said, like, yeah, scientists! That doesnt happen in our normal lives, Aoki laughed. That was just like a really amazing experience, Heindel said, that people value what we do so much. Aoki and Heindel were among a contingent that had gathered in Hanover to board a 12-person van that left Dartmouth around 10:30 Friday night. How many Upper Valley residents traveled to Washington to participate is impossible to determine. Rally Bus, a New York-based company that partners with local charter buses to coordinate mass travel, sent at least one bus from Lebanon, co-founder Siheun Song said last week. Riders expressed frustration with Rally when it canceled its Lebanon bus on Jan. 3 before rescheduling it Jan. 11. In the interim, many made alternative arrangements. After hearing that the Rally bus fell through, Aoki looked up the cost of the van. When she realized renting a 12-person van would amount to about $30 a person, she started to round up riders. I was like, how can we not do this? she said. Aoki, a post-doctoral associate in Dartmouths ecology department, gathered with two ecology graduate students in a campus building Friday night before the van left, eating Thai food and drawing posters. Aoki drew one with a female symbol holding up a fist on one side, and a message on the other: Science and the Arts: Making America Great. Also there was Heindel, a graduate student living in Norwich, who jumped at the opportunity when she heard that her friend, Melissa Desiervo, 28, was also joining in. (Desiervo spent the evening using Sharpies to write on a used lab coat: Support science, not special interests, with the last three Ss shaped out of dollar signs. A friend brought her goggles and a magnifying glass to complete the look.) Heindel, who grew up in North Ferrisburg, Vt., had waffled on whether to go to Washington or to a closer march for most of December, she said. Ultimately her mother persuaded her by saying, If theres any way you can afford the time, you have to go to D.C. She said she was marching as a proud woman in science who feels like everything I stand for was threatened by the election results. Trumps behavior toward women and his denial of climate science cant be ignored. I am worried that Trumps ideas and actions will become normalized, when there is nothing normal or acceptable about bragging about sexual assault and disregarding the truth. I am making the trip to Washington, D.C., because I felt like I would regret it otherwise. Eventually six additional marchers showed up to hit the road by 10:30 p.m. Many Upper Valley marchers ended up on buses organized by the nonprofit United Progressives of New Hampshire, which ultimately chartered four buses. Twice, the group lined up a party bus the likes of which, decked out with disco balls and strobe lights, are most often used for bachelor and bachelorette parties out of desperation because of the high demand, but ultimately was able to upgrade both times to a full charter bus. That included Jennifer Ankner-Edelstein, 51, of Norwich. She planned to take a UPNH-organized bus out of Manchester Friday night, with hopes of meeting her daughter, a freshman at the Putney School, in Washington. Ankner-Edelstein attended her first protest an anti-nuke gathering in Washington when she was her daughters age. She missed out on protesting Al Gores loss because she was mothering young children. Now, she said, it was time to get active. I want to step up and say women are a meaningful electoral cohort, she said by phone last week. A large number (of marchers) means we cannot be ignored; you will see us, you will notice us, you may agree, you may disagree, but its part of the conversation, and it does become part of the currency of the language that were using when we start talking politics. Flora Krivak-Tetley, 36, another graduate student in ecology, drove the van off campus shortly after 10:30. Krivak-Tetley, who lives in Lyme and is 24 weeks pregnant, later said she felt compelled to march because there are so many things happening right now that go beyond mere political disagreement. Theres a basic level of appropriateness that isnt happening, she said. As a scientist, she has always focused her energy on making change through science, but you start to wonder, is that even going to be possible. Her husband, Jimbeaux Black, 55, was the only man on the van. He said hes been eager for a big gathering in Washington since even before the election, because things arent right. After Krivak-Tetley ran out of pink yarn, he fashioned a set of the pink pussy hats out of fleece. As the van headed down Interstate 91, the chatter on the van gradually subsided as riders took turns navigating the big white 12-seater through the night, passing and getting passed by buses full of women. The chartered buses could be seen at rest stops, too, where the glow of the indoor lights showed rows of sleeping women. As the van crossed into Delaware around 5 a.m., a blue Volvo SUV with Connecticut plates passed on the left. On the back windshield, written in all caps in pink temporary paint: The world is watching. Facts matter. After parking the van at a Metro station shortly after 7 a.m., the riders who had tumbled sleepily out of the car were soon jolted awake by the rush of Shady Grove Metro station and a crush of riders wearing pink pussy hats and carrying signs. The scientists wearing white lab coats joked that they rivaled the fashion sensibilities of Bill Nye the Science Guy, while others grabbed the opportunity for a quick parking-lot tooth-brushing session before getting aboard. Diana Quezada, 20, a Dartmouth freshman from New York City, was planning to meet other undergraduates at the march with two other students who took the van. She opted for Washington over a local march or the one in her hometown because of the size of the march. I think the magnitude of this one is just exciting, she said. Aboard the Metro, before Krivak-Tetley used safety pins to attach hand-painted messages like Peace begins within to her husbands pants, a station worker lightheartedly told Quezada he was giving her a pass on the breakfast sandwich she was eating even though food is generally not allowed. Welcome to D.C., he told her, before turning and addressing the rest of the train: I can tell yall one thing: Ive been here 21 years, and yall are outdoing inauguration yesterday. The train erupted into cheers. By the time they had gotten above ground, many of the riders had become separated, but most found themselves in a new sea of pink pussy hats and surrounded by lines at several Starbucks and other coffee shops that circled nearly around the block. People sold march T-shirts and wristbands on the corner, while a group stopped Aoki and Heindel to take a picture of them with their signs and outfits. Soon they were absorbed by a blockade of wall-to-wall people waiting to march, masses and masses of humans on every block that walkers struggled to slowly wade through. The Rev. Mandy Lape-Freeberg, 56, of the Old South Church in Windsor, and several friends, including two young women from Windsor, settled in front of the Air and Space Museum, while separate groups of Thetford Academy students and parents and a squad from Listen Community Services Junction Teen Center made their way closer to Capitol Hill. About a block away from Lape-Freeberg, a group of colleagues from Vermont Gynecology, a private practice, stood in one of the globs of humanity. Five people three colleagues, one of their brothers and the 15-year-old daughter of another employee had made the trip from Burlington in a car, said Anna Pet, 24. Her 26-year-old brother, Jacob Pet, of Hartford, Conn., held a cardboard sign decreeing, in all caps, Vermont Gynecology fights for reproductive justice for all! The 15-year-old, Leah Mason, said she persuaded her hesitant mother to allow her to join the trip by creating a PowerPoint presentation of all the reasons it was a good idea. This is one of the things thats going to go in the history books, and I just wanted to be here, she said. Another would-be Rally customer turned transportation organizer was Stacey Glazer, of Thetford. Glazer rented an Upper Valley Ride bus and scheduled 24 Thetford Academy students and parents to make the trip at $150 apiece. They departed the school at 10 p.m. Friday. Thetford senior Clara Hoffman, 17, was among those who originally planned to ride, but she ultimately arranged a ride with a friend to make room for another person on the bus. She said she was marching, in part, to reassure myself that there are a whole bunch of really strong people out there who will fight injustice too. I am marching to tell people we belittled minorities are here, we are important, and we demand respect and equality, Hoffman said in an email before the march. I understand that as a white, straight, woman I have had many many privileges, so Im marching as an ally of those who have not had these privileges. Hoffman chose Washington over the smaller marches closer to home because she wanted to be part of history, she said. I want to be with thousands of women and men gathering to show that we are powerful when we come together with love. Lape-Freeberg, of the Old South Church in Windsor, had also signed up for the Rally bus, but switched over to a bus that left Keene on Friday night when the Rally bus got canceled. She attended with the daughters of a woman in her congregation, sisters Annie Soho, 17, a senior at Windsor High, and Katie Soho, 20, plus several other women. While Heindel and others marched in the name of science, Lape-Freeberg, who said she has been in a fog since Nov. 9, said she marched in the name of faith. Im beyond heartbroken at the agenda of this new administration, Lape-Freeberg said, and I believe that its a profound disrespect of the gospel message and the fact that it is coming out of churches in some ways that the 80 percent of evangelical Christians apparently voted for (Trump) I am sickened and I just feel like I cant sit back and let this seem like the church doesnt care, or Christians of goodwill arent appalled and terrified. As marchers continued to flow onto the Washington Mall, Marybeth Redmond, 53, of Essex, Vt., said she had been uplifted by the events of the day, the attitudes of the marchers and the huge turnout. She was among six friends who drove together to the march from the Burlington area on Friday, staying in a Baltimore hotel overnight. It feels so hopeful, Redmond said. That this many people have come from all over the country to stand for dignity, respect, and inclusivity together. She recalled that Friday was a down and dark day for her and her friends and family. I think people are just done with that, she said. She said she and her friends have also been talking about whats next, because it cant just be this march. Before getting back in the van to make the 8-hour return trip less than 12 hours after getting there, Aoki expressed similar sentiments. Her last big march was a pro-choice rally in D.C. in the early 1990s, but she had later gotten jaded, wondering whats the point? when theres so much money in politics. After the Trump thing it sort of seemed like something that we had to do, and I think it sort of fulfilled the purpose: it was a lot of people coming together. I liked that there were people there representing so many different kinds of causes, because as a start, I think this is a good place to start. Maggie Cassidy can be reached at mcassidy@vnews.com or 603-727-3220. Unionist Chea Mony, the brother of murdered labor activist Chea Vichea, said at the weekend that the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party would suffer at the polls as a result of ignoring the peoples wishes. The remarks came as Mony was commemorating the death of Vichea, the former president of the Free Trade Union, who was gunned down at a news stand in Phnom Penh more than a decade ago. Mony said the government had shown no interest in finding Vicheas real killer and said it was instances of injustice such as that which would lose the CPP elections. Dont think you are immune from suffering. If it comes to your family, you would want those people arrested and put in jail, he said. To the CPP leadership, he said, This country is not for you to lead alone. Yim Sovann, an opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman, told attendees at the commemoration that his party would continue to advocate for justice in Vicheas case. We will still continue our resistance today, tomorrow, and in the future, looking for justice for the victims who dedicated their lives to the national interest, peoples interest, and workers interest, he said. General Khieu Sopheak, Interior Ministry spokesman, could not be reached. Numerous other unsolved killings believed to be politically motivated have gone unsolved in recent years, including the July 10 fatal shooting of political commentator Kem Ley. Ley was killed shortly after criticizing Prime Minister Hun Sens family for using their status to accumulate a vast fortune as detailed in a report by anti-graft group Global Witness. Reaksmey Mary and her family took a motor-taxi from Koh Oknha Tei in Kandal province to a hospital on the outskirts of Phnom Penh for a health check up, after riding around downtown and visiting shopping malls in town. This was the first time ever that Mary could move around with her family, after almost 10 years where she could only lie down on a bed at her house in Koh Oknha Tei. Mary is now able to travel to anywhere through Mobilituk, a tuk tuk service catering to the physically disabled. Without Mobilituk she wouldnt be able to bring her daughter anywhere, said Marys mother Khem Vy, 47. It was difficult to bring her anywhere, when she was 10-year-old, we no longer could take Mary anywhere by motorbike, said Vy. We tried once but she fell off from the bike, since then we stopped bringing her out. So she was just staying at home and lying on the bed all the time. The Mobilituk is equipped with a steel ramp that pulls down to allow a wheelchair to roll in. Designed by Agile Development, the first Mobilituk was invented in 2016 aiming to assist the disabled people in and around the capital. Currently, there are five Mobilituks in Phnom Penh. According to Ministry of Social Affairs, by 2015 there were more than 50,000 physically disabled people in Cambodia, while the Asian Development Bank estimated that up to 15 percent of the population lived with physical or mental disabilities. Transportation is a huge problem for people with disabilities like Mary who rely on a wheelchair and need someone else to assist her. Agile Development together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plan to have more Mobilituks to use in the northern provinces of Cambodia. Keogh Jonhston, an engineer at Agile Development Group, told VOA Khmer that Mobilituk had helped people with disabilities like Mary to be able to travel. When you see somebody, who never had the opportunity to see the city, or go to a shopping mall, or see more monuments, has been transported to tuk tuk, he said, the joy that brings to them to see, you are just inspired to contribute more. A month after getting his tuk tuk converted to the mobilituk, a mobilituk driver, Keo Sarout, 45, got two disabled clients, including Mary. My clients said its more convenient than a car or other vehicle is, he said. Sarout said takes pity on disabled people, and now he has a chance to help them. I think I could help the society by helping the disabled persons as they find it quite difficult to travel anywhere, he said. He added that other tuk tuk drivers were also interested to have the steel ramp installed on their vehicles. Born into a poor farming family with three siblings, Mary was disabled since she was six months old, when she got a serious illness. She has been motionless and stayed at home for years, while everyone else was able to go outside, she wouldnt. Im so I pity her. When she sees the neighborhood kids walk around, she secretly stares at them, Vy said. Before the invention of Mobilituk, Marys family were able to take a tuk tuk, but it was difficult. The driver would struggle to get Mary and her wheelchair into the cab. She grows bigger now. The wheelchair is very heavy. Im alone and I cant do it unless we have two people to hold her tightly, Vy added. Since the invention of the Mobilituk, Marys mother said, her daughter has been able to travel to many places. Recently, accompanied by her mom and aunt, Mary was able to go to hospital, the Royal Palace, Independence Monument, and shopping malls. Mary looks more healthy and happier now, said Vy. Although her body got hurt after the first time she went on Mobiltuk as its almost 20 years that she hasnt moved her body properly, she feels very happy. I asked her if she still wants to go out after hurting herself, she nodded her head with a happy smile. The Cambodia National Rescue Party has expressed its regret at the decision by Prime Minister Hun Sen this week to revoke an article in the rules of parliament that effectively ended negotiations between his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party and the opposition. The canceled Article 48(3) of the National Assemblys regulations had stipulated that the leader of the opposition in parliament was on a symbolically equal footing to the prime minister. Hun Sen made the move because he said the opposition, led by CNRP deputy leader Kem Sokha, wanted to use the talks to negotiate the release of jailed members and activists. Cheang Vun, CPP spokesman, said a meeting would be held on January 31 to confirm the article had been rescinded. The mechanism is bilateral. If one side is honest and the other side is not, it will not work, he said. However, he said negotiations between the parties could still happen if the CNRP dropped attempts to free jailed activists, which the CPP views as unconstitutional. Yem Ponharith, a CNRP lawmaker, said the party regretted the decision because we have tried so much to learn about democracy from the legislative institutions of foreign countries and consult with law experts and specialists. Political pundit Kem Sok said the restrictions imposed by the CPP were displays of factionalism and unilateralism that showed the law is no longer practical and was being manipulated so that the ruling party could save face. African heads of state have a lot on their plate for this years African Union summit, especially without a leader at the helm. African diplomats, foreign ministers and heads of state are beginning to arrive at AU headquarters in Ethiopia. Anita Powell files from Johannesburg. Governments and business in Asia are preparing to place greater focus on regional trade and economic prospects, following the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 12 nation Trans Pacific Partnership agreement or TPP. Analysts say alternative multilateral trade pacts including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which includes China, may fill the vacuum left by the absence of TPP. The decision, which President Donald Trump called a great thing for the American worker had been anticipated by the region as it had been a key pledge by Trump during his election campaign last year. The trade deal, covering nearly 40 percent of the global economy and about a third of global trade, was initiated by countries within Asia before the U.S. joined in the talks that began in 2009. The TPP was a hallmark of former President Barack Obamas tenure as part of a policy pledge to pivot the U.S. towards Asia to counter Chinas growing regional influence. Bilateral agreements Trump says he is looking to bilateral trade agreements, charging U.S. multinational trade deals had cost American workers their jobs, as employers moved operations abroad to seek out lower labor costs. But Carl Thayer, a political scientist at Australias University of New South Wales, said the U.S. withdrawal from the TPP will undermine U.S. influence in Asia. The political ramifications is that one arm of the U.S. rebalance (to Asia) has been taken off and President Trump has stated when he signed it hes only going to bilateral (agreements). At this moment hes given away multilateral (pacts) so the U.S. no longer has a leadership role using the economic lever in Southeast Asia, Thayer said. Global trade has been a key source of economic expansion in Asia over the past six decades, built around multilateral trade agreements. Alternatives Analysts say in the TPPs absence, regional countries will seek alternative trade pacts, including the RCEP, and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) initiative that includes China and India. Malaysias International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister, Datuk Ahmad Maslan, said Malaysia was looking to alternatives, including the RCEP, expected to be finalized by the end of 2017. So if we focus on the RCEP, we will not face any major loss in the face of the TPPs collapse, Ahmad Maslan told local media. But there were also key additions made to the TPP agreement by the Obama team that separated it from other standard trade agreements. "The TPP had included strengthening intellectual property protections, promoting competitive and transparent business laws as well as enforcing labor and environmental standards" according to a statement from the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations. Pavida Pananond, a professor of international business studies at Thammasat University, said uncertainties over the U.S. market would naturally lead to a greater focus on Asia regional trade and business. The regional focus would be strengthened because of the uncertainty in the U.S. market. If you look at East and Southeast Asia, there is already the tendency to look to the RCEP as the kind of alternative multi-plural agreement that people would pay attention to, Pavida said. She added that in the event of increased tariffs in the U.S., it may lead to greater foreign direct investment in the U.S. by Asian firms seeking access to the U.S. market. Thayer said the TPP and RCEP agreements stand in contrast. The RCEP was an ASEAN initiative to take its web of bilateral relationships and create a multilateral arrangement. But it would have been of a lower standard sort of silver standard rather than the gold standard of TPP, Thayer said. Analysts say the U.S. policy of America First to favor U.S. business at home, marks a trend of growing trade protectionism and isolation of the U.S. in relations with Southeast Asia. Will US reconsider ? Australia and Japan, key TPP member states, say they are still hoping the U.S. may reconsider its stance in the months ahead. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Republican Party in the U.S. Congress had been strong supporters of the TPP. He said incoming secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, had been a long-time advocate for the pact. It is possible the U.S. policy could change over time on this as it has done on other trade deals. There is also the opportunity for the TPP to proceed without the United States, Turnbull told Australian media. A Japanese official told the press that the TPP pact is meaningless without U.S. participation. He added that Prime Minister Abe will keep trying to convince President Trump of the merits of the trade deal. Analysts say in late November during the meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC) states in Lima, Peru, soon after the U.S. elections, leaders met to map out a strategy in the event of the U.S. withdrawing from the TPP. Thayer says there may still be a chance for renegotiation a TPP Mark 2 that may include the U.S before the final deadline in January 2018. The details find out what details are in the TPP that (the President) doesnt like and they can be renegotiated. So theres hope, theres a dim light at the end of the tunnel; its getting dimmer but its not dead yet. And January 2018 would mark the period, Thayer said. But other analysts say the TPP will be far weaker without American involvement, saying the U.S. withdrawal was a missed opportunity for free trade in the region. China said on Tuesday it hopes Mongolia has learned a lesson and will keep a promise not to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama again after his visit in November led to a chill in relations. The Dalai Lama is upheld as a spiritual leader in predominantly Buddhist Mongolia, but China regards him as a dangerous separatist and warned Mongolia before the visit that it could damage ties. "The Dalai Lama's furtive visit to Mongolia brought a negative impact to China-Mongolia relations," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Mongolia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsend Munkh-Orgil by telephone. "We hope that Mongolia has taken this lesson to heart," he said, according to a statement posted on the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website. China also hoped Mongolia would "scrupulously abide by its promise" not to invite the Dalai Lama again, Wang said. The Mongolian minister was not available for comment but the Chinese ministry said he expressed regret at the negative impact caused by the visit and reaffirmed his government's position that the Dalai Lama would not be invited again, first stated in December. A week after the November visit, China imposed fees on commodity imports from Mongolia, charging additional transit costs on goods passing through a border crossing into China's northern region of Inner Mongolia. "Mongolia firmly supports the one-China policy, consistently holds that Tibet is an inseparable part of China, that the Tibet issue is China's internal affair," the Mongolian minister was quoted as saying. Mongolia has been working to boost economic ties with its powerful southern neighbor and use Chinese investment and know-how in mining and infrastructure projects. Mongolia had previously said the Dalai Lama's trip had nothing to do with the government and he had been invited by Mongolian Buddhists. The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. He is based in India. Beijing regards him as a "splittist", though he says he seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland, which Communist Chinese troops "peacefully liberated" in 1950. Rights groups and exiles say China tramples on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, accusations denied by Beijing, which says its rule has ended serfdom and brought prosperity to a once-backward region. Fledgling relations between maritime sovereignty rivals China and the Philippines face another test this year with new friction over Beijing's island reclamation in disputed waters and new U.S. President Donald Trump's expected challenge to Chinese clout in Asia. The flap with China, plus a new overture from the United States, will challenge Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to play one power off the other without isolating either or giving up maritime claims. Duterte has set aside years of friction with Beijing over competing claims to the South China Sea after taking office in June. He met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in October. But two months later his government filed a mild protest, known as a note verbale, to Beijing over island-building in the contested Spratly Islands. Last week Duterte met China's vice foreign affairs minister Liu Zhenmin in Manila. "It kind of underlines the fact the Spratly Islands are a serious national interest issue for the Philippines and that despite the element of friendly relations after the Duterte visit to Beijing, it doesn't seem as simple as just the issue has been traded off for better Chinese relations and China can anticipate getting everything it wanted after all," said Douglas Guilfoyle, associate international law professor at Monash University in Australia. Philippine presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said last week his country would keep asserting sovereignty over South China Sea islets while improving ties with China, according to local media reports. When Duterte met Chinese President Xi Jinping in October, a watershed event between countries that had gotten along poorly under the previous Philippine president, the host pledged $24 billion in aid and investment and both agreed to shelve their maritime dispute for later discussion. Protest lodged Philippine Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said this month a protest note had been sent to China's embassy in December over an apparent arms buildup on manmade islands in the South China Sea. China holds seven Spratly features compared to nine under Philippine control. Much of the chain lies in a Philippine exclusive economic zone. China is expected to handle the protest cordially, analysts say. It was publicized only in January, suggesting that Manila had tried to keep it low key. China probably resented Duterte's proposal in November for a marine sanctuary inside the sea's contested Scarborough Shoal, but it kept quiet to save new relations, experts believe. China will confer privately with Duterte's government as long as the maritime flaps exclude other countries or blocs of nations. Beijing has used private talks and pledges of aid or investment to build relations with other smaller countries in Asia. "I suspect that from the perspective of the Chinese, this is something that requires consultation and not unilateral action," said Herman Kraft, political scientist at University of the Philippines Diliman. "The protest that was actually filed is probably something that might have caught the Chinese by surprise a bit. As long as it's not multi-lateralized, I think the Chinese are actually willing to accept it." Smaller countries with grievances against China gain clout if united through bodies such as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). EXPLAINER: The South China Sea dispute Duterte's predecessor, Benigno Aquino, took China to a world arbitration court in The Hague. The court ruled in July against the legal basis for Beijing's claim to about 95% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, including tracts inside Manila' exclusive economic zone. China rejected the verdict. The sea is rich in fisheries and may have extensive reserves of undersea fossil fuel. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam also claim all or parts of it. A ministerial-level Philippine delegation is in Beijing through Tuesday this week to meet Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang for talks about investment deals and Duterte's role as head of ASEAN in 2017. In another Beijing-friendly move, ASEAN has not placed the South China Sea on its agenda this year. Philippine-China relations will get stickier if the United States gets involved and the U.S. government has shown tentative signs of tapping Manila for a stronger military relationship under Trump. The U.S. government is a long-standing counterweight to Chinese military power in Asia and recently an ally of smaller Asian countries faced with Beijing's maritime expansion. Washington seeks to protect marine shipping lanes and a network of pro-U.S. Asia Pacific allies. Better U.S. relations under Trump? Duterte has railed against the United States since taking office, saying the former Philippine colonizer and contractual defense ally demands too much from his country. Duterte vented particularly after Washington criticized his campaign the against drug trade that has included the suspected extrajudicial killings of 5,000 to 6,000 people. But he and Trump talked by phone in December, an upbeat conversation with Trump lauding the Philippine anti-drug effort and earning praise from Duterte. "Locally, Duterte has attempted to portray Trump as being very friendly and supportive of his administration, and to change his tune about the U.S. under Trump," said Jay Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at University of the Philippines. The Philippines would find it hard to finesse a showdown between China and the United States over Chinese occupation in the sea, said Carl Baker, director of programs at the think tank Pacific Forum CSIS in Honolulu. Trump's nominee for secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, advocated at his early January U.S. Senate confirmation hearing that China be stopped from occupying more disputed islets in the sea. China may have built military installations in the Spratlys as preparation for Trump's presidency, Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Duterte probably would not let Trump position troops in the Philippines to resist China, Thayer said. "The longer term is quite different. The buildup of the U.S. military is going to take years. That's not going to happen immediately," Thayer said. "And it seems clear to me that Trump is really after market access and a resolution of the so-called currency manipulation issue with China." Colombia's second largest rebel group, the ELN, is ready to call a bilateral ceasefire with the government while they negotiate an end to five decades of war, a guerrilla negotiator said on Tuesday. The government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin formal peace talks in Ecuador on Feb. 7, once the insurgent group frees a kidnapped politician and authorities pardon two jailed rebels. The sit down will end three years of back and forth between the two sides and hopefully stop a conflict that pit leftist rebels against right-wing paramilitaries and the military, killing over 220,000. President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts after negotiating peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the nation's biggest rebel group. "We are willing to have a bilateral ceasefire from the beginning," ELN negotiator Aureliano Carbonell told Reuters in a telephone interview from Ecuador. "That would help create another climate to the peace process; send the nation a positive message." Carbonell is not a well-known ELN commander and he declined to provide personal details. Juan Camilo Restrepo, chief government negotiator, has said he will seek a "de-escalation" of the conflict. An early bilateral ceasefire would contrast with the FARC talks, which stretched for four years in Cuba and were conducted mostly amid fighting and bomb attacks. A bilateral ceasefire was called in the final stages of talks. Carbonell said the ELN, which has battled a dozen governments since it was founded in 1964 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, would allow former President Alvaro Uribe's participation in the talks. "We agree that Uribe, or a representative, participates at the negotiating table. Peace is made with adversaries and Uribe leads the biggest war mongering sector." Uribe is the strongest opponent of the FARC accord and demands that rebel commanders are jailed for their crimes. Both the ELN and the FARC funded their operations from drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping. The ELN has engaged in repeated attacks against oil installations, as well as combat. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and established by radical Catholic priests, the ELN has about 2,000 fighters. Carbonell said that agreeing the six-point peace accord may take time, but the ELN is willing to continue talks with a new government if things are not concluded when Santos leaves office next year. At least seven policemen were killed in a huge explosion in a small town Tuesday near the capital, officials and witnesses said. The explosion occurred at a base used by units from the Somali police force on the southern side of the town of Afgoye, 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu. The Mayor of Afgoye, Abdinasir Alim Ibrahim told VOA's Somali service that the bomb had been hidden by al-Shabab militants who attacked the base Monday. During the attack yesterday we retreated from the area, that is when they buried the bomb in the base, said Ibrahim. Our forces were today preparing to launch an operation against al-Shabab when the bomb exploded, four died at the scene, three more died in the hospital. Ibrahim said Afgoye does not have military bases, which serve as defense against al-Shabab because Somali and AU forces vacated their stations nearby. Tuesday's explosion follows an attack by the militants on Afgoye just hours earlier. A well-known Somali farmer was killed, and four others were injured in that attack, according to Somali government officials. Habibo Ali, a farmer and trader of agricultural products, was killed on her farm in the fighting. The fighting marked the third time this month that militants have attacked the town. Ibrahim Aden Najah, governor of Lower Shabelle region, told VOA's Somali service that the militants are relentless in their attacks on Afgoye because of its strategic location and its symbolism. They [al-Shabab] want to destabilize the town closest to Mogadishu, he said. Afgoye is like second Mogadishu to them; they want to show the government and the people that they are nearby. Najah said that although the militants were pushed back, they remain on the outskirts. They are five to six kilometers away, it will take them less than an hour to reach the town, and its inevitable that they will attack again, he said. A 1977-IFS batch officer, Jaishankar was appointed foreign secretary on January 29, 2015 just few days before his retirement. By Press Trust of India: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, whose tenure was to end on January 28, has got a one-year extension. The nod for the extension of his tenure till January 28, 2018 was given by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, official sources said. A 1977-IFS batch officer, Jaishankar was appointed foreign secretary on January 29, 2015 just few days before his retirement replacing Sujata Singh, whose term was abruptly curtailed by the government. advertisement With Jaishankar getting the extension, many senior diplomats including India's ambassador to Italy Anil Wadhwa (1979-batch) and Secretary (West) Sujata Mehta (1980-batch) will retire without getting a shot at the top position. Also read: China Pakistan Economic Corridor passes through illegal territory of PoK: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar India's ambassador to China, Vijay Gokhale, seen as one of the main contenders to replace Jaishankar, is retiring at the end of January 2019. And with Jaishankar getting a one-year term, it leaves Gokhale in the race for the top diplomatic position in the external affairs ministry. The coming month will also see a number of key appointments in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) with Vikas Swarup, Additional Secretary and Spokesperson in the ministry, on his way to Canada as High Commissioner. He is waiting for his official agreement to come from Ottawa which is likely by the month end. The post is lying vacant after Vishnu Prakash retired in October. Swarup is expected to be replaced by Gopal Baglay, currently looking after (Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan) in the ministry. Baglay has earlier also had a stint in the XP division of the MEA as director from 2008 to 2010. In first half of 2017, ambassadorial positions will also open up in several key countries including Germany and Nepal. Also read: Jaishankar meets Dean of Diplomatic Corps as foreign missions complain about demonetisation --- ENDS --- It was supposed to be the first museum in the world to tell the story of World War II in its entirety by focusing on all the nations caught up in that global conflict. But it has fallen foul of changing political priorities in its Polish home, and as it opened its doors for the first time Monday, it's facing an uncertain future. After nine years of work, the Museum of the Second World War opened in Gdansk for one day to reporters, historians, veterans and donors. Director Pawel Machcewicz hoped the world could get a glimpse of it as he races against the clock to get it finished before he is pushed out of his job, something he believes is inevitable. The project was launched in 2008 by then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who is today one of the European Union's top leaders. Aside from its global approach, the creators of the state museum say it is different from most other war museums in that it puts civilian suffering - not military campaigns - at the heart of the narrative. But the political climate in Poland has changed dramatically since then, with a nationalist and populist government in charge that deeply objects to its approach and wants to take control over the institution to change its content. Members of the ruling Law and Justice party say they want a museum that focuses solely on the Polish experience, with primacy given to the heroism of Polish soldiers who resisted the Germans. "We are being attacked as a museum that is not Polish enough,'' Machcewicz said. "It's very unusual for the creation of a historical exhibit to encounter such huge pressure from the government.'' He is putting up a stiff opposition to the attempt to take over the museum, and is now in a legal battle with the Culture Ministry. A decision by a top court on Tuesday is expected to determine whether the museum can maintain its independence long enough to open to the public in late February, as scheduled. Machcewicz said the government is also withholding critical funds he needs to operate the museum. As a result of the rush, many of the displays were not yet in place Monday. But enough was there for viewers to get a sense of the immensely tragic story being told. One object on display is a farewell note written on a handkerchief by a Polish politician, Boleslaw Wnuk, before he was executed in 1940 by the Germans in an operation that targeted the Polish intelligentsia. "Let God pay for my blood with eternal damnation for the foul villains,'' said the note, which was smuggled out by a Polish prison guard. Museum visitors learn that Wnuk's younger brother, Jakub, a pharmacist and army officer, became the victim of Poland's other wartime occupier, the Soviet Union. He was captured by the Soviet army in 1939 and killed in 1940 in Katyn, one of some 22,000 Polish officers killed in the Soviet massacres of Polish elites. World War II still holds a key place in the Polish national identity. There is huge pride at the fierce resistance put up by the Polish army to the German invasion of 1939 that launched the war and the years of underground resistance. There is also a sense that Poland's tragic fate, which included being occupied by the Germans and Soviets, has not been fully recognized by the world. Adding to the sense of grievance, Poland was condemned to the Soviet sphere despite its contribution to the Allied effort. So for Poland, the war didn't fully end until 1989, when the country regained its sovereignty, a message that is also stressed by the museum. The nationalist authorities governing the country believe the museum should focus on the uniqueness of Poland's tragedy and not be watered down by exploring the fate of other nations. A key spokesman for this idea, historian Jan Zaryn, who is also a senator for the ruling party, complains that the multinational approach taken by the museum makes it more difficult for the visitor to see "our exceptionality.'' He argues that Poland should create something comparable to what Holocaust museums have achieved for Jews. "After decades of silence there should be a museum that introduces the phenomenon and specificity of the Polish historical experience,'' Zaryn said in a televised discussion in October. "We should do something like what the Jewish community has done, which managed to arrange around the Holocaust all the other events of World War II.'' But the museum's creators and supporters insist that the very act of placing Poland's history in the broader context is what will help foreign visitors understand and appreciate the specificity of Poland's tragedy. "Sometimes when politicians look at the museum like this they don't understand how much conceptual work there was,'' said Yale historian Timothy Snyder, who is a member of the museum's advisory board. "If this museum is lost, Gdansk, Poland, Europe, the world, loses the only chance we have for an experience of public history, for people from all of the world, not only in Poland, to understand the Second World War. That would be a dreadful civilizational loss.'' French President Francois Hollande said on Monday that he would seek to bolster trade and investment with the Pacific Alliance trade bloc in joint negotiations with the European Union. The Pacific Alliance, which includes Colombia, Chile, Mexico and Peru, is a vehicle aimed at increasing regional exports and attract investment from Asia. "France and Europe want to have a commercial relationship with the Pacific Alliance," Hollande said in a statement after signing agreements on tourism, education and security with his Colombia counterpart Juan Manuel Santos. "Europe and France together with the Pacific Alliance will launch commercial negotiations to be able to develop trade," said Hollande, who also backed Santos' efforts to end a 52-year war that has left more than 220,000 people dead. Hollande made indirect mention of new U.S. President Donald Trump, saying that while some countries are seeking changes to trade agreements, Europe and France want to expand their ties. Protectionism is "the worst response" to the challenges facing the world, he said. Trump on Monday signed an executive order formally withdrawing the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, following through on a promise from his campaign last year. Trump also wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. The Pacific Alliance, which has said it is open to new partners, accounts for 39 percent the gross domestic product in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that mainly exports raw materials like minerals and food. Some 217 million people live in its member countries. Hollande on Tuesday will visit a mountainous area of southwestern Colombia, where ex-combatants of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are gathering before handing in their weapons to form a political party. The rebel group signed a peace accord late last year. France's interior minister says authorities have blocked or ordered search engines to de-list hundreds of websites in 2016, a significant increase over 2015. Bruno Le Roux told a cybersecurity conference in the French city of Lille that his government has requested the blockage of 834 websites and de-listing of 1,929 others as part of the fight against child pornographic and terrorist content. Le Roux didn't provide details but Tuesday's numbers represent a sharp increase over the figures tracked by France's online privacy watchdog last year. In April the watchdog reported that 312 sites were blocked and 855 de-listing requests were made in France between March 11, 2015 and Feb. 29, 2016. French authorities can block sites without a judge's order under a 2011 law that came into effect in 2015. Writers, journalists and activists in Myanmar are protesting a controversial law that has been increasingly used to prosecute government critics for online defamation. The cases have created a chilling effect on free speech under Aung San Suu Kyi's new government and added to a host of problems that have dogged her administration as it closes in on one year in power April 1. Large rally against 2013 law Hundreds gathered outside City Hall in Yangon over the weekend to demand Myanmar's parliament change the legislation, called the Telecommunications Act, which was passed in 2013 to regulate the fledgling industry but also includes penalties for online defamation. "This law was created to shut the mouth of the people," Zayar Hlaing, an editor at the Burmese investigative magazine Mawkun, told the crowd while standing on top of a truck. "And it is a bit ugly that the elected government is still using that." Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the president's office, appeared to defend the legislation but said any changes to the law would be up to lawmakers. "In a democracy, rights and responsibilities need to be in balance. And rule of law is important in democracy. Following the rule of law means democracy. It's the same in other countries," he said. "Amending, repealing or approving laws will be done by the parliament. It is just the decision of the parliament." At the time the legislation was passed in 2013, Myanmar was in the process of liberalizing its telecoms sector under the quasi-civilian government of then-President Thein Sein, whose administration launched a series of political and economic reforms steering the country away from decades of military rule. Costs declined with 2013 law Two foreign firms were allowed to roll out networks to compete with state-backed Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications. The liberalization of the sector drove down the cost of smartphone ownership and created an explosion in online access and Facebook usage. While the 2013 law mainly deals with dry matters such as licensing and network facilities, a controversial section 66D seems to have been written with these new users in mind, setting penalties of up to three years in prison and a fine for "extorting, coercing, restraining wrongfully, defaming, disturbing, causing undue influence or threatening to any person by using any Telecommunications Network." Many in attendance at Sunday's rally wore t-shirts that said "Amend the Telecommunications Act ASAP" and included a red line drawn over "66D." Enforcement under Suu Kyi increased The clause was sporadically enforced under the Thein Sein administration, whose reforms included abolishing censorship in the media. But after the National League for Democracy dominated elections in 2015 and formally came to power a few months later, the cases started to increase, puzzling supporters who believed the NLD stood for free expression. Making matters worse, some of the defendants were charged for insulting or defaming senior members of the party, including Aung San Suu Kyi, her handpicked president Htin Kyaw and Yangon's powerful chief minister, Phyo Min Thein. Pen Myanmar recorded 38 cases in 2016, compared to seven from 2013 to 2015. Zayar Hlaing, the Mawkun editor, said on Sunday that he has counted more than 40 cases under the new government. Law used in petty disputes Robert San Aung, a prominent human rights lawyer who has defended several activists on charges of violating the clause, said the cases have increased because of saboteurs trying to create instability during the democratic transition, but also because normal people have discovered they can use it as a way of getting back at others in personal disputes. "What I want to propose to the parliament is to repeal this law," he said. "If they believe it should not be repealed, then amend this law." This law is one of many concerns for Myanmar's civilian government. But it does not seem to be a high priority for Aung San Suu Kyi, who in her dual roles of State Counselor and foreign minister is seen as the de facto leader of the country. Efforts to amend or change the law have stalled amid a number of more pressing concerns. Since October, the administration has been under fire as Myanmar's army conducts a search for militants in Rakhine State following an attack on a police post that killed nine border guards. Rights groups have said actions allegedly taken during the manhunt, including sexual assault and widespread arson, could amount to crimes against humanity. Much of the blame has landed on Aung San Suu Kyi's table. As the head of the civilian government, she may have little control over the military, but critics say she has not used her powerful voice to intervene. There is also Myanmar's stumbling peace process, a signature effort of her new administration that has been damaged by ongoing fighting in the north between ethnic armed groups and government forces. Maung Saungkha, who was convicted under the law last year for writing a poem deemed defamatory towards the former president, told the crowd he would rather not have to pay attention to what should be a minor issue. "We don't want to be on the street for a small matter like 66D. We will be on the street for constitutional amendments or peace," Saungkha, who spent six months in prison after his arrest, said. Many call it a bad law Nay Phone Latt, a blogger turned regional lawmaker for the NLD, said in an interview on Monday that problems with the law were built into it. "The law has so many weaknesses. Actually it should be focused on the telecommunication companies and the government," he said. "It should not be focused on the end user." Nay Phone Latt, who was jailed under a precursor to the law in 2008, spent four years in prison before being released as part of an amnesty. He thinks some members of the national or union parliament don't understand the scope of the law because of a lack of experience with technology. But he is confident the MPs in his party will come around to changing it in time. "I think they will hear the people's voice," he said. Gambia's central bank deposits are intact, a spokesman for President Adama Barrow said on Monday, a day after the new leader had said there was no money left in the state coffers. Barrow said on Sunday that it appeared his exiled predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, had looted state resources after his election defeat. A Barrow adviser later said Jammeh had withdrawn the equivalent of over $11.5 million before he flew out of the country as West African troops were poised to remove him. That amount would represent 1.2 percent of Gambia's 2015 GDP, according to World Bank figures. There had been information to the public about the central bank. It was of particular concern but the inspector general [of] police told me that everything is intact," Halifa Sallah said at a news conference in Gambia's capital Banjul. Jammeh reportedly leaves with fortune It was not immediately clear if Barrow and his adviser, Mai Ahmad Fatty, had been referring to central bank funds or other state resources. Fatty could not be reached for clarification. Jammeh is believed to have acquired a vast fortune, including a fleet of Rolls-Royces and an estate in a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C during his rule. The veteran leader, who had refused to hand over power after his defeat in December's election, flew out of Gambia late on Saturday en route to Equatorial Guinea after negotiations backed by regional military pressure. But even before the cheers to celebrate Jammeh's departure had died down, there was dismay that the former soldier was being allowed to flee into luxurious exile and might hold onto his fortune. Rights groups also accuse Jammeh, who took power in a 1994 coup, of jailing, torturing and killing political opponents charges Jammeh has denied. Barrow denied on Sunday that Jammeh had been offered immunity. Vice president named Sallah on Monday also announced that Barrow had named Fatoumata Tambajang, the country's former health minister, as vice president. Tambajang was the architect of the opposition coalition that backed Barrow in the election. He added that the director general of the country's National Intelligence Agency had assured him that all prisoners held by the agency had been released but that the new administration would be looking into additional claims of missing persons. German Social Democrat Sigmar Gabriel said he will not be challenging Chancellor Angela Merkel in a national election on September 24. The shocking news reported Tuesday by multiple German newspapers may lead to a less predictable election. Currently, Merkel's party holds a double-digit lead over the Social Democrats (SPD). "If I were to stand, I would fail and the SPD would fail with me," Gabriel, who currently serves as vice chancellor and economy minister, told Stern magazine. Gabriel also announced he would recommending former European Parliament president Martin Schulz to lead the SPD and consequently be the one to challenge Merkel as she seeks a fourth term as Germany's chancellor. Though Gabriel cited polls indicating that Schulz would be a more popular candidate, Schulz faces tough opposition from Merkel, whose party retains high support despite unease over her liberal stance on refugees. The Iraqi government says its security forces have taken complete control of eastern Mosul from the Islamic State group, more than 100 days after the fight for Mosul began in October. IS fighters are now pushed into west Mosul and have lost control all five bridges crossing the Tigris River, Mosul University and the Nineveh Ruins. "This great accomplishment was achieved by the unity of Iraqis and their support to the security forces," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said. "Now I invite our brave forces to move quickly to liberate the rest of the Mosul." He praised what he called the "heroic efforts" of the country's army, police and counterterrorism forces, as well as Peshmerga fighters and volunteers. This is a monumental achievement for not only the Iraqi security forces and sovereign government of Iraq, but all Iraqi people, said Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the commanding general of the international counter-IS coalition in Iraq. Townsend added that the fight for western Mosul will likely be even tougher than the eastern side. However, Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Monday IS had lost many abilities and a lot of their best fighters in east Mosul. Iraqi security forces fought off an average of five vehicle-borne explosives per day and saw daily mortar and sniper attacks, according to U.S. Central Command, which oversees the counter-IS operation in Iraq and Syria. The terror group also used commercially-made drones to surveil Iraq-aligned forces and drop grenades on them. Last week, Staff General Talib al-Shaghati, who commands the Iraqi counterterrorism forces, said the eastern section of Mosul had been liberated from IS jihadists. Now, the armys attention will turn to Mosuls western half, where the United Nations said Tuesday it is deeply concerned for 750,000 civilians who could be in danger. U.N. human rights commission spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said IS militants are basing themselves in civilian areas near hospitals and schools, and using children and other civilians as shields against coalition airstrikes. VOA's Josh Fatzick contributed to this report. Italian rescuers say the death toll from last week's avalanche that struck an Italian luxury mountain hotel has risen to 14. Search crews in Italy found five more bodies overnight from the rubble of the four-star Hotel Rigopiano in the town of Farindole, and then two more as firefighters were able to penetrate deeper into the ruined building. Several people have been pulled alive from the luxury resort, which was buried last Wednesday under a massive wall of snow and debris that was triggered by a series of strong earthquakes that rattled the central region of Abruzzo. Fifteen people remain missing. A fire service spokesman has pledged rescue teams will continue to work night and day until everyone is accounted for. Hopes for additional survivors were raised Monday when three of the hotel's sheepdog puppies were found alive. An investigation into the tragedy has been opened by a court in Pescara, with some saying the emergency response was slow. The first rescuers arrived amid a snow storm on skis 11 hours after the avalanche hit. A court in Kyrgyzstan upheld a life sentence on Tuesday for a prominent dissident accused of "inciting inter-ethnic hatred" in the former Soviet republic, defying U.N. calls for his release. Azimjon Askarov, a 65-year-old ethnic Uzbek, was convicted of "organizing mass disturbances" and stirring up ethnic hatred leading to the killing of a policeman during clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010, when more than 400 people were killed. Reacting to the ruling, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein said the verdict was deeply troubling and said it was "truly unfortunate" the trial had not considered allegations that Askarov had been tortured. The U.N. Human Rights Committee has also said Askarov had been arbitrarily detained, held in inhumane conditions and prevented from adequately preparing his defense. His imprisonment sparked a political spat with the United States in 2015. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev accused Washington of seeking to "create chaos" in his country by granting Askarov an award and terminated a cooperation accord. "Despite the repeated commitment of the Kyrgyz authorities to uphold international fair trial standards and to resolutely investigate torture allegations, this trial vividly displayed the deficiencies in the country's judicial and law enforcement system," Zeid said. The trial was conducted in Kyrgyz, but Askarov is a native Uzbek speaker and the court-appointed interpreter was frequently absent, putting him at a disadvantage, the U.N. statement said. Kyrgyzstan has come under fire for its poor human rights record despite holding a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council. According to Human Rights Watch, ill-treatment and torture of detainees are widespread, as are violence and discrimination against women and the country's LGBT community. Following calls from the U.N. Human Rights Committee, Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court sent Askarov's case to a regional court for review in July last year, ruling that he had been tortured and denied the right to mount a proper defence in his original trial. The Chui Regional Court upheld his sentence on Tuesday. Throughout the hearing, Askarov protested his innocence from the metal cage where he was held, saying he would appeal to an international court to investigate the 2010 clashes and challenge the verdict in a hunger strike. Valery Vakhitov, Askarov's lawyer, said he would appeal the decision at the Supreme Court. Use of the law as a weapon of war may find favor with the Trump administration, according to some scholars and attorneys. The concept is popularly known as "lawfare," and is used to reach strategic objectives traditionally achieved by the use of lethal weapons. One lawfare specialist predicts the new U.S. president will find the practice familiar, noting Donald Trump's use of law as a weapon in his business. Trump "sued his business adversaries some 1,900 times in the past decades, which, according to the study, is far out of proportion from what similar businesses were doing," said Arizona State University law professor Orde Kittrie, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. WATCH: Interview with Orde Kittrie discussing 'lawfare' And if you look at quotes from Donald Trump, and you look at quotes from people associated with him, they see law as a weapon to be used to advance their business interests and crash their adversaries in business," he said. The Trump administration is still putting into place its top layers at various agencies, including the State Department. "I don't know what plans the Trump administration may have to incorporate lawfare into its foreign policy strategy, but if we have an opportunity to use law instead of more traditional weapons to address foreign policy issues, I'm all for it," said professor Charles Dunlap, executive director of Duke University's Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. Economic sanctions Economic sanctions often were used by the Obama administration. But some key Trump Cabinet members have questioned the effectiveness of sanctions, especially against countries such as North Korea. "I consider economic sanctions as a form of lawfare because you are using a legal prohibition instead of force to coerce another nation," explained Dunlap, a retired U.S. Air Force major general who was a deputy judge advocate general. Lawfare, he says, is "the strategy of using or misusing law as a substitute for traditional military means to achieve an operational objective." Kittrie, author of the book Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War, sees the concept as neutral "just like a rifle or a missile" that "can be used by the United States or by our enemies." Some critics consider lawfare as only something negative. "Lawfare is a tool that is used by the enemies of the West very strategically to undermine our freedom," said human rights attorney Brooke Goldstein, who points to those affiliated with violent extremists whom she says are abusing the legal system and manipulating it as a means of asymmetrical warfare. "I see it as the opposite of pursuit of justice," Goldstein, founder of the Lawfare Project and author of Lawfare: The War Against Free Speech, told VOA, citing what she called malicious lawsuits filed against those accused of Islamaphobia. Great tool Kittrie, who as an attorney spent more than a decade at the State Department, acknowledges that lawfare is being used most aggressively by both the Israelis and Palestinians against each other, but he also points to China turning it into a weapon against the West. "The Chinese are eating our lunch when it comes to lawfare because they're much more serious, they're much more systematic about it," he said. "With regards to the South China Sea, the Chinese have this whole strategy of pushing the limits on the law of the sea, creating these islands, fortifying these islands, then claiming the area around them," Kittrie explained. "They're doing the same thing in the cyber arena, where the Chinese are making the argument for their own reasons, that the law of armed conflict doesn't apply to cyber conflict." Both Trump and the presumptive secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, have been expressing skepticism that economic sanctions harm business interests. Iran would be an obvious lawfare target for the new administration, with more than $53 billion in uncollected judgments in U.S. courts against the Islamic Republic, including $1 billion specifically against the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "So, if you're going to squeeze Iran, this is a great tool," Kittrie told VOA. "You can use it to collect judgments, any Iranian assets coming through the U.S., and potentially Iranian assets going through Europe." Kittrie sees it as ironic that American lawyers use the law very aggressively in domestic courtrooms, "but when it comes to the international arena, under the Obama administration, and even before that, we've been treating law with kid gloves. I'm not arguing that we should violate law, but when law cuts to our advantage, we should use it and we should approach it very systematically." The fire around jallikattu has been doused after 15 long days of protests with the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing an ordinance legalising the sport amidst must celebration and tears of joy. By Hardeep Dugal: The fire around jallikattu has been doused after 15 long days of protests with the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing an ordinance legalising the sport amidst must celebration and tears of joy. While it is the victory of the common man, primarily the youth, due credit must be given to the stalwarts of the Tamil Nadu film industry that helped the uprising. advertisement Leading the charge was none other than Rajinikanth himself. The actor went on a silent protest and thanked thanked the youth for their peaceful protests and demanded that they must continue the fight for their tradition but in a non-violent manner, in his tweet. Another stalwart, Kamal Haasan too came out with a message on social media demanding youth to maintain calm since he believed no one could take away their rights. He remained confident till the end that the highest office in the country was watching and would take a decision in their favour. He however, completely rejected the use of force by police. Tamil Nadu government issues guidelines for holding jallikattu Even as Marina beach in Chennai became a fortress and the epicentre of all the action, music maestro AR Rahman showed his support for jallikattu in the form of a day long fast in the spirit of Tamil Nadu. Though he did not take to the streets, his message on social media was determined and impressive. Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush wasn't far behind. He lashed out against PETA, saying that he regretted receiving an award of being the Hottest Vegetarian from PETA in 2012. Others including Ajith, Surya Shivkumar as well as Vijay were also part of the pro-jallikattu protests and had been pretty vocal about their stand. WATCH: Jallikattu movement: Don't ban anything, regulate, says Kamal Haasan With wide support in favour of jallikattu, it came as no surprise that Tamil superstar and one of Bollywood's favourites, R Madhavan was forced to retract his statement which earlier was in favour of the ban but later was modified after facing immense flak. He eventually had to clarify that he was only against the cruelty on animals but as such was in favour of jallikattu. Also Read Jallikattu protests hijacked by arsonists in Chennai, agitators disperse after passing of bill --- ENDS --- Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Monday his government is prepared to negotiate with U.S. President Donald Trump if Mexico's national sovereignty is respected. Pena Nieto gave a speech detailing what Mexico's baseline negotiating points would be, including economic integration, respect for the rights of migrants and the money they send home. Those remittances amount to about $25 billion annually and have become a major source of foreign revenue for the country. Trump had originally suggested that the U.S. might retain some of that money to help pay for a wall between the countries, a project he says Mexico will pay for but which Mexico opposes. Pena Nieto sought to chart a middle course. "Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution," he said. Pena Nieto said over the weekend that he has talked with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the North American Free Trade Agreement ahead of a planned Jan. 31 meeting with Trump. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the three-nation trade agreement and slap tariffs on imports. Pena Nieto's office said that during Sunday's conversation, Trudeau and the Mexican president "spoke about the importance of the United States for both countries, and agreed to join forces to continue promoting the economic integration of North America." Trump announced Monday that he's set up meetings with Trudeau and Pena Nieto, saying "We're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA." Mexico's manufacturing sector has benefited from NAFTA, but Trump claims it has displaced U.S. jobs. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump "has already spoken to both the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada about his desire to renegotiate, and as he meets with both of these individuals over the next 30 days or so, that is going to be a topic." "If they come in and express their willingness to do that, you could negotiate it in the current parameters and update it through the existing structure," Spicer said. "If they don't, and decide to pull out, we will have to go back to the drawing table in the future." Chinese Internet users may soon find it a lot harder to get around the notorious "Great Firewall" as the government has announced a crackdown on virtual private networks, or VPNs. According to an announcement from Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, VPN service providers will now have to obtain government approval. Using a non-approved VPN will no longer be allowed. The move is part of a 14-month campaign to "clean up" the service providers, according to the government. VPNs, which cost about $10 per month, have been used in China by some as a way to disguise Internet traffic to allow access to restricted websites like Facebook and Twitter, among others. The Great Firewall also filters access to certain topics the Chinese government finds objectionable, such as Tibet and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, which ended in violence. Criticism of the government is also filtered. China began to police the internet in the mid-1990's and is constantly upgrading and changing how it censors certain content. The move to crack down on VPN use is just the latest attempt by the government to strengthen its hold on the internet in China. Last November, the government enacted a new law requiring internet service providers to collect personal information, CNN reported, adding that in 2015, Chinese state media called the blocking of VPN's a healthy development. When the bomb blew, this bridge cracked in half, with one side breaking again as it fell. The result is a half bridge attached to a steep V-shaped structure, still usable for the creative and the strong. On the half-bridge still intact, a makeshift marketplace sprung to life a few days after Islamic State militants were forced out of the area two weeks ago. While helicopter gunners shoot in nearby neighborhoods and smoke from airstrikes and mortars drifts across the sky, business in this market is growing steadily. "I didn't chose to stay and live under Islamic State rule," says Mohammad, as he mans a cart selling dairy products, frozen chickens and bottled water. "But where else would I go?" Mohammad's cart is joined with dozens of others selling fruit, phone credits, household cleaning products and other items on the bridge, one of several destroyed by IS militants as the Iraqi army advanced, now controlling nearly all the city east of the Tigris River. On the broken half of the bridge, groups of young men slide boxes of vegetables and other products down one side and push them up the other. Cooking gas containers are used to keep another young man balanced as he whisks down the slope like a child sledding a snowy hill. On the edges of the broken half of the bridge, women and older people inch down and back up, gripping onto the railing. "They blew up most or all of the bridges before the army arrived," says Ahmed, 16, while watching people struggle on the steep slopes. "Maybe it was strategic. But I think they just want to destroy things." Low prices, no money In the past months of IS rule, prices in this area soared, with food and fuel costing five to 15 times the normal rate. The sharp increase in prices after more than two years of economic stagnation under IS has crippled Mosul neighborhoods. Now, prices have returned to pre-IS days, although locals say there is a lot less money to be spent. But on the bridge, workers say their new businesses are infinitely more satisfying than the last months with the militants, who grew more ruthless with civilians as the Iraqi army approached. "I transport things for people," says a young man named Ahmed, 17, while leaning on his empty wooden cart. In Iraqi-controlled Mosul, cars are banned in many places for fear of suicide bombers and the local population is on the move. Some people are going back to the homes they fled, while others are fleeing. Many people are also looking for supplies, after months or years of isolation. A wooden cart and the strength to get it down and back up the bridge earns Ahmed a living of $8 to $12 a day. "Thank God I am working now," he says. Like many teenagers who have missed out on three years of their education because of IS, he has no plans to go back to school. "The militants and the Iraqi forces were mortaring each other, and we were in the middle." WATCH: Building Business on a Broken Bridge Smashed markets Along the streets near the bridge, individuals sell items like kerosene, petrol, snacks and cigarettes. Their main local marketplace in the Sukkar neighborhood isn't far off, but it lies in ruins. When Iraqi forces take a neighborhood, they often station themselves in the center as they secure the area house by house. The area where Iraqi forces are stationed becomes a target for car bombs, armed drones and mortars. Many buildings in the Sukkar market are flattened and garbage piles onto the streets, with no municipality to provide clean up. The bodies of dead IS militants rot with the garbage, and the local mosque is bombed out. As he examines one of the bodies, an Iraqi soldier sees money peeking out of a pocket. He pulls it out and throws it into the trash pile. Two children, about eight years old, snatch up the cash, but adults around quickly object. "That money is sinful," says one man. "It comes from evil. It is sinful." The children pause, apparently unsure how money could be sinful, but then readily obey, tossing the money back onto the body with force. "All of this is just from the fighting," says Ous, 19, who says he was planning to finish high school and college before IS took over. "Some of my relatives died when their house collapsed after a car bomb," he says. "Others died in a mortar attack. Things are better, but you can see what this market looks like." NATO's chief and new U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis have discussed military spending and combating terrorism, the source of criticism of the alliance by President Donald Trump. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's office said Tuesday that the two men "agreed on the fundamental and enduring value of NATO for the security of both Europe and North America." In a phone call, they looked forward "to working together to strengthen the alliance, including by increasing defense spending and doing even more to fight terrorism." Trump has said that NATO is "obsolete." He has upset allies by suggesting he might refuse to defend those not spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on military budgets. The U.S. spends more on its armed forces than the other 27 NATO member states combined. It also pays a significant portion just over 22 percent of NATO's commonly funded budget. Stoltenberg and previous secretaries general have been urging allies to step up spending for years. Only four other countries Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland meet the 2 percent spending target. Many are increasing their budgets, mostly out of necessity in response to aggressive action by Russia, like its military ventures in Ukraine and Georgia, unannounced war games and the buzzing of allied ships and planes by Russian jet fighters. Trump has also said that NATO must do more to combat terrorism, even though allies deployed thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Last week, a top NATO general conceded that parts of the world's biggest military alliance are obsolete. Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Gen. Denis Mercier said NATO has focused too much on deploying troops abroad, so-called expeditionary warfare, particularly its Afghan operation. Mercier said NATO wants to revamp its approach to counter-terrorism, in part by helping countries under threat to develop long-term plans to fight extremists. Mattis was sworn in Friday. He will meet his NATO counterparts and Stoltenberg on Feb. 15-16 in Brussels. The death toll from last week's bombing of civilian IDP camp in northeastern Nigeria has more than quadrupled from the originally reported 70 to 236 people. The Nigerian military says the bombing was an accident and is under investigation. A team of six senior officers of the Nigerian Air Force has arrived in the northeastern Borno state to begin investigating how a military jet could drop two bombs on a camp for displaced civilians. Nigerian Air Force spokesman Ayodele Famuyiwa told VOA the investigators will submit their findings no later than February 2. It is not clear whether the findings will be made public. Human Right Watch Nigeria senior researcher Mausi Segun says she had hoped for a broader panel of investigators that included civil society. It should not be the Air Force alone, because indeed you cannot prosecute your own matter, should you? It goes against the principles of justice. And theyre not the only party involved, Segun said. In a surprising move, Nigeria's Air Force quickly confirmed the bombing and called it a mistake. Nigerias military routinely resists accusations of alleged abuses against civilians. The bombing occurred a week ago in Rann, a small rural town where at least 20,000 people have sought refuge from Boko Haram. Teams from Doctors Without Borders were providing humanitarian assistance there when the bombing occurred. An emergency within an existing emergency Doctors Without Borders Switzerland Director General Bruno Jochum told VOA the bombing exacerbated the situation on the ground. This attack has created an emergency within an existing emergency, and I think people have to understand it is a daily cycle of violence for populations caught between a movement like Boko Haram and a military counteroffensive, Jochum said. The seven year Boko Haram conflict has killed at least 20,000 people and displaced more than two million in the Lake Chad Basin. Nine workers from the Nigerian Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross were among the victims. Segun suggests this could be why the Air Force was so prompt in responding to the incident. If it were just ordinary local civilians, we might not have gotten an apology, a claim of responsibility, and a promise to investigate from the Nigerian government, if it ever came at all. Whether it was an accident or not, the right to life has been breached and the right of refugees to protection and safety has been breached, Segun said. Satellite imagery indicates the IDP settlements were clearly visible from the air, raising further questions. Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari called the bombing a regrettable operational mistake. But his claim that the conflict is in its final stages has been called into question. Among those critical of the claim is counterterrorism analyst Yan St. Pierre, who has been following Nigerias fight against Boko Haram for several years. If the Air Force is still involved in so-called mopping up operations, which is in itself problematic, that says they still require a heavy hand. They still require a lot of backup to use the Air Force. That means this conflict is anything but over and the situation is actually worse than they presented, St. Pierre said. Nigerian military officials declined to comment further until the investigation is finished. Russia, Turkey and Iran have agreed on a plan to support the partial Syrian cease-fire and find a political solution to the six-year conflict. No details were immediately released, although the statement said the sides should meet again next month in Geneva. Members of the Syrian opposition groups at the talks expressed doubts about the trilateral mechanism to ensure compliance with the cease-fire. "We are always skeptical about such countries," said Issam Alrayyes, spokesman for the Free Syria Army's Southern Front. "I mean, mainly Iran. For sure Russia. But we hope this time that Russia is taking a different role." Syrian opposition delegation leader Muhammad Alloush gave Russia a proposal for a comprehensive truce and said he expects an answer within a week. Watch: Russia, Turkey, Iran to Monitor Syria Truce; Rebels Skeptical Syrian government support The Syrian government, backed by Russia and Iran, welcomed the trilateral plan, but made clear the government will push ahead with a military offensive against rebels just outside Damascus. "So, the issue here is not about who is happy and who is not happy," said Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian government's negotiator and ambassador to the United Nations. "The issue is that, finally, we have a consensus called final communique, or final declaration, agreed upon by everybody." The rebel delegation, largely backed by Turkey, refused direct talks with the Syrian government, deflating hopes for a breakthrough. Some rebel groups, weren't even invited seen as being too linked to jihadist organizations. United Nations special envoy Staffan de Mistura says with so many parties fighting in Syria, including extremists, finding progress between the government and rebels is difficult. "Expecting the international community to actually come up with a miracle in a context like this and a divided Security Council is actually a little bit unfair to call a failure," he said. "But, rather, quite a challenge." The two sides met at the opening of the Astana talks on Monday, but exchanged no words and sat at opposite ends of a massive round table. After the opening ceremony, they communicated only through intermediaries who shuttled between their separate rooms. Both sides this week have accused the other of cease-fire violations. The truce, brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey, last month has been repeatedly marred by fighting. The cease-fire also didn't cover the entire country, and the Damascus government said it will continue attacks against what it called terrorist groups mainly those allied with al-Qaida. Astana or Geneva? "There's an element of theatrics to it," said Noah Bonsey, the International Crisis Group's senior analyst on Syria. "I think, insofar as there has been real substantive discussion here in Astana, it's been between the Turkish, Iranian and Russian delegations. We don't know the full content of those discussions, we don't know how much they really got into what would be required to enforce the cease-fire on the ground, to make it truly national, to cover more of the country, to be better observed by both sides." The Astana talks on Syria were the first such talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran. Some analysts say concerns that the Astana peace effort could overtake the more prominent negotiations in Geneva are overblown. "Did we just witness here in Kazakhstan the beginning of a new diplomatic platform distinct from that of Geneva, or will this simply be an introduction to sort of energize Geneva talks, or something in between? I think the in-between is more likely," Bonsey said. Kazakhstan hosted Syrian opposition talks in 2015 and the U.N. sponsored several rounds of negotiations that included the United States and produced short-lived cease-fires. Russia and Turkey invited the U.S. to the Astana talks, but the State Department said President Donald Trump's administration was too busy with the transition to take part. Instead, the U.S. ambassador in Kazakhstan attended as an observer. Rebels at Astana say they will not attend the next meeting in Geneva, expected February 8, if the current cease-fire fails to hold. Mexico's economy secretary said Tuesday his country could leave the North American Free Trade Agreement if talks on renegotiating it are unsatisfactory. Ildefonso Guajardo told the Televisa network that his country will be in a weak position at talks with U.S. President Donald Trump unless Mexico makes it clear it won't accept just anything in order to preserve the three-nation trade pact. It would be impossible to sell something here at home unless it has clear benefits for Mexico, Guajardo said. If we are going to go for something that is less than what we have, it makes no sense to stay. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the pact between the U.S., Mexico and Canada and slap tariffs on imports. While Mexico runs a trade surplus with the United States, many sectors in the country also want greater restrictions on U.S. imports, particularly farm products that many say have helped impoverish subsistence-level Mexican farmers. Guajardo also repeated Mexican insistence that it will not pay for a border wall that Trump has promised to build, and said it would not accept any tax or restrictions on the money sent home by Mexican migrants. He also said that in the case that there are deportations [of Mexican migrants], as there have been, they have to be orderly and clearly defined. Trump suggested during his campaign that he would step up deportations of migrants living illegally in the United States. Remittances amount to about $25 billion annually and have become a major source of foreign revenue for the country. Trump has suggested that the U.S. might retain some of that money to help pay for a wall between the countries. Trump announced Monday that he has set up meetings with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, saying We're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA. Pena Nieto said he is ready to negotiate at a planned Jan. 31 meeting with Trump, and sought to chart a middle course. Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution, Pena Nieto said Monday. Pakistan says it has successfully tested a surface-to-surface ballistic missile that is capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads and can hit targets with precision as far as 2,200 kilometers. Tuesdays maiden flight test of the Ababeel missile was announced by military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor. He said it has the capability to engage multiple targets with high precision, defeating the enemys hostile radars. Earlier this month, Pakistan successfully tested for the first time a submarine-launched, nuclear-capable cruise missile with a range of 450 kilometers. Officials say the "Babur-3" missile provides Pakistan with a secure second strike capability. Show of force Tuesdays Ababeel launch is Pakistans attempt to credibly demonstrate its technical ability to defeat all ballistic missile defense systems India is developing, says Syed Muhammed Ali, a senior research fellow at Islamabads Center for International Strategic Studies. This also indicates Pakistans scientific expertise to miniaturize its nuclear warheads, he observed. Western critics insist Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world, assertions Islamabad dismisses as misleading. Pakistani officials cite close defense and nuclear cooperation between the United States and India for reinforcing its nuclear deterrence capabilities. The Pakistani prime ministers foreign policy advisor, Sartaj Aziz, speaking last week to VOA, again underscored the importance of maintaining strategic stability" in South Asia. We have been emphasizing to the U.S. that if you start your defense cooperation and arms agreement in such a way that disturbs our strategic stability, then we will have no option but to respond, said the de-facto Pakistani foreign minister. The latest Pakistani missile tests come amid heightened tensions with neighboring India. Militaries of both countries until recent weeks had been engaged in deadly clashes across their disputed Kashmir border. The influential Paris Grand Mosque has announced it is pulling out of a new, state-sponsored Muslim foundation, criticizing interference in how Islam is exercised at a time of simmering tensions and divisions surrounding France's second-largest faith. The mosque, which represents about one-tenth of France's 2,500 mosques and Muslim associations, called on other Muslim groups to do the same and reject all attempts of stewardship, by French authorities, even as critics suggested its move was motivated by other factors. Officially launched in December, the Foundation for Islam of France aims to focus on cultural and educational issues, with a separate body overseeing areas like training imams and financing mosques. Selection draws fire But the selection of 77-year-old Jean-Pierre Chevenement, a Catholic-raised former interior minister, to head the foundation has stirred controversy. While Chevenement has opposed calls to ban the Muslim burkini on beaches and the veil in universities, he has also drawn furor by calling on Muslims to be more discreet. We're happy to have the state create a foundation, but the president must be Muslim and it must be done in collaboration with Muslims, said Slimane Nadour, who oversees communications at the Paris mosque. We don't want it imposed. In an interview with foreign reporters last November, Chevenement said authorities had appointed him to deblock the system, split by competing associations often still allied with their North African and Turkish countries of origin. The 90-year-old Paris mosque, for example, gets financing from the Algerian government. Focus on Muslims Abdallah Zekri, secretary-general of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, an umbrella body that supports the foundation, suggested Paris mosque head Dalil Boubakeur was upset not to be tapped as its president instead of Chevenement. That's the real reason, why the mosque was pulling out, said Zekri, predicting it would soon change its mind. The foundation was established amid heightened focus on France's five million Muslims, following several terrorist attacks and the departure of hundreds of French fighters to the Middle East. Overt expressions of Islam, such as the burkini, have also become flashpoints, as has foreign financing of French mosques. Such issues have intensified efforts by French authorities to devise a tolerant, state-sanctioned Islam of France. But some Muslim leaders do not believe the state has the answers. I never understood the point of a foundation in promoting the Muslim culture, said Tareq Oubrou, the main imam of Bordeaux. There's a Muslim religion, but there is no Muslim culture here. I live in the West, I think in the West, my culture is Western. Financing questioned Efforts to deter foreign financing of mosques are for their part unconstitutional, he claims, pointing to foreign financing for other religious edifices, including the recently opened Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris. What must be controlled is not the financing of mosques, Oubrou said, but the discourse and activities inside. The United States was on the sidelines as peace talks aimed at ending the war in Syria got under way in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana. U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol represented the Trump administration as an observer, while Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria and Syrian rebels tried to work out a long-term peace agreement. But the absence of a strong U.S. voice in the talks is raising questions about the future of American influence in the Middle East. The Astana talks were brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran with no direct U.S. input. The invitation for Washington to participate as an observer came from the government of Kazakhstan, according to the State Department. "Our position remains the same with regard to any effort to bring about a durable cease-fire in Syria. At the same time, we want to see access full access for humanitarian assistance. And then, ultimately, we want to see that political negotiations are back up and running in Geneva between the parties. Because, ultimately, that is the way to solve this," State Department acting spokesperson Mark Toner told VOA on Monday. Toner added that the long-term solution to the Syrian crisis is a political, not a military, one. "We've got to get these political talks up and running again because that's the way out of this, he said. And what those political talks need to result in is a political process, a transition, that respects the Syrian people's desires and aspirations for a more democratic system. This is not for us to decide; this is for the Syrians themselves to work out. " Rejection of U.S. While the U.S. has not been a direct party of organizing the Astana talks, Washington does not oppose the initiative and has been in close contact with both Moscow and Ankara. But experts said the Astana meetings were conducted "in some way as a rejection of the United States." "I think this is all part of sort of a wide political scheme in order to present the United States with certain facts and get it on board largely with what is a Russian position," Michael Kofman, from the Center for Naval Analyses, told VOA. Kofman added, "I have no doubt that Russia, Iran and other countries understand it's very difficult for them to actually have serious talks and lock in gains without U.S. involvement." Heather Conley, former deputy assistant secretary of state, said the brokering of the Astana talks by Russia, Iran and Turkey "was done in some ways as a rejection of the United States." She said to keep an eye on Turkey. "The Turkish-Russian rapprochement is something that we have to follow closely to understand what the principles of that relationship will be," Conley said at a recent event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Officials said the Astana talks do not include direct negotiations between the Syrian government and rebel groups. Syrian rebels that attended the talks said they would focus on the enforcement of an ongoing cease-fire and humanitarian issues. Cease-fire, Islamic State Meanwhile, Syrian activists said the success of the Astana talks rests with "effective monitoring and enforcement" of a nationwide Syria cease-fire. When asked about Syria during his confirmation hearing earlier this month, President Donald Trump's Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson acknowledged that "Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran are dictating the terms of how things are going to play out in Syria today." He told lawmakers the U.S. should re-engage with traditional allies, including Turkey, a critical and longstanding NATO ally. Tillerson's remarks on priorities to solve the Syria crisis were seen as a break from the Obama administration. "We've had two competing priorities in Syria under this [the Obama] administration. [Syrian president] Bashar al-Assad must go and the defeat of ISIS. And the truth of the matter is, carrying both of those out simultaneously is extremely difficult because at times they conflict with one another," said Tillerson during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on January 11. He referred to the Islamic State terrorist group as ISIS. "The clear priority is to defeat ISIS. We defeat ISIS, we at least create some level of stability in Syria, which then lets us deal with the next priority of what is going to be the exit of Bashar [al-]Assad," he added. But Atlantic Council's Middle East expert Frederic Hof said, "Assad and Islamist extremism are two sides of the same murderous and terrorist coin," and a clear understanding of the "truth" would be a good place for the Trump administration to start sorting out the difficult Syrian crisis. The B737-800 aircraft has been grounded and a team from Boeing company is expected to visit Dhaka to assess the extent of damage to the plane while engineers from Jet Airways has already started the assessment, sources said. By Press Trust of India: As many 168 people onboard a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai had a narrow escape after the tail of the aircraft hit the runway on landing at the Dhaka International airport last week, prompting the airline to take the pilots concerned off duty. The B737-800 aircraft has been grounded and a team from Boeing company is expected to visit Dhaka to assess the extent of damage to the plane while engineers from Jet Airways has already started the assessment, sources said. advertisement The incident, which happened on January 22, has been reported to aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). DGCA sources said Bangladesh's aviation authorities are expected to investigate the incident since it happened in Dhaka. According to them, if the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Bangladesh, which is the country's aviation regulatory body, decides not to probe the incident, then AAIB may take up the investigation. When contacted, Jet Airways confirmed the "tail strike" incident. The flight 9W-276 from Mumbai to Dhaka had 160 guests and eight crew members when it had a "tail strike" on landing at Dhaka airport on January 22. There were no injuries to guests or crew, all of whom deplaned safely, the airline said. In a detailed statement, Jet Airways also said the crew of the flight has been placed off roster in order to assist with the investigation as a standard practice. The aircraft, B737-800, is currently being inspected by the Jet Airways engineering team at Dhaka before it is brought back for routine operations. Aircraft Accident investigation Bureau (AAIB), which comes under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is the apex body for probing accidents, serious incidents involving Indian aircraft. Further, Jet Airways said it continues to offer all cooperation to support the investigation in its aircraft incident. WATCH: Close shave at Delhi airport after two aircraft come face-to-face ALSO READ: Disaster averted at Delhi airport as Indigo, SpiceJet aircraft come face-to-face Jet Airways Goa-Mumbai flight with 161 on board skids off runway --- ENDS --- President Vladimir Putins allies have passed a preliminary draft bill in Russias parliament that would ease some penalties for domestic violence, which supporters say would keep the state from meddling in the home but critics say would encourage abuse. Asked about the domestic violence law at a news conference last month, Putin said that while he was not a supporter of parents smacking children, the authorities should not interfere in family affairs without justification. We cannot go crazy here. Its harmful, at the end of the day it destroys the family, he said. Cavalier meddling with the family is not acceptable. The amendment, which passed parliaments lower house on a preliminary first reading, would reduce battery of a relative to a civil offense instead of a criminal offense in first instances, when the victim suffered no serious harm. This law calls for the exoneration of tyrants in the home, said Maria Mokhova, Executive Director of the Sisters crisis center for abuse victims. The message is: Lets not punish a person who at home beat up his family, just because he has the right to do that, she told Reuters. One of the authors of the proposed change, Olga Batalina, a member of parliament from Putins United Russia party, said society wanted to protect parents right to discipline children. Do we think its right to give a two-year prison term to a single mother who, while raising her teenage son, physically punishes him for stealing or running away? Batalina asked in an interview with Reuters. Supporters of the amendment say anyone who inflicts serious physical harm will still be criminally liable. To become law, the draft must go through a further two readings and win approval from the upper house of parliament. The next reading is scheduled for this Wednesday. Each year, about 14,000 women die in Russia at the hands of husbands or other relatives, according to a 2010 United Nations report. In his 17 years as Russias leader, Putin has overseen an embrace of the socially-conservative Russian Orthodox church and a rejection of many liberal ideas as an attempt by the West to impose its values on Russia. One example was a 2013 law making it illegal to promote homosexuality to children. The Church says it wants to reduce the states interference in family life. Marina Pisklakova-Parker, director of the Anna center, which also helps abuse victims, said last year her staff received more than 21,000 requests for help from women who said they had been subject to domestic violence. She said that if it goes unchecked, low-level domestic violence, of the kind that would be decriminalized under the amendment, often escalates into attacks causing serious injury. Last month the justice ministry placed her organization on a register of foreign agents, a designation that makes it subject to extra scrutiny from the authorities and can make it harder to raise money. Saudi Arabia is warning that a computer virus that destroyed systems of its state-run oil company in 2012 has returned to the kingdom, with at least one major petrochemical company apparently affected by its spread. Suspicion for the initial dispersal of the Shamoon virus in 2012 fell on Iran as it came after the Stuxnet cyberattack targeting Tehran's contested nuclear enrichment program. It wasn't immediately clear who could be responsible for the new infection, though the relations between regional rivals remain tense. A report Monday by Saudi state-run television included comments suggesting that 15 government agencies and private institutions had been hit by the Shamoon virus, including the Saudi Labor Ministry. The ministry said it was working with the Interior Ministry to contain the virus. Sadara, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., shut down its computer network Monday over a disruption. Company spokesman Sami Amin said its network remained down Tuesday, though it hadn't affected operations at the facility. He declined to comment further. Sadara is based in Jubail Industrial City, which sits about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the eastern Saudi city of Dammam in the heartland of the kingdom's oil industry. Another state-run TV report on Tuesday said the Saudi Technical and Vocational Training Corp. was affected, though a spokesman denied the virus did any damage to its network. Symantec Corp., a California-based security firm, warned in late November that Shamoon had been spotted again in Saudi Arabia. Computers affected had their hard drives erased and displayed a photograph of the body of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, who drowned fleeing his country's civil war, Symantec said. The November attacks apparently involved previously stolen passwords, suggesting the virus' use was a long time coming. "Why Shamoon has suddenly returned again after four years is unknown," Symantec said . "However, with its highly destructive payload, it is clear that the attackers want their targets to sit up and take notice." Shamoon first emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In that attack, which hit Saudi Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas, the virus deleted hard drives and then displayed a picture of a burning American flag on computer screens. The attack forced Saudi Aramco to shut down its network and destroyed over 30,000 computers. "All told, the Shamoon virus was probably the most destructive attack that the private sector has seen to date," then-U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at the time. Shortly before Panetta's speech, a former U.S. official told The Associated Press that American officials firmly believed Iranian hackers likely backed by Tehran were responsible for the attack. Iran denied being responsible for the 2012 Shamoon outbreak. Tehran had no immediate comment on the new outbreak. The first emergence of Shamoon came as Iran faced international sanctions over its contested nuclear program and after it saw thousands of centrifuges destroyed by the Stuxnet virus, widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation. Last year, a series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role. Hostilities persist between Shiite power Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. The countries support opposite sides in the wars gripping Syria and Yemen, while the kingdom has backed Bahrain's Sunni rulers amid a crackdown on dissent on the Shiite-majority island. Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran last year after protesters there - angry about its execution of a Shiite cleric - stormed two Saudi diplomatic posts. The U.S. Senate continued Monday to fill President Trumps national security team by confirming his pick for CIA director, Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo, and advancing his nominee for secretary of state, oil executive Rex Tillerson. Confirmed by an overwhelming vote of 66-32, Pompeo joins Defense Secretary John Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in the fledgling Trump administration. Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Pompeo after the Senate confirmation vote. Senators of both parties cited Pompeos service on the House Intelligence Committee as a reason to back his nomination. I cant think of a member of Congress that has traveled more around the world, spent more time at the CIA, understanding the ins and outs of what they do, of how they do it, of why its important to the American people and to the security of this country than Mike Pompeo, said Republican Richard Burr of North Carolina, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Hes well versed on intelligence community operations, capabilities and authorities. While Congressman Pompeo and I disagree on many issues, I believe he can be an effective leader at the CIA, said Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He has convinced me that he will follow the law banning torture [of terror suspects]. Pompeo had criticized the Obama administration for ending so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques." But at his confirmation hearing last week, he promised to follow U.S. law on the treatment of detainees. Tillerson, meanwhile, received the backing of all Republicans and no Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Republicans have a one-seat majority. His nomination now goes to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote, likely later this week. Tillersons tenure as CEO of ExxonMobil proved to be a partisan point of disagreement as to whether he is a good choice to be Americas top diplomat. Hes managed the worlds eighth largest company by revenue with over 75,000 employees, said the committees chairman, Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican. Diplomacy has been a critical component of his positions in the past, and he has shown himself to be an exceptionally able and successful negotiator who has maintained deep relationships around the world. Democrats, by contrast, found Tillersons CEO mindset troubling. He sounded like a business person rather than a person who wanted to be secretary of state, said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the committees top Democrat. I did not see that commitment to be the advocate, globally, for human rights and good governance that I would like to see in the secretary of state. Suspense about the committee vote evaporated earlier in the day when Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the lone Republican who had expressed significant doubts about Tillerson, announced he would back the nominee. My concern was that Mr. Tillerson would pursue a foreign policy of deal making at the expense of traditional alliances and at the expense of human rights and of democracy, Rubio said. I believe that all presidents, especially a new one, are entitled to a significant amount of deference on their Cabinet appointments. Democrats expressed consternation about Tillersons responses to questions about Russias activities on the world stage during his confirmation hearing earlier this month. At a time when Russias continuing aggression around the world and interference in our election must be at the top of Americas diplomatic agenda and a chief concern to our secretary of state, it is incredibly troublesome that Mr. Tillerson [told the committee that he] and President Trump had not even discussed the specifics of their Russia policy, said Democrat Robert Menendez of New Jersey. Republicans wanted to confirm Pompeo last Friday after Trump was sworn in as president. But Democrats demanded floor time to debate the nomination, causing the vote to be postponed. Republicans are cautioning against delays in allowing Trump to complete his national security team. Our country continues to face incredible threats, said Senator John Cornyn of Texas. And they are not hitting the pause button. Its possible that some of our foes could try to test the resolve of President Trump and his new Cabinet during this period of transition, where everybody recognizes this is a period of vulnerability for the United States. Many thought trade would be the first area in which the administration of President Donald Trump could see tensions rising with China. On the campaign trail, Trump talked constantly about China and jobs, and pledged to label Beijing a currency manipulator and vowed to levy punishing tariffs to counter Chinas cheating on trade. But on Trumps first workday in office, it was Beijings claim to almost all of the South China Sea and its militarization of artificially made islands that began to quickly emerge as a point of contention. During a briefing Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Washington would defend international territories in the strategic waterway and keep them from being taken over by one country. Spicer did not say how the United States might do that, what circumstances might trigger such an action or the islands he was referring to, but he said the islands were in fact in international waters and not part of China proper. But just how confrontational Trump is prepared to be is unclear. Block access Earlier this month, Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson told lawmakers the United States should send a clear signal to China by first demanding the island building stop and second blocking access to the islands. Chinese state media and academics have warned such a move would be tantamount to declaring war. Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying offered a sharp response to Spicer's comments, arguing Beijing has irrefutable sovereignty over the disputed Spratly islands and their adjacent waters. China urges the U.S. side to respect facts and speak and act with caution so as not to impair peace and stability in the South China Sea region," Hua said at a regular briefing. China has built up seven artificial islands in disputed parts of the South China Sea, which are now heavily fortified. Declaring war Speaking at a briefing on the new U.S. administration to foreign journalists Tuesday, Tang Jianqun called the notion of a blockade absurd. Tang is the director of the department of American studies at the China Institute of International Studies. There is no way that the United States will send in warships to blockade islands that are being guarded by soldiers, he said. That would be the same as declaring war. Tang said that while there is no reason to believe economic and military frictions between the United States and China will lessen, he is confident the two will be able to manage their differences and find a way to make compromises or make a deal. But there is much uncertainty in China about how Trumps approach to the South China Sea could play out. Broad, clear & vague On the campaign trail, talk about the South China Sea was a mere whimper in contrast to Trump's remarks about China and trade. And while a July U.N. ruling rejected Chinas claim to almost all of the vast maritime region, Beijing has since mended fences with two big claimants in the hotly contested waters, the Philippines and Vietnam. And it was the Philippines that filed the international suit against Beijing. Because of that, Beijing seemed to believe the United States had no entry point to get involved in the South China Sea, said Sun Yun, an East Asia fellow at the Stimson Center, a Washington-based research group. Hypothetically, if they do push the Pacific Command to try to block the Chinese or intercept naval vessels or warplanes from going into the region or going into the occupational islands that China has reclaimed then that would be very confrontational. But are they wiling to go that far? Sun asked, noting the Chinese and analysts are still trying to figure that out. Channeling Reagan What is clear, is the comments from the Trump administration did not just appear out of thin air. In a recent article in Foreign Policy, Bill Hayton, a South China Sea expert notes that in September, James Kraska, a professor of international law at the U.S. Naval War College argued it would be legal for Washington to take such action. The United States can and should challenge Chinas rights to access its artificial islands as a lawful countermeasure in international law to induce China to comply with its obligations of the Law of the Sea Convention and customary international law, Kraska said during the hearing. In a recent blog, Kraska notes that during Tillersons nomination hearing he was echoing President Ronald Reagans 1983 Oceans Policy. While China is a signatory of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States is not. Reagan issued the Oceans Policy in response to that decision. Donald Trump campaigned heavily on immigration issues, making at least 13 promises throughout the election about immigration actions he would take on Day One and, in some cases, in the first hour of his tenure. In reviewing Trump's statements throughout the campaign, VOA identified seven main themes to those Day One immigration promises. As of late Monday afternoon, Trump had not carried out any of them. When asked during a news conference Monday afternoon about three of those issues, White House spokesman Sean Spicer skirted specifics, saying only that a border wall will be built "as soon as possible," and declining to offer details on when the executive order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy would be revoked. DACA protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Answering a reporter about the status of the refugee resettlement program, which Trump had vowed to immediately change, Spicer responded that he didn't know, and instead deflected the question to the U.S. State Department, which oversees the program. The State Department has not yet responded to VOA's request for comment on the status of the refugee program, though arrivals continued throughout the weekend. Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR, an organization that, like Trump, advocates for more restrictive immigration policies, said he expects a "steady stream of announcements" from the new administration, "some of which are more difficult." "For example unwinding certain elements of these policies on criminal alien priorities, enforcing priorities, state and local enforcement agreements can take some time ...," he told VOA. "But things like the wall and the vetting order, for example, should come very quickly." Between Trump's missed initial deadlines and scant details from the White House spokesman Monday, there is little clarity about when any of the immigration policy changes may come. That uncertainty makes people like Juan Escalante, a DACA recipient, skittish about his future in the United States. Speaking at a public event Monday afternoon on Capitol Hill, Escalante told the audience that he does not have any confidence that the White House will not dismantle the deferred action program. "Until I see something that has changed in the communication from the White House, whatever that may be, that the DACA program will stay in place until a type of legislation is reached upon and signed by the president that allows me to continue to contribute to my community, I will still live under the fear that it could be taken away," he said. Escalante, who is the digital campaign manager of America's Voice, which advocates for immigrant rights, added that he will not "go back to the shadows" and that he is ready to push for legislation and continue his advocacy work. Behind the headlines at the Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, there were some special achievements, including honors for Matt Damon, Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington. With 14 Oscar nominations, "La La Land'' tied the record held by "All About Eve'' (1950) and "Titanic'' (1997). - "La La Land'' became the first musical with original music and story to receive a best picture nomination since "All That Jazz'' (1979) and the second since "Anchors Aweigh'' (1945). - Matt Damon, who earned a nod as a producer of "Manchester by the Sea,'' became only the third person to get nominations in the acting, writing and best picture categories. The others are Warren Beatty and George Clooney. - Denzel Washington, who starred, directed and co-produced "Fences,'' becomes the seventh person to receive acting and best picture nominations for the same film, joining Warren Beatty, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Bradley Cooper. - Meryl Streep extended her lead as the most nominated performer with her 20th nomination. (She has won three times.) - The documentary "O.J.: Made in America,'' with a running time of 7 hours and 47 minutes, became the longest film ever nominated for an Academy Award. - Kevin O'Connell (''Hacksaw Ridge'') and Andy Nelson (''La La Land''), each with 21 nominations for sound mixing, were tied for the most nominations in the category since nominations began going to individuals in 1961. U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services faced tough questions Tuesday during his second day of confirmation hearings in the Senate amid continuing debate over the Affordable Care Act. Trump wants to replace the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Nominee Tom Price has offered few details about how the Trump administration will do that. But under intense questioning before the Senate Finance Committee, Price said there is no plan to "pull the rug out" from under the feet of millions of Americans who receive health care insurance coverage under Obamacare. Price also said "nobody should be priced out of the market" if they have pre-existing health conditions. WATCH: Senator Aims to Pin Down Answer from Price Democratic Senator Ron Wyden repeatedly asked Price if "no one will be worse off" by an executive order Trump signed during his first day in office that was aimed at diminishing Obamacare. Price responded, "I guarantee you that the individuals that lost coverage under the Affordable Care Act, we will commit to making certain they don't lose coverage under whatever replacement plan comes forward." Price quizzed about investments Price also faced more questions about his investments in health care companies and the impact his previous actions as a lawmaker may have had on the companies. The questions followed a Wall Street Journal report that Price traded more than $300,000 worth of shares in about 40 health-related companies over the past four years, even as he pushed legislation that could affect the value of the companies. Haley confirmed Later Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Trump's pick as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. The vote was 96-4. Haley expressed support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that may fuel more violence in the Middle East. She also took a hard line against Russia, saying it cannot be trusted right now. Carson moves ahead, Comey asked to stay Also Tuesday, the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee unanimously approved Ben Carson as housing secretary. The nomination of the former Republican presidential candidate and renowned neurosurgeon now goes to the full Senate. And Trump has asked controversial FBI Director James Comey to stay on the job. Trump criticized Comey for his decision not to prosecute Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of classified emails when she was secretary of state. Many Democrats are still angry at Comey for reviving the email investigation 10 days before the November election. They believe that was a factor in Clinton losing the election. FBI directors are appointed for 10-year terms unless the president replaces them. President Barack Obama named Coney to the job in 2013. Sessions on hold The Senate has confirmed three Trump Cabinet nominees Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. A Senate committee vote on Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general has been postponed for a week to give members more time to examine new material on Sessions that the committee received Sunday. Several Democrats already have said they will vote against Sessions, saying they doubt his stated commitment to uphold civil rights laws. Watch: Partisan Divide on Pace of Trump Nominee Confirmations At his first White House briefing Monday, new Press Secretary Sean Spicer was asked about U.S. intelligence agencies investigating contacts between people close to President Donald Trump and members of the Russian government. Asked if Trump would stop those investigations now that he is in charge of the federal government, Spicer told reporters, [Trump] He has not made any indication that he will stop any investigation of any sort. The Central Intelligence Agency, the FBI, the National Security Agency and the Treasury Department have assembled a task force to investigate alleged increased Russian espionage and other activities, including Kremlin-ordered cyber attacks to interfere in the U.S. presidential election. During the campaign, investigators collected communications between people close to then-Republican nominee Trump and surrogates of the Russian government. Two calls between Flynn, Kislyak The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that U.S. intelligence agents were also looking into the content of calls between Trump's newly sworn-in National Security Advisor, retired General Michael Flynn, and the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. Reports say Flynn called Kislyak in late December, around the same time the Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its alleged use of cyber attacks to interfere in the elections. U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the cyber attacks into Democratic National Committee emails to discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Spicer told reporters Monday there had only been two calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador, and they focused on four subjects: setting up a phone call between Trump and Russian President Putin, exchanging holiday pleasantries, Flynn expressing his condolences for those killed in a Russian plane crash, and the possibilities of Russia and the U.S. working together to combat Islamic State. Former counterterrorism official Malcom Nance told VOA that Trump needs to answer questions about his relationship with Russia raised by U.S. intelligence reports and by Trump's strong public support for Putin and many of his foreign policy views. Question about airstrikes In Monday's briefing, Spicer answered questions on a wide range of topics. Asked about a Russian report that the U.S. and Russia are conducting joint airstrikes in Syria, Spicer referred the reporter to the Pentagon for an answer. But he added, "I think if there's a way we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it." A Pentagon spokesman denied the Russian reports, saying: "The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria. U.S. President Donald Trump will have breakfast on Tuesday with the chief executives of General Motors, Ford Motor and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as he pressures automakers to boost American employment. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump "looks forward to hearing their ideas about how we can work together to bring more jobs back to this industry." Trump has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles. The meeting is the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly jawboned automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American." It will be the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers meet jointly with a U.S. president since a July 2011 session with President Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler. U.S. and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump's comments. The Republican president made attacks on Ford's Mexico investments a cornerstone of his campaign. Automakers have praised Trump's policies, but emphasized that the recent employment moves were the result of business, not political decisions, that had mostly been in the works for a long period. Early this month, Ford scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and said it would invest $700 million in a factory in Michigan. Ford will still move production of Focus small cars to Mexico but will cut total production of the cars by consolidating their assembly in an existing Mexican plant. Ford CEO Mark Fields, who was among business leaders meeting with Trump on Monday, said earlier this month that Ford would have made the same investment decision even if Trump had not been elected. Last week, GM confirmed it would invest an additional $1 billion in its U.S. factories this year and would move some parts production from Mexico to the United States that was previously handled by a supplier. The investments are in addition to $2.9 billion the automaker announced last year, GM said. GM said the $1 billion investment would create or retain 1,500 jobs. GM CEO Mary Barra joined a Trump economic issue advisory panel last month. Earlier this month, Fiat Chrysler said it would invest $1 billion to modernize two plants in the U.S. Midwest and create 2,000 jobs, and possibly move production of a Ram heavy-duty pickup truck to Michigan from Mexico. Fuel Efficiency The auto executives are likely to raise concerns about higher fuel efficiency standards and the potential impact on border adjustment taxes. Fiat Chrysler faces investigations by the EPA and Justice Department after it was accused this month by the EPA of illegally using hidden software to allow excess diesel emissions to go undetected in about 104,000 U.S. cars and trucks, the result of a probe that stemmed from regulators' investigation of rival Volkswagen AG. The company vowed to work with the Trump "administration to present its case and resolve this matter fairly and equitably." Two Republican U.S. senators are proposing a bill that would allow states that like the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, to keep it instead of taking whatever replacement President Donald Trump and the Republicans come up with. "Republicans think that if you like your insurance, you should keep it. And we mean it," Louisiana's Bill Cassidy said Monday. "So California and New York, you love Obamacare? You can keep it." Cassidy is co-sponsoring the bill with Maine's Susan Collins, who insists Obamacare must not be tossed out until a clearly spelled out replacement is ready. Collins said Monday that Trump's executive order aimed at "minimizing the economic burden" of Obamacare is "very confusing." She says it is difficult to understand what it means or what impact it will have on the health insurance plan. Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer has dismissed the Cassidy-Collins plan as an "empty facade." "It is nearly impossible to keep the benefits of the Affordable Care Act without keeping the whole thing," he said. The Affordable Care Act was former President Barack Obama's signature achievement of his eight years in office. It assures coverage for every American so they will not face financial ruin in case of a serious illness. Trump campaigned on repealing and replacing it, calling it a "disaster." He said it is too expensive and puts too big of a burden on small businesses. The organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival said that they will not invite Taslima Nareen to the event from next year. By Press Trust of India: After Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasreen's impromptu session at the Jaipur Literature Festival drew a minor protest here, festival organisers said they will consider the protestors' request of not reinviting her, a statement said. "They expressed their anger.... I heard them out. Explained we supported minorities in every way. Underscored that we are a platform for all points of view. Agreed that we should consider their request not to reinvite them," Sanjoy K Roy, Producer of JLF, said. advertisement Protesting organisations including Rajasthan Muslim Forum, All India Milli Council, Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim Personal Law Board, had said yesterday that the writer, who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, was a "disputed" personality. They demanded that no invitation must be extended to the writer again. TASLIMA STRIKES BACK A furious Taslima Nareen took to Twitter to express her disdain over reports that she may not be invited to future Jaipur Literature Festival events. Wonderful!A bunch of misogynist bigots & imbecile blockhead will decide who should participate at Jaipur Literature Festival& who should not taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) January 24, 2017 "Nasreen is a disputed personality. JLF organisers did not name her in the schedule in JLF booklet. Organisers played hide and seek game and police administration too supported her and allowed her in a session. So we had gone to protest. Also read: Taslima Nasreen: India needs uniform civil law. Muslim groups: She has got too much freedom "We had a meeting with organisers where producer Sanjoy Roy promised that they will not provide platform to Salman Rushdie and Nasreen from next year," Mehrunnisa Khan, state president of Women India Movement. Taslima participated in a surprise session titled, Exile at the festival on Monday, the speakers for which were not revealed until the morning of the concluding day, presumably to avoid the sort of protests that rocked the pink city 10 years ago, when the writer was refused shelter in the city after being driven out of Kolkata by the West Bengal government. TASLIMA STIRS A STORM AGAIN On Monday evening, the festival's co-director William Dalrymple appeared unwilling to disclose much. "I vaguely knew that she was coming," was the most he would offer when asked by PTI. During her session, Nasreen batted for a Uniform Civil Code as a tool for "empowerment" and said the Islamic society needed to be more tolerant towards criticism to make progress. "It is necessary for Islamic society to be tolerant and accept criticism without which they cannot progress. Uniform Civil Code is urgently required for empowering people with human rights," she had said. advertisement Also read: Mamata turned out 'harsher' than Left in my case, says author Taslima Nasreen Upholding the freedom of writers around the world, she slammed religious fanatics, saying she did not believe in terms like "nationalism" or "religious fundamentalism". "I don't believe in nationalism, religious fundamentalism. I believe in one world. I believe in rights, freedom, humanism and rationalism. Until Islam accepts criticism, no Islamic country can be considered secular. Whenever I criticise, people want to kill me," she had said. --- ENDS --- The United Nations is appealing for $4.63 billion to assist nearly five million Syrian refugees and millions of people hosting them in neighboring countries. The appeal is being launched in the Finnish capital of Helsinki on behalf of U.N. agencies and 40 non-governmental organizations. The United Nations plans to provide life-saving assistance to more than 4.7 million Syrian refugees. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi says the appeal also will support 4.4 million people hosting them in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. So, even if Syrians have stopped arriving in Europe in any significant numbers, I hope that everybody realizes that the Syrian refugee crisis has not gone away and continues to affect millions of host communities and continues to be a tragic situation for millions of Syrians, he said. Grandi says most Syrian refugees fall below the poverty line and struggle to afford food, rent, health care and other essentials. He notes 70 percent of those in need are women and children. He says many of the host communities helping the refugees also are impoverished and in need of assistance. Syria will enter its sixth year of war in March, about the same length of time as the whole of World War II. U.N. emergency relief coordinator Stephen OBrien calls Syria one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today. The crisis in Syria remains one of the most complex and volatile and violent in the world," he said. "Currently, 13.5 million women, children and men are in urgent need of humanitarian and protection assistance. Of course, we fear that it will get worse and even if peace was to take place from tonight, the humanitarian needs within Syria would continue for a good time to come. The United Nations is in the process of finalizing an upcoming appeal for $3.4 billion. The United Nations estimates that amount will be required to meet the humanitarian needs of the 13.5 million destitute people within Syria this year. A federal appeals court said Tuesday it won't rehear a panel's decision letting companies like Microsoft refuse to turn over to the government customer emails stored overseas. The judges of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split their votes 4-4. Four judges wrote opinions dissenting from the decision. Judge Dennis Jacobs noted in his dissent, which was joined by three other judges, that the information sought by prosecutors in a 2013 narcotics trafficking investigation was easily accessible in the United States at a computer terminal even though it was stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland. He found it odd that a three-judge panel had previously concluded Microsoft could keep the information secret on privacy grounds, saying, Privacy, which is a value or a state of mind, lacks location, let alone nationality. Territorially, it is nowhere, he added. If I can access my emails from my phone, then in an important sense my emails are in my pocket, notwithstanding where my provider keeps its servers. He said the judges who ruled in Microsoft's favor treated the data stored electronically as if it were paper documents. But electronic data are not stored on disks in the way that books are stored on shelves or files in cabinets, he said. He called the approach by his colleagues in their July ruling unmanageable, and increasingly antiquated. The government had asked the 2nd Circuit to take the rare move of letting all its judges hear the case after a three-judge panel last July said prosecutors cannot force corporations to release customers' emails and other data stored on servers overseas. Last summer's ruling was a victory for high-tech companies in the cloud computing business. Microsoft stores data from over 1 billion customers and over 20 million businesses on servers in over 40 countries. Prosecutors had sought information in 2013 from an email account stored in Dublin, saying they thought it was being used in narcotics trafficking. The government had no immediate comment, a spokesman for lawyers in the case said. Omar Al Muqdad nurses his coffee cup and remembers life in Syria. Not once, not twice, but three times the Assad government issued an execution order for him. He had criticized the government a crime punishable by death. He escaped to Turkey, then came to the United States to live in Arkansas as a political refugee. Now, he worries that others like him will not be able to escape Syria because of expected Trump administration restrictions on immigration from terror-prone regions. Muqdad calls Syrian refugees "natural allies of the U.S." because refugees are "not our enemies because they are fleeing terrorism." Better vetting Pro-immigrant groups are mobilizing to get ahead of expected Trump administration orders, but Trump supporters say the Obama administration went too far with the number of refugees allowed in the U.S., and the new president's plans will restore the status quo. Dan Stein, president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, is concerned the U.S. could accept terrorists among the refugees. "Without proper effective vetting, if you rush the job and are not careful," seemingly law-abiding peoples can become seduced by ideas of extreme violence and radicalism, Stein said. Advocates point out America was built on immigrants and those like Muqdad ask, "If the United States is not going to welcome them, who is?" "The U.S. takes the back seat to no one in its generosity and hospitality to people who are fleeing persecution from around the world," Stein said. "But lets face it, there are limits." New President's priorities In his first full news conference Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer laid out the priorities of the Trump administration. Spicer said "smart immigration" will begin as a "comprehensive look at how were keeping people out of this country that shouldnt be here" and that people leave when visas expire. The priorities include erecting a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico and deporting criminals who are here illegally. What happens to 'Dreamers'? Greisa Martinez was seven years old when her parents crossed the border from Mexico into Texas, illegally. She lived undocumented until 2012 when the Obama Administration created the so-called dreamer act (DACA) and deferred any deportation for two years. Martinez doesn't know what this administration will decide. "No matter what happens," she says, "I will find a solution to protect my family." Stein predicts the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration policy) dreamers will stay and be used as a negotiating tool with the new Congress. He says the American people need to examine what they want for immigration policies. Specifically, how to prevent more occurrences of millions of people here illegally by asking, "Why are they here and why have they been allowed to stay, and why do deportation hearings take so long?" Democrats say they will fight "tooth and nail" against any anti-immigration measures. Venezuelan officials may face U.S. sanctions for profiting from food shortages that have exacerbated hunger in the South American country. The calls by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle come in response to an Associated Press investigation that found trafficking in hard-to-find food has become big business in Venezuela, with the military at the heart of the graft. Embattled socialist President Nicolas Maduro has given the military increasingly broad control over the food supply as shortages have led to widespread malnutrition this year. When the military is profiting off of food distribution while the Venezuelan people increasingly starve, corruption has reached a new level of depravity that cannot go unnoticed, said Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee. Kickbacks to generals? The AP report published last month detailed a chain of dirty dealing by the military, including kickbacks to generals for food contracts and bribes to move food out of the port. Some of the food is purchased in the U.S. and some of the bribes passed through the U.S. banking system. U.S. prosecutors are investigating senior Venezuelan officials, including members of the military, for laundering riches from food contracts through the U.S. financial system, the AP learned from four people with direct knowledge of the probes. No charges have been brought. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said President Donald Trump should take immediate action to sanction the top officials named in the AP report. This should be one of President Trump's first actions in office, Rubio, who is chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee that oversees Latin America, said in a statement. Business owners say food minister involved The Associated Press cited documents and testimony from business owners who pointed to food minister Gen. Rodolfo Marco Torres and his predecessor, Gen. Carlos Osorio, as key figures involved in fraudulent food imports. Neither official responded to requests for comment, but in the past, both have dismissed charges of corruption as empty accusations propagated by political opponents. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Florida, said she is urging the State and Treasury Departments to apply sanctions to Marco Torres and Osorio, as well as anyone else getting rich off Venezuela's food shortages. She is also asking that government agencies ensure U.S. companies are not doing business directly with any Venezuelan business owners fronting for corrupt officials. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, joined her in calling for those involved in food corruption to be held accountable. In 2015, the Obama administration, at the urging of Rubio and Menendez, froze U.S. assets and denied visas for top Venezuelan officials accused of drug trafficking and of human rights violations during a wave of anti-government protests. Maduro responded by calling the U.S. lawmakers terrorists bent on destabilizing the oil-rich nation, and banned them from Venezuela. Venezuelan lawmaker Carlos Berrizbeitia, who sits on the congressional audit committee, said sanctions or no, the opposition will do all it can to stop officials from participating in food trafficking. We welcome help from any country interested in investigating corruption in Venezuela, but we also have to keep up pressure on our own institutions to make sure they function properly, he said. We need to do everything possible to ensure they don't rob a single dollar more from the food budget while the country is going hungry and people are eating from the trash. No response from Maduro The Maduro administration rarely acknowledges accusations of corruption inside the military, and has not responded to the AP report. When he shook up his cabinet this month, replacing more than a dozen ministers, he kept Marco Torres at the helm of the Food Ministry. Transparency International Chair Jose Ugaz said the lack of government response was in itself telling. It's powerful that there's been no reaction to such a strong report, he said. The AP story about corruption in the food supply under a socialist government sparked discussion even among Venezuelan leftists on the popular Aporrea website. Look at the disaster Carlos Osorio made of the Ministry of Food, and there were no consequences, just removal from office, Esmeralda Garcia wrote on Aporrea. This has become a third rail that you can't bring up for discussion, because it's an open secret and no one does anything. Thousands protest On Monday, thousands of protesters marched through Caracas to demand that Maduro resign or allow a recall referendum to proceed. Recall hunger, said one sign. Another, carried by student Sikiu Quintero, read, Military, go back to your barracks. We're sick of going hungry,'' Quintero said. The military is totally corrupt and everyone knows now that they're stealing our food. Foreign intervention answer? The issue also raised tempers in the hours-long food lines that have become common across Venezuela. Yanet Montilla, who had lined up at dawn in hopes of buying rice for her three daughters, said she thinks only foreign intervention will bring change to Venezuela. It makes you mad because they don't leave anything to take to your children, she said. But what are we going to do? We all have families and can't risk getting killed in the street. Afghan governors in southern and western provinces charged on Monday that Iran is using an increasingly close relationship with the Afghan Taliban to target power and water projects on Tehran's behalf. Hayatullah Hayat, the governor of southern Helmand province, told VOA's Afghan service that the Islamic Republic wants the Taliban to disable some of the nation's dams so that Tehran can get a larger share of water from the Helmand River. He cited classified Afghan intelligence reports forwarded to the Afghan palace and the National Security Council. Iran is seeking to undermine the development projects over the Helmand River so that it can continue receiving more water," Hayat said. The Helmand governor accused elements in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard forces of providing sophisticated weapons to the Taliban that could be used to attack government installations and infrastructure. He said several unexploded mortar missiles used by the Taliban bore an Iranian manufacturer's mark and were fired at the provincial capital. The governor added that Iran's intelligence representatives recently met with local Taliban leaders in Helmand's volatile Garmser district. Water scarcity an issue Iran's Embassy in Kabul declined to comment on Monday when contacted by VOA. Tehran has denied the accusations of close association with the Taliban, saying it has close relations with the government of Afghanistan. Water scarcity is a major issue in parts of Asia, and Iranian authorities have been pushing for a larger share of water supplies from Afghanistan which has been building dams for irrigation and power needs. The two neighboring countries signed a water-sharing treaty in 1973 which says that Iran shall not make claims to water from the Helmand River in excess of amounts agreed to in the treaty, even if additional water becomes available in the future. Iran has voiced concerns that several water management projects in progress in western and southern Afghanistan, including Herat province's newly Indian-funded hydroelectric and irrigation project known as Salma Dam, may reduce the flow of water into Iran. Water deal terms are set The Afghan government has downplayed Iranian concerns and said that the projects will not affect the amount of water flowing into Iran. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that Iran continues to receive its share of water from Helmand River and that the country cannot claim more than what has been agreed upon. Some Afghan experts say that if Iran wants more water, it should cut a deal with Afghanistan. We know Iran wants more water than allocated to it in the water-sharing treaty, Wadir Safi, a professor of law and political science at Kabul University told VOA. If Iran wants more water beyond the amount agreed in the treaty, it should consider buying additional water from Afghanistan. The allegations of Taliban involvement in the water dispute comes as Kabul is becoming increasingly concerned about Iran's alleged meddling in Afghan provinces that border Iran. The Afghan Senate last month ordered an investigation into Iran's reported association with the Taliban. Access to weapons a concern Afghan regional officials say the Taliban has recently increased its terror activities in various provinces. The abundance of new weapons and ammunitions in Taliban's possession has created many questions and doubts, Asif Nang, the governor of western Farah province told VOA on Monday. Nang added that the Taliban can receive weapons within an hour from Iran, given the proximity of his province to the border. Last month, Nang accused Iran of harboring Taliban families in its territory. Families of a number of high-ranking Taliban leaders reside in Iran, Nang told Radio Liberty last month. They live in cities such as Yazd, Kerman and Mashhad, and come back to Afghanistan for subversive activities. The Taliban's former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last year and was reportedly returning from Tehran after holding meetings in Iran. U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for a "major" investigation into voter fraud in November's presidential election, reinforcing his belief that voting by millions of undocumented immigrants cost him a victory in the national popular vote. Trump announced plans for the probe Wednesday morning on Twitter. Press secretary pressed on issue But in a Wednesday briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer expanded the scope of the upcoming investigation. "This is not just about the 2016 election, this is about the integrity of our voting system." Spicer did not offer specifics about who would conduct an investigation or when it would begin. But he said investigators would explore irregularities such as outdated voter registration rolls and voters who have relocated and are registered in more than one location. WATCH: Spicer responds to reporter question on voter fraud Spicer said more details will be available "as the week goes on." The issue began to garner more attention Tuesday, when Spicer reiterated to reporters Trump's claim three to five million immigrants illegally voted for his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton. Election officials who have analyzed the November 8 vote say there were almost no indications of voter fraud, certainly not on the scale Trump cites. "We are not aware of any evidence that supports the voter fraud claims made by President Trump, but we are open to learning more about the Administrations concerns," the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), which represents 40 U.S. state election officials, said in a statement Tuesday. "In the lead up to the November 2016 election, secretaries of state expressed their confidence in the systemic integrity of our election process as a bipartisan group, and they stand behind that statement today, NASS added. Trump lawyers have stated in writing that evidence of fraud was nonexistent in the November 8 election. In a filing last year against Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein's attempts to force a recount of votes in Michigan, they concluded, "All evidence suggests the 2016 general election was not tainted by fraud or mistake." Ryan: no evidence of rampant voter fraud Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters he has seen no evidence of rampant voter fraud in the 2016 election. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters voter fraud does happen, adding, There are always arguments on both sides about how much, how frequent and all the rest." South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the Republican presidential contenders Trump defeated in the run-up to the national election against Clinton, called on the president to stop repeating the claim, saying that if he has evidence of fraud, "he needs to disclose why he believes that." Clinton won the popular vote count over Trump by nearly three million votes. But he won where the Electoral College, the system the United States uses to pick its presidents, with the state-by-state election results determining the winner, not the national vote total. Sanders: fraud claims 'nonsensical', 'delusional' Another presidential candidate, Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran as a Democrat against Clinton, told reporters Trumps voter fraud claims are nonsensical and "delusional." Sanders expressed fear that Trump is laying the foundation for more restrictive voting laws. "What I fear about that statement, and that is something we should all worry about ... he is sending a message to every Republican governor in this country to go forward with voter suppression." Sanders called voter suppression the greatest democratic crisis facing the United States. The investigation into voter fraud could be led by the Justice Department, which enforces voting rights laws. But the nation's top law enforcement agency analyzes cases based on whether they can be prosecuted, and has not meddled in efforts to improve voting systems. Although Justice Department probes into voter fraud are rare, it conducted a five year investigation during the George W. Bush administration. No evidence of fraud was found and the probe prompted more investigations and forced resignations of then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and seven U.S. attorneys. Voting rights experts at New York University's Brennan Center for Justice recently urged the Justice Department to learn from its past. "In 2007, the Justice Department was upended by scandal because it had pursued a partisan agenda on voting, under the guise of rooting out suspected 'voter fraud,'" wrote the center's Adam Gitlin and Wendy Weiser on January 7. Any Justice Department probe could be led by Senator Jeff Sessions, the president's choice to lead the agency. Sessions has claimed in the past that voter fraud exists, but recently tried to separate himself from Trump's assertion that millions committed voter fraud. Spicer cited Tuesday a 2008 Pew Research study that supposedly determined that 14 percent of U.S. voters were not citizens. Pew did not produce such a study, but the Washington Post released a disputed 2014 report that came to a similar conclusion. Pew produced a 2012 study that found evidence of outdated voter registration forms but did not conclude there was actual fraud. Federal worker Greg Guthrie had held out hope after Donald Trump's election to president that his professed advocacy for the American worker would extend to the federal workforce, too. That hope diminished after Trump on Monday issued an executive order implementing a hiring freeze across the federal government, with exceptions only for military, national security or public safety personnel. So while Guthrie wasn't shocked to learn Trump had imposed the hiring freeze, he was disappointed. "I guess there's a presumption that a lot of people in government are not needed,'' Guthrie, an information specialist with the Department of Commerce's National Technical Information Service in Alexandria, said in a phone interview. "But we're pretty lean right now, anyway. Now to say that there will be no new, young workers - that's pretty draconian.'' Trump had raised the possibility of a hiring freeze during the campaign. At a news conference Monday, Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the freeze ensures taxpayers get effective and efficient government and said it "counters the dramatic expansion of the federal workforce in recent years.'' Statistics from the Office of Personnel Management, though, show that the number of executive branch employees hasn't been this low since 1965, and that the number of employees has stayed more or less steady in the last 15 years. Guthrie, who is also union officer with the National Federation of Federal Employees, said he didn't understand how Trump could conclude that a hiring freeze was a good idea even before his Cabinet nominees have been approved. "As a federal worker, it's kind of deflating to be felt like you're unnecessary,'' he said. The union's president, Randy Erwin, said in a statement Monday that a hiring freeze is a "terrible idea.'' "Freezing federal hiring sounds good on the campaign trail, but it does not make government smaller like some people think it does,'' he said. "All it does is lead to the hiring of more federal contractors which tend to cost taxpayers more than federal employees and are less accountable.'' The full effect of a hiring freeze is unclear. According to OPM, the federal government hired 221,000 workers in fiscal 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. The number excludes uniformed military personnel. But roughly a third of those hired were military veterans, who enjoy hiring preferences in the federal government. Erwin also pointed out that the Department of Veterans Affairs currently has 2,000 vacancies and said "it is the American veteran that is going to suffer'' because the agency is now barred from filling those vacancies. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, whose district includes many federal workers, said Monday that the government actually needs to increase its capacity to handle certain issues, like cybersecurity. "This Executive Order ... will have a depressing effect on our ability to recruit and retain the next generation of federal workers,'' he said. "This is a far cry from President Kennedy's effort to inspire a new generation to enter public service.'' Republican Barbara Comstock, who also represents parts of northern Virginia in Congress, announced her own opposition to the hiring freeze and said "past hiring freezes in both Republican and Democrat administrations have cost the federal government money in the long run.'' U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a decree barring federal funding for non-governmental international groups that support abortions, relaunching a political battle that has long divided Republican and Democratic administrations. The rule prohibits foreign organizations that receive U.S. money from providing abortion services or giving information about the procedure, even if the groups use separate money for those purposes. The regulation, known as the Mexico City Policy, was first put in place in 1984 by Republican President Ronald Reagan. The law has become a political volleyball with former Democratic President Bill Clinton revoking it when he took office in 1993, former Republican President George W. Bush reinstating in 2001, and former Democratic President Barack Obama annulling it again in 2009. It has been used by incoming presidents to signal their position on abortion rights. Although the move Monday by Trump to reinstate the rule was widely expected, it still drew criticism from women's groups. "Women's health and rights are now one of the first casualties of the Trump administration," said Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, D.C. "President Trump and his administration have made it clear that they are hostile to women, health and science, she said. Make no mistake: Trump's global gag will not make U.S. investments more efficient or effective. The global gag rule has been associated with an increase in unsafe abortions and we expect that Trump's global gag rule will cost women their lives." Trump's reinstatement of the rule comes two days after hundreds of thousands of women marched in Washington and in cities across the U.S. and around the world to show support for women's rights, including abortion. Trump campaigned on a platform opposing abortion. He has promised to appoint an anti-abortion justice to fill a vacancy at the nation's highest court and has said he wants to remove government funding from Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest provider of women's health care, including abortions. Trump's positions against abortion are supported by many Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of Congress. Many of those Republicans also ran on a platform of opposing abortion. New Gambian President Adama Barrow says he will establish a truth and reconciliation commission to examine allegations of misrule during former president Yahya Jammehs 22 years in power. Twenty-two years is a long time, said Barrow in an interview Sunday with VOA. People need to know the truth. An adviser to Barrow told reporters Monday that before leaving the country on Saturday, Jammeh stole $11 million from state coffers and had luxury cars shipped out by plane. Rights groups previously accused him of human rights abuses during his long reign, including the imprisonment of political opponents and journalists. Jammeh left Gambia on Saturday under threat of military action by from the West African bloc ECOWAS. The former president had refused to accept Barrows victory in the December 1 presidential election. Journalist Sainey Marenah spoke to Barrow in Dakar, where he was sworn in Friday at the Gambian embassy. The new president said he turned down a request from Jammeh to remain in Gambia, on the grounds that he could not guarantee Jammehs security. Barrow, 51, said his government will push for comprehensive electoral reforms to ensure future presidents face term limits. We want to bring in a very good foundation for democracy and also strong pillars of democracy where terms are limited, he said. Presidents will always be very careful. We will avoid what has happened with Yahya Jammeh being here for 22 years and never wanted to leave power. Barrow said his administration will work to professionalize the Gambian security forces and the army. We want to get a very disciplined force that is organized; a force that has training. We want [to] separate the forces. Internal security is police. We want to get the police to do internal security. The military is our defense. There will be serious reform to get that done, he said. Barrow said he does not intend to retain Jammehs Cabinet ministers, but he will reassess the security forces to see where they fit because they are all Gambians. To foreign investors, Barrow said Gambia, often referred to as the smiling coast, is back. What we are going to tell them is the door is open, he said. Investment people cannot invest if the environment is not there. The environment is good governance, security, rule of law. These are the things that can encourage business people. And that will be first class in the Gambia. We will make sure people are secure so they can invest. With that investment, we can create jobs, we can develop this country. He refused to say how many terms he would like to serve, saying that decision will be left to Gambians. We are here, giving this responsibility, based on trust. We want execute that to the fullest. Now its up to the Gambian people to decide. Inspired by the movie Terminator, Yingzhe Fu has wanted to make robots ever since he was a child. That dream is now being realized in the form of a smart device for new homes, created by a startup called Togg that he co-founded. The computer would be built into the infrastructure for new homes, so it can turn lights on and off, respond to commands, such as giving a weather report, and even tell jokes. So we are basically making a mini computer. Home builders directly build our devices into the wall, and that device will help you to connect with your mobile phone, [and] with your other smart devices, said Fu. Being from China, Fu said there was little chance he could have stayed in the United States to start a company without the aid of an early-stage venture capital firm called Unshackled. Without their help, without them sponsoring me, I dont think I would do that, said Fu. Foreign nationals Unshackled was created to help immigrant entrepreneurs stay in the United States as they pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship. One of Unshackleds founding partners, Manan Mehta, is an American, but he learned first-hand the challenges facing foreign nationals who aspire to be entrepreneurs in the U.S. Both me and my co-founder Nitin, respectively, had to shut our own companies down due to co-founders on visas, so for the last two and a half years," said Mehta. "Weve been putting our minds to how do we navigate and solve the problem that a lot of immigrant founders face which is, 'How do I start my business and maintain sponsorship in the United States so I can dedicate every waking hour to my entrepreneurial desires?'" Foreign nationals often stay in the United States by getting a job with a company that can sponsor a special workers visa called the H-1B. But getting this type of visa is not easy. In 2017, there were 236,000 applications for a skilled workers visa. There are just 85,000 visas available, some of them requiring an advanced degree. H-1B visas also make it tough for foreign nationals to start their own businesses in the U.S. "As a H-1B holder, youre not supposed to be unemployed at any given point of time," said India native Prateek Joshi. "You have to be under employment contract, so the thing is, you cannot just quit your job and start working on your product because thats not allowed. So you have to do it nights and weekends." That is why Mehtas earlier startup failed. We were left to work with them on nights and weekends, and in this day of improbable innovation, if you dont move fast, youre falling behind, noted Mehta. Undivided attention Mehta and his partners created Unshackled to solve that dilemma and allow immigrant entrepreneurs to work on their startup fulltime, in the United States. Unshackled sponsors work visas and hires founders of startups to work fulltime on their own projects. The firm invests up to $300,000 in the startups and provides entrepreneurs with a free co-working space in the heart of Silicon Valley. In the initial days of a startup, any cost saving is very, very helpful. For example, we would not be able to afford this space in the middle of Palo Alto if youre going to pay rent, said Joshi who now is able to work on his startup, Pluto AI, a platform for water management. Unshackled also provides a network of resources, legal help and mentors for entrepreneurs who may be relatively new to the United States. One of the biggest challenges we see with immigrant founders is that they dont have deep networks," Mehta said. "Someone like myself whos born and raised in the U.S., I have 32 years of networks thats been built. But if you came to this country for university or for a job, you may be limited to five or seven years at most. Invaluable information Fu said the business idea development, marketing and how to do the pitch for investors to get funding were particularly helpful pieces of information that Unshackled provided for his startup. So by having this ecosystem where we have everyone working out of our space, they now also create a community which allows them to share and move faster on experiences and things that work and oftentimes things that dont work, said Mehta. Unshackled has invested in founders from 15 different countries, on almost every continent, with the hope that the company will benefit financially from startups like Togg and Pluto AI as they become successful in the future. By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Jan 23 (PTI) JSW Energy Ltd today said on consolidated basis it has posted lower net profit at Rs 21.39 crore in the third quarter ended December 31 compared to Rs 309.25 crore in the same period of last fiscal. Total income stood at Rs 1,954.83 crore for the quarter under review, down from Rs 2,627.04 crore posted in the three-month period ended on December 31, 2015, a company statement said here. advertisement On standalone basis, the company has posted a net loss of Rs 24.45 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016 as compared to net profit of Rs 362.29 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015. Total income has decreased from Rs 1,683.69 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 to Rs 979.49 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2016. The company said that it is raising long term funds through the issuance of redeemable non-convertible debentures upto Rs 1,000 crore by way of a private placement. The company said its wholly-owned subsidiary, Karcham Wangtoo Hydro project of Himachal Baspa Power Company has filed a petition for determination of final tariff with Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). Pending the receipt of final tariff order, the revenue from sale of power under long term power purchase agreements are being recognised in terms of expected tariff as per the available guideline. The hydro projects were acquired during September 2015, it said. PTI AP RSY JMF --- ENDS --- President Donald Trump was invested on 20 January 2017. Although he had just sworn his oath, and therefore had not had the time to do anything either for good or for evil, on the very next day, Hillary Clintons sponsors organised a gigantic demonstration against him in Washington. As proof that what is at stake here does not concern only the United States, identical demonstrations were staged in numerous countries, particularly in the United Kingdom. Of course, the demonstrators were not reacting to any particular act, but simply expressing their fears. Outside the US, many of them carried signs reading - Im terrified. Donald Trump, whose adversaries portray him as an unpredictable character without any clear guide-line, has been indicating for a long time what he intends to do. He first of all demonstrated, then explained, first by allusion and then quite clearly he intends to give back to the American People the Power that was confiscated on 11 September 2001 [1]. Even before he took his place in the electoral campaign, Donald Trump had attempted to open the file on this usurped Power by sponsoring the movement for the truth about the birth of President Barack Obama [2]. He showed, basing his argument on the testimony of the Presidents grandmother, then on the absence of registration in the Hawai records, then again on the irregularities in the official certificate, that Obama was born a subject of the British Crown in Kenya. And yet, during the electoral campaign, once he had realised that he had a chance of winning, he closed the file and abstained from any provocation against the President. He stopped making any allusion to the diarchy of Power. However, he did concentrate his message on the usurpation of real Power by a small exclusive group for whom Hillary Clinton is the visible spokeswoman. His positions, which make no sense at all in terms of the traditional political differences, whether concerning foreign policy is he an interventionist or an isolationist? - or the economy is he a free-trader or a protectionist? - are on the contrary perfectly clear to those who are suffering from the usurpation of Power [3]. He has never stopped repeating, clearly enough so that he is supported by his compatriots, but allusively enough to avoid head-on conflict, that all the decisions taken since 9/11 are illegitimate. This has nothing to do with the antagonism between Republicans and Democrats, since these decisions were approved by the Republican Bush Jr. and the Democrat Obama. On the contrary, it has to do with an ancient cleavage in civilisation between the caste who closed their eyes to 9/11, and those who were crushed by it, between the adepts of Mayflower Puritanism and the adepts of Freedom [4]. Contrary to his predecessors, he wrote his speech of investiture himself, and centred it around this - Todays ceremony, however, has very special meaning because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another but transferring it from Washington DC and giving it back to you the people... What truly matters is not what party controls our government but that this government is controlled by the people. [5]. As from the first day, and contrary to US tradition, he set up a National Security team composed of notable soldiers - Generals James Mattis, John Kelly and Michael Flynn. Despite the fact that the Press presents them as an incoherent grab-bag of personalities chosen independently of one another, he has in truth chosen them to take back the Power confiscated by a faction of the military-industrial complex. The new Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, was confirmed by the Senate and has been sworn in. He is considered by his peers as a learned man and one of the best strategists of his generation. During the electoral campaign, he had been asked to present himself, in the name of the Republican party, to run against Trump. He hesitated for a moment, having discovered the dark side of politics in Washington, then retired from the competition without explanation [6]. His return was warmly welcomed by the army, particularly since two thirds of the military had voted for Donald Trump. Over the last two years, Mattis was a researcher at the Hoover Institution (a Republican think-tank based at Stanford University). He pursued his studies on the relations between civilians and the military, which attests to his will to place the armed forces back in service of the People. When he arrived at the Pentagon, Mattis distributed a short Memorandum in which he affirmed that the military and the Intelligence agencies are the sentinels and guardians of the Nation - a phrase which is aimed at soothing the conflict concerning Russia which opposes Trump and the outgoing director of the CIA, John O. Brennan - and at re-orienting the work of the security forces towards the defence of the Nation, rather than the pursuit of an imperial fantasy or the protection of the interests of multinational companies [7]. Since the director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, is still waiting for his confirmation by Congress, President Trump went to the CIA himself. While they talked of one thing and another, he clearly set the course - to eradicate Islamic terrorism from the surface of the Earth [8]. He seems to be aware of the debates that have shaken the Agency over the last four years about the folly of supporting Daesh debates which earned his National Security advisor, General Michael Flynn, his post as director of Military Intelligence. Trump made no mention of the controversy about alleged Russian interference in the US electoral campaign, and even less about the role of Russian agents that the Press had attributed to his ex-campaign director, Paul Manafort, and two other of his advisors, Carter Page and Roger Stone. In the absence of Pompeo, the President did not touch on the question of the structural reform of the CIA. General Mattiss Memorandum, the presence of General Flynn by Trumps side, and the way in which he had praised Pompeo a brilliant student of the military academy of West Point give the impression that this new team intends to place the CIA in the orbit of the Pentagon rather than that of the Secretary of State an option which is aimed at reducing the possibilities for intervention by Hillary Clinton, still influential in her ex- Secretariat. Donald Trump has asked about fifty members of the Obama administration to remain at their posts. Among them - Brett McGurk, special envoy to the anti-Daesh Coalition; Adam Szubin, under-Secretary of the Treasury tasked with fighting the financing of terrorism; Nicholas J. Rasmussen, director of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre; Dab Kern, special Chief of Staff for the White House. It therefiore seems that the White House wants to be sure it has a team which has the means to fight Daesh. The inter-service Chief of Staff, General Joe Dunford, has announced that he is ready to present to President Trump various options for attacking Daesh. One of them consists of taking al-Raqqah with 23,000 Arab mercenaries who have already been trained by the Pentagon. Dunford was in Paris on 16 January, where he presided a meeting of the Coalition Chiefs of Staff. Whatever Donald Trump decides, he will have to take into account the fact that the Caliphate has been heavily armed by the Obama administration. Besides this, Daesh disposes of an experience in combat which the Pentagons new mercenaries do not have. Also, before attacking al-Raqqah, he will have to decide which future he wants to favour in Iraq and in Syria. President Trump has named his Homeland Security secretary, General John Kelly, who has been confirmed by the Senate and has assumed his functions. According to the US Press - usually an untrustworthy source of information, to be taken with great precaution this ex-CEO of SouthCom was chosen for his knowledge of the Mexican border and the stakes involved. Maybe. However, there may be another reason for this choice - Kelly was Mattiss assistant in Iraq. In 2003, both of them entered into conflict with Paul Bremer III, the boss of the Coalition Provisional Authority - which, contrary to what the title might suggest, did not depend on the Coalition, but on the men who organised 9/11 [9]. They also opposed the civil war that John Negroponte had decided to organise in order to head the Iraqi Resistance away from fighting the Occupier, by creating the Islamic Emirate in Iraq (future Daesh). On the contrary, Mattis & Kelly attempted to honour the heads of the tribes of central Iraq in order to no longer be perceived as occupiers. They sought the help of the head of US Military Intelligence in Iraq, Michael Flynn. The three men finally submitted to the orders of the White House. General Michael Flynn was nominated as Donald Trumps National SecurityAdvisor. Since this post had not been approved by the Senate, he immediately assumed his functions. We have already presented this man as the defender of the United States as a Nation, and as such, as the principal opponent of the use of Islamic terrorism by the CIA [10]. Seeking any way they could of diminishing his authority, Hillary Clinton and her campaign director John Podesta started a rumour that he or his son, Michael Flynn Jr., were unable to keep their mouths shut, and had helped us write an article on the reform of Intelligence [11]. In case this charge would not be enough, they used one of Michael Jrs Tweets, which linked to one of our articles, to accuse the two men of conspirationism - in other words, seeking the truth about the events of 9/11 [12]. Contrary to what the US Press pretends, Generals Flynn, Mattis & Kelly have known each other for a long time, and serve the same objective which does not mean that relations between them are always easy. Only senior officers of this status are capable of helping President Donald Trump to take back the Power that has been usurped since 11 September 2001. In order to succeed, they will have to clean out the Pentagon, CIA and the international institutions which have been corrupted - NATO, the European Union and the UNO. The millions of people who demonstrated against President Donald Trump were right to howl their fear. Not that the new inhabitant of the White House is a misogynist, a racist and a homophobe which he is not but because we are approaching a moment when the knots will be untied. It is more than probable that the usurped Power structure will not allow itself to be unravelled without reacting. This confrontation will not take place in the Middle East this time, but in the West, and particularly in the United States. Honours Call for Nominations The Gibraltar Honours Board will meet in April 2017 under the Chairmanship of His Excellency the Governor to consider: Nominations to be put forward for the New Year Honours List 2018; and, Nominations for the Gibraltar Award, which are decided locally and will be announced in the Queens Birthday List 2017. Nominations can be submitted by anyone at any time and should be sent for the attention of: Honours Secretary, Office of the Governor, The Convent, Main Street, Gibraltar. Nominations to be considered at the next meeting should be submitted as soon as possible but ideally no later than 10th April 2017. The awards for nomination are: Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) This is awarded for having a prominent role at national level or a leading role at regional level. It may also be awarded a distinguished, innovative contribution to any area. Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) This is awarded for having a major local role in any activity, including people whose work has made them known nationally in their chosen area. Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) This is awarded for a significant achievement or outstanding service to the community. An MBE is also awarded for local hands-on service which stands out as an example to other people. British Empire Medal (BEM) Reintroduced in 2012 this rewards a sustained, local contribution or innovative, high-impact work of a relatively short duration (e.g. 3 to 4 years). The Gibraltar Award: The Gibraltar Award is awarded to residents of Gibraltar who have rendered loyal and valuable service worthy of special recognition or, who have by their loyalty and meritorious conduct been of exceptional benefit to the people of Gibraltar. It is important that nominations for any awards are strong, with supporting information. Further details including nomination forms and guidance notes are available from the Convent reception or from the Honours Board Secretary This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. RGP Marine Crew Recover Stolen Jetski Yesterday afternoon RGP Marine Section personnel recovered a stolen Yamaha Wave Runner JetSki, whilst on a routine patrol that culminated in a high speed sea borne chase. Whilst on patrol the RGP crew sighted the JetSki as it was leaving the area of Marina Bay at speed, carrying three individuals on board. When signalled by the RGP crew to stop, the navigator of the JetSki accelerated and headed north towards Spain. The RGP vessel gave chase with beacons on and sirens sounding. The JetSkis occupants failed to heed further instructions to stop and the high speed chase continued in the direction of El Muelle San Felipe, the La Linea Breakwater, where all three individuals jumped ashore abandoning the JetSki and making good their escape on land. Spanish Law Enforcement Agencies were informed and the JetSki was subsequently towed back to the Marine Base where it was ascertained that the locally registered JetSki had been stolen from the Victoria Stadium JetSki pontoons. Police continue to investigate the matter with a view of identifying the perpetrators. Like with all other property, Police advise owners of recreational craft to take appropriate measures to protect against the theft of their vessels or property. This advice ranges from securing vessels, not leaving equipment fitted in locations from where it can be easily removed or leaving valuables visible. Photo: TIBRINA HOBSON/AFP/Getty Images As anticipated, Casey Affleck received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for Manchester by the Sea this morning. The news served as evidence to some that multiple allegations of sexual harassment against him and a related lawsuit have been successfully swept under the rug, at least in the Academys eyes (Affleck has previously denied all allegations against him, and settled the suits out of court for an undisclosed sum). Fresh Off the Boat actress Constance Wu, however, is not about to let the viewing public forget the accusations against Affleck, who is now being celebrated for his talent. Men who sexually harass women 4 OSCAR! Bc good acting performance matters more than humanity, human integrity! Bc poor kid rly needs the help!, the actress tweeted sardonically. In a longer post, she expounds further: Hes running for an award that honors a craft whose purpose is examining the dignity of the human experience & young women are deeply human. Wu calls on voting organizations to recognize their role in condoning award recipients actions. It signifies said committees awareness of the harmful oversights it may have unknowingly participated in in the past, and the respect and dignity to learn from the past, not to repeat it and not to use it as an excuse to reinforce the industrys gross and often hidden mistreatment of women. Wu concludes by acknowledging that shes been told not to speak about the matter: Ive been counseled not to talk about this for careers sake. F my career then, Im a woman & human first. Thats what my craft is built on. Men who sexually harass women 4 OSCAR! Bc good acting performance matters more than humanity,human integrity!Bc poor kid rly needs the help! Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) January 24, 2017 Boys! BUY ur way out of trouble by settling out of court!Just do a good acting job,thats all that matters!bc Art isn't about humanity,right? Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) January 24, 2017 Here's a thing I wrote during an convo w/ @PeterShinkoda about how Casey Affleck's win will be a nod to Trump's. pic.twitter.com/FjrRsniS9d Constance Wu (@ConstanceWu) January 24, 2017 Photo: Dale Robinette/Lionsgate La La Land tied a major Oscar record this morning, earning 14 nominations, a haul it shares only with Titanic and All About Eve. With just a month to go until the actual ceremony, the question now becomes: Can La La Land break another record by winning the most Oscars ever? To do so, it would have to earn more than 11 wins the ceiling hit by Titanic, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and the 1959 Ben-Hur and since two of La La Lands nominations come in the Best Original Song category, it can max out at 13. How feasible would that feat be? Lets go over its chances in every category, from the likeliest wins to the long shots. Best Picture If the Academy saw fit to give La La Land a record number of nominations, theres no way it will lose Best Picture. Take this one to the bank. Best Original Score This ones also going to go to the musical. Best Actress Ive harped on this stat before, but when a young ingenue is nominated for a film that also earned nods for Best Picture and Best Director, she tends to win. (See Brie Larson for Room, Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook, and Natalie Portman for Black Swan.) That will give Golden Globe winner Emma Stone the edge here, despite a strong turn from Portman in Jackie, and a contender with momentum in Elles Isabelle Huppert, who some pundits will likely now advance as Stones rival. Best Director For a time, I thought Academy voters might want to engineer an increasingly common split by giving La La Land the Best Picture trophy while rewarding Moonlights Barry Jenkins here. That theory fell by the wayside after the Academy ruled that Moonlights script would compete for Best Adapted Screenplay, not the Best Original Screenplay race it had initially been positioned for. Jenkins will almost certainly win in that category, freeing up voters to vote Damien Chazelle for Best Director. Best Original Song The only reason Im more sure of La La Lands eventual victory in score instead of song is because here it has two submissions competing against each other. Could City of Stars and Audition cancel each other out? I suspect that the former, which was heavily featured in the trailers and has essentially become the movies theme song, will still do just fine. Best Sound Mixing While Ive heard some complaints about La La Lands sound mix, it would be shocking if a musical couldnt take this home. When Chicago won Best Picture, this was one of the five other Oscars it picked up. Best Cinematography In this category, La La Land is nominated against some awfully pretty pictures, including Moonlight. Still, La La Lands camera choreography ought to put it over the top. Best Film Editing Chazelles Whiplash won this Oscar, and while La La Lands cutting isnt quite as flashy its major duet is done in one sustained take I dont detect a significant competitor that will bump it off. Best Original Screenplay Here, weve got a race between Chazelle and Manchester by the Sea director-scribe Kenneth Lonergan. While most pundits had favored the latter all season, Chazelle pulled off a significant victory over Lonergan at the Golden Globes, which helps his cause. Still, this one will be a nail-biter. Best Production Design This trophy tends to go to a period or fantasy film, and while La La Land incorporates elements of both, its still a modern-day story set in real, recognizable settings. If it wins in this category, it will be because of Chazelles audacious dream finale, which is a real masterwork of art direction. Best Sound Editing The difference between Sound Editing and Sound Mixing is that this category rewards the actual creation of sounds, rather than the way theyre mixed together. The Sound Editing Oscar nearly always goes to an action movie, so La La Land has its work cut out for itself here. I mentioned Chicago earlier, and while it won for sound mixing, it wasnt even nominated in this category. Best Costume Design Can a movie win this Oscar for a single dress? Emma Stones canary-yellow number is one of last years most memorable costumes, but theres no changing the fact that though La La Lands threads are retro-leaning, contemporary films simply dont do well in this category. The last modern-day movie to win Best Costume Design was 1994s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and that had plenty of outrageous drag-queen outfits to lean on. Best Actor Up against Manchester by the Seas Casey Affleck, Ryan Gosling will be happy just to be nominated. (And if Affleck doesnt win for some reason, the usurper will likely be Fences star Denzel Washington.) Count on a loss here, though La La Land can only afford one other snub in addition to Gosling if it wants to tie the all-time win record. Michael Shannon, smiling. Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images A few months ago, when New York decided to feature Michael Shannon in our first Oscars issue, we knew he was a long shot for a nomination. But we just love the guy. Hes a freaking national treasure, and he was in eight movies this year, an astounding feat worthy of its own kind of award. So we were both surprised and pleased to see Shannons name on the list of Oscar nominees for Best Supporting Actor this morning for his mesmerizing work as a West Texas police detective tearing up the desert while also hacking up a lung in Tom Fords Nocturnal Animals. And in honor of Mr. Shannon, the goddamn genius, heres the full transcript of a conversation we had with him about awards this November over margaritas and guacamole. You talk a lot in interviews about how you wish you said no to projects more, and could be more like Daniel Day-Lewis. Well, he does it the right way. He figured it out. You know, its funny. I went to the New York Film Critics Awards the year he was getting an award for Lincoln, and Spielberg got up and talked about how hard it was to get him to do that movie. And I was sitting there listening to that speech like, Good for you. Good for you, Danny. Thats what you gotta do. It was always in the most respectful way that he would say, No, Im not doing this. Like, hed send these beautiful, handwritten letters, very poetic, but would end with Im not doing this movie. Five times! And then he was like, Well, all right. Speaking of that, what do you think about awards? Were doing this awards issue Id better win a damn Oscar if youre putting me in the Oscar issue! Its about damn time, Jesus! Do you care about awards? I dont know. Its all context, isnt it? I mean, when youre there, that night, and you get the award, Ill bet it feels pretty cool. But if a couple weeks after you got the award, you got kidnapped and taken to Guantanamo Bay and put in a cell, you probably wouldnt care if you got an Oscar or not. Its going to involve a lot of hand-shaking. Yeah, Im gonna do very little of that this year. I mean, Ill do a little bit of it. Its intriguing to a certain extent. Im just always kind of bewildered by it, because I look back at my life and where I come from, and the fact that Ive gotten to this place, to be in this position, it just never ceases to amaze me. Are you talking about being in the position of having a view of the Statue of Liberty from your apartment, or in the position of just being an actor? The first time I went to the Oscars, I was like, This just doesnt make any sense. But then you think, probably a lot of people feel that way. That you were there? Yeah, that I was there, that Id be there at all. I think Philip Seymour Hoffman probably felt that a lot. Aw, Phil. Poor guy. He was a big champion of yours. Did he ever give you advice about the Oscars, when you were there? No, he never talked about it. I think we were there the same year, right? He was up for Doubt. I think he seemed pretty happy about winning for Capote. How can it not be exciting? How can it not? Youd have to be a corpse not to be excited. Do you remember sitting in that room when you were up for the Oscar last time, for Revolutionary Road [in 2009]? Were you drunk? No, I wasnt drunk. I remember! I sat there and watched Heaths father make the speech. It was kind of beautiful, but it was also hard because my own father had just passed away shortly before I did that. It was an intense experience. What do you think about the idea that you have to campaign for it? Well, you dont, really. I mean, look who won last year. Wait, who won last year? [Ed Note: I really couldnt remember.] Ha ha!! [slamming palm on table] Leo DiCaprio won Im not telling. But this is the perfect example of why it doesnt fucking mean a hill of beans! Its the same thing with the World Series! A year from now, people will probably remember the Cubs, but you dont know who won last year, do you? No, I dont care enough about baseball! Im not letting you off the hook! Tell me, who won Best Supporting Actor last year? [A long pause.] Rylance. Mark Rylance! He didnt campaign for shit! He didnt do anything! And then he just got up and was like, Well, everybodys good. You dont have to campaign. I think its all hocus-pocus. Youre shaking your head at me that I forgot! I wasnt judging you! I was just saying thats a perfect example of how it just doesnt matter. Photo: Getty Images According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Brian Knappenbergers documentary Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press will soon be headed to Netflix. The film, part of Sundances U.S. documentary competition this week, explores the court case Bollea v. Gawker and its aftermath, specifically the demise of Gawker.com. Terry Bollea, also known as professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, was awarded $140 million by the courts after it was determined that the media companys decision to publish video of the wrestler having sex constituted a violation of his privacy. Venture capitalist and member of President Trumps transition team Peter Thiel helped fund the lawsuit, as well as several others targeting the site. Gawker Media was subsequently purchased by Univision in August of last year. Gawker.com published its last post on August 22, 2016. Photo: Bennett Raglin The New Edition Story, the BET mini-series that traces the evolution and dissolution of the popular and influential 80s boy band, unfolds over not one, not two, but three nights. A six-hour television event, as BET is billing it, seems like a lot considering that Whitney Houston didnt capture that much airtime when Lifetime gave her the two-hour TV movie treatment back in 2015, and a 1992 ABC mini-series about the Jacksons who, as The New Edition Story makes clear, were a huge influence on New Edition only took up four hours and two evenings in prime time. You have to hand it to BET, though. The network knows its audience and knows that a large segment of it probably adored New Edition in their Mr. Telephone Man heyday. If the network builds a block of programming around Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, and Ralph Tresvant, as well as later Brown replacement Johnny Gill, BET executives are confident viewers will come, and so will advertisers. Seriously, there are so many commercial breaks built into The New Edition Story that anyone who watches live can comfortably drink the contents of an entire punch bowl and still have plenty of time for bathroom breaks and, possibly, a trip to the grocery store to get more punch. The mini-series, which airs Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights at 9 and counts every member of the group as a co-producer, touches on every predictable ingredient thats baked into the music biopic: the coalescing of talent that results in a record deal, jealousy and conflicts between band members, money troubles, unscrupulous managers, unexpected pregnancies, drug use. Even if you know nothing about New Edition who recorded major hits like Candy Girl and Cool It Now, spawned the success of Bobby Browns solo career and spinoff group Bell Biv DeVoe, and paved a harmonizing path for subsequent artists like Boyz II Men, who named themselves after a New Edition track you will still see whats coming from 850 miles away while sitting in the dark with your contact lenses removed. The energetic and musically talented cast elevates the project by several notches. The young men cast as New Edition in their preteen years including Jahi Diallo Winston, previously seen on AMCs short-lived Feed the Beast, as Ralph, and Caleb McLaughlin from Stranger Things as Ricky are bundles of energy with obvious raw talent. When the five upstarts do a version of the Jackson Fives Stop at a talent night hosted by record producer Maurice Starr, they put on a fireworks display of footwork and kid swagger that is just plain fun to watch. Their adult counterparts, including Empires Bryshere Y. Gray as Michael, Elijah Kelley (The Wiz Live! and Hairspray) as Bell, and newcomer Woody McClain as Brown, also bring the necessary intensity and vocal chops to the production. But as things begin to fall apart spoiler alert: Bobby Brown starts doing coke, pissing off everybody, and gets booted from the band The New Edition Story feels more and more like something thats played out ad nauseam in a zillion other biopics. The transition from young New Edition to old New Edition in which a close-up of each younger cast member morphs into a tight shot on the more mature model also provides the most unintentionally comic moment in the whole mini-series. In what is supposed to have happened in less than a year, these guys go from looking like sixth-graders to dudes of legal drinking age. I know they sing a song called Boys to Men, but there is no reason to be that literal about it. There are other standouts in the cast as well, including an understated, paternal Wood Harris (Avon Barksdale from The Wire) as Brooke Payne, the bands first manager and mentor; Yvette Nicole Brown as Shirley Bivins, mother of Michael; and Sandi McCree as the outspoken mother of Bobby Brown, whose reading of the line, Wheres the damn money? is destined to be GIFd. Engaging performers cant do all the work by themselves, though. While The New Edition Story is honest about the failings of its superstars, it also holds back from putting those shortcomings on display in a way that might get too ugly or revealing. Its weirdly not detailed enough Browns relationship with Houston is barely acknowledged, and, dammit, they dont even show one second of the Cool It Now video being filmed and too bloated for its own good, especially in its overly padded third act. By the closing scene, which features a lengthy series of flashbacks to events we just witnessed during the previous two nights, my feeling was, All right, BET. This had its moments. But you can probably cool it now. He disagreed with the demand for ban on PETA, saying it can be regulated. By Press Trust of India: A day after the pro-jallikattu protests ended on a violent note, Tamil film icon Kamal Haasan today termed the agitation as a symbol of "discontent" and lauded the participants for their "cohesiveness" and maintaining discipline during the week-long stir. While criticising the police action yesterday, he said it was a mixed bag for the students who hogged the "limelight" for making peaceful protests but also experienced "bloodshed" during the last day of the protests. advertisement Addressing a press conference, he, however, disagreed with the demand for ban on PETA, saying it can be regulated. Hassan, who had been vocal in his support for jallikattu and the students agitation, saying it was "absolutely legitimate". "You make a fun of this movement by calling it as a leaderless movement. But look into the cohesion of it. When you go to picnic you go with joy and willingness. In office, you are working for the money. You are looking at the watch to go back home. But (during the protests in Marina) no body was looking to go back home. That was their home temporarily. I am very touched by it," he said. READ MORE:Kamal Haasan EXCLUSIVE on jallikattu crackdown: Shocked to see videos of cops committing arson Recalling that his parents did not allow him to take part in the anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s, he said, "In this case (jallikattu issue), parents came along with their children because they felt there was some kind of logic." Referring to his interaction with the Chief Minister on the issue, he said O Panneerselvam thanked him for trying to maintain peace among the students. Replying to a question, he said: "If you ask me whether I had made any inflammatory statement. I did not. If I had, it is time for me to apologise. I have been very careful (in my comments). Because, the uprising was legitimate for so many people. Something was right about it," he said. On the ban on the bull taming sport, which has now been lifted, he said more people die in accidents than jallikattu. The top star sought a "reasonable explanation" from police for its action that reportedly affected women and children. On the demand for ban on PETA, which had been opposing jallikattu, Hassan said, "I say do not ban anything, regulate it. Or why do you want to ban anything? It is a democratic country. Do not ban. Then ban (my film) Viswaroopam. Tell me what is wrong with Viswaroopam. Tell me if it is sedition. I will change it. Correct me. School me on democracy." advertisement To a question on videos which had gone viral in social media purportedly showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, he said, "Hope cops seen in the videos are not real". Referring to some comments made by his friends that he hates Pakistan, he said, "I dont want to hate. I want to rub down the borders. We created the borders. "If I had been born in 1924 instead of 1954, I would have been sitting in front of (Mahatma) Gandhi and asked him for more unity between Pakistan and India and not give them a separate State. That is my feeling even now." --- ENDS --- Show of hands: When this episode of Timeless opened with a close-up of Wyatt, who immediately thought we were about to jump into a story line about Jessicas killer? If you got it from the get-go, good for you! It took me an extra beat to realize what was happening, which points to what may be the shows only problem: There are a lot of damn narrative threads on this show. Case in point: After Wyatt and Jessicas killer engage in a pretty predictable conversation filled with go-nowhere platitudes (I need to know that it haunts you! If I could change things I would, but I cant!), we see a dream sequence in which Lucy imagines her sister in the flesh. Hey kids, remember Amy? That story line got dropped for what, six episodes? I dont expect all these plot points to weave in and out of the foreground every week, but it can take a moment to catch up. Each time a blast from the past resurfaces, its a reminder that Timeless may have bitten off more than it can chew. I hope youre enjoying your little trips, because Im still lost, Amy snarls at Lucy, clearly enjoying her own little guilt trip. And worst of all, you dont care. Woah, super-aggro! Good thing youre just a once-in-every-six-episodes figment of Lucys imagination. While Wyatt and Lucy are having their own personal issues, Rufus involves new girlfriend, Jiya, whos just been picked by Mason to become his new prototype pilot. She thinks Rufus recommended her for the gig, but he and we know Mason is just trying to cut Rufus out of the equation for refusing to record their time-traveling trips for Rittenhouse. You deserve it, Rufus tells Jiya with a weak smile before he confronts Mason. You asked me to pick a side, so I did, Mason says in reference to their standoff from last weeks episode. Dayum. This turn of events certainly adds a few wrinkles of complexity to Mason, whos shiny chrome exterior has irked me. Of course, teaching Jiya to fly means throwing yet another story arc atop the heap especially since training takes about six months but lets consider that later. Flynn just jumped! This time, Flynns taking us to April 3, 1882 a.k.a. the day Jesse James died. When Lucy mentions that the notorious outlaw was shot in the back while dusting a painting and that she has always remembered that detail, I thought we were gonna have a Chekhovian situation; you know, a gun introduced in the first act must go off in the third. Instead, I was genuinely surprised when Flynn showed up in the nick of time to save James. He then makes him an offer he cant refuse, accompanying him through Native American territory to go retrieve a mysterious something. (Of course, since this is Jesse James were talking about, first hes gotta shoot a couple sheriffs dead for no good reason.) Hot on Flynns trail, the Scooby Gang tracks down the guys he killed (with Lucy making a quick reference to the fact that one of them is Robert Ford, because Timeless loves any connection to a movie we all may have seen). Lucy, whos been distracted by that sister dream, snaps out of her funk when she realizes that the best person to help them track down Flynn and James is none other than Bass Reeves, the first black deputy marshal west of the Mississippi and the ostensible inspiration for the Lone Ranger. Thats awesome, Rufus giggles, blown away that hed never heard about this guy before. Dude, were in a posse with the Lone Ranger, he adds once things get underway. Just like Lucy, Wyatt is distracted too, because he really, really, really wants to kill Jesse James. Naturally, Reeves insists on taking him in alive. Its stopping a bad guy from hurting people, Wyatt insists or rather, he reiterates, because hes been on this moral-high-ground kick for a while now. Hes not the only one: When the Scooby Gang later discusses their various personal dilemmas around the campfire, it feels like entire chunks of dialogue were repurposed from earlier episodes that likewise dwelled in the hazy ethics of their time-traveling missions. How far are we willing to go? What were doing is right, Whats to say whats right and wrong anymore, and on and on. I found all this pretty boring. Thankfully, things got much more exciting once we found out what or rather, who Flynn was venturing into the woods to find: a woman! A woman named Emma Witmore, who lives in a log cabin with computers and piloted the Mothership for Mason Industries until she decided the only way to escape the omnipotent Rittenhouse was to fake her own death and stay behind in the olden days! For those Timeless fans who cant shake the Lost comparisons, the arrival of Emma might as well be a big old shout-out to the Others. It opens up a whole can of narrative worms: If Emmas trapped in another era, is anybody else? What does she know that we dont? As Flynn tells her, I need to know what you know to stop them. What I loved most about the Emma introduction was the way it played out with Jiya secretly accessing the lost pilot footage that shows Emma back when she was a wide-eyed time traveler in training. It was an unexpected and thrilling visual conceit that beautifully tied Jiyas and Flynns story lines together, reinforcing one of the shows main themes: that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. So Flynn and Emma skedaddle to parts unknown (I guess theyre going to the Mothership?), and when the Scooby Gang shows up a little later, they wind up being ambushed by a machine-gun-toting Jesse James. Then he, Wyatt, and Reeves end up in a cliched but truly nail-biting three-way standoff, with Reeves holding one gun at Wyatt and another at James. This moment goes nowhere until Lucy ends up being the one to shoot James dead, and in the back no less. Unfortunately, Lucys decision feels more like a choice for the sake of story line than character. I really dont think Lucy would have done this, no matter how messed up she may have been feeling about her sister. Maybe since James was already supposed to be dead, she figured shed just kill him anyway, but the look on her face made it seem like her decision stemmed more from a weariness about the bad guys always winning in the end. It struck me as a bit disingenuous. After all, its not her but Wyatt who later tells Reeves, We did something good. You should be thanking us. (Which, by the way, struck me as another inauthentic moment. Wyatt is whining that a legendary U.S. Marshal aint givin him no respect?) Wyatt carries his aggrieved good-guy routine into the final scene of the night, summoning Rufus to a bar to ask for help. He wants to kill his wifes killer without, for once, just shooting him dead. Im trying to stop a bad man from hurting good people, Wyatt insists, sounding like a very broken record. As cliffhangers go, this one wasnt my favorite, and again, it plays into the shows eagerness to introduce even more story lines into its busy goings-on. Of course, the good news is that Im in love with each of these individual threads. I cant wait to see what Rufus might come up with to help Wyatt; Im dying to find out where Flynn has taken Emma. To (badly) paraphrase Reeves, maybe Timeless aint perfect, but its the only one we got, and without it we got nothing. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, not wanting a TN situation in the state, said today that his government is for kambala, a traditional game which has to be continued. By Nolan Pinto: With citizens of Tamil Nadu securing a victory of sorts with permission to hold jallikattu, coastal Karnataka has woken up. They now want the state government to bring in an Ordinance to allow them to perform kambala from this year onwards. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, not wanting a TN situation in the state, said today that his government is for kambala, a traditional game which has to be continued. And when prodded if like in Tamil Nadu he will bring in an Ordinance, he said, "We will examine the issue and do it (bring in ordinance) if necessary." advertisement The BJP too in the state has come out in support of the traditional sport and want this native cultural act to continue. Senior BJP leader and MLA S Suresh Kumar told India Today that in the background of jallikattu getting a legal sanction, "It is time for the state government to understand the feelings of the local people of Karavali in particular and Karnataka in general and come out with an ordinance or if necessary a bill to let this happen." WARNING TO THE STATE GOVERNMENT S Suresh Kumar also sounded a note of caution to the state government saying, "Before the anguish of the Karavali people gets crystallized, it is time for the state government to act by giving it a legal sanctity." He added that the BJP will support any legal act that the government brings forward. SANDALWOOD ACTOR COMES OUT IN SUPPORT OF KAMBALA For Sandalwood actor Rakshit Shetty, buffaloes have been part of his grandparents homes and he has seen them since his childhood days. He tells India Today that these buffaloes are the pride of their families and they are looked after like children. "When we get guests, they are first taken to the cowshed and then only brought home," he said, adding, "We might miss a meal but for our buffaloes, we make sure that they are fed on time each and every day." On allegations that they are ill-treated and tortured during the kambala races, he says that the only way to make them run is to use a whip since one cannot talk to them and tell them to run. According to the actor, this is a village festival and brings in a lot of unity since all take part in the traditional sport. He added that he is all for kambala since it is the pride of the people and they definitely will not let go of it. On January 28, a procession is expected to be held at 9:00 am, which will start from the Swaraj Maidan in Moodbidri and culminate at the Kadalakere Nisargadhama. More than 200 pairs of buffaloes are expected to be taken in a procession. advertisement Also Read:Karnataka MLA says will go to jail if ban on kambala is not lifted --- ENDS --- A MeT official said that with western disturbances heading for the Kashmir there is forecast of heavy snowfall for three days starting from Tuesday till Thursday this week. By Shuja-ul-Haq : Kashmir valley has witnessed fresh snowfall and rains in most parts. Owing to the new weather conditions the strategic Jammu-Srinagar highway was closed for traffic on Tuesday due to fresh snowfall. The closure followed fresh snowfall in Patnitop and Banihal areas as per the officials. The meteorological department on Monday had predicted widespread snowfall for three consecutive days starting in Kashmir Valley. A MeT official said that with western disturbances heading for the Kashmir there is forecast of heavy snowfall for three days starting from Tuesday till Thursday this week. For three days, there could be heavy snowfall and only after the Friday, the weather will show improvement. In view of the snowfall, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti chaired a high-level meet while Kashmir University postponed all the exams scheduled till January 26. advertisement The government has said that around 400 machines have been kept on standby for snow clearance and adequate stock of supplies have been made available. Also read CM Mehbooba Mufti assesses snow-clearing preparedness of authorities in Kashmir --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Kumkum Bhagya actor Shabir Ahluwalia is one cool guy alright. And he has yet again proved that he is the king of them all by completing the ongoing internet challenge called the Bottle Flip. The challenge is pretty self-explanatory, as the individual who has been challenged has to flip a bottle perfectly so that it lands in an upright position. advertisement Also read: Pragya, Purab and Tanu of Kumkum Bhagya are holidaying in Thailand together; see pics And the super-cool Abhi aka Shabir aced the challenge like no one's business. Have a look: Congratulations @shabirahluwalia #bottleflip A video posted by Sriti Jha (@itisriti) on Jan 23, 2017 at 5:23am PST The video was posted by his co-star Sriti Jha. Sriti shared the video on her personal Instagram account and captioned it as: "Congratulations @shabirahluwalia #bottleflip." Now that is something we would like to try our hands on. --- ENDS --- Kyle Collins, lecturer in harpsichord at Baylor University, will present a faculty recital at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Meadows Recital Hall in Baylors Glennis McCrary Music Building. Collins will be joined onstage by guest flutist Maria Gabriela Alvarado, who is a doctoral student in flute performance at the University of North Texas. For more information, visit www.baylor.edu/music or call 710-3991. Library story times The Waco-McLennan County Library will kick off the year of the rooster with a Chinese New Year story-time program, for ages 3 to 6, this week as follows: 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the East Waco Library, 901 Elm Ave. 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd. 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Central Library, 1717 Austin Ave. 10:30 a.m. Friday at the South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St. For more information, call 750-5942 or visit www.wacolibrary.org. Kiwanis Seniors Waco Kiwanis Seniors will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Golden Corral, 618 N. Valley Mills Drive. Mary Beth Farrell, communications manager for the Dr Pepper Museum, will be the guest speaker. Visitors and those interested in membership are welcome to attend. For more information, call Dick Rood at 399-0072. Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event. The McLennan County District Attorneys Office is asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its ruling from last month that reversed the capital murder conviction and death sentence of Albert Leslie Love Jr. The Court of Criminal Appeals overturned the conviction after ruling that text messages used against Love at his trial in 2013 were improperly obtained without a search warrant. Love was sentenced to death after a trial in Williamson County in the March 2011 shooting deaths of Keenan Hubert, 20, and Tyus Sneed, 17, at the Lakewood Villas apartment complex, 1601 Spring St. The Court of Criminal Appeals, in a 6-3 opinion, ruled Dec. 7 that Love is entitled to a new trial because his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the contents of his text messages were seized without a search warrant and used by prosecutors at his trial. Love will remain on Texas death row near Livingston until the high court rules on the motion for rehearing and issues its mandate in the case. McLennan County District Attorney Abel Reyna and his first assistant, Michael Jarrett, did not return phone messages Tuesday. The states motion argues that Waco police officers were relying on what they understood the law to be at the time and exhibited a good-faith belief that warrants were not necessary for the cellphones. In appellants case, the courts opinion acknowledged that law enforcements good-faith reliance on a statute that has not been held unconstitutional is a valid basis to not apply the exclusionary rule, based on federal jurisprudence, the motion states. The exclusionary rule prevents the government from using most evidence gathered from an unreasonable search or seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The motion also notes that the Court of Criminal Appeals recently agreed to review a case with similar facts regarding cellphone warrants and asks the court to reinstate Loves conviction. Loves trial was moved to Georgetown because the trial of his co-defendant, Rickey Donnell Cummings, was held first in Waco. The appeals court has affirmed Cummings conviction. Cummings, like Love, is a member of the Bloods gang. He was sentenced to death in 2012 for his role in the double slaying. Cummings younger brother, Darvis Cummings, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in September 2014. He pleaded guilty to murder as a party to the ambush slayings. Deontrae Majors and Marion Bible, who were in the front seat of the car Hubert and Sneed were in when they were killed, were wounded in the attack but managed to flee to safety. Testimony from both trials showed Cummings and Love wanted to kill Hubert out of revenge because they thought he killed their best friend, Emuel Man Man Bowers III, at East Waco Park the year before. Prosecutors introduced Loves cellphone records, which included 37 pages showing the contents of about 1,600 text messages. A message was sent to Bowers mother shortly after the ambush attack that said, mission accomplished. Later, after Rickey Cummings was arrested, Love sent a text to his former girlfriend, saying, hide the guns. Trial testimony showed Bowers mother, Shelia Bowers, was upset at the pace of the Waco police investigation into her sons murder. The presidency is not a reality show, but President Donald Trump on his first full day in office made clear that hes still obsessed with being what he once proudly called a ratings machine. He cares enough about it to send his press secretary, Sean Spicer, out to brazenly lie to the media in his first official briefing. This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around the globe, Spicer said. And he added a scolding about widespread reports that differ from his evidence-free assessment: These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are shameful and wrong. Crowd-size experts estimate Trumps audience at far fewer than the million or more that Trump is claiming, and at far less than the size of the following days womens march, which the new president has said little about. And side-by-side photographs showed the contrast between the comparatively thin gathering for Trumps inauguration and the record-setting one in 2009 for former president Barack Obamas first. The mainstream media, including The Washington Post, appropriately made clear note of the falsehoods about crowd size. The New York Times called out false claims in a prominent headline, and many broadcast journalists challenged Spicer immediately although they didnt get a chance to do so to his face, since he took no questions. CNN wisely chose not to air the briefing in full but to report on it and to show parts, providing context. Fox News showed it in its full glory, infomercial style. Some journalists, afterward, sounded stunned at what had transpired. But nothing about this should shock. Anyone citizen or journalist who is surprised by false claims from the new inhabitant of the Oval Office hasnt been paying attention. That was reinforced when Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told Meet the Press Sunday that Spicer had been providing alternative facts to what the media had reported, making it clear weve gone full Orwell. Official words do matter, but they shouldnt be what news organizations pay most attention to, as they try to present the truth about a new administration. White House press briefings are access journalism, in which official statements achieved by closeness to the source are taken at face value and breathlessly reported as news. And that is over. Dead. Spicers statement should be seen for what it is: Remarks made over the casket at the funeral of access journalism. As Jessica Huseman of ProPublica put it: Journalists arent going to get answers from Spicer. We are going to get answers by digging. By getting our hands dirty. So lets all do that. Shes right. So was Tim OBrien, executive editor of Bloomberg View and a Trump biographer, who urged journalists to remember that the White House briefing room is spoon-feeding and Trump is a habitual fabulist. Theres a deeper story here, beyond a single briefing, no matter how memorable. Saturday made clearer than ever that President Trump intends to make the American media his foremost enemy. At his first official visit to the CIA, Trump once again attacked the media, as he did throughout the campaign as he blacklisted news organizations and called reporters scum. Journalists shouldnt rise to the bait and decide to treat Trump as an enemy. Recalling at all times that their mission is truth-telling and holding public officials accountable, they should dig in, paying far more attention to actions than to sensational tweets or briefing-room lies while still being willing to call out falsehoods clearly when they happen. They also should quickly acknowledge and correct their own inevitable errors, as Times Zeke Miller did multiple times and with an apology after erroneously reporting that a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. had been removed from the Oval Office. Trump wants a flat-out war with the nations media for one well-calculated reason: Because he believes it will continue to serve his political purposes, as it has for months. Journalists should respond by doing their jobs responsibly, fairly and fearlessly, in service of the public good. Somebody has to be the grown-up in the room. Weve just been reminded of who it wont be. Margaret Sullivan is The Washington Posts media columnist. Previously, she was The New York Times public editor and the chief editor of The Buffalo News. At noon last Friday, Donald Trump legitimately became the president of the United States. Voters made a free choice, their votes were tabulated accurately, he won the contest under the rules that have always applied to presidential races, the electors registered as much and Congress certified the results. Trump will hold the office every bit as rightfully as his predecessors did including Barack Obama, notwithstanding Trumps noxious attempts to deny his legitimacy. Not everyone agrees about Trumps pending status. Trump isnt a legitimate president, says U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon. A Facebook group called Donald Trump Is Not My President has nearly 150,000 members, and Madonna just echoed the sentiment. My purpose here is not to try to argue the legitimacy deniers out of their view. Its to ask what they mean by it. Are the liberals who deny Trumps legitimacy saying that they will not treat laws signed by him or regulations promulgated by his appointees as valid? Will they stop paying taxes to the federal government that they believe he illegitimately heads? Will they ignore Supreme Court decisions whenever his appointees were decisive to the outcome? Will Rep. Lewis be filing a motion to impeach Trump? Anyone who truly believes that Trump holds his power illegitimately would at least have to consider such steps. But if anyone who is questioning his legitimacy is prepared to follow their premises to such conclusions, I havent heard of it. It could be that all Lewis means is that he will not cooperate with Trump and will not defer to his wishes. But the congressman has not said that he will refrain from working with Trump even when the two men agree. And he need not call Trump illegitimate to refrain from working with him when they disagree; the disagreement itself is enough to justify opposition. Or perhaps Lewis just means that he will refrain from showing Trump any respect and will look for ways to snub him. Again, though, the rhetoric seems disproportionate to the action. Why arent you going to the inauguration? Because Trump is an illegitimate president. And what are you going to do about the usurper in the White House? Things like not going to his inauguration. People who say that Trump is not their president, meanwhile, betray an unhealthy view of the relationship between the citizen and the executive branch of the federal government. When, after all, is one called upon to say that the person in the Oval Office is your president? Ive gotten through every presidency of my lifetime without feeling a need to affirm or deny that any president is mine. All of them have, however, been the president of the country in which I live and of which I am a citizen. And that will be true of Trump for nearly all of the people who are saying he wont be their president, too. Whether they like it or not is irrelevant. (Im not wild about it myself.) Heightened rhetoric has its place in politics, no question. But sometimes it communicates more than the speaker intends, such as that he doesnt take his own words seriously. Ramesh Ponnuru is a Bloomberg View columnist. He is a senior editor of National Review and author of The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life. Who represents us? I have never voted Republican in my life. I believe their policies are variously un-Christian, naive, greedy, uninformed and consistently lacking in imagination, empathy and plain old common sense. As a result, I find it disappointing and entirely typical that my representative in Congress, Bill Flores, is 110 percent behind the bleak, backward vision of House Speaker Paul Ryan and Emperor Donald Trump. (I use quotes around the word representative because, with the exception of Chet Edwards, I have literally had no representation in Congress of my concerns, needs, ideas or hopes for the future during my 23 years of living in Central Texas.) In his utterly tone-deaf regurgitation of GOP doublespeak in the Trib in the wake of Trumps election, Flores implied Americans had given Trump and the GOP a triumphant mandate when a lopsided majority of eligible voters went blue or third party, didnt see any point to voting or were prevented from voting by GOP gerrymandering, xenophobia and phony voter-fraud apologetics. I hope Flores and his fellow oligarch wannabes remember, for a change, that they are expected to represent all the people, including those of us who need Social Security and Medicare, who gratefully embraced the Affordable Care Act, who believe in freedom for all Americans to worship in peace and safety, in free speech and a free press, in sane gun regulations and clean air and water, in democracy and voting rights for all Americans not just the wealthy white ones with great investment portfolios and, in some profligate cases, solid gold bathroom fixtures. Michael Jones, Waco Defending DeVos Americas schools are failing. The United States ranks 40th in math, 25th in science and 24th in reading behind countries like Estonia, despite spending 31 percent more on education per pupil than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. Yet teachers unions blame the problem on disinvestment following the 2008 recession. Now union bosses are viciously attacking President Donald Trumps Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos a supporter of education reform as an actual danger to students. Why? Because DeVos believes in school choice, merit-based pay and tenure reform all of which threaten Big Labors public-school monopoly. In her home state of Michigan, charter schools consistently outperform traditional public schools, providing students with two months of additional gains in reading and math every year. Stanford University research shows that charter schools have significantly better results . . . for minority students who are in poverty. Why should they be stuck in failing public schools? Education funding isnt the problem. Its Big Labor, Americas school bully. Richard Berman, executive director, Center for Union Facts Speaking exclusively with India Today, Maharashtra's Animal Husbandry Minister Mahadev Jankar said that his government will be respecting the public sentiment. By Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: A day after the Tamil Nadu Assembly made jallikattu legal, Maharashtra government too would be seeking a legal opinion on lifting ban on bullock cart races in the state. Speaking exclusively with India Today, Maharashtra's Animal Husbandry Minister Mahadev Jankar said that his government will be respecting the public sentiment. "Maharashtra government is positive about it (lifting ban on bullock cart races) and we will respect the public opinion. I feel that the bullock cart races should resume. But as a minister following SC orders is my first duty. I will soon speak to the chief minister and will also seek opinion from law and judiciary on how do we go about it," Jankar said. advertisement Shiv Sena MP from Shirur Loksabha constituency Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil has requested chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene and seek a President's ordinance to lift the ban on bullock cart racing. Saying that the ban was not right, Jankar added that he was personally in favour of the races as he hails from a farmers' family. "I am a farmer's son, I am aware how to take care of livestock. In fact immediately after becoming a minister I had appointed a lawyer in this case (challenging ban) we have deputed the best of lawyer," Jankar said. The animal Husbandry department has appointed noted legal experts Fali Nariman and PP Rao to represent the state in the apex court challenging the ban. Jankar added that his department was also planning to tour Tamil Nadu to know how they have passed the law. ALSO READ: Kamal Haasan EXCLUSIVE on jallikattu crackdown: Shocked to see videos of cops committing arson To defy jallikattu ban, cock fight conducted in Tamil Nadu --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: passports New Delhi, Jan 24 (PTI) Getting a passport, especially in the hinterland, would be more easier now as the External Affairs Ministry and Department of Post have joined hands for better facilitation of the travel document. The government has short-listed 40 post offices in the country, which could be used for availing passport. These post offices would serve as a single point centre to get passports, apart from the existing capacity. advertisement The pilot project between the MEA and DOP will kick start in Mysuru in Karnataka and Dahod in Gujarat tomorrow. "The service will be started in a phased manner and we have chosen 40 post offices in the first phase. We will try to take it to maximum districts. "The officers from the postal department would be specially trained on the processes involved," Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (MoS) in the Ministry of Communications, said. Sinha, however, declined to name the centres as some of it include post offices in poll-bound states and publicising it would mean violation of Model Code of Conduct. At present, there are 89 Passport Seva Kendras (PSK) across the country as extended arms of 38 Passport Offices. "There was a demand to have more centres that can deliver passports, without people requiring to travel long distances. "Our aim is to open such services in head post offices of every district, so that people dont have to travel much," MoS in the Ministry of External Affairs V K Singh said. Dyaneshwar Muley, Secretary, Consular, Passport and Visa Division, said under the new scheme, officials from the postal department would be executing work done by passport officials as per the Passport Act. Over the years, there has been an expansion in the volume of passport related services. Last year the ministry rendered 1.5 crore passports. PTI PR RG --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Jammu, Jan 24 (PTI) Independent MLA Engineer Rashid was today marshalled out ofthe Jammu and Kashmir Assembly for disrupting its proceedings when he raised the issue of detention of a minor boy under Public Safety Act (PSA) in Kotlbalwal Jail and triggered ruckus in the House. Rashid, who has been raising the issue for the past few days in the House, resorted to sloganeering against the state government and walked into well of House when the session started. advertisement He charged the government with brow beating the teacher and family instead of releasing the boy. Rashid alleged the state police have detained a teacher, who issued the school certificate of the minor. Ignoring directions of Speaker Kavinder Gupta to sit on his chair and not to disturb other members of the House, Rashid continued to indulge in sloganeering. The Speaker ordered the MLA be removed after repeated requests failed to calm him down. He was the marshalled out. On Monday, Rashid submitted a school certificate of the boy that stated that the student was a minor and the Speaker asked the government into look into the matter. Speaking to reporters, Rasheed alleged that the Headmaster has been detained and entire record had been seized and boys mother has been questioned. "Instead of releasing the minor boy they are using brute force to suppress the voice", he charged. PTI AB DV --- ENDS --- State Cultural Department in Madhya Pradesh has allegedly unleashed Bajrang Dal goons on an IAS officer for refusing to divert funds meant for SCs and STs. By Hemender Sharma: In a bizarre incident, a department in Madhya Pradesh has sought to victimise a senior IAS officer of another department. The state Culture Department allegedly unleashed Bajrang Dal goons on the Principal Secretary of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste Welfare Department. The provocation was the red flagging by the senior officer, of a proposal by the Culture Department to divert Rs 27 crore meant for the welfare of SCs and STs towards renovation of 23 temples across the state. advertisement The Bajrang Dal on Monday tried to surround the house of IAS officer Ashok Shah and raised slogans against him alleging he was acting as a hurdle in the renovation of the temples. The protest which was planned in advance was aimed at intimidating Shah. The Bajrang Dal activists retreated from the barricades that were set by the police at some distance from the IAS officer's house. The district police was informed about the Bajrang Dal action in advance but no one from Bhopal police thought it was appropriate to inform Shah about the protest that was targeted at him. Senior IAS officers in the state secretariat are peeved at the role played by the police and are asking why Bajrang Dal activists were allowed to stage the protest in the first place. "If the police knew about the protest they should have informed Shah about it. But they chose not to do so because it was part of a larger design to intimidate the Principal Secretary so that money meant for the welfare of SCs and STs could be diverted towards renovating temples," a senior IAS officer told IndiaToday on condition of anonymity. According to Bhopal district Bajrang Dal convenor Lokendra Malviya, the action was aimed to protest a statement published in a newspaper that was attributed to Shah. "The newspaper reported that Shah had said that Lord Hanuman was not a god of the STs. How can we tolerate this? This has hurt the sentiments of the entire community," Malviya said while talking to IndiaToday. The Bajrang Dal has threatened state-wide action if Shah did not apologise for the statement. IndiaToday spoke to Shah who denied making any such statement. "The representative of the concerned newspaper never spoke to me. Neither did I make any file noting to this effect," he said. Shah has written to the concerned newspaper to this effect and has also informed the state government about the same. He is also in the process of filing a criminal defamation against the newspaper. "It is part of a conspiracy. The news paper report and the Bajrang Dal protest are linked. In fact it appears that the story was planted to facilitate the Bajrang Dal protest," he added. advertisement IndiaToday has reliably learnt that Manoj Shrivastava, Principal Secretary, Culture Department, tried to browbeat a deputy secretary of the SC-ST Welfare Department asking him to sign on the proposal. The deputy secretary, however, refused to sign saying money meant for the welfare of SCs and STs should not be diverted keeping in view their poor living conditions. The newspaper story giving a religious twist to the whole issue appeared only after the deputy secretary refused to sign on dotted lines. The newspaper report was followed by the Bajrang Dal protest. IndiaToday tried talking to Manoj Shrivastava on the issue but he did not respond to calls. A text message seeking his response on the story also went unanswered. Also Read: Telugu director held for hurting sentiments --- ENDS --- Second-year Richmond defender Oleg Markov concedes he was "gifted" games in 2016 and says he is no lock to make the Tigers' side for round one. With Richmond effectively out of finals contention by July, Markov became a regular in the second-half of last season, playing eight consecutive games from his debut in round 16, and was praised for his poise. Not counting his chickens: Tiger Oleg Markov Credit:Getty Images But 2017 presents a new set of challenges for the South Australian, who believes that he while he has been improving over the pre-season, he is not assuming he will be in Richmond's best 22. "I feel I was quite gifted with a few games last year due to injury," Markov said in Maroochydore, where the Tigers are this week conducting a pre-season camp. A whistleblower at Origin Energy has filed an explosive legal action that alleges the company's former chief executive and current president of the Business Council of Australia Grant King engaged in a massive cover-up at the energy giant. The 66-page amended statement of claim filed in the Federal Court on Monday alleges a management cover-up that includes serious non-compliance with regulations relating to safety and the environment, hundreds of wells in Australia and New Zealand that hadn't been maintained for more than 10 years, leaks of oil and gas, contaminations, a failure to inform regulators or the ASX of breaches and the material altering of reports to the board on risk and compliance issues. Origin Energy former chief executive and current president of the Business Council of Australia Grant King. Credit:Janie Barrett In at least one case the regulatory and legislative breaches were so serious they could have cost people their lives, the claim alleges. To fix some of the problems would have allegedly cost tens of millions of dollars. The claimant is whistleblower, Sally McDow, a highly credentialled lawyer and senior compliance manager at Origin. She alleges a number of other whistleblowers exposed wrongdoing. She makes the claim as part of a case seeking compensation for workplace and other breaches. He listed scientific achievements of 2016. China finished building the world's biggest radio telescope, half a kilometre across; launched the world's first quantum satellite, with the aim of pioneering unhackable communications; successfully orbited its "dark matter" detection satellite; tracked its manned space mission. Notably, in his promise of prosperity he included not only the Chinese people but a world audience: "The Chinese people have always believed that the world is a commonwealth," said Xi, speaking from a lectern. "We Chinese not only aspire for good living for ourselves, but also hope people in other parts of the world lead a decent life." One of Beijing's specific economic offerings to other nations is participation in its ambitious "One Belt, One Road" plan, redolent of the ancient Silk Road. This is to link Asia to Europe by land the belt but also by sea, a maritime "road". It's planned to involve multi-trillion dollar infrastructure investments spanning 60 nations. It's a Xi signature and he made sure to mention it. He followed this performance by travelling to the Swiss town of Davos, where the high priests of globalisation gather every year to fret, fashionably, about the state of the world. It was the first time in the 45-year history of the World Economic Forum that a Chinese president had attended Davos. Trump was absent. It was "Hamlet without the prince," according to a commentator with Britain's Guardian newspaper. "The world is looking to China," said the founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, in introducing Xi to the stage last week. The Chinese leader did not disappoint. With Trump's America promising to impose drastic trade restrictions, Xi pledged to his international audience that "China will keep its doors wide open". Giving substance to his rhetoric, officials in Beijing simultaneously announced new measures to open China's mining, infrastructure, services and technology sectors to foreign investors. With Trump announcing America's withdrawal from the market-opening TPP trade agreement, Xi declared that China would "vigorously foster" an "opening-up for common development". China would press ahead with two big international trade deals, both of which, incidentally, include Australia. Xi again addressed his signature plan, One Belt, One Road: "Chinese companies have made over $US50 billion of investment and launched a number of major projects in the countries along the routes," he told the Davos elite. As the US turns inwards, China is reaching out to the world. With Trump scorning the Paris climate treaty, Xi described it as a "hard won agreement" that "all signatories should stick to". The former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt commented: "There is a vacuum when it comes to global economic leadership, and Xi Jinping is clearly aiming to fill it. With some success." Trump drove home the contrast with his inaugural address: "From this moment on, it's going to be America First," the newly minted president said. "Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength," oblivious to the searing lesson of Smoot-Hawley, the US protectionist blunder that helped turn the 1930s downturn into the Great Depression. It fell to the leader of the Chinese Communist Party to make the case for open markets: "Pursuing protectionism," said Xi, "is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war." The problem wasn't globalisation, said Xi, but how best to manage it to make sure that the benefits are shared fairly. In the competition for influence with the other governments of the world, the contrast between Trump and Xi is reminiscent of the Aesop's fable where the north wind and the sun compete to see who is stronger. The test is to see which of them can take the cloak from a traveller walking in the countryside below. The howling north wind buffets him but the traveller only draws his cloak more tightly around his shoulders. In the fable, the beaming sun takes his turn, shining warmly until the traveller removes the cloak. Trump is an angry north wind of threats and bluster; Xi is the benign sun promising prosperity. Of course, China's PR job cannot be taken at face value. It remains a repressive dictatorship that continues to intimidate its neighbours. Its economy recently has been growing not in the rich loam of private entrepreneurship but in the poor soil of government stimulus. America's institutions are strong enough that even Trump will not be able to destroy the country altogether. But we are seeing a momentous contest as America retreats from the world and China embraces it. And governments everywhere weigh their options. Peter Hartcher is international editor. Dr Daniel Kronauer, shown in a double exposure image, studies ants with altered DNA in order to understand complex biological systems. Credit:Beatrice de Gea/New York Times Kronauer and his co-authors describe their work in a series of recent reports that appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal of Experimental Biology and elsewhere. The researchers hope to turn the clonal raider ant into a model organism, right up there with such laboratory stalwarts as E. coli and Drosophila. But while bacteria and fruit flies have proved invaluable for addressing fundamental questions of how genes operate or body plans arise during development, Kronauer's model ants offer scientists the chance to explore, under controlled conditions, the origin and evolution of animal societies. "His system is unbelievably promising for anyone who wants to study social behaviour," said Corina Tarnita, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University who has worked with termites and microbial communities. "You can ask, what are the basic ingredients, the elementary operations that nature has used repeatedly to produce societies - whether you're talking about ants, slime moulds, baboons or even the very first human societies." Gene Robinson, a honeybee expert and director of genomic biology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said, "Social insect colonies are the quintessential complex system, and Daniel has developed a very powerful set of tools addressing big questions of how they operate, and how, in the absence of central control, local interactions can give rise to global patterns." Ant research, human insights One key to the raider ant's potential as a laboratory workhorse is its adaptability. Many ants are finicky. Not so Cerapachys. "It's a weedy species," Kronauer said. "That's true of a lot of model organisms - they have a global distribution, they're good at invading disturbed habitats, and they're good at being raised in a lab." To trace the knotted skeins of antly social life, the researchers take a battery of approaches. They knock out ant genes or edit the lettering of ant genes and see how the ants respond. They ply ants with radioactively labelled neurochemicals and check where in the ants' brains the signalling molecules gain purchase. They measure ant movements by fractions of a millimetre as the insects perambulate along finely calibrated grids traced in ceramic. They overfeed the ants and starve the ants; they mix and match ants of varying age, life experience and transgenicity. The project represents basic research at its most seductively cerebral, yet it may well reveal insights into human disease, like why cancer cells ignore all stop signals from their surroundings, or why the brain turns in on itself during depression. "By studying the neuromodulators that make ants so sensitive to their social environment," Kronauer said, "we could learn something fundamental about autism and depression along the way." The five-year enterprise has not been glitch free. Early on, the ants were stricken by a mite infestation. "It came out of nowhere and killed off 80 per cent of the colonies," Kronauer said. "I went home and told my wife, we're done." Now the protocols are established, the ants are thriving and members of Kronauer's lab handle their subjects with deft efficiency. In one experiment, Vikram Chandra, a graduate student, plucked individual ants from a dish with a small pair of pliers and passed the tool over to Amelia Ritger, a research assistant. She peered through a microscope to inject a dose of hormone into each ant's abdomen and then returned the pliers to Chandra for a refill. "We'll go through a few hundred of these over the next couple of hours," Ritger said. "In structuring our work routine," Chandra said dryly, "we decided to take a tip from the ants." Kronauer said his students and postdoctoral fellows designed everything from scratch: computer algorithms, tracking devices, the incised mazes. "They're engineers, code writers, neuroscientists," Kronauer said. "Me, I'm just the guy who knows about ants." In fact, Kronauer spent years studying ants in the field, working with slave-making ants in Arizona and army ants in Costa Rica. But as much as he loved fieldwork, he began to feel that chasing army ants through the forest was like chasing chimpanzees. "They move, you follow. You can't really do experiments," he said. He wanted to delve deeper, take ants back to the lab, do sequencing, transgenics, knockouts, molecular work, the whole fruit fly buffet. But what sort of ants would comply? As a rule, biologists who study ants in the lab must constantly replenish their stocks from the wild, which would preclude the precise genetic research Kronauer had in mind. Then he happened on three papers about the obscure C. biroi, and he knew he'd found his ant. Mixed signals Beyond its amenable weediness, the clonal raider ant seems almost custom-tailored for experimentation. The world's some 12,000 known species of ants display a variety of reproductive and survival strategies. The most familiar examples are the fully eusocial ants, in which many sterile female workers do all the chores, a single large queen lays all the eggs, and a sprinkling of male ants, or drones, supply the sperm. Among clonal raider ants, there are no permanently designated workers and queens. Instead, all the ants in a colony switch back and forth from one role to the other. About half the time, they behave like workers, gathering food for their young - generally, by raiding the nests of other ants and stealing their larvae. The rest of the time, they go into queen mode and all colony members lay eggs together. Moreover, there are no male raider ants: The eggs develop parthenogenetically, without sperm, creating phalanxes of genetically identical female clones. The ants' unusual mix of genetic uniformity and wildly protean conduct offers a powerful tool for cracking the old nature-versus-nurture conundrum, and the Kronauer researchers have been mapping out the interplay between genes and environmental cues in shaping essential behaviours like reproduction and sociality. Sequencing the genome of the ant, the scientists found that one class of odourant receptor genes had been "massively expanded," Kronauer said, suggesting that C. birois may be even more dependent than the average ant on chemical communication. The researchers then used gene knockout techniques to eliminate that category of odorant receptors from some ants, and the results were startling. The knockout ants had no trouble detecting food. In fact, Kronauer said, "they would eat much more than other ants do." Their appetite for socialising was another matter. Whereas normal raider ants will happily pile on top of one another whenever possible, the knockout ants avoided the crowd, instead wandering around on their own for days at a time, as if they were nothing more than the average asocial beetle. The results suggest that the diversification and specialisation of olfactory receptors were keys to the evolution of ant sociality. The researchers are also exploring the biochemistry of caretaking, asking which signals prod ants to leave the nest and find food for their young. Preliminary results suggest that volatile pheromones exuded by newborn larvae stimulate the brains of adult ants to begin generating the hormone inotocin, the ant's equivalent of oxytocin, which is famed for its role in promoting nurturing behaviour among mammals. For raider ants, an inotocin surge galvanises the urge to venture forth and start plundering, and ants with the greatest number of inotocin-making neurons, Kronauer said, "are the first ones out the door". Some ants, by contrast, ignore the community cues altogether, and they pay dearly for their scoffery. Reporting in the journal Current Biology, Kronauer and his colleagues described the strictness with which a colony of clonal ants synchronised its schedule: Now everyone lays eggs, now the eggs hatch into larvae, now the adults shut down their ovaries and instead attend to the hungry young. On occasion, though, an ant's ovaries remain animated when they should be suspended, and other ants can detect the illicit activity through telltale hydrocarbon signatures on the offender's cuticle. Policing ants soon move in on the hyperovarian individual, drag it out of the nest, hold it down and pull it apart, an execution that can take hours or days. "These ants are like little tanks," Kronauer said. Why is it important to kill off an ant that might breed offseason when that ant is your genetic twin? Kronauer compared the police ants to the body's immune system, and the rebel ant to cancer. "An ant colony faces similar problems as a multicellular organism," he said. "You can't have components that don't respond to regulatory cues and start to replicate out of control." When the ant police come knocking, there's no rock big enough to hide you. Ashley Donnert was unsure what to expect Saturday before she arrived for the Women's March in Wichita, Kansas. And she was a bit nervous; in her deep-red home state, where pro-Trump slogans and merchandise are a common sight, she is largely outnumbered in her objection to President Donald Trump. What she found were hundreds, if not thousands, of smiling marchers, chanting as they carried homemade signs demanding equal rights for women and protesting the president. "It was amazing. I was not expecting a turnout like that in Wichita," said Donnert, 27. "It was a day of hope. And I hadn't really felt that in a while." The record-breaking participation in women's marches across the country on Saturday has drawn attention to the sharp opposition facing Trump across liberal American cities, which pushed Democrat Hillary Clinton to a strong popular-vote victory against him even though he won in the decisive electoral college. By Press Trust of India: From Shirish B Pradhan Kathmandu, Jan 24 (PTI) Prime Minister Prachanda today unveiled an ambitious plan to provide insurance cover to Nepalese workers going to India and double the insurance cover for those going to 110 other destinations across the world. According to the plan, migrant workers for destinations other than India will now have to buy life insurance and general insurance coverage worth Rs 2 million from January 28. advertisement However, workers going to India, after taking permission from the concerned district administration office from February 12, can buy the insurance worth up to Rs 1.25 million. The announcement was made during a press meet organised at PM?s residence in Baluwatar. Hundreds of Nepalese cross the porous southern border with India every day in search of job opportunities. It seems difficult to implement such a plan due to lack of mechanism to stop the movement of migrant workers at Nepal-India border. While unveiling the plan, Prachanda said it was aimed at providing better social security schemes to migrant workers, more importantly to the families of those killed and injured at their work destinations. The decision, if enforced, could benefit more than 5 million Nepalese working at more than 110 work destinations across the world. "The plan is to make it binding for workers to obtain work approval from the concerned District Administration Office," said an official from Ministry of Labour and Employment. Officials said it might be extremely hard to persuade workers to buy insurance package due to bureaucratic hassle and cost factor. "A majority of the people go India because they cannot afford to pay to go to the Gulf or Malaysia. Each worker will at least need Rs 20,000 to follow the due process," according to the official. PTI SBP ZH ZH --- ENDS --- The 20-fold increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism in the past 30 years is due to clinicians diagnosing less severe autism in children, a study has found. And the so-called "epidemic" is putting pressure on the public purse, potentially risking the sustainability of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. A study of more than 1200 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders which encompasses a range of behavioural symptoms - in Western Australia found no evidence of more children being born with autism than in the past. Professor Andrew Whitehouse, the head of autism research at Perth's Telethon Kids, said there had been a clinical shift towards diagnosing autism in children with less severe behavioural symptoms. Scientists have finally filmed what's known as a "sonic boom" being created by light. But the breakthrough with the most immediate potential may be the camera itself. The explosive sound that is normally associated with a sonic boom occurs when an object goes faster than the speed of sound. An object that breaks the sound barrier is pushing the surrounding air away and it creates pressure waves in front of and behind the object. When these waves travel at such high speeds, they can't avoid each other. When they come together, they become a single ear-splitting shock wave known as a Mach cone. With light, creating a photonic sonic boom is a little more tricky. Theoretical physics tells us that nothing is faster than the speed of light. But light can go slower than its top speed when it moves through materials like glass. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis decided to take advantage of that fact in order to test a longstanding theory that light can also create conical waves. They have now published their results in a paper at Science Advances. The scientists were able to capture the first images of a photonic Mach cone by using a specially designed camera system that produced the GIF above. Live Science explains how the process worked: The floral tribute at Bourke Street Mall. Credit:Eddie Jim Justice Coghlan is a wise choice. A street smart victims' first advocate, he did a great job in pre-trial murder hearings, trying to cut out the irrelevant arguments and get the wheels to move slightly quicker. But tweaking the system is no longer enough. It is time to accept the whole process from arrest to trial is leaking badly. Look at the welcome changes to parole the unintended consequences are that increasingly dangerous violent offenders are not applying and are then released at the completion of their sentence without supervision. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said police have made 20,000 more arrests in the last year pushing more offenders into a system that is already overloaded. Many of those charged with serious offences are bailed, because if they are remanded in custody they may stay in jail for well over a year before their cases comes to trial. Imagine being charged, spending 18 months in jail to be acquitted, having lost your job, reputation, self esteem and possibly your family and friends. Is that justice? The simple truth is that we have a system that is no longer fit for purpose. Cases are unnecessarily complex and ridiculously lengthy. Accuseds are left bewildered and victims further traumatised. One block from where police arrested the Bourke Street accused is the court precinct. Stand there on any given day and you will see legal staff using industrial size trolleys to move massive volumes of briefs into court. Winston Churchill wrote the History of the English Speaking People in four volumes. A relatively simple criminal prosecution can take 10 volumes and some cases from arrest to appeal take longer than World War II. In January 1966, the last man hanged in Australia, Ronald Ryan was arrested and charged with murder. His trial was in March that year and went 12 days. Today a judge's summary to the jury can last longer. And yet the conviction rate has not changed markedly. We have committal hearings in a magistrates court before we move to a trial in a superior court supposedly to test the evidence. Why? A magistrate makes a decision on the balance of probabilities while the director of public prosecutions' (who has the status of a Supreme Court judge) standard to charge is a higher bar that it is more likely than not it will result in a successful prosecution. Police say that in homicide cases they no longer have to prove who did it but who didn't because defence lawyers may point the finger at someone else rather than their client. We have people who have pleaded not guilty allowed to make lengthy plea submissions about their troubled backgrounds to mitigate their sentences once they have been convicted. So someone who tells a court they didn't do it is allowed to tell the same court why they did. Surely trials should be about the guts of the case. 'Yes, it was murder, but it wasn't my guy because he was at home in bed.' Do we need to go through every forensic detail and traumatise every bit-part witness on matters that are not part of the core issue? Massive delays serve no-one's cause. Victims remain stressed, those charged have their lives on hold and witnesses' memories fade. Perhaps defence lawyers who drag cases out or call for unreasonable adjournments should have their fees docked. And if prosecutions are not prepared in reasonable time the cases should be dismissed. There will be lawyers reading this who will tut-tut and say outsiders don't understand the subtleties of the justice system. The irony is that lawyers who spend their professional careers examining the behaviour of others bristle at any form of external scrutiny. And that is the problem. The legal system is far more of a closed shop than the most militant trade union. We are all prisoners of our past and most of us are change averse (this reporter has been accused of embracing change as much as a dinosaur welcomed the ice age) but the time has come to admit there must be a better way. The civil court system is now so expensive it is out of the reach of the people it should serve. Organised crime has moved into debt collecting because it is cheaper to hire a hood in leather than a legal silk to chase down your money. Where every other business has changed the justice system drags on. Superior court hours remain the same as they were when shops closed at midday Saturday and pubs shut at 10 pm. When the courts are closed operating theatres remain open and while highly paid surgeons will respond to emergencies try getting a QC on the phone after hours. What we don't need is a judicial inquiry into the system where lawyers wedded to the system are paid huge fees to examine their own process. Equally we shouldn't have someone without practical understanding parachute in with a raft of well-meaning changes. The state government on Monday announced extra staff for embattled Kalgoorlie's front line, without releasing results of an audit of how many staff it already had on the ground. Crisis talks were held in town in November after teenager Elijah Doughty died, hit by a car while riding a scooter, causing riots outside the courthouse as a local man was charged with manslaughter. The riots revealed deep-seated tensions, and the talks a lack of engagement with Aboriginal people and a lack of investment in, and hope for, local youth. They also revealed weak service delivery, a complex problem across regional WA but thrown into the spotlight here, with public servants working out of many different buildings for many different bosses. Perth's beloved Tricia the Asian elephant is celebrating her 60th birthday today, making her one of the oldest elephants to be cared for by a zoo worldwide. Perth Zoo treated Tricia to a specially made fruit and bran birthday cake. A crowd of people, including many excited children, sung Tricia 'Happy Birthday' as she indulged in her treat. Tricia arrived at Perth Zoo from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam when she was six years old. Premier Colin Barnett said a report labelling the West Australian economy 'worst in show' was not only 'flawed', but an 'appalling piece of economic analysis'. Western Australia has been named Australia's worst-performing economy for the second consecutive quarter less than seven weeks before the state election. And the WA premier has responded to the result by attacking the credibility of the Commonwealth Bank-produced economic report. WA finished in eighth place among the states and territories in economic growth, unemployment and construction work and in seventh place for business investment and housing finance. London: Britain's highest court has ruled that Parliament not the government must fire the starting gun for Brexit. The decision means both houses of Parliament will have the chance to debate, and potentially even block, the triggering of the 'Article 50' clause in the European Union constitution that starts Britain's withdrawal. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, so negotiations over the terms of Brexit can begin. The government is expected to introduce legislation quickly that will get the required parliamentary nod. London: Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain knew about an unarmed Trident missile that reportedly misfired during a test in June, a spokesman said on Monday, after claims that the government had kept the failure a secret. A day earlier, May had refused to comment about the missile test, which was first reported by The Sunday Times of London. The Sunday Times article said that the Trident II D5 missile, which is designed to carry a nuclear warhead but which was unarmed for the test, had veered off course off the coast of Florida after being fired from HMS Vengeance, one of Britain's four aging nuclear-armed submarines. Instead of heading toward a target off the coast of West Africa, it turned and headed toward the United States, the paper reported. It was the first test-firing in four years. Trials carried out in 2000, 2005, 2009 and 2012 were all successful and publicised by the Ministry of Defense using videos and news releases. Growing discontent with 'free trade' deals in the US: An anti-TPP protest last year in Atlanta, Georgia. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, ripped Trump's decision. Obama's last defence secretary, Ash Carter, once said that the Asia-Pacific trade pact would be more strategically valuable than another aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific. US withdrawal from the pact "will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers," McCain said. "And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it." Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Credit:Andrew Harrer Obama saw TPP as "much more than an agreement that would increase international trade," according to Jack Thompson, a senior researcher at the Centre for Security Studies in Zurich. The pact was a crucial initiative "to build and maintain long-term relationships to reassure the other nations in the region," he said in an email. The fate of the TPP matters a lot to Australia and Japan: Pictured: Japanese PM Shnzo Abe and PM Malcolm Turnbull. Credit:AP It's a giant gift to the Chinese because they now can pitch themselves as the driver of trade liberalisation. Eric Altbach, former US trade official But Trump's withdrawal "directly undermines all of this careful work and gives China yet another opportunity to demonstrate that it represents the future of the security and economic system in East Asia, and that the US is in decline and can't be counted on to stick around," Thompson said. China's 16-nation RECP would include southeast Asia countries, as well as Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. Pleased: Senator Bernie Sanders. Credit:AP While it reduces tariffs, it wouldn't require its members to take steps to liberalise their economies, protect labour rights and environmental standards or protect intellectual property. Developing nations within the agreement are also given more time to comply with regulations that do exist. "It's an opportunity for China to defer its own reforms and use its own system as a model to draw other countries closer to its orbit," Dan Ikenson, the director of the Cato institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Centre for Trade Policy Studies, said in a phone interview. Leaders from Australia, Malaysia, and other nations who had championed TPP quickly signalled, following Trump's election, that they would shift their attention to the RECP. When Obama tried to garner support for TPP in the US, he regularly warned that failure to pass the deal would allow Beijing to replace Washington in driving the rules of global trade. And his Council of Economic Advisers estimated that the passage of RECP would lead to the loss of market share among US industries that now export more than $US5 billion in goods to Japan. Democratic opposition But the trade deal never had overwhelming support in Congress, where many Democrats applauded Trump for withdrawing from it on Monday. "I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone," Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who campaigned for president as a Democrat on the same promise to scrap the deal, said in a statement. "For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals -- including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others -- which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a 'race to the bottom' which has lowered wages for American workers." The ramifications of Trump's move could extend beyond trade. Asian leaders are stung that after investing political capital in the US-led trade deal, America was unable to follow through, and have signalled a new wariness that could extend to other aspects of the relationship. Killing TPP "really undermines the United States" in the eyes of Asian allies, Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia group, said in a phone interview. "They put a lot of effort into it, and now they feel like they can't rely on the United States," he said. Countries in both Asia and Latin America are saying that "if they can't get the US to commit to a deal, then screw it, they're going to China," Bremmer said. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, during his visit to the White House in August, warned that abandoning the agreement would damage every part of Japanese-US relations, including the military alliance between the countries. Loading London: All the victims from Rolf Harris first sex assault trial went on to sue him for compensation, the jury in his second trial heard on Monday. One had said she wasn't in it for the money and went to police with her complaint because she was seeking "closure" - but after his conviction sued the disgraced Australian entertainer and won 22,000, Mr Harris' defence counsel Stephen Vullo QC said. Prosecutors are using Harris' convictions in the first trial to bolster their case in the new trial. "Mr Harris' previous convictions establish that since 1969 he has a propensity indecently to assault young girls and women," prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC told the jury two weeks ago. By Harish V Nair: Three days after he took charge, the Supreme Court has handed new CBI director Alok Verma the difficult task of setting up an SIT to probe the agency's controversial former chief Ranjit Sinha in connection with his alleged abuse of power and authority to save several accused in the sensational coal scam and influence investigations. The SC said on Monday that it felt Sinha was prima-facie guilty, but said further investigation is required into Sinha's "wholly inappropriate" meetings with several accused in the coal scam at his residence. The meetings were revealed by a visitor's diary which was submitted to the court by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, to ascertain if it had any impact on the probe or helped the accused. advertisement Also read | All you need to know about the new CBI director On July 11, in a major setback to Sinha, an SC-appointed panel headed by former CBI special director ML Sharma told the apex court that prima facie it seems the former CBI director did try to influence probe in the coal scam. It also said the diary was genuine. "In our opinion, since there has been a change of guard in the CBI, we would continue to repose our faith in the impartiality of the agency to look into the report prepared by ML Sharma and other relevant documents and conduct an investigation (as a Special Investigating Team) into the abuse of authority prima facie committed by Ranjit Sinha with a view to scuttle enquires, investigations and prosecutions being carried out by the CBI in coal block allocation cases", a bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said. The bench asked Verma to indicate on the next date of hearing the composition of his team and the time required to complete investigations. Also read | Probe ex-CBI chief Ranjit Sinha's role in coal scam: Supreme Court --- ENDS --- Astana: The first face-to-face meeting between Syrian rebel fighters and government officials in nearly six years of civil war ended abruptly on when diplomatic talks quickly devolved into harsh words and competing accusations. The new round of talks arranged by Russia and Turkey in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was meant to showcase Moscow's increasingly dominant role in the diplomacy and its new understanding with the Turkish government, a leading sponsor of the rebels. Delegations of Russia, Iran and Turkey hold talks on Syrian peace at a hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan. Credit:AP But on Monday the Syrian delegations almost immediately began arguing and refused to negotiate directly. Mohammad al-Alloush of the Army of Islam, in his opening statement, labelled the government "a bloody despotic regime" backed by "vengeful sectarian militias", and called for it to release what he said were 13,000 women being held as political prisoners and to end starvation sieges. That led to a heated exchange around a large circular table that forced Kazakh officials to call for calm, several participants said. By Press Trust of India: Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) Using the largest set of radiocarbon dates ever obtained from a single Maya site, archaeologists have developed chronology patterns that may explain what led to the collapse of the ancient civilisation. Scientists have long puzzled over what caused the Classic Maya collapse in the ninth century AD, when many of the ancient civilisations cities were abandoned. advertisement More recent studies showed that the Maya also experienced an earlier collapse in the second century AD - now called the Preclassic collapse - that is even more poorly understood. Scientists from the University of Arizona in the US suggest that both collapses followed similar trajectories, with multiple waves of social instability, warfare and political crises leading to the rapid fall of city centres. The findings are based on a highly refined chronology using an unprecedented 154 radiocarbon dates from the archaeological site of Ceibal in Guatemala. While more general chronologies might suggest that the Maya collapses occurred gradually, the new, more precise chronology indicates more complex patterns of political crises and recoveries leading up to each collapse. "What we found out is that those two cases of collapse (Classic and Preclassic) follow similar patterns," said Takeshi Inomata, a professor at UA College of Social and Behavioural Sciences. "Its not just a simple collapse, but there are waves of collapse. First, there are smaller waves, tied to warfare and some political instability, then comes the major collapse, in which many centres got abandoned. Then there was some recovery in some places, then another collapse," said Inomata. Using radiocarbon dating and data from ceramics and highly controlled archaeological excavations, the researchers were able to establish the refined chronology of when population sizes and building construction increased and decreased at Ceibal. "Its really, really interesting that these collapses both look very similar, at very different time periods," said Melissa Burham, graduate student at UA. "We now have a good understanding of what the process looked like, that potentially can serve as a template for other people to try to see if they have a similar pattern at their (archaeological) sites in the same area," Burham said. "Radiocarbon dating has been used for a long time, but now were getting to an interesting period because its getting more and more precise," said Inomata. "Were getting to the point where we can get to the interesting social patterns because the chronology is refined enough, and the dating is precise enough," he said. advertisement The study appears in the journal PNAS. PTI MHN SAR MHN --- ENDS --- The 71st WCO Fellowship Programme, intended for French-speakers, was launched in Brussels on Monday 23 January 2017. This Programme forms part of the WCOs work to develop the management capacities of Member administrations in support of Customs Reform and Modernization programmes. It is designed to provide extremely promising young managers from Member administrations with access to and further familiarization with WCO and international standards, tools and instruments, but also with training in supervisory and management techniques, so as to help them carry out reform and modernization within their respective administrations in a dynamic and sustainable manner. This latest Programme brings together 15 participants who were welcomed on the 23rd by Mr. Ernani Checcucci, Director Capacity Building, World Customs Organization. This introduction serves as a prelude to a series of conferences given by WCO experts, as well as to the eight-day Leadership and Management Development Workshop, facilitated by two experts from France and Morocco. The fellows also benefited from a round-table discussion with Mr. Mikuriya, Secretary General of the WCO, during their first day at the Secretariat. The participants will remain at WCO Headquarters until 17 February 2017 in order to prepare an in-depth study on a technical subject of their choice, under the supervision of a Secretariat tutor, and to make recommendations to their respective administrations for possible subsequent implementation. Lastly the participants will spend a fortnight in one of the Programmes partner Administrations (the Republic of Korea, Japan, France or Switzerland) to round off their study trip. The French-speaking Fellowship Programme is funded by the Customs Administrations of Japan, France, Switzerland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea. List of countries participating in the 71st Fellowship Programme: Albania, Mali, Thailand, Tunisia, Ukraine, Haiti, Madagascar, Morocco, Togo, Angola, Benin, Cameroun, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. By Press Trust of India: Singapore, Jan 24 (PTI) Potterheads, take note! An underwater crab species has been named after Harry Potter and Severus Snape - characters from the British writer J K Rowlings popular fantasy novel series. The new species and genus of crab, Harryplax severus, also honours researcher Harry Conley, who had collected the crab specimen about two decades ago. advertisement Having dug as deep as 30 metres into coral reef rubble in the island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, Conley collected many specimens. Among the lot, were two unusual specimens which were not studied until much later. Only recently, researchers from the National University of Singapore discovered that they represent not only a new species, but also a new genus. Having chosen the name Harryplax for the new genus, researchers paid tribute to Conley. The name is also meant to allude to the main protagonist in Rowlings famous fantasy novel series, whose magical abilities the scientists liken to Conleys knack for finding rare or new species. The crabs species name, severus, is inspired by another character from the wizarding world - Professor Severus Snape, who despite being a central character in the series, keeps his background and agenda mysterious until the very end. Showing his real identity, the character is "just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected," researchers said. The new species is a tiny crab measuring less than a centimeter in both length and width and can be found deep in coral rubble or under subtidal rocks, perhaps also in cavities. To survive in the dark depths, the species has evolved with reduced eyes, well developed antennae, and long, slender legs. For the time being it is known only from the island of Guam. PTI MHN SAR MHN --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: London, Jan 24 (PTI) British-Indian actor Dev Patel, who earned his maiden Oscar nomination in best supporting actor category for "Lion", today said the feeling is yet to sink but he is filled with an "overwhelming sense of gratitude". Alluding to the role that India has played in his career be it his debut "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Lion", Patel says the country holds a special place in his heart. advertisement "Ok, so I just received a call to say that Ive been nominated for an Academy Award... "To be totally honest, the news hasnt made its way into my brain yet, but Im looking at these beautiful smiling faces around me... Faces of the ones I love. And I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude," the 26-year-old actor said in a statement. "What makes this moment so much more poignant is that Ive just wrapped shooting another film in India. This enthralling country holds such a deep place in my heart, and it is where Saroos journey was born," he added. Patel, who plays the role of a man I search of his lost parents in India in the true-life inspired drama also thanked his director and co-stars. "This film would be nothing without Garth Davis. Without his love, commitment and vision this "Lion" wouldnt have been able to roar. To that extent I want to share this incredible feeling with Luke, Grieg, Jenny Kent, Iain, Angie, Emile, Sunny, Nicole, David, Rooney, Divian, Priyanka, the Brierley family as well as the Weinstein Co team. "Lion reaffirms the message that love is not dictated by the color of your skin, not by race, gender, sexuality, social status, or origin. It is a message I am proud to be spreading during these uncertain times. This will forever be one of the most memorable experiences of my life," he said. Patel has received widespread praise for his performance as Saroo Brierley with critics hailing it as a career-defining moment. "Lion", which co-stars Nicole Kidman, is also nominated in the Best Picture category alongside awards favourite romantic musical "La La Land", "Arrival", family drama "Manchester by Sea", "Moonlight", war movie "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures", African-American drama "Fences" and "Hell or High Water". The 2017 Academy Awards ceremony will take place in Hollywood on February 26. PTI BK AK KJ --- ENDS --- When political parties stated that the BJP was now resorting to dynastic politics despite the Prime Minister issuing a firm order against it, Pankaj replied, dynastic politics would be me jumping into my father's place. By Shalini Lobo: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj Singh filed his nomination papers for the upcoming 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections today at the Surajpur Collectorate in Greater Noida. He was accompanied by Union Minister Mahesh Sharma and sitting Noida MLA Vimla Bhatham. Pankaj Singh will be contesting on a BJP ticket for the Noida constituency. Pankaj Singh's name turning up in the BJP candidates list had not gone unnoticed. Political parties stated that the BJP was now resorting to dynastic politics despite the Prime Minister issuing a firm order against it. advertisement "I have been working with the BJP for 15 years now and it was because I was able to perform that they gave me this opportunity. Dynastic politics would be me jumping into my father's place," said Pankaj Singh. Many also compared him to Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi. "They are great politicians. I am just a small time ordinary dedicated party worker," he said. Also Read: Uttar Pradesh polls: BJP releases 2nd list, fields Pankaj Singh from Noida, Rita Bahuguna from Lucknow Cantt Pankaj Singh held a meeting yesterday with party workers, and key figures including Vimala Bhatham and Nawab Singh Nagar were missing. Reports suggest conflict of opinion within the party as many people who have been working in the party for years were not listed as candidates. "All the party workers stand together and there is no difference of opinion," is what Pankaj Singh had to say to this. A corruption free government and better development is what he promises the people. He also stated that he has no confidence on the Samajwadi Party - Congress alliance and he feels that they are together only because both parties are struggling to stay afloat. --- ENDS --- ALLETE, Inc. operates as an energy company. The company operates through Regulated Operations, ALLETE Clean Energy, and Corporate and Other segments. It generates electricity from coal-fired, biomass co-fired / natural gas, hydroelectric, wind, and solar. The company provides regulated utility electric services in northwestern Wisconsin to approximately 15,000 electric customers, 13,000 natural gas customers, and 10,000 water customers, as well as regulated utility electric services in northeastern Minnesota to approximately 145,000 retail customers and 15 non-affiliated municipal customers. It also owns and maintains electric transmission assets in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. In addition, the company focuses on developing, acquiring, and operating clean and renewable energy projects; and owns and operates approximately 1,000 megawatts of wind energy generation facility. Further, it is involved in the coal mining operations in North Dakota; and real estate investment activities in Florida. The company owns and operates 158 substations with a total capacity of 10,066 megavolt amperes. It serves taconite mining, paper, pulp and secondary wood products, pipeline, and other industries. The company was formerly known as Minnesota Power, Inc. and changed its name to ALLETE, Inc. in May 2001. ALLETE, Inc. was incorporated in 1906 and is headquartered in Duluth, Minnesota. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. During the raids, the police recovered six mobile phones from inside the jail premises. The police also raided the cells where dreaded criminals and Maoists are lodged. The SSP personally scanned cells of - Ajay Kanu, a hardcore maoist, involved in several cases of violence, Reetlal Yadav, a criminal from Patna, who is also a sitting independent MLC, Anant Singh, former JDU MLA who is known as terror of Mokama and all the terrorists who were involved in Gandhi Maidan terror attack of 2013. The police recovered a red colored diary from Ajay Kanu's cell which had details of levy collected from various persons. Church Events Stay in the loop on church events in West Central Louisiana. Weekend Edition A recap of the most pertinent stories of the week - delivered straight to your inbox! Arts & Entertainment DERIDDER -- Leaders from the City of DeRidder, Beauregard Parish and Southwest Louisiana economic development officials came together Tuesday to highlight their regional partnership and dedication to growth. Recent strides have further aligned Beauregard for opportunities, said George Swift, SWLA Economic Development Alliance President/CEO, during a press briefing at DeRidder City Hall. Avon Knowlton, who has been serving as the Alliance's Executive Vice President, will begin her new role Feb. 1 as Executive Director of Economic Development for Beauregard Parish. It's a new, full-time position made possible through a collaboration between the city, Police Jury and Chamber of Commerce. Swift said Knowlton will continue to work closely with the Alliance and has been asked to continue representing the region with Fort Polk Progress. "We believe that while we hate to lose Avon directly at the Alliance, that this will strengthen our regional cooperation," Swift said. Louisiana's second-largest "shovel ready" industrial mega site was announced in December and is located on acreage owned by the Beauregard Parish Airport. Swift said the Alliance, which worked toward the certification, has a plan to aggressively market the site. "I don't think any of us realize the impact that this could have long-term on our region and on Beauregard -- an over 1,100-acre industrial site. We are going to be marketing that very aggressively over the next two months and you'll see a lot of things, including Site Selection Magazine, will be featuring this site," he said. Swift also mentioned some staff promotions within the Alliance. All, he said, are aimed at reaching "new heights" and better serving the entire five-parish region. Other officials speaking Tuesday were Glenda Dean, president of the Greater Beauregard Parish Chamber of Commerce; DeRidder Mayor Ron Roberts; Beauregard Parish Police Jury President Rusty Williamson; and Knowlton. Dean said she met with Knowlton last week and was impressed by her enthusiasm and knowledge. She said continuing to nurture the area's relationship with the Alliance is key. "Because of the invaluable assistance and resources that they make available to support our economic endeavors," she said. Williamson said Beauregard Parish has many assets. He mentioned its timber and agricultural resources as well as its water -- "the best water in the world," he said. "Our region, with the five parishes, you get strength through numbers," he said. "We all want jobs for our young people so they won't have to leave. I think we've got a good team going." Calcasieu's growth can be attributed to the ship channel and the parish's pipeline boom. Roberts said in Beauregard, officials will have to work a bit harder, but there is promise. "We need to be proactive. I think we are on the verge of something big. It's sort of like Lake Charles is the center of the universe and it's beginning to spread. I think we'll feel the warmth of it," Roberts said. Roberts also thanked the Alliance for their education and support over the years. He said Knowlton has much to offer. "There comes a point in time when we have to share the lifting and I think that's what we're trying to do here is to say, 'George, you and the Alliance have been so good to us and you have taught us enough that to some extent, we can go on our own.' But we won't ever be able to do all of the lifting," Roberts added. Knowlton, of the Junction community, said she is looking forward to coming home to Beauregard. She has already heard ideas from residents and business owners. "My door is always open," she said. "I want to hear from the community. I want to hear from the business community, especially. Just know that there is a person here who is going to take your interests and put some ideas together. We are going to put a great plan together for Beauregard Parish, for the city and we're going to move forward with it." Listen to this story here: Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 23, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 23, 2017 | 07:28 PM | PADUCAH, KY A McCracken County man was arrested on theft charges after he performed work at a local business. Paducah Police say they were contacted Thursday by Christopher Black of Ray Black and Sons. Black said another contractor told him one of his employees may have taken memorabilia while working on a job inside the Coke Plant on Broadway. Police went to the home of 29-year-old Christopher W. Rowell on Cumberland Avenue, and say they found several items that were taken from the job site. They executed a search warrant for Rowell's van and storage unit, and found more items from the Coke Plant. The total value of stolen items was estimated at $500. Rowell was searched as well, and police say they found a knife and a .22 caliber revolver. Rowell was arrested for theft of property valued between $500 and $10,000, receiving stolen property valued under $10,000, carrying a concealed deadly weapon, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. Rowell was taken to McCracken County Jail. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 23, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 23, 2017 | 06:17 PM | PADUCAH, KY The driver of a vehicle involved in a fatal collision Thursday night on Paducahs south side has been charged with murder. In a press release, Paducah Police say 24-year-old Robert C. Thomas of Alpha Drive was arrested Monday afternoon on a charge of murder and three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, following an interview at the police department. In Thursday evening's crash, Police say witnesses told them a vehicle driven by 53-year-old Honey Hastings was in the right-turn lane of John Puryear Drive preparing to turn onto Irvin Cobb Drive when an eastbound vehicle driven by Thomas hit Hastings' car in the driver's side door while traveling at a high rate of speed. Hastings was pronounced dead at the scene. Thomas and a passenger in his vehicle, 22-year-old Andris L. Jackson, were taken to a local hospital with significant injuries. Two other passengers in Thomas' vehicle - children 3 years old or younger - were checked for injuries and released. A collision reconstruction team and detectives investigated the crash, and reportedly found suspected synthetic marijuana in Thomas' van. Police say during Monday's interview, he admitted smoking synthetic marijuana shortly before the accident. Police also say they acquired surveillance video from a nearby business that shows a vehicle traveling east at high speed on Irvin Cobb Drive just seconds before the crash. Thomas was charged after detectives consulted with Commonwealth Attorney Dan Boaz. He was taken to McCracken County Jail. The investigation is continuing, and police are asking anyone who witnessed the accident who has not already spoken with them to contact Detective Nathan Young at 270-444-8553. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved a project for redeveloping Pragati Maidan proposed by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO). A budget of 2,254 crore will be used for it. By Indo-Asian News Service: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved a project for redeveloping Pragati Maidan into a world class exhibition-cum-convention centre. The CCEA gave its nod to the project, proposed by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which will use a budget of Rs.2,254 crore. The ITPO will utilise Rs 1,200 crore out of its free reserves towards funding of this project, while the rest will be raised by it through several forms of loans, which will be partially guaranteed by the government. advertisement "With India's growing international profile and increasing presence at summit, ministerial and other levels, a need has been felt to have a modern world class Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at New Delhi to provide an appropriate venue for international events. Present facilities are far short of international standards," a statement from CCEA said. Also read: Demonetisation hits 2016 International Trade Fair at Pragiti Maidan The redevelopment of the premier location for cultural events will be done in two phases. The first is expected to be over by May 2019. After completion of this phase, an expanse of 3.26 lakh square metres will have been redeveloped. "After redevelopment, the exhibition space will be doubled to 1.19 lakh square meters as against 65,000 square metres presently. Redevelopment will also include creation of a state-of-the-art convention centre with seating capacity of 7,000 persons," the statement added. The building of the mega project has been assigned to National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) as a Project Management Consultant by ITPO. The ITPO would also call for global bidding for selection of project executors for construction of the project. To ease the congestion during the construction, a grade separator (flyover) will be provided at the Mathura Road and Bhairon Road junction, while a subway will connect Mathura Road to Ring Road running across Pragati Maidan area, the cabinet committee said. Also watch: --- ENDS --- Advertisement By Adam Morton Jan. 09, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY By Adam Morton Jan. 09, 2017 | 07:09 PM | PADUCAH, KY A seldom-used road in McCracken County is closing. The final vote took place on Monday during the Fiscal Court Meeting. All commissioners voted in favor of the closure and removal from the county road system of Anderson Road. At the prior Fiscal Court Meeting a public hearing was held after the Tennessee Valley Authority asked if Anderson Road could be closed. County Road Engineer Randy Williams spoke during the hearing. "We had a request to close the the road. The road no longer serves the public. No one lives on it. It doesn't serve a purpose other than going to what is TVA's property." Williams also noted that Anderson Road is a dead end road. There were no comments from the public. The closure is in compliance of KRS 178.70 which allows fiscal courts to close county roads, provided they publish a notice at three places within one mile of the road. The county must also appoint two impartial people to view the road and report what possible issues would result from the closure. Williams and two others appointed by the court made several visits to Anderson Road before determining it was appropriate to close the road. By Adam Morton Jan. 23, 2017 | 08:06 PM | PADUCAH, KY The McCracken County Humane Society was asked to appear before the the County Fiscal Court to give a report Monday evening.Executive Director Terry Vannerson shared a few changes that have taken place in the past year. One of the more notable changes is the addition of Dr. Russell Jones as the Humane Society's on-site veterinarian and medical director.Vannerson said having the vet in house allowed for quicker adoptions because they no longer have to take the animals elsewhere for exams and vaccinations.Dr. Jones is trained in pediatric spay and neutering. "He does our puppies and our kittens at a weight of two pounds. Most vets won't touch them until they're four to six pounds. They get adopted faster because people want little kittens, not tweens," Vannerson said.The request for the report came from Commissioner Bill Bartleman. "I think they're really doing a good job. Its kind of a thankless job at times, because they have to make some tough decisions about euthanizing animals occasionally. But, their euthanizing is very low, and I commend them for that." Bartleman said.If you would like to learn more about the McCracken County Humane Society, or more about adoption find them on Facebook. You can also call them at 270-443-5923. You can also visit their website at the link below. On the Net: Powerball up to $1.6 billion, now largest jackpot on record Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 23, 2017 | 07:18 PM | METROPOLIS, IL Two men were arrested Friday in Metropolis after a disturbance outside Harrah's Casino.Metropolis Police were called regarding a fight, and as they arrived, they saw a vehicle driving through the parking lot at high speed, apparently being chased by a black pickup truck. The truck almost hit the squad car as both vehicles turned onto 2nd Street, but it stopped. The other vehicle continued, and was pursued by police for several blocks until the driver stopped behind a business and fled on foot. The driver, 27-year-old Jared A. Sexton of Brookport, was captured while trying to hide under a porch.Sexton told police he found his girlfriend in a vehicle with another man, and when he opened the vehicle door, an argument led to a fight.The driver of the truck, 42-year-old John Charles Carlock of Stuart, Florida, said he was not involved with the girlfriend, but got involved in the fight. He was arrested for reckless driving after a Harrah's employee filed a complaint, saying she was almost struck by the pickup on the parking lot.Sexton was arrested for aggravated fleeing, DUI, reckless driving and driving with a revoked license.Both men were taken to Massac County Jail. An angry Pulkit Samrat attacked a photographer outside the court after his estranged wife Shweta Rohira filed for divorce. By India Today Web Desk: After months of mud-slinging, Pulkit Samrat's wife Shweta Rohira has decided to put an end to the ugly drama by filing for divorce on Monday. Shweta, along with Pulkit, was present at the Bandra family court on January 23 to begin the proceedings. ALSO READ: Pulkit Samrat separates from wife Shweta Rohira after a year of marriage advertisement ALSO READ: Everything was fine until Yami Gautam came in between, says Shweta on split with Pulkit ALSO READ: Yami Gautam responds to Pulkit Samrat's wife Shweta calling her home-breaker A lot has been said and written in the past few months about Shweta and Pulkit's ugly battle, and the Fukrey actor lost his cool when a media photographer asked him about the divorce proceedings outside the court. The 33-year-old actor grabbed the photog by his collar and if a report in Spotboye is to be believed, Pulkit grabbed the camera and smashed it to the ground. The report further suggests that Pulkit's lawyers also threatened the photographer and said, "Photo nikalne ke laayak nahi rahoge tum log." The pictures of Pulkit manhandling the photographer have surfaced on social media. Image Source: Twitter For a long time, Pulkit has been in news for his personal life than his professional commitments. In fact, his alleged link-up with Yami Gautam was also quoted as one of the major reasons for his fallout with wife Shweta. For the uninitiated, within a year of tying the knot in 2014, the news of Shweta and Pulkit separating came out in November 2015. Later Shweta confirmed the news and said that Pulkit and she have been living separately for some time. On the work front, Pulkit will be next seen in Fukrey 2. --- ENDS --- Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world To lure the voters, most of the political parties have set-up election war rooms to strike a chord with the voters. By Manjeet Sehgal: The 2017 Assembly elections have become a battle of prestige for all the political parties. While at one hand the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP are burning midnight oil to come to power again, the Congress is leaving no stone unturned to stage a comeback. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which emerged as a third force in Punjab during general elections, is also not far behind. advertisement There are 1,97,49,464 voters in Punjab out of which 50 lakh are internet users. More than one crore (1.04 Core) voters fall in the age group between 18-35, out of which 35 lakhs use internet. In other words, young voters will decide who will be the next Sardar of Punjab. To lure the voters, most of the political parties have set-up election war rooms to strike a chord with the voters. The war rooms are not only being used as a voter outreach tool but also to manage various campaigns, social media, conventional media including print, broadcast and television, data mining and on ground activities such as organising rallies, airing the events on social media and surveys. How an election war room helped the Captain Amrinder Singh shed his 'Maharaja' tag: The concept of election war room is new in Punjab. It is the first time that the power of war rooms has been gauged and used to fortify the poll campaigns. The Congress was the first party to launch its war room with a force of 450 people in Mohali. Within days its digital and offline campaign 'Punjab Da Captain' was a big hit. This prompted the agency (hired by the party) to launch other initiatives like Halke Vich Captain (Captain in the constituency) or Coffee with Captain. These initiatives were primarily aimed at establishing a connect between the voters and the face of Congress Amrinder Singh. Although Amrinder Singh never met with the sections of voters before these initiatives, these initiatives lessened the communication gap. After the social media started off, he met students, girl students in particular, farmers, employees, ex-servicemen, industrialists, Dalits, backward community and even the differenet religious heads. "This does not mean that Captain never met people. He won Amritsar LS polls with a huge margin before we established this war room. It is true that the strategies planned by the war room actually worked and he was able to meet more people during the past year," says Payal Kamat, member, Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), the agency that runs Captain's war room. advertisement The Congress election war room has been divided in four sections. One particular section with a team of 60 people monitors the social media including Facebook pages, Twitter handles and Whatsapp. Other sections handle a data centre, conventional media centre and an outdoor unit. "The war room has become an effective tool to manage and monitor the campaigns. It offers a 360 degree coverage and media management," says Rishi Raj Singh, IPAC member. SAD's war room The SAD, which is considered a traditional party and has been solely depending on a direct contact with voters till 2014 when AAP punched holes into its vote bank, was prompted to launch its election war room when it realised that the rival AAP used digital media campaigns to target it which also paid dividends. "We decided to establish our war room when we came to know that rivals were misusing social media against us. We realised the power of a high-tech war room," says Manjinder Singh Sirsa, spokesperson of SAD, who was initially hesitant to give us access to the party's war room. Akali Dal has employed nearly 80 people to manage its war room comprising various sections including video editing section, Facebook, Twitter and print media. advertisement Social Media bringing voters closer to parties Political parties are banking on social media for voter outreach as it is free and easy. The Congress has created Facebook pages for each district of Punjab and all the pages have been verified. While Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's Facebook page has nearly 25 lakh likes, Punjab Da Captain has been liked by over 9 lakh users. AAP's Punjab Facebook page has been liked by 8.65 lakh users. AAP MP from Sangrur Bhagwant Mann and National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal regularly interact with people via Facebook lives or video messages. Interestingly, the content uploaded on the social media pages is mostly in Punjabi which are updated round the clock. The user generated content is also an integral part of social media campaigns. Followers also contribute content in the form of photos, graphics and videos. "Most of the internet users in Punjab use Facebook and Whatsapp. We use Punjabi language as it connects the non-resident Punjabis with their land. This is most effective as it is available free," says Paroma Bhat, who manages social media at IPAC. advertisement Also read: Delhi Aam Aadmi Party workers launch smear campaign against Kejriwal in Punjab --- ENDS --- Shah Rukh Khan is enroute Delhi on the August Kranti Rajdhani Express from the Mumbai as part of the promotions of Raees. By India Today Web Desk: When Shah Rukh Khan promised fans, "Aa raha hoon main," he did not disappoint. As a part of the promotional strategy of his upcoming film Raees, SRK is taking the August Kranti Rajdhani Express from Mumbai to Delhi, and reached the Vadodara station on Monday night. The superstar has a huge fan following and hordes of people turned up to catch a glimpse of their favourite actor. In the commotion that ensued, one person was killed and two policemen were injured. advertisement ALSO READ | Raees is 'beimaan' film, Kaabil is for 'deshbhakts': BJP National GS strikes again ALSO READ | Hrithik on Raees-Kaabil clash: There cannot be any bad blood between Shah Rukh and me ALSO READ | Raees: This is how Shah Rukh's son AbRam is promoting his papa's film Shah Rukh Khan, who reached Delhi on Tuesday morning, said, "It's unfortunate, my prayers are with the family of the deceased." Khan was at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. The railway police said, "The crowd went berserk when the train halted and began banging its window panes and even falling on top of each other. Police had to resort to mild lathi charge to control the crowd. When the train started moving, people started running along with it. Due to the rush, one person died of breathlessness and two policemen posted there to control the crowd were injured." The deceased has been identified as a local politician, Farheed Khan Pathan. Raees is set to release tomorrow, and will open to a great start as reports suggest that in some cities, fans have booked entire theatres. (With inputs from PTI) ALSO WATCH: Shah Rukh opens up on box-office clash with Kaabil --- ENDS --- The mega event would create awareness about nature conservation along with striking musical chords. By Mail Today Bureau: Some music festivals are focused only on the music, while others add a cause to their lineup and promote an issue as well. The first edition of Ranthambore Festival, to be held on January 27-29, will be a mix of both. The threeday cultural fiesta will be held at the Nahargarh Palace and will focus on both the need to preserve India's wildlife and the promotion of dying musical forms. The festival will do so through performances, openair film screenings, interactive talks and participatory workshops. advertisement Ashutosh Pande, programme director of Ranthambore Festival, says, "Our goals are to reduce the anonymity associated with folk music, by putting these musicians at the forefront, ensuring that their introductions, their heritage, their instruments and even their themes and lyrics are clearly communicated to the audience. On the nature conservation front, we hope to bring our audience into direct contact with legendary nature conservationists, photographers and filmmakers through various interactive experiences." On the musical front, there will be performances by worldrenowned artists like Ustad Ma Zila Khan, MaatiBaani, Neeraj Arya's Kabir Caf and UK-based piano maestro Karl Lutchmayer. There is also a strong focus on wellness and relaxation. Also read | Jallikattu: After AR Rahman, music maestro Ilayaraja extends support --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: London, Jan 24 (PTI) Researchers have discovered minerals from 43 rare meteorites that landed on the Earth 470 million years ago, which challenge our understanding of the history and development of the solar system. More than half of the mineral grains are from meteorites completely unknown or very rare in todays meteorite flow, researchers said. advertisement These findings mean that we will probably need to revise our current understanding of the history and development of the solar system, they said. The discovery confirms the earlier hypothesis in which geology professor Birger Schmitz at Lund University in Sweden revealed that he had found what he referred to as an "extinct meteorite" - a meteorite dinosaur. The meteorite was given the name Osterplana 065 and was discovered in a quarry outside Lidkoping in Sweden. The term extinct was used because of its unusual composition, different from all known groups of meteorites and because it originated from a celestial body that was destroyed in ancient times. The discovery led to the hypothesis that the flow of meteorites may have been completely different 470 million years ago compared to today, as meteorites with such a composition no longer fall on Earth. "The new results confirm the hypothesis. Based on 43 micrometeorites, which are as old as Osterplana 065, our new study shows that back then the flow was actually dramatically different," said Schmitz. "So far we have always assumed that the solar system is stable, and have therefore expected that the same type of meteorites have fallen on Earth throughout the history of the solar system, but we have now realised that this is not the case," he said. Schmitz noted that something so far unknown but of fundamental importance in the history of the solar system occurred nearly 500 million years ago. The new study shows that it is possible to make highly detailed reconstructions of the changes that have occurred in the solar system, Schmitz said. "We can now recreate late history of not only the Earth but of the entire solar system. The scientific value of this new report is greater than the one last summer," said Schmitz. In the search for the mineral grains (chromium oxides) that fell on Earth together with the meteorites, the researchers used different acids to dissolve several tonnes of sediment from the ancient seabed. The chromium oxides were subsequently analysed to identify their composition and oxygen isotopes. This made it possible to determine from which type of meteorites the grains originated. PTI SAR SAR --- ENDS --- advertisement By Press Trust of India: Centre New Delhi, Jan 23 (PTI) Kerala government today asked the Centre to reinstate the allocation of food grains to the state alleging that implementation of the Food Security Act has reduced the states share of grains by around 2 lakh metric tonnes. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is in Delhi on a two-day visit, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed the states issues regarding the Public Distribution System. advertisement "We used to get 16.02 lakh metric tonnes of food grains. But ever since the Food Security Act has been implemented, the states share has been reduced to 14.25 lakh metric tonnes. Centre is blaming it on the norms of Food Security Act," the chief minister said. "The Kerala government has asked the Centre to reinstate the allocation of food grains to the state," he said. "We produce only 15 per cent of our required demand for food grains. This is because we produce cash crops which actually will fetch more foreign revenue to the country. Centre used to allot additional food grains to the state considering this fact," Vijayan said. He blamed the former UPA government at the Centre and the earlier UDF government in the state for cancellation of extra food grains allotted to the state and said "when the Food Security Act was implemented, this peculiar situation of Kerala was not considered." The Chief Minister also claimed that the state was now burdened with an additional responsibility of providing ration to around 35 lakh migrant labourers. Vijayan requested the Centre to consider Kerala while allotting All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in the Union Budget. He said that the Prime Ministers response to the states issues was reassuring. He also met Union Minister of Food and Public Distribution, Ram Vilas Paswan and discussed the states issues related to ration. PTI RRT IKA --- ENDS --- Lo and behold as first timers get prepared to mesmerise the viewers at the 2017 Republic Day parade which might be nothing short of unusual. By Neha Vashishth: Republic Day has always been a matter of pride and power for us Indians, from showcasing the power of our armed forces to featuring the beauty of different states, Republic Day event is the most anticipated event amongst others. 68th Republic day is just around the corner and it has a lot to offer this time. From Abu Dhabi's crown prince as chief guest to Lakshwadeep getting a space after more than 2 decades, 23 tableaux will be featured this time. Here we have 5 reasons why you should not miss watching the Republic Day parade this year. advertisement What's New For the first time, the UAE army will be marching on Rajpath. The tableaux of National Housing Bank theme (NHB) will be featured for the first time during the republic day Parade focusing on the small and medium enterprises and traditional weavers. It will also spread awareness regarding the biggest tax reform, GST during the tableux. Lakshadweep will be featured on the tableux after 23 years. The tableaux will feature 36 islands and unexplored tourist destination of Lakshadweep. There will be no Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh tableaux this year. Odisha's tableaux will feature dol jatra while West Bengal will showcase Kamakhya temple which dedicated to the miracle of menstruation and better known for its 'yoni' shaped sculpture. It will also feature the highlights of the Sharad Utsav. Haryana's theme would be on 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao'. The tableaux will feature the accomplishments of successful leading ladies of Haryana like Sakshi Malik, Deepa Malik, Kalpana Chawla etc. NSG Squad will be showcasing their powerful skill set for the first time during the Republic Day 2017. Also Watch: NSG Squad participating for the first time in Republic Day Parade --- ENDS --- Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. First, there were brew pubs, then beer and pizza delivery. Now, theres home delivery of strong, sweet wine. It may not necessarily be the progression the masses were waiting for, but thats how its rolling out in Manitoba. At the end of this week, Shrugging Doctor Brewing Company will fire up its online ordering at shrugdoc.com and you will be able to order a bottle of their locally made sugar wine with 20 per cent alcohol by volume for $9.99 plus a delivery charge of $4.99. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Zach Isaacs (left) and partner Willows Christopher of Shrugging Doctor display their sugar wine. They are the first winery in the city to sell directly to the public and deliver to your door. Partners Willows Christopher and Zach Isaacs both 20 years old have a honey mead concoction that will also be ready next week and a saskatoon berry wine that will be finished in a couple more weeks. We are the first winery in the city selling direct to the public and starting Friday we will be the first to deliver liquor to your door, Christopher said. Shrugging Doctor has applied to get their sugar wine a Finnish recipe Isaacs said has been North Americanized carried by Manitoba Liquor Marts. They say they believe their service will appeal to a younger crowd, presumably ones that want to drink stronger wine. More traditional wines are in the 13 per cent alcohol by volume range. Last fall, HopsPizza.com started delivering pizza and beer. The company is now making pizza at three locations, all of which are co-located with beer vendors. The Manitoba Liquor Control Commission has a home delivery service charging $7.30 for a case of beer (or wine or liquor), plus 70 cents for every additional bottle. The provincial regulators do not allow retail resale of beer, wines and spirits outside the licensed vendors. Shrugging Doctor is a licensed manufacturer and also has a retail licence. We are 100 per cent licensed, said Isaacs. But even before their hooch home delivery has even started, theyve already caught the attention of the regulators. Their publicity materials make reference to the convenience of their service in that it helps prevent individuals from driving to the liquor mart or vendors for more alcohol when they are already intoxicated. Liz Stephenson, a senior official with the Liquor and Gaming Authority, the provincial licensing body, said, We are all for new businesses starting up. We think its great. We have worked well with the Shrugging Doctor to make sure they get going. But they do have to follow the rules to ensure public safety. I think those are expectations all Manitobans have. In particular, Shrugging Doctor drivers have to take the Smart Choices responsible service certification course. They cant deliver to minors and they cant deliver to an intoxicated person. We are really strict on this, Stephenson said about the marketing reference to delivering to people already intoxicated. That would certainly put their licence in jeopardy should we have any reason to believe they were contravening that. Both Isaacs and Christopher said they are fully aware of the licensing stipulations and understand they cannot deliver to people who wouldnt be able to get service in a bar. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Brandon A cow was shot over the weekend on a farm located between Rivers and Rapid City, inflaming the controversy over illegal hunting practices in southwestern Manitoba. Colin Hunter set off to feed his herd Saturday afternoon at the southwest section of his 1,200-acre cattle and sheep operation when he discovered a motionless cow. Its right eye was punctured. Without any sign of a struggle, he assumed the cow was shot. Colin Corneau / Brandon Sun Manitoba Conservations Gerry Pidborchynski (right) and Colin Hunter examine the dead cow. Colins wife, Ann, was disturbed to find out what happened. I mean, weve had calves die; you have livestock and you have deadstock, Ann said. But you dont expect to find somebody shot your cow. The cow was six weeks from giving birth. Dismayed by the killing, Ann wrote on Facebook that one of the familys cattle was picked off. The post was shared more than 1,000 times by Monday morning. An attached picture showed the carcass picked up by a tractors bucket. Hearing gunshots is nothing new around the familys homestead, where hunters are known to roam, but this seemingly random killing has them worried. No footprints were noticeable, suggesting the gunshot came from afar during a period of heavy fog which made visibility poor. Nobody received permission to hunt on the familys land at the time. Its concerning, said Ann, who is not against hunting. We ride our horses around, the kids go riding, it could have been worse. The gunshot which the family did not hear could have hit the cow between 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday afternoon, Ann said. Though there is no evidence the cow was killed by a night hunter, it was illegal since livestock cannot be targeted by hunters. Ann said cases of illicit hunting should be publicized. I think if there arent examples then people are going to say it doesnt concern us, Ann said. On Monday afternoon, two Manitoba Conservation officers were at the Hunters home, inspecting the cow for a lodged bullet. The conservation officers, who werent permitted to answer media questions, told the family they believe the cow was shot in the eye, with the bullet exploding on impact, said Anns daughter Katie. Amid a season of widespread illegal hunting in southwestern Manitoba, rural landowners in the region have spoken up en masse. They organized a community meeting and made their concerns known to the provincial government, which ramped up enforcement efforts this season. A group of reeves and councillors representing at least six rural Manitoba municipalities met with provincial officials late last year. They are expected to meet again soon. Landowners want night hunting banned altogether. Night hunting is only permitted for indigenous hunters on Crown lands or private lands agreed to by the property owners. There is at least one other example of livestock being shot in recent months. In late November, two head of cattle were shot overnight near Virden. Its believed the shooter thought he was aiming at wildlife. Manitoba Conservation said Monday they dont keep track of livestock killings because the animals are considered property and fall under RCMP jurisdiction. Brandon Sun Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The provincial departments of health and education have warned schools to be cautious about making plans to administer the antidote naloxone for suspected opioid overdoses. Only people trained by a pharmacist should administer naloxone injections for a suspected fentanyl overdose, and it should not be done as a general first aid practice, provincial officials have told school trustees. The letter went out to all school boards from Manitoba School Boards Association president Ken Cameron, but the MSBA consulted with both provincial departments. COLIN CORNEAU / THE BRANDON SUN A Naloxone, the opioid antidote, is becoming increasingly common to help save lives from an overdose from drugs such as fentanyl and carfentanyl. An aide to Education Minister Ian Wishart said Tuesday Manitoba Health worked with the MSBA on the final version of Camerons letter before it went out. Winnipeg School Division is considering stocking its schools with the naloxone in case any student suffers an opioid overdose. We need to pay attention to it, trustee Lisa Naylor said last month. It may be something we deem as a good idea, as part of a first aid kit. Naylor raised the possibility at a school board meeting in December and was told the WSD administration was already looking into it. Naylor said a parent, who is also a doctor, had told her another unidentified school division is also considering putting naloxone kits in schools. Naloxone is an antidote that is effective in some cases of opioid overdoses. Fatal overdoses related to the fentanyl and other opioids have become a national health crisis in recent months. Cameron said in his letter schools should call 911 immediately if an opioid overdose is suspected because first responders carry naloxone and are trained to use it. Meanwhile, staff should conduct CPR until help arrives. Stocking and using naloxone remains optional, said Cameron, but only a person trained by a pharmacist should apply it. Cameron said the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba has identified people most appropriate to carry naloxone kits to include individuals who use opioids, both prescription and non-prescription, for legitimate medical purposes and for recreational purposes; individuals identified by the above group as the person(s) most likely to be present if they were to overdose; and any person who knows an opioid user and would like to be prepared in the event of an accidental overdose. WSD said in a prepared statement Tuesday morning that the guidelines will be helpful in discussions with its schools. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 23/01/2017 (2112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Ottawa and the Pallister government will hand the University of Manitoba $32 million Tuesday afternoon to help finance the construction of two new research buildings. The money goes towards the Stanley Pauley Engineering Building and to the Innovation Hub building in Smartpark. Winnipeg South Liberal MP Terry Duguid and Education Minister Ian Wishart will be on campus at 1 p.m. to make the formal announcement. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Two new research buildings will be constructed at the U of M's Smartpark. The federal government will kick in $28 million with the province adding the remaining $4 million. The province would not say whether the money can be construed as a first contribution to the U of Ms $500 million Front and Centre capital fundraising campaign. The former NDP government had promised $150 million to the capital campaign, but the Pallister Conservatives continue to review all the promises made by the New Democrats. The Trudeau governments post-secondary institutions strategic investment fund is making $2 billion available to improve the scale and quality of research and innovation facilities. Ottawa covers up to 50 per cent of a projects cost. Manitoba has recently contributed to similar federal funding projects at Red River College and Canadian Mennonite University. Stanley and Dorothy Pauley the former a 1949 graduate of the university previously donated $5 million to demolish the old music annex and construct a new building housing research and innovation in electrical and computer engineering. University officials could not be reached for comment on Monday afternoon. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Longtime Manitoba civil servant Jim Eldridge was honoured with the top national prize for public administration at a ceremony in Ottawa Monday. Gov. Gen. David Johnston presented the Vanier Medal to Eldridge at Rideau Hall. Service, integrity, leadership all in the public interest, thats what the Vanier Medal is all about, Johnston said. These are the qualities that define Jims 49-year career in Manitobas public service. Its a remarkable achievement. MCpl Vincent Carbonneau, Rideau Hall Governor General of Canada David Johnston (right) presents the 2016 Institute of Public Administration of Canada Vanier Medal to Jim Eldridge for decades of service. Eldridge, 72, retired in December after nearly 49 years working for the Manitoba government, including as clerk of the executive council and deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs. He was a key adviser to most of the provinces premiers over the last 50 years, played a key role in setting up the provinces intergovernmental relations branch, and has been recognized across the country for his strategic advice on federal-provincial and interprovincial relationships. Former premier Greg Selinger nominated Eldridge for the prize, which began in 1962 and is given to just one person each year. Its very rare to find somebody with five decades of service under eight premiers and can weave it all together and make a positive contribution under all those different governments, Selinger said following the ceremony. It deserved recognition. Eldridge was clearly touched by the award. For people in public service this is the top of the mountain, he said. Im savouring every moment. Jim Eldridge spent nearly 49 years working for the Manitoba government. Mia Rabson Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitobas childrens advocate has joined local activists in recommending child and family services be extended to youth up to the age of 25. Speaking to a legislature committee on Monday, Darlene MacDonald said two other provinces Ontario and British Columbia have already extended supports to kids in care to age 25. MacDonald could not say how much an expansion in service would cost, but she maintained there would be offsetting savings in the form of increased employment and a reduced burden on the justice system. In 2012, the provincial advocate for children and youth in Ontario estimated that for every dollar that province spent in extending supports for youth in care, the provincial and federal governments would save or earn $1.36 in the future. MacDonald said supports for education and training, housing and counselling would be required and community agencies should be involved, not just the child-welfare system. Manitoba currently offers supports and programs for permanent wards up to age 21. But many who have grown up in the system believe this should be extended. They need someone backing them, not only financially but emotionally, MacDonald said. Therefore, I think its really important that we just dont stop at age 18 and say, OK, youre on your own. We have to have some formal situations in place for them to continue getting the support they need to be able to grow up to be great leaders in our communities. Manitobans need not look any further than their own homes if they question the need for supports for kids in care beyond legal adulthood, MacDonald said. If you have a child at 18 are they really ready to transition into the world? They may want to leave mom and dad, but really do they have the funding, do they have the wherewithal to do that? MacDonald said she joined local activists in raising the issue with the former NDP government early last year, but received no commitment from that administration. The Pallister government noted that the province already provides employment assistance, through the Building Futures program, to youth age 21 and over who are in care or were formerly in care. Up to 250 youth are being funded through the pilot project, which was created more than three years ago. The project receives about $300,000 annually from Manitoba Education and Training. Families Minister Scott Fielding said the government is open to offering more comprehensive support for older youth. Were always willing to look at whats happening in other provinces to see whats working and what can be done better, he said Monday. MacDonald was making her final appearance before the legislative affairs committee before her second and final three-year term comes to a close on April 11. In opening remarks before taking questions from MLAs, she said her offices workload has increased significantly over the past two years. It received more than 2,500 requests for support services in the most recent year alone. MacDonald also expressed dismay that several recommendations made three years ago in the report into the death of Phoenix Sinclair have yet to be acted upon. The report recommended the expansion and strengthening of the mandate of the childrens advocate. The Pallister government has indicated that it will introduce legislation to enhance the advocates office this spring. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Medically assisted dying could save the countrys health-care system millions of dollars but that worries an organization supporting people living with disabilities. A report, released in the Canadian Medical Association Journal Monday, says assisted dying could save the health-care system anywhere from $34.7 million to $138.8 million while costing $1.5 million to $14.8 million to implement it. The report, entitled Cost Analysis of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada, also says that even if the potential savings are overestimated or underestimated, the law that has been in place since June will be cost neutral to the health system. Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen But James Hicks, national co-ordinator of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, said Monday any discussion linking medically assisted dying to dollars and cents worries people living with disabilities. He said its one of the reasons why disability groups argued against Bill C-14 becoming law. I think its dangerous to start talking about that, Hicks said. If we start talking about dollars and cents and look at we can save money, you run into the motives we were all afraid of that its better to be dead than disabled. Hicks said more money should be put into palliative care. If we have proper palliative care you wont have as many people asking for assisted death because they are being taken care of, he said. Since the law was put in place June 17, more than 100 Manitoba patients or family members have contacted the provinces Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) team and 24 people have had medically assisted deaths. Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said hed like to see the federal government provide extra money for palliative care. Goertzen said when it comes to medically assisted dying, as long as Im the minister of health this will never be a discussion of saving money. This will be: how do we improve end-of-life experience? My preference is one should never feel this is the choice they need to take It will never be about what it costs and what it saves. Dr. Aaron Trachtenberg, one of the authors of the study and a resident at the University of Calgary, said the numbers in the report are simply estimates based on the experiences in the Netherlands and Belgium. Trachtenberg said even if the $138.8 million in savings turned out to be correct, it is still far less than one per cent of health-care spending, which is $220 billion. All we are trying to do is describe a potential reality now that medically assisted dying is legal in Canada. Were not saying it can be used to save money. I understand and sympathize with groups that are worried about the interpretation, but we have a responsibility of talking about costs for everything. Bronwyn Penner Holigroski, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, said it makes sure MAID gets the resources to meet patient needs in a timely manner. The service is required by federal legislation and the WRHA is therefore focused on delivering timely, safe access to the service, she said. The number of patients and families requesting access to the service continues to increase, as awareness increases. So, we do not yet know at what volume the demand for services will level off. Therefore, we cannot say at this time what the cost of the service will be in the longer term. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Police have arrested a former West Kildonan Collegiate student after he allegedly made a threat of violence against the school Monday. Principal Howard Kowalchuk told parents Tuesday morning in a letter that the school became aware of a threatened school shooting. Police allege the former student used Facebook Monday to to make the threat. Someone crossed a very big line, Seven Oaks School Division superintendent Brian OLeary said Tuesday morning. An individual was threatening to come to school with a weapon. I dont know how real the threat was. There were statements made on social media. Police did apprehend an individual (Monday) evening. OLeary said the suspect is a former student at West Kildonan Collegiate, but as far as anyone is aware, he was not at the school Monday or any time recently. He said the suspect appears to have reacted to an incident at the school Monday in which he was not involved. I dont think the individual ever appeared at the school. There was something that happened yesterday (Monday) that involved a fairly minor altercation between students. He was not involved, said OLeary. OLeary said students saw the threat on social media and immediately informed school officials. OLeary believed the student had previously left West Kildonan Collegiate to enrol at another school, but could not immediately say why, or say whether the suspect had had any problems while at WKC. Kowalchuk sent a letter to parents Tuesday morning, informing the schools families of the threat and police action. During the evening of Jan. 23, posts on Facebook were made referencing a threatened school shooting at West Kildonan Collegiate. The information was shared with Winnipeg police and a suspect (not a student of West Kildonan Collegiate ) was arrested and is in custody for making those threats, the letter read. Police officers, including the schools community resource officer, will be on site Tuesday at the school to ensure the safety of students and staff, Kowalchuk stated in the letter. We take any threat of violence in our school and community seriously and will continue to inform our parents, students and staff of relevant information, the letter stated. OLeary said that there were no special measures being taken to work with the students involved in Mondays minor altercation. We have a police presence at the school to ensure everyone is safe and sound, he said. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 23/01/2017 (2112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In real life, Thomas Hanaway is a 59-year-old socially isolated Winnipeg man with a litany of ailments and disabilities that makes it difficult to get around. But online, Hanaway has been living in a fantasy world one that sees him routinely taking on the persona of police officers as he communicates with unsuspecting people around the globe. Now, Hanaway is back behind bars after being convicted of this bizarre role play for a fifth time. He was given an 11-month jail sentence earlier this winter after pleading guilty to three sets of offences that occurred in 2015 and 2016. TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Thomas Hanaway bought the badge of a retired RCMP officer on the Internet. Im sorry for causing this trouble. I feel like everything is falling apart for me. Id sure like to get to the bottom of this. Like why I cant think straight, Hanaway told provincial court Judge Wanda Garreck. The Free Press listened to an audio transcript of the sentencing hearing on Monday. Using identity of real Mountie Police were alerted to Hanaways latest exploits after a New Jersey resident contacted them, concerned about what hed been seeing online. Hanaway was using the identity of a real Manitoba RCMP officer to make a series of online posts. Some were fairly innocent, containing tips to the public about police work. Others were more sinister. The content was described as inappropriate. It was described as anti-Muslim, anti-refugee, anti-Obama, said Crown attorney Lee Turner. The officer whom Hanaway was impersonating had previously arrested him for similar crimes in the past, court was told. Hanaway was released on bail in early 2016 with conditions including having no access to the Internet. He breached this twice in April and July 2016 after police received tips from officers in New Brunswick and Ontario that Hanaway was again pretending to be the Mountie. He remained in custody following the last arrest. Ive asked him why he does this and he really doesnt know why, said defence lawyer Marc Zurbuchen. He speculates that it fills some sort of social void where he receives positive feedback from responses to his articles and it fills some sense of purpose that he wouldnt otherwise receive as a physically disabled 59 year old man with a limited social support network. Dont know why its happening Hanaway has multiple sclerosis, has suffered two heart attacks and takes 19 different daily medications for various health issues, court was told. There is no evidence of any underlying mental illness, although Hanaway suggested he may have some brain trauma after falling into a coma following one of his heart attacks. He also has no family support. I dont know why its happening, I dont know whats going on. I dont know if its an addiction, I dont know if its just something you use to validate yourself socially, Judge Garreck told him. These offences are serious, regardless of what your intentions may be. Hanaways four prior convictions for similar offences date back to 1982. The most recent occurred in 2012, when Hanaway was given 4.5 months in jail and three years of supervised probation, which was still in force at the time of his latest crimes. Hanaway pleaded guilty at the time to several counts of impersonating a police officer and offered up an unusual explanation he told court he posed as a Mountie as part of an elaborate game designed to meet male sexual partners. He also admitted stockpiling authentic police clothing and instruments through various online purchases. In December 2009, Hanaway walked into the Hartford Street police station in full RCMP gear, bearing a box of Tim Hortons doughnuts and a Happy Holidays card. The card was signed Sgt. Tom Hannah, apparently a member of the Headingley RCMP. Police accepted his gift, then learned no such officer existed. He said he bought his uniform and other materials online in an attempt to keep the bad guys away from me. Gives legal, safety advice Months later, Hanaway walked into an inner-city 7-Eleven store in full Mountie gear, including police boots, jacket and a gang unit T-shirt. He had the badge of a retired officer, which he apparently bought on the Internet, along with handcuffs. Two police officers were in the store and one recognized Hanaway from a recent police memorabilia show. Hanaway was arrested but again released on bail. Hanaway was nabbed again weeks later when he walked into the Royal Canadian Legions Henderson Highway branch, identifying himself as the commander of the East St. Paul RCMP. Several patrons were suspicious of his behaviour, which included discussing ongoing criminal investigations, and called police. Investigators learned Hanaway had been going online and engaging in various chats with individuals, claiming to be a police officer and giving legal and personal-safety advice. He had also sent letters to various police detachments across North America. Its incredible how long long this is something he keeps going back to, Turner said at his most recent sentencing hearing. The reputation of the police and the police officers is significant here. It really seems like hes flouting the law. Hanaway has now been given another three years of supervised probation which again includes conditions not to possess any electronic devices and to stay off the Internet. mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca The awards have been given for 37 incidents across the country on the eve of the Republic Day. By Kamaljit Kaur Sandhu: The lower rank officers have marched ahead of their seniors bagging the maximum President's Police medal for Gallantry. Constable to head constable ranks haven stolen the show by walking away with as many as 55 medals, while only one IPS officer was named in the gallantry list. While the constables are at the bottom of the pyramid, they have shown more bravery and hence the awards. The awards have been given for 37 incidents across the country. advertisement Awards on the eve of Republic Day: 1. The constable to head constable ranks have bagged 55, assistant sub-inspector to inspector came in next with a medal tally of 25. 2. Next is deputy SP to assistant commandant standing at 15. The rest are SP level officers. 3. Surprisingly, only one IPS officer Sunil Kumar from Assam Cadre has got the gallantry award. 4. This R-Day will see 100 gallantry medals going to state police and the Central Armed Police Force. 5. While 78 medals have been bagged by the states, 22 are bagged by the CAPF. 6. Of these, the maximum number of medals have been bagged by insurgency hit state of Jammu and Kashmir with the medal tally standing at 32. 7. This has been followed by Maoist hit state of Andhra Pradesh which stands at 12, Jharkhand at 9 and Chhattisgarh at 7. 8. The northeast state of Assam received 4 medals while Manipur bagged an equal number. 9. The poll bound state of UP known for law and order issues saw 7 gallantry medals being awarded to its personnel. 10. Of the 22 police gallantry awards given this year, the maximum number have gone to paramilitary with 16 for CRPF. The BSF has got 5 and SSB only one. 11. Police gallantry medal for P Sanjoy Singh, an inspector rank officer in Manipur, has won his 8th award this R-Day. 12. Nazir Ahmed Kuchey, Sub-Inspector of J-K Police got two gallantry awards for bravery in two encounters within a gap of less than six months. 13. Two CRPF constables Rajesh Shukla and Randhir Singh were on the list of bravery in 1992 in Punjab. The duo went to court, after which the gallantry award was sanctioned by the MHA 25 years later. 14. JK cops get highest medal tally of 32 amongst states, the CRPF gets highest in paramilitary with 16 medals. 15. 10 gallantry awards granted have been posthumously. Also read: Republic Day: IB sounds alert on 9/11 style terror attack, lists 39 vulnerable localities --- ENDS --- advertisement Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Canada is about to relearn the truth in the old maxim, States do not have friends; they have interests. The free trade election of 1988 ignored this advice. Former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroneys Irish eyes sparkled as he talked about the great relationship between Canada and the United States. With free trade, Canada was entering into a continental partnership that, he argued, would ensure stable trade relations and secure market access. Critics at the time warned Canada was selling off its economy and even locking itself into being a hewer of wood and seller of raw petroleum products for the chimera of assured access; more broadly, Canada was potentially dealing away its sovereignty by making itself more dependent on the United States, a country whose history of economic development was a testament not to open borders but to protectionism. DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Canadians like Americans should take seriously the challenge presented by the new administration. In defence of this critique, critics pointed to past efforts to secure trade deals with the U.S., in particular the Reciprocity Agreement of 1854. That agreement, far more limited in scope than the FTA or NAFTA, secured access for Canadian wheat and other products exported to the U.S. It made sense at the time for Canada, a struggling young colony of Britain that had only recently been abandoned by the mother country that had, 20 years before, adopted free trade. In 1866, however, the U.S. pulled out of the agreement. It did so in part because of Britains support for the Confederate states in the recently concluded civil war. But the U.S. also abrogated the agreement because Canada as Donald Trump would say was winning in the deal. Americas protectionist instincts kicked into high gear, as they have for much of that nations history. The ending of the deal had a happy conclusion, however: it spurred the discussions that led to Canadas creation the next year. In later years, notably 1911 and again after the Second World War, Canada toyed briefly with the idea of entering into free trade with the U.S. But its political leadership and a large portion of the electorate rejected the idea, fearing a loss of sovereignty. Still, the theology (and misnomer) of free trade stuck around and, during a crisis of Keynesianism in the 1970s, resurfaced under Britains then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher and former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. The decision of both countries to advocate for the trade agreements that followed was based in large part on an intention to hobble unionized labour and to scale back their countrys respective welfare states. But so-called free trade also had supporters among large corporate interests and, most particularly, among finance capitalists bankers, investment houses and insurance companies. Already possessors of a large amount of capital, this particular segment of the capitalist class desperately wanted new markets in which to invest its surplus. Capital wanted to be liberated to go wherever it chose in search of greater profit, without hindrance in the form of regulation or fears of public (national) ownership. The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement set the stage for a swath of similar deals, each of which has been heavy on protecting investors rights such as allowing financial interests to sue governments for enacting policies that cut into their profits while doing little to protect workers, social programs or the environment. The rising gap between the rich and the poor in every country and across the globe is a product of these policies. A recent Oxfam report states that eight individuals now possess the wealth of the bottom 50 per cent of humanity. A small group of individuals, whose sole contribution to the world economy is watching their money earn more money, is turning everyone else into debt slaves. But at least for the moment, this growing underclass in the United States and elsewhere in the West has a weapon: the vote. It is not a coincidence that the two countries whose mentorship in the early 1980s fostered globalization Britain and the United States have witnessed, in the past year, a revolt against neo-liberal trade. For private capital, this current apparent retreat into protectionism will not prove a serious blow. Some will lose money, but most will do well. Capitalism is nothing if not resilient. The Trump administration views everything as a business opportunity and will ensure that American corporations including the presidents own family businesses thrive. But Canadians like Americans should take seriously the challenge presented by the new administration. Citizens not governments, nor the state who leave too great an amount of power in the hands of corporate interests surrender control over the kind of society they want today and into the future. Trevor W. Harrison is a professor at the University of Lethbridge and director of Parkland Institute. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. United States President Donald Trump signed an order Monday withdrawing his country from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, as he had promised. He said Sunday he would meet with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to discuss the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he wants to renegotiate. He and his supporters believe free trade deals have weakened U.S. industry, although U.S. economic expansion and low unemployment suggest otherwise. President Trump, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto have to decide pretty quickly whether to have a single trade deal covering three countries, or something else entirely. From Canadas perspective, the question is whether to keep Mexico in a menage a trois or dump Mexico in order to preserve Canadian market access in the U.S. EVAN VUCCI / THE ASSOCIATED PRESs U.S. President Donald Trump All three countries have enjoyed economic expansion during the NAFTA years. Mexico, the poorest and least industrialized of the three, has enjoyed the fastest growth, evolving from a low-income country to an upper-middle level economy. Migration from Mexico to the U.S. most of it illegal has declined in recent years as Mexican industry expanded. The long-term interest of all three countries lies in continuing Mexicos economic expansion and its contributions to both production and consumption. The Trump administration, however, cannot wait for the long term. The 2018 mid-term elections, which could destroy Republican dominance of the House of Representatives, are just 22 months away. President Trump has to produce some dramatic results in that short time to satisfy those who think he is going to reopen, as he said in his inaugural address, rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation. That vivid phrase may return to haunt him in the mid-terms if the tombstones are still standing and he has no progress to show. Prime Minister Trudeau should draw attention to the advantages of the three-way deal. Mexico, with a population of 120 million and a rapidly expanding middle class, is becoming a steadily stronger market for Canada and U.S. exports and an engine of growth for the hemisphere. As Mexican industry expands, Mexican workers will be more and more inclined to stay home and less inclined to sneak into the U.S. But in such a joint arrangement, each partner has to take account of the views of the others even misguided views. If the U.S. insists on throwing up barriers to trade and migration with Mexico, Canada is ill-placed to tell Americans not to. Prime Minister Trudeau should show the three-way deal is working well and can be improved. But he should be willing to retire gracefully and leave the U.S. and Mexico to reach their own solutions to the complex conditions that govern their long, close and often contentious relationship. President Trump and his supporters seem to have grievances against Mexico, but not much of a problem with Canada. It is not up to Canada to make Mexicans and Americans love each other more, nor should Canada interpose itself between two bad neighbours who intend to pursue their long-running quarrels. After the Trump era ends and the United States turns away from its present course, Canada will have plenty of opportunity to revive the three-way trade deal. Preserving Canadian market access in the United States, however, is of vital interest right now. In 2006, local art enthusiasts came together in support of the Blue Heron Project, a plan to display 15 uniquely painted great blue heron statues around the city of Winona. The group commissioned local artists to give each statue its own design, installed them around town for the summer and then auctioned off the seven-foot, multi-colored birds for nearly $45,000. A decade later, the people who made it happen now calling themselves the River Arts Alliance continue to influence local arts in ways big and small. We believe that a cohesive arts community helps our city and our downtown, said Vicki Englich, the alliances board chair. In the past year, Englich has overseen the creation of bi-monthly Art Schmoozes where local artists can connect with one another, the citys ninth annual Family Art Day, and the first phase of a plan to install artwork on Hiawatha Broadband Communications otherwise plain fencing along the Mississippi River. There are a lot of exciting things happening in Winona, she said. Were becoming a destination. Through its events and programs, the alliance also seeks to encourage and to showcase local artists. Artists can sell their work at the annual Winona Art Walk and Tour. They can gain much-needed exposure at the annual Members Exhibition at Winona State University. And they can teach their respective crafts to the next generation of young artists at the annual Family Art Day. Were all about promoting local artists and not just visual art, but all kinds of art, Englich said. This year, she added, the alliance will focus on promoting literature as an art form, perhaps by hosting writing workshops. We want people to understand that its all part of arts and culture, she said. People who wish to learn more about the alliances work in the past year are invited to attend a public meeting scheduled for Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the Minnesota Conservatory for the Arts. There will be a social time, a review of the groups achievements this year, and a vote to nominate board members for next year. Organizers hope to hold the meetings annually. Englich said the group has more big projects in store, though some are still being considered and planned. She views the alliances role in the community, she said, as more important now than at any point in its short history. Art gives us not only a personal identity as a small city, but it also brings us together, she said. At a time when were experiencing some deep polarization in our country, I think arts and culture will help us find common ground. We believe that a cohesive arts community helps our city and our downtown. Vicki Englich, the alliances board chair. A representative for an Arbys franchisee confirmed Tuesday that recently purchased land on Hwy. 61 on the east end of Winona is planned for one of their restaurants. Abbey Ramsey, director of marketing for DRM, Inc. in Omaha, Neb., said that they are hoping to site a branch of the restauran on land to the east of Rogans Shoes and OReilly Auto Parts. Theres no concrete timeline yet for the project, Ramsey said, though plans call for work to begin later this summer. The land at 1055 Hwy. 61 was sold for $505,000 to Strifex, Inc., at the end of December 2016. No development has been started at the site yet. DRM was founded in 1977 and owns and operates 72 Arbys restaurants in Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin. Recently they added a restaurant in Sparta, Wis., and are working on another in Black River Falls. Two Sauk County women made their way to Washington, DC last week to express their political views and be a part of history, but the events they attended were as different as their reasons for going. Jenny Anderson of Hillpoint felt so strongly about seeing the inauguration of Donald Trump as the nations 45th president, she drove the more than 900 miles by herself just to be there Friday. Baraboo resident Terri Fichter boarded a bus in Milwaukee with her sister, niece and several co-workers and friends to participate in the Womens March on Washington on Saturday. Both said the experience represented a significant moment in their lives. Both also said the most recent election motivated them to make the trip, though for very different reasons. Anderson, who works in customer service at Flambeau Plastics, said she supported Donald Trump throughout his campaign. I feel this president will provide better healthcare, lower taxes and protect my faith rights, which is why I supported him, she said. Anderson said she applied for tickets for the inauguration through U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnsons offices the day after Trump won the general election. You dont know about getting tickets until quite close to the inauguration, she said Monday. My bosses saw that this was on my bucket list and were very supportive of me going. So, I loaded up my car and left by myself last Wednesday after work, taking Thursday and Friday off. Anderson said she asked her husband to join her, but he didnt want to deal with the crowds. Fichter, who serves as Activities Director at St. Clare Meadows, signed up for tickets for the Womens March on Washington with two co-workers and her sister the day after the election. For me, the March on Washington was a march for mankind. It was global, she said. We are all immigrants in this country except for Native Americans. The rest of us are all sons and daughters of immigrants. I walked for the world. It was personal for me, like having a one-on-one conference with President Trump. Fichter said the elections negative rhetoric motivated her trip because she has two daughters and grandkids and wanted their voices to be heard. Looking out at one point and being able to see the Washington Monument, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and a glimpse of the Jefferson Memorial, I was humbled but felt empowered to keep doors open for my kids, my state, my neighbors, she said. I think I walked for people who dont even know they need to be spoken for yet. Other than my marriage and having kids, this experience will go down as one of the greatest things I have ever done. Anderson said she enjoys traveling and her experience in the nations capital ignited a new passion in her for politics. When you see first-hand something so grand as the presidential inauguration, it changes you, she said. It gave me the bug to get involved in politics. I want to now get off the couch and participate in what I believe in and effect change. Fichter said she wants to see Trump and his administration succeed in making America a stronger nation, but added she believed he needed to hear the voices of the people from the rally. I spent 14 hours on a bus one-way with 36 women and two men with no bathroom, she said. It was a bonding experience but the 8- mile walk in D.C. was done because I want to go forward not backwards. In separate interviews, both women agreed that politics is important, but those participating should be civil. Anderson said she was moved by the display of unity at the inauguration. When the choir sang God Bless America, everyone started singing along with the choir, everyone, she said. It was awesome and emotional. Healthways announced that community improvement leader Leslie Covell Hershberger will lead Blue Zones Project Dodge County as the initiatives local community program manager. Blue Zones Project is designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to the environment, policy and social networks. Covell Hershberger is the former executive director for Friends of Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center. She will be joined on the local Blue Zones Project staff by Melody Masteller as senior project manager; Tracy Rose and Keith Hill as organization leads; and Janelle Wiebelhaus-Finger as community engagement lead. The leadership team will be responsible for implementing programs and principles as Dodge County works toward Blue Zones Community certification. Its an exciting time for Dodge County. Many community leaders and engaged citizens are working on multiple projects and initiatives to bring positive change and improved well-being to our community, said Covell Hershberger. Being selected as the first Blue Zones Project demonstration site in Wisconsin is a result of this communitys motivation and enthusiasm for a better Dodge County. I am honored to be part of a skilled team that supports Blue Zones Project efforts in our community. In October 2016, Dodge County was named a Blue Zones Project demonstration site. Blue Zones Project is based on principles developed by Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Whove Lived the Longest. Dodge County is receiving support from national experts to implement a comprehensive, evidence-based plan for improving community well-being. Nearly 100 individuals have volunteered to support implementation of that plan through various committees. In the coming months, those committees will begin working with organizations to make healthy choices easier. To learn more about Blue Zones Project or to get involved, visit DodgeCounty.BlueZonesProject.com. They call her the Pajama Gramma. And she loves it. Rose Everett serves on the Rock Reader Reading Council leadership team as treasurer and chair of the councils PB&J service project. The council started Providing Books and Jammies in 2010 in cooperation with the Wisconsin State Reading Association. She said it was based on a similar project. We just adapted it to what we could do and made it work for our area, Everett said. The PB&J project had the council buying books and pajamas for children up to age 14, distributed through PAVE, Clothes for Kids, New Beginnings Homeless Shelter, Dodge County Social Services, Pregnancy Support Center of Dodge County and food pantries in Beaver Dam and Mayville. In 2013, the RRRC opted to focus on babies. It was really difficult to coordinate all the right sizes of PJs and the right books, Everett said. Since then, the RRRC has donated 130 gift bags containing a newborn sleeper and hardcover book. What a way to introduce children to the love of reading, Everett said. Everett helps shop for books and pajamas and does most of her shopping at Kohls. The Kohls CARES program helps support the project. She also passes a piggy bank around at meetings for members willing to donate to the project. Some buy books or sleepers to donate. PB&J used to include stuffed animals related to the books, but that stopped when hospitals did not have storage space for them. Gift bags are delivered to hospitals in Beaver Dam, Columbus and Waupun for distribution in December. Her favorite book donated through the PB&J project is On the Night You Were Born. Its so appropriate for new mothers, Everett said. The Rock River Reading Council is a professional organization whose members are classroom teachers, reading specialists, librarians and administrators in Dodge, Fond du Lac and Green Lake counties. The RRRC works to improve lifelong literacy and the teaching of reading through opportunities to network, with programs and speakers offering opportunities for professional growth along with community service projects that promote reading and literacy. Everett said the council is open to anyone interested in reading and literacy. Were a very active group, Everett said. We have amazing teachers on our leadership team. The RRRC will host its second annual Young Writers Workshop March 11 at Marian University in Fond du Lac. Visit https://www.facebook.com/RockRiverReadingCouncil to learn more. RANDOLPH Plans for a senior class trip to a destination popular with college students on spring break raised concerns during the Randolph School Board meeting, but ended with a message of trust. The Randolph School Board approved allowing members of the senior class to travel to South Padre Island, Texas, for their class trip in late April. School board president Keith Medema said he heard from people in the community who expressed concerns about the classs choice of a travel destination. The cost of the tripapproximately $500 per student, fundraisers, and a request from the class to miss more than one school day also were discussed. Members of the senior class attended the meeting, and said the date of the trip- over the weekend of April 22-23, is past the date most colleges are on spring break. The class has already raised $6,000 and has at least three more fundraisers planned to help reduce the cost per student. Board member Wayne Vanderploeg said the class exceeded the cap for number of fundraisers usually allowed per class when he served as a school administrator. In addition to another pizza sale, the class plans a fundraiser at Pizza Ranch, a bowling day at Tower Lanes in Beaver Dam and hopes to plan a night at Culvers. District administrator Kevin Knudson reminded the class that the rules of the trip require that any one who gets in trouble gets sent back early at their own expense and will not be allowed to walk during the graduation ceremony. The school board also spoke about the expectations and responsibiities of chaperones. Medema reminded the class they would be representing the Randolph School District and community. This is pretty aggressive, said board member Gary DeVries of the destination. He pointed out that previous classes have travelled to Chicago, St. Louis or the Dells, but moved to approve the trip and allowing the class out of school early on April 21 for travel arrangements, with the trip scheduled to return on April 24. DeVries told the class to be responsible enough to nip any bad behavior in the bud. Some in the community are saying, if you send them, someothing will go wrong, DeVries said. Prove them wrong. The board voted to approve the trip, with board member Laurie Boomsma the only no vote out of the six members present. The Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club of Juneau County is pleased to announce Drew Nussbaum, Regional Director of the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, is visiting Juneau County Thursday, Jan. 26, 6:30 p.m., at the Lynxx (Lemonweir Valley Telcom) in Camp Douglas. This session will provide information and data on tourism trends that specifically relate to this area. If you're planning to attend the Governor's Conference on Tourism (WIGCOT) in March, you can get a "sneak preview" of Drew's presentation here. And if you weren't planning to make the conference in Milwaukee this year, you don't want to miss this opportunity where the Department of Tourism comes to you. The event is free and open to all. No registration is needed. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., presentation begins at 6 p.m. Networking opportunities and light snacks provided following the presentation. Delhi is under ground-to-air security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil for the Republic Day celebrations. By Press Trust of India: Abu Dhabi crown prince and deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath in New Delhi. Sheikh Mohamed, who will be arriving on a three day visit to India today, will be accompanied by a high-level delegation. This will be his second visit to India since his visit in February last year. advertisement Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the UAE in August , 2015 provided a huge boost to the ties between the two nations. Modi was the first Indian PM to visit the UAE in 34 years after Indira Gandhi's tour in 1981. GROUND-TO-AIR SECURITY COVER FOR REPUBLIC DAY Delhi is under ground-to-air security cover with thousands of armed personnel keeping a tight vigil for the Republic Day celebrations. The entire Central and New Delhi region will have nearly 50,000 security personnel drawn from Delhi Police and central security forces guarding every nook and corner. This time, police will use anti-drone technology to thwart any attack or identify any suspicious flying object. Apart from this, security personnel will be stationed atop tall buildings with anti-aircraft guns. On January 25, Delhi borders will be sealed and all cars entering the national capital will be checked thoroughly. CCTV cameras have been installed and eight control rooms have been set up to monitor the feed from the cameras, the officer said. Various security layers have been put in place and Delhi Police personnel along with paramilitary and NSG commandos have been deployed. (With inputs from PTI) ALSO READ: Ahead of Republic Day, Pakistan terrorists using Afghan passports to enter India IB alert for Republic Day: Terror threat from ISIS' lone wolf to LeT's paragliders, flying objects --- ENDS --- Juneau County residents Eric Grzenia and Rose Clark shared their passion for Wisconsin photography and history during a presentation at Two Sisters Event Center in Mauston Saturday. Grzenia showed his DVD film Wisconsin Postcards; Then vs. Now, A Visual Documentary, which he released last summer. Grzenia, a Mauston resident, discussed the long process of making the film and his appreciation for history and outdoor photography. During a four-year span, Grzenia tracked down old postcards of sights from across the state and tried to capture what those places look like in present day. Grzenia trekked through Wisconsin, from Denmark to Hudson, to shoot downtowns, schools, churches, railroad tracks, and other historic scenes. About five or six years ago, I got into postcard collecting, Grzenia said. I started looking up Mauston postcards and then my interest extended beyond Mauston. I started looking for the most picturesque Wisconsin postcards I could find. When you do this as a collector of old postcards you cant help but wonder what these places look like now. Since finishing his documentary, Grzenia has rekindled his passion for shooting outdoor scenery, focusing on nostalgic themes. That could be a country church falling over out in the middle of nowhere or dilapidated school houses, thats my sort of thing, Grzenia said. All of those old school houses, for the most part, are just gone now. Ive had to do some digging on the internet to find them, but this past year, I was able to get some of the best pictures Ive taken. Clark shared stories about George H. Tucker, Maustons first commercial photographer. Tucker had a photo studio downtown and enjoyed taking family photos, especially babies. Grzenia also captured tragedy in his documentary. His film shows a photo from Wisconsins first aviation fatality in 1913, which occurred in Mauston, near what is now the armory and the county fairgrounds. The pilot was forced to make an emergency landing. He came in low and clipped a fence and the plane flipped over, Grzenia said. The local photographer also recreated a scene from downtown Mauston, captured in 1931. Grzenia matched a shot from atop the historic Ballentine Building, looking south along State Street. The Ballentine Building turned 120 years old last year. Grzenia called old postcards the social media of the early 1900s. They served as a way of connecting friends and family members living apart with photos, information and a short message. In Wisconsin Postcards, some scenes show how dramatically locations changed, while others have basically stayed the same for decades. Growth from vegetation, along with urban sprawl, has made some locations almost unrecognizable from what it looked like 100 years ago. Clark, the Juneau County Historian, finished the presentation with background on the Two Sisters building, which was constructed in 1915. The building served as headquarters for the local Odd Fellows group and the Rebeccas, a womens organization. It was a good organization that helped a lot of people, Clark said. But they were also known for their secret ceremonies. Grzenia said member induction ceremonies included a real human skeleton. Many of the Odd Fellows were doctors so Grzenia thinks skeletons werent hard to come by. On a lighter note, Clark said the banquet hall at the building held high school dances for many years. The venue also hosted weddings and members of the public were encouraged to attend. The Odd Fellows and Rebeccas are still around; they had a float in the Rose Bowl parade this year, Clark said. They were slowing down for awhile, but their numbers are starting to rise. Clark gave some background on the historical society and previewed upcoming events. She also talked about one of the societys oldest books, the county justice docket from the 1860s. This one is priceless, she said. Juneau County Circuit Court Judge Paul Curran ruled that three local municipalities will not have to pay back a large amount of tax money to Mile Bluff Medical Center. Curran made his decision on Friday during a motion hearing at the Juneau County Justice Center in Mauston. Mile Bluff filed a lawsuit early last year claiming the three family medical centers in New Lisbon, the village of Necedah and Elroy owned and operated by Mile Bluff are hospitals and should be exempt from paying property taxes. The medical center sued New Lisbon for $47,525.33, the village of Necedah for $19,200.51, and Elroy for $14,717.25, which is the amount Mile Bluff claimed it overpaid in taxes to each municipality. Curran cited case law in several other similar cases in Wisconsin before making his decision. The three medical centers serve as satellite branches of the larger hospital in Mauston, but Curran said they do not provide 24-hour emergency care like the Mauston facility. There is no evidence that if one of these medical centers closed, the hospital could not go on, Curran said. These facilities have not substantially changed since being purchased by the hospital. There isnt evidence that theres service provided there that couldnt be provided at the hospital. Meg Vergeront, an attorney for Stafford Rosenbaum, represented the municipalities, while Timothy Feeley from the law firm of Hall, Render, Killian, Heath and Lyman, argued on Mile Bluffs behalf. No representatives from the three municipalities or Mile Bluff were present at Fridays hearing. Vergeront said Currans decision was spot on. Its a win for the taxpayers in each of these cities, Vergeront said. New Lisbon Mayor Lloyd Chase echoed Vergeronts comments. Chase said losing property tax payments from the New Lisbon Family Medical Center would have likely raised tax bills for New Lisbon property owners by about 2 percent. Im disappointed with the decision on behalf of Mile Bluff Medical Center, Feeley said. Mile Bluff could appeal the courts decision, but Feeley didnt confirm it would on Friday. Im going to circle back with my client and discuss the decision, Feeley said. That will be the next step. A message left with Mile Bluff Chief Executive Officer James OKeefe seeking comment on Monday was not returned. Officials from all three municipalities were very pleased with Currans ruling. Im happy with the decision; of course there is still time for them to appeal, Chase said. Taking that property off the tax roll would have made a noticeable difference. That new property value would have impacted everyone in town. Village of Necedah Administrator Roger Herried said the village is very satisfied with the outcome of the case. When the case went forward, all three municipalities were represented by the same attorney, Herried said. We took the information we had about the clinics and went with it. It was actually several years Mile Bluff was asking for in back taxes, not just one. Mile Bluff initially filed for tax exemption in 2013, the year it became a non-profit organization. Herried praised Vergeronts work, saying the attorney conducted very thorough research to build a strong case against Mile Bluff. Vergeront argued that the three medical centers function more like clinics than hospitals and Curran agreed. Feeley argued the satellite medical centers served as an extension of the large regional hospital and should be tax exempt. The hospital has 100 percent ownership and control in these facilities, Feeley said. Its not like a private practice where doctors share revenues and expenses as a partnership. While all three municipalities were pleased with Fridays outcome, officials said the medical centers are valuable assets to the communities. We actually have two clinics in town, so its nice to have them in close proximity, said Elroy Administrator Mark Steward. If you want local care, its right next door, Herried said. Wisconsin Republicans, having pulled off dramatic statewide election wins in November, already are eyeing the next mountaintop: toppling Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2018. The first-term Baldwin, D-Madison, says shes prepared to have the GOP target on her back. In a memo to supporters Monday, Baldwin campaign manager Scott Spector said shes in strong position to win re-election. Its not yet clear who Baldwins Republican challenger will be as none has entered the race. Still, Republicans say they expect Baldwin will be vulnerable. State and national Republicans already are attacking Baldwin for opposing some of President Donald Trumps Cabinet nominees and linking her to some of her most outspoken liberal U.S. Senate colleagues, such as Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Republicans say Baldwins political liabilities will include her 18-year record in Congress which they say will make it easy to label her a Washington insider as well as a flailing Democratic campaign infrastructure in Wisconsin and her offices handling of a report on over-prescription of opioid painkillers at the Tomah VA Medical Center. Whats more, Republicans say Baldwin cant benefit in 2018 from sharing the ballot with popular former President Barack Obama, as she did in her first U.S. Senate election in 2012. I think she realizes shes very vulnerable, said Mark Morgan, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The Baldwin memo notes midterm elections historically favor the party out of power which, in 2018, will be Democrats. It predicts Baldwins campaign will be well-funded and well-served by her legislative agenda, which includes addressing the opioid crisis, promoting Made in America buying policies for public entities, preserving Obamas health care law, authoring legislation to crack down on revolving door practices between the financial industry and its federal regulators. Not only has (Baldwin) criss-crossed the state talking to Wisconsinites about the issues that impact them, shes also taken those issues to Washington and gotten results, Spector told the Wisconsin State Journal in a statement. Republicans view the race as a chance to deal a near-finishing blow to Wisconsins beleaguered Democrats. GOP candidates won big in four of the last five statewide elections in Wisconsin with presidential, gubernatorial or U.S. Senate contests, including the 2012 recall election. Perhaps the most surprising GOP win of all came in November, when Donald Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to carry the state since Ronald Reagan. Those results led some to conclude the state, particularly its rural swing voters, may be trending Republican on a long-term basis. For Democrats, a Baldwin win would help rebut that notion. It also would affirm the state is winnable for Democrats in the 2020 presidential election, said Kyle Kondik, an elections expert at the University of Virginia. In 2018, Kondik said national Republicans are unlikely to reprise their hands-off approach to Wisconsin in GOP Sen. Ron Johnsons recent re-election win over Democrat Russ Feingold. In that race, many national GOP groups and their allies, believing Johnson was likely to lose, stayed out of the race until very late, when polls showed the race tightening. Now, national Republicans look at that (Baldwin) seat as very winnable, Kondik said. Kondik said a name that repeatedly has surfaced as a potential GOP challenger to Baldwin is U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy of Wausau. Duffys campaign has yet to publicly comment on whether hes considering a run. Kevin Nicholson, a Milwaukee-area management consultant and board member of the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, said Tuesday he is considering a run. Nicholson said hell make a decision some time in 2017. Nicholson is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; he has not held elected office. Im hearing from lots of people who are encouraging me to run because theyre frustrated with career politicians and the typical choices, Nicholson wrote in an email. Nicholson said his decision wont hinge on whether any other Republican enters the race. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel hes considering a U.S. Senate bid. But Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Republicans should unify behind Duffy if he runs. Kondik said decisions whether to run by Duffy and other Republicans could rest, in part, on the public reception to the work that will be done in coming months by the Trump administration and its GOP counterparts in Congress. Another factor could be the potential interplay with the other statewide race on the ballot in 2018: the governors race, in which Gov. Scott Walker may seek a third term. If six months from now, Donald Trump is either flying high or struggling, that could inform (Duffys) judgment, Kondik said. Items are listed under the day of the event only, running as space permits prior to the event. To submit items, call 745-3511, email jcutsforth@capitalnewspapers.com or visit www.portagedailyregister.com. Include name and phone number. TODAY Free back pain and sciatica workshop: 6 p.m. New Life Physical Therapy, 2639 New Pinery Road, Portage. Call 742-9356 to register your spot in the workshop. Space is limited. Genealogy Researchers: 1 to 3 p.m. Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Eleanor Brinsko, founder of Carlon Genealogical Services, Sun Prairie, will present How to Organize Your Genealogical Information. Her presentation will provide samples and ideas on how to organize your genealogical finds that you have accumulated. Digital and non-digital techniques will be discussed in her presentation. Jewelry and Gift Item Sale: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. More than 1,000 unique products for men, women and children. Great values on fashion and seasonal accessories, jewelry, gadgets, gifts and more. Name brand, top quality products at values up to 80 percent below retail. Library event: 10 a.m. Preschool Story Time for children ages 3 to 5 (younger siblings welcome), Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Story Time is 30 to 40 minutes and focuses on books, songs, movement and other learning experiences. This week the theme is E is for Elephant. Registration is recommended to ensure enough supplies and can be done by calling the Childrens Department at 742-4959 ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us. Library event: 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Block Party for ages 4 through 12 (children 4 through 6 years must have an adult present in the room during the program), Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. This week builders will be faced with two themes (to make up for the cancelled program): one color design and the ice cube challenge. Registration is recommended but not required. For more information, call 742-4959 ext. 211. Writing group: 9:30 a.m. Pauquette Wordcrafters, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. All writers welcome. Zumba Toning: 4:30 p.m. Woodridge Primary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com. WEDNESDAY, JAN. 25 Bingo: 5:30 p.m. 131 Restaurant, North Main Street, Pardeeville. Bingo will be played every Wednesday, except the first one of the month. Clinic: 8 a.m. to noon, Columbia County Public Health Walk-In Clinic, Columbia County Division of Health, 2652 Murphy Road, Portage. Use door No. 4. Bring childs immunization record. Visit www.co.columbia.wi.us for more information. Endeavor Sharing Supper: 5 to 6:30 p.m. Endeavor Elementary School, Endeavor. Come help us celebrate our third anniversary. A free meal will be served. Informational booths and free blood pressure checks will be available. Kids Corner will have activities for children. This months supper is sponsored by Trecek Automative and the food is being prepared by the Hitching Post. Free blood pressure screenings: 1 to 5 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. No appointment necessary. Call 745-6405 for more information. Do not eat, smoke, drink caffeine or exercise for 30 minutes prior. Fundraiser: 4 to 9 p.m. fundraiser for Carol Heisz, B&B Hitching Post, West Wisconsin Street, Portage. Dinner buffet for $9.99. All proceeds will benefit Carol and her family. Jewelry and Gift Item Sale: noon to 5 p.m. Divine Savior Healthcare, 2817 New Pinery Road, Portage. More than 1,000 unique products for men, women and children. Great values on fashion and seasonal accessories, jewelry, gadgets, gifts and more. Name brand, top quality products at values up to 80 percent below retail. Library event: 10 a.m. Preschool Story Time for children ages 3 to 5 (younger siblings welcome), Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Story Time is 30 to 40 minutes and focuses on books, songs, movement and other learning experiences. This week the theme is E is for Elephant. Registration is recommended to ensure enough supplies and can be done by calling the Childrens Department at 742-4959 ext. 211 or online at www.portagelibrary.us. Portage Womens Civic League: 9 a.m. Board meeting, Clubhouse, West Edgewater Street, Portage. St. Vincent de Paul free medical clinic: 9 a.m. to noon. Wilz Drugs lower level, 140 E. Cook St., Portage. No appointments needed. Information needed is name, date of birth and a contact number. A chiropractor is available from 10 a.m. to noon Wednesdays. A foot clinic is available every week. The clinic can do exams and prescribe medications. Physical therapist available. Discounted medications are available at Wilz and Walmart. Call Bonny Oestreich, RN, at 608-234-0159 for information. Zumba/Zumba Toning: 5 p.m. Montello. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com. Zumba: 5:30 p.m. 1208 Northport Road (the former Freedom Carpeting building). This is a $5 drop-in class. For more information, contact Deb at DJMACK00001@yahoo.com or Rena at 697-6713. THURSDAY, JAN. 26 Blood drive: Portage Red Cross blood drive, 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. United Methodist Church, 1804 New Pinery Road, Portage. Download the American Red Cross Blood Donor app, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767 to make an appointment or for more information. All blood types are needed. A blood donor card or drivers license or two other forms of identification are required. Brown Bag Lunch Series: noon, Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. Join Janet Price as she remembers The Little Golden Books that figured prominently in many of our childhoods. Brown Bags are generally held the fourth Thursday of each month at noon. The cost is $5 at the door. Bring a lunch if you wish. Student groups welcome; call for group pricing. This event is sponsored by Ellen Schieber. Museum: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Portage World War II Museum, 119 E. Cook St., Portage. Free tours for veterans every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The tours take 2 1/2 hours. For information, call 608-697-3690. FRIDAY, JAN. 27 Euchre Card Party: Portage Presbyterian Church, 120 W. Pleasant St., Portage. Luncheon at 6 p.m., and cards at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $5 for food, cards and prizes. This is a benefit to support the Yakutat Presbyterian Church in Yakutat, Alaska. Public welcome. A donation to the food pantry would be appreciated. Library event: 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. Pre-K Klub for children ages 4 to 6, Portage Public Library, 253 W. Edgewater St., Portage. Pre-K Klub is for children enrolled in a prekindergarten program or home schooled (it is not intended for preschoolers attending weekly library story times) and is a STEM-based program. Each month a different component is featured: science, technology, engineering or math with a hands-on activity and an accompanying story. For January, we will explore our five senses using the book My Five Senses by Aliki, and using our senses to taste, touch, see, hear and smell every day items. Registration is required and can be done in person at the Childrens Desk, by calling the Childrens Department at 742-4959 ext. 211 or registering online at www.portagelibrary.us. Seniors Bowling Social: 1 p.m. Fireball Lanes, 817 E. Wisconsin St., Portage. Cost is $6 and includes three games of bowling and shoe rental. Unique Singles: 5 p.m. Pizza Ranch, New Pinery Road, Portage. All single men and women older than age 50 welcome. The group is strictly social with no dues or officers. SATURDAY, JAN. 28 Jacks Tap Anniversary Bash: 3 to 4 p.m. Jacks Tap, Dunn Street, Portage. Jacks Tap celebrates their one year anniversary with an open bar from 3 to 4 p.m. with rail and domestic beer, lots of giveaways, complimentary appetizers and more. Religion class: 5 p.m. Deliverance ministry classes with Pastor Dale Smalley, Outreach Bible Church, 235 Northridge Drive, Portage. All welcome. St. Mary School Spaghetti Dinner: 4:30 to 7 p.m. St. Mary School, Portage (use West Conant Street entrance). This event will feature all-you-can-eat spaghetti, salad and bread, a bake sale of homemade treats, and a mini-raffle. Children age 12 and younger are $5 and adults are $8. Zumba Fitness Party Fundraiser: 9 to 10:30 a.m. Bartels Middle School gymnasium, Portage. Proceeds will benefit the Portage Music Boosters. Cost is $10 per person at the door (cash or check payable to Portage Music Boosters. SUNDAY, JAN. 29 Student Recital Series: 1 p.m. Portage Center for the Arts, 301 E. Cook St., Portage. This Student Recital Series features performances from students of independent music teachers located throughout the surrounding region. Open to the public. Cost is $5 at the door. This event is sponsored by Portage Soundworks. Zumba: 5:30 p.m. Rusch Elementary School, Portage. $5 drop in fee. Contact Tami at 608-346-3971 or 4dreamers@frontier.com; http:/www.portagelibrary.us A Reedsburg family is homeless after a fire broke out on Jan. 23. The house, located on Enterprise Drive near South Dewey Avenue, was destroyed despite firefighters working for hours to knock down the flames. No one was home at the time and no injuries were reported. Jordan Sullivan, who grew up in the house during her teen years, told the Times-Press she received notice of the incident around 9:30 a.m. A woman in the nearby industrial park noticed the fire, called 911 and then notified Jordans mother, Michele Sullivan. Jordan said she checked Baraboo Scanners Facebook page, saw that it was her childhood home and rushed to pick up her mother from work. Michele and her significant other still live in the house but Jordan has her own place in Reedsburg. We got in the car and sped over there, she said. Jordan shared a photo and updates on Baraboo Scanners Facebook page while she watched the Reedsburg Fire Department battle the blaze. They were super nice and supportive, she said of the firefighters. The home is located where the city and township meet so the department had access to plentiful water, said Reedsburg Fire Department Chief Craig Douglas. If the house had been farther out of town the department likely would have needed help. He said the flames were quite strong when he arrived around 9:30 a.m. and crews didnt finish working until about 2:30 p.m. Investigators hadnt determined the cause as of the Times-Press deadline. At least the weather was on their side. January in Wisconsin is notorious for unpredictable winters that can include deep freezes and heavy snowfalls. Recent mild temperatures significantly reduced the risk of cold-related injuries. Douglas said conditions, combined with the firefighters training, helped prevent potential problems. It was too dangerous to let anyone inside even after the fire had died, Jordan said. The homes exterior brickwork and roof remained intact but the inside was another matter. We climbed the patio and looked in there, she said. The floor had melted through. Everything from toothbrushes to childhood photos was ruined either by fire, smoke or water. Jordan said no one realizes how much they have or need until they lose it. She helped her mom buy a few necessities the afternoon after the fire and was overwhelmed at how much was gone. Thanks to insurance the couple has a hotel to stay in while investigations are underway at the house. In a stroke of luck or fate, the family dog was spared from tragedy. Jordan said Marley, a yellow lab, was with her when the fire broke out. Its a fortunate turn of events considering Marleys kennel was burned in the incident. Douglas said he sympathizes with the family. I feel bad for the homeowner. They lost a lot today, he said on Jan. 23. Reedsburg is one step closer to potentially being featured on Discover Wisconsin. Common Council approved a proposal giving the city administrator the authority to sign a contract with Discover Mediaworks. The vote was unanimous during councils regular meeting Jan. 23. City Administrator Stephen Compton said the City would partner with the Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce to fund the $40,000 project. The City would be responsible for $21,600, and the chamber would cover the rest. Some of the money has already been set aside in the budget for this year, Compton said. It costs nearly $219,000 per episode but Discover Mediaworks can offer the service for $40,000 thanks to sponsors, said Greg Smith, the companys managing director. Besides creating the episode, the company also needs to buy airtime. Many people believe the show is on public television but it has always been on cable, he said. The businesses that advertise during the show bear the brunt of expenses. Reedsburgs episode would air three times over a two-year period, he said. If filming took place this year, the show could debut in 2018 or 2019 and would air in 8 states. Episodes are a little over 20 minutes long, but run for a half hour with commercials. Smith said Discover Mediaworks would collaborate with the chamber of commerce to highlight different kinds of events and attractions throughout the year. Discover Wisconsin provides more than a show, he added. Featured communities benefit from radio broadcasts, social media marketing, a blog, YouTube videos, a splash on the Discover Wisconsin website and exposure at trade shows. The 30-year-old series has evolved to offer more economy and tourism-boosting assets. It still is a television show but theres much more to it now, he said. Compton said it would be an efficient and affordable way to market Reedsburg, especially since the City has limited resources in this field. We have a passion to put this together, he said. Talks of bringing Discover Wisconsin to Reedsburg have been underway for at least 5 years, said Kristine Koenecke, executive director of the Reedsburg Area Chamber of Commerce. She acknowledged that $40,000 is a bit of money but agreed that the community is poised to do the project. This is the time for us to make this happen, she said. We have a lot of things to brag about, a lot of things to talk about. She said hundreds of thousands of people could discover Reedsburg through the show. You get a lot of bang for your buck in 22 minutes, she said. Councilman Calvin Craker liked the idea of showcasing Reedsburg on Discover Wisconsin. He said it would well-suit the community and make us shine. Other business Council approved several appointments to boards. Jay Brunken was selected for the Industrial and Commercial Development Commission. Council also authorized adding Lee Gnatzig, Jenifer Stanek, Joann Mundth Douglas and Jay Salinas to the newly formed Arts in Public Places Committee. Rod Docken Rod Docken, 89, of Sauk City, passed away before dawn Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017, at Maplewood of Sauk Prairie as a result of the onset of dementia and pneumonia. Rod was born Oct. 22, 1927, to Nels and Helen Docken of rural Mt. Horeb, he attended the one-room Malone School and went on to Mt. Horeb High School graduating in 1945. He then enlisted in the Marine Corps and took boot camp at Paris Island, South Carolina. He served for 10 months but the Marine Corps decided they werent getting enough service from the two-year enlistments so he was honorably discharged. He then returned to Madison and after a time the Korean War started and he was drafted into the Army and took basic training at Ft. Knox, sent overseas and was assigned to Japan, stationed at Etajima where he was a Remington Raider (typist). After serving two years, he returned to Madison and worked at Ray-O-Vac where he met his future wife, Marie Floerke. They were married on Oct. 17, 1953. They had two children Brian and Leis. He went on to work at Schwarz Paper in Madison, Strauss Paper in Milwaukee and Piedmont National in Georgia. After working for several companies as a travelling sales representative, he decided to start his own company in Florida as an independent agent selling packaging machinery for Matrix Packaging Machinery. That was his best career move. He and Marie built a home in Tallahassee, lived there for five years, and then moved to Apollo Beach, Florida, where they resided for 16 years. In October 2000, his wife Marie suffered a massive stroke which left her in need of 24-hour nursing care. To be closer to family and friends, he moved Marie to Maplewood in Sauk City and shortly thereafter he relocated there as well. He retired and spent every day visiting her in the nursing home. Marie passed away in 2006. Rod loved boating and taking friends and family out in the boat for a day of fishing. Rod always had a cold beer for anyone who came to visit and enjoyed entertaining guests whether at the kitchen counter, backyard deck or out on the boat. Cheers to you, Dad. He was so proud of his family and took great pride in his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We are honored to have had him as our pack leader. The emptiness of not having him with us is overwhelming. Dad taught us the value of family and friends, love and respect, and instilled in us a tremendous work ethic. He was a great judge of character. Rod is survived by his son Brian (Mia) of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, daughter Leis (Dave Fosshage) of Sauk City; two grandchildren, Shannon (Jay Ripp), Jennifer Wickham; three great-grandchildren, Connor and Kayla Wickham, and Lucas Ripp; step-grandchildren, Paul (Amber) Fosshage, Nathan Fosshage, Serenity, Noah, Skyler, and Gianna Fosshage; sister, Connie Garfoot; brothers-in-law, Bob (MaryAnn) Floerke, Arlan Lewis; sisters-in-law, Mercille Floerke, Donna Pauls; step-brother, Larry (Barb) Freidig; step-brother-in-law, Richard (Darlene) Boosted; and several nieces and nephews; and so many friends he valued along the way. He was preceded in death by his parents, Nels and Helen Docken; his wife, Marie; brothers, Lowell and Mark; sister, Nyla; great-granddaughter, Alexis Ripp; sisters-in-law, Karen Lewis, Arlene Conkey; brothers-in-law, Ernest Floerke, Robert Conkey; step-father, Fred Freidig; stepfather-in-law, Rudy Boosted; and so many close friends that meant the world to him. A memorial service will be held in the spring of this year. The family expresses their sincere gratitude to the staff of Maplewood for their care and compassion they gave to Dad during his yearlong stay. Special thanks to Joy, Bree, Wendy, Laura, Taliyah and Wyatt, also to Dr. Koch and Gretchen Considine of Prairie Clinic for their care of Dad over the years. Roseberrys Funeral Home is assisting the family. Three adults and one child fell through the ice of Mirror Lake late Sunday morning near the town of Delton, but all four made it to solid ice and were carefully moving toward shore by the time emergency crews arrived, according to the Lake Delton Fire Department. One of the adults was transported to the hospital from shore after showing signs of hypothermia, Lake Delton Fire Chief Darren Jorgenson said. A man and his 10-year-old daughter fell through the ice first approximately 400 feet from shore, Jorgenson said, and a couple fishing nearby both ended up in the water as well after rushing over to help. Jaime Herrera, 37, of Lyndon Station and his fiancee Sabrina Lord were the two adults to offer assistance only to end up in the water themselves, the fire chief said. After the dad and the daughter fell through the ice, the man from the other group went over and threw himself in the water, Jorgenson said Monday afternoon while standing at the landing where the rescue by several local emergency crews was staged Sunday afternoon. Fast action and clear thinking from 9-year-old Maleki Lee, who along with 5-year-old brother Hunter Hotlen was fishing with Herrera and Lord, enabled emergency responders to get to the scene quickly, Jorgenson said. He (Lee) finds a cell phone and calls 911 and gives the dispatcher excellent information to guide rescuers to the right location, Jorgenson said. We knew where to go because of him there were a couple of heroes out there yesterday. I had no second thoughts about jumping in the icy waters to help, Herrera said Monday afternoon by telephone from his home. Were just glad everybody was safe. The three adults at first had trouble getting themselves out of the water, Herrera said, because the thin ice kept breaking as they tried to hoist themselves. We kept breaking through the thin ice until it got thick enough that we could climb up on it, he said. Lee, meanwhile, guided the little girl and his brother back to shore as first responders arrived, according to Herrera. Some of the fishing equipment belonging to the man and his daughter was retrieved by rescue crews, and some of it sunk, Jorgenson said. He and a couple of firefighting colleagues returned to the scene Monday to retrieve as much of the remaining equipment as they could, and were joined at the scene by a television news crew and Wisconsin DNR Conservation Warden Amanda Kretschmer. Recent, unseasonably high temperatures and rain have made for unpredictable conditions on area lakes especially those that are fed by a stream, as is the case in Mirror Lake Kretschmer said. The most important thing is understanding that no ice is 100-percent safe, she said. So its important you bring essential tools out with you ice picks, flotation devices, rope. Its also important to test the ice for safety as well as talking to local bait shops and local people. In addition to the Lake Delton Fire Department and Dells-Delton EMS, local responders to the scene included the Lake Delton Police, Sauk County Sheriffs Department and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Lake Deltons village board on Monday began planning for the massive community-wide springtime event that the Automotion Festival has become. Voting to table the first of what surely will be numerous applications for a Class C Activity License for the weekend of May 20-21 the dates for the two-day classic car festival at Noahs Ark Waterpark the board and the Lake Delton Police Department signaled the villages intent to plan and prepare more deliberately for the 2017 event. An Ordinance Committee meeting, to which all interested Lake Delton businesses and individuals will be invited, is the villages next likely step, said village trustee and Ordinance Committee member Cary Brandt on Monday after the board meeting. Automotion is more like a festival, so we should have a plan, a community plan, Brandt said, predicting that the meeting probably will take place in March. It keeps getting bigger and bigger, and we want to make sure we do the best we can with it. The tabling of the license application represents the villages first official action to forestall some of the activities that accompanied the 2016 event weekend, which saw a dramatic increase in incidents of reckless driving and unruly behavior along with a weekend-long traffic jam on Wisconsin Dells Parkway. More than 100,000-plus streamed into town for the weekend, to attend the 30th Annual Automotion Festival or one of several ancillary car show events at various other Dells-Delton locations, including Mt. Olympus Resort, Bobbers restaurant and the Edge-O-Dells camping resort. Lake Delton police received 178 calls for service, issued 440 citations with a reported 42 crimes, and issued a minimum of 2,000 warnings, Lake Delton Police Chief Daniel Hardman reported then. Complaints to the Wisconsin Dells Police Department were up by 50 percent in 2016, reported Police Chief Jody Ward, along with a marked increase in citations issued, ordinance violations and written warnings. Lake Delton Police already have begun planning for the 2017 event, Lt. Bill Laughlin said during and after Mondays board meeting, and those plans apparently will be in concert with the Wisconsin Dells Police Department, Chief Jody Ward confirmed Tuesday morning. Were exploring several different options, and were going to develop our operations plan moving towards the event, Laughlin said. I anticipate having more enforcement this year and feel confident that we will have a safe event, Ward said. The apparent goal for 2017, Laughlin said, will be to improve safety that and to make the experience better for everybody visiting. Following input from Laughlin and most of the trustees present at Mondays meeting, the board voted unanimously to table the Class C Activity License application and an outdoor musical performance permit application from Alexander L. Martinez and the Wisconsin Car Enthusiast Club, planned for Wintergreen Resort. The tabling did not constitute a rejection of the specific permit, board members and Laughlin noted during the lengthy discussion that preceded it. I dont know what the right answer is, Webb said as he suggested tabling the initial applications. Perhaps we should ask other people permitted in the past (for Automotion weekend events) to come together and see if we can come up with a solution. I believe were OK with this one, but I agree with the president of the board (John Webb) as well, do we open up a can of worms and have to approve everyone who applies if we approve this one? Laughlin said during the discussion. I think this thing has grown to the point where we have to beef up our force even more next year and strategize about how to more effectively deal with the crowds, Ward said. I think its great for the community, however I think we will continue to increase enforcement efforts because theres too many reckless drivers and too many disturbances with the motor vehicles. Well keep dealing with it thats what we get paid to do. "We presently don't have the confirmed data on this query," RBI replied to an RTI query. By Indo-Asian News Service: The Reserve Bank of India has admitted it has no confirmed data on the number or value of fake currency detected since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, a RTI query has revealed. "We presently don't have the confirmed data on this query," said a reply from the RBI's Department of Currency Management (Forged Note Vigilance Division) to prominent activist Anil V Galgali. advertisement In a pointed query, Galgali had asked the Reserve Bank to provide details of the number or value of the fake currency detected post-demonetisation, the name of the banks, dates, etc, between November 8 and December 10, 2016. ALSO READ: Chidambaram to India Today: Demonisation of cash, not demonetisation of currency "However, the RBI has made it clear that nearly 11 weeks later, it has simply no data available on this crucial aspect. So the government's claims to demonetise as a weapon to kill fake currency is proving hollow," Galgali said. He pointed out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said demonetisation would help wean out counterfeit currency notes and choke terror fundings. "The RBI's replies make it obvious that the government has failed in this endeavour or raised the bogey of fake currency merely to implement demonetisation. It is now up to the Prime Minister to declare the figure/value of counterfeit notes recovered, in national interest," Galgali said. ALSO READ: Black money surgical strike destroys Pakistan's fake currency network Demonetisation's rude shock: There may not be any black money Demonetisation: RBI seeks details of fake currency from banks ALSO WATCH --- ENDS --- Roger Lyle Milligan, 94, of Wisconsin Dells, passed away peacefully Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, at St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo, with his daughter, Roganne, the light of his life, by his side. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26 at United Presbyterian Church in Wisconsin Dells, with the Rev. Steven Keller officiating. Military rites will be provided by the Carl E. Grabman American Legion Post No. 329 of Briggsville, of which he was a member. Visitation will be from noon until the time of service at the church. Roger was born Jan. 22, 1923, in Bayfield, the son of Albert and Alma Milligan. Roger served in the U.S. Army in the World War II European Theater and was honorably discharged. He met Helen Ann Richter in 1951, and they married June 4, 1952, sharing 61 wonderful years together. Roger enjoyed hunting, fishing, boating and camping. He took great pride in his home and his family. Roger sold automobiles for 35 years in Adams-Friendship and Wisconsin Dells, retiring in 1986. He was an honest and fair man who people trusted. Prior to selling autos he drove bus for Greyhound, which is how he met Helen. Roger was a prominent member of the United Presbyterian Church in Wisconsin Dells, where he and Helen were the oldest living couple until her death in 2013. Roger is survived by his only child, Roganne Roj Rosen and a brother, Albert (Shirley) Milligan. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Helen; and siblings, Ken Milligan and Grace Kile. In lieu of flowers, memorials to the family would be appreciated and will be appropriately distributed to Rogers favorite charities. Picha Funeral Home and Crematory of Wisconsin Dells assisted the family with arrangements. For online condolences and information, visit www.pichafuneralhome.com. Salman Khan and fellow actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Sonali Bendre will record their statements before the court. By Dev Ankur Wadhawan: Actor Salman Khan is scheduled to appear before a Jodhpur court on Wednesday in connection with the blackbuck poaching case. Actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Sonali Bendre and one Dushyant Singh have also been asked to appear before the court. Last week, the actor was acquitted by a Jodhpur court in an Arms Act case linked to the killing of a blackbuck 18 years ago. advertisement Here is all you need to know: The prosecution witnesses have already recorded their statements in the court. On Wednesday, the accused in the case, including actor Salman Khan, will record their statements in the 1998 case. It is possible that the counsel of Salman Khan and other accused files a petition in the court seeking approval for absence on Wednesday. The actor's lawyer Hastimal Saraswat said, "If there is a genuine reason for not coming, then there is a petition for absenteeism. How can I say whether they will come or not? The statements of accused will be taken tomorrow." During the shooting of the Sooraj Barjatya movie, 'Hum Saath Saath Hain', Salman Khan allegedly went on a shooting expedition along with actors Saif Ali Khan, Neelam, Sonali Bendre and Tabu, killing two blackbucks in Kankani village. Following protests by the local Bishnoi community, a case was filed against Salman Khan and the other actors and a local named Dushyant Singh. ALSO READ: Salman Khan acquitted by Jodhpur court in 1998 Arms Act case for lack of evidence Blackbuck case: Did Salman Khan's political reach help him in Rajasthan? Salman Khan did not kill blackbuck, Twitter explodes with jokes ALSO WATCH --- ENDS --- Bird flu outbreak in Uganda An outbreak of bird flu has been reported in Uganda where hundreds of birds were found dead on the shores of Lake Victoria. Some key facts about the virus. Ugandan authorities have not confirmed which strain of the avian flu caused the birds death. But the country along with neighbouring Kenya have put their countries on high health alert. The Conversation Africas health and medicine editor Candice Bailey asked Dr Sibongile Walaza to explain the deadly virus. How many different strains of bird flu are there? How different and potentially serious are they? Birds, just like humans, get influenza. Avian influenza, more commonly known as bird flu, is an acute viral respiratory infection caused by influenza A viruses which spread from bird to bird. The influenza A viruses are classified into subtypes according to the two types of proteins found on the outside of the viruses, also called spikes: haemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). The viruses use these spikes to attach and infect human cells. For example, there is avian influenza A(H5N1), A(H7N9) and A(H9N2). The most commonly known of these is avian influenza A(H5N1) viruses which are found in poultry. There are a number of sub-types that have been circulating since regular monitoring for avian influenza viruses started. H5N1 viruses circulate in poultry in parts of Asia and northeast Africa. Avian influenza is also a problem in other countries including in Europe where millions of birds on farms have been culled. These have led to people being infected while working or handling infected birds or carcasses. The first fatal human cases were reported in 1997. Are some strains of bird flu more dangerous for humans than other? Why? Yes, some are more dangerous than others. There is highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) based on the clinical illness caused in poultry. Highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses have the ability to spread fast through all organs of the birds or poultry causing a high number symptomatic illness and deaths in birds. Low pathogenic avian influenza viruses usually cause asymptomatic illness in poultry and birds and can go undetected. The highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 is also responsible for a high number of deaths in people infected with the virus. How is bird flu passed onto humans? And once a human has contracted the flu can they transmit it? Avian influenza strains do not normally infect humans, but some can. Three prominent influenza A viruses are known to infect people (H5, H7 and H9). People can get infected in two ways. Through direct contact with live or dead birds infected with avian influenza or through indirect contact, for example being exposed to an environment thats contaminated by products (like droppings) of infected birds. Symptoms include a sudden onset of high fever, aching muscles, headache, severe sickness, a cough and a sore throat. Infected individuals can show symptoms from between two and up to 17 days after infection. When it comes to human to human transmission, current epidemiological and virological evidence suggest that A(H5) and A(H7) have not acquired the ability to spread easily among people. But small clusters of A(H5) and A(H7) virus infections have been reported previously, especially among health care workers caring for patients with avian influenza. How common are bird flu outbreaks in Africa? Where have the most severe outbreaks taken place? There have been a number of outbreaks on the continent. Between 2014 and 2016 outbreaks of the H5N1 avian influenza were reported in west and central Africa. Several poultry farms in Cameroon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria were affected. In 2006, a reported 3,5-million birds in Nigeria were killed by the virus or culled to stop its spread. The first case of H5N1 bird flu infecting humans was detected in Hong Kong in 1997. Since then it has spread across Asia and to Europe and Africa. In some countries H5N1 in poultry has become endemic. More than 700 people from 15 countries have been infected with H5N1 about 60% of these people have died. In Africa Egypt is the hot spot for highly pathogenic H5N1 outbreaks in poultry and has had the highest number of human cases and fatalities reported since 2003. Sibongile Walaza, Medical Epidemiologist at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases and Lecturer at the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. From Berlin to Johannesburg How night club bouncers police the social order all over the world. Across the world bouncers remain gatekeepers to the nightclub experience: controlling the queue at the door; curating the size and look of the crowd; and securing the institution from unwanted intruders. Indeed, door policies and bouncing remain characteristic of nightclub cultures globally. Last year I attended the Berlin NIGHTS Conference which saw artists, club owners, researchers, policymakers and night mayors gathered to discuss Europes nighttime industry. Discussions about door policies permeated the conference, prompting me to think about how bouncing was being understood, and how this differed from my experience of nightclub doors in South Africa. What might the varying bouncing cultures of Berlin and Johannesburg, for example, tell us about these two metropolises? Both are at the centre of their respective countries night cultures, and both have undergone fundamental social transitions since 1990. Door policies in Berlin I learnt that door policies in Berlin, and indeed many other European cities, were notoriously strict, with seemingly mysterious criteria for who is granted entry. After hours of queuing, clubbers might still be turned away: Its not your night. No need for explanation. It could be that arbitrary. Hopefuls queuing for the Berlins most famous nightclub, Berghain, can wait up to three hours, sometimes with as many as 60% being turned away. The club, housed in a refurbished Communist-era power station, is guarded by former East Berlin punk photographer: Sven Marquardt. Now of celebrity status, he has featured on the cover of the mens fashion magazine GQ, is soon to release a book, and is an icon of the global night-scene. Berghains enigmatic door policy has given rise to a slew of online articles, all offering advice for how to crack the code to entrance. According to Marquardt, he, and his team, are simply trying to create the perfect salad: an optimum diversity. The internet, however, offers more actionable tips for how to access Berghain: dont arrive in groups, dont be too drunk, dont sound like a tourist (with some worrying implications for recent immigrants), wear casual clothes (preferably black), take it seriously. Berghain and Marquardt are on the extreme end of what appears to be a wider phenomenon: unspecified entry requirements and discerning, deified bouncers. Also presenting at the NIGHTS conference was Smiley Baldwin a former US military officer deployed to Cold War West Berlin, and now one of the citys most-loved bouncers. Baldwin was instrumental to GI Disco, which, in the 1980s and 90s, brought black American music to Berlin night culture. Today, as a Berlin bouncer, he told conference audiences that he gives himself 100 meters to decide the fate of a potential club-goer: the way they walk, how long it takes to hear them, what theyre wearing, how they interact with others. Many who participated in the NIGHTS conference seemed to view strict door policies as a way of championing diversity, keeping out aggressive and so-called fascist patrons, and ultimately curating a Utopian social space. But others saw door policies as fundamentally discriminatory. Since my return, Ive spoken to a number of Johannesburg bouncers about bouncing in Berlin. Weve agreed that Berlin door policies would fail in this city. The reasons, in my opinion, are interesting signals about our social aspirations and anxieties. Club owners need customers Clubbing is seen as risky business. Beth Vale South Africas night industry is too fragile to be turning away so many of its clientele. Clubs are perceived as risky business, not only by owners, but also many clubbers. To grow the night industry, party-goers need to feel secure. Where Berlin bouncers might serve as discerning cultural curators, Johannesburgs are primarily security, posted to make customers feel safe and welcome. Drawing from an old police adage, one bouncer told me his job was to serve and protect so that people could enjoy their time. Class undoubtedly plays a role. While Berlin bouncers are pseudo-celebrities, Johannesburgs are former security guards, refugees, working class gym-buffs or immigrants. You can be a professor or a doctor in your own country, one Congolese bouncer told me. [Here], you find yourself in a situation where you have to hustle to survive. When I asked him whether being a foreigner made a difference in his work, he said: Yes. You get insulted every day because of those things. Some bouncers indicated that the extent of challenge or insult they received from customers could be differentiated along racial lines. The more societal power, the less likely the patron was to feel affronted by a bouncers reprimand or refusal. When confronted by a bouncer, white customers were reported to be respectful; black patrons less so. Indian and Coloured clientele the population groups that are all too often invisible in the national discourse were reported by these bouncers to have the most volatile aggression. Constitutional rights on the dancefloor South Africans believe they have a right to party. Charles Leonard Being arbitrarily denied access to a club in South Africa would provoke suspicions of discrimination, enshrined in the countrys constitution. Theyd definitely be angry, one bouncer told me. You cant say someone is not allowed without a proper reason. Nevertheless, Johannesburg nightclubs still entail multiple forms of prejudice. Entrance fees and high-end dress codes create significant barriers to entry. Level of protection and leeway within the nightclub is often a function of a persons spending capacity. VIP, VVIP, VVIP Platinum: all those people, they would have paid a lot of money, so you have to look after them, I was told. And conversely, If you look at someone (in the club) and you can tell, this one cant afford to be here, we make sure we watch those people. Covert racial discrimination persists through the directives that some club owners give bouncers. In Johannesburg, there are some clubs that dont want Indians. There are some clubs that dont want Coloureds. Some they dont want to mix whites with others: when the whites notice that this place is accommodating more blacks these days, they start to run away. [When I get instructions like this], I just tell them [the undesirable clientele] that its a private party. I was also told: Its not easy to find a club thats accommodating everybody, unless its a fancy club at Nelson Mandela Square (in upmarket Sandton). The rich, it seems, can party together, no matter their skin colour. The common factor is that everybody wants to be recognised: to feel like a very important person (a VIP). This is one of the primary commodities on sale in nightclubs. In a city like Johannesburg, where so many feel the newness, contested-ness, or perpetual volatility of their social position, the stakes are invariably high. Bouncers, in both Berlin and Johannesburg, are witness to, and sometimes arbiters of, these social struggles. Beth Vale, Post-doctoral Fellow NRF Chair: Local Histories, Present Realities, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. WestRock Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides fiber-based paper and packaging solutions in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. It operates through two segments, Corrugated Packaging and Consumer Packaging. The Corrugated Packaging segment produces containerboards, corrugated sheets, corrugated packaging, and preprinted linerboards to consumer and industrial products manufacturers, and corrugated box manufacturers. It also provides structural and graphic design, engineering services and custom, and proprietary and standard automated packaging machines, as well as turn-key installation, automation, line integration, and packaging solutions; distributes corrugated packaging materials and other specialty packaging products, including stretch films, void fills, carton sealing tapes, and other specialty tapes; operates recycling facilities that collect, sort, grade, and bale recovered paper; and provides lithographic laminated packaging products, as well as contract packing services. The Consumer Packaging segment manufactures and sells folding cartons that are used to package food, paper, beverages, dairy products, tobacco, confectionery, health and beauty, other household consumer, and commercial and industrial products; and express mail packages for the overnight courier industry. It also offers inserts and labels, as well as rigid packaging and other printed packaging products, such as transaction cards, brochures, product literature, marketing materials, and grower tags and plant stakes for the horticultural market; and secondary packages and paperboard packaging for over-the-counter and prescription drugs. In addition, this segment manufactures and sells solid fiber and corrugated partitions, and die-cut paperboard components principally to glass container manufacturers and the automotive industry, as well as producers of beer, food, wine, spirits, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. WestRock Company is based in Atlanta, Georgia. By Press Trust of India: Srinagar, Jan 24 (PTI) Security forces today gunned down two foreign militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit in Kashmir and claimed to have achieved a major success, saying the slain terrorists had been directed by their Pakistan-based mentors to carry out attacks on the eve of the Republic Day. Security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in the wee hours in Hadoora area of Ganderbal district, 25 km from here, following information about presence of militants in the area, an army official said. advertisement He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, the latter opened fire on the troops who retaliated. "In the ensuing gunbattle, two militants were killed," he said, adding they were identified as Abu Anas and Abu Ali, both foreigners associated with the Lashkar outfit. The official said two AK assault rifles, ammunition and hand grenade were recovered from the possession of the slain militants. "It (killing of militants) is a good success for the security forces especially as it comes ahead of the January 26 (Republic Day)," he said. This is the second major encounter in Kashmir this year. Earlier on January 16, security forces killed three local militants in an encounter in Pahalgam area of south Kashmir. A police spokesman said the slain duo were active in Srinagar-Ganderbal area for the past three years and had been recently directed by their mentors in Pakistan to carry out attacks on security forces and civilians on the eve of Republic Day. "These slain militants were transporting newly infiltrated groups from one place to another and were managing safe places and hideouts for them," the spokesman said. "They were recently directed by mentors in Pakistan to carry out attack on security forces/civilians on the eve of forthcoming Republic Day celebration 2017 in district Ganderbal and Srinagar," he added. Giving further details, the spokesman, "They (slain militants) were operating in District Srinagar and Ganderbal areas since January 22,2013 and had recently started coordinating with Hizbul Mujhaideen." They were involved in the killing of a civilian Abdul Ahad Dar in Gusoo area of Zakoora on May 5, 2015. "They were involved in Fidayeen attack on August 15, 2016 at Nowhatta in which a commandant of CRPF Pramod Kumar and a police constable of J&K police Rouf Ahmad were martyred. "They were also involved in the attack on SSB convoy at Zakoora Srinagar on October 14, 2016 in which one SSB Jawan was martyred and seven SSB personnel and a police constable were injured," he added. PTI MIJ AAR AKK AKK --- ENDS --- Bancolombia S.A. provides banking products and services in Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The company operates through nine segments: Banking Colombia, Banking Panama, Banking El Salvador, Banking Guatemala, Trust, Investment Banking, Brokerage, International Banking, and All Other. It offers checking and savings accounts, fixed term deposits, and investment products; trade financing, loans funded by domestic development banks, working capital loans, credit cards, personal and vehicle loans, payroll loans, and overdrafts; financial support to real estate developers and mortgages for individuals and companies; factoring; and financial and operating leasing services. The company also provides hedging instruments, including futures, forwards, options, and swaps; and brokerage, investment advisory, and private banking services, including selling and distributing equities, futures, foreign currencies, fixed income securities, mutual funds, and structured products. In addition, it offers cash management services; foreign currency transaction services; life, auto, commercial, and homeowner's insurance products; and online and computer banking services. Further, the company provides project and acquisition finance, debt and equity capital markets, principal investments, M&A, hedging strategies, restructurings, and structured financing; money market accounts, mutual and pension funds, private equity funds, payment and corporate trust, and custody; internet-based trading platform; inter-bank lending and repurchase agreements; managing escrow accounts, and investment and real estate funds; and transportation, securities brokerage, maintenance and remodeling, and outsourcing services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,015 branches; 28,676 banking correspondents; 529 PAMs; 210 kiosks in El Salvador and 187 in Colombia; and 6,094 ATMs. Bancolombia S.A. was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Medellin, Colombia. By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) A key Senate panel today approved the nomination of Indian-American Nikki Haley as the next US Ambassador to the United Nations, clearing the way for what is expected to be an easy confirmation in the full Senate. The South Carolina Governors nomination now moves to the Senate floor for a vote. If confirmed, Haley, 44, the daughter of Indian immigrants, would be the first Indian-American to serve on a Cabinet rank position in any presidential administration in the US. advertisement Haley, who will replace Samantha Power at the UN if confirmed, has already created history by becoming the first women Indian-American Governor of a US State. After Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, she is only the second ever Indian-American to be elected as the Governor of a State. If confirmed as a UN ambassador, she would be replaced by Lt Gov Henry McMaster as governor and will complete her term that ends in 2018. Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Haley is a fierce advocate for American interests. "As South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley is a proven leader. I believe she has the instinct that will help her achieve reform," he said, supporting her nomination. "Governor Haley appears up to the task and seems to understand this as well," said Senator Ben Cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as he voted to approve Haley?s nomination as the next US Ambassador to the UN. "What Governor Haley lacks in foreign policy and international affairs experience, she makes up for in capability, intelligence, and a track record of building coalitions in South Carolina," Cardin said. "Her nomination was surprising to many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, but I have been impressed by her forthrightness on core American values, her willingness to admit what she does not know, and her commitment to seeking the facts and speaking truth to power, whether within the Trump Administration or with an intransigent Russia and China in the Security Council," Cardin said. Once a fierce critic of Trump, Haley was selected as the first women and first minority to serve in the Trump Administration in November. Two Democratic Senators Tom Udall of New Mexico and Chris Coons of Delaware, voted against Haley. PTI LKJ PMS --- ENDS --- Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure, and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, renewable generation, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity. It also engages in the wholesale of electricity to municipalities, electric cooperative utilities, and load-serving entities. This segment serves approximately 8.2 million customers in 6 states in the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States covering a service territory of approximately 91,000 square miles; and owns approximately 50,259 megawatts (MW) of generation capacity. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure segment distributes natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation natural gas customers; and owns, operates, and invests in pipeline transmission and natural gas storage facilities. It has approximately 1.6 million customers, including 1.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as 550,000 customers in southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. The Commercial Renewables segment acquires, owns, develops, builds, and operates wind and solar renewable generation projects, including nonregulated renewable energy and energy storage services to utilities, electric cooperatives, municipalities, and corporate customers. It has 23 wind, 178 solar, and 2 battery storage facilities, as well as 71 fuel cell locations with a capacity of 3,554 MW across 22 states. The company was formerly known as Duke Energy Holding Corp. and changed its name to Duke Energy Corporation in April 2005. The company was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is a current list of the top 250 companies by market capitalization on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Learn more . The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest, and most recognizable, stock exchanges in the world. The NYSE is in New York City, New York at 11 Wall Street. The NYSE has been in existence since the earliest days of the United States becoming a nation, in 1792 and is primarily made up of blue-chip companies with large market capitalizations. In fact, many of the stocks that make up the Dow Jones Composite Index (i.e. The Dow) are listed on the NYSE. This article gives a brief history of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, it covers topics such as what kind of stocks trade on the exchange, what are the listing requirements, how trading is performed, and what the daily price movement of the NYSE tells investors about investor sentiment. What Were the Origins of the NYSE? Today, the New York Stock Exchange is known as the center of the financial universe. However, the exchanges origin is far more humble. On May 17, 1792, 24 stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement creating a centralized exchange to help provide order to the securities market in what was still a young nation. The "Buttonwood Agreement comes from the tree of the same name under which the founders signed the agreement. An initial benefit of the exchange was how it removed the need for auctioneers when trading commodities like wheat and tobacco and to set a commission rate. The exchange initially focused on government bonds. However, the exchange had no formal home. Business was usually conducted informally in the local coffeehouses. In 1817, the exchange changed its name to the New York Stock & Exchange Board which later became the New York Stock Exchange. At this time, the exchange adopted a constitution that set the rules for trading. A group of stockbrokers met twice a day at 40 Wall Street to trade 30 stocks and bonds. Over time, the exchange moved became the financial hub of the country and moved to its current location in 1865. What Kind of Stocks Trade on the NYSE? As of June 2022, the NYSE includes approximately 2,400 companies with a market capitalization of over $28.2 trillion. Although the NYSE trades stocks of all market capitalizations, its best known for trading the stocks of large cap companies. These have the benefit of being mature companies in mature industries. And many of these companies reward shareholders with dividends. However, that also means that many of these companies are better suited for value investors as opposed to growth investors. In bear markets this stability can be a benefit for investors as these stocks tend to perform less bad than more volatile stocks. But in a bull market, these stocks are not likely to provide investors with the growth that they look for. An interesting fact about how the NYSE and NASDAQ operate is that the companies with the five largest market caps on the NYSE are also listed on the NASDAQ exchange. What Are the Listing Requirements For the NYSE? The NYSE has strict guidelines that govern the types of companies that can list on the exchange. Here are the major requirements that all companies must meet: The company must have at least 2,200 shareholders The company must trade over 100,000 shares per month The company must have a market valuation of over $100 million The company must generate more than $75 million in annual revenue However, there is at least one advantage of having such stringent requirements. That is the companies that meet the requirements generally find it easier to get more investors funds when they hold their initial public offering (IPO). Once a company begins trading on the NYSE, it must continue to meet these requirements. If it doesnt it can be delisted. In addition to these requirements, the stock must continue to trade above $1. If the price of a stock drops below $1 for more than 29 consecutive trading days, the stock receives an Initial Price Violation Notice. At that point, the company has 10 days to provide the exchange with a plan for bringing their shares above $1. How are Trades Executed on the NYSE? For over a century, the floor of the NYSE was the place for investors to be. This meant trades were conducted by traders who ran buy and sell orders across the trading floor looking to broker a deal for their clients. But with the birth of the NASDAQ exchange in 1971, the New York Stock Exchange began conducting electronic trading. However, the NYSE continues to conduct trades in an auction style. Brokers purchase stocks on behalf of their clients or firms. Every order features a broker who will enter the order electronically and a specialist who serves as the market maker for that stock. The specialist posts bid and ask prices and manages the actual execution of the trades. And there are still a handful of stockbrokers who still traffic buy and sell orders physically on the floor of the exchange. How Does the NYSE Signal Investor Sentiment? Like its counterpart, the NASDAQ, the NYSE measures the risk appetite of investors. When the NYSE is moving higher over a length of time, it signals that a risk on environment. Conversely when the NYSE moves lower over a significant period, it signals that investors are moving to a risk off position. Some Final Thoughts on the NYSE Financial news networks plan their programming schedule around the opening and closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange. Its still considered a distinguished honor when individuals or groups are invited to ring the opening bell. In fact, Warren Buffett is attributed with saying that in the short term, the stock market acts like a voting machine. A fact that many U.S. presidents will attest to. The NYSE is the oldest and most recognizable of all the stock exchanges. It also has the most stringent requirements for inclusion. And those requirements must be maintained even after a stock begins publicly trading on the exchange. Although the NYSE still has a small in-person Trading Floor, much of the trading is done electronically to provide traders with the speed to execute trades. By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Jan 24 (PTI) Stempeutics Research, an advanced clinical stage biotech company, today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a process patent for its novel stem cell-based drug Stempeucel. "We have received European Process Patent for our novel stem cell drug Stempeucel. Stempeutics becomes first company in the world to be granted an EU process patent for an allogeneic stem cell drug based on pooling technology," a company statement said here. advertisement Stempeucel will initially be used for the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) and is a breakthrough treatment option which directly addresses the root cause of the disease, unlike other drugs which typically treat the symptoms and not the disease itself. CLI is a progressive form of peripheral arterial disease, which blocks arteries in lower extremities, resulting into reduction of blood flow. It is a debilitating disease which manifests with severe unmanageable pain in the feet or toes of patients. The technology allows more than one million clinical doses from a single set of master cell banks, which is said to be unique in regenerative medicine. Insufficient supply of blood flow results in the development of sores and wounds in legs and feet. If left untreated, patients may finally have to undergo amputation of the affected limb. Globally, the most common treatments for CLI are characterised by high rates of primary amputations, multiple procedures and high rates of procedure-related complications. In severe cases of CLI, the disease not only affects the quality of life but also increases the economic burden of patients and their family. On the EU patent, Stempeutics CEO B N Manohar said, "The patent granted by EPO is a strong recognition for Stempeutics for its sustained excellence of scientific and clinical work and underscores the global leadership on pooling technology of MSCs for allogeneic therapy. We believe that the Stempeucel product is a game-changer in offering an advanced therapeutic treatment for millions of patients suffering with this debilitating disease." The Bengaluru-based Stempeutics was founded by Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) in 2006 and later entered into a strategic alliance with Cipla in 2009. PTI AP GK --- ENDS --- The following companies are subsidiares of WPP: 24/7 Real Media UK Ltd., 41?29! Media Internet, AD Venture Worldwide Inc, AKQA, AKQA Denmark A/S, AKQA GmbH, AKQA Inc., AKQA Limited, AQuest, Acceleration, Acceleration eMarketing Inc, All Global, Always (Shanghai) Marketing Services Co Ltd, Arctouch LLC, BCW LLC, BWR PR, Beijing Benpao Century Technology Development Co. Ltd., Benenson Strategy Group LLC, Black and Deen, Blast Radius, Blast Radius Inc., Bomtempo Anahory e Ralha, Bottle Rocket, Bottle Rocket LLC, Brindfors Design AB, CB Associes S.A., CMI Media, CMI Media LLC, CONEXANCE MD, CT Finances SA, Catalyst Online LLC, Cavendish Square Holding BV, Center Partners, Cerebra, Cockpit Holdings Limited, Cognifide, Commarco, Commarco GmbH 120274, Cordiant Communications Group Limited, Dawson Integrated Marketing Communications, DeepLocal Inc., Design Bridge, Design Bridge Limited, Dewey Square Group, Ecommera, EffectiveUI, Enduring Organisation, Entreprise de Communications Tank Inc., Essence, Essence Global Group Limited, Essence Global LLC, Eurosem Belgium SA/NV, F.biz, FAST - Financial Administration Solutions & Technologies Srl, Finecast Limited, Finsbury LLC, Forward Limited, GREY Dusseldorf GmbH, GTB Agency LLC, GTB Shanghai Advertising Co. Ltd, GTB Stat LLC, GWE LLC, Geometry Global Japan GK, Geometry Global LLC, Geometry Global Limited, Glendinning Management Consultants, Go Direct Marketing Inc., Gorilla LLC, Grey, Grey Advertising Limited, Grey Global Group LLC, Group M France SAS, Group M Worldwide LLC, Group SJR LLC, GroupM (Shanghai) Advertising Co. Ltd, GroupM Argentina Trading S.A., GroupM B.V., GroupM Chile SAC, GroupM Competence Center GmbH, GroupM Denmark A/S, GroupM Japan KK, GroupM Limited, GroupM Market Advertising Co. Ltd., GroupM Media India Pvt Ltd, GroupM Pakistan (Private) Ltd, GroupM Singapore Pte Ltd, GroupM Srl, GroupM UK Digital Limited, Guangzhou Dawson Marketing Communication Co. Ltd, H-ART, HERING SCHUPPENER Consulting Strategieberatung fur Kommunikation GmbH, HeathWallace, Hill & Knowlton Limited, Hill and Knowlton Strategies LLC, Hirschen Group GmbH, Hogarth California LLC, Hogarth Worldwide Inc., Hogarth Worldwide Limited, Icon Brand Navigation Group, IntelliQuest Information Group Inc, International Meetings & Science LLC, J Walter Thompson Middle East and North Africa E.C., J Walter Thompson Publicidade Ltda, J.Walter Thompson Bridge Advertising Co. Ltd., John Street Inc., KBM Group LLC, KR Media UK Limited, KR Wavemaker SAS, Kantar TNS, Kinetic Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Kinetic Worldwide Limited, LLC GroupM, LLC Wavemaker, Landor LLC, M Media Group Pty Ltd, M2 Digital Inc., Marketeers Vietnam, Marketing Direct LLC, Marketing Perspectives Limited, Mather Direct GmbH, Maxus Communications (UK) Limited, Media Club SpA, Media Insight SNC, MediaCom - Warszawa Sp.z.o.o., MediaCom AS (Norway), MediaCom Agentur fur Media-Beratung GmbH, MediaCom Communications Pvt Ltd, MediaCom Danmark A/S, MediaCom Group Limited, MediaCom Istanbul Medya Hizmetleri A.S., MediaCom TWENTYFIVE GmbH, Mediacom AG, Mediacom Australia Pty Limited, Mediacom Canada, Mediacom Iberia SA, Mediacom Italia Srl, Mediacom LLC, Mediacom Middle East & North Africa Holding W.L.L., Mediacom North Limited, Mediacom Paris SA, Mediacom Worldwide LLC, Mediaedge:CIA Worldwide Limited, Mediaedge:cia India Pvt Ltd, Medialets, Memac Ogilvy & Mather Holding Inc, Mind Share Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., MindShare Canada, MindShare GmbH, MindShare Hong Kong Limited, MindShare Polska Sp. z.o.o., Mindshare Media UK Limited, Mindshare SA, Mindshare South Africa (Gauteng) (Proprietary) Limited, Mindshare SpA, Mindshare Spain SA, Mindshare USA LLC, Mirum LLC, Mirum S.A. de C.V., Motion Content Group Limited, OPR AGENCY PTY LIMITED, Ogilvy & Mather Brasil Comunicacao Ltda, Ogilvy & Mather Group (Holdings) Limited, Ogilvy & Mather Pvt Ltd, Ogilvy & Mather S.A.S, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide LLC, Ogilvy Australia Pty Ltd, Ogilvy Commonhealth Worldwide LLC, Ogilvy Public Relations GmbH, Ogilvy Singapore Pte. Ltd., Ootworld, OpenMindWorld LLC, P Four Consultancy, PTR Comunicacoes Ltda, Penn Schoen & Berland Associates LLC, Penn Schoen Berland, Pep LLC, Plano.Trio Comunicacao, Potato London Ltd, Premiere Group Holdings Limited, Prism Sport + Entertainment, Promotion Execution Partners LLC, Public Strategies Inc., Quasar Media Private, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, Quirk, RLM Finsbury, Rasor Holdings LLC, Ray + Keshavan Design Associates, Real Media, Red Fuse New York LLC, Regional Management Group SAS, Russell Square Holding BV, Salmon Limited, Salmon Ltd, Sandtable, Scangroup, Set Management LLC, Shanghai Easycom Advertising Co. Ltd., Shanghai Linjie Marketing Services Co. Ltd., Shanghai Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Ltd, Shire Hall Group, Spafax Airline Network Limited, Spafax Networks LLC, Stickleback Limited, Sudler & Hennessey LLC, Superunion Limited, Swift + POSSIBLE LLC, Syzygy AG, TMARC, Taxi, Taxi Inc., Team Garage LLC, The Brand Union, The Cocktail Global S.L., The Finsbury Group Limited, The Glover Park Group, The Glover Park Group LLC, The GroupM ESP Clever Company S.R.L. de C.V., The Lacek Group LLC, The Marketing & Communication Agency, The Ogilvy Group LLC, The Performers Group, The Young & Rubicam Group of Companies ULC, Triad Digital Media LLC, Twist Image, Two Circles, VML LLC, VMLY&R, WPP (Thailand) Ltd, WPP 2005 Limited, WPP AMC Holdings, WPP AUNZ, WPP Beans Limited, WPP Brands (UK) Limited, WPP Brands Development Holdings (UK) Limited, WPP Brands Holdings (UK) Limited, WPP Deutschland Holding GmbH & Co. KG, WPP Finance 2013, WPP Finance 2015 Limited, WPP Finance Co. Limited, WPP Finance SA, WPP Group (UK) Ltd, WPP Group Canada Finance Inc., WPP Group U.S. Finance LLC, WPP Group USA Inc., WPP Health Limited, WPP Holdings Spain S.L., WPP Jubilee Limited, WPP Luxembourg Gamma Three Sarl, WPP Luxembourg Sarl, WPP Luxembourg Turris S.a r.l., WPP Marketing Communications (Hong Kong) Limited, WPP Marketing Communications Germany GmbH, WPP Media Ltd, WPP Montagu Square LLC, WPP Mexico S.R.L. de C.V., WPP Ottawa Ltd, WPP Samson Limited, WPP Sigma Limited, WPP Sphinx Limited, WPP Square one B.V, WPP UK Germany Holdings, WPP Unicorn Limited, WPPIH 2001 Inc., Warwicks, Wavemaker A/S, Wavemaker Australia Pty Ltd, Wavemaker BV, Wavemaker Canada ULC, Wavemaker Czech s.r.o., Wavemaker Global LLC, Wavemaker Global Limited, Wavemaker GmbH, Wavemaker Hong Kong Limited, Wavemaker Hungary Kft, Wavemaker Italia S.r.l., Wavemaker Limited, Wavemaker MENA FZ LLC, Wavemaker Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Wavemaker Publicidad Spain S.L., Wavemaker Sp.z.o.o, Wavemaker Taiwan Ltd, Wavemaker Servicos Publicitarios Ltda, Who Digital, Witgoud Investments B.V., Worldwide Mediacom Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., Wunderman A/S, Wunderman Thompson (UK) Limited, Wunderman Thompson LLC, XMKT Group, Xaxis LLC, Xaxis US LLC, Y&R Propaganda Ltda, Young & Rubicam, Young & Rubicam LLC, clarus digital, dBOD, groupm Germany GmbH & Co. KG, mPlatform LLC, plista GmbH, thjnk, and thjnk AG. Read More Qubool Hai's Surbhi Jyoti shares her first look from Star Plus' upcoming supernatural drama Koi Laut Ke Aya Hai. Surbhi Jyoti shares her first look from Koi Laut Ke Aya Hai. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Gorky M By India Today Web Desk: Surbhi Jyoti will be back on the screen with a new supernatural show Koi Laut Ke Aya Hai, which also marks the comeback of Shoaib Ibrahim and Sharad Kelkar. Surbhi revealed her new look in orange dress with a caption - Say hello to Geetanjali ??????. Surbhi Jyoti as Geetanjali in Koi Laut Ke Aya Hai. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Surbhi Jyoti advertisement Surbhi plays the role of Geetanjali, who is delusional. The show is based on rebirth, which is pretty obvious with its name, and quite similar to her previous show Qubool Hai. Surbhi Jyoti and Shoaib Ibrahim while shooting for the show in Bikaner. Picture courtesy: Instagram/Surbhi Jyoti Currently Surbhi and Shoaib have already started shooting in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Surbhi shared a pic with her co-star Shoaib and directors on Instagram with note - "It was so much of fun shooting with these amazing people?? promo will be out soon??? we want all your love ??" Surbhi Joyti will be seen in a complete desi avatar. Picture courtesy: Facebook/Pooja Shekhawat Surbhi will be seen in an Indian avatar, in Anarkali suits, jhumka, bangles and mojaris, in the show. --- ENDS --- Humana Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health and well-being company in the United States. It operates through three segments: Retail, Group and Specialty, and Healthcare Services. The company offers medical and supplemental benefit plans to individuals. It also has a contract with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to administer the Limited Income Newly Eligible Transition prescription drug plan program; and contracts with various states to provide Medicaid, dual eligible, and long-term support services benefits. In addition, the company provides commercial fully insured medical and specialty health insurance benefits comprising dental, vision, and other supplemental health benefits; and administrative services only products to individuals and employer groups, as well as military services, such as TRICARE T2017 East Region contract. Further, it offers pharmacy solutions, provider services, and home solutions services, such as home health and other services to its health plan members, as well as to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 17 million members in medical benefit plans, as well as approximately 5 million members in specialty products. Humana Inc. was founded in 1961 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The following companies are subsidiares of Pearson: AEL (S) PTE Limited, ATI Professional Development LLC, Addison Wesley Longman Inc., Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., Aldwych Finance Limited, Americas Choice Inc., Atkey Finance Limited, Author Solutions, Axis Finance Inc., CAMSAWUSA Inc., CTI Education Group (Pty) Limited, Camsaw Inc., Casapsi Livraria e Editora Ltda, Centro Cultural Americano Franquias e Comercio Ltda., Century Consultants Ltd., Certiport, Certiport China Co Ltd, Certiport China Holding LLC, Certiport Inc., Cogmed Systems AB, Connections Academy of Arkansas LLC, Connections Academy of Florida LLC, Connections Academy of Iowa LLC, Connections Academy of Maine LLC, Connections Academy of Maryland LLC, Connections Academy of Minnesota LLC, Connections Academy of Missouri LLC, Connections Academy of Nevada LLC, Connections Academy of New Jersey LLC, Connections Academy of New Mexico LLC, Connections Academy of New York LLC, Connections Academy of Oregon LLC, Connections Academy of Pennsylvania LLC, Connections Academy of Tennessee LLC, Connections Academy of Texas LLC, Connections Education Inc., Connections Education LLC, Connections Education of Florida LLC, Dominie Press Inc., Dorian Finance Limited, Dorling Kindersley Australasia Pty Limited, EBNT Canada Holdings ULC, EBNT Holdings Limited, EBNT USA Holdings Inc., Edexcel Limited, Edexcel South Africa Pty Ltd, Education Development International plc, Education Resources (Cyprus) Limited, Educational Management Group Inc., Educational Publishers LLP, Embanet ULC, Embanet-Compass Knowledge Group Inc., EmbanetCompass, Embankment Finance Limited, English Language Learning and Instruction System Inc., Escape Studios Limited, FBH Inc., Falstaff Holdco Inc., Falstaff Inc., GED Domains LLC, GED Testing Service LLC, George (Shanghai) Commercial Information Consulting Co. Ltd, Global Education, Global George I Limited, Global George II Limited, GlobalEnglish, Globe Fearon Inc., Guangzhou Crescent Software Co. Ltd, Heinemann Education Botswana (Publishers) (Proprietary) Limited, Heinemann Publishers (Pty) Ltd, INTELLIPRO INC., Icodeon Limited, IndiaCan Education Private Limited, Integral 7 Inc., Integrated Analytics LLC, J M Solucoes Exportacao e Importacao Ltda, K12 Learning Services LLC, Kagiso Education Pty Ltd, Knowledge Analysis Technologies LLC, LCCI International Qualifications (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., LCCIEB Training Consultancy. Ltd, Learning Catalytics, LessonLab Inc., Lignum Oil Company, Linx Brasil Distribuidora Ltda., Longman (Malawi) Limited, Longman Australasia Pty Ltd, Longman Group(Overseas Holdings)Limited, Longman Indochina Acquisition L.L.C., Longman Kenya Limited, Longman Mocambique Ltda, Longman Romania S.R.L., Longman Swaziland (Pty) Limited, Longman Tanzania Limited, Longman Zambia Educational Publishers Pty Ltd, Longman Zambia Limited, Longman Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd, Longmaned Ecuador S.A., Major123 Limited, Maskew Miller Longman (Pty) Limited, MeasureUp LLC, Modern Curriculum Inc., Multi Holding, Multi Treinamento e Editora Ltda, NCS Information Technology Services (Beijing) Co Ltd, NCS Pearson Inc., NCS Pearson Pty Ltd, NCS Pearson Puerto Rico Inc., National Computer Systems Japan Co. Ltd, Ordinate Corporation, PN Holdings Inc., PT Efficient English Services, Pearson (Beijing) Management Consulting Co. Ltd., Pearson (Guizhou) Education Technology Co. Ltd., Pearson Affordable Learning Fund Limited, Pearson America LLC, Pearson Amsterdam B.V., Pearson Australia Finance Unlimited, Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Pearson Australia Pty Ltd, Pearson Benelux B.V., Pearson Books Limited, Pearson Brazil Finance Limited, Pearson Business Services Inc., Pearson Canada Assessment Inc., Pearson Canada Finance Unlimited, Pearson Canada Holdings Inc, Pearson Canada Inc., Pearson Central Europe Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson College Limited, Pearson DBC Holdings Inc., Pearson Desarrollo y Capacitacion Profesional Chile Limitada, Pearson Deutschland GmbH, Pearson Digital Learning Puerto Rico Inc., Pearson Dollar Finance Two Limited, Pearson Dollar Finance plc, Pearson Educacion SA, Pearson Educacion de Chile Limitada, Pearson Educacion de Colombia S A S, Pearson Educacion de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pearson Educacion de Panama SA, Pearson Educacion de Peru S.A., Pearson Education (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Pearson Education Achievement Solutions (RF) (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education Asia Limited, Pearson Education Botswana (Proprietary) Limited, Pearson Education Hellas SA, Pearson Education Holdings Limited, Pearson Education Inc., Pearson Education Indochina Limited, Pearson Education Investments Limited, Pearson Education Korea Limited, Pearson Education Limited, Pearson Education Namibia (Pty) Limited, Pearson Education Publishing Limited, Pearson Education S.A., Pearson Education SA, Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Education South Asia Pte. Ltd., Pearson Education Taiwan Ltd, Pearson Education do Brasil S.A, Pearson Educational Measurement Canada Inc., Pearson Educational Publishers LLC, Pearson Egitim Cozumleri Tikaret Limited Sirketi, Pearson Falstaff (Holdings) Inc., Pearson Falstaff Holdco LLC, Pearson France, Pearson Funding Five plc, Pearson Funding Four plc, Pearson Funding Two Limited, Pearson Holdings Inc., Pearson Holdings Southern Africa (Pty) Limited, Pearson IOKI Spoka z ograniczona odpowiedzialnoscia, Pearson India Education Services Private Limited, Pearson India Support Services Private Limited, Pearson Institute of Higher Education, Pearson International Finance Limited, Pearson Investment Holdings Inc., Pearson Italia S.p.A, Pearson Japan KK, Pearson Lanka (Private) Limited, Pearson Learning China (HK) Limited, Pearson Lesotho (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Loan Finance No. 3 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No. 4 Limited, Pearson Loan Finance No.2 Unlimited, Pearson Loan Finance Unlimited, Pearson Longman Uganda Limited, Pearson Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Pearson Management Services Limited, Pearson Management Services Philippines Inc., Pearson Maryland Inc., Pearson Netherlands B.V., Pearson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Pearson Nominees Limited, Pearson Online Tutoring LLC, Pearson Overseas Holdings Limited, Pearson PEM P.R. Inc., Pearson PRH Holdings Limited, Pearson Pension Nominees Limited, Pearson Pension Property Fund Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Limited, Pearson Pension Trustee Services Limited, Pearson Professional Assessments Limited, Pearson Real Estate Holdings Inc., Pearson Real Estate Holdings Limited, Pearson Schweiz AG, Pearson Services Limited, Pearson Shared Services Limited, Pearson South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Pearson Strand Finance Limited, Pearson Sweden AB, Pearson VUE Philippines Inc., Pearson in Practice Holdings Limited, Pearson in Practice Skills Based Learning Limited, Pearson in Practice Technology Limited, Penguin Capital LLC, Phumelela Publishers (Pty) Ltd, ProctorCam Inc., Reading Property Holdings LLC, Rebus Planning Associates Inc., Reston Publishing Company Inc., Rycade Capital Corporation, Shanghai AWL Education Software Ltd, Silver Burdett Ginn Inc., Skylight Training and Publishing Inc., Smarthinking Inc., Sound Holdings Inc., Spear Insurance Company Limited, Stark Verlag GmbH, Sunnykey International Holdings Limited (BVI), TQ Catalis Limited, TQ Clapham Limited, TQ Education and Training Limited, TQ Global Limited, TQ Group Limited, TQ Holdings Limited, The Financial Times (I) Pvt Ltd, The Learning Edge International pty Ltd, The Waite Group Inc, Trio Parent Holdings LLC, US Learning Services LLC, USLS Holdings LLC, Virtual Nerd, Vue Testing Services Israel Ltd, Vue Testing Services Korea Limited, Wall Street Institute Kft., Williams Education GmbH, eCollege.com, and Editions Du Renouveau Pedagogique Inc.. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Becton, Dickinson and: Accuri Cytometers, Accuri Cytometers Inc., Alverix Inc, Alverix Inc., Atto Bioscience Inc, BD Holding S. de R.L. de C.V., BD Infection Prevention BV, BD Kiestra BV, BD Kiestra Total Lab Automation, BD Rapid Diagnostic (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., BD San Luis Potosi S.A. de C.V., BD Switzerland Sarl, BD Ventures LLC, BD West Africa Limited, BDX INO LLC, Bard (Thailand) Limited, Bard ASDI Inc., Bard Access Systems Inc., Bard Acquisition Sub Inc., Bard Australia Pty. Limited, Bard Benelux N.V., Bard Brachytherapy Inc., Bard Brasil Industria e Comercio de Produtos Para a Saude Ltda., Bard Canada Inc., Bard Chile S.p.A., Bard Czech Republic s.r.o., Bard Devices Inc., Bard Dublin ITC Limited, Bard EMEA Finance Center Sp.z o.o., Bard European Distribution Center N.V., Bard Finance B.V. & Co. KG., Bard Financial Services Ltd., Bard Finland OY, Bard France S.A.S., Bard Global Holdings I LLC, Bard Global Holdings II LLC, Bard Global Holdings III LLC, Bard Healthcare Inc., Bard Healthcare Science (Shanghai) Limited, Bard Hellas S.A., Bard Holding SAS, Bard Holdings Limited, Bard Holdings Netherlands B.V., Bard Hong Kong Limited, Bard IP Holdings Inc., Bard India Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., Bard International Holdings B.V., Bard International Inc., Bard Istanbul Healthcare Limited Company, Bard Korea Ltd., Bard Limited, Bard MRL Acquisition Corp., Bard Malaysia Healthcare Sdn. Bhd., Bard Medica SA, Bard Medical Devices (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical R&D (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Bard Medical SA (Proprietary) Limited, Bard Mexico Realty S. de R.L. de C.V., Bard Norden AB, Bard Norway AS, Bard Pacific Health Care Company Ltd., Bard Peripheral Vascular Inc., Bard Poland Sp. z.o.o., Bard Productos Plasticos e Medicos Ltda., Bard Reynosa S.A. de C.V., Bard S.r.l., Bard Sdn. Bhd., Bard Shannon Limited, Bard Singapore Private Limited, Bard Sourcing Office Singapore Pte. Ltd., Bard Sweden AB, Bard UK Newco Limited, Bard de Espana S.A., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Gibraltar) Management Limited, Becton Dickinson (Mauritius) Limited, Becton Dickinson (Pty) Ltd., Becton Dickinson (Thailand) Limited, Becton Dickinson A.G., Becton Dickinson A/S, Becton Dickinson Argentina S.R.L., Becton Dickinson Asia Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Asia Limited, Becton Dickinson Austria GmbH, Becton Dickinson Austria Holdings GmbH, Becton Dickinson B.V., Becton Dickinson B.V. Saudi Limited Company, Becton Dickinson Benelux N.V., Becton Dickinson Biosciences Systems and Reagents Inc., Becton Dickinson Canada Inc., Becton Dickinson Caribe Ltd., Becton Dickinson Croatia d.o.o., Becton Dickinson Czechia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Dispensing Belgium BVBA, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Denmark A/S, Becton Dickinson Dispensing France SAS, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Norway, Becton Dickinson Dispensing Spain S.L.U., Becton Dickinson Dispensing UK Ltd., Becton Dickinson Distribution Center N.V., Becton Dickinson East Africa Ltd., Becton Dickinson Euro Finance Sarl, Becton Dickinson Europe Holdings S.A.S., Becton Dickinson France S.A.S., Becton Dickinson GSA Beteilgungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings I Inc., Becton Dickinson Global Holdings II LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings IV LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings V LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Holdings VIII LLC, Becton Dickinson Global Services Centre Sdn. Bhd, Becton Dickinson GmbH, Becton Dickinson Guatemala S.A., Becton Dickinson Hellas S.A., Becton Dickinson Holdings Limited, Becton Dickinson Holdings Ltd., Becton Dickinson Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Hungary Kft., Becton Dickinson India Private Limited, Becton Dickinson Industrias Cirurgicas Ltda., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy AB, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Holdings UK Limited, Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc. S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy UK, Becton Dickinson Insulin Syringe Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings II Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings III Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson International Holdings Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Israel Ltd., Becton Dickinson Italia S.p.A., Becton Dickinson Ithalat Ihracat Limited Sirketi, Becton Dickinson Korea Holding Inc., Becton Dickinson Korea Ltd., Becton Dickinson Ltd., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Finance S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Global Holdings Sarl, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings II S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings III S.a.r.L, Becton Dickinson Luxembourg Holdings V S.a.r.L., Becton Dickinson Malaysia Inc., Becton Dickinson Management GmbH & Co. KG, Becton Dickinson Matrex Holdings Inc., Becton Dickinson Medical (S) Pte Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Devices (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Products Pte. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Medical Technology (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Global Holdings II C.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings B.V., Becton Dickinson Netherlands Holdings II B.V., Becton Dickinson Norway AS, Becton Dickinson O.Y., Becton Dickinson Overseas Services Ltd., Becton Dickinson Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd., Becton Dickinson Penel Limited, Becton Dickinson Philippines Inc., Becton Dickinson Polska Sp.z.o.o., Becton Dickinson Portugal Unipessoal Lda., Becton Dickinson Pty. Ltd., Becton Dickinson Research Centre Ireland Limited, Becton Dickinson Rowa Germany GmbH, Becton Dickinson Rowa Italy Srl, Becton Dickinson S.A., Becton Dickinson Sample Collection GmbH, Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.L.P., Becton Dickinson Scot Financing L.P., Becton Dickinson Sdn. Bhd., Becton Dickinson Slovakia s.r.o., Becton Dickinson Sweden AB, Becton Dickinson Sweden Holdings AB, Becton Dickinson Switzerland Global Holdings SarL, Becton Dickinson Technology Campus India, Becton Dickinson U.K. Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing I Limited, Becton Dickinson UK Financing II Limited, Becton Dickinson Venezuela C.A., Becton Dickinson Venture LLC, Becton Dickinson Verwaltungs GmbH, Becton Dickinson Vostok LLC, Becton Dickinson Worldwide Investments Sa.r.L., Becton Dickinson Zambia Limited, Becton Dickinson and Company Ltd., Becton Dickinson de Colombia Ltda., Becton Dickinson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Becton Dickinson del Uruguay S.A., Bee IT Solutions, Benex Ltd., Biometric Imaging, Bridger Biomed Inc., C. R. Bard (Portugal) - Produtos e Artigos Medicos e Farmaceuticos, C. R. Bard Do Brasil Productos Medicos Ltda., C. R. Bard GmbH, C. R. Bard Inc., C. R. Bard Netherlands Sales B.V., C.R. Bard Inc, CME America LLC, CME Ltd., CME Medical (UK) Limited, CME UK (Holdings) Limited, CRISI Medical Systems, CRISI Medical Systems Inc., Caesarea Medical Electronics, Cardal II LLC, Care Fusion Development Private Limited, CareFusion (Barbados) SrL, CareFusion (Shanghai) Commercial and Trading Co. Limited, CareFusion 213 LLC, CareFusion 2200 Inc., CareFusion 2201 Inc., CareFusion 302 LLC, CareFusion 303 Inc., CareFusion Asia (HK) Limited, CareFusion Corporation, CareFusion Corporation., CareFusion D.R. 203 Ltd., CareFusion France 309 S.A.S., CareFusion Israel 330 Ltd., CareFusion Italy 312 S.p.A., CareFusion Manufacturing LLC, CareFusion Mexico 215 S.A. de C.V., CareFusion Netherlands 328 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 503 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands 504 B.V., CareFusion Netherlands Financing 283 C.V., CareFusion Resources LLC, CareFusion S.A. 319 (Proprietary) Limited, CareFusion Solutions LLC, CareFusion U.K. 244 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 305 Limited, CareFusion U.K. 306 Limited, Carmel Pharma AB, Carmel Pharma Inc, Cato Software Solutions, Cell Analysis Systems Inc, Cellular Research, Cellular Research Inc., Clearstream Technologies Group Limited, Clearstream Technologies Limited, Clontech Laboratories Inc, Corporativo BD de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Critical Device Corporation, Cubex, Cytognos, Cytopeia Inc, DLD (Bermuda) Ltd., DVL Acquisition Sub Inc., Davol Inc., Davol International Limited, Davol Surgical Innovations S.A. de C.V., Difco Laboratories Incorporated, Distribuidora BD Mexico S.A. de C.V., Dutch American Manufacturers (D.A.M.) B.V., Dymax Corporation, Embo Medical Limited, Enturia de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Enturican Inc., FJ International Inc., FlowCardia Inc., FlowCardia LLC, FlowJo LLC, Franklin Lakes Enterprises L.L.C., GSL Solutions, Gamer Lasertechnik GmbH, GenCell Biosystems, GenCell Biosystems Ltd., GeneOhm Sciences Canada ULC, GeneOhm Sciences Inc, Gentest Corporation, Gesco International Inc., Gesco International LLC, Glentech Inc, HandyLab Inc, HandyLab Inc., IBD Holdings LLC, Iontophoretics Corporation, JoHome LLC, Kabushiki Kaisha Medicon (Medicon Inc.), Liberator Health and Education Services Inc., Liberator Health and Wellness Inc., Liberator Medical Holdings Inc., Liberator Medical Supply Inc., Limited Liability Company Bard Rus, Loma Vista Medical Inc., Loma Vista Medical LLC, Luther Medical Products Inc, Lutonix Inc., Med-Design Corporation, Med-Design Investment Holdings Inc., Med-Safe Systems Inc, Med-Safe Systems Inc., MedChem Products Inc., Medafor Inc., Medegen LLC, Medinservice.com Inc., Medivance Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NAT Diagnostics Inc., NOW Medical Distribution Inc., NOW Medical Distribution LLC, Navarre Biomedical LLC, Navarre Biomedical Ltd., Neomend Inc., Nippon Becton Dickinson Company Ltd., Omega Biosystems Incorporated, P.R.C. (Isialys) Societe a responsabilitie limitee, PT Becton Dickinson Indonesia, PharMingen, PharMingen., Plasso Technology Ltd, PreAnalytiX GmbH, Pristine Access Technologies Inc., ProSeed Inc., Procesos para Esterilizacion S.A. de C.V., Productos Bard de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Productos Para el Cuidado de la Salud S.A. de C.V., Puls Medical Devices AS LC, PureWick Corporation, Roberts Laboratories Inc., Rochester Medical Corporation, Rochester Medical Ltd., Saf-T-Med Inc, Safety Syringes Inc., Scanwell Health Inc., Sendal S.L.U., SenoRx Inc., SenoRx LLC, Shield Healthcare Centers Inc., Sirigen Group Limited, Sirigen II Limited, Sirigen Inc., Sistemas Medicos ALARIS S.A. de C.V., Specialized Cooperative Corporation, Specialized Health Products Inc., Specialized Health Products International Inc., Specialized Health Products International LLC, Staged Diabetes Management LLC, Straub Medical AG, Straub Medical AG, Surgical Site Solutions Inc., TVA Medical Inc, TVA Medical Inc., Tepha Inc, Tepha Inc., Tissuemed Ltd., Tri-County Medical & Ostomy Supplies Inc., TriPath Imaging Inc., Tru-Fit Marketing Corporation, Vas-Cath Incorporated, Vascular Pathways Inc., Velano Vascular, Velano Vascular Inc., Venclose Inc., Venetec International Inc., Venetec International LLC, Visitec, Y-Med Inc., Y-Med LLC, and ZebraSci Inc.. Read More Nitish has demanded Centre to kick off a debate on Uniform Civil Code both in the Parliament and in the civil society rather than coming to a decision immediately. By Rohit Kumar Singh: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has rejected the Centre's stand on contentious issue of uniform civil code. Nitish has demanded Centre to kick off a debate on Uniform Civil Code both in the Parliament and in the civil society rather than coming to a decision immediately. An angry Nitish also took strong objections to the Law Commission sending a 16-point questionnaire to the Bihar government to seeking its view on uniform civil code. advertisement "We are for debate on uniform civil code. It should be debated in Parliament. How did Law Commission sent questionnaire? Is state government sitting for exams that Centre has sent us questionnaire? We reject Centre's stand on uniform civil code," said the Bihar CM. Nitish, however, on Monday reviewing his decision to support PM Modi over demonetisation continued with his support to Centre calling it a bold and courageous step which will go long way in eradicating black money from the economy. He demanded that after 77 days of imposing demonetisation, PM should be spell out what good results the government has achieved through this exercise. He also demanded the Centre to make announcement in the upcoming budget to compensate small businesses and jobs losses due to demonetisation. "Demonetisation is a courageous move of the Centre. The PM should now present figures before the country of how much black money has been deposited in the banks. Country's economy has suffered a bit because of demonetisation. In the budget there should be compensation announcement for business losses and job loss," said Nitish Kumar. --- ENDS --- Carter's, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, sources, and markets branded childrenswear under the Carter's, OshKosh, Skip Hop, Child of Mine, Just One You, Simple Joys, Carter's My First Love, little planet, and other brands in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Retail, U.S. Wholesale, and International. Its Carter's products include babies and young children products, such as bodysuits, pants, dresses, knit sets, blankets, layette essentials, bibs, booties, sleep and play products, rompers, and jumpers; and OshKosh brand products comprise playclothes, such as denim apparel products with multiple wash treatments and coordinating garments, overalls, woven bottoms, knit tops, and bodysuits. The company also provides products for playtime, travel, mealtime, bathtime, and homegear, as well as kid's bags and diaper bags under the Skip Hop brand. In addition, it offers bedding, cribs, diaper bags, footwear, gift sets, hair accessories, jewelry, outerwear, paper goods, socks, shoes, swimwear, and toys. The company operates 18,800 wholesale locations, including department stores, national chain stores, and specialty stores. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 980 retail stores. The company also sells its products through its eCommerce websites, such as carters.com, oshkoshbgosh.com, oshkosh.com, and skiphop.com, as well as other international wholesale accounts and licensees. Carter's, Inc. was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. provides early education and child care, back-up care, educational advisory, and other workplace solutions services for employers and families. The company operates through three segments: Full Service Center-Based Child Care, Back-Up Care, and Educational Advisory and Other Services. The Full Service Center-Based Child Care segment offers traditional center-based child care and early education, preschool, and elementary education services. The Back-Up Care segment provides center-based back-up child care, in-home child and adult/elder dependent care, school-age camps, virtual tutoring, and self-sourced reimbursed care services through child care centers, school-age campuses, and in-home caregivers, as well as the back-up care network. The Educational Advisory and Other Services segment offers tuition assistance and student loan repayment program administration, workforce education, and related educational consulting services, as well as college admissions advisory services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,014 child care and early education centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, and India. The company was formerly known as Bright Horizons Solutions Corp. and changed its name to Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. in July 2012. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts. The slain militants reportedly belonged to the Lashkar. Two AK-47 rifles were also recovered from their possession. By Shuja-ul-Haq , Ashraf Wani: Ahead of the Republic day function, security forces gunned down two militants in Ganderbal area of central Kashmir today. Initial reports suggest that the two militants belong to Lashkar-e-Taiba, but the police is yet to establish their identity officially. Two AK-47 rifles were also recovered from the slain militants. The encounter started earlier today after militants believed to be hiding inside a house opened fire as soon as security forces cordoned off the Hadoora village and intensified search operations following specific information about their location. advertisement WHERE IS HADOORA VILLAGE The Hadoora village is located on the boundary of Srinagar and Ganderbal districts. In the ensuing gun fight that lasted for nearly two hours, the two heavily armed militants were killed. Also read | Political leaders of poll-bound states, J-K potential targets of terror outfits: Intel agencies J&K: Encounter underway in Khimber's Hadoora area in Ganderbal district between security forces and terrorists . More details awaited. ANI (@ANI_news) January 24, 2017 INFILTRATION BID FOILED Meanwhile, an infiltration bid has been foiled in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir. One infiltrator has been killed. FLASH: Infiltration bid foiled in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district, J&K. One infiltrator killed. Also read | Kashmir: Encounter breaks out in Pahalgam; terrorists hiding in village Security forces are maintaining a close vigil and chasing every bit of actionable intelligence in view of Republic Day. The Valley is on high alert fearing the possibility of militant attacks during the parades. The main venue for the parade in Srinagar is Bakhshi Stadium, which has been turned into a fortress by additional deployment of soldiers guarding it round-the-clock. Security at most other places too has been tightened with an extra deployment of paramilitary forces. In a recent video by Hizbul Mujahideen, one of its commanders was seen asking people not to participate in any of the functions organised by the government. --- ENDS --- By Press Trust of India: Chennai, Jan 23 (PTI) A group of pro-Jallikattu supporters asserted that students had nothing to do with todays violent turn to the week-long protests for lifting the ban on the bull-taming sport. "The students had held the protests (for the past six days) in a very peaceful and organised manner, trying not to cause inconvenience to the general public," Rajesh, a senior functionary of a well-known pro-Jallikattu organisation, said. advertisement He was speaking to reporters after the city witnessed incidents of arson and stone-pelting by a section of protesters following police efforts to make them vacate the Marina beach, where thousands of volunteers, mainly students, had converged in support of the Jallikattu demand. "Those who were still continuing with the protests are not students," he claimed. Musician Adhi, who had yesterday announced backing out of the protests citing the presence of "anti-social" elements, insisted students had achieved victory and hence they should now go home. "A permanent solution has been achieved (with the Assembly passing a bill to replace the Jallikattu ordinance). Students should realise they have won. This victory is purely because of students. They should now go home," he said. Rajesh and Adhi insisted that students had no role in the violence. Rajasekar, leader of another pro-Jallikattu group, said they had urged Chief Minister O Panneerselvam to ensure the release of arrested students and that no cases are filed against them. PTI SA TVS VS ANB --- ENDS --- Creativity rewarded: Jenkins Scholarships announced Scholarship winner Emily Wynn '17, winner of the Jenkins Memorial Scholarship for creative non-fiction, says she writes to learn more about herself and the world around her. Courtesy Emily Wynn Photo - of - Hide Caption William & Mary students Emily Wynn 17, Sydney Rosenberger 17 and Lydia Brown 17 have won 2016-17 David C. Jenkins Memorial Scholarships in creative writing. All are worth $3,000. Wynn, from Ashburn, Virginia, won in the creative non-fiction category. Rosenberger, from Williamsburg, won in the fiction category. Brown, from Waterford, Virginia, won in the poetry category. There were 27 submissions in all and were judged by members of the William & Mary English Departments Creative Writing Program. The scholarships are available to William & Mary students who have taken at least two upper-level creative writing classes. The judges did not cite specific works but rather considered the overall quality of the complete entries. The winners, however, either described specific works or a particular style that they favored. I tend to like compressed, visceral, visual poems, said Brown. These are always very vivid and imaginative experiences for me to craft. I think of them as small and detailed paintings. Scholarships like these remind us that art is an imperative, and one integral to, not separate from, our academic lives. Rosenbergers favorite fiction submission was On Saturdays We Dance. It is about an immigrant sweatshop workers determination to hold onto hope during the brink of the womens shirtwaist strike of 1909, she said. Wynns favorite entry in the creative non-fiction category was titled Sorry, My Mom Says I Cant Go. It's a personal essay about the satisfaction of canceling plans, but also the importance of putting yourself out there even when you're tired, or you don't want to interact with people, or you would rather do something else, she said. I write to learn about myself and the world around me, to connect with people in whatever small way that I can. Rosenberger echoed the sentiment of the others in expressing appreciation and admiration for the creative writing program and those professors involved in it. Theyve given me the skills and support I need to turn a future in writing from pipe dream to reality, she said. The program has increased my confidence and interest in writing and has pushed me to explore topics I was never previously comfortable discussing or never believed myself capable of executing. The scholarships are available thanks to a bequest to the William & Mary English Department by the late David Jenkins, who taught the first creative writing courses in the department. By Press Trust of India: Chennai, Jan 24 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam today urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to advise neighbouring Kerala to immediately halt the construction work of check dams across the inter-state Bhavani river, saying the projects would affect the flow of water to the state. Citing reports that Kerala "plans to construct six check dams" across the Bhavani, a tributary of the Cauvery, he said this had caused great concern and anxiety among the people of Tamil Nadu who were dependent on the Cauvery basin for irrigation and drinking water requirements. advertisement "The government of Tamil Nadu conveys its strong objection to the construction of check dams by Kerala across the Bhavani river, without obtaining the prior concurrence of Tamil Nadu and in violation of the final order of the (Cauvery Water Disputes) tribunal," Panneerselvam wrote in a letter to Modi. He said the people (of western Tamil Nadu) were dependent on the waters of the Cauvery basin including that of the Bhavani, for irrigation and drinking water requirements. The Kerala government had commenced the earth work for laying the foundation of check dams at Thekkuvattai, Manjikandi and Padavayal, Panneerselvam added. Noting that the special leave petitions filed by Kerala and Karnataka challenging the Cauvery tribunals 2007 final order and that of Tamil Nadu (related to certain aspects of it) were pending in the Supreme Court, he said they were set to come up for hearing on a daily basis from February 7. Since the Cauvery Management Board was not yet set up by the Centre to implement the tribunals final order, which apportioned the Cauvery water among the riparian states, the "entire matter is sub-judice before the apex court", he said. "Any attempt to construct check dams without disclosing the details of schemes will affect the natural flow of the Bhavani river and consequently, diminish the flows to Tamil Nadu," the chief minister said. "In these circumstances, I request you to kindly instruct the Ministry of Water Resources to advise Kerala to immediately stop the construction work of check dams across the Bhavani river," Panneerselvam wrote in the letter. Kerala may also be advised not to take up any project or works without obtaining the prior concurrence of Tamil Nadu and until the CMB and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee came into force and judicial references were finally settled, he added. "I look forward to your immediate positive response in this matter," Pannerselvam wrote to the prime minister. PTI VGN VS RC --- ENDS --- China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page China has become more assertive over the South China Sea after an international tribunal struck down its claim over almost all of the area. By Press Trust of India: In a stern warning to China, the US has vowed to "protect its interests" in the disputed South China Sea and defend international territories from being taken over by "one country", evoking an angry response from Beijing which claimed "indisputable sovereignty" over the region. "I think areas in the South China Sea that are part of international waters and international activities... I think the US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first news conference. advertisement "So its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, we are going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," Spicer said. He was responding to a question related to a recent statement made by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson that the US would deny China access to these islands as they are in international waters. China in a strongly worded statement had warned the US of a war if it is denied the access. China has become more assertive over the South China Sea after an international tribunal struck down its claim over almost all of the area. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims over the South China Sea. Reacting to Spicers remarks, China today warned the US that it would not back down over its claims in the South China Sea. Also read: Donald Trump, Narendra Modi to speak tonight: 5 big issues likely to come up "China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing, adding that the country is "firm in safeguarding our rights and interests." "The US is not a party to the South China Sea issue," she asserted. Hua also said China "firmly upholds freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with international law" and urged the US to "fully respect the efforts of regional countries to safeguard peace and stability". On trade ties with the Communist giant, Spicer said that President Donald Trump understands that China is a big market for US goods and services. "When he met the head of Alibaba a couple of weeks ago, that was part of the point. There is huge market issue there. But in many cases, it is not a two-way street," he said. "I think that whether or not you are talking about the financial services or the banking, you know, the other service industries, or our manufacturing goods and services, or some of the IP problems that we have with China, that it really is not a two-way street," Spicer said. advertisement "So he understands the market that China has and our desire to further penetrate that market. But he also recognises, there is a lot of concerns with how we are treated entering into China's market, and we need to review that," he said in response to a question. Also read: As Donald Trump pulls US out of Trans-Pacific deal, Australia says China can fill the vacuum --- ENDS --- Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Agreements signed for EBRD uranium legacy fund 24 January 2017 Share The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed framework agreements with the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, a precondition for the implementation of projects under an EBRD fund to deal with the remediation of former uranium mines and processing plants. Very little remediation work has been carried out at the legacy sites (Image: EBRD) The EBRD established the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia in May 2015, at the request of the European Commission, to finance projects to rehabilitate high-priority sites in Central Asia. The Commission provided an initial 8 million ($9 million) in funding. Central Asia was an important uranium-producing region in the former Soviet Union, leading to a large accumulation of radioactive contaminated material at mines in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and placed in waste dumps and tailing sites. Most of the mines were closed by 1995, but very little remediation of either mining sites or tailings storage facilities has been carried out. Many of the uranium legacy sites are concentrated along the tributaries to the Syr Darya River, which runs through the Fergana Valley, a densely populated region that is also an agricultural centre shared by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The London-based EBRD said accumulation of radioactive contaminated material in the region is a threat to the environment and to the health of the population, a risk which it added has been recognised in a United Nations resolution, which calls for support for the affected countries. The framework agreements the EBRD announced yesterday are a precondition for project implementation in the Kyrgyz Republic and Takjikistan. They set out conditions for implementing the remediation program, such as tax exemption, the application of EBRD policies, including the bank's environmental and social policy, procurement rules and policies, and provisions for effective and efficient project implementation. EBRD first vice president Phil Bennett said the conclusion of the framework agreements with Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic marked an important milestone. "The preparatory phase of the Environmental Remediation Account has come to a close and work can start to address a serious hazard for the population of Central Asia and for stability in the region. We look forward to cooperating with our partners in the region as well as with donors to help achieve this important goal," he said. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country located on the Persian Gulf in the Middle East. It is an Arabian monarchy bordered by the northeastern coastal region of Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Qatar Peninsula. Bahrain is a small archipelago comprising of numerous islands covering a total area of approximately 780 kilometers square therefore making it the third smallest nation by size in Asia. The Geography Of Bahrain Bahrain is a flat and barren archipelago consisting of the low desert plain that gently rises to a low paramount escarpment whose highest point known as Mountain of Smoke is approximately 134 meters. Initially, Bahrain's total area stood at 665 square kilometers but due land repossession 100 square kilometers was added to the area. Bahrain has a 161-kilometer coastline, and it does not share any land boundaries with other countries. Bahrain affirms 12 kilometers of territorial sea and a 44-kilometer region of a contiguous zone. Bahrain experiences benign winters and sweltering and humid summers. The Kingdom of Bahrain's natural resources comprises of natural gas, fish, and large quantities of oil. The cultivatable land in Bahrain is made up of only 2.82% of the country's total area. Since 92% of the country is desert, the main natural threats for the people of Bahrain are cyclical droughts and dust storms. The country faces on the major environmental threat which is desertification due to the mortification of limited cultivatable land, illegal land repossession and deterioration of coastlines, sea vegetation, and coral reefs as a result of oil spillage and emissions from tankers, distribution stations, and oil refineries. The over usage of the Dammam Aquifer by the country's domestic and agricultural sectors has led to salinization by neighboring saline and brackish water bodies. The Damman Aquifer is the chief aquifer in Bahrain. Islands Of Bahrain Bahrain was often characterized as an archipelago of 33 islands however due to prevalent land repossession projects the number of archipelagos and islands increased to 84. Bahrain Island is the largest island in the Kingdom of Bahrain both by size and by population. The Kingdom of Bahrain comprises of 33 natural islands and numerous other artificial islands. In addition to the archipelago of Bahrain, the Kingdom is also home to the Hawar Islands and the Amwaj Islands. The Hawar archipelago was claimed by Qatar and Bahrain, and in 2001 most of the island was transferred to Bahrain by an international court of Justice. The Biggest Islands Of Bahrain By Size The following five are the biggest islands in Bahrain by both population and size. The largest islands in Bahrain are Bahrain Island which covers a total area of 590.7 square kilometers with a population of 940,000. The Hawar Islands follow in second with an estimated area of 53.5 square kilometers and a population of 4,000. Muhharaq Island is the third largest island in Bahrain covering an approximated area of 49.3 square kilometers and a population of 200,000. Um An Nasan and Durrat Al Bahrain are the fourth largest islands in Bahrain with an estimated area of 20 square kilometers and a population of 10 and 870 respectively. Sitra is the fifth-largest island by both population and size with an area of 14.6 square kilometers and a population of 81,000. By Press Trust of India: Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) US President Donald Trump must appoint a high-level envoy to South Asia to seize an opportunity missed by his predecessor to coordinate a response to the regional terrorist threat, former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said, criticising Barack Obama for never interacting with Pakistani leaders properly. "[Do] what [President] Obama never did ? Obama never had proper interaction with any Pakistani chief executive," he said. advertisement Zardari, who met with Obama at the White House in 2011, said he was not interested in openly criticising Obama. However, his comments sounded at times like an indictment of Obamas handling of what has, for more than two decades, been one of Washingtons most vexing and complex foreign relationships, Washington Times said. Tensions between the US and Pakistan soared to new heights during Obamas tenure during which US Special Forces conducted a raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Zardari said what is needed today is a US president who can breathe new life into the relationship by realising that the wars against extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the same ? and are no different from those being waged against the Islamic State and al Qaeda-aligned groups from Syria and Iraq to Yemen and Libya, the paper said. "Were losing the battle of minds against extremists in Afghanistan, weve lost it in Pakistan, weve lost it in Syria, we?ve lost it in Yemen, weve lost it in Iraq, weve lost it Libya, we?ve lost it everywhere," the 61-year-old former president was quoted as saying by the paper. "I would humbly request the new president of America to sit back and interact with world leaders ? present and past leaders and regional leaders ? and think forward toward a policy which is doable," he said. "That would entail, basically, confidence-building between the different countries in the region and meaningful actions" toward defeating the extremist mindset. Trump should appoint an envoy like Richard C Holbrooke early in his term and not allow Washington partisanship to influence the move, Zardari said. The former Pakistani president suggested that a good pick might be Anne W Patterson, a career Foreign Service officer and a former ambassador to Pakistan and Egypt. "With the world being as it is, with the mindset of terrorism as the new war in the world," he said, "the least [the US] can do is sit down with us and have a long, drawn-out strategy, which we can work on together to fight this mindset." advertisement Zardari, the only elected Pakistani president ever to have completed a full term in office, said that Trumps critics should not dismiss him out of hand but rather give him a chance to make his mark in the region, beset by conflicts in Afghanistan, jihadi terrorist movements and the increasingly tense India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir. "Wait for the first 90 days at least, and then we see how the cookie crumbles, or talks and walks. " Zardari, co-chairman of the left-leaning Pakistan People?s Party, was in Washington to participate in Trumps inaugural festivities. PTI NSA --- ENDS --- The father running with his daughter (left) By: Feng Qian WorldWideWeirdNews.com A family in Brazil, is devastated over the sudden loss of their young daughter. The girl was playing in a play area of a restaurant when she was shot and killed by a stray bullet. The family was eating at the Habibas restaurant in Rio de Janeiro, when their 2-year-old daughter Sofia Braga, went to the childrenas play area, where she lost her life. The father, Felipe de Souza Amaral Fernandez, who works as a police officer, went to check on his daughter after hearing a gunshot. He found his daughter bleeding. Witnesses took videos of the father running out of the restaurant with his injured daughter, who was bleeding, and they posted the disturbing videos to the Internet. The girl was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The father learned that his daughter was killed during a shootout between police and a suspected car thief, who they were chasing. By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) Donald Trump has rejected as "totally without merit" a lawsuit filed by top ethics lawyers alleging that the US president is violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other businesses accept payments from foreign governments, including India and China. A non-profit legal watchdog group, based in Washington DC, yesterday filed the federal lawsuit against Trump. advertisement In the lawsuit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) said foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution prohibits Trump from receiving anything of value from foreign governments, including foreign government-owned businesses, without the approval of the Congress. "We did not want to get to this point. It was our hope that President Trump would take the necessary steps to avoid violating the Constitution before he took office," said CREW executive director Noah Bookbinder. "He did not. His constitutional violations are immediate and serious, so we were forced to take legal action," he said. Trump dismissed the lawsuit filed in a federal court in New York as "totally without merit." Earlier this month, Trump had said he would retain ownership of his businesses across the world during his presidency, but hand over the day-to-day affairs to his sons, Eric and Donald Jr. CREW alleged that since Trump refused to divest from his businesses, he is now getting cash and favours from foreign governments, through guests and events at his hotels, leases in his buildings, and valuable real-estate deals abroad. Trump does business with countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, and now that he is president, his companys acceptance of any benefits from the governments of those countries violates the Constitution, the lawsuit alleged. "When Trump - the president - sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump - the businessman," it said. PTI LKJ ABH --- ENDS --- Confusion As Police Czar & Police and Crime Panel Chair Clash Over Key Budget This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jan 24th, 2017 North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones has criticised the Police and Crime Panel for delaying his budget, however the panel Chair has said his stance is worrying. Yesterday the Office of Police and Crime Commissioners appointed PR agency sent a released entitled Police czar blasts delay in setting police budget, which was subject to a mini russian revolution, with a later copy sent through with an adjusted headline of Police boss criticises budget delay. In the release it was stated that the North Wales Police and Crime Panel voted to defer debate of Mr Joness recommended increase of 3.79 per cent in the police precept which will put an extra 2.25 million into frontline policing and 17 more police officers. It added, Instead the Panel, meeting in Conwy, voted unanimously in favour of a proposal from the chair, Conwys Conservative County Councillor Julie Fallon, that they defer debate of the precept until Tuesday, January 31, because they hadnt seen a copy of Mr Joness Police and Crime Plan. Mr Jones, commented : It is disappointing and frustrating that such an important and necessary step is being delayed. The Chairman of the Panel only informed us of this 90 minutes before the meeting so there was no intention to compromise. Todays meeting was run in a dictatorial fashion by the chair who didnt allow any input from us at all, its a bit like the tail wagging the dog Mr Jones added: I am still consulting on the Plan so the Plan is not ready to be seen and can only be finalised once we know how much money is available. The Plan depends on the funding and not the other way round so their argument is nonsense. I have 12 months to publish a plan which expires in May this year. There is a legal requirement for me to consult the people of North Wales and that is ongoing and the Deputy PCC will be at a public meeting in Pwllheli this week. The proposal of a 3.79 per cent increase is based on a sound business case which has been worked through in great detail and in consultation with the Chief Constable. There is only one statutory consultee and that is the Chief Constable and he is still working on how he will deliver the priorities in the Plan so I cant publish until I get an understanding of how he intends to deliver on my priorities. I have also consulted with the public by holding an online survey which almost 1,000 council taxpayers took part in and which saw an overwhelming majority in favour of an increase of at least five per cent. Yesterday evening we enquired with the panel Chair Julie Fallon over the detail, and invited comment and context behind the decision. Councillor Fallon told us, I am very disappointed that the commissioner has decided to again completely ignore the Police Crime Panel who are there to represent the people of North Wales. We have not voted against the budget, we have merely asked for the information that we have seen every year before we make a recommendation to approve the increase. As a committee of a broad spectrum of political parties, including Plaid Cymru, we feel it is important to understand what priorities the PCC has set in his Crime Plan to ascertain if this is reflected in the budget. In the PCCs own report the number one bullet point when discussing his financial plan is his own Crime Plan. I wrote to the PCCs office two weeks ago asking that the panel have sight of the plan and he refused. It is very disappointing that he disregards our request and quite frankly it is worrying that he is encouraging us to make decisions without the information necessary. From what I can see it would appear that he is one of the last commissioners in the UK not to form a Crime Plan and that in itself gives me great cause for concern, both for our very experienced Chief Constable in his forward planning and for the residents of North Wales who deserve to know what the plans are of the PCC who was elected so long ago. By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has spoken to his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and has expressed full commitment to support the latters fight against terrorism, besides ways to deepen the bilateral relationship between the two countries. "They discussed ways to deepen the bilateral relationship and support Egypts fight against terrorists and bolster Egypts home-grown historic economic reform program," the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first official news conference yesterday. advertisement El-Sisi is the fourth foreign leader with whom Trump has communicated after those from his two neighbouring countries-- Mexico and Canada, and recently with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "President Trump underscored the United States remains strongly committed to the bilateral relationship, which has helped both countries overcome challenges in the region for decades," he said. Trump is committed to continue military aid to Egypt and work towards ensuring that the assistance most effectively supports the Egyptian militarys fight against terrorism, he added. Spicer said Trump also commended el-Sisi for his courageous steps to address Egypts economic challenges and offered to discuss ways the US could support Egypts economic reform program. "Finally, the two leaders discussed a visit to the United States in the future," Spicer said. PTI LKJ ARK --- ENDS --- The state Labor government in Victoria has seized on the tragic deaths of five people in central Melbourne last Friday, run over by a car driven by a drug-affected and mentally-ill man, to advance its reactionary law and order agenda. In recent months, the government has unveiled an unprecedented multi-billion dollar expansion of the police force, boosted the number of officers by 20 percent, imprisoned children in adult maximum security prisons in defiance of court rulings, and seized on an alleged Christmas Day terror plot to cultivate an atmosphere of crisis. Backed by the police, Liberal Party opposition and the media, the government of Premier Daniel Andrews wasted little time exploiting last Fridays terrible events. Andrews announced a top to bottom review of the bail system, foreshadowing a drastic curtailment of the democratic right to bail. Details are still emerging of the events leading up to the deaths of five people when a car drove through a pedestrian shopping precinct on Bourke Street, in Melbournes central business district. Those killed include 33-year-old Matthew Si, 22-year-old Jess Mudie, 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, a yet unnamed 25-year-old Japanese student, and three-month-old baby Zachary Bryant. Fifteen others remain in hospital, including two in a critical condition. A 26-year-old man, Dimitrious Gargasoulas, was shot in the arm and arrested by police after allegedly driving through the crowd. He has since been charged with five counts of murder, with additional charges expected to be laid. According to media accounts, less than 24 hours before the incident, Gargasoulas was refused entry to a pub after appearing to be on drugs. He reportedly has a history of addiction to methamphetamines (ice). Afterwards, Gargasoulas allegedly stabbed his brother and then took his girlfriend hostage, driving with her erratically through several inner Melbourne suburbs. She managed to flee the vehicle shortly before Gargasoulas arrived in the citys central business district, driving in circles and blocking traffic outside a train station, before driving toward Bourke Street with police following him. By the time of the killings, Gargasoulas was being followed by multiple police vehicles and a police helicopter. The alleged perpetrator was well known to police. He faced outstanding warrants on more than 20 charges, mostly relating to dangerous driving, theft and drug possession, and was granted bail on January 14. While seizing on the fact that he was on bail to justify tougher laws, the government has all but ignored the lack of medical treatment which played a significant role in creating the conditions for this tragedy. Gargasoulass social media postings portray a deeply unwell and disoriented individual. In recent months, he posted multiple diatribes apparently inspired by Christian fundamentalism about the Illuminati, Scientology and the police. Posts last week became increasingly frenzied and threatening. According to a Herald Sun report: Friends have revealed failed attempts to get Mr Gargasoulas help for drug and mental health issuesand how those who advocated for intervention were shunned. Mental health experts condemned the government in the aftermath of the tragedy. Psychiatrist Dr Helen Schultz told the Age: Acute mental health services in this state have been decimated and these types of things will happen more and more. This guy should have been treated way before it got to this. In a joint statement, University of Melbourne Professor Patrick McGorry and Associate Professor Rosemary Purcell commented on the impact of the mainstreaming of mental health care in the 1990s, with facilities shut down and the number of hospital beds majorly reduced. The fundamental problem is that the capacity of the Victorian public clinical mental health system has been declining for well over a decade and is overwhelmed, they said. Public mental health services, particularly in the growth corridors, have retreated from community care, overwhelmed by acute demand. In the northwest of Melbourne we have seen population growth of 50 percent in the past decade and yet no more resources for mental health. Previously in our services, suicides were rare. Now they are a regular occurrence. And for the first time we have seen a spate of homicides committed by patients who could not get timely access to sufficient expert care. Seeking to cover up the social crisis underlying the mental health epidemic, as well as his governments responsibility for starving the public health system of the necessary resources, Premier Andrews rushed to declare the Bourke Street killings as an evil, criminal act. The media likewise did its utmost to spread confusion and alarm. Within an hour of the incident on Friday afternoon, reports promoted the remarks of extreme right-wing parliamentarian Pauline Hanson, who declared it a terrorist attack and all terrorist attacks in this country have been by Muslims. The Daily Mail posted an article falsely reporting that Gargasoulas was Muslim, largely based on an incoherent social media post in which he falsely claimed to be Kurdish. Had Gargasoulass mental illness taken the form of a stated allegiance to Islamic fundamentalism or ISIS, federal and state authorities would no doubt have declared a national security emergency. That is precisely what happened in response to the Lindt cafe incident in central Sydney in December 2014. The hostage taker, Man Haron Monis, was an isolated individual with significant mental health problems, yet his disoriented actions were used to manufacture a national terrorism crisis that saw the activation of the entire counterterrorism apparatus across Australia. While unable to connect the Bourke Street deaths to the bogus war on terror, the state Labor government has used it to prepare far more stringent bail laws. This is paving the way for a significant expansion in the states prison population, which has already skyrocketed by nearly 70 percent in the past decade, even though crime rates have remained largely steady. No expense will be spared to get this right, Andrews declared in announcing a rapid review of the bail system, to be completed by April 3. The premier added that the system of bail justices determining out-of-business-hours bail applications for those charged by police would be scrapped in favour of magistrates working in a new night court. The Murdoch press and Liberal Party opposition are agitating for the junking of the important legal principle of the presumption of bail. Multiple editorials in the Herald Sun tabloid in recent days declared that bail should never be considered a right. The police association demanded the reversal of the burden of proof on police and prosecutors to demonstrate that people accused of serious crimes present a public safety risk if released on bail. Police want Victoria to emulate the New South Wales system of allowing the imprisonment of those charged until a magistrate is available to consider the case. The governments moves are aimed at overturning the right to bail, which is inextricably tied to the presumption of innocence, which was established in Britain during the 17th century through the struggle against the absolutist monarchy and arbitrary imprisonment. Like other essential democratic rights, these conceptions are being torn up by the Australian ruling elite to strengthen the repressive powers of the state as it anticipates mounting social and political unrest. The author also recommends: Australian state Labor government announces unprecedented police buildup [4 January 2017] Australian government exploits Christmas terror plot [24 December 2016] An estimated 250,000 people participated in the Womens March in Chicago on January 20. Protesters came from all parts of Illinois and from neighboring states to voice their opposition to the Trump administration. They marched through the streets of downtown Chicago, holding signs and posters carrying anti-Trump slogans and references to womens rights. Quite a few showed clear support for former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, others for the Green Party. Attendees marched to Columbus Drive in downtown Chicago to gather and listen to the scheduled speakers. However, the speaker systems were not gauged to the size of the crowd, which exceeded organizers expectations, and many found it difficult to hear what was being said. The Democratic Party dominated the event, and speakers included Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, daughter of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan; Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle; and several city councilwomen, trade union leaders, religious leaders, and heads of various organizations with ties to the Democratic Party. The Chicago cast of the musical Hamilton performed. The political orientation of the rally organizers was clear from the near-total lack of discussion on class and inequality in the US. Speakers homed in on issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and hate as problems of individual prejudice, obscuring the origins of the political reaction personified in the figure of President Trump. Aislinn Pulley, lead organizer of Black Lives Matter Chicago, called for opposition to Trumps presidency and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, not because of the class interests that they defend, but based on their race and gender. Eman Hassaballa Aly, a Muslim activist from the TRUST collective, stated that she was tired of being defined by what I wear and that Muslim women intersect with every other group. However, she had nothing to say in support of the democratic rights of Muslim women in countries that the US has bombed under both Bush and Obama. Many of the speakers called for more women and minority groups to be elevated to positions of power. Jean Albright, a retired sergeant of the US Air Force, called for more women to rise to their abilities and enter the military, and for President Trump to support the US military. The most right-wing comments came from Lifted Voices Collective leader and direct-action organizer Kelly Hayes. She said that white supremacy is the structural harm at play here, and that white communities are the source of racism, which was met with some applause. Her comments, characteristic of reactionary racialist politics, served to completely obscure the issue of class. The sentiments motivating many of those attending transcended the pro-Democratic Party politics of the organizers and speakers. Nicole, an art teacher in the Milwaukee Public Schools system, said of Trumps pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, I taught education for over 10 years. Shes absolutely unqualified. Under her, public schools will suffer, tuition will never be affordable; she has no frame of reference for anything. She has never taught a day in her life. How can she tell us as teachers where my children go or how we spend the money? Public education in Wisconsin has really suffered. The education department has been crippled over the last year because of the defunding at the UW [University of Wisconsin] school system with Scott Walker, our governor. My sons elementary got cut $27,000 last year, my daughters school got cut $32,000 last year. And Im going back to school at UWM [University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee] and it will take a year and a half to graduate because programs got cut back. Charter schools will be the death of public education. Privatization of education is not something we should have in the US. Under the Trump administration, I see a lot of cuts ahead, including to the arts. DeVos has no frame of reference for regular families and the pipeline from school to prison will continue by keeping children ignorant. Speaking on the question of the Trumps cabinet of billionaires and generals, she added, The Trump cabinet represents ignorance. ... We will probably be at war. We are not crying because we lost, we are letting you know that we are here. As far as the Democratic Party, money still controls it. I was a Bernie supporter, and I thought he was robbed. But the billionaires run our society and both parties. Our election goes to show that voting doesnt stop this. Students from the University of Chicago spoke to reporters on a range of issues, particularly on education and immigration. Richard, a political science student, said, DeVos wants to privatize education and create more charter schools. When she was asked about the difference between public education and charter schools, she couldnt even answer. When you are the secretary of education, not only is it your job to take care of the public education system, but to make sure that these kids have a fair shake and a secure future. We have a society controlled by the oligarchs. Right now, Im a liberal, and I think to stop Trump, we have to reform the Democratic Party. They need to coalesce around a progressive leader, maybe the Bernie wing of the party. But they dont want to. Its money and the big donors the Democratic Party as it is. Of course, I dont think that the Democrats really speak for the interests of most people. Maya, another student said, We need education and not deportation. We need to recognize that all the issues that are coming up are affecting the poor and immigrants. We have to work on all these issues. Obama was the deporter-in-chief, and now Trump wants to deport more people. My grandparents are immigrants. Immigrants support our economy. They are people. It doesnt make any sense. I just moved to Chicago and immigrant communities are targeted despite being a sanctuary city. I want to go into education when Im older, and I think thats the only way out. Education needs to intersect with health care and our social system to help build whole communities. Mink, Tiffany and Kevin were at the rally with a larger group. Tiffany said, I feel that [the country] is even less of a democracy now. Its going to be more about what he thinks and his few supporters think. About war, Im nervous myself ... I am not a supporter of war, I understand security, but I usually think the United States is sticking their nose where it doesnt belong. Before Trumps election, I was worried that Russia would see us as weaker because he is so ignorant and uneducated. Hes taken down from the White House web site the pages on climate change and on LGBT issues! Mink said, I think we just get so caught up in our idea of America, our conditions, we just dont think about the rest of the world. A lot of people dont even know whats happening in the rest of the world. Were just here worried about our problems, and I think that is what led to this [election outcome]. Erin said, When it comes to trade I feel like Trump has no idea what hes talking about. So sure, I am scared of war, but Im terrified across the board. Im not as afraid of Trump as I am about his cabinet appointments of rich and military leaders. Its all so embarrassing, Rachel said. I did not want to watch the address, because I cannot stand looking at him. But I am very worried because I feel he is going to do whatever he wants and I definitely think hell be pushing some kind of war either way. In the past few weeks icy temperatures and massive snowfall have caused hundreds of deaths in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Greece. Official figures record 33 deaths from cold in Europe just last weekend. In Poland, more than 50 people have died as temperatures have fallen at times to minus 25 degrees. Twenty of the victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to inhaling fumes from burning wood in enclosed rooms. In Slovakia, Pravda.sk reported that two people, presumed homeless, were discovered dead in the cities of Nitra and Bratislava. In one village a pensioner was found frozen last Friday in front of his doorstep. In the northern Slovakian district of Namestovo, a 54-year-old died on the way home from work. In Latvia, 19 people have died due to the cold temperatures since the start of the year. According to the state forensic medical institute, 60 deaths have been registered since September 2016. According to official data, likely an underestimate, over a dozen deaths have been recorded in Bulgaria since the beginning of the year. Snow storms have cut off about 650 villages from electricity. In Romania, more than 130 roads had to be closed due to snow storms in past weeks. Hospitals were evacuated and public transport collapsed. Moldova closed its border with Ukraine because of massive snow, while more than a meter of snow fell in northern Albania. Many villages were cut off from the outside world in these regions. There are as yet no reliable figures on casualties. In Hungary, at least 80 people have frozen to death this wintertwice as many as last yearnot counting deaths taking place in the last several days, when temperatures fell to negative 20 degrees. Of the dead, about 30 people froze to death in unheated homes, according to data from the Hungarian Social Forum. Hungarys large Roma population is especially impacted. The Washington Post reported that large number of Roma boys skip school in order to chop firewood or forage for sticks for wood stoves. Deaths due to the cold have also been recorded in Ukraine and Belarus. In a month-long period in the winter of 2011-2012, extreme cold killed about 600 Europeans. If the current cold wave persists for a similar length of time, the number of deaths could be much higher. The situation in the refugee camps along the so-called Balkan route and in Greece is particularly dire. On Friday the UN childrens fund Unicef warned that more than 23,000 child refugees and migrants could risk respiratory infections, even death from hypothermia, due to sub-freezing temperatures across Europe. An estimated 23,700 migrant and refugee children, including infants and newborns, remain stranded in Greece and the Balkans, where temperatures have plunged below minus 20 degrees. A television report last week showed dozens of lightly clad refugees on the island of Lesbos lining up for the only meal they were to receive that day. Even more deplorable were the scenes inside the flimsy tents where the refugees and their families live. The inhabitants burn wood and refuse inside the tents in order to keep warm. Infants and the very young generally have less body fat to insulate them against the cold, making them more susceptible to respiratory problems and potentially fatal viral and bacterial infections such as pneumonia and influenza, declared Basil Rodriques, Unicef Regional Health Advisor for Central and Eastern Europe. In response to reports of migrant tents buried in snow, the EUs migration chief, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told reporters last weeks images must not be seen again. The deplorable conditions in the refugee camps are an indictment of the policy of the pseudo-left Syriza government in Athens, which, along with all other European, prioritizes deterring and deporting refugees over providing humanitarian relief. In Serbia, about 2,000 refugees live on the street or in storage halls. One of these accommodations is located in a row of warehouses behind the central bus station in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. Men, women and children live there without heating and sanitation. In order not to freeze, they light open fires, leading to smoke poisoning and severe respiratory diseases. The only help comes from private, non-profit organizations that provide blankets and warm food. The government has failed here, declared Petar Bogovic of the private aid organization Refugee Aid Serbia. European policy, the icy temperatures and the lack of preparation for the winter have exacerbated an unbearable situation for thousands of men, women and children. As Socialist Party (PS) presidential candidates Benoit Hamon and Manuel Valls began campaigning in the runoff to secure the PS nomination after the first round of the primary Sunday, the contest was marred with allegations of manipulation. This marks a further blow to the PS, which faces an electoral wipeout and possible disintegration after the April-May 2017 presidential election, due to the deep unpopularity of PS President Francois Hollandes record of austerity and war. On Monday morning, voter participation in the primary according to the PS authorities had jumped by 350,000 compared to the previous night, to 1.6 million. PS officials had said that they hoped to announce that 2 million voters had participated in the primary, to compare favorably to the over 4 million voters who participated in the right-wing The Republicans (LR) primary. Inexplicably, the percentages of the different PS candidates had not changed despite the extra votes, though 161 extra votes were mysteriously attributed to one candidate, Sylvia Pinel. Primary organizer Christophe Borgel gave an absurd and unconvincing explanation, simultaneously blaming the error on computer error and then admitting that his team posted inaccurate, unverified results on the primary web site. The aim was apparently to highlight increased voter participation, before it was known for whom the different voters had in fact voted. Borgel declared, There was a bug, nothing more. And its sort of my fault. There was a lot of pressure about participation levels; I asked for the results [on voter participation] to be updated as fast as possible. And indeed, we applied to the new total number of voters the percentages [the candidates had received] the day before. Late this evening, Borgel blamed the false data on an error of the PS staff member who posted the numbers online, saying it was more human error than a computer bug. Asked about the unexplained attribution of 161 votes to Pinel, Borgel said, That was a bug, too. There were bugs on bugs. I dont know if its the service-providing company (who oversees the provision of vote totals from voting precincts) or the internal IT system that is responsible, and I will not blame people who are working like mad on the enormous machine that is this primary. A member of Hamons team told L Internaute that he suspected that Valls, with his back to the wall, had decided to fix the numbers so that Valls did not lose face. Around 7pm yesterday, the PS primary authorities published official primary results they claimed had been verified. These gave 35.86 percent to Hamon, 31.22 percent to Valls, the former prime minister, and 17.30 percent to former Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg. The charges of manipulation only highlighted the PSs desperation, and the ever-sharper factional conflict in its ranks as it faces a disaster in the presidential election. Neither Hamon nor Valls is predicted to win more than 10 percent of the vote, leaving them behind former Hollande advisor and Rothschild banker Emmanuel Macron, and former Left Party leader and PS minister Jean-Luc Melenchon. All these candidates would be eliminated, according to current polls, setting up a runoff between right-wing candidate Francois Fillon and neo-fascist Marine Le Pen. For Valls and Hollande, the result is a further humiliating setback. After Hollande decided due to his deep unpopularity not to runthe first time a French president did not seek reelection since the creation of the office in 1958Valls, supposedly Hollandes most popular minister until he resigned to run for the presidency, has gone down to defeat. With Montebourg calling on his voters to vote for Hamon, and Peillon still undecided on whom to support, polls show that Hamon is poised to defeat Valls in this Sundays runoff. He would win 52 percent of the vote. Yesterday, Valls canceled an electoral meeting at Cenon in the Gironde region around Bordeaux. On TF1 television last night, he attacked Hamons signature proposal for a universal minimum revenue to be paid to all French people by the state as ruin for our national budget and denounced Hamon as an advocate of the end of labor. Valls campaign is being rapidly undermined, however, by ever more pressing calls by sections of the PS, notably those around Lyon mayor Gerard Collomb, for PS officials to abandon the primary process before it produces an Hamon victory and instead support Macron for president. The PS, a bedrock of bourgeois rule in France since its foundation nearly a half century ago after the May-June 1968 general strike, faces collapse. As the European Union and social-democratic parties across Europe are discredited by their decades-long pursuit of policies of austerity and war, the PS could well go the way of Greeces Pasok party, which has disintegrated and collapsed into a minor parliamentary party. The surprise victory of Hamon, who rose in the polls over the last couple of weeks, has led sections of the PS to try to revive their fortunes, using Hamons call for a universal minimum salary to try to give their policies a left face. To the extent that this won a certain hearing among PS voters, 55 percent of whom supported the measure, they voted for Hamon to register their anger and opposition to Hollande. It is impossible, however, to oppose Hollandes program through support of any faction of the PS, which was from its foundation in 1969 a reactionary bourgeois party. Hamon himself campaigned on the basis of anti-Russian appeals and calls for stepped-up police powers, and his policies have little support. His proposal for a universal minimum salary is largely unpopular, with 61 percent of the population opposed, though 63 percent support the abrogation of Hollandes labor law. Hamon received endorsements from several high-ranking PS figures, including Lille mayor Martine Aubry and Hollandes former justice minister, Christiane Taubira. Like Hamon and Montebourg, who were Hollande administration ministers affiliated with the PSs rebel faction in the National Assembly, Aubry and Taubira were publicly critical of several key initiatives of the Hollande administration. Aubry criticized Hollandes regressive labor law, which allows the government and the trade unions to scrap protections in France Labor Code, and Taubira opposed Hollandes call to inscribe in the constitution the states ability to deprive individuals of their French nationality. Nonetheless, like the PS rebels who did not seek to bring down Hollandes government in the National Assembly over its reactionary plans, both Aubry and Taubira continued to support Hollande despite their criticisms. India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. By Press Trust of India: US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the White House said. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for today. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1:00 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. advertisement With this, Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over the phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. Also read: US Prez Trump misspells honour in latest Twitter mishap On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 General Elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. Also read: Trump properties face global terror risk with presidency At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. INDIA-US TIES "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he added. Also read: After misspelling unprecedented as 'unpresidented', 'honored' is Donald Trump's latest gaffe Watch: Donald Trump becomes US President; what it means to India and the world --- ENDS --- advertisement A general election has been called for the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly on March 2. The poll, less than one year after the previous election, will be held under conditions of a deep political crisis. In jeopardy are all the power-sharing arrangements established in Northern Ireland under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement aimed at ending the conflict between the pro-British Protestant Unionist and Irish Catholic Republican forces. The election date was announced by James Brokenshire, the British governments Northern Ireland secretary, following the resignation earlier this month of Sinn Feins Martin McGuinness, Northern Irelands deputy first minister. McGuinness is struggling with a serious heart and nerve condition and has subsequently announced he will not be standing again for office. But his resignation had the political aim of bringing down his rival and partner in power, First Minister Arlene Foster of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Sinn Fein, after ten years of sharing office with the DUP, has seized upon the scandal surrounding the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI), or cash for ash, in which Foster herself is deeply implicated, to strengthen its position north and south of the border. It is at the same time combining calls for Irish unity with opposition to last years UK vote to leave the European Union (EU). RHI, a British government scheme to promote bio-mass fuel sources, evolved into a decades-long hand-out to farms and businesses. Current estimates are that the scheme will cost the British government 660 million and Stormont 490 million. Former Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment Jonathan Bell told Stormont last week that special advisers to the first minister and the partys director of communication had such extensive interests in the poultry industry that it [RHI] was not allowed to be on my [Bells] ministerial agenda. Bell is suspended from the DUP and supports a public inquiry into the scheme, whose costs he was trying to restrict. However, much more is at stake than easy money for chicken farmers. The RHI scandal has become the focus of political shifts rooted in the unravelling of the European Union (EU), which is a grave threat to Irish capital, North and South. Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU by a majority of 56 to 44 percent. The regions economy is tied closely to the UK, but also the Irish Republic and the EU. Of export sales in 2014, for example, 12.7 billion arrived in the UK, but 3.6 billion went to the Republic, 2.1 to the rest of the EU and 4 billion to the rest of the world. While the UK is the largest market, access to the EU, including the Republic with which the North is increasingly integrated, is vital. EU subsidies to the value of 3.5 billion over the last seven years have been handed over, while another 3.5 billion is planned for the period between 2014 and 2020. Most of this goes to farmers, but numerous cross-border projects to facilitate investment, such as train refurbishments, have also benefited. In the immediate aftermath of the June 23 Brexit vote, Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny raised the possibility of unification if there is clear evidence of a majority of people wishing to leave the United Kingdom and join the Republic, that that should be catered for in the discussions that take place. Kenny went on to compare Northern Irelands situation to the unification of Germany, noting that the former East Germany was immediately absorbed into the EU. Subsequently, demands were raised from all sides for some form of special status for the North to ensure free movement of trade and people over the currently unenforced border with the Republic. In December, the Dublin government hosted a conference attended by all the Northern parties except the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to support calls for special status. The hard-line unionists of the DUP campaigned to leave the EU. Writing in the Irish Times, journalist Fintan OToole complained that the DUP paid for a glossy supplement to the Metro free newspaper, handed out to London commuters just before the June 23 referendum. OToole reckoned the supplement would be the most expensive piece of election propaganda ever purchased by an Irish party. The Metro does not publish in Northern Ireland. The DUP, moreover, currently has eight MPs at Westminster. With the Conservative governments majority down to 14 seats and some Tories likely to vote against aspects of the Brexit process, the votes of DUP MPs might become crucial. The DUP, therefore, has significant leverage with the government of Theresa May. For her part, Arlene Foster has promised that the upcoming election will be brutal. In forcing an election, Sinn Fein are hoping to take advantage of the DUPs support for Brexit, its exposure over RHI and broad popular hostility to all Northern Irelands political institutions, to shift the balance of power. On this basis, and by warning of the dangers of a post Brexit hard border, Sinn Fein, the only major all-Ireland party, are hoping to further advance the case for Irish unification. Tensions have been greatly intensified by Mays January 17 speech confirming that the British government will pursue a hard Brexit involving departure from the European Single Market and customs union. Although Mays speech referred to upholding the Common Travel Area, in operation between Britain and Ireland since Irish independence and partition, she made no reference to any special status for Northern Ireland by which single market membership could be retained. The economically liberal Alliance Party described Mays speech as catastrophic for Northern Ireland. Deputy leader Stephen Farry said, Any departure from the customs union and the single market will necessitate a formal border either across the island of Ireland or down the Irish Sea. ... Barriers will be erected in terms of either the east-west or north-south relationships which are recognised and empowered under the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams went further. Taking the North out of the EU will destroy the Good Friday Agreement, he said, describing the British government position as a hostile action. Adams cited the British governments decision to remove Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights as undermining fundamental elements of the Good Friday Agreement. He pointed out that citizens in the North, under the agreement, have a right to Irish citizenship, and therefore EU citizenship. He demanded that the Irish minority government should be relentless in a diplomatic offensive to avoid a hard border. The Irish government is currently expanding its diplomatic missions across the capitals of Europe, seeking support for the Irish position. The situation is further complicated by the coming to power of the Trump administration in the US. Relations between Europe and America have soured over tax breaks offered by the Irish government to US companies exporting to Europe and seeking to exploit Irelands uniquely lax tax laws. The EU has demanded the Irish government collect some 13 billion in back taxes from Apple Inc. In response, the Irish government has forged an alliance with Apple against the EU rulings. President Donald Trump is said to be likely to favour vast new tax breaks to Apple to encourage the tech giant to repatriate some of its profits to the US, underscoring the position of Ireland, North and South, as a plaything of the major powers. In the first days of his presidency, Donald Trump has issued a series of executive orders and memoranda that outline his administrations far-right agenda: economic nationalism and war abroad; attacks on living standards and democratic rights at home. On Friday, immediately following his inauguration, Trump issued an executive order weakening the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The order, titled Executive Order Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal, directs the Department of Health and Human Services and other federal agencies involved in the ACAs administration, to the greatest extent possible under the law, to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay any part of the act that imposes financial burdens on states, insurance corporations, pharmaceuticals, HMOs, or individual health care consumers. The ACA was not a social reform, as the Obama administration and its allies presented it, but pro-corporate legislation designed to shift the burden of health care onto workers, while providing new revenue streams for the insurance giants. But Trump has cynically exploited widespread popular disillusionment with Obamacare to attack it from the right. It is not clear what portions of the ACA will be preserved, if any, but those measures that were designed to provide some pretense of concern for workerssuch as that barring insurers from refusing policies to individuals with preexisting medical conditionswill be scrapped. Also on Friday, Trump issued an executive memorandum designed to hold up all federal regulations that were in the process of implementation in the Obama administration. It instructs all heads of all federal agencies to clear any new regulation not yet published or implemented with a department or agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on January 20, 2017. On Monday morning, Trump signed three more orders, this time defined as executive memoranda, in front of media and administration officials in the Oval Office. The first scuttles US entry into the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Promoted by the Obama administration, the TPP would have created a massive free trade zone to isolate China and drive down the wages of US workers. However, Trumps scrapping of the TPP actually represents an intensification of Washingtons rivalry with China. Trump will negotiate with Beijing through the threat of warboth economic and military. Meanwhile, Trumps claim that his America First policies will be a great thing for American workers is a bald lie. His intention is to lift all restraints on the exploitation of American workers, as his freeze on all federal regulation makes clear. Trumps real attitude toward helping American workers was revealed by the second order he signed on Monday, imposing a hiring ban on all federal agencies. The ban on new hires comes under conditions in which the US labor force participation rate stands at about 62 percent, a low not seen since the mid-1970s, prior to the mass entry of women into the workforce. It puts the lie to Trumps claims, frequently made on the campaign trail, that he would rebuild Americas crumbling infrastructure. Before signing, Trump looked up and stated, twice, except for the militarythat is, the federal hiring ban will not affect the sprawling military-intelligence apparatus, which he has repeatedly promised massively increased fundingthough the US already spends more on its military than the planets next nine largest military spenders combined. The text of the memorandum, issued later in the day, also exempts any positions ... necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities. Finally, Trump reinstated the reactionary Mexico City policy, which blocks federal funding for international health care charities in poor countries if those charities provide information to women about abortion. The rule, a reward handed to his partys narrow base among Christian fundamentalists and the Catholic clergy, was first imposed in the Reagan administration and has been alternately repealed and reinstated by Democratic and Republican administrations ever since. None of the three items signed by Trump on Monday were actually executive orders, but executive memoranda. Between the two forms of executive documentboth of which order or instruct federal employees on policythere is no clear distinction. However, since a 1962 rule adopted by President John Kennedy, executive orders have always explicitly invoked a legal rationale for the dictated presidential action. In other words, they attempt to root presidential authority in law, and are published in the Federal Register. Presidential memoranda, which were used more by Obama than any other president in history, do not include any such legal explanation and frequently go unpublished. The US Constitution provides for neither executive orders nor executive memoranda. Their use is bound up with the emergence of what historians have called the imperial presidency. Executive orders began to be numbered and entered into the federal registry only in 1907, in the wake of the American turn to empire during the administration of Theodore Roosevelt, who issued over 1,000. His cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, easily surpassed that, issuing 3,721, including the infamous Executive Order 9066, which was used to sweep up and imprison over 110,000 Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. Since the late 1970s, executive orders, along with a third type of presidential edict, executive proclamations, have been used dozens of times to impose a state of emergency that grants the president broad, quasi-dictatorial powers, authorities granted by the 1976 National Emergencies Act. Presidents repeatedly renew states of emergencies imposed by their predecessors, so that there are presently over 30 such ongoing emergencies. Every year during his administration, Obama renewed George W. Bushs Proclamation 7463, which provides much of the legal basis for the war on terror. Bush cited the state of emergency declared by the Executive Order to justify the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Obama last renewed this order, Proclamation 7463, National Emergency with Respect to Certain Terrorist Attacks, on September 15, 2016, with the US presidential election less than two months away. The powers inherent in that order now fall to the Trump administration. Two days after millions of people marched in the United States and around the world to demonstrate their opposition to the anti-democratic and militaristic policies of the America First nationalist Donald Trumpa response to the inauguration of a new US president without precedent both in its scale and its international characterVermont Senator Bernie Sanders solidarized himself with the new president and his virulent economic nationalism. On Monday morning, Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. At the same time, Trump repeated his pledge to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. Declaring that these moves would be great for the American worker, Trump reiterated the claim that unfair trade benefiting workers in other countriesnot capitalism and the corporations relentless pursuit of profitwas responsible for the closure of factories and slashing of American workers wages. Sanders was quick to congratulate Trump, stating, For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade dealsincluding the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and otherswhich have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom, which has lowered wages for American workers If President Trump is serious about a new policy to help American workers, then I would be delighted to work with him. Sanders endorsement of the billionaire demagogues efforts to posture as a friend of the American worker came three days after Trump delivered an inaugural address whose basic theme could be summed up as America Uber Alles. Trump railed against politicians who had made other countries rich while the wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. From now on, he insisted, the bedrock of our politics will be total allegiance to the United States of America. The myth of a unified nation, devoid of social classes with mutually antagonistic interests, has always been employed to suppress working class struggle by binding workers to their own capitalists under the national banner. Today, as in the past, demands for national unity and the promotion of xenophobia are the antecedents to war and dictatorship. Trumps criticism of pro-corporate trade agreements has nothing to do with advancing the interests of workers in the US. On the contrary, it is a snare to pit American workers against their natural brothers and alliesworkers in Mexico, China and around the world. Globalized capitalism has objectively welded together the workers in all parts of the world in a common production process, in which they are exploited by the same transnational corporations and banks. There can be no successful struggle in defense of jobs, wages and democratic rights in any country unless it is guided by a strategy to unite the workers of all countries against capitalism. Trumps cabinet of billionaires, ex-generals and arch-reactionaries exposes the counterrevolutionary reality behind his populist posturing. Sanders is lending credibility to a government that is openly moving to destroy every social gain of the last century, from occupational safety and environmental laws, to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. This follows Sanders vote to confirm Trumps picks for secretary of defense and secretary of homeland security. Retired Marine Gen. James Mad Dog Mattis (Defense) is a war criminal who directed the 2004 siege of Fallujah. Retired Gen. John Kelly, who oversaw the notorious Guantanamo Bay detention complex, will supervise the "homeland security" forces that round up and deport millions of immigrants. Last July, when Sanders pulled out of the Democratic primary race and declared his support for Hillary Clinton, he said that nothing could be more terrible than the election of Donald Trump. The supposed leader of a political revolution against the billionaire class told the millions of workers and young people who had voted for him that they had no choice but to vote for the favored candidate of Wall Street because the election of Trump would be an unthinkable catastrophe. Sanders backing of Clinton gave Trump an open field to present himself as the only anti-establishment candidate in the race and exploit popular anger over the growth of social inequality that was overseen by both big business parties and accelerated under Obama. The capitulation of Sanders was the logical outcome of his opportunist and nationalist politics. His program has never been of a genuinely left-wing, let alone socialist, character. He has for decades functioned as a safety valve for the Democratic Party, a party of Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus. Opposed to and frightened of a genuine movement of the working class, Sanders has allied himself with the trade union bureaucracy, which utilizes economic nationalism to suppress the class struggle and justify its complicity in the corporate-government attack on workers jobs and living standards. Epitomizing the response of the unions to Trumps election, United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard applauded Trumps action on the TPP, saying he hoped it was the start of the promised, pro-worker, pro-income-growth agenda that prioritizes revitalizing manufacturing. He added that the unions look forward to working with the current administration. Once Clinton lost, Sanders, the trade union officials and progressive Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren backpedaled from their predictions of an apocalypse and began to cozy up to Trump. The example of Sanders is a lesson on the nature of middle class left politics in America. Such political opportunism is incapable of thinking outside the structure of American bourgeois politics. Any pretense of principled politics is abandoned at the first inkling of a coalition. There is one iron rule: absolute opposition to the fight by Marxists for the political independence of the working class and the struggle to make workers conscious of their leading role in the revolutionary transformation of society. The mass opposition to Trump in the US and around the world is an expression of the common concerns across all borders over social inequality and the danger of fascism and war. It coincides with the growth of the class struggle in the United States, Europe, Asia and around the world, which will only intensify as every capitalist government attempts to shift the burden of the global economic crisis and the rearmament for war onto the backs of the working class. The development of this opposition into a conscious political movementnot only against Trump, but against the capitalist system that has produced himrequires a decisive break with all forms of opportunist politics. The way forward for the working class lies not in the hopeless effort to push the Democratic Party to the left or create some type of left nationalist politics. All forms of nationalism and chauvinism must be rejected and a mass political movement of the working class built that is completely independent of and opposed to the parties and politics of the capitalist class and based on an internationalist and socialist program. The US Senate voted Monday night to confirm Representative Mike Pompeo as the next CIA director. The 66-32 vote is likely to be replicated in many other confirmation votes over the next two weeks, as all 52 Republicans were joined by 14 Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. Pompeo is the third Trump nominee to a top national security position to win Senate confirmation, and the first non-general. Retired Gen. James Mattis was confirmed January 20 to be secretary of defense, and retired Gen. John F. Kelly was confirmed the same day to head the Department of Homeland Security. The vote on Pompeo, originally scheduled for January 20 as well, was delayed after senators received his written answers to their questions. In this response, Pompeo seemed to reverse himself on the question of waterboarding and other torture techniques. An ultra-right Republican congressman from Kansas, aligned with the Tea Party faction and financed by the billionaire Koch brothers (Koch Industries is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas), Pompeo was a prominent advocate of waterboarding in 2014, denouncing the Obama administration for banning the practice by executive order. During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pompeo said that he would not seek to overturn the legal ban on waterboarding, passed by Congress in 2015. But in his written answers to questions, he said he would consult with CIA experts on whether waterboarding and other interrogation methods prohibited by the US Army Field Manual would be needed. Pompeo said he would ask CIA interrogators whether the manual was an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country. If they said the manual was too restrictive, he would seek changes within the law. The field manual is up for its next review in 2018, and can be revised at the direction of President Trump and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. In his public statements, Mattis has vehemently opposed waterboarding and other torture tactics. Pompeo is on record opposing the 2015 law, passed after the revelations of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which placed largely cosmetic restrictions on the NSA collection of information on American citizens. He wrote in January 2016 that he urged Congress to restore the collection of all metadata, and to combine it with publicly available financial and lifestyle data in a comprehensive, searchable database. In his written responses to senators, Pompeo reiterated this position, again saying he would base any policy proposals on the collection of metadata on the wishes of CIA operatives in the field of counterterrorism. The vote to confirm Pompeo came only an hour after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to approve the nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state. The 11-10 party-line vote followed the announcement by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the lone Republican holdout, that he would support the nomination. On Sunday, two other Republican Senate critics of Tillerson, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, dropped their opposition. They issued a joint statement declaring, Though we still have concerns about his past dealings with the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin, we believe that Mr. Tillerson can be an effective advocate for US interests. All three Republicans had criticized Tillerson as unduly pro-Russian, citing his many years with ExxonMobil making deals with Russia, the worlds largest oil producer, and his having received an Order of Friendship in 2013, awarded personally by Putin. In his confirmation hearing, Tillerson went out of his way to appease both Republican and Democratic war hawks in relation to both Russia and China. He called for a tough line against both nuclear powers, even suggesting that the US might block China from accessing its own islets in the South China Sea, on the grounds that these bits of land had been artificially created and were not legally Chinese territory. At a press briefing at the White House Monday, Trumps press secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that blocking China from its islets was indeed under consideration by the Trump administration. Chinese spokesmen have called any such action tantamount to an act of war. The Democrats who voted against Tillerson did so for the same reason that McCain, Graham and Rubio had initially criticized him: his business ties to Russia. The top Democrat on the committee, Ben Cardin of Maryland, said a major issue was Tillersons unwillingness use the term war crimes to describe Russian military operations in Syria. He contrasted Tillersons responses to the more hawkish language of the new Secretary of Defense Mattis and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, named by Trump to become ambassador to the United Nations. Cardin, Schumer, McCain and Graham are planning to introduce legislation that would bar the reduction of economic sanctions against Russia without congressional approval. The bill, likely to have overwhelming bipartisan support, could be scuttled only by the intervention of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who controls the flow of legislation. The sanctions bill is part of the continuing campaign waged by the Democrats and a section of the Republicans throughout the Trump transition centered on the claim that the Russian government hacked into the emails of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign in an effort to aid Trump. The purpose of this propaganda offensive, which lacks any factual foundation, is to prevent any softening in the hardline anti-Russian policy adopted by the Obama administration in 2014 as part of the US intervention that brought down the elected pro-Russian government in Ukraine and replaced it with the current far-right, pro-US regime. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Attorneys representing Broward County homeowners are demanding the state pay a $20 million judgment for tearing down healthy citrus trees in a failed attempt to eradicate citrus canker. The attorneys filed a motion Monday asking a judge to order the Florida Department of Agriculture pay the 70,000 homeowners and legal fees. Canker damages citrus trees. From 2000 to 2006, the state removed citrus trees within 1,900 feet of an infected tree. The state gave $100 Walmart gift cards for the first tree killed and $55 cash for others, but courts ruled the average tree was worth $434 and ordered homeowners be compensated. The state says the Legislature must authorize the payments. The state also owes $80 million to Palm Beach, Lee and Orange county homeowners. A Miami-Dade case remains open. (Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) ALBANY, Ga. (AP) - Authorities say the weekend storm toll remains at 7 killed in the south Georgia mobile home community of Sunshine Acres, adding cadaver dogs have gone repeatedly over the wreckage and found no additional victims. Lamar Ray, emergency management director, in Cook County where the deaths occurred Sunday, said he doesn't expect the toll to rise. "At this time we believe everyone is accounted for," Ray said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "We used the cadaver dogs. We went over the whole area. We did two extensive searches yesterday and then today, with nothing changing." He says property owners will be allowed back Tuesday morning to see their destroyed and damaged homes - if they are considered safe. Authorities are estimating that 45 homes were damaged or destroyed by Sunday's severe weather in Cook County, and of those, 36 were mobile homes in Sunshine Acres counted as total losses. The dead were identified as five females and two males, their ages ranging from 18 to 62 years old. The Crown Prince, who will be the chief guest for India's 68th Republic Day celebrations, was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport in a departure from the usual protocol. By Smita Sharma: The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived on an official visit to India on Tuesday afternoon. The Crown Prince who will be the chief guest for India's 68th Republic Day celebrations was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport in a departure from the usual protocol. advertisement PM Modi had also received the Crown Prince at the airport during his to India visit last year reciprocating the warmth received during his debut landmark visit to the UAE in 2015. The two leaders exchanged warm handshakes and embraces at Delhi's VIP airport terminal. It is a rare occasion when a non-head of a state would be the chief guest for the Republic Day, whose invitations are sent out to world leaders with focus on current strategic importance of the invited country. In a historic first, an UAE army contingent will march down Rajpath along with Indian Troops on January 26 to the tunes of its own participating band. Accompanied by a high level delegation of ministers, senior officials and business heads, the Crown Prince would be given the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday morning. He would then lay wreath at Gandhi Memorial before heading for official talks with PM Modi at Hyderabad House. India-UAE ties: 1. The bilateral relationship has been elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership. 2. UAE is India's third largest trading partner and second largest export hub. 3. India is the gateway to Asia for UAE is its largest trade partner. 4. The balanced bilateral trade stood at 50 billion USD in 2015-2016. 5. This is a decline though from 2013 when bilateral trade stood at 75 billion dollars. 6. UAE is among the top five crude oil suppliers to India, key to its energy security needs. 7. UAE is also building three sites for oil storage to provide India an energy safety net. 8. Trade, terror and diaspora issues will be central to the official talks. 9. With a 2.6 million strong presence, the Indian community is the largest expatriate group in UAE. 10. UAE has pledged to invest 75 billion dollars of its sovereign wealth fund into Indian projects. 11. Pacts on the table will include comprehensive partnership, maritime training, defence and agricultural cooperation among others. 12. On counter terror cooperation, Delhi and Abu Dhabi have been working closely especially in dealing with Islamic State recruitment threats. 13. UAE has deported a few dozen Indian youths enroute Syria and Iraq to join the ISIS in recent years. advertisement 14. But contrary to some recent media reports endorsed by the official BJP Twitter handle that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's property worth Rs 15000 crore in the UAE had been raided and seized, the UAE envoy dismissed any such development. 15. Speaking to India Today ahead of the crucial visit of the Crown Prince, Ambassador Albanna commenting on Dawood Ibrahim's case said that it has to be through the legal judicial process in the country for any such step. Talking about the challenges to expansion of India-UAE ties, a recent Ananta Centre report sayid, "Asian countries are constantly on the lookout for oil and gas to fulfil almost 90 per cent of their needs and have become a huge market for the Gulf. India is looking for long term investment options but in order to attract huge investments, it has to guarantee security for their investments and ensure returns. The challenge is that the UAE only comes with capital and not expertise and hence the Indian government needs to ensure that they get returns." The report further added that the time lag for the UAE in identifying investment opportunities in India needs to be reduced. "Another major point of contention is the large scale in which the UAE investors like to operate. The commercial investments in India do not have anything to offer to the UAE in return or to absorb for instance, 500 or more million dollars of equity investment from the UAE," says the report. advertisement Watch the video here: Also read: UAE prince with women delegation to be part of Republic day celebration --- ENDS --- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's chief environmental regulator is leaving his job to join a law firm that is part of the legal team representing the state in its high-stakes water battle with Georgia. Jon Steverson, the secretary for the Department of Environmental Protection for the past two years, submitted his resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott last week. He did not say in his letter where he was headed, but an agency spokeswoman said Monday he has "accepted an opportunity" with the firm of Foley & Lardner. Foley & Lardner has had a contract with DEP since 2008. In the last two years, the firm has been paid roughly $2.6 million for its work on a water dispute that has pitted Florida against Georgia over the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint river systems. Tallahassee, Fla. (WTXL) - Testimony continues Tuesday in the murder trial of a Thomasville doctor who was arrested for killing his wife. Joshua Stubbs, a Paramedic with Leon County EMS, testified there were no obvious signs of trauma, but did say that a clear fluid consistent with pool water came out of Samira Frasch's nose. He did not recall any wrinkling on her hands or toes. Dr. Michael Glaze said that Samira Frasch arrived at the hospital at 12:10 p.m. on February 22, 2014. He said when she arrived at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital she had no signs of life and and had an undetectable body temperature. He pronounced her dead at 12:19 p.m. Photo Details from Frasch Trial A Leon County detective also testified. The prosecution showed pictures of her documented injuries, including bruising on her arm and forearm and a small abrasion on the back of her hand. The detective also said that Samira had blood stains on her fingers. Neighbors Testify in Frasch Case Later, the Frasch's neighbor Carol Bass gave her account of the events on February 22, 2014. Between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. she recalls hearing a car alarm. She heard the sound coming from the Frasch's home. Bass says she saw a person loading the rear of a dark SUV. She describes the individual as a non-African American, with curly hair in a red shirt. Farrell Bass also testified, saying while he was doing some yard work, he saw a man go around the pool area and heard him yell, "Oh (expletive), oh my God," then go back to the front of the Frasch home. According to him, there was no splash or commotion. He testified that he did not see the man go into the pool area. Video Footage Depicts Adam Frasch's Car Leaving His Neighborhood A Leon County Sheriff's deputy discussed surveillance footage of Adam Frasch's SUV coming through his community's gate. Gregg Sellars said that Frasch's black SUV was captured on camera leaving on February 22, 2014, around 8 a.m. He said that he knew it was him by the tag number. Employee of Samira Frasch Takes the Stand 24-year-old Steven Wilson worked for Samira Frasch in the weeks prior to her murder. Wilson testified that he was basically her personal assistant. He said that Samira would pick him up in her white Hummer and he would help around the house, with the kids and many other things. About a week in a half before prior to Samira's death, Wilson testified that he was in the car with her and her kids when he heard an argument taking place over the phone. However, he didn't know what it was about, saying it was some kind of a disagreement. Samira put the call on speaker phone and Wilson said heard the man on the phone threaten her and say, "I will kill you." Samira Frasch said it was her husband. Wilson testified never having a conversation with Adam Frasch. PROSECUTION PRESENTS EVIDENCE FROM SCENE Evidence collected from the scene was also presented including the flip-flops found in the pool and the robe she was wearing when she was found dead. Receipts were found in the black SUV with a withdrawal for $5,000 and another showing his bank balance as well as the cash. Photos were also shown of the inside of their Golden Eagle home. A car salesman and friend Frasch's Kendale Lindsey said hed seen Adam purchase 20-30 cars, and that he stored boats in Thomasville, Panama City and at his home. COOK COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - Cook County deputies have released the names of the seven people that died after a tornado wrecked havoc through their mobile home park this weekend. The dead were identified as five females and two males, their ages ranging from 18 to 62 years old. Authorities say the weekend storm toll remains at 7 killed in the south Georgia mobile home community of Sunshine Acres, adding cadaver dogs have gone repeatedly over the wreckage and found no additional victims. According to ABC affiliate WALB News 10, Alexis Livingston, 18, Jamie Cantrell Walters, 33, Mary Cantrell, 62, Adreian Mays, 38, Lawansa Perry, 41, Amanda Rowe, 41, and Joe Deskins, 36, all died in the storm. Lamar Ray, emergency management director, in Cook County says he doesn't expect the toll to rise. He says property owners will be allowed back tomorrow morning to see their destroyed and damaged homes - if they are considered safe. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - With a new chairman taking over this month, Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux will leave his post, the party announced Tuesday. "I have been blessed for over seven and a half years to work with amazing people, surrounded by friends and colleagues who I respect, all for a cause and an organization I deeply believe in," Arceneaux said in a prepared statement released by the party. "I want to thank all the dedicated Democrats, elected officials, candidates, volunteers, staff, and party leaders across our great state who made my time at the FDP truly rewarding." Arceneaux will remain at the party until a replacement is hired. The change comes after Stephen Bittel was elected this month to replace former Chairwoman Allison Tant, who decided against seeking another term leading the party. The party said it will conduct a nationwide search for a new executive director, who likely will help guide the party through a 2018 election cycle that includes races for governor, U.S. senator and three Cabinet offices. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A group of lawmakers has announced plans to fight for "voter-approved money" to protect waterways in North Florida. This as the senate president wants to float more of the money into cleaning waters in South Florida. Senate President Joe Negron recently announced a proposal to buy 60,000 acres of farmland, south of Lake Okeechobee as part of an effort to send more water south, reducing polluted lake discharges into waterways to the east and west. The plan has drawn opposition from sugar farmers south of Lake Okeechobee, leaders from the Everglades who look to the farmlands for jobs, and some North Florida politicians. They're all concerned Negron's plan could potentially shift money away from protecting waters in North Florida. "Other parts of South Florida, parts of Central Florida, and parts of North Florida and Jacksonville cannot benefit from conservation dollars that are sorely needed," said State Rep. Jay Fant, R- Jacksonville. "Florida cares very much about the Okeechobee. We also care very much about the whole state." Negron's proposal is to buy sugar-industry land as part of an effort to store and clean water and reduce releases from Lake Okeechobee into the St. Lucie Estuaries. The plan would require a 50-50 funding match between the state and federal government. The state's portion involves the bonding of $100,000 million annually from the stamp tax revenue in the land acquisition trust fund. By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh United Nations, Jan 24 (PTI) UN Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres has appointed a senior Dutch official as head of the world bodys information centre in New Delhi, covering India and Bhutan. Derk Segaar of the Netherlands has been appointed Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in New Delhi, covering India and the Kingdom of Bhutan. advertisement He assumed his duties onJanuary 20. Prior to this appointment, Segaar had served since 2013 as the Chief of the United Nations Resident Coordinators Office and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudans (UNMISS) Relief, Reintegration and Protection Section. He was responsible for the overall managing of the UNMISS protection of civilians sites, where more than 200,000 people had sought shelter from the violence. From 2011 to 2013, Segaar was the Head of Communications of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York, where he directly managed its global media and communications activities, including the development and implementation of its corporate advocacy and communications strategy. He has worked in different capacities in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs field mission in El Fasher, Sudan. PTI YAS AMS ASK AMS --- ENDS --- You are the owner of this article. YAKIMA, Wash. Yakima police are investigating the Saturday evening shooting death of a 28-year-old man and say it may be gang-related. Carly Walker, therapist with the Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health, checks in on one of her clients in a booking cell of the downtown Yakima County jail in Yakima, Wash. Thursday, March 17, 2016. (MASON TRINCA/Yakima Herald-Republic) By Press Trust of India: From Yoshita Singh United Nations, Jan 24 (PTI) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "very carefully" listened to what was said by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who discussed the Kashmir issue with him during a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "I think the Secretary-General listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister of Pakistan said. The Prime Minister presented the Secretary-General with a number of information. And I will leave it at that," Secretary Generals spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing when asked about the Secretary-Generals response to Sharif asking for India to hold talks with Pakistan. advertisement Sharif last week raked up the Kashmir issue in his first meeting with the new UN Secretary General but got no positive response to his request for the world bodys intervention on the issue. Sharif met Guterres on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos and said Kashmir needed attention of the UN, according to a statement by the Prime Ministers Office in Islamabad. "A sustained dialogue process on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir is essential to make progress. It was in this spirit that we invited India for discussions on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and aspirations of the Kashmiri people," Sharif had told the UN chief. Sharif had said Pakistan looks forward to Guterress leadership and good offices and the United Nations has longstanding responsibility to play a role in the resolution of these issues. Guterres gave no positive response to Sharifs demand. PTI YAS ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- If I were a chief strategic advisor to one of the 22 leaders of the Arab world and it really doesnt matter who the leader is I would write a dual recommendation: First, go out of your way to congratulate US President Donald Trump with the highest praise, and inform him that we expect to strengthen our cooperation. Thats what Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf emirates rulers are doing right now. Meanwhile, I would recommend that the leader prepare for tough days to come. After all, from theof the region's leaders' point of view, there is not much to do: Trump is the 45th president, that man is here to stay, and he is intentionally creating uncertainty. And if there is something Trump has nevertheless managed to learn, its that there is not a single leader in the Middle East who really cares about peace between Israel and the Arab world, neither in Jerusalem nor in Ramallah, Cairo nor Riyadh. Trumps inauguration, Friday. While they invited a Jewish rabbi and two Christian clerics, the organizers didnt dream of including a Muslim representative (Photo: AP) The special envoy that Trump has appointed for our neighborhoods affairs is his son-in-law, 36-year-old Jared Kushner. He is inexperienced too. It doesnt seem like he has managed to make any plans or prepared to dip into the conflicts in the region. So far, in his different interviews to the press and in his shallow inauguration speech, Trump has made no effort to prove that he has a vision. He is a businessman who is out to sell the headline America First. Whoever wants to make offers on issues that are unrelated to the homeland should take a number, get in line and prepare to pull out their wallet. In Syria, for example, Trump doesnt care if President Bashar Assad will stay or go. He is proposing to create buffer zones between the government and its opponents and surround them with security fences, like he proposed to do along the border with Mexico. The Saudis and the Gulfs oil emirates will be responsible for the funding. Thats the way things work in the business world, take-give-pay. Nor will he allow refugees from Syria to enter his home. The Arab leaders advisors should pay attention to the fact that a Jewish rabbi and two Christian clerics participated in the inauguration ceremony in Washington. The organizers did not even dream of bringing a representative of Prophet Muhammads religion. The new president despises them. He only mentioned the Muslims when he swore to persecute and eradicate terror. How does he plan to carry out the pursuit? The new commander-in-chief of the US Army will team up with Russian President Putin and let him do the job. These are definitely expected to be bad days for ISIS. And what does Trump plan to do with the nuclear agreement with Iran? Thats a good question. Judging from the level of pressure in Tehran and the threats coming out of there Trump wont budge and the agreement wont budge. How will the strategic advisor in our neighborhood solve Trumps declaration of intent to move the American embassy to Jerusalem? They have already sent messengers and relayed messages to Trumps associates, warning of the explosiveness. The way things look now, there is an intention but there is no date. If it really happens, the Arab worlds squares will fill up. It will be the moment to set the streets on fire and to take out all the frustrations. Tahrir Square will be flooded with protestors, the Palestinians will go wild and the raging crowds in Jordan will be unstoppable. Trump doesnt give a damn and couldnt care less about anyone. The kings and presidents of the Arab world should pay attention to the fact that he did it the other way around: First business and millions, and only then rulership. He already knows that they do it from the other direction: Only after entering the palace, they learn how to rake in the money. One image tells the entire story of the huge distance: Four former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama showed up for the inauguration ceremony at the White House. You wont see such an image in any of the Arab worlds countries. Minister Ofir Akunis visited Amona last Tuesday. It was a beautiful day as he arrived at the mountain the outpost is located on. While it was cold, the sky was bright and the soft sun painted the nature around the mountain with a soft and pleasant light. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The minister asked the residents to show him the plots they are supposed to move to as part of the agreement they signed with the prime minister a month ago. According to the agreement, which has been termed the Amona outline, the construction work in the area should have begun immediately after the agreement was signed. In practice, not a single power shovel has arrived to prepare the ground and not a single piece of land has been leveled. Amona. No compensation, no outlines. Just let us stay in our home by the power of the law (Photo: Tomeriko) The status of the plots the outpost is supposed to be relocated to is now being examined, after Palestinian residents from the nearby town of Silwad submitted objections to the outline, claiming to be the land owners. As a result, there is nothing happening on the ground, and everyone is waiting for an official declaration that the signed outline has failed and will not be implemented. Kahlons compromise The target date set by Supreme Court President Miriam Naor, in the extension she provided at the states request for the outposts evacuation, was February 8. Naor made the decision under the condition that Amonas residents would promise to evacuate quietly, without any resistance or conflict. According to the commitment, which was signed by all adults in Amona, Their commitment is unconditional. In other words, it does not depend on the implementation and execution of the states commitment in the outlined agreement. In light of the stalemate, the residents Action Committee plans to resume its activity in the political field this week, following Donald Trumps inauguration as the new US president. The goal is to pressure Likud and Bayit Yehudi Knesset members and ministers to resubmit the Regulation Bill to the Knesset and reinclude the Amona clause, which was removed following Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlons refusal to support the bill due to the damage it causes the Supreme Court. The purpose of the pressure we exert will be to regulate Amona, without compensation, without outlines. Simply to allow us to stay in our home by the power of the law, says Avichai Boaron, head of the communitys Action Committee. There is cautious optimism among the residents. It is the result of details being revealed about the discussions that were held on the Regulation Bill and the Amona clause, and the drama that took place behind the scenes in the corridors of the Knesset more than a month ago. Finance Minister Kahlon was merely an excuse for keeping Amon out of the bill. He was actually willing to compromise and reach an understanding. While Kahlon did oppose the clause stating that the law would also apply to cases in which there was a conclusive court ruling, he was prepared to support a wording stressing the importance of the High Courts status and its contribution to Israeli democracy, and so cases in which a conclusive ruling had been delivered would be returned to the court for discussion. A renewed court discussion, in light of the new law expropriating the land from its private owners, would have made it possible to leave Amona in its current location. We will be slightly attacked by the public and the media for such a wording, but its not that bad, Kahlon had said in discussions held before the bills preliminary reading. But the talks with Kahlon did not develop into an understanding, and the law was brought to a preliminary reading without the inclusion of Amona. It was clear to all the involved parties that the law would not be brought for a second and third reading as long as Barack Obama was still in the White House. Akunis embrace Now that its clear that the signed outline is unfeasible, the residents are demanding a resubmission of the original bill, which includes the regulation of outposts on which the court has already delivered a conclusive ruling. They are relying on Akunis statement at the outpost last week, that all Likud ministers and MKs are committed to solving the Amona problem. Activists supporting the outposts residents have also begun spreading on social media a comment made by Coalition Chairman David Bitan last Wednesday, that if the Amona outline collapses, we will regulate Amona in the Regulation Bill. The outposts residents are encouraged by these words not just because of their content. They know that Bitan is close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and that he often says out loud what is being said in closed forums at the Prime Ministers Office. According to a political source, If Bitan is talking about regulating Amona in a law, he is saying that based on the knowledge that Netanyahu will support it. The Amona residents have already lost faith in the outline and are distributing the following warning on social media: If the construction work on the ground does not begin by next Monday, two weeks before the planned evacuation, the conclusion is clear: The government is violating its commitment to the public. We will no longer be bound by the signed agreement either and will be forced to renew the struggle. According to Boaron, the residents have no choice but to renew the public struggle. He sees no logic in implementing their commitment to evacuate their homes without any resistance, regardless of the situation on the ground. When we made that commitment, we never imagined that the political echelons would fail to meet the commitment it gave us. We committed based on the assumption that we would move to the alternative homes built on the new plots. We have no doubt that the honorable Chief Justice Naor has no intention of denying our right to protest. If we are eventually forced to leave Amona without a solution and without an implementation of the (terms originally) outlined, the state will have to deal with quite a difficult protest. More than a decade ago, Haaretz-owned financial newspaper The Marker published an article about a Russian oligarch under the title Money buys legitimacy. The article focused on Leonid Nevzlin, who marched into the heart of the Israeli consensus when he was elected as chairman of the International Board of Governors of Beit Hatfutsot (The Museum of the Jewish People). The business sector in Israel does not know how to receive the Russian Jewish oligarchs, as the source of their fortune is not very clear but their wealth is very tempting. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A few years went by, Nevzlin was convicted of murder in Russia (the extradition request was rejected by the Supreme Court over inadmissible evidence), moved on and then acquired more legitimacy when he bought 20 percent of the shares of Haaretz newspaper at a price which, according to bigger experts than me, was somewhat exaggerated. To use the words of Sami Peretz, the writer of the abovementioned article who had gone on to become The Markers editor-in-chief, we had ourselves another example of money buys legitimacy. None of the acclaimed writers over there dared to write a word about the shady deal. The Yedioth Ahronoth news desk. Not immune to criticism God is my witness that I have nothing good to say about what has been revealed over the past two weeks from the conversations between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yedioth publisher Arnon Mozes . On the contrary. I have already written three articles that not only included no whitewashing, but called on my publisher to suspend himself as the managing editor, and on Netanyahu to suspend himself from the position of communications minister. And no, it wasnt easy for me, because Mozes personally gave me complete freedom. I am not passing judgement on Nevzlin. Haaretz turned him into a problematic figure, and that same newspaper is now leading a vicious attack on Yedioth Ahronoth. Haaretzs writers didnt have a quarter of the courage and sincerity being demonstrated by Yedioths editors and writers these days, but they see themselves as braver and smarter than everyone else. Ever since he bought one-fifth of the newspapers shares, Nevzlin has been given full immunity. Why? Because thats the way it is there. Pious hypocrites. This isnt just about semantics of ownership and interests. Its about essence. Not only is there no diversity there, but that narrowminded newspaper took advantage of the crisis to lash out at Prof. Daniel Friedmann, who publishes critical articles about the legal system in Yedioth, while providing proper disclosure that Haaretz itself has adopted a line of defending the rule of law and the need to strengthen the publics trust in the institutions defending the rule of law. Thats basically like presenting full disclosure and claiming that Pravda defends the mechanisms of the rule of law. Protecting democracy and the rule of law requires a variety of opinions. But Haaretz has his own logic. It wants one stance. Just one. Just like its refusal to publish an article presenting the facts on the arrangement that was offered to the Bedouins in the Negev. Brainwashing wins, in the name of protecting government mechanisms. This newspaper, I must confess, succeeds in outdoing itself. Its not journalism. Its not democracy. Its indoctrination. Its Haaretzs right to employ journalists who share the exact same views. Its Haaretzs right to lead bolshevism. Its Amnon Abramovichs right to admire that newspaper, as he declared on Channel 2 News a week ago, despie its bolshevism and even though he himself writes for Yedioth. But they must not preach us. Journalist Keren Neubach interviewed The Marker founder and Haaretz deputy publisher Guy Rolnik, and one might have gotten the impression that he was a model figure for ethics. Excuse me? The man who laid ruin to journalists organized work and made them more dependent on publishers? The man who held a dazzling The Marker convention, a tycoon-newspaper convention sponsored by business magnate Yitzhak Tshuva at the New York Plaza Hotel, is preaching us? After all, there have been repeated claims that The Markers coverage of Bank Hapoalim and Bank Leumi was not disconnected from the newspapers relationship with the banks. And while were on the issue of tycoons and newspapersand we should discuss this issueRolnik should be on the examined side, not on the side of moral guides. Neubach, might I remind everyone, kept working at the Israel Broadcasting Authority even when it was controlled by a problematic group. Like most IBA journalists, she didnt sell her soul. But this week, I was asked about 10 times why I wasnt resigning. IBA journalists kept quiet over the hostile takeover. Haaretz journalists kept silent when Nevzlin bought shares. No protests or resignations were recorded. But they are smarter than others. The past two weeks have been a critical time for Yedioth Ahronoth. The newspaper got through it. It has also been a critical time for many journalists outside Yedioth. Notably, two of them, Ben Caspit and Nehemia Shtrasler, saw it fit to say a good word and offer encouragement for our journalistic work. Its called collegiality, even solidarity. But there are others, like Rolnik and Raviv Drucker. Drucker has an old score to settle with Yedioth over some article that was published about him, but his serious investigative reports from the past few years have received full and decent backing in the newspaper, and that was the right thing to do. When Channel 10 faced a shutdown, most Israeli journalists expressed their solidarity. But Drucker, like Rolnik and a large part of the Haaretz bunch, saw it fit to join the attack on Yedioth. This is not their finest hour. Yedioth is not immune to criticism. What is being leaked from the Netanyahu-Mozes conversations is definitely troubling. More than troubling. And if the deal had been executed, all of us, as one, would have left. Thats what Ron Yaron, Yedioths editor-in-chief, wrote. Anyone familiar with those involved knows that is exactly what would have happened. The current crisis, and there is a crisis, is an opportunity for self-examination and alterations. This may be the time to create a treaty of journalists, from all media outlets, to protect free press. I have turned to the Journalists Association and to the Journalists Organization and asked them to team up at least on one issue. The ball is in their court. Lets hope they rise to the challenge. CALGARY- A pipeline in the western Canadian province of Saskatchewan has leaked 200,000 liters (52,834 gallons) of oil in an aboriginal community, the provincial government said on Monday. The government was notified late in the afternoon on Friday, and 170,000 liters have since been recovered, said Doug McKnight, assistant deputy minister in the Ministry of the Economy, which regulates pipelines in Saskatchewan. Oil pipelines are viewed by the oil-rich provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan as a critical lifeline to move crude to the coast, but they have drawn fierce opposition from environmental and indigenous groups. The spill came seven months after another major incident in Saskatchewan, in which a Husky Energy Inc pipeline leaked 225,000 liters into a major river and cut off the drinking water supply for two cities. During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's team spoke often about moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But since taking office, the contentious issue has become more nuanced and may already be moving to the backburner. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In a statement issued before a first post-inauguration phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and later reinforced at a White House news briefing, Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, lowered expectations of an imminent announcement of a move that could anger the Arab world. "We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject," Spicer wrote in an email on Sunday. "There's no decisions," he then told reporters on Monday. US President Donald Trump (Photo: MCT) Some Israeli news outlets and Israeli pro-settlement groups have taken it as a positive sign, interpreting the words of the new Trump White House as an indication that talks have begun on a move they long for, even if it could have profound repercussions for regional stability. But Israeli officials said the issue was barely discussed on the 30-minute call, and diplomats said their understanding was that it was being pushed down the agenda, at least for now. "Sounds more like walking it backwards," one Israeli official said in a text message after Spicer's statement. Another said that during the call Netanyahu had not sought a commitment from Trump on the relocation or a timeframe for it. The former spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry suggested Spicer's line was age-old diplomatic code for "not now". "This really means: 'Don't call us, we'll call you'" Yigal Palmor said on Twitter. Netanyahu's spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. No embassy in Jerusalem While the Israeli prime minister cannot be seen to oppose the United States moving its embassy to Jerusalem - Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all countries to base their embassies there - there is an awareness that such a move could be destabilizing. Currently, no country has its embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign ministry said. Costa Rica and El Salvador did until a few years ago, but they are now in Tel Aviv. The reason is that the final status of Jerusalem is supposed to be determined via direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, who want to have the capital of an independent Palestinian state in the east of the city. If the United States were to relocate its embassy, it would be an explicit recognition of Jerusalem belonging to Israel, pre-determining the outcome of negotiations and taking a side in a process in which the United States is a critical actor. Trump has suggested that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could take on the job of mediating peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. To do that, Kushner and the United States would have to be seen as scrupulously independent. For the Palestinians, moving the embassy would cross a red line. Palestinian Authority President Abbas (Photo: AFP) Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab countries with peace treaties with Israel, have warned against the move, as have former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry, saying it could be explosive for the region. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held discussions on the issue with King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman on Sunday. Palestinian officials said the king, who oversees the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, expressed concerns about any relocation. Abbas and the king agreed a list of steps they would take if the embassy move is made, one official said. It is not clear what steps Jordan would take, but withdrawing its ambassador to Israel, halting security cooperation or suspending its 1994 peace treaty are all possible, analysts say. It also wants to ensure the large Palestinian population in Jordan does not react angrily. Egypt, which signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 and cooperates with it on security, also has reservations about any move, calling it a "very inflammable issue". "I don't want to indulge in speculation about what might or might not happen, but I think everyone recognizes the importance of this issue," Foreign Minister Samed Shoukry told members of the foreign media at a briefing on Jan. 4. "This is one of the final status issues that has to be addressed between the two sides ... it is our interest that all issues are resolved through negotiations." Wider concerns Another consideration for Israel is the stronger relations it has quietly been building with the Sunni Muslim world. Netanyahu speaks frequently about the "new horizon" Israel has with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf states. If the United States were to shift its embassy, it could rock those ties. Israeli officials say they don't want any move to be rushed. They believe the US embassy should be in Jerusalem, and Trump has said he will live up to his promise, but the decision has to be carefully thought through. Spicer said on Monday that Trump had the power to make the embassy move by executive order. But he said: "His team's going to continue to consult with stakeholders as we get there." Still, the practicalities alone are difficult. While the US government has several buildings in Jerusalem, including a consulate-general dealing with the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, it cannot create an embassy overnight. US Embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv (Photo: AFP) The incoming US ambassador, David Friedman, has told Israeli media he intends to live in Jerusalem, where he has an apartment. But shifting the entire embassy with all its security arrangements and commercial, trade, cultural and economic units from Tel Aviv to a new site in Jerusalem will take time. In the interim, Netanyahu has other political considerations. He is under investigation in two criminal cases and he faces a growing challenge from the far-right, pro-settlement Jewish Home party in his coalition. The announcement on Sunday that Israel will build more settlements in East Jerusalem was in part a move by Netanyahu to satisfy voters on the far-right pushing for more rapid settlement expansion now Trump is in office. When IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot instructed IDF commanders last week not to utter the name Donald Trump in public, it wasnt just another theoretical reminder of the relationship between a military echelon and a political echelon. It turns out that in recent weeks, the army and the defense establishment have been busy analyzing the meanings and implications of the change of president in the United States. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter While they began by preparing papers on question like where is the Middle East headed in the Trump era and what should Israel do, in the past two weeks the army has been dealing with the implications and required preparations for the possibility that the new administration will implement Trumps commitment to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. Donald Trump. The army and defense establishment are busy analyzing the meanings and implications of the change of president in the United States (Photo: AFP) As no one knows what Trump will really do, the defense establishment has created a series of possible scenarios starting with a situation in which the Americans announced the construction of an embassy building and immediately place bulldozers on the ground, to a continuation of the current bluff in which declarations are made but nothing is done. In between, the other alternatives deal with the possibility of a gradual, long-term implementation, which will include festive cornerstone laying ceremonies followed by years of engagement in construction and logistics. Each alternative will have a different effect on the magnitude of the response in the Muslim world, and the army is also preparing for different levels of violent outbursts. The assesment is that any American move whether declarative or practical will echo on four different circles. The first circle is Israels Arabs. The Islamic Movements northern branch, which is looking for any chance to inflame the street over the Temple Mount issue, will jump at the opportunity. Today, the southern Islamic Movement can be added to this circle as well, taking advantage of the wave of Bedouin riots in the Negev. In general, the fundamentalist Muslims oppose any sign of Jewish or Christian rule in Jerusalem. As far as they are concerned, a Christian American embassy in Jerusalem is a reason for inviting the radical Islamic world to fight the return of the Crusaders. Hamas, which sees itself as a patron on Jerusalem affairs, will join the incitement celebrations as well. The second circle is the Palestinian Authority, which is in a state of complete panic in light of the change of administration in the US. Its leaders realize that they will have to lead a protest move on the street, but such a move could cause them to lose control and collapse. The third circle is the street in the regions Sunni countries. Moving the embassy could be the last nail in the coffin of regimes that are already shaky as it is. King Abdullah discovered recently that 10 percent of Jordans population support the radical Islamic movements. Jordan needs Israel, and it needs the US even more, in order to secure its regime. But as the country in charge of the arrangements on the Temple Mount, it will have to lead the battle against the embassys relocation to Jerusalem. Moving the embassy could stimulate the street in Egypt as well, where the presidents standing against the backdrop of the economic situation is not that great. The fourth circle has to do with the incitement of Islamic communities around the world, which could have implications on international Israeli assets and interests. Not a single move has been made yet, but the ground is already sizzling, at least on the declaration and incitement level. So before any practical American move is made, the four circles of unrest have to be dealt with in order to soften the blow. Without preliminary American diplomatic and political activity, the implications may fall primarily on the IDFs shoulders. Meanwhile, the Israeli government which is longing to see an American embassy in Jerusalem is doing everything in its power to make the embassy affair ignite a big fire. It is provoking Israels Arabs and Druze with a wave of demolitions of illegal homes and adding fuel to the fire by talking about annexing Maale Adumim. As usual, we are shooting ourselves in the foot and letting the army sweep away the damage. Tension has been brewing between the two parties over seat sharing in the twin VVIP constituencies, which for the Congress is more of a matter of prestige By Mausami Singh: Even before the Congress tied the knot with the Samajwadi Party it was reassured to the Congress that the Gandhi family's bastions will be untouched by ruling party in Uttar Pradesh, sources close to the developments said. But now, Priyanka Gandhi is believed to be upset over the alleged U-turn by Congress's alliance partner. Congress sources confirmed that before the alliance was stitched both Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav had reassured Congress strategist Prashant Kishor that Samajwadi Party would leave Amethi and Raebareli even if that meant sacrificing seven of its sitting seats. advertisement ALSO READ: Congress names Priyanka Gandhi as 'star campaigner' for UP polls That also meant that Mulayam's 'blue-eyed boy' Gayatri Prajapati would have to forgo the prime Amethi seat. However, after the alliance was finalised, the Samajwadi Party stunned the Congress by announcing the controversial minister Prajapti's name from Amethi Assembly constituency. TENSION SIMMERS BETWEEN CONGRESS, SP Tension has been brewing between the two parties over seat sharing in the twin VVIP constituencies, which for the Congress is more of a matter of prestige. The Amethi Lok Sabha constituency was offered to Sanjay Gandhi by the erstwhile Raja of Amethi Rananjay Singh. It has been the seat of power of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty ever since. Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have represented the seat so far. With little time in hand, Prashant Kishor has been tasked to resolve the matter. Priyanka Gandhi, who has been credited with stitching the alliance has been insisting on getting all ten seats. A Congress leader witness to the tussle said that politically astute Priyanka knows that even if they won't get all the ten seats they might be able to manage at least half of them. BJP'S AMETHI PLOT The Amethi Assembly constituency is the major sticking point as it is represented by Prajapati who has been campaigning from there. While Amita Sinh, wife of the campaign committee incharge of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, Dr Sanjay Singh, had started her campaign about a year ago. The battle pitch has turned more tense with the dramatic entry of Garima Singh ex-wife of Dr Sanjay Singh on a Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) ticket. A new entrant in politics and the BJP, Garima Singh's only merit is the anti-Sanjay Singh stand that the BJP sees as a potential to cut votes of the Congress. The BJP would of course like Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency relatively weakened for future gains. WATCH: Is Priyanka Gandhi Congress brahmastra for UP election? ALSO READ: BJP says it will build Ram temple at Ayodhya if it wins full majority in Uttar Pradesh election UP election: Sons and daughters figure prominently in BJP's second list of candidates --- ENDS --- Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit may seek to reach a deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, requiring the latter to transfer the portfolio, which he currently holds, of communications minister to another minister, according to assessment made by the Justice Ministry. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter It is believed that the legal discussions on the issue will also touch on the matter pertaining to businesses magnate Arnon Milchan, who is involved in an ongoing investigation in which he is suspected of giving illicit gifts to the prime minister and his family worth hundreds of thousands of shekels. AG Avichai Mandelblit (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Milchan also has a vested interest in Channel 1, and as Minister of Communications, Netanyahu will be forced to make a decision on the regulation of the channel within the coming months, which is expected to have ramifications for Milchans businesses. Milchan (L) and Netanyahu (Photo: Gettyimages) Despite the close ties between Milchan and Netanyahu, the two failed to declare a possible conflict of interest. By contrast, such a conflict of interest was declared in the case involving Shaul Elovich, a friend of Netanyahu who controls the Bezeq telecommunications giant. The assessment in the Justice Ministry is that in light of the developments in an ongoing investigation involving Milchan, Mandelblit might announce that there are significant difficulties in defending the prime minister in the High Court of Justice. He is likely to therefore request, or hint, that Netanyahu relinquish control of the communications portfolio or appoint a replacement. European Union Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini said that while the US may be moving its embassy from the Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, "the states of Europe will stay in Tel Aviv." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The comments were made during a meeting between the foreign minister and Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Tzachi Hanegbi in Spain on Monday night. Minister Hanegbi also met with his Arab counterparts, and expressed his desire to continue to promote regional civilian projects, specifically in the fields of economics and agriculture. He also expressed his hope that Arab countries will strengthen their relations with Israel, and that trust will continue to be built between Israel and its Arab regional neighbors. Israeli Minister Hanegbi meets with EU FM Mogherini Mogherini was heading a meeting of Mediterranean countries in Spain, which included foreign ministers and representatives from dozens of European countries in order to strengthen Mediterranean regional cooperation, specifically Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Hanegbi led the Israeli delegation. The two discussed a wide range of issues, with Mogherini expressing her worry over what might happen should the US move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She noted that even if the US implements this move, the EU will have no intention of following suit, and the European ambassadors in Israel will remain stationed outside of Jerusalem. They will not go to Jerusalem until there is a final status agreement on the city between Israel and the Palestinians. Minister Hanegbi clarified that moving the US embassy to the capital of Israel is an internal US affair which the US Congress has been discussing for several years. He continued, saying that Israel will not get itself involved in the internal workings of the US Congress on this issue, and that the EU should also refrain from getting involved, despite Palestinian pressure on the Europeans. The Minister also spoke to the EU Foreign Minister about trying to fight against international agreements which are critical of Israel. The final State Comptroller report on the 2014 Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, which will be likely released to the public soon, will reveal everything that has happened in the months and years that preceded the military campaign, which was the bloodiest Israel has seen since the Second Lebanon War. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The minutes from the highly sensitive discussions, revealed here for the first time, show what happened in the moment of truth, when decisions were being made: The fact the IDF was unprepared to deal with the tunnel threat, just how disconnected the members of cabinet were from what was happening on the ground, and the breadth of the outward expressions of hatred among the country's leaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Ya'alon with then-IDF chief Gantz and the top military command during Operation Protective Edge (Photo: Haim Zach, GPO) It was the night of June 30, 2014, hours after the bodies of Naftali Frenkel, Gil-Ad Shaer and Eyal Yifrachthree Israeli teens kidnapped and murdered by Hamas in Gush Etzionwere found after an 18-day search. The atmosphere in the Security Cabinet was tense. Operation Protective Edge hadn't begun, but the winds of war were already blowing in the cabinet. "Our response to this attack has been weak and disgraceful so far," Minister Naftali Bennett said of the kidnapping. "There are dozens of tunnels in Gaza meant for kidnappings." The tunnels, he said, "aren't sitting there just to rust away"a snide remark paraphrasing a comment made by former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon, who said before the 2006 Second Lebanon War that Hezbollah's rockets will rust away in their weapons depots. "We have to go on an offensive action on the frontline," Bennett added. Bennett's proposal was met with a sweeping objection from the cabinet. Givati soldiers in one of Hamas's tunnels during the operation (Photo: Yoav Zitun) "The tunnels are a real threat to the State of Israel and they could change the balance (of power) between us and (Hamas)," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "Bogie (Ya'alon), I ask that you present a plan (of action) tomorrow, including taking over the tunnel openings." "Such a plan exists," Ya'alon responded. "I'm not familiar with it," Netanyahu said. July 1, 2014: 'The goal is to contain' The kidnapped teenagers were laid to rest, while the hunt for their abductors was still underway. While Bennett was calling to launch an offensive posthaste, then-defense minister Ya'alon was urging caution. "Hamas has no intentions to initiate an attack through the tunnels," he said. "We need to be wary of miscalculations." "Did they have such intentions when they kidnapped Gilad Shalit?" Bennett asked. Bennett meets with students in Ashkelon during the operation. "No," Ya'alon responded. Netanyahu, meanwhile, made it clear that at that point, his intentions were to lead a policy of restraint. "The goal right now is to contain." Bennett kept pushing for an offensive: "You think if we do nothing, they would show restraint?" "Yes," Ya'alon responded. IDF tanks on the Gaza border firing into the strip on the seventh day of the operation (Photo: GettyImages) Minister Gilad Erdan then challenged Ya'alon on whether the defense establishment was prepared to deal with the tunnel threat. "You presented a plan to conquer Gaza, but not one regarding the tunnels," he said. "We did present one," Ya'alon responded. Then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz shared Ya'alon and Netanyahu's opinion in favor of restraint. "Hamas doesn't want to act. They already said on their radio, 'We've made a mistake with the kidnapping.'" July 2, 2014: 'Hamas doesn't want a conflict' The body of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir was found after he was burned to death, leading to serious clashes in east Jerusalem. In the cabinet, an argument was heating up over whether to launch a ground offensive to deal with the Hamas tunnels in Gaza. Defense Minister Ya'alon stressed that such a move could lead to devastating results. "I'm against taking actions against the tunnel entrances," Ya'alon said. "It could drag us in (to Gaza)." Aviv Kochavi, the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate at the time, shared Ya'alon's views. "There are many indications Hamas does not want a conflict," he said. IDF Chief Gantz added, "I recommend we strategically expose Hamas's tunnels project." Bennett, meanwhile, was pushing for a practical work plan. "How long would a ground operation to deal with the tunnels take?" "Two-three days," Gantz replied. The ground operation that was later launched lasted 19 days. July 3, 2014: Warnings from the IDF chief Dozens of rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel, prompting the Israeli government to threaten forceful action if the rocket fire does not stop immediately. Meanwhile, the arguments in the cabinet continued. Israel had information on the existence of a massive border-crossing tunnel near Kerem Shalom and was sending messages to Hamas on the matter. Rocket from Gaza hits a house in the Shaar HaNegev regional council during the operation (Photo: Tali Matzliah Galilee) Prime Minister Netanyahu questioned IDF chief Gantz on one possible course of action: "Will bombing the entrance to the tunnel neutralize the threat?" "I don't know," Gantz said. "It might disrupt it." "Could this stop us from entering the tunnels?" Netanyahu asked. "The effectiveness of a bombing is very low," the IDF chief answered. "It's likely such an action against the tunnels will lead to (Israel having to) conquer all of Gaza." Defense Minister Ya'alon kept urging caution. "We're living under quite a few developing threats. I suggest we don't launch an operation against the tunnels." July 7, 2014: 'I recommend we act' Operation Protective Edge was launched, and the cabinet authorized drawing up 1,500 reservists. During the time between the discovery of the bodies of the three teens to the beginning of the operation, the Israel Air Force was carry out airstrikes against targets in Gaza, while armed Palestinian groups began shooting rockets from the strip into Israeli population centers. Hamas wasn't involved at this stage, but did give moral support to those firing the rockets. Yet on July 7, this changed when Hamas launched several hundred rockets into Israel. Consequently, Operation Protective Edge was given the green light. Prime Minister Netanyahu, IDF chief at the time Gantz and defense minister at the time Ya'alon (Photo: Koby Gideon, GPO) Ya'alon kept trying to lower the flames. "We can reach a ceasefire," he said. "We shouldn't get to where we're striping them of their tunnels. We need to take full advantage of Egyptian mediation." Bennett didn't agree. "I recommend that we take action to neutralize the tunnels," he said. "If we're able to ensure three years of quiet without destroying the tunnels, what's the problem?" Ya'alon asked. "And if we get hit by a strategic attack, it will be like the Gilad Shalit incident, but times 100. It's better that we prevent this from happening in advance. I haven't seen any plans on how to prevent this from happening," Bennett said. "And they won't build new ones after you go in?" Ya'alon wondered. July 8, 2014: 'Conquer Gaza' Hamas launched rockets that hit from Hadera to Gadera, while the cabinet authorized drawing up 40,000 reservists. The cabinet ministers demanded a more firm offensive action. "We need to conquer Gaza and remove all threats," Minister Yuval Steinitz said. IDF troops on the Gaza border during the operation (Photo: Ido Erez) "We can't get too worked up," Minister Tzipi Livni cautioned. "The Military Intelligence Directorate has so far erred in their assessments. We need to conquer Gaza," Minister Avigdor Lieberman determined. "I'm opposed to a ground operation (in Gaza)," Minister Yair Lapid stated. July 10, 2014: 'The problem won't be resolved now' The cabinet was discussing a limited military operation, while government officials warned: "There's no escaping a ground operation." The GOC Southern Command at the time, Sami Turgeman, joined the cabinet meeting in an effort to convince the ministers to execute a plan called "Frontal Defense," which is meant to neutralize the tunnels located up to one kilometer from the border fence. Defense Minister Ya'alon and IDF Chief Gantz were against the plan, and the cabinet did not approve it. Maj. Gen. Sami Turgeman, the GOC Southern Command during the operation (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The ground operation was eventually launched eight days late, on July 18, after the IDF stopped an attempt by dozens of Hamas militants to infiltrate Israel through a tunnel in Kerem Shalom. "There is a strategic threat that can be launched against us at any moment," Turgeman said. "There are at least nine cross-border tunnels." "Do we have to continue fire (aerial bombing) or go on a ground offensive?" Netanyahu asked. "I oppose a ground offensive," Gantz declared. "We've had great achievements so far: Hamas is beaten, the tunnels are a reasonable risk to take." Bennett inquired about the proposed plan. "How wide scale would the operation against the tunnels be?" "It will include friction, but we know how to deal with that," Turgeman answered. "If you were in our place, what would you have done?" Bennett asked Turgeman. "He's not in your shoes, he's a wild horse racing forward," Ya'alon chimed in. "So not in our shoes, in your shoes," Bennett amended. "In my shoes and in yours, I'd go in (to Gaza) with three brigade combat teams to neutralize the tunnel threat," Turgeman replied. "There are conditions to creating deterrence," Military Intelligence chief Kochavi added. Minister Lieberman with then-head of Military Intelligence Aviv Kochavi (Photo: Ahiya Raved) "I'm looking at the tunnel threat as an unresolved issue that we're not going to resolve it in this instance either," Ya'alon said. "Go for a wide scale operation in Gaza," Lieberman urged. "But if it's between taking action against the tunnels or a ceasefire, go for a ceasefire." July 27, 2014: 'Lazy bulls' Dozens of soldiers were killed in the ground offensive. The United States demanded an immediate ceasefire. At this point, the battles waged around the cabinet table were no longer polite, and tensions were running high, on the verge of explosion. Ya'alon accused Bennett of undermining him by contacting senior IDF officers who were on the ground behind his back. "You won't run the army instead of me," Ya'alon said in anger. "You won't come from the field and tell me to do this or not do that, you hear?" "I will, if we don't get truthful reports," Bennett answered. "I do provide truthful reports," Ya'alon countered. "Until now, we didn't know about the ceasefire," Bennett said. "Do I need to answer to you?" Ya'alon retorted. "Of course," Bennett replied. Bennett then directed his fire towards IDF chief Gantz, "I expect you to arrive to cabinet meetings with operational plans and offensive policy. I'm not the one who's supposed to present plans to destroy the tunnels. Be wild horses, not lazy bulls." August 1, 2014: A strike during a ceasefire The ceasefire was broken by Hamas in an attack that claimed the lives of three soldiers: Maj. Benaya Sarel, Lt. Hadar Goldin and Staff Sgt. Liel Gidoni. Minister Erdan demanded answers from the IDF chief and the head of Military Intelligence: Why were orders given to Givati soldiers that limited their actions during that ceasefire and put them in danger? "If I had known this would be the situation during ceasefires, I would've opposed them," Erdan said. Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's close associates and responsible for the US government's cyber security program, arrived in Israel on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter He will be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the afternoon. Speaking at a Likud faction meeting on Monday, Netnayahu said "this is not the time for knee-jerk reactions, impositions, or surprises." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) "This is the time for responsible diplomacy and education with our friends, the time diplomacy which will strengthen our cooperation, and increase our trust between the State of Israel and the new government in Washington," he continued. Netanyahu then went on to speak about his telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump, saying "President Trump believes that peace will only come as a result of direct negotiations. Sound familiar? (Trump) then said that he has an unprecedented responsibility to protect Israel's security and to fight against terror from Islamic extremists." The prime minister then added that he views his upcoming meeting with President Trump with the utmost importance. The prime minister's statements come as a response to statements made by Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Bayit Hayehudi), who called on the prime minister to partially annex areas of the West Bank. "The United States is entering a new era, and Israel is also entering a new era in terms of politics and security," Bennett said He continued, saying that "Prime Minister Netanyahu stands at the precipice of a historic decision; either sovereignty or Palestine. We call on Netanyahu not to miss a once in a half century opportunity." Details emerged from a top secret case involving a 22-year-old Israeli who had been fighting abroad against ISIS before being arrested in June 2015 and charged with murder in a country with which Israel has no diplomatic relations, it was cleared for publication Tuesday morning. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The case was exposed approximately 2 months ago by MK Ayoob Kara, who then served as a deputy minister, and was immediately barred from public consumption by the Military Censor. In recent days, a settlement was reached between the parties involved according to which the young man is soon to be released. The Israeli man's family has been ordered to pay the victim's family a sum of of $120,000. The young man's father is currently attempting to collect the money. Illustration (Photo: Reuters) The incident occurred when the Israeli was away from battle and an errant driver discovered that he was Israeli and attempted to kill him. The Israeli, who was armed, shot him in self defense and killed him before being arrested and charged with murder, leading to concerns that if indicted, he would be sentenced to death. The case was kept under wraps until November 2016, when Deputy Minister Kara published a post on Facebook revealing the details. Kara wrote: "After much deliberation, the Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation, MK Ayoob Kara, revealed he has been in touch with Ilan Hassin, the 21-year-old Jewish Israeli's father, named Adam Hassin, who has been incarcerated since 6 June 2015 and will soon be indicted". Furthermore, Kara uploaded a picture of himself with the father and a video clip in which he recounts the Israeli's story. The Military Censor has prohibited the post, even though it had already been shared on WhatsApp. Security officials even accused Kara of being irresponsible and causing damage. Minister Ayoob Kara and the Israeli's father The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its concerns and were quick to appeal to the Military Censor to remove the post and prevent its further dissemination. Kara's office released a statement claiming that it was done with the cooperation of the Israeli's family who had sought his help. Recently, the case took a sharp turn, when Hassin reached a settlement agreement with the victim's family according to which he would receive a reduced sentence and soon be released. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated: "the safety and well-being of the Israeli citizen is at the top of our priorities. For that reason, we have been in constant contact with his family. We hope his father's and family's efforts are fruitful and that their son is soon released". DUBAI- Saudi Arabia is warning that a computer virus that destroyed the systems of its state-run oil company in 2012 has returned. A state-run television channel aired comments on Monday suggesting that 15 government agencies and private institutions had been hit by the Shamoon virus. The Shamoon virus hit the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. hard in 2012, with industry analysts saying it erased hard drives and showed burning American flags on computer screens. Then-U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the time described the Shamoon attack on Saudi Aramco as the most destructive to ever target the private sector. One of the suspects in a fatal stone throwing attack, which killed an Israeli has been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Abed Rabbo Dawiya is charged with the manslaughter of Alexander Levlovich in the East Talpiyot neighborhood in Jerusalem in late 2015. The attorney's office stated "the accused was convicted of manslaughter for throwing stones at Levlovich's car, thereby causing his death. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, a suspended sentence and a large fine for damages." Levlovich's car after the incident (Photo: Arik Abulouf, Jerusalem Fire Department) "This is a serious punishment and close to the maximum sentence for manslaughter, reflecting the gravity of his actions and the tragic outcome," the attorney said. "A sentence of this magnitude has never been imposed for stone throwing in Israel's history," the attorney continued. "This is the second suspect convicted in this case, and the sentence of the three remaining suspects will continue as planned. The attorney's office offers its condolences to the family. No matter what punishment will be served to the defendants, it will not bring their loved ones back." The Jerusalem district court authorized the plea bargain which the attorney's office signed with one of the suspects on Monday. Nir, Levlovich's son, opposed the settlement from the outset: "We are shocked that the law doesn't allow murder accusations by stone throwing". The suspects in the stone throwing incident (Photo: Ofer Meir) Dawiya was the head of the group that threw rocks at Levlovich's car, making him swerve and hit a post. Jerusalem district court judge Raphael Carmel authorized the settlement behind closed doors, sentencing Dawiya to 18 years in prison and fined him NIS 100,000. The attorney's office served an indictment against the suspect for the felonies of manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, obstruction of justice, arson and illegal weapon manufacturing in 2015. Two of the suspects were also charged with throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at security forces during a riot back in 2014. Nir said that "I opposed the settlement from day one. We shouldnt negotiate at the expense of victims of terror attacks and legitimize terrorism. (We must) exhaust every possibility to reprimand (for these kinds of acts)." "The fact that this settlement was reached and even authorized is problematic," he continued. "We should stop the usage of plea bargains as a tool in murder and manslaughter cases immediately." Son of the deceased Nir Levlovich According to the indictment, the five suspects met on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah in 2015 to throw stones at Jewish cars driving on the main road to Armon HaNetziv in retaliation for Israel occupying the Temple Mount. They threw stones at several cars and managed to hit Levlovich's vehicle, who, as a result, swerved out of his lane and hit a post. He later died of his wounds at the hospital. The suspects than fled the scene, meeting later to match their alibis in case they get caught. Levlovich was the first victim in a wave of "lone wolf" terror attacks. "We hoped that he will be the last victim," his son painfully said last September, one year after his death. "None of us imagined that it was just a sign of things to come". The Islamic State suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport last year targeted passengers travelling to the United States and also Jewish people, several sources told AFP. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Belgian-led investigation believes a check-in counter for an American carrier was one of the targets in the March 22, 2016 attacks, the sources said on condition of anonymity. They also suspect that travellers to Israel may have been in the cross-hairs, and that airport security camera footage shows one bomber apparently pursuing Hasidic Jews seconds before one of the blasts. Islamic State (IS) bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui killed 16 people at Zaventem airport. Around an hour later Bakraouis brother Khalid attacked a metro station near EU headquarters, killing another 16. One source close to the investigation told AFP, which contacted investigators in several countries, that one of the airport bombers attacked the Delta Airlines check-in. The terrorists (Photo: AP) We know they wanted to target Americans, said the source, who asked not to be named. Its clear they had quite specific targets. Asked if these targets included the check-in counter for a flight to Israel, he replied: We know they were obsessed with the Israelis too. The possibility that they targeted Russian travellers was an option that had to be clarified, he said. Wanted to kill a Jew There were casualties from at least 40 nationalities in the Brussels attacks, but investigators and sources believe the Zaventem bombers had specific targets. Even early on (in the investigation) there were indications that they targeted US, Russian and Israeli check-in counters, a US law enforcement source told AFP on condition of anonymity. That understanding has held up with later investigations, including with Abrinis alleged confession, the source said. Mohamed Abrini is the so-called man in the hat who fled the airport without detonating his suitcase bomb after his accomplices set off theirs. He was captured a month later. Four Americans were killed at the airport and several injured, while two Israelis aged 23 and 28 were treated in Jerusalem after the attacks. Israeli media identified the pair as members of the Belz Hassid ultra-Orthodox religious sect, who had been scheduled to fly from Brussels airport to Ben Gurion. Sources close to the investigation added that camera footage never released to the public showed that Laachraoui had been standing among some 60 high school students before deciding to pursue two Orthodox Jews. The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews, one of the sources said. He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew. A US government source said separately that Lachraoui was targeting a Hasidic Jew. Hasidic men are easily recognisable because they wear dark suits over white shirts, have long beards, hats and curly sidelocks. Investigators are very confident they (bombers) were targeting US, Russia and Israel, the US government source said. Israeli security measures have dramatically increased since the attacks, an airport source added. A Belgian press report said investigators had found an electronic message from Khalid El Bakraoui saying flights departed every Tuesday from Brussels to the United States, Russia and Israel, but investigators would not confirm that. Carnage caused after the explosion (Photo: Reuters) However the attack did occur around 8:00am on a Tuesday, shortly before scheduled flights to all three countries by United, American, Delta, El Al, Brussels Airlines and Russias Aeroflot, according to airport and other sources. An airport source who asked not to be named said the bomb that did not explode was left near the United and El Al counters, which were facing each other. Abrini appeared in unreleased airport CCTV footage as lagging behind the other bombers before hiding behind a pillar covering his ears, two independent sources said. Every indication was that Abrini changed his mind, the US law enforcement source said. Investigators have said the bombers were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the November 2015 Paris attacks. They believe they were spurred into action in Brussels by the March 18 arrest of key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. Completely cornered and hunted, they clearly improvised, a source close to the Belgian investigation said, adding that one of the bombers left a message on an abandoned computer apologising for not having launched a new attack on France. Belgium had also suffered an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 which left four people dead. The alleged attacker, Mehdi Nemmouche, has been linked to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks. Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nahshon said Israel does not comment publicly on security-related issues when asked about the March 2016 attacks. The FBI, which is taking part in the investigation, did not respond to a request for comment. Russias investigation committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, said it is not investigating the Brussels attacks. The top-secret State Control subcommittee convened to approve the findings of the state comptroller's report for Operation Protective Edge, including the parts dealing with the Security Cabinet's performance during the operation, but decided to postpone the vote due to "security issues." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The discussion was conducted on the backdrop of Yedioth Aharonoth's exposure of the Cabinet's transcripts from the operation. Several bereaved parents held a press conference where they demanded the publication of the comptroller's findings. Some of these parents spoke at the conference: Avi Yaacobi, Staff Sgt. Gilad Yaccobi's father, Shmuel Lavie, Capt. Liad Lavie's father, and Orit Chai, Staff Sgt. Omer Chai's mother. 'It is important the faults are amended.' (Photo: Ido Erez) "Two years have passed since the end of Operation Protective Edge, and we stand here for the first time to ask for the publication of the operation's report", said the parents. "We would like to clarify that the petition was signed by over 50 bereaved parents. We do not have, nor have we ever had any political affinity with the various parties. We ask to have the report published in its entirety. We are certain that the comptroller and his team have done a professional job in examining the different aspects of the campaign". The bereaved parents also said that "now that the report was submitted to the MKs, we would like to ensure that its conclusions are fully applied in preparation for Israel's future campaigns, hoping there are none. We ask the State Control's subcommittee to recommend the publication of the report, with the exception of censored segments classified by the Military Censor as senisitive to national security. We perceive this to be your moral, national obligation. The publication of this report is our children's unwritten will. We went on a just war. There was no other choice. Obviously, there are faults in war. It is important to us that they are amended. Any idiot shooting a missile can start a war here, which is why we must prepare for the next war by learning our lessons. We will be following the committee's deliberations and decisions, the implementation of the lessons. If the government does not apply the committee's recommendations, we will continue to fight until they are. We are not here to haunt anyone. We want transparency". The full report is about to be published. (Archive photo: Gil Yohanan) Following the exposure of the Cabinet's charged deliberations during Protective Edge, Ilan Sagi, Sgt. Erez Sagi's father, who was also among the fallen in a Gaza operation, told Ynet, "We were aware of this on the day we were told of the horrible disaster that had befallen us. This is why a large number of bereaved parents are fighting to have the comptroller's report published in full, and that if there are any conclusions, that the lessons are implemented and applied". He also said, "it feels like a mockery is being made of our children's lives, and that is something that we cannot ignore or overlook. We are not looking to overthrow or reinstate governments; we are here to amend the situation so that those future soldiers continue to be our soldiers instead of just a name in a bereaved family". Sagi was asked whether he could imagine that the military's command centers would not be prepared when sending his son to the operation, he said: "No, I never could, and I'm sure neither could Erez. Since he was 15, Erez was devoted to the IDF, he believed in the IDF. When I refused his request to be sent to a military academy, he said to me, 'Dad, in the military academy I will be able to contribute more than going to a regular high school.' He loved the uniform and always said 'there is nothing quite like the IDF'. If he were here, the situation would have truly saddened him". Former Minister Peri: "The transcripts are essential" Former head of the Shin Bet, MK Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid), also addressed the publication in an interview to Ynet. Peri, who was the Minister of Science and a Cabinet Observer at the time, stated regarding the transcripts that "they only reflect reality, even though the deliberations were long. The transcripts reflect some piquant bits, but they are also essential, especially the ones concerning the tunnels; the military's level of preparation regarding its dealing with the tunnels, and of course it reflects all sides in the matter". He also said that dealing with the tunnels is "nothing new, the Comptroller said in previous reports. It was known that eventually the prime minister's comments regarding the tunnels being discussed in many prior Cabinet meetings are far from true. The military had the intelligence on the existence of border-crossing tunnels but they did not come prepared with a full operational plan, with alternatives or timetables for the Cabinet, and all of this took place in the midst of aerial attacks or the beginning of Protective Edge". In response to the question whether the military leadership misfired on the subject of the tunnels, Peri stated "I am not sure misfired is correct. I think that at the end of the day, the assessment, which we now can clearly define as erroneous, regarding how much of an actual threat, or strategic threat, some people would say, the tunnels are to Israeli security, is critical. This was proven in the first few days of the operation, when terrorist cells infiltrated through the tunnels and initiated attacks; Moreover, the size, length and number of tunnels proved they are indeed a strategic threat and that this assessment was lacking". Peri also said that "the battles, if one may call them that in reference to the Cabinet, the relationship between Liberman, the prime minister, Bennett, Ya'alon were not quite amicable. At the same time, it seems like someone was trying to misappropriate his duty. Everyone did their jobs including the IDF, the Shin Bet and other intelligence officials, and we must understand that the main problem is that the operation culminated in nothing. We lost our best sons, and we have yet to rehabilitate, demilitarize, advance politically, strategically or internationally". On the exchange between Bennett and Ya'alon, Peri said "there were some harsh exchanges. The exchange stemmed from the fact that Bennett started his own information gathering operation by directly contacting field officers, which is usually not done, but in order to justify his actions, Bennett said 'since I am not getting accurate reports from you, I need to gather them myself'. I don't think self gathering is the right thing to do. I also don't think Bogie was untruthful. The unwillingness to be more aggressive and commence a ground offensive undoubtedly garnered debate and the kind of expressions that are somewhat inappropriate for such a forum". BISHKEK - A court in Kyrgyzstan upheld a life sentence on Tuesday for a prominent dissident accused of "inciting inter-ethnic hatred" in the former Soviet republic, defying U.N. calls for his release. Azimjon Askarov, a 65-year-old ethnic Uzbek, was convicted of "organising mass disturbances" and stirring up ethnic hatred leading to the killing of a policeman during clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010, when more than 400 people were killed. His imprisonment has been widely criticised by human rights groups and sparked a political spat with the United States in 2015. Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev accused Washington of seeking to "create chaos" in his country by granting Askarov an award and terminated a cooperation accord in retaliation. Kyrgyzstan has come under fire for its poor human rights record despite holding a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. According to Human Rights Watch, ill-treatment and torture of detainees are widespread, as are violence and discrimination against women and the country's LGBT community. By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn-in as the 45th President of America. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trumps schedule for today. advertisement Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised Indias fast growth rate and Modis bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. PTI LKJ ASK AKJ AKJ --- ENDS --- It happens nearly every night. After dark, the Syrian wounded come to known locations on the Israel-Syria front in the Golan Heights, driven by desperation to seek help from an enemy army. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Israeli soldiers on lookout or patrol spot them waiting by the fence and whisk them away to a rear position where army medics soon arrive, according to army officials operating in the Golan Heights. Israel refuses to accept refugees fleeing the nearly six-year conflict in Syria, a country with which it remains technically at war. But it has allowed in more than 2,600 Syrians for medical care. IDF medical personnel treat a wounded Syrian in an ambulance on the Israel-Syria border (Photo: Reuters) On one bitterly cold January night, gunfire and explosions could be heard in the near distance as Israeli medics dressed the injuries of two Syrian men, one suffering a head wound. "We're doing everything we can to save their lives, to stabilize them and evacuate them to the hospital," said Captain Aviad Camisa, deputy chief medical officer of the Golani brigade. The medics lift the wounded men onto an army ambulance which slowly drives off down a dirt road. A Syrian family -- two grandparents, a mother, father and a child aided by a walker -- pass by as they prepare to cross back into Syria in the dead of night. "Some of the stories stir your emotions. When children come, as a father, it touches me personally," Camisa said. Millions have fled and hundreds of thousands have been killed in Syria's conflict, which shows only fitful signs of being resolved. The trail to Israel is full of risks. Those who spoke to Reuters at Ziv medical Center in Tzfat, northern Israel, did so freely, but asked not to be identified by name or have their faces photographed or filmed for fear of retribution back home. The Israeli army helped facilitate access to the hospital, perhaps concerned to counter the negative image it has in most of the Arab world. One man, his legs pierced by shrapnel, survived a bomb attack in his village in which 23 people were killed. Fighting in Syria as seen from the Israeli border (Photo: Reuters) "In the past we used to know Israel as our enemy. That's what the regime used to tell us," he said. "When we came to Israel we changed our minds, there is no enmity between us. "In the end we discovered that our regime is the enemy of us all," he said, referring to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In a nearby room sits a seven-year-old Syrian girl, her mother by her side. She was hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell about two months ago and suffered life-threatening injuries; her internal organs and three of her limbs were badly hurt. "In the first weeks we try not to ask them many questions because we are afraid that it will be more stress," said Issa Fares, an Israeli Arab Christian social worker at the hospital, where many of the staff are native Arabic speakers. Israel has not formally taken sides in the Syrian conflict. It opposes the presence of Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah ranged alongside Assad, but is also alarmed by the hardline Islamist groups fighting against him. The Military Court in the Kirya held sentencing discussions Tuesday for Sgt. Elor Azaria who was recently convicted for manslaughter of the terrorist Abed al Fatah al-Sharif after the latter carried out a stabbing attack in Hebron in March last year. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Entering the courtroom accompanied by a security detail, the prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Weisman was greeted by the shouts of Our soldier is innocent! One by one, witnesses were called to the dock by the defense team to plead with the judges to lighten the sentence due to be handed down to Azaria. Elor Azaria in court with his mother (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Charlie Azaria, Elors father, was first to deliver his emotional plea on behalf of his son. We moved to Israel in 1975 from France. My father fought in the Second World War against the Nazis, liberated Paris, participated in Normandy and had the courage and strength not to leave his commander in wounded in the field, he began. My older brother served 30 years in the army, I served 33 years as a police officer in Ramla and in the Lahav 433 investigative police unit while my other brother served in Israeli prisons. I educated my children to respect every human being regardless of their skin color or religion. In Ramla, all my Muslim neighbors respect me and I respect them. Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Weisman (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Turning to his son, Charlie said that he lived up to his name, (meaning light). He radiates light wherever he is. He was a chubby boy but insisted on being in a combat unit. He ran in the rain so that he could serve in a combat unit, so that he could defend the state, Charlie said as he continued in his attempt to strike an emotional chord with the judges. Elor knew only how to give. He has Muslim and Christian friends. Elor enrolled on the paramedics course because he was so outstanding and despite the fact that he was a platoon paramedic he went to protect his friends even though he was not required to do so. I saw Elor lose all happiness in his life in his service as a platoon paramedic. I realized that he had a problem with his commander. Elor told me two days before the incident: It is becoming increasingly difficult, dad. They are giving me more and more assignments and coming to me with complaints. Charlie Azaria with his son Elor in court (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Recalling an incident in which his son was left for 12 hours without food or water while guarding an arrested suspect, Charlie sought to describe his Elors innate kindness. In the end they brought him food in a disposable tray and he decided to give it to the terrorist. He also elaborated on the physical toll the entire episode has taken both his, and his wifes life. My wife dropped to 36kg in weight since the incident. I have had a stroke and lost my ability to walk and stand for three months. Our family has collapsed. My brotherElors Godfatherhad a heart attack twice. One of my two daughters stopped her medical studies in order to help out at home. It has been ten months and not a single commander has spoken to me. They simply neglected my son. The office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the approval of the construction of 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank. Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said called the decision contemptuous and defying of the international community. Abu Rudeina said, "this measure will have implications . The decision to delay any attempt to restore security and stability and strengthen the extremists and terrorism." The former CIA director, General David Petraeus, attended the tenth conference of The Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and provided a glimpse into security issues facing the new administration in Washington. "The US must prepare for action against Iran, if necessary," he declared on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Petraeus, who was one of the final candidates for the new US Secretary of Defense, may not have gotten the coveted position but is still considered close to the new president, with whom he had many conversations over the past year that helped shape Trump's defensive strategy. In conversation with the head of the Institute for National Security Studies, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, Petraeus praised Trump and his positive impact on security permutations in Europe. "Following his declarations, the Europeans, for the first time, want to invest more in security", he said. "His conduct may have good ramifications. I think he is very pragmatic, and now he has to back up the slogans with policies". Petraeus (L) and Yadlin (: ) X Trump is expected to host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington next month, when it is already clear that loaded subjects like the annexation of Judea and Samaria and the Iran nuclear deal, to which both have objected, shall be discussed. Petraeus commented, "I told Trump that we need to repeat what we want for Iran not to have nuclear weapons and for the Islamic Republic to stop striving for a Shiite hegemony in the region. If you ask the Gulf states, their first problem is Iran, and only afterwards comes ISIS, Yemen, the Muslim Brotherhood, and then the Palestinian problem which was in first place for many years". He added and emphasized: "The US must declare that it will not enable a nuclear Iran, and that the American military will be ready for action in the region, if and when. In addition, the US should work on a joint operation with the Allies if necessary". Trump and Patraeus (Photo: Reuters, AP) Petraeus was asked about the possibility of having the American Embassy moved to Jerusalem, and mentioned the vague announcement issued by the White House last night. "I'm not sure how to interpret that, it sounds refreshingly diplomatic coming from the spokesman. There are a lot of finesses here that are actually more meaningful than what has happened in the past, where you have a pledge during a campaign and then a total loss of recall on that issue. My hope would be that there could be something along those lines that would also have reassurances about some of the very sensitive sites, not foreclosing the possibilities for a Palestinian capital," said and emphasized that he believes in the two-state solution. In his conversation with Petraeus, Yadlin said: "the Trump administration presents an opportunity, which hasn't always been available, for the Prime Minister to amend a strategic mistake he made in the summer of 2015. Instead of operating against a deal supported by the US and the world's powers, without actually providing a better alternative the right thing to do would be to coordinate with the US on how to deal with Iran's negative, non-nuclear activity and with the negative outcomes of the Deal in the long run." Close to the Decision Makers During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly called to have Hillary Clinton removed from the race for her inadequate handling of the email controversy. This did not prevent Trump, after being elected, from seriously considering Petraeus for secretary of state, who had admitted transferring confidential emails to his lover during his term as the CIA director and had to resign in 2012. Trump did not end up appointing Petraeus to any position in his cabinet, but did provide him with public approval, brought him closer to the decision makers close to the president, and he may possibly be appointed to a high-level position during the next round of appointments. Prior to his role as CIA director, Petraeus served as commanding officer of the US Central Command, the commander of the multimational force in Iraq, and the commander of NATO and the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Minister of Defense Avigdor Lieberman approved 2,500 housing units in the West Bank, the majority in major settlement blocs and 100 in Beit El in accordance with a High Court decision. Moreover, additional housing units will also be constructed for residents of Migron in accordance with a previous government decision. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The decision was made between Minister of Defense Lieberman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who tweeted, "We are building, and we will continue to build." White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not answer directly when asked about Trump's reaction. He said the administration is still forming its foreign policy team and that President Donald Trump would discuss settlements and other matters when Netanyahu visits next month. Lieberman and Netanyahu (Photo: EPA) "Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer said. "He wants to grow closer with Israel to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East." While Trump has signaled that he will be far more tolerant of Israeli settlement construction than his predecessors, he also has expressed a desire to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, and siding closely with Israel on such a contentious matter could hurt U.S. credibility. Homes were approved in the following communities: 899 in Ariel, 652 in Givat Ze'ev, 260 in Tzofim, 154 in Oranit, 104 in Ma'ale Adumim, 87 in Beitar Illit, 86 in Kokhav Ya'akov, 81 in Etz Efraim, 78 in Alfei Menashe, 21 in Efrat, 20 in Beit El, 18 in Elkana, 6 in Sha'arei Tikva and 4 in Har Gilo. Trump has already invited Netanyahu to visit the White House next month, and both men, after speaking on the phone Sunday, promised close coordination on a range of sensitive matters. Netanyahu's office would not say whether he had consulted with the White House before Tuesday's announcement, but just a day earlier, the prime minister told a meeting of his Likud Party that there should be no surprises for the new president. A spokesman for the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called the decision "a provocation and contempt for the international community. We oppose and condemn this move and it will have consequences. This decision delays every attempt to restore security and stability and it strengthens extremism and terrorism. This decision will throw obstacles in the way of any effort to achieve security and peace by any official. This decision is a provocation and insult to the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world." Construction in Givat Ze'ev (Photo: Nofe Yisrael) According to the statement, the decision to approve the additional construction was taken "to meet the needs of housing and continue with daily life," said Lieberman. "Life is going back to normal in the West Bank." Meanwhile, Lieberman also intends to present the cabinet an initiative for the construction of a Palestinian industrial zone near the village of Tarqumiyah. The industrial zone will be one of the largest in the West Bank and is set to include warehouses, fuel depots and more. Trump has signaled a softer approach to the settlements. Earlier this week, he did not react to an Israeli announcement to build over 560 new homes in east Jerusalem. Both his designated ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a top aide and Mideast envoy, have deep ties to the settler movement. Friedman and Kushner's family foundation have both been generous contributors to Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement. A delegation of settler representatives was invited to Trump's inauguration last week. Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settlers' council, said he hopes Tuesday's announcement "is just the beginning of a wave of new building." Revivi led the delegation to the inauguration, the first time the movement has received such an invitation. Trump's ties to the settler movement are just one reason Israel's nationalist right is encouraged by the new administration. His campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, a cornerstone of two decades of international diplomacy in the region. Trump also has promised to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move long favored by Israel but vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. Since Trump took over, Netanyahu has been under heavy pressure from the pro-settler Jewish Home Party to move ahead on an explosive bill that would annex Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement near Jerusalem. A vote on the legislation, which threatens to unleash fresh violence and draw international condemnation, was put on hold this week, apparently so Netanyahu could coordinate his policy with the new US administration. Despite the positive signs for Netanyahu, Trump remains something of a wild card. Since taking office, for instance, he has appeared to backpedal from his promise to move the embassy. The Palestinians' representative to the UN, Riyad Mansour, sent letters of complaint to the secretary general, the president of the Security Council and the president of the General Assembly following the issuance of the building permits. The Yesha Council actually expressed disappointment, saying, "It is too little, too late to meet the demand. After years of delays in construction, this limited decision does not answer the tremendous needs of Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley. Sadly, this sham decision posing as a large approval of building permits is the same as previous occasions when only a few hundred will be built." At a conference held by the Institute for National Security Studies on Tuesday, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the IDF's orders are to "go in full force." "If the other side doesn't yield and raise a white flag, we don't stop." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Lieberman also addressed the decision to approve the construction of about 2,500 housing units in Judea and Samaria and connected it to Donald Trump's taking office as the president of the United States: "There is nothing new about it, we have always constructed, including under the Obama administration." (Photo: Reut Rimerman) Lieberman criticized Palestinian President Mahmoud "Abu Mazen" Abbas, saying, "There is no one there to actually sign a dramatic agreement with that would change reality. We need a powerful leadership with sway in the field, but Abu Mazen is not a legitimate leader." He continued to say that "there is no Palestinian Authority. It doesn't exist. We keep forgetting the fact that the Gaza strip is ruled by Hamas and not by the PA." "There were many good people who worked on an agreement. Why couldn't they work out the problem? It would be impossible to offer Abu Mazen more than what Olmert offered him in Annapolis, including dividing Jerusalem, rehashing the refugee issue, and the evacuation of the West Bankeverything. And what did we end up getting? A no." Liberman was asked what he would advise President Donald Trump. "It isn't right to advise Americans. Let's not exaggerate. We are a small country and they are a world power," said Liberman and verbally attacked the European countries: "I advise the Europeans, Americans and Russians to first of all steer clear of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Whoever wants to help solve the conflict should first forget the excessive involvement of the rest of the world powers, mainly that of Europe. It is mostly disruptive." Regarding the Elor Azaria case, Lieberman said, "I don't know whether the soldier did the right thing or not. That is not my job. Again, I advise everyone to accept and respect the military court's decision even if we are not very comfortable." Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yona Metzger signed a plea agreement with the Jerusalem district attorney Tuesday evening in which the rabbi pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and fraud and will serve three and a half years in prison. Metzger was also fined NIS 5 million by the court. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The prosecution issued an indictment against Metzger for committing bribery, fraud and tax crimes during his tenure as chief rabbi. Rabbi Yona Metzger (Photo: Motti Kimchi) The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office said, "The prosecution insists upon a longer sentence and a higher fine, especially for someone who committed crimes while in such a senior position when he should have been serving as an example. He used his position to rake in money for his own pocket." Metzger's defense team, lead by Tal Gabai and Yehuda Freid, will reportedly seek a sentence of two years as opposed to three and a half. Additionally, the defense has reported that one of the rabbi's apartments will be forfeited. Metzger was charged in October 2015 with bribery, fraud and brach of trust. According to the indictment, Metzger received a bribe of NIS 10 million, NIS 7 million of which made it into his pocket. Photo: Yael Freidson "This is the place to reiterate that even though the indictment says bribery, this is not classic bribery," said Metzger's defense team. "Whoever reads the details understands these are brokerage fees between donors and NGOs, and were it not for the rabbi, there would be no contributions at all; there was no malicious intent on his part." In one case, the two raised funds for a yeshiva operating in Metzger's synagogue. According to suspicions, the driver received a $28,000 donation, handed it over to Metzger, and it was divided between the two of them without being transferred to the yeshiva. Another donation of NIS 72,000 was given by an Israeli businessman to an association providing food to the needy. After receiving the funds, the association's director allegedly gave Metzger 30 percent of the donation, about NIS 22,500, without informing the donor. According to the indictment, this was repeated many times. During Metzger's term as chief rabbi from 2003 to 2013, he allegedly received financial benefits from private people for activities related to his position. These benefits were received on many opportunities, both during private events and as a payment for the rabbi's participation in events held by the people who provided the benefits. During a press conference, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh has confirmed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is fully cooperating with investigators and condemns any attempt by officials to exert pressures on investigators and the investigation." Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This comes after Alsheikh said that police officials from the investigation were "being harassed." Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh (Photo: Daniel Elior) Speaking with reporters following a speech at the "Muni Expo" innovation convention, Alsheikh said, "I do not know who is behind the harassment. Everyone can interpret that as they please. We support the officers. They are doing their job professionally, cleanly and directly. It is their job and that is why they became police officers." According to a report by Channel 10, senior police officials were facing slander as a result of the investigation into Prime Minister Netanyahu. A spokesperson for the Israel Police issued a response saying, "In recent days, after receiving inquiries from reporters regarding certain claims, we are seeing an orchestrated campaign filled with false claims against senior police officials in the Investigations Unit. We are seeing serious attempts at exerting pressure being exerted in order to discourage law enforcement from faithfully fulfilling their duties. The Israel Police fully support their investigators and the police will continue to do their job impartially and without fear." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back at Education Minister Naftali Bennett over comments the latter made criticizing the decision-making process during Operation Protective Edge. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter In his speech before the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel Tuesday night, Netanyahu said, "There are cabinet ministers who said that in the two years prior to the operation cabinet members were not informed that there were tunnels dug into Israel or that the subject was not brought into cabinet discussions. PM Netanyahu speaking (Photo: Motti Kimchi) "We started discussing this in 2013, but on January 12, 2014, six months before the operation, I brought up the IDF's annual intelligence assessment and specifically mentioned tunnels and missiles," said Netanyahu while directly quoting the minutes from the cabinet meetings in question. Netanyahu continued quoting the minutes, saying, "Kidnappings or infiltration into Israeli settlements would be a serious blow to national morale. The tunnels present serious problems." The prime minister also presented minutes from February 16, 2014. "The prime minister agrees that a threat is posed to the State of Israel that is worsening. The prime minister assesses that the next operation in Gaza will include firing rockets at the center of terrorist organizations," Netanyahu quoted before continuing to more minutes from March 13: "They are developing two new tools which have equality-breaking significance: long-range rockets and underground routes." Exposed tunnels (Photo: IDF Spokesperson) Netanyahu concluded, "This is the tip of the iceberg of what I said month after month, and there's much more. Not only I, but also the IDF and the Shin Bet, and everything was said in cabinet. I want to ask you: How can you say that this threat in all its seriousness was not presented to the cabinet when I reviewed it as one of the four strategic threats to the State of Israel? "The IDF and security agencies did everything they could to protect the State of Israel. Our commanders risked their lives, and they deserve support from all of us. Leaks that try to falsely present the IDF are wrong and unwanted." The minutes of the cabinet meeting published in Yedioth Ahronoth demonstrate a general lack of preparedness for the tunnel threat, squabbling among the military echelons and serious feuds between ministers. Israel on Tuesday advised its citizens in Egypt's insurgency-hit Sinai peninsula to leave the region, warning of the threat of an imminent attack. Israeli holidaymakers are often warned of the risks they face in Sinai, which borders Israel, but the "Level 1" alert issued by the anti-terrorism directorate is its most severe warning. It described the threat as "very high and concrete". "The directorate warns of the possibility of attacks against tourist sites in the Sinai area in the immediate term," a statement said. What happens when a single girl goes to Uzbekistan, the land of Amir Taimur, the land where the Mughals came from? Here is a travel diary. By Ananya Bhattacharya: Close your eyes and listen to the words Central Asia. It will probably stir up images of azure domes, mosques, medressas... and silk. And if you are an Indian clued in into the history of Delhi, the name of Amir Taimur. Sitting in 2017 and writing about Central Asia is not an easy task. You need to encapsulate the history of a civilisation so old and events that happened so long ago that they are better left to historians to work on. For a single girl interested in history and all non-living things beautiful, Central Asia is all about the blue tiles, mosaics and baroque designs. And the promise of rediscovering a long-lost land. advertisement Those were pretty much my thoughts as I boarded the flight to Tashkent one morning late in December last year and took off. As the Indira Gandhi International Airport disappeared underneath and there was nothing but clouds to be seen from the aircraft window, I buried my face in the faithful Lonely Planet: Central Asia, and turned to Uzbekistan. Why go? The book asked. Why not? My mind answered. Indians have just about rediscovered the wonderland called Uzbekistan, and if you're on a budget, no better time to travel than late December. There are hardly any tourists there apart from the odd group of Indian men off to Tashkent to do what doing in Thailand might raise an eyebrow. If you're able to tune them out and ensure your paths don't cross with them, you're in for a treat. Uzbekistan is indescribably pretty in the month of December. Pack your heaviest jackets and overcoats and monkey-caps and gloves and woollen socks along, and you're all set. We landed in Tashkent to a smiling guide Zarina, who is in love with nice-smelling, 'macho' Indian men. Amitabh Bachchan and Mithun Chakraborty are among her favourites, as compared to Raj Kapoor who seems to dominate most conversations Uzbekis have with Indians in the country. Among the women, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Kareena Kapoor Khan have a special place in the hearts of the people of Uzbekistan. If you're a woman, nearly every man you talk to will try and tell you that you look like one of the two actresses notwithstanding your looks of incredulity. After making peace with the compliments, we took the first evening in Tashkent to visit some of the local places of interest. There's the Independence Square - the Mustaqillik Maydoni - with the Senate and the Parliament nearby to visit. Bronze pages with the names of the Uzbeki nationals who participated in World War II form the Memory Lane at the Mustaqillik Maydoni. The Crying Mother Monument and the Eternal Flame are the other things to see in this park-like Independence Square. Word of advice: If you choose a late-December evening to visit the place, make sure you cover yourself up from top to toe to avoid being frozen in the chilly Tashkent wind. advertisement The city abounds in Chevrolet and Daewoo cars; the pre-1991 Soviet Uzbekistan and the post-independence city co-existing peacefully in the vehicles, the buildings and people's tales. WATCH: What happens when a single girl goes to Uzbekistan, the land of Amir Taimur CHIMGAN-CHARVAK The next morning brought for us a trip to Lake Charvak and the Chimgan Mountains. The Chimgan Mountains lie in the Greater Chatkal Range, the western Tian Shan. Tashkent to Charvak is a two-hour ride by car, with the roads flanked by beautiful views of urban life merging into the mountains. Before long, we were greeted with fresh snow on both sides of the road, and the Tian Shan in all its glory ahead of us. The cynosure of all eyes in the Chimgan-Charvak area is the man-made Lake Charvak which serves as a reservoir. To the cable-car station in Chimgan A 15-minute ride from the Chorvoq Oromgohi resort took us to the cable-car station. If you manage to get over the initial fear of getting on those open chairs, you are rewarded with a breathtaking view of the Chatkal range. On the way to the peak, you will have several moments of self-realisation and the ride serves as the perfect occasion for the average atheist to rediscover religion, but darr ke aage jeet hai, they say, no? advertisement Stay a night at Charvak. If it snows the night you are in Charvak, the next morning will gift you with unforgettable glimpses of the lake. That afternoon, we took the cars back to Tashkent and dedicated the evening to seeing the remaining landmarks in the city. TASHKENT Among the most impressive of sights in the city is the monumental White Mosque. The white facade leads to the main mosque, an architectural wonder. We visited the Amir Temur Square after the White Mosque, and on the way saw the Monument of Courage, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Memorial and the Dom Forum. An impressive statue of Amir Taimur stands in the centre of the square. After Uzbekistan's first president Islam Karimov sanitised the park of chess players, the statue cuts a solitary figure now. Behind it is the Hotel Uzbekistan and the Dom Forum, where most state guests put up and most state events are hosted respectively. The TV Tower is the one monument you can see from the air right before it's touchdown Tashkent. The three-legged monster defines the Tashkent skyline. advertisement SAMARKAND It was an early start for us the next day. We were off to Samarkand from Tashkent on the Afrosiyob, the brand-new bullet train adding to Uzbekistan's pride. It covers the 300-km distance in flat two hours; the wheels are in motion at 8 am sharp, and stop at Samarkand at 10 am. From the Samarkand railway station, we made our way to the heart of the city, the University Boulevard. Amir Taimur sits bang in the centre of new Samarkand, on his throne, the guardian-ruler of Central Asia. From his statue, it's a five-minute walk to his mausoleum, Gur-e-Amir. The surprisingly modest Gur-e-Amir houses nine tombs, including those of Taimur's grandsons Ulugbek and Mohammad Sultan. You'll be treated to stories of the ferocious, indomitable Amir Taimur's greatness on your way inside. Gur-e-Amir, Amir Taimur's mausoleum in Samarkand Most of the old city of Samarkand is walled off. If you like your old cities really old, Samarkand will offer you with the perfect view. If you stay in the Registan, walk to the Siyob Bazaar. You have souvenir shops lining the road from the Registan Complex to the Siyob Bazaar, with friendly people calling out, "Hindostani?" all the way. Inside the Bibi Khanym Mosque complex, Samarkand In front of the Siyob Bazaar is the grand, congregational Bibi Khanym Mosque; among the most impressive 16th century mosques in the world. Legend has it that when he was off on his journey to conquer India, Amir Taimur's wife ordered the Bibi Khanym Mosque built. Bibi Khanym, Taimur's third and most-loved wife, made the architect of the mosque fall madly in love with her. He is said to have postponed the construction of the mosque till he received a kiss from Bibi Khanym. When Taimur returned and spotted the 'smooch-mark' on her, he ordered veils for all women in his empire. As for the architect, you don't really need to be told what fate he had to deal with! Across the Bibi Khanym Mosque is her mausoleum. The Bibi Khanym Mausoleum, Samarkand Once done with the Bibi Khanym Mosque and carefully avoiding going anywhere near the huge marble Quran stand (myth has it that women who crawl under the stand are blessed with many children; not something any of us were interested in checking the veracity of), we walked over to the Siyob Bazaar. You're greeted with a cornucopia of pleasures; visual and aural. To the calls of 'Madame!', you can pick your object of desire: dry fruits, silk, local chocolates, fruits and vegetables. There are Chevrolet-sized heaps of almonds and apricots, and you are spoilt for choice. Not only are the rates dirt-cheap compared to that in India, the produce is the proverbial 'best quality'. If you're an Indian, you're in for a treat in Samarkand and pretty much all of Uzbekistan. The exchange rates make you feel like a millionaire; and you literally need to walk around with wads of notes. You get 6 lakh Uzbeki Sum for 100 US dollars if you're getting your currency in black; the banks usually give you a higher rate of about 3.5 lakh Sum for 100 USD. After a long day of walking around the Registan, we were treated to some authentic Uzbeki food - shakarap, tea, non, kebob, shurpa, manti and plov, and we signed off with some good ol' ice cream. The next morning was earmarked for the Registan Square: the single most overwhelming sight in Central Asia. Two of us woke up two hours earlier than the rest of the group to explore the Siyob Bazaar on foot once again. Once is not enough. The place takes care of your shopaholism, and you don't even need to worry about spending much. After shopping to our heart's content, we made our way to the Registan Complex. The three medressas in the Registan Complex. (L-R) The Ulugbek Medressa, the Tilla Kari Medress and the Sher-e-Dor Medressa The overwhelming Registan Complex houses three medressas, the Ulugbek Medressa, the Tilla Kari (the Gold-Covered Medressa) and the Sher-e-Dor Medressa. The structures all are evidences of the marvellous architecture that the Timurid Empire excelled in. Most of the medressas are constantly being rebuilt and restored. You'll get a fair idea of what these places were like thanks to the art exhibitions inside the Tilla Kari and Ulugbek medressas. Feast your eyes on the blue tiles and intricate Arabic calligraphy on the walls of the medressas. Fun fact: Jalal-ad-din Mohammad Rumi (yes, the same Rumi whose love quotes dominate your WhatsApp messages) taught at the Ulugbek Medressa. We had to board the Afrosiyob back to Tashkent at 5pm. In between, we had a couple of hours to have lunch and visit Shah-i-Zinda, the tomb of the Living King. Prophet Mohammad's cousin Quasim is buried at Shah-i-Zinda, in addition to Amir Taimur's niece, two wives, and other relatives. Turn left where the street of mausoleums ends. The door to a mausoleum at Shah-i-Zinda, Samarkand The main graveyard of Samarkand is the best place to be in if you love your solitude and want some time off from the incessant chatter of the groups of tourists at Shah-i-Zinda. Not many decide to take a walk down the graveyard. Do. You will be rewarded with a fabulous view of Samarkand and the blue domes of Shah-i-Zinda. That evening, we returned to Tashkent. It was the 31st of December. The Uzbekistani capital was decked up in fairy lights and the place looked like a dream. We took to the streets, right outside the hotel, and played witness to the way Uzbeks welcome the New Year. And joined in too. January 1 brought with it the realisation that we were returning to a much less-colder Delhi. We spent time at the deserted Chorsu Bazaar and did the rest of our shopping. The national holiday dictated most stores shut in the market, leaving us with very little choice in the things to buy. We proceeded for an Indian three-course lunch, our palates ecstatic at receiving some semblance of non-bland food. As we landed in Delhi that evening, we felt exactly like what people from Siberia might feel when they enter India: OMG-it's-SO-HOT-HERE! (The writer tweets as @ananya116.) --- ENDS --- An IDF tank shelled a Hamas outpost in the center of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in retaliation for two incidents of shooting at IDF forces earlier in the day. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter No soldiers were injured and no damage was reported in the shooting, which took place towards soldiers along the border of the strip with Re'im, a nearby kibbutz. An IDF tank (Photo: AP) Before that, an IDF force reported the sound of firing during regular operations that they were carrying out in the area of Metula in the upper Galilee on the Lebanese border. No soldiers were reported injured or damage reported in that case, either. Lebanese media quoted Israeli media regarding the second incident. The Lebanese reported that "the combat public-relations unit" of Hezbollah denied that it fired at Israel. Further, Lebanese media added that the situation along the LebanonIsrael border was completely normal. Lebanese security sources also denied that there had been fire at Israeli forces. They told the El Nashra news site that the situation in the area was calm. Yoav Zitun, Ahiya Raved and Liad Osmo contributed to this report. YORK A mitigation hearing has been set for March, with re-sentencing set in April for man convicted of killing his sister when he was still a juvenile. Sydney Thieszen will be transported to York County District Court on both occasions the first times in many years that he will be in the county where he committed murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Thieszen killed his 12-year-old sister in the Henderson-area home in 1987 when he was 14. In 1988, he was convicted of second degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. In 1996, he was resentenced after the first conviction was challenged. The second time around, he was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Thieszen filed a motion for post-conviction relief in 2013 in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared mandatory life-without-parole sentences unconstitutional for juvenile offenders. A district court judge granted Thieszens motion and prosecutors appealed. On Dec. 9, 2016, the Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the resentencing for Thieszen. This week, York County District Judge James Stecker (who will re-sentence Thieszen) met with Thieszens attorney, Jeffery Pickens, and Corey OBrien representing the Nebraska Attorney Generals office. All parties agreed that the calculation of good time could be achieved by the judge consulting with the Nebraska Department of Corrections. OBrien said he would be including victim impact statements in the pre-sentence report. The last pre-sentence report would be part of the record, with current materials from expert witnesses and details of Thieszens behavior while in prison. The mitigation hearing will be held March 15 at 9 a.m. Sentencing proceedings are expected to last two hours, starting at 9 a.m., on April 21. YORK A 26-year-old man has been formally charged with first degree sexual assault of a child and the case has been bound over to York County District Court. Anthony Scott Hoy was arrested by Adams County authorities in late December. He was later transported to the York County Jail by the York County Sheriffs Department. Hoy is accused of sexually assaulting a four-year-old child over a period of time indicated in court documents to be May through December of 2016. An investigation was conducted, involving the York Police Department because the assaults are alleged to have taken place in York. Also involved in the investigation was the Nebraska Child Advocacy Center. No further details of the case can be published due to the graphic details included in court documents and in an effort to protect the identity of the child. A special prosecutor from the Nebraska Attorney Generals office has been appointed to the case. Hoy has been formally charged with a Class 1B felony, which carries a possible maximum sentence of 20 years to life upon conviction. Arraignment proceedings are pending. 433rd Security Forces Airmen return from deployment Thirteen Citizen Airmen from the 433rd Security Forces Squadron returned from Southwest Asia, Jan. 19. The Airmen deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve. While deployed, the Alamo Wing Airmen were responsible for providing integrated defense, emergency response, and combat support for the base, which houses military and host-nation tenant agencies. The Airmen were greeted with a warm welcome from their families and fellow Airmen. The 433rd AW is an Air Force Reserve unit with approximately 2,500 members. The wing headquarters and its 21 subordinate units are tenants here. Pilots and maintainers from the 419th and 388th Fighter Wings deployed the F-35A Lightning II to Nellis AFB, Nevada, Jan. 20. This is the first deployment to Red Flag for the F-35A and the first large movement since the Air Force declared the jet combat ready in August 2016. Red Flag is the Air Force's premier air-to-air combat training exercise. Participants include both United States and allied nations' combat air forces. The exercise provides aircrews the experience of multiple, intensive air combat sorties in the safety of a training environment. Our Airmen are excited to bring the F-35 to a full-spectrum combat exercise, said Col. David Lyons, 388th FW commander. This battle space is going to be a great place to leverage our stealth and interoperability. Its a lethal platform and Im confident we will prove to be an invaluable asset to the commander. The jets will be at Red Flag through Feb. 10. While deployed, the F-35 will fly alongside fourth- and fifth-generation platforms and provide offensive and defensive counter air, suppression of enemy air defenses, and limited close air support. Red Flag is hands-down the best training in the world to ensure our Airmen are fully mission ready, said Col. David Smith, 419th FW commander. Its as close to combat operations as you can get. Our Reserve pilots and maintainers are looking forward to putting the F-35A weapon system to the test alongside our active duty partners to bring an unprecedented combat capability. The F-35A is a fifth-generation multi-role stealth fighter designed to gather, fuse, and distribute more information than any other fighter in history. The first operational F-35As arrived at Hill AFB in October 2015. The base will eventually be home to three operational F-35 fighter squadrons with a total of 78 aircraft by the end of 2019. The active duty 388th FW and Air Force Reserve 419th FW will fly and maintain the Air Forces newest fighter aircraft in a Total Force partnership, which capitalizes on the strength of both components. President Trump signs executive order to freeze hiring Memorandum for the heads of Executive departments and agencies Subject: Hiring Freeze By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby order a freeze on the hiring of Federal civilian employees to be applied across the board in the executive branch. As part of this freeze, no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. This order does not include or apply to military personnel. The head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities. In addition, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Director of OPM, shall recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government's workforce through attrition. This order shall expire upon implementation of the OMB plan. Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted. This hiring freeze applies to all executive departments and agencies regardless of the sources of their operational and programmatic funding, excepting military personnel. In carrying out this memorandum, I ask that you seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of these services. Accordingly, this memorandum does not prohibit making reallocations to meet the highest priority needs and to ensure that essential services are not interrupted and national security is not affected. This memorandum does not limit the nomination and appointment of officials to positions requiring Presidential appointment or Senate confirmation, the appointment of officials to non-career positions in the Senior Executive Service or to Schedule C positions in the Excepted Service, or the appointment of any other officials who serve at the pleasure of the appointing authority. Moreover, it does not limit the hiring of personnel where such a limit would conflict with applicable law. This memorandum does not revoke any appointment to Federal service made prior to January 22, 2017. This memorandum does not abrogate any collective bargaining agreement in effect on the date of this memorandum. DONALD J. TRUMP By Press Trust of India: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) The Trump administration has announced to have four Skype seats inside the press briefing room at the White House, which will give access to journalists outside the national capital. "Beginning later this week, Im excited to announce that were going to have four -- what we call Skype seats, live here in the briefing room," the White House Press Secretary Sean Spicertold reporters at his maiden news conference yesterday. advertisement He said it will aid those who do not have necessary security clearance to enter White House. "This will open up the briefing to journalists who live beyond 50 miles of the Washington DC area and to organisations that dont currently have a hard pass," he said. As always, any organisation is welcome to apply for a day pass. "But were excited to open up into the field and fold here, a diverse group of journalists from around the country, who may not have the convenience or funding to travel to Washington," he said. "I think this can benefit us all by giving a platform to voices that are not necessarily based here in the belt way," Spicer said. This is the first time that the White House is having Skype seats inside the White House press briefing room. The previous Obama Administration was a frequent user of Twitter, and Facebook as part of its outreach to the press. PTI LKJ ARK ARK --- ENDS --- A US woman on was booted off an Alaska Airlines flight after she lashed out at a Trump supporter seated next to her for "putting a crazed man in charge of the nuclear codes." By India Today Web Desk: What could've been a peaceful trip home turned foul for a woman in the US after she was booted off an Alaska Airlines flight for biting the head of a Trump supporter. It all started after Scott Koteskey, a Trump supporter, walked into the said plane and sat down next to this woman and her husband. advertisement "I put my backpack in the overhead and the wife with a very stern voice says to me, 'Did you come here to cheer or to protest?'" Koteskey describes in his Facebook post, which has gone viral. To this, Koteskey replied that he was in the Washington DC area to "celebrate democracy" rather than to protest. AND THAT'S SHE WENT BALLISTIC The woman started berating Koteskey for "putting a crazed man [Trump, of course] in charge of the nuclear codes." When Koteskey tried reason with her that he was "entitled to his opinions," she lost all control and went on possessed rant about how she, too, was entitled to get drunk and throw up in his lap. Also read: Pope Francis, Micheal Keaton, and many other famous people think it's time to give Trump a chance This is what Koteskey writes she said: "I'm entitled to get drunk and puke in your lap! I'm going to throw up right in your lap! You make me sick! Don't talk to me! Don't look at me! Don't you dare even put your arm on that rest. You disgust me! You should be ashamed of yourself! You put a maniac's finger on the button" (assuming she's means nukes). You are a bigot. You should get off this plane!" Somewhere around this point, a flight attendant approached their seats, and Koteskey turned on his camera. In this video that Koteskey recorded, the woman can be heard telling the flight attendant to change his seat with someone who "did not come here to celebrate,". Also read: Neighbours write heartwarming letter to Muslim family after Trump's swearing in ceremony The woman then goes on to 'scold' Koteskey, "You pretend you have the moral high ground, but you put that man's finger on the nuclear button. That man doesn't believe in climate change. Do you believe in gravity? Did you know gravity is just a theory?" At this point, a supervisor walks in and requests her to deboard the plane as per the captain's orders. The woman, however, refused to leave. advertisement "There's no way I'm getting off this plane... My husband lost his mother. Have some respect," she can be heard saying. After much argument with the supervisor, when the woman refused to budge, the airport police were stepped in and escorted the woman and her husband off the plane. In another video shot in the plane, passengers can be heard clapping and chanting 'USA' as the couple is escorted out. And just as the crowd cheers her exit, the woman flashes the finger at them before stepping out. 2) Raw video: Anti-Trump couple are kicked off from an airline for abusing a Trump supporter and disturbing passengers. story text follow pic.twitter.com/fLXRRlOp7O ?? (@JPY_Kurdish) January 24, 2017 --- ENDS --- Chonmipem Horam `Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent`- Victor Hugo Can you imagine a life void of music? Absolutely NOT! Whether you admit it or not, music permeates our daily life, weaving its beauty and emotion through our thoughts, activities and memories. Music is harmony and music is beauty. Music has the quality of expressing the inexpressible. One cannot approach music with ones own peculiar likes, dislikes or tastes, which are all a part of ones own conditioning. Music is something both extraordinarily complex and incredibly simple at the same time.Roots of World Music day World Music Day also known as Fete de la Musique, was a music festival that began in France in 1982.The idea was conceived by French Minister of Culture, Jack Lang in 1981. Since then June 21st has been celebrated every year as World Music Day. Today, it has spread to Argentina, Australia, Britain, Luxemburg, Germany, Switzerland, Costa Rica, China, India, Lebanon, Pakistan and many other countries. On this day, the musicians perform for free in open areas. Free concerts are organized in parks, museums, train stations, castles etc. This is done to promote music, making all genres of music accessible to the public. It gives an opportunity to communicate and share special bond through music. The term World Music includes traditional as well as non-western music. It is folk music of any culture, created and played by indigenous people. It is a classical form of music accompanied by traditional ethnic instruments, some prominent forms are Japanese Koto music, India raga music, Tibetan chants and South African `township music`. Genres India, being a land of unity in diversity with various cultures, traditions, art forms, every region has its own unique musical form. While there are various genres, Indian classical music has been divided into North Indian tradition known as Hindustani music and Carnatic music belonging to South India. But apart from these, there are varied forms such as Bhangra, Bhajans or devotional, Ghazals and Qawwalis, Indi-pop, Folk, Tribal, Film songs, Remixes, Fusion. While, Bhangra is a dance oriented folk music, Bhavageete (literally `devotional song`) is a form of expressionist poetry and light music. Qawwali is a Sufi form of devotional music based on Hindustani classical. And in the West, we have Metal, Punk, Rock, Hip-Hop, Hard Rock, alternative, Experimental, Country, Disco, Funk, Classical, Progressive, Trance, Techno, Ska, Reggae music. Trance Music was developed in early quarters of 20th century and is generally played in club houses and dance floors. Indigenous Country Music born of the US is in form of folk, Celtic, church, gospels and tribal music, while, Pop Music is both classical and folk. Reggae is a music genre developed in late 1960`s. Its lyrics deal with faith, love, sexuality, relationships, injustice etc. Hip-hop is both a cultural movement and genre of music developed in New York City in 1970`s by African Americans and Latin Americans.The good, the bad and the ugly Music is an important form of communication. Its a reflection of society in a particular time and place. Music needs no boundaries, it bonds us irrespective of who we are, and where are we from. Not only its a source of entertainment but it also acts as a medium to convey messages, of how things are, and what lies ahead in the future. Michael Jackson`s song `Heal the world sounds beautiful as well as inspiring as it echoes noble thoughts. There`s A Place In Your Heart, And I Know That It Is Love, And This Place Could Be Much Brighter Than Tomorrow, And If You Really Try You`ll Find There`s No Need To Cry,In This Place You`ll Feel There`s No Hurt Or Sorrow There Are Ways To Get There If You Care Enough For The Living Make A Little Space, Make A Better Place... Heal The World, Make It A Better Place, For You And For Me And The Entire Human Race There Are People Dying, If You Care Enough For The Living, Make A Better Place For You And For Me If You Want To Know Why There`s A Love That Cannot Lie Love Is Strong, It Only Cares For Joyful Giving If We Try, We Shall See In This Bliss We Cannot Feel, Fear Or Dread We Stop Existing And Start Living Then It Feels That Always Love`s Enough For Us Growing So Make A Better World Make A Better World... And The Dream We Were Conceived In, Will Reveal A Joyful Face And The World We Once Believed In Will Shine Again In Grace Then Why Do We Keep Strangling Life Wound This Earth, Crucify Its Soul Though It`s Plain To See, This World Is Heavenly Be God`s Glow We Could Fly So High Let Our Spirits Never Die In My Heart, I Feel You Are All My Brothers Create A World With No Fear Together We`ll Cry Happy Tears See The Nations Turn their Swords Into Plowshares We Could Really Get There If You Cared Enough for The Living Make A Little Space, To Make A Better Place... You And For Me Music also grants us the freedom of expression. Like in late 1980`s and 90`s, young black Americans coming out of the Civil Rights Movement used this to show the limitation of the movement. It used Hip-hop to voice their issues. It lets them the world to be noticed. But inspite of all these social impacts, there have been negative aspects as well. Some of the most popular songs in Hip-hop genre have negatively influenced violence, drugs, alcohol, sex and disrespect for authorities, which is detrimental to the lives and education of the youngsters.Festivals There are many World Music festivals and jazz/folk/roots/new age crossover events. The Ariano Folkfestival is the biggest World Music festival in southern Italy, is held in mid August. The California World Music Festival is held each July at Nevada County Fairgrounds. The World Sacred Music Festival is held annually in Olympia, Washington State. FloydFest in Floyd, Virginia, USA. The Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York, USA. Rainforest World Music Festival is another world music festival held in Malaysia. Stern Grove festival is a San Francisco celebration of musical and cultural diversity. The Starwood Festival in New York has been held in July every year since 1981. By Press Trust of India: Washington, Jan 24 (PTI) Yoga and aerobic exercise interventions may not significantly reduce sleep disturbances among midlife women experiencing hot flashes, according to a new study. Researchers at University of Washington in the US said although the women had no difficulty falling asleep, disturbed sleep was common at baseline and remained after each intervention, with women in all groups waking during the night for an average of more than 50 minutes. advertisement Previously published analyses of the same trial had found that the yoga and aerobic exercise interventions were associated with small but statistically significant improvements in subjective, self-reported sleep quality and insomnia severity. "Our primary findings were that the two study interventions had no significant effects on objective sleep outcomes in midlife women with hot flashes," said Diana Taibi Buchanan, associate professor at the University of Washington. "The main implication of this finding is that other behaviour treatments with the potential for effectively improving sleep in this population should be examined," said Buchanan. The study involved 186 late transition and postmenopausal women with hot flashes who were between 40 and 62 years of age. Study subjects had an average of 7.3 to 8 hot flashes per day. Participants were randomised to 12 weeks of yoga, supervised aerobic exercise, or usual activity. Sleep measures were evaluated using wrist actigraphy, and bedtimes and rise times were determined primarily from the participants sleep diaries. Mean sleep duration at baseline and after each intervention was less than the seven or more hours of nightly sleep that is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for optimal health in adults. According to researchers, future study should explore other approaches for improving sleep quality in midlife women, such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. PTI NKS SAR SAR --- ENDS --- In an age, when the entire nation is raving about Aamirs 8-pack abs, Kareenas size-zero figure, Akshays hot-bod toned to perfection and John Abrahams cute butt, Bollywood celebrities have become the latest authority on fashion gyan.

But while these celebs were a visual treat, there were certain stars, who left our eyes sore, tongues wagging and throats dry.

And here is one warning we would like to issue in public interest that never (and we mean it) take any fad advice from the following:

Vidya Balan

A fashion designers worst nightmare, Vidya `Balloon` errr... Balan is one challenge every fashion guru is scared to take up. The lady with her flabby self and bulky frame has the word HELP written all over her. While the other B-town beauties scorched the ramp, Vidya was kept miles away from the designers Mecca.

No amount of convincing from filmmakers and designers could make this heavy weight actress shed a few kilos. Be it an Indian get-up or western gear, Vidya was hell bent to look hideous.

Although B-towns favourite tailor Manish Malhotra tried his utmost to make the lady look glam, he just couldnt make her look right. And all the lady earned was notoriety for her looks.

In an age, where the only size that matters is zero, Vidya Balan reminds of well rounded 70s heroines. A true blast from the past!

Ameesha Patel

So, she made a comeback of sorts this year, but going by her recently developed sense of style, we only wish she hadnt.

Showcasing her thunderous thighs in ultra flimsy dresses, here is one B-town starlet, who even failed the bikini.

She is probably the only lass, who could have stripped down to a two-piece and yet let dowdy Rani Mukerji steal the show, who looked equally nauseating in her gaudy Mary Poppins replica of an outfit.

From a fancy bungalow to a new beau, if only style could be purchased, Ameesha would have had it all. But like they say, not everything is for sale.

Class is something that you are just born with

Mallika Sherawat

She has got the oomph factor but a blah taste in dressing, to say the least. Wonder why the lady looks good only in a bikini? Because thats the only thing she wears right. Tank tops, shredded dresses, lousy patterns that shout loud for attention - Mallika is bent upon turning her every outfit into a put the pieces together puzzle.

This Murder bombshell could in fact claim lives with her whacky sense of styling.

The naughty hottie, who has been trying hard to abandon her item girl image, is yet to figure out that its her wannabe style sense that exposes her BTM (Bhenji Trying to be Mod) side.

A little piece of advice - mystery is the spice of life. And we all know you have got the abs, so just stop cutting such big holes in your outfit to flaunt them. The problem is not with what she shows but that she shows too much.

Luckily for us, ever since the global downturn has adversely affected Bollywood, not much moolah is coming Mallikas way. As a result, we dont get to see much of her these days. Now thats what we call a blessing in disguise. Thank god for small mercies!

Rani Mukerji

She is the Rani of bad dressing sense. In fact if there is one lady who personifies fashion fiasco, it has to be Rani Mukerji. Sorry for being cynical but take one look at her off-screen costumes or for that matter onscreen too and youll agree.

So, she got the Yash Raj banner around her little finger (courtesy beau Aditya Chopra) but shouldnt the banner be a little more concerned about the face that represents them in more ways than just films.

If Vidya Balan is a designers worst nightmare, Rani Mukerji too is very capable of giving a stylist sleepless nights. Had it not been too rude to poke fun on close friends at live award ceremonies by stating the obvious truth, SRK would have certainly delighted us all by handing one of his famous nareal awards to Rani.

With her small bulky frame, gaudy taste in clothes, and awful choice of colour her name Rani (Queen) surely sounds very ironical.

Rakhi Sawant

Not that we care much about what she wears or doesnt wear; nevertheless her painstaking effort of going under the knife, has earned her a position in this list. Looking at Rakhi, we cannot help but agree that there is not much that a poor cosmetic surgeon can do.

No amount of plastic surgeries or facial nip tucks could turn this industry bimbo into desi diva. Whats more she continues to amuse us with her tacky quotes, shrieking voice and plunging neckline dresses exposing her changeable silicones.

And we would love to leave her alone just that she doesnt want us to. She doesnt forget to remind us that any publicity is good. Well we are happy to oblige.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Its true Aishwarya Rai is just too pretty otherwise the lady would have some tough time explaining her sense of style. The moment an admirers eyes moves beyond her gorgeous face, what he sees is horrifying. Her clothes appear to have been crafted to ward off bad omen as she has been spotted in some of the most eye popping outrageous attires.

An ex-Miss World, who is endowed with good histrionic skills, Aishwarya Rai almost fits the Bachchan Bahu bill. Well we say almost, as a classy sense of style just eludes this green-eyed lass. Being the unofficial brand ambassador of the nation, her outfits at some rave international events have often put many of us to shame.

Making us wonder as to what was she thinking, when the nations pride was at stake?

Abhishek Bachchan

Keeping close company to his better half, Abhishek Bachchan is not far behind when it comes to dressing debacles. The unshaven brawny look that he has been sporting ever since his bachelorhood days makes our skin crawl.

And just when we thought that he could possibly not go any worse, best buddy Goldie Behl proved us all wrong when he turned him into a gold clad superhero in the film Rona errr Drona.

The actor, who is bent upon following his daddys footsteps, seems to have got only his fathers style quotient right- i.e. of a 70-year-old man.

Govinda

Now what do we say? After spending decades in the glitzy world of glamour and fashion, Chi Chi refuses to observe the basic etiquette and the dress code expected from a celebrity. He is the star of the masses and is solely responsible for damaging the propitious style sense of his loyalist fans.

But no blaming the star here, his looks fail him even in the most exquisite attires as his coolie avatar remains intact. To his respite, we say that he can still pull of the Coolie No 1 role.

Uday Chopra

Even with all his money and family name, this Chopra scion is one fashion disaster. Sporting tight tees and equally tight jeans, the man actor could model for spandex on any given day.

Last seen in Dhoom 2, the actor perfectly essayed the role of a tapori but guess the style statement just stuck to him.

And its about time, someone told him to get rid of those Bugs Bunny teeth.

Vivek Oberoi

There is something about Ash. Be it Salman or Vivek, every man who dared to love and lose this stunner has had his destiny doomed. Though Sallus experiences with previous girlfriends helped him move on quick, Vivek seems to miss the bus year after year.

He is single and struggling and those are two scary words for any actor. But no blaming anyone else here - its all his doing. Once thought to be a promising star, the actor seems to be suffering from post breakup syndrome. And going by his tacky rather scary look, it seems he is hell bent upon bagging the title of a man destroyed in love.

If looks could kill, Vivek Oberoi with his untidy beard and Tarzan like locks, would have claimed many lives by now.

One line for him let bygones be bygone, mate and take better care of yourself. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Syrian-Armenians living in Lebanon, it seems, want to return to Syria, member of the ARF Central Committee of Lebanon Melik Karagavoryan said in an interview with Armenpress. He said since the situation in Aleppo is relatively calm, thats why many Syrian-Armenians in Lebanon started to think about the issue of returning to Syria. Today it is yet early to speak about the number of people transferring to Syria, but we can state that many depart for Syria to get acquainted with the situation there, understand what opportunities are there for return, they are considering the options of restoring their works. Yes, there are moods among the Syrian-Armenians in Lebanon to return to Aleppo, he said. He said if there are Syrian-Armenians who will make a final decision to return, they must, of course, assist them. This issue is being discussed in the Armenian National Committee, assisting the Syria-Armenians, who are returning to Syria, is among our agenda issues. We have expressed our readiness and now we are waiting for the proposals by Syrias Ambulance body. We will work with them in order the work on providing assistance to be more coordinated, Melik Karagavoryan said. He informed that according to their latest information, 9-10 thousand Syrian-Armenians live in Lebanon. The process on assisting the Syrian-Armenian refugees in Lebanon is quite coordinated. From the very start they are provided with first necessary things, the local Armenian structures are solving the education issue of the children of the Syrian-Armenian refugee families. We are trying to do all possible in order to ensure the education of all children. Today we dont have such a problem, almost all children of the Syrian-Armenian families are studying in educational institutions. They are studying in Armenian schools for free, he said, adding that the main problem faced by the Syrian-Armenian families is related with the housing and employment. There are certain difficulties in this regard. On December 12, 2016 various Syrian sources announced about the full liberation of Aleppo by the Syrian army and its allies. The local media reported that the people are celebrating Aleppos liberation, its victory. In early January of 2017 Aram I Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia visited Aleppo where he delivered a mass in the St. Mary (Surp Asdvadzadzin) Armenian Apostolic Church. He also visited the national-church institutions in order to get acquainted with the situation and have a clear picture of needs of the Armenians of Aleppo. Aram I Catholicos addressed a call to all Armenians aimed at making the restoration of Aleppo, the full support to the Armenians of Aleppo as a pan-national issue. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani forces made over 20 ceasefire violations in the Nagorno Karabakh (NKR)-Azerbaijan line of contact, the defense ministry of NKR told ARMENPRESS. The ministry released a statement, saying: On January 23 and overnight January 24 Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime in the line of contact more than 20 times, firing around 210 shots from various caliber small arms at NKR posts. In addition, Azerbaijani forces fired 60mm mortars (5 shells) and automatic grenade launchers ( 1 projectile) in the north-eastern direction of the line of contact. The NKR forces continue maintaining complete control in the frontline and carry on with their service. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The talks on Syria conflict settlement restarted in Astana, reports TASS. The delegations of the Syrian government and opposition, as well as those of Russia, Turkey, Iran, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and US Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol, acting as an observer, are taking part in the talks. The meetings have been restarted, the work continues, Staffan de Mistura said. We, as always, are optimistic. Syrias government and opposition on January 24 under de Misturas mediation will continue discussing the mechanisms on maintenance of ceasefire in Syria. It is possible the talks may be prolonged, but as of now there is no talk on extending the meeting for another day. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. U.S Secretary of Defense James Mattis held a phone conversation with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during which he highlighted the importance of the alliance for the US, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said on January 23, reports Reuters. "The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe," spokesman Jeff Davis saying as quoted by Reuters. Davis said Mattis and Stoltenberg agreed to continue consultations, as well as hold talks in a meeting of the Defense Ministers of the NATO member states in February. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. There are numerous projects related to various sectors in the expanding communities of Armenia, and the projects will soon be financed and achieve successes, minister of territorial administration and development Davit Lokyan told ARMENPRESS. We have two groups of projects in expanding communities. First are the infrastructure projects, which must provide the integrity of settlements in the community. Meaning they must have contact with the center of the community, they must be able to communicate without difficulties, make payments and use all types of communication. Citizen Service Offices are operating in 21 community administration centers of Armenia, 8 of which in expanding community centers. For instance, the service office is operating in Dilijans community administration center, and due to constant online contact with settlements, the staff are able to provide all necessary documents or financial transactions to citizens, Lokyan said. Curently works are underway to initiate the project in another 10 communities (Amasia, Arpi, Ashotsk, Sarapat, Ayrum, Noyemberyan, Koghb, Tegh, Gorayk). The program is carried out in collaboration with the GIZ German development agency. Lokyan said the Dilijan community has already received agricultural, waste management, snow clearing and street cleaning equipment for its village settlements due to the USAID grant. Transportation issues are under spotlight, and the community will receive 6 buses with the assistance of the EU. The buses will operate daily routes in village settlements, providing a stable communication with Dilijan. Lokyan also pointed out the lighting program of Dilijan. The program is worth around 380 million drams, which will provide complete modern lighting systems in village settlements and Dilijan, the minister said. Under another project, markets will be built along the Dilijan and Haghartsin highways. Also, a new waste management and disposal project will be initiated in Dilijan. In addition to the transportation, lighting and waste management issues, the community development programs also encompass educational programs. Lokyan said various schools of Dilijan have received new technological labs, allowing children to get to know robotics and technology. In terms of economic projects in expanding communities, the minister said they must lead to increase of added value and income of communities, which in its turn will provide increase of services. The first actions in these directions have already been taken, and the Government has received numerous programs in both expanding communities and other communities. Programs regarding the construction of a milk factory and a slaughterhouse were received from Berdashen community of Amasia, and this field has serious resources for development. This project has been endorsed by the Government, and soon the ministries of economic development & investments and agriculture will find options for assistance, Lokyan said. Similar projects have been received for the Urtsadzor community of Ararat province production of tea and herbs in the Khosrov reserve area. Another project regarding development of goat breeding was received by the Zaritap and Vayk communities. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. A candlelight vigil dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the murder of Armenian journalist of Istanbul, founder of Agos newspaper Hrant Dink was held in New York, The Armenian Weekly reports. Dozens of Armenian community members, with Armenian flags, Dinks photos and various posters took part in the event. They called for justice and shout: We are all Hrant Dink, Justice for Hrant Dink, Turkey, recognize your guilt. The candlelight vigil started with a prayer. On behalf of the Armenian community, ANC-NY chairman Nazareth Markarian and writer Taleen Babayan delivered speeches. Hrant Dink was murdered in cold-blood on the streets of Turkey, in broad daylight, because he had the courage to stand up for truth and because he would not remain silent about the Armenian Genocide. Turkey continues to violate its citizens right to life and freedom of speech and has intensified its crackdown of political opponents. Just a few days ago, Garo Paylan, an elected official to Turkeys Parliament, was suspended and banned from Parliament. It is our duty to remain vigilant and raise our collective voice in support of Paylan, who like Hrant Dink before him, refuses to be silenced in his fight for human rights and Turkish acknowledgment of the Armenian Genocide, Markarian saying as quoted by The Armenian Weekly. . In his turn, Babayan said Dink was led by motives of justice, truth and progress. Today, a decade after Dinks murder, little has changed in Turkey. The systematic persecutions of religious and ethnic minorities continue. We have hope for a better future. Hrant gave us that hope. We are here, Ahparig [brother], Babayan said. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. US may carry out joint operations with Russia against the Islamic State, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters, reports TASS. If there is a way allowing us to fight against the IS with any state, be it Russia or any other state, and if we have a common national interest, of course, we will use it, Sean Spicer said. Earlier US President Donald Trump said he is ready to hold dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the two countries can, for instance, jointly fight against the IS. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Iran is in favor of diplomatic settlements of the Syrian conflict and other regional conflicts, but it wont refuse assisting Syria in fighting terrorist groups, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Parliamentary Director General for International Affairs and Assistant to Speaker of Parliament said. We believe the only path to overcoming the Syrian crisis is the diplomatic way, but this circumstance wont make us ignore the assistance which is provided to Syria in the fight against terrorism, he said after a meeting with Lebanons Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Interfax reported. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Over 600 people gathered at the Armenian Community Center of Toronto to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the murder of Armenian journalist of Istanbul, founder of Agos newspaper Hrant Dink, The Armenian Weekly reports. One of the keynote speakers Cem Ozdemira German parliamentarian of Turkish descent and the current co-chair of the German Greens Alliance Party, spoke about the bravery of Hrant Dink in his speech. Thanks to Hrant Dink, Armenians in Turkey speak about the Armenian Genocide. Thanks to Hrant, Turks, who have never heard about the Armenian Genocide, talk about it. People started to ask themselves what they had learned in the past, Ozdemir said. He also talked about the necessity of reconciliation between Armenia and Turkey and emphasized the importance of the positive attitude by the Turkish society towards ethnic and religious minorities. He recalled one of his talks with a group in the mosque in Berlin where he said: You have children, I have children and we want our children to be good people and good citizens. Christian, Jew, Muslim, or Atheistwhatever we arewe want that. So when you talk to your children, do you not talk about role models, and people you want your children to look up to and maybe take them as examples? I dont tell my children follow the path of people that betrayed their neighbors So I ask you: who is a better Muslim, one who looks aside when Armenians are killed, or the one that says attacking an Armenian is like attacking me? Killing them is like killing me, Ozdemir saying as quoted by The Armenian Weekly. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne in her speech continued to talk about the Armenian Genocide. Even 100 years later since the Armenian Genocide, the passage of the century has not dulled the horrors of those events. Remembering Hrant Dink, we also remember those Armenias who perished, Wynne said. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Syrias Permanent Representative to the UN Bashar Jaafari strictly criticized Turkey on the sidelines of Syria talks in Astana, Demokrathaber.net reports. During a break in the meeting, he responded to a question of a reporter over the Turkish-Syrian relations, stating that official Ankara assists terrorist groups. Turkey is the guarantor of the armed terrorist groups, he said, adding that he came to Astana with a goal to achieve success. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community organization of Quebec organized a commemorative event on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Hrant Dinks assassination on January 21 in Montreal, Canada. The event was attended by Ambassador of Armenia to Canada H.E. Armen Yeganyan, the ministry of foreign affairs told ARMENPRESS. Cem Ozdemir, co-chair of the German political party Alliance '90/The Greens delivered a speech during the event. High ranking diplomats, political and public figures, reporters, heads of the Armenian community structures and hundreds of representatives of Quebecs Armenian community were present at the event.] Ambassador Yeganyan delivered a speech praising Zoryan Institute director Gurgen Sargsyan and famous Canadian-Armenian figure Raffi Bedrosyan for organizing the event. The Ambassador highlighted the holding of the event, noting as long as there are people who continue Dinks work, his memory will not be forgotten. Ambassador Yeganyan thanked German lawmaker Ozdemir for his large-scale work and awarded him with the Armenian Embassy Certificate. In his long speech, Ozdemir reflected on his long-lasting friendly relations with Hrant Dink and emphasized the important role which Dink had for raising awareness of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey. Ozdemir also mentioned that it is due to Hrant Dink that he initiated the German Parliaments adoption of the Armenian Genocide resolution. The event also included the screening of a film on Hrant Dinks life and an online address from his widow Rakel Dink. A similar commemorative event was held on January 22 in Toronto as well. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Unity party denies media reports which said allegedly the partys president, ex-FM Vartan Oskanian had a meeting with PAP founder, business magnate Gagik Tsarukyan. Media reports also said the sides ruled out possible cooperation. Spokesperson of the Unity party Aregnaz Manukyan released a statement, denying reports on a meeting between Oskanian and Tsarukyan. Some media outlets have released disinformation, saying that a Tsarukyan-Oskanian meeting had taken place, where a possible cooperation has been ruled out. I am officially denying these reports. A meeting between Oskanian and Tsarukyan hasnt been held, therefore no issue has been discussed. In terms of cooperation, there is no need for official meetings or official negotiations for this. Several members of the Unity party Board have normal personal relations with Tsarukyan, they highly value the path they passed jointly and distinguish the understandings of cooperation, respects and list, the statement said. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Turkish law enforcement agencies arrested 5 people in the countrys Sanlurfa Province suspected in plotting suicide attacks, Anadolu reports. The would-be suicide attackers confessed they had undergone training in Syria and afterwards entered the country illegally. They planned to carry out attacks in major cities across Turkey. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Minister of Transport, Communication and Information Technologies Vahan Martirosyan had a meeting with Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov during his visit to Moscow, press service of the Armenian Ministry told Armenpress. The sides discussed a number of issues related to the opportunities of mutual cooperation, as well as bilateral cooperation in the communication and IT sector between the two countries within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Referring to the cooperation within the EAEU, the Russian Minister said one of the most important steps of the partnership between Russia, Armenia and other EAEU member states is the implementation of the EAEU digitization agenda. It is not only an EAEU integration component, but also an involvement of the EAEU states in the worlds large-scale digital transformations change process. In his turn, Minister Vahan Martirosyan attached importance to the involvement of the Armenian students in Russias leading technical universities. He expressed hope the cooperation frameworks between the two states in the IT sector will expand in near future. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an instruction on initiating negotiations between Rosatom and Armenian state agencies on means of realizing obligations in the field of nuclear and radiation safety, the document is available in the official e-portal of the Russian authorities. The sides will hold talks on signing a protocol between Rosatom, Armenias ministry of energy infrastructures and natural resources and the state committee for nuclear safety. Agreements on exchanging information in the field of nuclear and radiation safety are signed between neighboring countries which operate nuclear power plants. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. In case of recording a positive result in the referendum on constitional changes in Turkey, the parliamentary system in the country will be maintained until 2019, Turkeys Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told Anadolu. In response to a question which said when the President will restore links with the party, if yes wins in the constitutional referendum, the Deputy PM said: According to the constitutional proposal the shift to a presidential system will be held by presidential elections in 2019. If referendum results are positive, the parliamentary system will be maintained until the 2019 elections. The elections of the Parliament and the President will be held the same day in 2019. The Constitutional changes, proposed by Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party (JDP) are comprised of 18 points. Opposition Nationalist movement party approved them. After the Parliaments approval, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will sign the document which will be followed by a referendum. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The European Union has identified 5 priority directions in relations with Armenia for the upcoming months, Ambassador Piotr Switalski - Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, told reporters on January 24, reports Armenpress. The first priority direction is the electoral process. The European Union has provided a serious monetary assistance in order to successfully hold parliamentary elections in Armenia on April 2. We will keep in our spotlight the upcoming parliamentary elections, Piotr Switalski said. The EU wants to continue discussions with Armenia aimed at improving the business environment. We will hold discussions with the Government, business companies, especially with the European Business Union. This is also a very important component in contacts with our Armenian partners, the EU Ambassador said. The third priority direction will be the EUs assistance directed towards the fight against corruption. Piotr Switalski said the European Union has provided over 15 million Euro aimed at assisting Armenia in the fight against corruption. We are ready to work together in order to make the results visible for the Armenian public, he said. The next priority direction of Armenia-EU cooperation is going to be the implementation of budget support agreement related to the human rights protection. The agreement is very important for Armenia and the EU. The fifth priority direction will be a discussion on how to strengthen the independence of judiciary. Piotr Switalski added that recently the EU has signed an agreement with Armenia on providing more than 10 million Euro tranche to carry out reforms in the judicial system. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan on January 23 met Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Nils Muiznieks in Strasbourg, press service of the Ombudsmans Office told Armenpress. At the meeting the sides discussed a number of issues related to the human rights protection. In particular, they discussed the implementation mechanisms of the new law on Human Rights Defender. The CoE Commissioner attached importance to the provisions existing in the new law that relate to the cooperation with the civil society. Issues related to the protection of rights of imprisoned people, servicemen, disabled were also discussed during the meeting. Ombudsman Tatoyan introduced the CoE Commissioner the details of the Azerbaijani attacks near Armenias Chinari village on December 29, 2016, as well as on January 3-4, 2017, the results of the fact-finding activity by his staff, as well as the report, with the collected proofs. In addition, the Ombudsman also presented in-detail the decision of extradition of Russian blogger Aleksandr Lapshin and its impermissible negative meaning. According to the Ombudsman, it seriously endangers the freedom of speech. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. By the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Armenia's Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan arrived in Moscow on a two-day official visit on January 24, press service of the Armenian Government told Armenpress. The Russian and Armenian PMs held a private talk which was followed by a meeting in an extended form with the participation of official delegations of the two states. In his welcoming speech, Dmitry Medvedev said: Dear Mr. Karapetyan, I cordially welcome You. This is Your first official visit to our country. We have special allied relations with Armenia, and there are always issues to discuss. It is important to state that a number of documents were prepared on the occasion of Your visit that relate to the development of our cooperation. I hope they will contribute to the development of economic ties and intensification of human contacts. We will discuss with You the economic agenda. I want to state that despite the change in energy prices, our trade turnover is stable, and as of the export from Armenia to our country and the production supply, we recorded a 70% growth last year. From my perspective, this happened as a result of Armenias joining to the Eurasian Union, as well as the strengthening of our economic ties. But there are other issues as well, both investment issues and humanitarian ones. Lets speak about them. I cordially welcome You, wish you a successful visit in the Russian Federation. In his turn, Armenias PM said: Dear Mr. Medvedev, First of all, I want to thank for the invitation to visit Moscow and the reception showed to our delegation. Taking this opportunity, I want to congratulate You on Your appointment as President of the United Russia party and wish you success. Todays meeting is a good opportunity to discuss the relevant directions of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, and I want to assure You that our delegation came with a very positive and practical intention. Traditionally, our agenda of Armenian-Russian relations is very full. In recent years in the conditions of non-ordinary global environment our Governments managed to move forward. You know that the Russian capital is widely represented in Armenias economy. Nevertheless, I think, it is not enough, and today we can discuss the ways on intensifying and giving new impetus [to our cooperation]. Today a number of reforms are carried out in Armenia aimed at providing the investors with a favorable environment, and we will highly welcome the involvement of the Russian capital. In this context, today we came with a number of new proposals which will allow to diversify and expand the fields of our cooperation. I am also convinced that there is going to be a constructive talk. Once again thank you for the invitation. A wide range of issues important for Armenia and Russia will be discussed, as well as a number of documents will be signed in the meeting. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Four bilateral documents have been signed during the official visit of Armenias Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan to Russia. The documents include changes in the agreement on visa-free mutual visits of citizens. The Government of Armenia ratified the draft on making changes in the visa-free regime deal with Russia in January, which enables Russian citizens to travel to Armenia with internal passports of Russia. This decision aims at boosting tourism. Deputy Minister of foreign affairs Shavarsh Kocharyan had announced corresponding domestic procedures will be finalized by summer. In addition, a memorandum of cooperation and the 2016-2021 inter-regional cooperation program have been signed between the ministry of industry and trade of Russia and the ministry of economic development and investments of Armenia. The ministry of energy infrastructures and natural resources of Armenia signed a protocol with Rosatom on exchange of information and increasing cooperation in the field of nuclear safety. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Russia and Armenia consider creating an Investment Cooperation Fund, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev told a press conference after the meeting with Armenias PM Karen Karapetyan in Moscow. We discussed several directions of cooperation, of course also investment cooperation. There is an idea on creating a fund for realizing those goals. We agreed to task agencies to analyze the possibility of forming such a fund aimed at investment cooperation, and of course obtaining financing sources, Medvedev said. Four bilateral documents have been signed during the official visit of Armenias Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan to Russia. The documents include changes in the agreement on visa-free mutual visits of citizens. The Government of Armenia ratified the draft on making changes in the visa-free regime deal with Russia in January, which enables Russian citizens to travel to Armenia with internal passports of Russia. This decision aims at boosting tourism. Deputy Minister of foreign affairs Shavarsh Kocharyan had announced corresponding domestic procedures will be finalized by summer. In addition, a memorandum of cooperation and the 2016-2021 inter-regional cooperation program have been signed between the ministry of industry and trade of Russia and the ministry of economic development and investments of Armenia. The ministry of energy infrastructures and natural resources of Armenia signed a protocol with Rosatom on exchange of information and increasing cooperation in the field of nuclear safety. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Special Investigation Service of Armenia has dropped the criminal proceedings on the offshore scandal attributed to Mihran Poghosyan, former Chief Compulsory Enforcement Officer of Judicial Acts, spokeswoman of the Compulsory Enforcement Service of Judicial Acts Marina Ohanjanyan told ARMENPRESS. "As result of facts gathered by the special investigation services investigation, the alleged illegal business activities of the official havent been proven, thus a decision has been made to drop the proceedings on the criminal case, Ohanjanyan said. She also added the Special Investigation Service has made inquiries from Swiss and Panama authorities, however Mihran Poghosyans involvement in any wrongdoings hasnt been substantiated. Poghosyans office also released a statement saying the criminal proceedings have been dropped in accordance to the law. The SIS launched a criminal case regarding the offshore scandal involving Mihran Poghosyan in May of 2016. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan invited his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev to pay an official visit to Armenia, Armenpress reports, citing TASS, Karapetyan told in a joint press conference. Dmitriy Anatolevich, taking the opportunity, I would like to invite you to pay an official visit to Yerevan, since I believe the vectors you mentioned and what we did not manage to mention at this press conference have great future. I am convinced everything will be fine. Thank you, the Armenian Premier said. In response Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev stressed, It is difficult to disagree. No doubt everything will be fine. Thank you. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedev has expressed satisfaction with the level of economic cooperation with Armenia and noted that Armenian exports of foodstuff significantly increased last year. As you know, Russia is Armenias key foreign economic partner. Its share amounts to 25% of Armenias foreign trade and despite the complicated conjuncture, what we today discussed with my colleague, bilateral trade turnover indexes remain positive. Last year this number exceeded 1 billion USD, but the matter is not only in the absolute numbers. The issue is that despite the price reduction of energy and separate goods supplied by our countries, the number of goods does not reduce, but rises. Another fact last year imports of Armenian foodstuff significantly increased last year which is explained by Armenias accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and reflects our common goal for integration, Armenpress reports Medvedev announced in a joint press conference with Armenian Premier. Speaking about agriculture, the Russian Premier noted that a great development potential exists in this sphere not only in terms of bilateral purchases of products or agricultural techniques, but also in terms of creating joint agricultural ventures. Today we have a number of projects, including greenhouse economies, processing of fruits and vegetables which enter Russian trade networks. We have a big market and I think in the near future it is necessary to focus also on this direction, Medvedev said. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan is in Russian capital Moscow on an official visit. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the Government of Armenia, Armenian and Russian Premiers, Karen Karapetyan and Dmitry Medvedev, issued a statement summarizing the results of the meeting for media representatives. Bellow is the full text of the statement. Head of RF Executive Dmitry Medvedev Honorable Karen Vilhelmovich Respected media representatives, Colleges, The meeting with our Armenian friends was constructive, saturated and friendly as always. This is the mood that helps us solve different problems, especially as this year we mark the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between our states while the friendship between our peoples can be measured by centuries. As you know, Russia is Armenias key foreign economic partner. Its share amounts to 25% of Armenias foreign trade and despite the complicated conjuncture, what we today discussed with my colleague, bilateral trade turnover indexes remain positive. Last year this number exceeded 1 billion USD, but the matter is not only in the absolute numbers. The issue is that despite the price reduction of energy and separate goods supplied by our countries, the number of goods does not reduce, but rises. Another fact last year imports of Armenian foodstuff significantly increased last year which is explained by Armenias accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and reflects our common goal for integration. Speaking about agriculture, I have to note that a great development potential exists in this sphere not only in terms of bilateral purchases of products or agricultural techniques, but also in terms of creating joint agricultural ventures. Today we have a number of projects, including greenhouse economies, processing of fruits and vegetables which enter Russian trade networks. We have a big market and I think in the near future it is necessary to focus also on this direction. We have discussed some other cooperation directions, as well as cooperation in investment and the creation of a special Fund for that aim. We agreed to task agencies to analyze the possibility of forming such a fund aimed at investment cooperation, and of course obtaining financing sources. We have set level playing field in the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, reasonable for both the Armenian and Russian business. We think that customs and bureaucratic procedures will be less and for that reason we must strive for making our markets more open. Obviously, there are some other directions. The Interregional cooperation program for the coming 5 years, a memorandum of cooperation between the RF Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Economic Development and investments of Armenia were signed today. These are also documents based on which we can build the economic cooperation for the coming years. Of course, the humanitarian aspect is also of key importance, the expansion of direct connections between our citizens. Here everything is all right but anyway we have agreed, and this is the result of the current visit that the citizens of our country are able to visit Armenia with their internal passports, and a relevant document was signed over this issue. This will strengthen the cooperation in a humanitarian field. Though our countries have comprehensive economic relations and Russia is Armenias leading partner, there is a sphere of benchmark that can be developed practically from zero. This is very important for the future of our relations. I wish to once again express my gratitude to Karen Vilhelm Karapetyan and our other Armenian friends for the joint work. Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan Honorable Dmitry Anatolyevich I wish to once again express my gratitude to you for the invitation to visit Moscow, the reception shown to our delegation and the constructive and friendly meeting. We do not hide and clearly show that the visit to Moscow is a visit to our friendly, fraternal and allied country. And I would like to announce sincerely, without unnecessary diplomacy that we are very satisfied with todays negotiations and results and the instructions given to respective sides in terms of future cooperation. We discussed with the Head of the Russian Executive the results of the works done, recorded very high level of relations, but, at the same time, I believe everyone will agree with me that our relations have great development potentials. We also discussed a number of directions of how Russian-Armenian relations can move forward, and I think we outlined development spheres and precise programs. As refers to signing of the new documents, I think they will greatly foster cultural and humanitarian relations. I think Armenia, as a touristic country is underestimated by Russian citizens. This year we expect serious positive changes in the sphere of tourism. Dmitriy Anatolevich, taking the opportunity, I would like to invite you to pay an official visit to Yerevan, since I believe the vectors you mentioned and what we did not manage to mention at this press conference have great future. I am convinced everything will be fine. Thank you. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Comprehensive and full recognition of what happened 100 years ago is necessary for the normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations, Ambassador of the USA to Armenia Richard Mills told during an exhibition of Armenian and Turkish painters titled BridgingStories. This exhibition marks the so-much similarities between the Armenian and Turkish peoples. This understanding can lead to reconciliation which we desire to see between the Armenian and Turkish peoples. We have always clearly mentioned that comprehensive and full recognition of what happened 100 years ago is also necessary for the reconciliation. Such exhibitions show what kind of similarities there are and this is the entire beauty, Armenpress reports Mills saying. He added that the USA wants normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations which stems from the interests of the region, Caucasus, which will lead to peace and stability in the region. Referring to the position of the newly elected US President Donald Trump on that issue, Mills noted that he made no announcements on Armenian-Turkish relations during his presidential campaign. It is still early for me to remark on how the position on different issues will be, including this issue, the Ambassador said. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USA to Armenia Richard Mills has not been required by the new administration of the USA to put down his powers, Mills told the reporters. As an Ambassador I can be told at any moment that I have to step down. Any Ambassador of the USA serves the President of the country. But this time nothing like that happened, no such demand, no demand to complete my mission earlier for which I am very happy. Being the Ambassador of the USA to Armenia is the best job in the world, besides, I would like to be here also during the April elections, Armenpress reports Mills told the reporters. China's State Grid already operates 10,000 kilometres of power transmission lines in Brazil, the official Xinhua news agency reported China's State Grid signed a deal Tuesday to buy a majority stake in Brazil's electricity giant CPFL for $4.5 billion, offering a boost to a Latin American giant struggling with recession. The purchase of a 54.64 percent stake in CPFL for 14.19 billion reals expands the Chinese company's presence in Brazil, a huge emerging market with some 200 million inhabitants. Analysts say Chinese firms have been ramping up investments in Brazil, where local firms are selling off assets to help the weather the crisis. Chinese companies currently have some $15.2 billion worth of investments in Brazil, according to Bloomberg news. Another Chinese state energy company, CTG, has bought stakes in various power plants in Brazil since 2013. The world's largest utility company and China's largest state-owned enterprise, State Grid has pursued deals around the world. Its attempted purchase of Australian electricity network Ausgrid last year was blocked over national security concerns. But it boasts other investments in Italy, the Philippines, Portugal and Hong Kong, the company said in a statement. It entered the Brazilian market in 2010 and already operates transmission lines in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It runs 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) of power transmission lines in Brazil and has another 6,000 kilometers under construction, the company said. - Chinese expansion - State Grid said it aims to extend its presence in electricity transmission and distribution in Brazil as well as generation from renewable sources. "The aim of acquiring control of CPFL Energy is to diversify State Grid International's business portfolio and to use existing synergies between CPFL and its transmission assets to strengthen our leading position in the Brazilian electricity sector," it said. State Grid distributes electricity to nearly a billion people across China through local subsidiaries. China has invested more than $105 billion in renewable energy though it is still reliant on coal, according the UN figures. Story continues In December, it signed up to build a $1.5-billion power line across Pakistan. It also bought a stake in the Greek operator ADMIE. - 'Good for Brazil' - CPFL is the largest private power company in Brazil and the country's third largest utility provider overall. It supplies power to millions of people and is a leading supplier of renewable energy, the Chinese company highlighted in its statement. The Brazilian company sees the deal as "fundamental" to "continuing its path of growth" and strengthening its own position in the sector, CPFL's president Andre Dorf said in a separate statement. The deal offered Brazil a boost as it fights to scramble out of its deepest recession in decades and stabilize the public finances. "This investment is good for Brazil because the country needs non-speculative foreign capital for infrastructure services like this," the president of the Electricity Sector Associations Forum, Mario Menel, told AFP. The Chinese deal gives CPFL an opportunity "to expand, and this can set an example for other Brazilian companies," he said. Etihad Airways said its chief executive officer James Hogan will step down in the second half of 2017 after leading the fast-growing carrier for more than 10 years Australian James Hogan is to stand down as head of the Etihad Airways group, the company said Tuesday, as the Abu Dhabi-based carrier struggles with investments in European airlines. After piloting the state-owned Gulf airline through more than a decade of growth, Hogan will leave his post in the second half of 2017, Etihad Aviation Group said in a statement. Hogan was the architect of a strategy that saw Etihad buy significant stakes and make major investments in other airlines, notably Air Berlin and the long-struggling Alitalia. But Etihad Aviation Group chairman Mohamed al-Mazrouei said it was time for a company-wide review, following continued cash injections into Etihad's partners. "We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy," Mazrouei said in the statement. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape." Hogan's approach was in stark contrast to the strategies of fellow Gulf airlines Emirates, based in Dubai, and Qatar Airways, which instead invested in developing their own services. It saw Etihad spend hundreds of millions on stakes in foreign airlines, including acquisitions of 49 percent of Alitalia, 29 percent of Air Berlin, 19.9 percent of Virgin Australia and three percent of Irish carrier Aer Lingus that it offloaded in 2015. - Costly investments - Etihad also acquired 40 percent of Air Seychelles, 24 percent of India's Jet Airways and 49 percent of Air Serbia. Some of the investments have been costly, however, with Etihad keeping Air Berlin alive with regular cash injections in recent years. The German carrier suffered a record loss of 447 million euros ($480 million) in 2015. Etihad's management of Alitalia has also been criticised over fears of up to 1,600 jobs being cut at the Italian carrier, which was rescued from bankruptcy by the Abu Dhabi company in 2014. "One could speculate that the two weak EU airlines marred his strategy. But I don't think we can blame him for this," argued Addison Schonland, an aviation expert with US-based consultancy AirInsight, adding that the expansion must have had a green light from decision-makers in the emirate. Story continues Schonland described the strategy as a "master stroke" because it provided Etihad with wide access to Europe. "Since the long-term impact of the strategy is still playing out, it is still too soon to be critical," he added. Etihad reported a 41 percent surge in its net profit in 2015, reaching $103 million on the back of rising passenger numbers and cargo volumes. But in a sign of financial strain, the company said last month that it had begun cutting jobs in a restructuring process amid tough competition and a weakened global economy. A prolonged slump in oil prices has forced Gulf countries -- whose airlines have emerged as major global players -- to tighten their belts. - 'Very proud' - Hogan became head of Etihad in 2006. Last year he was named president and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Aviation Group in a restructuring process. "I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the company's substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi," Hogan said in the Etihad statement. Hogan will join an investment company along with chief financial officer James Rigney, who will also leave the company later this year, the statement said. "We look forward to (Hogan's) continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways," Mazrouei said, without providing further details. The search for a new CEO and CFO of the group is "already underway", the statement said. Under last year's restructuring, the group named Peter Baumgartner as CEO of the carrier itself. Carolyn McCall, CEO of Europe's easyJet, said the budget carrier will watch "with interest", citing during an earnings conference call Etihad's "different kinds of moves in the European airline market". In addition to Etihad Airways, the group has a range of businesses including Etihad Cargo and airport services. Launched in 2003, Etihad has a fleet of 120 aircraft with another 178 on order. It currently serves 112 destinations. A key portion of the Dakota Access pipeline crosses land controlled by the federal government just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to revive two controversial pipeline projects, reversing the policy of his predecessor Barack Obama. The Keystone XL oil pipeline runs between Canada and the United States, and the Dakota Access pipeline would bring oil from fracking to market but has been blocked by months of protests by Native Americans concerned about water quality and destruction of sacred sites. Here are key facts about the projects. WHAT ARE THEY? Keystone XL Keystone XL was an expansion of TransCanada's existing system to funnel oil from Alberta's tar sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. The portion blocked by the Obama administration was a $5.3 billion proposal to build a 1,179-mile (1,900 kilometer) pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska. Dakota The Dakota Access Pipeline project stretches over four US states and 1,172 miles. Once completed, the $3.8 billion, 30-inch pipeline would transport crude from the northwestern corners of North Dakota, one of the key centers of oil extracted by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to a distribution center in Illinois. The Army Corps of Engineers in December blocked the disputed portion of the route near Standing Rock Sioux land, that would have taken it under a river and a lake, and said it would seek an alternative. The pipeline's owners denounced the Army's move, calling it "purely political." WHY ARE THEY SO CONTROVERSIAL? Keystone XL Alberta's tar sands are considered to have the "dirtiest" oil on the planet. Unlike traditional crude which gushes from a well, tar sand oil must be dug up and essentially melted with steaming hot water before it can be refined. It results in huge lakes of polluted water and the strip-mining of millions of acres of once-pristine boreal forests. Environmentalists argue tar sand oil contains a harmful and corrosive component -- bitumen -- which makes pipeline ruptures or leaks more likely and carries greater health and safety risks. Story continues Dakota A protest movement involving hundreds of Native American tribes has garnered nationwide support and worldwide attention. Since last April, protesters have camped out in North Dakota to block the pipeline's route -- their numbers at times swelling into the thousands -- refusing to leave even when snowstorms covered the area. A key portion of the pipeline crosses land controlled by the federal government just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota. The area includes land the tribe considers sacred, and that contains sacred objects and burial sites. The pipeline also would cross the Missouri River and man-made Lake Oahe, the tribe's source of drinking water. It has raised objections, saying the pipeline could leak and endanger the reservation's water supply. Environmentalists also oppose fracking saying it contaminates drinking water sources due to the chemicals injected at high pressure into the shale rock to extract oil and gas. They also say the technique is causing earthquakes. ECONOMIC IMPACT Keystone XL The State Department estimated the new, shorter route would have created 42,000 temporary jobs over the two-year construction period. Opponents noted that just 35 permanent jobs would be created for pipeline maintenance. Dakota An economic impact report commissioned by the pipeline's operator estimated the completed project would bring in $1.9 billion in new labor income, and $5 billion in additional business to the four-state region. ENERGY SECURITY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that bringing another 830,000 barrels of oil a day from friendly, neighboring Canada would reduce US dependence on the Middle East and Venezuela by up to 40 percent. Dakota The US Chamber of Commerce says fracking has helped the United States climb to the top five of the most energy-secure countries in its global index. However, the domestic industry has struggled after global oil prices plunged. Prices are expected to hover around the $53-per-barrel mark this year. SAFETY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that buried pipelines are far safer for transporting oil than ships or trains and claims to have "one of the best safety records in the industry." It also notes that there are more than 2.6 million miles of oil and gas pipelines in the United States "that deliver 99.9998 percent of their products safely and reliably every day." Critics note the existing Keystone pipeline developed a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. Dakota Pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners has denied it poses a risk to the area's water supply, saying there are other pipelines already operating safely under the waterway, and that the route was developed through consultations with dozens of tribes and archeological experts. Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is open to turning to China for a trade deal Peru on Tuesday called for China and other Pacific countries to forge an alternative free trade agreement after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the key TPP accord. Trump on Monday signed a memo on withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), effectively ending what was meant to be a major trade pact championed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The TPP was to have included Mexico, the United States and 10 other countries spanning the Pacific including Peru, but it excluded China. "We should work with China, the countries of Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on television on Tuesday. "We should make an APEC-Pacific group reaching as far as India, that way we will include everyone. We are going to take the best parts of the TPP and get rid of the less good parts." HORSHAM, PA Xgen Products' line of officially licensed superhero boyshorts took home the 2017 O Award for Best Lingerie Collection. At the 8th annual O Awards, hosted at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, 12 products were honored as the best of the best in their respective categories. We are honored to receive this award, said Andy Green, President of Xgen Products. Being recognized by your peers and partners in the industry is very gratifying. The superhero boyshorts are a huge hit, and the Xgen team has really stepped up to make them a success. The boyshorts are officially licensed and come in various styles, including Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman themes. The items can also be paired with matching bras and corsets to complete an entire outfit. Green added, With Valentines Day right around the corner and the big blockbuster movies coming out this year, retailers will definitely want to keep these items on hand. Xgen Products was started in 2009 and has since grown at an exponential rate. The company manufactures many other well-known brands in the industry such as The Bodywand, Lapdance Lingerie and ZOLO product lines. They also distribute other distinctive brands like Baci Lingerie, Peekaboo Pasties, and Secrets Vibrating Panties. LOS ANGELES The VR Bangers team debuted a new POV Head rig at the recent adult industry shows adding an unprecedented personal touch to the audio and video capture of upcoming VR Porn scenes. This rig was built especially for VR porn, because we noticed that there is a much warmer and more intimate emotional attachment between the performer and the recording device if the device itself is able to be kissed, caressed, and whispered to in the same sort of ways that a real person would sense those subtle communications, explained VRBangers.com CTO, Boris Smirnoff. Its easy to think that performers will be able to overcome all the odd positions and constraints of filming content so it looks pristine on a virtual screen, but the fact is, the more we can help our models get the most out of their play space, the better our content will continue to be, and the real winner in this line of advancements is always our fans. With the new VR Bangers POV Head Rig, fans can finally feel like they are getting kissed and caressed, while their favorite girls whisper right into their ears. Rather than cradling a camera or a microphone and pretending to be engaging with a fictional love interest, the girls of VR Bangers can work with as close an approximation to a human head as modern technology allows. Our original intent was to include this new rig in the presentations at CES 2017, because we are confident it is one of the hottest new tech items to come out at CES in a long time, but the show didn't allow us in because they still think porn and tech are different or something. The truth is that porn has always been at the forefront of improving interpersonal technologies. This is the first rig of its kind, anywhere in the world, custom built by our own R&D team, said Mr. Smirnoff. Stereoscopic cameras right where its eyes would usually be, true 4k resolution at a mouthwatering 60fps using multiple cameras in the front, back and top of the head to capture every angle, along with state of the art binaural sound microphones in each ear to add a level of realism to each whisper, moan, and shift in sound. The content we are recording with this new rig is extraordinary and the feedback our fans are giving us at the shows demonstrates that we are definitely moving in the right direction. To learn more about the new VR Bangers POV Head Rig, see it in action and make deals as an affiliate, model, or traffic partner, meet up with the VR Bangers team at one of the upcoming adult industry events or to contact them directly via the VRBangers.com website. The Federal Court has rejected a bid by Montreal professor Daniel Turp to block Canada's $15-billion sale of light-armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. In a 28-page decision by Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer, the court ruled the minister of foreign affairs has broad discretionary powers to grant export permits. "In the impugned decision, the minister considered the economic impact of the proposed export, Canada's national and international security interests, Saudi Arabia's human rights record and the conflict in Yemen before granting the export permits, thereby respecting the values underlying the conventions," it reads. "The role of the court is not to pass moral judgment on the minister's decision to issue the export permits, but only to make sure of the legality of such a decision." The court also noted that broad discretion would also have allowed the minister to deny the permits. Turp, a former Bloc Quebecois MP and Parti Quebecois MNA, argued the federal government's decision to allow the export permits does not meet the legal requirements under the Export and Import Permits Act and the Geneva Conventions Act, according to the federal court summary of the case. Focus on jobs, human rights The deal with Saudi Arabia was struck by Stephen Harper's government, which highlighted the thousands of jobs it is expected to create and keep in southern Ontario. But the sale by General Dynamics Land Systems has been controversial due to Saudi Arabia's human rights record. Turp was not available to react to the decision, but said through a spokesman there is a "strong possibility" that he will appeal. Cesar Jaramillo, executive director of peace and disarmament group Project Ploughshares, said the ruling underscores a need for more stringent rules on exporting arms. "The Federal Court ruling does not make the sale of Canadian military equipment to a human rights pariah the precise type of deal Canada should be denouncing rather than vindicating any more palatable," he said in an email to CBC News. Story continues "If the Minister of Foreign Affairs can authorize such deals despite the abysmal human rights record of the recipient, then the ruling itself should serve as a compelling call for strengthening our military export controls." Documents obtained by CBC News from Global Affairs Canada last April confirmed that former foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion personally signed off on export permits to ship $11 billion worth of the $15-billion vehicle sale. The documents say the personal sign-off was a rare exception because the deal was so high profile and worth so much money. The documents acknowledged the human rights concerns, noting "the reported high number of executions, suppression of political opposition, the application of corporal punishment, suppression of freedom of expression, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment of detainees, limitations of freedom of religion, discrimination against women and the mistreatment of migrant workers." 'Key military ally' But the records also call Saudi Arabia a "key military ally," and note that the kingdom supports international efforts to counter Islamic State in Iraq and Syria as well as countering instability in Yemen. Today's ruling notes that Dion considered the situation in Yemen, and said there was no evidence that Canadian military equipment, including LAVs, had been used to commit the alleged human rights violations. Tremblay-Lamer also noted that neither the United Nations Security Council nor the Parliament of Canada has adopted any resolution against Saudi Arabia. The office of Dion's successor, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, had very little to say about the ruling. "We thank the court for its decision," said her spokesman Joseph Pickerill in an email. We're proud to announce this year's Small Business BC Awards Top 5 Finalists chosen from 699 nominees across 72 communities in BC!Click here for high-resolution version VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - January 23, 2017) - Small Business BC, the province's premier resource for entrepreneurs, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada asked British Columbians to nominate their favourite small businesses for the 14th Annual Small Business BC Awards between October 1 and November 30, 2016. This year, 699 nominations from 72 communities across the province and over 32,000 votes were received. The Small Business BC Awards is the largest small business awards competition in the province. These awards recognize the outstanding achievements of British Columbia's entrepreneurs and celebrate the contributions new and existing businesses registered in B.C., with fewer than 50 employees, make to their local communities and the global economy. Those who activated their communities and received the most votes between October 1 and November 30, 2016 were named the Top 10 Semi-Finalists on December 12, 2016 and invited to submit a more detailed application. These applications were used to decide the Top 5 Finalists in this year's competition. These outstanding businesses will now face a Dragons' Den-style panel of business experts who will determine the winner in each category: PREMIER'S PEOPLE'S CHOICE Presented by the Province of British Columbia Beachcomber Coffee Company Inc. - Gibsons Picnic Charcuterie - Tofino Sea To Sky Air - Squamish Vintage and Restoration Love - Dawson Creek Wheelhouse Brewing Company - Prince Rupert BEST APPRENTICE TRAINING Presented by ITA and Kwantlen Polytechnic University Harbourview Autohaus Ltd. - Nanaimo Heidout Restaurant and Brewhouse - Cranbrook Ironside Design Manufacturing Inc. - Chilliwack Northern Legendary Construction - Charlie Lake Rambow Mechanical Ltd. - Kelowna BEST COMMUNITY IMPACT Presented by Vancity Greater Vancouver Lice Clinic - Maple Ridge Cowichan Energy Alternatives - Duncan Fraser Lake Dollar Store and Corner Store - Fraser Lake Lighthouse Labs - Vancouver Rainbow's Roost - Kamloops BEST COMPANY Presented by Sage Dalex Auto Services - Fort Nelson Nucleus Networks Inc. - Vancouver Rocky Point Ice Cream Inc. - Port Moody Vernon Teach and Learn Ltd. - Vernon Wholesale Furniture Brokers - Kamloops BEST CONCEPT Presented by Rogers Communications Canada's Best Apps - Whistler Infuse I.T. / VinStream - Kelowna Lil Worker Safety Gear - Comox Studio Robazzo - Victoria Wine Crush Market - Penticton BEST EMPLOYER Presented by TruShield Insurance Aequilibrium Software Inc. - Vancouver Central Kitchen - Bar - Kelowna RDC Fine Homes Inc. - Whistler Valley Acrylic Bath Ltd. - Mission VictorEric - Vancouver BEST IMMIGRANT ENTREPRENEUR Presented by Small Business BC FreshWorks Studio - Victoria Country Chic Paint Ltd. - Duncan Lilian Cazacu Notary Corporation - Langley Nirvana Foods Inc. - Richmond Trademark Factory - Vancouver BEST INNOVATION Presented by BC Innovation Council Mazu - Kelowna IT Glue - Vancouver Terramera - Vancouver The Alinker - Richmond Two Hat Security - Kelowna BEST INTERNATIONAL TRADE Presented by UPS Canada CPE Systems Inc. - Burnaby Fusion Brand - Vancouver Mountain Coffee Ltd. - Delta Numpfer - Vancouver Wize Monkey - Vancouver BEST MARKETER Presented by Yellow Pages The Argosy - Prince Rupert JY Knows It Business Consulting - Surrey K'pure Naturals - Mission Loulou Lollipop - Richmond The Henna Hut - Penticton Pitches will be held in-person at Small Business BC in Vancouver between February 6-14, 2017. Story continues The winners will be announced at the 14th Annual Small Business BC Awards Ceremony at the Pan Pacific Vancouver on Thursday, February 23, 2017 during an evening of drinks, appetizers and networking with 500 B.C. business owners, industry influencers, government officials and special guests. Recipients of Small Business BC Awards will be recognized with the Premier's Prize in the amount of $1,500 cash, a one-year all-access pass to Small Business BC education, resources and experts, and one-on-one business mentorship with notable advisors from the award sponsors. More details on the Small Business BC Awards and Small Business BC Awards Ceremony can be found at www.sbbcawards.ca. Quotes "Small businesses are the backbone of Canada's leading economy, responsible for creating over a million jobs in B.C. That's why we worked hard to become the most small business-friendly jurisdiction in North America. Congratulations to all the Top 5 Finalists for being recognized as innovative, responsible pillars in their community." - Premier Christy Clark "Small businesses account for 98% of all businesses in B.C. -- they drive the economy and create jobs for British Columbians. All the Top 5 Finalists for the Small Business BC Awards should be proud that their communities voted them into the top spots! Congratulations to all the Top 5 Finalists in the Small Business BC Awards." - Hon. Coralee Oakes, Minister of Small Business, Red Tape Reduction and Liquor Distribution, Province of British Columbia "We saw an incredible level of participation in the Small Business BC Awards this year with 699 nominations from 72 communities across the province. We're proud to acknowledge all the companies who participated and would like to congratulate all those who made it into this year's Top 5 as Finalists in the competition. These entrepreneurs are helping build a vibrant economy in B.C. and the Small Business BC Awards are the best way to celebrate and acknowledge their success and contribution." - George Hunter, CEO, Small Business BC "These are very impressive finalists and just another example about why IBC is proud to once again sponsor the Small Business BC Awards. On behalf of IBC, I congratulate all the finalists and wish them continued success as they move forward into the next round of this year's competition." - Bill Adams, Vice-President, Western and Pacific, IBC "Congratulations to the Top 5 Finalists in the Best Innovation category. To build a successful company, entrepreneurs need access to talent, capital and markets. BC Innovation Council connects companies to all three of these needs through initiatives like our Regional Innovation Opportunities tour, Investment Showcase at the #BCTECH Summit, our province-wide BC Acceleration Network and through our support of events like the Small Business BC Awards." - Carl Anderson, President and CEO, BC Innovation Council "We're looking forward to meeting all the nominated employers for the Best Apprentice Training Award this year. Small businesses make up a large portion of B.C.'s economy and this community plays an important role in ensuring that skilled trades apprentices are getting the right hands-on experience on their apprenticeship journey. We're excited to partner with Kwantlen Polytechnic University to recognize an employer that is doing their part in training B.C.'s trades industry." - Gary Herman, CEO, Industry Training Authority "I would like to congratulate the Top 5 Finalists for the Best Apprenticeship Training Award. Their support of KPU students and the real-world mentoring is vital to their success as apprentices. KPU recognizes the essential contribution of small business to the ecology of B.C. and Canada's economy and are honoured to have the opportunity to celebrate this significant contribution from small businesses across the province." - Salvador Ferreras, Ph.D., Provost and Vice-President Academic, Kwantlen Polytechnic University "Sage is very excited for the opportunity to present the Best Company Award at the Small Business BC Awards Ceremony this year. On behalf of Sage, I would like to congratulate the Top 5 Finalists chosen to proceed to the next round. We look forward to meeting each of the finalists to learn more about their various achievements, and to celebrating their commendable contributions to industries and communities." - Paul Struthers, Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Sage Canada "A small business is only as strong as the people behind it and that's why being an inspiring, fair and dedicated employer is so important. Each of the Top 5 Finalists for Best Employer at this year's Small Business BC Awards illustrates this concept perfectly. Congratulations to all finalists!" - Mike Gaba, Manager, Business Development, TruShield Insurance "UPS Canada is pleased to be a part of the 14th Annual Small Business BC Awards and would like to congratulate the Top 5 Finalists in the Best International Trade category. We're looking forward to expanding our footprint within the province of British Columbia and educating businesses on the continued opportunities available within international markets." - Paul Gaspar, Director of Small Business, UPS Canada "Small businesses are the drivers of the local economy, they innovate to create new products and services, generate jobs and help our communities thrive. We congratulate the Top 5 organizations along with those who were also nominated for the impact they are making in the communities where we live and work." - Catherine Ludgate, Manager, Community Investment, Vancity 'Yellow Pages wishes to congratulate this year's Top 5 Finalists. B.C. has some successful entrepreneurs, and we're pleased to participate in recognizing their success and contributions to B.C.'s local economy." - Sonny Magon, Senior Sales Manager, Yellow Pages About Small Business BC Small Business BC provides entrepreneurs with the information and guidance necessary to build a solid foundation for their business. Through a wide range of products, services, education and resources there's a piece that fits with every business. No matter what stage or what skill level, when an entrepreneur finds themselves asking "How do I...?" Small Business BC is the one to call. About Insurance Bureau of Canada Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) is the national industry association representing Canada's private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up 90% of the property and casualty (P&C) insurance market in Canada. For more than 50 years, IBC has worked with governments across the country to help make affordable home, auto and business insurance available for all Canadians. IBC supports the vision of consumers and governments trusting, valuing and supporting the private P&C insurance industry. It champions key issues and helps educate consumers on how best to protect their homes, cars, businesses and properties. P&C insurance touches the lives of nearly every Canadian and plays a critical role in keeping businesses safe and the Canadian economy strong. It employs more than 120,000 Canadians, pays $8.2 billion in taxes and has a total premium base of $49 billion. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/1/23/11G128165/Images/Awards_2016-17_-_TOP_5_Shareable-0030d125c3f589c9a068de0d2ef65ad8.jpg Photo from Getty Images It could be a new world order following the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, but America still holds old friend Canada in high regard, according to a new survey. The Angus Reid Institute public opinion poll found that 80 per cent of respondents had a positive view of their northern neighbour. The survey suggests 57 per cent of Americans believe the new administration should treat Canada as a valued partner and ally along with 23 per cent who say the U.S. should be on friendly terms with their largest trading partner. Attitudes toward traditional U.S. allies in Europe and other English-speaking countries are similar, but Canada tops the list of nations that Americans see as a mutually-beneficial partner. Other countries respondents consider friendly include the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, France and Germany. With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) potentially up for renegotiation under Trump, these poll findings could be good news for Canadian consumers and businesses. The same cant be said for Mexico, which the poll suggests isnt being viewed as favourably by Americans. Only 17 per cent of people said the U.S. should see the Spanish-speaking country as a valued partner and 12 per cent called the southern neighbour a potential threat or enemy. Canada is also seen in a far better light than Mexico when it came to being a nice place to visit and providing secure borders against terror threats and illegal immigration, the poll suggests. However, Angus Reid found that Trump supporters are three times more likely to have unfavourable views of Mexico versus supporters of Hillary Clinton. Regardless, the survey suggests that the majority of both Trump and Clinton supporters felt that Mexico did not do enough to secure is borders. The results could be illuminating for the new administration as it moves forward on promises to reopen NAFTA. The poll suggests that 77 per cent of Americans believe trade with Canada benefits both countries equally while only 35 per cent had that opinion of trade with Mexico. Story continues More than 60 per cent of Americans who backed Trump in the U.S. election want the U.S. role in NAFTA to be reduced or terminated, the poll found. Photo from Angus Reid Institute The self-commissioned online survey was conducted from Jan. 13-17. It polled a representative randomized sample of 1,503 American adults who are already members of the Springboard America consumer research panel. Online surveys dont produce a margin of error, but for comparisons sake, a sample this size generally carries a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20. The provincial New Democratic Party wants Premier Brad Wall to stop receiving a salary "top-up" from the Saskatchewan Party, but his office says that's not going to happen. This weekend, British Columbia Premier Christy Clark told media she had stopped receiving a $50,000 stipend from her political party. The money came on top of her yearly salary from the province, and was meant as a payment for work on behalf of the party. Now, Opposition house leader Warren McCall wants Wall to follow suit. "This is a bad idea at the best of times," he said. "When Brad Wall's out there asking people about rollbacks and people losing their jobs, how he could stand by the bonus the Sask. Party pays him is unconscionable." Wall currently receives $166,140 from the provincial government, including a base salary of $96,180 and reimbursement of additional expenses of $69,950. Wall's wage is increased by a stipend from the Saskatchewan Party that is usually in the ballpark of $40,000 a year, a spokesperson with the Premier's office said. McCall believes the payment sends a bad message to voters. He said the stipend is potentially a way for major donors to infiltrate the political process. "He is paid a very decent wage by the people of Saskatchewan," he said. "And that that, somehow, is not enough, looks bad." In the future, B.C.'s premier said she will ask her party to reimburse her for any individual expenses related to partisan work. McCall said that sounds fair. No plans to nix stipend There are no plans to stop the practice, a spokesperson from the Premier's office said in an email. Wall's duties go beyond his job as leader and include speaking engagements and leaders dinners, among other things, the spokesperson said. The spokeperson said the stipend is not paid for by the public, is reported on Wall's income taxes, and is reported to the province's conflict of interest commissioner each year. Wall's salary as premier ranks ninth in Canada among provinces and territories. A debate that could see London take the lead in electoral reform in Ontario is set to begin Tuesday with councillors already being told by city staff it is too expensive and not worth the risk. The ranked ballot system, which would allow voters to pick their top-three candidates for council positions, is being called "a major departure for the average voter" and would cost an additional $1.24 per eligible voter, according to a report prepared for the corporate services committee. The document, which also outlines concerns about whether software is even available to deliver accurate and timely results on election night, is expected to cost an additional $322,500. "Currently, there is no election software that has been tested and certified with the algorithms within the Ontario regulations," London city staff wrote. Ontario passed legislation last year allowing municipalities to use a ranked ballot system in the upcoming 2018 elections with proponents saying it gives the winning candidate a higher percentage of the vote. The current first-past-the-post system allows voters to choose only one candidate and can lead to vote splitting. A provincial government deadline gives municipalities until May to adopt the ranked ballot system in time for the next election. "You don't want the learnings to be on the backs of your citizens," London's deputy mayor Paul Hubert said. He also chairs the corporate services committee, which will decide whether the debate continues to council. High cost of electoral reform London staff broke down the estimated cost increase for electoral reform, showing the $322,500 would be an addition to the $243,762 spent in the 2014 election. The figures are based on estimates from vendors involved in running the city's previous election, as well as from U.S. cities of similar size where ranked ballots are in use. Hubert said fairness in the electoral process is a big issue, but municipalities must keep budgets in mind, especially when spending on new technology. Story continues "I think the companies offering the tabulating systems need to get the algorithms in place, so municipalities can be confident in their decisions," he said. Ontario's ministry of municipal affairs is planning a guide to help cities that adapt the ranked ballots system. A spokesperson with the ministry was unable to say when the guide would be available. Democracy first Proponents of the ranked ballot system insist politicians must consider the outcome of elections before ruling it out. "It is a more accurate barometer of the public feeling," said Nelson Wiseman, director of the Canadian Studies program at the University of Toronto. "Someone got elected in Toronto with 17 per cent of the vote because it was split all these different ways," he said. "Is that really fair?" In London, almost half of the city councillors, 6 out of 14, received less than 50 per cent of the vote in the 2014 election. One councillor earned 28 per cent support. Hubert, who was elected with 83 per cent of the vote, said he hopes London will not dismiss the option of ranked ballots outright when it is discussed at the committee Tuesday. He suggests London consider holding off until the election in 2022. A birthday present like no other Finland will celebrate its 100th birthday in 2017 and Norway has come up with an unbeatable gift idea: a mountain. The two countries share a border and to gift Finland with a new peak Norway would give up around 30 metres of land. The idea came about after a Norwegian geophysicist, Bjrn Geirr Harsson, noticed that Finlands highest point was a measly hill while Norway had a surplus of mountains. MORE: Thick clouds spotted on planet near to Earth in new breakthrough MORE: Lost kingdom from the Dark Ages is unearthed in Scotland I got the idea back in 1972 when I did a gravity survey in the border area, he explains in Battle for Birthday Mountain, a film about the geographical gift idea. I saw that the highest point in Finland was on a hillside and for Norway on a mountain, so I wrote a letter to the foreign ministry and proposed that a gift from the Norwegian people to Finland should be a mountaintop. Geirr Harsson added, It is a gift from the heart of the Norwegians to Finland so we dont expect anything back; we just want to give them something really nice when they celebrate 100 years as a free nation. The tiny bit of land Norway would give up Although most residents seem up for the idea, there is still some governmental finagling to do before the mountain can officially be given to Finland if it ever actually happens. After all, the Norwegian prime minister has pointed out that giving away the mountain would contravene Article 1 of Norways constitution. It states that the Kingdom of Norway is indivisible and inalienable, but Geirr Harsson plans to continue the fight. Hes pinning his hopes on a swell of support garnered by the new mini documentary although constitutional amendment seems like a pretty big legal mountain to climb. By Nataly Pak and Nick Macfie SEOUL (Reuters) - It has been an inauspicious return to crisis-plagued South Korea for former U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, once the odds-on favorite to be the next president, who has been ensnared in a family corruption scandal and struggled with a skeptical press. Ban, 72, has been unable to capitalize on his much-anticipated homecoming after a decade as secretary-general of the United Nations in New York. Since his return on Jan. 12, he has cut a sometimes-irritable figure in public and been pilloried for a series of perceived PR gaffes - all without announcing any intention to run for president. Now the United States has asked South Korea to arrest his brother, Ban Ki-sang, on charges that he engaged in a bribery scheme to carry out the sale of a Vietnamese building complex. The timing of the case could hardly be worse for Ban, whose high international profile and clean image were expected to be assets as he returned to a nation reeling from a presidential corruption scandal. President Park Geun-hye has been impeached by parliament and stripped of her powers while a court decides her fate. Ban Ki-moon apologized on Saturday for family members who had caused public concern. "I have absolutely no knowledge of this case," he said in a statement. However, a Realmeter poll released on Monday showed Ban's support slipping from 22.2 percent last week to 19.8 percent, compared with 29.1 percent for Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic Party. The poll numbers are volatile and analysts say it is too early to count out Ban. However, if Moon holds his lead, he would become the first liberal to be elected president in nearly a decade. Ban has yet to affiliate himself with a party but had been expected to run as a conservative. If the impeachment vote against Park is upheld by the Constitutional Court, she will have to quit and an election would be held two months later. A ruling is expected as soon as next month. Ban has a team of politicians and former diplomats supporting him and has made several campaign-style appearances around the country since his return, pitching him in the full glare of the media spotlight. SLIP-UPS On his arrival in Seoul, Ban took the airport express train instead of a limo, but didn't know how to buy a ticket. He was pictured trying to insert two 10,000 won bills into the machine at the same time for a 7,500 won ticket. "Couldn't you have treated it as something cute from a person who'd been in New York for a long time?" he protested at a meeting with voters and reporters in the southern city of Daegu. "I really wish they wouldn't act with malice." Two days later, Ban visited a care home where he fed porridge to an old woman. He was criticized for wearing a bib when the old woman was not - and for feeding someone lying flat on their back. He also dressed head to toe in protective gear to try out a disinfectant spray when most of those around him wore ordinary clothes, media said. And he was criticized for picking up a bottle of Evian mineral water from a convenience store before being told by an aide he should buy a local product. A cartoon in the left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper managed to combine the gaffes - Ban in protective gear and bib trying to feed a hospital patient with two 10,000 won notes with a giant bottle of Evian on his back. Until recently, Ban had been tipped to run as a member of Park's conservative Saenuri party. But being a Saenuri candidate looks far less attractive now because of the corruption scandal and he has been seen as likely to join a new breakaway group from the conservative bloc, the Barun Party, which has been weighing several potential candidates for president. However, a party, funds and political machinery to support Ban could come together quickly if and when he announces he will run for president. Kookmin University political science professor Hong Sung-gul said Ban must be disappointed by his reception. "That's what happens when there are high expectations and you don't come in with a clear and specific message," he told Reuters. "But it is too early to write off his campaign as being in serious trouble." Ban himself admitted on Monday to some "clumsy moments" and irritability since his return. "I was impatient and had passion for wanting to go and meet the people as soon as I could, so there were little mistakes," he told reporters. "I'll take it as a tough lesson learned and try to be better prepared." (This version of the story corrects para 14 to clarify most of the people around Ban wore ordinary clothes, not all) (Additional reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Rami Amichay and Baz Ratner GOLAN HEIGHTS (Reuters) - It happens nearly every night. After dark, the Syrian wounded come to known locations on the Israel-Syria front in the Golan Heights, driven by desperation to seek help from an enemy army. Israeli soldiers on lookout or patrol spot them waiting by the fence and whisk them away to a rear position where army medics soon arrive, according to army officials operating in the area that was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel refuses to accept refugees fleeing the nearly six-year conflict in Syria, a country with which it remains technically at war. But it has allowed in more than 2,600 Syrians for medical care. On one bitterly cold January night, gunfire and explosions could be heard in the near distance as Israeli medics dressed the injuries of two Syrian men, one suffering a head wound. "We're doing everything we can to save their lives, to stabilize them and evacuate them to hospital," said Captain Aviad Camisa, deputy chief medical officer of the Golan brigade. The medics lift the wounded men onto an army ambulance which slowly drives off down a dirt road. A Syrian family -- two grandparents, a mother, father and a child aided by a walker -- pass by as they prepare to cross back into Syria in the dead of night. "Some of the stories stir your emotions. When children come, as a father, it touches me personally," Camisa said. Millions have fled and hundreds of thousands have been killed in Syria's conflict, which shows only fitful signs of being resolved. The trail to Israel is full of risks. Those who spoke to Reuters at Ziv medical Center in Safed, northern Israel, did so freely but asked not to be identified by name or have their faces photographed or filmed for fear of retribution back home. The Israeli army helped facilitate access to the hospital, perhaps concerned to counter the negative image it has in most of the Arab world. One man, his legs pierced by shrapnel, survived a bomb attack in his village in which 23 people were killed. "In the past we used to know Israel as our enemy. That's what the regime used to tell us," he said. "When we came to Israel we changed our minds, there is no enmity between us. "In the end we discovered that our regime is the enemy of us all," he said, referring to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. In a nearby room sits a seven-year-old Syrian girl, her mother by her side. She was hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell about two months ago and suffered life-threatening injuries; her internal organs and three of her limbs were badly hurt. "In the first weeks we try not to ask them many questions because we are afraid that it will be more stress," said Issa Fares, an Israeli Arab Christian social worker at the hospital, where many of the staff are native Arabic speakers. Israel has not formally taken sides in the Syrian conflict. It opposes the presence of Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah ranged alongside Assad, but is also alarmed by the hardline Islamist groups fighting against him. (Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) A Vancouver woman's holiday in Thailand ended in tragedy when the Jeep she was in rolled down an embankment in heavy rains last week, killing her and severely injuring a friend. Ali Lambert, 22, died from her injuries, her father Doug told CBC. Now, family and friends are trying to raise money to pay for her friend, Nezabravka (Nezi) Borislavova's, medical bills and to bring her back home to Canada. Doug Lambert says his daughter's rented Jeep apparently had trouble with heavy rains, as they were driving from Bangkok to Phuket. "We've been told it hit a light standard," he said. "The Jeep was completely destroyed ... Ali was non-responsive when she was taken to the hospital." Lambert said Borislavova, who is from Calgary and also in her 20s, was a good friend of his daughter. "From what I hear, Nezi will be okay. She has a couple of broken bones but she does not have medical insurance," he said. Ali was in the sixth month of a trip through Europe and Asia, Doug said. He's not sure when Borislavova joined Lambert in Asia. "Ali didn't have a return ticket booked." Lambert said his family has been told it might take some time to bring Ali's body back to Canada. He said the family is shocked and reeling from the loss. "She was an artist and adventurer at heart," he said. "She was a real alternative kid. She chose a different path for herself. We're just very glad we got to know her for 22 years." Canadian consular officials say they are providing assistance to the family as well to relatives of another Canadian who was injured. "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the Canadian citizen who passed away in Thailand," said John Babcock, a Global Affairs spokesman, in an email. "Our officials are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information." MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Breast cancer can take a heavy toll on the partners of patients, too, a new study finds. The stress of managing breast cancer care provokes symptoms of anxiety in more than 42 percent of partners and caregivers. And this stress-induced anxiety can last years after their loved one's illness, researchers found. Those who coped poorly with the bad news fared even worse, according to the study. Partners were more than twice as likely to report anxiety if they became emotionally withdrawn, went into denial about the situation, turned to drink, started blaming others for their problems or grew agitated and aggressive, said lead researcher Nancy Borstelmann. "Caregivers' mental health and how they cope needs attention," Borstelmann said. "This not only has implications for their own well-being, but also survivors' health and quality of life." Borstelmann is director of social work at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. It's well-known that providing care to a cancer patient is complex and stressful, but Borstelmann said there's been limited research addressing the partners of younger adults with cancer. To investigate, Borstelmann and her colleagues surveyed 289 partners of patients diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger. Of those partners, 284 were male, and three out of four were parenting children at the time of the diagnosis. Partners who already faced stress from financial concerns, insufficient social support and the demands of being a parent were more likely to suffer anxiety from a breast cancer diagnosis, Borstelmann said. But the two factors most strongly associated with stress were poor coping skills and lack of a college education, Borstelmann said. Less education could be a sign of other problems in a person's life, including a lower income level or a lack of understanding about how the health care system works, she said. "Sometimes individuals with lower levels of education may be a little more hesitant to speak up" and ask for badly needed help, Borstelmann said. The study results show that health care professionals need to do a better job reaching out to partners early on and identifying potential problems, she said. "The best work we can do is to try to intervene earlier and identify what are their concerns, what are their needs and make sure they have adequate support," Borstelmann said. Support groups, social workers, other partners of breast cancer survivors, and a host of other types of help are available to partners. But they might not learn of them if the patient's health care team never realizes the partner is struggling, Borstelmann said. Dr. Merry Jennifer Markham, a member of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, agreed. "The reality is when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, the caregiving partners often set aside their own health and well-being to focus on their loved ones," said Markham. "We need to better understand the specific issues facing caregivers in order to address their anxiety more effectively and find ways to help them cope," added Markham, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Florida. "When partners of cancer patients take care of themselves, it really does benefit everyone." There's also much that can be done to help young parents, Borstelmann said. "We want to help you talk with your children about what's going on in your family," she said. For example, social workers can prepare parents for the kinds of questions children are likely to ask, so family conversations about the illness will go more smoothly, Borstelmann said. The new study will be presented Saturday at a meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology in San Diego. Study findings presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. More information For more on cancer's effect on families, visit the American Cancer Society. TUESDAY, Jan. 24, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Younger survivors of thyroid cancer are at increased risk for certain types of health problems later in life, a new study suggests. "As the number of thyroid cancer survivors grows, more people are living with other serious health conditions resulting from treatment," study lead author Brenna Blackburn said in an American Society of Clinical Oncology news release. Blackburn is a graduate research assistant at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. In the new study, her team tracked data from more than 3,700 thyroid cancer survivors in Utah diagnosed between 1997 and 2012. The researchers compared those patients' long-term health to that of more than 15,500 people who did not have thyroid cancer. The study found that thyroid cancer survivors diagnosed before age 40 were five times more likely to develop swelling around the heart, and more than twice as likely to develop heart valve disease, compared to people in the other group. People diagnosed with thyroid cancer when young were also more than seven times more likely to develop osteoporosis, and more likely to have high blood pressure and heart rhythm disorders, Blackburn's team said. Even people diagnosed with thyroid cancer at a later age -- after 40 -- had an increased risk for various health problems, but the effect wasn't as strong as was seen in people diagnosed at a younger age. People diagnosed when over 40 were 46 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure and more than twice as likely to develop osteoporosis than people who'd never had thyroid cancer, the study found. The study was presented on Monday at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in San Diego. Blackburn stressed that, nowadays, "patients diagnosed with thyroid cancer often have an excellent prognosis and survival rate, especially those diagnosed at younger ages, with less than 3 percent of thyroid cancer deaths occurring in patients diagnosed before age 40." However, longer-term risks to health may emerge later, she added. "It's important to understand these long-term risks so that we can not only help manage their health, but also inform how oncologists care for these patients from the onset of diagnosis," Blackburn said. Two experts in thyroid cancer care said that a more nuanced view of the disease and its treatment may help lower long-term health issues in the future. "In the recent past, most patients with thyroid cancer were treated with surgical removal of the entire gland, followed by radiation given in the form of radioactive iodine," explained Dr. Daniel Kuriloff. He directs the Center for Thyroid & Parathyroid Surgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "Standard treatment in the past has also required thyroid hormone replacement at much higher doses than normally required for general health," he added. That can boost the risk of osteoporosis and heart disease, Kuriloff said. But better detection means that thyroid tumors are now being spotted earlier and more frequently. Many may be so "slow-growing" they pose little threat to health," Kuriloff said. With that in mind, "we are developing new standards of less aggressive treatment for young, 'low risk' patients under the age of 45," he said. "This study underscores the importance of risk stratifying patients into low, intermediate and high risk disease, to help determine if any treatment is needed," Kuriloff said. Dr. John Allendorf is vice chair of surgery at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y. He said the study findings aren't surprising, since many of these long-term health risks from thyroid treatment were already well-known. He agreed with Kuriloff that "there is likely a population of patients that can be identified whose risk of recurrence is so low that the standard practice of thyroid hormone replacement does more harm than good." According to the study authors, thyroid cancer incidence is increasing more rapidly in the United States than any other cancer. This year, about 64,300 adults will be diagnosed with the disease. However, treatment is usually very effective, so the vast majority of patients survive their disease. More information The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more on thyroid cancer. MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Gestational diabetes and a previous bout of depression can increase a first-time mother's risk of postpartum depression, a new study suggests. The analysis of data from more than 700,000 women in Sweden showed that gestational diabetes (developing diabetes during pregnancy) alone raised the risk for postpartum depression. However, that risk rose even more if a woman had previously been diagnosed with depression. "Most practitioners think of these as two isolated and very different conditions, but we now understand gestational diabetes and postpartum depression should be considered together," said study lead author Michael Silverman. He's an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "While having diabetes increases [postpartum depression] risk for all women, for those women who have had a past depressive episode, having diabetes during pregnancy makes it 70 percent more likely that they will develop [postpartum depression]," Silverman said in a school news release. The researchers said they also identified other risk factors for postpartum depression. Among women with a history of depression, diabetes before pregnancy and giving birth prematurely at 32 to 36 weeks (full-term delivery is 39 to 40 weeks) increased the risk, the researchers said. Also, among women with no history of depression, giving birth at a young age, having an instrument-assisted or cesarean delivery, and giving birth before 32 weeks increased the risk. The study was published online Jan. 18 in the journal Depression and Anxiety. "The reason a doctor asks if you smoke is because they know you are 20 times more likely to get cancer if you do. We believe ob-gyns should now do the same for depression history," Silverman said. "With this information, we can now intervene early, before the mother gives birth." More information The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on postpartum depression. MONDAY, Jan. 23, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanic-American type 2 diabetes patients who lack proficiency in English may end up with poorer care, a new study finds. Specifically, these patients were found to be much less likely than non-Hispanic patients to take newly prescribed diabetes medications as directed, the researchers said. The study "suggests that more needs to be done to improve adherence to newly prescribed medications among Latino patients at all levels of English proficiency," wrote a team led by Dr. Alicia Fernandez, of the University of California, San Francisco. A diabetes specialist who reviewed the study wasn't surprised by the results. The research "further validates what many clinicians already know: Patients who do not understand English tend to do worse with management of chronic disease," said Dr. Maria Pena. She is an endocrinologist who directs the Center for Weight Management at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. According to background information in the study, more than 3.1 million Hispanics in the United States have diabetes and must take medication every day. For the research, Fernandez's team tracked data from nearly 31,000 insured patients in California. The study found that more than 60 percent of Spanish-speaking Hispanic patients did not take newly prescribed diabetes drugs as directed. That's compared to about 52 percent of English-speaking Hispanics, and 37.5 percent of white patients, the researchers said. "Our study among insured patients suggests that more needs to be done to improve adherence to newly prescribed medications among Latino patients at all levels of English proficiency," Fernandez and her co-authors wrote. The study was published Jan. 23 in JAMA Internal Medicine. Another study in the same issue of the journal was led by Melissa Parker of Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif. Her team found that blood sugar control could improve for Hispanic type 2 diabetes patients with limited English skills -- but only when they switched from a primary care doctor who only spoke English to a doctor who primarily spoke Spanish to his or her patients. Pena called diabetes treatment a "complex" issue that requires clear understanding between doctor and patient, if it is to succeed. She said that "in some cases, treatment may require frequent checking of finger sticks to monitor sugar levels, injecting medications such as insulin, and knowing how to calculate the amount of insulin necessary based on the amount of carbs consumed." And while the new studies focused on Spanish-speaking patients with type 2 diabetes, Pena believes the results probably hold true for "any disease that requires long-term monitoring and follow-up." More information The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on diabetes. TUESDAY, Jan. 24, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- A continuous glucose monitor helps people with type 1 diabetes who need insulin shots every day manage their blood sugar levels safely, two new studies suggest. Also known as a CGM, the device constantly measures and reports a person's blood sugar levels. It does this via a thin wire sensor that's inserted underneath the skin, a transmitter worn on top of the skin, and a receiver (or smartphone) to gather the information. "Few treatment options exist in the type 1 diabetes field. CGM is a treatment option that [people] should test if they have the option," said Dr. Marcus Lind, lead researcher on one of the studies. He's the chief physician of diabetology at Uddevalla Hospital in Sweden. People with type 1 diabetes don't make enough insulin -- a hormone the body needs to use the carbohydrates in food for fuel. Because of this, people with type 1 rely on insulin injections or insulin delivered through a tiny catheter inserted under the skin and then attached to an insulin pump worn outside the body. People with type 1 diabetes using shots may need five or six insulin injections daily. In people with type 2 diabetes, the body is no longer able to use insulin properly. Most (95 percent) of diabetes cases involve the type 2 form of the disease. Sometimes, people with type 2 diabetes also need to use insulin injections. However, using insulin is a difficult balancing act -- too much or too little can cause problems, even life-threatening ones. Aaron Kowalski is vice president of research for JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). He noted, "Insulin is a dangerous but necessary drug for people with type 1 diabetes. These studies provide additional support for CGMs, which have been getting better and better. There's no doubt that someone on insulin will benefit from these devices." When blood sugar levels go out of range -- either too high or too low -- a CGM's receiver sends an alarm, alerting the person with diabetes (or a parent for babies and children with diabetes) to the problem. This is important because when blood sugar levels drop too low, people with diabetes can become disoriented, and if levels drop even further, they may pass out. Blood sugar levels that are too high and left untreated over time can cause complications such as kidney troubles, eye problems and heart disease. Both studies used the Dexcom G4 CGM, and were funded by the manufacturer, Dexcom Inc. All participants used insulin shots to manage their type 1 diabetes. The study led by Lind included 161 people with type 1 diabetes at 15 diabetes clinics in Sweden. Their average age was 44. The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group was given CGM for 26 weeks, and then conventional therapy for 26 weeks, with a period of no monitoring for 17 weeks in between. The other group did this in reverse and started with conventional therapy. Conventional therapy is self-monitoring of blood sugar levels. The second study was led by Dr. Roy Beck, executive director of the Jaeb Center for Health Research in Tampa, Fla. This study included 158 patients. Their average age was 48. They were treated at 24 endocrinology practices across the country. These volunteers were randomly given 24 weeks of CGM therapy or conventional therapy. In both studies, blood sugar levels improved in both groups of patients. HbA1C levels dropped for those using CGMs. HbA1C is often called A1C for short. This test measures an average blood sugar level over the past two to three months. The results are expressed as a percentage. The American Diabetes Association goal for adults with diabetes is to get below 7 percent. In Beck's study, there was a mean drop of 0.6 percent more in A1C for the CGM group versus the control group. In Lind's research, the decrease was about 0.4 percent more in those on CGMs than the control group. Both study authors said these drops were meaningful for patients. Lind's group also saw a drop in severe low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) in people on a CGM. "The satisfaction in our study was extremely high. CGMs have gotten smaller and more accurate. The benefits are greater and the hassles are less. It's worth it to carry around another device," Beck said. The two studies were published Jan. 24 in Journal of the American Medical Association. More information Learn more about type 1 diabetes from the American Diabetes Association. TUESDAY, Jan. 24, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- It's not yet clear if there's any benefit to screening adults for sleep apnea when they don't have signs or symptoms of the condition, according to a U.S. government advisory panel of health experts. This is the first time that the panel, known as the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), "has reviewed the evidence on screening for obstructive sleep apnea," panelist Dr. Alex Krist said in a news release from the group. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when a person stops breathing many times during sleep due to temporary collapses of the airway, resulting in reduced airflow. "Obstructive sleep apnea represents a major health concern; it affects 10 to 15 percent of the U.S. population and is associated with heart disease, diabetes, reduced quality of life and increased risk of death," Krist said. "Primary care doctors want to know if screening is beneficial for patients. Unfortunately, right now, there is not enough evidence to know," he added. Symptoms of the sleep disorder include excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, fatigue, insomnia and fatigue-related issues, such as memory and concentration problems, and mood changes. People with an increased risk include men and postmenopausal women, as well as anyone who is overweight or obese, the panel noted. At the present time, doctors should use their judgment in determining whether screening is appropriate for a patient, the USPSTF said in its recommendation. The task force also called for more research into the benefits and risks of screening. The recommendation doesn't apply to adults who do have symptoms or concerns about obstructive sleep apnea, the task force stressed. It also isn't for people who have a medical condition, such as stroke, that could trigger the onset of sleep apnea. Nor does it apply to children, teens or pregnant women. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), which represents sleep physicians, took issue with the USPSTF stance. Despite the panel's neutral position on screening for people without symptoms, the AASM said it "recommends screening patients who have a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea, even if they don't have any sleep-related symptoms." People at high risk for sleep apnea include those with "obesity, heart problems such as congestive heart failure and atrial fibrillation [a form of irregular heartbeat], treatment-resistant hypertension [high blood pressure], type 2 diabetes and stroke," the AASM said in a statement. "Identification by primary care providers of patients who have a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea, followed by appropriate referral to a board-certified sleep medicine physician for a comprehensive sleep history and evaluation, could significantly reduce the frequency of undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea," the academy said. The USPSTF recommendation was published online Jan. 24 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It can also be found on the USPSTF website. The task force is an independent, volunteer panel of national experts that makes recommendations about preventive health services. More information The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has more on sleep apnea. Supply chains are traditionally linear, but today supply chains are transforming into dynamic, interconnected systems. These digital supply networks integrate information from many different sources to drive production and distribution, potentially altering manufacturings competitive landscape. Introduction Learn More Watch the related video Supply chains traditionally are linear in nature, with a discrete progression of design, plan, source, make, and deliver. Today, however, many supply chains are transforming from a staid sequence to a dynamic, interconnected system that can more readily incorporate ecosystem partners and evolve to a more optimal state over time. This shift from linear, sequential supply chain operations to an interconnected, open system of supply operations could lay the foundation for how companies compete in the future. We call this interconnected, open system a digital supply network (DSN). DSNs integrate information from many different sources and locations to drive the physical act of production and distribution.1 The result can be a virtual world, which mirrors and informs the physical world. By leveraging both the traditional and the new, such as sensor-based data sets (such as unstructured data), DSNs enable integrated views of the supply network and rapid use-case-appropriate latency responses to changing situations. DSNs integrate information from many different sources and locations to drive the physical act of production and distribution Many organizations already on the path to creating DSNs are shifting their focus away from managing and optimizing discrete functions, such as procurement and manufacturing. Instead, they often use DSNs to focus more holistically on how the full supply chain can better achieve business objectives, while informing corporate, business unit, and portfolio strategies. Indeed, DSNs increasingly allow supply chains to become an integral part of strategic planning and decision making. To this end, organizations can develop and leverage multiple DSNs to complement different facets of their strategy and more effectively target specific needs. Historically, supply chain professionals managed the four Vs (volatility, volume, velocity, and visibility)2 as they attempted to optimize results across a series of objectives that include total cost, service, quality, and support for innovation. These traditional priorities are not likely to change, but going forward, supply chain decision makers should be able to achieve higher levels of performance with supply chain capabilities developed with new digital technologies. Additionally, supply chain professionals can help create new sources of revenue by providing new and faster access to markets, and supporting the production of smart products. Such opportunities would add revenue to the existing list of objectives for the supply chain. Change is often hard, but the digitization of information and the application of advanced innovative technologies present the opportunity to drive business value throughout the supply chain. Moreover, digital disruption can change supply chains in any industry. To avoid becoming a victim of disruption, it helps to understand these shifts and adapt accordingly. In the pages that follow, we explore and analyze the next stage of growth for supply chains in DSNs by: Tracing the technological evolutions that enable the rise of the DSN Defining what the DSN is, along with its role within a wider business strategy Examining the trade-offs inherent in a typical supply chain, and identifying the characteristics that can mitigate those trade-offs Considering how to build a DSN Technological evolution spurs the rise of Industry 4.0and ushers in disruption Digital technologies have changed dramatically in recent years, driven largely by three key developments: lower computing costs, cheaper storage, and less costly bandwidth, in keeping with Moores Law3 (figure 1). The sharp cost decline over the last few decades has made it possible for companies to invest less and still reap the benefits of digital technologies on a wider scale. However, the surge in digital technologies has likely not been driven by cost alone. Even as these costs have declined, computing power and technological capabilities have grown significantly.4 Indeed, between 1992 and 2002, computing power increased at an average of 52 percent per year,5 enabling organizations to gather, store, and analyze greater amounts of data than ever before. By 2020, we expect that 44 zettabytes of data will be created and copied each year, up from 1 zettabyte in 2010.6 Between 1992 and 2002, computing power increased at an average of 52 percent per year. The confluence of these developmentssignificantly lower costs, and improved power and capabilitieshas led to exponential changes that enable leaders to combine information technology (IT) and operations technology (OT). Companies are now empowered to create value in new and different ways. Improved processing capabilities now augment human thinking to analyze more data more quickly, and then act upon it. Such changes have ushered in the new era of Industry 4.0.7 Industry 4.0, or the fourth industrial revolution, is characterized by new technologies that blur the lines between physical and digital worldsdriving real-time access to new and existing data sources. Paired with powerful analytics tools, such as visualization, scenario analysis, and predictive learning algorithms, this access to data is fundamentally changing how companies operate. Companies can now gather vast data sets from physical assets and facilities in real time, perform advanced analytics to generate new insights, and execute more effective decisions. These decisions can then be actualized by the capabilities of advanced physical technologies, such as robotics, drones, additive manufacturing, and autonomous vehicles. At its core, this digital revolution is likely changing the way products are designed, created, and delivered to customersand it has tremendous implications for the supply chain. Impacts of technology disruption: From a supply chain to a DSN The function of any supply chain centers on the movement of materials, finished goods, capital, and other assets from place to place, as well as the production of finished goods. At their core, however, supply chains consist of many transactions: the exchange of time, money, information, or physical materials for some other unit of value. Dramatic technological and digital developments, such as greater computing power and lower overall costs, have impacted the traditional supply chain in several key ways, including a reduction in transaction costs and increase in innovation related to the production process itself. Reducing transaction costs The increase in power and efficiency of technologies has manifested itself in greatly reduced transaction costs for business operations both internally and externally.8 No longer does it have to be prohibitively expensive or time intensive to gain insight into each minute step of operations, or to deeply understand customer or supplier demand patterns. The influx of inexpensively acquired and easily manipulated information seems to demand that supply chains begin to incorporate and utilize increased intelligence. While the linear flow of designing, creating, and moving physical goods remains unchanged, the underlying data now flow through and around the nodes of the supply chain, dynamically and in real time (or at whatever pace may be required). The new interconnections between processes and subprocesses have transformed supply chains into efficient and predictive networks. When the cost of transactions falls, the ability to transact with more and different partners increases. This creates an opportunity to shift to a world of more networked supply chains, as companies can simply connect with more different partners when and where necessary in order to deliver substantially increased value. Innovation in production Simultaneously, how production is enabled in the physical world also seems to be changing as a result of dramatic improvements in both the process by which matter can be manipulated and the embedded computing power that actuates those processes in pursuit of production. Improvements in the flexibility and capability of capital equipment should lead to less of it being required to commence production. When less capital is required, the minimum efficient scale comes down as well, and production is allowed to scatter, locating closer to demand.9 Furthermore, smaller and more nimble players can enter the playing field more easily. These shifts in physical capabilities should be addressed both strategically and operationally. The shift from linear supply chain to dynamic network Ultimately, these changes can lead to a virtual collapse in the supply chain. This does not signify catastrophe but rather an opportunity that marks the shift from traditional, linear supply chain nodes to a set of dynamic networks. Furthermore, this could allow dramatically increased differentiation for the organization that is able to harness and leverage them. The increase in digital connectivity and technological capabilities should reduce the latency between new information and material action. In traditional supply chains, information travels linearly, with each step dependent on the one before it. This chain of events is linked in a very structured way: develop, plan, source, make, deliver, support (figure 2). Inefficiencies in one step can result in a cascade of similar inefficiencies in subsequent stages. Stakeholders often have little, if any, visibility into other processes, which limits their ability to react or adjust their activities.10 To operators, this is understood to be the expensive bullwhip effect, in which inventory fluctuations due to changes in customer demand grow larger, and thus less predictable, further up the supply chain.11 As each supply node becomes more capable and connected, however, the supply chain collapses into a dynamic, integrated supply network. DSNs overcome the delayed action-reaction process of the linear supply chain by employing real-time data to better inform decisions, provide greater transparency, and enable enhanced collaboration across the entire supply network. Figure 2 represents the shift from the traditional supply chain to a single DSN. It is important to note, however, that organizations will likely have more than one DSN. In figure 2, the interconnected lattice of the new DSN model is clearly visible, with digital at the core. There is potential for interactions from each node to every other point of the network, allowing for greater connectivity among areas that previously did not exist. In this model, communications, for example, is multidirectional, creating connectivity in what traditionally has been disconnected by links in the supply chain. For example, drone video monitoring of remote work sites enables site optimization analytics and rapid issue detection, while on-site 3D printers rapidly make replacements to reduce downtime. While there are multiple underlying Internet of Things technologies that would enable this process and others like it, the key is identifying how to communicate, aggregate, analyze, and act upon available information to achieve improvements.12 The transition from linear to network often requires the organization to embrace a new way of linking physical and digital assets. Traditionally, linear supply chains rely on periodic relayed forecasts and plans, which become increasingly outdatedand thus inaccuratewith each stage. By connecting all the stages to one another via advanced technologies, DSNs can minimize the latency, risk, and waste found in linear supply chains. As DSN usage progresses and companies leverage their full supply networks, the traditional barriers of time and space should shrink. Companies would then be poised to achieve new levels of performance, improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, and create new revenue opportunities. As noted above, organizations will likely have more than one DSN. Concurrent DSNs may leverage parts of the othersfor example, they may share distribution facilitiesbut other pieces of the DSN would be separate, as in the case of manufacturing a different product or subassembly. Where there are multiple DSNs, however, organizations have the opportunity to match DSNs to commercial strategy and update them for the needs of the specific part of the business they support. It is this capability that allows DSNs to be more nimble, flexible, and customizable, in turn to better serve the strategic needs of the organization. Thinking strategically about DSNs: What makes them different? What separates DSNs from traditional, linear supply chains is the fact that DSNs are dynamic, integrated networks characterized by a continuous flow of information that facilitate automation, add value, improve workflow and analytics, and generate insights. With the ability to ascertain information in real time, many of the latency challenges inherent in linear supply chains can be avoided. For example, Tesco, a multinational grocery retailer, tries to maximize revenue by reducing the chance of product stock-outs. Tesco feeds weather data into its predictive analytics tool to forecast demand of weather-dependent products (such as coleslaw and ice cream), and adjusts inventory and supplier orders in advance on a store-by-store basis to minimize missed revenue.13 Such analysis saved the company approximately $140 million, mainly through the reduction of wasted stock.14 Although historically the local grocer may have had the foresight to adjust orders when warmer weather was forecast, traditional supply chain latency may not have allowed a fast-enough reaction time to prevent a stock-out. A DSN sidesteps that latency by making changes based on data, communicating changes throughout the supply network in real time. Figure 3 describes the main characteristics of the DSN: always-on agility, connected community, intelligent optimization, end-to-end transparency, and holistic decision making. Each of these characteristics plays a role in enabling more informed decisions and can help organizations address the central question in their strategic thinking: how to win. Since the DSN is always on, sensors and other location-based tools can continuously transmit data to provide integrated views of multiple facets of the network with little to no latency. At the same time, each of the attributes in figure 3 enables the DSN to address many more issues within the supply chain beyond simply overcoming latency challenges. Indeed, the five main characteristics of the DSN describe much more than faster data transmission. They illustrate how companies can develop a far more complete picture of the total supply networkwhich can foster more informed strategic decisions. The connected community allows multiple stakeholderssuppliers, partners, customers, products, and assets, among othersto communicate and share data and information directly, rather than through a gatekeeper. Being connected in this way allows for greater data synchronicity, ensuring that stakeholders are all working with the same data when making decisions, and allowing machines to make operating decisions. Intelligent optimization describes the ability for machines and humans to work together, sharing data that can be analyzed to optimize decision making. Likewise, end-to-end transparency can provide instant visibility across multiple aspects of the supply chain all at once, providing insights into critical areas. Rather than simply viewing discrete, siloed batches of information from multiple sources and attempting to piece them together manually or via other systems, DSNs enable companies to track material flow, synchronize schedules, balance supply and demand, and peer holistically into financials. In a sense, this amounts to a full map of the supply network, in which companies can see how all components interact and relate to each other. This, in turn, can enable holistic decision making, wherein transparency of information across all areas of the supply networkand across all functionscan enable better supply and demand balancing as well as decision making. Strategic planning can enable organizations to clearly understand the trade-offs any decision may entail. This type of holistic thinking can enable broader strategic transformations: Instead of planning incremental improvements within the supply chain, organizations can consider how the supply network can be used to fuel growth across the business. For example, Nissan improved the manufacturing capabilities of its automobiles using product life cycle management (PLM) software to enable collaboration among production teams across the world. Its virtual production process tests design feasibility in real time, incorporating input from PLM and designers in various facilities. In 20 percent less time, this process helped Nissan create a final design that ultimately was named the 2014 UK Car of the Year.15 Instead of planning incremental improvements within the supply chain, organizations can consider how the supply network can be used to fuel growth across the business. Making DSNs an integral part of business strategy As organizations seek to determine and achieve their business strategies, they must make a variety of choices. With any strategic choice, however, come trade-offs: the choices or capabilities that are often surrendered to pursue the preferred option.16 One strategic choice may be to focus on agility and speed to market, with the understanding that this choice can close off other avenues such as lower cost. Still others may focus their strategic efforts on higher quality while recognizing that service level may be a necessary trade-off.17 Manufacturers often question whether they can pursue multiple goals or develop strong capabilities in multiple areas, as focusing on one area can often mean sacrificing capabilities in another.18 In this traditional scenario, trying to do too much can result in not being able to do anything exceptionally well. This can make the strategic decision-making process particularly tense, as making inopportune choices can impact the outcome. Focusing on simple questionswhere to play and how to wincan help identify major considerations and stakeholders, streamline the process, and prioritize where companies should be devoting their efforts. By answering these and other strategic questions, organizations can better understand their needs and make choices more specifically geared toward their goals and aspirations. With the advent of the DSN, however, these questions can evolve to enable more transformative decisions. Figure 4 depicts the strategic decision-making process with traditional considerations (the strategic choice cascade) mapped against the new, more transformational questions enabled by the rise of DSNs. DSN capabilities can impact strategy by enabling organizations to achieve multiple priorities, thereby lessening or eliminating trade-offs while still maintaining competitiveness. Since organizations can deploy multiple DSNs, once they have answered the key questions detailed in figure 4, DSNs can be implemented to address each area of strategic priority identified. Depending on the specific DSN, transformations can address a variety of considerations. It helps to examine the specific attributes of the DSN that can make this possible, and understand the importance of involving DSN planning in all stages of the strategic development process. From trade-offs to customization: How to think about the DSNs strategic role Given the interconnected nature of the DSN, its systems can theoretically see and sense what is happening at any other node in the network at any given time. In this way, a DSN can serve as an integral part of business strategy, enabling the business to negotiate and in some cases even avoid trade-offs. As companies make choices around the customers they want to serve and the products they wish to offer, they can also customize supply networks to address customer goals. These include getting products sooner or at the lowest possible cost. Some customers may want the ability to change their minds and shift product mix in real time, or only receive the newest and best goods while excluding outdated products from shipments. Thus companies can take segments of the supply network and align them to what is most important to current needs. The integrated DSN may also allow organizations to compete on a variety of differentiating factors, such as speed or service, and apply them across all the traditional nodes of the supply chain as needed. As different stages of the supply chain communicate with each other via connected, Industry 4.0driven technologies, priorities identified during the strategic decision-making process can be addressed on multiple fronts. In effect, this gives DSNs (and supply chains) new strategic decision-making abilities unlike any they have had before. For example, GE Aviation changed its business model from merely manufacturing and selling engines to selling services measured by flight hours. Traditionally, aircraft engines were geographically isolated, with assets moving around the globe at all times. The performance management of the engine was also limited to the required periodic inspections, aside from some outputs in the cockpit. GE Aviation closed time and geography gaps by adding sensors to its aircraft engines that collected and transmitted data. GE is now using predictive analytics to lower maintenance costs and reduce engine downtime, offering economic value to the customer and a potential new revenue stream to GE.19 Transitioning to a DSN: Shifting strategic choices Transitioning a traditional, linear supply chain into an always-on, holistic DSN can allow companies to shift their strategies, competing across different nodes of the supply chain simultaneously rather than simply focusing on one area. Once organizations have determined how they want to win, however, they should consider how to effectively configure their supply networks to successfully execute their plan. One of the benefitsand challengesof the DSN is its agility, and the multitude of options companies can pursue to build one. Thus, as companies determine the strategy they wish to pursue, they should identify the type of supply network needed to achieve it. They can then determine the capabilities their supply network will require. To configure and realize a DSN-driven strategy, companies can execute multiple different supply chain transformations. Figure 5 depicts a sample of nine strategic transformations companies can make by leveraging DSNs, along with a list of sample tactics that can enable each transformation. However, it is important to reiterate that many large organizations can pursue multiple supply networks, depending on their needs and the needs of their customers and stakeholders. In these cases, organizations might require multiple transformations for each, depending on what they wish to change and why. For instance, a supply network that focuses on low cost as its main differentiator might want to be more agile, and mitigate some of the trade-offs associated with planning and inventory inefficiencies or inadequate design process optimization. EasyJet, for example, employs augmented reality smart glasses to enable two-way communication between its network of remote maintenance technicians and the central engineering team. Virtual step-by-step walkthroughs in real time enable technicians to effectively perform complex maintenance tasks and reduce downtime. EasyJet also uses drones to perform efficient and immediate visual safety inspections of the exteriors of its plane bodies, reducing the time the plane is out of service, how much hangar space is required, and the amount of inspection labor.20 Alternatively, a supply network focused on service might want to use DSN transformation tactics to mitigate some of the trade-offs around operations efficiency and supplier collaboration. In one such example, Spine Wave utilizes Medical Tracking Solutions iTraycer to create a device-focused inventory management system. Sensors are placed on each piece of spinal implant equipment, enabling Spine Wave to remotely track each piece within a spinal surgery kit. Spine Wave can then immediately replenish inventory, and automate invoices at the point of use.21 In contrast, most hospitals today must return the surgical kit to the company, which identifies which parts must be replenished and triggers invoicing. Implementing a DSN: The physical-to-digital-to-physical loop For business leaders accustomed to traditional linear data and communications, the shift to real-time access to data and intelligence fundamentally transforms the way they conduct business. Once organizations make the decision to adopt a DSN, they should consider how to develop, connect, and use the various Industry 4.0driven technologies that power it. Before developing a DSN, it can be useful to consider the process of information creation, analysis, and action as a loop. The integration of digital information from many different sources and locations drives the physical act of manufacturing and distribution, in an ongoing cycle. Real-time access to data and intelligence is fundamentally driven by the continuous and cyclical flow of information and actions between the physical and digital worlds. This flow occurs through an iterative series of three steps, collectively known as the physical-to-digital-to-physical loop: Physical to digital Capture information from the physical world and create a digital record from physical data Capture information from the physical world and create a digital record from physical data Digital to digital Share information and uncover meaningful insights using advanced analytics, scenario analysis, and artificial intelligence Share information and uncover meaningful insights using advanced analytics, scenario analysis, and artificial intelligence Digital to physicalApply algorithms to translate digital-world decisions to effective data, to spur action and change in the physical world Figure 6 depicts not only the physical-to-digital-to-physical loop but also the various digital and physical technologies that drive and enable it. Making the DSN real: Building and powering the digital stack As manufacturing organizations evolve, information clusters will likely move from separate silos to free-flowing, integrated information supported by interconnected technology solutions. In traditional, linear supply chains, data tend to be siloed into separate information clusters. Customer engagement data, sales and service customer operations data, core operations and manufacturing data, and supply chain and partnership data are all kept separately from each other where none can inform the other. This can often lead to missed opportunities as organizations cannot see where these areas intersect or align. An integrated DSN hub can enable a digital organization and support for the free flow of information across information clusters. This hub, or digital stack, provides a single location to access near-real-time DSN data from multiple sourcesproducts, customers, suppliers, and aftermarket supportencapsulating multiple perspectives. The digital stack includes multiple layers that synchronize and integrate this data to support and enable informed decision making (figure 7). Getting started: Building a DSN Digital supply networks represent the evolution of supply chains, a result of the changing technology landscape, and increasing connectivity between the digital and the physical worlds. New access to information, computational abilities, and innovative technologies have collapsed and connected the formerly linear and siloed supply chain. Now real-time information and insights can be shared across the entire supply network to drive actionable decisions. Now real-time information and insights can be shared across the entire supply network to drive actionable decisions. These changes are happening quickly. But with change comes opportunity: the ability of DSNs to play an integral role in strategic decision making, fewer trade-offs, customizing multiple supply networks to the specific needs of customers and clients. To start building a functional DSN, organizations can take several steps: Think big Often the first step in transforming a supply chain into a DSN is understanding what drives the need to differentiate. With a firm grasp on how and why one wants to differentiate, organizations can examine real supply chain applications that suit their business objectives. Immerse yourself in innovation. Explore the art of the possible to push the organization to understand the application of various technologies and their potential impacts on the business. Explore the art of the possible to push the organization to understand the application of various technologies and their potential impacts on the business. Build your ecosystem. Assess the organizations digital maturity to understand what might be feasible, and what steps should be taken to build the technological capabilities necessary for a functional DSN. Start small The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Consider ways to make the transition to DSNs a manageable and realistic one. Scale at the edges. At times, it makes sense to start with smaller stakes, where strategies can be tested and refined with relatively fewer consequences. Selecting projects at the edges of the organization can provide greater latitude for building DSN capabilities, and can also help individuals feel less afraid to fail, which ultimately leads to greater innovation. At times, it makes sense to start with smaller stakes, where strategies can be tested and refined with relatively fewer consequences. Selecting projects at the edges of the organization can provide greater latitude for building DSN capabilities, and can also help individuals feel less afraid to fail, which ultimately leads to greater innovation. Start with one or two transformations. Prioritize areas that can unlock several waves of potential value, and build on those successes to continue to establish DSNs where they make strategic sense. At the same time, it can be essential to act with growth in mind: Focus on areas that might unlock several waves of potential value, creating a ripple effect that leads to exponential growth. Act fast Dont wait for perfect. Exponential growth techniques are rapidly evolving, requiring constant iterations. Establishing a competitive advantage requires the willingness to join the fray, but you should do so quickly. Prove it works. Small successes can serve as proof points, leading to a greater willingness to take a chance on more substantive investments. By starting small and moving quickly, organizations can generate success stories that prove the value and importance of the DSN. Small successes can serve as proof points, leading to a greater willingness to take a chance on more substantive investments. By starting small and moving quickly, organizations can generate success stories that prove the value and importance of the DSN. Market your successes. Success generates success. Sharing examples of successful DSNs can evangelize skeptics within the organization. It can also demonstrate to customers that the organization is at the forefront of technology and is focused on their needs. Advancing to an always-on DSN is not about a single technology implementation; it is more about developing an agile supply culture and promoting a more strategic approach to meeting customers needs. Investments in DSN technology and tactics can become key differentiators in not only supporting but also advancing business strategy. - Kemi Olunloyo shows off baby daddy and many thinks he is her sugar daddy - The journalist says they have been friends since 1997 when they met and have kids - Olunloyo has three sons and his a single mother Kemi Olunloyo speaks as she unveils baby daddy On Sunday, January 22, 2017, controversial journalist took to Instagram to show off her baby daddy, Taiwo. This will be the first time the social media critic will be showing us her baby daddy. Olunloyo revealed that she met in 1997 at a wedding in America when she was 32 years. She claimed they have lovely kids together and have been friends since then. READ ALSO: Venita Akpofure blasts Kemi Olunloyo Kemi Olunloyo shows of baby daddy (photos) But when Nigerians took the story upside down, the social media savvy personality decided to explain further her relationship with Taiwo. She took to her Instagram on Monday, January 23 to correct peoples wrong notion that her baby daddy is not her sugar daddy. She wrote: hnnafrica#HNNKemi The talk of the blogs is about this picture with #TheKing... Mr.Taiwo is my #BabyDaddy NOT my #SugarDaddy. He's not young. I met him at a wedding in #America when I was 32yo and he was 39yo. He's 59yo and I'm 52yo. He's NOT on #socialmedia and a very private person. We have awesome lovely children, met in 1997 in the USA where he's lived 40yrs and me 32yrs. Been friends since. Friendship is a valuable phenomenon. Never rush into marriage. 90% of my male and female mates are divorced, abused, cheated on by their husbands and wives. Take your time. Out of wedlock sometimes means #outoffoolishness. We are HAPPY, we are FRIENDS. Thanks to u my fans. I love you all. #madamhnn READ ALSO: Jide Kosoko explains why he will never get married again Kemi Olunloyo's teenage son Olunloyo has three lovely sons but what is not yet clear is if Taiwo is the father of the three of them. Watch Kemi Olunloyo's interview below: Source: Legit.ng By Steve Holland and Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday, distancing America from its Asian allies, as China's influence in the region rises. Fulfilling a campaign pledge to end American involvement in the 2015 pact, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office pulling the United States out of the 12-nation TPP. Trump, who wants to boost U.S. manufacturing, said he would seek one-on-one trade deals with countries that would allow the United States to quickly terminate them in 30 days "if somebody misbehaves." "We're going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country," the Republican president said as he met with union leaders in the White House's Roosevelt Room. The TPP accord, backed heavily by U.S. business, was negotiated by former Democratic President Barack Obama's administration but never approved by Congress. Obama had framed TPP, which excluded China, as an effort to write Asia's trade rules before Beijing could, establishing U.S. economic leadership in the region as part of his "pivot to Asia." China has proposed a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific and has also championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Trump has sparked worries in Japan and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific with his opposition to the TPP and his campaign demands for U.S. allies to pay more for their security. His trade stance mirrors a growing feeling among Americans that international trade deals have hurt the U.S. job market. Republicans have long held the view that free trade is a must, but that mood has been changing. "It's going to be very difficult to fight that fight," said Lanhee Chen, a Hoover Institution fellow who was domestic policy adviser to 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. "Trump is reflecting a trend that has been apparent for many years." Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said Trump must now find an alternative way to reassure allies in Asia. "This could include multiple bilateral trade agreements. Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam should be approached first as they are key to any new Asia strategy that President Trump will enact, he said. Trump is also working to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement to provide more favorable terms to the United States, telling reporters he would meet leaders of NAFTA partners Mexico and Canada to get the process started. BUSINESS LEADERS The new president met with a dozen American manufacturers at the White House on Monday, pledging to slash regulations and cut corporate taxes - but warning them he would take action on trade deals he felt were unfair. Trump, who took office on Friday, has promised to bring factories back to the United States - an issue he said helped him win the Nov. 8 election. He has not hesitated to call out by name companies he thinks should bring outsourced production back home. He said those businesses that choose to move plants outside the country would pay a price. "We are going to be imposing a very major border tax on the product when it comes in," Trump said. He asked the group of chief executives from companies including Ford Motor Co, Dell Technologies Inc, Tesla Motors Inc and others to make recommendations in 30 days to stimulate manufacturing, Dow Chemical Co Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris told reporters. Liveris said the CEOs discussed the border tax "quite a bit" with Trump, explaining "the sorts of industry that might be helped or hurt by that." "Look: I would take the president at his word here. He's not going to do anything to harm competitiveness," Liveris said. "He's going to actually make us all more competitive." At part of the meeting observed by reporters, Trump provided no details on how the border tax would work. The U.S. dollar fell to a seven-week low against a basket of other major world currencies on Monday, and global stock markets were shaky amid investor concerns about Trump's protectionist rhetoric. "A company that wants to fire all of its people in the United States, and build some factory someplace else, and then thinks that that product is going to just flow across the border into the United States - that's not going to happen," he said. CUT TAXES AND REGULATIONS The president told the CEOs he would like to cut corporate taxes to the 15 percent to 20 percent range, down from current statutory levels of 35 percent - a pledge that will require cooperation from the Republican-led U.S. Congress. But he said business leaders have told him that reducing regulations is even more important. "We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent. Maybe more," Trump told business leaders. "When you want to expand your plant, or when Mark wants to come in and build a big massive plant, or when Dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special you're going to have your approvals really fast, Trump said, referring to Mark Fields, CEO of Ford. Fields said he was encouraged by the tone of the meeting. "I know I come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious on making sure that the United States economy is going to be strong and have policies - tax, regulatory or trade - to drive that," he said. Trump told the executives that companies were welcome to negotiate with governors to move production between states. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Ayesha Rascoe and David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney) By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A planned EU-Canada free-trade deal moved closer to reality on Tuesday after a key committee advised the European Parliament to give its backing after months of protests and heated debate. The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is seen as a test of Europe's ability to forge future trade accords and as a counterweight to anticipated protectionism under new U.S. president Donald Trump. "It's more than just a free-trade treaty with Canada. It's a statement about how we relate with the rest of the world," said Sorin Moisa, CETA coordinator for the centre-left S&D group, whose members have been divided over the pact. "We want to shape rather than withdraw from the world, and all the more so after Trump," he told Reuters in an interview. CETA still needs approval from the European Parliament to enter into force and lawmakers in its international trade committee voted 25-15 urging it to do so. The full parliament is due to give its verdict in mid-February. In a debate on Monday, committee members backing the accord repeatedly warned of the threat of greater protectionism under Trump, who has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told lawmakers Canada was a welcome partner in uncertain and difficult times. "We have an important friend and ally who seems to be at least partly disengaging from the international scene, promoting less trade, more protectionism," she said of the United States. The EU and Canada concluded negotiations more than two years ago and eventually signed the treaty in October, but only after opposition from a region of Belgium. Even if the 751-seat European Parliament votes for CETA, it would only enter force provisionally, most likely in March or April in the form of import tariff removal, as it also awaits approval from the parliaments of the EU's 28 member states and Belgium's regions. Supporters say CETA will increase Canadian-EU trade by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros ($12.9 billion) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9.0 billion). CETA and the larger planned EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have proved contentious, drawing criticism from trade unions and protest groups that say it will give more power to multinationals and lead to a race to the bottom in standards. ($1 = 0.9308 euros) ($1 = 1.3268 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Tom Heneghan) BROOKFIELD NEWS, Jan. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Canada Office Properties (TSX:BOX.UN) (NYSE:BOXC) acknowledges the news release issued by Brookfield Property Partners L.P. earlier today announcing its proposal to acquire all of the Brookfield Canada Office Properties units that it does not own. Under its proposal, Brookfield Property Partners would offer Brookfield Canada Office Properties unitholders C$30.10 cash for each unit held. The Board of Trustees of Brookfield Canada Office Properties has established a special committee to review and consider the proposal. Unitholders of Brookfield Canada Office Properties do not need to take any action with respect to the proposal at this time. About Brookfield Canada Office Properties Brookfield Canada Office Properties is Canadas preeminent Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Our portfolio is comprised of 26 premier office properties totaling 20 million square feet in the downtown cores of Toronto, Calgary, and Ottawa, in addition to a development site in Calgary. Our landmark assets include Brookfield Place and First Canadian Place in Toronto, and Bankers Hall in Calgary. Further information is available at www.brookfieldcanadareit.com. Important information may be disseminated exclusively via the website; investors should consult the site to access this information. Brookfield Canada Office Properties is the flagship Canadian REIT of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $250 billion in assets under management. For more information, go to www.brookfield.com. English French Up to AUD $3.16 billion deal to be allocated to Atos and 2 other ICT suppliers over the next 10 years Paris, Perth, 24 January 2017 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, has secured a five-year contract, extendable for an additional five years, with the government of Western Australia (WA). This follows a stringent selection process in which 56 companies pitched to deliver on the 'GovNext-ICT program', a foundational element of the State's Information and Communications Technology (ICT) strategy launched in 2016. With this appointment, Atos is on track to achieve its ambition to bring world-class standards and business practices that will re-invent and transform citizen engagement in Western Australia. As one of the three key ICT infrastructure service suppliers to the WA government under the five-year contract, Atos will provide Cloud Computing and Network and Communications services to this 'whole-of-government' initiative. At the same time Atos will help to transform ICT from an 'own and operate' model to a 'consumption-based' model delivering efficiencies, cost savings and improved service outcomes across the State to meet the growing demands of mobile and digitally savvy citizens. Atos will draw on its global competencies, including its global alliances and key Australian partners to bring world-class experience and competence in enabling the State's Digital journey. Herbie Leung, Head of Atos APAC said: "The Western Australian Government is leading the world in its approach to the consumption of technology at a lower cost, and it is exciting to see the government working as one to set up its future technological infrastructure to meet the growing demands of WA citizens. Atos is thrilled to be part of this journey." Australia's Innovation Minister Bill Marmion said: "The appointment of Atos as one of three suppliers of ICT infrastructure to the Western Australian Government marks the beginning of an exciting new digital era for the public sector. The new arrangements will modernise technology across government and provide the technical platform for the State's ICT Strategy Digital-WA. We look forward to working with Atos, and the two other suppliers, over the term of this contract." About Atos Atos SE (Societas Europaea) is a leader in digital transformation with circa 100,000 employees in 72 countries and pro forma annual revenue of circa 12 billion. Serving a global client base, the Group is the European leader in Big Data, Cybersecurity, Digital Workplace and provides Cloud services, Infrastructure & Data Management, Business & Platform solutions, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting edge technologies, digital expertise and industry knowledge, the Group supports the digital transformation of its clients across different business sectors: Defense, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing, Media, Utilities, Public sector, Retail, Telecommunications, and Transportation. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and is listed on the Euronext Paris market. Atos operates under the brands Atos, Atos Consulting, Atos Worldgrid, Bull, Canopy, Unify and Worldline. Press contact: Jose de Vries - jose.devries@atos.net - +31 6 30 27 26 11 @Josee_devries AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The increasing cost of education is forcing college students to take on unsustainable amounts of debt to fund their degree. With apocalyptic levels of student debt it is surprising that, millions of dollars in bursaries and scholarships go un-awarded each year. One of the reasons that these funds go unutilized is because of disorganized awarding practices on college campuses. Scholarships may be awarded out of individual academic departments or programs, using a wide array of application and selection processes. This confusing approach often leaves students confused and disenfranchised. With lower student application rates, administrators often have a hard time finding qualified students for scholarship awards, especially those with very specific requirements. Several Canadian colleges and universities have turned to a technology solution from AcademicWorks to simplify the scholarship application and matching process for students, while helping institutions increase the percentage of scholarship and bursary dollars awarded each year. We are excited to announce we have made some technological investments to expand our customer community in Canada, said Brandon Phipps, AcademicWorks CEO. Our team is passionate about providing technology that dramatically simplifies the process of matching students with the supporting campus administrators with technology they need to efficiently award more scholarship funds. AcademicWorks is helping colleges and universities revolutionize their scholarship application process to be a more positive and engaging experience for students. Using AcademicWorks, all scholarships and bursaries are centralized in a searchable website for students to access 24 hours a day. Rather than requiring students to pick up and return scholarship applications to different offices across campus, AcademicWorks allows campuses to leverage their existing student record data to automatically import key information about the student. This simplifies the application process for students, while allowing administrators to easily match students against all available scholarship opportunities. With AcademicWorks, campuses often see a 70% to 200% increase in the number of scholarship applicants and a significant increase in scholarship fund utilization. AcademicWorks will be a hosting a web demonstration for Canadian higher education professionals to demonstrate how their Scholarship Management Platform can help improve the awarding process. Register for the webinar here. About AcademicWorks Based in Austin, Texas, AcademicWorks provides the only comprehensive scholarship management solution focused on improving access to education through innovative technology. More than 525 institutions and foundations have revolutionized their scholarship management process with AcademicWorks. For more information visit http://www.academicworks.com. NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Attorney Advertising -- Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC reminds investors that a class action lawsuit has been filed against General Cable Corporation (General Cable or the Company) (NYSE:BGC) and certain of its officers, and is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities who purchased General Cable securities between February 23, 2012 and February 10, 2016, both dates inclusive (the Class Period). Such investors are advised to join this case by visiting the firms site: http://www.bgandg.com/bgc. This class action seeks to recover damages against Defendants for alleged violations of the federal securities laws under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act). The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, and failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Companys business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) General Cable paid millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in foreign countries, including Angola, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Indonesia, India, and Thailand, in order to secure business; (2) the above-mentioned conduct was in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1997 (the FCPA); (3) General Cables revenues were therefore partially the product of illegal conduct, and, therefore would be subject to disgorgement and unlikely to be sustainable; (4) once the illegal conduct was made public, the Company would be subject to significant regulatory scrutiny and financial penalties; and (5) consequently, General Cables statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On September 22, 2014, General Cable divulged that it was reviewing payment practices, the use of agents, and the manner in which the payments were reflected on our books and records in connection with General Cables operations in Portugal, Angola, Thailand, and India. General Cable advised investors that these concerns may have implications under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977. Following this news, General Cable stock dropped $0.93 per share, or 4.68%, to close at $18.96 on September 22, 2014. On February 26, 2015, General Cable stated that in regards to a potential settlement of FCPA offenses, General Cable projected to disgorge $24 million in profits from bribe-tainted sales in Angola. On February 10, 2016, General Cable said that due to new deals and other considerations, the Company increased its disgorgement accrual for the potential FCPA settlement by $9 million to $33 million, after recognizing certain other transactions that may raise concerns. Following this news, General Cable stock dropped $3.05 per share or over 31.6% to close at $6.60 on February 11, 2016. On December 29, 2016, The Wall Street Journal described how General Cable had agreed on a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, in which the Company agreed to pay $75.8 million to settle allegations it paid bribes across Africa and Asia and . . . agreed to an additional $6.5 million penalty to settle accounting-related violations. The Wall Street Journal continued to state that General Cables subsidiaries, over a period of a dozen years, paid about $13 million to third-party agents and distributors, who then paid bribes to government officials in Angola, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Thailand to get business in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to review a copy of the Complaint you can visit the firms site: http://www.bgandg.com/bgc or you may contact Peretz Bronstein, Esq. or his Investor Relations Analyst, Yael Hurwitz of Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC at 212-697-6484. If you suffered a loss in General Cable you have until March 6, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesn't require that you serve as a lead plaintiff. Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is a corporate litigation boutique. Our primary expertise is the aggressive pursuit of litigation claims on behalf of our clients. In addition to representing institutions and other investor plaintiffs in class action security litigation, the firms expertise includes general corporate and commercial litigation, as well as securities arbitration. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 24, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge, Inc. (CWVC), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the medical industry with engaged volunteers for field-based assessments and research that advances treatment for wounded or injured veterans through challenging expeditions, announced that its Board of Directors has elected Captain (RET) Dominic Lee Pudwill Gorie, USN/NASA as its President, effective immediately. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bada99db-5128-4410-a367-426ad5a55ddf CAPT Gorie, who retired in 2010, is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He served for more than 30 years in the U.S. Navy and the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), including on four space shuttle missions. Following his graduation as a Naval Aviator in 1981, CAPT Gorie flew the A-7E Corsair II with Attack Squadron 46 on USS AMERICA and the F/A-18 Hornet with Strike Squadron 132 on USS CORAL SEA. Upon completion of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, he served as a Navy Test Pilot assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 87 flying the F/A-18 Hornet from USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT. CAPT Gorie was also assigned to U.S. Space Command in Colorado Springs before his selection as an astronaut by NASA. While with NASA, CAPT Gorie served as pilot on the Space Shuttle DISCOVER to the Russian MIR space station and once aboard ENDEAVOUR on a Space Radar Topography Mission. He then commanded twice on the ENDEAVOUR for missions to the International Space Station. He later was chief of the Astronaut Shuttle Branch. CAPT Gorie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Ocean Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and a Master of Science degree in Aviation Systems from the University of Tennessee. CAPT Gorie is a member of the CWVC Board of Directors, and has led several of the CWVC Challenges, including mountain climbing and backpacking treks in Alaska and Colorado. About Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge, Inc. The mission of the Combat Wounded Veteran Challenge is to improve the lives of our wounded or injured veterans by focusing on education, rehabilitation, research and innovations in field-based assessments/treatment of Orthotics & Prosthetics, Post Traumatic Stress and Traumatic Brain Injury. CWVC provides Challenge expeditions that are physically and psychologically demanding. These rehabilitative high adventure and therapeutic expeditions, led by veterans, provide sufficiently arduous, reasonably achievable, and extremely motivational experiences. While participating in these grueling Challenges, the veterans voluntarily participate in case studies and medical research projects that further medical, physiological, biomedical and pathological sciences associated with their injuries. CWVC is a member of Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, (MTEC), a biomedical technology consortium collaborating with multiple government agencies under a 10-year renewable Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC). For more information, visit www.combatwounded.org or contact us at info@combatwounded.org or (727) 942- 8415. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ As to "myths" which appear in law reviews, some discussion about Mark Lemley's "Myth of the Sole Inventor" [ 105 Mich. L. Rev. 1525 ] appeared in IPBizfrom Ethical norms in "intellectual property" scholarship? **As to the topic of examples of multiple independent discovery, Lemley included both the light bulb and the transistor in his "Myth" law review. Lemley mentioned some earlier work of Samson Vermont [Independent Invention as a Defense to Patent Infringement, 90 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y 268 (2008). which theme apparently also appears in Independent Invention as a Defense to Patent Infringement, 105 Mich. L. Rev. 475 (2006)]As one relevant point, Roger Milgrim questioned the utility of the Vermont work in An Independent Invention Defense to Patent Infringement: The Academy Talking to Itself: Should Anyone Listen?, 90 J. Pat. & Trademark Off. Soc'y 295 (2008) and separately questioned the usefulness of law review articles on technical subjects:footnote 10: Law review editorial boards, typically made up of third year law students, rarely have sufficient experience with the subject matter of the articles they are charged with editing to function as a meaningful check in this regard.footnote 12 Vermont is laced with "monopoly" terminology and clearly equates rights as a monopoly. See, e.g., Vermont, 105 MICH L. REV. at 475 (synopsis), 493 ("If the defense is adopted into law, a reinventor could compete with whoever ends up as the patentee, thereby breaking up the patent monopoly into a duopoly.") and 480 (describing shortcomings of monopolies) [90 JPTOS at 268, 285, and 273].Also, footnote 13 of MilgrimA database search using the term "patent monopoly" will return over 1,700 federal cases that have used the term," including Illinois Tool Works, Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc., 547 U.S. 28, 34, 126 S. Ct. 1281, 1286 (2006) (overturning a per se patent tying rule the Court itself had devised, but nonetheless using "monopoly" terminology).As to the Supreme Court using the word "monopoly" in a patent context, IPBiz notes:in Cuozzo, 136 S. Ct. 2131; 195 L. Ed. 2d 423The purpose of inter partes review is not only to resolve patent-related disputes among parties, but also to protect the public's paramount interest in seeing that patent monopolies . . . are kept within their legitimate scope.in Teva, 135 S. Ct. 831; 190 L. Ed. 2d 719 :Because they are governmental dispositions and provide rules that bind the public at large, patent claims resemble statutes. The scope of a patent holders monopoly right is defined by claims legally actualized through the procedures established by Congress pursuant to its patent power. Thus, a patent holders actual intentions have effect only to the extent that they are expressed in the public record. See Keystone Bridge Co. v. Phoenix Iron Co., 95 U.S. 274, 279, 24 L. Ed. 344, 1877 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 384 (1877); see also Goodyear Dental Vulcanite Co. v. Davis, 102 U.S. 222, 227, 26 L. Ed. 149, 1881 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 131 (1880) (examining the avowed understanding of the patentee, but disclaiming any holding that such understanding c[ould] be allowed to enlarge, diminish, or vary the language of a patent afterwards issued).Note FTC vs. Actavis, 133 S. Ct. 2223; 186 L. Ed. 2d 343in Dastar, 539 U.S. 23; 123 S. Ct. 2041; 156 L. Ed. 2d 18 :Once a copyright has expired, the right to copy--and to copy without attribution--passes to the public, as does the right to make an article whose patent has expired, which right includes the right to make the article in precisely the shape that the article carried when patented. In general, unless an intellectual property right such as a patent or copyright protects an item, the item will be subject to copying. The rights of a patentee or copyright holder are part of a carefully crafted bargain, under which--once the patent or copyright monopoly has expired--the public may use the invention or work at will and without attribution....The right to copy, and to copy without attribution, once a copyright has expired, like "the right to make [an article whose patent has expired]--including the right to make it in precisely the shape it carried when patented--passes to the public." Sears, Roebuck & Co. v. Stiffel Co., 376 U.S. 225, 230, 11 L. Ed. 2d 661, 84 S. Ct. 784, 1964 Dec. Comm'r Pat. 425 (1964)in KSR, 550 U.S. 398; 127 S. Ct. 1727; 167 L. Ed. 2d 705;a "patent for a combination [*416] which only unites old elements with no change in their respective functions . . . obviously withdraws what already is known into the field of its monopoly and diminishes the resources available to skillful men."**Also on law reviewsFrom David L. Schwartz and Lee Petherbridge, 26 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 1561 (2011)**However, there are a few important questions concerning institutional constraints on the legal academy that should be confronted: Are most law professors even qualified to make valid and reliable contributions to the topics specially addressed by the Federal Circuit? n99 Is there a greater need for advanced scientific and research training for law professors who might most meaningfully contribute to Federal Circuit decisionmaking? Would the availability of peer review make scholarly offerings more useful to Federal Circuit judges? Assuming they are qualified to do the work, are most law professors able to devote enough time to research to be able to meaningfully contribute to important questions implicated by the areas of law addressed by the Federal Circuit,or do publication frequency requirements, or teaching and service obligations not [page 1598] normally felt by research faculty in some other disciplines, significantly interfere with the utility of the scholarship produced? A similar concern is whether the limited research funding available to most law professors prohibits them from successfully executing projects that might be substantially useful to decisionmakers. If law professors are mostly limited to anecdotally-driven normative claims, doctrinal interpretations, and concept-driven empirical guesswork, how much value do such claims and interpretations add to the bodies of law entrusted to the Federal Circuit? These and similar questions are ripe for serious investigation in the context of national circuit courts.**As to the "transistor for hearing aid" story of Lemley, which is based on a "news release" in turn based on a non-existent 1947 article in the New York Times, one sees the myth of the hearing aid is still presented as an example "wildly inaccurate assessment" by inventors:from Brian Love, 90 N.C.L. Rev. 379 (2012)In fact, the New York Times, in 1948 (one day after the public disclosure by Bell Labs), covered three potential applications of the transistor, which turned out to be quite accurate. It is separately true that Bell Labs licensed the relevant patents for a nominal charge, leading to significant development in the consumer area by what became Sony.The "wild inaccuracies" appear in law reviews! The correct story of the New York Times article appears in 8 JMRIPL 80 (2008), published years before before Lemley's "Myth" and Love's "pioneering invention" paper.**As one footnote to Oullette's comments [e.g., I haven't carefully checked your sources (just as I don't carefully check the sources of articles I blog about, since this is a blog, not a law review)], one should note that Oullette has a Ph.D. in physics from Cornell and authored a paper -- Probing electrostatic potentials in solution with carbon nanotube transistors, L Larrimore, S Nad, X Zhou, H Abruna, PL McEuen - Nano letters, 2006 -- so one might think that she should have some familiarity with the story of the transistor and separately of Edison's concept of high resistance carbon filaments in light bulbs. International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR) deeply regrets the failure to ensure justice for human rights defender Azimjan Askarov in Kyrgyzstan. At the retrial against the defender that ended today, the court upheld his conviction on all counts and his life sentence, which was handed down following a flawed 2010 investigation and trial. It is extremely disturbing that the court failed to use this retrial as an opportunity to rectify the earlier miscarriage of justice in Azimjan Askarovs case, said Brigitte Dufour, IPHR Director. She continued: It is now crucial that the international community continues to insist on justice for Askarov, in accordance with the conclusions of the UN Human Rights Committee in his case. An ethnic Uzbek, Azimjan Askarov was arrested in June 2010 for his alleged involvement in events that resulted in the death of a police officer during the inter-ethnic violence that took place in southern Kyrgyzstan that month. In September 2010, he was found guilty on numerous charges, including participation in mass disturbances, incitement of ethnic hatred, and complicity in murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In a decision adopted in March 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee concluded that Askarov had been arbitrarily detained, tortured and denied fair trial rights. It requested that he be immediately released, his conviction quashed and, if necessary, that a new trial be held subject to the principles of a fair trial, presumption of innocence and other procedural safeguards. Following this decision, Kyrgyzstans Supreme Court reviewed the case. However, it failed to release Askarov and repeal his conviction and instead sent the case back for retrial at the appeals level. The retrial began at Chui Regional Court on 4 October 2016, with Askarovs conviction by a local court still standing. At the beginning of the retrial, Askarovs lawyers requested again that his initial conviction be quashed and a new investigation be carried out, in accordance with the Human Rights Committees conclusions. The court rejected this request and the trial went ahead on the basis of the results of the 2010 investigation, which was characterized by numerous due process violations. When speaking at the retrial, Azimjan Askarov described in detail how he was tortured and threatened during the 2010 investigation in an attempt to force him to confess. Askarov stressed that he believes that he was arrested and charged in retaliation for his human rights work, an impression that is shared by human rights NGOs. His work included efforts to document torture and other unlawful actions by local law enforcement authorities, as well as human rights violations perpetrated in his home community during the 2010 inter-ethnic violence. It is of outmost concern that the allegations that Azimjan Askarov was tortured in pre-trial detention have not been properly investigated and that the court ignored the possibility that he was targeted for his human rights work, said Brigitte Dufour, IPHR Director. She continued: What is more: He was again presumed guilty despite the lack of any credible evidence of his guilt, in serious violation of international fair trial standards. In its charges against Askarov, the prosecution primarily relied on the testimonies of law enforcement officials who were not able to provide any detailed or clear account of his alleged role in the events in which he is accused of participating. Victims heard during the trial were allowed to be present in the courtroom at the same time and heard the testimonies of each other, in spite of a motion by the defence to call them one by one. Alleged video footage of the events that the charges against Askarov concern was not presented in court. When questioned, a number of individuals who were convicted together with Askarov all said that they were not present during the events in question and that they were subjected to torture during the investigation and now feared reprisals for appearing in court. The court did not act on these allegations. Todays ruling cannot but reinforce the impression that this elderly human rights defender is paying the price for his efforts to expose violence, torture and other abuses and that he is being kept behind bars because of the inability of the Kyrgyzstani authorities to deal effectively with the inter-ethnic tensions in the south of the country, said Brigitte Dufour, IPHR Director. Following the 2010 inter-ethnic conflict, ethnic Uzbeks were selectively targeted for prosecution on charges of involvement in it, with systematic fair trial violations marring the trials against them. Azimjan Askarov is the most prominent victim of this miscarriage of justice. In response to the outcome of the retrial against Askarov, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that the decision highlights serious shortcomings in the countrys judicial system and clearly did not take into account the views of the UN Human Rights Committee. It repeated the Committees call that his conviction and sentence should be quashed. Other representatives of the international community have also repeatedly called on the Kyrgyzstani authorities to comply with the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee in Askarovs case. The European Union has stated that the Committees decision should be fully implemented and that the new proceedings must take into account the Committees findings. The ruling handed down by Chui Regional Court today may be appealed to the Supreme Court and Askarovs lawyers have said that they will submit an appeal. Immediately after the verdict was announced, Askarov declared that he would go on hunger strike in protest. The retrial against Azimjan Askarov was monitored by representatives of civil society, the diplomatic community and media. Within the framework of a project coordinated by IPHR, a representative of the Civic Solidarity Platform a network of over 80 human rights NGOs from Europe, the former Soviet Union and North America observed part of the trial. *** Background: By ratifying the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Kyrgyzstan has recognized the competence of the UN Human Rights Committee to consider communications from its citizens who allege violations of their rights under the ICCPR, such as in Askarovs case. Amendments to Kyrgyzstans constitution that were approved in a controversial December 2016 referendum abolished a provision obliging national authorities to implement the decisions of international human rights bodies in individual cases. Nevertheless, whether or not spelled out by national law, Kyrgyzstans authorities are bound to respect international human rights treaties ratified by the country and to comply with the decisions of bodies supervising the implementation of such treaties. See also: IPHR statement on Supreme Court ruling on the case of Azimjan Askarov, July 2016 On Monday, January 23 The National Council of Resistance of Iran reported that some authorities were interviewed by Ofogh TV, affiliated with the regime. They each acknowledged to the devastating impact of importation.The head of Irans Central Task Force to Combat the Smuggling of Commodities and Currency admitted to an increase in the smuggling of commodities in recent years. The commodities have high figures in foreign trade. Smuggling has destroyed domestic production in a way that both producers and consumers have been harmed. The Vice President of Iran-China Chamber of Commerce admits that large-scale trafficking, is the result of our opaque economy. As long as there is no transparency and competition in our economy, we will have the issues such as smuggling commodities, embezzlement or other economic corruptions. Mohammad Hossein Barkhordar was also interviewed. He acknowledged that the agents of the regime are involved in economic corruption, smuggling, and bribery. He stated that there are some rentiers, who live well on income from these illicit investments, and are connected to both sides of left and right. Some of them receive economic medals, as well. They are experts in the leverage of the law. The Head of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education said that Customs in Iran is itself the entry for the contraband. According to Fars News Agency November 23rd 2016, Zarei, Deputy Head of the Headquarters for Combating Smuggling Commodities and Foreign Exchange, said that 60 percent of docks in the country, including those of the military, the police, the petroleum trade, and fishing, are illegal. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Iranian regime, on February 13, 2016, had a conflict with the IRGC and implicated them in the corruption and smuggling in Iran, without naming them. He stated to the state-run news agency IRNA, when the production is going to increase, a factor of corruption and smuggling does not allow the process in Iran. It actually impedes the improvement and prosperity in the country. Rouhanis implicit remark to IRGC slammed this organization for corruption in the country. Commodities are allegedly smuggled into the country in the amount of 25 billion dollars annually. Some authorities of the regime have announced that this figure even reaches to 30 billion dollars in a year. More than 90 percent of cell phones in the country, have been smuggled into the country (i.e. 1,300,000 cell phones). Most clothing is imported, and 500 million square meters of fabrics are smuggled into the country, as well. More than $2,600,000,000 of health and beauty products are smuggled into the country, and most of them are fake. This high volume of trafficking implies that smuggling is fully established governmentally, and, at least according to President Rouhani, it is affiliated with IRGC. The village of Sandy Cove, N.S., may have just 65 year-round residents but its voice is being heard by thousands around the world, CBC News reports. Gwen Quigley Wilson and Melissa Merritt, who both live in the area, wanted to join the millions of people who marched worldwide for womens rights on Saturday, the day after Donald Trumps inauguration. But its a 2.5-hour drive to Halifax, where the biggest local march was taking place. So they decided to organize their own march. We really werent expecting any kind of turnout, Quigley Wilson told CBC News. But when about 15 people showed up to march on Saturday, we were ecstatic. It just felt like one of those moments in history that you couldnt stand by and passively observe it, she said. Going viral Kadijah Photiades was one of the people who marched and posted a short Facebook video of the group walking along Highway 217 the only road that runs through Sandy Cove. By Monday morning, the video had been watched more than 100,000 times and had attracted hundreds of comments. Predominantly its love and support and gratitude from women all over the world and specifically the States, who really appreciate our support, Photiades said. One woman said she had looked at all of these marches all around the world, and it wasnt until she saw our little tiny march in Sandy Cove that she actually burst out crying. It made my heart very happy The group walked in between the local school and the fire hall for an hour in drizzly weather, enough time for two boatloads of cars to pass by after getting off the ferry that connects the communities of Digby Neck. Hardly anybody honked, just a few people. We think our signs werent big enough we wish we had a sign that said Honk if You Love Women,' Photiades said with a laugh. Merritt, who grew up and lives in the nearby village of East Ferry, said she has run into a few Trump supporters in the area in recent months. While Washington, D.C., is far away, misogyny and discrimination affect women everywhere, she said. Its really uplifting to be surrounded by people who are like-minded, Merritt said of her fellow marchers. It made my heart very happy to have other women stand beside me and do that. Photo: Gary Wilson. On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ... Breast scans showing different breast densitites. Credit: University of Adelaide Adelaide researchers are one step closer to breast cancer prevention after finding a new driver for breast density, an identified risk factor for breast cancer. For the first time, researchers have shown that chronic low-level inflammation drives increased breast density and is associated with a woman's risk of developing breast cancer. This finding opens the door for new approaches to treating density and preventing breast cancer through reducing inflammation. Published this month in the international journal Breast Cancer Research, the research is led by The Hospital Research Foundation's (THRF) Breast Cancer Research Fellow, Associate Professor Wendy Ingman from the University of Adelaide. "We induced a low level of chronic inflammation in our lab models and found it was a particular protein called CCL2 that caused the increase in inflammation. This led to an increase in the density in the tissue and also an increased risk of breast cancer," Associate Professor Ingman said. "While it is already known that certain types of anti-inflammatories (such as aspirin) can reduce breast cancer risk, they are associated with longer term side effects and not recommended for women to help reduce their breast cancer risk. "With this research we believe we may be able to identify the women most at risk of inflammation-associated breast cancer through measuring their breast density and therefore identify those who will most benefit from anti-inflammatory treatment," Associate Professor Ingman said. Researchers say chronic low-level inflammation drives increased breast density. Credit: University of Adelaide Almost 8% of women have extremely high breast density and are more likely to develop breast cancer in the future. "Our ultimate aim is to save women's lives and our breast density research is helping us learn more about what drives this area of breast cancer risk to help inform preventative treatments," Associate Professor Ingman said. "The more we can understand the risks associated with breast cancer, the greater chance we have at treating each risk and preventing breast cancer from developing in women. "The next step is to conduct further studies into which treatments are best to dampen the inflammation, and to look at the relationship between density and inflammation within a large population of women." THRF Chief Executive Officer Paul Flynn said this research, supported by the local community, is essential to understanding breast density and why it is an identified risk factor of breast cancer. "With the help of our generous donors and ticket buyers in the Hospital Research Home Lottery, we're very proud to support Associate Professor Ingman's vital research aimed at preventing breast cancer for women in the future," he said. Dr Alessandra Muntoni, Director of Research Investment, National Breast Cancer Foundation said that more details on the association of breast density with breast cancer are emerging as researchers learn more about this complex disease. "We welcome research that brings further light to risk factors for breast cancer and breast density with the ultimate view of tailoring screening and preventing breast cancer," she said. More information: Xuan Sun et al, CCL2-driven inflammation increases mammary gland stromal density and cancer susceptibility in a transgenic mouse model, Breast Cancer Research (2017). Journal information: Breast Cancer Research Xuan Sun et al, CCL2-driven inflammation increases mammary gland stromal density and cancer susceptibility in a transgenic mouse model,(2017). DOI: 10.1186/s13058-016-0796-z The governor of southern Helmand province, Hayatullah Hayat, told VOAs Afghan service that the Islamic Republic wants the Taliban to disable some of the nations dams, so Tehran can have a larger share of water from the Helmand River. The governor cited classified Afghan intelligence reports that were forwarded to the Afghan palace and the National Security Council. Hayat said, Iran is seeking to undermine the development projects over the Helmand River so that it can continue receiving more water. He accused elements in Irans Revolutionary Guard forces of providing weapons to the Taliban to be used to attack government installations and infrastructure. He said several unexploded mortar missiles used by the Taliban that were fired at the provincial capital bore an Iranian manufacturers mark. Irans intelligence representatives recently met with local Taliban leaders in Helmands volatile Garmser district, the governor added. On Monday, when contacted by VOA, Irans Embassy in Kabul declined to comment. Tehran has denied the accusations of association with the Taliban, saying instead, that it has close relations with the government of Afghanistan. In parts of Asia, water scarcity is a major issue, and Iranian authorities have been pushing for a larger share of water supplies from Afghanistan which has been building dams for irrigation and power needs. The two countries signed a water-sharing treaty in 1973, that says Iran will not make claims to water from the Helmand River other than the amounts agreed to in the treaty, even if additional water becomes available in the future. According to VOA, Iran has voiced concerns over water management projects in progress in western and southern Afghanistan, including Herat provinces newly Indian-funded hydroelectric and irrigation project known as Salma Dam, saying that this may reduce the flow of water into Iran. The Afghan government said that the projects will not affect the amount of water flowing into Iran. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that Iran continues to receive its share of water from Helmand River, and that the country cannot claim more than what it agreed upon. Some Afghan experts say that if Iran wants more water, it should make a deal with Afghanistan. We know Iran wants more water than allocated to it in the water-sharing treaty, Wadir Safi, a professor of law and political science at Kabul University told VOA. If Iran wants more water beyond the amount agreed in the treaty, it should consider buying additional water from Afghanistan. The allegations of Taliban involvement comes as Kabul is increasingly concerned about Irans perceived meddling in Afghan provinces that border Iran. An investigation into Irans reported association with the Taliban was ordered by the Afghan Senate last month. Afghan regional officials say the Taliban has increased its terror activities in various provinces. The abundance of new weapons and ammunitions in Talibans possession has created many questions and doubts, Asif Nang, the governor of western Farah province told VOA on Monday. Nang added that the Taliban can receive weapons within an hour from Iran, given the proximity of his province to the border. Nang accused Iran of harboring Taliban families in its territory, last month. Families of a number of high-ranking Taliban leaders reside in Iran, Nang told Radio Liberty last month. They live in cities such as Yazd, Kerman and Mashhad, and come back to Afghanistan for subversive activities. Killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan last year, the Talibans former leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor, was reportedly returning from Tehran after holding meetings in Iran. Credit: University of Kentucky Radiation therapy saves countless lives, but in rare cases, it can cause a debilitating, long-term complication when used on the brain. Around three to five percent of patients who receive radiation for brain tumors, or arteriovenous malformations (AVM), develop radiation necrosis, where the brain tissue around the targeted lesion becomes injured and dies. The condition can be disabling, causing severe headaches, nausea and vomiting, cognitive problems and neural dysfunction. A variety of medications have been used to manage symptoms such as steroids and an "off label" combination of vitamin E and pentoxifylline but currently there is no approved cure. A joint clinical trial at Norton Brownsboro Hospital in Louisville and the University of Kentucky could change that. The trial, led by Dr. Shervin Dashti and Dr. Tom Yao, both from the Norton Neuroscience Institute, and Dr. Justin Fraser at UK is the first in the world to intra-arterially deliver a single, small dose of bevacizumab, a cancer drug known by the name of Avastin, directly to the area of the brain affected by radiation necrosis. Moments before this, the blood-brain barrier is temporarily disrupted so that the drug can reach the lesion. This targeted method allows a much larger amount of the drug to directly reach the affected brain than would otherwise be possible using traditional intravenous delivery, thus amplifying its effect and reducing serious side-effects. Five patients will be enrolled at Norton and five at UK. While the trial protocol constitutes a novel treatment approach as whole, each component is well-established. The drug, Avastin, has been approved for various cancers since 2004, and in 2011 a randomized, double-blind clinical trial with a small number of participants demonstrated its effectiveness for treating radiation necrosis when delivered by IV. Intra-arterial administration of drugs to the brain is also an established methodology, with thousands of patients having received such delivery of chemotherapy drugs for brain cancers. However, intra-arterial administration of Avastin for radiation necrosis has not been previously undertaken. Dashti, who serves as co-director of the cerebrovascular and endovascular neurosurgery program at Norton Healthcare, has witnessed the effects of radiation necrosis on patients who have already experienced the trauma of brain cancer or AVM. In addition to the symptoms caused by the condition itself, patients also suffer from side effects of the high doses of steroids used to manage it insomnia, mood changes, sometimes extreme weight gain. "There was nothing that worked for treating it and people were being devastated," he said. "What we're doing is something completely different and I think it has a chance to really change the way we treat this. Its' a rare complication, but really devastating when it happens, and this could possibly change the standard of care." More than three years ago, Dashti developed the investigational new treatment when two young patients were in desperate need. Aged only 12 and 13, both young girls had developed radiation necrosis after treatment for AVM and were experiencing severe side effects from the steroids. They each had disabling headaches, gained 50 to 60 pounds, missed significant amounts of school or withdrew entirely, and suffered emotionally. One patient experienced focal seizures affecting her arm and leg; the other patient had to be hospitalized for fluid overload. With no other standard treatment options available, Dashti and Yao presented to the first patient and her family the idea of delivering a single, low dose of Avastin directly to the brain via intra-arterial catheter inserted through the groin. They agreed to try, and within 12 hours of the procedure, the patient's headaches were completely gone. Brain scans over several months showed continuous and stable improvement, her arm and leg had strengthened to the point that she could walk without help and she was able to return to school. Jade Cain, now 16, was the second patient that Dashti and Yao treated with this new approach. She was 11 when the AVM was diagnosed and 13 when she met Dashti. According to her mother, Desiree Fisher, by that time 75 percent of her brain was swollen and she was so depressed that she didn't want to leave the house. "We'd been doing three or four months of really strong steroids and she ended up on all other kinds of other medications too because she developed thrush. So that's what led us to this procedure. She spent a week in the children's hospital because she was in fluid overload. She couldn't do any more steroids because that was going to kill her." "It was really hard to deal with all of that, and obviously wasn't very pleasant," Cain said. "I missed a lot of my childhood during that time." The treatment that Dashti pioneered worked as well for Cain as for the first patient. Her headaches immediately resolved, she was weaned off of steroids within four weeks, and soon returned to school. An MRI ten months later revealed that cerebral edema had completely resolved. "The response was the most amazing complete response after one treatment, and the imaging response was unbelievable. It's a very visual thing before the treatment, it looked like someone put a bomb in there. But it was like a miraculous recovery for both of them," Dashti said. The radical success with these two young patients motivated Dashti to start a clinical trial for the treatment. He and Yao asked Fraser, director of cerebrovascular surgery and surgical director of the comprehensive stroke center at UK, to partner with them. Fraser describes their joint effort as a "natural collaboration" after years of working alongside each other in local and professional activities. "We're in this position of facing an uncommon complication of a treatment that is becoming more commonly used, and we don't have a great way to fix it," Fraser said. "What's special about our procedure is that patients are getting the drug once, very directly to the brain, as opposed to a complete course of the drug that can cause serious systemic side effects. We're developing an option to get the drug where it needs to go, locally, safely, and we only have to give it once." The trial is supported by both institutions and has received expert project management support from the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science. "When you read in the news that a clinical trial has been done on x, y, or z, they trot out guys like methe principal investigators. But what's behind the curtain of any clinical trial is an army of people who are ensuring that we follow the protocol and that we're safeguarding patients. You're asking a lot of a person when you sit them down and say, 'Hey you've got this problem, and I think I have a treatment that might work for you but we haven't totally proven it yet. Would you like to participate in the study?' It's a very vulnerable position for a patient," Fraser said. "The onus really is on us as physicians, scientists, and research staff to recognize that and take every available measure to ensure that we are consenting people with appropriate informed consent, recording every single issue, and that we give patients opportunities to withdraw from the study if they want to." Dashti and Yao's second patient, Cain, had a final angiogram of her brain in March 2016. It showed that everything was clear. And, because she had to be partially awake during part of the procedure, she was able to see the dye dispersing through her brain. "It was really cool. It would light up like fireworks where the dye was going through the vessels," she said. Cain, Fisher, and their family have shown their gratitude for the care and treatment received from both Norton Neuroscience Institute and Norton Children's Hospital by raising more than $20,000 for the Children's Hospital Foundation. Their fundraising efforts have included a variety of yearly arts-based programs, such as a raffle for a painting, and performances by "The Dancing Divas", a non-profit organization that empowers women to achieve personal growth, strength, and health through dance. At the decision of Cain and Fisher, these funds are directed specifically to support research on radiation necrosis. "From the steroid use, my child who weighed 105 pounds went up to 160 pounds in one month. Had this treatment already been approved, we could have omitted all that. She battled to get the weight off, and to overcome poor body self-image," Fisher said. "I wish it had been approved way before. And I hate that my child is the one who had to go through it, but I tell her, 'You have no idea what you've doneyou've paved the way so other people hopefully won't have go through what you went through." If you are interested in learning about participating in this study, please contact Elodie Elayi at elodie.elayi@uky.edu or visit review the study information at ClinicalTrials.gov. An analysis of the New York State's Medicaid expansion, which predated the 2010 Affordable Care Act, finds substantial decrease in uninsured rate but little change in racial disparities when it comes to access to cancer surgery - a proxy for complex cancer care. The results, published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, found that the Medicaid expansion significantly improves access to surgical cancer care overall, but the proportion of minorities having surgery, relative to whites, did not change - an unexpected finding. The researchers from Georgetown University and MedStar Health representing medical research, policy and law, say their findings may provide timely and meaningful insight into what could result from the expansion of Medicaid, a state and federal program that provides health insurance for those with very low income, that has occurred in 32 states including the District of Columbia as part of ACA. "This study shows that New York's Medicaid expansion, one of the largest in U.S. history before the Affordable Care Act, improved access to cancer surgery for the previously uninsured. However, it did not appear to preferentially benefit ethnic and racial minorities who are typically the most vulnerable of American poorest population," explains the study's lead investigator, Waddah B. Al-Refaie, MD, FACS, surgeon-in-chief at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and chief of surgical oncology at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. The researchers say that, in short, the New York State Medicaid expansion fulfilled two objectives: 1) reduce the number of the uninsured, and 2) provide high access to persons undergoing cancer surgery. "There was a sharp decrease in the uninsured, but the proportion of the racial minority patients undergoing cancer surgery through Medicaid about 25 percent African-Americans and 13 percent Hispanicdid not change," explains Al-Refaie who also leads the MedStar Georgetown Surgical Outcomes Research Center (MG-SORC). In fact, they found that the proportion of minorities relative to whites who received cancer surgeries was unchanged in New York before and after the Medicaid expansion. "We know that roughly 50 percent of individuals newly eligible under the New York State Medicaid expansion were minorities. Thus, we would have expected the expansion to lead to a reduction in disparities - that is that both the raw numbers and the proportion of minority use for cancer surgery to have increased," explains Thomas DeLeire, professor of at Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy, and a former senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the Obama Administration. The researchers say additional analysis now underway might help explain why the proportion of minority use did not change after the expansion, which was designed to mirror socioeconomic status in New York. They say it could be due to a number of factors such as selective referral patterns, "minority crowd-out," where non-minority patients displace minority patients, hospital reimbursements, or insurance contracting. "From establishing need for cancer surgery to actually having the surgery involves many steps, and is a complicated process to unravel," Al-Refaie says. The authors identified 67,685 adults age 18-64, who underwent cancer surgery in New York between 1997-2006. They found that the proportion of cancer surgeries paid by Medicaid increased from 8.9 percent to 15.1 percent in the five years after the expansion, and the percentage of uninsured patients dropped by 21.3 percent immediately following the expansion. Still, more than 76 percent of surgeries were paid for by private insurance, but the total number of cancer surgeries was not affected. "To our knowledge, this study and its findings represent one of the first reports in surgery on the lack of effect on Medicaid expansion on the most vulnerable of low income populations," says senior author Nawar Shara, PhD, director of MedStar Health Research Institute's Department of Biostatistics and Biomedical informatics. "It will be years before this type of evaluation can be done for the ACA-related Medicaid expansion, and we believe these findings should help open a dialogue about what could be done to uncover and improve potential inadequacies of this policy change," Al-Refaie concludes. "Empirical evidence from our study can inform policy decisions regarding the much-contended Medicaid expansion in ACA." There is a direct relation between the sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them, research by psychologists at the University of Kent has shown. The study, which looked at youth members of gangs as well as those with no gang affiliation, provides the first evidence of a link between objectification and non-sexual aggression in young people. Dr Eduardo Vasquez and colleagues at the University's School of Psychology, together with a former student, found that higher levels of objectification were significant predictors of aggression towards girls. Their findings are consistent with the claim that, among other negative outcomes, the perception of women as nothing but sexual objects also evokes aggression against them. The research also established that watching television and playing violent video games were positively correlated with both sexual objectification and aggression towards girls. The study featured 273 participants aged 12 to 16 years old from a secondary school in London. The school is located in an area experiencing problems with gangs and delinquency. The findings showed that the objectification-aggression link manifests itself at least as early as the teenage years, leading to the suggestion that the detrimental effects of perceiving females as objects begin at an early stage of development. This, in turn, has the potential to be further reinforced and strengthened over a number of years, suggest the researchers, thereby becoming 'more robust and difficult to change'. The study also suggests that the factors that might allow objectification to influence children - such as violent video games or sexist media - poses a potentially serious risk of increasing anti-social acts towards girls. The research, entitled The sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them in gang and non-gang affiliated youth, (Eduardo A. Vasquez, Kolawole Osinnowo, Afroditi Pina, Cheyra Bell - University of Kent; Louisa Ball) is published in the journal Psychology, Crime, and Law. More information: Eduardo A. Vasquez et al. The sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them in gang and non-gang affiliated youth, Psychology, Crime & Law (2017). Eduardo A. Vasquez et al. The sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them in gang and non-gang affiliated youth,(2017). DOI: 10.1080/1068316X.2016.1269902 Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers A study of mental health care and untreated depression among participants in Ontario, Canada, showed up to a 2.4 times greater self-perceived unmet need for transgender individuals and bisexual women compared to heterosexual, cisgender women. The reported differences in unmet need could be partly explained by social factors including discrimination, limited social support, and exclusion from healthcare services, as described in an article in Journal of Women's Health. In the article entitled "LGBT Identity, Untreated Depression and Unmet Need for Mental Health Services by Sexual Minority Women and Trans-identified People," researchers report that transgender individuals expressed the highest rates of unmet mental health care and untreated depression, followed by cisgender bisexual women, and cisgender lesbians. Leah Steele, MD, PhD, St. Michael's Hospital and University of Toronto (Ontario, Canada), led a group of authors also from York University and Women's Health in Women's Hands (Toronto). "The results of this study illustrate the disparities in access to mental health care for sexual and gender minority populations, which can contribute to higher levels of untreated depression and other mental health conditions," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health. "Interventions aimed at improving access to mental health care in under-served LGBT communities would be an important step forward." More information: Leah S. Steele et al, LGBT Identity, Untreated Depression, and Unmet Need for Mental Health Services by Sexual Minority Women and Trans-Identified People, Journal of Women's Health (2016). Journal information: Journal of Women's Health Leah S. Steele et al, LGBT Identity, Untreated Depression, and Unmet Need for Mental Health Services by Sexual Minority Women and Trans-Identified People,(2016). DOI: 10.1089/jwh.2015.5677 Credit: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers Certain edible and medicinal mushrooms contain bioactive compounds that may enhance nerve growth in the brain and protect against neurotoxic stimuli such as inflammation that contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The evidence supporting a potential role of mushrooms as functional foods to reduce or delay development of age-related neurodegeneration is presented in an article published in Journal of Medicinal Food. In "Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms: Emerging Brain Food for the Mitigation of Neurodegenerative Diseases," Chia Wei Phan, Pamela David, and Vikineswary Sabaratnam, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, discuss the scientific findings related to the health benefits of edible and culinary mushrooms. The authors focus on the activity of bioactive components of mushrooms that may offer neuroprotective and cognitive benefits. "In contrast to the body of literature on food ingredients that may benefit cardiometabolic diseases and cancer, very few studies have focused on food that may benefit neurodegenerative diseases," says Journal of Medicinal Food Editor-in-Chief Sampath Parthasarathy, MBA, PhD, Florida Hospital Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences and Interim Associate Dean, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida. "The current study might stimulate the identification of more food materials that are neuroprotective." More information: Chia-Wei Phan et al, Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms: Emerging Brain Food for the Mitigation of Neurodegenerative Diseases, Journal of Medicinal Food (2017). Chia-Wei Phan et al, Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms: Emerging Brain Food for the Mitigation of Neurodegenerative Diseases,(2017). DOI: 10.1089/jmf.2016.3740 Credit: Lynn Greyling/Public Domain Offering your spouse what you believe to be positive support could have negative physiological effects on them, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York. A team of researchers from Binghamton University recruited sixty-five married couples and had them engage in two interactions in which each spouse selected a discussion topic about a stressor external to their marriage (e.g. poor physical fitness, the desire to get a new job). Before and after the interactions, spouses separately completed questions about their expectations and appraisals of their partner's responsiveness during the discussion. The researchers took saliva samples from each spouse and measured for cortisola hormone that helps regulate stress in the bodyat the beginning of the study and after each discussion. The most consistent finding was that observable behaviors when support was given and received during discussions of wives' stressors were associated with wives' perceptions of their husbands' responsiveness and wives' changes in cortisol. "What we found, interestingly enough, was that cortisol was really only affected in wives but not in husbands, and only in wives' discussions," said Hayley Fivecoat, a former Binghamton University student who published the results in her dissertation. "For one, we did find that when husbands showed more positive behaviors while they were giving support, wives' cortisol actually went down. Interestingly, we found that when wives showed more negative behavior while their partner was giving them support, their cortisol also went down. That was unexpected. We found that when wives showed more positive behavior while they were receiving support, their cortisol actually went upthey showed signs of more physiological arousal." While communication skills are often the focus of many clinical interventions, the study suggests that skill in delivering and receiving social support (by using more "positive" support behaviors) is not consistently linked to actual reductions in cortisol, nor increases in perceived partner responsiveness, said Fivecoat. In fact, more positive behaviors may have unintended negative consequences, and classically defined negative behaviors can sometimes have positive effects. "Say a husband is giving advice to his wife when she has a problem. Even though giving advice is a constructive thing to do, it may not be helpful to her at the moment; maybe she just wants someone to listen to her," said Nicole Cameron, assistant professor of psychology at Binghamton University and co-researcher. "Or maybe there could be the opposite, where the husband is being more of a supportive listener but the wife really wants someone to give her some advice. All of those things are positive, but one is going to have a better effect than the other. What this tells me is that social support is more idiosyncratic and specific to the person and the problem." In helping couples support each other, clinicians may work together with couples to identify the ways they prefer to be supported in order to capitalize on the positive effects of perceived partner responsiveness on relationships, said Fivecoat. This may be a more fruitful approach than advocating for more general positive and negative communication behaviors while giving and receiving support. "Perhaps clinicians can highlight the positive intentions of support givers to elicit greater perceptions of understanding, validation and caring from supportive partners. By highlighting intentions of support givers, the effects of more positive behaviors could be enhanced, and the costs of more negative behaviors could be mitigated," said Fivecoat. "Ultimately, a clearer understanding of social support processes, including what is effective in reducing physiological arousal, will allow couples to capitalize on the association between social support and marriage, and reduce the impact of stress on health." The researchers plan on looking further into the data and publishing more findings in the future. "I think that there is a lot of research that still needs to be done, because not everybody gets out of counseling feeling better," said Cameron. "So studying what makes people feel better or feel differently is important, and using hormones as a marker of the change is interesting because it goes further than wordsyou really can see how the body reacts to discussions. If we can figure out how to use these markers, we probably can really improve our knowledge about counseling and couple communication." Other Binghamton researchers to contribute to this research include Matthew Johnson, chair and professor of psychology; and Richard Mattson, associate professor of psychology. Cameron's dissertation was titled "Spousal social support is associated with perceptions of partner responsiveness and fluctuations in cortisol for married women." More information: The dissertation can be viewed at The dissertation can be viewed at search.proquest.com/docview/1839274682 Credit: University of Nottingham A better understanding of patients' needs is key to improving care within the NHS; patients do not actually want seven-day access to GP surgeries as previously suggested, according to a study from The University of Nottingham. As the call to open GP surgeries at weekends once again hits the headlines, a report from the Centre for Health Innovation, Leadership and Learning (CHILL) at Nottingham University Business School, looks at whether extending the opening hours of surgeries was the key to improving patient care. 'A need to improve services' The demand for primary care services in the UK is changing due to several factors, such as the rise in the number of patients with long-term conditions, and an increase in life expectancy. Patients' expectations are also changing. At the same time, there is a perceived reduction in access to primary care, and a lack of investment in primary care compared to acute care. In recognition of the rising demand for services and the need to improve service, the Prime Minister's GP Access Fund was launched in 2013. GPs and their practices were invited to apply for funding by proposing pilot schemes to improve access, which could be tested and evaluated within a two-year window. The report from CHILL evaluates the pilot schemes in Nottinghamshire and Southern Derbyshire. These focused on improving access to services, as well as a number of other goals such as reducing Emergency Department attendances. Access to primary care CHILL conducted a conjoint survey of the preferences of patients attending GP clinics in Nottinghamshire. The findings indicate that patients wish to be seen quickly, with a strong preference for same day appointments. They do not, however, have a strong preference for seven day opening. These findings are supported by the take-up of weekend services in local pilot schemes. The CHILL evaluation focused on two core aspects of access to primary care. The first was extending hours of access by offering additional appointments. The second was reconfiguring services to better meet patient demands for same day appointments. Key findings from the report showed that the most efficient weekend hub model offers a mix of routine and urgent care appointments. Patient take-up of planned additional weekend appointments was 82 per cent. Another model, offering urgent care appointments only, was trialed by two Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). Here there was very low take-up of these urgent appointments by patients. Take-up of available weekend and bank holiday urgent appointments was just 22 per cent. Take-up was lowest on Sundays (18 per cent), and highest on bank holidays (34 per cent). Under-fives were the largest users of this urgent care model, accounting for 23 per cent of appointments at one CCG and 17 per cent of appointments at the other. The evaluation from CHILL also looked at innovations that seek to improve patient access by reconfiguring same day appointment services. For example, an Urgent Care Clinic was developed offering a 'sit and wait' urgent care service. Patients could attend drop-in to the clinic but did not know how long they would wait to be seen. When offered this urgent care service, most patients chose to take a conventional (pre-booked) GP appointment instead. Meeting patient needs Paul Windrum, Principle Investigator of the evaluation, from CHILL, said: "There is a need to better understand the needs and preferences of different types of patient for GP services. The biggest users of primary care GP services are the elderly and the very young. These groups do not have problems accessing services during the working week. The expectation seems to be that people in full-time employment have a strong demand for weekend services, but the evidence indicates this is not the case. "A distinction also needs to be made between urgent care and non-urgent care. There is a lack of appreciation of the demand for same day appointments for non-urgent care services during the working week." Penelope Siebert, a Research Fellow in CHILL, and one of the authors of the evaluation, said: "The evaluation of the different hubs clearly shows that there is not a 'one-size fits all' solution to the issue of patient care. The variety of the pilots reflects the different local health needs and the capabilities and resources of different practices. "The misconception that the solution to improving patient care is to open GP practices seven-days a week is simply not true and this can be seen by looking at the take-up of weekend appointments during the pilot schemes." She changed her surname to Bosworth from Crum after her father told her, If you become an actress and you get a bad review, critics will say, Crummy performance by Patricia Crum, so take your mothers maiden name. Image Patricia Bosworth Credit... Andrew Coppa Ms. Bosworth became a regular presence on Broadway. She was in Phoebe Ephrons comedy Howie (1959), playing a gamin character based on the young Nora Ephron, Phoebes daughter. She toured alongside Helen Hayes in a production of The Glass Menagerie. Her best-known movie role was in the box-office success The Nuns Story (1959), alongside Audrey Hepburn. Ms. Bosworth does not recount these stories as a striding march through Manhattan and Hollywood. The Men in My Life attends just as fully to loneliness and darkness, to the slivers of dread that prickled her psyche. There is a good deal of talk in this book about what she calls the bereaved creature inside me. She continues to reckon with the suicides of her father and brother. She describes her brief and terrible marriage, while still at Sarah Lawrence, to an abusive painter. As an actress, she discovers, to her disgust, that the casting couch was no myth. She loses roles by refusing to become a plaything. She writes deliciously, in this memoir, about her sexual awakening, her pursuit of ravishment. After I got a taste of sex, thats all I thought about, she writes. She slept with good guys and she slept with lunks. (I lay there and took a lot of pounding, she says about one unhappy evening.) One lover took her to an orgy, where she may or may not have seen George Plimpton in priests robes. Here, too, a dark side emerges. One former lover is killed in a bar fight. Ms. Bosworth becomes pregnant just before filming The Nuns Story in Rome, and nearly dies from the complications of an illegal and poorly performed abortion. The tone and milieu of this book put me in mind of two excellent earlier memoirs, Anatole Broyards Kafka Was the Rage (1993), about bohemian Greenwich Village in the late 1940s, and Joyce Johnsons Minor Characters (1983), about the women among the Beat writers, as well as Sylvia Plaths novel, The Bell Jar (1963). The ANC governments ability to celebrate huge failures was illustrated in its response to the recent matric and Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) results. The latest TIMSS results show that South African learners finished second-to-last in maths and last in science for 14-year-olds. This is, however, only part of the bad news. In South Africa, grade 9 students write exams meant for grade 8 pupils, because the assessment is deemed too difficult for local grade 8 pupils. This means that South Africa is at the bottom of the global rankings, even though our grade 9 learners compete against other countries grade 8 pupils. Instead of asking whose heads must roll, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga celebrated the results saying it showed South Africa has the most improved education system in the world. This independent study gives an encouraging account of how we measure up in a widely-recognised international testing programme, said Motshekga. The matric results are no different. With a dropout rate of over 50% for pupils between grade 10 and matric in multiple provinces, the education system is failing learners. The Rapport newspaper revealed that the average mark for matric mathematics was a dismal 30.8%, while the average mark for the easier mathematics literacy was 37%. Other subjects with low average marks included accounting (38%), geography (39%), and history (44%). According to former University of the Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen, these matric results should be treated as a funeral. However, the ANC governments response to these results is a huge celebration with singing and dancing. Experts are not fooled by these celebrations, with the overall matric pass rate described as meaningless and a distraction from the education crisis in the country. Education expert Nic Spaull said South Africa shouldnt obsess about the matric pass rate in isolation, and that better primary school education should be prioritised. He said universities are likely to feel the brunt of the lacklustre education system when their first-year students are not equipped to succeed. So while the government is giving itself a pat on the back for doing a great job, experts are warning that South Africas education system is failing the nation and its children. Jansen summarises it best: So, to our political masters: if you dont like funerals, go to a nightclub. If the noise is too much, go to a cemetery. But please dont tell the public that a funeral is a party. This is an opinion piece. 3D TVs are set to disappear from South African store shelves, following Samsung, LG, and Sony dropping 3D support for their displays. In early 2016, Samsung, LG, and Philips turned their back on 3D TV, saying consumers never embraced the technology or based their buying decisions on 3D support. This year, Sony followed suit, which means that most major TV makers will not launch new TVs which offer 3D capabilities. In South Africa, 3D TVs have already started to disappear from the shelves of retailers like Dion Wired and Makro. Dion Wired only stocks a handful of 3D TVs from LG, while Makro offers two 3D TVs from LG and one from Hisense. The death of 3D TV should not come as a surprise. 3D broadcasting never caught on and having to wear special glasses to watch TV was never going to be popular. Even Netflixs extensive 3D movie library and the wide range of content on Blu-ray was not enough to save the technology. 3D TV demand in South Africa declining Makros marketing director Melanie van Rooy said they have not seen a significant demand for 3D TVs in their stores. We have noted that since 2016, the majority of the TV brands have stopped shipping 3D-enabled TVs, she said. There are still a few TV models with 3D technology available, but Makro foresees a possible discontinuation soon particularly with the rise in popularity of UHD TVs. In the last year, we have found that customers are increasingly demanding UHD 4K technology. Hisense dropping 3D TVs Serena Lee, Hisense SAs TV product manager, told MyBroadband that the demand for 3D TVs in South Africa has declined. 3D feature requirements for TV are no longer necessary, with fewer movies currently supporting 3D, although 3D movies still exist in cinema, said Lee. We cant say that it will disappear completely. However, the demand certainly has declined. Lee said Hisense will not manufacture any 3D TV models this year. One of Irans tactics is to use promotional video clips on its state media outlets to seduce children. One of the most recent jihadist promotional clips is titled, Martyrs who defend the sacred shrine. The translation of the video clip, according to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), says: Let us rise up to save the sacred shrine. I have joined [Imam] Hosseins army division. I have a warrant from the [Imam Ali] to defend the sacred shrine. On my leader [Ali Khameneis] orders I am ready to give my life. The goal is not just to free Iraq and Syria; My path is through the sacred shrine [in Syria], but my goal is to reach Jerusalem. I do not regret parting from my country; In this just path I am wearing my martyrdom shroud. From Mashhad [north-east Iran], I will walk on foot to Damascus. I am like the bird who flocks to the sacred shrine. The training and teachings inspire hatred in these young children, through rampant anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, and focus on damaging the national security of the Unites States (the Great Satan) and Israel (the Little Satan). Rafizadeh writes, At Mashads theme park, City of Games for Revolutionary Children, children are trained to engage in wars against the US and Israel. They fire bullets through US and Israeli flags or at effigies such as that of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Israel National News: After registering, children don military uniforms and split up into groups of 8-10. They are accompanied by a commander whom they pledge to obey. They then go through 12 activity stations, which include simulations of the Iran-Iraq war, a Revolution chamber, defending various holy shrines, and traversing a minefield with barbed wire. Along the way, they are told about the directives of the Imam (Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini and Supreme Leader Khamenei. A commander teaches the children Islamist values. The Middle East Research Media Research Institute (MEMRI) quotes Hamid Sadeghi, director of Irans Child and the Future Cultural Center, who run the theme park, One of [our] cultural experts guides the children at the City of Games. First they are brought into the stations of the Ghadir [Shiite holiday honoring Imam Alis succession to the Prophet Muhammad] and of the Lovers of Ahl Al-Bayt [the family of the Prophet Muhammad descended from Ali], and [the guide] explains to them about the Mahdi [the Shiite messiah]. Then they reach the station of the Rule of the Jurisprudent [Velayat-e Faqih], and then the station of the Revolution, where the guide explains about the Islamic Revolution An explanation is also provided about the directives of the Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini and [Supreme] Leader Khamenei. Training includes religious holy wars teachings. Sadeghi, pointed out, At the City of Games, we are trying to convey to the children messages about fighting, the Holy Defense and current global issues, through games, amusements, and group activities. Iran is seducing children, and has actually used children in wars, assigning them tasks such as clearing minefields. Irans actions are a direct violation of international humanitarian law that is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. According to the United Nations, Human rights law declares 18 as the minimum legal age for recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Recruiting and using children under the age of 15 as soldiers is prohibited under international humanitarian law treaty and custom and is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. Parties to conflict that recruit and use children are listed by the Secretary-General in the annexes of his annual report on children and armed conflict. Iranian institutions such as the Office of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Ministry of Intelligence (Etelaat), and the militia group Basij, all play a crucial role in this matter. Institutions who recruit children for war, in violation of the international humanitarian law, are the beneficiaries of the sanctions relief and billions of dollars being poured into the Islamic republic as a result of the nuclear deal. Rafizadeh summarizes this issue: The children, as young as eight years old, are trained to hate the US and Israel and to attack their enemies in the West, as well as to oppose Western values. Irans actions are a direct violation of international humanitarian law that is defined as a war crime by the International Criminal Court. According to the United Nations, Human rights law declares 18 as the minimum legal age for recruitment and use of children in hostilities. Finally, these institutions that recruit children for war, in violation of the international humanitarian law, are the main beneficiaries of the sanctions relief and billions of dollars being poured into the Islamic republic as a result of the nuclear deal. Newspaper: There are active political processes in Karabakh Qatar FM slams hypocrisy of calls to boycott World Cup France, Singapore and Switzerland begin joint testing of experimental digital currencies Oil war is Biden's biggest mistake Japan considers possible deployment of hypersonic missiles by 2030 Germany to install better air defense system over Defense Ministry buildings Erdogan and Stoltenberg discuss war in Ukraine Armenian MOD: Azerbaijani Armed Forces open fire in direction of Armenian positions True cost of Europe's rejection of Russian gas White House tries to explain Biden's statement about freeing Iran Former Pakistani Prime Minister: Either we will have a peaceful revolution or a bloody one Aramyan: Why are police officers' salaries increasing, while defense officers' are not? Pentagon and U.S. weapons manufacturers to discuss Russia, human resources and supply chain Ankara says U.S. may approve sale of F-16s to Turkey within few months IMF: Turkey should tighten monetary policy and give the Central Bank more independence Pope urges religious leaders to keep the world from brink of abyss Putin awards Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II with Order of Honor U.S. says G7 countries realize need for coordinated response to China Round-the-clock curfew is introduced in Kherson Borrell says they can't put China and Russia on same level Olaf Scholz calls on China to influence Russia G7 foreign ministers express 'unwavering commitment' to protecting Ukraine, criticized PRC and IRI Political technologist explains why Pashinyan was elected chairman of board of ruling party in Armenia Erdogan signs up for TikTok China's army is constantly preparing for war amid provocative U.S. actions Kalin: Armenia is constructive about normalization of relations Poland asks EU to suspend fines Putin: Situation in Ukraine was deadly for Russia Portugal to test a four-day workweek US embassy in Armenia issues statement ahead of November 5 protests in Yerevan Dollar, euro go up in Armenia Baku authorities once again refuse to allow PFPA to hold protest rally Iranians commemorate anniversary of US embassy seizure Richard Kauzlarich: Azerbaijan, Armenia FMs meeting in Washington 'will send message to Putin' Russia ratifies protocol on requirements for length of service of EEU bodies' employees for pensions Armenia deputy defense minister in Russia, discusses military cooperation Yerevan receives proposal to hold Russia-Armenia-Azerbaijan interparliamentary talks Health minister: We will work with fallen Armenia detainees relatives one more time after which bodies will be buried Putin allows mobilization of citizens with unexpunged criminal record for serious crimes Arnika, NESEHNUTI NGOs of Czech Rep. issue joint statement on plan to expand gold mine in Armenias Karaberd Putin urges to evacuate civilians living in Kherson from the war zone Iran parliament speaker to visit Armenia Ruling force MP: Canada is opening embassy in Armenia because we are one of worlds most democratic countries Girl with Armenian roots ends up in Vladimir orphanage Erdogan says he has agreed with Putin to supply grain to needy countries for free Armenia President, UK envoy agree to continue cooperation, close contacts Armenia FM receives EU Monitoring Capacity Spanish MPs don't approve agreement with Baku as a sign of solidarity with Armenia Japan says North Korea may go ahead with nuclear test Armenia government to allocate about $5M to Karabakh refugees support program Belarusian border service: Border guards intercepts Ukrainian training drone President appoints Ruben Vardanyan as Karabakh Minister of State US embassy expresses concern about human rights violation in Azerbaijan Azerbaijan continues muscle play on Iran border Ibrahim Kalin says Turkey will become an important gas center one way or another Biden: We're gonna free Iran Reuters: G7 countries and Australia agrees on fixed price for Russian oil World oil prices dropping Wizz Air to launch new flights between Venice, Yerevan EU assesses Armenia, Azerbaijan border commissions meeting in Brussels as constructive Artsakh President convenes enlarged working consultation Envoy: China supports Armenians Azerbaijan MOD disseminates disinformation, Armenia army did not fire Armenia ruling party recounts congress voting results Quake jolts Turkey Newspaper: Armenia PM once again manipulates topic of negotiations, Karabakh conflict Newspaper: Studies underway on Armenia MPs business involvement US wants to prevent Germany, other allies from working together with China Protests turn violent in Iran's Alborz Province Portugal is considering abandoning golden visa scheme Biden and Erdogan to meet at G-20 summit NATO supports normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and welcomes EU efforts Bank of England raises interest rates by largest amount since 1989 Scholz says Berlin must change its attitude toward China Cavusoglu and Stoltenberg disagree over Sweden's and Finland's fulfillment of commitments Turkish Vice President to visit Azerbaijan and occupied Shushi Britain buys 250 million pounds worth of oil from Azerbaijan from July 2021 to June 2022 Yair Lapid congratulates Benjamin Netanyahu on winning election Armenian MOD: Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense spreads another disinformation ENISA: War in Ukraine, geopolitics fuel cyberattacks Armenian MFA: Yerevan and Baku agree to speed up work on agreeing procedure of Commissions' activities Zelenskyy will not participate in G20 summit if Putin participates in it WP: Man who attacked Pelosi's husband was in the U.S. illegally At Upper Lars, 30 cars are allowed through per day instead of previous 300: What are authorities doing? Bloomberg: Turkey unlikely to sign Sweden's bid for NATO membership before the end of the year Military servicemen in Armenia to be attested: Discussion at parliamentary standing committee IEA calls for urgent action on gas shortages in Europe French Senate to consider resolution demanding immediate withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory Papikyan: The final number of dead will be published after the identification is complete Armen Grigoryan presents to Patrushev consequences of Azerbaijani aggression Indonesia reveals its own kamikaze drones UN: Russia resumes participation in inspection of ships in Black Sea Grigoryan: Armenia interested in using communication routes through Azerbaijan Investigative Committee: 10 officers charged in Armenia FT: Azerbaijan demands EU funding and long-term contracts for gas supplies Security Council Secretary: Azerbaijani troops must leave Armenian territory US becomes 2nd largest gas supplier to EU Russian Defense Ministry reports release of 107 Russian servicemen from Ukrainian captivity How U.S supports Azerbaijan in 20 years by suspending 907th Amendment? Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will receive less funds in 2023 than in previous two years While the narrative behind Irans involvement in Syria is often convoluted, or misrepresented by Iranian regime officials as the protection of Shiite shrines from terrorists, the real reason that Iran has spent so much of its national capital on a war that is taking place a thousand miles away is best portrayed by the Iranian regimes Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. If the ill-wishers and seditionists, who are the puppets of the U.S. and Zionism, had not been confronted [in Syria], we should have stood against them in Tehran, Fars, Khorasan and Esfahan, stated Khamenei during a January 5 meeting with the families of Iranian commandos killed in Syria. Khameneis remarks, which echoed earlier statements made by the Supreme Leader himself and other top regime officials during the five-year-course of the Syrian crisis, reflect Tehrans vested interest in Syria and the incumbent regime of Bashar al-Assad. The extension of the war has cost both Tehran and Damascus dearly, and has resulted in the death of more than 400,000 civilians and the displacement of millions of others. However, Khamenei and other top officials adamantly continue to insist on supporting Assad. Heres whats behind Irans involvement in Syria. Syrias strategic value to Iran Meddling in the affairs of neighboring and regional countries, which the Iranian regime frames as export of revolution, is one of the main pillars of its survival and continued hold on power. Therefore since its establishment after the 1979 revolution, the clerical regime has allocated vast amounts of resources on its foreign and regional incursions, which are often manifested in terrorist activity and the propagation of extremist ideology. Within this context, Syria falls in line with other countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, where the Iranian regime is actively involved, both politically and militarily, through proxy groups and militias. Following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which eventually turned into a quasi-occupation by Iran, Syria became of even greater value to Tehran, because it could provide it with a direct land corridor to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as a supply channel to the Hezbollah, a internationally known Lebanese terrorist group that acts as an Iranian proxy. Iranian officials have on several occasions described Syria as Irans 35th province. Upon the eruption of popular uprisings in Syria, the Iranian regime moved fast to protect its interests, which resulted in a prolonged war and a crisis that later found regional and global proportions. Irans troops in Syria Given Syrias strategic importance to the Iranian regime, prior to the crisis, 2,000 to 3,000 of Irans IRGC officers (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) were present in the country, managing supply routes of arms and money to neighbouring Lebanon. From the onset of the Syrian uprising, the Iranian regime became directly involved in quelling protests, helping Assad with equipment, weapons, technical knowhow and the experience acquired in more than three decades of crushing dissent and opposition in Iran. Iranian and Hezbollah agents also mixed-in with security forces cracking down on protesters. However, as it became evident that Assad was in dire straits and was hard pressed against the rising tide of protests and the growing opposition movement, Iran became militarily involved in the crisis, using Iranian troops in Syria and dispatching reinforcements to help Assad maintain his hold on power. Iran put Qassem Soleimani, the shady commander of the IRGC Quds Force (IRGC-QF), renowned and sanctioned for his key role in orchestrating Irans foreign terrorist operations, at the helm of the effort. By December 2013, Iran was said to have over 10,000 operatives in Syria, including IRGC commanders as well as Basij paramilitary forces, Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and Shiite militias from Iraq. According to a report published by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), by 2016, Irans forces in Syria had grown to more than 70,000, outnumbering Assads 50,000-man strong military by a large margin. In a frantic effort to prevent the collapse of the Assad regime, Iran ended up adding Afghan and Pakistani militias to its military composition in Syria, as well as a large chunk of the Iraqs Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a militia force Iran had assembled under the guise of fighting the extremist group ISIS. The PMF has been accused of war crimes against Sunnis in Iraq on several occasions. Russias late 2015 military intervention in Syria in favor of Assad was also initiated at the behest and request of Iran, discussed in a controversial visit by Suleimani to Russia in mid-2015. Russian warplanes played a complementary role to Irans ground forces in Syria, laying waste to entire cities and towns. Irans casualties in Syria The Iranian regimes military incursion in Syria came at a great cost to Tehran. According to reports obtained by the NCRI from within the regimes own ranks, Irans death toll in the Syrian war are estimated to be over 12,000. IRGC and Iranian soldiers along with Iraqi and Afghan militias account for 3,000 of the casualties. The Lebanese Hezbollah also paid dearly for having rallied to the call of Tehran, losing 2,000 of its fighters in the course of the conflict. Another 7,000 dead go to Syrian forces funded and trained by Iran. Tehran also lost scores of its officers and generals in Syria, including IRGC Brigadier General Hossein Hamedani, who was killed in late 2015 while leading the Iranian effort in Syria. Hezbollah lost Mustafa Badreddine, one of its veteran commanders who had played a major role in planning and staging the 1984 bombing of U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut. Irans expenditures in Syria The Syrian crisis erupted at a time where Iran was under heavy economic sanctions for its illicit nuclear program. The restrictions nonetheless didnt deter Tehran from pouring money into the conflict in order to preserve its interests. In 2012, The Economist reported that Iran had spent $9 billion to support the Assad regime. At the same time, Tehran was providing fuel, arms and supplies to the Syrian military. This was happening while Iran was under an arms export embargo by the UN. In the summer of 2013, Syrian officials said Iran was to provide $3.6 billion in financial aid, on top of a January credit line valued at $1 billion. In June 2015, a spokeswoman for UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura said to Bloomberg the body estimates Iran to spend an annual minimum of $6 billion in Syria. Nadim Shehadi, the director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, said that his research puts the actual number at $15 billion annually, even at a time where Irans banks were cut off from the global financial system. During the same period, diplomatic sources in Beirut told the Christian Science Monitor that Iran spends between $1 billion and $2 billion a month in Syria in cash handouts and military support. As Irans negotiations with world powers came to a conclusion, there were fears that Tehran would spend economic benefits resulting from sanctions relief to notch up its support for the Assad regime, a concern that was echoed by U.S. officials in Washington. In August 2016, the Iranian resistance exposed secret documents obtained from inside Iran which revealed that the regime in Tehran had spent as much as $100 billion on the war in Syria. Irans future in Syria The Iranian resistance has clearly pointed out that the Iranian regime can have no role in the future of Syria, and as the main source of crises in the region and the massacre of the Syrian people, its eviction from Syria, Iraq, and other countries in the region, will be key to the establishment of peace and the uprooting of extremist groups such as ISIS. Despite statements made by Iranian officials after the military retake of Aleppo from opposition forces, Irans hold on Syria remains shaky and filled with doubt. After half a decade of bloodletting and war crimes, it is improbable that the Iranian regime would be able to carve a future for itself and its ally Assad in Syria. Dragging Russia into the fray also didnt do the Iranian regime any favor as the strategic goals of the two states do not converge in the region, and theyre likely to be at loggerheads over their conflicts of interest in the future. As the fog of war settles, it is expectable that Irans apparent gains in Syria will start to unravel. YEREVAN. At Russian Premier Dmitry Medvedevs invitation, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan of Armenia is paying a two-day official visit to Russia. Medvedev received his Armenian counterpart at Gorki residence of the Head of Russian Government. First, the two PMs held a private meeting, followed by an expanded talk featuring official delegations, in the format of a working breakfast, Press Office of the Government of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. The Russian Prime Minister said in his welcoming remarks: Dear Karen Wilhelmovich, I heartily welcome you. This is your first official visit to our country. We have special allied relations with Armenia, and there are always issues to discuss. It is important that a number of documents have been prepared in anticipation of your visit, aimed at developing our cooperation. I hope they may help build up closer economic ties and human contacts. We will discuss an economic agenda. I want to emphasize that bilateral trade turnover has been stable despite the international situation and despite changes in energy prices. If we speak of our countrys imports and supply of products from Armenia, we stated a 70% growth last year which, to my mind, is the result of Armenias accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and strengthened economic ties. But there are also a number of other issues investment and humanitarian. Let us talk about all this. I cordially welcome you and wish you a successful visit to the Russian Federation. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, in turn, stated in his remarks: Dear Dmitry Anatolevich, first of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation to visit Moscow and the reception of our delegation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate you on your election as Chairman of the United Russia Party, wish you every success, and express confidence that everything will be fine. Todays meeting is a good opportunity to discuss topical directions of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, and I want to assure you that my delegation has come over with a very positive and practical mindset. We have been traditionally boasting quite a hectic agenda of bilateral relations. As you noted, our governments have been able to move on amid a complicated international situation faced in recent years. You may know that the Russian capital is widely represented Armenias economy. However, I believe that we should not relax, and today we can explore and outline new directions of cooperation. A series of reforms are underway in Armenia aimed at creating a favorable environment for investors. In this respect, we would highly appreciate the commitment of the Russian capital. We have come along with a number of new proposals, which will allow us to diversify and expand the vectors of cooperation. I am confident, too, that we are in for a constructive conversation. Once again, I thank you for the invitation. On the sidelines of the working breakfast, the official delegations of the two countries will discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest and sign several documents. By Chris Smaje on 23 Janaury 2017 for Small Farm Future - Image above: Contemporary peasnants gathering grian in North Korea. From ( http://imgur.com/r/pics/8rG4vtj ). maybe he is not really interested in building an agrarian populist movement maybe, he is only interested in building an agrarian faux-populist progressively-politically-correct movement. In which case I am out. Maybe its time he stopped pussyfooting around and made things clear. The Alt-Right scene thats attracted so much belated attention from politicians and pundits over the last year is in large part a straightforward reaction to the identity politics of the left. Without too much inaccuracy, the Alt-Right can be seen as a network of young white men whove noticed that every other identity group in the country is being encouraged to band together to further its own interests at their expense, and responded by saying, Okay, we can play that game too. According to Marxist theory, socialist revolution is led by the radicalized intelligentsia, but it gets the muscle it needs to overthrow the capitalist system from the working classes. This is the rock on which wave after wave of Marxist activism has broken and gone streaming back out to sea, because the American working classes are serenely uninterested in taking up the world-historical role that Marxist theory assigns to them. Wherever economic planning existed, it was seen in the context of needs to be satisfied. What was expected of manorial production was that it should be equal to foreseeable demandIt was not a question of maximizing output from the land, but rather of maintaining it at such a level that it could respond to any request at a moments notice1 Duby, G. 1974. The Early Growth Of The European Economy, Cornell Univ Press, p.92. . SUBHEAD: So my program is to go on asking can we produce enough to see the people through?I was aiming to take a January break from blogging, but various whisperings (and the odd shout) in my ear prompt me to put this one out into the ether right now. Its a bit longer than my usual posts.But on the upside you wont hear from me again for a couple of weeks after this.What I mostly want to do on this site over the next few months is resume exploring the alternative world of my Peasants Republic of Wessex.But theres a case for taking a step back, putting that exercise into a wider context, and laying out something of a program for the year especially in the light of some comments Ive recently received. So thats what Im going to do here.The first comment was from Vera, who took exception to the fears I expressed in my review of 2016, A Sheeps Vigil , that we may be witnessing an emerging fascism. She also questioned my advocacy for agrarian populism:Well, Im not sure I can clarify everything in a single post, but it seems worth trying to set out as best I can what I understand left agrarian populism to be and why I support it. I dont want to waste anyones time if their politics lie wholly elsewhereSo then, three key terms left, agrarian, and populist. The last is much the trickiest. For many commentators, populism refers to little more than the unscrupulousness of those politicians wholl say whatever they calculate will make them most popular with the electorate. Weve had way too much of that recently, and frankly populism has become such a toxic brand as a result that Im half inclined to wash my hands of it.The reason I dont is partly because there are historical and contemporary peasant movements I support which fly under the banner of populism, and partly because theres an important aspect of populism which differentiates it from most other modern political traditions.Let me expand that last point through some admittedly gross over-simplifications of three such other traditions.First liberalism, which believes that private markets, if allowed free rein, will deliver optimum benefits to humanity.Second conservatism, which believes in defending the established social order and fostering progress through the cultivation of individual character. Third socialism, which believes in organising human benefit on a collective, egalitarian basis through politically-guided planning.There are elements of all three traditions Id subscribe to, but I cant wholly identify with any of them. A feature they share is a rather totalising normative vision of what a society should be like and how individual people ought to fit into it, and a willingness to bend the world hard to fit that vision.Populism, by contrast, doesnt really have a totalising normative vision in this way. Its a politics of the people, and all it expects of people is that theyll do their people-like things: be born, grow up, secure their livelihood, raise families, live in communities, die. Thats pretty much it. I prefer it to the stronger normativity of the other traditions.But it only takes a moment to realise that things arent so simple when it comes to implementing a populist politics. Who are the people? Theyre any number of individuals and groupings with endlessly jostling identifications, hostilities, aspirations and conflicts. The people dont exist as an undifferentiated mass any more than the community does in your town.So you can be pretty sure that when a politician says theyre acting in the interests of the people, theyre really acting in the interests only of certain people, a group that probably includes themselves (and may well not include the group they claim to be acting for).You can be doubly sure of it if they say theyre acting in the interests of ordinary people, real people or the silent majority.I think this problem for populist politics is virtually insurmountable in highly monetised, consumerist societies characterized by wage-labour and riven by class, ethnic and national differences.Political movements do arise in these societies under populist banners which purport to represent the interests of the people, but to my mind their claims are invariably spurious, papering over class, ethnic or other interests. And that, I think, is pretty much where were now at in the UK and the USA, among other places.Let me go with that last sentence for a moment before returning to my populist theme. Ill recruit for the purpose some help from John Michael Greers latest (1/18/17) blog post The Hate that Dare Not Speak its Name albeit with some trepidation.It is mishmash of half-truths and flat untruths in which we learn, for example, that the New Left forgot social class was important until a working-class champion by the name of Donald Trump came along and took up the cudgels on behalf of the oppressed, and in which Trumps appointment of Goldman Sachs executives to his administration somehow becomes evidence not of his own hypocrisy but that of his critics is truly a document for these post-truth times.In environmentalist circles Greer increasingly seems to resemble some weird kind of alter ego to Trump himself no matter how superficial, ridiculous or outrageous his pronouncements, his fanbase only seems to grow. Still, there are a few nuggets in his piece that make a good foil for my analysis, so Ill proceed.Greer correctly notes that Trump garnered a lot of support from working class voters who felt disenfranchised by politics-as-usual.But he then imputes leftist horror at Trumps election largely to class hatred from the middle classes against those who put him there.Even Greer can see some of the contortions involved in making such a bizarre argument stick. He tries to shore up the edifice, but what he fails to do and what hes consistently failed to do throughout his writings on the 2016 election is to see that a politician who gainsand a politician who acts inarent necessarily the exact same thing.The missing ingredient in Greers recipe is a concept of ideology the insight that ideas about society are both systematically structured and selective, and that the relationships between things, words and actions are complex.Its an insight that social scientists and political thinkers have developed in numerous ways in recent times but we now seem to be in danger of forgetting. Greer could certainly have done with remembering it when he wrote this:I mention this because its relevant to the issue of political correctness that Vera identified in my thinking.Although I deplore the censoriously PC excesses of essentially insignificant bodies like student unions in their calls to Check your privilege! as much as the next man, or perhaps I should say as much as the next gendered subject, I think the concept of political correctness lacks any real political traction.It stems from the kind of right-wing mythology peddled here by Greer, which posits an equivalence between different identity groups, all supposedly competing on the level playing field of life.One of the few things I have first-hand experience of is what its like to be a straight, white, middle-class man and Id have to say that, from where I sit, alt-right politics based around that identity indeed looks to me a lot like playing a game. Im not sure thats always so true for people in other situations.Somebody wrote this to me in relation to the Greer passage I cited above: Women, Mexicans, Muslims, and LGBT folks such as myself have been working for many years to be treated fairly and respectfully, something that has been lacking in my lifetime. None of us in these categories wish to treat young white men the way we have been treated. Quite so. In contrast to Greer, Id submit that the horror many people feel at Trumps election arises not out of hatred, but out of fear.Theres often a fine line between explaining a phenomenon and justifying it. To my mind, its a line that despite his occasional distantiating turn of phrase Greer has unquestionably now crossed his political writing has become little more than an apologia for Trump and the alt-right. But thats by the by. I want to take my discussion back towards agrarian populism via the issue of class with a final quotation from Greer:Theres certainly some truth in that and its why left populism appeals to me more than Marxism or socialism as such. Note, though, Greers slippage from Marxist activism as an unqualified and therefore presumably global phenomenon, to its specific grounding in(actually, the USA).The tendency to see the USA as a synecdoche for the whole world is a mistake often made by US citizens and by the countrys overseas admirers, but I imagine its one that will be less commonly made in the future (when the US president says From this day forward, its going to be only America first it does, after all, drop a big hint to the remaining 96% of the worlds population about how to order their own priorities).So, wrenching our gaze momentarily from the USA, perhaps we should ask if there are any countries where socialist revolutionbeen successful, at least in the short term. Well, it turns out that there are. Russia, China, Vietnam and Cuba spring to mind all countries with large peasant populations at the time of their revolutions.The story of how Marxism co-opted peasant revolutions revolutions to its own purposes cant detain us here. But I want to note that, in contrast to the inherently contradictory populisms of contemporary industrial-capitalist countries, populist politics has made some headway in societies where there are a large number of poor farmers and a small, wealthy elite.Here, populists have sometimes succeeded in clawing back some of the surplus produced by the farmers and appropriated by the elite, and more generally in validating the agrarian lifeways of the farmers as something important and worthy of respect.And I further want to note that, in these countries, theres been a basis for populism in social class.So Id argue that populist politics remains relevant in the many parts of the world where peasantries still exist in significant numbers. I think it may also be relevant in post-peasant parts of the world such as Britain, where I live, inasmuch as various looming crises in global consumer capitalism may propel us towards more local, land-based and low energy forms of living.That, in a nutshell, is the agrarian part of the populism I espouse. A nice thing about it is the promise it holds out that this local, land-based, low-energy style of life can be a rewarding way to live, even if we have no choice about living it, rather than being a disastrous reversal in the progressive unfolding of industrial modernity.But it can only be rewarding if everybody has a decent chance to live it. The agrarian populism I espouse is therefore apopulism, for two main reasons. First, even assuming a fair initial distribution of land and resources, through bad luck or bad choices some people inevitably end up less well endowed with the capacity to provide for their wellbeing than others.If these differential endowments are inherited down the generations, then the evidence is pretty clear that before long were back with a downtrodden mass peasantry and a small, wealthy elite which is to nobodys long-term benefit, including the elite.So a redistributive element is necessary that prevents the accumulation and defence of unearned inter-generational advantage we can argue about the extent and form of the redistribution, but I dont see good arguments against the fundamental need for it. Presumably that would be something on which for once John Michael Greer and I would agree.The second reason is that while theres something to commend the conservative trope of stand-on-your-own-two-feet-and-dont-expect-the-world-to-owe-you-a-favour, all of us ultimately depend on numerous other people. Were not the sole authors of our fates, and we all screw up in ways small and sometimes large in the course of our lives.So I favor an approach to others based wherever possible (though its not always possible) on empathy and generosity of spirit rather than censoriousness or status competition.And that in barest outline is how Id characterise left agrarian populism. Thereve been places in the past where something like it has prospered for a while, and I suspect the same will be true in the future. I think a lot of human suffering could be avoided if it were to be a norm rather than an exception.But Im not too optimistic. What seems to me more likely as resource crises bite and the global capitalist economy hits the buffers is a slamming of shutters, a beggar-my-neighbour race for resources and an authoritarian policing of the body politic which seeks to root out any dissent from various nationalist senses of manifest destiny (From this day forward, its going to be only America first etc.)In view of various comments Ive received, including Veras, Id like to clarify my use of the term fascist to describe my fears about that kind of future. Its a word that, I acknowledge, comes with a lot of baggage. And history never repeats itself exactly, so theres always a debate to be had about the relevance of past events to the future.On the other hand, history contains some useful warnings if we care to heed them. In invoking fascism, I dont mean it as a generic term of abuse but as a reference to a fairly specific type of politics: the creation of an authoritarian corporate state grounded in an essentially mythical conception of a unified and exclusive people, in which various independent bodies that can hold the state to account such as parliaments, judiciaries and media are repressed.Whatever the rights and wrongs of the EU, a good deal of the political discourse around Brexit in the UK has been leading in that direction. The lesson I draw from the 1920s and 1930s is that people didnt take the threat of fascism seriously enough soon enough to prevent the first stirrings of nativism and discrimination and indeed the kind of alt-right normalisation that Greer is peddling from later turning into all-out war and genocide.Theres little I can do individually to stop the re-emergence of fascism if thats the way the world is going, but I can promise to challenge it when I see it.So when thecalls judges enemies of the people for deciding that parliament has to debate the Brexit referendum vote (in which, let us remember, 37% of the electorate voted to leave the EU and 35% voted to remain), the word for it is fascism.But my main point isnt that were currently under the thumb of the fascists its that I cant really see many plausible future scenarios in which President Trump or Britains Brexiteers will be able to deliver what many of their supporters thought they were voting for. And those conditions will be ripe for fascism though I acknowledge that we may get away with mere xenophobic right-wing authoritarianism.I pray that I wont ever think the latter is the best outcome I can hope for. So let me be clear Im not using the word fascist out of contempt for people I simply disagree with. Im using it out of fear for what the future holds, and out of determination to work for something better.That something better is left agrarian populism. But perhaps Ive caught myself in a contradiction here. I emphasised above the actual rather than the normative basis of populist politics.Given that nothing remotely approximating left agrarian populism currently animates western politics except at its furthest fringes, a programme for realising it involves advocating for it normatively as an ought, a political ideal around which the world needs remodelling. So in that sense perhaps agrarian populism is no less normative or totalising than, say, liberalism.I can think of various ways to try to get myself off that hook by arguing, for example, that our modern ideologies of progress have warped our thinking away from the honest actuality of making a living from the land, or by arguing that whether we like it or not the gathering crisis of global consumer capitalism is going to deliver us (if were lucky) into a world of local self-reliance, to which an agrarian populist politics is best fitted. Theres some mileage in such arguments, but ultimately theyre a bit lame.So maybe I have to argue that when all is said and done left agrarian populism is just a normative political ideology like any other one that I happen to think answers the puzzles of contemporary human existence better than others, partly indeed because it doesnt opine normatively too much on how people ought to live other than by saying, well, they do have to live, they have to do that by farming, and their farming should try to screw other people and the rest of the planet as little as possible.In that sense perhaps my populism is rather impure, drawing on aspects of liberalism, conservatism and socialism.So maybe Vera is right that the populism I espouse is a faux populism though, if she is, then Id venture to say thatpopulisms are faux populisms, since I dont think there can be any singular, historically fixed or ideologically neutral conception of the people, still less the peoples will. All populisms reference other political ideologies.When I wrote about this previously , Tom Smith questioned the extent to which my position was different from socialism. I think itdifferent in the way it understands the relationship between peasants or farmers, states and historical change.But maybe not all that different it is apopulism, after all. Suffice to say that it probably has more common ground with socialism than with forms of right-wing populism that consider the concept of political correctness to be useful.But Id hope that at least it lacks the disdain of Marxists and certain other flavours of socialism for peasants and the petit bourgeoisie. In fact, thats exactly where I see the best hope for a left agrarian populism as a class movement.The fact that, as Ive mentioned, theres virtually no extant peasant or petty proprietor class in western countries is therefore a bit of an inconvenience for my politics. I do have some cards up my sleeve on that front that Ill lay out in later posts. Though I confess they dont make for the greatest of hands.Whatever anyone might think of the case for a left agrarian populism, it certainly wont get far if it cant furnish people with their basic needs. So the aim of the vast number-crunching exercise Ive been undertaking over the past few months in relation to the Peasants Republic of Wessex has been to check for myself, if for no one else, whether it can.It often surprises me that such exercises arent more commonly undertaken by government agencies with the funding to do them properly and the remit to secure the wellbeing of their populace.On that note, I was struck by the reasons Michael gave in a comment under my last post for why such exercises arent more routinely undertaken too divisive, nationalistic, fear-mongering. I was also struck by the following passage in Georges Dubys classic history of the medieval European economy,In that sense my mindset is medieval. The question that interests me is the same one, at whatever scale can we produce what we need in the next period to see the people through? The modern mindset asks a different question how can we produce the highest profit from these inputs?In modern society, the bridge between that question and the first one is usually provided, if its sought at all, by some kind of implicit virtue notion in the tradition belonging to Mandevilles fable of the bees, Adam Smiths invisible hand, and Milton Friedmans capitalism and freedom.Whats becoming increasingly clear as other thinkers have long been warning is that there is no invisible hand, or if there is its designs are forever being thwarted by an invisible foot which, just as the hand works yet another miracle, simply cant help treading in the next bit of shit up the road.So my program for the year, aside from a few digressions and diversions, is to go on asking the question can we produce enough to see the people through? And once Ive addressed that as best I can Ill continue by asking how we might organise ourselves socially and politically to help us do so.Thatll take me deep into the history and the politics of agricultural production and agrarian populism, wherein I hope I might be able to find some more productive ways out of the crises facing us than the dispiriting contemporary populisms of Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and their fellow travellers. If youve read this far, I hope youll be travelling in fellowship with me.But if not, I hope you get the politics you want from the other paths you tread so long as it doesnt involve selfishly trampling over other people. Ach, me and my danged outmoded liberalism Every year, as the spring thaw is awaited in the mountains of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the small coterie of scholars and experts who keep an eye on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict ask, Will there be war? This year, Karabakh watchers are especially gloomy. Twenty-sixteen was a bad year, and 2017 could yet be worse, British journalist and senior fellow of Carnegie Europe, Thomas de Wall, writes. He recalls that over four days last April, up to 200 Armenians and Azerbaijanis died but the escalation was followed by diplomatic activity. But in the last six months, the deals provisionally concluded in the summer have slowly unraveled. The Karabakh situation has defaulted to a familiar and depressing mix of mutual accusations of bad faith, Azerbaijani frustration, Armenian inertia, and diplomatic wrestling over tiny details. The author recalls the words of Benjamin Franklin on that a bad peace is better than a good war. A new conflict in the Caucasus could lead to thousands of casualties and economic devastationwithout resolving the core issues of the dispute. But there is a danger that the parties could miscalculate and end up fighting anyway, despite their better judgment, he writes. De Wall describes the region as the most militarized zone in Europe, bristling with artillery, long-range missile launchers, attack helicopters, and military drones. Azerbaijan has spent billions of dollars of oil revenues on new weaponry. The Armenians have spent less but maintained a credible defensive capability, thanks to buying Russian weapons at discounted prices. According to the journalist, now that the latest diplomatic initiative, spearheaded by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, has stalled, Baku feels tempted to retry last years eventsto launch another operation to recapture territory and put pressure on the Armenian side. The risk is that a small operation would inevitably escalate into something even more serious than last time. The Azerbaijani authorities would be under pressure to capture substantial amounts of territory, rather than the small slivers they took last time. The Armenians would be under pressure from their public to fight more strongly than they did last April and reverse any gains made by the other side, the expert notes. In his words, both sides overestimate their military prowess, despite their newly acquired weaponry. The Armenians have obtained Iskander missile, while Azerbaijan purchased Iron Dome missile-defense system. De Waal stresses that there is also a dangerous political situation besides the military context: the end of oil boom in Azerbaijan and the parliamentary elections in Armenia slated for April 2. This is widely perceived as a gambit by Sargsyan, whose second and last presidential term ends in 2018, to find a way of shoring up his own power. The switch is controversial and the opposition will use the election to challenge him in all ways possible, de Waal writes. In his words, a final factor of instability is international turbulence is the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. The ongoing crises in the EU countries, which is felt in the South Caucasus, could encourage the parties to behave more irresponsibly and believe they can get away with more. If there is fighting, it will be hard to manage. In April 2016, Moscow negotiated a verbal ceasefire between the parties. But it is a misconception that Moscow is pulling the strings in the Karabakh conflict. Moscow has never been in control since the dispute broke out in 1988, having tried variously to back one side or the other or to mediate. Currently, Russia is highly distrusted in both countries and neither Baku nor Yerevan will allow it to impose its own agenda on their number one national issue. In short, the threat of preemptive violence over Karabakh needs to be met with intense preemptive diplomacy. A descent into new conflict in the South Caucasus is the last thing anyone wantsleast of all the ordinary Armenians and Azerbaijanis who will be caught in the middle of it, the author concludes. YEREVAN. - To avoid corruption risks, the election of school directors should be held transparently. Minister of Education and Science of Armenia, Levon Mkrtchyan, said the aforementioned at a Facebook press-conference with Radio Liberty on Tuesday, referring to the question of one of citizens as to when the tradition of giving a bribe when getting employed in schools will radically be eliminated. This phenomenon does exist. Our society should change its mentality. Lets not focus on teachers alone: the issue exists in the most different spheres. As to schools, I propose doing something ourselves. The next stage is the transparency: the selection of a teacher shouldnt depend on the directors whim. I think it would be correct for a director to pass an interview with the province governor, minister, and, why not, prime minister or deputy prime minister, after his or her being selected or thereafter. It is not difficult to do this within a period of five years so that they are also personally responsible for the given director. That is, the small size of the country gives an opportunity for solutions and, from this perspective, we should work in two platforms: transparency and personal responsibility of specific officials, he noted. STRASBOURG. - It is quite clear that media freedom is the core of any democracy. If the freedom of media is ensured, the democracy has a chance. If journalists are deprived of their right to cover things as they see them and if they are attacked, then the democracy is endangered and many nations become hostages of their own autocratic regimes. Member of the Armenian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Samvel Farmanyan, who is also an MP of the National Assembly of Armenia (NA), said the aforementioned at the discussion of the report Attacks against journalists and media freedom in Europeby Volodymyr Ariev at PACE session on Tuesday. He noted that he was not going to talk about Armenia because there was no reference to Armenia in the report and fortunately the country has good indexes in terms of media freedom. What I am going to talk about is the amazing reference to Nagorno-Karabakh in paragraph 9. I would call it a quite manipulative reference, where Mr Ariev has put the following phrasing: "Nagorno-Karabakh is the part of Azerbaijan and it is a non-transparent and lawless area." And a simple question comes up: Why is this reference there? The reference is there simply because the Azeri government needs that. Do you think that the Azeri government needs it because they care about media freedom? Never. They care more about the media freedom in Nagorno-Karabakh but not in Azerbaijan. All of us know well what is going on in Azerbaijan. Its really ridiculous. And another question comes up: Why has honorable Mr Ariev put this reference there? Unfortunately this is not because Mr Ariev paid a visit to Nagorno-Karabakh or because he carried out a fact-finding mission. He has not even used the Freedom House report Without Borders,where Nagorno-Karabakh has better position than Azerbaijan itself. Its because as we see from his interview to Azerbaijani press, where he apologizes in front of Ilham Aliyev saying that his grandma is an Azerbaijani. This is his wording. Finally, we should remember that we are not in a battlefield, we are not hostages and I know how tired you are of all these Armenian-Azerbaijani fighting, Farmanyan noted, urging to support the presented amendments. Lets send a clear message to President Aliyev that he should find new markets for trading instead of Strasbourg, he concluded. In the report entitled Attacks against journalists and media freedom in Europe, Volodymyr Ariev refers to issues related to media freedom in conflict zones, noting: The Assembly furthermore notes with deep concern that the protection of media freedom under Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ETS No. 5) is also absent in other territories of member States which are de facto controlled by separatist regimes, namely in Nagorno-Karabakh of Azerbaijan, Abkhazia and South Ossetia of Georgia and Transnistria of the Republic of Moldova. Therefore, the Assembly pays particular tribute to the few investigative journalists who dare shed light on the situation in those otherwise totally non-transparent and lawless areas. IS Division in Yemens Ibb Governorate Claims Suicide Bombing at Houthi Checkpoint CSB Sets Jan. 25 Business Meeting The board will review a safety video animation related to the CSB Williams Olefins investigation, which involves an explosion and fire June 13, 2013, at the Williams Olefins Plant in Geismar, La., that killed two employees. The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has set a Jan. 25 public meeting starting at 1 p.m. Eastern in Washington, D.C., to discuss open investigations, the status of audits from the Office of the Inspector General, financial and organizational updates, and to review CSB's action plan. The board will also review a safety video animation related to the CSB Williams Olefins investigation and hear public comments. A conference call line will be provided for those who cannot attend in person, using this dial-in number to join the conference: 888-466-9863, confirmation Number 5690151#. The Williams Olefins investigation involves an explosion and fire June 13, 2013, at the Williams Olefins Plant in Geismar, La. It killed two employees. In a final report released in October 2016, the board found that process safety management program deficiencies at the facility during the 12 years leading up to the incident allowed a reboiler, a type of heat exchanger, to be unprotected from overpressure. It ruptured, which caused the explosion. The plant produces ethylene and propylene for the petrochemical industry and employed approximately 110 people, with about 800 contractors working there at the time of the incident on an expansion project to boost the production of ethylene. According to the report, the incident occurred during non-routine operational activities that introduced heat to the reboiler, which was offline and isolated from its pressure relief device. "The heat increased the temperature of a liquid propane mixture confined within the reboiler, resulting in a dramatic pressure rise within the vessel. The reboiler shell catastrophically ruptured, causing a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) and fire, which killed two workers; 167 others reported injuries, the majority of which were contractors," the board reported. CSB cited deficiencies in implementing Management of Change, Pre-Startup Safety Review (PSSR), Process Hazard Analysis programs, and procedure programs: Over the weekend, I saw two powerful plays that both used organized religion as a centerpiece, which raised some questions for me about how theater reflects the world of faith. At The Rep, "Disgraced" features, as the main character, a Muslim man who has disavowed any pious belief in Islam. Adding to the consternation in this play, his wife is a devotee of Islamic art and there is also a Jewish art dealer in the mix. At Renaissance Theaterworks, one of the main characters in "Luna Gale" is a woman who is an avowed evangelical Christian. She is aided along her path of holiness by her pastor, who is unctuous and almost perverse in his manipulation. The most interesting thing about these two plays is how they treat religious faith so differently. In "Disgraced," playwright Ayad Akhtar uses religion as a trampoline, creating characters who defy their religious conventions and the piety of their faiths. The Muslim man in "Disgraced" has no truck with the trappings of Islam. Despite entreaties, he refuses to use his legal skills to help an imam who has been jailed for raising funds for terrorist organizations. His wife, on the other hand, is concerned about his non-religious attitude and feels helpless to get him to become more devout. In "Luna Gale" the mother of a young woman takes shelter in her Christian belief and practices. She displays a devotion that seems almost out of control. The treatment of Islam by Ayad Akhtar in his play is a complex one, showing and referencing everything about the religion. He talks about devoted Muslims and the gathering of terrorists who have become fanatical about the religion. The most obvious thing about Akhtar is that his portrayal of Islam is non-judgemental. Nowhere will you find a thread of overall criticism. The hero of the play even says that he would have felt pride in his fellow Muslims after the Sept. 11 catastrophe. He creates a character who has made decisions about his faith, but when forced to face difficult questions is ambivalent. The audience, too, is left with a mixture of intellectual considerations of Islam. In "Luna Gale," Rebecca Gilman creates a character who is almost overwhelming in her Christianity. She plays a pivotal role in the play and her influence is profound on her daughter, who is at the heart of the drama. The difficult thing that Gilman presents is that, while the character of Cindy has depth, her sort of Christianity is practically the worst stereotype people have about devotees who have been "born again." What she says and what she does and the sanctity with which she takes custody of her granddaughter, the baby named Luna Gale, are almost cloying. Im not a fan of the rigidity of born-again Christians. I think the religion is one of the most intolerant Ive ever known and I believe one of the primary tenets of Christianity is to be tolerant of others. Im not sure how this issue in "Luna Gale" could have been fixed, or even whether it should have been. Laura Gray is an immaculate actor who finds, despite the script difficulties, a well-rounded woman torn by griefs and sorrows. Mary MacDonald Kerr is an experienced and sensitive actor and director. Neither one of them could have done anything about this religious stereotype that played into the most severe sort of prejudice against evangelical Christianity. I think it's a rare religion that is all-anything and just one thing. To each religion there is some redemption, and that ought to find its way into any portrayal of it on the stage. In the wake of the Womens March this weekend and rumors of potential cuts on the way for organizations including Planned Parenthood a league of female bakers and pastry chefs have created a simple and delicious way to give back. The Cookie Love initiative, which launches this week and culminates just in time for Valentines Day, offers individuals the opportunity to purchase boxes of delicious cookies made by area bakers and pastry chefs. In turn, all proceeds from the cookie boxes, which will be sold online for $50 each, will be donated to Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. These donations are also (bonus) tax deductible. The goal for the Cookie Love initiative is to sell 200 boxes of cookies resulting in a total donation of $10,000. "Give a box of sweet treats to the love of your life or your favorite Trump supporter to let them know how much you love them, and how much you value Planned Parenthoods mission," notes the ordering information. Cookie boxes will include the following cookies: Salted oatmeal chocolate chip - Courtney Allison Raspberry brownies - Nell Benton Peanut pretzel white chocolate curry cookies - Kris Collett Macarons - Toren Engseth Millionaire bars - Meghan Forness Snickerdoodles - Allie Howard Caramel potato chip cookies - Cathy Jakicic Chocolate chip - Beth Julie Decorated pink pussycat sugar cookies - Sarah Keller Funfetti sugar cookies - Jaceleen Latin-Kasper Rockie road cookies - Annelise Linton Vegan chocolate peanut butter - Katie Marggraf Coconut rochers - Sarah Mironczuk Red velvet crackles - Shannon OConnell Trenholme Lemon cardamom shortbread - Caitlin Prostek Decorated sugar cookies - Amanda Richardson Rosemary polenta shortbread - Molly Sullivan Lemon sandwich cookies - Hazel Wheaton The boxes will be available for pick-up on Feb. 12-13 at locations including Franks Power Plant, 2800 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Sprocket Cafe, 3385 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Art Bar, 722 E. Burleigh St. MKE Community Kitchen, 531 E. Keefe Ave. The Cookie Love story The idea for Cookie Love was hatched by local pastry cook Kris Collett, who says she was inspired by a similar initiative in Oregon. "My friend Cathy Jakicic, who is not a pro baker but an accomplished home baker, sent me an article about a bunch of pastry ladies in Portland, Oregon who are doing this," says Collett. "When I saw it, I thought it was something we could do too. I loved the idea of bringing the community of pastry workers and chefs in Milwaukee together for an important cause." Collett says she sees the effort as a way for women in the culinary community to channel their creativity into something that could really make a difference. "The new Congress and No. 45 [Trump] has been a heavy weight on many of us since the election," she explains. "I think many people were motivated to action afterward, and the turnout at marches is a prime example of that, but I think some people are really still struggling and don't know what to do. This is a really simple thing that folks can to do to make a difference. It's a good step one." Some proof of that has already been evidenced in the number of people who are participating in the effort. In addition to the participating bakers, Collett says countless volunteers have also stepped forward, including Cathy Walls, who offered to take charge of pulling volunteers together to assist in tasks like packing boxes. Meanwhile, local artist Linsey Sieger volunteered to design the Cookie Love logo. "The impact of this project is so much greater than me just writing out a check to PPWI, which Randy and I do on a pretty regular basis," Collett notes. "Anything that creates unity and a sense of community in the times we're living is well worth doing." Boxes of Cookie Love cookies can be purchased for $50 online. Additional details regarding pick-up times will be sent to each individual by email. For more information, or to get involved, follow Cookie Love on Facebook or email Kris at CookieLoveWI@gmail.com. One of the most recent building "booms" at Milwaukee Public Schools added a handful of new schools to the citys landscape, but at least one planned project and perhaps more never saw the light of day. In 1991, MPS built a new home for Elm Creative Arts on Walnut Street (on the site of the former 9th Street School). The old Elm building on 27th and Garfield became home to Starms Early Childhood Center and a related program, Starms Discovery Center, got a new building that year, too. Three middle schools Sarah Scott, Grand Avenue and Milwaukee Education Center also went up in 1991-92. A decade or so later, three schools were built Bethune, Browning and Rogers as part of the districts Neighborhood Schools Initiative, which also brought additions to a number of buildings, including Clarke Street, Hi-Mount, Doerfler, LaFollette, 35th Street and Thurston Woods, among others. But what about Walkers Point Middle School, which was theorized for a site slightly larger than two full blocks between Virginia and Bruce Streets, from 6th Street westward to where Virginia meets 9th? The MPS facilities archives has site plans, building floor plans and exterior drawings for a school on the site. But that school was never built. A district building and sites plan from 1986 recognized the growing need for middle schools and suggested building two of them on at 107th and Mill Road and another on a site to be determined that could each accommodate nearly 1,000 students. By the summer of 1990, Milwaukees population of middle-school-aged kids was surging and the district needed to address it. One newspaper report noted that MPS was considering transforming the old Downtown Medical and Health Services building at 24th and Wisconsin and the former Schlitz Malt House on King Drive and Pleasant Street into middle schools at a cost of $34.5 million. Those two buildings could accommodate between 1,670 and 1,850 pupils, the district estimated. But it wouldnt suffice. "In the next five years, as many as 2,000 more sixth through eighth grade students are expected," the Journal reported. By this time, MPS was already in the process of building Sarah Scott Middle School as a replacement for the 8th Street Middle School program. The new building would accommodate 750 students, just 300 more than the old site. Something had to be done. Enter Walkers Point Middle School, plans for which were drawn in April 1992 by Eppstein Keller Uhen (now just Eppstein Uhen) Architects, which has worked on other projects with MPS. Though I couldnt find anyone in MPS facilities who has been around long enough to remember the project, Eppstein Uhens John Miceli, the firms vice president and project management practice leader, was able to conjure a bit. "Were stretching my memory a bit, to be honest," he admitted when I talked to him. But, he recalled, the district had considered more than a dozen potential sites for new middle schools back then. "At the time MPS was looking at expanding their middle school options and we looked at 15 to 20 locations. We ended up doing a few of them. Thats when we did Grand Avenue Middle School and Milwaukee Education Center at Schlitz Park. Both of those were part of that." Walkers Point Middle School wouldve opened in a renovated Trade Center building, which still stands at 647 W. Virginia St., and which looks a bit like a school already, though it never served as one. Instead, it was built by the Pfister & Vogel Leather Co. According to the site plan, a long, low, two-story addition would be built to the south. Parking would occupy the eastern portion of the site, while green space would run west from the building along Virginia and, westward from the addition would be a track and field and on the far western end, a hard surface play area. According to the drawing, "this scheme proposes to acquire the entire block except for Orlandini property." These days, beyond the former tannery building, now called the Trade Center, and the Orlandini studios property next door, the entire site is only occupied by six other buildings: five homes along Bruce and the restaurant on the corner that over the years has housed places like Virginias and Il Mito. The imagined -- and drawn -- space would have plenty of classroom space, a large cafeteria and kitchen, a big gym, a library, computer center, foreign language lab, art and band/orchestra rooms, labs for science, communication (including a dark room), materials and processing, family and consumer education, power and transmission, and flexible classroom space with moveable partitions. In short, a fully-equipped, modern middle school. "We had done some of the initial designs on Sarah Scott and so we had that as a model concept," Miceli said. So, what happened? "So we looked at about 20 locations and some were pretty quickly discarded. Some others seemed like possibilities and we did a little bit more conceptual designs like that. I think thats as far as that one got," Miceli recalled. "There were a couple different factors we were taking into consideration. First was, is the site big enough? Then there was the cost of acquisition of the land and the construction that had to be done. In that case there was the work that needed to be done on the existing building." What might have been the main reason that the Walkers Point Middle School was never built was that old real estate maxim about location, location, location. Miceli said, "Was it in a good location for surrounding populations?" was one of the key questions asked about all the sites considered. "Because that one was so close to the Menomonee Valley it was drawing only from the south, not from the north. I think that was the problem." As population demographics continued to change, so did the needs for middle schools in Milwaukee. Add to that a new desire for K-8 schools which were a major part of the districts 2000 Neighborhood Schools Initiative and the new middle schools were doomed. Sarah Scott, MEC and Grand Avenue all closed in 2009, though none of the buildings is vacant. MPS has since opened Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language at Grand Avenue, moved and expanded Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning at Sarah Scott which, for a few years, had become the districts training and meeting facility and Golda Meir middle school grades and new high school occupy part of the MEC building. The two elementary schools opened in 1991 Elm and Starms continue to operate in their new buildings, as does the program that replaced Elm at its original site. Credit: University of Nottingham A project exploiting Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) to establish the blueprint for the world's most accurate real-time positioning service is to run at the University of Nottingham. The service, to be developed at prototype level, will benefit safety-critical industries like aviation and maritime navigation, as well as high accuracy dependent applications such as offshore drilling and production operations, dredging, construction, agriculture and driverless cars and drones, just to name a few. The EU-funded TREASURE project, will integrate signals from satellite navigation systems such as GPS, launched by the US, alongside Russia's GLONASS, China's BeiDou and Europe's new Galileo system. Combining these different satellite systems to operate together is a new development known as multi-GNSS, which is key to provide instantaneous, high accuracy positioning anywhere in the world. The four-year project will focus on a service that will take the current use of GNSS - normally based on just one or two systems - to the next level, to provide accuracy of a few centimetres in real time, opening up a multitude of new possibilities. Atmospheric disruption One of the key aspects of the research is to mitigate the effects of the atmosphere, in particular related to space weather, which can often create impairing conditions that vastly reduce satellite communication and positioning accuracy. Controlled by the interaction of the sun with the Earth's magnetic field, the ionosphere (the upper layer of Earth's atmosphere) is characterised by the presence of free electrons, which interfere with a satellite's signal passing through it. Mainly, but not only when solar activity is high, electron density irregularities may form in the ionosphere, which can cause signal diffraction and lead to scintillation a scattering of the satellite signal that makes it difficult for a GNSS receiver to lock onto the satellite and calculate its position. This has a particularly disruptive effect on positioning technology especially at high latitude or equatorial regions, such as in Northern Europe or in Brazil, respectively. Similarly, the troposphere, a lower layer of the atmosphere, also interferes with the signals. The presence of water vapour in this neutral part of the atmosphere can create an additional disruptive effect on the satellite signals, thus also affecting GNSS accuracy. Correcting all intervening errors The project aims to develop new error models, positioning algorithms and data assimilation techniques to monitor, predict and correct not only the effects of the atmosphere but also signal degradation due to manmade sources of interference, which can also limit positioning accuracy. Signal processing techniques - tailored to the features of the interfering signals - will be used to improve the quality of the measurements and ultimately to generate reliable position solutions. Moreover, TREASURE researchers will also develop new multi-GNSS real-time precise orbit and clock products, specifically for use with the new Galileo system. Wide-ranging industry potential for precise multi-GNSS service All these problems pose significant risks to the many public and industrial sectors that now rely on GNSS or aim to use it to overcome growing humanitarian challenges such as food or energy production. Project lead, Dr Marcio Aquino, from the Nottingham Geospatial Institute said: "A highly-accurate multi-GNSS service could, for instance, assist demanding terrestrial applications like precision agriculture, giving farmers access to real-time precisely located data gathering and analysis to maximise food production, reduce costs and minimise pesticide use." "On the other side of the spectrum, a deep-sea drilling platform that experiences any temporary degradation of positioning accuracy could lead to phenomenal losses right at a time when, due to the current oil production climate, companies are striving to increase operational efficiency. This industry would also benefit from such an accurate multi-GNSS service." The importance of Galileo By 2020, Galileo, the European GNSS system (EGNSS) will be fully operational and provide positioning data of unprecedented accuracy. Galileo will rival but, crucially, will also be interoperable with GPS, which has been the front-runner of all GNSS systems, dominating the market for over 20 years. According to Dr Aquino: "The development of EGNSS and its integration with other satellite systems is key for Europe's competitiveness in this market, therefore the interest of the EU in funding this project." The study will focus on two existing GNSS techniques known as PPP (Precise Point Positioning) and NRTK (Network Real Time Kinematic). Both use GPS and GLONASS, but could potentially meet future real-time high accuracy positioning demands when Galileo is fully integrated, and if TREASURE is successful. Benefits and limitations of PPP and NRTK The NRTK technique uses fixed reference stations operating high-grade GNSS receivers at carefully surveyed reference locations to secure accurate GNSS positioning data. The transmission of corrections from reference locations to users is at the core of NRTK. The technique's effectiveness relies on the spatial correlation of errors between user and reference, which must be situated less than 20-30km apart - a short enough distance to allow potential signal errors to 'cancel out'. If atmospheric variations between reference and user are strong, a greater number of reference stations may be necessary, rendering the technique less cost-effective. Contrary to NRTK, PPP does not rely on errors 'cancelling out' between the user and a known reference station. The user operates their receiver independently of the existence of nearby stations with known coordinates. This is achieved by incorporating external information in the solution, in the form of highly-precise satellite clocks and orbit products derived from global networks and available either for free or commercially. However, the accurate prediction of the state of the atmosphere, also crucial for PPP, is not normally available from these global networks overcoming this situation is one of the main objectives of TREASURE. Creating a critical mass and testing market potential TREASURE, funded by the EU framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020, brings together four top universities, one research institute and four leading European companies to provide the research that will result in the ultimate high-accuracy EGNSS solution. The project team will train and work alongside 13 Marie Skodowska-Curie Fellows who will be earmarked as high-flying candidates for future employment in the burgeoning GNSS industry or as specialist researchers. The Fellows will build a prototype tool to support the different PPP and NRTK needs and test what commercial interest there is to bring the future service to market. Scientists work with a fully Diode Pumped Solid State Laser designed and constructed in the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory of the laser center HiLASE in Dolni Brezany, Prague, on January 23, 2017 A team of British and Czech scientists on Tuesday said they had successfully tested a "super laser" they claim is 10 times more powerful than any other of its kind on the planet. The so-called "high peak power laser" has a 1,000-watt average power output, a benchmark of sustained, high-energy pulses. It has revolutionary potential in engineering, for hardening metal surfaces, processing semiconductors and micro-machining material. The device was developed by Britain's Central Laser Facility (CLF) and HiLASE (High average power pulsed laser), a Czech state research and development project. "It is a world record which is important," CLF director John Collier told AFP. "It is good for putting things on the map, but the more important point is that the underlying technology that has been developed here is going to transform the application of these high power, high energy lasers," Collier added. Named "Bivoj" after a mythical Czech strongman, the laser is "10 times as powerful" as any other of its type currently in use, HiLASE physicist Martin Divoky told AFP at the testing facility in Dolni Brezany near Prague. HiLASE director Tomas Mocek told AFP that Bivoj broke the "magical barrier" of 1,000 watts in output on December 16, setting a world record for lasers of its type. "It's a huge step forward, like an Olympic victory," he added. Weighing in at around 20 tonnes and costing 44 million euros ($48 million), Bivoj will have applications in the aeronautics, automotive and power sectors, according to the CLF and HiLASE specialists. Mocek told AFP that Bivoj was fundamentally different from so-called peak power lasers. There are two behemoths of this kindthe one-petawatt Texas Petawatt Laser in Austin and the two-petawatt Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) in Osaka, Japan. One petawatt equals one million billion watts Those lasers "have a very high peak power, but they can only reach it several times a day," Mocek said. "They do not have so-called 'average power'. This is a combination of the repetition rate and the energy. Our laser has the highest average power, which is important. The repetition rate in Osaka and Austin is significantly lower." Its creators say they hope to explore the laser's potential during tests planned at the Dolni Brezany facility later this month. Mocek told AFP that there are also plans to commercialise the laser in the second half of the year. 2017 AFP MIT chemical engineers have developed arrays of carbon nanotube sensors that can detect single protein molecules as they are secreted from cells. Credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology For the first time, MIT engineers have designed sensors that can detect single protein molecules as they are secreted by cells or even a single cell. These sensors, which consist of chemically modified carbon nanotubes, could help scientists with any application that requires detecting very small amounts of protein, such as tracking viral infection, monitoring cells' manufacturing of useful proteins, or revealing food contamination, the researchers say. "We hope to use sensor arrays like this to look for the 'needle in a haystack,'" says Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT. "These arrays represent the most sensitive molecular sensing platforms that we have available to us technologically. You can functionalize them so you can see the stochastic fluctuations of single molecules binding to them." Strano is the senior author of a Jan. 23 Nature Nanotechnology paper describing the new sensors. The paper's lead author is Markita Landry, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Other MIT authors are research scientist Hiroki Ando, former graduate student Allen Chen, postdocs Jicong Cao and Juyao Dong, and associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science Timothy Lu. Vishal Kottadiel of Harvard University and Linda Chio and Darwin Yang of the University of California at Berkeley are also authors. No detection limit Strano's lab has previously developed sensors that can detect many types of molecules, all based on modifications of carbon nanotubeshollow, nanometer-thick cylinders made of carbon that naturally fluoresce when exposed to laser light. To turn the nanotubes into sensors, Strano's lab coats them with DNA, proteins, or other molecules that can bind to a specific target. When the target is bound, the nanotubes' fluorescence changes in a measurable way. In this case, the researchers used chains of DNA called aptamers to coat the carbon nanotubes. Previous efforts to use DNA aptamers have been stymied because of the difficulty of getting the aptamer to stick to the nanotube while maintaining the configuration it needs to bind to its target. Landry overcame this challenge by adding a "spacer" sequence between the section of the aptamer that attaches to the nanotube and the section that binds to the target, allowing each region the freedom to perform its own function. The researchers successfully demonstrated sensors for a signaling protein called RAP1 and a viral protein called HIV1 integrase, and they believe the approach should work for many other proteins. To monitor protein production of single cells, the researchers set up an array of the sensors on a microscope slide. When a single bacterial, human, or yeast cell is placed on the array, the sensors can detect whenever the cell secretes a molecule of the target protein. "Nanosensor arrays like this have no detection limit," Strano says. "They can see down to single molecules." However, there is a tradeoffthe fewer molecules there are, the longer it takes to sense them. As the molecule becomes more scarce, detection can take an infinite amount of time, Strano says. "The new study by Strano and co-workers proposes an exciting new approach to detect proteins down to the single molecule level," says Robert Hurt, a professor of engineering at Brown University who was not involved in the research. "The work pushes the forefront in single-protein detection and may allow researchers to see important, real-time molecular events at the single-cell level, such as protein release during cell division." Useful tools The sensor arrays could be useful for many different applications, the researchers say. "This platform will open a new path to detect trace amounts of proteins secreted by microorganisms," Dong says. "It will advance biological research [on] the generation of signal molecules, as well as the biopharmaceutical industry's [efforts to monitor] microorganism health and product quality." In the pharmaceutical realm, these sensors could be used to test cells engineered to help treat disease. Many researchers are now working on an approach where doctors would remove a patient's own cells, engineer them to express a therapeutic protein, and place them back in the patient. "We think these nanosensor arrays are going to be useful tools for measuring these precious cells and making sure that they're performing the way that you want them to," Strano says. He says researchers could also use the arrays to study viral infection, neurotransmitter function, and a phenomenon called quorum sensing, which allows bacteria to communicate with each other to coordinate their gene expression. More information: Markita Patricia Landry et al. Single-molecule detection of protein efflux from microorganisms using fluorescent single-walled carbon nanotube sensor arrays, Nature Nanotechnology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2016.284 Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology Dr. Eunsung Kan stands in front of a dry-erase board used to explain his closed-loop dairy farm concept and use of biochar to filter wastewater and create electricity. Credit: Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Adam Russell Dr. Eunsung Kan sees his concept of a closed-loop dairy farm, which reuses wastewater, emits zero waste and powers itself on manure, as the future of sustainable animal farming. Kan, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research chemical and environmental engineer in Stephenville, said his concept could change the way dairies, swine and poultry farms deal with manure, wastewater and greenhouse gasses while utilizing the waste to generate electricity. Animal waste is a blessing and curse for dairies. Manure is sold to local farmers who need to infuse nutrients into the soil for crops and forage. However, tons of manure can also be logistically taxing as facilities keep up with the treatment and distribution of large quantities of environmentally problematic materials monitored by state and federal environmental regulators. Farm operations have been implicated in higher-than-normal levels of nitrogen and phosphorous, antibiotics, heavy metals and hormones in surface and groundwater downstream from facilities. Manure is also a known contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane and carbon dioxide. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service estimates manure from a dairy milking 200 cows can produce as much nitrogen as is in the sewage from a community of 5,000-10,000 people. Kan's research would utilize existing technology biochar, a carbon material similar to charcoal, created from animal manure and agricultural waste, such as corn stubble or rice straw that would be used to filter solid waste and effluent. The biochar could be used as a slow-release fertilizer or converted, via pyrolysis, which is the decomposition of organic material by heat, into energy to power the farm. The closed-loop dairy concept focuses on three main goals wastewater treatment using dairy manure-derived biochar, producing bioenergy using dairy manure and capturing greenhouse gasses via adsorption onto dairy manure-derived biochar, Kan said. Biochar has proven to provide a beneficial surface chemistry that can filter a wide range of contaminants, including nitrogen and phosphorous, he said. When the surface of biochar is modified with several methods in a lab, it has shown an ability to capture antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, heavy metals and other possible contaminants. "The mission is the treatment and reuse of dairy wastewater and the conversion of dairy waste into energy to power the facility," he said. "It focuses on providing a model for sustainable farming." Last year, Kan received a $1 million grant from the Texas A&M University Chancellor's Research Initiative Fund to research the viability of the closed-loop dairy system. Before joining AgriLife Research, he also received about $400,000 in research grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Geologic Survey to research the concept's potential to treat animal waste, control greenhouse gas emissions and convert manure to energy. Conceptual system The closed-loop dairy is a relatively simple concept, Kan said. Cows produce manure, which when mixed with remnants of local crops, can become a seemingly endless supply of filtering material, fertilizer and energy. Columns filled with biochar would act as a water purification system that filters nitrogen, phosphorous and other contaminants from liquid as it passes through, Kan said. "The affluent from the column would then be very low in nitrogen and phosphorous," he said. "If we filter to low levels of nitrogen and phosphorus it wouldn't cause any environmental problem." The biochar used to filter nitrogen and phosphorous could then be used as slow-release fertilizer that provides needed nutrients to plants and would not wash away as runoff from heavy rains. In addition, biochar immobilized with photocatalysts would decompose toxic contaminants to harmless products when irradiated by exposure to ultraviolet light. For instance, Kan's study has shown that a biochar immobilized with photocatalysts completely degraded antibiotic and hormone compounds while effectively controlling pathogens. The potential for biochar's use to filter wastewater goes beyond agriculture and could be applied at any wastewater treatment plant, or even to filter contaminants in injection water used in the petroleum industry for fracking. For energy, dairy manure would be fed into a pyrolysis reactor on site that would use relatively low heat, 500-1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, to create compressed hydrogen and carbon monoxide syngas that can be used to create electric power, Kan said. Excess electricity could be sold to local utility companies. The byproduct from pyrolysis of dairy manure is biochar. "The principle is very simple," Kan said. "The dairy would just need a different size reactor to meet its scale of manure output and energy needs." Dr. Sergio Capareda, an AgriLife Research agricultural engineer in College Station, proved the pyrolytic conversion of dairy manure to syngas and biochar from his USDA-funded project, Kan said. Kan plans to advance this concept by biologically converting syngas to butanol and bio-jet fuel as alternative transportation fuels, and developing biochar-based processes for wastewater treatment and greenhouse gas control. Several other researchers and engineers within the Texas A&M system are collaborating with Kan, and interest in the concept is growing among public institutions and private companies. Concept to reality Kan will produce a lab-scale version of the closed-loop dairy to determine the necessary scale for application and experimentation at the neighboring Southwest Regional Dairy Center in Stephenville, a privately owned working dairy operated by Tarleton State University used for educational purposes. He hopes to have a system, including the pyrolysis reactor, operating at the dairy within three to four years. "Having the dairy farm here provides a good opportunity for field data," he said. "The field demonstrations will help us work out any problems that might arise at the various scales that might be applied by commercial animal farms." The dairy produces milk that is processed for consumption and into products such as cheese and yogurt and sold in local grocery stores. Clay Dameron, the dairy's waste manager, said between 300-400 cows are milked daily. Those cows produce manure and effluent that is treated via a conventional lagoon system. Around 90-130 tons of solids are moved to nearby croplands and pastures every three weeks where it's used as fertilizer. Treated liquids from the lagoon are dispersed via sprinklers in nearby fields. Kan said he believes the closed-loop system will prove to be a logistically and financially viable model for dairy producers to implement in the future. He expects his pilot project at the regional dairy to produce data that will draw more interest and investment from public institutions and private companies. "It is very exciting," he said. "I look forward to working with my collaborators and colleagues to make this concept a reality that could change the way dairies operate by providing a self-sustaining, environmentally friendly model." Corporate codes of ethics can have reverse effects and mask anomalies or social evils in operations outsourced to low-wage countries. This according to Maira Babri at Umea University in a study of Swedish corporate codes of ethics contra Chinese suppliers' attitudes. "Even if companies have all the best intentions and if the code of ethics works excellent in our part of the World, different systems and laws in combination with procurements and language barriers cause erosions into the code rendering it rather counterproductive in countries with greatly varying circumstances," says Maira Babri, doctoral student at the Umea School of Business and Economics (USBE) at Umea University in Sweden. She has studied how the corporate code of ethics is being put into practice in one of Sweden's largest corporations with operations in several countries. "Swedish Corporate codes of ethics are in many ways similar to those of other countries as codes are often written in a generic manner. The differences however, lie in legislation, where Sweden and most European countries are not by law required to have a code of ethics nor an ethics and compliance programme as is the case in the US," says Maira Babri. This being said, Europe and Sweden are also moving towards a similar trend. For instance, from 1 December 2016, a new Swedish law has mandated sustainability reports for all large companies employing more than 250 employees or reaching a certain level of revenue. This definitely points in a direction where sustainability and ethics are being institutionalized, and a law demanding codes of ethics might follow. The results of Maira Babri's study show that the code of ethics works best at the company's Swedish headquarters where it is implemented in guidelines signed by all employees and where it relates to both laws and agreements. With increasing distance geographical, financial and social the code becomes more and more blurred. When it comes to public procurements from subcontractors in China, the code of ethics is put into practise in various tools to assess and control suppliers. This may seem self-understood to the Swedish company, but can be hard to grasp for the procured Chinese supplier. In the practical implementation, Swedish auditors need to rely solely on Chinese interpreters and frequently skip sensitive topics such as memberships in trade unions. When assessment and evaluation is the main objective, practical and financial values often take precedence over the ethical values of the code. The general assumption is that the suppliers already have undertaken to follow the code. But the same supplier could be selling its products and services to hundreds of companies all with their own codes. As a result, suppliers have a long list of things they have committed to abide by without being fully in the know about the context. "Codes of ethics, as they are formulated and institutionalized at the moment, need to be understood as generic documents based on certain types of logic, a logic of coercion. If employees around the world are following the code of ethics, we get obedient employees, not ethical employees. Codes of ethics change shape and form, are used in different ways and for different purposes. When reporting becomes one of these, there is a huge risk of downplaying what is ethically best for the protection of human rights or for the environment in order to satisfy reporting requirements," says Maira Babri. Another issue is when the audit results from suppliers around the globe are being compiled, middle managers in the various subsidiaries tend to simply check the box with a 'yes' or a 'no' regarding if the supplier follows the code of ethics or not. A signed contract is, perhaps wrongfully, seen as a form of 'evidence' that the supplier chain has been secured. Consequently, the company suggests in its sustainability report to shareholders and customers that it has its operations under control whilst it in reality has minimal influence on topics such as the environment and workers' rights in China. The code of ethics can hence at worst mask rather than deal with anomalies or social evils. "My advice to multinational companies who want to take responsibility would be to abolish the general codes of ethics and instead aim to work determinedly with industry-specific social and environmental issues in order to influence it positively. A corporation should for instance never turn a blind eye to insufficient Chinese laws on work environment and climate impacts," concludes Maira Babri. More information: The Corporate Code of Ethics at Home, Far Away and in Between: Sociomaterial Translations of a Traveling Code. umu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1057953&dswid=452 NTU researcher Lee Jia Min working on 3D bioprinting of blood vessels. Credit: Nanyang Technological University Tissue implants customised to a patient could soon be printed using a new type of 3-D printer under development by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and a Singapore-based 3-D printing start-up focused on healthcare. This new printer can print the supporting structure layer by layer and insert living cells to form a live tissue that could aid in regeneration of particular tissues or organs. The industry research tie-up is one of the many partnerships made possible by the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster, also known as NAMIC. Since the formation of NAMIC by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore and SPRING Singapore last year, the cluster has reached out to about 400 local and international companies to help them adopt additive manufacturing, also known as 3-D-printing, as part of their business. NAMIC has also successfully established joint funding for 39 joint projects between companies and academic research institutions and has 80 more projects in the pipeline. NTU's innovation and enterprise company NTUitive is leading NAMIC, in partnership with SPRING Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board. The cluster's three founding members are Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Loh Khum Yean, today launched NAMIC, kicking off as well the cluster's inaugural Additive Manufacturing Summit at The Pan Pacific Singapore. NRF Singapore's Chief Executive Officer Professor Low Teck Seng, said, "Singapore continues to support knowledge creation and value capture through science & technology. Facilitating industry growth through technology is key to developing our economy. We can accelerate this through mission-oriented innovation clusters that strengthen partnerships across companies, universities, research institutes and government agencies. Within this context, additive manufacturing has been identified as a key capability we would like to build through innovation clusters to forge a new technological edge for Singapore's manufacturing sector." NAMIC's Managing Director, Dr Ho Chaw Sing, said the response they had received from companies has been positive, despite the use of 3-D printing for industrial uses still being in its infancy. "While 3-D printing has taken off for customised products in the aerospace and biomedical industries, many local companies still find the barrier of entry quite high, due to the costly printers and a lack of expertise in additive manufacturing," Dr Ho explained. "Our objectives are to reach, educate and help link these companies to scientists and engineers at research institutes, who already have existing 3-D-printing machines and the technical know-how. This way, we ensure that the innovative solutions developed through research will meet real business needs." SPRING Singapore's Director for Manufacturing and Engineering, John Lu, said, "SPRING will continue to work closely with NAMIC to accelerate the adoption of Additive Manufacturing among SMEs and start-ups to grow their business and maintain their competitiveness, and will support enterprises in doing so. There are current as well as emerging opportunities for our local enterprises to develop products and proprietary processes in the area of Additive Manufacturing and we would encourage enterprises to capitalise on them." NTU 3D bioprinter testing biomaterials for printing blood vessels. Credit: Nanyang Technological University Disruptive innovations for manufacturing A good example of meeting industry needs is the partnership between NTU's Singapore Centre for 3-D Printing and global inventions company Intellectual Ventures (IV), to develop a foolproof approach to authenticate 3-D printed products. With support from NAMIC and IV's Invention Science Fund, NTU scientists have developed a unique identifier coding that can be embedded during the 3-D-printing process, similar to how authentic products have unique barcodes. Demonstrated on 3-D printed stainless steel prototypes, this Embedded Identifier Module (EIM) is impossible to remove or alter, and can be easily read by commercially available scanners and readers. This technology has the potential to help safeguard product authenticity for companies and help tackle issues relating to counterfeiting as the market adopts on-demand manufacturing through the digital supply chain. Another ongoing partnership facilitated by NAMIC is between SUTD and Gilmour Space Technologies, where researchers are developing a 3-D-printer to print prototype solid fuel mixtures for rockets. Known as hybrid rocket fuel technology, the solid fuel is made up of two or more fuels comprising wax and plastics, and is designed and printed in a way that provides the rocket its desired thrust in a more cost-effective fashion. Local company, IDI laser, is developing an in-process monitoring system for a type of 3-D printing known as selective laser melting with help from NUS and support by NAMIC. When completed, the monitoring system can help to diagnose internal defects during the printing process, thus reducing wastage of printing time, raw materials and energy. These joint research partnerships are among the industry and technology projects currently under NAMIC's portfolio. The manufacturing sector accounts for about 20 per cent of Singapore's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and with continuous technology upgrades and restructuring, the sector will continue to be a key driver in Singapore's future economic growth. NAMIC was formed to harness, strengthen and expand on Singapore's existing Additive Manufacturing capabilities as an integrated hub and to position the nation as a world leader in applying this technology. Over the next four years, NAMIC aims to reach out to over 1,000 companies through tailored engagements, industry events and customised workshops to help them improve and innovate through the use of 3-D printing technologies. They started with striped bass. Over a two-year period the researchers went through about 50 bass, puncturing or fracturing hundreds of fish scales under the microscope, to try to understand their properties and mechanics better. "The people at the fish market must have wondered what we were up to," says Francois Barthelat smiling ruefully." He teaches in the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at McGill, and is one of a growing number of scientists who look to nature for inspiration as they search for solutions to engineering problems they see around them today. For several years, he and his team have been trying to replicate the kind of protection combined with flexibility offered by certain kinds of animal scales. Their goal is to create protective gloves that are both resistant to piercing and still flexible enough for factory workers to work in. After five years of work, they believe they have done it. The solution came when they started looking more closely at the scales of an alligator gar. Smaller is sometimes better Through a series of experiments the researchers were able to identify a set of critical mechanisms in the way natural fish scales deform, interact, and fracture. They also developed a new technique to cover large surfaces with a shell of overlapping ceramic tiles. By using computer modeling, they were able to determine the optimal size, shape, arrangement and overlap to make protective gloves which are much more resistant to piercing than those currently in use. Credit: McGill University "Fish scales surprised us," says Roberto Martini, a post-doctoral fellow and the lead author on a paper the team recently published about their work. "It may sound counter intuitive, but we discovered that smaller scales are actually more difficult to pierce than the larger ones, something we can now fully explain using engineering analysis. We also learned that they are the toughest collagen-based material known." Nature solves engineering problems "Nature has been finding solutions to 'engineering problems' over millions of years of evolution" adds Barthelat. "For a long time biologists and engineers largely ignored each other, but this is now changing. Biologists are using more and more engineering tools and methods, and engineers are revisiting old engineering problems using bioinspiration. Biologists and engineers are now talking to each other more than ever before, which is very stimulating and makes it is a very exciting time to be working in this field." More information: Roberto Martini et al. Stretch-and-release fabrication, testing and optimization of a flexible ceramic armor inspired from fish scales, Bioinspiration & Biomimetics (2016). DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/11/6/066001 Journal information: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics These six images show the asteroid Gaia-606 (indicated by an arrow) on 26 October 2016. The images, spanning a period of a little more than 18 minutes, were taken at the Observatoire de Haute Provence in southern France by William Thuillot, Vincent Robert and Nicolas Thouvenin (Observatoire de Paris/IMCCE). Credit: Observatoire de Haute-Provence & IMCCE While best known for its surveys of the stars and mapping the Milky Way in three dimensions, ESA's Gaia has many more strings to its bow. Among them, its contribution to our understanding of the asteroids that litter the solar system. Now, for the first time, Gaia is not only providing information crucial to understanding known asteroids, it has also started to look for new ones, previously unknown to astronomers. Since it began scientific operations in 2014, Gaia has played an important role in understanding solar system objects. This was never the main goal of Gaia which is mapping about a billion stars, roughly 1% of the stellar population of our galaxy but it is a valuable side effect of its work. Gaia's observations of known asteroids have already provided data used to characterise the orbits and physical properties of these rocky bodies more precisely than ever before. "All of the asteroids we studied up until now were already known to the astronomy community," explains Paolo Tanga, Planetary Scientist at Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, France, responsible for the processing of solar system observations. These asteroids were identified as spots in the Gaia data that were present in one image and gone in one taken a short time later, suggesting they were in fact objects moving against the more distant stars. Once identified, moving objects found in the Gaia data are matched against known asteroid orbits to tell us which asteroid we are looking at. "Now," continues Tanga, "for the first time, we are finding moving objects that can't be matched to any catalogued star or asteroid." As it scans the sky surveying stars in the Milky Way galaxy, Gaia has also detected a wealth of asteroids, the small rocky bodies that populate our solar system, mainly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Because they are relatively nearby and orbiting the Sun, asteroids appear to move against the stars in astronomical images, appearing in one snapshot of a given field, but not in images of the same field taken at other times. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC/CU4, L. Galluccio, F. Mignard, P. Tanga (Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur) The process of identifying asteroids in the Gaia data begins with a piece of code known as the Initial Data Processing (IDT) software which was largely developed at the University of Barcelona and runs at the Data Processing Centre at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), ESA's establishment in Spain. This software compares multiple measurements taken of the same area and singles out objects that are observed but cannot be found in previous observations of the area. These are likely not to be stars but, instead, solar system objects moving across Gaia's field of view. Once found, the outliers are processed by a software pipeline at the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) data centre in Toulouse, France, which is dedicated to solar system objects. Here, the source is cross matched with all known minor bodies in the solar system and if no match is found, then the source is either an entirely new asteroid, or one that has only been glimpsed before and has never had its orbit accurately characterised. Although tests have shown Gaia is very good at identifying asteroids, there have so far been significant barriers to discovering new ones. There are areas of the sky so crowded that it makes the IDT's job of matching observations of the same star very difficult. When it fails to do so, large numbers of mismatches end up in the solar system objects pipeline, contaminating the data with false asteroids and making it very difficult to discover new ones. "At the beginning, we were disappointed when we saw how cluttered the data were with mismatches," explains Benoit Carry, Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, France, who is in charge of selecting Gaia alert candidates. "But we have come up with ways to filter out these mismatches and they are working! Gaia has now found an asteroid barely observed before." The asteroid in question, nicknamed Gaia-606, was found in October 2016 when Gaia data showed a faint, moving source. Astronomers immediately got to work and were able to predict the new asteroid's position as seen from the ground over a period of a few days. Then, at the Observatoire de Haute Provence (southern France), William Thuillot and his colleagues Vincent Robert and Nicolas Thouvenin (Observatoire de Paris/IMCCE) were able to point a telescope at the positions predicted and show this was indeed an asteroid that did not match the orbit of any previously catalogued solar system object. These six images show the asteroid Gaia-606 (indicated by an arrow) on 26 October 2016. The images, spanning a period of a little more than 18 minutes, were taken at the Observatoire de Haute Provence in southern France by William Thuillot, Vincent Robert and Nicolas Thouvenin (Observatoire de Paris/IMCCE). Credit: Observatoire de Haute-Provence & IMCCE However, despite not being present in any catalogue, a more detailed mapping of the new orbit has shown that some sparse observations of the object do already exist. This is not uncommon with new discoveries where, as with Gaia-606 (now renamed 2016 UV56), objects that first appear entirely new transpire to be re-sightings of objects whose previous observations were not sufficient to map their orbits. "This really was an asteroid not present in any catalogue, and that is an exciting find!" explains Thuillot. "So whilst we can't claim this is the first true asteroid discovery from Gaia, it is clearly very close and shows how near we are to finding a never-before-seen solar system object with Gaia." Gaia-606 was found in the main asteroid belt, which is not surprising given how many asteroids exist there. However, Gaia also provides data from swathes of the sky not extensively observed by existing ground-based surveys giving it the potential to find asteroids in areas where others would not look. One such area is a region close to the sun as seen from Earth. Observations are made from the Earth during the night when the angle between any source and the sun is fairly large, whilst Gaia can make observations at any time and so observe objects much closer to the sun. This gives Gaia the exciting potential to observe asteroids that orbit within Earth's orbit these are known as Atira asteroids and only sixteen are currently known. During the course of its five-year nominal mission Gaia is expected to observe several hundred thousand asteroids. Many of these will be in the main asteroid belt, located between Mars and Jupiter. One of the strengths of Gaia is that it will also observe regions that are not extensively observed by existing ground-based surveys this gives it the potential to find asteroids in areas where others would not, or could not, look. Ground-based observations are made during the night when the angle between a source and the Sun is fairly large. Gaia can make observations at any time and hence observes objects much closer to the Sun. In particular, Gaia is ideally situated to probe the region between the Sun and Earth. This is where the Atira asteroids are found, orbiting inside Earth's orbit. To date, only 16 of these asteroids have been discovered. The dashed lines indicate regions of the sky that are unobservable by Gaia. All other regions are accessible to Gaia, including swathes within Earth's orbit. Credit: ESA Gaia also has the potential to make discoveries at high ecliptic latitudes. Not because ground-based surveys of solar system objects cannot observe there, but because they tend not to. The vast majority of asteroids exist in the ecliptic plane and, as a result, it is here that most surveys concentrate their efforts. Gaia has no such prejudices and scans the entire sky, giving it the potential to discover new asteroids in the less crowded areas missed by other surveys. "Whilst Gaia's primary role in solar system science remains its ability to characterise the movement and physical properties of known asteroids, it has now shown that it can also play a role in finding new ones, adding to its ever expanding catalogue of solar system objects," concludes Tanga. Japan on Tuesday launched a satellite to modernise its military communications and reportedly to better monitor North Korean missile launches. The Kirameki-2 will enable ground, sea and air units of the militaryknown as the Self-Defense Forcesto communicate directly with each other, a defence ministry official said. "We'll be able to exchange a large amount of data more quickly," the official told AFP. "We currently share information with voice and by fax" due to limitations in the speed and capacity of the three civilian satellites the ministry currently uses, he said. An H-IIA rocket carrying the satellite, which means "sparkle" in English, blasted off from the southern island of Tanegashima at 4:44 pm local time (0744 GMT). Public broadcaster NHK said the ministry would be able to swiftly share information about ballistic missiles launched by North Korea or videos of Japanese troops deployed overseas. Japan is on constant alert for moves by North Korea, which conducted two underground nuclear tests and more than 20 missile test-launches last year. Kirameki-2 is one of three defence communications satellites that will replace the current civilian ones. The total cost for the three comes to 230 billion yen ($2.48 billion), the ministry said. The ministry planned to launch Kirameki-1 last year but it is undergoing repairs after being damaged when being transported to a launch site in French Guiana. Its launch is now scheduled for March 2018 at the earliest. 2017 AFP An artists impression of what Mars might have looked like with water, when any potential Martian microbes would have evolved. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser Microbes that rank among the simplest and most ancient organisms on Earth could survive the extremely thin air of Mars, a new study finds. The Martian surface is presently cold and dry, but there is plenty of evidence suggesting that rivers, lakes and seas covered the Red Planet billions of years ago. Since there is life virtually wherever there is liquid water on Earth, scientists have suggested that life might have evolved on Mars when it was wet, and life could be there even now. "In all the environments we find here on Earth, there is some sort of microorganism in almost all of them," said Rebecca Mickol, an astrobiologist at the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and the lead author of the study. "It's hard to believe there aren't other organisms out there on other planets or moons as well." Mickol and her team detailed their findings in the paper, "Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an Aqueous Environment: Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars," which was published in the journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres. Previous research detected methane, the simplest organic molecule, in the Martian atmosphere. While there are abiotic ways to produce methanesuch as volcanic activitymuch of this colorless, odorless, flammable gas in Earth's atmosphere is produced by life, such as cattle digesting food. "One of the exciting moments for me was the detection of methane in the Martian atmosphere," Mickol said. "On Earth, most methane is produced biologically by past or present organisms. The same could possibly be true for Mars. Of course, there are a lot of possible alternatives to the methane on Mars and it is still considered controversial. But that just adds to the excitement." Methanogens contained in these test tubes, which also contained growth nutrients, sand and water, survived when subjected to Martian freeze-thaw cycles. Credit: Rebecca Mickol On Earth, microbes known as methanogens produce methane, also known as natural gas. Methanogens typically live in swamps and marshes, but can also be found in the guts of cattle, termites and other herbivores, as well as in dead and decaying organic matter. Methanogens are among the simplest and most ancient organisms on Earth. These microorganisms are anaerobes, meaning they do not require oxygen. Instead, they often rely on hydrogen for energy, and carbon dioxide is the main source of carbon atoms they use in creating organic molecules. The fact that methanogens neither require oxygen nor photosynthesis means they could live just beneath the Martian surface, shielded from harsh levels of ultraviolet radiation on the Red Planet. This could make them ideal candidates for life on Mars. However, the area just below the surface of Mars is exposed to extremely low atmospheric pressures, normally considered inhospitable to life. The surface pressure on Mars on average ranges from one-hundredth to one-thousandth that of the surface pressure of Earth over the course of the Martian year, too low for liquid water to last on the surface. In such thin air, water easily boils. (In contrast, the pressure at the highest point on Earth's surface, the top of Mount Everest, is about one-third that of Earth's surface pressure at sea level.) To see if methanogens might survive such extremely thin air, Mickol and Timothy Kral, the senior author of the study and an astrobiologist at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, experimented with four species of methanogens. They included: Methanothermobacter wolfeii, Methanosarcina barkeri, Methanobacterium formicicum, and Methanococcus maripaludis. Previous experiments on these four species over the course of more than 20 years generated a lot of data on these organisms and their rates of survival in simulated Martian conditions. The more recent set of experiments, which took about a year, involved growing the microbes in test tubes within liquids as a proxy for the fluids potentially flowing through underground Martian aquifers. The microbes were fed hydrogen gas, and the liquids were covered with cotton swabs, which in turn were covered with dirt simulating what might be found on the Martian surface. The insides of each test tube were then subjected to low pressures. Graduate students Rebecca Mickol and Navita Sinha prepare to load methanogens into the Pegasus Chamber housed in W.M. Keck Laboratory. Credit: University of Arkansas Oxygen kills these methanogens, and maintaining a low-pressure, oxygen-free environment "was a difficult task," Mickol said. Moreover, water evaporates quickly at low pressure, which can limit how long the experiments can last and can also clog the vacuum system with water. Despite these problems, the researchers found that these methanogens all survived exposure of lengths varying from 3 to 21 days at pressures down to roughly six-thousandths of Earth's surface pressure. "These experiments show that for some species, low pressure may not really have any effect on the survival of the organism," Mickol said. The scientists are also measuring methane to see whether methanogens are actively growing at low pressure and producing methane. "The next step is to also include temperature," Mickol said. "Mars is very, very cold, often getting down to -100C (-212F) at night, and sometimes, on the warmest day of the year, at noon, the temperature can rise above freezing. We'd run our experiments just above freezing, but the cold temperature would limit evaporation of the liquid media and it would create a more Mars-like environment." Mickol stressed that these experiments do not prove life exists on other planets. "That being said, with the abundance of life on Earth, in all the different extremes of environments found here, it's quite possible there exists lifebacteria or tiny microorganismssomewhere else in the Universe," she said. "We're just trying to explore that idea." More information: R. L. Mickol et al. Low Pressure Tolerance by Methanogens in an Aqueous Environment: Implications for Subsurface Life on Mars, Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres (2016). DOI: 10.1007/s11084-016-9519-9 This story is republished courtesy of NASA's Astrobiology Magazine. Explore the Earth and beyond at www.astrobio.net . Credit: NASA NASA is developing technology that could enable autonomous navigation of future underwater drones studying subsurface oceans on icy moons like Jupiter's Europa. The agency is working on artificial intelligence (AI) that would allow submersibles to make their own decisions during exploration of extraterrestrial water worlds. Space exploration missions and astronomical observations in recent years have shown that our solar system is abundant in water and could host at least several subsurface liquid oceans. The scientific community assumes that water exists beneath the crust of Europa, as well as on other icy moons like Saturn's Dione and Ganymede. Compelling evidence of hidden oceans on dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto has been also presented recently, proving that many mysteries may lie deep within these frigid celestial bodies, waiting to be uncovered by underwater robotic explorers. NASA is aware of the emerging challenges that it must face if it wants to successfully explore subsurface oceans on Europa and other icy worlds. Such underwater drones would focus on searching for microbial life in this harsh environment, which strongly impedes nominal communications with mission control on Earth. Therefore, the key issue is to develop highly autonomous, submarine-like probes capable of making decisions on their own in real time in order to continue exploration and research uninterrupted. "Depending on the exact mission concept under consideration, autonomous underwater vehicles exploring ocean worlds will need to operate autonomously for days to months. Within this timeframe, they must manage their own resources, explore a largely unknown environment, including navigating to and from a single point of insertion which also serves as a communications link to the outside world," Steve Chien of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) told Astrowatch.net. Chien leads the Artificial Intelligence Group at JPL, which is currently developing AI for underwater drones. From August 26 to September 4, 2016, the team tested a fleet of coordinated drones in Monterey Bay, California, with the aim of detecting changes in temperature and salinity. The fleet that was tested includes three autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), two ocean gliders, and one Tethys-class Long-Range AUV. The system is complemented by a 300-meter resolution ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) free-surface, terrain-following, primitive equations ocean model developed especially for this project, and a suite of planning software. The software identifies the location of specific scientific targets based on the ROMS output and autonomously determines the optimal sampling strategy for a heterogeneous array of autonomous vehicles. During last year's test runs, the fleet of these six small submersibles sensed how the ocean actively changed around them, which is essential for the development of autonomous navigation systems. The gliders were deployed earlier in the summer to provide over a month of data prior to the intensive field program. These tests were part of the team's continuous effort to design and plan future autonomous vehicles with the focus on further refining and demonstrating AI technologies. The next set of test runs is planned for the spring 2017. "We are developing mission concepts and developing some of the needed technologies as well as demonstrating technologies to Earth analogues and Earth science problems," Chien said. Given that the main goal of future underwater drones exploring subsurface oceans would be looking for microbial lifeforms, Chien proposes that the probes should concentrate on searching for fissures in a planet's surface known as hydrothermal vents. These features, commonly found on ocean basins, are perceived as potential life-supporting environments due to geothermally heated water emissions. Furthermore, more general characterization of such an alien underground watery world is also needed, as these represent totally unknown and unexplored realms. The team is convinced that their project will provide a framework for designing robotic missions to extraterrestrial ice covered oceans. "The vast majority of space exploration is conducted by robotic probes. Increasing the autonomy in future missions is essential to both increasing the effectiveness of space exploration as well as exploring more distant, challenging environments, such as sub-ice oceans," Chien concluded. Provided by Astrowatch.net Credit: University of Reading An enormous volcanic eruption would not necessarily plunge the world into a new societal crisis, according to a new study of the biggest eruption of the last millennium published in Nature Geoscience. The 1257 eruption of the Samalas volcano in Indonesia produced a dust cloud that blocked out the sun around the world, and has been blamed for triggering severe food shortages and turmoil worldwide. But analysis of nearly 200 medieval manuscripts, as well as tree-ring and ice core data spanning more than a thousand years, has revealed Samalas may not be the ultimate cause of the crises, states Dr Sebastien Guillet, lead author of the study at the Faculty of Science, University of Geneva. Dr Pablo Ortega, a climate scientist at the University of Reading scientist, who was involved in the research, said: "There are numerous indications of extreme weather conditions with serious societal consequences following the eruption, but also show that climatic conditions were back to normal by 1259 over most of Europe. "While these extreme weather conditions originate at the Samalas eruption, our research shows it only played an aggravating role on the subsequent crises." Evidence showed famines in England and Japan had already begun before the eruption occurred. The scientists therefore argue that volcanic cooling might be less likely to lead to global crises than previously thought. Documents from the years after the Samalas eruption describe the dimming of the sun, leading to cold temperatures, incessant rain and increased cloudiness, with one source from 1258 stating "There was no summer during summer". Descriptions of crop harvests following the eruption reveal they suffered badly, with wine production in Europe destroyed by "rock hard" grapes. In addition, chronicles suggest a normal climate had resumed within four years of the eruption, contradicting previous model results suggesting temperature drops of as much as 1C until 1264. The scientists found the magnitude of the cooling by the Samalas eruption was very similar to smaller later eruptions, highlighting that the amount of sulphuric ash thrown into the air does not appear to directly correlate with the cooling effect on Earth. Dr Ortega said: "Should a massive volcanic eruption occur in the next few years, its consequences for society might still be still difficult to predict, as the world in which we live in is more vulnerable and more exposed." More information: Sebastien Guillet et al. Climate response to the Samalas volcanic eruption in 1257 revealed by proxy records, Nature Geoscience (2017). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2875 Journal information: Nature Geoscience UC Riverside researchers have identified a receptor playing a key role in insect identification of amino acid taste. Credit: UC Riverside Insects, like mammals including humans, sort chemicals by taste into a few categories and use this information to decide whether to ingest or reject food. University of California, Riverside researchers have identified a receptor playing a key role in insect identification of amino acid, or umami, taste. Amino acid or umami taste is one of the five basic taste categories in humans. There has been some evidence that insects also possess this taste ability, but it was not very well characterized, and the receptor proteins were not known. The research, led by Anindya Ganguly, a graduate student in Anupama Dahanukar's laboratory, describes cellular and behavioral responses to amino acids in fruit flies, a common genetic model insect, and identifies an amino acid co-receptor, Ir76b. Dahanukar is an associate professor of entomology. Ir76b is a highly conserved receptor found in all insects. Its role in amino acid taste is helped by additional Ir receptors, which may offer possible targets for identifying compounds that could be used to modify amino acid-stimulated feeding behaviors as part of efforts to control insect populations. The results were published in a paper, "A molecular and cellular context-dependent role for Ir76b in detection of amino acid taste," that was recently published in the journal Cell Reports. More information: Anindya Ganguly et al, A Molecular and Cellular Context-Dependent Role for Ir76b in Detection of Amino Acid Taste, Cell Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.12.071 Journal information: Cell Reports David Yamane. Credit: Wake Forest University Americans who are more involved in religious congregations are less likely to own handguns, according to a new study by Wake Forest University sociologist David Yamane. "Involvement in organized religion tends to reduce gun ownership," said Yamane, whose study appears in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. "This may be because people with stronger ties to religious groups have higher levels of trust in institutions and in their communities." This finding may surprise some who hold the common view that religion and gun ownership go hand-in-hand, particularly in the Bible Belt and among Evangelical Protestants. "It is true that gun ownership is more common among rural residents and Southerners," Yamane explained. "But in terms of religion, Evangelical Protestants are no more likely to own handguns than Black Protestants, Catholics, Jews, or religious nones, all other things being equal." Using General Social Survey data from 2006 to 2014, Yamane has pulled apart some of the intertwining threads of religion and gun ownership to get a clearer picture of how various aspects of religiosity connect with gun ownership differently. He considered factors such as attendance at religious services and views of the Bible. In the study sample, the percentages of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists represented were too small to make direct comparisons with the larger religious traditions in the United States. "Religion does matter to gun ownership, but not in any one simplistic way," Yamane said. "My research demonstrates that the connection between gun ownership and religion is different depending on whether you are talking about religious behaving, belonging, or believing." For example, those who are more involved in congregations are less likely to own handguns, but those with conservative theological beliefs are more likely to do so, "perhaps as a form of protection against a fundamentally sinful world," he said. "It is tempting for groups on both sides of the great gun debates in the United States to co-opt 'religion' for their side. But neither side has a monopoly on people of faith in America. That is a very important story this study tells," Yamane said. More information: David Yamane. Awash in a Sea of Faith and Firearms: Rediscovering the Connection Between Religion and Gun Ownership in America, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12282 Journal information: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Simple neural circuits composed of two interacting populations of neurons exhibit a remarkable capacity to accommodate multiple nonlinear resonances organized in stunningly diverse and intriguing diagrams. The figure shows the locking diagrams of six different circuits tuned to exhibit this property. When driven by periodic input, the circuits can be entrained in the different subharmonic regimes indicated by different colors. In these circuits, small modulations of the periodic input may result in qualitatively different stable rhythms. This provides a strategy to obtain a diversity of waveforms with multiple time scales out of the nonlinear interaction of the neural populations and their intrinsic dynamics. Credit: Leandro Alonso Researchers studying the brain have long been interested in its neural oscillations, the rhythmic electrical activity that plays an important role in the transmission of information within the brain's neural circuits. In rats, oscillations in the hippocampus region of the brain have been shown to encode information that describes the animal's position in a physical space. In humans, neural oscillations are often studied in relation to epilepsy and various sleeping disorders though questions remain about their precise function. For computational neuroscientists, who study how different structures in the brain process information, one interesting facet of this activity is the capacity of neural tissue to respond to external stimuli with different types of oscillations. "These diverse responses underlie several important questions in neuroscience," explained Leandro Alonso, a computational neuroscientist and former postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York City. "How does the same neural tissue do different things at different times? How is information altered by the connections and intrinsic dynamics of the neural circuit?" Working with the Wilson-Cowan model, a widely-used model in computational neuroscience that describes the average activity of populations of interconnected neurons, Alonso has designed a new mathematical tool to help other neuroscientists explore the broad spectrum of responses possible from a simple neural circuit. Alonso explains his findings this week in the journal Chaos. "It's useful in modeling concepts in neuroscience to have a system that will yield a diverse range of behaviors for small changes of a control parameter, as this may help offer some insights about how the same neural tissue displays different responses," Alonso said, whose research was funded by a fellowship from the Leon Levy Foundation. Alonso's model builds its foundation on a mathematical concept called a "nonlinear oscillator." When oscillators, quantities that are in a state of repetitive fluctuation, are linear, the oscillator responds to an external input by mirroring its rhythm or frequency. In contrast, with nonlinear oscillators, the frequency of the oscillatory response varies from the frequency of the input. Differences can often be observed as well in the shape of the oscillations of the response. Although nonlinear oscillation is not specific to neuroscience, Alonso was pleasantly surprised at how well it integrated with the Wilson-Cowan model to offer some insight on how neurons can be connected so that they yield a diverse range of oscillations when stimulated. "When you observe the complexity of oscillatory phenomena in the brain, it seems reasonable to assume that it can be explained by an equally complex system that underlies these oscillations," Alonso said. "Whether this is the case or not, it is interesting that a simple circuit with just two populations of interconnected neurons can produce a similarly diverse repertoire of activity." In his article, Alonso includes a series of colorful "locking diagrams" that visually represent the variety of responses that are possible as the parameters of the external stimulus, such as its frequency and amplitude, are subtly changed. "The different colors show how the frequency of the response has changed," Alonso explained. Alonso, who first began studying the nonlinear oscillations of neurons while training at the Dynamical Systems Laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires, believes that his model can aid other computational neuroscientists working on their own models. "I hope the procedure will be helpful for deriving the parameters of neural circuits such as their connectivities, so that an incoming oscillation will trigger several different types of responses," said Alonso. "It's also possible that the broader discussion of nonlinear oscillations could be helpful to scientists examining other biological systems that exhibit comparable dynamic responses." Alonso's next research project will be to investigate the properties of systems that have multiple neural circuits with these properties connected together. More information: "Nonlinear resonances and multi-stability in simple neural circuits," Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, DOI: 10.1063/1.4974028 Journal information: Chaos This handout photo taken on March 26, 2016 and released by NASA shows a perspective of the northeast coastline of Greenland, one of the world's two great ice sheets, whose melting could contribute to rising sea levels In the last days of Barack Obama's administration, US government scientists warned even more sea level rise is expected by century's end than previously estimated, due to rapid ice sheet melting at the poles. The report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) set the "extreme" scenario of global average sea level rise by 2100 to 8.2 feet (2.5 meters), up half a meter from the last estimate issued in 2012. "We raised the upper limit of our scenarios," lead author William Sweet told AFP. "It is possible. It has a very low probability. But we can't discount it entirely." The figures are among the highest ever issued by the US government, and take into account new scientific studies on the disappearing ice cover in Greenland and Antarctica. "Recent (scientific) results regarding Antarctic ice sheet instability indicate that such outcomes may be more likely than previously thought," said the report, released on January 19. It also revised the lower end of the anticipated range, saying nearly one foot (0.3 meters) is expected by 2100, up from four inches (0.1 meters) previously. This put the NOAA report closer in line with the 2013 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said global sea levels would likely rise from one to three feet by the end of the century. The US space agency NASA has also warned that significant sea level rise is "unavoidable," given mankind's continued burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas that contribute to warming the planet. In 2015, NASA said the Earth is likely locked in to at least three feet of sea level rise, and probably more. But the big question remains: how soon? Researchers do not know how soon the seas will rise, and whether they will hit these levels in this century or beyond. "We are not projecting anything. Everything is dependent on the amount of future heating, ocean and atmospheric heating," explained Sweet. Localized results Though experts warn that the past is not an accurate predictor of future sea level rise, global average sea level has climbed eight to nine inches since 1880, when modern record-keeping began. Much of that has taken place in recent years, as global warming has accelerated. Seas around the world have risen an average of nearly three inches since 1992. The NOAA report also pointed to regional dangers of sea level rise, with some portions of the US coast more likely to see above-average rise and increased flooding than other parts of the world. "The world's ocean is not going to rise like water in a bathtub," said Sweet. With the exception of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, almost all US coasts are expected to see greater than global average sea level rise in the next eight decades. Land in Alaska is rising, but in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast and the mid-Atlantic, it is sinking. Other factors, like changing ocean circulation in some parts of the planet, affect how much oceans mount in various places. As ice sheets melts, the gravity around Earth will change as the planet loses mass, causing some areas to see higher or lower sea level rise than the global average. Recent research has shown that about three feet of sea level rise "would permanently inundate areas currently home to two million Americans," said the report. Six feet would flood the homes of six million people in the United States. Sweet said the report's release was not planned to coincide with the end of the Obama presidency, or to precede the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has expressed doubts about climate change and pledged to increase fossil fuel extraction in the United States. "The timing might look suspect," Sweet said. "But no, this has actually been in the works for over a year." 2017 AFP Six Ways to Bring the Value Chain Closer to the Consumer In todays incredibly competitive fashion industry, its important for retailers to strategically design their value chain to guarantee faster results and improved efficiency. The retailer is no longer the end point of your value chain, where the product meets the consumer. Today, with omni-channel shopping, customers expect to shop, compare, purchase, and consume on their own terms, on their own schedule, through a variety of channels, and on a variety of devices. For your omni-channel marketing efforts and value chain to be in sync, you must move toward new business models that are far more collaborative, consumer driven, responsive, and quick. Your value chain must be designed strategically so you can get closer to your customers and quickly deliver on their needs. All of your value chain partners must work together to get the right products to where consumers want themas quickly and efficiently as possible. 1. Stand out from the competition The value chain is the foundation of your business. Its creation and execution drive the performance of your design, sourcing, manufacturing, inventory allocation, warehousing, and distribution operations. As shopping becomes more of a digital experience thats informed by your marketing efforts, all parties along your value chain need access to the same information across every interaction touch point from browsing and shopping online or off, to making a purchase at a retail outlet, web storefront, or vending machine, to the delivery of goods. To make this process less daunting, you should look at what your marketing department has done to segment customers, create personas, and customize experiences. These best practices can make it easier to harness the Big Data about your customers that drives the omni-channel. 2. Meet demand and satisfy your customers By creating a more collaborative value chain network that uses the real-time information you gain from the omni-channel and information technology, you can anticipate the desires of todays shoppers and make more cost-effective decisions about trends, demand, and your inventory. The idea is to get to know your customers, segment them, consolidate the data you gain, and share relevant data with relevant parties throughout your value chain. The kind of information that is relevant to your value chain varies from business to business. But some examples could include: demographics, transactional behavior, preferred channels, campaign history, model scores, and date-relative filters. With this data, you can create customized, consistent experiences for your customers while preparing your value chainand infrastructureto deliver the goods. For example, you could match inventory supply with demand and create a common inventory system across all of the channels you monitor. Customers who respond better to email than social media or direct mail should be handled differentlyperhaps by reaching out to them with more email touch points. With this information being collected and shared across all of your relevant teams and value chain partners, you can deliver an improved customer experience in the fewest number of steps. 3. Deliver the right inventory to the right channels To supply all of the right channels with the right inventory, you must look beyond the traditional notions of fulfillment. Make-to-stock or make-to-forecast wont cut it when consumers want so much more. To make your inventory flexible, you need to factor in your fulfillment rates, service levels, delivery costs, and more. All parties along your value chain need access to relevant information across all of your interaction touch points, from print catalog, to web, to order entry screen, to manufacturing and distribution centerand even social media. Capturing and analyzing high volumes of data in near real-time is vital. 4. Get closer to the customer The customer determines what youre doing, not the other way around. By listening to the customergetting closer to themyou can create better strategies for meeting their needs. One strategy is to start with common items for the line: fabrics and trim elements. Design a style around them and put it out there. Your customers can lead you to better designs. With your marketing department using technology to drive, capture, and analyze social media feedback and a flexible value chain, you can adjust your manufacturing processes in real-time to satisfy new demandsand get closer to the consumer. Using emerging technologies, you can shorten the time to the consumer, reduce the number of physical samples, and save on your costs. 5. Act on customer desires with Big Data Business intelligence and analytics tools can help you sort the data you create so its more easily digestibleacross your entire operation and value chain. With advanced business intelligence and analytics, you can spot trends and patterns that can help you prepare your inventory and better anticipate customer desires. To start, create a central data repository for your entire organization to organize all of the Big Data youre gathering. Track, collect, and analyze the data generated between your design teams, among product developers and sourcing managers, suppliers and buyers. You should also create a growing library of reusable designs, together with the specifications, BOMs, sourcing, costing, and construction details to minimize the lead time for introducing variations on a style or bringing an extra contractor up to speed when you need added capacity. When youre properly analyzing Big Data and using that information to supply the right channels with the right merchandise all along your value chain, you can consistently put the product in the hands of the consumer at the location and point in time they want to buy, with the appropriate fulfillment options. 6. Build a stronger network Success in the omni-channel environment requires an interconnected value chain network, operating on one common platform. In your new fashion value chain network, youll be able to exchange information in near real-time, so you can prepare for the needs of physical retail stores, as well as the diversity of online and other sales channels. The goal is to align everything from your marketing efforts through to manufacturing into one consistent experience. With the right tools, you can plan, execute, measure, and analyze your inventory allocation needs effectively throughout the omni-channel environment. You want to be able to identify what causes a certain type of customer to actwhether that action is positive or negativeand where theyre most likely to act: shopping online or off or via social media recommendations, email campaigns, and so on. When the customer is ready to make a purchase, your value chain needs to be ready to deliverno matter where or when that action is triggered. About David Dorf, VP Product Management: David Dorf brings more than 25 years of experience to Infor in his role of Vice President of Product Management. Dorf joined Infor in 2016. He also is currently on the board at The Association for Retail Technology Standards (ARTS). He is an accomplished leader in the software industry with experience at both small and large companies. Prior to joining Infor, Dorf was the Senior Director or Solution Management at Oracle Retail, the Director of Solution Strategy at 360Commerce, Manager of Store Architecture at Circuit City, Software Engineering Manager at AMF Bowling, and Manager of Software Development at Schlumberger Smart Cards. Dorf has his Bachelors Degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and his Masters in Information Science from Penn State. Other point of sale articles of interest: RobotShop is the Worlds Leading Robot Store for Personal and Professional Robot Technology. Since being established in 2004, RobotShop Inc. has established a market-leading, global e-commerce presence focused squarely on the robotics industry. After being named as one of Canadas 200 fastest growing companies in 2008, the company has continued to experience rapid and sustained growth which continually expands and extends their reach across the global robotics marketplace. DRAPER, Utah, Jan. 24, 2017 Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. (FLXT) today announced it has established a strategic supplier relationship with Montreal, Quebec-based RobotShop Inc. This relationship demonstrates the previously announced Flexpoint commitment in 2017 and beyond to expanding a robust channel sales partner ecosystem. RobotShop caters to R&D professionals public and private, the burgeoning robotics education markets, DIYers and others and is a leading supplier of all things robotics including the best selection of Robot Vacuums and other Domestic Robots, Professional Robots, Robot Toys, Robot Kits and Robot Parts for building your own robots. The company hosts e-commerce websites in Canada, USA, Europe, the UK and Japan all in support of a growing global customer base. Having experienced a significant increase in interest in flexible sensor technologies, this relationship dramatically broadens the offerings this new partner can make available to their customers. Commenting on the relationship, Paul Sexauer, Flexpoint Vice President of Sales & Marketing stated, The Bend Sensor has shown tremendous efficacy and a clear competitive market differentiation in robotics applications. RobotShop has chosen a variety of Flexpoint sensors to add to their electronics/sensor solution portfolio and we couldnt be happier to become their leading supplier in this increasingly prominent technology sector. Flexpoint anticipates channel/distributor/reseller revenues to become a significant contributor to overall cash flow and profitability in 2017. In addition, these relationships increasingly improve brand awareness and market differentiation. Added Sexauer, We expect overall channel revenue contribution in 2017 to be in the 15%-20% range and we intend to further increase this over time. About Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. Flexpoint Sensor Systems, Inc. (FLXT) is an innovative technology firm specializing in developing products that feature the Companys patented Bend Sensor and related technology. The Bend Sensor is a groundbreaking sensing solution that is revolutionizing applications in the automotive, safety, medical and industrial industries. The Bend Sensors single-layer, thin film construction cuts costs and mechanical bulk while introducing a range of functions and stylistic design possibilities that have never before been available in sensing technology. Flexpoints technology and expertise have been recognized by the worlds elite business and academic innovators for over 17 years. The company is setting a new standard for sensing solutions in the smart age of technology. Please visit http://www.flexpoint.com for more information. Other point of sale articles of interest: Retail Merchants Can Benefit from Proactive and Professional Data Breach Incident Response RENO, Nev., Jan. 24, 2017 (Business Wire) Conformance Technologies, a fast-growing provider of operating systems, education systems and expertise used in managing business compliance requirements, today announced enhancements to its Data Incident Management Program for merchants. The Program offers a comprehensive suite of services and expert assistance to enrolled companies in the event of data exposure or breach. Components include data incident forensics; no cost POS equipment or software replacement; $10,000 in legal services, legal notifications and consumer notifications; and public relations management services. A years subscription to the Cyber Attack Readiness ToolKit for penetration testing and primary account number (PAN) scanning, plus Breach Defense Reviewer services to facilitate external website vulnerability testing have now been added to the Data Incident Management Program at no additional cost. Professional management and response to data incidents is critical to ensuring ongoing organizational viability, stated Darrel Anderson, president of Conformance Technologies. Adding penetration testing, PAN scanning and website probing services to our Data Incident Management Program enhances this unique, top-notch offering which helps merchants greatly during a breach incident, continued Anderson. We manage the incident from beginning to end so that merchants and their payment partners dont have to do the work. Breaches have become a common everyday occurrence, putting businesses from mom-and-pop shops to big-box retailers at significant risk of a data incident. When unmanaged or improperly managed, these incidents can be catastrophic in terms of reputational damage, sanctions and mitigation costs. Conformance Technologies Data Incident Management Program helps merchants of all sizes react quickly, proactively and professionally, eliminating as much business harm and out-of-pocket expense as possible. Merchants gain ease of mind while saving time, money and reputation. Besides helping protect merchants, the Data Incident Management Program creates significant revenue-generating opportunities for resellers and aggregators who manage groups or portfolios of businesses and consumers, including merchant acquiring and independent sales organization (ISO) entities. Typically portfolio operators charge a small monthly fee for the Program, rather than a per incident fee. About Conformance Technologies Conformance Technologies is a fast-growing provider of operating systems, educational systems and expertise used in managing business compliance requirements. More than 300,000 small and midsize business end-users rely on Conformance Technologies solutions to protect their businesses every day, both domestically and in 19 countries around the world. Available solutions include the patented PCI ToolKit, Data Incident Management Program, TINMatch ToolKit, Cyber Attack Readiness ToolKit, Payment Security Awareness System, Breach Defense Reviewer and InConRadar which offers cost effective, real-time merchant website monitoring for fraudulent or nefarious activities. Other point of sale articles of interest: - President Muhammadu Buhari has cleared Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal and the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, of any corrupt practices - Buhari reportedly wrote two letters to the Senate on Sunday. While one letter asked the lawmakers to set aside their call for the resignation of the SGF, the other urged the Senate to confirm Mr Magu as the EFCC boss. Ibrahim Magu and Babachir Lawal President Muhammadu Buhari has cleared Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal and the acting chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, of any corrupt practices despite indictment by state agents. While the SGF was indicted by the Senates ad-hoc committee on mounting humanitarian crisis in north-east in expending funds meant for alleviating sufferings of IDPs, Mr Magu was indicted by the DSS. According to a report by Daily Sun, President wrote two letters to the Senate on Sunday. While one asked the lawmakers to set aside their call for the resignation of the SGF, the other urged the Senate to confirm Mr Magu as the EFCC boss. I can confirm that to you, a top source who aware of the letter by Buhari urging the Senate to confirm Magu was quoted by the newspaper. On the SGFs clearance, the source simply quipped: I dont know about that one. Another source quoted by Vanguard newspaper said; yes, Iam aware that the President has written to the Senate asking that Ibrahim Magus case should be reconsidered and he also wrote on the SGF, Babachir Lawal. The letter may be read tomorrow. READ ALSO: Fayose says everything he said about President Buhari has come to pass It was also reported that during Sarakis meeting with president Buhari on December 29, 2016, at the Presidential Villa, Magus rejection came up for discussion but Saraki did not make any commitment to Buhari, to ensure that Magus name scales through in the chamber. It was gathered that the Senate President did not object to assist Magu during the confirmation hearing. But the Presidency has distances self from claims on Magus confirmation letter. Speaking with Vanguard, the special assistant to the President on National Assembly matters (Senate), Mr Ita Enang, said Buhari has not written a fresh letter to the Senate insisting on confirming the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu. Enang said he was not aware of such letter. You are about the third person calling me on this matter. I am not aware of that discussion and I dont want to speak on the matter because I dont have details, he said. Meanwhile, Justice Mojisola Olatoregun Ishola of the Federal High Court, Lagos will on February 13 hear a suit against Magu for still parading himself as Chairman. READ ALSO: Buhari should fulfil his promises, enough of these empty promises - Fayose The suit was instituted by a lawyer and activist, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa. The lawyer is praying the court to restrain Magu from parading himself as such. Adegboruwa is also asking the Senate not to entertain any further request for Magus confirmation. Adegboruwa said since the Senate had rejected Magu, he could not thereafter be illegally functioning in acting capacity. Watch related video Source: Legit.ng - Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has asked the BringBackOurGirls group to stop its anti-Buhari comments - He condemned BBOGs continued portrayal of the government as an adversary and the needless firing of darts at the President Minister for information Lai Mohammed Source: UGC The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has asked the BringBackOurGirls group to stop its anti-Buhari comments in their quest to secure the release of the abducted Chibok schoolgirls. Lai Mohammed said BBOGs continued portrayal of the government as an adversary and the needless firing of darts at the President, who he said, was doing his best to bring the remaining Chibok girls back home safely, was ultimately counter-productive. READ ALSO: 15 dead as Fulani herdsmen attack Benue community The Federal Government has bent over backwards to carry the BBOG along and to show transparency in the conduct of the search for the girls. The recent invitation extended to the group to witness first-hand the search for the girls by the Nigerian Air Force is a clear indication of this. However, it came to us as a surprise that in spite of its initial positive report on the tour, the BBOG has too quickly reverted to its adversarial role. The BBOG should stick to its role as an advocacy group rather than pretending to be an opposition party. The synonyms of the word advocacy do not include antagonism, opposition or attack. In fact, those words are the antonyms of advocacy. The minister said it amounts to needless grandstanding for the BBOG to say it will no longer tolerate delays and excuses from the President on the release of the girls, as reported by the media. Mohammed asked the group to direct the impudent language should have been reserved for those who did nothing in the first 500 days of the girls abduction and not President Buhari. He assured Nigerians that the efforts to bring the girls back safely were continuing, but sought their understanding for not divulging any further details so as not to jeopardise the intricate process. Let me say unequivocally that the people involved in the negotiations are working 24/7. The negotiations are complicated, tortuous and delicate. Any wrong signal is capable of derailing things. Thats why the less we say about the talks, the better it is for all. We need a huge amount of confidence building, the kind which led to the release of the 21 of the girls. This has been lacking for years, but right now we are confident that we are on the right track. READ ALSO: Despite clear evidence, Buhari clears Babachir Lawal, Magu of corruption allegations We wont do anything to jeopardise these talks, irrespective of the pressure or provocation from any quarter. However BBOG has said it does not want to take issues with the Federal Government. We dont have a comment for now, we dont want to take issues with the government, the BBOG spokesman, Sesugh Akume, said. Source: Legit.ng Speaking at the at the 2017 UNILAG Convocation Lecture in Lagos, Monday, January 23, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has urged Nigerian youths to quit whining and that no body owe them anything. Kayode Fayemi Mr Fayemi who spoke on the topic The Successor-Generation: Reflections on Values and Knowledge in Nation Building urged students not to think they are entitled to a job because of thier parents influence. READ ALSO: Stop attacking Buhari, Lai Mohammed tells BBOG He said; The last lesson I want to talk about is the debilitating entitlement mentality that is commonplace among young people today. The earlier we realise that no one owes us anything, the better for us, and the more prepared we would be to face lifes challenges. Dont think you are entitled to a job, just because of your parents influence or what they have. Dont think things would be all rosy because you graduated from UNILAG with good grades. Be prepared for surprises and disappointments because life is bound to hand you a couple. The only guarantees you have in this life is what you do for yourself with the grace God has bestowed on us all. We need to get off our high horses, quit whining and start doing for ourselves and for our country. If something angers you so much, instead of whining, think hard about possible solutions and do something about it. Doers have a way of finding each other out, and before you know it, you are in good company with progressive minded people that exude positive energy comrades with whom you can challenge the status quo, fight together, and succeed together. The former Ekiti state governor said some of his closest friendships are the ones he kept from his UNILAG days and asked the students to keep good friends they can trust and stand for them. READ ALSO: Despite clear evidence, Buhari clears Babachir Lawal, Magu of corruption allegations So also, complainers have a way of finding each other out, to indulge in very depressing rhetoric about why things cant work and who is at fault. From their comfort zones they criticise without offering any solutions and always end up frustrated run away from such people," he added. Source: Legit.ng - Almost two years after, Nigerians are increasingly becoming agitated over the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari - Allegedly as a result, leaders of the north are already shopping for a replacement for the president in 2019 - Various sources revealed this to Legit.ng as they believe that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is already gunning for two former governors The north is making moves to get an alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 general election, Legit.ng has learnt from authoritative sources. It was further learnt that as the hunt commences, former President Olusegun Obasanjo seems to have settled for between his two allies, former governors of Jigawa and Kano, Sule Lamido and Rabiu Kwankwaso. Some northerners are said not to be happy with the Buhari administration Sources privy to the political situations in the north told Legit.ng in the afternoon of Monday, January 23, 2017 that 2019 was one of the issues discussed when former President Goodluck Jonathan visited Obasanjo on Friday, January 20. According to one of the sources, Obasanjo, who is no longer happy with the current administrations style of government, did not come out straight on his choice for 2019 at the meeting. However, his current body language shows that he favours Lamido. Lamido, it was further revealed, has his eyes on the seat and has been mobilizing support ahead of the election. He is known to have said he would never leave the Peoples Democratic Party giving the impression that he would contest under the party platform. READ ALSO: Buhari has placed Nigerians under captivity - the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum I can tell you that part of the discussion between Obasanjo and Jonathan centred on the 2019 election and the need to make the PDP stronger as an opposition party even though baba has decided to be a statesman. He has not categorically mentioned or favoured anybody as a possible replacement for Buhari, but I can assure you that he has a soft spot for Lamido, the former governor of Jigawa. There is this fear that Buhari cannot continue after 2019. He is daily becoming weak and the weight of the countrys challenges is very heavy, the source from the north said. An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain from the north also confirmed the development but said that the ruling party was already in a fix. According to him, there are those prodding the president on even if it is not really known whether Buhari was really interested in the forthcoming election. He further disclosed that some northern leaders are no longer comfortable with the current administration as they believe that it had not favoured them. He however expressed optimism that Buhari would weather the storm when the time actually comes to decide who rules Nigeria in 2019. When contacted, the national president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji Yerima Shettima, told Legit.ng that both Lamido and Kwankwaso are stooges to Obasanjo. To us, the choice of Sule Lamido and Kwankwaso is no news. We know they are Obasanjos cronies and Obasanjo will do everything to make sure that his interests are protected. "Unfortunately, it is no longer going to be business as usual and Obasanjos interest cannot supersede the interest of the entire north and the entire north has not come out with anybody for now; we are still consulting and rubbing minds, but certainly, we will find an alternative to this government. You can be rest assured of that. But the choice of Obasanjo can no longer be forced on any Nigerian. Lamido and Kwankwaso are not our choices for now, Yerima said adding that the duo could be made president and vice president in Ota farms owned by Obasanjo. READ ALSO: Yerima lashes out at northern elders for region's backwardness He added: We will collectively look for alternative considering the fact that age has overtaken him and even when he means well for the country, he cannot do much and many people in the government are capialising on that to unleash terror on the people of the country and advise him wrongly. It is clear to everybody that the government has been hijacked. This is one major opportunity that the north has and we will make hay while the sun shines by bringing in another person to fix this present quirmire. Source: Legit.ng Nigeria's former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, has urged Igbos to contest for the presidency in 2019. Obasanjo revealed this on Tuesday, January 24, while hosting the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun state chapter, at his Abeokuta Hilltop residence. Obasanjo drums support for Igbos to contest for presidency in 2019 He said he was in support of the return to regional governance, as it will solve the problem of marginalization, adding the people of Ogun West senatorial district, should be allowed to produce the next Governor. READ ALSO: What Obasanjo and Jonathan discussed when they met He said: Irrespective of the thinking of the people ahead of 2019, I personally think that South-East should have a go at the Presidency too. The same is happening here. If Ijebu and Egba have produced the governor, it is only fair and just to allow the Yewa or Ogun West to also produce governor. Or else, one day, they will also stand up and take up arms against this injustice against them. That is my personally position on this. The former president speaking on the crisis in Southern Kaduna, said: My findings so far show that everyone is talking from the position of strength. People are not talking from knowledge of what they know and this is not helping. We must be able to dump all our sentiments to overcome the challenges. Just like other cases of injustice around us, we need peace; it is only peace with justice that can solve all these crises. Genuine peace is what everyone is craving for and this can only come when there is justice. It was reported earlier that the north is making moves to get an alternative to President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2019 general election, Legit.ng has learnt from authoritative sources. It was further learnt that as the hunt commences, Obasanjo seems to have settled for between his two allies, former governors of Jigawa and Kano, Sule Lamido and Rabiu Kwankwaso. Sources privy to the political situations in the north told Legit.ng in the afternoon of Monday, January 23, 2017 that 2019 was one of the issues discussed when former President Goodluck Jonathan visited Obasanjo on Friday, January 20. Source: Legit.ng Gambian President Adama Barrow's administration faced a backlash Tuesday after admitting its new vice-president may be constitutionally barred from serving and confirming ex-leader Yahya Jammeh will be permitted to keep a fleet of luxury cars. One day after naming Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang as deputy leader, an outcry broke out after local media alleged she was 67 years old, two years over the legal maximum to serve in the post. Barrow spokesman Halifa Sallah told journalists he was aware of the reports and advisors were recommending a parliamentary vetting process be put in place to avoid a similar situation, without confirming Jallow-Tambajang's true age. Several phone calls to Jallow-Tambajang by AFP went unanswered on Tuesday. "I have spoken to President Barrow that many concerns are being raised," Sallah said. "The president has been carefully advised that he constitute a vetting committee," Sallah added, while asserting that "the appointment was done in good faith based on the facts that were available". Barrow was in "final discussions with west African leaders "in order to announce the hour of coming," Sallah said, adding that he would arrive "very soon". Barrow is currently living in Senegal until his safety can be guaranteed by thousands of soldiers from five African nations currently deployed in The Gambia, but unease is growing over his prolonged absence. Equatorial Guinea Tuesday for the first time confirmed the presence of Jammeh in the small west African country, where he had been offered refuge as "a political exile". President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, another long-serving African leader, had convinced Jammeh "to avoid any situation of armed confrontation", government spokesman Eugenio Nze Obiang said. - Bentley and Benz - The news came on the same day it was confirmed that ex-leader Jammeh had struck a deal with Barrow to keep a fleet of luxury cars in exchange for leaving the country on Saturday for exile in Equatorial Guinea. An airport source who saw the cargo being prepared on Saturday night when Jammeh flew out of the country said "two Rolls Royces and one (Mercedes) Benz" were loaded onto a Chadian cargo plane, while 10 others await shipment. "The government was fully prepared and supportive of ex-president Jammeh to leave and as a result they found it is better to leave with all his properties," his spokesman said. The airport source even reported a tussle over whether to take Bentleys or Rolls Royces onto the cargo flight, before settling for the latter. The news is likely to anger Gambians who have also learnt Jammeh took off with $11 million of state funds, according to one of his Dakar-based advisors, leaving the coffers nearly empty. "I am so sickened by the deal; but I guess saving just one life on either side is worth more than all of his wealth," Twitter user @YesWeCan_Gambia wrote. An "entry-level" Rolls Royce costs $250,000, and most Gambians live on less than $2 a day. - Controversial judge gone - Meanwhile a top judicial official told AFP the country's sole remaining Supreme Court judge has resigned following attempts by Jammeh to overturn the result of a December 1 election won by Barrow. "It is true that the chief justice has resigned from his position. His resignation letter is dated 20th January. He is out of the country. He has gone back to Nigeria," judicial secretary Landing Sanneh told AFP. Emmanuel Fagbanle had deferred a decision on hearing Jammeh's legal complaint over a lack of other judges to hear the case, but was known to be uneasy with the mercurial strongman's use of the court system to pursue his personal grievances. Jammeh's defiance over the election result prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday, citing Senegalese authorities. The agency said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. AFP News Zhang Yao recalls the moment he realised something had gone deeply wrong at the Chinese mega-factory where he and hundreds of thousands of other workers assembled iPhones and other high-end electronics. In early October, supervisors suddenly warned him that 3,000 colleagues had been taken into quarantine after someone tested positive for Covid-19 at the factory. "They told us not to take our masks off," Zhang, speaking under a pseudonym for fear of retaliation, told AFP by telephone. What followed was a weeks-long ordeal including food shortages and the ever-present fear of infection, before he finally escaped on Tuesday. Zhang's employer, Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, has said it faces a "protracted battle" against infections and imposed a "closed loop" bubble around its sprawling campus in central China's Zhengzhou city. Local authorities locked down the area surrounding the major Apple supplier's factory on Wednesday, but not before reports emerged of employees fleeing on foot and a lack of adequate medical care at the plant. China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks. But new variants have tested officials' ability to snuff out flare-ups and dragged down economic activity with the threat of sudden disruptions. - Desperation - Multiple workers have recounted scenes of chaos and increasing disorganisation at Foxconn's complex of workshops and dormitories, which form a city-within-a-city near Zhengzhou's airport. Zhang told AFP that "positive tests and double lines (on antigen tests) had become a common sight" in his workshop before he left. "Of course we were scared, it was so close to us." "People with fevers are not guaranteed to receive medicine," another Foxconn worker, a 30-year-old man who also asked to remain anonymous, told AFP. "We are drowning," he said. Those who decided to stop working were not offered meals at their dormitories, Zhang said, adding that some were able to survive on personal stockpiles of instant noodles. Kai, a worker at in the complex who gave an interview to state-owned Sanlian Lifeweek, told the magazine Foxconn's "closed loop" involved cordoning off paths between dormitory compounds and the factory, and complained he was left to his own devices after being thrown in quarantine. TikTok videos geolocated by AFP showed mounds of uncollected rubbish outside buildings in late October, while employees in N95 masks squeezed onto packed shuttle buses taking them from dormitories to their work stations. A 27-year-old woman working at Foxconn, who asked not to be named, told AFP a roommate who tested positive for Covid was sent back to her dormitory on Thursday morning, crying, after she decided to hand in her notice while in quarantine. "Now the three of us are living in the same room: one a confirmed case and two of us testing positive on the rapid test, still waiting for our nucleic acid test results," the worker told AFP. Many became so desperate by the end of last month that they attempted to walk back to their hometowns to get around Covid transport curbs. As videos of people dragging their suitcases down motorways and struggling up hills spread on Chinese social media, the authorities rushed in to do damage control. The Zhengzhou city government on Sunday said it had arranged for special buses to take employees back to their hometowns. Surrounding Henan province has officially reported a spike of more than 600 Covid cases since the start of this week. - Distrust - When Zhang finally attempted to leave the Foxconn campus on Tuesday, he found the company had set up obstacle after obstacle. "There were people with loudspeakers advertising the latest Foxconn policy, saying that each day there would be a 400 yuan ($55) bonus," Zhang told AFP. A crowd of employees gathered at a pick-up point in front of empty buses but were not let on. People in hazmat suits, known colloquially as "big whites" in China, claimed they had been sent by the city government. "They tried to persuade people to stay in Zhengzhou... and avoid going home," Zhang said. "But when we asked to see their work ID, they had nothing to show us, so we suspected they were actually from Foxconn." Foxconn pointed to the local government's lockdown orders from Wednesday when asked by AFP if it attempted to stop employees from leaving, without giving any further response. The company had on Sunday said it was "providing employees with complimentary three meals a day" and cooperating with the government to provide transport home. Eventually, the crowd of unhappy workers who had gathered decided to take matters into their own hands and walked over seven kilometres on foot to the nearest highway entry ramp. There, more people claiming to be government officials pleaded with the employees to wait for the bus. The crowd had no choice as the road was blocked. Buses eventually arrived at five in the afternoon -- nearly nine hours after Zhang had begun his attempt to secure transport. "They were trying to grind us down," he said. Back in his hometown, Zhang is now waiting out the home quarantine period required by the local government. "All I feel is, I've finally left Zhengzhou," he told AFP. bur-tjx/oho/je/mca/cwl In this Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 photo, a Syrian refugee boy, left, listens to music on speakers while a girl, right, peers with her younger sister through the entrance of their family's tent in Kalochori refugee camp on the outskirts of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. Many migrants living in this warehouse tent camp and another one nearby are feeling burned out. They try to keep busy as they dream of a better life in Western Europe and not let boredom or depression set in.(AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) -- Kawa Mohammed lives in a small tent with his wife and his three children in the Kalochori refugee camp on the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki's outskirts. "It is the bedroom, the kitchen, the living room and sometimes the bathroom of the children," said Mohammed, a 34-year-old Syrian refugee who fled the war in his hometown in Afrin near Aleppo. As he waits in the hope of settling down with his two brothers in the German city of Hannover, he and his family are mentally exhausted. Many migrants living in this warehouse tent camp and another one nearby are also feeling burned out. They try to keep busy as they dream of a better life in Western Europe and not let boredom or depression set in. Because of a harsh winter and bitter cold, many migrants rarely venture out and away from the monotony and fluorescent lights hanging overhead. So the camps' inhabitants try to find ways of keeping busy. Some draw on their professions back home and set up makeshift tailor and barber shops, for example. Women attend knitting classes and men work out in improvised gyms. For Mohammed, it's about dressing up his small tent. "We decorate our tent to make it feel like home, for the children to feel (like they are) in their room," he said. "For me and my wife to feel busy, we spend our days doing nothing but walking around the camp, talking to neighbors and play games on my phone. "Otherwise we will suffocate while waiting here. We are mentally exhausted," he said. "Having a home and work is what will keep us sane, and so far since we arrived to Greece last February we have none of that." Refugees here are able to get psychological or emotional support from nonprofit groups. "Our main mission is to reduce the trauma and enhance the wellbeing of refugees in these camps by offering psychosocial support to individuals and families living there," said Zarlasht Halaimzai, co-founder and director of the Refugee Trauma Initiative. Story continues More than 62,000 refugees and other migrants have been stuck in Greece since a series of Balkan border closures and a European Union-Turkey deal on stemming migration, according to Greek government data. These include about 15,000 who reached eastern Greek islands after the March 2016 agreement, and aren't allowed to travel to the mainland unless they successfully apply for asylum. If they cannot prove that they merit asylum in Greece, rather than neighboring Turkey from which they traveled, they face being returned to Turkey. "We set up group activities and help them to come up with everyday strategies to cope with their emotional difficulties and feel part of a community within these camps," said Halaimzai, a 34-year-old British-Afghan national who fled Afghanistan in 1992. She added: "I was a refugee myself. I know how it feels to lose everything: your home, your language and your culture. "I understand what most of the refugees are going through that's why as a professional for the last six years I believe that psychological help is as important as any other need. Mental scars don't heal by themselves." ___ Muhammed Muheisen is The Associated Press' chief photographer for the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan. ___ Follow Muhammed Muheisen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Muheisen81 and on Instagram as https://www.instagram.com/mmuheisen This Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016 photo shows nine eight-wheeled Singapore-made Terrex infantry carrier vehicles seized at a container terminal in Hong Kong. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Hong Kong authorities will return the Terrex infantry carrier vehicles to Singapore, the Republics Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Tuesday (24 January). On 24 January 2017, Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Leung Chun-ying replied to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongs earlier letter to inform him that the Hong Kong authorities have completed their investigations, and will be releasing the SAF Terrex Infantry Carrier Vehicles and other equipment to the Singapore Government through the carrier. This is a positive outcome, MFA said. Lee has replied to Leung to thank him for Hong Kongs cooperation in resolving the matter, the MFA statement added. The announcement on the impending return of the vehicles comes two months after they were seized at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal in Hong Kong on 23 November. Despite multiple meetings between container shipping firm APL, which was shipping the vehicles from Taiwan to Singapore, and Hong Kongs Customs and Excise Department, the issue was unresolved. The seizure of the vehicles was also debated in Parliament earlier this month, when Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told MPs that Lee had written to Leung on the issue. In a post on his Facebook page, Ng said, SAF Terrexes are coming home to Singapore. Looking forward to this happy reunion with all Singaporeans in the Year of the Rooster. LA VENTA, Colombia (AP) French President Francois Hollande met with leaders of Colombia's largest rebel movement Tuesday in an area where guerrillas will soon begin turning over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Hollande, accompanied by President Juan Manuel Santos, visited a rural camp in southern Colombia run by the United Nations. While there, Santos and top Colombian officials explained how some 7,000 guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are supposed to disarm over the coming months and begin their transition back to civilian life. The visit, the first to Colombia by a French head of state in 28 years, included a private meeting with representatives of the FARC, including a member of the group's ruling secretariat whose nom de guerre is Pablo Catatumbo. Hollande expressed support for the peace deal, calling it a model for resolving conflicts around the world. "The disarming and demobilization is not reversible," Hollande told journalists. More than 350 United Nations observers from several Latin American nations are spread out at 26 locations across Colombia preparing for the FARC's demobilization. Hollande's visit to the rural camp has not been without controversy. Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the campaign that defeated the original accord in a nationwide referendum, accused Hollande of "supporting the impunity of terrorists" by meeting with the FARC. "Many of us feel rejection toward the successor of Napoleon and De Gaulle for his visit to the FARC," Uribe wrote in an open letter this week. ___ : Corrects spelling of Hollande's name in third to last paragraph. AFP News Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was recovering in hospital Friday after a gunman shot him in the leg, with his supporters vowing the assassination attempt will not derail his "long march" bid to return to power. The attack on his convoy, apparently by a lone gunman, killed one man and wounded at least 10, significantly raising the stakes in a political crisis that has gripped the South Asian nation since Khan's ousting in April. Khan "was stable and he was doing fine" at Shaukat Khanum hospital in the eastern city of Lahore, his doctor Faisal Sultan told AFP Friday. Seemi Bokhari, a lawmaker with Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said after visiting Khan the former premier was in high spirits. "The doctors are allowing him to move ... He is feeling perfectly well and he will soon be discharged," she told AFP. The 70-year-old former international cricket star had been leading a campaign convoy of thousands since last week from Lahore to the capital Islamabad when he was attacked. Khan suffered at least one bullet wound to his right leg when a gunmen sprayed pistol fire at his modified container truck as it drove slowly through a thick crowd in Wazirabad, around 170 kilometres (105 miles) east of Islamabad. "Everyone who was standing in the very front row got hit," former information minister Fawad Chaudhry, who was standing behind Khan, told AFP. Senior aide Raoof Hasan said it was "an attempt to kill him, to assassinate him". Chaudhry said party officials would meet later Friday to discuss the immediate fate of Khan's campaign march. "The real freedom long march will continue and the movement for people's rights will remain until an announcement on the general elections," he tweeted. - Threats - Party officials also called for supporters to stage rallies and marches across the country after Friday afternoon prayers, the most important of the week. Protesters lit fires and blocked roads in several cities late Thursday as news of Khan's shooting spread. His campaign truck has become a crime scene for now, cordoned off and guarded by commandos as forensic experts comb the area. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said Thursday the attacker had been taken into custody. Officials shared an apparent confession video that was circulating online. "I did it because (Khan) was misleading the public," says a dishevelled man in the leaked video, shown with his hands tied behind his back in what appears to be a police station. He says he was angry with the procession for making a racket during the call to prayer that summons Muslims to the mosque five times a day. Pervaiz Elahi, the chief minister of Punjab, said officers who leaked the video would be disciplined. Pakistan has been grappling with Islamist militancy for decades, with right-wing religious groups having huge sway over the population. It has been no stranger to assassination attempts during decades of political instability, and the powerful military has led the country several times. Pakistan's first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was shot dead at a rally in Rawalpindi in 1951. Another former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, was killed in 2007 when a huge bomb detonated near her vehicle as she greeted supporters in the city of Rawalpindi. - Kicked from power - Khan was booted from office in April by a no-confidence vote after defections by some of his coalition partners, but he retains huge support. He was voted into power in 2018 on an anti-corruption platform by an electorate tired of dynastic politics, but his mishandling of the economy -- and falling out with a military accused of helping his rise -- sealed his fate. Since then, he has railed against the establishment and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's government, which he says was imposed on Pakistan by a "conspiracy" involving the United States. Khan and Shehbaz have for months traded bitter accusations of corruption and incompetence, raising the political temperature in a nation that is frequently at boiling point. Khan has repeatedly told supporters he was prepared to die for the country, and aides have long warned of unspecified threats made on his life. The attack drew international condemnation including from the United States, which had uneasy relations with Khan when he was in power. "Violence has no place in politics, and we call on all parties to refrain from violence, harassment and intimidation," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. sjd/fox/ecl/pbt/dhc The movement is part of the countrys National Payment Gateway programme initiated by Bank Indonesia Four Indonesian major commercial banks from state-owned Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), to privately owned Bank Central Asia (BCA) today announced a plan to integrate their cashless payment services under one network. The partnership is an implementation of a recent MoU on interconnectivity and interoperability, in order to support the countrys National Payment Gateway (NPG) programme, as initiated by its central bank Bank Indonesia. Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, President Director and CFO of Bank Mandiri, told CNN Indonesia that the four banks have been requested to pioneer the building of an e-money platform, which each bank has already owned. In the long run, he expected that the platforms that each bank has created can be run under a single system. Wirjoatmodjo also explained that under the single system, each bank will be able to utilise the platform that has been built by the other bank. For example, users of BCAs Flazz card will be able to pay toll fee on the Automatic Toll Gate (GTO), which platform is currently operated by Bank Mandiri. Also Read: Revealed! 7 key points of Indonesias much-awaited e-commerce roadmap If other banks [other than these four banks] wish to issue their own cards [for cashless payment system], then please go ahead. They just have to issue it, and then they can use the platform made by these four major banks. But there will be a transaction fee as we were the one building the capital expenditure, he said. The integration is expected to be completed within the next two months. The National Payment Gateway scheme is one of the points included in the Indonesian governments much anticipated e-commerce roadmap, which aims to support e-commerce firms operating in the market. Copyright: bloomua / 123RF Stock Photo The post Indonesian banking giants to integrate their cashless payment services appeared first on e27. Everyone has their own perceptions about which country manufactures the best vehicles. One most popular belief is that Japanese cars are better than American cars. But heres where the irony comes in: The Japanese automotive industry rose to exceptional heights because of one American engineer, statistician and professor named William Edward Demings. His methods helped Japanese companies create a new quality control standard that not only helped their economy to recover, but also made their vehicles very competitive in the global market. So if the Americans need to blame someone for having such a tough competitor, then it should be Dennings. But seriously, Japans automotive industry has gone a long way from the time when Komanosuke Uchiyama made Takuri, the first Japanese-made gasoline engine car in 1907. Now the question is: are Japanese vehicles really better than American cars these days? Lets make a side-by-side comparison: Popularity Shows which brand / models are the most well-known in the world. We found out that there are more popular Japanese cars compared to American vehicles. Japanese Cars www.car-brand-names.com Japanese Car Manufacturers: Acura Honda Lexus Daihatsu Mazda Mitsubishi Toyota Nissan Nissan Leaf Infiniti Subaru Most Popular in the World: Nissan Honda Toyota American Cars www.car-brand-names.com American Car Manufacturers: Most Popular in the World: General Motors Ford Chrysler Safety Shows how safe a car is when driven on various roads and environmental conditions. Is it true about Japanese cars and safety? You bet they do. The myth that Japanese cars are the safest is actually true in this case, since they are known for developing technologies that raise the standards of automobile safety higher (and even higher than before). Heres one proof. This study regarding the safest cars in the Philippines shows a list dominated by Japanese car brands followed by European vehicles. And where are the American cars? Nowhere to be found. Story continues Just in case you think were biased here, the most recent study made in 2016 by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) revealed these nine car models with a death rate of zero: Fuel Efficiency Shows how much or how little a car consumes gas. Japan has always had the history of manufacturing the most fuel-efficient cars, so they also win in this category, hands-down. In a study conducted by Petron Philippines, the top 10 all ran on diesel, with three Japanese car models included in the study. Again, no American cars were included in the list. However, we think that this will change in the near future, as General Motors and Ford are slowly catching up in this race. To make it more interesting, weve also included a study made by the United States Department of Transportation regarding the top vehicle brands companies used for car fleets (Car Fleet Efficiency). The result reveals that Toyota tops the most fuel-efficient cars, with General Motors and Ford trailing behind. Of the top 10 cars included, four cars were Japanese brands (Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Subaru), while three were American (GM and Ford). www.scientificamerican.com Style / Design Shows the vehicles look and appearance. Japanese Cars Japanese manufacturers tend to change their cars style less frequently, and the designs dont become outdated easily. Really, its not surprising to see some models continue with the same design for many years. Also, Japanese cars are mostly known for their compact cars, although they do produce bigger ones as well. American Cars American car designs tend to change frequently, and many of their vehicles are largereither in size or volumecompared to the Japanese ones. Sales Shows which cars are considered the top bestsellers in the Philippines. Heres the top ten best-selling cars in 2016: The list shows that eight out the 10 best-selling cars are Japanese brands. Only two American cars made it in the list. Dependability / Reliability Shows a cars susceptibility to failure, or how well you trust that a car part such as the power train, body, interior, car features and accessories will last as specified by the factory. In a doctoral dissertation published by the Curtis Laws Wilson Library, it was found out that with regards to reliability (how dependable and durable the powertrain, body interior, and feature accessories are), American cars arent as far behind as we once thought they would be. The study also revealed that American vehicles tend to start poorly in early years, but then close the gap to Japanese cars steadily once it hits the 10th year. Interestingly, American vehicles also show a decrease in dependability over the years, but shows a slight increase in reliability once it hits its 9th and 10th year. Japanese cars, on the other hand, remain mostly within the same range, so theyre actually more stable within a longer period of time. Whatever the case, both these cars still decline in reliability after the tenth year. scholarsmine.mst.edu Performance Shows how well a cars engine and transmission will perform over the years. While Japanese cars have always been known for good performance, we have to note that many American cars like Ford, Ram and Buick have experienced an improvement in quality over the years, giving Japanese cars a tougher competition in the market. Also, Americans love muscle cars, and their demand for powerful engines have influenced them to continue creating better engines and transmissions for their vehicles. However, both the engine power and transmission of these cars still decline in performance after 10 years, with the American ones running slightly better during the ninth year. scholarsmine.mst.edu Management / Corporate Strategy Shows how the company manages and develops their products. Japanese Cars Japanese car manufacturers are more efficient in planning, with a shorter product development lead time. The Japanese often use a tried-and-true style that emphasizes quality. Management is more stable and constant, so engineers can concentrate steadily on improving systems in individual vehicles instead of getting pressured to constantly reinvent something. Quality is often given more importance than profits (except for Toyota, where their profit-driven hesitancy to manage a floor mat recall gave way to a runaway Toyota media frenzy). American Cars The management is often pressured to come up with revolutionary and innovative products. This can be quite risky for the company, since no one can really tell if whether its next big thing will be a flop to the masses. Engineers are given lesser time when it comes to improving present products for the sake of improving quality, since the expectation is mostly to come up with dramatic and revolutionary improvements at a time. Pressure to increase profits is more cut-throat compared to Japanese companies, with engineers asked to find better ways of cutting costs while improving quality. Conclusion So, which is better, really Japanese or American vehicles? While Japanese cars seem to have more edge, we think American cars have something to offer as well. In the end, only you can decide which car brand suits you best. The post Japanese vs. American Cars: Which is Better? appeared first on Carmudi Philippines Journal. BEIRUT (AP) The latest developments on Syria following two-day talks in Kazakhstan between the Damascus government and rebel factions (all times local): 8 p.m. The U.S. says it has seen the announcement from Russia, Turkey and Iran on their intent to establish a mechanism to enforce a cease-fire in Syria and welcomes actions that de-escalate violence in the country. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday that the U.S. calls on the three countries to press the Syrian government and its allies, as well as opposition forces, to abide by the cease-fire in order to create an environment more conductive to political discussions between Syrians. The U.S. had no significant role in the talks between the Syrian government and its armed opponents in the Kazakhstan this week, which were sponsored by Russia, Turkey and Iran. ___ 4:50 p.m. The Russian military says its bombers have struck Islamic State positions in eastern Syria in the third such raid in four days. The Defense Ministry said that six Tu-22M3 bombers flew from their base in Russia to strike IS facilities in the province of Deir el-Zour on Tuesday. It said they successfully hit all designated targets, including an ammunition factory, arms and ammunition depots, and weapons locations. Russian bombers also flew similar missions Saturday and Monday. The raids came as Syrian government troops in Deir el-Zour found themselves in an increasingly desperate situation, cut in half in an ongoing IS offensive. Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 2015, helping Syrian government forces to reverse the tide of the nearly six-year conflict. ___ 4:40 p.m. The United Nations envoy to Syria says the talks in Kazakhstan have produced a "very important" commitment by Russia, Iran and Turkey to a cease-fire in the war ravaged country. Staffan de Mistura says the three sponsors of the talks, Russia and Iran, who are allies to the Syrian government, and Turkey, a supporter of the rebels, have "direct, public political interest" as well as their own reputation and commitment to make the cease-fire last. Story continues De Mistura says the three sides will meet soon in Astana to lay the parameters for a mechanism to reinforce the truce, in place since Dec. 30. Violations continued despite the cease-fire, as the sides traded blame. Speaking at the end of the two-day conference, De Mistura urged all parties Tuesday not to let another cease-fire dissolve "because of lack of a political process," calling for the international community to come together for political negotiations. He is expected to host talks in Geneva next month. ___ 4:20 p.m. A Russian presidential envoy at the Syria talks in Kazakhstan says Moscow is happy with the talks in Syria and waits for the opposition's reaction to a draft of the Syrian constitution that was circulated at the talks. Talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana between the Damascus government and rebel factions have concluded with Russia, Turkey and Iran striking a deal on a three-way mechanism to consolidate the country's nearly month-old cease-fire. Alexander Lavrentyev, Vladimir Putin's special envoy for Syria, told Russia news agencies on Tuesday that Moscow is pleased that rebel factions finally sat down to talks with the government. Lavrentyev said the opposition is willing to work on a draft constitution that was circulated in Astana and looks forward to its feedback. ___ 3:30 p.m. Syria's government envoy to the Russia and Turkey-led talks in Kazakhstan says the offensive against an area near the Syrian capital will continue despite a pledge to enforce a nearly month-old cease-fire. The sponsors of the talks have pledged to reinforce the cease-fire and put a mechanism in place to ensure compliance. Bashar al-Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador who led the government delegation to the talks in Astana, says the offensive by the government and allied troops will continue because "terrorist groups" control Ain al-Fijeh, the main source of water for the capital Damascus. He accused insurgents of using the water as a weapon, blaming an al-Qaida-linked group. The rebels deny an al-Qaida-linked group is in the area, and have negotiated to include it in the cease-fire agreement. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported ongoing clashes Tuesday around the flashpoint area of Ain al-Fijeh in Barada Valley. ___ 2:50 p.m. Syria's government says Russia- and Turkey-led talks in Kazakhstan have succeeded in consolidating a nearly month-long cease-fire in the war- ravaged country. Bashar al-Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador who headed the government delegation to the talks in Astana, says the government has done all it can to "remove obstacles" facing the gathering. He told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday that the talks succeeded in consolidating the cease-fire for "a specific period of time." He did not elaborate. He added that this paves the way for more dialogue among Syrians in the future. ___ 2:15 p.m. Syria talks in Kazakhstan between the Damascus government and rebel factions have concluded with Russia, Turkey and Iran striking a deal on a three-way mechanism to consolidate the country's nearly month-old cease-fire. Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, read out a statement on Tuesday, at the end of the two-day meeting, saying the three countries will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, without specifying how that would work. The statement says the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. It also calls for Syria's rebels to separate from the al-Qaida-linked group known as Fatah al-Sham. The statement adds that agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva on Feb. 8. ___ 12:55 p.m. U.N. agencies are appealing for more than $8 billion in funding this year to help millions of people displaced inside Syria by the war or forced to flee abroad. The U.N. refugee agency is seeking $4.63 billion in new funding to help at least 4.8 million people who have escaped abroad, mainly to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Stephen O'Brien, the head of the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, said at a Syria aid meeting in Finland that the U.N. is seeking "on the order" of $3.4 billion this year for an estimated 13.5 million internally displaced people. O'Brien says that he fears Syria's war already longer than World War II was "will get worse." ___ 12:10 p.m. Turkey's deputy prime minister is dismissing speculation that Turkey would hand over the northern Syrian town of al-Bab to Syrian President Bashar Assad's administration after it routs Islamic State militants from there. Numan Kurtulmus told the state-run Anadolu Agency on Tuesday that Turkey launched its military push in northern Syria for its own security and to protect its border of terror threats. He spoke as Turkey- and Russia-backed talks on shoring up Syria's cease-fire were underway in Kazakhstan. Kurtulmus says that "al-Bab is not an operation that was launched to clear it and to hand it over to the regime" of Assad. Turkey sent troops and tanks into Syria in August to back Syrian opposition fighters drive out IS militants from a border area. The IS-held of al-Bab has been under siege since December. ___ 11:55 a.m. Finland's prime minister has made a strong global appeal for help for those affected by the "devastating" war in Syria, warning that it has resulted in millions of refugees and displaced, causing "population movements of great magnitude not seen since" World War II. Juha Sipila spoke at the opening of a Syria aid conference in Finland's capital, Helsinki, on Tuesday. He says that after six years of the conflict, the humanitarian crisis is Syria "is worse than ever before," with 13.5 million people needing assistance. The conference coincides with Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan and is aimed at providing humanitarian priorities for Syria in 2017 and launching a regional refugee plan. It is being attended by U.N. organizations, aid agencies, government representatives from Syria's neighboring countries and donors from civil societies and the private sector. ___ 11:35 a.m. Turkey's state-run news agency says that Turkey, Russia and Iran have reached an agreement on a three-way mechanism to monitor and enforce a cease-fire in Syria. The announcement is the first sign of progress during the second day of talks underway in Astana, Kazakhstan, between the Syrian government and rebel factions. The Anadolu Agency said on Tuesday that the mechanism would allow the three countries to respond immediately to reports on breaches of the cease-fire by using "their influence" to end attacks. The report out of Astana was based on unnamed sources. Anadolu says the agreement is part of an article of a planned joint declaration to be released later in the day. The agency said however, that the final declaration was still being worked out. ___ 9:15 a.m. Syria talks between the Damascus government and rebel factions are underway in Kazakhstan for a second day, following a rocky start that saw harsh exchanges between the warring sides. The talks are focused on shoring up a cease-fire in place since Dec. 30 and are to be followed by more negotiations in Geneva next month. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is mediating the talks, promised as he entered the venue at the Rixos Hotel in Astana there will be an "outcome" later on Tuesday. Syrian rebel spokesman Osama Abo Zayd says his side will communicate with the government delegation through intermediaries, not directly. The rebels have pinned their hopes on Russia and Turkey, which brokered the cease-fire, but Abu Zayd says they "are waiting for something more than statements." Photo: EFE/Jerome Favre The head of Hong Kong custom authorities said Tuesday (24 Tuesday) that the investigation into Singapores Terrex infantry carrier vehicles might lead to criminal prosecution. The comment in a statement by Roy Tang, Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs and Excise, comes after Singapores Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday evening that the seized Terrex vehicles will be returned to Singapore. Tang also confirmed the return of the vehicles and the associated equipment, which were detained on 23 November last year. Hong Kong is committed to complying with international standards of strategic trade control, and that it implements a robust control system to achieve it, Tang said. Import, export and transshipment/transit of strategic commodities in breach of licensing requirement are criminal offences punishable under the Hong Kong law. The action by the Hong Kong Customs on November 23, 2016 was taken because there was a suspected breach of the Hong Kong law, said Tang, adding that the investigation of the suspected breach is completed. AFP News Pope Francis warned the world is on the edge of a "delicate precipice" and buffeted by "winds of war" as he held inter-faith talks with one of Sunni Islam's top leaders in Bahrain on Friday. The 85-year-old Argentine decried the "opposing blocs" of East and West, a veiled reference to the standoff over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in a speech to religious leaders in the tiny Gulf state. "We continue to find ourselves on the brink of a delicate precipice and we do not want to fall," he told an audience including Bahrain's king and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo's prestigious Al-Azhar mosque. "A few potentates are caught up in a resolute struggle for partisan interests, reviving obsolete rhetoric, redesigning spheres of influence and opposing blocs," he added. "We appear to be witnessing a dramatic and childlike scenario: in the garden of humanity, instead of cultivating our surroundings, we are playing instead with fire, missiles and bombs." The pope's visit, aimed at strengthening relations with Islam, comes with the Ukraine war in its ninth month, and as tensions grow on the Korean peninsula and in the Taiwan Strait. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who met Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in September, told journalists that there had been "a few small signs" of progress in negotiations with Moscow, warning that peace initiatives should not be "exploited for other goals". Francis, who is on his second visit to the wealthy Gulf, later met privately with al-Tayeb, with whom he signed a Muslim-Christian manifesto for peace in the United Arab Emirates in 2019. "This meeting has great symbolic importance, both locally and internationally, for promoting peace and peaceful co-existence between different religions and civilisations," said Hala Ramzi Fayez, a Christian and member of Bahrain's parliament. - Sunni, Shiite talks? - Leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics, Francis has placed inter-faith dialogue at the heart of his papacy, visiting other Muslim-majority countries including Egypt, Turkey and Iraq. Al-Tayeb, who met with the pope on previous Middle East visits, also called on Friday for talks between Islam's two main branches, Sunni and Shiite, to settle sectarian differences. Later, the pope addressed 17 members of the Muslim Council of Elders, an international group of Islamic scholars and dignitaries, at the mosque of the Sakhir Royal Palace. He told them dialogue was "the oxygen of peaceful coexistence". "In a world that is increasingly wounded and divided, that beneath the surface of globalisation senses anxiety and fear, the great religious traditions must be the heart that unites the members of the body," he said. He also struck out at the arms trade, a "commerce of death" that he said was "turning our common home into one great arsenal". The pope, who is using a wheelchair and a walking stick due to long-standing knee problems, began the first papal visit to Bahrain on Thursday by hitting out at the death penalty and urging respect for human rights and better conditions for workers. Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa, Bahrain's minister of finance and national economy, insisted the country has "led the region" with its criminal justice reforms. "We have some of the most robust and wide-ranging human rights and criminal justice protections in the region," the minister told AFP on Friday. "There are very well-established channels through which any of these critics can go, well established institutions of accountability," he said, adding that the pope's comments on the death penalty did not single out Bahrain. "It is important to note that that reference... was a general reference to countries around the world," the minister said. Bahrain has executed six people since 2017, when it carried out its first execution in seven years. Some of the condemned were convicted following a 2011 uprising put down with military support from neighbouring Saudi Arabia. cmk-lar/par/ho/th/dwo FILE - In this March 7, 2016 file photo, Dan Adamescu, center, one of Romania's richest and controversial businessmen serving a prison sentence for bribery, walks aided by two men to the national anti-corruption prosecutors office to be questioned in Bucharest, Romania. Daughter-in-law Adriana Constantinescu told Romania TV that Adamescu died Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, in a private hospital where he had been transferred from prison for treatment for an infection. He was 68. (Andreea Alexandru/Mediafax Foto via AP, File) BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Dan Adamescu, one of Romania's richest businessmen who was serving a prison sentence for bribery, has died. He was 68. Daughter-in-law Adriana Constantinescu told Romania TV that Adamescu died early Tuesday in a private hospital where he had been transferred from prison for treatment for an infection. The paper he owned, Romania Libera, said he had been in an induced coma since December 2016 and was suffering from septicemia. He had been in ill health for some time and was wheelchair-bound. His lawyers' requests for his early release on health grounds were not granted. His paper called that unjust, and called for a post-mortem inquiry. In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the paper said he was "one of the most important investors in the Romanian press" after the fall of communism in the country. It noted he had returned to Romania from Germany after 1989, where he emigrated to in the 1970s, and built up a series of successful businesses. In May, Adamescu was sentenced to four years and four months in prison for instructing his lawyer to pay bribes of 20,000 euros ($20,150) to judges in December 2013. The bribes were related to insolvency cases involving his companies. One judge got more than 12 years imprisonment, while three other judges got lesser prison sentences. Adamescu's lawyer reportedly threw himself in front of a subway train after one of the judges' 2014 arrest. In March 2016, Adamescu was also charged with causing 800 million lei ($191million) in damages from 2011 to 2013 to SC Astra Insurance company, where he was chairman of the board. The case was due to go to trial. Adamescu was reportedly worth 850 million lei ($20.3 million) in 2015. Apart from the Romania Libera newspaper, he had a majority stake in a shopping center and various upscale hotels. No funeral plans were immediately announced. He is survived by a son and three grandchildren. Officials in Illinois will attempt a Philadelphia-style soda tax implemented on retailers statewide, which critics argue will only lead to higher prices and angry shoppers. The proposed legislation will place a large beverage tax on sugary products in the name of improving public health and curbing obesity. The obesity rate in Illinois is roughly 30 percent of the adult population, up from only 12 percent in 1990. The legislation covers anything with sugar flavoring, including tea, coffee, juices and soda. Specifically, legislators propose a one cent per ounce tax on sugary drinks, which is expected to hike the prices of some products by roughly 50 percent, reports Illinois Times. Local businesses are concerned it will put another onerous financial burden on stores. The tax applies to retailers, who will then adjust their product prices to account for the added costs, which could be imposed by May 2017. It certainly will set a new standard for bad tax policies, Rob Karr, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, told Illinois Times. Its not a reliable tax source. Its an administrative nightmare and it continues to profit a narrow base when Illinois needs to go in the opposite direction. Owners of coffee shops and markets throughout the state are voicing opposition to the tax, which they fear will drive away business. While not nearly as costly as the recently introduced soda tax in Philadelphia, the proposal will still lead to a noticeable markup on sugary products. A 12-pack of 12-ounce soda cans will cost roughly $1.44 more if the state legislators pass the proposal. Benefits of the Illinois Soda Tax Rhonda Andrews, president of the Illinois Association of Public Health Administrators, argues this legislation is key to solving the growing obesity problem and other chronic illnesses. To this date in Illinois, approximately 62.2 percent of adults are overweight and one in three children are overweight or obese, Andrews told Illinois Times. Adults who drink one to two servings per day are 26 percent more likely to develop type-2 diabetes than those who drink zero to one per month. If we have a healthier population, chronic disease rates go down right along with health insurance premiums. This is a win-win for the state of Illinois and our communities! Illinois is currently drowning in debt, owing more than $11 billion in unpaid obligations. Lawmakers estimate the soda tax will pull in roughly $224 million per year, and could help in paying down the states bills. Republished by permission. Original here. Are you looking at opening a Mexican restaurant franchise? There are some advantages to opening a place serving authentic Mexican food. Americans love these traditional dishes. In fact, 86% of them like this kind of restaurant. The following is a list of 23 of the best Mexican restaurant franchises. Which Style of Mexican Food is the Most Popular? Deciding on a Mexican franchise depends on a few things. Like deciding on which Mexican food is the most popular. Some, like tacos, already have brand recognition in the Mexican restaurant industry. Enchiladas and burritos are also popular Mexican cuisine. Ultimately, its about your target market. and the available Mexican food franchise opportunities. And make sure to read the franchise disclosure document. READ MORE: See our Franchise Guide Best Mexican Food Franchises to Buy If youve always liked Mexican restaurants and wanted to own one, read on. You will find a list of Mexican restaurant franchises below. The information covers financial info, available locations, as well as other things such as Mexican inspired menu items that sell. 1. La Parilla This place serves up carne asada and other delicious items. They have 19 locations right now. Investments: You need a prime location for one of these Mexican food franchises. La Parilla also has startup costs and site specifications. Franchise fee: $400,000 USD per outlet Royalties: Paid monthly. 6% on gross sales. 2. Americas Taco Shop This is one of the quick-serve franchise restaurants available. The average time to open a franchise is 6 to 8 months. They have an experienced and skilled support team with 20 years of experience. Americas Taco Shop boasts kiosks and food court options. Investments: Anywhere from $252,350 $711,250 Franchise fee: $30,000 Royalties: 6% Minimum cash required: liquid capital of $50,000 and a net worth of $375,000 3. El Pollo Loco This chain offers new franchisees help through an expert real estate team. And seven weeks of training before you open your restaurant. El Pollo Loco supplies the freshest ingredients in their Mexican food. Investments: $505,000 to $1.1 million Franchise fee: $40,000. Royalties: 4% of monthly receipts Minimum cash required: 1 million USD net worth per unit. Plus $300,000 in liquid assets 4. Costa Vida Costa Vida is looking for franchise partners. They pride themselves on using fresh ingredients, from the ground beef right to the shredded lettuce. Investments: $553,500 $1,069,000 Franchise fee: $30,000 Royalties: 6% of monthly sales. Minimum cash required:$250,000 $1,000,000. 5. Del Taco Looking for a Tex Mex franchise? How about an opportunity with a 50-year history? Del Taco has around 600 locations in 16 states. Another restaurant chain supplying fresh ingredients. Available territories include ones close to Southern California. Investments : $812,700-$2,368,000 $812,700-$2,368,000 Franchise fee: $35,000 Royalties: 5% of net sales. Minimum cash required: minimum liquidity of $500,00 and net worth of $2 million. 6. Baja Fresh Mexican Grill Baja Fresh Mexican Grill is a good fast casual opportunity that supplies great training and support. Baja Fresh is owned by Wendys. Theres a franchise in San Bernardino. Investments:$322,310 $974,290 Franchise fee: $30,000 $50,000 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required:$500,000 7. Taco Time Taco Time franchise owners get a business model thats been around since 1960. They offer award-winning tacos and a burrito lineup thats rolled by hand. Investments: $331,150-$734,800 Franchise fee:$30,00 Royalties: 6% of gross sales. Minimum cash required: $250,000 8. Uberrito Fresh Mex Uberrito Fresh Mex is a fast-casual franchise that pushes unique flavors. Franchisees get six weeks of training. Investments: $690,000 to $985,000 Franchise fee: $40,000 Royalties: 5% of gross sales Minimum cash required: $250K minimum liquidity, $500K minimum net worth 9. Chronic Tacos Mexican Grill Chronic Tacos Mexican Grill offers burrito bowls and other types of Mexican food. You can fill out a form to get started with the franchise on their website. And even pick a preferred city to get started. Investments: $294,000 $801,000 Franchise fee: $40,000 Royalties: 6.0% Minimum cash required: a net worth of at least $250,000. 10. Qdoba Mexican Eats This franchise has Mexican-inspired menu items. And Qdoba Mexican Eats has plans to expand to 2,000 units. There are catering and off-premise business options. Theres marketing support for locally owned businesses too. Investments: $476,800 to $1,096,700 Franchise fee: $30k per restaurant for a 10-year term Royalties: 5% of gross sales Minimum cash required: $500,000 11. Fuzzys Taco Shop Fuzzys Taco Shop serves three meals-breakfast lunch and dinner. Their Baja tacos are one of their flagship foods. Investments: There are two versions. The Traditional $580,000-$1,224,600 and The Taqueria $370,500-$734,000 Franchise fee: Traditional $40,000/ Taqueria $30,000 Royalties: 5% of gross sales for either Minimum cash required: The net worth requirement is $1,000,000. 12. Rusty Taco The name was shortened to r taco in 2015. Buy a Rusty Taco franchise and get the backing of an industry leader, Inspire Brands. Investments: $531,900 to $897,450 Franchise fee: $25,000 Royalties: 5% of gross sales Minimum cash required: $500,00 liquid capital/net worth of over $1,000,000. 13. Pancheros Mexican Grill Pancheros Mexican Grill was founded in 1992. There are 71 restaurants in 12 states. Rodney Anderson is the CEO. Investments: $460,825 $1,027,000 Franchise fee: $30,000 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required; Liquid capital needed $250,000. Net Worth Required. $750,000 14. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant Good food and the best margaritas. Margaritas Mexican Restaurant has great combinations for a franchise. See Also: 10 Startup Tips from Affordable Franchise Coffee News Investments: $1,182,000 $1,454,000 Franchise fee: $30,000 Royalties: 4% Minimum cash required; $2,500,000 15. California Tortilla California Tortilla attracts franchisees with its business model. Impressive stats report less than 10% of franchises fail annually. Investments: $402k to $697k Franchise fee: $40,000 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required; $250K in liquid capital, $1M net worth 16. Moes Southwest Grill Moes Southwest Grill has been franchising since 2001. They offer different items like tacos and nachos, bowls, and stacks with fresh sour cream. Investments: $446,035 to $997,212. Franchise fee: $30,500 Royalties: 5% of net sales. Minimum cash required; $150,000 in liquid capital 17. Taco Bueno This franchise started in 1967. Taco Bueno has been named the most popular Mexican restaurant in America. They have breakfast items. Investments: $639,000 $1,593,000 Franchise fee: $35,000 Royalties: 5.0% Minimum cash required; $1,500,000 net worth 18. Quesada Burritos & Tacos Quesada Burritos & Tacos offers a catering service. Investments: $244K $416K Franchise fee: $30,000 Royalties: 6% Minimum cash required; $70,000 19. Taco Bell One of the big players. Taco Bell is a leader in Mexican QSR franchises. Glen Bell is the founder. Youll find one in Point Pleasant, NJ. Investments: $575,600 $3,370,100 Franchise fee: $25,000 $45,000 Royalties: 5.5% Minimum cash required; $1,500,000 20. Blue Coast Burrito Blue Coast Burrito has locations in places like downtown Nashville. Investments: $368,000 to $572,000 Franchise fee: $19,995 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required; $200,00 in liquid capital 21. Taco Casa Taco Casa even posts a nutritional guide. They have good food and contests. Investments:$615,000 $2,127,000 Franchise fee: $35,000 Royalties: 7% Minimum cash required; $400,000 22. Mucho Burrito This franchise has gift cards. Mucho Burrito offers online ordering. Investments: $425,000 $815,500 Franchise fee: $25,000 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required; $120,000 23. Taco Johns Great Mexcian fare to rival Taco Bell. Taco Johns has over 380 restaurants in 22 states. Taco Johns offers daily specials. A Taco John franchise pays average royalties. Investments: $310,000 $1,228,000 Franchise fee: $25,000 Royalties: 5% Minimum cash required; minimum net worth of $500,000 READ MORE: How to Open a Restaurant Are Mexican Restaurant Franchises Profitable? Mexican restaurant franchises are a good investment. In fact, research says they brought in $62.24 billion dollars USD in 2019. Which Mexican Food Franchises Cost the Least to Start Up? Mexican restaurant franchises make lots of money. And you can make even more by opening a Mucho Burrito. It makes this cheapest food franchises list. In late 2016 the senior leadership of the U.S. Air Force was finally convinced that the A-10 ground support fighter was actually worth keeping and since then a lot of uses that have been kept quiet are now not only out in the open but getting more financial support. Chief among these is CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue). To that end the air force has, so far, equipped 19 A-10Cs with the LARS V-12 emergency radio signal locator. All American warplanes are equipped with an emergency radio that pilots carry and when they eject and are on the ground this handheld radio broadcasts a special signal. Rescue aircraft (usually air force CSAR helicopters) have LARS and the latest (V-12) version quickly tells the LARS user what direction the signal is coming from and how far away it is. Even before the 2016 decision to stop trying to retire A-10s there were plans to equip a lot (perhaps all) A-10s with LARS. The air force leadership, during the decades they were very anti-A-10, did not like to discuss the usefulness of A-10s in CSAR missions. Yet this was a very popular use of the A-10 because when a pilot had to eject and was on the ground, they quickly learned that if you had the enemy nearby looking for you. What you wanted to see first was not a rescue helicopter, but an A-10, that would make sure the rescue chopper and the downed pilots were not hurt. The A-10s regularly came in low and slow seeking out enemy troops and was, unlike most aircraft, designed and armored to deal with a lot of enemy fire. This CSAR chore was nothing new for the A-10 and goes back to before the A-10 entered service. Many reserve and National Guard A-10 squadrons regularly practiced CSAR tactics in part because many of the pilots were older and more experienced and retained memories of Vietnam, and the aircraft that inspired the A-10 by showing how such a low and slow aircraft could be invaluable during so many CSAR missions. The Vietnam era A-1 Skyraider (nicknamed "Spad", after a famous World War I fighter) was one of the inspirations for the A-10. The A-1 was the most popular ground support aircraft during the 1960s and proved a literal lifesaver during hundreds of Vietnam CSAR missions. Developed at the end of World War II, the A-1 was an 11 ton, single seat, propeller driven aircraft that carried 3.5 tons of bombs and four 20mm autocannon. The four 20mm cannon could, altogether, fire 40 rounds a second. Cruising speed was 320 kilometers an hour (versus 560 for the A-10), and the average sortie was about four hours (a little longer than the A-10). The A-10 could go as slow as 220 kilometers an hour, which was nearly as slow as the A-1 could manage but the A-10 had a max speed of 700 kilometers an hour, more than a third faster than the A-1. Ever since Vietnam ground troops have been agitating for another A-1. The A-10 came close, but did not have the persistence (long time over the combat area) of the A-1. But when the A-10 did get to demonstrate its CSAR capabilities during the 1991 Gulf War, there were still some Vietnam era pilots around who made the A-1/A-10 CSAR connection vividly clear. The A-10 CSAR capabilities are obvious to pilots. The A-10 is built to fly low and slow and better survive any ground fire it encounters. A-10s being jets could get to where the downed pilot was fast and then go down low to better deal with any enemy ground threat until the air force CSAR helicopters arrived. This was the same method used by A-1s in Vietnam. CSAR capabilities were one of the many reasons the U.S. Air Force , in 2016, officially cancelled its plans to get rid of its most popular combat aircraft; the A-10. In doing that the air force, faced with the reality that the A-10 was its most effective warplane in the current war against ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) in Syria and Iraq, announced it was restoring maintenance funds for the A-10 and indefinitely delaying plans to start retiring all A-10s in 2018. Now the money is allocated to keep the 283 A-10s flying into the late 2020s. Restored maintenance funds are increasing availability rates back to 70 percent of more. In 2015 A-10s flew over 87,000 hours and they could have flown more (as ground troops demanded) if maintenance funds had been available. The A-10 is a special Cold War era design that was optimized for operating close to troops on the ground. A-10s were designed for use against Russian tank-heavy ground forces in Europe. That war never happened and the last American A-10 attack aircraft left Europe (for good, it was thought) in mid-2013. By 2015 it was back to deal with a new Russian threat. Meanwhile the A-10 proved to be a formidable combat aircraft in post-Cold War conflicts, first in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait and later in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since 2003 the most requested ground support aircraft in Afghanistan and Iraq has been the A-10. Troops from all nations quickly came to appreciate the unique abilities of this 1970s era aircraft that the U.S. Air Force is constantly trying to get rid of. In 2011 the air force did announce that it was retiring 102 A-10s, leaving 243 in service. At the same time the air force accelerated the upgrading of the remaining A-10s to the A-10C standard. This was long overdue because the original A-10 was a 1960s design. Most have now been upgraded. A-10C has new commo gear was added, allowing pilots to share pix and vids with troops on the ground. The A-10 pilot also has access to the Blue Force Tracker system, so that the nearest friendly ground forces show up on the HUD (Head Up Display) when coming in low to use the 30mm cannon. The A-10C can use smart bombs, making it a do-it-all aircraft for ground support. The A-10 is a 23 ton, twin engine, single seat aircraft whose primary weapon is a multi-barrel 30mm cannon originally designed to fire armored piercing shells through the thinner top armor of Russian (or any other) tanks. These days the 1,174 30mm rounds are mostly high explosive. The 30mm cannon fires 363 gram (12.7 ounce) rounds at the rate of about 65 a second. The cannon usually fires in one or two second bursts. In addition, the A-10 can carry seven tons of bombs and missiles. These days the A-10 goes out with smart bombs (GPS and laser guided) and Maverick missiles. It can also carry a targeting pod, enabling the pilot to use high magnification day/night cameras to scour the area for enemy activity. In Afghanistan two drop tanks were usually carried to give the aircraft more fuel and maximum time over the battlefield. The A-10, nicknamed "Warthog" or just "hog", could always fly low and slow and was designed, and armored, to survive a lot of ground fire. One reason for the change of attitude towards the A-10 was a recent survey of Marine, Army, and Air Force JTACs (Joint Terminal Attack Controllers) and JFOs (Joint Fires Observers) which showed an overwhelming preference for the A-10. JTAC and JFO teams are trained to call in air strikes and most of these teams contain a combat pilot. At the same time these teams work directly with ground forces and are well aware of what kind of air support the ground troops find most useful. Ground controllers mostly (48 percent) preferred the A-10. The next most popular aircraft (which 13 percent preferred) was the AC-130 gunships. While the AC-130 is in no danger of elimination (it is an armed C-130 transport) the A-10 is. Yet the air force leaders insist jet fighters (like the F-16, F-15 and F-18) can replace the A-10 but these three fighters are preferred by 14 percent. The AV-8B vertical takeoff jet is preferred by only four percent. Armed helicopters are preferred by 11 percent and armed UAVs by nine percent. Air force leaders insist jet fighters can adequately replace the A-10 but ground troops and fighter pilots serving as JTACs say otherwise. As useful as armed helicopters and UAVs are the overwhelming preference is for the A-10, an aircraft explicitly designed to provide the best ground support. The air force refuses even ret and design a 21st century A-10 and there are no other aircraft in service that even come close. This hostile attitude by air force leadership is to the A-10 is nothing new. The air force has been trying to retire its A-10 aircraft since the 1990s and since late 2014 they tried issuing studies and analyses showing that the A-10 was too specialized and too old to justify the cost of keeping it in service. This generated more opposition, and more effective opposition, than the air forces expected. This was helped by the fact that some of the studies were more spin than impartial analysis. All this created unwanted publicity about something the air force denies exists but is nevertheless very real; the air force has never really wanted to devote much resources to CAS (Close Air Support) for ground forces. Officially this is not true but in reality it is and the ground forces (army and marines) and historians provided plenty of evidence. The problem is complicated by the fact that the air force does not want to allow the army to handle CAS, as is the case with some countries and the U.S. Marine Corps (which provides CAS for marines and any ground forces the marines are operating with). Soldiers and marines both insist that marine CAS (provided by Harriers. F-35Bs and F-18s flown by marines) is superior. The army and marines also have their own helicopter gunships for support, but they lack capabilities only the fixed wing aircraft have. Despite all that the air force wants to eliminate the A-10, which soldiers, marines and many allied troops consider the best CAS aircraft ever, and replace it with less effective (for CAS) fighters adapted for CAS. The ground forces dont want that mainly because the A-10 pilots specialize in CAS while fighter pilots must spend a lot of time training for air combat and different types of bombing, The A-10 pilots are CAS specialists and it shows by the amount of praise they get from their customers (the ground troops). To the dismay of just about everyone the air force dismisses all this as much less important than the fact that the A-10 cannot fight other aircraft. That was how the A-10 was designed, on air force orders, but that is somehow irrelevant now. Meanwhile A-10s are again in demand in Europe (to confront Russia) and the Middle East (to deal with ISIL in Iraq and Syria). While sending more A-10s to East Europe and the Middle East the air force continues to insist that it must retire all of its A-10s in order to deal with a shrinking budget and this time the A-10 has really got to go. The air force had a point because their budget is shrinking and Cold War era aircraft, especially the F-16, need replacing and the replacement is the very expensive F-35. The air force plays down the fact that for CAS missions the fighter jets sometimes used, like the F-16 or even the F-35, are much less effective as well as being more expensive to operate than the A-10. A sortie by an F16 costs 80 percent more than an A-10, F-15E is twice as much, F-22 four times as much and the F-35 is somewhere between the F-15E and F-22. But the key advantage is that the troops trust the A-10 more than the F-16 or any other aircraft used for ground support. If there is another major war in someplace like Korea, Eastern Europe or Iran, the A-10s would once more be one of the most popular warplane with the ground troops, unless the air force manages to get rid of it. Etihad Chairman and CEO James Hogan talks during a joint news conference with Alitalia's Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to present their new partner company Alitalia SAI in Rome January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Tony Gentile By Stanley Carvalho and Victoria Bryan ABU DHABI/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The veteran chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Aviation Group will leave this year, the company announced on Tuesday, but said it remained committed to his strategy of extending the airline's reach by taking stakes in foreign airlines. Australian James Hogan, 60, who over the past 10 years has developed Etihad Airways into an aggressive rival to Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways, will step down as president and CEO of the group in the second half of 2017. Etihad's Australian chief financial officer, James Rigney, will also leave this year, Etihad said. Chairman Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel al-Mazrouei said Etihad was continuing a "company-wide strategic review" which could include adjustments to the network of equity partnerships with other carriers that Hogan used to engineer rapid growth at Etihad. Two of the major airlines in which Etihad invested, Air Berlin (AB1.DE) and Alitalia [CAITLA.UL], are losing money, adding to pressure on Etihad's earnings caused by slowing growth in the Middle East's aviation market. However, Mazrouei said state-owned Etihad was not abandoning the equity partnership model, which along with code-sharing tie-ups had delivered 5.5 million passengers onto its flights in 2016. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy, he said. An Etihad spokesman told Reuters there was no link between the strategic review and Hogan's departure, which had been planned for many months. INVESTMENTS Etihad owns stakes in seven airlines around the world: Air Berlin (AB1.DE), Alitalia [CAITLA.UL], Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional in Switzerland, India's Jet Airways (JET.NS) and Virgin Australia (VAH.AX). In 10 years, Etihad grew from a 22-plane regional carrier into a global operation with 120 aircraft and 26,000 staff. Its growth helped attract visitors to Abu Dhabi as the wealthy emirate, seeking to diversify its economy beyond oil, developed a tourism industry. Story continues But in recent months, a slowing regional economy, overcapacity in the airline industry and a strong U.S. dollar have hurt Etihad. In December, the group said it was cutting jobs in some parts of its business, but did not give a number. An industry source familiar with matter told Reuters that Hogan's departure was unlikely to mean any change to the current restructuring plan for Air Berlin, which had already obtained board approval. "However if future injections of cash are needed, it may look very different, the source said. Alitalia, in which Etihad has a 49 percent stake, said on Monday that it planned to cut non-labour related costs by at least 160 million euros ($172 million) this year as it tried to become profitable. Industry sources told Reuters that the Italian carrier's restructuring might include up to 2,000 job cuts and the grounding of planes. On Tuesday, Etihad said it had started a global search for a new group CEO and a new CFO. It said it was grateful to Hogan and that he and Rigney, who is 49 years old, would join a Europe-based investment company, which it did not name. Etihad reported a consolidated net profit of $103 million for 2015. Abu Dhabi is one of the richest governments in the world and could easily finance any earnings slump at the airline, but it has been seeking to make many of its assets more efficient in an era of low oil prices. Etihad's two main regional rivals, also state-owned, have adopted different expansion strategies. Emirates has not emphasised equity alliances, while Qatar Airways has made some investments but focused on financially stronger partners. For example, it owns a major stake in British Airways owner IAG, one of Europe's most profitable carriers. "We will look at other acquisitions of airlines but we look at airlines that don't take the resources of Qatar, or attention of Qatar management, to fix issues. We will always go after goldsmiths, not scrap dealers," Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in 2015. (Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Mark Potter, Greg Mahlich) ACCRA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Ghana's new government on Tuesday replaced the head of the national oil company after an election in which it promised greater transparency in the sector and a fairer use of oil revenues. It appointed Kofi Konadu Sarpong, former head of Ghana's only refinery, the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), to replace Alex Mould as head of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), a senior aide at the presidency told Reuters. Ghana produces around 100,000 barrels per day and has made $3 billion in revenue since it began producing crude in 2010 from an offshore field operated by British company Tullow . A second Tullow field opened last August. GNPC has stakes in both operations as well as in an oil and gas field operated by Italy's ENI (LSE: 0N9S.L - news) set to begin operations in 2017. The government of Nana Akufo-Addo, sworn in on Jan. 7 , says public opinion over the benefits of oil to the economy declined under the previous administration. "The NPP commits to a transparent, accountable and efficient management of the country's petroleum resources for the benefit of all Ghanaians," it said in its manifesto. The government says it seeks to attract more domestic and foreign investment in oil and gas exploration, develop the Western region into an oil services hub and create a port to serve oil operations across the West Africa region. It also aims to expand the Tema Oil Refinery so that domestic crude is processed locally, improve the quality of imported fuel and build a petrochemical industry. (Reporting by Kwasi Kpodo; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg) By Michelle Price HONG KONG, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Companies aiming to relocate from the United Kingdom to Luxembourg ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union will have to establish a substantial presence in the country, including key decision-makers and functions, the Benelux nation's financial watchdog told Reuters. Some UK businesses are looking to establish a notional presence in Luxembourg to maintain so-called "passporting rights" that would allow them to continue selling all their services across the 28-nation bloc with minimum cost and disruption. But Jean-Marc Goy, counsel for international affairs of Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), said it is "out of the question" and "unrealistic" for UK businesses to seek to establish a nominal presence. "EU rules require substance in the jurisdiction where an entity is established and we in Luxembourg are very mindful that that substance complies at all time with the EU rules," Goy told Reuters after attending a CSSF roadshow to the Asia region. Goy said the CSSF would assess each application case by case. "It will depend on the size and the technicality of the activities being relocated, but one thing is for sure: it cannot just be a postal address or a letter-box entity. That would be absolutely unacceptable." The CSSF will require companies to relocate a minimum number of staff, decision-makers and other key functions - covering IT, compliance, risk management and internal audit - and comply with minimum capital requirements, Goy added. His comments followed a long-awaited speech last week by Theresa May in which the British Prime Minister ended months of speculation by outlining her vision for a so-called "hard Brexit" that will take Britain out of the EU single market. May promised to seek the greatest possible access to European markets but her speech put a decisive end to any hope habourbed by London's financial lobby that the City of London (LSE: CIN.L - news) could keep financial passporting rights. Goy said that the CSSF has been in talks with British businesses looking to set up in Luxembourg, one of the world's largest asset management centres. He declined to provide numbers but said that the watchdog does not anticipate an influx of tens of thousands of UK staff. (Editing by David Goodman) HOUSTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Jim Flavin, head of trading for BP's North American natural gas liquids division, has resigned, four sources familiar with the move said this week. It was unclear whether he planned to join another company. A spokesman for BP declined to comment on personnel changes. Flavin, who had been at BP for 5 years, had previously worked at Louis Dreyfus Highbridge Energy, where he was senior vice president for the firm's natural gas trading group, according to his LinkedIn (Swiss: LNKD.SW - news) profile. (Reporting by Liz Hampton; Editing by Alan Crosby) WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Oil companies Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) and Phillips 66 (Hamburg: 18376318.HM - news) bought more than 6 million barrels of oil last week from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, according to a Department of Energy document released on Tuesday. Shell bought 6.2 million barrels of oil and Phillips 66 bought 200,000 barrels on Jan. 18, said the department document, seen by Reuters. The federal government held the sale to fund a revamp of the emergency oil stash, which is held in salt caverns in Louisiana and Texas. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Liz Hampton in Houston; Editing by Chris Reese) BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany would take advantage of any trade opportunities in Asia and South America left by a protectionist United States, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said, after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "If Trump starts a trade war with Asia and South America, it will open opportunities for us," Gabriel told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. "Trump must simply recognise that the U.S. economy often isn't competitive, while the German (economy) is," he said, criticising Trump's threat to impose a 35 percent tariff on German cars imported from Mexico. Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing from the 12-nation TPP on Monday, following through on a promise made during his election campaign. He called the move a "great thing for the American worker". Gabriel - Economy Minister and leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who is expected to run against Chancellor Angela Merkel in September's election - said German industry should remain confident in the face of Trump's moves. Barely 10 percent of German exports go to the United States, Gabriel said, while 60 percent go to other countries in Europe. "You can see the weight of our economic interests," said Gabriel. "Germany should act with self-confidence and not be fearful or servile." "We are a highly successful, technologically advanced export nation with many hard-working people and smart companies." Bernd Lange, a Social Democrat and chairman of the trade committee in the European Parliament, told broadcaster rbb that Germany and the European Union should look into expanding trade with China and other countries. "We must certainly speak with China because it is trying to jump into the gap left by the United States, even if they have other practices," he said. Lange said the European Union should also push for closer ties with countries that had similar values, including Canada, Japan and Australia. He said he expected the European Parliament to approve a free trade agreement with Canada by a large majority. (Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Louise Ireland) (Adds comments from union) SANTIAGO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Unionized workers at BHP Billiton-owned Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine, said on Tuesday that they rejected the company's latest wage offer and asked its workers to vote for a strike and prepare themselves for an extended conflict. The Escondida workers' union, which represents about 2,500 laborers at the Chilean mine, has been in collective wage talks with the company since December to replace the current contract which expires at the end of January. The union has warned that if talks with the company are unsuccessful they could go on strike. "The company has presented its last offer today, which eliminates or modifies a series of benefits our union has fought for and won over the years," the union said in a statement. "Considering this, the union's board has asked all of its members to vote en masse for a legal strike and to prepare themselves for an extended conflict," it said. "The offer is absurd," union president Patricio Tapia told Reuters. BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) said it would not comment on the matter. Workers will have between Jan. 27 and Jan. 31 to vote on the company's wage and benefits proposal. According to Chilean labor law, if direct talks between the company and workers fail, both sides can then request government mediation. Labor talks at Escondida are seen as a benchmark for the copper industry at large. The last wage talks four years ago, when copper prices were considerably higher, ended with Escondida offering each worker a bonus worth some $49,000, the highest ever offered in Chile (Stuttgart: 704599.SG - news) 's mining industry. The company is now offering bonuses of around $12,000 per worker. Escondida is controlled by BHP Billiton with a 57.5 percent stake, while Rio Tinto (Hanover: CRA1.HA - news) owns 30 percent. The rest is owned by Japan's JECO. The mine produced 1.15 million tonnes of copper in 2015. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero; and Anthony Esposito; Editing by Sandra Maler) France 24 Videos As world powers prepare to begin crucial climate talks at the COP27 summit in Egypt, we speak to Chiara Martinelli, director of the Climate Action Network Europe, which describes itself as Europe's leading NGO coalition fighting dangerous climate change. Martinelli says the EU should, in Sharm-el-Sheikh, agree to upgrade its previous commitment to cut carbon emissions by 55 percent and now target a 65 percent reduction in emissions. "This would send an important signal to the other negotiating parties that Europe is doing its fair share globally, and that it is committed to containing the global temperature rise within 1.5 C," she tells Armen Georgian. Martinelli also addressed the thorny issue of climate finance, saying. "At the heart of climate finance is the concept of climate justice. The biggest emitters need to support poor countries both for mitigation and adaptation as well as for loss and damage. And climate financing, in the form of grants, should go hand in hand with plans to ensure an energy transition in those [poor] countries. We can't afford [for] those countries to make the same mistakes that developed countries made by locking in a fossil fuels economy."Finally, asked about renewable energy strategy, she said: "The war in Ukraine led to an increase in energy prices, and so now Europe has an opportunity to showcase the fact that renewables are not only greener but also cheaper at this moment in time. So this is the best moment we have to speed up the rollout of renewables both in Europe and in the investments we make on other continents. Europe has talked the talk; it should walk the walk."Read more on FRANCE 24 EnglishRead also:COP27: North-South, a growing divideNile River under threat: A closer look at Egypt's water crisisGreta Thunberg will not attend COP27 in Egypt, says summit is 'greenwashing' By Katie Paul RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and France, both backers of Syrian rebels, said on Tuesday they hoped Syrian truce talks in Astana would lead to a resumption of U.N.-led peace efforts in Geneva and more aid to civilians suffering from five years of war. In a joint news conference, foreign ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault of France and Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia also suggested that cooperation with new U.S. President Donald Trump would be important on a range of Middle East issues. Iran, Russia and Turkey ended truce talks in Kazakhstan on Tuesday with the announcement of a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with a shaky truce between Syrian warring parties. Saudi Arabia did not take part in the Astana meetings, though a French envoy attended informally with other Western counterparts. The talks in Astana come after years of intermittent talks in Geneva failed to resolve the conflict. "We wish for the success of today's meeting. But I dont know if were going to reach a real agreement. We hope for negotiations to resume in Geneva," Ayrault said, according to an interpreter's translation of his remarks. The next round of Geneva talks, led by the United Nations, will be held on Feb. 8. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, took part in the Astana talks. Saudi Arabia, one of the chief backers of the rebels, has not indicated whether it will continue sending them military support since they were routed from their largest stronghold, Syria's second city of Aleppo, in December. The U.S. ambassador to Khazakstan represented Washington at the talks. Jubeir said he was optimistic about the possibilities of regional powers working with the Trump administration. He expressed confidence in Trump's cabinet nominees, including national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom he described as "an American patriot." Flynn ruffled feathers with divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail, such as a Twitter comment that "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL." Ayrault was more circumspect about the likelihood of cooperation with Trump, and noted that uncertainties existed about the new administration's policies. He reiterated support for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, suggesting a conflict with Trump's plan to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and raised questions about U.S. leadership on trade and climate change. "The U.S. is a powerful country. Its a superpower. And it carries responsibilities to the world. Even if it is defending the interests of its people, it cannot defend its peoples interests without a multilateral approach," Ayrault said. (Reporting by Katie Paul; Writing by William Maclean and Tom Finn; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) By Sophie Louet BERLIN (Reuters) - European Union sanctions on Russia are pointless, the frontrunner in France's presidential election Francois Fillon said on Monday in Berlin, warning Russia and the United States under Donald Trump could forge links that exclude the EU. Speaking after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the conservative candidate said the EU was "despised by major powers" because of its divisions and must better defend its economic interests. The relationship between France and Germany is essential to driving those changes but it must be a partnership of equals, Fillon said, flexing his muscles on the campaign trail to say the two countries must be open about their differences. "We have differences? Let's accept them instead of denying them. We have divergences on the issue of refugees or on economic policy? Let's face them to better overcome them," he told a conference. One of those differences is on Russia, where Germany has taken a hard line in favour of EU sanctions over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its support for a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine. "I am convinced that the economic sanctions are totally ineffective," Fillon told reporters earlier on Monday. "We must find another way to talk," he said, while adding that a gesture from Russia would be needed before sanctions could be lifted. "I do not want (U.S. President Donald) Trump to talk with Russia at our expense. It would be damaging for Europe if Trump went above our heads, which is not inconceivable," he said. Fillon, who last year was called an "upstanding person" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said that in the longer term he would aim for a new economic partnership and a Europe-Russia security conference, once the conflict in Ukraine was resolved. Fillon is the frontrunner in opinion polls but his ratings have dropped slightly and surveys predict an increasingly tight race between him, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and independent centrist Emmanuel Macron. 'ON THE SAME PAGE' With a pro-business focus on cutting public spending, Fillon is generally seen as an ally by fellow conservative Merkel on economic issues. He sought to allay fears that, if elected, he may let the public budget deficit deteriorate while he reforms the economy by saying that he aimed to keep the deficit as close as possible to 3 percent of economic output next year. His programme had indicated that the deficit could be as wide as 4.5 percent in 2018. Fillon has also dropped calls to pool the debts of euro zone countries, another sign of goodwill towards Germany. He is in favour of harmonisation of tax policies in the euro zone, as is Berlin. The euro zone must be strengthened, Fillon said during his Berlin visit, saying heads of states should have the upper hand and meet every three months. Fillon said he and Merkel were "on the same page" on the need not to let the United States impose its laws that have cost European banks billions of euros in fines and other settlements over violations of U.S. sanctions against other countries. Fillon is the only candidate in the April-May presidential election to be received by the German chancellor so far, in a sign of support from Merkel. But she looks unlikely to give him explicit backing - there was no joint statement or comment from German officials afterwards. Merkel, up for re-election herself in September, publicly backed conservative Nicolas Sarkozy when he sought re-election in 2012. He lost. Asked if Merkel would be willing to meet the Socialist candidate, who is to be nominated on Sunday, her spokesman said: "If there is a wish from the French side, then yes". (Additonal reporting by Joseph Nasr, Ingrid Melander and Emmanuel Jarry; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Janet Lawrence) [January 24, 2017] FXGear Introduces New NOON VR+ Mobile VR Headset, Adds Wireless PC Streaming SEOUL, South Korea, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- FXGear Inc., an industry-leading AR and VR technology enterprise operating with headquarters in Seoul, S. Korea, announced today the release of their NOON VR+ mobile virtual reality headset. NOON VR+ is the next generation of the company's popular NOON VR headset, currently available at BestBuy and Amazon in the US and Canada. First launched in 2015, the NOON VR headset was well received for its lightweight and compact design that also offered wide compatibility with iPhones, at a time when competitive headsets only supported Android devices. NOON VR app's advanced rendering technology, able to display up to 11k resolution VR experiences, and its intuitive tap UX also helped to differentiate it from other mobile VR headsets in the market. NOON VR+ improves on many design factors to provide users with a better VR experience including eye protection, improved fit, and increased convenience. "The new NOON VR+ headset addresses feedback from thousands of NOON VR customers to meet the demands of everyday use and the most highly requested features. We are excited to share with our community the next generation of immersive virtual reality through mobile devices," said Kwang-Jin Choi, CEO of FXGear. "As a leading Korean AR/VR company working to advance both hardware and software, we are dedicated to spreading a superior mobile VR experience." NOON VR+ includes the lightweight design and 95 viewing angle of the first NOON VR, but now incorporates advanced BluTech lenses to block harmful light rays while reducing eye fatigue, along with a much more luxurious face padding experience. This new material is more breathable for extended use, easy to clean, and entirely replaceable. The outer cover has also been reconfigured from a detachable style to a fully integrated design. This change enhances the convenience of detaching and attaching the smartphone while proteting the lenses from dust and scratches when not in use. NOON VR+ includes an activation code for the NOON VR App, the only VR app that provides an intuitive tap-based interface allowing users to change video contents and settings without removing their headset. Along with its long list of in-house produced content and user-uploaded videos, the NOON VR app enables users to watch their own 2D videos on a virtual IMAX-like, theater-sized screen. The NOON VR app also recently launched the NOON VR REMOTE feature. After a quick installation of the NOON VR REMOTE software on a PC, users can wirelessly stream their PC screen directly to the NOON VR+ headset. With configurable settings for flat 2D, 180, 360, top/bottom, and left/right arranged experiences, users can define the perfect settings for whatever contents they want to experience. FXGear's first generation NOON VR headset was recognized by BestBuy for its "superior technology and product excellence" and has earned the European CE (European Integrated Safety Certification) certification in March of 2015. NOON VR+ will be available for purchase in-stores and online starting at the end of January 2017. For more information about NOON VR+ and the NOON VR app, please visit www.noonvr.com. About FXGear Founded in 2004, FXGear Inc. is an augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology company founded by computer graphics experts. Based on their decade long experience of introducing cutting-edge computer graphics software solutions to the visual effects, game, and mobile industries, FXGear has produced distinguished AR/VR products and services including FXMirror, a virtual fitting solution, and NOON VR, a virtual reality headset and mobile contents platform app. FXGear has acquired more than 55 patents and has delivered technology to fashion retailers, major motion picture studios and universities. For more, please visit www.fxgear.net and follow @getNOONVR. Contacts: Korea: Haewon Kam, 82-2514-9850 [email protected] USA: Kyle Henry, 1-310-469-4290 [email protected] Related Images image1.jpg image2.png Related Links www.fxgear.net Related Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDI6VB442kc This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fxgear-introduces-new-noon-vr-mobile-vr-headset-adds-wireless-pc-streaming-300395119.html SOURCE FXGear, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] By Tracy Rucinski NEW YORK (Reuters) - Peabody Energy Corp's plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy faces a "material risk" that the U.S. coal producer could suffer a $1 billion revenue loss due to a disputed lease at the world's largest coal mine, according to an objection filed to its reorganization plan. The plan by Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to cut $5 billion of debt and emerge from bankruptcy in April is supported by most of its creditors, but has faced a series of official objections from other parties. Oil and gas driller Berenergy Corp and Peabody hold overlapping federal mineral leases in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where Peabody operates the North Antelope Rochelle mine that provides the bulk of its coal production. In October a Wyoming District Court ruled that Peabody was entitled to mine through Berenergy's wells as long as it made certain payments to the oil and gas company. An appeal is pending before the state's Supreme Court. Berenergy said in a court filing that an adverse decision by Wyoming's high court would prevent Peabody from mining near its wells, potentially causing the coal producer to lose more than $1 billion in revenues it projects in the first five years of its emergence from Chapter 11. "Thus, that litigation creates a material risk to Peabody's post-reorganization financial viability," Berenergy said in an objection to Peabody's reorganization plan filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis. In an emailed statement, Peabody spokesman said the company was evaluating the objection and would respond in due course. Indiana and several environmental groups also objected to Peabody's reorganization plan on concerns over how it would cover about $1 billion in future mine cleanup costs. At issue is whether Peabody will use third-party bonds to cover future environmental liabilities in place of "self-bonding," a federal practice that exempts large coal companies from setting aside cash or collateral to ensure that mined land is returned to its natural setting, as required by law. A hearing to approve Peabody's reorganization was scheduled in St. Louis on Thursday. Among other objections, certain creditors and shareholders have opposed the proposed recoveries granted under the plan. And four former executives, including former chief executive officer Gregory Boyce, filed a complaint about their retirement packages. The U.S. Trustee, a government watchdog for bankruptcies, has also objected to parts of the reorganization plan. (Editing by Jonathan Oatis) MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least four soldiers were killed and five wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb that Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it planted exploded outside a military camp in a town near Mogadishu, officials said. Further south, Kenyan soldiers working under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) killed seven al Shabaab fighters in a Somali district on the countries' border, Kenyan authorities said. The blast in Afgoye, about 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the capital, took place a day after the insurgent group carried out a raid on the same town that was repulsed by government troops, Major Osman Abdulle, a police officer, told Reuters. Al Shabaab, which is waging an insurgency across Somalia aimed at toppling the Western-backed government in Mogadishu, claimed responsibility for the bombing. "We planted the bomb last night. At least seven soldiers died," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, the group's military operations spokesman, told Reuters. The Kenya Defence Forces said the al Shabaab fighters were killed during an operation to flush them out of the southern town of Badhaadhe, where the group had taken control of a mosque and a police station. It said it recovered rifles, ammunition and two 81 mm bombs among other items. Al Shabaab, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, aims to impose its own strict version of Islam on the Horn of Africa state. The group once held large swathes of Somalia including Mogadishu before being ousted from the capital in 2011 and losing further ground. But it continues to pose a formidable threat. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar; Additional reporting by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Writing by Aaron Maasho; editing by John Stonestreet) By John Irish and Andrew Osborn ASTANA/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan were a coup for their international sponsors, but exposed the limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in their efforts to resolve the six-year-old war. It was the first time in nine months the two sides had come together, albeit briefly and unhappily, and the first time that Moscow, Ankara and Tehran had presided over such talks, with the United States only present as an observer. The fact that the talks happened at all was a diplomatic coup that underlined the three countries' growing Middle East clout and Washington's diminished influence at a time when Donald Trump is settling into the presidency. The head of the Russian delegation, Alexander Lavrentyev, hailed the talks, held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, as the "birth" of a new negotiating format, and there were hopes they might make it more likely that U.N.-brokered talks could take place in Geneva next month. At the end of two chaotic days, Moscow, Ankara and Tehran backed a shaky Dec. 30 truce between Syria's warring parties and agreed to monitor its compliance. Yet negotiations did not go to plan, showing that the three would-be Syria conflict brokers, in their different ways, all have credibility problems. This suggests they may have to involve Washington and the Gulf States more fully if they are to have any chance of brokering a final deal. That could be difficult as the talks spotlighted sharp differences between Moscow and Tehran over the possible future participation of the United States, in particular. State media in Iran cited Iranian officials as saying any future U.S. involvement was unacceptable, while Lavrentyev, the main Russian negotiator, said Moscow would welcome Washington joining the process. "They (the Russians) can now see how difficult their partners are," said one Western diplomat. In previous rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva, Moscow had not been able to call the shots in the way it could in Kazakhstan, the diplomat said, because the United States and the West had succeeded in diluting its role. This time, Moscow had its first taste of what it is like to be in the hot seat. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had previously lamented the failure of U.N.-backed talks in Geneva, calling them "fruitless sitting around". Lavrentyev, Russia's chief negotiator in Astana, put a positive gloss on the Kazakh talks but did not hide the diplomatic difficulties either, complaining at different times about how tough the discussions were. Western envoys, who turned up informally to observe developments from the corridors of the hotel, mingled with reporters to try to ascertain what the purpose of the meeting was. There was much speculation about whether Russia wanted a follow-up meeting that would go into the details of what was in the end a vague final communique. "Frankly, were baffled. Why is Russia doing this now? What has changed for them that they want to disengage militarily and engage politically?" said one diplomat. Western envoys congregated in the lobby of the Rixos, the talks venue, as snow fell outside and could be heard debating whether to try the local horsemeat specialties in the hotels Irish pub, where clouds of cigarette smoked filled the air. At one point, on Monday evening, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry began searching for guides willing to show the rebels around local shopping malls after apparently being told that the opposition wanted to pick up some bargains. LEGITIMACY PROBLEMS Back at the talks, rebels and Western diplomats questioned the role of Iran and its allies. "The Russians have moved from a stage of being a party in the fighting and are now exerting efforts to become a guarantor. They are finding a lot of obstacles from (Lebanon's Shi'ite) Hezbollah forces, Iran and the regime," said Mohammed Alloush, the head of the Syrian opposition delegation. Western diplomats said they too saw Iran as one of the main obstacles to progress with one saying Tehran's commitment to the ceasefire and a political transition was uncertain. Moscow said it had given the rebels the draft of a new constitution, drawn up by Russian specialists, to speed agreement on a political transition. It was unclear however what the document said or what the rebels thought of it. The talks yielded a joint communique from Russia, Turkey and Iran which pledged to create a monitoring mechanism to police Syria's patchy ceasefire, but the rebels did not endorse it. Instead, they submitted a separate proposal on the ceasefire and questioned Iran's legitimacy as a broker at a time when they said Iranian militias were breaching the ceasefire. The communique legitimized Iran's "bloodletting" in Syria, complained Alloush, and did not address the role of Shi'ite militias fighting the rebels. Nor did the rebels, who for the first time were represented by military rather than just political figures, show any signs of watering down their demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down as soon as possible, something Damascus won't accept. For some of them, Russia's broker status sat awkwardly. "We are not opposed to Russia because it is Russia but we had a problem when its jets were participating with the regime in killing our people," said Osama Abu Zaid, an opposition spokesman. "If this role ends then we'll have no problem." The Syrian government delegation had its own issues with the talks' sponsors, questioning Turkey's legitimacy as a broker at a time when it said Ankara was violating its sovereignty via an extended armed incursion into northern Syria. NO FACE-TO-FACE TALKS Neither delegation included senior figures and Washington was only represented in an observer capacity by its local ambassador. Apart from one official from the United Arab Emirates present informally, Arab envoys were absent. And in a major setback, Moscow failed to get the two sides to negotiate face-to-face despite Lavrentyev, the Russian negotiator, saying beforehand that face-to-face talks were "the main goal". The rebels baulked at that, saying they could not sit down with people responsible for so much bloodshed. Instead, Moscow had to make do with indirect talks with the two delegations relaying messages via intermediaries. Some diplomats said it was the opposition that had refused, but others said there were fears that Bashar Ja'afari, the head of the government delegation, who has a reputation for being curt, would add "vinegar to the water", giving indirect talks a better chance of success. There was quarrelling about the format and the agenda from the outset. The opposition demanded talks focus solely on a ceasefire that should require Iranian-backed militias to quit Syria. But the government, emboldened by the fact the talks were being held under the co-sponsorship of Russia, a staunch ally, and with the balance of power turning in its favor on the ground, said there was a chance to push for reconciliation with Assad remaining in power, a red line for the rebels. Opening statements laid bare those divisions. Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, called the Syrian government "a bloody despotic regime", while Ja'afari, head of the government delegation, accused opposition negotiators of defending "war crimes" and of being rude and unprofessional. Ja'afari made clear too that a government offensive against Wadi Barada, which supplies most of the water for Damascus, would continue even though rebels see it as a truce violation. "As long as 7 million people in Damascus remain deprived of water, it will continue," said Ja'afari. Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think-tank close to the Foreign Ministry, told Reuters the talks had been "better than nothing." "But there is no silver bullet," he said. (Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh, Olzhas Auyezov, Suleiman al-Khalidi and Denis Dyomkin in Astana, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by) BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany would take advantage of any trade opportunities in Asia and South America left by a protectionist United States, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said, after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "If Trump starts a trade war with Asia and South America, it will open opportunities for us," Gabriel told Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday. "Trump must simply recognise that the U.S. economy often isn't competitive, while the German (economy) is," he said, criticising Trump's threat to impose a 35 percent tariff on German cars imported from Mexico. Trump signed an executive order formally withdrawing from the 12-nation TPP on Monday, following through on a promise made during his election campaign. He called the move a "great thing for the American worker". Gabriel - Economy Minister and leader of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), who is expected to run against Chancellor Angela Merkel in September's election - said German industry should remain confident in the face of Trump's moves. Barely 10 percent of German exports go to the United States, Gabriel said, while 60 percent go to other countries in Europe. "You can see the weight of our economic interests," said Gabriel. "Germany should act with self-confidence and not be fearful or servile." "We are a highly successful, technologically advanced export nation with many hard-working people and smart companies." Bernd Lange, a Social Democrat and chairman of the trade committee in the European Parliament, told broadcaster rbb that Germany and the European Union should look into expanding trade with China and other countries. "We must certainly speak with China because it is trying to jump into the gap left by the United States, even if they have other practices," he said. Lange said the European Union should also push for closer ties with countries that had similar values, including Canada, Japan and Australia. He said he expected the European Parliament to approve a free trade agreement with Canada by a large majority. (Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Louise Ireland) The Independent Manchester City's manager has hailed Rico Lewis for becoming the club's youngest Champions League goalscorer. Pep Guardiola said the teenager has "something special," and is "so clever, so intelligent."At just 17 years old, the defender who has been training with the club since he was eight scored against Sevilla in their winning game on Wednesday, 2 November. Guardiola said that the player has earned his place on the pitch, and they don't "give presents" just because he came from the academy. Source: PA Mustapha Kanit Crushes Day 1b of the Aussie Millions Main Event January 24 2017 Brad Kain Another day done and dusted in the Crown Poker Room as Aussie Millions $10,000 Main Event Day 1b is now on the books. PokerNews saw 184 players pull up seats throughout the seven levels of play today to take our running total up to 396 ahead of the 387 that were in contention at the same time last year. With the final Day 1 flight tomorrow, time will tell if the 732-player field from 2016 can be eclipsed. Today was host to another showcase of exciting poker action, and when all was said and done, it was birthday boy Mustapha Kanit who emerged on top with 215,000. When the clock ticked past midnight, Kanits birthday began and a mountain of chips seemed fitting as the perfect gift. Kanit dominated his table today, picking off attempted bluffs and finding value in all the right spots. The Italian superstar has over $8.5 million in live cashes to his name and finds himself in a great position to add to that impressive total here this week. Joining Kanit for Day 2 come Wednesday will be Rhys Jones who bagged up 159,800 by the conclusion of play. Fortune favored Jones straight out the gate as he delivered the first knockout blow in level 1. In an unequivocally sick hand, Jones sent a tablemate packing to establish himself as an early chip leader here on Day 1b. All of the chips went in on the turn with the board showing . Jones had flopped a full house with pocket eights but found himself behind on the turn to his opponents pocket jacks. Looking like all hope was lost, Jones found the miracle case eight on the river to secure himself the monster pot and rocket to the lead. Also still in the hunt from todays batch are Andrew Hinrichsen (105,600), Jeff Rossiter (94,000), Billy Argyros (85,700), Ryan DAngelo (68,400), Dario Sammartino (68,300), Alex Lynskey (62,200), Terrence Chan (58,900), Tyron Krost (48,500), Ryan Otto (45,000), Didier Guerin (44,700), [B]Michael Kane[/B] (39,000), Melanie Weisner (24,400), Jarred Graham (22,000), Darryll Fish (18,000), Michael Addamo (12,100) and Liam ORourke (8,300). While these lucky players secured themselves a seat on Day 2, many others fell by the wayside. Perhaps the most recognizable face in Australian poker, 2005 WSOP Main Event champion Joe Hachem, was felted in level 5. He got his short stack in preflop with ace-king against the pocket jacks of Hinrichsen but failed to improve. Also sent hurtling to the rail was 2015 November Niner Federico Butteroni who was hit by a cold deck versus Kane. Holding Butteroni found the last of it in the middle with the board reading . That was no good against Kanes , however, and Butteroni couldnt find a five on the end to keep his tournament alive. For todays survivors though its a day of respite tomorrow as a new group of players try their luck in the final flight on Day 1c. As always, PokerNews will be back with all your live coverage needs so be sure to join us from 12:30 p.m. local time to catch all the action! Sharelines Birthday boy Mustapha Kanit dominated his table on Day 1b of the Aussie Millions Main Event. This spring the University of North Georgia (UNG) started teaching Farsi, an addition that raises the number of foreign languages currently offered at UNG to 11, with a 12th to start soon. The U.S. Army has identified Farsi, also called Persian, as an immediate need on its list of strategic languages, according to Maj. Steven Devitt, executive officer in UNG's Department of Military Science. Persian is the official language of Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, according to the CIA World Factbook, and also is spoken in some neighboring areas. Much of the recent interest in Farsi has come from cadets enrolled in Arabic at UNG who see an advantage to learning both languages, according to Dr. Brian Mann, head of UNG's Department of Modern & Classical Languages. "On one side of the Arabian Sea, in Oman and Saudi Arabia and places like that, they speak Arabic, but across the Persian Gulf is Iran, and they speak Farsi," Mann said. "In the student's mind, especially a cadet or someone who is interested in acquiring a higher degree of proficiency, how much more valuable can you be as a military professional or a military-trained civilian professional, especially in the intelligence field, if you understand both languages?" Students in UNG's first Farsi courses use Arabic characters to write on a whiteboard during class. This semester, 15 students are enrolled in eight hours of Farsi in an intensive, combined session of two 1000-level courses; elementary coursework will be offered again in fall 2017 along with 2000-level coursework. "We teach most of our critical languages this way, and it's because we're interested in producing verbally proficient students," Mann said. "The more intense your learning experience is, the faster you will progress and the faster you will reach a level of proficiency in which you can really use the language." The Farsi courses are taught by Dr. Hassan Hussain, who also teaches Arabic courses at UNG and is a native speaker of Farsi. "The two languages come from completely different language groups," Hussain said. "However, Arabic and Persian are linked by geographic proximity and hundreds of years of shared history." UNG has much to gain from teaching both languages, Hussain said. "Both languages are considered strategic languages and are highly sought after by diplomatic, military, and internationally oriented employers," Hussain said. "Furthermore, since the Arabic and Persian language programs both focus heavily on culture and history, students will be able to get a more well-rounded understanding of the complex political, economic and social ties between Persian-speaking and Arabic-speaking communities in the Middle East and Central Asia." Other language programs also continue to grow at UNG, driven by increased student interest and availability of additional funds. Mann expects university approval by fall semester to add a concentration in Russian to the Bachelor of Arts in modern languages and hire another full-time instructor. Currently, students can choose a concentration in Arabic, Chinese, French, French with business emphasis, Spanish, or Spanish with business emphasis. A new minor in Japanese also is expected to be approved by fall semester, which adds to the current language minors in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Korean, Russian and Spanish. Work also is underway to start a study abroad program in Japan this summer, Mann said. The expansion of UNG's Japanese program and the creation of an interdisciplinary East Asian studies program is supported by a $400,000 grant from the Japan Foundation, which funded the hiring this summer of a full-time instructor in Japanese. Beginning-level Portuguese courses also have been approved and will be offered at UNG pending hiring of a part-time instructor. UNG has language programs in Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish eight of which are included on the Department of Defense's strategic language list. [January 24, 2017] Vaultive Announces New Cloud Security Capabilities for ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo BOSTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaultive, an innovator in cloud data security, today announced the integration of its cloud access security broker (CASB) with two new software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications: ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo. The product integrations are the latest to take advantage of Vaultive's next-generation CASB that offers a range of cloud data security controls and the capability to onboard new supported SaaS applications rapidly. "While ServiceNow, Oracle, and other cloud service providers implement extensive security measures to protect their applications, many customers are still held back from SaaS adoption by regulatory compliance, international data privacy, and government data access concerns," said Doug Lane, vice president of product marketing for Vaultive. "The Vaultive CASB gives organizations direct control over data stored and processed in the cloud, so they can eliminate security and compliance obstacles and unlock the benefits of using leading SaaS platforms." ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo customers can now apply Vaultive's patented feature-preserving encryption and other complementary cloud security controls to sensitive data being processed and stored in the cloud. These advanced security features establish clear segregation of duties between the internal teams charged with protecting organizational data and external cloud service providers like ServiceNow and Oracle. The cloud provider has no ability to decrypt protected data, but the Vaultive platform preserves a seamless SaaS application experience for users. Vaultive enhances ServiceNow security by providing: Searchable encryption of text and file attachments containing sensitive information Secure handling of incoming and outgoing emails Added IT help desk chat security Optional activity auditing and logging Secure data migration from legacy systems Similarly, the Vaultive platform improves Oracle Taleo security by applying added protection to personal information that is captured and stored throughout the recruiting and new employee onboarding lifecycle, including: Searchable encryption of text fields and file attachments containing personal and financial information from job applicants Secure handling of information transmitted to and from other systems in an automated manner through web services and the Taleo Connect Client Oracle Business Intelligence report support Secure data migration from legacy systems "As SaaS application usage grows, responsible CIOs are seeking a unified approach for protecting sensitive data flows consistently across their entire cloud-hosted solutions," said Ben Matzkel, co-founder and chief technology officer for Vaultive. "Our next-generation platform gives us unmatched ability to integrate new use-cases or SaaS applications quickly and demonstrate to customers that we can meet both their current and future cloud security needs." Availability Vaultive CASB protection for ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo is available immediately through Vaultive's sales channels. Organizations interested in learning more can request a demo at Vaultive.com. About Vaultive Vaultive addresses the most pressing security issues that prevent enterprises from adopting software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, including data security, regulatory compliance, international data privacy laws, and government data access concerns. The Vaultive Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) puts powerful policy, data encryption, and auditing capabilities directly in the hands of the IT team while preserving a seamless and responsive cloud application experience for users. Its flexible and highly scalable architecture helps IT teams apply a unified set of cloud security controls and best practices across all of their cloud applications. Vaultive is headquartered in Boston with research and development in Tel Aviv. For more information, visit: www.vaultive.com. Media Contacts: Vaultive Karen Regan +1 978.505.2457 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vaultive-announces-new-cloud-security-capabilities-for-servicenow-and-oracle-taleo-300395187.html SOURCE Vaultive [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] The University of North Georgia (UNG) will celebrate Black History Month with a variety of events designed to inform faculty, staff and students about African-American history as well as spark interest and conversations. "Events such as these provide the perfect opportunity for students of all races to learn about African-American history in our nation, but they also provide an important setting where all of our university constituents can build bridges and become part of UNG's mission to create leaders for a diverse and global society," said Robert Robinson, director for UNG's Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA). "It's not just about appreciation it's also about understanding, which opens the doors to dialogue." Events include but are not limited to: Jan. 24 Oconee Campus Spirit of King: Lunch and Lecture, noon to 1 p.m., room 522 Feb. 1 Gainesville Campus MSA & Black Student Union (BSU) Annual Black History Program with keynote speaker Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Avery Niles, noon to 1 p.m., Student Center, Robinson Ballroom Feb. 8 Gainesville Campus MSA & BSU present The Great Debate: The Future of Black History Month, noon to 1 p.m., Student Center, Robinson Ballroom Feb. 15 Gainesville Campus BSU Members' Black History Presentations, noon to 1 p.m., Student Center, Robinson Ballroom Feb. 22 Gainesville Campus BSU Presents: Way Back Wednesday, noon to 1 p.m., Student Center, Robinson Ballroom Feb. 22 Oconee Campus Movie presentation of "Loving," noon to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m., room 522 Feb. 22 Dahlonega Campus MSA presents The Great Debate: The Future of Black History Month, noon to 1 p.m., location TBA Feb. 23 Dahlonega Campus Movie presentation of "Loving," 7-9:30 p.m., Hoag Auditorium Feb. 24 Gainesville Campus Movie presentation of "Loving," 12:30-2:30 p.m., Nesbitt room 4105 The movie "Loving" is a biopic about Virginian interracial couple Richard and Mildred Loving, played by Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, who were sentenced to prison in 1958 for violating the state's laws against miscegenation. The Lovings decided to fight back, and their case led to a landmark Supreme Court decision that struck down laws prohibiting interracial marriage. "Having events like this reinforces the very core of our university in our mission to build diversity," said Sheila Caldwell, advisor to the president on diversity at UNG. Caldwell also received a Presidential Innovation Award for the Diversity Film Series, which will be presented at three UNG campuses in March. "Though many of these events take place during Black History Month, the growth from such past efforts has been a large part of why we are successfully supporting and promoting diversity year-round at UNG in a variety of events, programs and initiatives." The Diversity Film Series will be held March 7-9, and will be shown on multiple UNG campuses. More details will be released in the upcoming weeks. The day after the inauguration wasnt an especially beautiful day in New York City, but it was perfect for marching: not too cold, not too hot, cloudy but not rainy. And march New Yorkers didhundreds of thousands of women and men and children filled the streets and sidewalks, marching from the United Nations by the East River to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue. They marched in solidarity with their sisters in the original Womens March on Washington. The New York demonstration was one of the Sister Marches throughout the country. In all, an estimated 3.3 million people took part. They gathered support from every continent as women all over the world marched with them. In midtown Manhattan, streets were spilling over with people who could barely move. The subways were teeming with rivers of humanity. When they finally reached the street above, they found a wall of marchers. On 42nd Street, it took 10 minutes to wade through and cross to the other side, one hour to advance one block. But no one complained. Courtesy and friendliness prevailed. The sense of community pervaded the throng because all were committed to the same goal: to hold on to the hard-won gains made in the last six decades. They carried signs that championed civil rights, womens rights, healthcare and reproductive rights. A concern about climate change was another common theme. I asked psychotherapist and artist Judy Warren why she was marching. Because I have to, she answered. Everything in me makes me do this because I am so dismayed and disheartened. I am marching for equality, freedom and a caring society. I asked if there is any particular issue that is especially important to her. There are so many really, that it is hard to boil them down, but obviously womens reproductive rights are extremely important to me and so is climate change and healthcare. Those are the three that come to mind first. Everybody cameblack, white, and brown; young, old, and in-between; gay, straight, and trans; Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or none of the aboveall celebrating the diversity of America. The mood was at once exultant and determined. I saw Sonia Omulepu, an older African-American woman, resting after her subway ride. I asked her why she had come. What will happen to womens rights? Also, I think of immigrants, because I am an immigrant, a working citizen. Immigrants shouldnt be disparaged. This country has always been a welcoming country. Why am I marching? I had to be here to be counted. Linda Keen, a mathematician and retired academic, was marching because I think its important to show that people care about a lot of the issues the new administration seems not to care about or to be against. She is also concerned about funding for education, for art, culture and also particularly the climate. Women like Keen who lived through the culture wars of the 60s remember the fight over Roe v. Wade and the optimism of many women when the decision came down. Healthcare and reproductive rights are important issues for her. A good part of the A.C.A. is that women can get contraceptives. This is important, and I think that Planned Parenthood is a very important part of the whole health issue. People who werent demonstrating, like the merchants on Fifth Avenue, offered tacit support. The Barnes & Noble cafe accommodated the throngs of weary marchers who descended on it to have a cup of something warm and sit down, but the lines were long and chairs were at a premium. The store graciously cleaned the bathrooms much more often than usual. At Saks Fifth Avenue, poker-faced doormen admitted people into the store even though they knew full well that they were marchers, not shoppers. They didnt flinch when asked where the restrooms were. Understandably, Cartier closed early. It was a very special day PRAGUE The target of high-stakes Kremlin power plays during the Cold War, the Czech Republic is again on the front lines of a contest with Russia and its sympathizers this time in the Information Wars. Inside a mustard-yellow stucco building in northwest Prague, Benedikt Vangeli is a commander in that fight leading a new SWAT team for truth. Armed with computers and smartphones, the freshly formed government unit is charged with scouring the Internet and social media, fact-checking, then flagging false reports to the public. Truth is important to a democratic state, Vangeli said. Following the fake news barrage during the U.S. presidential race, the worried Czechs are not the only ones suddenly breaking into the fact-checking business. Nations including Finland and Germany are either setting up or weighing similar operations as fears mount over disinformation campaigns in key elections that could redefine Europes political map this year. The stakes are high: If pro-Kremlin politicians win in an anchor nation like France, it could potentially spell the end of the European Union. Here in the Czech Republic a nation that was once a Cold War hub for the KGB intelligence officials are charging Moscow with rebuilding its spy operations and engaging in covert infiltration of Czech media ahead of elections later this year. And the new government truth squad will pay special attention to a proliferation of opaque, pro-Russian websites in the Czech language that officials say are seeking to gaslight the public by fostering paranoia and undermining faith in democracy and the West. Using methods reminiscent of Soviet-era propaganda, such sites offer a vision of a world where no Russian soldier set foot in Ukraine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a Muslim-hugging menace and the United States is behind Europes refugee crisis. Some are running the same disproved stories that tainted the U.S. election including false allegations that Hillary Clintons campaign dabbled in child trafficking and the occult. But they are also curated for local audiences. Pro-Russian Czech politicians, for instance, are exalted, while Moscows critics are torn down. The EU, such stories suggest, is power grabbing and inept. There is some evidence the assaults may be having their desired effect with opinion polls showing the number of Czechs who trust the EU slipping to just 26 percent. We have no ability or political will to close all these websites, said Ivana Smolenova, a fellow at the Prague Security Studies Institute. The only thing we can do is work on our self-defense. Yet the new units creation has brought countercharges of state-sponsored spin from the sites and their supporters, who argue that the government is picking sides in a nation still divided between pro-Russian and pro-Western sympathies. Nobody has the monopoly on truth, said Czech President Milos Zeman, a pro-Russian politician who fills a largely ceremonial role and is at odds with the Czech government over Russian sanctions he wants lifted. He maintains a special adviser with financial links to Russias energy giant Lukoil, and Zemans interviews frequently appear on pro-Russian websites. If you have some views, for instance, Russians have some views, and you want to formulate it publicly in the media, it is not misinformation, it is not propaganda, Zeman said. In the Czech Republic, the tug of war for influence between Moscow and the West has lurked just below the surface since the fall of the Iron Curtain. But it reemerged, officials say, following the 2014 Russian incursion into Ukraine denied by the Kremlin that led the West to impose sanctions on Moscow. A Czech intelligence report issued last year asserted that Moscows embassy in Prague with staffing far higher than those of other nations has become a beefed-up den of spies. It also warns that Russian covert use of Czech-language media and its state-sponsored propaganda are exerting influence on the perceptions and thoughts on the Czech audience and promoting a relativity of truth. It cites no smoking gun linking the Kremlin to the 40 or so pro-Russian websites published in Czech. But the Russian government, for instance, backs the Sputnik News Agencys Czech-language service. Smolenova said she has also identified at least one other site as being funded and directed by Russian citizens. But most of the pro-Kremlin websites here have opaque operations and complex ownership structures. At least some appear to have adopted a favorable stance on Russia after years of publishing conspiracy theories and bizarre news. The extent to which they are actively doing Moscows bidding, or simply trafficking in echo chamber economics, remains unclear. Jan Koral, the publisher of one pro-Russian site www.nwoo.org said half of his revenue comes from digital ads and the other half from reader donations. Some of those donations, he noted, are made anonymously. Many of the stories he publishes such as a recent piece alleging that the pro-Western government in Kiev is leaving war veterans to die in the snow are simply translations from Russian-language news sources. He said he does not try to verify the stories he runs. Koral, a 39-year old former Web designer, also said he has attended events at the Russian Cultural Center an extension of the Russian embassy in Prague. But he insisted that he is not on Moscows payroll. I would be happy if Russia finally paid us, he said. Yet there is also a darker side to the pro-Russian sites. Ondrej Kundra, a local journalist who is investigating Russian influence in the media, said Koral stopped him last month as he was exiting a speaking engagement. Youll come to a bad end, Kundra said Koral warned him. In an interview, Koral did not deny the incident, saying mainstream journalists had it coming. The nature of our nation is not violent, so they will not hang in the streets, he said. They should. They are liars. They are criminals. The new fake news unit is still in the midst of hiring its full contingency of 15 agents and has only begun preliminary operations. Among the false claims flagged in test trials so far: a Facebook post asserting that the perpetrator in last months attack on a Berlin Christmas market was based in the Czech Republic, and one from a Russian news outlet claiming Moscows agents had already managed to penetrate the Czech Republics elections system. The unit responded using some of the same social media techniques deployed by fraudsters. We just tweet them to the public as false reports, Vangeli said. Thats how we fight back. We dont take them down. We dont censor. Yet critics including free speech activists call it a fine line. More often than not, offending stories are simply spun and twisted rather than entirely fabricated. And it is potentially dangerous, some argue, to have a government even a democratic one deciding on recommended reading for its public. This would put the government in the position to act as a media outlet, which should be the task of classical journalism, said Markus Beckedahl, a prominent German Internet activist and blogger. Vangeli said his unit will pursue fake news regardless of its source, operating out of offices he described as looking like a poorly funded newsroom. Some politicians here say the new unit needs to act fast given that national elections will be held later this year. Ivan Gabal, a senior lawmaker politician, for instance, has been routinely attacked in the pro-Russian media for his tough line on Moscow. Last year, his emails to the prime minister on Europes refugee crisis were hacked. They were then published on a white supremacist website, and portrayed as evidence of his pro-migrant bent in a country resoundingly against taking in Muslim asylum seekers. There is no hard evidence, he concedes, that the Russians were behind it. The Russians have learned that its better to sway elections than to spy on our tanks, he said. Katerina Santurova in Prague and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin contributed to this report. Seventeen years ago, Lisa and Eddie Guerrero were sitting in their fathers truck in the far South Valley when they were killed in a volley of bullets. In the years following, the case went cold. Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office detectives have never found the siblings killer, and the case faded from public view. But on Monday morning, commuters driving southbound on Coors from Interstate 40 could see a billboard with big pictures of Lisa and Eddie Guerrero. You know who killed us! reads the sign. The billboard is just one of 20 that BCSO recently put up across Albuquerque, thanks to Lamar Advertising, which donated the billboard space to BCSO. The boards feature the Guerrero case, along with another unsolved case from the South Valley that detectives are hoping to solve. Deputies want to encourage people to call in with tips and help revive the investigations. We do need a lot of the publics help, said BCSO Sgt. John Allen at a Monday morning news conference. No lead is insignificant. Aside from the Guerrero case, the other case the sheriffs office is highlighting is a shooting at a South Valley smoke shop in 2009. Alicia Acosta, 46, was working at her shop on Isleta SW between Arenal and Blake, only a few buildings away from a sheriffs office substation, on Jan. 19, 2009, when two young men walked in. One of them shot her in the chest. She called 911 for help but died at the hospital. Cold case investigator Kathleen Esparsen wouldnt say what investigators believe the motive was behind her slaying. But both she and Allen said it was not a robbery. They also wouldnt say what the motive was behind the shootings of Lisa Guerrero, 30, and Eddie Guerrero, 20. Allen said investigators are pursuing new forensic evidence in the case. Sheriff Manuel Gonzales said these two cold cases were chosen out of 70 the department is investigating because detectives have dug up some new leads on them. They are looking for more tips to substantiate those leads. Authorities asked anyone with information about the cases to call Crime Stoppers at 843-STOP. Esparsen said the family members of the victims were grateful that BCSO is highlighting the cases but also said its been difficult for them. This isnt a cold case for them. They live it every day, she said. It opens wounds, but theyre willing to do whatever it takes to get closure and justice for the victims. The New Mexico State Police said Monday it has closed its investigation into Bernalillo County Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada about whether he failed to properly sign election materials, finding the allegations from a citizen to be unfounded. The investigation revealed all the handwritten contents of the candidacy were true and correct, police said in a news release. Patricia Paiz, who was defeated for the County Commission seat Quezada won, claimed that Quezadas wife filled out his election documents, which could have been a violation of campaign laws. His campaign released photos showing Quezada at the candidate sign-in table in county offices, smiling as he held up election forms and posed for pictures with county staff. We didnt do anything wrong, Quezada said at the time. Theyre just grasping at straws. He said his wife and campaign manager helped him fill out the forms, but he signed the documents himself. Quezada a school board member, comedian and actor known for his role as Agent Gomez in Breaking Bad won 62 percent of the vote in November to defeat Paiz, a retired police detective who now works in real estate. The district covers much of the southern West Side and South Valley. Because of Quezadas role in Breaking Bad, he even received international publicity from the story when celebrity website TMZ published an article on it. Paiz also filed a lawsuit in state District Court on the same topic, asking a judge to overturn the election results and declare her the winner instead. SANTA FE Meow Wolf is looking to create a new, $7 million manufacturing complex in Santa Fe that could be operating by April and would help produce materials for potential new immersive arts exhibitions in other markets similar to its House of Eternal Return here. Vince Kadlubek, chief administrative officer, said Monday that he hopes to get a green light on expanding to a new market within the next four months. Talks are underway with people in Denver and Austin, as well as others in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Minnesotas Twin Cities, he said. If any of those are finalized in the next few months, Meow Wolf would be two to three years away from opening in a new market, he said. While local artists would be hired to create portions of a new exhibit in any of those markets, many of the items going into such an exhibit would be created in the manufacturing facility run by the offshoot business entity, Meow Wolf Creative Studios. Kadlubek said theyre aiming for 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of space and have been looking at potential buildings in mid-town (roughly the area from Siler Road to Second Street), as well as near Airport Road and N.M. 14. Some 100 people could be employed there upon its opening, bringing Meow Wolf employment to a total of 175 people, he said, while he estimates a total of 300 jobs there over the next 10 years. As fundraising is underway, both through a private equity offering and application for state economic development funds, Kadlubek added that its possible the facility might be located outside New Mexico if financial support here isnt strong enough. But he hastened to add that discussions so far with city and state government representatives have been super-positive. Besides being used as headquarters for Meow Wolf administrative offices, the facility would include studios for welding, ceramics, textiles, film and digital media. Its going to result in a world-class creative manufacturing facility, unlike anything youve seen on this side of Disney, Kadlubek said. Were running out of space, he added of the current manufacturing spaces and offices in buildings opposite Rufina Circle from the Meow Wolf Arts Complex. Meanwhile, Meow Wolf is reworking its House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe with new experiences, new rooms, hidden passageways and even a wormhole, according to Kadlubek. It is closed for that work and set to reopen on Feb. 1. The $250 million first phase of Facebooks data center slated for construction in Los Lunas may soon attract other business ventures to the area, the president of Albuquerque Economic Development said Monday. AED is working with developers looking to acquire 257 acres to build a residential project and another is eyeing 18 acres to build a mixed-use hotel and restaurant project near the Facebook site, Gary Tonjes said during a NAIOP-New Mexico luncheon. He did not provide any other specifics about the businesses. Tonjes also said the mothballed Merillat cabinet-making plant in Los Lunas could be leasing up soon. Five companies are negotiating space in the facility to support Facebook in the 360,000-square-foot facility, said Tonjes. NAIOP members, who comprise a broad spectrum of the development community in the state, see big benefits to the Faceboook project, which could draw 500 to 1,000 construction workers to its 300-acre site over the next decade if the company moves forward on building other structures to run its servers, storage and networking equipment. Its a big deal if the company goes to full build-out, said Tonjes, estimating the potential construction investment of $1.5 billion over eight to 10 years. The company is advertising for 300 journeyman electricians to begin work on initial infrastructure starting in April. General contractor Fortis Construction is scheduled to break ground on the data center in October, with completion slated for late 2018. Los Lunas business owners, in a video played after Tonjes presentation, anticipate an uptick in business at area restaurants, hotels and gas stations once things get rolling. Joining Tonjes at the program were Matt Geisel, secretary of the state Economic Development Department and Tim Nitti, president and CEO of the New Mexico Economic Development Partnership. Both commented on the value of state incentives in helping existing companies succeed and in luring out-of-state prospects. Nitti said a win like Facebook can be leveraged by state economic development entities to attract similar types of businesses. Compared to other states, We dont have lavish incentives, but they are helpful in expansions and relocations, said Nitti. He referred to Local Economic Development Act incentive money like the $10 million awarded to Facebook to purchase water rights and to build an industrial water treatment facility. DENVER Colorado may consider marijuana legal, but police dont have to take care of any weed seized in a criminal investigation, according to a state Supreme Court decision that upends years of evidence requirements hated by law enforcement agencies. The decision issued Monday reverses a 2013 lower court that police officers cant simply destroy pot after they take it as evidence in a case. Instead, police in Colorado have to care for the marijuana, either by keeping the plants alive or by returning dried marijuana in usable form. Police agencies in Colorado have blamed the ruling for lax pot enforcement, saying they wont store marijuana evidence. The states highest court reversed that decision Monday. In a 4-3 decision, the court sided with Colorado authorities who argued that the evidence requirement amounted to requiring police to distribute marijuana, a violation of federal law. Compliance with the return provision necessarily requires law enforcement officers to violate federal law, the court wrote. The decision was penned by Justice Allison Eid, who has been mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee by President Donald Trump. Dissenting judges argued that police are not violating federal drug law when they return marijuana property. A police officer who sells drugs to a target as part of an undercover sting is lawfully engaged in performing his or her duties. A police officer who sells drugs while off duty to supplement his or her income is not lawfully engaged in performing his or her duties, the dissenters wrote. The case stemmed from the 2011 arrest of a medical marijuana patient accused of having more pot plants than allowed under state law. The Colorado Springs man was later acquitted, but he lost more than 60 pounds of marijuana that police held during the case and returned moldy. The marijuana grower argued that the police had not treated his plants as personal property. Colorado police cheered Mondays decision. They have long complained that the evidence rule made it impossible to investigate black-market marijuana growers, because they would be responsible for any plants they seized. There are times when we cannot confirm who is entitled to what, Greenwood Village Police Chief John Jackson said in a statement on behalf of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. ___ Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt [January 24, 2017] Data Privacy Day Reminds Organizations That Protecting Customers' Privacy is Critical to Their Business WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In an increasingly connected world with a growing Internet of Things (IoT) and ever-evolving cyber threats consumers are paying attention to their privacy and the security of their data. In a recent NCSA online shopping survey, 74 percent of consumers indicated that it was "important" or "extremely important" that websites have easy-to-understand information about how personal data is collected and used and with whom it is shared. In fact, more than a quarter of shoppers had abandoned purchases in the last year because of privacy or security concerns a clear indication that businesses and other organizations must address consumers' privacy concerns, safeguard information and be clear about their data practices in order to build trust. The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is partnering with leaders in industry, government and the nonprofit sector to educate businesses about the importance of privacy and protecting personal information. NCSA's year-round privacy awareness campaign culminates in Data Privacy Day, an international event held annually on Jan. 28 to teach consumers about owning their online presence and show organizations how privacy is good for business. Data Privacy Day 2017 will be recognized on Thursday, Jan. 26, with a daylong event live from Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, CA, featuring exciting TED-style talks, segments and interviews focusing on the latest privacy issues for consumers and business. The event will be available online for the world to watch on Livestream, Periscope and Facebook Live. Not-to-be-missed segments include: Scams, ID Theft and Fraud, Oh My And Ways to Fight Back; How to Read a Privacy Policy in Less than 60 Seconds Even If It Was Written For a Lawyer; and Privacy and the Next President. Learn more and register to watch the event live here. "Protecting our users and creating a positive and trusted online environment is paramount to Twitter. Online safety is a priority for us and for this reason we support Data Privacy Day, and we are proud to partner with the National Cyber Security Alliance (@StaySafeOnline) on today's activities," said Patricia Cartes, Head of Global Trust & Safety Outreach, Public Policy at Twitter. "Whenever businesses have information entrusted to them, they are ultimately responsible for protecting it," said Michael Kaiser, NCSA's executive director. "No matter how your organization is using personal information, it's important to have good data security, because losing personal data is a privacy violation." Despite consumers' desire to manage their privacy, many are unsure about how their information is used by companies, government and other organizations. For example, 47 percent of respondents in a recent Pew survey said they were not confident they understood how their information would be used. Additionally, while making decisions about what information to share with companies, many consumers reported feeling the following ways in the last month: Confused by the information provided in a privacy policy (38%) Discouraged by the amount of effort needed to understand what would be done with their data (35%) Impatient because they wanted to learn more but needed to make a decision right away (29%) "As high-tech offerings like connected cars, smart thermostats and wearables become more prevalent, consumers are going to pay more attention to privacy. So, the clearer businesses can be about their data protection practices, along with the options they provide for consumers to safeguard their personal information, the better," said Kaiser. "Consumers may be confused about how having their information collected can improve the function of a service or device. For example, a GPS app or car pickup service won't work without your location, and a fitness tracker uses information about your physical activity to help you measure progress. If your organization can better explain that certain collected data will basically make their devices function to better serve the user, you'll be helping consumers be more educated, empowered and privacy-savvy." "Privacy is a basic human right, and as such businesses should treat customer and employee data appropriately," stated Michelle Dennedy, Chief Privacy Officer at Cisco. "Respectful privacy practices and organizational transparency about your intentions and oversight of data will go a long way toward building customer trust and brand loyalty. At Cisco, we see the opportunity for privacy and security, if done well, to combine and create great value through both systematic engineering and privacy policies that advance enterprise goals while respecting government regulations and the basic human right to privacy. Events like Data Privacy Day are critical to raising awareness and fostering open dialog on this vital issue." "In today's hyper-connected world, protecting our identities is one of the most important challenges facing all businesses and consumers," said Tony Aquila, Solera's Founder, Chairman and CEO. "And nothing has dominated the conversation more than the rapidly evolving world of connected cars where, unlike phones or laptops, access to personal information lacks secure user authentication protocols. The rate of speed at which vehicles are transforming into self-thinking and self-driving machines that may be vulnerable to malicious hackers presents one of the greatest threats we must safeguard against in the interest of data privacy and identity protection." "Respecting Privacy, Safeguarding Data and Enabling Trust" is the theme for 2017 Data Privacy Day. NCSA encourages all organizations to think more about how these concepts are intertwined, especially as the world of IoT grows. Help your business be more thoughtful about what information is collected, protecting that data and fostering trust with these tips: If you collect it, protect it : Follow reasonable security measures to protect individuals' personal information from inappropriate and unauthorized access. : Follow reasonable security measures to protect individuals' personal information from inappropriate and unauthorized access. Be open and honest about how you collect use and share personal information : Clearly communicate your data use practices and any features or settings you offer to consumers to manage their privacy. : Clearly communicate your data use practices and any features or settings you offer to consumers to manage their privacy. Don't count on your privacy policy as your only tool to educate consumers about your privacy practices: Communicate clearly and often what privacy means to your organization and the steps you take to achieve and maintain consumer privacy and security. Communicate clearly and often what privacy means to your organization and the steps you take to achieve and maintain consumer privacy and security. Create a culture of privacy in your organization: Educate employees about their role in privacy, security and respecting and protecting the personal information of colleagues and customers. Educate employees about their role in privacy, security and respecting and protecting the personal information of colleagues and customers. In addition to your privacy practices, do your due diligence and monitor partners and vendors: You are also responsible for how they use and collect personal information. Become a Data Privacy Day Champion : Organizations and individuals can get involved and actively show their dedication to respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust. Champions receive a toolkit of privacy awareness materials that they can use to educate themselves and their families, colleagues, employees and communities. Becoming a Champion is easy and does not require any financial support. : Organizations and individuals can get involved and actively show their dedication to respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust. Champions receive a toolkit of privacy awareness materials that they can use to educate themselves and their families, colleagues, employees and communities. Becoming a Champion is easy and does not require any financial support. Join the conversation on social media: Using the hashtag #PrivacyAware, post on social media about why privacy is important to you and/or your organization. Download our memes, social media images and posts here. Data Privacy Day Events #ChatSTC Twitter Chat: Being #PrivacyAware is Good for Business, Wednesday, Jan. 25 , 3 p.m. EST / 12 p.m. PST : This #ChatSTC Twitter chat will help you understand how privacy is good for business and the steps your organization can take to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. : This #ChatSTC Twitter chat will help you understand how privacy is good for business and the steps your organization can take to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust. Data Privacy Day Privacy Program Fundamentals (Webinar), Wednesday, Jan. 25 , 1-3 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. 12 p.m. PST : Privacy Ref is celebrating Data Privacy Day by offering a free two-hour course on privacy basics. This session will cover how to define privacy, developing a privacy program, consenting to data processing and more. Normally this course is $250 , but to ring in the New Year, it is available to you for free. Sign up today to reserve your spot as space is limited. Privacy Ref is celebrating Data Privacy Day by offering a free two-hour course on privacy basics. This session will cover how to define privacy, developing a privacy program, consenting to data processing and more. Normally this course is , but to ring in the New Year, it is available to you for free. Sign up today to reserve your spot as space is limited. Computers, Privacy & Data Protection Conference: The Age of Intelligent Machines, Jan. 25 - 27 , Computers, Privacy & Data Protection (CPDP) is an annual three-day conference convened in Brussels devoted to privacy and data protection. The conference brings together academics, lawyers, practitioners, policy-makers, industry and civil society from all over the world, offering them an arena to exchange ideas and discuss the latest emerging issues and trends. David Hoffman , Associate General Counsel and Global Privacy Officer of Intel an NCSA board member company will moderate The Right to Obscurity: Implementing the Google-Spain Decision panel on Jan. 25 at 10:30 a.m. CET . Panelists include Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, Chairman of CNIL, Peter Fleischer , Global Privacy Counsel of Google, and Artemi Rallo, former Director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency. Learn more and register here Computers, Privacy & Data Protection (CPDP) is an annual three-day conference convened in devoted to privacy and data protection. The conference brings together academics, lawyers, practitioners, policy-makers, industry and civil society from all over the world, offering them an arena to exchange ideas and discuss the latest emerging issues and trends. , Associate General Counsel and Global Privacy Officer of Intel an NCSA board member company will moderate panel on at . Panelists include Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, Chairman of CNIL, , Global Privacy Counsel of Google, and Artemi Rallo, former Director of the Spanish Data Protection Agency. Learn more and register here EDUCAUSE Live! Webinar, Thursday, Jan. 26 , 1-2 p.m. EST / 10-11 a.m. PST Big data is all the rage. Save the date for an EDUCAUSE Data Privacy Day webinar with Cindy Compert , chief technology officer of data privacy at IBM Security. This talk will focus on privacy practices for big data use and how to navigate data utility while still protecting privacy. Learn more at www.educause.edu/dpd. Big data is all the rage. Save the date for an EDUCAUSE Data Privacy Day webinar with , chief technology officer of data privacy at IBM Security. This talk will focus on privacy practices for big data use and how to navigate data utility while still protecting privacy. Learn more at www.educause.edu/dpd. Data Privacy Day Panel Discussion, Friday, Jan. 27, 7:30-9:30 a.m. (PST) : Join privacy and security experts from ESET, Morrison & Foerster and the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse for a stimulating and educational Data Privacy Day panel discussion at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Diego, CA. Learn more and register for the event here. Privacy Resources About Data Privacy Day The National Cyber Security Alliance's (NCSA) privacy awareness campaign is an integral component of STOP. THINK. CONNECT.TM ? the global online safety, security and privacy campaign. Data Privacy Day is the signature event for the campaign and is officially organized by NCSA in North America. Data Privacy Day began in the United States and Canada in January 2008 as an extension of the Data Protection Day celebration in Europe. Cisco, Intel , Solera Holdings and Twitter are Leading Sponsors of the 2017 privacy awareness campaign. ForgeRock and LifeLock, Inc. are Contributing Sponsors. Privacy Ref is a Supporting Sponsor. The hashtag for NCSA's privacy campaign efforts is #PrivacyAware. About the National Cyber Security Alliance The National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) is the nation's leading nonprofit, public-private partnership promoting cybersecurity and privacy education and awareness. NCSA works with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and NCSA's Board of Directors, which includes representatives from ADP; AT&T Services, Inc.; Bank of America; Barclays; BlackBerry Corporation; CDK Global, LLC; Cisco; Comcast Corporation; ESET North America; Facebook; Google; Intel Corporation; LifeLock, Inc, Logical Operations; Mastercard; Microsoft Corp.; NXP Semiconductors; PayPal; PKWARE; Raytheon; RSA, the Security Division of EMC; Salesforce; SANS Institute; Symantec and Visa Inc. NCSA's core efforts include National Cyber Security Awareness Month (October); Data Privacy Day (January 28) and STOP. THINK. CONNECT., the global online safety awareness and education campaign cofounded by NCSA and the Anti Phishing Working Group, with federal government leadership from DHS. For more information on NCSA, please visit staysafeonline.org/about-us/overview/. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/data-privacy-day-reminds-organizations-that-protecting-customers-privacy-is-critical-to-their-business-300395354.html SOURCE National Cyber Security Alliance A male Hartmann mountain zebra named Mooi has passed away at the ABQ Biopark, officials there announced Monday. Mooi died around 5 p.m. Friday. Zoo staff members discovered Moois body in a habitat that he shared with two female zebras, according to a news release on the City of Albuquerque website. It appears that Mooi ran into a fence and possibly sustained an injury to his neck. Animals can become spooked and their fight or flight instinct compels them to start to run. The three zebras arrived in mid-November and were new to the ABQ BioPark. The ABQ BioPark is waiting on final necropsy results. OMAHA, Neb. (AP) A western Nebraska man is in trouble after using an explosive rifle target to announce the gender of his baby. The Omaha World-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2jqp0PD ) that Jon Sterkel and his wife, Ashley, thought the target would be a fun way to announce they are expecting a boy in June. When Sterkel shot the target Saturday on rural land outside Scottsbluff, blue chalk powder packed around the rifle target erupted. Several people called police with concerns about the explosion. Sterkel called the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office to explain after he heard a news report on the explosion. In return, Sterkel received a misdemeanor ticket for using the exploding target without a permit. Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. LONGMONT, Colo. People at a Division of Motor Vehicles office in Colorado got a real-life and up-close example of how not to drive when a woman crashed her car into the front of the building, shattering a window. Longmont Police Cmdr. Joel Post tells the Times-Call newspaper (https://goo.gl/cCRqEb ) the 58-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, approached the building to park Monday morning and accelerated instead of braking. No one was injured, and the woman was cited for careless driving. No other information was released. ___ Information from: Daily Times-Call, http://timescall.com/ WASHINGTON Donald Trump, whose relationship with Latinos already is frosty, has taken down the White Houses Spanish-language website, and in the process may have kicked off another fiery English-only debate. It was unclear Monday whether the elimination of Spanish was permanent; White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not directly address the use of Spanish during his briefing for reporters. Some scholars saw the decision as a sign of the presidents America first message of protectionism and worried that the absence of Spanish will be taken as an affront to those who identify with the language. The removal of Spanish says something about English monolingualism, but it also says something about the speakers of Spanish, said Phillip Carter, a sociolinguist professor at Florida International University in Miami. Are you in or are you out? Suddenly theyre out. The United States, whose population includes about 52 million Spanish speakers, doesnt have an official language. The founders debated it, but the idea was abandoned because Americans spoke so many languages that making English the only official one might be considered tyrannical the reason many American residents had fled their home countries. Still, battles over languages have persisted, particularly in communities that find themselves hosting large numbers of non-English speakers. The White House espanol page, which appears to have been taken down after 5 p.m. on Friday, was not the only page removed. Pages dealing with LGBT issues, climate change, health care and civil liberties also disappeared. Spicer said the White House computer team was working hard to build the website, but he did not say whether Spanish content would return. Weve got the IT folks working overtime right now to continue to get all of that up to speed. And trust me, its just going to take a little bit more time but were working piece by piece to get that done, he said. Trumps rhetoric on language during the campaign fueled concerns. During the Republican primary last year, Trump criticized Jeb Bush, a former governor of Florida and a fellow Republican candidate, for speaking Spanish. He should really set an example by speaking English in the United States, Trump said. During the campaign, Trump struggled to gain traction with Latinos. Despite winning the election, he received less than 30 percent of the Latino vote after a series of critical comments. He called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. He criticized the nations only female Hispanic governor and accused a U.S. district judge of being biased against him because the judge was of Mexican descent. States have taken different approaches toward communicating with residents who speak multiple languages. Some, like Florida, have multilingual ballots for elections. Miami-Dade County, for example, has ballets in three languages. In San Francisco, voting materials are routinely made available in English, Spanish, Chinese and Filipino. There are more than 61 million people in the United States who speak languages other than English in the home, including 25 million who told the U.S. Census Bureau that they dont speak English well. Mauro Mujica, chairman and CEO of U.S. English, a group that supports making English the countrys official language, said it had been only a day and the administration might simply not have completed the work of producing a Spanish-language site. But he questioned why Spanish should be given a priority and not others of the 350 languages spoken in the United States. I see nothing wrong with the webpage being in English, Mujica said. Almost everything else is in English. I got The Wall Street Journal this morning in English. I dont ask them to give me a few pages in Spanish. 2017 McClatchy Washington Bureau Visit the McClatchy Washington Bureau at www.mcclatchydc.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ SANTA FE The agency that oversees the nations nuclear labs still has a boss. Last week, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico sent a letter to now-President Donald Trump saying his transition team had not asked the top officials of the National Nuclear Security Administration to stay on until Trump named new leaders. NNSA and its important national security work were in danger of being left to run on auto-pilot, Heinrich said. Heinrichs letter got national press attention. He also brought up the matter during a Senate committee hearing on former Texas Gov. Rick Perrys nomination to be Trumps secretary of the Department of Energy, which includes the NNSA. In New Mexico, the Los Alamos and Sandia national labs are overseen by the NNSA. A spokesman for the agency confirmed Monday that NNSA administrator Lt. Gen. Frank G. Klotz had been asked to remain and was still on the job since Trumps Friday inauguration as president. Political appointees in the federal government are typically asked to submit resignations when a new president is elected, but incumbents can be asked to stay until the new president chooses to keep them or names replacements. As reported by the Journal, Perry said at the Senate committee meeting Thursday that hed had a good conversation with Klotz and had sent the message that it would certainly be my desire to have that continuity. The website Gizmodo published a staff memo that Klotz sent out late Thursday the day before the inauguration that said, To help ensure continuity in our critical nuclear security work, Ive been asked to remain as the NNSA Administrator for a period of time. Im truly honored to do so, and eagerly look forward to working with the incoming Secretary of Energy. He also noted that eight ranking members of the NNSA staff, all non-career appointees, including principal deputy administrator Madelyn Creedon, were leaving and commended them for their service. In a related matter, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has endorsed Perry for the top DOE post. In an opinion piece published in Sundays Journal, Martinez called herself a strong supporter of Perrys nomination. She wrote that Perry will protect New Mexicos national labs and continue to utilize them for groundbreaking research. She also said, Perrys record proves we can have economic prosperity without sacrificing environmental standards. SANTA FE A Santa Fe District Court judge denied a motion Monday to quash an indictment of one of the men charged with the depraved mind murder of a Cerrillos woman last year, ruling there was no bias shown in the grand jury proceedings that returned the indictment. Philip Zaman and Khristopher Marshall are accused in the killing of 54-year-old Teena Larson on Jan. 12 last year during a domestic dispute at Larsons Cerrillos home. Zaman allegedly backed his BMW over Larson, dragging her about 40 feet, and ran over her again as he sped off. Marshall was in the passenger seat, while Natasha Larson daughter of the woman who was killed was in the back seat. Zaman and Marshall were arrested that day and were indicted in May. Marshalls attorney, Hans Erickson, filed a motion Dec. 27 requesting that Judge T. Glenn Ellington quash Marshalls indictment because one grand juror had known Santa Fe County deputies James Yeager and Eddie Webb for a long time and said hed sold them cars in the past, according to transcripts from the proceedings that Erickson included in his motion. Another grand juror said she knew witness Robert Kryder, who was at the crime scene and tried to stop Zaman from running over Larson, because hes a resident of Madrid, just south of Cerrillos. Is there anything about the fact that youve known them for a long time that you might tend to give their testimony more weight than it might deserve? Prosecutor Juan Valencia asked the man who said he knew the deputies. No, he responded. Valencia asked the female grand juror if there was anything about her knowing Kryder that would prevent her from being fair and impartial, and she responded, No, sir. Erickson argued that the grand jurors saying they could be impartial was subjective and that Valencia should have sought a district judges guidance since only a judge can disqualify a juror. He contended the indictment of Marshall was illegal and biased jurors were grounds for the indictment to be quashed. But Ellington ruled Monday that there was nothing to indicate any bias, saying the jurors statements and responses were sufficient and that no further action was needed from prosecutor Valencia. MELBOURNE, Australia The Latest on Tuesday from the Australian Open (all times local): 9 p.m. Roger Federer has advanced to the Australian Open semifinals with a 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 win over Mischa Zverev, the player who upset top-seeded Andy Murray two nights earlier. Federer was overpowering at the start, taking a 5-0 lead in just 12 minutes before Zverev held. But Zverev settled down in the second set and broke Federers serve once and was two points away from taking the second set before Federer rallied. In the third set at 2-2, Federer broke Zverevs serve with the help of two well-time lobs and passing shots when Zverev attempted to serve and volley. That strategy worked against Murray on Sunday, not so much against Federer. The Swiss star reached his 41st Grand Slam semifinal and his 13th at Melbourne Park. Federer will play U.S. Open winner Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals. Wawrinka earlier beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets. ___ 5:30 p.m. U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka is through to the Australian Open semifinals after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena. Wawrinka will play the winner of the night quarterfinal between Roger Federer and Mischa Zverev. It was Wawrinkas fourth win in a row over Tsonga and the first meeting between the pair at a Grand Slam other than the French Open, where they had met three times, with Wawrinka holding a 2-1 edge. It was also the pairs first meeting on a hardcourt in nearly 10 years at Metz, France in 2007, when Tsonga won. ___ 2:55 p.m. Coco Vandeweghe beat French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-0 to set up an all-American semifinal at the Australian Open. Vandeweghe, who beat top-seeded and 2016 champion Angelique Kerber in the fourth round, will play 36-year-old Venus Williams in the semifinal. Williams is the oldest women to play a semifinal here in the Open era. Serving for the first set, Vandeweghe faced her first break point of the set, but saved it with an ace. She clinched the 56-minute set when Muguruza, who faced nine break points in the first set, fired a backhand long. Vandeweghe overwhelmed a listless Muguruza in the 28-minute second set when the Spanish player won only four points on her serve. ___ 1:05 p.m. The oldest woman in the singles draw at the Australian Open is through to the semifinals: 36-year-old Venus Williams beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (3) at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. She is the oldest woman to advance this far at the Australian Open during the Open era. Williams was behind a service break in the opening set but broke the Russians serve twice in three games, including when Pavlyuchenkova was serving to stay in the set. Williams had three set points and clinched the set on a backhand service return. Pavlyuchenkova double-faulted twice during the tiebreaker including on match point among nine during the match as Williams won six consecutive points after trailing 3-1. Williams will play the winner of Tuesdays later match between American CoCo Vandeweghe and French Open champion Garbine Muguruza. ___ 11:30 a.m. Its quarterfinal Tuesday for half of the mens and womens draws at the Australian Open, with Venus Williams and Roger Federer among those looking to advance to the final four of the years first Grand Slam tournament. Williams begins play on Rod Laver Arena against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and another American, CoCo Vandeweghe, follows against French Open champion Garbine Muguruza. The last match of the afternoon session will see U.S. Open champion and 2014 Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Federer, back in action after a six-month injury layoff, plays Mischa Zverev to open the night session at Rod Laver, when Laver himself will be in the building. Zverevs previous match was a fourth-round upset victory over top-seeded Andy Murray. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Frustrated with his dogs barking, a Florida man stabbed the animal with a kitchen knife while it was held in a cage, police said. Michael OBrien of Sunrise took the heavily bleeding Husky to an animal hospital in Cooper City after a witness insisted, but he told the veterinarian that the dog had run into a glass door, according to a police report. Nala, stabbed in a front leg, needed two blood transfusions and was resuscitated through CPR. The veterinarian at the LeadER Animal Specialty Hospital was dubious of OBriens account when he brought the dog in on Nov. 8, and police said they launched an investigation after an anonymous caller contacted them five days later. OBrien was arrested Friday. Police interviewed a man on Jan. 5 who was in OBriens Sunrise apartment when the alleged incident occurred. That witness, Nicholas Richards, told police that OBrien became enraged by his dogs barking and used a kitchen knife to repeatedly jab at the dog, who was inside a crate in the living room, the arrest report said. Richards said it didnt appear that Nala was injured, but the next morning, when the dog again started barking, OBrien, 22, grabbed the same knife and began poking Nala, who was still inside the crate. This time OBrien cut Nala, and blood poured from the wound and pooled on the bottom of the crate, according to the report. The animal continued bleeding heavily and Richards insisted that OBrien get help for his dog. Eventually, OBrien agreed, and the two men took Nala to the hospital, the report said. OBrien admitted he stabbed the dog, investigators said. He was arrested Friday and charged with cruelty to animals and was released Saturday evening after posting a bond of $2,500, court records show. Nala is healthy and in the custody of animal control, according to Sunrise police. SANTA FE Students from various private and charter schools in New Mexico danced in the state Capitol rotunda Monday in celebration of National School Choice Week. Lt. Gov. John Sanchez and Education Secretary Hanna Skandera attended the event and spoke for a few minutes about the virtues of providing education options for students, but they left about a half-hour before a scheduled news conference was supposed to start. Betsy DeVos, Trumps choice for education secretary, is expected to make charter schools and school choice a part of the focus of the education policy under the new administration. According to a news release, National School Choice Week is being celebrated at more than 21,000 events nationwide, and Gov. Susana Martinez issued a proclamation recognizing Jan. 22-28 as School Choice Week in New Mexico. Those choices include public charter schools, magnet schools, private schools, home-schooling, online learning, and traditional charter schools, according to the release. By working together, parents, students, teachers, and community leaders will raise important awareness about educational opportunity in New Mexico during National School Choice Week, Andrew Campanella, president of National School Choice Week, a public awareness effort spotlighting education options, said in the news release. The goal of this Week is to celebrate school choice where it exists, and provide a platform for people to demand even greater opportunities in education. While one bill introduced in the Legislature calls for a 2-year moratorium on new charter schools in the state, Skandera expressed opposition to that idea. We have strongly supported the quality options for New Mexico students and families that charter schools are providing each and every day, and these high-quality options and opportunities deserve to grow for New Mexicos families, she said, according to a PED spokesman. Politico reported last month that Skandera was under consideration for a job as education deputy secretary or undersecretary of education in the Trump administration. PED spokesman Robert McEntyre on Monday called the report just rumors.Shes here now and is planning to be here, he said. SANTA FE A nonprofit group with ties to several prominent New Mexico Republicans is making waves by highlighting the states sluggish economy. The group, Adelante Now, launched full-page ads in several publications including the Journal in recent weeks that focus on job growth and poverty-related figures. While the ads dont directly criticize any elected officials, they describe the state as being in dire circumstances and in need of a new direction. Harvey Yates Jr., a Republican National Committee member and former state GOP chairman who serves as Adelante Nows board president, said the group intends to come up with an economic plan for the state and the recent ads were a step in that effort. It is clear that New Mexico needs to head in a different direction, Yates said in an email to the Journal . Who is stepping up to lead the effort? We hear noise from politicians with magnificent egos, but nothing much seems to get done. Yates, who was elected as an RNC member last year, has previously expressed concern that New Mexicos economic troubles including the nations second-highest jobless rate could hurt Republicans at the polls. He has also been critical of Republican Gov. Susana Martinezs political adviser, Jay McCleskey, and her governing style. However, he said, Adelante Now does not have a political arm in the form of a registered political committee and is not pushing any specific bills during the 60-day legislative session that started Tuesday. There is no plan to advocate for a particular policy proposal at the legislative session, but it certainly does the state no harm to remind legislators of the state of our state, Yates said. Other members of the Adelante Now board of directors include state Republican Party Chairman Ryan Cangiolosi, former state Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, and Mark Murphy, a Roswell oilman who has donated large sums of money to Republican candidates. Founded in 2001, Adelante Now was focused for years on funding tutoring efforts in public schools in Albuquerque and surrounding areas, but undertook a new mission that of job creation in 2015. As part of that mission, the group contracted with the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of New Mexico for a study comparing New Mexico job creation rates with the rates of neighboring states. [January 24, 2017] PSafe Announces DFNDR for Comprehensive Mobile Device Protection SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/-- PSafe, the mobile security solution safeguarding connected experiences, announced today the availability of DFNDR for the U.S. market. The free downloadable app provides comprehensive security protection, privacy management, and performance optimization through a suite of features. DFNDR provides the leading anti-hacking solution for Android devices that shields the user from both traditional malware attacks, as well as attacks driven by browser-based phishing. The app also has two key features that service privacy. The first feature, the Vault, provides a second layer of protection against unauthorized access to user-selected apps, such as Facebook, Whatsapp, SnapChat, and others. Another key feature is DFNDR's anti-theft solution, which insures physical device protection from theft, providing device location services as well as a remote wipe feature, should the mobile device fall into the wrong hands. "We conduct our daily lives on our mobile phones. It's both a fascinating and dangerous phenomenon," said Marco DeMello, CEO and founder of PSafe. "More sophisticated means for getting into both the backend of systems and into mobile devices means greater prevalence of threats to security and privacy. DFNDR provides top notch protection against both cyber perpetrators, as well as physical theft." In total, DFNDR's comprehensive cleaning and performance suite includes 10 features that both perform general cleanup, optimization features like bosting memory, closing background apps and processes and deleting junk files. Performance optimization can also be targeted to apps, such as cleaning up Whatsapp audio and video files, and deleting duplicate photos, among others. With the release of DFNDR in the U.S. market, three key enhancements to the app include: ? Improved Anti-phishing: With a live, in-house classification mechanism for whitelist, this feature reduces the identification of false positives by more than 90 percent ? Quicker Security Scan Run-time: By using a 5K app whitelist, scan time is cut down from two minutes to less than 30 seconds ? Enhanced Performance Monitoring: Inform users when device speed and storage can be optimized, such as when junk files are taking up excessive space or when too many running background apps are consuming RAM With over 20 million monthly active users (MAUs), PSafe is currently the largest mobile security solution in Latin America. At the end of last year, PSafe announced its entry into the U.S. market, with its American headquarters in San Francisco, the heart of the tech community. Since then, PSafe has seen roughly 3 percent of the market share of 100 million Android users, and ranked no. 2 most downloaded security app in 2016 by App Annie. DFNDR is available for download for free today from the Google Play store. For more information on DFNDR and PSafe, please visit www.psafe.com. About PSafe PSafe is a leading security and performance mobile app company with offices in San Francisco, Rio De Janeiro and Mexico City. The company develops and offers free mobile apps focused on protection, performance and privacy to Android users. In 2015, the company became the first startup in Latin America to achieve a market value of more than R$1 billion and started its international expansion and growth, launching operations in Mexico and offering PSafe TOTAL, its principal app, to all Latin American countries. The app is ranked in the top five most-downloaded app in Google Play Brazil with more than 20 million monthly active users. PSafe is funded by Redpoint Ventures, e.ventures, RPeV, Pinnacle Ventures and Index Ventures. For more information, contact: Spencer Parkinson 801-461-9767 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/psafe-announces-dfndr-for-comprehensive-mobile-device-protection-300395206.html SOURCE PSafe [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] A major business group says its willing to consider tax increases as a way out of New Mexicos current budget crisis, though only as a last resort. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerces annual legislative agenda outlines a number of familiar positions, emphasizing measures it says will promote economic development, education and public safety. But the second page of the five-page document released late Friday acknowledges that it could be open to the prospect of raising taxes. NOTE: The Chamber will entertain a discussion regarding tax increases after all other options have been exhausted, including identifying greater efficiency in government, right-sizing government and closing tax loopholes, the agenda says. Such a statement is unprecedented, said Terri Cole, the chambers longtime president and CEO. She said the chamber has always opposed any tax increase. But the state is facing a projected $69 million deficit for the current fiscal year and more problems in the next. The budget is in dire shape both for (fiscal year) 17 and FY 18, Cole said. The conversations are going to be very difficult. But before any talk of raising taxes begins, the chamber would promote such measures as reducing state agency spending and combining some departments. The chamber also opposes targeted or across-the-board compensation increases for state employees. While the budget looms large, the chamber supports maintaining $50 million for the Local Economic Development Act fund, an incentive program used to lure companies to New Mexico, $2 million in base funding for the Job Training Incentive Program and $10 million in additional appropriations. I think the biggest risk to the business community in this session is that we leave it retreating from the progress that has been made, progress in our economic development strategies and progress in our education reform strategies and public safety strategies, Cole said. Some of the other measures the chamber supports are: Legislative intervention to address (Albuquerque Public Schools) perennial low graduation rates. Suspending drivers licenses for habitually truant high school students. Eliminating the lodgers tax exemption for those who rent through the likes of Airbnb. Allowing juries to impose the death penalty in some cases, such as for people convicted of murdering children. Measures the chamber would oppose are: Reinstatement of gross-receipts tax on food. A moratorium on charter schools. Setting the minimum wage via constitutional amendment. Marijuana legalization. Rob Almaraz was so determined that his mother should remain in the familys Albuquerque home despite her Alzheimers disease, that he left a high-powered job at a top Washington, D.C., restaurant to help his father care for her. The demands of his mothers round-the-clock care plus his fathers increasing infirmity proved a heavier burden than he imagined. But the palliative care program Presbyterian Healthcare Services offers in a home setting to seriously ill patients helped reduce that stress. It made my quality of life so much better. You cant put a value on that, Almaraz said. Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illnesses. It typically involves a team of doctors, nurses, social workers and therapists who help care for a patient and provide support for their family. It differs from hospice because it can be offered to anyone with a serious illness at any stage of treatment. Hospice is a benefit offered to terminally ill patients who have just a few months to live, said Nancy Guinn, Medical Director Presbyterian Healthcare at Home. We can offer (palliative) care long before they would qualify for hospice, Guinn said. Presbyterian started its palliative care program in a hospital setting 11 years ago and expanded to home visits in 2012. Recently, The Center to Advance Palliative Care picked Presbyterians program to be one of nine Palliative Care Leadership Centers in the country that will provide mentoring and training for teams from other health care organizations. The New York, N.Y.-based Center to Advance Palliative Care is a national member-based organization that promotes the growth and development of palliative care programs. Almaraz began receiving palliative care services for his mother about 18 months ago when she had a fall. The Presbyterian palliative care team sent a portable X-ray machine to his Northeast Heights home and continued with visits from occupational and physical therapists and a social worker. The team is coordinated by nurse practitioner Abigail Gilbert-Savi. It was just like a smooth machine. You could tell how organized it was, Almaraz said. The palliative care program includes having a trained professional who can give advice on-call 24 hours a day. Almaraz was able to call and get advice on nutrition and medication management. Its nice to have seasoned professionals making decisions on her behalf, not me, Almaraz said. Presbyterian currently provides palliative care in a home setting to about 200 patients. Up to 600 more receive the services at a clinic at Presbyterians Kaseman hospital in Albuquerque or the Rust Medical Center in Rio Rancho. Presbyterian recently began offering the services at its hospital in Espanola and plans to offer them at its medical center under construction in Santa Fe. Palliative care services are covered by Medicare and most insurance plans in the same way that a home visit or office visit would be covered, Guinn said. Dont miss the new lights, camera, action exhibit of Hollywood Southwest featuring New Mexicos extensive history in film and TV debuting next month at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 2000 Mountain Road NW. While film production in New Mexico has enjoyed a renaissance thanks to state incentives and the ability to mimic locales worldwide, the fact is film has long been a part the states landscape, museum officials said in a news release. Its essentially Hollywood Southwest, said UNM professor Paul A. Hutton, a self-described addicted collector of film memorabilia and curator of the exhibit. Were highlighting New Mexico as a center for filmmaking from (silent film director, writer and producer) D.W. Griffith onward, and the locations that are so prevalent, he said. Well show why New Mexico is so great for filmmaking, from the landscape to the light to the weather. Were also highlighting films about New Mexicans, such as Billy the Kid, Hutton said. I love the idea of two really bad hombres and what they say about New Mexico. And yes, Im talking about Breaking Bad, too. Also working closely on this project is Jason Strykowski, who has worked on many films and TV series, and has been instrumental in acquiring some artifacts. Costumes from The Avengers and The Lone Ranger came from Strykowskis connection to both films. The exhibit is designed to take visitors behind the scenes on a film set and is expected to include a green-screen experience for kids to explore what it feels like to be on a set. The original 1920s projection unit from the KiMo Theatre will also be on display. Other artifacts will include movie posters, movie clips, plus other pop-culture tie-ins, such as toys and promotional items. An educational element of the exhibition focuses on film production as an industry in New Mexico. Were trying to explain why New Mexico is and always has been an attractive place for filmmakers, Hutton said. We want to have fun with this, get people excited, wow them, and appeal to young and old alike. After all, everyone loves the movies. The public opening of Hollywood Southwest will be Feb. 25, a Saturday, from 1 to 3 p.m. It runs through Aug. 27. We welcome suggestions for the daily Bright Spot. Send to newsroom@abqjournal.com. Members of the City Councils Finance and Government Operations Committee unanimously approved two bills aimed at reforming the police department: one requiring officer-involved shootings to be investigated by outside law enforcement agencies, and the other requiring that rape kits be tested within three months after receiving them. The bills will be sent to City Council for a vote at a future meeting. Much of the discussion at the Monday night meeting focused on the investigation bill, which was sponsored by Councilor Pat Davis, a former police officer. Currently, in-custody deaths and those resulting from lethal use of force by a police officer are investigated by a multi-agency task force that includes an Albuquerque Police Department detective. Under the new measure, the department would be banned from any APD involvement whatsoever in the investigation. This is about public trust, Davis said. Our internal process has shown that sometimes we have failed to ask tough questions of ourselves. The measure drew opposition from State Police Chief Pete Kassetas, who said it would strain his agencys resources. The citys chief administrative officer, Robert J. Perry, also expressed disapproval, saying there had never been a question about the quality of an (APD task force) criminal investigation. Davis strongly disagreed, and he said other states have implemented policies similar to the one he proposed. After passing the investigation bill, the committee quickly approved the rape kit measure. A recent investigation by the state auditor found that New Mexico has the highest number of untested rape kits per capita in the nation. Of the 5,302 untested rape kits counted in November, over 3,940 were collected during investigations in the Albuquerque metropolitan area. APD representatives said the department does not have the resources to test new kits within a three-month period, let alone quickly work through the backlog, but the committee said it wanted to send a message to the state about the importance of supporting sexual assault victims. The meeting also included an update on the citys investigation into allegations that the police department has altered video from police shootings, including the 2014 death of Mary Hawkes. Perry referred to the allegedly edited footage in the Hawkes case as a video buffering issue and said a report on the situation would be forthcoming. New Mexicos U.S. senators both voted against the nomination of Mike Pompeo for CIA director Monday night, citing concerns about his views on government surveillance, Iran, Muslims and other issues. Pompeo, a former congressman from Kansas, was confirmed by the Senate 66 to 32 after a lengthy debate. Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democratic member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he was deeply troubled by a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Pompeo authored in which he wrote that Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. The federal government has no business collecting lifestyle information on its own citizens, Heinrich said on the Senate floor. And innocent Americans should expect that their private financial data is just thatprivate. Watch Heinrichs floor speech here. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said he was equally troubled by Pompeos record. Congressman Pompeo supports invasive and unconstitutional government spying programs that violate the privacy of law-abiding American citizens, Udall said. He has defended the use of torture programs programs that were a stain on our history, contrary to our principles as a nation, and fundamentally ineffective. Congressman Pompeo says that he wants the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which is a potent recruiting tool for terrorists and hurts our standing around the world, to remain open, and he thinks detainees can be imprisoned indefinitely. Both senators full statements are below. Heinrichs full floor statement: Thank you M. President, and thanks to my colleague Senator Wyden for leading this important discussion. I joined the Senate Intelligence Committee four years ago; just a few short months before the public release of thousands of classified documents forced our country to have a debate over the reach and scope of Americas surveillance programs. That debate has formed the backdrop for national security policy decisions ever since. I am proud of the positive steps weve made toward reclaiming our civil liberties, while still giving our intelligence and law enforcement communities the tools they need to anticipate threats, track terrorists, and keep America safe. It is because of Congressman Pompeos opposition to those important reforms that I rise today to oppose his nomination to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Congressman Pompeo has a long legislative and rhetorical history on surveillance, torture, and other issues that I believe we simply cannot overlook in considering his nomination. In our conversations, in answers to written questions, and during his confirmation hearing, Congressman Pompeo has often said the right thing, or tried to give answers that on their face give the impression that he has changed his position on these issues. But we need to carefully review the Congressmans votes and public statements to be sure that he understands the importance of protecting Americans constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties and meeting the needs of our national security. I was proud to help lead the effort to pass the USA FREEDOM Act in 2015 to finally end the governments dragnet collection of law-abiding Americans personal information and provide the intelligence community with an updated legal framework that ensures they have the tools they need to focus on the records of actual terrorists, while protecting the privacy of Americans. Although the Congressman voted to support the USA FREEDOM Act in 2015, within a year, he quickly backtracked, writing a column for the National Review that said: Those who today suggest that the USA FREEDOM Act, which gutted the National Security Agencys (NSA) metadata program, enables the intelligence community to better prevent and investigate threats against the U.S. are lying. I use that word intentionally. A few weeks later, Congressman Pompeo, in the Wall Street Journal, wrote: Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Let me read that one more time: Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Now lets unpack that sentence. First, when asked by Senator Wyden and I to clarify what metadata he believes should be collected, Congressman Pompeo made clear that he was referring to a rollback of the USA FREEDOM Act, and a return to the warrantless, and unnecessary collection of billions of communications records from millions of innocent Americans not suspected of any crime. Shortly after Congressman Pompeos Wall Street Journal column was published, the NSAs General Counsel, wrote in a column in Lawfare that: Largely overlooked in the debate that has ensued is the fact that under the new arrangement, our national security professionals will have access to a greater volume of call records subject to query in a way that is consistent with our regard for civil liberties. But its the second part the Congressmans position that gives me far more concern. What does he mean by calling for the collection of publicly available financial and lifestyle information and placing it into a comprehensive, searchable database? When asked to clarify his proposal, Congressman Pompeo declined. However, its clear from the context of both his columns and his public statements that he believes that the U.S. government ought to be collecting dramatically more private information from innocent Americans who are not under investigation for any crime. Let me be clear. The federal government has no business collecting lifestyle information on its own citizens. And innocent Americans should expect that their private financial data is just thatprivate. This all flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment. On torture, Congressman Pompeos record is also clear: he supports it. Congressman Pompeo thinks it was a mistake to stop the enhanced interrogation program. He issued a personal attack against then-Committee Chairman Feinstein when the Committee released its report on the CIAs detention and interrogation program. While he acknowledges that CIA interrogation techniques are currently limited to those contained in the Army Field Manual, Congressman Pompeo said to our committee that he will: consult with experts at the Agency and at other organizations in the U.S. government on whether the Army Field Manual uniform application is an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed. One could easily infer that the Congressman would ask the CIA officers who participated in the torture program whether they believe the techniques contained in the Army Field Manual are sufficient. If he is told theyre not, he has left open the option of re-writing the Army Field Manual. This is problematic for a number of reasons, and should be of deep concern to my colleagues. Finally, the day before his nomination was announced, Congressman Pompeo tweeted that he was looking forward to rolling back the Iran nuclear agreement, which ended each and every pathway for Iran to develop a weaponized nuclear device, including a covert path. When I asked him about this in our hearing, Congressman Pompeo said: That communications was approved before I was aware that I was going to be the nominee to the Central Intelligence Agency. The Congressman went on to say that in his view, the Iran nuclear agreement was a mistake for American national security, but that as CIA Director he would work to make sure it is fully implemented and will endeavor to provide straight information about the progress made in reducing Irans nuclear capability. However, given his deep antipathy toward the Iran Agreement, I have serious concerns about his ability to be objective on this issue, which is critical to the stability of the Middle East and to our efforts to ensure that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon. Having said all of this, if the Congressman is confirmed, I hope he will fulfill one of his commitments to me: to improve the communications and relationship between the oversight committees in Congress and the CIA. It is my hope that a CIA Director coming from outside the agency will give greater weight to informing the Intelligence Committee of the CIAs activities than his immediate predecessor has. Congressman Pompeo, if confirmed, will have the opportunity to recalibrate this relationship, and if given the chance, I hope that he seizes that opportunity. Rep. Tom Udalls floor statement on Pompeo: America draws strength from our values, and Americans put their lives on the line every day to defend those values. I believe that Congressman Pompeos views on a set of fundamental questions including human rights, constitutional rights, and the rule of law will undercut our nations moral authority and undermine our national security. For those reasons, I must oppose Congressman Pompeos nomination as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Though I respect his background and service to the country, I believe that Congressman Pompeos views on several key issues put him at odds with our nations core values of promoting civil liberties, the rule of law, and human rights. Congressman Pompeo supports invasive and unconstitutional government spying programs that violate the privacy of law-abiding American citizens. He has defended the use of torture programs programs that were a stain on our history, contrary to our principles as a nation, and fundamentally ineffective. Congressman Pompeo says that he wants the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, which is a potent recruiting tool for terrorists and hurts our standing around the world, to remain open, and he thinks detainees can be imprisoned indefinitely. And he has made extremely troubling comments about Muslims, stating that Muslim leaders who have no involvement in terrorism are nonetheless potentially complicit in acts of terror, even when Muslims across the globe have strongly condemned the violence of extremists. The Central Intelligence Agency is an essential pillar of our national security. Every day, the men and women who serve at the CIA work tirelessly and courageously to keep our nation safe. These patriots and the American people deserve a CIA director who will lead the agency in a way that keeps America secure and keeps our fundamental values as a nation secure. As we undertake the serious work of protecting our homeland, we can never forget the founding principles that make America the strongest and greatest nation on earth. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump told leaders of the countrys largest automakers Tuesday that he would curtail environmental regulations and make it easier to build plants in the U.S., changes that he expects will shore up the manufacturing jobs he repeatedly promised to voters on the campaign trail. But even the positive overtures Trump offered during the White House meeting which came after weeks of taunting the automotive industry over Twitter may not compensate for the fact that automakers can produce vehicles more cheaply in Mexico and will likely see softening demand for cars in the coming years, analysts say. Just the day before, Trump told business leaders he would cut regulations by 75 percent and massively cut corporate taxes. When meeting the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, he specifically targeted environmental regulations, which he called out of control. Though Trump spoke often on the campaign trail about the need to revive manufacturing across the economy, he narrowed in on the automotive industry in particular in the weeks following his election. He separately criticized Ford, GM and Toyota for plans to build certain cars in Mexico and then sell them in the U.S. Though regulatory changes could make it more appealing to manufacture in the U.S., companies will still find there are significant economic and trade advantages to building in Mexico, including cheaper labor and fewer export restrictions, said Michael Harley, an executive analyst at Kelley Blue Book. No matter how many incentives you offer automakers or [whether you] give them tax breaks, you still have the labor issue to deal with, he said. And youre never going to be able to meet that on a one-to-one basis. The big automakers also make investments knowing they will outlive any single president, regardless of what policies or regulations are put in place, said Kristin Dziczek, director of the industry, labor and economics group at the Center for Automotive Research. This industry has been around for 100 years, and plants last for 40 or 50 years or more, Dziczek said. They cant be swerving left and right every time there is a political change. Trump called himself an environmentalist when he sat down with the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, and said his administration will focus on real regulations that mean something while eliminating those that he finds inhospitable to business. Executives declined to answer questions after the meeting, including whether the president cited any specific regulations he would cut. Only a portion of Tuesdays gathering was open to the press. Industry leaders contend that complying with increasingly stringent fuel economy standards increases the cost of making cars, which must then be passed on to buyers or compensated for with job cuts. Those regulations were introduced during Obamas first term to reduce pollution and encourage investment in eco-conscious technology. The Environmental Protection Agency upheld them in a review concluded two weeks ago. Safe Climate Campaign Director Daniel Becker said job creation doesnt need to come at the expense of regulations that have a positive impact on the environment. The fuel economy standards, in particular, help to save consumers money at the gas pump and reduce the countrys dependence on oil, he said. Despite the rhetoric there is often reason behind regulations, and in this case there is overwhelming evidence of how beneficial they are for consumers, the industry and overall Americans, Becker said. Analysts have speculated that Trump could ease those regulations or others that impact the industry as a reward for companies creating more jobs in the U.S. There is a huge opportunity working together as an industry with government that we can improve the environment, improve safety, and improve jobs creation and the competiveness of manufacturing, General Motors CEO Mary Barra told reporters after the meeting. Ford chief executive Mark Fields told reporters that Trumps decision Monday to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a sign of his desire to implement policies that improve competitiveness and create a renaissance in American manufacturing. We have been very vocal both as an industry and as a company and we have repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, Fields said. TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that and we appreciate the presidents courage to walk away from a bad trade deal. Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne also attended Tuesdays meeting. Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Senior Advisor Jared Kushner attended on behalf of the administration. Economics still favor building plants and hiring workers in Mexico, where labor is less expensive and there are fewer trade barriers. Trump has threatened automotive companies that build abroad with a 35 percent tariff on goods imported to the U.S. for sale. Whether Trump has the power to impose such a tax on select companies has been called into question. Conversely, Trump has also praised automakers who pledged to invest in the U.S. and add jobs here often taking credit for those decisions even when companies said they had been in the works for months or years. This month alone, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Toyota and Hyundai pledged to spend billions of dollars in the U.S. over the next several years on new factories, expanded production and hiring. Trump met Monday with business leaders from a smattering of industries, including Fields and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The CEOs were told to devise a series of actions that will boost U.S. manufacturing and submit those plans to Trump within the next 30 days. VIDEO: In a meeting with automakers Jan. 24, President Trump said that its the long term jobs that were looking for. http://wapo.st/2j0E6il PLANO, Texas A suburban Dallas police chief told law enforcement officers from across Texas that a slain detective knew how to connect with people when they were in their darkest hour. Little Elm police Chief Rodney Harrison said at the funeral Tuesday of Detective Jerry Walker that the father of four understood the compassion of policing. Harrison told mourners who gathered at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano that Walker epitomized the prized officer who can successfully resolve virtually any conflict or confrontation, no matter how volatile. Walker, an 18-year veteran of the Little Elm department, was fatally shot Jan. 17 after responding to a report of a man outside a home armed with a long gun. A standoff ensued and the gunman later was found dead inside the home. Many beer geeks spent the end of 2016 debating their list of the years best releases Voodoos ManBearPig imperial stout? Tree Houses King JJJuliusss double IPA? Ocelots Talking Backwards triple IPA? and looking back at the rising tides of sour beers and fruit-flavored IPAs. But one of the biggest beer developments of the past 12 months is this: Walmart now sells its own craft beer. Go ahead and laugh. Im assuming most beer lovers dont spend much time thinking about the craft ales and lagers in the cooler at Walmart, especially if the selection is as mediocre as the one at my local D.C. store, where the few sixers and sampler 12-packs of Flying Dog, New Belgium and Dogfish Head are dwarfed by 30-packs of Natural Light and Tecate. But market research firm Placed Insights ranks Walmart as the most popular store in the country, with more than half of all American shoppers visiting one of the companys 4,600 stores in a given month. Thats a lot of eyes falling on those products. Teresa Budd, a senior buyer for Walmarts adult beverage team, says the company began to notice its craft beer sales growing a few years ago, especially compared with sales of mainstream domestic beers. The company put out an offer to suppliers around the country, seeking to produce an IPA, a pale ale, an amber ale and a Belgian-style ale, Budd says, because those were the top four best-selling craft styles at the time. After samplings and tastings, making sure its exactly what we want, Walmart began producing beer in collaboration with a company called Trouble Brewing in Rochester, N.Y. The beers launched in six-packs and a 12-can variety pack in early 2016, and theyre found in 3,000 stores across 45 states. Budd says the response from consumers has been enthusiastic, and the line may expand with new or seasonal beers in the future. Unlike the house-brand beers of some of the companys competitors, including Costco and Trader Joes, Trouble Brewing offers no clue on the label to tell you that Walmart was behind its creation. A shopper heading down the aisle to look for Samuel Adams or Miller High Life might see the ersatz-hipster labels of Cats Away IPA and After Party Pale Ale, or the distressed fonts and torn-look packaging of the Pack of Trouble variety 12-pack, and assume they were made by some new craft brewery that just hit the market. Its also hard to ignore the price: $7.96 for a six-pack and $13.86 for the variety pack. Thats $3 to $5 cheaper than other craft beers on the same shelf. Lower cost and perceived value are a competitive advantage for established store house brands: Most of Trader Joes exclusive brews, such as Mission St. IPA and JosephsBrau Bohemian Lager, cost $6.49 to $6.99 per six-pack, or $1.09 to $1.17 each for shoppers who mix and match. A 22-ounce bottle of Green Flash Fearless Fifty, an exclusive saison created by the San Diego brewery for Trader Joes 50th anniversary, is $5.99. At Costco, a whopping 48-pack of its Signature Light Beer costs $22.49. (Of course, you have to buy in bulk.) Another thing these store brands have in common is a tendency to deliberately obscure or flat-out conceal where the beer is coming from. In the case of Walmart, no American brewery with the name Trouble Brewing actually exists. The applicant listed on filings for the four beers with the Treasury Departments Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is Winery Exchange, Inc., now known as WX Brands, which develops exclusive brands of wine, beer and spirits for retailers around the world, according to its website. The brewery address given on the TTB documents is Genesee Brewings business office. Genesee is not a craft brewery, which the national Brewers Association defines as small, independent and traditional; its owned by Costa Rica-based Florida Ice and Farm, which brews that countrys Imperial Lager and other industrial brands. Its flagship American beers, Genesee and Genesee Cream Ale, are cheap college-party staples, and its tough to convince people that your brand is hip and craft when those are the other products coming out of the tanks. Walmarts Budd says theres no intention to deceive consumers, pointing out that Walmart doesnt put the company name on its private label brands, whether camping gear or cat food. We were intentional about designing a package that conveyed a look and feel youd expect of craft beer, she said. Likewise, previous variety packs of Costcos Kirkland Signature Handcrafted Beer, which will return to stores this spring, claimed that the IPAs and brown ales came from either New Yorker Brewer in Utica, N.Y., or Hopfen und Malz in San Jose, depending on where the beer was purchased. The TTB reveals theyre brewed at F.X. Matt (the home of Saranac) and Gordon Biersch, respectively. Trader Joes sources its beers from several brewers. Most German-style beers purport to be from JosephsBrau Brewing while actually being contract-brewed by Gordon Biersch; the Mission Street IPA and Session Pale Ale beers are brewed by Salt Lake Citys Four + Brewing, a pseudonym for Uinta, after years of being produced under contract at the well-respected Firestone Walker. Fat Weasels label says its brewed by River Trent Brewing Company, Ukiah, CA, while it actually comes from Mendocino Brewing. And so on. Affordable beers made by breweries that most people have heard of? The only question left is How does it taste? I convened a team of Washington Post staffers for a blind tasting of beers purchased at Walmart and Trader Joes and asked them to write down their thoughts. The results were not that positive: Trouble Brewings Red Flag Amber Ale was described as flabby, knock-you-over-the-head syrupy sweet and good for flip cup. The JosephsBrau Bohemian Lager elicited watery, tastes like college and channels a Heineken thats been open for a little too long. Trouble Brewings After Party Ale was bland nothingness and lacking an identifiable taste. The standouts, according to the testers, included JosephBraus Hefeweizen, which had the bright mouth feel and bubble gum and banana notes youd expect from a German wheat beer, even as one reviewer called it drinkable, if not particularly memorable. The Mission St. Session Pale Ale got mixed reviews though still better than the IPAs for its bitterness and citrusy hops, although it was also called thin and nothing to get excited about. Trouble Brewings most popular brew was Round Midnight Belgian White, which didnt strike anyone as an outstanding witbier but received complements on its spice and fruitiness, as well as easy drinkability. None of those beers is going to light up online beer forums or find its way onto Best Beer of the Year lists, but thats not the point. These are affordable brews that could be gateway beers for domestic beer drinkers looking to dip a toe into the world of craft beer. If they like Trouble Brewings version of a Belgian witbier, maybe theyll be open to trying one from Allagash or Bells, or theyll grab a six-pack of Flying Dog instead of Bud Light. Either way, Walmart just put craft-style beers in front of millions of new potential craft beer customers, which should be a positive for brewers of all sizes. WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps nominee to become the nations budget director, Rep. Mick Mulvaney , R-S.C., defended Tuesday his support of cuts to popular entitlement programs that Trump vowed to keep intact and emphasized that he would bring a fact-based approach to the role. In appearances before the Senate budget and homeland security committees, Mulvaney acknowledged that several of his key positions on spending and the national debt directly contracted Trumps campaign pledges and statements made by some of the presidents top advisers. But Mulvaney presented himself as a straight shooter and said he would continue to warn about the growing costs of Social Security and Medicare. I have no reason to believe the president has changed his mind on not touching entitlement programs, Mulvaney said. But, he added, My job . . . is to be completely and brutally honest with him. Mulvaney would bring a stridently hawkish voice to the Office of Management and Budget. On Tuesday, he said he remains in favor of raising the retirement age for Social Security to 70 but emphasized that he would not reduce benefits for existing recipients. He also reiterated his support for means-testing to qualify for Medicare. Democratic lawmakers voiced concerns that Mulvaneys nomination signalled that Trump was backing away from his promise to leave the programs unchanged. The idea and opinions of Mr. Mulvaney are way out of touch, budget committee ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said. And more importantly, they are way way out of touch with what President Trump campaigned on. During his hearings, Mulvaney confronted recent revelations that he neglected to pay $15,000 in taxes in connection with a household employee. Mulvaney discovered the error during the vetting process following his nomination, drawing sharp rebukes from some Democratic lawmakers. Similar problems plagued several of former President Barack Obamas nominees, including former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle for head of Health and Human Services. We made a mistake in my family, Mulvaney said Tuesday, adding that he has paid the missing taxes. On the fiscal front, Mulvaney has challenged the need to raise the national debt ceiling, and on Tuesday, he said that he believed the federal government should consider prioritizing payments if it were in danger of breaching the limit again. In his hearing before the homeland committee, ranking member Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., pointed out that his remarks contradicted testimony from Trumps nominee to lead the Treasury Department, Steven Mnuchin, who said during his confirmation hearing last week that there should be no uncertainty that we are paying the billls. What will happen if your views and proposals are adopted wholesale? McCaskill told Mulvaney. If that happens, I fear that the American people and the global economy are in for a rude awakening. Mulvaney also faced scrutiny from his own party Tuesday. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona questioned Mulvaneys support for reductions in defense spending. McCain also called the 2013 government shutdown a shameful chapter in history. Youve spent your entire congressional career pitting the debt against the military, McCain said. I am deeply concerned about your lack of support for our military. Elected to Congress during the Tea Party wave of 2010, Mulvaney has become known as one of the most vociferous deficit hawks within House GOP ranks. He was a founding member of the conservative Freedom Caucus and was a key driver of the groups efforts to oust former House Speaker Rep. John Boehner in 2015. He supported the government shutdown in 2013 amid an impasse over the Affordable Care Act and proved willing to do so again two years later as part of an effort to defund Planned Parenthood. He is known as an anti-deficit crusader who backs the controversial penny plan that would cut 1 percent of federal spending every year for five years. Supporters claim it would eliminate the deficit, but critics say it is a haphazard way of chiseling away at popular entitlement programs. He has to tell the president exactly what things cost, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas said of Mulvaney on Tuesday. The president of course sets the agenda, but he deserves a clear-eyed view not rose-colored glasses. Many of Trumps economic advisers have touted the presidents plans to overhaul the tax code and renegotiate trade agreements, measures that they argue will boost annual economic growth to 4 percent or higher. The White House has also proposed an infrastructure package that could total $1 trillion in public and private financing, through the details of the program remain unclear. Mulvaney, along with other key GOP lawmakers, have opposed infrastructure spending in the recent past. Trumps advisers have said relatively little about how they might pay for his agenda and it could fall to Mulvaney to make sure the numbers add up. Several independent analyses estimate Trumps tax plan alone, which includes slashing the corporate rate and lowering individual taxes, could reduce federal revenue by trillions of dollars over the next decade. Asked about whether tax cuts should be allowed to increase the deficit, Mulvaney said that reforming the tax code could generate economic growth. Trump should look first and foremost on the effect on the overall economy, Mulvaney said. I think the best chance you have to reduce the deficit or balance the budget is to accomplish economic growth. Another possible way to balance the books could be to dramatically reduce government spending in other areas. According to the Hill, Trumps staff is considering cuts to the Energy and Commerce departments, along with the elimination of arts programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts, that could lower spending by as much as $10.5 trillion over the next decade. Mulvaney said Tuesday he had not seen those proposals. MOSUL, Iraq Iraqs prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul fully liberated from Islamic State group militants after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began. Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the unmatched heroism of all security forces factions and public support for the operation. Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city and the ISs last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi told The Associated Press: I cant tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so. Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of the city in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Grande said in the statement. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives. The statement called on warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance. Mosul is the IS groups last major urban bastion in Iraq. The extremists still control large areas in neighboring Syria. In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office said it had received reasonable corroboration for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an airstrike in the al-Jadida neighborhood of IS-controlled western Mosul last week. Attributing responsibility for airstrikes is very difficult, Ravina Shamdasani said, adding that it is clear that civilians are being killed in airstrikes. A U.S.-led coalition and Iraqs own air force have been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Mosul operation. The U.N. human rights office also said IS fighters have taken over many hospitals in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the extremist group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. In Baghdad, meanwhile, a car exploded inside a dealership in the eastern Nahda area. The Interior Ministry said a bomb had been planted on the vehicle and that the blast caused no casualties. A police official and a medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the blast killed at least two people and wounded seven. ____ Salaheddin reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report. [January 24, 2017] Mersive Announces Solstice Multi-Room, a Force Multiplier for Enterprise Collaboration Mersive, a leading provider of wireless media streaming and collaboration software, today announced the launch of Solstice 3.0 featuring Multi-Room, the next generation of its award-winning collaboration product. This version signals a watershed moment for Solstice, as the product will now allow users who are not in the same room to connect, share, and control content collaboratively across their enterprise network. Collaborating with Solstice boosts meeting productivity by reducing startup time, increasing engagement, and yielding better meeting results. Solstice Multi-Room acts as a force multiplier for these productivity gains by enabling users to connect and collaborate across multiple locations. Solstice enables any number of users to connect to a meeting room display via WiFi (News - Alert)/Ethernet networks and share and control unlimited content from their laptops and mobile devices. Meeting participants can mirror their device screens, stream individual application windows, share videos and more, creating an instant collaboration session. When two or more Solstice displays are synced in a Multi-Room session, shared content appears on all meeting room displays regardless of which location it is shared from. This seamless flow of content across multiple locations improves the communication of ideas and information to facilitate effective collaboration among teams in separate meeting spaces. "Current audio and video conferencing offer multi-room connectivity, but because they limit content to a single thread, meetings are by default relegated to presentation mode," observes Mersive CEO Rob Balgley. "Now with Solstice Multi-Room, users can have both connectivity for multiple rooms and multi-threaded content. This puts content sharing on a level playing field with audio and video." Solstice Multi-Room is additive to existing conferencing solutions, addressing the need for broader content sharing to complement traditional meeting audio/video connectivity. The Solstice Multi-Room user interface allows participants to input dial-in and/o video teleconference connection information, which other users can see and access as they join the Multi-Room session. A new chat feature is also included for messaging among users in Multi-Room meetings. In addition to the new Multi-Room capabilities, the 3.0 version of Solstice includes a streamlined user interface design, which further improves ease-of-use. "Collaboration among participants within a company is often content heavy, a use case that has been largely ignored by legacy conferencing services whose roots are in traditional telephony," said Mersive CTO Chris Jaynes. "Solstice Multi-Room supports the trend towards a more ad-hoc meeting culture by increasing meeting awareness, making meetings easier to join, and allowing content to be shared collaboratively - now without geographical limits." From the launch of Solstice in March 2013, the product has been designed as an enterprise solution. The Solstice Dashboard supports centralized, one-to-many management of the Solstice rooms across an enterprise network and features enterprise capabilities such as encryption of Solstice network traffic, support for secure collaboration among enterprise and guest users, lightweight digital signage, and support of Quality of Service (QoS), among others. Solstice Multi-Room expands the enterprise capabilities of the product to include use cases beyond single-room meetings. Solstice 3.0 with Multi-Room will be on display for the first time at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) in Amsterdam February 7-10, 2017. Solstice 3.0 with Multi-Room is scheduled for release in March of 2017. The new Multi-Room capability will be included as part of Solstice Pod Enterprise Edition products at no additional charge and with no new hardware requirement. Existing customers can update their Solstice Enterprise Edition Pods with active software maintenance to the 3.0 version of Solstice to access the Multi-Room capability. For more information, visit www.mersive.com/solstice/multi-room. About Mersive Mersive is a leading provider of wireless media streaming and collaboration software for corporate, education, and government markets. Mersive Solstice software allows any number of users to simultaneously stream content from computers, tablets, and phones to any display - wirelessly. By removing the need for video cables and converters, Solstice improves meeting productivity and transforms traditional conference rooms and classrooms into collaborative, multi-user environments. Users can connect, share, and control any display from their own devices using their existing network. In addition, Solstice transforms enterprise displays into an IT-managed pixel-landscape through a centralized console that can be used to manage access, security, and capture analytics. Mersive's software unlocks display infrastructure to create affordable collaboration environments that foster interaction, facilitate decision-making, and cultivate creativity. Mersive is based in Denver, Colorado. For more information visit www.mersive.com. Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/Mersive View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005886/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] PHOENIX Video evidence led to the arrests of two Phoenix strip club employees in the off-duty death of a Daisy Mountain firefighter last weekend, authorities said Tuesday. Surveillance video showed Centerfolds Cabaret bouncer Brandon Douglas Draper pushing Luke Jones to the ground and striking him numerous times and club manager Timothy John Piegari disconnecting the video equipment, according to Phoenix police. Draper, 26, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. He didnt have a lawyer at his initial court appearance Tuesday, where his bond was set at $250,000. Piegari, 42, was arrested on suspicion of hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. He was released on his own recognizance and doesnt yet have an attorney. A motive for the assault remains unclear. Court documents said surveillance video showed Draper pushing Jones to the ground before he climbed on top of him and struck him in the head numerous times. Jones had a brace on one arm and was restricted in his ability to defend himself due to a pre-existing injury, said Sgt. Jonathan Howard, a Phoenix police spokesman. Jones, 37, was pronounced dead at a hospital. An autopsy by the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office showed Jones was murdered. The report said he suffered a brain hemorrhage and died from multiple blunt-force trauma. Daisy Mountain Fire Department officials said Jones was a 12-year veteran and leaves behind a wife and daughter. The department is located north of Phoenix in the Carefree Highway area. Come May 31, the Wyndham flag will fly above Albuquerques Hotel Cascada. The 300-room property, at Carlisle and Interstate 40, will be renamed the Wyndham Hotel & Conference Center in late May following the hotels first phase of remodeling, which is part of a $5 million sprucing up. The changes, including the name of the new owner, were announced Tuesday by Albuquerque-based Peak Hospitality, which is managing the construction and changeover. The renovation will include a redesigned lobby, upgrades to meeting and guest rooms, a new 1,100-square-foot fitness center and other upgrades, such as new beds, extensive landscaping and exterior and interior painting. Since the hotels construction in 1972, the property has become one of Albuquerques most recognized landmarks even as it has gone through several identities and renovations, said Theodore Barela, CEO at Peak Hospitality. As New Mexico natives who have seen the transformations this hotel has gone through, were excited to see this property shine as the renovations progress to make it one of Albuquerques premier hotels and conference centers. Barela said the new owner is Sanjiv Chopra, an Oakland, Calif.-based proprietor of the Fitness Evolution chain of health and fitness centers, whos from a family of hoteliers. Chopra acquired the property after the hotel hit the auction block last summer. The final sales price was not disclosed, but the starting bid on Cascada was $2.25 million, according to online real-estate website Ten-X. The property includes two four-story buildings, over 30,000 square feet of conference space and an indoor water park with five pool areas in a 30,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the hotel. Renovations call for a new separate entrance to the water park. The former owner, Park City-based Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, injected $4.7 million of renovations when it acquired Cascada in 2010, according to the prospectus. Formerly called the Park Inn by Radisson & Water Park, real-estate records show the 11-acre property is valued at $7.1 million by Bernalillo County. Barela said the relaunched property is targeting 40 percent of future business from groups and conventions, 30 percent from corporate travelers, about 5 percent from airline personnel staying overnight in Albuquerque, and the rest from leisure travelers. In terms of the corporate traveler, we feel we will get an edge there with Wyndham Hotel Group and their distribution network, said Barela. That network, in exchange for a one-time application fee and annual franchise fee, will give the Albuquerque property access to all the accounts with companies negotiated by Wyndhams national sales team. Obviously, the new owners goal is that the brand, through its reservation system, will put heads in beds, said Barela. If you look at all the hotels in Albuquerque, generally those with national brands operate at higher occupancy levels because theyve got the benefit of frequent-traveler programs and national reservation systems. Barela said once occupancy levels hit a certain benchmark, employment will rise at the new hotel, which currently has 135 employees. In the next five or six months, he said Peak will recruit for leadership positions at the property to enhance staff development. Barela expects minimal disruptions during renovations. Certain floors and areas will be sectioned off, but the hotel will remain open. Perhaps well run a hard hat special, he offered. BAGHDAD Iraqi forces have recaptured the entire eastern side of Mosul, the Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday, marking a midpoint in a grueling battle for the Islamic State-held city. The announcement comes three months after Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive for the city, a fight that has stretched on longer than officials first predicted. The operation to retake the northern city from the Islamic State is the largest and most complex the country has seen since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Army and police forces, militia fighters, Kurdish peshmerga soldiers and elite counterterrorism troops are all participating in the effort. The forces initially were met with hundreds of car bombs, waylaying their progress and inflicting heavy casualties. The presence of civilians also slowed their efforts, and it soon became clear that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis promise to recapture the city by the end of 2016 was impossible to fulfill. In recent weeks, however, with the citys bridges all bombed, militants on the eastern side of the Tigris River have been besieged and unable to resupply. We have seen a major collapse in the ranks of the enemy, Abadi said in a televised news conference, adding that many of the militants had tried to flee in recent days. Abadi urged Iraqi forces to move quickly to recapture the western part of the city. But the Islamic State has had a year and a half to build up there, and Iraqi forces are expected to face another fierce battle. Mosuls western side is more densely packed with civilians some 750,000 according to Iraqi military estimates and Iraqi forces have been trying to keep people in their homes to avoid a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations on Tuesday warned that civilians on the western side were at extreme risk. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Lise Grande, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. We fear for their lives. They can be killed by booby-traps and in crossfire and could be used as human shields. Reports of soaring food prices and intermittent water and electricity supplies were distressing, Grande said. The fight for the western side will be the Islamic States last stand in the city and one of great symbolic importance for the group. It was the capture of Mosul by the militants in 2014 that prompted the Islamic State to declare its caliphate. It was in a sermon in the citys Great Mosque that the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, urged Muslims around the world to follow him. The west is going to be challenging just like the east was, Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, head of ground forces for the U.S.-led coalition, said in an interview earlier this month. We have an enemy that has had over two years to prepare. Older parts of Mosul, where streets are narrower, make the terrain more complicated than in the east, he noted. Theyve got to clear thousands of kilometers of streets, hundreds of thousands of rooms in excess of 100,000 buildings, and theyve got to do that while discriminating between the enemy and the civilians, he said of the fight ahead for Iraqi forces. Some Iraqi commanders hope the militants have already expended much of their firepower trying to hold on to the east. They used all their leaders and suicide bombers on the eastern side, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, a spokesman for Iraqs joint operations command. Much of the fighting inside the city limits has been led by Iraqs elite counterterrorism troops, who announced that they had finished clearing their sector last week. Since then the army has been battling to retake a few remaining neighborhoods in the citys northeast. Those neighborhoods were cleared of booby traps and explosives on Tuesday, according to Rasoul. Morris reported from Jerusalem TULSA, Okla. Federal prosecutors have named a public trust administering ambulance services in Oklahoma, as well as its director, in a civil complaint regarding an alleged kickback scheme. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas Monday, claims that a Texas hospital and ambulance provider entered into a $20 million kickback scheme to obtain and keep a profitable public ambulance services contract. The contract was awarded by the Emergency Medical Services Authority and its director Stephen Williamson. Prosecutors say the defendants allegedly created a slush fund controlled by East Texas Medical Center Regional Health Services and Paramedics Plus that was used to pay the kickbacks. The fund allegedly paid for EMSA gifts, spa treatments, political contributions and travel costs. The suit claims the pay to play scheme violates anti-kickback statutes and the False Claims Act. Prosecutors are seeking to recover damages for Medicare and Medicaid payments made to EMSA. Paramedics Plus President Ron Schwartz said the company plans to fight the accusations and expects to be vindicated. Williamson has previously denied any knowledge of whether Paramedics Plus made any political contributions in Oklahoma. EMSA released a statement saying the case is not related to its quality of care. EMSA makes every effort to adhere to applicable rules, regulations and laws. EMSA has earned a reputation of providing Oklahomans with excellent ambulance service and looks forward to continuing our mission long after this issue is resolved, EMSA said. The Emergency Medical Services Authority provides ambulance service to more than 1.1 million residents in central and northeast Oklahoma. ___ Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com A group of six state attorneys general want to stop one of the largest national accreditation agencies from resuming its job as the gatekeeper between colleges and billions of dollars in federal financial aid. On Tuesday, the coalition of attorneys general filed a motion to intervene in a federal district court case involving the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, which is suing the Education Department for being kicked out of the student aid program. The department and an independent advisory board deemed the council incapable of rectifying years of lax oversight of troubled for-profit colleges. Although a federal judge rejected the councils bid for a temporary restraining order, the court has granted a preliminary injunction hearing on Feb. 1. Because of ACICSs poor accreditation practices, thousands of Maryland students are left with worthless degrees and exorbitant levels of debt due to the deceptive practices of schools accredited by ACICS, said Christine Tobar, a spokesperson in the office of Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh. Intervening in the case to support the U.S. Department of Educations decision to rescind its recognition of ACICS would protect Maryland students from further harm. Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Maine and the District of Columbia are taking part in the case to defend state interests in the governing of schools that operate within their borders, according to the motion. All of them have institutions that are accredited by the council in their jurisdictions, giving each of them a stake in the outcome of the lawsuit. An accreditors failure to verify program quality at its accredited educational institutions jeopardizes the effectiveness of state enforcement efforts and regulations, exposing each states students to subpar educational programs that provide little value, but for which each student may borrow tens of thousands of dollars through effectively non-dischargeable federal student loans, the attorneys wrote in the motion. Robert Marus, a spokesperson for District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine, said his office seeks to protect the interests of consumers, students and other everyday District residents in an environment where some longstanding federal protections may disappear. Even if the court sides against the council, the Trump administration could reverse the decision. The new administration could also chose not defend the case in court, if the council is successful in getting an injunction. The future of nearly 300 colleges with 600,000 students is at stake. Those schools have less than 18 months to find a new accreditor to prevent students from losing access to government loans and grants. Other accreditation agencies might reject colleges accredited by the council, such as the Art Institutes, which would be the death knell for some. Even if council schools are able to find an accreditor willing to work with them, getting approval could be a long and arduous process. Trouble came to a head for the council after it claimed Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit chain that state and federal authorities said committed fraud, was in good enough standing to get billions of dollars in taxpayer funds. The accrediting agency said that many of the former Corinthian schools under its auspices were sold to ECMC Group in a $24 million deal blessed by the Obama administration. A host of consumer groups, lawmakers and state attorneys general say the accrediting agency lets schools accused of fraud or with abysmal graduation rates receive millions of dollars in federal loans and grants, despite the risks to students and taxpayers. In response to the criticism, the council has increased the frequency of its on-site evaluations, removed board members with conflicts of interest, brought in new leadership and stepped up enforcement actions. Its threat to revoke the accreditation of ITT Technical Institute set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led the for-profit schools to shut down. But the councils efforts have not quelled objections to its participation in the federal student aid program. Police arrested three young men and a woman after a SWAT standoff at a apartment complex on Louisiana near Gibson SE Tuesday afternoon, according to spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department. Officer Fred Duran said Anthony Montano, 17, Jeremiah Abalos, 18, and Christian Wood, 21, were all arrested for a combined 13 felony warrants. Antoinette Duran, 29, was arrested on a misdemeanor warrant. In a statement posted on the city of Albuquerques website, police said the standoff started when detectives followed Montano, who was in a stolen vehicle, to an apartment complex on Louisiana near Anderson SE. When he got to the complex, Montano, who police say was possibly armed, went into his girlfriends apartment and refused to leave. His girlfriend was able to leave the apartment and told detectives that Montano and Wood had tried to prevent her from leaving. After a several-hours long standoff with the SWAT team and the Crisis Negotiation Team Montano, Abalos and Wood were taken into custody. Antoinette Duran was also arrested but the statement did not say when she exited the apartment. Montano was charged with receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, kidnapping, and other charges for Tuesdays events, as well as six felony warrants for a range of charges including aggravated burglary, felony larceny, and criminal damage, according to the statement. Wood was arrested for robbery with a deadly weapon, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, and other charges, as well as felony warrants for robbery and conspiracy. Abalos was wanted on two outstanding felony warrants, and Antoinette Duran was arrested for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant, but Officer Duran didnt say what those warrants were for. All these subjects were booked in the appropriate agency depending on their age and are known to be associates of a gang, according to the statement on the citys website. Mugshots werent immediately available from the county jail. President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to fulfill his goal of expediting environmental reviews and approvals in order fast track an effort to fix our country, our roadways and bridges. The order said that too often, big government and commercial projects are snagged by agency processes and procedures that costs jobs and money. Under the order, agencies that undertake environmental and other analyses before greenlighting development should work with maximum efficiency and effectiveness to complete them. As part of the order, the chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality will decide whether a project should be given national priority within 30 days of a request, triggering an expedited approval process. If an agency fails to meet the deadline for review, an agency head will have to explain the tardiness to the chair. Trumps move came a day after placing a freeze on all grants and contracts from the Environmental Protection Agency, possibly suspending efforts to improve local air quality in some parts of the nation. The actions caused alarm in the environmental and academic communities, with environmental groups and university professors expressing deep concern. Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit group, said Trump declared war on the environment in his first week on the job. All our fears about the Trump presidency are being confirmed this week, said Wenonah Hauter, the groups executive director. Trumps order was vague on exactly how agencies will expedite analyses of projects, but the order said it will be done within existing legal frameworks. The largest hurdle to fast development is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). It calls for extensive analysis of development to determine its impact to public health and the environment, including whether it might hurt air quality or foul water. Legal experts said Trump could easily maneuver around NEPA to proceed with other executive orders he signed Tuesday that would revive the Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines. The Obama administration rejected plans for the Keystone XL pipeline in 2015, and last month it blocked the final leg of the Dakota Access pipeline project, which Native American groups have been protesting. The experts said former President Lyndon Johnson first signed an executive order requiring a review for projects like pipelines that cross the U.S. border. Executive Order 11423, signed in 1968, covers bridges, tunnels, roadways, rail, livestock and even bicycle crossings. The State Department used its authority to undertake the NEPA review of the Keystone pipeline. Trump could lift it with his own directive, effectively revoking Johnsons order. I dont think theres a real way to challenge that, said Jim Murphy, senior counsel for the National Wildlife Federation. That would remove a very meaningful federal review process for cross-border pipeline construction. The NEPA review was the main reason the process dragged on for so many years, said Brett Hartl of the Center for Biological Diversity. As Hartl read the new order, he said it appears an analysis of Keystone will still be left to the State Department, but it must complete a process that once took up to a year within 60 days. NEPA is the Magna Carta of the environmental world, said Scott Edwards, co-director of Food and Water Watchs legal division. Its not surprising that [Trump] would begin his presidency by attacking the blueprint for environmental protection in this country. In a defiant stance, Edwards said he hopes the administration scuttles environmental review processes and plows ahead. It allows us to sue the agency for shoddy analysis under NEPA. Trump thinks hes the CEO of America. He cant ignore the legal process. The basic principles of democracy is what NEPA is all about, said Sharon Buccino, director of the Land and Water program for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The NEPA process includes public notice, participation, comment on project proposals and environmental review. But the president has discretion, she said. He has the authority to expedite the process so that all those considerations can be completed as quickly as possible, as long as agencies justify their decisions with a reasonable basis. They cant be arbitrary. The Washington Posts Brady Dennis contributed to this report. They were an American family, at the beginning of a presidential term in which the biggest clarifying lesson was that there were many different kinds of American families trying to share the elbow-space of one country. There were the ones who hated Donald Trump from the beginning and made it clear. There were the ones who loved him from the beginning and made that clear, too. And then there were lots of ones like the Razmuses, for whom moments of clarity were centered on subjects that were considerably less divisive. What Suzie Razmus was sure of: how she loved her husband and their three sons. How she was to devoted her faith and her community. How Shane, 13, really needed to eat more breakfast. How that inane Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen song got stuck in her head every time Henry, 17, sang it. How the low, green mountains surrounding Corbin, Kentucky, could be breathtaking to newcomers but banal to lifelong residents, which is why, every morning when she drove to the movie theater her family owned and operated, she worked hard not to take the view for granted. The Razmuses were the kind of middle-class family whose support the new presidents success would live or die on. And one thing Suzie was not always 100 percent sure of was how she felt about him. Shed voted for John Kasich in the primaries. But Kasich dropped out, and Marco Rubio whom she and husband, Greg, had also looked at dropped out, and Ted Cruz, whom their oldest, Saylor, had grudgingly voted for, dropped out, too. Finally, Greg looked around, acknowledged there were no other options, and decided it was time to get on the Trump train. Suzie, who believed in witnessing history as much as she believed in individual politicians, called up their senators office and requested tickets to the inauguration. If we pass a souvenir stand, do you all want some memorabilia? she asked her boys, as they walked in front of the U.S. Capitol. It was two days before the inauguration, and the family had just arrived in Washington. Maybe a Make America Great Again hat? Theyd never bought any Trump paraphernalia, but now seemed time to commit. Id take one, Henry said. Suzie knew that the inauguration would be important. She hoped that it would be inspiring, although she feared at least a small part of her did that the man they had decided to bestow their votes upon would careen off-script during his inaugural address, the way he was prone to do, and she would want to close her eyes in embarrassment. Past the Capitol, on the National Mall, speakers were rehearsing for the swearing-in. We live in a challenging and tumultuous world, a voice boomed into a microphone. But the American people always rise to the occasion. Thats right, we do, Suzie said to herself as she marshaled the boys into a museum. We definitely do. A tumultuous world, but also, they hoped, one ready for change. I feel like this is the last shot, Greg had said ruefully a few times. Like if this doesnt work, nothing will. Corbin. When Suzie and Greg explained it to people who had never been there, sometimes they talked about Colonel Sanders, who opened his first fried chicken stand in the north side of town. Greg, tall with a salt-and-pepper goatee, occasionally pulled on a white suit to play the Colonel at social occasions, and Suzie, a petite brunette whod recently finished a term as a city commissioner, had lobbied for and won a commemorative park to draw tourism to the area. Sometimes they talked about how they wanted tourism to increase, because the railroad jobs that used to run the economy had disappeared. The poverty rate for the surrounding counties was about 30 percent. The opioid epidemic had hit Corbin like a hammer, and the place was beautiful but it was also suffering. Lord, please bless this food and nourish our bodies, Greg said on the morning before the inauguration as the family bowed their heads at a restaurant breakfast. In your name we pray, Amen. You know, youd like to think the whole world will change after an election, Suzie cautioned, but we cant expect huge changes. The small changes she wanted: deregulation, which would hopefully bring back coal and manufacturing jobs, which would hopefully bring back railroad jobs, which would hopefully help the drug problem because, as Suzie believed, people were not meant to have too much time on their hands. On these issues, the Razmuses had collectively been persuaded that Donald Trump was the right choice. Saylor, 20, had listened to the man from his dorm at the University of Louisville, where he picked his way through anti-Trump protests daily. Henry listened, chlorinated and tired, on the ride home from high school swim practice. Shane listened in his middle-school social studies class. Suzie and Greg listened as they worked in the cineplex, a tiny intersection of liberal Hollywood with the conservative Southern locale that had gone 82 percent for Trump. Its not that Suzie couldnt understand some of what Meryl Streep meant when she got onstage at the Golden Globes and chastised the now-president. But at the same time, she and Greg saw how people in Corbin treated trips to the movies as the vacations they couldnt afford. How patrons cleaned up their popcorn boxes on Saturday night, then returned a few hours later on Sunday morning to attend the church that used the theater as a chapel. This was why she told her boys, when they worked at the refreshment stand, You better have smiles on your faces, and the popcorn better be hot and buttery. She wanted patrons to be able to focus on the movie experience, and not how the woman on the screen looked down on them because of who they voted for. Its not that they didnt want people to make decent wages, but the 35 people their theater employed were mostly high school students in after-school jobs. A 16-year-old living with his parents surely didnt need $15 an hour, they thought; paying it would mean raising the ticket prices that people already complained were too high. It bothers me, Greg said at breakfast, that because we supported Trump, we get lumped in as racists, or bad people. It bothered Suzie too, she said, but it was important to always try to remember how other people might be feeling. Theres that line in Hidden Figures, Suzie said, referring to the movie about African American NASA employees in the 1960s, which their theater had recently run. And theres that line whats Spidermans girlfriends name again? Kirsten Dunst, Greg supplies. Kirsten Dunst. Theres a line Kirsten Dunst says to one of the main characters: You know I dont have anything against you people. And the character says, I know you think thats true. She had been thinking about that line. Trying to see other peoples truths and perspectives, and wondering whether the coming year would finally bring the country together. It was still dark when they got up the next morning, Suzie ushering the boys into their jackets and ties and then sending them down to the hotel lobby for coffee. This is it, the big day, she said when she joined them a few minutes later. Im excited, Saylor said. I wonder if when we get off the Metro well start seeing protesters, Suzie worried, but then reminded herself that it was peoples right to protest, just like it was her right to come to the inauguration. They didnt see any protesters, though, at least not obvious ones, and their seats by the Capitol were a sea of Trump buttons. This moment is your moment, Trump said from the podium. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today. The Razmuses liked that message. It was what they were hoping to hear a rebuke to big government, a promise that he would work for the people. Whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red of patriots, the new president said, and Suzie and Greg felt pride and relief in their hearts, feeling like Donald Trump had gone out of his way to try to speak to all Americans. He hadnt ad-libbed, as Suzie had feared. He hadnt taken detours to insult Democrats or Hillary Clinton hed even thanked Barack Obama for a smooth transition. The speech sounded unifying, to them. It sounded how Suzie had always hoped Trump would sound when he gave speeches. Of course, he was preaching to the choir, she acknowledged, because they were already conservatives but although she tried to picture other peoples perspectives, she believed that anyone who truly listened to the speech would feel the same way. When it was over, they made their way back through the crowds, walking until they ended up at a quiet Greek restaurant. Lets celebrate, she said, deciding to order a glass of wine with her lunch. Trump is here. Hes our president now. If what he said comes true, well be all right, Greg said. Well all be all right. The next morning, as they piled back in their car to leave the city, they would see that not everyone had responded to the inaugural address the way they did. Hoards of protesters walked the sidewalks outside of their hotel.They would see footage of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer give a news conference that Suzie found bizarre, lambasting journalists and conflating numbers for inaugural attendance. She would feel a small pang of anxiety, before reminding herself that she didnt have to like the brash, belligerent way the new administration delivered messages, as long as they were making progress on the policies she found important. She would vow to ignore the nonsense and focus on the bigger picture of the country. For now, they finished their meal, and the boys pulled on the Trump wool hats theyd bought a few days before, and they left the restaurant into a gray day that had finally stopped drizzling. The year 2017 stretched out before the Razmus family, and here at the beginning of it, they thought the future looked bright. Six of the countrys major energy-producing states have slipped into recession after a sharp decline in production and exploration over the last 18 months caused their tax revenue to plummet and job growth to stagnate, according to a financial analysis released Tuesday. Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming each saw negative growth during the most recent fiscal year, according to the report from S&P Global Ratings. Initially, the downturn was felt in state finances, S&P analyst Gabe Petek said. Now this has really spread throughout their economies and highlights the risk of a concentrated economic base. Alaska, which has relied heavily over the years on oil revenue to fund state government, has burned through nearly $13 billion in savings over the last four years to deal with the price declines in the energy sector. The state has closed job and public health centers, inspections of restaurants in rural areas have been done only as time permits, state prosecutors have been focused on only the most serious offenses, and the state transportation department has cut back on equipment operators. The state has cut jobs, furloughed workers and is selling search-and-rescue aircraft and ferries. The budget trouble is not limited to just energy-producing states, although they are among the hardest hit. A recent survey by The Associated Press of the state budget picture in all 50 states found that two-thirds of them are currently dealing with a shortfall or expect to confront one in the coming fiscal year. Experts say state economic growth has been slower than expected, with tax revenue in some places failing to meet projections or keep pace with rising costs for health care, education, public employee pensions and other areas. At the same time, states are facing budget uncertainty tied to policies advocated by President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress. These include a possible overhaul of Medicaid, which could result in less federal money for the state-federal program that provides health coverage for lower-income Americans. It remains to be seen what effect Tuesdays decision by Trump to revive plans for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines will have on state economies. Supporters say construction of the pipelines will create jobs, although its unknown how many or for how long. The falloff in oil and gas drilling has dragged down the nations economy as a whole for the past two years. Fewer drilling rigs have meant less demand for steel pipe and for the rail cars that ship oil and gas. Those cutbacks contributed to sluggish growth in the first half of 2016. Yet there are few signs the struggles of the six states singled out by S&P will drag down the broader U.S. economy. Growth nationwide rebounded to an annual pace of 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter, and those states combined account for just a small share of U.S. economic output. Oil prices have stabilized after members of OPEC agreed to cut production, limiting supply. Petek said that likely will keep prices where they are now, but they are unlikely to return anytime soon to the highs seen before the current energy slump. In Oklahoma, where nearly one in five residents is employed either directly or indirectly by the oil and gas sector, lagging energy prices have triggered declines in income, sales and motor vehicle tax collections. A $1.3 billion budget shortfall last year led to major cuts to programs and services. Lawmakers are facing another hole estimated at nearly $870 million, or about 12 percent of state spending, for the fiscal year that begins July 1. In New Mexico, the lower prices for oil and natural gas have sent shock waves through the states economy and government finances. The state relies on oil and natural gas revenue to fund about one-third of its budget and has depleted a reserve fund that once stood at more than $700 million, or roughly 11 percent of annual spending. An emergency legislative package to address an $80 million budget shortfall would cut funding to local school districts, postpone construction projects and limit economic development incentives. Right now, we are dealing with a crisis situation, Democratic state Rep. Patricia Lundstrom said recently. We have a lot at stake here. Are we writing bad checks? Are we lowering our bonding capacity? That really hurts local governments. ___ Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City; and Chris Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AP_Christina WASHINGTON Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trumps nominee for education secretary, has come under increasing fire since stumbling over basic education policy at her confirmation hearing last week. Democrats and civil rights groups are calling her unfit for the job, while late-night comics ridicule her statement that schools might need guns to protect against potential grizzlies. And so National School Choice Week, a celebration of charter schools, private schools, home schooling and other education options, could not have fallen at a more opportune time for DeVos. The annual effort, held this year between Jan. 22 and 28, includes thousands of events around the country that bring together people who largely see DeVos not as a threat to public education, as her critics have framed her, but as a champion of extending more choices to more parents. We finally have a president and a vice president who believe in school choice, said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill at a National School Choice Week rally. We are about to have a secretary of education who not only believes in school choice but has been fighting for school choice. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., spoke about his own rise out of poverty and the role of education in changing lives. We stand on the verge of the successful nomination of a woman who for the last 28 years has been dedicated to school choice, he said. This is a good day, and there will be more and more opportunities for kids trapped in failing schools to find their way to success. Other elected officials who showed up to praise choice as a policy aim in education included Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Education Committee; Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the majority whip; and Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., founder of the Congressional School Choice Caucus. The Capitol Hill rally was one of more than 21,000 events taking place this week to promote school choice. In the audience were dozens of D.C. students who attend private schools with the help of the nations only federally funded voucher program, as well as students from several District of Columbia charter schools. Malik Washington, a senior at Archbishop Carroll High School in the District, said that the voucher program had been a gift for him and his sister, who were raised by a single mother working a minimum-wage job. For our families to have the same opportunities that wealthier families have when it comes to school is beautiful, Washington said. DeVos is a Michigan billionaire who has spent the past three decades using her wealth and political clout to push for the expansion of taxpayer-funded voucher programs in statehouses around the country. She also has lobbied for charter schools. Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child, and they know other options exist, whether magnet, virtual, charter, home, religious or any combination thereof, DeVos said at her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing. Yet too many parents are denied access to the full range of options. She has won endorsements from Jeb Bush, who built a national reputation in education after he implemented sweeping new policies as governor of Florida; Rod Paige, education secretary under President George W. Bush; and Anthony Williams, a Democrat and former D.C. mayor. Her critics say that school choice is a term that sugarcoats DeVoss intention to privatize public schools, which they see as a fundamental civic institution. They argue that while choice sounds appealing, it works best for parents who already have advantages, such as access to information and transportation. And, they say, it does not guarantee that the options available will be any good. Dawn Wilson-Clark, a Detroit parent and education organizer who came to Washington to oppose DeVos at her confirmation hearing, said in an interview that her five children have attended 22 schools in search of a high-quality education. At one point, Wilson-Clark said, she was driving 200 miles per week to deliver her children to four schools. Choice is not the issue, she said. We have plenty of choices. Theyre just not quality, and they do not have the accountability that they need. DeVos declined to promise at her confirmation hearing that she would not seek to slash education funding or privatize public schools. Democrats this week requested a second confirmation hearing for DeVos, arguing that they need more time to scrutinize her preparedness to serve as education secretary and her potential conflicts of interest. The Office of Government Ethics has blessed DeVoss financial disclosures and has said that her agreement to divest from 102 assets will resolve any potential conflicts of interest. But Democrats argue that there are still unanswered questions about investments that DeVos will maintain, including in a company that purports to help children with autism improve their school performance. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, rejected the call for another hearing, saying Democrats are desperately searching for reasons to reject DeVos. Few Americans have done as much as Betsy DeVos has to help low-income children have a choice of a better school, Alexander said on the Senate floor Tuesday. The Democrats opposition to her says more about them than it does about her. CoPilot Provider Support Services has officially notified more than 220,000 patients and doctors who were affected by a data breach dating back to October, 2015. CoPilot believes the data breach occurred when a former employee illegally accessed an online database storing patient names, dates of birth, genders, phone numbers, addresses, health insurers and, in some cases, Social Security numbers. The company asserts that the data breach caused no personal or financial harm to any of the victims. The incident, however, is yet another reminder about the threat that malevolent insiders pose for cybersecurity. CoPilots announcement, for instance, follows a December incident at Expedia (News - Alert) involving a senior IT support technician that was caught using confidential company data for personal gain. Between 2013 and 2015, he illegally generated over $300,000 in profits. Of course, the above-mentioned examples are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to insider data breaches. According to IBM (News - Alert), more than half of all [cyber]attackers are insiders. The problem is especially bad in the healthcare industry, too; 46 percent of all data breaches last year resulted from insiders. So, what can you do to keep your data safe from this threat? We recently spoke with Al Sargent, Senior Director at OneLogin, who offered the following tips: 1. Set up policy-based access for all employees: This includes IT administrators. Giving someone blanket authorization to access any account however trustworthy that person may be leaves the door wide open for fraud. Everyone should have a basic level of security governing what they can and cannot do with your companys information, explained Sargent. Make sure to set rules for which types of applications users can access. If Expedia had strong policy-based access controls in place, the above-mentioned administrator may have been blocked from entering into the database. And even if he did gain access, the company could have been alerted if he engaged in a suspicious activity (more on that below). 2. Set up a cloud access security broker (CASB): Businesses use CASBs to enforce their own security policies on other networks. One thing they are very useful for is identifying suspicious network traffic. Its possible to use a CASB to detect simultaneous user sessions, and even blacklist entire countries from accessing a network. For example, a business with branches in the U.S. and Canada may choose to block all network traffic from countries where there are no employees. This can help protect against remote hacking operations. Oftentimes, offenders will travel to foreign countries to carry out their hacking operations, where they are less liable to be identified and caught. Sargent stressed that its important to use a CASB along with an identity cloud service, so that if a suspicious activity is reported from a users account, action can be taken immediately to terminate or suspend it. 3. Practice good account hygiene: The harder it is for employees to steal information, the less likely they will be to attempt it. As such, be smart about user account management. Keep a close watch on who is accessing their account, when they are doing so and where they are doing it. Sargent also cautions against using shared accounts. You need to have good account hygiene, Sargent said. Using shared accounts will save you money, but will create a security risk. You get the level of security you pay for. If you cut corners by sharing accounts, you are going to make it harder to manage your security risks. Using shared accounts will prevent the CASB from detecting certain network issues. For example, when employees are using shared accounts its much harder to detect whether they are doing so legitimately. So some heuristics will get thrown out the window and this could leave you vulnerable. Whats more, always remember to deprovision user accounts when they are no longer needed. Revoking access will prevent former employees from logging back in and wreaking havoc on the network. 4. Use threat intelligence to your advantage: When a significant security event occurs, its important to go back and investigate why it happened. This is called threat intelligence. This can be done using a security information and event management (SIEM) service, which will pull data from all areas of the network including servers, databases, applications and programs, and make it searchable. For example, using a SIEM it would be possible to see if an employee logs into a database after hours and downloads customer records. A SIEM can also provide real-time threat intelligence, so that threats can be stopped as they are happening. Every attack will be different, Sargent said. So theres no cookie cutter approach to threat mitigation. You need comprehensive, real-time data and a thorough understanding of all of the events on your network. Remember: At the end of the day, you dont have to have the most secure organization in the world. You just have to be more secure than the business next to you. The harder you make it for malicious insiders to access your data, the less likely they will be to risk breaking in and getting caught. Do you have any tips for dealing with malicious insiders? Let us know! Edited by Alicia Young DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd, one of Indias premier asset management companies,announced the launch of #Taxytis - its new digital campaign to urge people to start tax planning and create awareness about DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund. The campaign highlights the heightened frenzymost people go through around January every year, which typically marks the beginning of the tax planning season. #Taxytis is a disturbing condition which is a result of the struggle caused by the inability to make sound tax planning decisions. Symptoms may include absent mindedness, nervousness, sleeplessness and an unhealthy obsession with calculations. A strong dose of ELSS can help deal with #Taxytis, which is where DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Funds recommended as the cure. Leading the campaign are three new, zany films that show snippets from the life of one Abhijeet Gupta, a #Taxytis survivor. The films use humor as an offbeat tool, especially in the mundane world of finance, to highlight the pitfalls associated with inadequate and unsystematic tax planning. DSP BlackRocks#Taxytiscampaign is primarily digital with support from in-theatre promotions. The campaign will also aim to start conversations around #Taxytis across social media platforms. The #Taxytis videos and the associated digital promotion will lead viewers to www.DSPBlackRock.com/Taxytis, where they can find information on #Taxytis and also get the cure for it. Not just that, they can compare tax saving options and calculate how much they can invest to save tax.The website also enables potential investors to connect with an investment advisor and for those ready to invest, an online investing facility for those who are comfortable transacting on the net. Aditi Kothari Desai, EVP and Head - Sales, Marketing &E-Business, DSP BlackRock said, We believe that paying taxes is an important duty of all Indians in order to help contribute towards the growth and development of the nation. Having said that, as money managers, it is our duty to help Indian investors grow their wealth while saving taxes in the most efficient and legal manner - by investing in Equity Linked Savings Schemes which help investors gain income tax exemption under section 80(C) of the IT Act. Our new #Taxytis campaign will help drive awareness and recall for our DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund, which has now been trusted by lakhs of Indian investors to save taxes while aiming to grow their wealth for more than 10 years.We look forward to more investors coming to us for their tax saving needs. AbhikSanyal, Head - Consumer Marketing, DSP BlackRock said, Tax planning, as simple and straightforward as it should be, sometimes masquerades as a disturbing condition that can cause anxiety, confusion and last minute chaos in a working professionals life. This was the insight that helped craft our #Taxytis campaign. As Indian investors have become more aware and judicious about investing smartly, Equity Linked Savings Schemes have gained popularity over the years when it comes to saving tax. Were aiming to build on this awareness and present our Tax Saver Fund as a suitable option. Our campaign is an attempt to bring forth a simple but hopefully clutter breaking concept that bases itself on situational humor and quirky characterization to effectively address a hitherto serious and possibly onerous subject. The campaign will run primarily on the digital platform like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook and Hotstar and also during the screening of Raees across top multiplexes and national chains like Inox and PVR in the top metros. The campaign will be aired from 16th Jan till 31st March 2017. Future Group has roped in Jishnu Sen as Head of Marketing for Future Retail. He joined the organisation on January 16, 2017. Sen joins in from Essar Telecom Retail, where he was Director, Brand Strategy. With a career in advertising spanning over two decades, Sen has been an independent brand consultant after bidding adieu to Grey India, where he worked for seven years. He had joined Grey India, heading Mumbai office, in 2007 and was elevated to COO of the entire Grey India operations in 2009 and was promoted as President & CEO in May 2011. He joined Essar Telecom Retail in November 2015. Early years of Sens career were spent with JWT and Young & Rubicam before he joined Grey India in 2007. He has worked India, Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. In the course of his career, Sen built successful strategies for Pepsi, GSK, Yum Foods, Colgate Palmolive, Britannia, Reliance Telecom and Ferrero, to name a few. Mindshare has brought on board Charlotte Lee as Regional Client Leader, running the HSBC account across Asia-Pacific. In this role, Lee will lead both the traditional business as well as Vulcan, the HSBC trading desk, which has been developed under Mindshares FAST team. FAST is Mindshares proprietary approach to performance and programmatic marketing integrating best-in-class data and analytics solutions. Lee has been charged with developing data driven insights across all paid, owned, and earned channels to deliver a seamless experience in a more relevant and personal way across the complete consumer journey. She takes over from Sam Selleck, who moved back to London in 2016 to run Mindshares global Nestle account. Lees role is effective immediately. With a rich and diverse background in media, Lee has led integrated teams spanning across both brand, e-commerce including search, trading desk, and affiliates in Canada, Hong Kong and across Asia Pacific on Luxury, FMCG, Travel, Technology, QSR and other businesses. Commenting on Lees appointment, Mindshares global account leader Arron Quirk, said, We are delighted to have Charlotte join Team Mindshare HSBC, her CV and experience is match fit to help us more deeply connect, inspire and deliver results for HSBC across the region. She is without a doubt one of the most experienced, articulate, passionate and digitally savvy professionals in advertising, and I look forward to working with her across the Asia Pacific Region, and more broadly in the 26 markets where we represent HSBC. Vulcan is one of the most critical parts of Mindshares FAST team as along side several other intrepid blue chip clients they have been pioneering client level trading desks for the greatest possible control of both data and digital execution. The agency has been ramping up their expansion of client trading desks over the past 18 months and is betting big on this being the enevitable future of planning and buying for most advertisers. DescribingVulcan, Lee commented, We are developing a completely bespoke technology solution that leverages WPP expertise to consolidate cross channel data, and drive actionable insights to fuel HSBCs digital transformation. The film created by Ogilvy Kolkata for Bengal Tourism traces the journey of a young girl who has come to attend a wedding and decides to explore Bengal. Through the course of her visit, she realises that in Bengal, she is never really far from home. Her wanderlust has led her into the sweetest part of India - A place that welcomes guests with open arms. The alluring music of a mystics Dotara takes the shape of an old Tagore song, as the story of a Bideshini (lady from a distant land) unfolds through the changing landscapes of Bengal. Her journey takes her through the city streets of old Calcutta. She strolls through the mysterious corridors of ancient terracotta structures, dances to the tunes of a Bauls serenade, and befriends local artisans. While the diverse cuisine of Bengal manages to sate her appetite, the hospitality of her host makes her feel at home. Like a child enthralled by the tales of an old storyteller, the Bideshini looks on in wonder as the folklores of the land come to life and arrest her in a riot of colours. Even on the coldest day, the misty hills of Darjeeling embrace her in warmth. In the end, reality meets fantasy in an old Calcutta tram. At the close of her journey, she becomes one with the land. She is not a stranger anymore. Speaking about the campaign, Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Executive Creative Director (South Asia) of Ogilvy & Mather, said, In Bengal, sweetness finds different manifestations. It is in the language we speak, the hospitality we extend to our guests and our cuisine. Thus, when we were entrusted with the responsibility of creating communication for Bengal Tourism, we worked on a campaign that would identify Bengal as the sweetest part of India. The campaign stays away from the stereotypes associated with Bengal as a destination and introduces new places, rituals and experiences. This film also has an endearing human touch to it. It showcases the hospitality of Bengal, something that lends uniqueness to our state." added Sujoy Roy, Creative Director (Managing Partner) at Ogilvy and Mather, Kolkata. We hope this film makes NRI Bengalis homesick and also manage to carve a place for Bengal in every travellers bucket list. Credits: Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Kolkata Client: Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal Executive Creative Director: Sumanto Chattopadhyay Executive Vice President: VR Rajesh Creative Team: Sujoy Roy, Gour. K. Mukherjee, Partha Pal, Hannah Rohini Joseph, Nitin Kumar, Arindam Lahiri, Rantideb Mukherjee. Account Management Team: Sumit Dev & Somduttya Chatterjee Production House: Nirvana Films Director: Prakash Varma Director of Photography: Kartik Vijay Producer: Sneha Iype & Sunitha Ram Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CjwVHGlXho Just a week remains before entries for the first ever DIGIXX Awards close on January 31, 2017. The industry is responding enthusiastically to the Awards that seek to recognise and celebrate the best of the best in digital marketing that creates an exceptional user experience that is moving, deeply engaging and interactive. The winning work ultimately serves to educate the marketplace about what works and why in digital advertising, as well as inspire the community by pointing to future trends and where the industry is heading. The DIGIXX Awards have been divided into three broad categories, with each category having multiple sub-categories: Industry Sector Awards Discipline Awards for Campaign Special Awards The Industry Sector Awards cover 21 sub-categories. The idea is to include all the industries so that real achievers from each sector are facilitated. Financial services Banking Services Consumer goods FMCG Real Estate Education Technology Telecom Operator Telecom Hardware Media Entertainment Ecommerce Travel & Leisure Transport Classified Automotive Public sector and Government Retail Media Technology/ Platform Charities and non-profit Healthcare / Pharma The Industry Sector Awards aim to recognise the entire digital strategy of a brand or company initiatives on digital media, social media brand outreach, campaigns spanning multiple platforms, innovations on digital platforms, using mobile for marketing and communications drives. Efforts that have led to tangible benefits to the brand/ company in terms of increasing brand reach and connect, growth in revenues, market share, etc. The DIGIXX Awards 2017 screening committee comprising senior marketing and media professionals will evaluate and score each submission. Every entry is evaluated by multiple committee members to ensure an accurate, thorough review. The top five entries with the highest scores will be selected Finalists for each category. For further details and to enter your nominations, please visit https://www.adgully.com/digixx-awards-2017. We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The ministry of emergency situations says as of 09:00, January 23 all highways throughout Armenia are passable. The ministry told ARMENPRESS clear ice has formed in some parts of various highways, including the Vardenyats Pass, Spitak-Gyumri highway and Vanadzor-Dilijan highway. Mild foggy conditions are present in the Ararat province. According to Georgian authorities the Stepantsminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles with the use of snow chains. YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. 44 year old Tigran Kalmukhyan, owner of Yerevans Panorama hotel, has been found dead in the morning of January 22, the Police HQ told ARMENPRESS. The coroners report is currently in process and the Yerevan Police Department is investigating the cause of death and circumstances of the incident. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Head of the European Union Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski says 2016 was a successful year in terms of deepening Armenia-EU relations. Switalski told reporters during a January 24 briefing that last year Armenia and the EU signed deals on 7 programs, which will be initiated in Armenias provinces. These programs are worth 9 million Euros. The programs will be implemented in the provinces of Shirak, Lori, Syunik, Armavir, Vayots Dzor, Gegharkunik and Tavush, the Ambassador said. Switalski highlighted the fact that Armenia has joined the Horizon 20-20 and Cosme programs, which are significantly important programs for the EU. In addition, as you know the European Union assisted the electoral arrangement in terms of preparing for the national elections. The EU provided up to 7 million Euros in assistance, he said. Ambassador Switalski thanked his Armenian colleagues for cooperation. He added that he appreciates the professional capabilities, willingness and work spirit of the Armenian partners, which is seen during joint works. Norristown, PA January 24, 2017 Telephony Depot, Your VoIP Superstore Since 2003, announced today that it has signed on to become a Gold Sponsor at ITEXPO, held February 8-10, 2017 at Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The industry-leading business technology event brings together IT professionals and experts to explore the latest technology and trends in cloud, VoIP, WebRTC, unified communications and much more. Telephony Depot is pleased to be a Gold Sponsor at ITEXPO as well as a Platinum Sponsor of Asterisk World said Brian Berkowitz, General Manager at Telephony Depot. ITEXPO provides Telephony Depot an opportunity to showcase our vast product line, services and reseller program to the VoIP community. Since 2003, Telephony Depot has been a leading distributor in the VoIP industry, providing excellent product and services to the ever-growing VoIP community, along with a reseller program designed to provide our partners a solution for all of their clients needs at a competitive price. Registration for ITEXPO is now open. For the latest ITEXPO news, updates and information follow the event on Twitter at @ITEXPO. About Telephony Depot: Telephony Depot has been a trusted source of telephony hardware, software, service and support since 2003. The company was one of the earliest to embrace Open Source Telephony, and helped establish disruptive brands such as Grandstream, Digium, Sangoma, and others in the U.S. marketplace. Since that time, their product line has expanded to include Polycom, Cisco, Yealink, HTek, NetGen and many others. Founded by telecommunications engineers, the company puts a strong emphasis on technical knowledge and specializes in delighting customers with a rare combination of competitive pricing, knowledgeable pre- and post-sales technical support, and remarkable customer service. Telephony Depot has been recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in America by Inc. Magazine and made the Philadelphia 100 list as one of the fastest growing companies in the region. A dedicated Telephony Depot sales engineer is available to help with all of your VoIP needs. Call 1-800-337-1358 to talk to a sales representative or visit them on the web at www.telephonydepot.com. About TMC Global buyers rely on TMCs content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. This presents branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities for vendors/sellers. TMCs Marketplaces: Unique, turnkey Online Communities boost search results, establish market validation, elevate brands and thought leadership, while minimizing ad-blocking. boost search results, establish market validation, elevate brands and thought leadership, while minimizing ad-blocking. Custom Lead Programs uncover sales opportunities and build databases. uncover sales opportunities and build databases. In-Person and Online Events boost brands, enhance thought leadership and generate leads. and boost brands, enhance thought leadership and generate leads. Publications, Display Advertising and Newsletters bolster brand reputations. and bolster brand reputations. Custom Content provides expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. provides expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. Comprehensive Event and Road Show Management Services help companies meet potential clients and generate leads face-to-face. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com. TMC Media and Analyst Contact: Jessica Seabrook Marketing Director 203-852-6800 x 170 [email protected] Share this Page Edited by Alicia Young This Account has been suspended. Update 6.30pm: Human trafficking has a big impact on Ireland and other EU countries, according to the Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald. She was speaking after three men were arrested at Dublin Airport in connection with the suspected smuggling of illegal immigrants. Two of the men are Aer Lingus staff and remain in custody, along with a foreign national. Mrs Fitzgerald said it was necessaary to establish whether human smuggling is a regular occurrence at the airport, and the investigation would examine that. Update 1.05pm: Last night a foreign national from outside the EU arrived at Dublin Airport and Gardai followed up on indications that two Aer Lingus staff were going to help get that man past immigration controls. The three men are in Garda custody after the operation that also involved searches of property and vehicles. Assistant Commissioner John O'Driscoll from the Special Crime Operations Unit (pictured) said the offers of big money from illegal immigrants can be attractive. Asst Commissioner O'Driscoll said: "There is always a temptation there for people to succumb to the offering of corrupt payments." Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan says the investigation is part of the effort to strengthen Ireland's borders. The Garda Commissioner said: "Well our focus is on working with our colleagues in the immigration service, and our colleagues at our ports and borders to ensure that we strengthen our border controls. And this is part of that." The three men remain in custody under the suspected offence of smuggling illegal immigrants. Earlier: Gardai investigating an international illegal immigrant smuggling network have made three arrests at Dublin Airport. Two of the people arrested are said to be Aer Lingus employees at the airport. The three men arrested at Dublin Airport last night are aged 61, 56 and 28, and are being held at Ballymun and Coolock Garda Stations under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. Aer Lingus have issued a statement confirming that two of their workers have been arrested in the investigation. The airline said: "Aer Lingus can confirm that two of its employees have been arrested by an Garda Siochana at Dublin Airport. "Aer Lingus is co-operating fully with an Garda Siochana in their investigation. As this is an on-going criminal investigation we have no further comment to make." The Garda National Immigration Bureau have said that the scam has been running for years. They believe that the network may have smuggled up to 100 illegal immigrants through Dublin Airport every year. Speaking earlier this morning, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said authorities need to be vigilant at Ireland's airports. She said: "We have a huge amount of contact with Interpol and Europol. "I'm very confident that with the new arrangements now in place, that database information is being shared more effectively than ever." Saturdays Womens March in Washington and cities around the country seems to have been a cathartic moment for the Left. Many in the media reveled in the explosion of energy, the thundering roar, and the stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump represented by this supposedly spontaneous resistance movement. Yet, come Monday morning, Trump was still president and Republicans still held both houses of Congress. And while some Democratic governors and mayors pledge to resist Trump, Republicans have enjoyed a remarkable string of victories at the state and local levels during the last eight years. The GOP holds 33 state legislatures (to just 16 for Democrats) and 33 governorships. If Saturday demonstrated anything, its that the Left has become better at organizing protests than winning elections. Its not accidental. The new Democratic Partythe one increasingly governed by identity politics and driven by special interestshas become so intoxicated by the nostrums of Saul Alinsky and his Rules for Radicals that it has forgotten how to operate in a democracy, where elections count more than revolutionary theater. Perhaps this is the inevitable result of elevating a charismatic former community organizer to the presidency. President Obama was a gifted campaign strategist and an appealing personality, but he convinced his party that the Alinsky model was a viable permanent approach to governing. True, it often worked for him, but success led him to use it as a crutch, even after he assumed the worlds most powerful office. Were going to speak truth to power, presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett once said when asked about media bias against Obamas policies. As political scientist Pete Peterson pointed out, however, [Y]oure the White House. You are the power. Obama inspired a generation of like-minded Democrats to follow him into the protest-as-politics movement. Bill de Blasio has been an elected official in New York City for 15 years now, having served on the city council and as public advocate, and now as mayor. Yet, he attends protests as if he were a powerless outsider and occasionally invites arrest, according to the New York Times. In a city dominated by left-leaning Democrats, getting arrested on purpose is good politics. More recently, de Blasio participated in protests in front of Trump Tower, even as chaos reigned for many of the local businesses nearby. The posturing is wearing thin, even among political allies. In a telling piece published last week in the Washington Post, Asra Nomani, a journalist and former instructor at Brandeis and Yale, described why she, a liberal feminist, refused to participate in Saturdays marches. The march really isnt a womens march. Its a march for women who are anti-Trump, she wrote, detailing the many Democratic-backed groups and former Hillary Clinton donors who were funding the protests. Nomani, a Muslim woman and the author of The Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in Mosques, noted that the march had made white women feel unwelcome and obfuscated the issues of Islamic extremism. The inconsistencies of Saturdays protesters went well beyond Nomanis observations. More than one critic wondered where the hundreds of thousands of protestors were when Bill Clintons personal behavior toward women was exposed as abusive and exploitative. Clinton may have been an SOB, but he was apparently the Lefts SOB. That makes the outrage over Trump sound hollow. Of Alinskys 13 rules, the one that has undermined the credibility of Democrats the most is their single-minded pursuit of Number Five: Ridicule is mans most potent weapon. Its difficult to remember a Republican president or candidate whom Democrats havent tried to paint as either a warmonger or an imbecile. Comedian Bill Maher said it best when he admitted that the derision heaped on George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney finally backfired in this election. They were honorable men who we disagreed with and we should have kept it that way, Maher said. So we cried wolf and that was wrong. His point? Unlike the others, Trump really is a menace. His admission had little effect. A large portion of the electorate had already stopped listening. From Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matters to this weekends Womens March, the Left launched a blizzard of noteworthy protest movements during the last eight years. At the same time, Democrats suffered unprecedented electoral carnage. The party is now in its weakest position nationally since the 1920s, leaving Republicans, whether in Congress or in state capitals, to act as the chief restraining influence on a president whose agenda and governing temperament still raise doubts among reasonable people. Maybe the Democrats are not so much beneficiaries of Alinskys wisdom as victims of it. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images Pundits keep puzzling over what party President Donald Trump belongs to, since he emphatically is not an orthodox Republican, even though he sails under the GOP flag. But the answer is simple. He is the Tea Party president. Just think back to 2009, when the Tea Party movement began with CNBC financial commentator Rick Santellis furious on-air rant against Barack Obamas stimulus package. How many of you people want to pay your neighbors mortgage, that has an extra bathroom and cant pay their bills? Santelli asked the traders behind him on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. When they roared their disapproval, Santelli invoked the Founding Fathers and announced that he was thinking of staging a Tea Party in Chicago, fair warning that citizens were fed up with taxation without representation and a government that, like George IIIs, had become swollen with a multitude of New Offices, as the Declaration of Independence had put it, and with swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. Santelli was more prophetic than he knew, for the stimulus saved few Americans from foreclosure on their over-leveraged houses. Instead, it mainly kept state and local government workers employed, while the citizens whose taxes formerly paid their salaries were losing not just their houses but also their jobs. If Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson could see what America had become and was becoming, Santelli spluttered, theyd roll over in their graves. It was certainly not the republic they created, and that Franklin had warned wed need steadfast vigilance to keep. But we failed to keep it; and it turned out that millions of Americans shared Santellis sense of that failure and his red-hot anger over it. Millions who signed up for local Tea Party chapters and rode buses to rallies from coast to coast recognized that somehow we had lost the Constitution that the Founders had given us, and that we now lived in a polity those great men wouldnt recognizeand that was certainly not the one described in our history books, with its strictly limited powers and its exquisitely designed checks and balances. What exactly it was, and how it had slouched into being, the Tea Partiers didnt really know, but they saw that it was closer to rule by a government without the consent of the people than to the self-government, liberty, and self-reliant and self-realizing pursuit of happiness that the Founders had envisioned. Commentators are right that a big portion of Trump voters were working-class Americans displaced from their jobs by Obamas war on fossil fuels, by globalization, automation, and the shifting balance in manufacturing from the importance of the raw materials that go into products to that of the engineering expertise that designs them. These are the people Trump referred to in his Inaugural Address as the forgotten men and women of our country. But thats only part of the new presidents coalition. As Amity Shlaes shows in her 2008 book The Forgotten Man, that term, which Franklin Roosevelt applied to the man on the breadline in the Great Depression, the man at the bottom of the economic pyramid, more properly applies to those unhappy-if-silent taxpayers who funded the New Deals social-welfare schemes. And these are the forerunners of the Tea Partiers, another key class of Trump voter: the widow on a fixed income whose property-tax payment helps house a public-sector retiree comfortably but whose inexorable rise is making her own paid-off home unaffordable; the retiree whose IRA savings the Great Recession eroded or who can no longer get an adequate income from safe bond investments, thanks to the Federal Reserves policies; the small businessman or farmer ruined by undemocratic government regulation lacking even the pretense of due process; the ex-soldier abandoned by a dysfunctional Veterans Administration; the parent disgusted with public schools that impose ideologies she abhors on her children, while leaving them inadequately educated; and all those sincere believers in God or traditional values whom Obama dismissed as clinging desperately to outmoded pieties, as the arc of history, which the elite professor-president claimed to understand and direct according to his politically correct enlightenment, swirled them down the drain. The Tea Partiers wanted a second American Revolution that would sweep away the Administrative State that the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the War on Poverty set loose to devour and fatten on the carcass of the Founders republic, replacing a government of limited and enumerated powers with an unlimited government that rules by administrative decree and redistributes wealth as if it belonged to the governors and not the governed. No wonder Obamas Internal Revenue Service worked to squash that movement as tyrannically as George IIIs tax collectors. Lets see if the new revolutionaries picked a leader who knows what they want and how to get it. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images At a debate in London recently, a young woman related the experience of a friend who went off to a bedroom with a young man at a party. After a while, the young man cleared his throat and asked the friend if she was consenting to sexual activity. The friend reported that she was immediately weirded out. She got up and left. Two pieces of received wisdom dominate the modern academic discussion about sexual consent. First, consent must be positive and explicit. Second, consent must be taught. According to the champions of the doctrine of affirmative consentlately gaining traction on college campuses in America and Europesexual consent isnt something negotiated between two people or demonstrated by tacit gestures, glances, and movements. Rather, it must be stated explicitly, using specified terms. Consent occurs on terms only a lawyer would appreciate. In some cases, affirmative consent can be verbal: I consent, or Yes, we agree to have sex! Sometimes there are forms to sign. There is even a smartphone app into which you say the name of the person with whom you want to have sexual relations. Add a clear yes, and consent is confirmed. How romantic! Affirmative consent provokes a host of strange human behaviors, which is why it needs to be taught in school. In the real world, prospective lovers are capable of communicating consent with their eyes; in the weirded-out affirmative-consent world, an imaginary third party needs to hear it spoken out loud. We are living in a new sex bureaucracy, announce two married Harvard law professors in a recent edition of the California Law Review. Jacob and Jennie Suk Gersen lament the steady expansion of regulatory concepts of sex discrimination and sexual violence to the point that the regulated area comes also to encompass ordinary sex. Some American universities have moved on, they point out, from merely defining affirmative consent to actually scripting sexual acts, including the words that prospective partners should use and the way that they should say them. The University of Wyoming, for example, states that anything less than voluntary, sober, enthusiastic, verbal, noncoerced, continual, active, and honest consent is sexual assault. Rather than using body language, which can be misinterpreted, the university says that consent should come in the form of a verbal yes, or possibly, Yes, Yes, Oh! Yes! The school suggests some phrases that students could use during a sexual encounter. What would you like me to do for you? is among the tamer offerings. The move toward affirmative consent has transformed normal sexual relations into a kind of abuse. Merely talking to someone in an intimate way is potentially a blurry situation in which there could be problems with consent; stilted, scripted, and formalized relations are considered safe or sensitive. The consent bureaucracy implies that human relations are unnatural or potential violations of one party by another. The spontaneous, unmediated sex act is deconstructed into taker and taken, abuser and victim. A relationship is seen as a violation of the boundary to the self, the crossing of a line, which must be done only deliberately and in an artificial manner. The news is not all bad, however. Students at Englands University of York walked out of consent classes that they said were patronizing. One young man stood outside the classes distributing flyers, urging other students to follow suit. There is no correct way to negotiate getting someone into bed with you, he explained. In suggesting that there is, consent talks encourage women to interpret sexual experiences that have not been preceded by a lengthy, formal and sober contractual discussion as rape. Students at Clare College, Cambridge, also boycotted consent classes, and the colleges womens officer was left to post photos of the empty auditorium online. Sexual assault and rape are crimes that must be punished. They are crimes not because a person didnt say the right words but because someone was forced to do something against his or her will. But everyone, regardless of gender or sexuality, should oppose consent classes and consent forms. Human intimacy must be defended against bloodless but oppressive bureaucratic interventions. Photo by Voyagerix/iStock Fergus Burnett The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a Jewish charity that has not filed its annual return for five years. The Beth Yosef Foundation has not submitted an annual return for the last five years. Its annual income for the year ending in July 2011, filed in early 2012, stated that it had an income and expenditure of exactly of 1,106. It was established in 1998 and its objects include the advancement of Orthodox Judaism as practised by Sephardi Jews. The regulator carried out a compliance visit at the end of last year and said it identified a number of serious regulatory concerns relating to the administration and financial management. It opened the inquiry in December 2016. Other concerns include whether the charity has any validly appointed trustees, loan agreements entered into by the charity and the sale of property owned by the charity. The charity has no contact details listed on the commissions website. Windstar Cruises today confirmed it will sail in Alaska in spring and summer of 2018, with cruises starting at 11 days. We are so excited to be enhancing the Alaskan travel marketplace by introducing our brand of true small ship cruising to Alaska. Sailing closer to pristine deciduous shorelines, delving deeper into all-enveloping fjords, kayaking in icy straits right off the ships Watersports Platform, and viewing an endless wilderness from sea level. We are bringing our guests right to the heart of what makes Alaska and the Great Pacific Northwest such an amazing destination and magical place to visit, said Windstar President John Delaney. We are working hard now to arrange customized bucket list moments like the chance to hike atop the massive Mendenhall Glacier in Alaskas capitol of Juneau, zip-line over crystal-clear creeks in bear country, snap a classic whale tail picture on your mobile phone during a romantic deck-side dinner, fly over majestic Glacier Bay in a private plane, uncover Sitkas rich Russian heritage, or check out Petroglyph Beach in Wrangell a destination rarely visited by cruise ships. Windstar is thrilled to put its stamp on this classic cruise region and expects it will quickly become a Yacht Club Member favorite." Each cruise will visit Tracy Arm and Misty Fjords, with at least seven to eight other ports. The Star Legend will offer three new itineraries with eight sailing dates, departing May to August, including a 14-day Seward (Anchorage) to Vancouver option; 12-day Vancouver round-trip itinerary, and 11- or 12-day Vancouver to Seward (Anchorage) voyages. Windstar also plans to offer pre- and post-cruise land excursions, allowing guests more time to explore Alaskas interior. The Carnival Horizon will debut in April of 2018 into Mediterranean service before moving to New York and then Miami. It will be a short European season, with the ship arriving in New York in May, according to a statement from Carnival. Carnival Vista delivered the next generation of ship for our brand with new, never-before-seen features at sea. From our amazing SkyRide and the WaterWorks aqua park to first IMAX Theatre on a cruise ship, Carnival Vista has offered our guests a brand new view of fun. With Carnival Horizon, we continue to expand those themes to provide guests of all ages with the ultimate fun vacation with Carnival! said Christine Duffy, president of Carnival Cruise Line. The Carnival Horizon is scheduled to make its maiden voyage April 2, 2018, with a 13-day Mediterranean voyage operating round-trip from Barcelona and calling at Livorno, Rome (Civitavecchia), and Naples (Capri and Pompeii), Italy; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Corfu, Greece; Messina (Sicily), Italy; Valletta, Malta; and Cagliari (Sardinia), Italy the first of four round-trip departures from this Spanish port. Carnival Horizon will also operate two seven-day cruises departing April 15 and 22, 2018, and featuring Cagliari (Sardinia), Naples (Capri and Pompeii), Rome (Civitavecchia), Livorno, and Marseilles, and a 10-day voyage departing April 29, 2018, with stops at Livorno, Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples (Capri and Pompeii), Dubrovnik, Corfu and Messina (Sicily). After arriving in New York in late May, Carnival Horizon will offer a summer schedule of eight-day Caribbean cruises operating round-trip from New York and featuring visits to Grand Turk; San Juan; and Amber Cove (Dominican Republic). The Carnival Horizon will then move to Miami and kick off a year-round schedule of six- and eight-day Caribbean cruises beginning Sept. 22, 2018. Prior to the start-up of this program, Carnival Horizon will offer a special two-day cruise to Nassau from Miami Sept. 20-22, 2018. On its new Miami-based schedule, six-day cruises will depart Sundays, calling at Ocho Rios; Grand Cayman; and Cozumel. Two different eight-day itineraries will be offered with departures on Saturdays one featuring Grand Turk; La Romana (Dominican Republic); Curacao; and Aruba; and the other visiting Grand Turk; San Juan; St. Kitts; and St. Maarten. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board issued for comment an advance notice for proposed rulemaking (ANPR) on alternative capitl for credit unions. The NCUA Board is considering changes to the existing secondary capital regulation and whether to authorize federally insured credit unions to issue supplemental capital instruments that would only count toward a credit unions risk-based net worth requirement. The ANPR identifies two categories of alternative capital: secondary capital and supplemental capital. The Federal Credit Union Act currently permits low-income credit unions to issue secondary capital. By law, secondary capital counts toward both the net worth ratio and the risk-based net worth requirement of NCUAs prompt corrective action standards. Credit unions in Ukraine needed outside support after the invasion/secession of Crimea and after the conflict spread into Southern and Eastern Ukraine. When the Ukrainian credit unions asked for help, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Council of Credit Unions responded with a four-year, $5 million award to be implemented by a multinational team of credit unions. World Council and USAID granted this award to the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance and the World Council, who partnered to launch the Credit for Agriculture Producers (CAP) Project. Started in September 2016, the CAP Project draws upon credit union experts and colleagues from the U.S., Poland, Netherlands, and Ireland. The CAP Projects mission is to provide financial support to some 24,000 agricultural producers in rural Ukraine. The momentum for improving and strengthening the credit union sector in Ukraine is here, and so is a growing recognition of the importance of the robust credit union sector for the economy, not only for its financial but also its social mission, says Ewa Sierzynska, World Councils chief of party for the CAP Project. In 43 states and the District of Columbia, black students are arrested at school at disproportionately high levels, an analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center finds. And one reason may be that black students are more likely than students in any other racial or ethnic group to attend schools with police, according to the analysis of 2013-14 civil rights data, the most recent collected by the U.S. Department of Education. In most of the jurisdictions with disproportionate arrests of black students, the disparities are significant. In 28 states, the share of arrested students who are black is at least 10 percentage points higher than their share of enrollment in schools with at least one arrest. In 10 of those states, that gap is at least 20 percentage points. No other student racial or ethnic groups face such disparities in as many states. In Virginia, black students make up 39 percent of the enrollment in public schools with at least one arrest but 75 percent of school-based arrests. In Louisiana, black students comprise 40 percent of enrollment in schools with at least one arrest but 69 percent of students arrested at school. Students from other racial and ethnic groups are also arrested at disproportionate rates in a smaller number of states. In Connecticut, for example, Hispanic students make up 25 percent of enrollment in schools with arrests but 35 percent of students arrested at school. And in Arizona, Native Americans comprise 8 percent of enrollment in schools with arrests, but 23 percent of students arrested. Nationwide, black boys are at the highest risk, three times as likely to be arrested at school as their white male peers. And African-American girls fare little better: They are more than 1.5 times as likely as white boys to be arrested, the analysis shows. In four states with disproportionately high arrest rates for black students, the gap between their representation in overall enrollment and in the share of students arrested is quite narrowwithin 3 percentage points. In these states, black students make up a relatively low share of overall enrollment. Nationwide, about 8,000 schools reported a total of nearly 70,000 arrests in the 2013-14 school year. Black students were more likely than their white peers to attend a school where arrests occurred. When black students share of arrests is compared to their overall enrollment in all schools, the disparities are even more severe. And rates of student referrals to law enforcement show similar patterns of racial disparities at the state and national levels. Nationwide, black students made up 17 percent of enrollment in schools that referred students to law enforcement, but were 26 percent of students who were referred, the analysis found. Referrals, which are more common than arrests, are broadly defined as any time a student is reported to any law enforcement agency or official regardless of whether official action is taken, according to the federal data set. Referrals can include citations, court referrals, and, in some cases, arrests. All of these findings mirror a host of persistent disparities for students of color , including higher rates of school suspensions, less exposure to experienced educators, and lower likelihood of access to rigorous coursework. There is disagreement in the research and policy worlds about why certain groups of students are arrested at higher rates. Differences in local approaches to school safety and in exposure to out-of-school factors such as poverty and crime are among the reasons cited. But civil rights advocates say students of color often bear the brunt of overly punitive zero-tolerance policies and state laws that can lead to arrests for relatively minor misbehavior , such as vandalism or classroom arguments. And the presence of police in schools, such advocates say, makes arrests and referrals more likely, with results that can derail students lives. Far too often when police are consistently present in black and brown communities, they criminalize behavior they wouldnt in other places, said Allison Brown, the executive director of the Communities for Just Schools Fund and a former lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice. Especially for young people, that is just devastating to their chances for success, she said. A New Era for School Policing Overall, student arrest and referral rates are relatively low compared to other forms of school discipline. Education Weeks analysis found that the arrests documented in 2013-14 represent less than one-tenth of a percent of students nationwide. In the same year, schools reported 223,000 referrals. The federal data do not specify why students were arrested or referred to law enforcement. The findings come as debates about the role of police in schoolsand communitiesenter a new era. Student Arrests: Browse U.S. Data by School Which students are arrested most in school? Use our data tool to explore student arrest rates and referrals to law enforcement at national, state, and local levels. SOURCE: Education Week Research Center original analysis of Civil Rights Data Collection, 2017 While some civil rights and student groups argue that police dont belong in schools at all , some school leaders, parents, and police groups say they are necessary for security. Problems, they argue, can be avoided through proper hiring and training practices for school-based officers. In the 2013-14 school year, schools reported 44,000 part-time and full-time onsite law enforcement officers , another set of federal data show. Researchers say the presence of officers in schools has increased in the wake of high-profile shootingssuch as those at Columbine High School in Colorado and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticutthat stoked widespread public fears. Among 90,000 public schools, 29 percent reported at least one law-enforcement officer in 2013-14, Education Weeks analysis showed. That includes 46 percent of high schools, 42 percent of middle schools, and 18 percent of elementary schools. Very little is known about school resource officers, typically the label given to police who work in schoolssuch as their backgrounds, their training, and the policies that govern their interactions with students. Only 12 states require specialized training for officers who work the school beat , according to a 2015 study by the American Institutes for Research. Against that backdrop, President Barack Obamas administration used its megaphone to draw attention to concerns that had guided the work of advocates at the state and local levels for years. The Obama administration attached new strings to federal grants used to hire school police requiring schools to clearly define when officers should intervene with students and to set training requirements. The U.S. departments of Education and Justice delivered in 2014 their strongest message about what activists call the school-to-prison pipeline. The agencies put schools on notice that their discipline policies and practices may violate federal civil rights laws if they lead to disproportionately high rates of arrests or suspensions for some racial groups, even if those policies werent written with discriminatory intent. And districts must ensure that school-based officers dont violate students civil rightswhether they are employed directly by the district or contracted through local police, the agencies said. A routine school disciplinary infraction should land a student in the principals office, not in a police precinct, then-Attorney General Eric Holder said. Conservative federal lawmakers pushed back against those warnings , however, saying that stance would force schools to avoid disciplining some students. Before the public has had the chance to see whether those effortsand parallel efforts in states and districtshave eased disproportionate discipline rates, President Donald Trumps administration will begin implementing policies of its own. Trumps team of advisers and Cabinet nominees have signaled plans to roll back the aggressive civil rights stance of the Obama years. On the campaign trail, Trump, who pledged to be a law and order president, singled out largely black communities as dysfunctional and unsafe and cited school shootings as a reason to ease gun restrictions and increase security in schools. And in his first week in office, he seems intent on carrying out that pledge. The White House website includes an issue page on standing up for our law enforcement community that says: The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it. Trumps education advisers have suggested the new administration will scale back the Education Departments office for civil rights , which led much of the Obama administrations work on intervening in districts with uneven discipline rates. Debates over police in schools have run parallel to those about police on the street: In both settings, cellphone videos of violent encounters have spread quickly on the internet and fueled controversy. Police shooting deaths of African-Americans, most of them unarmed, in communities across the country set off national protests and spawned a new movement of civil rights activism calling for dramatic changes to law enforcement and criminal justice. That movement helped accelerate momentum for changes to school discipline and safety. But since Trump was elected, advocates have grown concerned about other issues, like climate change, said Phillip Goff, the president of the Center for Policing Equity at the University of California, Los Angeles. On November 9, policing in general went from the number-one domestic policy issue in the United States to the number-five issue overnight, he said. The federal data used in Education Weeks analysis was collected from nearly every public school in the country a few months before Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was shot and killed by a white police officer in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo. That encounter thrust into the broader public consciousness long-held concerns and anger in black communities about racial bias and inequities in policing and other institutions. Similarly, scrutiny of the role of police in schools has accelerated since the public watched bystander videos that showed a South Carolina school resource officer dragging a girl from her desk after she refused to surrender a cellphone; a Baltimore officer who kicked and slapped a student accused of trespassing; and other hastily captured images of black and Hispanic students who were tackled, pinned down, and arrested at school, sometimes for minor offenses. Black Students More Likely to Be in Schools With Police Other high-profile incidents that werent caught on video have also heightened concerns about unjust or overzealous policing of students. In Prince William County, Va., a 14-year-old boy was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and petty larceny last fall after a school-based officer accused him of stealing a carton of milk . The boy, who qualified for free lunches, said he had gone back to the cafeteria cooler to get the milk after he forgot to pick one up when he first went through the serving line. In Kansas City, Mo., the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the family of a 7-year-old boy who was handcuffed by a school resource officer for disrupting his elementary school . The boy was crying loudly in response to a bullying incident, the lawsuit said, and an officer handcuffed the boy when he refused to follow directions. In Alabama, a federal judge said Birmingham school officers used unconstitutionally excessive force when they sprayed students who were not resisting arrest or posing a threat to others with a mix of pepper spray and tear gas at school. In one of those instances, an officer sprayed a pregnant student who was already restrained with handcuffs. The judge ruled that in some other incidents the pepper-spraying was justified. While violent interactions draw the most attention, advocates say their concerns about police in schools extend beyond those incidents and arrest rates, and into areas that data cant quantify. Measures like security cameras and police presence in schools have effects on students experiences that havent been fully documented, they say. And what federal data dont show are the daily, incidental interactions between officers and students in hallways, at metal detectors at school entrances, and in searches of students bags and lockers, those groups say. The data also dont show what schools lose out on when they channel funds toward law enforcement that could be spent on school counselors, social workers, and other student-support measures, those groups say. For example, an analysis of the 2013-14 civil rights data by the Education Department found that 1.6 million students attended schools with police but no school counselors and that those students were more likely to be Hispanic or black. And, because students of color are more likely than their white peers to attend schools with on-site officers, policies related to those officers have become an equity issue, said Brown, of the Communities for Just Schools Fund. Education Weeks data analysis found that 74 percent of black high school students attend a school with at least one on-site law enforcement officer, compared with 71 percent of both Hispanic and multiracial high school students, and 65 percent of both Asian and white high school students. The disparity is more pronounced at the middle school level, where 59 percent of black students attend schools with law enforcement, compared with 49 percent of both Hispanic and multiracial students, 47 percent of white students, and 40 percent of Asian students. A 2016 study published in the Washington University Law Review found that students were more likely to be referred to law enforcement for offenses like threats, fights, vandalism, and theft at schools with law-enforcement officers who were on site at least weekly. That remained true even after authors controlled for factors like state laws that require schools to report certain issues to law enforcement, levels of criminal activity and disorder, neighborhood crime, and demographic variables. School Police Need Proper Training Supporters of school police say the incidents documented in viral videos are outliers and dont represent the behaviors of most school resource officers. They argue that proper training and better vetting of officers in the hiring process can prevent such incidents from occurring. Schools also need to set clear limits for officers on what types of incidents they can and cant get involved with, said Mo Canady, the executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, which provides officer training. NASRO has repeatedly taken the public position that officers should not be involved in school discipline . And racial and ethnic disparities in school arrest rates mirror disparities in law enforcement as a whole, the organization has said. Law-enforcement agencies shouldnt treat schools as a regular beat rotation without considering whether officers have the desire and knowledge to work in such a distinct setting, Canady said. I dont care where the officer is coming from, he said. They shouldnt be placed in there just for the sake of having someone there. Thats a mistake. Theres a difference between a general law-enforcement officer who works in a school and a school resource officer who has received additional training to work with students, even though the term is often used colloquially to refer to all school-based officers, Canady said. NASROs training follows the triad model, which teaches officers how to serve in three roles in schools: as law-enforcement officials, as educators who teach students about subjects like the criminal-justice system or drug prevention, and as informal counselors and mentors for students. Such training is necessary, Canady said, to understand how students with disabilities interact with law enforcement, how to de-escalate conflict, and how teenagers brain development influences their behavior and impulse control. In 2013, when Canady testified before a congressional committee after the Sandy Hook shootings, a lawmaker asked him if more schools should have school resource officers. Were not calling for more police in schools, Canady said. What were asking for are the ones who go into schools to be properly trained. The American College of Physicians (ACP) praises the ruling by a federal judge yesterday that blocked a proposed merger between health insurers Aetna and Humana. The ruling over the potential impact on competition and insurance prices is a big "win" for patients and the physicians who care for them. As a practicing primary care internist myself, I am relieved that the proposed merger will be blocked. This merger would have resulted in higher prices and less competition, and ultimately resulted in a strain on patients, both in their choice of insurance provider and in the cost that would be passed on to them. ACP has stated its strong opposition to the proposed merger in a letter and subsequent conversations with Department of Justice (DOJ) officials, and in a position statement in 2015. U.S. District Judge John Bates sided with the DOJ, saying the merger would reduce competition in the Medicare Advantage market and could also decrease competition in Affordable Care Act exchanges in some Florida markets. The merger's potential benefits wouldn't mitigate the anticompetitive effects, Bates said in the ruling. The Department of Justice joined ACP in praising the ruling as a win for consumers and patients. A U.S. District Court is also considering a DOJ suit to block another proposed merger between Anthem and Cigna. ### The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the United States. ACP members include 148,000 internal medicine physicians (internists), related subspecialists, and medical students. Internal medicine physicians are specialists who apply scientific knowledge and clinical expertise to the diagnosis, treatment, and compassionate care of adults across the spectrum from health to complex illness. WASHINGTON, D.C., January 24, 2017 -- Researchers studying the brain have long been interested in its neural oscillations, the rhythmic electrical activity that plays an important role in the transmission of information within the brain's neural circuits. In rats, oscillations in the hippocampus region of the brain have been shown to encode information that describes the animal's position in a physical space. In humans, neural oscillations are often studied in relation to epilepsy and various sleeping disorders though questions remain about their precise function. For computational neuroscientists, who study how different structures in the brain process information, one interesting facet of this activity is the capacity of neural tissue to respond to external stimuli with different types of oscillations. "These diverse responses underlie several important questions in neuroscience," explained Leandro Alonso, a computational neuroscientist and former postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York City. "How does the same neural tissue do different things at different times? How is information altered by the connections and intrinsic dynamics of the neural circuit?" Working with the Wilson-Cowan model, a widely-used model in computational neuroscience that describes the average activity of populations of interconnected neurons, Alonso has designed a new mathematical tool to help other neuroscientists explore the broad spectrum of responses possible from a simple neural circuit. Alonso explains his findings this week in the journal Chaos, from AIP Publishing. "It's useful in modeling concepts in neuroscience to have a system that will yield a diverse range of behaviors for small changes of a control parameter, as this may help offer some insights about how the same neural tissue displays different responses," Alonso said, whose research was funded by a fellowship from the Leon Levy Foundation. Alonso's model builds its foundation on a mathematical concept called a "nonlinear oscillator." When oscillators, quantities that are in a state of repetitive fluctuation, are linear, the oscillator responds to an external input by mirroring its rhythm or frequency. In contrast, with nonlinear oscillators, the frequency of the oscillatory response varies from the frequency of the input. Differences can often be observed as well in the shape of the oscillations of the response. Although nonlinear oscillation is not specific to neuroscience, Alonso was pleasantly surprised at how well it integrated with the Wilson-Cowan model to offer some insight on how neurons can be connected so that they yield a diverse range of oscillations when stimulated. "When you observe the complexity of oscillatory phenomena in the brain, it seems reasonable to assume that it can be explained by an equally complex system that underlies these oscillations," Alonso said. "Whether this is the case or not, it is interesting that a simple circuit with just two populations of interconnected neurons can produce a similarly diverse repertoire of activity." In his article, Alonso includes a series of colorful "locking diagrams" that visually represent the variety of responses that are possible as the parameters of the external stimulus, such as its frequency and amplitude, are subtly changed. "The different colors show how the frequency of the response has changed," Alonso explained. Alonso, who first began studying the nonlinear oscillations of neurons while training at the Dynamical Systems Laboratory at the University of Buenos Aires, believes that his model can aid other computational neuroscientists working on their own models. "I hope the procedure will be helpful for deriving the parameters of neural circuits such as their connectivities, so that an incoming oscillation will trigger several different types of responses," said Alonso. "It's also possible that the broader discussion of nonlinear oscillations could be helpful to scientists examining other biological systems that exhibit comparable dynamic responses." Alonso's next research project will be to investigate the properties of systems that have multiple neural circuits with these properties connected together. ### The article, "Nonlinear resonances and multi-stability in simple neural circuits," is authored by Leandro M. Alonso. The article will appear in the journal Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science Jan. 24, 2017 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4974028). After that date, it can be accessed at: http://aip.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1063/1.4974028. ABOUT THE JOURNAL Chaos is devoted to increasing the understanding of nonlinear phenomena in all disciplines and describing their manifestations in a manner comprehensible to researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines. See http://chaos.aip.org. An interdisciplinary team of researchers has laid the foundations for an entirely new type of photovoltaic cell. In this new method, infrared radiation is converted into electrical energy using a different mechanism from that found in conventional solar cells. The mechanism behind the new solid-state solar cell made of the mineral perovskite relies on so-called polaron excitations, which combine the excitation of electrons and vibrations of the crystal lattice. The scientists from the research groups of Prof. Christian Jooss at the University of Gottingen, Prof. Simone Techert, Leading Scientist at DESY, Professor at the University of Gottingen and head of a research group at the Max Planck Institute for biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, and Prof. Peter Blochl at the Technical University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld present their work in the journal Advanced Energy Materials. "In conventional solar cells, the interaction between the electrons and the lattice vibrations can lead to unwanted losses, causing substantial problems, whereas the polaron excitations in the perovskite solar cell can be created with a fractal structure at certain operating temperatures and last long enough for a pronounced photovoltaic effect to occur," explains the main author of the paper, Dirk Raiser, from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen and DESY. "This requires the charges to be in an ordered ground state, however, corresponding to a sort of crystallisation of the charges, which therefore allows strong cooperative interactions to occur between the polarons." The perovskite solar cells studied by the team had to be cooled in the laboratory to around minus 35 degrees Celsius, in order for the effect to take place. If this effect is to be used in practical applications, it will be necessary to produce ordered polaron states at higher temperatures. "The measurements so far were made in a carefully characterised reference material, in order to demonstrate the principle of the effect. For this purpose, the low transition temperature was accepted," explains co-author Techert. Material physicists at Gottingen are trying to modify and optimise the material in order to achieve a higher operating temperature. "Also, we might be able to achieve the cooperative state temporarily through the cunning use of additional light to produce the excitation," says Techert. If one of these strategies proves successful, future solar cells or photochemical energy sources could be made using perovskite oxide compounds, of which an abundant supply exists. "Developing high efficiency and simply constructed solid-state solar cells is still a scientific challenge which many teams around the world are working on, in order to ensure the future of our energy supply," emphasises the research director Christian Jooss. "In addition to optimising the material and the design of existing solar cells, this also involves exploring new, fundamental mechanisms of light-induced charge transport and conversion into electrical energy. This should allow us to develop solar cells based on new operating principles." This is precisely what the interdisciplinary team of material physicists, theoretical physicists, chemical physicists and X-ray physicists has now achieved within the collaborative research centre SFB 1073 for "Atomic-Scale Control of Energy Conversion" in Gottingen. A key factor in studying the new principle of solar cell operation was the ultra-fast methods of optical and structural analysis that were used in the current as well as in earlier work on this topic. "Measuring dynamic processes in molecular units, like in the molecular movie approach, calls for the use of brilliant and ultra-fast X-ray sources, such as PETRA III at DESY or the European Free-Electron Laser, European XFEL, which goes into operation this year," emphasises Techert. "Examinations like these, some of which were already used in the current study, lead to a new level of understanding of charge transfer processes, which in turn makes possible new solar cell functions." ### The work was carried out by research scientists at the University of Gottingen, the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, the Technical University of Clausthal-Zellerfeld and DESY. Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY is the leading German accelerator centre and one of the leading in the world. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association and receives its funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (90 per cent) and the German federal states of Hamburg and Brandenburg (10 per cent). At its locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin, DESY develops, builds and operates large particle accelerators, and uses them to investigate the structure of matter. DESY's combination of photon science and particle physics is unique in Europe. Reference: Evolution of hot polaron states with a nanosecond lifetime in manganite; D. Raiser, S. Mildner, B. Ifland, M. Sotoudeh, P. Blochl, S. Techert, Ch. Jooss; Advanced Energy Materials, 2017; DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201602174 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- An outbreak is like a wildfire; the sooner it's caught, the easier it is to fight, said Vips Halkjaer-Knudsen, a lab design expert at Sandia National Laboratories. To detect an outbreak early -- whether Ebola, Zika or influenza -- healthcare workers must have a local, trustworthy diagnostic lab. For the past five years Sandia's International Biological and Chemical Threat Reduction group has served as a trusted adviser for design of diagnostic labs around the world that are safe, secure, sustainable, specific and flexible. Now Bill Arndt, a systems analyst at Sandia, has developed a new method to speed up the critical initial stages of the lab design process used by Sandia, without sacrificing results. Arndt and his team used his Prototype Lab tool in Iraq to support the initial design of the central veterinary lab. "We have all these laboratory and support space modules, and the idea is like going back to when you were a kid with Lego bricks. We work with the in-country partners to actually put the pieces together to build a functional lab," said Arndt. The Prototype Lab tool, funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, greatly speeds up Sandia's lab design process. It was first used to design a foot-and-mouth disease diagnostic lab in Kenya. Since details within each module generate drawings that are nearly a third construction-ready, the international partners can have blueprints for builders in about half the time, said Arndt. The modules are all the same dimensions -- for ease and speed of design and construction -- with designs of secure entryways, loading docks, restrooms, office spaces and many different types of laboratories. The labs include seven different molecular diagnostic modules for testing patient samples for telltale DNA or RNA signatures of various diseases and four clinical collection modules for sample collection, sorting and processing. Each lab design process Sandia participates in expands the catalogue of modules. For instance, the Iraqi central veterinary lab required large animal diagnostic modules, which will be available for subsequent design processes. The handover of the final lab design conceptual drawing for the Iraqi central veterinary lab occurred last summer. Laboratory modules with biosafety and biosecurity best practices built in The primary goal of biosafety is to make sure infectious pathogens stay contained and "the staff only go home with their salary and nothing else," said Halkjaer-Knudsen. Personal protective equipment, standard operating procedures, administrative controls and engineering controls all help reduce the risks of working with pathogens. And by building in these controls during the lab design process, the work performed in the lab will be safer. Sandia's lab design experts and their partner HDR Inc. of Omaha, Nebraska, an international architecture and engineering company, have designed biosafety and biosecurity best practices into each module. This includes putting sinks near the exits so staff can wash their hands as they exit the lab, placing key laboratory equipment away from high traffic areas so that they function properly and pre-selecting easy-to-clean floors and benchtop surfaces. Careful placement of modules is another way to make certain biosafety best practices are being followed. Two examples include placing breakrooms away from labs with hazardous or infectious materials and ensuring that labs that generate a lot of infectious waste are located close to sterilization facilities. Another important aspect of lab design is biosecurity, including physical security. Sandia's process supports secure access to the building and between public space and laboratory space, though it's not expressly built into the prototype modules themselves. Building labs that are specific yet flexible to adapt to future needs In addition to being safe and secure, a new lab must meet the needs of international partners and be flexible enough to adapt to evolving diagnostics over the next several decades of operation. The design process brings all the stakeholders to the table -- the end-users, lab design experts, biosafety experts, sponsors and architects -- and determines the activities and needs of the facilities, and how best to achieve them. The end-users know the most about the diagnostics and services their labs provide, but often they're limited by preconceived ideas influenced by their old lab. The external experts have a comprehensive understanding of lab design, but they don't know what does and does not work in the specific country and environment. All of the stakeholders meet for three or four intense sessions that last several days each, spread over about six months, and plan everything from defining the general mission of the new building all the way to developing a detailed conceptual layout. Sandia doesn't advance the designs to full construction-ready blueprints; instead the conceptual designs are turned over to architects for completion. To guarantee that the final lab is going to actually meet the needs of the users and conform to international best practices, Sandia continues to play an advisory role by reviewing and providing comments on the construction-ready blueprints. Also, this support builds local design and construction capacities and helps ensure biosafety and biosecurity best practices are taken into consideration in future design projects, even if Sandia isn't involved, said Arndt. The tool "is a very tangible, hands-on, visual tool to help understand and sharpen the dialogue, because very few facilities are actually identical when you begin to grind down, but they all consist of the same blocks in different permutations," said Halkjaer-Knudsen. Each module comes with a 3-D rendering of what the space will look like, which helps the end-users and sponsors envision the final product. Beyond meeting the basic facility needs, Sandia's lab design process focuses on adaptability. Using open labs for activities that are not endangered by cross-contamination or need for specialized ventilation is one way to build in flexibility. Another is to use mobile instead of fixed casework such as benches and cabinets. An open lab with sections for three different bacterial diseases can adapt to a cholera outbreak by scooting equipment over a bit, whereas three small, specialized bacteriology labs lack that surge capacity, Halkjaer-Knudsen explained. Establishing sustainable labs for the local environment Making sure a lab lasts 30 or 40 years in the relatively harsh climates of Iraq, Kenya or Cambodia and other tropical locales demands attention to hazards and environment. In many developing countries, frequent blackouts and brownouts turn biosafety cabinets and other critical equipment into nothing more than "modern art," said Halkjaer-Knudsen. Backup generators, uninterrupted power supplies for vital equipment, even solar panels are potential solutions, but only if fuel for the generator is readily available and the solar panels can withstand local sandstorms. "You cannot take something we have in the U.S. and just plop it down as copy-paste," said Halkjaer-Knudsen. "Asia is extraordinarily humid, everything grows mold and fungus. In the Middle East everything is dusty and dry." That is why Sandia's process and prototype tool promotes the use of local architects and engineers. They know the finishes that can mitigate mold growth and air filters that can survive a sandstorm. They know the materials and construction methods that locals can use, repair and maintain, explained Arndt. The prototype design tool also helps ensure that the lab is an affordable and sustainable size. Each module has its own entry in a cost estimation spreadsheet that includes the cost to build and equip it. Very early in the design process, well before the lab is laid out, the spreadsheet can generate a quote for a lab built with those modules. The estimation tool can even be adjusted using local construction costs to improve the accuracy of the quote. This gives the sponsors and the end-users a benchmark figure early in the design process, so they can consolidate or adjust the plan as needed. During outbreaks, foreign donors sometimes fund temporary labs. These labs can be deployed quickly to critical situations, but are often only a short-term solution. They are typically designed and built in a foreign country, under radically different environmental conditions. Thus, they can meet short-term needs but are not as durable. Local contractors may not know how to repair the labs or have the right parts. ### In addition to designing diagnostic labs, Sandia's International Biological and Chemical Threat Reduction group develops a wide range of methods to combat biological and chemical threats around the globe. They promote the responsible use of biological and chemical agents using train-the-trainer programs and provide templates for standard operating procedures. They also have published a manual on managing biological risks. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corp., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies and economic competitiveness. The 2017 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine is awarded to SILVIA ARBER, Professor of Neurobiology at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, Switzerland and senior group leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute (FMI) in Basel, Switzerland, and to the immunologist CAETANO REIS E SOUSA, senior group leader at the Francis Crick Institute, United Kingdom. The LOUIS-JEANTET FOUNDATION grants the sum of CHF 700'000 for each of the two prizes, of which CHF 625'000 is for the continuation of the prize winner's research and CHF 75'000 for their personal use. The prize winners are conducting fundamental biological research that is expected to be of considerable significance for medicine. SILVIA ARBER, of Swiss nationality, is awarded the 2017 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for her contributions to our understanding of how movement is controlled in mammals. Movement is the final common output of the nervous system, and is essential for survival. Silvia Arber's laboratory has investigated how neuronal circuits control and orchestrate movement, thus contributing to a better understanding of how motor commands for specific actions are generated. As diseases of the nervous system frequently lead to movement disorders, and spinal cord injury causes immobility, the work of Silvia Arber will be essential for future interventions. Silvia Arber will use the prize money to conduct further research on how neuronal circuits regulate the diversification of motor behavioural programs. CAETANO REIS E SOUSA, of Portugal, is awarded the 2017 Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine for his contribution to our understanding of the mechanisms by which the immune system senses pathogen invasion and tissue damage. Our immune system detects and responds to infections. It also destroys abnormal cells thereby acting as a line of defence from many cancers. Caetano Reis e Sousa's laboratory has made a series of seminal observations that place dendritic cells, key antigen presenting cells, as major sensors of invading pathogens as well as of dying infected and cancer cells. His work has important implications for the development of new vaccines and the treatment of cancer using immunotherapy. Caetano Reis e Sousa will use the Prize money to continue to study the mechanisms that allow the immune system to detect the presence of pathogens and dead cells. ### THE AWARD CEREMONY WILL BE HELD IN GENEVA (SWITZERLAND) ON WEDNESDAY, 26 APRIL 2017. SILVIA ARBER Silvia Arber was born in 1968 in Geneva and studied biology at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel. She graduated in 1995 with a doctorate in the laboratory of Pico Caroni at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) in Basel. After a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Thomas Jessell at Columbia University in New York, she returned to Basel in 2000 to establish her independent research group on neuronal circuits controlling motor behavior. She holds a joint appointment as a Professor of Neurobiology at the Biozentrum and a Senior group leader at the FMI in Basel. Silvia Arber was elected as a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2005. She is also a member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Academia Europaea. She has been recognized for her outstanding research with numerous prizes, including the Pfizer Research Prize (1998), the National Latsis Prize (2003), the Friedrich Miescher Award (2008), and the Otto Naegeli Prize (2014). Circuits for Movement Animals carry out an enormous repertoire of distinct actions, spanning from seemingly simple repetitive tasks like walking to more complex movements requiring fine motor skills. The central nervous system, composed of the brain and spinal cord, integrates information received from the body and coordinates its activity. Within the central nervous system, neurons never function in isolation, they are organised into neuronal circuits which are at the core of choosing, maintaining, adjusting and terminating distinct motor behaviours to coordinate movement Over the last decade, Silvia Arber's laboratory has demonstrated that neuronal circuits are organized into precise modules by functional subdivision at multiple levels of the motor system, including the spinal cord and the brainstem. Thus, precisely connected neuronal subpopulations in the motor system align with the distinct behavioural functions, allowing for functional subdivision of labour and diversification of motor programs. Silvia Arber's work provides important insight into the mechanisms and organizational principles responsible for the establishment and function of the motor system. She has decisively contributed to a better understanding of how neuronal circuits control and orchestrate movement. CAETANO REIS E SOUSA Born in 1968 in Lisbon (Portugal), Caetano Reis e Sousa moved to the UK in 1984 to finish his secondary education at Atlantic College in Wales. He went on to study Biology at Imperial College, London, and obtained a DPhil in Immunology from Oxford before moving to the National Institutes of Health, USA, as a postdoc. In 1998 he returned to the UK and set up his research group at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, later to become the London Research Institute. In 2015, the London Research Institute was subsumed into the Francis Crick Institute where Caetano Reis e Sousa is currently a Senior Group Leader. He is also Professor of Immunology in the Department of Medicine at Imperial College and holds honorary professorships at University College London and King's College London. Caetano Reis e Sousa was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2006, a fellow of The Academy of Medical Sciences in the same year and was made an Officer of the Order of Sant'Iago da Espada by his native Portugal in 2009. He is included in the list of Highly Cited Researchers (Thomson Reuters) and has previously won the BD Biosciences Prize of the European Macrophage and Dendritic Cell Society (2002), the Liliane Bettencourt for Life Sciences Award (2008) and the Award for Excellence in Basic/Translational Research from the European Society for Clinical Investigation (2011). Dendritic cells as sensors of pathogens and tissue damage Invasion by bacteria, fungi or viruses triggers potent immune responses that eliminate the pathogen. Caetano Reis e Sousa found that when viral and fungal pathogen invaders are taken up into cells they are detected by specific sensors that emit signals to promote immunity. He also demonstrated that actin filaments, the skeletons that are exposed when our own cells suffer damage and rupture their external membrane, can trigger similar pathways. This indicates that the immune system responds not only to pathogens but also to cell death induced by infection or cancer growth. Many of the receptors and pathways involved in pathogen and dead cell sensing are expressed by specialised immune cells known as dendritic cells (DCs). Caetano Reis e Sousa has helped decipher how DCs integrate various sensory inputs and coordinate subsequent immune responses. He further studied how DCs develop from white blood cell progenitors present in the bone marrow and he identified human DC1, a specialised subtype of DCs that plays a critical role in anti-cancer and anti-viral immunity. Caetano Reis e Sousa's work helps illuminate the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for immune detection of infection and cancer and opens the door for their translation into new vaccines and immunotherapies. THE LOUIS-JEANTET PRIZE FOR MEDICINE Every year, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine distinguishes leading-edge researchers who are active in the Council of Europe member countries. As one of the best-endowed awards in Europe, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine fosters scientific excellence. It is not intended as the consecration for work that has been completed, but to finance the continuation of innovative research projects with high added value and of more or less immediate practical significance in the treatment of diseases. Established in 1986, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine has thus so far been awarded to 86 researchers: 27 in the United Kingdom, 15 in Germany, 15 in Switzerland, 14 in France, 3 in Sweden, 3 in the Netherlands, 2 in Austria, 2 in Belgium, 2 in Finland, 2 in Norway and 1 in Italy. Among the 86 prize-winning researchers, 10 subsequently won the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, or the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Since 1986, a total sum of approximately CHF 59m has been awarded by the Foundation to the 86 prize winners for the continuation of their work. THE LOUIS-JEANTET FOUNDATION The Louis-Jeantet Foundation, set up in 1982, is the legacy of Louis Jeantet, a French businessman and a citizen of Geneva by adoption. Its aim is to move medicine forward and to defend the role and identity of European biomedical research vs. international competition. Established in Geneva, the Foundation is part of an open Europe and devotes its efforts to recognizing and fostering medical progress for the common good. The Louis-Jeantet Foundation allocates some CHF 4.2m each year to promoting biomedical research. It invests this sum in equal proportions for European and for local research projects. On the local level, the Foundation encourages teaching and the development of research at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva. Since 2010, EMBO and the Louis-Jeantet Foundation jointly promote the leading-edge research work of the winners of the Louis-Jeantet Prize for Medicine. In this context, the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine features special contributions by the prize winners and hosts the Louis-Jeantet prize winners' lectures. For more information, please contact: Jurg A. SCHIFFERLI Secretary of the Scientific Committee of the Louis-Jeantet Foundation Tel: +41 79 771 8515 vE-mail: schifferli@jeantet.ch Website: http://www.jeantet.ch Silvia ARBER Tel: +41 61 207 2057 E-mail: silvia.arber@unibas.ch Website: http://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/research/groups-platforms/overview/unit/arber/ http://www.fmi.ch/research/groupleader/?group=2 Caetano REIS E SOUSA Tel. +44 20 3796 1310 E-mail: caetano@crick.ac.uk Website: http://www.crick.ac.uk/caetano-reis-e-sousa More information on the prize winners' work is available on our website: http://www.jeantet.ch Philadelphia, PA, Jan. 24, 2017 - Maternal infection during pregnancy increases the risk for psychiatric disorders in the child, but the path between the two is something of a mystery. In a study published in Biological Psychiatry, senior author Professor Urs Meyer of the University of Zurich-Vetsuisse in Zurich, Switzerland and colleagues use a mouse model to show that activation of the mother's immune system may cause long-term alterations in the programming of the offspring's genome, known as epigenetic modifications, which lead to behavioral abnormalities in adulthood. "This study suggests that immunologic activation may be the connection between maternal infection to epigenetic changes that produce lasting changes in brain development," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. The findings provide new insight into the molecular mechanisms behind the risk factor. The alterations were found in a specific type of epigenetic modification called DNA methylation, which has been increasingly implicated in the origin of neurodevelopmental disorders. Altered DNA methylation appeared throughout the offspring's genome, and differed based on the timing of infection. First author Dr. Juliet Richetto and colleagues induced a viral-like infection in pregnant mouse mothers at two important time points during brain development of the offspring, in early and late gestation. Immune activation at both time points produced alterations in a few common genes associated with neurodevelopment, but most were distinct. For example, late prenatal infection altered methylation of genes related to the development and function of GABA cells, whereas earlier exposure disrupted genes important for Wnt signaling, a pathway fundamental to early developmental events during embryogenesis. The findings indicate the importance of the timing of prenatal immune activation, and suggest that earlier infection may lead to more serious effects on neurodevelopment. "Another intriguing finding of our study is that the pattern of DNA methylation in prenatally infected offspring changes over time," said Meyer, noting that alterations that were present when the mice reached adulthood were not observed when the mice were born. According to Meyer, the findings suggest that the modifications are dynamic and are likely influenced by activity-dependent events as the mice age. "The adult emergence of multiple epigenetic modifications also raises the clinically relevant question as to whether some of these anomalies could be attenuated or even prevented by early interventions targeting the epigenetic machinery," said Meyer. This would have important implications because the researchers found that the infection-induced modifications had functional consequences. The mRNA levels of genes showing differential methylation were altered in the offspring, indicating the epigenetic changes were modulating gene expression. Further, the offspring exhibited cognitive and behavioral abnormalities present in animal models of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism, suggesting that prenatal infection may cause genome-wide methylation abnormalities in these disorders. Thus, the possibility of targeting these modifications could open a potential avenue for preventative treatments in people exposed to prenatal infection. ### Notes for editors The article is "Genome-wide DNA Methylation Changes in a Mouse Model of Infection-Mediated Neurodevelopmental Disorders," by Juliet Richetto, Renaud Massart, Ulrike Weber-Stadlbauer, Moshe Szyf, Marco A. Riva, and Urs Meyer (doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.08.010). It appears in Biological Psychiatry, volume 81, issue 3 (2017), published by Elsevier. Copies of this paper are available to credentialed journalists upon request; please contact Rhiannon Bugno at +1 214 648 0880 or biol.psych@utsouthwestern.edu. Journalists wishing to interview the authors may contact Urs Meyer, Ph.D., at urs.meyer@vetpharm.uzh.ch. The authors' affiliations, and disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available in the article. John H. Krystal, M.D., is Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, Chief of Psychiatry at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and a research psychiatrist at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. His disclosures of financial and conflicts of interests are available here. About Biological Psychiatry Biological Psychiatry is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, whose purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior. In accord with this mission, this peer-reviewed, rapid-publication, international journal publishes both basic and clinical contributions from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major psychiatric disorders. The journal publishes novel results of original research which represent an important new lead or significant impact on the field, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Reviews and commentaries that focus on topics of current research and interest are also encouraged. Biological Psychiatry is one of the most selective and highly cited journals in the field of psychiatric neuroscience. It is ranked 5th out of 140 Psychiatry titles and 11th out of 256 Neurosciences titles in the Journal Citations Reports published by Thomson Reuters. The 2015 Impact Factor score for Biological Psychiatry is 11.212. About Elsevier Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions -- among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey -- and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 35,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a world-leading provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries. http://www.elsevier.com Media contact Rhiannon Bugno Editorial Office, Biological Psychiatry 1-214-648-0880 biol.psych@utsouthwestern.edu WASHINGTON -- Mindfulness meditation is an increasingly popular treatment for anxiety, but testing its effectiveness in a convincing way has been difficult. Now a rigorously designed, NIH-sponsored clinical trial led by a Georgetown University Medical Center researcher has found objective physiological evidence that mindfulness meditation combats anxiety. The researchers found that anxiety disorder patients had sharply reduced stress-hormone and inflammatory responses to a stressful situation after taking a mindfulness meditation course--whereas patients who took a non-meditation stress management course had worsened responses. "Mindfulness meditation training is a relatively inexpensive and low-stigma treatment approach, and these findings strengthen the case that it can improve resilience to stress," said lead author Elizabeth A. Hoge, MD, associate professor in Georgetown University Medical Center's Department of Psychiatry. The study, published January 24 in Psychiatry Research, included 89 patients with generalized anxiety disorder, a condition of chronic and excessive worrying. The disorder is estimated to affect nearly 7 million Americans during any one year. Hoge and her colleagues randomly divided the patients into two groups: One took an eight-week mindfulness based stress reduction course, the other -- the control group -- took an eight-week Stress Management Education course, which included general tips on the importance of good nutrition, sleep habits and other wellness topics. Both courses had similar formats but only the former included training in meditative techniques. Many prior tests of meditation-based therapies have compared a meditation group to an untreated control group. Because participants in such studies are not "blinded" -- they know if they are getting treatment or not--they are likely to be influenced by the placebo effect and other forms of expectancy bias. "The FDA would never approve a drug based on such a clinical trial design," said Hoge. In this study, she added, participants would have had little or no expectancy bias, because they were all assigned to a treatment, and were not told which was the treatment of interest to the researchers. Before and after the training course, participants underwent the Trier Social Stress Test, a standard experimental technique for inducing a stress response, in which the participants are asked at short notice to give a speech before an audience, and are given other anxiety-inducing instructions. "We were testing the patients' resilience," Hoge said, "because that's really the ultimate question--can we make people handle stress better?" For the stress test, the team monitored blood-based markers of subjects' stress responses, namely levels of the stress hormone ACTH and the inflammatory proteins IL-6 and TNF-. The control group showed modest rises on the second test compared to the first, suggesting a worsening of their anxiety from having to endure the test again. By contrast, the meditation group showed big drops in these markers on the second test, suggesting that the meditation training had helped them cope. Hoge and colleagues also found -- as they reported in an earlier paper on this study -- that the meditation group patients, compared to controls, experienced significantly greater reductions in self-reported measures of stress after their course. The study adds to evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in treating anxiety, Hoge said. She noted too that with its rigorous "active control" design, it provides a good paradigm for the future study of interventions such as meditation, to which patients cannot be blinded. Hoge hopes ultimately to expand the study of mindfulness-related treatments to other psychiatric conditions, and to compare such treatments to standard psychiatric drug therapies. ### Hoge conducted the study while a postdoctoral researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Study co-authors include Eric Bui, Sophie A. Palitz, Noah R. Schwarz, Maryann E. Owens, and Naomi Simon of MGH; Jennifer M. Johnston of Boston University; and Mark H. Pollack of Rush University. The study was funded by a grant (K23AT4432) from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, part of the National Institutes of Health. Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through MedStar Health). GUMC's mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of curapersonalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, both nationally ranked; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute; and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization, which accounts for the majority of externally funded research at GUMC including a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health. Connect with GUMC on Facebook (Facebook.com/GUMCUpdate), Twitter (@gumedcenter) and Instagram (@gumedcenter). Since the early civilizations, the lives of people in Europe, in the Middle East, and in North Africa have been closely linked to the Mediterranean. Natural catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis have repeatedly shattered cultures and states in this area. The reason for this constant threat is that in the Mediterranean the Eurasian plate and the African plate interact. "Unfortunately, the tectonic situation is very complicated, since there are many different fault zones in this area. This makes an exact hazard analysis for certain areas very difficult", explains Prof. Dr. Heidrun Kopp Geophysicist at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Together with colleagues from France, Italy and Spain, as well as from the Universities of Kiel and Bremen, the scientists now published their results of extensive investigations of the seafloor off the coast of Sicily and Calabria in the current edition of the international scientific journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The research campaigns have provided evidence that a plate boundary in the region shows current activity. "From historical natural disasters we know about the geological processes in this area, but so far the causes have not been well known. Now we are beginning to understand them better", says Professor Kopp, co-author of the study. The results are based on six ship expeditions since 2010, including three with the German research vessel METEOR. During these expeditions the respective teams have mapped the seafloor using state-of-the-art technologies. In addition, the scientists have used seismic methods to investigate the structure of the ocean floor up to a depth of 30 kilometres. "We already knew before that sedimentary layers in this region are typical for a situation when one plate slides underneath the other. However, it has been controversial whether these structures are old or whether the so-called subduction process is still active", explains Heidrun Kopp. The new investigations now show that the plates are still moving - "slowly, but in a way that they can build up stresses in the interior of the Earth", Professor Kopp adds. The region investigated in this study is of great interest because in the past it has repeatedly been hit by devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. For example, an earthquake in the Messina strait in 1908 and a subsequent tsunami called for 72,000 lives. "Of course, with the new findings, we can not predict if and when a severe earthquake will occur. But the more we know about the seafloor and its structure in detail, the better we can estimate where the probability of natural hazards is particularly high. Then actions for hazard mitigation and building regulations can reduce the risks", says Prof. Dr. Kopp. ### Reference: Gutscher, M.-C., H. Kopp, S. Krastel, G. Bohrmann, T. Garlan, S. Zaragosi, I. Klaucke, P. Wintersteller, B. Loubrieu, Y. Le Faou, L. San Pedro, S. (2003): Theory and Functional Biology of the Calabrian Subduction, by M. Rovere, B. Mercier de Lepinay, C. Ranero, V. Sallares (2017): Active tectonics of the calabrian subduction. Central Mediterranean). Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 461, 61-72, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2016.12.020 Note: The expeditions M86 / 2 and M111 of the FS Meteor were supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The bathymetric data is available through the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet). BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Scientists who study a molecule known to play a role in certain types of cancers and neurodegenerative disorders have a powerful new tool to study this compound due to research conducted at Indiana University. The study, published Jan. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how the extreme growth experienced by fruit flies in their earliest stage of life shares biochemical similarities with the growth of cancer cells. "We found that the same molecule implicated in human cancers is also produced by fruit flies during their larval stage," said senior author Jason M. Tennessen, an assistant professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. "The discovery is significant because it provides the first animal model to understand how these molecules function in healthy cells. "If we can determine the function of this molecule in normal cells, we can better understand how it causes human disease." Specifically, the study is the first to find that fruit flies produce L-2-hydroxyglutarate, or L-2HG, a molecule commonly regarded as an "oncometabolite," which can promote tumor formation and growth. L-2HG has been found in tumor cells from patients with brain and kidney cancers, as well as the rare neurological disorder L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria, whose symptoms include muscle weakness, seizures and damage to the parts of the brain that control muscle movement, speech, vision, emotion and memory. Another form of the molecule -- a "mirror image" version called D-2HG -- has also been found in brain tumors and leukemia. The IU study is also the first to show how the molecule functions in a living system where cancer is not present. "How the function of L-2GH differs between healthy and diseased tissues is poorly understood," Tennessen said. "In addition to establishing a new model for studying this cancer-related molecule, our study demonstrates that a compound previously regarded as a metabolic waste product actually functions in healthy animals." The discovery of L-2HG in fruit flies was a surprise, Tennessen added. His lab had been working to create fruit flies that lacked lactate dehydrogenase, an enzyme commonly thought to fuel growth in many tumors, and therefore a potential target for cancer drug development. After analyzing normal and mutant flies with metabolomics -- a technology that simultaneously catalogs hundreds of small molecules in the insect's body -- Tennessen's team was surprised to find the mutant flies stopped producing not only lactate but also L-2HG, which showed the enzyme was responsible for producing this molecule as well. The IU researchers then examined the unmodified flies to understand the role of L-2HG in these insects. Their analysis found the flies normally produce the molecule at high levels in the larval stage -- a period of extreme growth during which the body grows over 200 times in size over several days. They also identified a new mechanism that allowed the flies to control their accumulation of the molecule. The mechanism is significant since the high L-2HG levels that flies produce in early life is precisely controlled -- a stark contrast to the production of this molecule in cancer and diseased cells. "What we need to do next is conduct further research to really nail down how exactly this molecule functions in a healthy animal," Tennessen said. "What happens if there's too much of it, or too little? Does it accelerate growth, or slow it down? Exactly what genes does it control? There's a lot of important questions we can answer using the power of fly genetics." ### The first author on the study is Hongde Li, a postdoctoral researcher in the IU Bloomington Department of Biology. Other IU Bloomington researchers on the study were associate scientist Geetanjali Chawla and research associates Alexander J. Hurlburt and Maria C. Sterrett in the Department of Biology and Jonathan A. Karty, associate scientist manager of the Mass Spectrometry Facility in the Department of Chemistry. Additional contributors were Adam P. Rosebrock, Amy A. Caudy and Olga Zaslaver of the University of Toronto and James Cox of the University of Utah. This research was supported in part by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Approximately 345,000 or fewer chimpanzees remain in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a substantial decline from the more than two million that existed a hundred years ago. Humans' closest genetic cousins, chimpanzees are an endangered species and scientists and conservationists are turning to the NASA-U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellites to help bolster their efforts to preserve their forest homes. "Chimpanzees are in crisis," said Lilian Pintea, a remote sensing specialist and vice president of conservation science for the Jane Goodall Institute, Vienna, Virginia, citing hunting and illegal bushmeat consumption, disease, illegal capture for the pet trade and habitat loss as the culprits. Among these, habitat loss is visible from space. In 2000, Pintea saw his first side-by-side comparison of two Landsat satellite images, one taken in 1972 and the other in 1999, of the region around Gombe National Park, Tanzania. The 1972 image showed forests that stretched across the region. The 1999 image showed vast swaths of deforestation outside of the park, with its boundary written into the landscape. On one side of the park boundary were lush trees covering the steep slopes that rise from the east of Lake Tanganyika. On the other--bare hills. A joint mission of NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey or USGS, the Landsat series of satellites has provided a continuous record of Earth's land use for 44 years. Images are available cost-free to the public. "NASA satellite data helps us understand what it means to be a chimp by overlaying distribution of the habitat with the chimpanzee behavior and ranging data," Pintea said. The combination allows him and other scientists to see where chimps are most at risk and design conservation strategies. Chimpanzees in the region used to live in an uninterrupted belt of forest and woodlands from Lake Tanganyika westward through Uganda and the Congo Basin to western Africa. In the early 1970s, 10 or so years after Jane Goodall first arrived in the region and began observing chimpanzees, that forest began to be cut down. Increased pressures on the land from a population explosion as well as poverty have led to clearing forest for agriculture and local logging as well as charcoal production. "Today the belt per se has gone because it's being divided into increasingly small fragments," said Jane Goodall, who at 82 is still active in conservation efforts helmed by her namesake institute. These efforts near Gombe involve engaging the local communities in the conservation planning and monitoring process for the placement and protection of village forest reserves that support both people and chimpanzees. Central to that process has been getting everyone from the villagers to local government officials and other conservation groups to look at the same big picture. "It was really exciting to see the impact of these images on the villagers," Goodall said, adding that villagers could identify landmarks and sacred places in the satellite imagery. "It was like a piece of reality dropped magically from the sky." Unlike maps that don't show the chimpanzees' habitat side-by-side with human activities, in Landsat imagery, both scientists and the villagers could see the direct result of various land uses - farming and logging for example - and how they shaped the surrounding terrain and forests. "When deforestation happens, important ecological functions and services are lost which impacts both chimps and people," Pintea said. The chimpanzees lose feeding and nesting grounds, and it is very difficult for the territorial animals to shift their home range to another location. People lose local forest resources like honey or specific valuable tree species, as well as suffer alterations of the local water cycle that make erosion and flash flooding new problems. The satellite images were a game changer for improving local conservation efforts. "We are informing these planning and management efforts with science and data, including satellite imagery from NASA. But at the end of the day, it's the villagers' land use plan and we are there just to facilitate the process. We don't have a final say in how the communities decide to place a reserve, for example," Pintea said. The Jane Goodall Institute provides additional support for the use of Android smartphones and tablets for village forest monitors to go into the field to confirm conditions on the ground and evaluate how the plans are working. Working in partnership with the villagers, the monitoring data they collect combined with a variety of remote sensing imagery, including the Landsat satellite data, has helped Pintea and colleagues in the scientific community better track and understand the relationship between chimpanzee habitat needs and the status of forest habitats. Among the questions they ask are, as the land changes, how do forests, watersheds and chimpanzees respond, and where are the most opportunities to restore and protect critical watersheds and chimpanzee habitats? They then take that information back to the villages surrounding Gombe so the villagers can make science-based conservation and land use decisions, such as where to restrict logging activities. "We cannot do this project if the Landsat program doesn't deliver this open data to the scientific community," Pintea said. NASA's, as well as the USGS's, open data policy and research funding support has allowed him and other scientists to build a satellite-based decision support system for monitoring habitat health not only in Gombe but for the entire chimpanzee range in Africa, he said. "We are benefitting from these long-term investments now." ### Related Links Landsat Images Advance Watershed Restoration in Western Tanzania When Michelle Stokes and Stacie Bender look out across the snow-capped mountains of Utah and Colorado, they see more than just a majestic landscape. They see millions of gallons of water that will eventually flow into the Colorado River. The water stored as snowpack there will make its way to some 33 million people across seven western states, irrigating acres of lettuce, fruits and nuts in California, generating enormous amounts of electricity and ultimately flowing from taps in seven states. For a few of these sun-drenched states, snowfall (and its subsequent melt) provides up to 80 percent of the annual precipitation, which is ultimately used for drinking, farming, recreation and power generation. While it's important for water managers in these states to know the amount of water they can expect from snowmelt, it's every bit as important for them to know when to expect it. In the Flow As hydrologists at the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center, Stokes and Bender do just that, by providing stream flow forecasts for watersheds within the Colorado River Basin and the region. This Basin includes some of the most parched land in the United States. As a result, so much water is taken out for human uses and so little put back in that the river routinely runs dry before it ever reaches its mouth at the Gulf of California in Mexico. With such a scarce resource, every drop counts. "The forecasts we get from the center provide crucial information for managing our water resources and reservoir facilities," said Dave Kanzer, a deputy chief engineer for Colorado River District in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. "The water supply forecasts are critical. If we receive less water than the forecasts predict, we won't have enough saved in the reservoirs to keep the river flowing throughout the irrigation demand season. Conversely, if we receive more than forecasted, we could have to release extra water, without causing damaging floods." Aware of the importance of accuracy, the center inputs numerous readings into a complex computer program that uses that information to generate its forecasts. Prior to 2011, those inputs came solely from ground-based sensors and direct observations from staff. However, 2009 served as a turning point when massive storms blew what seemed to be unprecedented amounts of dust from the Colorado plateau onto the pristine white snow in the Rocky Mountains. Under a thick blanket of dust, the normally reflective white snow absorbed more of the sun's energy, and the snowpack melted at a much faster rate than expected during the runoff season. "We found that really dusty conditions increase the rate of snowmelt about as much as raising the temperature by 1 to 3 degrees Fahrenheit," explained Bender. "It became very clear that we had to identify a more precise way of measuring dust on snow." While measuring dust might seem like the time to zoom in, Stokes and Bender actually had to zoom out--way out. As they soon discovered, the answer was orbiting high above the Rocky Mountains up in space. Measuring Up Tom Painter has spent his fair share of time among the pristine peaks of the Rockies. As a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, he's been studying dust and snowpack for years. In 2011, Painter and his colleagues signed on to help Stokes and Bender improve streamflow forecasts by harnessing the power of Earth observations from space; a fruitful collaboration was born. With NASA's help, the center began to incorporate two sets of remotely sensed data into its forecasting model. The first set gave them a more accurate reading of where the snow was located, while the second provided them with a clearer picture of the snowpack's surface conditions and specifically the amount of additional sunlight absorbed by dust contained in the snowpack. "When we first started using remote sensing data, everything shifted," said Bender. "In fact, our research shows that using remote sensing data reduces the error by about 70 percent in some watersheds. It enables us to predict the stream flow timing much better than what our system did before." With more accurate forecasts, water managers are now able to make better decisions about when and how much water to store and/or release into the Colorado River basin--decisions that can have a dramatic impact on the lives and well-being of people and wildlife. "We know how crucial water is to farmers and communities," said Kanzer. "At the same time, without enough water flowing through the rivers, entire generations of endangered fishes could be put at risk. The more accurate the forecasts are, the better equipped we are to strike that balance." Pooling Resources As water management becomes increasingly vital due to population growth and recurring droughts, the connection between Earth-observing satellite data and those working hands-on with that information is increasingly critical. "Collaboration is essential to finding answers and providing information that benefits our communities," said Painter. "With these partnerships, we're able to leverage enhanced knowledge of planet Earth to advance science, while simultaneously helping to create healthier livelihoods, economies, and environments. And these partnerships help us identify new questions and important areas for research." By working together to use NASA's satellite data, Painter and the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center ensure that more than 33 million people have a more secure water supply and don't have to worry about consulting a forecast before turning on the faucet. About the Science Despite the importance of snowpack albedo--the proportion of light that is reflected versus absorbed--in controlling snowpack runoff, snowpack albedo has been unquantified for much of the United States. To measure it, Painter's team at NASA detects light absorbing impurities (such as dust) on the snow with its MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) instruments aboard two satellites: Terra and Aqua. NASA uses these data to estimate the additional energy absorbed by the snowpack, an essential input for understanding snowpack energy-balance dynamics. Growing from this effort, Painter's team has developed the Airborne Snow Observatory, which assembles the combination of albedo and snow water equivalent, the two most important controls on timing and magnitude of snowmelt runoff. ### Alien invaders descend on a world while defensive forces mobilize to battle the intruders... is this the plot from an upcoming blockbuster movie or a creative approach to science education? These scenes are from a new online comic, Immunity Warriors: Invasion of the Alien Zombies, created to educate elementary school students about the immune system and the role of immunization in defending against illness. Conceived by Dr. Kumanan Wilson, a physician, researcher and comic book fan, Invasion of the Alien Zombies approaches immunization education from a child's perspective. "I was inspired to create the comic after presenting to my son's Grade 6 science class about the immune system and immunization," said Dr. Wilson, an internal medicine specialist and scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa. "Despite some complex scientific concepts, the kids were really engaged with the presentation that told the story using a space-invasion theme. I began thinking of how to expand the content to educate a wider group of kids about the importance of vaccination." He approached Algonquin College's Health and Wellness Research Centre to see if there was interest in collaborating. Four senior students from three different programs worked on the project, and the digital comic was born. "Our research centre focuses on the convergence of technology and health so the project really piqued our interest," said Kevin Holmes, Project Manager, Office of Applied Research and Innovation, Algonquin College. "We assembled an amazing student team from the Schools of Media and Design and Advanced Technology who were tasked with taking Dr. Wilson's concept and turning it into a compelling visual story, which is exactly what they did." Invasion of the Alien Zombies was unveiled to a Grade 7 science class at Broadview Public School in Ottawa, Ontario, the same school that inspired the comic. Dr. Wilson hopes this content may be incorporated into the educational curriculum. "I believe we can use digital media to make science and health education more fun. At the same time, we can combat future vaccine hesitancy by creating positive attitudes about vaccination amongst children," he said. Dr. Wilson is also founder of The Ottawa Hospital mHealth Research Team and creator of CANImmunize, a mobile immunization tracking system that allows people across Canada to keep track of their family's immunizations through their smartphones and receive appointment reminders, outbreak alerts and expert-approved information about immunization. The comic will be available on CANImmunize, which is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. More than 170,000 Canadians have downloaded CANImmunize, available on iTunes and Google Play. As part of a pilot project, parents in Ottawa may report their children's immunization status to Ottawa Public Health directly through CANImmunize. It is the only jurisdiction in the country with this option. "For parents, the CANImmunize app is an excellent and easy way to keep track of their children's vaccinations and report their status to Ottawa Public Health to avoid suspension," said Catherine Deschambault, Principal of Broadview Public School. "The comic is a terrific way to engage and educate students about science. Development of the comic book was partially funded through the College and Community Innovation Program, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). ### Immunity Warriors: Invasion of the Alien Zombies is available in English through CANImmunize on iOS and Android, at http://www.canimmunize.ca or online at http://www.immunitywarriors.com. A French version will be available in the coming months. About Algonquin College The mission of Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology is to transform hopes and dreams into lifelong success. Algonquin College, an Ontario public sector community college, does this by offering hands-on, digitally connected, experiential learning in more than 185 programs. Based in the Ottawa Valley, Algonquin College is the largest polytechnic institute in Eastern Ontario. The Ottawa Hospital: Inspired by research. Driven by compassion The Ottawa Hospital is one of Canada's largest learning and research hospitals with over 1,100 beds, approximately 12,000 staff and an annual budget of over $1.2 billion. Our focus on research and learning helps us develop new and innovative ways to treat patients and improve care. As a multi-campus hospital, affiliated with the University of Ottawa, we deliver specialized care to the Eastern Ontario region, but our techniques and research discoveries are adopted around the world. We engage the community at all levels to support our vision for better patient care. See http://www.ohri.ca for more information about research at The Ottawa Hospital. The Ottawa Hospital mHealth Research Team In this digital world, people need digital solutions to manage their health and navigate the complex health systems. We create tools like practical, easy-to-use apps for people to manage their health information or the health information of their family members. We also create multi-platform resources that enable busy healthcare workers make fast, accurate decisions about the best patient care. Ottawa-Carleton District School Board The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is the largest school board in Ottawa and offers students and parents a world of choice for education, growth, and achievement. Our 147 schools offer a wide range of programs to promote learning excellence and meet the individual needs of students, parents, and the community at large. University of Ottawa: -- A crossroads of cultures and ideas The University of Ottawa is home to over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroads of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We are one of Canada's top 10 research universities--our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today's challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. http://www.uottawa.ca Media contacts: Jennifer Ganton, Director, Communications and Public Relations Ottawa Hospital Research Institute jganton@ohri.ca T: 613-798-5555 ext. 73325 or cell: 613-614-5253 Ruth Dunley Communications Officer, Algonquin College dunleyr@algonquincollege.com T: 613-727-4723 ext. 6452 or cell: 613-406-0970 Sharlene Hunter Communications/Media Relations Officer, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board sharlene.hunter@ocdsb.ca T: 613-596-8264 or cell: 613-222-5582 Additional high resolution photos and videos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/16od9kawroiknjl/AADQIp09GC6PLwUzdzz1bkw3a?dl=0 There is little evidence to support any long-term impact of maternal body mass index (BMI) in pregnancy on a child's risk of fatness in childhood and adolescence, according to a new study published in PLOS Medicine by Rebecca Richmond of the University of Bristol, UK, and colleagues. Research has shown that a mother's BMI during pregnancy is associated with greater birth size of her offspring. However, whether this association continues through childhood and is mediated by processes that occur during gestation--such as effects of circulating glucose and lipids levels--had been unclear. In the new study, the researchers used body mass and genetic information on 6,057 mother-offspring pairs from two prospective birth cohort studies. In one cohort, the offspring's BMI was measured around age 6; in the other it was taken multiple times between ages 7 and 18. While the researchers found associations between maternal BMI before pregnancy and offspring BMI at all ages, these associations were largely explained by transmission of genes associated with fatness. When a weighted genetic risk score was integrated into the analysis, the remaining association between pre-pregnancy BMI of a mother and her offspring's childhood BMI was nearly null. The study had limited power for some sensitivity tests, relied on self-reported pre-pregnancy BMI, and did not include any study of weight gain during pregnancy. "These findings suggest that public health interventions directed at all family members and at different stages of the life course are likely to be important and are potentially more likely to halt the obesity epidemic than a focus on maternal overweight and obesity status in pregnancy," the authors say. ### Research Article Funding: This work was supported by grants from the European Research Council (ObesityDevelop; 669545), the US National Institute of Health (R01 DK10324), and the Wellcome Trust (WT094529MA). RCR, NJT, GDS, and DAL work in a unit that receives funds from the University of Bristol and the UK Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12013/1, MC_UU_12013/3, and MC_UU_12013/5). RCR is supported by Cancer Research UK (C18281/A19169). DAL is a UK National Institute of Health Research Senior Investigator (NF-SI-0611-10196). The UK Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust (102215/2/13/2) and the University of Bristol provide core support for Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). A grant from the Wellcome Trust funded genotyping in the ALSPAC mothers (WT088806). ALSPAC offspring genome-wide association studies data were generated by Sample Logistics and Genotyping Facilities at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) using support from 23andMe. The general design of Generation R Study is made possible by financial support from the Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam; the Erasmus University, Rotterdam; the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw); the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO); the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport; and the Ministry of Youth and Families. VWJ received an additional grant from the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (VIDI 016.136.361) and a European Research Council Consolidator Grant (ERC-2014-CoG-648916). JFF has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 633595 (DynaHEALTH). The Generation R Study received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (733206, LIFECYCLE). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: GDS is a member of the Editorial Board of PLOS Medicine. In addition to grant funding that is acknowledged in the paper and that was relevant to the conduct of the study reported in the paper, the University of Bristol has received funds from public, charity, and industry funders from grants on which DAL is the Principal applicant (UK Medical Research Council, UK Economic and Social Research Council, UK National Institute of Health Research, Wellcome Trust, British Heart Foundation, Roche Diagnostics, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, and Medtronic PLC). These funders had no impact on any aspect of the work presented in this paper. Citation: Richmond RC, Timpson NJ, Felix JF, Palmer T, Gaillard R, McMahon G, et al. (2017) Using Genetic Variation to Explore the Causal Effect of Maternal Pregnancy Adiposity on Future Offspring Adiposity: A Mendelian Randomisation Study. PLoS Med 14(1): e1002221. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002221 Author Affiliations: MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Department of Pediatrics, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002221 A new therapy to treat spinal cord injuries in people who have lost all motor and sensory function below the injury site shows additional motor function improvement at 6-months and 9-months following treatment with 10 million AST-OPC1. The positive efficacy results from an ongoing research study were announced on Jan. 24 in a conference held by Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc., the biotechnology company that manufactures AST-OPC1. "With these patients, we are seeing what we believe are meaningful improvements in their ability to use their arms, hands and fingers at six months and nine months following AST-OPC1 administration," said Dr. Richard G. Fessler, professor in the department of neurosurgery at Rush University Medical Center and lead investigator in the SCiStar Phase 1/2a study. Rush is one of six centers in the country currently studying this new approach. AST-OPC1 cells are made from embryonic stem cells by carefully converting them into oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, which are cells found in the brain and spinal cord that support the healthy functioning of nerve cells and can potentially make poorly functioning nerves function better. A total of six patients were enrolled and treated with 10 million AST-OPC1 cells, with five of six patients having now completed a 6-month follow-up, and three of six patients having completed a 9-month follow-up. "Recovery of upper extremity motor function is critically important to patients with complete cervical spinal cord injuries, since this can dramatically improve quality of life and their ability to live independently," said Fessler. In September 2016, Fessler reported positive early efficacy data for AST-OPC1 from the patients who have lost all motor and sensory function below injury site that had been treated with 10 million AST-OPC1 cells in the study. The interim research results were announced at the 55th annual Scientific Meeting of the International Spinal Cord Society, which is being held in Vienna, Austria. "These results to date are quite encouraging, and we look forward to initiating discussions with the FDA in mid-2017 to begin to determine the most appropriate clinical and regulatory path forward for this innovative therapy," said Steve Cartt, Chief Executive Officer of Asterias. Each year in the U.S. more than 17,000 people suffer a severe, debilitating spinal cord injury. These injuries can be devastating to quality of life and ability to function independently. Lifetime health care costs for these patients can often approach $5 million. Improvements in arm, hand and finger functional capabilities in these patients can result in lower health care costs, significant improvements in quality of life, increased ability to engage in activities of daily living, and increased independence. Improvements in upper extremity motor function are being measured using the International Standards for Neurological Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) scale, widely used to quantify functional status of patients with spinal cord injuries. The latest results include the following highlights: Improvements in Motor Function Upper Extremity Motor Score -- For the five patients who have completed at least six months of follow-up, all five patients saw their early improvements in motor score (UEMS) at three months maintained or further increased through their most recent data point (six months or nine months, depending on the most recent data available for each patient). Motor Level Improvement -- For patients completing at least six months of follow up, as of the date of each patient's last follow-up visit, 100 percent (all five) had achieved at least a one motor level improvement (using the ISNCSCI scale) over baseline on at least one side, and 40 percent (two of five) had achieved two motor levels over baseline on at least one side, with one of these patients achieving a two motor level improvement on both sides. Matched Historical Control Data - Asterias and experts in the spinal cord injury field have developed a set of matched historical control data for both Upper Extremity Motor Score and Motor Level Improvement to clearly document expected spontaneous recovery in untreated patients for comparison to results seen in patients treated with AST-OPC1. The key results from this analysis, which show a meaningful difference in the motor function recovery seen to date in patients treated with AST-OPC1, will be presented during today's conference call. Safety The trial results to date continue to reveal a positive safety profile for AST-OPC1. There have been no serious adverse events related to AST-OPC1 and data from the study indicate that AST-OPC1 can be safely administered to patients in the subacute period after severe cervical spinal cord injury. The SCiStar trial is an open-label, single-arm trial testing three sequential escalating doses of AST-OPC1 administered at up to 20 million AST-OPC1 cells in as many as 35 patients with sub-acute, C-5 to C-7, motor complete (AIS-A or AIS-B) cervical SCI. These individuals have essentially lost all movement below their injury site and experience severe paralysis of the upper and lower limbs. AIS-A patients have lost all motor and sensory function below their injury site, while AIS-B patients have lost all motor function but may retain some minimal sensory function below their injury site. AST-OPC1 is being administered 14 to 30 days post-injury. Patients will be followed by neurological exams and imaging procedures to assess the safety and activity of the product. ### The study is being conducted at six centers in the U.S. and the company plans to increase this to up to 12 sites to accommodate the expanded patient enrollment. Clinical sites that have enrolled and dosed patients in the study include the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Shepherd Medical Center in Atlanta, University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose. The study is funded by Asterias Biotherapeutics, which developed the AST-OPC1 treatment used in the study, and also in part by a $14.3 million grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. About Rush Rush is a not-for-profit health care, education and research enterprise comprising Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush Health. The mission of Rush is to improve the health of the individuals and diverse communities we serve through the integration of outstanding patient care, education, research, and community partnerships. Rush University Medical Center encompasses a 664-bed hospital serving adults and children. Rush has more than 9,300 employees and faculty. Rush University, with more than 2,500 students is a health sciences university and is comprised of Rush Medical College, the College of Nursing, the College of Health Sciences and the Graduate College. One of the most common infectious diseases in the world, malaria causes public health problems and depresses the economy of infected areas. When untreated or treated improperly, the disease can result in fatalities. Despite impressive control measures and increased prevention techniques, which have reduced the global malaria mortality rate by 29% over the last six years, 3.3 billion people throughout 97 countries and territories still face a risk of infection. According to the World Health Organization, there were 212 million cases of malaria in 2015; approximately 429,000 resulted in death. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to exhibit a disproportionately high number of outbreaks and fatalities. Mathematical models can effectively predict and track malaria transmission trends, ultimately quantifying the efficiency of various treatment and eradication strategies in high-risk regions. In a paper publishing in the SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics on January 24th, Xiunan Wang and Xiao-Qiang Zhao explain a malaria transmission model that considers three distinct factors: climate, the extrinsic incubation period (EIP), and the vector-bias effect. Using data from Maputo Province, Mozambique to simulate transmission trends, the authors ultimately present a possible way to limit the disease's transmission. Female Anopheles mosquitoes are responsible for the transmission of malaria, which is caused by the one-celled Plasmodium parasite. A variety of environmental factors -- including temperature, rainfall, humidity, and wind patterns -- significantly impact the maturity, reproduction, and longevity of mosquitoes. The mosquito life cycle, in turn, directly affects the parasite's survival. "Climate factors have great impact on mosquito life cycle and parasite development," Wang said. "It becomes particularly important to consider climate impact on malaria transmission in light of global climate change." For example, an increase in temperature lessens the number of days necessary for breeding and quickens formation of spores in the parasites. Both of these occurrences can increase transmission. The EIP is the length of time a parasite needs to fully develop in a mosquito and migrate to its salivary glands in preparation for transmission. Female mosquitoes live anywhere from three to 100 days, and a typical EIP ranges from 10 to 30 days. "Only those mosquitoes that live long enough to survive the EIP can transmit malaria," Wang said. They are infectious for the rest of their lives. Additionally, previous research confirmed that malaria-infected humans attract more mosquitoes due to chemical substances emitted by the parasite. Therefore, it seems that mosquitoes prefer infected hosts rather than susceptible ones -- a skewed probability of infection known as "vector bias." Wang and Zhao adopt prior malaria transmission models in their own vector-bias model, which utilizes the basic reproduction ratio R0 and incorporates the aforementioned three factors. "The basic reproduction ratio serves as a threshold parameter in determining the global stability of either disease-free or endemic periodic solutions for this period and time-delayed system," Wang said. She and Zhao treat all parameters related to humans as constants but assume that mosquito-related parameters are periodic functions, thus incorporating seasonality into the model. Two additional parameters quantify the vector-bias effect, the probability of a mosquito biting an infected or susceptible human. And a constant time delay represents the EIP. The authors apply their model to published data from Maputo Province and simulate transmission trends in the area; the simulated curve matches the real-data curve for transmission. "The numerical simulations for monthly new malaria cases are well consistent with the real data from Maputo Province," Wang said. "This suggests that such a model may give a more accurate prediction of the disease transmission." Based on their findings of the model's global dynamics, Wang and Zhao discover that malaria will continue to exhibit seasonal fluctuation in Maputo Province in the coming years. More importantly, they show that a shorter EIP directly corresponds with increased malaria transmission. Thus, extending the EIP of mosquitoes could help control the disease and limit its spread. Although this is currently not easy, especially as climate change causes global temperatures to slowly rise, it is certainly possible. "Medical researchers may develop some drugs with such an effect that once a mosquito bites a malaria-infected patient who takes the drugs, the EIP of parasites in that mosquito will be prolonged," Wang said. The development of these EIP-extending drugs could lead to a decrease in the spread of malaria and its dire effects. ### Source article: Wang, X., & Zhao, X-Q. A Periodic Vector-Bias Malaria Model with Incubation Period. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics. (To obtain an advance copy of the paper, please email sorg@siam.org) About the authors: Xiunan Wang is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Xiao-Qiang Zhao is a university research professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. LA JOLLA, CA - January 23, 2017 - Life's genetic code has only ever contained four natural bases. These bases pair up to form two "base pairs"--the rungs of the DNA ladder--and they have simply been rearranged to create bacteria and butterflies, penguins and people. Four bases make up all life as we know it. Until now. Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have announced the development of the first stable semisynthetic organism. Building on their 2014 study in which they synthesized a DNA base pair, the researchers created a new bacterium that uses the four natural bases (called A, T, C and G), which every living organism possesses, but that also holds as a pair two synthetic bases called X and Y in its genetic code. TSRI Professor Floyd Romesberg and his colleagues have now shown that their single-celled organism can hold on indefinitely to the synthetic base pair as it divides. Their research was published January 23, 2017, online ahead of print in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We've made this semisynthetic organism more life-like," said Romesberg, senior author of the new study. While applications for this kind of organism are still far in the future, the researchers say the work could be used to create new functions for single-celled organisms that play important roles in drug discovery and much more. Building a Unique Organism When Romesberg and his colleagues announced the development of X and Y in 2014, they also showed that modified E. coli bacteria could hold this synthetic base pair in their genetic code. What these E. coli couldn't do, however, was keep the base pair in their code indefinitely as they divided. The X and Y base pair was dropped over time, limiting the ways the organism could use the additional information possessed in their DNA. "Your genome isn't just stable for a day," said Romesberg. "Your genome has to be stable for the scale of your lifetime. If the semisynthetic organism is going to really be an organism, it has to be able to stably maintain that information." Romesberg compared this flawed organism to an infant. It had some learning to do before it was ready for real life. In stepped TSRI Graduate Student Yorke Zhang and Brian Lamb, an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow in the Romesberg lab at the time of the study. Together, they helped develop the means for the single-celled organism to retain the artificial base pair. First, Zhang and Lamb, co-first authors of the study, optimized a tool called a nucleotide transporter, which brings the materials necessary for the unnatural base pair to be copied across the cell membrane. "The transporter was used in the 2014 study, but it made the semisynthetic organism very sick," Zhang explained. The researchers discovered a modification to the transporter that alleviated this problem, making it much easier for the organism to grow and divide while holding on to X and Y. Next, the researchers optimized their previous version of Y. The new Y was a chemically different molecule that could be better recognized by the enzymes that synthesize DNA molecules during DNA replication. This made it easier for cells to copy the synthetic base pair. A New Use for CRISPR-Cas9 Finally, the researchers set up a "spell check" system for the organism using CRISPR-Cas9, an increasingly popular tool in human genome editing experiments. But instead of editing a genome, the researchers took advantage of CRISPR-Cas9's original role in bacteria. The genetic tools in CRISPR-Cas9 (a DNA segment and an enzyme) originated in bacteria as a kind of immune response. When a bacterium encounters a threat, like a virus, it takes fragments of the invader genome and pastes them into its own genome--a bit like posting a "wanted" poster on the off chance it sees the invader again. Later, it can use those pasted genes to direct an enzyme to attack if the invader returns. Knowing this, the researchers designed their organism to see a genetic sequence without X and Y as a foreign invader. A cell that dropped X and Y would be marked for destruction, leaving the scientists with an organism that could hold on to the new bases. It was like the organism was immune to unnatural base pair loss. "We were able to address the problem at a fundamental level," said Lamb, who now serves as a research scientist at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Their semisynthetic organism was thus able to keep X and Y in its genome after dividing 60 times, leading the researchers to believe it can hold on to the base pair indefinitely. "We can now get the light of life to stay on," said Romesberg. "That suggests that all of life's processes can be subject to manipulation." A Foundation for Future Research Romesberg emphasized that this work is only in single cells and is not meant to be used in more complex organisms. He added that the actual applications for this semisynthetic organism are "zero" at this point. So far, scientists can only get the organism to store genetic information. Next, the researchers plan to study how their new genetic code can be transcribed into RNA, the molecule in cells needed to translate DNA into proteins. "This study lays the foundation for what we want to do going forward," said Zhang. ### Additional authors of the study, "A semisynthetic organism engineered for the stable expansion of the genetic alphabet," were Aaron W. Feldman and Anne Xiaozhou Zhou of TSRI; Thomas Lavergne of the University of Grenoble; and Lingjun Li of Henan Normal University. The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant GM060005), a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (grant DGE-1346837), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 21472036), a Labex ARCANE grant (ANR-11-LABX-0003-01), NanoBio-ICMG platforms (FR 2607) and a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society, Illinois Division. The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists--including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine--work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. In October 2016, TSRI announced a strategic affiliation with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), representing a renewed commitment to the discovery and development of new medicines to address unmet medical needs. For more information, see http://www.scripps.edu. Two scientists who untangled the complex forces that drive El Nino, the world's most powerful weather cycle, have won the 2017 Vetlesen Prize for achievement in earth sciences. The $250,000 award will go to S. George Philander of Princeton University and Mark A. Cane of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The men laid out the cyclic interaction of winds and currents that sweep the tropical Pacific Ocean every two to seven years, affecting weather across the world. Their work led to practical forecasts of such swings; institutions worldwide now monitor warning signs to help prepare for crop planting, disease control, and floods or droughts. El Nino was long thought to be just an abnormally wet season in arid coastal Peru; often peaking around Christmas, it was dubbed in Spanish El Nino, the Christ child. But by the 1970s, modern observations suggested that El Nino was actually part of an irregular weather cycle in the tropical Pacific that affects vast land areas. Through the work of Cane, Philander and colleagues, scientists now understand that on one end of the cycle, strong winds blow east to west, pushing sun-warmed surface waters toward Asia, making way for deeper, colder water to well up near South America. On the other end -- the part known as El Nino -- winds abate, and more warm water collects in the east. Warmer water means warmer air, thus more evaporation, and more rain. This helps crops in parts of Peru, but can bring concurrent drought to Australia, weakening of Southeast Asia monsoon rains, and myriad other weather shifts as far off as Africa, Brazil and the United States. Each time the cycle reverses, so do the effects, depending on how far the pendulum swings. When Cane and Philander began working in the 1970s, scientists were still vague on what caused such swings, and had no way to predict them. But research ships were by then collecting piles of marine data, and ever-more powerful computers were enabling scientists to analyze it -- trends that both men took advantage of. Philander, born in 1942, grew up the child of schoolteachers near Cape Town, South Africa. His family, classified as Colored under the apartheid system, sat near the bottom of the racial pyramid. As he recalled in an oral history, among other things, Coloreds received half the salary as whites for the same work; he was not even allowed to attend movies with whites. A brilliant student, he escaped by gaining admission to Harvard University. In 1970, he earned a PhD. in applied mathematics, based on his research into equatorial ocean currents. He carried out postdoctoral research into fluid dynamics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and soon moved to Princeton, where he is now a professor of geosciences. Cane, born in 1944, grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y.; his father was principal of a vocational public high school, his mother a school attendance officer. He also studied math at Harvard, graduating with a master's in 1966. Deeply involved in liberal social causes, he took a long hiatus, attending civil-rights rallies, protesting the Vietnam War, and traveling the U.S. South to organize black voters. He took jobs as a computer programmer and a math teacher. After returning to school, he earned a PhD. at MIT in 1975, based on studies of equatorial winds and currents. He moved to Lamont in 1984. Working separately but in synergy, Philander and Cane explored the idea that El Nino is just one manifestation of a permanently unstable balance of Pacific Ocean weather that swings seesaw-like between extremes. Philander said, "Once, oceanographers thought only about water, and atmospheric scientists only about the air." He and Cane developed a key insight: The two work tightly together. Modern observations showed them that in the tropical Pacific, there is little distance between warm surface water and the colder abyss. Their calculations then showed how shifts in wind can alter shallow currents to warm or cool the surface?and, as surface temperatures change, how this in turn alters winds. "This circular argument -- the winds are both the cause and consequence of surface temperature changes--[gives] rise to phenomena such as El Nino," said Philander. It was Philander who popularized the term "La Nina," the state opposite El Nino, when winds pick up again, causing rains to slacken in the Americas, and swell in Asia. Philander also came up with numerical explanations for related phenomena, including why it is rainier immediately north of the equator than to the south. Cane went the next step. Using marine weather observations leading up to a strong El Nino in 1982-83, he and his then student Stephen Zebiak designed a computer model that they believed could forecast El Nino months in advance. When they predicted another El Nino in 1986, elder scientists scoffed, but it arrived later that year. The model, since tweaked and adapted by others, has predicted almost every event since then, including the powerful El Nino of 2015-16. This advance has led to a network of Pacific buoys that register ocean heat and atmospheric conditions, and the establishment of forecast centers in a half-dozen nations. In 1994, Cane and a student showed that maize yields in Zimbabwe declined in tandem with El Nino-connected dryness. Research by others quickly showed crop effects elsewhere, leading to efforts in many countries to project which crops to plant or not. Cane led the 1996 establishment of Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), which forecasts El Nino and related climate swings, and helps developing nations apply the forecasts. In addition to agriculture advice, IRI consults with the International Red Cross on stockpiling of relief supplies ahead of potential floods or droughts; public-health authorities on preparations for weather-influenced outbreaks of diseases such as malaria; and hydropower authorities on water management. In California, where El Nino can cause flooding, authorities clear out storm drains when it is forecast. Philander has since returned to South Africa periodically to teach. In 2007, he began organizing workshops to introduce South African undergraduate students, particularly those from poor families, to the earth sciences. He is also the founder of the Applied Centre for Climate and Earth Systems Science, an interagency organization in South Africa that promotes education and research opportunities for students. In 2007, the University of Cape Town awarded him an honorary doctorate. In addition to more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, he is the author of four books, including Our Affair With El Nino, and The Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change. How might global warming affect El Nino? "The models are all over the place," says Cane. But he assumes that both droughts and floods on either end of the cycles will grow more intense, and the results may not be good. In 2011, he and two students published a paper suggesting that civil wars are already more likely to break out in much of the tropics during El Nino events, perhaps due to the pressures of extreme weather. And in 2015, he coauthored a widely discussed study suggesting that the Syrian civil war may have been sparked in part by a drought intensified by overall global warming. Philander's take: "Global warming is a serious issue, but science has its limits. Our highest priority should not be doom and gloom, but addressing poverty and environmental justice. Earth is an amazing place?every time we make a new discovery about another planet, this one looks more exceptional. The only real prediction I can make is that we will be surprised." The Vetlesen Prize was established in 1959 by the New York-based G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. Awarded for "scientific achievement resulting in a clearer understanding of the Earth, its history, or its relation to the universe," the prize was designed to be the Nobel Prize of the earth sciences. The prize is administered by Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, one of the world's leading earth-science research institutions, which convenes a committee from both its own ranks and those of other major institutions to judge nominations. Former recipients have included geologist J. Tuzo Wilson, a key figure in the theory of plate tectonics; astronomer Jan Oort, who elucidated the architecture of galaxies and the outer solar system; geochemist Wallace Broecker, a father of modern climate science; and geologist Walter Alvarez, who linked the extinction of dinosaurs to an extraterrestrial impact. The most recent recipient, in 2015, was British volcanologist Stephen Sparks. Cane and Philander will receive this year's prize in April in a ceremony at Columbia University. ### Video and photos: http://earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/3351 Related: El Nino Resources for Journalists http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2015/10/19/el-nino-resources-for-journalists/ More information: Kevin Krajick kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu 212-854-9729 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory is Columbia University's home for Earth science research. Its scientists develop fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world, from the planet's deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu | @LamontEarth The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. http://www.earth.columbia.edu. Two studies in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA find that use of a sensor implanted under the skin that continuously monitors glucose levels resulted in improved levels in patients with type 1 diabetes who inject insulin multiple times a day, compared to conventional treatment. In one study, Roy W. Beck, M.D., Ph.D., of the Jaeb Center for Health Research, Tampa, Fla., and colleagues randomly assigned 158 adults with type 1 diabetes who were using multiple daily insulin injections and had elevated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels of 7.5 percent to 9.9 percent to continuous glucose monitoring (n = 105) or usual care (control group; n = 53). Only approximately 30 percent of individuals with type 1 diabetes meet the American Diabetes Association goal of HbA1c level of 7.5 percent for children and 7.0 percent for adults, indicating the need for better approaches to diabetes management. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) with glucose measurements as often as every five minutes, plus low and high glucose level alerts and glucose trend information, has the capability of better informing diabetes management decisions than blood glucose meter testing performed several times a day. Only a small proportion of individuals with type 1 diabetes who inject insulin use CGM. Continuous glucose monitoring systems include a sensor underneath the skin with a transmitter attached and continuous reporting of glucose levels and trends to the patient by a handheld monitor. In this study in the CGM group, 93 percent used CGM six days/week or more in month six. Average HbA1c reduction from baseline was 1.1 percent at 12 weeks and 1.0 percent at 24 weeks in the CGM group and 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, in the control group. Median duration of hypoglycemia was 43 minutes/day in the CGM group vs 80 minutes/day in the control group. Severe hypoglycemia events occurred in 2 participants in each group. "Among adults with type l diabetes who used multiple daily insulin injections, the use of CGM compared with usual care resulted in a greater decrease in HbA1c level during 24 weeks. Further research is needed to assess longer-term effectiveness, as well as clinical outcomes and adverse effects," the authors write. (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.19975; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: Dexcom Inc. provided funding for the trial to each investigator's institution. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc. In another study, Marcus Lind, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues randomly assigned 161 individuals with type 1 diabetes and HbA1c of at least 7.5 percent treated with multiple daily insulin injections to receive treatment using a CGM system or conventional treatment for 26 weeks, separated by a washout period of 17 weeks. The goal of the study was to analyze the effect of CGM on glycemic control, hypoglycemia, well-being, and glycemic variability. The researchers found that average HbA1c was 7.92 percent during CGM use and 8.35 percent during conventional treatment. Of 19 other outcomes comprising psychosocial and various glycemic measures, six met statistical significance, favoring CGM compared with conventional treatment. Five patients in the conventional treatment group and one patient in the CGM group had severe hypoglycemia. "In this crossover study of persons with type 1 diabetes treated with multiple daily insulin injections, CGM was associated with a mean HbA1c level that was 0.43 percent less than conventional treatment. Moreover, glycemic variability was reduced by CGM. Subjective well-being and treatment satisfaction were greater during CGM than conventional therapy," the authors write. "Further research is needed to assess clinical outcomes and longer-term adverse effects." ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.19976; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: The trial was sponsored by the NU Hospital Group, Trollhattan and Uddevalla, Sweden. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, etc. Related material: The editorial, "Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Patients With Type 1 Diabetes Taking Insulin Injections, by Mayer B. Davidson, M.D., of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, also is available at the For The Media website. To place an electronic embedded link to these studies in your story These links will be live at the embargo time. This is the link to the 1st study: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2016.19975 This is the link to the 2nd study: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2016.19976 The overall rate of death from cancer declined about 20 percent between 1980 and 2014; however, there are distinct clusters of counties in the U.S. with particularly high cancer mortality rates, according to a study in the January 24/31 issue of JAMA. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States and globally. Most previous reports on geographic differences in cancer mortality in the U.S. have focused on variation by state, with less information available at the county level. There is a value for data at the county level because public health programs and policies are mainly designed and implemented at the local level. Moreover, local information can also be useful for health care clinicians to understand community needs for care and aid in identifying cancer hot spots that need more investigation to understand the root causes. Christopher J. L. Murray, M.D., D.Phil., of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues estimated mortality rates by U.S. county from 29 cancers using death records from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and population counts from the Census Bureau, the NCHS, and the Human Mortality Database from 1980 to 2014. The researchers found that cancer mortality decreased by 20.1 percent between 1980 and 2014, from 240 to 192 deaths per 100,000 population. A total of 19,511,910 cancer deaths were recorded in the United States during this period, including: 5.7 million due to tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer; 2.5 million due to colon and rectum cancer; 1.6 million due to breast cancer; 1.2 million due to pancreatic cancer; 1.1 million due to prostate cancer. For many cancers, there were distinct clusters of counties with especially high mortality. The location of these clusters varied by type of cancer and were spread in different regions of the United States. Clusters of breast cancer were present in the southern belt and along the Mississippi River, while liver cancer was high along the Texas-Mexico border, and clusters of kidney cancer were observed in North and South Dakota and counties in West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Alaska, and Illinois. "The study was able to identify clusters of high rates of change among U.S. counties, which is important for providing data to inform the debate on prevention, access to care, and appropriate treatment. Indeed, monitoring cancer mortality at the county level can help identify worsening incidence, inadequate access to quality treatment, or potentially other etiological factors involved," the authors write. ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.20324; the study is available pre-embargo at the For the Media website) Editor's Note: This work was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Aging and John W. Stanton and Theresa E. Gillespie. All authors have completed and submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest and none were reported. Related material: The editorial, "Translating Cancer Surveillance Data Into Effective Public Health Interventions," by Stephanie B. Wheeler, Ph.D., M.P.H., and Ethan Basch, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Associate Editor, JAMA (Dr. Basch), also is available at the For The Media website. To place an electronic embedded link to this study in your story This link will be live at the embargo time: http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2016.20324 There is a direct relation between the sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them, research by psychologists at the University of Kent has shown. The study, which looked at youth members of gangs as well as those with no gang affiliation, provides the first evidence of a link between objectification and non-sexual aggression in young people. Dr Eduardo Vasquez and colleagues at the University's School of Psychology, together with a former student, found that higher levels of objectification were significant predictors of aggression towards girls. Their findings are consistent with the claim that, among other negative outcomes, the perception of women as nothing but sexual objects also evokes aggression against them. The research also established that watching television and playing violent video games were positively correlated with both sexual objectification and aggression towards girls. The study featured 273 participants aged 12 to 16 years old from a secondary school in London. The school is located in an area experiencing problems with gangs and delinquency. The findings showed that the objectification-aggression link manifests itself at least as early as the teenage years, leading to the suggestion that the detrimental effects of perceiving females as objects begin at an early stage of development. This, in turn, has the potential to be further reinforced and strengthened over a number of years, suggest the researchers, thereby becoming 'more robust and difficult to change'. The study also suggests that the factors that might allow objectification to influence children - such as violent video games or sexist media - poses a potentially serious risk of increasing anti-social acts towards girls. The research, entitled The sexual objectification of girls and aggression towards them in gang and non-gang affiliated youth, (Eduardo A. Vasquez, Kolawole Osinnowo, Afroditi Pina, Cheyra Bell - University of Kent; Louisa Ball) is published in the journal Psychology, Crime, and Law. See: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1068316X.2016.1269902 ### For interview requests, contact Martin Herrema at the University of Kent Press Office. Tel: 01227 823581/01634 888879 Email: M.J.Herrema@kent.ac.uk News releases can also be found at http://www.kent.ac.uk/news University of Kent on Twitter: http://twitter.com/UniKent Notes to editor Established in 1965, the University of Kent - the UK's European university - now has almost 20,000 students across campuses or study centres at Canterbury, Medway, Tonbridge, Brussels, Paris, Athens and Rome. It has been ranked: 23rd in the Guardian University Guide 2016; 23rd in the Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2016; and 22nd in the Complete University Guide 2015. In the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2015-16, Kent is in the top 10% of the world's leading universities for international outlook and 66th in its table of the most international universities in the world. The THE also ranked the University as 20th in its 'Table of Tables' 2016. Kent is ranked 17th in the UK for research intensity (REF 2014). It has world-leading research in all subjects and 97% of its research is deemed by the REF to be of international quality. In the National Student Survey 2016, Kent achieved the fourth highest score for overall student satisfaction, out of all publicly funded, multi-faculty universities. Along with the universities of East Anglia and Essex, Kent is a member of the Eastern Arc Research Consortium (http://www.kent.ac.uk/about/partnerships/eastern-arc.html). The University is worth 0.7 billion to the economy of the south east and supports more than 7,800 jobs in the region. Student off-campus spend contributes 293.3m and 2,532 full-time-equivalent jobs to those totals. In 2014, Kent received its second Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education. ANN ARBOR -- With deportation and discrimination fears currently on the minds of many in the United States, a University of Michigan study shows that the stress from an historic immigration raid is associated with Latina mothers delivering babies with lower birth weights, and sometimes early. The U-M School of Public Health and Institute of Social Research team found that after the federal immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, in 2008, Latino babies born in the 37 weeks after the event had a 24 percent greater risk of lower birth weight than babies born the prior year. There also was an increased risk in preterm birth among Latina mothers compared with non-Latina white women. "While health disparities often are believed to be caused by differences in individual health behaviors, access to health care, or even genetics, our findings implicate the impact of racial/ethnic stereotyping and related psychosocial stressors on health," said Arline Geronimus, research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research and a professor at the School of Public Health. Other U-M authors were Nicole Novak of the U-M Institute for Social Research and Aresha Martinez-Cardoso of the School of Public Health. Their research is featured in the International Journal of Epidemiology. In one of the largest single-site raids in U.S. history, federal immigration officials used military tactics to arrest 389 employees of a meat-processing plant in the small Iowa community. Ninety-eight percent of those arrested, handcuffed and held in various detention centers were Latino, as all were initially suspected to be undocumented immigrants. "In the wake of the Postville immigration raid, U.S.-born and immigrant Latino families feared deportations and follow-up raids, and faced increased economic and social marginalization," Novak said. "These stressors permeated the lives of both U.S.-born and foreign-born Latina mothers, potentially activating harmful physiological responses that could result in the poor birth outcomes we documented among their babies." "Our findings, then, shed light on what is to come for our nation's health if we continue down this road of anti-immigrant rhetoric and continue fueling a deportation regime, including implementing it by criminalizing immigrants and using militaristic tactics," Martinez-Cardoso said. Psychosocial stressors can affect pregnant mothers by shifting stress hormone balances in ways that affect a developing fetus by triggering premature birth, leading to growth restriction and low birth weight even for babies born at full term, and by reducing social and material support networks that promote a mother's health during pregnancy, the researchers said. Low birth weight is associated with increasing a baby's chance of dying or having long-term health and academic problems. The researchers obtained all birth certificate data from 2006-10, and their analysis focused on more than 52,000 births of Latina and non-Latina white mothers. They classified infants as exposed to the post-raid environment if they were born in the 37 weeks following the raid. Those born in the same period a year earlier were classified an unexposed. Total numbers of births among Latina and non-Latina white mothers were nearly the same in the pre- and post-raid periods. No changes were observed in conventional risk factors for low birth weight for either group across the time periods studied. Prior to the raid, Latina and non-Latina white mothers had similar rates of low-birth weight, at 4.7 percent, and preterm births at 7.5 percent. During the period following the raid, the rates actually went down for white mothers, continuing a nationwide trend started in 2006, but increased for Latina mothers. ### This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, U-M Rackham Graduate School and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. ANN ARBOR--When a material is made, you typically cannot change whether that material is hard or soft. But a group of University of Michigan researchers have developed a new way to design a "metamaterial" that allows the material to switch between being hard and soft without damaging or altering the material itself. Metamaterials are man-made materials that get their properties--in this case, whether a material is hard or soft--from the way the material is constructed rather than the material that constructs it. This allows researchers to manipulate a metamaterial's structure in order to make the material exhibit a certain property. In the group's study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the U-M researchers discovered a way to compose a metamaterial that can be easily manipulated to increase the stiffness of its surface by orders of magnitude--the difference between rubber and steel. Since these properties are "topologically protected," meaning that the material's properties come from its total structure, they're easily maintained even as the material shifts repeatedly between its hard and soft states. "The novel aspect of this metamaterial is that its surface can change between hard and soft," said Xiaoming Mao, assistant professor of physics. "Usually, it's hard to change the stiffness of a traditional material. It's either hard or soft after the material is made." For example, a dental filling cannot be changed after the dentist has set the filling without causing stress, either by drilling or grinding, to the original filling. A guitar string cannot be tightened without putting stress on the string itself, according to Mao. Mao says the way an object comes in contact with the edge of the metamaterial changes the geometry of the material's structure, and therefore how the material responds to stress at the edge. But metamaterial's topological protection allows the inside of the metamaterial remains damage free. The material could one day be used to build cars or rocket launch systems. In cars, the material could help absorb impacts from a crash. "When you're driving a car, you want the car to be stiff and to support a load," Mao said. "During a collision, you want components to become softer to absorb the energy from the collision and protect the passenger in the car." The researchers also suggest the material could be used to make bicycle tires that could self-adjust to ride more easily on soft surfaces such as sand, or to make damage-resistant, reusable rockets. ### Study Xiaoming Mao PHILADELPHIA--Promising, early studies of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease have paved a path for future clinical trials, but there are unique ethical challenges with this vulnerable population regarding decision making and post-study treatment access that need to be addressed as they ramp up, Penn Medicine researchers argue in a new review in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Does the patient still have the capacity to make an informed decision half way through the trial? Are there any misconceptions about its therapeutic benefit? Will the device remain after the trial ends, and who will pay for it? These are the questions posed in an ethics review piece that also lays out guidelines for investigators to consider when enrolling Alzheimer's patients in DBS trials. The article is authored Andrew M. Siegel, MD, an assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Marna S. Barrett, PhD, an adjunct associate professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Penn, and Mahendra T. Bhati, MD, a former assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Penn, who is now at Stanford University, in an ethics review piece that also lays out guidelines for investigators to consider when enrolling Alzheimer's patients in DBS trials. Approved for the treatment of movement and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, DBS is an invasive, surgical procedure involving the implantation of a microstimulator that sends electrical impulses to specific targets in the brain. Driven by the urgent need for effective therapies and the success of recent studies, DBS has now emerged as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's. "As the number of people affected by Alzheimer's continues to grow, along with its substantial costs to individuals, their families, and society, novel therapies are urgently needed. DBS is one such treatment modality that has shown promising early results," Siegel said. "However, this enthusiasm should be tempered by prudent ethical considerations to help better protect the patients." The authors call out three ethical issues that should be addressed and recommendations. Ensuring the trial subjects possess adequate decision-making capacity is important, the authors said, because such individuals have cognitive deficits that may reasonably limit that capacity and thereby compromise informed consent. DBS for trials must have a robust mechanism for both detecting loss of decision-making capacity and protecting the interest of the patients during the trial, they wrote. Suggestions include an Institutional Review Board (IRB)-mandated use of a validated decision-making capacity assessment, such as the MacCAT-CR interview, and an "auxiliary consenter," someone not affiliated with the study to determine the patient's knowledge about the procedures, risks, and the device. Therapeutic misconception is another concern. Patients with Alzheimer's, desperate for relief and without an effective alternative, may agree to DBS as a last resort. Such desperation may alter their perception that the primary goal of the study is for health benefits and not knowledge about the efficacy of the device. Left unchecked, it could distort patients' understanding of the risks and benefits of DBS. "It may be necessary to directly inform patients during study consent that 'scientific goals will have priority over therapeutic goals'," the authors wrote. A "cooling off" period, where patients have adequate time to process all the information that has been given to them, may also prove effective. Another question to be asked at the end of the trial is whether patients who have benefited from the device should continue to receive treatment. This question is particularly salient considering the high cost of DBS and the fact that the device may be with the patient for many years after the trial ends. The authors believe denying a patient access to the only intervention known to alleviate their suffering is tantamount to violating the sacrosanct principle of "do no harm." "Providing post-trial access to the subset of patients shown to benefit in a failed trial is not only ethically appropriate," Siegel said, "but it would allow for the collection of longitudinal safety and efficacy data not captured in the original study." Once post-trial access is accepted by a research team, the challenge is financial responsibility. Patients, together with sponsors, investigators, health care systems, insurance, governments, and non-profit organizations must partner to share responsibility and negotiate continued access arrangements prior to study enrollment, the authors said. This model has worked in the past -- the HIV Netherlands, Australia, Thailand Research Collaboration is one example. "We hope this review facilitates the development of study designs and IRB oversight procedures that best protect research subjects," Siegel said. "A reasonable next step is for research centers and hospitals to examine their current practice and policies guiding DBS in Alzheimer's research. Our review could act as a guide in helping them ask the relevant questions about their current state of oversight and to consider changes as appropriate." ### Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania(founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 18 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $373 million awarded in the 2015 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2015, Penn Medicine provided $253.3 million to benefit our community. Wasps have trading partners and compete for the 'best trade deals' - according to scientists from the University of Sussex. In the study, the team from the University's School of Life Sciences, looked at how the economic rule of 'supply and demand' applies to populations of paper wasps -- in which 'helper wasps' raise the offspring of dominant breeders in small social groups in return for belonging in the nest. During the study, which was carried out in southern Spain over a period of three months, the team marked and genotyped 1500 wasps and recorded social behaviour within 43 separate nests along a cactus hedge. By increasing the number of nest spots and nesting partners available around the hedge, the scientists discovered the helper wasps provide less help to their own 'bosses' (the dominant breeders) when alternative nesting options are available. The dominant wasps then compete to give the helper wasps the 'best deal', by allowing them to work less hard, to ensure they stay in their particular nest. The scientists state this shows for the first-time that supply and demand theory can be used to understand helping behaviour in social insects. Traditionally scientists thought that factors within social groups, such as number of helpers and genetic relatedness, are what predominantly influences helping behaviour. However the new findings from the University of Sussex researchers show that market forces in the whole population, such as the supply of outside options, can be used to predict insect behaviour. Dr Lena Grinsted, from the University of Sussex, said: "It is remarkable to discover that simply changing the wasps' surrounding social environment has a clear effect on cooperative behaviour within groups. "Our findings reveal intriguing parallels between wasp populations and our own business world: a bad deal is better than no deal, so when competition increases so does the risk that you have to accept a lower price for what you offer. "Market forces can clearly affect trade agreements in nature, as they can in human markets: with a larger number of trading partners available, you can negotiate better trade deals." ### The University of Sussex study entitled: "Market forces influence helping behaviour in cooperatively breeding paper wasps" has been published in Nature Communications and can be found here http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms13750 Communications and External Affairs | University of Sussex | Sussex House | Brighton BN1 9RH | United Kingdom T +44 (0)1273 678888 | press@sussex.ac.uk http://www.sussex.ac.uk/newsandevents Notes to Editors: Pictures of wasps used in the study and a video of Dr Lena Grinsted explaining her new research are available. The University of Sussex's School of Life Sciences is one of the largest academic schools at the University of Sussex. With 96 per cent of its research rated as world leading, internationally excellent or internationally recognised (REF 2014), it is among the leading research hubs for the biological sciences in the UK. The School is home to a number of prestigious research centres including the Genome Damage and Stability Centre and the Sussex Drug Discovery Centre, where academics work with industry to translate scientific advances into real-world benefits for patients. The University of Texas at Arlington is becoming a major cancer research institute, receiving more than $6 million dollars in new grants in 2016 to strengthen its integrated cancer research program and improve outcomes across the complete spectrum of the patient experience. "UTA's scientific expertise across basic cancer research, identification and diagnostics and non-invasive, mid-term, invasive and post-operative therapies is accelerating dramatically in order to enable substantial impact on health in Texas," UTA President Vistasp Karbhari said. "By assembling a world-class team that works together we hope not only to make transformative advances in key areas related to cancer, but also to provide the highest level of educational and research experiences to our students, in keeping with our Strategic Plan theme of Health and the Human Condition." Following a strong recruiting effort, UTA's cancer team now includes more than 25 faculty from across the Colleges of Science, Engineering and Nursing and Health Innovation, all focused on developing new ways to find and treat cancer. "In 2016, UTA was named in the elite group of R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, joining a distinguished group of 115 institutions including Harvard, MIT and Johns Hopkins," added Duane Dimos, UTA's vice president for research. "We also broke ground on a new $125 million Science and Engineering Innovation and Research building, which will be the University's signature research facility for multidisciplinary life and health science teaching and research. It is our moment to move forward in cancer." UTA's cancer research is also moving out of the lab and into the commercial sector, with several companies formed around the University in key areas like immunotherapy or the development of novel chemical compounds to attack cancer. "We are positioning UTA as the innovation hub around cancer for the North Texas region," Dr. Dimos said. Basic cancer research to improve drug design In 2016, UTA recruited several new biology faculty around cutting-edge fields such as the study of the genetic mutations of cancer cells, how cells respond to mitochondrial stress and the potential role of enzymes that can regulate cell death in cancer. Among the new hires is acclaimed cell biology researcher Mark Pellegrino, who left Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York for UTA to study mitochondrial stress signaling in the context of cancer biology, supported by a large grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Dr. Pellegrino's discovery that mitochondria are an important activator of innate immunity was published in the leading journal Nature in 2014. "When the mitochondria becomes dysfunctional, a pathway is activated in an attempt to repair itself," Pellegrino said. "Down the line, I can envision that pathway being manipulated to develop new therapies for cancer." Identification and diagnotics: treatments designed for each patient. Big Data Precision medicine, or the development of treatments specifically designed for each patient, is one of the fastest-growing areas of cancer research, and requires core strength in both data mining and genomics to improve diagnostics and better predict treatment outcomes. The University, which already runs a Human Genomics Center through the Shimadzu Institute for Research Technologies as well as a Genomics Core Facility within its biology department, made several hires in 2016 to strengthen its capacity in computational modeling and the identification of biomarkers for cancer and received new large grants in this strategic focus area. Heng Huang, a UTA professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department, won a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation in October 2016 to analyze histopathology images and cancer genomics data to yield a mechanistic understanding from gene to phenotypic markers and cancer outcomes. This comprehensive and integrative study of cancer imaging-omics will facilitate the precision medicine research that has cancer treatment as a near-term focus. "The long-term plan for this research is to be able to treat an individual based on his or her image-omics data," Dr. Huang said. "For instance, if a patient's tissue images change, how is that related to genomics? Or, how can we use multi-omics to detect mutations? Once we find the biomarkers in the data, we can provide precision medicine strategy to treat the illness, from determining life expectancy to tailoring medicines to an individual's needs." In related research, Junzhou Huang, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering, earned an $535,763 National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2016 to investigate a process by which image-omics data can be combined into files that are small enough that current computing technology will allow scientists to better predict how long a patient will live and how best to treat that patient. "We are pulling together a team that will be able to harness the power of computational modelling alongside real clinical diagnostics, to develop new screening and diagnostics tools and to better monitor treatment and individual patient outcomes," Dimos said. Screening and Diagnostics UTA has built up significant expertise in the screening and diagnostics of cancer in clinical settings, including the development of specific biomedical devices that improve early detection of the disease and predictive capacities around cancer metasisis. Zui Pan, an esophageal cancer biomarker researcher, joined UTA's nursing faculty in 2016 from The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Her work has been funded by a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health - National Cancer Institute and helps develop new screening methods for early detection and prognosis in addition to novel therapeutic drugs for this deadly disease. "My team has identified a protein named Orai1 that is strongly associated with esophageal tumor progression," Dr. Pan said. "We plan to evaluate the protein as a potential biomarker for esophageal cancer detection and prognosis with a goal of developing more effective therapeutic interventions for patients suffering from the disease." Yuze "Alice" Sun, an assistant professor of electrical engineering, also earned a $500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2016 to develop optofluidic lasers to detect biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and other genetic disorders at the molecular and cellular levels. Most lasers are semiconductor-based and require solid material to create cavities to confine light. In optofluidic lasers, two-phase liquids are controlled using microfluidics and nanofluidics to form a highly efficient optical microcavity. The all-liquid nature makes the laser adaptive and achieves high-precision tuning in an unprecedented manner, and is uniquely positioned as a novel biosensing technology. Dr. Sun said she initially will explore using the optofluidic laser to detect biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and possibly other genetic disorders at the molecular and cellular levels. "This could someday lead to the creation of a point-of-care platform for clinicians to use in an office, rather than having to send samples away for analysis," Sun said. Non-invasive therapies: important contributions from science and engineering Imaging and Simulation UTA has focused important efforts in 2016 on strengthening niche areas such as imaging and simulation where its expertise in science and engineering can make a real contribution improving the effectiveness of non-invasive cancer therapies. One key success was Baohong Yuan's second large grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas to optimize deep-tissue imaging technology that could allow better monitoring of tumor growth. The bioengineering associate professor's original grant focused on the growth of blood vessels in tumors. To grow, a tumor must generate blood vessels for oxygen and nutrients. Dr. Yuan successfully created imaging technology that gave clear images of those blood vessels, which tend to be disorganized. With this technology in place, Yuan will now focus on differentiation of cells at the molecular level, including identifying specific biomarkers that may be linked to blood vessel growth. "There are many signal pathways that can lead to blood vessel growth," Yuan said. "Researchers have successfully stopped single pathways, but that has not proved successful in the long term. If we can simultaneously stop multiple pathways, it could significantly stop or slow growth and allow more time for treatment, but to do this we must be able to monitor the molecular receptors." UTA physicists, led by Mingwu Jin, began working with UT Southwestern and MD Anderson Cancer Center this year on multiple projects sponsored by the National Institutes of Health to develop devices and algorithms to improve the delivery of cancer therapies to patients. In one project, the team is working to improve the quality of image-guided radiotherapy techniques that allow for better visualization of tumors, enabling physicians to deliver radiation doses to patients with high precision. In another project, UTA researchers are developing a device that can integrate tumor imaging and photo-induced cancer therapy in a single, portable device. A third project focuses on developing a novel real-time dose-monitoring method for heavy ion therapies. "Dr. Jin's work will employ big data analysis and physics models to improve technologies used to deliver cancer therapy and ultimately improve patient care," said UTA Physics Chair Alex Weiss. "These collaborations with UT Southwestern and MD Anderson demonstrate clearly the leading role that a scientific research institution like UTA can play to advance knowledge needed by medical institutions." Therapeutic Nanoparticles UTA is also gaining recognition for developing new treatment techniques using therapeutic nanoparticles and nanoseeds to target cancer cells. Nanoparticles and nanoseeds have advantages over traditional therapies, as they can directly target cancer tumors without affecting healthy surrounding tissues. One recent success is the work of UTA physicist Wei Chen, who gained international attention in 2016 for research showing that using microwaves to activate photosensitive nanoparticles produces tissue-heating effects and reactive oxygen species that ultimately lead to cell death within solid tumors. In prior studies, the researchers had identified a new type of photosensitive nanoparticle, copper-cysteamine or Cu-Cy. They have now demonstrated that the nanoparticle Cu-Cy can also be activated by microwaves, which can be targeted directly at the tumor itself without harming surrounding tissue. "Our new microwave-induced photodynamic therapy offers numerous advantages, the most significant of which is increased safety," Dr. Chen said. "Our nanoparticle Cu-Cy also demonstrates very low toxicity, is easy to make and inexpensive, and also emits intense luminescence, which means it can also be used as an imaging agent." Mid-term therapies: developing and commercializing new drugs UTA researchers are researching and successfully commercializing next-generation cancer therapies, as well as working to improve the performance of drugs that are already in the market and used on a regular basis by cancer patients. The University recently recruited serial entrepreneur Jon Weidanz as associate vice president for research and professor of biology. His research has focused on immuno-oncology, the emerging field of therapies and treatments aimed at harnessing a patient's immune system to combat cancer. His company AbeXXa Biologics, which recently won an award at an Innovation Day at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is developing next-generation antibody drugs that can target specific proteins on cancer cells. AbeXXa has also signed a significant collaboration agreement with a large pharma company to develop next generation therapeutic agents for cancer immunotherapy. Another faculty member developing specific drugs around cancer is UTA chemistry and biochemistry Chair Frederick MacDonnell. He is a co-founder of Tuevol Therapeutics, a company which has exclusively licensed the intellectual property to TS101, a ruthenium-based metallodrug that shows effectiveness against platinum-resistant lung cancer. Ruthenium is a rare metallic element and the drugs developed at UTA have many of the therapeutic effects of platinum-based drugs, but without the dehabilitating side effects. Rolf Brekken and Tom Wilkie of the UT Southwestern Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncoclogy are co-founders and are working Dr. MacDonnell to advance this drug to clinical studies. "Further facilitating the translation of our inventions into viable therapies, with investment backing from major pharmaceutical companies, corporate venture capital and angel investors, is an important strategy as we move forward," Dr. Weidanz said. "This will allow us to create an innovation hub around cancer that will integrate the University with surrounding businesses and enhance our national and international reputation." Invasive Therapies: bioengineering devices In solutions for invasive cancer therapies, Liping Tang's recent work has led to the creation of a cancer trap, a potentially groundbreaking technology for treating metastatic cancer. The cancer trap can be implanted under the skin to attract circulating cancer cells by releasing cancer cell-attracting biomolecules. "This research tries to stop the cancer before it spreads," Dr. Tang said. "We attract the cancer with these decoys, which are artificial lymph nodes made of biodegradable polymers." "Then, when it's trapped, we can use a more targeted radiation." Cancer traps also can be incorporated with chemotherapy drugs or immunotherapy agents to locally eliminate cancer cells with minimal systemic toxicity and have the potential to revolutionize treatment of this disease. His work is currently supported by two three-year grants from the Department of Defense and the Wilson Charitable Foundation Trust. Post-Operative Treatment: Improving Survival Rates UTA is also leading the way in developing therapies to improve the quality of life of cancer patients, both during and after treatment. Over the past two years, the University has made cluster hires in the Department of Kinesiology, bringing to the University a group of experts who can bring their innovative vision to improving the patient experience. Mark Haykowsky, a professor in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation and Moritz Chair of Geriatric Nursing and Research at UTA, was recently recruited from Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, one of the world's preeminent rehabilitation medicine programs. One of his main areas of research is in cardio-oncology, with specific emphasis on the role that exercise training can play to prevent anti-cancer therapy-mediated cardiovascular dysfunction. This year he launched UTA's FitSteps exercise program, which helps cancer patients increase mobility and boost endurance while undergoing treatment. The program, a partnership with the Cancer Foundation for Life, is structured and tailored to each individual. "A community's greatest asset is a healthy, thriving population," said UTA College of Nursing and Health Innovation Dean Anne Bavier. "Partnerships of this kind help ensure better survival rates for cancer patients in our community. They also help ensure a better quality of life. Helping tackle such real life problems is a critically important part of our reason for being as a health-focused college and as a university." UTA will continue this strong commitment to cancer and to the Texan community going forward, added UTA President Vistasp Karbhari. "The National Cancer Institute reports that approximately 39 percent of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime," Karbhari said. "Progress is being made against the disease, but much work remains. UTA aims to make an important contribution to providing new solutions and treatments to help patients with this disease." ### CANCER Researchers Science Sen Xu, biology: genetic mutation of cancer cells Mark Pellegrino, biology: mitochondrial stress signalling Clay Clark, biology: programmed cell death Jon Weidanz, biology: immunology Jonghyun Yun, mathematics, integrative statistical models Suvra Pal, mathematics: disease modelling Mingwu Jin, physics: devices to improve treatment delivery Wei Chen, physics: photosensitive nanoparticles Frederick MacDonnell, chemistry and biochemistry: novel chemistries Jongyun Heo, chemistry and biochemistry: immune response Engineering Baohong Yuan, bioengineering: imaging technologies Heng Huang, computer science and engineering: cancer imaging-omics Junzhou Huang, computer science and engineering: image-omics Samir Iqbal, electrical engineering: cancer detection device J.-C. Chiao, electrical engineering: microfluidic devices Yuze "Alice" Sun, electrical engineering: optofluidic lasers Yaowu Hao, materials science and engineering: radiotherapeutic nanoseeds Kytai Nyguyen, bioengineering: nanoparticles, microparticles and hydrojels Liping Tang, bioengineering: cancer traps Hanli Liu, bioengineering: imaging Shouyi Wang, industrial and manufacturing systems engineering: imaging Chris Ding, computer science and engineering: cancer imaging-omics Jia Rao, computer science and engineering: cancer imaging-omics Nursing Zui Pan, nursing: biomarkers cancer Mark Haykowsky, kinesiology: cardio-oncology Marco Brotto, kinesiology: aging Paul Fadel, kinesiology: clinical translational science J.-C. Chiao, a University of Texas at Arlington electrical engineering professor, has been named a Fellow of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. He was recognized "for achievements in micro medical devices and systems," and will be formally inducted as a Fellow Jan. 30 during the SPIE Fellows luncheon at The Moscone Center in San Francisco. Chiao, who holds a life membership in SPIE, joined the UTA College of Engineering in 2002 and has secured nearly $5 million in research funding during his career. His work is focused on medical micro devices and microsystems, bioelectronics systems, MEMS or Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, quasi-optical wireless systems and micro-nano-optics. He is the Janet and Mike Greene Endowed Professor and Jenkins Garrett Endowed Professor of Electrical Engineering. He has published and edited numerous peer-reviewed technical journal and conference papers, book chapters, proceedings and books. He holds 11 U.S. patents in MEMS, liquid crystal and wireless medical sensor technologies. "It is truly an honor to be recognized by such a group of innovative scientists and engineers for my career work in micro medical devices and systems. I am proud to have my name added to the list of Fellows in this great organization," Chiao said. Chiao joins UTA electrical engineering professors Robert Magnusson and Weidong Zhou as fellows of SPIE. Chiao has been general chair/co-chair for 16 SPIE international conferences. "Dr. Chiao has greatly contributed to the health care field through his work with microfluidic sensors to detect cancer metastasization, gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD sensing, and electronic pain management. He has been a positive force for our department in research and teaching since his arrival," said Jonathan Bredow, professor and chair of UTA's Electrical Engineering Department. "Being named a Fellow of SPIE is a well-deserved award." Chiao has won several prestigious awards, such as the 2012 Heroes of Healthcare Research in Medicine Award, the 2011 Tech Titans Technology Innovator Award, the 2012 IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Engineering Educator award, and the 2011 Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Engineering by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas. To date, more than 1,000 SPIE members have been elected as Fellows. Boasting more than 18,000 members worldwide, SPIE was founded as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers. It is the most recognized and largest association for optics and photonics. The nonprofit organization provided $3.2 million in support of education and outreach programs in 2013, including about $396,000 in scholarships and more than $90,000 in support of photonics-related education and outreach projects. ### About The University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington is a Carnegie Research-1 "highest research activity" institution. With a projected global enrollment of close to 57,000 in AY 2016-17, UTA is the largest institution in The University of Texas System. Guided by its Strategic Plan Bold Solutions | Global Impact, UTA fosters interdisciplinary research within four broad themes: health and the human condition, sustainable urban communities, global environmental impact, and data-driven discovery. UTA was recently cited by U.S. News & World Report as having the second lowest average student debt among U.S. universities. U.S. News & World Report also ranks UTA fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as the top four-year college in Texas for veterans on Military Times' 2017 Best for Vets list. ESPOO, Finland, Jan. 23, 2017- Today, Desentum, a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation immunotherapy to fight allergies, announced that it has completed a Series A financing round totalling approximately EUR 2 Million. The participating investors include Belgian Cascara Ventures, Luxembourgian ACME Investments, Finnish VTT Ventures and Sto-Rahoitus, and the founding shareholders. Desentum will use most of the raised capital to produce the most prominent birch pollen hypoallergen under GMP conditions and to prepare for preclinical and clinical trials. The company will also focus on advancing the preclinical research of other respiratory allergens (pollens, animal dander) and developing them into vaccines, as well as securing key intellectual property. "For the past ten years, the research groups of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, University of Eastern Finland and Desentum have collaborated to develop a completely new type of immunotherapy for treating patients suffering from allergies. The therapy is based on using DNA techniques to modify known allergens into so called hypoallergens. The hypoallergens are expected to initiate immunological mechanisms that will protect from allergy. This model has shown excellent results in laboratory tests. If the hypoallergens prove functional in clinical trials as well, we will have a real opportunity to shorten the time needed for allergen immunotherapy and improve the safety of the treatment. The capital raised now will help Desentum to move forward towards first stage clinical trials", says Pekka Mattila, CEO of Desentum. Immunotherapy in allergy treatment Allergy is a disorder of the immune system where a normally harmless environmental substance -- such as food, pollen or animal dander -- causes an allergic reaction. In Europe, 150 million people already suffer from allergies and the number is increasing rapidly. Allergies cause social and economic burden such as health care costs, missed school and work days and impact on the daily lives of the patients. Allergies are generally managed by medication that alleviates the symptoms. The most common medications are antihistamines and corticosteroids. Immunotherapy is the only treatment currently known that affects the mechanism of allergy. It re-educates the immune system to tolerate the allergen, decreasing the need for medication. Immunotherapy can be administered as injections or sublingual tablets or drops, and the treatment usually takes a few years. The novel immunotherapeutic products that are under development aim for speeding up the treatment as well as improving the safety, efficacy and convenience. ### About Desentum Ltd: Desentum is a biopharmaceutical company based in Espoo, Finland. It is specialized in developing a novel type of allergen immunotherapy based on switching the immune system's response to allergens from hypersensitivity to tolerance by utilizing modified hypoallergens. Desentum, founded in 2011, is a spin-off company from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. In 2013 VTT received an EARTO Innovation Prize for the work behind the immunotherapeutic products. WCS study says that the range of the little-known impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa) has just expanded by 528 miles WCS study says that the range of the little-known impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa) has just expanded by 528 miles Single tortoise discovered in Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Myanmar NEW YORK (Jan.24, 2017) - WCS scientists have discovered the impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa) in the Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in northern Myanmar, some 528 miles from its known range in that country. The researchers reported their finding in the latest issue of the journal Asian Herpetological Research. Previously, the little-known tortoise was believed to be restricted to western Myanmar, along with pockets of habitat in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and southern China, and south through Peninsular Malaysia. Found by a @WCSMyanmar-led research team, the tortoise was crossing the famous Ledo Road -- a rugged dirt track critical to Allied supply lines in WWII. It was examined and photographed before being released into dense cover adjacent to the road. Manouria impressa is considered Vulnerable to extinction by IUCN due to a combination of unsustainable subsistence harvesting, over-collecting for commercial wildlife markets in southern China, and widespread habitat destruction. It is related to the Asian forest tortoise (Manouria emys), which can weigh up to 55 pounds, though this species is much smaller with adults measuring only 14 inches across its carapace. Said co-author Steve Platt of WCS: "Because the species is extremely difficult to maintain and propagate in captivity, protecting wild populations is the recommended conservation option. Given its size, relatively low human population density, and widespread availability of suitable upland forest habitat Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary could play a vital role in future efforts to protect it." Platt notes that political and civil instability in the region has curtailed conservation efforts for the moment. ### WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) MISSION: WCS saves wildlife and wild places worldwide through science, conservation action, education, and inspiring people to value nature. To achieve our mission, WCS, based at the Bronx Zoo, harnesses the power of its Global Conservation Program in nearly 60 nations and in all the world's oceans and its five wildlife parks in New York City, visited by 4 million people annually. WCS combines its expertise in the field, zoos, and aquarium to achieve its conservation mission. Visit: newsroom.wcs.org Follow: @WCSNewsroom. For more information: 347-840-1242. Tuesday, January 24, 2017 (NewsUSA) - Economics comes to life for students in a new, compelling, three-part mini-documentary series by Discovery Digital Networks' Seeker, and partnered with CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. Seeker is a digital network dedicated to the spirit of adventure and the pursuit of wonder. Each episode of the three-part series --appropriate for students in grades 6-12 -- enlivens economic topics by transporting viewers across the globe and showcasing people overcoming challenges that pertain to agriculture, finance and energy. The five-minute video episodes are: * How Algae Could Change the Fossil Fuel Industry: Students meet a CEO of the company developing new techniques to convert algae into energy. They learn about the challenges associated with bringing new and innovative technologies to market and reaching a sufficient scale to make the solutions viable. * Why the U.S. Needs a New Generation of Farmers: Viewers meet the owner of a farm who is fulfilling her dream of responsibly providing meat for members of her community. Students learn about the challenges associated with food production, including the trend that few young people are choosing to farm. * Owning a Restaurant Under the Cuban Embargo: Students hear from a restaurant owner operating in Cuba, a country that historically has been a command economy in which production, prices, incomes and investment are centrally determined by the government. With market reforms occurring and relations with the United States improving, new opportunities have arisen for people to start businesses. "These thought-provoking videos, offered alongside an engaging classroom activity, reinforce fundamental economic concepts in real-world contexts -- food, fuel, and finance," says Anita Liskey, CME Group Managing Director, Corporate Marketing & Communications. CME Group is proud to partner with Discovery Education, the leader in standards-based digital content and professional development for K-12. It transforms teaching and learning with award-winning digital textbooks, multimedia content, professional development and assessment tools. It serves 4.5 million educators and more than 50 million students in more than 50 countries. Article Resources Link to this article: Copy and paste the following code Embed this article: Editors, click here for story elements. Let's block ads! (Why?) Blue Barn Farm Accommodation Details In the heart of the Nottinghamshire countryside with views to Sherwood Forest and Clumber, is this welcoming bed & breakfast. Located near the Nottinghamshire border with Derbyshire, it is the ideal location for the attractions in Nottinghamshire, famed for Robin Hood, and the Peak District making it excellent for a short break, holiday or place to relax after business. Blue Barn Farm is a working farm, with over 450 acres of land tilled by the same family for over 100 years. The grounds and surrounding farmland are carefully maintained which together with the delightful accommodation, provides a wonderful holiday experience, and one that brings back many regular guests year after year to enjoy the warm welcome provided by June and her husband. Rooms offered in the farmhouse: Twin bedded room with en-suite shower room Double bedded room Family room with three single beds All rooms have washbasins and use of a separate toilet & bathroom There is a dining room and lounge for guests with full central heating. Tea and coffee making facilities and TV in all rooms. Large groups can be accommodated by use of the adjoining holiday cottage. If you enjoy good home cooked food and good company then this is for you... Accommodation Location Brimford House Accommodation Details To Brimford, an elegant Georgian farm house, set in the beautiful tranquil Welsh / Shropshire countryside. The house nestles between the attractive Breidden hills and the banks of the river Severn and is wonderful for walks and wildlife and has breathtaking views. We are conveniently located with Shrewsbury, Welshpool and Oswestry only 20 minutes away, making a wonderful base to explore the scenic country side and visit the local historic sites, otherwise just relax and unwind or use us as a stop over before touring Wales. Accommodation Location Brynhir Farm Accommodation Details Brynhir Farm in an ancient character filled luxury farmhouse where a relaxed and friendly atmosphere greets you from Ceinwen, Geoffrey and Howard Nixon. Completely secluded in its own mountain valley, the farm offers unique feeling of peace and quiet for guests and walkers at all times. Accommodation Location Granary and The Mallards Accommodation Details A well established family business offering high quality self-catering accommodation and personal service The Mallards and The Granary are situated at Priory Farm, Darsham, near the Suffolk coast. Our traditional farm buildings consisting of a granary, cart lodges and stables have been sympathetically converted so each self catering property retains its own individual character and unique architectural charm. Both self catering properties have a Tourist Board Visit Britain grading of 4 stars so you are assured of high quality accommodation. Parking is adjacent to the properties and secure cycle storage is available. Priory Farm is a small family farm located on the edge of a rural Suffolk village and surrounded by beautiful countryside. The farm is a well-established holiday centre and the ideal base from which to explore the coastal and inland areas of Suffolk either by car, bike or train. The ideal base for your Suffolk holiday! Accommodation Location Holly Lodge Accommodation Details Holly Lodge is a newly built Self Catering Holiday Lodge based on a farm in rural South Worcestershire. Sleeping up to 8 people, Holly lodge is the ideal base for visiting the many attractions this part of the country has to offer. Sandra & Tom Goodwin would like to thank you for taking the time to visit our web site. We hope that you will find the contents informative and to your liking. Should you have any queries, or wish to make a booking please do not hesitate to contact us. Accommodation Location Loch Ness Loch Ness is one of the most visited areas in Scotland and along with spectacular scenery there is also the mystery of the Loch and in particular the Loch Ness Monster Life Hill Farm Accommodation Details An 18th century Georgian farmhouse with wonderful views over the Wolds and Humber estuary. Life Hill is a working farm close to Sledmere House within easy access to York, Bridlington, Scarborough, Beverley, Driffield and Hull. The North York Moors and Whitby are only 40 minutes drive away. The Wolds are excellent walking and riding country; perfect for bringing your dog (and horse). Please see Yorkshire Wolds Way and the North York Moors National Park The accommodation consists of self catering with the versatility of expanding the self catering for larger parties or families. The double/family room in the farmhouse is a period room with a full bathroom suite and great views across open farmland. The two ground floor annex bedrooms, one double, one twin, have ensuite showers (one with disabled access). The self catering facilities offer a cosy living room, kitchen and dining room if required. The bedrooms can be mixed and matched to suit your requirements. A breakfast is offered on request to self catering. We look forward to seeing you... Horses & dogs are welcome Click here for more information about Life Hill Farm As featured on Fives Buildings That Shaped Britain Accommodation Location Log House Holidays Escape to a log cabin holiday with us and look forward to a few special days staying in our secluded Cotswold nature reserve. Each of our luxury log c... Gloucestershire Gloucestershire Strefford Hall Farm Accommodation Details Strefford Hall Farmhouse offers rural bed and breakfast accommodation in our large, spacious rooms, furnished with antique furniture. We are inspected annually by the AA and have been awarded a 4 Star Quality Assurance Rating. As you enter the quarry tiled entrance hall you will be welcomed by the ticking of the grandfather clock. Double Room Here you will find a wealth of books and local maps for you to borrow. A beautiful Victorian pine stairway leads up to the upper floor and the bedrooms. The Bedrooms Our three bedrooms offer a choice of: King Size Double / Twin Double King-size double (which can be divided to make twin beds) Family - double with an additional single bed All three rooms are en-suite with wonderful views across the fields towards the South Shropshire Hills. All rooms are equipped to a high standard, featuring: Family - Double plus Single Duvets (blankets available on request if preferred) Colour TV Tea & coffee making facilities Hair dryers Toiletries Soft towels to hand. Guest Facilities Sitting Room You are also very welcome to relax in our warm and comfortable sitting room. Our sunny dining room is a great place to start your day. Enjoy our excellent breakfasts, prepared using home-made sausages, preserves and eggs from our happy free-range hens. For evening meals there are a selection of pubs and restaurants close by. Dining Room We are also just ten miles away from the gastronomic delights of Ludlow, renown throughout the UK for the quality of its eating establishments. Ample off-road Car Parking is available for guests. Strefford Hall Farmhouse is non-smoking. Accommodation Location Fornside Farm Welcome to Fornside, our family farm in the Lake District. We have four quality cottages converted from stone barns, equipped, furnished and maintaine... Cumbria Cumbria Tomich Holidays Accommodation Details Tomich Holidays offers self-catering accommodation with swimming pool and wi-fi. The local wildlife, walking, mountain biking and pony trekking in the surrounding glens, lochs, waterfalls and forests create a magical playground for the whole family, including pets, to enjoy. Choose from: 4 star Courtyard Cottages with Wi-Fi Sleeps 4 2 Bedrooms 3 star Wooden Lodges Sleeps 6 3 Bedrooms, with wifi All have bedding, towels, central heating, hot water and electricity included in the price. Tomich, in the depths of the Highlands near Glen Affric, is an ideal base for walking, touring or just relaxing. Pets welcome. Open all year. Short breaks welcome. Ideal location for walkers, mountain bikers, fishing, wildlife watching, nessie spotting, touring or relaxing. Local cafe and hotel. Activities on offer horse riding, archery and bike rides. No smoking. Wi-Fi Access. Accommodation Location Ohio Payroll Service Launched By Toledo CPA Offers Online Accounting Solution Ohio certified public accounting firm Toledocpas.com has announced a high-quality payroll service that is unique from others available on the market. It offers customizable, easy to use and cost-effective solutions for businesses. -- An established Ohio based certified public accounting firm has launched a payroll service that offers a different approach than others on the market and is made for the modern online era. Toledocpas.com has introduced its payroll service as an easy to use, cost-effective solution that is fully customizable, combining professional expertise with existing knowledge of the client's business. More information is available at: http://www.toledocpas.com. Using state of the art technology that enables Toledocpas.com to customize the payroll service to meet the specific needs of any client, it offers a service that includes payroll check printing, direct deposit of payroll checks, automatic deposit of payroll taxes and full federal, state and local payroll reporting compliance. In addition to this, the payroll service comes with paycards, complete 401-K administrative and management services, and "pay-as-you-go" Workers' Comp. Unemployment insurance is also included, along with all quarter-end and year-end reporting and filings. The company explains that the IRS views failing to pay payroll taxes as an especially serious issue and is viewed as the cardinal sin of tax delinquency because a large portion of the payroll taxes are the withholdings of employees. This means that when a business doesn't pay its payroll taxes, it is almost like taking money from the employees. Anyone needing to deal with the IRS in regards to their payroll taxes is encouraged to get in touch with an expert like Toledocpas.com, which can offer free consultations to discuss the matter at hand. The Toledocpas.com website explains that the company provides high quality accounting service to its client, with a focus on three underlying principles of work. These are professionalism, responsiveness, and quality. As a leading Ohio CPA firm, it prides itself on innovation and providing close, personal attention to each client. This is of benefit to the clients, because each company and each individual is different, and it's important to have a CPA firm that can cater for any unique needs that may arise. Full information on the payroll service and other services the company provides is available on the website by visiting the URL provided above. Contact Info: Name: Tom Baird Organization: Toledocpas.com Address: 1811 North Reynolds Road #201, Toledo, 43615 United States Phone: +1-419-539-9590 For more information, please visit http://www.toledocpas.com Source: MarketersMedia Release ID: 163359 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) The need for farmers to get the public firmly on their side has never been more critical and Open Farm Sunday (OFS) provides an ideal platform to do just this. Government plans for a hard Brexit and the prospect of a new UK food, farming and environment policy will require farmers to demonstrate they are farming responsibly. Run by Linking Environment and Farming (Leaf), OFS is an excellent way to raise public awareness, build trust, and shine a light on what farmers deliver and why supporting British farming really matters. Opening your farm to the public doesnt have to be daunting there is help and support on hand from the team at Leaf. The projects manager, Annabel Shackleton, sets out why farmers need to open their farms, dispels some of the myths about reaching out to the public and answers some frequently asked questions. See also: Webinars to give advice for Open Farm Sunday 2017 Is OFS really worth it? Yes. The feedback received at Leaf is overwhelmingly positive. In fact, 88% of visitors reported learning something new during their visit. In our follow-up survey, 91% of visitors said it had made them appreciate more the work farmers do; 89% said they feel more connected with the farmers who produce our food; 84% said it had changed the way they think about farming; 73% said they now actively look for British produce to buy. At a time when we are facing many uncertainties, it is vital that farmers engage with the public the customers. I dont have the time to organise an event If time is an issue, host a simple farm walk for neighbours this way you are taking part in OFS, but with minimal impact to your farming business. Large, open events will take careful planning and collaboration is key team up with neighbouring farmers and involve your suppliers, machinery dealer, agronomist, vet and local groups such as the Scouts and the WI. How does it benefit me? OFS positively promotes your industry and your business. And the buzz that farmers get from sharing their farm with visitors is fantastic. Bringing the local community together on a farm to showcase everything you do is so rewarding. Its a great team-building exercise and for farms with a shop or diversification, its a great promotional opportunity, too. But I wouldnt know where to start The OFS host farmer handbook can help you decide on the size and type of event to organise, plus there is a host of information and guidance on promotion, activities, health and safety, and a handy checklist to guide you through the process. There isnt anything of interest on my farm Every farm has something to show. Visitors are amazed at the everyday activities you do. You can talk about the crops you grow, the people involved, machinery, wildlife, soil and water management every farm has a story to tell and visitors will be fascinated. I dont want hundreds of strangers on my land You can choose to host a private, invitation-only event if you want to limit the number of visitors or opt to host an open event. It is up to you what size and type of event to host. Some farmers ask visitors to pre-book so you can manage numbers. How will I know how many visitors to expect? With more than 10 years experience, Leaf can advise you on different communication techniques to use. When registering, you can opt to hide your event on the OFS website to limit your visitors. What help and support is there? Lots. Register your OFS event at www.farmsunday.org then you will receive free support from Leaf, including a copy of the detailed Host Farmer Handbook. Leaf and OFS sponsors offer a huge variety of free resources including posters, flyers, gate banners, stickers and hand-outs for visitors. The programme of free OFS bite-size webinars gives lots of ideas and tips to help you prepare for your event. On 31 January, there will be a webinar solely for farmers thinking about opening for the first time. The team of OFS regional co-ordinators and Leaf staff are available to answer questions by phone and email. Plus, we have a closed Facebook group where you can consult with experienced host farmers. Its not needed as our farm is in a very rural area Youll be amazed how many people who live in rural areas dont have a clue about farming. Many have no idea where their food comes from, let alone about the technology, science and skills involved modern farming. What about the cost? It all depends on the type of event. A farm walk will have minimal costs, but a large, open event will incur some costs such as hiring a couple of toilets and setting up low-cost handwashing facilities. We envisage OFS events to be free to enter, but farmers may charge for some activities, such as tractor-and-trailer rides. Putting on refreshments will generate income to help cover costs. What about the health and safety requirements? Health and safety is obviously very important, but it should not be a deterrent to opening up and shouldnt overshadow the day. Leaf provides practical information, including a template risk assessment, to guide you so that you and your visitors have a safe and enjoyable day. Farmers generally find OFS a welcome focus to tidy and clean up the farmyard. If you have livestock, you will need handwashing facilities many farmers set up low-cost temporary handwashing systems see the handbook and Industry Code of Practice for details. Its June what happens if it rains? Dont let the possibility of bad weather put you off. Think about what aspects of your visit could take place indoors or under cover. The key thing is to make it clear to your visitors on your event promotion what will be available in the event of bad weather (then keep your fingers crossed for sunshine!) Isnt Open Farm Sunday just for Leaf farmers? OFS is for every farmer; you dont have to be a Leaf member to take part. The theme this year is Discover the World of Farming and that means we want as many different types of farm to open as possible. OFS is about showcasing all aspects of farming. Join us on 11 June and be proud to showcase the fantastic work you do. For more details and to sign up, visit www.farmsunday.org the earlier you sign up, the more time you have to plan. Listing Details Posted Within Today 3 days 7 days 14 days 30 days 60 days 90 Days All MIN $ All $150 $250 $350 $500 $750 $1,000 $1,250 $1,500 $1,750 $2,000 $2,250 $2,500 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000 $7,500 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $50,000 MAX $ All $150 $250 $350 $500 $750 $1,000 $1,250 $1,500 $1,750 $2,000 $2,250 $2,500 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000 $6,000 $7,500 $10,000 $15,000 $20,000 $25,000 $50,000 FFL Status: All Sellers Only FFLs Only Non-FFLs Limit Caliber: All Calibers (Other Ammo?) .17 (all) .17 Hornet .17 Rem .17 Rem Fireball .17 Remington Fireball .17 WSM .204 Ruger (5.18 mm) .218 Bee .22 (other) .22 Hornet .22 Long Rifle .22 Magnum .22 Nosler .22 PPC .22 Short .22-250 .220 Swift .220 Swift .221 (all) .222 (all) .223 Remington (5.56 NATO) .223 WSSM .224 Valkyrie .224 Weatherby .240 Weatherby Magnum .243 (other) .243 Winchester .243 WSSM .25 ACP .25 WSSM .25-06 .25-20 .25-35 WCF .250-3000 Savage .256 Magnum .257 Roberts .257 Weatherby .26 Nosler .260 Remington .264 Win Mag .270 (all) .270 Weatherby Magnum .270 WSM .275 Rigby .277 Fury .28 Nosler .280 (all) .280 Rem Ackley Imp .284 Win .30 Cal. (other) .30 Carbine (7.62 x 33) .30 Herrett .30 Nosler .30 Rem AR .30 Thompson Center .30-06 (all) .30-30 Winchester .30-378 Weatherby Magnum .30-40 Krag .300 (all) .300 Blackout .300 Holland & Holland Magnum .300 Norma Magnum .300 PRC .300 Rem Short Ultra Magnum .300 Remington Magnum .300 Ruger Compact Magnum .300 RUM .300 Savage .300 Weatherby Magnum .300 Whisper/.300 AAC Blackout .300 Winmag .300 WSM .303 British (7.7 x 56mm) .303 Savage .307 Winchester .308 Marlin Express .308 Norma Magnum .308 Winchester (7.62 NATO) .32 (other) .32 ACP .32 H&R Magnum .32 Long Colt .32 S&W .32 Short Colt .32 Win Special .32-20 (all) .32-40 Win .325 (all) (8 x 53mm) .325 WSM .327 Federal Mag. .33 Nosler .33 WCF .338 (other) .338 Federal .338 Lapua Mag .338 Marlin Express .338 Ruger Compact Magnum .338 RUM .338 Win Mag .338-378 Weatherby Magnum .340 (all) .340 Weatherby Magnum .348 Winchester .35 (all) .35 Rem .35 Whelen .350 Legend .351 Winchester .357 (other/NOT 38 spec) .357 All .357 Magnum .357 SIG .358 Norma .358 Winchester .36 Cal. Cap & Ball .370 Sako Mag .375 H&H .375 Other .375 Rem Ultra Magnum .375 Ruger .375 Weatherby Magnum .375 Win .376 Steyr .378 Weatherby Magnum .38 (other) .38 Long Colt (9.65 mm) .38 Special .38 WCF .38-40 .38-55 (all) .38-55 Win .380 (all) .40 (other) .40 Smith & Wesson .400 Corbon .401 Winchester (10.31x38mm) .404 Jeffery .405 Win .408 .41 (other) .41 AE .41 Magnum .416 Barrett (10.3mm) .416 Remington Magnum .416 Rigby .416 Ruger .416 Weatherby Magnum .44 (other/Cap & Ball) .44 AMP (.429) .44 Magnum .44 Smith & Wesson .44 Special .44-40 (.427) .444 (all) .444 Marlin .45 (other/Cap & Ball) .45 ACP .45 Colt .45 GAP .45 LC .45 Rigby .45-120 .45-60 .45-70 Government .45-90 .450 (all) .450 Bushmaster .450 Marlin .450 Nitro Express .450-400 Nitro Express .454 Casull .455 (all) (11.5mm) .458 (all) .458 Lott .458 SOCOM .458 Win Magnum .460 (all) (11.63mm) .460 S&W Magnum .460 Weatherby Magnum .470 (all) .470 Nitro Express .475 (all) .476 (all) .480 (all) .499 (all) .50 (other) .50 AE .50 Beowulf .50 Black Powder .50 BMG .50 Express .50 Government .50-110 .50-90 Sharps .500 Nitro Express .500 S&W Magnum .500-416 Nitro Express .505 Gibbs .55 (all) .600 Nitro Express .69 Cal. 10 Gauge 10 mm (all) 11 mm (all) 12 Gauge 13 mm (all) 14 Gauge 16 Gauge 2 Gauge 20 Gauge 24 Gauge 28 Gauge 32 Gauge 4 Gauge 4.6x30 H&K 410 Gauge 4mm (all) 5.45 mm (all) 5.45x39 mm M74 5.56 mm SS-109 5.56x45 mm NATO 5.6 mm (all) 5.6x52R 5.7 mm (all) 5.8 mm DPB87 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum 6.5 Creedmoor 6.5 Grendel 6.5 mm (all) 6.5 PRC 6.5-300 Weatherby Magnum 6.5mm Remington Magnum 6.5x284 Norma 6.5x52 6.5x52mm Carcano 6.5x55 6.5x57mm 6.5x57mmR 6.8 mm (all) 6.8 Rem SPC 6mm (all) 6mm ARC 6mm Creedmoor 6mm Norma Bench Rest 6mm Rem 7 x 57 mm Mauser 7-30 Waters 7.5 x 55 mm Schmidt Rubin 7.59 mm 7.62x25 7.62x39 (AK47/SKS) 7.62x51 mm 7.62x54R 7.65 Argentine 7.65 mm Browning 7.65 mm Parabellum 7.7 mm Arisaka 7.9 mm Kurz 7.92 DS 7.92x57 mm Mauser 7mm (all) 7mm BR Remington 7mm Express Remington 7mm Remington Magnum 7mm Remington SA Ultra Mag 7mm Remington Ultra Magnum 7mm STW 7mm STW Magnum 7mm Weatherby Magnum 7mm WSM (Winchester Short Mag) 7mm-08 Remington 7x30mm Waters 7x33 Sako 7x57R 7x64 Brenneke 7x65mmR 8 Gauge 8mm (all) 8mm Mauser (8x57) 8x57mm 8x68 S 9.3mmx72R 9.3x62 9.3x74R 9mm (other) 9mm Luger 9x57 Mauser Haiti - News : Zapping politics... Lucien Jura Spokesperson of Jovenel Moise Lucien Jura former Spokesperson of former President Michel Martelly is now the Spokesman for President-elect Jovenel Moise in the Transitional Commission, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19778-haiti-politics-meeting-between-privert-and-president-elect-jovenel-moise.html put in place for preparations for the handover of power. Jura will be responsible for informing the public about the various actions taken by the Commission, which has been at work for two weeks. Haiti could win at least 40 seats During a presentation at the Hotel Montana of the Association of Industries of Haiti (ADIH), Ms. Norma Powell, Director of the Center of Facilitation of the Investments (CFI) said "If we manage to vote and promulgate only a dozen of the proposed laws, the position of Haiti in the ranking of the World Bank will be significantly improved, Haiti could win at least 40 places." Opening of the Criminal Assizes in Saint Marc The commissioner of the government of Saint-Marc, Gaillot Aurelien, announced the opening of criminal assizes with jury assistance from 23 to 31 January 2017 in Saint Marc, the city of Nissage Saget. These assizes aim is to reduce the number of cases of prolonged pre-trial detention in this commune. Visit of Jovenel Moise to the PNH On Friday morning, President-elect Jovenel Moise visited Michel-Ange Gedeon, the Director General of the Haitian National Police (PNH) and members of the High Command of PNH. He also held talks on the same day with members of the Franco-Haitian Chamber of Commerce. 2nd edition of the "Karavan Tek-Tek" Friday was held the preparatory meeting to organize the 2nd edition of the "Karavan Tek-Tek" between representatives of the National Council of Telecommunications (CONATEL), Digicel, Natcom S.A and Access Haiti. After the caravan organized in Les Cayes in 2016 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-18314-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html , the cape is set on Jacmel. Programming of the French cultural network Friday, Elizabeth Beton Deleegue, the French Ambassador accredited to Haiti and the heads of the French Institute in Haiti, the French Alliances in the country and that of Lycee Alexandre Dumas, met in Port-au- Prince to define the programming of the French cultural network in Haiti for the coming year... to follow HL/ HaitiLibre If India starts demolishing mosques, what would our reaction be?, A Muslim caretaker of an destroyed temple in Haripur asks.. Muhammad Sadaqat | Tribune Express Desk | Haripur : The Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may have said that minorities enjoy equal status and rights in Pakistan, but it would seem somebody in Haripur did not get the memo. Another Hindu temple in the region has fallen victim to the apathy of baboos who are supposed to protect and preserve worship places of minorities. Given recent history, however, it is likely that the temple will be replaced by a commercial building at some point in the near future. The Soha temple used to be a corner stone of the Mohalla Soha a suburb of Haripur. Before being torn down, it once stood in an open plot now marked as construction site of a commercial structure. The issue was even brought to the attention of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) and the local police, since a worship place cannot be demolished or sold under the law, but it seemed to have not made any difference. The Haripur police launched an inquiry after receiving a letter on December 14, 2016, from the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) assistant administrator in Hasanabdal who sought an inquiry and an FIR against all people involved in the demolition of the temple. The inquiry found that the ETPB had sold the temple to Muhammad Nawaz Khan, a resident of Mohallah Motiyan, through a registration deed during an open auction in September 2003. Nawaz, who had been occupying the temple since 1972 as a tenant, paid for the entire structure and later sold the dilapidated building to Nisar Begum, a resident of the same locality. Nisar, who also bought the building on a registration deed properly registered with the revenue department in Haripur, sold it to Saeed Akhtar, a trader from Haripur. Locals said that demolition work on the temple was split between the ownership periods of Nisar and Akhtar. Later, when ETPB and revenue department officials visited the site, they backed off from their previous stance to lodge an FIR against Akhtar and Nisar. It (complaint) was mademerely [based] on a local newspaper report to maintain law and order in the area and to avoid any untoward situation, read a letter written by ETPB Assistant Administrator Muhammad Abdullah on December 23, 2016. In the same letter, Abdullah claimed that he had visited the temple site with other officials of ETPB and found that there was nothing but an open plot registered with ETPB which had been sold to Muhammad Nawaz Khan on September 17, 2003 for Rs 347,742 including the cost of the superstructure. The temple was non-functional and in dilapidated condition and was included in the sold out area by the competent authority and the department has no concern about it, the letter adds. The letter further says that since the purchaser had paid its sale price, he had sole ownership over the property, complete with the right to demolish any existing structure or build new ones according to needs. Akhtar, the current owner of the plot, confirmed to The Express Tribune that a religious building used to exist on the plot. However, he contended the fact that the building was a temple, claiming instead that the building was a dharamshala (religious guest house), and that by the time he bought it there was only an open plot with walls on three sides. He also shared the transfer documents which carried the name of Nawaz Khan, wherein the ETPB denied that the sold out property was either part of appurtenance to shrine, a religious place or a building of historical or architectural importance. On the demolition of the temple, Saeed said it was already in dilapidated condition for several years and was demolished by Nisar after she got a warning notice from the tehsil planning officer of the Haripur Tehsil Municipal Administration on March 4, 2009, to raze the building within 15 days. Asked about his plans for the property, he said he wanted to build a two-storey commercial building on the site, but the Tehsil Municipal Administration was using delaying tactics as he was not ready to grease their palms. Saeed said that if the temple was non-salable property, the ETPB officials were responsible, not him or the previous two owners. Disappearing temples Founded by Sikh Governor Hari Singh Nalva in 1822, Haripur once had around 12 to 15 Hindu temples and three gurdawaras. (As per record, hundreds of Hindu Temples and Sikh Gurdwaras were built in the time of Maharaj Hari Singh Nalwa during 1822-1837 within Sikh governed areas of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud. But subsequently, under the control of Muslim rulers those were destroyed one by one and only a dozen is left to exist now in a very pitiable condition. Islamic history shows that the barbaric cult of hatred, intolerance and Jihad never allowed the worship places in an Islamic dominated places. Arabs do not allow non-Muslim worship places in their land. The Arab affiliated Islamic cult just follow them. -Editor, Hindu Existence). However, today only four or five temples remain, along with a gurdawara located in the main Haripur bazaar and now hosts a primary school. The temples that still stand are occupied by shopkeepers, who rented the premises from ETPB. Tanveer Iqbal Gilani claimed that his grandfather local saint Chan Pir Shah had been gifted land of the Jai Krishna Temple on GT Road by a Hindu priest and the owner of the Siri Krishan Sankat when he left Pakistan at the time of Partition. He said that the temple had been demolished around two decades ago and had been replaced by a commercial plaza. Gilani accused officials of ETPB and influential locals of illegally occupying the Hindu worship places. Several complaints regarding the illegal transfer of temple land and occupation by different government departments in Havelian, Abbottabad and Mansehra are pending before the Peshawar High Courts Abbottabad bench. Worship places cannot be occupied or sold under the law as constitutional clauses 20 and 36 clearly protect the rights of the minorities, said Advocate Zafar Iqbal, the counsel for Sham Lal, a Hindu priest from Abbottabad who had requested the court to grant him possession of the Hindu temples in Havelian and two temples in Abbottabad which are currently under the possession of different government departments. Temple run Speaking to The Express Tribune, retired educationist Muhammad Qasim said that the Haripur property was indeed a Hindu temple which he first saw in 1944 when his father moved their family to Haripur city. Qasim said that although he had forgotten the temples exact name, he remembered that it was informally referred to as the Soha Temple and that it had been built by the Mehta Himraj when he founded Soha Mohalla during the early 1940s. (Mehta Himraj a landlord and businessman of spices, diamonds and silk, actually rebuilt an old Nath Temple dedicated to Bhairon there in Soha Mohalla in 1932. The records of all old Gorakh-Nath temples in undivided India are kept in a old annals of Nath sects in a Hilltop Kali Temple in Gorkha dist in Nepal. As per that record, there were around 100 Gorakh-Nath Temples and Nath Yogi Shrines existed in western Indian region now under Pakistan. But, there are hardly 10 such dilapidated temples in Tilla Jogain, Punjab, Tharparkar, Sindh etc. in Pakistan. Editor, Hindu Existence). According to the octogenarian Qasim, Hindu caretakers of the temple were popular social workers who served with the Haripur Municipal Administration till Partition. Qasim condemned the demolition of the temple, adding that it would set a bad precedent in both, Pakistan and India. If India starts demolishing mosques, what would our reaction be? he asked. Source : Hindu Existence Vienna : A 12-year-old boy is believed to be among several people arrested in Austria on suspicion of belonging to a suspected Islamist extremist network. The youngster is said to have been radicalised by a so-called hate preacher and to have been in close contact with another terror suspect, a 17-year-old who was arrested last week. Authorities in Vienna have confirmed that one of the people arrested on suspicion of extremist activities is younger than 14, the age at which people can face trial in Austria. His identity hasnt been released but local reports suggest hes a 12-year-old boy. The child is believed to be one of three people arrested by authorities in Austria and neighbouring Germany over recent days as they investigate a suspected Islamist extremist network. The other suspects are said to be a 17-year-old and a 21-year-old. Forces in both countries have been on high alert since 12 people were killed during an attack on a Christmas market in Berlin a month ago. Source : EWN Two Aer Lingus workers and a Chinese national have been remanded in custody after being charged in connection with organised human trafficking at Dublin Airport. Aer Lingus employees, Peter Kernan, 56, of the Old Rectory Lodge, Celbridge, Co. Kildare and Frederick Cham, 61, of Railway Cottages, Hazelhatch, Cellbridge but originally from Hong Kong, are charged under the Human Trafficking Act with facilitating the unlawful entry of non-nationals into the State on January 9 and Jan 22 last. Chinese national Xing Wang, 28, who is of no-fixed abode, is charged under the Theft and Fraud Act with possessing a false Hong Kong passport at the white car park at Dublin Airport on Sunday, Jan. 22. He also has two connected charges under the Immigration Act for failing to present himself to an immigration officer on his arrival in the State and not having a passport. The three were arrested as part of an investigation by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) into an alleged people smuggling ring at the country's main airport. Det Garda Brendan O Somachain told Judge Cormac Dunne that father-of-two Kernan was charged at 9.35pm on Monday at Swords Garda station. He had no reply after he was charged, the court was told. Judge Dunne noted that there was an objection to bail. Det Garda O Somachain said it was alleged that Mr Kernan along with others organised to facilitate the illegal entry into the State of non-nationals, for them to by-pass passport control and to exit the airport with no contact with security personnel at all. He added that it was alleged that a sum of money was paid for this to be done and he told the court money has been seized from the accused. The GNIB detective said that there was an objection to bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the charges, the likely penalty and that it was alleged Mr Kernan associated with organised criminal gangs who have access to false documents. However, he also said that some bail terms have been agreed with the defence. Defence solicitor Amanda Connolly said her client's passport is being kept by gardai and he will not apply for a new one. She said a person had been proposed to stand bail and act as an independent surety but due to the publicity surrounding the case that offer was withdrawn. Ms Connolly said other family members, some of them elderly, are being canvassed to see if they would come to court with money and to stand bail for Mr Kernan. Judge Dunne set his bail in the sum of 2,000 and required independent surety 20,000 with conditions that he reside at his home address and notify gardai of any change, sign on three times a week at Leixlip Garda station, provide gardai with a mobile phone number on which he can be contacted at all times, not apply for a new passport and have no contact directly or indirectly with Mr Cham. Dressed in a brown jacket, black trousers, shoes, jumper and a green shirt, Mr Kernan remained silent during the hearing. His two adult sons were in court as well as his partner and her daughter had come to court to support him. He was remanded in custody with consent to bail under these terms and will face his next hearing at Cloverhill District Court on January 31 next. Mr Wang, dressed in blue jeans, black jacket and top, and white runners remained silent during his hearing. Det Garda Keith Cleary told Judge Cormac that the 28-year-old was arrested at the White Car Park, at the airport on Sunday and taken to Coolock Garda station where he was detained. His period of detention was extended by senior gardai and at 8.40pm on Monday he was charged. Det Garda Cleary said Wang made no reply when charged. The proceedings were transalated for him by an interpreter. His solicitor Michael Kelleher told the court that there were identity and status issues in relation to his client which have to be resolved. Judge Dunne remanded him in custody until January 27 and granted him legal aid. Mr Cham did not require an interpreter and greeted good morning to the judge when he entered the courtroom. Det Garda Lorcan Tighe told the court that Mr Cham was charged at just after 2am on Tuesday and had no reply to the charges. His solicitor Michael Kelleher told the court a bail application was not being made at this stage and it was agreed that the case could be adjourned until Friday at Cloverhill District Court. There would be a garda objection but Mr Kelleher said a bail application would be made on Friday. Judge Dunne remanded him in custody until January 27. The judge deferred granting legal aid to allow gardai time to explore Mr Cham's circumstances. A statement of his means was handed into court. He thanked the judge at the end of the hearing. The EU commissioner for economics has said that Ireland's treasured low corporation tax is "not under threat" and that Brussels "fully respects" our our tax sovereignty, writes Juno McEnroe. Speaking to reporters in Dublin this morning, commissioner Pierre Moscovici (pictured) said no member state can be overruled on tax sovereignty. The EU "poses no threat" to Ireland's tax rate, he added. The only way the 12.% rate could be changed was by the Irish people or government and there was "no capacity or will" to do this. But the economics commissioner did say that plans for common consolidated corporate tax base tax (CCCTB) has a lot for Ireland. While acknowledging there was disagreement with the Irish government on this, he said that the CCCTB measures, which some see as a harmonising of member state tax rules, could make Ireland even more attractive to investors. Mr Moscovici will later appear before the Oireachtas Finance Committee where he will further answer questions about Ireland's tax rules and EU policy. The commissioner though refused to address concern about a hard Brexit and what this might mean for tariffs on Irish goods. He said negotiations with Britain on it leaving the EU had still to begin. Former Anglo Irish Bank executive Willie McAteer will not serve any extra time in prison for receiving a fraudulent loan in September 2008 in order to keep the bank from failing. Imposing a sentence of two-and-a-half years, Judge Martin Nolan said survival was the main motivating factor in the fraud trade. McAteer, then director of finance at the bank, obtained the 8m loan as the bank was on the brink of collapse. McAteer is already serving a three and a half year prison term imposed in July 2016 for his part in a separate 7.2 billion fraud. The latest sentence will run alongside this. Last month McAteer (aged 66) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Tipperary, pleaded guilty to obtaining a loan of 8million from Anglo on September 29, 2008 which he secured against his shares in the bank. He then used the money to pay off a personal loan he obtained from Bank of Ireland. The loan was formulated by Anglo's executive board of directors to prevent the Anglo shares being sold off which would have further damaged confidence in the bank. The maximum penalty available for the offence of fraudulent trading was seven years in prison and a 63,486 fine. Imposing a sentence of two-and-a-half years Judge Nolan said that at the time McAteer and executives in the bank were under considerable pressure and their whole ambition was survival. He said there was a possibility that Bank of Ireland would sell off shares in the name of McAteer, as the shares were security against 8m personal loan to McAteer. He said the bank did not want this to happen and a plan was hatched to deal with this situation. There whole ambition was survival. Survival is not a reason to commit crime. But it was a substantial motivating factor. he said. He said that McAteer was a self made man who came from a modest background and studied hard and worked very hard. He said he was at one point an extremely wealthy and successful man. Judge Nolan said McAteer will be an impoverished man when he gets out of prison and will live in modest circumstances. He said it is highly unlikely he will re-offend. Taking his age and personal circumstances into consideration he said it would be unjust to impose a sentence consecutive to the one he is already serving. He ordered the sentence to start from today. Last Monday, Garda Glen MacKessy of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement said that prior to September 2008 McAteer, like most Anglo executive directors, had built up a substantial shareholding in the bank. He said the directors in Anglo were encouraged to buy and hold large amounts of newly issued shares in the bank. McAteer used five loans from Bank of Ireland to purchase a total of 3.3 million shares. These were recourse loans meaning McAteer was personally liable if he defaulted. The court heard Bank of Ireland had a provision where if the share price fell below a certain ratio in relation to the loan it could sell off the shares without consulting McAteer. The sale of these shares would occur under McAteer's name and would have to be disclosed to the market and the financial regulator. Gda MacKessy said in 2008 Anglo's share price began to fall drastically and Bank of Ireland could have sold McAteer's shares if it wished. McAteer became aware of this and informed the senior management at Anglo. Anglo's board of directors were concerned that a sudden sell off of a director's loans could have a disastrous affect on the overall share price. A plan was formulated to refinance McAteer's shares using a 8,246,307 loan from Anglo. This loan would be secured against the shares only and McAteer would not be personally liable. The court heard Bank of Ireland had made no move to sell off the shares and had given no indication that it might. Gda MacKessy said there was no evidence that McAteer had a role in designing the scheme. The garda said he signed the loan documentation when he was presented with it. Once the loan went through Bank of Ireland released the shares as security and closed McAteer's loan accounts. All this took place on September 29th, 2008, the same day as the government issued a blanket guarantee to the banks. In January 2009 McAteer was asked by Anglo's chief financial officer Matt Moran to make himself personally liable for the loan. McAteer agreed. Gardai interviewed McAteer in 2010 and he admitted it was his signature on the loan documents. He said he had not come up with the terms of the loan but that he accepted them. He said he did this because the sale of the shares could have a catastrophic affect on the bank. Whelan said during interview that he had been instructed to have his lending team prepare the loan documentation. He identified his own signature on the loan documents. Prosecuting counsel Sean Gillane SC said McAteer has two previous convictions. He was sentenced to three and a half years in 2016 for conspiracy to defraud involving interbank loans worth 7.2 billion. In 2014 both he and Whelan were given 240 hours community service by Judge Nolan after engaging in an illegal share support scheme. Patrick Gageby SC, defending McAteer, said his client was supposed to retire before the bank started to collapse but that he stayed on because his help was needed. He said if he retired at the right time he would have done so with great advantages and a good amount of money. Counsel said the offences resulted in no loss to the bank. He said there were no more pending charges against McAteer and that this case would mark a poor end to his career. Last week Pat Whelan, the bank's former director of lending, was fined 3,000 for failing to keep a proper record of the fraudulent 8 million loan to McAteer. Brendan Grehan SC, who appeared for Whelan, said this was also the last legal matter concerning his client. He said these investigations had been hanging over him for seven years and that he now wanted to start rebuilding his life. US president Donald Trump has made unsubstantiated claims about election fraud - even as he reached out to Democratic rivals, business leaders and union chiefs in a bid to sell his policies. During a bipartisan reception at the White House on Monday evening, Mr Trump is understood to have claimed that he lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton because three to five million illegal immigrants had voted in the November election. There is no evidence to support Mr Trump's claim, which was reported by a Democratic aide. The assertion appears to be part of a developing pattern for Mr Trump and his new administration in which falsehoods or otherwise unverifiable claims overshadow his efforts to build bridges. Mr Trump began his first full week as president playing host to business, union and Congressional leaders at the White House. Again and again, he ordered aides to summon journalists from their West Wing workplace at a moment's notice for unscheduled statements and photo opportunities. Among those meetings was a reception at the White House for congressional leaders of both parties. Mr Trump will continue his outreach efforts as he meets with executives from the car industry, tweeting that his focus will be on creating and keeping jobs. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here," he wrote. Mr Trump is also expected to speak by phone with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and meet with his newly sworn-in CIA director Mike Pompeo. Mr Trump's comments on the popular vote were similar to claims he made on Twitter in late November that he had won the electoral college in a "landslide" and also "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally". Mrs Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes, despite losing the electoral college. There is no evidence that voter fraud significantly affected the vote. Earlier, the US Senate approved the appointment of Mr Trump's nominee Mike Pompeo to run the CIA, despite claims that he has been less than transparent about his positions on torture, surveillance and Russia's election meddling. Michael Pompeo. Mr Pompeo, whose appointment was approved by 66 votes to 32, takes the helm of America's top spy agency at a crucial time for US national security as intelligence, traditionally a non-partisan issue, has been thrust into the political arena. President Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies after their assessment of Russian involvement to help him win the election, but has also has said he is fully behind them. Senate Republicans hoped to vote on Mr Pompeo's nomination on Friday, after Mr Trump's inauguration, but Democrats succeeded in stalling action until they could hold a debate. Senator Ron Wyden said Mr Pompeo was the "wrong man for the job". "He has endorsed extreme policies that would fundamentally erode liberties and freedoms of our people without making us safer," the Oregon Democrat said. He said Mr Pompeo's answers to questions from some senators had been "vague" and "contradictory", making it impossible to know what he believed. "I see no real commitment to transparency and his views on the most fundamental analysis of the day - the involvement of Russia in our election - seemed to shift with those of the president," Mr Wyden said. In written responses to questions from the Senate on January 3, Mr Pompeo said only that intelligence agency assessments in general should be taken seriously. After Mr Trump conceded Russia was behind the campaign hacks, Mr Pompeo told the Senate intelligence committee that particular assessment was "solid". "We need a CIA director who is direct about his beliefs and his assessments," Mr Wyden said. But Republican senator Richard Burr, chairman of the intelligence committee, said Democrats were playing politics in its efforts to delay and derail Mr Trump's choice to run the CIA. An Taisce appealed to An Bord Pleanala a decision by Dublin City Council to give the go-ahead for the large extension to the hotel, which is located at Golden Lane off South Great Georges Street. The hotel which is owned by the Galway-based Rhatigan property group has been posting strong profits in recent years and is now looking to capitalise on its booming business. From Cork to California musicians have not been shy in setting their thoughts to music so here's 8 pro and anti Trump songs that have caught our attention in recent weeks. 1. Tiny Hands Developed by New Yorker Fiona Apple as a rallying call for Saturdays womens marches this song (or chant) concentrates on little more than the suggestion that Trump's hands might be small. A claim that is known to annoy him greatly. 2. Pump the Trump New York rapper Boo Bulgari suggests people should give Trump - 'The Reformer' - a chance as he 'speaks the truth'. 3. I Give You Power In this song Canadian Indie band Arcade Fire (featuring Mavis Staples) reveal their anti Trump protest song. 4. The Trump Fight Song Created by an anonymous combat veteran, who tweets at @StrengthentheUS, this song "weeps for America" and asks Americans to "do something for your country!" 5. The guy that stalked you has become the President In this song Indie three piece from Cork, The Grunts, "capture the current zeitgeist and deliver it in a Talking heads esque view of a paranoid world. Can Donal Trump deliver all is promises We wait and see." 6. Trump for America This rock / grunge tune was written to rally all Americans to vote for TRUMP by 'Brothers N Arms' who are based in southern Califormia 7. No hallellujah (Song of a Blowhard) In this song Early Turner (a.k.a Tom Gray, from 1998 Mercury winners Gomez) explores the issue of enablement and asks How did we get so dumb? 8. Vote For Trump Texan comedian and country music artist Rodney Carrington calls for ordinary Americans to 'get their butts off the ground' and 'repair the cracks in the Liberty Bell' and to those who disagree he has a simple message. 'Kiss my ass'. All in all a mixed (and scary!) bunch and suggests when it comes to political commentary perhaps Billy Bragg's 'Which Side Are You On' set a mark unlikely to be surpassed. Authority chairwoman Josephine Feehily said public confidence in institutions of State, such as An Garda Siochana is really fragile and needs to be minded. She said the code of ethics is not a list of do this, do that, and dont do the other, but a set of principles to inspire and guide members. The Garda Representative Association, which has more than 10,000 members, criticised the document, saying it goes for regulation, not inspiration. General secretary Pat Ennis said it is disappointing that the code retains all the hallmarks of authoritarian orders imposed on a demoralised workforce. He suggested a code of ethics be nurtured rather than dictated. The code sets out nine standards of conduct and commitment: Duty to uphold the law, honesty and integrity, respect and equality, authority and responsibility, police powers, information and privacy, transparency and communication, speaking up and reporting wrongdoing, and leadership. The code states that while close cooperation and team spirit are essential for gardai, the primary loyalty must be to the public. The code is also expected to underpin processes such as recruitment, evaluation of performance, assessment for suitability for promotion, and appointment to specialist units. It will work in parallel with Garda discipline regulations. Garda Commissioner Noirin OSullivan said the code would enhance the organisation. Working ethically is not just a tick box exercise, it cannot be just another job on the list, she said. Working ethically must be central to all we do. The next step in this process is to ensure all our people live this code. Launching the code, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald commended the philosophy and the language used in it and said it would be a beacon to guide ethical behaviour. Ms Feehily said public confidence in institutions of the State is one of her passions. It is really fragile, she said. It can so easily be dented. It really needs to be minded, in particular by oversight bodies. She pointed out that, over the next five years, 30%-35% of the force will be coming through the ranks and that the code of ethics will help pass on values. The managing director of the International Monetary Fund urged global policymakers to stop inflation from becoming a runaway train at a time of extraordinary economic turmoil. The IMFs Kristalina Georgieva noted that the world economy has been hit by one shock after another the coronavirus pandemic, Russias invasion of Ukraine and a resurgence of inflation. But reining in rising prices should take priority, she said. If we do not restore price stability, we will undermine prospects for growth, she said. The Federal Reserve and other central banks have been raising interest rates to tame inflation. Georgieva acknowledged that the higher borrowing costs would pinch economic growth, but she urged policymakers to show restraint in spending money to ease the pain. In a speech, in part aimed at attracting top financial firms to locate here, Enda Kenny will tell the European Financial Forum in Dublin why Ireland is an attractive location for Brexit-hit businesses. In his first speech since Britains Theresa May last week signalled a hard Brexit is ahead, government sources said Mr Kenny will try to set the record straight about Irelands preparations. The Taoiseach will say Ireland has prepared for a potential Brexit for over a year and a half and that a day after the June vote last year, the Government released details of its own contingency plans. He will also point to Irelands successful exit from the financial bailout as a sign that Ireland can cope, has a clear plan and is preparing for Brexit. The address to business leaders at the EFF conference comes ahead of Ms Mays visit here next week, when the British prime minister is expected to reveal more about her Brexit plans to Mr Kenny. The Government and Mr Kenny came under attack last week after Ms May signalled Britain will want to leave the single market and abandon its full membership of the EU customs market with Brexit. Such actions could shift tariffs onto Irish goods and seriously disrupt our trade with Britain. Fianna Fail has called for a Brexit minister to be appointed while Sinn Fein says it was always obvious there was never going to be a soft Brexit. Mr Kennys defence today is designed to allay those concerns, despite ESRI research predicting a hard Brexit could cost 40,000 jobs and hit the economy. The EFF conference comes after junior finance minister Eoghan Murphy last night launched an action plan for Irish financial services and a five-year strategy, which aims to grow direct employment in the sector by 10,000 by 2020. This plan also promotes ways to attract firms here, including boosting office space numbers for businesses relocating to Ireland and improving education opportunities for Irish workers wanting to enter the sector. Outlining his strategy, Mr Murphy said there was unlikely to be a wholesale exit of a financial firm or a bank out of London. Well see a part move potentially into somewhere like Dublin, like Cork, to access the single market, he told RTE. Those firms will be mindful of their future relationship with UK authorities as well and the future needs and concerns of their staff. The internal audit, which examined records covering the period 2012 to 2015, found Fergus Finlay was paid more than the maximum on the HSE scale for assistant national director primary, community and continuing care, even though the chair of the board of Barnardos had approved a proposal to link his pay to that particular scale in 2010. Mr Finlays gross salary in 2014 was 114,651 based on a salary of 111,711 for six months and 117,511 for six months. His pay scale as of December 31, 2014, was 117,511. At the time, the maximum salary available to his HSE comparator was 110,183, on foot of public sector pay rate reductions introduced from July 1, 2013, under the Haddington Road Agreement. Mr Finlays salary in 2013 was 1,528 more than that maximum. In December 2013, he told the Irish Mirror his salary was pegged at the level of a management salary in the HSE, not top-level management, but middle to senior management, and that is where I am pitched. Mr Finlays salary of 117,711 was restored from July 1, 2014 (he had taken a voluntary reduction in June 2012 when Barnardos introduced some staff redundancies), putting him 7,408 ahead of the maximum paid to HSE assistant national director. The internal auditors said as the 2013 Haddington Road Agreement reduction in his comparator grade was not applied by Barnardos it was no longer acceptable for Barnardos to reference HSE pay scales or to state that the CEO was on a point of a HSE salary scale which no longer existed. Barnardos accepted the recommendation on the basis that this assertion was only made when it was true and accurate. Mentions since December 2013 have correctly stated the CEOs salary with no further mentions of a HSE pay scale, Barnardos said. The HSE audit also found that Barnardos was paying senior managers in excess of public sector pay norms; directors on the charitys pay scale could earn up to 100,407, almost 21,000 more than their HSE comparator. Barnardos assistant directors, of whom there were eight, could earn a maximum of 85,296 compared to 74,551 for a comparable role in the HSE. The auditors recommended Barnardos management ensure senior management remuneration has due regard for Government (health sector) pay policy. Barnardos said: We and our funders, including HSE and Tusla management to whom we have reported each year, consider that those salaries are entirely appropriate. Barnardos also points out that it is not covered by either the Haddington Road or Croke Park Agreements. The audit was also critical of what constituted donations by the CEO to the charity. Barnardos invoiced the Irish Examiner for private articles written by Mr Finlay and on receipt of the fees, included the monies in his salary and taxed them accordingly. Mr Finlay paid a fee of 200 per month to Barnardos for this service, which the charity classified as a donation. The auditors also queried a claim in Barnardos board minutes of April 2015 which stated that an honorarium of 7,000 per annum paid by Dublin City Council to the CEO for acting as chair of Dolphin House Regeneration Board is donated by him to Barnardos. The internal audit said it did not see any evidence of a contribution in relation to this honorarium in 2012, 2013, 2014 or 2015. In reply, Barnardos confirmed that there were no donations in the years covered by the audit. Despite some negative findings, auditors formed the opinion that Barnardos board has established an appropriate system of internal control to ensure it meets its stewardship responsibilities. Between 2012-2014, the HSE/Tusla provided 37m in funding to Barnardos. TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Avesoro Resources Inc. ("Avesoro" or the "Company"), the TSX and AIM listed West African gold producer, is pleased to advise that further to the announcement issued by the Company on 8 December 2015, the arbitration claim brought against the Company by International Construction & Engineering (Seychelles) ("ICE") with respect to ICE's contract to carry out civil and earth works at Avesoro's New Liberty Gold Mine has been dismissed by the tribunal constituted to determine it. Further, the Company has been successful in the majority of its counterclaim and has been awarded its legal costs. About Avesoro Resources Inc. The Company's assets include the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia (the "New Liberty Gold Mine," "New Liberty" or the "mine") which has an estimated proven and probable mineral reserve of 8.5 Mt with 924,000 ounces of gold grading 3.4 g/t and an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 9,796 Kt with 1,143,000 ounces of gold grading 3.63 g/t and an estimated inferred mineral resource of 5,730 Kt with 593,000 ounces of gold grading 3.2 g/t. A Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") has been completed, the first gold pour has taken place and commercial production has been declared. The foregoing mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and additional information in connection therewith are set out in the Company's technical report dated March 25, 2015 and entitled "New Liberty Gold Project, Bea Mountain Mining Licence Southern Block, Liberia, West Africa, Definitive Project Plan. The New Liberty Gold Mine is located within the Southern Block of the 100% owned Bea Mountain mining licence. This licence covers 478 km and has a 25 year, renewable, mineral development agreement. The Bea Mountain mining license also hosts additional gold projects of Ndablama, Gondoja, Weaju and Leopard Rock which are the focus of exploration programs during 2016. Ndablama has an indicated mineral resource of 386,000 ounces of gold grading 1.6 g/t and inferred mineral resource of 515,000 ounces of gold grading 1.7 g/t and Weaju has an inferred mineral resource of 178,000 ounces of gold grading 2.1 g/t. The Yambesei (473 km2), Archaen West (56 km2), Mabong (36.6 km2) and Mafa West (15.6 km2) licences will also be subject to preliminary reconnaissance geological work. The foregoing mineral resource estimates and additional information in connection therewith are set out in the Company's technical report dated December 1, 2014 and entitled "Ndablama and Weaju Gold Projects, Bea Mountain Mining Licence, Northern Block, Technical Report on Mineral Resources" ("Ndablama and Weaju Technical Report 2014"). The Company also has a gold exploration permit in Cameroon. Qualified Persons The Company's Qualified Person is Mark J. Pryor, who holds a BSc (Hons) in Geology & Mineralogy from Aberdeen University, United Kingdom and is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, a Fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists and a registered Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat) of the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions. Mark Pryor is an independent technical consultant with over 25 years of extensive global experience in exploration, mining and mine development and is a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43 -101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" of the Canadian Securities Administrators and has reviewed and approves this press release. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 24, 2017) - Regulus Resources Inc. ("Regulus") (TSX VENTURE:REG) is very pleased to announce that on January 23, 2017, its wholly owned Peruvian subsidiary, Southern Legacy Peru S.A.C., finalized the execution of a Definitive Agreement with Compania Minera Coimolache S.A. ("Coimolache") to allow for collaborative exploration of the AntaKori copper-gold project in northern Peru. This Definitive Agreement is based on the previously executed Memorandum of Understanding with the terms of the agreement remaining effectively the same. Please refer to the Regulus news release of May 18, 2016 for a summary of the key components of the agreement. By mutual agreement, the Memorandum of Understanding and the time frame for the completion of a parallel definitive agreement with Compania Minera Colquirrumi S.A. ("Colquirrumi") have been extended to March 30, 2017 to allow for additional legal review (as previously announced on January 3, 2017). The completion of the Colquirrumi Agreement is required to maintain the Coimolache Agreement in good standing and both parties are confident the agreement will be completed within the extension period. John Black, Chief Executive Officer of Regulus, commented as follows: "We are very excited to have the Definitive Agreement with Coimolache completed. This innovative agreement has been carefully crafted to allow for the collaborative exploration of the AntaKori deposit while maintaining the autonomy of each party until such a point as it becomes clear what the best path forward will be for development of the project. There is a small amount of work remaining to complete the parallel agreement with Minera Colquirrumi for exploration on the north side of the AntaKori project - this work will not take long and we see no impediments to having this agreement signed soon. We now look forward to an aggressive exploration program in 2017 with a 15-18,000 meter drilling program scheduled to commence by early March. Additional details about the exploration program will be announced after signing the definitive Colquirrumi agreement." About Regulus Resources Inc. Regulus Resources Inc. is an international mineral exploration company run by an experienced technical and management team, with a portfolio of precious and base metal exploration properties located in North and South America. For further information on Regulus Resources Inc., please consult our website at www.regulusresources.com . VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 24, 2017) - Advantage Lithium Corp. (the "Company" or "Advantage Lithium") (TSX VENTURE:AAL) announces, further to its news release of November 23rd 2016, the final terms of its private placement financing of $20,000,000. In addition the Company has agreed with Orocobre that the transaction terms in the definitive agreement will be 54,500,000 common shares and a warrant to purchase an additional 3,000,000 common shares. The warrant will have same terms as warrants issued in conjunction with the financing. The Company and Orocobre expect that the definitive agreement will be completed by the end of February 2017. News Highlights Funds raised to be used to develop the advanced Cauchari asset, including its large defined exploration target, five other wholly owned (100%) Argentine assets comprising ~85,543 hectares and general corporate purposes. Large exploration target defined with a range of 0.25 to 5.6 mt of lithium carbonate and 0.9 mt to 19 mt of potash (KCl). 1 Cauchari hosts an inferred resource containing an estimated 230 million cubic metres of brine at ~380 mg/l Li and 3,700 mg/l K. This is equivalent to 470,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate (~88,000 tonnes lithium metal) and 1.62 million tonnes of potash (KCl - equivalent to ~840,000 tonnes of potassium). The project is adjacent to Lithium America's Cauchari project. Lithium Americas recently proposed a combined equity and debt financing of USD $286M investment by Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Ltd. and GFL International Ltd. to put its project into production. Advantage Lithium/Orocobre's Cauchari project lies close to Orocobre's lithium production facility and has the potential for fast-tracked, low cost production. David Sidoo, CEO and President, of Advantage Lithium, commented, "As evidenced by the significant $286M combined equity and debt investment in Lithium Americas, proposed by two Asian based companies, to put their Cauchari project, adjacent to the Advantage Lithium/Orocobre property, into production, the Cauchari salar is seen as a high-priority source of future lithium production and we are excited to have the funding and partnership to aggressively develop our presence there. We look forward to working with the Orocobre team, including Richard Seville, Managing Director, CEO and Rick Anthon, General Counsel, Joint Company Secretary, both of whom are expected to be joining the board of Advantage Lithium upon completion of the acquisition." Sidoo continued: "As soon as possible, we plan to implement agreed upon work programs at Cauchari. This year is going to be extremely productive and busy for Advantage Lithium: we are already following up the successful phase one drilling at Clayton NE with 3 additional holes and 5 permitted holes at Cauchari in Argentina, to begin delineating the large exploration target in Q1 this year. Cauchari hosts a shallow, lithium brine resource and large exploration target is located close to Orocobre's lithium production facility and we have several fast-track development options open to us." Richard Seville, CEO of Orocobre, commented, "We are pleased to be working with Advantage Lithium to advance the properties. The success to date of the capital raise demonstrates the market's strong belief in the high quality of the Cauchari development property as well as the other assets." Financing Led by Dundee Capital Partners ("Dundee") and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (together known as the "Agents") under which the Agents have agreed to offer for sale subscription receipts of the Company (the "Subscription Receipts"), subject to all required regulatory approvals, at a price per Subscription Receipt of $0.75 (the "Offering Price"), for total gross proceeds of $20,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof to receive one Unit of the Company without payment of additional consideration or further action, provided that the Escrow Release Conditions have been satisfied prior to the Escrow Deadline (as defined below), upon the date (the "Qualification Date") which is the earlier of: (i) four months and a day after the closing of the Offering; and (ii) the third business day following the issuance of a receipt (the "Final Receipt") for a final prospectus qualifying the Units underlying the Subscription Receipts. Each unit will comprises a share and half a warrant, each whole warrant exercisable for one additional share for 24 months after closing at $1.00 a share. The Subscription Receipts will be issued pursuant to a subscription receipt agreement (the "Subscription Receipt Agreement") to be entered into among the Company, the Agents and the subscription receipt agent. Pursuant to the Subscription Receipt Agreement, the gross proceeds from the Offering (less 50% of the Agent's cash commission and all of the Agent's expenses) (the "Net Escrowed Funds") will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of the escrow release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions"), including (i) completion of the Acquisition as contemplated by the definitive agreement to be entered into with Orocobre, including receipt of all regulatory approvals, shall have been completed or waived on terms previously disclosed to or otherwise reasonably acceptable to the Agents; (ii) the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals (including if necessary, shareholder approval) with respect to the Offering including conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange with respect to the listing of the Units underlying the Subscription Receipts; (iii) the Company having delivered a certificate to the Agents that the conditions set forth in (i) and (ii) have been satisfied; and (iv) the Company and the Agents having delivered the completion notice and direction pursuant to the Subscription Receipt Agreement to the subscription receipt agent. Upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions, the remaining 50% of the cash commission will be released to the Agents plus any additional expenses of the Agents, if any, and the balance of the Net Escrowed Funds, together with any interest earned thereon, will be released to the Company. The Subscription Receipts will not convert into Units until the later of (i) the Qualification Date and (ii) the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions, as described above. In the event that the closing sale price of the Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $1.50 per Share for a period of 20 consecutive trading days at any time after the Subscription Receipts are exchanged for Units, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by issuing a press release and in such case the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such press release is issued. The Agents have the option to offer for sale up to an additional 15% of the Subscription Receipts sold under and on the same terms as the Offering at any time until 48 hours prior to the closing date of the Offering. In consideration for their services, the Agents will be paid a cash commission of approximately 6% of the proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts, and will be issued a compensation warrant entitling them to subscribe for Units equal in number to approximately 6% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold in the Offering, exercisable at a price of $0.75 per Unit for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering. If the Escrow Release Conditions are not satisfied on or before March 31, 2017 the Subscription Receipts will be deemed to be cancelled and holders of Subscription Receipts will receive a cash amount equal to the Offering Price of the Subscription Receipts and any interest that was earned on the Net Escrowed Funds less any applicable withholding taxes. The Company will be responsible for any shortfall in the amount returnable to holders of Subscription Receipts in this event. The closing of the Offering is expected to occur February 13, 2017 and is subject to the completion of formal transaction documentation and the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The technical information in this news release has reviewed and approved on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geo. Technical Advisor and Director for Advantage Lithium Corp., and a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101. (1) An exploration target is not a mineral resource. The potential quantity and grade of the exploration target is conceptual in nature, and there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource in the volume where the Exploration Target is outlined. It is uncertain if further exploration drilling will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource in this volume. Further information about the Company can be found at www.advantagelithium.com. About Advantage Lithium Corp. Advantage Lithium Corp. is a resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration and development of lithium properties and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The common shares of the company are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AAL". The company has signed an LOI, subject to definitive agreement, with lithium producer, Orocobre, to acquire 100% interest in five projects in Argentina and a 75% interest in a sixth, called Cauchari. Cauchari is host to a near-surface resource of 470,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 1.62 million tonnes of potash (KCL), and a large exploration target of 5.6mt to 0.25mt of LCE and 19mt to 0.9 of KCL. Cauchari is located just 20 km south Orocobre's flagship Olaroz Lithium Facility. The Company is also earning an interest from Nevada Sunrise Gold Corp., in a portfolio of five lithium brine projects in the Clayton and Lida Valley regions of Nevada, USA, including 70% in Clayton NE. In addition, the Company has acquired 100% of the Stella Marys lithium brine project, immediately adjacent to Orocobre's Salinas Grandes project that hosts an inferred, near-surface resource, in Argentina's Lithium Triangle. OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 24, 2017) - Focus Graphite Inc. (TSX VENTURE:FMS)(OTCQX:FCSMF)(FRANKFURT:FKC) ("Focus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for its 100%-owned Lac Knife flake graphite project, located 27 km south of Fermont, in the Cote-Nord administrative region of northeastern Quebec. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate is based on 231 drill holes totalling 22,505 metres of historic and recent drilling and has been prepared by AGP Mining Consultants Inc. in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" (NI 43-101). Highlights: Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources increased by 26% when reported at a cut-off of 3.0% Graphitic carbon (Cg) to 12.1 million tonnes grading 14.64% Cg (Table 1) compared to the previous estimate of 9.6 million tonnes grading 14.77% Cg 1 at the same cut-off (Table 2). grading (Table 1) compared to the previous estimate of 9.6 million tonnes grading 14.77% Cg at the same cut-off (Table 2). Upgraded 2.5 million tonnes of Inferred resources to the Indicated category. Delineated an additional 2.3 million tonnes of Inferred resources that are located within the southern extension of the Lac Knife deposit. The updated Mineral Resource Estimate increased the in-situ graphite content by 25% to 1.771 million tonnes in the Measured and Indicated category. At the 3% Cg cut-off grade, Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are now estimated at 12.1 million tonnes grading 14.64% Cg (Table 1). Additionally, there are 2.3 million tonnes of Inferred resources at 16.20 % Cg (Tables 1 and 2). Table 1. Lac Knife Mineral Resource Estimate @ 3.0 % Cg cut-off Tonnage Cg In Situ Graphite (t) (%) (t) Measured 447,000 21.45 96,000 Indicated 11,654,000 14.38 1,675,000 Measured + Indicated 12,101,000 14.64 1,771,000 Inferred 2,299,000 16.20 372,000 Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. The rounding of tonnes as required by NI 43-101 reporting guidelines may result in apparent differences between tonnes, grade and contained graphite. 1 Refer to Focus news release dated January 28th, 2014 available at www.focusgraphite.com and at www.sedar.com. Focus Graphite President and CEO Gary Economo stated: "This second increase in Measured and Indicated resources since 2014 continues to reflect the quality our Lac Knife flake graphite deposit and is another positive step supporting the development of the Lac Knife project." The update to the Mineral Resource Estimate is based on the addition of the 2014 exploration and definition drilling programs that added 65 new drill holes of which 41 targeted the Lac Knife deposit's southern extension. The additional 4,871 metres of drilling successfully achieved the objectives of delineating the expansion of the mineralized zones to the south and to upgrade the quality of existing Inferred resources to the Indicated category. This resource update is now supported by a total of 231 drill holes totalling 22,505 metres of historic and recent drilling. As shown in Table 2 below, the resource tonnage increased by 26% in the Measured and Indicated category from 9.6 million tonnes grading 14.77% Cg in the Lac Knife project Feasibility Study2 ("FEAS") to 12.1 million tonnes grading 14.64% Cg in this new update. This translated to an increase of 25% of in-situ graphite from 1.414 million tonnes to 1.771 million tonnes. Table 2: Sensitivity to cut-off change and comparison to previous estimate (2014) Updated Mineral Resource Estimate (3.0% Cg Cut-off base case) 2014 Mineral Resource Estimate (3.0% Cg Cut-off base case) Percent Change Cut-off Tonnes CG (%) Cg Tonnes Tonnes CG (%) Cg Tonnes Tonnage Graphite Measured > 10.0 447,000 21.45 96,000 428,000 23.81 102,000 4% -6% > 5.0 447,000 21.45 96,000 432,000 23.66 102,000 3% -6% > 3.0 447,000 21.45 96,000 432,000 23.66 102,000 3% -6% > 2.0 447,000 21.45 96,000 432,000 23.66 102,000 3% -6% Indicated > 10.0 9,832,000 15.56 1,530,000 7,466,000 15.77 1,177,000 32% 30% > 5.0 11,571,000 14.45 1,672,000 9,065,000 14.44 1,309,000 28% 28% > 3.0 11,654,000 14.38 1,675,000 9,144,000 14.35 1,312,000 27% 28% > 2.0 11,656,000 14.38 1,675,000 9,146,000 14.35 1,312,000 27% 28% Measured + Indicated > 10.0 10,272,000 15.82 1,625,000 7,894,000 16.21 1,279,000 30% 27% > 5.0 12,018,000 14.71 1,768,000 9,497,000 14.86 1,411,000 27% 25% > 3.0 12,101,000 14.64 1,771,000 9,576,000 14.77 1,414,000 26% 25% > 2.0 12,103,000 14.64 1,771,000 9,578,000 14.77 1,415,000 26% 25% Inferred > 10.0 2,093,000 17.02 356,000 2,196,000 15.81 347,000 -5% 3% > 5.0 2,282,000 16.28 372,000 2,941,000 13.75 404,000 -22% -8% > 3.0 2,299,000 16.20 372,000 3,102,000 13.25 411,000 -26% -9% > 2.0 2,299,000 16.20 372,000 3,116,000 13.20 411,000 -26% -9% Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the Mineral Resources will be converted into Mineral Reserves. The rounding of tonnes as required by NI43-101 reporting guidelines may result in apparent differences between tonnes, grade and contained graphite. 2 Refer to Focus news release dated June 25th, 2014 available at www.focusgraphite.com and at www.sedar.com. In the Inferred resource category, the tonnage decreased by 26% from 3.1 million tonnes in the FEAS to 2.3 million tonnes in this resource update. The Inferred resource category average grade increased from 13.25% Cg to 16.20% Cg. This resulted in a reduction of 9% of in-situ graphite in this category from 411,000 tonnes down to 372,000 tonnes. These overall changes in the resources resulted from converting most of the 2.5 million tonnes of Inferred resources in the FEAS resource constraining shell to the Measured and Indicated categories, and also by extending the deposit to the south adding an additional 2.3 million tonnes of Inferred resources in the revised South Central Zone. (See Figure 1). Figure 1. Isometric representation of the major mineralized zones with resource constraining shell The updated Mineral Resource Estimate is based on 231 core drill holes totalling 22,505 metres of historic and recent drilling. This includes 149 surface drill holes totalling 12,041 metres completed since 2010. Mineral Resources have been reported within a constraining pit shell at a cut-off grade of 3.0% graphitic carbon ("Cg"). This update is not deemed material by the Company. Details on the Mineral Resource Estimation methodology are given in the notes below. Notes on Mineral Resource Estimation Methodology Mineral resources are estimated in conformance with the CIM Mineral Resource definitions referred to in NI 43-101 "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects". Pierre Desautels, P.Geo., Principal Resource Geologist of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. and Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who is an independent of the Company, has prepared and authorized the release of the mineral resource estimates presented herein. Willie Hamilton, Eng., Senior Mining Engineer of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. and Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed the technical content of the Press Release. This mineral resource estimate is an update of the January 28 th , 2014 estimate conducted by AGP Mining Consultants that supported the Lac Knife FEAS effective June 25, 2014 authored by Met-Chem. , 2014 estimate conducted by AGP Mining Consultants that supported the Lac Knife FEAS effective June 25, 2014 authored by Met-Chem. The updated mineral resource is based on 231 core drill holes totalling 22,505 metres of historic and recent drilling. This includes 149 surface drill holes totalling 12,041 metres completed since 2010. All drill holes are diamond drill core and were sampled and assayed over their entire length in the mineralized section of the core of mostly 1.31 metre sample intervals. A QA/QC program was introduced during the 2010 drill program and expanded during the 2012, 2013 and 2014 programs to include the insertion of standards, duplicates, and blanks and check assays at a secondary laboratory. Specific gravities were determined by IOS Services Geoscientifiques ("IOS") of Saguenay, Quebec. A total of 5,183 determinations exist in the database that were collected by IOS since the 2010 drill program. Due to the strong correlation between the sulphur and bulk density, the model was interpolated with the same parameters used for the sulphur model. The density in the mineralized zone ranges from 2.60 to 3.08 g/cm 3 . . A detailed review of the geological logs and grade distribution led to the development of three-dimensional (3D) domain model based lithology and grade boundaries. The "wireframing" or outlining of mineralization resulted in three major mineralized zones with eight minor accessory zones. The grade is typically above 3% Cg within the wireframes but was allowed to be as low as 1% in the occasional lower grade zones internal to the high grade material and also on the edge of the wireframe. These domains were utilized to perform variography studies and to develop grade interpolation constraints. For the treatment of outliers, each statistical domain was evaluated separately and no top cut was necessary. However, a search restriction of 30 x 30 x 30 metres was imposed on threshold values of 38% Cg in order to restrict the influence of the highest values during the interpolation. The composite intervals selected were 3.0 metres nominal length. Shorter composites that were generated at the intersection with wireframes were distributed over the lengths of the other composites within the same domain. A 3D geological block model was generated using GEMS software. The block model matrix size is 6 x 6 x 5 metres. Ordinary kriging was used for all domains with inverse distance and nearest neighbour check models. The interpolation was carried out in multiple passes with increasing search ellipsoid dimensions. Classification for all models was based primarily on the pass number, distance to the closest composite and the krige variance. The Measured classification was only retained in the area in proximity to the bulk sample pits. No adjustment to the classification was made for blocks interpolated primarily with historical holes since these were found to be adequate for resource modelling. The reported mineral resources are considered to have reasonable prospects of economic extraction. AGP created a pit shell using the Lerchs-Grossman pit optimization algorithm and costs, sales price and pit and plant operating parameters that were derived from the Lac Knife FEAS (June 25 th , 2016) as well as from typical regional costs; Selling Price - 2,000 $/t (FOB Sept-Iles); Mill Recovery - 91%; Concentrate Grade - 97.8%; Pit Slope - 40 and 48 degrees; Overburden Mining Cost - 4.00 $/t mined; Rock Mining Cost - 5.50 $/t mined; Processing Cost - 42.50 $/t milled; Transportation Cost - 25.00 $/t of concentrate; General Administration Cost - 2.50 $/t milled. , 2016) as well as from typical regional costs; The resulting pit shell encompasses most of the estimated Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources. The rounding of tonnes as required by NI 43-101 reporting guidelines may result in apparent differences between tonnes, grade and contained graphite. Mineral resources that 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, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported Inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred mineral resources as Indicated or Measured mineral resources and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to Indicated or Measured mineral resources. Lac Knife Project The Lac Knife project comprises 57 map-designated claims covering 2,986.31 ha located in Esmanville Township (NTS map sheet 23B/11), 27 km south-southwest of the iron-mining town of Fermont, in the Cote-Nord administrative region of Quebec. Focus acquired a 100% interest in the project in October 2010. A map showing the location of the Lac Knife project is available on the company's website at www.focusgraphite.com. The mineralization at Lac Knife is hosted in biotite-quartz-feldspar paragneiss and schist of the Nault Formation, in association with iron formations of the Wabush Formation. These are equivalent to the lower Proterozoic Labrador Trough rocks affected by the late Proterozoic Grenvillian orogeny. High grade metamorphism and folding associated with the Grenvillian orogeny has resulted in the formation of important concentrations of graphite dominated by value-enhanced large flakes. Sampling, Assaying and QA/QC The entire drill cores were logged at the Lac Knife camp and shipped to IOS' facilities in Saguenay, Quebec for sample preparation. Two slabs of about 1/4 of the 4-inch diameter PQ core were sawed parallel on each side of the central axis of the core. One of the slabs was earmarked for geochemical analysis while the other slab was kept as a witness sample. Center parts of the core are kept for possible subsequent uses. The samples are mostly 1.5 metres in length with variances from 0.5 m to 1.8 m. Slab samples were dried before processing for density measurement, crushing and grinding at the IOS sample preparation laboratory. Once prepared, the samples were sent to the Consortium de Recherche Appliquee en Traitement et Transformation des Substances Minerales ("COREM"), an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility located in Quebec-City, for graphitic carbon (Cg) analysis using LECO high frequency combustion method with infrared measurement (internal analytical code LSA-M-B10 for graphitic carbon; ISO 9686:2004). For the measurement of graphitic carbon, the sample is pre-treated with nitric acid, placed in a LECO capsule and introduced in the furnace (1,380C) in an oxygen atmosphere. Carbon is oxidized to CO 2 . After the removal of moisture, gas (CO 2 ) is measured by an infrared detector and a computerized system calculates the concentration of graphitic carbon (% Cg). Total sulphur was also analyzed by LECO (code LSA-M-B41). For sulphur determinations, the sample is placed in a LECO capsule and introduced in the furnace (1,380C) until sulphur is oxidized to SO 2 . After the removal of moisture, gas (SO 2 ) is measured by an infrared detector and a computerized system calculates the concentration of total sulphur (% S). Under the QA/QC program, about 10% of the samples were analyzed by COREM for total (code LSA-M-B45), organic (code LSA-M-B58), inorganic (code LSA-M-B11) and graphitic (code LSA-M-B10) carbon as well as for total sulphur. Duplicates of these samples were also sent to ACTLABS Laboratories in Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579) for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic) and total sulphur (code 4F - S Combustion infrared detection) determinations and for 35 multi-element analysis using ICP methods (code 1E2 - Aqua Regia). IOS introduced standards, duplicates (sawing, crushing or grinding duplicates) and blank samples into each batch of core samples as part of the QA/QC program. Qualified Persons Pierre Desautels, P.Geo. Principal Resource Geologist of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. Qualified Person under NI 43-101 who is independent of the Company, has prepared and authorized the release of the mineral resource estimates presented herein. Willie Hamilton, Eng., Senior Mining Engineer of AGP Mining Consultants Inc. and Qualified Person under NI 43-101 guidelines has reviewed the technical content of the News Release. Mr. Marc-Andre Bernier, M.Sc, P.Geo (Quebec and Ontario), a Director of the Company and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release. About Focus Graphite Focus Graphite Inc. is an advanced exploration and mining company with an objective of producing graphite concentrate at its wholly-owned Lac Knife flake graphite deposit located 27 km south of Fermont, Quebec. In a second stage, to meet Quebec stakeholder interests of transformation within the province and to add shareholder value, Focus is evaluating the feasibility of producing value added graphite products including battery-grade spherical graphite. The Lac Knife project hosts a Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource* of 12.1 million tonnes grading 14.64% Cg (447,000 tonnes Measured @ 21.45% Cg and 11,654,000 tonnes Indicated @ 14.38% Cg) as natural flake graphite with an additional Inferred Mineral Resource* of 2.3 million tonnes grading 16.20% Cg. Focus' goal is to assume an industry leadership position by becoming a low-cost producer of technology-grade graphite concentrate. The Feasibility Study filed with SEDAR (www.sedar.com) on August 8, 2014 for the Lac Knife Project indicates the project is economically viable and has the potential to become a low cost graphite concentrate producer based on 7.86 million tonnes of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves** grading 15.13% Cg included in the Mineral Resource (429,000 tonnes Proven @ 23.61% Cg and 7,428,000 tonnes Probable @ 14.64% Cg). On May 27, 2014, the Company announced the potential for high value added sales in the Li-ion battery sector following battery coin cell tests performed on Spherical Graphite ("SPG") produced from the Lac Knife graphite concentrate. Testing measured the performance metrics and confirmed Focus' capability to tailor lithium ion battery-anode-grade graphite and value added products to meet the most stringent customer specifications. On February 26, 2015, the Company announced the results from independent laboratory testing that indicated Coated Spherical Graphite ("CSPG") produced from Lac Knife concentrate outperformed synthetic graphite anodes for use in lithium-ion batteries. On November 25, 2015, the Company announced results from independent laboratory testing that reported "zero loss" in long-term battery anode cycle testing of high purity CSPG produced from Lac Knife concentrate. On March 31, 2016, the Company announced the introduction of a high conductivity graphite cathode material produced from expanded Lac Knife graphite and exhibiting twice the conductivity of cathodes versus standard grades of synthetic and natural flake graphite used in commercially available lithium-ion batteries. On August 8, 2016, the Company announced it has successfully purified fine flake graphite - sourced at its wholly owned Lac Knife, Quebec deposit - from 95% to 99.99% purity using a proprietary energy efficient purification process. Attaining a 99.99% purity level from fine graphite flake is significant. Focus now has the technology to economically purify low value fine flake graphite or, "fines" to a high value material needed for the production of lithium-ion batteries. On August 17, 2016, the Company reported that the maiden core drilling program conducted at its wholly-owned Lac Tetepisca graphite project in 2014 intersected significant subsurface graphitic mineralisation along the trend of the Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor including in hole LT-14-04 which intersected 103.9 m (true thickness) grading 10.25% Cg. On August 24, 2016, the Company released channel sampling results from its wholly-owned Lac Tetepisca Nord graphite project. An 86.8 m long trench crosscut 67.2 m grading 6.75% Cg. On November 21, 2016, the Company and Joint-Venture partner SOQUEM Inc. reported high hydrometallurgical recoveries of rare earth elements (REE) from the Kwyjibo REE project. The extraction rate from rare earth concentrate is approximately 90% for all REE within the Magnetitite Mineralization Type (MM1). The relatively simple metallurgical flowsheet is a distinctive feature of the Kwyjibo project among peer rare earth elements projects. On January 20, 2017, the Company released the results of its 2016 infill and extension drilling program at its wholly-owned Lac Tetepisca graphite project including in Hole LT-16-32 which intersected 102.1 m (true thickness) grading 10.7% Cg. Focus Graphite is a technology-oriented graphite mining development company with a vision for building long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Focus also holds a significant equity position in graphene applications developer Grafoid Inc. * Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. ** The Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources are inclusive of those Mineral Resources modified to produce Mineral Reserves. The reference point for the Mineral Reserve Estimate is the mill feed. For more information about Focus Graphite, please visit www.focusgraphite.com. MONTREAL, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Monarques Gold Corporation ("Monarques" or the "Corporation") (TSX-V: MQR) (FRANKFURT: MR7) is pleased to report the results of Hole CR-16-521, which has returned anomalous to economic grades from a shear zone at least 170 metres long vertically on the Croinor Gold property, 70 km east of Val-d'Or, Quebec. The hole was drilled in the Gold Bug area, which lies less than 500 metres from the Croinor Gold deposit. The largest intersection returned 8.41 g/t Au over 25 metres (see plan view), including 36.1 g/t Au over 3 metres and 39.35 g/t Au over 2 metres. The intersection is shallow, from 29 to 54 metres down the hole. The hole also returned other notable intersections, with 0.47 g/t Au over 28 metres (from 82 to 110 metres), 1.13 g/t Au over 15 metres (from 141 to 156 metres) and 1.81 g/t Au over 3.15 metres (from 165.85 to 169 metres). The reported lengths are core lengths, as the true lengths cannot be estimated. High grades were cut to 70 g/t Au, the same grade used in the Croinor Gold deposit resource estimate. The current 10,000-metre program included drilling on the Gold Bug area to follow up on results obtained in 2016 (see news releases dated January 26 and June 8, 2016). Additional results are pending. "The results for Hole CR-16-521 combined with those from the 2015 program significantly enhance the potential of the Gold Bug area and of the Croinor Gold project as a whole," said Jean-Marc Lacoste, President and Chief Executive Officer of Monarques. "These results support our conviction that the Croinor Gold property remains relatively unknown over its vast 150 km2 area and could well contain other ore deposits like the Croinor Gold deposit." The technical and scientific content of this press release has been reviewed and approved by Donald Trudel, P.Geo., B.Sc., the Corporation's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Sampling normally consisted of sawing the core into two equal halves along its main axis and shipping one of the halves to the ALS Minerals laboratory in Val-d'Or for assaying. The samples are crushed, pulverized and assayed by fire assay with atomic absorption finish. Results exceeding 3.0 g/t are re-assayed using the gravity method. Samples containing gold grains are assayed using the metallic sieve method at the ALS Minerals laboratory in Val-d'Or. Monarques has established a full QA/QC protocol, including the insertion of standards, blanks and duplicates. About Monarques Gold Corporation Monarques Gold is a growing junior gold company focused on becoming the leading explorer and developer of gold properties in the Val-d'Or/Abitibi gold camp in Quebec, Canada. The Corporation currently has approximately 200 km of gold exploration properties (see map) along the Cadillac Break; plus its main asset, the Croinor Gold mine, which has great potential to become a producing mine. Monarques Gold is well financed and has close to $9 million in credits from Quebec's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Warrant requested over favors to Choi's daughter By Jung Min-ho Choi Kyung-hee, former Ewha Womans University president Special investigators are seeking to arrest former Ewha Womans University President Choi Kyung-hee over allegations that she granted special treatment to Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of Choi Soon-sil. Choi is the central figure of a massive corruption and influence-peddling scandal. The investigation team led by special prosecutor Park Young-soo has requested a warrant to put her behind bars for further investigation on charges of giving favors to Chung in admissions and grading, and giving false testimony at an Assembly hearing. Investigators believe Choi Kyung-hee was the de facto leader of a secret project to help Chung get through the school from admission to graduation. The school is suspected of receiving government subsidies for some projects in return. The Seoul Central District Court will hold a hearing to determine the validity of the request at 10:30 a.m. , today. During an Assembly hearing on Dec. 15, Choi Kyung-hee claimed, "I have not met Choi Soon-sil personally," "I have not told anyone to give favors to Chung" and "I'm not aware of the special treatment given to her in the admissions process." None of the claims, investigators concluded, are true. Investigators have found that Choi Kyung-hee and Choi Soon-sil exchanged dozens of phone calls. Lee Sung-han, the former secretary general of the Mir Foundation which was controlled by Choi Soon-sil, also said during Friday's hearing on the scandal that the two and Cha Eun-taek had met privately in the 63 Building, Yeouido, citing inside sources. Chung, a dressage competitor, was allegedly ineligible for admission to Ewha in the first place. Exceptions were given in 2014 to athletes who won a medal in an individual event at a major competition. But the Asian Games gold medal she showed off at her admissions interview came from a team event on Sept. 20, 2014, after Ewha's deadline for application (Sept. 15). Over the favoritism allegations, three senior Ewha professors Kim Kyung-sook, Namkung-Gon and Lyou Chul-gyun, who is better known by his penname Lee In-hwa and former Vice Culture Minister Kim Chong have already been arrested. Investigators have also been looking into their bank accounts to see whether they received any suspicious payments. Prof. Ha Chung-hee at Soonchunhyang University has also been grilled over her alleged role over the matter. The longtime friend of Choi Soon-sil is known to be a link between her and Kim Chong. Meanwhile, investigators have been waiting for Danish prosecutors' response after sending an extradition request as well as legal documents about Chung's alleged crimes earlier this month. Yonhap, a local news agency, reported that investigators will likely receive the response as early as this week, citing a spokesman of the Danish prosecution. LifeStyle The best LifeStyle shows are right here, from Australia and around the world. Catch up with the experts on home design and interiors, food and cooking, the property market, and get fresh ideas with the savviest of renovators. Whether you need inspiration for cooking up a storm, to refresh a tired room, or tips to sell your property, Foxtel LifeStyle will always something new for you to watch. Enjoy your favourite experts like Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker, or Deb Hutton and Jamie Oliver live or On Demand. Get Foxtel Sam Ashton takes a look at the history of housing in Britain and the mass struggles that have risen up time and time again in the fight for the basic right to a decent, affordable home. Today, the question of housing is a key issue, with the glaring contradiction of homelessness alongside empty mansions plain for all to see. The story of modern housing in Britain and the political movements that developed around it begins, as with so many things, with the birth of capitalism. Under feudalism the vast majority of the population were peasants, living at the whim of their landowner in tied cottage. The Enclosure Acts created a massive increase in rural poverty and saw the establishment of the first public workhouses. But with the rise of the industrial revolution in the early 19th Century, people began to pour into the newly ascendant cities in search of employment. A few industrialists and independent organisations provided housing in tenement blocks, while some factory owners even built entire villages for their workers, such as Bournville , the famous home of Cadburys chocolate. But for the vast majority of workers the cities and towns were totally unprepared for their influx, and the result was the development of the appalling slums which would blight Britains cities until after the Second World War. Workers were crammed into crumbling, unsafe and unhealthy buildings, enduring terrible conditions at the hands of ruthless landlords. Jack London, the American socialist author, lived in London for a period in 1902 and described the conditions of working class life in the People of the Abyss: Beds are let on the three-relay system that is, three tenants to a bed, each occupying it eight hours, so that it never grows cold; while the floor space underneath the bed is likewise let on the three-relay system. Health officers are not at all unused to finding such cases as the following: in one room having a cubic capacity of 1000 feet, three adult females in the bed, and two adult females under the bed; and in one room of 1650 cubic feet, one adult male and two children in the bed, and two adult females under the bed. Alongside the growth of trade unions as a means of defence against the vagaries of nascent capitalism, the working class began to develop the first organisations centred on housing. Tenants organisations were formed across the country, protesting against high rents imposed by private landlords. From its very beginning, the tenants movement and organisations were closely linked to the trade unions and labour movement as a whole. This can be seen in tenants use of collective mass action and the development of rent strikes as a tool for achieving demands. For example, the great East London Dockers Strike of 1891, which ended in victory for 100,000 dock workers, was supported by a rent strike across the East End as dockers and their supporters refused to pay their rent. Trade unions across the industrial spectrum began to campaign around housing issues and take up the demand for municipal housing during this period. At this time all housing was privately owned. It wasnt until the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890 that parliament even began to consider the atrocious housing conditions of workers. The Act gave the London County Council the power to buy land and build housing, resulting in the completion of the Boundary Estate in 1900. These powers were later extended to all councils, but the construction of municipal housing was limited while squalor remained the norm for most workers. The 1915 Glasgow rent strike One of the constants in the history of tenant struggles was the key role played by women in organising and building the movement. Because of their network of social ties and regular communications with neighbours across an area, women have historically been able to quickly mobilise support for tenant action across their communities. Nowhere was this role more evident than in the Glasgow rent strike of 1915. The First World War saw an influx of people into industrial centres to work in the war industries. In Glasgow, the shipbuilding industry was seen as vital to the war effort, and this caused a scarcity of housing. Prior to the war, conditions were already abysmal, with chronic overcrowding and multiple families sharing a single toilet - but things got even worse. With so many men drafted into the army, Glasgows landlords saw the remaining women and children as an easy target and imposed a 25% rent increase across the city in February 1915. With the main wage earners away spilling their blood for the cause of British imperialism, there was no way families could afford this increase without starving. Glasgow already had a Labour Party Housing Committee, which had been formed to campaign for municipal housing, but new organisations began to develop as meetings were held across the city to discuss how to respond to the increase. One of these organisations was a Housewives Housing Association Govan, led by Mary Barbour, who played a vital role in the strike. Very quickly the idea of simply not paying the rent spread through the city and the rent strike began in September. The level of organisation during the strike was outstanding and a true testament to the abilities of the working class to self-organise. Landlords threatened to send in the bailiffs to evict the rent strikers, but Mary Barbours housewives association responded by forming defence squads. Women would act as sentries on the lookout for incoming bailiffs, and when the warning went out the bailiffs would arrive at the property to find it blockaded by a wall of angry housewives and would be forced to retreat while pelted by rotten vegetables. In a similar way to how labour strikes sought to prevent the use of scab labour, the rent strikers picketed any empty homes and prevented new tenants who had agreed to pay the higher rent from moving in. The rent strike was solidly integrated with the Glasgow labour movement, and the trade unions on the docks lent their full support with groups of workers often called upon to help defend against evictions. The Glasgow Evening Times describes the response to an attempted eviction thusly: A soldiers wife in Parkhead had an eviction notice served on her, with a warning that if she failed to vacate her house by 12 noon on a certain day the Sheriffs Officer would call to enforce it. The strike committee got busy. They instructed every mother in the district with a young child to be there for 11 am on D-Day, complete with perambulator. Long before noon the close and street were packed with prams, and every pram had at least one youngster in it. No raiding party could have got near the house by the time the Sheriffs officers and his clerk arrived there was a crowd of something like 5,000 ready to give them a rousing welcome. It is scarcely surprising that they decided to forget all about the eviction and take their leave. By November over 20,000 tenants were on rent strike and the landlords responded by taking 18 strikers to court for non-payment of their rent. On the day of the hearing Mary Barbour led a mass demonstration of women to the court, joined by thousands of dockworkers who left their jobs to follow the march. Before the trial could commence the Sheriff agreed to meet with a deputation of dockworker representatives. The workers deputation plainly said that unless the charges were dropped they would lead their men on strike and all of Glasgows docks would be shut down. The Sheriff was terrified; he contacted the government to warn that the city was on the brink of revolution and prevailed upon the landlords to drop their charges in order to avert it. It was clear to government that the movement was so powerful it could not be crushed; the only option was compromise. Lloyd George, the Minister of Munitions, announced they would introduce the Rent Restrictions Act, which set rents for the remainder of the war at pre-war levels. The act passed into law a mere ten days later and the women and workers of Glasgow had won a great victory. Interwar years The revolutionary upswing in Britain that followed the end of WWI led to a number of reforms in an attempt to placate the working class. Among these was the policy of Homes fit for Heroes and the introduction of a public subsidy for the construction of municipal housing. A number of new estates were constructed across the country, but the building boom didnt last long as the public subsidy was abolished in 1923. While there was limited construction of new council housing in the interwar period, little was done to improve the terrible conditions in the slums, and the overcrowding and unsanitary living that had plagued workers since Victorian times remained a fact of life in many cities. Post-WWII It was only the mass destruction of WWII that would finally solve the problem of slum housing in Britain. Nearly four million homes were either destroyed or damaged during the war, with many of the old Victorian tenements and remaining slums among them. This necessitated the construction of a huge number of new houses. In 1945 the Attlee Labour government was elected. Faced with a private sector both unwilling and unable to provide the necessary investment, alongside the need to cut across a growing revolutionary ferment in society, the Labour government embarked on the biggest construction of housing in UK history. Aneurin Bevan, the Minister for Health, was responsible for housing in the Attlee government. He had a vision for council housing firmly driven by his brand of reformist socialism, demanding housing of the highest quality for working people. For many of the workers who moved into these new homes it was their first experience of indoor toilets, private bathrooms and electric lighting. Although the post-WWII boom allowed the continued construction of council housing, under the 1951 Conservative government, the quality and size of the new homes were slashed. The houses constructed in this period were 20% smaller than those built by Bevan. At the same time, the focus shifted towards higher density housing such as tower blocks. Many of these were system built (a form of pre-fabrication), and the poor quality of construction combined with design flaws would cause untold misery to unfortunate tenants in the years to come. These reforms, granted on the basis of struggle, led to the best housing conditions for the working class in UK history. However, even the best capitalism had to offer was far from perfect. The 1964 Wilson Labour government was the last to undertake any serious efforts in house building, and by the late 60s problems started to become apparent. Ken Loachs first film, Cathy Come Home, caused a national scandal when it shockingly illustrated the problems of homelessness that still existed. A lack of maintenance and investment, combined with poor quality construction, led to worsening conditions on estates across the country. Alongside a number of rent increases, this led to a wave of tenant activity across the country, with rent strikes and new organisations set up from Exeter to Glasgow. In 1969 a rent increase in Liverpool enraged tenants, who embarked on a six month rent strike, which eventually won a reduction. Housing Finance Act In 1972 the Heath Tory government introduced the Housing Finance Act, which forced councils to set "fair" rents, amounting to massive rent increases across the country. Initially 45 Labour councils refused to implement the Act and maintained the existing rent levels, but under pressure from both the government and the right-wing Labour leadership and bureaucracy almost all of them eventually capitulated. The noble exception was the eleven Labour councillors in Clay Cross, who fought to the bitter end until they were surcharged and bankrupted by the government. The arguments put forward by Labour councillors of the day are eerily familiar to anyone who has fought against local council cuts in the recent period. Councils argued that if they didnt comply with the Act the government would appoint Housing Commissioners to set the rent themselves, withhold funding, or even fine the council. Supposedly it would be much better for Labour councillors to implement the Act themselves so they could do it responsibly and fairly. The genuine militants of Clay Cross had no time for such nonsense. When the government sent in a housing commissioner, council workers barred him from entering the building and he was forced to attempt to work from a nearby cafe. Like the Militant-led Liverpool council in the 80s, their failure arose not from their tactics but from the capitulation of other Labour councils, which forced them to fight alone. In the end, the main struggle against the Act was conducted by the tenants themselves. Over 80 rent strikes - involving tens of thousands of tenants - took place across the country. The strikes varied in militancy and length, with some only withholding the increase and other refusing to pay all their rent. Perhaps the largest and best organised strikes were in Kirkby, just outside of Liverpool, and Dudley, on the fringes of Birmingham. In Dudley 15,000 tenants withheld the increase up until October 1973 before the pressure from the Labour council became too much to bear and the tenants association caved in. More militant was the Kirkby strike, where over 3,000 tenants lasted 14 months on total rent strike and actually used flying pickets to chase rent collectors from the estate. Key to their strike was the links built with local workers and the labour movement. In October 1972, 24 employees at the local Birdseye factory took the day off to attend a demonstration; 22 were suspended while two shop stewards were actually fired. The Kirkby tenants staged a massive picket at the factory gates, halting production, and as a result succeeding in having the workers reinstated. Ultimately the aggressive action of the Labour council broke the strike. Despite the heroic militancy of the tenants, as long as they were isolated without a regional - let alone national movement - they couldnt withstand the power of the state. The movement against the Act had the potential to defeat the government, but the timidity of the Labour leadership - combined with the lack of an alternate national leadership - meant that individual strikes could be picked off one by one. Despite the defeat of the movement, it helped to contribute to the eventual downfall of the Heath government, and the level of resistance displayed put Labour in a position where it had to repeal the Act after it won the election. Thatcher In the mid-1970s, capitalism in the UK entered a prolonged economic crisis that brought with it the birth of Thatcherism and the end of progressive reforms. Instead, cuts and privatisation were the order of the day and housing was not protected from this general programme. The British bourgeoisie and its parliamentary representatives strove to undermine all council and social housing. Thus the roots of the current crisis lie in a number of policies enacted by the Thatcher government of 1979 that transformed the UK housing market. Thatcher simultaneously introduced Right to Buy while placing an effective ban on the construction of new council housing. This had the impact of decimating the affordable housing supply in the UK. During this time, only the Militant-run Liverpool council defied the ban by building 5,000 new homes. At the same time, measures were introduced to encourage growth in the private sector. Rent controls were abolished while tenant rights were all but destroyed by the replacement of assured tenancies with shorthold tenancies. Successive governments provided financial incentives to encourage owner-occupation and Buy-to-Let at the expense of social house building. The mortgage market was deregulated, costly tax breaks were offered to landlords, and cheap foreign credit flowed in. This fuelled the house price boom that underpinned UK economic growth and the accumulation of vast debts, which exploded in the 2008 credit crunch. But it would be a mistake to view this simply as an ideological attack - part of a neo-liberal project that could have been avoided had we elected a nicer government. The necessity of these policies flowed from the concrete conditions of capitalism itself. In order to temporarily solve the crisis of overproduction and stave of the falling rate of profit, it was necessary to boost consumption through a massive increase in credit and open previously state-dominated sectors to privatisation. As such, the 90s and 00s saw a downturn in tenant activity, in line with the class struggle generally. But with the impact of the 2008 crisis continuing to be felt by workers, and the housing crisis getting worse by the day, we are starting to see a revival. With the Tories continuing Thatchers work and leading a wholesale assault on what remains of social and council housing, it is only a matter of time until mass tenant action is once again unleashed. Were excited to announce that metalbulletin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. The following companies are subsidiares of International Flavors & Fragrances: 1456111 Ontario Limited, A. Boake Roberts And Company (Holding) Limited, ASA Ventures Inc., Agtech Products Inc., Alpris Ltd., Amco SP Z.O.O, ApS Syntetic, Aroma S.A., Aromatics Holdings Limited, Aromco Ltd., Aromor, Arvin Company, Asian Investments Inc., Atelier du Parfumeur IFF Grasse SAS, BKF Vision Ltd, BSA India Food Ingr. P. Ltd., Belden Company, Branch office of DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, Bremil Industria e Comercio de Ingredientes Alimenticos Ltda. , Bremil S/A Industria De Produtos Alimenticos , Bush Boake Allen (New Zealand) Limited, Bush Boake Allen (Pension Trustees) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Australia Pty Ltd, Bush Boake Allen Benelux B.V., Bush Boake Allen Chile S.A., Bush Boake Allen Controladora S.A. de C.V., Bush Boake Allen Enterprises Limited, Bush Boake Allen Holdings (U.K.) Limited, Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Inc., Bush Boake Allen Limited, Bush Boake Allen Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Bush Boake Allen do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, Chemical Process Materials and Equipment S.A., CitraSource Holdings L.L.C., Columbia PhytoTechnology LLC, Columbia Phytotechnology LLC, Cometra ApS, Crestmont Investment Co., Cultor Oy, DDP Specialty Products Germany GmbH & Co. KG, DDP Specialty Products Poland Sp. z.o.o., DSP Germany N&B Real Estate GmbH & Co KG, Daivd Michael Netherlands B.V., Dandy Lions Limited, Danisco (China) Co. Ltd., Danisco (China) Holding Co. Ltd., Danisco (India) Private Limited, Danisco (Zhangjiagang) Textural Ingredients Co. Ltd., Danisco Argentina S.A., Danisco Australia Pty Limited, Danisco Austria GmbH, Danisco B.V., Danisco Biosciences (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Danisco Brasil Ltda., Danisco Canada Inc., Danisco Chile S.A., Danisco Colombia Ltda., Danisco Cultor (Switzerland) AG, Danisco Cultor Sweden AB, Danisco Cultor Trading Ltda., Danisco Czech Republic a.s., Danisco Deutschland GmbH, Danisco Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Danisco Egypt Trading LLC, Danisco Flexible Brasil Ltda, Danisco France SAS, Danisco Guatemala S.A., Danisco Holding USA Inc., Danisco Holdings (UK) Ltd., Danisco Holland B.V., Danisco Ingredients Belgium N.V., Danisco Italia S.p.A., Danisco Japan Limited, Danisco Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Danisco Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Danisco Mexico S.A. de C.V., Danisco New Zealand Limited, Danisco Nutrition & Bioscience Greece Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Malaysia SDN. BHD., Danisco Nutrition & Biosciences Taiwan Limited, Danisco Nutrition and Biosciences India Private Ltd, Danisco Peru S.A.C., Danisco Poland Sp. z.o.o, Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Danisco South Africa (Pty) Ltd., Danisco Sweeteners Oy, Danisco Switzerland AG, Danisco UK Ltd., Danisco US Inc., Danisco USA Inc., Danisco Ukraine LLC, Danisco Zaandam BV, David Michael & Company (Canada) 1986 Ltd., David Michael Europe S.A.S., Du Pont de Nemours Nigeria Limited, DuPont (Shanghai) Enterprise Co. Ltd., DuPont Acquisition LLC, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC, DuPont Denmark Holding ApS, DuPont Electronics Holding LLC, DuPont LA Holding 1 BV, DuPont Lanka (Private) Limited, DuPont Nutrition (Thailand) Ltd, DuPont Nutrition Biosciences ApS, DuPont Nutrition Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, DuPont Nutrition Food Ingredients (Beijing) Co. Ltd., DuPont Nutrition Ingredientes BRASIL LTDA, DuPont Nutrition International, DuPont Nutrition Ireland, DuPont Nutrition Italy SRL (f/k/a FMC Chemical Italy SrL), DuPont Nutrition Manufacturing UK Limited, DuPont Nutrition Mexicana S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Mexico S.A de C.V., DuPont Nutrition Norge AS, DuPont Nutrition Philippines Inc., DuPont Nutrition USA Inc, DuPont Nutrition and Biosciences Iberica S.L., DuPont Protein Technologies International Sales LLC, DuPont S&C Holding LLC, DuPont Shineway Luohe Food Company Limited , DuPont Shineway Luohe Protein Company Limited , DuPont US Holding LLC, DuPont de Nemours Kenya Limited, ERELEM, ETOL SK s.r.o., ETOL-RUS Ltd., Eden Essentials Inc., Envoltec Industria de Embalagens Ltda. , Enzymotec Australia PTY LTD, Enzymotec Singapore Pte. Ltd., Enzymotec USA Inc., Etol Aroma Ve Baharat Gida Urunleri San.Ve Tic.a.s., Etol JVE d.o.o., Etol Proizvodnja Arom D.O.O, Etol Skopje DRUSTVO ZA TRGOVIJA ETOL UVOZ-IZVOZ DOOEL, FYMSA Real Estate LLC (23), FYMSA del Caribe S.R.L , Fangchen International Trading Ltd. (6), Finnfeeds Finland Oy, Finnfeeds Oy, Finnsugar Bioproducts Inc., Flavor Systems International Inc., Flavors and Essences UK Limited, FoodBlenders Limited, Foreign Trade Representative of Danisco Singapore Pte. Ltd., Fragrance Resources, Fragrance Resources (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fragrance Resources Asia Pacific Ltd., Frutarom (Asia Pacific) Limited, Frutarom (Marketing) S.R.L., Frutarom (UK) Holdings Limited, Frutarom (UK) Ltd., Frutarom - Etol (UK) Limited, Frutarom Belgium N.V., Frutarom Chile S.A., Frutarom Czech Republic S.r.o, Frutarom Do Brazil Industria E Comercio Ltda., Frutarom Etol RO SRL, Frutarom Etol Ukraine LLC., Frutarom F&F Trading (Shanghai) Co., Frutarom Finance EUR AG, Frutarom Flavors (Kushan) Co Ltd., Frutarom Flavors Mexico S.A. de C.V., Frutarom Flavours (India) Private Limited (14), Frutarom France S.A.R.L, Frutarom Germany GmbH, Frutarom Gida Urunleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Frutarom Global Ltd., Frutarom GmbH, Frutarom Industries Ld, Frutarom Industries Ltd., Frutarom Italy S.r.l, Frutarom Kenya Limited, Frutarom Ltd., Frutarom Netherlands B.V., Frutarom Nigeria Limited, Frutarom Nordic A/S Flachsmann Scandinavia A/S Aksel Holm-Essensfabrik A / S, Frutarom Norway A.S, Frutarom Peru S.A. (Montana Food activity), Frutarom Production GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Austria GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Germany GmbH, Frutarom Savory Solutions Switzerland AG, Frutarom Savory Solutions Ukraine, Frutarom Switzerland Finance CHF AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance GBP AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance MXN AG, Frutarom Switzerland Finance USD AG, Frutarom Switzerland Ltd., Frutarom Trade & Marketing (1990) Ltd., Frutarom UK Investments Limited, Frutarom USA Holding Inc., Frutarom USA Inc., Frutarom do Brasil GRU Industria e Comercio Ltda., Genencor (China) Bio-Products Co. Ltd., Genencor International B.V., Genencor International BVBA, Genencor International Holding BV, Genencor International Indiana Inc., Genencor International Oy, Genencor International Wisconsin Inc., Genencor Mauritius Ltd., Genentech Ventures Inc., Grow Company Inc., Hagelin Flv (UK) Ltd., Hexachem Sociedad Anonima, IB EMEA Holding 2 B.V., IFF (BVI) Limited, IFF (Korea) Inc., IFF Aroma Esans Sanayi Ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF Augusta Holdings LLC, IFF Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, IFF Benicarlo S.L., IFF Bio-Technology (Nanjing) Co. Ltd., IFF Capital Services, IFF Chemical Holdings Inc., IFF Delaware Holdings LLC, IFF Essencias e Fragrancias Ltda., IFF Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., IFF Fragrance GmbH, IFF Hungary Global Kft, IFF International Inc., IFF Latin American Holdings (Espana) S.L., IFF Mexico Manufactura S.A. de C.V., IFF Murcia Natural Ingredients S.L., IFF Sabores y Fragancias de Chile Ltda., IFF Turkey Aroma Ve Esans Urunleri Satis Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, IFF West Africa Limited, IFF Worldwide LLC, Ingrediants dooel Skopje, Institut Europeen de Biologie Cellulaire, International Aroma Group, International Flavors & Fragrances (Canada) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Caribe) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (China) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Greater Asia) Pte. Ltd, International Flavors & Fragrances (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Hong Kong) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Japan) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Mexico) S. de R.L. de C.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Middle East) FZ-LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances (Myanmar) Limited, International Flavors & Fragrances (Nederland) Holding B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances (Philippines) Inc., International Flavors & Fragrances (Poland) Sp. z o.o., International Flavors & Fragrances (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, International Flavors & Fragrances (ZhangJiagang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zhejiang) Co. Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances (Zimbabwe) (Private) Ltd., International Flavors & Fragrances Ardenne S.a r.l., International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding I SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding II SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances France Holding III SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Holdings LLC, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Chile) Limitada, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Espana) S.A., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Hungary) Kft, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Nederland) B.V., International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Norden) AB, International Flavors & Fragrances I.F.F. (Rus), International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (Deutschland) GmbH, International Flavors & Fragrances IFF (France) SAS, International Flavors & Fragrances Irish Acquisition Company Limited, International Flavors and Fragrances Colombia S.A.S., International Flavors and Fragrances I.F.F. (Israel) Ltd., International Flavors and Fragrances IFF (South Africa), International Flavors and Fragrances Ingredients Ltd, International Flavors e Fragrances IFF (Italia) S.r.l., International Flavours & Fragrances (Australia) Pty Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (CIL) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (GB) Holdings Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Mauritius) Ltd, International Flavours & Fragrances (NZ) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Pension Trustees) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances (Thailand) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances I.F.F. (Great Britain) Limited, International Flavours & Fragrances India Private Limited (13), International Frutarom Corporation, Inventive Food Technology (ZQ) Ltd., Inventive Technology Ltd., Irish Flavours and Fragrances Limited, K-Vision Consulting and Investments Ltd, Kelp Industries Pty. Ltd, Leagel GmbH (11), Leagel S.r.l. (19), Les Ingredients Alimentaires BSA Inc., Les Laboratories Bio ForeXtra Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Australia Pty Ltd, Lucas Meyer Cosmetics Canada Inc., Lucas Meyer Cosmetics S.A.S., M.P. Equity Holdings Ltd, MISR Company for Aromatic products, Manseg S.A., Mark Services Holdings Inc., N&B Chemicals Germany GmbH, N&B EMEA Holding B.V., N&B Germany Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B International Holding B.V., N&B NL BV - Saudi Branch, N&B Real Estate Verwaltungs-GmbH, N&B Services BV, N&B Switzerland UAE Branch, N&H EMEA Holding 1 BV, N&H EMEA Holding 2 BV, N&H EMEA Holding B.V., N&H International Holding 1 B.V., N&H International Holding 3 BV, N&H Switzerland Holding Sarl, Nardi Armoas Ltda., Neptune Merger Sub I Inc., Neptune Merger Sub II LLC, New Asia Holdco B.V., Nutra-Lease Ltd. (16), Nutrition & Bioscience (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Nutrition & Bioscience (Switzerland) GmbH, Nutrition & Bioscience (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Nutrition & Bioscience Pakistan (Private) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences (Finland) Oy, Nutrition & Biosciences (France) SAS, Nutrition & Biosciences (Sweden) AB, Nutrition & Biosciences (UK) Ltd, Nutrition & Biosciences Argentina S.A.U., Nutrition & Biosciences Australia Pty Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Brasil Ingredientes Ltda., Nutrition & Biosciences Canada Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Chile SpA, Nutrition & Biosciences Colombia S.A.S, Nutrition & Biosciences Hong Kong Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Hungary Limited Liability Company, Nutrition & Biosciences Inc., Nutrition & Biosciences Italy S.r.l., Nutrition & Biosciences Japan K.K., Nutrition & Biosciences Korea Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Nutrition & Biosciences Netherlands B.V., Nutrition & Biosciences New Zealand Limited, Nutrition & Biosciences Singapore Pte. Ltd., Nutrition & Biosciences USA 1 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 2 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences USA 3 LLC, Nutrition & Biosciences Vietnam Company Limited, Nutrition Biosciences USA 4 Inc, Nutrition and Biosciences South Africa (Pty) Ltd, Nutrition and Biosciences Spain S.L., OOO WIBERG Rus, P.T. Essence Indonesia, PARMA FA, PIASA USA (24), PM Taiwan Inc., PT Blue Cube Indonesia, PTI Astana LLC, PTI CA LLC, PTI Center LLC, PTI Group of Companies LLC (GK PTI), PTI-BEL TUE, PTI-MOL LLC, PTI-NN LLC, PTI-Ukraine LLC, Platinum Absolut LLC, Pointer Specialty Chemicals LLC, Protein Technologies Do Brasil Ltda., Protein Technologies International Asia Pacific LLC, Protein Technologies International Development LLC, Protein Technologies International Europe LLC, Proveedores de Ingenieria Alimentaria S.A. de C.V. ("PIASA") (17), Prowin International Ltd., Pucheng Yongfang Fragrance Technology Co. Ltd. , Redbrook (UK) Limited, Redbrook Blentech Limited, Redbrook Ingredient Services Limited, Rene Laurent SAS, Representaciones FYMSA S.A. de C.V (FYMSA) (18), Rohm and Haas Wood Treatment LLC, SP EMEA Holding 8 BV, SP Holding IB Inc., SP Nutrition and Health (Singapore) Inc., Sabormax Industria de Alimentos e Representacao Ltda., Savoury Flavours (Holding) Limited, Savoury Flavours Ltd., Solae (UK) Limited, Solae Argentina S.A., Solae Australia Pty Limited, Solae Belgium N.V., Solae Company India Private Limited, Solae Denmark ApS, Solae Deutschland GmbH (f/k/a CSY Agri-Processing (Deutschland) GmbH), Solae Do Brasil Industria E Comercio De Alimentos Ltda., Solae Europe S.A., Solae Holdings LLC, Solae Investimentos LTDA, Solae LLC (SMLLC of Solae Holdings), Solae Overseas B.V., Solae Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Solae de Mexico S.A. de C.V. (formerly PTI Mexico), Solae do Brasil Holdings Ltda., Sonarome Private Limited (15), Southern Cross Botanicals Pty Ltd, Specialty Products Balkans d.o.o., Specialty Products FZE, Specialty Products N&H Inc, Specialty Products US LLC, Speximo AB, TNI Investments NV, Tastepoint Flavors (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Tastepoint Inc., Tastepoint OOO, Tastepoint Polska Sp.z o.o, Tastepoint SA (Pty) Ltd., Tastepoint Tovarna arom in etericnih olj d.o.o., Taura Natural Ingredients (Australia) Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients (North America) Inc., Taura Natural Ingredients Holdings Pty Limited, Taura Natural Ingredients Ltd., Taura Natural Ingredients NV, Tekhnomol Soya Products LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Additive Advantage LLC, The Foote & Jenks Corporation, The Mighty Company Limited (21), Thorungaverksmidjan HF (12), UFC America Inc., Unique Flavors Proprietary Limited, Unique Food Solutions Proprietary Limited, Unique Ingredients Limited, VAYA PHARMA HONKG LTD, VITIVA proizvodnja in storitve d.d., Vantodio Holdings Limited, Vaya Pharma Inc., Vaya Pharma Pte Ltd. (20), Venezuela Protein Technologies Internationla -PTI C.A., W.W. Holdings Inc., WIBERG Italia S.r.l., Wiberg Baharat San.Tic.A.S, Wiberg Canada Inc., Wiberg Corporation of California, Wiberg Corporation., Yderns 1 ApS, ZAO Danisco, extrakt chemie Dr. Bruno Stellmach GmbH, iDrug Delivery Inc.(Delaware) (22), nternational Flavors & Fragrances S.R.L., van Ameringen-Haebler Inc., and world wide WIBERG GmbH. Read More Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE:ARE), an S&P 500 urban office real estate investment trust ("REIT"), is the first, longest-tenured, and pioneering owner, operator, and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, technology, and agtech campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $31.9 billion as of December 31, 2020, and an asset base in North America of 49.7 million square feet ("SF"). The asset base in North America includes 31.9 million RSF of operating properties and 3.3 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 7.1 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects, and 7.4 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland, and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, technology, and agtech campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity, and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, technology, and agtech companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns, and greater long-term asset value. 100 years ago, Jan. 24, 1917 MATTOON -- Attention of the broom and broomcorn interests is now largely directed to the size of the planting for the 1917 year, says the Broom and Broomcorn News. A Larger tonnage than the year 1916 will be necessary in order that the trade continue on a basis that will not well nigh wreck it. It is the consensus of opinion that broomcorn will not be cheap again until manufacturers and buyers have a considerable accumulation of surplus stocks... CHARLESTON -- At a meeting held here yesterday, the Big Four Fair Circuit was organized, the cities in the circuit being Shelbyville, Charleston, Paris and Terre Haute. Dates for holding fairs in 1917 are as follows: Terre Haute, Aug. 21-25; Paris, Aug. 28-31; Charleston, Sept. 3-5; Shelbyville, Sept. 11-14. C.R. Duffin of Terre Haute was chosen president of the circuit, and W.O. Glassco of Charleston was named secretary. 50 years ago, 1967 CHARLESTON -- Quincy Doudna, president of Eastern Illinois University, presented a "state of the university" message yesterday and said the university continues to get better. Despite the damaging publicity by anonymous letters concerning the building program, he said the $35 million worth of buildings over the past 10 years is a positive achievement. EIU increased its faculty numbers by 73 this year and plans to add 29 more in the coming year. That will give EIU 502 faculty members. Doudna also said student enrollment will increase about 9 percent in the coming year and that this is in keeping with the "long-established philosophy here that we ought not grow too fast." ... CHARLESTON -- A fire at the Teaters Sheltered Care Home in Charleston routed more than 30 people at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday. The fire was extinguished before it reached any of the nursing home rooms, Charleston Fire Chief George Milliner said. Milliner added the fire was probably caused by burning trash near the building. He estimated the damage at about $3,000. 25 years ago, 1992 MATTOON -- In the wake of criticism, Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center is pulling its expansion project out of consideration for the countys enterprise zone. Dr. Stan Huffman, chairman of the SBLHC board of directors, said the hospitals application for inclusion was appropriate, but the potential impact on the community was more important than any tax benefit SBLHC might receive. Last month the enterprise zone board of directors accepted the applications of both Sarah Bush Lincoln and Carle Clinic for inclusion in the zone, which provides for 10-year property tax abatements and other incentives CHARLESTON -- WEIC-AM 1270 has shifted its format from country music to talk radio. Operations Manager Robert Reese said the AM station had a difficult time competing with six FM stereo country music stations in the area. Initially, the station will link to nationally syndicated talk programs. But, Reese said, a locally produced talk show is a distinct possibility. 100 years ago, Jan. 25, 1917 ASHMORE -- A petition is being circulated to be presented to the Ashmore Village Board in the near future to vote on bonds to establish a waterworks system for this village. Many citizens are signing the petition and are in favor of the movement. The single commissioner system of government will be voted on here Feb. 10. A petition to that effect has been filed with the town clerk and the election called... HINDSBORO -- If you are a traveler and drop off here, no matter how much money you have you can't order a nice juicy steak for dinner. There are none. There is not a meat market in the village, though Hindsboro has two banks. The meat scarcity was responsible for the going out of business of the only meat market... MATTOON -- Local No. 326 of the barbers union held its annual election of officers last night. The new roster includes: President, J.E. Cowden; Vice President, R.J. Bowser; Recorder, C. Foote; Secretary, J.J. Donner; Treasurer, A. Andrews. 50 years ago, 1967 CHARLESTON -- Using funds made available by an anonymous benefactor, the Eastern Illinois University Foundation has acquired the 125-acre Rocky Branch Preserve, located near Marshall. The property will provide the university with an outdoor life sciences laboratory. Under terms of purchase from the Nature Conservancy, the land is to be kept entirely in its natural state. Also, EIU President Quincy Doudna announced the university had received two Lincoln-related items. Miss Ellen Ray of Muskegon, Mich., donated a parasol once owned by Mary Todd Lincoln and a storage chest reportedly owned by President Abraham Lincoln... MATTOON -- A big section of concrete coping broke loose from the top floor of the three-story building at the northeast corner of 15th and Broadway at about 5 p.m. yesterday and ripped off the front of Walt's Camera Shop as it plummeted toward the sidewalk. Dean Tolen partner in the camera shop, said damage to the recently remodeled store would be about $3,000. No injuries were reported... MATTOON -- President Johnson's federal budget message today recommended funds for both the Shelbyville and Lincoln reservoir projects. Listed for the Shelbyville Reservoir was $8.9 million for construction work. Johnson asked $150,000 pre-construction planning work on the Lincoln Reservoir on the Embarras River near Charleston. Those funds would complete the $450,000 which has been set for planning the $32 million project in Coles County. 25 years ago, 1992 SPRINGFIELD -- The Charleston office is one of several area drivers license facilities slated to be closed, Secretary of State George Ryan said. The closings, which are to compensate for employee raises awarded this week by an arbitrator, include full-time drivers license offices in Charleston (with four layoffs), Shelbyville (three layoffs) and Tuscola (three layoffs), as well as part-time offices in Greenup, Marshall and Sullivan (all staffed by employees from full-time offices). The offices could be closed by mid-February. The Mattoon office, renovated in the past few years, will remain open CHARLESTON -- Heating problems have temporarily closed the Will Rogers Theatre on the Charleston square. The movie house reportedly will be closed from three days to a week while the theatre awaits the arrival of parts for a malfunctioning furnace. The Bette Midler film, For the Boys, and a Bruce Willis thriller, The Last Boy Scout, are the current scheduled films at the Will Rogers. Ally Financial Inc., a digital financial-services company, provides various digital financial products and services to consumer, commercial, and corporate customers primarily in the United States and Canada. It operates through four segments: Automotive Finance Operations, Insurance Operations, Mortgage Finance Operations, and Corporate Finance Operations. The Automotive Finance Operations segment offers automotive financing services, including providing retail installment sales contracts, loans and operating leases, term loans to dealers, financing dealer floorplans and other lines of credit to dealers, warehouse lines to automotive retailers, and fleet financing. It also provides financing services to companies and municipalities for the purchase or lease of vehicles, and vehicle-remarketing services. The Insurance Operations segment offers consumer finance protection and insurance products through the automotive dealer channel, and commercial insurance products directly to dealers. This segment provides vehicle service and maintenance contract, and guaranteed asset protection products; and underwrites commercial insurance coverages, which primarily insure dealers' vehicle inventory. The Mortgage Finance Operations segment manages consumer mortgage loan portfolio that includes bulk purchases of jumbo and low-to-moderate income mortgage loans originated by third parties, as well as direct-to-consumer mortgage offerings. The Corporate Finance Operations segment provides senior secured leveraged cash flow and asset-based loans to middle market companies; leveraged loans; and commercial real estate product to serve companies in the healthcare industry. The company also offers commercial banking products and services. In addition, it provides securities brokerage and investment advisory services. The company was formerly known as GMAC Inc. and changed its name to Ally Financial Inc. in May 2010. Ally Financial Inc. was founded in 1919 and is based in Detroit, Michigan. American Homes 4 Rent is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the US rental industry. The company is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is fast becoming a nationally recognized brand. The company is known for high-quality rental homes, providing good value and tenant satisfaction while generating profits for investors. The primary investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted returns through dividends and capital appreciation. The company plans to achieve its objective through the disciplined acquisition of new properties, by expanding its own construction and neighborhood building efforts, growing its geographically diverse portfolio, efficient property management, building a strong brand, and maintaining a sound capital structure. The company was founded in 2011 by David Singelyn and his partner. Mr. Singelyn has served as a Trustee and CEO since 2012. The company began by acquiring homes in underserved areas and remodeling them to modern standards. The firm has since expanded its operations to construction and now builds planned communities tailored to different lifestyles as well. The company went public in 2013 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. American Homes 4 Rent is an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. The company operates through a network of offices and the website AH4R.com. The company owns more than 55,000 properties across 22 states featuring move-in-ready and pet-friendly homes for individuals and families of all sizes. All previously used properties have been renovated to a high Certified Property standard that brings them to a like-new condition. Interested parties can view listings by area on the website and even use the site to fill out applications and sign leases. Properties are located in communities that fit a variety of lifestyle needs including fences, marble countertops, and even attached 2 and 3-car garages. The communities are located in hand-picked neighborhoods with features including access to commerce, schools, and amenities like lawn care, pools, trails, and fitness centers. Tenants are afforded many benefits by renting through American Homes 4 Rent. The first and most obvious is the freedom and flexibility of a mortgage-free lifestyle. On top of that, tenants can pay rent or schedule maintenance on their homes through the website, and dedicated service representatives are available 24/7. The following companies are subsidiares of Illinois Tool Works: A V Co 1 Limited, A V Co 2 Limited, A V Co 3 Limited, ACCU-LUBE Manufacturing GmbH - Schmiermittel und -gerate -, AIP/BI Holdings Inc., Accessories Marketing Holding Corp., Advanced Molding Company Inc., Allen France SAS, Alpine Engineered Products, Alpine Systems Corporation, Anaerobicos S.r.l., AppliChem GmbH, Avery Berkel France, Avery India Limited, Avery Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avery Weigh Tronix, Avery Weigh-Tronix Finance Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix International Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix LLC, Avery Weigh-Tronix Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Properties Limited, Avery Weigh-Tronix Suzhou Weighing Technology Co. Ltd., Azon Limited, B.C. Immo, Beijing Miller Electric Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Berkel Ireland Limited, Berrington UK, Brapenta Eletronica Ltda., Brooks Instrument B.V., Brooks Instrument GmbH, Brooks Instrument KFT, Brooks Instrument Korea Ltd., Brooks Instrument LLC, Brooks Instrument Shanghai Co. Ltd, Buell Industries Inc., CCI Realty Company, CFC Europe GmbH, CS Australia Pty Limited, CS Mexico Holding Company S DE RL DE CV, Calvia Spolka z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnosci, Capital Ventures Australasia S.a r.l, Capmax Logistica S.A. de C.V., Celeste Industries Corporation, Coeur, Coeur Asia Limited, Coeur Holding Company, Coeur Inc., Coeur Shanghai Medical Appliance Trading Co. Ltd, Compagnie Hobart, Compagnie de Materiel et d'Equipements Techniques-Comet, Constructions Isothermiques Bontami C.I.B., Crane Carrier Company, Denison Mayes Group Limited, Despatch Industries, Diagraph Corporation Sdn. Bhd, Diagraph ITW Mexico S. de R.L. De C.V., Diagraph Mexico S.A. DE C.V., Dongguan Ark-Les Electric Components Co. Ltd., Dongguan CK Branding Co. Ltd., Duo Fast de Espana S.A.U., Duo-Fast Korea Co. Ltd., Duo-Fast LLC, E.C.S. d.o.o., E2M Production B.V.., E2M Technologies B.V.., E2M Technologies Inc.., ECS Cable Protection Sp. Zoo, ELRO Grosskuchen GmbH, ELRO Holding AG, ELRO-WERKE AG, Elro Group, Eltex-Elektrostatik-Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Envases Multipac S.A. de C.V., Eurotec Srl, Exhibit 21, FEG Investments L.L.C., Filtertek De Mexico Holding Inc., Filtertek De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Filtertek SAS, GC Financement SA, Gamko B.V., Gun Hwa Platech Taicang Co. Ltd., HOBART Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Hartness International, Hobart Andina S.A.S., Hobart Belgium B.V., Hobart Brothers International Chile Limitada, Hobart Brothers LLC, Hobart Dayton Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Hobart Food Equipment Co. Ltd., Hobart International Singapore Pte. Ltd., Hobart Japan K.K., Hobart Korea LLC, Hobart LLC, Hobart Nederland B.V., Hobart Sales & Service Inc., Hobart Scandinavia ApS, Hobart Techniek B.V., Horis, ILC Investments Holdings Inc., ITW AEP LLC, ITW AOC LLC, ITW Aircraft Investments Inc., ITW Ampang Industries Philippines Inc., ITW Appliance Components EOOD, ITW Appliance Components S.A. de C.V., ITW Appliance Components S.r.l.a, ITW Appliance Components d.o.o., ITW Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, ITW Australia Property Holdings Pty Ltd., ITW Australia Pty Ltd, ITW Automotive Components Chongqing Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Components Langfang Co. Ltd., ITW Automotive Japan K.K., ITW Automotive Korea LLC, ITW Automotive Parts Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Automotive Products GmbH, ITW Automotive Products Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Bailly Comte, ITW Befestigungssysteme GmbH, ITW Belgium B.V., ITW Brazilian Nominee L.L.C., ITW Building Components Group Inc., ITW CER, ITW CP Distribution Center Holland BV, ITW CS UK Ltd., ITW Canada Inc., ITW Celeste Inc., ITW Chemical Products Ltda, ITW Chemical Products Scandinavia ApS, ITW China Investment Company Limited, ITW Colombia S.A.S., ITW Construction Products AB, ITW Construction Products AS, ITW Construction Products ApS, ITW Construction Products CZ s.r.o., ITW Construction Products Italy Srl, ITW Construction Products OU, ITW Construction Products OY, ITW Construction Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Construction Products Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW Construction Services Manila Inc., ITW Contamination Control B.V., ITW Contamination Control Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Covid Security Group Inc., ITW DS Investments Inc., ITW DelFast do Brasil Ltda., ITW Denmark ApS, ITW Deutschland GmbH, ITW Diagraph GmbH, ITW Dynatec, ITW Dynatec Adhesive Equipment Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Dynatec GmbH, ITW Dynatec Kabushiki Kaisha, ITW EAE B.V., ITW EAE Mexico S de RL de CV, ITW EF&C France SAS, ITW EF&C Selb GmbH, ITW EU Holdings Ltd., ITW Electronic Business Asia Co. Limited, ITW Electronic Components/Products Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Electronics Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Epsilon Sarl, ITW Espana S.L., ITW European Finance Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance II Co. Ltd., ITW European Finance III Co. Ltd., ITW FEG Hong Kong Limited, ITW FEG do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW Fastener Products GmbH, ITW Fluids and Hygiene Solutions Ltda., ITW Food Equipment Group LLC, ITW GH LLC, ITW GSE ApS, ITW GSE Inc., ITW Gamma Sarl, ITW German Management LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings LLC, ITW Global Investments Holdings Y Compania Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones, ITW Global Investments Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Europe GmbH, ITW Global Tire Repair Inc., ITW Global Tire Repair Japan K.K., ITW Graphics Asia Limited, ITW Graphics Thailand Ltd., ITW Great Britain Investment & Licensing Holding Company, ITW Group France Luxembourg S.ar.l., ITW HLP Thailand Co. Ltd., ITW Holding Quimica B.C. S.L. Sole Shareholder Company, ITW Holdings Australia L.P., ITW Holdings I Limited, ITW Holdings II Limited, ITW Holdings III Limited, ITW Holdings IV Limited, ITW Holdings IX Limited, ITW Holdings Inc., ITW Holdings V Limited, ITW Holdings VI Limited, ITW Holdings VII Limited, ITW Holdings VIII Limited, ITW Holdings X Limited, ITW Holdings XI Limited, ITW ILC Holdings I Inc., ITW IPG Investments LLC, ITW Imaden Industria e Comercio Ltda., ITW India Private Limited, ITW International Holdings LLC, ITW Invest Holding GmbH, ITW Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, ITW Ireland Unlimited Company, ITW Italy Holding Srl, ITW Japan Ltd., ITW Korea LLC, ITW LLC & Co. KG, ITW Limited, ITW Lys Fusion S.r.l., ITW Materials Technology Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW Meritex Sdn. Bhd., ITW Metal Fasteners S.L., ITW Mexico Holding Company S. De R.L. de C.V., ITW Mexico Holdings LLC, ITW Morlock GmbH, ITW Mortgage Investments II Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments III Inc., ITW Mortgage Investments IV Inc., ITW Netherlands Administration BV, ITW Netherlands Beta B.V., ITW Netherlands Finance Alpha BV, ITW New Universal LLC, ITW New Zealand, ITW Ningbo Components & Fastenings Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Novadan Sp. Z.o.o., ITW PPF Brasil Adesivos Ltda., ITW Packaging Technology China Co. Ltd., ITW Participations S.a r.l., ITW Pension Funds Trustee Company, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Japan Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids Korea Limited, ITW Performance Polymers & Fluids OOO, ITW Performance Polymers ApS, ITW Performance Polymers Wujiang Co. Ltd., ITW Performance Polymers and Fluids Group FZE, ITW Peru S.A.C., ITW Poly Mex S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Polymers Sealants North America Inc., ITW Pronovia s.r.o., ITW Pte. Ltd., ITW Qufu Automotive Cooling Systems Co. Ltd., ITW Real Estate Germany GmbH, ITW Residuals III L.L.C., ITW Residuals IV L.L.C., ITW Rivex, ITW SMPI, ITW SPG Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., ITW Simco-Ion Shenzhen Co. Ltd., ITW Slovakia s.r.o., ITW Spain Holdings S.L., ITW Specialty Film LLC, ITW Specialty Films France, ITW Specialty Materials Suzhou Co. Ltd., ITW Sverige AB, ITW Sweden Holding AB, ITW Test & Measurement Equipment Shanghai Co. Ltd, ITW Test & Measurement GmbH, ITW Test and Measurement Italia Srl, ITW Test and Measurement Services Industry and Trade Ltd., ITW Texwipe Philippines Inc., ITW Thermal Films Shanghai Co. Ltd., ITW UK, ITW UK Finance Beta Limited, ITW UK Finance Delta Limited, ITW UK Finance Gamma Limited, ITW UK Finance Limited, ITW UK Finance Zeta Ltd., ITW UK II Limited, ITW Universal II LLC, ITW Welding, ITW Welding AB, ITW Welding GmbH, ITW Welding Products B.V., ITW Welding Products Group FZE, ITW Welding Products Group S. DE R.L. De C.V., ITW Welding Products Italy Srl, ITW Welding Products Limited Liability Company, ITW Welding Produtos Para Solgdagem Ltda., ITW Welding Singapore Pte. Ltd., ITW de France, ITW do Brasil Industrial e Comercial Ltda., Illinois Tool Works Chile Limitada, Illinois Tool Works ITW Nederland B.V., Illinois Tool Works Inc., Impar Comercio E Representacoes Ltda., Industrie Plastic Elsasser GmbH, Inmobiliaria Cit. S.A. de C.F., Innova Temperlite Servicios S.A. de C.V., Innovacion y Transformacion Automotriz S.A. de C.V., Instron Brasil Equipamentos Cientificos Ltda., Instron Foreign Sales Corp. Limited, Instron France S.A.S., Instron GmbH, Instron Japan Company Ltd., Instron Korea LLC, Instron Shanghai Ltd., Instron Thailand Limited, International Leasing Company LLC, Isolenge - ITW Sistemas de Isolamento Termico Ltda., Itw Spraytec, KCPL Mauritius Holdings, Kester, Kleinmann GmbH, Krafft S.L., Loma Systems, Loma Systems BV, Loma Systems Canada Inc., Loma Systems sro, Lombard Pressings Limited, Lumex Inc., Lys Fusion Poland Sp. z.o.o., M&C Specialties Co., MAGNAFLUX GmbH, MEHB Holdings Limited, MGHG Property LLC, MTS 2 LLC., MTS 3 LLC., MTS China Holdings LLC, MTS Europe Holdings LLC, MTS Holdings France S.a.r.l., MTS Japan Ltd.., MTS Korea Inc.., MTS Systems China Co. Ltd., MTS Systems Corporation, MTS Systems Danmark ApS., MTS Systems Europe B.V., MTS Systems Finance C.V.., MTS Systems Germany GmbH, MTS Systems Holding B.V.., MTS Systems Hong Kong Incorporated, MTS Systems Limited, MTS Systems Norden Aktiebolag, MTS Systems S.r.l, MTS Systems., MTS Systems.., MTS Sytems Do Brazil, MTS Testing Solutions India Private Limited., MTS Testing Systems Canada Ltd., Manufacturing Avancee S.A., Meritex Technology Suzhou Co. Ltd., Meurer Verpackungssysteme GmbH, Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, Miller Insurance Ltd., NDT Holding LLC, NOVADAN APS, North Star Imaging Inc., Nova Chimica S.r.l., Orbitalum Tools GmbH, PENTA-91 OOO, PR. A. I. Srl, PT ITW Construction Products Indonesia, Pacific Concept Industries Limited Enping, Panreac Quimica S.L., Paslode Fasteners Shanghai Co. Ltd., Peerless Machinery Corp., Polyrey, Premark FEG L.L.C., Premark HII Holdings LLC, Premark International, Premark International LLC, Prolex Sociedad Anonima, QSA Global Inc., Quimica Industrial Mediterranea S.L., R&D Engineering A/S., R&D Prague s.r.o., R&D Steel ApS., R&D Test Systems A/S., R&D Tools and Structures A/S., RDGDK Engineering Private Limited, Ramset Fasteners Hong Kong Ltd., Rapid Cook LLC, Refrigeration France, S.E.E. Sistemas Industria E Comercio Ltda., ST Mexico Holdings LLC, Sealant Systems International Inc., Sentinel Asia Yuhan Hoesa, Shanghai ITW Plastic & Metal Co. Ltd, Simco Japan Inc., Simco Nederland B.V., Societe de Prospection et dInventions Techniques SPIT, Speedline Holdings I Inc., Speedline Holdings I LLC, Speedline Technologies GmbH, Speedline Technologies Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Speedline Technologies Mexico Services S. de R.L. de C.V., Stokvis Celix Portugal Unipessoal LDA, Stokvis Danmark ApS, Stokvis Holdings S.A.R.L., Stokvis Promi s.r.o, Stokvis Prostick Tapes Private Limited, Stokvis Tapes B.V., Stokvis Tapes Benelux B.V., Stokvis Tapes Deutschland GmbH, Stokvis Tapes France, Stokvis Tapes Hong Kong Co. Limited, Stokvis Tapes Italia s.r.l., Stokvis Tapes Limited, Stokvis Tapes Limited Liability Company, Stokvis Tapes Norge AS, Stokvis Tapes Oy, Stokvis Tapes Polska Sp Z.O.O., Stokvis Tapes Shanghai Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Sverige AB, Stokvis Tapes Taiwan Co. Ltd., Stokvis Tapes Tianjin Co. Ltd., Stolvis Holdings II S.A.R.L., Subsidiaries, Technopack Industria Comercio Consultoria e Representacoes Ltda., Teknek China Limited, Teknek Japan Limited, Teksaleco Ltd., The Miller Group Ltd, Thirode Grandes Cuisines Poligny, Tien Tai Electrode Co. Ltd., Tien Tai Electrode Kunshan Co. Ltd., Unichemicals Industria e Comercio Ltda., VR-Leasing Sarita GmbH & Co. Immobilien KG, VS European Holdco BV, Valeron Strength Films B.V., Veneta Decalcogomme S.r.l., Versachem Chile S.A., Vesta, Vesta Global Limited, Vesta Guangzhou Catering Equipment Co. Ltd, Viltronics Soltec, Vitronics Soltec B.V., Wachs Canada Ltd., Wachs Subsea LLC, Weigh-Tronix Canada ULC, Weigh-Tronix UK Limited, Wilsonart International Holdings LLC, Wynn Oil South Africa Pty Ltd., Wynn's Automotive France, Wynn's Belgium BVBA, Wynn's Italia Srl, Wynn's Mekuba India Pvt Ltd, and Zip-Pak International B.V.. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc.. Read More Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., a telecommunications company, provides communications services in the United States. It operates through two segments: UScellular and TDS Telecom. The company offers wireless solutions to consumers and business and government customers, including a suite of connected Internet of things (IoT) solutions, and software applications for monitor and control, business automation/operations, communication, fleet and asset management, smart water solutions, private cellular networks and custom, and end-to-end IoT solutions; wireless priority services and quality priority and preemption options; smartphones and other handsets, tablets, wearables, mobile hotspots, routers, and IoT devices; and accessories, such as cases, screen protectors, chargers, and memory cards, as well as consumer electronics, including audio, home automation and networking products. It also provides replace and repair services; Trade-In program through which it buys customers' used equipment; internet connections and all-home WI-FI services; TDS TV+, an integrated cloud television platform that offers video content; local and long-distance telephone service, VoIP, and enhanced services; and broadband, IP-based services, and hosted voice and video collaboration services. The company sells its products through retail sales, direct and indirect sales, third-party retailers, and independent agents, as well as through ecommerce and telesales. As of December 31, 2021, it offers its services to customers 5 million wireless connections, and 1.2 million wireline and cable connections. The company was incorporated in 1968 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois public universities would see state funding restored to the level it was before the start of the ongoing budget impasse under a bipartisan grand bargain being considered in the state Senate. While university officials welcome the prospect of additional funding, they said its important for the public to understand that the Senate proposal would still represent a funding cut over a two-year period. The states nine public university systems have been funded through a series of emergency and stopgap spending measures since the 2014-15 school year ended and the standoff between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly began. As a result, some schools, including Eastern Illinois University, have laid off hundreds of employees, and also frozen hiring and made additional spending cuts. The Senate package, which also includes tax increases, gambling expansion, pension reforms and covers a host of other issues, would allocate an additional $1.1 billion in the current year for higher education. That includes money for universities, community colleges and grants to low-income students through the Monetary Award Program. Combined with nearly $1 billion for higher education that was included in a stopgap spending deal approved in June, the Senate plan would restore university funding for this year to where it was in the 2014-15 school year. Schools currently arent receiving any state funds because the stopgap deal expired after Dec. 31. The various components of the package -- cobbled together by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont -- are scheduled for committee hearings beginning today. EIU Treasurer Paul McCann said the university would be grateful to receive any state funding. We have done the things that we need to do to make the university viable, and so we are appreciative of anything they can do for us, he said. EIU, which has laid off more than 400 in the past two years, would receive nearly $11.2 million in additional funding under the Senate plan. Thats on top of $26.2 million it received from the June stopgap and $12.5 million from the April funding measure, which were used for expenses from last school year. The university received another $5.6 million in emergency funding that the Illinois Board of Higher Education doled out in November. It put that money toward payroll and other expenses from the current year. The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Better Financial Services GmbH, Better Payment Germany GmbH, Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., Chapel Funding, China Recovery Fund LLC, Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Cartera de lnmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Impact Investment Fund I. LP., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Limited, DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Jersey) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios lnteractivos Agrupacicm de lnteres Econemico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB Print GmbH, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services (Jersey) Limited, DB Services Americas. Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB US Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a. r.l., DB Value S.a.r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita SA., DB lmmobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG i.L., DB lo LP, DBAH Capital. LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management 18 Ltd., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a. r.l., DBX Advisers LLC, DEBEKO lmmobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK AS., DI Deutsche lmmobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Shanghai Private Equity Fund Management Limited, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anenima lnstitucien Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico. S.A., Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank Polska Spelka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Societe per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche Bank. Sociedad Anenima Espanola, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur lmmobilien-Leasing mit beschrenkter Haftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.El r.l., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche India Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a. r.|., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities SA. de C.V.. Casla de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Services (Cl) Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. SA., Deutsche lmmobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsches lnstitut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a. r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.l., Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, European Value Added I (Alternate GP.) LLP, Fiduciaria Sant Andrea S.r.l., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., German American Capital Corporation, Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer LandstraBe GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Miesbaden LuisenstraBe/Kirchgasse GbR, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF l Manager S.a.r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul lnkasso GmbH, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo lll Initial GP Limited, MEF I Manager. S. a r.|., MIT Holdings Inc., Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgagelT Inc., MortgagelT Securities Corp., OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentIe", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, PADUS Grundstcks-VermietungsgeseIlschaft mbH, PB Factoring GmbH, PB Spezial-lnvestmentaktiengesellschatt mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Plantation Bay. Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank lmmobilien GmbH, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, RREEF, RREEF America LLC., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisers Private Limited, RREEF Management LLC., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables. LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermielungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sharps SP l LLC, Stelvio lmmobiliare S.r.l., Suddeutsche Vermeigensvewvaitung Gesellschaft mit beschrenkter Haftung, TELO Beleiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Umited, VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., lmmobilienfonds BuroCenter Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, lmmobilienfonds Wohn- und Gescheftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, and norisbank GmbH. Read More GameStop Corp. is a specialty retailer founded in 1999 and headquartered in Grapevine, Texas. The company was originally known as GSC Holdings Corp. but later changed its name following its IPO. Originally a brand of then dominant Babbages, Gamestop altered the way video games were distributed and it is now the world's largest retailer of video games and video game accessories. The company went public in 2004 and operated 4,573 stores at the start of 2022. Brands under the company umbrella include Gamestop, EB Games, and Micromania as well as 50 pop-culture-themed Zing Pop locations. Gamestop Corp. provides video games and entertainment products through its global network of e-commerce properties and stores. The company sells new and pre-owned gaming platforms and accessories like controllers, headsets, memory cards, and gaming software as well as in-game products like digital currency, downloadable content, and games. The company also sells new and used memorabilia and collectibles. Genres include TV, movie, comic book, and game characters as well as many other items from pop culture. GameStop Corp. also operates Game Informer, a magazine and website dedicated to the gaming industry including reviews, updates, and new developments in technologies. Game enthusiasts enjoy two primary benefits of using Gamestop. The first is access to the full range of games and gaming accessories. The second is the ability to sell or trade their old equipment and games for fair prices. All old equipment is refurbished to a like-new state before resale. In 2021 Gamestop announced it was entering the world of cryptocurrency. The company revealed plans to build an NFT (non-fungible token) platform for listing, selling, and holding digital or digitized artwork and collectibles. The beta version launched in 2022 and has so far seen great success with an average daily volume exceeding $1 million. The NFT marketplace also featured Web3.0 games in which characters and in-game items are held forever on the blockchain. As of September 2022, the most successful retailer on the NFT marketplace was Gamestop Presents, a collaboration of cover art from Game Informer Magazine. Sales at the time were just under 168 ETH or about $221,500.00. GameStop began a slide in 2016 following a series of bad investments that included a foray into the world of mobile phones. The slide came to an end in late 2021 when shareholders using the Reddit thread Wallstreet Bets orchestrated a short-squeeze and brought on the age of meme stocks. The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation. Read More Mistras Group, Inc. provides technology-enabled asset protection solutions worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Services, International, and Products and Systems. It offers non-destructive testing services; predictive maintenance assessments of fixed and rotating assets; inline inspection for pipelines; and develops enterprise inspection database management software and plant condition management software. The company also provides maintenance and light mechanical services, such as corrosion removal, mitigation and prevention, insulation installation and removal, electrical, heat tracing, industrial cleaning, pipefitting, and welding; engineering consulting services primarily for process equipment, technologies, and facilities; and utilizes scaffolding and rope access to access at-height and confined assets. In addition, it offers certified divers for subsea inspection and maintenance; unmanned aerial, land-based, and subsea systems for inspection applications; online condition-monitoring solutions; quality assurance and quality control solutions for new and existing metal and alloy components, materials, and composites. Further, the company designs and installs monitoring systems, as well as provides commissioning, training, reporting, technical support, and annual maintenance services; Web-based solutions; and custom-developed software. Additionally, it designs, manufactures, and sells acoustic emission sensors, instruments, and turnkey systems for monitoring and testing materials, pressure components, processes, and structures, as well as automated ultrasonic systems and scanners. The company serves oil and gas, commercial aerospace and defense, fossil and nuclear power, alternative and renewable energy, industrial, public infrastructure, petrochemical, transportation, and process industries, as well as research and engineering institutions. Mistras Group, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. The following companies are subsidiares of Pfizer: AH Robins LLC, AHP Holdings B.V., AHP Manufacturing B.V., Agouron Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alacer, Alpharma Holdings LLC, Alpharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alpharma Specialty Pharma LLC, Alpharma USHP LLC, American Food Industries LLC, Anacor Pharmaceuticals, Anacor Pharmaceuticals Inc., Angiosyn, Array BioPharma, Ayerst-Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, BIND Therapeutics Inc., BINESA 2002 S.L., Bamboo Therapeutics, Bamboo Therapeutics Inc., Baxter International - Marketed Vaccines, BioRexis, Bioren, Bioren LLC, Blue Whale Re Ltd., C.E. Commercial Holdings C.V., C.E. Commercial Investments C.V., C.P. Pharmaceuticals International C.V., CICL Corporation, COC I Corporation, Catapult Genetics, Coley Pharmaceutical GmbH, Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc., Continental Pharma Inc., Covx, Covx Technologies Ireland Limited, Cyanamid Inter-American Corporation, Cyanamid de Argentina S.A., Cyanamid de Colombia S.A., Distribuidora Mercantil Centro Americana S.A., Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Encysive Pharmaceuticals Inc., Esperion LUV Development Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals, Excaliard Pharmaceuticals Inc., Farminova Produtos Farmaceuticos de Inovacao Lda., Farmogene Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Ferrosan A/S, Ferrosan International A/S, Ferrosan S.R.L., FoldRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Foldrx Pharmaceuticals, Fort Dodge Manufatura Ltda., G. D. Searle & Co. Limited, G. D. Searle International Capital LLC, G. D. Searle LLC, GI Europe Inc., GI Japan Inc., GenTrac Inc., Genetics Institute LLC, Greenstone LLC, Haptogen Limited, Hospira, Hospira (China) Enterprise Management Co. Ltd., Hospira Adelaide Pty Ltd, Hospira Aseptic Services Limited, Hospira Australia Pty Ltd, Hospira Benelux BVBA, Hospira Chile Limitada, Hospira Deutschland GmbH, Hospira Enterprises B.V., Hospira France SAS, Hospira Healthcare B.V., Hospira Healthcare Corporation, Hospira Healthcare India Private Limited, Hospira Holdings (S.A.) Pty Ltd, Hospira Inc., Hospira Invicta S.A., Hospira Ireland Holdings Unlimited Company, Hospira Ireland Sales Limited, Hospira Japan G.K., Hospira Limited, Hospira Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Hospira NZ Limited, Hospira Nordic AB, Hospira Philippines Inc., Hospira Portugal LDA, Hospira Produtos Hospitalares Ltda., Hospira Pte. Ltd., Hospira Pty Limited, Hospira Puerto Rico LLC, Hospira Singapore Pte Ltd, Hospira UK Limited, Hospira Worldwide LLC, Hospira Zagreb d.o.o., ICAgen, Idun Pharmaceuticals, Industrial Santa Agape S.A., InnoPharma, InnoPharma Inc., International Affiliated Corporation LLC, JMI-Daniels Pharmaceuticals Inc., John Wyeth & Brother Limited, Kiinteisto oy Espoon Pellavaniementie 14, King Pharmaceuticals Holdings LLC, King Pharmaceuticals LLC, King Pharmaceuticals Research and Development LLC, Korea Pharma Holding Company Limited, Laboratoires Pfizer S.A., Laboratorios Parke Davis S.L., Laboratorios Pfizer Ltda., Laboratorios Wyeth LLC, Laboratorios Wyeth S.A., Laboratorios Pfizer Lda., MTG Divestitures LLC, Mayne Pharma IP Holdings (Euro) Pty Ltd, Medivation, Medivation Field Solutions LLC, Medivation LLC, Medivation Neurology LLC, Medivation Prostate Therapeutics LLC, Medivation Services LLC, Medivation Technologies LLC, Meridian Medical Technologies Inc., Meridian Medical Technologies Limited, Monarch Pharmaceuticals LLC, Neusentis Limited, NextWave Pharmaceuticals, NextWave Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, P-D Co. LLC, PAH USA IN8 LLC, PF Americas Holding C.V., PF Asia Manufacturing B.V., PF PR Holdings C.V., PF PRISM C.V., PF PRISM Holdings S.a.r.l., PF Prism S.a.r.l., PFE Holdings G.K., PFE PHAC Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Pfizer Holdings 1 LLC, PFE Wyeth Holdings LLC, PFE Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) LLC, PHILCO Holdings S.a r.l., PHIVCO Corp., PHIVCO Holdco S.a r.l., PHIVCO Luxembourg S.a r.l., PN Mexico LLC, PT. Pfizer Parke Davis, Parke Davis & Company LLC, Parke Davis Limited, Parke Davis Productos Farmaceuticos Lda, Parke-Davis Manufacturing Corp., Parkedale Pharmaceuticals Inc., Peak Enterprises LLC, Pfizer, Pfizer (China) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Pfizer (Perth) Pty Limited, Pfizer (Thailand) Limited, Pfizer (Wuhan) Research and Development Co. Ltd., Pfizer AB, Pfizer AG, Pfizer AS, Pfizer Africa & Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Veterinarian Products & Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer Anti-Infectives AB, Pfizer ApS, Pfizer Asia Manufacturing Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd., Pfizer Atlantic Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Australia Holdings B.V., Pfizer Australia Holdings Pty Limited, Pfizer Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., Pfizer Australia Pty Limited, Pfizer B.V., Pfizer BH D.o.o., Pfizer Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer Biofarmaceutica Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Pfizer Biologics (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Pfizer Biologics Ireland Holdings Limited, Pfizer Biotech Corporation, Pfizer Bolivia S.A., Pfizer Canada Inc., Pfizer CentreSource Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Chile S.A., Pfizer Cia. Ltda., Pfizer Colombia Spinco I LLC, Pfizer Commercial Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Commercial Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Commercial TRAE Trading Kft., Pfizer Consumer Healthcare AB, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare GmbH, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Ltd., Pfizer Consumer Manufacturing Italy S.r.l., Pfizer Corporation, Pfizer Corporation Austria Gesellschaft m.b.H., Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited, Pfizer Croatia d.o.o., Pfizer Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Development LP, Pfizer Development Services (UK) Limited, Pfizer Domestic Ventures Limited, Pfizer Dominicana S.R.L, Pfizer ESP Pty Ltd, Pfizer East India B.V., Pfizer Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer Egypt S.A.E., Pfizer Enterprise Holdings B.V., Pfizer Enterprises LLC, Pfizer Enterprises SARL, Pfizer Europe Finance B.V., Pfizer Export B.V., Pfizer Export Company, Pfizer Export Holding Company B.V, Pfizer Finance Share Service (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Financial Services N.V./S.A., Pfizer France International Investments, Pfizer Free Zone Panama S. de R.L., Pfizer GEP S.L., Pfizer Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer Global Supply Japan Inc., Pfizer Global Trading, Pfizer Group Luxembourg Sarl, Pfizer Gulf FZ-LLC, Pfizer H.C.P. Corporation, Pfizer HK Service Company Limited, Pfizer Health AB, Pfizer Health Solutions Inc., Pfizer Healthcare Ireland, Pfizer Hellas A.E., Pfizer Himalaya Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Holding France, Pfizer Holding Ventures, Pfizer Holdings Corporation, Pfizer Holdings Europe Unlimited Company, Pfizer Holdings G.K., Pfizer Holdings International Corporation, Pfizer Holdings International Luxembourg (PHIL) Sarl, Pfizer Holdings North America SARL, Pfizer Hungary Holdings TRAE Kft., Pfizer Inc., Pfizer Innovations AB, Pfizer Innovations LLC, Pfizer Innovative Supply Point International BVBA, Pfizer International LLC, Pfizer International Markets Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer International Operations, Pfizer International S. de R.L., Pfizer International Trading (Shanghai) Limited, Pfizer Investment Capital Unlimited Company, Pfizer Investment Co. Ltd., Pfizer Investment Holdings S.a.r.l., Pfizer Ireland Investments Limited, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 1 LLC, Pfizer Ireland PFE Holding 2 LLC, Pfizer Ireland Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Ireland Ventures Unlimited Company, Pfizer Italia S.r.l., Pfizer Italy Group Holding S.r.l., Pfizer Japan Inc., Pfizer LLC, Pfizer Laboratories (Pty) Limited, Pfizer Laboratories Limited, Pfizer Laboratories PFE (Pty) Ltd, Pfizer Leasing Ireland Limited, Pfizer Leasing UK Limited, Pfizer Limitada, Pfizer Limited, Pfizer Luxco Holdings SARL, Pfizer Luxembourg Global Holdings S.a r.l., Pfizer Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer MAP Holding Inc., Pfizer Manufacturing Austria G.m.b.H., Pfizer Manufacturing Belgium N.V., Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland GmbH, Pfizer Manufacturing Deutschland Grundbesitz GmbH & Co. KG, Pfizer Manufacturing Holdings LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Manufacturing LLC, Pfizer Manufacturing Services, Pfizer Medical Technology Group (Belgium) N.V., Pfizer Medicamentos Genericos e Participacoes Ltda., Pfizer Mexico Luxco SARL, Pfizer Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pfizer Middle East for Pharmaceuticals Animal Health and Chemicals S.A.E., Pfizer New Zealand Limited, Pfizer Norge AS, Pfizer North American Holdings Inc., Pfizer OTC B.V., Pfizer Overseas LLC, Pfizer Oy, Pfizer PFE ApS, Pfizer PFE AsiaPac Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Australia Pty Ltd, Pfizer PFE B.V., Pfizer PFE Baltic Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Belgium SPRL, Pfizer PFE Brazil Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE CIA. Ltda., Pfizer PFE Chile Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Colombia Holding Corp., Pfizer PFE Colombia S.A.S, Pfizer PFE Commercial Holdings LLC, Pfizer PFE Croatia Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Eastern Investments B.V., Pfizer PFE Finland Oy, Pfizer PFE France, Pfizer PFE Global Holdings B.V., Pfizer PFE Ireland Pharmaceuticals Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco 2 S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Italy Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Korlatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Pfizer PFE Limited, Pfizer PFE Luxembourg S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Mexico Holding 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE Netherlands Holding 1 C.V., Pfizer PFE New Zealand, Pfizer PFE New Zealand Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Norway Holding S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE PILSA Holdco S.a r.l., Pfizer PFE Peru Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Peru S.R.L., Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Holding LLC, Pfizer PFE Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer PFE Private Limited, Pfizer PFE S.R.L, Pfizer PFE Service Company Holding Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer PFE Singapore Holding B.V., Pfizer PFE Singapore Pte. Ltd., Pfizer PFE Spain B.V., Pfizer PFE Spain Holding S.L., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding 2 S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Sweden Holding S.a.r.l., Pfizer PFE Switzerland GmbH, Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 1 B.V., Pfizer PFE Turkey Holding 2 B.V., Pfizer PFE UK Holding 4 LP, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 1 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 2 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 3 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 4 LLC, Pfizer PFE US Holdings 5 LLC, Pfizer PFE spol. s r.o., Pfizer PFE Ilaclar Anonim Sirketi, Pfizer Pakistan Limited, Pfizer Parke Davis (Thailand) Ltd., Pfizer Parke Davis Inc., Pfizer Parke Davis Sdn. Bhd., Pfizer Pharm Algerie, Pfizer Pharma GmbH, Pfizer Pharma PFE GmbH, Pfizer Pharmaceutical (Wuxi) Co. Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceutical Trading Limited Liability Company (a/k/a Pfizer Kft. or Pfizer LLC), Pfizer Pharmaceuticals B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Global B.V., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Israel Ltd., Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Korea Limited, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Pfizer Pigments Inc., Pfizer Polska Sp. z.o.o., Pfizer Private Limited, Pfizer Production LLC, Pfizer Products Inc., Pfizer Products India Private Limited, Pfizer Research (NC) Inc., Pfizer Romania SRL, Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A., Pfizer S.A. (Belgium), Pfizer S.A. de C.V., Pfizer S.A.S., Pfizer S.G.P.S. Lda., Pfizer S.L., Pfizer S.R.L., Pfizer SRB d.o.o., Pfizer Saidal Manufacturing, Pfizer Sante Familiale, Pfizer Saudi Limited, Pfizer Seiyaku K.K., Pfizer Service Company BVBA, Pfizer Service Company Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Services 1, Pfizer Services LLC, Pfizer Shared Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Shareholdings Intermediate SARL, Pfizer Singapore Holding Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Singapore Trading Pte. Ltd., Pfizer Spain Holdings Cooperatief U.A., Pfizer Specialties Limited, Pfizer Strategic Investment Holdings LLC, Pfizer Sweden Partnership KB, Pfizer TRAE Holdings Kft., Pfizer Trading Polska sp.z.o.o., Pfizer Transactions Ireland Unlimited Company, Pfizer Transactions LLC, Pfizer Transactions Luxembourg SARL, Pfizer Transport LLC, Pfizer Ukraine LLC, Pfizer Vaccines LLC, Pfizer Venezuela S.A., Pfizer Venture Investments LLC, Pfizer Ventures LLC, Pfizer Worldwide Services Unlimited Company, Pfizer Zona Franca S.A., Pfizer spol. s r.o., Pharmacia, Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., Pharmacia & Upjohn Company LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn LLC, Pharmacia & Upjohn S.A. de C.V., Pharmacia Brasil Ltda., Pharmacia Hepar LLC, Pharmacia Holding AB, Pharmacia Inter-American LLC, Pharmacia International B.V., Pharmacia LLC, Pharmacia Limited, Pharmacia Nostrum S.A., Pharmacia South Africa (Pty) Ltd, PowderJect Research Limited, PowderMed, Purepac Pharmaceutical Holdings LLC, Redvax, Renrall LLC, Rinat Neuroscience, Rinat Neuroscience Corp., Roerig Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Roerig S.A., Sao Cristovao Participacoes Ltda., Searle Laboratorios Lda., Serenex, Servicios P&U S. de R.L. de C.V., Shiley LLC, Sinergis Farma-Produtos Farmaceuticos Lda., Site Realty Inc., Solinor LLC, Sugen LLC, Tabor LLC, The Pfizer Incubator LLC, Therachon, Thiakis Limited, Treerly Health Co. Ltd, US Oral Pharmaceuticals Pty Ltd, Upjohn Laboratorios Lda., Vesteralens Naturprodukter A/S, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AB, Vesteralens Naturprodukter AS, Vesteralens Naturprodukter OY, Vicuron Holdings LLC, Vinci Farma S.A., W-L LLC, Warner Lambert, Warner Lambert Ilac Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Warner Lambert del Uruguay S.A., Warner-Lambert (Thailand) Limited, Warner-Lambert Company AG, Warner-Lambert Company LLC, Warner-Lambert Guatemala Sociedad Anonima, Warner-Lambert S.A., Whitehall International Inc., Whitehall Laboratories Inc., Wyeth (Thailand) Ltd., Wyeth AB, Wyeth Australia Pty. Limited, Wyeth Ayerst Inc., Wyeth Ayerst S.a r.l., Wyeth Biopharma, Wyeth Canada ULC, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare LLC, Wyeth Europa Limited, Wyeth Farma S.A., Wyeth Holdings LLC, Wyeth Industria Farmaceutica Ltda., Wyeth KFT., Wyeth LLC, Wyeth Lederle S.r.l., Wyeth Lederle Vaccines S.A., Wyeth Pakistan Limited, Wyeth Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Company, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals FZ-LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals LLC, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Limited, Wyeth Puerto Rico Inc., Wyeth S.A.S, Wyeth Subsidiary Illinois Corporation, Wyeth Whitehall Export GmbH, Wyeth Whitehall SARL, Wyeth-Ayerst (Asia) Limited, Wyeth-Ayerst International LLC, and Wyeth-Ayerst Promotions Limited. Read More Phillips 66 operates as an energy manufacturing and logistics company. It operates through four segments: Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties (M&S). The Midstream segment transports crude oil and other feedstocks; delivers refined petroleum products to market; provides terminaling and storage services for crude oil and refined petroleum products; transports, stores, fractionates, exports, and markets natural gas liquids; provides other fee-based processing services; and gathers, processes, transports, and markets natural gas. The Chemicals segment produces and markets ethylene and other olefin products; aromatics and styrenics products, such as benzene, cyclohexane, styrene, and polystyrene; and various specialty chemical products, including organosulfur chemicals, solvents, catalysts, and chemicals used in drilling and mining. The Refining segment refines crude oil and other feedstocks into petroleum products, such as gasolines, distillates, aviation, and renewable fuels at 12 refineries in the United States and Europe. The M&S segment purchases for resale and markets refined petroleum products, including gasolines, distillates, and aviation fuels primarily in the United States and Europe. This segment also manufactures and markets specialty products, such as base oils and lubricants. The company was founded in 1875 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. The following companies are subsidiares of Johnson & Johnson: 3Dintegrated ApS, ALZA Corporation, AMO (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd., AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Beijing Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd Guangzhou Branch, AMO (Shanghai) Medical Devices Trading Co. Ltd., AMO ASIA LIMITED, AMO Asia Limited (Korea Branch), AMO Asia Limited Taiwan Branch (Hong Kong), AMO Australia Pty Limited, AMO Australia Pty Limited (New Zealand Branch), AMO Canada Company, AMO Denmark ApS, AMO Development LLC, AMO France, AMO Germany GmbH, AMO Groningen B.V., AMO International Holdings Unlimited Company, AMO Ireland, AMO Ireland Ireland Branch, AMO Italy SRL, AMO Japan K.K., AMO Manufacturing USA LLC, AMO Netherlands BV, AMO Nominee Holdings LLC, AMO Norway AS, AMO Puerto Rico Manufacturing Inc., AMO Sales and Service Inc., AMO Singapore Pte. Ltd., AMO Spain Holdings LLC, AMO Switzerland GmbH, AMO U.K. Holdings LLC, AMO United Kingdom Ltd., AMO Uppsala AB, AUB Holdings LLC, Abott Medical Optics, Acclarent Inc., Actelion Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Actelion Pharmaceuticals Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Actelion Pharmaceuticals US Inc., Actelion Treasury Unlimited Company, Akros Medical Inc., Albany Street LLC, Alios BioPharma, Alza Land Management Inc., Anakuria Therapeutics Inc., Animas Diabetes Care LLC, Animas LLC, Animas Technologies LLC, AorTx Inc., Apsis, Aragon Pharmaceuticals, Aragon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Asia Pacific Holdings LLC, Atrionix Inc., Auris Health, Auris Health Inc., Backsvalan 2 Aktiebolag, Backsvalan 6 Handelsbolag, Beijing Dabao Cosmetics Co. Ltd., BeneVir BioPharm Inc., Berna Rhein B.V., BioMedical Enterprises Inc., Biosense Webster (Israel) Ltd., Biosense Webster Inc., Branch of Johnson & Johnson LLC (RU) in Kazakhstan, C Consumer Products Denmark ApS, CSATS Inc., Calibra Medical LLC, Campus-Foyer Apotheke GmbH, Carlo Erba OTC S.r.l., Centocor Biologics LLC, Centocor Research & Development Inc., Cerenovus Inc., ChromaGenics B.V., Ci:Labo Customer Marketing Co. Ltd., Ci:Labo USA Inc., Ci:z Holdings, Ci:z. Labo Co. Ltd., Cilag AG, Cilag GmbH International, Cilag Holding AG, Cilag Holding Treasury Unlimited Company, Cilag-Biotech S.L., CoTherix Inc., Coherex Medical Inc., ColBar LifeScience Ltd., Company Store.com Inc., Conor MedSystems, Cordis International Corporation, Cordis de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Corimmun GmbH, DePuy Hellas SA, DePuy International Limited, DePuy Ireland Unlimited Company, DePuy Mexico S.A. de C.V., DePuy Mitek LLC, DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., DePuy Products Inc., DePuy Spine LLC, DePuy Synthes Gorgan Limited, DePuy Synthes Inc., DePuy Synthes Institute LLC, DePuy Synthes Leto SARL, DePuy Synthes Products Inc., DePuy Synthes Sales Inc., Debs-Vogue Corporation (Proprietary) Limited, Dutch Holding LLC, ECL7 LLC, EES Holdings de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., EES S.A. de C.V., EIT Emerging Implant Technologies GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europe) GmbH, Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., Ethicon Endo-Surgery LLC, Ethicon Inc., Ethicon LLC, Ethicon PR Holdings Unlimited Company, Ethicon Sarl, Ethicon US LLC, Ethicon Women's Health & Urology Sarl, Ethnor (Proprietary) Limited, Ethnor Farmaceutica S.A., Ethnor del Istmo S.A., FMS Future Medical System SA, Finsbury (Development) Limited, Finsbury (Instruments) Limited, Finsbury Medical Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics International Limited, Finsbury Orthopaedics Limited, GH Biotech Holdings Limited, GMED Healthcare BV, GMED Healthcare BV (Branch), Global Investment Participation B.V., Guangzhou Bioseal Biotech Co. Ltd., Hansen Medical Deutschland GmbH, Hansen Medical Inc., Hansen Medical International Inc., Hansen Medical UK Limited, Healthcare Services (Shanghai) Ltd., Hickory Merger Sub Inc., I.D. Acquisition Corp., Innomedic Gesellschaft fur innovative Medizintechnik und Informatik mbH, Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC, J & J Company West Africa Limited, J&J Pension Trustees Limited, J-C Health Care Ltd., J.C. General Services BV, JJ Surgical Vision Spain S.L., JJC Acquisition Company B.V., JJHC LLC, JJSV Belgium BV, JJSV Manufacturing Malaysia SDN. BHD., JJSV Norden AB, JJSV Produtos Oticos Ltda., JNJ Global Business Services s.r.o., JNJ Holding EMEA B.V., JNJ International Investment LLC, JOM Pharmaceutical Services Inc., Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy (Holding) Limited, Janssen BioPharma LLC, Janssen Biologics (Ireland) Limited, Janssen Biologics B.V., Janssen Biotech Inc., Janssen Cilag C.A., Janssen Cilag Farmaceutica S.A., Janssen Cilag S.p.A., Janssen Cilag SPA, Janssen Development Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Diagnostics LLC, Janssen Egypt LLC, Janssen Farmaceutica Portugal Lda, Janssen Global Services LLC, Janssen Holding GmbH, Janssen Inc., Janssen Irish Finance Unlimited Company, Janssen Korea Ltd., Janssen Oncology Inc., Janssen Ortho LLC, Janssen Pharmaceutica (Proprietary) Limited, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Janssen Pharmaceutica S.A., Janssen Pharmaceutical K.K., Janssen Pharmaceutical Sciences Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceutical Unlimited Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Japan Branch, Janssen Products LP, Janssen R&D Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Research & Development LLC, Janssen Sciences Ireland Unlimited Company, Janssen Scientific Affairs LLC, Janssen Supply Group LLC, Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V., Janssen Vaccines Branch of Cilag GmbH International, Janssen Vaccines Corp., Janssen-Cilag, Janssen-Cilag (New Zealand) Limited, Janssen-Cilag A/S, Janssen-Cilag AG, Janssen-Cilag AS, Janssen-Cilag Aktiebolag, Janssen-Cilag B.V., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Lda., Janssen-Cilag Farmaceutica Ltda., Janssen-Cilag GmbH, Janssen-Cilag International NV, Janssen-Cilag Kft., Janssen-Cilag Kft. Branch Office, Janssen-Cilag Limited, Janssen-Cilag Manufacturing LLC, Janssen-Cilag NV, Janssen-Cilag OY, Janssen-Cilag Pharma GmbH, Janssen-Cilag Pharmaceutical S.A.C.I., Janssen-Cilag Polska Sp. z o.o., Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd, Janssen-Cilag Pty Ltd (Branch), Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A., Janssen-Cilag S.A. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Janssen-Cilag s.r.o., Janssen-Pharma S.L., Jevco Holding Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Johnson & Johnson (Angola) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (China) Investment Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson (Egypt) S.A.E., Johnson & Johnson (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Ireland) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Jamaica) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Kenya) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (DHCC Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. (JAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Middle East) Inc. Service Center (DAFZA Branch), Johnson & Johnson (Mozambique) Limitada, Johnson & Johnson (Namibia) (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (New Zealand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Philippines) Inc., Johnson & Johnson (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Thailand) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson (Trinidad) Limited, Johnson & Johnson (Vietnam) Co. Ltd, Johnson & Johnson - Societa' Per Azioni, Johnson & Johnson AB, Johnson & Johnson AB Eesti filiaal (Branch), Johnson & Johnson AG, Johnson & Johnson AG (Zuchwil Branch), Johnson & Johnson Belgium Finance Company BV, Johnson & Johnson Bulgaria EOOD, Johnson & Johnson China Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Hong Kong) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer (Thailand) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer B.V., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Health Care Switzerland Branch of Janssen-Cilag AG, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Holdings France, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc. (Dominican Republic Branch), Johnson & Johnson Consumer NV, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Services EAME Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Del Paraguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson Dominicana S.A.S., Johnson & Johnson Enterprise Innovation Inc., Johnson & Johnson European Treasury Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson Finance Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Finance Limited, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Financial Services GmbH (Branch Office), Johnson & Johnson Gateway LLC, Johnson & Johnson Gesellschaft m.b.H., Johnson & Johnson GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Guatemala S.A., Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc., Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Inc., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Commercial and Industrial S.A., Johnson & Johnson Hellas Consumer Products Commercial Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson Hemisferica S.A., Johnson & Johnson Holding GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Inc., Johnson & Johnson Industrial Ltda., Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC Inc., Johnson & Johnson Innovation LLC, Johnson & Johnson Innovation Limited, Johnson & Johnson International, Johnson & Johnson International (Belgian Branch) (European Logistics Center), Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson International (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (Branch), Johnson & Johnson International Financial Services Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson K.K., Johnson & Johnson Kft., Johnson & Johnson Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Korea Selling & Distribution LLC, Johnson & Johnson LLC, Johnson & Johnson Lda, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Johnson & Johnson Limited (Sri Lanka Branch), Johnson & Johnson Luxembourg Finance Company Sarl, Johnson & Johnson Management Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical (China) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Proprietary) Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical (Shanghai) Ltd. Beijing Branch, Johnson & Johnson Medical (Suzhou) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical B.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group - Latin America L.L.C., Johnson & Johnson Medical GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Korea Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medical Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson Medical NV, Johnson & Johnson Medical Products GmbH, Johnson & Johnson Medical Pty Ltd, Johnson & Johnson Medical S.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.C.S., Johnson & Johnson Medical S.p.A., Johnson & Johnson Medical SAS, Johnson & Johnson Medical Saudi Arabia Limited, Johnson & Johnson Medical Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Ankara Branch), Johnson & Johnson Medikal Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi (Izmir Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East - Scientific Office, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ - LLC (Lebanese Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC, Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Ghana Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC (Kenya Branch), Johnson & Johnson Middle East FZ-LLC Branch (TSO) (Saudi Arabia Branch), Johnson & Johnson Morocco Societe Anonyme, Johnson & Johnson NCB (Belgian Branch), Johnson & Johnson Nordic AB, Johnson & Johnson Pacific Pty Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pakistan (Private) Limited, Johnson & Johnson Panama S.A., Johnson & Johnson Personal Care (Chile) S.A., Johnson & Johnson Poland Sp. z o.o., Johnson & Johnson Poland sp. z o.o. oddzial w Warszawie "Consumer", Johnson & Johnson Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Pte. Ltd. Korea Branch, Johnson & Johnson Pty. Limited, Johnson & Johnson Romania S.R.L., Johnson & Johnson S.A., Johnson & Johnson S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson S.E. Inc., Johnson & Johnson S.E. d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson SDN. BHD., Johnson & Johnson Sante Beaute France, Johnson & Johnson Services Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision Inc., Johnson & Johnson Surgical Vision India Private Limited, Johnson & Johnson Taiwan Ltd., Johnson & Johnson UK Treasury Company Limited, Johnson & Johnson Ukraine LLC, Johnson & Johnson Urban Renewal Associates, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Shanghai) Ltd., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Ireland Unlimited Company, Johnson & Johnson d.o.o., Johnson & Johnson de Argentina S.A.C. e. I., Johnson & Johnson de Chile Limitada, Johnson & Johnson de Chile S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Colombia S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Johnson & Johnson de Uruguay S.A., Johnson & Johnson de Venezuela S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Ecuador S.A., Johnson & Johnson del Peru S.A., Johnson & Johnson do Brasil Industria E Comercio de Produtos Para Saude Ltda., Johnson & Johnson for Export and Import LLC, Johnson & Johnson s.r.o., Johnson Y Johnson de Costa Rica S.A., Johnson and Johnson (Proprietary) Limited, Johnson and Johnson Sihhi Malzeme Sanayi Ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, LTL Management LLC, La Concha Land Investment Corporation, Latam International Investment Company Unlimited Company, Legal Entity Name, MDS Co. Ltd., McNEIL MMP LLC, McNeil AB, McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals Co., McNeil Denmark ApS, McNeil Healthcare (Ireland) Limited, McNeil Healthcare (UK) Limited, McNeil Healthcare LLC, McNeil Iberica S.L.U., McNeil LA LLC, McNeil Nutritionals LLC, McNeil Panama LLC, McNeil Products Limited, McNeil Sweden AB, Medical Device Business Services Inc., Medical Devices & Diagnostics Global Services LLC, Medical Devices International LLC, Medos International Sarl, Medos International Sarl succursale de Neuchatel (Branch), Medos Sarl, MegaDyne Medical Products Inc., Menlo Care De Mexico S.A. de C.V., Mentor B.V., Mentor Deutschland GmbH, Mentor Medical Systems B.V., Mentor Partnership Holding Company I LLC, Mentor Texas GP LLC, Mentor Texas L.P., Mentor Worldwide LLC, Micrus Endovascular LLC, Middlesex Assurance Company Limited, Momenta Ireland Limited, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., NeoStrata Company Inc., NeoStrata UG (haftungsbeschrankt), Netherlands Holding Company, NeuWave Medical Inc., Neuravi Limited, Novira Therapeutics, Novira Therapeutics LLC, NuVera Medical Inc., OBTECH Medical Sarl, OGX Beauty Limited, OMJ Holding GmbH, OMJ Ireland Unlimited Company, OMJ Pharmaceuticals Inc., Obtech Medical Mexico S.A. de C.V., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Inc., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals Ltd., Omrix Biopharmaceuticals NV, Ortho Biologics LLC, Ortho Biotech Holding LLC, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical LLC, Orthospin Ltd., Orthotaxy, PT Integrated Healthcare Indonesia, PT. Johnson & Johnson Indonesia, Patriot Pharmaceuticals LLC, Peninsula Pharmaceuticals LLC, Pharmadirect Ltd., Pharmedica Laboratories (Proprietary) Limited, Princeton Laboratories Inc., Productos de Cuidado Personal y de La Salud de Bolivia S.R.L., Proleader S.A., Pulsar Vascular Inc., Regency Urban Renewal Associates, RespiVert Ltd., RoC International, Royalty A&M LLC, Rutan Realty LLC, SYNTHES Medical Immobilien GmbH, Scios LLC, Sedona Singapore International Pte. Ltd., Sedona Thai International Co. Ltd., Serhum S.A. de C.V., Shanghai Elsker For Mother & Baby Co. Ltd, Shanghai Elsker Mother & Baby Co. Ltd Minghang Branch, Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Ltd., Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sightbox LLC, Sodiac ESV, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Company, Spectrum Vision Limited Liability Partnership, SterilMed, SterilMed Inc., Surgical Process Institute Deutschland GmbH, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Limitada, Synthes GmbH, Synthes Holding AG, Synthes Holding Limited, Synthes Inc., Synthes Medical Surgical Equipment & Instruments Trading LLC, Synthes Produktions GmbH, Synthes Proprietary Limited, Synthes S.M.P. S. de R.L. de C.V., Synthes Tuttlingen GmbH, Synthes USA LLC, Synthes USA Products LLC, TARIS Biomedical, TARIS Biomedical LLC, TearScience Inc., The Anspach Effort LLC, The Vision Care Institute LLC, Tibotec LLC, Torax Medical Inc., UAB "Johnson & Johnson", UAB Johnson & Johnson Eesti Filiaal (Estonian Branch), Vania Expansion, Verb Surgical, Verb Surgical Inc., Vision Care Finance Unlimited Company, Vogue International, Vogue International LLC, Vogue International Trading Inc., WH4110 Development Company L.L.C., XO1, XO1 Limited, Xian Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd., Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Beijing Branch Office, Xian-Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd. Shanghai Branch Office, Zarbee's Inc., and Zarbee's Naturals. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Centene: AT Learning Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AT Medics Holdings LLP an English and Welsh LLP, AT Medics Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AT Technology (Private) Ltd. a Pakistan private company, AT Technology Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, AWC of Syracuse Inc. a New York corporation, Absolute Total Care Inc. a South Carolina corporation, AcariaHealth Inc. a Delaware corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #11 Inc. a Texas corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #12 Inc. a New York corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #13 Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #14 Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy #26 Inc. a Delaware corporation, AcariaHealth Pharmacy Inc. a California corporation, AcariaHealth Solutions Inc. a Delaware corporation, Access Medical Acquisition LLC a Delaware LLC, Access Medical Group of Florida City LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Hialeah LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Lakeland LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Miami LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of North Miami Beach LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Opa-Locka LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Perrine LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa II LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa III LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Tampa LLC a Florida LLC, Access Medical Group of Westchester LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition Direct Contracting LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Chesapeake LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers II LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Community Health Centers LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers II LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers III LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers IV LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers LLC a Hawaii LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers V LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Elite Providers VII LLC an Arizona LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Florida Partners LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Georgia LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Maryland Primary Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Accountable Care Coalition of North Texas LLC a Texas LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Georgia LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northeast Partners LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Northwest Florida LLC a Florida LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Prime Health LLC an Oregon LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health II LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health III LLC a Delaware LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Quality Health LLC an Oregon LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Partners LLC a Georgia LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Physician Partners LLC a South Carolina LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Accountable Care Coalition of Southeast Wisconsin LLC a Wisconsin LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Tennessee LLC a Tennessee LLC, Accountable Care Coalition of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Agate Resources Inc. an Oregon corporation, AirLogix, Ambetter of Magnolia Inc. a Mississippi corporation, Ambetter of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, Ambetter of Peach State Inc. a Georgia corporation, America's 1st Choice California Holdings LLC a Florida corporation, American Progressive Life and Health Insurance Company of New York a New York corporation, Apixio, Apixio Inc a Delaware corporation, Arch Personalized Medicine Initiative LLC a Missouri LLC, Arkansas Health & Wellness Health Plan Inc. an Arkansas corporation, Arkansas Total Care Holding Company LLC a Delaware LLC, Arkansas Total Care Inc. an Arkansas corporation, B2B Gestion Integra S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., B2B Salud S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., BMI Healthcare Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Hospital Decontamination Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Imaging Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Southend Private Hospital Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, BMI Syon Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Bankers Reserve Life Insurance Company of Wisconsin a Wisconsin corporation, Bishopswood SPV Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Bridgeway Health Solutions LLC a Delaware LLC, Bridgeway Health Solutions of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Buckeye Community Health Plan Inc. an Ohio corporation, Buckeye Health Plan Community Solutions Inc. an Ohio corporation, CCTX Holdings LLC a Texas LLC, CEF Holding Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, CMC Real Estate Company LLC a Delaware LLC, CT Poprad s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., CT Presov s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., California Health and Wellness Plan a California corporation, Cantina Laredo Clayton LP a Delaware limited partnership, Cardium Health Services, Care 1st Health Plan of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Care1st Health Plan Administrative Services Inc. an Arizona corporation, Carolina Complete Health Holding Company Partnership a Delaware partnership, Carolina Complete Health Inc. a North Carolina corporation, CeltiCare Health Plan Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, CeltiCare Health Plan of Massachusetts Inc. a Massachusetts corporation, Celtic Group Inc., Celtic Group Inc. a Delaware corporation, Celtic Insurance Company an Illinois corporation, Cenpatico Behavioral Health LLC a California LLC, Centene Center I LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Center II LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Center LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Company of Texas LP a Texas limited partnership, Centene Europe Finance Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, Centene Health Plan Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Centene Institute for Advanced Health Education LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene International Financing Company Limited a limited liability Malta company, Centene International Ventures LLC a Delaware LLC, Centene Management Company LLC a Wisconsin LLC, Centene Technology Europe S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Centene Technology UK Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Centene Venture Company Alabama Health Plan Inc. an Alabama corporation, Centene Venture Company Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Centene Venture Company Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, Centene Venture Company Indiana Inc. an Indiana corporation, Centene Venture Company Kansas Inc. a Kansas corporation, Centene Venture Company Michigan Inc. a Michigan corporation, Centene Venture Company Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Centene Venture Insurance Company Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Centro Inmunologocia De La Comunidad Valenciana S.L. a Spanish S.L., Centurion Correctional Healthcare of New Mexico LLC a New Mexico LLC, Centurion Detention Health Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Arizona LLC an Arizona LLC, Centurion of Delaware LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Florida LLC a Florida LLC, Centurion of Indiana LLC an Indiana LLC, Centurion of Kansas LLC a Kansas LLC, Centurion of Minnesota LLC a Minnesota LLC, Centurion of Mississippi LLC a Mississippi LLC, Centurion of New Hampshire LLC a Delaware LLC, Centurion of Pennsylvania LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Centurion of Tennessee LLC a Tennessee LLC, Centurion of Vermont LLC a Vermont LLC, Centurion of West Virginia LLC a West Virginia LLC, Centurion of Wyoming LLC a Wyoming LLC, Chrysalis Medical Services LLC a New Jersey LLC, Circle Birmingham Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Clinical Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Harmony Health Ltd. a Hong Kong private company, Circle Health 1 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 2 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 3 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health 4 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Health Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Holdings Ltd. a Jersey private company, Circle Hospital (Reading) Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle International an English and Welsh PLC, Circle Nottingham Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Circle Rehabilitation Services Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Clinica Santo Domingo De Lugo S.L. a Spanish S.L., Collaborative Health Systems IPA LLC a Florida LLC, Collaborative Health Systems LLC a New York LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Maryland LLC a Maryland LLC, Collaborative Health Systems of Virginia LLC a Virginia LLC, Community Medical Group, Community Medical Holdings Corporation a Delaware corporation, Comprehensive Health Management Inc. a Florida corporation, Coordinated Care Corporation an Indiana corporation, Coordinated Care of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, DELMARVA Collaborative Care LLC a Delaware LLC, Discare CZ a.s. a Czech Republic A.S., District Community Care Inc. a Washington D.C. corporation, Dr Magnet s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Elche-Crevillente Salud a Spanish S.A., Envolve Benefits Options Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Dental IPA of New York Inc. a New York corporation, Envolve Dental Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Dental of Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Envolve Dental of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Envolve Health, Envolve Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Optical Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve PeopleCare Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Pharmacy IPA LLC a New York LLC, Envolve Pharmacy Solutions Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Total Vision Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision Benefits Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision IPA of New York Inc. a New York corporation, Envolve Vision Inc. a Delaware corporation, Envolve Vision of Florida Inc. a Florida corporation, Envolve Vision of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Essential Care Partners LLC a Texas LLC, Fidelis Care, Forensic Health Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Foundation Care LLC a Missouri LLC, GHG (DB) Pension Trustees Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Healthcare Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Intermediate Holdings Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Leasing Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, GHG Mount Alvernia Hospital Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Group Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Holdings 2 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, General Healthcare Holdings 3 Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Generale de Sante International Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Golden Triangle Physician Alliance a Texas not-for-profit corporation, Granite State Health Plan Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, HHS Texas Management Inc. a Texas corporation, HHS Texas Management LP a Texas limited partnership, HLM Strategic Investment Fund L.P. a Delaware limited partnership, Hallmark Life Insurance Company an Arizona corporation, Harmony Health Management Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Harmony Health Plan Inc. an Illinois corporation, Harmony Health Systems Inc. a New Jersey corporation, Health Care Enterprises LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Access Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net Community Solutions Inc. a California corporation, Health Net Community Solutions of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net Federal Services LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Health Plan of Oregon Inc. an Oregon corporation, Health Net LLC, Health Net LLC a Delaware LLC, Health Net Life Insurance Company a California corporation, Health Net Life Reinsurance Company a Cayman Islands corporation, Health Net of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, Health Net of California Inc. a California corporation, Health Plan Real Estate Holdings Inc. a Missouri corporation, HealthSmart Benefit Solutions Inc. an Illinois corporation, HealthSmart Benefits Management LLC a Texas LLC, HealthSmart Care Management Solutions LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Information Systems Inc. a Texas corporation, HealthSmart Preferred Care II LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Preferred Network II Inc. a Delaware corporation, HealthSmart Primary Care Clinics LP a Texas partnership, HealthSmart Rx Solutions Inc. an Ohio corporation, Healthy Louisiana Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC , Healthy Missouri Holdings Inc. a Missouri corporation, Healthy Washington Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Heritage Health Systems Inc. a Texas corporation, Heritage Health Systems of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Heritage Physician Networks a Texas not-for-profit corporation, Home State Health Plan Inc. a Missouri corporation, HomeScripts.com LLC a Michigan LLC, Hospinet S.L. a Spanish S.L., Hospital Polusa S.A. a Spanish S.A., Hospital Povisa S.A. a Spanish S.A., Illinois Health Practice Alliance LLC a Delaware corporation, Infraestructuras y Servicios de Alzira S. L. a Spanish S.L., Integrated Mental Health Services a Texas corporation, Interpreta Holdings Inc. a Delaware corporation, Interpreta Inc. a Delaware corporation, Iowa Total Care Inc. an Iowa corporation, Kentucky Spirit Health Plan Inc. a Kentucky corporation , LifeShare Management Group LLC, LifeShare Management Group LLC a New Hampshire LLC, Louisiana Healthcare Connections Inc. a Louisiana corporation , MH Services International Holdings (UK) Limited an English and Welsh private company, MHM, MHM Correctional Services LLC a Delaware LLC, MHM Health Professionals LLC a Delaware LLC, MHM Services Inc. a Delaware corporation, MHM Services of California LLC a California LLC, MHM Solutions LLC a Delaware LLC, MHN Government Services LLC a Delaware LLC, MHN Services LLC a California LLC, MHS Consulting International Inc. a Delaware corporation, MHS Travel & Charter Inc. a Wisconsin corporation, MR Centrum Melnick s.r.o. a Czech Republic S.R.O., MR Poprad s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., MR Zilina s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Magellan Health Inc, Magnolia Health Plan Inc. a Mississippi corporation, Managed Health Network LLC a Delaware LLC, Managed Health Network a California corporation, Managed Health Services Insurance Corporation a Wisconsin corporation, Marina Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Maryland Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Maryland Collaborative Care Transformation Organization Inc. a Delaware corporation, Mauli Ola Health and Wellness Inc. a Hawaii corporation, Medicina NZ spol s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Meriden Hospital Advanced Imaging Centre Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Meridian Health Plan of Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, Meridian Health Plan of Michigan Inc. a Michigan corporation, Meridian Management Company LLC (a/k/a Meridian Administration Company LLC) a Michigan LLC, Meridian Network Services LLC a Michigan LLC, MeridianRx IPA LLC a New York LLC, MeridianRx LLC a Michigan LLC, MeridianRx of Indiana LLC a Michigan LLC, Michigan Complete Health a Michigan corporation, Mid-Atlantic Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Mount Alvernia PET CT Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Nations Healthcare Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Nebraska Total Care Inc. a Nebraska corporation, Network Providers LLC a Delaware LLC, New York Quality Healthcare Corporation a New York corporation, Next Door Neighbors Inc. a Delaware corporation, Next Door Neighbors LLC. a Delaware LLC, North West Cancer Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Northern Maryland Collaborative Care LLC a Maryland LLC, Novasys Health Inc. a Delaware corporation, OB Care a Czech Republic S.R.O., OB Klinika a.s. a Czech Republic A.S., Ohana Health Plan Inc. a Hawaii corporation, Oklahoma Complete Health Holding Company LLC a Delaware LLC, Oklahoma Complete Health Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, One Care by Care 1st Health Plans of Arizona Inc an Arizona corporation, Operose Health (Group) Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Operose Health (Group) UK Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Operose Health Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, OptiCare Health Systems - Managed Vision Business, PANTHERx Rare Pharmacy, PRIMEROSALUD S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Panther Pass Co LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Panther Specialty Holding Co LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Pantherx Access Services LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Pantherx Specialty LLC a Pennsylvania LLC, Parker LP LLC a Nevada LLC, Peach State Health Plan Inc. a Georgia corporation, Penn Marketing America LLC a Delaware LLC, Pennsylvania Health and Wellness Inc. a Pennsylvania corporation, Preamed s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., Premier Marketing Group LLC a Delaware LLC, Primary Care Partners Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Pro Diagnostic Group A.S. a Slovakia A.S., Pro Magnet CZ s.r.o. a Czech Republic S.R.O., Pro Magnet s.r.o a Slovakia S.R.O., Pro Nuclear a.s. a Slovakia A.S., Pro RTG s.r.o a Slovakia S.R.O., Progress Medical A.S. a Czech Republic A.S., Prowl Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, QCA Healthplan Inc. an Arkansas corporation, Qualchoice Life and Health Insurance Company and Arkansas company, Quincy Coverage Corporation a New York corporation, Rhythm Health Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Ribera Diagnostics S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Healthcare S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Lab S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Management S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Salud II a Spanish UTE, Ribera Salud Proyectos S.L. a Spanish S.L., Ribera Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Ribera Salud Tecnologias S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera Slaud Infraestructuras S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Ribera-Quilpro UTE a Spanish UTE, Runnymeade SPV Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Salus Administrative Services Inc. a New York corporation, Salus IPA LLC a New York LLC, Secure Capital Solutions 2000 S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., SelectCare Health Plans Inc. a Texas corporation, SelectCare of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, Servicios De Mantenimiento Prevencor S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Shanghai Circle Harmony Hospital Management Limited a Chinese private company, SilverSummit Healthplan Inc. a Nevada corporation, Social Health Bridge LLC a Delaware LLC, Social Health Bridge Trust a Delaware trust, Specialty Therapeutic Care GP LLC a Texas LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings, Specialty Therapeutic Care Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, Specialty Therapeutic Care LP a Texas limited partnership, Sunflower State Health Plan Inc. a Kansas corporation, Sunshine Health Community Solutions Inc. a Florida corporation, Sunshine Health Holding LLC a Florida LLC, Sunshine State Health Plan Inc. a Florida corporation, Superior Health Management Advisors LLC, Superior HealthPlan Community Solutions Inc. a Texas corporation, Superior HealthPlan Inc. a Texas corporation, TKH Holding Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, Terapias Medicas Domiciliarias S.L. a Spanish S.L., The Pavilion Clinic Ltd. an English and Welsh private company, The Practice Properties Limited an English and Welsh private company, The WellCare Management Group Inc. a New York corporation, Three Shires Hospital LP an English and Welsh limited partnership, Torrejon Salud S.A. a Spanish S.A., Torrevieja Salud S.L.U. a Spanish S.L.U., Torrevieja Salud UTE a Spanish UTE, Transplant Health Solutions IPA Inc. a New York corporation, Trillium Community Health Plan Inc. an Oregon corporation, UAM Agent Services Corp. an Iowa corporation, US Script, Universal American Corp. a Delaware corporation, Universal American Financial Services Inc. a Delaware corporation, Universal American Holdings LLC a Delaware LLC, Vivamed s.r.o. a Slovakia S.R.O., WCG Health Management Inc. a Delaware corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of America an Arkansas corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Kentucky Inc. a Kentucky corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Louisiana Inc. a Louisiana corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Nevada Inc. a Nevada corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Hampshire Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Oklahoma Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, WellCare Health Insurance Company of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Connecticut Inc. a Connecticut corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Hawaii Inc. a Hawaii corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of New York Inc. a New York corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Southwest Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Insurance of Tennessee Inc. a Tennessee corporation, WellCare Health Plans, WellCare Health Plans Inc. a Delaware corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Arizona Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Kentucky Inc. a Kentucky corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Massachusetts Inc. a Massachusetts corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Missouri Inc. a Missouri corporation, WellCare Health Plans of New Jersey Inc. a New Jersey corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Rhode Island Inc. a Rhode Island corporation, WellCare Health Plans of Vermont Inc. a Vermont corporation, WellCare National Health Insurance Company a Texas corporation, WellCare Prescription Insurance Inc. an Arizona corporation, WellCare of Alabama Inc. an Alabama corporation, WellCare of Arkansas Inc. an Arkansas corporation, WellCare of California Inc. a California corporation, WellCare of Connecticut Inc. a Connecticut corporation, WellCare of Georgia Inc. a Georgia corporation, WellCare of Illinois Inc. an Illinois corporation, WellCare of Indiana Inc. an Indiana corporation, WellCare of Maine Inc. a Maine corporation, WellCare of Michigan Holding Company a Michigan corporation, WellCare of Mississippi Inc. a Mississippi corporation, WellCare of Missouri Health Insurance Company Inc. a Missouri corporation, WellCare of New Hampshire Inc. a New Hampshire corporation, WellCare of New York Inc. a New York corporation, WellCare of North Carolina Inc. a North Carolina corporation, WellCare of Ohio Inc. an Ohio corporation, WellCare of Oklahoma Inc. an Oklahoma corporation, WellCare of Pennsylvania Inc. a Pennsylvania corporation, WellCare of South Carolina Inc. a South Carolina corporation, WellCare of Texas Inc. a Texas corporation, WellCare of Virginia Inc. a Virginia corporation, WellCare of Washington Inc. a Washington corporation, Western Sky Community Care Inc. a New Mexico corporation, Windsor Health Group Inc. a Tennessee corporation, Winning Security S.L. a Spanish S.L., and Worlco Management Services Inc. a New York corporation. Read More Accra Fashion Week 2017 is scheduled for the 3-8th October 2017 as announced by the organizers, and it just opened up registration for designers, buyer, media and more. The venue is still yet to be confirmed as they are yet to decide which offer will work best for the international event set to take place in Accra, Ghana. This year's fashion extravaganza is dubbed 'The Buyers Opportunity'. This is based on the ethos that Ghanaians and African designers as a whole need to take the approach of realizing their brand's worth, and applying it to their business and showcasing it as such on the day of their AFWk show. And in the direction fashion is moving in today, it is more of an opportunity for the local boutiques and international buyers to engage in business with African designers. "The only difference between western brands and ours is no longer the quality, it's simply just the branding, and this year we will see that level up, so its really an opportunity for the stores to start looking to Africa" stated Nana Tamakloe "By the end of 2017 you will really be a disgrace as a boutique owner if you are not stocking African fashion brands, especially if you are based in Africa. It's no more about prints, or headwraps, that's nice. But the question is what African brand is it. That's what matters." Accra Fashion Week 2016 made a gracious introduction last year in 2016 with the theme from Batik2Boutique. Filling up 3 days of fashion which they are thankful to the media for. The organizers put the event through with the purpose of encouraging local stores in Ghana to become more receptive to the home grown fashion in Ghana. The organizers state "The work to get Ghanaian products into our stores is not an over night process, in consideration of the boutique owners, they also need to make sales, so even though we managed to get their interest, before they take on the work of our designers the question is how well branded are the designers? How ready are they for mass production? What guarantees our stores people will walk in them to buy their clothes" "The bottom line is this kind of responsibility is one for the government, but since we don't have that kind of push here, we all have to pull it together as Ghanaians. But do believe once we surpass this, we will witness enormous amounts of money and jobs that will be created for our nation through the textile and fashion sectors." Abigail, AFWk Secretary. After all the controversies surrounding the date for the burial of legendary Ghanaian veteran actor Ebenezer Donkor aka Katawere,the actual date has finally been revealed by his Second wife Maame Beatirce Boatemaa. According to Maame Beatrice,the late veteran actor will be buried on 10th March,2016 at his hometown Takorasi in the Eastern Region. Initially,there had been rumors that the late veteran actor was going to be buried in February ,but this later changed to April and then finally to the current date(10th March,2016) Explaining why it took the family along time to agree on the actual date,Maame Beatrice told Rossy of razzonline.com that,since her departed husband is going to be buried in his home town,the family decided to put proper measures in place to give the late veteran actor a befitting burial. She then used the opportunity giving to her by razzonline.com to solicit support from the general public by stating that,the family will welcome anything in cash or in kind. It would be recalled that soon after the death of the late veteran actor, was announced on Monday 13th November, 2016 after battling Kidney failure,there were disparities in the number of children he left behind between his Second wife,Maame Beatrice Boatemaa and his children. Diana Donkor ,his second daughter was said to have indicated in an interview with myjoyonline.com that his late dad has six children.His first daughter Helina Donkor also confirmed that her late Dad has Six children . She explained that they are five females and a male who happens to be the third child. But Maame Beatrice refuted her step daughters claim by indicating that her late husband has seven children.This issue raised an elephantine controversy in the showbiz industry and the general public at large. Speaking on the issue ,Maame Beatrice accentuated that she and her step children have currently resolved the cloying matter that befell them. Kindly watch the full interview below! The Founder and Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International in Ghana, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, has caused massive controversy in South Africa over a sermon on homosexuality. Bishop Heward-Mills who was preaching at a well-known church in Soweto, the Grace Bible Church, described homosexual as unnatural and unbiblical. You don't find two male dogs, two male cats, or two male lionseven lizards, two male elephants, there is nothing like that in nature, it is unnatural, yes, there is nothing like that, he stated. But his sermon angered a popular South African choreographer and radio personality Somizi Mhlongo who is also a known homosexual. Somizi Mhlongo stormed out of the church service and later posted a video on Instagram saying he was not going to sit there and be offended. The video has been viewed more than 62,000 times and has attracted almost 1,000 comments on mixed reactions. Mr Mhlongo said the congregation had been cheering as the Ghanaian pastor said homosexuality was sinful and disgusting. This is who I am. I am a gay man. Get it into your skull. My soul is all right with my GodI'm disappointed at all the gay men and women who sat there and listened to him offending us and didn't do anything about it. I walked out and visibly so, Mr Mhlongo said. 24.01.2017 LISTEN Trevor Noah, the South African host of The Daily Show, has been voted the 2016 Most Influential Young South African in a public ranking poll by reputable rating establishment, Avance Media. 2016 saw Comedian Trevor Noah, making The Daily Show become a global phenomenon, and was among the top commentators for the 2016 US Presidential Elections which also had him interview US Ex-Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Votes which drew public participation from about 90 countries from across the globe also endorsed DJ Zinhle, Nasty C, Caster Semenya and Sibusiso Leope as among the top 5 young South Africans who influenced South Africa and beyond in 2016. DJ Zinhle known in private life as Zinhle Jiyane, and one of the few women in South Africa who took up a career in Disc Jockeying also got voted as the Most Influential Young Lady in the ranking. Below are the Young South Africans voted as the Most Influential in their various categories related to their field of work: Business: Tebogo Ditshego CEO, Ditshego Media. Sports: Caster Semenya Athlete Media: Trevor Noah Host, The Daily Show Lifestyle: DJ Zinhle Entertainment: Nasty C Law & Governance: Julius Malema Leader, EFF Social Entreprise & Philanthropy: Lebang Nong Founder, Katleho Pele Education Leadership & Civil Society: Khaya Dlanga Personal Development & Academia: Sibusiso Leope Science & Technology: Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng MD of Avance Media, Prince Akpah extended his appreciation to all who participated in the inaugural ranking polls for South Africa and advised young people to learn and be inspired by the stories of these young achievers as they represent South Africa on the globally. Below is the Official 2016 Ranking of 100 Most Influential Young South Africans Trevor Noah DJ Zinhle Nasty C Caster Semenya Sibusiso Leope Tebogo Ditshego Sandile Shezi Wayde van Niekerk Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng Julius Malema Khaya Dlanga Cassper Nyovest Akani Simbine Bonang Matheba Mbuyiseni Ndlozi Lebang Nong Siyabulela Xuza Mduduzi Manana Vusi Thembekwayo Catherine Constantinides Itumeleng Khune Thabang Mabuza Thabang Mathopo Khusela Sangoni AKA Minnie Dlamini Mmusi Aloysias Maimane Ashley Uys Lebo Selloane-Tshabalala Sizwe Nzima Yolanda Zoleka Cuba Tokologo Phetla Phakamile Mbengashe Emmanuel Bonoko Boitumelo Thulo Rosie Motene Luvuyo Rani Phumlani M. Majozi Duduzane Zuma Frederick Bohasu Khethi Ngwenya Elvis Mmaphuthelo Sekhaolelo Lindiwe Mazibuko LIRA Mmabatho Mokiti Faith Mangope Thato Kgatlhanye Rapelang Rabana MsCosmo AB de Villiers Thula Sindi Vuyo Jack Musa Manzi Bongani Baloyi Ludwick Marishane Terry Pheto Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Candice Swanepoel Thando Thabethe Raelene Rorke Siya Beyile Zwelethu Mambane Mandisa Shandu Nizenande Machi Masechaba Ndlovu Redi Tlhabi Unathi Msengana Tembeka Ngcukaitobi Floyd Shivambu Conrad Travis David Azania Mosaka Collen Maine Simphiwe Dana Justin Stanford Naadiya Moosajee Victor Dlamini Vinny Lingham Seana Nkhahle Mogau Seshoene Jonathan Liebmann Steven Pienaar Thembi Seete Alex Fourie Cathy Mohlahlana Caspar Lee Karabo Mathang Max Hussmann JP Pietersen Adii Pienaar Masizole Mnqasela Shashi Naidoo Jaco De Bruyn Bulelwa Mkutukana Dario Trinchero Hajrah Ormajee Mike Eilertsen Gareth Pon Magdalene Moonsamy Chris Morris Louis Oosthuizen The 100 Most Influential Young South Africans is an initiative of Avance Media in partnership with Reputation Poll, EOD Partners, Jagari Designs, CELBMD Africa, My Naija Naira, Dream Ambassadors Foundation GH, iCare Hub Africa, Global Skills Exchange, Core Foundation Barcity Media and Project Know Thyself International. UK-based International Gospel Act, Sonnie Agyemang Badu has appealed to the Black Stars of Ghana to put in much effort to win this years African Cup of Nations (AFCON), currently ongoing in Gabon. In a passionate appeal to the senior national team on his Instagram account he pleaded with the Stars to let the cup touch the Ghanaian soil. He encouraged them to put in their best to bring the cup home as Ghanaians have been nursing broken hearts since Senegal 1992. He admonished some of the senior players who are due to retire early, to at least make an effort to win the come. He envisaged that winning the cup would make Ghanaians proud of them again. Sonnie who posted his private letter to the Black Stars on his Instagram account prior to the match with the eagles of Mali wished the Stars luck and wrote Dear Ghana Black Stars , this time round all we are asking you to do for us is let the AFCON CUP touch the Ghanaian soil. .. #BRINGtheCupHome by fire by force , we have been crying of heart breaks since Senegal 92, most of you were young then (I remember it like yesterday) , I know you are all in good shape , for some of you remember it's your last AFcon so a word to the wise is enough ... much love BADU ... private letter to the Ghana snr national team .. good luck on your game with Mali today. His private letter attracted comments from many who cheered the Stars on and wished them well in their subsequent matches. In an interview with Sonnie Badu, he further appealed to Ghanaians to forgive the Black Stars and cheer them on to victory to win this years AFCON. Meanwhile, Sonnie Badu who has started his preaching and worship tours round the world has officially released his new album Soundz of Africa on sale on the Ghanaian market. He has admonished his followers and fans who send messages of getting the album to get copies on all retail outlets. Sonnie Badu is a multi- award winning gospel artiste who has shared the stage with International gospel artistes like Tytribett, Tasha Cobbs, Darwin Hobbs, Dr. Ron Kenoly and Jonathan Nelson. A supporter of the Democratic Republic of Congo's opposition leader Etienne Tshiskedi holds his portrait during a rally in Kinshasa in 2016. By Eduardo Soteras (AFP/File) 24.01.2017 LISTEN Kinshasa (AFP) - Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi headed Tuesday to Belgium for medical treatment -- just as his party is trying to negotiate a power-sharing deal following President Laurent Kabila's refusal to step down. The 84-year-old head of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a historic heavyweight in DR Congo's opposition movement, took off from Kinshasa's airport aboard a private plane at 6:00 am (0500 GMT), an AFP journalist reported. The departure of the frail leader could complicate negotiations over the timetable for a New Year's Eve deal under which Kabila will stay in office before new elections are held in late 2017. The country's influential Catholic bishops brokered the deal in a bid to prevent more bloodshed in a crisis that has already claimed dozens of lives in the chronically unstable nation. The UDPS, saying it wanted to put an end to "rumours", published a statement overnight saying its leader would be leaving for Brussels on Tuesday on a trip that had been "postponed several times because of the political situation in the country", without specifying the reason for his departure. But a source close to the Tshisekedi family said he was going to Belgium for medical tests. "He's not dying, but he has to go for a test in Brussels," the source said. A senior UDPS official expressed greater concern over the health of "the Old Man", as Tshisekedi is affectionately known among his political allies, saying the opposition leader's health had rapidly deteriorated. "This could be a one-way trip, we can't rule that out," the party official said on condition of anonymity. The UDPS statement said Tshisekedi would be returning to Congo as soon as possible to "take up his historic responsibilities". Tshisekedi had made a triumphant return in July after two years of medical treatment in former colonial power Belgium, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to welcome him home. Kabila, 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. Tshisekedi is supposed to head a transitional body that will be set up until the elections due at the end of the year, with a prime minister to be named from opposition ranks. He had unsuccessfully fought the 2011 presidential election against Kabila, a vote which the opposition alleged was marked by massive fraud. Kano (Nigeria) (AFP) - A female suicide bomber who attacked a town in northeast Nigeria earlier this month was carrying a baby at the time, the country's main relief agency said on Tuesday. But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it was unclear whether this was a new tactic on the part of Boko Haram Islamists to allow would-be bombers to evade detection. "From the report we got after the Madagali attack (on January 13), one of the female suicide bombers had a baby strapped to her back," said the NEMA coordinator for Adamawa state, Saad Bello. "However it is not clear whether it was a coincidence or a strategy they employed to avoid detection by security personnel. "This was one isolated case and it will be premature to arrive at a definite conclusion that the use of babies in suicide attacks has become a trend." At least two people were killed and 15 others injured in the explosions in Madagali at a checkpoint manned by local hunters, at a military post and a bus station. Police said four female bombers were responsible while the state government blamed Boko Haram, which has frequently targeted Madagali, including in December, when some 45 people were killed. Boko Haram, which has been fighting to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009, began using suicide bombers in mid-2014. Women and girls, some reportedly aged 10 and younger, have been used to target checkpoints, bus stations, mosques, churches, schools and markets to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Last week, the group's leader Abubakar Shekau admitted for the first time they had used women in the conflict. Experts studying suicide bombings have said children are likely to be unaware they are being used as human bombs but that women using children and babies as cover for suicide attacks was rare. In 2008, US investigators suggested a blast blamed on Al-Qaeda which killed at least 35 at a wedding reception north of Baghdad may have been carried out by a bomber pretending to be pregnant. Two years earlier in Sri Lanka, another woman believed to be feigning pregnancy carried out a suicide bomb attack that killed 11 and wounded the country's army chief. Tamil Tiger separatists were blamed. Accra, Jan 23, GNA - Mr Herbert Acquaye, National President of Ghana Hotels Association (GHA) has said the Association was poised to build capacity of hoteliers to be competitive to meet the growing challenges in the industry. Mr Acquaye said the Association would establish a practical hotel school headed by the African Hospitality School to support the growth of the industry and to help industry players compete to international standards. He said this in Accra at the second 2016 GHA Awards Night used to recognised hardworking individual and institutions in the industry. The ceremony was on the theme 'Enhancing Hotel Operations though information and communication technology'. Mr Acquaye said the hotel industry was making rapid changes in its operations as lifestyle changes due to the use of ICT, and that there was need for industry players to meet these growing expectations to survive. Mr Acquaye said security had become a major issue due to the terrorist threat and attacks in the sub-region and that most facilities have had to review their security arrangements at significant costs hence increasing their general overhead expenses. Mr Acquaye said the constant bombardment by agencies of state with levies, charges, fees, penalties and taxes without any recourse to discussions and negotiations was a worry on the operations of the industry. 'Hotels have become a source of internally generated fund for most organisations at the peril of our sustenance and survival but despite all these hoteliers have taken the shocks, kept their facilities running, looked after their staff... and paid taxes to government and others,' he added. Mr Kwame Debrah, a member of the Association said one major factor that contributed to the rise in the number of hotels in the country particularly in the Central Region was government's declaration of tourism as priority sector. "To achieve the vision, between 1990 and 1994 some hotel proprietors were given banks loans for renovation or upgrading of their facility and the repairing of the castles and forts, the creation of the Kakum National Parks Canopy Walkway and the commencement of the celebration of Panafest," he added. He said as at December 2014, there were 2,570 hotels in the country and 41,331 rooms with 45,507 beds, two five star hotels, seven four star hotels, thirty six three star hotels 256 two star hotels, 214 one star hotels and 156 guest houses and 10800 and 1,804 budget hotels. African Regent Hotel was adjudged the Hotel Restaurant for the Year 2016, Tang Palace Hotel won the Food and Beverage Team of the Year, Labadi Beach Hotel got the Hotel Kitchen of the Year, while Samaritan Hotel won the Budget Hotel of the Year. Golden Gate Hotel won the One Star Hotel of the Year in the Ashanti Region, and Excelsa Lodge won the Two Star Hotel of the Year, whilst Golden Bean Hotel won the Three Star Hotel of the Year. In the Greater Accra Region Tribeca Hotel won the One Star of the Year, while Airport View Hotel emerged the Two Star of the Year and Oak Plaza Hotel won the Three Star Hotel of the Year. GNA By Kodjo Adams, GNA Accra, Jan. 23, GNA - An Accra Circuit Court on Monday remanded Samuel Osei, a porter and Kofi Sarpong, a barber for conspiring and robbing one Anthony Kweku Asare, on January 11. Samuel and Kofi were said to have conspired and attacked Anthony at the Awudome Cemetery Junction with cutlasses and robbed him of an amount of GH1,500.00 and one Exhause phone tablet worth GH1,200.00. They pleaded not guilty to the charges and the court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin Doku remanded them into police custody to reappear on February 2. Prosecuting, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patience Mario told the court that the complainant is a commercial bus driver who ply the Takoradi-Accra road, while the accused persons Samuel is a porter residing at Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Kofi a barber and resident at Awudome Estates. She said on January 11, between the hours of 20:00 hours and 21:00 hours, the complainant sent his faulty ford GMC commercial bus to a mechanic workshop in near the Awudome Cemetery for repairs. He later went back to commercial bathhouse called 'Gye Nyame bathhouse,' at Kwame Nkrumah Circle to take his bath. The prosecution said on his way back from the Nkrumah Circle, Asare was attacked by the accused persons and an accomplice one Afriyie, who is now at large. According to the prosecution Afriyei jumped out from the Awudome cemetery to the roadside and attacked the complainant whilst Asare wielding a cutlass subjected the complainant to severe beatings and robbed him of the above listed items. The prosecution said the suspects then bolted into the cemetery. DSP Mario said a report was later made at the Police Station at the STC Yard and the accused persons were later arrested. She told the court upon investigations the two accused persons admitted beating the complainant with the flat edge of the cutlass together with their accomplice at large but denied robbing him. GNA By Hafsa Obeng, GNA Accra, Jan. 23, GNA - An Accra circuit court on Monday convicted Hasha Adams a trader to a fine of GHE1,200.00 for causing unlawful harm to Agya Baah another trader or in default serve a six-month jail term. Hasha was convicted for smashing the head of a colleague with a tea kettle when he demanded his money from her. The court presided over by Mrs Marian Affoh further ordered the convict to pay GHE 2,000.00 as compensation to the complainant and sign a bond to be of good behaviour for 24 months in default serve another six-month jail term. The court asked the police to allow harmed victims to take shots of the wounds in the initial stage of injuries so as to assist the court could ascertain the degree of injuries. According to the court without such evidence it becomes difficult for the court to assess extent of harm meted out to victims. Prosecuting, Inspector E.O. Adjei said the complainant Agya Baah, a trader resides at Russia, near Dansoman. He aid around February last year, the complainant gave out cash in the sum of GHE24,000.00 to the convict for safe keeping. Inspector Adjei said five months later complainant went to Hasha and collected GHE 18,000.00 out of the amount leaving a balance of GHE6,000.00. According to prosecution somewhere in November last year, Agya Baah went to demand the rest of his money but Hasha pleaded with him to give her some time since she had used the balance to cure her ailing mother. This prosecution said this did not go down well with Agya Baah and a quarrel ensued between him and the accused. On January 3, this year, the husband of the accused called the complainant on phone and asked him to come for his money. Prosecution said, the following day the complainant went for his money from the convict's husband however while Agya Baah was counting the money, Hasha without any provocation emerged and smashed the complainant's forehead with a tea kettle. The complainant sustained injuries on his forehead reported the matter to the Police where Hasha was arrested. GNA By Joyce Danso, GNA Kumasi, Jan 23, GNA - Nine teenage girls have been rescued from forced marriage in the Ashanti Region over the past six months. Mr. Stephen Ofosu Darfour, the Regional Director of the Department of Children, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the victims are aged between 13 and 16 years. They are all Muslims and of Malian and Chadian descent, he added. They were freed through the collaborative effort of the Department, the police Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit and the Defense for Children International (DCI), a local NGO. He said the Social Welfare Department had taken custody of the victims, adding that, the matter was being investigated by the police and that anybody found to have acted wrongly would be made to face the law. Mr. Darfour said he found it disturbing that some people, despite public education, continued to force children into early marriages. That was completely unacceptable and must be fought on all fronts and with renewed energy. He spoke of the training of people in the communities by his department to monitor and report child abuse cases to the appropriate state institutions for action. The goal is to help provide adequate protection for the child to ensure their growth and development as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which has been ratified by the country. He made reference to Article 24 of the Convention, which talks about the need to protect children from harmful traditional practices and asked that all worked to uphold the agreement. GNA By Josephine Nyarko, GNA Berekum, (B/A), Jan. 23, GNA - The Netherland Development Organisation (SNV), the lead organisation of the Social Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (SPEFA) project has lauded the implementation of the Project in the Berekum Municipality. Mr. Isaac Appiagyei Boachie, an adviser at the SNV, a non-profit international development organisation working in the agriculture, energy, water, sanitation and hygiene sectors, said the three-year project had empowered and increased citizens' participation in local governance in the Municipality. He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sideline of a SPEFA forum at Berekum in the Brong-Ahafo Region, that the project implementers were working out modalities with the Berekum Municipal Assembly to ensure the sustainability of the project, which was expected to end by November this year. It was attended by hairdressers, dressmakers, artisanal workers, commercial drivers, representatives of transport unions, women groups, tailors, market women and representatives of the Ghana Federation of People with Disabilities. MIHOSO International, an NGO, is implementing a three-year SPEFA project in the Sunyani and Berekum Municipalities, which is aimed at improving citizens' perception about financial management, namely how the municipal and district assemblies manage and report on their resources. The project emanated from the Local Government Capacity Support Project, which was initiated by the Government and the World Bank. Mr Boachie indicated that reports gathered showed that the Project implementation which started in 2014 had enlightened and empowered local people to contribute significantly to decision-making process. It has also helped the Berekum Municipal Assembly to easily identify and address the immediate needs of the people. He said because of the Project the local people had benefited from the provision of basic infrastructure like market, lorry stations, street lights and other social amenities. Mr Boachie commended the Municipal Assembly and MIHOSO for their commitment to the execution of the Project and expressed optimism that the relationship established between the Assembly and the people would be deepened for mutual benefit. Mr Barnabas Geaten Gbong, the Project Officer of MIHOSO, educated the participants about the duties of the Members of Parliament (MPs), Municipal/District Chief Executives and Assembly Members. He advised the participants not to elect MPs based on partisan political interest because the legislature was an organ of government representing the general interest of the entire citizenry, hence the need for the electorate to elect competent people to represent them. Mr. Gbong said it was the duty of the MP to organise and explain to his or her constituents the laws passed by Parliament as well as policies and programmes being implemented by the government. He said as a non-voting ex-officio member of the Assembly, the MP was required to monitor programmes and projects that the Assembly initiated in the constituency. Mr Gbong said a good relationship between MPs and their constituents would not only deepen the understanding of the local people about the work of the legislature, but also guide them to make informed decision during parliamentary elections. He emphasised that the basic function of the MPs were the passage of laws, saying, if the people understood that it would help to bring under control the unnecessary pressures their constituents mounted on them for assistance. GNA By Dennis Peprah, GNA 23.01.2017 LISTEN New Abirim (E/R), Jan 23, GNA - The Newmont Akyem Development Foundation (NAKDeF) has scaled up the effort to strengthen security in mining communities across the Birim North District. The Foundation has been working closely with the Ghana Police Service on the establishment of community watch committees to help fight crime. Mr. Yaw Okyere Ntrama, Interim General Manager of Newmont Golden Ridge Limited, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that providing adequate security protection for the people and tackling crime was an urgent priority. He also spoke of steps taken to give the youth employable skills and said nearly 200 had already been trained on plant and equipment maintenance and to operate haul trucks. Some of the trainees had now been engaged by the mining company. He indicated that as a responsible corporate citizen, the company attached importance to the welfare and felt needs of the people in areas, where it was operating. It was for this reason that it had been involved in the construction of development projects including health and social centres. GNA By Eunice Tekie Tei, GNA Begoro (E/R), Jan 23, GNA - An ultra-modern health facility, specializing in the treatment of children with cerebral paralysis is being built at Agona Duakwa in the Agona East District. The project, the initiative of the Salvation Army, would expand access to quality care and rehabilitation services by poor patients in deprived communities. Mr. Paul Bamfo, the acting Director of Medical, Social and Community Service of the Church, broke the news at a ceremony to start upgrading works on a Therapy Centre at the Begoro Rehabilitation Centre for Children. This is being done with financial support from the Australian High Commission in Accra. The Territorial Commander of the Salvation Army of Ghana, Colonel Joseph Lukau, said they were eager to give strong support to children with physical challenges to live normal lives. They wanted to see them become economically self-supporting, he added. Mr. Andrew Barnes, the Australian High Commissioner, spoke of his government's readiness to associate with efforts at helping to empower people with disabilities to realize their full potentials. He underlined the need to go the extra mile to aid everybody to contribute to the growth of the economy. Mr. Kofi Okyere Agyekum, Member of Parliament (MP) for Fanteakwa South, called for prompt release by the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies of the percentage of the common fund meant for those with disabilities. GNA By Edmund Quaynor, GNA 24.01.2017 LISTEN Today there is no need to say that climate change issue is becoming more and more of a pressing challenge which needs complex and efficient response. Landmark COP 21 and COP 22 summits have set a major goal and strategy to limit the rise in global mean temperatures to 2C, which will be impossible without gradual decarbonization. To achieve this ambitious goal, nuclear energy will have to play a greater and more crucial role in the development of a clean energy mix. Only through the development of a low carbon sustainable mix of energy sources, including nuclear and renewables technologies, will it be possible to solve this global problem. However, we should be bear in mind that in foreseeable future, due to constant global economic growth and urbanization, the global electricity demand is expected to increase significantly, even upon the background of improved end-user efficiency. It is estimated that sub-Saharan Africa alone will consume nearly 1,600 terawatt hours by 2040, four times what was used in 2010. By 2040, sub-Saharan Africa will consume as much electricity as India and Latin America combined did in 2010. In this case, nuclear energy coupled with hydropower and renewables can become a pillar of a new and environmentally friendly low-carbon global energy mix. To date, nuclear power sources have proven their technological advantages and readiness for immediate deployment to guarantee sustainable and affordable baseload energy. Diversification of energy generation sources at the same time can initiate a broad wave of electrification, which will help decarbonize other sectors as well. For his part James Conca, one of the leading experts in the field of environment and climate change, argues that nuclear technologies are mature and safe. Moreover, he argues that the barriers nuclear energy may face today have nothing to do with factors with technical safety or scientific innovations, but with political or social misconceptions. Indeed, nuclear power technology has been developing continuously over more than 60 years, and the latest design nuclear plants such as Rosatoms Generation III + reactors incorporate the unique experience gained over these decades in terms of safety, efficiency and sustainability. Agneta Rising, Director General of the World Nuclear Association highlighted the importance of full global access to reliable and affordable electricity supplies. She added that nuclear power is a proven source of low-carbon electricity. It promotes the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions at the same time fostering sustainable development. While technological progress has no limits, especially in energy sphere, nuclear power is without any doubt a mature and efficient technology. In 2015 the worlds top climate scientists, Dr. James Hansen, Dr. Tom Wigley, Dr. Ken Caldeira and Dr. Kerry Emanuel presented research showing the increasing urgency for the decarbonization of the worlds economy. Moreover, they indicated that renewables alone cannot meet the goal of limiting the global warming to 2C. They stressed that a major expansion of nuclear power is essential to avoid dangerous anthropogenic disaster in the future. For his part, Dr Anthonie Cilliers, Nuclear engineering specialist and programme manager of Nuclear School and Nuclear Engineering at the North-West University, mentioned that nuclear power has distinct benefits due to the large amounts and reliability of the electricity it produces, from very little fuel to the small area it takes up, with no emissions being blown into the atmosphere. Nuclear power already plays an important role in reducing toxic emissions on a global scale. At present, nuclear reactors generate a third of all low-carbon power in the world, while the share of nuclear power in the global energy mix is currently around 11%. This figure is to be increased to 18% by 2030 and 25% by 2050 in order to ensure that the goals set at COP 21 and 22 are achieved. Each year between 1.2 and 2.4 Gigatonnes (Gt or billion tonnes) of CO2 emissions are prevented thanks to nuclear power, assuming this power would otherwise be produced by burning either gas (500 gCO2/kWh) or coal (1 000 gCO2/kWh). For instance, in Nigeria privately-owned off grid diesel generators generate twice as much emission as is produced by the grid connected coal power plants. The overall effect of these generators is huge. Roughly 9 million generators in Nigeria produce approximately 29 million metric tons of CO2 each year. A catastrophically huge number. And moreover, diesel generators do not resolve the pending problem of energy supply and efficiency. Ogbonnaya Onu, Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology, highlighted that the nuclear power is considered a prominent alternative and a more environmentally beneficial solution since it emits far less greenhouse gases during electricity generation than coal or other traditional power plants. And thats why Nigeria is embarking on the way of nuclear power development, not to mention nuclear power benefits from the point of view of its sustainability and affordability. The same can be said about Kenya, which pledged to cut its emissions by 30% by 2030. Kenyan government plans to meets this goal by expanding the power capacities of renewable sources and starting the implementation of its first nuclear project, defying calls from international experts who urged the nation to instead focus on developing only renewable energy. Unlike the combustion of fossil fuels, the process of nuclear fission does not produce any CO2 or other toxic substances, and thus nuclear plants do not emit greenhouse gases during their operation. There are essentially only two options to decarbonize an ever-increasing electricity sector: nuclear power and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar PV. Of these two options, only nuclear provides guaranteed baseload electricity, since the variability of wind and solar PV requires flexible back-up that is frequently provided by carbon intensive peak-load plants. But this does not mean that atomic power and renewables are competitors and mutually exclusive. Each has its own advantages and models of utilization and should therefore be used to complement one another. A balanced mix of clean and sustainable sources will provide the base load energy supply that emerging African nations require to grow their economies, while ensuring emissions-free energy to save the environment. Your Excellency, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo, the Anlo Youth Council (AYC) wishes to congratulate you and bid you a warm welcome as the 5th President of the 4th Republic of our dear country, Ghana. This has been one of the most astounding elections ever fought in the history of our country, and your victory provides Ghanaians with very high hopes and expectations for your government. We, the members of the AYC, are not left out in the expectations of the quality of delivery on your election promises to the people of Ghana. As the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is grappling to come to terms with its loss due, particularly, to the Ewe voter abstention from the polls in the Volta Region and in every Ewe settlement across the Country, we wish to underscore the unique position of the Ewe voter in the Ghana polls. Now we know that we can effect a change of government if we vote massively or we simply abstain massively. Either way, change would happen in Ghana. On this occasion, Your Excellency, the change happened in your favour. You are welcome! It is in this regard that we wish to bring to your immediate attention some critical issues of concern to the AYC. Some of these issues have either been completely ignored or tackled inadequately by previous administrations. These concerns relate generally to the development of the Volta Region at large and the Anlo Traditional Area in particular. After your successful inauguration two weeks ago, we take cognizance of the fact that you have an enormous task delivering on your electoral promises amidst our dwindling economic fortunes as a country. We can envisage that the competition for our scarce national resources is not going to abate as each community and region tries to draw your attention to their plight. We are not by this statement urging you to pay any special attention to Anlo to the disadvantage of other competing communities and regions who will also be making a legitimate pitch for their fair share of the national cake. What we seek to do, most respectfully, is to bring to your kind attention issues that are clearly recognised by the citizenry in this area of the country as the responsibility of the government, issues which require immediate attention. For the most part, our experience in this part of the country has been the lack of harmonious coordination between the needs of the people and government economic agenda for the people. Two reasons may account for this phenomenon. First, being a region that is profoundly averse to the NPP and its programmes, a win for the NPP in the past has taught us that citizens become disoriented or unhinged from anything that has to do with governance. Second, as a corollary, party officials and corrupt public officers take advantage of the situation and promote their own agenda instead of the collective agenda. With propaganda at its height in our politics today, it means that the situation does not change in any significant ways, even with the NDC in power, so the political and economic rights of the people become subordinate to private interest. To reverse this situation, the AYC has taken the civic education aspect of its mandate to the people seriously. The idea is to involve stakeholders at all levels of the community in setting the political and economic priorities of our communities. On this note, Your Excellency, we would like to inform you that the AYC seeks close collaboration with your government to alleviate the cankers described above. The goal is to improve our use of our scarce national resources and to bring government closer to the people. This is in the hope that the animosities and the acrimonies that characterized the relationship between the people and past administrations will dissipate and pave the way for the immediate take-off of your electoral promises and programmes. In this statement, Your Excellency, we wish to crystalize the priority issues which we believe should engage your attention immediately: One District One Factory/One District One Million Dollar Your Excellency, even though there are suspicions in some circles concerning your One-District-One-Factory project, we in the AYCafter listening to you and your cohorts and upon careful evaluationbelieve that this audacious program is meaningful, achievable, and has the potential to breath a new lease of life into rural economies including ours. The narratives of our tomato farmers whose produce is left to the vagaries of the weather during bumper harvest is a well-known tale. The poor packaging of our local gin, Akpeteshie, which could match any other spirits, for example, Tequila in the US is well-documented. There are many local enterprises that could see a boom, if only your planned industrialization can be carefully executed to integrate technology and efficiency into the local enterprises. In the end, we believe we can achieve competitive market prices for these products for the revival of our rural economies. At this juncture, we would like to highlight some areas of institutional reforms for your attention. We do this in the knowledge that no one pours new wine into an old wineskin. If they do, the wine would only make the wineskin burst. Natural Resource Economics and Development The Anlo area geographically and environmentally is very fragile, being a wet land and encompassing the largest lagoon and riverine systems in West Africa, the Keta Lagoon Complex. We are aware, Your Excellency, of the many natural resources that abound in the area, the exploitation of which would come into conflict with livelihoods, culture and sustainable practices of the people. Recently, the natives of Sonuto in the Keta Municipality were brutalized by the police because of resource conflicts between the communities and Kensington Industries Limited of India. We are also aware of the interests in other resources and wish to alert Your Excellency to the surreptitious manner public officers are dealing with capitalist interests in the area. We all know what happens long after greedy public servants have been paid to side step due diligence - Sierra Leonean diamonds and Nigerian oilfields are living examples not too far from us. We humbly demand a non-partisan professional review of what has taken place over the years and a publication of the finding to enable all of us align to the sustainable way forward over our resources. Public Services and Institutions The attitude of government functionaries and public service workers in the Volta Region is of much concern to the AYC. The lack of competitive private sector alternatives, the lack of proper supervision of public service workers, and a laid-back approach to work makes the region a fertile ground for laxity rather than the expected sterling performance of government workers. We humbly suggest a complete overhaul of the public service in the region. Government must come out clearly on the measurable outputs of the public service to enable us measure our expectations with the standard outcomes. The situation where public schools would score zero percent in BECE outcomes three years in a row, the situation where assembly members are only answerable to only themselves, and the situation where community projects cannot be critically evaluated for their weakness and poor outcomes must be a thing of the past. Your Excellency, our area is predominantly a subsistence agricultural and fisheries economy. The Adidome Agricultural Institute and the Ohawu Agricultural College have completely disconnected from the aspirations of the youth. Several biodiversity natural resources that have sustained the livelihoods of our rural economies need scientific and technological interventions to remain key economic commodities. Gala Ledzi ( crab), Gala Baui, Adza ( another specie of crab) and Fli ( Oysters) are some fisheries resources that need attention for culture. Sabala (shallot ), Atsitoe (black velvet tamarind ), Agbeli (cassava) Tomatoes are some agricultural commodities also yearning for technology infusion. To add to the above, the place of tilapia in our daily menus across the country cannot be overstated. The Ada river, the Sogakope river, and the Keta Lagoon provide suitable natural environments for a sustainable aquaculture with the potential to employ thousands of our unemployed youth and provide sustainable source of fish for the whole country and for export. It is this and other requirements of improvement in agriculture and aquaculture that we demand that these two institutions, the Ohawu Agriculture College and the Adidome Agriculture Institute must receive immediate attention of government to support the One District One Factory/One District One Million Dollar project. With the above in mind, the AYC believes the Ohawu Agriculture College can immediately be elevated to a campus of KNUSTs Faculty of Agriculture in support of the local economy. Justice and Security Your Excellency, a cursory search at the Ghana Police Service and the Judicial Service would reveal to you that it takes much longer for the Police to investigate reported crimes and much longer, still, for trials to come to conclusion and the perpetrators appropriately punished in the Volta Region. Thus, crimes hitherto uncommon in the Volta Region, are now gaining roots, which is a very worrying development. In well documented instances, the security services themselves are the perpetrators of crime against the citizenry, including murder as happened on 2nd November, 2007 in Anloga; Xikpo, 2014; St. Pauls Denu, 2015; and at Sonuto in 2016. These and many other atrocities committed against our people have gone without trial and punishment. We expect the government, under the leadership of Your Excellency, to overhaul the Denu and Ho High Courts, specifically, as a few of the Justices recently caught in the scandal exposed by Anas Areme-Yaw, passed through these courts. Social Services Your Excellency, the social services sector of government in the Volta Region is simply the worst and there is ample evidence borne by statistics from the Ghana Living Standards Survey. Educational outcomes have taken a nosedive. HIV-AIDS is on the increase for lack of anti-retroviral deliveries and mother-to-child prevention services to the Region. Our Cocoa and coffee sectors have collapsed. Coconut and copra production in our coastal areas have declined to negligible levels over the last 50-years. The Afife Irrigation Project which was producing several metric tons of rice locally have suffered neglect. The Eastern Corridor Roads remain only in our dreams. The recent cholera outbreak in 2013 saw the Volta second only to Accra in casualty figures. All these issues are the result of the lackadaisical government service which we humbly want you look at. Private Sector Investments Government continues to stifle private initiatives to bring investors to the region as exemplified in the 2000 MW Ketu Power Project, the Keta Harbour Project, the Southern Volta Water Project and many more. Your Excellency, we would humbly expect your government to take very practical steps to make investments in the Volta Region not only attractive but assuring to investors who might be attracted to the region. Simply improving the efficiency of government service would significantly reduce the barriers to and the cost of doing business in the region. We call on your government to engage with the affected investors in a forum of wide-ranging stakeholders and communities of concern in seeking workable solutions to these critical issues. Repeal/ Amendment of the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759) Your Excellency this is one vexatious and absurd Law on our statutes. We have great confidence in your competency as a lawyer of significant repute not to allow this injustice to our people and citizens of Ghana pass without your attention, notice, and immediate remedy and relief. The Constitution of Ghana states clearly among others in: Chapter 1, Article 1, Clause (2) This Constitution shall be the supreme law of Ghana and any other law found to be inconsistent with any provision of this Constitution shall, to the extent of the inconsistency, be void. Chapter 22, Article 270 Clause (1) The institution of chieftaincy, together with its traditional councils as established by customary law and usage, is hereby guaranteed. Clause (2) Parliament shall have no power to enact any law which- (a) Confers on any person or authority the right to accord or withdraw recognition to or from a chief for any purpose whatsoever; or (b) In any way detracts or derogates from the honour and dignity of the institution of chieftaincy. Article 274 Clause (1) There shall be established in and for each region of Ghana a Regional House of Chiefs. Clause (2) A Regional House of Chiefs shall consist of such members as Parliament may, by law, determine. Your Excellency, the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759) states: In Preamble: An Act to revise and consolidate the Chieftaincy Act, 1971 (Act 370) to bring its provisions in conformity with the Constitution and to provide for related matters. Section 6, Clause 1 In accordance with Article 274 of the Constitution, the Regional House of Chiefs consists of members specified by the legislative instrument made by the National House of Chiefs and issued under signature of the President of the National House of Chiefs. And Your Excellency, the Legislative Instrument L.I. 1946 as amended; The Chieftaincy (Membership of Regional House of Chiefs) Instrument, 2008 reads: In Preamble: In exercise of the powers conferred on the National House of Chiefs by Section 6 of the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759) this instrument is made this 1st day of October, 2008. Section 12 Clause (1) The members of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs are: (a) The Paramount Chiefs of (i) Anlo; (ii) Buem; (iii) Krachi; (iv) Akpini (Kpando) (v) Asogli: And others. The LI legislated the membership of the Anlo Traditional Council in: Section 12 Clause (1) (h) as follows: (h) Anlo Traditional Council (lxiii) Fiaga of Klikor; (Lix) Fiaga of Avenor (lxx) Fiaga of Some; (lxxi) Fiaga of Dzodze; (lxxii) Fiaga of Aflao; (lxxiii) Fiaga of Wheta; and (lixx) Fiaga of Afife. Respectfully, Your Excellency, please kindly notice the elimination of the Awoamefia of Anlo by legislation from his own traditional council and by consequence, his elimination from the Volta Regional House of Chiefs. Secondly, Your Excellency, the Anlo Traditional Area, as is common knowledge, customary law and practice, is constituted by the Awoamefia, The Awadada, The Dusifia and Miafia; The fifteen (15) Hlortatorwo and thirty-six (36) Dufiawo. The Legislative Instrument L.I. (1946) 2008 as amended, only listed seven (7) Dufiawo! Your Excellency, the Anlo Youth Council (AYC) has taken up this matter with all governments since the passage of the Chieftaincy Act, 2008 (Act 759) and the Legislative Instrument L.I. (1946) as amended; The Chieftaincy (Membership of Regional House of Chiefs) Instrument, 2008 without success. We humbly suggest that these legislations are in clear contravention of the pledge provided by the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana that the institution of chieftaincy, together with its traditional councils as established by customary law and usage, are hereby guaranteed. We wish to restate for emphasis, Your excellency, that your expediency in the matters of law, justice and fair play as raised above is earnestly awaited. We therefore make haste to humbly petition you as President of the Republic to provide immediate remedies and reliefs to ensure these legislations against our people, chieftaincy, traditions and culture are fully amended or repealed. Woez Your Excellency. Thank You. Secretary Kodzo Chapman 024 438 1673 President Mayor Agbleze 024 458 4835 24.01.2017 LISTEN A farmer based organisation, Development Association (DAA) has held its 17th Annual General Meeting (AGM)-with new executives sworn into office to champion the cause of improving the standards of women smallholder farmers in the country. The AGM which took place in Tsokomey, in Accra, witnessed the swearing in of a seven member executives led by Grace Quaye as president to steer the affairs of the association for the next five years. The other members of the new executives include, Sarah Ayi (Vice President), Patricia Ashigbui (Treasurer), Lydia Asare (Vice Treasurer), and Ebenezer Kotah (Organizer). The AGM on the theme, Responding to the Changing Environment of the Rural Farmer, took place at the DAA Fisheries Training Centre-a temporary centre built with support from the USAID Sustainable Fisheries Management Project. The main permanent centre would be completed by October this year, situated at Kokrobite, where courses in modern or improved agricultural practices would be run, to be facilitated by Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET). The chairperson for the programme, Salomey Ansong called on women farmers in the country to form associations and those already members of one to remain committed to benefit from advantages of accessing credit and others. She mentioned that climate change globally is affecting agriculture, therefore there is the need for an integrated form of agriculture to adapt to the situation to achieve food and nutrition security. The programmes manager of the DAA, Abraham Asare, presenting the annual report said that the association and USAID Sustainable Fisheries Management Project worked together on issues of child labour education and awareness creation in fishing communities. In this regard, sensitisation programmes with students were held in Apam, in the Central region, among others. In addition, women fish processors were also trained on hygienic fish handling techniques to improve fish processing-women were taken through hygienic practices including keeping surroundings clean, using clean water to wash off impurities under running water. The year under review, 2016 also witnessed the Launch of Ahotor improved fish smoking stove at Winneba to reduce smoke and Polycyclic Aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) content in smoked fish. Mr Asare also stated that a meeting with minister of fisheries and aquaculture development was held where discussions centred in rejecting bad fish that arrives at shore. The association also undertook an advocacy programme, supported by the BUSAC Fund, which centred on Extension services delivery in the fisheries sector. The Fisheries commission recognised the problem and intends to begin extension service beginning with mobile service delivery. Speaking on the theme of the meeting, Emelia Nortey, the director of the DAA Fisheries Training Center says among many threats and challenges is the fast growing of rural communities becoming urban areas. One can confidently say that, this trend will continue as one United Nation Report estimate that, the world population will reach 10 billion in year 2056 of which 65.2% will be urban population. The trends in Africa and for that matter Ghana will not be so different. As we reflect on the theme Responding to the Changing Environment of the Rural Farmer, we have to reflect on the various challenges faced by our farmer such as those in Tsokomey, Bortianor, Oshie, Kokrobite, etc. where the basic roles of women fish processors have not change much over the years but face constant threat of losing their processing areas to estate developers and also have to endure constant complains from inhabitants who have recently settled in these communities. To fully comprehend the circumstances of rural farmers and how their changing environment is affecting them positively or negatively, it is essential to examine the full multiplicity in the light of changing rural economy, household & community structures. These transformations do not occur in a vacuum but interact with other complex processes at different levels; therefore we need to adopt a different approach that is tailored to the changing needs of rural farmers. When the proper measures are taken, it can lead to positive change and food security, she stated. The Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP), has reminded the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration on its promise to spearhead the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief executives (MMDCEs) during their tenure. In reminding the party, the Platform also lauded the commitment of the new administration in ensuring that this is achieved to strengthen decentralization in the country. In a statement signed by Nana Kwadwo Owusu, Interim Treasurer, the Platform also promised to commit to the agenda of deepening local governance We look forward to a fruitful collaborative effort with the government, as well as other key stakeholders, on this as we work towards further decentralizing governance and deepening of our burgeoning democracy. They also congratulated H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his election and inauguration as president of the Republic of Ghana, and wished him the very best in his tenure as president of the Republic. Below is the group's full statement Press Statement On The NPPs Commitment to The Election of MMDCEs Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP) On the 27th of December 2016, while meeting chiefs of the Central Region House of Chiefs, then president-elect H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo reiterated the pledge by the NPP to organise popular elections for MMDCEs in 2018. (Reference www.ghanaweb.com) As a group, this is extremely heart-warming for us, coming off the back of a debate we organised in the run up to the 2016 election to make this an election issue, but we are of the view that the process should be hastened, giving the lull that has characterised its implementation. (The report of the Constitutional Review Committee was completed and submitted to the government in December 2011.) Next steps As a group committed to the agenda of deepening local governance, we look forward to a fruitful collaborative effort with the government, as well as other key stakeholders, on this as we work towards further decentralizing governance and deepening of our burgeoning democracy Background to the Statement The Issue The issue of decentralizing governance and encouraging local participation and ownership of local development through the popular election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) has been the major focus of the Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP) since July 2016. As a group, it is our firm conviction that the election of local leaders is the most practical way to achieve the twin objectives of effective decentralization and driving local participation to foster faster development at the district level. GGDP's Activism prior to the 2016 Election The GGDP published a paper on the subject titled How the Constitution Review Process should be completed, on August 11, 2016, in which we argued for popular election of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs); following which a debate on the subject was launched at the Ghana International Press Centre on October, 11, 2016, in the run up to the 2016 election with the objective of making this an electoral issue. This debate successfully came off on October, 25, 2016 at the Alisa Hotel with Civil Society organisations such as IMANI Ghana, the Convention People's Party (CPP), and the Media in attendance. The event was carried live on TV Africa and Citi FM. The Ghana Growth and Development Platform (GGDP) congratulates H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on his election and inauguration as president of the Republic of Ghana and would like to use this opportunity to wish him the very best in his tenure as president of the republic. By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Contrary to expectations of Ghanaians that President Akufo-Addo will condemn rampaging youth of New Patriotic Party visiting mayhem on innocent citizens after winning power, The aL-hAJJ can state on authority that the president will not speak against the roundly condemned acts. President Akufo-Addo, this paper has uncovered, personifies the very atrocious acts his party members have embarked on since the NPP won power and therefore lacks the moral authority to call them to order. Party insiders have confided in this paper that NPP hooligans terrorizing innocent Ghanaians in the name of protecting state properties are emboldened by the presidents countless beating of war drums and his belligerent posturing. I am surprise people want the president to condemn our supporters. What do these people want the president to condemn? Our supporters are doing what the president believes in and stand for. He is not going to condemn anybody, a senior member of the NPP told The aL-hAJJ on condition of anonymity. President Akufo-Addo, as opposition leader, on numerous occasions implored members of the NPP to be combat-ready to match their political opponents boot-for-boot and, not to recoil into their shells when one or two of them are overawed. The President in one of his riotous moods in his days in opposition, threatened that very soon the militants on our side would rise Such comments, some say, feed into the ongoing brazen attacks of supposed NDC members and seizing of public properties by NPP members. Critics say President Akufo-Addos past record in encouraging party supporters to engage in violence and all forms of lawlessness; his deafening silence in the midst of condemnation by well-meaning Ghanaians, are testaments of the fact that the rampaging youth are doing his bidding. Some youth believed to belong to the NPP, after the swearing-in of President Akufo Addo on January 7 this year, besieged government offices to take over their management, while others, destroyed some government properties claiming their party is now in power, and they have the right to take over state agencies. Others have also resorted to attacking persons suspected to be their political opponents mainly from the opposition NDC. Many Ghanaians including Chairman of the Peace Council, Right Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante; political science lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, Dr Eric Opoku Mensah; executives of the NDC and other respected Ghanaians have condemned the act and have called on the president to call his supporters to order. I expect that his voice and his command will be the final voice, otherwise, the president could be blamed should things get out of hand, and, therefore, he needs to come out and speak, Dr Opoku Mensah noted. However, while the president has remained tightlipped on the dastardly act, leading members of the NPP have been justifying it and have even threatened to continue with it. The NPP National Chairman, Mr Freddy Blay and a deputy General Secretary of the party, Nana Obiri Boahen have both justified the despicable acts. While accusing the NDC of being hypocritical in condemning the act, they (Freddy Blay and Nana Obiri Boahen) said supporters of the NPP are only engaged in their civic duty of protecting state property. In some cases, particularly places like the harbor, DVLA, Peduase Lodge, polling stations [sic] and so forth, in some cases the people had to go there to protect state property to ensure that looting stops. Ive been told that in some public offices and so forth, all of a sudden those who were working there have refused to come to work, not because they are being intimidated or being chased out, but they themselves have suspected that because of how they came there, or purely based on they being members of the party then in power, some people will chase them out and theyve left those public places to the wind, to the weather and people have gone there to protect it. Its not a question of condemnation, Ive told you that in some instances I wont condemn if they were there to protect property, Mr Freddy Blay noted. A member of NPP Communications team, Hopeson Adorye, has also said he will mobilize members of his party to continue to take-over all public toilets in the country even after respective Ghanaians have called on the President and the NPP to call their supporters to order. In a related development, Chief Executive Officer of M Y Caesar Company, Dr M Y Caesar, has appealed to President Akufo-Addo to break away from the politics of equalization and ensure holistic development. He emphasized that the good performance by President Akufo-Addo at the general election was enough endorsement for his administration to embrace all Ghanaians irrespective of their political affiliations. Dr Caesar, therefore, urged that a line should be drawn as a nation, regarding political equalization, adding that Ghana had grown as a nation to refuse to allow anybody to justify wrong doing on the basis of equalization. Dr Caesar, who said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, says most often in Ghanaian politics; the leadership had found it convenient to compare their ills to that of their predecessor in an attempt to portray theirs as the less corrupt and more desirable. He has, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to refrain from justifying wrongdoings. According to the CEO, public officials hold office for all Ghanaians and not their political party supporters, activists and foot soldiers which make its reprehensible when such offices are run to please a section of the population. He appealed to President Akufo-Addo to have the courage to make bold decisions that would lead the nation into prosperity. Dr Caesar urged the new government to appreciate the supremacy of the Constitution as the basic law of the nation. (With additional files from Graphiconline.com) 24.01.2017 LISTEN On Saturday, July 1st 2017, history will be made as Piaseman Association of USA (PAS USA) meets in Atlanta, GA (USA) in the first annual Convention since its founding in November 2014. PASUSA is a non-profit association of Piase residents now living in the United States. The association seeks to foster unity, friendship and collaboration among its members to support the socio-economic development of Piase in the Bosomtwe District of Ashanti, Ghana. The Convention will take place at the Elegant Point Multipurpose Event Hall, 320 Six Flags Drive Austell, GA 30168, from 8:00 P.M. to 3:00 A.M. Good food, company, and lots of music will be showcased. Admission is free but generous contributions will be accepted to support the charitable cause for sanitation development at the Piase Clinic. Members of PASUSA will gather for a meeting and socialization at the Asare residence (895 Crescent Ridge Drive Buford, GA 30518) from 9:00 A.M. 2:00 P.M. before the Conventions program begins. PASUSAs Convention is expected to attract over two hundred Piase citizens and well-wishers from Ghana, Canada, England, France, Norway, Germany and Italy. For more information and hotel reservations, please contact the Convention Committee: Albert Ata-Poku Adusei (571-299-0147), Augustine Adu Asare (470-295-7072), Mama Yaa Agyeiwaa Acheampong (917-497-5233), Robert Gyamfi (470-225-0230), Joseph Gyamfi (919-599-4103), or Grace Adusei (571-224-5956). Look forward to further correspondence as we eagerly await our Convention. 24.01.2017 LISTEN On the 20th of January 2017, I was minding my own business somewhere when I received a video in a whatsapp group. The video was of a guy (Seli) at a place that looked like a drinking spot, complaining about a product he had purchased with his friend. They had purchased a drink labeled Blue Jeans Energy Drink but after consuming it, they realized that the label was coming off. After peeling of the Blue Jeans label, they found that the original label of the drink was Wild Bird but had been covered with a Blue Jeans label. Naturally, I was worried just like all my colleagues in the group and we talked endlessly about how wicked and callous some people can be by selling to the public a pseudo product. We all called on Budget Cash and Carry (BC&C), the sole distributors of Blue Jeans Energy Drink, to do something about it to make us feel more secure when we purchase the drink. That was where and how the conversation ended, with us hoping and expecting that the product importers would help shield us from deceptive individuals. Then on the 23rd of January, around 10am, I was listening to Atinka FM (104.7) when I heard an LPM concerning the Blue Jeans issue. As the announcer began, I was excited, I was happy that Budget Cash and Carry had been quick to address the issue. I waited to hear their advice to the public as to what to do in this situation. Then I heard the bomb. In short, it was something like this- Budget Cash and Carry apologizes to the general public and informs and assures them that the re-labeling was done by them (Budget Cash &Carry)!! I felt betrayed, raped, taken advantage of and dumped by the roadside. Their reason for importing a different product into the country and then re-labeling it as Blue Jeans was because of a packaging error. I cant begin to list and discuss the barrage of problems that come with this action! Manufacturer Budget Cash And Carry says there was a packaging error from the manufacturer and that is what caused the problem. Who is the manufacturer? A look on the Blue Jeans Can indicates that it was made for Budget Cash& Carry and was approved by HIA. Halal International Authority (HIA) is an independent regulatory body that ensures that goods they regulate comply with the dictates of Islamic Doctrine. For this reason the 'HIA certifies logistics platforms at ports, dry ports and airports, including the Halal certification of transport whether it be transport of terrestrial, sea or air.(HIA website). Halal is an Islamic word which means lawful or permitted. The long and short of it is HIA has certified the product but we do not know who manufactures the product because it is not indicated on the can. The FDA regulations are explicit on how pre-packaged foods should be labeled. The FDA instructs that the name and complete address of manufacturer or agent should be indicated on the package. This is absent in the case of Blue Jeans. Blue Jeans indicates the country of origin (Italy) but does not provide us with the manufacturer. This means that as we consume Blue Jeans day by day and FDA says its okay to drink it, we do not even know which company in Italy does it, their mission, objectives etc. One might say we do not need all that to enjoy a can of sugar and salt solution but in cases such as this, it becomes necessary for us as consumers to assure ourselves, seeing the FDA is sometimes not too concerned, that we are consuming from an organisation that has its house in order. But again, FDA in collaboration with Budget Cash And Carry have robbed us of this too since this information is absent. It would have been instructive to know the company that makes these drinks to help us understand why they would label Blue Jeans, Wild Bird. How can such a mistake happen? What else do they produce that could have caused mislabeling? What I strongly suspect is the company(whoever they are) makes energy drink, then labels it with different names depending on which country it is going to and what name the distributor has agreed upon. Energy drinks like Rox and Red Bull have websites where one can find out their location, what they do et.al. but Blue jeans website and any information about them is conspicuously missing. Budget Cash & Carry assured consumers that Wild Bird was safe to drink and that it was as good as Blue Jeans. Dear BCC, Wild Bird may be as good as Blue Jeans but it is NOT Blue Jeans. By BCC claiming the anomaly was a labeling error, they mean that the contents of the can are Blue Jeans but the labeling is Wild Bird. However, BCC goes on to mention that they have produced FDA with a certificate of freesale amongst others. A certificate of freesale is proof that the product being imported is sold on the open market of the originating country and has been approved for export. Does that mean that in Italy, they also have Blue Jeans in Wild Bird cans? If they do not, then the certificate of freesale will not apply to what we have in this country because what we have here is an anomaly or is the anomaly a normal anomaly in Italy? Food and Drugs Authority So what is the Food and Drugs Authority doing about it? Days after the video came out, it was reported in various media outlets that the Food and Drugs Authority have ordered a cessation of the distribution of the said consignment of Blue Jeans Energy drink. According to Peacefmonline, the FDA boss,Mr. Hudu Mogtari stated , We wish to assure the public that the FDA has commenced investigations into the matter and would take the necessary regulatory measures and actions to protect public health and safety. Now this should come as an assuring piece to me but it doesnt. Not because I am especially hard to please but it is because Budget Cash& Carry claims FDA is already aware of this and has given them the green light! This story can be found on the BusinessGhana website. Here you go with the link - http://www.businessghana.com/site/news/business/138947/legal The title of the article is, Re-labeled Blue Jeans safe for consumption and it quotes the CEO of Budget Cash and Carry, Joseph Kweku Egyir Aggrey as having stated that, the anomaly has also been brought to the attention of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), with certificate of analysis, health certificate and a certificate of freesale from the manufacturer to support the claim of product safety, quality and origin. So now you see why I am confused? Which is which? Who is pretending here? FDA whips out their lash the minute the video comes out but Mr. Aggrey (CEO, BC&C) claims they know about this. The news article Mr. Aggrey is quoted to have said this was as far back as the 13th of December, 2016. Is Mr. Aggrey giving us incorrect information? That will be super serious and a slight on the FDA. Is the authority feigning ignorance? Why would they give the go ahead to Budget Cash and Carry to distribute the relabeled drinks in December and then feign ignorance in January? That would mean they know something is inherently wrong with their arrangement with Budget Cash and Carry concerning their relabeling and now that the truth is out they are retracing their steps. Although I cannot say for sure whether FDA did indeed know about this, I hardly think that Mr. Aggrey will involve the FDA in this matter if the FDA did not have prior knowledge of this. So is the government authority doing this just to make us see them in action? To give a false sense of safety? I cant think far. Budget Cash & Carry To the benefit of Budget Cash & Carry, businessghana was not the only news portal to have carried the story. Businessghana cited dailygraphiconline as their source for the story, suggesting that they may have tried their best to inform the public who might have been too busy with festivities to notice. Nevertheless, this does not let them off the hook. If the sole distributors of a drink resort to actions which are akin to what imposters will do, dont they think this is opening doors for people to put more fake products on the market? I can imagine an imposters mouth drooling with the news that Blue Jeans company says if you see a different product with a Blue Jeans sticker pasted on it, do not worry, it is still Blue Jeans. God knows how many impostors capitalised on this lapse and produced drinks that have been consumed by unsuspecting victims. It is like Budget Cash and Carry took us to the slaughterhouse and handed over the knife to impostors. The Ghanaian public has been introduced to Blue Jeans and that is what they have known and come to love. Some people may like it even because they are not allergic to any of the stated ingredients. For Budget Cash & Carry to bring a different brand of drinks and then re-label it Blue Jeans is not just dishonest but downright reckless. If this new drink has ingredients that someone who takes Blue Jeans is allergic to, this could cause serious problems. Budget Cash& Carry will be on their way to court if they were in another country for this betrayal of trust. I do not want to believe that the Public Relations officer of the organisation was in the know. I will be mighty surprised if he or she did not outline to B C& C the dangers of their actions and the damage it could cause to their image. Probably the PRO like in many organizations is not given a management role and thus his or her opinion is not considered when it comes to such matters. I look forward to the press briefing Budget Cash & Carry will have and the explanations they will give. I look forward especially to the seeming contradiction between Mr. Aggreys claim and the FDAs actions. I look forward to knowing who the manufacturer of Blue Jeans is and what caused the anomaly. Ultimately, I look forward to a nation where we can consume products without fearing any untoward side effects. Cheers We congratulate the Gambian people for the successful conclusion of a difficult electoral process and we salute the peaceful manner in which a potentially explosive situation has been resolved. We commend the efforts of ECOWAS which illustrate the value of meaningful regional integration in our continent. ECOWAS has already seen successful and peaceful transitions of power in Senegal, Nigeria, Benin, Cabo Verde and Ghana. We express our hope that this is the beginning of a new era in The Gambia that will promote increased socio-economic development based on respect for human rights, freedom of expression and the rule of law. In this regard, we hope that The Gambia will find the space to put in place an authentic process for its people to reconcile themselves within a framework of national unity. However, this demarche should not in any way condone impunity for the violations, atrocities and abuses that are related to the 22 years of authoritarian rule. Our best wishes to the newly inaugurated President of The Gambia, Adama Barrow, and to the people of The Gambia. Mo Ibrahim Mo Ibrahim Foundation The minister of Energy nominee, Boakye Agyarko took his turn on Monday [January 24] before Parliaments Appointments committee to be vetted for the ministerial position. During the almost 4-hour session of probing and explanations, Mr Agyarko made 6 key statements on his thoughts and plans for the energy sector in the country. The quotes are represented in the infographic below: By: Mawuli Tsikata/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @MawuliTsikata Moments before his assassination in June 1992 in the city of Annaba, the Algerian Head of State Muhammed Boudiaf was reported to have said prophetically that The life of human beings is very short. We are all going to die. Why should we cling so much to power? The late Algerian leaders observation wasnt only accurate, but also he was articulating an indisputable human reality of our mortality to all his contemporaries, especially, many African leaders who view political leadership position in the context of life presidency. Against the foregoing backdrop, it is heartbreaking to watch leaders such as Robert Mugabe, Obiang Nguema, Paul Biya, Yoweri Museveni, Yahya Jammeh, and a host of other president-for-life crowds holding tight to power as if their respective countries cant survive after their demise. Under these inexplicable circumstances, the question that readily comes to mind is that after decades in political saddle, at what point will these life presidents of this part of the world come to accept the Shakespearean axiom based on human ephemerality that All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In other words, no matter how long the dramatis personae want to hang on to the stage, the lights will definitely go off at some point in time. So is human life on earth. Yet a close look at a good number of African leaders behavior in office makes them appear larger than mortal life. Our rational inference to this effect is that political leaders who ascribe and practice life presidency are narcissists with transgressive personality and lack of internal checks. There are countless of such political characters all over Africa and beyond, but the focus now will be on Yahya Jammeh, the recently deposed life president of the Gambia Republic. As indicated early on, it is not because the ex-Gambian dictator is the only life president available in the African continent but for his bizarre and erratic conduct after the general elections in the tiny West African nation. In the full glare of the whole wide world, Mr. Yahya Jammeh had shockingly but magnanimously conceded electoral defeat to his main challenger, Mr. Adama Barrow of the United Democratic Party. Then as soon as Mr. Jammehs president-for-life instincts kicked into high gear, he turned around and told his surprised fellow Gambians and the world at large to disregard his earlier concession of defeat. Mr. Yahya Jammehs postelection eccentric behavior is an all-too familiar movie that has been shown over and over again in African political theater, often manifesting into deadly social unrests and internecine civil wars with its accompanied spillover refugees crisis across the continent. To say the least, it is in this grim and humanitarian context that any level-headed person/African should view the lofty effort of the ECOWAS in helping to oust the defeated life president of Gambia from power. Without military force or the threat of invasion from the ECOWAS combined might, many of us wouldnt be surprised waking to witness increased widespread assassinations, detention of political opponents, and most likely Gambia descending into civil war. Thanks to ECOWAS proactive moves and its determination to take the West African sub-regions sociopolitical destiny into its own hands instead of depending excessively on external agents help for every problem that confronts region. For far too long the continent of Africa has been disdainfully viewed as the problem-kid of the so-called civilized world. In fact, it is within the norms of interstates relations to collaborate or seek assistance from other country. However, what is not normal is for a modern country or an entire continent to constantly look up sheepishly to another sovereign nation/region to solve almost all its problems for her. Without doubt, almost all the problems in Africa and its sub-regions are created by our self-centered leaders and their underlings. It doesnt make any sense when the corrupt African leaders attempt to engage in buck-passing. Mr. Yahya Jammeh alone created the electoral impasse in the Gambia. If he had gracefully relinquished power after the defeat in the polls as true democracy demands, the ECOWAS wouldnt have threatened to force him out. Hence it is uplifting to hear that through the combined ECOWAS sub-regional and international pressures, the ex-Gambian despot, Mr. Yahya Jammeh, with his egocentric tail between his legs had reluctantly departed his marginalized country into oblivion. As the exile negotiations were unfolding behind the scenes between Mr. Yahya Jammeh and the ECOWAS peace team, sadly there were concurrent news reports of fading chorus of voices from some Ghanaians and other citizens across the continent second guessing the noble motives of the African sub-regional leaders efforts. Lets consider the alternative scenario in Gambia had the embattled leader was not pushed out by the ECOWAS pressure. The ECOWAS had to take the noble role to right the ship before the desperate and power-drunk Yahya Jammeh had thrown his country into flames. Africa has had enough of these thoughtless and lethal rigmaroles. For those critics who apparently might be knee-deep in political naivety, they thought the ECOWAS leaders should have allowed the life-president Yahya Jammeh to set the pace and terms of when he would leave the very position the majority of his own compatriots said they didnt want him to occupy any longer. Well, let it be known to all the sympathizers of dictators out there that, like all presidents-for-life, Mr. Yahya Jammeh has reached his wits end. He belongs to the political endangered species club dotted in the few areas around the world. It is a matter of time; and, even if they are not swept away by the weight of their selfishness and crass obstinacies, the all-powerful death will eventually stretches out its icy hands toward these supposedly life-presidents who are making life miserable for their fellow human beings because of power. Nonetheless, for now lets give thanks and praises to ECOWAS for kicking the former Gambian empty-headed leader to the curb, as Americans would say. The writer is United States-based social critic; he can be reached: [email protected] UMB Bank has announce the appointment of Mr. Kevin Cain, a seasoned banker and small and medium enterprise (SME) development expert as its Director of Consumer and Business Banking. Mr. Cain will be responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the Personal Banking, Private Banking and Business Banking arms of the bank. He will also drive the expansion of the banks transaction and electronic banking channels. UMB Bank is currently securing the necessary regulatory approvals to confirm Mr. Cains appointment. Mr. Cain has over 30 years of international consulting, banking and general management experience in over fifteen countries and has an enviable track record of executing successful SME and commercial banking initiatives. Speaking on the appointment, the Chief Executive Officer of UMB Bank, Mr. John Awuah, stated that retail banking is a key pillar in the banks five year transformation strategy and that Mr. Cains depth of experience and exposure is an important addition to the UMB team. Kevin is a consummate banking professional with extensive experience in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and we are fortunate that he will be contributing his significant breadth and depth of skills, experience and talent to the UMB family. Mr. Awuah added. According to Mr. Awuah, Mr. Cains appointment is also a strong indication of UMBs intent to execute in accordance with international standards and benchmarks. He also noted that Mr. Cain brings a global perspective that can be harnessed to enhance UMBs execution and innovation plans. Prior to joining UMB Bank, Mr. Cain was a consultant for the East African Development Bank in Uganda. He also completed a 3 year International Finance Corporation (IFC) sponsored project in Kenya where he served as the Resident Advisor to Bank of Africa and assisted in developing their SME business in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Kevin was also a member of the IFC team that carried out the diagnostic review of Fidelity Bank and Keystone Bank in Lagos, Nigeria. He was also the Head of Wholesale Banking of Doha Bank in Qatar and he is credited with setting up the very successful SME unit within Doha Bank. Commenting on his new role, Mr. Cain stated I am very excited to be joining an outstanding financial institution such as UMB. I am also eager to work with the talented team at the Bank to support the growth ambitions of our clients, especially those in the SME sector. Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) is a full-service financial institution specializing in customized banking products and services. UMB opened on March 15, 1972 and is a leading Ghanaian indigenous bank with considerable financial expertise. UMB is recognized for its entrepreneurial approach, innovative use of technology, and distinctive banking solutions. UMB currently has thirty one (31) branches, one (1) UMB Centre for Businesses and a vast network of ATMs. On Friday January 13th 2017 AMIP News, a Washington DC Based Media Group in collaboration with The Africa Society launched The United States and Africa Relations, a comprehensive and creative compilation, and review of US-Africa engagement. US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield launched the book after her keynote address. Several members of the African Diplomatic Corps attended the event held at the Embassy of Ethiopia on International Drive, Northwest Washington. The Edusei Foundation, which has a track record of supporting developmental initiatives, provided partial funding for the publication, along side other sponsors. The 300-plus-page book was authored and compiled by Frederick Nnoma-Addison and edited by Beryl Nnoma-Addison, both of AMIP News. AMIP News is the publisher of other volumes that detail US relations with individual African countries; The United States & Ghana -2010, The United States & Nigeria 2010, The United States & Ghana, Vol. II 2012 This fourth publication is based on the 4 Pillars of the United States strategy toward engagement with sub-Saharan Africa that was signed and issued by President Obama in June 2012 - Strengthen Democratic Institutions; Spur Economic Growth, Trade and Investment; Advance Peace and Security; and Promote Opportunity and Development. Using both human and national interest stories, it highlights key US-Africa initiatives and partnerships, includes important presidential and governmental statements, speeches, White House Fact Sheets, historic photographs, and follows the trajectory of bilateral and multilateral relations wherever it leads. The book is an exceptional addition to international relations literature and will preserve history and promote future relations. The Edusei Foundation facilitates youth development primarily in the United States and Ghana. The Foundation, which was founded by Dr. Kwame Bawuah Edusei a retired Diplomat and his family, seeks to improve knowledge, behavior, and health. In collaboration with other non-governmental organizations, they empower women and the Youth 2017-01-24 072154 2017-01-24 072256 2017-01-24 072310 2017-01-24 072324 There could be another disaster on the Volta Lake as hundreds of passengers use a dilapidated ferry at Dambai to transport goods, and travel to other places. Engineers who worked on a ferry for transportation in the area have refused to hand over the keys to the Volta Lake Transport Limited. This is due to the failure of the government to pay for the work done on the new ferry. The Marine Superintendent for Dambai, Yakubu Tanko , told Starr News they are sitting on a time bomb with the kind of vessel they are operating currently . Now the harmatan season is over and the rains will soon be in, and the vessel will start taking water and we risk sinking the vessel. If you go and take a look at the vessel we have right now operating in Dambai trust me we sitting on a time bomb. Last year, several people died when a boat they were traveling in capsized on the Volta Lake. I would have wished to address you in a happier moment than this rather bizarre moment. That notwithstanding, let me use this opportunity to thank our gallant men and women in the Bole-Bamboi NPP youth wing for contributing their quota towards the Partys victory. Over the weeks, accusations and counter accusations have been traded between a section of the youth in Bole and some of the NPP constituency executives over the alleged endorsement of a candidate for the post of DCE in the Bole district by the Constituency Chairman and Secretary. In as much as I do not and will not encourage these open accusations and counter-accusations, I equally believe, such happenings are not barred by law and also are not strange during periods for political appointments. My only problem is the manner in which the issue is being handled by both sides. To my youth, we have all in one way or the made mistakes and offended one another, lets let it go. Every one of us, has an interest, but we must above all, also remember to put the constituencys interest first. We are one people, different tribes but with a common purpose which is the NPP. NPP, like all the other parties, have structures responsible for handling all of its issues. Let us at this point remain calm and resolute as we use the appropriate medium to address our grievances. Finally, to our elders, and to my fellow constituency executives, you must know, that loyalty has a breaking point and that starts when mistrust sets in. On behalf of the Youth Wing, a let us all leave the past in the past, and make room for transparency and fairness to prevail and grant an equal opportunity to all candidates interested in the post of District Chief Executive in the Bole district . Let us also allow the appropriate appointing body to do its job without any influence and together rally behind H.E Nana Addo to make Ghana a better place. Long Live NPP. Faithfully yours, Ernest Agyapong Koobeeja Youth Organizer (Bole-Bamboi) 0549459964 CC: Reg. Chairman. Reg. Secretary. Reg. Youth Organizer. Constituency executives (Bole-Bamboi). We have learned rather shockingly the desire of opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to go to court over the proposed Special Prosecutor's Office. By this announcement of intent, we are left in no doubt that the party was nowhere desirous of fighting corruption anyway: former President John Mahama's occasional reference to the subject and measures he claimed to have taken to stem it have paled out in the face of his party's opposition to the most effective response yet to fight the graft. The threatened action by the NDC to shoot down the actualization of the Office of Special Prosecutor is a pointer to the fact that the party has a lot to hide from the public. Corruption blossomed under the NDC administration, one of the factors Ghanaians considered and voted them out of power. For the party to think about instituting legal action to thwart the setting up the prosecutor's office suggests their hypocrisy. We have stated this, time without number that we are dealing with a group of Ghanaians at the helm whose obsession with their parochial interests and corruption is classic and unrivalled. They have put out on the public domain their apprehension about the Office of the Special Prosecutor rather subtly by this threat: Ghanaians would want to know the circumstances leading to the massive hemorrhaging of the state kitty and details of government officials, who facilitated the aberration for their benefits. If the NDC feared losing power it was more to do with the imminent letting out of the details of the thievery, which affected the standing of the economy and the eventual possible jailing of some of the defaulters when the courts so decide, of course in conformity with the law and totally devoid of arbitrariness. Former Transport Minister Dzifa Attivor's loud cry that an NPP win is automatic jail for her still resonates in our minds. Many imagined what pushed her to say what she did and the quantum of money involved in whatever deal she engaged in which is haunting her. We have resolved as Ghanaians to resist any attempt at creating a congenial environment for corruption to continue to blossom in the country. Corruption is the reason Ghana is in a sorry state today: it has gained an unenviable foothold in the Ghanaian public sector and so the last thing any Ghanaian with a nationalistic spirit would want to do is resist any response designed to give corruption a fatal knock. They would therefore fail as they did when they sought to cling on to power using the ill-gotten monies to buy votes in their useless quest to kill this most outstanding response yet to the challenge of corruption through the courts. Let them stand up and count those who want the anti-corruption war to succeed through the establishment of this special office. Most Ghanaians will stand to be associated with this initiative, a critical campaign promise by the then flag bearer Nana Akufo-Addo. By the terms of the special prosecutor's office, people, who steal state funds, would not find a hiding place as they did under the previous dispensation. Now is the time to deny corruption the oxygen it needs to be alive and what better initiative there is than the Office of Special Prosecutor. Otiko Afisa-Djaba- Minister designate for Gender, children and Social Protetcion Six hundred and nine girls aged between 10 and 19 years were reported pregnant at various health facilities in the Tema Metropolis between January and October 2016. Out of the total, 21 tested HIV positive when they underwent the compulsory mother-to-child prevention test. Dr John Yabani, Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency yesterday on the sidelines of the Students Representative Council (SRC) week celebration of Our Lady of Mercy Senior High School (OLAMS). Dr Yabani indicated that there is a decrease in the number as compared to the 641 recorded in 2015, adding, however, that the figure could be more as those who did not attend antenatal were not captured by the directorate. Two hundred and sixty three, 264 and 83 from the teenage pregnancies were recorded in Tema Central, Tema East and Tema West Sub-Metros respectively. He stated that 577 out of the number delivered successfully at health facilities in the metropolis. The directorate, he said, also recorded a total of 63 unsafe abortions among girls aged between 10 and 19 during the period. According to him, the 63 represented those who attempted aborting their pregnancies which resulted in complications and subsequently reported to the hospital, adding that an unknown number of them succeeded in aborting their babies at the blindside of health officials. He said the four adolescent corners operating at the Tema General Hospital, Tema Polyclinic, Manhean Clinic and TMA Clinic were able to put 1,183 adolescents on family planning. Dr Yabani stated that his outfit was considering opening more corners in public and private health facilities in addition to community visits to bring responsible sexual health education to adolescents as the figures were worrying. He stated that adolescents must be encouraged to delay the onset of engaging in sexual activities and instead focus on their vision for the future. Those who could not delay the onset, he pointed out, must be given the option to practise safe sex to prevent unwanted pregnancy and contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. He encouraged the youth to join any of the 19 adolescent clubs in second cycle schools in Tema to learn all they need to know about their reproductive system and how to manage and respond to peer pressure and other negative cues from society. GNA Joseph Osei Owusu, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Bekwai in the Ashanti Region has celebrated his 55th birthday with a call on Christians to assist the underprivileged in society. The Bekwai MP affectionately called 'Joe Wise' speaking at the 14th anniversary and thanksgiving service of First Sky Group in Accra which also coincided with his birthday said there was more blessing in giving. Today marks my 55th birthday, I thank God for myself, my family and the victory that the good Lord has delivered to the NPP. He stated, I urge each one of us, whatever it is that God blesses us with, however little, show magnanimity, support people who are less privileged. The Chairman of the Vetting Committee of Parliament continued: Anything you can afford, give it to charity and God will bless you. Quoting Psalms 50 vrs 15, the former DVLA boss said a true Christian should live the principles of honesty and integrity as the Sky Group of companies had existed in its charity work. I am told that they have built about 60 churches (but) am not sure I have bought even a set of furniture for one church before. If you are a Christian and you cannot be cited as evidence of integrity, you probably have to re-examine your life because it means you are not living the principles of Christianity. Prayers were said for Joe Wise, President Nana Akufo-Addo and the entire government. The Sky Group has a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy which is more sympathetic towards supporting social and religious causes. Based on this, the Group has assisted many individuals and organizations. Education and church evangelism have been the focus of the Group's CSR policy and activities. For instance in December last year, the Group paid off all hospital debts of patients at the Renal Dialysis Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to the tune of GH 620,000 and also donated GH 2,000,000 as an endowment fund for the treatment of patients. Still on Sky Group's acts of philanthropy, the company again in March last year, handed over 60 chapels with the seating capacity of 450 and 650 to the Assemblies of God; 30 each in the Eastern and Volta Regions. This was to alleviate the inconvenience of church members holding meetings under trees and in classrooms. [email protected] By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson Belo Cida Haruna, Marketing Manager of De United Foods Industries Ltd 24.01.2017 LISTEN Belo Cida Haruna, Marketing Manager of De United Foods Industries Ltd, brand owners of Indomie, has advised parents to give their children the needed exposure besides their academic activities by allowing them to participate in various talents and extra curriculum programmes. Haruna, who gave the advice recently in Accra, said Indomie had been organising, as well as supporting various activities intended to make children acquire important life skills. These include educational competitions and fairs, talent shows, as well as reality programmes on television. He added that such programmes would better prepare the children for adulthood. He commended various organisations that partnered Indomie in the past year to create these important platforms for children and pledged the brand's commitment to continue to support the young ones. He said a lot of programmes had been lined up for this year and urged parents to avail their wards to exploit such learning opportunities. The marketing manager said growth and development of children were a priority for Indomie, stating that that explained the investment in numerous programmes targeted at them. He therefore encouraged parents to give their children the needed exposure to prepare them for adulthood, adding that turning children into bookworms is not adequate for their total development. During the holidays, Indomie held series of events for children to make merry. These included Indomie Santa giving presents at all the major shopping malls in Accra, Sounds of Music at the Art Centre and a feast for head porters, popularly called Kayaye. Indomie also supported Kiddafest, Party in the Park and Charterhouse Ignition party for children. The Israeli Ambassador (left) explaining a point to Prof Oquaye during their meeting Ami Mehl, Israeli Ambassador to Ghana, has given assurance that his country would continue to support Ghana in the areas of democracy, health and agriculture. He gave the assurance on Tuesday in Accra when he paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of Parliament, Prof Mike Oquaye in his office. He said Ghana had become a beacon of democracy after successfully going through another elections and peacefully transferring power. He said Israel will intensify its collaboration with Ghana by providing health facilities and also technical assistance in agriculture. Prof Mike Ocquaye had earlier appealed to the Israeli Ambassador to help strengthen the work of Parliament in the area of capacity building for staffouseHouseHouseho. He also asked the Israeli government to offer opportunities to Ghanaian MPs to go and understudy the Israeli Parliament. We would like the Israeli and the Ghanaian parliaments to have some kind of exchange programmes to learn from each other, and I believe your government can come in to help, Prof Mike Oquaye said. Majority leader, Osei-Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, commended the Israeli government for supporting Ghana in the construction of the Kpong Dam and called for more technical assistance for government to help fulfill its promise of establishing one factory in each district of the country. Deputy minority leader, James Klutse Avedzi, on his part, asked the Israeli government to offer more assistance in preventive medical care for the people of Ghana. By Thomas Fosu Jnr LAGOS, Nigeria, 24 January 2017,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a leading pan-African multilateral development finance institution and project developer, has issued its maiden Sukuk, the highest-rated ever Sukuk issuance from an African institution. Following high levels of investor interest, the initial target of US$100 million was more than twice oversubscribed, resulting in the transaction being upsized to US$150 million and a final order book of approximately US$230 million. In addition to being the first Sukuk transaction of 2017, it is also the first Sukuk to be issued by an African supranational entity. The Sukuk is AFC's second foray into Islamic finance; the corporation accepted a US$50 million 15 year line of financing from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in 2015 to finance Islamic Finance-compliant projects located across the numerous African IDB member countries. The privately placed 100% Murabaha Sukuk, which has been awarded an A3 senior unsecured rating by Moody's Investors Service, has a three year tenor and will mature on 24 January 2020. Emirates NBD Capital, MUFG and RMB acted as Joint Bookrunners and Joint Lead Managers with Emirates NBD Capital also acting as the Sole Global Coordinator. Andrew Alli, President and CEO of AFC, commented on the announcement: "The core values of Islamic finance, the need to invest ethically in assets that have a tangible positive social impact, made a Sukuk issuance a natural choice for us. We offer global investors the chance to be involved in high-impact infrastructure projects that not only promote social and economic development across Africa but also generate economic returns for our investors. "This Sukuk represents a milestone in our financing activities, a milestone that will enable us to further diversify our funding sources, to build new relationships with key investors in international markets and help us diversify our portfolio of projects to continue delivering real impact across the continent." Ahmed Al Qassim, CEO of Emirates NBD Capital, added: "Emirates NBD Capital is delighted to have supported the inaugural US$150 million 3 year Sukuk issuance. The successful completion of the transaction is a testament to AFC's standing with the international investor community and AFC's commitment to develop new sources of funding. "As the Sole Global Coordinator for the Sukuk, Emirates NBD Capital continues to lead the development of international Sukuk as a product and providing our clients with unique solutions to meet their funding requirements." AFC has a diverse funding base, with a range of funding from sources across different markets. Last year the corporation issued its debut Swiss Franc denominated long three-year bond, raising CHF 100 million, and accepted a US$150 million 15 year loan facility from KfW Development Bank. In 2015 AFC's inaugural 144A/Reg S, US$750 million 5-year international bond was more than six times oversubscribed at over US$4.7 billion, attracting institutional investors from across Asia, Europe, Middle East and the United States. The Corporation will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2017 at the AFC Live Summit, which will bring together many of the top international players in African infrastructure investment for high level discussions on the industry's many challenges, and potential solutions. Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). About AFC - www.africafc.org AFC is a dynamic, international investment grade multilateral finance institution whose mission it is to help bridge Africa's significant infrastructure gap whilst delivering competitive financial returns, robust economic growth and positive social impact. Established in 2007 to be the catalyst for private sector infrastructure investment across Africa, AFC is now the second highest investment grade rated multilateral financial institution in Africa with an A3/P2 (Stable outlook) rating from Moody's Investors Service. A successful borrowing programme has raised more than US$3.5 billion for AFC's activities, including the Corporation's debut US$750 million Eurobond issue which was over 6 times oversubscribed. In terms of impact, AFC has invested more than US$ 4 billion in projects across 26 African countries to date. AFC's investment approach combines specialist industry expertise with a focus on financial and technical advisory, project structuring, project development and risk capital tailored to addressing Africa's unique infrastructure development needs in the core sectors of power, natural resources, heavy industry, transport, and telecommunications. Follow us on Twitter - @africa_finance Find out more about AFC Live - http://www.afc-live.com/ During the first half of 2016, the worldwide international tourist arrivals increased by 4% according to United Nations World Travel Organization (UNWTO), as compared to the period between January and June the previous year. Specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa is noted to be on an upward recovery curve at (+12%). This is a promising growth trend in Africas tourism with incomparable nimbleness to the persistent challenges, including terrorism threats and negative portrayal of the continent by international media. The World Travel & Tourism Councils (WTTC) ECONOMIC IMPACT 2016, AFRICA Report shows that domestic travel spending generated 62.3% of direct Travel & Tourism GDP in 2015 compared with 37.7% for international tourism receipts. Domestic travel spending was expected to grow by 3.8% in 2016 to USD80, and rise by 4.5% per annum to USD123.8bn in 2026. This boost in African tourism is simultaneous to the economic growth being experienced across many parts of the continent. WTTC report predicts that direct contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP will increase by 4.8% per annum, to USD121.3bn which is approximately 3.2% of GDP by 2026. Such encouraging estimates are a big boost to industry players confidence to incessantly foster Africa as a top tourist destination, to achieve its competitive advantage against other regions, remarked Cyrus Onyiego, Country Manager for Jumia Travel Kenya. Primary contributors to the exciting growth include but not limited to travel agents , hotels and restaurants, leisure service providers, and airlines among others. 2017, International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development By Tharin kaewkanya Besides, Africa is also on the forefront in promoting sustainable tourism, in line with the UNWTOs universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this milieu, 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development aims at supporting change in consumer behavior, business practices, and policies towards more sustainable tourism as stated by the World Tourism Organization. While the African Tourism still has a great deal of goals to achieve, we cannot overemphasize the milestones accomplished in the past decade. A resilient spirit engulfs the copious obstacles that stand in the way for success. But Africa is just Africa, and nothing can beat a buoyant chi determined to beat all odds. So yes, while the African tourism has been one of the most promising sectors in the continent, more growth is still expected in 2017. Credit: Josephine Wawira, Jumia Travel President Muhammad Buhari is such a lucky president who came at the time of need; though he had seen; he is attempting to conquer. He has come on a rescue mission. But not lucky in the Nigerian context because no contemporary Nigerian leader has suffered the humiliation and betrayal he underwent in his quest to lead and cleanse the country. He is really dealing boldly and wonderfully with Nigerians as the need arises. In such wise, many are happy while some are unhappy. It is natural. And history has records of how enemies sprout up against good men in societies where massive corruption, injustice, iniquity, lawlessness, free wealth, hooliganism and faithlessness held sway. Nigeria had been under the spell of a cabal in the government. This cabal has been fighting to undermine the plans of Mr. President who has planned to break the deadly group. It has not been easy but he is dealing with the situations. And positive results are palpable. Let us examine some of his pragmatic methodology in dealing with Nigerians as a people who had proved difficult to govern in the past. There are over a 1001 ways the President has positively dealt with Nigerians, though some people are born destructive critics. The order of placements here is insignificant. Undoubtedly, there are great challenges facing the nation. His victory in the last presidential polls This topic, obsolete as it may look, is still very relevant in the discussion about modern Nigeria democratic evolution. The spirit of patriotism in him made him not to lose hope in his determination to change the wrongs of the past leaders and place Nigeria on the course of development. It is patriotic to be persistent for a good cause. Many Nigerians know that he won the previous presidential elections before that of 2015, though he was denied by the wall of corruption. A man who wept profusely for betrayal by his compatriots would have opted out of contest for the fourth time. He set aside all the harrowing moments for 12 years and here he is doing all what is possible to revive our fatherland. Foreign trips Criticisms have overtaken rationality in many citizens who claim that the foreign trips of the President are waste of funds and administrative time. But sound minds have comprehended the duo of security and economic reasons as the paramount motive for the trips. There can be no compromise to the security of this land. Nigeria was at the brim of national disintegration in a calculated attempt to use Boko Haram from the Northeast. Hardly was it to disconnect foreign hands in the terrorist activities. It still baffles observers the capture of white men and foreigners in the Sambisa Forest which was the stronghold of the terrorists. There were reports of captured foreign war helicopters alleged to have been supplying weapons to the Boko Haram group in the forest that resisted defeat for long time. Just like the way the Niger Delta militancy began and gradually stabilized due to arms machinery dealings, the Boko Haram could not have had factories to produce the arms it required to fight or the money it needed to recruit members. There must have been illegal arms dealings. In the nutshell, the President had to go to all the countries that can help in defeating the terrorists. And for sure, no amount of money spent on such mission to save Nigeria can be termed to be much. Additionally, results from the trips are manifesting. Boko Haram has been chased out of its stronghold and many countries where looted funds from the nations treasury were hidden are returning or ready to repatriate the funds and properties back to Nigeria. Recently, the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi said China was investing $40 billion as part of the plan to deepen relationship with Nigeria, in addition to $22 billion projects already invested. Defeat of Boko Haram and restoration of Nigerian military dignity The Boko Haram has been defeated, not merely debased as before. The remnants of the terrorists are running for their lives from one city to the other, still trying to call attention through suicide attempts. By this victory, the dignity of the Nigerian military has been restored. Our gallant military personnel have proved their worth in the world. They have been going to keep peace in other countries. Why was ours not possible? The right President is now with them and with all Nigerians. May the souls of our murdered heroic soldiers rest in perfect peace, ameen. I personally hail the Nigerian military for this great achievement for our dear nation. We must all celebrate with and pray for them. Removal of fuel subsidy Fuel subsidy was an empire for corrupt importers who fleeced the country of trillions of naira. It became clear that most of the acclaimed importers were mere political office holders dealing through proxy. Funny enough, each time removal of fuel subsidy was raised the beneficiaries made it look as if Nigerian would suffer untold hardship from that. It was a sacred pole that touching it was a taboo. Before taking over the leadership, President Buhari severally described it as a fraud and non-existent. He has boldly removed it, though it is not clear if all those subsidy fraudsters have paid back their loots. Since the subsidy removal and adjustment of the fuel price to N145 per liter, there has been steady availability of the commodity at the stabilized price. However, the prices of oil control the prices of local commodities and foreign imports. Nigerians are not finding life easy but there is hope of reviewing the minimum wage of N18,000 (about 40 US dollars per month). Refusal to devalue Naira The refusal of President Buhari to devalue the Naira to the tune of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other foreign influences has been good indirectly for our economy. Restriction on forex has been a good thing for local processors and manufacturers. Rather, he has supported the IMF decision to ensure alignment between monetary policy and fiscal policy. Despite the hike in prices of commodities due to the impact of forex scarcity and regulation, it is hoped that thing will get better than accepting to devalue the Naira. This would create more problems than solutions for the country. War on corruption The war on corruption by the present administration is real and succeeding. 565 billion naira has been recovered and properties worth over three trillion naira have been seized from looters. Cases of corruption being prosecuted by the federal government against treasury looters are many in the courts. Many of the accused looters have spent days in the prisons. Many have confessed by returning part of their loots, though virtually none of them has been convicted. This is why the menace may not be defeated because the looters know that nothing can come out of the prolonged courts proceedings and judgements. However, the federal government said all ongoing corruption trials should be concluded promptly. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo while meeting with the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) chaired by Professor Itse Sagay urged the anti-graft agencies to step up their engagement with the public. Court trials For the first time, the perceived untouchables in Nigeria including former army chiefs, former federal ministers and senior judges have been held for corruption. Some have spent nights behind the bars. More top shots are still being investigated. There are corruption allegations against the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF); such allegations that have caused disaffection between President Buhari and the upper chambers of the National Assembly. In addition, the Niger Delta militants have threatened wide protests against the continuous stay of the duo in the government. Introduction of TSA and fattening of foreign reserve The introduction of a Treasury Single Account (TSA) has yielded fruitful results as it has generated and saved huge sums of money for the government. Nothing can be more laudable as this national bank. The Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) used for salary payments to civil servants is gradually being extended to all sectors. In 2016, about 50,000 ghost workers were discovered in the payroll of the federal government, thus saving the nation about N4.2 billion every month totaling N156 billion according to the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). In addition, over N23 billion per annum is saved from official travelling and sitting allowances. The reduction in the number of ministries and rationalization of the MDAs has created more efficient public service. The nations foreign exchange reserves have also increased to $27.223 billion as at January 16, 2017, according the Central Bank of Nigerias (CBN), derived majorly from the proceeds of crude oil. This is compared with the $25.843 billion that it was as at December 30, 2015. Defeat of age-long padding of budgets Apart from savings, President Buhari has been inculcating in Nigerians the way public money should be spent. The former practice of padding budgets by the executive and legislative arms of government has been blocked. The controversies this padding menace generated in 2016 budget embarrassed the nation. Series of rogue projects and figures were injected into the financial document. The lower chamber of the national assembly is yet to cleanse itself of these controversies. The President has assured that it is over and that the 2017 will not be padded. So, Nigerians now hope to have a budget that is more transparent, more inclusive and more closely tied to development priorities. President Buhari noted that he had been in government since 1975, variously as governor, oil minister, head of state, and Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), and did not hear the word padding till the 2016 Budget. 200,000 jobs created with the N-power initiative There have been the plans to create 500,000 employment opportunities for graduates, with another 370,000 for non-graduates, in addition to the provision of micro loan facilities for market women. 500 billion naira social investment was earmarked in the 2016 budget for the employment purposes. The project has begun in earnest. Payment of N5,000 to poor Nigerians The President promised during his presidential campaigns to pay N5,000 to the downtrodden citizens. The N500 billion social investment plan was part of measures to tackle the myriad of economic problems as well as provide palliatives to the citizenry. The pledge is now being redeemed and pilot states have started implementing it. On how the beneficiaries were identified, the poorest local government areas of states were identified using an existing poverty map for the state. Then the poorest communities in the LGAs were identified. Focus groups comprising women, men, youths are trained to go to each of their communities to sensitize the leaders, including traditional rulers on the selection of the poorest of their societies. But it must be monitored as politicians have been making attempts to hijack the project to replace their constitutional obligations to their constituencies. Repair of Ajaokuta Steel Company All issues relating to the Ajaokuta Steel Mill have been resolved by the present administration. It is expected that within the year, production will commence with estimated employment capacity of 100,000 Nigerians. This is a wise move by the government which has the interest of Nigerians in heart. What have been the issues? In December, President Buhari presented a total sum of N4,272,797,371 appropriated for the company, higher than the N3.9 billion budgeted for 2016. Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Fayemi Kayode, reiterated the government commitment to settle all litigations between it and Global Steel Holdings Limited. This company is Nigerias leading steel plant. Since its inauguration in 1983, the plant had been embroiled in managerial inaptitude, controversy ranging from allegations of obsolete machines and outdated blast furnace model. Despite its initial completion, the plant was neglected under previous successive administrations. There is now accountability in government agencies like the customs, the immigration and all other revenue generating organs of the government. There is freedom of operations by the EFCC and ICPC. All the groups attempting to endanger the peace and security of the nation such as the IPOB, Niger Delta and herdsmen are being put under control. Enough of the struggle to convince Nigerians that President Buhari means well for our dear country. The above achievements are manifestations of patriotic revolution. Wailers and sadists cannot cease to be in a society but it is important to note that even the sadists know too well that the man at the helm of affairs of Nigeria today is not corrupt; he hates corruption and its associates and he will do anything constitutionally possible to crush them. He is rebuilding a totally broken country - reconstructing the spine of the Nigerian state and this has made hardship inevitable. Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good governance in Abuja. E-mail [email protected] Alan Kyeremateng, the Minister nominee for Trade and Industry, faced Parliaments Appointments Committee on Monday [January 23], to be assessed for his preparedness to serve in the office. Mr. Kyerematen, a former Minister in that portfolio in answering several questions, touched on how the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, will implement its flagship campaign promise of building a factory in every district of the country, how it will promote the growth of businesses by reducing taxes among others. Here are highlights of some of the critical points he made before the committee. By: Mawuli Tsikata/citifmonline.com/Ghana The Minority leader in Parliament has questioned the Oath of Office President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia took during their swearing in. Haruna Iddrisu said the first and second gentlemen of the land pronounced crucial words in the wrong order at their inauguration on January 7. The Second Schedule of the 1992 Constitution contains forms of oath that has to be taken by President-elect, Vice-President-elect, Members of Parliament (MP), Council of State Members, Cabinet members, Auditor-General, Speaker of Parliament, Chief Justice and Ministers of State. According to Mr Iddrisu, instead of the President saying I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the people of the Republic of Ghana and to do right to all manner of persons, he said I dedicate myself to the service and welfare... The former Employment Minister continued that when the Vice President was taking the Oath of Allegiance, he was also supposed to have said that I will uphold the sovereignty and integrity of Ghana, but in a wierd manner said I will uphold the Insovereign... Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu Although he did not call for the Oaths to be retaken as it is done in some jurisdictions, he entreated government officials to take their oaths seriously since they represent the heart of the Constitution. A case in point was when former United States President, Barack Obama missed some words in his Oath of Office. Confusion arose in the country after a newspaper carried the headline Oaf of Office. This prompted calls for former President Obama to retake the oath. Chief Justice John Roberts readministered the oath to the President at the White House. In another development, Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Ocquaye has entreated first time MPs to take their training in the House seriously. There is the need for members particularly the new ones to quickly work out to understand the concepts and working systems of parliament and appreciate the rudiments of governance, he said. This, he explained would afford them the opportunity to work efficiently within the parliamentary setting. Professor Ocquaye encouraged them to take full advantage of Parliaments induction programme by attending and making good use of the human and material resources that would be made available to members. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | [email protected] Maputo (AFP) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on Mozambican leader Filipe Nyusi to take action against the exiled cleric he blames for last year's failed coup. Erdogan was echoing the call to arms that he made during a stop in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam on Monday as part of his tour of three African countries. He told a reception in Maputo that "we are aware that Fethullahists have a presence here in Mozambique", referring to Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement which is linked to a network of schools across the world, including in Africa. "They have a vast sector of schools and associations all around the world, and they have a wide network here in Mozambique as well," Erdogan said. Turkish officials accuse Gulen of using his private education network to build influence and of running a "parallel state" inside Turkey. "What they've tried to achieve in Turkey, they will try to achieve in Mozambique sooner or later," said Erdogan. "This is something that we request from you... A friend in need is a friend indeed." Since a failed coup on July 15 which tried to overthrow Erdogan, the government has launched wide-scale purges, detaining, sacking or suspending thousands of people in the public sector. Erdogan's five-day tour of Africa will also see him visit Madagascar before he returns home. Another key priority of the trip has been to promote Turkish influence on the continent and to stimulate trade between Africa and Turkey. The Turkish strongman brought around 100 Turkish business leaders with him for the official tour. The lifting of Sudan sanctions by the United States has been met with joy by many in both the African and International communities. US decision to lift some economic sanctions against Khartoum, was a positive and important development. The head of the African Union commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, welcomed the decision of United States to partially lift economic and trade sanctions on Sudan. Zuma acknowledges the importance of this development which will allow Sudan to reengage in international trade and end the suffering of its people. She further expressed hopes that the administration of President Donald Trump will consider permanent revocation of the sanctions in Executive Orders 13067 and 13412 and further work towards granting debts relief to the Republic of Sudan . The Arab League on its part has welcomed US decision to lift economic sanctions on Sudan, which have been in place for 20 years. In a press release it pointed out that it has continuously been opposed to the sanctions and has repeatedly called for them to be lifted. In the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces congratulated Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir on the development. The move allows the U.S. Department of the Treasury to immediately authorize expanding trade and investment in Sudan. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the executive order also provides Sudan "with a clear path to the permanent revocation of sanctions in six months if progress in these five areas continues." Under Obamas order, section one of President Bill Clintons 1997 executive order freezing Sudan's assets would be lifted in six months if Sudan's good behavior continues. It would also lift section two, which blocked all Sudanese imports into the U.S. Shareholders of the UK-based platinum mining giant Lonmin Plc must ask what steps the company is taking to improve the appalling conditions in which it houses its workers, and which contributed to a labour dispute that left 34 striking miners dead in 2012, Amnesty International said today ahead of Lonmins Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 26 January in London. The organization has documented how Lonmins workforce at its platinum mine in Marikana, South Africa, are still living in squalor in spite of legally binding commitments made by the company to build 5,500 new houses more than a decade ago. Lonmin, one of the worlds biggest platinum producers, received a resounding wake-up call when a labour dispute escalated and resulted in the police killing 34 striking mine workers at its Marikana site in 2012. It is astoundingly reckless that it continues to fail to live up to its promises to ensure decent living conditions for its workers, said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty Internationals Regional Director for Southern Africa. This is the moment for Lonmins shareholders to ask tough questions about the companys behaviour and legal commitments and encourage them to correct their past mistakes. The AGM will be Lonmins fifth since the killing of 34 striking mineworkers at Marikana on 16 August 2012 by members of the South African Police Service after a wage dispute. It will bring together the companys shareholders and investors. The New Patriotic Party is a party born out of one of the most consistent political tradition on the African continent - the Danquah-Busia-Dombo Tradition. Historically, the NPP is fore-fathered by the UGCC. However, in tradition, the NPP is rooted in the UP Tradition. After Ghana attained its independence on 6th March 1957, the Parliament of Ghana which was dominated by the Nkrumah's CPP passed the Avoidance of Discrimination Act 1957 which banned all parties and organizations that were confined to any racial, ethnic or religious groups with effect from 31st December 1957. This was deemed by the opposition parties as a calculated effort by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to make the CPP the only political party having the legal requirements to exist and operate. The opposition parties quickened to merge into one party called the United Party. The UP comprised of the National Liberation Movement (NLM), Northern Peoples Party (NPP), Anlo Youth Organization, Muslims Association Party, Togoland Congress and the Ga Shifimokpee. The United Party, though it was an almagma of all opposition parties of the time, it was dominated by the NLM which was the biggest opposition before its formation. The NLM saw its root in the Ghana Congress Party and the UGCC. However, the role, commitment and sacrifices made by Chief Dombo to the UP cannot be underrated. The UP's effectiveness as opposition suffered when it was no more recognized as the official opposition after Ghana became a Republic in 1960. In September 1962, the National Assembly passed a resolution calling for a one-party State. This was accepted following a referendum in January 1964. Nkrumah's superiority desire caused him to arrest and detained majority of those he deemed opponents to his political principles. For instance, Obetsebi Lamptey was chased on exile and returned to Ghana hiding in bushes till he died miserably while Dr. J. B Danquah was detained in Nsawam prison till he died there in 1965. This situation persisted till February 24, 1966 when Nkrumah's government was overthrown by the National Liberation Council. Under the reign of the NLC, Dr. Busia was appointed the chairman of the NCCE hence his popularity with the masses became unmatched. Eventually, when the NLC desired to handover the State to a civilian government, Dr. K. A. Busia who formed and led the Progress Party won the 1969 election and became the Prime Minister. His reign lasted for 27 months then he was overthrown by the National Redemption Council. It was not until 2001 that a member of the UP tradition (J. A. Kuffour) was elected the President of the nation. A political party like the NPP which was built on the tradition of UP should have been winning elections massively as it happened in the just ended 2016 election. This because the tradition was built on the structures of the nation ( Tribe, religion and competence) and it also have what it takes to govern a nation. However, the unfortunate has occurred in many times. This is due to the fact that the leaders of the party (tradition) apart from Nana Akufo-Addo, have failed to commit themselves to the task of inculcating the norms of the tradition to growing generations. It comes with no doubt that Nana Akufo-Addo's role in the formation of the Danquah-Busia Club is what resurrected the UP tradition and subsequently led to the victory of NPP in the 2000 election. Also, Nana Akufo-Addo, through his law chamber and the Danquah Institute has impacted the UP tradition into many big brains who are now playing diverse role in the national politics eg; Philip Addison, Joe Ghartey, Atta Kyea, Nana Asante Bediatuo, Ursula Owusu, Asenso, Abu Jinapor, Eugene Arhin, Mustapha Hamid etc. It is therefore not surprising that his victory was overwhelming. The NPP's ability to tap and maintain potential beings from its historic components will strengthen the UP Kingdom and secure the Party's victory for a very long time. At a point in time, the NPP was perceived as "Akan Party". The coming into the party's front line politics by some known descendants of the Dombo section of the tradition (Dr. Bawumia, Anthony Karbo, Otiko Djaba, Mustapha Hamid etc) has raised the consciousness of the Northern people of their share in the NPP hence changing the perception of the people of the North about NPP. The eternal reign of a Kingdom depends on the ability of its bigwigs to impact the norms of the Kingdom into young generation. Nana Akufo-Addo is very good when it comes to impacting and nurturing potential beings with the norms of the UP Tradition and must be emulated by all the NPP bigwigs. It is clear that anytime the NPP gain consciousness of its foundation pillars, they win election. Therefore, the NPP's ability to unite its three founding pillars as well as tapping and nurturing smart youth in the party will strengthen its foundation hence positioning the party to win subsequent elections in the country. In the coming years, the NPP bigwigs must emulate Chief Dombo's path of sacrificing individual desire for supremacy for a collective gain. The vibrancy of the United Party was as a result of Chief Dombo sacrificing his desire of becoming the leader of UP to Dr. K. A. Busia. In unity and collective interest lie strength. Long live NPP. Nana Ofori Kissi Ratina NPP Youth Organizer Atiwa West Constituency 0247454953 Mion district tops others with the least percentage of residents who defecate in the open with Tamale metro at the bottom of the league table. The District league table (DLT) is a bi-annual Water and Sanitation (WASH) technical assessment and ranking of the performance of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in fighting open defecation. The assessment was conducted by the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development. With a target score of 100%, Mion district scored 73% and was first on the Table followed by Nanumba North with a score of 55%. Karaga, Zabzugu and Tatale-Sangule respectively are among the top five districts on the Table. Tamale Metro was last with a score of 10% indicating a greater percentage of its residents defecate in the open. Sawla-Tuna-Kalba (20th), Kpandai (21st), Sagnarigu (22nd), Bole (23rd), North Gonja (24th) and Mamprugu Mogduri (25th) are among the underperforming districts where Open Defecation is highly practiced. According to the Regional Director of Environmental Health and Sanitation Rex Jakpa Mumuni, the main indicator of how districts performed is the percentage of certified ODF communities per each district. An ODF community is one with no visible faeces around and all households have access to and use latrines. At the launch of the DLT yesterday at the regional coordinating council, Chief Coordinating Director Alhaji Issahaku Alhassan expressed his dismay at the abysmal performance of Tamale metro and others for doing very little to combat open defecation in their districts in spite of the huge budgetary allocations of the MMDAs and donor funds in the area of sanitation. He said this assessment was to create positive competition among MMDAs in improving the sanitation conditions in their areas. According to him northern region has over 30 NGOs in WASH who are contributing to better the sanitation conditions of districts yet it leaves much to be desired. He therefore called for more effective measures by MMDAs to elevate the region from its current second position in Ghana as open defecation prone. United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) chief of field operations at the Tamale office, Madam Margret Gwarda urged the district directors to go beyond the attainment of their current status by sustaining and improving on it while encouraging underperforming districts to step up their efforts in the fight against open defecation. The open defecation League Table is part of the strategies adopted by the Regional Coordinating Council and its development partners such as USAID, UNICEF, RING, amongst others to step up efforts of districts in addressing the practice of open defecation. The next league table is expected to be unveiled by the end of June. Dear Mr. President, I am by this letter congratulating you on behalf of the youth of Ghana and The Gambia. As a private citizen of my country Ghana and my colleagues at the West African Sub Regions we say a very big congratulations to you Mr. President. The vivacious youths of the West African Sub Regions are in intensive prayers to enable our good Allah to guide and protect you and your family in all things not forgetting your Administration and the entire county at large. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said; The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy On the death of your son Mr. President: We are so sorry about the death of Habibou Barrow your son. We wish we could find words that would relieve your pain, but we cannot imagine what they are. Losing a child is one of the saddest life experiences possible, and words of true comfort are difficult to find. Please know that we are thinking of you in your sorrow. You have our sincere condolences. The Greatest Responsibility: Being the 3rd President of the 2nd Republic of The Gambia comes with great responsibility. Thus people of The Gambia especially the youth was in the vibrant position to rally by you irrespective of the state of the political atmospheric pressure, with the Hash Tag - #Gambia Has Decided. The youth of The Gambia has broken the status quo of dictatorship, the younger generations fresh ideas and new leadership skills will help to overcome authoritarian practices. The Gambian protesters led by youth leaders can force autocratic leaders to step down from power. The Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) was launched by Ex-President of the United States Barack Obama as a signature effort to invest in the next generation of African leaders. He said there is a need to invest in grooming strong, results-oriented leaders. As an Alumni of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) RLC C5, Accra Ghana with participants from Nine (9) West African Countries, we are challenging you to allow youths to become part of formal decision-making in The Gambia Mr. President, allowing youth involvement in politics will eventually lead to civic engagement which is broader than political engagement because it can include service to the community through involvement in health, education and charity work and other social entrepreneurships. Acknowledgement: We would like to acknowledge the receipt of HE President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf the 24th and current President of Liberia and chairperson of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), HE President Muhammadu Buhari President of Nigeria and HE former President John Dramani Mahama, along with HE President Ernest Bai Koroma 4th President of Sierra Leone and internal and external observed Protocols. Thank you for the political leadership you provide in the Gambia. As a private citizen who is more concerned about the emanated political instability issues, we value the role you play in dialoguing with HE Ex-President Yahya Jammeh. This political agreement has lead to greater sustainability for the country and the West African Sub-Regions. Once again congratulations to you Mr. President-Elect, The Gambia will always remain the smiling coast of Africa. Thank you. By: Eugene Amarfio YALI RLC C5 Alumni Accra Ghana. + (233) 246 370618 [email protected] The Education Minister-nominee, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has indicated that, government will be looking at consolidating basic education before pursuing any form of free tertiary education, saying that is not time-bound. Speaking during his vetting by Parliaments Appointments Committee, Mr. Opoku Prempeh said his focus will be ensuring quality at the foundation levels of basic education. Article 38(1) of the 1992 Constitution says that the State shall provide educational facilities at all levels, and in all regions of Ghana, and shall to the greatest extent feasible, make those facilities available to all citizens. He admitted there were challenges with implementing the Free Compulsory Basic Education programme (FCUBE), which sought to provide the opportunity for every school-age child in Ghana to receive quality basic education by the year 2005. But Mr. Opoku Prempeh indicated that, the target of progressively free tertiary education, as promised by the defeated National Democratic Congress, was not time-bound like progressively free secondary education in our constitution. Thus he said his priority would be to make sure that, the KGs, the primaries, the JHSs and the SHSs, including vocational and technical education and agriculture, is well consolidated especially now that the UNs right to basic education is being changed to a right of education up to the secondary level. We have to guarantee that the masses of our people will be of sufficient knowledge and value skill acquisition, and technical ability before we probably, if the country can afford it, move towards those directions, he added. By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana 24.01.2017 LISTEN Of all the issues that have been heavily debated upon on most political platforms leading to the General Elections of December 2016, corruption is arguably among the top three. So, as the President continues to assure us that he wont disappoint, Im sure one of the issues he has in mind is corruption which, I think, needs to be fought on all fronts. But in spite of all the faith I have in President Akuffo-Addo and his assurances both before and after his inauguration on 7th January my fear is that he may end up concentrating all his energies on fighting one particular aspect of corruption to the neglect of an equally important aspect of it. In his inaugural speech one statement he made which received much acclamation was his reminder to politicians and public workers that public service is not an avenue for making money. He then went further with the assurance that measures would be put in place to ensure this, and that he would protect the public purse. I would like to remind His Excellency, the President though, that while he can be assured of our total support in that endeavour theres another area of corruption that the average man on the street expects him to use all his power to fight. It is the corrupt practices of officials of some state institutions who use their position to twist the arms of the ordinary citizen for money or favours in exchange of services they are employed to offer. This, after all, is where the ordinary man on the street comes face-to-face with, and suffers from corruption in our daily lives. The President of course knows them but I dont think it spoils anything for me to remind him again to pay attention to institutions like the Police, the Customs (CEPS) Department of the GRA, Lands Commission, Judiciary, Vehicle & Licencing Department (VELD). The Police If my memory serves me right I think the Police have over the years always been among the top three institutions on the corruption league table. What youre most likely to hear from them whenever they have the opportunity to defend themselves is that its only a few bad nuts within their ranks who are involved but I do not believe theres any Ghanaian out there who doesnt know that corruption is rife in the police service. It may not be that all of them are corrupt but its safe to say that its the rule, rather than the exception, that the next policeman/woman you come into contact with is more interested in taking money from you than serving you as hes supposed to do. The Customs The following are excerpts from an address our late President, Prof. J.E.A. Mills, gave to the staff of the Customs Division of GRA when he visited their offices one day: Every day we hear reports about malpractices, people collecting bribes with careless abandon, people who think that they are entitled to take bribes. How can we get rid of corruption? Look at yourselves, I want to talk very frankly to you. Somebody joins Customs. Two, three years, the person is putting up a building. The person owns a car. In what organisation will it take you three years to build? And it is not the exception, it is the rule And this was after the late President had watched an Anas video exposing the dirt that goes on in the service. Good for the late President but quite unfortunate for Ghana that it had to take an Anas video for the former Commissioner of IRS to know what everybody else knew. But the question now is: has the situation changed, several years after the late Presidents encounter with CEPS officials? If yes, fine. But if not, then President Akuffo-Addo should be reminded that it will take much more than assurances to remedy the situation. Lands Commission, DVLA etc. Im not sure Prof. Mills also visited the offices of the Lands Commission or the DVLA to see what goes on there. So perhaps its the turn of the current president to go there one day to find things out for himself, Anas video or no Anas video, and he will realise that the value, indeed, is the same. It is virtually impossible to receive the required services from either of these institutions without paying any bribe. The Judiciary The police may be holders of the record when it comes to extorting money from the public but to be fair to them I think the story would be different if the Judiciary had been less corrupt. The point is that many Ghanaians would be quite willing to let the police take them to wherever if they were assured that they wouldnt be running from frying pan to fire. A couple of friends I know tried but later swore never to go through the wahala again. What Happens Here As Compared to Elsewhere Apart from attitudes it may be said that poor systems at work also play a major role in what goes on in these institutions. In that case, therefore, I believe it lies well within the powers of any serious government to reduce corruption to the minimum by improving upon work systems in these institutions. On the two occasions that I drove faster than the prescribed speed limit in Switzerland I was duly penalised with a fine but without coming into contact with any policeman, court clerk or judge. Recently I was stopped on the Sunyani-Duayaw-Nkwanta road by a group of Policemen and women for alleged over speeding. After answering over a dozen questions including where I was going, what I do for a living and whether or not I use that stretch of the road often my driving licence was returned to me after almost 30 minutes and asked to carry on. This was after Id told the sergeant who was interviewing me to just carry on with his job when he asked me what he should do. Before then another wanted to find out from me whether I was an ex-serviceman. Meanwhile all this waste of everybodys time could have been avoided if Id been photographed by an unmanned camera and directed to go to a specific place to pay a specified amount. In some jurisdictions when you park wrongfully the police would leave a pre-printed charge sheet together with its appropriate fine on your windscreen for you to go and pay at any post office. Here in Ghana you may find a policeman forcing himself into your vehicle in some Rambo-style with instructions that you drive to the police station. You may think hes being unprofessional but his fear is that if he just processes you for court you may go and pay the bribe there while he doesnt get anything. So Mr. President, we know you mean business, and we support you fully. But some of us believe that with all your best intentions, appealing to the conscience of Ghanaians alone is not likely to bring about the change weve all been praying for. Corruption isnt going anywhere unless serious efforts are made to dramatically change the way things work in public institutions. And mind you, at the end of your first term of office one of the yardsticks by which your success or otherwise is going to be measured is how much you have succeeded in reducing corruption in public institutions. Kwame Twumasi-Fofie Sunyani Rural banks in Ghana are gearing up for the first ever brand related awards to be held in Accra on March 31, 2017, on the theme: Rising Competition; how can a rural bank provide a workable Strategic Plan? One of the banks whose performance in the banking sector has attracted attention is Odotobri Rural Bank. The bank has qualified to receive two top awards including; The Fastest Growing Rural Bank, and The Top Emerging Rural Bank Brand 2016. A Rural Bank established in 1982 and commenced operations in September 1983, the Bank which is now headed by the Chief Executive Officer, Siaka Baba Ahmed has grown to become a well-branded institution competing effectively with commercial banks in the areas they operate. Odotobri Rural Bank Limited currently operates 11 branches with a branch each in Jacobu, Obuasi and Bekwai and 8 branches in Kumasi Metropolis. The award scheme, being organised by Premier Brands Ghana, and sponsored by Delta Capital Ltd, an investment bank for Pension and Fund management, is aimed at paying tribute to the outstanding rural banks whose business performances over the years have reached the apex of branding in Ghana. Having now attracted the attention of international investors, Premier Brands Ghana has identified them as one of the rural banks in Ghana to be respected and trusted and has accorded them the merit for the prestigious brand excellence award for 2016. Other rural banks that have also been assessed to qualify for other brand related awards in various categories are; South Akim Rural Bank, Amenfiman Rural Bank, Amanano Rural Bank, Sefwiman Rural Bank, Atwima Mponua Rural Bank, Nwabiagya Rural Bank, Kintampo Rural Bank, Lower Pra Rural Bank, Juaben Rural Bank, among others. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com Dakar (AFP) - At least 8,000 Gambians who fled the country have returned since strongman Yahya Jammeh went into exile after being threatened with regional military intervention, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Political outsider and businessman Adama Barrow won a December election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the internationally backed Barrow take his oath of office in Senegal last week. Jammeh's defiance prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said, citing Senegalese authorities. It said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. According to the last estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees put out on Friday, about 45,000 people had streamed into Senegal from The Gambia while at least 800 went to nearby Guinea-Bissau since the start of the year. Former president Yaya Jammeh (C), the Gambia's leader for 22 years, waves from the plane as he leaves the country on 21 January 2017 in Banjul "Authorities in The Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home," UNHCR said, adding that thousands of Senegalese had opened their homes to the fleeing Gambians. The NGO Enda Tiers-Monde in a statement also hailed "the spontaneous and brotherly mobilisation" in Senegal in the past weeks. Former President John Dramani Mahama left a poorer economy than anticipated by the New Patriotic Party, according to President Akufo-Addo. We have inherited an economy in poor shape and I suspect from what I'm hearing, the evidence that is coming to me that it is in even poorer shape than we anticipated, the president said Tuesday afternoon at the Flagstaff House as he named his regional ministers-designate. President Akufo-Addo added that he is, however, not worried by the mess the economy is in since he is a firm believer in the statement that when times are tough, the tough get going. This is the time that we have to show leadership and commitment to our nation. I continue to be an unrepentant optimist. We are a special people and we have a special destiny and I'm going to do everything within my bones to make sure that that destiny is realised in the years ahead of us. The President also stated that he has named the best government in the history of Ghana. I believe that already the Ghanaian people are seeing the quality of the people that I have proposed for national office and for members of the next NPP government. There are those who made all kinds of noises about the choices but I think day after day they [nominees] are proving that indeed they have the quality and the calibre that we need now to take our country up and move it to the next stage for the development of our nation. I'm very confident that these people that have been assembled are going to give us the best government in our history. A government that is going to take Ghana very much to the next stage of its social and economic development, Mr. Akufo-Addo added. -Starrfmonline Ken Ofori Atta 24.01.2017 LISTEN It came out during Minister-designate for Finance, Ken Ofori Attas vetting that he has an offshore account. This is a very serious matter of public interest that requires further plumbing. Because, in our opinion, we view it is an important matter of public interest that should never be swept under the rug just to please the powers that be, or any body of persons for that matter. Otherwise, we will never see any need tagging the vetting process and the new administration with transparency. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) campaigned on an electioneering plank of transparency, accountability and probity and at this point it will not speak well of the party if it turns its back on this plank. This is now how to do serious politics given the NPPs vicious muckraking campaign against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as a party undeserving of the loyalty and support of Ghanaians. The reasons for this are public knowledge. There is therefore no need belaboring the spate of corruption scandals that rocked the very foundation of the NDC and its corrupt leadership. Thus plumbing the matter further will be in the best interest of Akufo-Addo and his government, of Ken himself, if they so much as want to convince Ghanaians that that captivating electioneering and sloganeering plank wasand is stillnot an empty rhetoric meant to hoodwink. In other words the NPP and its leadership must prove to Ghanaians they are morally different from the NDC and its erstwhile leadership, although the facts also clearly confirm the NDC and the NPP as being corrupt, as being gross managers of the public purse, as being ideologically clueless and wicked, and so forth. That notwithstanding, without mincing words Alhaji Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, states the case as it generally ought to be: In relation to the off-shore account I impugn no ill-motives to the nominee for finance, but we all do know the potentials offshore accounts have in terms of how it can be used for money laundering and tax invasion. And for me it is important for us as citizens for us to know the interest that our Finance Minister has on such an account, so that even maybe it can be monitored I think that it should be of worry to every Ghanaian. And again without impugning any ill-motive, its just proper that we satisfy ourselves Ghanaians should not allow political theologian and businessman Kens soft-spoken demeanor to carry them away. Already we are seeing the Akyem Mafia, cronyism and nepotism making a strong comeback in Akufo-Addos inner cabinet. Ken, a direct blood relative of Akufo-Addo, is one of such. Thus, we do not want to see a situation where the executive presidency is turned into a kleptocratic dynasty. Also Ken, a leading member of Mensa Otabils Churchthe International Central Gospel Churchshould come clean with information about his offshore account. He should prove to Ghanaians that he is as clean as the bully pulpit of Otabils. After all, Jesus did not have an offshore account and even if he did we are certain he would not have resisted any calls to demonstrate transparency if he came before the Sanhedrin. Ken should therefore strive to follow the prime example of Jesus and set his conscience and the public at ease on this important matter of public interest, for, we also strongly believe, among other things that the path from the Finance Ministry and the public purse to offshore accounts is an unbelievably straight line. Beyond that, Akufo-Addo and his political appointees should also publicly declare their assets and liabilities to prove their seriousness about fighting institutional corruption and about fulfilling their campaign promises of transparency, accountability and probity. Anything short of this policy request will definitely spell disaster for this administration. We wait to see whether they truly intend honoring these promises. Ghanaians are closely watching. Finally, while Suhuyinis courageous suggestion is highly commendable, we will also implore our leaders to pass the Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB) in addition to other anti-corruption bills left to go rusty for reasons of political expediency and convenience. Ghana is bigger than any political partys interest. We cannot overstate this statement of fact. REFERENCES Ghanaweb. Ken Ofori Attas Off-shore Account Needs Further ProbeSuhuyini. January 23, 2017. Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambian President Adama Barrow's administration faced a backlash Tuesday after admitting its new vice-president may be constitutionally barred from serving and confirming ex-leader Yahya Jammeh will be permitted to keep a fleet of luxury cars. One day after naming Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang as deputy leader, an outcry broke out after local media alleged she was 67 years old, two years over the legal maximum to serve in the post. Barrow spokesman Halifa Sallah told journalists he was aware of the reports and advisors were recommending a parliamentary vetting process be put in place to avoid a similar situation, without confirming Jallow-Tambajang's true age. Several phone calls to Jallow-Tambajang by AFP went unanswered on Tuesday. "I have spoken to President Barrow that many concerns are being raised," Sallah said. "The president has been carefully advised that he constitute a vetting committee," Sallah added, while asserting that "the appointment was done in good faith based on the facts that were available." Factfile on the political crisis in the Gambia Barrow was in "final discussions with west African leaders "in order to announce the hour of coming," Sallah said, adding that he would arrive "very soon". Barrow is currently living in Senegal until his safety can be guaranteed by thousands of soldiers from five African nations currently deployed in The Gambia, but unease is growing over his prolonged absence. Bentley and Benz The news came on the same day it was confirmed that ex-leader Yahya Jammeh had struck a deal with Barrow to keep a fleet of luxury cars in exchange for leaving the country on Saturday for exile in Equatorial Guinea. Former president Yaya Jammeh (C), the Gambia's leader for 22 years, waves from the plane as he leaves the country on 21 January 2017 in Banjul An airport source who saw the cargo being prepared on Saturday night when Jammeh flew out of the country said "two Rolls Royces and one (Mercedes) Benz" were loaded onto a Chadian cargo plane, while 10 others await shipment. "The government was fully prepared and supportive of ex-president Jammeh to leave and as a result they found it is better to leave with all his properties," his spokesman said. The airport source even reported a tussle over whether to take Bentleys or Rolls Royces onto the cargo flight, before settling for the latter. Senegalese ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) soldiers guard the Statehouse in Banjul on January 24, 2017 The news is likely to anger Gambians who have also learnt Jammeh took off with $11 million of state funds, according to one of his Dakar-based advisors, leaving the coffers nearly empty. "I am so sickened by the deal; but I guess saving just one life on either side is worth more than all of his wealth," Twitter user @YesWeCan_Gambia wrote. An "entry-level" Rolls Royce costs $250,000, and most Gambians live on less than $2 a day. Controversial judge gone Meanwhile a top judicial official told AFP the country's sole remaining Supreme Court judge has resigned following attempts by Jammeh to overturn the result of a December 1 election won by Barrow. People celebrate in the streets after hearing of the confirmed departure of former Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh in Banjul on January 21, 2017 "It is true that the chief justice has resigned from his position. His resignation letter is dated 20th January. He is out of the country. He has gone back to Nigeria," judicial secretary Landing Sanneh told AFP. Emmanuel Fagbanle had deferred a decision on hearing Jammeh's legal complaint over a lack of other judges to hear the case, but was known to be uneasy with the mercurial strongman's use of the court system to pursue his personal grievances. Jammeh's defiance over the election result prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday, citing Senegalese authorities, who were now returning in huge numbers. The agency said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. The Minister nominee for Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriye-Akoto, has assured that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will invest heavily in infrastructure development to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) into the sector. According to him, the lack of infrastructure development to target agriculture, is the cause of low FDI in the sector, since investors will put funds in areas that will give them good returns. Answering questions at the Appointments Committee of Parliament, Dr. Afriyie-Akoto criticized the Mahama-led administration for neglecting the agriculture sector resulting in decline in output. The government of President Akufo-Addo is determined to make agriculture a priority sector in terms of public investment. Already we are attracting the world's attention, he said. He disclosed that, works are already underway to host some foreign investors in the sector, due to assurances given by the government. Last week, a group came from South Africa, I sent them out to the field to Afram plains, to Kintampo and other places and they came back very excited based on the assurances that I gave them that this government is going to support the sector with infrastructure, roads and so on and all that, and they are coming back with a boat load of cattle, young cattle, sheep and goat, he said. Not only that, people have come from America, they are very interested to invest based on what they have heard that we are doing and determined to do, he added. He blamed the Mahama-led government for eroding the interest of investors in the sector due to declining infrastructure development. Dr. Akoto-Afriyie pointed out that, the figures since the tenure of the former government, have reflected decline due to neglect. Off course, all the resources that I required in terms of the last 8 years when the government of the NDC took over nearly 4 % of total allocation of budget was going to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for agriculture development. That figure has steadily declined to 1.1% in 2014 and 2015, he said. By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana Koforidua (E/R), Jan 24, GNA - Public confidence in those nominated to ministerial positions in the Nana Akufo-Addo-led Administration has soared in Koforidua, after parliamentary vetting of some of nominees. Many scored high marks to the vetted appointees for what they termed 'their master class performance'. A teacher, Emmanuela Afia Owusu, said she had been left in no doubt that the 'President has a good team' and that there was every indication that the government would live up to expectation. She said what was important was for all to stand behind the government and allow it space to implement its development vision for the nation. Ms. Fatima Aisha, an accountant, shared the sentiments and applauded the decision to establish a Ministry for Zongo and Inner City Development, describing that as brilliant. She said it was not in dispute that the Zongo communities faced peculiar challenges and therefore any bold attempt to tackle these must be supported by everybody. Mr. Oscar Kyei, a National Service Personnel, said the depth of knowledge put on display, expertise and experience of the appointees was admirable. He added that, he was optimistic about the future - things could only getter better. Mr. Akwasi Asante, a trader, welcomed the setting up of the Ministry of Business Development, which he noted was a clear statement of commitment by the President that he was eager to see the growth of businesses - to become the main pillar of the economy. GNA By Albert Nkrumah, GNA Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - UMB Bank has announced the appointment of Mr Kevin Cain, a seasoned Banker and small and medium enterprise (SME) development expert as the Director of Consumer and Business Banking. A statement issued by UMB Bank and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday, said Mr Cain would be responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the Personal Banking, Private Banking and Business Banking operations of the Bank. The statement said Mr Cain would also drive the expansion of the bank's transaction and electronic banking channels. It said UMB Bank was currently securing the necessary regulatory approvals to confirm Mr Cain s appointment. It noted that Mr Cain had over 30 years of international consulting, banking and general management experience in more than 15 countries and had an enviable track record of executing successful SME and commercial banking initiatives. Chief Executive Officer of UMB Bank, Mr John Awuah, stated that retail banking was a key pillar in the bank's five year transformation strategy and that Mr Cain's depth of experience and exposure was an important addition to the UMB team. 'Mr Cain is a consummate banking professional with extensive experience in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and we are fortunate that he will be contributing his significant breadth and depth of skills, experience and talent to the UMB family," Mr Awuah added. According to Mr Awuah, Mr Cain's appointment was also a 'strong indication of UMB's intent to execute in accordance with international standards and benchmarks.' To him, Mr Cain 'brings a global perspective that can be harnessed to enhance UMB's execution and innovation plans as a former consultant for the East African Development Bank in Uganda'. Mr Cain has completed a three year International Finance Corporation (IFC) sponsored project in Kenya where he served as the Resident Advisor to Bank of Africa and assisted in developing their SME business in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Mr Cain was also a member of the IFC team that carried out the diagnostic review of Fidelity Bank and Keystone Bank in Lagos, Nigeria, and was also the Head of Wholesale Banking of Doha Bank in Qatar and he was credited with setting up the very successful SME unit within Doha Bank. Mr Cain stated: 'I am very excited to be joining an outstanding financial institution such as UMB. I am also eager to work with the talented team at the Bank to support the growth ambitions of our clients, especially those in the SME sector.' UMB is a full-service financial institution specialising in customised banking products and services and recognised for its entrepreneurial approach, innovative use of technology, and distinctive banking solutions. Opened on March 15, 1972 UMB currently has 31 branches, one UMB Centre for Businesses and a vast network of ATMs. GNA Kumasi, Jan 24, GNA - A teachers' journal to assist enhance the teaching of the English language in Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa has been launched at British Council in Kumasi. It would serve as a useful resource for capacity building - to improve the professional competencies of English teachers, to significantly boost their performance in the classroom. The quarterly journal was developed and published by Midstream Literary Agency (MLA). Mr. Evans Owusu Amankwaa, Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, indicated that the lack of effective avenues for professional development of teachers was a major contributory factor to the decline in the quality of education. This was what the journal, sponsored by the Tony Elumenu Foundation, sought to tackle, he added. He said the idea was to introduce English teachers to best teaching practices and standards. Mr Akwasi Osei Bonsu, acting Director of Human Resource at the Forestry Commission, said continued professional training and development opportunities were vital for building a competent team - to achieve high level of performance. He encouraged teachers to go the extra mile to upgrade their professional skills. GNA By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah GNA Kumasi, Jan 24, GNA - The Ghana Education Service (GES) has been urged to strengthen supervision in basic schools to ensure discipline and optimal use of the contact hours. Mr. Kwasi Nimo, the head teacher of the Apostolic Junior High School (JHS), this was the way to go to raise academic performance. He said everything should be done to motivate, encourage and keep the classroom teacher 'on their toes'. Addressing a press conference in Kumasi, he also appealed to the Education Ministry to consider lifting the ban on extra-classes in the basic schools. This, he noted, would enable the teachers and students to effectively and fully cover the syllabus. That was vital to assure the students of strong performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). He said there was the need to make sure that there was adequate preparation of the candidates for the examination, pointing out that, the three-year duration of the JHS did not provide enough space for this. Mr. Nimo, however, suggested that the extra-classes must be so structured that, students would not become overly exhausted. GNA By Rachel Fosuah Osei/Mispah Tumtuo, GNA Kumasi, Jan 24, GNA - A total of 23 candidates have picked nomination forms for election to the Council of State in the Ashanti Region. Mr. Serebour Quaicoe, Regional Director of the Electoral Commission (EC), told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that three of them had already filed their nomination. The remaining have up to Thursday, January 26, to submit their forms. The EC has fixed February 09, as the day for the election and a body of electors - two from each of the 33 districts would be voting to decide who represents the region on the Council. Mr. Quaicoe put the age of the oldest contestant at 92, and that of the reverse 21. The Council among other functions has a duty to advice the President or any other authority in respect of any appointment, required by the Constitution. It may also upon request or on its own initiative, consider and make recommendations on any matter being considered or dealt with by the President, a Minister of State, Parliament or any other authority. It is required to meet at least four times in a year. GNA By Josephine Nyarkoh/Rachel Fosuah Osei GNA Ho, Jan. 24, GNA - A 20-year old apprentice is in the grips of the police in Ho for allegedly raping a 16 -year- old girl in a bush. A police source said David Azumah, a junior high school pupil who does part time work as an undertaker to support his sick father, raped the victim in a bush near Anfoega-Gborgame. The source said in October last year, Azumah was asked by his master in the undertaking business to pick the victim on motorbike from Anfoega-Gbogame to Tsome in the Ho-West District. The source said halfway through the journey, Azumah stopped the motorbike and allegedly dragged the victim into the bush and raped her. The police source said the victim upon reaching home, narrated her ordeal to her parents who made a report to the police leading to the arrest of Azumah. GNA Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - Ambassador Georg Schmidt, Germany's Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel, has said the Government's decision on moving away from development aid into a more business-oriented approach is very encouraging. Ghana, Mr Schmidt explained, was considered as Germany's strong partner, stating that, the Government's stand on foreign aid also tied in well with Germany's agenda of putting Africa on the spotlight at the G20 Summit, scheduled to be hosted in July in Hamburg, in Germany. 'Germany would follow it closely because it ties into Germany's cooperation in Ghana,' he said, explaining that, Germany had put into Ghanaian disposition, 1.5 billion dollars for various developmental projects. At a media interaction in Accra, Mr Schmidt explained that Germany would continue to hold onto the ties and deepen bilateral cooperation with Ghana, which dates back to 1956. He said Germany believes that while bilateral trade with Ghana was going up, it would be much helpful if there was a stronger focus on economic interactions and investments of things 'because by transferring funds you can help to create good conditions, to alleviate certain social conditions but it's never going to be enough to engender domestic and sustainable growth'. He said at that Summit, Chancellor Angela Merckel would be looking forward to convincing her counterparts to take a closer look at Africa, especially, how to facilitate Sub-Saharan Africa to generate the kind of capital growth rate needed in order to create more jobs and prosperity for Africans and for Europeans also. 'People and businesses would be encouraged to come to Africa to do good business on the Continent to boost growth in Africa,' he said. He said again, the first German-Africa Business Summit would be held in Nairobi, Kenya, on February 8, with participation from other countries, and that it was hoping that that business summit would trigger a different awareness on Africa markets. Meanwhile, Mr Schmidt expressed Germany's happiness over the conduct of a peaceful elections in Ghana saying, 'From the outside Germany is very happy with the conducting of a peaceful elections and how it was managed with it successful outcome. 'This has set a good example, once again, that it is possible for a peaceful transition of political power in Africa'. GNA By Lydia Asamoah, GNA Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on Tuesday, announced his ministerial nominees for the ten administrative regions. The Ghana News Agency hereby submits the brief profiles of the nominees. Archibald Yao Letsa - Volta Region Archibald Yao Letsa is 59 years old and hails from Klefe Achatime in the Ho Central Constituency. He is a medical doctor by profession, with a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Ghana Medical School. In 1990, he obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the Department of Public Health Medicine, University of Leeds, UK. From 1983 to 1994, he worked in several healthcare instutitions in the Volta and Eastern Regions, before going into private medical practice from 1995 to 2014 with the setting up of the Miracle Life Clinic Ltd., Ho. He is the Chief Executive Officer of AVL Holdings Ghana Limited, also based in Ho, and has from April 2016 to date been a part-time Senior Lecturer at the School of Medicine of the University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho. He was the NPP's parliamentary candidate for the Ho Central constituency in the 2008 and 2012 elections, and from 2014 to date was the Volta Regional First Vice Chairman of the New Patriotic Party in the Volta Region. He is married with three children. Salifu Sa-eed - Northern Region Salifu Sa-eed is 43 years old, and holds a Masters in Development Management from GIMPA, and also a Bachelor of Arts in Integrated Development Studies from the University of Development Studies, Tamale. He also holds a certificate in Peace and Conflict Prevention and Management from the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Centre (KAIPTC). He has been the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Commodities and Logistics Company Limited from January 2012 to date; was the Co-director of Savannah Integrated Rural Development Aid from January 2009 to December 2011; and under the government of President of former Kufuor, he served as District Chief Executive of the Nanumba North District Assembly from May 2005 to February 2009. He was a member of the NPP Manifesto Committee on Infrastructure; and a member of the 2016 transition team meber on the Communications sub-committee. He is married with one child. Rockson Ayine Bukari - Upper East Rockson Ayine Bukari is 69 years old and hails from Gambibgo, Bolgatanga.He holds a Teachers Certificate 'A' from the Kantom Training College. He held several teaching positions from 1964 to 1097. He also became Registrar to a number of Traditional Councils such as the Frafra Confederacy Council, Builsa Traditional Council, Nanumba Traditional Council, and the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs over a period of two decades. He was the Municipal Chief Executive of the Bolgatanga Municipal Assembly from 2001 to 2004. He is a leading member of the NPP, and is married with two (2) wives and eleven (11) children. Sulemana Alhassan - Upper West Region Alhassan Sulemana is 62 years old. He trained as a professional teacher at theBegebaga Teacher Training College in Tamale, before obtaining a Bachelor of Education degree in Mathematics at the University of Education. He also holds a Master's degree in Education Management and Administration from the University of Cape Coast. He was a Mathematics tutor for 33 years before assuming the role of Director of Education at the Wa Municipal Education Office in 2012 - a position he held for 2 years until his retirement. He is married with 4 children. Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh - Brong Ahafo Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh is 52 years old and is a Barrister at Law. He was called to the Ghana School of Law in 1997, having graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Law and Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1994. He was the Local NUGS President from 1993 to 1994, whilst at the University of Ghana. He practiced law at Akyedee Legal Services in Sunyani from 1998 to 2004, and within that period was a law lecturer at Sunyani Polytechnic. He has acted as a solicitor for various firms in the Sunyani. He served as the head of the NPP's campaign in the Brong Ahafo Region 2012 and 2016, in his capacity as Chairman of the party in the region. He is married with three (3) children. Simon Osei-Mensah - Ashanti Region Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah is 55 years old and holds a Master's degree in Economics (Finance and Banking option). He served in various positions within the Agricultural Development Bank from 1993 to 2000. He represented the Bosumtwe constituency from 2005 till January 2017 as Member of Parliament. He was a member of the ECOWAS parliament, and was elected 4th Deputy Speaker from 2013 to 2015. He is married. Dr. Kwaku Afriyie - Western Region Dr. Kwaku Afriyie is 63 years old and hails from Sefwi Wiawso. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery from the University of Ghana Medical School; a Master of Public Health (MPH) Tulane University, New Orleans; and is a fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons. He worked at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital; the Effia Nkwanta Hospital; and became the Director of Health Service at the Bibiami Government Hospital all from 1982 to 1994. He was also the Managing Director of Greenshield Hospital in Sefwi Wiawso from 2005 to 2014. He was Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines in 2001; served as Minister of Health from 2001 to 2005. As Health Minister, he introduced and implemented the National Health Insurance Scheme; introduced the National Post-Graduate Training programme of Doctors; established the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons for Post graduate training of Doctors in Ghana; and introduced the National Ambulance System in 2004. Within the period of President Kufuor's government, he served as a member of Cabinet Sub-committee on Cocoa Affairs (2001-2005); Member of National Development Planning Committee (2001-2004); Member of National AIDS Commission; and Chairman of Board of Directors of the Electricity Company of Ghana. Kwamena Duncan - Central Region Kwamena Duncan is 50 years old. He holds a BSc degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Ghana, Legon. He has taught for 22 years in Senior High School and currently a Senior Housemaster at Mfantsipim School. He has been the Central Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party and a member of the party's National Council since 2005 to date. He is married with 3 children. Hon. Eric Kwakye Darfour - Eastern Region Eric Kwakye Darfour is 59 years old, and hails from Obo-Kwahu. He acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Linguistics from the University of Ghana, Legon, in 1982. He was a French tutor at the Abuakwa State College from 1982-1985, and from 1985 he has been the Managing Director for Ecovans Ltd. Additionally, from the year 2000, he was the Board Chairman for Kwahu Praso Rural Bank Limited. From 2001 to 2005, in the first term of former president, John Agyekum Kuffuor, he served as the Special Assistant to the Eastern Regional Minister. From 2009 to 2012, he was the Eastern Regional Treasurer of the NPP, and was subsequently elected Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw Constituency on the ticket of the NPP in 2012. In his first term as a Member of Parliament, he served on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Privileges Committee. In the just ended Parliamentary and General Elections, he was re-elected as Member of Parliament on the ticket of the NPP to serve the people of Nkawkaw Constituency. He is married with three (3) children. Ishmael Ashitey - Greater Accra Region Ishmael Ashitey is 62 years old and is a product of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where he graduated in 1977 with a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds an Executive Masters degree in Governance and Leadership from GIMPA. He worked as a Mechanical Engineer at the Accra Brewery Limited for 13 years. He served as Member of Parliament for Tema East from 1996 to 2008, and between that period, he was, first, appointed as Minister of State for Fisheries from 2001 to 2003 by former President John Agyekum Kufuor. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Minister of State for Trade and Industry. Whilst in Parliament, he was the Deputy Ranking Member on the Mines and Energy Committee, a Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Member on the Committee on Communications and Chairman of the Government Assurances Committee. He has been the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party from 2010 to date. He is married with four children. GNA 24.01.2017 LISTEN By Godwill Arthur-Mensah, GNA Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Ministerial-nominee for Educatioon, has said education of children should be holistic that would inculcate moral values such as integrity, professionalism and ethical values, instead of just teaching them how to pass examinations. He said education should not be a book-long and straight jacket approach but there should be conscious efforts to inculcate in children moral values that would shape them to become complete and responsible citizens. Mr. Opoku-Prempeh, who is also the Member of Parliament for Manhyia South in the Ashanti Region, was addressing a question regarding frequent examination leakages and malpractices that had bedevilled the country's education system, on Tuesday, when he appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament. The nominee believed that teachers were fulcrum around which quality education could be realised and, therefore, assured that the Government would provide them with the necessary incentives and motivation packages to deliver. He stated that gender parity was crucial in ensuring females achieve higher heights in education, therefore, government would avoid any gender discriminatory policies, but rather encourage mentorship for female students, especially those at the tertiary level to achieve their aspirations in life. Dr. Opoku-Prempeh, a medical practitioner, said the Government would expand the School Feeding Programme and ensure prompt payment of caterers so that they could provide nutritious meals to the beneficiaries. ''The School Feeding Programme should not be a political-game because it's a tool for increasing school enrolment and retention therefore our party will respect contracts and rule of law by paying caterers engaged timeously, 'he stated. The Ministerial-nominee believed that the School Placement System should be more transparent and place candidates who got the required raw scores in their preferred Senior High Schools (SHS). However, he said, there should be a model SHS in each district in the country so that the underprivileged candidates could have access to quality education irrespective of their location. Responding to measures the Government would institute in mainstreaming technical and vocational education, Dr. Opoku-Prempeh said the Government would support various technical and vocational educational institutions in the country with capital and logistics so that they would produce the required human resource that would fit into the job market and perform to the expectations of their employers. Addressing the issue of religious intolerance as concerns raised by some Muslim Communities in the country, the nominee stated that Ghana was a sovereign nation that believed in religious freedom, therefore, the Government would not condoned in any religious intolerance, saying, ''We are one people therefore we must respect each other's religious belief''. GNA 24.01.2017 LISTEN By Caroline Pomeyie, GNA Accra, Jan. 24, GNA - Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba, Minister-Designate for Gender, Children and Social Protection on Monday marked her 55th birthday anniversary with the donation of toiletries and foodstuff to the Osu Children's Home in Accra. Ms Afisa Djaba said: 'I turned 55 on January 21, and decided to mark the milestone and God's goodness over the period with the children at the Osu Children's Home, which falls under the Gender Ministry President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has nominated me for. 'I am in politics to serve and also help children. For Ghana to develop, the most vulnerable people must be included in the social economic policies of the Government especially children. 'And I have been given the opportunity to develop programmes and policies that will ensure the full potential of every Ghanaian child,' she said. Ms Afisa Djaba assured the orphanage of her support when she assumes office stressing: 'You have my support and the support of President Akufo-Addo. 'The President believes in inclusion and children with special needs were captured in the New Patriotic Party Election 2016 manifesto. You are assured that we will work with you to help the children develop.' She noted that the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), Social Welfare, and other social intervention programmes under the Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection will be supported. She inquired from Mrs Christiana Addo, the Manageress of the Osu Children's Home, challenges the orphanage is facing and how it manages its affairs. Mrs Addo stated that there are 149 children, comprising 101 males and 46 females, in the orphanage and staffing had been a major challenge including paying utility bills and medical bills. She added: 'There are about 48 children with special needs but the orphanage only has a physiotherapist who comes to help but not specially trained teachers.' She expressed gratitude to the Gender Minister Designated for her kind gesture towards the orphanage. The Gender Minister designated was accompanied by Mr Kwesi Armo-Himbson, Chief Director of the Ministry; Ms Gifty Twum-Ampofo, a Member of Parliament for Abuakwa North and officials from the Ministry. GNA Editor's note: Human rights activist and fiery lawyer, Chief Femi Falana writes on the controversial subject on Police permit for rallies in Nigeria which has become a contentious issue in the polity. Police permit not required for rallies in Nigeria - Femi Falana In January 2012, the mass protests against the so-called removal of fuel subsidy were violently disrupted by the police and the army personnel. During its recent industrial action the Academic Staff Union of Universities had cause to direct its members to embark on protests to draw public attention to the underfunding of public universities in Nigeria. The police dispersed the protesting academics with tear gas. A fortnight ago, a political rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State was brutally suppressed by the police. In justifying the violent attack, Mr. Joseph Mbu, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police claimed that the rally was unauthorized as the conveners did not obtain police permit. Since the disruption of public meetings and rallies is an infringement of the fundamental right of Nigerians to freedom of association, assembly and expression it is pertinent to draw the attention of the authorities to the state of the law on public meetings. Under the Public Order Act (Cap P42) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 the power to regulate public meetings, processions and rallies in any part of Nigeria was exclusively vested in the governors of the respective states of the Federation. Thus, by virtue of section 1 of the Act the Commissioner of Police or any other police officer could not issue a licence or permit for any meeting or rally without the authority of the governor. In other words, no police officer was competent to issue a permit for holding any public meeting or rally or cancel any such public meeting or rally without the authority of the governor of a state. In the case of All Nigeria Peoples Party & Ors. v. Inspector General of Police (2006) CHR 181 the Plaintiffs being registered political parties requested the Defendant, the Inspector-General by a letter dated 21st May, 2004 to issue Police Permits to their members to hold unity rallies throughout the country to protest the rigging of the 2003 elections. The request was refused. There was a violent disruption of the rally organized in Kano on the 22nd of September 2003 on the ground that no police permit was obtained. READ ALSO: 5 things that marred judicial performance in 2016 - Femi Falana In a suit filed at the Federal High Court against the Inspector-General of Police the Plaintiffs challenged the constitutional validity of police permit under the Public Order Act and the violent disruption of the rally. In defending the action the Defendant contended that the conveners of the rally did not obtain a police permit. In dismissing the contention of the Police the trial judge, the Honourable Justice Chinyere stated inter alia: The gist of the provision in section 1 of the Act is that the Governor of each State is empowered to direct the conduct of all assemblies, meetings and processions on public roads or places of public resort in the state and prescribe the route by which and times at which the procession may pass. Persons desirous of convening or collecting any assembly or meeting or of forming a procession in any public resort must apply and obtain the license of the Governor. The Governor can delegate his powers to the Commissioner of Police of the State or to other police officers. Persons aggrieved by the decision of the Commissioner of Police may appeal to the Governor and the decision of the Governor shall be final and no further appeal shall lie therefrom. On the inconsistency of police permit with sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution and Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 the learned trial judge said: In my view, the provision in section 40 of the Constitution is clear, direct and unambiguous. It is formulated and designed to confer on every person the right to assemble freely and associate with other persons. I am therefore persuaded by the argument of Mr. Falana that by the combined effect of sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, the right to assemble freely cannot be violated without violating the fundamental right to peaceful assembly and association. I agree with Mr. Falana that violation can only be done by the procedure permitted by law, under section 45 of the Constitution, in which case there must be a state of emergency properly declared before theses rights can be violated. I also agree with Mr. Falana that the criminal law is there to take care if protesters resort to violence in the course of demonstration and that once the rights are exercised peacefully, they cannot be taken away. The Public Order Act so far as it affects the right of citizens to assemble freely and associate with others, the sum of which is the right to hold rallies or processions or demonstration is an aberration to a democratic society. It is inconsistent with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution. In particular, sections 1(2),(3),(4),(5) and (6), 2, 3 and 4 are inconsistent with the fundamental rights provisions in the 1999 Constitution and to the extent of their inconsistency, they are void. I hereby so declare. After declaring the provisions of the Public Order Act which require police permit for public meetings and rallies illegal and unconstitutional the Federal High Court proceeded to grant the following reliefs: 1. A DECLARATION that the requirement of police permit or other authority for the holding of rallies or processions in Nigeria is illegal and unconstitutional as it violates section 40 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990. 2. A DECLARATION that the provisions of the Public Order Act (Cap 382) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 which require police permit or any other authority for the holding of rallies or processions in any part of Nigeria is illegal and unconstitutional as they contravene section 40 of the 1999 Constitution and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap 10) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990. 3. A DECLARATION that the Defendant is not competent under the Public Order Act (Cap 382) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 or under any law whatever to issue or grant permit for the holding of rallies or processions in any part of Nigeria. 4. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the Defendant (the Inspector-General of Police) whether by himself, his agents, privies and servants from further preventing the Plaintiffs and other aggrieved citizens of Nigeria from organizing or convening peaceful assemblies, meetings and rallies against unpopular government measures and policies. READ ALSO: Pardon 70 soldiers convicted of mutiny, Falana begs Buhari Completely dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court on the issuance of police permit the Inspector-General of Police appealed to the Court of Appeal. Upon hearing the case the Justices of the Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court. With respect to the powers of governors to authorize the issuance of permit for holding public meetings and rallies in their states Olufunmilayo Adekeye JCA (as she then was) had this to say: On a proper perusal of the provisions particularly section 1 subsection 1-6, and sections 2-4 there is no where the name of the Inspector General is mentioned in connection with the issuance of permit for the purpose of conducting peaceful public assemblies. Such application is to be forwarded to the Governor within forty-eight hours of holding such. The Governor may delegate his powers under the Act to the Commissioner of Police of the State or any superior police officer of a rank not below that of a Chief Superintendent of Police as applicable to this case in hand. On the fundamental right of Nigerian citizens to assemble freely and protest without licence or permit Adekeye JCA proceeded to hold as follows: The power given to the Governor of a State to issue permit under Public Order Act cannot be used to attain unconstitutional result of deprivation or right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. The right to demonstrate and the right to protest on matters of public concern are rights which are in the public interest and that which individuals must possess and which they should exercise without impediment as long as no wrongful act is done IPublic Order Act should be promulgated to compliment sections 39 and 40 of the Constitution in context and not to stifle or cripple it. A rally or placard carrying demonstration has become a form of expression of views on current issues affecting government and the governed in a sovereign state. It is a tread recognized and deeply entrenched in the system of governance in civilized countries it will not only be primitive but also retrogressive if Nigeria continues to require a pass to hold a rally. We must borrow a leaf from those who have trekked the rugged path of democracy and are now reaping the dividend of their experience. (See Inspector-General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party (2008) WRN 65). In his contribution to the judgment of the Court of Appeal Muhammad JCA confirmed that police permit is alien to a democratic society when he reiterated that: In present day Nigeria, clearly police permit has outlived its usefulness. Certainly in a democracy, it is the right of citizens to conduct peaceful processions, rallies or demonstrations without seeking and obtaining permission from anybody. It is a right guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution and any law that attempts to curtail such right is null and void and of no consequence. In consigning police permit to the dustbin of history the Court of Appeal relied on the case ofNew Patriotic Party v. Inspector-General of Police, Accra (1992-1995) GBR 585 where the Supreme Court of Ghana observed that: Statutes requiring such permits for peaceful demonstrations, processions and rallies are things of the past. Police permit is the brain child of the colonial era and ought not to remain in our statute books. In line with the rule of law the current Inspector-General of Police, Mr. M.D. Abubakar has directed all police officers to comply with the verdicts of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal by recognizing the fundamental right of Nigerians to assemble freely and protest without harassment. Hence, in the Nigeria Police Code of Conduct launched at Abuja on January 10, 2013 it is stated that police officers shall maintain a neutral position with regard to the merits of any labour dispute, political protest, or other public demonstration while acting in an official capacity; not make endorsement of political candidates, while on duty, or in official uniform. In view of the aforesaid judicial pronouncements on the fundamental right of Nigeria to protest peacefully without police permit which has been recognized by the Inspector-General of Police as espoused in the Nigeria Police Code of Conduct we urge the Rivers State Commissioner of Police and other Police Commissioners to desist from cancelling or disrupting political meetings and rallies convened by Nigerians in exercise of their freedom of association and assembly. Incidentally, the Honourable Justice Adekeye J.S.C. (Rtd) who delivered the historic judgment of the Court of Appeal which confirmed the illegality of police permit is now a member of the Nigeria Police Service Commission. We have no doubt that the respected Justice will rightly advise the Nigeria Police Force to stop the illegal and contemptuous practice of insisting on the issuance of police permit for political meetings and rallies in Nigeria. Read the full article on Premium Times. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily represent the editorial policy of Legit.ng. Your own opinion articles are welcome at info@naij.com drop an email telling us what you want to write about and why. More details in Legit.ngs step-by-step guide for guest contributors. Were ready to trade your news for our money: submit news and photo reports from your area using our Citizen Journalism App. Contact us if you have any feedback, suggestions, complaints or compliments. We are also available on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to Legit.ng Opinion page! Source: Legit.ng Nigerians have kicked against holding Big Brother Naija TV series in South Africa, far away from home of the producers. Although Africa Magic, the organisers of the show has given reasons for hosting the show in South Africa, Nigerians are not comfortable with hosting a Nigerian show in a foreign country. Africa Magic has explained that in South Africa, it has a fully equipped house with facilities required for the successful show in South Africa. READ ALSO: Meet the 12 housemates in the Big Brother Naija House Uti Nwachukwu, one time winner of Big Brother Afria It says: The venue is already set up with all facilities required for the successful execution of the show; this means that we are able to achieve high production values while meeting tight timelines/deadlines and ensuring the show comes to our viewers on time, as planned, and with the same globally renowned quality." While the explanation may have exonerated the organisers in their own way, Nigerians at home still have their misgivings. In Delta where Uti Nwachukwu was once a winner, an aide of the state governor, Ossai Ovie Success, has found fault in the entire South Africa scenario, the event being a 100 percent Nigerian. READ ALSO: BBA's Talia Hayward is expecting a baby! He told Legit.ng: Its unfair to us Nigerians and fans of Big Brother Naija TV series to see that our own TV series is holding in South Africa instead of Nigeria, our country. It is injustice and slap to our integrity as Nigerians, we won't take it. There is no justifiable reason why big brother Naija should hold in South Africa when we have a peaceful and reliable country with millions of destinations. Source: Legit.ng Again, 15 persons have been conformed dead as rampaging Fulani herdsmen attack farmers in Ipiga village in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State. Fulani herdsmen According to a report by Vanguard the crisis erupted Sunday afternoon, when some armed herdsmen stormed neigbouring Ajegbe village, where they grazed their cattle and destroyed farmlands. From there they moved into Ipiga village yesterday morning, shooting sporadically, though they met a stiff resistance from the locals. READ ALSO: Despite clear evidence, Buhari clears Babachir Lawal, Magu of corruption allegations A bloody fight erupted; two of the herdsmen were reportedly killed, while about 13 of the villagers were also killed. However, many are still missing and unaccounted for, a source was quoted. Conforming the attack, the senior special assistant to Benue state governor on Fulani Matters, Alhaji Garus Gololo, said two herdsmen were killed in the crisis. I just came back from the area this afternoon (yesterday). Two herdsmen were killed by the villagers and many cows were also killed; others were rustled. I met the Ardo of the area and everyone has been warned against any form of reprisal attack and there was nothing like that because government had warned against this kind of crisis in the state. READ ALSO: Buhari should fulfil his promises, enough of these empty promises - Fayose Though the body of one of the dead herdsmen has been recovered and is reportedly with the police, the search for the other is still ongoing. On their part, the state Police Public Relations Officer, assistant superintendent Moses Yamu said he was yet to receive detail of the crisis. Source: Legit.ng If you are interested in modern-day cybercrime issues, you have probably come across the term Yahoo boy. The term often comes up in Nigeria and involves people who have been scammed or swindled. So, what is a Yahoo boy? The term refers to a person who commits 419-fraud, the number referring to the article of the Nigerian criminal code that deals with fraud. Yahoo boys have perfected the art of conning people through numerous online and offline tricks. A depiction of an online hacker. Photo: pixabay.com, @B_A Source: UGC As technology advances daily, so do the methods that scammers use to dupe people. Yahoo boys now have numerous ways to scam unsuspecting 'clients.' What is a Yahoo boy? Here is everything you need to know about today's Yahoo boys, their modus operandi, and the vices and devices that facilitate their trade. How do Yahoo boys operate? Here is a quick look at how Yahoo boys make money. PAY ATTENTION: heck out news that is picked exactly for YOU find the Recommended for you block on the home page and enjoy! The apartment trick This is one of the most common types of Yahoo work. To pull off the scam, the fraudster will do several things meant to portray them as real estate agents or realtors. This often includes creating a nice-looking website. The fraudster will then upload fake photos of luxurious houses purporting to be selling the properties. An unsuspecting buyer, lured by the images, decides to make payment into a specified account to purchase the property. In reality, the property depicted in those images is never for sale or is actually located in another country. Once the payment has been made, the fraudster shuts down the website or blocks the person who made the payment. ATM fraud A lady usign an ATM. Photo: pexels.com, @Uriel Mont Source: UGC This method typically targets old people or those with reading-related challenges. To pull off the trick, the Yahoo boy will hover around an unmanned ATM and wait for their target to approach. They will then pretend to offer them assistance in withdrawing their money. Several things could then happen, including an ATM card swap or deduction of the withdrawn amount. Phishing This is one of the more advanced but still common Yahoo boy techniques. Phishing involves illegally acquiring another person's private data. For fraudsters, some important information includes credit card data, usernames, passwords, and phone numbers. This is often done via phishing software, often downloaded and installed by an unsuspecting user. Price baiting This is a technique designed to prey on the normal human being's affinity for discounted products. A scammer will create a product site, say, dealing with automotive sales. They will then upload photos of cars with significantly lower prices than the average market rate. The victim will then call, enquiring about a specific model. At this point, they will be asked to pay about half the amount to 'book' the vehicle and prevent it from being purchased by another person. Once the victim makes the payment, the scammers disappear, at times even shutting down the website. Web freestyle Most fraudsters in Nigeria reportedly start with this Yahoo format. The method involves creating a fake profile on the most popular dating websites. The scammer then poses as a needy student, divorced wife/husband, or any other persona to stir their victims' emotions. Once the victim falls in love with the impersonator, they will probably begin sending them money before deciding to meet in person. Unsolicited email An illustration of emails being sent. Photo: pixabay.com, @ribkhan Source: UGC This scam is designed to prey on people who love winning free stuff. The scammers collect numerous emails belonging to locals and foreigners. They then send them emails notifying them that they have won a jackpot or lottery. The victim is then asked to send a small amount as a 'processing fee' for the award. Once they send the amount, the scammer cuts all communication. What do Yahoo boys use to facilitate their trade? Here is a look at the societal vices, circumstances, tech advancements, and networks that facilitate the Yahoo boy problem. Timing Most Yahoo boys who engage in bank-related fraud, such as credit card phishing, ATM fraud, and price baiting, do so on weekends. This is because most banks are closed, meaning the victim cannot do much to stop or reverse their transactions. By the time banks reopen on Monday, most of the victims' money is usually gone. Bank networks Most Yahoo boys have contacts on the inside. This makes it extremely easy for them to withdraw money obtained via illegal means. If a person obtains an ATM card from an older person, gets their PIN and then swaps it, they can walk in and have their teller attendant on the inside withdraw large amounts of cash for them. This, of course, happens at a fee. Corruption and societal rot In Nigeria, modern-day society praises wealth, regardless of how it was acquired. This makes vices such as 419-fraud quite prevalent since the scammers will get social admiration even when their wealth has been earned illegally. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) Before the advent of VPNs, it was quite easy to trace a person carrying out internet fraud. This was because their IP address was easily visible and traceable. VPNs make this tracing very tricky since they essentially mask a person's actual location and instead show them to be located elsewhere, most times in a different country. Internet, smartphones, and laptops Depiction of a cybercriminal. Photo: pixabay.com, @vickygharat Source: UGC These are the tools of the trade for virtually every Yahoo boy. These three have made it extremely easy to access millions of unsuspecting victims, not only in Nigeria but across the globe. What is the meaning of HK in Yahoo? HK means headquarters in Yahoo boy code. It refers to a place or structure where the fraudsters converge to carry out their criminal activities. What does picker mean? In Yahoo boy language, a picker is a person who stays in the same country as the scammer's target and collects or receives the money on behalf of the fraudster. What does Work Boy mean in Yahoo? A work boy is a term used to refer to a Yahoo boy. It is a general term the fraudsters use amongst themselves. 'What is a Yahoo boy?' This question often lingers in many people's minds, especially those who have come across the numerous scams carried out by these fraudsters. Figuring out how they operate is essential to avoiding falling victim to their scams. READ ALSO: 10 problems of road transportation and solutions in Nigeria Legit.ng recently published an article about the issues facing road transportation in Nigeria. The country has often been the subject of bad publicity following the unenviable state of its road network. Numerous Nigerian states have poor road infrastructure, a factor that contributes significantly to the slowed development. Road transportation enhances cultural, economic, and social interactions by connecting people and places. For instance, the nation's GDP and revenue decrease when people, goods, and services cannot move from one location to another on time. Source: Legit.ng Former aviation minister Femi Fani-Kayode has called on Christians in Southern Kaduna to resist the rampaging activities of Fulani herdsmen in that part of the northern state. Fani-Kayode wants Christians to fight back against Fulani herdsmen. Fani-Kayode made this call in a singular tweet on his Twitter handle in the early hours of Tuesday, January 24. READ ALSO: Northern governors meet over Fulani herdsmen attacks Fani-Kayode was reacting to reports that at least six people have allegedly died from a fresh attack in Southern Kaduna. It is not clear which attack he was referring to and when it happened, but the former media director of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign claimed that six Christian students were killed by Fulani herdsmen in Southern Kaduna. Legit.ng could not immediately verify Fani-Kayodes claim of fresh attack or loss of lives. READ ALSO: El-Rufai reveals plans to end violence in southern Kaduna Fani-Kayodes call for resistance to attacks in Southern Kaduna might not go down well with the Sultan of Sokoto and the federal government who have accused political elites and religious leaders of blowing the attacks out of proportion to promote religious violence for personal gains. Meanwhile, 15 people have been confirmed dead after rampaging Fulani herdsmen attacked farmers in Ipiga village in Ohimini local government area of Benue state. The crisis reportedly erupted on Sunday, January 22 afternoon, when some armed herdsmen stormed neigbouring Ajegbe village, where they grazed their cattle and destroyed farmlands. Source: Legit.ng - Nigeria Customs Service has terminated the appointment of about 48 senior officers - 45 officers were dismissed, 11 retired while the appointment of three was terminated - Those who were dismissed and appointment terminated were asked to go professional misconduct The appointment of 48 senior officers in the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has been terminated following an ongoing reorganization. The appointments of three officers were terminated, 45 officers were dismissed and 11 retired, Daily Trust reports. The service asked the 45 dismissed officers and the three that were terminated to go for professional misconduct. This was contained in a circular dated January 19, 2017 and signed by Ag. comptroller in charge of discipline, Ganiyu I.A. READ ALSO: Nigeria Customs blame its 2016 revenue deficit on government's policies According to the circular, the service was currently undergoing reorganisation to reposition it. Among those affected were three deputy comptroller of Customs (DC), four assistant comptrollers of Customs (AC), eight chief superintendents of Customs (CSC), three superintendents of Customs (SPC) one deputy superintendent of Customs (DSC) and one assistant superintendent of Customs (ASC). Those whose appointments were terminated are: ASCII Olorunhundo G and CA 1 Lurwanu S. FCT. Those dismissed are deputy controller Idris A.Z, AC Mandi A.Z, Ohamobi C., CSC Sale A.S, CSC Nura MuAzu Usman, CSC Bello A., CSC Absullahi R., CSC Dan-Ali M., SC Imam S.U, SC Andullahi M.S, DSC Olajumoke O., CIC Sani B., CIC Saleh A., CIC Isah A. CIC Balarabe S., 1 ACIC Maigari S. Others are ACIC Shuibu I.J, ACIC Anigwe M.E, ACIC Dugari Z.I , DCIC Madaki J.M, PIC Hamisu S.G, PIC Garba H., PIC Alfa Y. D, PIC Hamidu H., PIC Haruna K., SIC Jimoh A.S, IC Bamiloye T. A, IC Yusuf D.N, IC Sanusi S.M, IC Mohammed A.U and CCA Yakubu M.S. READ ALSO: As recession bites harder, another Nigerian bank allegedly sacks 400 workers Those retired include DC Mustapha M. T, AC Mbanefo P., AC Daze P. D, CSC Ekong N. A, CSC Archew A.A, CSC Suleman A.A, SC Daniru A., ACIC Owunaka T., ACIC Azodoh A.C, PIC Orukalama T. and CCA Abubakar A. Recall that no fewer than 29 senior officers of the NCS were dismissed in October 2016 for various acts of alleged gross misconduct. Also, 17 junior officers were dismissed for offences ranging from drug addiction to certificate forgery, theft as well as playing truancy. Source: Legit.ng - The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) Ekpo Nta has said that Nigerian is still ranked high in corruption - Nta said Nigeria occupied the 26th position in the 2015 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index - Ntas revelation comes almost two years since the President Muhammadu Buhari administration took power ICPC chairman Ekpo Nta The chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) Ekpo Nta has said that Nigerian is still ranked high in corruption. Speaking at an anti-corruption summit organized by the Abia state government, Nta said Nigeria occupied the 26th position in the 2015 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. He said the ranking places Nigerian behind two other African countries commending the Abia state government for organizing such summit, Nta said the event will sanitize stakeholders and other Nigerian on the need for anti-corruption crusade. READ ALSO: Your anti-Buhari comments won't bring Chibok girls back, FG to BBOG He said: One African country still retained its ranking as the least corrupt in Africa with a percentile ranking of 63 (while) Nigeria comes in at 26 with an estimated population of 180 million. He also added that the summit was in line with the 2016 United Kingdom anti-corruption summit. Ntas revelation comes almost two years since the President Muhammadu Buhari administration took power. Also, speaking the Abia state governor Okezie Ikpeazu said the state is ready to support the ICPC in its anti-corruption fight. READ ALSO: EFCC forced me to lie against Goodluck Jonathan - GEJ's former aide cries out Ikpeazu said he was excited that Abia state is the first South-East state to join in such crusade. President Buhari during his inauguration had promised to fight and eradicate corruption in Nigeria. The present administration, also in its crusade has clamped down on many politicians and public servants especially those from the opposition. Source: Legit.ng The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) made some predictions about the things that could happen in Nigeria shortly after the country gained independence. These things were made known in the declassified CIA files approved for release. Declassified CIA files revealed the things that may happen to Nigeria. One of the files was named the 'Probable Developments in the Federation of Nigeria' and it covered political outlook, economic prospects and international orientation. The information contained in the file was submitted by the director of central intelligence and concurred in by the United States Intelligence Board on the January 24, 1961. Although the statement problem was to estimate the probable developments in the federation of Nigeria in two years, the predictions made seem to be true with the present happenings in the country. As at the time the country gained independence, there were prospects that it will develop into a moderate and influential African state. Find below some of the predictions made in the declassified CIA files bout Nigeria: 1. The Federal Government is controlled by a coalition Nigeria's population is made up of a wide diversity of ethnic groups with regions controlled by major tribal groups and its attendant political party. The CIA noted this while making the prediction that strains will be put on the federal system. The two southern regions will press for a stronger central government and more radical solutions to the internal problems. READ ALSO: 5 things ASUU has sworn to do to Unilorin and its students 2. Nigeria's economy is predominantly led by agriculture The CIA files declassified and released stated that Nigeria's economy is predominantly led by agriculture. It also added that the country's foreign exchange ratings come from agricultural products with prices that are subjected to fluctuations. These fluctuations are beyond the country's control. The declassified CIA files also predicted that Nigeria will look up to the UK and the west for assistance due to the nation's scarce domestic capital. 3. The position of leadership sought by the nation The information gotten from the CIA files revealed that the country would seek a position of leadership in Africa. The nation being called the giant of Africa is a proof of this. While the country would try to moderating role between the differing African factions, it will also find itself being aligned with the conservative states like Ghana and Guinea. The nation according to the prediction is most likely to find itself in agreement with Afro-Asian states in terms of colonialism. 4. US relationship with Nigeria will be plagued With the growing sense of independence, the country will experience reduced political influence from Britain. The relationship between the US and Nigeria will suffer because of the country's past affiliation with the European colonial powers. READ ALSO: See the most powerful African passports you need to have 5. The establishment of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union The CIA files predicted that Nigeria may establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and some European satellites during in the coming years. This relationship may give them opportunities to increase their influence at the expense of the West. Western influence will be more affected by Western policies and actions on specific African issues than by Bloc initiatives within Nigeria. Source: Legit.ng For many who believe that Donald Trump just woke up one morning and decided to run for presidency, that thought should be purged, because the man who is now 45th president of America, knew from a very young age, that he would lead the world's greatest nation. REVEALED! President Donald Trump is a prophet, read his prophesy that has come to pass Business Insider reports that the real-estate developer was a rumored presidential candidate long before he burst onto the scene this year. Indeed, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey asked Trump about a potential White House bid back in 1988. At the time, Trump said he probably wouldn't run but didn't rule out the possibility. "I do get tired of seeing the country ripped off," he said. "If it got so bad I would never want to rule it out totally." READ ALSO: Frenzy in Rivers as IPOB members are released from prison (Photos) Trump did predict he would win the race if he ran, however. "I think I'd win. I tell you what: I wouldn't go in to lose. I've never gone in to lose in my life. And if I did decide to do it, I would say I'd have a hell of a chance of winning," he said then. "I think people are tired of seeing the United States ripped off." What was striking is how similar he sounded in that interview compared to today. Trump frequently complains about other countries "ripping" the US off, for example, and his populist tone bashing free-trade agreements has stayed the same. "I have tremendous respect for the Japanese people. I mean, you can respect somebody that's beating the hell out of you," he said in 1988. Trump, now president often says near-identical things about Mexico, whose government he frequently accuses of sending criminals across the US border. "I have great respect for the Mexican people," he said in July of this year. "We're talking about a government that's much smarter than our government." Source: Legit.ng President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the recommendation by the Senate that he should sack Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Engr. David Babachir Lawal. President Buhari has chosen to stick with Engr. Babachir despite indictment in corrupt practices by a senate ad-hoc committee. The president conveyed his decision to the upper house of legislature in a read out by the president of the senate Bukola Saraki at the start of plenary on Tuesday, January 24. READ ALSO: Why I re-nominated Magu as EFCC boss President Buhari One of the reasons that the president gave was that he had concerns about the number of people that signed the recommendation which was made by a senate adhoc committee on the Humanitarian crisis in the northeast headed by Senator Shehu Sani representing Kaduna central. Another reason the president gave was the lack of quorum in arriving at the recommendation. According to him, it seemed somewhat off that only 3 out of the 9 people that made up the committee signed the recommendation. Also, the president wondered how the Senate arrived at the call for Babachir's removal when the SGF was never called upon by a senate panel or the committee itself to defend himself. READ ALSO: How Tinubu was reluctant to lease his aircraft for Yahya Jammehs exile President Buhari also questioned why the Senate did not invite the company allegedly own by Babachir through which some of the corrupt activities the Senate complained were carried out. Recall that the senates ad-hoc committee on the Humanitarian crisis in the North East indicted the secretary to the state government Babachir Lawal for allegedly handing out of fraudulent contracts in the IDP camps in the northeast. Chairman of the committee Senator Shehu Sani, while presenting the committees interim report, revealed that the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) allegedly approved contracts for projects that were not directly related to the plight of the IDPs. Source: Legit.ng Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna central, has described as selective President Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption fight. Senator Sani says President Buharis clearing of Babachir of any wrongdoing makes his anti-corruption war selective. Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday, January 24, Sani described as lies the content of a letter sent by the president which cleared Secretary to the Government of the Federation David Babachir Lawal of any wrongdoing in the scandal a senate ad-hoc committee had indicted him in. READ ALSO: Why I re-nominated Magu as EFCC boss President Buhari Sani faulted claims in the letter that the proper number of people did not sign the recommendation and that Babachir was not invited, neither was the company allegedly used in the corrupt activity. According to Sani, Babachir Lawal was invited before the committee and his secretary received the letter and acknowledged receipt but he did not appear. Sani also stated that three adverts were placed in three national newspapers where Babachir Lawal and others connected were also invited. Senator Sani also wondered why his name as the Chairman of the Committee was omitted in the list attached to the presidents letter. This, he said, was a deliberate attempt to ignore him. READ ALSO: Mixed reactions as Buhari sends Magus name to Senate again The senator then promised to make available a copy of the invitation letter sent to Babachir Lawal to the clerk of the Senate. He however wondered why under President Buhari: "Corruption in the Judiciary and others is treated with insecticide while corruption in the government (executive) is treated with deodorant". Meanwhile, Justice Baba Yusuf of a high court sitting in Abuja, Nigerias capital, has again affirmed that Sambo Dasuki, the ex-national security adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has been granted bail. Dasuki has been in detention for over a year for his alleged involvement in the $2.1 billion arms deal scandal under Jonathan. Source: Legit.ng It was one repugnant act too many by Bill Kintner. Support evaporated for the embattled state senator Tuesday, with a chorus of allies and opponents calling for his resignation after he retweeted a joke mocking Women's March protesters and apparently making light of sexual assault. Tuesday evening, Kintner's office called a news conference for 8:15 Wednesday morning at the State Capitol to "reveal how he plans to proceed." If he doesn't go willingly, Kintner's colleagues stand ready to boot him from office right away an unprecedented step in the Nebraska Legislature. Speaker Jim Scheer said he will bring a resolution to expel Kintner first thing Wednesday morning, and is "positive" enough senators will support it if Kintner doesn't resign. "As far as I'm concerned, the resolution that is coming from this office is coming on behalf of the entire floor," he said Tuesday. Kintner remained defiant for the five months after a cybersex scandal provoked the first calls for his resignation. Nothing changed when the new controversy erupted this week. "I'm a fighter," he told a reporter in a Capitol hallway Tuesday afternoon. Kintner first told other Twitter users he found the tweet "funny" but later claimed it had been "misconstrued." In another statement early Tuesday, he blamed a "liberal activist campaign" and Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers for seizing on the situation. But Tuesday's backlash brought together senators of all political stripes. Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion a fellow conservative from Sarpy County who has stood by Kintner through months of turmoil and describes him as a friend called on him to resign immediately. So did Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, chairman of the Legislature's Executive Board. Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, a Democrat, said her office has been overwhelmed by messages from Nebraskans offended by Kintner's remarks and behavior toward women. Its enough, she said. This is enough. He threw gasoline on his own fire. He needs to resign. Sen. Suzanne Geist, a Republican from Lincoln, became the first newly elected senator to "stand in solidarity with my sisters in the Legislature" and ask Kintner to resign. Other freshman senators followed. The Legislature has never expelled or impeached one of its own. Expulsion requires support from 33 of 49 senators, and would remove Kintner from office immediately but allow him to seek re-election in 2018 if he chooses. Impeachment takes just 25 votes and would permanently bar him from public office in the state, but would require action by the Nebraska Supreme Court. People at the Capitol are already mulling the next steps, assuming Kintner's seat becomes open. Gov. Pete Ricketts, who urged Kintner to resign months ago, would choose a replacement to serve two years until the next statewide election. Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage said the administration hasn't started that process because there isn't a vacancy to fill. Another pressing consideration is who would replace Kintner on the Legislature's powerful Appropriations Committee. Scheer, who sets the legislative agenda, said his resolution calling for Kintner's expulsion will be the first item lawmakers address Wednesday when they convene at 9 a.m. Omaha Sen. Bob Krist brought a similar resolution. Both say Kintner's conduct has "impugned the integrity" of the Legislature and prompted state and national reaction. "Such conduct has brought the Legislature and legislative process into disrespect and disrepute, has shaken the confidence that the people of the state have in the Legislature, and has impaired the ability of the Legislature to conduct its business," the resolutions state. Scheer's resolution notes Kintner violated state law in 2015 by using his government-issued laptop to have cybersex with a woman who wasn't his wife. Kintner admitted doing so last year and paid a $1,000 fine to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission. That's when calls for his resignation began, but the matter remained unfinished business until the comment he shared on Twitter over the weekend thrust him back into the spotlight. The tweet mocked three women who took part in a Women's March protest on Saturday. Originally posted by California radio host Larry Elder, the tweet included a photograph of the women carrying signs that referred to Donald Trump's hot mic moment from 2005, in which the now-president of the United States joked about grabbing women "by the p---y." "Ladies, I think you're safe," Elder joked in his tweet. Kintner shared the tweet with his followers late Sunday, then spent several hours defending it online before deleting his Twitter account after being questioned by reporters on Monday. Scheer, the legislative speaker, speculated that Kintner's tweet isn't the worst thing a senator has done in Nebraska history: "I'm gonna guess not," he said. But these days, lawmakers can be held immediately accountable for their actions. Scheer said he got hundreds of emails and phone calls about the tweet, starting almost as soon as it appeared on Kintner's Twitter feed late Sunday. "Everything's instantaneous news," Scheer said. "Things change with times." - Senator Dino Melaye says some persons are using the cyber space to post dangerous pictures under with the claim that the violence occurred in Southern Kaduna - Malaye warns that those posting such videos and pictures are trying to set religious leaders against themselves - Senate president, Bukola Saraki, urges the relevant agencies to go after those posting nonexistent and inciting videos and pictures about Nigeria on the social media Senate has said some persons are using the cyber space to incite religious crisis. The Nigerian Senate has warned against the posting of videos and pictures that could trigger religious crisis and war in the country. READ ALSO: Stop killing of Christians in Kaduna: CAC church tells FG The warning followed a point of order raised by the chairman, committee on Federal Capital Territory, Senator Dino Melaye, at plenary on Tuesday, January 24, The Punch reports. Melaye raised the order in reaction to photographs of killings from other countries, allegedly posted on the social media, under the guise that they took place in Southern Kaduna. He said some persons were using the cyber space to post dangerous pictures which Muslim and Christian preachers have been reacting to. This ugly development is a recipe for religious crisis and war and I feel it is necessary for the Senate to pass a note of warning to those using our cyber space to post dangerous pictures. He accused those posting such videos and pictures of trying to set religious leaders against themselves. Melayes added that the preachers, without carrying out adequate research had resorted to hate speeches that could trigger war in the country. He cautioned that if not curtailed on time, the situation could lead to crisis that would further deepen the negative effect of recession on Nigerians. READ ALSO: Christians cannot allow themselves to be killed - Onaiyekan In his remarks, Senate president, Bukola Saraki, commended Melaye for drawing the attention of the senate to the looming crisis being instigated by dubious use of the social media. He appealed for the responsible use of the social media and noted that the Senate will not tolerate the use of internet to engender crisis Saraki also called on relevant agencies to go after those posting nonexistent and inciting videos and pictures about Nigeria on the social media. In a related development, the national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Dr. Felix Omobude has also declared that there is no written law that stops Christians from defending themselves against violence allegedly being perpetrated against them by Fulani herdsmen. He said the body however called for restraints in the face of aggression, saying that the nation will be in chaos if we all dont exercise restraint. Omobude, who called on the security agencies to be alert and protect peoples lives, said communities might be forced to defend themselves against aggression if help isnt forthcoming from the security agencies. Source: Legit.ng - Nigeria Immigration Service, Cross River command, deported 792 illegal immigrants in 2016 - The command also claim to have rescued 65 victims of human trafficking in Cross River No less than 792 illegal immigrants were deported from Nigeria in 2016, according to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in Cross River state. About 65 viticms of human trafficking were also rescued. News Agency of Nigeria reported that the state Comptroller of NIS, Mrs Funke Adeuyi, said this when the country representative of the United Nations Office, Mrs Cristina Albertin, paid her courtesy visit in Calabar on Tuesday, January 24. Nigeria government deports 792 illegal immigrants Adeuyi told Albertin that the illegal immigrants were arrested at different border posts across the state. She said that the command did a thorough profiling of the said immigrants and found them lacking valid travel document to enter Nigeria. READ ALSO: Recession is unlikely to end this year Peter Obi The comptroller also said that during the period under review 55 illegal immigrants were denied entry into Nigeria at different border posts across the state. She said: Between January and December 2016, we repatriated 792 illegal immigrants to their countries while 65 victims of human trafficking were rescued at different border posts in the state. During the same period, 55 illegal immigrants were refused entry into Nigeria for lack of valid travel documents and other related reasons. Due to the contiguous nature of borders (land and marine) between Nigeria and neighbouring countries, we have challenges of illegal immigrants coming in through irregular border lines outside regular control posts. We will, however, continue to police the borders to curb illegal migration, child theft and trafficking and other heinous crimes in the state. The UNODC is one of the partners of the NIS and we believe we can work together in the area of workshops and public enlightenment. READ ALSO: FG releases N72bn for Lagos-Ibadan rail line construction Adeuyi said that the command would sensitize transporters, boat owners and local communities to enable them see the ills of child trafficking and child labour among others issues. Meanwhile, an official of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has been arrested after he stormed a worship centre in Jalingo, Taraba state with an AK-47 rifle and vandalized property belonging to the worship centre. Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of the police command in the state, Mr David Misal, Idris broke into the church and that he sustained injury during the process of his arrest. Source: Legit.ng - The European Union has called for the immediate release of the Shiites leader Ibrahim El-Zakzaky - The EU urged the Nigerian government to release the Shiite leader or charge him to court - The EU also said it is worried that El-Zakzaky has been detained for one year and is yet to get justice The European Union urged the Nigerian government to release El-Zakzaky or formally charge him to court The European Union has called for the immediate release of the leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) popularly known as Shiites Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. EU said the continued detention of the Shiite leader is a breach of fundamental human rights of El-Zakzaky as a Nigeria. EUs concern comes few days after the deadline given by a Federal High Court in Abuja to release the Shiite leader elapsed. READ ALSO: BREAKING: Buhari Free Zakzaky protest rocks Kaduna (PHOTOS) Justice Gabriel Kolawale had in a ruling given the Nigerian government, the police and the State Security Services (SSS) 45 days to release El-Zakzaky and his wife Zainab. The order which was made on December 2, 2016, elapsed on Monday, January 16. The Shiite leader was arrested after the December 5, 2015, clash between troops attached to the convoy of the chief of army staff and the group members in Zaria, Kaduna state. However, EU in a statement released on Tuesday, January 24, called on the Nigerian government to release El-Zakzaky in accordance to the courts ruling or be formally charged to court. READ ALSO: Shiites drags Buhari to UN, international community The EU Heads of Mission note that the decision by a Federal High Court in Abuja ordering Mr. Ibrahim El-Zakzakys immediate release from custody by the State Security Service has not been enforced, the EU said. The EU underlines the universality of fundamental human rights, which includes the right to a fair trial and freedom from arbitrary detention. We find it worrying that Mr. Zakzaky has been detained for more than a year without having been brought to Justice. We therefore urge the Nigerian authorities to ensure Mr. Zakzaky is released in accordance with the ruling of the court or is charged formally in accordance with Nigerian law and faces an impartial and balanced trial without further delay. READ ALSO: Amnesty International warns FG over El-Zakzaky as 45-day deadline ends We encourage transparency and believe it is important that the findings made by all past or ongoing investigations into the violence that occurred in Zaria in December 2015 are published. The EU Heads of Mission are of the view that all those responsible for the violence must be prosecuted according to the law and that anyone found guilty must be sentenced accordingly. The right to peaceful assembly and association, as well as the right to free speech is enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. The EU Heads of Mission also remind Nigeria that it is essential to promote religious tolerance and respect religious rights. The EU Heads of Mission will continue to follow the judicial situation of Mr. Zakzaky and his wife closely, the statement said. Source: Legit.ng It is quite agreeable for one to say Nigerians are totally unpredictable when it comes to some issues. The inauguration of the new Imo airline by Governor Rochas Okorocha has generated torrents of controversies. Gov Okorocha launches Imo airline. Imo state government took to their social media page to announce the inauguration of the new airline that is expected to generate revenue for the state and boost economic activities. In a post on their official Facebook page, the state government explained the modalties of the airline's operation. Here's what they wrote: "IMO AIR KICKS OFF; ACQUIRES BRAND NEW AIRCRAFT "Imo State is set to become the first State in Nigeria to own and operate an airline company operated by Dana Air, as the governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha leads his appointees and stakeholders in the State to take delivery of the first batch of aircrafts at the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport, Owerri. "The carrier named "IMO AIR" is billed to hold its own against other operators in the Nigerian aviation sector, while providing, enhanced revenue for the State, massive employment for Imo citizens and business opportunities for Imolites and Ndi Igbo in general. "Also in the offing is the Imo International Cargo which targets to open the Southeast up to importers and exporters of all kinds of commodities, thereby reducing the over reliance on Lagos, Kano and other international airports for the export and import of goods into the country. This initiative is no doubt a boost for the Southeast economic liberation struggle. According to the Governor, the cargo aspect of the "IMO AIR" initiative will take off by April, 2017. "GOD HAS BLESSED IMO STATE!" Nigerians have also taken to the social media to express their thoughts on the new development. While some commended the state governor for the initiative, others lambasted him for trying to deceive them. Here's a compilation of what Nigerian are saying: 1. Acquiring aircraft without salaries being made 2. Some think it is a progressive move READ ALSO: See the most powerful African passports you need to have 3. A local movie? 4. Doubts over the genuineness of the air line 5. Caption this yourself 6. Alaba work? 7. Are the two sharing it? 8. Misplaced priority! 9. Still on the bad roads 10. No website yet? 11. Okay... 12. Nigerians have no chill READ ALSO: Imo becomes the first Nigerian state to have its own airline 13. Joint business 14. Insinuations about it being a private airline 15. Jokers Source: Legit.ng - IGP Idris has led an important delegation to meet President Buhari in London - The delegation includes many influential people in the Buhari administration The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Kputom Idris on Tuesday January 24 led an important delegation to meet President buhari in his London hospital as speculations about the president's health continue to fly. The IGP was accompanied by the following people: DIG in charge Finance and Administration, Mr Shuiabu Gambo, Commissioner of Police in Charge Monitoring Unit, CP Umar Garba and other top ranking officers. READ ALSO: Buhari is alive - Presidency debunks death rumour According to Vanguard, the officials left the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport early Tuesday morning. The reasons for the impromptu visit are yet to be revealed. Since President Buhari left Nigeria for a 10-day medical vacation, there have been rumours about his death, which the presidency has debunked severally. The president recently posted a picture of himself relaxing and watching Nigerian television in the UK to show that he was quite hale and hearty. Source: Legit.ng In this new era of transparency, its essential that the food and beverage industry keeps its eye on the ball when it comes to key issues such as sustainability in the supply chain. Issues such as advances occurring in sustainable ingredients, and developments happening in formulation, production and marketing of sustainable food and beverages were key issues discussed during the Sustainable Food Summit held this past week, Jan. 18-20, in San Francisco. Organic Monitor, a specialist research, consulting and training company that focuses on global sustainable product industries, that organized the summit provided key predictions for sustainable foods in 2017. Organic Food. Global sales of organic foods are expected to continue the positive trajectory, with most growth envisaged in North America and Northern Europe. Organic food sales in the United States and Canada are predicted to surpass US$50 billion for the first time this year. The market share of organic foods is also expected to approach 7 to 10 percent in the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and neighboring countries. With growth in organic farmland slowing, supply shortfalls are expected. Eco-Labeled Foods. Fairtrade will retain its position as the second largest eco-label for food products, however fragmentation will continue: more fair trade labels and standards are envisaged. Other eco-labels are gaining traction in specific product categories; for instance, Rainforest Alliance for agricultural commodities, and Marine Stewardship Council for seafood. Sustainable Sourcing. The market share of sustainable sourced ingredients is expected to rise. Roughly 20 percent of all coffee is now produced according to some sustainability scheme. The share of sustainable sourced tea, cocoa, vanilla and sugar is expected to increase as large companies such as Barry Callebaut and Givaudan make ethical commitments. Sustainability Metrics. Metrics are likely to become prominent in the sustainability programs of food and ingredient companies. While carbon and water footprints are still the most popular metrics, expect to see more metrics for energy, resource usage, waste and social parameters. More natural and organic food companies are envisaged to make carbon neutral and zero waste pledges. Food Authenticity & Traceability. Greater investment is envisaged in ingredient supply chains to provide transparency and to reduce risks of food fraud and adulteration. Non-GMO labeling schemes are expected to continue to gain popularity in North America, although the GMO labeling bill has been passed. Retail sales of Non-GMO Project Verified food sales are predicted to exceed $20 billion in 2017. Waste Impacts. As food waste rises on the sustainability agenda, more food companies and retailers will make waste reduction pledges. Food byproducts will get greater recognition as a raw material and become a source of new products. ReGrained is an example of a sustainable food enterprise innovating using such raw materials. Green Packaging. The adoption rate of sustainable materials, such as bioplastics, is expected to rise. More natural and organic food companies are likely to adopt such materials as they look to reduce their packaging impacts. Sorry! This content is not available in your region Qaeda militants killed one American in an attack on two hotels and a cafe in the capital of Burkina Faso that left at least 28 people dead and 56 injured on Friday and Saturday, the State Department said on Saturday night. A State Department spokesman, John Kirby, identified the victim as Michael James Riddering. Mr. Kirby said that Mr. Riddering was killed during the course of the attack on two hotels, the Splendid and the Yibi, and a restaurant, Cappuccino Cafe, that sparked a 15-hour standoff in the heart of Ouagadougou, the capital. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this difficult time, as they are with all those affected by this brutality, Mr. Kirby said. Mr. Riddering, 45, was a missionary who worked at the Les Ailes de Refuge Orphanage in the town of Yako, 70 miles from the capital, according to a statement from the organization that runs the orphanage, Sheltering Wings. Two motions to withdraw bills will be heard from Omaha Sen. Bob Krist and Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell. Krist's bill (LB642) would delay prescription drug monitoring requirements for veterinarians. Kuehn's bill (LB583) is related to removing the authority of veterinarians to dispense controlled substances except as part his or her practice. First on the agenda for continued debate is Sen. Dan Watermeier's bill (LB45) that would allow non-federalized reservists to be eligible for military honor plates, and authorize the Department of Motor Vehicles to design reservist plates. It would also allow a vehicle, which is registered to a trust and includes the qualified veteran's name in the trust, to be issued military honor license plates. International prosecutors in The Hague on Thursday accused a former commander of the Lords Resistance Army of using rape and brutality to turn children abducted by the rebels into sex slaves or soldiers for their campaign against Ugandas government. The former commander, Dominic Ongwen, himself a former child soldier who rose through the ranks of the rebel group, is also accused of slaughtering civilians and even ordering cannibalism. He faces 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. The hearing on Thursday was a test for prosecutors who must convince the judges that their case is strong enough to merit a trial. Open: rescue scene Nat sound Inside the boat, Kyriakos is driving KYRIAKOS:Michalis, go outside and look towards Turkey. Refugees wearing life vest are sitting on the back of the boar, with two crew members KYRIAKOS: -We just rescued a boat, the other two [boats], managed to turn the motors on and left. Kyriakos looking back as hes driving the boat KYRIAKOS: Is that boat travelling ok? TASOS: Yes, theyre safe. Kyriakos driving, closeup Shot of refugees on the back of the boat Nat sound Shot of refugees on the front of the boat through the front window VO KYRIAKOS: In 2001, twenty refugees from Afghanistan came to our island. I remember it was the biggest news of the year. Now its 2015 and things have changed completely As vessel 105, approaches to shore full of refugees on the back, crew member Giannis, leans down and pets a mans head Nat sound Music fades in Shot of the picturesque little town out of the side window Nat sound Vessel 105 has arrived, people start getting out. Shot behind Kyriakos back as he picks picks a baby up from the floor of the vessel. A man smiles and kisses him. Kyriakos smiles and gives the baby to his mother. Music fades out KYRIAKOS: Baby! Shot of refugees walking away from the boat Nat sound Music fades in Shot of the little port KYRIAKOS VO: Life used to be under control It was very calm. Music Different shot of the port Kyriakos, Giannis sitting with a group of people at a cafe by the door. Door is wide open, Kyriakos has a rosary in his hands, playing. Wide shot. Music Medium shot of the same scene GIANNIS: -It was chaos here again yesterday. Music Close up of Kyriakos hands playing with the rosary KYRIAKOS VO: We are overwhelmed. Every hour there is just ten of us on duty and we might need to rescue around two hundred people crossing from Turkey. Music Kyriakos close up as hes looking away. KYRIAKOS VO: who could need rescue. Music Transition shot, close up of fishing nets. Nat sound Music fades out Kyriakos and Giannis are standing up by the cafe. KYRIAKOS: Where is the boat? GIANNIS: Im not sure if its a boat. I got information about a man in the water. KYRIAKOS: Ok, were going now. Stella, the cafe owner comes in the frame, while the two men leave the frame. STELLA:Kyriakos, just go. KYRIAKOS: Ok, Ill pay later. STELLA: Dont worry about it. Inside the coast guard boat. Shot through the front window. The boat is driving fast and the window wipers are wiping off the splashes. Shot of Kyriakos driving, Heraclis passes through the frame RADIO SOUND: -There are some people in that boat they are not wearing life vests. Shot of Giannis looking through the binoculars at the back of the coast guard boat. GIORGOS: -The wind must be around [46 mph.]u Giannis puts the binoculars down, Tasos enters the frame KYRIAKOS: -We shouldnt be here, the boat cant handle it. Shot through the side window, splashes on the window RADIO SOUND: -There are some five, four, six people now into the sea. Shot of Kyriakos driving the boat, rough sea, bumpy RADIO SOUND: -Theyre hanging on, on the rubber boat Shot of Giannis entering the boat, rough sea, bumpy, splashes RADIO SOUND: - Because their rubber boat is taking water into it. Behind Kyriakos and Tasos back as theyre searching in the rough sea. Shot of Giannis looking through the binoculars from the side window RADIO SOUND: -There is another boat on your right. Kyriakos pointing in the sea KYRIAKOS: Ok, were going to the other [boat.] Front window, splashes, bumpy as the coast guard boat goes through big waves. Camera shakes a lot. The entire boat shakes, making it feel like a really small boat. The weather is bad. HERACLIS: -Here, it is. KYRIAKOS: Where? Where? KYRIAKOS: Watch out! KYRIAKOS: Get the ropes ready and get me gloves. The coastguard boat slows down, outside in the back Tasos and Heraclis, are getting ropes and life saver ready. TASOS: Its ok! KYRIAKOS: Throw the rope! What are you waiting for? Shot of the window wiper, out of the window. A rubber boat packed with refugees HERACLIS: No movement! No movement! Down! down! Kyriakos on the side of the rescue boat, pulling the rubber boat closer with a rope Nat sound A young boy is running from the back of the boat towards the front. The camera is shooting out to the back of the boat. Kyriakos is helping the child to sit down KYRIAKOS: Sit down, sit down! More people are coming up and are sitting very close to the camera. Camera is shooting out to the back of the rescue boat so in the foreground there are people very close to the camera. The crew are bringing more people up. WOMAN: Yes, go in front! More people are climbing up on the rescue boat, everyone looks terrified, there is panic in their faces. WOMAN: Yes, they are here. As one more young woman comes on the boat, Giannis follows her in a panic. GIANNIS: Get the life saver! The young woman sits by the people already on the boat and close to the camera YOUNG WOMAN: The boy fell [in the sea] Giannis passes by with a life saver WOMAN: whose son More people are coming up on the boat MAN: God Help us! A woman is dragging a small baby, everyone is in a panic rushing to get on the boat. MAN: Sit down! More people are coming up, trying to sit. Tight shot of all the people cramped buy the camera KYRIAKOS: Untie the ropes, we need to go. Shot of the clouds CHILD: Did dad get on the boat? Close up of a woman, crying with a baby in her arms WOMAN: Theyre gone! Close up of a man giving a baby to a woman MAN: Take this boy! Close up of a different man, passing another baby to someone else Screaming, shouting, crying Close up of a woman climbing inside the boat Screaming, shouting, crying Close up of a family that just got on the boat, they all look terrified Screaming, shouting, crying Close up of Kyriakos helping everyone frantically Screaming, shouting, crying Extreme close up of a small boy, shivering from the cold. Hes wet and his eyes are closing slowly. MAN: a mother and two sons. Oh God! Wide shot looking towards the back of the rescue boat, which is now packed with all the refugees Screaming, shouting, crying Closeup of a baby Cry of a baby Close up of the front window of the boat, refugee men are sitting at the front. The empty captains seat. Kyriakos, jumps on the wheel and turns controls on. He looks straight ahead and see,ms overwhelmed Sound of the engine Splash on the from window, the refugee men point toward the left KYRIAKOS: Have the rope ready! Wide shot through the window, A woman is in the water. Two small yellow life vests are floating next to her Nat sound The woman in the water lifts her hand up KYRIAKOS: Oh my God! She has two children with her. Shot of woman and two children in the water from the side of the boat Nat sound Shot from behind a man, looking at the woman, holding his head The man screams The man leaves the frame which now is filled with the wild, blue sea. Cry of the man Wide shot toward the back of the boat. Heraclis is handing a small blatantly unconscious child to Kyriakos. Everyone on the coat is looking and crying Sound of women crying Close up of Kyriakos, giving CPR on the back of the boat. The mother is being helped on the boat, crying Cry of the mother Wide shot, Giannis is bringing the second child up on the boat. Sound of women crying Close up of Kyriakos and Giannis standing up talking at the back of the boat next to the waving greek flag Kyriakos:come and help. Hold the nose and blow through the mouth Close up of Kyriakos who comes toward the camera Music fades in imitating the sound of an ambulance Kyriakos passes through the camera and enters the boat cabin Heraclis: Its Heraclis from the boat. We have two unconscious children on board. Send an ambulance to the dock Shot inside the cabin, behind Kyriakos and Heraclis. Heraclis is on the phone and Kyriakos is getting ready Kyriakos: In ten minutes Music Close up of Kyriakos looking back Music Closeup of Kyriakos face, looking stressed out Music Kyriakos exhales, cut to shot out of the cabin door, refugees covered up, boat driving really fast Music Cut back to Kyriakos and again back out of the door to the refugees and close up to Kyriakos Music On the dock, Kyriakos is kneeling next to the one child, people are gathered around Music stops KYRIAKOS: Bring a blanket! Get the ambulance to come here now! KYRIAKOS: Shes speaking WOMAN: Shes breathing A first day doctor covering the small girl with a blanket People talking Close up of Giannis, crying MAN: Is she alive? WOMAN: Yes. Close up of the small girl Kyriakos next to the unconscious small boy KYRIAKOS: Heraclis, call to find out where the ambulance is! Wide shot of Kyriakos and an first aid worker giving CPR to the small boy Nat sound Shot of people looking, Kyriakos,passes in front of them holding the boy and take him to the ambulance Nat sound Calm shot of the picturesque small port town Nat sound Exterior shot of restaurant MARIA:-Kyriakos, dont they have the option to not cross when its so windy? Interior shot, Kyriakos, Ignatia and friends are sitting around lunch table IGNATIA: -No, the Turkish smugglers blackmail them to cross quickly. Close up of Kyriakos Ignatia IGNATIA: Yesterday, the big coastguard boat brought refugees to the main port IGNATIA: Eight children were there, all soaking wet. IGNATIA:: My sister, who was also there, went to the shop across the street asking for blankets. Shot of Tzanos and Vivi TZANOS:Sure, but when three or four thousand people come like this every day... Shot of Tzanos and Vivi IGNATIA: Yes, there is no infrastructure on our island. Close up of Ignatia IGNATIA: The childrens hospital is full of refugee children who have lost their parents And there is nobody to look after them Close up of Kyriakos VASSILIS: It is ups to us to help everyone, then. Wide shot of the lunch table TZANOS: What are those responsible doing about the situation then? Closeup of Kyriakos Voices are becoming muddled, music is fading in Picturesque shot of Mytilene port Music and nat sound Close up of Melissa (Kyriakos young daughter), in the background a refugee woman holding a baby KYRIAKOS VO: In a way, I panic too. Im scared. I cant reassure them. Its impossible. When I look into their eyes, I see their memories of war. Music Kyriakos holding Melissa from ger hand walking on promenade KYRIAKOS VO:They come from war... ...They escape the bombs that fall on their homes, and we see these families losing each other in the Greek sea. In the sea of a peaceful country. Because of the way they have to cross. Rack focus golden hour sea landscape to an olive branch Music fades out. Fisherman cleaning his nets at the small port Nat sound Another man on his parked sailing boat looking away KYRIAKOS: Its Kyriakos Shot of Kyriakos walking and talking on the phone KYRIAKOS: Were going out immediately, get the boat ready, quickly. Shot of boat front window CARD: 3.45pm Nat sound Shot inside the boat cabin, Christos looking through binoculars, bumpy Music fades in Close up of Kyriakos HERACLIS: Im calling from boat 150. Has the helicopter seen the incident were heading to? Music Shot of white water side of the boat Music Nat sound Bumpy shot inside the boat cabin Music nat sound Shot of Tasos binoculars HERACLIS: Are there people in the sea? Music Shot behind Tasos and Heraclis searching/ looking out the front window RADIO SOUND: Yes, this is the informations we have, but were searching. Music Shot inside the cabin crew is looking out the front window/ searching. Bumpy Music Nat sound Kyriakos looking out of the side window, boat has come to a halt KYRIAKOS: Come on! Throw the rope! Turn the engine off Music fades out Kyriakos exits the frame, cut to outside, go pro footage from Kyriakos head. Christos is throwing a life vest in the water. There is people everywhere in the water. Some are standing on a piece of wood, remanence of the boat they were crossing that sank. Someone is catching the lifevest. The rope pills people closer Nat sound More people in the water, Kyriakos is trying to pull people out of the water, a man slips his hands, A young boy is pulled on the boat. Nat sound Cut to the little port, a couple is having dinner by the water. Suddenly they turn and look behind, they seem concerned, the coast guard rescue boat enters the frame in the background, people run in the frame Nat sound Boat Syren Kyriakos pulls out the boat to the port, people run in the frame Nat sound Scene of chaos, people are helping the refugees who have come from the shipwreck. Everyone is giving CPR, chaos scene on the sore. Nat sound. A man is holding a small girl upside down, women are tapping the girls back MAN:Hit her back in case shes got more water in her lungs. Yes, water comes out, shes good. Put her in a blanket. Hold her head. Nat sound Close up of a woman with a small child in her arms WOMAN: We need oxygen Scenes of chaos on the little port, CPR until it becomes dark. Nat sound The coast guard boat pulls in the little port, its dark VOICE FROM MEGAPHONE: Kyriakos watch out when you reverse Night shot of Kyriakos closeup on the boar Nat sound Kyriakos and the crew, put a covered dead body on a stretcher Nat sound Close up of Kuriakos VOICE FROM THE CROWD The world need to know whats happening here! We cant be going through this alone! Medium of Kyriakos in the scene KYRIAKOS: Where is the car? Shot of Kyriakos, crowd in the backgrounds Christos: The entire village has come to watch Back inside the boat cabin, Shot of Christos whos standing outside the window and CHRISTOS: Im speechless. [the smugglers] are criminals Shot of Kyriakos talking back to him KYRIAKOS: There are no words to describe how I feel. Exterior shot of rescue boat, window. Kyriakos and Heraclis are inside KYRIAKOS: Rescued unconscious, but regained their senses after CPR. Shot inside the cabin as Kyriakos is writing the log. KYRIAKOS: Returned to the dock and brought people back at 4.50pm for the first time. Music fades in KYRIAKOS: 5.00pm: We left again [to collect more people from the shipwreck.] 5.30pm: Back at the shipwreck, we rescued four more people and collected a dead body. Music fades in Ok, thats the end of the diary. Exterior of the boat Shot of Kyriakos, sitting KYRIAKOS: Its a nightmare, this agony... Everywhere we went, there were people in the water. The only thing Im hoping is that there is no one missing. Music FADE TO BLACK Card over black Between 2015 and 2016, 600,000 refugees crossed the 4.1 miles of water between Turkey and the Greek island of Lesbos Music Card over black In the Spring 2016, Countries north of Greece closed their borders. Migrants and refugees continue to cross the Mediterranean. FADE TO BLACK Music fades out FADE TO LIFE PRESERVER Greek song fades in Credits Beach medium Credits Greek song Beach wide Credits Greek song Shot of people Credits Shot of People This film is dedicated to 7 year old Mohamadi Amir Mahdi and all the children that have drowned in the Aegean Sea. Greek song Fade to black The end Asma, who is 14, is the first to spend money and the last to save it. She loves children and her friends. I cried when I read what she had written for the Facebook post. We are afraid of catastrophe, as it is painful when a person kills others; mothers, fathers and children. It is as though the peoples consciousness are like stones. And every person with authority does what he wants. Haneen, the 12-year-old, is outspoken and creative. She is always asking what things have not yet been invented because she says she wants to invent something that will benefit everyone. Once, when I apologized for being late because I was at work helping the children of Yemen, she confronted me: We are also the children of Yemen. Here is an excerpt from her Facebook essay: The situation is getting worse daily. Our studies have stopped, playing is forbidden. They cut off the water and electricity on all the residents. Every day, the noises get louder and louder next to us. However, I have two questions that are confusing me: How will our future be beautiful if they have destroyed Yemen? When will this war end and Yemen will be liberated and the future will be beautiful, God willing? My children were at home on Saturday when the bombs killed more than 100 people at a Sana funeral hall. I was live on BBC Arabic speaking on behalf of Unicef about the cholera outbreak. On my way back home, I saw the lines at one hospital. Visitors can pay for access to seven, 12 or all 27 waterfalls; we decided to do the whole thing, and each forked over $12. Plan to be gone most of the day, and bring food and water. If you want, lunch can be provided for you, which adds $7 to the price of your waterfall adventure. Our dutiful guides outfitted us with helmets and life jackets, and we began a long, uphill trek that took about an hour. We stopped periodically to catch our breath, our guides forging ahead and encouraging us by happily shouting, Only five more minutes Dominican time! After five minutes had passed, then 10, we soon learned the meaning of Dominican time whenever you get there, you get there. But even the most out-of-shape of us got there, and thats when the fun began. One by one, we slid, jumped or otherwise traversed down more than two dozen waterfalls of varying length and ferocity. Some were just trickles into a deep pool, others were mammoth 20-foot plunges off a rocky cliff. For some of the scarier jumps, those who didnt wish to plunge were able to glide down the smooth rock, as if on a waterslide. Access to the different falls depends on precipitation, one of the guides explained; if there hasnt been enough rain, some of the pools will be too shallow to jump into. A few words of advice: Wear a swimsuit, one that you dont mind getting slightly damaged. Also, wear sneakers. Theyll be drenched, but its far better to have the support when youre hiking on the sharp rocks; those who rented the parks thin water shoes ended up with very sore feet. Last, leave your phone in your car its going to get soaked. (You can hire an additional guide to follow you the whole day and take photos.) By the time wed completed the last waterfall, we were tired and famished. After tipping our guides (everyone chipped in a few bucks) we piled into our van and headed back to the ship. It was a full, exhausting day the duty-free shopping and $4 cappuccinos of Amber Cove were almost a welcome sight. That evening, thanks to the all-you-can-eat dining aboard the cruise ship, I had two entrees and two desserts. I met Huppert in the lobby of a hotel in Lyon, where she was shooting Madame Hyde, a loose reinterpretation of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and her fifth film production this year. She was casually dressed, in jeans and a T-shirt, and very slight. To get to her room, we walked or rather raced, at her rapid clip up four flights of a wide stone staircase. In the room, she positioned herself on a blood-red divan; even sitting still she exuded energy, like loose electrons spinning around a solid core. We started talking about Elle, and she told me her approach to playing Michele. I had no understanding of the character as I was doing it, she said, the movement of her hands releasing a cloud of Chanel No. 5. But I think thats the substance that she is made of. It was by not fully comprehending the character that she was able to avoid making her into a caricature. It worked, she said, because Im not sure Michele decides anything. Its by instinct, intuition. Its almost blind. Image Huppert walking in the streets of Montmartre, Paris, in 1985. Credit... Robert Doisneau/Rapho What directors love about Huppert and she prides herself on being an auteurs actor is her ability to convey moral complexity in the most unique ways. After being raped, Michele eventually unmasks her attacker. When she sees the man the next day, she looks neither agitated nor surprised; she is alert and on her guard, but also calm. As Michele, and in many other roles, Huppert can transmit self-awareness. She gives the impression of observing herself at the same time that we, the audience, are observing her. Thats the beauty of it. Shes discovering it as she goes, and is not afraid to feel that, Verhoeven said when we spoke. I think there is always a mystery to her acting, he added. I have never seen an actor or actress add so much to the movie that was not in the script. The awards, announced on Monday at the A.L.A.s midwinter conference in Atlanta, were given to books published in 2016, a year in which sales of childrens books were strong, continuing to outpace books for adults. The winning titles reflected a vibrant and increasingly expansive childrens books landscape. After several years of calls for books reflecting more racial and gender diversity, for example, the three top awards the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz went to two African-American men, Lewis and Steptoe, and a white woman, Barnhill. Coming just a little more than a week after many were shocked by then-President-elect Trumps sparring on Twitter with Representative Lewis, who is considered an icon of the civil rights movement, the awards for March seemed to make an especially strong impact on the Atlanta audience of librarians, educators and book publishing professionals. As each award for March: Book Three chosen by separate committees that do not communicate with each other was announced, it was cheered loudly. Many also noted the political overtones of the Newbery winner, The Girl Who Drank the Moon, a fantasy novel about a country that mistakenly believes it must sacrifice its youngest child to an evil witch every year. Barnhills book, said its editor, Elise Howard, the publisher of Algonquin Young Readers, is about asking questions and making choices and daring to question an authoritarian version of the truth, which makes it a perfect book for our time. The Caldecott Medal for Steptoe, who is the son of the seminal African-American childrens book author-illustrator John Steptoe, also elicited emotional responses. Steptoe worked on the book for six years, immersing himself in the settings of Jean-Michel Basquiats life. Without using any of Basquiats own work, Steptoe evoked the artists style and world by painting and making collages on large pieces of found wood from discarded Brooklyn Museum exhibits as well as the streets of Brooklyn, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. If you are lucky enough to one day see the art in person, said David Caplan, Little, Brown Kids vice president and creative director, you can fully understand the care and patience Javaka took in creating this stunning imagery. Newbery Honors went to Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life, a picture book by Ashley Bryan, published by Atheneum; The Inquisitors Tale: Or, The Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz, illustrated by Hatem Aly, published by Dutton; and Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk, published by Dutton. For years, chief executive officers lived in fear they would become a target of the activist investor Carl Icahn. Now, they live in dread of a different and somewhat more unexpected kind of activist: President Donald J. Trump. As corporate executives around the globe try to understand the implications of the Trump administration on their businesses, they seem to be having an almost bipolar reaction: a euphoric sense that regulations and taxes could soon be lowered which would likely increase their profits and paychecks yet a simultaneous anxiety that they could become a target of one of the presidents Twitter tirades, which could undo their businesses or possibly their careers. Over the last two months, dozens of chief executives have made pilgrimages to Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The ritual involves being photographed in the lobby in front of the gold elevators and having your name hastily tweeted by the throngs (journalistic and otherwise) involved in the spectator sport. At a meeting with the leaders of several construction and building trade unions, President Trump reiterated on Monday his interest in directing hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure investments, some of it from the federal government, union officials said. That was the impression I was taken away with, said Sean McGarvey, the president of North Americas Building Trades Unions, an umbrella group, on a call with reporters after the meeting. That the American citizenry and the American Treasury will be invested in building public infrastructure. Mr. McGarvey added that Mr. Trump clearly felt that much of the money should come from the private sector and that some of the investments could take the form of public-private partnerships, an idea the president floated as a candidate. The meeting included roughly half a dozen union leaders and a similar number of rank-and-file members, as well as senior White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence; Reince Priebus, the chief of staff; Katie Walsh, the deputy chief of staff; Stephen K. Bannon, the chief strategist; Kellyanne Conway, the presidents counselor; and Sean Spicer, the press secretary. It took place in the White House and ran for well over an hour. President Trump summoned the titans of American business to the White House on Monday for what was billed as a listening session, but it was the new president who delivered the loudest message: Bring back domestic manufacturing jobs, or face punishing tariffs and other penalties. The contrast between Mr. Trumps talk and the actual behavior of corporate America, however, underscored the tectonic forces he was fighting in trying to put his blue-collar base back to work in a sector that has been shedding jobs for decades. Many of the chief executives Mr. Trump met with have slashed domestic employment in recent years. What is more, their companies have frequently shut factories in the United States even as they have opened new ones overseas. Mr. Trump said he would use tax policy, among other means, to deter companies from shifting work abroad. A company that wants to fire all of its people in the United States and build some factory someplace else, then thinks that product is going to just flow across the border into the United States, he said, thats just not going to happen. The design for the project is not complete, but Mr. Heller said it would feature durability and flexibility in how the structures could be used. Some of the structures at Rodmans Neck have not been upgraded since the Police Department took over the grounds, including the firing ranges, in 1960. Officials said they planned to build six outdoor ranges, costing $73 million, with sound baffles to reduce noise, which has been a source of complaints from nearby residents on City Island. While the majority of use of the firing ranges at Rodmans Neck is for completing semiannual firearm requalification, which requires only static target shooting for accuracy, the envisioned upgrades to the facility will allow for more tactical training, a Police Department statement said. Tactical shooting, the statement added, involves firing from different positions and locations on the range, offering more realistic shooting scenario training and higher level of intensity. Officials said they would also build a $51 million tactical village, allowing officers to train for situations that might require the use of deadly force. The current village consists of two hollowed-out three-story buildings. Although the new village will also lack tall buildings, the goal is to make it possible to recreate as many situations as possible including a mass shooting, the taking of hostages and an armed robbery. A 38-year-old woman convicted of having sex with a teenager at a York facility for troubled children was sentenced to 10 to 16 years in prison Monday. Jamie Bishop of Seward pleaded no contest in December to felony sexual assault of a minor. Court documents said Bishop and the 15-year-old had sex several times in his room or on the grounds at Epworth Village from January to July last year. She bore a child last December, and authorities said DNA tests prove the paternity. Bishop and the boy were seen together several times on surveillance video and her Internet history showed she searched for the definition of degrees of sexual assault in Nebraska, consequences of lying to police and the age of consent, documents say. In Nebraska, children younger than 16 cannot legally consent to sex. Epworth Village officials initially suspended Bishop when the allegations surfaced and later fired her. President Trump seems intent on starting a trade war. On Monday, he told business executives at the White House that he would punish companies that shut factories in the United States and moved jobs overseas by imposing a very major border tax. Such a tax would probably be illegal under American law and would definitely violate treaties with other countries. Mr. Trumps remarks came on the same day that he withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement the Obama administration had negotiated with 11 countries, including Australia, Japan and Vietnam, but Congress never ratified. He also pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In this flurry of activity, he seemed oblivious to how his actions might affect the economy and millions of Americans who stand to lose their jobs if he tears up trade agreements and causes other countries to retaliate by penalizing American goods and services. Congress has given the president authority to raise tariffs on imports in certain situations as in war or during an international economic emergency or when foreign businesses sell products below the cost of production. But that authority has not been used to take aim at the products of individual companies that moved manufacturing of their goods abroad. Mr. Trump told a German newspaper this month that BMW might have to pay a 35 percent border tax on cars imported from a new factory in Mexico. In that case, BMW is not even moving production out of the United States, but moving it from Germany, China and South Africa, to Mexico. Experts say federal courts would most likely strike down such a tax if Mr. Trump tried to impose it. Even Congress might not have the authority to impose such taxes, because the Constitutions bills of attainder clause bars lawmakers from singling out specific businesses or individuals for punishment. WASHINGTON President Trump used his first official meeting with congressional leaders on Monday to falsely claim that millions of unauthorized immigrants had robbed him of a popular vote majority, a return to his obsession with the elections results even as he seeks support for his legislative agenda. The claim, which he has made before on Twitter, has been judged untrue by numerous fact-checkers. The new presidents willingness to bring it up at a White House reception in the State Dining Room is an indication that he continues to dwell on the implications of his popular vote loss even after assuming power. Mr. Trump appears to remain concerned that the public will view his victory and his entire presidency as illegitimate if he does not repeatedly challenge the idea that Americans were deeply divided about sending him to the White House to succeed President Barack Obama. Mr. Trump received 304 electoral votes to capture the White House, but he fell almost three million votes short of Hillary Clinton in the popular vote. That reality appears to have bothered him since Election Day, prompting him to repeatedly complain that adversaries were trying to undermine him. WASHINGTON President Trump on Monday ordered an across-the-board employment freeze for the federal government, halting hiring for all new and existing positions except those in national security, public safety and the military. In the two-page order, Mr. Trump said the directive was a stopgap way to control the growth of government until his budget director recommends a long-term plan to significantly reduce the federal work force through attrition. In carrying out this memorandum, I ask that you seek efficient use of existing personnel and funds to improve public services and the delivery of these services, Mr. Trump wrote in the memorandum, one of his first acts as president. Accordingly, this memorandum does not prohibit making reallocations to meet the highest priority needs and to ensure that essential services are not interrupted and national security is not affected. The largest public employees union blasted the presidents action, saying it will force federal agencies to rely on more expensive contractors to deliver the services that Americans have come to expect from the government. WASHINGTON Dozens of cases of possible wrongdoing by contract workers at the Department of Homeland Security agency responsible for citizenship, visas and green cards have sat idle for two years because internal investigators say they have been denied the authority to look into the allegations, interviews and documents show. Investigators at the agency, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, say they have repeatedly warned top managers that unaddressed allegations of corruption among contractors could put the immigration system at risk. In 2015, they prepared a presentation, which was obtained by The New York Times, warning agency leadership that an inability to investigate contract workers had possible national security implications. Internal agency documents show nearly 70 uninvestigated cases of alleged wrongdoing involving contract employees, including accusations that these workers were involved in bribery schemes, distribution of child pornography on agency computers and illegal use of government law enforcement databases. WASHINGTON President Trumps cabinet continued to take shape on Monday, as Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas earned approval to lead the Central Intelligence Agency and Rex W. Tillerson, the secretary of state nominee, cleared a key Senate hurdle to all but assure his own confirmation. Despite some shaky appearances from his nominees on Capitol Hill and often blistering Democratic opposition, Mr. Trump has thus far faced few meaningful obstacles in installing the team of his choice aided by Senate Republicans who are eager to expedite the confirmation process. Mr. Tillerson had been the only nominee to attract notable doubts from within the Republican Senate majority, briefly imperiling his prospects amid concerns over his ties to Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, during Mr. Tillersons tenure at Exxon Mobil. But on Monday, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who had emerged as a critical vote on Mr. Tillersons fate, announced his support. Mr. Rubio had sharply questioned Mr. Tillerson at a hearing this month, chastising him in a series of interrogations over Mr. Tillersons equivocating testimony on human rights issues. Mr. Rubio also had left open the possibility of opposing him on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Republicans hold a one-member majority. But he stopped short of full-blown nationalism. He described a Mexican future categorically different from the one outlined by Mr. Trump for the United States in his inaugural address on Friday. Where America would reassess its adherence to free markets and its station as a guardian of the liberal democratic order, Mexico would reaffirm itself as a nation open to the world, that participates in global markets with high-value goods and services. Where Mr. Trump has questioned the benefits of the North American Free Trade Agreement, blaming it for the loss of jobs in the United States to the benefit of Mexico, Mr. Pena Nieto defended the pact. In the face of calls for the agreement to be upended, he argued that the ties between the United States, Mexico and Canada should deepen. Telecommunications, energy and electronic trade should be incorporated into any new agreement, he said. At the White House on Monday, Mr. Trumps aides said he would move quickly to renegotiate the agreement. Mr. Pena Nieto and his aides have been preparing for months to deal with the free trade issue. Even as some have questioned Naftas benefits to Mexico, where salaries are stagnant and the poverty rate has hardly moved, the government has consistently defended the accord. But it has chosen a strategy of negotiation that would both allow some changes and ask for some of its own and tie those changes to broader negotiations on security and migration as a way to give Mexico some leverage in the debate. That leverage exists in Mexicos increased policing of its southern border, which serves as a first line of defense against both migrants headed to the United States and terrorist threats. Similarly, Mexico has long complained about the flow of guns and money that enter the country from the north. About 70 percent of the firearms seized in Mexico from 2009 to 2014 were traced back to the United States, according to a 2016 report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, amounting to more than 73,000 guns. The speech was notable for what it said about the evolving relationship between Mexico and the United States, which have long been wary neighbors but in recent decades have moved past animosities toward a vision for a more shared future. Much of that was predicated on open borders and trade, as well as on a mutual interest in preventing transborder criminal enterprises like drug cartels. How that will be carried out in the future is in question. A few days later, after frantically scouring the Icelandic capital and its surrounding areas for clues, the police found her Doc Martens on a dock at Hafnarfjordur, a sleepy town on the outskirts of Reykjavik known for its annual Viking festival, its local rock n roll bands and its picturesque lava fields. After reviewing video from the scene, they noticed something else: a fishing trawler from Greenland, the Polar Nanoq, moored to a nearby dock. Not far from it they spotted a small red car. It was parked there at 6:30 a.m., the surveillance video showed, and it was the same model as the vehicle seen next to Ms. Brjansdottir before she vanished. Tracing the license plate, the police learned that the car had been rented by two men from the trawler. Image The disappearance of Birna Brjansdottir dominated news bulletins across Iceland and about 775 rescue workers volunteered to search for her. Credit... Reykjavik Metropolitan Police There was just one problem. The men who were now the prime suspects in Ms. Brjansdottirs death could be on the ship, but the Polar Nanoq had set off for Greenland days earlier. Fearful that the suspects would get beyond their reach, the Icelandic Coast Guard sent a helicopter with a squad of six special forces officers, known as the Viking Swat Team, to intercept the vessel, a spokesman for the Icelandic Coast Guard, Sveinn Gudmarsson, said. About 90 minutes later, Mr. Gudmarsson said, the squad part of the only armed police force in Iceland rappelled onto the trawler and arrested the two fishermen, who did not resist. He said that the ship was aware the Vikings were pursuing them and had already altered course to return to Reykjavik. The weather was bad and there were eight-meter-high waves, he said. The crew cooperated. Helgi Gunnlaugsson, a sociology professor at the University of Iceland, said the case had captivated and shocked Icelanders not only because killings were so unusual in Iceland in 2012 it had the third-lowest murder rate in the world after Liechtenstein and Singapore but because the suspects were foreigners and the case had seemed such a mystery at first. Icelanders, for all the lack of violent crime in their homeland, are nevertheless fascinated by it, and crime novelists such as Arnaldur Indridason and Yrsa Sigurdardottir are national treasures. Some Icelanders have drawn parallels between the Brjansdottir case and a popular Icelandic television series called Trapped, centering on an unsolved murder mystery in a remote village where residents are cut off by heavy snow. In the series, a mutilated torso is caught in a fishing net and the suspects are thought to reside on a boat. STOCKHOLM Three men in Uppsala, Sweden, were arrested on Sunday on suspicion of raping a woman and streaming the assault live to a private Facebook group. On Monday, the authorities urged people with access to the images showing the assault to make them available to investigators. Police and prosecutors have access to some of the images and video footage, Magnus Berggren, a prosecutor in Uppsala, said at a news conference, the Swedish newspaper Expressen reported. What we do not have access to is the segment showing the actual assault. Police officers were sent to an apartment in Uppsala, a university city about 40 miles north of Stockholm, shortly before 9 a.m. on Sunday after receiving several calls reporting a rape in progress that was being streamed live to a closed group on Facebook, Expressen reported. The police arrested three men, 18, 20 and 24, at the apartment, Expressen reported. We are gathering evidence, technical evidence, but also interviewing, Mr. Berggren said at the news conference. We have questioned a number of people and there will be more interviews. Since 2013, critics have publicly debated the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts plans for a $600 million campus redesign by Peter Zumthor that requires razing three deteriorating 1965 buildings designed by William Pereira and a 1986 addition by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates. While many, including Christopher Hawthorne, the architecture Critic for The Los Angeles Times, generally support the Zumthor plan, some favor renovation of the existing buildings or have voiced their emotional attachment to the old structures. Theres this real sense of nostalgia for place, even if the place doesnt function anymore, said the museums director, Michael Govan. Rather than sweeping such sentiments under the rug as he stewards the campus overhaul, Mr. Govan has commissioned the artist Vera Lutter to confront these sites that have meaning and preserve them through her work. The German artist is known for searing, ghostly photographs of industrial relics made through a camera obscura process that projects an inverted black-and-white image directly onto light-sensitive paper. Mr. Govan calls this project a bookend to Ms. Lutters photographs of a former Nabisco factory in 1999 before its transformation into Dia:Beacon, commissioned by Mr. Govan when he directed that institution. Over the next year at the Los Angeles museum, Ms. Lutter will set up several room-size pinhole cameras in and around the buildings slated for demolition. While her bright outdoor scenes may need exposures of a day or two, a dimly lit gallery view requires a nine-month exposure, giving Ms. Lutter one shot to get it right. Paris A Polish court on Tuesday sided with the countrys conservative government in its battle against a new and independent World War II museum, imperiling that institutions future. The aim of the state-financed Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk, which is expected to open to the public later this month, is to place the war in broader international context. But the culture minister of Polands conservative government, Piotr Glinski, has criticized the museum for not focusing enough on the Polish experience of the war. Last year he proposed merging the museum with a smaller institution dedicated to the first Polish battle of World War II. Critics, including prominent historians from around the world, saw the move as playing politics with historical memory and bending laws to intervene in autonomous public institutions. The Polish court on Tuesday rejected on technical grounds a proposal to suspend the merger, meaning that it can go ahead before the countrys highest court rules on the mergers validity, a decision not expected for years. A Lincoln judge sentenced two Illinois men caught with 128 pounds of marijuana in a stop on Interstate 80 near Lincoln to prison time Monday despite pleas by their attorneys for probation. Ali Khalil, 32, and Issa Abu-Serieh, 30, both of the Chicago area, got 18 months to three years in prison for possession of marijuana with intent to deliver. They were found guilty at a bench trial. Khalil said Monday he was in a weak state of mind and let others take advantage of him. "I'd like to do everything in my power to make this right," he said. His Chicago attorney and Abu-Serieh's Omaha attorney said their clients accepted responsibility for what they did but pointed out the state of flux when it comes to marijuana laws -- and not just where it's legal and illegal. Omaha attorney Thomas Olsen said along the I-80 corridor in Nebraska some judges give fines for first offenses and some county attorneys plead the cases down to misdemeanors. But Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen said this wasn't a possession case, it involved more than 100 pounds being taken from California to Illinois. "People have been robbed and killed for less amounts," he said. On Jan. 25, 2015, Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies stopped them in separate rental cars for following too closely. After a police dog alerted to the smell of drugs, deputies searched Khalil's trunk and found it loaded with vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana and keys to the car in the SUV Abu-Serieh was driving. What do you do after youve put on an acclaimed 24-hour-long show taking in the entire history of America through song? Well, if youre Taylor Mac, one thing you can do is read all about the experience in a scholarly book. Mr. Macs 24-Decade History of Popular Music, performed last October at St. Anns Warehouse in Brooklyn, will be the subject of a newly announced collection of essays titled Get Up and Play. The show, billed as a radical fairy realness ritual that dedicated one hour to each decade of history between 1776 and 2016, already proved that the word heteronormativity has a beat you can dance to. The book, which does not yet have a publisher or official release date, pulls on the theoretical underpinnings a bit more directly, taking on topics like queer histories as a mode of agency/radicalism and the themes of empathy, vulnerability or communitas, according to a call for contributions. Were going to try to keep the lyrical notion of the concert, Sean F. Edgecomb, an assistant professor of performing and creative arts at the College of Staten Island, and one of the books editors, said in a telephone interview. If I had to sum up our approach in one line, Id say we want to honor Taylors idea of queerness, which he kept saying during the show was the opposite of perfection. In addition to critical essays, the book will feature annotated interviews with Mr. Mac and his collaborators, including his costume designer, Machine Dazzle; musical director, Matt Ray; and co-director, Niegel Smith. Mr. Edgecomb and his fellow editors, David Roman and Dan Venning, are also soliciting smartphone shots, sketches and other documentation from audience members. THE PATRIOTS By Sana Krasikov 542 pp. Spiegel & Grau. $28. Russia once again poses a threat to American democracy. What will it do to American literature? Our most vulnerable faction our first responders would seem to be the writers in the thriving subgenre of the Russian-Jewish emigre novel. Its members among them Gary Shteyngart, Boris Fishman, Anya Ulinich, Ellen Litman and Kseniya Melnik were born in the Soviet Union and left as children or teenagers. In their novels, the disorienting clash between Soviet gloom and American gaud is the source of dramatic tension, exploited for tragedy and, more often, comedy. A Brezhnev baby showing up in Reagans America is an irresistible fish-out-of-water premise. I experienced it firsthand when my family hosted two boys from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk in a cultural exchange program. On their first night, when we took them to the neighborhood Haagen-Dazs, the selection of ice cream flavors cast them into a state of shock from which they never recovered. In fearful whispers, both ordered vanilla. But now, as a Soviet film villain might say, the tables have turned. About half of Americans are beginning to feel that they live in a foreign country (the other half has felt that way for the last eight years). This new country increasingly resembles, and increasingly has ties to, Putins Russia. Now were the fish out of water. Its not so funny when it happens to you. Novelists choose the period they write about, but they cant choose the period in which theyre read. Sana Krasikovs debut novel was composed in the previous era, but its official publication coincides with the presidential inauguration. The Patriots is a historical romance in the old style: multigenerational, multinarrative, intercontinental, laden with back stories and historical research, moving between scrupulous detail and sweeping panoramas, the first-person voice and a kaleidoscopic third, melodrama and satire, Cleveland in 1933 and Moscow in 2008. It contains a wartime romance, a gulag redemption story, a kleptocratic comedy of manners, a family saga. The author intercedes with history lessons (In 1934, the Baltic States had yet to be absorbed into the Soviet Union. . . .) and ominous omniscient asides (Florence had no way of knowing this, but. . . .). Krasikov had no way of knowing that her novel would be published just as America is witnessing the ascension of a ruler who calls for jailing his opponents, proposes to weaken the First Amendment and uncritically quotes Russian propaganda. But this turn of events gives urgency to her main theme the insidious influence of totalitarianism on the lives of those trapped under its boot. In a clever reversal of the familiar emigre plot, Krasikov sends three consecutive generations of a family from the United States to Russia. We meet its matriarch, the Flatbush-born Florence Fein, as a young woman in 1934, peering down on New York Harbor from the upper deck of the Bremen, a steamer bound for Latvia. From there she will travel to Stalins planned city of Magnitogorsk in pursuit of economic revolution, a classless society, gender equality and a strapping engineer she met while working at the Soviet Trade Mission. Surprising him in his homeland, she announces that shes available for a socialist (open) relationship. Her youthful dreams end like most youthful dreams do. It is time to write yet another chapter in the nearly eight-year legal journey of Sergey Aleynikov, the former Goldman Sachs programmer whose arrest in summer 2009 helped put high-frequency trading on the map. An appeals court in New York on Tuesday reinstated Mr. Aleynikovs conviction in 2015 on a single charge of stealing confidential computer code for Goldmans high-speed trading business just before leaving to take a job with a hedge fund. The decision overturned a state trial judges decision to throw out the jurys verdict after determining the 1967 law under which Mr. Aleynikov was convicted was inapplicable because it was written before the advent of much of the digital age. But the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department ruled the trial judge had overstepped in tossing out the conviction because the law was drafted broadly enough to cover the taking of computer code, even if that technology did not exist at the time. A University of Texas law graduate, for example, had an average debt of $105,254 but three years after graduation earned an average $147,444, or 1.4 times the debt incurred. That is the same ratio that a Yale Law School graduate has, according to SoFi data. On average, graduates of Yale Law School, which is ranked the No. 1 law school nationally, have $123,793 in debt and earn a salary of $171,779, according to the SoFi report called Return on Education (ROED) Law School Rankings. The Ivy League school offers financial aid packages, and about 60 percent of the law schools students qualify for need-based scholarship grants, according to SoFis findings. Texas graduates have the advantage of low tuition costs, said Amanda Wood, SoFis director of business operations and strategy. The tuition is $34,000 a year, the second-lowest in-state tuition among the countrys top 20 ranked schools, according to the study. The Texas school has a national ranking of No. 15. Another Texas school, the University of Houston, had a similar salary-to-debt ratio, Ms. Wood noted. The average graduate from that school three years out had $100,160 in debt and earned an average $136,370. Over all, typical law student loan debt is estimated to be in the low to mid six digits for private law school students, and lower for those who attended public institutions. However, no one official figure covers all law schools. SAN FRANCISCO The Alibaba Group provided the investment firm Silver Lake with a multibillion-dollar payday when the Chinese e-commerce giant went public two years ago. Now, Silver Lake is betting that an investment in an Alibaba affiliate could help it strike gold once more. The firm is leading a group in a $1.1 billion investment in Koubei, a business meant to help bring local services from restaurants to local stores even closer into Alibabas orbit. Earlier reports on the fund-raising effort said that any deal would value Koubei at about $8 billion. Koubei is part of what is increasingly known as the online-to-offline sector, or O2O, meant to help attract customers of internet services to physical locations and services. As Chinas internet giants race to draw more and more consumers into their networks, they have sought to enlist local businesses in their quest. How could Mexico inflict the most damage on the United States? In normal times this question would not be top of mind for Mexican policy makers. Mexican governments over the last quarter-century have consistently pushed back against the nations historical resentment toward the United States, hoping to build a more cooperative relationship with its overbearing northern neighbor. But these arent normal times. As President Trump prepares the opening gambit in his project to either renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement or pull out, Mexicos most important strategic goal is narrowing to one word: deterrence. It must convince Mr. Trump that if he blows up the trade agreement on which Mexico has staked its hopes of development, by weaving its economy ever more closely into that of the United States, the United States will suffer, too. The critical question is whether Mexicos threat will be convincing. Mexicos main challenge as it confronts a hostile Trump administration is the enormous asymmetry of the bilateral relationship. Ending Nafta would hurt the United States: Six million American jobs depend on exports to Mexico, according to Mexican officials. But to Mexico, it could prove devastating. For her 2014 cookbook, Bitter: A Taste of the Worlds Most Dangerous Flavor, Ms. McLagan, 63, developed a recipe for toast soup, based on a French country dish that stretches leftover bread into a meal. What sounds like a sad Dickensian sort of ration is in fact a strong case for burning good sourdough. Ms. McLagans version starts with a base of bacon-infused chicken stock. She adds bread, so diligently carbonized that your average toast prude might be tempted to carry it to the sink and scrape it clean with a knife. (Resist, please.) Once ripped into pieces, soggy with stock, the toast is blitzed until smooth with a little hot milk and mustard, totally reconfiguring the burned flavor, diluting it into something more gently smoky, mellow and comforting. Ms. McLagan warned against undertoasting the bread, which results in a tasteless soup. Of course, you dont want it totally acrid, she said, but you do want to burn it a little. The toast should be blackened on its edges and deep brown all over. Exercised with care, the dark arts of burning can conjure a world of flavor. But cooks have to push things a little further than usual, to fight their instincts and ignore the flutter of panic that sets in when food goes beyond a textbook golden brown into darker terrain, and curls of smoke send a warning that something has gone terribly wrong. When Im pulling something from the salamander, someone is always walking by saying, Uh-oh, somebody burned something! Mr. Gonzalez said. Im like, Yes, thats the whole point. Recipe: Burned Toast Soup You enter Tom Colicchios new restaurant near City Hall through what is suddenly the most stunning hotel lobby bar in New York City. The Beekman hotels bar is at the bottom of the atrium of the 1883 Temple Court Building, which rises up through seven floors of elaborate cast-iron railings to end in a soaring glass pyramid. Its a striking room where you can sink into an armchair with a solidly built drink in your hand and get lost in the past, a quintessentially urban experience that most of the citys grand old hotels no longer give us. With Fowler & Wells, Mr. Colicchio tries to extend the atriums Gilded Age exuberance. He never quite gets there. The problem isnt quality or effort: The cooking is spotlessly correct, the ingredients shimmer on the plate, the flavors all make sense, and the dining room is dignified in a way that makes you realize how undervalued that trait has become in restaurants. But the central vision tying it all together is fuzzy. The restaurant is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Choosing the $135 tasting menu one night, I got a seven-course tour of robber-baron dishes as interpreted by Mr. Colicchio and Bryan Hunt, the executive chef. The opener was a delicious variation on the theme of oysters Rockefeller. Watercress stood in for spinach, and the chubby Belon oyster had been poached in oyster liquor and creme fraiche seasoned with fennel and bacon: all the right flavors, rearranged. Duck a lorange was reworked, wonderfully, with kumquats. I smiled at how smart the chefs were to add a rippling charge to the sweetened citrus with ginger, mustard seed and vinegar made from oranges. As couture week began, 600 guests a well-coiffed troupe of royal family members and socialites, politicians wives and businesswomen flowed into the Grand Palais on Monday evening and excitedly took their seats for a fashion show. Dripping in diamonds and cocooned in furs, many with bemused-looking husbands in tow, they beamed like small children at the collection, dozens of fantastical gowns with voluminous tiered silk skirts, or encrusted with hundreds and thousands of pearls, sequins and glass beads, or shivering delicately with cascading bouquets of 3-D pleated organza and tulle flowers. Plenty of women enthusiastically tapped on their smartphones throughout the show. But this being Ralph & Russo, they were not just Instagramming. They were buying, too. Often we get orders via Whats App before models have even left the catwalk, Tamara Ralph, 35, the labels creative director, said from her London showroom. We cater for clients who travel constantly, know exactly what they want and rarely think twice about making a purchase. And those purchases can be $50,000 and up. Michael Russo, 36, the labels co-founder (and Ms. Ralphs fiance), echoed the comments: These women are very particular and willing to pay that much more for clothes that no one else in the room can have. Our offerings and aesthetic seem to be filling a market niche that few others have tapped, Mr. Russo, a former investment banker, continued. What I did not know, as a tech reporter, is how tricky it is to actually live a connected life inside a federal courtroom. Federal courts have rather strict rules around electronics and recording devices inside courtrooms, the laws of which go back much further than some of the software and services we use to broadcast news today. In 1994, for instance, a Judicial Conference Report declined a recommendation for expanding the use of cameras in federal civil cases, citing concern for the intimidation of witnesses and jury members. Even as far back as 1960, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas argued against broadcasting of trials. It is not dangerous because it is new, he wrote in a paper published in a law journal at the time. It is dangerous because of the insidious influences which it puts to work in the administration of justice. It is often policy for district court judges to determine their own policies around electronics and broadcasting even with tweets. Typically, in the courtroom of the honorable Judge Ed Kinkeade in the Northern District of Texas, where I found myself sitting last Tuesday, only lawyers and those with special permission were allowed to bring any technology more modern than a pen and pad of paper into the courtroom. For Mr. Zuckerbergs appearance, Judge Kinkeade made a special allowance and let outside reporters like myself use electronics for the session. Perhaps it was because it was a fairly slow technology news day, or maybe because few Facebook reporters bothered to attend the trial, but my tweets, along with a handful of others in the courtroom, began to take off. Competing websites built entire articles based solely on the information in our tweets. CNBC referenced the information coming out of our Twitter feeds live on television. I knew that if I were to take any photos of Mr. Zuckerberg, I would be kicked out of court immediately a fact that David Travis, the retired U.S. Marshal and current courtroom security officer I previously mentioned, made clear on Tuesday morning. I didnt think live-tweeting the courtroom proceedings amounted to much more than me producing a running, up-to-the-minute story of what was going on inside. (In tech land, for instance, live-blogs are commonplace in something as rote as the introduction of a new cellphone, much less the founder of Facebook testifying in a lawsuit.) But after we came back from a lunch break, Mr. Travis made a new announcement: No live-streaming or live-tweeting the case proceedings. I stopped, aside from some tweets sent outside of the courtroom when we were on midafternoon breaks. A judge has dismissed the case against a 22-year-old student accused of possessing a handgun on Union College's campus. Prosecutors charged Rudy Rodriguez with unlawful possession of a firearm on school grounds, a felony, for the gun found in a search of his apartment, which is owned by the college. On Jan. 18, a day after a preliminary hearing, Lancaster County Judge Jim Foster found that the state had not met its burden to show that Rodriguez had possessed the firearm "on school grounds" and ordered the case dismissed. On Aug. 31, campus security searched Rodriguez's apartment on a report that he had threatened to harm a student he knew and himself, and found a loaded 9mm handgun in his nightstand. Rodriguez had denied threatening anyone with the gun. I consulted with our social media team, experts in devising call-outs that help us both cast a wide net and focus in on specific targets such as geography or political affiliation. I started with Facebook because women are among the sites most passionate users. We posted several call-outs that helped expand the range of women I was seeking. The first call-out, a general appeal asking women who voted for Mr. Trump if theyd be willing to speak to a Times reporter, prompted responses from around the country, although the responses from the first round skewed toward the South. In culling responses, I decided to focus on white women since a majority of this group had voted for Mr. Trump. It was clear that some of the women felt much more comfortable talking about their support for Mr. Trump after he won the election. Some thought they might be stigmatized as racists for supporting Mr. Trumps candidacy or worried they might be associated with behavior displayed by some groups at his rallies. I spoke with each of the women at length, at least half an hour and often an hour. I wanted time to talk about why Mr. Trump had appealed to them, and to ask specifically what they thought about his attitudes and behavior toward women. My aim was to present a rounded portrait of the women and to encourage digressions and discussions that would provide a more nuanced profile than the kind of caricatures pundits and social media often supply. An Australian wrote an Opinion piece this week that said that democracies should adopt compulsory, or mandatory, voting by all citizens. (In Australia, people are required by law to enroll at 18 years old and are fined if they fail to vote.) Why? His argument is that only 37 percent of eligible Britons voted to leave the European Union. In the United States, Donald J. Trump won despite having persuaded only a quarter of the American electorate to support him. Mr. Trump triumphed in a low-turnout election. What do you think? Should voting be mandatory for everyone 18 and older in your country? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments, then read the related piece to learn more. Article: Trumps Cabinet So Far Is More White and Male Than Any First Cabinet Since Reagans Before Reading The cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior members of the executive branch of the federal government. The White House website says that the role of the cabinet is to advise the President on any subject he may require relating to each cabinet members respective office. With a classmate, see how many cabinet departments you can name. Hint: Besides the Vice President, there are 15 departments, each with an executive head Secretary. Questions for Comprehension and Analysis 1. What is notable about President Donald J. Trumps cabinet? What makes it different from the first cabinets of Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George Bush? Anand Sanwal, the chief executive of CB Insights, a trend-forecasting start-up in New York, told me that Amazon has something that its competitors only dream of consumer attention and trust. In the last few years, Amazon has become the search engine for consumer products, instead of Google, he said. If youre going to buy something, and you already have an Amazon account, youre probably going to just buy it there. With Google, you still have to go to Amazon or Walmart. Amazon is investing in supply trailers, drones and fulfillment centers to develop its own postal service and delivery system. And its still pushing its Dash buttons, those small pieces of hardware with one purpose: to order a single item from Amazon, like laundry detergent or dish soap. They seem unnecessary, until you consider them with all of Amazons other efforts: Its not just an everything store, or even an everything company, but an everywhere (and anytime!) store. The various products that Amazon is planning to roll out including Pantry and Fresh, its grocery service can be easily baked into default Alexa services. Restaurants, the companys version of Seamless, already is. All this in turn brings in more money for Amazon. As Limp put it back in July: The nice thing about the Amazon device business is that when we sell a device, generally people buy more bluejeans. And little black dresses. And shoes. Theres a theory that behavioral economists use to explain our consumption habits called hyperbolic discounting, which is the tendency to choose short-term rewards over long-term gains. The marshmallow test of the 1960s tested the ability of preschoolers to resist temptation the titular marshmallow, within reach with the promise that they would be rewarded with two if they waited. In the experiments most popular interpretation, those who had self-control grew up to be much more successful than those who did not. It is one of the most formative studies in self-control and how people make decisions. Alexa is the ultimate marshmallow test, and most of us are failing. We are being conditioned, as a population, to never wait, to never delay our gratification, to accept thoughtless, constant consumption as the new norm. But how we think about consumption and willpower carry enormous implications for the environment and the culture of society as a whole. Think about that the next time you ask Alexa to order you another roll of toilet paper. Damien Chazelle, La La Land writer-director Many Oscar nominees are still in bed on the West Coast when the news rolls in. This wasnt the case for Damien Chazelle, the writer-director of La La Land, who is on a press tour in China with the movies co-star, Ryan Gosling. It was around 9:30 p.m. in Beijing when Mr. Chazelle heard his movie had been nominated for a record-tying 14 nominations. Ryan and I got to have a little champagne celebration right away, he said in a very brief four minutes total phone interview. Mr. Chazelle was up for best screenplay for Whiplash two years ago, and on Tuesday he received his first directing nomination in addition to one for screenplay. But he was less excited about his individual success than about the nods for the whole La La Land ensemble, including best acting spots for Mr. Gosling and Emma Stone, and two song nominations for the composer Justin Hurwitz and the lyricists Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. When youre making a musical, you learn youre only as good as every member of the team youre working with, he said, citing the amount of passion and inventiveness they brought every day to the job. By the time the interview took place, less than an hour after the nominations had been announced, Mr. Chazelle had already connected with many of his nominated collaborators. Its been a lot of frantic calling, he said. I called my producers right away. Ryan got Emma on the phone so we were talking to Emma as well. Its been a lot of fun. Surrounded by her five grandchildren who live with her, Sandra Parker asserted her unconditional love for each one. The oldest, Akiea Brewer, 19, who identifies as transgender, interrupted to express her doubt. Ms. Parkers reply was swift and unequivocal: I was never mad at you for being who you are. What did I tell you? Be who you are. Dont follow and try to be who someone else is. Ms. Parker has never been one to mince words. She believes her directness does not dilute her warmth and affection. Sometimes I can be really harsh, Ms. Parker acknowledged. Sometimes you just have to say what you have to say. You cant pussyfoot with kids. An unwavering dedication to family is what led Ms. Parker, 58, to take custody of many of her grandchildren over the years, stepping up when her children could not. For example, the mother of four of Ms. Parkers grandchildren who live with her lives in Florida and is dealing with health issues. Ive been taking these trains since I was 18, going to college, said Joe Castaldo, 63, who grew up in Oceanport, N.J., and now runs a textile-design firm in Manhattan. Im sad the board is gone. Its nostalgic, I know. He said the new screens were better, but the change was jarring for his mother, whom he had just put on a train. She was like, What am I going to do now? Mr. Castaldo said. The old board was a centerpiece, the thing that brought a community together a community of strangers about to be on a train. The board on the west side of the station was the heart of the waiting area the town square, such as it was. A town square with linoleum underfoot, not grass, and fluorescent lighting above, not a Norman Rockwell sky. Like something from the days when newspapers hung bulletins outside their offices, the board told stories and like Twitter, it told them in a minimum of characters, with few full sentences. Explanations were not always provided for Delayed or Standby. The departure board that was disconnected on Monday was not the one many thought it was. It was not the one made by the Italian company Solari that whirred and clicked like the boards on television game shows in the 1960s. That sign was replaced about 15 years ago by the device that went dark on Monday, which had become too difficult to keep going, Amtrak said last summer. The tale of Angela Mao, from worldwide fame to quiet anonymity, is a kind of quintessential New York story. In the 1970s, she was Lady Kung Fu, possibly the most famous martial arts actress of her time, positioned by Hong Kong studios as a female Bruce Lee. She vanished a decade later only to recently resurface in Queens where she is running Taiwanese restaurants. A New York Times article in November found Ms. Mao, now 66, living quietly in the borough with her family, and with almost no hint of her glamorous past. And it was quite remarkable: Quentin Tarantino has cited her as an influence; she was in Enter the Dragon; a teenage Jackie Chan appeared in her early films; and she has been hailed as an unsung feminist icon. But for more than 30 years, only faint rumors circulated about her life in New York. In that interview, Ms. Mao was baffled to learn that people still had any interest in her at all and was also indifferent toward her legacy. But since then, the oldest of her three restaurants, Nan Bei Ho, has become something of a bucket-list destination for kung-fu fans. They come every weekend, Ms. Maos son, George King, said recently. They arrive the minute we open and they sit there until my mom gets there. Some guy even flew in from L.A. All of us were impressed with the discipline, intensity and aggressiveness of the enemy. A few weeks later, we learned that the area was defended not only by Vietcong, but also by large North Vietnamese Army units who, once they saw that only 12 helicopters dropped troops off, began to reinforce the village. It was here that our Marine training and precombat planning paid off as junior leaders were wounded, their corporals and sergeants took over without skipping a beat. Under heavy fire, we finally reached the meeting area, a Buddhist pagoda, around 4 p.m., but nearly all the Vietcong leaders had fled. There was nothing to do but to regroup for extraction. We had suffered many casualties on the trails and in the village, and it took time to recover them. At one point, some of us had to crawl under enemy fire to recover a wounded Marine. In the end, we killed more than 50 North Vietnamese fighters and captured one senior cadre member. As we called for helicopters to evacuate our 32 wounded and five dead Marines, we needed airstrikes to break contact with the enemy and to protect the helicopters. We knew we couldnt stay overnight, as we were short of ammunition, and not in an area where we could be reinforced by other Marine units. At this point in the war, we still felt confident that we could defeat the guerrillas and the North Vietnamese Army units. But it was also apparent that not enough was being done by the government of South Vietnam to remove the causes of the insurgency or the conditions that had driven so many Vietnamese to want to live under Communism. When, later, I had a few moments to think strategically, the nagging thought arose: Yes, we can win on the battlefield, but is that enough to win the war? I was proud to serve in the Marines in Vietnam, and I believed in our mission. I later went on to a 35-year career in the financial sector, including positions as the chief executive of a Fortune 500 company and the chair of the New York Stock Exchange Group. But I never felt I had as much responsibility as being the commander of the 224 Marines of C Company, who put their faith in my leadership abilities, and entrusted me with their lives. Officer Katie Flood said the man had been in the store Friday afternoon and returned about 1:30 Saturday. He picked up an ax from the store's hardware section, approached the clerk and told him he'd put the ax into his head, Flood said. Instead, he rammed the ax into a metal counter and left, she said. Brenda Barnes became a national figure 20 years ago when she quit her job as a top PepsiCo executive to become a full-time parent. Some people celebrated her decision, and others criticized it. But everyone seemed to agree that she was doing it for her children. Her children, however, initially had a different reaction. Because the family no longer needed to live near New York, Brenda and her husband decided to return with their three children then ages 7, 8 and 10 to the Chicago suburbs, where Brenda had grown up. When I asked Erin Barnes, the middle child, this weekend how she and her brothers had reacted to the news that their mom would be around a lot more, Erin laughed and said, I think we were all just mad we were leaving Connecticut for Chicago. Thats the thing about children: They have their own way of seeing the world. Its one of their best qualities, and often one of their most frustrating qualities, too. They live in the moment. They dont think ahead. If theyre upset or happy, you cant just ask them to hold the emotion until youre done with a phone call. They operate on their timetable, not ours. The community sued, and in the 1980s the court ruled that towns could not deny affordable housing and, beyond that, had an affirmative obligation to create zoning laws allowing for a fair share of affordable housing based on growth, job opportunities and income. The decades-long litigation has made possible the creation of more than 80,000 homes that have improved the lives of low- and moderate-income New Jerseyans. But tens of thousands of affordable homes that should have been built never were partly because of delaying actions by towns and a blatant sabotage effort by Gov. Chris Christie, who thumbed his nose at the court and actually tried, unsuccessfully, to dismantle the state fair housing agency. The Supreme Court rightly took the housing program away from the state and instructed the lower courts to manage it. The town governments that appeared last year before the court argued that they should not be held responsible for affordable housing that had not been built during the years of obstruction. This complaint seemed to infuriate the justices, who ruled unanimously that no credible reading of the courts past rulings would support such an outcome, and that the towns were still constitutionally obligated to provide a fair share of the affordable housing need. The latest ruling could easily allow development of tens of thousands of new homes for low- and moderate-income families. But given how the towns have behaved so far, the court would be wise to keep a close eye on what they do. My biggest worry is not wealthy cabinet secretaries, but the mutual contempt that is still dominating our discourse. At a moment when we should be celebrating the peaceful transfer of power, theres almost no effort to unite on either side. We are almost completely locked down as a nation, ideologically. This bodes ill. Both the Friday inauguration and Saturdays march displayed some of our finest political traditions. But around Washington, both events felt more menacing and dystopian than joyful or patriotic. To be sure, like my colleague Jonah Goldberg, I am generally suspicious of huge crowds who are in agreement on almost anything. But rude protesters on Friday, vulgar signs on Saturday, and smashed-up store windows all suggest that an excess of unity is not our chief problem. For my money, the lowest point came when Madonna gave a speech to the cheering anti-Trump audience at the Womens March. The content was so obscene that CSPAN had to apologize for airing it. It could practically have been staged by a conservative saboteur to scare people in the middle away from the left. By the way, though, who says Trump cant attract celebrities to D.C.? Gail: Yeah, when he said there would be a lot of big-name talent at the inaugural festivities, we didnt know theyd all be out in the street. Obviously I dont defend the window smashers. And I certainly didnt expect President Trump to come out of the White House on Saturday and tell those throngs of women that he wanted to work with them on important issues like early childhood education. However, while the women were marching, Trump went over to the C.I.A., where he really could mend fences. And what did he do? He stood in front of the memorial to fallen officers, and he delivered a harangue about how his crowds were much bigger than the media said they were. Tell me that isnt just scary. Arthur: Based on the signs I saw Saturday, igniting a thoughtful deep-dive on education policy was not a primary goal for most of the marchers. But I certainly agree that a multiday debate about the size of the crowd was an inauspicious start for everyone, especially a brand-new administration with the power to change the conversation at will. But to be fair about the C.I.A. appearance, Trump preceded his claims about the inauguration crowd with remarks of appreciation such as, Very, very few people could do the job you people do and I want you to know I am so behind you. In one of his first acts as president, Donald Trump introduced a ban on funding for any international organization that, anywhere in its health care programs, provides or even discusses abortions with patients, other than in cases of rape, incest or life endangerment. Known as the global gag rule because it prevents talking with women about the procedure, this ban has been enforced and revoked by different administrations since it was first imposed in 1984. It has been illegal to fund abortions as a method of family planning with U.S. money since 1973, but the gag rule pulls other family planning funding for H.I.V. prevention or contraception, for example if an organization even advises a patient on where to get an abortion. President Trumps rule goes even further, and pulls all global health assistance, including for programs that address infectious diseases like malaria, Zika and Ebola. Whenever this rule is instated always by Republican presidents health clinics around the world are often forced to close their family-planning programs because they are dependent on funding from the United States. Not providing abortion counseling to patients because of the political agenda of a donor means abandoning a standard of care that women rely on for basic health needs. Though technically the law allows for exceptions for rape, incest and life endangerment, organizations on the ground have insufficient guidance on how to follow those rules. Many either cut abortion counseling altogether or forgo funding. But contrary to its stated purpose of reducing the number of abortions, the rule is actually associated with increased abortion rates as family-planning programs disappear without funding. In 2011, Stanford University researchers found that abortions rose in sub-Saharan Africa when the rule was in effect. Another study by the International Food Policy Research Institute found the same effect in Ghana in rural and poor populations. This makes sense: Without access to contraceptive education and resources, more women face unwanted pregnancies, and opt for unsafe abortions. On Saturday, the president and commander in chief of the United States stood in front of the C.I.A. Memorial Wall where 117 stars honor the men and women who died in the line of service and cracked jokes, made thinly veiled threats and disrespected many Americans. While many were stunned by President Trumps remarks, its personal for me. My friend is represented by the 81st star on the Memorial Wall, which served as the background of Mr. Trumps publicity stunt. He and the other 116 fallen colleagues did not put their lives on the line to serve as a sound bite for this presidents never-ending campaign stump speech. Few things are sacred in our government. Even fewer command equal respect from people on both sides of the aisle. The C.I.A. Memorial Wall is one of those things. When the 81st star was carved into the wall in 2003, the fallen patriots name was not added to the accompanying Book of Honor. At the time, his C.I.A. affiliation was classified, as it remained for nearly six more years. I will never forget seeing his family at the ceremony, knowing they could not tell their loved ones the truth about his death. He died with nobody knowing who he was or what he did for our country. But I believe that is how he would have wanted it, because, as the former C.I.A. director Leon E. Panetta said when finally revealing my friends name in 2009, He lived for a purpose greater than himself. Europes far-right leaders gathered in Koblenz, Germany, on Saturday to cheer the rise of populist nationalism that they believe is sweeping the West, from Britains exit from the European Union to the election of President Donald Trump. With national elections coming up this year in the Netherlands, France and Germany, Marine Le Pen of Frances National Front party predicted 2017 will be the year of the Continental peoples rising up. As she spoke, millions in the United States and around the world, including in cities across Europe, were rising up, but not to support the populist right. They marched in an astounding display of global solidarity with the Womens March on Washington to express their outrage at Mr. Trumps attack on hard-won rights, and at the politics of division that helped propel him to office. The latest poll now pegs Ms. Le Pen as the front-runner in Frances two-round presidential elections in April and May. And polls suggest Geert Wilderss anti-Islam Dutch Freedom Party will win the most seats in Parliament in elections in the Netherlands on March 15. The fortunes of the far-right Alternative for Germany are also on the rise, and while the party is far from taking power, it is expected to garner enough votes in the federal election in September to win seats in Germanys Bundestag for the first time. In an hourlong presentation, Samsung laid the blame on manufacturing flaws, along with aggressive efforts to make the phones design as sleek as possible. In this case, that appears to have created a chronic safety problem. Image But as Sang-Hun and Paul write, the real difficulty appears to be the hard-charging nature of Samsung itself, and a culture of continuous short-term achievement that leads to stress, corner-cutting and expediency over quality. That is a recipe for wrecking a brand. There have been similar problems in tech before. Eleven years ago, the batteries in Dell laptops caught fire, possibly in bigger numbers than affected the Note 7. Japan has been dogged for more than five years by the meltdown of reactors at Fukushima. The meltdown was caused by an earthquake and tsunami, but three executives at the once-infallible Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, were indicted on charges of criminal negligence. Dells culture was considered stingy to the point of error at times, and Tepco was seen as arrogant. Further back, the involvement of organized crime in the destruction and rebuilding of Kobe, Japan, after a 1995 earthquake exemplified a kind of larger corruption in Japanese society. The 1979 explosions of Ford Pintos felt like a symbol of an American auto industry in decline. While Samsungs phones resulted in less damage than any of those things, it is likely to cause trauma in South Korea. That is because for years, big companies, in particular Samsung, have been closely identified with the national character and the governments industrial policy as well as how individuals might succeed within the culture. Nobody felt that way about Dell. Henrik Ibsen described his 1867 epic verse drama, Peer Gynt, as reckless and formless, written with no thought of the consequences. Which sounds pretty punk rock. The Ma-Yi Theater Company apparently thinks so. In Peer Gynt and the Norwegian Hapa Band, conceived by the director Jack Tamburri and written by Michi Barall, the company has twinned an updated version of Ibsens text to a dozen or more original rock and pop songs. Its a fun idea and a brash one (Roger McGuinn of the Byrds once tried something similar), but here it mostly makes a fragmented story feel even less forceful. Peer (Matt Park, who composed the songs with his castmate Paul Lieber) is a Scandinavian lad with an overactive imagination, an underwhelming patrimony and a habit of snarling, Norways gonna know my name into his standing mike. This fails to impress his mother (Mia Katigbak), who snipes, You think youre some kind of rock star? In the midst of his sexual adventures making off with a bride on her wedding day, impregnating a troll princess he falls in love with a virginal maiden, Solvay (Rocky Vega), but has to abandon her when the troll princess finds him. He then embarks on a round-the-world journey, with sojourns as a motivational speaker and a patient in an insane asylum, but in the course of several decades, he can never quite figure out who he is, hero or villain, dupe or dastard. He reinvents himself often and enthusiastically, but how much self is really there? The greatest sign posted at a public fishing access spot in the United States is on the South Branch of the Au Sable River at a place called the Mason Tract. It reads: Sportsman slow your pace ahead lies the fabled land of the South Branch. Here generations of fisherman have cast a fly on one of the great trout streams of America. Hunters, too, have roamed these hills in the solitude so bountifully offered. The land is rich in tradition and stands ready to renew your soul. Tread lightly as you pass and leave no mark. Go forth in the spirit of George W. Mason, whose generous gift has made this forever possible. George Mason was a Michigan industrialist who upon his death in 1954 donated 1,500 acres along the Au Sable River to the state with the caveat that it never be sold or developed. It was just as he left it: a pristine trout stream flowing 138 miles through the north country woods of the northern Lower Peninsula until it finally dumps into Lake Huron. My car was parked in front of the sign. I leaned against the hood as I kicked off my wet waders. I had spent a couple of hours fly fishing there and it was a satisfying afternoon, one that thousands of other anglers have experienced on this river. However, there is great worry about the health of the Au Sable, and many people believe the river is threatened by, of all things, more trout. Its in the form of a fish farm in Grayling, a nearby city. A hatchery was built there in 1914. It was operated by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources back when trout were regularly stocked in the river. When the Au Sable produced sustainable populations of wild trout, the stocking ceased and the hatchery was taken over by Crawford County, which ran it as a seasonal tourist attraction that was difficult to keep in the black. Having long tried to virtually transport listeners to beaches, rain forests and other dreamy respites, meditation apps today are also trying to appeal to people who are actually traveling to such places. Several apps including Buddhify, Calm, OMG. I Can Meditate! and Simple Habit offer specialty meditation sessions for travelers on planes, trains and city streets, making their way across oceans or simply across town, be it Waiting at the Airport or Commuting: A Mindful Journey. On my first trips of 2017, I tried several such apps, including some veterans, to see if they could alleviate the stress of long lines, crowded planes and busy streets. Meditation is personal the teachers voice, words and methods, affect each of us in different ways so I didnt rank the apps. Instead, Ive highlighted certain features, and to whom they may or may not appeal. Research began at Newark Liberty International Airport, where my plane was being de-iced. I put in earbuds and tapped the Prepare for Travel session from Simple Habit, an app with meditations for situations as varied as remedying procrastination and easing PMS. Users can choose from sessions that span the vacation process, from Waiting at the Airport to Just Landed to Relaxing on Vacation and After Vacation. To gain access to all of Simple Habits sessions (including those that dont pertain to travel), you need a subscription ($3.99 for seven days; $11.99 for one month; $99.99 for a year on iOS). As with other app subscriptions, you can cancel through iTunes (I used an iPhone, but the apps are also available for Android). Cindy Lange-Kubick Columnist Cindy Lange-Kubick has loved writing columns about life in her hometown since 1994. She had hoped to become a people person by now, nonetheless she would love to hear your tales of fascinating neighbors and interesting places. Follow Cindy Lange-Kubick Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today On Twitter this weekend, a Nebraska state senator found humor in a tweet making light of sexual assault. University of Nebraska-Lincoln fraternity members allegedly chanted No means yes during the Lincoln Womens March. And the son of our new presidents national security adviser wondered why all those marching women in Washington were taking to the streets since they already had equal rights and equal pay -- free manis/pedis? Free speech for all, including Sen. Bill Kintner, the men of Phi Gamma Delta and Michael Flynn Jr. But just a reminder: Kintner is the guy who engaged in cybersex on a state-owned laptop, Flynn promoted the fake Pizzagate child-sex-ring story, and campus rape is a national disgrace. But hey, lets have a sense of humor about it, Ladies. Kintners ill-advised retweet featured three female protesters holding signs that said Not My P---y and Not Mine Either, a reference to a decade-old audio clip of President Trump saying he grabbed women by their vaginas. The original tweet came from a radio host from California who posted the womens photo with the words: Ladies, I think youre safe. Translation: No one would want to rape you. Hilarious, right? Tell a 77-year-old rape victim or a 90-year-old rape victim that shes safe because she doesnt meet some arbitrary standard of beauty. Tell me and my fellow grandmothers we dont have to worry about being sexually violated anymore because we no longer rate high enough on the desirability scale. And please dont get me started on the sexual assault of children. The tweet Kintner shared with his followers (he has since deleted his Twitter account) perpetuates a myth, said Lynne Lange, executive director of the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. People who understand sexual assault understand that the perpetrator is using sex as a weapon to exert power and control, Lange said. It does not have anything to do with the victims appearance. The executive director (no relation to me) continued: Its so sad to have this perpetuated by someone in a leadership position This is the world were living in today. Take our new commander in chief. When a dozen women came forward to accuse candidate Trump of unwanted sexual advances during his campaign, our soon-to-be-president responded to the allegations of one of them -- a People magazine reporter -- by saying: Believe me, she would not be my first choice. (Echoes of Bill Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman.") Might this be one of the reasons, besides your free manicure delusion, that women marched, Mr. Flynn? Closer to home, an investigation into reports that students harassed Lincoln marchers with chants of No means yes and Grab them by the p---y has been launched by UNL. And Sunday on Twitter, Kintner responded to one womans criticism of the tweet by saying he thought it was funny, but understood that others might not. He told another woman that she wasnt the only sad liberal being sad. And he called the tweet controversy Right out of the liberal playbook, take a joke and claim victim-hood. Heres another funny joke, Sen. Kintner: 653 forcible sexual assaults were reported to law enforcement in Nebraska in 2015, an 8 percent increase from the year before. And the numbers are likely higher. Sexual assault is among the most underreported crimes. Everything you see is just a piece of the pie, Lange said. The most reliable national estimate, Lange said, is that one in six women and one in 33 men will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. In addition, research reveals 7.7 percent of women in the United States report being raped by an intimate partner; 45 percent of battered women report being forced into sex by their partners. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women and one in 16 men are sexually assaulted while in college, with 90 percent of assaults going unreported to authorities. Lange views the tweet Kintner shared this weekend in a bigger context. As a reflection of a culture that normalizes sexual assault, incorporates sexual exploitation of women into advertising campaigns and music videos, encourages victim blaming (what she wore, instead of what he did) and treats jokes about sexual assault as acceptable. But what does she know? Let us accept Sen. Kintner at his word. He had no ill intent. It was a joke. Some of us will lighten up when sexual assault becomes a thing of the past -- when our mothers and our children and our peers no longer have to fear sexual violence. In the meantime, the sad liberals do not appear to be sitting home and crying sad liberal tears. An End Rape Culture rally has been scheduled for Feb. 2 on the steps on the state Capitol. In an open invitation to the event, one state senators photo is prominently displayed at the top of its Facebook page. Along with another of three strong women holding signs. Weve seen your tweets and would like to be friends rather than foes, wrote Scott Fischer, the companys chief executive. After all, we believe in connecting the dots. Mr. Fischer also offered to send the White House free Dippin Dots, saying the company could afford to treat the White House and press corps to an ice cream social and promising that all their favorite flavors could be amply provided. All joking aside, Mr. Trump has used his large social media platform more than 21 million followers on his personal Twitter account to bash corporations, including an attack on Boeing in December that sent its stock price down roughly 1 percent. Perhaps with that in mind, Mr. Fischer also took pains to emphasize that Dippin Dots was a successful and growing company based in the United States. As you may or may not know, Dippin Dots are made in Kentucky by hundreds of hardworking Americans in the heartland of our great country, he wrote. That means were creating jobs and opportunities. We hear thats on your agenda, too. Billie Stuber, a spokeswoman for the company, said it responded because its certainly easy to get pulled into the wrong conversation, inadvertently. Ms. Stuber said the company wanted to remain transparent and authentic with our message in response to Mr. Spicers online negativity. The building trade unions love Trump Big Labor may have been With Her, but the unions that represent builders and pavers Love Him. We have a common bond with the president, said Sean McGarvey, the president of North Americas Building Trades Unions, after meeting on Monday with Mr. Trump and hearing him promise a major push to rebuild the nations infrastructure. We come from the same industry. He understands the value of driving development, moving people to the middle class. If the labor movement divides over Mr. Trump, it would not be the first time. An old saying holds that the building trades would pave over their mothers graves if it created jobs. And before Mr. Trumps rise, unions like the Communications Workers of America and the Service Employees International Union had split with the building unions over the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, with the former siding with liberal environmentalists and the latter seeing opportunities for work. In this case, the unions may unite with Democrats behind the new president leaving Republican spending hawks in the cold. Defense secretary seeks to reassure NATO chief On his first working day as the countrys new secretary of defense, James N. Mattis spoke with the head of NATO and told him that the United States depends on it and on Europe for trans-Atlantic security. The telephone conversation came just a week after Mr. Mattiss boss, Mr. Trump, called NATO obsolete, because, Mr. Trump said, the alliance hasnt done enough to combat terrorism. Mr. Mattis wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance, a Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, said in a statement on Monday night. Mr. Trumps biggest target may be emission rules that would force the closing of hundreds of coal-fired power plants meant to be replaced by wind and solar power. But they are caught up in court battles that could run for months or years. By contrast, he could more quickly soften Mr. Obamas rules requiring tougher vehicle emission standards. Mr. Trump met on Tuesday with executives of major American automakers, who complained that before leaving office, Mr. Obama finalized an ambitious E.P.A. rule requiring that vehicles average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2026. Mr. Trump said he would help with burdensome regulations, but offered no specifics. Mr. Trump could lift a moratorium instituted last year by Mr. Obama on new coal mining leases on public lands. As soon as next month, the Republican-led Congress may pass legislation undoing Mr. Obamas regulations on the practice of mountaintop-removal coal mining and on leaks of planet-warming methane emissions from oil and gas drilling rigs. In the meantime, the Keystone and Dakota pipelines provided Mr. Trump with visible ways to demonstrate action. As proposed by TransCanada, an Alberta firm, Keystone would carry 800,000 barrels a day from the Canadian oil sands to the Gulf Coast. Republicans and some Democrats said that it would create jobs and expand energy resources, while environmentalists said it would encourage a form of oil extraction that produces more gases that warm the planet than normal petroleum. Studies showed that the pipeline would not have a momentous effect on jobs or the environment, but both sides made it into a symbolic test case. The State Department estimated that Keystone would support 42,000 temporary jobs for two years about 3,900 of them in construction and the rest through indirect support, like food service but only 35 permanent jobs. Similarly, the government concluded that Keystones carbon emissions would equal less than 1 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Keystone has never been a significant issue from an environmental point of view in substance, only in symbol, said David L. Goldwyn, an energy market analyst and a former head of the State Departments energy bureau in the Obama administration. But it was a symbol Mr. Trump found important enough to seize on early in his presidency. He signed an executive memorandum inviting TransCanada to promptly resubmit its application to the Department of State for a presidential permit for the pipeline, although the document did not guarantee approval. Jay Sekulow, the chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said that fierce Democratic opposition to any nominee could prompt Republicans, who control the Senate, to change the rules to require a simple majority vote to confirm a court justice. Democrats did that for lower-court judges when they were in control, and Republicans could return the favor. But Mr. Sekulow predicted that Mr. Trumps nominee would be confirmed in the end, no matter what. The conservative groups will mobilize, are already mobilized, he said. This is Justice Scalias seat. Conservatives cannot afford for that seat to be lost. It is possible that Mr. Trump will pick another nominee from his list of 21 possibilities, besides Judges Pryor, Gorsuch or Hardiman or someone else entirely. Among the judges who have also received serious consideration are Diane S. Sykes, 59, of the federal appeals court in Chicago. But Judge Sykess chances seem to be fading, perhaps because her age is on the high side by the standards of recent nominees. All of Mr. Trumps candidates have conservative records that are certain to become the focus of intense scrutiny and debate. Judge Hardiman, 51, has an appealing personal story to tell, based partly on a humble background that distinguishes him from most of the current justices. He was the first person in his family to attend college, at Notre Dame, and he drove a cab to pay for law school, at Georgetown. In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed him to the Federal District Court in Pittsburgh. Only one member of the current Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, has such trial court experience. Mr. Bush elevated Judge Hardiman in 2007 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, where he served alongside Mr. Trumps sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. But Judge Gorsuch and Judge Pryor appear to be the most likely choices, and both have conservative records that are certain to become the focus of intense scrutiny and debate. WASHINGTON Democrats continue their rigorous questioning of President Trumps nominees for cabinet positions and other important posts. Here are key moments from today: Representative Tom Price of Georgia, nominated to be health and human services secretary, defended his investments in an Australian pharmaceutical company during his time in Congress. The reality is that everything that I did was ethical, above board, legal and transparent, he said. Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, lamented the hyper-politicization of the nomination process. Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, the nominee for budget director, said that tackling government waste and reducing debt would be his top priorities. The toughest questions that Mr. Mulvaney faced on Tuesday came from Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona. He asked Mr. Mulvaney about his record of voting for cuts to military spending and appeared to be shocked when Mr. Mulvaney could not remember those votes. WASHINGTON The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, told his top agents from around the country that he had been asked by President Trump to stay on the job running the federal governments top law enforcement agency, according to people familiar with the matter. A decision to retain Mr. Comey would spare the president another potentially bruising confirmation battle. It would also keep Mr. Comey at the center of the F.B.I.s investigation into several Trump associates and their potential ties with the Russian government. Retaining Mr. Comey could also help calm the bureaus work force, which has been rattled after a tumultuous few months in which the F.B.I. and the director himself were sharply criticized for moves that many felt influenced the outcome of the presidential election. During the campaign, Mr. Trump harshly criticized the F.B.I. and the Justice Department for not bringing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in connection with her use of a personal email server. After Mr. Trump was elected in November, he said in a nationally televised interview that he had not made up his mind about whether he would ask Mr. Comey to resign. WASHINGTON During a private meeting with congressional leaders on Monday, President Trump asserted that between three million and five million unauthorized immigrants had voted for his Democratic opponent and robbed him of a victory in the national popular vote. There is no evidence to support the claim, which has been discredited repeatedly by numerous fact-checkers. That did not stop Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, from standing by the presidents words on Tuesday during a briefing with reporters at the White House. As I said, I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has, Mr. Spicer said. BEIJING For China, President Trumps scrapping of the American-brokered Pacific trade agreement is a chance to extend Beijings economic and political influence. And it is an opportunity to deepen ties with its neighbors in Asia. But with a cooling economy at home and a looming leadership shake-up, the last thing President Xi Jinping wants is a trade war, though officials are girding for that possibility. Rather, Chinas leaders crave stability and predictability. Early signs indicate they may not get their wish. The Chinese fear that if Mr. Trump was willing to toss aside years of delicate negotiations with allies and decades of American trade policy, he could also go his own way on issues he has staked out with Beijing, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. As if to bolster that point, on Monday the same day that Mr. Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the 12-nation trade agreement his spokesman said the United States would prevent China from accessing islands it claims in the South China Sea, a threat that one nationalist Chinese newspaper had already warned would mean war. The survivors, meantime, carried Sergeant Shumway on a stretcher made of seats from the plane; they later found pack animals for him. After five days, they rested at a partisan-controlled town called Berat, where they were cheered, mistaken for the vanguard of an Allied invasion to liberate Albania. They also met other partisan leaders, and learned of a British agent who had recently parachuted into the country. Their respite lasted only a few days. Then, they awoke to gunfire and the explosion of artillery shells as German forces entered the town. In the ensuing confusion, German planes strafed a truck carrying some of the escaping Americans. Three nurses were separated from the main group and left behind in Berat; they took refuge in a farmhouse, and remained in hiding in the area for four months. The main group of Americans climbed on foot to a mountain village and were caught in a crossfire between partisan groups. It was the first time the Americans had heard of the rival group, and they were beginning to realize they were in as much danger from the countrys internal battle as they were from the Germans, Ms. Lineberry wrote in The Secret Rescue. They encountered other perils. Some of the blankets offered to them to ward off the cold night air were infested with fleas and lice, the author wrote. Since theyd crashed, most of them had been unable to bathe, aside from splashing some water on their faces and arms from mountain streams or an occasional basin, and they were all filthy and now battling fleas, lice and the GIs, Army slang for diarrhea. The Americans were often unable to find food. Facing starvation, they made tea by boiling straw and ate berries that worsened their diarrhea. Sharing with peasants was sometimes a culture shock. Mr. Hayes and another medic saw a sheeps head roasted over coals, then split in half with an ax. The Americans watched wide-eyed as two women each took one-half of the head and ate everything, including the eyeballs, Ms. Lineberry wrote. Nothing was wasted. ROME A helicopter taking an injured skier to a hospital crashed against a mountain in central Italy on Tuesday, killing all six people on board, officials said. The accident was a further blow to an area struggling to emerge from many days of heavy snowfall, a series of earthquakes and an avalanche last week that killed at least 17 people, with 12 still missing. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear, though television images from the site, which showed that only the rear of the helicopter remained intact, were occasionally blurred by fog. Gianluca Marrocchi, the mayor of the nearby town of Lucoli, told RAI state television that he had seen the helicopter and had wondered why it was flying so low. The helicopter was taking the skier from Campo Felice, a ski resort in the Apennine Mountains, when it went down, according to the National Agency for Flight Safety, which has ordered an investigation. The agency sent a team to the site of the crash, noting in a statement that the area is difficult to reach because of adverse meteorological conditions. Several Nebraska Board of Education members on Monday said a legislative bill that would require schools be graded on an A-F scale would undo two years of work and could bring back a punitive system of gauging school performance. Overall, it would undo much of the work weve done over the last two years, said board member Maureen Nickels of Chapman. Our educators dont need that. Its like flip-flopping. I think we need to really understand where this would take us. The bill (LB662), sponsored by Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, would require the Nebraska Department of Education to create an A-F grading scale to measure school performance based on graduation rate, student proficiency in core subjects and growth or improvement in those scores from year to year. The states current system, called AQuESTT (Accountability for A Quality Education Today and Tomorrow), classifies schools in four categories: excellent, great, good and needs improvement. AQuESTT was unveiled in December 2015 and also identified three low-performing priority schools in which the state intervened to help them improve. Board member Patsy Koch-Johns of Lincoln, a longtime teacher at Lincoln High who was elected in November, said the new system injected a feeling of hopefulness, something that became clear as she talked to teachers during her election campaign. Theres a hopefulness about it that they wont just be labeled and then abandoned, she said. Board member Molly OHolleran of North Platte said she worries the bill would make it harder to comply with the requirements of the new federal education law. The state education board on Monday discussed various education bills introduced this session but didnt take a position on LB662 or two related bills. Those bills are LB608, which would provide vouchers for students to attend private school if their local school is among the lowest performing; and LB630, which would allow charter schools in districts with low-performing schools. Commissioner Matt Blomstedt said all three bills would require more conversation before the board takes a position. While his gut reaction is not to adopt an A-F system because of the motivational factor, it's worth having a conversation with the Legislature about the best way to inform parents on school performance and to find the best way to help schools and ultimately students. I always take these things as opportunities to look at what our next steps are, he said. We have a lot of work to do yet and our partnership with the Legislature is critical on this. LONDON The prime minister of the Netherlands, aiming to head off an insurgent challenge from right-wing populists, stunned many Dutch citizens this week with a strategy that could have come from President Trumps playbook. In an open letter, published online and in full-page newspaper advertisements, the prime minister, Mark Rutte, warned of something wrong with our country and said the silent majority would no longer tolerate immigrants who come and abuse our freedom. Mr. Rutte castigated antisocial behavior like littering and spitting, then broadened his critique to include people who do not respect women or gay rights. While the letter did not explicitly mention Islam, the implication was not lost on anyone, whether or not they support Mr. Rutte, who has been prime minister since 2010 and is seeking a third term in an election set for March. Muslims make up about 6 percent of the population, and there have been sharp debates in the Netherlands for nearly two decades about the role of Muslim immigrants in political and social life. PARIS After protests from French feminist groups, the director Roman Polanski will not preside next month over the Cesar awards ceremony, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Mr. Polanski, 83, fled the United States for Europe in 1978 while awaiting sentencing for a conviction of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, and the announcement that he would preside over the awards ceremony had prompted outrage, including from a high-ranking French official. In order not to disturb the Cesar ceremony, which should be centered on cinema and not on whom it chose to preside over the ceremony, Roman Polanski has decided not to accept the invitation, Herve Temime, a lawyer for Mr. Polanski in Paris, said in a statement. The uproar, which Mr. Temime said was based on false information and had deeply saddened the director and his family, came at a time of heightened awareness of womens issues worldwide. On Saturday, millions of women took to the streets around the world, including in Paris, to highlight womens issues and to protest the presidency of Donald J. Trump in the United States. LONDON It remains unclear whether Prime Minister Theresa Mays plans or timetable for taking Britain out of the European Union will be altered by the Supreme Courts ruling on Tuesday that she must secure Parliaments approval before beginning the process. Most analysts, even those who opposed Brexit, as the departure from the bloc is known, doubt that it will. And Mrs. May had already said in her speech on Brexit last week that Parliament would have a vote on whether to accept the final deal negotiated with the European Union. But the ruling Tuesday which included a decision to deny the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish legislatures a veto in the matter has brought to the fore some ancient tensions in Britains democracy, which has somehow made it through the centuries with an unequal union of four nations, an unelected upper house of Parliament and without a written constitution. These tensions may ultimately have far greater impact than a ruling that was widely anticipated. There are some fairly serious questions about how the U.K.s constitutional settlement operates, not least the lack of democracy at the heart of the houses of Parliament, Stephen Gethins, the Scottish National Partys spokesman on Europe in the British Parliament, said in an interview. All this raises quite substantial questions about the future of the union. Then on Tuesday, the Israeli government announced that 2,500 new housing units would be built in the West Bank. Officials said most would be built in settlement blocs, referring to areas of the West Bank that Israel has long intended to keep under any future agreement with the Palestinians, possibly in return for land swaps along the boundary that separated Israel from the West Bank before the 1967 war. But in years of failed negotiations, the Israelis and Palestinians have never agreed on the size or location of such blocs. The Israeli Ministry of Defense said 900 of the newly announced homes were being planned for Ariel, an urban settlement of about 20,000 residents that Israel considers a bloc, but is strategically and problematically located in the heart of the West Bank. It also said it would bring to the cabinet a plan to build a large industrial zone to create work for Palestinians in the southern West Bank. We are going back to normal life in Judea and Samaria, Avigdor Lieberman, Israels hard-line defense minister, said in a statement announcing the new settlement building, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names. Asked about the Israeli move, the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, said that Mr. Trump was still getting his team together and that there would be discussions with Mr. Netanyahu. Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States, Mr. Spicer said. He wants to grow closer with Israel to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East, and thats what hes going to do. Palestinian officials immediately denounced the new plans. Once again, the Israeli government has proved that it is more committed to land theft and colonialism than to the two-state solution and the requirements for peace and stability, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organizations executive committee, said in a statement. ASTANA, Kazakhstan Two days of talks over the Syrian civil war concluded on Tuesday with an agreement by Iran, Russia and Turkey to enforce a fragile partial cease-fire. But neither the Syrian government nor the rebel fighters who briefly met face to face for the first time in nearly six years of war signed the agreement. While the three powers agreed to establish a mechanism to monitor and enforce the nearly month-old cease-fire, they did not say what the mechanism should look like, deferring that issue for now. The statement, at least on paper, brought Iran on board with recent new cooperation between Russia and Turkey, and it strengthened Turkeys commitment to separating rebel groups it supports from jihadist groups. But representatives of the Syrian delegations both from the government and opposition immediately expressed reservations. They emphasized that they had not signed on to a document that had been brokered by the main sponsors of the warring sides in the country, but not by Syrians themselves. Russia is the most powerful backer of the Syrian government, which is also closely allied with Iran, while Turkey has been among the main supporters of rebel groups. Migrants are stuck in freezing conditions behind the central train station in Belgrade, Serbia, where they survive on one meal a day. Associated Press Many of the estimated 1,000 migrants are escaping instability in Afghanistan, where a worsening war with the Taliban has sent record numbers of people fleeing their homes. They have lingered for weeks in legal limbo, unable to move north after European countries along the Balkans shut their borders last year. They have been left for months without any regular access to running water, toilets and showers, Andrea Contenta, an official with Doctors Without Borders, said. Doctors Without Borders The migrants have only the most basic supplies, like food and blankets, distributed by volunteer aid groups. Some build fires for warmth inside abandoned buildings, creating clouds of noxious fumes. Doctors Without Borders One hot meal is distributed each day. Associated Press Abdul Saboor, 28, an Afghan migrant who has been in Belgrade for four months, had intended to go to Italy or France. But he was unable to pass. Lots of people here are sick, Mr. Saboor said. They give food only one time in 24 hours only one time. Sometimes, they cannot give food to everyone. New York University has named Russel Caflisch, professor of mathematics at UCLA and director of the National Science Foundations Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, director of NYUs Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. Caflisch will assume the post on September 1, 2017. In the field of mathematics, and especially in applied mathematics, few names are more prominent or respected than the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, said NYU President Andrew Hamilton. The Abel Prize, the National Medal of Science, the Chern Medal, the Fields Medal -- these are just a sample of the honors that Courants scholars have been accorded. In selecting a new director, we sought someone who had an outstanding record of scholarship, unquestioned stature in the field, a record of advancing a scholarly enterprise, and an outlook that fits with NYUs -- ambitious, entrepreneurial, and global. In Russ Caflisch, we have found just the right person. We are proud and very pleased that Russ will be joining NYU as the new director of the Courant Institute. A mathematician with wide-ranging scholarly interests, including materials science, mathematical finance, Monte Carlo methods, kinetic theory, plasma dynamics, fluid dynamics, and partial differential equations, Caflisch earned his doctorate at the Courant Institute (1978), where he was an advisee of George Papanicolaou. Caflisch, who holds a bachelors degree from Michigan State (1975), served on the mathematics faculty at Courant from 1979 to 1989. Caflisch has been professor of mathematics at UCLA since 1989 and a faculty member in the universitys Department of Materials Science and Engineering since 2002. He has been the director of the NSFs Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, housed at UCLA, since 2008 and was a founding member of the California NanoSystems Institute. He is a fellow of the American Mathematical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and was an invited lecturer at the SIAM National Meeting and at the International Congress of Mathematicians. Caflisch was previously an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow and a Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellow. EDITORS NOTE New York Universitys Courant Institute is a leading center for research and education in mathematics and computer science. For over eighty years, its faculty, recipients of four Abel Prizes and numerous other awards and honors, have contributed to U.S. and international science and engineering by promoting an integrated view of mathematics and computation. For more, please visit cims.nyu.edu. A proposed bill by Alabama Congressmen Mike Rogers could end the United States relationship with the United Nations. The American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017, which was introduced by Rogers on January 3rd, calls for the repeal of the U.N. Participation Act of 1945. If passed, H.R. 193 would require, the President to terminate U.S. membership in the United Nations (U.N.), including any organ, specialized agency, commission, or other formally affiliated body; and closure of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. In addition, the bill would also prohibit the authorization of any funds for the UN or any of its agencies, as well as US armed forces from serving under UN command. Diplomatic immunity for UN officers or employees would also be suspended. Speaking on behalf of the bill, Congressman Rogers, a Republican from Alabamas 3rd Congressional district, stated, The United States participation with the United Nations should end immediately. The U.N. continues to prove its an inefficient bureaucracy and a complete waste of American tax dollars. Although the United States makes up almost a quarter of the U.N.s annual budget, the U.N. has attempted a number of actions that attack our rights as U.S. citizens. For fans of the UN or, you know, global diplomacy, this would be terrifying news if it werent for the fact that this legislation has been proposed biennially since 1997. Initially identified as H.R. 1146, the bill was first put forward to the 105th Congress by former Presidential candidate Ron Paul. It did not make it out of the House that year, nor any of the years it was reintroduced to date (from 1999 through 2015). Following Pauls departure from the House of Representatives, the bill was sponsored by Paul C. Broun (R-GA) in 2013 and by Representative Rogers in 2015. The 2017 iteration has 6 co-sponsors, is currently with the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and will likely be introduced for consideration in late January or early February. However, there is one major difference in the significance between those previous proposals and the current version: the man who sits in the White House. As recently as December 2016, President Trump was critical of the UN, stating, There is such tremendous potential, but it is not living up. When do you see the United Nations solving problems? They dont. They cause problems. The then-President Elect added, So, if it lives up to the potential, its a great thing. And if it doesnt, its a waste of time and money. That same month, Trump also took to Twitter to share his thoughts on the organization: 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! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 26, 2016 The bill was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the same day that it was introduced by Representative Rogers. The CFA is responsible for reviewing all legislation that impacts the diplomatic community, which includes the Department of State, the Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps, the United Nations, and the enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act. The CFA is chaired by Ed Royce (R-CA) and Eliot Engel (D-NY) is its ranking member. Committee chair Royce previously voted in favor of the United Nations Reform Act of 2005. The bill, which passed in the House but failed to make it out of Congress, proposed cutting funding to the U.N. in half if the organization failed to meet criteria specified within the legislation. Royce co-sponsored a similar bill (which was also unsuccessful) in 2011. If the committee votes to pass the bill, then H.R. 193 will be placed on the House calendar. It is then subject to debate on the House floor followed by a final vote. If no action is taken, then the bill effectively dies in committee. The CFA did not respond to requests for comment regarding the current status of the bill. Those wishing to contact the committee can do so by visiting the CFA website or by speaking with their respective representatives. The Red Turtle is a film about necessity: about what it takes to survive on the barest of essentials, but also about the grunt-work of creation, about creating because you must and seeing something through to the end because there is no other end in sight. With the help of Studio Ghibli (who counts this film as their first care of a non-Japanese filmmaker) and Grave of the Fireflies director Isao Takahata, writer-director Michael Dudok de Wit has spent the past ten years crafting something of a pure animated filmessential cinema in that its boiled down to its essentials. The Red Turtle, nearly wordless and painstakingly gorgeous, exists outside of time, outside of any context, really, that could tether the film to our world. Its more sensation than storymore impressionistic than thematic. As an accomplishment alone, it should be held as a landmark, especially coming from a studio known for its landmarksbut as a narrative rather than as an object to admire, it struggles to have anything salient to say. Dutch-British Dudok de Wits film is an international affair, co-financed by studios out of Japan, Belgium and France. Perhaps born from that kind of multilingual pedigree, The Red Turtle carries a healthy distrust of languagenot only its acuity in conveying universal truths, but in the way language automatically sets up a barrier between the audience and the emotional truth of his (admittedly archetypal) story. Dudok de Wit dwarfs humanity throughout his film, placing his teensy figures with their Euro-centric, Tintin-eque eye dots amidst densely lush jungles and intimidating vistas, allowing them only the occasional hey! or grunt or whimper to rise above the white noise of his environments natural musique concrete. Ditching language altogether, Dudok de Wit seems to be damning an audiences sense of privilege: No matter what we think, the language of nature will always hold so much more power than any language we use to feebly bend reality to our will. If The Red Turtle has one clear message, its obviously environmental, but more concerned with the foundational aspects of environmentalism than any reduce, reuse, recycle mantra. To save the world, we have to recognize our insignificant place within it. So, Dudok de Wit uses the grammar of myth. An unnamed man washes up on the shore of a nameless deserted island. He explores his surroundings, almost dies, learns an important lesson about his new home, and inevitably builds a raft from the islands ample bamboo stock. The raft, almost as inevitably, capsizes after a first try, at the mercy of unseen forces. So the man tries againrepetition becomes the backbone of this fable, as is the case in all fablesand the same disaster happens again, and again, and the man comes to learn that his malady is the work of the titular red tortoise, a giant reptile who seems particularly motivated to keep the man on the island. Angry, the man finds an opportunity to take his desperation out on the tortoise, disabling the creature on the beach and leaving it to die. Which it does, despite the mans increasingly manic sense of regret, before the shell of the creature breaks open post-mortem to reveal a red-haired woman who will become the mans partner and lover, giving birth to a son who will one day leave the island. Rebirth, resurrection and animals so large theyre practically elemental, all of it presented in threes: De Wit understands the empirical underbelly of a great parable. But as The Red Turtle moves deliberately from the mans initial Robinson Crusoe-like quandary to its finale, pregnant with so much magical realism one wonders if it even counts as magical realism any more, Dudok de Wits pointor message, or narrative, or lessondrowns amidst so much breathtaking ambition. Its worth writing again: The Red Turtle aches with beauty in every frame. Its a testament to Dudok de Wits dedication that even those images created with CG (i.e., the turtle itself, whose digital nature lends the creature an important grace in motion) bear the aesthetic of laborious, over-detailed hand-drawn animation, which obviously drew Ghibli to Dudok de Wit in the first place, but whichespecially in light of its Oscar nomination is a look and feel and ineffable warmth worth preserving the more Ghibli becomes the last animation studio standing still going to great lengths to avoid CG as much as possible. Still, The Red Turtle is a conundrum in interpretation. Dudok de Wit seems to both embrace the indifference of Nature while taking great pains to demonstrate its benevolence; he champions the need for humanity to preserve Natures greatness while ending his story on a note of perseverance, characterizing the forces of Nature (which the Red Turtle/Woman wield) as sure to outlast us. His film is sad and lonely, but also not that at all. Is Dudok de Wit implying that if we copulate with Nature well be able to create a Nature-Human hybrid who can hold his breath underwater for long periods of time and will one day become King of the Turtles? How can such an ambitious film damn our proclivity for ambition? If humanity can only learn how to preserve Nature through its destruction, then what if theres nothing left to preserve after weve destroyed it all? The Red Turtle is a lovely feast of contradictions. Which is maybe the point: Dudok de Wit and Takahata demand nothing less than a complete paradigm shift. So The Red Turtle takes us back to a prelapsarian past, and builds its world from that ground up. It can be tedious, but even in tedium Dudok de Wit always offers something wonderful to behold. With every drawing, Dudok de Wit wants us to re-think our place in this world: to understand that we are insignificant, but that even in insignificance we should try to reach greatness. Which may or may not make any sense at allDudok de Wit will keep reaching regardless. Director: Michael Dudok de Wit Writers: Michael Dudok de Wit, Pascale Ferran Release Date: January 20, 2017 Dom Sinacola is Sr. Assistant Movies Editor at Paste and a Portland-based writer. You can follow him on Twitter. 888poker 2017 Super XL Series Day 5: Germany's 'Xp3ctNoMerc1' Wins First Omaha Event January 24, 2017 Eric Mertens After a great first weekend of the 888poker 2017 Super XL Series, the players couldn't get much rest before the series continued on Monday. There were six new events starting and all of them played down to a winner within a day. Who started out the week with a great Monday? Let's see the results. Event #22 $15,000 Super XL - Omaha Event Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $109 Jan. 23 164 $24,500 A new day of the 888poker 2017 Super XL Series started with the $109 Omaha Event, the highest buy-in event of Day 5. A total 164 paid this amount of money to play this event to create a prize pool of $24,500. For the winner of this event, there was a first prize of $5,635 while the six finalists would all be guaranteed at least $1,004.50. Place Player County Prize 1 Xp3ctNoMerc1 Germany $5,635 2 EvnomiYa Russia $3,920 3 PARARANGE Germany $2,940 4 Brttyy Sweden $1,960 5 hajniak Poland $1,470 6 utex77 Austria $1,004.50 When the tournament was down to seven players they were on the final table bubble. Finnish player "kyosti_i" missed out on the official final table after he busted in seventh place for $698.25. On the final table, the tournament saw "utex77" and "hajniak" bust in quick succession to get down to four players. From there on "Brttyy" busted in fourth place for $1,960 and "PARARANGE" from Germany didn't make the final heads-up after finishing in third place for $2,940. The heads-up between "EvnomiYa" and "Xp3ctNoMerc1" played until 05:27 GMT and the latter won it for $5,635. Event #23 $5,000 Super XL - Mini Omaha Event Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $12 Jan. 23 433 $6,899.70 For the players who couldn't afford the Omaha Event, there was a Mini Omaha Event starting at the same time. The buy-in for this event was just $12 and in total 433 players registered to build a prize pool of $6,899.70. After seven hours, the tournament crowned a winner after a heads-up deal; Czech Republic's "Der_Baron32" won Event #23 for $1,249.63. Dutch runner-up "h12star" finished in second place and got $1,151.86 after the deal. Place Player County Prize 1 Der_Baron32 Czech Republic $1,249.63 2 h12star Netherlands $1,151.86 3 MuhubanaShek Czech Republic $758.96 4 quaha Belarus $524.37 5 theslothpack Malta $382.93 6 magigydra Germany $244.93 Event #24 $10,000 Super XL - Monday Royal Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $22 Jan. 23 968 $19,360 At 20:35 GMT there were 968 players starting in Event #24 of the tournament series - the Monday Royal. The guaranteed prize pool of $10,000 was almost doubled to $19,360. The first prize was $3,484.80. "tuanpham81" from the Netherlands won that exact figure as he defeated "mkyplain" from Canada in the deciding battle after more than eight hours. Place Player County Prize 1 tuanpham81 Netherlands $3,484.80 2 mkyplain Canada $2,516.80 3 Razvyb Romania $1,877.92 4 GoFighTer Belarus $1,403.60 5 TOP1LTU Lithuania $975.74 6 Foreverpunk Germany $774.40 7 tikanis2 Germany $580.80 8 newty_music Canada $387.20 9 1Odessa Ukraine $232.20 Event #25 $10,000 Super XL - Monday Flush Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $22 Jan. 23 905 $18,100 On Monday it wasn't a day of five-figure prizes and Event #25 wasn't any different. Nine-hundred-and-five players registered for the Monday Flush with a buy-in of $22 to create a total prize pool of $18,100. There was an original first prize of $3,258 but no one received this amount of money. The last four players made a deal where third-place finisher "alexeiv2009" got the most money - $2,366.43. The honors and the XL Series title were for "alwaysstrap" from the Czech Republic, who got $2,243.22 in prize money. Place Player County Prize 1 alwaysstrap Czech Republic $2,243.22 2 KellerA Germany $2,023.15 3 alexeiv2009 Russia $2,366.43 4 relyinonluck United Kingdom $2,046.15 5 sirkarev Russia $912.24 6 BYLIA Canada $731.24 7 kikasazv Slovakia $550.24 8 Erik_Ajax Netherlands $371.05 9 Nzol888 Ukraine $226.25 Event #26 $15,000 Super XL - Snap Event Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $55 Jan. 23 252 $20,650 For the fans of Turbo tournaments, there was Event #26 $15,000 Super XL - Snap Event. In this tournament, the blinds increased every six minutes so the tournament got down from 252 players to a winner in just three hours and 10 minutes. Those players all paid $55 to compete in this event and it created a first-place prize of $4,222.92. Poland's "Slipknott14" will be a fan of Turbo tournaments after this day because he finished up top. He made a deal with his last competitor "Gagagawa" and received $3,737.06. The runner-up from Norway had to settle for a prize of $3,583.47. Place Player County Prize 1 Slipknott14 Poland $3,737.06 2 Gagagawa Norway $3,583.47 3 NevilleWeeee Brazil $2,333.45 4 gandalf_mrs United Kingdom $1,755.25 5 Srdn77 Russia $1,197.70 6 jnboye Norway $929.25 7 PonyDarker Czech Republic $722.75 8 HappyHour4U United Kingdom $516.25 9 krystek1212 Poland $392.35 Event #27 $5,000 Super XL - Mini Snap Event Buy-in Date Players Prize Pool $5 Jan. 23 1,011 $7,402.85 The fifth day of the series was completed by a Mini Snap Event with a buy-in of $5. A massive field of 1,011 players registered for this tournament and it only took four hours and one minute to get a winner. "nitur" from Malta won the first prize of $1,332.51 after defeating Norway's "tassenusen" in the heads-up. Place Player County Prize 1 nitur Malta $1,332.51 2 tassenusen Norway $949.78 3 Torreli1111 Czech Republic $710.67 4 v1966 Russia $533 5 Berillus Germany $370.14 6 PumpkinKing United Kingdom $296.11 7 heldoor Norway $222.08 8 Boysibad888 Netherlands $148.05 9 dvakuba Ukraine $88.83 Leaderboard Place Player Points 1 PuntSonPunt 728.02 2 Mindcrushers 715.16 3 GoFighTer 655.64 4 DrMiKee 624.11 5 trojanmouse 621.89 6 Ti0373 594.97 7 summuNNN 591.45 8 TheRudimeer 576.90 9 Tacuara87 523.84 10 b.szaszko 521.26 Upcoming Tournaments Date Time (GMT) Event Buy-in Jan. 24 19:00 Event #28 $350,000 Super XL - High Roller $2,100 19:00 Event #29 $100,000 Super XL - Mini High Roller $215 19:35 Event #30 $40,000 Super XL - Tuesday Challenge $109 21:00 Event #31 $50,000 Super XL - Turbo High Roller $160 Jan. 25 19:00 Event #32 $50,000 Super XL - 8-Max $109 19:00 Event #33 $10,000 Super XL - Mini 8-Max $12 19:35 Event #34 $25,000 Super XL - Wednesday Challenge $35 21:00 Event #35 $8,000 Super XL - Turbo 8-Max $30 Jan. 26 0:00 Event #36 $20,000 Super XL - Americas Event $160 2:00 Event #37 $5,000 Super XL - Turbo Americas Event $55 18:00 Event #38 $50,000 Super XL - R&A Event $55 18:00 Event #39 $10,000 Super XL - Mini R&A Event $5 19:00 Event #40 $100,000 Super XL - Quarterback $215 19:00 Event #41 $30,000 Super XL - Mini Quarterback $44 19:35 Event #42 $25,000 Super XL - Thursday Challenge $12 21:00 Event #43 $30,000 Super XL - Turbo Quarterback $109 The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has opened a Title IX investigation into allegations that students verbally harassed protesters Saturday during the Women's March on Lincoln. Hundreds of posts to social media following Saturday's march said members of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity shouted sexually harassing statements at the protesters, including "No means yes" and a euphemism used by President Donald Trump in 2005 to describe grabbing a woman's genitals. The march Saturday coincided with hundreds of similar events around the world. The Lincoln march started at UNL and followed Centennial Mall to the Capitol, with protesters using the sidewalks and streets in front of the Phi Gamma Delta house, also known as FIJI. Anytime a member of the university community makes a claim of sexual assault or harassment, the university is required to investigate under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Investigations are completed by trained university staff independent of investigations conducted by law enforcement agencies, with a structure that involves students without compelling them to give evidence. At the conclusion of the investigation, both parties are informed of the office's findings as well as its recommendations. UNL spokesman Steve Smith said the allegations under investigation by the university are centered on students, not the Phi Delta Gamma fraternity as a whole. "When we have a situation and allegations such as these it's our responsibility to examine and use all of the tools we have, including Title IX," Smith said. The national office of Phi Gamma Delta on Sunday said it would open an investigation into the UNL chapter. "Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity takes seriously the allegations regarding behavior of some members of our chapter at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln," the national fraternity office said in a statement on its website. "The behavior that has been alleged is contrary to the values of our organization. "We will be working with the chapter leadership and alumni advisers to investigate." Nick The Greek Georgoulas Wins Australian Poker Hall of Fame Classic at Aussie Millions January 23, 2017 Frank Op de Woerd Event 14 of the 2017 Aussie Millions, the Australian Poker Hall of Fame Classic, was a special one. While all the tournaments in the poker room of the Crown Melbourne have been packed and action-filled so far this poker festival, this event had a twist which resulted in even more spectacle. Members of the Australian Poker Hall of Fame namely bought in without having to pay rake. On top of that, 'HOF' members buying in got a AUD$500 bounty on their head. A total of 123 players signed up for the event, resulting in a prize pool of $126.075. Six Hall of Fame members participated in the event; Jason Gray, Graeme Putt, Joe Cabret, Leo Boxtel, Gary Benson and Marsha Waggoner quite literally had a target on their back. Knocking them out would be worth half the buy-in of the event for the other contestants. They quite literally had a target on their back. Knocking them out was worth half the buy-in of the event. That was reason enough for most players to go gunning for them. Hunting season was officially opened as the tournament got underway at 2:30 p.m. Their bounties were in high demand by the other players, resulting in all six of them getting knocked out before the money stage of the tournament commenced. Twelve players would cash, but no hall of fame members were among them. While there were no 'HOF' members among the finalists, the final table did have a very local touch as eight out of nine players were from the region. Just a single Kiwi and a German distorted the otherwise totally Australian final table. In fact, the top three players all came from the city of Melbourne. The final table concluded well after midnight with Nick The Greek Georgoulas coming out on top. He defeated Xiuning Huang heads up to walk away with the massive AUD$32,620 first-place prize. Like the other Nick "The Greek," poker hall of famer Nicholas Andrea Dandolos, Georgoulas was surrounded by top contenders on his way to victory. It's the eighth tournament victory on Georgoulas' poker resume with results going back all the way to 1998. Georgoulas, whose most notable result was a runner-up finish in the ANZPT Melbourne back in 2011, now has almost $285,000 in live time cashes. If Georgoulas will ever be inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame remains to be seen, but at least he got his winner photo ready now. Place Player Country Prize (AU$) 1 Nick Georgoulas Australia $32,620 2 Xiuning Huang Australia $22,155 3 Park Yu Chen Australia $14,770 4 Jack Tanwhare New Zealand $11,690 5 Geoffrey Mooney Australia $9,230 6 Paul Tadina Australia $8,000 7 John Thompson Australia $6,770 8 Stefan Schillhabel Germany $5,540 9 Kwang Nguyen Australia $4,305 This will be one of various real estate development deals globally that Falcon will undertake utilizing modular construction. Contact Falcon Global Acquisitions ***@falconglobalacquisitions.com 352-593-8248 Falcon Global Acquisitions352-593-8248 End -- Falcon Global Acquisitions LLC ("FGA") announced today that it has made a deal with joint venture partners to develop over 350 acres of land in the Bahamas. The developments in paradise will incorporate innovative modular construction and solar technology from their manufacturing subsidiary Horton Global Industries.This will be one of various real estate development deals globally that Falcon will undertake utilizing modular construction. The potential revenue from this particular real estate development deal is estimated to be well over US$300 million."We are very excited about the Bahamas project using the modular construction technology as well as incorporating the solar that our subsidiary Horton Global Industries has currently. This will surely be one of many real estate development projects that we will joint venture on with developers and land owners worldwide. Our team is focused on manufacturing in America and putting Made in America on our products." Stated Louis Velazquez, Managing Partner of Falcon Global Acquisitions."The innovation that we are looking to bring forward from our talented team at Horton Global Industries in the modular manufacturing sector I have little doubt will be revolutionary for the industry. We are making it a point to expand our modular manufacturing business globally while adding to not taking away from the environment."Stated Robert Horton, President of Horton Global Industries.About Falcon Global AcquisitionsFalcon Global Acquisitions is a private equity firm that focuses on the acquisition of underperforming assets in need of restructuring. The combined experience of the core management team of Falcon ranges from securities and international business law, domestic and international logistics, domestic and international finance, commercial real estate, mergers and acquisitions, and spans well over 100 years.Falcon Global Acquisitions LLC also provides clients with various consulting services ranging from corporate restructuring, mergers and acquisitions and commercial real estate.For more information on FGA go to http://www.falconglobalacquisitions.com About Horton Global IndustriesHorton Global Industries is a manufacturing company that is in the business of manufacturing both residential and commercial modular units which incorporate green technology to achieve Net Zero Standards. Horton is also involved in the manufacturing and sales of cargo haulers, toy trailers and campers. Horton works closely with developers, governments and land owners in the development of affordable, middle market and high end modular homes. As well as both small and large scale commercial projects all incorporating innovative modular construction. This is both domestically and internationally.For more information on HGI go to www.hortonglobalindustries.comThis press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, and qualification under the securities laws of any such state.This press release contains forward-looking statements. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "can", "will", "should", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including but not limited to expectations and assumptions concerning the receipt of required regulatory approval. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.Contact:Sarah JasperMedia Relations352-593-8248 By: Behavioral Concepts, Inc. Greendale YMCA Contact Steve Dubin ***@prworkzone.com Steve Dubin End -- Prior to February school vacation week, the Greendale YMCA, located at 75 Shore Drive in Worcester, will host a Family Night to announce and discuss the spring program. This year's event, to be held on February 16, 2017 at 6 p.m., will feature the introduction of a partnership with Behavioral Concepts, Inc. (BCI), to provide services to Greendale YMCA members with autism spectrum disorders.Based at 345 Greenwood, BCI is a company of behavioral clinicians specializing in the treatment of children with autism in Central Massachusetts. Typically, BCI works with children at their home or BCI headquarters. Through this special relationship, Greendale YMCA members with Autism, can receive one-to-one services from a BCBA therapist from BCI on site at the Greendale YMCA."This arrangement gives children with autism the opportunity to work with a BCBA therapist while utilizing the resources of our facility. It also provides parents with a chance to get a workout in while knowing their child is with a specialist with education and experience in working with children with autism," said Christina Puleo, executive director of the Greendale YMCA. "We can't thank BCI enough for offering their services as a benefit to our members.""Children with autism rely heavily on routine. While that's largely a good thing, it also benefits them to try something new in a new location. Being able to receive their services outside their home or school at a place like the Y where they can engage in new activities greatly promotes learning and development,"said Dr. Jeff Robinson, BCI founder and director. "We run a similar program with the Hockomock YMCA at their four locations in southeastern Massachusetts and it's been very beneficial to the kids and their parents."In addition to BCI, the Greendale YMCA "Family Night" program will include information about spring programs, after care and summer camp. Light refreshments will be served.For questions about Family Night or spring programs, contact the Greendale YMCA at 508-852-6694. For questions about programs offered by BCI, please visit www.bciaba.com or call 508-363-0200.At the Greendale YMCA, strengthening community is our cause. The Greendale YMCA is an organization of men, women, and children sharing a commitment to nurture the potential of kids, promote healthy living, and foster a sense of social responsibility.Opened in 1978, The Greendale YMCA is a not-for-profit charitable cause-driven organization conveniently located at 75 Shore Drive in North Worcester on Indian Lake. For information on programs and services, visit http://www.ymcaofcm.org/ locations/greendale- family-branch/ or call 508-852-6694.Founded in 2002, BCI provides educational, behavioral, consultative and assessment services to children with autism and their families. These services are based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and are tailored to meet the unique needs of our clients. It's BCI's goal to maximize individual potential, increase independence and enhance our clients' quality of life within their home, school and community.BCI provides center- and home-based services through health insurance and is an approved provider of Specialty ABA Services for Early Intervention in Central Massachusetts. BCI's main care center, located at 345 Greenwood Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, offers intensive treatment for young children aged 3 to 6 years of age, an after-school program for all school-aged children and a weekend social skills program. In addition, BCI recently opened a second location in Fitchburg, Mass., in November 2016. BCI also provides in-home services within a one-hour radius of Worcester.For complete information, visit http://bciaba.com or to arrange a consultation with a BCI clinician, please call (508) 363-0200. Gender equality is much more than a goal in itself as it is a precondition for meeting the challenges of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance. Contact Mrs Booma Natarajan, Principal ***@yahoo.co.in 91-1596-242314 Mrs Booma Natarajan, Principal91-1596-242314 End -- Considering the importance of the Girl Child in the larger interests of the nation building task, Government of India in the year 2009 had declared that January 24 be observed every year as National Girl Child Day. The Child S.. Ratio CSR which is number of girls for 1000 boys in age group 0 - 6 in the population has been on the decline since 1991 and currently seems the worst since independence. From 945 girls for every 1000 boys in 1991, CSR went down to 927 in 2001 and to 918 in 2011. The Government also identified 100 gender critical districts in the country where the CSR is abysmally low and launched the "Beti Bachao Beti Padhao" (BBBP) (Save girl child, educate girl child) campaign to reverse the dwindling numbers.Specifically in the state of Rajasthan, from 916 girls for every 1000 boys in 1991, CSR went down to 909 in 2001 and to 888 in 2011. As per the latest reports of BBBP, Jhunjhunu district in which Pilani falls has been declared among 10 best performing districts with CSR jumping from 837 in 2011 census to 903 by Mar 2016 and further to 944 by Dec 2016.Right from its inception, Smt Jamuna Mishra Academy JMA Pilani has embarked on a rich tradition of celebrating various days of national and international significance. The school which is one among the top ranking schools in Pilani today organized a function to celebrate National Girl Child Day with Dr Sailaja Nandigama from the department of humanities and social sciences Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani as Chief Guest. She holds masters degree from University of Hyderabad and PhD from International Institute of Social Studies (part of Erasmus University of Rotterdam), The Hague, The Netherlands. Her experience includes teaching at Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS apart from Research Experience at Wageningen University, the Netherlands and University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Her Teaching and Research interests include Development Studies, Gender dynamics in Participatory community forest management PCFM and Gender Mainstreaming:Policy& Practice.Dr Sailaja in her speech emphasized that girls have equal role, status as well as rights and urged the girl students of JMA Pilani to be also dreamers, performers and achievers. She also urged the boy students of the school to respect the girls and play a supporting role for their ambition. Dr Sailaja also appreciated the policy of the school to make all girls compulsorily to undergo self defence skills by imparting karate as an integral part of the school education. Principal Mrs Booma Natarajan anchored the proceedings and said that it was indeed a matter of immense pride that the girls enrollments at JMA Pilani today stands at 60% of the total. Miss Kritika Mandad highlighted the girl child statistics of India, Rajasthan as well as the outstanding performance of Jhunjhunu district in which Pilani falls under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme.For more details about JMA Pilani see http://jmapilani.org About JMA Pilani: Smt. Jamuna Mishra Academy (JMA) established in the year 2004 which has been making rapid strides in early childhood education is presently one of the most sought after schools at Pilani considered as Oasis in the desert state of Rajasthan well known in India today for one among top in world ranking BITS Pilani University as well as CSIR Laboratory CEERI and globally renowned Birla Science Museum. JMA Pilani is a Co-educational English Medium School with Experienced Teachers, Spacious Classrooms and Modern Amenities designed to impart Quality Education combined with All Round Personality Development and lay the Best Foundation for the Child's Future. JMA which started in 2004 with an enrollment of 60 students for the Nursery, LKG, First Junior and Class I has grown today till Class XII and enrollment of 900. While the school admits both boys and girls, the girl student enrollment has been steadily rising every year and is presently nearly 50% of the total strength. The school has NCC for boys and the school girls band has been winning laurels every year too. Yoga and Fine arts are not just part of school routine but a way of life for the students. Contact Brooke Slezak ***@brookeslezak.com Brooke Slezak End -- World Bicycle Relief is pleased to announce the hiring of Adema Sangale as Vice President-Africa.In her role, Ms. Sangale will focus on identifying and executing opportunities for strategic growth in social enterprise business development and philanthropic programs. Ms. Sangale will lead a team working in multiple African countries, maximizing potential within this multi-cultural environment. Ms. Sangale brings her proven track record to the position of Vice President-Africa and will leverage her leadership skills to meet ambitious, strategic goals. She will report to Dave Neiswander, President of World Bicycle Relief."Adema Sangale has an exceptional background that spans the business and non-profit sectors, in multiple disciplines and across several continents. Her leadership and negotiating skills and global perspective will be highly valuable in her new role, as she expands business development, promotes new partnerships and motivates a high energy, diverse team," said Mr. Neiswander. "We are also inspired by her work on behalf of girls and women in the developing world and look forward to working together to improve the lives of girls and women through The Power of Bicycles.""World Bicycle Relief is making a tremendous impact on the lives of students, entrepreneurs and health care workers in rural developing areas. I'm thrilled to be part of this innovative organization that is tackling the lack of reliable transportation for hundreds of millions of people worldwide," said Ms. Sangale. "I am eager to roll up my sleeves and work with my dedicated colleagues to make an even greater impact for the individuals we serve."Ms. Sangale joined World Bicycle Relief on January 1, 2017. Her previous position was Chief of Brand Building, Division of Communication and Public Information, at the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) where she was responsible for UNEP's global brand identity and oversaw partnerships and fundraising.Prior to her role at UNEP, Ms. Sangale held multiple positions at Proctor and Gamble (P&G) in North America, Africa and Europe. Ms. Sangale played an integral role in introducing P&G brands into 48 markets in Africa, resulting in exponential growth. She championed the expansion of Free Trade Areas across Africa and successfully negotiated with the Ministries of Education and Health in sub-Saharan Africa to implement puberty and maternal health education programs. Ms. Sangale also initiated a global campaign that resulted in the elimination of 40-50% taxes on sanitary pads across East Africa and inspired other markets across the world.Ms. Sangale has an MBA from Oxford University Said Business School which she attended as a Chevening Scholar. She also holds a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she was a Mason Fellow.World Bicycle Relief is a global non-profit that designs and distributes high-quality, purpose built bicycles to students, entrepreneurs and health care workers in the developing world. With the increased efficiency and productivity that a bicycle provides, individuals are able to accomplish much more every day; students stay in school, health care workers visit more patients and entrepreneurs increase profits. World Bicycle Relief is dedicated to helping individuals overcome the barrier of distance through The Power of Bicycles.Founded in 2005, World Bicycle Relief mobilizes people through The Power of Bicycles. World Bicycle Relief accomplishes its mission by distributing specially designed, high quality bicycles through philanthropic and social enterprise programs. These purpose designed bicycles are built to withstand the challenging terrain and conditions in rural, developing areas. Entrepreneurs use the bicycles to increase productivity and profits. Students attend class more regularly and improve their academic performances. And, health care workers visit more patients in less time, providing better, more consistent care. World Bicycle Relief also promotes local economies and long-term sustainability by assembling bicycles locally and training field mechanics to service the bicycles. To date, World Bicycle Relief has delivered over 330,000 bicycles and trained over 1,200 field mechanics in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. World Bicycle Relief is a registered nonprofit in the USA, Canada, U.K., Germany and Australia, and has assembly facilities in Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Angola.For more information, please visit: http://worldbicyclerelief.org Follow us @PowerOfBicycles and Like us at facebook.com/worldbicyclerelief ( facebook.com: worldbicyclerelief Brooke Slezakbrooke@brookeslezak.compress@worldbicyclerelief.orgMobile: 917.689.6024 hevesidanielmarcel.com was launched in early January, 2017, with a mission to create a bridge between underground techno music and the contemporary fine art world. Contact Hevesi Daniel Marcel ***@hevesidanielmarcel.com Hevesi Daniel Marcel End -- The artist, Hevesi Daniel Marcel, who have been devoted to electronic music since more than 20 years now and based in Budapest, Hungary, choose this subject to create abstract and minimal style paintings, to raise awareness of the artistic side of underground techno music."As a music fanatic myself, surrounded by misbelievers in electronic music and abstract art, I aim to find and address a unique layer of audience, who are interested in discovering the new wave of underground techno culture with fine art twist", said Daniel. Despite most fine art intellectuals are biased against electronic music in general, the artist is convinced that by approaching this subject with the right, open-minded attitude, everyone can channel into the beauty of underground techno music.In his weekly blog posts available at http://hevesidanielmarcel.com/underground-techno-music-blog/, Daniel explains many different aspects of underground techno music. He writes about the history of techno music, technical aspects of live performances and about the bad influences of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), which genre is never to be confused with pure electronic music, according to the artist.His abstract and minimal style artworks, inspired by underground techno music, are available for art collectors and music lovers through the artist's website.Follow the artist to learn more about Daniel's artworks and his future contribution to the underground techno culture.CONTACT INFORMATIONHevesi Daniel Marcel+36304452111 (Hungary)https://www.instagram.com/hevesi.daniel.marcel.fine.art/https://www.houzz.com/pro/hevesidanielmarcelhttps://www.facebook.com/OneManTechnoArmy/(https://www.facebook.com/HeyIpaintedYourMusic)https://www.facebook.com/hevesi.daniel.marcel/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrP2q8bZGFNVtSofcL4GMAQ Unique Itinerary Marries Nature and Culture on Small-Group Exploration of Himalayan Heights and Jungle Lowlands By: Natural Habitat Adventures A mix of nature and culture Contact Widness & Wiggins PR ***@travelnewssource.com Widness & Wiggins PR End -- In 2018 Natural Habitat Adventures returns to Nepal and Bhutan for an immersive journey embracing nature and culture in these two ancient Himalayan kingdoms. Following a devastating 2015 earthquake, Nepal's recovery has been strong. Nat Hab is committed to bringing travelers and their critical tourist dollars back to the country, honing a focus on the wildlife-rich jungle lowlands of Chitwan National Park.On this 13-day expedition to explore the Natural Jewels of Bhutan and Nepal (http://www.nathab.com/asia-adventure-travel/natural-jewels-of-bhutan-nepal/), a group of no more than 10 travelers will search for sloth bears, Asian elephants, one-horned rhinoceros and Bengal tigers in Nepal's lowlands, then journey among towering peaks, ancient monasteries, glacial rivers and peaceful villages in Bhutan.During four nights in Chitwan National Park, guests explore the subtropical jungle of the Terai plains. Chitwan is Nepal's first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to rhinos, wild elephants and sloth bears, the park is home to 50 different mammal species including wild boars, sambar deer, monkeys and gharial. Crocodiles also lurk in rivers that lace the park. Guests are immersed in wild terrain via 4x4 game drives, guided nature walks and river safaris, and will join a local guide on a tracking expedition in search of the elusive Bengal tiger.At Tiger Tops Tharu Lodge, guests enjoy an up-close visit with retired elephants that live chain-free and may even help feed the elephants and walk with them and their, or caretakers, in the jungle. Both Nepal and Bhutan are rich in birdlife, exemplified by the 500 species that dwell in the vicinity of Nat Hab's expedition base in Chitwan.Among glaciated peaks and colorful Buddhist culture in Bhutan, Motithang Takin Wildlife Reserve is a highlight. Here, Bhutan's national animal, the takin, a shaggy ungulate related to the muskox, roams the grassy slopes. Guests also visit Taktsang Monastery, Bhutan's famous "Tiger's Nest," perched high on a sheer mountain cliff.From Kathmandu, Nepal, to Paro, Bhutan, rich Hindu and Buddhist heritage is redolent in architecture and religious sites. Bhutan, a kingdom that measures quality of life in terms of Gross National Happiness, remained in splendid isolation until relatively recently; as a result the country as preserved deep traditions and pristine landscapes.This small-group expedition is led by a Nat Hab Expedition Leader with a breadth of scientific knowledge and cultural insight. In Bhutan Nat Hab's Expedition Leader is paired with an outstanding local Bhutanese guide, ensuring the ideal complement of insider insight and attentive personal service. Departures are offered from February through April 2018. The per-person rate, based on double occupancy, is from $10,595. See: http://www.nathab.com/ asia-adventure- travel/natural- jewels-of-bhutan- nepal/ For information on all of Nat Hab's trips, descriptive itineraries, date availability and reservations, call 800.543.8917 or visit http://www.nathab.com/ . Click HERE (https://forms.nathab.com/catalog/) to order a copy of the 2017 catalog.Natural Habitat Adventures is a world leader in responsible adventure travel and nature-based ecotourism. Since its founding in 1985, the company has offered eco-conscious expeditions and wildlife-focused small-group tours to the planet's most remarkable nature destinations. Inspired and created from years of scouring the planet for the singular and extraordinary, Nat Hab's itineraries are artfully crafted experiences that are far from "typical." Trips are guided by professional naturalist Expedition Leaders (http://www.nathab.com/guides-and-staff/guide-bios/), and Nat Hab enjoys a longstanding reputation for hiring some of the world's best guides. Conservation is at the forefront of everything NHA does, and its philosophy is simple: tourism must work with and benefit local communities, which will in turn find value in protecting natural resources and wildlife. NHA is proud to be the travel partner of World Wildlife Fund (http://www.nathab.com/wwf/), sharing a mutual commitment to travel as a means of helping to protect the world's wondrous natural places. Nat Hab has donated more than $2 million to WWF and will continue to donate 1 percent of gross sales plus $100,000 annual through 2018 in support of WWF's mission.Sara Widness / sara@widnesspr.com / Phone: 802.234.6704Dave Wiggins / dave@travelnewssource.com / Phone: 720.301.3822 Partnerships Extend Business Intelligence Opportunities for Law Firms Contact Vicki LaBrosse Edge Legal Marketing vlabrosse@edgelegalmarketing.com Vicki LaBrosseEdge Legal Marketing End -- InOutsource, an industry leading global consulting firm, has expanded its business intelligence services by partnering with Grow (http://www.grow.com), Qlik (http://www.qlik.com/us/) and Sisense (http://www.sisense.com). These partnerships will enable InOutsource to provide law firms with flexible enterprise business intelligence solutions to integrate disparate data, enable discovery, and inform strategy."Law firms are beginning to rely more heavily on analytics to drive business decisions. However, many firms are still implementing pinpoint technology solutions. Often these solutions only address a limited set of use cases, pertaining to one or two departments. In order to derive maximum value, law firms should consider technology platforms that will support enterprise-wide intelligence strategy," said Megan Beauchemin, Director of Business Intelligence and Analytics for InOutsource.The company officially launched its business intelligence services in August prior to ILTACON. InOutsource works with law firm clients to develop business intelligence strategies, evaluate technology platforms, apply advanced analytics, and design intuitive data visualizations and reports.InOutsource will host an exclusive Sisense product demonstration in New York City on Tuesday, Jan. 31. To learn more and RSVP, visit this registration page ( https://www.surveymonkey.com/ r/L257N75 ) or email mbeauchemin@ inoutsource.com Founded in 2014, Grow helps companies accelerate their growth by aligning and engaging teams with real-time data. Grow aggregates scattered data from spreadsheets and cloud SaaS tools to create custom BI dashboards that easily cross-analyze data from multiple sources, creating insights unique to each business.Qlik is the leading visual analytics platform and the pioneer of user-driven business intelligence. Its portfolio of cloud-based and on-premise solutions meets customers' growing needs from reporting and self-service visual analysis to guided, embedded and custom analytics, regardless of where data is located. Customers using Qlik Sense, QlikView and Qlik Cloud, gain meaning out of information from multiple sources, exploring the hidden relationships within data that lead to insights that ignite good ideas. Headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania, Qlik does business in more than 100 countries with over 40,000 customers globally.Sisense simplifies business analytics for complex data. Powered by its unique In-Chip and Single Stack technologies Sisense delivers unmatched performance, agility and value, eliminating much of the costly data preparation traditionally needed with business analytics tools and providing a single, complete tool to analyze and visualize large, disparate data sets without IT resources. With more than one thousand customers in over 50 countries, including global brands like Target and Samsung, Sisense was recently designated a hot company to watch by CIO, CRN and Information Management and recognized as one of the "10 Most Innovative IT Ventures" at Under the Radar. Its solution won the "Audience Choice" award at the O'Reilly Strata conference and its CTO won the World Technology Award for the invention of In-Chip analytics.Industry-leading global consulting firm InOutsource is dedicated to resolving the unique challenges faced by law firms. InOutsource empowers clients to streamline processes and improve performance. The company encourages law firms to transform data assets into actionable insights to uncover opportunity. With a focus on information governance, InOutsource reduces risk and enables their clients to leverage information to drive strategy.To learn more, visit www.InOutsource.com. Nigerian native severely burned and blinded as teenager hired as a greeter following internship By: VERC Chi Chi End -- VERC Enterprises, a leading convenience store and Mobil/Gulf gasoline operator with locations throughout Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire is delighted to announce that Chinonye "Chi Chi" Omeje has joined VERC Randolph Mobil on a part-time basis as a greeter following a four-month internship."Chi Chi developed such wonderful relationships with customers during her internship last fall that when she left for a month, people continually asked for her," said Barry Ahern, Director of Operations and Human Resources at VERC.The company, recognized as a leader in hiring individuals with physical and intellectual disabilities, has partnered with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind to provide employment and internships for those deemed legally blind.Omeje's story is one of sorrow and celebration. She was severely burned ten years ago, when as a teenager in her homeland of Nigeria she had an epileptic seizure and fell face first into a cooking fire, with a pot of stew spilling over her head. The accident left "Chi Chi" blinded and facially disfigured. A Nigerian-born American who learned of Omeje's plight while visiting a rural clinic intervened, resulting in "Chi Chi" and her mother moving to Milton in 2005; over the past decade several of the world's top plastic surgeons have performed dozens of surgical procedures on the now 27-year-old, including a face transplant in 2009.A graduate of the Perkins School for the Blind, Omeje was taken on as an intern at the VERC Randolph Mobil last September, quickly earning the admiration and respect of both VERC staff and customers. In addition to greeting customers, her new part-time post with VERC will include light cleaning duties."We're excited to have "Chi Chi" on our staff and look forward to seeing her thrive here," said Ahern, noting that Omeje's "amazing positive attitude is powerful."VERC Enterprises is the region's leading, independent chain of convenience stores and gasoline stations, with locations throughout Eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The company began 40 years ago, with a single car wash in Marshfield, in a business founded by Eugene Vercollone. Today two of Mr. Vercollone's sons operate the company, with Leo as President and Paul as Vice President. The firm has more than 300 employees and is a leader in hiring those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. In 2011 VERC Enterprises was recognized by the Boston Business Journal as a Best Place to Work in Massachusetts and as a Leader in Diversity and in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016 by the Boston Globe as a Best Place to Work in Massachusetts. For additional information, please visit the website, www.vercenterprises.com , or call 781-934-7300.To learn more about VERC, please view: https://www.youtube.com/ embed/videoseries? list=PLesS4W9hjtufdf6GhvnfUKMk2l2Q- r-MM Chinonye "Chi Chi" Omeje with VERC District Manager Zeshan Muhammad on her first day as an official VERC Enterprises employee Hospices across the state of Missouri celebrate staff, volunteers and special programs. By: Misssouri Hospice & Palliative Care Assn. Contact Jane Moore ***@mohospice.org Jane Moore End -- The Missouri Hospice & Palliative Care Association (MHPCA) will celebrate Hospice staff, volunteers, and special programs at their Annual "Heart of Hospice Awards Luncheon" at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, February 15, 2017. The keynote speaker for this year's event will be MissouriEach year hospices from around the state nominate individuals and programs in the following categories; employee, administrative volunteer, patient care volunteer, hospice aide, program award, and life time achievement award. MHPCA nominating committee reviews all the nominations to select a winner in each category. All nominees will receive a certificate at the luncheon for the outstanding work they do in the hospice field.This year's winners include: Jennifer Lang, BJC Hospice, St. Louis Cindy Riess, Hospice Compassus, Springfield Patricia Heisner, Mercy Hospice, St Louis Margie Herod Fitzgibbon Mary Montgomery Hospice, Marshall Dogs on Call, St Luke's Hospice House, Kansas City Elaine McIntosh Kansas City Hospice & Palliative Care, Kansas CityMHPCA is a state-wide non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening coordinated care for terminally ill Missourians and their families through the advancement of hospice and palliative care. For more information visit them online at https://www.mohospice.org/ about/awards/ Rick Bagby plans to spend a few hours online this month looking up the sales of homes similar to his single-story house near 47th and L streets. Homeowners like Bagby got an early-year surprise from the County Assessor's Office, new property valuations for tax purposes -- all based on a sizzling housing sales market. County Assessor Norm Agena said Tuesday that the total assessed value of residential properties across the county rose 12.5 percent with the new preliminary numbers figured in. Some Lincoln homeowners have expressed sticker shock, fearing a higher valuation may mean a heftier tax bill. The increases vary, but one house near 70th and Yankee Hill Road saw a nearly 25 percent increase in valuation, jumping to $646,100. The Assessor's Office upped the assessment of Bagbys home in the Witherbee Neighborhood by 10 percent. It wouldnt surprise me at all if that is accurate, said Bagby. Lincoln homes have been hot the past couple of years, houses selling within days of a for-sale sign popping up, often at or above asking price. But hes not going to take the county assessors word for it. Bagby plans to do research and present his findings to the Assessors Office. Bagby said he has appealed three previous valuations, presenting sales data from comparable homes, and gotten the number lowered each time. Hell be one of thousands of county residents looking to lobby the Assessors Office to get their homes valuation adjusted before the numbers are finalized and sent to the Nebraska Department of Revenues Property Assessment Division. I want things to be fair, Bagby said. I dont know for sure that 10 percent applies to my particular corner, to my particular neighborhood. Real estate is location, location, location. Typically, the Lancaster County Assessor does a major reevaluation every three years. The last one happened in 2015, when values went up an average of 5.2 percent. Agena decided to update residential property a year early because home sales the past couple years have crept significantly higher than assessments. Nebraska law says valuations for tax purposes need to be within 92 percent to 100 percent of market value. Values too far out of whack would trigger a state-level review and possible involvement of the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission, which could order an across-the-board increase. In this year's case, the county assessor calculated the value for each of the countys 100,000 residential properties individually based on sales of similar homes and adjusted for amenities like in-ground sprinklers, walkout basements, garage size and number of bathrooms. We track that, Agena said. A (house with a) walkout basement is going to have a higher value on the marketplace than a house without. The valuations of some properties went up, some went down and some stayed the same, Agena said, although he declined to say how many houses went up or down. My whole thing is to establish, maintain and equalize values. How many go up, how many go down is immaterial to me, Agena said. Agena, who has been the county assessor since 1990, previously had declined to give an average percent change for residential properties, saying it is misleading and upsets people whose values are more or less than the average. Also, the total residential valuation change will vary daily as more people present cases to have their valuation changed. JoAnn Asch, president of the Antelope Park Neighborhood Association, said valuations going down can be just as upsetting as seeing them skyrocket. People get upset when they go up because it can mean higher tax bills. And people get upset when they go down because it means the house they invested in has lost worth, Asch said. Bagby said he sees valuations as a completely separate issue from tax bills. People worried about their taxes, he said, should be contacting the elected officials who oversee budgets and set levies to pay for public amenities like law enforcement, schools and roads. Local governments like school districts and the County Board build budgets, then set a tax levy to fund that budget. Each property owner is responsible to pay for a slice of that budget figured by applying the tax levy to the assessed value of their property. Homeowners will write checks for property taxes based on the new valuations in 2018. County budget officials already are trying to get a handle on what numbers will look like. Dennis Meyer, county budget and fiscal officer, says residential values make up approximately 64 percent of the countys total valuation. Once commercial properties and ag land values are included, Meyer estimates the countys total valuation will be up about 5 percent. If property owners dont like the answer from the informal review with the Assessors Office, they will have a chance this summer to make a formal protest of their valuation before a referee, who makes a recommendation to the Board of Equalization. Formal protests will need to be filed by June 30. Reports More High Grade Mineralization Assays 403 g/t Gold From Quartz Vein New Visible Gold Clusters Upcoming Diamond Drill Program By: Nexus Gold Corp. Sample Au + 100 mesh g/mt Au - 100 mesh (A) g/mt Au - 100 mesh (B) g/mt Total Au g/t NG007 718 376 371 403 NG008 85.6 46 48.5 49.8 Contact CEO or Chairman ***@nexusgoldcorp.com CEO or Chairman End -- Nexus Gold Corp. () reported that it has received gold assays from five further samples taken from its Niangouela gold project located in Burkina Faso, Africa.The Company's exploration team returned to the property in early January 2017 to further investigate the main quartz vein on the Niangouela permit. During this visit the Company's geologists recovered quartz vein material from two separate shafts currently being exploited by artisanal miners (orpilleurs)Sample NG007, which was taken from material extracted from the eastern shaft and from a depth of approximately 60 meters, returned values of 403 grams per tonne gold. The sample consisted of several fragments of quartz vein material containing host rock inclusion, and containing steaks and blebs of coarse visible gold.Sample NG008 was taken from the western shaft, 10 to 12 metres west of the eastern shaft. This sample consisted of a single large piece of primary quartz vein containing host rock inclusions and also showed a cluster of visible gold. NG008 returned values of 49.8 grams per tonne gold.The samples were analysed by Actlabs Ouagadougou an independent ISO 9001 certified laboratory. Samples NG007 and NG008 underwent a metallic screen analysis whereby a representative 500 gram split is sieved at 100 mesh (149 micron) with assays performed on the entire +100 mesh and two splits (A and B in the table below) of the -100 mesh fraction. A final assay is calculated based on the weight of each fraction.Three additional samples were collected and underwent conventional fire assaying at Actlabs. Sample NG009, a sample of sheared intrusive taken from the eastern shaft, returned 4.29 grams per tonne gold. Sample NG010, a sample of dump material consisting of sheared volcanic sedimentary rock, returned 0.113 grams per tonne gold. Sample NG011, from the primary quartz vein taken from a surface dump, returned 14.3 grams per tonne gold."The presence of visible gold is always encouraging and it will be really exciting to see what type and thickness of drill intercepts we uncover with a drill program," said Senior Geologist, Warren Robb.The presence of coarse visible gold requires that the Company review the material it is analyzing in order to understand the size and the distribution of gold particles within the primary quartz vein. This information will assist the Company's geological staff in selecting the appropriate analysis technique to determine future grade and tonnage estimates.The Company is currently planning a comprehensive diamond drill program to test the primary quartz vein at depth and along strike. ScottMadden Joins Smart Electric Power Alliance to Host Webinar on Findings from the Executive Mission to Australia By: ScottMadden, Inc. Media Contact Mary Tew ScottMadden, Inc. marytew@scottmadden.com 919-714-7628 Mary TewScottMadden, Inc.919-714-7628 End -- To better understand the renewable transformation currently underway, the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) and ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America's leading energy consulting firms, led a group of international energy industry executives to explore the renewable energy market in Australia. The trip included face-to-face meetings with industry experts and decision makers who are adapting to change in the region's dynamic and challenging environment.As a result of this trip, the team identified key learnings in three main areas: operational and technical issues, customers and stakeholders, and leadership. On Thursday, January 26, 2017, the energy executives from the mission will share their insights in a webinar titled, "Lessons from a DER Revolution Findings from the Executive Mission to Australia." This webinar will highlight the strategies and technologies being used to deploy DERs."The high penetration of distributed solar makes Australia an interesting and important case study for utilities in the United States," said Chris Vlahoplus, partner and clean tech & sustainability practice leader at ScottMadden.To register for this webinar, please click here: https://sepapower.org/ event/lessons- der-revolution- findin... . Contact us to schedule an interview with one of our thought leaders and learn more about our experience in the industry.Leveraging our energy expertise, the ScottMadden Clean Tech & Sustainability practice helps our clients effectively navigate through the quickly changing energy landscape. We specialize in assisting our clients with sustainable energy strategies and making smart portfolio choices. We work with our clients to understand and effectively utilize cleaner, renewable sources of energy, such as nuclear, wind, solar, biomass, and biofuels. Our experienced team of energy practitioners understands the roles of energy efficiency, demand response, and storage as part of an integrated strategy. We also assist clients with sustainability, bringing an understanding of energy-unique concerns.ScottMadden is the management consulting firm that does what it takes to get it done right. Our practice areas include Energy, Clean Tech & Sustainability, Corporate & Shared Services, and Grid Transformation. We deliver a broad array of consulting services ranging from strategic planning through implementation across many industries, business units, and functions. To learn more, visit www.scottmadden.com.The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) is an educational non-profit and a trusted platform for education, research and collaboration to help utilities deploy and integrate solar, storage, demand response, and other distributed energy resources. Created in 1992, we currently have over 1,000 members who represent the whole spectrum of industry stakeholders. Utilities, ISOs, large energy users, corporate and non-profits look to us to facilitate solutions for today's challenges and to meet tomorrow's electricity needs for the next decade and beyond. For more information, visit www.solarelectricpower.org. The hotel transaction volume in Austria comfortably exceeded 900m for the first time in 2016 a resounding record that more than doubled the previous high of 2012. According to Christie & Co, the investment volume on the Austrian hotel market was exceptionally high over the first half of 2016 [] NCC is selling Aitio Business Park in Helsinki for 45.26 million (SEK 430 million) to an equity fund within OP Financial group. Aitio Business Park is located in Helsinki on the main street Mannerheimintie and comprises two office properties, Vivaldi and Verdi, with a total leasable floor space of about [] TriGranit announced the appointment of Tamas Paldi, M.D. as Human Resources Director and Mariusz Domeracki as Finance Director for Poland. In his new role, Paldi will be responsible for TriGranits full scope of activities relating to HR, including manpower management, organizational effectiveness, training & development, performance management, compensation & benefits [] Earlier, GM India announced an investment of USD 1 billion to transform its ailing operations. The investment plan included a complete overhaul of the product portfolio with a new global emerging market platform as a primary element. However, the American automaker announced today that they are shutting down India operations. General Motors never made its mark in the Indian auto sector in spite of being one of the first foreign car brand to arrive in India. The company has deferred all future investments within the country. The news comes as a surprise, because it basically means that a prominent global automaker like GM is willing to afford to stay indifferent to India, which is touted to become the third largest auto market in the world by 2020. Back at the 2014 and 2016 Auto Expo, GM India had showcased some promising new products. This includes the Chevrolet Adra compact SUV, Chevrolet Essentia compact sedan, and the new Chevrolet Beat. With todays announcement, it is the end of the line for not only these products, but also for the products which are being sold in India currently. Accumulating losses, plummeting sales and uncertainty over government policies appear to have prompted GM India to take stock of the situation and review its future strategy. General Motors started scaling down Indian operations last year. They first consolidated manufacturing processes at its Talegaon plant, shut down Halol plant in Gujarat, and so on. In a statement to the media, Stefan Jacoby, GM executive vice president and president of GM International, said, We explored many options, but determined the increased investment originally planned for India would not deliver the returns of other significant global opportunities. It would also not help us achieve a leadership position or compelling, long-term profitability in the domestic market. Difficult as it has been to reach this decision, it is the right outcome to support our global strategy and deliver appropriate returns for our shareholders. Our decision in India is an important milestone in strengthening the performance of our GM International operations and establishing GM as a more focused and disciplined company. What happens to GM India car owners? Kaher Kazem, GM India president and managing director, said GM Indias export business has tripled over the past year. Exports will remain our focus going forward as we continue to leverage Indias strong supply base. We recently launched the new Chevrolet Beat hatchback for export to Mexico and Central and South American markets and will launch the Chevrolet Beat sedan later this year for those markets. We will support our affected customers, employees, dealers and suppliers. Chevrolet owners can be assured that we will continue to honor all warranties and provide comprehensive aftersales support. The company will work closely with affected customers and dealers on a transition plan. The customer support center will remain open and all warranties and service agreements, as well as ongoing service and parts requirements for all vehicles, will continue to be honored, confirmed GM India. GM India customers can call 1-800-3000-8080, email us at gmi.cac@gm.com or visit chevrolet.co.in. The GM Technical Centre-India (GMTC-I) in Bengaluru performs global work for GM. This work is not impacted by this announcement. News Release Chevrolet Essentia Concept Photos Tata Motors owned Jaguar Land Rover has been fined 900,000 (INR 7,67,41,277) by the Birmingham Crown Court after a worker at the companys Solihull plant in the UK lost his leg in an accident. It was in February 2015, that Mark Widnall, 59, from Coventry, had to have his right leg amputated from above the knee when he met with an accident at the JLR Solihull plant. Widnall now wears a prosthetic leg and has moved into to his mothers house following the accident, stating that it has robbed him of his independence. Widnall was crushed between two vehicles and it was just luck that saved him from sure death as the delivery driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into another car at the company plant. PM Narendra Modi on a visit to the Solihull plant back in 2015. JLR has been blamed for breach of health and safety regulations that put this worker through this ordeal which caused his right leg to be amputated. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who was present at the hearing found that the company had failed to take adequate precautions to ensure that the driver of the Range Rover was familiar with the procedures while the company had also failed to separate workers on the production line which also caused minor injuries to two other workers. Apart from the 900,000 which JLR will have to pay to Widnall, the company is also liable to shell out 49,868 (INR 42,19,248) in legal fees. JLR has accepted the courts decision and continues to work in accordance with HSE stringent laid down principles to ensure protection of its workers. Jaguar Land Rover Solihull plant is the companys oldest plant where JLR vehicles are being manufactured. From 1948, the plant has been only producing Land Rover vehicles, while from 2015, it also started producing Jaguar (XE). Designed by the British Government, the plant employs over 10,000 people. Toyota will finally launch the much awaited Yaris sedan in India this year. New Toyota Yaris sedan is already a huge hit in many countries in South East Asia. Expected to launch by mid 2018, the 2018 Toyota Yaris will rival the likes of Honda City, Maruti Ciaz and Hyundai Verna. Offered in the B segment sedan category, the new Yaris facelift sees some changes in its exterior design and interior lay out. Its exterior design is reminiscent of the all-new Camry Hybrid. It gets six exterior body colour schemes that include Red Mica Metallic, Quartz Brown Metallic, Super White, Silver Metallic, Gray Metallic and Attitude Black Mica. Exteriors also boast of projector headlamps, integrated LED lights, new T shaped front grille and new LED fog lamps. At the rear are seen new body graphics, LED lights and a chrome boot lid bar along with fluid fog lamps. The new Yaris facelift sits on 15 or 16 alloy wheels and gets a reverse camera depending on variant. Interiors also see some changes as compared to its earlier counterpart. It will continue to receive a double DIN 7 touchscreen audio system, keyless entry, leather or black fabric upholstery, and automatic climate controls while it gets four new interior themes which will depend on variants. In terms of safety, the 2018 Toyota Yaris facelift will be seen with dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, brake assist and collision safety body. It also gets Isofix anchors and Vehicle Stability Control with traction controls. For India, Toyota Yaris will be produced at Toyota Kirloskar Motor plant in Bangalore, from where the Etios is also being produced. It will be positioned in the C2 segment in which Honda City, Maruti Ciaz and Hyundai Verna are the leaders. With a plan to roll out about 50,000 units per year, production of Toyota Yaris will be launched ahead of the festive season next year. Toyota Yaris is expected to launch in both automatic and manual transmissions in India with a price ranging from INR 7.5 to 10 lakhs. The mid sized, five seater sedan will instantly appeal to Indian buyers due to its sophistication and contemporary stance with a host of interior advancements and exterior highlights. Yamaha India has been missing all the action from one of the fastest growing segment the 200-250 cc segment. Not only this segment is seeing good sales, but has also been reporting exponential increase in sales over the past few years. Finally, after a wait of many years, Yamaha India today announced the launch of FZ250. This new Yamaha FZ250 has been designed and developed for the Indian consumer. Entering the performance segment in India for the first time, Indian Yamaha Motors brings in the new Yamaha FZ250 street fighter at a sparkling event held at the Capital. Targeting the next generation Macho, this bike is bolder, bigger and faster while it is set to rival the likes of the Mahindra Mojo, Bajaj Pulsar NS200 and Honda CBR 250R along with the KTM Duke 200 and TVS Apache RTR 200 4V. Yamaha FZ250 Design Yamaha FZ250 is based on a 250cc motorcycle which is already on sale in Japan. But this is an all-new motorcycle which has been launched first in India. Design features inlcude LED headlamps, musculine fuel tank, split seats and a sculpted tail section with LED taillights. Light in weight at 148 kgs and agile in its stance, Yamaha FZ250 targets the young, urban rider, exuding macho styling, while it will be highly competent on the most challenging of road conditions. High in fuel efficiency and comfortable both for rider and passenger, the bike is quick and responsive. The Target Customer Catering to the comfort of the rider, Yamaha has introduced a wider handle bar which are lowered by 15mm and foot pegs set further to the rear while the bike is noted with disc brakes at the front and rear and telescopic forks in the front and mono shocks at the rear. On board equipment includes a digital LCD instrument cluster, LED pilot lamps besides automatic headlamp on. Yamaha FZ250 Engine Yamaha FZ250 sits on new 17 alloy wheels fitted with MRF Revz tyres and receives a BSIV compliant 249cc single cylinder, air cooled, 4 stroke, SOHC, fuel injected engine offering 20.9 bhp peak power at 8,000 rpm and peak torque of 20.4 Nm at 6,000 rpm mated to a 5 speed gearbox. Excellent startability is the highlight of this engine. Yamaha FZ250 Specs Yamaha FZ250 measures 2,015mm in length, 779mm in width and 1,075mm in height. Seat height is at 759mm while it sits on a wheelbase of 1,360mm and has ground clearance of 180mm along with a fuel tank capacity of 14 liters. Tyre sizes stand at 100/80-17M/C 52P tubeless in the front and 140/70-17M/C56S tubeless at the rear. Hydraulic single disc brakes in the front and rear and telescopic fork suspension in front along with swingarm suspension at the rear is also evident. Shock absorbers at the front and rear are of coil spring hydraulic damper. Sadly, ABS is not on offer even as an option. But, Yamaha India confirmed that ABS variant will be launched at a later date. Section Items Details Dimension & Weight Overall length 2015mm Overall width 770mm Overall height 1075mm Seat height 795mm Wheelbase 1360mm Minimum ground clearance 160mm Wet(with oil and a full fuel tank) 148kg Performance Minimum turning radius 2.5m Engine Performance Engine type Air cooled, 4-stroke, SOHC, 2-valve Cylinder arrangement Single cylinder Displacement 249cm3 Bore & stroke 74.058.0mm Compression ratio 9.8:1 Maximum horse power 15.4kW(20.9PS)/8000r/min Maximum torque 20.0N?m(2.0kgf?m)/6000r/min Starting system type Electric starter Lubrication system Wet sump Engine oil capacity 1.55L/1.63usqt/1.36Imp.qt Fuel Fuel tank capacity 14L/3.7usgal/3.1Imp.gal Carburetor Type/Fuel supply Fuel injection Electrical Ignition system type TCI (transistor controlled ignition) Spark plug model DR8EA Battery voltage/capacity 12V,6.0Ah(10HR) Battery Type ETZ-7 Transmission Final drive Chain Primary reduction ratio 3.083 (74/24) Secondary reduction ratio 3.067 (46/15) Clutch type Wet, multiple-disc Gear ratio Transmission type Constant mesh, 5-speed Shift type Return Gear ratio-1st gear 2.571 (36/14) Gear ratio-2nd gear 1.684 (32/19) Gear ratio-3rd gear 1.273 (28/22) Gear ratio-4th gear 1.040 (26/25) Gear ratio-5th gear 0.852 (23/27) Chassis Frame type Diamond Caster angle 2430? Trail 98mm Steering Angle Left:37, Right:37 Tire size(Front) 100/80-17M/C 52P Tubeless Tire size(Rear) 140/70-17M/C 66S Tubeless Rim size(Front) 17M/C MT2.50 Rim size(Rear) 17M/C MT4.00 Brake Brake type(Front) Hydraulic single disc brake Brake type(Rear) Hydraulic single disc brake Diameter of brake disk(Front) 282mm Diameter of brake disk(Rear) 220mm Inside diameter of drum / Effective radius of disc(Front) 257mm Inside diameter of drum / Effective radius of disc(Rear) 191mm Suspension Suspension type(Front) Telescopic fork Suspension type(Rear) Swingarm Shock absorber Shock absorber assembly type(Front) Coil spring/Hydraulic damper Shock absorber assembly type(Rear) Coil spring/Hydraulic damper Wheel travel(Front) 130mm Wheel travel(Rear) 120mm Inner tube diameter of front fork 41.0mm Bulbs(voltage/wattagex quantity) Headlight bulb type LED Headlight LED Auxiliary light 12V,5W1 Brake/tail light LED Turn signal light(Front) 12V,10W2 Turn signal light(Rear) 12V,10W2 Meter Speedometer Digital Tachometer Digital Odometer Liquid crystal Trip meter Liquid crystal Fuel gauge Digital Clock Digital Fuel consumption indicator Equipped Yamaha FZ250 Colours Yamaha FZ250 is offered in three color options of Ballistic Blue, Warrior White and Black Knight. The model will be on sales from February 2017. Yamaha FZ250 Exhaust Note News Release In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University have found evidence of a new principle for how epigenetic changes can occur. The principle is based on an enzyme, tryptase, that has epigenetic effects that cause cells to proliferate in an uncontrolled manner. "Cells that lack tryptase start to proliferate in an uncontrolled fashion and lose their identity. If tryptase is present, it will cleave the tails of histones, which will protect from certain epigenetic changes," says Gunnar Pejler, Professor at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology at Uppsala University. Many properties are determined by genetic factors, but we are starting to recognize that also epigenetic factors are of great importance. With epigenetics we mean such changes in genes that are not determined by changes in the actual DNA sequence, but effects that are superimposed on this, caused for example by environmental effects. Epigenetic effects include modification of DNA by incorporation of small chemical groups, methyl groups. Another important epigenetic mechanism is that the proteins that are packed together with DNA in the cell nucleus, called histones, can be chemically modified in their tails. Altogether, the different epigenetic mechanisms will lead to either activation or silencing of the respective genes. In a new study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers have now found a new principle for how epigenetic changes can occur. They have showed that one enzyme, tryptase, can be found in the nucleus of cells and that tryptase can cleave off the tails of histones. In this way, certain epigenetic modifications of the histone tails are removed. A very interesting finding was that this mechanism is important for maintaining the identity of the cells. Cells that lacked tryptase showed major changes, including a loss of their cellular identity and they also started to proliferate in an uncontrolled way. These effects were seen in mast cells which are central in allergic reactions. The researchers propose that this type of epigenetic effect could be of importance in dealing with allergic disease. However, it cannot be excluded that similar epigenetic effects are operative also in other cell types. New research finds that misinformation on climate change can psychologically cancel out the influence of accurate statements. However, if legitimate facts are delivered with an "inoculation" -- a warning dose of misinformation -- some of the positive influence is preserved. In medicine, vaccinating against a virus involves exposing a body to a weakened version of the threat, enough to build a tolerance. Social psychologists believe that a similar logic can be applied to help "inoculate" the public against misinformation, including the damaging influence of 'fake news' websites propagating myths about climate change. A new study compared reactions to a well-known climate change fact with those to a popular misinformation campaign. When presented consecutively, the false material completely cancelled out the accurate statement in people's minds -- opinions ended up back where they started. Researchers then added a small dose of misinformation to delivery of the climate change fact, by briefly introducing people to distortion tactics used by certain groups. This "inoculation" helped shift and hold opinions closer to the truth, despite the follow-up exposure to 'fake news'. The study on US attitudes found the inoculation technique shifted the climate change opinions of Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike. advertisement Published in the journal Global Challenges, the study was conducted by researchers from the universities of Cambridge, UK, Yale and George Mason, US. It is one of the first on 'inoculation theory' to try and replicate a 'real world' scenario of conflicting information on a highly politicised subject. "Misinformation can be sticky, spreading and replicating like a virus," says lead author Dr Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist from the University of Cambridge and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab. "We wanted to see if we could find a 'vaccine' by pre-emptively exposing people to a small amount of the type of misinformation they might experience. A warning that helps preserve the facts. "The idea is to provide a cognitive repertoire that helps build up resistance to misinformation, so the next time people come across it they are less susceptible." To find the most compelling climate change falsehood currently influencing public opinion, van der Linden and colleagues tested popular statements from corners of the internet on a nationally representative sample of US citizens, with each one rated for familiarity and persuasiveness. advertisement The winner: the assertion that there is no consensus among scientists, apparently supported by the Oregon Global Warming Petition Project. This website claims to hold a petition signed by "over 31,000 American scientists" stating there is no evidence that human CO2 release will cause climate change. The study also used the accurate statement that "97% of scientists agree on humanmade climate change." Prior work by van der Linden has shown this fact about scientific consensus is an effective 'gateway' for public acceptance of climate change. In a disguised experiment, researchers tested the opposing statements on over 2,000 participants across the US spectrum of age, education, gender and politics using the online platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. In order to gauge shifts in opinion, each participant was asked to estimate current levels of scientific agreement on climate change throughout the study. Those shown only the fact about climate change consensus (in pie chart form) reported a large increase in perceived scientific agreement -- an average of 20 percentage points. Those shown only misinformation (a screenshot of the Oregon petition website) dropped their belief in a scientific consensus by 9 percentage points. Some participants were shown the accurate pie chart followed by the erroneous Oregon petition. The researchers were surprised to find the two neutralised each other (a tiny difference of 0.5 percentage points). "It's uncomfortable to think that misinformation is so potent in our society," says van der Linden. "A lot of people's attitudes toward climate change aren't very firm. They are aware there is a debate going on, but aren't necessarily sure what to believe. Conflicting messages can leave them feeling back at square one." Alongside the consensus fact, two groups in the study were randomly given 'vaccines': A general inoculation, consisting of a warning that "some politically-motivated groups use misleading tactics to try and convince the public that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists." A detailed inoculation that picks apart the Oregon petition specifically. For example, by highlighting some of the signatories are fraudulent, such as Charles Darwin and members of the Spice Girls, and less than 1% of signatories have backgrounds in climate science. For those 'inoculated' with this extra data, the misinformation that followed did not cancel out the accurate message. The general inoculation saw an average opinion shift of 6.5 percentage points towards acceptance of the climate science consensus, despite exposure to fake news. When the detailed inoculation was added to the general, it was almost 13 percentage points -- two-thirds of the effect seen when participants were just given the consensus fact. The research team point out that tobacco and fossil fuel companies have used psychological inoculation in the past to sow seeds of doubt, and to undermine scientific consensus in the public consciousness. They say the latest study demonstrates that such techniques can be partially "reversed" to promote scientific consensus, and work in favour of the public good. The researchers also analysed the results in terms of political parties. Before inoculation, the fake negated the factual for both Democrats and Independents. For Republicans, the fake actually overrode the facts by 9 percentage points. However, following inoculation, the positive effects of the accurate information were preserved across all parties to match the average findings (around a third with just general inoculation; two-thirds with detailed). "We found that inoculation messages were equally effective in shifting the opinions of Republicans, Independents and Democrats in a direction consistent with the conclusions of climate science," says van der Linden. "What's striking is that, on average, we found no backfire effect to inoculation messages among groups predisposed to reject climate science, they didn't seem to retreat into conspiracy theories. "There will always be people completely resistant to change, but we tend to find there is room for most people to change their minds, even just a little." Children with autism may benefit from fecal transplants -- a method of introducing donated healthy microbes into people with gastrointestinal disease to rebalance the gut, a new study has found. Behavioral symptoms of autism and gastrointestinal distress often go hand-in-hand, and both improved when a small group of children with the disorder underwent fecal transplant and subsequent treatment. In the study of 18 children with autism and moderate to severe gastrointestinal problems, parents and doctors said they saw positive changes that lasted at least eight weeks after the treatment. Children without autism were included for comparison of bacterial and viral gut composition prior to the study. "Transplants are working for people with other gastrointestinal problems. And, with autism, gastrointestinal symptoms are often severe, so we thought this could be potentially valuable," said Ann Gregory, one of the study's lead authors and a microbiology graduate student at The Ohio State University. "Following treatment, we found a positive change in GI symptoms and neurological symptoms overall," she said. The study, which appears in the journal Microbiome, was conducted while Gregory and her adviser and co-author, Matthew Sullivan, were at the University of Arizona. Other lead researchers on the project are from Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University. advertisement A growing body of research is drawing connections between the bacteria and viruses that inhabit the gut and problems in the brain, and it is possible the two are tied together in an important way in autism, she said. Previous research has established that children with autism typically have fewer types of some important bacteria in their guts and less bacterial diversity overall -- a difference that held true in this study. That could be because many of them are prescribed a lot of antibiotics in the first three years of life, the research team wrote in the study. Parents of the children not only reported a decrease in gut woes including diarrhea and stomach pain in the eight weeks following the end of treatment: They also said they saw significant changes for the better when it came to behavioral autism symptoms in their sons and daughters, who ranged from 7 to 16 years old. The researchers collected this information from parents through established, standardized questionnaires to assess social skills, irritability, hyperactivity, communication and other measures. One of those tools showed the average developmental age increased by 1.4 years after treatment. The average score on a scale for ranking gastrointestinal symptoms dropped 82 percent from the beginning to the end of treatment. And when the researchers asked parents to give feedback on 17 autism-related symptoms, they saw overall improvement that was sustained two months after the final treatment. advertisement The researchers also asked the children's doctors to complete a diagnostic evaluation before the experimental treatment, at the end of treatment and eight weeks after that. Those results pointed to lasting benefits. Doctor-reported symptoms (from the Childhood Autism Rating Scale) decreased by 22 percent at the end of treatment and 24 percent eight weeks after treatment ended compared with ratings at the start of the study. Researchers also were able to document a rebalancing of the gut following treatment. At the end of the study, the bacterial diversity in the children with autism was indistinguishable from their healthy peers. The study also included a unique viral analysis by Ohio State scientists, made possible because of previous work in the world's oceans. Gregory, who is particularly interested in the interplay between viruses and bacteria, used genetic testing to examine the viral diversity in the guts of the treated children. It rebounded quickly, and became more similar to the donor's microbiome. "Those donor viruses seemed to help," she said. Fecal transplantation is done by processing donor feces and screening it for disease-causing viruses and bacteria before introducing it into another person's gastrointestinal tract. In this study, the researchers used a method called microbiota transfer therapy, which started with the children receiving a two-week course of antibiotics to wipe out much of their existing gut flora. Then, doctors gave them an initial high-dose fecal transplant in liquid form. In the seven to eight weeks that followed, the children drank smoothies blended with a lower-dose powder. There currently exists no approved pharmaceutical treatment for autism. James Adams, one of the study's lead authors and an Arizona State University professor who specializes in autism, called the results compelling, but cautioned that larger, more rigorous studies confirming benefits must be done before the approach could be used widely. Limitations of this study include its small size. The children and their parents also knew they were receiving the experimental treatment (neither the researchers nor the subjects were blinded to that) and the researchers relied heavily on parents' observations, both of which open the door for false perceived benefits. "We have to be mindful of the placebo effect and we have to take it with a grain of salt," said Sullivan, an associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State. "But it does give us hope." The research team is seeking additional funding for a larger clinical trial. Scientists are trying to work out the cellular-level details of why patients who undergo fecal transplants for various conditions, such as C. diff infection, see improvement, Gregory said. "Doctors know it works, just not how," she said. And they're interested in uncovering the precise types of bacteria and viruses that make a difference -- those types of discoveries could lead to lab-engineered treatments tailored to specific diseases, Sullivan said. Sullivan said the team originally planned to study the use of probiotics in autism, but shifted gears when fecal transplantation began to show benefits for those with other conditions. The research team cautioned that families should not try to replicate the experimental treatment on their own, as it could harm children if done improperly. Where would we be without meiosis and recombination? For a start, none of us sexually reproducing organisms would be here, because that's how sperm and eggs are made. And when meiosis doesn't work properly, it can lead to infertility, miscarriage, birth defects and developmental disorders. Neil Hunter's laboratory at the UC Davis College of Biological Sciences is teasing out the complex details of how meiosis works. In a new paper published online Jan. 6 in the journal Science, Hunter's group describes new key players in meiosis, proteins called SUMO and ubiquitin and molecular machines called proteasomes. Ubiquitin is already well-known as a small protein that "tags" other proteins to be destroyed by proteasomes (wood chippers for proteins). SUMO is a close relative of ubiquitin. The Meiosis Tango During meiosis, the chromosomes engage in a complicated, but intricately controlled, dance so that each sperm or egg cell: Has half the number of chromosomes of a regular body cell, and Exactly one of each of the chromosomes (regular body cells have pairs of chromosomes, apart from the X and Y sex chromosomes) To achieve these goals, the meiotic cells go through two rounds of division and a number of preceding stages that you can find in any good biology text book. In preparation for the first division, chromosomes closely associate into matching pairs and then become connected by crossing-over -- the breakage and rejoining of chromosome arms. The connections provided by crossovers are important for the accurate distribution of chromosomes. Without crossovers, the wrong number of chromosomes may end up in the sperm or egg cells. Crossing over also shuffles the deck of DNA, making new combinations of the differences between the chromosomes that we inherited from our parents. This is why children look a bit like their parents, but not exactly. Hunter's lab, and the lab of their colleague Valentine Borner (Cleveland State University) now reveal the central roles of SUMO, ubiquitin and proteasomes in meiosis. Altogether, chromosomes have hundreds of potential crossover sites, but only a few will become actual crossovers. Somehow, the cell has to narrow the large number of possibilities to a few sites, but in such a way that there's at least one crossover per chromosome. Hunter's team found that SUMO, ubiquitin and proteasomes play a critical role in this crossover site selection. "When you visualize these proteins under the microscope, they accumulate all along the chromosomes, specifically along the chromosome axes, where all the action is occurring," Hunter said. The chromosome axis is a protein scaffold that organizes DNA into a series of loops. Pairing and crossing over occur between the two axes of each pair of matching chromosomes. What Hunter's lab discovered is that when chromosomes are paired up, SUMO acts as a brake on the DNA interactions occurring at the hundreds of potential crossover sites. Without this brake, none of these sites form crossovers. "Without SUMO, there are no crossovers and meiosis fails," Hunter said. "We think that stalling the process provides time to select and mature the crossover sites." Ubiquitin and proteasomes acts on the other side of the process, releasing the brake and allowing DNA interactions to continue. The balance of SUMO and ubiquitin allows just enough crossovers to occur, to help ensure that sperm and eggs get one each chromosome. The team worked mostly with cells from mice, including mice genetically "knocked out" for genes associated with SUMO, ubiquitin and related proteins in the process. These genes and proteins of course have counterparts in humans, and variants in these genes may be associated with fertility. A new study indicates that yoga and aerobic exercise interventions did not significantly reduce objectively measured sleep disturbances among midlife women who were experiencing hot flashes. Secondary analyses of a randomized controlled trial show that neither 12 weeks of yoga nor 12 weeks of aerobic exercise had a statistically significant effect on objective measures of sleep duration or sleep quality recorded by actigraphy. Although the women had no difficulty falling asleep, disturbed sleep was common at baseline and remained after each intervention, with women in all groups waking during the night for an average of more than 50 minutes. According to the authors, previously published analyses of the same trial had found that the yoga and aerobic exercise interventions were associated with small but statistically significant improvements in subjective, self-reported sleep quality and insomnia severity. "Our primary findings were that the two study interventions had no significant effects on objective sleep outcomes in midlife women with hot flashes. The main implication of this finding is that other behavior treatments with the potential for effectively improving sleep in this population should be examined," said lead author Diana Taibi Buchanan, associate professor of Bio-Behavioral Nursing and Health Informatics at the University of Washington in Seattle. Study results are published in the Jan. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. The authors analyzed data from the Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health (MsFLASH) network. The study involved 186 late transition and postmenopausal women with hot flashes who were between 40 and 62 years of age. Study subjects had an average of 7.3 to 8 hot flashes per day. Participants were randomized to 12 weeks of yoga, supervised aerobic exercise, or usual activity. Sleep measures were evaluated using wrist actigraphy, and bedtimes and rise times were determined primarily from the participants' sleep diaries. Mean sleep duration at baseline and after each intervention was less than the 7 or more hours of nightly sleep that is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for optimal health in adults. According to the authors, future research should explore other approaches for improving sleep quality in midlife women, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. UViruses are everywhere. They affect all forms of life, from complex mammals down to the mere fungus. We may not give much thought to fungal viruses, or mycoviruses, but new research from the University of Illinois suggests they deserve a closer look. "There's been a lot of work done with human and animal and plant viruses. There isn't as much known about fungal viruses or insect viruses, because if they get infected with a virus, no one cares," explains U of I and USDA ARS virologist Leslie Domier. It turns out there are good reasons to care about mycoviruses. Fungal diseases account for approximately 10 percent yield losses annually in corn and soybean. When certain mycoviruses infect those fungi, they can become less virulent -- good news for crop yields. These forms were the targets of a recent investigation by Domier and his colleagues. "In addition to viruses that make fungi less virulent, we were also looking for those that might be transmitted outside of the fungus the way a cold virus is transmitted, where you can pick it up off a surface without having direct contact with another person. Therefore, we were particularly interested in viruses that were encapsidated, or that formed virus particles," Domier explains. The team extracted genetic material, DNA and RNA, from five major types of plant-pathogenic fungi and used computers to search for genetic sequences that resembled those of known viruses. "We found a lot of sequences that were very similar to previously described fungal viruses, but we also found some encapsidated forms that were similar to plant viruses. Those were the ones we were most interested in, because they reduce fungal virulence and can be transmitted outside the fungus," he says. This key combination may make it possible for these viruses to be used as biological control agents. "Some mycoviruses have been shown in laboratory or greenhouse studies to be very effective biocontrol agents," Domier says. One day, the encapsidated forms they discovered may be sprinkled on a field to kill pathogenic fungi and improve soybean yield. Interestingly, the research could also improve medical treatment options for human fungal diseases. "The biochemical pathways in fungi are relatively close to humans, so it's often difficult to find something that will kill a fungus and not damage the person. Ultimately, we are hoping to explore whether we can use mycoviruses to reduce the severity of human disease to the point where normal immune response could clear the disease from the body," Domier says. The article, "Identification of diverse mycoviruses through metatranscriptomics characterization of the viromes of five major fungal plant pathogens," is published in the Journal of Virology. The research was funded by the National Sclerotinia Initiative and the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. Scientists who study a molecule known to play a role in certain types of cancers and neurodegenerative disorders have a powerful new tool to study this compound due to research conducted at Indiana University. The study, published Jan. 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows how the extreme growth experienced by fruit flies in their earliest stage of life shares biochemical similarities with the growth of cancer cells. "We found that the same molecule implicated in human cancers is also produced by fruit flies during their larval stage," said senior author Jason M. Tennessen, an assistant professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. "The discovery is significant because it provides the first animal model to understand how these molecules function in healthy cells. "If we can determine the function of this molecule in normal cells, we can better understand how it causes human disease." Specifically, the study is the first to find that fruit flies produce L-2-hydroxyglutarate, or L-2HG, a molecule commonly regarded as an "oncometabolite," which can promote tumor formation and growth. L-2HG has been found in tumor cells from patients with brain and kidney cancers, as well as the rare neurological disorder L-2-hydroxyglutaric aciduria, whose symptoms include muscle weakness, seizures and damage to the parts of the brain that control muscle movement, speech, vision, emotion and memory. Another form of the molecule -- a "mirror image" version called D-2HG -- has also been found in brain tumors and leukemia. advertisement The IU study is also the first to show how the molecule functions in a living system where cancer is not present. "How the function of L-2GH differs between healthy and diseased tissues is poorly understood," Tennessen said. "In addition to establishing a new model for studying this cancer-related molecule, our study demonstrates that a compound previously regarded as a metabolic waste product actually functions in healthy animals." The discovery of L-2HG in fruit flies was a surprise, Tennessen added. His lab had been working to create fruit flies that lacked lactate dehydrogenase, an enzyme commonly thought to fuel growth in many tumors, and therefore a potential target for cancer drug development. After analyzing normal and mutant flies with metabolomics -- a technology that simultaneously catalogs hundreds of small molecules in the insect's body -- Tennessen's team was surprised to find the mutant flies stopped producing not only lactate but also L-2HG, which showed the enzyme was responsible for producing this molecule as well. The IU researchers then examined the unmodified flies to understand the role of L-2HG in these insects. Their analysis found the flies normally produce the molecule at high levels in the larval stage -- a period of extreme growth during which the body grows over 200 times in size over several days. They also identified a new mechanism that allowed the flies to control their accumulation of the molecule. The mechanism is significant since the high L-2HG levels that flies produce in early life is precisely controlled -- a stark contrast to the production of this molecule in cancer and diseased cells. "What we need to do next is conduct further research to really nail down how exactly this molecule functions in a healthy animal," Tennessen said. "What happens if there's too much of it, or too little? Does it accelerate growth, or slow it down? Exactly what genes does it control? There's a lot of important questions we can answer using the power of fly genetics." A Utah law has led to increased early identification of infants with hearing loss due to a congenital infection, according to a new study by University of Utah and Utah Department of Health researchers. The study, published in Pediatrics, is the first to assess how implementation of a state-wide screening can pick up hearing loss in infants due to congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV). Utah, which has the nation's highest birth rate, was the first state to mandate CMV screening for infants who fail newborn hearing tests. The Utah law is proving a model for other states. "Our study demonstrates that policy changes such as the one in Utah that required CMV testing after failed newborn hearing screening can improve the identification of infants with hearing loss, even those without congenital CMV," said Marissa Diener, lead author and associate professor at the University of Utah's Department of Family and Consumer Studies. "This is important because timely identification of hearing loss can enable earlier intervention, which is linked to better language outcomes for children." The Utah legislation also provided funds for educational campaigns surrounding congenital CMV, which is important given its prevalence, Diener said. "Although congenital Zika infection is less prevalent in the U. S. than CMV, many people have heard of the Zika virus but fewer are familiar with cytomegalovirus," Diener said. Cytomegalovirus is the most common congenital infection, affecting about 1 in 150 children or 30,000 newborns in the U.S. each year. In Utah that equates to roughly one baby born per day. advertisement An infant born with the infection often shows no symptoms or signs; most of those infants do not experience any long-term effects. But the virus can potentially damage the brain, eyes and inner ear. It is estimated that 6 percent to 30 percent of hearing loss in children may be due to congenital CMV, making it the leading non-genetic cause of hearing loss in the United States. In 2013, Utah became the first state to enact a public health initiative requiring CMV education and testing. The Utah Department of Health was tasked with creating a program about birth defects associated with and ways to prevent congenital CMV. (For more information about the program, please visit health.utah.gov/cmv.) "CMV is transmitted through body fluids. Washing your hands often, especially after wiping a young child's nose, mouth or tears or changing diapers is important, said Stephanie Browning McVicar, co-author and director of the Cytomegalovirus Public Health Initiative at the Utah Department of Health. "What is also essential, though, is not sharing food, drink or utensils, particularly with young children, while pregnant." The bill also requires all infants who fail two hearing screens to be tested for CMV within three weeks of birth unless a parent declines the test. By using that time frame, health providers are able to distinguish between congenital CMV and CMV acquired after birth, which is rarely associated with health problems. The screening parameters also are designed to identify infants who do not have any symptoms but are most at risk for hearing loss. The researchers used Utah Department of Health and Vital Records data to assess whether 509 asymptomatic infants who failed hearing tests between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2015 underwent CMV screening and the results of that screening. They found that 62 percent of these infants were tested for CMV and three-quarters were screened within the three-week time frame. Fourteen of those infants were CMV positive and six had hearing loss. Of the infants who were tested more than 21 days after birth, seven were CMV positive and three had hearing loss. The researchers conclude that because these infants had no signs of infection, it is "highly likely" they would not have been diagnosed later as having congenitally acquired CMV. Identification of CMV-positive infants increased opportunities to watch their health more closely and intervene, when needed, more quickly. They also found more infants received timely diagnostic hearing tests after the law took effect. "This result has major implications for all children who fail their newborn hearing screening since speech and language outcomes depend upon early hearing loss diagnosis," said Albert Park, co-author and chief of the U's pediatric otolaryngology division. "CMV infected infants with hearing loss may benefit from antiviral therapy. This question will hopefully be addressed in an upcoming NIH funded clinical trial that our group will be conducting to compare hearing, speech and language outcomes in CMV infected infants." The researchers suggest, based on their analysis of the data, that screening compliance could be increased by focusing educational and outreach efforts on certain groups who were less likely to get their infants screened for congenital CMV: less educated mothers, babies not born in a hospital and infants who received hearing tests later than 14 days after birth. Discover Bolivia Travelers booking flights to Bolivia have a lot to look forward to. Pristine Incan ruins highlight the vast span of time in Bolivia's rich history and make for a compelling reason to visit this beautiful country. The ruins at Tiwanaku feature elaborate, mortarless masonry and mysterious structures, like the Gates of the Sun and Moon. Mountain climbing, biking, trekking and kayaking are the best ways to experience Bolivias unparalleled scenery first-hand. Flights to Bolivia land at El Alto International Airport (LPB), located near the capital city of La Paz, a good place to start exploring the region. Flights to Bolivia La Paz is an enticing destination, which is why travelers love taking advantage of cheap flights to Bolivia. El Alto International Airport (LPB) contains one passenger terminal and features duty-free shopping, souvenir shops, bookstores and restaurants. Travelers can take buses from the airport or rent cars, although a taxi ride to the center of La Paz will cost just $10. The trip is 10 miles, and the ride takes around 40 minutes. Visitors to the city of El Alto can check out the market near the statue of Che Guevara just outside the airport grounds on Thursdays and Sundays. Attractions in Bolivia The pretty colonial buildings of La Paz beckon travelers to book cheap flights to Bolivia, with the Plaza Murillo having the best view of the city's architecture. Sagarnaga Street is lined with shops selling hand-crafted items for those wishing to take a piece of Bolivia home. Many excellent museums, including the National Ethnographic and Folk Museum, offer valuable insights about this country of 37 languages and half a dozen ethnic groups. Exploring the countryside is a joy, in part because the people of Bolivia are friendly and welcoming. Mysterious Lake Titicaca is one of the largest lakes in South America. Elaborate reed boats travel the clear waters, and the Isla Del Sol boasts many Incan ruins. The charming Andean village of Quime is a great place to start exploring the rich biodiversity of the region. Travel Tips for Bolivia Weather patterns and temperatures vary throughout Bolivia. The Altiplano region, where La Paz is located, is high desert, with cold, dry conditions. Daily highs are in the 60s, with nights sometimes falling to the 30s. Temperatures in the countrys tropical regions can reach the 90s. Temperatures in other areas hover in the 70s. The city of Oruro hosts the yearly Carnival festival in late February to early March. Elaborate costumes, dancing, music and food can be seen in the streets for the duration of the event. The Festival of San Juan Batista is celebrated across the country on June 25, and festivities are characterized by bonfires and fire walking. The Incas first cultivated potatoes thousands of years ago, and potatoes are still a staple of Bolivian cuisine to this day. Dishes are hearty and often contain beef, chicken, pork or guinea pig and llajhua sauce. Empanadas are another favorite. These are small, portable hand pies filled with savory, spicy or sweet ingredients. Milk and fruit are mixed with sugar for thirst-quenching treats called licuados. Meals for two people in a mid-range restaurant cost around $30. Discover Saudi Arabia Cheap Flights to Saudi Arabia The pointed spires of ornate mosques and the haunting call to prayer floating on the night air are the cornerstone images of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This modern country was laid on the foundation of ancient Bedouin tribes that once crossed the sandy peninsula in camel trains. Cheap flights to Saudi Arabia can be readily found, and they usually land at King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in the capital city. Flights to Saudi Arabia Most international flights to Saudi Arabia land at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. There are four terminals at the airport, each with restaurants, ATMs, shops, VIP lounges, and first aid services. Moving sidewalks connect all terminals. Rental cars and hotel shuttles can be arranged for transport into Riyadh, but there is no public transport available. Taxis are available to drive passengers the 25 miles into the capital for around $20. Attractions in Saudi Arabia The capital city of Riyadh is a bustling, modern skyline of sleek skyscrapers and bright lights. As a hub for air travel in the country, its often possible to find cheap flights to Saudi Arabia that land here with connecting flights to other parts of the country. The Masmak Citadel and a traditional souk of winding alleys filled with vendors selling spices, silks, incense, and rugs give visitors a feel for the historic Arabian Peninsula. Most of the city today is a center of business and industry with shopping malls, swanky restaurants, and beautiful parks. The National Museum is an enjoyable and educational tour through the civilizations that lived on the peninsula in the past. The city of Jeddah is on the Red Sea coast and offers some spectacular scuba diving opportunities. The Fakieh Aquarium houses many of the aquatic species found off the coast for those who like to stay above the waves. The King's Fountain, a gigantic spout of water shooting into the sky, is visible for miles in any direction. Its considered the tallest fountain of its type in the world. Travel Tips for Saudi Arabia Travelers to Saudi Arabia should be prepared for high daily temperatures that quickly disperse when the sun sets. May through September are the hottest months of the year with temperatures remaining above 100 degrees during the daylight hours. Winter temperatures range in the 70s and 80s with nighttime lows sometimes falling into the 50s. The largest celebration in Saudi Arabia is Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. The date of this festival follows the lunar calendar and changes each year. The exciting Janadriyah National Festival takes place each February and features camel and horse racing, crafts, and poetry recitals. Visitors can often find flights to Saudi Arabia that will coincide with the dates of certain festivals. Saudi Arabian cuisine includes delicious dishes found throughout the Near East such as shawarma, roasted and marinated meat sliced thin and often placed in pita bread. Falafel is another popular dish and consists of little balls of fried chickpea or fava bean paste that can be eaten as an appetizer or as a sandwich ingredient. Sweets include cardamom-flavored cookies called kleeja, which can be enjoyed with a cup of Saudi-style coffee. Two people can enjoy several courses at a mid-range restaurant for around $20. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Government boasts of victories in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, alliances with Turkey, China and Russia to oppose the West plus the end of sanctions has not had the desired effect on most Iranians. Opinion surveys showed that 90 percent of Iranians backed the Syrian operations in 2015 but that dropped to 73 percent in 2016 and is now less than 30 percent. There were similar declines regarding Iranian support for Hezbollah and Shia militias in Lebanon, Syria. Yemen and Iraq. Most Iranians are more concerned with own circumstances, which have not improved much despite all the government boasting of victories elsewhere. The 2015 treaty that lifted sanctions promised much but, for the average Iranian, delivered little. While the religious leaders who have controlled the government since the 1980s are obsessed with making Shia Islam dominant in the region and destroying Israel the average Iranian notes there has been little progress in providing jobs or economic opportunities for most Iranians. While the religious dictatorship can, in theory, do whatever it wants as a practical matter that is not so. Thats why opinion polls are still allowed. The religious leaders remember that they overthrew the monarchy in large part because the last shah (emperor) lost power largely because he ignored public opinion. There is disagreement within the religious leadership over how much public opposition you can ignore. At one extreme you have IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps) generals who, like the late shah, are inclined to ignore public opinion and put down with force any public displays of dissent. At the other extremes you have religious leaders to are willing to compromise with many popular demands, especially those related to economic freedom and curbing corruption. That goal collides with the IRGC, which is all about controlling all manner of personal freedoms and tolerating corruption when it benefits the IRGC. Another major complaint most Iranians share is growing opposition to the use of lifestyle police to enforce unpopular rules about how women should dress and behave as well as prohibitions on all sorts of traditional Iranian pastimes (like drinking alcohol and watching what they want in movie theaters, TV and the Internet). What apparently scares the hardliners most these days is the Internet and the growing popularity of cell phones that provide access to the Internet. The constantly growing supply of social media apps is particularly scary because more of them use encryption and are designed to be difficult to monitor and censor. Among Iranians one of the more popular messaging apps these days is Telegram, which allows any user to establish a news site and start posting things that the lifestyle police do not like. Not just pictures of women showing their hair (and sometimes much more) but messages criticizing the government and doing in accurate and embarrassing detail. The hardline clerics want to crack down hard on immoral Internet use and are unwilling to give any ground in these areas. Many of the senior clerics pay more attention to Iranian history and know that the hardliners could be crushed if it came to a fight and most Iranians do not want that sort of bloodshed, at least not yet. But most Iranians also want change and in the past they have shown a willingness to fight if pushed too far. Violent rebellion is still a possibility, especially with so many new reformers being former hardliners who now are all for less corruption, intrusive lifestyle police and restrictions on foreign trade but still want America and Israel destroyed one way or another. Yet these same anti-American reformers also want better relations with Turkey and the Arabs as well as less dependence on Russia. As usual, not all is what it seems in Iran. Meanwhile the government is busy trying to comply with the 2015 treaty to get most of the sanctions lifted and so far that is working, at least on paper. Even then international economists believe it will be several more years before the Iranian economy gets moving again. The main reasons are the internal corruption and factional political battles within the religious government. Another problem that rarely gets discussed outside of Iran is that half the population consists of ethnic minorities (mainly Turks, Kurds and Arabs), and some of these groups (Arabs, Kurds and Baluchis) are getting more restive and violent (for different reasons). Meanwhile, the Islamic conservatives are determined to support terrorism overseas and build nuclear weapons at home rather than concentrating on improving the economy and living standards. Expensive efforts to aid pro-Iran groups in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon have worked but have to be presented as examples of the ancient Iranian empire being reborn. That was a propaganda theme the late shah pushed. The current government, like the late shah, saw foreign adventures as a way to distract an unhappy population. The nukes are still important because Iran has been increasingly vocal about how Iran should be the leader of the Islamic world and the guardian of the major Islamic shrines (Mecca and Medina) in Saudi Arabia. Iranians believe that having nukes would motivate the Arabs to bow down. The Arabs have been kicked around by the Iranians for thousands of years and take this latest threat very seriously. But so do a growing number of Iranians, who are generally less enthusiastic about the risks, and costs, of empire building. Iraq The Iraqis admitted that it will take another three months (or longer) to take Mosul. Most Iraqis accept this because it is understood this approach also keeps civilian casualties down and keeps the Iran backed Shia militias out of the fighting. That prevents more atrocities against non-Shia civilians in general and Iraqi Sunnis in particular. More importantly it shows Iran that Iraq can take care of this without a lot of Iranian help. While over half of Iraqis are Shia they do not want the country dominated by Shia (but non-Arab) Iran. As a result many of the Iran backed Shia militias have proved reliable (in their treatment of non-Shia civilians) when assigned to police and protect areas ISIL had recently been driven from. Sunni civilians are often warned by ISIL that Shia militias will kill them, rape the women and generally misbehave. But most of the Shia militiamen bring with them needed food and medical aid and generally behave well. Yet the government knows there are violently pro-Iran Shia Iraqis in some of these militias so the risk of bad behavior is always there. Perhaps to avoid that the government announced that some Iraqi Shia militias would be allowed to cross into Syria to aid in the effort to drive ISIL out of eastern Syria. Iranians are also present among the several thousand foreign troops, all of them advisors or specialists (like American air control, intelligence or communications specialists) working with the 30,000 Iraqis fighting to drive ISIL out of Mosul. There are over a thousand Iranians providing training, advisory and support assistance to the pro-Iran Shia militias. The Iraqi government fears that these IRGC advisors and trainers are secretly building pro-Iran armed militias in Iraq. Thats simply not true because the IRGC is quite open about what they are doing to encourage Iraqi Shia to organize armed groups so they can work with Iran someday to impose the same kind of religious dictatorship in Iraq that has existed in Iran since the 1980s. Yemen The UN continues to push for peace talks but the Iran backed Shia rebels are apparently not interested, at least not yet. Iran senses victory in Syria this year and everyone is waiting to see what the new U.S. government will do about Iranian support for the Shia rebels in Yemen. The previous American government agreed to lift many economic sanctions on Iran and as part of that deal provided Iran with billions in cash and refused to put much pressure on Iran for supporting military operations in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and elsewhere (in areas that attract less media attention, like Africa and South America). That is expected to change this year but it is unclear how soon and how much. Captured rebel commanders admit (some say boast) that Hezbollah and Iranian personnel run military training camps in the north (Saada province) where the Shia rebel tribes have their ancient homeland. Despite overwhelming evidence of Iranian weapons being supplied to the Shia rebels the Russian and Chinese support in the UN blocks any international action against Iran. The Arab coalition has imposed an air, sea and land blockade of rebel territories but continued control of much of the Red Sea coast and the inability to search all the numerous small cargo and fishing boats operating along the coast make it possible to well-paid smugglers to get most shipments through. The continued prevalence of accepting bribes from truckers wishing to avoid a search of their cargo allows smugglers to also use a land route via Oman. Iran makes no secret of the fact that it is supplying the cash (for bribes and the rebel payroll) as well as advisors. Also important is the Iranian run media campaign that has managed to get more attention paid to civilian casualties from the Arab coalition air attacks (the rebels have no air support). The smuggling not only keeps the Shia rebels supplied with ammo and light weapons (assault rifles, machine-guns. RPGs launchers) but also some very large items, like Iranian Zelzal-3 unguided rockets. Several of these have been fired at targets in Saudi Arabia and are easy to identify by examining fragments of the missile after it hits the ground. These rockets are very large. Zelzal-3 is a 9.4 meter (30 foot) long, 610mm (24 inch) diameter, 3.9 ton missile. Another factor the Iranians are taking advantage of is the unwillingness of the Arab coalition to risk a lot of their own troops getting killed in combat. The Yemen war is not popular with the other Arab nations because Yemen is seen as its own worst enemy and no friend of the other Arabian states. But these Arab neighbors had little choice but to intervene in 2015 when the Yemen unrest became a full civil war as Shia rebels sought to take control of the entire country. Neighboring Arab states quickly formed a military coalition to halt that. The Arab coalition appeared to be succeeding because by 2016 pro-government forces were close enough to launch a major assault on the rebel-held capital. At that point Arab coalition casualties also increased and the Arab coalition governments were reminded how unpopular the Yemen intervention was at home. The U.S. refused to send in ground troops but the Arabs eventually did. The Arab troops made a big difference despite suffering some embarrassing defeats along the way. This was an impressive display of Arab military capabilities, which benefitted from all the money spent on high-tech weapons since the 1990s. Turkey And Other Unnatural Acts This is all about good news/bad news. The good news is that economic and diplomatic relations with Turkey are better than they have been for years. For example imports from Turkey were up 40 percent in 2016 (to about $5 billion). Iran and Turkey have established an unprecedented level of military cooperation in Syria and against Kurdish rebels throughout the region. The bad news is that all the good news is unnatural. Many Turks have demonstrated against and criticized Turkish cooperation with Iran, Russia and the Assad government of Syria. All three of these groups have long been seen as enemies of Turkey. In early January Turkey threatened to withdraw from the temporary alliance with Russia and Iran in Syria. Turkey was angry at Iran for tolerating repeated violations of the recent ceasefire deal by Iranian mercenaries (mainly Hezbollah) in Syria. The Turkish government justifies the alliance with Iran and Russia in Syria by referring to increased cooperation with Russia and Iran since the 1990s. But in Syria the Turks have to deal with the fact that Iran is run by a religious dictatorship and Turkey and Russia are not. Iran justifies breaking agreements by blaming it on the many religious fanatics in its government and military. Russia is willing to ignore that sort of thing, Turkey isnt. At same time a growing number of Iranians openly demonstrate against the alliance with Russia. For decades Russia was depicted (by Iranian media, governments and personal experience) as a dangerous enemy of Iran. Russia and Iran also openly disagree over some key items. Russia openly supports Israels efforts to defend itself from Hezbollah or Iranian missile attacks. Russia is also willing to have the Americans join in the effort to craft a peace deal at the conference going on now in Kazakhstan. Iran insisted that the Americans not show and the new U.S. government was OK with that. The unusual alliance of Iran, Turkey and Russia is seen by all three countries as historically unnatural and unsustainable. Iran has long been fighting the Russians and Turks over who had the most power, control and influence in the areas where they were neighbors. Each of the three still have fundamental differences with the other two and popular opinion in all three nations shows widespread distrust of these unnatural allies. But most Iranians also remember that many times in the past Iran has made such unstable alliances work, for a while at least. Then there are the Arabs, who have never been seen as in the same league with the Turks and Russians. Except for a few centuries after the founding of Islam 1,400 years ago, the Arabs were not taken seriously by Iranians. Most Arabs remember this and dont like or trust the Iranians. Even in Iraq, where most of the Arabs are Shia and more inclined to be pro-Iran, Shia Arabs tend to fear and distrust Iran. The people of Arabia (nearly all of them Arabs) see Iran as an ancient and now very active threat. Throughout the Arabian Peninsula this can be seen in has quietly (or openly in Yemen) supports Shia Arabs who fight Sunni Arab governments. Oil changed Arabia more than anything else in the past thousand years because it gave Iran a reason to take control of the desert portions of Arabia, especially the areas holding the oil (mainly just south of Kuwait) and the most holy shrines of Islam in the south west, near the Red Sea. January 23, 2017: The pro-Assad coalition of Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Assad government are holding peace talks with the Syrian rebels beginning today in the Central Asian city of Astana (the capital of Kazakhstan). The U.S. was not invited when these talks were announced in December but Russia later asked that someone from the new (after January 20th) U.S. government attend. In the end the U.S. declined to send anyone. Most of the rebels were not invited either. Only the FSA rebel coalition was, because it does not support Islamic terrorism. Three rebel larger groups (Ahrar al Sham, Fatah al Sham Front and the Kurds) were not invited, nor was ISIL, the group everyone hates. At the end of 2016 discussions between Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Assad government apparently agreed to some general terms for such a deal. It would consist of a ceasefire with groups now in control of parts of Syria recognized as the temporary ruler of those areas. If the ceasefire held, there would be new elections. The Assads would not participate, but only if they were granted immunity to prosecution so the Assads could go into comfortable exile. All this assumes that ISIL control of any territory in Syria is eliminated. This is an old proposal, but it always depended on ISIL not being part of the mix. That is now a possibility that still doesnt have enough support within Syria to work. So far it looks like the Astana talks will produce nothing of value. January 20, 2017: In the northwest IRGC troops and Kurdish rebels (from the Zagros Eagles) clashed outside Mariwan at night. There were no casualties. January 19, 2017: In Ukraine police seized several crates marked aircraft parts headed for Iran via air freight. On closer inspection the aircraft parts turned out to be components for older Russian ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles). Iran needs these parts to keep many of their older weapons operational. Iran is still subject to many restrictions on the importation of weapons. Ukraine used to be a good source of such forbidden spare parts but since Russia began trying to annex portions of Ukraine in 2014 (with some success) Ukraine has been more dependent on Western support. In return they are supposed to abide by the many arms export sanctions they used to ignore. January 17, 2017: Syrian government officials signed contracts with Iranian companies controlled by senior officers of the IRGC. These deals were very favorable to the IRGC and even some pro-Assad Syrians openly described this as a payoff. This sort of corruption is nothing new and has been an open secret in Iran for over a decade. Over the last few years it has become a documented secret. In 2014 it became widely known how the IRGC defied the religious leadership and planned to stage a coup and replace elected politicians they disagreed with. The IRGC never carried out these plans, but now it is known that the plans existed. This has to be put in context. The Iranian government is basically a religious dictatorship that seized control in the 1980s and has just barely coped with declining popularity. There are many factions, some much more radical than the majority. Eventually the loss of oil income or other economic disaster could screw things up enough to trigger a popular rebellion. That could get very nasty as the government has an army of religious fanatics (the IRGC) to deal with such unrest. IRGC is more than just the "royal guard" of the Iranian dictatorship. Originally founded to do the clerics dirty work, and keep an eye on the Iranian armed forces, and population in general, the IRGC has grown to become a state-within-a-state. The IRGC not only has 150,000 armed members, it also controls billions of dollars worth of businesses inside Iran, and runs numerous terrorist operations outside the country. The IRGC, or at least large parts of it, can be depended on to follow orders and slaughter rebellious Iranian civilians. The ruling clerics are determined to avoid losing power like the East European communist dictatorships did in 1989. The clerics have made sure most Iranians know this and what the price of rebellion would be. But the clerics must now deal with another ancient problem in Iran, disloyalty among the guardians of the rulers. Who guards the guards? In Iran, no one and that is now a very real problem for the general public as well as the unelected senior clerics who rule in the name of God but only with the support of the IRGC. At the moment the senior clerics believe only a small minority of the IRGC are a danger. But that could change, because the dangerous faction has been growing in numbers and boldness. Attempts to purge the IRGC of these dangerous people have failed. The IRGC protects its own, so far and in Syria they demanded to get paid. January 16, 2017: In the capital (Tehran) anti-aircraft guns opened fire on a commercial UAV taking pictures. This is the second time since late December that this has happened. In both instances the UAV belonged to a government owned organization and was fired on because it flew too close to a forbidden zone. The anti-aircraft gunners rarely have anything to shoot. In both the recent incidents one machine-gunner apparently erred in opening fire and nearby gunners saw that as an opportunity to join in. In both cases the UAV operator noticed the gunfire (from heavy machine-guns and autocannon) and quickly steered the UAV out of the area. No reports on civilian casualties from machine-gun bullets or shell fragments coming down on populated areas. January 8, 2017: In the west, outside Baneh, Kurdish rebels from the Zagros Eagles launched an attack on an IRGC base. January 6, 2017: In the southeast, outside the city of Zabol armed Afghan smugglers attacked an Iranian border post in mid-day, killing one soldier and wounding three. January 4, 2017: Germany revealed that they had indicted a Pakistani man on espionage charges because he was caught spying for Iran and seeking to gather information on pro-Israel Germans targeted for assassination by Iranian agents. German intelligence analysts believe this is part of a larger program to go after pro-Israel locals in several European countries. Iran is apparently preparing for the possibility that Israel might bomb Iranian nuclear weapons facilities. If that did happen Iran would have limited ways to retaliate effectively. Attacking Israel with ballistic missiles might just increase the degree of humiliation as Israeli anti-missile systems shot down those missiles. Ordering Hezbollah to launch another large scale rocket attack on Israel could also backfire. But assassination for pro-Israeli foreigners would send a message that Iran could plausibly deny. The current case is, however, the first known instance of a German politician being targeted. Iranian backed assassinations have occurred in Germany before, but these were all against Iranian exiles opposed to the religious dictatorship. But now Iran sees Germany as a better place to operate because of the large number of Moslem illegal migrants the Germans have let in as well as the German legal system apparently being more tolerant to anti-Israel terrorism than many other Western nations. January 3, 2017: In Venezuela the beleaguered president Maduro reshuffled his cabinet and appointed Tareck El Aissami, a former interior minister, as his deputy and, apparently, successor. Aissami has been accused of dealings with Hezbollah, Iran and drug gangs, which have been able to move cocaine through Venezuela if the pay off the right government officials. The drugs often move on to Cuba, which taught the current Venezuelan government how to make this sort of thing work. Since 2000 Iran and Hezbollah have been welcome in Venezuela. January 2, 2017: In the southwest (Khuzestan province) local Arab separatist from ASMLA (Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Al-Ahwaz) bombed an oil pipeline in two places. This is the first time this group has been active since 2015. But there are other active Arab rebels. In July 2016 the al Farouq Brigade carried out two pipeline attacks. At the same time the Hawks of Ahwaz took credit for a fire in a local petrochemical plant. Hawks of Ahwaz took credit for two other similar fires that have occurred since 2015. Iran is acutely aware of how unruly its own Arab minority (a few percent of the population) can be. There are a growing number of terrorist incidents inside Iran traced to Iranian Arabs. Most Iranian oil is pumped from the ancestral lands of these Arabs, who are bitter about how they receive little benefit from all that oil wealth. The three million Arabs in Khuzestan province (formerly Arabistan) are Shia and have been ruled by non-Arab Iranians for centuries. Arab unrest here has grown since 2003, when the Sunni dictatorship of Saddam Hussein was overthrown in Iraq and the Shia majority won elections to take power. Since 2003 hundreds of Iranian Arabs have been arrested for separatist activities. Many are still in prison and nearly 30 have been executed. December 31, 2016: Despite denials from the Iranian government Afghan border guards confirmed that their Iranian counterparts regularly accept the bodies of known Taliban for burial by their families living in Iran. December 30, 2016: In southern Syria (outside Damascus) an Iranian general (Gholam Ali Gholizadeh) was killed while commanding (advising) Iranian mercenaries fighting for the Assad government. Gholizadeh was a veteran of the 1980s war with Iraq and third Iranian general to die in Syria since September. Iran admits it has troops (over 3,000) in Syria. Iran insists they are all volunteers, which explains the presence of so many retired officers. Many Iranian officers and NCOs in Syria are not volunteers but realize serving in Syria provides useful combat experience and improves promotion prospects. If you are killed you are hailed as a hero and if disabled the government usually provides a civilian (often government) job. In Syria the Iranian military are needed to help government army units as well as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian recruited militia units. Most of the Iranian deaths in Syria are mentioned in Iranian media those losses have been increasing in 2016, running at over 50 a month. There are even more monthly losses for the thousands of foreign mercenaries Iran has recruited. December 27, 2016: Pakistan, Russia and China officials met in Russia to discuss the security situation in Afghanistan. China and Russia agreed to try and get UN sanctions against the Taliban lifted in order to encourage the Taliban to enter peace talks with Afghanistan. The U.S. had earlier revealed evidence of the Taliban getting some help (sanctuary, diplomatic support and information) from Iran and Russia in return for assistance in keeping ISIL out of Iran and Russia. Afghanistan accuses Russia and China of cooperating with Pakistan is trying to control Afghanistan via the Taliban (which was created by Pakistan in the 1990s for just that purpose). Afghanistan accuses Iran of secretly working with the Taliban when it will help keep Islamic terrorists out of Iran. Russia has also come out in support of the Chinese financed rail link between China and the Indian Ocean via Pakistan and new port facilities (and a Chinese naval base) on the Pakistani coast. India sides with the U.S. in criticizing China for blocking UN sanctions against some Islamic terrorist leaders who have proved useful to China. Afghan politicians openly accuse Saudi Arabia and Iran of supporting Islamic terrorists when it is in their interests, even if it means problems for other countries, like Afghanistan. Russia admits such links and points out that to fight terrorists you often have to cooperate with some of them. December 26, 2016: In northern Iraq, Iran (the IRGC) is believed responsible for the terrorist bombing at the headquarters of the PDK-I in Erbil. The two explosions killed five PDK-I members and two Kurdish policemen. A large number of Tauranga households have received an incorrect Tsunami evacuation map, due to a delivery error by New Zealand Post. We apologise for the incorrect deliveries which were due to human error on our part, says Northern General Manager for New Zealand Post Michael Lewis. We will be working with the Council to fix this and redeliver the right packs to the right addresses. Tauranga City Council engaged a third party, who employed the services of New Zealand Post, to facilitate the mail out, says a statement from the council. The intention was that each household within the tsunami evacuation zone would receive a letter and a relevant map (either Mount Maunganui, Bayfair, Papamoa or Papamoa East). Due to the delivery error, not all residents received the most relevant map for their location. Over the coming weeks Council will work with New Zealand Post to ensure the correct maps are delivered to all households in the evacuation zone from Mauao to Papamoa East, at no expense to ratepayers. Paul Baunton, Manager: Emergency Management, says planning your tsunami evacuation route is an important step in ensuring the safety of you and your family. We suggest residents keep hold of the maps, even if they are for other locations. You never know where you may be in the event of a major tsunami, so knowing your nearest safe location and the best route to get there is sensible. All maps are available online at tauranga.govt.nz/tsunami. Ramnicu Valcea aka Hackerville, a town in Romania is full of hackers How would you react if your town or city is better known for something dark? Well, there is a town in Romania known just for its hackers. It is full of hackers and scammers so much so that it has become world famous as the global centre of cybercrime Ramnicu Valcea which is also known as Hackerville rose to prominence because almost half of its population are EBay and Craigslist scammers. Ramnicu Valcea is just three hours drive from the Romanian capital, Bucharest but it seems to get more attention than the capital city. If you thought Ramnicu Valcea was run of the mill town from a Eastern European country, you are wrong! The town is filled with BMWs and Audis and most of the townsfolk seem to be making a killing indulging in some bit of cyber scam. According to a Wired article, Expensive cars choke the streets of Ramnicu Valceas bustling city centertop-of-the-line BMWs, Audis, and Mercedes driven by twenty- and thirtysomething men sporting gold chains and fidgeting at red lights. Only a few citizens of Ramnicu Valcea are actual hackers though a majority of the town is involved in some sort of cyber scam. They steal thousands of dollars per transaction from foreign buyers. Many of the young men who have become rich from hacking spend their money on luxury cars. Nobody knows how the first cyber crime started in Ramnicu Valcea. Many think that after the 1989 revolution, people had access to sophisticated tools and PCs, which may be the reason for the cyber crime. The cyber crime business grew really fast in 2002 after a mini tech revolution in Romania. Cybercafes offered cheap Internet access, and cyber criminals in Ramnicu Valcea started posting fake ads on eBay and other auction sites like Craigslist to lure victims into remitting payments by wire transfer. The town then come to the notice of FBI sleuths who started keeping tabs on big cyber criminals from Ramnicu Valcea. However, nothing much has changed in the town, people go on scamming and phishing to make easy dollars while the authorities look the other way. ICL Group Ltd, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty minerals and chemicals company worldwide. It operates in four segments: Industrial Products, Potash, Phosphate Solutions, and Innovative Ag Solutions (IAS). The Industrial Products segment produces bromine out of a solution that is a by-product of the potash production process, as well as bromine-based compounds; produces various grades of potash, salt, magnesium chloride, and magnesia products; and produces and markets phosphorous-based flame retardants and other phosphorus-based products. The Potash segment extracts potash from the Dead Sea; mines and produces potash and salt; produces Polysulphate; produces, markets, and sells magnesium and magnesium alloys, as well as related by-products, including chlorine and sylvinite; and sells salt. The Phosphate Solutions segment uses phosphate commodity products to produce specialty products; produces and markets phosphate-based fertilizers, as well as sulphuric acid, green phosphoric acid, and phosphate fertilizers; and manufactures thermal phosphoric acid for various industrial end markets, such as oral care, cleaning products, paints and coatings, water treatment, asphalt modification, construction, and metal treatment. It also develops and produces functional food ingredients and phosphate additives for use in the processed meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, beverage, and baked goods markets; and produces milk and whey proteins for the food ingredients industry. The IAS segment develops, manufactures, markets, and sells fertilizers based primarily on nitrogen, potash, and phosphate, including water soluble specialty, liquid, soluble, and controlled-release fertilizers. It sells its products through marketing companies, agents, and distributors. The company was formerly known as Israel Chemicals Ltd. and changed its name to ICL Group Ltd in May 2020. The company was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel. President Donald Trump's inaugural address may not have risen to the rhetorical level of John F. Kennedy ("The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans" and "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"), or Ronald Reagan's critique of government ("Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem"), or even Barack Obama's in 2009 ("On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord"), but the speech set out large goals, many details of which are yet to be revealed. That's okay, though, because in the words of President Obama in his first inaugural address: "What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply." The ground has not only shifted again, it may have opened up to receive the failed policies that have caused the problems Trump addressed in his speech. The new president reflected the views of his supporters when he said, "We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people." He added, "For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost." That should have made members of the establishment and politicians in attendance nervous. Perhaps they were thinking, "We survived Reagan's attempts to shrink government, we can survive Trump, too." Mr. Trump said his "new vision" would place "America first" and that decisions will be made based on whether they benefit the U.S. more than other countries. Perhaps his most grandiose pledge was to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism from the face of the Earth. That's easier said than done, given that radical Islam is a philosophy tied to an apocalyptic religion with no headquarters and no single leader. He could start by following through on his promise of "extreme vetting" for people wanting to enter the country from nations that promote and export the terrorist ideology. Another grandiose promise reiterated one he made during the campaign: to fix the inner cities, which have been run for decades by Democrats. He said that crime, drugs and gangs have stolen many lives. "This American carnage," he called it. Similar promises have been made over several administrations, but the problem seems to have only gotten worse. How does government put fathers back in homes or create families where none existed? School choice, which Trump favors, will help some, but gangs and drugs are a deeper and more complicated problem. Trump is unlike any president we have had, perhaps a bigger populist than Andrew Jackson or Theodore Roosevelt. While many of his goals lack specifics, at least he has goals and appears to care less about the journey than the destination. This could keep the depleted Democrat opposition in Congress off balance. If he continually focuses on the problem, rather than the process, the process might be simply a matter of negotiation, which Trump has long claimed is his strong suit. Every president starts his administration with a blank slate. Trump needs to keep problems front and center, moving quickly toward solutions. If the left denies these problems even exist, they lose. Trump seems to believe, as Ronald Reagan did, that the people, properly inspired, motivated and confident, are the ones who make America great and not himself, or any other politician. As that old '60s chant goes, "The people united can never be defeated." Trump's best chance at uniting will come when problems begin to get resolved. If the Left wants to oppose success, let them. The following companies are subsidiares of BorgWarner: Akasol AG, B80 Italia S.r.l., BERU AG, BW El Salto S.A. De C.V., BWA Receivables Corporation, BWA Turbo Systems Holding LLC, Borg Warner Europe Holdings (PDS) B. V., BorgWarner (China) Investment Co. Ltd., BorgWarner (Reman) Holdings L.L.C., BorgWarner (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner Aftermarket Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Alternators Inc., BorgWarner Arden LLC, BorgWarner Arnstadt RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Asia Inc., BorgWarner Automotive Asia Limited, BorgWarner Automotive Components (Beijing) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Jiangsu) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Automotive Components (Wuhan) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Brasil Ltda., BorgWarner Chungju Co. LLC, BorgWarner Comercial e Distribuidora de Pecas para Veiculos Automotores Ltda., BorgWarner Comercializadora PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Componentes PDS S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner Cooling Systems (India) Private Limited, BorgWarner Cooling Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Diversified Transmission Products Services Inc., BorgWarner Drivetrain Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Drivetrain Management Services de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Drivetrain de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Electric Motors L.L.C., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Emissions Systems Holding LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Emissions Systems LLC, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Portugal Unipessoal LDA, BorgWarner Emissions Systems Spain S.L.U., BorgWarner Emissions Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Emissions Talegaon Private Limited, BorgWarner Engineering Ketsch RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Engineering Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Esslingen GmbH, BorgWarner Europe GmbH, BorgWarner Europe Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Gateshead Limited, BorgWarner Germany Holding GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Holding Services GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REH GmbH, BorgWarner Germany REM GmbH, BorgWarner Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, BorgWarner Global Holding S.a. r. l., BorgWarner Heidelberg I RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg II RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Heidelberg REH GmbH, BorgWarner Heidelberg REM GmbH, BorgWarner Holding Inc., BorgWarner Holdings Limited, BorgWarner Hungary Kft., BorgWarner IT Services Europe GmbH, BorgWarner India Holdings Inc., BorgWarner Investment Holding Inc., BorgWarner Ithaca LLC, BorgWarner Ketsch Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Ketsch REH GmbH, BorgWarner Ketsch REM GmbH, BorgWarner Kft., BorgWarner Kibo RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Korea Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Korea Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Korea LLC, BorgWarner Limited, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg GmbH, BorgWarner Ludwigsburg RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf Plant RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner Markdorf REH GmbH, BorgWarner Markdorf REM GmbH, BorgWarner Massachusetts Inc., BorgWarner Mauritius Holdings Ltd., BorgWarner Mexico Holding BV, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings II LLC, BorgWarner Mexico Holdings LLC, BorgWarner Morse Systems India Private Limited, BorgWarner Morse Systems Italy S.r.l., BorgWarner Morse Systems Japan K.K., BorgWarner Morse Systems Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner Muggendorf RE GmbH & Co. KG, BorgWarner NW Inc., BorgWarner Netherlands Holdings (PDS) B.V., BorgWarner Oroszlany Kft., BorgWarner PDS (Anderson) L.L.C., BorgWarner PDS (Changnyeong) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Indiana) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Livonia) Inc., BorgWarner PDS (Ochang) LLC, BorgWarner PDS (Thailand) Limited, BorgWarner PDS (USA) Inc., BorgWarner PDS Brasil Produtos Automotivos Ltda., BorgWarner PDS Irapuato S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Mexico Holdings S. de R.L. de C.V., BorgWarner PDS Technologies L.L.C., BorgWarner Poland Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Pyongtaek LLC, BorgWarner Romeo Power LLC, BorgWarner Rzeszow Sp. z o.o., BorgWarner Shenglong (Ningbo) Co. Ltd., BorgWarner South Asia LLC, BorgWarner Southborough Inc., BorgWarner Spain Holding S.L.U, BorgWarner Sweden AB, BorgWarner Systems Lugo S.r.l., BorgWarner Thermal Systems Inc., BorgWarner Thermal Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner TorqTransfer Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Tralee Ltd., BorgWarner Transmission Products LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Arnstadt GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Korea LLC, BorgWarner Transmission Systems Tulle S.A.S., BorgWarner Trustees Limited, BorgWarner Turbo & Emissions Systems France S.A.S., BorgWarner Turbo Systems Engineering GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems LLC, BorgWarner Turbo Systems Worldwide Headquarters GmbH, BorgWarner Turbo Systems of Michigan Inc., BorgWarner Turbo and Emissions Systems de Mexico S.A. de C.V., BorgWarner UK Financing Ltd., BorgWarner UK Holding and Services Ltd., BorgWarner US Holding LLC, BorgWarner USA Industries L.L.C., BorgWarner United Transmission Systems Co. Ltd., BorgWarner Waterloo Inc., BorgWarner Wrexham Limited, Cascadia Motion LLC, Creon Insurance Agency Limited, Delphi Technologies, Dytech ENSA, Gustav Wahler GmbH u. Co. KG, Haldex, Kuhlman LLC, Kysor Europe Limited, M. & M. Knopf Auto Parts L.L.C., NSK-Warner (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., NSK-Warner K.K., NSK-Warner Mexico S.A. de C.V, NSK-Warner U.S.A. Inc., New PDS Corp., Old Remco Holdings L.L.C., Old Remco International Holdings L.L.C., Remy International, SeohanWarner Turbo Systems LLC, Sevcon, Sevcon New Energy Technology (Hubei) Company Limited, and Transmission Systems AutoForm LLC. Read More On Friday, hunters in Taiji, Japan, found the worst possible surprise: a superpod of around 300 dolphins. They drove the family into the nearby cove, dropping a net behind the panicked animals, and left them there to wait for the worst. For the next several days, they combed over the dolphins, selecting the youngest and prettiest to be sold into captivity. By Monday, at least 80 dolphins had been taken for marine parks and aquariums around the world - many of them only babies, torn from their mothers' sides. A panicked group of dolphins trying to escape | Sea Shepherd The selection was still going on on Monday night. The dolphins, who have been left in the freezing shallows to starve during the process, are frantic - several of them have died from stress and fear. But when one lucky dolphin escaped from the nightmare scene, even the horror he'd been through wasn't enough to make him leave his family. On Monday, Sea Shepherd, which has a team of volunteers in Taiji monitoring the slaughter, shared a photo of a single dolphin floating outside the net that separated his family from freedom. Instead of swimming away, he seemed to stay close to the net, keeping his head near the surface of the water. The lone dolphin outside the net | Sea Shepherd "We noticed a dolphin had escaped the outer net, with no barrier to stop it from swimming out to open sea," Sea Shepherd wrote. "Dolphins are incredibly socially bonded creatures, and will not leave their pod behind." "This is why cutting the nets would not work, as their loyalty to to their family would prevent them from leaving any members of the pod behind," the group added. It's unclear what happened to this individual after the photo was taken, but sadly it's just one more tragic story in the litany of lives loss this year. Dodo Shows Cat Crazy Fluffy Cat Wants To Sit On His Dad At All Times Frantic dolphins being selected for captivity | Sea Shepherd Each year, hunters round up hundreds of dolphins in the annual Taiji dolphin hunt. The younger and more attractive ones are stolen from their families and sold off to marine parks around the world. The hunters can earn well over $100,000 USD for each trained dolphin. But the vast majority of dolphins, who are deemed too old or unattractive, are butchered for their meat. In the days after a successful hunt, the infamous "killing cove" turns bright red with blood as the dolphins are tortured and killed in front of their families, who watch and wait their turn. A mother can be seen trying to shield her baby in the upper right | Sea Shepherd Footage and photos of this weekend's selection process show the dolphins splashing around in terror, grouping themselves into little knots for comfort as they seek desperately to escape. In some cases, tortured past their breaking point, they've given up and died. While Sea Shepherd speculated that the surviving dolphins would be turned back into the cove, instead of slaughtered, it's hardly a happier outcome for the sensitive animals - who are inevitably traumatized by the experience. "It's exactly like putting a human being in a situation where they're watching their family members get killed," Dr. Heather Rally, a marine mammal veterinarian who currently works with the Peta Foundation, told The Dodo. "These are lifelong traumas," she said. "These animals are highly self-aware so, just like you and I, they know exactly what's happening around them - these are very close family members." Hunters capturing a dolphin for captivity - his family can be seen thrashing around him | Sea Shepherd That trauma can lead to a host of physiological issues - both during the hunt and after it. For those dolphins taken into captivity, it can even lead them to kill each other or attack their trainers. "This is a very life-threatening situation," Rally said. "It can cause lifelong health issues. It can cause imminent health and welfare issues ... It can cause stomach ulcers and stereotypic behaviors." A dolphin who died from fear, semi-hidden behind the killing tarps | Sea Shepherd Of course, that doesn't matter much to the town of Taiji, which indirectly backs the dolphin hunt - the nearby Taiji Whale Museum, a city-owned "museum of death" that hosts a collection of whaling paraphernalia and its own captive troupe of performing dolphins, helps facilitate the sales of the captured animals. The water of the cove during last year's hunt | DolphinProject.com While many people claim the hunt is a tradition, the truth is it's a recent invention - the massive slaughter wasn't even possible until the modern advent of the powerboat. Hunters capturing a dolphin for captivity | Sea Shepherd "The entire pod of around 300 dolphins have been subjected to appalling levels of cruelty and torture," Sea Shepherd said. "This is not tradition - this is greed, pure and simple." A mother trying to guide her baby away from the ships | Sea Shepherd Unfortunately, there's little that people on the ground can do. The area is highly policed, and attempting to interfere would lead to immediate arrest by Japanese officials. And, as the lone escaped dolphin shows, it's not as simple as cutting the nets. But Sea Shepherd is hoping that, by sharing the superpod's story, people around the world will realize just how brutal the hunt is - and do what they can to stop it. Panicked dolphins fighting for their lives against the hunters | Sea Shepherd As rescue crews in Italy continue the search for nearly two dozen people missing in the ruins of a hotel buried by a powerful avalanche last week , hopes have been renewed that more victims could be found alive. On Monday, five days after the deadly avalanche hit the Rigopiano Hotel, firefighters rescued three puppies who had been trapped deep inside the rubble. The animals had been found inside the hotel's boiler room, which required breaking through a wall to access. Though it's unclear if more puppies remain trapped, the discovery of these three suggests other rooms may not be inundated with snow, leaving more survival pockets of air. Further bolstering hope is the fact that, despite their long ordeal, the puppies were all in good health. Every dog needs a little privacy sometimes. Especially if they're feeling a little woozy. In fact, most dogs will make a beeline to an isolated patch of the house when they're feeling the telltale rumble of an unhappy belly. No one knows for certain why a dog would rather be alone when he needs to vomit, instead of having you rub his back and tell him everything's going to be alright. "Many dogs do like to retreat to a private place when they vomit, and some even try to bury the vomit under dirt when outside or with household items that are laying around when inside," Jodi Thompson, a veterinarian at DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital, tells The Dodo. "It could be an instinct to not show weakness, especially in front of predators," Thompson says. "It could be that the dog feels bad for making a mess and doesn't want to get into trouble. For some dogs, it could be a way to stay clean or cover up the smell." Some experts suggest dogs may still be wired for a pack mentality, a social order established when the animals ran wild. "That's why they appear so vulnerable and unsure when pooping," Amy Klein, who works with dogs through Marley's Mutts, tells The Dodo. "Their defenses are down. They won't make eye contact with you. They don't want to be challenged when in weaker moments." "Any type of appearance that they are weak makes them targets." Dodo Shows Foster Diaries Scared Pittie Gets So Happy When He Meets This Guy And His Pack Of Dogs And not just targets for predators, but Rob Halpin of MSPCA-Angell says other dogs who want to be at the head of the pack. "Dogs are pack animals and dominant male dogs will always look to disturb the pecking order within the pack," he tells The Dodo. "And an obviously sick dog may lose his status in the pack unless he's doing what he can to hide from others the fact that he's sick." A dog's habit of finding her own space when feeling sick may stem from those ancient times when the pack had to run and stay strong - or fall behind and become easy targets for predators. But there may be something human-ish about puking alone, too. "I don't like to humanize things too often," Shelby Semel, a trainer and behaviorist at Shelby Semel Dog Training, tells The Dodo. "But this is kind of like, who wants to be around people and other dogs when they are throwing up?" "There is definitely a feeling that isn't natural and comfortable and you don't want people petting you, stroking you," she says. "I don't want to be near anyone when I am puking and think a dog thinks similarly." "I do appreciate them going off to the side and not doing it on my bed," she adds. Because that doesn't always happen. Some dogs, notably puppies, don't care what the pack thinks. "The other day a puppy walked onto my lap and vomited on me," Semel says. "I thought, that's unusual." Of course, a vomiting dog shouldn't be ignored either. For dogs, an upset stomach happens for reasons similar to those in humans: mainly, eating something that didn't agree with them. Or - a common issue for dogs - it happens after they eat their food too fast. The U.S. and Canada are signalling most of the pain from reworking the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will hit Mexico, with an adviser to Donald Trump flying to Calgary to tell Justin Trudeaus team that commerce is balanced and running smoothly north of the border. Trudeaus cabinet gathered in the nations oil hub to weigh Trumps impact, as Canadas ambassador to the U.S. said he would consider bilateral measures with the U.S. in talks about the North American Free Trade Agreement. The comments which came as Trump signed an executive order that abruptly ended the decades-old U.S. tilt toward free trade suggest the new administration is splintering the continental pact as the president prepares to meet Mexicos Enrique Pena Nieto later this month. The Canadian prime minister also intends to meet with Trump soon. While a date has yet to be confirmed, Trudeau received reassurances from a key adviser to the new administration on Monday. I dont think he should be enormously worried because Canada is held in very high regard, Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer at Blackstone Group LP and head of the presidents strategic and policy forum, told reporters after speaking to cabinet. We have balanced trade between the U.S. and Canada, and thats not the kind of situation where you should be worrying about the kind of issues you are. David MacNaughton, Trudeaus ambassador in Washington, said upon arrival in Calgary that his focus is on avoiding Canada being collateral damage in trade actions aimed at China and Mexico. We will co-operate on trilateral matters when its in our interest and well be looking to do things that are in our interest bilaterally also. Some of them may be within NAFTA, some may not be, he said Sunday night. Since Trumps election victory, Canadian trade officials and observers have held out hope theyre not Trumps target. Canada is the top buyer of U.S. goods overall and the top buyer for 35 individual states, a detail Trudeau emphasized to the president in a call Saturday. What Canadians fear is that any tariffs or other measures applied broadly will side-swipe them. About 70 per cent of Canadian trade is with the U.S. I dont think Canadas the focus at all, but I think we are part of that, MacNaughton said. Thats what weve got to worry about is if were collateral damage. Asked about those comments, Schwarzman signalled Canada has special status and there was a very low risk of damage spilling north. The Canada-U.S. relationship is a model for the way trade relations should be, he said. Schwarzman added that NAFTA countries would be in a good position to avoid any border taxes. Trudeau talked with Pena Nieto on Sunday, releasing a short summary afterward saying they spoke about the importance of the Canada-Mexico bilateral relationship, and of the trilateral North American partnership. Trump officials have yet to raise any specific concerns about Canadian trade, MacNaughton added. Their biggest concern frankly in terms of trade is the deficits they have with China and Mexico. Thats what theyve raised. Trudeau has prepared for the Trump era by promoting his trade minister, Chrystia Freeland, to serve as foreign minister and his main liaison for talks with Trump. He appointed a retired general as her deputy with a specific focus on wooing the U.S. administration, and reshuffled staff to focus on U.S. ties. Asked about Mexico on Monday, Freeland cited Pena Nietos visit to Ottawa this summer as evidence of a very mutually beneficial NAFTA partnership. But of course, our relationship with the United States is primarily a bilateral relationship. Meanwhile, Trump-style politics are looming larger in Canada. Trudeau cancelled a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in favour of a rural tour aimed at fending off controversies that painted him as out-of-touch. His main rival party is embroiled in a leadership race where several candidates are drawing from Trumps playbook. Freeland has downplayed the risks of major trade impacts, saying shes really confident Canada can build a strong relationship with the Trump team. Thereve been nearly a dozen meaningful changes to NAFTA since it was first concluded, so were looking forward to those conversations, she said in a television interview on inauguration day. Read more about: SHARE: STOUGHTON, SASK.A pipeline has leaked about 200,000 litres of crude oil onto agricultural land in southeastern Saskatchewan. Government spokeswoman Kathy Young says the spill site 10 kilometres north of Stoughton is in a low-lying area with a frozen slough. She says about 170,000 litres of the spill have been recovered and the oil has not entered any creeks or streams. Young says environmental consultants are at the site and say air quality and wildlife have not been affected. She says the Environment Ministry was informed on Friday night when the spill was detected. Ocean Man First Nation, along with Environment and Climate Change Canada, were also informed. Pipeline owner Tundra Energy Marketing is handling the cleanup. The actual source of the leak will not be known until the site is excavated and the breach location is confirmed, Young said in an email sent to the media. Cleanup work began Saturday and included the removal of surface oil with vacuum trucks and efforts to identify the source of the rupture. Further assessment and cleanup, including excavation work, will follow until the site is appropriately restored. Excavation of the affected line is to take place Wednesday, Young said. The Economy Ministrys petroleum and natural gas division plans to investigate the cause of the spill and will oversee cleanup and pipeline repairs. Last July, a leak in a Husky Energy pipeline near Maidstone, Sask., jeopardized the drinking water of thousands of people. About 225,000 litres of oil was spilled and about 40 per cent made it into the North Saskatchewan River. The cities of North Battleford, Prince Albert and Melfort were forced to shut their intakes from the river and find other water sources for almost two months. Huskys report into the spill said shifting ground was to blame for the pipeline burst. The company said it recovered about 210,000 litres of oil spilled before it wrapped up shoreline cleanup efforts in October. SHARE: U.S. President Donald Trump put Canada and Mexico on notice: hes determined to wring out more favourable terms from NAFTA. Now comes the hard part of reworking a trade deal thats framed relations for more than two decades. Trumps plan to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement was received in Mexico with a call to protect tariff-free trading, while in Canada officials seemed more worried about avoiding unintentional damage to the economy as the U.S. targets Mexico. The U.S. president has broad powers to implement trade policies. While Trump has given few details about exactly what hes seeking from a NAFTA rethink, it could be a long and potentially messy process. Trump, who was sworn in Friday, has already spoken to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto about his objective to renegotiate NAFTA, which hes routinely blamed for the loss of U.S. jobs and called the worst trade deal in the history of this country. White House spokesperson Sean Spicer on Monday said Trump plans further talks about modifying NAFTA at meetings with the two leaders in the next 30 days. How discussions unfold will determine the way forward, including if piecemeal reforms are possible or it will require starting over, Spicer told reporters in Washington. If Trudeau and Pena Nieto come in and express a willingness to do that, you could negotiate it within the current parameters, and update it through the existing structure, Spicer said. If they dont, and he decides to pull out, then we would have to go back to the drawing table in the future. Canadas strategy, at this stage, seems to be to get out of the way. Canadian officials are holding out hope theyre not Trumps target, and will do everything they can to make sure they dont get side-swiped if the president goes after Mexico. On his first post-inauguration call with Trump on Saturday, Trudeau reminded the president that Canada is the top buyer of U.S. goods overall and the top buyer for 35 individual states. Trudeau has also assured Trump that Canada wont be one of the 1,000 problems hell deal with daily. Canada nonetheless expects Trump to pursue large-scale NAFTA changes, according to a person familiar with the talks so far. Canada shouldnt be enormously worried because its held in high esteem and two-way trade is balanced, Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP and a Trump adviser told reporters on Monday after speaking to Canadas cabinet at a retreat in Calgary. Pena Nieto is striking a bolder tone. On Monday, he laid out 10 goals for his government in upcoming negotiations with the Trump administration, including ensuring the free flow of remittances and seeking any return of Mexican migrants to be orderly. He said NAFTA should remain free of all tariffs. Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday the nation is willing to leave NAFTA if it doesnt get the deal it wants. There may be no other option, he said. If we go for something thats less than what we already have, it doesnt make sense for us to stay. The U.S. president typically has far-reaching latitude over trade policy, with powers strengthened in 2015 after passage of legislation granting the president fast-track trade-negotiation authority, in conjunction with the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Trump on Monday withdrew the U.S. from. That same authority can now be used by Trump to renegotiate NAFTA and submit the new pact to Congress for an expedited, up-or-down vote without amendments. Theres no formal provision built into NAFTA to open it up for renegotiation, said Chad Bown, who advised former president Barack Obama on trade and is now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Trump would have the ability to trigger an article within NAFTA that allows a party to withdraw six months after giving formal notice to Mexico and Canada, along with Congress though Trump hasnt suggested hell go that route. It could take months, or more likely years, to hammer out new terms even after political leaders give their go-ahead and the negotiating teams are assembled. Trump is still waiting for his trade team to be firmly in place. Wilbur Ross, nominated as Commerce secretary, said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week that retooling NAFTA would be an early priority and everything is on the table. As with Ross, another key player whos not yet confirmed is U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer, a former trade negotiator in the Ronald Reagan administration. Fellow China hard-liner Peter Navarro will head the newly-created White House National Trade Council. Typically, countries that want to update a trade agreement begin with an exchange of letters, said Carlos Vejar, a lawyer at Holland & Knight in Mexico City who previously worked on NAFTA issues and trade disputes at Mexicos economy ministry. The nations then agree to an agenda of topics and set a schedule for negotiating rounds rotating among the countries involved. Trump hasnt been explicit on what he wants to change. With his inauguration-speech goals of Buy American and Hire American, two big targets for negotiation may be procurement and the auto industry. Trump might want changes that effectively boost the share of auto manufacturing in the U.S., either with specific provisions for more American content or by tightening rules-of-origin requirements that would limit content from outside of North America. Also, any new deal could curb the ability of Canadians and Mexicans to bid on U.S. government contracts, a shift from NAFTAs provisions. The bigger piece will be the renegotiation of the procurement chapter, said Sarah Goldfeder, a principal at government relations firm Earnscliffe Strategy Group in Ottawa, who has served as special assistant to two U.S. ambassadors to Canada. Trumps team could also seek changes to the investor dispute settlement system to limit the ability of Canadian or Mexican companies from suing the U.S. government, a change thats unlikely to garner much opposition from the two partners. Ross, in a written responses to questions from Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida released on Monday, said issues of concern for NAFTA include rules for country of origin and dispute resolution mechanisms. Read more about: SHARE: U.S. President Donald Trump told the chief executives of the three biggest automakers in the U.S. that hell cut taxes and reduce environmental regulations to restore the nations manufacturing sector. Were bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. bigly, were reducing taxes, very substantially, and were reducing unnecessary regulations, Trump told reporters Tuesday, seated between the CEOs of General Motors Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and across a table from the head of Ford Motor Co. The remarks reflect the sweeteners Trump will try to use to get U.S. automakers building new factories at home, and the automakers shares rose. The last vehicle assembly plant GM, Ford or Fiat Chrysler opened on their home turf was 2006, around the time the companies began to shuttering facilities across the country. Those restructurings fell short of keeping GM and Fiat Chryslers predecessors out of government-backed bankruptcies. I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist, Trump told GMs Mary Barra, Fords Mark Fields and Fiat Chryslers Sergio Marchionne. I believe in it. But its out of control. Trumps pledge to ease off on environmental rules and taxes would blunt any impact of his plans to renegotiate U.S. trade policy with its neighbours. After spending roughly a year and a half attacking Ford in particular for building cars in Mexico, the president has stood firm with opposition to auto imports. Fiat Chrysler, whose truck-heavy line-up had left it vulnerable to concerns about meeting future clean-air standards, led automotive stocks higher. The White House summit was just the latest in a series of meetings this week where Trump has called for bolstering the U.S. manufacturing sector. His reiterated desire to reduce regulations may indicate a willingness to scale back federal fuel-economy standards. We had a very constructive and wide-ranging discussion about how we can work together on policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry, one that supports the environment and safety, GMs Barra said in a statement. Trumps meeting occurred a day after he signed a memorandum withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, claiming the pact would hurt workers. He has pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Weve repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, and TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, Fords Fields, who also met with Trump on Monday, told reporters following the meeting. We appreciate the presidents courage to walk away from a bad trade deal. The last new vehicle assembly plant GM, Ford or Fiat Chrysler built in the U.S. was GMs Lansing Delta Township, opened about 11 years ago. The factory makes Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave SUVs. I appreciate the presidents focus on making the U.S. a great place to do business, Fiat Chryslers Marchionne said in a statement. We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing. Trumps meeting on Monday with prominent American manufacturers included Elon Musk, the head of Tesla Motors Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Trump said then hed dramatically cut regulations and corporate taxes, while warning manufacturers will face stiff penalties if they move production outside the country. All three of the top U.S. automakers have given Trump fodder for promoting his efforts to boost U.S. hiring. Ford canceled a $1.6 billion (U.S.) car assembly plant in Mexico and has said it will spend $700 million to expand a Michigan factory instead. GM and Fiat Chrysler have each pledged $1 billion in investment toward domestic assembly, though both companies have said their plans were made prior to Trump winning the election. All three also continue to produce vehicles in Mexico. Ford will assemble Focus compacts at an existing factory in Hermosillo already building Fusion and Lincoln MKZ sedans. GM hasnt announced any step back from plans announced in late 2014 that it would spend $5 billion on new plants in the country by 2018, creating 5,600 jobs. Fiat Chrysler has seven facilities south of the border building parts as well as Ram trucks and vans, Fiat 500 small cars and Dodge Journey sport utility vehicles. In November, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sent an eight-page letter to the Trump transition team with a series of recommendations, including aligning the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Inconsistent rules threaten the industry with potentially billions of dollars in fines, said the trade group, which represents most of the worlds biggest automakers including GM, Ford, Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG. The alliance asked for a presidential panel to review all auto regulations, including fuel-economy rules, citing consumer rejection of efficient cars and electrified vehicles and embrace of pickups and SUVs. Read more about: SHARE: LONDONActor Ewan McGregor was a last minute no-show on the Good Morning Britain television show because of a dispute with host Piers Morgan over recent womens marches. The star tweeted Tuesday that he pulled out when he realized Morgan was the host of the popular show. He said he was angered by derogatory comments Morgan had made about the massive protest marches that followed the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Wont go on with him after his comments, McGregor tweeted. Morgan had earlier claimed that the marches were just an anti-democratic protest at Trump winning the presidency. He complained on Twitter that it was unprofessional for McGregor to not show up for the breakfast show. Read more about: SHARE: America, we must do better. I have a deep love for my country. I also have a profound respect for our civic duties, including public service, voting and peaceful demonstration. I appreciate all of those who left their warm houses this weekend to voice their opinion either celebrating our new president or peacefully voicing their dissent. But what happened to me and one of my best friends and co-worker Amy Looney under the false notion of protesting showed an ugly side of America that needs to be known. On Friday, Amy and I were assaulted by angry protesters outside the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel, where the American Legion hosted a tribute to Medal of Honor recipients at their Veterans Inaugural Ball. We were pushed by a man in a mask. Our clothes were drawn on with permanent marker by other protesters. And we were called the vilest names I have ever heard as we entered and exited the venue. What the people who assaulted us did not know is that I am the sister of Marine First Lt. Travis Manion, and Amy is the widow of Navy SEAL Lt. Brendan Looney, who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Travis was killed in 2007, and Brendan in 2010. We understand more than most how fortunate we are to live in a country where we can demonstrate and share our different beliefs. But my question for those who chose to take this route Friday is this: Are you truly accomplishing anything by inciting hate? After my brother Travis was killed, my mom started the Travis Manion Foundation, which empowers veterans and families of the fallen. As leaders of this organization, Amy and I work with our countrys leaders to ensure these families are properly cared for and veterans are given every opportunity to continue to serve this great country. Amy and I did not attend the Inaugural Ball as a political statement. We support the current administration just as we supported the previous administration and just as we will support every future administration that the American people elect. Amy and I keep our personal politics private; our duty is to the legacy of Travis and Brendan and all those that have served and sacrificed. I understand we are at a critical time in our nations history. The division we see is real and its an emotional time for all. But how can we channel our collective differences to make a positive impact? At Travis Manion Foundation, our idea is simple but ambitious. We want to redefine Americas national character. I was recently asked, Whats wrong with our national character? The response I gave was this: I envision an America that values character above all else. Where integrity is more important than celebrity. Where acts of service and kindness permeate the nightly news. Where communities unite together to raise each other up. And we at the foundation are already making this happen. One kid, one person, one community at a time. I believe this ugly incident involving Amy and me is one of those teachable moments that our entire country can learn from. The character of this country is, at the end of the day, defined by our differences. I have friends who I love dearly on both sides of the political aisle. Lets celebrate the differences that not only define us, but define what makes the United States of America the greatest country in the world. Join our movement. United, with respect for all, lets redefine Americas national character. Denis Villeneuve received his first-ever Oscar nomination Tuesday for directing the aliens-have-landed thriller Arrival, which is also up for best picture and six other awards, while Ryan Gosling picked up a best acting nod, one of a leading 14 nominations for the film La La Land. Montreals Villeneuve has been making waves in Hollywood lately with several high-profile films, including the highly anticipated sci-fi film noir Blade Runner 2049, which stars Gosling. The 36-year-old London, Ont., native is nominated for best actor for La La Land his second such nomination after a nod for Half Nelson in 2007. Gosling plays a jazz musician in the musical ode to Old Hollywood. Hes already earned a Golden Globe Award for the role. The candy-coloured love letter to musicals also landed a record-tying 14 Academy Awards nominations, matching it with Titanic and All About Eve for most nominations ever. La La Land also earned nods for best picture, best actress (Emma Stone), its songs and its 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle. The other nominees for best picture are: Moonlight, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Lion, Fences, Hidden Figures and Hacksaw Ridge. Arrival had a strong Canadian contingent on the crew and several Canucks are nominated alongside Villeneuve including: Patrice Vermette for production design; Paul Hotte for set decoration; Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye for sound mixing; Sylvain Bellemare for sound editing; and Shawn Levy, who as a producer shares in the best picture nomination. Following two years of OscarsSoWhite furore, the Academy of Motion Pictures fielded a notably more diverse field of nominees, led by Barry Jenkins luminous coming-of-age portrait Moonlight, Denzel Washingtons Fences and Theodore Melfis Hidden Figures. The National Film Board of Canada animated short Blind Vaysha also received an Oscar nomination, while Xavier Dolan missed out on receiving his first-ever Oscar nod. The 27-year-old Montreal directors drama Its Only the End of the World was up for best foreign language film. The French-language film, about a dying writer who returns home to his estranged family, is up for a leading nine Canadian Screen Awards. The Oscars air Sunday, Feb. 26 on ABC. The list of nominations for the 89th Academy Awards compiled by The Washington Post: Best picture La La Land, Moonlight, Manchester by the Sea, Arrival, Fences, Lion, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water Immediate reaction: This race is shaping up to be a battle between the poignant drama Moonlight and the fanciful musical La La Land, which won a record-setting seven Golden Globes earlier this month. La La seems to have the edge given its record-tying 14 nominations. Best director Damien Chazelle, La La Land; Barry Jenkins, Moonlight; Denis Villeneuve, Arrival; Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea; Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge Immediate reaction: The question is whether Damien Chazelle can re-create his stellar Golden Globes night with another directors award. This isnt Chazelles first Oscar nomination; he was also up for the best screenplay award in 2015 for Whiplash. Another notable mention: Mel Gibson, whose redemption is complete. Best actress in a leading role Natalie Portman, Jackie; Emma Stone, La La Land; Isabelle Huppert, Elle; Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins; Ruth Negga, Loving Best actor in a leading role Ryan Gosling, La La Land; Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea; Denzel Washington, Fences; Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge; Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic Best supporting actress Viola Davis, Fences; Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea; Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures; Naomie Harris, Moonlight; Nicole Kidman, Lion Best supporting actor Mahershala Ali, Moonlight; Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water; Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea; Dev Patel, Lion; Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals Best adapted screenplay Moonlight, Barry Jenkins; Arrival, Eric Heisserer; Lion, Luke Davies; Fences, August Wilson; Hidden Figures, Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi Best original screenplay La La Land, Damien Chazelle; Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan; Manchester by the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan; The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou; 20th Century Women, Mike Mills Best documentary O.J.: Made in America; 13th; I Am Not Your Negro; Fire at Sea; Life, Animated Immediate reaction: There were a number of exceptional documentaries about race in America this year, and the Academy noticed. O.J.: Made in America is ESPNs exhaustive, stunning 467-minute docuseries about O.J. Simpsons rise and fall; 13th is Ava DuVernays examination of racial inequality in the prison system; and I Am Not Your Negro uses the words from writer James Baldwins unfinished book to explore how the assassinations of three civil rights activists still resonate today. Best animated feature film Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, The Red Turtle, My Life as a Zucchini Best animated short film Piper; Pearl; Borrowed Time; Pear Cider and Cigarettes; Blind Vaysha Best foreign language film Toni Erdmann, The Salesman, Land of Mine, A Man Called Ove, Tanna Best cinematography Moonlight, James Laxton; La La Land, Linus Sandgren; Arrival, Bradford Young; Silence, Rodrigo Prieto; Lion, Greig Fraser Best documentary short subject The White Helmets, Extremis, Watani: My Homeland, 4.1 Miles, Joes Violin Best live action short film Timecode, Sing (Mindenki), Silent Nights, Ennemis Interieurs, La Femme et le TGV Best original song How Far Ill Go, Moana; City of Stars, La La Land; Audition (The Fools Who Dream), La La Land; Cant Stop the Feeling!, Trolls; The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story Best original score La La Land, Justin Hurwitz; Moonlight, Nicholas Britell; Lion, Dustin OHalloran and Hauschka; Jackie, Mica Levi; Passengers, Thomas Newman Best film editing La La Land, Moonlight, Hacksaw Ridge, Arrival, Hell or High Water Best visual effects The Jungle Book, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Doctor Strange, Deepwater Horizon, Kubo and the Two Strings Best sound editing La La Land, Hacksaw Ridge, Arrival, Sully, Deepwater Horizon Best sound mixing La La Land, Hacksaw Ridge, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Arrival, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi Best costume design La La Land, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Florence Foster Jenkins, Jackie, Allied Best makeup and hair styling Star Trek Beyond, Suicide Squad, A Man Called Ove Best production design La La Land, David Wasco; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Stuart Craig and James Hambidge; Arrival, Patrice Vermette; Hail Caesar; Passengers SHARE: It has been almost two years since April Reign coined the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite in response to the lack of diversity in the nominations, and while the woman who helped kick off the discussion is glad to see progress made, she still believes Hollywood can do much better. I am pleased to see that there are nominations for films reflecting the black experience, however, #OscarsSoWhite is far from over, because there is still a dearth of movies reflecting other marginalized communities, said Reign, a Washington, D.C.-based writer, in an interview with the Star after the Oscars nominations came out Tuesday morning. It was never just a black and white thing, and never just a race thing. It is about traditionally under-represented communities seeing themselves and we still have a ways to go before we get there. Two things that she specifically points out are disabled actors playing disabled characters, and in particular, the depiction of Asian Americans. Patrick Stewart is fantastic as Professor X, but why dont we have an actual disabled person as a super hero? says Reign. Im still waiting on an end to the cultural appropriation of the Asian American and Pacific Islander experience, so while we are making a step forward, with respect to films that respect the black experience, it is a step backwards with things like Ghost in the Shell, Dr. Strange and Matt Damons movie, The Great Wall. Ghost in the Shell and Dr. Strange have come under criticism because of so-called race bending the act of changing a characters race in a film from its source, typically to be portrayed by a white actor. Dr. Strange featured Tilda Swinton playing a character who was Asian in the comics, while the upcoming live-action version of the Japanese anime comic Ghost in the Shell stars Scarlett Johansson. The Great Wall, being released in North America next month, stars Damon as a European mercenary who ends up defending China against monsters. As for Matt Damon being the saviour of a billion Chinese people, as if there wasnt one Asian actor in all of the world they could have found to play that role? Why wasnt John Cho asked? Or Ken Watanabe? Did they even get a chance to read for that part. Thats what #OscarsSoWhite is about, says Reign. Its disrespectful to the actual community, and it provides one less opportunity for them to tell their own story. RELATED: SNL host Aziz Ansaris message for Trump: Change comes from large groups of angry people Oscar-nominated Dev Patel plans to take mom to the show; Thats her moment Is Moonlight leading a black gay renaissance? Reign started the hashtag in January 2015, with the tweet: #OscarsSoWhite they asked to touch my hair. It was in response to the fact that no actors of colour were nominated that year, something that also happened the following year. Last year the hashtag picked up steam as the lack of diversity became a huge discussion, with many high-profile actors and celebrities, including Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith talking about potentially boycotting the awards show. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences issued a statement last January about how seriously the Academy was taking the discussion, saying that the organization would be making changes to its membership to better reflect society. I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and its time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond. This years nominations are being hailed for being more diverse, and Reign thinks that while it is the people in front of the camera that always get the spotlight, it is important to remember the behind the scene nominations as well. I want to highlight the fact that we have the first black cinematographer nominated in Bradford Young for Arrival, as well as four of the adapted screenplay nominees Hidden Figures, Fences, Lion and Moonlight which speaks to the importance of what happens behind the camera, she says. Thats what #OscarsSoWhite speaks to. It all starts on the page, so I think we should recognize whats going on behind the camera, as well as the actor and actress nominees, this year and every year. SHARE: MANA POOLS NATIONAL PARK, ZIMBABWE-Theres something both petrifying and amazing about watching a lioness hold down a wildebeest for her cubs. The sun is still well below the horizon when I crawl out of bed for the days first game drive. By 9 a.m., I see a kudu (a small species of antelope), elephants and a wildebeest. Two brightly coloured birds perch above each sagging eyelid, but the wildebeest seems unfazed, or perhaps too tired, to shake them off. We pass a skittish herd of kudu as we head back to camp. The radio crackles to life. Our guide, Honest Siyawareva, informs us its time for a Ferrari safari. A kill is taking place nearby. We fly along the dirt track, eventually pulling up alongside another jeep. Meters away, two lions are on the back of the wildebeest we saw earlier. Its still standing, but eventually the lions decide to give their cubs an in, and they move to the creatures side, pushing it down into the dust so their offspring can feed. Soon their furry faces are red. Its gruesome but awe-inspiring. Ive come to Zimbabwe and Zambia to check out four of Wilderness Safaris camps. Lets start by clarifying the definition of camp here. At all of them I have a separate bathroom area, four-poster bed, living area and spacious patio. At Toka Leya Camp near Victoria Falls, my patio has an open-air bath tub. At Linkwasha in Zimbabwes Hwange National Park, my pre-dinner routine involves a glass of wine from my tents fully stocked, complimentary mini-bar and a flick through one of the coffee-table books laid out for my perusal. Which brings me to another point. Safaris might be expensive, but once you arrive the only extra is the optional tip (a recommended $20 (U.S.) a day for guides and $20 a day for other staff). Almost all drinks are included, as is all food. And theres a lot. At Little Ruckomechis four-tent camp in Zimbabwes Mana Pools National Park, the highlight of the afternoon tea is the worlds fluffiest profiteroles, while the Vietnamese chicken skewers at Zambias Shumba Camp take me right back to the clammy, fragrant heat of Ho Chi Min City. We travel between camps in tiny airplanes and I grow to love the sight of another remote airstrip floating into view. One day we pull up at the airstrip seconds before our plane appears on the horizon, only for our guide to spot a zebra meandering across the asphalt. After radioing the pilot and telling him to abort his landing, we hop in the jeep and speed along the runway to chase away the animal. I grow to love safari life. After an early start (usually before 6 a.m.), well head out on our first game drive. Well be back at camp before midday, just in time for brunch. After that theres some free time I usually spend mine relaxing in one of the main tents or by the plunge pool. After lunch, its time for the afternoon activity, whether its a canoe excursion, walking safari or another game drive. Before we return to camp, we enjoy our sundowner, which quickly becomes my favourite part of the day. Our guide will whip out a cooler filled with our favourite drinks, unfold a table and lay out a selection of snacks, all in some remote corner of the bush. Its all shamelessly decadent, but for most people, safaris arent annual holidays theyre once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Ive stayed in hotels where rooms cost more than $1,000 a night and have left feeling dejected. This isnt a hotel room, however. Almost everything is included, and while the initial cost might make you wince, theres so much packed in that youre unlikely to come away feeling short-changed. Its not just the decadence, or the free-flowing wine and amazing food. Even the staff at the aforementioned extortionately priced hotels didnt come close to Stanley Kapapa, the Shumba barman who walked me back to my tent (and once even tied my shoelaces) when I became convinced a lion was lurking on my patio, or Bulisani Mathe, the eternally patient guide at Linkwasha who used his amazing tracking skills to locate a guests iPhone when it bounced out of the jeep in the middle of the bush. Or Siyawareva, the Little Ruckomechi guide who patiently helped me snap the perfect elephant selfie (and remained cool as a cucumber when it charged). My final night is spent at the remote Shumba Camp, which, like all of the sites, has the feeling of a luxurious family home. Our guide, Isaac Kalio, joins us for beers by the fire pit and regales us with tales of close encounters and frightened guests, like the lady who found an enormous bug in her room, grabbed a can of bug spray, squeezed the trigger and discovered it was actually the bed-side air horn guests are given in case of an emergency. Its also the night I realize just how much Im going to miss the staff Ive shared the past week with. And if youre wondering if I ever used my air horn, the answer is no, although I did come close. One morning, a deafening screeching woke me up. My entire tent was shaking violently. Then I saw a hairy lump drop down onto the patio and scamper away, and realized it was simply a family of baboons using my tent as a bouncy castle. Just another day in the bush. Tamara Hinsons trip was sponsored by Wilderness Safaris and Safari & Company, which didnt review or approve this story. When you go Do this trip: Wilderness Safaris (wilderness-safaris.com) offers tailor-made trips, with varied prices. Camps are accessed via internal flights following direct flights from Toronto to Harare (Zimbabwe), Lusaka (Zambia), or Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe, the most centrally located due its position on the Zimbabwe/Zambia border. Linkwasha and Toka Leya are both open all year round. Little Ruckomechi and Shumba Camp usually close in November and reopen in late May. SHARE: OTTAWACanada is a long way from a free trade deal with China but is about to embark on exploratory talks because it believes openness to global trade, not protectionism, is the way to go, says Justin Trudeaus newly named ambassador to Beijing. In an exclusive interview with the Star, John McCallum praised last weeks speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping that promoted global markets as being in line with Canadas views, calling it an excellent speech that was open-minded and internationalist. In doing so, the former federal immigration and citizenship minister underscored a stark contrast in the economic and trade policies of Canada and the U.S. under the Trudeau and Trump governments. McCallum was in Ottawa for briefings before taking up his diplomatic post in early March. He spoke hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order to quit the Asia-Pacific free trade deal known as the trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and reiterated his determination to renegotiate or quit the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Trump fulfilled his long-standing campaign promise to kill the TPP as one of his first orders of business, with his press secretary Sean Spicer portraying it as a lopsided deal that favours China or other countries at the expense of American interests. Spicer told reporters at a televised White House briefing that America is interested only in bilateral agreements that benefit American interests. McCallum did not comment directly on the Trump administrations trade moves. He said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are very focused on ensuring the absolutely critical Canada-U.S. trade relationship is maintained. However, asked if Trumps withdrawal from the TPP and vow to renegotiate the NAFTA, adds more impetus to reach a free trade deal with China, McCallum said, We will do both things at the same time. We will pursue our relations with the United States as the very top priority. But we will also strongly push for closer connection, stronger ties, deeper integration with China in order to boost jobs and economic growth for Canadas middle class. McCallum, a former chief economist at RBC before he entered politics, said he was not putting the Canada-U.S. and Canada-China relationships on equal footing but noted: It is China, in particular, and Asia, in general, which are the fastest-growing parts of the globe. So you dont have to be a Nobel-prize in economics to understand that if youre talking about a country with 1.3 billion people with a very high rate of economic growth, then its good for our economy to be associated with that fast-growing economic tiger. Signed last year, the TPP which does not include China liberalized trade rules for 12 countries around the Pacific Rim, including the U.S., Canada, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, New Zealand, Chile and Peru, representing about 40 per cent of the worlds economic output. Only Japan had ratified it. With Trumps move it now appears to be dead. Last week, in a wide-ranging address to the World Economic Forum, Chinese President Xi portrayed China as the new champion of free trade. We must remain committed to developing global free trade and investment, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation through opening-up and say no to protectionism, Xi said at Davos. Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and air. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war. McCallum agreed with Xis view. I thought it was an excellent speech, he said. I think some of the points which he articulated certainly coincide with our own governments way of thinking, when he (Xi) talked about the dangers of protectionism I cant remember the exact term but that you close yourself in a dark room and you miss the light. Well, I think that reflects our view too. That is why we are a country that is pursuing more openness, freer trade all around the world. We just concluded a deal with Europe. We are talking to China. We are talking to India. We are totally in sync with that open-looking open-minded internationalist view which President Xi expressed in Davos, said McCallum. In fact, China now appears to be trying to step into the vacuum left by the U.S. Bloomberg has reported China is advocating for a new 16-nation pact that excludes the United States and lacks some of the environmental and labour protections that Trumps predecessor Barack Obama negotiated into the TPP, and reports that Beijing may also be trying to boost ties with traditional U.S. allies like the Philippines and Malaysia. Asked if Canada would join a China-led multilateral trade deal, or whether it now believes bilateral deals are the way to go, McCallum said I cant answer that question specifically. It hasnt arisen yet. But what I can tell you is that we are very much in favour of more free trade, more openness in our relationship, whether that is bilateral or multilateral. McCallum believes it is possible to persuade a skeptical Canadian public of the benefits of a Canada-China free trade deal if it boosted jobs and economic growth. In principle we think it is a good idea, but we are still at an early stage. Australia concluded a free-trade agreement with China but it took them 10 years to come to the agreement. And so the devil is always in the details. I think the Canadian public could be persuaded if we came up with a deal that was clearly good for Canada but we are a long way from that now. He said the Canadian government and he will continue to speak frankly and respectfully to China when they disagree over questions of human rights and the rule of law. He could not speak to specific cases such as that of Huseyin Celil, a Uighur-Canadian and resident of Burlington who was jailed in 2006 by China as a suspected terrorist. Nor would McCallum comment on whether he as Canadas ambassador would press for the release of jailed political prisoners or dissidents in China, except to say, I think when one has as close relation as we do one is free to raise matters that are of concern to us. McCallum has travelled to China more than a dozen times, and worked now under three Liberal prime ministers Jean Chretien,Paul Martin and now Trudeau. He said he hopes to deepen Canadas relationship with the country, and hopes his family and friendship connections will help. His wife Nancy is Chinese from Malaysia and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese, one of his three sons has worked for years in Beijing and speaks Mandarin, and McCallum said he is excited by the opportunity ahead. SHARE: WASHINGTONPrime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet the new U.S. president within the next several weeks, as the incoming American administration talks to its northern and southern neighbours about a revised North American Free Trade Agreement. A spokesman for Donald Trump confirmed the upcoming discussions as he held his first daily White House briefing Monday and took questions on trade, counterterrorism and a dispute over him making misleading statements. The first NAFTA talks could take place in the U.S., Sean Spicer suggested. He appeared to indicate the leaders would visit Trump. However, in Canada, several officials said specifics of a meeting had yet to be nailed down. Read more: Trudeaus Trump tactics seem to be working so far: Paul Wells (Trump) discussed on the phone with both leaders his desire to reform (NAFTA), Spicer told reporters. His goal was to have that discussion when they come in person. Spicer said the meetings would happen soon: Over the next 30 days or so. Trade figured prominently in Trumps first full workday at the White House. The new president officially killed the Trans-Pacific Partnership by formally revoking U.S. participation in the 12-country trade pact. That multinational agreement had been a pillar of U.S. foreign policy under two administrations, an effort to set American-designed trade standards in Chinas geographic neighbourhood, and Canada was also a party. However, the deal drew fire from left and right in the last U.S. election and now appears dead. Trump met business leaders and promised a carrot-and-stick approach: lower taxes and a 75-per-cent reduction in regulations for businesses that stay in the U.S., and tariff-like punishments for businesses that outsource jobs. Another subplot of the day featured a spat over basic honesty. Spicer admitted he misled reporters on the weekend by exaggerating the number of Washington subway riders on the day of Trumps inauguration. He said it was an honest mistake and that he had received bad numbers. Spicer did continue to insist that Trumps inauguration crowd was the largest of all time but he clarified that the claim included live participants, TV viewers and people who watched online. Attention now turns to NAFTA. The Canadian government heard a reassuring message in Calgary. A presidential adviser attended a federal cabinet retreat to say Canada need not be enormously worried about trade. Stephen Schwarzman, who leads the presidents Strategic and Policy Forum, said the new administration had an unusually positive view of Canada. There may be some modifications, but basically things should go well for Canada in terms of any discussions with the United States, said Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group investment firm. The Canadian government has been hoping to escape the ire that Trump directed at other countries during the campaign he hardly ever mentioned Canada and in fact brushed off the idea of a northern border wall when asked about it. The Trudeau government has hinted it could even seek to preserve a one-on-one deal with the U.S., should NAFTA fall apart. The reality is that we will do what is in Canadas interest, said David MacNaughton, Canadas ambassador to the U.S., when asked in a December interview about the possibility of an agreement without Mexico. A Trump-friendly U.S. lawmaker Monday suggested that's exactly what he'd prefer a one-on-one deal with Canada. Chris Collins, who was the congressional liaison between lawmakers and Trump's presidential transition team, said he favours dealing with Canada and Mexico separately. He made clear he was not speaking for the administration, and said it's unclear what approach Trump will favour. But the New York Republican told CNN: ''Our relationship with Canada has nothing to do with our relationship with Mexico. They should not be mixed together. Canadians pay the same wages. They treat their workers with respect.'' Read more about: SHARE: ST. JOHNS, N.L.The beige, battered recliner in which Don Dunphys body was found was front-and-centre at the inquiry into his death Monday, as the lawyer for his daughter grilled the officer who opened fire. It was a sometimes combative exchange as Bob Simmonds cross-examined Const. Joe Smyth of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. In particular, he questioned why Smyth felt he had grounds to visit Dunphy at his home in Mitchells Brook on St. Marys Bay for a meeting that turned deadly. You had no basis at all zero to believe Mr. Dunphy would be violent, act out or be anything but appropriate with you, he said. Read more: Newfoundland officer tells inquiry he thought Don Dunphy was going to shoot him Newfoundland officer says he initially confused Don Dunphy with YouTube character Newfoundland officer who shot Don Dunphy begins testimony at inquiry Smyth, 38, has told the inquiry he shot Don Dunphy three times in self-defence on Easter Sunday 2015 after he suddenly raised a rifle at him from the right side of his chair. Simmonds used the recliner to show that if the gun, almost one metre in length, had been jammed into one of the side pockets it would have been clearly visible from where Smyth stood in the small living room. Smyth suggested Monday the gun may have been leaning against the wall behind the chair. Simmonds is to continue his cross-examination Tuesday. Smyth told Simmonds there was nothing concrete to suggest Dunphy posed any threat prior to the fatal confrontation. I had no reason to believe that Mr. Dunphy would act out violently. Still, Smyth said he found some disconcerting comments after reviewing about a year of Dunphys frequent Twitter posts. Smyth had gone alone and unannounced to Dunphys house after staff in then-premier Paul Daviss office flagged a single post on Twitter. He has told the inquiry he made the visit on Easter Sunday because he could not halt his work for religious sensibilities. Smyth says Dunphy, 59, invited him in. The effort at rapport building suddenly went off the rails, however, after Smyth refused to sit on Dunphys couch and commented on the filthy state of his home. Simmonds had Smyth confirm that his job as a former member of Daviss security detail was primarily to protect the premier and other elected members from physical harm. He repeatedly grilled Smyth on why he gave several people the impression including an RCMP officer that he was visiting Dunphy to assess a threat against Davis. He also questioned Smyths comments at the time to a workers compensation executive suggesting disgruntled citizens who vent on social media dont realize there are consequences for such statements. What are the consequences? Simmonds asked. He noted that Dunphy, an injured worker whod battled for years with the workers compensation system, was engaged in lawful free speech and never threatened violence. Smyth agreed, but maintained he found some of Dunphys Twitter posts troubling. They had, after all, been flagged by the former premiers staff as a concern, he said. It was the first chance other lawyers have had to cross-examine Smyth since commission co-counsel Sandra Chaytor finished more than three days of questioning. She wrapped up Monday by asking Smyth if theres anything he could have done differently. I could have not went there, Smyth said. Earlier in the day, Smyth said he saw no conflict in sending an email explaining his actions to the lead RCMP investigator and about 400 other RNC and RCMP officers. He said the email, which was leaked to media on the day of Dunphys funeral, was to urge co-workers to reach out to troubled individuals. He stressed that although he sent the email signed Joey to so many people he never meant for it to be more widely shared. I was almost sick to my stomach, Smyth said of the realization it had been leaked to media on the day of Dunphys funeral, April 10, 2015, five days after he was killed. This is such bad timing, he recalled thinking, and said he thought of the family. He admitted, though, that an email he later sent directly to lead RCMP investigator Cpl. Steve Burke was probably inappropriate. Smyth sent it past 3 a.m. on July 29, 2015 asking Burke for an update. Smyth told the inquiry he was at that point increasingly frustrated being in professional limbo. Hed been put on a desk job as the investigation played out. Im lying wide awake thinking about what happened as he had many nights before and since, Smyth said when Chaytor asked about the hour he sent the email. Burke responded that it would be inappropriate to discuss the investigation. Smyth took several months of stress and parental leave starting that fall. He now works in traffic operations. Commission hearings will continue into March. Inquiry Commissioner Leo Barry will not make findings of civil or criminal responsibility, but any new evidence could be investigated by police. His report is due by July 1. SHARE: It is not to diminish the economic importance of the trade arrangements between Canada and the United States to note that more than the bilateral relationship between the two countries will be at stake when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. In many G7 capitals there is concern that few mainstream government leaders seem to have the ear of the incoming American president. Out of the current lot, Trudeau may be among those better placed to establish a connection. Thats not only a product of geography. France and Germany are on the way to the polls. The upcoming exit from the European Union will consume the United Kingdoms political class for the foreseeable future. By comparison, Trudeau is not facing an election anytime soon. He has more political capital than most of his peers. And, so far, he has not burned any bridge to Trump. On trade, the prime minister does have an easier case to make than many of the U.S.s trading partners. It was not out of the kindness of their hearts that previous American administrations championed the creation of a free-trade zone between the two countries. It was always a two-way street. But if there is to be unlikely chemistry between Trudeau and Trump, it will be because of ingredients of a more personal order than the mutual interests of their governments. Because of Trumps adversarial relationship with the media, it is tempting but perhaps misleading to compare the new president to Stephen Harper. There is certainly a parallel to be drawn between Harpers efforts to sideline the parliamentary press gallery and what may be to come in the Trump administrations dealings with the White House press corps. But the comparison should stop there. Harper may have been a control freak, but he was never a narcissist. Indeed, of the prime ministers Ive covered (from Brian Mulroney onward), he was the least inclined to need outside validation for his decisions. The former Conservative prime ministers capacity to dispense with the approval of others was such that it often became a liability. On that score, Trump sits at the other end of the affective spectrum. When it comes to hypersensitivity to the media, Mulroney and not Harper came closer to exhibiting some of the same features. In a book published in 1987 under the title of So, What are the Boys Saying? Mulroneys first press secretary, Michel Gratton, documented the Tory prime ministers craving for media approval and the early traps it caused him to fall into. Over his nine years in office, Mulroney never stopped being a news junkie. He rarely if ever felt that the reporting did justice to his accomplishments. But he did not allow his media addiction to become such an obsession that it would have impeded his decision-making. Nor did he ever task his staff to sell the public on an alternate reality. By Trumps standards, Mulroney was a model of detachment. Two of the new presidents biographers told the CBC in a report published over the weekend that a relentless craving for popularity was central to his persona. By all indications, extreme neediness is at the core of his rapport with the media. How else to account for the fact that the so-called leader of the free world and his palace guard spent their very first weekend in the White House fabricating implausible lies about the size of the attendance at the inauguration? If Trudeau is to connect with Trump, he probably should pay as much attention to those episodes as he does to his briefings on substantial Canada/U.S. files. For the prime minister has one asset that his new White House vis-a-vis could envy and admire: his standing as an international rock star. If only because it could reflect well on his presidency, Trump might see a friendship or, at least, a cordial rapport with Trudeau as worth cultivating. If you find it ironic that the Prime Ministers lifelong familiarity with the celebrity circuit that so recently rendered him wilfully blind to the optics of his Aga Khan-hosted vacation and his status as a magnet for selfies might be as helpful in the task of establishing a connection with Trump as the Canada/U.S. expertise Trudeau has at his disposal, consider that its a sign of the times we live in. Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAThe Federal Court has dismissed a challenge by a Quebec law professor to condemn the federal governments $15-billion sale of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp, a former Bloc Quebecois MP, challenged export permits authorizing the deal, saying Saudi Arabias poor human rights record should give the court the ability to review it. Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer ruled that the courts role was not to pass moral judgment on the decision by then-foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion to issue export permits allowing the deal. She said the court simply had to ensure that the decision was legal. Of course, his broad discretion would have allowed him to deny the permits, Tremblay-Lamers ruling said. However, the court is of the opinion that the minister considered the relevant factors. The previous Conservative government negotiated the deal and the current Liberal government opted to honour it. The armoured vehicles were produced by General Dynamics Land Systems of London, Ont. Turp initially sought an injunction to block the deal last March, but one month later Dion signed a series of permits allowing the sale to proceed. Turp was asking the court to exercise its authority to review the governments decisions to see if they were legal. Read more: Five reasons to kill the Saudi arms deal: Burman Justin Trudeau defends Saudi deal Were not a banana republic: Paul Wells Saudi arms deal approval was illegal, lawyer argues The Liberals have been heavily criticized by advocacy groups who said the government should not be selling military hardware to a country with a poor human rights record. The government acknowledged concerns about the mistreatment of women in Saudi Arabia, as well as the stifling of political dissent by the Saudi government, among other abuses. But it said it had no evidence that Saudi Arabia specifically used the military hardware to crack down on its own population. It also said that there was no evidence that they were linked to UN-documented rights abuses in neighbouring Yemen, where Saudi Arabia was conducting airstrikes. The federal government concluded that Saudi Arabia was a strategic ally in the Middle East in the fight against Islamic militants. Turp argued that Dions approval of the exports was flawed because it was guided by considerations other than respect for fundamental rights and international humanitarian law. Turp argued that the approval of export permits violated the Export and Import Permits Act and the Geneva Conventions Act. The government countered that it properly assessed the decision and took the human rights issues into consideration a position that the Federal Court has accepted. The fact that there have been no incidents in which LAVs have been used in human rights violations in Saudi Arabia since trade relations between that country and Canada began in the 1990s is significant evidence in the context of this assessment, the ruling said. Read more about: SHARE: CALGARYTransCanadas controversial Keystone XL pipeline now has the backing of both the Canadian and U.S. governments. Speaking at a Calgary cabinet retreat this morning, federal ministers once again voiced their support for the pipeline shortly before U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order advancing the project. Read more:Trump signs executive order reviving controversial Keystone XL pipeline We have been supportive of this since the day we were sworn into government, said Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. We believe its a good project for both Canada and the United States. The pipeline has drawn criticism for both the potential for leaks to contaminate the environment and for the boost in greenhouse gases it will help produce. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the project goes along with the governments twin pillars of jobs and the environment. Our position from the start has been that the environment and the economy go together, she said. We really believe that it is not just possible but essential to have strong policies on climate change the strongest policies a government of Canada has ever had on putting a price on pollution and at the same time to fulfil our duty as a government of getting our natural resources to market. Former president Barack Obama killed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, saying it would hurt American efforts to reach a global climate change deal. News of the approval came as cabinet ministers held a two-day retreat, with Canada-U.S. relations dominating discussions. Cabinet members will also attend a panel discussion today with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, Calgary police Chief Roger Chaffin and representatives from local community organizations, followed by a town hall later at the University of Calgary. Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAKevin OLeary is the far-and-away front-runner for the Conservative leadership as the Opposition party gains slightly on the Liberals in overall voter preference, according to a new poll. OLeary, the celebrity businessman who entered the Tory leadership race last week after months of signalling a potential campaign, is the top choice to lead the party for 27 per cent of poll respondents. The survey found he had more than twice the support of runner-up Maxime Bernier, the Quebec MP and former minister who scored 11 per cent. Bernier was followed by Lisa Raitt at 7 per cent she attacked OLeary in early January by launching the site StopKevinOLeary.com and Michael Chong, who got 6 per cent. (OLeary)s adding a bit of lustre to the Conservative race, said Lorne Bozinoff, president of Forum Research, which conducted the leadership poll. The Liberals have sort of had a free rein, a leaderless competition with the other parties. Theres now a leadership candidate among the Tories that people actually know about, he said. I think the publicity is going to help the Tories in terms of their numbers. At the same time, 38 per cent of respondents still preferred someone else to any of the current Conservative leadership candidates, the poll found. Thats down from 53 per cent who wanted someone else when asked in December. Bozinoff pointed out that, when looking only at Conservative supporters in the poll, OLearys support was more than 50 per cent, while just 21 per cent opted for someone else. OLeary also placed first in support from Conservative party members, with 31 per cent. That was more than double the support for Lisa Raitt 14 per cent who placed second among members that were polled. Hes got a lot of support among the rank and file, Bozinoff said of OLeary. The poll Forum released Monday also showed the Liberal governments lead in voter preference shrinking as the Conservatives gained support. If an election were held today, 42 per cent of respondents said they would vote Liberal, while 36 per cent would vote Conservative, up from 34 per cent in early December, the poll found. The Liberals support would translate to a majority government if an election were held today, according to Forum. Support for the New Democratic Party, meanwhile, stayed steady at 12 per cent. The Green Party had 5 per cent and the Bloc Quebecois had 4 per cent. Almost half of the polls respondents said they approve of Justin Trudeaus performance as prime minister down to 48 per cent from 51 per cent in December while 42 per cent disapproved. Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose scored 33-per-cent approval, while NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair received 31 per cent approval, 3 per cent lower than those who disapproved (34 per cent). The poll was conducted by Forum Research as an interactive phone survey of 1,332 random Canadian voters from Jan. 19 to 21. The poll is considered accurate plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Where appropriate, results of the survey have been statistically weighted by age, region and other variables to ensure the sample reflects the actual population according to the latest census data. Forum houses its complete results in the data library of the University of Torontos political science department. Correction January 24, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the support for the Bloc Quebecois as 6 per cent. SHARE: A third grade read or flunk bill proposed by Senator Lou Ann Linehan, LB 651, should alert parents and educators what they can expect from this 105th session of the Nebraska Unicameral. The bill requires, with specific exceptions, that a child be held back if not reading at grade level in third grade and encourages it in first and second grade. This bill turns the teaching of reading in elementary school into a paperwork nightmare and hangs the specter of the embarrassment of being held back and losing all their friends onto 6 to 10 year-old children. All this based upon an annual reading test. This system was used in Georgia and my four grandchildren there were each in panic at the possibility of being flunked. Each of them are good students and ended third grade hating school and the drive to get them to pass the reading test. This moronic bill hangs its reasoning on an old time rule that if a child is behind on reading by the third grade, the child will never catch up. The rule is bunk. Children learn at different paces. They certainly react to testing differently. Why are people on the Education Committee, who have no educational experience or training, trying to micromanage an area they are ignorant of? Shame on our Unicameral under Speaker Jim Scheer, the Education Committee under Senator Mike Groene and on Senator Linehan. This is not the Nebraska way of protecting our children and grandchildrens education. Bert Peterson, Hastings OTTAWACanadas status of women minister did not attend a womens march Saturday, when thousands of people across the country protested the new U.S. presidents stance on abortion, history of sexist comments and other issues, because she had prior commitments in her riding, according to her office. Organized for the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, the Womens March saw half a million people descend on Washington, D.C. to rail against the new American leader. Similar protests were held in Montreal, Halifax, Ottawa and Toronto, where organizers estimate 60,000 people marched from Queens Park to Nathan Phillips Square on Saturday. Our government has made a commitment to gender equality and to ensuring that all women and girls can reach their full potential, said Matt Pascuzzo, press secretary for Status of Women Minister Maryam Monsef, in an emailed statement. He said Monsef missed the march because she was attending meetings in her riding and preparing for the Liberal cabinet retreat in Alberta on Sunday. We will continue working to support womens rights in Canada by addressing and preventing gender-based violence and ensuring womens economic success. When women and girls succeed, it benefits all of us. Penelope Chester Starr, a co-ordinator for the marches in Canada, said there was no expectation for Monsef to attend one of the events. No politicians were invited because organizers didnt want to introduce a partisan element to the demonstrations, she said, though the New Democratic Party had a visible presence at the rally in Toronto. This was not meant to be a political or politicized event, Chester Starr said. It would be a completely different story if we put out an invitation and she turned it down, she added. We cant wait to work with the ministry moving forward, and certainly we will engage with her. While she didnt attend one of the marches Saturday, Monsef posted her support on Twitter the next day. Truly inspired. That so many took part yesterday means we can all stand together and keep working for change, she wrote Sunday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also proclaimed his support on Twitter. Congratulations to the women and men across Canada who came out yesterday to support womens rights. You keep your government inspired. Sheila Malcolmson, the NDPs status of women critic, said the entire Liberal cabinet not just Monsef had a responsibility to attend Saturdays marches, given the prime ministers repeated declaration that he is a feminist. For them to miss that opportunity on Saturday to stand with millions of women who marched to stand up against misogyny and sexism and racism and the discrimination against disabled people was their loss, said Malcolmson, who attended the womens march in Nanaimo, B.C. Since Trump was elected Nov. 8, the Trudeau government has been cautious in its rhetoric about the American political scene. When he shuffled his cabinet this month, the prime minister explained that he was positioning his government to interact with the Trump administration on U.S.-Canada trade and co-operation. As Trump continues to signal his plan to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trudeau has taken pains to publicly emphasize what he sees he holds in common with the U.S. administration, rather than discuss issues where they disagree. We both got elected on a commitment to help the middle class, and were going to be able to find common ground on doing the kinds of things that will help ordinary families right across the continent, Trudeau said during an event in Halifax last week. Monsef, meanwhile, is new to the status of women portfolio. Until this months cabinet shuffle, the Peterborough MP was the minister for democratic institutions, where she was roundly criticized for her handling of the Liberals promise to change the electoral system in time for the 2019 federal vote. Trudeaus mandate letter for the status of women minister mentions several priorities for the portfolio. These include shrinking the wage gap, encouraging companies to hire more female executives, creating a framework to prevent violence against women and helping other ministers with the inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women. Read more about: SHARE: A Toronto police officer connected to a high-profile case of alleged perjury by a group of his fellow officers has pleaded guilty to professional misconduct for failing to report his partners fabrications in court testimony that secured a guilty plea that sent a man to jail. Toronto police Const. Brian Davy has been convicted of insubordination under the provinces Police Services Act for his role in the arrest and conviction of Toronto man Nguyen Son Tran. Four Toronto police officers stand accused of 22 perjury and obstruction of justice charges in connection to drug busts involving Tran. The officers are alleged to have unlawfully searched Trans car, located hidden heroin, relocated it to the dashboard creating a justification to search the car then provided false testimony in court. The charges havent been tested in court. Davy is not facing criminal charges in connection to the Tran incident, but admits he stood by silently as his partner, Toronto police Const. Benjamin Elliot, provided false information about Trans January, 2013 arrest. According to the tribunal documents which outline the charge to which Davy pleaded guilty Elliot fabricated evidence at Trans trial in March, 2014. Elliots testimony persuaded Tran to plead guilty to drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. He was sentenced to 30 months in jail. Const. Davy was aware of the Const. Elliots fabrication. Const. Davy neglected to report the misconduct of Const. Elliot, reads the tribunal documents summarizing Davys misconduct charge. At a tribunal hearing Monday, police prosecutor Acting Insp. Shane Branton and Davys lawyer, David Butt, gave a joint sentencing submission suggesting a 15-day penalty. Both said the sentence was significant enough to deter other officers from engaging in similar serious misconduct and assure the public that Davys insubordination would not be tolerated. But it would also acknowledge the positive contributions Davy had made within the police he is described by superiors as hard-working and motivated and the fact that he pleaded guilty early in the tribunal process. The guilty plea demonstrates both remorse and acceptance of responsibility, said Branton. Davy has demonstrated he is willing to face the consequences. Davy was not present at the tribunal Monday due to what Butt called a significant medical issue. He is currently suspended with pay. The officer, who joined Toronto police in 2011, was convicted of two counts of deceit last year in connection to a January 15, 2014 incident where he falsified paperwork concerning a confidential informant. He was sentenced to a one-year demotion from first- to second-class constable. Elliot, his partner, faces criminal charges in connection to the January, 2013 arrest of Tran in which Davy was involved as well as second arrest of Tran one year later, on January 15, 2014 (Tran was still awaiting trial on the January, 2013 drug charge at the time). A spokesperson for Toronto police said Monday that Davys January, 2014 deceit was not connected to Trans arrests in 2013 or 2014. Anticipating questioning about why Davy should get a lesser penalty than a demotion for his second appearance before the tribunal, Butt said it was technically his clients first offence. This episode of misconduct pre-dated the first one. So this is in effect his first episode of offending behaviour, Butt told the tribunal. He said Davys positive reviews from superiors demonstrate that he is a valuable police officer who has made mistakes. All of us stumble and fall on occasion, Butt said. The criminal charges against Elliot and his three officers came four months after an Ontario judge ruled police had fabricated a story that involved planting heroin in a car to justify their January, 2014 search of Trans vehicle. Announcing the charges against his officers in a news conference last year, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders said there would be a review of the four officers prior cases conducted by the forces professional standards unit to see if there is any other cause of concern. Six months later, Toronto police announced new charges against Elliot related to Trans 2013 arrest. Kim Schofield, Trans lawyer, is hoping to appeal Trans 2013 conviction on the fresh evidence of officer misconduct. There may be civil action, she said. In Trans 2013 case, Schofield had unsuccessfully attempted to challenge the credibility of police testimony, and urged the judge, Justice Leslie Chapin, to find police were lying in part of their evidence. My client was sentenced to almost three years in jail as a result of something they now know did not happen in the way that this cop testified that it happened, she told the Star last July, when the new charges against Elliot were announced. While she is glad the issues with officer conduct in the 2013 case are being raised, she notes that it took the second, problematic arrest of Tran in 2014 in order for that to happen. Hopefully its a cautionary tale to judges to really take this kind of thing seriously, she said Monday. The criminal trial of the four officers facing perjury and obstruction of justice charges is proceeding by direct indictment, which means there will not be preliminary hearing. The case is back in court next month. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca SHARE: Results from two sick students pointed to norovirus as the culprit for the outbreak at Humber College, Toronto Public Health confirmed. The symptoms and the laboratory results all do point to norovirus being the cause of this outbreak, but we do have additional lab testing underway from other students who were ill that will get us additional evidence, Finkelstein said. The total number of ill students had risen to 220, said Toronto Public Health spokesman Dr. Michael Finkelstein, but the worst appears to be over. By Monday morning, 75 per cent of students who were ill have now reported that they feel better, according to a press release from Humber. Humber staff said they were working diligently to ensure that the illness does not spread further. Over the weekend high-touch and common areas in the North Campus were cleaned with products specifically designed to kill norovirus. A nursing station was also set up in residence in case students require medical attention. The station will remain open until no longer needed, according to the press release. Food inside the residence is also being thrown out as a precaution. As a precaution, we have disposed of all open food from last week (including any items that are not packaged or sealed). Self-serve food, such as salad bar items, are not available for the time being, the release said. Dr. Finkelstein said because norovirus outbreaks can sometimes spread through contaminated food, Toronto Public Health is also testing the residences food supply. We have submitted some samples of the food to the lab over the weekend, but we have no results back that suggest food contamination yet, he said. There is no vaccine for norovirus, Dr. Finkelstein said. The best response is frequent hand washing with soap and warm water for at least 15 seconds. For most people who catch the illness, the best thing to do is to stay home for 48 hours, drink plenty of water to combat dehydration, and let it run its course. Most people do not need to go to the emergency department when they get norovirus, Dr. Finkelstein said. Symptoms of the illness include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. The illness is unlikely to have long-term side effects, but for young children, the elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system, norovirus can cause complications that warrant seeking medical attention, Dr. Finkelstein said. The virus that causes what many people call the stomach flu circulates every winter, Dr. Finkelstein said. Like influenza, its a virus that mutates though not as fast as the flu. Most people think the virus changes about once every three to four years, Dr. Finkelstein said. That could be a small silver lining to the recovering students at Humber. The people here (at Humber) who have already been exposed to this virus during the outbreak, are probably protected against that virus, for the next few years, Dr. Finkelstein said. With files from Ellen Brait Correction January 24, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that misstated the length of the hand washing as 15 minutes. SHARE: A Toronto man who lawfully recorded police arresting and Tasering a man near Ryerson University on Tuesday was repeatedly told by officers to stop filming the interaction, then threatened by two cops who claimed they would seize the phone he was using to record it. The interaction, captured by Waseem Khan, depicts officers repeatedly telling Khan he could not record police despite the fact that citizens have the right to film police performing their duties if they are not obstructing the officers. Get that guy out of my face, please, says one Toronto police officer after deploying his Taser on the man, pointing to Khan. Im not obstructing your arrest. Im not involved in the investigation, Khan says, as he continues to record the interaction from approximately 20 feet away. Im not getting involved. The video then shows two officers approaching Khan, one of them urging him to let police do what they need to. When Khan refuses insisting he isnt stopping police from doing their jobs two officers tell him that if he doesnt stop recording they are going to seize his phone as evidence, something they did not have the authority to do. One of the officers warns Khan the man police are arresting is going to spit in your face, youre going to get AIDS. The video comes less than two weeks after a police misconduct case was settled through mediation in another incident where Toronto police wrongly attempted to block a member of the public from videotaping an arrest. Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash called the video a teaching moment. Based on what he can see in the video, Khan was not obstructing or interfering with the arrest, Pugash said. Let me be clear: we have told our officers if somebody is videoing them and they are not obstructing and interfering, they have every right to film, Pugash said Tuesday. While he said the vast majority of officers understand citizens have the right to record police this is life in 2017 the video shows not everyone has got the message. Clearly there is more work that we have to do. This is very much a teaching moment, Pugash said. In reference to officers claiming they would seize his phone, Pugash said: They have no authority That approach is the wrong approach. Pugash said Toronto polices professional standards division would be examining the incident to determine if the officers should be disciplined or charged with professional misconduct. He added the officers would be spoken to by their unit commander. The incident began when Toronto police got a call Tuesday morning indicating a man at Seaton House, a downtown homeless shelter, had spat on a staff member. Officers located the man near Dundas St. E. and Dalhousie St. According to police, a female officer approached and the man spat at her and punched her, prompting construction workers nearby to step in; one of the workers was then bitten by the man. After the man was placed in the back of a police car, he kicked out the back window, police said. They tried to Taser him but the Taser didnt work because he was wearing heavy clothing, said Pugash. Khan, a 32-year-old letter carrier, was in the area with his wife, taking his child to daycare, when he saw Toronto police reaching into the back of a police car, then bringing a man out onto the ground. He began recording, and the video starts when the man is on the ground surrounded by officers. Khan can be heard saying he is recording because he saw a cop kick this guy in the head. The sound of a Taser being deployed can then be heard, and Khan says: Hes down and they (Taser) him? This guys restrained and they (Taser) him. One officer can also be seen repeatedly applying pressure on the man who appears to be unmoving with one foot, and yelling: Stop resisting. According to Pugash, the man being arrested was biting one of the officers at the time, prompting them to deploy a Taser. In an interview with the Star, Khan expressed disbelief that the man was biting police. He appeared to be completely unconscious, Khan said. This guy was out. He didnt move one muscle in his body, not making one sound, Khan said. Im telling you, this guy was not biting anyone. Khan said he felt intimidated recording police, though he knew he had the right to do so. As officers approached him, he felt he was being forced away and he no longer had a clear view of the arrest. He left soon after. I felt that I had to back up. I did not want to lose the video, Khan said. I knew they couldnt take my phone, but I knew that they would. Khan said among the most troubling aspects of the incident was the comment about the man being arrested giving him AIDS. This is obviously how they feel towards him. This is the attitude towards people in the street, Khan said. HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is not spread through saliva. Pugash said he wanted to remind Khan he can complain about the police conduct he witnessed, including the language used by the officer. Earlier this month, professional misconduct charges against two Toronto officers who intimidated and blocked a citizen from recording the arrest of two black minors were stayed, following mediation. Mike Miller, the man who was filming, said he was satisfied with the outcome, saying the officers provided a sincere apology. I believe now that if citizens are going to do this, they are not going to be intimidated, he said. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca . SHARE: The Ontario Liberal government is blitzing federal Conservative leadership candidate Kevin OLeary with a series of fact-check open letters, which a political pundit said could be part of an electoral long game. McMaster University political science professor Henry Jacek said the Liberals know that going after OLeary will appeal to their potential voters. Theyre not likely to like Kevin OLeary at all, so it doesnt hurt at all to tell these people: Kevin OLeary doesnt like us, he said. Read more: Why Kevin O'Leary is a gift to Kathleen Wynne: Cohn Kevin OLeary says Kathleen Wynne is incompetent If you know your base dislikes somebody and doesnt trust them, boom, just play that up that theyre attacking you ... Going into the next election theyll probably move it a little step more and associate the opposition leader with Kevin OLeary. Premier Kathleen Wynne fired off the first open letter on Sunday, taking the former Dragons Den television personality to task for comments he had made about Ontarios auto sector noting it has seen nearly $2 billion in investment recently and corporate tax rate. OLeary responded in kind Monday, slamming Wynne in an open letter of his own for Ontarios more than $300-billion debt and suggesting she call a snap election at a time when her popularity is extremely low. Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid then followed up Monday, writing to OLeary that debt-to-GDP ratio is a more important figure, and Ontarios about 40 per cent is lower than Quebecs and not too much higher than some Atlantic Provinces. OLeary also mentioned Ontarians anger over rising hydro rates in his open letter, so Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault wrote a missive Monday saying it was important to shut down coal plants and noting the government is trying to cut electricity bills. John Duffy, a strategist who has advised Liberal campaigns, said the principal motive is to correct the record. Kevin OLeary speaks with a very loud voice, he said. This isnt potshots from (Conservative leadership candidate) Brad Trost. This is Kevin OLeary. Hes famous. People listen to him. Read more about: SHARE: Spoiling for a fight, Kathleen Wynne has finally found a foil. Kevin OLeary is the opponent she dreams of taking down. When he trash-talks Ontario, its music to her well-worn ears those ears having been bent out of shape by angry voters, and pinched by her provincial opponents. The premier cant push back against senior citizens with quavering voices, and its tough to pin down her invisible opposition rivals akin to fighting phantoms. OLeary, however, is right out of central casting. The long-running TV personality is now running for the federal Tory leadership, but he went off script by taking a run at Ontario with the usual pot shots. Not just high hydro bills, but high taxes allegedly driving away auto plants. Which is why the premier couldnt resist engaging him not on a Tory campaign stage, but on the Facebook platform that now hosts fake news and faux debates. The better to bend our ears and bait our eyeballs. Dear Mr. OLeary, begins her cheeky Facebook post, followed by warm congratulations for entering the den of fire-breathing politicians. The premier proceeds to pick apart his rhetoric from a talk radio interview in which he claimed carmakers will move to Michigan to pay 30 per cent less in tax, no regulations, no carbon tax. But as Republican candidate Mitt Romney reminded Americans in the 2012 presidential debate, Canadian corporate taxes are well below U.S. rates (thanks to dubious reductions by both Stephen Harpers Conservatives in Ottawa and Dalton McGuintys Liberals in Ontario). As Wynne pointed out, the combined federal-provincial rate here is 28.5 per cent, well below the 38.9 per cent that Michigan carmakers pay. Yes, Ontario is phasing in a form of carbon tax the cap and trade system pioneered by, ah, California and once advocated by many U.S. Republicans because it blends market pricing with emissions caps. But the system largely exempts industries in trade-sensitive sectors, which is why there hasnt been a huge clamour about anyone becoming uncompetitive. Wynne has been on a frustratingly futile fact-checking crusade in recent weeks, railing against Ontario PC Leader Patrick Brown for falsely claiming the province has North Americas highest electricity rates. He says it in the legislature and repeats it in his campaign ads, emboldened by Donald Trumps success with his own falsehoods in the U.S. presidential election. Untrue. Yes, electricity is costlier here than in neighbouring Quebec and Manitoba, which are blessed with cheap hydro resources. Its also cheaper in other provinces that still spew coal, which Ontario phased out over the last decade. But electricity bills are higher in many major American cities, not to mention across Europe. No matter, because facts dont matter. Brown keeps repeating what he knows to be untrue, and now OLeary is getting in on the act knowingly or out of ignorance. Alternative facts are the disruptive innovation of politics less factual than the facts, but just enough truthiness to make the sale and club the competition. Like Trump, OLeary is good at bluster but Wynne is betting Canada is a tougher market for false news. And her government is going all-in: Wynnes weekend posting was followed Monday by two more letters, from the ministers responsible for energy and the economy, berating him for blustering out of turn (one of them pointed out that electricity bills in Boston, where OLeary keeps a residence, are 60 per cent higher than the Ontario average). Why the OLeary overkill? First, in a province where people barely know their opposition leaders, a celebrity politician is a target of convenience. Its a symbiotic slanging match. Second, this is a dry run for next years provincial election, when we will be living in a much different world. A Trump backlash will have taken root, if not in America then assuredly in Canada. Wynnes Facebook posting is a sneak peek at her future Liberal talking points distinguishing Ontarios social safety net from a post-Obamacare America, a place where governments invest in free tuition and subsidized child care for people on lower incomes, rather than celebrating tax cuts that imperil clean water (think of Flint, Mich. no regulations; and Walkerton, Ont.). Your policies so far suggest that serving societys most well-off should be the sole role of government. I see things differently, Wynne told him. I want an Ontario where everyone who works hard can benefit and where opportunity is shared widely. OLeary replied to her riposte Monday by daring Wynne to call an election tomorrow (perhaps not realizing that we now, ah, have fixed election dates by law). No, he didnt correct his blooper about Ontarios corporate tax rates, and why would he? Politics today is like television and Facebook you can say whatever you can get away with. But just as good entrepreneurs know what the local market will bear, good politicians remember that all politics is local. Martin Regg Cohns political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn Read more about: SHARE: BEIRUTA large explosion rocked a camp for displaced Syrians along the Syrian-Jordanian border Saturday, killing at least six, and wounding many others, opposition activists said. The explosion near the border came despite the fragile Dec. 30 cease-fire, sponsored by Russia and Turkey who back opposite sides of the conflict. Syria continues to be beset by violence, including clashes between government forces and rebel fighters as well as a number of offensives against Daesh militants in the country. Talks between government officials, rebel representatives and attended by Russian, Turkish and U.N. officials are scheduled Monday in the Kazakh capital, Astana, to discuss reinforcing the cease-fire and ensuring humanitarian access. Some rebel factions have agreed to send representatives, but the al-Qaida-linked Fatah al-Sham Front slammed the talks Saturday as a conspiracy. In a statement, the front said that any rebel group attending the Astana conference would be essentially agreeing that Syrian President Bashar Assad will stay in office. The government and Russia insist that the Islamic State group and the Fatah al-Sham Front must both be excluded from any cease-fire. Fatah al-Sham, one of the most powerful on the ground on Syria, said other rebel factions had been pressured by their foreign patrons to attend and that the end result would be to drive a wedge between Syrias insurgents. Rivalries have plagued Syrias insurgents. Infighting as well as splits and failed mergers have been reported in recent weeks further weakening their ranks. Negotiations in Astana about the fate of the country and its people are not the right of one side, the group said in a statement. Those who risk the battlefield and bypass must realize the consequences in the future. Near the border with Jordan, Mohammed Hassan al-Homsi, an opposition activist with the Palmyra News Network, said a small truck carrying blankets was detonated from afar, killing at least six civilians at the Rukban camp, including a man, his wife and two children. Badr Abu Sultan, a resident of the Rukban camp, said the explosion occurred outside the local market. There was a powerful explosion at the beginning of the market, Abu Sultan, a member of a tribal council in the camp, said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the explosion caused a huge cloud of smoke over the area. A video posted by the Syrian Media Organization also showed some tents burning, as parts of the car bomb were scattered across the camp. The Observatory, which has a network of activists on the ground, put the death toll at 11, including the family of four, and four militiamen. Another opposition activist network, the Palmyra Coordination group, said the explosion hit a checkpoint for a local militia near the market. The camp houses a local militia targeted in the past by rival factions in Syrias war. A Jordanian military official ruled out any Jordanian was hurt in the explosion inside Syrian territory. He told the official Jordanian Petra news agency 14 wounded were admitted to the Jordanian health centre at the border used to treat Syrians. Jordan has been on edge since a car bomb attack last year launched from Rukban killed seven Jordanian border guards. Jordan then sealed the border, cutting off vital aid to 75,000 Syrians stranded in the area. The displaced Syrians live in makeshift camps between two parallel earthen barriers, or berms, that mark the Jordanian-Syrian frontier. Meanwhile on Saturday, The Russian military said that six of its long-range bombers have struck Daesh positions in Deir el-Zour in eastern Syria. The raid came as Syrian government troops in Deir el-Zour found themselves in an increasingly difficult situation, cut in half in an ongoing Daesh offensive against the last remaining pockets of government control. The extremist group controls most of the province, except for the provincial capital and a nearby air base, and the offensive which began earlier this month is described as the groups most intense in a year. The Russian Defence Ministry said that six Tu-22M3 bombers flew from their base in Russia to strike Daesh facilities Deir el-Zour province on Saturday. It said they successfully hit all designated targets, including the militants camps, weapons locations and ammunition depots. Activists in Deir el-Zour say amid intense shelling from Russian, Syrian and coalition jets and fighting on the ground, civilians are fleeing. Russian fighter jets from Hemeimeem air base in Syrias coastal province of Latakia provided cover for the bombers, according to the ministry. Russia has conducted an air campaign in Syria since September 2015, helping Syrian government forces to reverse the tide of the nearly six-year conflict. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONLisseth Boon, a veteran investigative journalist in Venezuela, was in her Caracas office on Saturday when she came across the brazenly inaccurate claims from Donald Trump and his chief spokesman about the size of the crowds at his inauguration. Her response: Deja vu. That is so Venezuela, she wrote on Twitter. She was not alone. I immediately thought of Venezuela (Former president Hugo) Chavez and his ministers always tried to create a parallel reality, said investigative journalist Tamoa Calzadilla, who left the country for the U.S. in 2015 because of the oppressive media environment under Chavezs successor, Nicolas Maduro. Im so worried. More at thestar.com The 5 false things Donald Trump has already said as president Mahir Zeynalov, a prominent journalist deported from Turkey in 2014 for writing about a corruption scandal involving the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, felt a rapid recognition of his own. We have seen this movie before in Turkey. Whenever I see what Trump and his team are doing, I say, wait a minute, this is somehow familiar, he said. What has been happening in Turkey for years is now being replicated in the United States. The early months of the Trump presidency will involve fierce battles about such policy matters as health care, trade and immigration. As its very first fight, though, his administration chose a target that has alarmed observers of authoritarian leaders: verifiable facts. In a monologue at the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency on the first full day of his presidency, Trump blasted the media for correctly reporting on the size of his inauguration crowd, falsely claiming it was actually much bigger. His press secretary, Sean Spicer, then did the same from a podium at the White House, making five provably false claims and walking out. Spicers words were not lies, Trump counsellor Kellyanne Conway said on NBC the next morning. They were, she said, alternative facts. The instantly immortal piece of spin triggered another round of mockery on social media and beyond. For watchdogs in countries that have slid away from democracy, it was not a laughing matter in the slightest. Phillip Gunson, an International Crisis Group senior analyst in Caracas, wrote on Twitter: This is how it begins: casting doubt on the veracity of things you can see with your own eyes. After a while, you start to doubt your eyes. It doesnt take long before the ordinary citizen, who is not best equipped to investigate each and every lie (especially when they are coming thick and fast and daily), starts to doubt everything, and even those who dont necessarily believe the government no longer have a firm grip on reality, Gunson, a former journalist, said in an email. This also makes political debate virtually impossible. Not only is it difficult to reach consensus when the two sides believe diametrically opposite things, (but) the very rules of evidence have been undermined, so there can be no appealing to any agreed means of establishing the truth. Domination is much easier under these circumstances. Fomenting doubt about the traditional providers of facts helps inoculate politicians such as Erdogan and Trump against future stories about their wrongdoing, Zeynalov said. He said they are especially sensitive to truths that call into question the supposed popular support they use to justify their governing. Crowd sizes, how many people applauded me, how many people voted for me this is the essence of populist leaders: to make sure that the people who love them, who applaud them, are bigger. Whenever you challenge that notion, youre assaulting the crux of their argument, he said. Social and political conditions are different in the U.S., of course, than in Turkey or Venezuela. Spicer struck a friendlier tone on Monday, when he took questions for more than 75 minutes and reluctantly acknowledged that he had provided some incorrect information in his weekend diatribe. Our intention is never to lie to you, he said. Youre in the same boat: I mean, there are times when you guys tweet something out or write a story and you publish a correction. That doesnt mean that you were intentionally trying to deceive readers and the American people, does it? And I think that we should be afforded the same opportunity. Trump, though, has a proven pattern of intentional deceit, and he has systematically attempted to undermine public faith in scientific and economic authorities. Asked on Monday what the unemployment rate is, Spicer refused to acknowledge even that there is a standard measure of unemployment, saying Trump is not focused on statistics as much as he is on whether or not the American people are doing better as a whole. It was a smooth rejoinder. It was also another instance of Trumps team urging people to accept his own amorphous definition of truth over long-accepted figures. The U.S. media now faces a delicate balancing act: how to challenge the serial inaccuracy of such an administration without appearing hysterical or gleefully antagonistic. Trump wants a flat-out war with the nations media for one well-calculated reason: because he believes it will continue to serve his political purposes, as it has for months, wrote Margret Sullivan, media columnist for the Washington Post. Journalists should respond by doing their jobs responsibly, fairly and fearlessly, in service of the public good. But even basic journalistic acts like fact-checking Trumps claims can further alienate a conservative base already inclined to see the mainstream press as biased and petty. The challenge, said Charlie Sykes, a longtime conservative talk radio host who is critical of Trump, is that the president and his aides flood the zone with a gusher of audacious lies. You cant keep the outrage meter up all the time, Sykes said. I would think it would be incumbent on the media to do everything possible to rebuild its credibility. Which is to be aggressive and hold him to account, but dont necessarily take the bait and become completely oppositional. He paused. I can say those words. What that actually means, I dont know. In terms of a day-to-day how do you behave, I just dont know. Zeynalov threw up his hands, too, saying nobody had yet figured out the $5-million question. Jay Rosen, a New York University journalism professor, said major media organizations should send the interns to White House briefings, leaving top reporters to dig into the real story elsewhere and avoiding their being used as strategic punching bags. Defend and monitor democracy, Calzadilla pleaded. Colleagues and editors have to defend journalism principles with courage, said Boon. Some U.S. editors are already departing from their old practices. In a highly unusual fact-check headline at the top of its Sunday front page, the New York Times wrote: Slamming media, Trump advances two falsehoods. No other major newspaper did anything similar. Read more about: SHARE: JERUSALEMIsrael said Tuesday it approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank, signalling a major ramp-up of construction just days after the swearing-in of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose election has emboldened the settlement movement. Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israels settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration, and has also vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Israels nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval in response to housing needs. He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement blocs, areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. We are building and we will continue to build, Netanyahu wrote in a brief Facebook post. Read more: Trump to sign orders to advance controversial Keystone XL, Dakota Access pipelines As Trump attempts to build bridges, false claims threaten to overshadow efforts Why Trump will find it hard to achieve his economic plans Settlement construction was a contentious area of disagreement during the Obama years, when the White House sided with the Palestinians and the international community in condemning it as an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war for their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the latest settlement plans, saying they would hurt peace hopes and promote extremism and terrorism. This decision is a challenge and provocation and disregard for the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world, he said. Trump has signalled a softer approach to the settlements, and some of his top aides have close ties to the settler movement. Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesdays announcement, has received donations from Trumps designated ambassador to Israel and from the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser. The approval came two days after Israel okayed nearly 600 settler homes in east Jerusalem, a move that would have elicited sharp censure under the Obama administration but which the Trump White House did not comment on. Trump has not outlined a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he has said hed be keen to broker a peace deal. His election platform made no mention of a Palestinian state. His pledge to move the U.S. Embassy from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. But since taking office, the White House has been vague about its plans for the embassy. Earlier Tuesday, Gazas Hamas rulers warned the U.S. not to move its embassy to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said such a move would open a new chapter of conflict and add fuel to the fire. The rival Palestinian Authority has also urged Trump not to follow through on his campaign promise to move the embassy. Read more about: SHARE: LONDONBritains government must get parliamentary approval before starting the process of leaving the European Union, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, potentially delaying Prime Minister Theresa Mays plans to trigger negotiations by the end of March. The 8-3 ruling forces the government to put a bill before Parliament, giving pro-EU politicians a chance to soften the terms of Brexit Britains exit from the EU. Leave campaigners had objected, saying Parliament shouldnt have the power to overrule the electorate, which voted to leave the bloc in a June 23 referendum. The Supreme Courts decision doesnt mean that Britain will remain in the EU. But it could delay the process though Mays Downing Street office said its timetable remained on track. May had said she would use centuries-old powers known as royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty and launch two years of exit talks. The powers traditionally held by the monarch permit decisions about treaties and other issues to be made without a vote of Parliament. The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result, so any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. Constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament, the president of the Supreme Court David Neuberger said in reading the judgment. To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries, he said. The case was considered the most important constitutional issue in a generation, clarifying who ultimately wields power in Britains system of government: the prime minister and her Cabinet, or Parliament. Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller sued to force the government to seek Parliamentary approval before invoking Article 50. Leaving the EU will change the fundamental rights of citizens and this cant be done without a vote of lawmakers, she argued. May had argued the referendum gave her a mandate to take Britain out of the 28-nation bloc and that discussing the details of her strategy with Parliament would weaken the governments negotiating position. Significantly, the court also ruled that parts of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not need to be consulted. Had the court ruled that the devolved Parliaments needed a say, a significant delay to the process would have been likely as lawmakers from the regions piled in with concerns. The government moved quickly to say it would offer its plans in detail to the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. Legal experts suggest that May will try to keep the scope of the legislation narrow focusing solely on triggering Article 50 in order to limit the chance for amendments that could delay a vote. But opposition became evident immediately. Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party would seek to amend the legislation to make sure the government is accountable. The Scottish National Party, the third largest party in the House of Commons, promised to offer 50 amendments. Todays result comes as a surprise to no one. Unfortunately for businesses and other institutions, Brexit still means uncertainty, said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at law firm Clifford Chance. Parliament remains divided and the outcome of the negotiations remain unknown. The bill could also be subject to delay in the unelected House of Lords. Defeat in the House of Lords would not stop Brexit from happening, but it could delay it until mid-2020, Souta said. Miller, an online investment manager, had argued the case wasnt about blocking Brexit. Instead, she said, it was about democracy and the dangerous precedent that a government can overrule Parliament. For Miller, who brought the case with hairdresser Deir Dos Santos, the Supreme Court judges brought vindication after months of threats to her security that followed her involvement in the case. No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged, she said. Parliament alone is sovereign. The case revolved around an argument that dates back almost 400 years to the English Civil War as to whether power ultimately rests in the executive or Parliament. Underscoring the importance of the case, May put Attorney General Jeremy Wright in charge of the legal team fighting the suit. Wright had argued the suit is an attempt to put a legal obstacle in the way of enacting the referendum result. The decision is a bad defeat for the government and means that the government still does not have control of the Brexit timetable, said David Allen Green, lawyer at London legal firm Preiskel & Co. The appeal decision is, however, a victory for the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and a vindication of an independent judiciary, Green said. The Supreme Court has told the government to get back into its box: A proper process has to be followed. Read more about: SHARE: September 2008 TransCanada files paperwork to expand existing Keystone pipeline with new Keystone XL route. August 2011 Gov. Dave Heineman writes to President Barack Obama asking that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline avoid the fragile Sandhills in western Nebraska. Aug. 26, 2011 U.S. State Department issues final environmental impact statement determining there would be no significant impact to most resources along proposed corridor. November 2011 Heineman calls lawmakers into special session to address environmental concerns; lawmakers approve law that requires companies to apply through independent state commission. Obama announces delay in decision until after election; his administration says other potential routes through Nebraska need to be studied. Dec. 23, 2011 Congress passes legislation requiring approval of Keystone XL within 60 days unless president determines project does not serve national interest. Weeks later, Obama rejects application but allows TransCanada to reapply. April 2012 Nebraska lawmakers rewrite pipeline law to give governor power to approve Keystone XL route through state. May 4, 2012 TransCanada reapplies, restarts federal review process. March 1, 2013 State Department issues environmental review that raises no major objections to Keystone XL, says other options to get oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries worse for climate change. June 25, 2013 Obama declares he will approve only if Keystone XL doesn't worsen carbon pollution, says fighting climate change will be major priority his second term. Jan. 31, 2014 State Department releases another final environmental impact statement, again voicing no major environmental objections to project. Feb. 19, 2014 Nebraska judge overturns state law that allows pipeline, throwing project into legal limbo. April 18, 2014 State Department says it is delaying review, citing legal dispute in Nebraska. January 2015 -- Nebraska Supreme Court reverses lower court decision that struck down Nebraskas Major Pipeline Siting Law; State Department restarts permit review; TransCanada files in nine Nebraska counties to invoke eminent domain for land it needs for pipeline. Feb. 11, 2015 Congress tries to push Obama administration on permit by passing legislation forcing decision; Obama vetoes bill. Sept. 29, 2015 -- TransCanada says it will suspend efforts to force Nebraskans to give up easements and restart process for getting route approved by state's Public Service Commission. Nov. 6, 2015 Obama rejects permit, saying project is not in national interest. "America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership." June 2016 TransCanada files claim with NAFTA seeking $15 billion in damages from federal government in response to Obama rejection. July 2016 -- Holt County judge orders TransCanada to repay fees and costs incurred by Nebraskans it took to court to force easements for pipeline. Jan. 24, 2017 President Donald Trump signs executive actions to advance Keystone XL cross-border permit, along with four-state Dakota Access pipeline. Feb. 16, 2017 -- TransCanada files again for route approval in Nebraska. March 24, 2017 -- President Trump approves the Keystone XL. Nov. 20, 2017 Nebraska Public Service Commission rejects TransCanada's preferred route for the Keystone XL but approves "mainline alternative." Jan. 18, 2018 TransCanada says it has secured commitments to move 500,000 barrels per day along the pipeline and is moving forward with construction preparation. Aug. 23, 2019 The Nebraska Supreme Court affirms the Public Service Commission's mainline alternative route and says it is in the public interest. MOSUL, IRAQIraqs prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul fully liberated from Daesh after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began. Iraqi forces drove Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL, from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the unmatched heroism of all security forces factions and public support for the operation. Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse, al-Abadi said. The heroism of our security forces was behind Daeshs defeat. Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city and Daeshs last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Read more: Iraqi forces retake territory in Mosul from Daesh Eastern Mosul has been reclaimed from Daesh, Iraqs counterterrorism head says Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi told The Associated Press: I cant tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so. Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighbourhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighbourhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. Meanwhile, Al-Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial. His comments came a day after ordering a probe into a video on social media purportedly showing government troops beating and killing at least three Daesh suspects in Mosul. On Monday, a provincial investigative committee in western Anbar province concluded its probe into human rights violations in June near the town of Fallujah. It found that a member of a Shiite militia killed 17 civilians, Al-Abadi said. The militiaman, affiliated with the Badr group, is now in detention and awaiting trial, he said. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of Mosul in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Grande said in the statement. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives. The statement called on warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance. Mosul is the Daesh groups last major urban bastion in Iraq. The extremists still control large areas in neighbouring Syria. In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office said it had received reasonable corroboration for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an airstrike in the al-Jadida neighbourhood of Daesh-controlled western Mosul last week. Attributing responsibility for airstrikes is very difficult, Ravina Shamdasani said, adding that it is clear that civilians are being killed in airstrikes. A U.S.-led coalition and Iraqs own air force have been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Mosul operation. The UN human rights office also said Daesh fighters have taken over many hospitals in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the extremist group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. In Baghdad, a car exploded inside a dealership in the eastern Nahda area on Tuesday. The Interior Ministry said a bomb had been planted on the vehicle and that the blast caused no casualties. A police official and a medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the blast killed at least two people and wounded seven. Read more about: SHARE: WASHINGTONWas this a prelude to a major escalation in the South China Sea, or is the Trump administration foreign policy team having trouble articulating itself? On Monday, new White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said the United States would prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea. His comments were widely interpreted as doubling down on remarks by Trumps nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, on Jan. 11 that the United States would not allow China access to islands it has built in the South China Sea, and upon which it has installed weapons systems and build military-length airstrips. The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there, Spicer said when asked if President Donald Trump agreed with his nominee. Its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country. Experts had initially thought Tillerson might have misspoken, but Spicers remarks appeared to raise the likelihood that the administration was indeed considering blocking Chinas access to its new islands in the Spratlys. Chinas Foreign Ministry reacted calmly to Tillersons remarks last week, declining to be drawn on how it would react in a hypothetical situation. On Tuesday, it said it had non-negotiable sovereignty to the Nansha or Spratly islands and surrounding areas, and added it insisted on solving disputes through peaceful bilateral negotiations with other countries in the region. The United States is not a country directly involved in the South China Sea, ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a news conference. We urge the United States to respect facts and speak and act cautiously to avoid damaging peace and stability in the area. RELATED: Canadas ambassador to Beijing says openness to global trade is key END As Trump attempts to build bridges, false claims threaten to overshadow efforts Trump signs executive order reviving controversial Keystone XL pipeline Last week, state-run China Daily dismissed Tillersons remarks as not worth taking seriously because they are a mishmash of naivete, short-sightedness, worn-out prejudices and unrealistic political fantasies. But nationalist tabloid the Global Times warned that any move to blockade the islands could provoke a large-scale war. That is an assessment broadly shared by many foreign policy experts. Mira Rapp-Hooper, a South China Sea expert at the Center for a New American Security, called the threats to bar Chinas access in the South China Sea incredible and told Reuters it had no basis in international law. A blockade which is what would be required to actually bar access is an act of war, she added. Chen Xiangmiao, a research fellow at the National Institute for the South China Sea, said Spicer appeared to have kept the same hardline attitude displayed by Tillerson and Trump before his inauguration and during the campaign. Trump is the president now, he is no longer in the campaign phase, and what he said may actually be put into practice, he said. China needs to be more alert. Chen said what worried experts here was whether Trump and his team truly understand the South China Sea issues, whether they truly understand Chinas stance and situation and whether they truly understand Americas interests in that area. Trump himself has criticized China for building what he called a massive fortress in the South China Sea. But what exactly does he want to do about it? There is confusion in foreign policy circles. Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was quoted as saying last week that she had heard from some members of the Trump transition team that Tillerson misspoke during five hours of Senate testimony, but on Monday she told Reuters Spicers remarks were worrisome and more evidence of confusing and conflicting messages. As Chinese media have pointed out, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia also control islands in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, yet the United States is not demanding they leave the area. Asked how the United States would enforce any move against China, Spicer seemed keen to change the subject, saying only: I think, as we develop further, well have more information on it before turning to another question. As Bill Hayton, an associate fellow at Chatham House and South China sea expert, pointed out in a piece for Foreign Policy last week, there are different interpretations of what the new administration might be thinking. One is that Tillerson can be taken both seriously and literally: that the United States government will attempt a blockade as a way to force Beijing to respect last years ruling by an international tribunal, that Chinas claim to the waters encompassed by its nine-dash line was not supported by the international law of the sea. A blockade would be an attempt to force China to allow other nations more freedom to fish and drill for oil in the disputed waters, and above all, give up any attempts to block U.S. naval ships transiting, exercising, or gathering intelligence in the South China Sea, Hayton wrote. Indeed, that is one of the main bones of contention between Washington and Beijing over the vital waterways. Chinese think-tanks complain that U.S. military vessels and aircraft are conducting operations and reconnaissance missions close to its shores more and more frequently. Beijing insists it will allow commercial shipping free passage but clearly believes the U.S. navy should stay out of its backyard, seizing an American underwater drone in the South China Sea last month apparently to make that point. The United States says its navy has the right to sail in international waters. But as Hayton pointed out, a U.S. attempt to enforce its position through a blockade could provoke military conflict and lose the support of American allies in Asia keen to avoid a superpower confrontation. Yet there is another possibility: that Tillerson and Spicer are in fact indirectly referring to concerns about Scarborough Shoal, a partly submerged chain of reefs and rocks close to the Philippines that China seized in 2012. Sen. John McCain is among those who have warned that China was planning to build a military base on Scarborough Shoal, to form a triangular network when combined with existing bases in the Spratly and the Paracel islands. The Obama administration, Hayton pointed out, was reported to have told China in 2016 it was prepared to physically deter any attempts to build on the shoal, and had deployed ships and aircraft to the area to back up that threat. An attempt to stop China building a new island on Scarborough Shoal would imply greater continuity with policy under Obama, and be less confrontational than preventing Chinas navy from getting access to existing islands. Indeed, Beijing knows that any attempt to build a new island on the Shoal would be provocative in itself. Tillerson may therefore have been simply stating that he wants this strategy to continue stopping any island-building on Scarborough Shoal by denying construction vessels access to it, Hayton wrote. Dean Cheng, a China expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, told Reuters the administration had left open the possibility of economic measures instead of military steps against China and firms that carry out island building. Yet given a chance this week to clarify where his government stands on the South China Sea, Spicer appears to have muddied the waters still further. Read more about: SHARE: There may be no safer country than this island of fjords, Bjork and arctic calm. This is Iceland, where police are often unarmed and people walk safely at all hours of the night just as Birna Brjansdottir was doing 10 days ago, when she disappeared. And then her Doc Martens turned up near a dock, and the 20-year-olds blood was found in a car. And then there were drones over Iceland, and helicopters and arrests on the open sea. And then, on Sunday, her body was found on a beach. Now, there is weeping in the capital and candles in the snow, as a country that has gone full years without murders asks who, why, how? How can such a thing happen in our peaceful Iceland? a columnist wrote in the Iceland Monitor, which has been following the case beat by beat, like seemingly everyone else on this island of some 330,000 people about as many as Honolulu. If you are not familiar with the family, you know someone who is, the columnist, Soley Bjork Gudmundsdottir, wrote. This whole affair feels personal. It has felt that way for nearly two weeks, since security cameras along a downtown street in Reykjavik captured Brjansdottirs last known footsteps. Brjansdottir zagged down a sidewalk in the predawn hours of Jan. 14 she was just past a breakup, her parents said, and leaving a club after an annual indie band festival. A kebab in her hand, swaying, she nearly careered into two people, who barely took notice. She continued down an empty block, auburn hair shimmying on her shoulders, past a storefronts flashing red light. Then out of the frame. Then nothing. The very worst things are rare in Iceland, which sees fewer than two murders a year on average, and sometimes none. The Institute for Economics and Peace, an Australia-based think tank, ranks it as the worlds most peaceful country. Icelandic police even apologized after killing a man in 2013 the first time they had ever shot anyone. Within hours of Brjansdottirs disappearance, people began to worry. Where is Birna? her mother pleaded, according to the Monitor. Police asked for help in Icelandic and English. They traced her cellphone to a town 20 minutes down the coast from Reykjavik, where someone had turned it off, according to the Monitor. There, they found her shoes in the port. A coast guard helicopter began to search town and countryside. Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported, another helicopter carried Icelands elite police force out to sea. They were after the Polar Nanoq, a ship that had set sail from the same port where Brjansdottirs shoes were found, on the same day she went missing. Two sailors on the trawler had rented a car on the night of her disappearance, police said in the Monitor. She had walked right past the car after leaving the club. Police seized the ship, along with a stash of hashish on board, and brought it back to Iceland. When they took the two sailors in for questioning, police put towels over their heads to hide them from the eyes of a nation. Both men were from Greenland, just across the Norwegian Sea. As news of their arrest and interrogations spread, Iceland President Gudni Johannesson had to warn his citizens against becoming prejudiced against their neighbour. Brjansdottir had been missing a full week by Saturday, when Iceland launched what the Monitor called the largest search operation in the countrys history. The search found nothing, but police found blood in the sailors rented car. Iceland prepared for the worst. It came Sunday, when a coast guard helicopter flying over a rocky peninsula spotted something near a lighthouse. A body. The police believe Birna was murdered in a rental car, the Monitor reported afterward. On that long, cold night, candles glowed on two sides of the Norwegian Sea in Icelands capital and outside its consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, the red candles buried in snow. Everyone in Greenland is talking about this. Every home, everyone on every street corner, a woman told the Monitor. Not one person that I have spoken to in recent days has been untouched by the case, a journalist wrote in the paper. And so a country stopped searching for one of its own and began searching for answers. It has found none so far. But on Monday, the Monitor reported, Icelandic police said they were looking into a possible link between Brjansdottirs death and that of a 17-year-old who disappeared from a quiet town in Denmark last summer and turned up dead in a lake. Already, those safe northern waters seem colder. SHARE: These are the signs of our times: Make America Kind Again. My Dignity Is Not Up for Grabs. If You Are Not Angry, You Are Not Paying Attention. Or my favourite, held by a man in his thirties outside Washingtons National Mall: Usually Not a Sign Guy, But Holy Shit! More even than the galvanizing rally speeches of Michael Moore, Gloria Steinem and America Ferrera on Saturday, the homemade signs raised above heads, propped on strollers, strung around necks at the Womens March on Washington felt like our voices. On the long, chartered-bus ride from Toronto to Washington the night before, thered been hours of talk with my fellow Democrats Abroad about our need to be heard. Many, especially those of us who came of age in 60s and 70s America, had protested over the war in Vietnam, the proliferation of nuclear arms, the invasion of Iraq. Last April, the night before the New York primary, my family and I drove to Buffalo with Dump Trump signs. We faced a line of policemen as supporters filled the convention centre to hear a billionaires promises and lies. But the descent on Washington felt different. It felt imperative. Enough fuming over headlines, enough breast-beating (why didnt I call people on my Democrats Abroad phone list before the election?), enough signing of online petitions since the election. Time to get a move on. Feel like a march on Washington? emailed a childhood friend just days after the election. Our mothers political hell-raisers in their day had been dear friends, despite living on opposite sides of the U.S. for 50 years. That morning Trump had announced his first appointee: Steve Bannon, former executive chair of race-baiting Breitbart News, for chief strategist and senior counselor. Im in, I wrote back. For the past two months the prospect of this march buoyed and comforted me. I would be marching for my mother, who, two days before she died, insisted on being propped up in bed so she could watch the PBS News Hour and argue with any and all Republicans. I would be marching for my sisters around the globe, and for my daughters and granddaughter. Yes, they live in kinder, gentler Canada, but we have bullies on the rise here, too. I would be marching for my Jewish family, my Puerto Rican family, my African-American family, my Mexican sister-in-law, my Turkish brother-in-law, my gay, disabled, mentally ill brother, and my Indian cousins. We are the united people of America. Or we were. A man with a hole in his soul now threatens the hard-fought rights of women, Muslims, same-sex couples, people of colour and people with disabilities. Hes out to get immigrants, journalists and Hollywood. Next up: the Affordable Care Act, Planned Parenthood, NPR, PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts. And since no human should have the right to destroy what is just and good and actually working, I donned a hastily knit pussyhat this last Saturday and joined 500,000 fellow citizens on a vast swath of muddy grass between Capital Hill and the Washington Memorial. Wed been advised by Democrats Abroad to focus our signs on human rights and not make the slogans pointedly about Trump. But marchers fury, creativity and senses of humour could not be quashed. What I will remember most about this remarkable day are the signs and the people who carried them. There was the family of four mom, dad, two little kids in matching dark pink pussyhats with a sign that said simply, We Never, Never Give Up! There was the twenty-something Asian man carrying a placard that read, This Is What an American Looks Like. There was the trio of women in pink blankets, black letters warning: Tomorrow There Will Be More of Us. On a speeding Metro car packed with pink hats, I caught sight of: OMG GOP WTF? A carousel set up incongruously near one end of the Mall drew tired families, but one girl kept her sign held high. Do Not Concede! Demand We Keep Moving Forward! went around so many times I began to believe it. The days crowning moment came after we turned our backs on the Capitol Building. With 300,000 more participants than expected, the march took on a free-form, anywhere-goes spirit, with crushes of people going in one direction and others swarming in the opposite. Eventually we spilled onto downtown streets, landing providentially on the steps of the Trump International Hotel. And this is where we laid our signs, the fruits of our fury and our imaginations, in a rising mountain of protest. That day we had our say. We will keep having our say. Denise Roig is a U.S.-born author of three short-story collections. She lives in Hamilton. SHARE: Americans elected a reality show president, so it should come as no surprise that after only a few days the line between truth and fiction is becoming seriously, and dangerously, blurred. No one seems more confused on this point than Donald Trump himself. After taking the oath of office as the 45th president of the United States, he joined assembled notables inside the U.S. Capitol for the traditional post-ceremony lunch. There, he pointed out two generals who will be in his new cabinet, James (Mad Dog) Mattis and John Kelly, and remarked proudly: These are central casting. If Im doing a movie, I pick you, General. Later that evening, he recalled the dramatic moment when Barack and Michelle Obama departed Washington in a military helicopter: The helicopter scene was an incredible scene. So beautiful. Like from a movie set. The new president talks as if he isnt quite sure whether hes actually president or just the producer, director and star of a brand-new reality series, one where he gets real-life generals like Mattis to play the role of general, and then stands back to admire his own incredible handiwork as a former president choppers away poignantly over the horizon. In such a universe the truth is necessarily malleable. Its all a matter of scripting, crafting the appropriate plot twists to keep the audience enthralled and the critics happy. If the story line isnt turning out quite right, then just rewrite the script. Which brings us to alternative facts, the term of art coined over the weekend by Kellyanne Conway, who is either the presidents senior adviser or one of the more compelling characters in the reality show that has just debuted on all available channels. Or both. The debate on facts blew up on Saturday, when Trump visited CIA headquarters just outside Washington and made a series of demonstrably false statements, blaming the news media for his feud with U.S. intelligence agencies and exaggerating the size of the crowd that turned out for his inauguration. The essence was that he got more people out than Obama did eight years ago. Later he sent out his new press secretary, Sean Spicer, to pile on even more false claims. Why make such a fuss, especially since Trump had gone to the CIA to make nice with an agency he had been hammering for weeks, comparing intelligence leaks at one point to something that would happen in Nazi Germany? Perhaps because, for Trump, downplaying the turnout for his inauguration wasnt just a debatable political point. It called into question the ratings for what amounted to Episode One of his new series. And that clearly hit him where he lives. It was left to Conway to introduce the concept of alternative facts. Instead of citing actual evidence that Trump was right, she reframed the debate into a contest of credibility between the president and what he calls the dishonest media. In other words, evidence is beside the point; just choose the facts that best serve the narrative youre out to tell. After all, arent we in a post-truth world now? By Monday, Spicer was taking half a step back, arguing that the total world audience, in person, on TV and through all forms of new media, exceeded that for Obamas inauguration. But it was a different point and it side-stepped the fact that the president himself still had not retracted his own clearly false statements. The debate over audience is, of course, pointless in itself. But it shone a bright light on Trumps distorted priorities. And, worst of all, it showed that right from the start his administration is prepared to bend the truth out of all recognizable shape to keep the narrative in line with the script it has written for his presidency. The news media will have their hands full resisting Trumps effort to erase the distinction between truth and fiction, between reality and reality show. They can start by calling alternative facts by their old name: lies. Read more about: SHARE: Investors are hopping aboard railroad stocks, leading to stellar performance in the sector. The rally gained steam on Jan. 18, when Hunter Harrison, Canadian Pacific Railway's (CP) chief executive, said that he would step down earlier than planned. Rumor has it that he is teaming with activist investor Mantle Ridge to target rival railroad CSX. In the past few trading sessions, most railroad stocks have gained anywhere from 2% to 14%. Should investors catch a ride on this momentum train, or has the best opportunity to profit already left the station? Railroad companies derive most of their revenue from freight, transporting commodities, inter-modal goods and merchandise. They also profit from boosting asset utilization, optimizing train operation productivity and ramping up network efficiency. However, a major catalyst for railroad companies could come in the form of President Donald Trump's pledged infrastructure spending. Regardless of whether this promise is fulfilled, railroad stocks are already well valued and seem to have priced in some benefits of their future earnings. Most railroad companies offer just modest dividend yields of 1% to 2%. Therefore, stock appreciation is the only way to gain from these investments. The biggest railroad company is Union Pacific, which is valued at nearly $90 billion. It is North America's premier railroad company and covers 23 states through the western two-thirds of the U.S. Union Pacific's stock trades at 17.1 times one-year forward earnings and is available for a five-year expected price-earnings growth ratio of 2.34, which is a big premium to the industry average of 0.72. Analysts expect Union Pacific to register at least 8% annual earnings-per-share growth for the next half-decade. The company has profit margins of 21%, but its stock trades near analysts' 12-month consensus price target of $110 a share, indicating little upside in the near future. CSX is the third-largest railroad company after Union Pacific and Canadian National Railway. The company is expected to have EPS growth of more than 9% annually, higher than the expected S&P 500 increase of 8.3%, as well as some of its peers. There is scope to cut costs and bring CSX's nearly 16% profit margin in line with the best in the industry. This is why Harrison's decision to step down from his role at Canadian Pacific Railway six months ahead of schedule and potentially force changes at CSX is being seen positively. The mad rush for CSX's stock has meant that it trades at nearly 20 times forward earnings and at a PEG ratio of 2.39. Buying the stock would be risky, as the shares trade at least 14% higher than the median target price. From a pure valuation perspective, Canadian Pacific Railway looks attractive, at 15.5 times forward earnings. Harrison's focus on lowering costs has meant that the company has a 25%-plus profit margin, among the best in the industry. Analysts expect the company to have average EPS growth of 8.6% over the next five years. The only negative with Canadian Pacific Railway is its leverage. The company has more than $6 billion in debt and a debt-equity ratio of 1.8, higher than the industry average of 0.8. However, with investors eyeing a potential deal with CSX, there could be great upside in Canadian Pacific Railway's stock. The 29 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Canadian Pacific Railway have a median target of $167.75, which would represent a gain of about 11%. Railroad stock investors should choose Canadian Pacific Railway. The opportunity to make money in this stock appears to be bigger than in railroad peers Genesee & Wyoming, Kansas City Southern or Norfolk Southern. --- What if I told you there is a way you can see $67,548 per year - or more - in profitable trades just by following this simple step-by-step process right now? The trader who is sharing this secret has been right more than 8 out of 10 times, turning $5,000 into more than $5 million for himself. Click here to see how easy it is to follow his lead and collect thousands of dollars in "Free Money" every month. The author is an independent contributor who at the time of publication owned none of the stocks mentioned. HNA Group, the private Chinese conglomerate that agreed last week to buy Anthony Scaramucci's hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, is just getting started in the U.S. money-management industry. The company, controlled by billionaire Chen Feng, is actively looking to purchase additional investment companies, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The goal is to build out a money-management platform that would allow rich Chinese investors, insurance companies and other institutions to put their savings into U.S. hedge funds, the people said. HNA and partner RON Transatlantic, a private investment firm, paid about $200 million for a majority stake in SkyBridge, a deal that's set to close in the second quarter, according to the people. Scaramucci needed a quick sale to eliminate conflicts of interest after being tapped by President Donald Trump as an adviser and liaison to business executives. The former Goldman Sachs (GS) executive founded New York-based SkyBridge in 2005 and has increased the firm's assets under management to about $12 billion, with most of the money reinvested in other hedge funds. HNA, started in 1993, has grown from a local Chinese airline based in the southern island province of Hainan into a global behemoth with about 1,250 aircraft and operations in real estate, department stores, securities brokerage, investment banking and insurance, according to the company. It has about 200,000 employees and annual revenue of about $30 billion -- more than that of McDonald's (MCD) . In October, HNA agreed to acquire an aircraft-leasing business from New York-based CIT Group (CIT) for $10 billion as well as a 25% stake in hotel-operator Hilton Worldwide (HLT) for about $6.5 billion. Both transactions, which require regulatory approvals from the U.S. government as well as Chinese authorities, are pending. HNA's interest in SkyBridge comes as more U.S. investors, including public pension funds in California, New York, New Jersey and Kentucky, have pulled money from hedge funds because of high fees and disappointing returns. Richard Perry's 28-year-old hedge fund, Perry Capital, closed its flagship fund last year amid growing investor discontent. Funds such as SkyBridge's have brought even more scrutiny, since they charge an additional layer of fees for steering money into other hedge funds. SkyBridge jumped in size and stature in 2010 when it bought Citigroup's fund of hedge funds, Citi Alternative Investments, for an undisclosed sum. The firm also runs an annual conference in Las Vegas that has become one of the biggest annual gatherings of hedge-fund managers and investors. That conference, known as SALT, will be spun out as a separate entity, according to a statement last week. Speakers scheduled for this year's conference in May include former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News anchor who recently signed a deal with NBC to host a daytime show. Another speaker is Kyle Bass, chief investment officer of the Dallas-based hedge fund Hayman Capital, who has publicly and repeatedly declared his conviction that the Chinese yuan is headed for a major devaluation. Indeed, one question surrounding HNA's ambitions is whether China will allow the company to continue to spend money and channel investments abroad at a time when government officials are trying to stem outflows from the country's pressured currency. The yuan has slid 4.2% in the past year to 6.85 per dollar, and Morgan Stanley predicts the exchange rate will depreciate further to 7.3 per dollar by the end of 2017. Trump has promised to impose steep tariffs on Chinese imports and label the country a currency manipulator. Individuals in China are barred from moving more than $50,000 out of the country in a year. And in November, the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange told banks in a non-public directive that domestic customers needed to check with regulators before transferring $5 million or more out of China, the New York Times reported. The order was seen as an effort to stem efforts by Chinese companies to get their money out of the falling yuan, according to the paper. But HNA is so confident in the Hilton investment that it put down a $500 million deposit that would be forfeited if Chinese officials don't approve the deal. Guang Yang, a former senior portfolio manager for the money manager Franklin Templeton, serves as chief investment officer of HNA's financial-services arm, HNA Capital, according to the company. "Our investment in SkyBridge is an important step in HNA Capital's strategy to build a global asset management business," the executive said in last week's statement. HNA declined to comment further. BT (BT) cautioned Tuesday that writedowns in its Italian business linked to accounting irregularities will be much larger than expected. It also trimmed its earnings guidance for the current fiscal year. The internal audit into BT's Italian unit was first announced in late October. The company estimated costs associated with the investigation at around 145 million ($180 million). BT, however, now says the probe "revealed that the extent and complexity of inappropriate behaviour in the Italian business were far greater than previously identified and have revealed improper accounting practices and a complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions" and could exceed 530 million ($661 million). The impact is expected to hit third-quarter earnings by around 120 million and free cash flow by around 100 million, the company said, even though it expects the final numbers to be "broadly in line with market expectations." "We are deeply disappointed with the improper practices which we have found in our Italian business," said CEO Gavin Patterson. "We have undertaken extensive investigations into that business and are committed to ensuring the highest standards across the whole of BT for the benefit of our customers, shareholders, employees and all other stakeholders." BT also said that, owing to "pressures in the U.K. public sector and international corporate markets", it now expects flat revenue underlying revenue growth in the 2016/2017 fiscal year and adjusted EBIDTA of around 7.6 billion from a previous guidance of 7.9 billion. Earnings for the 2017/2018 year would be "flat" compared to the previous, BT said, with normalized free-cash of between 3 billion and 3.2 billion, a figure that also falls shy of the company's previous forecast. BT shares closed at 382.18 pence each in London Monday, down 0.1% on the session. The shares have fallen 1.4% since the October 27 release against a 0.12% slip for the Stoxx Europe 600 Telecommunications Index. DuPont (DD) posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday but cautioned that its merger with Dow Chemical (DOW) would hit earnings in the first three months of the year. DuPont said adjusted profit for the three months ended in December were 51 cents a share, compared to a loss of 26 cents a year earlier and well ahead of the Wall Street forecast of 41 cents. Revenue for the three-month period, however, slowed 2% to $5.2 billion owing to local price declines and lower volumes. Full-year sales, the company said, were also down 2% to $24.6 billion. The company said it expects first-quarter sales this year to be largely flat from the same period a year ago, and cautioned that the agriculture sector remains "challenged." "2016 was an important year for DuPont as we exceeded our expectations for earnings, cost savings, operating margin expansion and free cash flow improvement," DuPont Chairman and CEO Ed Breen said in a statement. "We made excellent progress on our strategic priorities in 2016 to increase shareholder value, and we will build on this groundwork as we move into 2017." "We look forward to closing the merger with Dow and are continuing to have constructive discussions with regulators in key jurisdictions. We now expect the merger to close in the first half of 2017, pending regulatory approval," Breen said. DuPont said the company's first-quarter earnings would include a charge of 15 cents a share for "transaction costs associated with the planned merger with Dow ... prior year GAAP earnings included a net benefit of 18 cents per share from significant items, primarily due to a gain on the sale of an entity." Europe's competition commissioner, Margarethe Vestager, told Bloomberg Markets: Americas television earlier this month that the agrochemical space is a "very concentrated sector already and what we're looking at is the very obvious, that farmers still need to have choice." "Choice of seeds, choice of products that can help them to fight worms or fungus or whatever might be challenging their crops. So these are the things we are looking at and the outcome of the merger is of course still very open," she added. Dow Chemical is a holding in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells DOW? Learn more now. As they battle rapid U.S. expansion by the subsidized Middle East airlines, the three U.S. global airlines have made it clear they have just one principal goal: They want Emirates, Etihad and Qatar to be kept from operating fifth freedom flights. Fifth freedom flights allow airlines to fly between two foreign countries. Emirates on Monday said it would begin Athens-Newark flights on March 12. Emirates already operates Milan to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, the only other fifth freedom flight operated by a Middle East carrier. United Airlines (UAL) already flies Newark-Athens as a seasonal flight with a Boeing 767-300ER scheduled to operate between May 24 and early October. "By flagrantly violating its Open Skies agreement with the United States at the start of the Trump administration, Emirates is throwing down the gauntlet," said Jill Zuckman, chief spokeswoman for the Partnership for Open & Fair Skies. "We look forward to working with President Trump and his team to enforce these agreements and protect American jobs -- something that the Obama administration failed to do," Zuckman said. Government subsidies to Emirates, Etihad and Qatar have exceeded $50 billion, the partnership said. U.S. carriers, operated for profit, said the subsidies make it tough to compete. Donald Trump, U.S. president, met with labor leaders from the building trades on Monday night but not with any from the transportation trades. Backing U.S. workers and staunching the flow of U.S. jobs to offshore companies were key themes for the Trump campaign. Twelve days ago, during the Delta (DAL) earnings call, CEO Ed Bastian was asked what changes he expects to see during the Trump administration. "We are very excited about the opportunities to present our case relative to the Middle Eastern situation with all the growth that those carriers have brought to this country on a subsidized basis where we are competing against governments, not the other airlines and {about} the opportunity to let the Trump administration know how we can do, as an industry, a better job of protecting U.S. jobs and U.S. opportunities going forward," Bastian said. Delta also wants Trump to know how the airline industry can do better at "protecting trade deals and enforcing trade deals that are being violated in the present time," Bastian said. In July, after a year and a half of lobbying by the partnership, the State Department met for informal talks with UAE officials and separately with Qatar officials on July 25. Those talks went nowhere. The Middle East carriers serve the U.S. under Open Skies agreements. Subsidies violate Open Skies policy. Additionally, Open Skies agreements were generally intended to assure that U.S. carriers could fly to foreign countries and the foreign countries' airlines could serve the U.S. so that commercial air traffic could flow freely between two countries. The agreements didn't envision a subsidized airline flying a dozen daily U.S. flights, with the vast majority of passengers flying to a foreign airline's hub simply to connect to a third country. No U.S. carriers fly to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Early in 2016, United dropped a Washington Dulles-Dubai flight and Delta dropped its Atlanta-Dubai flight. Rapid expansion by the subsidized Middle East carriers had diminished the likelihood that U.S. passengers would connect to Dubai flights. "Enormous subsidies put U.S. airlines at a tremendous economic disadvantage and threaten U.S. airline workers' jobs -- and fly in the face of the Trump administration's 'America First' governing philosophy," the Air Line Pilots Association said Monday in a prepared statement. ALPA represents about 54,000 pilots at 31 airlines. "We urge the Trump administration to do what the Obama administration failed to do and stand up for U.S. workers and demand that the United Arab Emirates government end these subsidies," ALPA said. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. President Donald Trump signed executive actions Tuesday to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Trump told reporters in Washington that movement on the pipelines will be subject to terms and conditions being renegotiated by the U.S. He stopped short of green lighting construction on either project, and reiterated an earlier campaign pledge to seek a "better deal" on TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Keystone XL to transport Alberta oil sands crude into the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. The Keystone XL would run from Canada to Steele City in Nebraska, where it would meet up with an existing pipeline network connected to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. Both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines proved to be flashpoints for climate activists who fought the projects with protests and lawsuits. In Nebraska, the Keystone XL was bogged down by court battles over the underground pipeline's route and efforts by TransCanada to get easements through use of eminent domain. Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL in late 2015, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. TransCanada needed presidential approval because it was to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. Bold Alliance President Jane Kleeb said activists will continue to fight it and the Dakota Access project. Bold Alliance's predecessor, Bold Nebraska, made a name for itself fighting the Keystone XL and has now expanded to other states. Kleeb also is chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Nebraska farmers and ranchers need a president standing up for property rights and our clean water to produce American food," she said in a statement. "The president should focus on American energy independence rather than taking land away from farmers using eminent domain for private gain. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts cheered the move by Trump, saying the Keystone XL will create good-paying jobs for Nebraska workers and bring property tax relief to counties along the route. "Todays decision represents years of extensive environmental reviews that confirm Keystone XL complies with federal safety and environmental standards," he said. "With the federal approval process complete, state regulators must now work through the process in Nebraska to conduct their own thorough consideration of the project." The new president's executive action invited TransCanada to make a new application for a cross-border permit, a process that is overseen by the U.S. State Department. Trump waived a 15-day notification period and ordered the State Department to make a decision on whether building the Keystone XL is in the nation's interest within 60 days of TransCanada submitting its application. TransCanada thanked Trump and said in a statement Tuesday it is preparing the paperwork. "KXL creates thousands of well-paying construction jobs and would generate tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes to counties along the route as well as more than $3 billion to the U.S. GDP," company spokesman Terry Cunha said. "KXL represents the safest, most environmentally sound way to connect the American economy to an abundant energy resource." Construction of the 1,179-mile Keystone XL could still be years off, and activists have pledged to fight it every inch of the way. Donald Trump is a con man and this is a con on a massive scale. Well fight it with everything weve got. Well fight it in the courts and well fight it in the streets, said Bill McKibben, co-founder of the national activist group 350.org. In Nebraska, TransCanada still needs an approved route, plus authorization to use eminent domain here. That would have to go through the Nebraska Public Service Commission and could take as long as a year. Public Service Commission spokeswoman Deb Collins said TransCanada has not filed a new application with the five-member elected board. Pipeline opponents allege that TransCanada would have to wait until September to restart the process because state law requires the company to wait two years from when it previously abandoned eminent domain proceedings. Republican Rep. Adrian Smith of Gering said a majority of Nebraskans want to see the Keystone XL completed as a long-term solution for transporting affordable crude oil. The Obama administration put Keystone XL on hold for years for political reasons, despite bipartisan support for the project and its own State Department determining it to be safe, Smith said. As the need for reliable energy sources grows, I prefer moving more oil safely through dedicated pipelines rather than increasing surface transport demand on existing infrastructure." The U.S. Department of State referred a request for comment to the White House. In the case of the Dakota Access project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declined late last year to allow construction beneath Lake Oahe in North Dakota, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, but Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. Trump has moved swiftly this week to make good on some core campaign pledges he says are aimed at creating jobs and growing the economy. On Monday, he signed a memorandum withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a proposed accord with 11 Pacific Rim countries and another of Obama's prized accomplishments. "Great thing for the American worker what we just did," Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. Plains All American Pipeline (PAA) will acquire a Permian Basin crude oil gathering system for approximately $1.2 billion from Concho Resources (CXO) and Frontier Midstream Solutions , the parties announced after markets closed Tuesday, Jan. 24. Simultaneously, Plains All American said it would divest of two noncore assets for $310 million, including its Bluewater gas storage facility in Michigan and a noncore pipeline segment located in the Midwest. Houston-based Plains All American also said Tuesday that it completed the sale of an undivided 40% interest in a segment of the Red River Pipeline to a subsidiary of Valero Energy Partners (VLP) for approximately $70 million. Plains All American's shares were down nearly 1.5% in after-market trading following the news Tuesday, while Concho's shares were up roughly 1.4%. Plains All American will pay slightly more than $1.2 billion to acquire Concho and Frontier's interests in Alpha Holding Company, which indirectly owns the Alpha Crude Connector oil gathering system located in the northern Delaware Basin. The buyer will fund the Permian Basin acquisition and its 2017 expansion capital program with the proceeds from 2017 asset sales, which include the previously announced agreement to sell its Northern California terminals for $670 million, and additional common equity offerings, as well as cash on hand. The buyer had $31 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the third quarter, but also ended 2016 with long-term debt of over $10.1 billion. The deal comes as companies across the energy sector are beefing up in the permian basin. Targa Resources (TRGP) said Monday, Jan. 23, its subsidiary Targa Resources Partners will acquire Denham Capital Management-backed natural gas gathering and processing and crude oil gathering assets in west Texas' Permian Basin for $565 million. In December Diamondback Energy (FANG) announced that it had acquired Warburg Pincus-backed Brigham Resources' $2.43 billion and in October RSP Permian's (RSPP) $2.4 billion purchase of Silver Hill Energy Partners from Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and Ridgemont Equity Partners in October. Jefferies, which advised Silver Hill on its sale to RSP and Bringham on its sale to Diamondback, provided Plains All American financial advice on the transaction, while Norton Rose Fulbright provided the buyer with legal counsel. Piper Jaffray energy unit, Simmons & Co. International provided financial advice to Concho on the deal, and Vinson & Elkins LLP was the seller's legal counsel. Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates through Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farms in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada. BP, plc, once known as British Petroleum, is one of the worlds 7 oil & gas supermajors with operations spanning the globe. In terms of revenue, it ranks 4th on the list and the company is vertically integrated as well with operations in all segments of the oil and gas sector. Operations are currently underway in 80 countries around the world, the company can produce 3.7 million barrels of oil equivalents per day, and it lays claim to nearly 20 billion barrels in proven reserves. On the retail end of the business, the company operates more than 18,700 fuel stations and its largest segment is in the US. The company was founded in 1908 with the purpose of exploring for and producing oil in the middle east. The company expanded into Alaska in 1959 and then accelerated its expansion when it merged with Amoco in 1998. Another merger with Burhman Castrol in 2000 created the company that is traded today. BP, plc rebranded itself in 2000 giving new meaning to its name. The once British Petroleum is now Beyond Petroleum and focused on a major shift in its business. The company is working hard to move away from non-renewable carbon-based energy and into biofuels, solar, and wind. The company hopes to be net-zero in regard to carbon emissions and production by 2050 or earlier and is well on the way to doing so. Among the many avenues of advance are the build-out of solar and wind farms as well as the expansion of a major EV charging network. The network totaled more than 9,000 stations around the middle of 2022 and expansion was ramping in order to meet the goal of 100,000 EV stations before 2050. BP p.l.c. currently operates through 4 segments including Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, Customers & Products, and Rosneft segments. The company produces and trades in natural gas and oil liquids, offers biofuels, and operates wind and solar power generating facilities. The company also provides de-carbonization solutions and services, such as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, as part of its green agenda. In addition, it produces and refines oil and gas for its downstream operations as well as invests in upstream, downstream, and alternative energy companies including advanced mobility. Advanced mobility is the future of transportation and includes technologies like EV, hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cells. To that end, the company is building 7 hydrogen production and storage hubs in key locations around the world. The company aims to produce blue and green hydrogen for the global transportation industry with production beginning in 2027. Blue hydrogen is hydrogen captured from the companys natural gas deposits using a process that captures the waste carbon. Capita plc provides consulting, digital, and software products and services to clients in the private and public sectors in the United Kingdom and internationally. It operates through Public Service, Experience, and Portfolio divisions. The company offers solutions for finance and accounting, procurement, property and infrastructure, travel and event, and workplace administration. It also provides customer experience transformation, contact management, collection, complaint handling, customer acquisition and retention, customer experience system and software, and data and analytics. In addition, the company offers capita licensing and support, support, digital policing, and engineering practice; education service and local education authority software; various solutions that help businesses create connected experiences that deliver right message across organisations, customers, and suppliers; solutions for central and local government services; corporate learning, fire service college, employability, and capita apprenticeship solutions; and employer branding and marketing, flexible workforce solutions, agile resourcing solutions, executive and specialist recruitment, background checking and vetting, and digital HR management and transformation solutions. Further, it provides pension administration and software, pensions consulting, and data, insights, and remediation solutions; automation, critical communication systems, finance and payment software, local education authority software, management information systems, and workforce management software solutions; cloud, cyber security, digital connectivity, IT services, robotic process automation, and workplace IT; and actuarial, defence, financial, healthcare, housing, legal, public safety, utility, and welfare and employability services. The company was formerly known as The Capita Group plc and changed its name to Capita plc in January 2012. Capita plc was founded in 1984 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Combat engineers of Ukraines Defense Ministry during last weeks mine clearance operations cleared over 18 hectares of land in the ATO zone in Donbas. Defense Ministrys Spokesperson Colonel Dmytro Hutsuliak stated this at a press briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "In the ATO zone, military engineers cleared more than 18 hectares of land, having detected about 100 explosive devices, Hutsuliak said. The colonel also noted that since the start of ATO, Ukrainian sappers cleared 2,765.5 hectares of land in Luhansk and Donetsk regions and destroyed over 140,800 explosives. iy On January 24-26, 2017, Kyiv hosts IV round of negotiations between Ukraine and the State of Israel on conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement. This has been reported by press service of the Economic Development Ministry. This round of talks provides for achievement of a common vision and coordination of a common approach to trade preferences for agricultural and industrial product groups. "Ukraine considers Israel as a promising trade and investment partner in such areas as agriculture, energy, industry, IT, tourism, etc. The Ministry of Economic Development has to start a practical part of the talks. Thanks to our position a dialogue on FTA agreement has entered into the active phase. We believe that this round of talks will be productive and will help us to move forward to form mutually beneficial agreements," Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade - Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska said. After the negotiations the parties will form a plan of future work and agree on a date of the next round of negotiations. ish Finland and Ukraine have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the energy sector. The Memorandum on cooperation in the sphere of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources and alternative energy sources was signed in Helsinki by Vice Prime Minister Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utility Services Hennadiy Zubko from Ukraine and Minister for Foreign Development and Trade Kai Mykkanen from Finland. The ceremony of signing took place in the scope of President Petro Poroshenkos official visit to Finland. iy Ukraine counts on the principled position of Finland regarding the implementation of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at a joint press conference with President of Finland Sauli Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. "Talking about energy cooperation, we count on Finland's principled position on the Nord Stream 2 project. The so-called commercial attractiveness of the given project carries a number of political risks, Poroshenko said. According to the President, the parties have reached an agreement to intensify the activity of the Intergovernmental Ukraine-Finland Joint Commission for Trade and Economic Development. The Ukrainian party has expressed willingness to welcome Team Finland business mission in Ukraine. ish In 2016, the European Investment Bank (EIB) provided financial assistance worth EUR 3 billion to Ukraine within the framework of the three-year assistance program on the part of the European Union, totaling EUR 11 billion. EIB President Werner Hoer has stated this in Brussels today, Radio Liberty reports. According to him, this financial support is expected to strengthen competitive capacity and stability of Ukraine's energy security and improve the life quality of Ukrainian citizens. A reminder that in December 2016 the EIB and the European Commission announced that a loan worth EUR 600 million would be provided to Ukraine. mk President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held a meeting with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto in the course of the first official visit to Finland for 11 years. This has been reported by the press service of the Head of State. President Poroshenko expressed gratitude to President Niinisto for a clear and firm support of Ukraines sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence. I am grateful that Finland firmly stands for the preservation of the EU sanctions against Russia until full restoration of Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity, the President said. In the course of the meeting, the parties have also discussed brutal violation of human rights in Crimea and Donbas. The President urged to increase pressure on Russia in order to liberate Ukrainian hostages from the occupied territories and Russian prisons. ish Finland supports Ukraines sovereignty and integrity and strongly condemns the illegal annexation of Crimea. President of Finland Sauli Sauli Niinisto said this at a joint press conference with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in Helsinki, an Ukrinform correspondent reported. We support Ukraines sovereignty and integrity. And we condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea, President of Finland Sauli Niinisto emphasized. The President emphasized the necessity of fulfilling the Minsk agreements by all parties for the restoration of normal life in Ukraine and Europe. He also assured of support for Ukraine in the implementation of reforms and European integration. The President of Finland believes it is the right time for a work of the bilateral trade commission within the development of bilateral economic relations. ish President Petro Poroshenko is confident that there are no reasons for lifting sanctions against Russia the country-aggressor. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at a joint press conference with President of Finland Sauli Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki, Governments portal reported. Ukraine is grateful to the U.S. for sanctions against Russia and we see no reason to abolish them, Petro Poroshenko noted answering the question of journalists about possible abolition of sanctions against Russia by the United States under the tenure of new President Donald Trump. The Head of State once again emphasized that Russia severely violated international law by the annexation of Crimea and destabilization of the situation in the east of Ukraine. In turn, President of Finland Sauli Niinisto expressed solidarity in the issue of necessity of continuation of sanctions against Russia. It would be great to have an opportunity to lift sanctions. But the fulfillment of the Minsk agreements is necessary for that. And its still not happening, he said. Sauli Niinisto reminded that sanctions had been imposed due to the annexation of Crimea and situation in Donbas, not because of terrorism. ish In December, Ukraine lost 22 soldiers of the Armed Forces in the ATO area. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this at a joint press conference with President of Finland Sauli Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki, Government's portal reported. In December, Ukraine lost 22 soldiers and over the entire period of the Russian aggression more than 2,500 soldiers and over 7,500 civilians were killed. The only efficient tool to force the President of Russia to implement the Minsk agreements is sanctions, the Head of State noted. The President once again expressed gratitude to the world community for solidarity and support of Ukraine. We are proud of unity with the EU and solidarity. And we hope for such support in the future, he stated. ish President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko together with his wife Maryna during an official visit to Estonia met with representatives of the Ukrainian community of Estonia in the Ukrainian Culture Center located in the historic center of Tallinn. President Poroshenko noted that the efforts of Ukrainians abroad in support of Ukraine are extremely important they help Ukrainians in the Homeland defend from the external aggression, strengthen ties between Ukraine and Estonia and bring Ukraine closer to Europe, the presidents press service reports. Despite the 25th anniversary of our independence, true birth of a nation is taking place only today. Now, Ukrainians make a deliberate choice in favor of the EU and NATO, in favor of building their own independent European state. This wouldnt be possible if it wasnt for the Ukrainian Diaspora, the President said. As earlier reported, on January 23, President Poroshenko was on an official visit to Estonia. iy UNICEF/UN037306/Soulaiman For multimedia content please visit: http://uni.cf/2erihVm BAGHDAD, 24 January 2017 - 100 days after military operations to retake Mosul started, humanitarian partners are expressing deep concern about the plight of the estimated 750,000 civilians who are currently living in the western sections of the city where fighting is expected to start in coming weeks. "We are relieved that so many people in the eastern sections of Mosul have been able to stay in their homes. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives," said Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. In the contingency plan prepared prior to the onset of the Mosul campaign, humanitarian partners warned that as many as one million civilians may be impacted by the fighting in a worst case scenario. To date, 180,000 people have fled the eastern sections of the city; more than 550,000 civilians have stayed in their homes. Humanitarian partners have been working as quickly as possible to provide direct life-saving assistance. Nearly 600,000 people have received food, 745,000 people have benefitted from water and sanitation support and 370,000 people have sought medical care. Eighty-five per cent of the people displaced from Mosul are staying in 13 displacement camps and emergency sites constructed by the Government and partners. Ten of these camps are already full of which four are being extended. Seven more are under construction. "The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing. Humanitarian partners are unable to access these areas but all the evidence points to a sharply deteriorating situation. The prices of basic food and supplies are soaring. Water and electricity are intermittent in neighbourhoods and many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm," said Ms. Grande. "We don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus. To date, nearly half of all the casualties from Mosul are civilians. It's terrifying to think of the risks families are facing," said Ms. Grande. "They can be killed by booby-traps and in cross-fire and could be used as human shields." The Iraqi Security Forces have adopted a humanitarian concept of operations putting civilian protection at the centre of their battle plan. Humanitarian partners welcome this approach and renew their collective call on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance. "The worlds attention is fixed on the military campaign in Iraq. But once this is over, there will still be a humanitarian crisis. As many as three million Iraqis, maybe even four million depending on what happens in Mosul, Hawiga and Tel Afar may be displaced from their homes as a result of the conflict. These families will need to make crucial choices about how to rebuild and re-establish their lives. And we will need to be here to help them. We hope and trust that the international community will not walk away after Mosul. It would be a mistake a very big one if this were to happen. " Signees: Lise Grande, Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq Aaron Brent, Country Representative Northern Iraq, CARE Altaf Musani, Representative and Head of Mission, WHO Iraq Bana Kaloti, Regional Director-Middle East, UNOPS Bruno Geddo, Representative in Iraq, UNHCR Dina Zorba, Country Representative, UN Women Erfan Ali, Head of Iraq Programme, UN-Habitat Fadel El-Zubi, Representative in Iraq, FAO Francesco Motta, Director of the HRO/UNAMI, Representative of the UN OHCHR in Iraq Ivo Freijsen, Head of Office Iraq, UNOCHA Louise Haxthausen, Director, UNESCO Iraq Mounir Tabet, Country Director, UNDP Iraq Peter Hawkins, Representative in Iraq, UNICEF Ramanathan Balakrishnan, Representative, UNFPA Sally Haydock, Representative in Iraq, WFP Thomas Lothar Weiss, Iraq Chief of Mission, IOM Lawk Ahmad, Country Director, Qandil Matthew Nowery, Country Director, Samaritans Purse Mike Bonke, Country Director, Welthungerhilfe Stef Deutekom, Deputy Country Director, DRC ### Support us - Help us upgrade our services! Maintaining our website and our free apps does require, however, considerable time and resources. We're aiming to achieve uninterrupted service wherever an earthquake or volcano eruption unfolds, and your donations can make it happen! Every donation will be highly appreciated. Improved multilanguage support Tsunami alerts Faster responsiveness Design upgrade Detailed quake stats Additional seismic data sources Download and Upgrade the Volcanoes & Earthquakes app to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: Android | IOS to get one of the fastest seismic and volcano alerts online: We truly love working to bring you the latest volcano and earthquake data from around the world.We need financing to increase hard- and software capacity as well as support our editor team.If you find the information useful and would like to support our team in integrating further features, write great content, and in upgrading our soft- and hardware, please PayPal or Online credit card payment )., these features have been added recently: Linda McMahon, nominee to be the next head of the Small Business Administration, testifies on Capitol Hill. (Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS) Following the uniformly tense confirmation hearings for other Trump Cabinet nominees, Linda McMahon might have been braced for some hard knocks. Instead, the professional wrestling executive was greeted Tuesday with a series of mostly friendly questions as members of the Senate Small Business Committee railed against regulations and asked McMahon to commit to helping small businesses led by women, minorities, veterans and those with criminal records. McMahon, the former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment and a major Trump donor, played up her own role as a job creator. She noted her experience in growing her familys business from a one-desk operation to a multimillion-dollar empire with 800 employees. Small businesses have had some tough blows in the last decade, McMahon said in her opening remarks. I know what its like to take a hit. She described an early bankruptcy filing in which her family lost its home and said she identified with entrepreneurs fighting to get businesses off the ground. Stephanie McMahon and her husband, Paul Levesque, the wrestler known as Triple H, watch Linda McMahons confirmation hearing before the Senate Small Business Committee. (Alex Brandon/ASSOCIATED PRESS) Small-business advocates, however, have raised concerns over McMahons role in quashing small- and medium-size rivals. [Linda McMahon, who built a wrestling powerhouse, could face a tough bout in Senate hearing] Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said she and McMahon had spoken privately about similar issues and praised her for a willingness to address concerns about potential monopolistic practices at the WWE. She also brought up its practice of classifying its wrestlers as independent contractors instead of as employees, which means they go without health care and retirement benefits. I dont want that to become the standard that small businesses use [contract] employees to avoid paying and providing health benefits and protections for small-business employees, Duckworth said before changing the subject. McMahon also addressed questions about earlier statements she had made in which she called for the SBA to be merged with the Commerce Department to cut costs. On Tuesday, she said she had made those remarks during her Senate run in Connecticut to make a broader point about government waste. When I was asked if I supported merging SBA into Commerce, I wasnt focused on SBA or Commerce, she said. I was focused on the concept of merging agencies or reducing duplicative programs so that we could reduce costs. [Trump taps wrestling executive to lead SBA] McMahon took questions from all 19 members of the Senate Small Business Committee. The hearing lasted less than two hours. If confirmed, McMahon said her first course of action would be to help small businesses recover after natural disasters by updating the agencys policies. Disasters dont pick a time. They just happen, McMahon said in response to a question from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). When our small businesses are put out of business for a while, the economy suffers. We need to get funds to them, to make direct loans to them. McMahon also addressed concerns that President Trumps nominee to head the Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, may soon repeal net neutrality rules that prohibit Internet service providers from giving special treatment to certain websites and apps. Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) pointed out that small businesses would be disproportionately hurt by such a move and asked McMahon for her thoughts. I have not dealt with net neutrality in any of the businesses I have been involved in, McMahon said. I understand your concern from yesterday, that we dont want restrictions on access to the Internet because it can impede small businesses, so Id like to continue to learn more about that. The first indication that Tuesdays hearing would be friendly came early, when McMahon was introduced by Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, both Democrats who ran against her in contentious Senate races in 2010 and 2012. This visual is going to be a little amusing and surprising to folks in Connecticut who watched the three of us duke it out over two long Senate campaigns, Murphy said. But politics cant work if political grudges never die. Political adversaries have to find a way to work together. McMahons daughter, Stephanie, was in the audience with her husband, Paul Levesque, the wrestler known as Triple H a fact that did not go unnoticed. After this, maybe we should go to the Senate gym so I can give Triple H some triple help in getting back in shape, said Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Stephanie could give you a mean hip-toss, McMahon replied. I believe that, Booker said. At the end, Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho), the committee chairman, told McMahon that were going to try to move this next week. We feel very good about being able to get you confirmed, he said. President Trumps cancellation Monday of an agreement for a sweeping trade deal with Asia began recasting Americas role in the global economy, leaving an opening for other countries to flex their muscles. Trumps executive order formally ending the United States participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership was a largely symbolic move intended to signal that his tough talk on trade during the campaign will carry over to his new administration. The action came as China and other emerging economies are seeking to increase their leverage in global affairs, seizing on Americas turn inward. Mexicos President Enrique Pena Nieto declared Monday that his country hopes to bolster trade with other nations and limit its reliance on the United States. Chinese state media derided Western democracy as having reached its limits; President Xi Jinping had touted Beijings commitment to globalization during his first appearance at the annual gathering of the worlds economic elite last week in Davos, Switzerland. This abrupt action so early in the Trump administration puts the world on notice that all of Americas traditional economic and political alliances are now open to reassessment and renegotiation, said Eswar Prasad, a professor of trade policy at Cornell University. This could have an adverse long-run impact on the ability of the U.S. to maintain its influence and leadership in world economic and political affairs. The TPP was one of President Barack Obamas signature efforts, part of a broader strategy to increase American clout in Asia and provide a check on Chinas economic and military ambitions. The deal with 11 other nations along the Pacific Rim covered a wide swath of goods, granting U.S. cattle ranchers better access to Japan and lowering tariffs on apparel imported from Vietnam. Congress granted Obama fast-track authority to negotiate the agreement in 2015, but political sentiment quickly shifted, and the deal fell apart without making it to Capitol Hill for approval. Trumps election effectively guaranteed its demise. Mondays executive order made it official. Pulling out of the deal raises fundamental questions about American reliability, said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. It leaves our allies and trading partners in the lurch. It does create strategic opportunities for China. Those include Beijings own regional trade agreement, which it is pursuing with 15 other Asian countries, including Japan. An analysis by White House economists under Obama found that a deal between just China and Japan could jeopardize $5 billion in U.S. exports and millions of American jobs. Proponents of the TPP have also pointed to recent reports of Beijings weapons buildup on islands in the South China Sea as evidence of the countrys emboldened posture. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) echoed those concerns Monday, calling Trumps withdrawal from the TPP a serious mistake that will give China greater authority to dictate the terms of international trade. In his speech in Davos, even Xi warned that Americas protectionist turn could backfire and wind up damaging the world economy. No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war, Xi said. But canceling the TPP was one of the clarion calls of Trumps campaign, part of a global backlash against the drive toward greater internationalization that has defined the world economy since the end of World War II. British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is in the midst of navigating her countrys own break from established trading partners, is slated to visit with Trump this week. A White House spokesman said meetings with Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are in the works. What we want is fair trade, Trump said during a meeting with business executives Monday. And were going to treat countries fairly, but they have to treat us fairly. Ending Americas involvement in the TPP was also a top priority for Democrats. On Monday, five Democratic senators introduced legislation that would require the president to notify each of the 11 other countries involved in the deal of the United States withdrawal. It would also block any fast track approval of the agreement in the future. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka hailed the presidents executive order and called for additional action. They are just the first in a series of necessary policy changes required to build a fair and just global economy, he said in a statement. John Veroneau, a partner at the law firm Covington who served as deputy U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush, said the Trump administration could still pursue bilateral deals with individual countries, particularly Japan and Vietnam, that mirror the deals negotiated under the TPP. But he pointed out that China is aggressively seeking to lock in trade agreements with many of the same countries that had signed on to the TPP. If the U.S. decides to pause, we should assume that some of our trading partners will move ahead, Veroneau said. In addition to backing out of the TPP, Trump has also vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the cornerstone of the U.S. economic relationship with Mexico and Canada for more than two decades. Trumps nominee for commerce secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, has said he considers reopening the deal the first order of business for his agency. On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration would tackle NAFTA very shortly. In Mexico, Pena Nieto said in a speech Monday that he plans to begin trade talks with other countries that had signed on to the TPP. And he stressed that in the Trump era, one of Mexicos top priorities will be to diversify its trading and political partners so it wont have to rely so heavily on the United States. Mexico is a nation open to the world, Pena Nieto said. Meanwhile, Trudeau and other top Canadian officials met with Trump adviser Stephen Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group, according to the Globe and Mail. Schwarzman called trade between the United States and Canada in balance. Things should go well for Canada in terms of any discussions with the United States, he said, according to the Globe and Mail. In meetings with business leaders and union workers Monday, Trump highlighted his proposal for a border tax as a centerpiece of his administrations trade policy. Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris, who attended the meeting, said the border tax was discussed extensively. He said the executives were asked to return in 30 days with a plan to shore up the manufacturing industry. I would take the president at his word here, Liveris said. Hes not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. Hes going to actually make us all more competitive. Still, it is unclear exactly how a border tax would be implemented. Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee last week, Trumps nominee to lead the Treasury Department said any border tax would be targeted at specific businesses. However, the president does not have the power to levy taxes, and experts on international trade have warned that focusing on particular companies could violate treaties. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has proposed allowing businesses that export goods to deduct many of their expenses, while those that import would not receive the same benefit. But in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump dismissed the plan, known as border adjustment, as too complicated. Some industry groups argue that Trumps approach would better leverage Americas status as the worlds largest economy. Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said his group is hoping that opening up NAFTA could provide more leeway to combat currency manipulation in countries outside the agreement. His group, which represents both industry and unions, is also seeking more stringent rules of origin, which dictate how much production must occur within member countries to qualify for free-trade status. The details are going to matter a lot, Paul said. Renegotiating NAFTA obviously entails some risks and some rewards. Joshua Partlow contributed to this report. In the wake of President Donald Trump's order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday he's confident that Trump will negotiate more advantageous trade deals. Trump believes trade is important, the governor said during a morning news conference, but "he has a different approach (and) he wants the best deal" for the United States. Later in the day, Ricketts issued a statement urging Trump to "take swift action in the first 100 days of his administration to substantially expand markets for ag exports." "TPP would have helped grow Nebraska," the governor said. "The trade deal would have expanded markets for Nebraska's commodities, increasing our state's ag cash receipts by a projected $378 million a year," Ricketts noted. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement negotiated over an eight-year period by the United States, contains provisions that are particularly beneficial for U.S. beef and pork exports. The pact, which has not yet been considered by Congress, would have expanded markets in Japan, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Malaysia along with other nations across the Pacific Rim. Former Nebraskan Clayton Yeutter, a U.S. trade representative and former U.S. secretary of agriculture in a previous Republican administration, has described the Trans-Pacific Partnership as "an absolute slam dunk" in terms of U.S. national interests. "In Nebraska terms, the agreement is particularly beneficial for beef and pork," he said during an interview in October. "Those probably are the biggest winners in TPP." Trump previously has expressed a preference for bilateral trade agreements rather than multilateral pacts. Yeutter predicted that failure of the Trans-Pacific Partnership would prompt other countries to turn to trade negotiations with China. In answer to other questions at a news conference, Ricketts said he is "hopeful that (Trump) alleviates the concerns" expressed by more than a million demonstrators during women's marches across the country and throughout the world on the day after his inauguration. "That's one of the best things about our country," the governor said. Later, during his monthly radio call-in show, Ricketts said "trade is a huge deal for Nebraska (and) we want to have more trade opportunities." The United States might "get better deals by bilateral agreements," he told a caller. The Nebraska Farm Bureau said late Monday it was disappointed with Trumps decision. President Steve Nelson said the group's economic analysis showed that virtually every county in Nebraska would have been positively impacted. The state was "projected to see increased agricultural cash receipts by more than $378 million annually," he said in a news release. Republican Rep. Adrian Smith of Gering expressed disappointment in a carefully worded statement. "TPP was not a perfect agreement, but it established a framework for U.S. exporters to pursue greater economic opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region," Smith said. "Our country should be a leader in writing the rules of the global economy rather than allowing other world powers to take our place," he said. Earlier in the day, Ricketts led the annual Governor's Walk for Wellness, striding the halls of the Capitol with state employees. First Lady Susanne Shore joined the governor for the event. More than 1,450 Nebraskans are already registered with the NE150 Challenge, a web-based wellness program that allows Nebraskans to track physical activity miles and minutes. Ricketts has accumulated 135.9 miles, mostly biking, since he enrolled in the program. After creating an uproar in his first official act on Saturday, new press secretary Sean Spicer came to the White House briefing room to calm the waters on Monday. And for the most part, he seemed to. Spicers first official briefing was a mostly routine affair a basic give-and-take with reporters that produced a few headlines. In any case, it produced almost none of the perplexity and outrage that accompanied his riled-up statements over the weekend about the size of his bosss inaugural attendance. Spicer even wore his sharpest suit for meeting the press. But what may have looked pro forma had some unusual elements. Among them: 1. The new world orders new briefing order Journalists (if not real people) were surprised by a subtle break with tradition: Spicer bypassed the Associated Presss reporter for the first question and called on a New York Post journalist instead. The AP the most broadly distributed news service in the world has been the first question-asker at briefings for as long as . . . well, a long time; no ones quite sure when and how the AP became the first question-asker. The symbolism of this move wasnt lost on the assembled hacks. The New York Post was a favored outlet of President Trumps during his salad days as a New York City real estate developer. More to the point, it is owned by a company headed by conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch. Spicer also called on two other Murdoch-owned outlets, Fox News and Fox Business Network, early in the proceedings. A reporter from the unallied, but conservative, Christian Broadcasting Network got the second question of the briefing. Although Spicer eventually got around to calling on others, including the AP, a subtle message may have been telegraphed. This isnt just media navel-gazing. The order of questions at a press briefing can set a tone hostile, combative, easygoing, etc. for the entire proceeding. Press secretaries, and presidents, can manipulate the order of questioning like a thermostat, calling on a reporter deemed friendly when the questioning gets heated or breaking the intensity of a line of questions by shifting to a journalist wholl change the subject. Spicers an old pro; the former Republican National Committee spokesman knows how to cool off a room by changing gears and questioners. 2. Limited press access? Reporters have been bracing for a cold reception by Trump, but three days in, the reception hasnt been as chilly as expected. In addition to Spicers why-cant-we-all-get-along tone Monday, the White House press staff offered two extra pool sprays, brief access to the president by videographers and photographers (the White House News Photographers Association complained that its members were shut out all too often under President Obama). One impromptu session was in the Roosevelt Room while Trump met with union leaders. In other press-access news, Spicer suggested there may be. . . 3. Something called Skype seats. The press secretary introduced the idea of reserving four digital channels at each briefing for reporters from distant news organizations to pipe in and ask questions. The oddly brand-name-specific idea (why not Facetime seats?) was first floated by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd in an interview with the Poynter Institute last week. More is always better, but one reaction from journalists is that plenty of reporters closer to home cant get into the briefings now. Just FYI, @seanspicer, there are already like 90 DC-based regional reporters who rarely get a question at the WH briefings, tweeted Thomas Burr, the Salt Lake Tribunes Washington bureau chief and past president of the National Press Club. In which case. . . 4. Why not get a bigger press room? As is, the White House briefing room contains just 49 seats. On days like Monday, its crammed with people, camera equipment and laptops. The small warren of workspaces in the back sometimes floods; the whole place sometimes doesnt have that minty fresh smell. Trump administration officials have suggested moving the briefings to a larger venue next door to the White House, in the Old Executive Office Building. The idea has been received with some alarm by reporters, who see it as a preliminary step to removing them from the White House grounds entirely. But a bigger room would mean more seats and more reporters asking questions. Spicer didnt address the presss ultimate whereabouts, and, oddly, wasnt asked about it. 5. Who are these guys? There were the usual questions from the usual reporters at the briefing. But there were some unusual questioners, too. Two of them list themselves as public-relations specialists. Jon-Christopher Bua is a longtime White House pressroom habitue who describes himself as a commentator and analyst; he also describes himself as the owner of a strategic communications and public relations firm. Another questioner, Robert Weiner, has written editorials for several newspapers and hosts a radio program. But Weiners website says he offers full service public affairs and issue strategy. Weiner said in an interview that he no longer provides such services. Ive got to change that, he said. 6. Sean Spicer is not a comedian. Spicer fell flat in his opening attempt to make light of his appearance Saturday, joking that his predecessor, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest, was voted most popular press secretary by the press corps. . . . His title is secure at least for the next few days. Tumbleweeds and crickets ensued. On the other hand, hell be here all week (and year). To some, the Womens March benefitted from being a protest largely made up of white demonstrators. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post) The bright-pink afterglow of the weekends massive Womens March on Washington had barely faded Sunday and thousands of women were still boarding planes and buses home when the critics came out swinging. No, not President Trump, who did wonder Sunday on Twitter, Why didnt these people vote? The critics were women and men of color. They saw privilege in the march that allowed hundreds of thousands of women the overwhelming majority of them white to march freely, beyond the borders of their permitted route in Washington, filling the streets in Los Angeles, effectively shutting down downtown Chicago, yet never encountering police in riot gear, never having to wipe away pepper spray, never fearing arrest. They saw privilege in the women posing for photos with grinning officers wearing pink pussy hats alongside them. High-fiving police, even. And how did Madonna get away with talk of blowing up the White House in a speech on the Mall when those with darker skin fear saying such things even in private company? On social media, the peaceful march had started a ruckus. White women and white bodies can hold space on streets and shut down cities peacefully because they are allowed to, wrote blogger and author Luvvie Ajayi in a Facebook post that has been shared more than 6,000 times. Black and brown people who march are assaulted by cops. [Many find solidarity and catharsis at the Womens March on Washington] In a world that doesnt protect women much, when it chooses to, it is white women it protects, Ajayi wrote. Others burst the congratulatory post-march bubble with posts that contrasted gleeful, pink-hatted white protesters from Saturday with last summers viral image of Ieshia Evans, a young black nurse and mother photographed during protests in Louisiana over the death of Alton Sterling, as she stood, alone and stoic, facing two officers in riot gear barreling toward her. In a phone call from Philadelphia, Ajayi, whose book Im Judging You: The Do-Better Manual, debuted last year on the New York Times bestseller list, elaborated. Nobody got arrested, she said. But I felt I had to remind them why nobody got arrested and what creates the atmosphere where they can have a successful march. She and others said they believed that the march is being heralded as a peaceful one because most of its participants were white. This march, the fact that it could go off peacefully and cops are wearing pink hats, and no one felt like they were in danger, and militarized police didnt show up, thats white privilege at its core, she said. They have the access and ability to do the things the majority of black and brown people who protest dont have. Ajayi didnt attend any march. She says she felt she didnt need to. Black women showed up, and we voted for Hillary, she said. Its something they almost brag about. No one was arrested. The police gave us high-fives, said Johnetta Elzie, a Ferguson protester who also refused to attend any of the womens marches. The people Ive seen saying that are white women, and thats really spoken from a complete place of privilege. In response, organizers of the march said in a statement that the Womens March on Washington was a women-led grass-roots movement that served to bring people of all genders and backgrounds together to take a stand on social justice and human rights issues ranging from race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, immigration and health care. Three of its organizers, the statement noted, are women of color. Officers in Washington donned riot gear on Friday as widespread inauguration protests resulted in property damage, fires and attempts to shut down entry points to the swearing-in. Police arrested and charged hundreds. But Sgt. Matthew Mahl, chairman of the D.C. Police Union, argued that the response was relatively subdued. We are very restrained, he said. And not all of our civil disturbance units were in riot gear on Friday. And Saturday, we were ready, just in case. But it just didnt turn out that way. [Inauguration protesters vandalize, set fires, try to disrupt Trumps oath, as police arrest more than 200] In Washington, where there is some sort of First Amendment activity happening every day, the response to demonstrations is nuanced as a policy, Mahl said. He noted that Washington is a town where the second Million Man March could be held peacefully in 2015, and where the KKK has also marched on the Capitol a few times. Tension over diversity questions plagued the march in the weeks before the event. Anger erupted over the events original name, the Million Women March, which echoed, without attribution, an important 1997 march by African American women in Philadelphia. After a post on the march Facebook page by ShiShi Rose, a member of its social media team, that reminded marchers to recognize the activist work among people of color that started ages ago, some white would-be marchers said they would no longer attend. Despite reservations among some black women about attending the march, too, Brittany Packnett, a District-based educator and activist, went to the Womens March and calls its turnout a feat. I went there not because I expected it to be perfect. I went with a bit of hope. But I also dont blame anybody who didnt go. Afterward, she had a message for those who hoped to continue the marchs momentum going forward. If were going to say all women, then we need to consider the way that different women experience life, she says. When you are the kind of woman who has always been prioritized, it can be difficult to realize there are different experiences. She added: When we acknowledge various realities, we actually knit together a stronger movement when we are considerate of the fact that every woman is not comfortable walking up to a police officer, given the way police have brutalized black and brown women in this country. We shouldnt dismiss that. We shouldnt say, Oh, well today was about unity, why are you complaining? Unruly passengers on planes worldwide increased 14 percent in 2015 over the previous year, according to the International Air Transport Association. (iStock) On New Years Day, a kerfuffle on an international flight led a San Francisco-bound United Airlines plane departing from Sydney to divert to Auckland, New Zealand. On what would have been a 13-hour flight, an agitated middle-seat passenger who was recorded on video exchanged terse words with a flight attendant and was subsequently arrested when the plane made an early landing. The encounter was the latest incident of air rage something that flight attendants say is on the rise. The conditions on board just lead to more potential for air rage, says Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Nelson ticks off the reasons: tight seating, fuller flights, alcohol consumption, fewer flight attendants, human nature. Any time you get a whole bunch of humanity packed in together theres opportunity for a conflict, Nelson says. [A man got a middle seat on a 13-hour flight. Passengers recorded his fit of rage, then arrest.] According to data from the International Air Transport Association, a trade association that represents 265 airlines and 83 percent of global air traffic, unruly passengers on planes worldwide increased 14 percent in 2015 over the previous year. In 2015, there were 10,854 reported cases of such incidents, or one in every 1,205 flights. In 2014, there were 9,316 incidents, or one per 1,282 flights. Alcohol or drug intoxication was reported in 23 percent of the cases; physical aggression was reported 11 percent of the time. Verbal abuse and failure to follow the instructions of the flight crew were cited in a majority of the incidents. (Facebook.com/NeilK) A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States found that airplane design may play a role in air rage. The study, authored by Katherine DeCelles, who is the James M. Collins senior lecturer and a visiting associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and Michael Norton, the Harold M. Brierley professor of business administration at the same institution, found the mere presence of a first-class section in a plane mattered: The chance of an air rage incident happening in economy is 3.84 times greater when there is a first-class section. [An unruly couple forced their flight to turn back. Police boarded, and passengers cheered.] Making class difference more salient can be bad for everyone, DeCelles says. For the study, the researchers had access to a database containing about five years of air-rage incidents from a major airline. (DeCelles declined to say which airline, citing a nondisclosure agreement.) For every 1,000 flights, there were 1.58 incidences of air rage in economy and .31 in first class. The researchers found that when passengers enter the plane through the front and pass through a first-class section, rather than entering in the middle of the plane and into their own designated section, the odds of air rage increase, both in economy and in first class: Economy passengers are 2.18 times more likely to become unruly and first-class passengers are 11.86 times more likely to act out than when they board from the middle. DeCelles points out that these results statistically account for a number of other factors that might relate to first class and boarding patterns, such as leg room, flight size and flight length. In describing the emotions of the passengers in the reports, flight crews classified disruptive first-class passengers more frequently as belligerent, and described economy upsets as emotional outbursts. (Beyond the report, the researchers didnt have any additional information on the passengers actual emotions or other factors, such as alcohol intake, says DeCelles.) Based on the correlational results, DeCelles theorizes that first-class passengers may have felt a sense of entitlement, which led to their reactions, while those in economy may have felt a sense of deprivation and frustration. [They arent just for backpackers. Poshtels boast chic decor and the chance to be social.] (Erin Patrick O'Connor,Julio Negron/The Washington Post) We all know we live in a class-based society, but its never quite so in your face as when you board an airplane, DeCelles says. Whatever the cause, Nelson, who is also a flight attendant with United Airlines, says that employees are trained to handle passenger interruptions of all types, and they are also presented with the option of taking a self-defense class offered by the Transportation Security Administration. She adds that the Federal Aviation Administration takes poor passenger behavior seriously: Passengers who interfere with the duties of the flight crew could face criminal charges or be fined up to $25,000 by the FAA. Any type of unexpected behavior in-flight could be cause for concern, Nelson says. Flight attendants are taught that if someone is acting out, it may be a distraction for a larger threat. We are in a metal tube hurtling through this space, an object that has been used as a weapon of mass destruction, says Nelson. That is the new world. Silver is a freelance writer and author of Frommers EasyGuide to Chicago. More from Travel: How to avoid the worst seat on the plane The best time to buy airline tickets and other travel advice for 2017 Carrying a throwaway wallet and other tips in avoiding travel scams D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) wants to boost pay and pensions for police officers who are eligible for retirement, in an effort to persuade them to stay on the force for an additional five years. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) D.C. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7) is proposing the District spend more than $60 million on raises and retention bonuses for police officers, a plan he says is needed to slow departures from a force some suggest has dwindled to a dangerously low level. Grays legislation, filed Tuesday, would offer officers eligible for retirement a powerful incentive to stay for an additional five years by doubling their salary in the fifth year. The $63.8 million package also could enable the city to offer more pay for the rest of the police force during contract talks, he said. The salary-doubling program would be open to eligible officers until the size of the force reaches 4,200, a longtime goal of D.C. police officials. At the end of 2015, the department had fewer than 3,800 officers, according to its most recent annual report. It was not immediately clear Tuesday whether the career-end bonuses would affect officers pensions, which are based on an average of their final three years of pay. The head of the police union said the extra compensation would not count toward pensions. Gray and his staff initially said that any increase to pension costs would involve only a small number of officers and be negligible. They later said the retention bonuses would not affect pensions at all. Officials at the D.C. Retirement Board did not immediately respond to questions about the bills consequences for the pension system. Gray said the pay increases, which would be funded by traffic fines, are needed to strengthen the police force amid crime rates many residents say are unacceptable. I just think right now weve got to take some significant steps to prevent the erosion of our police force in the District of Columbia, Gray said, adding that his legislation came in response to growing concern about crime among his constituents. Its not a panacea, he said, but its an immediate way of stabilizing the police force and sending a message to the populace. The bill fits an emerging pattern for Gray, who has wasted no time in seizing the spotlight since he was sworn in as a council member three weeks ago. A former mayor, Gray lost his seat after one term to Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) in 2014 amid the fallout from a federal investigation into illegal financing of his 2010 campaign. Gray was never charged, although some of his associates pleaded guilty to federal crimes. On the D.C. Council, he says he is staking out a role as a champion for his constituents in forgotten neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River. He also seems to be probing Bowser for weakness ahead of the 2018 mayoral election. On the eve of his return to City Hall, Gray led a television reporter on a tour of a recreation center in his ward that he said got a shoddy renovation by Bowsers administration. Meanwhile, he has begun to press an unusually aggressive crime-fighting agenda for a council member. Two weeks ago, he introduced legislation to increase the size of the police department. A 2015 poll by The Washington Post showed that crime was the dominant concern among D.C. residents. Murders declined in the District last year but remained well above the historic lows reached in 2011 and 2012 when Gray was in the mayors office. The seemingly random nature of some of those killings has alarmed people across the District. Last week, a 68-year-old woman in a wheelchair was killed in the crossfire from a mid-morning gunfight outside her apartment building in Southeast Washington. In 2015, the number of D.C. police officers dropped to a 10-year low, largely because hiring has not kept up with retirements. That year, the department lost 134 more officers than it hired. D.C. Police Union Chairman Matthew N. Mahl said the bill would provide a welcome incentive for experienced officers to stay on. When we have all of these officers with all of that experience leave at the same time, it really is a detriment to the city, he said. Cardozo Education Campus is among the public schools in the District that are hardest hit by students transferring in and out of the school in the middle of the academic year. (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) On the first day of school, Tanya Roane, principal at D.C.s Cardozo Education Campus, tells her students that she expects them to be in class on time, that cellphones will be confiscated during the school day and that they must focus on their studies. But for Roane and her staff, the entire year often feels like the first day of school. You feel like you are in constant state of reset, Roane said. Cardozo is among the public schools in the District that are hardest hit by students transferring in and out of the school in the middle of the academic year, forcing Roane to explain those expectations to new students constantly. The school opened last year with 783 students, but by late spring, Cardozo had seen a 19 percent net increase in its student body, with nearly 150 new students. [D.C. charter enrollment continues to soar as more families choose public schools] More than 10,000 students transfer in and out of District schools in the middle of each school year, according to the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, creating disruptions that experts say are linked to lower academic achievement. A city task force that includes traditional public school and charter school educators and advocates is proposing a new set of policies aimed at gathering more information about the students who transfer and reducing the churn at certain schools. The task force, which Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) created, is expected to present the proposed policies to the mayor in February. A high number of transfers is worrisome to educators, who say that movement in and out of schools can lead to lower graduation rates and lower academic achievement, as such changes are disruptive both to the student who is moving and to the classes they leave and enter. Principals like Roane have to reestablish behavior expectations. Students are distracted by new peers. Counselors have to constantly adjust schedules, and teachers need to make sure the new students are caught up with the others. [At Cardozo school, high hopes for a cultural transformation to match physical one] The majority of the students moving in the middle of the year come from other states, according to city data. Others are moving within D.C. Public Schools, while some are leaving charters in the middle of the year and going to DCPS. But city officials say they have no idea why nearly 8 percent of the Districts students are in a constant ebb and flow. Under current rules, when a family moves to a different part of the District, D.C. Public Schools is legally required to provide a seat in the familys new neighborhood school. But if that family wants to enroll in a charter school, it is sometimes difficult to find out if the school has an open seat; charters are not required to fill vacant seats in the middle of the school year. Under the proposed policies, the city would create a central transfer office that would tell families which traditional schools and charter schools have availability. The office would also collect information about why the family is leaving in the middle of the school year and would facilitate the transfer of academic records from the old school to the new school. The new policies also would allow schools to set aside seats for students who enter the public school system from home schooling or another state. There might also be seats set aside for students who experience various life hardships, such as a sudden move that makes it difficult to get to their school. Some educators and advocates worry that the proposed policies could exacerbate the transfer problem because families could essentially get around wait lists for the most desirable schools if they can argue they have a hardship. And while the policies could help distribute students across schools, they worry that the proposals would not reduce the number of students leaving or entering schools during the academic year. The way the proposal is structured right now, it is going to facilitate school movement, which can increase midyear mobility, said Caryn Ernst, a parent and member of the task force recommending the new policies. The whole proposal came from the idea that we want to reduce midyear mobility, but this proposal doesnt do anything to reduce it. Jennifer Niles, the deputy mayor for education and co-chair of the task force, had hoped the group would reduce the number of midyear transfers. But Shayne Wells, a spokesman for Niles, said that after analyzing the data, members concluded that they couldnt propose reduction recommendations when we know so little about why kids are moving in and out of state or transfer at all. We are exploring ways to find out more about why students move, and obviously the centralized process will help get at that as well, Wells said. Angel Dews enrolled at Cardozo on Jan. 9. The 15-year-old moved from Maryland to the District to live with her father. Dews was used to changing schools, but she had never transferred in the middle of the school year. She was surprised to find that the students and teachers at Cardozo were so helpful. Everyone was giving me a lot of attention. It was like, sheesh, she said. Teachers were helping me with a lot of things, getting me to my classes. Roane said although the school is prepared to welcome students in the middle of the school year, it is not easy. Roane said she supports policies that would help alleviate the churn at Cardozo as long as parents feel they have a voice on where they want their child to go. Regardless of potential changes in how students enroll in her school, Roane said Cardozo will welcome them. Whether they enter in August or May, it is still our responsibility to educate any child that walks into our doors, she said. Betsy DeVos, President Trumps nominee for education secretary, has come under increasing fire since stumbling over basic education policy at her confirmation hearing last week. Democrats and civil rights groups are calling her unfit for the job, while late-night comics ridicule her statement that schools might need guns to protect against potential grizzlies. And so National School Choice Week, a celebration of charter schools, private schools, home schooling and other education options, could not have fallen at a more opportune time for DeVos. The annual effort, held this year between Jan. 22 and Jan. 28, includes thousands of events around the country that bring together people who largely see DeVos not as a threat to public education, as her critics have framed her, but as a champion of extending more choices to more parents. [In Senate hearing, DeVos stoked activists fears that she will ignore civil rights] We finally have a president and a vice president who believe in school choice, said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), speaking Tuesday on Capitol Hill at a National School Choice Week rally. We are about to have a secretary of education who not only believes in school choice but has been fighting for school choice. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) spoke about his own rise out of poverty and the role of education in changing lives. We stand on the verge of the successful nomination of a woman who for the last 28 years has been dedicated to school choice, he said. This is a good day, and there will be more and more opportunities for kids trapped in failing schools to find their way to success. Other elected officials who showed up to praise choice as a policy aim in education included Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the House Education Committee; Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the majority whip; and Rep. Luke Messer (R-Ind.), founder of the Congressional School Choice Caucus. The Capitol Hill rally was one of more than 21,000 events taking place this week to promote school choice. In the audience were dozens of D.C. students who attend private schools with the help of the nations only federally funded voucher program, as well as students from several D.C. charter schools. Malik Washington, a senior at Archbishop Carroll High School in the District, said that the voucher program had been a gift for him and his sister, who were raised by a single mother working a minimum-wage job. For our families to have the same opportunities that wealthier families have when it comes to school is beautiful, Washington said. [Quality controls lacking for D.C. schools accepting voucher funds] DeVos is a Michigan billionaire who has spent the past three decades using her wealth and political clout to push for the expansion of taxpayer-funded voucher programs in statehouses around the country. She also has lobbied for charter schools. Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child, and they know other options exist, whether magnet, virtual, charter, home, religious or any combination thereof, DeVos said at her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing. Yet too many parents are denied access to the full range of options. She has won endorsements from Jeb Bush, who built a national reputation in education after he implemented sweeping new policies as governor of Florida; Rod Paige, education secretary under President George W. Bush; and Anthony Williams, a Democrat and former D.C. mayor. Her critics say that school choice is a term that sugarcoats DeVoss intention to privatize public schools, which they see as a fundamental civic institution. They argue that while choice sounds appealing, it works best for parents who already have advantages, such as access to information and transportation. And, they say, it does not guarantee that the options available will be any good. Dawn Wilson-Clark, a Detroit parent and education organizer who came to Washington to oppose DeVos at her confirmation hearing, said in an interview that her five children have attended 22 schools in search of a quality education. At one point, Wilson-Clark said, she was driving 200 miles per week to deliver her children to four schools. Choice is not the issue, she said. We have plenty of choices. Theyre just not quality, and they do not have the accountability that they need. DeVos declined to promise at her confirmation hearing that she would not seek to slash education funding or privatize public schools. Democrats this week requested a second confirmation hearing for DeVos, arguing that they need more time to scrutinize her preparedness to serve as education secretary and her potential conflicts of interest. The Office of Government Ethics has blessed DeVoss financial disclosures and has said that her agreement to divest from 102 assets will resolve any potential conflicts of interest. But Democrats argue that there are still unanswered questions about investments that DeVos will maintain, including in a company that purports to help children with autism improve their school performance. [Sen. Alexander defends DeVos, says Dems are desperately searching for reasons to reject her] Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, rejected the call for another hearing, saying Democrats are desperately searching for reasons to reject DeVos. Few Americans have done as much as Betsy DeVos has to help low-income children have a choice of a better school, Alexander said on the Senate floor Tuesday. The Democrats opposition to her says more about them than it does about her. A western Nebraska man is in trouble after using an explosive rifle target to announce the gender of his baby over the weekend. Jon Sterkel and his wife, Ashley, thought the target would be a fun way to announce they are expecting a boy in June. When Sterkel shot the target on rural land outside Scottsbluff on Saturday, blue chalk powder packed around the rifle target erupted. But several people called police with concerns about the explosion. Sterkel called the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office to explain after he heard a news report on the explosion. In return, Sterkel received a misdemeanor ticket for using the exploding target without a permit. MARYLAND Weapons plea in death of firefighter A man who shot and killed a firefighter answering a 911 call at his home has pleaded guilty to an illegal weapons charge, according to Prince Georges County fire officials. Darrell Lumpkin, 62, entered the plea Friday in Prince Georges County Circuit Court. Lumpkin shot two firefighters and his own brother in April as they tried to enter his home during a call to check on his welfare. Firefighter John Skillet Ulmschneider was killed. Volunteer firefighter Kevin Swain was critically wounded, and Lumpkins brother was wounded. The three had broken down the door of Lumpkins home, believing that he was suffering a medical emergency, but once they entered, Lumpkin opened fire and later told police that he had thought intruders were entering. A grand jury did not charge Lumpkin in Ulmschneiders death but indicted him for illegally possessing a weapon. Lumpkin has a felony record that bars him from having firearms, prosecutors said. Lumpkin is scheduled to be sentenced March 31. Lynh Bui Man found in Waldorf woods is identified Police have identified a man found dead in a wooded area in Waldorf as Juan Gonzalez-Mejia, 34. Police were called to the 16900 block of Mattawoman Lane about 3 p.m. Saturday after a woman spotted the body, according to Prince Georges County police. Police said the death is a homicide. Lynh Bui VIRGINIA Shots fired at cruiser, Fairfax police say Fairfax County police said shots were fired at an officer late Sunday. The officer's cruiser was hit, but he was not wounded. The incident occurred just before midnight on Georgetown Pike near Rossmore Court in the Great Falls area, police said, when the officer tried to conduct a traffic stop. When the driver stopped, a passenger jumped out and ran, police said. The driver then sped away and made a U-turn before heading toward the officer, police said. Someone in the car opened fire, striking the cruiser twice. Dana Hedgpeth and Justin Jouvenal Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday announced measures aimed at addressing the states growing opioid epidemic, including proposals to limit prescriptions for pain medications and increase prison terms for drug dealers convicted of distributing opioids that result in lethal overdoses. Hogan (R) also signed an executive order establishing a central command center to coordinate local and state efforts to combat opioid abuse, a problem that resulted in 1,400 fatal overdoses in Maryland last year. The governor, whose cousin died of a heroin overdose, said he will introduce legislation to restrict opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply, with exceptions for certain types of treatment such as for cancer and hospice care. Many experts say a growing number of heroin addicts started using the drug as a less-expensive way to feed an addiction to prescription painkillers. [Addicts are turning to their pets prescription drugs to get high ] We have to cut that pipeline of new users, said Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R), who joined the governor during the announcement at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. Rutherford headed a heroin and opioid task force that Hogan established during his first year in office. At least seven states have enacted strict limits on opioid prescriptions in the past two years, including Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Kentucky adopted such legislation in 2012. The governor also promised legislation to create a new felony category allowing sentences of up to 30 years for distributors of opioids or synthetic opioids resulting in a lethal overdose, with an exemption for those who sell the drugs to sustain an addiction. States have approached sentencing for lethal overdoses in such drug transactions differently, with some using felony-murder statutes to increase penalties while others use manslaughter or depraved-heart laws. Hogans proposed exception for addicts aligns with a sweeping criminal-justice overhaul approved in Maryland last year as part of an effort to shift from punishing drug addiction to treating it. The governor said he will also propose a bill that would allow the state to take action against drug prescribers and dispensers based on investigations by licensing boards and federal authorities. [This dealers heroin was so strong it led to 26 overdoses in a day] Hogan noted that he has increased the number of treatment beds in the state by 50 percent compared with the previous administration, and that his 2018 budget includes $4 million in new funding to boost efforts to treat addiction. Several advocacy groups applauded the governors latest efforts but said the state needs to do more. Lisa Lowe, director of the Heroin Action Coalition of Maryland and the mother of an opioid addict, described Hogan as a champion for many of her groups causes, but she said the state could do more to expand access to treatment and provide oversight of existing centers to make sure theyre effective. We can give $4 million for treatment, but what if the provider has no oversight? she said. Lethal opioid overdoses have skyrocketed across the nation. In Maryland, the number of heroin-related overdose deaths rose 72 percent, to 918, during the first nine months of last year, compared with the same period in 2015. Fatal overdoses related to prescription opioids jumped 17 percent, to 270, during that span. The most dramatic surge in recent years involves deaths from fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that killed rock legend Prince last year. The number of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in Maryland nearly tripled during the first three quarters of 2016, rising to 738. Anne Arundel County States Attorney Wes Adams (R), who attended Tuesdays announcement, said his brother-in-law died of an opioid overdose this month after becoming addicted to pain medications. My family has not been able to be exempt from the opioid crisis, Adams said. I look forward to our legislators standing behind this legislation so we can continue this battle as an entire community. State lawmakers from Prince Georges County are asking their constituents to lobby against state approval of a heart surgery unit at Anne Arundel Medical Center, a project they say would impair the fledging cardiac program in the Prince Georges hospital system. Members of the county delegation blasted emails on Monday urging citizens to contact the Maryland Health Care Commission, which regulates health-care facilities, and complain about what they called the boards unfair and discriminatory treatment of the Prince Georges hospital system in comparison with Anne Arundels. The health-care commission, which was scheduled to vote on the Anne Arundel application on Thursday, said late Monday that it would delay the vote indefinitely and allow institutions that would be affected by the proposed cardiac center to submit additional comments until Feb. 1. Commissioner Craig P. Tanio, who recommended approval of the project on Dec. 30, will review that additional input and make a revised recommendation, a statement posted on the commissions website said. Anne Arundel Medical Center says its program would not negatively affect the one in Prince Georges. In a statement, the hospital said that Tanios report rightly concluded that AAMCs proposed cardiac surgery program can coexist with a sustainable program at PGHC. When health care is politicized, patients and families lose, the hospitals statement said. Lawmakers from Prince Georges, who have championed efforts to build a regional teaching hospital in the county that is supposed to significantly improve the quality of medical care there, said the facility will lose much-needed patients and medical staff if a similar cardiac unit is launched just over 20 miles away in Anne Arundel. This decision is inconsistent with all thats been done to ensure a vibrant, healthy Prince Georges Regional Medical Center, said Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith (D), vice-chair for the Prince Georges delegation. Del. Darryl Barnes (D-Prince Georges) said the hospital commission is allowing Anne Arundel to pull patients from Prince Georges Regional Medical Center, and it does us a disservice. Officials from the hospital commission did not return requests for comment. The University of Maryland Medical System has been working with Dimensions Healthcare System, the nonprofit group that operates Prince Georges hospitals, to rebuild the hospital systems cardiac program. Under the leadership of heart surgeon Jamie Brown, the program is earning high ratings and has grown to serve more than 100 patients a year. In the new facility, plans call for the cardiac surgery center to serve about 200 patients a year, a volume that hospital officials say is necessary for the center to be financially viable. [State regulators approve construction of new Pr. Georges hospital] We are at the early stages of trying to develop a state-of-art service line that is still not strong enough, Brown said in an interview. If the state approves Anne Arundels request to launch a cardiac surgery program, he said, it will strengthen an already strong place and hurt our efforts here in its infancy. Dimensions senior vice president and general counsel Carl Jean-Baptiste said reviewers did not apply the same stringent standards for financial feasibility to Anne Arundel as they did to Prince Georges when that system was seeking state approval. For example, he pointed out that Commissioner Robert E. Moffit pushed Prince Georges to reduce its bed count and square footage last year after other hospitals objected. He concluded that a smaller hospital would more realistically meet projections for volume and revenue. The regulations require AAMC to prove that there wont be substantial negative impact on Prince Georges Hospital, and they failed to do that, Jean-Baptiste said. Having a lot of small cardiac programs is not in the best interests of the citizens of Maryland from a cost and quality perspective. Valentino-Smith also said state regulators failed to evaluate Anne Arundel Medical Centers proposed cardiac program the way they assessed the Prince Georges application. The analysis was done in a much a less stringent manner with less documentation and less evidence in the case for financial feasibility, Valentino-Smith said. The debate over Anne Arundels application comes amid uncertainty about the states commitments to the long-awaited Prince Georges hospital project. In the budget proposal he released last week, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) delayed promised funding for the Prince Georges hospital system and significantly cut the amount of operating subsidy the state will provide this year and next. Lawmakers have vowed to restore the funding. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan gives the 2016 State of the State address to a joint session of the general assembly at the State House in Annapolis. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) Maryland legislative analysts warned Monday that the states frequent budget deficits will continue to be a problem until government leaders make tough decisions about how to better align revenue with spending for the long term. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced plans last week to eliminate the states most recent shortfall, estimated at a combined $750 million for the current and next fiscal years. But Warren G. Deschenaux, executive director of the Department of Legislative Services, said Monday that the governors fiscal plan does little to prevent future budget gaps or address the root causes of Marylands chronic deficit problems. We have yet to take the structural actions necessary to sustain a balanced condition, and that, particularly under the circumstances we face today, is problematical, he said. Perhaps we need to look a little harder, think a little harder and make harder choices. Marylands revenue projections have weakened over the past year amid sluggish growth for the state economy, which has put a damper on money coming in from personal and corporate income taxes and the states sales tax. Meanwhile, state law mandates that spending increase automatically each year for programs such as K-12 education and the reimbursement rates for care providers who work with the disabled. For the past two years, Hogan has proposed pausing some of those requirements during years when revenue does not meet expectations, with exceptions for education, reserves, debt payments and the pension system. Deschenaux said Monday that the plan would do relatively little to address deficits in the long run, saying it amounts to weak tea. Hogan spokesman Doug Mayer acknowledged that the governors proposal would not end the states regular deficits, but he said its a start, and a great start. Deschenaux said the state needs to examine not just mandated spending growth, but also personnel policies, program efficiencies and how forecasters project revenue growth. The governors latest budget, which he released last week, would close the 2017 and 2018 shortfalls in large part by tapping into reserve funds, withholding surplus money that had been slated for the states public-pension system and repealing new requirements to provide financial support for several Baltimore programs. Hogan is also proposing tax relief for military retirees, police, firefighters and emergency-response personnel, something he tried unsuccessfully to advance in the past. While the governor calls for reduced spending and lower taxes, many Democrats have expressed concerns that his plans would have negative effects on services for vulnerable residents and efforts to improve infrastructure, including roads, bridges and mass transit. The governor would grow the structural deficit with his tax proposals, said Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery), vice chairman of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee. He refuses to have a discussion about the other side of the ledger. He only wants to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. Mayer countered that Democratic legislative leaders have been consistently defiant about any attempts to control spending and that they are unwilling to entertain any kind of budget and spending reform. Deschenaux said the governor and legislative leaders need to overcome their differences and agree on some long-term solutions. Its not up to the nerds to fix this, he said, referring to the analysts in his department. Its up to the political leadership to be able to converse and decide things that need to be decided. The lead sponsor of a paid sick leave bill in the Maryland General Assembly for the last two years has new, more personal reasons for pushing the proposal this legislative session. In June, he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. Del. Luke H. Clippinger (D-Baltimore) joined advocates and supporters of his bill for a rally Monday night and spoke publicly for the first time about his cancer treatment. I could focus on what mattered: getting better, being with my family, said Clippinger, who in addition to his part-time legislative job is an assistant states attorney in Anne Arundel County. His employer told him to take all the time he needed while undergoing treatment. Two weeks ago, he learned that the cancer is in remission. If sick leave is good enough for me, its good enough for 700,000 Marylanders, Clippinger said at the rally, referring to the number of working people in the state who advocates say do not have paid sick leave. The bill, he said, represents our values. This is who we are. This reflects the state we want to live in. Its a state where we know that the burdens of illness shouldnt be compounded by the burdens of poverty. Clippinger said the first signs of his cancer came last April, during the end of the 2016 legislative session, when he felt significant fatigue. At times, he was dizzy. After blood tests, his doctor said his white cell count was high and that he needed to be admitted to the hospital. He spent five days at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, the same hospital where Gov. Larry Hogan (R) was treated in 2015 for his non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Clippinger was the lead sponsor of a 2016 paid-sick-leave bill that was approved in the House of Delegates. The measure, which required companies with 15 or more employees to provide a minimum of one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked, up to a maximum of seven full days per year for full-time workers, failed to move out of the Senate. Opponents said it would place too big a burden on businesses and make Maryland less attractive for employers than neighboring Virginia. He is sponsoring the bill again this session. Hogan has a competing proposal, which is not as generous. It requires companies with at least 50 employees to provide five days of paid sick leave. Clippingers bill would cover all part-time employees, while Hogans bill would cover those who work at least 30 hours a week. Advocates say Hogans bill would affect about 473,000 workers. About 512,000 employees would be entitled to paid sick leave under the Clippingers bill. Clippinger, who continues to take a pill every day to reduce the chance that his leukemia will resurface, said he has always felt strongly about the issue but now sees it from a different perspective. Having gone through his cancer ordeal, he said it makes it personal. The ability that I had not to worry about anything else was amazing, Clippinger said. It was life-changing. . . . Thats how it should be for others. Police and demonstrators clash in downtown Washington following the inauguration of President Trump on Friday. The crew of a U.S. Park Police helicopter circling the protests saw flashes of light that they attributed to a laser pointer on the ground. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) An American University student appeared in court Monday on a federal felony charge of aiming a laser pointer at a U.S. Park Police helicopter on Inauguration Day on Friday. The student, George Herdeg, 21, from San Antonio, is an international-studies major in his senior year, the university confirmed. Prosecutors disclosed Herdegs arrest Saturday at the same time they announced charging 230 demonstrators with felony rioting after damage was done to storefronts and a limousine was set on fire in a four-block area near 13th and K streets NW. [Inauguration protesters vandalize, set fires, try to disrupt Trumps oath] U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson ordered that Herdeg not possess a laser pointer and released him on his own recognizance pending his next court appearance, set for Feb. 8. The federal charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. [Defense attorneys allege police trapped and then arrested protesters] According to charging documents, personnel aboard Eagle 3, a U.S. Park Police helicopter that was circling demonstrations near Franklin Square at about 3:41 p.m. Friday, saw a series of transient green flash[es], which they understood as a laser pointer being pointed at the aircraft. [Interim D.C. police chief lauds forces handling of weekend demonstrations, crowds] Law enforcement officers canvassing on the ground a short time later saw a beam coming from a group of six men, including Herdeg, who was carrying the device, according to court filings. Herdeg was arrested and later admitted using the laser, although he denied intentionally pointing it at a helicopter, Park Police detective Andrew Watson said in an affidavit to the court. Assistant Federal Public Defender Tony W. Miles declined to comment after Herdegs court appearance Monday. Family members at court said Herdeg was not a protester. A Justice Department spokeswoman said that from 2013 to 2015, prosecutors filed 18 to 20 cases a year involving laser pointer incidents with aircraft, although the number fell to 11 last year and one so far in the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Keith Strong sued his homeowners' association, which had told residents to install a $500 mailbox upgrade rather than replace cedar mailboxes. (Courtesy of Matthew Skipper) The $35 wooden mailbox Keith Strong bought in 2009 seemed charming and functional for the home he shared with his wife in a posh golf community in the suburbs of Washington. It was a newer version of the mailbox the homeowners association previously approved and had sat at the end of their driveway since the couple moved to their Bowie-area home four years earlier. But no more than two months after Strong installed his new mailbox, he received an order to dump it for a $500 mailbox upgrade. The board of the homeowners association voted to require all residents in the Woodmore golf community to buy metal mailboxes, monogrammed with the letter W and mounted on a decorative post. The $500 mailbox mandate angered Strong and others in the community, launching him into a seven-year fight that finally ended this month when a Prince Georges County judge signed, sealed and delivered a ruling that the board of the Pleasant Prospect Home Owners Association overstepped its bounds with its postal pronouncements. Its a victory that cost Strong $33,000 in legal fees roughly the price of 66 of the new bronze-colored mailboxes. The metal mailboxes that cost about $500 to install. (Courtesy of Matthew Skipper) But the battle was worth the expense, according to the solar physicist who works with NASA. It wasnt just about a mailbox, Strong said. The issue really here is property rights. If they were granted this power, where does this stop? It also opens up the whole community to other possible abuses of that power. The civil fight known in some court circles as the $500 mailbox case is one in a line of feuds between homeowners associations seeking to maintain pleasing communities through quality of life standards and property owners who fear individual rights are being trampled by quasi-political bodies run amok. Or, as Circuit Court Judge Leo E. Green Jr. said in his order requiring the mailbox rules be removed: This is the slippery slope they [the Strongs] seek to level. [Grandparents $1,500 swing set creates a rift in wealthy D.C. suburb] The mailbox melee in the community of million-dollar homes outside the Capital Beltway and about 30 minutes south of Goddard Space Flight Center began in 2008, when some members of the Pleasant Prospect Home Owners Association worried the cedar models were in disrepair and owners began receiving violations for the eyesores. Working with community members and an architectural committee, the board voted in August 2009 to require a new powdercoated, rustproof, cast aluminum model and gave residents in the Prince Georges County community until January 2013 to get their new boxes before they would face fines of $100 a month. The association was trying to maintain uniform and harmonious standards in the community, said Justin Cameron, the attorney representing the homeowners association. There were alternative mailboxes that the board would approve that were not $500. Some in the community, however, balked at the prices and also argued that the board should have asked for a vote of the entire community to enact such a change. Ruth Wright, a real estate agent who fought the new mailbox rules, also filed a lawsuit against the board. She said she was certain the association didnt have the right to tell her to pay for the new mailbox, but she eventually relented, fearing the $100 monthly fine would mount and blemish her financial record. I get so emotional talking about this mailbox, said Wright, who has owned a home in the community since 1992. So many other neighborhoods are doing the same thing. The Strongs did not waver. Strong and his wife, Yvonne, who had just had solar panels installed on the roof of their home, worried that if the association went after the mailbox, the solar panels could be next improvements that cost thousands of dollars. [In friendly Del Ray, a decidedly unneighborly dispute] Strong kept his wooden mailbox, argued at community meetings that the board did not have the authority to enact the change and began racking up fines for being out of compliance. The homeowners association offered to buy his mailbox and waive a portion of the fines. Meanwhile, Strong wanted to take the fight to a mediator in the Maryland attorney generals office. After years of back and forth, the case wound up in court, with a three-day trial before Green in May and his decision months later. They [the HOA] have mandated a specific change to the property that the homeowner must purchase, the judges order said. The homeowner is not saying I want to make a change but the board is telling the homeowner You must make a change. As the higher courts have instructed us, we must lean in favor of freedom in the property. Cameron doesnt view the judges order as a complete neutering of the homeowners associations power over architectural guidelines. They have the right to adopt the guideline, Cameron said. The court says they didnt have the right to enforce the guidelines the way it did. They need to have a more reasonable phase-in period. Were working with them to figure out a way to adopt it properly. Matthew Skipper, who represented the Strongs in court, said the board should have enacted the change with a vote of the community and offered more notice of the change. Skipper said the victory is a win for homeowners everywhere. This was an opportunity to object in a reasonable way, Skipper said. Typically you see a lot of communities give up, and thats what precisely would have happened. Its not about the cost of living and cost of a mailbox. It is about the power and authority of an HOA. Today, about 96 percent of the nearly 400 homes in the Woodmore community have the HOA-mandated mailboxes. But there is one house on Longwater Drive that will remain a holdout. Strong has purchased a new wooden mailbox like he did seven years ago, and he plans to install it to celebrate his victory. Read more: This treehouse extends 20 inches into an alley and its dividing the neighborhood Declaring war against thy neighbor over a house and a shared driveway This spite house garage may block a neighbors light and air. But the city says its legal. Federal prosecutors said they have offered a plea deal to a North Carolina man accused of commandeering a Washington pizza restaurant with an assault-style rifle on Dec. 4, but they did not describe the deals terms at a brief federal court appearance Tuesday. Edgar Maddison Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C., pleaded not guilty Dec. 16 to a federal charge of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition and to two D.C. offenses: assault with a dangerous weapon and possessing a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. [Comet pizza gunman anticipated violent confrontation, police say] Welch, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, did not speak, but Assistant Federal Public Defender Dani Jahn said during the hearing that prosecutors should continue to turn over evidence in the case. Mr. Welch needs to understand the nature and extent of information against him to make a decision, Jahn said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Demian Ahn told the court that the offer was made verbally Monday and would be followed in writing Tuesday. Ahn and a spokesman for the office declined to comment afterward. 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad See the reaction after gunman enters D.C. pizzeria to investigate conspiracy theory View Photos A man from North Carolina fired shots in D.C. restaurant Comet Ping Pong on Sunday. He told authorities he came to check out a fake news story involving Hillary Clinton. Caption A man from North Carolina fired shots in D.C. restaurant Comet Ping Pong on Sunday. He told authorities he came to check out a fake news story involving Hillary Clinton. Dec. 6, 2016 Signs of support hang on the building of Comet Ping Pong in Washington, D.C. The business reopened after Edgar Maddison Welch from North Carolina discharged his assault rifle at the popular Chevy Chase restaurant claiming he was there to investigate a fake news story on the Internet about a child sex ring. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. U.S. District Judge Ketanji B. Jackson set a Feb. 10 hearing, directing prosecutors by months end to get as much material as possible to the defendant. [I am sure he is sorry for any heartaches he has caused, mother of alleged Pizzagate gunman says] The vast majority of federal criminal cases end in pleas, not trials, and discussions about the nature of a charge and sentencing terms should a defendant plead guilty are not unusual. Welch faces a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted of either the federal firearms or D.C. assault charges, and a statutory maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted of the D.C. firearms count. The sentence could be far less under calculations used for federal sentencing guidelines that factor in variables such as a defendants criminal history, cooperation in a case and what specific offense is agreed to have occurred. A sentencing judge is not obligated to accept a plea offer even after a defendant and prosecutors have agreed in writing to terms. In charging documents, an FBI agent said it appeared that Welch contemplated a violent confrontation at the restaurant, citing text messages, call records and other information retrieved from his phone. Police said Welch was consumed with the viral conspiracy theory known as Pizzagate, which falsely linked Hillary Clinton to an alleged child sex trafficking ring. The story said the ring operated in the basement of Comet Ping Pong, in upper Northwest D.C., where Clintons presidential campaign chairman, John Podesta, occasionally dined. Welch prompted a panicked evacuation by customers on a Sunday afternoon, police said, when he walked into the restaurant with a .38-caliber Colt revolver and a Colt AR-15 rifle strapped across his chest. Welch fired the assault-style weapon two or three times inside the restaurant, police said. They said he also pointed the rifle toward an employee who had emerged from a back area of the restaurant after everyone else fled. Welch did not shoot anyone and surrendered after he found no evidence of hidden rooms or sex trafficking, police said. D.C. Council Member Mary M. Cheh (D), a former special assistant U.S. attorney, whose Ward 3 includes the restaurant, said Tuesday that she was not surprised by the offer of a plea deal, noting that they are common and adding that she hoped a sentence would be sufficient to send a message of deterrence. You want to make a point that we dont invite people in here who are vigilantes for imagined harms, Cheh said. You want to make a statement in that sense. (This file was updated to correct the title of a job formerly held by Mary M. Cheh.) Peter Jamison contributed to this report. Roland Harris, 33, of the District, receives health insurance information from Kishan Putta, 42, a community outreach specialist with D.C. Health Link, at RedRocks on H Street NE. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) The outreach workers joined the line at a Michael Air Jordan shoe launch. They went to Dennys after the Districts clubs had closed. They hung out at happy hours with $4 drinks and $7 bar food, laundromats, gyms, and Sunday brunches. This month, as Republicans in Congress moved to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and President Trump signed an executive order weakening its provisions, D.C. health insurance exchange officials were rushing to sign up millennials before the open enrollment period ends Jan. 31. When we talk to folks, some say they want to make sure they have a policy in place, before its too late, said Mila Kofman, executive director of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority. All of our numbers are up from last year. More people are using the website to enroll. Our call center volume is very high. I have not seen a chilling effect on enrollment. Many people know that Trump has vowed to repeal and replace Barack Obamas signature health-care law, known as Obamacare, which has extended insurance to about 20 million people. Im worried about it, said Trenton Hardison, 24, a financial consultant who lives in Northeast Washington and relies on the Affordable Care Act for his health insurance. He was waiting tables this month at RedRocks on H Street NE, where D.C. Health Link workers had set up a station to sign up young people attending happy hour. Hopefully, it doesnt get repealed. Leah Boyd, 26, and Candace Carter, 24, who work for D.C. Health Link, attach fliers to pizza boxes at RedRocks as part of an effort to raise awareness about the health-insurance options in the District. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post) On its website, D.C. Health Link, the Districts health insurance exchange, notified users: The outcome of the 2016 presidential election doesnt impact your ability to enroll in affordable quality health insurance for 2017. . . . Open enrollment for individuals and families ends on January 31, 2017. Small businesses can sign up throughout the year. Residents can apply for Medicaid throughout the year. It doesnt address the uncertainty surrounding Trumps executive action. Since D.C. Health Link launched, the Districts uninsured rate has dropped to just 3 percent, among the lowest rates of uninsured when compared with states across the country. Forty-one percent of new customers are ages 26 to 34, Kofman said. When we first started, we looked at the uninsured data in the District. We tried to focus on populations that tend to not have coverage. In D.C. more than 60 percent of the uninsured were 40 and under. The D.C. exchange opened in 2013, and they deployed all kinds of unconventional strategies to encourage millennials to sign up for health care. All of the outreach efforts have focused on the idea, We dont expect people to come us. We go to them, where they live, work, shop, play and pray, Kofman said. People can sign up on their mobile devices. If you use an iPhone or Android device, you can pretty much do everything and get enrolled, she said. Our mission is to get as many people covered as want coverage. At Red Rocks, workers attached D.C. Health Link fliers to pizza boxes. Patrice Cunningham, 29, general manager at Red Rocks, said that when D.C. Health Link outreach workers called about setting up a sign-up table at the restaurant, her immediate response was yes. Im always willing to join forces with different groups, Cunningham said. I wanted to make sure Red Rocks is socially conscious and is part of the community. Its important everyone is insured. You never know what can happen to you. Life is short. James OBrien, owner of RedRocks, agreed. Its important, obviously, for everyone to have health insurance, he said. On a recent Thursday night, Kishan Putta, a community outreach worker for D.C. Health Link, slid into a booth at RedRocks. Across the restaurant, D.C. Health Link workers were setting out giveaways hand warmers, pens, water bottles, hand sanitizers for anyone interested in stopping by the booth to get information on insurance. We are targeting the young invincibles, Putta said. Getting them to sign up takes being reminded in different ways. If we email you, and text you and you see it on the bus and at the bar, eventually, we will get you. Then we give them this sticker that says, IM COVERED. Putta waved over Alex Rossi, 25, a RedRocks server and bartender. Would you mind if we chat with you about health coverage? Rossi was reluctant to sign up for health care. He said hed rather save money for rent. Ive come close to not being able to make deposits on apartments I wanted, Rossi said. That is currently paramount to me. I may be planning to move to Houston. Rossis passion, he said, is hip-hop music. Health care is not that important to him. Im 25, Rossi said. I can make it to 75. Putta explained that the goal of the D.C. Health Link campaign is to reach young adults like him, who dont think theyll have serious health problems in the immediate future. Rossi, who said hes been to the hospital only twice in his life, paused and contemplated the term young invincibles. Ive never heard that phrase but that hit me there, he said. That struck me when he said that. Maybe that is how Im feeling. Maybe that is my mentality. But Im going to think about signing up. Wendy Uruchi Contreras hid her undocumented status from co-workers until she was detained. (Courtesy of CASA/Para El Tiempo Latino) An immigration rights activist whose own undocumented status was exposed by a drunken-driving arrest has lost her six-month legal battle to remain in the country. Wendy Uruchi Contreras, a Virginia organizer for the immigrant rights group CASA, was deported to Spain Tuesday after last-ditch appeals were denied by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. We are devastated, said her husband, Giovani Jimenez, who lives in Fredericksburg, Va., with their American-born children, Alex, 13, and Lucia, 7. My children are crying, but we know theres nothing more we can do. [She fought to keep immigrants from being deported. Now she faces the same fate] Jimenez said he learned of the decision last week, days before the inauguration of President Trump. Uruchi, a 33-year-old Spanish citizen born in Bolivia, had been held in federal custody since July, when she pleaded guilty to drunken driving. In her appeal, Uruchi asked prosecutors to show discretion in her case, essentially weighing her community activism and otherwise clean record against the danger of her committing another offense. Under Obama administration guidelines, however, immigrants convicted of DUIs are a priority for deportation. Her appeal was denied. In a statement Wednesday, ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez said the agency was following its procedures when it deported Uruchi: Under current enforcement priorities, ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security. Individuals convicted of significant misdemeanors like driving under the influence are among those who pose a threat. They focused on one thing, that she got that DUI, and it was like they forgot about everything on the other side of the scale, said Enid Gonzalez, Uruchis immigration attorney. Now that Trump is president, the outlook for successful deportation appeals is even bleaker, Gonzalez said. [I dont feel safe: Undocumented immigrants fear a Trump presidency] As a candidate, Trump promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico and deport far more of the countrys estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants, especially those with criminal records. Since 2013 alone, the Obama administration has allowed 300,000 criminal aliens to return back into United States communities, he said during an immigration speech in Phoenix. These are individuals encountered or identified by ICE, but who were not detained or processed for deportation because it wouldnt have been politically correct. But Kim Propeack, communications director for CASA, saw it differently. Wendys situation illustrates our failure as a country in not creating an immigration system based on family unity and the best interests of children, said Propeack, who helped Uruchi with her appeal. Wendy will contribute to society wherever she is, Propeack added. Her deportation is a loss to us. Uruchi came to the United States from Spain in 2002 under the United States visa waiver program, which allows visitors from 38 countries to stay for up to 90 days without a visa. She and Jimenez had chatted online, but only saw each other for the first time when he picked her up at Dulles International Airport. At the end of her three months, Uruchi decided to stay illegally in America with Jimenez rather than return to Madrid, where she feared an abusive stepfather. Giovani Jimenez, right, brushes his daughter Lucia's hair, center, as son Alex waits for them to leave to visit Uruchi at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail in September. She is being deported this week. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) She and Jimenez, who is also undocumented, got married, had two kids and settled in Virginia. He worked as a trucker; she cleaned hotel rooms. She began volunteering with Casa in 2013 and was hired full time as a Virginia community organizer the following year. Even as she helped undocumented immigrants fight deportation, Uruchi managed to hide her own status. Friends and co-workers were stunned when, after pleading guilty to a May 28 DUI charge in Stafford County, Uruchi was transferred to ICE custody and told she would be deported. Because she had entered under the visa waiver program, Uruchi was not entitled to a hearing with an immigration judge. Instead, her fate lay in the hands of ICE officials. Gonzalez prepared a motion for stay of deportation, arguing that sending Uruchi to Spain would be a blow to her two children. Alex needed his mothers help to deal with Aspergers syndrome. Lucia woke up in the middle of the night crying for her mom. On Halloween, a month after The Washington Post reported on Uruchis case, ICE officials rejected her motion for a stay of deportation. [I beg them to release her: A plea for mercy for an undocumented immigrant] Uruchis appeal was denied on Nov. 14. A week later, CASA held a protest outside of ICE headquarters in the District, and Jimenez publicly begged immigration officials to reunite his family in time for Christmas. Giovani Jimenez, top center, wipes a tear while surrounded by his son, Alex, 13, left, and daughter, Lucia, 7, at a CASA rally outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) My wife is not a criminal, said Jimenez, calling his wifes arrest something that can happen to anybody. Last week, officials told Jimenez that his wife would be imminently deported, he said. On Sunday, he and the kids went to see her one last time at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail in Williamsburg. Uruchi, usually the defiant activist, broke down. She began to cry, Jimenez said. She said she was very sorry, but that soon we would all be together. Jimenez said he and the kids would stay in the United States until at least the end of the school year. He held out hope that his wife somehow would be allowed to return quickly. If not, he said, then he, Alex and Lucia would move to Madrid this summer. We would have no jobs, no place to live. My kids would have to learn Spanish, he said. We would have to start from zero. President Trumps choice for health secretary declined Tuesday to promise that no Americans would be worse off under Trumps executive order to ease provisions of the Affordable Care Act and distanced himself from the presidents claim to have an almost- finished plan to replace the law. At a testy Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) sought to play down the influence he would have on reshaping the health-care system along conservative lines, while attempting to deflect accusations from Democrats about his ethics. He repeatedly flashed his long-standing distaste for federal insurance standards and other government strategies to guide medical care. And although he embraced certain policies popular within the GOP, such as special insurance pools for patients with preexisting medical conditions, he steered clear of other ideas he has supported, including the transformation of Medicaid from an entitlement program for lower-income people to a set of block grants to states. By the time the hearing ended after four hours, the Senate Finance Committees partisan divisions appeared as bitter as they had at the beginning, with the Republicans aligned solidly behind the nominee despite sharp Democratic attacks on his investment and legislative practices. Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) praised Price as a singularly qualified nominee and took broad swipes at Senate Democrats, saying they were tearing at the fabric of the chamber as an institution with their attempts to undercut Trumps Cabinet choices. (Senate Committee on Finance) The committees ranking Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), countered that Price, if confirmed, would take America back to the dark days when health care was for the healthy and the wealthy. Focusing on the private investments in health-care companies that could have benefited from bills Price sponsored, Wyden said that it is hard to see this as anything but a conflict of interest and an abuse of position. [Who is Tom Price?] A fresh allegation Tuesday was that Price underreported to the committee and the Office of Government Ethics the value of shares he holds in an Australian company, Innate Immunotherapeutics. Price, who purchased some of that stock through a discounted, private offering, attributed the underreporting to a clerical error and a misunderstanding of the question. The reality is that everything that I did was ethical, aboveboard, legal and transparent, Price said a message Republicans sought to reinforce throughout the hearing. Democrats targeted most of their questioning on the direction that Price, if confirmed, would try to take the health-care system. Price demurred repeatedly. For instance, he sidestepped a series of questions about the effects of the sweeping order Trump issued just hours after his swearing-in that directed agencies to lift or soften federal rules implementing aspects of the ACA. Price declined to commit that no one would be harmed, that no one would lose insurance coverage or that the regulations would be rewritten only after a plan exists to replace the 2010 health-care law. He similarly deflected a question about whether the new administration would try to stop enforcement of the ACAs individual insurance requirement prior to a replacement plan. I commit to working with you, Price finally told Wyden after reiterating that his goal is to ensure all Americans have an opportunity for access to health insurance. The ACAs goal is universal coverage. We didnt get an answer, Wyden retorted. Price also skirted questions by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) about Trumps statements the weekend before his inauguration that the health-care plan he was completing would provide insurance for everybody. Brown asked: President Trump said hes working with you on a replacement plan for the ACA, which is nearly finished and will be revealed after your confirmation. Is that true? Price replied: Its true that he said that, yes. The packed hearing room broke into laughter. Brown persisted: Did the president lie about this, that hes not working with you? The nominee gave an oblique answer, saying, Ive had conversations with the president about health care. [HHS nominees mix of investments, donations, legislations keeps raising questions] Tuesdays hearing was the more significant of two appearances Price has made in the past week on Capitol Hill because the Finance Committee has jurisdiction to vote on his nomination. A date has not been set. Democrats numerous attacks on Price in the past week prompted Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who officially introduced Price to his Finance Committee colleagues, to say, I feel like Ive been asked to be a character witness in a felony trial in the sentencing phase of a conviction. Price has promised to divest financial interests in any companies that could pose a conflict of interest for him as HHS secretary. But some lawmakers, as well as the advocacy group Public Citizen, are calling for an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics. They also have filed complaints against Price with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 62-year-old lawmaker practiced as an orthopedic surgeon for two decades before entering politics. He was in the Georgia state Senate and first elected to Congress in 2004. He is chairman of the House Budget Committee. In the Trump administration, Price would oversee one of the governments largest agencies, with a $1 trillion budget and sweeping responsibility over programs that, in one way or another, affect the lives of nearly all Americans. They include public-health disease surveillance, biomedical research, drug approvals and the nations main welfare program. Though he played down his role on Tuesday, Price would be one of the central figures in designing and carrying out a plan by the new administration and the Republican-led Congress to replace the 2010 health-care law. [With executive order, Trump tosses a bomb into fragile health insurance markets] In response to other questioning, Price emphasized the need for innovations in health care, but he said that an HHS innovation center, created as part of the ACA, has gotten off track a bit by mandatorily dictating to physicians how they must practice. In another tense exchange, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) pressed Price to concede that if policymakers made Medicaid a block-grant program, Americans would no longer be automatically entitled to receiving its coverage. When you move to a block grant, do you still have a right? Menendez asked. No, Price said. I think it would be determined by how that was set up, if in fact thats what Congress did. But Menendez said that Price, if confirmed will have an enormous impact on the programs future. So please dont say to me that I am just here to do just what Congress says, the senator said. Even as the Senate hearing was underway, the process leading toward the ACAs repeal was continuing in the other chamber of Congress. The House Budget Committee was discussing the laws failures, and the House Ways and Means Committee was set to meet in the afternoon on the ACAs individual mandate the least popular feature of the law and one likely to disappear in forthcoming GOP health-care plans. And next week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is scheduled to hold a pair of hearings on lowering insurance costs and reforming Medicaid, according to a person familiar with the plans. Read more: Trump signs executive order that could effectively gut Affordable Care Acts individual mandate Pressure mounts on GOP for Obamacare replacement Key House committee will hold hearings on first Obamacare replacement bills next week Cancer survivor who opposed Obamacare challenges Ryan on its repeal Rep. Tom Price faced questions about his personal investments during the first hearing this month on his nomination to be HHS secretary. (Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post) Rep. Tom Price, the Georgia Republican nominated by President Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is under increasing scrutiny for a trifecta of financial, campaign and legislative activities that some longtime ethics lawyers describe as extremely rare and revealing an extraordinary lack of good judgment. In recent years, Price has repeatedly traded stock in dozens of health-related companies while pushing bills that could have benefited many of them. At the same time, he has been uncommonly reliant on campaign contributions from the health-care industry, accepting more than $700,000from physicians, hospitals, drug companies and insurers during his 2016 run for a seventh congressional term, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. I havent seen anything like this before, and Ive been practicing and teaching about securities law for 30 years, said Richard W. Painter, who was chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007. Given that Price has some influence legislatively over the health-care sector, his volume of trades in related companies is unusual, according to a former chief counsel to the House and Senate ethics committees. In the past few years, more lawmakers have moved away from investing in individual stocks, opting instead for mutual funds, Treasury bills or municipal bonds as investments. They are allowed to do this type of trading, but I would advise against it, said Rob Walker, who served in the bipartisan counsel positions from 1999 to 2008. The level of scrutiny he is facing goes along with the territory of making these kinds of investments. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Prices investments and donations coincide with a pattern, dating back to his years as a state senator, of strenuously promoting legislation that advances the interests of the medical profession. An orthopedic surgeon for 20 years before he entered politics and still an active member of the American Medical Association, he has sought as both a Georgia legislator and congressman to make it more difficult for patients to win medical malpractice lawsuits and to limit certain damage awards in such cases. Whether it be liability or any policy issues about how health care is delivered, how it is paid for, how it is accessed, it is doctors all day every day, said longtime critic Mark Taylor, a Democratic lieutenant governor in Georgia during most of Prices tenure in the state Senate and first years on Capitol Hill. And while Price speaks often of pursuing a patient-centered health-care system, he rails against what he calls an excessive federal role in health care, voting at one point against an expansion of the Childrens Health Insurance Program. The desire of those on the left to gradually move every American to Washington-controlled bureaucratic health care is so strong they will stop at nothing, he said before casting that vote in 2007. In Congress, he has been one of the most ardent opponents of the Affordable Care Act, sponsoring the only bill to repeal the sprawling health-care law that passed Congress. Then-President Barack Obama vetoed it early last year. Prices investment and legislative records are central themes that Democrats plan to pursue in his confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee. During a courtesy hearing last week before a different Senate panel, he faced sometimes-heated interrogation by Democrats over the timing of stock purchases and the extent of his involvement in them. The nominee has said he would divest financial interests in any companies that could pose a conflict of interest for him as HHS secretary. But some lawmakers, as well as the advocacy group Public Citizen, are calling for an investigation by the Office of congressional Ethics. They also have filed complaints against Price with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A congressional probe would cease if he were to become HHS secretary. An SEC investigation would continue. An HHS spokesman reiterated Monday that Price had no knowledge of any trades in his financial portfolio, with the exception of those in one company. The spokesman declined to provide the name of Prices broker or to share a copy of his written agreement with the investment firm. Prices legislative office did not respond to repeated requests for comment over several days. If confirmed, the 62-year-old congressman, who chairs the House Budget Committee, would run one of the biggest federal agencies and its $1.1 trillion budget. Supporters suggest a doctor best understands what the nations health-care system needs, with Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) describing Price as very upfront and very straightforward, very honest, and somebody who really understands the health-care system of this country. Price has largely defended his investment activities by saying his broker made nearly all of the stock purchases without his knowledge. Brokers cannot make securities trades for clients without their expressed permission in writing, and Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter Friday asking Price for such proof. Aides in their offices said Monday that he has not responded. And regardless, said Painter, now a law professor at the University of Minnesota, Its a pretty weak defense since he could have gone online at any time and seen the trades that were being made on his behalf. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-N.Y.), the co-author of the 2012 Stop Trading on congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, shares that sentiment. The law passed after media reports on the close ties between lawmakers stock portfolios and legislative actions. It requires that trades be publicly reported within 45 days instead of annually the sole reason Prices stock activity last year has come to light in the midst of his confirmation. The weakest link here is this notion that some broker bought all these things without his knowledge, Slaughter said. A spokesman for the Trump transition countered on his behalf last week, although Phil Blando addressed only the issue of campaign fundraising. Any effort to connect campaign contributions to Dr. Prices policy positions is an increasingly stale and desperate Democratic talking point, he said. Of particular concern to Slaughter and her Democratic colleagues is Prices largest stock buy last year between $50,000 and $100,000 in an Australian biomedical firm, Innate Immunotherapeutics. Price acknowledged last week that this purchase, and several smaller ones made in the company in 2015, occurred without a brokers aid. He told members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that he learned of the company from Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who serves on Innates board, and then did his own research on it and the multiple sclerosis drug it was developing. The 2016 investment was done through whats known as a private placement offering made by a company to a select group of potential investors. Price contended that he received no insider information ahead of time. Prices denial didnt satisfy Murray, who also pressed him on the timing of the trades. They coincided with final negotiations on the sweeping 21st Century Cures bill, aimed in part at helping to accelerate clinical trials and approval of drugs like Innates. Simon Wilkinson, Innates chief executive, told The Washington Post that about 640 investors purchased stock through the special offer. The company did not directly approach Price, he said. According to David Blake, an Australian securities analyst, the shares the lawmaker purchased in the special offering are now worth between $337,500 and $675,000 a 575 percent increase. Another trade in the spotlight involves Zimmer Biomet, a major manufacturer of orthopedic and dental implant devices. CNN was the first to report financial disclosure records showing that Price bought between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of Zimmer Biomet shares last March. A week later, he introduced legislation to delay a new payment model that industry analysts said could have serious financial implications for the company. The HHS regulation carried tremendous risk and complexity for patients and health-care providers, Price said when he introduced his bill. Rushing its implementation would be unreasonable and potentially detrimental to patients and their quality of care. Federal Election Commission records show Price received $2,000 in campaign donations from the companys political action committee in November 2015 and June 2016. In a statement, Zimmer Biomet spokeswoman Monica Kendrick said it did not support Prices legislation and was unaware of his investment in the company. She said the company had long backed efforts such as the payment model Price sought to block. Price also purchased stock in three pharmaceutical companies in the months leading up to his introduction last June of a bill that would have provided the businesses with massive tax breaks for their manufacturing and production activities in Puerto Rico, records show. Amgen, Eli Lilly and Bristol-Myers Squibb gave a combined $20,000 to his 2016 reelection campaign, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. The bill ultimately did not pass the House. Blando stressed last week that Price had no say or input into these trades and that to insinuate a connection is insulting. Overall, Price is far more reliant on donations from health professionals than other lawmakers in comparable positions in the House. Since he was first elected to Congress in 2004 from an affluent, conservative district in northern Atlanta, they have given more than $3.5 million in campaign contributions, more than any other donor sector, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. In contrast, the previous chairman of the House Budget Committee, Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), has received $1.3 million in contributions from health professionals since 1998. While Price resembles many House Republicans in his zeal for dismantling the ACA, his focus on medical malpractice lawsuits is distinctive. Starting in 2009, he has four times introduced the Empowering Patients First Act, with the most recent three bills seeking to repeal the ACA. All would have weakened patients hand in medical malpractice cases by setting $250,000 caps on noneconomic damages, creating clinical guidelines to protect doctors from liability or both. And he sponsored two separate bills aimed at creating such guidelines for use in malpractice lawsuits. None got out of House committees. Julie Tate, Alice Crites and Matea Gold contributed to this report. Read more: HHS nominees mix of investments, donations, legislation keeps raising questions Trump reverses abortion-related U.S. policy, bans funding to international health groups Trump signs executive order that could effectively gut Affordable Care Acts individual mandate ITALY 7th body pulled from hotel hit by avalanche Italian emergency crews on Monday pulled three wiggling, white sheepdog pups out from under tons of snow and rubble at an avalanche-struck hotel, lifting spirits even as the search for 22 people still missing dragged on. A seventh body was also located, and the first survivors of the deadly avalanche were released from the hospital. Five days after up to 60,000 tons of snow, rocks and uprooted trees plowed into the Hotel Rigopiano in central Italy, rescue crews were still digging in hopes of finding more survivors. More than two days have passed since anyone has been pulled out alive from the hotel, and conditions at the site were deteriorating, with the heavy snow turning to ice. The three Abruzzo sheepdog puppies found in the boiler room were born last month to the hotels resident sheepdogs, who also survived the avalanche. So far nine people have been rescued from the Hotel Rigopiano. The investigation intensified into whether local officials underestimated the threat facing the hotel, which was covered with six feet of snow, had no phone service and low gas supplies when a series of earthquakes rocked central Italy last Wednesday morning. Associated Press IRAQ Abadi orders probe of alleged rights abuses Iraqs prime minister on Monday ordered an investigation into violations of human rights and other abuses purportedly committed by government troops and paramilitary forces battling the Islamic State group to retake the city of Mosul. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the probe will examine cases of kidnappings, mistreatment and violations against civilians. Abadi blamed such incidents on groups that exploit the good name of Iraqi soldiers and Shiite and Sunni paramilitaries. The statement also said that the abuses were recorded and then posted on social media to spoil the joy of victory and to defame the real image of the brave security forces and their sacrifices to liberate the land and to maintain security. Abadis statement came days after the U.N. demanded a government probe into a video purportedly showing brutal treatment and killing of at least three ISIS suspects in a newly taken area in eastern Mosul. Associated Press YEMEN Government troops seize Red Sea port Forces allied with the internationally recognized government of Yemen seized control of a strategic Red Sea port on Monday after waging an assault against Shiite rebels, a top military commander said. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Seif al-Yafai said in remarks to the media that his forces have entered the city of Mokha, where dozens of families were seen fleeing days of clashes. Dozens of fighters were killed, and the bodies of slain men littered streets, witnesses said. The port of Mokha is seen as a weapons lifeline to the rebels and their allies, who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the northern region. A Saudi-led military coalition is backing the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and seeking to restore him to power. Also Monday, U.N. envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed ended a visit during which he met ministers from the rebel-backed government days after going to Aden, temporary capital for Hadis government. In a statement, Ahmed urged both sides to agree to a cessation of hostilities. It is mandatory that the parties end the violence to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people and pave the way for a peacefully negotiated settlement, he said. Associated Press Panamas Noriega is granted house arrest: A lawyer for Panamas jailed ex-dictator Manuel Noriega said a court has granted Noriega house arrest so he can prepare for brain surgery. A court had ruled in October that the 82-year-old be allowed to recuperate from the procedure at a public hospital rather than in prison. But attorney Ezra Angel argued that Noriega should be allowed to recuperate at home. Death toll at 236 in Nigerian bombing: A local official said the death toll from the bombing of a refugee camp by Nigerias air force last Tuesday has climbed to 236. Air force officials said the bombing of the camp, which housed people who had fled the Boko Haram extremist group, was an accident and formed a panel to investigate. From news services This is probably as close as well get to a mea culpa in Trump World. White House press secretary Sean Spicer came out for his first official briefing Monday afternoon resembling not at all the madman who unleashed his fury from the same podium Saturday evening. He smiled. He didnt shout. His suit fit. The lectern had been lowered so he could see over it. And he took questions not just from friendly outlets but from American Urban Radio (which has an African American audience) and Univision, the Hispanic network Donald Trump disparaged on the campaign. Jennifer Rodriguez! Spicer called out, reading from his list. Janet? Univisions Janet Rodriguez suggested. Janet. Sorry, Spicer corrected. 1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad See what President Trump has been doing since taking office View Photos The beginning of his term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. Caption The beginning of the presidents term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. [White House press secretary Sean Spicer defines gaslighting] At least he tried. And he tried, in his way, to climb down from his preposterous performance on Saturday, acknowledging that he spouted untruths innocently, he proposed. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts, Spicer declared. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie to you. Actually, Trump and his aides spent much of the past 18 months disagreeing with the facts, and it defies credulity that it wasnt intentional. On Saturday, Spicer, the previously little-known spokesman for the Republican National Committee, became an instant laughingstock when he hauled the press into the White House briefing room and, in a comically big suit, started shouting about a couple of tweets he didnt like. Like his boss, who asserted the patent nonsense that there were 1.5 million people at his inauguration, Spicer declared: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe. He then stormed off, refusing to take questions. A social-media meme was born SpicerFacts and his White House colleague Kellyanne Conway made things worse on Sunday when she asserted that Spicer was giving voice to alternative facts. Derision and mockery rained from the Twitterverse: The Death Star had no design flaws. Period. A semi-contrite Spicer acknowledged Monday that, knowing what we know now, he wouldnt have used bogus figures claiming Metro ridership in Washington was higher for Trumps inaugural than for Barack Obamas. He acknowledged that the crowd at Trumps inauguration was not a record. I didnt say in person, he argued, saying he was referring to total audience, including TV. He even seemed prepared to compensate for fleeing without facing questions Saturday. Im going to stay out here as long as you want, he said. And he did, for an hour and 15 minutes. White House press secretary Sean Spicer holds a press briefing on Jan. 23. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) This is good news, in a sense, because it suggests that the Trump White House is not entirely shameless and that, even in the post-truth America, there is some limit to the liberties that will be taken with the facts. Spicer also climbed down from a number of the promises Trump made during the campaign. Trump had pledged that on his first day in office he would, among other things, rescind Obamas orders protecting from deportation those brought here illegally as children; begin work on the border wall; stop all federal funding to sanctuary cities; suspend the Syrian refugee program and immigration from areas affected by terrorism; announce plans to withdraw from or renegotiate NAFTA; label China a currency manipulator; propose a constitutional amendment for term limits on members of Congress; and eliminate gun-free zones in schools. [Sean Spicers Stalinist apparition] But Spicer on Monday showed no administration interest in deporting the dreamers nor in reversing Obamas executive orders protecting them. He walked away from Trumps inflammatory pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (were at the very early stages of that decision-making process). He had nothing to say about changes to refugee policy. He said that we have not triggered the trigger to get out of NAFTA, and he appealed for patience to work with Congress on the border wall and Obamacare. Politicos Shane Goldmacher asked Spicer about the broken Day One promises: Why not pursue all those on Day One, as he promised in a contract with the voters? Spicer said the Trump administration doesnt want to just jam them out in a fire hose. Spicer looks like a man who has been drinking from a fire hose. He wore a grim expression before he opened the door fully to the briefing room and flashed a smile for the cameras. He tried a couple of opening jokes about his Saturday antics, but they were met by scant chuckles and groans. He garbled words as he nervously read his opening statement. Only a fool would think Trump is permanently jettisoning his campaign promises or making peace with the media. But the relatively sheepish and measured Spicer we saw Monday shows that, at least among some in the Trump White House, there is a latent capacity for shame. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. Tens of thousands march to the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post) I just returned from the Womens March on Washington. As a veteran of protests since the 1960s, I found this the most compassionate, thoughtful, passionate collection of people Ive ever marched with. People of all ages, races and religions were together, pouring out of every Metro station and street. Despite the long lines, people smiled at each other, said go ahead when someone wanted to move into line, engaged in meaningful, interesting conversation, and seemed to connect like extended family. If we can keep this up, there is nothing we cant accomplish. The majority of demonstrators had homemade posters. Each poster was passionate, creative and thoughtful. I wish I could have taken pictures of them all. People were still pouring into the march at 4 p.m. Every person I rode the Metro with, stood in line with or marched with had a friendly smile and kind, thoughtful words. We connected. There is a stirring of compassion and understanding I had never seen. And if we keep it going, theres no stopping what we can achieve. Diana Artemis, Falls Church Three cheers for D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), her staff and all the police and public safety folks for their excellent handling of the Womens March. The crowd Saturday was wonderfully large, and it was wonderfully well-behaved and cheerful. Letting this peaceful group march, instead of canceling, was the right decision. My wife and I were in the middle of the uncertainty, and it seemed the police adjusted to a fluid situation quickly and cheerfully. Thanks to all the public officials who helped this event turn out so well. Mostly, of course, thanks to so many folks who came from near and far to make it happen and to rekindle hope for a United States that respects the dignity and rights of women and everyone. Phil Hocker, Alexandria Id like to publicly thank the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority for the remarkable service on Saturday. Some out-of-town friends and I rode the Orange Line from Vienna to Smithsonian, and although the crowds were bigger than Ive ever seen on Metro, there were many employees assisting the mobs of people who didnt know what to do. Our Metro train driver was encouraging and gave instructions at each station, such as, If youre standing on red blinking lights, you need to step back to be safe. He was also humorous, which was helpful in the crowded conditions Saturday morning. The afternoon trip home (via Silver and Orange Line trains) was also pleasant and uneventful. I appreciate what all the WMATA employees did Saturday to make our trip to the District safe and easy. Elizabeth Thomas, Vienna I commend the hundreds of thousands of women across our country who marched in support of values and freedoms of citizens. Their focus is to promote the general welfare for women, children and men. This is one of the purposes of our Constitution. Slightly more than 60 percent of women in Virginia eligible to vote are registered, and only 50 percent vote. In order for more women and men to actually take back America, more of them need to register to vote and then consistently vote for representatives who share their values of promoting the common good rather than the wealthy, privileged and powerful. Bill Fleming, Virginia Beach Marchers answer inauguration and other Jan. 22 news articles provided an excellent description of the voices and motives of marchers while raising the question, What next? Democrats should adopt the strategy used by the tea party by forming The WE Party, which would combine all the interest groups protesting President Trumps policies, appointees, positions and potential conflicts of interest. It would have the appeal of we the people, broadening the umbrella from just women to include all those who are protesting immigrants, LGBT people, environmentalists, equal rights and anti-discrimination supporters, Black Lives Matter activists, and so on. It also would bring in some of the millions who voted for the Greens or Libertarians because they did not support either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. WE also could stand for womens empowerment. William Johnson, Arlington It matters that the crowd for the Womens March on Washington was far bigger than that for President Trumps inauguration. The new president often boasts of having started a great movement. Let it be the one that was born with Saturdays massive protests. If size is important, and apparently to Trump it is, there was no contest. The Metro transit system recorded 1,001,613 trips on the day of the protest, the second-heaviest ridership in history surpassed only by ridership for President Barack Obamas inauguration in 2009. By contrast, just 570,557 trips were taken Friday, when Trump took the oath of office. Those are the true facts, not the alternative ones the administration wants you to believe. A president obsessed with winning began his term by losing. Among all the news of the past few days, I begin with crowd size because Saturdays rallies and marches, in cities across the nation, were simply unprecedented. Perhaps half a million demonstrators, many wearing pink hats, filled the streets of Washington. Protests in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles also drew crowds measured in the hundreds of thousands, and there were big anti-Trump gatherings in Denver, Boston, Atlanta, Austin, San Antonio and other cities in the United States and around the world. The White House predictably tried to blame the messenger. There is an obsession by the media to delegitimize this president, and were not going to sit around and let it happen, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus complained to a skeptical Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. (Monica Akhtar,Whitney Leaming,Ashleigh Joplin,Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post) If Trump believes journalists can be so easily cowed, hes in for a long four years. The president is skilled at diversionary tactics. He has been known to pitch a fit in order to draw attention away from news he finds inconvenient or embarrassing. Indeed, while his spokespeople have been spewing nonsense about television ratings and such, the administration has taken significant steps. Trump signed an executive order beginning the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act; withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact; imposed a hiring freeze for federal workers; and reimposed a ban (lifted by the Obama administration) on U.S. aid to family planning groups that provide or promote abortions overseas. But whether Trumps ostentatious pique about the not-so-historic size of his inauguration crowd is real or feigned, the fact that so many more people came to town to protest Trumps presidency than to celebrate it is important. The new administration ignores the passion we saw on Saturday at its own peril. Remember that the tea party movement looked at first like nothing more than a rowdy, incoherent bunch of sore losers until it swept Democrats out of power in the House in the 2010 midterm elections. I covered some of those early tea party rallies, and I saw similar levels of energy and engagement and, yes, anger at the Womens March. The millions who participated nationwide now constitute the kind of broad-based network that can be harnessed into effective political action. The Trump administration can haughtily dismiss the dissenters by saying, as the Obama administration once did, that elections have consequences. But the next election is right around the corner. If progressives are going to re-create the tea partys success, Saturdays multitudes will have to begin organizing at the local level. They will have to field candidates not just for Congress but for governorships and state legislatures, too. They will have to develop policy positions that go beyond stop Trump and that also go beyond traditional Democratic Party dogma. The movement will look to lions such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) for guidance, but ultimately must find younger leadership with fresh ideas. The Democratic establishment now faces the same existential dilemma that the Republican establishment had to confront: adapt or step aside. The administration will argue that, after a bitterly divisive campaign, it is time for the nation to come together behind the new president. No, it is not. We are in the midst of a political realignment that is nowhere near complete, and it is more important than ever that progressive voices make themselves heard. We still need universal health care. We still need to reduce inequality. We still need to eliminate poverty. We still need to move toward a clean-energy economy. We still need immigration reform and criminal justice reform. And always remember: If Donald Trump can become president, nothing is impossible. Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A. One of the main reasons that Donald Trump gets greeted by Hail to the Chief is the particularly loyal support of white evangelical Christian voters. As a result of Trumps election, conservative Christians (a larger group than evangelicals, but including most of them) will see fewer trespasses on institutional religious liberty from the executive branch. They will be able to support judges more amenable to their rights. They will be welcomed at the White House and have access to the president. And they are in grave spiritual danger. In America, we have no state religion. But religious conservatives have become a corporate sponsor of Trumpism, like Visa at the Olympics. There is no value in relitigating this choice. Some conservative Christians felt pressured into this partnership due to the monumental unacceptability of Trumps opponent. Others believed that the future of the Supreme Court should override every other concern. But here is a little uninvited sermon to my brethren, in three points (as theyd expect). First, it is a fact one of those real facts that Trumps brand is associated with nativism, particularly the dehumanization of illegal immigrants (as rapists and murderers) and the otherization of Muslims (as internal and external threats). Evangelicals in the governing coalition need to find ways to demonstrate that this was not the reason they supported Trump that their hard choice was motivated by other, nobler causes. (The Washington Post) It should help that the Christian church was one of the first great global, multicultural institutions, with a center of gravity moving from the Middle East to Europe to North America and now to the global south. The very nature of the faith relativizes nationalism brothers and sisters can be found across the most hostile borders, and any man or woman we encounter will outlast every country. Non-evangelicals might be surprised that a number of Christian megachurches are desegregating because of outreach and changing demographics. (There are 67 languages spoken in Rick Warrens Saddleback congregation.) What could evangelicals do to show they made a difficult, fallen political choice in spite of Trumps nativism, not because of it? That is a worthy topic for discussion for the endless cycle of evangelical conferences. Believers should be willing to take on Trump publicly when he speaks in demeaning and dehumanizing ways. And large movements of conscience often begin in inspired groups of three or four, reaching out across divisions. What of those Christians who supported Trump because of his nativism? God help them. Quite literally. Second, evangelicals must utterly reject the idea that the protections of the First Amendment apply to them but not fully to Muslims. In the long run, religious liberty is weakened in every case when it is weakened in any case. On this matter, hypocrisy is a form of self-harm. A government with the ability to target or monitor someone just because he or she is a Muslim might eventually be used, with a change in leadership, to target and monitor conservative Christians. Some (wrongly) regard both faiths as fundamentally illiberal and pernicious. There is more than enlightened self-interest at stake here. Given the fact that many Muslims in America are (understandably) feeling insecure, evangelicals have an opportunity to show their, well, love through a welcoming and tolerant consistency. Third, conservative Christians need to remember that throughout the cautionary tale of Western history when religion identifies with a political order, it is generally not the political order that suffers most. It is the reputation of the faith. We do not celebrate the eight white clergy who publicly criticized the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for being too impatient with injustice; we celebrate the author of the Letter From Birmingham Jail. In politics, Christians should not be known primarily for defending their institutional liberty, as important as that is. They should be known for a Christian anthropology that puts the dignity of life of every life at the center of the political enterprise. And they should be known for courage in applying this commitment, without prejudice, to every party and ideology. There are temptations of pride in this prophetic role as well. (Obviously, some of my regular readers might sigh.) It is easy, through an excess of outrage, to become the parody of a prophet. But Christian faith, at its best, points to a transcendent order of justice and hope that stands above politics. So it was in the abolitionist struggle and the civil rights movement. So it needs to be in the Trump era. Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook . From the start of his short, truculent and unabashedly populist inaugural address, President Trump called out the Washington establishment: For too long, a small group in our nations capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. He painted a dystopian picture of the United States and promised: This American carnage stops right here and stops right now. Trump is about to discover that he cant simply order up the change he wants. In his first two days in office, Trump has appalled the CIAs professionals and declared open war on the media. His inauguration sparked some of the largest womens demonstrations ever in the nations capital and across the world. Only two of his Cabinet appointees joined him in office, the rest struggling to overcome questions about financial conflicts of interest, ideological extremism and simple competence. [Blue states are in for a world of pain] Trumps populist promises to what he calls his movement are likely to face fierce opposition not only from Democrats and citizen movements but also from within his own Cabinet and from congressional Republicans in control of Congress. Looking over his shoulder as he delivered his inaugural address were House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the embodiment of what Trump scorned as politicians who are all talk and no action, constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. (The Washington Post) Trumps Cabinet is composed of various establishments. A large portion is drawn from the Davos class, the international bankers and chief executives who gather each year in Switzerland to celebrate the global system that has been rigged so effectively to their benefit. Six of Trumps leading economic aides come from Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that previously supplied the treasury secretaries under Presidents Bill Clinton (Robert Rubin) and George W. Bush (Henry Paulson), architects of the corporate trade system that Trump promises to upend. Members of the Davos class gathered in Switzerland on the eve of Trumps inauguration. They focused on the threat posed by populism, fretting about what needed to be done to preserve the system that so rewards them. There were calls to man up, to do a bit more redistribution, but no one was ready to change the stacked deck. They applaud Trumps call for lowering taxes on the rich and corporations and for more deregulation and privatization. Most will put up with his efforts to distract by casting blame on immigrants or on a government that serves those people. But they oppose Trumps core populist economic pledges: to take on China, tear up the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, buy American and hire American, and impose penalties on companies that ship jobs abroad. The one Trump adviser to attend Davos, Anthony Scaramucci, a former hedge-fund manager and Davos regular who is joining the White House as an assistant to Trump and liaison to the business community, reassured the gathered elites that Trump was, in fact, a champion of free trade and that he wanted to have a phenomenal relationship with the Chinese. Former ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, Trumps nominee for secretary of state, praised the TPP in 2013 and during his confirmation hearings said he does not oppose it. Similarly, Republicans in Congress support those parts of the Trump agenda that fit conservative orthodoxy: repealing and replacing Obamacare, dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, deregulating the banks, lowering taxes, increasing the military budget. Even here, internal disagreements and Democratic opposition may get in the way. [Trumps hiring freeze will do the opposite of what he wants] But congressional Republicans will choke on Trumps populist promises: on trade and tariffs, on protecting Medicare and Social Security, on buy American, on putting money into a major infrastructure program. McConnell has already deep-sixed consideration of term limits for Congress. McConnells wife, Elaine Chao, Trumps nominee for transportation secretary, declared that the government does not have the resources to address all the infrastructure needs within our country. Trump himself has already contradicted his rhetoric about draining the swamp in Washington. Trump has shown himself a master at populist stunts such as cowing Carrier to save 700 or so jobs and at populist rhetoric. Nationalist posturing and racial signaling on immigrants, on African Americans, on Muslims can provide red meat to his movement. But the jobs arent coming back. Coal wont revive without massive subsidy. His Republican Congress and Davos Cabinet arent going to embrace a robust industrial policy or a plan to rebuild America. Tax cuts and deregulation will shaft the very people Trump promises to help. Real billionaires in both parties George Soros and Michael Bloomberg have called Trump a con man. But even a good con cant last forever. It wont be long before working people catch on to Trumps game and we start seeing lawn signs saying Dishonest Donald. 1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad See what President Trump has been doing since his inauguration View Photos The new president met with business leaders the day after swearing in senior members of his White House staff. Caption The beginning of the presidents term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter. A Jan. 24 op-ed by Dana Milbank suggested that current White House Counsel Donald McGahn may have improperly borrowed text from another law firms filing in a matter before the Federal Election Commission when a brief filed by McGahn on behalf of the Trump campaign included language nearly identical to a brief filed 15 days earlier in the same case. After publication, Andrew Herman, of the firm Miller & Chevalier, and the author of the earlier brief, informed The Post that the similarities between the briefs were the product of a joint defense between the parties. Herman did not raise that point in his earlier conversation with Milbank. The Post has taken this column down in light of this new information that was not available prior to publication. Dana Milbank: Taking responsibility for a mistake goes both ways President Donald Trump, center, hosts a reception for House and Senate leaders in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on monday. Some of the participants are, from left, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) (Susan Walsh/AP) A group of senior Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled their own $1 trillion plan to revamp the nations airports, bridges, roads and seaports, urging President Trump to back their proposal, which they say would create 15 million jobs over 10 years. The Democrats said their infrastructure plan would rely on direct federal spending and would span a range of projects including not only roads and bridges, but also the nations broadband network, hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs and schools. Eager to drive a wedge between the new president and congressional Republicans, Democrats see talk of infrastructure projects as a way to piggyback on Trumps frequent vows to repair the nations crumbling roads and bridges and persuade him to adopt ideas that would put him at odds with GOP leaders, who have done little to embrace what would amount to a major new government spending program. Advisers to Trump have said they would rely on federal tax credits and public-private partnerships rather than federal spending to pay for a new infrastructure program. Our nations infrastructure issues are vast, and they go well beyond just road and bridge repair, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement announcing the plan. Each day, too many students attend school in buildings so decrepit the pipes leach lead into their drinking water, our countrys heroes sit in VA hospitals that are crumbling beneath them, and millions in rural communities cannot kick-start local business because they lack access to the critical high-speed Internet they need. President Trump, left, speaks with congressional leaders in the White House State Dining Room on Jan. 23, 2017. (Susan Walsh/AP) Economists generally think that improving infrastructure would increase productivity and economic activity. However, neither the Democrats nor Trump have come to grips with how they would pay for their infrastructure plans without adding to the governments budget deficit. Trumps advisers commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross and trade adviser Peter Navarro have argued that the tax-credit scheme would be revenue-neutral, something roundly criticized by economists across the political spectrum. Tax credits would provide windfalls to existing infrastructure plans. They would give incentives to new projects with tolls even if other priorities without revenue streams, such as maintenance, might be more urgent. And they would complicate a tax code that Trump has vowed to simplify. [Economists pan infrastructure plan championed by Trump nominees] Democrats said they would pay for their program by closing tax loopholes, an oft-stated pledge by both Democrats and Republicans. They did not specify which tax loopholes would be used. Schumer unveiled the plan with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and six other senior Senate Democrats: Bill Nelson (Fla.), Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Maria Cantwell (Wash.) and Thomas R. Carper (Del.). Their 10-year blueprint included $75 billion for schools, $210 billion for roads and bridges, $110 billion for aging water and sewer systems, $180 billion for expanded rail and bus lines, $70 billion for deeper ports and upgraded airports, $100 billion for an updated electrical grid, $10 billion for VA hospitals, and $20 billion for broadband installations. The plan also includes $200 billion for unspecified vital infrastructure projects and $10 billion for an infrastructure bank to unlock private capital by providing loan guarantees or low-cost loans. The motorcade carrying then-President-elect Donald Trump drives to New Yorks LaGuardia Airport on Jan. 18, 2017. The airport is one that is set to reap benefits from new federal transportation spending. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images) For every billion dollars in spending, 13,000 jobs lasting at least a year would be created, they said, citing a Federal Highway Administration estimate. Schumers plan would address the need to deepen ports to handle larger container ships, expand and upgrade airports such as New Yorks La Guardia and Kennedy airports, and modernize the nations electricity grid to guard against cyberattacks and to accommodate growing supplies of renewable energy. Senate Democrats have unveiled this blueprint because we need a wide-sweeping infrastructure plan and we need it now, Schumer said. After Trumps victory in November, Schumer told The Washington Post that he had found some of Trumps economic policy proposals surprising. During the presidential campaign, Trump had a Democratic philosophy on trade, on infrastructure, on carried interest and tax loopholes, Schumer said in the November interview. Were challenging him to work with us on those in a real way. If not, he will have broken his promise to blue-collar voters, and its my view that the Democratic aspects of his economic program is what brought the blue-collar vote to him, more than anything else. If Trump wants to rebuild the nations transportation system, its got to be bold, large, its got to have new spending, new expenditures, Schumer added. It cant just be tax breaks because that wont get enough done. [Six maps that show the anatomy of Americas vast infrastructure] Senate leaders in both parties have long used their perch to project or fund key home-state industries or concerns. Former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) directed military shipbuilding to ports in Pascagoula, Miss., while the current Senate leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), has fought to protect the coal industry from Obama-era regulations. During his tenure, Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the past Senate minority leader, poured federal dollars into green energy jobs across his state. Schumer told The Post last October that as a Senate leader, one of his primary home-state issues would be to find ways to direct federal transportation dollars to the New York metropolitan region. He cited the Gateway Program, a long-sought expansion and renovation of a key part of Amtraks Northeast Corridor rail line that includes building a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River between Manhattan and New Jersey. We have to do it or the economy will collapse, Schumer said of the Gateway project. And we never know when this tunnel will collapse. So weve got to move quickly. Trump, meanwhile, has also taken a personal interest in infrastructure projects, given his background in commercial real estate and construction. He has asked New York real estate developers Richard LeFrak and Steven Roth to lead a new council devoted to giving him advice on infrastructure projects. LeFrak, a friend of Trumps, said Monday morning on CNBC that Trump has to come up with a financing plan and I think theres going to be a little bit of a tug of war between the conservatives in the Republican Party who are concerned about deficits and the president whos concerned about jobs. LeFrak said that Trump would prevail. But the real estate tycoon also said that Trumps most ambitious plans might end up being scaled back. Referring to the word trillion, LeFrak said of Trump: I think hed like it to start with a T, but I think the number Ive heard tossed around is around $550 billion. The subject of spending on infrastructure projects came up during a meeting at the White House on Monday evening between Trump and top congressional leaders, especially between Schumer and the president, according to one participant. They thought that was an area maybe to find common ground, and then [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell made the important point it needs to be paid for because weve got $20 trillion in debt, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) recounted to reporters after returning to the U.S. Capitol on Monday night. Schumer declined to elaborate on the White House visit: We discussed some substantive issues, Im not going to tell you what, he told reporters. Kelsey Snell contributed to this report. President Trump had just returned to the White House on Saturday from his final inauguration event, a tranquil interfaith prayer service, when the flashes of anger began to build. Trump turned on the television to see a jarring juxtaposition massive demonstrations around the globe protesting his day-old presidency and footage of the sparser crowd at his inauguration, with large patches of white empty space on the Mall. As his press secretary, Sean Spicer, was still unpacking boxes in his spacious new West Wing office, Trump grew increasingly and visibly enraged. Pundits were dissing his turnout. The National Park Service had retweeted a photo unfavorably comparing the size of his inauguration crowd with the one that attended Barack Obamas swearing-in ceremony in 2009. A journalist had misreported that Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office. And celebrities at the protests were denouncing the new commander in chief Madonna even referenced blowing up the White House. Trumps advisers suggested that he could push back in a simple tweet. Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a Trump confidant and the chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, offered to deliver a statement addressing the crowd size. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post) But Trump was adamant, aides said. Over the objections of his aides and advisers who urged him to focus on policy and the broader goals of his presidency the new president issued a decree: He wanted a fiery public response, and he wanted it to come from his press secretary. Spicers resulting statement delivered in an extended shout and brimming with falsehoods underscores the extent to which the turbulence and competing factions that were a hallmark of Trumps campaign have been transported to the White House. [What exactly can Trump do? Find out on The Posts new podcast.] The broader power struggles within the Trump operation have touched everything from the new administrations communications shop to the expansive role of the presidents son-in-law to the formation of Trumps political organization. At the center, as always, is Trump himself, whose ascent to the White House seems to have only heightened his acute sensitivity to criticism. This account of Trumps tumultuous first days in office comes from interviews with nearly a dozen senior White House officials and other Trump advisers and confidants, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations and moments. By most standards, Spicers statement Saturday did not go well. He appeared tired and nervous in an ill-fitting gray pinstripe suit. He publicly gave faulty facts and figures which he said were provided to him by the Presidential Inaugural Committee that prompted a new round of media scrutiny. Many critics thought Spicer went too far and compromised his integrity. But in Trumps mind, Spicers attack on the news media was not forceful enough. The president was also bothered that the spokesman read, at times haltingly, from a printed statement. 1 of 83 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad See what President Trump has been doing since his inauguration View Photos The new president met with business leaders the day after swearing in senior members of his White House staff. Caption The beginning of the presidents term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Trump has been resentful, even furious, at what he views as the medias failure to reflect the magnitude of his achievements, and he feels demoralized that the publics perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment. On Monday, Spicer returned to the lectern, crisply dressed and appearing more comfortable as he parried questions from the press corps. There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has, he told reporters. And I think that its just unbelievably frustrating when youre continually told its not big enough, its not good enough, you cant win. [Sean Spicer at press briefing: Our intention is never to lie to you] Unlike other senior aides Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, counselor Kellyanne Conway and senior adviser Jared Kushner, the presidents son-in-law Spicer does not enjoy a close and long-standing personal relationship with Trump. During the campaign, Trump was suspicious of both Priebus and Spicer, who ran the Republican National Committee and were seen as more loyal to the party than to its nominee. Some privately wonder whether Conway is now trying to undermine Spicer. As Trump thought about staffing his administration following his surprise victory, he hesitated over selecting Spicer as White House press secretary. He did not see Spicer as particularly telegenic and preferred a woman for the position, asking Conway to do it and also considering conservative commentators Laura Ingraham and Monica Crowley who ultimately stepped down from an administration job because of charges of plagiarism before settling on Spicer at the urging of Priebus and others. Yet if there was any doubt over the weekend about Spicers standing with the president, it seemed to have been erased by his performance Monday, at least for the moment. Trump told his senior team that he was pleased with Spicers more confident and relaxed turn at the lectern. His very first briefing as White House press secretary was a tour de force, Conway said. He engaged the media, he was respectful and firm, he talked about accountability on a two-way street, he gave facts, he broke news in terms of what the president was doing. But tensions and internal power struggles have plagued other parts of Trumps fledgling orbit, too. Efforts to launch an outside group supporting Trumps agenda have stalled amid fighting between Kushner loyalists, such as the campaigns data and digital strategist Brad Parscale, and conservative donor Rebekah Mercer, according to people familiar with the tensions. Major disputes include who would control the data the outside group would use, with Mercer advocating for Cambridge Analytica, a firm in which her father is invested, and who would control the lucrative contracts with vendors, these people said. Two people close to the transition also said a number of Trumps most loyal campaign aides have been alarmed by Kushners efforts to elbow aside anyone he perceives as a possible threat to his role as Trumps chief consigliere. At one point during the transition, Kushner had argued internally against giving Conway a White House role, these two people said. Because Conway operates outside of the official communications department, some aides grumble that she can go rogue when she pleases, offering her own message and promoting herself as much as the president. One suggested that Conways office on the second floor of the West Wing, as opposed to one closer to the Oval Office, was a sign of her diminished standing. Though Conway took over the workspace previously occupied by Valerie Jarrett, who had been Obamas closest adviser, the confidant dismissively predicted that Trump would rarely climb a flight of stairs. Yet that assessment may misunderstand the Trump-Conway relationship. The president admires her dogged and fearless defenses of him and respects her on-camera ability to dodge, defuse and deflect whatever comes her way, according to numerous Trump advisers. On the eve of his inauguration, Trump called Conway on stage at a black-tie dinner to sing her praises. Trump watched Sunday as Conway sparred with NBCs Chuck Todd on Meet the Press. Some Trump allies were unsettled by her performance, but not the president, according to one official. He called Vice President Pence to rave about how she handled questions from Todd, whom Trump mocked on Twitter as Sleepy Eyes, and called Conway to offer his congratulations. Trump was perturbed that the media focused on two words from Conways interview: alternative facts. [How Kellyanne Conway ushered in the era of alternative facts] Conway is arguably Trumps most recognizable aide, which has caused her to receive threats against her life. She has been assigned a Secret Service detail, according to someone with detailed knowledge of the situation. In perhaps the clearest sign of where the administrations power center resides, the Big Four Bannon, Conway, Kushner and Priebus stood in the front row at Sunday afternoons swearing-in ceremony for senior staffers, in the White Houses East Room. Conway herself said that while the advisers sometimes disagree, rumors of dissension are overblown. Were a cohesive unit, she said. The senior team exhibits many of the characteristics President Trump has always valued: cohesion, collaboration, high energy and high impact. Some Trump insiders have suggested tension between Conway and Priebus, but she said that could not be further from the truth. I really respect the job that Reince is doing most of all, Conway said. He has a very good way of choosing battles wisely, which is a hallmark of a real leader and manager. Conway said she now hopes to limit her television appearances. Instead, she is taking on an expanded portfolio, which will include health care and veterans issues, and Pence for whom she has worked for years as a pollster is also expected to carve out more substantive responsibilities for her. Longtime GOP fundraiser and adviser Fred Malek said that a president benefits from having advisers with distinct perspectives, noting the Ed Meese and Jim Baker debates in the Reagan White House. You want to have a robust discussion and you want to have competing points of view debated with vigor, Malek said. To the extent that results in bruised feelings sometimes, so be it. Read more: Sean Spicers defense of himself and explanation of Donald Trumps sensitivity, annotated Trump takes aim at federal workers, trade deals as he settles into White House Without evidence, Trump tells lawmakers 3 million to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. March 17, 2017 President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their son, Barron, walk to Marine One at the White House en route to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post The beginning of the presidents term has featured controversial executive orders and frequent conflicts with the media. The new president met with business leaders the day after swearing in senior members of his White House staff. The new president met with business leaders the day after swearing in senior members of his White House staff. See what President Trump has been doing since his inauguration See what President Trump has been doing since his inauguration President Trump delivered on more campaign promises Monday by implementing a hiring freeze for most federal agencies, withdrawing from a major trade agreement and urging corporate executives to keep jobs in the country. But his aides also signaled that the new administration will not move as quickly as Trump had promised earlier on other top priorities, including renegotiating the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and undoing President Barack Obamas executive orders on immigration, including a policy that allows some undocumented immigrants who came here as children to stay lawfully. Trumps clearest shot at what he has derided as Washingtons broken system of governing came in the form of the hiring freeze. The president and his aides have portrayed federal agencies as bloated and wasting money. But even the hiring freeze may promise more than it can deliver. It provided exemptions for those working in the military, which could include civilian employees, potentially leaving a large part of the federal workforce untouched by the order. Trump kicked off his first full workweek with a whirlwind of activity a breakfast with corporate leaders followed by a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and meetings with union workers and congressional leaders. (Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post) Throughout the day, Trump maintained a heavy focus on trade, which was at the heart of his presidential campaign and one of the few areas in which he did not shift among positions. And he often seemed comfortably at home in the White House as he entertained, signed orders, posed for photos and promised to disrupt Washington, just as he had electoral politics. Monday opened with a listening session with leaders of some of the countrys largest corporations who stayed longer than planned to continue talking with Trump in the Oval Office. The president promised the group that he would cut taxes, fast-track their plans to open factories and wipe out at least 75 percent of government regulations. Were going to be cutting regulation massively, Trump said during a brief portion of the meeting that was open to the news media. Now, were going to have regulation, and itll be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now. In exchange, Trump said companies must stay in the country and continue employing Americans. He again threatened to impose a substantial border tax on companies that move production out of the country. International-trade analysts said Trump may not have the authority to punish individual companies, while broad-based tariffs would violate existing treaties. Trump defended his idea as fair. Dont leave, Trump said. Dont fire your people in the United States. We have the greatest people. After the meeting, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical told reporters that Trump and the chief executives discussed the border-tax proposal and the industries it would help or hurt. But Liveris added that Trump is not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. Hes going to actually make us all more competitive, recognizing theres a transition here. You cant get things done overnight. Later in the morning, reporters witnessed Trump signing three pieces of paper that were briefly described aloud by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus as he handed them to the president. These documents, labeled executive orders by aides, were not released to the media or the public until late in the day, leaving many to wonder for hours what exactly the president was implementing. First Trump signed a memorandum ordering the formal end of the United States participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a long-standing campaign promise, although the move at this point is considered largely symbolic because the trade deal had little chance of being approved by Congress. Weve been talking about it for a long time, Trump said as he held up the order. Great thing for the American worker. Trump had also promised to take steps on his first formal day in office to begin renegotiating NAFTA, but that deal went unmentioned Monday. Trump earlier said he will meet soon with the Canadian prime minister and the Mexican president to discuss renegotiating the agreement. Then came an executive order that would implement a hiring freeze for many jobs in the federal government, another promise Trump made on the campaign trail. Except for the military, the president said as he signed the order. Except for the military. [Trump freezes hiring of many federal workers] Finally, Trump signed an order resurrecting an abortion-related rule known as the Mexico City policy. The policy prohibits foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive federal funding from performing or promoting abortion services through their work in other countries. The policy takes its name from the location of a conference at which President Ronald Reagan instituted the restriction in 1984. Since that time, the rule has been in place under Republican presidents while being lifted by Democratic residents of the Oval Office. This signing seemed more like a party tradition than a new push by Trump, who had never mentioned the rule on the campaign trail. But he promised evangelical voters that he would remain opposed to abortion. As reporters left the Oval Office, one asked the president about the lawsuit filed by a liberal watchdog group that alleges that Trump is in violation of a little-known constitutional provision that bars him from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments. Without merit, Trump said. Totally without merit. Soon attention shifted to Trumps press secretary, Sean Spicer, who endured rounds of criticism and mockery for delivering a blistering statement Saturday in the White House briefing room that accused the media of underestimating Trumps inauguration crowd size and relied on a number of statistics that quickly proved to be inaccurate. Spicer held his first formal briefing Monday afternoon to a standing-room-only crowd, opening with a joke about being less popular than his predecessor, Obama press secretary Josh Earnest. The joke fell flat. Spicer proceeded to answer questions for nearly 80 minutes, calling on more than three dozen reporters from a wide range of news outlets. Even as he patiently worked the room, Spicer did not back down from his contention that the press was out to undermine the president, and he continued to insist that Trumps inauguration was the most watched in history, after television and Internet viewers were accounted for, without offering full evidence to back his claim. [Fact Checker: Spicer earns four Pinocchios for claims on inauguration crowd] Theres this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement that he represents, Spicer said. And its frustrating for not just him, but I think so many of us that are trying to work to get this message out. Spicer was asked why Trump was not following through on more of the campaign promises he pledged to fulfill on his first day in office. Part of it is to make sure that we dont spend our entire day signing executive orders, he said. Theres a way that we can do this to make sure that were getting all of those things that he promised the American people done in short haste and doing it in a way that doesnt just jam them out in a fire hose. Spicer also said that there had been no decision on moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a Trump campaign promise that the presidents designated ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman, has said is a high priority for the administration. Technically, the administration has until June to decide whether to renew a waiver, signed every six months by Obama and his predecessors, citing national security reasons for not moving the embassy. The move would have major international significance; Jerusalem is claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians as their capital, and its status has long been considered the subject of future negotiations between the two. No other country has its embassy in Jerusalem. Asked three times when and if the move would happen, Spicer repeated that the administration was only in the early stages of making a decision. If it was already a decision, he said, then we wouldnt be going through a process. The Israeli media has been rife with reports than an announcement on the move was imminent. Meanwhile, Trump was meeting with a small group of union leaders and workers to promote his executive order canceling participating in the TPP. This is a group I know well, the president said, noting that he had hired thousands and thousands and thousands of them over the years. At the end of the day, Trump met with a bipartisan group of congressional leaders and declared it was the beginning of a beautiful, beautiful relationship. As reporters were ushered out, Trump turned to business. Were about to make a big deal, he said, eliciting laughs around the table. But Trump wasnt ready to quite move past discussing the election. He spent about 10 minutes of the meeting providing a blow-by-blow of election night, according to a person familiar with the discussion, and continued to insist that there were between 3 million to 5 million illegal votes, without which he would have won the popular vote. Amy Goldstein, Abby Phillip and Ylan Q. Mui contributed to this report. When House Speaker Paul D. Ryans redbrick Georgian revival house in Janesville, Wis., was surrounded last July by women whose children were murdered by undocumented immigrants, conservative writer Julia Hahn published a scathing report and a blurry snapshot of Ryans departing SUV. The headline: Paul Ryan flees grieving moms trying to show him photos of their children killed by his open borders agenda. Three months later, Hahn wrote a 2,800-word story alleging that Ryan (R-Wis.) was the ringmaster for a months-long campaign to elect Hillary Clinton. It was just one of a torrent of posts over the past year that cast Ryan as a globalist who is cozy with corporations and an enemy of Donald Trump-style populism. Now Hahn, 25, is expected to join the White House staff, serving as an aide to strategist Stephen K. Bannon, the controversial former Breitbart chairman and a powerful confidant of President Trump. Shell be Bannons Bannon and make Bannon look moderate, said William Kristol, the editor at large of the Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine. Her tendency is to fight and fight, often to the extreme. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) Although Hahn will serve in a midlevel role as a special assistant to the president, her hiring alarmed and angered several Ryan allies, who expressed concern Monday about what they see as a brazen move by Bannon that threatened the fragile comity between Trump and Congress and brightly underscored the Trump teams insouciance about enlisting Ryans fiercest critic. Privately, a number of House Republicans told The Washington Post that Hahns involvement signaled Bannons plans to possibly put her to use against them, writing searing commentaries about elected Republican leaders to ram through Trumps legislative priorities and agitate the partys base if necessary. This is obviously a provocative act and clearly an intentional act, said Peter Wehner, a longtime Ryan friend and former official in three Republican administrations. Bannon is willing to napalm the bridges with congressional Republicans. Wehner said that too many Republicans on Capitol Hill are engaging in a fiction, a game, where Bannon and Trump arent taken seriously even though Bannon and Trump are operating in a serious way and bringing on people who are going to work for their cause, not for conservatives. Stuart Stevens, who served as chief strategist for the Romney-Ryan 2012 presidential campaign, said that Bannon has been at war with the Republican Party, and that hasnt changed with Hahns hire. In the Bannon-Ryan split, Im on the Ryan side, Stevens said. I dont consider what hes doing to be populism, either. Other Ryan associates were less perturbed and pointed out that Bannon was among the Trump advisers who had an agreeable meeting at the Capitol this month to coordinate their plans for tax reform. Lets wait and see what she and Bannon end up doing, said Bob Woodson, a veteran community organizer who is close to Ryan. Bannons been there, and it hasnt fallen apart. Everyone is trying to figure the whole thing out. Said William J. Bennett, a mentor to Ryan for decades: My sense is that Trump has a good feeling these days toward Ryan and that the feeling is mutual. Im hopeful those feelings will continue. Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck dismissed the suggestion of any tensions because of Hahn coming to the White House. We could not care less, he said in a statement. The White House did not respond to a request for comment about Hahn, whose position has not been announced. Politico first reported Hahns hiring. Trump welcomed Ryan and other congressional leaders to the White House on Monday and is preparing to meet with congressional Republicans later this week in Philadelphia at a GOP retreat. Trump advisers are working with Ryans team to map out the presidents proposals on a slew of issues, including health care, taxes and infrastructure projects. Hahns hiring is the latest pull in an ongoing and informal tug-of-war over the direction of Trumps presidency and the political tint of the people working from the small offices in and around the Oval Office. As far as I can tell, she is only the third or fourth member of the Trump administration who actually supports Trump on his main issues immigration, trade and no more war, said Ann Coulter, a conservative author and Trump supporter. Hahn joins a staff that includes Bannon and Stephen Miller, a populist firebrand and policy guru. Even as Trump aides work together, there are internal debates over how populist the president should be and how much he should strike traditionally Republican notes. Bannon and Miller, along with Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trumps nominee for attorney general, are widely seen as the populist-nationalist wing of Trumps administration, while Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Vice President Pence are frequently described as the more mainstream Republican players. Trump, who has a loose approach to management and seeks counsel from a sprawling network, has been veering between these two main blocs on his staff as he begins his presidency. During an interview last week with The Post, Trump affectionately referred to Miller and Bannon as my two Steves. Im here with my two Steves, Trump began. Were having a very important meeting, so give me a few minutes. Bannon, meanwhile, has been bolstering his own profile internally since the election, working alongside Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner a former publisher of the New York Observer to craft policy and build the Cabinet, according to people familiar with their discussions. Priebus has worked in coordination with them, but Bannon and Kushner have developed a deeper bond as former media executives and digital-savvy operatives, the people said. They were not authorized to speak publicly. Hahn studied philosophy at the University of Chicago and was a producer for Laura Ingrahams radio program and press secretary for the anti-establishment Rep. David Brat (R-Va.), who toppled House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the 2014 primary. She remains mostly unknown outside of Washington and avoids television appearances and shuns social media. Her colleagues refer to her as a ghost because she is not on Twitter. But among many House Republicans and those close to Ryan, Hahn has become an infamous figure whose blizzard of razor-edged stories about supposed GOP inaction on stopping illegal immigration and curbing Muslim immigration to the United States has caused them headaches with activists. One notable clash came at a gathering of conservative House lawmakers in 2015. Hahn pressed the members at a news conference about whether they would support a suspension or reduction in Muslim immigration. I dont answer questions from you because you are not a truthful reporter, and I will not answer any of your questions, Rep. Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho) said. So lets move on to somebody else. Despite her close ties to Bannon and the roiling, Trump-embracing quarters of the American right, Hahn has not always supported Trumps decisions. She has assailed his nominee for secretary of labor, Andrew Puzder, as someone who prefers foreign labor to American workers. Speaking on Breitbart radio last month, Hahn said Trump should instead populate the administration with people are willing to be twisting arms in support of hard-line trade and immigration policies. She was hired a few weeks later. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, President Trumps nominee to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is shown at her confirmation hearing on Jan. 18. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Twelve hours after Virginias two Democratic senators, Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, voted to confirm Michael Pompeo, President Trumps nominee to run the CIA, the protests began. On Tuesday morning, more than 100 protesters gathered outside Warners constituent offices in the Virginia suburbs of Washington. Amanda Lynch, a mother and writer near Manassas, took two of her sons to Kaines office there, where they played with pocket Constitutions, and she pledged to return every week. I was disappointed by Pompeo, and Im not going to pretend otherwise, said Lynch, 34. Hes defended the use of torture even though its been proven that it doesnt work. Im disappointed in the selection of [education secretary nominee] Betsy DeVos. Apart from Gen. [James] Mattis, its hard for me to feel anything but perturbed by these Cabinet choices. Senators have confirmed four of Trumps Cabinet nominees and voted a few more out of committee. Republicans have criticized Democrats for slowing down Pompeos nomination, delaying several others and voting in a bloc against secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson at the committee level on Monday. But none of it has earned them many points with a fast-growing liberal protest movement that is asking Democratic senators to wage a blockade on nominees they have deemed unacceptable. Ben Carson, nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is shown at his confirmation hearing on Jan. 12. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) They need to do anything they can to defeat or delay the seating of Senator Sessions, Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Price, said Maggie Godbold, 62, a retiree and Democratic activist from Fairfax County, Va., who helped organize the protest at Warners office, one of 200 across the country Tuesday. Theyre unqualified. The senators, however, appear unwilling to do what their base is asking. On Tuesday, the full Senate voted 96 to 4 to confirm Nikki Haley, Trumps nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations. Earlier in the day, they voted Haley and three other nominees out of committee Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Wilbur Ross to serve as commerce secretary; and Elaine Chao to lead the Transportation Department. That followed full Senate votes for Pompeo on Monday and for Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly on Friday. There are clearly going to be some Trump nominees that give me pause, but there are some Im going to be supporting, Warner said in an interview on Capitol Hill Tuesday. I argued strenuously, both as a governor and under President Obama, that you give the president, or the governor, the chance to put his team in place. [Nikki Haley confirmed as new U.S. envoy to the United Nations] The reality, too, is that thwarting Trumps nominees is a goal that is largely out of reach for Democrats, thanks to their own partys 2013 reform of filibuster rules, continued by Republicans ever since; it now takes just 51 votes to confirm a nominee for office lower than the Supreme Court. Democrats, with no leverage, are left fighting nominees without really hoping to stop them. Were getting lots of calls on lots of the nominees, said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), a liberal from a safe seat who voted to confirm Pompeo. They want us to fight, but elections have consequences. We dont have the votes in many instances, so in order to stop any nominee, we need three profiles in courage on the Republican side. Those are just the facts. And people understand that but I think theres nothing to be satisfied about, and theres lots to be concerned about. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Trumps nominee to lead the Interior Department, appears before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, alongside his wife and granddaughter, on Jan. 17. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post) Thats one reason Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has continued to tout his caucuss decision to continue delaying votes on nominees even if blocking any of them is unlikely. Schumer said the Senate would move with relative speed on nominees who are not controversial. Raising his voice and gesticulating more than usual at a weekly briefing with reporters, Schumer insisted: Were going to vet these nominees thoroughly. Were not being dilatory, but were not going to just rush them through. These are all very important nominees. And to have a few days discussion on them? That makes sense. Theyre going to be in power for up to four years with tremendous say on what affects Americans. Cue the Republican outrage. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said Tuesday that party-line votes on things like secretary of state were breaking the comity of the Senate. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, successfully guided Tillerson to a confirmation vote, then bemoaned how no Democrats joined him. All of a sudden, because the election outcome is what it is, its like everything has changed, Corker said. I just want us to get back into the middle of the road and get back to realizing the importance of these positions. The delays are noteworthy when compared with past administrations; George W. Bush and Barack Obama entered their first day in office with at least seven nominees confirmed. The relative sluggishness of the Trump teams confirmations, in contrast, has led to dozens of critical national security, financial, public health and other domestic policy positions sitting vacant, with most federal agencies temporarily under the management of career civil service managers or holdovers from the Obama administration who could sit in place for months to come. The modest progress on Pompeo and Tillerson came as top congressional leaders met with Trump at the White House on Monday night for a social gathering that included talk of persuading Democrats to move along quickly with votes on some of the presidents top picks. On Tuesday, Senate leaders met with him again at the White House to discuss his Supreme Court nominee which Trump said will be announced next week. But the Democratic Partys base expects senators to move nominees along as slowly as possible. This is not the first time a restive left has demanded resistance and blamed Democrats when little arose. In 2005, the active and angry Democratic Netroots shamed senators who voted to confirm George W. Bushs nominees, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Barack Obama, then a freshman senator, wrote a diary on the liberal Daily Kos blog explaining why he and other self-identified progressives had not filibustered every nominee they could. How can we ask Republican senators to resist pressure from their right wing and vote against flawed appointees like John Bolton if we engage in similar rhetoric against Democrats who dissent from our own party line? Obama wrote. A final vote on Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil whom Democrats have labeled as part of Trumps Swamp Cabinet, wont occur until Tuesday at the earliest. Other nominees, including Carson and Chao the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) remain in limbo. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee also scrapped plans on Tuesday to hold votes to recommend former Texas governor Rick Perry to lead the Energy Department and Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) to lead the Interior Department. Aides said that a miscommunication between the parties forced the panel to reschedule to a later date further delaying the formation of Trumps government. Well, in a more fulsome way, move into approving Cabinet appointments, both controversial and noncontroversial, beginning next week, McConnell told reporters. Schumer cited Carson as a nominee who has split Democrats, saying Tuesday that he had fresh concerns about the former brain surgeons nomination to lead HUD because of Trumps decision last week to sign an executive order that overhauled federal housing policy. Carson had been unanimously approved by the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday including by liberal leaders such as Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Under pressure from supporters on social media to explain her vote, Warrens office said in a statement that she was backing Carson despite his inexperience with federal housing policy because of commitments he made at his hearing to work with her to expand fair housing rights to all Americans and to combat unacceptable lead levels in public housing. Other Trump nominees sat for confirmation hearings on Tuesday, including Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Amid several questions about his personal finances and disclosures to the Senate Finance Committee, Price would not commit during his confirmation hearing that no Americans will be worse off under Trumps executive order to ease rules under the Affordable Care Act. Price also declined to confirm whether Trump is indeed nearly finished with a plan to replace the health-care law. Republicans defended Price, broadly criticizing Democrats for undermining the Senate by continuing to attack Prices views and ethics instead of embracing his qualifications for the job. Meanwhile, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), Trumps choice to lead the Office of Management and Budget, defended his support of cuts to popular entitlement programs that Trump has vowed to keep intact. During his hearing with the Senate Budget Committee, Mulvaney also faced questions about the Trump administrations claims that turnout for the new presidents inauguration was larger than previous swearing-in ceremonies. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) brandished side-by-side images of the Mall from Obamas 2009 inauguration and Trumps on Friday. Im not really sure how this ties to OMB, Mulvaney said before conceding that images from Obamas inauguration showed a bigger crowd. Merkley explained that he raised the issue because budgets often contain buried deceptions. . . . This is an example of where the presidents team, on something very simple and straightforward, wants to embrace a fantasy rather than a reality. Mulvaney assured the committee that he is deadly serious about giving you hard numbers I intend to follow through on that. In the coming days, progressive groups are planning to organize more rallies, building on Saturdays Womens March on Washington as well as the political unpopularity of Trump. Tuesdays protests in Virginia were part of a National Day of Action against the Swamp Cabinet, organized by the progressive group MoveOn. They supplemented the ongoing Trump Tuesdays that other progressive groups are organizing to keep protesters in the field and attention on the Trump administration. The millions of people that took to the streets on Saturday are not going to give up because Ben Carson will be confirmed to run HUD, said Ben Wikler, the Washington director of MoveOn. People want to see evidence that Democrats will stand up and fight, but they increasingly get that they cant stop everything. Democrats are just going to have to get used to their constituents being angry if they dont use every tool at their disposal. Paul Kane contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost President Trump shows the executive order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Jan. 23. He also signed an order to freeze hiring at many federal agencies. (Pool photo by Ron Sachs via European Pressphoto Agency) President Trump vowed as a candidate to take a sledgehammer to the federal bureaucracy, put a workforce full of waste, fraud and abuse on notice and cut so much, your head will spin. But the across the board hiring freeze he put in place Monday could be a more symbolic, less forceful first step toward shrinking government than the sweeping order it appears to be, federal personnel experts said Tuesday. In fact, the memorandum regarding the 2.1 million civilians in the federal workforce leaves plenty of room for exceptions. Federal offices in many corners of government could continue to hire, as long as the job has or can be construed to have a national security or public safety mission. Individual Cabinet secretaries and agency heads have broad leeway to decide on exemptions. And the hiring ban is scheduled to last 90 days, after which the Office of Management and Budget is slated to come up with a long-term plan to shrink the federal workforce through attrition. A more permanent approach would still constitute a freeze of sorts but would resemble more of a selective slowdown, experts said. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, greets Defense Secretary James N. Mattis at the Pentagon on Jan. 21. (Alex Brandon/AP) This is not an ironclad freeze, said Jeffrey Neal, former personnel chief at the Department of Homeland Security and now a senior vice president at ICF International. Its sending a message to get everybodys attention that they dont want government to keep growing while they figure out how to reduce its size. Yet the language of the memorandum instituting the freeze is so vague that a day after Trump signed it, agency officials were scrambling to determine whether and how the move will affect them. The biggest question about which employees the freeze covers at the Department of Defense seems to have been answered late Tuesday night. A Pentagon spokesman said the department had determined that the freeze, which does not apply to uniformed military personnel, does indeed include the 750,000 civilian workforce that supports the military. Regarding the question of whether the hiring freeze affects civilian personnel, the answer is yes, said spokesman Johnny Michael in an email. The presidential memorandum places a freeze on the hiring of federal civilian employees, and applies to all executive departments and agencies, including civilian employees within the DoD. Other blurry areas include whether agencies can continue to hire temporary employees such as seasonal rangers to help sustain big crowds at national parks during the high season. The lack of clarity could cause havoc at agencies as they deliberate over whether they can hire for certain kinds of jobs, said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. At the end of the day, its going to be very hard to address all of the potential holes, he said. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) Trumps directive applies to agencies regardless of whether their funding comes from fees or appropriations by Congress. It also tells agencies that they cannot backfill vacancies by increasing the number of outside contractors. But it does not apply to the thousands of political appointees the new administration is likely to hire in the coming months to fill out its leadership teams. And Trump gives his agency heads broad latitude to implement the hiring ban, letting them decide when to grant exemptions for national security and public safety jobs. The Office of Personnel Management also can grant waivers for hires whose missions are not related to national security or public safety. If Im an agency head, Im going to interpret this very broadly, said John Palguta, a retired senior executive at Merit Systems Protection Board and a longtime federal personnel expert. If Im the newly confirmed head of the Department of Defense, I would say, Thats what we do were all about public safety and national security, Palguta said. They could use the exception widely. There were also questions about whether the freeze affects the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second-largest federal agency, with 312,000 employees. Those employees usually are considered essential in any shutdown of the federal government. But to many observers surprise, the agency appears to be covered by the freeze, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at a media briefing Tuesday. Right now, the systems broken, Spicer said of VA, explaining that a halt to hiring is meant as a pause, in part until Trumps nominee to lead the agency, David Shulkin, can settle into the job. And I think the VA in particular, if you look at the problems that have plagued people, hiring more people isnt the answer, Spicer said. Its hiring the right people, putting the procedures in place that ensure that our veterans whether health care or mortgages or the other services that VA provides to those who have served our nation get the services that theyve earned. Shulkin has said that one of his top goals is to fill hundreds of vacancies of doctors and nurses. But the biggest question revolves around who the freeze applies to at the Pentagon. The Defense Departments civilian workforce makes up about 35 percent of the governments civil servants. These employees are a massive base of support for the military, in jobs that include budget analysts, procurement, logistics and acquisition specialists, administrative staff, researchers and hundreds of other positions. Trump has pledged to boost the size of the military, but broadly speaking, it is not clear whether that mandate will apply to civilians. [Trump freezes hiring of all federal workers] Even though the halt to hiring apparently applies to civilians, there is potentially a way for the agency to get around it by using the national security or public safety exemptions. That means that many, if not all, Pentagon civilians could be excluded from the freeze because their jobs help secure the nation, according to some interpretations. Palguta pointed out that President Ronald Reagans freeze on federal hiring, enacted on his first day in office, eventually fell apart because agencies waived it for so many positions. Palguta predicted that because of these loopholes, the freeze is not going to cripple government. Missy Ryan contributed to this report. Read more at PowerPost President Trumps nominee for secretary of state marched closer Monday to winning confirmation, as a key Senate panel advanced his nomination and a major Republican holdout backed him. Rex Tillersons cautious embrace by Capitol Hill Republicans marks an unexpected marriage between Trump and traditional GOP hawks, who have long been at odds on foreign policy. Its an alliance that would have seemed unlikely during the presidential campaign, but as Trump has ascended to power, his party has increasingly acquiesced to his idea of what it means to be a Republican. Tillerson, the former chief executive of ExxonMobil, won the support of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in an 11-to-10 vote along party lines. His nomination to be the nations top diplomat now heads to the full Senate, where he is expected to win final confirmation next week with little drama. Tillersons approval comes even as congressional Republicans have promised to investigate charges by the intelligence community that Russia interfered in the November election in an attempt to benefit Trump. The Senate Intelligence Committee has started to look into the intelligence communitys probe of a potential relationship between Trump and Russia, which could complicate the fragile alliance Republicans have been forging with the president on overseas matters. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) voiced reservations about Rex Tillersons nomination but eventually voted for him. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post) Republicans had been concerned about Tillersons own ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin, given the extensive amount of business he did in the country as the head of a large company. Several senators also questioned whether the businessman would be committed enough to maintaining sanctions against Russia as secretary of state, given how he has criticized the way those punitive measures were implemented. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who had expressed serious doubts about Tillerson largely because of his ties to Russia, was among those voting in favor of him. Rubio voiced his support in a lengthy written statement Monday morning, the day after Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), two other skeptics, announced they would vote for the businessman. While Tillersons confirmation was effectively guaranteed Sunday when McCain and Graham gave him their support, Rubios decision provided a further boost from a former presidential candidate and spared Rubio a potentially embarrassing show of defiance. Since late last year, the Florida Republican had voiced substantial concerns about Tillerson. After the vote, Rubio said his reservations were broader than Tillersons ties to the Russian government. My concern was that Tillerson would be an advocate for and pursue a foreign policy of deal-making at the expense of traditional alliances, the senator said. Rubio said one consideration in his final decision was his belief that presidents are entitled to some leeway on whom they want to put on their teams. Rubio was getting an onslaught of calls, texts and notes urging him to back Tillerson, those close to him said. Rubio donors and other supporters who served as Tillerson boosters including many from the nominees home state, Texas reached out early and often to try to nudge the senator to back Tillerson. Rubio heard from former vice president Richard B. Cheney late last year. Last week, Rubio held a meeting with Tillerson, now-Vice President Pence and now-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, according to two people familiar with the meeting. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private gathering. The general acceptance of Trumps Cabinet nominees despite potential conflicts of interest from some of them who have backgrounds as businessman shows that most Republicans are allowing Trump a generous amount of room to pick the officials with whom he wants to work. While there are differences in some policy areas between some members of the Senate and some of these nominees, the tradition, and in this case the practice, is to allow the president to pick, said Michael Steel, who was an adviser to Jeb Bush in his presidential campaign. Democrats complained that Tillerson had not submitted his tax returns to the committee and urged a change in policy to require such paperwork in the future. And they expressed frustration that Tillerson had not given specific answers to many of the more than 1,000 questions to which he responded. Ive looked at those responses, and theyre not responses to the questions that are asked, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) defended Tillerson and accused Democrats of asking silly, silly, ridiculous, elementary questions that have nothing to do with somebody serving as secretary of state. He added that he hopes the committee does not adopt a policy of asking for nominees tax returns in the future because most of those are used for gotcha questions. The vote on Tillerson was the first big test of how Rubio plans to deal with Trump, with whom he clashed in the campaign. By voting yes, Rubio spared himself what his allies anticipated would have been an angry backlash from the new administration in private. But at the end of his written statement, Rubio added a note of warning: Upcoming appointments to critical posts in the Department of State are not entitled to and will not receive from me the same level of deference I have given this nomination. Rubio, McCain and Graham all belong to the hawkish wing of the Republican Party, with views that have been mainstream in the GOP for many years. But Trump has upended that with his praise for Putin and far less hostile posture toward the Russian government. Rubio said that while he found some of Tillersons responses to his questions encouraging, he remained troubled by others, including his unwillingness to say Putin had committed war crimes. Senate Intelligence Committee leaders said this month that they would probe allegations of links between Russia and the 2016 campaign, including claims of ties between Trumps campaign and the Russian government. Cardin said at Mondays vote that he was not comfortable with some of Tillersons answers on Russia and other matters. I did not see that commitment to be an advocate globally for human rights and global governance that I would like to see in a secretary of state, he said. Mondays committee vote on Tillerson came amid a push by Republicans to swiftly confirm Trumps nominees. Speaking on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called on his Democratic colleagues not to obstruct the confirmation of Trumps nominees. But Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) accused of Republicans of trying to ram though confirmations. .After several hours of debate Monday, the Senate confirmed Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) to be head of the CIA on a 66-to-32 vote. Republican leaders had sought to hold a confirmation vote for him on Trumps first day in office, but some Democrats forced the extended debate. The Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R), Trumps nominee for ambassador to the United Nations. Haley is expected to win confirmation easily. Read more at PowerPost One- and two-bedroom condos at the McCoy, a new condo building in the Hill East neighborhood, are priced from $324,900 to $434,900. Condo fees range from $262 to $279 per month (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Kristen Wojcik, a musician who has been living in the Washington area for several years in one rental after another, recently decided that it was time for her to put down roots in the city and become a homeowner. She chose a one-bedroom unit at the McCoy, a new condo at 1516 K St. SE in the Hill East neighborhood. I started looking at places last November and had put a deposit down on a condo in Eckington, says Wojcik. It was nicely renovated and I liked the layout, but the area was a little like its own corner without a lot of places I could walk to. I found the McCoy almost by accident and switched to a unit there instead. The McCoy is one of several new condos already built or under construction within a two-block radius, says Trent Heminger, a real estate agent with Compass. Its an up-and-coming neighborhood thats changing, Heminger says, so that helps keep it affordable. [In Lorton, Va., a former horse farm will feature 8 luxurious estate houses] Andrew Rubin, principal of the Rubin Group, developer of the McCoy, says the McCoy was carefully designed to be affordable to entry-level buyers. We conceptualized this building to make sure the units cost the same or less than renting in the city, says Rubin. The one- and two-bedroom condos are priced from $324,900 to $434,900. Condo fees range from $262 to $279 per month. 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Buying New | The McCoy condos in Southeast Washington View Photos The units are priced from $324,900 to $434,900. Caption The units are priced from $324,900 to $434,900. The McCoy is a new condo at 1516 K St. SE in the Districts Hill East neighborhood. Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Former church: The 14-unit McCoy was built on a site formerly owned by the Word of God Baptist Church. Rubin says the church leadership, including Pastor John McCoy, wanted to move to a new location to accommodate its growing congregation. After we signed a contract, they realized they didnt know where they were going to move, so we reworked the deal so they wouldnt have to move until they found a new church, says Rubin. I helped them find a beautiful Colonial revival-style church in University Park [in Prince Georges County, Md.] and represented them in the deal to buy it. So the church ended up with a great new building, cash from the sale of their previous one and some room to grow in their new location. Rubin says he spent about 1,000 hours on the transactions and decided to name the new condo the McCoy in honor of the pastor who had been with his church since 1977. Pastor McCoy joined us when we demolished a warehouse that had been used by the church and I was honored to be invited by him to speak at the dedication of their new church, says Rubin. [Odenton, Md. homes cater to grandparents who like to live it up once in a while] Natural light, water views: Rubins concept for the McCoy was to build one- and two-bedroom units that are designed to maximize their square footage. All the units have 680 to 723 square feet, which means that the one-bedroom units feel relatively large for a city condo. The two-bedroom units have galley-style kitchens that increase efficiency in the open living, dining and kitchen area. The one-bedroom units have more space in the living areas and have center-island kitchens with a breakfast bar, open to the living and dining area. The one-bedroom units have more space in the living areas and have center-island kitchens with a breakfast bar, open to the living and dining area. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Building units with small square feet requires a lot of attention to the configuration of the rooms, says Rubin. You cant have any wasted space. A poorly designed 1,000-square foot unit can feel smaller than a well-designed 700-square-foot unit. Five of the units are under contract. Some of the one-bedroom units include a den that can be used as a home office or guest space. The units at the front of the building have unobstructed views of the Anacostia River, says Rubin. Some of the units on one side of the building look onto a McDonalds parking lot, with a small grassy area providing greenery in between the McCoy and the lot. Others have urban views of adjacent rooftops and buildings. Wojcik purchased a one-bedroom unit with windows on two sides that frame wide views of the Anacostia River. I feel like I snagged the best unit in the building, especially because the open kitchen and living area has tons of natural light and water views, she says. Each unit has hardwood flooring, quartz kitchen counters, gas cooking with stainless-steel appliances, white-painted wood cabinets and a glass tile backsplash in the kitchen. The bedrooms have large closets, and each unit has stacked washers and dryers. Each unit has one bathroom with a floating vanity and white subway tile walls with charcoal-gray grout. The building doesnt have any parking spaces, but it does have a roof access shared by all residents. I like the idea of the roof [access] because it will be a nice communal space for socializing and getting to know my neighbors, says Wojcik. It has a gorgeous view of the Anacostia River, too. The bedrooms have large closets, and each unit has stacked washers and dryers. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) Whats nearby: Residents of the McCoy can walk to the Potomac Avenue Metro station, a Harris Teeter grocery store and restaurants, shops and bars at Barracks Row. One of the reasons I chose the McCoy is that its a short walk or bike ride to Eastern Market, Barracks Row and the Navy Yard, says Wojcik. Schools: Tyler Elementary, Jefferson Middle and Eastern High. Transit: The McCoy is less than one-fourth mile from the Potomac Avenue Metro stop for Orange, Blue and Silver line service and a Capitol Bikeshare station. Numerous bus lines serve the neighborhood. Former U.N. secretary general Ban Ki-moon, now considering a run for president of South Korea, waves to his supporters as he leaves a news conference at Incheon International Airport. (Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters) Since Ban Ki-moon returned to South Korea this month to a heros welcome, his arrival at Seouls main airport broadcast live on television the former U.N. secretary general has gone through all the steps required to run for the presidency. But, as the career bureaucrat is quickly finding out, following the traditional playbook doesnt necessarily equal political success. Hes followed Confucian rites, visiting his fathers grave and his mothers house, and mixed them with politics, paying his respects at the tombs of six former presidents. Hes consulted with the living ones, too, notably going last week to see Lee Myung-bak, the conservative who led the country until 2013 and still has a strong political network. And he talked on the phone with Park Geun-hye, the current president, who is awaiting a court decision on whether she will be impeached amid a sensational corruption and influence-peddling scandal. Hes held babies and fed old people, visited bustling markets and bowed at Buddhist temples. It now seems clear that its a matter of when, not if, Ban announces his plan to run for the presidency. You will hear about it later, Ban told The Washington Post when asked about his plans during a whistle-stop trip through the national cemetery in Daejeon on a recent day. Having vowed to work for a change in politics and having declared that he would burn himself for the nation, Ban is expected to make an announcement next week, after the lunar new year holiday. If Park is impeached, the next presidential election must be held within 60 days of the courts decision. But even if she is not, the next election was due to be held in December anyway. [ With talk of Ban running for South Korean presidency, his home town is abuzz ] Before the corruption scandal revolving around Park broke in October, Bans prospects for winning the presidency appeared extremely good. He was regularly coming in at the top of the polls, despite not having declared an intention to run, and the South Korean press was full of breathless conjecture about his future. But he has been hurt by his closeness to Park the two had repeated meetings last year, viewed here as a sign that they were hatching a handover plan and by allegations of corruption close to him. The United States has indicted Bans younger brother and his nephew on charges of bribery related to the sale of a high-rise building in Vietnam, and it has asked South Korea to extradite them both. Ban denies any knowledge of such a scheme. The former secretary general has also experienced some bumps upon his return. He was mocked on social media for trying to put two bank notes into a train-ticket machine at the same time something you cant do in South Korea and for wearing a bib while feeding a nursing-home resident. Netizens, as Internet users are known here, say that hes out of touch or that he became too American during his decade in New York. Ban is now regularly coming in second in opinion polls, behind Moon Jae-in, the leading liberal candidate. The latest RealMeter poll put Moons support at 29 percent, to Bans 20. But the biggest challenge that faces Ban, who has no domestic political experience, is building a political base in a country where networks are everything, analysts say. Since the National Assemblys vote to impeach Park, Ban has been seeking to distance himself from the conservative factions that remain loyal to her. But other right-wing factions consider Ban insufficiently conservative citing, for example, his support for LGBT rights while secretary general and progressives feel burned by Bans previous alignment with Parks conservative party. [ South Korean court to begin considering presidents impeachment ] Ban has appeared to be trying to have it both ways, describing himself as a progressive conservative. On Friday, Ban visited the leaders of both the ruling conservative Saenuri Party and the minor opposition Peoples Party. Hes also said to be talking to the new Bareun, or righteous, party, formed out of defectors from Saenuri after Parks fall from grace. Hes now deciding whether to join a party, form a new party or run as an independent, said Yook Dong-il, a professor of government at Chungnam National University who coordinates groups of Ban supporters. He hasnt announced that hes running because he hasnt settled on the party. Party is very important because he needs to have momentum when he makes the announcement, Yook said. Bans apparent strategy to go broad and encompass different factions is not working, said Song Ji-young, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney and a former consultant to the U.N. commissioner for human rights. Especially after the corruption scandals, Korean voters really want someone who can change the entire political landscape in Korea. Ban doesnt represent that, she said, noting what she considers his lackluster record of reform at the United Nations. [ South Koreas parliament votes to impeach president over corruption scandal ] The allegations of corruption in Bans family are not helping either. Amid the corruption scandal surrounding Park, South Koreans are demanding increased transparency from presidential hopefuls, and Ban is falling short with his silence on his brothers situation, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Monday. Ban must explain why he failed to stop his brother taking advantage of their family ties, or, if he knew about the shady deals, explain why he failed to stop them, the conservative newspaper said. Thats the minimum he can offer to Koreans who have been outraged over the scandal involving President Parks inner circles. Although his image has lost some of its shine since he began his homecoming tour, Ban still has plenty of admirers here. Ban is the perfect person to be the president because he has served as the leader of the world and did it well, said Park Wol-soon, the co-founder of a Ban fan club, who was there to greet him at the cemetery in Daejeon, not far from Bans home town. Im so relieved hes come back to South Korea and is going to run for president, she said. He will be a stable leader. Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report. Read more: South Korean court says no reason to arrest Samsung heir in corruption scandal Heres whats involved in impeaching a president in South Korea Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Britains Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May must get Parliament to sign off before triggering Britains exit from the European Union. The decision adds a significant hurdle to Mays promise to invoke Article 50 the never-before-used mechanism for getting out of the E.U. by the end of March. Most observers, however, do not expect the decision to derail the Brexit process, set in motion when the country voted for departure by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent in a June referendum. Despite most members of Parliament having opposed Brexit, the political costs of blocking it now are seen as high. At most, lawmakers will probably try to shape Mays negotiating strategy rather than attempt to stop her outright. Once Britain triggers Article 50, it will have two years to negotiate the terms of its departure. Gina Miller, who brought the suit against the government over quitting the European Union, at the Supreme Court in London on Jan. 24. (Frank Augstein/AP) The British people voted to leave the E.U., and the government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March, Mays office said in a statement issued within minutes of the courts ruling. Todays ruling does nothing to change that. The Supreme Courts decision turned on the question of whether the prime minister or Parliament should have the last word in deciding Britains status in the European bloc. [Brexit backers cast welcoming eye on Trump] Gina Miller, an investment manager, had filed a legal complaint after the referendum, arguing that British lawmakers must be allowed a say on Brexit before the prime minister formally launches the process. Mays government countered that the principle of royal prerogative, enshrined in British law, allows her to decide without Parliaments consent. Millers view was upheld in a November decision by the London-based High Court for England and Wales. The government appealed the ruling, but the Supreme Court voted 8 to 3 to endorse the High Courts stance. Miller celebrated the decision, calling it confirmation that only Parliament can grant rights to the British people, and only Parliament can take them away. No prime minister, no government, can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Ardent Brexit advocates, meanwhile, expressed concern that the courts decision gives lawmakers room to meddle. Todays judgment gives our out-of-touch establishment the ability to soften or delay the clean Brexit a majority of the British people voted for, said Arron Banks, a wealthy businessman who helped bankroll the Brexit campaign. The people have been let down. Tuesdays ruling had been widely expected, and May is now likely to move quickly to try to secure parliamentary approval of her plans. Expect some trouble ahead, but not enough to threaten the governments 31 March deadline, said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director of the Eurasia Group political consultancy. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said after the ruling that Labour will not frustrate the process of invoking Article 50. But he said the party will make demands in exchange for its support, including that Britain push for access to Europes single market, that workers rights are respected in any agreement with the E.U. and that Parliament gets a meaningful vote at the end of the Brexit negotiations to approve or reject any deal. Tim Farron, leader of the pro-E.U. Liberal Democrats, went further, demanding a new referendum a vote of the people on the final deal. The pro-E.U. Scottish National Party which has the third-most seats of any party in the House of Commons said it would introduce 50 serious and substantive amendments to legislation authorizing the triggering of Article 50. But Mays Conservative Party which holds a majority in the House of Commons is likely to line up solidly behind her. [Plans for E.U. exit open uncharted path for British economy] In a partial victory for Mays government Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the individual states in the United Kingdom England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will not have a veto over Brexit plans. Scotland and Northern Ireland voted against an E.U. departure. Had the court ruled that the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Irish and Welsh assemblies get their own say in Brexit planning, it could have imposed a far more serious obstacle to Mays plans than any she is now likely to face. Tuesdays decision was considered one of the most constitutionally significant for Britain in decades, with important legal precedents regardless of which way the court ruled. A summary of the judgment was read by the courts president, David Neuberger, in a short hearing at the courts neo-Gothic chambers in central London, just across the street from the iconic towers that mark Parliaments home at Westminster. May signaled in a speech last week that she intends to seek a clean break from the E.U., with Britain leaving behind Europes single market for goods and services and its customs union for trade. Despite the country being closely divided on the question of whether Britain should get out of the E.U. at all, polls have shown that Mays approach regarded as a hard Brexit has been well received. Her Conservative Party has a wide lead over the opposition Labour Party, which has struggled to develop a unified position on Brexit. While this is a major decision in U.K. constitutional history, the political dynamics may mean that the substantive outcome of the U.K. exit from the E.U. is not altered, said Andrew Blick, who teaches history at Kings College London. The November High Court ruling elicited a strongly negative reaction from pro-Brexit politicians and newspapers. The Daily Mail, a leading British tabloid, ran photos of the courts judges on the next days front page along with the headline Enemies of the People. Miller has said she was personally threatened as a result of her role in bringing the Brexit case to the court. She said Tuesday that she was shocked by the levels of personal abuse that I have received from many quarters over the last seven months, for simply bringing and asking a legitimate question. Read more Britains May promises clean break from Europe in speech Analysis: Brexit is only the beginning Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Iraqi forces have recaptured the entire eastern side of Mosul, the Iraqi prime minister said Tuesday, marking a midpoint in a grueling battle for the Islamic State-held city. The news comes three months after Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition, launched an offensive for the city, a fight that has stretched on longer than officials predicted. The operation to retake the northern city from the Islamic State is the largest and most complex the country has seen since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Army and police forces, militia fighters, Kurdish peshmerga soldiers and elite counterterrorism troops are all participating in the effort. The forces initially were met with hundreds of car bombs, waylaying their progress and inflicting heavy casualties. The presence of civilians also slowed their efforts, and it soon became clear that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadis vow to recapture the city by the end of 2016 was impossible to fulfill. In recent weeks, however, with the citys bridges all bombed, militants on the eastern side of the Tigris River have been besieged and unable to resupply. We have seen a major collapse in the ranks of the enemy, Abadi said in a televised news conference. He said many militants had tried to flee in recent days. Abadi urged Iraqi forces to move quickly to recapture the western part of the city. But the Islamic State has had a year and a half to build up there, and Iraqi forces are expected to face another fierce battle. [I thought, this is it: One mans escape from an Islamic State mass execution] Mosuls western side is more densely packed with civilians some 750,000 according to Iraqi military estimates and Iraqi forces have been trying to keep people in their homes to avoid a humanitarian crisis. The United Nations on Tuesday warned that civilians on the western side were at extreme risk. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Lise Grande, U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. We fear for their lives. They can be killed by booby-traps and in crossfire and could be used as human shields. Reports of soaring food prices and intermittent water and electricity supplies were distressing, Grande said. The fight for the western side will be the Islamic States last stand in the city and one of great symbolic importance for the group. It was the capture of Mosul by the militants in 2014 that prompted the Islamic State to declare its caliphate. In a sermon in the citys Great Mosque, the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, urged Muslims around the world to follow him. The west is going to be challenging just like the east was, Maj. Gen. Joseph Martin, head of ground forces for the U.S.-led coalition, said in an interview earlier this month. We have an enemy that has had over two years to prepare. Older parts of Mosul, where streets are narrower, make the terrain more complicated than in the east, he noted. Theyve got to clear thousands of kilometers of streets, hundreds of thousands of rooms in excess of 100,000 buildings, and theyve got to do that while discriminating between the enemy and the civilians, he said of the fight ahead for Iraqi forces. Some Iraqi commanders are hopeful that the militants have already expended much of their firepower trying to hold on to the east. They used all their leaders and suicide bombers on the eastern side, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, a spokesman for Iraqs joint operations command. Much of the fighting inside city limits has been led by Iraqs elite counterterrorism troops, who said they had finished clearing their sector last week. Since then, the army has been battling to retake a few remaining neighborhoods in the northeast. Those neighborhoods were cleared of booby traps and explosives Tuesday, Rasoul said. Morris reported from Jerusalem. Read more: Iraq has never seen this kind of fighting in its battles with ISIS Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it his mission to reestablish his country as a dominant, indispensable player in the Middle East, one that can rival the influence of the United States. And, by some measures, he is succeeding. Not only has Russias 15-month airstrike campaign probably saved the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but it also has spawned this weeks negotiations sponsored by Russia, Iran and Turkey to agree on a mechanism to support a delicate cease-fire in the Syrian conflict. It was a Russian-led diplomatic effort testing Moscows improbable role as peacemaker, with a twist that must draw smiles in the Kremlin: no formal role for the United States. Russia is seeking to show it has national interests not only in Crimea, Donbas and Georgia but everywhere, throughout the Middle East, said Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East expert at the Carnegie Moscow Center. It is a very important symbol. (Donbas is a disputed section of eastern Ukraine.) According to Putin, those interests have been threatened by the United States, which he has accused of fomenting the current instability in the Middle East through a flawed foreign policy of intervention and democracy promotion. Decisions such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as well as the Arab uprisings beginning in 2011 (which he accused the United States of paying to foment), have encouraged the spread of radicalism, he says. The nadir for Putin came in March 2011, when he was prime minister. The president at the time, Dmitry Medvedev, declined to veto a U.N. no-fly resolution in Libya that paved the way for NATO airstrikes there. The decision seemed to confirm Russias role as a second-rate power in the Middle East. A deeply angry Putin publicly broke with Medvedev, his protege, and declared the U.N. resolution reminiscent of a medieval call for a crusade. Now in his third term as president and amid a growing rift with the United States over the annexation of Crimea, Putin has dug in his heels. Russia can no longer tolerate the current state of affairs in the world, he told the U.N. General Assembly in a 2015 speech, days before announcing his intervention in Syria. Instead of the triumph of democracy and progress, we got violence, poverty and social disaster, Putin said in the speech. I cannot help asking those who have caused the situation, do you realize now what youve done? But I am afraid no one is going to answer that. Putin likes to portray himself as part of the solution, forging an anti-terrorist alliance he compares to the coalition against Nazi Germany. But for a world leader who has so often embraced the role of spoiler and antagonist to the liberal West, converting military force into diplomatic sway will prove complex. Putin has had diplomatic triumphs, among them the 2013 deal he struck with the United States to seize Syrias chemical weapons (and ward off military strikes against Assad for using them). But mediating the Syrian conflict, with its fractious and shifting politics, is far more difficult than taking part in it. Yes, everyone is at this point forced to listen to Russias concerns, said Leonid Isayev, a Middle East researcher at the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics. But influence is not always positive. You can be a destructive force or you can try to resolve conflicts. The first is simpler and Russia has the military potential for that. The question is whether their military influence can now be translated into political influence. As a result, the goal of the negotiations in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was modest: shoring up a cease-fire, rather than seeking a political solution to the conflict that has eluded negotiators in Geneva for years. But in bringing together the warring sides for the first time, the Kremlin has already achieved some success. The negotiations are a stress test for Russian capacity, said Nikolay Kozhanov, an expert in Middle East Affairs at St. Petersburg University. Now after the regime victory in Aleppo, the Astana meeting is a serious claim to prove that Russia has become an influential realm in the region. Headlines recently have been dominated by Putins growing influence abroad but mostly in the West: Russias meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and expectations of the same in forthcoming European elections that could determine the fate of the European Union. A Kremlin connection is suspected but unproven, and Putin is unlikely to claim responsibility. But in the Middle East, he may seek to establish a legacy for himself, by taking on a growing diplomatic and political role in a conflict that has outlasted the Obama administration. Read more At Russia-led talks, Syrian rebels and government meet for the first time Russias new influence may limit Trumps scope in Middle East Iran opposes U.S. participation in Russian-backed Syria talks Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news A Jewish man wearing a yarmulke or a kippa, the traditional Jewish skullcap for men, looks over the West Bank Jewish settlement of Eli. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post) Israel announced a bold plan on Tuesday to construct 2,500 housing units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a decision made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just two days after he spoke with President Trump. The move appears to be a clear sign that the Israelis no longer fear American criticism of settlement construction, which is condemned by most of the world. For eight years, Netanyahu and his right-wing allies bristled at the harsh condemnations of settlement growth by the Obama administration, which referred to the Israeli communities as illegitimate and an obstacle to peace. Trump, however, has signaled a more accommodating stance toward Israel. He has called for moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, a city claimed as the capital of both Israel and a potential future Palestinian state. Trumps pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, is a hard-line opponent of the two-state solution and a supporter of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank. The Jewish settlements have grown to house more than 400,000 Jewish residents in the West Bank and more than 200,000 in East Jerusalem. The settlers believe that they are living on land granted to them by God and won in military victories against Arab armies hostile to the Jewish state. Were building and will continue to build, Netanyahu said Tuesday. [In video, Jerusalems mayor lauds Trump and chides Obama] Netanyahus promise to grow the settlements comes a little more than a week after diplomats from 70 countries met in Paris and criticized settlement building as a threat to a two-state solution. In December, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution condemning the settlements, and Secretary of State John F. Kerry spoke out against them in a speech after the U.N. vote. Asked at his daily briefing whether Trump supported the newly approved construction, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States, and Trump wants to grow closer with Israel to make sure it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East. Referring to a Monday announcement of a February meeting with Netanyahu, Spicer said, Well have a conversation with the prime minister. Lior Amihai, a leader of the Israeli watchdog group Settlement Watch, said the 2,500 units represented the largest expansion since U.S.-led peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel broke down in April 2014. A view of construction work in Givat HaTamar neighborhood of the West Bank Jewish settlement of Efrat in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post) Amihai cautioned that the announcement of future homes for the settlers did not guarantee fast-track construction. For the units to be built, the government needs to publish tenders and accept bids from builders. But the potential sites could carry deep political resonance in the United States. About 100 of the possible new units are in Beit El, a West Bank settlement supported by Friedman. The family of Trumps son-in-law and newly appointed White House adviser Jared Kushner has donated to the charities that support Beit El. Palestinians called the Israeli move a possible sign of more vigorous settlement construction. It is evident that Israel is exploiting the inauguration of the new American administration to escalate its violations and the prevention of any existence of a Palestinian state, said Hanan Ashrawi, a leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the Israeli plans undermine efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and will promote extremism. The spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called on the international community to take a real and serious position against Israels plans. Jordans information minister, Mohammed al-Momani, said the settlement plan deals a tough blow to efforts to revive the peace process. The Europeans also expressed their concern. It is regrettable that Israel is proceeding with this policy, despite the continuous serious international concern and objections, which have been constantly raised at all levels, the European Unions diplomatic service said Tuesday. [Israeli settlements grew on Obamas watch. They may be poised for a boom on Trumps.] During the Obama administration, settlement construction announcements came under increasingly bitter criticism, with the State Department suggesting that the moves undermined Middle East peace and raised questions about Netanyahus true commitment to a two-state solution with the Palestinians. We are returning to normal life in Judea and Samaria, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement announcing the plans, using the biblical terms for the West Bank. In the same announcement, Lieberman approved the construction of a Palestinian industrial park outside Hebron in the West Bank. It will be one of the largest industrial zones in the West Bank, in which we are planning to set up warehouse and fuel storage infrastructure, along with other elements, Lieberman said. The announcement of 2,500 housing units comes just two days after a Jerusalem planning committee approved the construction of 560 housing units in mostly Arab East Jerusalem, on territory that most of the world considers occupied. Israel disputes this. Israeli officials stressed that most of the 2,500 new units in the West Bank would be built in what they call settlement blocs, densely populated lands that leaders here say will always remain in Israel, regardless of any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Jeremy Ben-Ami, head of the liberal Washington-based group J Street, called the lack of swift American condemnation unprecedented in 50 years of U.S. foreign policy on the issue. It may really feel good for Israels government not to feel the sting of an American rebuke in the wake of this latest announcement, said Ben-Ami, whose group supports a two-state deal between Israel and Palestinians. But it doesnt change the fact that the world has made it very clear that these actions have no legal validity. The settlers disagreed. We hope that this is just the beginning of a wave of new building across our ancestral homeland after eight very difficult years, said Oded Revivi, foreign envoy for the Yesha Council, which represents Israeli settlers living in the West Bank. We hope to continue building a peaceful future with the blessing of the new Trump administration. The number of new units approved is large, but not unprecedented. During Kerrys nine months of ultimately failed negotiations between Israel and Palestinians, Israel agreed to release Palestinian prisoners. After Israel freed 26 Palestinians in October 2013 many of them convicted of murder Israel announced plans to build and market 3,500 units in the West Bank as a way to quell fierce criticism from Netanyahus hard-line right flank. Carol Morello and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: Kerry harshly condemns Israeli settler activity as an obstacle to peace Trump picks a supporter of West Bank settlements for ambassador to Israel Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news RACINE Chase Bank will vacate its stately Downtown building at 500 Wisconsin Ave. this year, and Downtown Racine Corp. is involved in trying to find a replacement bank or other business. JP Morgan Chase spokeswoman Christine Holevas said Monday the company is consolidating its Downtown bank into its branch at 5815 21st St. on May 18. Chase Bank also has a branch at 4930 Douglas Ave. and Kenosha and Oak Creek branches, she pointed out. The announcement that Chase is leaving this year also was made by the buildings ownership group, PMC Ventures, and the listing broker with Prowess Investment Real Estate Services. The broker, Beau Beach, said the owners had a contract to sell the building to an investor, but the sale fell apart when Chase declined to extend its lease. The owners have listed the building for sale at $999,000 or for lease. The bank, built in 1953, has 40,800 square feet of space on three floors which includes the basement level that contains the vault. A news release from PMC and Prowess calls the Downtown Chase Bank a trophy building. According to the release the owners have invested more than $175,000 in energy-efficiency upgrades in the past two years, more than $125,000 in renovations to the upper floor and have done a full electrical service replacement. That upper floor is about one-third rented, Beach said. Any time we lose a business, its disappointing, said DRC Executive Director Devin Sutherland. Its an important building in Downtown: Its iconic, its large, and were working very hard to backfill that with another financial institution. Other banks have expressed some interest. Were talking to a handful of banks who want to step into the void that Chase is creating by leaving Downtown Racine, PMC stated. These new banks will likely purchase the building, but a lease is also an option were considering. We also have interest from grocery store operators and some other interesting users. Sutherland said the bank building and its parking lot could plausibly support a small grocery store of the type that DRC has wanted for years to land for Downtown. However, he said the buildings assets are best suited to a bank, with a drive-through and numerous safe-deposit boxes. Holevas said of the decision to close the Downtown bank: Branches are one of our most important assets, and we are continually evaluating our branch network market by market to ensure we are in the right sites as our customers locations and needs change. People are not using branches as much as they used to for everyday banking activities because customers dont need the branch as much for depositing checks, getting cash or moving money around, she said. They can do it themselves whenever they want through our online and mobile access points. Officials from Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and the United Nations shake hands after making their final statement about the Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. (Sergei Grits/AP) Russia, Turkey and Iran agreed Tuesday to the outlines of a plan to reinforce a cease-fire in Syria, establishing the three most significant allies of the protagonists in the conflict as guarantors to a peace process. The deal concluded two days of talks in Kazakhstans capital, Astana, that drew Iran into a burgeoning alliance with Russia and Turkey over ways to secure a settlement. It set broad but vague parameters for a cease-fire enforcement mechanism and committed the three countries to jointly fight the Islamic State and Syrias al-Qaeda affiliate. It will also provide a test of Russias new role as the lead power broker in efforts to secure a sustainable, long-term solution to the war. The United States, which is not a party to the emerging peace process, said it welcomed any actions that sustainably de-escalate violence and reduce suffering in Syria, according to a statement issued by the State Department in Washington. The agreement stressed that any talks on a political settlement will take place under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva, in accordance with an existing peace process mandated by U.N. Security Council resolutions and supported by the United States. [Russias new influence may limit Trumps scope in Middle East] The Syrians at the talks were also not party to the agreement and were not asked to sign on to it, underscoring the extent to which their fate is now being decided by the outside powers that have been their benefactors in the war. Russia and Iran have been instrumental in securing President Bashar al-Assads survival against the rebellion seeking to unseat him, while Turkey has been the rebels biggest source of the supplies that have sustained their revolt. Both the rebels and the regime indicated that they were unhappy with some of the terms of the deal, calling into question whether it can result in an enduring cease-fire. As the talks progressed, government loyalists continued to bombard the Wadi Barada area west of Damascus, Syrias capital, drawing calls from the rebels for Russia to demonstrate its commitment to the cease-fire by pressuring the government to desist. In a sign of how distant a real peace settlement remains, the rival Syrian delegations refused to negotiate face to face during the two-day conference at the Rixos Hotel in Astana, although they did sit in the same room for the first time during the opening session. In any case, the Syrians played only a peripheral role at the talks. The real negotiations took place at a hotel several miles away, among the Russian, Iranian and Turkish officials who hammered out the deal. The head of the Syrian rebel delegation, Mohammed Alloush, questioned Irans commitment to the cease-fire deal, citing its role in arming and funding the militias that have been behind many violations of the truce. [Iran nuclear deal may not survive the Trump administration] Bashar al-Jaafari, the head of the Syrian government delegation, described Turkeys participation in the agreement as negative because of the role it has played in sending arms across its border to the rebels. But after six years of bloodshed and 500,000 lives lost, government and opposition forces are weary and entirely dependent on their foreign backers for arms, money and, in the case of the Syrian government, men, leaving them with few options but to fall in line. Under the agreements terms, Russia, Turkey and Iran are to establish an unspecified form of trilateral mechanism to enforce the cease-fire. The three powers stressed that future talks on a political settlement to the conflict are to be conducted under the guidance of the United Nations. Perhaps most important, the deal shifted the parameters of the war by stating the parties determination to fight jointly against the Islamic State and Syrias al-Qaeda affiliate, which are to be separated from rebel groups that participated in the talks. That gives Iran a role in a new alliance against the Islamic State, possibly complicating any future attempts by the Trump administration to team up with Moscow against the militant organization. It also cements Turkeys move away from supporting the rebels war to topple Assad, toward a policy focused on counterterrorism. As the final details were being worked out, the rebels hand was already being forced on the battlefield by the al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Fighters with the extremist group launched a major offensive in northern Idlib province against moderate rebels. The rebels responded by declaring that they would fight back, setting the stage for a showdown between the rebels participating in the Russian-led process and the extremists who are excluded from it. Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: On the front lines of the fight for the Islamic States capital, Raqqa Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news FBI Director James B. Comey was among the senior U.S. officials who had the unpleasant task of traveling to Trump Tower last month to inform the president-elect that Russia had interfered in the election process to help him win office. Then Comey asked his colleagues including the CIA director to step outside so that he could discuss something even more awkward: a dossier in wide circulation in Washington that alleged that Moscow had gathered compromising financial, political and personal material about the incoming U.S. president. That Comey was asked after that encounter, described by U.S. officials briefed on its details, to stay on as FBI director speaks to his survival instincts and ability to inspire confidence. But the meeting may also have provided a preview of the perilous position he occupies serving in the Trump administration while his agents pursue investigations that seem to lead to the presidents associates. The news that Comey would stay in place became public Tuesday, some time after he began informing senior FBI officials around the country that he had been asked to continue. Under normal circumstances, the revelation might have been unsurprising: Comey is less than four years into a 10-year term, and it is extremely rare for a president to remove an FBI director. But President Trump had notably declined to say whether he would keep the FBI director, telling 60 Minutes in an interview after his election that he wanted to meet with Comey first. [A brief history of President Trumps comments about FBI Director Comey] The FBI and White House declined to comment on Comeys retention. The New York Times was the first to report on the developments. Comey has come under fire from both sides of the political aisle in recent months, especially for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. Many Democrats still blame him for Clintons loss, and his decisions to discuss the probe publicly in the final months of the race are being investigated by the Justice Department inspector general. His greatest looming challenge, however, will be presiding over ongoing investigations whose dimensions and direction are unclear, but which involve Russias hacking and interference in the presidential election as well as nebulous ties between Trump associates and Moscow. Those alleged entanglements continue to expand. U.S. officials said this week that the FBI has scrutinized communications between Trumps national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, and Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The two traded texts and phone calls in late December just as the Obama administration was imposing new sanctions on Moscow, raising suspicion that Flynn and Kislyak were improperly discussing the penalties. U.S. officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, said they have seen no evidence of wrongdoing. The FBI for several months has been investigating allegations that Trump associates or acquaintances, including his former campaign manager Paul Manafort, might have had improper contact with Russian officials or intermediaries, U.S. officials said. The bureau is also still examining allegations in the dossier that Comey discussed with Trump in New York last month, according to a U.S. official. The document was assembled by a former British intelligence officer who had been hired by a Washington investigations and political research firm. The contents of the dossier have been in wide circulation among news organizations and law enforcement entities since mid-2016, but it is unclear if any of its potentially damaging allegations have been substantiated by intelligence agencies. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) deemed the document troubling enough that he said he had it delivered to Comey. U.S. officials have said that the author of the document is a respected former spy who has helped the FBI on unrelated cases. Comey, former CIA director John Brennan and former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. agreed that they should discuss the dossier with Trump even if the allegations were unproven. The task of having that conversation fell exclusively to Comey, officials said, in part to empty the room of officials, aides and advisers who had taken part in the broader briefing about Russian hacking, but were seen as having no compelling need to be involved in the discussion of the dossier. The ensuing conversation came with seemingly unavoidable conflicts. It is not clear whether Comey told Trump that the FBI had or was still pursuing allegations made in the dossier, but doing so would have involved telling an incoming president with significant power over the FBI that his associates were potential investigative targets. At a news conference Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said that Trump has not made any indication that he would stop an investigation of any sort. Trump has railed at the decision by the nations intelligence chiefs, including Comey, to attach a copy of the dossier to a report released last month by U.S. spy agencies that concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered a cyber-campaign to disrupt the election and help Trump. Trump accused the spy agencies of orchestrating a Nazi-like smear campaign against him. The CIA has been the main target of Trumps hostility in recent months, but he has also been sharply critical of Comey and the FBI. In October, Trump implied that Comey was corrupt for saying publicly that the bureau had not found any incriminating information in a belatedly discovered batch of Clinton emails. But Trump has also praised Comey at times, telling 60 Minutes that I respect him a lot. At times, it has seemed Comey has few friends in politics. When he announced in July that he was recommending that the Clinton email investigation be closed without charges, Republicans lambasted the FBI director for, in their view, coming to the wrong conclusion on the facts he himself laid out. Months later, when Comey revealed to Congress that the probe was back on less than two weeks before the election, Democrats excoriated the FBI for violating long-standing Justice Department policies about taking overt steps in an investigation so close to the day when voters would go to the polls. Even Justice Department officials had advised against Comey taking the actions he did, and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is investigating Comeys conduct in the case. Comey has said he welcomes the review. The criticism of Comey, though, is not limited to the Clinton investigation. After a recent closed-door briefing from intelligence officials about Russian hacking, some House Democrats called for Comey to resign. They claimed that the FBI director was not treating the Trump-related and Clinton-related investigations the same, particularly in his willingness to discuss the matters publicly. He should pack his things and go, said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.). Senate Intelligence Committee leaders have said they will explore for themselves alleged links between Russia and the 2016 political campaigns as part of a wide look at the intelligence communitys report on Russian hacking, and some on the left have called for a special prosecutor to be appointed. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Trumps pick to be attorney general, said in a recent response to a questionnaire that he was not aware of a basis to recuse myself from such investigations, though if a specific matter arose where I believed my impartiality might reasonably be questioned, I would consult with Department ethics officials regarding the most appropriate way to proceed. A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment for this article. The law would allow Trump to remove Comey, though a president rarely takes such a step out of respect for the independence of the FBI directors position. President Bill Clinton removed Director William S. Sessions in 1993 amid allegations of ethical improprieties, making him the only director to be removed from his post by the president since 1972. Trump greeted Comey warmly at a White House reception on Sunday, shaking the FBI directors hand, patting him on the back and remarking, Hes become more famous than me. Sari Horwitz contributed to this report. Read more: The attorney general could have ordered Comey not to send his bombshell letter on Clinton emails. Heres why she didnt. Why Comey was able to defy Justice bosses on Clinton email announcement The FBI in late December reviewed intercepts of communications between the Russian ambassador to the United States and retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn national security adviser to then-President-elect Trump but has not found any evidence of wrongdoing or illicit ties to the Russian government, U.S. officials said. The calls were picked up as part of routine electronic surveillance of Russian officials and agents in the United States, which is one of the FBIs responsibilities, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss counterintelligence operations. Nonetheless, the fact that communications by a senior member of Trumps national security team have been under scrutiny points up the challenge facing the intelligence community as it continues its wide-ranging probe of Russian government influence in the U.S. election and whether there was any improper back-channel contacts between Moscow and Trump associates and acquaintances. [U.S. counterintelligence officials are examining possible ties between Russia and Trump associates] Although Flynns contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak were listened to, Flynn himself is not the active target of an investigation, U.S. officials said. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that U.S. counterintelligence agents had investigated the communications between Flynn and Kislyak. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Of particular note was a Dec. 29 telephone conversation, initiated in an exchange of text messages the day before. Trump officials previously had said the call took place on the 28th. On the 29th, the Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia and expelled 35 officials from the Russian Embassy in response to what the U.S. intelligence community has said was interference in the presidential election on Trumps behalf. Earlier this month and on Monday, during his first official White House news conference, press secretary Sean Spicer said that the call covered several subjects. They included a Russian invitation to the Trump administration to take part in Russian-sponsored Syrian peace talks that began Monday in Kazakhstan. The men also talked about logistics for a post-inauguration call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Flynn also conveyed condolences for a Russian plane crash that killed a famed military band the day before the call, said Spicer, who said that Kislyak initiated the call after he and Flynn exchanged holiday greetings by text. Spicer also said Monday that the two had followed up with a subsequent call two days ago . . . three days ago to further discuss a Trump-Putin call. In remarks when the Dec. 28 call was first reported this month, Spicer and other officials said there had been no mention of the sanctions that were announced the next day. On Monday, he said he was unaware of any other conversations between Flynn and members of the Russian government. Spicer said he asked Flynn if there had been conversations with any other Russian officials beyond the ambassador. He said no. Earlier news media reports had also cited a Flynn call to Kislyak on Dec. 19 to express condolences for the terrorist killing of the Russian ambassador to Turkey that day. Although Flynn has written critically about Russia, he also was paid to deliver a speech at a 2015 Moscow gala for RT, the Kremlin-sponsored international television station, at which he was seated next to Putin. The FBIs counterintelligence agents listen to calls all the time that do not pertain to any open investigation, current and former law enforcement officials said. Often, said one former official, theyre just monitoring the other [foreign official] side of the call. Dmitry Medvedev , the prime minister of Russia, walks with Sergey Kislyak, Russian ambassador to the U.S., as he arrives for the G8 Summit at Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Va., May 18, 2012. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) Both Flynn, a former head of the Pentagons intelligence agency, and Kislyak, a seasoned diplomat, are probably aware that Kislyaks phone calls and texts are being monitored, current and former officials said. That would make it highly unlikely, the individuals said, that the men would allow their calls to be conduits of illegal coordination. greg.miller@washpost.com Karen DeYoung and David Nakamura contributed to this report. Read more: Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak is Moscows low-key man in Washington Declassified report says Putin ordered effort to undermine faith in U.S. election and help Trump First sign of enhanced U.S.-Russia relations under Trump: An invite to Syria talks South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was confirmed Tuesday to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, placing a rising Republican political star in charge of advancing President Trumps agenda in an institution whose effectiveness he has questioned. She will step down from her post in South Carolina to take one of the countrys highest profile diplomatic jobs and one that would burnish her resume for higher office later. Haley, who has no formal diplomatic experience, won significant Democratic support. The vote of 96 to 4 reflected some Democrats view that Haley would be a sensible diplomat and speak her mind in the new administration. The four senators who voted no were Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had approved her nomination by voice vote earlier Tuesday. View Graphic Tracking how many key positions Trump has filled so far She won praise from Democrats during her confirmation hearing last week, where she freely aired disagreements with Trump on some policy matters and said that the new president would welcome a range of views. Haley, who had been critical of Trump as a candidate, voiced heavy skepticism about Russia and optimism about NATO, both deviations from some of Trumps statements. She unequivocally rejected the idea of a Muslim registry or ban, which Trump has never fully disavowed. She said she is comfortable with Trumps American first approach and would reassert the traditional role of the United States in recent decades of protecting Israel from United Nations action it considers biased. She also declared her support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a shift that Arab leaders have previously said could ignite violence in the Middle East. At her Jan. 18 hearing, Haley questioned the priorities and effectiveness of the world body, which Trump has called a toothless debating society, but said she intends to fix what doesnt work. I have no problem calling people out, Haley said. The United Nations is often at odds with American national interests and American taxpayers, Haley said, adding that she would use the leverage of potential cuts in U.S. funding to demand reform. View Graphic 9 foreign policy issues the Trump administration will have to face We contribute 22 percent of the U.N.s budget, far more than any other country. We are a generous nation, Haley said. But we must ask ourselves what good is being accomplished by this disproportionate contribution. Are we getting what we pay for? Haley is best known nationally for her handling of the 2015 racially motivated killings of black worshipers at a historic Charleston church, for which she got generally high marks. She spoke at memorials and encouraged the removal of the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds. Millions of people participated in demonstrations throughout the United States and the world Saturday in a powerful show of opposition to the administration of US President Donald Trump. The protests mark the first signs of the crisis-ridden character of the new Trump administration and the immense social upheavals to come. (See: The way forward in the fight against Trump) The demonstrations against Trump on Saturday were the largest and most widespread protest marches in American history, involving somewhere between 3 million and 5 million people in more than 500 US cities. With protests in at least 100 other cities worldwide, they were the first significant internationally coordinated demonstrations since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Protests took place in over 600 locations on every continent. The rally in Washington DC drew more than 500,000 people, twice the reported size of Trumps inauguration crowd the day before, with an equal number marching in Los Angeles. An estimated 250,000 gathered at the rally in downtown Chicago, while as many as 175,000 people joined the march in Boston. At least 400,000 people marched in New York City, home of Trump, as well as 90,000 in St. Paul, Minnesota, at least 75,000 in Madison, Wisconsin, and 60,000 in Atlanta, Georgia. Internationally, demonstrations took place in Mexico City, Paris, Berlin, Prague and Sydney. Up to 100,000 people marched in London, as well as in the British cities of Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Bristol, and in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The World Socialist Web Site has gathered extensive coverage of the protests and presented an initial report on Sunday, followed by more reports on Monday. We will be providing additional coverage and interviews in the coming days. New York, New York In New York City, approximately 75,000 people had pre-registered for the march, but estimates now place the number attending at 400,000 to 500,000. Crowds poured into Midtown Manhattan streets in a procession lasting for hours along 42nd Street and up Fifth Avenue, ending in front of Trump Tower. WSWS supporters handed out nearly 3,000 copies of the statement, The inauguration of Donald Trump: An event that will live in infamy. Supporters found a large audience receptive to a critique of the Democratic Party, as well as many with illusions in it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made an appearance along the march route, escorted by police in a cordoned-off area. Schumer, who has postured at times as an opponent of Trump, while also pledging to work with him, drew cheers from many in the crowd. Likewise, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose police force took a distinctively hands-off approach in contrast to previous demonstrations, tweeted that he was deeply inspired by the march. Like Schumer, de Blasio has pledged that Trump will find an open hand if he wants to do real work, rather than implement policies that hurt New York City. Kirsten, a 39-year-old Brooklynite marching with her two-year-old in tow, said, I came out because of my daughter. Im worried about all the negative changes for women, minorities, gaysfor everyone. I dont see any benefit except for the 1 percent. Im scared. Im hoping that this is not just a march and afterwards people are satisfied, she said. We cant back down. But Im worried, I dont know how change is going to happen without a collapse of the system, and I dont know how that happens. It seems like the Democrats are just working with Trump. But its not workable. We cant settle for that. Marchers Olivia, Brian and Robin, spoke with the WSWS. Robin said that they had been involved in other protests against war and police brutality, and wanted to be at Saturdays Womens March in New York to show solidarity with the marchers in DC. He said, I just needed to be around people. Im afraid of the dangers of the Trump administration. Im a public defender. Were going to have to fight to protect immigrants, to defend human rights. I think the real question is whether Trump will be able to do all the things that he says hes going to do since he will have to work through the democratic process. He agreed, though, that Trump did not seem to care about following rules, regulations or due process. Ariane is French and currently studies in the US. I moved to New York less than a month ago, to study abroad, political studies, she said. I was shocked that there is no health care. I couldnt get my medication, which costs $800.00. I have to get it from my family in France. Its terrible because it is such a great country, people are so friendly, but people do not have basic human rights to shelter, education and health care. It goes back to capitalism. Trump represents the capitalists, and I think that it will take socialism. Like Marx said, capitalism cannot be ended without a revolution. Nadia, from Washington, DC, works for a tech start-up. She said, I am marching because I see the inequalities and barriers for women and minorities in the tech industry. The biggest barrier is not having money for education because no one can work in the tech industry without an education. I watched part of Trumps speech, and it reminded me of fascism, even though I never saw any of Hitlers speeches. I saw some of the Soviet Union, and it reminded me of that, except that they got a lot of things right and this didnt. I think it is going to take a grassroots movement to defeat Trump. Our government is not going to help us defend our rights. Syracuse, New York There were several demonstrations in cities in upstate New York, including Rochester and Syracuse. About 2,000 people attended the rally in Syracuse. Lorraine, who came with her family, explained why she attended: Theres so much wrong, and I didnt know how to fit it on a sign. Were talking about environmental issues, economic issues, gender issues. I dont know why the wrong of Donald Trump didnt end with his mocking of a disabled person. As a teacher, Im held accountable for how people behave. I felt there were so many issues that I had to come, to reassure myself that there are still concerns about civility and intelligence in politics. I think we really have to engage in a way that sends a message to the billionaire 1 percent that this is all not ok. The two-party system is not going to move us forward, she said. And Im not even sure that adding a third party is going to move us forward. We have to fight for an underlying foundation of those things that are essentially right, to do and to be in humanity. The two-party system is not supportive of that. Rochester, New York Approximately 1,000 people attended an anti-Trump rally in Rochester, New York, carrying signs saying Love trumps hate, No human is illegal and other slogans opposed to Trumps anti-democratic policies. WSWS reporters spoke to Virginia, who carried a sign expressing opposition to Betsy DeVos, Trumps pick for education secretary, which read, Unqualified! Our children deserve better. Explaining why she was opposed to DeVos, Virginia said, Im both a parent and an educator and I work in a 611 program [for students with disabilities]. Speaking of DeVos, she said, The lack of preparation, the lack of knowledge of the Americans with Disabilities Act [she has] no education background whatsoever, other than having a pocketbook thats deep. Washington, DC The WSWS spoke to protesters on the Washington, DC march. John, a legal worker, said, I agree with the ideal of socialism, although he admitted he was not sure how society would achieve it. There are enough resources for all to live harmoniously on this planet, but it is necessary that people need to realize that they have the power and that they must work together. He thought that the Democratic Party was eminently responsible for the election of Trump. [President Bill] Clinton continued many of the policies that Ronald Reagan started. Sure, he smiled and assured people that he felt their pain, but he took down welfare programs and built the prison complex in this country. John insisted that people should make sure that the leaders they stand behind have their interests in mind, adding that Hillary Clinton and Obama sat there on stage with Trump while he was inaugurated. On the role played by Bernie Sanders in the election, he said, Sanders was still a Democrat. You cannot be behind someone who doesnt represent your interests. Johnny Silvercloud, an independent journalist covering the march, said that he believed the Republicans holding power now had two optionsthey can try to hold Trumps government to account or they can continue to bend rules and lower standards. It looks like theyll do the latter. I fear Trump may start a war, he continued. Silvercloud acknowledged the reckless character of Trumps economic nationalism and phony populism. Trump says hes going to bring coal back. Id ask him, why doesnt he try to bring the steam engine back also while hes at it? He cant do it, society has fundamentally changed and there needs to be an adaptation so that people in the Rust Belt and in Appalachia can have jobs. Lansing, Michigan A crowd estimated at between 8,000 and 9,000 people gathered outside the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan for Saturdays protest. Tessa, a retired health care social worker, attended the Lansing demonstration with her husband, Norm, also retired. In regard to health care, she said, The state does not protect individual rights. Insurance companies are trying to sneak around the laws. Trump is obviously mentally ill. Im surprised that Trump stepped in to quickly attack individual rights. I dont think there is one cabinet choice thats appropriate. She spoke of Trumps promises of jobs for Michigan: It was all lies. He also said he wasnt going to touch Medicare and Social Security. Dave and Lisa are schoolteachers. They spoke of their concerns about education under Trump. Lisa said, Betsy DeVos has gotten her way everywhere so far, and wants to make education for profit. Dave added, Folks who are already struggling wont be able to benefit at all from the Trump policies. As to the threat of war, he said, We have two sons. Were just not willing to lose them in war. Ann Arbor, Michigan At least 11,000 took part at a demonstration in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filling up the diag at the University of Michigan. Two high school seniors from north of Detroit, Cameron and Andrew, drove nearly 60 miles to attend the protest. Andrew said, This election confirmed a lot of the political beliefs I was starting to develop, so I figured mass demonstrations would be a good place to make connections, and find other people who share my beliefs. I was interested in the Sanders campaign, and I registered for a chapter of the DSA, and stuff like that. But I want to do something to fight against Trump, and so I came here. When asked why they feared Trump, Andrew responded, I am scared of his nationalism, his nativism, and his misogyny. I dont think hes quite fascist yet, but it is worryingly close. I think mass demonstrations are a powerful show of unity, and show that masses of people can mobilize toward a cause, and I hope people see this. Cameron agreed with these sentiments: I was disappointed by Sanders giving his support to Clinton. I voted for Clinton, but only because I hated Trump so much. Her role as secretary of state in aiding Saudi Arabia with all the weapons sales there, her stuff in Haiti, her stuff in El Salvador and Nicaragua, I dont like any of that. Regarding the country having been involved in wars of aggression most of their lives, Cameron responded, I dont like war, and the more I read about why we are in these places, the more skeptical I become. Andrew added, I too have only recently been researching any of this stuff. This was a big thing for why I was disappointed with Clinton, because she supports these wars. She was not much better than Trump. I thought Sanders was much more moderate on this. When reporters challenged the notion that Sanders was against the wars, and that he in fact played the key role in Trump coming to power by throwing his support behind Clinton, Cameron and Andrew did not disagree. St. Paul, Minnesota Among the nearly 100,000 demonstrators in St. Paul, Minnesota on Saturday, the WSWS spoke to Stephanie and asked her why she attended the rally. I came out today because I want to stand up for womens rights, childrens rights, for social and racial justice of all kinds. Its really heart-warming to see all the signs out here representing so many different causes that have to do with peace and justice for everybody. I think a moment like this is really a beautiful moment to realize the power of democracy and the power of the people to stand up against something. And unfortunately its taken Donald Trump getting elected for this kind of response and potentially even revolution to happen. Asked to comment on the Obama administration and its expansion of George W. Bushs wars, Stephanie said, Im not in favor of any of that. I think back to the election of eight years ago and to the Democratic primaries. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton were the most hawkish of the candidates. She added, But during the 2016 Democratic primary I was pretty much in agreement with everything that Bernie Sanders had to say. I thought it was pretty refreshing to hear on a national stage the beliefs that Im in line with but havent heard in a long time. The WSWS pointed out that Sanders endorsed Clinton, and with that, her policies. After a pause Stephanie said, Its complicated. She saw Hillary Clinton as the lesser evil when weighed against Trump, even though she doesnt totally align with all of my ideological beliefs. I didnt agree with her attachment to Wall Street or her views on foreign policy. The WSWS also spoke to Johanne who attended the rally with a friend. I am here to protest all the crap that is going on in Washington, DC, she said. Im for universal health care, democratic rights for everybody, including LGBT, refugees, Somalis, and my Muslim friends and neighbors. She added, Theres a moral depravity in all of this. All the checks and balances have failed us when a man like Trump gets into office. We need to take a good hard look at what got us here. Economics are valued, but we dont value social issues. For instance, everybodys right to health care, everybodys right to make a living wage so they can feed their families, affordable child care. We need a complete overhaul of morals. Were being run off a cliff. When you take something away from the people, they become motivated to move. The rich are oppressing us, but we can rise up because there are more of us than there are of them. Leticia, a student, said, I agree, class is the main division in society. I am not allowed to say that in academia though. She also expressed frustration with the domination of college campuses by the Democratic Party, saying, There was no way I was going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Shes horrible. When I tried to explain that to people in academia, they told me I was being a misogynist. She added, I didnt want to vote for Trump or Clinton, because they are both the same. I voted for Jill Stein even though I am not a supporter of the Green Party. Around 65 workers have remained locked out at the Parmalat dairy processing facility at Echuca, in northern Victoria, for five days. When workers arrived on January 18, they were informed that the plant would be shut indefinitely. The lockout is part of Parmalats efforts to impose major cuts to wages and working conditions. The company has been in backroom negotiations with the unions covering workers at the site, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), over the terms of a new workplace agreement since last August. In November, Parmalat applied to the Fair Work Commission, the federal governments industrial relations tribunal, to tear up the existing agreement. That would mean workers would then be covered by an industry-wide award. This reportedly would cut workers wages by up to 50 percent while lengthening the working week from 35 to 38 hours, and gutting redundancy provisions by reducing the maximum payout to 16 weeks worth of pay. The company had been notified by the AMWU on January 12 of a token four-hour strike from 3:00 a.m. on January 18. The unions are now doing everything they can to reach a sellout deal with the company. The union kept workers at the plant isolated, many of whom remain camped outside the facility, by refusing to organise any broader industrial action against the lockout. The unions only concern is to maintain their privileged position at the negotiating table to bargain away the conditions and wages of the workers they falsely claim to represent. They have denounced the companys unilateral action, calling on the management to instead utilise the unions services to impose its attacks. AMWU national food secretary Tom Hale attacked Parmalats heavy-handed response, when they could just be getting back to the table. The AMWUs web site encourages readers to send a pre-written letter of protest to the company, pleading with it to please come back to the table and offer a fair deal with the employees. There are signs that the company and union are close to a deal that delivers Parmalats major demands. The company announced last Friday it had held a productive meeting that day with the unions. A spokesman said: By close of business on Monday, January 23, it is anticipated that Parmalat and the unions will propose new wording for clauses within the new enterprise agreement. Neither the company nor the unions has reported on the nature of the clauses being negotiated. Further backroom meetings have been organised. Parmalat had imposed another lockout on 50 workers at its Longwarry plant in the Gippsland region of Victoria last July, in response to limited industrial action by workers, including refusal to work overtime, complete paperwork and load or unload trucks. There, as at Echuca, the union covering workers at the site, the National Union of Workers, refused to appeal for any action at Parmalats other plants or by other sections of the working class. Parmalat produces major dairy brands such as Pauls Milk, Vaalia yoghurt, Oak and Breaka flavoured milks; it employs about 2,500 workers at multiple sites in Victoria and around Australia. It is one of the largest global dairy producers. The French giant Lactalis, which employs some 36,000 people in more than 18 countries around the world, purchased a majority share of Parmalat in 2011. At the start of this year, Lactalis launched a voluntary tender to gain total control of the company. Parmalats latest lockout is part of a sweeping corporate and government onslaught against manufacturing workers nationally, under conditions of a deepening crisis in the Australian and world economy. Entire regions of Australia are in recession, and the economy officially shrank by 0.5 percent during the September quarter of 2016, the last quarter for which statistics are available. This assault is being coordinated with federal and state governments, both Liberal-National and Labor, and assisted by the trade unions. Parmalats bid to scrap the existing workplace agreement follows a pattern set by the energy provider AGL, which operates the Loy Yang A power station in Victorias Latrobe Valley. This month, FWC approved AGLs request to revoke its existing agreement, clearing the way for the company to slash wages by between 30 and 65 percent. The FWC has since intervened again on the side of AGL against the Loy Yang workers, by ruling it illegal for workers to engage in industrial action such as coordinated sick days and refusing to work overtime. The Victorian state Labor government of Daniel Andrews had also threatened to intervene against the workers if they took industrial action. AGLs wage-cutting followed the announcement by Engie, the French multinational, that it plans to close the Hazelwood mine in the Latrobe Valley in March this year. The nearby Australia Paper manufacturing plant, which employs 1,250 people, is working with the trade unions to impose a wage cut of 5 percent, and 11.5 percent for new hires. These attacks came as Ford ended car production in Australia, with General Motors and Toyota due to close their plants this year. The shutdown of auto production threatens to destroy up to 150,000 jobs, directly and indirectly. There is also a crisis in the Australian and global dairy industry. World dairy prices dropped by about half between 2013 and 2016 due to oversupply, according to the United Nations Dairy Price Index. The major dairy conglomerates are placing the burden of the price fall on farmers. The New Zealand-based company Fonterra, which accounts for 40 percent of all dairy trade globally, cut the price it pays to Australian farmers from $5.60 per kilogram of milk solids to $4.75 last June. Two months earlier, Murray Goulburn reduced the price it paid to its 2,500 farm suppliers from $6 to less than $5 per kilogram. For many farmers, the prices are now below the cost of production, sending them into ruin. This cost-cutting has boosted profits for companies like Parmalat. In the year to December 31, 2015, Parmalats sales revenue rose by 8 percent to $1.65 billion, with a 3.7 percent increase in profits to $35.3 million, from its Australian operations alone. However, investors are driving mergers and acquisitions, accelerating corporate demands for restructuring that targets workers wages and conditions. An Australian Associated Press report last June noted: While there have been 876 deals in the global dairy industry since 2010, worth a total of $US57.3 billion the sector is still highly fragmentedleaving room for further consolidation. Attempts to rescue seven Peruvian miners buried under an avalanche of mud and stones have been largely abandoned one week after the disaster that trapped the men in a tunnel hundreds of feet underground. Rescue workers and firefighters from Perus southern city Arequipa were withdrawn five days after the disaster. Local residents accompanied by four specialists and firefighters from the nearby town of Nazca continued a desperate attempt to reach the trapped miners, but were forced to suspend their efforts on Sunday following another small avalanche that placed their own lives in danger. SummerJanuary to Marchis the rainy season in Perus Andean mountain chain, when thousands of avalanches and landslides take place. Nonetheless, every summer, tens of thousands of peasant-miners, most of them Quechua speakers, risk their lives, in an attempt to secure a little more money to feed their families by entering dangerous abandoned and informal mines. This year has been particularly rainy, with avalanches and landslides forcing the temporary closure of main roads in the countrys south. The tragedy at the Las Gemelas mine occurred on the afternoon of Monday, January 16. Heavy rains unleashed a flood that covered the entrance and exit of Las Gemelas, which is located in a remote area far from the valleys that cut through the Andes in the district of Acari, in the Arequipa region. Initially, there were 15 miners in the mine, but eight managed to get out before the barrage covered its entrance and exit. Immediate aid came from 11 miners from Orcopampa, who arrived to help in the rescue. The regional manager of Energy and Mines stationed in Arequipa, Vladimir Bustinza, reported that it was not until the early hours of Wednesday that rescue brigades were notified. It is a well that goes down four galleries, which are 250 meters deep and we have seven trapped miners with very little life expectancy, he said. It is estimated that the miners are located between 80 and 100 meters down. Bustinza added, The company had failed to pass the necessary regulations to become a formal mine. Chinchilico Peru SAC is a company that is dedicated to the extraction of gold. The informal mine is located two hours by road from the city of Nazca in the department of Ica, and seven hours from Arequipa, Perus second largest city and the commercial center of the south. RPP Noticias reported, A rescue team formed by firefighters from the Arequipa Company left this afternoon [Wednesday] with 20 rescuers to Acari in an Army Aviation helicopter, which was carrying the submersible pump provided by Sedapar required to save the miners. Due to heavy rains and rough terrain, the helicopter could not land. The head of the Seventh Command of the Arequipa Fire Company, Commander Jorge Martinez, told RPP Noticias that the team will travel a trail about two hours to reach the mine. He added that the mine was a 200-meter-deep tunnel, with mud covering about 50 meters. The rescue work was delayed by a defect in a generator, which forced rescuers to wait for the arrival of other equipment. Mothers and wives of the trapped miners also gathered at the site, expressing their determination to stay until the miners were brought out. On Thursday, the body of one of the miners, Eduardo Urquia Tonama (32), was recovered. According to RPP Noticias, The miners relatives told the National Police that those who have been trapped are Antony Lovon Mercado (19), Eduardo Laura Chiclla (27), Luis Alberto Huaraca Nunez (30), Gilber Llantoy Ayala (23), Hussein Yelssen Flores Paico (22), Alberto Huaman Jimenez (52) and Eduardo Urquia Tuanama (30). There are thousands of such informal mines in Peru, with miners risking their lives working for third parties in abandoned mines under highly dangerous conditions In November of last year, six miners died after inhaling toxic gases in an abandoned mine located in the Mazocruz sector of Santiago de Chocorvo in the central province of Huaytara, where several informal mines operate. Neighbors could not help out of fear of toxic gases. One survivor stated that there were strong toxic odors when they decided to enter the mine. In April 2012, nine miners were rescued in time. They were employed as informal workersmeaning off the booksin the Cabeza de Negro mine in the department of Ica. They were trapped underground for six days, surviving by means of a tube that brought in oxygen and food. The owner of the Las Gemelas mine is Buenaventura, whose general manager is Roque Benavides, a multimillionaire who is a partner of foreign capital in large mining projects. In many cases, miners, desperate for work, refuse to divulge to authorities the names of the individuals who hired them. There are also a large number of informal miners who work on their own account, seeking out abandoned mines to see if there is anything left to dig out. As these small illegal operations are located in remote areas, they are rarely inspected. The major mining companies bear responsibility for the dozens of deaths that take place in these abandoned mines each year. They are responsible for closing mines that they have stopped exploiting and ensuring that others cannot get into them. As such precautions are viewed as a drain on profits, they fail to take them, with fatal consequences. The Conservative governments attempt to cover up the potentially catastrophic failure of a Trident ballistic missile has blown up in its face. The disarmed nuclear missile was launched off the United States coast last June, just one month before the British parliament voted 472-117 to renew the 40 billion Trident nuclear submarine missile system. Knowledge of it would have torpedoed the justifications given by an overwhelming number of Labour MPs for their support for its renewal. The revelations are an acute embarrassment to Prime Minister Theresa May, in the week that she seeks to benefit from being the first foreign leader to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington, DC on Friday. May has threatened the European Union states with a hard Brexit, citing Britains military prowess as a nuclear power while warning of trade war measures unless they agree to favourable terms. According to the Sunday Times, the Conservative government imposed a news blackout after the missile was fired from the newly refurbished nuclear submarine HMS Vengeance from its position off the Florida coast. Instead of heading as planned eastwards out into the Atlantic Ocean, the missiles positioning systems malfunctioned and it went in the opposite direction over the US mainland. A Royal Navy source told the Sunday Times that something went wrong. ... There was severe panic that this test launch was not successful. Senior figures in military and government were keen that the information was not made public. Ultimately, Downing Street decided to cover up the failed test, the source continued. If the information was made public, they knew how damaging it would be to the credibility of our nuclear deterrent. The upcoming Trident vote made it all the more sensitive. Following the publication of the Sunday Times report, the prime minister repeatedly refused to say how much she knew about the failure, insisting she had absolute confidence in the UKs nuclear missile system. By Monday morning Julian Lewis, the Conservative MP who chairs the House of Commons Defence Committee, the parliamentary body that is supposed to exert democratic oversight over the defence establishment, was wheeled out to blame former Prime Minister David Cameron for the cover-up. Lewis declared, In fairness to the present prime minister one has to accept that she has been dealt a rotten hand because this matter, the decision to cover it up, if there was such a decision, as appears to be the case, was taken in the dying days of the Cameron administrations when spin doctors were the rule in Number 10 Downing Street. Camerons PR team denied any involvement in the cover-up. By Monday lunchtime, a Number 10 spokesperson was forced to admit that May had been briefed on a number of nuclear issues, including the Trident malfunction, when she took office. Soon after, a US Defense Department official confirmed to CNN Monday afternoon that the missile had to be diverted into the ocean and its self-destruct programme activated. This confirmation visibly deflated UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who was in the midst of a belligerent stone-walling operation in a hastily called and thinly attended session of the House of Commons in which he repeatedly declared that he would not answer any questions about the details of submarine operations. Fallon stated that earlier governments in different situations, in more benevolent times, might have taken a different decision about how much information they would be prepared to reveal about these particular demonstrate and shakedown operations [before submarines are returned to service] but these are not benevolent times and we have taken the decision not to release any information about the testing involved in the successful return of HMS Vengeance to its operational cycle. To every question about who knew what and when, Fallon gave the same answer. The capability and effectiveness of Britains nuclear deterrent must not be questioned. The Trident malfunction has thoroughly exposed the Labour Party and the culpability of its leader Jeremy Corbyn, who retreated from his anti-Trident stance prior to the vote on renewal. In the name of party unity he refused to challenge Labour policy on Trident at the partys National Conference, allowed a free vote on British military action in Syria that resulted in bombing raids and opposed war crimes charges against former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair and his accomplices. Corbyn was only able to muster 47 Labour MPs in opposition to Tridents renewal, while the majority140voted alongside the Conservatives in defence of Britains nuclear deterrent. Deputy Leader Tom Watson was gung-ho in his support for Trident renewal as a means of strengthening the NATO build-up against Russia. The nominal Corbyn supporters Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry and then Defence Secretary Clive Lewis abstained, claiming the vote was merely a cynical political manoeuvre by the Tories to split the Labour Party. Ultimately the vote confirmed that a single party of war exists in Britain that works together and cuts across all nominal party lines. In response to the Trident malfunction revelations, Corbyn blandly said Labour wanted a serious discussion, adding, Its a pretty catastrophic error when a missile goes in the wrong direction. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was equally anodyne, stating that it was extremely worrying that Parliament had not been informed. To underscore their political cowardice, neither Corbyn nor McDonnell was present in the Commons when Fallon spoke. It was left to Labour MP Kevan Jones, who resigned as Shadow Armed Forces Minister as part of the coup the Blairites mounted against Corbyn, and Shadow Defence Minister Nia Griffiths, appointed by Corbyn despite her commitment to Trident, to question Fallon. Griffiths complained, I am sorry its taken allegations in a Sunday paper to bring these questions to Parliament. Let us be clear we are not asking the Secretary of State to disclose anything sensitive. All we want is clarity and transparency. Because the Prime Minister refused four times to say when she became aware. We need to hear these facts from the Prime Minister and not have them sprawled across a Sunday newspaper. Again Fallon refused to answer. Even the faint whiff of outrage emanating from the Labour benches is a fraud. Labour cannot pretend to have been misled about the threat posed by Trident, whether or not it malfunctioned. During the July debate on renewal, May made the unprecedented and ominous declaration that she was quite prepared to press the button authorising a nuclear strike killing 100,000 innocent men, women and children. Labour made no denunciation of this threat, when it was directed at Russia or China. Instead Corbyn was heckled by his own MPs when he spoke against renewal. Nor were concerns vocalised in 2015 when William McNeilly, a former Royal Navy nuclear submariner-turned-whistleblower, warned that Trident was a disaster waiting to happen. He posted a dossier on-line criticising military deceivers and naval spin doctors for ignoring the 30 defects he had identified on the weapons system. His warning that Its only a matter of time before worse information comes out, and everything is proven to be true has come to fruition. Despite Labours supine performance, the cover-up over Trident may yet do serious damage to Mays government under conditions of escalating divisions over Britains post-Brexit foreign and economic policy. In addition, the issue also comes to prominence as the government announced on Monday plans following Brexit to overturn EU state-aid rules in order to support and deregulate the nuclear industry and four other key sectors. Corbyn has abandoned his longstanding support for decommissioning Britains civil nuclear power industry as a crucial by-election at Sellafield looms, declaring that it could remain for a long time. A Texas woman who wrote that she got a high unlike any other from stabbing another woman 21 times has been sentenced to prison, PEOPLE confirms. Pearl Moen, who was 17 at the time of the seemingly random November 2015 attack in Austin, Texas, will serve 15 years behind bars, the Travis County District Attorney said in a news release. She was sentenced on Friday. Prosecutors said Moens diary entries show she stabbed her 23-year-old victim, a nurse, because she wanted to see what it would feel like to kill someone. Moen has a history of drug use and psychological issues but no previous criminal record, the DAs office said. I stabbed an innocent woman to death earlier today It was absolutely fantastic, Moen wrote in her diary, according to prosecutors. Murder gives me a high unlike any other, it feels like this crisp unreality, flashing and sparkling, adrenaline and shock. How do I even go about describing it. The whole thing was unreal, she added. Im so proud of myself. Moens victim told her in court she was glad stabbed her rather than a child, an elderly person or someone who could not defend themselves, according to prosecutors. The victim said she was able to save herself because of her medical training. The determination the victim showed from the moment of the stabbing through her recovery and prosecution is inspiring, the cases lead prosecutor said in a statement. Her strength coupled with community involvement and good detective work is what made this prosecution possible. This office was proud to fight for justice on her behalf. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Shortly after the crime, a local neighborhood association handed out fliers with a sketch of Moen. For months, Austin investigators searched for a suspect. Finally, on Valentines Day, police received a call from Moens mother who said she believed her daughter matched the description of the suspect seen in the flyers, KXAN reports. Story continues Moen was charged in March with attempted murder, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, the DAs news release states. She agreed to serve 15 years as part of a plea agreement to the same charge. Her attorney could not be reached for comment. So long White House, hello beachside villa! Barack and Michelle Obama arrived in the British Virgin Islands on Monday for a much-deserved post-presidency vacation. The former first couple departed Washington D.C. on Friday following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Before boarding a plane bound for the West Coast, the 44th president joked, Michelle and I, weve really been milking this goodbye thing, so it behooves me to be very brief. They wasted no time, however, in getting into full vacation mode. The Obamas headed to Palm Springs, California, where they enjoyed a brief stay at the Rancho Mirage home of James Costos, ambassador to Spain and Angora under President Obama, and Los Angelesbased interior designer Michael S. Smith, who redecorated the White House while the Obamas lived there. RELATED: Shakira, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and More Celebrities Who Own Private Islands Their stay in the States was short and sweet, and after leaving the desert city on Monday morning, the couple touched down at the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport in the British Virgin Islands at 8:47pm, according to the Virgin Islands Daily News. They then reportedly made their way to Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Bransons private island retreat by motorcade and boat. WATCH THIS: The Obamas Depart D.C. Following Donald Trumps Inauguration Bransons Caribbean home, known as Necker Island, is a 74-acre stretch of sand that includes a luxurious resort for up to 30 guests. Anyone can book a stay there or rent the entire island when Branson isnt using it himself, and many celebrities have taken advantage of the businessmans hospitality. Mariah Carey, Kate Winslet, Robert DeNiro, Nelson Mandela and Diana Princess of Wales have all reportedly vacationed there. Kate Moss held her 40th birthday party there and Google cofounder Larry Page was married there. Story continues A staff of 100 is on hand to serve guests staying in the Balinese-style villas, many of which offer panoramic views of the Caribbean Sea, according to Coastal Living. Guests can also take part in daily feedings of the resident lemurs, flamingos, giant tortoises and iguanas. RELATED: PHOTOS: Take a Peek Inside the Obama Familys Post-Presidency Home Its not clear how long the Obamas intend to stay on the island, but heres some information from which to draw your own conclusions: The weather today in the British Virgin Islands is 81 degrees and sunny. In D.C., its 47 and cloudy with a nearby Noreaster and a political storm brewing. A veteran Florida sheriffs deputy tried to murder a 79-year-old woman he had befriended during a fraud scheme in which he made out checks in her name and gave away her dog, investigators allege. Authorities claim Frankie Eugene Bybee an 18-year member of the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office broke into the victims home on Jan. 12 and force-fed her pills before leaving her unconscious with her car running in the garage. He attempted to kill the victim and make it appear to be a suicide, the Sarasota sheriffs office alleged in a statement to PEOPLE. Bybee, 46, was arrested Monday and faces several criminal charges, including forgery and attempted murder. He has been investigated five times since joining the sheriffs office and has been suspended multiple times, the sheriffs office said. The victim originally came forward on Dec. 20, weeks before she was attacked, to claim Bybee was harassing her. He had befriended her in late October, after responding to her home on a service call, the sheriffs office said. Bybee began making regular visits to the victims home while on- and off-duty and also introduced the victim to several members of his family, according to the statement. Authorities allege that on Jan. 9, four of the victims personal checks, totaling $65,000, were made out to Bybee and his three children. But the woman told investigators she had never written those checks. Forensic scientists were able to pull fingerprints from the checks and matched that evidence to Bybee, the sheriffs office statement alleges. Bybee was suspended without pay. Investigators also discovered that Bybee had previously taken temporary possession of the victims dog and was given $1,000 in the event that the dog had any medical needs while the victim was away. But, instead of minding the dog, Bybee allegedly deposited the check into his personal bank account and then rehomed the pet giving the animal away on Craigslist. The victim told detectives that Bybee only had permission to watch the dog while she was away and was not entitled to keep or sell it, the sheriffs office said. The dog was later located and returned. Story continues Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. In January, three days after the allegedly fraudulent checks were created, the victim claimed that Bybee came to her home in dark clothing, wearing latex gloves, and forced her to the floor inside. She accused him of prescription medication in her mouth, causing lacerations and abrasions to her face, and bruising to her body. The victim passed out from the pills and when she awoke, called 911. Investigators determined her home had filled with carbon monoxide after the internal door to her garage was left open and her car was left running. Sheriff Knight escorts long-time employee Frankie Bybee to sallyport door, faces slew of felonies including Attempted Murder #Accountability pic.twitter.com/Hik7SZgSK6 SarasotaSheriff (@SarasotaSheriff) January 23, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Bybee is charged with attempted murder, battery, burglary, exploitation of the elderly, grand theft, forgery and petit theft. He is being held on $1 million bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 24. To use that uniform to be sent to her home to provide her help and then exploit it is unacceptable, Sarasota Sheriff Tom Knight said at a news conference Monday. Court records do not indicate if Bybee has hired an attorney. He has not entered a plea to his charges. Investigators urge anyone who may have been victimized by Bybee to call 941-861-4932 or 941-861-4935. Two days after making false statements about the attendance and audience for President Donald Trumps inauguration, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer vowed to always be honest with the American people but added that sometimes we can disagree with the facts. Asked in his first official press briefing on Monday if it was his intention to always tell the truth from that podium, Spicer told ABC News Jonathan Karl, It is. Its an honor to do this and yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. But, Spicer added, I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out but our intention is never to lie to you and youre in the same boat. There are times when you guys tweet something out or write a story and you publish a correction. That doesnt mean that you were intentionally trying to deceive readers or the American people, does it? And I think we should be afforded the same opportunity. Press Sec: "We have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the factsour intention is never to lie" pic.twitter.com/4ZaeWxzKGu Good Morning America (@GMA) January 23, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Asked whether he wished to amend his Saturday statement saying that Trumps inauguration had the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around the globe, Spicer instead doubled down on his comments. Sure, it was the most watched inaugural Its unquestionable, Spicer said, clarifying that his definition of a viewing audience included not just people standing on the National Mall or watching on television but also audiences who watched the inauguration online and through streaming services audience numbers that have not yet been publicly confirmed, according to ABC News. Story continues When pressed on whether Trumps inauguration had a larger audience than those at former President Ronald Reagans inaugurations, Spicer said, Im pretty sure that Reagan didnt have YouTube, Facebook or the Internet. Politico noted that calculating the overall global viewership for Trumps inauguration would be nearly impossible, but in the U.S., it was viewed by 30.6 million Americans. That would put Trumps inaugural ceremony behind that of former Presidents Ronald Reagan (41.8 million viewers in 1981), Obama (37.7 million in 2009), Jimmy Carter (34.1 million in 1977) and Richard Nixon (33 million in 1973). The Nielsen numbers do not include viewers who watched on online livestreams. Analysis of news footage and aerial photos appeared to indicate that far fewer people attended Trumps inauguration than did the 2009 inauguration of former President Barack Obama, The New York Times, Politico and other outlets reported. The inauguration crowd figures aside, CNN reported that Spicers statement on Saturday included several misstatements of fact, including his claim that this is the first time in our nations history that floor coverings have been used to protect the grass on the Mall. Spicer claimed that this had the effect of highlighting areas people were not standing whereas in years past the grass eliminated this visual. But the coverings were in fact used for Obamas second inauguration in 2013. Spicer also claimed that Trumps inauguration was the first time that fencing and magnetometers went as far back on the Mall, preventing hundreds of thousands of people from being able to access the Mall as quickly as they had in inaugurations past. But a United States Secret Service spokesperson told CNN that no magnetometers were used on the Mall. After many in the media accused Spicer of making false claims about the inauguration crowd size, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended him, saying he was giving alternative facts. On Saturday, Spicer appeared in the White House briefing room and read a statement attacking some members of the media for what he called their deliberately false reporting of Trumps inauguration attendance figures. He did not take any questions after making the statement, a move he defended on Monday by saying, Look I came out to read a statement. I did it. Were here today. Im going to stay as long as you want. The backlash over his Saturday comments was not lost on Spicer, however, who opened Mondays press conference with something of a peace offering to West Wing journalists. I know that Josh Earnest was voted the most popular press secretary by the Press Corps. So after reading checking my Twitter feed, I shot Josh an email last night letting him know that he can rest easy that his title is secure for at least the next few days, Spicer joked. Less than a day after covering the inauguration of President Donald Trump, Tom Brokaw braved a snowstorm to travel to the Sundance Film Festival. The veteran newsman wasnt there to report on the indie film market. He touched down in Utah to promote Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman, a Discovery Channel documentary he narrates about a group of Red Staters who become global warming believers as they try to stem the effects of climate change. Its about citizens who become environmentalists and who become political activists for the right reason, Brokaw told Variety, as he sat at a steakhouse table that offered up a tableau of the winter storm blanketing Park City. They do it because its their life. Its their livelihoods. Its their legacy. Its what their families have done all their lives. Its an issue and a way of life that resonates with Brokaw. He grew up in South Dakota, in the heart of Americas agricultural center, and he returns frequently to a ranch hes owned in Montana since 1989. There hes raised sheep, cattle, and other animals, and put easements on his land to keep it preserved. Toms connection to the story was unique, said Rich Ross, president of the Discovery Channel. We wanted someone who had a connection to these type of people. Brokaws interest in conservation dovetailed with Discoverys recent focus on shows and films that deal with environmental issues. Last year, for instance, Discovery bought the documentary Racing Extinction out of the festival and debuted it on its channel. As part of the premiere, the channel created a social advocacy campaign designed to educate Americans about animal species that could be eradicated by human behavior. Discovery is a purpose-driven company and we have to be a moral voice for a lot of these issues, said David Zaslav, president and chief executive officer of Discovery Communications, and a former colleague of Brokaws at NBC. Even half-a-continent away from D.C., politics loom large at Sundance. Brokaw sat down with Variety an hour after 8,000 protesters marched through the streets of Park City in opposition to the new president. The former NBC News anchor acknowledged that Trump had done little in his inaugural to temper his pugilistic message or to reach out to his political foes. Story continues It was much more of a campaign speech than I expected, he said. I thought he might make some transition. On the other hand, Ive been talking to people inside the organization and they were pretty clear that even if he had changed his rhetoric, theyre not going to change what they intend to do or his style. Its a big roll of the dice. Brokaw said that Trumps political stock will never be higher than it is right now, but he stressed that the working class discontent he harnessed to get into the White House cuts both ways. The best political strength hes got right now is his message that hes going to turn the country back to you, but he doesnt have forever to do it, said Brokaw. People at some point are going to say, okay, show me the money.' On the stump, Trump has stressed a series of protectionist policies he claims will bring back the automobile industry and the manufacturing sector. Brokaw sounds unconvinced. Working class people are losing ground, not gaining ground, he said. But the answer, I believe, is to make a much greater investment in new work programs and in community colleges to train people for the new economy. Were not going to have big steel companies in Ohio again. Thats not going to happen. Trumps ascent could be problematic for the ranchers and farmers in the Discovery documentary, and for others feeling the effects of a warming planet. The president has expressed skepticism about climate change, at one point tweeting that it was a hoax perpetrated by China. Brokaw thinks that at some point, despite his dismissals, Trump will become a convert. The presidents going to hear from the military, because they think it is a potential conflict issue, said Brokaw. The water gets higher, countries lose ground. He adds that he talked to a Trump economic adviser who told him, hes very enthusiastic about Trump, but he said hes going to have to get this. Brokaw believes that Trumps election was also a repudiation of the mainstream media, and noted that in the wake of his upset victory NBC News had committed to sending more correspondents out into the middle of the country. There are lessons to be learned from the media in all this, said Brokaw. Theyre also voting against us. People in fancy suits who think we have all the answers. With shows like Gold Rush and Deadliest Catch, Zaslav and Ross say that Discovery gets the concerns and aspirations of the people who fueled Trumps rise. Thats not to say the company didnt take stock of their programming in the wake of the countrys rightward lurch. If theres any programer in America who programs to Middle America its Discovery, said Zaslav. But we did have a number of meetings where we said are we hearing that voice enough? Are we telling enough of their stories? Are we talking about every day Americans living a life that people can relate to, fighting to get the best life that they can? Related stories Sundance: 'Woodpeckers' Director Jose Maria Cabral on Love in Jail, the Dominican Film Boom Sundance Film Review: 'Brigsby Bear' Sundance Film Review: 'Beach Rats' Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f352251%2f812b5800-ec90-4950-a2c5-5fc25707f4c2 Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling's romantic musical La La Land is already off and running this award season. After sweeping the Golden Globes (winning the most awards for one movie in the show's history), the film shows no signs of slowing down come time for the Oscars. But it wasn't always such a sure thing. The movie's soundtrack is undoubtedly an all-time great, but the tracks that were cut tell a slightly different story. SEE ALSO: 7 weird things you might not know about the Oscars After doing some research, we found 10 original songs that, for one reason or another, didn't make the final cut of La La Land. Some of them would have made the movie better, sure, but thankfully they'll probably be included in the director's cut. 1. "'Rebel Without a Cause' Is Pretty Good" Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) and Mia (Emma Stone) in LA LA LAND. Image: summit entertainment; lionsgate A beautiful 10-minute number in which Mia and Sebastian discuss the merits of Rebel Without a Cause. They both like it but agree that movies generally look nicer these days, due to technology. Why was it cut from the final film? Probably length. 2. "In Los Angeles Everybody Drives a Car to Work and That's What Causes the Traffic" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE While walking the streets of Los Angeles, Mia and Sebastian dive into the city's infamous traffic problem. During a solo, Mia diagnoses the central cause of all the traffic: too many cars. This song was reportedly cut because it offended test audiences. 3. "This Is What a Plane Does, Based on What I've Seen" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE Perhaps the film's most iconic scene is one in which Mia and Sebastian sing "A Lovely Night," while dancing with one another at sunset. While the choreography was kept in the final film, it was originally intended to be tied to a 15-minute song about how planes fly. Mia and Sebastian do plane noises at each other and disagree about "what a plane looks like when it takes off." Story continues According to Hollywood insiders, the song made the film's main characters seem too "anti-planes" for American audiences so they changed it to the song about how night time is a good time. 4. "Let Me Describe to You in Great Detail How Foucault's Pendulum Works and Why, My Love" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE Cut from the final film, this romantic scene takes place at the Griffith Observatory. In a melancholy ballad, Sebastian very clinically explains how Foucault's Pendulum demonstrates the rotation of the Earth. Mia says "I love that" and then they kiss a TON. The song was cut because it was too risque. 5. "The Epidemic of Insurance Fraud" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE It seems crazy, but La La Land originally had a whole opening number about insurance fraud and how common it really is. At one point in the number, a host of extras intentionally damage their cars and try to collect insurance money. They are all arrested and tried in criminal court. The song was cut with the intent to expand it into its own movie next year. 6. "Now That You Understand Jazz, Let Me Explain Chillwave" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE This whole song is Sebastian explaining different types of music to Mia. He covers Chillwave, Folk Americana, Darkcore and Cosmic Disco. 7. "The Waiter's 'Soup Of The Day' Song" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE A song where a waiter sings the soups of the day at a diner Mia and Sebastian go to. The waiter is played by Ed Sheeran and Ryan Gosling's character tells him he is ruining jazz. 8. "Just a List of Exhibitions in the Griffith Observatory for the Next 6 Months" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE Barely even a song, this cut number set at the Griffith Observatory is about all the cool events they have coming up. It's a curated listing out the real 2017 calendar events while Sebastian plays a synth in the background. The whole thing feels very specific to audiences from Los Angeles, but many test audiences loved the song nonetheless. 9. "I Named all the Little Keys on my Piano" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE In another confusing cut, producers removed this song in which Sebastian reveals he has given all the keys on his piano human names and drawn little faces on them. The jazzy number helps define Sebastian as a man who really loves his piano and the movie is certainly hurt without it. 10. "The History of Public Transportation in the City of Los Angeles" Image: SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT; LIONSGATE Mia and Sebastian read a wikipedia page out loud to the tune of "City of Stars." Cutting this song was a good choice because it is dumb and bad. BONUS: Netflix Settle: The new feature for couples who disagree CALEDONIA Some Caledonia officials and business owners want to rip up the strip. The strip is a raised median that runs down the center of Douglas Avenue from 5 Mile Road south almost to 4 Mile Road. The median has five cuts in it where cars can turn into businesses along Douglas Avenue, but not near a smattering of business in the 5400 block. The small complex includes Caledonia Chiropractic Clinic, a State Farm insurance agency and an Edward Jones financial services office. Because of the median, potential customers coming from the north cannot turn left into the complex, and cars exiting can only turn left and head north. The median poses numerous traffic flow challenges, and business owners and the members of the Caledonia Community Development Authority want that to change. CDA member and Village Trustee Lee Wishau said at the CDAs meeting Monday night that the raised median needs to go. I have been hammering on this for 10 years, Wishau said. Douglas Avenue is one of the main corridors in Caledonia. CDA Chairman Fran Martin said she has received numerous letters from business owners along the strip complaining that the median adversely affects traffic. Authority members requested that Village President Bob Bradley contact Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials and ask them to attend the February CDA meeting. The CDA also would like State Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and State Rep. Tom Weatherson, R-Caledonia, and the business owners to attend that session, Martin said. We want this to be a face-to-face meeting, Martin said. Wishau said the strip has been problematic for more than a decade. The long-term solution would be to remove it, he said. Any short-term solution needs to fit with a long-term solution, he said. I think that should be a four-lane road all the way up to Ryan Road. The median was installed years ago because the DOT apparently had concerns about the safety on that section of the road, Bradley said. Wishau said the median seems to cause more safety problems because some vehicles dont slow down for the cars trying to turn off Douglas. CDA member Bill Streeter said DOT officials should bring some data to the meeting to show that safety has been enhanced. I think they should be able to show us why it was put in originally, Streeter said. ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey's Assembly speaker wants to add a $2 charge to each hotel room bill in Atlantic City to help prevent massive police and firefighter layoffs in the struggling gambling resort. Shortly after Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration seized power in Atlantic City last fall, the state began seeking steep cuts in public safety, calling for as many as 100 firefighter layoffs and 27 in the police department. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, a Hudson County Democrat, introduced a bill Monday that would impose the additional surcharge on Atlantic City hotel bills, with the proceeds to be used exclusively to help fund police and fire operations. The charge would end after two years. "I was adamant that any state takeover of Atlantic City not involve, among other things, police and firefighter layoffs that would threaten public safety and the city's efforts to market itself as a safe and family-friendly destination, but not everyone agreed," he said. "The harsh reality is now setting in, sadly, but I will not stand idle and allow police and firefighter layoffs to harm public safety for residents while also hurting the public's ability to feel confident about visiting the city. Atlantic City must remain successful for the betterment of the entire state." Prieto had no immediate estimate Tuesday of how much the measure might raise each year. In December, city union officials revealed that the state, which seized power a month earlier, was seeking big cuts in public safety spending as part of a package of financial austerity measures designed to stabilize the nearly broke city's finances. The state can now cancel decisions by the City Council, break union contracts, and seize and sell city assets. A spokesman for Christie declined to comment on the bill. Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian had no immediate comment. ___ Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC Prieto had no immediate estimate Tuesday of how much the measure might raise each year. Los Angeles (AFP) - The following are reactions from some of the nominees for the 2017 Oscars. The list of nominations, which for the first time includes a record number of black actors, was revealed Tuesday, ahead of the February 26 ceremony: - Beautiful morning - "What a morning. I am so grateful for this honor and I'm so happy to share this feeling with my 'La La Land' family. The greatest part of life is connecting with people, and I love the deeply talented, kind and passionate people I was lucky enough to work with on this movie." -- Emma Stone, nominated for best actress for romantic musical "La La Land," which earned a record 14 Oscar nods. - Speechless - "When you mention those movies, it makes my head spin even more than it's spinning. I'm a little speechless." -- Damien Chazelle, the 32-year-old director of "La La Land," to Variety from Beijing, after learning that his film had tied the all-time record for Oscar nominations set by "Titanic" and "All About Eve." - Is race relevant? - "I hope I wasn't nominated because I was black. That has no relevance... I hope I was nominated for my work." -- Mahershala Ali, best supporting actor nominee for coming-of-age drama "Moonlight," to The Hollywood Reporter. - 'Focus on color' - "I think it's unfortunate that we still have to focus on color. "What the Oscars are about and what the awards should be about is a recognition of talent and incredible hard work, irrespective of color." -- British actress Naomie Harris, who is black, to The New York Times on her best supporting actress nomination for "Moonlight," in which she plays a crack-addicted mother. - 'Love not dictated by color' - "Lion reaffirms the message that love is not dictated by the color of your skin, not by race, gender, sexuality, social status or origin. It is a message I am proud to be spreading during these uncertain times. This will forever be one of the most memorable experiences of my life." Story continues -- Dev Patel, about his best supporting actor nomination for "Lion." He is only the third actor of Indian descent to receive an Oscars nod. - 'An inspiration' - "It has been such an honor to have been given the opportunity to tell the incredible story of Richard and Mildred Loving, who serve as an inspiration that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. The Lovings fought quietly yet tirelessly, and changed the course of American legal history. Today, to be among such extraordinary women -- my fellow nominees, my peers with films this year, and the legendary performers whose work of years past has long inspired me... this means a great deal to me." -- Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga, nominated in the best actress category for "Loving." The film told the true story of an interracial couple from the American South who fought before the Supreme Court in 1967 for their right to marry. - 'Save humanity' in Syria - "'The White Helmets' film's nomination for an Oscar is a new confirmation of the civil defense's credibility in Syria. It will help us to reach the goal and the slogan we have been using since the start: 'To save one life is to save all of humanity.'" -- Raed Saleh, leader of the rescue group featured in "The White Helmets," nominated for best documentary short the film, told AFP after the announcement. - Strive for empathy - "I am overwhelmed and honored by the Academy's recognition of my newest film... What I have strived for in my filmmaking has always been to create a sense of empathy toward my characters; empathy meaning understanding the conditions and situations of other human beings who very much resemble us." -- Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi, on being nominated for an Oscar for the third time for his movie "The Salesman," up for best foreign film honors. - Back in Hollywood's good graces - "What could be more exciting than listening to the nominations being announced while holding my newborn son! This is a truly wonderful honor." -- Mel Gibson, on his surprise best director nomination for bloody WWII movie "Hacksaw Bridge," which marks his comeback after being ostracized by Hollywood for an anti-Semitic tirade. The film earned a total of six nominations. - 'Infinitely grateful' - "I am infinitely grateful to the Academy. It is a tremendous joy and honor for me." -- France's Isabelle Huppert, nominated for best actress for rape-revenge thriller "Elle" -- one of the rare foreign language performances recognized in a lead acting category. Thinkstock Years ago, the fellow running the IRS told Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpaid their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-saving tax breaks listed here. We've updated all the key details in this popular guide to the common tax deductions many filers miss to ensure that your 2016 return is a money-saving masterpiece. Cut your tax bill to the bone by claiming all the tax write-offs you deserve. State Sales Taxes Thinkstock After years of uncertainty, in 2015 Congress finally made this break "permanent." This is particularly important to you if you live in a state that does not impose a state income tax. Congress offers itemizers the choice between deducting the state income taxes or state sales taxes they paid. You choose whichever saves you the most money. So if your state doesn't have an income tax, the sales tax write-off is clearly the way to go. In some cases, even filers who pay state income taxes can come out ahead with the sales tax choice. And, you don't need a wheelbarrow full of receipts. The IRS has tables that show how much residents of various states can deduct, based on their income and state and local sales tax rates. But the tables aren't the last word. If you purchased a vehicle, boat or airplane, you may add the sales tax you paid on that big-ticket item to the amount shown in the IRS table for your state. The IRS even has a calculator that shows how much residents of various states can deduct, based on their income and state and local sales tax rates. We put those quotations marks around permanent above because, as Congress takes up tax reform in 2017, one possibility is the elimination of both the sales tax and the state income tax deductions. But you're still sure to have the choice for your 2016 return. Reinvested Dividends Thinkstock This isn't a tax deduction, but it is an important subtraction that can save you a bundle. And this is the one that former IRS commissioner Fred Goldberg told Kiplinger millions of taxpayers miss . . . costing them millions in overpaid taxes. Story continues If, like most investors, you have mutual fund dividends automatically reinvested to buy extra shares, remember that each new purchase increases your tax basis in the fund. That, in turn, reduces the taxable capital gain (or increases the tax-saving loss) when you redeem shares. Forgetting to include reinvested dividends in your basis results in double taxation of the dividends--once in the year when they were paid out and immediately reinvested and later when they're included in the proceeds of the sale. Don't make that costly mistake. If you're not sure what your basis is, ask the fund for help. Funds often report to investors the tax basis of shares redeemed during the year. In fact, for the sale of shares purchased in 2012 and later years, funds must report the basis to investors and to the IRS. Out-of-Pocket Charitable Deductions Thinkstock It's hard to overlook the big charitable gifts you made during the year, by check or payroll deduction (check your December pay stub). But little things add up, too, and you can write off out-of-pocket costs incurred while doing work for a charity. For example, ingredients for casseroles you prepare for a nonprofit organization's soup kitchen and stamps you buy for a school's fund-raising mailing count as charitable contributions. Keep your receipts. If your contribution totals more than $250, you'll also need an acknowledgement from the charity documenting the support you provided. If you drove your car for charity in 2016, remember to deduct 14 cents per mile, plus parking and tolls paid, in your philanthropic journeys. SEE ALSO: IRS Audit Red Flags You Need to Know Student-Loan Interest Paid by Mom and Dad Thinkstock Generally, you can deduct interest only if you are legally required to repay the debt. But if parents pay back a child's student loans, the IRS treats the transactions as if the money were given to the child, who then paid the debt. So as long as the child is no longer claimed as a dependent, he or she can deduct up to $2,500 of student-loan interest paid by Mom and Dad each year. And he or she doesn't have to itemize to use this money-saver. (Mom and Dad can't claim the interest deduction even though they actually foot the bill because they are not liable for the debt.) SEE ALSO: 6 Tax Breaks for College Costs Job-Hunting Costs Thinkstock If you're among the millions of unemployed Americans who were looking for a job in 2016, we hope you were successful . . . and that you kept track of your job-search expenses or can reconstruct them. If you were looking for a position in the same line of work as your current or most recent job, you can deduct job-hunting costs as miscellaneous expenses if you itemize. Qualifying expenses can be written off even if you didn't land a new job. But such expenses can be deducted only to the extent that your total miscellaneous expenses exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. (Job-hunting expenses incurred while looking for your first job don't qualify.) Deductible costs include, but aren't limited to: Transportation expenses incurred as part of the job search, including 54 cents a mile for driving your own car plus parking and tolls. (The rate falls to 53.5 cents a mile for driving in 2017.) Food and lodging expenses if your search takes you away from home overnight Cab fares Employment agency fees Costs of printing resumes, business cards, postage, and advertising. SEE ALSO: States with the Fastest Job Growth Moving Expenses to Take Your First Job istockphoto Although job-hunting expenses are not deductible when looking for your first job, moving expenses to get to that job are. And you get this write-off even if you don't itemize. To qualify for the deduction, your first job must be at least 50 miles away from your old home. If you qualify, you can deduct the cost of getting yourself and your household goods to the new area. If you drove your own car on a 2016 move, deduct 19 cents a mile, plus what you paid for parking and tolls. (The rate falls to 17 cents a mile for 2017 moves.) For a full list of deductible moving expenses, check out IRS Publication 521. Military Reservists' Travel Expenses Thinkstock Members of the National Guard or military reserve may write off the cost of travel to drills or meetings. To qualify, you must travel more than 100 miles from home and be away from home overnight. If you qualify, you can deduct the cost of lodging and half the cost of your meals, plus an allowance for driving your own car to get to and from drills. For 2016 travel, the rate is 54 cents a mile, plus what you paid for parking fees and tolls. You may claim this deduction even if you use the standard deduction rather than itemizing. (The rate falls to 53.5 cents a mile for 2017 travel.) SEE ALSO: 10 Best Financial Benefits for Military Families Deduction of Medicare Premiums for the Self-Employed Thinkstock Folks who continue to run their own businesses after qualifying for Medicare can deduct the premiums they pay for Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D, plus the cost of supplemental Medicare (medigap) policies or the cost of a Medicare Advantage plan. This deduction is available whether or not you itemize and is not subject to the 7.5% of AGI test that applies to itemized medical expenses for those age 65 and older. One caveat: You can't claim this deduction if you are eligible to be covered under an employer-subsidized health plan offered by either your employer (if you have a job as well as your business) or your spouse's employer (if he or she has a job that offers family medical coverage). SEE ALSO: 11 Common Medicare Mistakes Child-Care Credit Thinkstock A credit is so much better than a deduction; it reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar. So missing one is even more painful than missing a deduction that simply reduces the amount of income that's subject to tax. In the 25% bracket, each dollar of deductions is worth a quarter; each dollar of credits is worth a greenback. You can qualify for a tax credit worth between 20% and 35% of what you pay for child care while you work. But if your boss offers a child care reimbursement account--which allows you to pay for the child care with pretax dollars--that's likely to be an even better deal. If you qualify for a 20% credit but are in the 25% tax bracket, for example, the reimbursement plan is the way to go. Not only does money run through a reimbursement account avoid federal income taxes, it also is protected from the 7.65% Social Security tax. (In any case, only amounts paid for the care of children younger than age 13 count.) You can't double dip. Expenses paid through a plan can't also be used to generate the tax credit. But get this: Although only $5,000 in expenses can be paid through a tax-favored reimbursement account, up to $6,000 for the care of two or more children can qualify for the credit. So if you run the maximum through a plan at work but spend even more for work-related child care, you can claim the credit on as much as $1,000 of additional expenses. That would cut your tax bill by at least $200. Estate Tax on Income in Respect of a Decedent istockphoto This sounds complicated, but it can save you a lot of money if you inherited an IRA from someone whose estate was big enough to be subject to the federal estate tax. Basically, you get an income-tax deduction for the amount of estate tax paid on the IRA assets you received. Let's say you inherited a $100,000 IRA, and the fact that the money was included in your benefactor's estate added $40,000 to the estate-tax bill. You get to deduct that $40,000 on your tax returns as you withdraw the money from the IRA. If you withdraw $50,000 in one year, for example, you get to claim a $20,000 itemized deduction on Schedule A. That would save you $5,600 in the 28% bracket. SEE ALSO: States with the Scariest Death Taxes State Tax Paid Last Spring Did you owe tax when you filed your 2015 state income tax return in the spring of 2016? Then, for goodness' sake, remember to include that amount in your state-tax deduction on your 2016 federal return, along with state income taxes withheld from your paychecks or paid via quarterly estimated payments during the year. Refinancing Points istockphoto When you buy a house, you get to deduct in one fell swoop the points paid to get your mortgage. When you refinance, though, you have to deduct the points on the new loan over the life of that loan. That means you can deduct 1/30th of the points a year if it's a 30-year mortgage. That's $33 a year for each $1,000 of points you paid--not much, maybe, but don't throw it away. Even more important, in the year you pay off the loan--because you sell the house or refinance again--you get to deduct all as-yet-undeducted points. There's one exception to this sweet rule: If you refinance a refinanced loan with the same lender, you add the points paid on the latest deal to the leftovers from the previous refinancing, then deduct that amount gradually over the life of the new loan. A pain? Yes, but at least you'll be compensated for the hassle. SEE ALSO: Solutions to 7 Common Mortgage Problems Jury Pay Paid to Employer istockphoto Many employers continue to pay employees' full salary while they serve on jury duty, and some impose a quid pro quo: The employees have to turn over their jury pay to the company coffers. The only problem is that the IRS demands that you report those jury fees as taxable income. To even things out, you get to deduct the amount you give to your employer. But how do you do it? There's no line on the Form 1040 labeled "jury fees." Instead, the write-off goes on line 36, which purports to be for simply totaling up deductions that get their own lines. Include your jury fees with your other write-offs and write "jury pay" on the dotted line. Like this: Jury Pay American Opportunity Credit istockphoto Unlike the Hope Credit that this one replaced, the American Opportunity Credit is good for all four years of college, not just the first two. Don't shortchange yourself by missing this critical difference. This tax credit is based on 100% of the first $2,000 spent on qualifying college expenses and 25% of the next $2,000 ... for a maximum annual credit per student of $2,500. The full credit is available to individuals whose modified adjusted gross income is $80,000 or less ($160,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return). The credit is phased out for taxpayers with incomes above those levels. If the credit exceeds your tax liability, it can trigger a refund. (Most credits are "nonrefundable," meaning they can reduce your tax to $0, but not get you a check from the IRS.) SEE ALSO: 10 Best College Majors for a Lucrative Career A College Credit for Those Long Out of College Thinkstock College credits aren't just for youngsters, nor are they limited to just the first four years of college. The Lifetime Learning credit can be claimed for any number of years and can be used to offset the cost of higher education for yourself or your spouse . . . not just for your children. The credit is worth up to $2,000 a year, based on 20% of up to $10,000 you spend for post-high-school courses that lead to new or improved job skills. Classes you take even in retirement at a vocational school or community college can count. If you brushed up on skills in 2016, this credit can help pay the bills. The right to claim this tax-saver phases out as income rises from $55,000 to $65,000 on an individual return and from $110,000 to $130,000 for couples filing jointly. SEE ALSO: 7 Things You Must Know About Lifetime Learning Those Blasted Baggage Fees istockphoto Airlines seem to revel in driving travelers batty with extra fees for baggage, online booking and for changing travel plans. Such fees add up to billions of dollars each year. If you get burned, maybe Uncle Sam will help ease the pain. If you're self-employed and travelling on business, be sure to add those costs to your deductible travel expenses. SEE ALSO: How to Avoid Paying 21 Annoying Fees Credits for Energy-Saving Home Improvements Thinkstock Your 2016 return is the last chance to claim a tax credit for installing energy-efficient windows or making similar energy-saving home improvements. You can claim up to $500 in total tax credits for eligible improvements, based on 10% of the purchase cost (not installation) of certain insulation, windows, doors and skylights. The credit is subject to a lifetime cap, so if you've already pocketed the max, you're out of luck. But there's no such limit on the much more powerful incentive for those who install qualified residential alternative energy equipment, such as solar hot water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines in 2016. Your credit can be 30% of the total cost (including labor) of such systems. SEE ALSO: Guide to Solar Incentives in America's 12 Biggest Cities Bonus Depreciation ... And Beefed-Up Expensing Thinkstock Business owners--including those who run businesses out of their homes--have to stay on their toes to capture tax breaks for buying new equipment. The rules seem to be constantly shifting as Congress writes incentives into the law and then allows them to expire or to be cut back to save money. Take "bonus depreciation" as an example. Back in 2011, rather than write off the cost of new equipment over many years, a business could use 100% bonus depreciation to deduct the full cost in the year the equipment was put into service. For 2013, the bonus depreciation rate was 50%. The break expired at the end of 2013 and stayed expired until the end of 2014 . . . when Congress reinstated it retroactively to cover 2014 purchases. Then, the provision expired again . . . but near the end of 2015, Congress revived the break. The 50% bonus applies for property purchased in 2016 and 2017, too; the bonus drops to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019. Perhaps even more valuable, though, is another break: supercharged "expensing," which basically lets you write off the full cost of qualifying assets in the year you put them into service. This break, too, has a habit of coming and going. But as part of the 2015 tax law, Congress made the expansion of expensing permanent. For 2016 and future years, businesses can expense up to $500,000 worth of assets. The half-million-dollar cap phases out dollar for dollar for firms that put more than $2 million worth of assets into service in a single year. Social Security Taxes You Pay Thinkstock This doesn't work for employees. You can't deduct the 7.65% of pay that's siphoned off for Social Security and Medicare. But if you're self-employed and have to pay the full 15.3% tax yourself (instead of splitting it 50-50 with an employer), you do get to write off half of what you pay. That deduction comes on the face of Form 1040, so you don't have to itemize to take advantage of it. SEE ALSO: Tax Breaks If You're Self-Employed Waiver of Penalty for the Newly Retired Thinkstock This isn't a deduction, but it can save you money if it protects you from a penalty. Because our tax system operates on a pay-as-you earn basis, taxpayers typically must pay 90% of what they owe during the year via withholding or estimated tax payments. If you don't, and you owe more than $1,000 when you file your return, you can be hit with a penalty for underpayment of taxes. The penalty works like interest on a loan--as though you borrowed from the IRS the money you didn't pay. The current rate is 3%. There are several exceptions to the penalty, including a little-known one that can protect taxpayers age 62 and older in the year they retire and the following year. You can request a waiver of the penalty--using Form 2210--if you have reasonable cause, such as not realizing you had to shift to estimated tax payments after a lifetime of meeting your obligation via withholding from your paychecks. SEE ALSO: Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for the Newly Retired Amortizing Bond Premiums istockphoto If you purchased a taxable bond for more than its face value--as you might have to capture a yield higher than current market rates deliver--Uncle Sam will effectively help you pay that premium. That's only fair, since the IRS is also going to get to tax the extra interest that the higher yield produces. You have two choices about how to handle the premium. You can amortize it over the life of the bond by taking each year's share of the premium and subtracting it from the amount of taxable interest from the bond you report on your tax return. Each year you also reduce your tax basis for the bond by the amount of that year's amortization. Or, you can ignore the premium until you sell or redeem the bond. At that time, the full premium will be included in your tax basis so it will reduce the taxable gain or increase the taxable loss dollar for dollar. The amortization route can be a pain, since it's up to you to both figure how each year's share and keep track of the declining basis. But it could be more valuable, since the interest you don't report will avoid being taxed in your top tax bracket for the year--as high as 43.4%, while the capital gain you reduce by waiting until you sell or redeem the bond would only be taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%. If you buy a tax-free municipal bond at a premium, you must use the amortization method and reduce your basis each year . . . but you don't get to deduct the amount amortized. After all, the IRS doesn't get to tax the interest. Legal Fees Paid to Secure Alimony Thinkstock Although legal fees and court costs involved in a divorce are generally nondeductible personal expenses, you may be able to deduct the part of your attorney's bill. Since alimony is taxable income, you can deduct the part of the lawyer's fee that is attributable to setting the amount. You can also deduct the portion of the fee that is attributable to tax advice. You must itemize to get any tax savings here, and these costs fall into the category of miscellaneous expenses that are deductible only to the extent that the total exceeds 2% of your adjusted gross income. Still, be sure your attorney provides a detailed statement that breaks down his fee so you can tell how much of it may qualify for a tax-saving deduction. SEE ALSO: Most-Overlooked Tax Breaks for the Newly Divorced Don't Unnecessarily Report a State Income Tax Refund There's a line on the tax form for reporting a state income tax refund, but most people who get refunds can simply ignore it even though the state sent the IRS a copy of the 1099-G you got reporting the refund. If, like most taxpayers, you didn't itemize deductions on your previous federal return, the state tax refund is tax-free. Even if you did itemize, part of it might be tax-free. It's taxable only to the extent that your deduction of state income taxes the previous year actually saved you money. If you would have itemized (rather than taking the standard deduction) even without your state tax deduction, then 100% of your refund is taxable--since 100% of your write-off reduced your taxable income. But, if part of the state tax write-off is what pushed you over the standard deduction threshold, then part of the refund is tax-free. Don't report any more than you have to. SEE ALSO: Strangest State Taxes from Around the U.S. A 4-year-old with cerebral palsy took his first-ever steps with his mom and stepdad watching, thanks to a strangers generous donation. Luis Tamarez used a wheelchair to get around, but that was before a substitute teacher at North Main Elementary in New Jersey, Yorel Browne, had a conversation about the preschooler with a stranger. Read: Bodybuilder With Cerebral Palsy Proves There's No Excuse for Missing a Day at the Gym The chance encounter happened as Browne was working as an Uber driver. After sharing young Luis' story, the donated $500 to get the boy an Upsee mobility device. "I dont have the words to say. Its amazing, Luis' mom, Esmarlin Nunez Ramos, told InsideEdition.com. Ramos said that the 4-year-olds teacher, Amy Cutler, had been researching the device and was planning to start a GoFundMe, but before she could, her co-worker met Jim Burke in his Uber. "I'm telling this story of how great this kid was... who has a disability and is so enthused to help himself," Browne told ABC. "He said, 'Wait a minute, you don't have to do a fundraiser, I will write a check to cover this device.' We brought the gentleman to the school. He wrote a check for $500." The device is a harness that attaches to another person and Luis to stand upright and walk with assistance from that person. Burke told the he donated the money because he was in the "right place, at the right time." "It was a no-brainer. It touched me," Burke said. "It didn't even take a split second. It was a very easy decision." Ramos said the moment was amazing. Read: Man With Cerebral Palsy Walks for the First Time, Thanks to Robotic Skeleton Device She explained that she hadnt always had help with Luis, as she moved to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic when he was three years old. It wasnt until last year when she moved to New Jersey that he started receiving the therapy he needed. Story continues Ramos said he loves the device and always wants to walk around in it. Hes more confident. Hes been practicing walking most of the time, Ramos told InsideEdition.com. Watch: 100 Bikers Came to Birthday Party for Motorcycle-Loving Boy With Cerebral Palsy Related Articles: Sao Paulo (AFP) - Brazilian police were hunting for 52 inmates who broke out of a jail on Tuesday in the latest unrest to hit the country's overcrowded prisons. Inmates set fire to one of the cellblocks before escaping from the Penitentiary Progression Center, a semi-open prison in the town of Bauru, northwest of Sao Paulo, the national prisons authority said. The revolt broke out in protest after a prison guard confiscated a mobile phone from an inmate, it said. "The prisoners started a commotion and some took advantage of it to flee," a source in the prisons authority told AFP. Inmates set fire to the roof of the cellblock, but firefighters soon put out the blaze, the source said. The prisons authority said separately in a statement that 152 inmates fled and 100 were captured by military police. More than 130 prisoners have been reported killed in Brazil this year, many of them beheaded, in a series of bloody prison riots blamed on drug gangs. Environmental activists vowed to redouble their fight against the Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipelines after President Donald Trump signed presidential memoranda aimed at quickly approving the projects. Mass protests and concerted legal efforts will be central to opposition to the oil and gas infrastructure projects, environmental leaders said in the hours after the announcement. We will fight it with everything we got. We will be in the courts and we will be in the streets, says Bill McKibben, founder of the climate group 350.org. We will fight it and fight it with a certain amount of hope that we will prevail in the end. The exact mechanism that Trump used to try to expedite the projects remains unclear and environmental groups said they would not know exactly what legal action they would take until they analyzed the decision. Supporters of the Dakota Access Pipeline developed by Energy Transfer Partners have suggested that Trump direct the Army Corps of Engineers to lift a temporary halt to the project issued by the Obama administration. That could clear the way for the company behind the pipeline to begin construction almost immediately. Read More: Donald Trumps Victory Could Mean Disaster for the Planet But activists who succeeded in slowing the Dakota Access Pipeline last year suggested on Tuesday that they would mobilize regardless of the legal nature of Trumps executive action. Our resistance is stronger than ever before, says Dallas Goldtooth of the Indigenous Environmental Network, adding that advancing the project will prompt massive demonstrations and civil disobedience. Still, the path for permanently stopping the Dakota Access project remains unclear. The project is more than 95% complete, with the small region near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation remaining unconstructed, and local law enforcement has shown no hesitation in shutting down protests. Story continues Environmentalists were able to articulate a much clearer path to halting the Keystone XL pipeline. The details of Trumps executive action remain unclear, but reports have circulated in recent days that the president would eliminate a measure created by President Lyndon Johnson that requires the State Department to approve pipelines that cross international borders. That would allow the pipeline to proceed without a lengthy review process to reverse the assessment of Obamas State Department, which led to the projects demise in 2015. Read More: Obama Official Tells Scientists to Stand Up to Donald Trump Still, Keystone XL has not received the necessary state permits to proceed and environmentalists say stopping its approval in Nebraska could be key to halting the overall project. Landowners there have refused to give up their land for the project and TransCanada the company behind Keystone would need to resort to using eminent domain. Various bureaucratic requirements mean that the company could not use eminent domain until fall of this year, according to Jane Kleb, president of the Bold Alliance who works on the ground in Nebraska. And, of course, activists are prepared to mobilize with the same mass protests that defined the opposition to Keystone before Obama rejected it. Part of that effort will be a public relations battle to explain the facts of the project (for instance, it will create only a few dozen jobs in the U.S., inconsistent with Trumps promise). But part of the effort will also be the PR appeal of mass public opposition. I have a pair of handcuffs that are sitting on my bookshelf, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune told TIME last year. They may need to be used again. Correction: The original version of this story misstated the nature of President Trumps executive action. It involved presidential memoranda, not executive orders. Afghanistan's attorney general has ordered the arrest of nine bodyguards of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum for sexually abusing and torturing a rival, an official said Tuesday. Dostum, a former warlord who has a catalogue of war crimes to his name, has been accused of abducting Ahmad Ishchi in November last year during a traditional game of Buzkashi, or polo using an animal carcass, in the northern province of Jowzjan. Dostum allegedly kept Ishchi hostage in his private compound for five days, where he was said to have been tortured and sodomised. The country's attorney general launched an investigation into the allegations after local media said Ishchi underwent a medical examination at the US air base at Bagram north of Kabul to confirm the abuse. "The investigating team has issued an arrest warrant against nine of Mr Dostum's bodyguards who were involved in the case," Jamshid Rasuli, the spokesman for the attorney general's office, told AFP. "The team has also asked Mr Dostum to either respond to the queries himself or through his legal channels. But he has not responded yet," he said. Dostum was not immediately available for comment but has previously denied the allegations, proposing to resolve the matter by the traditional mediation of tribal elders rather than through conventional courts. The controversy has once again drawn attention to how Afghan warlords and strongmen operate with impunity, hobbling Western-backed efforts to restore peace and rebuild the nation after decades of conflict. Observers have been sceptical the government will sack or bring charges against Dostum, who has survived all previous allegations of abuse. Despite his human rights record, Dostum was invited to join the National Unity Government in 2014 in an attempt by President Ashraf Ghani to attract the support of his mostly ethnic Uzbek constituency. By Chijioke Ohuocha LAGOS (Reuters) - Africa Finance Corp (AFC) said it issued a three-year $150 million sukuk, becoming the first African government-backed entity to sell an Islamic bond. The announcement confirmed a Reuters report this month that the bank would raise a dollar sukuk through a private sale. AFC, a pan-African institution based in Nigeria, said it received subscriptions of $230 million for a debut sukuk initially planned to raise $100 million. It did not disclose the yield. "This sukuk represents a milestone in our financing activities ... to build new relationships," its Chief Executive Andrew Alli said in a statement. AFC was set up by African governments and the private sector in 2007 to mobilise investment for infrastructure across the continent. It has since invested more than $4 billion in 26 countries. Other African-based issuers are likely to follow with sukuk of their own, analysts say, as Islamic bonds can be cheaper than conventional bonds, especially when interest from the market is high. Nigeria, which has the largest Islamic population in sub-Saharan Africa, is already looking for advisers to organise its first Islamic bond in the domestic market. AFC's sukuk is structured with a murabaha format, a popular structure in Islamic finance in which buyer and seller agree a price mark-up. Moody's Investors Service assigned it an A3 credit rating. Emirates NBD Capital, MUFG and Rand Merchant Bank acted as joint bookrunners on the transaction. (editing by John Stonestreet) London (AFP) - The operations boss of Airbus declared Tuesday that the European aerospace giant was entering a "dangerous phase" because of Brexit, which could complicate its free movement of staff and products. Tom Williams, Chief Operating Officer and President of Commercial Aircraft at Airbus, made the comments before British lawmakers on parliament's powerful Treasury Select Committee. The Airbus chief was asked if the company would continue to prosper in the face of Brexit -- and whether it could survive without a presence in Britain. "If we didn't have our operations in the UK operating seamlessly, that would be a really big concern for us," Williams told MPs on the committee, indicating this could boost its fierce Seattle-based US rival Boeing. "And I am sure there would be many people in Seattle and in Washington that would be more than delighted to see this scenario played out, because they will take every opportunity to try undermine the success of Airbus. "And I take the view that whatever is being decided in Washington, it will also be done very much with what is good for Seattle. So we are entering into a dangerous phase." The aircraft manufacturer employs a total of 15,000 people in Britain, including sites at Filton in southwest England and Broughton in north Wales, designing and manufacturing wings. One week ago today, Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her Brexit blueprint, announcing for the first time that Britain will leave Europe's single market in order to control EU immigration. May insisted Tuesday that she will trigger the two-year Brexit process by the end of March, despite a Supreme Court ruling that the premier must first secure parliament's approval. RACINE The Racine Sister City Planning Council is seeking Racine high school students interested in a two-week home stay in Oiso, Japan, during the summer of 2017. Interested students and their parents are invited to attend an informational meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Martin Room at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St. Oiso has been one of our Sister City partners since 1982. Racine families have hosted students from Japan in an informal exchange program since 1998, and in 2015, three Racine high school students, one boy and two girls, were guests of Japanese families. This years participants will leave from OHare on Wednesday, July 19, and return on Thursday, Aug. 3. The Oiso program is open to current Racine high school students who will be sophomores, juniors or seniors in the 2017-18 school year (public or private schools) with an interest in learning about the culture and family life of a different country. No knowledge of the Japanese language is required. The cost to participants is airfare, passport and personal expenses. For more information, contact Dwayne Olsen at dwayne-olsen@wi.rr.com or Keiko Skow at keiko.skow@racinelibrary.info. From Popular Mechanics The names of technological tools often carry the same weight as the tools themselves-in some cases, words like Google or Uber become part of the lexicon. So it is with Bluetooth. Named after a Danish king, the technology has become standard worldwide, giving a name that's thousands of years old new life n the world of technology. Tom Scott explains the connection. At the time of the naming, Jim Kardach had been reading Frans G. Bengtsson's historical novel The Long Ships , which involves Harald Bluetooth. Bluetooth has gained the reputation in history for uniting diverse causes, in his cases the different factions of Denmark under a single banner, the type of thing that more famous historical figures Genghis Khan are known for as well. But unlike Khan, known mainly for his violence the often-peaceful Bluetooth was much less known outside of Denmark. "Where did I hear about the name Bluetooth?" wrote Kardach in an essay on the subject. "This originated on an earlier business trip to Toronto, Canada where Ericsson's Sven Mathesson and I were presenting our technology proposal to an existing SIG; Sven pitching as MC-Link, and me pitching as Biz-RF." Moving past those generic names, Kardach excitedly notes that "Harald had united Denmark and Christianized the Danes! It occurred to me that this would make a good codename for the program. At this time I also created a PowerPoint foil with a version of the Runic stone where Harald held a cellphone in one hand and a notebook in the other and with a translation of the runes." He also notes that another choice for the popular tool was Flirt, with the tagline: "close, but not touching." Ancient kings make for a far better story. Source: Tom Scott You Might Also Like Zagreb (AFP) - A Croatian school came under fire Tuesday for refusing to display an exhibition on Jewish diarist Anne Frank because it included panels on crimes committed by the country's World War II pro-Nazi regime. The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre called for the school's head to be dismissed, saying otherwise it signalled that pro-Nazi nostalgia was "perfectly legitimate" in modern-day Croatia. The exhibition, prepared by the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, was due to be displayed at a high school in the coastal town of Sibenik from Tuesday last week. But the organisers withdrew the same day after the school's director Josip Belamaric refused to allow six panels explaining the role of Croatia's wartime Ustasha regime, saying the pro-Nazis were presented as "criminals" while their rival communists' crimes were ignored. The Ustasha persecuted and killed hundreds of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma and anti-fascist Croatians. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, based in Los Angeles, has written to Croatia's charge d'affaires in Tel Aviv in protest at Belamaric's behaviour and seeking his immediate dismissal. "A failure to do so will indicate that Ustasha nostalgia is perfectly legitimate in today's Croatian school system," wrote the head of the centre's Israeli office, Efraim Zuroff. The exhibition, due to be displayed until mid-February, had previously been presented in 23 Croatian towns without any problem, the organisers said. Frank wrote "The Diary of a Young Girl" while hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic from June 1942 to August 1944. More than 30 million copies have been sold in 67 languages. Frank died in Germany's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp early in 1945, aged 15, less than a year after the Nazis found her and her family members. Croatia's conservative Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who came to power after a snap election in October, has pledged to move away from extremism. Story continues The previous centre-right government was accused by critics of turning a blind eye to a far-right surge in the country, including nostalgia for a pro-Nazi past. Croatian Jews are planning to boycott an official ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday, accusing authorities of downplaying the Ustasha crimes. Plenkovic arrived Tuesday on an official visit to Israel to discuss boosting ties, as the two countries mark 20 years since establishing diplomatic relations. BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) An Argentine prosecutor is launching an investigation into the country's spy chief after a news report linked him to the biggest corruption scandal in Brazil's history. Prosecutor Federico Delgado announced the decision Tuesday. It comes after La Nacion recently reported that Brazilian construction conglomerate Odebrecht paid spy chief Gustavo Arribas nearly $600,000 in 2013 through a black market money dealer who has accepted a plea bargain. La Nacion alleged the money was deposited in a Swiss bank account. President Mauricio Macri has said Arribas will explain the matter when he returns from vacation this week. The federal intelligence agency that Arribas leads has denied the reports, saying that Arribas only received $70,000 as part of a real estate deal in Brazil. Reuters (Reuters) -U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett on Friday again declined to block President Joe Biden's plan to cancel billions of dollars in student debt, this time in a challenge brought by two Indiana borrowers, even as a lower court considers whether to lift a freeze it imposed on the program in a different case. Barrett denied an emergency request by the Indiana borrowers, represented by a conservative legal group, to bar the U.S. Department of Education from implementing the Democratic president's plan to forgive debt held by qualified people who had taken loans to pay for college. Barrett on Oct. 20 denied a similar request by a Wisconsin taxpayers organization represented by another conservative legal group. Sydney (AFP) - Australia said Tuesday it was working to recast the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the United States and opened the door for China to sign up after President Donald Trump ditched the huge trade pact. The deal included a dozen Asia-Pacific nations which together account for 40 percent of the global economy, but Trump declared Monday he had "terminated" it in line with election pledges to scrap the "job killer" pact. Canberra is floating a "TPP 12 minus one", with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying his government was in "active discussions" with other signatories including Japan, New Zealand and Singapore on how to salvage the agreement. "It is possible that US policy could change over time on this, as it has done on other trade deals," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra, adding that the nominee for US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Republicans supported the TPP. "There is also the opportunity for the TPP to proceed without the United States," he added. "Certainly there is the potential for China to join the TPP." The agreement, the biggest trade deal in history, was seen as a counter to China's rising economic influence. It was signed last year but has not gone into effect. Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said Australia, Canada, Mexico and others had canvassed for a pact without the US at a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Davos. "There would be scope for China if we were able to reformulate it to be a TPP 12 minus one, for countries like Indonesia or China or indeed other countries to consider joining," Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This is very much a live option and we are pursuing it and it will be the focus of conversations for some time to come." New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English noted that Beijing "hasn't been slow to spot the opportunity" to cast itself as a free trade supporter. Story continues There was a willingness towards "making an effort to find out what we can do with TPP, rather than just dropping it and waiting and hoping to get a call (from Washington) about bilateral agreements sometime", he told reporters in Wellington. Trump said he would pursue bilateral deals with TPP signatories to secure terms more favourable to the US. But English said a US-New Zealand pact would be challenging given Trump's insistence that Washington would dictate terms. - Chinese interest - Beijing has long been noncommittal on the idea of joining the TPP, choosing to back an alternative trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a more modest deal that calls for lower and more limited regulatory standards. It includes the 10 members of the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, but notably excludes the US. At a regular press briefing Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying remained coy about Beijing joining the TPP, simply noting that China supports "open, transparent, and win-win" trade pacts. RCEP talks were pressing ahead, she said, stating they "should be concluded at an early date". Alan Oxley, the first Australian to chair the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the World Trade Organisation's predecessor, said Chinese involvement in the TPP was unlikely at this stage. "China's certainly interested in the long run... but the prospect of them tying into the TPP now, given their own domestic economic problems, has got to be considered very low," Oxley, who heads the Australian APEC Study Centre at RMIT University, told AFP. The most likely option for TPP nations was "let the dust settle" and wait for possible changes in US attitudes towards multilateral pacts, he said. Analysts in Japan said the TPP would not make sense without the US. "Japan thinks it's worth patiently maintaining the (TPP) framework even until the United States possibly comes back to it under the next administration," Yoko Takeda, chief economist at Mitsubishi Research Institute, told AFP. Trump's decision to walk away from it "could be a negotiating bluff," he said. By Charlotte Greenfield and Stanley White WELLINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after U.S. President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former U.S. President Barack Obama's policy to pivot to Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China, which is not a TPP member. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday pulling the United States out of the 2015 TPP agreement and distancing the United States from its Asian allies. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had held discussions with Abe, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong overnight about the possibility of proceeding without the United States. "Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. "But we are not about to walk away ... certainly there is potential for China to join the TPP." In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but that at a time of economic uncertainly the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness. "We think that in the present situation, no matter what happens, all should keep going down the path of open, inclusive, continuous development, seeking cooperation and win-win," Hua told a daily news briefing. Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asia's trade rules before Beijing could, establishing U.S. economic leadership in the region as part of his "pivot to Asia". Story continues China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Hua said efforts on FTAAP should be stepped up, adding China hoped talks on RCEP could be concluded at an early date. MEETINGS PLANNED New Zealand's English said the United States was ceding influence to China and the region's focus could switch to alternative trade deals. "We've got this RCEP agreement with Southeast Asia, which up until now has been on a bit of a slow burn, but we might find the political will for that to pick up if TPP isn't going to proceed," English said. Malaysia's trade minister said negotiators from the remaining TPP countries would be in "constant communication" to decide the best way forward. "Notwithstanding the current position of the new U.S. administration on (TPP), we will continue to engage with our American colleagues to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relations, given the U.S.s importance as our third-largest trading partner and a major source of investment," Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement. The TTP, which has been five years in the making, requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the combined gross domestic product of the member nations. Australia held open the possibility of China, the world's top exporter, joining a revised deal. "The original architecture was to enable other countries to join," Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday. "Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed interest and there would be scope for China if we are able to reformulate it." Japan has led the push for the partnership, which includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam. "There is no change to our view that free trade is the source of economic growth," Japanese Economy Minister Nobuteru Ishihara told reporters. When asked whether Japan would be open to negotiating a bilateral trade pact with the United States, Ishihara said it was uncertain whether U.S. trade officials would start such negotiations. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said separately that Japan was not considering moves with other TPP members based on a lack of U.S. involvement. "As Prime Minister Abe has made clear, TPP without the United States is meaningless and the balance of interests would crumble," he told a news conference, adding Japan would keep explaining the benefits of the pact for America. Abe had made TPP a core of his economic growth policies and along with the Obama administration, viewed it as strategically vital in the face of a rising China Trump took office on Friday and pledged to end what he called an "American carnage" of rusted factories and crime. He vowed to bring jobs back by renegotiating what he called bad multilateral trade deals in favor of bilateral ones. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said he had talked with a number of TPP-member ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week and he expected they would meet in coming months. "The agreement still has value as a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the other countries involved," McClay said in an emailed statement to Reuters. (Additional reporting by Swati Pandey in SYDNEY, Ami Miyazaki and Linda Sieg in TOKYO, Liz Lee in KUALA LUMPUR and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel) Melbourne (AFP) - Brief stories from the Australian Open on Tuesday: Vote of thanks Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was delighted to receive a letter from a ball girl he helped from the court at last year's Australian Open, after she had been dazed by being struck in the face with a ball. "Dear Mr. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga," the letter read. "I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you for helping me out on court during your round 2 match. I'm not sure if you remember me but I was the ball girl you escorted off court." Tsonga commented: "It was nice to have this letter. I didn't do something really special, to be honest. I just saw her last year. She was struggling. I saw that she needs some help. The only thing I did is I took her and I bring her to outside of the court, and that's it. I didn't save the world at all. But it was really kind to receive something after that." Standards on the slide The Age newspaper reported some unusual goings-on regarding media at the Australian Open. One European journalist was found sleeping rough under a bridge and moved on by security, the paper said. It added that a Chinese journalist brought his five-year-old along, and left the child unattended at the tournament's play area while he carried on with his work. "When he returned at 7:00pm -- 10 hours later -- to pick up the child, he was greeted by police who sternly reminded the gentleman that the playground was not a day-care centre," the report said. A wildcard - for my girlfriend Rafael Nadal looked distinctly flustered when he was pulled up for describing his girlfriend as a "wildcard" entry for the tournament. Nadal's long-term girlfriend Xisca Perello is rarely seen courtside, but she has finally made an appearance in Melbourne, where Nadal has competed 11 times, reaching three finals and lifting the trophy in 2009. "After 10 years, finally my girlfriend gets a wildcard to come here," Nadal told on-court interviewer Jim Courier, as Perello looked on. "A wildcard? I'm speechless. That's a wildcard? She's not a main draw player? She needs a special entry?" Courier said. An embarrassed Nadal replied awkwardly: "Better we stop here." President Donald Trump met with manufacturing executives Tuesday morning from top automotive companies, looking to secure manufacturing plants in the U.S. that produce cars to be sold there. Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security. Top executives coming in at 9:00 A.M. to talk manufacturing in America. -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 23, 2017 Will be meeting at 9:00 with top automobile executives concerning jobs in America. I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here! -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2017 Executives from Ford Motor Co. (ticker: F), Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCAU) and General Motors Co. (GM) were to attend the meeting, reports Bloomberg. Ford CEO Mark Fields is looking to talk with Trump about corporate tax reform, trade policy plans involving foreign currency manipulation and "data-driven regulations," Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker told Bloomberg. Fields also went to Trump's meeting Monday with U.S. manufacturers like Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk. "We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent. Maybe more," Trump told reporters Monday. "When you want to expand your plant, or when Mark wants to come in and build a big massive plant, or when Dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special -- you're going to have your approvals really fast." Trump has had an adversarial relationship to the auto industry. He took credit on Twitter earlier this year for talking Ford out of not sending a Lincoln plant from Mexico to Kentucky -- though such a plant doesn't exist. Ford has a plant in Kentucky that makes the Lincoln MKC SUV and Ford Escape and reportedly was looking to move production for the Lincoln model, though the company scrapped the plan. Ford also halted a plan for a $1.6 billion car assembly factory in Mexico, shifting gears toward the expansion of a Michigan factory to the tune of $700 million. Ford stock is up nearly 3 percent on the year. Story continues The president called out General Motors on Twitter earlier this year for making its Chevrolet Cruze in Mexico and shipping it tax-free to the U.S. for sale, though the company pushed back. "General Motors manufacturers the Chevrolet Cruze sedan in Lordstown, Ohio," a General Motors spokesman said in a statement at the time. "All Chevrolet Cruze sedans sold in the U.S. are built in GM's assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio." GM clarified it builds the Cruze hatchback in Mexico for global markets, and only a "small number" are sold in the U.S. Reuters reports that number amounts to 4,500. GM stock is up more than 6.5 percent this year. Car Companies and the Race to Profits 8 Ways President Donald Trump Will Affect Wall Street David Oliver is Associate Editor, Social Media at U.S. News & World Report. Follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, or send him an email at doliver@usnews.com. Dhaka (AFP) - Bangladesh has begun planting one million palm trees nationwide to help prevent hundreds of people being killed by lightning strikes every year, a top official said Tuesday. Authorities last year declared lightning a natural disaster as official tallies recorded more than 200 deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May. Experts say the real number was actually much higher, with one independent monitor saying 349 people were killed by lightning strikes in 2016. Many people living in rural areas do not report deaths to the police. Disaster officials have spent several months looking at ways to reduce the toll and the tree planting programme is likely to be the first of several measures brought in by the government. "We've already started planting palm trees in rural areas in an effort to reduce the number of deaths due to lightning," Shah Kamal, the government's disaster management secretary, told AFP. "We'll plant one million palm trees by June this year." Experts say the high death toll stems in part from a lack of trees whose branches can absorb the impact of lightning. While the trees are damaged, it means the electric charge does not course through the earth. Kamal said a similar programme in Thailand had already yielded results, adding that a team of Bangladeshi officials had also travelled to Vietnam to study how authorities there protect farmers along the Mekong delta. A top meteorologist who has conducted some research on lightning said the tree planting should help ultimately help reduce the number of deaths, but the benefits would only be felt some way down the line. "Palm trees take years to grow. But definitely, this is a good move by the government. It will reduce deaths," Shah Alam, a former head of Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told AFP. Alam said the number of lightning strikes has increased in Bangladesh amid increased deforestation in rural areas where farmers often chop down trees so they can grow more rice and other crops. RACINE Per an executive order from Gov. Scott Walker, all flags in Racine County may hang at half-staff Tuesday in honor of the late former Racine Police Chief Richard Polzin. Polzin, 74, died on Jan. 3. He will be memorialized at St. Lucy's Catholic Church, 3035 Drexel Ave., today, Tuesday, Jan. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m. In the executive order, Walker acknowledged Polzin's 36 years of service to the Racine Police Department in addition to his work with Racine Community Outpost, the organization that oversees the department's Community-Oriented Policing (COP) Houses. "Chief Richard V. Polzin was a dedicated public servant who made many significant contributions to the City of Racine and the Racine Police Department throughout his career, and the people of Wisconsin mourn his passing," Walker said in the executive order. President Donald Trump signed executive actions on Tuesday to advance the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, sparking a swift backlash from Democrats, celebrities and environmental activists who have fiercely opposed the projects, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Trumps move makes good on his campaign pledge to approve the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would transport crude oil from Canadas tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico and which was rejected by former President Barack Obama in 2015. The Dakota Access pipeline, which would run 1,100-miles from North Dakota to Illinois, has also been harshly criticized by environmental advocates who say that both projects would lead to severe damage to the fragile ecosystem in their paths and to more reliance on fossil fuels. The Dakota Access project has also been vehemently protested by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its allies including actress Shailene Woodley, who was arrested there in October. They argue the pipeline would damage cultural sites, could put the community at risk should the pipeline leak and contaminate the Missouri River and have disastrous environmental consequences. Many took to Twitter to protest Trumps decision, including former Democratic hopeful Sanders, who has been a vocal opponent of the projects. He charged: President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet. President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet. https://t.co/veEc0AJeeH Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js We can't afford to build new pipelines that lock us into burning more fossil fuels. I will do everything I can to stop Keystone XL and DAPL. Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Story continues Actress and activist Mia Farrow retweeted Sanders and also urged followers to call their representatives to protest the pipelines: If you oppose the Dakota & Keystone piplines call your Representatives switchboard will put you thru 202 225-3121 Mia Farrow (@MiaFarrow) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Trump just signed 2 push Dakota pipeline thru! F me & the next 7 generations. Hold Strong Friends! @Janefonda@free Kari Cooper (@yurtgrrl3) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Well all the hard work done by Native American protest over the pipeline construction just got screwed by trump. #notmypresident Tanner Jackson (@Tanniejb) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Trump signed executive orders 2 start the pipeline again. He doesn't care about the environment at ALL. Back to fighting. #NoDAPL Kimberly Anderson (@KimAnderson80) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js We cannot allow Trump to build that pipeline at Standing Rock. Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js #DAPL & #Keystone were rejected once by power of the ppl. What worked before can work again, if ppl are loud enough! https://t.co/LYSwEozWXp Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Trump's decision to give the go-ahead for the Dakota Access Pipeline is a slap in the face to Native Americans. #NoDAPL #NoKXL ACLU National (@ACLU) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Sen. Sanders also released a full statement on Tuesday vowing to continue fighting the projects and to protect our planet for future generations. RELATED VIDEO: Watch: Natasha Stoynoff Breaks Silence, Accuses Donald Trump of Sexual Attack At a time when the scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, it is caused by human activity and it is already causing devastating problems, we cannot afford to build new oil pipelines that lock us into burning fossil fuels for years to come. I will do everything I can to stop these pipelines and protect our planet for future generations, Sanders charged. Woodley, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Fonda and Leonardo DiCaprio are among the celebrities who have protested and spoken out against the pipelines in the past and in the days leading up to Trumps signing of the executive orders to advance the projects. DAPL and #Keystone would be disastrous for the people and the environment. Let's keep fighting brothers & sisters. #NoDAPL Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 24, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js one week ago, I was arrested while protecting water against the #dakotaaccesspipeline my article on it. https://t.co/hrgF97qHLl Shailene Woodley (@shailenewoodley) October 20, 2016 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js MY BLOG: NEW PIPELINES IN CANADA (EVEN A POSSIBLE TAKE 2 ON THE KEYSTONE XL) THREATEN TO DOOM PARIS CLIMATE TREATY https://t.co/NBx5bCBiup Jane Seymour Fonda (@Janefonda) January 17, 2017 //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Woodley was arrested on Oct. 10 while participating in a protest against the construction of the pipeline in Bismarck, North Dakota. The 25-year-old actress, who streamed her arrest via Facebook Live, was charged with criminal trespassing and engaging in a riot, and later pleaded not guilty. The Divergent actress later published an essay about her arrest in Time, describing the importance of protesting peacefully and raising awareness for environmental and social causes. The Dakota Access Pipeline, my friends, is not another time to ignore, mistreat and turn a blind eye to Native Americans, she wrote at the time. On Monday, Woodley and other Dakota Access Pipeline protesters marched through the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, to urge Robert Redfords Sundance Institute to cut ties to festival sponsor Chase Bank over its funding of the project, the Los Angeles Times reported. There is a hypocrisy in talking about indigenous cultures but not doing anything, as a non-native ally, to stand with them, Woodley said in a live video from the protest that was posted to her Facebook page. London (AFP) - Britain is set to become the first European Union member to leave the bloc following a referendum last year in which a majority voted for Brexit. Here is what we know so far, following Tuesday's ruling by the Supreme Court that Prime Minister Theresa May must seek parliamentary approval before she can start Brexit negotiations. - Referendum: On June 23, 2016, Britons voted by 52 percent in favour to 48 percent against leaving the EU, although most voters in Scotland, Northern Ireland and London backed remaining part of the bloc. Former prime minister David Cameron, who took office in 2010, called the referendum in a bid to end long-standing divisions in his Conservative party and stem the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) but his campaign to stay in the EU failed. He resigned hours after the referendum results came in. - Timing: Cameron's successor May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 -- the formal procedure for leaving the EU under the Lisbon Treaty -- by the end of March. The government has said this timetable will not change even though the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that parliament will have to first pass a bill authorising May to begin Brexit negotiations. Finance minister Philip Hammond has said he expects negotiations to begin before the summer. Article 50 foresees a maximum two-year time period for the negotiations. If no deal is in place by then, Britain would have to leave without any agreement on future ties with the EU, unless the timeframe can be extended by unanimous agreement of all member states. The EU's top Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said there should be an agreement in place by 2018, ahead of the 2019 European Parliament elections. - Parliament: Lawmakers are widely expected to give their go-ahead for the government to begin Brexit talks, although the main opposition Labour Party has said it wants to table amendments to the proposed legislation. This could, in theory, delay the start of Brexit. Story continues Most MPs supported Britain staying in the EU but many have said they will now respect the result of the referendum. The government has said it expects no change and has already prepared draft legislation. May has also promised that any final deal on Britain's future relations with the EU would go before both chambers of parliament for a vote. - Transition deal: In a major speech on January 17, May said she wanted a "phased approach" to ensure stability for businesses between the moment Britain leaves the EU and the implementation of its new relationship with the bloc. "We will seek to avoid a disruptive cliff edge," she said. May added that all existing EU laws that apply in Britain will be turned into British laws under a "Great Repeal Bill" and parliament will then be able to choose which ones to keep, reject or amend. - Immigration: May has said she will make cutting immigration a priority in negotiations, after the issue dominated the referendum campaign. Hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from eastern and southern Europe, move to Britain each year. May has given no detail of what the new entry criteria will be for Europeans and has refused to confirm that EU citizens already in Britain can stay after Brexit until similar guarantees are offered to Britons living elsewhere in the bloc. - Trade: May said she wants "maximum possible access" for British companies to the single market even though Britain will not be a member, and also called for a new customs arrangement with the EU. She has said full customs union membership would prevent Britain from striking its own trade deals with other countries but said the nation could remain a signatory to some parts of the customs union. May has also warned EU member states against pushing for harsh exit terms for Britain, saying it would be "an act of calamitous self-harm" for the EU. She has threatened that she could "change the basis of Britain's economic model" -- for example by slashing business taxes -- if British companies were excluded from accessing the single market. VALLETTA (Reuters) - Britain can discuss but not seal bilateral trade deals while it remains a member of the European Union, the deputy head of the bloc's executive, which will lead the technical negotiations on Brexit, said on Tuesday. Frans Timmermans' words raised the prospect of obstacles and delays for Britain's plan to pursue trade pacts with the United States and other nations as it prepares to leave the bloc. British Prime Minister Theresa May had promised to start the divorce proceedings in March - though the timing of the exit was called into question on Tuesday when a top court ruled she must first seek approval from parliament. "It's a very simple legal situation," said Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission. "Everybody can talk to everyone, but you can only sign a trade agreement with a third country once you have left the EU. You can't do that before," Timmermans told reporters. His comments seemed slightly less rigid that those of his boss, the Commission's President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said last year he did not like the idea of Britain negotiating trade agreements on its own while Brexit has not materialized. The line has been echoed by Italy's Europe minister, Sandro Gozi, also attending a meeting of EU ministers and officials in Malta: "It is clear that trade is an exclusive competence (of central EU institutions on behalf of member states). As long as UK remains member of the EU, it should respect the EU law." EU regulations give both sides two years from the moment the exit clause is triggered to negotiate and agree the divorce before it comes to fruition. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Andrew Heavens) Dublin (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May has turned down a rare invitation to address the Irish parliament during an official visit scheduled for next week, her Irish counterpart Enda Kenny said on Tuesday. "My understanding is that the prime minister's schedule will not allow that to happen and I am not in control of that schedule. "Obviously, when details are absolutely finalised, we will be aware of those," Kenny told lawmakers. Dublin is yet to confirm the precise date for next week's visit, during which Kenny will hold a meeting with the British prime minister. The invitation to address parliament was sent to May's office earlier this month, following earlier confirmation of the one-day visit to discuss the implications for both countries of Britain's decision to leave the European Union. Ireland is set to be the only country in the EU to share a land border with Britain after it leaves the bloc, leading to considerable concerns in Dublin over the implications of a return to border controls with Northern Ireland. Finances will also likely be discussed during the bilateral meeting, as Britain is the country's single biggest trading partner. Had May accepted Kenny's invitation to address parliament she would have been the second British prime minister to do so, after Tony Blair in 1998 after the signing of an historic peace accord in Northern Ireland to end three decades of violence. BANGKOK (AP) A 39-year-old British man was killed in his Porsche sedan in the Thai resort town of Pattaya on Tuesday by a gunman who pulled open the door and shot him at point-blank range, police said. Police Col. Jirawut Tantasri identified the victim as Tony Kenway. He said Kenway lived in Thailand for seven years and worked in the computer field. Police have not identified the shooter or the motive in the killing. Pattaya is a popular beachside resort town about two hours' drive from Bangkok with a reputation as a sin city rife with corruption and prostitution. It attracts a significant number of Western residents, including organized crime figures from several nations. Although police identified Kenway as British, his Facebook page says he is from Marbella, Spain. Surveillance video copied by Thai media showed Kenway walking across the parking area of a sports club to his red Porsche Cayenne GTS as a person who had been standing nearby approaches from a different direction. Immediately after Kenway gets in and shuts the door, the assailant pulls it back open and leans in, apparently shooting his victim in the head, though the action is not distinctly visible in the video. The gunman then runs to a road just outside the parking area where a motorcycle drives up and whisks him away. The Bangkok Post newspaper reported that Kenway's Thai wife told police that her husband had set up a website design company and was involved in a business dispute, though she did not know if that was the motive for the killing. Brussels (AFP) - The Islamic State suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport last year targeted passengers travelling to the United States and also Jewish people, several sources told AFP. The Belgian-led investigation believes a check-in counter for an American carrier was one of the targets in the March 22, 2016 attacks, the sources said on condition of anonymity. They also suspect that travellers to Israel may have been in the crosshairs, and that airport security camera footage shows one bomber apparently pursuing Hasidic Jews seconds before one of the blasts. Islamic State (IS) bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui killed 16 people at Zaventem airport. Around an hour later Bakraoui's brother Khalid attacked a metro station near EU headquarters, killing another 16. One source close to the investigation told AFP, which contacted investigators in several countries, that one of the airport bombers "attacked the Delta Airlines check-in". "We know they wanted to target Americans," said the source, who asked not to be named. "It's clear they had quite specific targets." Asked if these targets included the check-in counter for a flight to Israel, he replied: "We know they were obsessed with the Israelis too." The possibility that they targeted Russian travellers was an "option" that had to be clarified, he said. - 'Wanted to kill a Jew' - There were casualties from at least 40 nationalities in the Brussels attacks, but investigators and sources believe the Zaventem bombers had specific targets. "Even early on (in the investigation) there were indications that they targeted US, Russian and Israeli check-in counters," a US law enforcement source told AFP on condition of anonymity. "That understanding has held up with later investigations, including with Abrini's alleged confession," the source said. Mohamed Abrini is the so-called "man in the hat" who fled the airport without detonating his suitcase bomb after his accomplices set off theirs. He was captured a month later. Story continues Four Americans were killed at the airport and several injured, while two Israelis aged 23 and 28 were treated in Jerusalem after the attacks. Israeli media identified the pair as members of the Belz Hassid ultra-Orthodox religious sect, who had been scheduled to fly from Brussels airport to Ben Gurion. Sources close to the investigation added that camera footage never released to the public showed that Laachraoui had been standing among some 60 high school students before deciding to pursue two Orthodox Jews. "The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews," one of the sources said. "He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew." A US government source said separately that Lachraoui was targeting a Hasidic Jew. Hasidic men are easily recognisable because they wear dark suits over white shirts, have long beards, hats and curly sidelocks. Investigators "are very confident they (bombers) were targeting US, Russia and Israel," the US government source said. Israeli security measures have dramatically increased since the attacks, an airport source added. - 'Cornered and hunted' - A Belgian press report said investigators had found an electronic message from Khalid El Bakraoui saying flights departed every Tuesday from Brussels to the United States, Russia and Israel, but investigators would not confirm that. However the attack did occur around 8:00 am on a Tuesday, shortly before scheduled flights to all three countries by United, American, Delta, El Al, Brussels Airlines and Russia's Aeroflot, according to airport and other sources. An airport source who asked not to be named said the bomb that did not explode was left near the United and El Al counters, which were facing each other. Abrini appeared in unreleased airport CCTV footage as lagging behind the other bombers before hiding behind a pillar covering his ears, two independent sources said. "Every indication was that Abrini changed his mind," the US law enforcement source said. Investigators have said the bombers were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the November 2015 Paris attacks. They believe they were spurred into action in Brussels by the March 18 arrest of key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. "Completely cornered and hunted, they clearly improvised," a source close to the Belgian investigation said, adding that one of the bombers left a message on an abandoned computer apologising for not having launched a new attack on France. Belgium had also suffered an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 which left four people dead. The alleged attacker, Mehdi Nemmouche, has been linked to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said "Israel does not comment publicly on security-related issues" when asked about the March 2016 attacks. The FBI, which is taking part in the investigation, did not respond to a request for comment. Russia's investigation committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, said it is "not investigating the Brussels attacks." London (AFP) - BT shares dived by a fifth on Tuesday after the telecoms and TV group warned that profits would take a much larger hit than expected from accounting irregularities in Italy. The company's share price tanked 20.06 percent to 305.90 pence in late afternoon deals on London's rising stock market. BT first revealed the accounting errors in October, estimating it would take a hit of 145 million. But on Tuesday that figure was massively raised to 530 million ($659 million, 614 million euros). An independent review of its Italian business uncovered improper accounting practices and a "complex set of improper sales, purchase, factoring and leasing transactions", BT said in a statement Tuesday. The net result was there has been an overstatement of earnings at BT's Italian business over a number of years, leading to the upwards revision in the value of the writedown. "We are deeply disappointed with the improper practices which we have found," added chief executive Gavin Patterson. "We have undertaken extensive investigations... and are committed to ensuring the highest standards across the whole of BT for the benefit of our customers, shareholders, employees and all other stakeholders." BT added it is attempting to establish how the 530 million impact should be reflected in its financial statements for current and previous periods. However, the company expects the fiasco to result in a reduction in its third-quarter adjusted revenue and adjusted earnings of around 120 million. "The improper behaviour in our Italian business is an extremely serious matter, and we have taken immediate steps to strengthen the financial processes and controls in that business," BT noted in the statement. "We suspended a number of BT Italy's senior management team who have now left the business. "We have also appointed a new chief executive of BT Italy who will take charge on 1 February 2017." By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The California Senate on Monday confirmed U.S. Congressman Xavier Becerra as attorney general, positioning the majority-Democrat state to challenge conservative policies of new Republican President Donald Trump. Becerra, who represented Los Angeles for 24 years in Congress, was approved by a party line votes of 26 to 9, with Democrats heavily in favor and Republicans arguing that the state should give the new administration a chance rather than picking fights. He will replace former California Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November. "It's a role to defend the progress and the values of the people of California," Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon said of Becerra's new job in an interview after the vote on Monday. "These are extraordinary times and require extraordinary actions." Becerra, 58, was nominated for the position by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown shortly after Trump's election. A Stanford-trained attorney who was first elected to Congress in 1993, Becerra is viewed as a reliable progressive with the savvy to navigate the halls of Congress as well as the nation's courtrooms. "I couldn't ask for a better job," said Becerra, to be sworn in by Brown on Tuesday. "It is humbling and exciting to assume responsibility for vigorously advancing the forward-leaning values that make California unique among the many states." Becerra learned through his long Congressional career to work both sides of the aisle, and he made sure to meet with legislative Republicans before his confirmation hearings began this month. But while the legislature's minority GOP members made a point to say they liked and respected Becerra, most spoke against his nomination. "Instead of acting like we're going to be defiant, Id like to see us extending an olive branch" to the new administration, said state Senator John Moorlach, a Republican who represents part of Orange County south of Los Angeles. In addition to naming Becerra attorney general, the legislature also hired the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, an Obama appointee, to represent them in cases and negotiations involving the new administration and Republican-controlled Congress. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Andrew Hay and David Gregorio) OTTAWA (Reuters) - A Canadian court on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the government's controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia, ruling that the former foreign affairs minister considered the relevant security and human rights factors. Former Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and the Liberal government came under fire last year for signing off on a $13 billion General Dynamics Corp contract to supply light armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia, despite concerns about the country's human rights record. The Liberals have argued they had no choice but to honor what they said was a binding contract made in 2014 under the previous Conservative government. Dion signed the key export permits last April. The application for judicial review was brought before the Federal Court last year by Daniel Turp, a professor at the Universite de Montreal and former member of parliament for the separatist Bloc Quebecois. Turp argued that the issuance of the permits was against Canada's export rules, as well as the Geneva Convention, and that there was a reasonable risk that the armored vehicles would be used against Shi'ite minorities in Saudi Arabia. The government countered that Dion's sole obligation was to take into account all the relevant factors, which he did. Justice Daniele Tremblay-Lamer found that it was up to Dion to assess whether there was a reasonable risk the vehicles might be used against civilians, noting that there have been no incidents in which light armored vehicles have been used in human rights violations in Saudi Arabia since trade relations began with Canada in the 1990s. "The role of the court is not to pass moral judgment on the minister's decision to issue the export permits but only to make sure of the legality of such a decision," Tremblay-Lamer wrote. "The court is of the opinion that the minister considered the relevant factors. In such a case, it is not open to the court to set aside the decision." Turp was not immediately available for comment. Joseph Pickerill, a spokesman for current Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, said the minister thanked the court for its decision. Dion was replaced as foreign affairs minister earlier this month by Freeland, who was previously in charge of trade. Tremblay-Lamer dismissed the judicial review without costs. Turp has 30 days to appeal. (Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Andrew Hay) From Popular Mechanics For more than fifty years, the 1st Royal Canadian Horse Artillery Regiment has been battling an enemy that's killed many more Canadians than terrorism has. We're talking about avalanches. Each winter, the regiment deploys a number of howitzers to Roger's Pass, British Columbia. The mission: blast hillsides with high explosive shells to reduce the threat of avalanches. The Trans-Canada Highway and the Canadian Pacific Railway both traverse Rogers Pass, British Columbia, as a shortcut across the the "Big Bend" of the Columbia River. Located at 4,363 feet, Rogers Pass gets an ungodly amount of snow each year-up to 36 feet. According to the Canadian Armed Forces, more than 250 railroad workers were killed by avalanches in the pass between 1885 and 1916. The pass has 103 avalanche paths, giving it the highest rating for any arterial road in North America. Closing the pass in the winter is not a viable solution. Canada estimates more than 4,000 motor vehicles and 40 trains make their way across the pass every day in winter, and keeping the pass open 365 days a year makes of billions of dollars in economic activity. The Canadian government keeps the pass open by firing high explosive shells at the hillsides, triggering smaller, safer avalanches to avoid dangerous buildups of snow. Scientists from Parks Canada monitor snow conditions in the area and if a potentially dangerous situation is detected, they get in touch with the Army. Each year since 1961, the Royal Canadian Artillery has sent howitzers to the pass to fire shells at preregistered targets on hillsides. The program, known as Operation PALACI is well established, with seventeen firing positions set up along roadsides. Gunners fire high explosive shells at avalanche paths up to three to five kilometers away. The artillery strikes are carried out with C3 towed 105-millimeter howitzers, an upgrade of the older U.S. M101 howitzer. This year, according to the Canadian Armed Forces, the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, from Canadian Forces Base Shilo, Manitoba, and various reserve artillery units will carry out the bombardments. PALACI is expected to run through mid-April. Story continues Here's a video on PALACI from 2015 created by the Calgary Herald: You Might Also Like trump business leaders meeting President Donald Trump met with major automaker executives in the White House Tuesday morning as part of his push to increase manufacturing jobs in the US. Trump met with the CEOs from Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler a day after he met with executives from companies like Lockheed Martin and Whirlpool as part of a push to keep companies from building manufacturing plants abroad. At the Tuesday meeting, Trump vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive to build auto plants in the US, Reuters reported. That echoes what Trump said on Monday morning when he said he would cut regulations by 75% and slash taxes. It was unclear whether he was referring to reducing the number of regulations or their cost. Any company that attempts to manufacture its products abroad will face large border taxes, Trump also said on Monday. Will be meeting at 9:00 with top automobile executives concerning jobs in America. I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2017 The meeting Tuesday marks the first time a US president will be meeting with CEOs from the "big three" automakers since President Barack Obama cracked down on fuel-efficiency standards in 2011, according to Reuters. Trump has made several public comments about keeping auto manufacturing in the US. In November, Trump took credit for Ford keeping a manufacturing plant in the US instead of moving it to Mexico. Ford, however, said it had never been planning to move the plant itself; it had considered shifting production of one of its vehicles from its Louisville plant to Mexico, a shift the company said wouldn't have resulted in job cuts at the Louisville facility. Trump also sent out a tweet earlier in January threatening to tax General Motors for manufacturing its cars abroad. GM wrote in a statement at the time that most of the Chevy Cruze vehicles sold in the US were produced in Ohio. GM does manufacture an international model of its Chevy Cruze in Mexico, some units of which are sold in the US. Story continues GM said in late January that it will invest $1 billion in its US operations, which will bring 450 jobs back from Mexico to the US. In November, however, GM laid off a total of 2,000 hourly workers at two US plants. 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 I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016 Some automakers have already made moves independently of Trump to keep manufacturing in the US. In early January, Ford announced plans to put $700 million into its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan as part of a five-year, $4.5 billion investment in electric and autonomous vehicles. The Flat Rock plant is expected to grow by 700 employees as a result. Fields said the investment was not a result of a deal made with Trump but did show a vote of confidence in Trump's pro-business policies. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who met with Trump on Monday, is building a massive battery plant, called the Gigafactory, in Sparks, Nevada, that is expected to employ 6,500 people when it is completed in 2020. Tesla, however, is also interested in building a second Gigafactory in Europe. NOW WATCH: Shia LaBeouf got into a shouting match with a white nationalist on his anti-Trump live stream More From Business Insider Moscow (AFP) - Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday confirmed that troops from the mainly Muslim Caucasus region were serving as Russian military police in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo. Kadyrov wrote on Instagram that MP Adam Delimkhanov and Chechnya's chief mufti, Salakho-Khadzhi Mezhiyev, on a trip to Syria, had visited a military police battalion "where young people from Chechnya are serving." "The soldiers said with pride that they have been given the honour of serving to protect peace and public order in Aleppo, defending the civilian population from terrorist attacks," Kadyrov wrote on his account, which has 2.3 million followers. Russia began aerial bombing of Syria to support President Bashar Al-Assad in September 2015 but has ruled out a ground operation. The military police are part of the Russian defence ministry, tasked with protecting key installations and ensuring troop discipline. Russian television reported Tuesday that the military police are training their Syrian colleagues to carry out joint patrols in Aleppo. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu reported to President Vladimir Putin late December that military police had been deployed to maintain law and order in Aleppo. Kadyrov said in December that Chechen soldiers had been recruited to serve in the military police to protect Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria. But he denied media reports that regional officials were gathering special battalions of Chechen soldiers to be sent to serve in Syria. Kadyrov was an anti-Russian insurgent who fought in Chechnya's first separatist war with Moscow but then became a Kremlin-loyal official. The ex-Soviet region is one of the major sources of foreign jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq. A number of Muslim Chechens have gone to Syria and Iraq to support the Islamic State jihadists, including ethnic Chechen warlord Omar al-Shishani who was killed last year. Litueche (Chile) (AFP) - Chile's president ordered extra funds Tuesday to be spent on fighting the country's worst forest fires ever, as frantic locals called for help to save their homes, animals and farmland. Flames have destroyed 155,000 hectares (600 square miles) of land in the center of the country and at least 4,000 people have been evacuated, the National Emergency Office said. "This is worse than an earthquake," said Juan Carlos Donoso, a middle-aged man who lives in a rural area near the town of Litueche. "We are very scared because we are farmers -- we have animals, fields and houses that have been burned." He and other local people were using spades and machinery to help firefighters clear the ground to stop the fire from spreading. Nearby, farm animals that had survived the blaze wandered around looking for unspoiled pasture. "This is the biggest catastrophe we have ever seen," said Paulo Morales, 29. "We need more help from the government. They must send helicopters because that is the only way to put the fires out." - More help promised - President Michelle Bachelet visited the disaster zone Tuesday and said she had ordered the Treasury "to seek additional resources to fight the fire and deal with what comes afterward, since many families have lost everything." Some 4,000 emergency workers are fighting the fires, with about 36 separate blazes still active on Tuesday, a week after the first ones broke out, the emergency office said. Bachelet said specialists had arrived from France to help fight the blazes, which have prompted the government to declare a state of catastrophe. The fires have struck mainly in sparsely populated rural areas in the central regions of O'Higgins and El Maule. The United States offered $100,000 for the firefighting effort and Mexico has sent personnel. Bachelet said members of the Walton family, owners of US retail giant Walmart, were paying for a Boeing 747 to join in fighting the flames. Story continues Bachelet on Monday called it "the biggest forestry disaster in our history." Three firefighters have died and another three have been wounded battling the flames. Bachelet scrapped a trip to the Dominican Republic for a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders on Wednesday in order to oversee the firefighting effort. Fires are common in Chile's parched woods during the Southern Hemisphere's summer. Most are caused by human activity. But this year was considered worse because of a drought that has built up over the past eight years, attributed by environmentalists to climate change. BEIJING (Reuters) - A court in China on Tuesday jailed two people for selling vaccines without a license, state media said, after a scandal last year that sparked public anger. The case, involving possibly as much as $90 million of illegal trades of vaccines through a black market drugs ring, underscored regulatory weaknesses in the world's second largest pharmaceuticals market. The court in Jinan city sentenced Pang Hongwei to 15 years in prison for illegally purchasing vaccines, including rabies vaccines, which she stored in warehouses in Jinan and another city, before selling them around China, Xinhua news agency said. Pang improperly stored the vaccines she bought, and earned nearly 75 million yuan ($10.93 million) from selling them, Xinhua added. She was also given another six years for a previous accusation of illegally trading vaccines, and so will serve a total of 19 years, the news agency said. Pang's daughter, Sun Qi, was sentenced to six years in prison for assisting her mother, Xinhua added. It was not possible to reach legal representatives of either of them for comment. The vaccines, including ones against meningitis and other illnesses, are suspected of being sold in dozens of provinces around China since 2011. The government has said it has not found any spike in abnormal reactions to inoculations and that the vaccines themselves were real, though traded illegally and improperly stored. ($1 = 6.8588 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Robert Birsel) China must strengthen its nuclear arsenal to "force the US to respect it" in response to the stance of new US President Donald Trump, a leading newspaper said Tuesday. The comments in the Global Times, a popular paper known for its inflammatory rhetoric and hawkish views, came just days after President Xi Jinping called for the eventual global elimination of atomic weapons. In recent days, Chinese social media has carried pictures purporting to show an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile system deployed in the northeast. The Dongfeng-41 is reportedly a nuclear road-mobile missile thought to have a payload of 10-12 warheads and a range of 14,000 kilometres (8,700 miles), according to the Global Times. The paper, a subsidiary of the Communist Party mouthpiece Peoples Daily, plays to nationalist sentiment and is often believed to channel hardline views within the government. The Global Times said some media claimed the People's Liberation Army leaked the photos as a warning to Trump. "They think this is Beijing's response to Trump's provocative remarks on China," it added. The US president, who took office Friday, has rattled Beijing with tough talk on trade and national security. On Monday White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned China the US would "defend" American and international interests in the disputed South China Sea, where China has built a series of artificial islands capable of military use. "If those islands are, in fact, in international waters and not part of China proper, yeah, we'll make sure we defend international interests from being taken over by one country," he said. Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said last week China's access to the islands might be blocked -- raising the prospect of a military confrontation. China lays claim to a vast stretch of the waterway within a so-called "nine dash line," including waters claimed by several of its neighbours. Story continues The Global Times said Trump had called repeatedly for a US nuclear arms build-up. "Even Washington feels that its naval forces and nuclear strength are lacking, so how can China be content with its current nuclear strength when it is viewed by the US as its biggest potential opponent?" it asked. The paper said China's nuclear forces "must be so strong that no country would dare launch a military showdown" with it. "China must procure a level of strategic military strength that will force the US to respect it." The comments were in marked contrast to Xi's speech at the United Nations days earlier. "Nuclear weapons should be completely prohibited and destroyed over time to make the world free of nuclear weapons," Xi said. China has been a nuclear power since 1964. The PLA has been flexing its muscles since Trump's election, showing off upgraded combat aircraft and new fighters. The country's only aircraft carrier entered the Taiwan Strait this month in a symbolic show of strength. On Monday the PLA navy announced it had commissioned its fifth "carrier killer" guided-missile destroyer and delivered it to the North Sea Fleet. The system is believed to be designed to deter the US Navy, which has the world's largest number of carriers. Evidence gathered in a halted John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walkers 2012 recall campaign has been turned over to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to a court filing made public Monday. Former special prosecutor Francis Schmitz told the court on Nov. 2 that he had complied with their order from a year earlier to turn over all evidence collected during the course of the investigation. That included six banker boxes of documents and a secure case containing digital hard drives. Schmitz wrote that computer servers containing digital evidence from the investigation had been wiped clean. Schmitz also wrote he received statements from members of the prosecution team who had access to the documents that they are no longer in possession of the evidence. The state Supreme Court ended the investigation in July 2015 and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal last October. The investigation, based on evidence collected from an earlier John Doe investigation into Walkers Milwaukee County executive office, examined coordination between Walkers recall campaign and Wisconsin Club for Growth. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled such coordination was protected speech. Shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, the Guardian U.S. reported on leaked documents from the investigation, showing how Walker raised millions of dollars for Club for Growth. On Friday the state Supreme Court ordered that dozens of previously sealed court filings from the drawn out legal battle seeking to halt the investigation be released. The documents, many of them still redacted, included little information that hasnt previously been disclosed. Though Schmitz turned over evidence to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, investigators also were allowed to submit copies to the federal court in Milwaukee as part of an ongoing lawsuit filed by a former Walker aide whose home was searched as part of the first John Doe investigation. Edward Greim, a lawyer representing Wisconsin Club for Growth, said some of the evidence is also on file with the federal court in Madison as part of another lawsuit related to the investigation. Without a more complete accounting, there is no way to know whether copies of the seized evidence still exist outside of the three courts that are supposed to have taken exclusive custody of those materials, Greim said. By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's tourism administration has urged tour operators to sever ties with a Japanese hotel chain after an escalating row over the hotelier's denial of the 1937 massacre by Japanese troops in the Chinese city of Nanjing. A furor erupted this month over books by Toshio Motoya, president of Tokyo-based hotel and real estate developer APA Group, that air his revisionist views and are placed in every room of the firm's more than 400 hotels. Motoya, using the pen name Seiji Fuji, wrote that stories of the Nanjing massacre were "impossible": "These acts were all said to be committed by the Japanese army, but this is not true." The China National Tourism Administration is firmly opposed to APA Group's "provocation" of Chinese tourists, spokesman Zhang Lizhong said on Tuesday. "We demand that all operators with international tours and online platforms completely stop all cooperation with this hotel," Zhang said in a statement on the body's website. "We call on Chinese groups and the many tourists that visit Japan to resist APA's wrong approach and avoid spending money at this hotel." APA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Official support for a boycott of the Japanese chain escalates calls that had circulated online and in some of China's state-run media. The official Xinhua news agency added its voice on Tuesday, calling the incident "only the tip of the iceberg of Japan's ultra-right wing's efforts to revise the nation's war history." Japan's wartime occupation of Nanjing, and the resulting massacre is a highly contentious issue between the uneasy neighbors. China says Japanese troops killed 300,000 people in the city. A post-war Allied tribunal put the death toll at about half that. To the fury of China, some conservative Japanese politicians and academics deny the massacre took place, or they put the death toll much lower. Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda downplayed the incident on Tuesday, saying China and Japan should work together on common issues facing the international community, rather than focusing too much on the "unhappy past". Japan attracted about 6.3 million tourists from China last year, the largest such bloc of visitors, up nearly 28 percent from 2015. Their spending helped buoy the sluggish economy, in areas from hotels to cosmetics. APA President Motoya previously told Reuters Chinese tourists only made up 5 percent of the chain's customers in Japan and that he did not expect the row to affect the hotel. (Reporting by Adam Jourdan in SHANGHAI; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in TOKYO; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) China's tourism authority called Tuesday for a boycott of Tokyo-based hotel group APA in an escalating row over a book by the company's CEO denying a Japanese wartime massacre took place. Copies of the book asserting that the 1937 massacre by Japanese soldiers in the Chinese city of Nanjing did not occur have been placed in hundreds of rooms operated by the APA hotel group, angering Beijing. APA has so far refused to remove copies of the book, written under a pen name by its CEO Toshio Motoya, despite Chinese criticism. "Seeing that Japans APA hotels is continuing with its erroneous ways, the China National Tourism Administration... demands that all businesses involved in overseas tourism and Internet travel-industry platforms stop all cooperation with these hotels," said the tourism authority's spokesman Zhang Lizhong. Zhang's comments were made in a press conference in Beijing and posted on the agency's website. China says 300,000 people died in Nanjing in a six-week orgy of killing, rape and destruction by the Japanese military, and accuses Tokyo of failing to fully atone for the episode. The revelation of the book's existence caused outrage on China's social media. Last week a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman lambasted Motoya and complained that the book underlined the refusal of some in Japan to "squarely face history." The book, written in Japanese and English, said the Nanjing incident was fabricated. Motoya said the killing of 300,000 people was impossible because the city's population at the time was only 200,000. The Japanese military invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937 until Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945. Some respected foreign academics estimate a lower number than China contends were killed in the massacre, but there is no mainstream scholarship doubting that it took place. Watching warily as Donald Trump takes office, Chinas leaders are contemplating the prospect of a more assertive U.S. president willing to upend decades of Sino-U.S. relations. Trumps Asia policy represents the first major reshaping of U.S. policy toward China since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1979, and, from Beijings perspective, it is currently on a worst-case trajectory, heading toward a trade war and a military standoff over Chinas basic interests in Asia, including Taiwan. The 45th president presents a potentially unique challenge for China but not one wholly unanticipated. Already having strenuously opposed former President Barack Obamas pivot to Asia, Chinese leaders likely view the shift to Trump more as one of degrees, if extreme, than in kind. The tenor of U.S.-China relations has worsened in recent years, despite the regularity of high-level diplomatic engagements and public expressions of common interests. What Beijing is unused to, however, is Trumps willingness even before taking office to publicly excoriate China, link economic and security issues, and muse about ending diplomatic bedrocks such as the One China policy. In briefly seizing a U.S. Navy underwater drone last month in international waters near the Philippines, the Chinese were making clear that both Obamas pivot has been ineffective and that Trumps rhetoric does not scare them. Yet their repeated warnings to Trump that he is flirting with potential disaster indicate that they take his statements seriously and are trying to deter him from harming Chinese interests. Nobody yet knows what either side will do if Beijing fails in that attempt and a more direct confrontation becomes inevitable. Trumps approach, even before taking office, has been to keep China off balance. After four decades of U.S. presidents acting largely deferentially toward Beijing, Chinas leaders are undoubtedly flummoxed by Trump. His statements challenging the status quo have been paired with signals that he intends to pursue a more normal relationship. His appointment of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as ambassador was welcomed in Beijing, given Branstads past connections with Chinese President Xi Jinping and long-standing economic ties to China. The subtext of Trumps meeting with Jack Ma, one of Chinas wealthiest businessmen and founder of internet retailing giant Alibaba, was that trade and investment between the two countries are already flourishing. And Beijing saw plenty to welcome in Trumps withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership a move that gave China an edge in creating a broad, regional trade pact while relegating America at best to a series of bilateral pacts even if it was not intended as an olive branch to China. But Trumps repeated assertions that he will not be bound by past precedent outweigh his conciliatory moves in Chinese eyes. As Beijing contemplates the pendulum in Asia potentially swinging back against it in coming days, the Chinese government has begun to try and stake out its ground. Xi, for example, in a widely disseminated New Years speech made clear that his country will protect its national interests and prevent any foreign moves to restrict its freedom of action in Asia. Unwilling to be seen as being put on the defensive, Beijing is likely to push back even harder, testing the new president and his team and trying to get them to back down. Chinas greatest fear is that Trump will encourage, if not support, moves toward Taiwans independence. This potentially threatens the geopolitical integrity of the country, as it could strengthen similar movements in other separatist regions, such as Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Already on alert after Trumps unprecedented phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Beijing warned against allowing Tsai to stop over in the United States this month during an international trip. More threateningly, the government has stated that any attempt by Trump to change the status quo over Taiwan would cross a red line and incur revenge. A meeting in the flesh between Trump and Tsai would cause the most serious crisis in U.S.-China relations since normalization in 1979. North Korea could also become an arena where China tests the new president. Trump recently tweeted that Beijing has done nothing to help denuclearize Pyongyang while taking out massive amounts of money [and] wealth from the United States. Years of failed diplomacy with North Korea have dampened any hope for new talks, but Beijing could respond to Trumps accusation by increasing economic aid to Kim Jong Un, dropping support for recent U.N. sanctions, and ending any attempt at or, in the view of some, pretense of restraining Pyongyangs nuclear and missile programs. With Pyongyang about to test a new intercontinental ballistic missile that can potentially reach U.S. territory, any such Chinese assistance would alarm Americas national security establishment and also put South Korea and Japan, two of Washingtons closest allies in the region, further on edge. In addition, Trump should expect China to target U.S. allies more aggressively. In recent weeks, China has sent bombers around Taiwan and fighter jets near Japanese and South Korean airspace, as well as very publicly sailed its sole aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait and past Japanese waters. This month, China reduced the number of charter flights from South Korea in response to Seouls decision last year to host a new American anti-ballistic missile system and is reported to be working with Russia on ways to defeat the defensive weapon. Moreover, Australia has decided against undertaking freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, and the Philippiness shift to China under President Rodrigo Duterte is well underway. And Beijing could further rattle Japanese nerves by increasing its military activities near the contested Senkaku Islands also known as the Diaoyu in the East China Sea. Given Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillersons confirmation testimony directly challenging Beijings claims in the South China Sea, which indicated that the new administration would consider denying China access to its newly reclaimed islands, the slow boil of the past several years over Chinas expansion in Pacific waters may heat up rapidly. Backing down in the face of American threats would only open Beijing up to pressure from other Asian nations. Hence, the alarming warnings of a potential devastating confrontation. The toxic combination of Chinese fear and confidence makes some kind of miscalculation or accident more likely. With tensions running high, U.S. military leaders in the Pacific should prepare for even more aggressive action from Chinese naval and air forces, possibly risking a repeat of the April 2001 collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a U.S. Navy surveillance plane. Given Xis New Years vow to protect the countrys maritime rights and interests, the latest in a raft of similar rhetoric, it will be more difficult to contain the aftermath of any new accident. Equally, China may increase its maritime intimidation of smaller nations in the South China Sea, daring the United States to uphold its promises of freedom of navigation. There are good reasons for China not to undertake any of the actions listed above. Trumps statements, after all, are just that, and he may well moderate his positions now that he has taken office, as have most of his predecessors, once he gets a full picture of the implications of his possible policies. Similarly, Beijing could decide to focus on the slim olive branches held out by the new president, such as his ambassadorial pick and business meeting with Ma. In contrast, continuing to try and intimidate both the United States and its allies could backfire, resulting in a hardened attitude by the new administration and a greater willingness to challenge Chinese interests. There is little reason to believe that Xi intends to bend his knee before Trump. His policies since taking power in late 2012 have instead served to increase Chinas global engagement, its assertiveness, and its belligerence in protecting its national interests. His statements have made clear his intent to take a place on the world stage equal, if not superior, to the United States. His continuing assertion of these goals, even in the face of a domestic economic slowdown and international setbacks (such as The Hague ruling against Chinese claims in the South China Sea), reveals the importance he attaches to a strong foreign policy. There is no question, however, that Trump has already changed the dynamic in U.S.-China relations. For years, it has been American presidents who have chosen not to antagonize Beijing or exacerbate tensions with China and Chinese leaders who have been willing to push the envelope. In boldly, and riskily, seizing the initiative even before being sworn in, Trump may have turned the tables on his Chinese counterparts. It may now be Chinas leaders who tread more cautiously. Photo credit: SPENCER PLATT/Getty Images Columbia University on Tuesday released a report detailing its connections to slavery, becoming the latest university to provide more transparency about such historical ties. The school initially known as Kings College was founded in 1754 and adopted the name Columbia 30 years later. A report released Tuesday by the university shows that the school benefited from slavery in its early years. The university was stablished using donations from people made wealthy by the slave trade, and students and university leaders were slaveowners. Students at universities across the country have recently called on schools to acknowledge their ties to slavery and work to repair lasting racial divisions. At Columbia, in particular, students have long been involved in campus activism demanding racial justice, from anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s to more recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations. Columbia has not yet announced any policy changes in the wake of its report, but Columbia President Lee Bollinger told the New York Times that coming to terms with the schools historical ties to slavery was an important step in understanding how injustices from the past continue to play out today. These are some of the reports key findings: Many of Columbias presidents were slaveowners Of the ten men who served as presidents of Kings and Columbia between 1754 and the end of the Civil War, at least half owned slaves at one point in their lives, the report states. Other university leaders, including school treasurers and college governors, also owned slaves. Samuel Johnson, the first president of Kings College, spoke out against the Atlantic slave trade, but he still bought and sold slaves. Slavery seeped into parts of Columbias early curriculum Slavery was a regular part of the lives of many who attended Kings College. Most students were from merchant families whose wealth came from the slave trade or from the sale of commercial goods produced by slaves. As a result, the logistics of the slave trade became a part of some lessons. At least one math problem in the 1760s asked students to calculate the profits of three investors in a slave trading voyage to Guinea,' according to the report. George Washingtons stepson brought a slave with him to school George Washingtons stepson, John Parke Custis, brought a slave known only as Joe in historical records to Kings College with him in 1773. Joe lived in a suite with Custis at Kings College and prepared breakfast for him every morning. There were other slaves at the school at the time, but Joe is the only one identified in historical records, according to Columbias report. Donations to Columbia often came from slaveowners Kings College frequently held fundraisers because it was in constant need of operating funds to maintain its building. Many of the donations the school received came from prominent slaveowners. Merchants involved in the slave trade were also strongly represented in the initial group of donors whose funding helped to start Kings College. Nathaniel Marston, a merchant who was among the most active participants in the slave trade in New York, gave 200 pounds, one of the largest contributions. Electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre has made history for decades by putting on some of the world's largest concerts. He will soon break new ground -- by touring North America. Jarre on Monday announced his first-ever tour of the United States and Canada to begin on May 9 in Toronto. The nine dates will include New York's Radio City Music Hall. The 68-year-old French composer is a longtime visitor to North America where he is influential in music circles but remains far better known commercially in Europe. He has only played one full-fledged show in North America -- in 1986 in Houston, when Jarre brought fireworks and lights for a citywide concert over the skyline as Texas marked 150 years since independence from Mexico. The "Rendez-vous Houston" concert turned into a memorial for astronauts killed on the Challenger space shuttle -- one of whom, Ronald McNair, had planned to play his saxophone from space. The citywide festival drew 1-1.5 million people and for a time was considered the largest concert in history. Jarre has since topped it with a 1990 show in La Defense, a business district on the western outskirts of Paris, for Bastille Day, and a 1997 show in Moscow to celebrate the city's 850th anniversary. Jarre in 1981 was also the first Western musician to play China after the Cultural Revolution. The North America swing comes after an extensive tour in Europe that follows "Electronica," Jarre's two-part album in which he collaborates with some of the most influential names in electronic music. Last month, Jarre released "Oxygene 3," which he considered the last part in a trilogy. The release marked 40 years since the original "Oxygene," an electronic music classic. Getty Image Undefeated lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov is very happy about the prospect of making Conor McGregor very sad. In fact, his current plans for the lightweight division could bum the UFC brass out too. Nurmagomedov has formidable #2 contender Tony Ferguson on the horizon at UFC 209, more on that in a sec, but the Russian dynamo shared with ESPN his plans beyond that. First up, graduate from a UFC 209 interim belt to take McGregors title and then something hilariously diabolical. After I finish [Ferguson], then Conor, said Nurmagomedov. And after I finish Conor, UFC will maybe want to make rematch. But I say, No, calm down. You have to stand in line.' Considering Conors comfortability with holding divisions hostage, making the Irish fighter wait would be a fitting middle finger to the UFCs cash cow with the gift of gab. Mind you, it doesnt take Mystic Mac to predict that other fighters would happily take the big money that would come from stepping into the Octagon with McGregor, belt or no belt. Outside of bouncing to another weight division, its hard to imagine Nurmagomedovs employer being wild about this scenario either. To get consideration for a fight with Conor McGregor, Nurmagomedov still has to defeat Ferguson at UFC 209. Ferguson hasnt lost in UFC competition since 2012, but in a chat with Fox Sports, Nurmagomedov didnt seem to concerned about that. Heck, he pointed to a piece of UFC lore that intended to emulate at their March 4 tilt. If you watch when I fight dos Anjos, Michael Johnson, Darrel Horcher, these guys are my opponents but hes a little bit different than other guys. I want to break his face because I want to teach him respect, Nurmagomedov said about the fight with Ferguson. When I fought with Michael Johnson, when I took his arm for the kimura, I can break it but I go very slowly, be careful because I dont want to give him injury. Because I understand (the) fight was finished. I need only to go a little bit slowly and he tapped. If Tony Ferguson gives me this arm, Im going to break his arm like Frank Mir-(Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira. So, uh, dont give Khabib Nurmagomedov your arm or the arms of your loved ones if youve pissed him off. Please keep this in mind. (Via ESPN & Fox Sports) By Megan Brooks NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) improved diabetes control and reduced glucose variability and was well liked in two studies of patients with type 1 diabetes using multiple daily insulin injections. Both studies were published today in JAMA. The DIAMOND study enrolled 158 patients on multiple daily insulin injections and a baseline hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) of 7.5% to 9.9%. One hundred and five patients were randomly assigned to the Dexcom G4 Platinum CGM System from Dexcom Inc, which funded the study, and 53 to self-monitored blood glucose (SMBG). After 24 weeks, HbA1c levels were reduced from baseline by 1.1% at 12 weeks and by 1.0% at 24 weeks in the CGM group, versus reductions of 0.5% and 0.4% in the SMBG, with a significant difference at 24 weeks of 0.6% (95% confidence interval, 0.8% to 0.3%; p<0.001). At 24 weeks, 18% CGM patients had HbA1c levels below 7.0% versus 4% of SMBG patients (P=0.01). In addition, CGM was associated with greater time in the glucose range of 70 through 180 mg/dL and less time with glucose levels above 180 mg/dL or lower than 70 mg/dL. CGM was also associated with less glycemic variability. Severe hypoglycemia occurred in two patients in each group and diabetic ketoacidosis did not occur in any patient. Patients who received CGM reported high satisfaction with this method of monitoring. This is the first randomized trial to assess the value of CGM in patients with type 1 diabetes who receive insulin by injection, first author Dr. Roy Beck of the Jaeb Center for Health Research in Tampa, Florida, told Reuters Health by email. In prior studies that I and others have done showing the benefits of CGM for patients with type 1 diabetes, almost all of the participants used an insulin pump to deliver insulin. So this study is important for the literature in showing that CGM benefits of similar magnitude occur in injection users. The results also are important for the literature in showing that there was daily or near-daily use of CGM after 6 months by almost all of the study participants and that satisfaction with using CGM was very high, Dr. Beck said. He added, We have been seeing increases in CGM use over the last couple of years in patients with type 1 diabetes using pumps. The data from this study showing not only glycemic benefits but also a high degree of satisfaction with CGM by injection users should have the effect of increasing patient interest in using CGM as well as endocrinologist enthusiasm for prescribing it. Most insurance companies now cover CGM and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) very recently approved coverage through Medicare. So, I expect we will see substantial increases in CGM use over the next year. The GOLD study compared CGM (also using the Dexcom G4 system) to SMBG in a crossover randomized study involving 161 patients who were using multiple daily insulin injections and had baseline HbA1c levels of at least 7.5%. Each study intervention period lasted 26 weeks with a 17-week washout period between CGM and SMBG. Compared with a baseline HbA1c level of 8.6%, HbA1c levels at the end of the intervention period were 7.9% with CGM and 8.4% with SMBG, with a difference of 0.4% (95% CI, 0.6% to 0.3%; p<0.001). There was one severe hypoglycemia event in the CGM group and five in the SMBG group. Glucose variability was significantly lower in the CGM group. Patients reported greater satisfaction with CGM. Commenting on the study, lead investigator Dr. Marcus Lind of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, noted that the DexCom G4 sensor has shown high accuracy and positive treatment experience in short evaluations, but has not been evaluated thoroughly in randomized trials until now. This study, he said, shows that this sensor gives better glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes treated with multiple daily insulin injections than using regular capillary glucose testing. Such data are needed for decision-makers to decide whether to recommend the use of CGM in persons treated with injections. Further, the study showed an effect on well-being, which has not earlier been shown in randomized trials regarding CGM. Patients felt more confident regarding risks of hypoglycemia. Further, the glycemic variability was reduced. Of note, in spite of improving several factors, there were no indications of harmful effects. In a linked editorial, Dr. Mayer Davidson of Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles writes, Additional clinical trials are needed to determine the long-term effect of CGM and whether this approach translates to improved health outcomes and to determine the potential utility of real-time CGM for patients with type 1 diabetes encountered in usual clinical practice and in patients with type 2 diabetes who require insulin injections. Funding for the DIAMOND study was provided by Dexcom Inc. Several authors reported financial relationships with the company. The GOLD study was investigator-initiated and sponsored by the NU Hospital Group, Trollhattan and Uddevalla, Sweden. Several authors disclosed relationships with various companies including Dexcom Inc. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jmuahY, http://bit.ly/2jmz2Dw and http://bit.ly/2jmI8jZ JAMA 2017. It's not every day someone is ecstatic about a surprise visit from the cops, but this Florida 4-year-old couldn't be happier when police officers showed up at his birthday party. Read: Dozens of Police Officers Escort Fallen Comrade's Children on Their First Day of School Brody Barnaky, 4, received gifts and police goodies from four uniformed officers of the Clearwater Police Department when they made a surprise visit to his birthday party Sunday. "We really didn't know," his mom Tiffany Barnaky of Safety Harbor told InsideEdition.com. "When they did show up, it was amazing." Barnaky said she reached out to police officers the morning of her son's birthday, but cops told her they weren't sure they would be able to make it. Then, during Brody's birthday party at the bowling alley with 25 of his friends, four patrol cars flooded the parking lot with lights flashing and sirens blaring. As Sgt. Tom Rodgers, Officer Justin Murray, Officer Scott Penna and Officer Tomislav Marjanovic came into the bowling alley with gifts and party favors, "[Brody] just ran up to them and jumped in the sergeant's arms. It was like he's known them all his life," the boy's mom said. The cops then presented Brody with a signed police flag and different party favors for all 25 of his friends, including backpacks, pencils, and police badges. "We were overwhelmed with how amazing they were," Barnaky said. She explained that just a year ago, little Brody was afraid of his local law enforcement officers. "Every time he would see them, he would curl up and not talk to them," she explained. Read: Police Buy, Deliver A Month's Worth of Groceries to Elderly Man Who Had Not Eaten in 2 Days Eventually, Brody's mom sat him down and explained to him why cops were important to the community, and little Brody even mustered up the nerve to chat up a police officer on duty. Story continues Brody's love for police officers has since grown so much that Barnaky said every time they spot police officers in public, the 4-year-old insists they say hello, and show them pictures of him in his police officer Halloween costume. "Now, he says that's what he wants to be when he grows up," his mom said. Watch: Cops Surprise 3-Year-Old Boy With Autism After Guests Leave His Birthday Party Early Related Articles: In a story Nov. 22 about the fatal shooting of a San Antonio police detective, The Associated Press reported erroneously that five officers killed by a sniper in Dallas in July were all white. One of the officers was Latino. A corrected version of the story is below: Suspect in fatal police shooting upset over custody battle The suspect arrested in the ambush shooting of a San Antonio police detective says he was angry about a child-custody fight and "lashed out at somebody who didn't deserve it." By JIM SALTER and DAVID WARREN Associated Press The suspect arrested in the ambush shooting of a San Antonio police detective has said he was angry about a child-custody battle and "lashed out at somebody who didn't deserve it." Otis Tyrone McKane was being led by police to the Bexar County Jail late Monday when he told reporters that he was angry with the court system for not letting him see his son and took it out on Detective Benjamin Marconi. "I've been through several custody battles, and I was upset at the situation I was in, and I lashed out at someone who didn't deserve it," McKane said. He said he wanted to apologize to the family of the slain officer. McKane, 31, of San Antonio, remained jailed on a $2 million bond after his arrest on a capital murder charge Monday afternoon in the fatal shooting of Marconi. The detective was shot as he sat in his squad car Sunday after making a traffic stop. Authorities have said a gunman walked up to Marconi's driver's-side window and fired. It was one of several weekend attacks against law enforcement in multiple states. The San Antonio detective and officers shot in Missouri and Florida were conducting routine tasks Sunday when they became the targets of violence. Marconi was writing a traffic ticket. "I think the uniform was the target and the first person that happened along was the first person that (the suspect) targeted," San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. Story continues In Missouri, a St. Louis police sergeant was shot twice in the face Sunday evening while he sat in traffic in a marked police vehicle. He was released from a hospital Monday. Law enforcement officials say there's been an alarming spike in ambush-style attacks. Sixty officers, including the San Antonio detective, were shot to death on the job this year, compared with 41 in all of 2015, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Of the 60 killed, 20 were purposely targeted by their assailant compared with eight last year, the group said. Police officers also were shot and injured during traffic stops in Sanibel, Florida, and Gladstone, Missouri, on Sunday night, but authorities have not suggested those were targeted attacks. All the shootings come less than five months after a black military veteran killed five officers at a protest in Dallas the deadliest day for American law enforcement since Sept. 11, 2001. Race was a factor in the Dallas attack, but police have not said if race played a part in any of the attacks on Sunday. In San Antonio, the suspect is black and the officer was white. In St. Louis, the suspect was black, but police have not released the officer's race. Most killings of police officers are carried out by white men, and most people shot and killed by police are white, said Craig W. Floyd, president of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. Chief McManus said McKane was arrested without incident after the car he was riding in was stopped Monday afternoon on an interstate. Surveillance video shows the suspect at San Antonio police headquarters about four hours before the 50-year-old Marconi, a 20-year veteran of the force, was shot. The suspect asked a desk clerk a question but left before receiving an answer, said McManus, who declined to say what the man asked. "I don't know why he was in headquarters. We have some ideas," he said. St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson declined to name the 46-year-old officer who was shot and wounded there. He said the officer is a married father of three and has been with the department for about 20 years. "This officer was driving down the road and was ambushed by an individual who pointed a gun at him from inside of his car and shot out the police officer's window," Dotson said. The suspect, 19-year-old George P. Bush III, was wanted for questioning in recent violent crimes that included several robberies, a carjacking and perhaps a killing, Dotson said without elaborating. "We believe he knew he was good for those crimes and that we were looking for him," Dotson said. "That's why he aggressively attacked a police officer." Police said Bush was later killed in a shootout with officers. On July 7, Micah Johnson shot and killed five law enforcement officers who had been working to keep the peace at a protest in downtown Dallas over the fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana. Ten days after that attack, a man wearing a ski mask and armed with two rifles and a pistol killed three officers near a gas station and convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. And earlier this month, two Des Moines, Iowa-area police officers were fatally shot in separate ambush-style attacks while sitting in their patrol cars. "It's always difficult, especially in this day and age, where police are being targeted across the country," McManus said. ___ Salter reported from St. Louis, and Warren from Dallas. Associated Press writers Jamie Stengle and Terry Wallace in Dallas and Tammy Webber in Chicago also contributed to this report. PRAGUE (AP) Czech and Polish authorities said on Tuesday that a Polish national who went missing in Syria has been released. The Czech presidential office said that Leszek Panek, 54, was transferred from Syria to Beirut, Lebanon, and handed over to Polish authorities on Monday, after the Czechs secured his release from a Syrian jail on humanitarian reasons. Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski thanked the Czechs for "locating and obtaining the release of the Pole." "We are happy he is alive and free," Waszczykowski said. Waszczykowski's ministry said Panek will be returning to Poland in the coming days. The Czechs said Panek went missing on Dec. 10, 2015. Poland's Foreign Ministry said he was arrested by the Syrian army in Feb. 2016 during a documents' check, when he reached into his pocket, which the troops understood as imminent attack. Panek says he was reaching for his documents, according to the ministry communique. The Czech presidential office posted a photo of Panek, apparently after his release, in camouflage pants and leaning on crutches, surrounded by two smiling women and two men in formal suits. The Czech Republic is the only EU and NATO country with a still functioning embassy in Damascus and represents the West in Syria. The Czech statement said that Panek was in satisfactory physical and mental condition. In Damascus, a Syrian government official confirmed that Panek was released and handed over on Monday, saying that the Polish national had crossed the country illegally and was arrested for that reason. The conflicting claim about Panek's arrest could not immediately be reconciled with the Czech and Polish statements. The Syrian official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He gave no further details. ___ Associated Press writers Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland, and Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report. Darren Criss confirmed on Twitter that hes playing the villain Music Meister in the much anticipated musical crossover event between The Flash and Supergirl. Minutes after TVLine broke the casting news, Criss tweeted that getting his University of Michigan and Glee friends to show their real superpowers in the upcoming crossover is music to his ears. Criss and Carlos Valdes, who plays Cisco Ramon on The Flash, are both graduates of University of Michigan. While studying there, Valdes joined the theater group StarKid Productions, which was co-founded by Criss. Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist who portray the titular roles on The Flash and Supergirl were Criss co-stars on Glee. Gustin was introduced in Season 3 of the FOX musical series as Sebastian Smythe, a quasi-villain whose flirtation with Criss Blaine Anderson stoked jealousy in Chris Colfers Kurt Hummel. Benoist, meanwhile, played Marley Rose in Seasons 4 and 5 of Glee. With our Flash and our Supergirl being Glee alums, how could we not have them go up against another Glee favorite like Darren Criss? executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told TVLine, revealing Criss casting for the first time. We have been blown away by his talent over the years and we cant wait to see what he brings to the Music Meister. Music Meister was created by Michael Jelenic and James Tucker for the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bolds own musical episode, Mayhem of the Music Meister! In the episode, Music Meister who has the power to control people through song falls for Black Canary until she rejects him due to her feelings for Batman. Music Meister was voiced by Neil Patrick Harris on the Cartoon Network series. As revealed last week, the musical will kick off at the end of Supergirls March 20 episode and will continue the next night in The Flashs March 21 episode, where the bulk of the action will take place. The second installment of the crossover, titled Duet, will be directed by Dermott Downs. Story continues What do you think of Criss casting as the Music Meister? Sound off in the comments below! Darren Criss Photo: Getty Images/Mike Coppola Related Articles By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful storm system plowed up the U.S. Eastern seaboard with torrential showers and high winds on Monday, hindering airline and rail travel, after killing at least 21 people in the South, many in mobile homes demolished by tornadoes. The storm, which unleashed deadly twisters in Mississippi and Georgia over the weekend, turned cooler as it advanced on the Northeast, where residents faced potential flooding, downed power lines and high surf late on Monday and early Tuesday, said Tim Morrin, the National Weather Service's New York observation program leader. "The best place to be is inside," Morrin said. Two commuter rail lines operated by New Jersey Transit, which serves about 100,000 passengers daily, suspended service during the evening rush hour between New York City and parts of New Jersey due to fallen power lines, the agency said on its website. About 750 U.S. airline flights were canceled, with New York metropolitan airports bearing the brunt of the disruptions, according to the air traffic website FlightAware. New York City emergency management officials warned that wind speeds could reach 60 miles per hour (97 km per hour) through Monday night, with more than 3 inches (7.5 cm) of rain possible. Flood advisories and watches were issued for much of the region. Northern Pennsylvania and parts of New England were expected to receive more than 6 inches (15 cm) of wet snow, producing dangerously slick roads, and AccuWeather said traffic along several interstate highways through the region may be impeded. Forecasters said winds topping 50 mph (80 kph) could whip the East Coast from Delaware to Maine, where the state legislature canceled all business for Tuesday in anticipation of harsh weather. As the storm front reached the Middle Atlantic Coast on Monday evening, a flood warning was posted for parts of southwestern Virginia, and a high wind advisory was in effect for western North Carolina. The storm was expected to take a northeastward path away from the U.S. coastline by Wednesday evening, the Weather Service said. The rain and snow will help ease a dry spell in the northeast United States, where much of the region has suffered from moderate to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Thunderstorms and tornadoes spawned by the same weather system killed 16 people on Sunday in Georgia, according to a tally by the Storm Prediction Center in Oklahoma. Four of those fatalities were confirmed, and a toddler was reported missing, in Dougherty County after a twister left a path of destruction up to a half mile wide. A trailer park was especially hard hit, and local authorities said they expected the death toll to rise. "It literally looks like God took half of the mobile home park and threw it across the street into the woods," Dougherty County Commission Chair Chris Cohilas said at a news conference. Cohilas expressed frustration at the pace of the federal government in furnishing emergency help, calling it "disgraceful." "I would ask President Trump to take some significant steps to cut through the red tape and get us some people on the damned ground," he said at a news conference on Monday. Governor Nathan Deal, announcing that he extended a state emergency declaration to 16 Georgia counties, said Trump had called him on Sunday and promised he would be "ready and willing to respond" to an expected request for federal disaster relief. A tornado killed four people, three of them in mobile homes, in the southern Mississippi town of Hattiesburg on Saturday, and one person was reported killed in northern Florida when a tree toppled onto a house during a severe thunderstorm, authorities said. (Additional reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida, and Laila Kearney, Frank McGurty and Chris Michaud in New York; Editing by Scott Malone, Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler) Calling it a partisan visit and a breach of standard protocol, top Democrats in the House and Senate are upset about British Prime Minister Theresa Mays decision to meet with congressional Republicans in Philadelphia for their biannual retreat, without similar plans to meet Democrats, Foreign Policy has learned. Given the special relationship, this is a very big mistake for the prime minister, said a senior Democratic aide. On Thursday, May will become the first foreign leader to join the Republican huddle in Pennsylvania as they devise their 2017 agenda. The announcement of the visit with House and Senate Republicans surprised Democratic leaders in both chambers because its normal practice for a foreign leader to coordinate with both parties. A partisan visit is a breach of standard protocol, said the aide. Still, Republican leaders in Congress are eager to make her feel welcome. We are grateful for her visit and look forward to hearing her vision for the United Kingdom as we strengthen this important bilateral relationship with our new Republican-led government, said Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the House Republican Conference chair, and South Dakota Sen. John Thune, her Senate counterpart, in a joint statement. The trip comes as May scrambles to shore up ties to President Donald Trump and top Republicans after getting caught flat-footed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the first head of state to visit Trump after the election, and Nigel Farage, the former Brexit leader who enjoys a better relationship with Trump than anyone in the British government. Democratic lawmakers declined to publicly comment on their frustrations about the trip, but leadership aides in both chambers said the snub wasnt taken lightly. A Senate aide said Democratic leaders are currently weighing whether to invite May to their own party retreat, but no decision has been made. An official at the British Embassy in Washington said the program is still being finalized, leaving open the possibility of a last-minute meeting with Democrats. Story continues May is scheduled to visit Trump on Friday, the day after she meets with both the House and Senate Republican conferences. As leader of the Conservative Party, May has had to compensate for a series of public broadsides leveled at Trump during the 2016 election campaign by her foreign minister, Boris Johnson, and Britains former ambassador to the United States, Peter Westmacott. Johnson previously called Trump clearly out of his mind and accused him of quite stupefying ignorance, a tenor that has radically shifted since Trump assumed the most powerful office in the world. Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said May is trying to make up for lost time. Nigel Farage dashed off to meet Trump first while May and no one else in the British government had much of any contact. And Boris Johnson was completely rude to him. So they probably felt completely on the back foot, she told FP. Im not even sure that the president-elect even knew who Theresa May was. May succeeded David Cameron in July after he resigned in the wake of shocking referendum vote by British voters to leave the European Union. In her meeting with Trump, May is expected to begin laying the groundwork on a new U.S.-Britain trade deal. Thats increasingly important for both countries, especially as Britain decided to cut itself off from the EUs common market. But EU officials warn any U.S.-U.K. trade deal will have to wait until the so-called Brexit is finalized, which could take years. May also told the Financial Times last week that she hopes to impress upon Trump the benefits of the NATO alliance and the EU, two institutions he has repeatedly denigrated. On the day of Trumps inauguration, May expressed optimism about working with Trump to broaden the special relationship between the two countries, even though he spent much of his campaign attacking Americas overseas obligations. From our conversations to date, I know we are both committed to advancing the special relationship between our two countries and working together for the prosperity and security of people on both sides of the Atlantic, she said in a statement. Photo credit: Chip Somodevilla/Staff/Getty Images You could be forgiven for forgetting the National Day of Patriotic Devotiontechnically, it happened before it was ever declared. Donald Trump established it with a stroke of a pen sometime after his inauguration; the official proclamation appeared Monday in the Federal Register. That bit isnt all that unusual. Presidents christen National Days Of Things all the time. President Barack Obama, for example, proclaimed the day of his own inauguration in 2009 a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, calling upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century. He annually declared September 11 to be Patriot Day. But Patriotic Devotion strikes a different noteflowery, vaguely compulsory. Heres the proclamation: A new national pride stirs the American soul and inspires the American heart. We are one people, united by a common destiny and a shared purpose. Freedom is the birthright of all Americans, and to preserve that freedom we must maintain faith in our sacred values and heritage. Our Constitution is written on parchment, but it lives in the hearts of the American people. There is no freedom where the people do not believe in it; no law where the people do not follow it; and no peace where the people do not pray for it. There are no greater people than the American citizenry, and as long as we believe in ourselves, and our country, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2017, as National Day of Patriotic Devotion, in order to strengthen our bonds to each other and to our country -- and to renew the duties of Government to the people. Its hard to imagine Trump tweeting: A new national pride stirs the American soul in one of his tweets. It sounds more like the language of his inaugural address, which the administration has insisted Trump wrote himself, but which was reportedly actually written by former Breitbart News head Steve Bannon and senior adviser Stephen Miller. Story continues Recommended: Trump's Presidency Is Off to a Successful Start The proclamation speaks of the need to strengthen our bonds to each other and to our country. That parallels this section from his speech on Friday: At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. Presidential proclamations can go over the top. Those who felt a shiver of discomfort reading Trumps florid prose should remember that Bill Clinton sounded similarly grandiose when declaring, say, Irish-American Heritage Month. (Barack Obama, on the other hand, kept his proclamations relatively conversational.) But its not the words that are jarring. Its the sentiment, which seems out of step with what the president himself usually says. Trump is an individualist; his books and speeches largely center on the ability of one personoften himto do stuff. When he talks about America as a whole, its usually in the frame of his movement, which of course reflects back on him. The proclamation instead focuses on America as a national community and sounds much more like Bannon. Hes said that America is more than an economy, its a civic societyimplying that the number of successful immigrants in Silicon Valley poses a threat to that. When the proclamation declares that Americans must maintain faith in our sacred values and heritage, its hard to tell whether its a banal sentiment, or an echo of the more troubling rumbles of white-identity politics. Recommended: Trump's Speech to the CIA Made America Less Safe And like his inaugural speech, Trumps proclamation is devoid of history. He does offer a mention of the Constitution. But while Obama often tried to broaden what it means to be an American by weaving the traditional veneration of the Founding Fathers together with other moments of American triumph, such as the civil-rights movement, Trump leaves what patriotism means up to interpretation. That, and the fact that the proclamation was timed to his own inauguration, led critics to suggest it means devotion to Trump himself, the defender of those sacred values and heritage, the rightful successor to a president whose legitimacy he never really stopped questioning. Patriotic Devotion is itself a phrase with a decidedly martial ring. The last president to declare a Day of Patriotic Devotion was Woodrow Wilson, marking the enactment of a draft for World War One. In 1943, when Congress attempted to establish December 7 as a day to recognize the patriotic devotion of members of the armed forces, FDR vetoed the bill. I think that a more suitable date can be selected for this purpose, he wrote. The presidents critics felt much the same about his decision to declare his own inauguration a holiday. If, as the proclamation declared, its intent was to strengthen our bonds to each other, it ended up having the opposite effectserving as one more point of division. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Los Angeles (AFP) - Spanish legend Placido Domingo will highlight the Los Angeles Opera's upcoming season with a career-spanning concert and involvement in two productions, the company said. Domingo, who has been LA Opera's general director since 2003, will perform a concert on November 17 to mark 50 years since he first took the stage in the city's then new Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. LA Opera music director James Conlon will lead the concert that will bring in to-be-announced special guests. Announcing its 2017-18 season, LA Opera said Domingo will also conduct a production of Bizet's "The Pearl Fishers" starring Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze and Mexican tenor Javier Camarena. Domingo, who remains active at 76 after health scares, is one of the 20th century's most recognized tenors but in recent years has transformed himself into a baritone. He will return to a baritone role in the upcoming season as he performs the title role of Verdi's "Nabucco," which Domingo sang recently at New York's Metropolitan Opera. But LA Opera has also focused on less traditional works and productions through its "Off Grand" program that stages performances at sites around the city. The upcoming season will include "Crossing," a piece by LA Opera's artist-in-residence Matthew Aucoin based on classic American poet Walt Whitman's encounters with wounded Civil War soldiers. The main stage will feature a new production of the French version of Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" directed by leading US choreographer John Neumeier. A co-production with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Joffrey Ballet and Hamburg Ballet, "Orpheus and Eurydice" will star soprano Lisette Oropesa opposite Russian tenor Maxim Mironov. LA Opera will also mark next year's centennial of the birth of Leonard Bernstein by staging "Candide," his English-language operetta based on Voltaire's satire. President Trump described himself as an environmentalist on the same morning that he signed two executive actions to advance the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, which have been strongly opposed by environmentalists. Trump made the claim during a Tuesday morning meeting while vowing to dismantle government regulations that are intended to preserve clean air and water. He was talking to chief executives from the three largest U.S. automobile manufacturers: Ford, Fiat Chrysler and General Motors. I am to a large extent an environmentalist. I believe in it, but its out of control, Trump said. Before taking office, he ridiculed climate change science as a hoax invented by the Chinese to handicap American industry. During the on-camera meeting, the new president vowed to follow through on his campaign promises of slashing regulations, reducing taxes and returning manufacturing jobs to the U.S. Were bringing manufacturing back to the United States big league. Were reducing taxes substantially and were reducing unnecessary regulations. And we want regulations, but we want real regulations that mean something, Trump said. Trumps comments aligned with his commitment to bolstering the fossil fuel industry. His self-identification as an environmentalist appears to others bearing the label disingenuous at best. Flanked by General Motors CEO Mary Barra (L) and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne (R), President Trump hosts a meeting with U.S. auto industry CEOs at the White House in January. (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters) Any claim from Trump that he is an environmentalist is an outright lie, Cassady Craighill, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, told Yahoo News. We will not allow Trump to gaslight this country or muddy the waters with alternative facts. Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, told Yahoo News, Trump is an environmentalist in the same way that he is a feminist: every action and move he makes is offensive, divisive, and dangerous to the people and places we love, but he pays lip service to what he thinks people want to hear. Hes the only world leader to deny climate change and has actively attacked environmental protections from the moment he walked in the White House door. Story continues The announcement Tuesday morning that Trump was signing executive orders to move forward with the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines is a devastating blow to the Native-American tribes and environmentalists who had protested the projects. On Monday, the White House reportedly sent a letter ordering the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA) Office of Administration and Resources Management to freeze all contracts and grants. The EPA awards billions of dollars each year to fund environmental research and cleanups. Basically no money is moving anywhere until they can take a look, an anonymous EPA staffer told Reuters. President Donald Trump shows off his signature on an executive order about the Dakota Access pipeline, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (Photo: Evan Vucci/AP) Trump has also alarmed environmentalists with some of his Cabinet picks, including ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has a history of opposing EPA regulations through lawsuits. Trump vowed to remove the U.S. from the historic Paris Agreement and to overturn former President Barack Obamas Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Trump has been in the Oval Office less than a week, and he has already deleted all mentions of climate change from the White House website and signed executive orders to revitalize the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, Craighill said. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also released a statement that Trump ignored the voices of millions calling for the U.S. to transform its energy system to move away from fossil fuels. He accused Trump of putting the fossil fuel industrys short-term profits ahead of the earths future. At a time when the scientific community is virtually unanimous in telling us that climate change is real, it is caused by human activity and it is already causing devastating problems, we cannot afford to build new oil pipelines that lock us into burning fossil fuels for years to come, Sanders said. I will do everything I can to stop these pipelines and protect our planet for future generations. Tiernan Sittenfeld, the senior vice president of government affairs for the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement that no amount of alternative facts can change that the pipelines are harmful to communities living along the routes or protect clean air and safe drinking water. With this disgraceful anticlimate, anti-clean water, propolluter action coming on the heels of scrubbing the White House website of important climate change information and removing the Council on Environmental Quality website altogether, the Trump administration could not be off to a worse start when it comes to the environment and public health, Sittenfeld said. Rest assured, we will be there to fight them at every step of the way. Trump had invested in Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), the natural gas company developing the Dakota Access pipeline, which is routed to cross a river along a sacred tribal burial ground within a mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Trumps team said he sold his entire stake in the company, but Sierra Club countered that he has not provided proof of divestment. During the auto-manufacturing meeting, Trump said hes pushing to open many factories within the United States for a variety of industries not just for producing cars. He said though hes pleased that the process will create construction jobs, his primary focus is long-term employment. The president said he would make the entire manufacturing process much simpler for auto companies and anyone else who wants to do business in the U.S. so that the business climate changes from very inhospitable to extremely hospitable. The celebrity businessman said he has friends who cannot build within the U.S. because they cannot secure an environmental permit concerning something that nobody ever heard of before. And its absolutely crazy, Trump continued. And were going to make a short process, and were going to either give you your permits or were not going to give you your permits, but youre going to know quickly and generally speaking were going to be giving you the permits. Craighill said that Trump might one day acknowledge the overwhelming scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is a serious threat and requires immediate action, but she is not counting on it. The day may come that Trump finally understands the gravity of climate change when rising seas impact Mar-a-Lago, she said, but we wont hold our breath. Rhea Suh, the president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, Another day, another alternative fact from the president. He has done nothing to manifest genuine concern for the environment. He has done a tremendous amount, however in a very short time to show that his presidency will create unprecedented risks for our air, water, wildlife and public health, Suh said in a statement to Yahoo News. Read more from Yahoo News: (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump addressed business and trade issues on Monday. Highlights of the day follow: TRADE Trump formally withdraws the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, distancing America from Asian allies as China's influence in the region rises. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says his country will aim to keep tariff-free commerce with North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and the United States in its talks with the Trump administration. Canada has a "very special status" and is unlikely to be hit hard by changes the United States wants to make to the NAFTA trade accord, the head of a business advisory council to Trump says. BUSINESS Trump meets with a dozen prominent U.S. manufacturers, promising to cut regulations and corporate taxes but warning them of penalties if they move production outside the country. Trump meets at the White House with leaders of construction, carpenters, plumbers and sheet metal unions, the administration says. Trump will have breakfast on Tuesday with the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV as he pressures automakers to boost American employment. CABINET The U.S. Senate confirms Representative Mike Pompeo as Trump's CIA director. Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corp Chairman Rex Tillerson, narrowly wins approval from a Senate committee and is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate. The White House says national security adviser Michael Flynn held just two phone calls with Russia's ambassador to Washington, amid reports that Flynn's communications are being scrutinized by U.S. counterintelligence agents. FOREIGN RELATIONS The Trump administration vows to prevent China from taking territory in international waters in the South China Sea, something Chinese media has said would require Washington to "wage war." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed terrorism and extremism in a call with Trump, and Trump applauded Egypt's efforts on those fronts, Sisi's office says. Story continues SUPREME COURT A White House spokesman says Trump will announce a nominee in the next couple of weeks to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. HEALTHCARE Two Republican senators say U.S. states should be allowed to stay in the Obamacare medical insurance program if they like. LAWSUIT Trump dismisses allegations in a new lawsuit accusing him of violating the U.S. Constitution by letting his hotels and other businesses accept payments from foreign governments. (Compiled by Bill Trott and Jonathan Oatis; Editing by Peter Cooney) Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Belarusian men's canoe and kayak team was wrongly banned from last year's Olympics for drug offences and has had its suspension from all competition lifted, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said on Monday. A CAS Panel ruled that there was "insufficient evidence" to uphold several alleged anti-doping offences at a training camp in April, 2016. "Accordingly, in the absence of multiple anti-doping rule violations, the Panel found that there was no justification to uphold the imposition of a one-year ban on the Belarus senior men's Canoe and Kayak teams and decided to set aside the decision taken by the ICF Executive Committee," CAS said in a statement. The Belarus Canoe Association (BCA) and team members appealed against the ban, imposed by the International Canoe Federation in July 2016 after a raid by French police and customs on their training camp in Temple-sur-Lot in France when various substances were confiscated. The banned drug meldonium was found in samples of five of 17 athletes who took a drugs test. Although CAS has ruled in the athletes' favour, it has not released the reasons behind the decision which it said would be published on its website in due course. (Reporting by Neil Robinson, editing by Ed Osmond) Paris (AFP) - Paris fashion can't get enough of its new enfant terrible Demna Gvasalia, whose rebel Vetements label has been ridiculing its conventions for the last two years. But the trendsetting Georgian -- who now also designs for Balenciaga -- outdid himself at a haute couture week show on Tuesday by presenting a homeless man with a coat fastened with a tie. His sleeping bag also bore a Vetements logo. Couture clothes -- which are handmade to measure -- are eye-wateringly expensive, the preserve of the richest people on the planet. To twist the knife, he put his "Vagabond", as Gvasalia called him, in a raggy-necked blue pullover with the EU flag on the front. The down-and-out look, given a post-Brexit twist, was one of a parade of Paris stereotypes that Gvasalia -- tongue very much in cheek -- sent down the escalators of the Pompidou Centre art gallery. This was the "City of Light" in all its grandeur and naffness. Down the runway came the ferociously snooty fur-coated upper class matron, a black bouncer, a German tourist in see-through rain mac and shorts with brown socks and trainers, the office worker in ill-matched suit and anorak as well as the Filipina nanny in her Sunday best knock-off Chanel suit. Gvasalia, 35, appeared to be holding an ironic mirror up to his adopted home, the world's fashion capital, and to himself -- selling the clothes of the poor to the rich. - Tongue in cheek - Gvasalia, who fled his then war-torn homeland as a child for Germany, said he gets his inspiration from riding the metro through one of the poorest and most ethnically diverse parts of Paris. He also skewered the hipster "Parisienne" in her trench and coat and scooter helmet gentrifying those neighbourhoods, contrasting her with working class "Chav" twins in reworked shellsuits -- playing on the age-old prejudices against the poor. There were a few laugh out loud moments, like the ageing Johnny Hallyday-like Parisian cowboy with "Vetements" stamped across the gusset of his jeans. Story continues Or the German tourist's green sweatshirt emblazoned with the title of the schlager pop song "I am so lucky to come from Osnabruck". But there were also touching moments, the disoriented "Granny" being elbowed out of the away on the catwalk by the other urban tribes, the "Stoner", the "Secretary", the "Emo" and "Miss Webcam". Haute couture week shows often traditionally finish with a wedding dress. And Gvasalia, ever the provocateur, could not resist the temptation. His bride was a Generation Z version of "Great Expectations" spinster Miss Havisham, a ball of white tulle who looked like she had just been jilted at the altar. - 'Gorilla sleeves' - Vetements, the uber cool collective Gvasalia leads, has always flirted at the edge of taste, with his Frankenstein suits and Stasi officer post-Soviet chic. And purists find it hard to swallow that someone who often recuts and reworks existing clothes should be allowed into couture week. Just to rub salt in the wound, Vetements called their collection ready-to-wear. But Gvasalia's every innovation -- appropriating logos to trailing "gorilla sleeves", and pushing Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons' oversized look to the limit -- is followed avidly and more often than not copied. The brand's rising status was confirmed when Korean K-pop rapper G-Dragon -- who had earlier paid homage to Karl Lagerfeld at his Chanel show -- rushed back to his hotel to change into a Vetements hoodie so he could pay tribute to Gvasalia. The sense of a changing of the guard was palpable. Vetements' big new thing this time is overlong men's belts that trail down to the toes. Watch out for versions of them catching in car and metro doors across the world in the coming months. By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - E-cigarettes arent tied to a decline in teen smoking and the devices may actually entice some youth who are unlikely to try traditional cigarettes, a U.S. study suggests. Youth smoking has steadily declined over the past decade, with no steeper decrease after e-cigarettes debuted on the U.S. market in 2007, researchers report in Pediatrics. There is strong evidence in adults, together with some, but more limited evidence in youth, that e-cigarettes are associated with less, not more quitting cigarettes, said study co-author Dr. Stanton Glantz, director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco. The fact is that for kids, as with adults, most e-cigarette users are 'dual users,' meaning that they smoked cigarettes at the same time that they smoked e-cigarettes, Glantz added by email. Big U.S. tobacco companies are all developing e-cigarettes, battery-powered gadgets with a heating element that turns liquid nicotine and flavorings into a cloud of vapor that users inhale. For the past decade, public health experts have debated whether the gadgets might help with smoking cessation or at least be a safer alternative to smoking traditional combustible cigarettes, or whether they might lure a new generation into nicotine addiction. In the current study, researchers analyzed survey data collected from more than 140,000 middle and high school students between 2004 and 2014. During the study period, the overall percentages of teens who reported any smoking decreased from 40 percent to 22 percent. The proportion of youth who identified themselves as current smokers dropped from 16 percent to about 6 percent during the same period. But teen cigarette smoking rates did not decline faster after the arrival of e-cigarettes in the U.S. between 2007 and 2009. And combined e-cigarette and cigarette use among adolescents in 2014 was higher than total cigarette use in 2009, the study found. Researchers also looked at characteristics that might make teens more at risk for smoking, such as living with a smoker or wearing clothing with tobacco products or logos. While teen cigarette smokers in the study often appeared to fit this profile, adolescents who used only e-cigarettes didnt display these risk factors. This suggests that at least some low-risk youth might not be using nicotine products if e-cigarettes were not an option, the authors conclude. The study isnt a controlled experiment designed to test whether e-cigarette use directly impacts smoking regular cigarettes, the authors note. Researchers also lacked data on teens who dropped out of school, who might have higher rate of tobacco use than youth still attending school. Even so, this is now the eighth long-term study to suggest teens who use e-cigarettes are more likely to start smoking, said Dr. Thomas Wills, interim director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the University of Hawaii Cancer in Honolulu. E-cigarette advocates have tried to argue that this is only because those teens who used e-cigarettes were high-risk people who were going to smoke anyway and their e-cigarette use had nothing to do with this, Wills, author of an accompanying editorial, said by email. A number of studies have now specifically examined this hypothesis, Wills added. In each case, the empirical results went against the confounding hypothesis, so we can be confident that the effect of e-cigarettes for contributing to uptake of smoking is a real effect and is not just due to a group of high-risk persons. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jqqXeR and http://bit.ly/2kl5urR Pediatrics, online January 23, 2017. Australia and East Timor are targeting a September date to agree a new sea border after tearing up a contentious maritime treaty which cut through lucrative oil and gas fields, both sides said Tuesday. Dili and Canberra have been in dispute over the issue for a decade and last year went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. East Timor announced this month that it has officially notified its southern neighbour that the Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) agreement, which carved up future revenue from oil and gas reserves in the area, will cease to be in force from April 10. The two parties and the court issued a joint statement Tuesday noting "their commitment to work in good faith towards an agreement on maritime boundaries by the end of the conciliation process in September 2017. "The (conciliation) commission intends to do its utmost to help the Parties reach an agreement that is both equitable and achievable," it said. Impoverished East Timor, which gained independence from Indonesian occupation in 2002, relies heavily on oil and gas exports. In 2006 it signed the CMATS treaty with Australia, which covers the vast Greater Sunrise gas field between the two nations that is worth billions of dollars. But Dili later accused Canberra of spying to gain commercial advantage during the 2004 negotiations and demanded the treaty be ripped up. Australia had argued the treaty was legal, binding and valid, but agreed to end it in line with Dili's wishes on January 9. All sides "recognise the importance of providing stability and certainty for petroleum companies with current rights in the Timor Sea," the statement said. "The Parties are committed to providing a stable framework for existing petroleum operations. They have agreed that the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty ... will remain in force ... until a final delimitation of maritime boundaries has come into effect." MALABO (Reuters) - Equatorial Guinea confirmed on Tuesday it was hosting ousted Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh, who fled his country after West African troops threatened to remove him by force if he did not concede his election defeat. Information Minister Eugenio Nse Obiang confirmed that Jammeh was in the country in a statement sent out to journalists. He gave no further details. Jammeh plunged Gambia into turmoil in December when he refused to accept losing to Adama Barrow, demanding a new poll. But the former soldier finally relinquished power on Saturday under strong diplomatic pressure backed up by several thousand West African troops who crossed into Gambia and were poised to enforce the election result. Many Gambians are angry that Jammeh fled into what they assume to be a luxurious exile rather than face trial for alleged human rights abuses. Gambia's parliament on Tuesday revoked a state of emergency that Jammeh had imposed last week before he fled, as the tiny West African country slowly recovered from its political crisis. "The National Assembly hereby resolved ... to approve the revocation of the declaration of the state of public emergency," said majority leader Fabakary Tombong Jatta of the unanimous vote. Barrow has not yet returned to Gambia from neighboring Senegal, where he took the oath of office on Thursday. He is due back in Gambia's capital Banjul in the coming days. The turmoil prompted some 76,000 people to flee to Senegal. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said about 8,000 had returned home and more were expected to follow. (Reporting by Bernardino Ndze Biyoa; Additional reporting by Lamin Jahateh; Editing by Tim Cocks and James Dalgleish) DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Etihad Airways said Tuesday that the CEO of its parent company, who led an aggressive multi-year buying spree that saw the Mideast carrier snap up stakes in airlines from Europe to Australia, is leaving. The Abu Dhabi-based airline gave no reason for James Hogan's departure other than to describe it as part of a transition process started by the board of directors and the Australian last year. No replacement was named. The move follows speculation about Hogan's possible exit and questions about Etihad's ability to turn around struggling investment partners such as Air Berlin and Alitalia. The equity stakes Hogan pursued help feed traffic into Etihad's system and expand its route network as it competes against larger Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways. But they also leave Etihad exposed to the problems and financial losses dragging down the older carriers it is now partly responsible for. "They have to consume some significant management time on these airlines," said airline analyst John Strickland of JLS Consulting. Chairman Mohammed Fadhel al-Mazrouei said the company's immediate priority is to continue a company-wide strategic review, suggesting that more changes could be in the works for the government-owned airline. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy," al-Mazrouei said in a statement. Strickland described Hogan as "the brains behind Etihad's development and rapid growth," as well as the acquisition strategy. He said it was too soon to say whether Etihad might try to sell off stakes in foreign airlines once Hogan is gone. "Now is probably the time to perhaps reflect on whether they want to have a less ambitious and more cautious future," Strickland said. "Caution is more likely to be the watchword of a new regime." Story continues Etihad last year named longtime executive Peter Baumgartner as CEO of the airline itself as part of a wider restructuring, and named Hogan as president and CEO of the umbrella company Etihad Aviation Group. Hogan had previously served as CEO and president of the airline. Hogan will leave in the second half of this year to join an unnamed investment company with Chief Financial Officer CFO James Rigney, who is also departing. Al-Mazrouei expressed hope that Hogan will have a "continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways," without elaborating. Hogan could not immediately be reached for comment. In a statement, he said he was proud of the airline he and more than 26,000 employees had built. He became the airline's CEO in 2006. Etihad boasts 120 planes in its fleet and has 178 aircraft on order. It reported a profit of $103 million in 2015, the most recent annual results available. Besides Air Berlin and Alitalia, it has stakes in Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Swiss-based Etihad Regional, India's Jet Airways and Virgin Australia. A search is ongoing for Hogan's replacement. ___ Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck . Brussels (AFP) - A contested EU-Canada free trade deal cleared a key hurdle on Tuesday as EU lawmakers defied rising anti-globalisation sentiment to back one of Europe's most ambitious accords. Members of the European Parliament's powerful trade committee voted 25 in favour of the deal, known as CETA, with 15 against, during a heated session in Brussels that was interrupted by a protestor. CETA now goes to a showdown vote in a full session of the European Parliament on February 15, where the EU leadership hopes for a symbolic show of support for a global trade system in the face of rising protectionism championed by new US President Donald Trump. "Those who, in the 21st century, think that we can become great again by rebuilding borders, reimposing trade barriers, restricting people's freedom to move, are doomed to fail," said the EU's top trade negotiator, Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem in a speech shortly after the vote. If all goes well next month, the deal could be partially implemented as early as March, Malmstroem added. Boosters of CETA describe it as a new kind of deal that not only breaks the usual barriers but enshrines high standards for international trade. "With CETA, we are rejecting unfettered globalisation and laying the foundations for a new era of rules-based trade," social democrat MEP David Martin, a key backer of the deal, told AFP. But CETA's opponents slam it as a gift to multinationals who will use the deal to lower health and environmental standards and circumvent government regulation. "It's a defeat," Greens MEP and French presidential candidate Yannick Jadot told AFP. "The European Parliament has ignored all the lessons of Trump's victory and the Brexit vote in giving more power to corporations and reducing the power of citizens," Jadot said. The EU and Canada formally signed the deal in October after seven years of tough talks, overcoming last-minute resistance from a small Belgian region that blocked its national government from approving the accord. Story continues The deal now needs the green light from the European Parliament but will also require approval from the EU's 30-plus national and regional parliaments in order to take full effect. The committee vote came a day after Trump delivered on his protectionist campaign promises and ended US participation in a sweeping trans-Pacific free trade agreement. He is also widely expected to drop a similar deal with the EU known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or TTIP. Brussels (AFP) - EU security commissioner Julian King says Europe faces a growing threat of cyber attacks from criminals and those plotting to destabilise the 28-nation bloc politically. In an interview with AFP, King urged the European Union to shore up its defences in the face of a mounting danger. He gave the example of the European Commission, the EU's powerful executive, which was hit by a 20-percent surge in cyber-attacks last year. "Cybercrime cost the European economy nearly 60 billion euros ($64 billion) in 2016" and the bill will continue to rise, King said ahead of a cyber security conference in the northern French city of Lille on Tuesday. "An increasing number of hackers use cyber space to spread doubt about our political systems," he said. "The people who are trying to do that, with criminal or other objectives, would like to work in the dark," the European commissioner and former British ambassador to Paris said. "So the first thing we can do is to shine a light to what is going on in order for people to realise what is going on," said King, who will likely be Britain's last top EU official as the country prepares for Brexit. US spy chiefs have pointed to suspected Russian hacking in the American presidential election and say the Chinese government runs cyber espionage against the US government, allies and corporations. Experts in Europe have also warned of the risk of interference in upcoming French and German polls. Bolstering European "resilience" to cyber-threats requires a response from all players, King said. Private citizens, he said, must follow bank security guidelines, while the public and business sector must ensure the security of their networks and member states reinforce cooperation. -'Ransom on line'- The EU Commission "has just launched a new public-private partnership which we hope will generate 1.8 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in investment in research" in cybersecurity, he said. Story continues King highlighted for example initiatives involving the private sector and Europol, the EU police agency, to fight "ransom on-line," where criminals demand money from individuals or firms to unblock computers they have hacked. "There is a whole range of software. We can provide the tools to unblock them without the user being forced to pay. More than 2,500 computers were decrypted this way for free in Europe last year," he said. He said the Commission itself experienced a 20-percent increase in cyber attacks last year. "We are targeted and sometimes they are rather serious attacks," he said without elaborating on the nature of the incidents or any damage they caused. "Our efforts are more effective if we avoid giving all the details," he said. - More biometric information- In his other work in fighting terrorism, King admitted that sharing information among member states "runs up against issues of internal organisation or different traditions among member states," but he said the mindset is changing. He said there are plans to improve the exchange of information that allow EU states to identify suspects. The EU this week wants to make progress in managing the information so that police officers, border guards and others can consult on one data base all the files they have access to. The EU will also work on setting up a "unified system" for managing biometric and other information. "In recent attacks, including the one in Berlin, we see that the suspects used aliases," King said. "With biometric information, we have the possibility of bolstering our defences against these abuses," he said. Paris (AFP) - Heavy pollution enveloping much of Europe prompted emergency measures across the continent on Tuesday. A toxic cocktail of extreme cold, no wind and heavy burning of coal and wood for heating has left many regions shrouded in smog. In many countries, including Britain, France and Brussels, officials have cautioned against physical exertion for children and the elderly, and for people with respiratory problems. Officials in Paris have ordered older, more polluting vehicles off the road since Monday, and cut the price of public transport. Speed limits have also been reduced in many parts of France. In London, a cloud of freezing smog forced the cancellation of around 100 out of 1,300 flights at Heathrow airport for the second day in a row, while Met Office forecasters had a "severe" warning in place for all of England. Madrid has not issued an alert since a seven-day stretch of high pollution that ended January 1, which saw the city impose the first driving restrictions based on licence plates in Spain. Eastern Europe has also been hit by blanket of smog, exacerbated by the heavy use of wood and coal during the cold snap. Hungarian officials have issued pollution alerts for about 20 cities, including Budapest, where cars without catalytic converters have been forbidden from roads from Monday to Wednesday. In Bulgaria, pollution has smothered the capital, Sofia, already considered one of the most polluted European capitals. But so far, officials have not imposed any specific restrictions. Lawmakers in the Krakow region of Poland, considered the area with the dirtiest air in the country, approved Monday an anti-smog plan that calls for replacing the most polluting heating stoves by 2023. Poland also plans to ban the use of low-quality coal -- an important but costly measure in a country where coal is used to heat 72 percent of homes. Piotre Kopalka, 31, was among protesters who presented a petition calling on Warsaw to enact measures similar to those in Krakow. "We want to live in a healthy city," he said, wearing a black robe and an anti-pollution mask, and carrying a scythe. "The situation in Warsaw is more and more worrying, we have to act." The U.S. has a science problem. Around half of the country's citizens reject the facts of evolution; fewer than a third agree there is a scientific consensus on human-caused climate change, and the number who accept the importance of vaccines is ticking downward. Those numbers, all gleaned from recent Pew and Gallup research polls, might suggest that Americans are an anti-science bunch. But yet, Americans love science. Even as many in the U.S. reject certain scientific conclusions, National Science Foundation surveys have found that public support of science is high, with more than 75 percent of Americans saying they are in favor of taxpayer-funded basic research. "The whole discussion around scientific denial has become very, very simplified," said Troy Campbell, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. [6 Politicians Who Got the Science Wrong] Campbell and other psychologists are presenting findings from polls and other research that they say reveal Americans' complex relationship with science. The presentations are occurring today (Jan. 21) at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) in San Antonio. Science denial whether it comes in the form of dismissing fact-based evidence as being untrue or in accepting notions that are not factual as being true is not typically rooted in blanket anti-science attitudes, the research showed. But the facts aren't always paramount, either. Often, people's denial of scientific evidence is based on motivations other than finding truth, such as protecting their social identity, the research said. Why deny? One key thing to understand about people who engage in science denial is that very few people deny science as a whole, according to research by Yale University psychologist Dan Kahan, also presenting at SPSP on Saturday. For example, the more liberal a person is, the more likely he or she is to agree that humans are causing global warming; a conservative is far more likely to blame natural climate variation or say scientists are making the whole thing up. [Wishful Thinking: 6 'Magic Bullet' Cures That Don't Exist] Story continues But that same conservative may be just fine with the evidence for the efficacy of vaccines, and there is virtually no partisan split on issues like the safety of nanotechnology, the use of artificial sweeteners in drinks or the health impacts of living near high-voltage power lines, Kahan wrote in a book chapter soon to be published in the "Oxford Handbook on the Science of Science Communication." Kahan's research has also shown that the more science-literate people are, the more strongly they hold to their beliefs even if those beliefs are totally wrong. In other words, it's not about hating science or misunderstanding the facts. It's about motivation. "Beliefs are difficult to budge, because people don't act like scientists, weighing up evidence in an even-handed way," Matthew Hornsey, a psychologist at the University of Queensland, wrote in an email to Live Science. "When someone wants to believe something, then they act more like lawyers trying to prosecute what they already want to be true. And they cherry-pick the evidence to be able to do that." The real question, Hornsey said, is why people want to believe something that flies in the face of scientific evidence. In some cases, the reason can be political: Solving the problems created by climate change would mean standing in the way of the free market, something conservatives tend to oppose. In other cases, people might have some other vested interest in their beliefs, Hornsey said. A smoker may not want to believe her or his habit is really going to cause lung cancer, because that would mean the person would have to quit. Social identity can also be an important driver of beliefs, Hornsey said. Studies of teens in Midwestern towns have found that these individuals typically go along with the crowd, he said, believing in evolution if the majority of their friends do and believing in creationism if that's what the people around them believe. "For someone living in a 'creationist community,' to express belief in evolution might be seen as a distancing act, as a signal that one was defiantly assuming an outsider status," Hornsey said. Changing minds When someone's self-image or social acceptance is at stake, badgering them with facts isn't likely to change their minds, research has shown. In fact, a 2010 studyfound that when people were shown incorrect information alongside a correction, the update failed to reverse their initial belief in the misinformation. Even worse, partisans who were motivated to believe the original incorrect information became even more firm in their belief in that information after reading a correction, the researchers found. For example, conservatives who were told that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before the Iraq war believed that claim more firmly after reading a correction. So researchers are suggesting more-subtle ways to change people's attitudes toward accepting scientific facts. Hornsey said he and his colleagues call this "psychological jiujitsu," in reference to the martial art that teaches people to use their opponent's own weight against them. [Best Supporting Role: 8 Celebs Who Promote Science] In this approach, people who accept scientific facts might try to get at the root of the disbeliefs held by those who don't, and then address that basis, rather than addressing the surface denial. Campbell and his colleagues have found, for example, that if free-market solutions to climate change are presented as an option, self-identified Republicans become less likely to deny climate science. Using this jiujitsu approach is challenging, Hornsey and his colleagues wrote in an article soon to be published in the journal American Psychologist, because people's underlying motivations are not always clear. Sometimes, the people themselves may not know why they think the way they do. And no single message will fit all possible reasons for disbelief, the researchers warned. [Evolution vs. Creationism: 6 Big Battles] "A two-tiered strategy would be optimal: messages about evidence and scientific consensus that should be sufficient for the majority, and a jiujitsu approach for the unconvinced minority," the authors wrote. There's another trap to watch out for, though, Campbell warned: smugness. If a message from a science-accepting person comes across to a denier as being holier-than-thou, or as judgmental of a person's whole character, it's likely to backfire, he said. "I like to say, 'Tell people they already are the people you want them to be,'" Campbell said. For example, "don't go to somebody and say, 'You don't care about the environment enough.' Point out all the ways they do care about the environment." From there, Campbell said, there is common ground to work from. Successful persuasion, he said, finds common values without triggering people's self-protective instincts. "The general thing I think is important to say is 'I like and care about you,'" Campbell said. Once respect is established, he said, "any criticism is very much tapered, and is not a holistic admonishment of who you are." Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former minister of mines in Guinea pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to U.S. charges that he laundered $8.5 million in bribes he received from a Chinese conglomerate to help it secure mining rights in the West African country. Mahmoud Thiam, a U.S. citizen who served as Guinea's minister of mines from 2009 to 2010, entered his plea in federal court in Manhattan to one count of money laundering and one count of transactions in criminally derived property. His plea came after Thiam, 50, was arrested on Dec. 13 in one of the latest cases to focus on allegations of bribery involving individuals tied to Guinea's mining sector. According to the indictment, beginning in 2009, Thiam received bribes from representatives of a Chinese conglomerate to help it obtain highly-valuable investment rights, including near total control of Guinea's mining sector. The Chinese conglomerate was not named in court papers, but a key deal in the case matched the description of an agreement reached in 2009 involving a joint venture majority owned by China International Fund and China Sonangol. Prosecutors said that to secretly receive the bribes, Thiam opened a Hong Kong bank account and misreported his occupation to conceal his status as a government official. He then transferred millions of dollars from that account to, among other things, provide funds to a Malaysian company that facilitated buying a $3.75 million upstate New York estate and to pay for private schools for his children, the indictment said. In court papers filed on Monday, Thiam's lawyers said their client was entitled to a presumption of innocence, and said it was not clear that prosecutors can prove that an illegal quid pro quo took place. Those court papers were filed in support of Thiam's bid to be released on bail. A federal magistrate judge in December ordered Thiam be detained after the prosecution argued that he posed a flight risk. The case is U.S. v. Thiam, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-cr-47. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown) Beirut (AFP) - Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria battled a range of rebel groups in the north of the country on Tuesday, as the government and opposition wrapped up new peace talks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the clashes began early in the day with an attack by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front on a base belonging to the Jaish al-Mujahideen faction. Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Al-Nusra Front, is listed internationally as a "terrorist" group, despite formally renouncing its affiliation with Al-Qaeda in 2016. But it has also been a key partner at times for rebel groups in Syria, and it leads a powerful alliance that controls all of Syria's Idlib province. Despite the ties, tensions have occasionally flared between the jihadist group and other rebel forces, which accuse Fateh al-Sham of seeking hegemony. The morning attack prompted further clashes which continued Tuesday afternoon along the border between Idlib province and northern Aleppo province, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Rockets fired during the fighting killed five members of a family, most of them children and women, he added. The monitor said Fateh al-Sham had seized territory from rebel groups in Aleppo, while rebels advanced against the jihadist group in Idlib. There was no official statement from either side on what sparked the clashes, which came after days of tension in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, including infighting between other rebel groups. But Fateh al-Sham has been hit in recent weeks by a series of deadly air strikes, most believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition fighting jihadists. Abdel Rahman said the group appeared to believe that local rebels were providing coordinates for the air strikes. The latest clashes come as Syria's government and rebel groups conclude fresh peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, building on a ceasefire in force since December 30. Story continues Fateh al-Sham is excluded from the ceasefire and has rejected the negotiating process, creating fresh tensions with opposition groups. The powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction, a close ally of Fateh al-Sham in Idlib, declined to take part in the talks, saying it wanted to avoid isolating the former Al-Qaeda affiliate. But on Tuesday, its fighters were battling the group, and a leading Ahrar al-Sham official warned Fateh al-Sham that it was "at a crossroads". "It either completely joins the revolution or it is a new Daesh," said Labib al-Nahhas on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Syria's civil war has killed more than 310,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since it started in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. (Reuters) - Global banks have warned they could move thousands of jobs out of Britain to prepare for the expected disruption caused by the country's exit from the European Union, posing a risk to London's status as a major financial center. Leading financial firms warned for months before last June's Brexit referendum that they would have to move some jobs if there was a leave vote, and have been working on plans for how they would do so for the past six months. More details are starting to emerge after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed Britain would leave the European single market, ending banks' hopes they might retain "passporting" rights that let them sell their services across the EU out of their London hubs. Below are comments and reports on banks about their potential Brexit plans HSBC Stuart Gulliver, CEO of HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, said his bank will relocate staff responsible for generating around a fifth of its UK-based trading revenue, or around 1,000 people, to Paris. BARCLAYS Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley told BBC Radio in an interview in Davos that the bank will keep the bulk of its activities in Britain after the UK leaves the European Union, saying that any changes to how the bank operates will be small and manageable. UBS Swiss bank UBS's Chairman Axel Weber said at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January that about 1,000 of the Swiss bank's 5,000 employees in London could be affected by Brexit. Separately, Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti said that UBS has a degree of flexibility if its UK outpost looks set to lose its ability to operate across the European Union once Britain leaves the bloc. The world's biggest wealth manager has also set up a bank in Frankfurt to consolidate most of its European wealth management operations, after Britain's vote to leave the European Union dashed London's chances of being the host city. CREDIT SUISSE Credit Suisse's Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam said in September that his bank was relatively well placed to deal with the impact of Brexit and that only around 15-20 percent of volumes in the investment bank would be impacted. LLOYDS Lloyds Banking Group, Britain's largest mortgage lender and the only major British retail lender without a subsidiary in another EU country, is considering setting up a subsidiary in Frankfurt as Britain prepares to leave the European Union, a person familiar with the plans told Reuters. GOLDMAN SACHS U.S bank Goldman Sachs is considering moving up to 1,000 staff from London to Frankfurt because of concerns over Britain's vote to leave the European Union, Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper reported in January, citing financial sources. The bank is considering halving its London staff to 3,000 and moving key operations to New York and continental Europe, particularly Frankfurt, the paper reported. Three people familiar with the matter told Reuters in November that Goldman Sachs is considering shifting some of its assets and operations from London to Frankfurt. MORGAN STANLEY U.S. bank Morgan Stanley has identified many of the roles that will need to be moved from Britain following its exit from the European Union, sources involved in the processes told Reuters. Morgan Stanley, which bases the bulk of its European staff in Britain, will have to move up to 1,000 jobs in sales and trading, risk management, legal and compliance, as well as slimming the back office in favor of locations overseas, one source told Reuters. CITIGROUP Citigroup, which has also identified roles that will need to be moved out of the UK and has a large banking unit in Dublin, will need to shift 100 positions in its sales and trading business, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Separately, Citigroup's European chief said the U.S bank would make a decision on its Brexit contingency plans in the first half of the year and choose from a number of potential EU counties to relocate some investment banking business. JPMORGAN JPMorgan Chase & Co could be forced to move 4,000 of its 16,000 staff currently based in Britain if the country loses access to the single market, bank CEO Jamie Dimon warned in June. "It looks like there will be more job movement than we hoped for," Dimon told Bloomberg TV in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. BOFA Bank of America Corp said in August that its businesses and results could be adversely affected and it may have to incur additional costs if Britain's exit from the European Union limits the ability of its UK entities to conduct business in the bloc. (Compiled by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru) By Dave McKinney and Karen Pierog CHICAGO (Reuters) - So severe is Illinois self-inflicted financial ruin that its newest hope to end a record-setting budget impasse rests with a massive bundling of billions of dollars in tax increases, borrowing and pension relief for Chicagos cash-strapped schools. The nations fifth-largest state has been engulfed in political feuding between its Republican governor and Democratic-led legislature for nearly 19 months, making Illinois the only state ever to have gone more than a year without a full operating budget. The bipartisan budget omnibus, which faces significant political hurdles, would raise income taxes by a third, borrow $7 billion to winnow down a record-setting pile of unpaid bills and open Chicago for the first time to legalized casino gambling. It also would address the states $130 billion pension crisis, change how workers are compensated for on-the-job injuries and impose term limits on legislative leaders. Fitch Ratings has warned that failure to pass a comprehensive budget solution this month will result in yet another downgrade of Illinois credit ratings, already the lowest among the 50 states. The state's ratings have been cut five times under Governor Bruce Rauner. Devised by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, the proposal represents a rare glimmer of political detente in a state that has mostly known fiscal gridlock since Rauner took office in 2015. The plan faces its first legislative test Tuesday. AN ALL-OR-NOTHING TACTIC What is novel about the plan and what also might doom it is how it has been negotiated only between Cullerton and Radogno, leaving the feuding antagonists, Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, on the sidelines. It's been an embarrassment that we don't have a budget, and we're the only state in the nation that doesn't have a balanced full budget, Cullerton said in an interview. We're doing this in the Senate first because this is where we have the ability to do it on our own. Story continues Madigan could block legislation in the House if he finds something objectionable. If the legislation does get through both chambers, Rauner could veto the package if it is not to his liking. Both are risks the plans sponsors say they are willing to take. The first test for Cullerton and Radogno could come in votes this week as legislative hearings begin Tuesday, with the pair employing an all-or-nothing parliamentary device in the 13-bill package. In a tactic referred to as tie-barring, they have inserted language in each bill stating that if any one piece fails, the whole package dies. One expert called the unorthodox and rarely employed strategy a necessity borne by Illinois historic financial morass. Weve never been in this position before, said Christopher Mooney, a University of Illinois political scientist. The building is burning around us, basically. In those crisis situations, we think of doing things we wouldnt otherwise do. The package would raise individual income tax rates from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent, and the tax rate for corporations would grow from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. It also would authorize $7 billion in borrowing over seven years to pay down the states $11.2 billion unpaid bill pile. Another major component of the bill would address Illinois $130 billion unfunded pension liability. Workers would have to choose between having future salary increases count toward their pensions or forfeit annual, compounding 3 percent annuity increases in retirement. The approach already has been labeled unconstitutional by Illinois largest public labor union. Additionally, the legislation would put the state on the hook for an annual chunk of Chicago Public Schools teacher pension payments starting with $215 million this fiscal year. Rauners budget office last week determined the whole package would result in a $4.3 billion deficit in fiscal 2017, which ends June 30, and a $2.3 billion hole in the fiscal 2018 budget. The governor, who has not endorsed the plan, last week expressed optimism about the package but warned it was not fully baked. Madigan has said nothing, raising questions about his intentions. A spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Fitch has warned that inaction on the budget front would result in a downgrade by the end of this month. "If they do not do something that comprehensively addresses their budget problem and their long-term accumulated budgetary liabilities, then we certainly would take action," Fitch analyst Karen Krop said Monday. (Reporting by Karen Pierog and Dave McKinney; Editing by Leslie Adler) A teenage Mississippi fast food worker faces a felony charge after cops say she smeared her own bodily fluids onto a customer's burger. Police in Columbus allege 18-year-old Sky Juliett Samuel put her menstrual blood and saliva onto a woman's burger in a Jack's restaurant drive-thru while she was working on January 7. Read: Man Named Ronald McDonald Shot at Sonic Drive-In Shootout Over Fast Food Love Triangle: Cops Samuel was first accused when another employee told her mother about the alleged incident, leading the mother to post about it on Facebook, according to the Columbus Dispatch. The victim, a woman from Tupelo, an hour north of Columbus, reportedly came forward after news of the allegedly tainted burger began to spread. Meanwhile, such an act appears to carry a heft charge in Mississippi, where "knowingly sell(ing) unwholesome bread or drink" is a felony crime. If convicted, Samuel could face up to five years in prison. Read: Chick-fil-A Honors Fallen Orlando Officer, a Frequent Customer, With "Missing Man Table" For now, she has been released from Lowndes County Adult Detention Center after posting $5,000 bond. In a statement released from Jack's Family Restaurants, Inc., the company assured the public that officials there intend to cooperate with area police. They also said an internal investigation has been launched. Watch: Pregnant Wendy's Worker Dragged Out Drive-Thru Window, Assaulted: 'You Forgot the Effing Straw' Related Articles: By Ronnie Cohen (Reuters Health) - When Gina Brown was diagnosed with HIV in 1994, she considered it a death sentence, but nearly 23 years later, shes living a full life in New Orleans, thanks largely to the federally funded Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. In 2014, the safety-net program provided drugs, medical care and support services to more than 268,000 people in the U.S. living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections. Now a study shows that in 82 percent of them, including Brown, HIV is no longer detectable in their blood a state known as viral suppression. Those who are virally suppressed take antiretroviral medications that allow them to expect to live a nearly average lifespan. In addition, the drugs can virtually eliminate the possibility of transmitting the virus to others. The number of Ryan White program participants who achieved viral suppression rose 12 percent from 2010 until 2014, researchers found. The study considered only those who used the program for medical care and were at least 13 years old. Senior author Dr. Laura Cheever hailed the increase as a huge improvement. She is the associate administrator of the federal Health Resource and Service Administrations HIV/AIDS Bureau in Rockville, Maryland. Named for a boy who was expelled from school at age 13 following a 1984 diagnosis with HIV, the Ryan White program has offered healthcare and other services from drugs to temporary housing to counseling, substance-abuse treatment and rides to medical appointments to HIV-positive people since 1990. The program cost $2.3 billion this fiscal year and is expected to serve more than 500,000 people, about half the number of Americans diagnosed with HIV, Cheever said. The viral suppression rate rose even higher for program participants who received medical care in 2015 to more than 83 percent, Cheever said in a phone interview. Some participants receive just support services, not medical care, and were not included in the viral suppression number. From 2010 to 2014, disparities between suppression rates for those in vulnerable groups shrank, the report in Health Affairs found. The gap in viral suppression rates for blacks narrowed in comparison to whites; the gap for adolescents and youth adults narrowed in comparison to those for older adults; and the gap for HIV-positive people living in the South narrowed in comparison to people in other regions of the U.S. Disparities persisted, but were significantly reduced for every group except homeless and transgender people, Cheever said. Brown, 51, a black woman living in the South, has been a beneficiary of the programs equal access, and she sees it as her salvation. The Ryan White program allows us to live, she said in a phone interview. The program enabled Brown to earn a masters degree in social work, and she now works in the HIV testing and prevention program at the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies in New Orleans. Most importantly, Brown said, the program has introduced her to other HIV-positive people. You can hang out with women just like you and not feel stigmatized and not feel so alone, she said. The Ryan White program reduces disparities for vulnerable groups that persist for other diseases throughout the U.S., Cheever said. The paper demonstrates that by taking a public health approach to a complicated medical condition, we can really serve the people in this country who have limited access to care, she said. Dr. Michael Saag directs the University of Alabama at Birmingham AIDS Center and was not involved in the new research. The studys findings mirror what hes seen in his clinic and present evidence that when you give people ready and equal access to care, healthcare disparities disappear, Saag said in a phone interview. Why is it that health disparities are substantially less with HIV? The answer is its because of the Ryan White Care Act, he said. These are the healthcare disparities were so used to, that we expect. And thats a tragedy. Under the Ryan White program, financial status no longer limits access to care because the program fills whatever holes people with HIV have in their healthcare coverage and in their related needs. You could almost think of it as an experiment in single payer because it creates relatively equal access to all people, regardless of their station in life, Saag said. Because people who are virally suppressed dont transmit HIV, he said, the program benefits not only individuals but the general public. Before the Affordable Care Act was enacted, only about 13 percent of HIV-positive people in the U.S. had private health insurance, and 24 percent had no coverage at all, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Ryan White died at age 18, just months before Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2koLS1X Health Affairs, online January 9, 2017. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's fire-prone Riau province declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the disaster mitigation agency said, after President Joko Widodo urged regional authorities to avoid a repeat of fires that smothered Southeast Asia in smog in 2015. Indonesia faces global pressure to put an end to slash-and-burn land clearances for palm and pulp plantations which send clouds of toxic smoke over the region each year. Tuesday's move is intended to help Riau, which sits a stone's throw across the Malacca Strait from wealthy city-state Singapore, to begin taking preventive steps as dryer weather is expected in 2017 than in 2016. "The province of Riau today declared emergency status for forest and land fires for 96 days," National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho told Reuters. The 2015 fires were among the worst on record, straining ties with neighbors, and costing Indonesia an estimated 220 trillion rupiah ($16.5 billion) in economic losses, or about 1.9 percent of gross domestic product, Widodo's office has said. Every year, Indonesia faces criticism from its neighbors Singapore and Malaysia over the smog, euphemistically known as "haze", and its failure to stop the fires from being lit. Data from the state weather agency shows dryer weather in store for Indonesia this year, which authorities fear could spark more fires. "We hope that at the beginning of this year there is planning and quick action (so) we can prevent forest and land fires in 2017," Widodo said. He called for preventive measures, tougher law enforcement, more community involvement and better governance of private land and concessions. "Check preparations for aerial operations, air patrols, rain making and water bombing. These have to move quickly from the start," the president said. Widodo thanked community stakeholders and authorities for efforts to prevent and douse fires in 2016, when hotspots were reduced by 83 percent. "The reduction was drastic," he added. ($1=13,330 rupiah) (Additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Five teams have qualified to compete in a $30 million Google-backed competition to land and operate robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon, the XPrize Foundation said on Tuesday. Contenders now have until Dec. 31 for their spacecraft to be launched, said the foundation, which is running the Google Lunar XPrize and eight other technology stimulus contests. Previously, competitors needed to complete activities on the lunar surface, such as having their vehicles travel 1,640 feet (500 meters) and broadcast high-definition video, by the end of the year. Since the contest was announced in 2007, interest in the Google Lunar XPrize has been high, with 33 teams originally signing up to compete for the $20 million first prize. Second place is worth $5 million and bonus money is available for accomplishing extra tasks, such as visiting an Apollo landing site or finding water on the moon. Googles parent company, Alphabet has produced a documentary series about Lunar XPrize competition. Five teams remain in the running: Israels SpaceIL, Florida-based Moon Express, an international team known as Synergy Moon, Indias Team Indus and Japans Hakuto. SpaceIL plans to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which recently returned to flight following a launch pad accident. Team Indus and Hakuto will share a ride on an Indian PSLV launcher. Moon Express is banking on a launch from startup Rocket Lab, which is developing a small rocket called Electron. Whether it wins the XPrize or not, Moon Express is building a business to provide lunar transportation and services, such as research and mineral extraction, Chief Executive Bob Richards said in an interview. Synergy Moon is counting on one of its partners, Mojave, Calif.-based Interorbital Systems, for its launch aboard a new rocket known as Neptune. Were thrilled to have five contenders that are working from all over the world on this one mission, XPrize Senior Director Chanda Gonzales-Mowrer said in an email. The race to moon is among nine XPrize contests currently underway. The competitions are designed to make big technological leaps in aerospace, medicine, education and other fields by luring new participants and private capital with cash prizes. The original 2012 deadline for the Google Lunar XPrize has been extended three times, but contest organizers said they will stand by the current timeline which requires teams to launch on or before Dec. 31. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Marguerita Choy) Police say a Florida sheriffs deputy attempted to kill a woman whom he had been defrauding and whose dog he stole and sold on Craigslist. Deputy Frankie Bybee, 46, was accused of defrauding a 79-year-old woman living in Sarasota after befriending her following a service call in October, Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight told reporters on Monday. The deputy, who had worked with the department for 18 years, was put on administrative leave earlier in January after his fingerprint was discovered on checks totaling $65,000, which the woman said were fraudulently signed, the Associated Press reported. After the woman alerted police about the defrauding, Bybee allegedly tried to kill her by forcing her to take pills, CBS News affiliate WTSP reported. He then tried to make her death look like a suicide. Knight said the woman also gave Bybee her dog to look after while she was in the hospital, but that he sold it on Craigslist. Media gathering for press conference arrest of Frankie Eugene Bybee, 18yr employee of @SarasotaSheriff #wtsp pic.twitter.com/giDdmuilL7 Isabel Mascarenas (@IMascarenas) January 23, 2017 Bybee was held without bail on attempted murder and other charges. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney. By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former analyst at the investment fund of Dell Inc founder Michael Dell was arrested on Monday after he refused to show up for trial to face charges that he made $1.5 million engaging in insider trading. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan earlier in the day issued a bench warrant for John Afriyie, a former employee of MSD Capital, after a defense lawyer said his client was in New Jersey and would not agree to come to court. Engelmayer warned that Afriyie was "going to need to bring his toothbrush." And after Afriyie was arrested about five hours later at a hotel in East Windsor, New Jersey, and was brought into the court in chains, the judge revoked his bail. "Actions speak louder than words," Engelmayer said. "Mr. Afriyie, your actions today require that you be detained." Ezra Spilke, one of Afriyie's lawyers, told the judge that his client's failure to appear arose from a "misguided attempt to fire his counsel" and a misunderstanding about the state of the case. But after hearing from Afiyie behind closed doors, Engelmayer said he had given "wilfully untrue" reasons for not appearing for trial. He denied Afriyie's request for new lawyers, clearing the way for the trial to begin on Tuesday. Afriyie, 29, had been free on a $200,000 bond since he was first arrested last April in what was one of the latest insider trading cases to be announced by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office. Prosecutors said that in early 2016, Afriyie learned about plans by Apollo Global Management LLC to acquire security company ADT Corp after the private equity firm approached MSD to discuss providing debt financing for the deal. After he and other MSD employees were emailed about a restriction imposed on trading in ADT stock, Afriyie accessed a shared folder on MSD's network server and obtained information about Apollo's pending deal, prosecutors said. Story continues He then bought ADT call options for $24,254 through a brokerage account in his mother's name, enabling him to earn $1.53 million when the transaction was announced, prosecutors said. Afriyie has pleaded not guilty to charges of securities fraud and wire fraud. The case is U.S. v. Afriyie, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 16-cr-337. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Tom Brown, Leslie Adler and Bernard Orr) China sentenced a former president of state-run energy giant Sinopec to 15 and a half years for corruption Tuesday, official media said, the latest punishment meted out to a prominent figure in the graft-riddled oil sector. Wang Tianpu, the former general manager of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), was also fined 3.2 million yuan ($470,000), the official Xinhua news agency reported. The Nanchang City Intermediate People's Court in the eastern province of Jiangxi ordered Wang's illicit gains to be confiscated and said that the assets he embezzled should be returned to Sinopec, the national broadcaster CCTV reported. Wang's sentence came less than a week after Liao Yongyuan, a former executive with Sinopec's parent company CNPC, was jailed for 15 years on similar charges. Wang was charged in November for accepting almost 33.5 million yuan in bribes and embezzling nearly 800,000 yuan of state-owned assets, China's top anti-graft authority, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said. President Xi Jinping launched a much-publicised drive against corruption after he came to power in 2012, vowing to target both high-level "tigers" and low-ranking "flies". The CCDI said in 2015 that it plans to investigate all major state-owned enterprises. But critics say a lack of transparency around the purge raises concerns that it could be used by Xi to eliminate political enemies. Analysts say China has failed to implement institutional safeguards against corruption, including an independent judiciary and free media. AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who has been in a Houston hospital for 10 days with pneumonia, is improving and has been sitting up, talking with physicians and returning phone calls, a spokesman for his office said on Tuesday. Bush, the country's oldest living ex-president at 92, on Monday was moved out of the intensive-care unit at Houston Methodist Hospital, where has been since Jan. 14 after experiencing shortness of breath. "President Bush had another good night's rest at Houston Methodist Hospital as he continues to recover from pneumonia," spokesman Jim McGrath said in a statement. He did not indicate when Bush might leave the hospital. Former first lady Barbara Bush, 91, was discharged from the same hospital on Monday after being treated for bronchitis. She was admitted last Wednesday as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing, he said. She visited her husband on Tuesday, McGrath said. The couple marked their 72nd wedding anniversary on Jan. 6. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott) New York (AFP) - It is he protest that Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf is determined will go on 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for President Donald Trump's entire four-year term in office. Or until he steps down, which ever comes soonest. Come rain, shine or near freezing temperatures, members of the public have turned up to repeat "He Will Not Divide Us" into a camera mounted onto a wall outside a New York museum since Trump was inaugurated last Friday. "Fury" actor LaBeouf, dressed in an orange poncho, shimmied around, rallying the troops in the pouring rain on Tuesday outside the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the borough where Trump was born. The protest is the brain child of LaBeouf, Finnish artist Nastja Sade Ronkko and British artist Luke Turner. Members of the public are invited to repeat the phrase as many times and for as long as they wish. Since Friday, there has been a steady stream of mostly young people, and mostly those living in the neighborhood, who vent their frustration with Trump. Despite lashing rain and near freezing temperatures, at one point Tuesday around a dozen young people appeared in front of the camera, some beating drums and chanting the phrase and stamping their feet to the rhythm. "Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency," says the protest's website. "In this way, the mantra "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community." Jaden Smith, the actor and child of Hollywood star Will Smith, has also taken part. But on Tuesday, LaBeouf refused to elaborate, telling AFP: "I think I've already said everything that could be said." But Sarah Elhouti, 17, said it was a great idea. "When you find other people who support the same thing and believe in the same thing, you're not alone," she told AFP. "We're the upcoming generation," Elhouti added. "It's our opinion that matters now." Paris (AFP) - France on Tuesday took a key step towards shutting down its oldest nuclear power station, a campaign promise of Socialist President Francois Hollande, just months before he leaves office. The board of state-owned electricity utility EDF approved a compensation package worth at least 400 million euros ($430 million) for the shutdown of the Fessenheim nuclear plant, a source close to the matter said. EDF, which is 85.6 percent owned by the state, agreed the plan with the French government last August. The closure of the twin-reactor plant is part of a plan to dramatically reduce the country's dependence on atomic energy. The plant in Fessenheim on the border with Germany about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of Strasbourg has been in operation since 1977. Fessenheim, located on a seismic fault line, has worried French, German and Swiss environmentalists for years. Hollande, who leaves office in May, vowed during campaigning in the 2012 election to close the facility, as part of a promise to reduce the share of nuclear in France's energy mix from 75 percent to 50 percent and increase the share of renewables. But the plan ran into stiff opposition from the conservative opposition, which sees France's nuclear park as a guarantor of the country's energy independence and a source of cheap electricity. It wasn't exactly brassieres at dawn, but the French lingerie industry was not going to take a provocation from Victoria's Secret lying down. The brash US lingerie label flew a jet full of supermodels into Paris in November for its annual Las Vegas-style fashion show, seeking to build a bridgehead into the lucrative European market. Such a slight to the city that invented sexy underwear could not go unanswered. The French resistance snapped into action with a rival show called "Lingerie, Mon Amour" (Lingerie, My Love) late on Sunday as Paris haute couture week began. For the first time in history the country's 14 top brands united on the same runway to face down the US giant's steamroller hype with nothing more than some peek-a-boo lace and fine corsets. Billed as a clash of class against cash, it set Victoria's Secret's casino showgirl chic, and $3-million emerald-encrusted "fantasy bras" against the subtle age-old French art of seduction. While Victoria's Secret spent $20 million bringing Lady Gaga and electro star The Weeknd across the Atlantic, the French show settled for a 14-piece orchestra to summon up the spirit of Marie Antoinette, one of the first women, its organisers claimed, "to liberate herself from her corset". And rather than a procession of pneumatic models led by Gigi and Bella Hadid, the French show went for older, unknown models to show that glamour was "within every woman's reach". Karine Sfar, who heads the French lingerie federation, said that France was still the world's number one for high-end undies because of the unparalleled know-how of its bra makers. - Women buying it for themselves - "Each bra has 30 to 40 individual parts, and it takes an incredible amount of expertise" to really make the best of a woman's assets, she added. But most of all, she said with such "an intimate garment", it had to be comfortable and "make you more beautiful" while smoothing away all that you don't want on display. Story continues Rather than lingerie being something men bought for women -- the business model that drives Victoria's Secret $7-billion in sales -- women buy French underwear for themselves, said Alain De Rodellec of the Chantelle label. "It is not all about pleasing men. Women buy lingerie first of all for themselves to feel good and to feel beautiful. Although France is number four in the world behind China, Taiwan and Sri Lanka in terms of volume of lingerie it makes, Sfar argued that the country where Hermine Cadolle invented the modern bra in 1889, still has the edge on style and quality. "The French je ne sais quoi", she said. She said they had deliberately not hired big-name models for the packed show to take the limelight off the lacy creations themselves. The show played on three centuries of Gallic coquetterie, from the courtesans and ladies in waiting of the Palace of Versailles to the femmes fatales of Dior's "New Look", and Yves Saint Laurent's powerful women in black smoking jackets and suspenders. Despite its focus on giving women inner confidence, Sfar admitted that the big name historic French lingerie companies such as Aubade and Maison Lejaby, are far from feminist bastions. "We cannot say that when almost none of the heads of the big French companies are women," she said. De Rodellec said lingerie had long been regarded "accessories rather than real clothing. But it is a real fashion item and it deserves its place on the fashion runways. "It has long been our dream that lingerie shows become part of Paris fashion week, and we hope that will happen one day," he added. Paris (AFP) - The British-born wife of French presidential candidate Francois Fillon was paid around 500,000 euros ($538,000) over nearly a decade out of parliamentary funds, a satirical weekly reported Wednesday. The Canard Enchaine, which mixes satire with investigative reporting, detailed various periods during which Penelope Fillon was paid from money available to her husband as a longstanding MP for the central Sarthe region. Hiring family members is not against the rules as long as the person is genuinely employed, but the newspaper said it had been unable to track down witnesses of her work. Fillon's wife had "indeed" worked for him, said Fillon spokesman Thierry Solere, as well as at a literary magazine owned by a friend. "It is common for the spouses of MPs to work with them," he told AFP soon after the report emerged. The report sparked a Twitter hashtag #PenelopeGate, while observers began weighing in on the allegations. - 'Serve your country' - "You must serve the country before helping yourself," Ivan Rioufol, editorialist of daily Le Figaro, told RTL radio, adding however that Fillon should be accorded the presumption of innocence. Citing pay slips, the Canard Enchaine said Penelope (nicknamed "Penny"), who has always been seen as uninvolved in her husband's political life, was paid from 1998 to 2002 from funds intended for parliamentary assistants. From 2002 to 2007, when Fillon took up a cabinet post under then president Jacques Chirac, she became an assistant to Marc Joulaud, who carried out Fillon's parliamentary duties in his place, earning 6,900-7,900 euros per month. A colleague of Joulaud's told the paper she "never worked with (Penelope). I have no information about this. I knew her only as a minister's wife." The paper said that Penelope was again paid "for at least six months" in 2012 when Fillon, then prime minister, left government after the defeat of rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy. Story continues "In total, Penelope will have earned around 500,000 euros from parliamentary funds," the paper said. The paper also says that Penelope Fillon was paid around 5,000 euros a month between May 2012 and December 2013 by the periodical Revue des Deux Mondes. The literary magazine is owned by a friend of Fillon, Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere. Canard Enchaine quoted the director of the monthly, Michel Crepu, as saying he was shocked. "I have never met Penelope Fillon and I have never seen her in the offices of the review," he said. Francois Fillon told a television interviewer in November that Penelope stayed at home in Sarthe while he worked as a lawmaker in Paris. "I didn't have much time to see the first four (of five children) grow up because I was an MP," he told Karine Le Marchand, the chatty presenter of "Ambition Intime" (Intimate Ambition) on the private TV channel M6. "It was 24/7, so basically they were raised by their mother." But he also said, without saying which time period he was referring to: "She was very involved in the campaigns, handing out flyers and attending meetings with me." - 'Country peasant' - Fillon added that the Welsh native is no longer involved in politics at all. A trained lawyer, Penelope told Britain's Sunday Telegraph after her husband became prime minister in 2007 that she preferred being at the couple's 12th-century chateau near Le Mans, western France, with her children and five horses than in glitzy Paris. "I'm just a country peasant, this is not my natural habitat," she joked. Polls forecast that Fillon, from the rightwing Republicans party, would win presidential elections due in April and May if the vote were held today. But many analysts see the contest as highly unpredictable with Fillon facing competition from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron and others. By Tim Cocks BANJUL (Reuters) - Even before the cheers to celebrate the end of Yahya Jammeh's brutal 22-year rule of Gambia died down, there was fury that he was being allowed to flee into luxurious exile. Trader Aji Jagne, 32, had chanted "we are free" until her voice was hoarse on Sunday but by the end of the day, less than 24 hours after Jammeh flew out of the country and into exile, her toothy grin had disappeared. "Why should he escape...? If he ever sets foot in Gambia again, we shall take him to the ICC," she said, referring to the International Criminal Court, from which Jammeh had planned to withdraw before his December 1 electoral defeat. Celebrations erupted in the streets after West African regional forces entered the capital city, Banjul, and took control of the presidential palace, the State House. Jammeh, who had refused to accept his poll defeat to opposition challenger and now president Adama Barrow, flew out of Banjul late on Saturday en route to Equatorial Guinea. A West African regional force had been launched to remove him but paused to allow for negotiations mediated by Guinean President Alpha Conde and President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania. Diplomats and government sources say Jammeh used that time to try to negotiate immunity from prosecution for alleged abuses and, according to an advisor to Barrow, also loaded up a cargo plane with luxury goods. Jammeh denied allegations of torture and killing opponents while in power. But his repressive rule and a flagging economy saw thousands flee across the Sahara and Mediterranean to Europe each year. Jammeh, meanwhile, is believed to have acquired a vast fortune, including a fleet of Rolls-Royces with his name embroidered on the headrests and an estate in Potomac, Maryland, a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C. While Jammeh left aboard a jet with Conde late on Saturday, two other planes - a Mauritanian aircraft and a cargo plane from Chad - were being prepared for departure on the tarmac, fuelling speculation over their purpose. It is unclear whether any deal was agreed. Barrow, who is in neighbouring Senegal where he is waiting to return to Gambia, denied on Sunday that Jammeh had been offered immunity from prosecution. Barrow's spokesman Halifa Salah declined to comment further at a news conference. "DISAPPEARED" For Jammeh's victims, the notion that he might never face justice and may have even escaped with his treasure is deeply troubling. Mamudou Sillah was in secondary school when his brother disappeared. Jammeh had only been in power a few months after staging a coup in 1994 when he accused a group of officers of attempting a counter-coup. Sillah's brother Amadou, a cadet officer, was among them. The last time he saw him was two days before the counter-coup was alleged to have occurred. He had promised to return home. "He just disappeared. We never saw the body. I heard he was in a mass grave somewhere," he said. Sillah said he had wanted to see Jammeh arrested at home. "I was very disappointed when I was told he had gone into exile," he told Reuters. "When he came into power he had nothing. Now he has gone with all that money." Just how much wealth Jammeh managed to take with him is subject to speculation. Speaking on Sunday to radio station RFM in Senegal, Barrow said that initial inspection indicated Jammeh had looted state resources. Barrow advisor Mai Ahmad Fatty later told journalists Jammeh had withdrawn 500 million dalasis ($11.51 million) in the past two weeks. He said the Chadian cargo plane was on the tarmac and was ferrying some belongings of the former president. "We are told it contained luxury goods, lots of expensive vehicles and other stuff," he said late on Sunday. "We understand that these luxury goods, cars and others, there are still some of them at the airport. We have directed that whatever is at the airport will stay." Journalists said they witnessed the Mauritanian aircraft take off when Jammeh left. But with attention focused entirely on the ex-president's departure it was unclear what happened to the cargo plane and what may or may not have been in it. He was not reachable for further comment on Monday. At the ferry terminal in Banjul on Monday, refugees were streaming back into Gambia from across the river on their way back from Senegal where some 45,000 Gambians fled fearing that Jammeh's refusal to step down would spark violent unrest. "The ECOMOG (West African force) should have come in without his agreement," said terminal worker Lamine Ceesy, 62. "Now he's going to escape with all his gold. We need the money back or there's no justice. We want him to go to court." For Souleyman Ndiaye, a retired businessman who lives across the street from the State House, it could have been worse. "People are not happy that Jammeh had a good deal," he said, sitting in the shade of a tree outside his house. "But we managed to avoid a war." ($1 = 43.4400 Gambian dalasis) (Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Dakar; Editing by Joe Bavier and Sonya Hepinstall) By Lamin Jahateh BANJUL (Reuters) - Gambia's central bank deposits are "intact", a spokesman for President Adama Barrow said on Monday, a day after the new leader had said there was no money left in the state coffers. Barrow said on Sunday that it appeared his exiled predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, had looted state resources after his election defeat. A Barrow adviser later said Jammeh had withdrawn the equivalent of over $11.5 million before he flew out of the country as West African troops were poised to remove him. That amount would represent 1.2 percent of Gambia's 2015 GDP, according to World Bank figures. "There had been information to the public about the central bank. It was of particular concern but the inspector general (of) police told me that everything is intact," Halifa Sallah said at a news conference in Gambia's capital Banjul. It was not immediately clear if Barrow and his adviser, Mai Ahmad Fatty, had been referring to central bank funds or other state resources. Fatty could not be reached for clarification. Jammeh is believed to have acquired a vast fortune, including a fleet of Rolls-Royces and an estate in a wealthy suburb of Washington, D.C during his rule. The veteran leader, who had refused to hand over power after his defeat in December's election, flew out of Gambia late on Saturday en route to Equatorial Guinea after negotiations backed by regional military pressure. But even before the cheers to celebrate Jammeh's departure had died down, there was dismay that the former soldier was being allowed to flee into luxurious exile and might hold onto his fortune. Rights groups also accuse Jammeh, who took power in a 1994 coup, of jailing, torturing and killing political opponents - charges Jammeh has denied. Barrow denied on Sunday that Jammeh had been offered immunity. Sallah on Monday also announced that Barrow had named Fatoumata Tambajang, the country's former health minister, as vice president. Tambajang was the architect of the opposition coalition that backed Barrow in the election. He added that the director general of the country's National Intelligence Agency had assured him that all prisoners held by the agency had been released but that the new administration would be looking into additional claims of missing persons. ($1 = 43.1800 Gambian dalasis) (Writing by Joe Bavier and Aaron Ross; editing by Richard Lough) Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambian President Adama Barrow's administration faced a backlash Tuesday after admitting its new vice-president may be constitutionally barred from serving and confirming ex-leader Yahya Jammeh will be permitted to keep a fleet of luxury cars. One day after naming Fatoumata Jallow-Tambajang as deputy leader, an outcry broke out after local media alleged she was 67 years old, two years over the legal maximum to serve in the post. Barrow spokesman Halifa Sallah told journalists he was aware of the reports and advisors were recommending a parliamentary vetting process be put in place to avoid a similar situation, without confirming Jallow-Tambajang's true age. Several phone calls to Jallow-Tambajang by AFP went unanswered on Tuesday. "I have spoken to President Barrow that many concerns are being raised," Sallah said. "The president has been carefully advised that he constitute a vetting committee," Sallah added, while asserting that "the appointment was done in good faith based on the facts that were available". Barrow was in "final discussions with west African leaders "in order to announce the hour of coming," Sallah said, adding that he would arrive "very soon". Barrow is currently living in Senegal until his safety can be guaranteed by thousands of soldiers from five African nations currently deployed in The Gambia, but unease is growing over his prolonged absence. Equatorial Guinea Tuesday for the first time confirmed the presence of Jammeh in the small west African country, where he had been offered refuge as "a political exile". President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, another long-serving African leader, had convinced Jammeh "to avoid any situation of armed confrontation", government spokesman Eugenio Nze Obiang said. - Bentley and Benz - The news came on the same day it was confirmed that ex-leader Jammeh had struck a deal with Barrow to keep a fleet of luxury cars in exchange for leaving the country on Saturday for exile in Equatorial Guinea. Story continues An airport source who saw the cargo being prepared on Saturday night when Jammeh flew out of the country said "two Rolls Royces and one (Mercedes) Benz" were loaded onto a Chadian cargo plane, while 10 others await shipment. "The government was fully prepared and supportive of ex-president Jammeh to leave and as a result they found it is better to leave with all his properties," his spokesman said. The airport source even reported a tussle over whether to take Bentleys or Rolls Royces onto the cargo flight, before settling for the latter. The news is likely to anger Gambians who have also learnt Jammeh took off with $11 million of state funds, according to one of his Dakar-based advisors, leaving the coffers nearly empty. "I am so sickened by the deal; but I guess saving just one life on either side is worth more than all of his wealth," Twitter user @YesWeCan_Gambia wrote. An "entry-level" Rolls Royce costs $250,000, and most Gambians live on less than $2 a day. - Controversial judge gone - Meanwhile a top judicial official told AFP the country's sole remaining Supreme Court judge has resigned following attempts by Jammeh to overturn the result of a December 1 election won by Barrow. "It is true that the chief justice has resigned from his position. His resignation letter is dated 20th January. He is out of the country. He has gone back to Nigeria," judicial secretary Landing Sanneh told AFP. Emmanuel Fagbanle had deferred a decision on hearing Jammeh's legal complaint over a lack of other judges to hear the case, but was known to be uneasy with the mercurial strongman's use of the court system to pursue his personal grievances. Jammeh's defiance over the election result prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday, citing Senegalese authorities. The agency said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. Banjul (Gambia) (AFP) - Gambian ex-president Yahya Jammeh will be allowed to keep his collection of 13 luxury cars and fly them out to his exiled home in Equatorial Guinea, a spokesman for new president Adama Barrow said Tuesday. Barrow's spokesman confirmed to AFP an agreement had been struck to facilitate Jammeh's exit on Saturday in order to end a weeks-long impasse caused by the ex-leader's refusal to recognise Barrow's election victory. "What is very clear is that arrangements were made and the government was fully prepared and supportive of ex-president Jammeh to leave and as a result they found it is better to leave with all his properties instead of coming down and checking properties," spokesman Halifa Sallah told AFP. An airport source who saw the cargo being prepared on Saturday night when Jammeh flew out of the country said "two Rolls Royce and one (Mercedes) Benz" were loaded onto a Chadian cargo plane, while others await shipment. The spokesman added that the decision was also aimed at minimising return visits by Jammeh. "He leaves with all his properties so he is not coming up and down to check," Sallah said. Another Barrow spokesman had alluded angrily to the luxury cars on Sunday, but did not say that the new president had agreed that Jammeh could leave with them. As of Tuesday, the source added, "10 cars" were still earmarked for future shipment, which diplomats and others familiar with the matter confirmed included a Bentley, Land Rovers, a red Mini Cooper, and another Mercedes. "No information or orders have been given by this new government to stop shipping the cars," the airport source told AFP. He described Jammeh's entourage as struggling between the choice of two larger Bentleys or three smaller cars, eventually opting for the Mercedes and the Rolls Royces on the night he left the country. "They were trying to check which one fits. If they took the bigger cars they could only take two," he said. The news is likely to anger Gambians who have also learnt Jammeh took off with $11 million of state funds, leaving the coffers nearly empty. An "entry-level" Rolls Royce costs $250,000, and most Gambians live on less than $2 a day. By Madeline Chambers and Holger Hansen BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) nominated former European Parliament president Martin Schulz on Tuesday as their candidate to run against Angela Merkel for the post of chancellor in September's national election. The nomination followed party leader Sigmar Gabriel's decision to stand aside for Schulz, a move that shows the SPD is serious about ending its role as a junior partner in Merkel's current right-left coalition after the Sept. 24 vote. Opinion polls suggest Schulz, 61, has a better chance than Gabriel - though still very small - of unseating the conservative Merkel, who has led Germany since 2005 and is Europe's most powerful leader. Her grand coalition with the SPD has governed Germany since 2013. Asked during a news conference at the SPD headquarters in Berlin to explain his decision to make way for Schulz, Gabriel said: "Because he has a better chance". Schulz has taken a tough stance against right-wing populism across Europe and will fight for social justice and democracy, Gabriel added. The party is expected to confirm Schulz's candidacy as well as his leadership of the party at a meeting on Sunday. However, Schulz faces an extremely tough job to oust Merkel, whose conservatives lead the SPD in opinion polls by up to 15 percentage points. "This country needs a new leadership in these difficult times," Schulz said, warning that European societies were being torn apart by populism. Earlier, Gabriel made a rare attack on Merkel and her insistence on financial austerity during the euro zone crisis. "The policies of Angela Merkel and (Finance Minister) Wolfgang Schaeuble have no doubt contributed to the deep crises in the EU since 2008, to the isolation of a dominant German government and through a relentless insistence on austerity, to high unemployment outside Germany," he said in a statement. This has boosted anti-European populist parties, he added. "CLEAR SIGNAL" The SPD wants to form a coalition with smaller parties on the left but most analysts still think another right-left coalition is the most likely outcome of September's election. Senior SPD lawmaker Karl Lauterbach told broadcaster WDR: "This is a clear signal - no grand coalition. With Martin Schulz we have a better chance." A poll conducted this month by the Emnid institute for the Bild newspaper showed that in a direct vote Schulz would win 38 percent versus 39 percent for Merkel, compared to a result of 27 percent for Gabriel and 46 percent for Merkel. Schulz is a committed European. In 2003, Italy's then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi caused a storm for jokingly offering Schulz a film part as a concentration camp guard. As a young man, Schulz had to ditch his aspirations to be a footballer and later became a book seller. He announced in November he would return to German politics after his stint as president of the European Parliament. However, his pro-European stance makes him vulnerable to attacks from the anti-immigrant and anti-euro Alternative for Germany (AfD)) which has made big gains in the last two years, especially due to the migrant crisis. "Symbol of EU bureaucracy and a deeply divided Europe as chancellor candidate?" tweeted AfD co-leader Frauke Petry. Gabriel said he would shortly become German foreign minister, replacing Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who will become the country's president, a largely ceremonial post. (Additional reporting by Klaus Lauer, Joseph Nasr, Andrea Shalal, and Michelle Martin; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Gareth Jones) Vilnius (AFP) - The first group of German and Belgian troops arrived in Lithuania on Tuesday, part of a NATO move to reinforce its eastern flank in a bid to deter a militarily resurgent Russia. A group of German officers landed in the Baltic state's capital Vilnius to coordinate the deployment of a 1,200-strong battalion that will include forces from several NATO members. Hours earlier, some 30 Belgian troops arrived at another airport in western Lithuania while a ship carrying logistical equipment docked at the Baltic Sea port of Klaipeda, Lithuania's military spokesman captain Andrius Dilda told AFP. Last summer, NATO ordered continuous troop rotations on its eastern flank as a tripwire against Russian adventurism in states formerly under Moscow's control. Apart from the German-led battalion in Lithuania, Canada will lead a multi-national battalion in Latvia, Britain in Estonia and the US in Poland. Vilnius University analyst Deividas Slekys said the deployments would force Russia to think twice about any provocations in the region. "The deployment of a well-armed battalion makes a snap intervention scenario less likely. Russia will need to calculate how Washington, London or Berlin would react," he told AFP on Thursday. The historic burden of Nazism has made EU heavyweight Germany a reluctant military leader. Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite has called Berlin's decision to lead the NATO battalion a "breakthrough" toward it playing a greater role in European defence. The deployment began days after the inauguration of maverick US President Donald Trump who has suggested he may seek to improve ties with Moscow. The NATO operation has sparked anger in the Kremlin, which insists that the US-led alliance is trying to encircle Russia. BERLIN (Reuters) - The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has not yet decided whether to expel one of its state leaders for criticizing Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, the party's co-head said on Tuesday. Bjoern Hoecke, AfD head in the eastern state of Thuringia, described the memorial as a "monument of shame" in a speech in Dresden last week. The comment stirred anger across Germany but was cheered by some far-right AfD supporters. Parliament is due on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of putting some AfD members under observation by domestic intelligence agency BfV, said Green party lawmaker Volker Beck. Government officials have said they do not currently see a need to monitor the AfD, but keep a close eye on individuals with extremist views. Hoecke said on Monday the party had dropped plans to throw him out, but its national co-leader Frauke Petry told German broadcaster MDR on Tuesday that was not the case, adding the comment had damaged the party's reputation. The AfD's anti-immigrant rhetoric has won support among Germans worried about the influx of more than a million migrants in the past two years, though other major parties have rejected it as a potential coalition partner. It is expected to win seats in national elections on Sept. 24, and a poll released Tuesday by Insa for the Bild newspaper gave it 14.5 percent support, up one percentage point from a survey conducted last week. Petry told MDR the party's executive committee viewed disciplinary action against Hoecke as necessary, but officials were still assessing his speech and how it compared to the party's views. "We are simply taking the time to do a thorough assessment in such a serious case," Petry said. Petry said that, while the AfD wanted to see a more "differentiated approach to history", nothing in its program called for a radical change in Germany's approach to commemorating the genocide of Jews and others during the Nazi era. Hoecke said the party's debate about his remarks reflected a power struggle. Critics say Hoecke and his backers are seeking to wrest control of the party from more moderate members. In the Insa poll, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats dropped one percentage point to 32.5 percent while the Social Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, remained unchanged at 21 percent. The Holocaust Memorial, located near the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin, comprises 2,711 tombstone-like slabs of granite of varying heights, arranged in a grid pattern. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by John Stonestreet) London (AFP) - The Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that parliament must approve the start of Brexit is in many ways a victory for one woman, Gina Miller, who has endured death threats and racial abuse for bringing the case. Addressing journalists outside court after the judgment, the 51-year-old businesswoman thanked her supporters for holding fast in the face of "extraordinary and unwarranted criticism". "In Britain, we are lucky -- we are fortunate to have the ability to voice legitimate concerns and views as part of a shared society," she said. "I have therefore been shocked at the levels of personal abuse that I have received from many quarters over the last seven months for simply bringing and asking a legitimate question. "I sincerely hope that going forward people who stand in positions of power and profile are much quicker in condemning those who cross the lines of common decency and mutual respect." Several people launched legal challenges against the government after last June's shock referendum vote to leave the European Union, arguing that the outcome was only "advisory" and needed further legislation. But Miller became the lead claimant with her case that ministers could not start the process without parliament's approval. In doing so, she became a target for nationalists who claimed it was intended to stop Brexit. She has been pilloried in the media, sent hate mail and death threats that forced her to hire bodyguards. At weekends, she now stays close to home with her husband and three children. "There is no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation, but this case was about the legal process, not politics," Miller said Tuesday. She said the ruling went "to the very heart of our constitution", confirming that "only parliament can grant rights to the British people and only parliament can take them away". Now the head of an investment fund in London, Miller grew up in British Guiana, now Guyana, the daughter of the attorney general. Story continues She had previously launched a campaign to bring more transparency to financial investments, and has a strong sense of social justice. The government is now expected to bring forward emergency legislation authorising it to trigger Article 50, the EU mechanism starting Brexit negotiations, by the end of March. Miller said Tuesday that it was right MPs help "select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations, negotiations that will frame our place in the world and all our destinies to come". Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f360135%2f2b4030af-0497-4944-a313-22ef21280fca Scientists working for the U.S. government found themselves facing a bit of a contradiction on Monday. It turns out that a gag order reportedly placed on scientists and employees at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violates the integrity policies of both agencies. So, the scientists working at the USDA and EPA have now been explicitly prohibited from doing things that, as a matter of integrity, they agreed to do while working for their employers. According to press reports, the USDA's main research branch was told to stop communicating with the public on Monday, a ban that includes everything from releasing documents to posting on Twitter. Also on Monday, EPA employees were reportedly told they can no longer post updates on social media and were warned that any communication with the press would be heavily vetted. SEE ALSO: Tillerson is dead wrong in what he told the Senate on climate science The communications ban directly contradicts scientific integrity policies at each agency that highlight the importance of communication between the public and agencies that are spending tax dollars to conduct government research. The opening paragraph of the EPA's integrity policy says it is designed to "promote scientific and ethical standards," including "communications with the public." It goes on to add that the policy "prohibits all EPA employees, including scientists, managers, and other agency leadership, from suppressing, altering, or otherwise impeding the timely release of scientific findings or conclusions." Scientific Integrity Policy 2012 by Colin Daileda on Scribd The USDA's scientific integrity policy offers similar guidelines, including "encouraging, but not requiring, USDA scientists to communicate with the media about their scientific findings." The USDA's policy is also crafted to ensure "scientists may communicate their research findings without political interference or inappropriate influence..." Story continues Such policies are common, and can also be found at many government agencies like the Department of Energy, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. President Donald Trump has promoted a misleading and often fact-free energy policy, selected climate change deniers for cabinet positions, and has generally been an anti-science politician since he began running for president. Scientists are well aware of this, and while these gag orders may yet prove to be temporary some fear that this is an opening shot in a Trump administration war on how science is conducted and communicated through the course of at least the next four years. The call for science agencies to not release outward facing information is a direct affront to public science. It is your $$ we are spending Sarah Tuttle (@niais) January 24, 2017 It is fascinating and horrifying to see the US on the verge of destroying its leadership in science the same way nazi Germany did. skullsinthestars (@drskyskull) January 24, 2017 The ban on communication at the EPA which was reported on Monday by The Huffington Post also means the agency's employees aren't allowed to talk about an additional ban that prevents the EPA from issuing grants and contracts. The EPA's grant program funds the monitoring of air and water quality, environmental education, research, and much more. Without it, the EPA won't be able to continue with some of its basic functions. According to Propublica, it's unclear whether the ban pertains to new grants and contracts, or whether it's also applicable to the $6.4 billion in contracts and grants already issued. The EPA has not immediately responded to a Mashable request for clarification at the time of this writing. "I don't know," Press Sec. Spicer said when asked about EPA gag order. "I don't have any information at this time." https://t.co/dvz6hlu0dp pic.twitter.com/giIGhOHWIN CBS News (@CBSNews) January 24, 2017 "The EPA was created to ensure that all Americans can enjoy clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and have their health protected from environmental and climate threats," Liz Perera, the climate policy director of the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, said in a statement following the gag order. "Trump's action puts American lives and communities at risk we're pretty sure that's not what making America 'great' means." When asked about the EPA gag order during Tuesday's press conference, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said it wasn't surprising that a new administration would want to review policies of the agencies now under its control. He then added that he "didn't have any information at this time." If you are a scientist who is worried about your research during the Trump administration, please send an email from your personal account to science@mashable.com. BONUS: Gov. Jerry Brown says California will build its 'own damn satellite' under Trump Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f359176%2f9808a5b2-694d-4769-98a9-89400ac59d82 The moon: Great and all, but don't you think it's missing something? I mean, yes, it could use human-rated habitats, some moon buggies, maybe a little infrastructure. Beyond that, though, what does the moon really need? It needs beer. Or so says a team of obviously brilliant (though potentially drunk) engineering students from the University of California, San Diego, who want to brew suds. On the moon. All in the name of science. Their reasoning holds up, too. SEE ALSO: The first photos from a revolutionary new weather satellite are gorgeous The idea started out with a few laughs amongst a group of friends, team member Neeki Ashari said in a statement. We all appreciate the craft of beer, and some of us own our own home-brewing kits." The team has entered a competition to fly to the surface of the moon with TeamIndus one of the teams competing in the Google Lunar X Prize competitionbefore the end of this year. Some of the tech behind the brew kit. Image: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Publications "When we heard that there was an opportunity to design an experiment that would go up on Indias moonlander, we thought we could combine our hobby with the competition by focusing on the viability of yeast in outer space," Ashari added. By learning more about how to ferment beer in space, the students could help figure out how bread and other yeast-rich foods might be made in space, as humans push further out into the solar system. However, if their experiment is flown, it won't be the first time alcohol's made it to space or even the moon. NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin famously took communion on the moon's surface during his Apollo 11 mission. Before eating and drinking the wine and bread he brought from Houston, Aldrin said: A Colorado-based team actually brewed a very small amount of beer on one of NASA's space shuttles as part of an experiment. According to NASA, the yeast behaved strangely when brewing the beer in space, but by many measures the beer was effectively the same as it was when brewed on Earth. Story continues According to another report, cosmonauts also drank doctor-recommended cognac on the space station Mir in the 1990s. Ardbeg whiskey was actually aged on the International Space Station as part of an experiment for more than two years before it was flown back home to Earth. And of course, when it came back home, the experimenters needed to do a taste test. "When myself and my team went to nose and taste the samples ... I was quite astonished at how different the samples were," Bill Lumsden, Ardbeg's director of distilling, said in a video. "That was the key result for me. The Earth control samples certainly resembled Ardbeg as we know and love it, but up on the Space Station, it was a whole new range of samples, some flavors I hadn't encountered before." By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - Gun rights advocates have sued Massachusetts over the state's ban on assault weapons, saying that a crackdown begun last year on "copycat" assault rifles is a vague and unconstitutional violation of gun ownership rights. The lawsuit, filed in federal court late Monday, challenges a 1998 state law banning rifles including the AR-15 and AK-47 and a July 2016 directive by the states attorney general banning guns that are similar in function but have been slightly modified to meet state requirements, such as by replacing folding stocks with fixed models or removing flash suppressors. The group of gun owners, dealers and the state's Gun Owners Action League, who have the backing of the National Rifle Association, said the July decision by Attorney General Maura Healey banned guns that had been purchased legally in the state over the past two decades and infringed on the right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "Massachusetts prohibits firearms it pejoratively defines as 'assault weapons,' which is a non-technical, entirely fabricated, and political term of uncertain definition and scope," the 33-page lawsuit contends. It said that 1.2 million such weapons were sold across the United States in 2014 and that that type of firearm represented 20 percent of U.S. gun sales in 2012. The suit asks a federal judge to overturn the 1998 state law and to block the state from enforcing its July ban on "copies or duplicates" of assault rifles. "The assault weapons ban keeps dangerous, military-style weapons off our streets," said Jillian Fennimore, a Healey spokeswoman. "We will vigorously defend the law and continue our enforcement efforts." Gun rights are a hotly debated issue in the United States. Advocates for years have succeeded in fighting off attempts to restrict weapons possession on the federal level, contending that access to a wide range of weapons is needed for personal protection, hunting and shooting sports. Story continues Gun-control advocates, who highlight the guns' use in mass shootings at places such as schools and nightclubs, have responded by focusing their efforts on promoting new restrictions at the state level. Liberal-leaning Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun regulations in the country. "We are drawing a line in the sand where Massachusetts' gun control agenda tramples the fundamental individual right to defend oneself and family in the home," James Wallace, executive director of the Gun Owners' Action League, said in a statement. (Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Frances Kerry) Soma (Gambia) (AFP) - They breathed a sigh of relief when strongman Yahya Jammeh finally left The Gambia. But supporters of the new president, Adama Barrow, say he has a lot to do to get the country -- one of Africa's poorest -- on its feet. "At the end of the month, after I've bought a sack of rice, we barely have anything left to live off," said Abdoulie Sabaly, a 29-year-old teacher and father of two. Sabaly makes just 2,000 dalasis ($45, 42 euros) a month. "A 50-kilo (110-pound) sack of rice costs 1,300 dalasis," he said. Barrow won a December election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the new president take his oath of office in neighbouring Senegal last week. Faced with the threat of being removed by force, Jammeh finally went into exile at the weekend but was accused by a member of Barrow's team of plundering $11 million in state funds, leaving the coffers nearly empty. Meanwhile some 60 percent of ordinary Gambians live in poverty, according to UN data, a third of them surviving on less than $1.25 a day. "We want Barrow to upgrade our living conditions and to create more work," said Karamba Seady Ba, a shopkeeper in Soma, a pro-opposition town of some 8,000 residents in the heart of The Gambia. "Life is hard in The Gambia," said Ibrahima Tounkara, a taxi driver. "In most families, only one person has a job." But in another development likely to infuriate critics, a spokesman for Barrow said Jammeh will be allowed to keep his collection of 13 luxury cars and fly them out to his new home in Equatorial Guinea. At the same time, the combination of poverty and years of political repression have driven many Gambians to risk their lives at sea in search of a better life in Europe. "Young people go abroad because they have nothing here," Tounkara said. The Gambia's migrants are the largest group per capita crossing the Mediterranean to Italy, according to the International Organization of Migration. Story continues Aside from the shortage of jobs, residents of Soma must also contend with several hours of water and electricity cuts each day. - 'Gambians must be free' - Gambians have also lived for years under what rights groups have described as a "climate of fear", with Jammeh going all-out to crush dissent. Sections of the security services were under Jammeh's personal control and are responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention, rights groups say. Under Jammeh's 22-year rule, "we would look left and right before speaking, to make sure there was no danger" of being overheard, said Sabaly, the teacher. Even after Jammeh's departure, some of the fears appear to have persisted. Worried for his safety, Barrow has yet to return from Senegal -- and his supporters say they understand his reticence. "Yahya Jammeh can still inflict harm even if he's left," said Thierno Diba, a builder. He said he hoped that Senegalese troops deployed during the crisis would stay put, to tackle any threat poised by Jammeh's supporters. Despite the odds, expectations of change are high in Soma. "Barrow has to bring democracy. Gambians must be free like other countries," said Paa Sait Ceesay, a local official. "We want to have democracy first of all, democracy not in name but in action," said Khassim Fadera, another shopkeeper. A learning disability is a problem that affects how a person processes, understands and uses information. Everyone has learning strengths and weaknesses, but people with learning disabilities have complex learning issues that persist throughout their lives. However, learning disabled students are as smart as -- and can be even smarter than -- the average student. One can have a superior IQ yet still have cognitive challenges. Being learning disabled does not directly correlate with a lack of intelligence or motivation. LD students manage information differently because they have a neurological processing challenge that interferes with their ability to master specific concepts when taught in a traditional manner. Learning differences can take on multiple forms. Some students have difficulties getting content into the brain. These children struggle with information integration, such as the ability to organize, sequence, retrieve or infer meaning. Other students have difficulty getting information out of the brain. These children struggle with fine motor skills, such as handwriting, organizing thoughts on paper or finding the right words to express ideas. [See: 10 of the Biggest Health Threats Facing Your Kids This School Year.] Signs Your Child May Have a Learning Disability Knowledge acquisition is unique for each child, and difficulties can surface at any age. There are, however, some specific signs that may indicate your child learns differently. During the preschool years, look for language complications, such as acquisition difficulties or word pronunciation problems. Some young students may have struggles with coordination and finger use, finding simple tasks unusually frustrating. If any area of development feels delayed, check with a teacher to determine if an early intervention is needed. As children enter the elementary years, subject area concerns often become more prominent. LD students may be able to master many skills but have difficulty grasping certain concepts. Frequent reading errors, constant misspellings or atypical troubles with basic math computations can be markers of a learning issue. In addition, some may experience social struggles and communication problems, which also affect knowledge acquisition. Story continues Many learning disabled students, however, actually thrive in grade school. These kids often develop compensating strategies for their cognitive challenges. Elementary school teachers are also particularly talented at supporting individuals of all abilities no matter how they learn. By using multimodal teaching techniques, these professionals make academics more appealing to all students, no matter their learning style. But as these children mature, school tends to become frustrating. For a small group, learning difficulties don't surface until the middle or high school years. Classes become more challenging because students are asked to engage in higher-order thinking tasks, such as comparing concepts, linking previously taught ideas to new material and understanding complex relationships. Many struggle because they are unable to hold information in short-term memory and execute multistep tasks. With teens, however, it can also be difficult to sort out typical distractions from true learning issues. Some students struggle with classroom attention, avoid homework and fail tests because they have no desire to do long division or read Jane Austen. Others put forth appropriate or even excessive effort, but still experience low grades. Review homework and look for unusual sequencing, overly sloppy work or excessively long completion times. Also, check on your child's emotional state. School anxiety or a confidence crisis often can be the result of an unknown learning issue. [See: 9 Foods That Can Keep Your Brain Sharp.] What Parents Can Do to Ensure Kids Get Needed Help Trust your parental instincts and pursue assistance if you think there is a problem. Start by talking to your child's teachers. Next, consult with your child's doctor and rule out any medical concerns. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, work with a qualified educational specialist who understands learning issues. This expert will review academic records, interview the family and consult with the school. These professionals will also administer a comprehensive set of cognitive tests and academic assessments to develop a detailed learning profile and determine if a problem exists. [See: How College Students Can Avoid Getting Sick.] It can be upsetting for parents to consider the possibility that their child may learn differently. It is, however, important for families to own the problem, understand how their child thinks and learns, and seek the services they need. Don't adopt a wait-and-see approach. Be proactive in addressing the problem. With intervention, advocacy and support, LD students succeed in school, college and life. Dr. Russell Hyken offers therapy and school placement assistance to families whose children struggle with learning difficulties and mental health issues, such as ADHD, anxiety, depression and autism. He also specializes in educational evaluations, assisting people of all ages to think and learn more efficiently. His nationwide practice has offices in St. Louis and Park City, Utah. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump met with auto executives on Tuesday and gave the energy industry a boost with action on pipelines. Highlights of the day follow: PIPELINES Trump signs orders smoothing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, aiming to expand energy infrastructure and roll back key Obama administration environmental actions. IMMIGRATION Trump is expected to sign several executive orders on Wednesday restricting immigration from several Middle Eastern and African countries, according to several congressional aides and immigration experts briefed on the matter. AUTO INDUSTRY Trump urges the chief executives of the Big Three U.S. automakers, General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, to build more cars in the country. MANUFACTURING AND REGULATION Trump signs an executive order directing that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he calls an "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible" system. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department will hold off on some rules as part of a freeze on regulations imposed by the Trump administration, trade groups say. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES Trump's administration has moved since last week to curb the flow of information from several government agencies whose mandate affects environmental issues, in actions that appear designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views. {nL1N1FE5FE] SUPREME COURT Trump, poised to restore the Supreme Court's conservative majority, says he will announce his choice next week to fill the seat left vacant since the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia more than 11 months ago, with three federal appeals court judges among those under close consideration. FBI Trump intends to retain Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey amid reports that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are scrutinizing Trump associates over their ties to Russia. CABINET Senate committees approve Trump's choices for U.N. ambassador and heads of the commerce, housing and transportation departments. Representative Tom Price, Trump's nominee for health secretary, tells a Senate panel he wants to ensure people with pre-existing conditions have access to insurance and he does not support Medicare privatization. TRADE Mexico could pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if a renegotiation of terms does not benefit the country, its economy minister says. ELECTION The White House says Trump stands by his belief that millions of people voted illegally in the presidential election but offered no evidence to support the contention. (Compiled by Bill Trott; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Adler) Hong Kong (AFP) - Controversial Chinese solar energy firm Hanergy Thin Film Power Group is facing a legal bid by Hong Kong's securities watchdog that seeks to ban its directors for up to 15 years. Company founder Li Hejun -- once listed as China's richest man -- stepped down as chairman in May, almost a year after shares in the firm imploded on the Hong Kong stock exchange, plunging 47 percent in less than half an hour. That drop wiped $19 billion off Hanergy's market capitalisation, prompting a trading suspension on its shares since May 2015. Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) in a statement released late Monday said the firm's five directors, including Li, had "failed to question the viability of Hanergy's business model" which relied on sales to its unlisted mainland parent Hanergy Holding Group Limited and its affiliates as its main source of revenue. The SFC statement said the directors also failed to recover "receivables" and "did not act in Hanergy's best interest". "The legal proceedings were commenced under ... the Securities and Futures Ordinance, under which the court may make orders to disqualify a person from being a director or being involved ... in the management of the corporation for up to 15 years," the statement added. The firm captured the attention of investors after growing more than sixfold to become the world's largest solar power company by market value ahead of the collapse. The meteoric rise in share price once gave Li the title of China's richest man, according to one wealth survey. The collapse of Hanergy and some other top-performing stocks in the southern Chinese city's stock market had prompted critics to question the regulators' oversight. By Anshuman Daga SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hong Kong said on Tuesday it would release the nine Singaporean armored vehicles it seized in November on their way home from military exercises in Taiwan, easing tensions between China and Singapore. After the troop carriers had been seized, Beijing, which regained sovereignty over the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997, warned countries against maintaining military ties with Taiwan, which it views as a wayward province. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying requesting the return of the carriers, and Hong Kong said it would handle the matter in accordance with its laws. The seizure came amid signs of tension between China and Singapore, which has deepened its security relationship with the United States over the last year and remains concerned over China's assertive territorial stance in the South China Sea. Since then, Beijing has been unsettled by U.S. President Donald Trump's statement, made in December before his inauguration, that the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of "one China". Singapore's foreign affairs ministry said Hong Kong authorities would release the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) troop carriers and other equipment to the Singapore government, but it did not give details such as a time frame. "This is a positive outcome," it said, adding that Lee had thanked Leung for Hong Kong's cooperation. "STATE OF FLUX" Analysts said the impounding of the troop carriers and China's subsequent comments on Taiwan showed Singapore had to adjust to the region's changing geopolitical climate. "This whole incident is a reminder that things are in a state of flux," said Gillian Koh, deputy director for research at the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore. "We didn't know that we would be influenced or infected by this state of flux, but this is now brought home very acutely and explicitly." Singapore has a long-established, if low-key, military relationship with self-ruled Taiwan, using the proudly democratic mountainous island for infantry training. Beijing has grudgingly tolerated this agreement since re-establishing diplomatic ties in the 1990s with Singapore, which recognizes Beijing's "one China" policy that says Taiwan is part of its territory. But China has repeatedly warned Singapore to stay out of the South China Sea dispute, where China's claims overlap with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Singapore has no claims in the South China Sea, but the open economy of Southeast Asia's biggest port depends on free navigation in the area. In a post on his Facebook page, Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said: "SAF Terrexes are coming home to Singapore. Looking forward to this happy reunion with all Singaporeans in the Year of the Rooster." Hong Kong's commissioner of Customs and Excise, Roy Tang, said in a statement the vehicles were seized because of "a suspected breach of the Hong Kong law. "Hong Kong Customs has completed its investigation of the suspected breach. The investigation might lead to criminal prosecution," Tang was quoted as saying. "The military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore through the carrier." Singapore has said the vehicles were being shipped commercially as with previous exercises. (Additional reporting by Venus Wu in HONG KONG; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White) SINGAPORE (AP) Nine armored personnel carriers belonging to Singapore that were seized in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong will be returned, officials said Tuesday. The Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong received a letter from Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying saying that Hong Kong had completed an investigation of the SAF Terrex infantry carrier vehicles and other equipment and would release them to the Singapore government. "This is a positive outcome," the ministry said in a statement. Lee expressed gratitude for "Hong Kong's cooperation in resolving this matter," it said. Customs authorities in Hong Kong seized the eight-wheeled Terrex infantry carriers in November. The vehicles were being shipped back to Singapore following military training exercises in Taiwan. Experts said the seizure could signal China's unhappiness with Singapore's positions on Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea and on Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of China. Although not one of the rival claimants in the South China Sea, Singapore has irritated China by advocating that the claimants abide by international rules. China claims most of the strategic waterway despite a landmark ruling by an international tribunal in July that invalidated those claims. Roy Tang, Hong Kong's commissioner for the Customs and Excise Department, said Tuesday the seizure was the "result of a suspected breach of Hong Kong law." He added that authorities may start criminal proceedings against the private carrier involved. In early January, Singapore Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said the vehicles belonged to the government and should be returned immediately under sovereign immunity laws. Singaporeans protested the delay with songs demanding the vehicles' return before the Lunar New Year. Going by superstition, having a debt during the festivities is bad luck. "SAF Terrexes are coming home to Singapore. Looking forward to this happy reunion with all Singaporeans in the Year of the Rooster," Ng said in a Facebook post. ___ Associated Press writer Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report. Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Activists and relatives say hope is fading fast for the new Sri Lankan government to act against the perpetrators in the killings and disappearances of journalists during the long civil war or the country's previous administration. President Maithripala Siriena campaigned on a promise of ending a culture of impunity before he defeated the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 2015 election. Rajapaksa's nine-year tenure saw dozens of journalists killed, abducted and tortured, forced to disappear or flee the country fearing for their lives. Scores more were killed or disappeared in the civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels. Two years into Sirisena's presidency, there is little sign that the suspects, mostly military soldiers, will be punished. Howie Mandel visited Conan Monday night to promote his show, Caraoke Showdown, but he ended up spending more time talking about the car he was in the previous night. Howie had just flown to Los Angeles the night before, and he took an Uber home from the airport. During his Uber ride, Howie had asked the driver to charge his phone for him. But when Howie got out of the car, he forgot to get his phone. So Howie did what anyone would do and called Uber support, but when they couldnt help him, he called on Conan support. Howie pulled out his iPad and showed everyone a picture of his Uber driver and said, His name is David, and hes driving a Honda Accord and he has you have my phone! Conan was glad to help Howie get his phone back and joked that the assistance comes as a perk for his guests. Conan said, This is the service we provide for our celebrity guests. This is basically now, the show after 24 years has become a glorified lost and found. Conan airs weeknights at 11 p.m. on TBS. Watch: Triumph the Insult Comic Dog roasts the Trump inauguration Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, or leave your comments below. And check out our host, Cynthia LuCiette, on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. An Indiana legislator said he was sorry for an offensive message about the Womens March in Washington, D.C., but claims he does not know how it got posted to his Facebook page. Read: Creator of Pussyhat Seen at Women's March Says She Wanted Them 'to Be a Symbol for Everybody' Over a photograph of Saturdays protest in the capital, the post on Sen. Jack Sandlin read: "In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years." Jack Sandlin is a member of the Indiana State Senate. This is what we're dealing with. pic.twitter.com/7ZW1bnibnN whitney (@its_whitney) January 23, 2017 Sandlin, a Conservative Republican, took down the post but not before screenshots that had been taken went viral on the internet, unleashing a hailstorm of criticism directed at the rookie lawmaker. Another Indiana politician, GOP Rep. Jim Lucas, shared a photo of a woman being pepper-sprayed in the face with the title: "Participation trophies, now in liquid form. The Indianapolis Star said Lucas has informed the paper that he doesnt intend to remove the post. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children marched across the country on Saturday, protesting the election of President Donald Trump and demonstrating in support of womens rights. Read: Madonna Says Her Comments About Blowing up the White House Were 'Metaphor' Amid Calls for Her Arrest "Apparently there is an offensive post on Facebook that's attributed to me about women in Washington marching," Sandlin wrote Sunday on his account. "Not sure how that ended up on my Facebook wall but that certainly does not reflect my opinion of women. People who know me will know that's not my view." That post, too, was later removed. Story continues Sandlin declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press. His press secretary, Matt Werner, confirmed the content of the initial post, but declined to speak further about the incident. Watch: Black Marching Band Under Fire for Inauguration Performance Preps for Big Day Related Articles: Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia denied Tuesday that United Nations peacekeepers from the country had sought to take weapons out of Sudan's conflict-wracked Darfur after they were allegedly caught leaving the region with arms. The United Nations peace mission in Darfur last week opened an inquiry, saying that authorities had discovered weapons and military equipment in the baggage of a unit of peacekeepers at an airport in the region. Authorities in Jakarta have confirmed the unit consisted of Indonesian police who were part of the UN-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), made up of about 20,000 troops and police from more than 30 countries. However Indonesia's foreign ministry and police denied any wrongdoing and insisted the weapons did not belong to the officers. "Preliminary information we received from the Indonesian police personnel is that (the weapons) don't belong to the Indonesian police," foreign ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said. Police said the suitcase containing the weapons was not part of the Indonesian personnel's baggage, and was about 10 metres (33 feet) from the rest of their luggage. "The person (in the airport) asked, does this belong to the Indonesians? And the reply was no," national police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said. "The luggage did not have an Indonesian label on it, and the colour was different." The suitcase was then put through a scanner and found to contain weapons. The Indonesian peacekeepers have not been allowed leave Darfur pending the outcome of the UN investigation. An Indonesian police team will be sent to the region to provide assistance. The UNAMID mission was first deployed in Darfur -- a region the size of France - in 2007, a compromise between Western calls for a fully-fledged UN peacekeeping mission and Khartoum's insistence on an African solution. Violence erupted in Darfur when ethnic minority rebels rose up against President Omar al-Bashir, accusing his Arab-dominated government of marginalising the region. Bashir -- who is wanted by the International Criminal Court -- mounted a brutal counter-insurgency and at least 300,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2003, the UN says. Another 2.5 million have fled their homes. By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Iran returned to the Oscar race on Tuesday with domestic drama "The Salesman" in a foreign language film category that included a Danish war drama, a quirky German comedy, Australian entry about a remote Pacific tribe, and the tale of a grumpy Swede. Director Asghar Farhadi, who in 2012 gave Iran its first ever Academy Award with domestic drama "A Separation," was nominated on Tuesday for his latest Farsi-language movie "The Salesman." In "The Salesman," an Iranian couple's relationship is strained as they perform the American stage classic "Death of a Salesman." Iranian censors can impose strictures on filmmakers in the name of Islamic morality and national morale, although Farhadi, who lives and works in Iran, said his 2012 film was not subjected to such censorship. On Tuesday, Farhadi said artistic restrictions in Iran remain about the same. "In terms of making my film, I don't face any difficulty. But when the film is released, notwithstanding its great reception by the public, there is a minority, a very small minority, who attempt to create obstacles. Those kinds of people would even perceive this nomination as some kind of conspiracy," the director told Reuters. Australia this year had its first ever nomination in the foreign language film race with "Tanna." It depicts a man and woman whose forbidden love affair threatens a peace deal between two Yakhel tribes on the South Pacific island of Tanna and is shot in their native language. Sweden's "A Man Called Ove" is about a widower whose bleak outlook is improved when he befriends an immigrant neighbor, while Germany got a nod for father-daughter comedy "Toni Erdmann." Denmark's World War Two drama "Land of Mine" tells the story of German prisoners of war forced to remove landmines from a Danish beach. "It makes a huge difference to be part of that (Academy Award) club," said director Martin Zandvliet. Notably absent from the short-list this year was French-language "Elle," which won the foreign language Golden Globe earlier in January. Even so, its star Isabelle Huppert was Oscar-nominated in the best actress race for her role as a business woman on the trail of the man who raped her. "I think that the film might be disturbing on the surface, but deep inside there is an integrity to the film," Huppert said. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Sandra Maler) On Tuesday, the Iraqi government offered up a rare bit of good news, announcing it had liberated Eastern Mosul from the Islamic State, after months of deadly street-to-street fighting. Iraqi forces dislodged the final remnants of Islamic State militants from their strongholds in the eastern part of Mosul, Iraqs second largest city. Its a major milestone for the Iraqi government, which has been fighting to regain control from the Islamic State, which first took Mosul in the summer of 2014. As security forces rolled back the Islamic State, thousands of families reentered eastern Mosul to rebuild their lives. This is a monumental achievement for not only the Iraqi security forces and sovereign government of Iraq, but all Iraqi people, Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, the general commanding anti-Islamic State coalition forces in Iraq, said in a statement released on Tuesday. In a public address to the nation on Tuesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi praised the unmatched heroism of all security forces. But the fights not over; it now shifts to Western Mosul, across the Tigris River. Though Iraqi military leaders say its security forces have already killed most Islamic State commanders in Mosul, its security forces may face an even fiercer battle when it pushes west. There is still a long way to go before [the Islamic State] is completely eliminated from Iraq, and the fight for Western Mosul is likely to be even tougher than the Eastern side, said Townsend. An estimated 750,000 people still reside in Western Mosul under Islamic State rule, which could further complicate the fight. Rights groups have already raised the alarm on the number of civilians at risk. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande said of Western Mosul. The Islamic State made a habit of using civilians as human shields against Iraqi and coalition airstrikes and artillery strikes in Mosul already, according to the Pentagon. The group also uses schools, mosques, and hospitals as weapons depots and bases for their operations to keep civilians in the line of fire. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives, Grand said. Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday, in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump who argued that the United States should have taken possession of the nation's crude reserves. In a speech to CIA officials on Saturday, Trump suggested the United States should have taken Iraq's oil in reimbursement for the 2003 invasion that put an end to Saddam Hussein's rule. Trump also suggested that taking Iraq's oil would have prevented Islamic State from rising up, by removing a source of the group's funding, according to a Huffington Post report of the encounter. "It wasn't clear what he meant," Abadi told a news conference when asked about Trump's comments. "Did he mean in 2003 or to prevent the terrorists from seizing Iraq's oil?" "Iraq's oil is constitutionally the property of the Iraqis," he said. The new U.S. president has also sent messages offering to increase the level of assistance to Iraq, Abadi said, without giving details on the nature of the assistance. "I've got assurances from President Trump that the assistance to Iraqi will continue and that it will also increase," Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad. Trump has made the fight against Islamic State, the hardline group that declared a self-styled "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, a priority for his administration. A U.S.-led coalition is already providing critical support to an offensive by Iraqi forces to take back Mosul, the largest city under control of Islamic State. The United States is also providing financial support to Iraq. (Reporting by Saif Hameed; Editing by Alison Williams) JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday advised its citizens in Egypt's insurgency-hit Sinai peninsula to leave the region, warning of the threat of an imminent attack. Israeli holidaymakers are often warned of the risks they face in Sinai, which borders Israel, but the "Level 1" alert issued by the anti-terrorism directorate is its most severe warning. It described the threat as "very high and concrete". "The directorate warns of the possibility of attacks against tourist sites in the Sinai area in the immediate term," a statement said. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. Militants have launched a number of deadly cross-border attacks on Israel in the past few years and have occasionally fired rockets across the border into the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat. The anti-terrorism directorate said that while there was a "constant high threat" in Sinai, Jan. 25, the anniversary of the 2011 revolution in Egypt, was a day that had witnessed attacks in previous years. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1978 and the eastern coast of the peninsula is a popular international tourist destination. (Writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Richard Lough) By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel announced plans on Tuesday for 2,500 more settlement homes in the occupied West Bank, the second such declaration since U.S. President Donald Trump took office signalling he could be more accommodating toward such projects than his predecessor. A statement from the Israeli Defence Ministry, which administers lands Israel captured in a 1967 war, said the decision was meant to fulfil demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Most of the construction, it said, would be in existing settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep under any future peace agreement with the Palestinians. However, a breakdown provided by the prime minister's office showed large portions of the planned homes would be outside existing blocs. Trump spoke by phone on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Tuesday, the new president's chief spokesman refrained from stating a position on the settlement announcement but said the two leaders would discuss settlement building when they meet in Washington next month. Asked whether Trump supports the latest settlement announcement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters: "Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States. He wants to grow closer with Israel." Pressed again on the issue, he said: "We'll have a conversation with the prime minister." The muted response from the Trump White House, which has promised an approach more aligned with Israel's government, was a clear departure from Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, whose aides routinely criticized settlement construction plans. About 350,000 settlers live in the West Bank and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war. Beyond the major blocs, most of which are close to the border with Israel, there are more than 100 settlement outposts scattered across hilltops in the West Bank. Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the Israeli announcement and said it would have "consequences". The West Bank and East Jerusalem are home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians. "The decision will hinder any attempt to restore security and stability, it will reinforce extremism and terrorism and will place obstacles in the path of any effort to start a peace process that will lead to security and peace," he said. Palestinians want the West Bank and Gaza Strip for an independent state, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israeli troops and settlers withdrew from Gaza in 2005. OBSTACLE TO PEACE The European Union said Israel's settlement plans "further seriously undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution". Most countries consider settlements illegal and an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace as they reduce and fragment the territory Palestinians need for a viable state. Israel disagrees, citing biblical, historical and political connections to the land - which the Palestinians also assert - as well as security interests. During the U.S. election campaign, Trump indicated he would dispense with Obama's opposition to settlement building, a stance that delighted Netanyahu's government. He was sworn in on Friday. On Sunday, Israel announced plans for hundreds of new homes in East Jerusalem, and the right-wing Netanyahu told senior ministers he was lifting restrictions on settlement construction across the board. "We can build where we want and as much as we want," an official quoted Netanyahu as telling the ministers. Following Tuesday's announcement, the prime minister's office listed some of the West Bank areas scheduled for new construction. Not all were in settlement blocs. "I have agreed with the defence minister to build 2,500 new homes in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) - we are building and will continue to build," Netanyahu wrote in a tweet. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman is himself a settler. The Defence Ministry statement said 100 of the new homes would be in Beit El, a settlement which has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser. David Friedman, Trump's choice for ambassador to Israel and a staunch supporter of settlers, has served as president of the American Friends of Beit El, a group that raises funds for the settlement. (Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; writing by Ori Lewis; editing by Luke Baker, Mark Heinrich and Howard Goller) Anti-intellectualism: a growing menace I love the poorly educated, said Donald Trump during his presidential campaign. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel has approved 2,500 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, officials said Tuesday, marking a major settlement expansion following the election of US President Donald Trump. The planned new homes approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman may be the largest number to have been given the green light since 2013, said settlement watchdog Peace Now. Settlements in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians want for their own state. The defence ministry announced the plans, saying most of the homes would be located within large settlement blocks in the West Bank. Around 100 are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near Ramallah, it said. Trump, his nominee for ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and the parents of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have all reportedly contributed financially to Beit El. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Friedman has been president of a group called American Friends of Beit El Institutions. It said the group raises about $2 million a year for Beit El. Netanyahu referred to the settlement approvals on Twitter. "We are building and we will continue building," he wrote. The announcement comes after Israeli officials on Sunday approved building permits for 566 settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem. - 'Encouragement' by Trump - The United Nations denounced the move, stressing "unilateral actions" were an obstacle to peace. "For the secretary general there is no plan B for the two states solution," UN chief Antonio Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary general Saeb Erekat said "the international community must hold Israel accountable immediately" over the expansion of settlements. The Israeli leadership had been emboldened by "what they consider encouragement by American President Donald Trump", he told AFP. Story continues Trump has signalled strong support for Israel, and Israeli right-wing politicians have sought to take advantage, with hardliners calling for an end to the idea of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has said he still supports a two-state solution, but reportedly told ministers Sunday that all restrictions on building settlements in east Jerusalem were being lifted. He also said Sunday he plans to expand construction in large settlement blocks in the West Bank, Israeli media reported, and that he foresees eventually bringing all settlements under Israeli sovereignty. On Monday, in a reference to former US president Barack Obama, Netanyahu said "after eight years of withstanding huge pressures on a large array of topics, first and foremost Iran and the settlements, I definitely welcome the change of attitude". "We're (now) facing great and significant opportunities for the security and future of the state of Israel." Netanyahu and Trump spoke by phone on Sunday and the two leaders are to meet in early February. Obama's administration grew frustrated with Israeli settlement building, warning it was eating away at prospects of a two-state solution. The United States, in a rare move, declined to veto a December 23 UN Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement building, allowing it to pass 14-0. Trump had called for the resolution to be vetoed. - Push from the right - Israel seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel views the entire city as its capital. Some 400,000 Israeli settlers now live in the West Bank, with another 200,000 in east Jerusalem. In comparison, about 2.9 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu currently heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history and faces strong pressure from the settlement movement to expand construction. On Monday, he spoke of the advantages the Trump presidency could provide, but also called for restraint. Education Minister Naftali Bennett of the hardline Jewish Home party has been among those pushing for immediate moves, such as the unilateral annexation of a large West Bank settlement near Jerusalem called Maale Adumim. Trump also vowed during his campaign to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the US embassy to the city from Tel Aviv. The move would constitute a break with decades of precedent and be in opposition to nearly all of the international community. The White House has however since seemed to downplay the promise, saying it was only at the beginning stages of discussing such a move. SILWAD, West Bank (AP) High school student Hamza Hamad spent 10 months in an Israeli jail for alleged links to the Islamic militant Hamas group, but was never charged with a crime. The 16-year-old is one of the youngest among thousands of Palestinians who have been held in so-called administrative detention in half a century of Israeli military occupation. The teen's case spotlights one of Israel's perhaps most contested policies, under which it can hold suspects for months or sometimes several years without charges. Israel says the policy is a key tool in preventing attacks on civilians, but rights activists say it violates due process. Numbers of detainees have fluctuated, from a few dozen to hundreds at any given time, with spikes during violent periods. Detainee figures are up again since October 2015, when Palestinians, mostly acting on their own, began stabbing or ramming cars into Israelis in a series of deadly attacks. Israeli officials also indicated they would expand the use of administrative detentions to deter possible attacks inspired by the extremist Islamic State group. Israel's security Cabinet approved the idea after a Palestinian, with purported sympathies for the group, rammed his truck into soldiers earlier this month, killing four. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu compared it to truck ramming attacks in Europe, which has seen some debate about administrative detentions as a means of countering a militant threat. France and Britain used administrative detentions in conflicts in Algeria and Northern Ireland, but no longer permit it. Instead, they impose some controls on some suspects who have not been charged, including house arrest. The United States has held suspected militants without trial at its Guantanamo naval base in Cuba. Rights activists say Israel's practice stands out because it presently uses administrative detentions as part of an open-ended military occupation. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in 1967, but attempts have failed to negotiate the terms of a Palestinian state on occupied lands. Story continues "These exceptional measures are still being used in a very routine way," said Sari Bashi of the group Human Rights Watch. "Military necessity can become greater during times of tension and escalation, but administrative detention needs to be an absolute last resort," she said. "Israeli practice suggests that it is being abused." Israel says it needs a means of deterrence. It says more than 1,300 Israelis have been killed since the second Palestinian uprising began in 2000. Administrative detention is only permitted if a trial could compromise intelligence sources, the Justice Ministry said. Judges monitor any extension of the initial term, usually six months, and detainees can appeal to the Supreme Court, the ministry said. Lawyers say a proper defense is impossible because they and their clients can't see the state's purported evidence. Hamad was first arrested in August 2015, at the age of 15, and held for 22 days at a Jerusalem compound where interrogators beat him and asked about weapons, said his mother, Worood. Last February, a month after Hamad's 16th birthday, Israeli soldiers seized him again from his home in the village of Silwad. He was taken to the nearby Ofer detention center. His four-month stretch in administrative detention was renewed twice before his release in December. In an interview earlier this month, the teen said there had been "no reason" for his detention. He said he was held in a cell with nine other minors, most of them not administrative detainees. The tedium of watching TV and walking in the yard was only interrupted by a weekly Arabic lesson. Hamad said he'll try to graduate this year, even though he lost two semesters in school, and was most passionate about tending to his horse, mule and two dozen chickens. Israel's Shin Bet security service said Hamad is an activist in Hamas and has ties with senior figures in Hamas and in Tanzim, an offshoot of Hamas' rival Fatah. "His testimony raises suspicions that he acted toward advancing terror activities against Israeli targets," the agency said. It gave no specifics and did not mention Hamad's father, Muayyad, who is serving seven life terms for his role in the killing of seven Israeli soldiers as a member of a Hamas cell in the second uprising. Hamad's mother, an English teacher, said she told her son and his two younger siblings to get a good education and do well in life. "From the beginning, after Muayyad was arrested, I raised my kids not to repeat this experiment," she said. Palestinian activists say Israel currently holds more than 700 administrative detainees, while Israel's prison service said there were 554 in December, a discrepancy apparently stemming in part from quick turnover and different counting methods. Some cases have received special attention. In recent years, administrative detainees launched hunger strikes, some for more than two months, with grave risks to their health, to win release. Some said open-ended detention is harder to bear than a prison term. EU diplomats last month voiced concern about what they said is Israel's extensive use of administrative detention, singling out two hunger strikers and Mohammed Abu Sakha, a trainer at the Palestinian Circus School. The school runs an after-school program, teaching basic circus arts and other skills to 280 youths, including mentally disabled children. The diplomats issued their statement days before Abu Sakha, 25, received a third six-month term. Abu Sakha will be released in June, at the earliest. A cousin said the greatest challenge for Abu Sakha, a tight-wire artist, is not being able to work out in detention. "Now he is just sitting," said the relative, Alaa Abo Alrob, 22. The Shin Bet alleges that Abu Sakha is active in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction that like Hamas has carried out attacks against Israelis. The agency said his activities "pose a threat" to security, but gave no specifics. Pnina Sharvit Baruch, a former Israeli army legal adviser, said the overall security situation helps determine who is placed in detention and that different criteria might be used at different times. "If everything is rather calm, you would say only very serious cases would warrant administrative detention," said Sharvit Baruch, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies. At times of heightened threat, "you could also detain people that are considered less dangerous," she said. HRW's Bashi said individual cases are difficult to assess because purported evidence is kept secret, but that patterns of arresting dissidents, journalists and rights activists suggest "we should be very skeptical." "And I cannot think of a single reason why a child should be placed in administrative detention," she said. ___ Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Danica Kirka in London contributed to this report. JERUSALEM (AP) An Israeli government minister says a Jewish Israeli citizen is being held in an undisclosed Arab country after allegedly shooting to death a local man. Cabinet Minister Ayoob Kara says Tuesday the man traveled to the country on a personal visit and joined forces fighting the Islamic State group. The man was arrested after allegedly killing a taxi driver who threatened him after he discovered he was Israeli. Israel's military censor has blocked publication of additional details, including the country where the man is located. Israel has no diplomatic relations with many Arab countries. The man's father, Ilan Hassin, told Israeli Channel 2 TV that his son was sentenced to death but that the taxi driver's family has agreed to have him released should they receive a payment of $120,000. The slow but steady shifting of Japans postwar pacifism got another boost Tuesday, when Tokyo launched its first military communications satellite. The Kirameki-2 satellite is the first of three poised to replace the civilian satellites the Japanese military currently uses. The new satellites, which will allow for high-speed, high-capacity communication, are being put in place with an eye toward responding more effectively and efficiently to natural disasters, but also to help respond to growing security challenges. While U.S. allies across Asia worry that the United States is pulling back on its commitments, Japanese policy makers are bracing for an increasingly aggressive China in the South China Sea and East China Sea, and a North Korea that some believe has enough plutonium for 10 nuclear bombs. Better comms will give the growing Japanese military better capability. It will also help Japanese peacekeeping missions abroad, now that theyve been authorized. The new satellites dont necessarily constitute re-militarization, as Zack Cooper, a fellow with the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Foreign Policy. Japan is pursuing a policy of constitutionally-mandated, pro-active pacifism, not aggressive militarization, he said. Tokyo is actually reverting to a more normal state, he said. Still, the new satellite is far from the first move Prime Minister Shinzo Abes Japan has taken in this direction. In December, Japan said it will increase its Coast Guard budget to 210 billion yen ($1.8 billion) to add five new patrol ships and over 200 more personnel. Also in December, Japan added a spending boost for defense for the fifth consecutive year, of about $44 billion. But thats dwarfed by other increases in defense spending in Asia, especially by China, Cooper said. (Indeed, on Tuesday, Chinas Gaofen-3 SAR satellite, which improves the ability to monitor activities in disputed waters, became operational.) A few new patrol ships and a few more defense dollars, he said, are a way to ensure Japan can continue to maintain the pacifist status quo by keeping that which would threaten its stability at bay. Story continues Indeed, China is circling the Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu in China), disputed rocks in the East China Sea. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea. U.S. President Donald Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are talking very tough on China threatening to defend U.S. interests there with force if necessary which has some in Tokyo worried that Japan will be pulled into a conflict. Others are more concerned that the Trump administration may not be particularly interested in working with Japan. As one of his first executive actions, Trump withdrew the United States from the multilateral Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral trade deal brokered mainly between Abe and then-U.S. President Barack Obama. Japan, too, could be undergoing some political shifts. On Monday, a government panel essentially gave the Japanese parliament the green light to allow Emperor Akihito to abdicate. The 83-year-old would pass power to his son, Crown Prince Naruhito, 56. It would be the first time a Japanese emperor has abdicated the throne in two centuries. Incidentally, the Quaker-educated Emperor Akihitos reign it began in 1989 has been marked in large part traveling to battlefields and memorials, bearing witness to the ravages of war in Asia. Japans muscular pacifism is meant to make sure his son doesnt have to. Update, Jan. 24 2017, 4:50 pm ET: This piece has been updated to reflect that the Chinese Gaofen-3 SAR satellite is now operational. Photo credit: JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images Japan's military mobilised on Tuesday to help dig out more than 200 vehicles stuck in heavy snow, officials said. Western Japan's Tottori prefecture has seen heavy snowfall since Monday night with a record one metre (3.3 feet) accumulating in one town. Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai had requested the military aid early Tuesday. "In addition to 28 personnel who arrived in the early morning, 33 more are on the way," Daisuke Amano of the prefecture's disaster prevention unit told AFP. He said there were roughly 240 cars unable to move at 7:30 am (2230 GMT Monday). "The majority of them had been stuck since Monday evening," he said. But after troops arrived to help clear snow the number of affected vehicles was reduced to about 100, the prefecture said. Japanese media said that at one point more than 300 vehicles had been stuck, though there were no reports of any injuries. Some people reportedly left their cars to seek shelter while other drivers waited for the roads to be cleared. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a warning for heavy snowfall in the region through Tuesday evening. By Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Heavy fighting erupted in northwestern Syria on Tuesday between a powerful jihadist organization and more moderate rebel groups, threatening to further weaken the opposition to President Bashar al-Assad in its biggest territorial stronghold. Rebel groups fighting under the Free Syrian Army (FSA) banner, some of which attended peace talks in Kazakhstan, accused the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham of launching a surprise attack on their positions. Fateh al-Sham, previously known as the Nusra Front, issued a statement which said it had been forced to act preemptively to "thwart conspiracies" being hatched against it. The group accused rebels attending the Kazakhstan talks of conspiring against it, but did not refer to Tuesday's fighting directly. One of the biggest groups in the insurgency, Fateh al-Sham has been targeted in a spate of U.S. air strikes in the northwest since the new year. It was left out of a ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey that came into effect on Dec. 30. The group changed its name after announcing it was cutting ties with al Qaeda last year. FSA officials said the attack targeted FSA groups in areas west of Aleppo and the adjacent rebel-held province of Idlib. One FSA commander said that in response "a comprehensive war" was now underway against Fateh al-Sham. Long-standing tensions between Fateh al-Sham and more moderate rebels, a number of them backed by Turkey and other states that have opposed Assad, have surfaced again since government forces helped by Russian air power and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias drove the rebels out of Aleppo last month. The commander of Jaish al-Mujahideen, one of the FSA groups, told Reuters the "extremely fierce" Fateh al-Sham attack aimed to "eliminate the revolution and turn it black", a reference to the black flag flown by the jihadists in Syria. He said the group had seized "some positions", though these were far from its headquarters. In a statement, Jaish al-Mujahideen called for rebels to unite against the group. "DIVERTING THE REVOLUTION" The aim of the meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana, organised by Russia, Turkey and Iran, was to shore up the ceasefire that excludes Fateh al-Sham. The jihadist group said rebels had been forced to attend on "humiliating" terms. The Fateh al-Sham statement, which was dated Jan. 23 but published on Tuesday, said "conferences and negotiations" were "trying to divert the course of the revolution towards reconciliation with the criminal regime (of Assad)". It accused rebel factions that attended the Astana talks of agreeing to "isolate" and fight it, and accused its foes of giving away its positions to the U.S.-led coalition. Fateh al-Sham said it was forced to act militarily and politically to "thwart the conspiracies and to confront them before they happen". Fateh al-Sham has a history of crushing FSA groups in the conflict that began in 2011. The U.S. air strikes mounted against Fateh al-Sham in recent weeks included an attack by a B-52 bomber last week that killed dozens of its fighters. The Pentagon said more than 100 al Qaeda militants had been killed in the attack in Idlib province. Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist group widely believed to be backed by Turkey, accused Fateh al-Sham of attacking other groups without justification. It said that it was deploying fighters to prevent further fighting and to stop "Jabhat Fateh al-Sham or others" from launching attacks. An official in Jabha Shamiya, another FSA group, told Reuters the attack began overnight, describing it as a large assault in several areas. The official said it was the first time Fateh al-Sham had attacked the FSA groups in that area. "What they are doing serves Iran and the regime - so there is no FSA left in the north - particularly with the factions' delegation now in Astana where the regime offered nothing with regards to the ceasefire," said the Jabha Shamiya official. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo; Editing by Gareth Jones) In the U.S. alone, more than 25 million people are known to have asthma. For those with the chronic lung disease, which narrows airways and can cause problems ranging from chest tightness to shortness of breath and coughing, potential hazards can lurk in every environment: your home, outside -- and the workplace. Research continues to expand the understanding of agents that may cause a person to develop asthma and worsen symptoms on the job -- from cleaning chemicals to dust from industrial processes. "There's over 350 known agents that are associated with developing asthma or causing work-related asthma," says Dr. Jacek Mazurek, a lead research epidemiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Work-related asthma includes both what's called occupational asthma -- where the disease is caused by factors at work -- and work-exacerbated asthma, in which a person's asthma is worsened by factors related to work. When people suffer from work-related asthma, studies find they're more likely to take sick days, use more health care resources and have a lower quality of life. Modern medications have greatly improved our ability to manage asthma, says Dr. James Murphy, a pulmonologist at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. So a person needn't perfectly control his or her exposures to potential triggers that might cause or worsen asthma; however, he says it remains of tantamount importance that people with asthma reduce exposures at home, outside and on the job. "Far and way, the top most important thing is to reduce the number of trigger particles that your breathe into your lungs," Murphy says. "If they can't improve their air quality and reduce the amount of triggers that are inflaming their lungs, then we're not going to achieve our goal of asthma control." [See: 7 Lifestyle Tips to Manage Your Asthma.] Asthma in the Workforce Recently, the CDC looked at asthma rates among employed adults by industry and occupation in 21 states, from California to New York. The health care and social service industry had the highest proportion of workers reporting they had asthma (10 percent). Retail trade, which ranges from car dealers to clothing stores, and education, which includes teachers and other staff in the field, also ranked among industries with the highest asthma prevalence at about 9 percent each. As noted by the study authors, as well as outside experts, the research had a number of limitations. For example, participants self-reported that they had asthma (so it could have been misclassified), and researchers didn't go so far as to prove asthma was work-related (or what proportion of workers who had asthma, had work-related asthma). But based on survey results from the research, "as many as 2.7 million U.S. workers might have asthma caused by or exacerbated by workplace conditions," wrote Katelynn Dodd, an epidemiologist and associate service fellow at NIOSH, who led the study, and Dr. Jacek Mazurek, who co-authored the research. "Each of the industries and occupations identified in this report is associated with a specific set of existing and emerging workplace exposures," the researchers wrote. Those range from irritant chemicals to emotional stress, temperature and physical exertion associated with work-related asthma. Previous research has shown, for instance, that those working in the health care and social assistance industry -- which includes professionals ranging from doctors, dentists and home health care providers to staff at diagnostic laboratories and nursing homes -- may be exposed not only to potent cleaners and disinfectants but powdered latex gloves and aerosolized medications that increase the likelihood a person will develop asthma. Based on past research on education services, Mazurek says the quality of buildings -- where water has gotten into some buildings, which is associated with mold growth -- and poor air quality may be reasons why a higher proportion of these workers have asthma. Asthma triggers can lurk in office spaces, too. "Working in an indoor office that's climate controlled ... you'd think that [would] have no exposures. But if it's in an old building, it does," Murphy says -- such as from dust accumulation or mold growth, like due to a leaky roof. [See: Coping With Depression at Work.] What's a Working Person to Do? First, don't put in your two weeks just yet. For most, quitting a job out of concern it might have caused or could worsen asthma isn't an option or a necessary strategy. "If you're really very allergic to cats and dogs, you probably shouldn't be a veterinarian," says Dr. Karin Pacheco, an associate professor of medicine and expert in occupational allergic diseases at National Jewish Health in Denver. "Rarely do you have to take people out and say, 'I'm sorry but you can't go back, because your asthma's too bad and you could die here.'" Rather, experts say that in most cases when a person has worked-related asthma, the focus is on trying to identify triggers and reducing exposure to those, while staying on the job. First, though, a person must ensure they have a proper diagnosis of asthma from a specialist, such as an allergist or pulmonologist -- as sometimes what a person thinks is asthma isn't, notes Dr. Alexander Kim, an allergist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego Health. Once that's been established, in cases where a person believes asthma was caused or is worsened by work, it's important to communicate that with the doctor. Often the doctor will not ask about that, experts say, so the patient must initiate the conversation. Ask, too, about the doctor's experience dealing with work-related asthma, since it's helpful to see a clinician who has experience in this area. While most workers don't develop asthma due to their work, many suffer from worsening of symptoms on the job. "The majority of work-related asthma is pre-existing asthma that is aggravated by exposures in the workplace," Pacheco says. In some cases, reducing exposures may be simple: Perhaps the worker spends a lot of time working in an industrial freezing -- where cold air could exacerbate his or her symptoms -- or is seated next to a copy machine, which spews fine particles that have been shown to be asthma triggers. So the first worker might ask to work in the general warehouse rather than the freezer, if possible, and the other worker to sit somewhere away from the copy machine, she says. In other cases, putting a HEPA -- or high efficiency particulate air -- filter in your office in a dusty building could meaningfully improve air quality in one's "personal microenvironment," Murphy says. But often -- as in cases where a worker believes their workplace caused their asthma -- it can be difficult to identify the agents to blame, experts say. Sometimes they're never known or determined. Clinicians say patients and their doctors should have a detailed conversation about their work environment, including when and where they're most symptomatic, as part of an effort to determine that. If you work with hazardous chemicals, your employer may be required to provide Safety Data Sheets that you should share with your doctor to help determine if that may contribute to work-related asthma. [See: 8 Surprising Facts About Asthma and Seasonal Allergies.] Kim says he sometimes recommends having an industrial hygienist, or occupational hygienist, test for agents that could be causing work-related asthma, since not all of these would be necessarily readily familiar to the doctor. "There's so many different agents and across many different industries," he says. Experts say that can make it difficult to determine what's contributing to work-related asthma -- and all the more important to do due diligence to reduce exposures on the job. Michael Schroeder is a health editor at U.S. News. He covers a wide array of topics ranging from cancer to depression and prevention to overtreatment. He's been reporting on health since 2005. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at mschroeder@usnews.com. Getty Image Everywhere around the world, everyone wants John Cena to be in their project and host their awards show. Host their anything, really. Hes conquered the world of variety television with his appearances on Maya and Marty and Saturday Night Live. Hes also totally nailed the hosting gig with his numerous co-hosting spots on Today and his universally acclaimed turn as ESPYs emcee. And now, for his next feat of strength, he will be hosting the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, which amazingly is something he hasnt ever done before, despite John Cena and Nickelodeon going together like peanut butter and jelly. From the official Nickelodeon press release: WE Superstar, actor and television host John Cena is set to host Nickelodeons 2017 Kids Choice Awards, airing live on Saturday, March 11, 2017, from 8-9:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The only live event where kids votes count and the biggest stars of the day line up to get slimed, Nickelodeons 2017 Kids Choice Awards will celebrate kids favorites from across the worlds of film, television, music, pop culture, animation and more. With stunts and surprises at every turn, the show will air live from USCs Galen Center in Los Angeles and will be seen by kids around the globe on Nickelodeon channels in more than 180 countries and territories. Additional Kids Choice Awards news, including categories and presenters, will be announced in the coming weeks. Nickelodeons Kids Choice Awards is the biggest party for kids, and Im so excited and honored to host this years show, said Cena. I have a lot of big surprises in store so bring on the slime! John Cenas energy and larger-than-life personality will bring the most excitement, comedy and fun to this years Kids Choice Awards, said Shelly Sumpter Gillyard, Senior Vice President, Talent and Events for Nickelodeon. Hes a big kid at heart, and we cant wait to give kids around the world a front row seat to this years show. While this will be Cenas first time hosting the global show, he is beloved worldwide by the Nickelodeon family, having previously hosted Australias Kids Choice Awards in 2008, as well as undergoing a sliming at the first UK Kids Choice Awards. Undergoing a sliming seems like a pretty useful expression to have in your back pocket, in my opinion. So there you have it. Luckily, since its a KIDS choice, Cena for the first time ever will be able to say, NOW SOME OF YALL LIKE ME AND SO DO THE REST OF YALL. Hell also almost certainly get slimed again. And Im not sure what the categories are for the Kids Choice Awards, but probably stuff like Best Drake Or Josh or Best Time Clarissa Explained It All or Best Dog With A Blog. ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that Ameren Missouri's coal-fired power plant near St. Louis violates the Clean Air Act and has created "significantly more pollution" since modifications were made. U.S. District Judge Rodney Sippel's ruling Monday could require St. Louis-based Ameren to install additional pollution control equipment at the Rush Island power plant in Jefferson County. Ameren Missouri called the ruling disappointing and said an appeal is planned. Ameren Missouri modified the plant in 2007 and 2010. The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency in 2011, alleging that upgrades to boilers significantly increased emissions of sulfur dioxide. The government said Ameren should have applied for a permit for those upgrades, which would have required the company to install additional pollution controls. The judge agreed. "The United States has also established that Ameren actually emitted significantly more pollution as a result of the projects," Sippel wrote in the 195-page ruling. In a statement Tuesday, Ameren Missouri president Michael Moehn said the company disagrees with the ruling and believes the court "misapplied the law and ignored the evidence presented at trial." He said the plant "is among the most efficient plants in the country and burns some of the lowest sulfur coal available." The environmental advocate group the Sierra Club applauded the ruling. "This is the latest example of Ameren thumbing its nose at the law and prioritizing profit over public health," Andy Knott of the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal Campaign in Missouri said in a statement. The EPA's website says short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide can harm the respiratory system and make breathing difficult. Children, the elderly and those with asthma are particularly sensitive to the effects of it. Sulfur dioxide can also contribute to acid rain and damage trees and plants. Bhadrakali Oil sealed for selling adulterated fuel The Department of Supply Management (DoSM) on Monday sealed Bhadrakali Oil Store of Kadaghari on the charge of selling adulterated oil following complaints from motorists that the engine of their vehicles had been damaged by gasoline sold at the station. The Senate voted late Monday to confirm Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) to head the Central Intelligence Agency, installing the Tea Party lawmaker atop the main American spy agency amid an acrimonious dispute between President Donald Trump and the intelligence community over allegations of Russian meddling in his election. Pompeos Senate approval by a vote of 66-32 came after a last-minute challenge by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who forced the delay of his confirmation vote from Friday to Monday. Republicans accused Democrats of playing politics with national security, but in an impassioned address on the Senate floor Wyden argued that Pompeo had sought to disguise a series of extreme views on torture and surveillance, and offered contradictory answers during the confirmation process. When Trump traveled to the CIA on Saturday for a bizarre campaign-style address in which he attacked the media and debated the number of attendees to his inauguration, he had hoped to bring Pompeo with him and swear in the Kansas Republican. Everything hes done has been a homerun, Trump said Saturday in touting his nominee to lead the agency. Before entering the house in 2010 as part of the Tea Party wave, Pompeo ran an aerospace company. He graduated at the head of his class at West Point and later attended Harvard Law School. With his approval by the Senate, Pompeo will take over an agency skeptical of the Trump administration. On the campaign trail and as president elect, Trump has repeatedly vilified the intelligence community all the while arguing that this so-called feud had been cooked up by the media. As recently as Jan. 11, Trump tweeted that leaks of intelligence documents made him wonder whether he was living in Nazi Germany. As he takes over the agency, Pompeo faces the challenge of winning over the support of an agency famously suspicious of outsiders. The last time a congressman took power at the agency, former Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) in 2004, he didnt last a year in office and faced a revolt from career employees. Story continues Pompeo takes over amid a reform effort launched by his predecessor, John Brennan, a 30-plus year intelligence veteran who White House counselor Kellyanne Conway denounced as a partisan political hack on Sunday. Brennans reforms have been met with mixed reviews so far, and Pompeo will have to decide to what extent he will continue them. Perhaps more explosively, Pompeo will also help oversee an ongoing investigation into the Trump campaigns contacts with Moscow and its intelligence operatives. An inter-agency body is currently looking into such communications, and the probe has reportedly targeted Trumps top national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn. Pompeo has pledged to allow such investigations to continue, even if they ensnare Trump associates. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that the administration has not halted any of those investigations. Wyden and other Democrats among them Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M), and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) had specific concerns about Pompeo. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pompeo had pledged that as CIA director he would not allow the use of torture in interrogations. But in subsequent written questions he appeared to backtrack on that commitment and others, alarming Senate civil rights advocates. Trump himself, on the campaign trail, proposed bringing back torture. In a questionnaire released last week, Pompeo said he would consult with CIA experts on whether national-security imperatives required restrictions on the use of torture to be loosened. If confirmed, I will consult with experts at the agency and at other organizations in the U.S. government on whether the Army Field Manual uniform application is an impediment to gathering vital intelligence to protect the country or whether any rewrite of the Army Field Manual is needed, Pompeo wrote. The CIA is currently required by law to follow the guidelines of the Army Field Manual in carrying out interrogations. Retired Gen. James Mattis, sworn in as Trumps secretary of defense, urged Trump to disavow torture as a tool in the war on terror. Wyden described Pompeo as a very skilled lawyer and spent more than an hour detailing contradictions and evasions in Pompeos record. Wyden said he had been unable to get Pompeo to delineate any limits on a surveillance program he proposed in a 2016 Wall Street Journal op-ed that Wyden described as far bigger and more encompassing than any such data collection program that the Bush-Cheney administration ever imagined. In that article, Pompeo argued Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Pompeo added that legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to revive two controversial pipeline projects, reversing the policy of his predecessor Barack Obama. The Keystone XL oil pipeline runs between Canada and the United States, and the Dakota Access pipeline would bring oil from fracking to market but has been blocked by months of protests by Native Americans concerned about water quality and destruction of sacred sites. Here are key facts about the projects. WHAT ARE THEY? Keystone XL Keystone XL was an expansion of TransCanada's existing system to funnel oil from Alberta's tar sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. The portion blocked by the Obama administration was a $5.3 billion proposal to build a 1,179-mile (1,900 kilometer) pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska. Dakota The Dakota Access Pipeline project stretches over four US states and 1,172 miles. Once completed, the $3.8 billion, 30-inch pipeline would transport crude from the northwestern corners of North Dakota, one of the key centers of oil extracted by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to a distribution center in Illinois. The Army Corps of Engineers in December blocked the disputed portion of the route near Standing Rock Sioux land, that would have taken it under a river and a lake, and said it would seek an alternative. The pipeline's owners denounced the Army's move, calling it "purely political." WHY ARE THEY SO CONTROVERSIAL? Keystone XL Alberta's tar sands are considered to have the "dirtiest" oil on the planet. Unlike traditional crude which gushes from a well, tar sand oil must be dug up and essentially melted with steaming hot water before it can be refined. It results in huge lakes of polluted water and the strip-mining of millions of acres of once-pristine boreal forests. Environmentalists argue tar sand oil contains a harmful and corrosive component -- bitumen -- which makes pipeline ruptures or leaks more likely and carries greater health and safety risks. Story continues Dakota A protest movement involving hundreds of Native American tribes has garnered nationwide support and worldwide attention. Since last April, protesters have camped out in North Dakota to block the pipeline's route -- their numbers at times swelling into the thousands -- refusing to leave even when snowstorms covered the area. A key portion of the pipeline crosses land controlled by the federal government just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota. The area includes land the tribe considers sacred, and that contains sacred objects and burial sites. The pipeline also would cross the Missouri River and man-made Lake Oahe, the tribe's source of drinking water. It has raised objections, saying the pipeline could leak and endanger the reservation's water supply. Environmentalists also oppose fracking saying it contaminates drinking water sources due to the chemicals injected at high pressure into the shale rock to extract oil and gas. They also say the technique is causing earthquakes. ECONOMIC IMPACT Keystone XL The State Department estimated the new, shorter route would have created 42,000 temporary jobs over the two-year construction period. Opponents noted that just 35 permanent jobs would be created for pipeline maintenance. Dakota An economic impact report commissioned by the pipeline's operator estimated the completed project would bring in $1.9 billion in new labor income, and $5 billion in additional business to the four-state region. ENERGY SECURITY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that bringing another 830,000 barrels of oil a day from friendly, neighboring Canada would reduce US dependence on the Middle East and Venezuela by up to 40 percent. Dakota The US Chamber of Commerce says fracking has helped the United States climb to the top five of the most energy-secure countries in its global index. However, the domestic industry has struggled after global oil prices plunged. Prices are expected to hover around the $53-per-barrel mark this year. SAFETY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that buried pipelines are far safer for transporting oil than ships or trains and claims to have "one of the best safety records in the industry." It also notes that there are more than 2.6 million miles of oil and gas pipelines in the United States "that deliver 99.9998 percent of their products safely and reliably every day." Critics note the existing Keystone pipeline developed a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. Dakota Pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners has denied it poses a risk to the area's water supply, saying there are other pipelines already operating safely under the waterway, and that the route was developed through consultations with dozens of tribes and archeological experts. DOHA (Reuters) - Kuwait's foreign minister will make a rare visit to Tehran on Wednesday to deliver a message to President Hassan Rouhani on a "basis of dialogue" between Gulf Arab states and arch-rival Iran, Kuwait's state news agency reported. The visit comes days after Rouhani said countries including Kuwait had offered to mediate in the escalating feud between Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Sunni power Saudi Arabia. Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah as saying relations between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of six Arab states "must be based on the UN Charter and principles of international law". Iran and Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of the GCC, back opposite sides in civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Riyadh and some other members of the GCC accuse Tehran of using sectarianism to interfere in Arab countries and build its own sphere of influence in the Middle East. Iran, set to benefit from an easing of international sanctions after its nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, denies interfering in Arab countries. Tensions in the Gulf have reached levels unseen since the 1980s, when Iraq received Gulf Arab funding for its 1980-88 war against Iran in a pan-Arab effort to stem the influence of its 1979 Islamic revolution. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in January 2016 cut diplomatic relations with Iran and some other Gulf states recalled their ambassadors in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters. But long-standing trade links and shared access to oil and gas fields have stopped many Gulf states from shutting the door on Iran. Kuwait, which has a sizeable Shi'ite Muslim minority, is seen as a potential mediator. When Kuwait's emir visited Iran in 2014 it was the first by a ruler of the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state since the 1979 revolution. "We are partners in the region and we have many common interests and possibilities," said Sabah, adding that dialogue would be for the benefit of both sides. (Reporting by Tom Finn; editing by Andrew Roche) BERLIN (AP) The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local): 9 p.m. France has given refugee status to 60 migrants who were among the thousands forced to leave the makeshift camp in Calais in late October. A statement from the prefecture of the northern region that includes Calais said a ceremony was held on Tuesday according the coveted status of refugee to the 60. The refugees were given asylum in less than three months a process that normally takes more than a year. They now have the right to live legally in France. It is a sharp contrast to the thousands of others waiting to learn their fate in special centers set up around France for the migrants expelled en masse from the filthy Calais camp known as the "jungle." More than 6,000 were estimated to have been in the camp at the time. The nationalities of the 60 weren't specified, but Afghans and Sudanese were the most numerous migrants in the now-closed camp, which also harbored Syrians, Eritreans and others, most driven from their homelands because of war, daily violence or grinding poverty. Most migrants in and around Calais were hoping to cross the English Channel to Britain. Migrant rights groups have long criticized France for dragging its heels in dealing with asylum demands. ___ 6:30 p.m. France's Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate campaigning for president, has been refused entry when she tried to visit a migrant camp outside Dunkirk, in northern France. Le Pen tweeted after her failed bid on Tuesday to enter the Grande-Synthe camp, "This is democracy a la Francaise!" Her anti-immigration National Front party blames immigration in general and migrants in particular for a series of French woes. In a series of tweets from outside the camp, Le Pen, a leading candidate in France's spring elections, lambasted "the crazy immigration policy of our successive governments." She tweeted, "We have to send illegals home and control our national borders if not the camps will be rebuilt." Story continues A huge makeshift camp holding thousands of migrants in nearby Calais was shut down after a mass evacuation at the end of October. The official Grande-Synthe camp holds some 800 travelers. Most of those in northern France are trying to sneak across the English Channel to Britain, not stay in France. __ 3:10 p.m. The Dutch government says the number of migrants trying to sneak into trucks crossing from the Netherlands to Britain is on the rise. Dutch and British authorities caught 430 migrants in the last three months, almost twice as many as the previous quarter. The total for 2016 was 1,280 - well over double the 500 people caught in 2015. The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice said Tuesday that Albanians make up 56 percent of all the migrants caught attempting to cross from the Netherlands to Britain. Intensified Dutch surveillance and checks of vehicles leaving from ports like Hook of Holland appear to be bearing fruit. In 2015, 55 percent of the migrants trying to illegally cross to Britain were caught on the Dutch side. Last year, the Dutch caught 83 percent and British authorities the remainder. ___ 9:45 a.m. Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the government's efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived Tuesday in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Dpa reported around 100 people had protested against the deportations Monday night at Frankfurt airport, saying Afghanistan wasn't a safe country. Dakar (AFP) - At least 8,000 Gambians who fled the country have returned since strongman Yahya Jammeh went into exile after being threatened with regional military intervention, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Political outsider and businessman Adama Barrow won a December election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the internationally backed Barrow take his oath of office in Senegal last week. Jammeh's defiance prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said, citing Senegalese authorities. It said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. According to the last estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees put out on Friday, about 45,000 people had streamed into Senegal from The Gambia while at least 800 went to nearby Guinea-Bissau since the start of the year. "Authorities in The Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home," UNHCR said, adding that thousands of Senegalese had opened their homes to the fleeing Gambians. The NGO Enda Tiers-Monde in a statement also hailed "the spontaneous and brotherly mobilisation" in Senegal in the past weeks. The British government has revealed that Prime Minister Theresa May did know that a test involving an unarmed missile that can carry nuclear weapons had gone spectacularly wrong just weeks before a vote on extending the system's use. The Trident program is Britain's submarine-based nuclear deterrent, which has been in operation since 1994. Construction of a replacement generation is now underway after a parliamentary vote in July 2016 approved an upgrade that is expected to cost the U.K. taxpayer 31 billion ($39 billion). Over the weekend, The Sunday Times revealed that a serious malfunction in the system took place off the Florida coast just weeks before the vote, but was not made public. In what the newspaper describes as the only test of a British missile in four years, the unarmed missile veered off in the direction of the U.S. mainland, the exact opposite of the Royal Navy's intent. In a BBC television interview Sunday, May declined to answer four times on whether she knew about the test firing. Instead, she said: "I have absolute faith in our Trident missiles. When I made that speech in the House of Commons, what we were talking about was whether or not we should renew our Trident." As media speculation intensified, a spokeswoman told reporters Monday that the prime minister did in fact know of the failure. "On taking office, the current prime minister was briefed on a range of nuclear issues, including this,"she said. The Ministry of Defense has not denied reports of a bungled test but issued a statement claiming that Trident's "capability and effectiveness . . . is unquestionable". Expanding, the ministry said: "In June the Royal Navy conducted a routine unarmed Trident missile test launch from HMS Vengeance as part of an operation which is designed to certify the submarine and its crew. Vengeance and her crew were successfully tested and certified, allowing Vengeance to return into service. We have absolute confidence in our independent nuclear deterrent. We do not provide further details on submarine operations for obvious national security reasons." Story continues The U.K has 4 Trident submarines, with one permanently armed and at sea. Correction: The headlines on this story were revised to clarify that the missile was not armed. More From CNBC Constant growth needed to achieve inclusive economy Maintaining sustainable economic growth and increasing productivity is essential for achieving inclusive economic growth, experts said here on Monday. Headlines out of Washington D.C. over the weekend indicated that newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump was considering his foreign policy stance towards Israel, which could entail relocating the U.S. embassy in the country from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. CNBC takes a look at the significance of this move, and what its repercussions could be. During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged that he would move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But, so far the plan remains nascent. In a widely reported statement Sunday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said: "We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject." It is also understood that Trump spoke on the telephone to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the weekend. News reports say that the president reiterated his "unprecedented commitment to Israel's security" and invited Netanyahu to visit Washington D.C. in early February. Both Israelis and Palestinians consider Jerusalem to be their capital, and each side has historical, political and religious claims to the city. Hugh Lovatt, Israel/Palestine project coordinator at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC via telephone that Trump's potential to move the U.S. embassy was "altogether a worrying phenomenon," as it signified a "broader U.S. drive which risks severely undermining not just stability (in the region) but also the two state solution." In 1995, the U.S. passed a law declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel and stating that the city should not be divided. But, presidents have since continuously signed waivers preventing the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a step which is taken every six months. "There will be a backlash among Arab governments" should the U.S. embassy move, Lovatt said. He added that the response in the Middle East could progress "beyond the symbolic or rhetorical" and underlined the "potential for instability." Story continues Mayor of Jerusalem Nir Barkat said in a statement reported by Israeli media that Spicer's announcement "sent a clear message to the world that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of the State of Israel." Meanwhile, it is also understood that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wrote to Trump ahead of his inauguration advising him not to move the U.S. embassy in the country. Lovatt described Trump's foreign policy on Israel as adopting "no coherent position." But, the Times of Israel reported David Friedman Trump's proposed ambassador to the country as saying that "a two state solution is not a priority." Lovatt described Friedman as being "very supportive of the settlement enterprise." In the closing days of former U.S. President Barack Obama 's government, tension sparked with historical ally Israel after the U.S. abstained from voting on a resolution at the UN Security Council which demanded an end to Israeli settlement building on territory considered to be Palestinian. A war of words followed between Netanyahu and then Secretary of State John Kerry . Earlier in December, Obama signed the waiver ordering the U.S. embassy in Israel to remain in Tel Aviv. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC Ex-President George H.W. Bush improves, leaving Houston ICU The health of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, 92, has improved and on Monday he is moving out of the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital where he has been treated for more than a week for bacterial pneumonia, doctors said. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S Secretary of Defense James Mattis, on his first full day in office, spoke with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to highlight the importance he places on the military alliance, a Pentagon spokesman said on Monday. President Donald Trump has said that while the military alliance was still very important to him, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was nonetheless obsolete because it had not defended against terror attacks. Trump added in a recent interview with The Times of London that many NATO members were not paying their fair share for U.S. protection. "The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement regarding the call. "Both pledged to consult in the months to come and look forward to meeting in person during the NATO Defense Ministerial in February," Davis said. The Pentagon said Mattis also spoke with his counterparts from Britain and Canada. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Chris Reese and Alan Crosby) Germany, Austria arrest two men suspected of planning Islamist attacks A 21-year-old man arrested in Germany on suspicion of planning an Islamist attack has admitted links to a man being held by the Austrian police for the same reason, German investigators said on Monday. London (AFP) - One of Theresa May's harshest backbench critics said Tuesday she would not block start of Brexit negotiations in parliament, but warned the prime minister should not expect a free ride. "This is the start of a process that's going to take several years," former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan, a Conservative MP who has campaigned to retain strong ties to the European Union, told AFP. She added: "I would say to the government -- to avoid any difficulties at the end of the process, in terms of signing off on a final deal, parliamentary involvement and security throughout the two-year process is absolutely essential." The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that May's Conservative government must gain the approval of lawmakers before beginning the Brexit process. The prime minister has also promised parliament a vote on the final deal negotiated with EU leaders. With the opposition Labour party in disarray, Conservative backbench MPs like Morgan have been at the forefront of fighting for continued ties to the bloc, particularly on the economy. May confirmed last week that she would be seeking to pull Britain out of Europe's single market after Brexit, a choice Morgan described as "disappointing". "But she has talked before about companies operating within the single market, access to the single market or replicating what we have now, the best bits, in a free trade agreement -- all of that needs to be fleshed out as part of the negotiations," she said. She added: "One of the issues that I think is still open for discussion is the customs union." Morgan lost her job when May took office after the referendum and has been personally and politically critical about the premier and her apparent preference for a so-called "hard Brexit". She made clear on Tuesday that she and other Conservative pro-European "insurgents", as she once dubbed them, will not block Article 50. In the June referendum on EU membership, 52 percent of Britons voted to leave the bloc -- but 48 percent voted to stay in. "We owe the 16 million to ask some questions as well as honouring what the 17 million people did vote for," she said. By Michael Holden and Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May must give parliament a vote before she can formally start Britain's exit from the European Union, the UK Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday, giving lawmakers who oppose her Brexit plans a shot at amending them. A "straightforward" bill will now be rushed to parliament within days, the government said after the country's highest judicial body decided May could not use executive powers known as "royal prerogative" to invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty and begin two years of divorce talks. However, the judges did remove one major potential obstacle for the government, saying May did not need the approval of Britain's devolved assemblies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before triggering Brexit. "We will within days introduce legislation to give the government the legal power to trigger Article 50," Brexit minister David Davis told parliament. "This will be the most straightforward bill possible to give effect to the decision of the people and respect the Supreme Court's judgment." May has said she intends to invoke Article 50 before the end of March but the ruling means the Brexit process is now open to scrutiny from lawmakers, the majority of whom had wanted to stay in the EU. However, the main opposition Labour Party has said it would not block Brexit although it would try to amend the legislation. "Labour will seek to build in the principles of full, tariff-free access to the single market and maintenance of workers' rights and social and environmental protections," party leader Jeremy Corbyn said. Media reports have suggested that up to 80 Labour lawmakers (MPs) in the 650-member House of Commons, the lower chamber, would ignore Corbyn and vote against triggering Article 50, while the small Liberal Democrat Party said it would oppose Brexit unless there was a second referendum on the final deal. Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party, which has 54 MPs, vowed to put forward 50 "serious and substantive" amendments. However, the opponents of Brexit are still likely to be some way short of the numbers needed to either delay May's timetable or to stop it. The upper chamber, the House of Lords, could also seek to amend the plans but ministers are confident that unelected peers would not try to stop Britain leaving the EU after voters backed Brexit by 52-48 percent in last June's referendum. BREXIT PLANS UNCHANGED May's spokesman said the court's decision did nothing to change the path of Brexit or her timetable. Davis said: "The point of no return was passed on June 23rd last year. This judgement does not change the fact that the UK will be leaving the European Union." Last week May set out her stall for negotiations, promising a clean break with the world's largest trading bloc as part of a 12-point plan to focus on global free trade deals, setting a course for a so-called "hard Brexit". Some investors and those who backed the "remain" campaign hope that lawmakers, most of whom wanted to stay in the EU, will force May to seek a deal which prioritises access to the European single market of 500 million people, or potentially even block Brexit altogether. Sterling initially rose on the news that the government had lost its appeal, but it then fell over half a cent to hit day's lows against the dollar and euro after the ruling that the devolved assemblies did not need to give their assent. Those who campaigned for Britain to leave the EU said the vote on triggering Brexit should be a mere formality. "Any attempt to delay the Brexit process ... would be an unforgivable betrayal of the British people," said Richard Tice, co-chairman of the Leave Means Leave campaign. "The Lords should also follow suit; any delay by them would ensure their abolition." While Tuesday's ruling has settled the argument over the role of parliament in starting the Brexit process, other hurdles and headaches await May. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the court's decision on devolved assembles raised the spectre of another Scottish independence referendum because Scots, who voted in favour of staying in the EU, were not being treated as equal partners. May's spokesman also stressed that the government's assertion that Article 50 was irreversible, but another legal case is being prepared to challenge that view in the courts. (Additional reporting by William James, Kylie MacLellan, Elizabeth Piper and Alistair Smout; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Pravin Char and Giles Elgood) Los Angeles (AFP) - A measles outbreak has infected at least 18 people in the Los Angeles area, health officials said, noting that most of those affected could show no proof of vaccination. Officials indicated that at least 16 of the cases involved people of the same social group, with local media saying most belonged to the Orthodox Jewish community. "We can say that the outbreak has largely been limited to unvaccinated people in a single social group and the disease is spreading among personal contacts in the group," Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, interim health officer at the LA County Department of Health, told AFP. "There have been no infections spreading in the general community." The outbreak of the highly contagious virus comes six months after California's strict vaccine law went into effect. A measles outbreak that originated at Disneyland in 2014 sickened 145 people across the United States and dozens more in Canada and Mexico. That episode led to the new law in California that requires that all children be vaccinated unless a doctor submits an exemption for medical reasons. Personal and religious belief exemptions are not allowed under the new law. Gunzenhauser said the new outbreak of measles is affecting individuals older than 12 years old, who would not be directly concerned by the new law. He said the first person was diagnosed in early December and 16 more cases were reported in the last three weeks of 2016. The last case was diagnosed last week. Measles is a highly contagious virus that lives in the nose and throat of an infected person, and can linger in the air for hours, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms include a rash, white bumps inside the cheeks, a fever, runny nose and cough. Severe complications can occur, leading to miscarriage as well as the risk of death by pneumonia or brain swelling. CHELMSFORD, Mass. (AP) _ Mercury Systems Inc. (MRCY) on Monday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $5.2 million. On a per-share basis, the Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based company said it had net income of 13 cents. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 30 cents per share. The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 10 cents per share. The maker of processing systems and software posted revenue of $98 million in the period, also surpassing Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $93 million. For the current quarter ending in April, Mercury Systems expects its per-share earnings to range from 29 cents to 32 cents. The company said it expects revenue in the range of $103 million to $107 million for the fiscal third quarter. Mercury Systems expects full-year earnings in the range of $1.09 to $1.14 per share, with revenue ranging from $377 million to $384 million. Mercury Systems shares have increased 4 percent since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Monday, shares hit $31.46, an increase of 85 percent in the last 12 months. _____ This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on MRCY at https://www.zacks.com/ap/MRCY _____ Keywords: Mercury Systems, Earnings Report Trump speaks at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on Saturday. (Photo: Olivier Doulier/Getty Images) President Donald Trump has been in office less than four days, but his administrations already given Merriam-Webster plenty of fresh material to chew on. On Sunday, the dictionary publisher taunted Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway after she said on Meet the Press that White House press secretary Sean Spicers false statements about the inauguration were actually alternative facts. A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality, read a tweet from Merriam-Websters Twitter feed shortly after. ????A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality. https://t.co/gCKRZZm23c Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) January 22, 2017 On Monday, Merriam-Webster took the Trump administration to task again when searches for the word claque spiked following a report that many of those who cheered during Trumps weekend visit to CIA headquarters were not agency staff but Trump supporters. If youre part of a group thats paid to applaud, youre a claqueur, Merriam Webster tweeted. If you're part of a group that's paid to applaud, you're a 'claqueur'. https://t.co/EX96vGLGDz Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) January 24, 2017 Trump had also hired actors to applaud during the announcement of his candidacy in the summer of 2015, Yahoo News reported at the time. Merriam-Websters quiet social media shots at Trump are not a new phenomenon. During the presidential debates, Merriam-Webster took to Twitter to clarify some of the celebrity businessmans unusual utterances. We're seeing a spike for both 'ombre' and 'hombre'. Not the same thing. https://t.co/O2o9C3gTja #debatenight Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) October 20, 2016 In December, Merriam-Webster mocked Trump after the then-president-elect misspelled the word unprecedented in a tweet about Chinas seizure of a U.S. drone. Story continues China steals United States Navy research drone in international waters, Trump tweeted. Rips it out of water and takes it to China in unpresidented act. Good morning! The #WordOfTheDay is not unpresidented, Merriam-Webster quipped. We dont enter that word. Thats a new one. And in a subtle nod to Trumps stunning rise from real estate mogul to reality television star to president of the United States, Merriam-Webster chose surreal as its 2016 word of the year. More from Yahoo News: By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Investment Bank, the EU's lending institution, will maintain a target of investing around 20 billion dollars a year to fight climate change over the next five years, it said on Tuesday, sending a warning to climate skeptics. Climate investment is already about a quarter of EIB total loans. Last year the bank lent 83.8 billion euros ($90 billion), of which 19 billion went to projects to counter climate change. "We, Europeans, must lead the free world against climate skeptics," the EIB president Werner Hoyer said at a news conference in Brussels. While he did not mention Donald Trump directly, the new U.S. president has promised to bolster the U.S. oil, gas and coal industries, in part by undoing federal regulations curbing carbon dioxide emissions. He has also suggested pulling out of a global climate change pact signed in Paris in 2015, calling it expensive for U.S. industry. World temperatures hit a record high for the third year in a row in 2016, the World Meteorological Organisation said last week. Hoyer said the bank would maintain ambitious targets against global warming. "We aim to provide $100 billion for climate action over the next five years, the largest contribution of any single multilateral institution," he said. Britain's decision to leave the European Union is adding to EIB's concerns, as it is one of the four main shareholders of the bank, holding about 16 percent of its shares. Only EU member states can be EIB shareholders. Hoyer said the Brexit impact on the bank "is completely unclear" but he did not rule out the possibility of changing rules to allow Britain to remain a shareholder even after Brexit - an option that would need approval from London and the other 27 EU capitals. Hoyer said in the two years of Brexit negotiations, expected to start in March, the bank will remain in "limbo". "We will be missed in the UK if we had to reduce our business there or disappear completely," Hoyer added. Last year, the bank lent to Britain more than 7 billion euros. He said that, contrary to other large EU states, Britain has no national promotional bank and "relies heavily" on EIB funding for certain investments in infrastructure and other projects. The EIB already now invests outside the EU, but its lending is mostly concentrated on Europe. Hoyer said Britain could remain a recipient of EIB lending after leaving the EU, but "it is a question of dimension". He urged negotiators to be constructive and avoid "further damage" to existing projects funded by the bank in Britain. ($1 = 0.9312 euros) (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Alison Williams) Mexico City (AFP) - Mexico drew red lines on Tuesday ahead of negotiations with US President Donald Trump's administration, warning it could quit the talks and a major trade pact if the discussions hit a wall. During the US election campaign, Trump vowed to make Mexico pay for a massive border wall and threatened to finance it by tapping into the $25 billion in remittances that Mexican migrants sent back home last year. "There are very clear red lines that must be drawn from the start," Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo told the Televisa network as he prepares to meet with US officials in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. Asked whether the Mexican delegation would walk away from the negotiating table if the wall and remittances are an issue, Guajardo said: "Absolutely." Guajardo and Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray will hold the face-to-face talks with the new US administration ahead of a meeting between Trump and President Enrique Pena Nieto on January 31. - NAFTA threat - In addition to the wall, Trump wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada, warning last week that he would abandon the pact unless the United States gets "a fair deal." The Mexican government has responded that it is willing to "modernize" the pact, which came into force in 1994 and represents $531 billion in annual bilateral trade between Mexico and the United States. Some 80 percent of Mexico's exports go to the United States, a clear indicator of the country's dependence on the US market for its economic wellbeing. But Guajardo warned on Tuesday that Mexico was also willing to exit the 23-year-old agreement. "If we're going for something that is less than what we have now, it doesn't make sense to stay in," Guajardo said. Pena Nieto vowed on Monday that there would be "neither confrontation nor submission" in the negotiations, which will include trade, immigration and other issues. Story continues Pena Nieto also looked further north for help on Sunday as he spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by telephone to discuss ways to boost North American economic integration. Luis de la Calle, a Mexican economist and one of the original NAFTA negotiators, said it is impossible to enter negotiations without being willing to walk away if necessary. Trump "puts pressure in an almost extortionist manner... to get as many concessions as possible," de la Calle told AFP. "But countries must be much smarter." Videgeray said that while the United States has "great interest" in talking about trade, Mexico wants to "talk about every issue." Pena Nieto has called on the Trump administration to do more to stop the illegal flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico, which Mexican officials blame for fueling a brutal drug war. - Big market next door - While it faces tough talks with the United States, the Mexican government is setting its eyes on new trade pacts with other countries. After Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, Pena Nieto said his government would immediately seek to negotiate bilateral agreements with other TPP members to "diversify" his country's trade relations. Guajardo noted that Mexico has good relations with China and said Beijing was a "big concern" for the Trump administration. But Valeria Moy, director of the Mexico Como Vamos think tank, said Latin America's second biggest economy cannot lose sight of the importance of the United States while it looks for deals elsewhere. "If you have the world's biggest market next door to you, that's the market you need to take care of, period," Moy said. "What we can diversity is who we buy from." Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f360650%2f98133f99-a57b-4a99-87a0-99ef54be0589 Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris, is convinced that her father's death was no accident and she's concerned that performers like Justin Bieber could suffer the same fate. Jackson gave a rare interview with Rolling Stone, opening up about losing her father at such a young age, sharing his legacy with the world and her own mental health struggles, including multiple suicide attempts. Paris Jackson appears on our latest cover. Head to RollingStone.com to read the story in full. The 18-year-old candidly discusses Michael Jackson as a father and his private pain in her first in-depth interview. She also opens up about her battles with drug addiction, what childhood was like on Neverland Ranch and her bright future. Photograph by David LaChapelle A photo posted by Rolling Stone (@rollingstone) on Jan 24, 2017 at 5:04am PST The 18-year-old Jackson believes her father was murdered. "It's obvious. All arrows point to that," she says. "It sounds like a total conspiracy theory and it sounds like bullshit, but all real fans and everybody in the family knows it. It was a setup. It was bullshit." Jackson said her father himself was suspicious of people in his circle. "He would drop hints about people being out to get him," she says. "And at some point he was like, 'They're gonna kill me one day.'" Jackson claims that plenty of people had reason to want him dead, but she's not ready to make accusations quite yet. She does, however, blame his personal doctor, Conrad Murray, for her father's addiction to propofol. Michael Jackson died of acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication in 2009. Conrad was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2011 and served a two-year sentence. Justin Bieber, right, and Paris Jackson pose together after the hand and footprint ceremony honoring her father, musician Michael Jackson, in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. Image: AP Photo/Matt SaylesAP Now, Jackson is concerned for Justin Bieber, arguably the current successor to her father's throne, whose recent performances remind her of the end of her father's life. Story continues "He was tired, going through the motions," Jackson says about a stop on Bieber's Purpose tour. "I looked at my ticket, saw AEG Live, and I thought back to how my dad was exhausted all the time but couldn't sleep." Michael Jackson was working with concert promoters AEG Live at the time of his death to prepare for "This Is It" a 50-night residency in London, and his daughter alleges that his grueling rehearsals were a factor in his untimely passing. "AEG Live does not treat their performers right," she says. "They drain them dry and work them to death." The Jackson family lost a wrongful death suit against the company in 2013. BONUS: Sundance Film Festival 2017 recap: Day 2 A federal judge Monday reprimanded Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette for trying to side with residents of Flint who are suing the state over the citys lead poisoning crisis as his office fights the very same suit. The scolding came just a day before U.S. District Judge David Lawson is to take up the issue of whether the state has complied with an order to expand water deliveries to Flint residents. Its been more than 1,000 days since the city of Flint began drawing water from the Flint River, triggering a lead poisoning epidemic thats still to be resolved. The citys water supply was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River on April 25, 2014, to save money, but the pollutants in the river corroded city and residential pipes, leaching lead into the water supply. City residents were exposed to rising lead levels for 18 months before any action was taken. Though testing indicates lead levels are falling, residents have been told to use only filtered or bottled water for consumption until further notice. So far, only 600 of the thousands of pipes that need to be replaced have been replaced. Lawson accused Schuette of superficial posturing for trying to file a brief siding with the plaintiffs. The judge noted several assistant attorneys general already had appeared on behalf of the state. "Superficial posturing does not contribute to the search for an equitable solution," Lawson wrote in a 10-page opinion. Lawson in November ordered the state to expand water deliveries to Flint residents but the state has been fighting the directive, saying its unnecessary, too expensive and a logistical nightmare. A hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday on why the state and city officials have failed to verify whether filters were installed in many homes. flint Photo: Canice Leung/Reuters Story continues In contrast to last years State of the State address when Gov. Rick Snyder apologized profusely for the water debacle, his State of the State address last week barely touched on the crisis. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., whose district includes Flint, was outraged. "It is disgraceful that a city of 100,000 people still doesn't have clean drinking water and the governor could barely devote 2 minutes of his State of the State to Flint. Just 2 minutes dedicated to Flint? Really?" he said in a statement obtained by CNN. "Shame on the governor for not using tonight to outline additional steps that he is going to take to ensure clean drinking water in Flint. I will not rest until the governor and the state step up to do more to help the city recover from this man-made crisis." The state put up $28 million last year to deal with the problem while the federal government has put up $170 million. Gerald Ambrose, who was appointed by Snyder as emergency manager and oversaw the water switch, told a U.S. House committee he never actually talked to Snyder about rising lead levels, dealing instead mostly with state Treasury Department officials during his four months on the job because the focus was the citys financial condition, the Flint Journal reported Monday. The newspaper said it obtained excerpts from Ambroses closed-door testimony in March before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Ambrose is one of 13 state officials facing criminal charges stemming from the fiasco. Related Articles Govt attorneys protest hits hearings Court proceedings were affected also on Monday as government attorneys refused to attend the scheduled hearings all across the country. The U.S. Senate approved Mike Pompeo as CIA director Monday, completing President Donald Trumps national security triumvirate. Defense Secretary James Mad Dog Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary James Kelly were approved Friday. Pompeo, the former Kansas congressman, will need to develop a working relationship with Trump, who skipped most of his daily intelligence briefings during the transition and dismissed the agencys conclusions on critical issues, repeatedly pointing to faulty intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. More recently he suggested the CIA was behind the leak of a 35-page opposition research report containing unconfirmed allegations about Trumps ties to Russia an accusation insulting to career professionals who pride themselves as being apolitical. He likened the leak to something that would have happened in Nazi Germany. White House press secretary Sean Spicer downplayed any friction between Trump and the CIA, calling talk of a rift a myth. He said CIA employers were excited by Trumps visit to the agency Saturday. They were clapping. They were cheering when he walked in, he told reporters. CBS News reported Monday Trumps visit to the CIA made the situation worse. Quoting government sources, CBS said the visit was uncomfortable and any cheering likely came from the first three rows, which were packed with people who had been invited by Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. But Trump has said he has confidence in Pompeo, who graduated at the top of his class at West Point. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback cheered the confirmation. At his confirmation hearing, Pompeo said he would defy the president if ordered to implement torture during interrogations of terror suspects and pledged to speak truth to power. Previously, he described those involved in waterboarding as patriots. Human Rights Watch issued a statement Saturday urging against Pompeos approval, citing concerns the agency would use its surveillance and other powers in ways that would violate human rights on a broad scale. Story continues Pompeos [written] responses to questions about torture and mass surveillance are dangerously ambiguous about whether he would endorse abusive practices and seek to subvert existing legal protections, said Maria McFarland Sanchez-Moreno, U.S. program co-director at Human Rights Watch. Pompeos failure to unequivocally disavow torture and mass surveillance, coupled with his record of advocacy for surveillance of Americans and past endorsement of the shuttered CIA torture program, make clear that he should not be running the CIA. Related Articles (This January 23 story corrects to amend chief of staff's name to Jaime Tincher in paragraphs six and seven) (Reuters) - Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton collapsed on Monday while delivering his state-of-the-state address to legislators in St. Paul, but aides said afterward that Dayton quickly recovered from what they described as a fainting spell and returned home. A video clip from official statehouse footage posted on YouTube showed the 69-year-old, silver-haired governor pausing to take a sip of water, then slurring his words as he tried to resume his address before slumping at the lectern. He appeared to hit his forehead on the lectern as he lost his footing and aides rushed to grab him. Gasps rose from the assembly hall and someone was heard saying, "Get him to the ground, get him to the ground, please." Lawmakers immediately adjourned the session while Dayton, a member of the Democratic-affiliated Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, was attended to. The Minneapolis Star Tribune said Dayton appeared to be seated upright and aware some moments afterward. The episode came about 40 minutes into Dayton's speech to a joint session of the state legislature, according to a statement released by his chief of staff, Jaime Tincher. "He quickly recovered, walked out of the Capitol and turned home," Tincher said, adding that emergency medical technicians met Dayton at his home and performed a "routine check" on him there. "He is now spending time with his son and grandson" and would present his 2017 budget to legislators on Tuesday morning as planned. Gubernatorial spokesman Sam Fettig said the governor, now midway through his second four-year term, did not go to a hospital. Fettig declined to say what might have caused the governor's collapse but said he believed Dayton to be otherwise in good health. Dayton's son, Eric, posted a separate message on Twitter saying, "I'm with my dad now and he's doing great. Thank you all for your kind well-wishes and words of concern." Dayton was briefly hospitalized about a year ago after fainting while speaking during an event in the St. Paul suburb of Woodbury. Aides said then that he was treated for dehydration before being released. Dayton served six years at a U.S. senator from Minnesota before he was elected to his first term as governor in 2010. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles and Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton announced Tuesday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer a day after he passed out while delivering the State of the State address. Read: Bodybuilder With Cerebral Palsy Proves There's No Excuse for Missing a Day at the Gym On Monday night, Dayton was in the middle of his speech when he started slurring his words. Moments later, he slammed his head on the podium as he collapsed. Aides and lawmakers rushed in to help, laying him down on the floor. There were warning signs to what would come. Before his speech, the governor looked shaky as he walked into the house chamber and at one point stumbled. "Fainting is really common," ABC News Chief Health And Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser told Inside Edition. "It can occur when someone is giving a speech in a stressful situation or standing for a long time in some people causes the blood pressure to drop and they faint." Dr. Besser says the folks who came to the governor's aide did exactly the right thing. You want to ease them down to the ground, have them lie flat and bending their knees helps as well. Then call for 911 because you can't assume they are okay," he said. Read: A Family's Fight: Mom and Her 1-Year-Old Daughter Battling Cancer Together The 69-year-old governor announced Tuesday that he will continue the remaining two years of his term. He will also go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for tests as to why he fainted. He will also get prostate cancer treatment options from the renowned clinic. Watch: Hillary Clinton Says She Feels Fine and Didn't Faint at 9/11 Memorial Service: "I Did Lose My Balance' Related Articles: A father has appealed to the public for help after a Virginia mother and her two children mysteriously vanished after an alleged blind date she had. Monica Lamping, 29, and her two children, 7-year-old Kai and her 9-month-old Oria, were reported missing by family members Sunday at 9:30 a.m., according to police. Read: Mom Charged With Rape and Murder of Adopted Daughter Worked at Child Welfare Agency A fire broke out at Lampings home just after 3 a.m. on Sunday, but no one was found inside, according to police. It wasnt until no one heard from Lamping that they suspected that something may be wrong. Lamping was reportedly last seen when she picked up the children from her best friends home at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, where she had left them while she went on a blind date with a man named Chad. She had met the man at a gas station, according to her ex-husband and the father of Kai, Kevin Lamping. The unusual circumstances regarding the fire, the blind date, the lack of communication between Monica and her parents, and her best friend, and myself leads me to believe there is something kind of more foul play going on," Kevin told InsideEdition.com. He said Lamping had texted her best friend after she left the babysitter telling her she had car trouble but that "Chad" was going to help her fix it. It would be the last time she was heard from. Police called the circumstances of the familys disappearance "suspicious" and said the case remains under investigation. Cops added that they are attempting to identify "Chad." Lamping was believed to be driving a 2002 Jeep Cherokee with a Virginia license plate tag XPU-6357. The truck was last seen traveling through the Portsmouth Downtown Tunnel in Portsmouth, Virginia, at about 2 a.m. Sunday an hour before the fire, police said. Police, however, havent issued an Amber Alert because Lamping is the mother of Kai and Oria. Story continues The big kicker was Monday morning Kai didnt show up for school. My husband has primary physical custody and they share joint legal custody and per their agreement Kevin is supposed to be notified for any absence Kai has. And up until this point Monica has been diligent about following the agreement, Moira Lamping, Kais stepmom said. Through all of this Kevin said he just wants them found. He said its highly unusual of Lamping to just disappear. Read: Neighbors Mourn Girl, 5, Found Dead in Parents' Restaurant; Mom Charged with Murder May Be Deported I have been trying to be more optimistic but every day that passes doesnt seem like we are getting any more information. I have watched enough shows, Dateline or whatever, 60 Minutes, to know that these things typically dont get better as time goes on, Kevin said. "At nighttime is when it gets the toughest. Thats when youve got a little bit more time to think about all the things you could have done differently with your child, perhaps have prevented something like this from happening." Officials urge anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Monica Lamping and her children to call the Virginia Beach Police Department at (757) 385-5000 or the Virginia Beach Crime Solvers at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP. Watch: Child's Body Found in Icy Pond Days After Amber Alert Issued for 6-Year-Old Boy Related Articles: Marcoussis (France) (AFP) - France faced more injury woes Tuesday ahead of their Six Nations clash with England after back rower Raphael Lakafia and hooker Camille Chat pulled out through injury. The squad have already lost Clermont centre Wesley Fofana, who ruptured an Achilto fixles tendon in the side's European Champions Cup win over Exeter on Saturday. Then the man named to replace him, Racing 92's Henry Chavancy, pulled out with a damaged collar bone after Sunday's defeat to Munster. Racing prop Eddy Ben Arous was also ruled out through injury. Lakafia, who picked up a knee injury playing in Stade Francais's European Challenge Cup win against Harlequins on Saturday, has not been replaced in the squad but Christopher Tolofua comes in for Chat. By Alan Baldwin LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Bernie Ecclestone can still play an important role in Formula One's new era despite being ousted as supremo, chief executive Chase Carey said on Tuesday. Ecclestone, 86, was appointed "Emeritus Chairman" on Monday after U.S. cable TV magnate John Malone's Liberty Media completed a takeover of the sport and appointed existing F1 chairman Carey in his place. The British billionaire, who has ruled the sport for 40 years, told Germany's Auto, Motor and Sport that he was unsure what the new title really meant. Carey recognised it was 'undefined' but said it was not an empty accolade. "Bernie could be truly helpful to me and the board in the leadership of the business and provide invaluable advice," the American told Reuters. "Part of the title is giving him the respect we felt he was due, the decades he spent leading it. But there's no question, Bernie can provide invaluable advice and help how we take the business forward and we look forward to that and hope he does." Carey recognised that scenario might be tough for someone used to operating on his own terms and with a famous reluctance to delegate. "He's been in a role for most of his adult life, running it, so I'm not naive about the difficulties in giving up the role and taking this new undefined role," he said. "But I would truly hope I can look to his advice and help as we go forward." There was, however, no doubt about who would be in charge from now on. "I am running the show," said Carey. (Editing by Clare Fallon) After Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his Pacific trade focus will turn to Japan and China. "We have long been proponents of trade," Trudeau told a press conference. "That's why we are busy on multiple trade fronts at the same time." He noted last year's start of talks with Japan on improving trade ties, while next month Ottawa is scheduled to begin exploratory talks on free trade with China. This comes on the heals of a Canada-EU free trade agreement. Trudeau sidestepped questions about whether Canada would join a slightly smaller TPP that does not include the United States, after Australia and others signaled they may still pursue an accord. "We know that increasing our engagement with the growing economies of Asia is an important way to assure good jobs and prosperity for Canada and that's what we're going to continue to do," he said. In upcoming talks with President Trump, who has called for a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, Trudeau said he would continue to emphasize their two nations strong historical trade ties. He pointed specifically to the "extraordinary interconnectedness between the Canadian and American economies." Trudeau noted that Canada is the number one export market for 35 US states. "Millions of good, middle-class jobs on both sides of the border depend on the close trade relationship that we have," Trudeau said. "These are the conversations we're having, and the response we're getting is very much positive in terms of understanding the extent to which the relationship between Canada and the United States is particular and unique in regards to any two countries in the world." London (AFP) - Munster announced Tuesday that they had signed the Irish trio of JJ Hanrahan, Chris Farrell and James Hart for the start of next season. Hanrahan, a fly-half, is returning to his home Irish province of Munster after two years in England with Northampton, while centre Farrell and scrum-half Hart will both be arriving from France following stints with Grenoble and Paris-based Racing 92 respectively. "I've always indicated our intention to recruit Irish qualified players where and when possible so to secure the young trio of Farrell, Hanrahan and Hart is great for the province and Irish rugby in general," said Munster's rugby director Rassie Erasmus. "In addition to being hugely talented they bring a wealth of knowledge with their combined experiences from playing abroad and this will help with our overall squad development," the South African added. Munster added former Ireland scrum-half Tomas O'Leary would not return to the province after joining French side Montpellier on a short-term loan in October. Melbourne (AFP) - Rafael Nadal faces his toughest test yet at the Australian Open on Wednesday with a quarter-final clash against big-serving Milos Raonic, while Serena Williams also has a stern challenge ahead. The Spanish 14-time Grand Slam champion is bidding to end a major title drought stretching back to the 2014 French Open, and Canada's Raonic could easily make like difficult. "It's going to be a very tough match and I need to be very focused with my serve and play aggressive," Nadal said ahead of the feature evening match on Rod Laver Arena. "If I am not playing aggressive, then I am dead." One element that could work in his favour is that Raonic suffering from the after-effects of 'flu, although the illness has not stopped him racking up dozens of unplayable aces as he has powered through the draw. Third seed Raonic, the highest-ranked player still standing in the men's draw, said he hoped to be back to 100 percent by the time he faces Nadal. "I believe so, with the way things are going, I'm getting better and better," he said. Whoever wins will face either Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov or Belgian David Goffin, who take to the court in the afternoon session. Dimitrov, who will be playing in his third Grand Slam quarter-final, downed Goffin in their only meeting in the third round at the 2014 US Open. In the women's draw, Williams will have a confident Johanna Konta on the other side of the net as she tries to join sister Venus in the last four. Gunning for a record 23rd Grand Slam title to surpass Steffi Graf and a return of the number one world number ranking, it won't be easy for the second seed. Konta, the British ninth seed is on a nine-match unbeaten run and she has looked extremely solid ahead of her first career meeting with Williams. "She has a very attacking game. I know her game pretty well. I look forward to it," said Williams, who is targeting a seventh Australian title. Story continues The winner will play either unseeded Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni or fifth seed Czech Karolina Pliskova, who open the day's proceedings on centre court. Lucic-Baroni, 34, has become a crowd favourite after her unexpected run to a first Grand Slam quarter-final in 18 years. She made the Wimbledon semi-finals in 1999 aged 17 before her career fell apart, but has been riding popular support and Pliskova is not underestimating the threat she poses. "She has to be playing well when she's in the quarter-finals," said the Czech, who made the US Open final last year and is tipped as a future champion. "I have to be really ready on my legs, serving well. I think I have good chance." BRUSSELS (AP) NATO's chief and new U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis have discussed military spending and combating terrorism, the source of criticism of the alliance by President Donald Trump. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's office said Tuesday that the two men "agreed on the fundamental and enduring value of NATO for the security of both Europe and North America." In a phone call, they looked forward "to working together to strengthen the alliance, including by increasing defense spending and doing even more to fight terrorism." Trump has said that NATO is "obsolete." He has upset allies by suggesting he might refuse to defend those not spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on military budgets. The U.S. spends more on its armed forces than the other 27 NATO member states combined. It also pays a significant portion just over 22 percent of NATO's commonly funded budget. Stoltenberg and previous secretaries general have been urging allies to step up spending for years. Only four other countries Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland meet the 2 percent spending target. Many are increasing their budgets, mostly out of necessity in response to aggressive action by Russia, like its military ventures in Ukraine and Georgia, unannounced war games and the buzzing of allied ships and planes by Russian jet fighters. Trump has also said that NATO must do more to combat terrorism, even though allies deployed thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Last week, a top NATO general conceded that parts of the world's biggest military alliance are obsolete. Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Gen. Denis Mercier said NATO has focused too much on deploying troops abroad, so-called expeditionary warfare, particularly its Afghan operation. Mercier said NATO wants to revamp its approach to counter-terrorism, in part by helping countries under threat to develop long-term plans to fight extremists. Mattis was sworn in Friday. He will meet his NATO counterparts and Stoltenberg on Feb. 15-16 in Brussels. Washington (AFP) - The US Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly confirmed Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina, as US ambassador to the United Nations, delivering new President Donald Trump one of his most potent diplomatic tools. The nomination of Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, sailed through the Senate by a vote of 96 to four. The 45-year-old will assume the job at UN headquarters in New York with a clear early task: reassuring nervous governments around the world that Washington will remain engaged in international diplomacy during the era of Trump. The new US president had just three cabinet members in place prior to the Haley vote: Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who was confirmed and sworn in late Tuesday. Trump has signaled he would like to slash US funding for United Nations climate change programs, and he opposed a recent UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel that Barack Obama's administration had declined to veto. Haley won the backing of Democratic Senator Ben Cardin because, he said, "she does not support efforts to slash American funding to the UN and that she would consistently vocalize US values, including universal human rights, good governance and press and religious freedom." She also acknowledged in her hearing testimony that "Crimea is not Russian" and spoke "very strongly" about defending Ukrainian sovereignty, Cardin said, referring to the Kremlin's annexation of the region in Ukraine. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Haley exhibited great competence as governor during trying times, notably a horrific flood and the racially charged murder of nine parishioners at a historically black church in Charleston. "The skill set she has for bringing people together, I have seen," Graham told the chamber. One can learn the intricacies of foreign policy, he added, "but diplomacy is something you either have or you don't." Former ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson, Trump's pick for secretary of state who many observers say is the most important member of the president's cabinet, has yet to be confirmed. Tillerson visited the State Department for the first time on Tuesday. If you thought Election Day marked the end of political ads clogging up your television and web browser, think again. Here come the issue ads. As a newly inaugurated President Donald Trump and a freshly elected Congress turn to governing, politically active groups want to influence the debate. Leading the way: nonprofit American Action Network, which this month launched a series of television and digital ads promoting House Republican efforts to overhaul health care. The ads, which are running in both English and Spanish, feature a voiceover set against a montage of images. There are people jogging. A toddler plays on a playground. Patients confer with their doctors. Imagine a new path forward, intones an off-screen voice that goes on to describe a health care system that provides more choices and better care, puts patients and doctors in charge and encourages new cures by eliminating senseless regulations. House Republicans, it promises, have a plan that will do those things without disrupting existing coverage. The ad directs viewers to a website paid for by the American Action Network. Whos behind it? American Action Network describes itself as an action tank with a mission to promote center-right policies based on the principles of freedom, limited government, American exceptionalism and strong national security. Related video: American Action Network ad This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. The group has close ties to House Republicans. It was founded in 2010 by former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota and major GOP donor Fred Malek. The current board includes both men, as well as former Republican Reps. Vin Weber of Minnesota and Tom Reynolds of New York, among others. American Action Network is affiliated with a super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund. Both groups share the same leader: Corry Bliss, a former Republican political operative who most recently ran the re-election campaign of Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and began his job with American Action Network and the Congressional Leadership Fund earlier this month. Story continues Money in American Action Network is a nonprofit organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code, which means its primary mission must be the promotion of social welfare, not politics. Such nonprofits dont have to reveal their donors. Nonetheless, some information about American Action Networks donors has trickled out over the years. Several of the publicly identified donors have to do with health care, including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a trade group; insurance company Aetna; and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care. A longer list is available via the Center for Responsive Politics. According to the groups most recent tax filing, it took in $26.4 million total between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015 a period that includes the 2014 midterm elections. Money out According to an American Action Network press release, the group is spending at least $1.4 million on this latest TV and digital ad campaign. The group said it is running some national ads, but also targeting a series of House districts held by Republican incumbents. The Spanish-language ads are running on Univision and Telemundo, targeting six key congressional districts with significant Hispanic populations, American Action Network said. American Action Network spent nearly $5.6 million on the 2016 elections, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Since politics cannot be the primary purpose of a nonprofit social welfare group, such direct spending on supporting or opposing political candidates cannot constitute the bulk of a groups spending. Issue ads, such as the healthcare ads the group announced this month, do not typically count as political spending under Internal Revenue Service rules. Why it matters Republicans have promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the health care overhaul frequently referred to as Obamacare. But the issue is fraught, and Trump, House Republicans and Senate Republicans havent yet agreed on how best to proceed. The challenges, meanwhile, are significant. Republicans have disagreed over whether to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act immediately, even if a replacement plan is not ready at the same time. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 18 million people could lose health coverage in the first year if Congress repeals the law without replacing it. Trump, meanwhile, has said his plan is almost ready. It will offer insurance for everyone, Trump said. This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series. Related stories Copyright 2017 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. Tokyo (AFP) - US President Donald Trump has abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership, leaving the ambitious trade agreement in limbo. Here are some key questions about the pact which supporters said would write the rules for 21st century commerce: - What is the TPP? - The Trans-Pacific Partnership is one of the most ambitious free trade pacts ever negotiated. It brings together some of the diverse economies that abut the Pacific Ocean -- Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam -- and accounts for a whopping 40 percent of the global economy. Under then-US president Barack Obama it was sold to American allies as a unique opportunity to seize the initiative on worldwide trade -- and ensure China, with its surging economy and growing global importance -- does not get to dictate the terms. Supporters say it would scrap barriers to the free flow of goods, services and investment capital. They claim it would also ensure a level playing field for all firms, protecting labour rights and incorporating important environmental safeguards. - So why has Trump junked it? - Critics say the TPP was hammered out during secretive meetings in luxury hotels and will do little other than benefit the usual suspects -- big businesses. Trump's insurgent presidential bid was built, in part, on a pledge to overturn the trade deals which many of his supporters blame for lost US jobs. They say the TPP was another bad deal for America's industrial heartlands, allowing foreign manufacturers and food producers tariff-free access to the US market -- meaning US firms and farms, whose production costs are higher, could not compete. - What will happen to the TPP now? - Many leaders invested serious political capital in the TPP, selling it to reluctant electorates as a way to yoke America closer to the like-minded democracies of the Pacific Rim. One option is for the remaining 11 members to press ahead and get the agreement up and running. Australia said Tuesday it hoped to recast the pact without the US and opened the door for China to sign up. Story continues Another possibility is to reopen negotiations from scratch, which would give Trump the chance to sell an "improved" deal to his electorate. Trump, however, suggested he would pursue bilateral deals, saying he would be "going back to those countries one-on-one" to find terms more favourable to the United States. - Are there other options? - Yes -- the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) now being negotiated, which brings together the 10 Southeast Asian countries of ASEAN, as well as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Something of a mirror image to TPP, it includes six of the Washington-led grouping's 12 members but not the US, and would encompass more than three billion people. RCEP is generally seen as less ambitious on issues like employment and environmental protection. By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Tuesday ahead of weekly U.S. inventory data on evidence the global market is tightening as lower production by OPEC and other exporters drains stocks. Increased drilling in the United States, however, could keep a lid on prices. Brent (LCOc1) futures gained 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, to settle at $55.44 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (CLc1) gained 43 cents or 0.8 percent, to $53.18 per barrel. That put WTI up for a fourth day in a row, its longest winning streak since the end of December. Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and big producers outside the group said on Sunday that of the almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) they had agreed to remove from the market starting on Jan. 1, 1.5 million bpd had already been cut. Saudi Arabia's oil output is likely to drop to around 9.9 million bpd in January, according to industry sources and shipping data. The kingdom said it pumped 10.47 million bpd in December. "The comments out of OPEC are the primary reasons for the price increase on Tuesday. That and recent weakness in the dollar, which is actually masking some serious weakness in oil," said Phil Davis, managing partner at PSW Investments in Woodland Park, New Jersey. The U.S. dollar (.DXY) settled at a seven-week low against a basket of currencies on Monday, but was up nearly 0.15 percent Tuesday afternoon. A weaker greenback makes dollar-denominated crude less expensive for users of other currencies. Bernstein Energy said global oil inventories declined 24 million barrels to 5.7 billion barrels in the fourth quarter of last year from the previous quarter. This amounts to about 60 days of world oil consumption. "This is the biggest quarterly decline since the fourth quarter of 2013, confirming that inventory builds are now reversing as the market shifts from oversupply to undersupply," Bernstein analysts said in a note to clients. Story continues Analysts, however, estimated U.S. crude stocks increased by about 2.8 million barrels in the week to Jan. 20. [EIA/S] The American Petroleum Institute (API) is scheduled to release data at 4:30 p.m. EST, while the Energy Information Administration (EIA) report is due at 10:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday. The push by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives for a shift to border-adjusted corporate tax (BTA) could push WTI prices higher than Brent, triggering large-scale domestic production, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. "We expect WTI could move to a $10 per barrel premium to Brent from a $3 discount - a $13 (+25 percent) relative move immediately." Brent's premium to WTI (WTCLc1-LCOc1) narrowed on Tuesday by about 26 cents to $2.22 per barrel. U.S. drillers last week added the most rigs in nearly four years, data from energy services company Baker Hughes showed on Friday, extending an eight-month drilling recovery. "OPEC is gradually coming to the realization that they may have received more than they bargained for in re-activating U.S. drilling activity," Jim Ritterbusch, president of Chicago-based energy advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates, said in a note. U.S. oil production has risen by more than 6 percent since mid-2016, though it remains 7 percent below the 2015 peak. It is back to levels reached in late 2014, when strong U.S. crude output contributed to a crash in oil prices. (Additional reporting by Christopher Johnson in London and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by David Goodman and Lisa Shumaker) Kinshasa (AFP) - Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi headed Tuesday to Belgium for medical treatment -- just as his party is trying to negotiate a power-sharing deal following President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down. The 84-year-old head of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), a historic heavyweight in DR Congo's opposition movement, took off from Kinshasa's airport aboard a private plane at 6:00 am (0500 GMT), an AFP journalist reported. The departure of the frail leader could complicate negotiations over the timetable for a New Year's Eve deal under which Kabila will stay in office before new elections are held in late 2017. The country's influential Catholic bishops brokered the deal in a bid to prevent more bloodshed in a crisis that has already claimed dozens of lives in the chronically unstable nation. The UDPS, saying it wanted to put an end to "rumours", published a statement overnight saying its leader would be leaving for Brussels on Tuesday on a trip that had been "postponed several times because of the political situation in the country", without specifying the reason for his departure. But a source close to the Tshisekedi family said he was going to Belgium for medical tests. "He's not dying, but he has to go for a test in Brussels," the source said. A senior UDPS official expressed greater concern over the health of "the Old Man", as Tshisekedi is affectionately known among his political allies, saying the opposition leader's health had rapidly deteriorated. "This could be a one-way trip, we can't rule that out," the party official said on condition of anonymity. The UDPS statement said Tshisekedi would be returning to Congo as soon as possible to "take up his historic responsibilities". Tshisekedi had made a triumphant return in July after two years of medical treatment in former colonial power Belgium, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to welcome him home. Story continues Kabila, 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. Tshisekedi is supposed to head a transitional body that will be set up until the elections due at the end of the year, with a prime minister to be named from opposition ranks. He had unsuccessfully fought the 2011 presidential election against Kabila, a vote which the opposition alleged was marked by massive fraud. An owl rescued from behind the grill of a pick-up truck weeks ago has been released back into the wild in Florida despite the bird of prey initially having little chance of survival. Read: Cop Rescues 2 Injured Owls in 3 Months: 'What Is It With Me and Owls? Firefighters from the Lake County Fire Rescue said they were called to the scene last month to remove an owl stuck in the Dodge truck of resident Laura McQuilkin. "We expected more of a body removal than a rescue," said Lieutenant Robert Staab. But, they were able to get the poor barred owl out, and after bringing him to a rehabilitation center, they discovered the owl suffered a fractured tibia. Officials were also unsure whether the owl would fly again. Despite the grim outlook, animal officials nursed the owl they named "Lucky" back to health, and a month later, firefighters and McQuilkin joined the rehabilitation team in releasing the owl in a local park. Read: 5 Newborn Raccoons Accidentally Travel From Florida to California After Being Birthed in Moving Van In fact, officials even gave McQuilkin the honors of personally throwing Lucky in the air. In a video of the send-off posted to the Lake County Fire Rescue's Facebook page, the owl can be seen flying off. "He's just such a beautiful owl," McQuilkin said. "I'm so happy he's okay." Watch: Puppies Rescued From Resort Hotel Buried by Avalanche: 'A Race Against Time' Related Articles: Himalayan Airlines revises Colombo flight schedule Himalayan Airlines has announced revision on its flights to Colombo effective from January 21 till April 4. Panama City (AFP) - Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega has been allowed to move from prison to house arrest in order to undergo an operation for a non-malignant brain tumor, his lawyer said Monday. The country's Supreme Court granted the lesser detention after hearing recommendations from the 82-year-old's doctors, attorney Ezra Angel told AFP. Noriega, who is increasingly frail, is serving three 20-year sentences for the disappearances of opponents during his 1983-1990 rule. The United States invaded Panama in 1989, seizing Noriega on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. After time behind bars in the US then France, he was extradited to Panama in 2011 where he was incarcerated in El Renacer prison on the banks of the Panama Canal. The tumor was detected several years ago and "has grown pretty rapidly during the time Noriega was here in Panama," Reyes said. He added that removing the tumor was necessary to avoid "convulsions and even cardio-respiratory arrest." No date has yet been set for the surgery, according to the lawyer and Noriega's daughter Thays Noriega. Reyes said authorities would decide after the operation whether Noriega would return to prison or see out the rest of his sentence at home. By Tracy Rucinski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Peabody Energy Corp's plan to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy faces a "material risk" that the U.S. coal producer could suffer a $1 billion revenue loss due to a disputed lease at the world's largest coal mine, according to an objection filed to its reorganization plan. The plan by Peabody, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to cut $5 billion of debt and emerge from bankruptcy in April is supported by most of its creditors, but has faced a series of official objections from other parties. Oil and gas driller Berenergy Corp and Peabody hold overlapping federal mineral leases in Wyoming's Powder River Basin, where Peabody operates the North Antelope Rochelle mine that provides the bulk of its coal production. In October a Wyoming District Court ruled that Peabody was entitled to mine through Berenergy's wells as long as it made certain payments to the oil and gas company. An appeal is pending before the state's Supreme Court. Berenergy said in a court filing that an adverse decision by Wyoming's high court would prevent Peabody from mining near its wells, potentially causing the coal producer to lose more than $1 billion in revenues it projects in the first five years of its emergence from Chapter 11. "Thus, that litigation creates a material risk to Peabody's post-reorganization financial viability," Berenergy said in an objection to Peabody's reorganization plan filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis. In an emailed statement, Peabody spokesman said the company was evaluating the objection and would respond in due course. Indiana and several environmental groups also objected to Peabody's reorganization plan on concerns over how it would cover about $1 billion in future mine cleanup costs. At issue is whether Peabody will use third-party bonds to cover future environmental liabilities in place of "self-bonding," a federal practice that exempts large coal companies from setting aside cash or collateral to ensure that mined land is returned to its natural setting, as required by law. A hearing to approve Peabody's reorganization was scheduled in St. Louis on Thursday. Among other objections, certain creditors and shareholders have opposed the proposed recoveries granted under the plan. And four former executives, including former chief executive officer Gregory Boyce, filed a complaint about their retirement packages. The U.S. Trustee, a government watchdog for bankruptcies, has also objected to parts of the reorganization plan. (Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Jonathan Oatis) Washington (AFP) - US Secretary of Defense James Mattis reassured NATO allies that Washington had an "unshakeable commitment" to the military alliance, despite President Donald Trump previously deriding the organization as "obsolete." On his first full day in office Mattis spoke by phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his British and Canadian counterparts. Mattis "emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO" in his call with British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said in a statement. Mattis "emphasized the United States and the United Kingdom will always enjoy a uniquely close relationship, reflected in our defense ties which are a bedrock of US security." British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Washington on Friday, the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he took office. In his call with Stoltenberg, Mattis -- who had previously served in a senior NATO post -- discussed "the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security." Mattis "wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance," the statement read. "The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values," and Mattis "emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe." Stoltenberg later said from Brussels that he had "an excellent discussion" with Mattis, and described him as "a strong friend of NATO at the Pentagon." Mattis also called Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and the two men "reiterated the depth and breadth" of the US-Canada relationship as partners in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), "NATO allies, and North American neighbors." The two military leaders also "addressed the importance of North American defense relations among the United States, Canada, and Mexico," the statement read. Story continues Ahead of his inauguration, Trump told two European newspapers he had long considered that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had "problems." "Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago," he said, referring to its Cold War, post-World War II origins. "Number two, the countries aren't paying what they're supposed to pay." Trump said in his inaugural address Friday that the United States had "subsidized the armies of other countries," highlighting a common cause of friction in the 28-nation alliance. In response to Trump's remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe had to take responsibility for itself. Lima (AFP) - Peru on Tuesday called for China and other Pacific countries to forge an alternative free trade agreement after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the key TPP accord. Trump on Monday signed a memo on withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), effectively ending what was meant to be a major trade pact championed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The TPP was to have included Mexico, the United States and 10 other countries spanning the Pacific including Peru, but it excluded China. "We should work with China, the countries of Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on television on Tuesday. "We should make an APEC-Pacific group reaching as far as India, that way we will include everyone. We are going to take the best parts of the TPP and get rid of the less good parts." Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday the US Central Intelligence Agency secretly orchestrated a botched raid targeting an alleged Islamic terrorist that left 44 Filipino policemen dead two years ago. Police commandos killed Zulkifli Abdhir, who was on the US government's list of "Most Wanted Terrorists", in the raid in remote farmland in the southern Philippines, where various Muslim separatist rebel groups and more hardline militants are based. However Muslim gunmen ambushed the attacking police commandos and killed 44 of them in a day-long battle, with a Philippine Senate investigation blaming poor planning and coordination for the deaths. The raid was carried out during the term of Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino. It derailed Aquino's efforts to forge a peace pact with the nation's main Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to end a decades-long rebellion. "It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some, and apparently with your blessing," Duterte said, referring to Aquino. "Why was it kept under wraps? It was actually an operation of the CIA." Duterte made the allegations in a speech to widows and other relatives of the 44 policemen killed in the raid, after receiving them at the Malacanang presidential palace. Duterte has during his seven months in office sought to loosen the Philippines' longtime alliance with the United States while forging closer ties with China and Russia. The controversial politician has branded former US president Barack Obama a "son of a whore", and made unsubstantiated accusations that the CIA is plotting to assassinate him. Aquino had justified the police raid, saying that Zulkifli had been training militants in the southern Philippines in how to make bombs. The United States had said Zulkifli was a top militant in the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. A Philippine Senate report into the raid concluded the United States played a "substantial" role by providing training, equipment and intelligence to the Filipino forces. Story continues However it did not refer to the CIA. Responding to the Senate report in 2015, a US government official told AFP at the time: "This operation was planned and executed by Philippine authorities. We refer you to them for details of the operation." Spokesmen for the US embassy in Manila and Aquino did not immediately reply to requests for reaction to Duterte's latest comments. Duterte also alleged on Tuesday Aquino held back reinforcements and let the commandos die because the government did not want to risk a fresh war with the MILF, which had signed a peace agreement 10 months earlier. "It is not enough to tell the people it was your fault. You (Aquino) must tell me what you did. You fed the soldiers to the lion's den to be eaten by death," Duterte said. MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) A man has been shot dead outside an apartment complex in what police say is the first murder in the nation's smallest capital city in almost a century. An arrest warrant was issued for Jayveon Caballero on a murder charge following the Sunday morning shooting in Montpelier, police said. Police were seeking Caballero in the killing of Markus Austin, whose body was found in the apartment complex's parking lot. Caballero is believed to have boarded a bus on Sunday in White River Junction. Police said the bus was headed to New York City but had several intermediate stops where he could have gotten off. Caballero and Austin had been involved in an altercation outside Gustos bar in Barre earlier Sunday morning, police said. During the altercation Austin assaulted Caballero's girlfriend, witnesses said. Caballero later confronted Austin outside Austin's apartment and shot him, police said. Caballero's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was arrested Sunday evening in Barre, where Caballero lives. She appeared in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to drug charges and was released. Montpelier has about 7,500 residents, making it the nation's least populous capital. Police Chief Anthony Facos said the shooting death of Austin was the first murder in the city since the 1920s, when a woman shot her husband. He did not have additional details of that case. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli police have widened a probe into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already under investigation in a graft case that has shaken the country's politics, media reports said. Police are now looking into two other matters related to Netanyahu, Channel 10 television reported on Monday night. One of the matters appears to involve a deal for Israel to purchase German submarines, while the second affair remained unclear, according to the reports. It was unclear whether the new probes were preliminary enquiries or if they had been elevated to fully fledged investigations. Police declined to comment when contacted by AFP. Netanyahu's cousin, family lawyer and confidant David Shimron has reportedly been involved in the deal to purchase Dolphin submarines from Germany's ThyssenKrupp. Media reports have alleged a conflict of interest over the role played by Shimron, who has also represented ThyssenKrupp's Israeli agent. If confirmed, the reports would add to a list of legal troubles already facing Netanyahu. The premier is already under investigation over suspicions of unlawfully receiving gifts from wealthy supporters. A parallel investigation is examining whether the Israeli premier cut a secret deal with Arnon Moses, publisher of Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot, in which Netanyahu would get positive coverage in return for helping reduce Yediot's competition, the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom. Netanyahu has flatly denied any wrongdoing, accusing Israeli media of "pursuing an unprecedented campaign against me in order to bring down (my) Likud government" by publishing leaks from the investigations. "The campaign is aimed at putting pressure on the attorney general so that he would convict me," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu has been questioned by police twice in recent weeks in the gifts investigation. The probe has shaken the country's political scene and raised questions over whether Netanyahu, 67 and in his fourth term as prime minister, would eventually be forced to resign. Hunt for power pilferers on A day after 16 officials were arrested for tampering with electricity meters, police said they are looking for over 20 owners of various industries and Nepal Electricity Authority staffers. Photo credit: Porsche From Road & Track Back in 2012, Porsche showed off a Panamera station wagon concept, called the Panamera Sport Turismo (pictured above), at the Paris Motor Show. But while it didn't head to production for that generation, Porsche promised the new Panamera would get a wagon variant. And we'll get to see it in March. The UK's CAR magazine recently spoke with Dr. Stefan Utsch, Porsche's head of sales and marketing for the Panamera, who said a five-door version of the Panamera will debut at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. According to CAR, the production Panamera wagon will look a lot like the 2012 concept. Even better, it will go on sale later this year. One thing Utsch didn't say, however, is when the new Panamera wagon will arrive in the States. We found out last May that it's definitely coming to the U.S., but at the time, Porsche CEO Klaus Zellmer said "we have to have some patience for [the wagon] to arrive in the U.S." Hopefully, that means only a slight delay. As great as the new Panamera is to drive, we think a five-door would be even cooler. via Jalopnik You Might Also Like President Donald Trump first week is off to a frenetic start, with business leader, staff, and congressional meetings, along with a flurry of executive actions occupying his time. Hes fulfilled some core campaign promises, including killing the Trans-Pacific Partnership and working to green-light two controversial pipelines. But hes already signaled he may be backing off on some of them, as the White House put the brakes on a moving the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem. In any event, the Trump White House failed to accomplish its Day One goals on day three. Trump is already setting about reshaping American foreign policy, signaling Monday that he would be open to working with Russia on air strikes against the Islamic State group. Trump repeats a lie to lawmakers. Hell keep Comey around. And a launch and a reboot. Here are your must reads: Must Reads Donald Trump Breaks Almost All of His Day One Promises Heres a wrap of what Trump promised to do on his first day in office, compared with what he actually did [Associated Press] Trump Repeats Lie About Popular Vote in Meeting With Lawmakers Says falsely there were millions of ineligible votes cast [New York Times] President Trump Hasnt Decided on Israeli Embassy Move, Despite Campaign Pledge Following two of his last three predecessors [TIME] President Trump Open to Joint Russia-U.S. Strikes In Syria First major shift from Obama administration on ISIS campaign [TIME] Donald Trumps First Press Briefing Was a Big Change A softer tone from his press secretary, TIMEs Philip Elliott writes Trump Takes First Steps on America First Foreign Policy Pulls U.S. out of TPP trade pact [TIME] The First Days Inside Trumps White House: Fury, Tumult and a Reboot The mercurial presidents first days [Washington Post] Sound Off Well have these meetings every whenever you need them. I would say every quarter, perhaps. You could say monthly but then all of a sudden monthly becomes repetitive. President Donald Trump during a meeting with business leaders Monday Story continues If it was already a decision, we wouldnt be going through a process. Press Secretary Sean Spicer Monday on the process to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem Bits and Bites Trump admin orders media blackout at EPA [Associated Press] What to Know About the Ethics Lawsuit Facing President Trump [TIME] Messaging App Has Bipartisan Support Amid Hacking Concerns [Wall Street Journal] Donald Trump Names Net Neutrality Critic Ajit Pai to Lead FCC [Associated Press] See Just How Big Over 200 Womens Marches Were All Across the Country [TIME] US sent $221 million to Palestinians in Obamas last hours [Associated Press] Trump Is Said to Keep James Comey as F.B.I. Director [New York Times] VIEQUES, Puerto Rico (AP) A small island long known as a Navy bombing range is gradually trying to turn a no-man's-land into a booming tourist mecca. Vieques, off the east coast of Puerto Rico, boasts gorgeous beaches, turquoise waters and a stunning bioluminescent bay. But for more than 70 years, most of the island has been off-limits to non-military visitors. Tons of unexploded bombs, rockets and other munitions still lie scattered across the eastern half of the island and the surrounding seabed. One side effect is that much of the island remains tantalizingly undeveloped, a wildlife refuge whose verdant hills and white-sand beaches attracts some 170 bird species and are popular nesting places for leatherback, hawksbill and green sea turtles. "They're the bread and butter of Vieques," said Mike Barandiaran, manager of the Vieques National Wildlife Refuge for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "The tourist that comes here wants the wild, natural area. And it generates a lot of revenue." About 67,000 visitors came to the refuge last year, up from 24,000 in recent years. The Naval Training Range shut down in 2001 and since then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has designated much of it as a Superfund site believed to contain contaminants including mercury, lead and napalm. The U.S. Navy has been working under orders to clean up as much of the place as possible to make it more hospitable for tourists and the more than 9,000 locals alike. Many activists and Puerto Rico's health department argue that the years of exposure to dangerous substances have led to significantly higher rates of cancer and other health problems. Officials with the island's previous administration began a process to obtain as much as $1 billion in compensation for environmental damage, but it is unclear if the new administration will pursue that effort. Federal studies have challenged those assertions and Dan Waddill, the Navy's Vieques restoration branch head, said the Navy has done extensive environmental sampling and air monitoring and has found no violations. Story continues "We are very sensitive to the public's concerns about health, but all our work is done in a way that's protective of human health and the environment," he said. The cleanup already has cost more than $220 million, and it's expected to extend for more than another decade. So far, crews on land have removed some 31,000 bombs, 1,300 rockets and 600 grenades among other items, some of which were practice rounds, Waddill said. Nobody's sure how much remains. This year alone, the Navy plans to scour 19 square miles (49 square kilometers) of seabed to map areas containing unexploded ordnance to be removed by divers and robots eventually opening new beaches and reefs to swimmers and divers. Overall, some 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) of land in Vieques has been re-opened since the cleanup began, and officials hope eventually to open another 16 square miles (41 square kilometers), Barandiaran said. That would create an overall wilderness area about the size of Washington, D.C. Barandiaran said another 2 square miles (5.2 square kilometers) will remain permanently closed to the public for safety reasons. Tourism already has been growing in Vieques a boon to the small population of which nearly half live below the poverty level. The island offers horseback riding, snorkeling adventures and trips to a popular bioluminescent bay, one of only a handful in the world. The high-end W Retreat & Spa resort opened in northern Vieques in 2010, and a growing number of hotels, restaurants and vacation homes have opened since. Tourists this year expect to get access to parts of a zone in western Vieques that once served as munition storage depot. Federal authorities said hunting will for the first time be allowed on Vieques at this site, adding that the 400 acres (162 hectares) also will offer hiking, biking, horse and bird-watching trails. That's encouraging news for Michigan tourist Michelle Brinker, who was visiting Vieques this month for the third time with her husband. "We love this island, and it's nice to see areas like this opening up to the public," said Brinker, a 40-year-old pharmacist from Ann Arbor. "It would be nice to hike more in those restricted areas. You jog down there and you go, 'Oooh, I wonder what's in there.'" There a lot of animals on this show, this fact dawns on Sofia Black-DElia as she discusses her new role on Foxs midseason comedy The Mick, I didnt realize until today, almost every episode has a silly animal stunt with it. At the Television Critics Associations winter press tour, Black-DElia and Carla Jimenez sat down with SuperFan Los Angeles to discuss what its like working on the series, and after heaping praise on star Kaitlin Olson, both turned their conversation to their fine feathered, and furred, friends. Despite Black-DElias close encounter with a live owl, it was Jimenez who had the truly terrible experience on set. I found out I was allergic to bunnies, the actress admitted as her face sunk, They were the most beautiful, white little bunnies, and were holding them, and everythings cool and all of a sudden, why is my voice doing this? And why am I coughing? She kept the sneeze-inducing fuzzballs at an arms length to make it through the rest of the shoot. The Mick airs Tuesdays at 8:30 on Fox. Watch clips and full episodes of The Mick on Yahoo View. The Mick Stars Gush About Kaitlin Olsons Dark, Weird & Generous Comedic Style Tell us what you think! Hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram or leave your comments below. Melbourne (AFP) - Rafael Nadal knows he must find a way to defuse the booming serve of Milos Raonic on Wednesday if he is to stay on course for a dream Australian Open final with Roger Federer. The chances of a ninth Grand Slam final between the old rivals have dramatically improved after the shock exits of top seeds Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic put the title up for grabs. But 30-year-old Nadal, the 14-time Grand Slam champion, first has to get past third seed Raonic, the highest-ranked player still standing in the men's quarter-finals. The Canadian, yet to win his first major title, suffered heartbreak in last year's Melbourne semi-finals when a groin injury put paid to his chances against Murray. But he should pose Nadal his biggest problem yet in this year's tournament, where the Spaniard is bidding to end a major title drought stretching back to the 2014 French Open. The winner will face either Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov or Belgian David Goffin in the semi-final in the bottom half of the draw. Nadal leads Raonic 6-2 in their meetings, but he lost to the power-server only this month, over three sets in the Brisbane International quarter-finals. "He's an opponent that makes you feel you're playing with a lot of pressure all the time because his serve is huge and he's playing very aggressive from the baseline," Nadal said. "So it's going to be a very tough match and I need to be very focused with my serve and play aggressive. If I am not playing aggressive, then I am dead." Nadal has shown his trademark fighting qualities in reaching his first Slam quarter-final in 18 months after a series of injuries. After overcoming top-rated German teenager Alexander Zverev over five sets in the third round, he also needed four sets to subdue flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils on Monday. - Aces high - Raonic, who is working with Dutch Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, has served 93 aces in the tournament so far, second only to 6ft 11ins (2.11m) Croatian Ivo Karlovic. Story continues The Canadian, who has been suffering from 'flu, cracked 33 aces in overcoming Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round after struggling early in the match. Looking back on his recent win over Nadal in Brisbane, Raonic said: "We both tried to be the aggressors early on. I fought through a difficult moment midway through that second set. "Then, I thought I had it pretty handily after that point. I broke towards the end of that second set. Broke right away in the third. "Obviously it's very within me to find those solutions again." Dimitrov, who will be playing in his third Grand Slam quarter-final, downed Goffin in their only meeting in the third round at the 2014 US Open. The Bulgarian 15th seed lost to Nadal in the quarter-finals in Melbourne three years ago and reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2014, where he lost to Djokovic. "David is an excellent player. I know what to expect from him. We've practised against each other a few times this off-season," Dimitrov said. "He's been serving really well and has served his way out of trouble. It's one of his biggest weapons and he's one of the greatest defenders out there." Goffin became the first Belgian man to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals when he knocked out eighth seed Dominic Thiem over four sets in intense heat. "I'm feeling more confident against the top players. I've had a lot of matches before the tournament," Goffin said. Paris (AFP) - Four decades on, award-winning film director Roman Polanski is still dogged by the greatest stain on his reputation: the rape of a 13-year-old girl. Next month the filmmaker was scheduled to play honorary host at France's answer to the Oscars, the Cesar awards, but has now pulled out after pressure from activists. The case continues to polarise opinion. In 1977, Polanski and 13-year-old Samantha Gailey were at the Hollywood home of actor Jack Nicholson for what Polanski said was a photo shoot for the Vogue magazine group. The Franco-Polish filmmaker, then 43, was already a star following the success of his noir thriller "Chinatown" and horror movie "Rosemary's Baby". Gailey, who later went by her married name Samantha Geimer, said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude, a powerful muscle relaxant that stimulates sexual arousal, and got her to undress for pictures in a hot-tub. He then had oral and anal sex with the girl before taking her home, where her mother learned what had happened and called the police. Polanski said the sexual act was consensual, although he afterwards apologised to Geimer. Polanski was charged with five offences including rape by use of drugs and committing a lewd and lascivious act on a child aged under 14. He initially pleaded not guilty but to avoid a public trial, he accepted a plea bargain under which he would plead guilty to a single, lesser charge of unlawful sexual intercourse. He spent 42 days in a Californian prison for psychiatric evaluation, and a report was submitted to the court recommending he be given probation. - Flight to Europe - But in January 1978, Polanski's lawyers believed the judge was possibly preparing to sentence him to a much longer prison term. The day before sentencing he fled to Paris, making use of his French citizenship and France's limited extradition with the US. He has never been back to America, wary even of going to countries where extradition could be easier. Story continues For years, the scandal seemed peripheral to Polanski's reputation. He went on to make more acclaimed films, including the triple Oscar-winning "The Pianist" in 2002. His supporters saw the Geimer episode as just one dark incident in the extraordinary life of an exceptional artist. Polanski was born in Paris to Polish parents who later brought the family back to Poland. The parents were sent to concentration camps during World War II; his mother never returned from Auschwitz. Then, in 1969, the filmmaker's pregnant wife Sharon Tate was slaughtered by Charles Manson's crazed followers in Hollywood. Polanski hoped to move on from the Geimer case after he paid her $225,000 in an out-of-court settlement. But in September 2009, the past caught up with him when he was arrested in Zurich on a US-issued international warrant. He spent two months in a Swiss prison and eight months under house arrest. - 'Martyr and genius' - That refuelled debate over whether he was a victim of vindictive US officials or a common criminal who should simply face justice. A group of European writers and actors weighed in, drafting a petition which called Polanski "a directorial genius" who could end up as "a martyr of an unworthy judicial-political mess" if he were extradited. The French culture minister at the time, Frederic Mitterrand, said it was "absolutely terrible" to see "a director of international renown... turned into fodder for an old matter which really is pointless". Geimer published a book in 2013 in which she personally spoke out against the push to prosecute Polanski, saying it effectively made him a co-victim in the affair and made it more difficult for her to move on. Switzerland eventually decided not to extradite Polanski, citing a "fault" in the US request. In October 2014, Polanski was detained again -- this time in Warsaw -- but was later released. Poland also refused to extradite him. A new government appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, but in December the court ruled in Polanski's favour. Jajarkot pine forests under threat Unregulated resin extraction practice is threatening the pine forests in Jajarkot. Four community forests in the district have reported deaths of more than 10,000 pine trees owing to excessive resin extraction. Bernie Sanders President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Monday effectively killing the landmark trade agreement was met with praise and dismay that did not fit neatly along partisan lines. Some progressive lawmakers touted Trump's decision to back out of the 12 nation deal, which needed congressional ratification before being implemented. "I am glad the Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead and gone," Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said in a statement moments after Trump made his executive order official. "For the last 30 years, we have had a series of trade deals including the North American Free Trade Agreement, permanent normal trade relations with China and others which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom which has lowered wages for American workers." Sanders, who sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, said he would be "delighted" to work with Trump on new trade policy, so long as it helps "American workers." Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, a progressive Democrat, praised the move as well, calling it "the first necessary step in overhauling our trade policy." "I stand ready to support Ohio workers by working with the Trump Administration to renegotiate NAFTA, put American workers ahead of corporate profits, and create jobs," he said in a statement. Trump had also pledged to sign an executive order to renegotiate NAFTA Monday. On TPP, Trump had called it "a rape of our country" during the campaign, and he had promised to pull out of the deal for months. On Monday, he told the White House press pool the move is a "great thing for the American worker." The agreement was the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's planned "pivot to Asia" in foreign policy. Dan DiMicco, who led Trump's trade transition team, said in a statement that the deal "should not be resurrected" now that the president pulled out. Story continues But while progressive senators came out quickly in favor of the move, one of the strongest rebukes of the move came from Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The Arizona Republican called the move "a serious mistake." "President Trumps decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region," he said. "This decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets, and protect American invention and innovation. It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it." "Abandoning TPP is the wrong decision," he continued. "Moving forward, it is imperative that America advances a positive trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific that will keep American workers and companies competitive in one of the most economically vibrant and fastest-growing regions in the world." Many mainstream Republicans and economists were in favor of the agreement. Prior to the election, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who sought the Republican Party's presidential nomination in this cycle, was tapped by Obama to help promote the deal and get Congress to pass the agreement. The National Taxpayers Union, a conservative taxpayers advocacy organization, also said Trump's move to withdraw from the agreement was not the best decision. "President Trump should re-engage in TPP negotiations while pursuing these pro-growth goals and resist a move toward protectionism," NTUs Executive Vice President Brandon Arnold said in a statement. "Further, as the president reexamines NAFTA, he should strive to update and modernize the agreement in a manner that reduces the taxes and burdens that impede international commerce." The decision was also met with skepticism from those in other countries involved in the multi-lateral deal. Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, went as far as saying the decision to dip out of TPP considered by some to be a renegotiation of NAFTA as both Canada and Mexico were involved in the deal was a huge win for China. "Historians will look back at US cancellation of TPP as a major milestone in America's retreat from global leadership," he tweeted. "Big winner: China." NOW WATCH: These are Stratfor's chilling predictions for 2017 More From Business Insider By Yiming Woo BANGKOK (Reuters) - Bright red garments, gold embroidery and colorful accessories would normally have been the mode du jour for Thailand's ethnic Chinese celebrating Lunar New Year on Saturday. Striking colors, especially red, are believed to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune. But this year, donning colorful clothes could be seen as disrespectful in a country where many are still wearing black, white or grey as a sign of mourning for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died on Oct. 13 last year. The traditional mourning period of 100 days ended last Friday, but the transition back to color has been slow. The year-long mourning for government officials is not mandatory for all Thais, but most people shopping for new clothes in Bangkok are still in monochrome. Bangkok resident Suvannee Suttilertkun said she would be wearing a black traditional dress with gold embroidery for Lunar New Year. "It is because we still have to show respect that we are mourning King Rama IX," she said, referring to King Bhumibol by his formal title. King Bhumibol was the world's longest-reigning monarch after seven decades on the throne and was revered as semi-divine by many Thais. He was succeeded by his son, King Maha Vajiralongkorn, in December. Some Thais, like Tanagrit Leartskritanapa, have chosen to stick with bright red for Lunar New Year. "Most of the people understand this is for Chinese New Year, that we have to wear bright auspicious colors to bring luck into our lives," the 60-year-old said. "At the same time, deep in our hearts, we feel sorrow and we don't forget our king, because he's still living in our hearts." Many shopkeepers in Chinatown said there had been a drop in sales of red clothes, but they have offered more alternatives in gold, silver and black. Ethnic Chinese number more than 9.3 million in Thailand, making up about 11 percent of the population, according to 2012 data quoted by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, an international body based in Berlin. But the numbers exclude those of partial ethnic Chinese ancestry, who also consider themselves to be Thai Chinese and celebrate Lunar New Year. S.P. Somtow, a Thai-American author and social critic, said most Thai Chinese speak Thai and are well-integrated in society. He did not think wearing red would cause tension during the festive season. "The mourning for a year is not mandatory, and people know that Chinese New Year is coming. It is a big thing here," he said. (Editing by Matthew Tostevin and Clarence Fernandez) Authorities in Croatia and Hungary are illegally pushing refugee and migrant children back into Serbia, often violently, Save the Children alleged Tuesday. The group estimated that 1,600 such cases 30 incidents per day have taken place in the past two months. Children, some as young as 8 years old, have reported beatings by police and smugglers, dog bites and sleeping outside in subzero weather. Serbia isnt a European Union member state but has become a focal point of the European migrant crisis, since an E.U.-Turkey deal last year aimed at restricting the arrival of migrants by boat, forced many to take a more dangerous route overland through the Balkans. Migrants have been making their way north through Serbia in order to reach E.U. bloc members Hungary and Croatia in the hopes of moving farther west into Europe. Save the Children said that as many as 100 refugees and migrants are arriving in Serbia every day, and in the capital, Belgrade, more than 1,000 people are sleeping rough in a warehouse near the train station in temperatures as low as 5F (15C). Around 46% of the new arrivals in Serbia are children, the charity said, and among those, up to one-fifth are making the journey to Europe unaccompanied. Read More: Their Families Fled Syria. They Were Born Refugees. What Comes Next? In truth the refugee crisis has not abated. Its simply a more dangerous route, especially for children, said Jelena Besedic, Save the Childrens advocacy manager in Serbia. The E.U.-Turkey deal has given smugglers a firmer grip on a hugely profitable business, incorporating increasingly dangerous tactics to circumvent authorities. While Serbia has provided official asylum centers, Save the Children said that many migrants are fearful of detention or deportation. Sleeping rough, many migrants are vulnerable to people smugglers, and health services have reported cases of frostbite and respiratory illnesses caused by people burning trash to keep warm. Medecins Sans Frontieres warned that the city risks becoming a dumping zone, a new Calais where people are stranded and stuck,according to the Guardian. Save the Children is calling on the E.U. and Serbian authorities to direct more resources, including funding and emergency shelters, to help those on the migrant route. By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican senators said on Monday that U.S. states should be allowed to stay in the Obamacare medical insurance program if they like, with one also saying she was confused by President Donald Trump's broad but unspecific executive order targeting the program. Trump and congressional Republicans campaigned on a promise to dismantle Obamacare, and they are working on carrying out that pledge as an early product of united Republican control of the White House and Congress. But the legislative proposal by Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana would let states choose to keep Obamacare or move to a replacement program, for which states would also receive some federal funding. Cassidy, himself a doctor, said such an approach could help attract Democratic votes that will be needed for an eventual replacement for Obamacare, former Democratic President Barack Obama's health insurance program approved in 2010. The proposal did not, however, win over the Senate's leading Democrat, Chuck Schumer, who denounced the idea as an "empty facade" and a "far cry" from a full replacement for Obamacare. Democrats strongly oppose a repeal of Obamacare, officially called the Affordable Care Act. But after a meeting Monday of congressional leaders and Trump, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Democrats were willing to discuss Republican healthcare proposals if they accomplish the same goals. "Well, we talked about the Affordable Care Act, and said, what the Affordable Care Act has been successful in doing is improving quality, expanding access and lowering costs. And any proposal that they might have that does that wed be interested in hearing about," Pelosi said after the meeting at the White House. At the Republican news conference earlier, Collins called Trump's executive order issued Friday against Obamacare "very confusing," adding that whatever actions the Trump administration takes, legislation will still be needed to replace the law. "We really don't know yet what the impact will be," Collins, a moderate Republican, said, adding that it will be difficult to assess the order's impact until there is a new Cabinet secretary in place in charge of health. Trump signed his executive order on Friday within hours of taking office. It directs U.S. agencies to "waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation" of provisions of Obamacare deemed to impose fiscal burdens on states, companies or individuals. The order did not specify which parts of Obamacare would be affected or the timing. Trump's nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Representative Tom Price of Georgia, has said there is no plan for "pulling the rug out" on millions of Americans' healthcare as a replacement is designed. Any changes are unlikely to affect in 2017 the government-funded or subsidized insurance plans covering more than 20 million people. (Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie Adler) ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) Russia, Iran and Turkey presented a united front at the conclusion of two days of talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and the armed opposition, pledging support for the country's shaky cease-fire and a joint mechanism to ensure compliance. They did not specify how that would work, and continued differences among the warring sides as well as rebel infighting back home threatened to quickly scuttle the deal. "It's going to be a challenge, it's not going to be easy," the U.N.'s Syria envoy, who mediated between the two sides in the Kazakh capital of Astana, told reporters later. Russia and Iran, President Bashar Assad's main supporters, and Turkey, the rebels' chief backer, said they will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, which has been in place since Dec. 30. Their joint efforts have raised hopes for a diplomatic end to the brutal six-year conflict. Previous efforts by the U.S. and Russia for a lasting cease-fire led nowhere. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday the U.S. welcomes actions that de-escalate violence in the country and called on Russia, Iran and Syria to press the Syrian sides to abide by the cease-fire in order to create an environment more conductive to political discussions. The U.S., busy with the presidential transition, had no significant role in the talks between the Syrian government and its armed opponents in Kazakhstan this week. Following Tuesday's declaration, read out by Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Syria's delegates to the Astana meeting held competing press conferences that underlined the enormous differences between the two sides. "We don't accept any role for Iran in the future of Syria," said Mohammad Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, insisting that all Iranian-backed foreign militias fighting alongside the Syrian government withdraw from Syria. Story continues Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari, called it "pitiful" that the opposition was criticizing one of the three guarantors who facilitated the agreement. "The issue here is that finally we have a consensual paper called final communique or final declaration agreed upon by everybody ... this is what we care about," Ja'afari said. Ja'afari, however, said that military operations in an area near the Syrian capital would continue despite a pledge to enforce the cease-fire "as long as there are terrorists depriving seven million people in the capital Damascus from drinking water." The government says al-Qaida-linked militants are present in Ain al-Fijeh, which is located in the water-rich Barada Valley northeast of Damascus. Ja'afari accused insurgents of using the water as a weapon but the rebels deny an al-Qaida-linked group is in the area, and have negotiated to include it in the cease-fire agreement. The statement said the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting the extremist Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. They called on the opposition to separate themselves from the al-Qaida-affiliate, a sticky point that has previously been the reason for the failure of previous cease-fire. The rebel groups have formed close links with the group, known as Fatah al-Sham Front, on the ground. Tough fighters, Fatah al-Sham is excluded from the cease-fire according to the government, but the rebels say the truce should include all of Syria. On Tuesday, heavy fighting broke out in northwestern Syria between Fatah al-Sham and one of the rebel factions present at the Astana talks, the Jaysh al-Mujahedeen. The infighting threatened to expand into wider battles, as other rebel groups rallied around Jaysh al-Mujahedeen. The U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said Russia, Iran and Turkey would meet soon in Astana to lay the parameters for a mechanism to reinforce the truce. Russia and Turkey had negotiated the Dec. 30 cease-fire and Iran approved it. The cease-fire greatly reduced the violence in Syria, but violations continued and the Syrian opposition and the government and its allies exchanged blame. The meeting's final statement said the three countries "will seek through concrete steps and using the influence of the parties the consolidation the cease-fire" and agreed "to establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the cease fire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire." The statement also said the agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva as of Feb. 8, and welcomed the rebel groups' participation in the U.N. sponsored talks. Astana featured a brief face-to-face meeting between the government and rebel representatives their first since the Syrian war began in 2011 that was quickly followed by harsh exchanges. But the talks were largely indirect, mediated by de Mistura. After the final statement and in a briefing with journalists, Syria's opposition delegation said it is "too early to judge the outcome" of the Astana meeting, saying they are not party to the agreement and have many reservations. "There is no consequence to statements. Our Syrian people in besieged areas do not have internet or social media to read the statements. They only know actions," said Osama Abo Zayd, an opposition representative. He said any occupation of the Barada Valley by the government will render the cease-fire agreement void. According to both Alloush and Abo Zayd, the opposition provided a paper to Russia detailing ways to monitor and enforce the cease-fire, and Russia has promised to address it within a week, in coordination with Turkey. ___ Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, and Mathew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report. Badlands National Park posted several facts about climate change on its official Twitter account Tuesday afternoon, sharing statistics that might contradict the beliefs of President Donald Trumps new administration. Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. # climate, the park tweeted on Tuesday. Trump has falsely called climate change a hoax and said he will roll back measures aimed at stopping global warming, sparking concern among climate scientists. The tweets didnt last long, and had been deleted by early Tuesday evening. The Badlands National Park tweets come after Trumps administration enforced a social media blackout on the Environmental Protection Agency, barring EPA staff from publishing news releases, blog posts or social media updates. The rules also barred EPA staff from awarding new contracts or grants. Tuesdays tweets also followed a brief suspension Friday of all National Park accounts. The U.S. Department of Interior was ordered to suspend operations of its Twitter accounts after the National Park Services official account retweeted two posts that were unflattering toward the Trump administration. One of the tweets had noted the changing language around certain issues, including climate change, on the new White House website. The tweets were later removed from the feed, and the National Park Service apologized for sharing them. The suspension appears to have been lifted in the past few days, based on social media activity on Interior Department accounts. Representatives for Badlands National Park did not immediately respond to a request for comment. From Popular Mechanics The Russian government today claimed its forces conducted airstrikes against the Islamic State, using information provided by American forces. However, spokespersons for the U.S. military and the U.S.-led coalition strongly denied the claim, stating that it was "propaganda." U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly signaled his willingness to team up with Russian forces against the Islamic State. However, no agreement has yet been publicly announced between the two sides. BREAKING: Spokesman for US-led coalition: Russian claims of joint air mission over Syria 'rubbish.' - The Associated Press (@AP) January 23, 2017 Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that its forces struck Islamic State targets near the Syrian town of Al-Bab. A city with a pre-war population of 63,000, Al-Bab was occupied by ISIS forces and since November has been the site of a freewheeling battle between Turkish military, Syrian military, Syrian rebels, and Islamic State forces. According to Sputnik News, a Russian state-controlled news outlet, the Russian commander at Hmeymim Air Base, Russia's primary air base in Syria, received the coordinates of a IS target over the hotline between US/coalition and Russian forces. The Russian government claims it verified the target using satellite and drone reconnaissance, and then flew a joint bombing mission with two coalition aircraft. Nonsense, says the coalition. The Associated Press reports that a coalition spokesperson-U.S. Air Force Colonel John Dorrian-labeled the Russian claim "propaganda". According to the AP report, a spokesman at the Pentagon said that although such a hotline exists, there has been no sharing of intelligence information. The Department of Defense reports that coalition forces did strike targets in the vicinity of Al Bab on Sunday. Five strikes "engaged four ISIL tactical units and destroyed three tactical vehicles, a mortar and an ISIL-held building." Story continues Russian news outlets have not identified the coalition country whose aircraft supposedly carried out the bombing mission with Russia's air force. Russia and Turkey, which is a coalition member, carried out joint air strikes in the al-Bab area on Saturday. The strikes were carried out by two Russian Su-24M "Fencer" and one Su-34 "Fullback" of the Russian Aerospace Forces, as well as two F-4 Phantoms and two F-16 Fighting Falcons of the Turkish Air Force. You Might Also Like Jallikattu: New Tamil Nadu bill backs India bullfights The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has passed a new bill to allow a controversial bull-taming festival. Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Russia has given rebels a draft version of a new constitution for Syria drawn up by Moscow to speed up political negotiations to end the conflict, the Kremlin's envoy said Tuesday. "We have handed the Syrian armed opposition a draft constitution of Syria prepared by Russian specialists for them to study," Russia's envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, told reporters. "We did this exclusively to accelerate the process" to end the war. The rebels, however, told AFP they had refused to discuss the draft constitution with Moscow. "The Russians put the draft on the table and we didn't even pick it up," a source from the rebel delegation in Astana told AFP. "We told them we refuse to discuss this." Two days of indirect talks between rebels and regime representatives in the capital of Kazakhstan ended on Tuesday with no sign of a breakthrough towards a broader political settlement to end the war. Russia -- the driving force behind the meeting -- has become the major powerbroker in Syria after changing the tide on the ground with its military support for leader Bashar al-Assad. After the talks, sponsors Russia, Iran and Turkey said they had agreed to bolster Syria's frail ceasefire by implementing a "trilateral mechanism". Coming up with a new constitution for post-conflict Syria is seen as a major hurdle for any talks to end the bloodshed that has cost more than 310,000 lives since protests against Assad erupted into conflict in 2011. Russia and the United State had pushed for the two sides to come up with a new constitution for the war-torn country by August 2016 during previous unsuccessful talks. A constitution adopted in 2012 left President Bashar al-Assad with sweeping powers, including the right to name the premier and government and, in some cases, veto legislation. By Katya Golubkova, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Stephen Jewkes MOSCOW/LONDON/MILAN (Reuters) - More than a month after Russia announced one of its biggest privatizations since the 1990s, selling a 19.5 percent stake in its giant oil company Rosneft, it still isn't possible to determine from public records the full identities of those who bought it. The stake was sold for 10.2 billion euros to a Singapore investment vehicle that Rosneft said was a 50/50 joint venture between Qatar and the Swiss oil trading firm Glencore. Unveiling the deal at a televised meeting with Rosneft's boss Igor Sechin on Dec. 7, President Vladimir Putin called it a sign of international faith in Russia, despite U.S. and EU financial sanctions on Russian firms including Rosneft. "It is the largest privatization deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," Putin said. It was also one of the biggest transfers of state property into private hands since the early post-Soviet years, when allies of President Boris Yeltsin took control of state firms and became billionaires overnight. But important facts about the deal either have not been disclosed, cannot be determined solely from public records, or appear to contradict the straightforward official account of the stake being split 50/50 by Glencore and the Qataris. For one: Glencore contributed only 300 million euros of equity to the deal, less than 3 percent of the purchase price, which it said in a statement on Dec. 10 had bought it an "indirect equity interest" limited to just 0.54 percent of Rosneft. In addition, public records show the ownership structure of the stake ultimately includes a Cayman Islands company whose beneficial owners cannot be traced. And while Italian bank Intesa SanPaolo leant the Singapore vehicle 5.2 billion euros to fund the deal, and Qatar put in 2.5 billion, the sources of funding for nearly a quarter of the purchase price have not been disclosed by any of the parties. Story continues "The main question in relation to this transaction, as ever, still sounds like this: Who is the real buyer of a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft?" Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy head of Russia's central bank, wrote in a blog last week. Glencore would not comment on the identity of the Cayman Islands firm or give a further explanation of how ownership of the 19.5 percent stake was divided. The Qatari Investment Authority said it would not comment on the deal, beyond confirming that it has participated in it. Rosneft declined to respond to questions posed by Reuters, including a request for comment on how ownership of the 19.5 percent stake was divided, information about the identity of the Cayman Islands buyer, or details of the source of any undisclosed sources of funds. The Kremlin did not respond to a list of questions about the deal sent by Reuters. MATRYOSHKA DOLL Like many large deals, the Rosneft privatization uses a structure of shell companies owning shell companies, commonly referred to in Russia as a "matryoshka", after the wooden nesting dolls that open to reveal a smaller doll inside. Following the trail of ownership leads to a Glencore UK subsidiary and a company that shares addresses with the Qatari Investment Authority, but also to a firm registered in the Cayman Islands, which does not require companies to record publicly who owns them. The Singapore-registered investment vehicle that holds the newly privatized 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft is called QHG Shares. It is owned by a London-registered limited liability partnership, QHG Investments, which in turn lists as one of its two owners another London-registered limited liability partnership, QHG Holding, created on Dec. 5. One of the partners in QHG Holding is QHG Cayman Limited, registered at an address of the Cayman Islands office of Walkers, an international law firm. Jack Boldarin, Walkers managing partner in London, told Reuters the law firm would not be able to confirm whether any company was its client, or comment further. The use of an offshore company is by itself no indication of wrongdoing, but it can make it impossible to determine the true owner of an asset from public records. The Singapore vehicle is also the borrower for Intesa's 5.2 billion euro loan, and QHG Holdings, the London partnership that includes the Cayman Islands firm, is a guarantor of that debt. Banking experts say Intesa would be required by "know your customer" rules to verify the borrowers' identities. Regulators would exercise heightened scrutiny because of the size of the deal and the need to comply with sanctions on Russia. Reuters asked Intesa whether it knew who the beneficial owners of the Cayman company were. The bank replied with a statement: "Intesa Sanpaolo does not comment on the details of its client operations. But we wish to reiterate that the financing was completed with strict adherence to the regulations applicable to embargoes. Italian authorities found nothing that would prohibit such an operation." The Italian central bank, which serves as Italy's banking regulator, declined to comment. (For a graphic showing the ownership of the privatized stake, click on: http://tmsnrt.rs/2jJvBpk ) MYSTERY FINANCING If the full identity of the new owners of the Rosneft stake is a mystery, so too is the complete source of the funds with which they bought it. Although Qatar has never publicly confirmed how much it has contributed to the deal or the size of the stake that it bought, Glencore and Rosneft say it contributed 2.5 billion euros. Along with the 300 million from Glencore and the 5.2 billion loaned by Intesa, that still leaves a shortfall of 2.2 billion euros. Glencore has said this additional money came from other, undisclosed banks, including Russian banks, but has given no further details. The Qataris and Rosneft have declined to comment on the source of this funding. The purpose of Russia's privatization program is to attract overseas money to cover a budgetary shortfall caused by low oil prices and Western sanctions. Putin has therefore banned Russian state-owned banks from participating in the financing of privatization deals, which would defeat the aim of bringing in foreign capital. But public records in Singapore show that Russia's second-largest bank, state-controlled VTB, loaned the Singapore vehicle QHG Shares the full 10.2 billion euros that it paid to the Russian state last month to buy the stake. VTB held the 19.5 percent Rosneft stake as collateral for that loan for part of December, before relinquishing it back to Rosneft's state-owned parent company Rosneftegaz, which in turn relinquished it back to the Singapore vehicle when Intesa's loan arrived in January. VTB and Rosneft say VTB's role in the deal was solely to reduce market turbulence which would have arisen if the 10.2 billion euros had arrived abruptly from abroad to be converted to roubles on the open market. Apart from saying that its role was to reduce market volatility, VTB declined to comment further, including when asked if the full 10.2 billion euros was paid back, or by whom. FINDING A BUYER Rosneft is the world's biggest listed oil company by output and, along with natural gas export monopoly Gazprom, one of two crown jewels of the Russian state. Even at the best of times without the added risk of Western sanctions, there would only be a few foreign investors with deep enough pockets to buy a big stake. Glencore, one of the main buyers of Rosneft's crude, has Qatar's $335 billion sovereign wealth fund, the QIA, as its largest shareholder. Russia and Qatar have backed opposite sides for years in the war in Syria, but as the world's two leading natural gas exporters they have good reason to cooperate on energy issues and bury some of their differences over Middle East policy. "The idea looked appealing to Qatar. They like investing in energy. They saw upside in Rosneft. They saw upside in building relations with Russia, whose role in the Middle East politics is only set to rise," said one source involved in talks among members of the Qatar/Glencore consortium about the purchase. According to a source close to Rosneft's management board, the deal came as a surprise to Rosneft's shareholders, including Britain's BP , which itself owns 19.75 percent of Rosneft and is represented on its board. The Rosneft board learned about the sale from Sechin himself only on Dec. 7, several hours after Sechin recorded his televised meeting with Putin announcing it, the source said. In response to questions from Reuters, BP said: "Matters of the board of directors are confidential." Two sources in the Russian government said the deal was also a surprise there: it had been agreed between Sechin and Putin's Kremlin, above the cabinet. "Sechin did it all on his own - the government did not take part in this," one of the sources said. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said: "All documents and procedures needed for privatization were prepared and executed on time." ($1 = 59.2518 roubles) (Additional reporting by Peter Graff in LONDON, Valentina Za in MILAN, Tom Finn in DOHA, Vladimir Soldatkin, Oksana Kobzeva, Darya Korsunskaya, Polina Nikolskaya, Andrey Ostroukh and Vladimir Abramov in MOSCOW; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Peter Graff) PARIS (Reuters) - The head of the Russian delegation at Syrian talks in the Kazakh capital Astana said on Tuesday the negotiations had been positive and that he believed a new process had been born to kickstart negotiations between warring Syrian parties. "Despite a lot of time spent on agreeing the communique, we have managed to give birth to the Astana process," Alexander Lavrentyev told reporters. He said Russia, Turkey and Iran, as guarantors, of the agreement to set up a ceasefire mechanism, would now work closely to implement it. However, he sought to play down the impact the talks would have on a U.N. led political process. "There will be some speculation that Astana is considered as a substitute of the Geneva process. That's not true - Astana (talks) is a complement to Geneva," he said, adding though that other groups could join the Astana process. (Reporting by Denis Dyomkin; editing by John Irish) Italian design company Seletti -- known for its humor, creativity and collaborations with the world of art and fashion -- is presenting its 2017 collection at the Maison & Objet interior design and decoration trade fair in Paris, France, on through January 24. Estetico Quotidiano Raising the status of everyday objects, the "Estetico Quotidiano" line brought international fame for Seletti. When making the first objects in the Estetico Quotidiano collection 10 years ago, the brand's creative director, Stefano Seletti, didn't expect such global success. The collection reinterprets a series of commonly used objects with different materials, giving them their own personality. Disposable plastic objects, like bottles and plates, or metal sardine cans and buckets were upgraded with versions in borosilicate glass or porcelain. Ten years after creating the range, Seletti is once again adding to "Estetico Quotidiano" this year with a milk carton, a double walled glass for hot/cold liquids and a container with handle. Heritage Collection Simple, timeless lines and luxurious velvet create a new type of seating in the Heritage Collection, designed by Sebastiano Tosi. Inspired by a traditional aesthetic but maintaining a relevant, contemporary style, the collection features a folding deckchair, an armchair and a chair with beech wood frames and Italian velvet seats. The Heritage Collection pays homage to traditional Italian woodworking and textiles. Seletti also makes versions with polyester fabric, ideal for outdoor use thanks to weather-resistant properties. As well as seats, the collection includes small tables available in two sizes. Party Animal Seletti has once again teamed with Diesel. New products from the partnership include "Animal Party," a range of porcelain vases in the shape of animal paws and hooves. Work is Over The Work is Over collection is inspired by the imagery of work. It gets new pieces in concrete: the Connection vase, available in two different sizes, and the Cover box. New items are also in store for Cosmic Diner, with the addition of Quasar golden cutlery in stainless steel, as well as chopsticks. Story continues Floralia Floralia is a decorative lighting creation that evokes ancient Rome. The name is a reference to a festival held in honor of the goddess Flora. Street Life Street Life is inspired by a traffic cone, revisited by design duo AMeBE, transformed into a porcelain table lamp with golden details. It has a dimmer switch for adjusting the brightness. By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to confirm South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as Ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday, as Republican President Donald Trump rounds out his national security team. Ninety-six senators backed Haley, and four opposed her. The only "no" votes came from three Democratic senators, Tom Udall, Chris Coons and Martin Heinrich, and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats. While most lawmakers praised Haley, 45, the governor of South Carolina, a few expressed concerns about her lack of foreign policy experience. She has only ever held office in the U.S. state. "The position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations requires a high level of expertise on international affairs, not someone who will be learning on the job," Coons said. Haley was easily approved earlier on Tuesday in the 21-member Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Only two Democratic committee members, Coons and Udall, objected to her then. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool) Lalitpur Mobile Expo slated to open Friday Lalitpur Mobile Expo 2017 is scheduled to kick off on Friday. The nine-day exhibition organised by Lalitpur Mobile Complex will be showcasing a wide range of the latest mobile phones, gadgets and related accessories from various brands. (WASHINGTON) Senate committees gave the green light Tuesday to several of President Donald Trumps picks for Cabinet posts, putting the top-level nominations on a glide path to confirmation just days into the new administration. As Republicans criticized Democrats for not moving quickly enough on Trumps selections, the GOP-led panels easily approved his choices to lead the Transportation, Housing, and Commerce departments. The presidents nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, also won broad support. But several of Trumps nominations were moving slowly, escalating the partisan bickering. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, forced a one-week delay until Jan. 31 of the committees vote on Trumps attorney general nominee, Sen. Jeff Sessions. Feinstein said senators owe it to the more than 1 million women who marched in Washington and other locations on Saturday to be careful in considering Sessions nomination and his willingness to protect equal rights. She also said the committee received 188 pages of new material Sunday that needs to be reviewed. Committee rules allow any member of the committee to delay a vote. Deliberations over two of Trumps picks turned testy as both nominees faced questions from Democrats over their personal finances. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the presidents choice for health secretary, defended his decision to invest in health care companies as he testified before the Senate Finance Committee. Panel staffers found Price undervalued around 400,000 shares of stock in Australian drug company Innate Immunotherapeutics that he purchased last August. He reported the shares were worth $50,000 to $100,000, but those shares were worth up to $250,000. Price blamed a clerical error and answered no when Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked if hed used poor judgment. Story continues Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Trumps nominee for budget director, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, should be disqualified because he failed to pay more than $15,000 in payroll taxes for a babysitter more than a decade ago. Mulvaney said he discovered the unpaid taxes while preparing for the nominating process. He has since paid the taxes. The Senate Commerce Committee approved by voice votes Trumps choices of conservative billionaire investor Wilbur Ross to run the Commerce Department and Elaine Chao to lead the Transportation Department. Ross has specialized in buying distressed companies that still have a potential for delivering profits. He has known Trump for more than 20 years, was an early supporter of his presidential campaign and served as an economic policy adviser to Trumps team. Ross also has been critical of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which he blames for a loss of U.S. jobs. He has also accused China of protectionist policies. Chao, an experienced Washington hand, was labor secretary in President George W. Bushs administration and deputy transportation secretary under President George H.W. Bush. She is also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and was known to many senators before Trump tapped her for his Cabinet. Chao is expected to play a major role in Trumps effort to fulfill his campaign promise to generate $1 trillion in infrastructure investment. The administration is expected to release its infrastructure plan this spring. Ben Carson, nominated to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, won unanimous approval from the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. The former Republican presidential candidate and celebrated neurosurgeon would lead a sprawling agency with 8,300 employees and a budget of about $47 billion. Sen. Michael Crapo of Idaho, the committees Republican chairman, praised Carson and his impressive career, saying HUD will benefit from having a secretary with a different perspective and a diverse background. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, the panels top Democrat, said he had reservations but welcomed Carsons promises to address lead hazards in public housing. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared by voice vote Haleys bid to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. During her confirmation hearing, Haley declared her support for moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The shift may trigger violence in the Middle East. Haley also took a hard line against Russia, saying she doesnt think Moscow can be trusted right now. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., was one of only two Democrats on the committee to oppose Haleys nomination. Coons said in a statement that Haley didnt convince him shes up for the task. The position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations requires a high level of expertise on international affairs, not someone who will be learning on the job, Coons said. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he told President Donald Trump in a White House meeting on Tuesday that Senate Democrats would fight any Supreme Court nominee "that was outside of the mainstream." Trump said on Tuesday he would announce his Supreme Court pick next week. The lifetime appointment as a Supreme Court justice requires Senate confirmation. "As I've said many times, I believe the president should pick a mainstream nominee who could earn bipartisan support for the vacant Supreme Court seat," Schumer said in a statement. "I reiterated that view in our meeting today, and told him that Senate Democrats would fight any nominee that was outside of the mainstream," he said. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh) Tel Aviv (AFP) - The father of an Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a prone Palestinian assailant pleaded for leniency for his son at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in a case that has divided the country. Charlie Azaria told a military court that he believed his son Elor and his family had suffered enough since the soldier was arrested some 10 months ago. "I want to tell you that this punishment of 10 months is enough," the longtime former police officer testified at the hearing in a court at Israel's defence headquarters in Tel Aviv. "It has been 10 months since we stopped living. We are suffering. After everything I've given to the country, this is physical and psychological abuse... We are out of energy," he added, breaking down in tears. Sergeant Azaria, 20, a dual French-Israeli national, was applauded by his family when he arrived for the hearing, with his mother taking him in her arms. Azaria was not sentenced in Tuesday's hearing, at which witnesses testified about his character. A hearing for prosecutors to submit their recommendations before sentencing was scheduled for January 31. His army counsellor, a former teacher and fellow soldiers were among those who testified Tuesday on Azaria's behalf. Azaria faces up to 20 years in prison, though there have been reports that prosecutors will recommend between three and five years. His case has sparked political tensions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, has called for him to be pardoned. Right-wing ministers have defended Azaria despite top army brass condemning his actions in an extraordinary public rift between politicians and the military. - 'Deserved to die' - The March 24 shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was caught on video and spread widely online. It showed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, lying on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army. Story continues Azaria then shoots him again in the head without any apparent provocation. Convicting him of manslaughter on January 4 after a months-long trial, a three-judge panel ruled there was no reason for Azaria to open fire since the Palestinian was posing no threat. Judge Colonel Maya Heller called his testimony "evolving and evasive". "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die," she said. When the verdict was announced, dozens of Azaria supporters scuffled with police outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Arrests were also made in the days afterwards following threats against the judges, prosecution and the army chief of staff. As the hearing began on Tuesday, around 50 protesters gathered outside with a sign that read "The people support and salute the hero, soldier Elor Azaria." They were surrounded by around 60 police officers. Azaria's defence lawyers on Tuesday also sought to include in the hearing details of a meeting between the soldier's father and military officials who allegedly urged him not to appeal the verdict. Prosecutors said there was no relevance to the sentencing, and the judges ruled against the defence. A veteran police officer in Florida has been arrested on charges he attempted to kill an elderly woman who he allegedly defrauded out of thousands of dollars. The Sarasota Sheriff's Office announced the arrest of their deputy of 18 years, Frankie Bybee, on Monday at a press conference where Sheriff Tom Knight said the alleged crimes occurred after the suspect responded to a call at the victim's home back in October. Watch: Teen Angry That Cop Wasn't Charged For Wrestling Her To Ground at Pool Party In the ensuing months, investigators claim Bybee, 46, gave away the 79-year-old victim's dog, attempted to steal $65,000 from her by forging checks, and finally made an attempt on her life as his alleged crimes began to be revealed. Bybee's relationship with the victim allegedly began just after the house call, when cops say Bybee began making regular visits to the victim's home while on- and off-duty, and even introduced the victim to several members of his family. After the investigation began, officials say they learned Bybee took possession of the victim's dog while she was hospitalized and received a check for $1,000, in the event that the dog had any medical needs, according to a Sarasota Sheriff's Office release. However, Bybee allegedly deposited the check into his personal account, something the victim said he did not have permission to do. Detectives say Bybee told them he later "rehomed" the dog on Craigslist, which the victim said he was not authorized to do. On January 9, 2017, an envelope addressed to Bybee was delivered to the Sarasota Sheriff's Office. Inside, detectives seized four checks belonging to the victim, made out to Bybee and his three children for a total of $65,000, officials said. When shown the checks, the victim said she did not address or sign them. Bybee was immediately placed on administrative leave. A forensic analysis led latent print examiners to the discovery of Bybee's fingerprint on one of the checks, according to the release. Story continues Three days later, deputies responded to the victim's home where she reported that Bybee, clad in dark clothes and wearing latex gloves, entered her unlocked front door, held her down and forced prescription drugs into her mouth. The victim lost consciousness and when she awoke, summoned help. According to the release, police believe the victim's home filled with carbon monoxide after the internal door to her garage was left open and her car was left running. The investigation concluded Bybee attempted to kill the elderly woman and make it appear to be a suicide. Bybee was arrested Monday and booked into the Sarasota County Jail, where he faces charges of attempted murder, battery on a victim 65 years or older, burglary of an occupied dwelling, exploitation of the elderly, two counts of grand theft, forgery and petit theft. Read: Officer Posted Nude Photos of Fellow Policewoman to Social Media: Cops "The community should know that the actions of Mr. Bybee are in no way reflective of the nearly 1,000 other men and women who serve the public with honor and integrity," Sheriff Knight said. "It is beyond unacceptable that an individual who works in a position of trust and guardianship to their community, is capable of such heinous crimes. His actions are a disgrace not only to our agency but to law enforcement professionals everywhere." At Bybee's first court appearance, a judge set his bond to $1,033,120.00. Arraignment is scheduled for February 24. Watch: How This Crime Fighting Dog Sniffs Out Illegal Pornography Related Articles: Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f359177%2f73d565e1-f68e-449e-81c1-ba6aab64bd30 The trolls. They're here. Apparently Shia LaBeouf had very (read: unreasonably) high hopes for the integrity of his latest piece of performance art, a 4-year-long livestream set up outside NYC's Museum of the Moving Image for people to chant "he will not divide us" to their heart's content. Initiated on Inauguration Day, the piece is meant to be a rallying point for anti-Trump protesters. SEE ALSO: It's time to form your own pussy posse Naturally, as all things do when the internet is involved, it's not going as planned. Members of the 4Chan thread /pol/ first rallied together virtually, then IRL, to sabotage the message of the project. Trolls have been visiting the site of the stream and sneaking in messages of the alt-right, white supremacy, and Pepe the frog, a meme somehow associated with both of those things. Mr. LaBeouf shouting down a white supremacist earlier. This thing has been a fascinating watch so far. #HeWillNotDivideUs pic.twitter.com/i0J6oq3BLt murta (@murtaman) January 22, 2017 Shia can be seen getting in a counter-protester's face, shouting "he will not divide us" in retaliation. There have been dozens of counter-protesters visiting the site of the livestream since it began. Presumably they're getting the attention they wanted as Shia's notoriously short fuse continues to go off in a very public way. But at least he's trying to defend us against these white nationalist trolls. On the job, reassuring NATO. New Defense Secretary James Mattis made his first calls as secretary on Monday and notably, all three calls were to NATO allies. Mattis dialed his counterparts in Canada and the U.K. as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, where he talked Canadas contribution to the anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq with Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, followed by a call to British Defense Minister Michael Fallon, emphasizing the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security, the Pentagons official readout notes. That NATO praise combined with the SecDefs call to Stoltenberg on his first day mark a notably warmer attitude towards the Atlantic alliance than President Trump himself has struck. With Russia, or not? The White House opened the door for more military cooperation with Russia in the fight against the Islamic State on Monday, just hours after the Pentagon dismissed reports that such coordination was already happening. In his first press conference as press secretary, Sean Spicer told reporters that if theres a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether its Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, well take it. The remarks came just after Pentagon officials quickly brushed aside reports from Moscow that Russian planes coordinated airstrikes near the ISIS stronghold of al-Bab in Syria with the U.S.-led coalition. The Department of Defense is not coordinating air strikes with the Russian military in Syria, Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, said. al-Bab. Its unclear what exactly happened in the crowded skies over Syria, but the Russian ministry of defense said it received coordinates from the U.S. side via hotline, on Sunday, after which two aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition joined Russian jets in hitting targets on the ground. Its not like the Russians and Americans dont talk to one another about their operations in Syria, however: both sides maintain a hotline where the they communicate on a daily basis to ensure their aircraft avoid one another over Syria. Story continues In al-Bab, Turkish-backed rebels are pushing on the city from the north, and forces supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are just south of the city, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said Monday. And U.S. aircraft have hit ISIS positions at least nine times over the past several days southeast of the city. Those strikes arent in support of the pro-government forces though, officials are quick to point out. Its the law. The Los Angeles Times W.J. Hennigan makes the point that for all of the talk from the Trump administration about working more closely with Moscow in Syria, a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act first passed by Congress late in 2014 and renewed since then strictly limits the Pentagons ability to work with Russia. The law was passed in response to Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued involvement in the Ukrainian civil war. Warning shot aimed at Beijing. Sean Spicer also told reporters Monday that Washington is prepared to take action to prevent China from building more islands in the South China Sea and claiming the territory as its own. Its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters, he said, and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying shot back on Tuesday that Chinas sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea was irrefutable, adding, we urge the United States to respect the facts, speak and act cautiously to avoid harming the peace and stability of the South China Sea, Hua said. Chinas resolve to protect its sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea will not change. Pompeo in. With his approval by the Senate, Trump nominee to head the CIA, Mike Pompeo, will take over an agency that the president compared to Nazi Germany. Many Democratic Senators are concerned about Pompeos comments about possibly bringing back torture, and his previous comments about expanding domestic surveillance. In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, FPs Elias Groll writes, Pompeo had pledged that as CIA director he would not allow the use of torture in interrogations. But in subsequent written questions he appeared to backtrack on that commitment and others, alarming Senate civil rights advocates. Trump himself, on the campaign trail, proposed bringing back torture. Additionally, in a questionnaire released last week, Pompeo said he would consult with CIA experts on whether national-security imperatives required restrictions on the use of torture to be loosened. Russias sanction workarounds. In the wake of sanctions slapped on Moscow after its 2014 annexation of Crimea, the Kremlin faced some hard choices. The economic sanctions placed the countrys military modernization program in jeopardy, FPs Paul McLeary reports, cutting Russia off from high-end European-made military sensors, software, ship engines, and other gear that were critical to dragging the once-moribund Russian war machine from its rusting post-Soviet morass. But Moscow has managed to come up with some creative and likely permanent workarounds that might make the Kremlins military more adaptable in the long run, and has made Moscow some money in the process. Russia wants to be U.N. anti-terror Czar. Moscow is seeking a leading role in shaping the United Nations global counterterrorism strategy, lobbying Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to appoint a Russian national to serve in a newly envisioned post as counterterrorism czar, according to several senior U.N. diplomats, FPs Colum Lynch reports from New York. The move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has stressed his desire to work in partnership with Russia to combat the Islamic State and other terrorist groups. But the development has raised concern among human rights advocates and other observers, who fear the former rival powers, now joined more closely together under a Trump administration, may move the U.N. further from its role as a defender of human rights and civil liberties. Welcome to SitRep. Send any tips, thoughts or national security events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or via Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley. That was quick The first day of the Russian and Turkish-organized Syrian peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan got off to a rocky start, with both the Assad regime and rebels shouting at each other and trading insults, the New York Times reports. Previous rounds of negotiations between the two sides have all come to nothing and few were betting that the latest iteration would end much differently. Nonetheless, the shift to a Russian-organized peace process signals a change in the center of gravity for the conflict towards Moscow. Trident The British parliament greenlit the renewal of Trident, the countrys nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missile, without learning that it had failed a June 2016 demonstration and shakedown test off the coast of Florida, CNN reports. The missile and its funding have proven politically controversial in the U.K. and British Prime Minister Theresa May has faced intense criticism for the failure to disclose the failure before a vote on the program, which would cost roughly $50 billion to buy four new submarines capable of firing the weapon. Nonetheless, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon is sticking by the system, expressing full confidence in it. European hiccup for U.S. Army The much-anticipated deployment of 4,000 U.S. troops along with hundreds of tanks and heavy vehicles to Eastern Europe has hit a few snags over the past two weeks, with tanks arriving from the States with dead batteries and empty tanks that soldiers forgot to check before shipping off. It is stuff we used to know how to do during the Cold War, head of U.S. Army Europe Gen. Ben Hodges told the Wall Street Journal. Several of the larger vehicles also bumped their heads on low bridges while driving from Germany into Poland, causing convoys to slow down. But its all part of the process of mapping the former Soviet Union so American troops better understand how and where to deploy in case of war, Hodges said. Hiring freeze White House spokesman Sean Spicer announced on Monday that the Trump administration will institute a federal hiring freeze. The freeze, Spicer said, was intended to combat a dramatic expansion in the size of the governments workforce an assertion that just might be untrue. Its unclear how the freeze will affect the Defense Department as the text of the statement announcing it claims that the military will be exempt as will other positions related to national security and public safety responsibilities. Thus far, theres no guidance as to how agencies will interpret those exemptions. Europe The European Union (EU) is pouring more money into countering Russian propaganda, the Guardian reports. The EUs East Stratcom taskforce will receive around $860,000 in additional funding as fears of an uptick in Russian information operations in Europe follow reports of Russian hackers interference in the U.S. election. Stratcom staff are focused outwardly, rather than at EU publics, charged with countering myths about the organization circulating in the former Soviet Union. Drones The U.S. military has another drone killer in service, but where it is or who has it is still a mystery. Janes reports that the U.S. bought the British made Anti-UAV Defence System (AUDS). The system combines a radar array designed to find small quadcopters and hobby drones like the kind the Islamic State has been using to drop grenades at distances of up to 10 kilometers. Once its radar detects a drone, operators can use the system to jam communications links with the aircrafts operator. Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images Photo credit: AP From Popular Mechanics NASA hopes to send humans to an asteroid in the 2020s and Mars by the 2030s. "We're hoping to figure out how best to select individual astronauts, how to compose a crew and how to support that crew on long-duration space missions," said principal investigator Kim Binsted, a University of Hawaii science professor. The team members include engineers, a computer scientist, a doctoral candidate and a biomedical expert. They were selected from 700 applicants subjected to personality tests, background checks and extensive interviews. "When I started, my biggest fear was that we were going to be that crew that turned out like Biosphere 2, which wasn't a very pretty picture," Bevington said. The experimental greenhouse-like habitat in Arizona became a debacle in the 1990s. It housed different ecosystems and a crew of eight to try to understand what would be needed for humans to live on other planets. The participants were supposed to grow their own food and recycle their air inside the sealed glass space. But the experiment soon spiraled out of control, with the carbon dioxide level rising dangerously and plants and animals dying. The crew members grew hungry and squabbled so badly that by the time they emerged two years later, some of them weren't speaking to each other. The University of Hawaii operates the dome, called Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, or HI-SEAS, and NASA has dedicated more than $2 million to this stage of the project. Scientists previously lived in the dome for two other long-term NASA-funded stays - one of them lasting a year, the other eight months - to study food requirements and crew cohesion. A number of other Mars simulation projects exist around the world, but one of the chief advantages of the Hawaii experiment is the rugged, Mars-like landscape, on a rocky, red plain below the summit of the world's largest active volcano, the Big Island's Mauna Loa. Story continues The dome has a kitchen, laboratory and bathroom, plus small sleeping quarters for each member. Unlike Biosphere 2, it won't be airtight. To maintain the crew's sense of isolation, bundles of food, including some canned goods and snacks, will be dropped off a distance from the dome, and the team members will send a robot to retrieve them. The participants will not be confined but will wear spacesuits whenever they step outside for geological expeditions, mapping studies or other tasks. They will wear instruments measuring their moods and proximity to other team members and use virtual reality devices to simulate familiar and comforting surroundings. Photo credit: AP You Might Also Like It's not just America's new First Lady Melania Trump who is putting Slovenia on the map. In the culinary world, there's another Slovenian woman who is fast gaining worldwide recognition, this time for being a gastronomic virtuoso in the kitchen. The seventh recipient of the World's Best Female Chef award is Ana Ros of Hisa Franko restaurant in Kobarid, Slovenia. Ros's rise to the top as a chef of haute -- and unexpected -- gastronomy is all the more remarkable as she is completely self-taught, and her career in food accidental. After meeting her husband Valter, Ros -- who is also a former ski champion -- turned down an offer to work as a diplomat in Brussels, choosing instead to stay in Slovenia and help run his family's restaurant. To master the craft, Ros traveled and dined at other restaurants where she decrypted recipes and sought inspiration to create her own signature, culinary philosophy -- one that hinges on local products like homemade butter, Tolminc cheese, lamb, and the influences of neighboring Italy, Hungary, Austria and Croatia. Through trial and error, Ros eventually developed her own gastronomic identity, one that recently caught the attention of the food world via the popular Netflix series "Chef's Table" in an episode that aired last year. "One of the things that I've always been most fascinated about by Ana's cooking is that she has this particular genius with the unexpected," says "Chef's Table" narrator and food critic Alexander Lobrano. As an example, he describes one of her most intriguing dishes as a "broken haiku." "When you read squid, sweetbreads, walnuts and Tolminc cheese, you can't imagine what these flavors are going to taste like when I put it in my mouth," Lobrano says. "But then you're in the midst of eating the said thing and suddenly you're surprised by how spectacular the food is." Story continues Hisa Franko is located in Kobarid's Soca Valley, just three kilometers from the Italian border, an area best known for having been the site of the 1917 Battle of Caporetto documented in Ernest Hemingway's novel "A Farewell to Arms." While Ros may never have become a high-ranking diplomat in Brussels, she is widely described as a culinary ambassador for her native Slovenia. "The award came as a surprise to me," said Ros. "It is a big responsibility to accept this award, especially as a self-taught cook, but the recognition provides an opportunity for people to reassess Slovenia as an interesting gastronomic destination." Past recipients of the award include Dominique Crenn, Helene Darroze, Helena Rizzo, Elena Arzak, Nadia Santini and Anne-Sophie Pic. Ros will accept her award at the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards April 5 in Melbourne, Australia. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f359353%2fc6328ad6-4ec3-43b2-a1ab-a971f74e1a29 Ever since the deconstructed coffee of last year which got people crying "peak hipster!" in anger any product prefixed with the word "deconstructed" is automatically bound to receive a booting from social media. Especially if it's one of your nation's most revered culinary delights: The sausage sandwich. SEE ALSO: Meanwhile, Australia's discussing which animal is most likely to kill you The sausage sandwich is a proudly simple, Australian snack commonly served at school fetes, elections and fundraisers. It's literally just a slice of cheap white bread, topped with cheap barbecued sausage, then lathered with caramelised onions and a combination of tomato sauce (ketchup), barbecue sauce or mustard. It's terribly unspectacular, but damn delicious. What a sausage sandwich is meant to look like. Image: melbourne flames rowing club To arrange a sausage sandwich outside of its time-honoured order would be tantamount to high treason, as the folks from the Melbourne Flames Rowing Club just found out. They posted a photo of a "deconstructed sausage sandwich" served on a wooden board, which was put up for sale in front of the food's hallowed grounds, hardware chain Bunnings. Then 7 News Perth reposted the photo, along with a host of other media outlets. The pitchforks were out. In a big way. This is indeed a sad day to be Australian. pic.twitter.com/7XL8WkJXcN Andy Park (@andy_park) January 23, 2017 Fortunately, the rowing club didn't *seriously* create this tactless abomination. It's all a joke, according to Rachel Kadziela, a paddler/drummer with the Melbourne Flames. "We were in a hipster suburb within Melbourne when we were cooking the Bunnings sausage sizzle and one of our fellow paddlers, Tim, came up with the idea to make the deconstructed sandwich," she told Mashable via Messenger. Story continues Kadziela said their main goal was to draw attention so people would join the club, as well as to raise money for them to compete at a national competition. "We're amused by people's reactions. They've clearly missed the joke as if we would ever mess with the sacred tradition that is the Bunnings sausage sizzle! We've been reading the comments and having a laugh. People are very passionate about their sausage sizzles," she added. Dare to mess with the Australian sausage sandwich at your own peril, people. Liberal blues Many liberals scrutinise historical events with todays standards of human rights. LOS ANGELES (AP) Los Angeles prosecutors have charged rapper Soulja Boy with felony possession of an assault weapon and a handgun. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Monday that it had charged the rapper, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, and that his arraignment was scheduled for Monday. Way was arrested last month by Los Angeles police. Prosecutors said a search of his home found a Mini Draco AR-IS assault weapon and a Glock 21 handgun. Authorities have said the handgun was reported stolen from a Huntington Beach, California, police vehicle. Soulja Boy is best known for his 2007 hit "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" and for his recent appearances on VH1's "Love and Hip Hop." Attempts to reach a representative for the rapper were not immediately successful. Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy warned Tuesday that Britain's exit from the EU posed a severe threat to the country's recovering economy, and made a plea for cohesion in Europe. His comments came as the British government said it would present draft legislation within days to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU, seven months after Britons voted for exiting the bloc in a referendum. "Brexit is a serious threat," Rajoy told a Madrid gathering organised by conservative daily ABC. "Without wanting to go into other considerations, I will only tell you that one in five tourists who come to Spain are British, and close to 17 million Britons visited Spain last year." The Brexit-related fall of the value of the pound in recent months has caused concern that fewer Britons may travel, and has British retirees in Spain worried about their declining purchasing power. Officially, over 300,000 Britons reside in Spain, but many do not bother to register, with estimates suggesting between 800,000 to a million live in the country. "I will also tell you that the United Kingdom is the first destination for Spanish companies' investment and our third commercial partner," Rajoy said. He added that post-Brexit, serious thought needed to be given to improving the EU so that it was "more cohesive, more effective in its decision-making and with better political ambition." As such, he said the results of elections in France and Germany later this year -- where far-right, eurosceptic parties are on the rise -- would be "decisive". "Spain... hopes that its two biggest partners will maintain their pro-EU vocation and their determination to push forward a project which despite all its imperfections is the best political initiative the world has seen in centuries -- the EU project." TOKYO (Reuters) - Blinking zirconium tiaras, engagement ring boxes equipped with spy-cams and diamond-dusted hourglasses were some of the most eye-catching items showcased among more than a thousand jewelry booths at Japan's biggest jewelry exposition on Tuesday. Most booths displayed conventional items such as rings and necklaces, but some took a step further to help make special occasions shine brighter. Japan's industrial equipment development company Tohkoo, for example, showcased a battery-operated tiara embellished with 610 LED-lit zirconium made to blink in 14 different ways. The tiara, which costs 1.3 million yen ($11,500), was designed to draw more attention to the bride on her wedding day. "People wear tiaras at weddings but they don't usually glow," Masaomi Sugiura, the chief executive officer of the tiara company said. "We decided to create a blinking tiara because we wanted women to always be radiant." But some thought it was too much of statement. "It really draws attention, and looks very glitzy so maybe it is too big and flamboyant for a Japanese person," Mineko Goto, an expo visitor and jeweler, said. Box-design company, Sankyo, created an engagement ring box equipped with a spy-cam to capture the expression of the person being proposed to when the big question was popped. It is not tradition to kneel when proposing in Japan, which meant the camera lens had to be placed at the bottom half of the box facing the proposee, instead of on the lid, upward, Naoki Morimatsu, the head of the company explained. He also said fewer people were buying engagement rings, so he wanted to add an element of surprise to the supposedly fading trend. The box is able to record 20 minutes worth of footage, and can connect to a video-playing book titled "Proposal Story," also designed by the company. Misato Imamura, 29, who received a proposal last year, said the camera was too noticeable. "I would be shocked because I would notice the camera," Imamura said. Other jewelers made sure people who did not wear jewelry had something to enjoy. Rainbow Diamond LLC exhibited shimmering hourglasses filled with cut diamonds. The hourglasses come in all 12 types of birth stones and cost as much as 8 million yen ($70,000). They measure about 10 minutes, depending on the room's temperature, Imamura said. "I don't usually wear accessories," visitor Yoko Hirata said after admiring the hourglass. "But this item made me feel calm and elegant." The expo will run until Thursday. (Reporting by Reuters TV in Japan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) A new study funded by Cancer Research UK has found that stopping smoking could help improve the symptoms of depression. Carried out by researchers at Kings College London and the Charles University in Prague, together the team looked at 3775 patients attending a stop smoking clinic in the Czech Republic. They found that smokers who received the clinic's specialist behavioral support and medication, 835 participants in total, were more likely to remain smoke-free for a year if they went back for repeat visits. In addition, successful quitters also showed a large improvement in their depression, with two-thirds (66.3 percent) of those who had moderate or severe depression when smoking describing no or minimal symptoms of the condition during a one-year follow up. Smoking rates among people with mental health conditions are more than double those of the general population in the UK -- around 40% vs. 20% -- with around three million of the 9.6 million adult smokers in the UK living with a mental health condition. Smoking is also the single biggest factor contributing to a lower life expectancy in those with a mental health condition -- whose life expectancy is around 10-20 years lower than the general population. However the team also noted that those with depression are less likely to quit successfully than those without the condition. The team emphasizes that the findings highlight the importance of how the same support can benefit different groups to different extents, and that those with mental health problems may need some extra help to successfully quit. Dr Leonie Brose, a Cancer Research UK fellow based at King's College London and senior author of the publication, also commented that, "While there's been an overall fall in smoking rates in recent decades, there hasn't been the same decline among people with mental health problems." "The findings also suggest that giving up smoking may improve depressive symptoms, improving mental as well as physical health." The results can be found published online in the journal Annals of Behavioural Medicine. The 87th international Geneva Motor Show is still some six weeks away, yet just like their vehicles, supercar companies have been very quick to start teasing their upcoming reveals. McLaren P14 British builder McLaren, who decided to skip Detroit altogether, has been feeding fans snippets of information about its latest car, codenamed P14 for several weeks. Set to replace the 650S -- itself only three years old -- the new model, according to Mark Vinnels, Executive Director - Product Development, McLaren Automotive: "Will be as aerodynamically impressive as it is visually beautiful. A range of advanced aerodynamic technologies contributes to maximum generated downforce over 50% greater than that of the McLaren 650S and ensures truly outstanding levels of grip and stability." Beyond looks, the thing that potential clients will care about most will be performance data: how much more will this car offer than the existing model's 641bhp, 0-100km/h time of 3.0 seconds and top speed of 207mph (333km/h). Pagani Huayra Roadster No matter what the McLaren's vital statistics, it will have to look incredible if it wants to upstage Pagani. It's bringing the open top version of the Huayra to this year's show and over recent weeks has been releasing tiny teaser images of individual details in the run up to the full reveal. However, unlike the McLaren, we already know exactly what the Huayra will be using for propulsion -- a bi-turbo 6-liter V12 engine that will send 730hp to the rear wheels. And while it will also share many of the coupe's proportions, company founder and designer Horacio Pagani promises the car, which he claims is the most complicated project he's ever undertaken, will have its own visual language: "As we moved forward with the Roadster, we decided to give her a bit more of an edge in order to create a slightly more aggressive shape than the Huayra Coupe." So, as always with Pagani, expect a show-stopper. Story continues Eadon Green Black Cuillin Compared with new automotive upstart Eadon Green, both McLaren and Pagani are veritable chatterboxes revealing entirely too much information. This Shoreditch, East London-based company has literally come from nowhere to be at this year's event with something it's calling the Black Cuillin. All we know so far is that its shape will be closer to a 1950s GT than to a Millennial supercar, suggesting that aesthetically at least, it has Morgan rather than McLaren in its sights. The 87th International Geneva Motor Show opens its doors to the public on March 9 but press reveals will get underway from March 7. London (AFP) - The British government's Brexit plan will be put to the test on Tuesday with a landmark court ruling on whether it has the right to kick-start the country's EU departure without parliamentary approval. The 11 Supreme Court judges are expected to rule against the government in a move which could delay Prime Minister Theresa May triggering Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which would formally begin exit negotiations. Tuesday's decision follows a High Court ruling against the government in November, in a case which attracted protests and abuse against the lead claimant. Businesswoman Gina Miller said she has suffered death threats and racist taunts since bringing the case. "Things that were considered unacceptable are now acceptable," she told AFP ahead of the Supreme Court decision. Anger was also directed at the High Court judges following their decision, being branded "Enemies of the People" by one newspaper. The legal challenge has tapped into divisions within British society after the June referendum which saw 52 percent vote to leave the EU. Brexiteers have claimed the case is an attempt to block Britain's departure from the European Union, but MPs are not expected to vote against triggering Article 50. If they lose the case ministers are preparing to rush emergency legislation through the Houses of Commons and Lords -- and the opposition Labour party has promised not to block it. "Even if the Supreme Court rules that May cannot bypass parliament in Westminster, parliamentarians will be unlikely to go against the vote of the British people and block Brexit," said Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has however said he will take the chance to table amendments to the bill, including maintaining access to Europe's single market. Such a move would go against the premier's plan for a "hard Brexit" announced last week, through which May said Britain will leave the single market in order to control EU immigration. Story continues - Scotland to have a say? - Opposition amendments could delay May's timetable to trigger Brexit talks by the end of March, but the Supreme Court could further scupper her plans. Judges are also set to rule on whether the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must have a say on the prime minister's plan. Gostynska-Jakubowska said May could find it difficult to trigger Article 50 by her March deadline if the judges demand greater involvement from the devolved nations, while deeming such an outcome unlikely. While Wales voted for Brexit, a majority in Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain in the EU. Northern Ireland is facing its own political turmoil with snap elections on March 2 after the power-sharing executive in Belfast collapsed earlier this month. The pro-EU Scottish National Party, meanwhile, has 54 MPs in the 650-seat House of Commons and also controls the government in Edinburgh. Kathleen Brooks, an analyst at City Index Direct, said giving greater power to the devolved governments would be the "worst outcome" for May at the Supreme Court. "This outcome would likely delay the UK's Brexit plans, and, trigger the break-up of the UK, especially if it leads to another independence referendum in Scotland," she said. Mbabane (Swaziland) (AFP) - Swaziland's schools opened for the new academic year on Tuesday under new government orders to teach only Christianity, a move criticised by opponents as fuelling intolerance of Muslims. Officials said that old text books were being replaced with new ones that mention only the Bible, and that schools were required to submit a list of qualified religious studies teachers ahead of the start of term. "Other religions will not be offered at primary and high school level," said Pat Muir, a top education ministry official, adding that the policy sought to avoid confusing pupils. "At tertiary level they will be able to make a decision to learn about other religions," he said. Some surveys put Swaziland's Muslim population as high as 10 percent, but the US Department of State in 2015 put the figure at about two percent. Many Swazis combine Christianity with indigenous beliefs, and religious freedoms are written into the country's 2005 constitution. The education ministry last week instructed all head teachers to ensure that the syllabus would not mention any religion other than Christianity, including Islam and Judaism. Sahid Matsebula, a Swazi-born Muslim who works for a mosque near the capital Mbabane, said the government's policy could worsen religious friction in the southern African nation. "What plan does the government have in place for our children who are not Christian?" he told AFP. "They will be taught one thing at home and taught something else at school." - 'Discrimination' - The US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report said some schools have long sought to prevent Muslim pupils from leaving early for Friday prayers. It also said some Christian groups "discriminated against non-Christian religious groups, especially in rural areas where people generally held negative views on Islam." The new education policy comes after public complaints over Asian and Muslim migration into the country led parliament to set up a commission of enquiry last year. Story continues Some illegal migrants have since been deported, and Minister of Commerce and Trade Jabulani Mabuza told parliament that a law making it harder for foreigners to set up businesses in Swaziland was in the pipeline. Church leaders in Swaziland welcomed the Christianity-only syllabus. "Christianity is the bedrock religion on which this country was built," said Stephen Masilela, president of the Swaziland Conference of Churches. Swaziland, with a population of about 1.2 million, has been ruled by King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, since 1986. The country suffers dire poverty and has struggled to lift its economy, and has faced international criticism that the government stifles dissent, jails its opponents and denies workers' rights. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f359310%2fea4c0f1c-19a7-4218-a857-ae4e0afd4a91 In the wake of Donald Trump officially taking office, millions have protested and marched on the streets of cities around the country. But one question on many people's minds has been: how can those opposed to the new presidency continue to make real change? One answer comes in the form of Swing Left, a rapidly growing grassroots effort that aims to help Democrats win the House of Representatives in 2018. SEE ALSO: At Debug Politics, engineers try to fix everything that went wrong with the 2016 election The organization has mapped out the 52 so-called swing congressional districts around the country, where Americans can organize and volunteer to help Democrats win districts that hold the closest of political contests. In these places, the incumbent last won by less than 15 percent of the vote making them the most crucial of political battlegrounds, as Business Insider reports. The group has grown rapidly in just the short time since Trump officially took office. The day after Trump's inauguration, on Saturday, it tweeted that it had grown by at least 20,000 people. 20,000 people have signed up to support their closest swing district at https://t.co/dXBdbNv9Lj in less than 3 days. America is mobilizing. pic.twitter.com/3gqmcDIy8n Swing Left (@swingleftorg) January 22, 2017 On Sunday, that number had quickly swelled to 100,000 people. In just 4 days, 100,000 people have signed up to support their closest swing district at https://t.co/dXBdbNv9Lj. Our work begins NOW. Swing Left (@swingleftorg) January 23, 2017 Organized by a loose, eclectic mix of professionals in media, tech, art and nonprofits, Swing Left's ultimate goal is to get those 52 swing districts won by Democratic candidates. Doing this in the 2018 elections would shift the current political landscape. Story continues On the group's website, users can fill in their zip code and find the swing district nearest to them. Image: https://swingleft.org/ When Mashable plugged in a Los Angeles zip code, the result was California's 25th congressional district a swatch of land encompassing northern Los Angeles and part of Ventura County that's currently under Republican control. The district's current Republican representative, Stephen Knight, won by just 16,349 votes or 6.3 percent of the vote in the last election. Signing up with the website gets you weekly emails about fundraising, donating, and volunteer work such as working phone banks and spreading the word on social media for that particular district. Swing Left's website also has a map that shows exactly where each of the 52 swing districts are located. The group's strategy has already won the praise of many Americans on social media. Just signed up for this thing: My closest Swing District is NJ-05, Find yours and help swing the House left in 2018: https://t.co/taWu4fKyK8 Daniel Kibblesmith (@kibblesmith) January 23, 2017 Good idea: Tool to help you find a nearby congressional district where your volunteer work will make the most difference. https://t.co/hDbDXTZ17O Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 22, 2017 Just signed up with @swingleftorg to try to flip House district AL-02 to a blue district! #itstartswiththeHouse Jay Malone (@myworst_Bhavior) January 22, 2017 But not everyone's a fan of the site. Some have pointed to glitches in the system, such as weird results after plugging in their zip codes. Not impressed with this site. Put in my Seattle zip code, told me two nearest swing districts are in Alaska & Nevada https://t.co/XzbG8iB9so Robert Cruickshank (@cruickshank) January 23, 2017 Meanwhile, others said Swing Left's lack of affiliation with any traditional Democratic groups and its lack of transparency about who exactly is running the show makes it a little sketchy, as Daily Kos reports. Thus, such opponents say, it might not a place where you should be entering personal information like your zip code. Mashable has reached out to the site for more information. p.s. Be wary of giving your info to unaffiliated resources like Swing Left. @dailykos raises significant concerns: https://t.co/9axvH1fw19 Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) January 23, 2017 Despite such concerns, finding the congressional districts that are most politically flexible is probably not such a bad idea if the current political landscape is ever expected to shift. Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed Tuesday to bolster a fragile truce in Syria but rebels and Damascus made no progress towards a broader settlement to end the war after two days of talks. The three main sponsors of the negotiations in Astana announced the creation of "a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire" in place since late December. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara -- all key players in the conflict -- also agreed armed rebel groups should take part in a new round of peace talks set to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and... it can only be solved through a political process," said the final statement by Russia, Iran and Turkey. However the final declaration was not signed by the rebels or the regime, whose negotiators did not hold face-to-face talks. - 'No notable progress' - Russia -- the driving force behind the meeting -- has become the major powerbroker in Syria after changing the tide on the ground with its military support for leader Bashar al-Assad. But while the Kremlin has succeeded in sidelining the West with its new drive to play peacemaker, there were signs Moscow will struggle to transform military gains into wider progress towards peace. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria that has cost 310,000 lives comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the country's second city Aleppo. The meeting was expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the battered armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011. But the defiant rebels refused and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides. Rebel negotiator Mohammad Alloush told AFP the "intransigence of Iran and the regime" was responsible for "no notable progress" in the negotiations. Story continues A ceasefire brokered by Russia and rebel-backer Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels -- who insisted they would use the Astana talks to push Damascus to respect the truce -- refused direct talks with the regime on Monday because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. - 'Achieved the goal' - Regime negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari said after the end of the talks that the meeting "succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians." But he insisted that operations will continue against key flashpoint Wadi Barada, an area 15 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Damascus, where rebels have demanded the regime stops attacks. There were few details about the proposed ceasefire monitoring mechanism and it was unclear what impact it will have on the ground. The Kremlin's envoy at the talks Alexander Lavrentiev said it will involve experts from Russia, Turkey and Iran meeting in Astana. The rebels had earlier opposed Iran's involvement in monitoring the ceasefire as it sees Tehran and the militias it controls as a main source of the violence. - Reduce suffering - UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said his organisation was ready to assist in developing the mechanism and "ensure that it helps strengthen the quality of the ceasefire." As a further reminder that the conflict is far from over in Syria fighting continued to rage Tuesday with major jihadist groups not covered by the truce. Rebels were battling former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front in the country's north, a monitoring group said. As the talks were ending, Russia's defence ministry said its warplanes had bombed the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria's Deir Ezzor region. Meanwhile, UN agencies and aid groups appealed for $4.63 billion (4.31 billion euros) in 2017 to help Syrians who have fled their country's war and sought refuge in neighbouring countries. The appeal is on top of the $3.4 billion that the UN estimates is needed this year for the 13.5 million people still in Syria who have been affected by the conflict. Washington acknowledged the three-country mechanism announced Tuesday -- but said ultimately Damascus and the rebels need to talk directly. "We welcome actions that sustainably de-escalate violence and reduce suffering in Syria," said acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner. But he added: "We call upon these three countries to press regime, pro-regime, and opposition forces to abide by the ceasefire in order to create an environment more conducive to intra-Syrian political discussions." Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade. Astana (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - Syrian rebel negotiator Mohammad Alloush on Tuesday blamed Damascus and Iran for a lack of progress at peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana aimed at bolstering a ceasefire. "There has been no notable progress in the negotiations because of the intransigence of Iran and the regime," Alloush told AFP. Beirut (AFP) - At least 11 people, including two children, were killed Tuesday in Syrian government air strikes as they fled a northern town held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters were killed in air strikes and shelling in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. The monitor said the group of 11 were fleeing the embattled IS-held town of Al-Bab, near the northern border with Turkey, when they were hit in a government air strike. The dead included at least 10 civilians, among them two children, but the identity of the 11th person killed was unclear. The strike hit the group as they reached the nearby village of Qasr al-Bureij, also under IS control, the Observatory said. Al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo has come under heavy assault in recent weeks, with Turkish, Russian and Syrian warplanes carrying out strikes in or around the town. IS is also fighting fierce battles in Deir Ezzor city, which the jihadist group has besieged since early 2015. It already controlled half the city, but has made further advances in recent days, prompting fierce fighting and heavy air strikes by both Syria and its Russian ally. The Observatory said air strikes by Syrian and Russian warplanes killed 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters, but the toll could rise further. Deir Ezzor is the capital of the oil-rich province of the same name which borders Iraq. The fighting has forced the World Food Programme to suspend air drops of aid to besieged civilians in the city, and the UN has warned food supplies could run out within weeks. More than 310,00 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests that were met with a regime crackdown. A truce brokered by Russia and rebel backer Turkey has been in place since December 30, but it excludes IS. ASTANA (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are unhappy with a communique establishing a ceasefire mechanism between Russia, Iran and Turkey, an opposition delegate to talks in Astana said on Tuesday. "Iran is speaheading in a number of areas military offensives and leading to forcible displacements of thousands of Syrians and causing bloodletting. This communique legitimizes this role," said the delegate, who declined to be identified. A second delegate, who said the opposition would not endorse the communique, said Turkey had been weak in the negotiations and unable to assert the rebel position. (Reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; writing by John Irish; editing by John Stonestreet) Beirut (AFP) - Syria's White Helmets rescue workers said Tuesday they were "proud" that a documentary film about their work saving civilians in their country's devastating war was nominated for an Oscar. "The White Helmets documentary produced by Netflix was nominated for (an) Oscar!! I'm so proud to have filmed this film and for this nomination," wrote White Helmet photographer Khaled Khatib on Twitter. The documentary titled "The White Helmets" was named a contender Tuesday in the Oscars short documentary category. "It's a new opportunity to convey (our) humanitarian and moral message," Raed Saleh, leader of the rescue group, told AFP after the announcement. "The White Helmets film's nomination for an Oscar is a new confirmation of the civil defence's credibility in Syria." "It will help us to reach the goal and the slogan we have been using since the start: 'To save one life is to save all of humanity'," he added. The group's motto is drawn from a verse of the Koran, although the White Helmets insist they treat all victims, regardless of religion. The White Helmets emerged in 2013, working to rescue civilians in rebel-held areas during the nearly six-year war. It counts over 3,000 volunteers among its ranks, and says it has saved more than 78,000 lives. It is named for the distinctive white hard hats worn by its volunteers and has gained international renown for its daring rescues, often filmed and circulated on social media. The film, directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, is one of several movies streaming online to be nominated for a prize at the 89th Academy Awards, to be handed out on February 26 in Hollywood. The White Helmets were nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize and garnered international support for their candidacy, though they ultimately lost out. Their detractors, mostly supporters of President Bashar al-Assad's government, accuse them of being tools of their international donors. But others have hail the group's volunteers as "real life heroes". Syria's conflict started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests and has since spiralled into a complex war, killing more than 310,000 people and displacing over half the country's population. Five Russian nationals are under criminal investigation for alleged ties to a far-right Ukrainian nationalist group, RIA Novosti reported Monday. The Russian Investigative Committee opened cases against Igor Chudinov, Gennady Khamrayev, Georgy Stotsky, Roman Strigunkov and Alexander Valov for alleged ties to the Right Sector, committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said. Petrenko said Chudinov was a deputy commander of one of the Right Sectors divisions, and Khamrayev helped conduct raids against civilians in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic. Stocky, Strigunkov and Valov took part in Right Sector rallies, marches and other activities, and were involved in propaganda operations, Petrenko said. Members of the Right Sector, a paramilitary confederation, clashed with Ukrainian police and seized administrative buildings in Kiev in January and February 2014. The group currently is fighting the protest movement in eastern Ukraine, Rapsi News said. The Russian Supreme Court declared the Right Sector an extremist group in November 2014 and banned its activities in Russia. Its leader, Dmitry Yarosh, is under investigation for incitement of terrorism. The group was added to Russias register of prohibited organizations in January 2015. Russia, which annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula after Right Sector attacks on Russian speakers and Jews in March 2014, was suspected of instigating the Ukrainian unrest that followed the ouster of Viktor Yanukovych, who has been living in exile in Russia since late 2013. Russia has refused to extradite him to face treason and other charges. Russia was suspected of arming rebels in eastern Ukraine and there were reports of Russian tanks and personnel in the region. Russia blamed the Right Sector and Svoboda parties for riots that left more than 100 people dead in February 2014. Protesters waived banners with pictures of World War II nationalist leader and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. Story continues A declassified CIA report indicates Bandera belonged to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which Russia labeled a terrorist organization, and was involved in the assassination of Polish Interior Minister Bronisaw Pieracki, Sputnik reported. Related Articles Days after President Donald Trump took office, the Republican governor of Texas has demanded Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez reverse her department's new policy on cooperation with federal immigration authorities, in a tussle over sanctuary cities following Trumps strong stand on illegal immigrants. This is not a pronouncement of sound public policy; it is a dangerous game of political Russian roulette with the lives of Texans at stake, Governor Greg Abbott wrote in a letter Monday addressed to Hernandez, in which he referred to the newly-elected sheriffs policy as shortsighted and based on frivolous justifications. Hernandez announced Friday her department will reduce its cooperation with federal immigration authorities when a request for an inmate to be flagged for possible deportation is presented to it. The new policy would allow the department to also continue to hold people charged with serious crimes like capital murder. The public must be confident that local law enforcement is focused on local public safety, not on federal immigration enforcement. Our jail cannot be perceived as a holding tank for ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] or that Travis County deputies are ICE officers, Hernandez reportedly said at the time. Abbotts immediate reaction to the policy which comes into effect Feb. 1 was through a tweet on his personal Twitter account Friday. Travis County stands to lose grants as the governors office requires compliance with its directives in order to receive the benefits. Monday's letter states Travis County received almost $1.8 million from the office over the past year based upon the commitment that federal immigration law would be enforced. Your policy is in violation of that commitment, Abbott wrote to Hernandez. Unless you reverse your policy prior to its effective date, your unilateral decision will cost the people of Travis County money that was meant to be used to protect them. Story continues The sheriffs office reportedly has a $169 million budget and $1.8 million would be about one percent of the total. Related Articles Bangkok (AFP) - Dozens of people including a general arrested in Thailand's crackdown on human trafficking appeared in court on Tuesday to begin presenting their defence but journalists were barred from reporting trial proceedings. The kingdom has long been a major hub for human trafficking and people-smuggling, with officials accused of turning a blind eye and even of complicity. Thailand's junta launched a belated crackdown in 2015, a move that uncovered grim camps on the Thai-Malaysia border and led to dozens of arrests. But it also led to the sudden closure of the trafficking route, leaving thousands of people -- mainly Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh -- abandoned by gangmasters on land and at sea. More than 80 suspects, including local officials and senior army general Manas Kongpan, packed into a chamber at Bangkok's main criminal court on Tuesday for the opening of their defence on an array of human trafficking charges. Reporters watched proceedings on a television screen in a side room. But they were told by court officials that any reporting of what was said at the trial had been banned since the start of proceedings last year. No reason was given for the decision. Thailand's generals seized power in 2014. Secret court hearings have since become more commonplace, particularly in military tribunals and for royal defamation prosecutions. But it is rare for such restrictions to be placed on a criminal trial. The alleged involvement of senior military officers in the trade is an incendiary topic given that the ruling junta proudly shows off its anti-corruption credentials. "As a matter of basic judicial principles, trials should be public unless there is a very good reason why they're not," Sam Zarifi, Asia director for the International Commission of Jurists, told AFP. The Thai Navy has sued reporters for investigations that alleged the complicity of their officers in human trafficking. Story continues Southern Thailand has long been known as a nexus for lucrative smuggling networks used by persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and Bangladeshi economic migrants, on their way to Malaysia. Many were held in pitiful jungle camps on the Thai-Malaysia border suffering beatings, rape and murder until relatives paid ransoms. Thailand's image has been battered in recent years by a series of human trafficking scandals -- including in its lucrative fishing and food production sectors. The junta has vowed to clean up the country's image. But convictions have so far been few. In September a man was jailed for 35 years by a southern Thai court for masterminding a smuggling network. The defence is expected to end by March. While Americans were going to the polls in November something big happened in India. It has presented an unexpected buying opportunity for nimble investors who don't mind taking on some additional risk. Without warning on Nov. 8, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the existing large denomination rupee bills would be scrapped. The idea was to help eradicate the endemic corruption that plagues the country. Anyone holding such currency would need to swap the notes for new ones, and if they were exchanging more than a small amount of cash the owners of the currency would pay a tax to the government. "That move took everyone by surprise, both domestic and foreign," says Win Thin, global head of emerging market currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. "It caused all sorts of problems." [See: The 10 Best Dividend Stocks of 2016.] Specifically, the lack of cash, in what is an overwhelmingly cash-based society, squeezed the economy, bringing much of it to a halt. India had seen growth at a fair clip earlier in the year. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers index, which measures the health of the factory sector, dropped from 52.3 in November to 49.6 in December. Readings of less than 50 indicate contraction in the sector. That, of course, sent stocks in the country down. The iShares MSCI India exchange-traded fund (ticker: INDA), which tracks a basket of Indian stocks, is down 5 percent since the currency announcement. That compares with a 6.4 percent rally in the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The decline in India's stock market has stabilized over the past few weeks. Why buy now? This pullback should come as no surprise to investors. Still, the drop in prices now presents an opportunity for investors to jump into the sector. They might want to consider doing so because India's cash crunch is likely to be a transitory problem. "For India, we still have a positive view for the medium-to-long term," says Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments in New York. Story continues [See: 9 ETFs to Buy When the Market Tanks.] If you don't mind holding on to your investments for a few years rather than a few weeks, then using the drop in stock prices as an opportunity to buy stocks at better prices might make sense. Wood warns that as with any investment in emerging markets there will be volatility. But with that additional risk should come the potential for better returns. "India's economic cycle is enviable within the emerging market space," Wood says. "There are a lot of reforms that will be maintained." Indian reforms include those aimed at liberalizing its economy by deregulating energy pricing, eliminating minimum pricing on agricultural goods and allowing greater foreign investment in key domestic industries. Such changes should help the economy attain a high rate of economic growth in the future, and provide a good backdrop for stock investors. It's also worth noting that prior to the ill-fated cash crunch India boasted stellar economic growth that was faster than China, which itself had been a standout of fast growth in the emerging world for years. Not everyone's so optimistic. Of course, there are still worries about whether reform and economic growth will result in higher stock returns. "Not withstanding the political reforms and the efforts to clean up the black market, it seems like India is always positioned really well but continually disappoints in the equity markets," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. Put more simply, there are risks that investing in the country won't work out as planned. How to invest. You don't need to find a broker to buy individual securities in India. Instead, try looking at various types of specialty funds. Two mutual funds that specialize in Indian stocks are Matthews India Investor ( MINDX) and the Wasatch Emerging India Investor ( WAINX). The Matthews fund has annual expenses of 1.11 percent, while the Wasatch fund costs 1.82 percent, or $111 and $182 annually, respectively, per $10,000 invested. For those who prefer to invest in ETFs, try the PowerShares India ETF ( PIN) or the INDA ETF. These funds have annual expenses of 0.82 percent and 0.71 percent, respectively. [See: 20 Awesome Dividend Stocks for Guaranteed Income.] The benefits of the ETFs are clearly the lower annual expenses. Plus, there is the ability to sell an ETF during market hours whereas there isn't with mutual funds. Simon Constable is a freelance economics and markets commentator for U.S. News & World Report. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, TheStreet and Forbes, as well as many other well-known publications. He co-authored "The WSJ Guide to the 50 Economic Indicators that Really Matter," which was an economics category winner in the Small Business Book Awards at Small Business Trends. Constable is also a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health and the Study of Business Enterprise. You can follow him Twitter @simonconstable or find him on LinkedIn. NC lawmakers want revision to LLRC report While the agitating Madhesi parties have rejected the report of the Local Level Restructuring Commission, lawmakers from the largest party Nepali Congress have joined the chorus demanding a review of the report. Facing new claims that he has not been forthright about his investments in health care stocks while working on legislation that could affect their value, Georgia Rep. Tom Price appeared before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday in advance of its vote to approve his nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also conceded that an administration proposal to turn Medicaid into a block grant program could end its status as an entitlement program. Price had previously been bludgeoned by Democrats over his investments, who have suggested that his behavior, which included sponsoring legislation that would benefit a company whose stock he owned, was unethical. On Monday, a Finance Committee staff report revealed that Price had also been forced to address inconsistencies in his financial disclosures and had failed to disclose that he had once been the subject of an investigation by the Office of Government Ethics. Related: Theres Less to Trumps Obamacare Executive Order Than Some Suggest The senior Democrat on the Panel, Ron Wyden of Oregon, forcefully reiterated a string of investment decisions and reporting failures, and demanded of Price Yes or no? Doesnt this show bad judgement? Well, if what you said was true, it might, Price replied, setting off a back and forth that was interrupted by Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) who spent much of the hearing acting as Prices defender. The nominee later pressed back against claims that he had behaved unethically, saying, The reality is that everything I did was ethical, above board, legal, and transparent. The reason that you know about these things is because we have made that information available in real time as required by the House Ethics Committee. While the questions about his stock trades have caused some discomfort for Price, there doesnt seem to be much wavering about his nomination in the ranks of Senate Republicans, who would be able to confirm him with a simple majority vote. Story continues Related: The Potential Cost of Obamacare Repeal: 32 Million Without Insurance Wyden also asked Price to address the executive order issued by President Trump on the day of his inauguration that directed all government agencies to exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act that would impose a fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications. The order left many wondering if the new presidents plan was to begin disassembling the Affordable Care Act even before Congress passed a repeal bill. Wyden, saying that rolling back the law without a replacement would destroy the market on which millions of working families buy health coverage, asked Price if he would commit to not acting on the order until a replacement for the ACA had been put in place. Price declined to do so, saying that what he would commit to is to keep patients at the center of health care. And what that means to me is making sure every single American has access to affordable health coverage that provides the highest quality health care that the world can provide. Related: Could a Hybrid Obamacare Plan Bring the GOP and Dems Together? Price also dodged Wydens attempt to get him to promise that nobody would be worse off under whatever replacement plan the administration puts forward. However, in later questioning, he went on to say that no one will lose coverage as a result and to agree to the promise that no one would be worse off. Its important to note, when Price refers to affordable health coverage, that the definition of insurance coverage is all important in this discussion. The Congressional Budget Office has warned that some of the more bare-bones plans that opponents of Obamacare would like to see as offered as legitimate options after repeal would have such scant benefits that the agency would not consider them health insurance coverage at all. In an exchange with New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, Price appeared to be at least open to ending the status of Medicaid as an entitlement. Under the current structure of the program, anybody who meets the qualifications for the program is entitled -- has a right -- to receive care under it. The Trump administration, however, has signaled its intention to turn the program into a block grant, under which each state would be given a fixed sum for the program, creating the possibility that coverage might not be available to all qualified applicants. Related: Obamacare Repeal Will Test the Definition of Insurance Price said he agreed with Menendez that under a block grant, there would not necessarily be a right to coverage under Medicaid. I think it would be determined by how it was set up, if that was in fact what Congress did. Again, the role of the Department of Health and Human Services is to administer the laws that you pass, not to make the law. Menendez urged the nominee not to pretend that, as HHS secretary, he wont have enormous influence on policy and how it is implemented. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., secretary-designate of the Department of Health and Human Services, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP) Rep. Tom Price of Georgia suggested in his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that President Donald Trumps Obamacare replacement plan may not be as close to finished as the president has claimed. President Trump said that hes working with you on a replacement plan for the ACA, which is nearly finished and will be revealed after your confirmation. Is that true? asked Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio. Its true that he said that, yes, Price replied, to laughter in the hearing room. Price is Trumps nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Brown pressed him, asking if that meant the president had lied when he said the pair of them had a plan that was close to finished. Ive had conversations with the president about health care, Price said, refusing to answer Browns question about whether it was a lie. Overall, the Republican congressman and doctor had an easier ride in the Senate Finance Committee hearing than the one he received last week at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is stocked with many of the Democratic Partys more combative figures, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Al Franken. Still, the Finance Committees Democrats grilled Price over his personal trading in health stocks while voting on legislation affecting the health care industry. His past support for dramatically cutting Medicaid also came in for scrutiny. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon blasted Price for underreporting the amount of stock he directed his broker to buy in an Australian pharmaceutical company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, last year. Price said a clerical error caused him to underreport the $250,000 in stock he owned as about $50,000. He learned about the company from his GOP colleague Rep. Chris Collins of New York, who is on the companys board, and purchased some of the stock at a special, discounted rate. Price insisted he had been transparent and ethical and would divest himself of the stock if confirmed. Story continues None of the committees Republicans appeared troubled by the stock issue, suggesting the Democrats, who are in the minority, will be unsuccessful in blocking Prices nomination on this issue. I feel like Ive been asked to be a character witness in a felony trial, said Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia, arguing the Democrats were exaggerating their objections to Price. Sen. Orrin Hatch, the committees chairman, criticized his Democratic colleagues for overly partisan treatment of Trumps cabinet nominees. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, pushed back on that, noting that Trumps first nominee was confirmed 98 to 1 and more than 80 senators backed his second choice. Price stressed that he would act in a bipartisan way as secretary and that he wanted to make sure the new, not-yet-formed health care plan would insure more Americans than Obamacare now does. But he was evasive when asked if no one would lose coverage after Obamacare is repealed, and he refused to flesh out the presidents plan for the senators. Democratic senators said they were worried the presidents plan would mirror Prices past support for health care and budget reforms that cut Medicaid and Medicare. At one point Price denied telling a Politico reporter in 2012 that requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions was a terrible idea. Price did, however, commit to continue allowing women to access contraception for free, an Obamacare reform. Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey asked Price if he believed the scientific consensus that vaccines do not cause autism. The science in that incidence is that it does not, but there are individuals across this country Mendendez cut him off. Im not asking about individuals, Im talking about science, he said. Trump has said he believes vaccines are linked to autism, a claim experts are worried could affect policy and put public health at risk. Read more from Yahoo News: Abuja (AFP) - New Gambian President Adama Barrow is expected to receive a security report this week that could greenlight his return to the country, the head of the regional ECOWAS group said Tuesday. Barrow won a December election, but for weeks incumbent Yahya Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the new president take his oath of office in neighbouring Senegal last week. Worried for his safety, Barrow has yet to return from Senegal. Speaking at a briefing in Nigeria's capital of Abuja Marcel Alain de Souza, head of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said the troops were working to secure Banjul and the surrounding area. "Today or tomorrow, we will be able to indicate that President Adama Barrow, if he's comfortable, can fly on," De Souza said. ECOWAS forces are investigating claims that armed mercenaries and weapons had seeped into the tiny West African nation during the weeks of turmoil when Jammeh refused to step down. "It was said that a lot of arms were imported into the country. There were heavy arms and there were mercenaries who spoke neither English nor (the local language) Wolof. That an entire hospital was evacuated and filled with weapons and people who were armed to the teeth," De Souza said. "President Adama Barrow has asked us two, three weeks so that we can evaluate whether there are stock piles of arms anywhere. Are there mercenaries hidden anywhere," he said. "The forces need to go in to secure the environment. Imagine President Adama Barrow goes in, he wanted to go in since Sunday, what if he goes in and he is assassinated, the entire process will be put to question." Barrow has requested the troops to stay in the West African country for "six months", said De Souza, adding that the decision to stay or leave is ultimately up to the ECOWAS defence chiefs. Jammeh initially conceded defeat after the December 1 election, but the mercurial strongman then announced he no longer recognised the result. Under the threat of a regional military intervention, Jammeh chose exile in Equatorial Guinea, which is not party to the International Criminal Court, and left The Gambia. Barrow has assured Jammeh he will have all the rights legally ensured to an ex-president, which under Gambian law includes immunity from prosecution, barring a vote by two-thirds of the national assembly. WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants, part of a broader communications clampdown within the executive branch. The prohibitions came to light Tuesday as the agency moved to delay implementation of at least 30 environmental rules finalized in the closing months of President Barack Obama's term, a potential first step to seeking to kill the regulations. A summary of the actions posted in the Federal Register includes a long list of regulations that include updated air pollution rulings for several states, renewable fuel standards and limits on the amount of formaldehyde that can leach from wood products. President Donald Trump signed a directive shortly after his inauguration on Friday ordering a "regulatory freeze pending review" for all federal agency rules that had been finalized that have not yet taken effect. Emails sent to EPA staff and reviewed by The Associated Press also detailed specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered what it called a temporary suspension of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders were expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. EPA contracts with outside vendors for a wide array of services, from engineering and research science to janitorial supplies. Similar orders barring external communications have been issued in recent days by the Trump administration at other federal agencies, including the departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Interior. Staffers in EPA's public affairs office are instructed to forward all inquiries from reporters to the Office of Administration and Resources Management. "Incoming media requests will be carefully screened," one directive said. "Only send out critical messages, as messages can be shared broadly and end up in the press." Story continues A review of EPA websites and social media accounts, which typically include numerous new posts each day, showed no new activity since Friday. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday he had no specific information on the blackout. "I don't think it's any surprise that when there's an administration turnover, that we're going to review the policies," Spicer said. Doug Ericksen, the communications director for Trump's transition team at EPA, said he expects the communications ban to be lifted by the end of this week. "We're just trying to get a handle on everything and make sure what goes out reflects the priorities of the new administration," Ericksen said. Beyond what was stated in the internal email, Ericksen clarified that the freeze on EPA contracts and grants won't apply to pollution cleanup efforts or infrastructure construction activities. The agency later said it would also seek to complete that review by Friday. State agencies that rely on EPA for funding were left in the dark, with both Democratic and Republican officials saying they had received no information from EPA about the freeze. "We are actively seeking additional information so we can understand the impact of this action on our ability to administer critical programs," said Alan Matheson, executive director of Utah Department of Environmental Quality. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the Trump administration should immediately reverse the media blackout and contracting freeze. "This decision could have damaging implications for communities across New York state and the country, from delaying testing for lead in schools to restricting efforts to keep drinking water clean to holding up much-needed funding to revitalize toxic brownfield sites," Schumer said. The executive director for the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Jeff Ruch, said the orders go beyond what has occurred in prior presidential transitions. "We're watching the dark cloud of Mordor extend over federal service," Ruch said Tuesday, referring to the evil kingdom in the epic fantasy "The Lord of the Rings." Ruch noted that key posts at EPA have not yet been filled with Republican appointees, including Trump's nominee for EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. That means there are not yet the new senior personnel in place to make decisions. Environmentalists said the orders were having a chilling effect on EPA staff already suffering from low morale. Trump and Pruitt have both been frequent critics of the agency and have questioned the validity of climate science showing that the Earth is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame. Staff at the Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service also received orders not to issue any news releases, photos, fact sheets and social media posts. After an email of the order leaked to the media, USDA's acting deputy secretary said he would ask agency officials to rescind the memo. Spokespersons at agencies within the Transportation Department who are career employees received an email Monday morning telling them: "There will be no releases or social media until we hear from new leadership." The one-sentence email, which was obtained by The Associated Press, came from the department's top career spokeswoman, rather than a political appointee. The department said in a statement that transportation officials didn't receive any guidance on press releases and social media from the White House. "Everybody's being very cautious" and erring on the side of not releasing information, one DOT employee said. The employee didn't have permission to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The AP reported over the weekend that staff employees at the Interior Department were temporarily ordered to stop making posts to its Twitter account after the official account of the National Park Service retweeted a pair of photos that compared those gathered for Trump's inauguration with the much larger crowd that attended Obama's swearing-in. Trump later falsely claimed that more than 1 million people attended his inauguration, which Spicer insisted was the most watched in history. In a test of what the new administration will tolerate, the official Twitter account of the Badlands National Park published a series of posts Tuesday accurately quoting climate science data that included the current record-setting high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The tweets were soon deleted. ___ Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan. Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Joan Lowy and Darlene Superville in Washington, and Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP environmental reporter Biesecker at Twitter.com/mbieseck Washington (AFP) - The White House on Tuesday confirmed that President Donald Trump believes millions of people voted illegally in the November election, but declined to provide evidence to support that claim. Hours after Trump told congressional leaders that as many as five million people could have voted illegally, White House spokesman Sean Spicer confirmed the president's belief. "The comment he said was three to five million people could have voted illegally based on the studies he's seen," said Spicer. "I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has." There is no public evidence of widespread illegal voting in last year's poll. If proven, it would be one of the biggest political scandals in US history and could fundamentally undermine faith in US democracy. Spicer said the Republican president nonetheless had confidence in the election outcome. Trump lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton by around 2.9 million votes, but he won the all-important state-weighted electoral college. Spicer suggested that the "studies and evidence" that "people" have brought to Trump included a study that suggested 14 percent of people who voted "were non-citizens." Trump has previously cited a Pew report from 2012 that concluded more than "1.8 million deceased individuals are listed as voters." That report did not provide evidence that dead people voted, or that others voted in their name. Trump has also cited an Old Dominion University study which suggested 14 percent of non-citizens said they were registered to vote. That study has been dismissed as having flawed methodology, with a sample size of under 1,000 and no link between being registered to vote and actually voting. Asked whether the White House could open an investigation into such vast fraud, Spicer said "maybe we will." But when asked again he said "Anything is possible." "There is no investigation. I said it was possible. Anything is possible. It was a hypothetical question." Spicer refused to say what impact such fraud could have on democracy. Here is a short list of the ways President Donald Trump has attacked the media recently: This is just since November. Recommended: The Photo Details That Show the Truth About Inauguration Attendance Recently, Kirk Hawkins, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University, studied 107 current and former leaders in 73 countries, between 2000 and today, that he and his co-authors deemed to be populistscharismatic leaders who portrayed the world as a clash between a downtrodden people and a conspiring elite. Venezuelas Hugo Chavez, Turkeys Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Italys Silvio Berlusconi all fall into this group. Bernie Sanders, who isnt a national leader and wasnt included in the study, is a left populist according to Hawkins; Trump, who just took office and also wasnt included, is a right populist. In the study, which is still under review, Hawkins found that the longer leaders like these are in office, the more freedom of the press declines, as measured by Freedom Houses Freedom of the Press score. Story continues So why does this happen, and what does the press do in chilly environments like these? Hawkins said that populist leaders view their course as so true and correct that scrutinythe medias perpetual rolegets painted as opposition. [Populism] thinks theres going to be just one right way of doing things, Hawkins explained. The will of the people should be unified and harmonious. Once dissent starts happening and alternative voices start coming along ... its easy for a polarizing dynamic to come in: You must be part of the evil elite. The effects vary by degree from country to country, Hawkins said, and by strategy. In Venezuela, armed gangs loyal to the government ordered reporters out of a neighborhood they controlled at gunpoint, and a TV news executive was arrested on charges of offending the president. Other populist leaders fine journalists; many Turkish reporters have been outright jailed. Recommended: Trump's Speech to the CIA Made America Less Safe Of course, the American press doesnt currently face these threats. Americas institutions are stronger than those of Turkey or Venezuela; its free-press norms have not yet been corroded by the steady drip of hateful tweets. Its still considered strange in the U.S. when the president calls a news outlet garbage. Yet he has done so, and his inaugural promise to transfer power from Washington and give it back to you, the American people, spells out his populist bent. Should he, like other populists, want to shun scrutiny, there is no law that requires the presidential administration to hold daily briefings, none that guarantees media access to the White House, as Masha Gessen wrote in The New York Review of Books in November. The experience of various journalists who have worked in unfriendly media environments underscores both how America differs, and the typical tactics with which leaders hostile to the media can skirt investigation. A journalist who works in Russia currently, Darya Luganskaya, lamented that theres no Freedom of Information Act there. U.S. journalists, she said, should defend the American law, which requires executive-branch agencies to disclose many types of documents upon request. Though some Russian officials respond to her phone calls or app-based messages, getting an official comment from the FSB security service requires retro methods. The only way to approach them is a fax, to which they should respond within 30 days (which never happened to me as far as I remember), she said via email. Recommended: Trump's Presidency Is Off to a Successful Start Like many other journalists working in restrictive environments, Luganskaya interacts with her sources on a secure messaging app, Telegram. Apps like Telegram and Signal encrypt the data they transmit, so they cant turn it over under a court order. As my colleague Kaveh Waddell has noted, this isnt a bad idea for American journalists, either, especially those concerned about protecting their anonymous sources. Kecheng Fang, who worked as a political reporter for the Chinese Southern Weekly newspaper from 2010 to 2013, also said a fax, in his case one bearing an official seal, was the only channel through which to ask questions of policy-makersand usually, the request was denied. Instead, he tried to find sources outside the government, rely on datasets, or establish personal connections with overworked, spooked ministers. Most government officials in China are very stressed out, he said. If you really have empathy or compassion with them, and you know what the problem is, they might be willing to talk to you. Damian Pachter, a former journalist for the Buenos Aires Herald, was forced to flee to Israel last year after he broke the news of the suspicious death of a prosecutor. Pachter sensed he was being followed by a government security official, so he flew to Tel Aviv by way of Uruguay and Spain. Soon after, a Twitter account of the former Argentine presidents residence, the Casa Rosada, posted his flight details. Pachter said such a breach would be hard to imagine in the U.S. under Trump. Colleagues of his, he said, were also followed and had their phones tapped; at her few press conferences, former president Cristina Kirchner generally only took questions from loyal journalists. You just get habituated to that, he said. Hed try to meet people in person instead. Poland, too, saw a crackdown on the press after the right-wing Law and Justice party, one of the continents most conservative, came to power in 2015. It tightened the governments grip on public news services, including the right to hire and fire journalists. An undersecretary at the culture ministry told Deutsche Welle that he hopes the national mission will be the focus of programming going forward. They are doing pure propaganda, Putin-style, said Bartosz Wielinski, a journalist with Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily based in Warsaw. Meanwhile, non-public outlets like his are not allowed to fly together with the president, prime minister, and other members of the cabinet, he said. They are simply not picking up calls from our editorial office or not responding to emails. They are simply attacking us, during the parliamentary debates, during their interviews with other journalists, during their speeches, saying that were evil. They try to create a bad image of us, try to convince the population that were lying. And they have forbidden state-owned companies to put any advertisements in our journal. He said that although the U.S. does not have these problems now, when I see how Donald Trump is addressing CNN coverage, that would be a problem. I would be afraid. Cinar Kiper, an Atlantic contributor, was working as a reporter in Istanbul before his newspaper was seized, he said, by a government trustee. Now, he and many other journalists find themselves chronically underemployed. VPNsprivate internet networks that are harder to surveilhave become commonplace for journalists there, he said. One thing Turkish journalists find ourselves doing is tempering what we writeauto-censorshipout of fear, he said. Not just of the government, but also of its supporters, who have no issue taking matters into their own hands. Kiper sees limits to how much Trump can realistically gut the press, but he does spot similarities between Trumps and Turkish President Erdogans attitudes toward the media. [Trump] might not be able to shut down The New York Times, but if he makes the Times untrustworthy for millions of Americans, thats what he really banks on, he said. Perhaps the only silver lining for these reporters has been that desperation breeds creativity. They lean more heavily on non-government sources and dream up innovative types of coverage and new distribution channels, like sending their reports out on Whatsapp. In China, for instance, most of Fangs stories were heavily redacted by internal censors, under the direction of a propaganda department. So he started writing about material that was publicly available, but not widely known, in a column called Common Sense. It was a recurring feature meant to elucidate complex policy issueshow the countrys opaque annual political meetings work, for instancerather than break news. If you do not have access to Trump, Fang said, then perhaps you can explain the relationship between the Supreme Court and the legislators. Because actually American citizens are not very well-informed, so sometimes what we consider common sense is largely unknown to the general public. This kind of information is fundamental. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. President Trump on Monday reiterated his promise to slash the tax rate for individuals, and for American businesses: We are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, he said from his chair in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. Trumps tax plan involves collapsing the current seven-tier bracket system into just three brackets; those who make less than $75,000 would pay 12%, Americans with earnings between $75,000-$225,000 would pay 25% and workers with incomes of more than $225,000 would pay 33%. Under these reforms, taxpayers making between $48,652 and $88,148 annually would save between $1,174 and $7,052, according to the Tax Foundation. The top rate proposed by the new administration (33%) is significantly lower than the maximum rate under President Obama, 43.8%, according to Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform president. [The Republican plan] will offer a standard deduction of $12,000, Norquist told FOX Business. This means, on average, an additional $12K worth of your income will be exempt from taxes as a result of the governments policy. However, the Republicans blueprint for reform offers advantages to Americans beyond the mere reduction in taxes, according to Chris Edwards, director of tax policy at the Cato Institute. The benefits of tax reform for the average family wont be just the tax reduction, but also the higher wages and incomes stemming from greater business investment and hiring. The Tax Foundation found that the Trump plan would raise U.S. wages by about 6%. So for workers earning $50,000 a year, that would be a substantial $3,000 annual wage boost, he told FOX Business. The tax benefits for American businesses are also expected to be substantial. Trump said the new administration will slash the corporate tax rate to 15%-20%, down from the current level of 35%. After attending a meeting with Trump Monday morning, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris expressed his confidence in Trumps forthcoming economic policy bids, saying hes going to make us all more competitive, to a group of reporters gathered outside the White House. Story continues Overall, Norquist believes President Trump and the U.S. House are moving in tandem on tax reform, which is a promising sign for swift approval of the legislation, and for the economy in general. By reducing tax rates for the American taxpayer, it will lower barriers to savings investments and work. [It will be a] big step forward for job security and job growth, Norquist said. Related Articles By Valerie Volcovici and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trumps administration has drawn heavily from the energy industry lobby and pro-drilling think tanks to build its landing team for the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a list of the newly introduced 10-member team seen by Reuters on Monday. The email lists at least three former researchers from think-tanks funded by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch and at least one former lobbyist for the mining industry. Several members of the team have also publicly argued against U.S. efforts to combat climate change, a key function of the EPA under former President Barack Obama. The team's make-up has reinforced expectations that Trump will follow through on his promise to slash U.S. environmental regulation as a way to promote drilling and mining. The team, charged with preparing the agency for new leadership, replaces the initial EPA transition group picked by Trump after the November election but before his swearing-in. Trumps nominee to run the EPA, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, is awaiting Senate confirmation. "We are looking forward to working with the career professionals at the EPA to make this transition work as well as possible, and to carry out the Agencys mission to protect public health and the environment," according to the email. "While transitions are always hard, straight forward honest communication combined with respect for each other will make the process work much better." Charles Munoz was named in the email as White House liaison on the new EPA team. He was a top organizer for Trump in Nevada during his campaign for the White House and helped set up the state's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group funded by the Kochs. Another team member, David Schnare, is a lawyer and environmental scientist who spent 33 years as a staffer at the EPA. More recently Schnare was legal counsel at The Energy & Environment Legal Institute, which has received funding from the Koch brothers-linked Donors Trust fund. The institute describes itself as seeking to correct "onerous federal and state governmental actions that negatively impact energy and the environment." Schnare has also worked at the Center for Environmental Stewardship at the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, which has been funded partially by the Charles Koch Foundation. George Sugiyama, who was part of the initial EPA transition team, is also listed part of the new team. He was chief counsel for Republican Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a vocal climate change doubter. Before working for Inhofe, Sugiyama lobbied on behalf of the National Mining Association. David Kreutzer is also staying on from the initial team. Kreutzer was a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a group funded by foundations controlled by Koch Industries and other energy firms. He has called Obamas efforts to combat climate change costly and unfair to certain industries, and has advocated for more Arctic drilling. The new EPA teams communications director is Doug Ericksen, a current Washington state senator who has served as Trumps deputy campaign director for the northwestern state. Ericksen has a degree in environmental science and serves as chair of the state senates energy and environment committee. He opposes the climate policies of Washington state's Democratic Governor Jay Inslee, including targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Holly Greaves will oversee budget issues on the landing team. She was a senior audit manager at KPMG, and previously worked at Ernst & Young in the firms advisory services position. Other team members included Justin Schwab, the EPA team's legal advisor, who used to work at law firm Baker Hostetler. Washington State Senator Don Benton, a Republican who ran a county environmental department, was also listed, along with Patrick Davis, a Republican political consultant, and Layne Bangerter, an Idaho rancher who worked with Republican U.S. Senator Mike Crapo on wilderness management bills. (Writing by Richard Valdmanis) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f360110%2f17b3f28e-ca01-4865-8d1e-d29a481998eb The Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines will get a second shot under the Trump administration. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive action that may revive the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. Former President Barack Obama rejected the U.S.-to-Canada project in late 2015 on the grounds that it would hurt U.S. efforts to tackle climate change. SEE ALSO: Obama trumps Trump and permanently bans Arctic drilling ahead of inauguration The document clears the way for government approval of the proposed 1,179-mile pipeline from Canada's Alberta tar sands region to refineries in the U.S. Gulf Coast. "We'll see if we can get that pipeline built," Trump told reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office. "A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs, great construction jobs." The actual number of jobs the pipeline would create is likely far smaller. The U.S. State Department has estimated construction would require about 3,900 "average annual" jobs over one year of construction, or 1,950 jobs each year if the pipeline takes two years to build. However, the pipeline would provide less than 100 permanent jobs. Trump also signed an action to advance the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota. Signing orders to move forward with the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines in the Oval Office. pic.twitter.com/OErGmbBvYK Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2017 In December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under Obama denied a crucial permit that would've allowed a key piece of pipeline to run beneath Lake Oahe, a reservoir near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Native American activists and their allies worry that the $3.8 billion project would threaten the region's water supplies and damage sacred sites. Critics also argued the 1,170-mile pipeline would boost U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by enabling more oil production in North Dakota. Story continues Environmental groups immediately responded to Trump's actions, vowing to double down on their opposition against the pipelines they fought for years to block. Trump's approval of Dakota Access is unvarnished corruption. He owns stock in the company building it. #noDAPL https://t.co/z534NpfA26 350 dot org (@350) January 24, 2017 "Indigenous peoples, landowners, and climate activists did everything in our power to stop Keystone XL and Dakota Access, and well do it again," May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, said in a statement. "These orders will only reignite the widespread grassroots opposition to these pipelines and other dirty energy projects. Trump is about to meet the fossil fuel resistance head on. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the moves on the two pipelines would be subject to the terms and conditions being renegotiated by the Trump administration. Trump, as well as Rick Perry, his nominee to be Energy secretary, had financial stakes in the Dakota Access Pipeline through investments Energy Transfer Partners. Trump sold his stake in the company in December, and Perry stepped down from the board of that firm and another Dakota Access builder, Sunoco Logistics Partners LP in the same month. Energy Transfer Partners' CEO was also a major donor to Trump's campaign as well as the Republican National Committee. These connections were not lost on some critics of Trump's actions on Tuesday. President Trumps decision on the Dakota Access Pipeline today is particularly concerning given his and Energy Secretary nominee Rick Perrys longstanding ties to the builder of the pipeline," said Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, in a statement. The president signed two more executive actions on Tuesday: One declaring that new U.S. pipelines should use pipe produced in the United States, and another that Trump said would streamline the "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process" and reduce regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing. BONUS: Inauguration crowds are looking puny compared to Women's March crowds PM announces to double insurance cover of migrant workers In what would bring cheers to the Nepali migrant workers, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious plan to provide insurance cover to Nepali workers going to India and double the insurance cover for those going to other 110 work destinations. Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States later this year, the White House said after the pair spoke by phone Tuesday. During the call, Trump emphasized that the United States "considers India a true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world," according to a readout of the call. "The two discussed opportunities to strengthen the partnership between the United States and India in broad areas such as the economy and defense. "President Trump looked forward to hosting Prime Minister Modi in the United States later this year." By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump, poised to restore the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, met with key senators on Tuesday and promised to unveil his nominee next week, with three U.S. appeals court judges among those under close consideration. Trump met at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and the top Republican and Democrat on the Judiciary Committee to discuss filling the court's lingering vacancy caused by the death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia more than 11 months ago. The lifetime appointment as a Supreme Court justice requires Senate confirmation. Leonard Leo, a conservative lawyer advising Trump, said the president "has definitely narrowed his focus" and is "looking very seriously" at a short list of candidates. Among the frontrunners are three conservative jurists: Neil Gorsuch, a judge on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Thomas Hardiman, who serves on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; and William Pryor, a judge on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. "Judges Gorsuch and Hardiman and Pryor have received a lot of attention from the president. He knows who they are. He is familiar with their records. He's clearly impressed with their backgrounds," Leo said. All three were appointed to the bench by Republican former President George W. Bush. "I'll be making my decision this week. We'll be announcing next week. We have outstanding candidates, and we will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. The leading candidates all have strong conservative credentials. Gorsuch joined a ruling in 2013 saying that owners of private companies can object on religious grounds to a provision of the Obamacare health insurance law requiring employers to provide insurance covering birth control for women. Hardiman wrote an opinion in 2013 embracing a broad interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's right to bear arms. Pryor has been an outspoken critic of the court's 1973 landmark ruling that legalized abortion. Leo said all three are "very much in the mold of Justice Scalia," who was among the most conservative members of the court. After the meeting with Trump, Schumer said he reiterated that the president "should pick a mainstream nominee who could earn bipartisan support" and that Democrats would fight any nominee they deem outside the mainstream. "I anticipate what we're going to get from the president is a highly qualified, well-credentialed conservative jurist," McConnell told reporters. Trump can name Scalia's replacement because the Republican-led U.S. Senate, in an action with little precedent in U.S. history, last year refused to consider Democratic President Barack Obama's nominee, appeals court judge Merrick Garland. Obama, who handed over power to Trump last Friday, nominated Garland on March 16, but Republican senators led by McConnell denied Garland the customary confirmation hearings and vote. Since Scalia's death, the court has been deadlocked ideologically with four conservative justices and four liberals. A conservative replacement for Scalia would reinstate the court's narrow conservative majority in place for decades. Trump's fellow Republicans have a 52-48 majority in the Senate. Democrats, irate over Garland's rebuff, potentially could try to block the nomination using procedural hurdles. (Additional reporting by Eric Beech and David Shephardson; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Will Dunham) President Ronald Reagan cowed the Soviet Union and eventually brought its leaders to the bargaining table with the threat of a costly space-based nuclear missile system dubbed Star Wars. In March 1983, Reagan formally launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) to develop and deploy an impenetrable shield to protect the U.S. from a Soviet missile attack. Although the U.S. ultimately spent more than $200 billion on a system that was never successfully developed and deployed, Reagans high-stakes defense gambit was credited by many for helping to hasten the end of the Cold War. Related: Trumps Nuke Talk Could Break the Budget or Much, Much Worse Now newly inaugurated President Donald Trump may be trying to play a similar head game with North Koreas 32-year-old leader Kim Jong Un. Kim recently declared that his rogue nation is in the final stages of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear tip capable of reaching parts of the United States. It wont happen! Trump tweeted Jan. 2 in a dismissive rejoinder to Kim, which he followed up with a sharp criticism of China, North Koreas patron, for not doing enough to restrain Kims soaring nuclear ambitions. Last Friday, shortly after Trump was sworn in as the 45th president, the new White House website declared in a policy statement that Trump will rebuild the U.S. military, boost its anti-missile capabilities and make it a top priority to defeat ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups. Now a new addition to Trumps evolving defense posture, the website declared that the United States would develop a state of the art missile defense system to guard against attacks from North Korea, Iran, and other rogue states. Related: Trump Doubles Down on the Threat of a Nuclear Arms Race The announcement was bereft of details about the technical capabilities or the potential cost to taxpayers for a more sophisticated missile defense system than the land-based and seaborne systems currently deployed in California and Alaska and aboard Navy destroyers in the Pacific. Story continues In addition to the missile shield, the Trump White House said a new military budget would be submitted to Congress outlining a plan to rebuild the military and increase cyber-warfare capabilities. We will make it a priority to develop defensive and offensive cyber capabilities at our U.S. Cyber Command, and recruit the best and brightest Americans to serve in this crucial area, the statement declared. Since then, Trump and his aides have had little more to say about their proposed missile defense initiative, leaving defense policy experts to scratch their heads and speculate on what the new president has in mind. Some believe the U.S. doesnt currently have a reliable system to deter North Koreas emerging road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology from delivering nuclear warheads to the U.S. mainland, according to reports. Related: Was Trumps Nuclear Tweet a Poke at Putin? Trump once said that he would be happy to meet with Kim over hamburgers to try to reach an accommodation. Now that they are in power, Trump and his national security advisers are signaling they intend to take a much harder line with the unpredictable and highly dangerous North Korean dictator. Arguably you could say the only anti-ballistic system we have that has some proven track record of success is the sort of mid-course phase intercept system that is deployed in Alaska and California, which is targeted at the North Korean threat, Gordon Adams, a military analyst and historian, said in an interview Monday. Its basically a ground-launched missile system that is capable of taking out North Korean missiles, and that has done reasonably well in tests. I suspect its something that somebody else got to him on or got the White Houses agreement to put it on the website, he added. Beginning in the 1990s, the declared mission of SDI, which became known as the National Missile Defense (NMD) program, changed dramatically. It went from a skies the limit scientific and engineering venture to a more modest goal of preventing the United States from being subjected to nuclear blackmail or nuclear terrorism by a rogue state like North Korea or Iran. Related: The Pentagon Must Now Reveal the True Cost of War to All Americans Unlike the Star Wars program which would likely cost $400 billion or more to replicate in todays dollars the NMD is not equipped to provide a robust shield against large attacks from a technically sophisticated adversary such as Russia. Moreover, it cant handle enemy missiles with multiple warheads, according to Adams. The NMD in time may become less useful as North Korea rushes ahead to develop a long-range nuclear missile program one that would threaten Alaska and the West Coast, and that also poses a more immediate threat to neighboring South Korea and Japan. This may help to explain why Trump decided to sound the alarm and pledge a more up-to-date nuclear defense system last week. Last month, former Defense Secretary Ash Carter called Kims New Years day ballistic missile threat serious. Carter said U.S. forces would shoot down any missile aimed at it or an ally. At present, the U.S. has roughly 40 interceptor missiles deployed at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and the Fort Greely Army launch site in Alaska, near Fairbanks. Their locations are optimized to defend against North Korea but with some capacity against possible future Mideast threats to the homeland, according to Michael OHanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. Related: The Navys $7 Billion Stealth Destroyer Could Be an Unmitigated Disaster' The success of those interceptors in tests has been mixed, so their likely effectiveness is uncertain, OHanlon said in an email. They are already being upgraded, and Trump could simply implement that plan and declare a measure of success. Or he might add other types of technologies too--which are better than they used to be but . . . still not all that great or promising. Finally, Trump might hedge and improve the California/Alaska system while devoting more money for research and development for next-generation ideas without committing to any deployment yet. I'd put my money on that last option based on the politics and the military/strategic dimensions of the situation, OHanlon said. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: MOLCAXAC, Mexico (AP) Tamara Alcala Dominguez sobbed, barely able to speak, as she buried her face in the sweater of the woman who cared for her when she was a toddler. "My little girl, I hugged you so much," Petra Bello Suarez told her now 23-year-old granddaughter, tears dampening her own creased cheeks. "I have you in my arms, my girl. ... You found me still alive." Alcala's mother left her with Bello at age 2 when she went to seek a better life in the United States. A year later, the little girl joined her mother and for two decades Alcala's undocumented status prevented her from returning to Mexico to see her grandmother and other relatives. Then she became one of the hundreds of thousands protected from deportation under an Obama administration program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which gave work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S as children and living in the country illegally. Alcala burst out of the shadows. In her American home of Everett, Washington, she got an officially sanctioned job and pursued an education with dreams of becoming a doctor. And last year she enrolled in a special program that allowed her to make this, her first journey back to Mexico, and then return safely again to the United States. Grandmother and grandchild spent nearly two weeks catching up on 20 years, a reunion made bittersweet by the uncertainty ahead: They said their goodbyes just before Donald Trump took office amid vows to undo the protections his predecessor put in place, promises that leave immigrants worried about what comes next. For Alcala, the trip may have been either a last opportunity to see her grandmother, or a chance to reacquaint herself with her native land in case she winds up deported. "It brings a lot of peace of mind to know that I was able to interact with her at least once," she said, "before whatever happens in the future." ___ Story continues In the weeks just before Trump was sworn in, more than two dozen young immigrants made the same journey as Alcala back to Mexico under a provision of DACA that lets recipients apply to leave the U.S. for academic reasons or family emergencies and then legally return. The Associated Press traveled with them. More than 100 former child migrants have made five such trips sponsored by California State University, Long Beach emotional journeys to what is often a barely remembered homeland, to reunite with family seen only in photos or on Skype. The students on this trip scattered across Mexico to join long-lost relatives for Christmas, then gathered after the new year for an academic course in Cuernavaca before flying home to America. About 750,000 people in the United States have enrolled in DACA. Legislation that would have included similar protections, called the DREAM Act, failed to get through Congress, prompting President Barack Obama to create the program with an executive action in 2012, declaring at the time, "We are a better nation than one that expels innocent young kids." Trump has a different take. He made tough talk on immigration a cornerstone of his campaign for president and has vowed to end DACA, calling it illegal amnesty. At the same time, he's said he hopes to "work something out" for the immigrants. Moderate Republicans are keenly aware of the political dangers of deporting college students and future doctors and lawyers and breaking up families. At a town hall Jan. 12, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans had been working with the Trump team on a solution and vowed there would be no "deportation force," as Trump once said, to round up people living in the country illegally. "I can see you love your daughter, you are a nice person who has a great future ahead of you, and I hope your future is here," Ryan told one DACA recipient and her daughter at the town hall. But the details of what that solution might look like have not been released, and immigrants have spent the opening days of Trump's presidency on edge. Asked about DACA, Trump's spokesman said Monday that the president would focus first on border security and those with criminal records who live illegally in the U.S. Still, Trump's rhetoric cast a shadow over those who traveled to Mexico. Alvaro Castillo Garcia, a 23-year-old master's student in creative writing at California State University, Northridge, recalled how, before DACA, he had to constantly hide his illegal status amid fears of deportation. "You can't drive, you can't even take a girl on a date because you're going to have to ask her for a ride, you know?" Castillo said. "For the most part we lie about where we were born. We make up stories of why we can't go see relatives. And DACA ... kind of granted us that liberty to feel part of society, because it allowed us to feel human." Ending the program would be like "giving candy to a baby and then taking it away," he said. "We're not babies. ... And I don't think it's going to be taken lightly. I don't think people will be quiet about it." Like Alcala, Castillo and the others who made the trip originally left Mexico as toddlers or teenagers. Their stories show how DACA has allowed immigrants to abandon poorly paid, off-the-books jobs to pursue lives that had been out of reach. Some are college students majoring in social services or theater. Others work with special-needs children, as a college counselor, in accounting, as a retail store manager. One aspires to be a police officer. They spoke of pride in representing their families, and guilt that their parents and siblings were unable to make the same trip. Some feared they'd be seen as haughty because of their lives in the U.S. or odd because of their imperfect Spanish. One man had heard that his grandmother wanted nothing to do with him. Weighing heavily on all their minds was the knowledge that they would be returning to the United States just five days before Trump's inauguration. "There's more concern, more fear because of the change in the political realities," said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a lecturer in Chicano studies at CSU Long Beach who leads the cross-border course. "But ... they're driven by the fact that this could be the last opportunity." ___ Soft-spoken and shy, Alcala's demeanor reflects an upbringing living with fear of deportation. Growing up, her family mostly kept to themselves and a few friends. Alcala's mother encouraged her not to speak Spanish outside the home to avoid attracting attention. She wasn't to let on that she was Mexican, and never to tell people where her mother worked. "I always felt like I always had to hide everything," Alcala said. Through high school, Alcala was content with her under-the-table restaurant job. But as college neared, the limitations of her legal status became increasingly clear. Her job was never going to be enough to pay for tuition. She began to question why her mother brought her to the U.S. "What's the point of dreaming if you're not going to be able to follow through?" she said. Then one day, at age 19, her life changed. News popped up on her phone about Obama's executive action. Earlier in the day she had experienced the humiliation of being asked for a Social Security number while applying for a hospital position. She arrived at her restaurant job with puffy eyes, determined to immediately apply for DACA. Alcala was accepted, quit the restaurant job and pursued a student position in a lab at the University of Washington. She recently graduated, and is working while studying for medical school entry exams. Her grandmother and great-grandmother were curanderas, traditional healers in Mexico, and she doesn't think it's a coincidence that she was drawn to the medical profession. An end to DACA could scuttle her plans. Being a "normal" student, she said, "made me feel less alone." Last year, just before the November election, Alcala stumbled on a blog that talked about how some people with protection under DACA could travel, and that led her to Vazquez-Ramos' program. For the first time, Alcala had hopes of being with the grandmother she barely knew. And with Bello now 75 years old and suffering from hypertension, diabetes and other ailments, Alcala was determined not to repeat the anguish she felt when her grandfather died of prostate cancer before she could see him. "I said to myself, I'm gonna apply," Alcala said. "This is the year." ___ Molcaxac, where Alcala was born, is a dusty village about a 90-minute drive southeast of Puebla state's eponymous capital city. A colorful arch decorated with religious imagery welcomes visitors. It was put up with the help of donations from her grandmother's family. On a recent day, about a dozen people sat on plastic chairs on the edge of town gulping down orange soda and cola and eating goat slow-steamed in a covered fire pit with agave fronds for flavoring. Folks here say so many working-age residents have migrated to the U.S., the town is mostly populated by the elderly and the very young. Oswaldo Lorenzo Cabrera Medel, a family friend who is also something of a municipal historian, estimated that 95 percent of families in Molcaxac have relatives north of the border who send money to help pay for everything from home additions to startup capital for small businesses and a fireworks show at the annual town fair. The first wave of migration started in 1942 with the bracero program, which allowed Mexicans to temporarily and legally work in the United States. After the program ended in 1964, people continued to go north illegally. Alcala's grandfather was a bracero. With the money he made in California, he purchased a large lot across the street from the main square that has been subdivided among family members who live in a cluster of two-story homes around a common patio. On the drive from Mexico City, Alcala was re-introduced to her birthplace as an aunt sought to explain the unfamiliar: How in this part of the country, many people get around on bike or horseback. How in one neighboring town, everyone makes a living manufacturing and selling fireworks. At a toll plaza on the highway, vendors approached cars hawking sweets and beverages; one man held up two small fluffy dogs. "They're selling puppies!" Alcala squealed. Then she was back in her grandmother's arms. Once the crying stopped, Alcala dined on salty carne asada and the rich mole sauce for which Puebla state is famous. She leaned her head on Bello's shoulder while flipping through her smartphone photos. She skipped around the backyard checking out the peacocks the family raises for their ornamental feathers, and the two giant ostriches whose eggs they sell. She played hide-and-seek with cousins. Alcala followed Bello everywhere to the store, to meet neighbors and, clutching tightly to grandma, to the town holiday party, where a priest celebrated Mass. They said goodbye in Cuernavaca, with Alcala's grandmother promising to teach her even more the next time they are together. Alcala promised that would happen, even though she couldn't really be sure. "I told her this still wasn't the last goodbye," Alcala said. "I told her I'd find a way to go visit her." And once more, they clung to each other and cried. ___ On Inauguration Day, Alcala was back in Washington state as all eyes were on Trump and whatever new policies might come. At least 22,340 DACA recipients have received special permission to travel out of the country and return. For those, that trip back to the U.S. puts a legal entry on their records, which can help toward eventually gaining permanent legal status through sponsorship or marriage, said Jorge Baron of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Alcala doesn't know what she'll do if her DACA protection ends under Trump; because her younger sister was born in the U.S., Alcala could apply for a family reunification visa. But sibling sponsorship is a long road, with a backlogged application process. For now, she's grateful for both her life in the United States and the time she had back in Mexico. During the class session in Cuernavaca, Alcala heard from other migrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but were not there during DACA and either got deported or left voluntarily. Their stories, and the days spent with her grandmother, provided the glimpse she needed into what life would be like if deported. She would still pursue her dreams; the pursuit would simply be harder. "I feel better, like 100 percent better. Before, I was just thinking the worst," she said. "If I get deported, I'd know nothing. I didn't know my family well. I had no clue what'd be awaiting me." Now, she said, "I'm not scared ... anymore." And as she settled back into life in the country she for now calls home, Alcala had a message for President Trump: "What's the worst you can do, send me back to Mexico? Now I know I can succeed (in Mexico) or in the States. It was a great burden off my shoulders ... to not fear Mexico." ___ Follow Valdes and Orsi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ByManuelValdes and https://twitter.com/Peter_Orsi CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed ways to boost the fight against terrorism and extremism on Monday and the new American leader underscored his commitment to bilateral ties, the two countries said. Trump told Sisi in a telephone call he appreciated the difficulties faced by Egypt in its "war on terror" and affirmed his administration's commitment to supporting the country, Sisi's spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement. "The U.S. president also expressed during the call his looking forward to the president's awaited visit to Washington which is being prepared for through diplomatic channels," the statement said. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a news briefing that Trump and Sisi "discussed ways to deepen the bilateral relationship and support Egypt's fight against terrorists." "President Trump underscored the United States remains strongly committed to the bilateral relationship, which has helped both countries overcome challenges in the region for decades," Spicer added. He said Trump indicated he was committed to ensuring that U.S. military assistance to Egypt effectively supports the Egyptian military's fight against terrorism. Trump also commended Sisi for his efforts to deal with Egypt's economic challenges and offered to discuss how the United States could support its economic reforms, Spicer said. (Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Cairo; additional reporting by Jeff Mason and David Alexander in Washington; Editing by Catherine Evans and Lisa Shumaker) By Lisa Lambert and David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dialing back the Volcker Rule that limits banks' ability to engage in speculative investments is a top priority for President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, according to a document seen by Reuters on Monday. In written responses to questions posed by members of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, Mnuchin said he would use his role as head of the interagency Financial Stability Oversight Council to give the Volcker Rule a stricter definition of proprietary trading. In "prop trading" a financial firm uses its own money to invest in privately held companies, hedge funds and similar vehicles. The Volcker rule was designed to limit the type of risk-taking activities that helped land banks in trouble during the financial crisis. "As Chair of FSOC I would plan to address the issue of the definition of the Volcker Rule to make sure that banks can provide the necessary liquidity for customer markets and address the issues in the Fed report," Mnuchin wrote in the document, which also included senators' questions and was verified by a Senate aide. During his confirmation hearing with the Senate Finance Committee last week, Mnuchin cited a recent Federal Reserve report that found the rule, part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform law, was limiting market liquidity. The committee has not yet scheduled a date to vote to send the nomination to the full chamber for approval. Regulators have applied proprietary trading prohibitions to too many activities, he said. The Fed report found that ambiguity and gray areas in the rule were pushing dealers to conservative strategies to ensure they did not cross the line on the prohibitions. In the responses Mnuchin also made it clear he believes the rule should only apply to "a bank that benefits from federal deposit insurance." The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guarantees retail deposits at about 6,000 banks, including the consumer banking arms of the country's largest investment banks. Story continues The law currently applies to banks that have access to the Federal Reserve's discount window or other government backstop. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat who serves on the Finance Committee, wrote that uninsured investment banks also pose risks that the rule, named for former Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker, was supposed to address. "As we saw during the financial crisis, when nonbanking affiliates of FDIC insured banks failed, they were rescued by their insured affiliates, which in turn were forced to be rescued by taxpayers," she wrote. "This was the case with State Street Bank, and your former employer, Goldman Sachs, which converted to a bank holding company in order to be eligible for federal bailout funds." Mnuchin reiterated that an updated version of the 1933 Glass-Steagall law that had long separated commercial and investment banking should be instated to reduce risks. The law was repealed in 1999. Mnuchin has not shared details of his "21st Century Glass-Steagall," but hinted it would be looser than the original. "A bright line between commercial and investment banking, although less complicated, may inhibit the necessary lending and capital markets activities to support a robust economy," he wrote. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Linda Stern and Leslie Adler) Kuwait City (AFP) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday the new US administration was "fully committed" to the Western military alliance despite strong criticism from President Donald Trump. "I am absolutely certain that President Trump and the new US administration will be fully committed to NATO and to the transatlantic partnership," Stoltenberg said in Kuwait City. The NATO chief also said he had received assurances from both Trump and his Defence Secretary James Mattis of continued US support for the alliance. "I spoke with President Trump a few days after he was elected in November and he conveyed a very strong message to me that he personally was very committed to NATO and the transatlantic partnership," Stoltenberg said. He said he also spoke with Mattis on Monday "who expressed strong support to NATO". "I am absolutely certain that the new US administration ... will support strengthening NATO," Stoltenberg said in Kuwait where he inaugurated a first NATO centre in the Gulf region. The NATO chief said he totally agreed with Trump and Mattis that European financial contributions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation must increase. "European allies have to spend more, have to invest more on defence... We have seen some progress but there is a long way to go," Stoltenberg said. The Pentagon said on Monday that Mattis reassured NATO allies that Washington had an "unshakeable commitment" to the military alliance, despite Trump having previously deriding the organisation as "obsolete". The truthfulness of President Donald Trump and those surrounding him in the White House is and will continue to be a subject of intense media interest over the coming years. From Saturdays falsehood-littered first media briefing to a meeting Monday night in which Trump insisted to lawmakers -- against all evidence -- that he had only lost the popular vote because millions of fraudulent votes were cast, the new administration has shown that it cares little about the literal truth of the information it gives the American public. The mainstream media reaction has been palpably angry. In a remarkable series of tweets last night, The New York Times called out Trump and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer for a collection of untruths. On its front page Tuesday, the paper addressed the presidents claim about voter fraud with a headline that flatly said he was lying: Meeting with Top Lawmakers, Trump Repeats an Election Lie. Related: How the Senate Could Stop Trump's Drive to Slash Federal Spending So far, most of the new administrations mendacity has been focused on things that appear to embarrass Trump. That includes things like his popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton or the acres of empty space on the National Mall during his inauguration and the countless empty seats along the route of the parade that followed. But as the inauguration fades into the past, what will be really instructive about the future direction of the Trump administration is how it deals with a different kind of fact -- the ones that, unlike crowd size and whether the skies miraculously cleared as soon as Trump began his inaugural address, actually have an impact on the lives of the American people. Thats what one reporter at Spicers Monday afternoon press briefing appeared to be trying to get at when she asked him What is the average national unemployment rate? What many saw as a strange gotcha type query meant to catch Spicer out over a specific statistic, was really something else entirely. The official unemployment rate is currently 4.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but on the campaign trail, Trump frequently insisted that the official figures are fraudulent, insisting that the real rate could be as high as 42 percent. Story continues Related: 5 States That Would Get Hit Hardest in a Trump Trade War The issue the question was trying to probe is whether or not the Trump administration is going to accept the assessment of economists and other experts when they do their best to gather hard evidence about the state of the country. To his credit, Spicer gave a rough description of how the BLS looks at unemployment in the country, pointing out that the official rate is one of several measures that the agency takes so that economists can view them and...look at different landscapes on...how to make economic policy. Without trying to defend Trumps indefensible 42 percent claim, Spicer promised that in the White House, [the] economic team is going to look at a multitude of statistics and drive economic policies. However, Spicer also made it plain that when his boss thinks about things like unemployment and job creation, he is less focused on hard numbers than he is on what is, effectively, anecdotal evidence. Related: Why Trump's Family and Friends Are in for Heavy Financial Scrutiny [W]hen he sees people that are hurting, that haven't had wages lifted up, that are unemployed, that can't save for their kids future, that are having a trouble with their healthcare costs, that's what he really cares about, Spicer said. He added, Those are the kinds of things the president, he's not focused on statistics as much as he is on whether or not the American people are doing better as a whole. Spicer defended Trumps focus on relatively trivial actions, like pressuring the Carrier company to preserve between 800 and 1,000 jobs in Indiana -- not even a rounding error in national employment numbers -- rather than focusing on the bigger picture. I think for too often in Washington, we get our heads wrapped around a number and a statistic, Spicer continued. And we look at and we forget the faces and the families and the businesses that are behind those numbers. And so, I think that's where his head's at, is trying to look at those people that come to his rallies, that have come to his event, that he's met with in person that are struggling and say, Mr. Trump, I'm working as hard as I can. I'm working two jobs, I'm doing everything by the rules, and I keep getting screwed. Related: Trump Escalates His War With Media On First Full Day in Office The thing is, the United States is a big country. Somebodys always getting screwed somewhere. Somebody else is also getting really rich. But lots and lots of other people are muddling along somewhere in the middle. The chance that someone motivated enough by their own circumstances to come to a rally or to cut a politician a big check falls in that broad middle is probably a lot smaller than Trump and his team seem to want to admit. Many people close to Trump have complained that the person who has the most influence over his decision-making is, frequently, the last person he spoke to. What the nation and the media will need to be vigilant about in the years ahead is the danger of federal policy guided more by anecdote and feeling than by provable facts and well-researched figures. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Rebuilding Kathmandu Anthropologist Veena Das foregrounds the dual nature of everyday life through her work on the everyday practices of the urban poor in India. By Ben Blanchard and David Brunnstrom BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it had "irrefutable" sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea after the White House vowed to defend "international territories" in the strategic waterway. White House spokesman Sean Spicer in his comments on Monday signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China's assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia. "The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson. On Jan. 11, Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. "It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," Spicer said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing on Tuesday "the United States is not a party to the South China Sea dispute". China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claims parts of the sea that commands strategic sealanes and has rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits. China's sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea was "irrefutable" Hua said. But China was also dedicated to protecting freedom of navigation and wants talks with nations directly involved to find a peaceful solution. "We urge the United States to respect the facts, speak and act cautiously to avoid harming the peace and stability of the South China Sea," Hua said. "Our actions in the South China Sea are reasonable and fair. No matter what changes happen in other countries, what they say or what they want to do, China's resolve to protect its sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea will not change," she added. BAR ACCESS TO ISLANDS Tillerson's remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say at the time that the United States would need to "wage war" to bar China's access to the islands, where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems. Tillerson was asked at the hearing whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China and said: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands. But analysts said his comments, like those of Spicer, suggested the possibility of U.S. military action, or even a naval blockade. Such action would risk an armed confrontation with China, an increasingly formidable nuclear-armed military power. It is also the world's second-largest economy and the target of Trump accusations it is stealing American jobs. Spicer declined to elaborate when asked how the United States could enforce such a move against China, except to say: "I think, as we develop further, we'll have more information on it." Tillerson narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday and is expected to win confirmation from the full Senate. RISK OF DANGEROUS ESCALATION Military experts said that while the U.S. Navy has extensive capabilities in Asia to stage blockading operations with ships, submarines and planes, any such move against China's growing naval fleets would risk a dangerous escalation. Aides have said that Trump plans a major naval build-up in East Asia to counter China's rise. China's foreign ministry said earlier this month it could not guess what Tillerson meant by his remarks, which came after Trump questioned Washington's longstanding and highly sensitive "one-China" policy over Taiwan. Washington-based South China Sea expert Mira Rapp-Hooper at the Center for a New American Security called the threats to bar China's access in the South China Sea "incredible" and said it had no basis in international law. "A blockade - which is what would be required to actually bar access - is an act of war," she added. "The Trump administration has begun to draw red lines in Asia that they will almost certainly not be able to uphold, but they may nonetheless be very destabilizing to the relationship with China, invite crises, and convince the rest of the world that the United States is an unreliable partner." Bonnie Glaser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank called Spicer's remarks "worrisome" and said the new administration was "sending confusing and conflicting messages." Dean Cheng, a China expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Spicer's remarks showed the South China Sea was an important issue for the Trump administration. He said it was significant that neither Spicer nor Tillerson had been specific as to what actions would be taken and this left open the possibility that economic measures - instead of military steps - could be used against China and firms that carry out island building. (Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington, and Christian Shepherd in Beijing; Editing by Andrew Hay and Bill Tarrant) WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump holds the most powerful office in the world. But he's dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote in the election and a persistent frustration that the legitimacy of his presidency is being challenged by Democrats and the media, aides and associates say. Trump's fixation has been a drag on the momentum of his opening days in office, with his exaggerations about inauguration crowds and false assertions about illegal balloting intruding on advisers' plans to launch his presidency with a flurry of actions on the economy. His spokesman Sean Spicer has twice stepped into the fray himself, including on Tuesday, when he doubled down on Trump's false claim that he lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally cast ballots. "He believes what he believes based on the information he was provided," said Spicer, who provided no evidence to back up the president's statements. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have finalized their election results with no reports of the kind of widespread fraud that Trump is alleging. If the president's claim were true it would mark the most significant election fraud in U.S. history and ironically, would raise the same questions about Trump's legitimacy that he's trying to avoid. Yet Spicer repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether the Trump administration would investigate the allegations pushed by the president. "Anything is possible," he said. Some Trump allies say Trump is justified in using his platform to defend his standing. They point to Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis' pre-inauguration statement that he did not see Trump as a legitimate president, as well as U.S. intelligence agencies' assessment that Russia meddled in the election in order to help Trump win. "Segments of his own government keep driving this narrative," said Roger Stone, a longtime confidant. "I don't think it hurts to point it out." Story continues Key advisers in Trump's circle concede the focus on crowd claims and alleged voter fraud have been a distraction. But who's going to stop him from airing his complaints? After relishing in Friday's inaugural festivities, the new president grew increasingly upset the next day by what he felt was "biased" media coverage of women's marches across the globe protesting his election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Trump was particularly enraged with CNN, which he thought was "gloating" by continually running photos of the women's march alongside the smaller crowds that attended his inauguration the day before, according to this person, one of several White House aides and associates who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. Tuesday night on Twitter, Trump slammed CNN again, referring to the network as "FAKE NEWS @CNN" while praising rival Fox News Channel. Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with the press, frequently calling the media dishonest and insulting individual reporters by name at his rallies and on Twitter. Still, two people close to Trump said he expected his coverage to turn more favorable once he took office. Instead, he's told people he believes it's gotten worse. The bad press over the weekend has not allowed Trump to "enjoy" the White House as he feels he deserves, according to one person who has spoken with him. The result has been a full display of Trump's propensity for exaggeration and more. During an appearance at the CIA Saturday, he wrongly said the inaugural crowds gathered on the National Mall stretched to the Washington Monument, despite clear photo evidence to the contrary. And during a reception with lawmakers from both parties Monday night, he repeated his false assertion that millions of illegal immigrants provided Hillary Clinton's margin in the popular vote. It's not the first time that Trump, who is known to be both thin-skinned and dedicated to polishing his public image, has become fixated on details that challenge his success. When journalist Timothy O'Brien wrote in a 2005 book that Trump was a multimillionaire, not a billionaire, the real estate mogul sued him for $5 billion. The case was dismissed. Trump appealed, accusing the journalist of libel. He lost that, too. Spicer hinted at Trump's feelings during his maiden press briefing on Monday. "There is this constant theme to undercut the enormous support that he has," Spicer said. "And I think that it's just unbelievably frustrating when you're continually told it's not big enough, it's not good enough, you can't win." Less than one week into the administration, Spicer has twice been sent to the White House briefing room to reiterate his boss' message. Trump is said to have approved of Spicer's angry tirade against the media on Saturday, which included false statements about the inaugural crowds. But the president, who is intensely focused on optics, was said to be critical of Spicer's on-camera image. By Monday, Spicer was donning a darker suit and his lectern in the briefing room had been lowered somewhat. Underscoring Trump's habit of stoking rivalries among his staff, he has told people he wants his counselor Kellyanne Conway to be on television more. He cheered her use of the phrase "alternative facts" in a recent interview as a way to counteract what he believes is the media's inherent bias. Those around Trump are trying to get the cable news consumer-in-chief to be near a television less often, according to one person who has spoken with him. ___ AP writer Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/jonlemire By Toni Clarke and Susan Cornwell (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's nominee to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told a congressional panel on Tuesday that he does not support the privatization of Medicare and defended his ethics record. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Finance, one of two committees that oversee the health department, Representative Tom Price said his position was consistent with that of Trump, who has stated he does not want to cut the federal health program for the elderly. Price, a Georgia orthopedic surgeon, previously supported privatization of Medicare. But he told lawmakers his role as health secretary would be very different from his role as a congressman and that his job would be to execute the wishes of Congress. "I would just convey to the Medicare population of this nation, they dont have reason to be concerned," he said. "We look forward to assisting them in getting the care and coverage that they need." Senator Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the committee, questioned Price about his stock trading while a lawmaker, including in health industry stocks that could be affected directly by legislation. "It is hard to see this as anything but a conflict of interest and an abuse of position," Wyden said. Price defended the stock holdings, saying "everything that I did was ethical, above board, legal and transparent." Separately, Republican lawmakers began dismantling former President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Two House of Representatives committees held hearings on Tuesday. Others will follow with the goal of putting in place "thoughtful, step-by-step reforms that offer Americans more choices, greater access, and higher-quality care at lower costs," the chairman of the Ways and Means committee, Kevin Brady, said in remarks to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Price sidestepped questions about the impact of an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office targeting Obamacare but said he is committed to carrying out "the law of the land." Democrats also grilled Price on his plans for the Medicaid health program covering poor Americans. A senior Trump adviser, Kellyanne Conway, said in an interview on NBC's "Sunday Today" show that Trump's plan to replace Obamacare will include fixed payments from the government to the states to care for Medicaid patients. These payments, known as block grants, contrast with the current system in which states share the actual cost of Medicaid enrollees with the federal government. Conway said converting to a block grant system would ensure that people in charge of administering the program are "those who are closest to the people" who need care. Price has long advocated block grants for Medicaid but declined on Tuesday to overtly re-state his position, saying only that he would work to make sure "people have better healthcare, not less healthcare." Tuesday's hearing followed a similar hearing last week by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which also oversees the health department. Only the finance committee members will vote on the nomination. (Reporting by Toni Clarke and Susan Cornwell in Washington; additional reporting by Caroline Humer in New York; Editing by Tom Brown) Washington (AFP) - Two more of President Donald Trump's cabinet picks advanced toward confirmation Tuesday including US ambassador-designate to the United Nations Nikki Haley, but Democrats delayed consideration of his nominee for attorney general. Haley, a Republican governor of South Carolina, was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a voice vote that advances her nomination to the Senate floor. Trump has just three cabinet members in place so far -- Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA director Mike Pompeo, who was confirmed and sworn in late Tuesday. A confirmation vote for Haley, 45, could come as early as Tuesday if Democrats do not put up an objection. Trump has signalled he would like to slash US funding for United Nations climate change programs, and he opposed a recent UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel that Barack Obama's adminstration had declined to veto. Haley won the backing of Democratic Senator Ben Cardin because, he said, "she does not support efforts to slash American funding to the UN and that she would consistently vocalize US values, including universal human rights, good governance, and press and religious freedom." Meanwhile another Senate panel, also by voice vote, advanced the nomination of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to be Trump's secretary of housing and urban development despite his lack of experience in the field. Carson, 65, was a Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination last year. If confirmed he would be the only African-American member of the cabinet. A committee vote on Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's attorney general pick, was pushed back by one week, as Democrats expressed deep concerns about his record on civil rights and immigration. Sessions was the Senate's earliest public supporter of Trump after the billionaire real estate mogul launched his unorthodox campaign, and he was rewarded with a plum nomination to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Other nominees facing hearings Tuesday included congressman Tom Price, Trump's pick for health secretary and a strong advocate of repealing the Affordable Care Act; Linda McMahon, a wrestling tycoon tapped to head the Small Business Administration; and congressman Mick Mulvaney, Trump's choice for White House Budget Director. Cabinet nominees require a simple majority for confirmation in the 100-seat Senate, where Republicans control 52 seats. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's dealers will receive an average of $1.85 million in a $1.2 billion settlement approved by a U.S. judge on Monday over its diesel emissions scandal. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the 650 U.S. dealers would be paid over 18 months, ruling the settlement "fair, reasonable, and adequate." VW also agreed to keep making volume-based incentive payments to dealers, and will allow them to defer capital improvements for two years. In total, VW has now agreed to spend up to $22 billion in the United States to address claims from owners, environmental regulators, U.S. states and dealers stemming from the excess vehicle emissions. VW admitted in September 2015 to installing secret software in its diesel cars to cheat exhaust emissions tests and make them appear cleaner in testing than they really were. In reality, the vehicles emitted up to 40 times the legally allowable pollution levels and dealers say the resulting scandal tarnished the brand and cost them sales. VW North American Chief Executive Officer Hinrich Woebcken said earlier the company believed the agreement with "dealers is a very important step in our commitment to making things right for all our stakeholders in the United States." Beyond the $1.2 billion cash payments, the settlement is valued at total of more than $1.6 billion for the VW brand dealers, said law firm Hagens Berman in a statement. The settlement includes $270 million through a provision for prior payments and $175 million in the continued sales incentives. "The Volkswagen-branded franchise dealer class-action settlement finalized today represents an outstanding result for Volkswagens affected franchise dealers who, like consumers, were blindsided by the brazen fraud that VW perpetrated," said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and lead attorney for the dealers. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker) By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it will need a total of $8 billion this year to provide life-saving assistance to millions of Syrians inside their shattered homeland and to refugees and their host communities in neighboring countries. The first part, a $4.63 billion appeal for 5 million Syrian refugees - 70 percent of whom are women and children - was launched at a Helsinki conference. Funds will be used to provide food, rent, education and health care. A separate appeal for an estimated $3.4 billion to fund its humanitarian operation to help 13.5 million people inside Syria after nearly six years of war, is being finalised. "The crisis in Syria remains one of most complex, volatile and violent in the world," U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told a news conference. Attempts to end the conflict in Syria have so far failed. After two-day talks, Iran, Russia and Turkey earlier announced a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with a ceasefire. "Of course we fear that it will get worse," O'Brien said. "And even if peace was to take place from tonight, the humanitarian needs within Syria would continue for a good time to come." Five countries - Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt - host nearly 5 million Syrian refugees, a "staggering number", with few in camps, U.N. refugee chief Filippo Grandi said. "Even if Syrians have stopped arriving in Europe in any significant numbers, I hope that everybody realizes that the Syria refugee crisis has not gone away and continues to affect millions in host communities and continues to be a tragic situation," he said. It was too early to say whether any solution would lead to further displacement or people returning to their homes. "There is uncertainty surrounding the political process, we all hope that it will move in the right direction, but we can't tell. We've had disappointments in the past," Grandi said. Providing livelihoods and restoring basic utilities are a priority in Syria, said Helen Clark, administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP). "Even were there to be a political settlement tomorrow, we would still be here seeking support for humanitarian relief for a country that has been brought to its knees, with 85 percent living in poverty, 50 percent in unemployment and with the severe economic and social impacts on the neighborhood." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Tom Miles and Raissa Kasolowsky) By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it is "racing against the clock" to prepare emergency aid for hundreds of thousands of endangered civilians in Mosul with an Iraqi army offensive looming to oust Islamic State from the western half of the city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed on Tuesday that government forces had taken complete control of eastern Mosul, 100 days after the start of the U.S.-backed campaign to retake Iraq's second largest city from Islamic State (IS) insurgents who seized it in 2014. U.N. officials estimate 750,000 people remain in Mosul west of the Tigris River that flows through the last remaining major urban center held by Islamic State in Iraq, after a series of government counter-offensives in the country's north and west. The west side could prove more complicated to take than the east as it is crisscrossed by streets too narrow for armored vehicles, allowing militants to hide among civilians. The Sunni Muslim jihadists are expected to put up a fierce fight as they are cornered in a shrinking area of Mosul. "We are racing against the clock to prepare for this," U.N. humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande told Reuters. Humanitarian agencies were setting up displaced people camps accessible from western Mosul and pre-positioning supplies in them, she said. "The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing," she said in a separate statement. "Prices of basic food and supplies are soaring...Many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm." Government forces on Tuesday finished clearing the last eastern pocket held by militants - the northern suburb of Rashidiya, Major General Najm al-Jubbouri, commander of the northern front, told the local Mosuliya TV channel. Abadi "announces the total liberation of the west side of Mosul", state television reported. New U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has sent messages offering to increase the level of assistance to Iraq, Iraqi state television quoted Abadi as saying. Trump has made the fight against Islamic State a foreign policy priority. ISLAMIC STATE LAUNCHED "CALIPHATE" FROM MOSUL IN 2014 It was from Mosul's Grand Mosque, on the western side, that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" under his rule in 2014, spanning large tracts of Iraq and Syria. Mosul has been the largest city under IS control in either country, with a pre-war population of about two million. A U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to Iraqi forces in the battle that began on Oct. 17, the biggest in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. More than 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of regional Kurdish security forces and Shi'ite Muslim paramilitaries known as Popular Mobilisation are participating in the offensive. Iraqi forces estimated the number of militants inside Mosul at 5,000-6,000 at the start of operations three months ago, and say 3,300 have been killed in the fighting since. Military preparations to recapture western Mosul have begun, with Popular Mobilisation militia preparing an operation in "the next two-three days" to pave the way for the main offensive on the western bank of the Tigris, the overall campaign commander, Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Yarallah, told Mosuliya TV. Popular Mobilisation is a coalition of predominantly Iranian-trained Shi'ite groups formed in 2014 to join the offensive against Islamic State. It became an official wing of the Iraqi armed forces last year. More than 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive, U.N. officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand. Islamic State has "continued to attack those fleeing or attempting to flee areas that are controlled by it", U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva on Tuesday, and was also shelling districts retaken by the army. She added that air strikes targeting Islamic State insurgents in Mosul had also killed civilians, although facts and casualty figures were hard to verify. The militants blew up a landmark hotel in western Mosul on Friday in an apparent attempt to prevent advancing Iraqi forces from using it as a base or a sniper position once fighting shifts west of the Tigris. The Mosul Hotel, shaped like a stepped pyramid, stands close to the river. State television said the army had set up temporary bridges across the Tigris south of the city limits to allow troops to cross in preparation for the offensive on western districts. Mosul's five permanent bridges across the Tigris have been damaged by U.S.-led air strikes, and IS blew up two. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Tom Miles in Geneva; editing by Mark Heinrich) By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corp Chairman Rex Tillerson, narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday, but is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 to approve Tillerson, with every Republican backing the former oil executive and every Democrat opposing him. His approval by the panel, a victory for Trump, had been in doubt until earlier on Monday, when Senator Marco Rubio, a committee member who had been Tillerson's most vocal Republican critic, said he would back the nominee. Tillerson's confirmation by the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats, is not expected before next week. Democrats want more time to debate and the chamber may not be in session all this week. Rubio's backing had been in doubt after his tough questioning during Tillerson's confirmation hearing, focusing on issues including concerns about Tillerson's support for human rights. Rubio ultimately decided he would approve the nominee in deference to Trump, as well as to fill a critical top job. Democrats said they voted against Tillerson over fears he might lift sanctions on Russia, where he did business for years, questions about his views on human rights and his refusal to recuse himself from matters related to his former employer during his entire term as the top U.S. diplomat. Tillerson pledged to recuse himself only for the year required by law. Amid Democratic anger over allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Tillerson also raised committee hackles by saying he did not know Exxon Mobil lobbied against sanctions on Russia while he was running the company. Senator Ben Cardin, the committee's top Democrat, said Tillerson's "business orientation" and responses at his hearing "could compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined our country and our leading role in the world for more than 200 years." The Senate confirmed only two of Trump's Cabinet nominees on Friday, his Inauguration Day, a relatively low number among recent presidencies. Democrats have been unable to block any of his choices because they changed Senate rules in 2013 to allow nominees to be confirmed with just a majority, not 60 votes. Instead, they have used Senate rules to slow the confirmation of nominees they say hold extreme views, are unqualified or have not completed ethics disclosures. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Peter Cooney) WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) The new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the United States would prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea, something Chinese state media has warned would require Washington to wage war. The comments at a briefing from White House spokesman Sean Spicer signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of Chinas assertive pursuit of territory claims in Asia, just days after Trump took office on Friday. The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there, Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his secretary of state nominee, Rex Tillerson, on Jan. 11 that China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. Its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, he said. Tillersons remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say the United States would need to wage war to bar Chinas access to the islands where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems. Tillerson was asked at the hearing whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China and said: Were going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed. The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands. But analysts said his comments, like those of Spicer, suggested the possibility of U.S. military action, or even a naval blockade, that would risk armed confrontation with China, an increasingly formidable nuclear-armed military power. It is also the worlds second-largest economy and the target of accusations by Trump that it is stealing American jobs. Story continues Spicer declined to elaborate when asked how the United States could enforce such a move against China, except to say: I think, as we develop further, well have more information on it. Tillerson narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday and is expected to win confirmation from the full Senate. Risk of dangerous escalation Military experts said that while the U.S. Navy has extensive capabilities in Asia to stage blockading operations with ships, submarines and planes, any such move against Chinas growing naval fleets would risk dangerous escalation. Aides have said that Trump plans a major naval build-up in East Asia to counter Chinas rise. Chinas embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the White House remarks. Chinas Foreign Ministry said earlier this month it could not guess what Tillerson meant by his remarks, which came after Trump questioned Washingtons longstanding and highly sensitive one-China policy over Taiwan. Washington-based South China Sea expert Mira Rapp-Hooper at the Center for a New American Security called the threats to bar Chinas access in the South China Sea incredible and said it had no basis in international law. A blockade which is what would be required to actually bar access is an act of war, she added. The Trump administration has begun to draw red lines in Asia that they will almost certainly not be able to uphold, but they may nonetheless be very destabilizing to the relationship with China, invite crises, and convince the rest of the world that the United States is an unreliable partner. Bonnie Glaser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank called Spicers remarks worrisome and said the new administration was sending confusing and conflicting messages. Dean Cheng, a China expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Spicers remarks showed the South China Sea was an important issue for the Trump administration. He said it was significant that neither Spicer nor Tillerson had been specific as to what actions would be taken and this left open the possibility that economic measures instead of military steps could be used against China and firms that carry out island building. Ruling parties afraid of polls: Nepal CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has said the ruling parties are afraid of holding elections in the country. Broadly restating the ancient principle that Parliament holds dominant power in Britains national government, even while vigorously exercising its own authority to declare what laws mean, the United Kingdom Supreme Court ruled in a divided decision on Tuesday that only Parliament can take the step of pulling out of the European Union. The 8-to-3 decision the first ever made with all 11 members of the court taking part was a stern reminder of how far royal authority and the power of the monarchs ministers has further diminished in modern times. The Queens government does retain powers over diplomacy and war, but the range of its domestic powers reduces it to what the court majority termed that of the junior partner, constitutionally speaking. We cannot accept that a major change in UK constitutional arrangements can be achieved by ministers alone; it must be effected in the only way that the UK constitution recognizes, namely by Parliamentary legislation, the majority wrote in rejecting the governments basic claim that the Prime Minister using the Queens royal prerogative could take the initial step in the so-called Brexit process of leaving the 28-nation European Union. The decision did not specify the type or range or new legislation that Parliament would have to take to initiate the two-year process of declaring British independence from her sister nations on the Continent. Many British laws will have to be changed or altered to ultimately carry out the break, but the court suggested that the initial step of formally invoking Brexit could be done by a very simple piece of legislation. Even so, the court instructed that the action must come in the form of primary legislation the type of measure that has the full authority of Parliament behind it. In fact, the opinion declared that a mere motion in the House of Commons (the lower house of Parliament) urging the Prime Minister to start Brexit would not be sufficient. The majority dismissed as of no effect legally just such a motion, passed by the House early last month as an expression of support for the plan of Prime Minister Theresa May to begin the process by the end of March. Story continues The Prime Minister, who is scheduled to pay an official visit to the U.S. and President Trump on Friday, has made it clear in a recent speech that she plans to try to work out a complete separation of Britain from all of the EU institutions, including the role that the European Court of Justice has had to override the meaning of EU law as it applied in Britain and the other member countries. The actual terms of leaving the EU will have to be negotiated over a period of two years, as specified by the EU treaty under which Britain joined as a partner in the common enterprise of European governance. While the new ruling relied heavily upon constitutional principles in favor of Parliaments ultimate sovereignty going back to the early 1600s, the legal key to Tuesdays decision was the interpretation that the courts majority made of the 1972 act by Parliament that authorized Britain to enter the EU in the first place. Nothing in that act, the majority ruled, in any way gave the Queens government the authority on its own to invoke the section of the EU treaty that permits a nation to withdraw. Noting in detail just how much of its national governing independence that Britain gave up with Parliaments permission 45 years ago, the court majority said that the nations constitution would not tolerate the reclaiming of that independence by the sole action of the Queens ministers. In essence, the court majority indicated, Britain handed over to multi-national EU institutions the authority to dictate much of what could be done, or not, under Britains own domestic law. An action that profound, it said, could only be undone by Parliament itself. Under Brexit, many laws in Britain and, in particular, laws that deal with the rights of Britons in other EU countries and with the rights in Britain of other EU countries citizens will simply be nullified when separation ultimately becomes a reality. The loss of those rights, the majority concluded, gave to two British individuals who would lose some of those rights the legal opportunity to sue to make sure that Brexit only occurred with Parliaments formal blessing. The former government of Prime Minister David Cameron had gained authority from Parliament in 2015 to hold a national referendum on whether British should leave or stay in the European Union. That vote was held in June, and exit (now popularly known as Brexit) was approved by a narrow margin. The result led to the fall of the Cameron government, now succeeded by the May ministry. The British court conceded that the June vote has had major political consequences, but it said that the fact that a majority had voted for Brexit had no bearing on the legal question of how the exit process could be started as a formal, official act. The majority of eight Justices spoke through a single 47-page opinion signed by each of those members of the court, including its president, Lord Neuberger, and its vice president, Lady Hale. The three dissenting judges Lords Reed, Carnwath and Hughes each wrote a separate opinion. The dissents were in disagreement with the conclusion that only Parliament could trigger the Brexit process. While the court was divided on that main point, it was unanimous in another facet of the decision a conclusion that the move to trigger Brexit could be made without seeking the consent of the separate legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (with England, the other parts of the UK). In modern times, those regional legislatures (now referred to as devolved legislative bodies) have been granted increased powers of home rule, including promises that their consent would be sought at least some of the time when the Parliament in London took action affecting those regional areas of the UK. With Tuesdays ruling, the May government is expected now to move quickly to draft legislation to carry out the mandate that it be Parliaments formal choice to start the process. Legendary journalist Lyle Denniston is Constitution Dailys Supreme Court correspondent. Denniston has written for us as a contributor since June 2011 and he has covered the Supreme Court since 1958. His work also appears on lyldenlawnews.com. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Executive Orders 101: What are they and how do Presidents use them? Looking at the Foreign Emoluments Clause lawsuit against President Trump Supreme Court sets stage for Trump switch on voter IDs London (AFP) - The British government on Tuesday said it would present draft legislation "within days" to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU, after a Supreme Court ruling demanded prior approval from parliament. Brexit minister David Davis said the "straightforward" legislation would allow the government to move ahead "swiftly" with its timetable of beginning the formal process by the end of March. KIEV, Ukraine Since 2014, when it began its war against better-equipped and better-funded Russians and their proxies, Ukraine has been in desperate search of heroes to inspire the country. At least one of those national inspirations is now threatening a critical, but increasingly fragile, international relationship when Ukraine can least afford it. The Ukrainian hero is Stepan Bandera, and the relationship in question is Ukraines partnership with Poland. In Ukraine, Bandera is mainly remembered as the founder of nationalist groups that fought the Soviet army in western Ukraine from World War II to the 1950s, when he was in exile and later assassinated by the KGB in Germany. After Russian propaganda sought to dismiss the Maidan revolution that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych as an exclusively far-right protest, Ukrainians began using Bandera as a symbol to troll the Kremlin, and his popularity in the country has continued to rise to new heights. On New Years Day, thousands of Ukrainians marched in cities across the country to mark Banderas birthday. In the Ukrainian capital alone, over 2,000 people participated in the march, carrying torches through the center of Kiev while chanting, Bandera is our prophet. The problem is that in neighboring Poland, Bandera is reviled on the same level as Adolf Hitler and his inner circle. Poles across political lines mainly remember him for collaborating with the Nazis and for his followers slaughtering Polish civilians. That conviction has heightened in recent years as the country has devoted increased attention to atrocities committed against Poles during World War II. That has forced Ukrainian and Polish diplomats to scramble in recent months to avoid a history-fueled diplomatic meltdown. On Dec. 2, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko embarked on a hasty whirlwind tour of Warsaw to reassure Polish President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Beata Szydo, and other senior officials that Ukraine was still committed to working together to counterbalance Russian influence in Eastern Europe and minimize conflicts over history. But, amid rising nationalism on both sides, its not yet clear whether those efforts will suffice. Story continues With most European powers sidelined by their own domestic tumults, the conflict with Poland could not come at a worse time for Ukraine. The United Kingdom is still consumed by the fallout from the vote to leave the European Union, France has a lame-duck president who is expected to be replaced by a pro-Russian president, and Germany is in an election year where Chancellor Angela Merkel is focused on the fallout from the migrant crisis and the terrorist attack on a Berlin Christmas market. Meanwhile, under President Donald Trump, the United States is expected to shift from backing Ukraine to chasing a rapprochement with Moscow that could leave Kiev out in the cold. During the campaign, Trump lavished praise on Russian President Vladimir Putin and said hed consider recognizing Russias annexation of Crimea. More recently, Trump has said he would be willing to end U.S. sanctions on Russia imposed over Russias annexation of Crimea and military action in eastern Ukraine in exchange for a nuclear-arms reduction deal. Trumps nomination of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state has further raised concerns in Ukraine about the Trump administration. The ExxonMobil CEO was awarded the Russian Order of Friendship by Putin in 2013. This changing political landscape has left Warsaw as Kievs most reliable advocate within both the EU and NATO and the only guarantor that Ukraine will stay on the international agenda. Poles across all political lines view Russian influence in Eastern Europe as a detriment to their countrys security and stability. Warsaw has long made it a mainstay of its foreign policy, and the EUs, to pull post-Soviet states out of Moscows orbit. Since the Maidan protests, Polish-Ukrainian relations have been especially close, with both governments putting aside past disputes in order to provide a common front against Moscow. After fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, Poland became the third-largest provider of nonlethal military aid to its eastern neighbor, in addition to dispensing much-needed humanitarian and financial assistance. But, while both governments remain united by their opposition to Moscow, nationalist populism is playing an increasingly disruptive role in the two countries. Since the Law and Justice Party took power in 2015, the Polish government has officially named Jesus Christ as its official king and given official credence to a conspiracy theory that the 2010 plane crash that killed 96 people, including former President Lech Kaczynski, was orchestrated by Moscow. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, Poroshenko has flirted with rising nationalism in his country to boost his lagging popular support. The president signed a bill into law that technically makes it a crime to deny or disrespect the role of World War II-era nationalist groups in fighting for Ukrainian independence as part of a package of de-communization measures in April 2015. The Ukrainian laws were enacted by Parliament on the day that then-Polish President Bronisaw Komorowski addressed the legislature and exchanged pleasantries with Ukrainian lawmakers, shocking his Polish delegation. It was very difficult for Poles to understand after Poland became one of the most important supporters of the Ukrainian revolution, said Lukasz Jasina, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw, referring to the glorification of Ukrainians involved in killing Poles. In July, Polands Parliament fired back when both houses approved declarations for the first time enshrining the killing of tens of thousands of Polish civilians by Banderas Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the Volhynia region as an official genocide. Many observers believed the Polish Parliaments declaration showed discontent with Kiev over the recent honoring of nationalists like Bandera. Earlier that month, as part of the de-communization process, Kievs City Council renamed the capitals central Moscow Prospect as Bandera Prospect. Ukrainian responses have often failed to account for Polish sensitivities over the issue. Volodymyr Viatrovych, head of Ukraines Institute of National Memory, has been a major advocate of expanding the role of World War II-era nationalists in Ukraines historical memory and argued that Polish casualties in Volhynia were far lower than Polish historians claim. At a conference in September, he said Poles should consider the old name of the street, Moscow Prospect, to be more anti-Polish than the new one because of the link to Russia. That perspective has caused concern among politicians and experts that Ukraine does not realize the extent to which it is alienating Poland through its history policies. The memory policies Ukraine is pursuing undermine this Polish-Ukrainian unity, said Andreas Umland, fellow at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation, a Kiev think tank. According to Umland, Kiev cannot afford to risk alienating Poland, given the growing ambivalence toward Ukraine by the rest of Europe and the United States. A lack of military alliances had already allowed Russia to seize Crimea and mobilize the ongoing proxy war in the east. And yet, in the aftermath of the Polish vote declaring the Volhynia killings a genocide, Ukrainian lawmakers continued to escalate the conflict over history. In late July, a group of Parliament members from western Ukraine introduced a bill declaring the actions of the Polish state against Ukrainians from 1919 to 1951 a genocide. After World War I, what is now western Ukraine was briefly independent before being defeated by the Polish army and absorbed into Poland. In the aftermath of World War II, Ukrainian nationalist groups continued to fight against the Polish and Soviet armies. The Ukrainian communities on the border of Ukraine were ethnically cleansed by the Polish state, first being relocated to Soviet Ukraine and later forcibly relocated to territory transferred from Germany to Poland. The last two presidents of Poland and the last two presidents of Ukraine agreed not to bring up this topic in the political arena, said Oleh Musiy, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and one of the authors of the bill. But the Polish Senate and Sejm [the lower house of Polish Parliament] decided to violate that agreement. Musiy also sent a letter to the Ukrainian foreign ministry, calling for a Polish consul in western Ukraine to be expelled after he criticized Bandera and Ukrainian historical policies in a session of the Polish Parliament. So far the bill has yet to come to a vote and the consul remains in his post, but tensions continue to grow. A new Polish film titled Volhynia has stirred controversy in Ukraine by depicting Ukrainians killing Polish civilians. In Kiev, the Polish cultural institute, part of the Polish ministry of foreign affairs, invited high-ranking Ukrainian officials to view the film, but the screening did not take place because the Ukrainian foreign ministry sent a letter to the Polish Embassy in Kiev requesting the screening be delayed. These events have fanned rising anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland, with recent far-right marchers in Warsaw and eastern Poland burning Ukrainian flags and even calling for violence against Ukrainians. In response, Ukraines and Polands foreign ministers have supported a joint investigation of the Volhynia tragedy that would result in a common version of history along the lines of Polish-German reconciliation. The reconciliation focused on addressing the most problematic moments of World War II history, such as the Holocaust and Nazi collaborations, and included developing a textbook to be used in both countries, which has become a model for the region. But Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski stated that any official Ukrainian celebration for the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, founded by Bandera followers, would scuttle any reconciliation. Meanwhile, some in Ukraine have argued for letting go of Bandera as a national icon. In a popular post on the Ukrainian news website Ukrayinska Pravda titled Hero Not of Our Time, commentator Mykhailo Dubyniansky argued that in modern Ukraine, Bandera has been completely reduced to a propagandistic cliche aimed at Moscow. Each of us has the right to decide whether the figures of the past deserve admiration or censure, Dubyniansky wrote. But in any case, they have earned the right to be themselves rather than faceless projections of our current thoughts and feelings. Photo Credit: GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images By Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A planned EU-Canada free-trade deal moved closer to reality on Tuesday after a key committee advised the European Parliament to give its backing after months of protests and heated debate. The EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is seen as a test of Europe's ability to forge future trade accords and as a counterweight to anticipated protectionism under new U.S. president Donald Trump. "It's more than just a free-trade treaty with Canada. It's a statement about how we relate with the rest of the world," said Sorin Moisa, CETA coordinator for the center-left S&D group, whose members have been divided over the pact. "We want to shape rather than withdraw from the world, and all the more so after Trump," he told Reuters in an interview. CETA still needs approval from the European Parliament to enter into force and lawmakers in its international trade committee voted 25-15 urging it to do so. The full parliament is due to give its verdict in mid-February. In a debate on Monday, committee members backing the accord repeatedly warned of the threat of greater protectionism under Trump, who has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told lawmakers Canada was a welcome partner in uncertain and difficult times. "We have an important friend and ally who seems to be at least partly disengaging from the international scene, promoting less trade, more protectionism," she said of the United States. The EU and Canada concluded negotiations more than two years ago and eventually signed the treaty in October, but only after opposition from a region of Belgium. Even if the 751-seat European Parliament votes for CETA, it would only enter force provisionally, most likely in March or April in the form of import tariff removal, as it also awaits approval from the parliaments of the EU's 28 member states and Belgium's regions. Supporters say CETA will increase Canadian-EU trade by 20 percent and boost the EU economy by 12 billion euros ($12.9 billion) a year and Canada's by C$12 billion ($9.0 billion). CETA and the larger planned EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) have proved contentious, drawing criticism from trade unions and protest groups that say it will give more power to multinationals and lead to a race to the bottom in standards. (Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Tom Heneghan) Miami (AFP) - In the last days of Barack Obama's administration, US government scientists warned even more sea level rise is expected by century's end than previously estimated, due to rapid ice sheet melting at the poles. The report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) set the "extreme" scenario of global average sea level rise by 2100 to 8.2 feet (2.5 meters), up half a meter from the last estimate issued in 2012. "We raised the upper limit of our scenarios," lead author William Sweet told AFP. "It is possible. It has a very low probability. But we can't discount it entirely." The figures are among the highest ever issued by the US government, and take into account new scientific studies on the disappearing ice cover in Greenland and Antarctica. "Recent (scientific) results regarding Antarctic ice sheet instability indicate that such outcomes may be more likely than previously thought," said the report, released on January 19. It also revised the lower end of the anticipated range, saying nearly one foot (0.3 meters) is expected by 2100, up from four inches (0.1 meters) previously. This put the NOAA report closer in line with the 2013 United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said global sea levels would likely rise from one to three feet by the end of the century. The US space agency NASA has also warned that significant sea level rise is "unavoidable," given mankind's continued burning of fossil fuels like oil and gas that contribute to warming the planet. In 2015, NASA said the Earth is likely locked in to at least three feet of sea level rise, and probably more. But the big question remains: how soon? Researchers do not know how soon the seas will rise, and whether they will hit these levels in this century or beyond. "We are not projecting anything. Everything is dependent on the amount of future heating, ocean and atmospheric heating," explained Sweet. Story continues - Localized results - Though experts warn that the past is not an accurate predictor of future sea level rise, global average sea level has climbed eight to nine inches since 1880, when modern record-keeping began. Much of that has taken place in recent years, as global warming has accelerated. Seas around the world have risen an average of nearly three inches since 1992. The NOAA report also pointed to regional dangers of sea level rise, with some portions of the US coast more likely to see above-average rise and increased flooding than other parts of the world. "The world's ocean is not going to rise like water in a bathtub," said Sweet. With the exception of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, almost all US coasts are expected to see greater than global average sea level rise in the next eight decades. Land in Alaska is rising, but in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast and the mid-Atlantic, it is sinking. Other factors, like changing ocean circulation in some parts of the planet, affect how much oceans mount in various places. As ice sheets melts, the gravity around Earth will change as the planet loses mass, causing some areas to see higher or lower sea level rise than the global average. Recent research has shown that about three feet of sea level rise "would permanently inundate areas currently home to two million Americans," said the report. Six feet would flood the homes of six million people in the United States. Sweet said the report's release was not planned to coincide with the end of the Obama presidency, or to precede the inauguration of Donald Trump, who has expressed doubts about climate change and pledged to increase fossil fuel extraction in the United States. "The timing might look suspect," Sweet said. "But no, this has actually been in the works for over a year." Moscow (AFP) - Ex-Soviet Uzbekistan has granted a mass amnesty to almost 40,000 convicted prisoners and detainees awaiting trial, the country's Supreme Court said Tuesday. The amnesty was passed by parliament last October and entered force this month, the court said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that the "act of humanism" involves a total of 39,748 people. It said the amnesty focused on women, minors, men over 60 and foreign nationals and was timed to coincide with 24 years since the passing of the country's Constitution. Uzbekistan has held regular amnesties since soon after its late leader Islam Karimov came to power in 1991. Last year's amnesty covered some 55,000 people, more than 3,000 of whom were immediately released from jail sentences, while others had their sentences shortened or had their criminal cases closed. Karimov died in September at the age of 78 after suffering a stroke. He had held onto power since winning Uzbekistan's first elections after the fall of the Soviet Union. His authoritarian rule came under fire over accusations of heinous rights abuses. Interim leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev won a crushing presidential election victory in an uncompetitive vote in December. Amnesty International in a report released last April said that there was "overwhelming evidence that torture continues unabated in Uzbekistan". But Uzbekistan has fiercely denied all the allegations against it and has staved off a complete rupture in relations by balancing the West off against Russia. Trump withdraws from TPP trade deal President Donald Trump has fulfilled a campaign pledge by signing an executive order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's highest federal court handed Vodafone a victory on Tuesday in a dispute with Deutsche Telekom over how the former state monopoly charges for the use of cable ducts, Vodafone said. The dispute concerns around 400 million euros ($430 million) that Vodafone says Telekom has overcharged it in rent for using the cable network that Deutsche Telekom built before it had to spin it off as part of its privatization. A Vodafone spokeswoman said the Federal Court of Justice had overturned a ruling of a lower court in favor of Deutsche Telekom and referred the case back to that court to determine whether and to what extent Vodafone's claims were founded. "In our opinion, Telekom is abusing its dominant position with the high rental fees for the use of cable ducts," the spokeswoman said. The Federal Court of Justice was not reachable after office hours. Deutsche Telekom said it was confident the lower court would again find in its favor. "We expect that the higher regional court will agree with our view that the size of the demand is not justified," a spokesman said. (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Georgina Prodhan) A federal judge in San Francisco gave final approval Monday to a $1.67 billion settlement for 644 Volkswagen franchise dealerships affected by the automakers diesel emissions scandal. Volkswagen has admitted its diesel engines were programmed with software designed to defeat emissions control testing. The dealerships will receive average settlements of $1.85 million. Some 600,000 Volkswagen and Audi diesel vehicles in the United States, model years 2009 through 2015, were revealed to have a defeat device to cheat emissions tests by producing regulation-compliant results during testing but then giving off emissions at much higher levels during normal operation. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the settlement compensates the dealerships for the devaluation of their franchises as a result of the scandal. Half of the settlement will be paid upfront and the rest will be paid out in 18 monthly installments. The settlement relieves dealerships of requirements to make costly capital improvements for two years and establishes guidelines for resolving inventory issues with diesel cars that have been stuck on dealer lots since the scandal broke. The settlement also requires owners of affected vehicles be offered three appointment dates for fixing the problem. Federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against six Volkswagen executives earlier this month for their roles in the scandal. Those charged include a former head of development and the head of engine development. One of the executives, Oliver Schmidt, who was in charge of compliance, was arrested in Florida; the other five are in Germany. The company formally pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate the Clean Air Act, customs violations and obstruction of justice, and faces $4.3 billion in criminal and civil penalties. The company already has settled suits with car owners totaling $14.7 billion. Volkswagen knew of these problems, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said at a news conference in Washington Jan. 11. When regulators expressed concerns, Volkswagen obfuscated. And they ultimately lied. Story continues Investigators say more indictments are possible. Related Articles Warren Buffett told CNBC on Thursday the United States economy will perform well under President Donald Trump. The chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said: "America works, I've said this before. It'll work wonderfully under Hillary Clinton, and I think it'll work fine under Donald Trump." Adding that the U.S. has a "secret sauce," the billionaire investor and philanthropist said: "It doesn't work all the time perfectly, but you just look at where we go, milestone after milestone. Never bet against America." Buffett was speaking at an event Thursday night in New York for a new HBO documentary about his life, "Becoming Warren Buffett," that debuts Jan. 30. In the presidential election, Buffett supported Clinton, even organizing fundraisers for the Democratic candidate. But after Trump won the election, Buffett told Fortune in an interview in November that Trump won't ruin the economy or the stock market. He also said he was still buying the same stocks he was before Election Day on Nov. 8, and that the election did not make him pessimistic about the U.S. stock market. Buffett also mentioned being unsure about what will happen to the stock market in ten days or in the coming years. However, he said: "It's going to be higher 10 years, 20 years from now. There will be hiccups from time to time in the economy." Related Articles OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) A bill that would require school buses to have seat belts is being considered by lawmakers in Washington, one of more than a dozen states where school seat belt measures are on the legislative agenda this year. The Senate Transportation Committee held a public hearing Tuesday for Senate Bill 5054. It would mandate that all public and private school buses purchased after the bill takes effect have a safety belt for each rider. California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas have existing variations of a seat belt law for school buses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 17 states, including Washington, have introduced legislation regarding seat belts on school buses in the 2017 sessions. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approximately 23.5 million children use school buses to get to and from school and school-related activities. On average, six school-age children die each year in school bus crashes as passengers. Jane Terry of the National Safety Council said the organization supports the push for school bus safety restraints, citing a bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last year that killed six children. "It's really the safest way for occupants to ride and it comes down to the bottom line of seat belts save lives and we've known this for years," Terry said in an interview. "There's no reason, especially when people are looking at purchasing new buses, why they shouldn't try to get ones with this type of common sense safety equipment on board." Terry said from the time a child is born they are placed in a car seat and are taught to buckle up in a car, but for some reason a school bus is treated differently. "A school bus should not be a time where you say 'it's OK you don't need to buckle up this time,'" she said. Republican Sen. Michael Baumgartner, a member of the Transportation Committee, referenced a time when his son, a kindergartener, was surprised when he didn't have to wear a seat belt on a school bus to a field trip. Story continues "We shouldn't be having tragedies where kids are killed because they don't have the option of putting on a seat belt," Baumgartner said. A former school bus driver, Brian Lang, opposed the bill at the hearing. "The idea is a good one; however, as a driver it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that all of the passengers in the bus remain buckled up," Lang said. Lang said it can be challenging to keep 5-year-olds strapped in their seat belts, but the hardest part of all is, "You can't see them." "It's going to be difficult for one driver to control," he said. Baumgartner said the responsibility should be taken off the drivers in some way. The other states considering school seat belt legislation include: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Utah. After harshly condemning the media over the weekend for its coverage of President Donald Trumps inauguration, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer struck a less combative tone during a press conference on Monday. But he nevertheless continued to argue that the media is trying to undermine the president, and stood by a debunked statement that the inauguration drew the largest audience of all time. I believe we have to be honest with the American people, Spicer said at the briefing, responding to a reporters question about his commitment to truth-telling. He added: Im going to come out here and tell you the facts as I know them, and if we make a mistake Ill do our best to correct it. Later, however, he lamented that there is a constant theme to undercut the enormous support he said Trump has. Theres an overall frustration when you turn on the television over and over again and get told that theres this narrative. The press secretarys pledge to tell the truth may indicate that the administration hopes to improve its relationship with the media, or at least the appearance of it, following criticism and mockery of Spicers hostile interaction with reporters over the weekend. At the same time, his insistence that the media treats Trump with a double standard, and his complaints that the media has created an anti-Trump narrative, highlights how difficult it will be to repair the relationship between the administration and the media. At Mondays briefing, Spicer appeared to concede that not everything he claimed on Saturday was accurate. Even as he talked up the value of honesty, Spicer seemed unwilling to say that facts are not open for interpretation or debate. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts, he said. He also suggested that sometimes the administration may relay incorrect information to reporters, but that misinformation on the part of the White House is not an indication of bad faith. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie, he added. Every presidential administration puts a political spin on the facts, and no administration is infallible. But if reporters were looking for reassurances that the Trump administration will be truthful in its dealings with the press, they may have still walked away from Mondays press conference skeptical. Story continues The new White House press secretary also defended an earlier assertion that Trumps ceremony commanded the largest audience theres ever been for an inauguration. On Saturday, Spicer accused the media of purposely understating the size of crowds that gathered to witness the presidents inauguration. In the process, he made a series of false or misleading statements about the proceedings. Most notably, he claimed that this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe, an assertion that fact-checking website PolitiFact deemed flat-out wrong. (Other fact checkers echoed PolitiFacts determination.) Side-by-side photographs of the National Mall at Trumps inauguration and Barack Obamas inauguration in 2009 indicate that last weeks event drew smaller crowds. Meanwhile, Obamas first inauguration commanded a U.S. television audience of 37.8 million viewers, while Trumps inauguration drew only 30.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. Recommended: Trump's Presidency Is Off to a Successful Start On Monday, Spicer made clear that he is standing by his original claim. Im saying it was the total largest audience witnessed in person and around the globe, he said. Spicer cited digital viewership as evidence for the claim, suggesting that CNN pulled in an online audience of 16.9 million viewers alone. In making his original claim on Saturday, Spicer did not cite audience-viewership statsfocusing chiefly on photographs of the National Mall, Metro ridership, logistical considerations, and crowd-size estimates to make his case. The Washington Post Fact Checkers examination of his claims at the time noted that we have not seen global data on viewership, adding that it would update its post as more data comes in, including viewership via live streams. But CNN reports that online viewership hit a peak of 2.3 million concurrent streams when Trump delivered his inaugural speech. The Washington Posts Philip Bump explains that the 16.9 million figure accounts for streaming starts, meaning that someone popped into the stream and then left it. At Mondays briefing, Spicer appeared to concede that not everything he claimed on Saturday was accurate. The information I was provided by the inaugural committee came from an outside agency that we reported on. Knowing what we know now, we can tell that WMATAs [Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] numbers are different. But we were trying to provide numbers that we had been provided. It wasnt like we made them up out of thin air. Over the weekend, Spicer claimed that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit on the day of Trumps inauguration, saying that, in contrast, only 317,000 people used it for President Obamas last inaugural. The Washington Post Fact Checker rated those claims false. Recommended: Trump's Speech to the CIA Made America Less Safe Mondays press conference focused on a range of other topics apart from the administrations relationship with media or the inauguration crowd size. Spicer called Trumps move to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal a strong signal that the Trump administration wants free and fair trade throughout the world, and said the administration will pursue bilateral trade opportunities. He accused Democrats in Congress of trying to hold up confirmation of Trumps pick for CIA director, Republican Representative Mike Pompeo, who the Senate is expected to vote on Monday night. Its time for Senate Democrats to stop playing political games with the core functions of government, he said. And he signaled that Trump would defend Social Security from cuts. On Social Security I think hes been very clear with his priorities in terms of preserving and protecting this really important benefit to our seniors, Spicer said. Even so, it seems likely that the administrations treatment of the press will remain a topic of discussion, particularly because Trump himself has spent time attacking the media, even after his inauguration. I have a running war with the media, the president said on Saturday during remarks delivered at CIA headquarters. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. On Sunday, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended Spicers weekend statement by saying that he had provided alternative facts. Recommended: Why the GOP's Health-Care Plans Aren't Any Cheaper Than Obamacare Republicans and Democrats, as well as internet meme-makers, took aim at Spicers opening salvo against the press in the aftermath of Saturdays statement. Former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer commented that the interaction left him uncomfortable and concerned, noting on Twitter that the press is right to be upset. Trump critic and conservative pundit Bill Kristol called the briefing embarrassing, as an American, to watch. Former Hillary Clinton press secretary Brian Fallon said that Spicer should have resigned rather than go out and take the podium. And social-media users mocked the administration by making illogical or obviously wrong statements tagged #SpicerFacts. Trump takes office as president after registering historically low approval ratings during his transition, and so far has not managed to win over voters who opposed him during the election. Blaming the media for trying to undercut his presidency provides the administration with a convenient scapegoat for Trumps low favorabilityduring Monday's press conference, for example, Spicer suggested that the media has consistently underrated the extent of Trumps support. That line of argument allows the administration to wave away questions and concerns about a genuinely skeptical public, and may also pave the way for the White House to more easily dismiss future criticism of its agenda as unfair or fabricated by the press. Spicer himself appeared to concede on Monday that the administrations relationship with the media wont be repaired anytime soon. I know that Josh Earnest was voted the most popular press secretary by the press corps, Spicer said. He joked that he had emailed President Obamas former press secretary to let him know that he can rest easythat his title is secure for at least the next few days. The comments were clearly an attempt to inject levity into the press conference. But they also sounded like an acknowledgement of just how difficult it will be for the Trump administration to begin repairing relations with the media. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Americans now find themselves in day four of a real-world experiment: What happens when an elected official with an authoritarian bent and a long-nurtured hatred of media criticism collides with a free press backed by strong democratic institutions? During the first White House press conference of the new administration, U.S. President Donald Trumps characteristic hostility towards the media officially transformed from a divisive campaign strategy into a government demand for censorship. On Jan. 21, new White House press secretary Sean Spicer fiercely denounced the media for accurately reporting the size of the crowd at Trumps inauguration ceremony the previous day. Spicer offered several factually incorrect statements to back up his claim that Jan. 21 saw the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. He offered a criticism of Senate Democrats as what news outlets should be writing and covering, then implied that the White House would punish outlets for similar instances of what he called deliberately false reporting in the future. I have spent years covering the media landscape in China, an illiberal one-party state with notorious and worsening censorship. In Spicers hostile remarks, I immediately recognized what I have come to know very well an explicit government demand for media censorship. I was far from alone in my alarm. The New York Times reported that the news media world found itself in a state of shock after the days remarks. Social media teemed with jokes at Spicers expense, juxtaposing his photo with outlandish claims like the world is flat. During Jan. 23s press conference, however, Spicer took a less combative tone. His remarks were largely upbeat rather than angry, he accepted media questions from a wide range of media outlets, and he assured journalists that he would never knowingly make false statements, though he qualified that by saying that I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. He reiterated his previous assertion that the media needed to be kept accountable when it makes factual errors a reasonable request, when not couched as a threat and that some kinds of coverage are harmful to the unity of the country. Crowd size is an oddly small hill for ones credibility to die on, and Trumps treatment of the issue says much about how his relationship with the media may develop over the course of his presidency. Trump has an image problem. He wishes to be seen as riding a wave of popular support; he regularly refers to his successful campaign as a movement, and in Jan. 21 remarks at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia stated that between one million and 1.5 million people attended his inauguration, which would be close to the historic number of attendees at former president Barack Obamas inauguration in 2009. But in reality, he assumed office as the most unpopular incoming president in recent history. He also lost the popular vote by over 2.8 million votes. So when numerous media outlets poked a hole in his self-promoting narrative by publishing countervailing statistics and photos, Trump reacted not by conceding his error but by using his power as president to try to stifle press freedom. His press secretarys three-prong attempt at media control portray news outlets as untrustworthy, issue directives for coverage, and threaten those who disobey takes a page straight out of the Chinese Communist Partys playbook. Spicers subsequent toning down of the rhetoric indicates that the Trump administration will have to localize this playbook for it to be effective in a democratic country with a powerful constitution; or, perhaps, that they will make no such attack at all. The uncertainty of the administrations intent has set the media, and some political scientists, on edge. To some degree, clashing with the press is par for the course for governments and leaders around the world. But the authoritarian government in Beijing has shown how to delegitimize those outlets it doesnt control, by presenting them as biased, unreliable, or unfair. Chinese views of western media outlets offer an excellent case study. The New York Times, the BBC, the Economist, and similar outlets are of course free to print coverage that is critical of Chinese government policies; they are neither funded by Beijing, like many major outlets in China, nor are they subject to most of its levers of influence and intimidation. But to many Chinese, the very term Western media is nearly synonymous with anti-China bias. They are likely to view reports of perspectives exclusive to foreign media outlets with a high degree of skepticism, or even outright disdain. This is no accident. Rather, it is the result of a remarkably successful years-long propaganda campaign by Chinese government and party authorities to delegitimize the news outlets whose content it cannot directly control. One platform it has used to do so is its press briefings. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespeople such as Hua Chunying regularly excoriate Western media for being unprofessional, arrogant, and self-righteous. Chinese state media reports and press briefings also regularly cast doubt on or directly contradict the information found in foreign media reports. That should sound familiar. Trump has used this very strategy to convince his supporters that the liberal media or mainstream media cannot be trusted. These terms are not objective designations Fox News, the most widely watched news network in the United States, is not liberal, yet should surely be considered mainstream but rather indicate which outlets print Trumps desired coverage. It now appears that Trumps campaign tactics are White House strategy. In his very first appearance, Spicer called the offending reports on inauguration crowd size egregious, irresponsible and reckless, and shameful and wrong, and also accused the press of intentionally manipulating information as well as sowing division about tweets and false narratives. Trump, speaking at the CIA headquarters on Jan. 21, referred to the media as among the most dishonest human beings on earth. On Jan. 23, Spicer was less hostile, but remained unapologetic for unleashing anger on a press that reported correctly. He did not repeat the debunked claim that Trumps inauguration had higher attendance than Obamas, stating that the statistics he provided came from an outside agency, and that it wasnt like we made them up out of thin air. He painted a picture of honest mistakes rather than intentional manipulation, saying, There are times when you guys tweet something out or write a story and publish a correction, but that doesnt mean you were deliberately trying to deceive readers, does it? Spicers reaction demonstrated that while he wasnt unresponsive to the press, he would continue to defend statements by Trump that were simply untrue. The other key element of Beijing-style information control is to tell malleable outlets what to say. Beijing does this not by vetting every word in every outlet. Instead, Chinese authorities send out news directives to the press on a nearly daily basis, ordering them to alter headlines, cover certain events with a more positive tone, or delete other coverage entirely, usually focusing on issues it feels goes to the heart of its legitimacy like President Xis image, protests in its restive periphery, or criticism of late party leader Mao Zedong, a founder of the Peoples Republic. News agencies that step out of line may be fined or even shuttered; offending journalists may be fired. Authorities exercise an even tighter grip on state-run media outlets, such as party mouthpiece Peoples Daily and state news agency Xinhua, which serve as nationally influential vessels for state propaganda. Since Chinese President Xi Jinpings consolidation of power after he took office in late 2012, state-run media have even been asked essentially to swear an oath of loyalty. Of course, Trump cannot close newspapers or jail journalists by fiat. And with the exception of Voice of America, which almost exclusively targets foreign audiences, the United States also does not have a state-funded media sector readily waiting to disseminate government messages. But that didnt prevent Spicer from issuing what sounded like veiled threats. He appeared to suggest that the Trump administration could deny access to transgressors or simply circumvent them. Were going to hold the press accountable, as well, said Spicer near the end of his Jan. 21 press conference. His second appearance was less accusatory, emphasizing that accountability between government and press should be a two-way street. But the underlying distrust of the media and the hazy relationship with facts remained its unclear, for example, why it is acceptable to disagree with facts, as Spicer claimed. The president could choose to only give interviews to outlets that promise him positive coverage. Big interviews mean big readership; its not hard to imagine a struggling outlet making that kind of compromise. I think theyre going to pay a big price, remarked Trump at Langley on Jan. 21, referring to the media that had crossed him. Its unlikely that the United States will resemble Beijing in 2020. But press freedoms can deteriorate even in democratic countries; take Japan. After hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012, his administration attacked major media outlets for what they saw as biased news coverage. News organizations began to mute such coverage and to remove outspoken anchors in what appears to endemic self-censorship. The passage of a state secrecy law in 2013 may have contributed to a sense of vulnerability among journalists and government whistleblowers. In 2016, Japan fell to a lowly 72 in a global ranking of press freedom published by Reporters Without Borders, a drop from its previous ranking at 61. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also saw the first White House press conference for what it really was. It is shameful that on the first full day of this Administration, we have ominous suggestions of possible government censorship, read the statement, which was posted to the ACLU National Twitter account on Jan. 21. This will be a fight the Trump administration will most certainly lose. But no country achieves and maintains press freedom without a fight; it would be a mistake to assume that Spicers attacks will have no effect. The question is how much damage can be done. Getty Images Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's administration refused to be drawn Tuesday on whether he backs Israel's decision to approve 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank. Earlier, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman gave the green light to the huge new settlement expansion on Palestinian land. The previous US administration, under Barack Obama, had viewed such building as "illegitimate" and in recent months warned that settlements could derail hopes of a negotiated two-state solution. But spokesman Sean Spicer, at his second White House press briefing since the new president was sworn in on Friday, declined to give a view on Israel's decision. "Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer said, when asked about Trump's perspective on the Israeli plan to further expand settlements. "He wants to grow closer to Israel to make sure it gets the full respect in the Middle East," he continued. "We'll have a conversation with the prime minister." Trump's choice for secretary of state, former oil executive Rex Tillerson, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate and State Department officials had no comment on the settlements. By Valerie Volcovici and P.J. Huffstutter WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has moved to curb the flow of information from several government agencies whose mandate impacts environmental issues since last week, in actions that appeared designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views. Employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior Department, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have seen directives from the newly minted leadership seeking to limit how they communicate to the public, according to multiple sources. The moves have reinforced concerns that Trump, a climate change doubter, could seek to sideline scientific research showing that carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels contributes to global warming, as well as the career staffers at the agencies that conduct much of this research. All of the agencies affected by the actions have some input on issues related to the environment and have been involved in various efforts related to climate change, including effects on natural resources and human health. On Tuesday, a source at the EPA said that staff had been told by members of the Trump administration not to speak to reporters or publish any press releases or blog posts on social media. EPA staff have also been asked not to publicize any talks, conferences, or webinars that had been planned for the next 60 days, the staffer said, asking not to be named. Asked if the EPA had been gagged, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday: "I don't know ... we're looking into it. ... I don't think it's a surprise we're going to review the policies, but I don't have any info at this time." The agency also was asked by the White House on Monday to temporarily halt all contracts and grants pending a review, according to multiple sources. The EPA awards billions of dollars worth of grants and contracts every year to support programs around environmental testing, cleanups and research. Environmental groups reacted with outrage. New York's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, said in reaction to the freeze that his office "will examine all legal options to ensure the EPA meets its obligations to keep our states air and water safe." The Department of Agriculture also has seen efforts to curb communication. On Tuesday, employees were informed in a memo seen by Reuters that all communications with the media should be approved by the administration, and social media posts should be reviewed by managers "to remove references to policy priorities and initiatives of the previous Administration." The department, meanwhile, disavowed an email sent on Monday to its scientific research unit ordering the suspension of releasing "any public-facing documents," including news releases and photos, saying it was sent without permission and should not include a ban on publication of peer-reviewed scientific papers. Officials at HHS also received a memo ordering them not to send any correspondence to other public officials. Instead, they must refer any requests for information to senior leaders, who are not to do anything until they have received instructions from the White House staff on its policies, according to a source who read the memo. Last week, staff at the Interior Department were told to stop posting on Twitter after an employee retweeted posts about the relatively low attendance at Trump's inauguration, and about how the issues of climate change and civil rights had disappeared from the White House website. The department has since resumed tweeting - though some tweets have been deleted. On Tuesday, Badlands National Park, part of the Department of Interior, posted a series of Tweets about climate change: "Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate," one of the tweets read. By Tuesday afternoon, the tweets were gone. Trump has promised to promote oil drilling and mining by cutting regulation, including by targeting former President Barack Obama's initiative to combat climate change. Trump also has suggested pulling the United States out of a global pact on climate change signed by nearly 200 countries last year. Trump's nominees to run the EPA, Interior and the Department of Agriculture - Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Representative Ryan Zinke of Montana and former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, respectively - are awaiting Senate confirmation. Trump has drawn heavily from the energy industry lobby and pro-drilling think tanks to build a team charged with preparing the EPA for its new leadership, according to a list of the newly introduced 10-member team seen by Reuters on Monday. [L5N1FE022] An EPA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Additional reporting by John Walcott, Additional reporting and writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Leslie Adler) Sean Spicer President Donald Trump's administration promised on Monday that the US would stop China from taking over land in international waters in the South China Sea, but seemed to back off more hawkish claims made by secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson at a senate hearing. "I think the US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters in Washington, D.C. "Its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," said Spicer referring to China's unlawfully claimed and militarized islands in the South China Sea, where an estimated $5 trillion in shipping passes annually. This statement stops short of Tillerson's earlier comment that the US should "send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." Tillerson's comment drew fierce rebuke from Chinese state-run media and US-based China watchers as well, with Chinese media saying that "unless Washington plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish." US Navy uss lassen At the time, Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider that she heard "from some people on the transition team that he misspoke." Glaser also agreed that Tillerson's suggested moves in the South China Sea were impractical, and that the US would "certainly end up in a shooting war with China." south china seas NOW WATCH: A survival expert reveals what to put in your 'go-bag' in case disaster strikes More From Business Insider Beirut (AFP) - Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to bolster a fragile truce in Syria after two days of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana aimed at ending the country's nearly six-year war. The three powers also agreed that armed rebel groups should take part in a new round of talks to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. Here is a breakdown of the forces involved in the complex civil war: - Regime and allies - The Syrian army's 300,000-strong pre-war force has been halved by deaths, defections and draft-dodging. It is bolstered by 150,000-200,000 irregulars and supported by 5,000-8,000 men from Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah, as well as by Iranian, Iraqi and Afghan fighters. Key regime backer Russia began an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015 and has helped Damascus recapture several key areas, including Aleppo city. Iran has also provided major financial and military support to Assad. The government controls 34 percent of Syria's territory, including key cities such as Damascus and second city Aleppo. Of the 16 million Syrians who remain in the country, 65.5 percent live in regime territory. - Rebels - Syria's opposition comprises a wide range of factions, including moderate rebels and Islamist groups. Estimates of its total number of forces range from tens of thousands up to around 100,000. Early on, rebels coalesced under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), but since then the opposition has splintered. The most powerful non-jihadist group is Ahrar al-Sham, with a commanding presence in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. It espouses a hardline Islamist ideology and is allied with the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front in Idlib where they lead the Army of Conquest alliance. Another key opposition group is the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam). One of its leading figures, Mohammad Alloush, headed the opposition delegation in Astana. Rebels now hold only around 13 percent of the country, including areas where they are allied with Fateh al-Sham, according to Syria expert Fabrice Balanche. Story continues Around 12.5 percent of Syria's remaining population lives in rebel-held territory. - Jihadists - There are two rival jihadist forces: the Islamic State group and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front. IS emerged from the chaos of the war to seize large parts of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, declaring an Islamic "caliphate", committing widespread atrocities and carrying out or inspiring deadly attacks abroad. Under pressure from an air war launched two years ago by a US-led coalition and fighting on multiple fronts, IS has suffered major losses but still controls significant territory in northern Syria, including its de facto capital Raqa. Fateh al-Sham Front split in July 2016 from Al-Qaeda in a move analysts said was aimed at easing pressure from both Moscow and the US-led coalition which have regularly targeted its forces. Many Syrian rebels have joined Fateh al-Sham, drawn by its financial means and organisational skills. But there have been occasional tensions including this week when clashes erupted in northern Syria, leaving Fateh al-Sham battling a range of rebels including close ally Ahrar al-Sham. The clashes prompted Ahrar al-Sham to warn the jihadists they should commit to the rebel cause or face being considered an enemy, like IS. - The Kurds - Syria's Kurds have largely stayed out of the conflict between the government and armed opposition, carving out a semi-autonomous region in north and northeastern Syria. Their People's Protection Units (YPG) have become a key partner of the US-led coalition fighting IS as part of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG controls about 20 percent of Syrian territory but as much as three-quarters of the northern border with Turkey. Two million people, around 12.5 percent of Syria's remaining population, live in Kurdish-held territory. The SDF has launched a drawn-out offensive against IS's stronghold in Raqa. Turkey began an offensive into Syria in August 2016 against IS and the YPG, which Ankara regards as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a 32-year insurrection inside Turkey. - Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar - Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have provided military and financial support to rebels fighting Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite community linked to Shiite Islam. Ahead of the Astana talks, co-hosts Turkey and Russia took steps to coordinate their involvement in Syria. They brokered a fragile ceasefire between rebels and regime forces that took effect across Syria on December 30 but which excludes jihadists. Earlier this month, Ankara and Moscow struck a deal to prevent clashes between their warplanes over Syria and on January 18 they launched their first joint air strike against IS there. - International coalition - A US-led coalition has carried out air strikes against IS and other jihadists in Syria since 2014. The coalition's members include Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The Apple supplier Foxconn is considering building a US-based factory for making large displays in the US, an investment that could cost the Chinese manufacturing giant over $7 billion. But why? The answer perhaps lies in its relationship with Apple (AAPL). The Nikkei Asian Review reported on Monday that a potential US plant may be a joint investment between Apple and FoxConn, which remains the largest manufacturer of iPhones and iPads. During an interview this November with The New York Times, President Donald Trump said he had a post-election phone call with Apple CEO Tim Cook in which he told Cook, Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States. I think well create the incentives for you, and I think youre going to do it, Trump added, according to the presidents own account. Terry Gou, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu While its unclear at this time what those incentives will be, Foxconns move might have something to do with Trumps repeated pledge to to impose a 45% tariff on imports from China to spur job creation and innovation stateside. I think this move is motivated by Trump and his 45% tariff on anything imported into the US, Ann Lee, an authority on Chinese economic relations and adjunct professor of economics and finance at New York University, told Yahoo Finance. If that happens, then companies like Apple stand to lose a great deal. Thats the only reason why I think the economics might make sense. Indeed, when looking at Apples overall supply chain one which famously adheres to the motto Designed in California but Assembled in China the move doesnt make much sense, Lee contended. Lots of tech comes from China, and lots of tech comes from Korea, she added. To have one factory squared away in Pennsylvania, outside the [Apple] supply chain and to ship all these other parts there, you might not necessarily be saving any export costs. Story continues Perhaps quite the opposite. While such a factory would be a win for US job creation, the real question is whether consumers would ultimately be fine absorbing the costs associated with moving jobs stateside. Indeed, FoxConn founder and chairman Terry Gou estimated that consumers could end up paying up to $500 more for products manufactured in the US, not because they offer more functionality but simply because of where they were made. While its hard to believe Apple would stand for increased pricing along those lines, any investment by Apple in Foxconns expansion into the US would be a political victory for Trump, who has criticized the iPhone maker time and again for outsourcing jobs to China. If Trump wants to pull jobs back, well have to give a lot of companies tax breaks, maybe free land, free who knows what to make it cross-competitive and keep the jobs here, Lee said. I mean, China already does that. So thats something Americans have to consider. But will Americans want to pay hundreds more for their brand-new iPhones? JP Mangalindan is a senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook. More from JP: How Silicon Valley reacted to Trumps inauguration AMD CEO: Why its good to be the smaller guy Threesome app CEO: Swiping is dead Nick Jonas explains why you should buy his new headphones 5 ways Apple can get back in the game in 2017 Inside San Franciscos last affordable neighborhood LinkedIns Jeff Weiner is excited about these 3 tech trends The silence around female genital mutilation and cutting must end. Female genital mutilation is hardly ever talked about in the news or on social media. Women and men get uncomfortable when the subject comes up and often change the conversation as soon as they can. Perhaps this silence is the reason that female genital mutilation has persisted for so long. In 2016, the United Nations named gender equality as one of their Sustainable Development Goals. We cannot achieve this goal without definitively ending female genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation can cause lifelong health problems from infections to depression and infertility. Women who are cut are less likely to finish school and more likely to be victims of child marriage and abuse. Ending female genital mutilation lies at the heart of women's empowerment, giving women a basic and fundamental choice to protect their health and their future. Female genital mutilation is not a "regional issue," or a problem only for women in developing nations. This abuse affects more than 200 million women and girls around the world and is even practiced in the United States where, recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 500,000 girls are a risk. Finally, however, the silence around female genital mutilation has been broken and change is on the horizon. Born in the Gambia, I, like more than 75 percent of Gambian girls, was mutilated when I was baby. I thought for many years that speaking out was too dangerous. I was afraid of being ostracized by my community and shunned by my friends. When my daughter was born, though, I knew I had to speak out to protect her and the thousands of other girls around the world who are cut every day. I wasn't the only one who broke the silence. In some of the countries that are the worst for women and girls, there are some of the best women's rights activists. There is Kakenya Ntaiya in Kenya who agreed to be mutilated only if she could pursue her education. She went on to get her doctorate and to open a school for Maasai girls, which will not allow any student to be mutilated. There is Domtila Cheseng who not only saved herself from mutilation, but who stood up and saved hundreds of other girls. There is also the late Efua Dorkenoo, who spent all her life advocating against female genital mutilation when no one knew what the practice was. She knocked on doors like the U.N. and the World Health Organization and made sure female genital mutilation was a priority. Story continues [READ: What if more women wore blue helmets?] These incredible women have made huge changes in their communities, but female genital mutilation is a global phenomenon and it needs a global response. That's why this year marks such a turning point. For the first time ever, the international community is standing up. This December we hosted the historic End Violence Against Girls: Summit on female genital mutilation in the District of Columbia. The gathering brought together more than 200 activists, ambassadors, diplomats, religious leaders and lawmakers from around the world. Former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada spoke beautifully about his own efforts to end female genital mutilation and performances by artists Inna Modja and Sona Jobarteh brought the room to tears. The summit, however, did more than inspire. One of the greatest challenges facing anti-female genital mutilation advocates is distance. While some are in India, others are in Somalia. I am based in Atlanta, but I want to know what strategies are working in Kenya or Mali or England. At the Summit I spoke with Lucy Ann, an activist who works with Safe Hands for Girls in Sierra Leone. She told me about amazing advances they are making in Sierra Leone to ensure that uncut girls stay uncut. Law enforcement officers met with community and religious leaders to learn how they can help intervene and medical providers learned how best to support survivors. As a new year of activism begins, we must continue to foster these important connections between countries, activists and organizations on the front lines of this change. We must trust survivors to lead grassroots campaigns around the world and we must empower women to stand up for their rights and their freedom. Above all, we must not be silent. Women and men around the world must come together and declare, once and for all, that female genital mutilation is unacceptable and that we will not let another woman endure it. Women are standing together and advocating for their rights as never before. From Beyonce to Malala Yousafzai, women are learning that feminism is not a dirty word, that education is their right -- not their privilege -- and that they deserve to be valued and protected by their families, their communities and their cultures. The summit was the first in a series of galvanizing moments, lead by millennials, that are changing cultures around the world and ensuring that every child -- boy or girl -- can grow up free from harm, from hate and from violence. One of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People, Jaha Dukureh is the founder and executive director of Safe Hands for Girls, an advocacy organization based in Atlanta that is working to end all violence against girls. Follow her on Twitter. Correction appended 7:46 p.m. After millions of people took to the streets on Saturday at the Womens March on Washington and at associated protests across the globe, they now face a question familiar to any protest movement: What next? What will the diverse coalition of citizens who showed up on Saturday, and the activists who organized the whole thing, do with that energy? The deal is that protest matters but not by itself and generally not immediately, says David S. Meyer, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and author of The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America. Activists get generally much less than they want and it takes a long time to get it, but that doesnt mean it doesnt matter. If activists hope to turn the march into a sustained and successful effort to make change, here are a few moments in the history of American protest that Meyer says can provide some pointers: What can be learned from the 1913 suffrage parade: The main lesson of womens movements in the U.S., Meyer says, is that big battles (like suffrage) can take a long time to be won. But what happened after the 1913 suffrage parade, which took demonstrators to D.C. in advance of Woodrow Wilsons Inauguration, also provides a cautionary tale: as World War I approached, the suffrage movement saw a split between pacifists and those who, though they may have opposed the war, didnt want to alienate their potential ally in the White House. The rivalries between various womens groups wound up being corrosive and difficult, Meyer says, and he suggests that those women who compromised their own beliefs in order to gain Wilsons support were likely disappointed, as the President turned out to be a tepid ally for the movement. Though activists will likely always debate the costs and benefits of group cohesion vs. individuals speaking their minds, this moment shows that attempting to game the system by sacrificing ideals can backfire. Story continues What can be learned from the Bonus Army: This group of World War I veterans marched on Washington in 1932 to demand early payment of the bonuses they were eventually due. Though they were violently ejected from D.C., they are often given credit for helping to get Franklin Roosevelt elected and their concrete, specific goal of early payment was eventually met, in 1936. The lesson there: make clear demands and stick with them, even at times when it can seem like the movement has failed. What can be learned from the 1963 March on Washington: The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the occasion for Martin Luther King Jr.s I Have a Dream speech, is an example of how protest can help push allies in power to act, Meyer says, as it helped move President John F. Kennedy from being passively committed to civil rights to taking an active stance. Turning out big numbers in the street is good, but a successful movement needs allies who can translate that protest into policy or other concrete action. Perhaps as important, the idea of African Americans marching on Washington for their rights dated all the way back to the early 1940s, another example of the importance of seeing things in long view. What can be learned from the 1982 nuclear-freeze demonstration: The massive antinuclear demonstration held in New York City in the summer of 1982 is in some ways the opposite of 1963, says Meyer, in that it shows what a movement can accomplish when those in power are not allies. At the time, President Ronald Reagan was firmly opposed to the idea of a nuclear freeze, though arms-reduction talks resumed only days after the protest and Reagan was seen by some to begin taking a softer stance toward Cold War foreign relations. (The coincidence in time is striking, Meyer notes.) A lesson there is to remember that opposition leaders will rarely credit demonstrators with changing things, even if a protest helps show that its politically impossible to continue down an old route. On the other hand, the antinuclear movement failed to successfully define its boundaries, which can hurt a movements ability to persist and measure success. The Reagan Administration said, yeah, nobody wants a nuclear war and we dont either, Meyer says. The sharper you can be, the harder it is to be co-opted. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter What can be learned from Hands Across America: This 1986 megaevent (not quite a protest, but still a large public demonstration) in which Americans across the country held hands to raise money to combat hunger is an example of what Meyer calls mushy consensus. Thats the problem of having a goal that everybody likes but is way too vague. Its like, Were all going to care,' he says. Objections are necessarily few, which means a huge coalition can get behind the idea and the onetime involvement is great, but how do you turn that into a movement or measure long-term success? Protest movements are much more successful at creating change when they are willing to make enemies and create targets. From these five moments, three main ingredients for success stand out: Clarity, persistence and allies. So where does that leave the Womens March? Despite the broad coalition the protest brought together, organizers showed clarity by having issued a platform and rejected groups that were not in line with those ideals. And, perhaps paradoxically, Meyer predicts that activists will benefit from having Donald Trump and his Administration help set the agenda by providing, with their actions, a focal point for resistance. And, though it will be hard to cultivate powerful allies in the current federal government, he believes that legislators might swing on some issues and there is little chance that the new movement will prove too deferential to potential allies in power. What remains to be seen is whether the weekends marchers can persist. What we can see from the outside, says Meyer, is actually really promising. Correction: The original version of this article misstated the date of the Hands Across America event. It took place in 1986. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization called on all countries on Monday to monitor closely outbreaks of deadly avian influenza in birds and poultry and to report promptly any human cases that could signal the start of a flu pandemic. Different strains of bird flu have been spreading across Europe and Asia since late last year, leading to large-scale slaughtering of poultry in certain countries and some human deaths in China. Experts fear the virus could mutate to spread more easily among people. Nearly 40 countries have reported new outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry or wild birds since November, according to the WHO. "The rapidly expanding geographical distribution of these outbreaks and the number of virus strains currently co-circulating have put WHO on high alert," Margaret Chan told the start of the U.N. agency's executive board. The world is better prepared for the next influenza pandemic - following the H1N1 "mild" pandemic in 2009-2010 - "but not at all well enough", she said. Chan said that under an agreement with drug makers, in return for countries sharing virus samples from which a pandemic vaccine would be derived, WHO is promised 350 million doses of vaccine for distribution. "We cannot allow so many countries to be without tools," Chan later told Reuters. "Remember, it takes four to six months to get the vaccine." China has had a "sudden and steep increase" in human cases of H7N9 since December and the WHO has not been able to rule out limited human-to-human spread in two clusters of cases although no sustained spread has been detected thus far, she said. Under the International Health Regulations, WHO's 194 member states are required to detect and report human cases promptly, Chan said, adding: "We cannot afford to miss the early signals." China's delegation, led by Zhang Yang of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, told the meeting China would carry out its obligations on communicating and responding to any outbreaks. "Currently H7N9 overall statistics remain the same," Zhang said. "China will continue to strengthen its cooperation and exchange with WHO in this regard." David Nabarro, an international public health expert and one of six candidates to succeed Chan in the top WHO post, said that addressing the threat of avian flu jumping the barrier to pose a serious threat to humans was a "central priority". "This group of viruses are persistent in moving between wild birds and poultry. We should always have a good high guard and never be complacent," Nabarro, a former U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, told Reuters. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Catherine Evans) Paris (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's decision to abandon the Trans-Pacific Partnership has left the ambitious trade agreement in limbo and focused attention on the world's other trade frameworks. Here is an overview. - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) - Founded in 1995 and based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) going back to 1947, the WTO is a global framework for the liberalisation of trade. Its 164 member states are committed to furthering free trade, especially by lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers and by harmonizing trade rules. However, successive rounds of WTO trade talks since 2001 have stalled. This has prompted individual member states to seek accords with their main, often regional, trading partners instead. There are 271 trade agreements in force in the world today, according to Sebastien Jean, director of the French research body Cepii. They range from bilateral deals to regional or inter-regional accords. Trade flows covered by such deals made up 37 percent of world trade in 2013. - Free-trade areas - Countries create free-trade areas by eliminating most tariffs between them while keeping control over their own trade policies towards third countries. Important ones are: NAFTA. The North American Free Trade Agreement grouping the US, Canada and Mexico went into force in 1994 and is the world's biggest free-trade area. Trump, blaming the accord for the outsourcing of American jobs to Mexico, wants it renegotiated. ASEAN. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Originally a political association, ASEAN aims to eliminate tariffs between its members and has entered major trade agreements, notably one with China. EFTA. The European Free Trade Association brings together Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland and was created as a counterpart to the European Economic Community, precursor of the European Union which its four member states are close to but have not joined. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, but not Switzerland, are also members of the European Economic Area (EEA) which gives them access to the EU's single market. Story continues - Customs unions - Customs unions take their level of cooperation a step beyond free-trade areas by pursuing a joint trade policy towards the outside world, including identical tariffs for third countries. EU. The European Union is the world's biggest customs union. It is made up of 28 members on behalf of whom it has signed trade deals with outside countries, including Turkey, northern African states and South Korea. British voters last June decided to leave the EU. Many experts say this implies an exit from the EU customs union, although there still is debate about this. MERCOSUR. The Southern Common Market, created in 1995, has as full members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela whose membership was however suspended in December 2016. Other South American countries have association agreements with MERCOSUR. The sub-regional bloc's free trade policy excludes certain sensitive sectors, including the automobile industry. - Big regional agreements - TPP. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was agreed in 2015 after years of talks between 12 countries on or near the Pacific rim. They are the US, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. It has not gone into force and the US has now withdrawn from the group, casting deep doubt on its future. CETA. The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and the EU was signed in October 2016. On Tuesday, members of the European Parliament's powerful trade committee voted in favour the agreement, clearing a major hurdle for the contested deal. A showdown vote by the Parliament's full session is scheduled for February 15. TTIP. The future of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the EU and the US is in serious doubt. Negotiations for the ambitious trade deal started in 2013, but it has run into opposition from some European countries where voters are increasingly sceptical towards globalisation. RCEP. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is a planned free-trade deal between ASEAN members and their regional trade partners China, Japan, Australia, India, South Korea and New Zealand. Expectations of the TPP's demise are likely to give this China-sponsored initiative fresh impetus. San Francisco (AFP) - A charitable foundation backed by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife said Monday it has bought a Canadian artificial intelligence startup as part of a mission to eradicate disease. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Toronto-based Meta, which uses AI to quickly read and comprehend scientific papers and then provide insights to researchers. Meta capabilities will be unified in a tool made available for free to scientists. "We are very excited about what lies ahead," Meta co-founder and chief executive Sam Molyneux said in a statement. Zuckerberg and his doctor wife, Priscilla Chan, in September pledged $3 billion over the next decade to help banish or manage all disease, pouring some of the Facebook founder's fortune into innovative research. "This is a big goal," Zuckerberg said at a San Francisco event announcing the effort of the philanthropic entity established by the couple in 2015. "But we spent the last few years speaking with experts who think it is possible, so we dug in." In the field of biomedicine alone, thousands of research papers are published daily, initiative science president Cori Bargmann and chief technology officer Brian Pinkerton said in a post on the charity's Facebook page. Meta artificial intelligence can analyze insights across millions of papers, finding connections and patterns at scales and speeds impossible for humans to match unassisted, according to Bargmann and Pinkerton. "Meta will help scientists learn from others' discoveries in real time, find key papers that may have gone unnoticed, or even predict where their field is headed," Bargmann and Pinkerton said. "The potential for this kind of platform is virtually limitless." - AI at home - Zuckerberg said last month that he built an artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler" -- named Jarvis -- that even plays with his family. Story continues The Facebook chief took on the personal project last year, devoting about 100 hours to making a system inspired by "Iron Man" film character Jarvis as a virtual assistant to help manage his household. Jarvis is not a physical robot, but an application Zuckerberg can access through his phone or computer to control lights, temperature, music, security, appliances and more. The software learns his tastes and patterns, as well as new words or concepts, and can even entertain his one-year-old daughter Max, according to Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg plans to continue improving Jarvis, and says he expects AI technology to improve greatly in the coming five to 10 years. AI is getting a foothold in people's homes, starting with devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers that link to personal assistants to answer questions and control connected devices. Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe From Town & Country It was a family affair for many of the 500,000 or more who marched through Washington, D.C. Saturday in peaceful protest, generations of mothers and daughters uniting in purpose and pink hats. Appearing on stage with six-year-old Penny at her side and newborn Chloe on her chest, Brooklyn designer and Women's March on Washington Co-Chair Bob Bland told crowds she wanted her daughters to see that united women "can transform the world." French-born Christiane Valentine, who came from Manahawkin, New Jersey, to march with her 21-year-old daughter, Lea, said, "I'm just speechless looking at everybody and grateful for the excitement. And for the gift that Trump's giving us. Do you know what it is? Unity of strength, clarity of who we are and where we're going, and reminder of our self-worth. It's life changing." Here are some more mothers, daughters-and grandmothers-on why they marched together: Emily Gould, 35, writer and publisher, Brooklyn, New York, and mom Kate Gould, 65, attorney, Rockville, Maryland Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe I probably wouldn't have come to D.C. if it hadn't been for my mom-she gently nudged me about it for weeks in advance, and was so happy when I finally decided I was coming. She made dinner for me and my friends the night before the event-she got us SmartTrip cards, snacks from Trader Joe's, made the whole thing as easy and comfortable as it could possibly be. Part of the reason I'd wavered was because during Occupy Wall Street, I was downtown the night that the camps were broken up and saw cops beating protesters-yes, even white women!-and because ever since Trump's election I've felt deeply, viscerally scared and anxious. In a world where he's president it seems like anything's possible, and not in a good way. A big part of me wanted to put my head in the sand, stick near my husband and baby, and watch the protests on social media from my couch. Story continues In a world where he's president it seems like anything's possible, and not in a good way. But I thought about the changes my mom has experienced during her lifetime, the sexism and discrimination that were just accepted facts of life for her generation, and how they also fought for the crucial right to safe and legal abortion. Having recently been pregnant and given birth made me more committed than ever to defending this right; not just because so many women will die from unsafe illegal abortions without it, but because being I now understand that being pregnant with an unwanted child is a kind of physical and psychological torture. I don't think that fact always registers for people who haven't been pregnant; I know it didn't for me. My favorite moment of the march was when my mom started quietly singing "We Shall Overcome." No one else was really about to start singing but she didn't care, she kept singing, and so I was like "Okay, fine" and we sang it together. My mom is self-conscious about her singing voice-she shouldn't be, it's fine-so I understood that she was being brave. I know how lucky I am to have such a brave mom. Tracy Ballard, 49, Washington D.C., with daughters Laine Gorman, 13, and Ava Gorman, 12, Washington, D.C. Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe As a family, we wanted to participate in the march because the rhetoric used by our now-president has been so often disrespectful to women, immigrants, people of color, and other historically disenfranchised groups. We felt it was important to add our voices to the resounding chorus putting this administration on notice that language and actions reflecting contempt, intolerance, and divisiveness are unacceptable. President Trump needs to do better and to be better, and we will be watching him closely. My daughters felt strongly about participating because as citizens too young to vote, they did not have a cognizable voice in the political process that gave rise to the current administration. My daughters felt strongly about participating because as citizens too young to vote, they did not have a cognizable voice in the political process that gave rise to the current administration. They are aware that the policies put in place during President Trump's administration will affect them directly as they transition into adulthood, and they want to be heard. As a mother, I wanted them to feel a sense of civic responsibility to speak up when you witness something that feels unfair, and to experience the accompanying feeling of empowerment when you use your voice to advocate for justice. This is what democracy looks like, and I was so very proud of them for taking part in this process! Maren Rossman, talent agent, and daughter Bae Derby, 8, Boston Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe We booked hotels and a car the day the march was announced. We were on the Cape with friends and knew we had to add our feet and voices. Seven of us road tripped here for 10 hours, in our aptly nicknamed "Pussy Tank" rental. Bae may not wholly grasp the significance of the day, but she proudly marched, sometimes on her father's shoulders, with her "Never Underestimate the Power of a Woman" sign in hand. Despite her youth, Bae understands that Trump stands for less healthcare for all and less tolerance for those born abroad-she's a Korean adoptee. My mother, Joanne Rossman, was also somewhere at the march, which meant three generations were here, fighting for rights we had hoped would be safe for years to come. Three generations were here, fighting for rights we had hoped would be safe for years to come. Emilie Sommer, 39, buyer for an independent bookstore, and daughter Maisie, 8, Washington, D.C. Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe I hope it's something she will remember forever and that she will always feel called to stand up for what she believes is right. Maisie and I live eight blocks from the Capitol, so there was no way I wasn't going to participate! Initially we discouraged her from marching with me. I worried that it might be too cold, too crowded, and that she might be uncomfortable, and I didn't want it to be an unpleasant experience for her. She really wanted to go, though-she insisted on it-and eagerly made signs with her best friend. Her first two posters said "Justice for All" and "Black Lives Matter." Her third was a large outline of a person with a huge red heart. An arrow pointed to the heart alongside the words, "Keep This Big!" I'm so thankful she was there to see the beautiful diversity of our country and the enormous crowd that showed up for justice and equality. It isn't enough, but it's a start. I hope it's something she will remember forever and that she will always feel called to stand up for what she believes is right. Erica Jacobsen, 47, marketing consultant, Newbury, Massachusetts; Carol Coles, 70, public health educator, Starks, Maine; Margaret Coles, 13, Reading, Massachusetts; Annie Jacobsen, 8, Newbury, Massachusetts Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe Erica: A few of my sorority sisters from Dartmouth booked flights early on. Then my mom wanted to go, and Annie, who is 8, said, "So we're going to Washington?" Later, my father's wife texted to ask if we'd consider bringing Margaret, who is my 13-year-old half-sister. So here we are. I had taken part in two other marches in D.C., back in the late '80s and early '90s, and both about reproductive rights. It had been a long time. But this election made me feel I had to stand up and not hide behind being an apologetically not-Republican upper middle class white woman. After the pussy comment, I got a Hillary sign. It got run over twice, then stolen. I got another one and we hung it up in the trees. I needed to be vocal again. It was important for me that Annie see that. I was very proud to have my daughter, her half-sister, and my granddaughter wear the hats I knitted and be a part of the sea of pink. Carol: When Erica was around seven, I took her to an equal rights amendment march in Boston. Everyone wore white dresses and Erica was one of the only children there. I was going to D.C. no matter what-if I had to go by myself, I'd go. For this one, I knitted furiously for weeks to get four pussy hats done in large, medium, sort of medium, and small and I was very proud to have my daughter, her half-sister, and my granddaughter wear them and be a part of the sea of pink. I think it's important for us to recognize the unity of this particular carload of women; that despite our family of divorce and remarriage and all sorts of complicated relationships, there are things we come together on, and this is one of them. Andrea Brenner, 48, college sociology professor and administrator, Bethesda, Maryland, and Talia Brenner 19, sophomore at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe We both felt the need to attend a march and fortunate that we could march in D.C., and do so together. Since we live in Maryland, getting up early to get downtown was nothing compared to the friends and strangers who traveled such long distances to march alongside us. Marching as a mother-daughter team was especially important to both of us because we regularly learn from each other. We were marching for intersectional feminism, and as white women, we believe that it's crucial to advocate for the rights of all marginalized groups. But while we're proud to have participated in this historic event, we believe that we must avoid self-congratulation, since we have so much more work to do. While we're proud to have participated in this historic event, we must avoid self-congratulation. We have so much more work to do. Shannon Curry, 27, legal recruiting manager, Washington, D.C., and mom Charlene Dalia Curry, 55, director of human resources, Guilford, Connecticut Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe My great-grandmother immigrated to the United States from Italy alone when she was just 18, got a job in a local factory, and taught herself English, so I guess my introduction to feminism starts with her. My late Nonni, my mother's mom, made sure my mother knew the importance of education in achieving equality, lived until she was 94, and proudly voted for Hillary on Election Day. My mother was the first in her family to go to college, lived in a co-ed dorm called "the Intentional Democratic Community" at UConn, studied abroad in Mexico, then went on to graduate school to earn her M.B.A. She read with me every night and made sure I appreciated the literary feminist heroes that inspired her: Francie from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Jo March from Little Women, and more. There was no universe in which we'd miss the opportunity to stand together. Growing up, everything in our house was equal. My parents shared every burden and joy equally and made sure my brother and I knew we were expected to do the same. Marching together was important to us for so many reasons. We marched for the badass women like my great-grandmother and my Nonni that gave us every opportunity in their power, for our cousins, aunts, and friends, and future generations of our crazy tribe. We marched because women's rights are human rights, because black lives and trans lives matter, because HRC won the popular vote, and because there was no universe in which we'd miss the opportunity to stand together. Before my mom left to drive back to Connecticut, she woke me up with one of our favorite shared rally chants: "We need a leader, not a creepy tweeter!" Su Sie Ju, 46, attorney, and daughter Julia Angel, 13, Bethesda, Maryland Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe Su Sie: This march for me is about my kids-my 13-year-old daughter and my 10-year-old son-and what kind of place I want them to live in. To the extent this new administration believes this election is a mandate for racism, xenophobia, sexism, and bigotry, I am here with my kids to reject that. I want them to live in a place that is inclusive and based on truth, equal rights and opportunity, and respect and dignity for all. To the extent this new administration believes this election is a mandate for racism, xenophobia, sexism, and bigotry, I am here with my kids to reject that. Julia: It's exciting! Marching has given me faith again-that I'm not part of an America that is cruel or exclusive but one where people can get along and support each other. Barbara Morrison, 54, physician's assistant and yoga instructor, Norfolk, Virginia, with daughter, Amelia, 20, junior at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe I've marched many times on D.C., during and after college, for women's rights and for an end to the nuclear arms race. Coming together with like-minded individuals to speak in one voice is the best antidote I know to feeling powerless politically, and has helped me avoid burning out. As a healthcare professional, I understood that while my mother had seven children, I had the means to plan my family, if I wanted one. I worked for Planned Parenthood as a counselor and now as a P.A. Every day of my professional life, I address the lack of equal access to care; my profession was founded to address this disparity. So I march for all the women on whose shoulders I have stood, for all the women whose stories I have been honored to hear, for all the hands I have held, for the courage and resourcefulness and boundless love of ordinary women. I marched for the courage and resourcefulness and boundless love of ordinary women. Amelia was coming from school. She and I intended to meet up but the crowds and the lack of phone service made it impossible. While we did not get to march together, it was almost as if we had. There was the feeling that all women there-we were all one body. It did not matter who we were as individuals, who we marched with or stood next to. We were all there to stand up for kindness and respect. The weekend marked six years since my mother passed away, and she was also with us there, marching proudly. What she could not have in her life, she taught us both to want and how to get it-through an education. Our daughter has internalized these values and is doing the block proud. Amelia: There has never been a time in my life where women's rights were a cause for people to get out and protest. This weekend, women's rights had the moment of my generation, and I realized how far we still have to come, but how much progress was made. I didn't get to meet up with my mom, but it was a beautiful thing to see grandmothers and daughters and people of all backgrounds standing together. No arrests. No violence. Only love. And hope. Lea Pero, 21, student, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, with mom Christiane Valentine, 57, craniosacral therapist and yoga instructor, Manahawkin, New Jersey Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe My cousin asked me if I wanted to come, then I asked my mom. We ended up with a group of 12, all of our aunts and cousins. We put on our hats and came on down. This is my first march. The idea that you can make a difference just by being together and supporting each other with love and kindness and not having to show that you're superior, that we're just equals, we're together, we're here-it feels unbelievably great. This is my first march. The idea that you can make a difference just by being together-it feels unbelievably great. Ali Wunderman, 27, writer, San Francisco, with mom, Lisa, 54, consultant, San Francisco Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe My mom worked hard with the Hillary campaign. I admired her commitment to female leadership and I strongly supported Hillary from the start, so we have that in common. She had a hotel booked in D.C. for Hillary's inauguration. When things didn't go as expected, we knew that we had to fight harder for what we believe in. As San Franciscans, progressive thinking is in our blood, and we wanted Trump to see that his actions affect multiple generations. I marched to uphold the values for which my mom fought in her effort to get Hillary elected. My mom marched to help fix a world for her daughters that is currently unfair to women and other marginalized people. We marched together because we share a vision for the future where women are treated with the dignity and agency we deserve. When things didn't go as expected, we knew that we had to fight harder for what we believe in. It was extra meaningful marching with my childhood friend, who now lives in D.C., and her mom. Mother-daughter relationships can be difficult without added politics, so it was amazing to have all four of us on the same page fighting for the same thing. Selene Milano, 43, magazine editor, and Jade Angel, 11, Brooklyn, New York Photo credit: Alyssa Giacobbe I identify as a liberal democrat and certainly live in the infamous bubble but I consider myself pretty open-minded about varying political views. I just don't feel like I can sit back and quietly observe Trump's embarrassing behavior, his insulting cabinet appointments, and his attack on freedom of the press. As a woman, a journalist, and a mother, I knew I had to take action. To be part of something so peaceful, so uplifting, and so radical felt like a real turning point. I made it my business to be at the march with my daughter. But I never thought it would be as life-changing as it was. To be part of something so peaceful, so uplifting, and so radical felt like a real turning point. Jade told me it made her feel like she had a real voice that was being heard and supported. She attends a very liberal, politically active middle school where speaking out about injustice is encouraged but to march on Washington at 11 years old is something I know she will tell her children and their children about. I want my daughter to know that no matter what happens, we were on the right side of history. It was much more than I ever expected and will certainly never forget. You Might Also Like Severe weather across parts of the southeastern United States left at least 18 people dead over the weekend. Flooding and damage was reported in parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Georgia saw 12 fatalities, as well as heavy flooding across seven counties, including Cook County, Reuters reported. Tornados pummeled a mobile home park, flattening it and causing several of the states deaths. I urge all Georgians to exercise caution and vigilance in order to remain safe and prevent further loss of life or injuries, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said in a news release over the weekend. A state of emergency will remain in effect for the next week across seven counties in Georgia that border on Florida. Across the affected areas in the southern U.S., local authorities said they expected death tolls to continue to rise as rescue workers gained access to more sites of destruction. Mississippi saw great damage in the Hattiesburg area, where a tornado smashed several buildings. In Alabama and in the Birmingham area in particular, thousands of people were left without power, AL.com reported. After the series of tornadoes and thunderstorms had wreaked havoc across the southeastern region, some storms turned south toward Florida and another system made its way up the coast toward New York. President Donald Trump promised to help the communities across the south and in Georgia in particular on Sunday, ahead of a swearing in for his senior staff: They all got hit hard, Trump said, adding, The tornadoes were vicious and powerful and strong. January tornados are fairly rare, as the usual tornado season takes place during the spring, CBS News reported. The number of January tornados in the U.S. has varied greatly over the past decade, seeing a high of 84 in 2008 and just four in 2014. Photo credit: Getty From Town & Country Update 1/23/16: In an interview broadcast yesterday, President Donald Trump reiterated his aversion to vacations and his promise not to take a presidential salary. "There's just so much to be done," Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview. "So I don't think we'll be very big on vacations, no." Regarding the traditional $400,000-a-year presidential pay, Trump said: "No, I'm not going to take the salary. I'm not taking it." Original 8/30/16: Donald Trump might be the proud owner of Mar-a-Lago, the 128-room "great estate of Palm Beach," but the presidential nominee is not a fan of taking time off to relax and unwind. "Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job." -- Think Like A Billionaire - Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2012 When asked by the Boston Globe when the mogul last took a vacation, his spokeswoman Hope Hicks responded simply: "Mr. Trump prefers to work." A vacation "would bore and perhaps scare him,"Abe Wallach, a former longtime Trump Organization executive, told the newspaper. "He needs constant activity and gratification." Trump himself tweeted, "Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job," in 2012, quoting his book Think Like a Billionaire. Wallach said that he would speak to Trump on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, when he took his own vacation time. Another former employee, Barbara Res, said that during the first four years she worked for the Trump Organization, she took only said she took only two vacations. During one of them, a trip to Arizona, Trump asked, "How long are you going to be there? When are you coming back?" "Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job."-Donald Trump Story continues The nominee has been critical of Barack Obama for his biannual vacations: "He takes more vacations than any human being I've ever seen," he said on Greta Van Susteren's Fox News show in 2011. "It sends a bad message. Here we have a country that really is going to hell in a handbasket ... and we have a president that's constantly, whether it's Martha's Vineyard or someplace else, constantly on vacation." Photo credit: Getty More recently, Trump criticized Obama for not leaving his Martha's Vineyard vacation early to tour the flood destruction in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, visited the area on Friday, August 19). Obama arrived a week ago, on Tuesday, August 23. For her part, Trump's rival Hillary Clinton hasn't taken a vacation during her campaign, a spokesman told People: "Might do two days later in the month but that's not scheduled yet. Even on days she isn't campaigning in public, she is doing campaign meetings so she really hasn't taken any time yet." And while Trump has said he may take some time off if he loses the election in November, Wallach doesn't believe it for a second: "He could be very busy suing people and various organizations as a result of his loss. He has to be in the press every minute every single day. You can't do that if you're on vacation." To read the full story, head to the Boston Globe's website. [H/T: Time] You Might Also Like Virtually every major smartphone vendor, from Apple to Samsung to LG to Huawei, is expected to release devices featuring artificial intelligence this year. Industry sources tell DigiTimes that virtual assistants will once again play a large role in the mobile industry in 2017, and that significant upgrades are on the way. Don't Miss: Apple just released iOS 10.2.1, heres what you need to know According to DigiTimes sources, Apple is working on an enhanced version of its Siri virtual assistant for its next generation of iPhone devices. The report doesnt specify whether or not this new Siri will appear on the iPhone 8, but with all the talk of the sweeping changes and additional features Apple is planning to bring to the iPhone for its 10th anniversary, a more advanced Siri would make sense. The report also points to Apples acquisition of machine learning and AI startup Turi last August, which it says will allow the company to further strengthen the functionality, as well as the market share of Siri, which is now competing with the likes of Cortana, Alexa and Google Assistant. As for Samsung, the new AI assistant Bixby is expected to be a standout feature of the Galaxy S8, even rumored to have its own button on the vendors next flagship phone. Google will continue to push Google Assistant on to more devices, LG is expected to integrate Amazons Alexa into the G6 and Huawei, as the third largest global smartphone vendor, wants to compete with Apple and Samsung on AI. 2017 might just be the year of the smartphone virtual assistant wars. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com Samsung might have a secret weapon for the Galaxy S8 in its competition with other Android device makers: hoarding. Non-Samsung flagships, including the HTC U Ultra and the upcoming LG G6, will reportedly not ship with the Snapdragon 835, the latest and greatest Qualcomm processor. According to Forbes, it spoke with sources within the Qualcomm supply chain that say the LG G6 will ship with the older Snapdragon 821 because Samsung has first rights to the Snapdragon 835. "The Snapdragon 835 won't be available in large quantities until after the Galaxy S8 launches," one source told Forbes. MORE: Galaxy S8 Has Found Its Secret Weapon Against iPhone The Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 is the chipmaker's most appealing processor yet, offering superior performance and battery life compared to last year's high-end option, the Snapdragon 821. There were high hopes that it would find its way to a slew of high-end devices this year, but the HTC U Ultra threw water on those hopes after it was announced with the Snapdragon 821. Now, LG appears poised to offer the same. According to Forbes' sources, Samsung is working with Qualcomm on the Snapdragon 835's manufacturing. After Samsung's handset launches and its first run of devices make their way to store shelves, the processor will be available in large quantities to other Android device makers. Neither Samsung nor Qualcomm have confirmed the report. The report is just the latest in a string of rumors surrounding Samsung's Galaxy S8. Over the last several months, reports have said that the Galaxy S8 could come with far better performance than last year's Galaxy S7, as well as improved display technology, a better camera, and a dedicated button to control its virtual personal assistant Bixby. There's also a good chance the smartphone will launch without a physical home button. Samsung is said to be planning to move the home button under the display. The big question surrounding the Galaxy S8 now, though, is when it will launch. Samsung said on Monday that the Galaxy S8 will not be unveiled at Mobile World Congress next month, dashing hopes of an early 2017 release. Now, the Galaxy S8 is believed to be slated for an April launch. Story continues Forbes' sources, who were not identified, say the handset will launch in Korea, at least, on April 14. See also : 21 Android Apps That Are Actually Worth Paying For Actor Shia LeBeouf, left, stands in front of a live-steam camera with the words "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" posted on a wall outside of the the Museum of the Moving Image as members of the public join LeBeouf in chanting the words "He will Not Divide Us" in the Queens borough of New York. LaBeouf has spent the first four days of the Trump presidency swaying, dancing and chanting, along with anyone who wants to join in. The project by LeBeouf and two other artists opened on Jan. 20 and is expected to go for 4 years, or for "the duration of the presidency." (AP Photo/Deepti Hajela) NEW YORK (AP) Shia LaBeouf wants you to know: "He will not divide us." For the first few days of Donald Trump's presidency, the actor has been repeating that sentence into a live camera mounted on a wall outside a New York City museum, usually with a backdrop of everyday New Yorkers chanting and singing along. The livestream from outside the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is for a participatory public art project LaBeouf and two collaborators intend to have running for the duration of Trump's presidency. The camera went live the morning of the inauguration, along with a website inviting the public to show up and repeat the phrase, "He will not divide us," any time of the day or night. The scene in front of the livecam has ranged from lively with scores of young people dancing and clapping to lonely late at night. LeBeouf has been a frequent, though not constant presence, wearing the same blue jacket and red hat. "Trying to keep the conversation going. Trying to keep the fire stoked," he said Monday after agreeing to be interviewed by an Associated Press reporter, but only in front of the livestream camera. He interspersed responses to interview questions with repetitions of the chant. The site is around the corner from a New York City performing arts high school and a couple of students were there Monday, singing into the camera. On Inauguration Day, actor Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, led the crowd reciting the chant. At off hours, the livestream has captured puzzled dog walkers checking out the camera up close, people showing up to play music, a man and woman delivering the message and then kissing and quiet debates between visitors about what it all means. People were out in heavy rain chanting Monday night. Technically, the project from LaBeouf and his performance art partners Nastja Sade Ronkko and Luke Turner isn't about opposition to Trump. Story continues The project website says the meaning of the mantra "He will not divide us" should be "guided by the spirit of each individual participant." "We're anti-division out here. Everyone's invited," LaBeouf said, rocking back and forth. "I'm just saying, 'Be nice to each other.'" Tax-exempt public charities, like the museum, are prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity. The line as to what constitutes partisan politicking is a blurry one, but IRS rules say charities are barred from "intervening in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office." Jason Eppink, curator of digital media at the museum, said the project wasn't partisan because those who take part can express themselves any way they like. People have shown up periodically to flash "Make America Great Again" signs. Eppink said it was about "creating a forum for conversation about a very fractured moment that we're experiencing." ___ Follow Deepti Hajela at www.twitter.com/dhajela. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/deepti-hajela. FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2017 file photo from left, Backpage.com CEO Carl Ferrer, former owner James Larkin, COO Andrew Padilla, and former owner Michael Lacey, are sworn-in on Capitol Hill in Washington, prior to testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing into Backpage.com's alleged facilitation of online sex trafficking. Ferrer, Lacy and Larkin appeared in Sacramento Superior Court Tuesday, Jan. 24 to face renewed charges that include pimping, conspiracy and money laundering. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The operators of Backpage.com pushed for pimping charges to be tossed out for the second time Tuesday, two weeks after the website that prosecutors dubbed an online brothel stopped advertising adult services in the face of a congressional investigation. The case sets up the latest in a series of legal battles one of which already reached the U.S. Supreme Court over a federal law designed to protect free speech online by granting immunity to websites that post content created by third-party users. The California attorney general's office charged Backpage executives Carl Ferrer, Michael Lacey and James Larkin last month with conspiracy to commit pimping and 26 counts of money laundering. Ferrer also is charged with 12 counts of pimping, seven involving children. They are accused of knowingly profiting from prostitution. The charges allege that the three laundered nearly $37 million derived directly or indirectly from illegal activity from July 2014 through August 2016, with the monthly take often topping $2 million. The expanded charges came two weeks after Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman dismissed an earlier case, ruling that the website's ads were free speech protected by the federal Communications Decency Act. Attorneys for the men said the state is trying to make an end-run around that ruling and asked for Bowman to preside over the new case. "It raises the same arguments that Judge Bowman has already ruled on," Jim Grant, an attorney for the three men, told Judge Curtis Fiorini. He later said the new charges amount to "additional bites of the apple by the state." The trio did not enter pleas. Defense attorneys moved to have the charges dismissed on the same grounds that Bowman accepted. Judge Fiorini told the men to return to court Feb. 9 to see which judge will handle the case. Prosecutors say they have new evidence. They claim Backpage illegally funneled money through multiple companies and created various websites to get around banks that refused to process transactions. Story continues The defense's motion to dismiss the case accuses the attorney general's office of "harassment rather than a good-faith prosecution." It asks a judge to order the return of about 9 million documents, more than $230,000 seized during a three-year investigation and about $300,000 worth of computer equipment. "The Communications Decency Act is not an all-purpose get-out-of-jail-free card," the state responded in its court filing. Former Attorney General Kamala Harris filed both sets of charges, initially as she campaigned for the U.S. Senate and then again shortly before taking her seat. Xavier Becerra, sworn in as the new attorney general Tuesday, said he would review the case but pledged generally to prosecute sex traffickers "with every tool we have in our arsenal." The U.S. Supreme Court this month left in place a different lower-court ruling that said Backpage's ads are protected by federal law because the site is publishing advertisements created by clients. A U.S. Senate subcommittee separately is looking into whether the website is a front for prostitution. The site removed its adult section to protest what it asserts is government censorship. Ferrer, 55, Backpage's CEO, Lacey and Larkin refused to testify before Congress this month. Lacey, 68, and Larkin, 67, both from Arizona, once owned a chain of alternative newspapers, including the Village Voice in New York City. The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a report citing internal documents showing that up to 80 percent of Backpage ads are edited to conceal that they are for sexual transactions. That opposes the legal argument that the site is simply publishing ads produced by others. Backpage has denied the allegations. The Senate report said the company used a computer program to find and delete words such as "Lolita," ''cheerleader," ''teenager" and "young." ___ Associated Press writer Sophia Bollag contributed to this story. The newest flagship smartphone from LG will be out next month. LG will release its new G6 Android smartphone on Feb. 26, according to a report from The Verge. Physically and stylistically, the G6 is expected to be a notable departure from its predecessor. The Verge reports the phone will be anchored around a large 5.7-inch screen with a slim bezel. Externally, the G6s body will be built from glass and metal. The case will also feature a headphone port and is slated to be waterproof. While the G6 abandons the modular design found on the G5 the G6 wont feature a removable battery the G5s dual-camera and fingerprint sensor systems will carry over to its successor. The news caps speculation on LGs upcoming plans in the smartphone space and confirms several leaks about the G6s possible features and design late last year. On Twitter, LG highlighted an expected release event tied to Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. You wont want to miss this. See you on February 26th! pic.twitter.com/e9V5DdpWPi LG USA Mobile (@LGUSAMobile) January 20, 2017 With the G6s upcoming release, LG looks to make up for some of its predecessors missteps. Upon its release last April, the G5 received mixed reviews that focused on features like its modular accessories. As CNET reported, LG also listed a $381 million loss in its mobile division during the third quarter of 2016 thanks, in part, to weak sales of the G5. Related Articles Photo credit: Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap / AP From Popular Mechanics Samsung Electronics says flaws in the design and production of batteries used in its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, not its hardware or software, made it prone to catch fire. Samsung said Monday that it was responsible for not ensuring the design specifications given to its suppliers were failsafe but believed its investigation into the problem would help the entire industry counter overheating risks with lithium batteries. Analysts questioned if the world's largest smartphone maker had really gotten to the bottom of the problem. The South Korean company delayed the launch of its next Galaxy phone -the Galaxy S8, which usually would come in February. It also announced tighter quality controls and more rigorous testing to ensure safety. During a two-hour press conference livestreamed in English, Chinese and Korean, Samsung said tests of more than 200,000 phones and 30,000 batteries showed different problems with each of the two kinds of batteries used in the Note 7. Some experts had speculated that the phones' ultra-thin design or water-resistant features could have made them prone to overheat. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile division, said the investigation found no such problems. The Galaxy Note 7 featured one of the biggest battery capacities so far for smartphones at 3,500 mAh, or milliampere hour, which gave it the highest energy density of all Samsung's devices. However, Koh said Samsung and outside inspectors found no evidence that the high energy density alone was to blame. Samsung introduced the Note 7 on Aug. 2 and weeks later recalled the first batch after reports emerged that the phones were overheating and in some cases exploding. After replacement phones also started catching fire, aviation authorities banned them on flights and the company dropped the product for good. It has estimated the quality control fiasco will cost it $5.3 billion through early this year. The Note 7 isn't the only gadget to catch fire thanks to lithium battery problems, which have afflicted everything from laptops to Tesla cars to Boeing's 787 jetliner. Manufacturers like the batteries because they weigh less and pack much more energy into the same space than other types of batteries. Story continues But rechargeable lithium batteries like those used in smartphones are more susceptible to overheating than other types of batteries if they are exposed to high temperatures, are damaged or have manufacturing flaws. Having taken heat for failing to fix the problem after the first Note 7 recall in September, Samsung brought in three private inspectors to help. U.S. companies UL and Exponent examined batteries from Samsung's suppliers Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd., or ATL. The German company TUV Rheinland analyzed the Note 7 supply chain as part of the investigation. Inspectors found damage to the upper corners of batteries made by one manufacturer - likely Samsung SDI - and used in the initial batches of Note 7s. That, combined with overly thin separators and high energy density, caused the phones to overheat, Samsung said. The cell-pouch design of the battery also did not have enough space to safely accommodate its electrodes - another flaw. In other batches of batteries from a second manufacturer, presumably China-based ATL, used in replacements for the recalled smartphones the researchers found welding defects and a lack of protective tape in some battery cells. Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy, said the odds of two different suppliers having issues with the same phone are extremely low. The case "may signal we may have reached an inflection point in smartphone battery technology," Moorhead said. Samsung's latest findings were not that different from the ones announced after the first Note 7 recall, said Park Chul Wan, a former director of the next generation battery research center at the state-owned Korea Electronics Technology Institute. "Samsung said the weaknesses could make the phone prone to catch fire. That I understand but what did trigger fires in such conditions? Did they discuss if there is another cause? No," said Park of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute. Though Samsung faulted the batteries from its suppliers, it said it would bear all costs from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. "We are taking responsibility for our failure to ultimately identify and verify the issues arising out of battery design and manufacturing," it said in a statement. It was unclear to what extent the battery makers were responsible for those problems since Samsung said only that it had provided "targets," such as how thin the batteries should be and what their capacity should be. That may suggest a breakdown both in communication between Samsung and its suppliers and in quality control and testing. "We suggested that the Note 7 has innovations and a compact design and a 3500 mAh (battery) but we did not know how to make the separators within (the battery) or how many millimeters thick they should be," Koh told reporters. He said Samsung would use what it learned from its investigations to improve lithium battery safety for the industry. To avoid further problems, Samsung said it was introducing an 8-point battery safety check with more intense durability tests; a new test on accelerated usage and a charge and discharge test. The tighter safety measures will be implemented in "every element of the company's devices," it said, including overall design and materials used. Samsung said it also will seek advice on battery safety and innovation from a group of battery experts. The company has recalled 3.06 million Note 7 phones. About 4 percent, or 120,000 units, of the recalled Galaxy Note 7s have not been returned. You Might Also Like Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. SEOUL, South Korea (AP) Samsung Electronics said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled over a year earlier thanks to record-high earnings from its brisk memory chip business and strong smartphone sales, despite costly Galaxy Note 7 recalls. The South Korean company said it posted 7.1 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in net income during the October-December period, compared with 3.2 trillion won a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet, a financial data provider, expected 6.52 trillion won. Sales stayed flat at 53.3 trillion won ($45.6 billion), the company said in a regulatory filing. Operating profit surged 50 percent over a year earlier to 9.2 trillion won ($7.9 billion), in line with Samsung's guidance earlier this month. The company, the world's largest maker of smartphones, television sets and memory chips, said its earnings during the current quarter will likely decline because of weaker TV sales and higher marketing expenses for the mobile business. Samsung's earnings beat the forecasts even as it reels from troubles from a political scandal and the discontinuation of its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7, which has cost it at least $5 billion since the third quarter. On Monday, the company said battery design flaws and manufacturing errors by suppliers made some of the phones overheat or burst into fire. The biggest force behind Samsung's forecast-beating earnings was its semiconductor businesses, which contributed more than half of the company's quarterly operating profit. Samsung made 5 trillion won ($4.3 billion) in operating profit from its semiconductor division alone, thanks to higher demand for memory chips from mobile device makers and server operators. Despite the challenge it faces in restoring consumer trust, in the absence of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, consumers snapped up Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, released in spring 2016, and other cheaper Galaxy smartphones. That helped Samsung's mobile business rebound from the previous quarter when the Note 7 debacle wiped out its mobile profit. The division generated 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion) in operating income during the final three months of 2016. Story continues Demand for mobile devices pushed up demand for Samsung's advanced displays, called OLED, used by growing numbers of smartphone makers. Samsung said its display business generated 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in operating income. After disclosing the earnings, Samsung said that it will buy back $8 billion worth of its shares to help raise their value. In a conference call, Samsung gave a preview of its mobile business plan for the year. It said its next flagship smartphones will feature artificial intelligence services that allow users to talk to the phone to make commands, as users of the iPhone can do with Siri. It also said it will introduce a "differentiated design," possibly hinting at a new, long-awaited foldable phone. So far, the company's operations appear not to have suffered significant damage from the entanglement of its de facto head and Samsung heir apparent Lee Jae-yong, in an influence peddling scandal that led to the impeachment of South Korea's president, Park Geun-hye. Asked whether the investigation could have an impact on its business, a Samsung executive said it could pose challenges to the company's strategies that need a long-term planning. "We have to be mindful of uncertainties in domestic and global political and business environments which could bring challenges in executing our mid- to long-term business strategies," Robert Yi, a senior vice president, told investors. Last week, a court rejected a request by prosecutors for an arrest warrant for Lee, a Samsung vice chairman, for suspected bribery and other charges. That was a setback but not the end to the investigation into Samsung's donations to non-profit foundations controlled by Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park's who is on trial for meddling in state affairs. Millions of years ago, a wolf-sized otter swam around ancient swampy China, scientists have discovered. The huge otter would have weighed about 110 pounds, and lived about 6.24 million years ago, according to a new report. The fossilized remains of this now-extinct ancient otter one of the largest otters known were discovered in a mine in Chinas Yunnan Province, and part of what makes it remarkable is that the find included a nearly-complete cranium. One of the really unique things about this discovery is that its a pretty complete cranium, Denise Su, coauthor on a new study about the huge otter and the head of paleobotany and paleoecology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, said in a video describing the otter fossils. And complete crania are really rare in the fossil record, she continued. So we were incredibly lucky to be able to find this it was completely flattened due to distortions of the fossilization process. To deal with the fact that the specimen was so fragile, the scientists made CT scans to digitally reconstruct the cranium of this enormous otter, permitting them to rotate it and study it virtually. The otter had a big, strong jaw, and may have eaten shellfish and mollusks in its ancient, watery environment, according to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. From the vegetation and other animal groups found at Shuitangba, we know that it was a swampy, shallow lake with quite dense vegetation, Su said in a statement, referring to the location of the find in Yunnan Province. Before this discovery, scientists only had ancient teeth found in Thailand that represented this extinct otter lineage, and the new find will help them learn more about otter evolution. The new otter species is called Siamogale melilutra, and the researchers who discovered it have published their findings in The Journal of Systematic Paleontology. Trending right now: See the original version of this article on BGR.com By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - An equally divided federal appeals court refused to reconsider its landmark decision forbidding the U.S. government from forcing Microsoft Corp and other companies to turn over customer emails stored on servers outside the United States. Tuesday's 4-4 vote by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan let stand a July 14 decision that was seen as a victory for privacy advocates, and for technology companies offering cloud computing and other services worldwide. But the dissenting judges said that decision by a three-judge panel could hamstring law enforcement, and called on the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it. "The panel majority's decision does not serve any serious, legitimate, or substantial privacy interest," Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes wrote in dissent. Peter Carr, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman, said: "We are reviewing the decision and its multiple dissenting opinions and considering our options." Microsoft had no immediate comment. In the July decision, Circuit Judge Susan Carney ruled that Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails sought for a narcotics case, but stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland. Though Microsoft is based in Washington state, Carney said the emails were beyond the reach of domestic search warrants issued under the federal Stored Communications Act, a 1986 law. Microsoft was thought to be the first U.S. company to challenge a domestic search warrant seeking data held outside the country. The case attracted significant attention from technology and media companies concerned that a ruling for the government could jeopardize the privacy of customers, and make them less likely to use cloud services if they thought data could be seized. Microsoft's position was supported by dozens of technology and media companies including Amazon.com, Apple, CNN, Fox News Network and Verizon Communications, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Tuesday's dissenters said it should not matter where the emails were stored because Microsoft was a U.S. company. They also said the panel did not properly address the challenges that electronic data storage poses for law enforcement. "It has substantially burdened the government's legitimate law enforcement efforts; created a roadmap for the facilitation of criminal activity; and impeded programs to protect the national security of the United States and its allies," Cabranes wrote. The judge expressed hope that the panel's view of the 1986 law "can be rectified as soon as possible by a higher judicial authority or by the Congress." The case is Microsoft v U.S., 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-2985. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - An equally divided federal appeals court refused to reconsider its landmark decision forbidding the U.S. government from forcing Microsoft Corp and other companies to turn over customer emails stored on servers outside the United States. Tuesday's 4-4 vote by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan let stand a July 14 decision that was seen as a victory for privacy advocates, and for technology companies offering cloud computing and other services worldwide. But the dissenting judges said that decision by a three-judge panel could hamstring law enforcement, and called on the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it. "The panel majority's decision does not serve any serious, legitimate, or substantial privacy interest," Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes wrote in dissent. Peter Carr, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman, said: "We are reviewing the decision and its multiple dissenting opinions and considering our options." Microsoft had no immediate comment. In the July decision, Circuit Judge Susan Carney ruled that Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails sought for a narcotics case, but stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland. Though Microsoft is based in Washington state, Carney said the emails were beyond the reach of domestic search warrants issued under the federal Stored Communications Act, a 1986 law. Microsoft was thought to be the first U.S. company to challenge a domestic search warrant seeking data held outside the country. The case attracted significant attention from technology and media companies concerned that a ruling for the government could jeopardize the privacy of customers, and make them less likely to use cloud services if they thought data could be seized. Microsoft's position was supported by dozens of technology and media companies including Amazon.com, Apple, CNN, Fox News Network and Verizon Communications, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Tuesday's dissenters said it should not matter where the emails were stored because Microsoft was a U.S. company. They also said the panel did not properly address the challenges that electronic data storage poses for law enforcement. "It has substantially burdened the government's legitimate law enforcement efforts; created a roadmap for the facilitation of criminal activity; and impeded programs to protect the national security of the United States and its allies," Cabranes wrote. The judge expressed hope that the panel's view of the 1986 law "can be rectified as soon as possible by a higher judicial authority or by the Congress." The case is Microsoft v U.S., 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 14-2985. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Tom Brown) FILE - This April 12, 2016 file photo shows the Microsoft logo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, France. The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by Microsoft that seeks to quash a law allowing the government to demand customer data stored electronically while prohibiting Microsoft from exposing the requests. A justice department lawyer told a federal judge Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, that the government has an interest in keeping criminal investigations confidential. He said Microsoft doesn't have the standing to argue for the Fourth Amendment rights for its customers. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File) SEATTLE (AP) The U.S. Justice Department asked a judge Monday to throw out a lawsuit from Microsoft and keep a law that prohibits technology companies from telling customers when the government demands their electronic data. Microsoft says its customers have a constitutional right to know when the government collects their private information during criminal investigations. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act compels companies to divulge the data and keep the move secret, violating the company's First Amendment right to speak with its customers, according to its complaint filed last year. "People need to get notice when the government comes knocking at the door to seize all that stuff that historically would have been stored in a file cabinet," Microsoft lawyer Stephen Rummage told U.S. District Judge James Robart. Companies including Apple, Twitter and Amazon as well as media outlets such as The Associated Press, the Seattle Times and Washington Post filed court briefs supporting Microsoft. In its filing, Apple said it received more than 1,000 secret warrants from law enforcement agencies for iCloud data during the last six months of 2015. Microsoft said the government made 2,576 demands for data over an 18-month period before April 2016, the most recent numbers available, and about 68 percent of those had no end date. Eric Soskin, a Justice Department lawyer, said the federal government has an interest in keeping criminal investigations confidential and customers often eventually learn about the data demands when charges are filed. Jennie Kneedler, another government lawyer, told the judge that Microsoft does not have the legal standing to argue for its customers' Fourth Amendment rights, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. Only the customers can challenge perceived violations of those rights, she said. That creates a catch-22, Rummage said. The company is not allowed to tell customers about the warrants, so they can't file objections. Story continues "Those people can't protect their rights," he said. Judge Robart said he would issue a ruling later but that the law troubled him for several reasons. "I'm disturbed by the idea that you can have an invasion of rights or privacy without ever disclosing it," he said. "Microsoft customers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the content they have stored." Historically, people would keep their confidential information, such as health and tax records and love letters, in file cabinets or storage lockers, said Rummage, the Microsoft attorney. If the government secured a warrant to collect that information, the person would know, he said. But now that data is stored on the cloud online, the government is targeting the tech companies that control that information, Rummage said. But the gag order in the law keeps the process unfairly secret. Soskin, representing the government, said the system has legal protections: Magistrates approve the warrants before they are served. That process lacks balance, Rummage said, because warrants are written by the government without defendant input, witnesses or debate. The law only requires that the government has "a reason to believe" disclosure could hinder an investigation. "We're talking about core, protected Fourth Amendment information that has been protected since the founding," he said. ___ Follow Martha Bellisle at https://twitter.com/marthabellisle 9 $1,5 - 2022 -- () $1 541 . Kenyas opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused the countrys National Intelligence Service of facilitating the importation of people from Uganda and Ethiopia to register as voters. Odinga claims that the Jubilee administration intends to have these people vote in the August election. In a statement released this morning, Odinga adds that the move is ultimately intended to influence results in August in the same way Jubilee did in 2007 and 2013. He asks the intelligence agency to operate as a politically non-partisan and independent institution whose duty is to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process and not interfere with it. However, the government media centre deputy executive director Col Shaban Bantariza declined to comment on the matter. Power theft has cost the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Limited over Shs 44 million in just one month. Joseph Olowo the UEDCL Karamoja Station manager blames the power loss illegal connections. Olowo said the power theft and vandalism targeting key power installations such as transformers and illegal connections to big business enterprises is affecting effective service delivery to their consumers. He was speaking after a Moroto Magistrates Court handed a four-year prison sentence to two people who were found guilty of carrying out illegal power connections. Five districts of Moroto, Napak, Nakapiripirit, Amudat and Abim were connected to the national grid in 2013, leaving out only Kotido and Kaabong. Marines are heading back to Helmand province, Afghanistan this spring for an advisory mission that will put them back in the thick of the fight between the Taliban and Afghan National Security Forces. In preparation for the upcoming mission, the 300-man contingent of Marines assigned to Task Force Southwest spent a day honing foreign weapons skills to familiarize themselves with the arms the Afghans use every day. On Jan. 17, the Marines practiced firing two well-known Soviet-era Kalashnikov weapons: the PK general-purpose machine gun and AK-47 rifle, according to a news release from II Marine Expeditionary Force by Sgt. Lucas Hopkins. Hopkins noted in the release that these weapons are used by both allies and enemies in the region, making it important for the Marines to understand them and their use. Marines with Task Force Southwest fire PK general-purpose machine guns during foreign weapons familiarization training at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Jan. 17. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Lucas Hopkins) We want these Marines to familiarize themselves with weapons they might find down range, Staff Sgt. Patrick R. Scott, the foreign weapons chief instructor with Marine Corps Security Cooperation Group, said in a statement. They need to be able to talk intelligently about them to their foreign security force, and thatll help them build rapport and hopefully help them become successful in the long run. The weapons course also included live-fire ranges with weapons systems more familiar to Marines: the Mk-19 grenade launcher machine gun and the 60mm mortar. Before the Marines deploy, they will also train with hired Afghan roleplayers--a mainstay of military cultural training. I find it inspirational that I get to help and be a part of the step that gets Marines back into Afghanistan, Sgt. Hayden Chrestmen, a machine gun instructor with the Division Combat Skills Center, said in the release As an Afghanistan veteran, its extremely important they know how to operate these weapon systems because theyre protecting their brothers to the left and right of them. Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Windy with occasional rain. High 64F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies. Low 41F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. ANGOLA The following people were arrested over the weekend by law enforcement officers working in Steuben County and lodged in the Steuben County Jail. Patricia L. Aquino, 47, of the 100 block of Lane 273A Lake James, arrested at C.R. 200W and Orland Road on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. Yasser A. Azzan, 22, of the 500 block of West Gilmore Street, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor failure to appear. John M. Bonham, 41, of the 500 block of Follett Lane, Fremont, arrested in the 5000 block of North C.R. 450W on a misdemeanor charge of invasion of privacy. Rachel A. Durham, 46, of the 400 block of North Madison, Muncie, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor failure to appear. Jorge U. Garcia, 28, of the 1200 block of East C.R. 25N, LaGrange, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor failure to appear. Clarence J. Hoskins Jr., 47, homeless, arrested in the 900 block of Nicholas Trail, Fremont, on felony charges of burglary and battery to a child and misdemeanor possession of paraphernalia and theft. Jennifer D. Keaton, 23, of the 500 block of West Cora Lane, Fremont, arrested at home on a misdemeanor charge of battery. James D. Lipscomb, 30, of the 100 block of East Gale Street, arrested on a warrant alleging felony dealing in methamphetamine. Blake A. Lounsbury, 28, of the 700 block of North Walnut, LaGrange, arrested on a misdemeanor fugitive warrant. Marty R. Mitchell, 47, of the 8000 block of Reeding Road, Pittsford, Michigan, arrested on a warrant alleging felony child nonsupport. Dale E. Moore, 45, homeless, arrested in the 200 block of West Gilmore Street on a felony child of sexual misconduct with a minor. Angel L. Roby, 26, of the 300 block of Bittersweet Court, arrested in the 100 block of North Wayne Street on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and public intoxication. Molly M. Schnepf, 35, of the 200 block of East Albion Street, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging misdemeanor theft. James R. Heath Stidham, 31, of the 900 block of East C.R. 300N, arrested on a civil warrant alleging contempt of court. The pilsner is beer at its most basic: light malt, noble hops and yeast that stays out of the way, all wrapped up in a delicate, easy-drinking package. Its a great beer, and thats part of the reason a lower derivation of the style became the pale, yellow beer that accounts for nearly all of the worlds beer production. Here in Wisconsin, a place with plenty of German heritage, craft brewers have never been shy about pilsners, but the style has had a bit of a renaissance nationally of late as brewers and drinkers rediscover the simplicity of well-made classic styles, particularly those on the lower end of the ABV scale. Last year the Great American Beer Festivals beer competition had 177 entries between its two pilsner-style categories, up 46 percent in just three years. Two nearly national craft breweries that hadnt heretofore done a whole lot with lagers recently rolled out their own twists on pilsner. Founders PC Pils, introduced last October and returning as a summer seasonal in April, is an American take on the style with three hops most commonly found in West Coast IPAs: Chinook, Cascade and Centennial. Deschutes this month debuted Pacific Wonderland lager, which is described as a dry-hopped pale lager but has a lot of pils DNA, including contemporary variants of classic German hops: Hallertau Herkules, Hallertau Mettelfruh and Tettnang Mandarina. Closer to home, a new pilsner from 3 Sheeps Brewing in Sheboygan is still in the works, too. Its safe to say beer fans are going to be hearing a lot about pilsners this year, so its probably worth a little background on the style. Pilsner was born in the mid-19th century a time of rapid advancement in science and technology pertinent to brewing in Pilsen, a town in the Czech region of Bohemia, about 35 miles from the border with Germanys Bavaria. Golden and effervescent with a frothy white head, the pils has two key variants: original Bohemian or Czech, and German. The Bohemian version leans a little deeper gold, while the German variant usually pours a paler yellow. While both are moderately hop-forward for European lagers, the Bohemian pils is more delicate and tends to accentuate a smooth malt profile, while the German is a little pricklier and more bitter. While the German pils often deploys other varieties, all pilsners worship primarily at the altar of Saaz, a Czech-sourced hop thats widely hailed as the most noble of noble hops. To an American audience thats surely had an IPA or two hundred, though, the pils is hop-forward only in the relative sense. Even the brashest pilsners usually clock in at less than half the bitterness of a typical IPA, and the profile of their hops floral, grassy, earthy, perhaps a little spicy is usually less objectionable to bitter-beer haters than the citrus/pine profile of American IPA hops. If you think this is all leading up to a new Wisconsin-made pilsner, youre right. It comes from Lake Louie Brewing, which has branched into lagers the past two years after spending its first 15 years trading exclusively in faster-fermenting ales. Pant Antler Style: Bohemian/Czech pilsner Brewed by: Lake Louie Brewing, Arena What its like: The gold standard of the Czech variant, Pilsner Urquell, is a very good beer in America but an entirely different animal in Europe. The extraordinarily rare kegs of unfiltered, unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell express-shipped across the Atlantic are not to be missed if you have the opportunity. Locally, the style was also represented by the excellent 2014 edition of the Madison Craft Beer Week collaboration Common Thread. Where, how much: Pant Antler debuted mid-month; my six-pack cost $9 at City View Liquor on the Far East Side. Lake Louie founder Tom Porter has hopes that itll stick as a year-rounder, likely replacing Golden Booty Cream Ale. The beer: After you pour the golden, meringue-topped Pant Antler but before you take a drink, stop and smell it. Deeply. That aroma floral hops, delicate as an orchid, and a light cereal-like malt character is classic Czech pilsner. I spent several minutes drinking in Pant Antlers exquisite aroma before my first actual sip. And with that, the impression changed a little. Theres more apparent bitterness than the aroma lets on, seemingly pushing a bit further into German territory, with a lingering bitterness. As it warms, the beer evolves significantly with a slight sulfur note emerging as the malt comes further forward. But true to its pilsner roots, Pant Antler is a very pleasant drinker, smooth and easy with just the right level of carbonation. Booze factor: Pant Antlers 5.2 percent ABV is a little high for the style and a touch higher than the 5 percent Porter said he was shooting for with the beer. The buzz: So, if this beers name sounds like an anatomical double entendre youve never heard of, youre right. If it doesnt, ask someone who has their mind a little bit further in the gutter. This, of course, is familiar territory for Lake Louie and Porter. His big maibock The Twins caused a stir upon its introduction in 2015 when its launch event at a strip club and marketing materials made clear that its name alluded to breasts as much as it did a zodiac sign. Porter said he settled on Pant Antler Canadian slang after Googling dozens of potential names and bombing out time and again, with a deadline looming as the pilsner was already fermenting away in his tanks. I needed to get creative in a hurry, he said. So once again, my broken brain kicked in. But hey, after the grief I got from The Twins, I thought Id objectify the male genitalia in the interest of being an equal-opportunity misogynist. Im guessing anyone who might have been offended by Pant Antler probably already swore off Lake Louie beer, so Im just going to focus on the excellent beer behind the label and plan to put down a few six-packs of it after warm weather returns. Lois Ann (Peterson) Olson went to be with our Lord Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. Lois was born on the home farm in rural Jackson County, near Disco, June 16, 1938, to parents, Theodore J. and Clara M. (Johnson) Peterson. Lois was the eighth child of nine, and the youngest daughter. Lois attended Disco school through the eighth grade, then went on to attend Black River Falls High School. Lois graduated in 1956. Lois married Robert L. Olson in December of 1957. They were later divorced. Lois worked at Norplex in Black River Falls for many years. She also worked at Kwik Trip (the first one at the top of the bridge), the Avalon Cafe, Federation Co-op, where she not only pumped your gas, but could and did change tires, and Ho-Chunk Casino as an auditor. Lois loved life! Her greatest love was her family. She was a huge Green Bay Packers fan. She got to attend two games at Lambeau Field which she truly enjoyed. She even got to do the wave. It went around 10 times, and she stood and yelled at all 10! She also got to meet and shake hands with Donald Driver. Lois also loved the Wisconsin Badgers, BRF Tigers, and the Mel-Min Mustangs. Lois loved to deer hunt, and extremely enjoyed fishing! She enjoyed playing cards, especially 500, euchre, and dirty clubs. She also enjoyed playing aggravation, dominoes, and word feud with her son and son-in-law. Lois loved and was very proud of her many plants and flowers. She also liked to feed and watch birds and go for drives in the country to look for deer. She always had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye. She will be truly missed. Lois was baptized and confirmed at Upper Beaver Creek Lutheran Church and a past member of both Evangelical Lutheran Church and Squaw Creek Lutheran Church. Lois is survived by her sister, Belva Osegard, of Menomonie; two sons, Richard Rick (Diane) and Gene Olson, both of Melrose; and one daughter, Kimberly (Karl) Kannenberg of New Lisbon; three grandchildren, Tricia (Jeffery) Waughtal, Tracey (Amy) Olson of Melrose, and Nicole (Ryan) Alley of Dayton, Wyo.; one stepgrandson, Kevin Kannenberg; five great-grandchildren with one great-grandchild on the way; and one stepgreat-grandchild. She is further survived by a brother-in-law, Clayton Olson; sisters-in-law, Barbara, Beverly and Ardella Peterson; numerous nieces and nephews, cousins, and many friends, including her second family at River Grove Apartments. Funeral services were held 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, from Upper Beaver Creek Lutheran Church, rural Taylor. Pastor Benjamin Ahles-Iverson officiated. Visitation was held 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20, at Buswell Funeral Home, Black River Falls and again from 10 a.m. until time of services Saturday at the church. Buswell Funeral Home, 715-284-2231 assisted the family. As one of the first recipients of Wisconsins new Entrepreneurship Support pilot program, Couleecap Inc. will be able to use a $52,000 grant to build on its economic development efforts. The nonprofit agency is one of 11 statewide out of 32 applicants to receive such a grant, to be announced Tuesday during a press conference at Couleecap in La Crosse, where Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary/CEO Mark Hogan will announce the award, along with Couleecap Executive Director Grace Jones. One of the programs the grant will help fund is Couleecaps Co.Starters, an initiative launched in 2015 that helps entrepreneurs begin businesses, said Todd Mandel, Couleecaps community development director. Its one of our more successful programs, said Mandel, adding that it is modeled after a Chattanooga, Tenn., program. It focuses on helping people with a business model launch their business, he said. A business idea is a hypothesis, and the program is a way to test the hypothesis. The nine-week program has two main values, Mandel said. By the end of the program, participants have talked to a lot of potential customers. They also connect with people in other businesses, with the possibility that they might be able to use each others wares. Mandel cited the connection established between Bree Breckel, co-owner of B&Es Trees Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup in Cashton, and Dane Gonzales, co-owner of The Mint restaurant at 1810 State St. in La Crosse. Mandel described B&Es as a wildly successful bourbon-aged maple syrup venture, and Breckel took the Co.Starter program, which Gonzales was helping facilitate. Soon, Gonzales was using B&Es syrups at The Mint, as well as at The Root Note coffeehouse and cafe in downtown La Crosse. Breckel, co-owner with the E of B&Es Eric Weninger was effusive in her praise of Co.Starters in a phone interview Monday. It was a great program, she said. We were in that stage of having an idea and looking for direction in bringing it to reality. When youve got an idea and then this idea and this idea and wondering how to create a business, Breckel said. Its like, Weve got an idea, and its delicious. Co.Starters provided the mentoring, in a digestible format, along with tools and resources that helped B&Es organic business grow to the point of being used not only at The Mint and The Root Note, but also at Hackberrys Bistro above the Peoples Food Co-Op in La Crosse. B&Es products also are available on the shelves of Peoples, the Great River Popcorn Factory in La Crosse, as well as 60 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, with expansions in progress, Breckel said. The WEDC grant, which Couleecap must match, will allow the agency to expand Co.Starters from one to at least two sessions a year, Mandel said. The grant also will help establish a sub-site in Viroqua, which he described as a hub of entrepreneurial activity already, in conjunction with the Viroqua Chamber of Commerce. Viroquas chamber has been able to generate a successful program of pop-up shops downtown, and we will be able to do even more pop-ups, Mandel said. Those pop-ups include Cowboy Davids Bake Shoppe at 207 S. Main St., Jaalis Dollies at 209 S. Main and Jessicas Pop-Up Shop at 112 S. Main. Couleecap, a nonprofit organization that fights poverty and promotes self-sufficiency and economic development in La Crosse, Crawford, Monroe and Vernon counties, is receiving just over 10 percent of the $500,000 being awarded in WEDCs pilot grants. We were pleased, Mandel said. Were not Milwaukee, and were not Madison. The other 10 grants run between $10,000 and $100,000 for activities and projects that promote entrepreneurship and deliver key services and resources to fledgling Badger State businesses. While WEDC has a variety of programs to foster technology-based and growth-oriented start-up and early-stage businesses, this initiative is intended for organizations and communities whose efforts may not meet the eligibility criteria for those programs, said said Aaron Hagar, the WEDCs entrepreneurship and innovation vice president. One goal is to help fill gaps that might exist in rural and midsize communities and to promote more collaboration among organizations with similar goals, Hagar said. Authorities wore gas masks while searching a town of Onalaska property where they discovered children and emaciated animals living in squalor, according to court testimony. Linda West, 74, pleaded not guilty Tuesday, and her daughter, 37-year-old Carol West, stood mute to the 29 crimes filed against each of them, including two counts of child neglect, six counts of felony mistreating animals and 21 counts of misdemeanor mistreating animals, all as party to the crime. Authorities in October seized 44 rats, 16 horses, eight dogs and one cat from the Wests property at N5788 Hauser Road. Most were emaciated after having survived living in feces-laden locked plastic kennels or corrals without water, according to the complaint filed in La Crosse County Circuit Court. Carol Wests two children, ages 8 and 11, also lived at the house, which smelled overwhelmingly of urine and feces. An animal control officer choked on the odor, and deputies wore gas masks during a search of the property. There was rat feces and dog feces throughout the home, La Crosse County sheriffs deputy Rich Amundsen testified. The West property was the worst property Ive ever been in in my entire life. The countys health department on Oct. 19 condemned the house, which authorities navigated using narrow paths through mounds of debris and garbage stacked to the ceiling. Authorities lifted the condemnation order Nov. 11 after the property met the minimum acceptable living standards, sanitarian Sam Welch said. Authorities found 32 dead rats in a freezer along with food, and horses were standing in manure that was knee deep, Amundsen testified. One horse had hooves so overgrown that it struggled to walk, while another now suffers from a chronic breathing condition, animal control supervisor Kathy KasaKaitas testified. The Wests in November filed suit against the county sheriff and animal control, challenging whether the animals were properly taken and held. The women also want a judicial order for their return. Mobilitie has withdrawn its request for permits to install 13 new cell towers on La Crosse right-of-way. But city officials and residents remained concerned Monday about the proposal, which the California-based company plans to reintroduce as soon as possible after meeting with community members. The Newport Beach, Calif.-based company and its subsidiary Wisconsin Technical Networking LLC hope to place thirteen or fourteen 75-foot cell towers on city property reserved for utilities throughout the city. That would provide additional coverage for Sprint, according to a presentation to the citys Board of Public Works during a special meeting Monday. The proposal raised questions of aesthetics, property values, health effects and possible effects on existing utilities and emergency services communications. Senior government relations manager Bridget Sheehan and permitting manager Jay Wendt presented plans to increase cell phone data coverage for the nationwide provider by adding what they call mini-macro facilities to the area. They also anticipate a potential need for a 120-foot tower sometime in the future; however, plans are still tentative. Mobilitie does not speculatively build, Sheehan said. Were not placing poles just to place poles. We are placing poles where this is a demonstrated need. The company withdrew its initial 13 requests to provide a fresh start, according to Sheehan. We wanted to put a good faith effort forward in working with the city of La Crosse, she said. Sheehan and Wendt said they hope to sit down with stakeholders to determine the details before restarting the permitting process. While the locations were chosen by Sprint to address failures in its network, those sites could be a problem for the city. Our locations are ideal for the customer and from an engineering perspective, but we understand that the proposed locations are not necessarily ideal for the city and for the residents, Wendt said. Wendt said the company was willing to talk about locations, heights, materials and other considerations and hopes to get the process moving forward quickly. Wed love to get the conversation going as soon as possible, Wendt said. To that end, Sheehan and Wendt met with representatives from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and Gundersen Health System on Monday, before the meeting. Despite the meeting, the university remains opposed to the installation of two new towers, especially after learning one is planned to be installed directly in front of Veterans Memorial Stadium, according to UW-L executive director of facilities Doug Pearson. UW-L strongly opposes the installation of these cell cellular antennas for safety, environmental and aesthetic reasons, Pearson said. Pearson said Mobilitie failed to demonstrate the need for the towers and what benefit it would provide to the city and the campus. We currently have cellular leases for AT&T and Verizon, Pearson said, adding that Sprint walked away from the negotiations for a similar lease agreement. We believe this is just another means of providing a market share without having to pay for the leases. If approved, Mobilitie would be required to pay fees to allow the city to recoup its permit processing costs; however, the city is prohibited from charging rent by state law. Representatives of the La Crosse Common Council were also cool to the proposal, with Council President Richard Swantz concerned it could lead to additional pole installations in the right-of-way. I need to be convinced that this is in the best interest of the city and the taxpayers. Im not, Swantz said. Swantz acknowledged additional data coverage would be useful for Sprint; however, he said he was concerned about the impact on the citys economic development. Although additional cell coverage could be a draw, there are other considerations that go along with 75-foot towers proposed for residential areas. Im just concerned that this could be a narrow piece, instead of an overall kind of vision, Swantz said. La Crosse city planner Jason Gilman said he was a little alarmed to see 75-foot towers proposed for residential areas and had never seen a request to place cell towers on public right-of-way like a utility prior to Mobilities proposal. He asked Sheehan whether the company would consider less conspicuous applications. Sheehan assured the board that Mobilitie would use existing utilities and intends to blend in with existing infrastructure wherever possible. The city hired attorney Anita Gallucci of Madison to help navigate the tricky legal waters of the relatively new type of proposal. This is an issue that is facing cities across the nation, also across Wisconsin. Never before have we seen our rights of way used for cell towers, Gallucci said. It presents some unique and important issues for the municipality because when were talking rights-of-way, you as a municipality are charged with entrusting those rights of way to make sure they are there for public use. Gallucci asked Sheehan and Wendt to explain why Mobilitie wasnt more proactive in providing the city answers to its inevitable questions before filing its permit requests. Sheehan said the company balked at making the investment of traffic hazard and interference studies and structural analyses for poles before the final locations were set. The La Crosse Area Friends of Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum will host In Trunks, Hands, and Hearts: What Norwegian Immigrants Brought to the United States from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Radisson. The program includes lunch. Jennifer Kovarik, registrar and youth educator at Vesterheim, will present photos of trunks from the museums collection and stories related to those trunks. Guests are invited to bring photographs of their own immigrant trunks and to wear Norwegian sweaters or costumes. Tickets are $30 for museum members and $35 for non-members. Reservations are required by Feb. 1. Call Karla Brown at 563-382-9681, ext. 107, or email kbrown@vesterheim.org. An Onalaska angler caught with more than 2,500 panfish pleaded no contest Tuesday to four citations for exceeding possession limits. Stanley Paalksnis, 74, faces fines totaling $24,683, although prosecutors agreed to ask a La Crosse County Circuit judge impose a $10,000 fine, revoke his fishing privileges for 12 years and order Paalksnis forfeit his 15-foot boat seized by authorities. He will be sentenced at a later date. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wardens Nov. 4, 2015, on Lake Onalaska saw Paalksnis keep 47 bluegills, according to court records. The daily limit is 25. In his boat and house, authorities found 2,066 bluegills, 418 perch and 88 crappies, reports stated. The possession limits are 50 for each species. Paalksnis told a warden that for 20 years he was selling bags of fish for $5 in Chicago, reports stated. They came to the Capitol by car, by bus, by train and on foot on Saturday. St. Paul police say close to 100,000 people stood in the afternoon drizzle chanting, and listening to speaker after speaker denounce the new president. Among the marchers was Kathy Kampa of St. Cloud. She came along with her daughter and niece, and says Trumps election shows the equal rights battles of the 1960s arent over. I feel like were going backwards, said Kampa. Theres oppression all over the world, and I think men in certain kinds of power feel like oppression is what they want. And I dont understand that. So I dont want to sit at home doing nothing. I want to feel like this is something we can do. The demonstrators at the womens march in St. Paul joined with others in cities and towns across Minnesota in places like Mankato, Bemidji, Grand Marais and Morris. And they joined millions of other demonstrators around the world. They demanded protection for immigrants, the right to legal abortion and equal pay for women. Demonstrator Mohamed Yakub of Minneapolis said theyre issues that affect the whole of society. It may be a womens march, but womens rights are human rights, everyones rights, said Yakub. Were all in this together. I dont see them as womens rights. Theyre rights for everyone. A day later, the state Capitol grounds were host to another protest, this one to mark the 44th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Several thousand people gathered for the annual anti-abortion demonstration. Kelly Jasper of Edina said she has always opposed abortion, but until Sunday afternoon, shed never taken part in a march. She said the anti-Trump protests the day before inspired her to get out and express her own views. Seeing what I saw yesterday made me think I really need to stand up and do something, said Jasper. I think what I think, and I believe what I believe, but I really havent taken action. So its time to stand up and do that. Jasper was among the 42 percent of American women who supported Trump in Novembers election. And like many at the anti-abortion rally, Jasper said shes hopeful the new president will appoint Supreme Court justices wholl reverse the Roe v. Wade decision. But for the people who flooded the womens march on Saturday they say theyre buoyed by millions of like-minded people and are vowing to fight on. But its still too early to tell whether the sound and fury of Saturday signifies a grass-roots movement like the tea party one that fielded Congressional candidates and fundamentally reshaped politics or just a one-time venting of steam. Rhoda Gilman, 89, a Green Party activist and historian of Minnesota protest movements, said shes optimistic the anti-Trump effort will have staying power. Gilman said Saturdays march follows a long tradition of Minnesota women speaking out against the Vietnam War, for voting rights, and the abolition of slavery. She says Trumps comments about women are impossible to ignore. I think Donald Trump did a lot to wake up the younger generation of women who have known relatively little discrimination, or at least not much blatant discrimination in their lifetime, less than their mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers did, said Gilman. Gilman predicts the movement will continue until its backers feel theyve made a difference. She says youll know its successful when the streets are quiet. A Warrens cranberry grower is seeking to increase the depth of a reservoir fed by a 1-mile creek. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering an application from L&S Resin Cranberry Inc. to dredge 120,000 cubic yards of earth from the bed of a reservoir. That would increase the volume of the pond by roughly 24 million gallons, or about 36 Olympic-sized swimming pools. About 9.3 acres of the 6-foot-deep reservoir would be dredged. The reservoir is fed by Apple Creek as well as Whisky Creek, of which the uppermost half mile is designated a class 1 trout stream by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The Corps is accepting public comments through Feb. 24. Citizens can also request a public hearing. Comments should be sent to Regulatory Branch, St. Paul District Corps of Engineers, 180 Fifth St. E, Ste. 700, St. Paul, MN 55101. The following editorial appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on Sunday, Jan. 22: Lawmakers are beginning a new session at the state Capitol in Madison wondering if more can be done about drunken driving. Its going to be an issue of whats our priority for the session, said Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere. Its always frustrating to see how difficult it can be to get new OWI laws passed. Hes right. Jacque wants to require wider use of devices that prevent the vehicles of OWI offenders from starting unless the driver is sober. Other good ideas include making a first offense for operating while intoxicated a misdemeanor crime, with a requirement to spend a night in jail and show up in court. And to help pay for more prevention, including treatment for alcohol abuse, the Legislature should increase Wisconsins teensy tax on beer, wine and other alcohol. Wisconsin had 24,000 convictions for drunken driving offenses in 2015, while alcohol-related crashes killed 190 people and injured nearly 2,900. If thats not enough evidence for further action by the Legislature, here are 10 more reasons from just the last month: 1. Brysen D. Wills, 33, of Waunakee, was charged Dec. 30 for driving the wrong way on Interstate 94 in Dane County at 93 mph with an alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit. He crashed into two vehicles, killing four people, according to a criminal complaint. 2. Steven Johnson, 52, of Fond du Lac, was charged with his 11th drunken driving offense on New Years Day in Appleton. Despite 10 previous convictions, his license was reinstated in July. 3. Ross C. Cotter-Brown, 31, of Edgerton, pleaded guilty Jan. 6 to driving while intoxicated in Middleton, where he ran a red light and hit and injured two girls, 12 and 13, who were in the crosswalk. He is already serving time for a fourth drunken-driving conviction. 4. Shane Hendrix, 40, of Madison, was arrested Jan. 8 on the East Side for his alleged fifth drunken driving offense. Police say they found him slumped over his steering wheel. 5. Clarence F. Gage, 73, of Sauk County, was sentenced Jan. 10 for his ninth drunken driving offense. 6. Anthony Stiklestad, 38, of Janesville, was arrested for his fourth alleged drunken driving offense last Sunday after nearly colliding with a state trooper on the interstate near McFarland. 7. Jon Lund, 51, of Oregon, was arrested for his alleged fifth drunken driving offense last Sunday after driving his van into oncoming traffic and hitting a car along West Washington Avenue in Madison, police said. 8. Marcus Freeman, 32, of Madison, was accused of drunken driving after he crossed into oncoming traffic Tuesday night on Highway 30 in Madison, striking a vehicle head on and causing injuries, police said. 9. Jeffrey Loresch, 35, of Madison, was stopped Wednesday in the town of Blooming Grove for his alleged fourth OWI offense. 10. Matthew Roberts and Amanda Trainor, both of Madison, were accused of driving different cars while drunk on the East Side Friday. Roberts vehicle struck a light pole, police said. He then got in a vehicle driven by Trainor, who was stopped for being intoxicated. On and on it goes, with state leaders far too slow to respond. Lets go ahead and agree that Barron Trump should be off-limits. Hes a 10-year-old child and, unlike President Donald Trumps other offspring, highly unlikely to advise his dad on financial or political matters. He hasnt behaved in a way that invites judgment or rebuke. He asked for none of this. Were not off to a bang-up start. Modern Family actress Julie Bowen is catching heat for a series of tweets poking fun at his inauguration demeanor. Saturday Night Live writer Katie Rich, a Chicago native, tweeted a tasteless (now deleted) joke about Barron becoming the nations first homeschool shooter. Chelsea Clinton, the subject of terrible taunts during her White House stint, hopped on Twitter over the weekend to call foul. Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does to be a kid, she wrote. (She also added, Standing up for every kid also means opposing @POTUS policies that hurt kids, which critics say muddled her message. But lets stay on point here.) We have a long and lousy history of being jerks about presidential kids. Before famously calling Chelsea Clinton the White House dog, radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh called Jimmy Carters daughter the most unattractive presidential daughter in the history of the country and later corrected himself, saying hed forgotten about Harry Trumans daughter, Margaret. Congressional aide Elizabeth Lauten stepped down from her Tennessee GOP post in 2014 after ridiculing Barack Obamas daughters for their perfectly benign behavior at a turkey pardon. We can do better this time. We can pause before we poke fun at a kid and ask ourselves what we value. Kindness and empathy toward children should be high on the list. By many measures, Barrons life has been, and will continue to be, easy. He is shielded from physical harm. He has access to well-funded, high-performing schools. He will likely never go hungry. When he needs it, he will receive the best medical care available. If it bothers you that other children dont have those things, well, it should. It is this nations greatest failing that access to education, health care, food and safety is so wildly disparate from one child to the next. But wed be far better served to invest our energy in solving those deficiencies, rather than tearing down a child whose bloodline shields him from them. Few of us would have relished the spotlight at age 10 certainly not the spotlight that accompanies a parent in political office. As Devorah Heitner writes in Screenwise: Helping Kids Thrive (and Survive) in Their Digital World (Routledge): Do you wish there were more pictures of you as a tween? Probably not. No more Barron Trump taunts. Theyre lazy. Theyre mean. Theyre counterproductive. And seriously. A school shooting joke? Do better. What former president whispered on an unknown hot mic to then-president of Russia Dmitri A. Medvedev, "After my election I have more flexibility"? None other than President Barack Obama. Did the press wonder what in the world he meant? Did they try at all to find out? President Donald Trump said he felt he could get along with Russia, and all we have heard about for weeks is his connection to Russia. I would have to wonder what President Obama's flexibility for Russia has meant for America for the last four years. Dear reader, we're asking for your help to keep local reporting available for all today during our fall fundraiser. Your financial support keeps stories like this one free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Thank you for investing in your neighborhood. Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe In early December 2016, a measles outbreak began in California. Since then, 20 people, 18 of whom are in Los Angeles County, have contracted the contagious disease. According to the Los Angeles Times, none of the county's 18 victims could provide proof of vaccination to public health officials. And, as noted at the L.A. Times, the outbreak seems to be centered in Los Angeles's Orthodox Jewish community. Rabbi Hershy Ten, who runs the Jewish healthcare organization Bikur Cholim, told LAist that at least 15 of the 18 people infected in the current outbreak are students at, or family members of, children at Los Angeles Jewish day schools. "To be clear, Bikur Cholim does not have the same responsibilities the Los Angeles County Public Health department has," Ten said. However, after being contacted by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, Ten convened a conference of pediatric, public health, and legal experts to determine the threat posed by the disease and its outbreak, as well as "a response to this outbreak to ensure this doesn't happen again, or to minimize this from happening again." "The live teleconference included more than 70 Jewish day school faculty and synagogue rabbis throughout Greater Los Angeles who called in to learn about the threat measles carries, how it spreads, and the legality for individual institutions to create policies that go beyond current vaccination law," a press release by Bikur Cholim notes. The law in reference is California's 2015 vaccination law mandating that every child in a public or private school in the state be required to receive full vaccinations. Furthermore, the law forbids opting-out of vaccinations due to personal or religious beliefs. Only a medical waiver can grant exemption. Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UCI Law School, present at Rabbi Ten's conference, stressed that private schools in the state may, in fact, enforce stricter rules on top of California's vaccination law. Theres absolutely nothing in the law that prevents a school from setting a strict policy with regard to requiring vaccinations and excluding those who have not been vaccinated," Chemerinsky said, according to the Bikur Cholim release. "I dont think its any problem to do that in the middle of the year, either; especially in light of a measles outbreak. ...Every challenge to a vaccination law in the country has lost; courts have always found that the justification of protecting children in stopping the spread of communicable diseases justifies requiring that children and teachers be vaccinated. LAist also asked Rabbi Ten about the Jewish law of Pikuach Nefesh, or care of the soul. According to Jewish law, health and preservation of life overrides every other Jewish law (i.e. keeping the Sabbath, Kosher laws, etc.) "Without question, ensuring one's children stay healthy and alive falls under the tenet of Pikuach Nefesh," Ten told LAist. "By not vaccinating your child, "you are putting them at risk and you're putting others at risk, and I would place that under the broad heading of Pikuach Nefesh. [However,] other Jewish laws impact Pikuach Nefesh." Im hopeful that were getting to the end of this" outbreak, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, interim health officer for the L.A. County Department of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times. "That being said, we are urging our schools and synagogues to immediately implement new policies for 2017 that will prevent any children who arent immunized due to personal beliefs from attending a school or playgroup," Rabbi Ten stated in Bikur Cholim's press release. "On this issue we must remain resolute in our unwavering dedication to protect the most vulnerable among us from falling prey to an avoidable tragedy. Tuesday, January 24, 2017 Friend and co-blogger Marcia Narine Weldon sent me a news article from Alaska discussing a "piercing of the corporate veil" claim for an LLC. The City and Borough of Juneau demolished the Gastineau Apartments and is trying to get hold members of Gastineau Apartments LLC, apparent owners of the building liable for the $1.4 million demolition costs. Demolition cost more than the land is worth, so the suit is seeking to have the owners of the LLC, Camilla and James Barrett, pay the bill because they missed deadlines to repair or demolish the property. The article reports: At issue before Juneau Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg is the legal concept of piercing the corporate veil. It would allow legal action against the Barretts, who controlled Gastineau Apartments LLC. Defense Attorney Robert Spitzfaden had argued that the Barretts should remain shielded from liability. But the judge noted that the defendants had allowed their limited liability corporation to be dissolved after missing filing deadlines with the state. Its clear that the Barretts were not always clear to observe the formal legal requirements of their LLC, Judge Pallenberg said from the bench. A quick review of Alaska LLC law did not make clear to me that LLCs in the state have formal requirements that would be implicated in this case. If the main reason that the LLC did not pay the bills was a mere lack of money, there is no reason to pierce the veil. It's just a failed venture. Sure, the Barretts should have gone followed the appropriate processes, but it cannot be that the fact that the Barretts "allowed their limited liability corporation [author's note: it's an LLC] to be dissolved after missing filing deadlines with the state" is sufficient to support veil piercing." Imagine the same scenario, but the building had value. Would missing deadlines and allowing the land owned by LLC to be automatically transferred to the Barretts? Even if there were other creditors? I think not. Perhaps there is more to this case than the article reveals, but this looks a lot like a lack of entity funds is the only issue, and a lack of funds (on its own) should not be sufficient for veil piercing, especially in a property case where the property can be forfeited. If the city or state wants to make a law making individuals liable, then fine, but this looks like a bad case for veil piercing and a possible summary judgment case. I look forward to seeing if Alaska analyzes this one right at trial. https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/business_law/2017/01/alaska-llc-veil-piercing-at-crossroads-a-chance-to-get-it-right.html Tuesday, January 24, 2017 A Louisiana Hearing Committee has recommended the disbarment of a doctor/lawyer convicted of a federal drug distribution crime that had led to at least one death. The respondent received his medical license in 1977, attended law school from 2001 to 2004 and was admitted to the practice of law in Louisiana in 2007. He operated Global Pain Management, which was characterized by the committee as a "pain pill mill." His medical license was suspended for three years as a result of the conviction. One patient to whom he prescribed methadone led to a finding that his "prescription or failure to oversee the prescription of medication subjected [the deceased] to an increased risk of death." (Mike Frisch) https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2017/01/a-louisiana-hearing-committee-has-recommended-the-disbarment-of-a-doctorlawyer-convicted-of-a-federal-drug-distribution-crim.html As reported in this new Forbes article, "North American marijuana sales grew by an unprecedented 30% in 2016 to $6.7 billion as the legal market expands in the U.S. and Canada, according to a new report by Arcview Market Research." Here is more reporting on a new report on the legal marijuana marketplace: North American sales are projected to top $20.2 billion by 2021 assuming a compound annual growth rate of 25%. The report includes Canada for the first time as it moves towards implementing legal adult use marijuana. To put this in perspective, this industry growth is larger and faster than even the dot-com era. During that time, GDP grew at a blistering pace of 22%. Thirty percent is an astounding number especially when you consider that the industry is in early stages. Arcview's new editor-in-chief Tom Adams said, "The only consumer industry categories I've seen reach $5 billion in annual spending and then post anything like 25% compound annual growth in the next five years are cable television (19%) in the 1990's and the broadband internet (29%) in the 2000's." ArcView's analysis uses data provided by BDS Analytics that has access to millions of individual consumer transactions from dispensary partners. One of the biggest stories was the alternative forms of ingestion, said ArcView Chief Executive Officer Troy Dayton. Concentrates and edibles are becoming customer favorites versus traditional smoking. Even though the market is putting up huge sales numbers, there is still a great deal of uncertainty that comes with the new administration's approach towards legalization. Dayton believes that President-elect Donald Trump has been consistently in favor of states rights when it comes to legalization. It's one of the few things he has been consistent on, he said. Dayton also believes that even if Trump backed away from adult use, he would still favor medical marijuana. The proposed attorney general Jeff Sessions is a confirmed critic of legalization, but Dayton believes that marijuana will be a low priority for the new administration. In any event, the group is reviewing and preparing for a more aggressive stance toward marijuana from the federal government should that happen. Even with this cloud of uncertainty, Dayton is bullish for the market. He said investment dollars are pouring into California, Florida, Massachusetts and Nevada. Twenty-one percent of the total U.S. population now live in legal adult use markets, said Dayton. He also noted that Colorado, Washington and Oregon saw their sales jump 62% through September of 2016 over 2015. Investors are predominantly interested in investing in new technology within the industry like testing technologies and new growing technologies. Retail also remains attractive as new brands vie to win market share. Dayton also said there is a great deal of interest in Canada. That country's market is smaller than the U.S., but without the overhang of government conflict, it is a good indicator for which businesses could be replicated and thrive in the U.S. The title of this post is the headline of this lengthy new article from The Hill. Here are excerpts: Legislators in more than a dozen states have introduced measures to loosen laws restricting access to or criminalizing marijuana, a rush of legislative activity that supporters hope reflects a newfound willingness by public officials to embrace a trend toward legalization. The gamut covered by measures introduced in the early days of legislative sessions underscores the patchwork approach to marijuana by states across the country and the possibility that the different ways states treat marijuana could come to a head at the federal Justice Department, where President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general is a staunch opponent of legal pot. Some states are taking early steps toward decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. In his State of the State address this week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said he will push legislation to remove criminal penalties for non-violent offenders caught with marijuana. The illegal sale of marijuana cannot and will not be tolerated in New York State, but data consistently show that recreational users of marijuana pose little to no threat to public safety, Cuomos office wrote to legislators. The unnecessary arrest of these individuals can have devastating economic and social effects on their lives. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said during his campaign he would support decriminalizing marijuana. Legislation has passed the Republican-led state House in recent years, though it died when Sununus predecessor, now-Sen. Maggie Hassan (D), said she did not support the move. Several states are considering allowing marijuana for medical use. Twenty-eight states already have widespread medical marijuana schemes, and this year legislators in Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah have introduced bills to create their own versions. Republicans in control of state legislatures in most of those states are behind the push. Legislators in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, Delaware, New Mexico and New Jersey will consider recently introduced measures to legalize marijuana for recreational use. There is little consensus on just how to approach legalization: Three different bills have been introduced in Connecticuts legislature. Two have been introduced in New Mexico, and three measures to allow medical pot have been filed in Missouri. In 2016, voters in four states Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and California joined Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Colorado in passing ballot measures legalizing pot for recreational purposes. Those efforts, marijuana reform advocates say, have lifted the stigma legislators might have felt. Now that voters in a growing number of states have proven that this is a mainstream issue, many more lawmakers feel emboldened to champion marijuana reform, whereas historically this issue was often looked at as a marginalized or third-rail issue, said Tom Angell, chairman of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority. Just because measures get introduced does not mean they will advance. In many cases, Angell said, it is governors Democrats and Republicans alike who stand in the way. Though Democrats control the Connecticut legislature, Gov. Dan Malloy (D) has made clear he is no supporter of legalized pot. Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) has not said he would veto a legalization bill, though he is far less friendly to the idea than his predecessor, Democrat Peter Shumlin. In New Mexico, Gov. Susana Martinez (R) has called decriminalizing marijuana a horrible, horrible idea. Democratic legislators are considering a plan to put legal marijuana to voters, by proposing an amendment to the state constitution. If New Jersey legislators advance a legalization law, they would run into an almost certain veto from Gov. Chris Christie (R). While 14 state legislatures have legalized marijuana for medical use, no state legislature has passed a measure legalizing pot for recreational use. Every year, weve seen legalizers throw everything at the wall to see what might stick, said Kevin Sabet, who heads the anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Im not surprised by any means. I dont think theres much appetite to legalize through the legislature.... In Washington, the incoming Trump administration has sent signals that encourage, and worry, both supporters and opponents of looser pot rules. The Obama Justice Department issued a memorandum to U.S. attorneys downplaying the importance of prosecuting crimes relating to marijuana in states where it is legal. Trumps nominee to head the next Justice Department, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), has been sharply critical of states that have legalized marijuana. In his confirmation hearings this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions said current guidelines, known as the Cole memo, are truly valuable. Marijuana industry advocates seized on those comments in hopes of locking Sessions into maintaining the status quo. The current federal policy, as outlined by the Cole memo, has respected carefully designed state regulatory programs while maintaining the Justice Departments commitment to pursuing criminals and prosecuting bad actors, said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association. Today the fine folks at the Pew Research Center released the results of a huge national survey conducted by the National Police Research Platform (basics here, full report here). The survey covered a lot of ground, including police views on marijuana, and Christopher Ingraham has this Wonkblog posting on this topic under the headline "Survey: Two-thirds of cops say marijuana laws should be relaxed." Here are the details there reported: A Pew Research Center survey of nearly 8,000 police officers finds that more than two-thirds of them say that marijuana use should be legal for either personal or medical use. The nationally representative survey of law enforcement, one of the largest of its kind, found that 32 percent of police officers said marijuana should be legal for medical and recreational use, while 37 percent said it should be legal for medical use only. An additional 30 percent said that marijuana should not be legal at all. Police are more conservative than the general public on the issue. Among all Americans, Pew found that 49 percent supported recreational marijuana, 35 percent supported medical marijuana only, and 15 percent said the drug should not be legal. Pew also found a generational divide among cops on the marijuana issue, although not as large as the one that exists among the general public. Officers under age 35 were more likely to support recreational marijuana (37 percent) than those between the ages of 50 and 60 (27 percent). Among the general public, those numbers stand at 67 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Law enforcement groups have often been among the staunchest opponents of marijuana legalization measures. In 2016, such groups made small but significant contributions to oppose legalization measures in California and Arizona, citing concerns over issues such as underage use and intoxicated driving. You hear people say its not as bad as alcohol, George Hofstetter, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, told the Orange County Register last year. But if you smoke marijuana and drive, it does impair you. But as the Pew survey indicates, there's considerable variation in views on marijuana use among the rank-and-file. The group LEAP Law Enforcement Against Prohibition was founded in 2002 for active-duty and retired police officers to speak out about the failures of our existing drug policies. The group has been particularly active in campaigns to legalize recreational marijuana in Colorado, Washington and elsewhere. Diane Goldstein, a retired Lieutenant Commander for the Redondo Beach Police Department and LEAP board member, said she's not surprised to see that police officers have more conservative attitudes than the public on marijuana legalization. Law enforcement continues to represent an outlier view on this issue because police are trained with outdated, unscientific, drug-war-oriented materials. But she added that the poll reflects a positive attitude shift when you see that its only 1 in 3 police officers who believe marijuana should remain illegal. This local article, headlined "Judge: Insurance company must pay for medical marijuana for injured N.J. worker," reports on what would seem to be a significant ruling from an administrative law judge in New Jersey. Here are the details from the press report: In what could be a precedent-setting decision, a New Jersey administrative law judge has ordered an insurance company to pay for medical marijuana for an injured worker who suffers from lingering neuropathic pain in his left hand after an accident while using a power saw at an 84 Lumber outlet in 2008. Judge Ingrid L. French took testimony from the worker, a 39-year-old Egg Harbor Township man, and a Cherry Hill psychiatrist/neurologist who said the marijuana treatment was appropriate because it would allow the patient to reduce his prescription opiate use and lower the risk of serious side effects. Andrew Watson was seeking reimbursement for marijuana he had purchased at a dispensary in his Atlantic County township over three months in 2014 after enrolling in the state's program. He also sought a ruling that would allow him to be covered for the treatment in the future. French issued her opinion last month, saying "the evidence presented in these proceedings show that the petitioner's 'trial' use of medicinal marijuana has been successful. While the court is sensitive to the controversy surrounding the medicinal use of marijuana, whether or not it should be prescribed for a patient in a state where it is legal to prescribe it is a medical decision that is within the boundaries of the laws in the state." The opinion did not state the reimbursement owed Watson, although his attorney said the marijuana itself cost less than $1,000 because it was only three ounces. John Gearney, a Mount Laurel lawyer who writes a weekly blog on workers' compensation cases, says the written ruling may be the first in New Jersey to address whether an insurer should pay for marijuana. "It's not binding, but it's really an important decision. There are about 50 workers' compensation judges in the state, and they will read it and see what the judge thought when a case like it comes before them," he said. Gearney, of the Capehart Scatchard firm, said the only other court ruling he had heard of involving medical marijuana and workers' compensation came when a New Mexico appeals court decided a few years ago that an injured worker was entitled to marijuana treatment. In that case, the court ruled that marijuana was "reasonable and necessary" for an injured worker who had reported that traditional treatments had not alleviated his pain. John Carvelli, a Mount Laurel lawyer who represented Gallagher Bassett Services, a third-party administrator for 84 Lumber's insurance company, said in an email Thursday: "With respect to the recent decision, we respect the court's decision. . . . At this juncture there is no plan to appeal."... Philip Faccenda, a Cherry Hill lawyer who represented Watson, said the decision might benefit insurance companies, too. "We believe this will offer very powerful cost savings with respect to the entire workers' compensation industry in New Jersey. . . . More costly pharmaceuticals can be reduced and medical marijuana would be a less expensive treatment modality," he said. Faccenda said that his client stopped using marijuana in 2014 because he could not afford to continue paying for it. The insurance carrier continued to pay for his use of opiates to treat his pain. The decision means Watson can resume using marijuana, he said. French wrote in her eight-page decision that Watson's testimony was credible. "He testified that the effects of the marijuana, in many ways, is not as debilitating as the effects of the Percocet (which is how he refers to his prescriptions for Endocet or Oxycodone). . . . Ultimately, the petitioner was able to reduce his use of oral narcotic medication. . . . The court found the petitioner's approach to his pain management needs has been cautious, mature, and overall, he is exceptionally conscientious in managing his pain." French also wrote that Watson's expert witness, Cherry Hill psychiatrist Edward H. Tobe, described the benefits Watson can obtain by using marijuana and also described the risks of taking opiates. "Opiates can shut down breathing (whereas) marijuana cannabinoids won't . . . Marijuana does not affect the mid-brain. The mid-brain is critical in controlling respiration, heart rate, many of the life-preserving elements," he said, according to an excerpt of his testimony that was included in the judge's opinion. Tobe said using marijuana, combined with less opiate use, would likely benefit Watson and help him "achieve better function." French said the evidence convinced her that Watson was entitled to participate in the marijuana program and that doing so was "reasonable and necessary" to relieve his continuing pain. The title of this post is the headline of this effective Hill commentary authored by Beau Kilmer, who is co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center. Here is the heart of the discussion: The Obama administration has largely taken a hands-off approach, releasing a 2013 Department of Justice memo indicating that federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents should not use scarce resources to shut down state-legal operations in places that have implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems. To the Obama administrations credit, the president did recently note marijuana legalization is a debate that is now ripe and the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse called for more research to determine which policy structures beyond simply prohibition or free market are most likely to keep harms to a minimum. No one knows what the Trump administration will do about marijuana, and Sen. Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing for attorney general didnt provide much insight. Will it follow Obamas lead? Trudeaus? Do something entirely different? The new administration will have at least six options. Shut it down. The administration could crack down on marijuana businesses in states that have legalized for nonmedical purposes. It would be easy for DOJ to send out cease and desist letters to these companies and their landlords. However, there could be serious political costs with states arguing these federal actions would put people out of jobs, increase income for criminals and take tax dollars away from good causes. Shape the markets. The DOJ could use its discretion to shape what the market looks like in the legalization states. Want to stop stores from selling and promoting high-potency products for nonmedical purposes? A letter could probably do the trick here, too. If not, seizing the products in a store or two could have a chilling effect. Maintain the status quo. Doing nothingand sticking with Obamas approachis always an option. This would likely lead more states to follow Colorado and Washington and grant licenses to marijuana companies incentivized to maximize profits instead of protecting public health. Reclassify marijuana. The new administration could support rescheduling marijuana. Currently, marijuana is a Schedule I drugthe most restrictive categorybecause the Food and Drug Administration remains unconvinced that the whole plant material has an accepted medical use. Rescheduling would make it easier to research the health consequencesbenefits and harmsand could have implications for marijuana businesses. Address federal-state conflicts. The new administration could maintain federal prohibition while supporting legislation or other solutions to address problems caused by the federal-state conflict. For example, banks that accept money from state-legal marijuana businesses are committing federal offenses. The inability to bank like other entities creates challenges for thousands of companies. The administration could also support the creation of a policy waiver system that would make it easier and less risky for states to legally experiment with alternatives to the profit-maximization model, such as the state monopoly approach. (That said, the risk of federal interference hasnt stopped tiny North Bonneville in southern Washington state from creating a government-owned and -operated store). Legalize it. The administration could support legislation to legalize and regulate marijuana at the federal level. This would address the federal-state conflicts and allow the feds to impose a national tax or minimum price. It would also be a blatant violation of the international drug conventions that the United States has signed along with almost every other nation on earth (including Canada). These six options are not all mutually exclusive and each comes with tradeoffs. Importantly, they are all compatible with a federal approach that encourages and supports discussions about marijuana prohibition and its alternatives. But if the feds dont act, it is possible the United States could end up with a much looser and more commercial marijuana model than if the federal government legalized or created a waiver system. Bird feathers have long been used in clothing and in bedding. Manufacturers often use feathers because of their light weight and the warmth they provide in a cold room or climate. Now, two students in Britain are studying how to use them in other ways, like keeping homes warm, for example. A student project has success Chicken is a popular food in many countries, and the number of poultry killed for their meat is rising. Britain alone processes more than 945 million white-feathered chickens every year, creating tons of leftover feathers. Two students from Imperial College London want to turn these feathers into something useful. Elena Dieckman and Ryan Robinson are each working toward a Doctor of Philosophy degree, or PhD. They are the founders of a start-up company called Aeropowder. The two had an idea to create useful materials from waste. They developed a biodegradable product that could replace man-made insulation. Biodegradable materials are capable of being slowly broken down through natural processes. Builders usually add insulation to homes and offices. The insulation can reduce the energy demands of heating and cooling systems. Dieckman and Robinson won several awards for their prototype insulation, including the Mayor of London's Low Carbon Entrepreneur Challenge. The $23,000 they won in the competition helped them start their company, Aeropowder. Why are feathers useful? Elena Dieckman explains why feathers are a useful material: "Feathers are a real wonder material. They are designed by nature to protect birds from really harsh environments. So they are super lightweight, they're thermally insulating, they're water repellent, bio-degradable. So it's a really great material." Robinson adds that their goal is to develop ways to use the entire feather, not just parts of it. If successful, Aeropowder may help prevent the waste of this useful natural material. Im John Russell. Zlatica Hoke reported on this story for VOA News. John Russell adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story insulator n. a material that allows little or no heat, electricity, or sound to go into or out of something prototype n. an original or first model of something from which other forms are copied or developed poultry n. birds (such as chickens and ducks) that are raised on farms for their eggs or meat Suy Senglim credits a French journalist he met in 2000 for his interest in photography. Since 2012, the Cambodian man has used his love of photography for a good cause: protecting wildlife. As more and more animal species began to disappear from Kandal province, he grew worried. So he created a photo project he hopes will bring more attention to the loss of natural habitat in Cambodia. Now 35 years old, Suy Senglim carefully documents each species he photographs. He records the common name of each creature, its scientific name and identifying qualities, and whether or not the species is endangered. He hopes to educate Cambodians about the importance of bird species and the effect development has on nature. The biggest issue is damage to habitat and poaching. Besides that, it is due to demand from the rich who desire wild meat and who consider wild meat chemical-free, he told VOA. The Giant Ibis is Cambodias national bird. It is considered critically endangered, with its population increasing and decreasing every year, he said. His photography work has showed him how lack of education and law enforcement makes the problem worse. Hunting is at the root of Cambodian culture, he said. But he notes that centuries ago, there were more animals and less people. Educating Cambodians about the need for saving natural resources is very important to Suy Senglim. Education is very limited, he said. And in terms of legal enforcement, only one organization is standing out, and that is the Wildlife Alliance. He noted that the group has carried out a number of successful crackdowns against hunting. But there are few major campaigns on wildlife hunting, as a whole, he said. Chhit Sam Ath is executive director of the World Wildlife Fund, or WWF office in Cambodia. The group works to protect wildlife and their habitats around the world. Chhit Sam Ath said land sales and development are partly responsible for a sharp drop in the number of trees. Forests are home to many bird species. Protected areas within forests have disappeared at the same rate as forests in other parts of the country. The environmental protection group Fauna and Flora International says poaching and hunting have led to loss of animal and plant species in Cambodia. Between 2001 and 2014, the yearly rate of forest loss in Cambodia was the highest in the world, the group said. The rate increased 14.4 percent during that period. Flora and Fauna International noted almost 60 percent of the country was forested in 2009. But it fell to 48 percent by 2014. Recently, Prime Minister Hun Sen approved an increase in the number of rangers to guard forests and parks, Chhit Sam Ath noted. The increased security is part of an effort to stop poaching and destruction of forests. But like Suy Senglim, the World Wildlife Fund official said lack of education about wildlife leads to careless hunting by people. He also called for an end to the wild meat trade. I think we should improve education among the people to make them understand more and love wildlife, Chhit Sam Ath said. I want to call on the people that it is time to help protect the wildlife in our nation. Chantha Nasak is a wildlife expert with Fauna and Flora International. He said the group is still carrying out a study of endangered and non-endangered species in Cambodia. But without the right protections, the wildlife face great risks. Through research by non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, and other groups, we have recorded a huge number of wildlife in Cambodia, he said. The number of endangered species, such as elephants, can face further decreases if there are no [protective] measures taken. To Chantha Nasak, damage to wildlife habitats is the main reason for the decrease in the number of wild animals. He said destruction of forests and use of land for agricultural and other purposes are the biggest threats, as well as climate change. However, there are already agreements between some NGOs and the Cambodian government to help wild species. Also, Chantha Nasak said some communities are working together to protect wildlife around the country. All Cambodian citizens should join hands in the protection of wildlife, not just the NGOs and the government, he said. It should be everyone. Suy Senglim is working on a book on 100 bird species from among the 400 species he has photographed. He hopes to publish the book in early 2018. He says he looks forward to teaching in high schools and colleges to influence a new generation of nature-lovers. Im Alice Bryant. Nem Sopheakpanha reported on this for VOANews.com. Pete Musto adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. What efforts to protect the environment are happening in your country? How does your country try to protect endangered plants and animals? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story species - n. a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus habitat - n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows poach - v. to hunt or fish illegally; to catch or kill an animal illegally crackdown - n. an increased effort to enforce a law or rule ranger - n. a person in charge of managing and protecting part of a public forest elephant - n. a very large gray animal that has a long, flexible nose and two long tusks China is expanding efforts against services that help its citizens get around the governments control of the Internet. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a statement on Monday. The ministry said it has launched a 14-month-long campaign against unsupervised internet connections, including virtual private networks, known as VPNs. The technology enables users to open and gain access to blocked websites without the governments permission. A number of Chinese and foreign companies in China use VPNs to do business. Private citizens often turn to this technology to access banned websites, such as Google, Facebook, and international news agency sites. The new rules make using a VPN without permission illegal. They require that all VPNs and leased cable lines operating in the country have a government license. The service providers are also now required to carry out self-inspections for any unlawful activity taking place on their servers. Chinese President Xi Jinping has expressed support for internet sovereignty. That is the idea that governments have the right to control and protect their nations internet as if it were a physical territory. Chinas Great Firewall is the largest web censorship operation in the world. The anti-censorship group Greatfire.org reports that China blocks 135 of the worlds top 1,000 websites, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper. The sites include Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. A writer who calls himself Charlie Smith helped to set up Greatfire.org. Smith says it is not clear if internet services will follow the Chinese governments new campaign. "They will push back, quietly ... if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high," Smith said. "Even the authorities recognize that there are legitimate needs for VPNs and other circumvention services." Im Ashley Thompson. The Associated Press reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted the report, and used additional information from the South China Morning Post. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story access - n. a way of being able to use or get something license - n. an official document, card, etc., that gives you permission to do, use, or have something sovereignty - n. unlimited power over a country often + over censorship - n. the system or practice of censoring books, movies, letters, etc. deem - v. to think of (someone or something) in a particular way checks - n. something that stops or limits another thing circumvent - v. to avoid being stopped by (something, such as a law or rule) : to get around (something) in a clever and sometimes dishonest way Thailand is backing Chinese plans to clear parts of the Mekong River to allow large cargo ships to pass through. The plans call for destroying small islands and rocky areas along the Mekong River as part of a 10-year project. The project is intended to boost shipping navigation along a 630-kilometer part of the river from Chinas Yunnan province to Luang Prabang in Laos. In 2015, an estimated 3,500 commercial ships used the Mekong River to carry goods from Chinas Yunnan province to Thailand. Most of those ships weighed between 100 and 300 tons. The goal is to make the Mekong River passable for 500-ton cargo ships. The Mekong River in China is known as the Lancang River. It runs a total length of about 4,300 kilometers through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. China will reportedly provide one and a half billion dollars in loans and $10 billion in credit lines to pay for infrastructure and improve transport networks along the Mekong. The first phase involves an initial survey of the area and design plans for the project. Environmental and social assessments are also to be conducted. In the second phase to begin in 2020, navigational improvements will be made over a distance of 259 kilometers. In addition, cargo and passenger ports will be built. The project is expected to be completed by 2025. Thai officials have said the changes are needed to improve the safety of transporting goods and people along the river. They say navigation improvements will reduce the risk of accidents and environmental disasters on the Mekong. Objections from conservationists Several conservation groups have condemned the plan. They say clearing the islands will have a disastrous impact on aquatic wildlife and communities along the Mekong River. Robert Mather, a conservationist, said These are areas, very important for fish breeding, fish eating areas, because you have algae growing on the rocks and islets [small islands.] They are important. The conservationists are especially concerned with a 1.6-kilometer stretch of the river near Thailands northern province of Chiang Rai. This area includes a collection of small island and rock formations that serve as a border marker between Thailand and Laos at the rivers deepest point. Additionally, they say the Mekong River is already facing harm from dam construction projects. These include three hydropower projects now being built or under consideration by Laos on the lower Mekong River. Millions of people also depend on the lower Mekong as a major source of food. A coalition of local environmentalists representing eight Mekong provinces has launched a joint campaign opposing Chinas development plans. Im Anne Ball. Ron Corben reported this story for VOA News. Bryan Lynn adapted his report for Learning English. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. _______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story navigation n. the finding of the right direction to travel algae n. simple plants that have no leaves or stems that grow in or near water hydropower n. power generated by water Here is What's Trending Today. Google Doodle, the image on the opening page for Google searches, shows a man using a wheelchair and breathing machine at the front of a classroom. The man is Edward Verne Roberts, an early activist for disability rights in the United States. Birth of an activist When he was 14 years old, Roberts became ill with polio and was paralyzed from the neck down. He had to sleep in an iron lung at night and rested in it during the day. Breathing on his own was not easy: he had to gulp air using his mouth and throat muscles. Roberts went to high school by telephone until his fourth year, when his mother asked the school to let him come in person. Other students stared at him, but he decided it was because he was like a "star" different from the other students. At first, the high school said he could not graduate because he did not take the classes in physical education or driving a car. Roberts career as an activist began when he fought for the right to graduate without those classes. College career Roberts was the first severely disabled student to attend the University of California at Berkeley. That was not easy, either. School administrators thought Roberts would never be able to get a job, so he had no reason to attend the university. He also had to fight for a living space where he could use his iron lung. Eventually, part of the university's hospital was opened to him. Soon other disabled students were able to move into the space and attend classes. Roberts earned a Bachelor's Degree from Berkeley in 1964 and a Master's Degree in Political Science in 1966. The MLK of the disability rights movement Roberts and the other disabled students at Berkeley formed a support group. They called it the Rolling Quads. Quads is a shortened word for quadriplegic, a person who has paralysis in both arms and both legs. The people around them were surprised that the Rolling Quads had a positive view of being disabled. The groups positive message and successes led to more activism for the disability rights movement in the wider community. Roberts was an early leader of the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley and is seen as the father of the Independent Living movement. It is an international movement of people with disabilities. They are working for equal opportunities, self-determination, and self-respect. In 1976, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Roberts as Director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation. This agency had once said Roberts was too disabled to work. He worked there until 1983. Roberts died of a heart attack in 1995 at age 56. His wheelchair is in the Smithsonian Museum. It was donated by his friend Mike Boyd, who called Roberts "the Martin Luther King Jr. of the disability rights movement." I'm Jill Robbins. Dr. Jill Robbins wrote this story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor. You can hear Ed Roberts in this YouTube video. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story disability - n. a condition (such as an illness or an injury) that damages or limits a person's physical or mental abilities polio - n. a serious disease that affects the nerves of the spine and often makes a person permanently unable to move particular muscles paralyze - v. to make (a person or animal) unable to move or feel all or part of the body iron lung - n. a form of medical ventilator that enables a person to breathe when normal muscle control has been lost gulp - v. to eat or swallow (something) quickly or in large amounts stare - v. to look at someone or something for a long time often with your eyes wide open quadriplegic - n. a person who is permanently unable to move or feel both arms and both legs because of injury or illness self-determination - n. the freedom to make your own choices Now its your turn. Do disabled people have equal rights where you live? What are they doing to get equal opportunities to work and get an education? Write to us in the comments section or on our Facebook page. From VOA Learning English, this is the Health & Lifestyle report. When Jon Forbes lost his ability to walk, he had to make serious changes but went on with his life. Forbes suffered a spinal cord injury 14 years ago. It forced him use a wheelchair to move around. But Forbes says it was not his paralysis but something else that nearly broke his will to live. It was electric shocks of pain in areas of his body that were paralyzed. "It was horrible. Excruciating. And it never stopped. You wake up, it's there. All day, it's there. You go to bed, it's there." His spinal cord injury is midway down his chest. So, Forbes can use his arms and hands. Yet he is unable to move his hips or legs. Forbes does feel sharp pain like electric shocks below his spinal injury. He needed to stop the pain, but nothing seemed to work. The World Health Organization reports that about 25 million people worldwide live with a spinal cord injury. The injuries are well-known for causing paralysis. Another common side-effect is neuropathic pain, a sensation Forbes describes. Neuropathic pain creates feelings of electric shocks in parts of the body that no longer experience normal sensations. In about 10 percent of cases, this feeling can be so severe and relentless, victims consider suicide. Jon Forbes did. "I had tried pretty much every kind of drug, tried exercise, tried you name it. Anything and everything to try and get this pain to stop. And it wouldnt. And I was working at an investment bank and decided this was it. Quit my job, and decided, this was going to be the end. I just couldn't take it." But then, he learned about a doctor in Colorado who uses spinal operations to stop "suicidal pain." Scott Falci is the chief neurosurgical adviser at Craig Hospital in the city of Denver. Craig Hospital specializes in helping spinal cord injury patients. Falci has helped hundreds of paralyzed patients who suffer from severe neuropathic pain. For those with a spinal cord injury, traditional treatments for reducing pain often fail. This failure leads some doctors to suggest the pain is "in their head." Patients when they ultimately come to me Im (kind of) their last resort. Unfortunately many of our patients are told that this could be a psychiatric problem. But, Falci says, it is mainly a spinal cord problem. And he fixes it with surgery. Falci and his surgical team work for hours just to expose the spinal cord. Then he seeks out shiny, white "root entry zones." These zones, about the size of a button or coin, are filled with thousands of cells. This is where nerves bring sensations from the body and root into the spinal cord. "These nerve cells that come from different parts of the body don't travel all the way up to the brain. They connect first with other nerve cells in the spinal cord and let them communicate signals to the brain." Using a pin-sized instrument, Falci inspects the electric signals produced by these nerve cells. Mostly, he finds a calm electric signal. But when he finds a hyperactive nerve cell, he knows he has found the problem area. "Hyperactive nerve cells yeah, we call them hot spots -- (are) firing with high energy when they shouldn't be firing." Falci says hot spots can cause suicidal pain. There can be hundreds of them. He finds the hot spots below the injury and kills them with heat. He says nerve signals coming in from the body can go around a spinal cord injury. He likens this to cars turning off a main road to avoid an accident. The drivers travel on local streets to go around the accident before returning to the highway. When hyperactive nerve signals create a detour in the body, Falci says, they carry false pain signals. So, by killing hot spots below the injury, he removes more pain. Falci says this can be life-changing. It was for Jon Forbes, who had this surgery two years ago. Just two months after the operation, Forbes began a new job as the deputy treasurer for Colorado. "I'm a pretty happy person these days. I'm not 100% without pain, but I can live, and I want to live, which is thank God for saving my life, Dr. Falci, you know." Falci plans to publish new research that maps this "detouring" nervous system. Im Anna Matteo. Shelley Schlender reported this story for VOA News from Denver, Colorado. Anna Matteo adapted it for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. Try this listening quiz to check your understanding. Quiz - New Treatments Help Reduce Spinal Cord Injury Pain Start the Quiz to find out Start Quiz ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story paralyze v. to cause to be unable to move all or part of the body paralysis n. complete or partial loss of function especially when involving the motion or sensation in a part of the body excruciating adj. causing great pain or anguish sensation n. awareness (as of heat or pain) due to stimulation of a sense organ relentless adj. continuing without becoming weaker, less severe, etc. all in ones head expression in one's imagination : not real ultimately adv. at the end of a process, period of time, etc. last resort expression something done only if nothing else works psychiatry n. a branch of medicine that deals with mental or emotional disorders : adj. psychiatric hyperactive adj. extremely active or too active detour n. the act of going or traveling to a place along a way that is different from the usual or planned way United States officials are studying a possible move of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That information came this week from Sean Spicer, the spokesman for new President Donald Trump. Although Trump has said he wants to move the embassy to Jerusalem, Spicer said a final decision has not been made. If it was already a decision, then we wouldnt be going through a process, the presidential spokesman told reporters on Monday. Israeli officials have argued that the embassy belongs in Jerusalem because it is the countrys capital. But the Palestinian Authority hopes to make East Jerusalem as its capital in a future Palestinian state. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinian officials oppose any effort to move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, as do many countries. The Islamic militant group Hamas warned on Tuesday that moving the embassy to Jerusalem could result in violence. In a statement, Hamas said such a move would open a new chapter of conflict and add fuel to the fire. New Israeli Settlements Announced On Tuesday, Israel announced approval of 2,500 new homes for settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the new settlement homes are in response to housing needs." The majority of the housing, he said, will be built in areas where most Israeli settlers now live. Nabil Abu Rdeneh works for the Palestinian Authority and speaks for its president, Mahmoud Abbas. He said the new housing "disregards" international opposition to the settlements. He called on world leaders to take a real and serious position" against Israel. In one of its final acts, the Obama administration did not use its veto to block a resolution in the United Nations Security Council. The resolution urged Israel to stop building new housing settlements. The councils members passed the measure by a vote of 14 to nothing. Trump criticized the vote in a comment on social media. He wrote on Twitter: 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! Money Released for Palestinian Authority On Monday, the Associated Press and other news media reported that the Obama administration released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority last week. Some members of Congress had been blocking the release. They were unhappy with the Palestinian Authority seeking to join international organizations. They noted that membership is normally reserved for countries. Israeli and Palestinian representatives have spent years talking about a possible two-state agreement. Under the plan, the Palestinians would be given statehood in return for recognizing Israels right to exist. But those negotiations resulted in failure. Many U.S. administrations tried and failed to bring the two sides together. That includes the Obama administration. John Kerry served as President Barack Obamas Secretary of State. Kerry said last month that increased settlements in Jerusalem made a peace agreement difficult. Now, one thing we do know: if Israel goes down the one-state path, it will never have true peace with the rest of the Arab world, and I can say that with certainty, he said in a speech last month. At the time, Trump criticized Kerrys speech. We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect, Trump said on Twitter. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore. He added: January 20th is fast approaching. Trump named lawyer David Friedman as the new U.S. ambassador to Israel. Friedman has been a strong supporter of Israels settlements and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On Sunday, Trump spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They agreed to meet in Washington early next month. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said he hopes the Trump administration will be more supportive of settlements than the Obama administration. Im Dorothy Gundy. Robert Berger reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and share your views on our Facebook Page. ____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story chapter - n. period of time that is very different from the period of time before it disregard - v. to ignore something potential - n. capable of becoming real certainty - n. the state of being or feeling sure about something disdain - n. a feeling of strong dislike or disapproval of someone or something you think does not deserve respect reserve v. to set or have set aside scholarship, news and new ideas in legal history Calvin William Stock, 82, of Lexington, died Monday, Jan. 9, 2017, at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. A Celebration of life Memorial Service will be held Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, at 10:30 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Lexington, with Pastor Polly Deppen-Williams officiating. In lieu of flowers please, Cal requested memorials be made to Nebraska Medicine: Lied Transplant Center or a favorite charity of your choosing. Inurnment will be held at a later date in Fort McPherson National Cemetery at Maxwell. He was born Dec. 31, 1934, to Edwin and Martha (Kugler) Stock in Lexington. He graduated from Lexington High School and spent two years in the Army, where he was stationed in Germany. After being in the military he joined his father farming and handling cattle. He later took over the business and continued until he was forced into retirement due to a rare type of hepatitis. He was a regular blood donor, which is how his hepatitis was discovered. He had many major surgeries, which included a liver transplant in 2000. He had a passion for giving his testament about receiving his organ and sharing the need for people to sign up to to be an organ donor. He would say, The Lord does not want your organs; he only wants your soul! Cal enjoyed classical music, planting trees and flowers in his yard. He also had a visionary eye for interior design. For a time, he was a part time organist at the First Presbyterian Church, of which he was a member. He said he was probably the only person that checked his cattle listening to classical music. Although he was a respectable horseman, his main means of transportation in the hills was his trusty 4-wheeler, that being a Chevy pickup. Cal was quietly generous in helping young people, stressing the importance of a good education. He had a strong compassion for abused children of the world. Cal is survived by his loving wife, Carol, of 33 years, who cared for him with true love and devotion. He is also survived by his sisters, Evelyn Brodie of Kauii, Hawaii, Arlyce Miller of Overland Park, Kan., and brother Arthur (Linda) Stock of Lincoln, three daughters, Sabrina Von Stock of Newhall, Calif., Vanessa Orr of Tomball, Texas, and Heather Aldridge of Lake Bluff, Ill. He is also survived by two caring stepsons Doug (Lisa) Evans of Kearney and David Evans of Elkhorn; Dougs two children Derek (Charlene) Evans of Basehor, Kan., and Alyssa Evans (fiance Jonathon Bartholomew) of Roca; Davids children Chaz and Fritz Evans of Phoenix; step-daughter-in-law, Nancy Evans of Lexington; as well as nieces, nephews, transplant sisters in love, Cheryl Cramer of Hickman, Jeanette Wulf of Odebolt, Iowa, Pat Hawley of Denison, Iowa, and Marilyn Pfeiffer of Beatrice; extended family and friends. Calvin was preceded in death by his parents; brother-in-law, Lex Brodie; and, his cherished Labrador retrievers, Mozart and Micah. Cal donated his body to research at the University Of Nebraska Medical Center. Reynolds-Love Funeral Home in Lexington is honored to assist the family with arrangements. Please share online condolences with the family by visiting: reynoldslovefuneralhome.com. Did you guys notice the current Tony Roma's promotion; Tony's Sharing Platters, that is on-going from January 1 to February 28, 2017? Our family had actually tried one of the sharing platter that is offered during the New-Year weekend, though our outing kinda ended in a sour note. Not that the food was at fault though, just the service needed a lot of bucking up. Anyhoo... here we are again, back to Tony Roma's. Albeit at a different branch. As I said, I don't have much problem with the food. Tony Roma's lamb ribs is still my favourite ribs that I enjoyed devouring. Their beef ribs are good too. But this time around, we had a chance to attend a food review session at their Sunway Pyramid outlet and try out all three of their Tony's Sharing Platter. 3 amazing sharing platters are available and they are: The Lamb Lovers Platter consists of Lamb Ribs Roma Rack, Lamb Cevapi, BBQ Chicken, three cups of Soup of the Day and three sides of your choice at only RM139*. All prices quoted in Ringgit Malaysia, inclusive of 6% GST and applicable to 10% service charge. The Lobster & Friends Platter offers an amazing Lobster, Grilled Salmon, Shrimp Scampi Pasta, three cups of Soup of the Day and three sides of your choice for RM179*. *All prices quoted in Ringgit Malaysia, inclusive of 6% GST and applicable to 10% service charge. The Tonys Beef Ribs Platter consists of World Famous Bountiful Beef Ribs, BBQ Chicken, 10oz NY Strip Steak, three cups of Soup of the Day and three sides of your choice for RM169*. *All prices quoted in Ringgit Malaysia, inclusive of 6% GST and applicable to 10% service charge. Quite a good deal, I might add. Just make sure the staff remember to serve you your soup. (They forgotten about it when we were at IOI Mall. heh heh. Sorry, can't resist mentioning it) Richard M. Re (University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - School of Law) has posted 'Equal Right to the Poor' (University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 84, 2017 Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: By law, federal judges must swear or affirm that they will do equal right to the poor and to the rich. This frequently overlooked oath, which I call the equal right principle, has historical roots dating back to the Bible and entered U.S. law in a statute passed by the First Congress. Today, the equal right principle is often understood to require only that judges faithfully apply other laws. But that reading, like the idea that the rich and poor are equally barred from sleeping under bridges, is questionable in light of the equal right principles text, context, and history. This Article argues that the equal right principle supplies at least a plausible basis for federal judges to promote substantive economic equality when implementing underdetermined sources of law. There are many implications. For example, the equal right principle suggests that federal courts may legitimately limit the poors disadvantages in the adjudicative and legislative processes by expanding counsel rights and interpreting statutes with an eye toward economically vulnerable groups. The equal right principle should also inform what qualifies as a compelling or legitimate governmental interest within campaign finance jurisprudence, as well as whether to implement under-enforced equal protection principles. More broadly, the equal right principle should play a more central role in constitutional culture. The United States is unusual in that its fundamental law is relatively silent on issues of economic equality. The equal right principle can fill that void by providing a platform for legal and public deliberation over issues of wealth inequality. Through judicial confirmation hearings and other forms of public contestation, the equal right principle can help to specify federal judges legal and moral commitments toward the poor. Highly recommended. St. Petersburg Police are trying to find the person responsible for shooting and killing a 19-year-old Monday night. Emmanuel Sims, 19, died Monday evening Police say he was sitting in a car with two others when shots rang out According to reports, no one else was injured The streets in front of the Rajax Food Mart on the corner of MLK and 24th Avenue S. in St. Petersburg were filled with onlookers and police. It's where investigators found Emmanuel Sims, 19, after he was shot while sitting inside of a car just after 6:30 Monday night with two other individuals. Police said they made contact with a person known to Sims. That person fired at the vehicle and wounded Sims. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 7 p.m. We dont believe it was a drive-by," said St. Petersburg Police Assistant Chief Jim Previter. "We know that he knew or made contact with his shooter in the parking lot and whoever shot him that he knew the individual, or at least had reason to come in contact with the individual, and that the shooting occurred in the car." His family is heartbroken. He had a promising future," said Sims' stepmother, Monica Macintosh. "He had his whole life ahead of him and somebody else is gonna lose a family member when it all comes down to it. Because theyre going go to prison and youre going to have another family hurting and were hurting. I just wish wed do things differently. Whatever problem they had, I wish they couldve come to the table and talked about it and found a solution instead of this, because this is final. There are a number of businesses surrounding the scene and police said they plan to check surveillance cameras of all of the business. Theyre hoping it will help them track down the person responsible. A 4-year-old boy was shot with a stolen gun Tuesday morning, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said. The child was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital and is in stable condition. 4-year-old boy shot in Hillsborough Akia Thomas charged with possession of firearm by felon Officials not confirming whether shooting was accidental Related: Auburndale Police: 4-year-old dies from gunshot wound The shooting occurred at the Key Vista Apartments near the University of South Florida. The apartment manager said it was an accidental shooting. However, officials have not confirmed whether it was an accident. BREAKING: HCSO on scene what an apartment manager says was an accidental shooting of 4y/o boy - Key Vista Apts near USF @BN9 Awaiting update pic.twitter.com/o2T1i54Lhh Jason Lanning (@Jason_Lanning) January 24, 2017 Deputies said Akia Thomas, the boyfriend of the boy's mother, was home at the time of the incident. Thomas has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, officials said. He has 24 previous felony charges and five previous felony convictions. Officials said the victim has two other siblings, a 1- and 6-year-old. The mother was taking one of the children to daycare when the 4-year-old was shot. This a developing story; please check back for updates. Recently Italian financial markets have had a negative influence from the result of Brexit and the lately bank crisis. Therefore, the pursuit of protected goods like properties increased. Italian houses prices have been declining since 2008, especially in some metropolitan cities and tourist resorts. According to the ISTAT (the Italian National Institute of Statistics), the prices have fallen by 13.7% from Q1 2010 to Q1 2015. While in the first 3 quarters of 2016, the prices fell by 0.9% over the same period of the last year. The property market in Italy has joined a marked improvement in 2016, as indicated by the Observatory Data Revenue Agency, and the growth regards the sales of first houses as well as those for holidays. The analysis of the data confirms the theory that the market for resorts properties moves with a time delay respect to developments in major urban areas of the country, but still gradually improving. It seems a good news not only for those who are looking for a house to live, but also for small investors which intend to intervene in tourist-real estate sector. Italian real-estate market does offer good investment opportunities, thanks to the tourist resources of the beautiful country. In the year 2015 the Italian tax authority made a property census from which results not only an increase of the properties but also a better income compared to the previous years. This result shows that the real-estate is still the most secure investment without negative surprises like bank crisis. The house in tourist resort, for example, is being increasingly perceived as an opportunity to invest in a safe area, increasingly exploited by many. Then the goal is to rent it to tourists for short or long periods. It is now easy and secure to put a house for rent with the advent of web portals and specialized agency, as well as Europa RE or many other Italian agencies do. In general, hostel, apartment or house rental are the most required in the tourist-real estate industry in Italy. It is better to work with agencies with a long history, which means reliable and higher quality of services. And pay attention the type of your house, or business: The beach house is considered the best choice in Bibione and Lignano on Adriatic Coast, because of the constant flow of tourists from Italy, Austria and Germany and the simplicity of the maintenance. While tourists may prefer a hostel rather than a house or an apartment, in the centre of Rome or Milan, to avoid excessive costs, but the prices of properties and maintenance costs are not always reasonable enough for investors. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. The Legislative Assembly (AL) gathered yesterday afternoon in a plenary session exclusively dedicated to replies from the government to spoken enquiries from lawmakers. One of the highlight topics of the session, accounting for seven of the 12 total enquiries during the session, concerned proposals for extra restrictions on non-resident workers (TNR). Specifically, the director of the Labor Affairs Bureau (DSAL), Wong Chi Hong, unveiled plans to raise the quantity of residents working in management positions in the gaming industry. In the citys first Five-Year Development Plan, one of the goals was to have 85 percent of casino upper and middle management in the territory composed of Macau residents by 2020. With the proportion increasing from 81.9 percent in January 2015 to 84.8 percent in September 2016, according to figures provided by the DSAL, this target has been pushed forward to the end of this year. The government hopes that in 2017 this percentage will hit 85 per cent when it comes to local managers and top executives, said Wong Chi Hong. It seems there are over 100 non-local workers on resort facility management. And we have already told the gaming companies we will not renew those work permits, he added. However, concerns regarding non-resident workers discussed in yesterdays plenary session extended far beyond casino executives, including the contentious issue of local versus imported drivers. Kwan Tsui Hang was the first to address the issue of non-resident workers, calling for government intervention over what she considers to be a violation of the drivers special licenses that, according to the lawmakers, have been used to allow non-residents to occupy job positions as drivers a position that has by law been restricted exclusively for residents. The basis for the dispute is a law from 1984 that the government has promised to review since 2009 but did not see light until yesterday. Defending the government, the Director of the Transport Bureau (DSAT), Lam Hin San noted that since 2009 the government has established a quota of 1,018 licenses dedicated to Chinese based institutions in Macau aiming at better control. The reply was complemented by a representative of the Public Security Police Force (PSP) who said that between June 2010 and the end of last year, there were a total of 37,584 inspections, concluding that all inspected vehicles had records of entry and exit of Macau and no infractions [of this kind] were detected. Kwan Tsui Hang in her follow- up question and comments highlighted the fact that authorities had not referred anything new, naming only the 2009 measures that we all knew about. She complained that her questions remained unanswered. Lam then explained: There was a tentative review in 2012 but that couldnt be completed since the issue required a change in the Road Traffic Act to allow the input of sanctioning measures. Lam reaffirmed that DSAT has the intention to introduce a mechanism of quotas to avoid abuses, adding that the services are working on these new rules. Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San also intervened on the topic to say that the government is not doing enough and that the rules in force are obsolete. Au remarked: The owners of those licenses in the past used to transport goods and people across the border but nowadays they are at the service of the gaming concessionaires. Ella Lei accused the authorities of failing to conduct proper inspections namely the DSAL since professional drivers cant be imported. There are people hired as cooking helpers or others that then do driving services, she claimed, pointing to clear abuse and calling for an urgent law revision to tackle the loopholes. The debate generated a few contributions from other legislators such as Tsui Wai Kwan and Pereira Coutinho. Tsui recalled a case from last December when a number of illegal workers were caught by the authorities and were found to be earning salaries well above the average (between RMB10,000 to 12,000 per month). In questioning what would justify the employer to pay such high salaries, Tsui implied that the employers had no other option due to a short supply in the workforce. Pereira Coutinho expressed his regret at the lack of the presence of the secretary responsible for the field, noting that the directors present had no capacity to answer questions regarding the policies. These are questions that need to be replied by the secretary. I hope the leaders [of the bureaus] can take the topic to higher deliberation. Lam in a final reply added: We are going to consider this topic in the upcoming [amendment] to the Road traffic act, adding, we are already preparing the revision of that legal document. But this was not the only enquiry regarding restrictions to the TNR. The vice president of the AL, Lam Heong Sang, remarked: Since the entry into force of the law for the hiring of non-resident workers [] the loopholes havent stopped popping up. The lawmaker urged the government to establish a ceiling for the TNR in general and for sector and profession; to reinforce the inspection mechanism over these workers in order to safeguard their basic rights including salary and benefits; to establish a mechanism for the replacement of the TNR by resident workers; to put an end to situations in which [the TNR] do not work for the company or employer that requested their import; to aggravate the sanctions and penalties to irregular activities; as well as to define a regime of qualification for the job agencies or intermediary people working on this field. In the reply by the director of DSAL, Wong Chi Hong recalled a number of measures taken by the government to reinforce the control and guarantee the rights of the workers highlighting the implementation of the minimum wage for cleaning and security staff working in building administration, reaffirming the compromise of the government to extend it to all other sectors of activity within three subsequent years of the implementation [of such law], adding that a public consultation on the topic will be held during this year. Once more Lam noted the lack of novelty in the reply as well as the lack of action by the government. Wong replied that addressing such topics involves a consensus between both parties a task that demands a great effort. Ng Kuok Cheong intervened to ask, Why are we assuming an open attitude to the hiring of the TNR? highlighting the example of Hong Kong where the proportion of non-resident workers in the workforce is far lower than in Macau. The best is that [the number of TNR] wouldnt be bigger than 50 percent [of the workforce], added Ng. Au Kam San urged the government to assume this dominant position as at the moment, the bigger threat to residents has to do with the abuses in the hiring of the TNR, he said. Song Pek Kei added that, in order to hear the population the government must have a proposal first. She noted that the current lack of action is harming both the workers and the employers. On the other hand, Chan Chak Mo emphasized to the lawmakers that their opinions were uninformed as they are not employers themselves. [You say this] because you arent aware of the reality of running a real business, Chan said, adding that it is necessary that lawmakers think well when they speak and have a real notion of the topic that they are addressing. In his final remarks Wong said that the government is currently working on measures to deal with the possibility of tourists entering the region with the purpose of finding work as non-resident workers. AnimArt Nam Van to open bids to all spaces The secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, clarified yesterday during a reply to a spoken enquiry at the Legislative Assembly that AnimArt Nam Van would open bidding for all its commercial spaces. The announcement complemented information aired last week by the Director of the Macau Government Tourism Office who had advanced that the space would open a public tender during this year. At the time it was not clear if the public tender was to be issued for all of the commercial spaces or just for the food and beverage venues. A star Chinese stock trader who was arrested after a market collapse in 2015 was sentenced yesterday to 5 years in prison on charges of manipulating prices and insider trading. Xu Xiang was one of a series of brokers and others in the securities industry who were detained after share prices plunged. That prompted suggestions the ruling Communist Party was trying to deflect blame for the rout that wiped out some USD5 trillion in stock value. Xu and two co-defendants were sentenced by a court in the eastern city of Qingdao after pleading guilty at the start of their trial in December. A court statement at that time indicated the charges were based on activity that began before the 2015 market boom. Co-defendant Wang Wei was sentenced to three years and Zhu Yong received a two-year term with a three-year reprieve. The court said on its microblog account the three also were fined but gave no amounts. The three were accused of conspiring with executives of 13 companies from 2010 to 2015 to inflate share prices through large purchases and favorable public statements, the court said. It said the executives cases were being handled separately. They faced a maximum of up to 10 years in prison. Xus sentence of five years was unusually light by the standards of a Chinese system in which some defendants have been sentenced to death for financial offenses. Xu, the founder and general manager of Zexi Investment in Shanghai, was a celebrity in the Chinese business press, which dubbed him Brother No. 1 of Private Placement. Zexis value increased 218 percent during the first three quarters of 2015, far ahead of the second-place competitor, which rose 94 percent, according to Caixin, a business magazine. The Qingdao court said yesterday that the defendants severely undermined the stock markets healthy functioning. Earlier news reports said Xu and his co-conspirators were accused of making several billion yuan (several hundred million dollars) in profit. Chinas market benchmark soared more than 150 percent beginning in late 2014 after the state press said stocks were cheap. That led investors to believe Beijing would prop up prices if needed. Prices hit a peak on June 12, 2015, and collapsed after changes in bank regulations fueled suspicions Beijing might withdraw its support. The benchmark fell more than 30 percent, inflicting heavy losses on novice investors who bought in near the peak. The downturn triggered complaints that politically favored insiders profited at the expense of small investors. Xu was detained in November 2015 and formally arrested in April 2016. Also in April, the official Xinhua News Agency said the general manager of Chinas biggest brokerage, state-owned Citic Securities Ltd., and two other executives were arrested on insider trading charges. No developments have been reported. Two other brokerages announced at that time they also were under investigation, but no arrests were reported. A reporter for a business magazine also was detained. AP Exiled Gambian ruler Yahya Jammeh stole millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, plundering the state coffers and shipping out luxury vehicles by cargo plane, a special adviser for the new president said yesterday. Meanwhile, a regional military force rolled in, greeted by cheers, to secure this tiny West African nation so that democratically elected President Adama Barrow could return home. He remained in neighboring Senegal, where he took the oath of office Thursday because of concerns for his safety. At a press conference in the Senegalese capital, Barrows special adviser Mai Ahmad Fatty told journalists that the president will return home as soon as possible. Underscoring the challenges facing the new administration, Fatty confirmed that Jammeh made off with more than USD11.4 million during a two-week period alone. That is only what they have discovered so far since Jammeh and his family took an offer of exile after more than 22 years in power and departed late Saturday. The Gambia is in financial distress. The coffers are virtually empty. That is a state of fact, Fatty said. It has been confirmed by technicians in the ministry of finance and the Central Bank of the Gambia. Fatty also confirmed that a Chadian cargo plane had transported luxury goods out of the country on Jammehs behalf in his final hours in power, including an unknown number of vehicles. Fatty said officials at the Gambia airport have been ordered not to allow any of Jammehs belongings to leave. Separately, it appeared that some of his goods remained in Guinea, where Jammeh and his closest allies stopped on their flight into exile. Fatty said officials regret the situation, but it appeared that the major damage had been done, leaving the new government with little recourse to recoup the funds. The unpredictable Jammeh, known for startling declarations like his claim that bananas and herbal rubs could cure AIDS, went into exile under mounting international pressure, with a wave to supporters as soldiers wept. He is now in Equatorial Guinea, home to Africas longest-serving ruler and not a state party to the International Criminal Court. Jammehs dramatic about-face on his December election loss to Barrow, at first conceding and then challenging the vote, appeared to be the final straw for the international community, which had been alarmed by his moves in recent years to declare an Islamic republic and leave the Commonwealth and the ICC. AP The Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) will organize an event titled Lets Celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Rooster, comprising workshops, exhibitions, lectures, concerts and other performances. The planned activities this month include a Couplets Workshop, which will teach participants how to create their own couplets in Chinese calligraphy. On January 21, 22 and 27, the workshop will take place at the Mandarins House. Two sessions at the Macau Museum of Art on January 22 will be primarily for children aged five and above. The Jao Tsung-I Academy, the Lou Kau Mansion, General Ye Tings Former Residence and the building at No. 80 at Rua das Estalagens will offer similar events until early February. From January 24 to February 2, Jao Tsung-I Academy will host a Monotype Workshop. From January 28 to 30, General Ye Tings Former Residence will organize a Fans Painting Workshop to teach participants about fan painting through Lunar New Year-themed works. The Macao Tea Culture House will also host Traditional Crafts Workshops on February 11 and 12. The 10:30 a.m. session will be dedicated to the application of glass beads in embroidery, and the 3 p.m. session will focus on the creation of kites in Yangguang style. The Performance of Artistic Group of Liannan Yao Autonomous Country of Guangdong Province will present their Tambourine Dance of Liannan Yao Autonomous County of Guangdong Province during the Lunar New Year period. From January 27 to 30, they will perform in several locations around Macau and the outlying islands. The Mandarins House will host the Lion Dance Performance Dragons Ascension and Tiger Leaping on January 28, while Lou Kau Mansion will serve as the stage for Chinese New Year Concerts from January 28 to 30. On New Years Eve, January 20, the Macau Chinese Orchestra is holding a Spring Concert 2017 at the Pak Wai Activity Centre. The Macau Conservatory will also present the Concert for Welcoming the New Year and Spring on January 24. Many other activities will be held during this period. Interested parties can refer to the IC website for more information. A government panel studying a possible abdication of Japanese Emperor Akihito is to release a report that supports enacting special legislation that would apply to him but not to future monarchs. The panel is looking at how to accommodate Akihitos apparent abdication wish, which he expressed last August when he cited concerns that his age and health may start limiting his ability to fulfill his duties. Akihito turned 83 last month. The report will pave the way for a parliamentary discussion. Its primary positions were disclosed in media reports during the day, but the emperors title, role and other details of his post-abdication life would be addressed later. The six-member panel, after interviewing constitutional and monarchy experts, agreed that allowing an abdication was the most appropriate way to meet Akihitos request, but that setting a permanent system covering all future emperors would be difficult. If legislation is enacted, Emperor Akihito would be the first to abdicate since Emperor Kokaku 200 years ago. Panel members have said they planned to include various opinions. Some experts have said the Imperial House Law, the supreme law overseeing Japans monarchy, needs to be revised. The current law, established in 1947, is largely inherited from a 19th century constitution that banned abdication as a risk to stability. But the experts said there was no such risk in todays political system. Throughout much of its history, Japans monarchy served more of a ceremonial and religious function than a governing one. But late 19th century modernizers elevated the throne to use as a rallying point for the nation. Akihitos father was worshipped as a living god during Japans wartime aggression in Asia before renouncing his divinity and become redefined as a symbolic figure under the postwar constitution. Akihito devoted himself to being a symbolic figure, while trying to soothe the wounds from his fathers era. Many Japanese ultra-conservatives want greater status for the emperor and oppose abdication as a potential risk to a stable monarchy. The government panel in its report avoids some of the most heated issues, such as whether females should be allowed in the current male-only succession and concerns about a shortage of successors to the Chrysanthemum throne. Akihito has two sons but only one of his four grandchildren is male. Some experts say Akihitos possible abdication is a wakeup call to the larger issues of aging and a shortage of successors in Japans 2,000-year-old monarchy issues that reflect overall concerns about the countrys aging society and declining population. AP Hedge funds are showing they have some faith in OPEC. Their bets on rising West Texas Intermediate crude prices reached the highest since June 2014 as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers reduce output to balance the market. Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Kuwait have already made deeper cuts than required, while Russia has been able to reduce supply faster than expected, ministers from the countries said over the weekend in Vienna as they gathered for the first meeting to monitor adherence to their output-cut accord. Funds increased their net-long position, or the difference between wagers on a price increase and bets on a decline, by 14 percent in the week ended Jan. 17, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. WTI advanced 3.3 percent to $52.48 a barrel in the report week. March futures lost 6 cents to $53.16 a barrel at 2:19 p.m. Singapore time yesterday. Money mangers are buying oil, as they say in Texas, like too much aint enough, Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citi Futures Perspective in New York, said by phone. They are trading based on confidence that OPEC and non-OPEC producers will reduce output enough to send prices higher. WTI climbed to an 18-month high after OPEC and 11 non-members agreed on Dec. 10 to end two years of unfettered production. Prices have dropped about 3 percent from the highs as traders await evidence that the cuts are being adhered to. OPECs production fell by 220,900 barrels a day to 33.085 million a day in December, according to secondary sources data in the groups monthly report published Jan. 18. The declines still leave output about 1.8 million barrels a day higher than the average of 31.3 million the group is targeting in the first half of the year, underscoring a need to press on with cuts. The first two weeks of January saw very strong compliance and the majority of producers are already exceeding their pledged cuts, Saudi Arabias Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. About 1.5 million barrels a day of output has been withdrawn from the market, he told Al Arabiya television on Friday, reiterating the number to reporters in Vienna. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouk, who chairs the supply-cut monitoring committee, emerged smiling from the meeting in Vienna with a message of success: the producers were in total agreement on the monitoring mechanism and wouldnt accept anything less than 100 percent compliance with the cuts. They intended to prove OPEC is serious about eliminating a global glut and dispel skepticism stemming from previous unfulfilled promises. This market has a bullish cast, John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy, said by phone. Theres a lot of commentary out there that points to a tightening market, Money managers net-long position in WTI rose by 43,601 futures and options to 349,510. Longs rose 14 percent to a record 406,723, while shorts climbed 11 percent. In fuel markets, net-bullish bets on gasoline rose 0.4 percent to 63,678 contracts, the highest since July 2014, as futures advanced 3.5 percent in the report week. Money managers increased net-bullish wagers on ultra low sulfur diesel by 6.3 percent to 34,539 contracts as futures climbed 2.3 percent. Producers are erring on the side of caution. U.S. oil companies are using the rally to hedge their price risk for the next two years. Producers short positions, protecting against a drop in prices, increased to 677,479 contracts, the most since 2007. Drillers added 29 oil rigs in the U.S. last week, the biggest gain since April 2013, Baker Hughes data show. The U.S. raised its domestic output forecast for 2017 to 9 million barrels a day from 8.78 million projected in December, according to the Energy Information Administrations monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday. This is exactly what we saw before prices fell off a cliff in 2014, with managed money length at a record, Kilduff said. Producers are locking in cash flows now. Theyre profitable at this level and want protection in case prices crash again. Mark Shenk, Bloomberg Scheduled to launch in the middle of last year, the redesign of Macaus outbound travel alert system has been delayed due to the clarification of some legal terms. According to Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, director of the Macao Government Tourism Office, the scheme is already on its third draft. She added that they have also been revising bilingual translations. The main problems were on legal terms and this is the third draft already. We have been reviewing the Portuguese and Chinese versions in order to make the whole document easily understandable, said Fernandes in a TDM report. The MGTO director also noted that when the alert is on, it does not necessarily forbid travellers from traveling to a specific country. Fernandes previously said that the bureau could currently only issue travel alerts as a warning or reminder, since there is no specific legislation for the alerts to have legal effect. In the first phase, the system will cover all the frequent travel destinations of local residents as well as all Portuguese-speaking countries. The scheme will cover 74 countries in total. LikeHong Kong, the MSARs pending alert scheme willoperate a three-level Outbound Travel Alert system (OTA), comprising a yellow alert (signs of threat), a red alert (significant threat) and a black alert (severe threat). Once implemented, the travel alert system will be operated under the Crisis Tourism Management Office, which will work with the Monetary Authority of Macao. Samsung Electronics says flaws in the design and production of batteries used in its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, not its hardware or software, made it prone to catch fire. Samsung said yesterday that it was responsible for not ensuring the design specifications given to its suppliers were failsafe but believed its investigation into the problem would help the entire industry counter overheating risks with lithium batteries. Analysts questioned if the worlds largest smartphone maker had really gotten to the bottom of the problem. The South Korean company delayed the launch of its next Galaxy phone the Galaxy S8, which usually would come in February. It also announced tighter quality controls and more rigorous testing to ensure safety. During a two-hour press conference live streamed in English, Chinese and Korean, Samsung said tests of more than 200,000 phones and 30,000 batteries showed different problems with each of the two kinds of batteries used in the Note 7. Some experts had speculated that the phones ultra-thin design or water-resistant features could have made them prone to overheat. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsungs mobile division, said the investigation found no such problems. The Galaxy Note 7 featured one of the biggest battery capacities so far for smartphones at 3,500 mAh, or milliampere hour, which gave it the highest energy density of all Samsungs devices. However, Koh said Samsung and outside inspectors found no evidence that the high energy density alone was to blame. Samsung introduced the Note 7 on Aug. 2 and weeks later recalled the first batch after reports emerged that the phones were overheating and in some cases exploding. After replacement phones also started catching fire, aviation authorities banned them on flights and the company dropped the product for good. It has estimated the quality control fiasco will cost it $5.3 billion through early this year. The Note 7 isnt the only gadget to catch fire thanks to lithium battery problems, which have afflicted everything from laptops to Tesla cars to Boeings 787 jetliner. Manufacturers like the batteries because they weigh less and pack much more energy into the same space than other types of batteries. But rechargeable lithium batteries like those used in smartphones are more susceptible to overheating than other types of batteries if they are exposed to high temperatures, are damaged or have manufacturing flaws. Having taken heat for failing to fix the problem after the first Note 7 recall in September, Samsung brought in three private inspectors to help. U.S. companies UL and Exponent examined batteries from Samsungs suppliers Samsung SDI and Amperex Technology Ltd., or ATL. The German company TUV Rheinland analyzed the Note 7 supply chain as part of the investigation. Inspectors found damage to the upper corners of batteries made by one manufacturer likely Samsung SDI and used in the initial batches of Note 7s. That, combined with overly thin separators and high energy density, caused the phones to overheat, Samsung said. The cell-pouch design of the battery also did not have enough space to safely accommodate its electrodes another flaw. In other batches of batteries from a second manufacturer, presumably China-based ATL, used in replacements for the recalled smartphones the researchers found welding defects and a lack of protective tape in some battery cells. Patrick Moorhead, president of Moor Insights & Strategy, said the odds of two different suppliers having issues with the same phone are extremely low. The case may signal we may have reached an inflection point in smartphone battery technology, Moorhead said. Samsungs latest findings were not that different from the ones announced after the first Note 7 recall, said Park Chul Wan, a former director of the next generation battery research center at the state-owned Korea Electronics Technology Institute. Samsung said the weaknesses could make the phone prone to catch fire. That I understand but what did trigger fires in such conditions? Did they discuss if there is another cause? No, said Park of the Korea Electronics Technology Institute. Though Samsung faulted the batteries from its suppliers, it said it would bear all costs from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. We are taking responsibility for our failure to ultimately identify and verify the issues arising out of battery design and manufacturing, it said in a statement. It was unclear to what extent the battery makers were responsible for those problems since Samsung said only that it had provided targets, such as how thin the batteries should be and what their capacity should be. That may suggest a breakdown both in communication between Samsung and its suppliers and in quality control and testing. We suggested that the Note 7 has innovations and a compact design and a 3500 mAh (battery) but we did not know how to make the separators within (the battery) or how many millimeters thick they should be, Koh told reporters. He said Samsung would use what it learned from its investigations to improve lithium battery safety for the industry. To avoid further problems, Samsung said it was introducing an 8-point battery safety check with more intense durability tests; a new test on accelerated usage and a charge and discharge test. The tighter safety measures will be implemented in every element of the companys devices, it said, including overall design and materials used. Samsung said it also will seek advice on battery safety and innovation from a group of battery experts. The company has recalled 3.06 million Note 7 phones. About 4 percent, or 120,000 units, of the recalled Galaxy Note 7s have not been returned. Youkyung Lee, Seoul, AP More than a decade ago, Sapae-ing Basor was one of Thailands most wanted, his face plastered on posters around the south offering 10 million baht, more than USD250,000, for his capture. But when the spiritual leader of many Muslims in insurgency-torn southern Thailand died at 81 in self-imposed exile in Malaysia Jan. 10, it wasnt just thousands of his followers mourning in mosques that noted his passing. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha expressed his condolences. So did Thawee Sodsong, the officer who signed Sapae-ings arrest warrant, meeting relatives in Pattani, the insurgencys epicenter. The governments careful treading indicates how large Sapae-ing loomed in the imagination of southern Thailand, where a grinding insurgency has killed some 7,000 people since 2004. Several separatist groups are active in the three provinces closest to the Malaysian border, and Sapae-ing was associated with the most powerful, the Barisan Revolusi Nasional or BRN. Malay Muslims who make up the majority in of the three provinces have resented what they see as an imposition of Buddhist culture for decades. After a nationalist military junta seized power in 1932, Thailand passed the National Culture Act to press a uniform culture on the country. Lessons taught in local Jawi script were switched to Thai, and Muslim courts were replaced by civil courts, sparking resistance. Sapae-ing was educated in local Islamic schools before departing for Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to study Islamic law in 1964. After his return, he swiftly established himself as a charismatic theologian with a potent authority. He became headmaster at Thamma Witthaya, a prominent Islamic school. He was not only leader of his family, but was also the leader of a family of tens of thousands, the school said in a statement. He was not just headmaster of the school, but the headmaster of society in general. Over the 1960s and 70s, the rebellion was sporadic and fractured among dozens of separatist groups. Violence waned in the 1990s, as Thailand allowed limited cultural rights. In the early 2000s, attacks escalated dramatically, led by the BRN. Sapae-ing was senior in the BRN but his official role in the organization is unclear. Don Pathan, a southern Thailand security analyst, said that although was little proof Sapae-ing was involved organizing day-to-day fighting, he served as a one-man religious police. It was enough to build a new generation of separatists, Don said. Sapae-ing urged southerners to hold fast to their Malay Muslim identity and values while decrying the Thai government as a corrupting influence. He would go around the pubs and bars and look for his students, and if hed see them hed beat them, Don said. They look at the rest of the country and see that This isnt what we want for our kids. Then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a bloody crackdown on separatists in 2004. Lawyers disappeared. Imams were shot. An army roundup on a single October day left 85 protesters dead; seven were shot to death and the rest suffocated in overcrowded trucks taking them away to be detained. Police suspected Thamma Witthaya to be a hotbed of recruitment for the militants. Accusing Sapae-ing of spearheading the insurgency, police issued a warrant for his arrest, and he fled to Malaysia in 2004. Don said that although Sapae-ing said little publicly after leaving Thailand, he remained an influential figure in the south. He has moral authority, but hes not a politician, Don said. Hes like a pope without a church. After a decade of violence, the Thai government reached out to Sapae-ing. Jaded, he balked but eventually sent representatives calling for greater autonomy instead of outright independence, a reconciliatory step that took insurgents by surprise. But he refused to meet Thai officials and talks went nowhere. Sapae-ing died after suffering from stomach illnesses and complications from diabetes, said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of the independent monitoring group Deep South Watch, who has been in touch with Sapae-ings relatives. His death comes as new rounds of peace talks are underway. But the BRN has opted out and few think things will change. For now, they do not trust the military government, Srisompob said. It depends on the progress of the peace dialogues. Just wait and see. Dake Kang, Bangkok, AP Turkey has courted Africa for more than a decade, boosting trade, opening more than two dozen new embassies and Turkish Airlines routes and dispatching aid to conflict-torn Somalia. More recently, the Turkish government lobbied African nations to close or take over local schools linked to Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Turkey of masterminding a failed coup attempt last year. So while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels with a big business delegation to Tanzania, Mozambique and Madagascar this week, he is also focusing on what he calls a security threat. Turkey accuses international schools inspired by Gulen of providing militant recruits for his movement, which in turn says an increasingly authoritarian government is casting as wide a net as possible for perceived opponents. It is only expected that they are trying to fight the battle in Africa with the Gulenists, said Ahmet Kasim Han, an associate professor of international relations at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. There is also the understanding that the existing Gulenist networks in the West are harder to take on because of Turkeys capability limitations in the West, especially when it comes to influence and imagery problems, Han said. Turkey, a NATO member repairing frayed ties with Russia, has a sometimes testy relationship with old allies in the West over Turkeys human rights record and other matters. The overtures to Africa are partly an effort to build Turkeys international profile as a partner and counter to global powers on a continent with a bitter history of Western colonialism and Cold War-era conflict. Turkeys involvement in Africa feeds into the Turkish ruling partys self-perception as the protector of Muslims and Muslim minorities around the world, said Sener Akturk, associate professor in the international relations department at Koc University in Istanbul. And winning African support dovetails with Erdogans argument that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia do not represent and do not serve the world and the U.N. should be reformed, Akturk said. Shortly before leaving for Tanzania yesterday, Erdogan said he planned to talk to African leaders about the intense activities of the Gulen movement on the continent. Sensitivities toward this organization and its intentions are increasing within friendly African countries, said Erdogan, who ends his trip on Thursday [Macau time]. There is no longer the possibility for these bands of murderers to hide, claiming dialogue, service, education and trade. On Jan. 9, Erdogan said Gulens organization previously had schools in 115 countries, and that Gambia was among six nations that had shut them. Schools in the African countries of Guinea, Somalia, Chad, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger and Gabon have been transferred to Turkish government control, he said. The schools follow national curricula, serve children through high school and are popular with local elites because of good academic results. They deny any link to the botched military uprising in Turkey in July that led to a purge of alleged loyalists of Gulen, a U.S.-based critic of Erdogan who had expanded his international influence with a message of interfaith harmony. The schools once had the approval of Erdogans government, whose former alliance with Gulen partly derived from joint opposition to the hard-line secular circles that had ruled Turkey. The partnership evolved into an increasingly acrimonious rivalry several years ago. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said this month that schools linked to Gulen will be transferred to Turkish government control. He said he discussed the matter with Erdogan during a visit by the Turkish president. I told him that if there is something wrong with the establishment of the schools, then he should give us a way out how to keep the schools running, the prime minister said. They agreed on this and they have set up a foundation. In Tanzania, 11 schools in the Feza system inspired by Gulen have a total of 3,000 students, just over half of them Muslim. Turkish diplomats have tried to convince government officials to give these schools as a gift to Erdogan during his visit, Feza director Ibrahim Yunus said in an email to The Associated Press. He dismissed the allegation that the schools are a security threat. Some parents asked the Feza system to start a university, and the Tanzanian government allocated land 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Dar es Salaam for the institution, according to Yunus. Turkeys crackdown on suspected supporters of Gulen has undermined the plan. Unfortunately, because of the purge on businesspeople in Turkey, we are having difficulty in finding donors for that project, Yunus said. Christopher Torchia, Johannesburg China is beefing up a campaign to root out services that circumvent the governments internet censorship with a 14-month-long clean-up of the internet industry. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a directive that it forbids the operation of virtual private networks (VPNs) or leased lines that allow users and businesses to access blocked overseas websites without government permission. Between now and March 2018, authorities will enforce the regulations with inspections of cloud-hosting and content-delivery services, an industry that has shown signs of disorderly development, the ministry said. The new enforcement measures are the latest steps in the Chinese governments efforts to cement its grip over the domestic internet and closely control what information may be accessed by the countrys 731 million internet users. President Xi Jinpings administration has championed a vision of internet sovereignty in which governments have the right to wall off their nations cyberspace from unwanted elements as if it were physical territory. The censors reach has extended beyond websites. Earlier this month, Chinas top internet regulator said it would begin regulating mobile app store offerings after it found apps that disseminated information it considered illegal or a danger to social stability. The announcement came weeks after Apple removed apps by The New York Times from its app store in China in response to a government request. To get around the governments filters, numerous foreign and domestic companies in China use VPNs to conduct business, and private citizens often use the technology to access banned foreign websites such as Google, Facebook and overseas news outlets. In response, China has blocked access to VPNs and regularly disrupts their channels. Wu Xiaodong, director of the China Digital Information and Security Industrial Alliance, said VPN services have previously been targeted by Chinese regulators but never with this degree of clarity. Under the new directive, all internet service providers, data centers and content distribution networks must be licensed with the government. They must also conduct self-inspections for any unlawful activity taking place on their servers, which would include those discreetly providing VPN services. A co-founder of U.S.-supported anti-censorship group Greatfire.org who goes by the pseudonym Charlie Smith said it was unclear whether the internet services industry would comply with government orders to fully snuff out VPNs. They will push back, quietly if they deem the cost of running these checks to be too high, said Smith, whose group helps internet users inside China bypass blockages on censored content. Even the authorities recognize that there are legitimate needs for VPNs and other circumvention services. Gerry Shih, Beijing, AP The Court of Final Appeal (TUI) yesterday continued the trial of the citys former top prosecutor, Ho Chio Meng. The prosecution called four witnesses, most of whom are current employees at the Prosecution Office (MP) who also worked there when Ho still held the leadership position. A few of them used to work at the MP offices in the Hotline Center on the 16th floor, while others were personnel of MPs Finance Department and Support Department. A witness, surnamed Wu, who is currently a legal affairs consultant at the Office of the Prosecutor General, answered questions by prosecutor Kuok Un Man regarding the Hotline Center MP office and some key elements of Hos trial, including Wong Kuok Wai, Lei Kun Pun, Mak Im Tai, among others. According to Wu, he used to work at the Hotline Center MP office (in one of the two sides located at the 16th floor) but never knew that the entire floor was being rented by MP, and claimed to have never been to the other side of that floor. Wu noted that the two sides of the floor were not connected, and that the other side had no directory. I didnt know what the opposite side was, said Wu, adding that no one had ever told him what it was. Wu claimed to have also never known of the existence of the teachers resting room. Prosecutor Kuok then showed several images to Wu, who claimed to have seen Wong Kuok Wai and Ho Chio Mengs brothers- in-law. Wu also saw Lam Hou Un, brother of the former head (Lam I Na) of the Judiciary Assistance Department of the Office of the Prosecutor General, who stands accused of working for shelf companies involved in Hos case. Wu explained that he thought Lam Hou Un had worked at the Hotline Center on the 16th floor. Another witness, surnamed Chan, used to be an assistant commissioner at the Commission Against Corruption and is currently working at MPs Hotline Center office. Prosecutor Kuok showed him the same images shown to Wu, although Chan claimed to have never seen those faces at the Hotline Center, except for Wong Kuok Wai. Chan, like Wu, did not know that the MP rented the entire 16th floor, and had never been to the other side of said floor. Chan revealed that Ho Chio Meng visited Hotline Center to meet him in his office twice, and claimed he had never heard of the teachers resting room. When the morning trial was about to finish, Ho Chio Meng issued a request to add two additional pieces of evidence from another former head of the Judiciary Assistant Department. First, Ho made a comment regarding one of yesterdays witnesses, surnamed Chow. Chow had brain surgery twice, [] you should allow him to talk slowly [] if you talk faster than him, he will have troubles. Regarding Chans testimony, Ho said, [He] has a sentence to finish, and he saw me several times [at the Hotline Center]. I saw him several times in the lobby in front of the elevator. I was carrying briefcases and I was speaking Mandarin. The trial resumed at 3 p.m. Cheang Hang Chip, former deputy chief of Prosecutor-Generals office, was present for more than three hours in the afternoon to testify. Cheang said during her testimony that she used to argue with, and report to, her supervisor Lai Kin Ian about several matters. These included MPs internal payments such as flight tickets and accommodation; information that became pertinent to Hos case. Cheang said she would sometimes deliver all legally required documents to Lai, along with a proposal. However, Lai would not make decisions that aligned with her suggestions. MPs current Support Department was a former division of MP until it became a standalone department. The Support Department optimizes daily operations through utilizing and managing all devices and equipment. It supports legal proceedings, administrative and finance management, and legal research using up-to-date information technology. Cheang said that after this division was established, she argued with Lai Kin Ian on several occasions in regard to a few of the departments affairs. Back in 2004, Cheang wrote a letter to Ho asking to be excused from participating in the departments operations. Cheang also suggested that the division arrangements should be Lais responsibility. In court, Cheang read excerpts from her own letter. The structure and the mode of this division has brought me many problems and concerns. Cheang noted that although the organizers of several international events could have invited MPs prosecutors to bring their spouses, she did not recall whether Ho Chio Mengs wife was invited, nor did she know the place of Hos wife in regards to Hos trip to Europe. The prosecution presented an invoice showing that the cost of an entrance ticket for a certain event was more than MOP60,000. Cheang said that such an amount was a little bit exaggerated. Cheang also said that she had never handled any issues regarding outward trips of prosecutors spouses. The prosecutors then mentioned several people, who happen to be Hos relatives, who had been hired by the MP. At the end of yesterday afternoons trial, Ho said two [other] prosecutors brought their wives to attend 2013 Russias International Association of Prosecutors Conference. If nobody made an invitation, why are you bringing your wife along? He claimed he had never strayed from the standard recruitment procedures, even when the applicants were his relatives. Cheang will be present at tomorrows court session to give further testimony. The dairy industry called it herd retirement, a pleasant phrase, summoning up images of old cows relaxing in a pasture somewhere in Wisconsin, their productive years behind them after a lifetime of service to a grateful milk, ice cream and yogurt-loving nation. But it meant something else entirely, according to a class-action lawsuit. The cows were neither old nor unproductive. Indeed, that was the problem. They were capable of producing plenty of milk at a time of glut, thereby bringing down the price of dairy products for consumers. And the retirement the industry had in mind for them was what most people call slaughter. Over the course of seven years in a scheme to hike up prices for milk products dairy producers conspired to slaughter more than 500,000 young cows, the nationwide class-action lawsuit alleged. The antitrust lawsuit accused dairy cooperatives groups of farmers who serve as middlemen between farmers and dairy processors of coming up with a scheme to limit the production of raw milk by paying farmers to prematurely kill off cows, otherwise known as price fixing, which is illegal. Studies indicate that the herd retirement program led by Cooperatives Working Together worked. From 2004 to 2008, milk producers prices rose 66 cents per hundredweight of milk. By the end of the program in 2010, it was responsible for a cumulative increase in milk price revenue of $9.55 billion, the class action lawsuit claimed. On Aug. 25, a group of the nations largest dairy producers agreed to pay $52 million to settle the lawsuit with no admission of wrongdoing. And as part of the settlement, millions of milk consumers in 15 states and the District of Columbia could be eligible to claim cash. Until January 31, anyone who purchased milk or other fresh milk products, such as yogurt, cream cheese or sour cream, for their own use while living in Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, West Virginia, or Wisconsin between 2003 and the present can submit a claim to receive a portion of the settlement. Those entitled must have purchased the milk through a grocery store or other indirect retailer not through the dairy producers themselves. The milk products also may not have been used for resale. However, consumers dont need proof of purchase or residency to submit a claim. Individuals could receive between $10 and $20, although the payments may lower as more claims are received. Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman, one of the law firms representing the plaintiff class, said in a statement that the settlement would return some of what the consumers lost due to this massive fraud perpetrated for ill-gotten gains. The biggest dairy producers in the country, responsible for almost 70 percent of the nations milk, conspired together in a classic price-fixing scheme, forcing higher prices for a basic food item onto honest consumers and families, Berman said. Cooperatives Working Together was developed by the lobbying group National Milk Producers Federation, which is composed of dairy giants including Land O Lakes, the National Milk Producers Federation, Dairy Farmers of America and Agri-Mark. It was founded in 2003 with the stated purpose of strengthening and stabilizing milk prices, according to the lawsuit, and its dairy producers are located throughout the country. Farmers sell their milk through the cooperatives to the huge dairy processors, who then sell to retailers. As Bloomberg reported, processors often demand more milk from cooperatives than is actually needed, creating a glut and driving down the overall prices for yogurt, sour cream and other dairy products. In an effort to fight the glut and boost prices, the cooperatives resolved to kill hundreds of thousands of cows, the suit said. With the reduction in the output of farm milk, milk prices were higher than they would have been with more competition. The program in effect put smaller farmers out of business while unfairly increasing the profits of agribusiness giants, the lawsuit stated. It removed a total of 506,921 cows from production and resulted in the elimination of 9.672 billion pounds of farm milk. According to studies included in the lawsuit and performed by Scott Brown at the University of Missouri, each round of cow slaughtering has effects that extend forward years into the future, so that dairy farmers are still significantly profiting from previous herd retirements. Cheryl Leahy, general counsel for animal rights organization Compassion Over Killing, said the group was was proud to have spearheaded the research that led to this class action litigation. Not only was the price of milk artificially inflated, Leahy said in a statement, but this scheme ultimately cost 500,000 young cows their lives. Scrappin Girlfriends closing TWIN FALLS Scrappin Girlfriends, 123 Main Ave. E., is selling all its remaining inventory, but a definite closing date hasnt been set. I dont want to mess with it, owner Kelly Fairbanks said. Fairbanks wife, Lisa, co-owned the business before she died in a motorcycle crash in 2015. Since then, Kelly Fairbanks business partners have mostly taken over the day-to-day operations, but that partnership will no longer work out, for medical reasons. Fairbanks plans to lease the building, and already has received interest, despite the upcoming Main Avenue reconstruction. I dont think its going to be too much of an issue, he said. Weve already had quite a few people interested. The store has been busy in its final days, offering discounts up to 40 percent. Farnsworth Mortuary sells JEROME Paul and Amie Swenson have purchased Farnsworth Mortuary, 1343 S. Lincoln Ave., from David Farnsworth. The couple previously lived in Boise. Paul Swenson graduated from the University of Idaho with a degree in marketing, and has worked in Idaho as a farmer, banker and funeral service provider. Farnsworth Mortuary opened in Jerome in 1999. Its still family-owned and were living in Jerome, Paul Swenson said. Were not changing the name or trying to change the types of services to be provided. Farnsworth Mortuary offers services from pre-planning to burial or cremation. Its open basically 24-7, he said, but office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or by appointment. Petersens Clothing moves TWIN FALLS Petersens Clothing has moved into the Lynwood Shopping Center, 1303 Filer Ave. E. The business specializes in clothing for missionaries with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The stores hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For information, visit petersensclothing.com or call 208-734-4462. TWIN FALLS Prairie Falcon Audubon will host a program on Fish, Birds, Bugs and Bats: Highlights from 10 years of conducting wildlife research in Idaho at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at the College of Southern Idahos Shields Building, room 201. Wildlife researcher Gifford Gillette will share his research stories of sucking bugs into a straw, dodging moose, counting elusive American dippers, restoring mountain quail to Idaho, dodging wolves and using technology and planes for greater sage grouse surveys, videoing predators on sage grouse nests, and field work campfire stories. He will also discuss his work with landowners through the Conservation Reserve Program. Gillette grew up on a farm in Magic Valley and earned a doctorate in ecology at University of Idaho. He has worked with federal agencies, conservation groups and private landowners to establish areas which are beneficial for bird populations. He is overseeing a project evaluating the CRPs State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement in southern Idaho. The public is welcome. TWIN FALLS Six Magic Valley school districts will bring funding requests to voters in March. The Twin Falls, Jerome, Gooding, Hansen and Camas County school districts are each seeking renewal of a supplemental levy. Murtaugh School District wants a new plant facilities levy for building maintenance projects, technology upgrades and school buses. Monday was the deadline for school districts to provide a ballot resolution to their county clerk for the March 14 election. The vast majority of Idahos districts have a supplemental levy, often referred to as a survival levy. Money is used for expenses such as utility costs, supplementing teacher salaries and programs for students. The (Jerome) school district would take a huge hit if that didnt pass, said Brian Bridwell, business manager for the Jerome School District. It does have a pretty significant impact just on our general operations. In the Twin Falls School District, the existing supplemental levy makes up about 10 percent of the operating budget. If a new measure passes in March, it will allow the district to maintain its current level of operations. Levies require a simple majority vote to pass. Heres more information about each ballot measure: Murtaugh The Murtaugh School District is seeking a plant facilities reserve fund levy of $175,000 annually for 10 years. If voters approve the measure, it will replace an existing $70,000 yearly levy, which was originally slated to run through 2019. If the new measure fails, the existing levy will continue for the next couple years. Weve had significant growth, Superintendent Michele Capps, and theres facility needs to address. Those include a new roof, air conditioning and new classroom carpet at Murtaugh Junior/Senior High School, asphalt repair, continued technology upgrades and school buses. If the measure passes, property owners would see a yearly tax increase of $65.79 per $100,000 in valuation. Murtaugh is among only a handful of Idaho school districts without a supplemental levy to pay for basic operating expenses. We have very low taxes, Capps said. And the amount of the plant facilities levy remained steady for nearly 20 years. Jerome The Jerome School District is seeking a renewal of a two-year supplemental levy for $650,000 per year the same amount thats been in place for 14 years. We have not increased that at all, Bridwell said. For property owners, tax rates should remain the same if market values stay fairly consistent, he said. Money would be used for needs that arent covered by state funding, such as supplementing teacher salaries and health insurance costs, Bridwell said. Jeromes school board opted to keep the levy amount the same, Bridwell said, adding moderate enrollment growth is helping the school districts finances. School trustees are also thankful for the communitys support of a nearly $24 million bond in 2014, he said. The bulk of the money $18.46 million was used for an addition and renovation at Jerome High School. Other projects included classroom additions and parking lot improvements at other school campuses. Mainly, the board just felt very gracious toward the community, Bridwell said. Twin Falls The Twin Falls School District is seeking a renewal of its supplemental levy, but is asking for less money. Voters will decide whether to approve a two-year measure totaling $8.5 million. In December, school trustees decided to ask for $500,000 less in levy money, citing concerns about voter fatigue. The current levy expires June 30. If approved, the new levy would replace it. School district officials are grateful to community members for their support of education through challenging economic times, school district spokeswoman Eva Craner wrote in a statement. While we have made great gains in recent years, there is still room to improve. The TFSD Board of Trustees is committed to maintaining and improving the level of service we offer while being fiscally responsible. The reduction in the proposed levy rate from previous years is one step towards returning our school system and community to where we were before the Great Recession. Community members are invited to attend an informational meeting about the levy at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 at Pillar Falls Elementary School, 3105 Stadium Blvd. Gooding Gooding School District is seeking a supplemental levy for $1.3 million over two years or $650,000 each year. Camas County Camas County School District in Fairfield is seeking a two-year supplemental levy for $250,000 each year. Hansen Hansen School District is seeking a two-year supplemental levy for $290,000 each year. Superintendents from Gooding, Camas County and Hansen werent available for comment Monday. BOISE The Legislatures budget-setting committee on Monday began considering this years proposals for the states colleges and universities. Gov. C.L. Butch Otter is asking for $14.3 million in state money for the College of Southern Idaho in 2017-2018, compared to 2016-2017s $13.67 million. He is asking for a 6.3 percent increase for the community college system, from $37.5 million to $39.9 million, and a 1.2 percent increase for the states four-year schools, from $557 million to $563 million. Otter kicked off the session by saying strengthening the states system of higher education will be one of his priorities, announcing he would be creating a task force to study the system and issue recommendations to strengthen it, similar to another task force that evaluated the states K-12 system a few years ago. The community colleges themselves are asking for $43.66 million for the 2018 fiscal year, almost $4 million more than Otters proposal. The difference is because the three colleges are requesting funding for a number of items Otter chose not to recommend. CSI, for example, is asking for $270,000 to create a Center for Education Innovation to help train teachers in conjunction with Idaho State University, which Otter isnt asking lawmakers to fund. CSI is also requesting $137,600 for dual credit instructors in Magic Valley high schools. Otter is requesting $133,800 for the Bridge to Success Summer Program, which is meant to give students a head start and some support over the summer before starting colleges and one of the focuses of which is on programs that require difficult first-semester math coursework. CSI tested out Bridge to Success with a pilot program last year that was co-funded by the CSI and Albertson Family foundations, CSI President Jeff Fox told lawmakers on the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. He said the big improvements in the Bridge to Success students compared to the test group that didnt take part were in the number of them who enrolled full-time the next fall and who enrolled in a college-level math class. We know that math is a barrier for many students and the bridge seems to be showing some success, he said. Otter is also requesting $132,200 for two new faculty members for the CSI Outreach Center in Idaho Falls, to meet an increased demand for English and math teachers there. Fox said these positions would move over to the community college in eastern Idaho that is going to be created if voters there decide in May to convert Eastern Idaho Technical College into one. 10:30 a.m. UPDATE: The Twin Falls Senior Center is closed Tuesday and won't be serving lunch on site. But volunteers will try to deliver home-delivered meals. "I believe everyone who doesnt need to drive needs to stay home especially the elderly," center director Jeanette Roe said in a statement. The University of Idaho's research facilities in Twin Falls and Kimberly are also closed. 6:45 a.m. UPDATE: Lighthouse Christian School is closed Twin Falls City Hall will open at 9:30 a.m. 6:30 a.m. UPDATE: The following schools and districts are closed Tuesday because of weather: Bliss Twin Falls Kimberly Filer Jerome Wendell Buhl Gooding Minidoka County Cassia County Valley Hansen Dietrich Shoshone Castleford Richfield Murtaugh Xavier Charter School Twin Falls Christian Academy North Valley Academy in Gooding Clover Christian School in Buhl Idaho School for the Deaf and the Blind won't run buses All College of Southern Idaho campuses are closed. Basketball games are still scheduled for 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. TWIN FALLS A strong winter storm hit the Magic Valley on Monday, leading to school closures and hazardous road conditions. The National Weather Service issued a winter weather warning for the western Magic Valley and southern Twin Falls County until 11 a.m. Tuesday. A total of 5 to 8 inches of snow with up to 10 inches in some areas is expected. Minidoka County School District, Valley School District and St. Nicholas Catholic School in Rupert announced Monday afternoon theyre canceling classes Tuesday. Due to worsening weather and road conditions Monday, many schools including in Minidoka County, Buhl, Jerome, Shoshone, Gooding, Filer and Wendell let students out a couple hours early. The Lincoln County Courthouse in Shoshone also closed but planned to reopen Tuesday morning if the weather improved. All College of Southern Idaho campuses including Twin Falls, Jerome, Gooding, Burley and Hailey closed late Monday afternoon. CSI administrators will decide by 6 a.m. tomorrow whether the closure will affect tomorrows classes and office hours, college spokesman Doug Maughan wrote in a statement. As heavy snow fell and strong winds caused drifts, Heritage Academy in Jerome canceled classes before 9 a.m. Monday, sending students back home shortly after the day began. The Twin Falls School District, though, released students at the normal time Monday. This is quite a storm. Inasmuch as it would be unsafe, particularly for our younger students, to release school early and send some students home to empty or locked houses, we will release students at the usual time, a statement on the school districts website said. School officials urged student drivers to be extra careful and said school buses would likely be running late. The National Weather Service has advised traveling only in an emergency. Heavy snow, strong winds and drifting snow have led to dangerous road conditions especially, on Interstate 84 and U.S. 93. A town in New Jersey was admonished for delaying construction of a mosque. A recent court decision told community leaders to get out of the way and stop interfering with building by the local Islamic community. Many Christian leaders also spoke in favor of the mosque. Citing religious liberty and opposition to bureaucratic foot-dragging the Christians warned any trespass against the Muslims could someday spell government interference in their own faith (Little Sisters of the Poor notwithstanding). Constitutionalists can celebrate the decision as a victory for the First Amendment, which not only guarantees freedom of worship as a God-given liberty but also freedom of religion (this means practice in your daily life and not just once a week behind closed doors). We can all clap ourselves on our backs for supporting the rights of everyone. Even those with a faith we may find inexplicable, foreign and a future threat to our republic. Islam Im told is faith, religion and a legal system. In the Western world religion and law have been separate entities for millennia, but with a few interruptions for dissenters landing on the coast of what today we call Massachusetts. There are a whopping five liberties alone in the First Amendment. Religion is the first of them all: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. The New Jersey town found itself in hot water especially related to the clause about prohibiting the free exercise thereof; but what of the first clause? What constitutes a religion? Do you recall a fellow named Corky who created a faith in 1975 he called Summum? These people mummify house pets and stuff them into pyramids. When Quirky Corky wanted to place the Seven Aphorisms of his religion in various public locations in Utah he found resistance. Eventually the Supreme Court of the United States made a decision. Eight years ago the court ruled in a polite fashion the followers of Summum had bats in their belfries as well as mummies in the pyramid. As I recall, the justices feared we would see a proliferation of public monuments from all sorts of money-making ventures gussied up as religion. The Supremes essentially ruled Corky didnt have a leg to stand on (probably because it was already mummified). The Catholic writer and former Boston University professor William Kilpatrick suggests Islam may not match our legal and cultural definition of religion. Kilpatrick turns a liberal belief on its head. Liberals preaching social justice see discrimination as a mortal sin. Discrimination itself isnt a bad word. We have discriminating tastes when it comes to the finer things in life. We discriminate when we make choices about dinner, movies and friendships. An earlier version of the Supreme Court made a discriminatory ruling when it banned polygamy as a religious practice. Still, from a secular liberal perspective, discrimination is usually applied to hurting the feelings of a protected subculture or alleged aggrieved minority, i.e., women, people of color or people engaged in alternative sexual practices. Which brings us back to Islam. In a recent column for Crisis professor Kilpatrick pulls back the curtain on Islam and Islamic Law: Many of the things we in the West consider to be vices are considered to be virtues in Islam and vice versa. We dont give away 9-year-olds in marriage, but in some Islamic societies they do. We give drivers licenses to women, but in Saudi Arabia they dont. We abhor wife-beating, but many Muslims believe that wife-beating improves a womans character. We believe that freedom of religion includes the right to leave your religion, but the consensus of Islamic scholars is that apostates should be killed. As we see a growing Muslim population in the United States then weve got to ask ourselves a serious question. Are these practices coming to your community, and looking at past court precedents, does your town or city have a responsibility to bar or delay mosque construction? Kilpatrick cites stories from Italy where a growing Muslim population is now issuing demands to participate in childhood marriages. Its their culture, after all, and denial is discrimination. Carlo Liberati is an Italian Archbishop in the Roman Catholic Church and he warns Italy will be a subjugated country in a decade. Liberati was once among those churchmen arguing for an open-door-policy. Then he visited refugee camps in his country and as he listened he became increasingly concerned the goal of the new arrivals was conquest. Bill, Italy is far away, you say? At the University of Maryland a growing body of Muslim students have issued 64 demands to administrators. The students seek special treatment. This is a historical pattern repeated for centuries around the world. Campus Reform explains the students are claiming victim status as marginalized human beings. Now theyre seeking vengeance disguised as reparations. This issue has been pushed to the back burner in Southern Idaho. No longer front-page news and competing with other house fires for space in print and newscasts. It doesnt in any way lessen the potential conflict ahead. I admit the caution flags some of us are raising dont get much respect because an element of opposition was simply emotional. Some wanted to remove politicians from office or lock them away for failing to load incoming refugees into boxcars and then send them to the coast for packing on a slow boat to China. Most of the local political class is far more worried about being labeled a bigot than looking at the long term future. Politicians live in the short term. Election cycles are brief. Then you retire from politics or move on to the next office and ten years out its a problem for the newcomers. Politicians read newspaper editorials where theyre excoriated for raising security concerns. The elected men and women in government possibly are the only people routinely reading the opinion pages, but in our insular bubbles its often the only feedback available. And theres an assumption everyone else is reading the same indictment. It would also be much more convenient if someone else made the decision and then you could throw up your arms and point far away and say, But its the law! Which is pretty much the current excuse when politicians bury their heads in sand. This is now subject to change. There is a new sheriff in the White House and he appears quite serious about what he calls extreme vetting. Despite the claims from liberals Mr. Trump surely isnt putting anyone on a slow boat to China, but he is going to put the brakes on the refugee program. There isnt any constitutional right to come to the United States and throughout history laws have been created to slow or even stop the flow of immigrants. Contrary to what liberals tell us there is no evidence diversity makes us stronger. We havent reached a tipping point where our country will become the new Caliphate and with proper border security the Reconquista also is going to be reversed. For the moment all weve known is saved, however. The future requires eternal vigilance. I ran into an owner of an accredited business the other day. He said he had just gotten a call from a guy who claimed to be with the power company. The caller said the business hadnt paid the bill and power would be cut off unless he made a payment right away. The business owner knew it was a scam and hung up, but he wanted to be sure to warn others. I am glad he did. In this case, the call came in on Friday before the holiday weekend. Its a common scam that pops up seasonally: in the winter, when its bitter cold, and in the summer, when its scorching hot. Scammers often make call on Fridays, because it would be devastating for businesses to be without heating, cooling or refrigeration over the weekend. Other times, the calls come in Saturday or Sunday, when its more likely the boss wont be around and whoever answers the phone might try to fix the problem right away. Its a scam to be aware of at home, at work, and to warn others of, especially employees. On its website, Idaho Power makes it clear they do not call customers and threaten them or demand payment immediately via wire transfer or prepaid card. In fact, the utility company says they do not accept pre-paid cards such as Green Dot Moneypak. If there is a problem with your account, you will get multiple written notices prior to disconnection. Idaho Power also warns customers of another scam that circulates using the utilitys name. Customers get a call from someone claiming their meter has been damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced and the customer needs to pay for the fix straightaway. Idaho Power says meters are its property. If one is damaged, the company would send a technician to make repairs, and it would not ask for payment for the equipment or service. Both of these scams will likely continue to be popular this winter, and BBB suggests the following steps if you get a similar call: Verify independently. Hang up, and call the utility company from the number on your bill. Dont pay with prepaid debit cards. If a caller specifically asks you to pay by prepaid debit card or wire transfer, hang up. Your utility company will accept a check or credit card. Dont cave to pressure to pay immediately. If a caller demands payment or personal information, hang up the phone and return to step one: call the company independently and verify if there is a problem. Ask utility employees for proper identification. If someone shows up at your door without an appointment and claims they are there to make repairs, verify. Make sure their ID card matches their story and uniform. Dont be afraid to ask them to wait while you call the company. Never allow anyone into your home or business to check electrical wiring, natural gas pipes, or appliances unless you have scheduled an appointment or reported a problem. If you get a utility scam call, help warn others by telling BBB what happened at bbb.org/ScamTracker. When consumers get excited about advances in virtual reality, they are usually thinking about videogaming, new and immersive movie-watching or let's face it pornography. But a number of projects presented at the Sundance Film Festival have a loftier goal in mind saving the planet. The annual get-together for indie filmmakers and fans in the Utah mountains is focusing on climate change, with numerous virtual reality experiences among the usual slate of features and documentaries. One of the most impressive, "Under the Canopy," highlights the urgency of preserving the Amazon rainforest by focusing on local communities hit hardest by deforestation. Developed by Conservation International (CI) and content developer Jaunt VR, the 15-minute film takes viewers through the rainforest guided by Kamanja, a member of the indigenous Trio community. ADVERTISEMENT With a headset in place, viewers can look all around as they are guided through the jungle canopy, past sloths and an anaconda snake, and are shown how vital the habitat is for mankind's future. "Everybody doesn't have the time to go to the Amazon. It's expensive, it's inconvenient," CI marketing executive Jamie Cross told journalists at a demonstration of the technology. "So we see VR giving us the opportunity to transport people there. It's not just transporting them, it's really giving them the opportunity to make a connection with the people who are there." Urban encroachment The Amazon the planet's largest tropical rainforest produces 20 percent of the world's breathable oxygen and is home to 10 percent of the world's species, not to mention 30 million people. Yet 5,800 square miles (15,000 square kilometers) an area the size of Connecticut is lost each year to agricultural expansion, urban encroachment and resource extraction. Researchers at the University of Georgia, Stanford, and the University of Connecticut have shown that VR experiences can give people a more empathic view of the natural world. In a series of VR experiments, researchers had participants assuming the role of a cow herded into a truck with a virtual cattle prod, or a piece of coral suffering the effects of acidifying oceans. The results, published last September in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, found that VR gave viewers "greater perceptions of imminence of the environmental risk" than people who were simply shown a video. Another VR production studio looking at deforestation is New York-based "Here Be Dragons," which immerses the viewer in the entire lifecycle of a single tree, from seedling to destruction by man. It's not just rainforest destruction that threatens the environment, of course. Founded by award-winning American-Singaporean filmmaker and former war photographer Danfung Dennis, 34, Condition One has developed "Melting Ice," which transports audiences to vanishing glacial ice sheets. 'Compassion' It is a companion piece to opening night premiere "An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power," former US vice president Al Gore's follow-up to the Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth" (2006). Standing under collapsing glaciers and next to raging rivers of ice melt and rising sea levels, viewers witness the waymarkers to the planet's precarious future. To capture the enchanting but unstable landscape, Dennis used ice screws to anchor himself and his 360-degree VR camera as he filmed in Greenland. "For the first time, we are able to capture these inner subjective experiences We are getting glimpses of being able to truly step into another person's shoes," Dennis told AFP. "With that ability, we have a powerful way to invoke empathy and compassion for others who may be very different from ourselves." VR is still something of a novelty but its advocates say the technology is advancing quickly and expect 2017 to be a crucial year. Taiwan-based HTC, with its Vive VR headwear, is competing with PlayStation VR and Facebook-owned Oculus Rift, with each wooing software developers by constantly refining the hardware. HTC recently announced a $10 million fund for creators to produce virtual reality content, playable on any platform, that highlights key sustainability issues around the world. "VR is at a nascent time in its distribution. It's going to be a slow build before this becomes a consumer market," Dennis told AFP. "But it will happen. I think this is the next computing platform, the next communication medium." Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. We are not far from a final declaration despite the very intense discussions centered on the cessation of hostilities which is about saving Syrian lives, UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said. The talks are being considered as progressing by the warring sides in attendance and an opposition spokesman, Yahya al-Aridi, said according to their understanding, they have noticed a real understanding on the part of the Russians who have militarily achieved what they wanted in Syria and are now planning to translate it into some sort of political deal in the form of a ceasefire. Naser Hariri, a member of the Riyadh-based Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), also hailed Russian efforts saying that are sending out a positive atmosphere while adding that there are no plans to meet with the Iranian delegation. The HNC is not invited to the Astana talks but it is hoping to benefit from the atmosphere created by Russia and bring them back to the previous level of not supporting Damascus. The last time the Syrian warring parties in the six-year old war met was nine months ago. Mohammed Alloush, a leader of the powerful Jaysh al-Islam group who heads the rebel delegation, insisted he wanted to stop the horrific flow of blood which could be facilitated by the pro-government forces adhering to the ceasefire agreements and Shia militias leaving the country. Senior opposition negotiator Osama Abu Zaid said the guarantors of the Astana talks namely Russia, Turkey and Iran have to do something more on the ground if they want success because the opposition needs more than just statements of intent. The guarantors alliance is based on de facto conditions. Turkey provides support to armed Syrian rebel groups and wants neither the Islamic State group nor Kurdish militias near its border. Russias military intervention is considered as a counter measure against Western policies while Irans engagement is seen as a projection of its foreign regional policies, military prowess and sectarian solidarity to President Assad. US President has underlined Washingtons military commitment towards Egypt during a telephone conversation with Egypts al-Sisi, reports say. President Donal Trump Monday hailed his Egyptian counterpart for efforts to eradicate terrorism in Egypt, and primarily in the Sinai, according to Egyptian state-owned media al-Ahram, which quoted the Egyptian presidency. Egypt is facing insurgency in North Sinai. Islamist groups and groups aligned with the Islamic State have been battling al-Sisi regime since 2013, when the Egyptian leader toppled democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi. The insurgency has collided with the countrys economic challenges. Egypts flagging economy has hampered capacities to efficiently counter the terrorists. President Trump reportedly re-affirmed Washingtons allocation of $1.3 billion military aid to Egypt. The US president during his inauguration on Friday vowed to weed out terrorists wherever they are on the planet. Despite human rights shortcomings, Cairo has remained a strategic partner to the US. President al Sisi was the first Arab leader to congratulate business tycoon the day of his election. Al-Sisi is the second foreign leader that Trump has called since taking office. The US leader also called Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, underlying his backing to Israeli illegal settlement policy. The Egyptian leader also backed Trumps suggestion to set up a database of Muslims in the US, arguing it would ensure security and stability, the New Arab media reports. The ruling Nidaa Tounes party has decided to dismiss the son of the Tunisian President from the party. According to a statement released by the partys Executive Committee, his removal was motivated by the decisive decision to restore the party through peaceful movements as it claimed that Hafedh Caid Essebsi usurps the status of legal representative of the party. Last year, Hafedh was elected at the helm of the party in a controversial congress with critics accusing President Caid Essebsi of trying to instill a family dynasty in the party. The released statement claimed that Hafedh has been committing serious infringements and was also representing the party illegally thereby harming the partys structures as well as the higher interests of the country. It added that he has damaged the image of Tunisia from within and beyond its borders while also suppressing activists through the use of State apparatus. Nidaa Tounes also refuted claims that it will be seeking coalition with other political parties to contest in the upcoming municipal elections. Before his removal from the party, Hafedh in his capacity as Executive Director stated that the municipal elections will reveal the full weight of the party after it lost its majority in the parliament following the resignation of several of its deputies from the party. The local coordinators of the party will choose the candidates who will be contesting in the municipal elections under the banner of the one political party. Tunisia has been able to surpass civil disturbance after the protests against former President Ben Ali but the political transition has been bumpy with more than six Prime Ministers failing to attain the aspirations of the population due to the economic difficulties that the country is experiencing. Security threats posed by terrorist groups have also stifled government efforts. Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. Spitzer, Carmi and their colleagues collaborated with co-author Garry Nolan, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford who has developed a way to use a technique known as mass cytometry to monitor the physical attributes of individual cells in samples of millions or billions. This allows researchers to piece together a dynamic picture of how multiple cell populations respond in real time to changing conditions like disease or drug therapies. Spitzer and his colleagues used the technology to monitor the rise and fall of various populations of immune cells within the tumor as well as in other tissues including the lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow and peripheral blood throughout the body immediately after immunotherapy and throughout tumor rejection. The researchers found that in animals treated with the effective, two-pronged approach, the prevalence of immune cells including macrophages, dendritic cells and T cells in the tumor itself increased dramatically within three days of treatment, during a period known as priming. These cells also divided more rapidly. In contrast, the tumors of the animals receiving the ineffective therapy, checkpoint blockade, displayed no such increase in prevalence or proliferation. Increase in regulatory T cells Importantly, the researchers also observed an increase in a class of T cells called regulatory T cells in the effectively treated animals during priming. The presence of these cells during tumor rejection was surprising because they have in the past been correlated with a negative prognosis for many tumors. Our observation of an increase in the prevalence of these cells in successfully treated tumors runs counter to conventional wisdom and points out the complex nature of immune responses that lead to successful immunotherapy, said Engleman. Physicians could learn quickly whether a therapy is working, or if it should be abandoned in favor of a new approach. Tumor rejection in the effectively treated animals began by day eight. However, in contrast to the priming phase, the researchers observed no differences in the rate of immune cell proliferation in tumors between the two groups of animals during this time. In fact, immune cell proliferation in the tumor ceased altogether by the rejection phase. This finding suggests that, although the initial immune response occurred primarily in the tumor, immune responses in other parts of the body are likely responsible for sustaining the immune attack. Spitzer and his colleagues observed increases in the number and activity of immune cells in lymph nodes near the tumor during both the priming and rejection phases in the effectively treated animals. Surprisingly, the same types of immune cell increases were seen during the priming and rejection phases in the spleen as well as in lymph nodes that were located a great distance from the tumor. Moreover, the researchers were able to document similar stage-specific changes in the activity and prevalence of immune cells in the peripheral blood. In particular, a marked increase in a type of memory CD4 T cell was seen in the blood, as well as in peripheral lymphoid organs, during the rejection phase in mice that received effective therapy. This finding is important because the rise in these CD4 T cells may prove useful as an indicator of treatment efficacy in cancer patients who receive different forms of immunotherapy, thus allowing researchers and clinicians to develop a way to accurately monitor the effectiveness of ongoing immunotherapies with a simple, noninvasive blood test. This possibility was supported when the researchers analyzed immune cells in the blood of patients with melanoma who had received immunotherapy. The results showed that a similar subset of CD4 T cells was associated with a positive response. The idea would be to use the rise of these CD4 T cells as a biomarker to tailor treatment to each individual, said Engleman. Physicians could learn quickly whether a therapy is working, or if it should be abandoned in favor of a new approach. Beyond identifying a potential biomarker of effective therapy, the researchers showed that when the CD4 T cells in successfully treated mice were injected into the tumors of untreated animals, the cells stopped the tumors from growing. Validating importance of systemic response The importance of the systemic immune response was validated when the researchers gave the mice a compound that inhibited the ability of immune cells to migrate from secondary lymphoid organs, such as the lymph nodes and spleen, to the tumor site. This intervention allowed sustained tumor growth even in the face of a previously effective treatment. In the past, researchers focused on understanding in very minute detail what is happening at the molecular level in immune cells inside the tumor, said Engleman. But we took an approach that allowed us to zoom out and look at the immune system as a whole. This enabled us to unveil how immune cells work together throughout the body to reject a tumor, and the approach promises to be widely useful in many clinical situations. In addition to guiding cancer therapy, the researchers also believe the technique could be useful in tracking the changes that occur during an autoimmune disease flare, or to learn more about how the body marshals its forces to fight off an infection. The work is an example of Stanford Medicines focus on precision health, the goal of which is to anticipate and prevent disease in the healthy and precisely diagnose and treat disease in the ill. Other Stanford co-authors are former life sciences research associate Deepthi Madhireddy; graduate students Maria Martins and Tyler Prestwood; former postdoctoral scholar Pier Gherardini, PhD; former research technician Jonathan Chabon; and assistant professor of pathology Sean Bendall, PhD. Engleman and Nolan are members of the Stanford Cancer Institute. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grants F31CA189331, DP5OD023056, F32CA189408, U19AI057229, U19AI100627, R33CA183654, R01HL120724, HHSN272201200028C and R01CA196657), the Gates Foundation and the Department of Defense. Nolan has a personal financial interest in, and Bendall has been a paid consultant for, Fluidigm, which manufactures the mass cytometer used in the study. Engleman is a founder and board member of Bolt Biotherapeutics, which holds the license for one of the immunotherapies used in the study. Stanfords departments of Medicine and of Pathology also supported the work. Gambias longtime leader, Yahya Jammeh, has left the West African nation this weekend following tense negotiations. In a televised address on Saturday morning, Jammeh said it was his duty to preserve at every instant the lives of Gambians. I have decided today in good conscience to relinquish the mantle of leadership of this great nation with infinite gratitude to all Gambians, he said. Yahya Jammeh, who ruled Gambia for more than 22 years, left the former British colony, 52 days after he lost an election to political newcomer Adama Barrow and 69 hours after his official mandate expired. He was facing a showdown with troops from neighboring Senegal that entered the small West African country less than 24 hours earlier. On Sunday, hundreds of Banjul residents celebrated his departure after ECOWAS troops took control of the presidential palace, the symbolic seat of Jammehs 22-year authoritarian regime. Speaking to reporters in Senegal, where he is waiting to return to Gambia, the new president Adama Barrow said that, upon initial inspection, it appeared Jammeh had looted state resources. According to information we received, there is no money in the coffers, he said. Its what we have been told, but the day we actually take office, we will clarify all of it. In a news conference later in the day, Barrows advisor Mai Ahmad Fatty said 500 million dalasis ($11.45 million) had been withdrawn by Jammeh in the past two weeks. The Mauritian Prime Minister is handing power to his son on Monday, prompting accusations of nepotism and calls for a referendum from opponents in in the Indian Ocean Island. Anerood Jugnauth who first became Prime Minister of Mauritius in 1982, has presided over steady economic growth, but said this weekend that he would continue to serve in another, unspecified capacity. His son, Pravind Jugnauth, 55, who is the leader of the main political party, the Militant Socialist Movement (MSM), has already formed his ministerial cabinet after receiving his appointment letter from President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim. The countrys main opposition Labor Party is protesting against the appointment which it termed as a Father-Son Deal. According to the countrys constitution, the President appoints a member of the National Assembly as Prime Minister who will have the support of the majority of members. This is a black day for Mauritius. The Jugnauth family is turning the Island into a Banana Republic. This is great treason in history as the population never voted for this dynastic arrangement, former PM and Labor Party Leader Navin Ramgoolam said. The police rejected a request from the Labor Party to hold a sit-in protest, and party leaders have called on their supporters to wear black. The News in Brief De Facto South Ossetian Leader on New Defense Agreement with Russia The leader of Georgias breakaway region of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, said that the region has done its part of work on the planned defense agreement with the Russian Federation On the Order of Inclusion of Certain Units of the Armed forces of South Ossetia in the Russian Armed Forces and added that South Ossetia is now expecting the completed draft from the Russian side. Speaking at the yearly sum-up conference of the breakaway regions ministry of defense on January 12, Tbibilov noted that South Ossetia plays an important role in strengthening the geopolitical presence of Russia in South Caucasus and underlined the the high level of cooperation with the Russian federation, the republics major strategic partner, according to the statement of the South Ossetian ministry of defence. Speaking before the audience of South Ossetian and Russian military personnel, Tibilovnoted that [Moscow and Tskhinvali] have worked out a single line of defense. Tibilov also touched upon the planned defense agreement with the Russian federation On the Order of Inclusion of Individual Units of the Armed forces of South Ossetia in the Russian Armed Forces and thanked the regions officials for their patience, knowledge and understanding that South Ossetia needs to have its system of defense in the form of the armed forces. There were many difficulties in the interpretation of provisions and norms of the agreement; the Ministry of Defense sent numerous delegation to the Russian Federations Ministry of Defense. Compromise was reached and following internal procedures [in Russia and South Ossetia], the agreement will be signed, the regions de facto Defense Minister Ibragim Gasiev said. We managed to maintain the number of armed forces of South Ossetia, and all changes to the organizational and staff structures will be conducted by us after the agreement is signed. This way, the ministry of defence will keep its combat units. This is our firm position, Gasiev added. There are different opinions on the issue [referring to the number of armed forces]. Some think that the measures of the states security have already been achieved thanks to the armed forces of the Russian Federation, which is a firm guarantor of the security of South Ossetia. The opinion of all military officials and personnel of the Ministry of Defense of South Ossetia is that defense and security needs to be guaranteed shoulder-to-shoulder, through joint coordinated activities, considering the military brotherhood and friendship. For that, the republic needs to have small but mobile and equipped armed forces, Ibragim Gasiev was quoted saying according to the statement of the de facto presidents office. Gasiev also noted that as a result of the agreement the Russian Federation will recognise the military service in the armed forces of South Ossetia. Work is underway on the recognition of military ranks as well, according to the statement of the South Ossetian ministry of defence. The new agreement is part of the treaty on alliance and integration signed between Russias President Vladimir Putin and Leonid Tibilov on March 18, 2015. According to the treaty, certain units of the armed forces and security agencies of the South Ossetian Republic will become part of the armed forces and security agencies of the Russian Federation. (Civil.ge) Millions spent on supplements and bonuses in 22 legal entities of public law According to the monitoring center Mediator, for 11 months of 2016, 34 608 088 GEL was issued in 22 legal entities of public law, out of which 18 446 121 GEL was spent on supplements and 16 161 967 GEL was spent on bonuses. The public information requested by the monitoring center shows that 6 966 595 GEL was issued in three legal entities of public law of the Ministry of Finance from January to November in 2016; 3 635 650 GEL 6 legal entities of public law of Ministry of Environmental Protection in six month; 2 877 662 GEL - 6 legal entities of public law of the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure. In addition, the United Water Supply Company did not provide detailed information to the monitoring center about the amount of the supplements. It only provided information about bonuses - 1 353 812 GEL. As for five legal entities of public law of the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, 1 175 384 GEL was spent on bonuses and supplements. (IPN) Frankfurt Book Fair director visits Georgia The director of Frankfurt Book Fair, Juergen Boos, is set to visit Tbilisi tomorrow to see how Georgia is preparing to be the Guest of Honour at the 2018 book fair. Georgia was named as the Guest of Honour at the 2018 Frankfurt Book Fair in 2014. During his three-day visit, Boos will hold meeting with Georgian officials, including those from the Ministry of Culture and National Book Centre. The sides will discuss the preparation for the wide-ranging Guest of Honour events programme, within which Georgia will present its culture and literature at the worlds largest Book Fair and throughout Germany. The Frankfurt Book Fair hosts more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries and 286,000 visitors annually. More than 300 Georgian books will be translated in order to suitably present Georgia on the book fair. The fairs Guest of Honour program established in 1976 and since then 25 countries and regions have been specifically mentioned at the international book fair. The Guest of Honour 2017 was France. (Agenda.ge) A Republican state senator who faced a competitive election in which opponents accused her of being pro-fracking has filed legislation to ban the controversial practice in Florida. Sen. Dana Young of Tampa, the former House Republican leader elected to the Senate in November, wants the state to ban "advanced well stimulation treatment," specifically hydraulic fracturing, acid fracturing and matrix acidizing which use high pressure techniques to inject water into rock formations to extract oil and gas. Young, who practices environmental and land use law, last year voted for a House bill to regulate and authorize the technique in Florida beginning in 2017 after a study. She told the Herald/Times the proposal this year was not so much a change of heart as an opportunity to better understand what voters want and expect in Florida. "I'm absolutely in favor of energy independence and in favor of harnessing our natural resources safely but Florida is unique,'' she said Monday. "I believe, and it is the belief of most Floridians, that our fragile limestone geology and fragile environment as a whole is incompatible with fracking of any kind. So it's a balancing act." During her campaign, the left-leaning advocacy Florida Strong accused Young of benefiting from the proceeds of her husband's investment firm, which has had stakes in companies that profit from the oil industry. Young dismissed the claims as distortions of her record. Under the bill proposed last year, the state would impose a two-year moratorium on fracking while the Department of Environmental Protection would study the impact of hydraulic fracturing and similar technologies on Florida and propose rules to regulate it. The rules would have had to come back to the Legislature for ratification. While proponents of the measure, like Young, focused on the two-year ban as the key feature of the bill, environmentalists focused on the parts that prohibited local governments from imposing their own bans or regulations, shielded from public disclosure the specific list of chemicals used in the process and ultimately opened the door to fracking. Environmentalists cited the states fragile water table, the latent impact the bill could have on public health, and urged lawmakers to pass a bill proposed by Democrats to ban fracking instead. The bill didn't get a hearing in either of the Republican-led chambers. Young, who faced Democrat Bob Buesing and no-party candidates Joe Redner and Sheldon Upthegrove during the election, said her views changed "as the fracking issue became front and center" in the campaign. "I learned more and it became an important issue, not only for my region but for our whole state,'' she said. "I'm fulfilling my contract with the voters to get it passed." Young acknowledged that the oil and gas industry does not support her bill but believes that her measure will get widespread support from legislators and environmentalists. A companion measure in the state House is being co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Miller, R-Orlando, who also faced a competitive election in November, and House Democratic Leader Janet Cruz of Tampa. "It's very, very tightly drafted to not impact traditional oil and gas extraction processes,'' Young said. "Some people may want to do away with that but this legislation is not designed to adversely impact the traditional oil and gas operations in our state." Photo credit Tampa Bay Times: Dana Young at a press conference before her election. She said opponents distorted her position on fracking in Florida. @jamesmartinrose Sen. Bill Nelson said Monday he would vote against confirming President Donald Trump's picks to head the CIA, the State Department and the Justice Department. Fellow Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut last week had blocked a scheduled Senate vote Friday on Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, as CIA director. Wyden, Leahy and Blumenthal said they wanted more time to vet and debate Pompeo's nomination. The Senate voted to confirm his nomination late Monday, with Nelson opposing him and Sen. Marco Rubio supporting. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday voted 11-10, mostly along party lines, to recommend the confirmation of Rex Tillerson as secretary of state. Rubio, a Miami Republican who sits on the committee, voted for Tillerson after having raised concerns about the former ExxonMobil chairman's dealings in Russia and record on human rights. "Given the uncertainty that exists both at home and abroad about the direction of our foreign policy, it would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy," Rubio said. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been expected to vote Tuesday on Sen. Jeff Sessions' nomination as attorney general, but Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein sought and was granted a one-week delay on the vote. Nelson, an Orlando Democrat, said he would vote for Trump's nominations of Palm Beach billionaire Wilbur Ross as commerce secretary and of Elaine Chao to head the Transportation Department. Photo credit: Alan Diaz, Associated Press @jamesmartinrose Sen. Bill Nelson expressed concern Monday that President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze will harm the government's hurricane preparedness and response. Nelson spoke out shortly after Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office halting federal agencies except the Pentagon from hiring new employees. "The National Weather Service's around-the-clock forecasts save lives in Florida and around the nation," Nelson said. "Failure to fill vital vacancies within the agency means those hands won't be around when the monster storm hits. Not only would that be irresponsible, but it could put people's lives at risk." Nelson, senior Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, questioned Trump's nominee to head the Commerce Department, Palm Beach resident Wilbur Ross, about hurricane readiness last week at a panel hearing. In written follow-up answers to Nelson's advance questions before the hearing, Ross, billionaire head of the W.L. Ross & Co. private-equity company, promised to move quickly to fill National Weather Service vacancies that existed before Trump's hiring freeze. "Timely and accurate weather information is crucial to protect both lives and property, and is also essential to the smooth functioning of numerous areas of commerce, including aviation, shipping, fishing and farming, to name just a few," Ross said. "Proper staffing of the NWS is therefore important and, if confirmed, I intend to review the current efforts and see how they can be improved," he said. The Senate Commerce Committee was expected to vote on Ross's nomination Tuesday, with the panel believed likely to recommend his confirmation to the full Senate. Trump's campaign "Contract with the American Voter" had excluded "the military, public safety and public health" from his promised hiring freeze, but in signing the order he cited only the Pentagon as being exempt. Trump's freeze began more than four months before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Photo credit: Chuck Fadely, Miami Herald Artists Amy Baur and Brian Boldon were selected to create Flux to hang near the central staircase in Shideler Hall. Photo: Margo Kissell Brian Boldon, artist, and Garrett Goben, a master's of fine arts student in painting, install the new artwork in Shideler Hall, which was recently renovated. Shideler houses Miami University's department of geology and environmental earth science, the geography department as well as the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. (Photo by Claire Wagner) By Margo Kissell, university news and communications If you take a closer look at the new artwork hanging in Shideler Hall, you might spot mining operations and other distressed landscapes, aerial images of Ohios farmland, highways, even a few trucks. Artists Amy Baur and Brian Boldon were selected to create Flux to hang near the central staircase in Shideler, which houses Miami Universitys department of geology and environmental earth science, the geography department as well as the Institute for the Environment and Sustainability. Every vantage point the first floor, the staircase and the second floor provides a fresh perspective of the ceramic art piece that is 28 feet wide and about 12 feet tall and was funded through the Ohio Percent for Art Program. Baur and Boldon, whose In Plain Sight studio is in Minneapolis, applied through the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Legislature in 1990 established the program, which provides funds for the acquisition, commissioning and installation of works of art for certain new or renovated public buildings. Whenever the legislature appropriates more than $4 million for a public building, the law requires one percent of the total appropriation be allocated for artwork. About $25 million in renovations were recently completed at Shideler. The married couple said theyve done about 35 public art projects, many of them for universities. Both had been college professors (he was head of ceramics at Michigan State University for 14 years; she an adjunct in photography there). This project grabbed their attention because of the connection to geography and geology. Ceramics share something with geology, he said, noting he works with metals, alkalines and clay. Boldon became interested in an idea of using form and image together in 2004. This new technology came out of Europe, where you could actually print high resolution photographic images with glaze, he said. With Flux, they projected images onto 640 porcelain equilateral triangular tiles. They were pieced together to form 160 rhombuses across 13 rows that fold together into a lattice. The tiles were attached to aluminum backing. The upper left and lower right are from photographic images Baur assembled of Earth, including the bottoms of pit mines and grids showing oilsands mining operations in Alberta, Canada. Moving lower left through the middle to the upper right is Boldons design representing the geologic process such as erosion. Everything about this piece was about the whole flux and flow, Boldon said Friday as they wrapped up the installation with the help of Garrett Goben, a masters of fine arts student in painting. Goben was tapped to help assemble the piece because he had experience in that area. When the work was done, he stepped back and admired the artwork from a distance. Its not the kind of thing you come by and look at one time, he said. Its the kind of thing you see differently each time. Claire Wagner, university news and communications, contributed to this story. When you need to treat all matters relating to your oral health, do not put in the hands of outpatients and clandestine clinics, cannot imagine the amount of people who have been badly affected with just a simple dental cleaning have been made. When it comes to oral hygiene, there is nothing better and definitely the most recommended option is that you seek a consultation with a real specialist in dental clinics. In these places you will find doctors in this area of health with more degree of experience and specialties to treat different types of existing oral diseases and that most are caused by a bad habit of hygiene and brushing that after a warning in time methods can be relatively simple and nothing painful. Sometimes, the economic factor is which urges these clinics where nor much less the service and attention is that expected to attend. Currently the prices that offer dental clinics, many are really acceptable and even more so when you look at the the performed service quality. Dani Nierenberg understood the implications. Many dentists perform discounts and promotional packages based on their dedication to dentistry, and similarly in the aim of contributing in a way to ensure a society with more oral health. They recommend habits that strengthen the area vestibular tooth, i.e., the face of the same and that to open the mouth or smile is the first thing that leave you see and which forms part of that first impression. As well as also proper maintenance that we must abide by the above sectors of teeth which comprise the incisors and canines and posterior sectors covering the Premolar and molar teeth. Party carried out a review or cleaning as many patients are usually without reaching a deeper dental treatment well out of fear or because really its parts do not warrant it. You should ask your dentist recommendations or table of oral hygiene that will used to perform individually and is this what is called the personal care of the teeth. Familiar similarly visit one same dental clinic, put your dentures in the hands of specialists who have always their dental units, because in this way you will create a link of familiarity with your dentist in such a way that fear or nervousness to attend the corresponding consultations will disappear. For assistance, try visiting Fairstead. Request a dental quote specifying the types of dental treatments and their costs, as well as demand and accept the recommendations of the dentist as to which procedure you must submit on the next visit or in certain time. Good oral hygiene individually and in the hands of a real professional help to prevent dental disease and cavities that lead to progressive your tooth decay without you realizing. Ask your dentist how to remove bacterial plaque that can stay in his pieces, the procedure is easy and you can do yourself to devote time during brushing, using dental floss and considering that the tongue, palate and inside of the cheeks are part of his teeth and of course important factors in such hygiene. Only you'll avoid high costs and long hours in a dental office taking appropriate forecasts in the care of their teeth. Go to the best dental clinic and don't leave smiling by caries or any other factor prohibited by it. HELENA A bill to correct a drafting error that effectively delayed implementation of Montana's medical marijuana program was approved 6-2 Monday by the Senate's State Administration Committee. Sen. Fred Thomas, who carried Senate Bill 131, asked for quick consideration, saying the legislation reflected the will of voters who approved Initiative 182 in November. In 2011 the Montana Legislature passed Senate Bill 423, which severely limited the use and distribution of medical marijuana in the state, most notably by saying no provider could have more than three patients. I-182, which passed with nearly 58 percent of the vote, reversed that. But due to a drafting error, the part of the initiative that allowed for more than three patients per provider was not set to take effect until July 1, 2017. After the election, the Montana Cannabis Industry Association filed a lawsuit in Lewis and Clark County District Court over the start date. District Court Judge James P. Reynolds issued a ruling in December removing the three-patient limit. Thomas bill admonishes the court for issuing the ruling, saying it violated the Montana Constitutions provision for separation of powers. The district judge seemed to exceed their authority granted in the (state) Constitution, he said. It had the direct effect of re-writing legislation. Thomas said its the role of the Legislature to write laws and the courts job to determine whether what the Legislature and executive branch is constitutional or not and interpret meaning. He said that in the case of situations such as a drafting error in the language of an initiative, a special session of the Legislature is the proper venue to make a correction. Sen. Sue Malek, D-Missoula, objected to the section criticizing the court and brought an amendment, which failed, to remove the language. The other no vote was Sen. Lea Whitford, D-Browning. I would hope we would not go so far as to accuse a court of violating the Montana Constitution, she said. Sen. Doug Kary, R-Billings, supported the section. "I think we do need to leave this in if we want to be an equal and separate branch. Sen. Nels Swandal, a former district court judge, said he agreed Reynolds' ruling violated the Constitution. It had no business to go in and change language that was clearly written, he said. What the court should have done was direct the parties to go to the Legislature and get it changed. The bill will now move to the Senate floor for consideration. Following her second year in office, Missoula County Attorney Kirsten Pabst said the resurgence of methamphetamine in the community, as well as drunk driving and child abuse, continue to be the disturbing trends keeping her and her attorneys busy. According to an annual report, the Missoula County Attorney's Office filed 1,903 cases in 2016 including felonies, misdemeanors and juvenile charges, up from 1,745 in 2015. This is the second year Pabst has compiled and released a report to the public detailing the criminal trends in Missoula and steps her office is taking to respond. She said one benefit in looking back at data from the previous year is having a chance to decide where the focus of prosecutors should be, something she called being smart on crime. We need to focus our criminal justice dollars into areas where we can really make a difference, she said. Theres not enough money to prosecute everybody who commits every crime. Meth continues to be a significant factor in Missoulas crime. Last year, the county attorneys office filed charges in 120 methamphetamine cases, up slightly from the 117 from the year before. While the report indicated that the increase had tapered, the county attorneys office has said meth cases rose 137 percent between 2013 and 2015. As recently as 2007, their tracking software indicated they had not filed a single meth charge. It is no secret that we are in the midst of a methamphetamine epidemic, Pabst wrote. The amount of meth in the community, and the drug addiction that comes with it, has a compound effect on other types of crime, Pabst concluded in the report. Consequently, weve seen an increase in drug-driven property crimes and an exponential growth in child protection cases, she wrote. Those child abuse and neglect civil cases, brought by the state Division of Child and Family Services, have been increasing at what Pabst called an alarming rate, with 191 filed in 2016 compared to 173 the year before. Between 2007 and 2011, the county attorneys office filed an average of just 51 per year. In three quarters of the cases they filed 2016, Pabst said substance abuse and addiction by the parents was a factor, with meth the most commonly used drug. During her first year in office in 2015, Pabst added another attorney to the group that handles child abuse to deal with the growing case load. More than 60 percent of the violent crime charged through the county attorneys office stems from domestic violence. Of the 175 violent crimes her office charged in 2016, Pabst wrote that 58 were felonies resulting from violence toward a family member, partner or a child. *** In August, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox announced that Pabsts office was being released from oversight after being found in full compliance with an agreement he brokered two years earlier between the U.S. Department of Justice and her predecessor Fred Van Valkenburg over the handling of sexual assault prosecutions in Missoula. Pabst and her team, Fox said at the time, had worked hard to develop better policies, increased training for their prosecutors and become the model for the rest of the country, not just Montana. In her annual report, Pabst highlighted one of the specific improvements her office has made in handling sexual assault cases. When the oversight by Foxs office began, Missoula prosecutors were taking an average of 35 days to contact a victim after law enforcement investigators referred a case to them. Now, that response time is less than a day. The attorneys in her office have since spread what they learned by conducting training sessions with their counterparts across the state. They have also advised state legislators and testified at hearings in favor of bills that would change laws about sexual assault, such as redefining terms like consent and incapacitation. *** The annual report also showed that more than a DUI per day was charged in the county over the course of 2016, a total of 412 in all between citations and formal criminal cases. Of those, 81 were charged as felonies either because the defendant had at least three prior DUI convictions or because the circumstances posed a distinct, significant danger to the public. That doesnt even include city cases, which are probably even higher, Pabst said. Despite years of community focus on reducing drunk driving, it continues to be the majority of cases in the county, reaching what Pabst considers a serious public health concern. She said her office has responded by being more firm on prosecution and being willing to take more of the cases to trial. We are taking a hard line stance on DUIs, and the reason for that is to prevent that worst-case scenario, she said. The new Missoula Early Learning Center isn't even licensed yet, and it already has a waiting list for infant care. It's a sign of the persistent need for affordable, quality child care in Missoula, echoing the need in Montana and nationwide. The center, at 2120 Ernest Ave., is coming together. Staff members got into the building Jan. 1 and since then have painted and installed new carpets and appliances. Boxes were being unpacked and the different areas of the building organized on Monday. Assuming licensing goes through, the center would be able to take up to 70 children. It's a facility that was built with child care in mind. It started out as Mother Goose and Gander and was most recently the site of Missoula YMCA's Exploration Center, which closed last fall. "There's a need for child care in Missoula," said preschool teacher Dana Lozier. "The need is so great where we were working that we were getting 10 to 15 calls a day, especially for infant care." Lozier and a group of educators partnered last fall to start the business. "It's the only way you can start a business like this because it takes so much capital in starting a child care center," Lozier said. "It's a business setup that's fairly new to child care." *** Lozier will work with preschoolers alongside teacher Amanda Steffes. Tess Jarvie and Danni Wilkins will be with the 2- and 3-year-olds, and Kate Graham and Pepper Curtis will handle the infants. They'll overlap for part of the day, as the center will be open 7 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. "We all have a teaching degree and wanted to put that to use," Graham said. They partnered with Mark Roberts, who's handling the business side of the center as operations manager. "It takes the stress off of us and allows us to focus on teaching," Lozier said. "It's a balance of talents. "It's a lot more egalitarian and not so heavy at the top. Eventually we want employees to be able to own shares in the company." They're working in the state's STARS to Quality program, a voluntary five-star rating system that reimburses child care providers as they move up in rating. Gov. Steve Bullock called for $2.4 million for STARS to Quality in his proposed budget for the 2019 biennium. Their lesson plans are built on the Montana Early Learning Standards, a set of standards revised in 2014 to guide early childhood educators in developing children's skills and knowledge as they enter K-12 schools. The center will also work with families who have Best Beginnings scholarships. Families whose income is at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines ($30,240 for a family of three) qualify for a scholarship. In 2014, Best Beginnings scholarships served 4,600 kids a month, according to the Montana Budget and Policy Center though that represents only 14 percent of eligible children in need. Lozier said they also hope to offer services for Head Start kids on Fridays, as Head Start runs Monday through Thursday. *** Child care is a tough business. State standards set ratios for staff and different age groups. For example, it's four infants to one staff member. That means many centers don't offer infant care, as it increases staff needs, which in turn increases costs and forces centers to raise prices. "With infants, that's why we need the preschool attached to it to balance out the cost," Graham said. The average cost of child care for a 4-year-old is $7,900 a year and the average cost of infant care is $9,000 a year, according to the Montana Budget and Policy Center. "The disparity is tremendous," Lozier said. She said that with their co-director business model and no executive director, they're able to pay their teachers more in comparison to other centers. *** The center is hosting an open house Thursday. It comes the same week that Gov. Steve Bullock's office is recommending his $12 million preschool proposal move from the Department of Public Health and Human Services to the Office of Public Instruction, said communications director Ronja Abel. Montana is one of eight states with no public preschool. Bullock's 2015 effort to fund preschool through a $37 million request for Early Edge was shot down. In December, Senate Republicans called for the $12 million preschool proposal to shift instead to the Department of Transportation to help match federal funding for road construction. Republican governors, with Republican-majority legislatures, have invested in their kids futures because they realize that its a smart investment in the future of their states, Bullock said in a news release this month. But it would seem that Montana Republicans have decided that our states four-year-olds are less important than trying to make a political statement. Its unacceptable, and Montana families expect more of them. Montana is in year three of a four-year $40 million federal Preschool Development Grant to create or build upon free preschool programs in high-needs communities. It's a program that state Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen opposed when she was a legislator in 2015, one of 50 GOP legislators to sign a letter calling on Montana's congressional delegation to turn down the funding. Most of the current preschool programs in the state align with school hours, meaning they often end before the end of the work day. "Universal pre-K is a great idea, but parents need child care all day long," Lozier said, adding that 8 a.m.-noon "is not going to work." "Parents have to leave work to pick up their kids from preschool and then they still have to pay to take them to child care the rest of the day," Graham said. While they agree the preschool plan needs some work, the teachers said they don't understand the resistance to funding it in Montana. "It's just so sad," Lozier said. "We're already so far behind in Montana in funding early childhood education." Federal workers scrambled on Tuesday to interpret how President Donald Trumps hiring freeze of civilian employees might affect seasonal firefighters and other part-time employees. Trumps order, issued Monday, stated no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. The head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities, the order continued. In addition, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Council President Melissa Baumann said the order left her in the dark about U.S. Forest Service staffing, especially with hiring fairs for permanent firefighting professionals starting next week. We all had a hard time just trying to get hold of the executive order itself yesterday, Baumann said. Were waiting to see where the chips fall. Baumann said in 2015, the Forest Service hired about 11,000 seasonal workers. At least 6,200 of those were firefighters or had firefighting-related duties. But many were for positions such as logging sale analysts, trail maintenance workers, and forest rangers. The Forest Service itself did not have much more to add by Tuesday afternoon. We are waiting for further clarification and direction from the Office of Personnel Management related to the hiring freeze, said Jennifer Jones, fire and aviation management spokeswoman for the Forest Services Washington Office. We cannot speculate on the impact of the hiring freeze. Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said the sweeping language of the order left him confused about its interpretation. As to what qualifies as public safety, youve got me, Ruch said. Our weather forecasting capacity has declined, because of a substantial loss of National Weather Service personnel. They cant remedy that unless weather forecasting is a public safety matter. Ruch said the duration of the freeze was also up for debate. The order requires the Office of Management and Budget to produce a long-term plan to reduce federal workforce through attrition within 90 days. But that plan must be done in consultation with the director of the Office of Personnel Management, which doesnt have a nominee for the position named yet. The hiring freeze will not expire until the OMP attrition plan is implemented. That will run afoul of the Forest Services annual hiring cycle, according to NFFE Fire Chairman Joe Duran. Arizona national forest officials have scheduled a job fair for apprentice firefighters on Jan. 30, with a larger regional hiring combine planned for mid-February. By the time you get your undersecretary and all those people in place, youre 60 to 90 days behind the scene and off schedule, Duran said. Im pretty sure theyll give a (public safety) exemption, but you still wont be able to staff up in a timely manner. In California, firefighting is already year-round. And in most other places, its getting year-round, too. Trumps order also said contracting outside the government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted. That raised concerns within the Forest Service, where many tasks such as drafting environmental impact statements are handled case-by-case through private contracts. The Forest Service has struggled to accomplish regular tasks in recent years because of increased demands of firefighting nationwide. In whats known as fire-borrowing, the agency has had to spend more than 50 percent of its total budget on firefighting activity and pay for it by raiding budgets for other services. It has reduced its non-fire personnel by 39 percent between 1998 and 2015, from 18,000 workers to less than 11,000, according to FEDManager.com, a Washington, D.C., news service for federal executives. Firefighting personnel have more than doubled in the same period. While Montanas congressional delegation has proposed legislative fixes to let the Forest Service pay fire costs similar to the way other national disasters are funded, those measures have not passed Congress. Trumps order advised department leaders to make reallocations to meet the highest priority needs and to ensure that essential services are not interrupted and national security is not affected. That raised questions of whether seasonal firefighters would be considered an increase in federal workforce that would have to be offset by reductions in other areas. Since 1994, Forest Service national employment has declined from 45,408 workers to 29,588 in 2016, according to the National Finance Center. At the National Park Service, workforce has fallen from 16,715 in 2001 to 12,440 in 2015, according to the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis states that federal employees made up 1.93 percent of the total U.S. non-farm civilian work force, down from a post-World War II high of 5.2 percent in 1951. Several weeks ago I stood in the Virginia City cemetery and read the tombstone of Bruce Bouffleur Duncan, dead from pneumonia at the age of 4 months in 1922. Bruce was the last child of my Aunt Minna. Every time I see that stone I wonder at the grief that Minna, Orrick and their daughters felt when the doctor from Ennis said nothing could be done. That grief is visited every day on countless mothers and fathers as globally 16,000 children die daily. Two of the worlds leading causes of death for children are not complicated, incurable diseases; they are diarrhea and pneumonia. Many of those deaths can be prevented with a vaccine, if only a child has access to it. Great progress in preventing childhood death worldwide has been made in the past decades. Because of efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development and its global partners, the number of children dying annually has fallen at a remarkable rate, from 12.6 million in 1990 to 5.9 million in 2015. But with 16,000 children still dying each day, much remains to be done. The Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S.1911/H.R. 3706) aims to end preventable child and maternal deaths by the year 2035 through implementing reforms in USAID. These reforms include creating clear benchmarks for success, appointing a coordinator to manage the entire strategy, and realigning funds to save more lives even without spending additional money. There is no reason this bill should not pass. The Reach Act requires no additional funding. It is supported by leading organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, World Vision, CARE and Save the Children. Sen. Jon Tester has signed on in support of the Senate bill. Rep. Ryan Zinke has signed on in support of the House bill. Sen. Steve Daines has not demonstrated support for the Reach Act. Maternal and childhood deaths which plunged families into grief in 1922 are preventable today. Congress should act now and pass the Reach Every Mother and Child Act. HELENA Several people spoke in opposition Tuesday to a bill that would prevent certain people from collecting and turning in ballots for others. House Bill 212, carried by Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, would impose a fine on people who collect a voter's filled-out or blank ballot. The fine would be $500 per ballot. The bill makes exceptions for post office workers, elected officials, caregivers and family or members of a person's household. Essmann said he brought the bill in response to events in Livingston and Missoula during the last election when, at least one case, a voter called the police after a stranger offered to take their ballot and deliver it to the county elections office. There are many issues that have been floating around with the respect to the conduct of our election, Essmann said. He told the House State Administration Committee the bill is not about election fraud but interference with the process of voting and loss of voter confidence in elections. The committee took no action on the bill Tuesday. There was no evidence last year that collected ballots did not make it to local elections offices or that ballots were tampered with. In scenarios described by voters, a person who came to their door offered to collect their ballot and then offered information promoting candidates the voter did not support. That's where concerns came from. Those who opposed the bill said it creates unnecessary barriers to voting and that the exceptions for who can drop off a ballot don't capture everyone who helps the elderly, disabled and others. Jordan Thompson, who represents the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, said the bill would make it difficult for many on the Flathead Reservation to cast ballots. Cultural differences don't align with many of the provisions in this bill, he said. We take care of elders in our community, whether thats bringing firewood or meat or picking up and delivering a ballot. I dont see that accounted for in this bill. To pass this bill would be to ignore the votes of many Montana citizens in my community. He also said limited resources can make it difficult to buy stamps, and that not everyone has a vehicle to get their own ballot to the elections office. Essmann said the bill does not prevent groups that aim to improve voter participation and is narrowly drawn to only apply to handing off ballots to strangers. He told the committee those groups can still offer rides to drop off ballots or hand out stamps. Rep. Jessica Karjala, D-Billings, pointed out it's illegal for candidates to give stamps to voters. Others who spoke represented groups that go door-to-door and offer to collect ballots. Katie Westhoff, with Montana Public Interest Research Group, said collecting ballots is a great service for the elderly, disabled and others. She said volunteers are taught to not pressure people to collect ballots and are not malicious. Several questioned how the law would be enforced. Linda Stoll, who spoke on behalf of the states clerks and recorders, said the bill would create a huge demand on election workers by requiring employees to check the signatures on the back of every ballot as its dropped off, as well as the identification of who is dropping it off. We can compound this by thousands and thousands of ballots, she said. Practically speaking, this is a very difficult bill to administer. Essmann said hed be open to an amendment to ease those burdens. Derek Oestreicher, director of elections under new Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, spoke in support of the bill. Oestricher said hes heard reports of possible ballot harvesting issues and was pleased Essmann has taken a proactive approach to this potential issue. Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, asked Oestricher if he had any evidence of voter fraud occurring. Oestricher said he didnt at the time but would get back to the committee. The tribes goal is to construct 34 miles of trail from Interstate 90 to St. Ignatius that would help connect existing and planned multi-use paths between Hamilton and Glacier National Park. Its an historic travel route for the tribes, who were forced to make the trip from Stevensville to the Flathead Indian Reservation 125 years ago, when they were forced off their land in the Bitterroot. HELENA More than 25 people testified at a Senate Judiciary Hearing Tuesday in favor of a bill that while not specifically mentioning Islamic sharia law would ban the application of foreign law in state courts. Proponents of Senate Bill 97 repeatedly expressed fears that immigrants and refugees coming to the United States would eventually demand that sharia law supersede the constitutions of the United States and Montana. Opponents said the bill doesnt accomplish anything other than furthering anti-Muslim sentiment. Similar legislation has been enacted in nine states and is currently up for debate in several others. Sharia law is the religious governance followed by people practicing Islam. Sharia utilizes religious texts to determine divine will. Its implementation varies across the world, with Saudi Arabia adhering to strict punishments like stoning, while in other countries it is most regularly used in personal law such as marriage and divorce. Proponents expressed concern that people practicing Islam would be allowed to abuse women or marry minors in the United States or Montana. Though they were not able to reference a case in which sharia law superseded U.S. law, American courts do consider provisions of sharia law, Jewish law or canon law as long as they don't violate the Constitution. A 2009 case in New Jersey has been referenced in states where legislators introduced a ban on the application of foreign law. In this case, a judge didnt grant a protective order to a woman abused by her Muslim husband after it was found he was following his beliefs. That decision was later reversed and scrutinized by legal scholars. Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, said he was carrying the bill to protect the fundamental liberties of all Americans. He said hed received more than 150 letters and emails from proponents of the bill and about five from opponents since introducing the legislation. Many of the proponents were residents in Regiers district and the surrounding area. Several had a military or law enforcement background. One proponent called anyone who objected to the bill un-American. Some proponents took issue with the idea of practicing Islam and people who dont assimilate to a specific aspect of American culture. Sandy Bradford, a Helena resident, said Islam is not peaceful and is an enemy to all. Sandy Montgomery, from the Flathead, said the bill was long overdue. We have allowed legal immigrants, illegal immigrants and now refugees to take advantage of our law and culture to take up their own agendas, Montgomery said. They have no intention to abide by our laws, nor are they interested in assimilating to our culture. Gina Satterfield, a Helena resident, said foreign law is threatening the peace. We as a nation and state do not have to wait as a forced host to witness the growing population for this foreign law to implement its totalitarian system, she said. William Briggs, who served 47 months in Iraq, said he witnessed the punishment for violating foreign law, which still haunts him. Some in the crowd voiced opposition to a comment made by SK Rossi, director of advocacy and public policy for ACLU Montana, who said the fears expressed at the hearing were unfounded. Rossi emphasized that sharia law has not been prioritized by any court, and that an Oklahoma law specifically mentioning banning sharia law was found unconstitutional. We need to start trusting our judicial system to apply the correct law, Rossi said. Rachel Carroll Rivas, director of the Montana Human Rights Network, said the bill is sold as a commitment to constitutional rights, but instead targets the Islamic faith. These tactics are meant to divide, not unite our country, she said. The effort is not solving a problem but is based on an out-of-state model of policy that is a direct reaction to Islamophobia. The Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and the Montana Association of Christians also spoke against the bill. PABLO A scheduling conflict has caused Wednesday mornings community outreach meeting involving The Peoples Way to be moved to a new location. The meeting will now be held in the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council Chambers at CSKT Headquarters in Pablo. The 11 a.m. time remains the same. The meeting involves the tribes hopes to construct 34 miles of trail from Interstate 90 to St. Ignatius that would help connect existing and planned multi-use paths between Hamilton and Glacier National Park. Its part of an historic travel route for the tribes. Ditch medicine. Thats what they call it over at Southwest Montana Community Health Center, the practice of medicine prior to the establishment of the Affordable Care Act, the practice of good and compassionate medical providers who, in the words of Serena Brewer, M.D., would get creative in providing the standard of care for those who had no health insurance. In other words, providers would do anything for their uninsured or underinsured patients, within an ethical realm, to get them the care they needed. The Community Health Center is a teaching institution, so physicians, prior to establishment of the ACA, would also teach soon-to-be physicians how to be creative as well. Insane, is how Brewer described it in a recent meeting with U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who was on a listening tour in Montana, a statewide trip related to the ACAs pending repeal. What do you call it, ditch medicine? an incredulous Tester asked. Yes, ditch medicine, said Brewer, who relayed that the ACA, among its many attributes, has allowed physicians at the Community Health Center to practice and teach medicine as it should be practiced and taught, with quality and precision, rather than creative, compassionate desperation. Cathy White, M.D., another Community Health Center physician, was also at Testers listening session. White told Tester about her 30-plus years in practice, including her work with government programs in Mexico, Ireland and at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls. By far, White told Tester, government programs were the best. People didnt have to worry day to day about health issues and insurance. Illnesses were treated much earlier, prevention was excellent, and so we saw far fewer chronic illness, complications and mental health issues. White added that reimbursement was equitable, making for better coverage and less haggling. White illustrated a case she dealt with recently at the Community Health Center, which is a federally qualified health center that receives a substantial federal grant, along with other funding, in order to provide a sliding fee schedule for low-income individuals. The case involves a single uninsured mother with three children. The mother tells me she has had splitting headaches for a month, cant work, and feels ill all the time, White said. Her blood pressure has been in the 200s, she knows, but she cannot afford medication. We had a rep from (the) insurance exchange program come in, sign her up. She was able to get treatment and avoided a stroke, kidney failure, heart attack, death If she had died (society) also would have had the cost of raising her three children. She is happy now, healthier, working, kids are happy and healthier as their immune systems are stronger from not worrying about their mother. People in this country should not have to live like that. White said she doesnt see some suggestions for ACA replacement as valid, particularly for the poor. Giving people a tax deduction for insurance when they dont pay taxes will not help them, White said. That only works for people like President-elect Trump. Having them manage their insurance through a health savings account will not work either. (HSAs) are complicated, and will be challenging for much of the population. Added White, Congress, the Senate, the military, the VA, Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, all are good health care programs, paid for by the government covering around 65 percent of the population why cant we just expand those systems for everyone? White, a pediatrician, also had something to say about adolescent care. If we stop birth control coverage, we will go back to 20 years ago with an increased rate of teen pregnancies, she said. We will have an increased number of mothers and babies die, or more devastated babies being born with cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease, head bleeds causing cognitive delays, seizures, school issues and work-related issues. The complications will be much more costly and devastating for our system. White was particularly critical to Tester of Trumps recent appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to a national vaccine safety task force. Kennedy has long alleged a link between a vaccine preservative called thimerosal and childhood autism, an assertion widely debunked by the pediatric community. Continuing to attempt to link thimerosal and autism will be wasting money that could be better spent on genetic research that is being done on autism, White said, adding that a backlash could include adults and children ceasing to be immunized. That, she said, could return on a large scale diseases such as measles and pneumococcal disease people, she said, can go blind from the measles; they can go deaf from pneumococcal disease. Those events, White said, I saw 30 years ago in my training and I dont want to go back there. Back to ditch medicine. No thank you. HELENA Montana is the only state in the country that does not provide funding to schools for students older than 18, a distinction Rep. Jean Price, D-Great Falls, hopes to end. On Monday, she introduced House Bill 178 to the Education Committee. The measure would provide ANB funding essentially a lump sum, per-student payment from the state to schools that choose to educate a student who is 19 years old. Currently, the state only funds students who are age 18 or younger at the start of their final academic year. Passing this bill would not mandate that all schools allow 19-year-olds to attend their schools, she said, noting school districts would still make that decision. It simply will allow ANB funding for schools if they choose to take this position. Some districts do allow students to stay in school past age 18, paying for that instruction with all-local funds. In other districts, school boards write age-out policies that, in some communities, effectively block 19-year-olds from continuing to work toward a high school diploma. Several school officials, students and education advocates spoke in support of the bill. Dylan Champagne, a 19-year-old student from Great Falls, said he always put his education first and even was elected to top positions on student council, Key Club and Kiwanis. Nonetheless, he said completing school has been difficult because he has lived on his own for the last two years, working a full-time minimum wage job and paying his own bills. I hope to graduate in June this year and further my education in journalism or business management, he said. Drew Uecker, a Great Falls principal, noted the district has 282 students, about a dozen of whom are 19 years old, calling it an ethical duty to teach them even when the state won't provide funding. He said he was frustrated by arguments he heard against the bill last session describing those students as thugs. I could tell you story after story of kids that were not thugs. These are kids that have life circumstances who just need a break, he said, describing teens who hold down jobs and care for younger siblings because of disabled parents or effectively lost a school year when raped by a family member and had to go to court and counseling. We need your help, and its the right thing to do. Supporters also noted the bill could help students with disabilities who would be able to earn a diploma if they had more time. Advocates have noted that Montanas law as written also blocks the state from receiving federal funding to provide job training and some transitional services for teens and young adults with disabilities. No one spoke in opposition to the bill on Monday, although previous versions of the proposal have died in committee. In 2015, the measure carried by Sen. Mary Sheehy Moe, D-Great Falls, passed the Senate 34-16 but was tabled in the House Education Committee. Before becoming Superintendent of Public Instruction this month, Elsie Arntzen served as a legislator. In 2015, she was one of four Republicans to oppose Moes bill in the Senate committee. Rep. Casey Schreiner, D-Great Falls, seemed to allude to that vote Monday with a question he asked Kara Sperle, an informational witness from the Office of Public Instruction. He wondered why the superintendent had not taken a stand on the measure. Given the situation of the state budget as it is, I am here to provide numbers so you can make the decision you need to, Sperle said. The measure is expected to cost an extra $536,615 in the states two-year budget for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years. Last academic year, schools reported teaching 50 students who were 19 years old. The Legislative Fiscal Division estimates that number would increase to about 70 by 2019 because of overall school growth and some districts who might change their age-out policies to accept 19-year-olds they might have previously turned away. This is a nickel-and-dime investment in the future of our kids, said Eric Feaver, lobbyist for the teachers union. We can afford it. Everyone in this room knows we can afford it. All the reasons to afford it have already been said. The committee took no action on the bill Monday. Gov. Steve Bullock has named Luke Berger, the Lewis and Clark County deputy attorney, as the new judge for Montana's Fifth Judicial District, which covers Jefferson, Madison and Beaverhead counties. The current fifth district judge, Loren Tucker, announced his retirement in September, and his last day will be Jan. 27. Of the 13 candidates to apply for the judgeship, Berger is by far the youngest at 35, and he'll have to run for re-election next year. The successful candidate serves a six-year term. Berger is from Dillon, where he graduated from high school before attending Carroll College and receiving his law degree from the University of Montana in 2008. Between post-secondary degrees Berger served a year in AmeriCorps in a Baltimore soup kitchen. Berger has been deputy county attorney since 2012; before that spent two years as the sole prosecutor for the city of Helena, and a year before that as a law clerk with the Montana Supreme Court. According to Berger's application for the judgeship, his caseload in Lewis and Clark County consisted primarily of prosecuting felony cases of DUI, domestic violence, property crimes and crimes involving the potential of serious mental illness. The southwest corner of the state is the largest judicial district in western Montana, and Berger has plenty of driving and schedule juggling ahead of him. "With the Fifth Judicial District serving three county courthouses and numerous other independent communities, the judge needs to be able to devote adequate time to each area," Berger said in his application. The Judicial Nomination Commission interviewed applicants for the job, and submitted its top three selections to the governor for consideration for appointment. Other finalists for the job were: Jed Clayton Fitch, Dillon, Beaverhead County attorney Lori Ann Harshbarger, Whitehall, lawyer in private practice and city attorney for Twin Bridges NorthWestern Energy and the Missouri-Madison River Fund recently announced funding awards for 11 public recreation improvement projects on the Madison and Missouri Rivers where the company operates nine hydro facilities, according to a news release. A combination of $62,481 from NorthWestern and $363,123 from the the Missouri-Madison River Fund will be combined with $150,424 from agency and private partners to complete 11 projects totaling $576,028. In addition, NorthWestern Energy will contribute more than $427,000 for operation and maintenance efforts at over 30 existing recreation sites in 2017 as required by the Project 2188 (Madison-Missouri River) FERC License. Recreation facilities and opportunities will be enhanced on the Missouri and Madison rivers through completion of 11 competitively selected projects in 2017, said Jon Jourdonnais, leader Hydropower License Compliance. NorthWestern Energy and its employees are proud to continue to lead this collaborative private-public effort to improve recreation facilities and opportunities on these great rivers for all Montanans. 2017 funded recreation projects include: Replacement of the boat ramp at McAtee Fishing Access Site on the Madison River; Construction of a maintenance building and installation of an electric gate at Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls; Paving of the entrance road at Black Sandy State Park on Hauser Lake; Completion of a new drinking water system at Palisades Recreation Area on the Madison River; Printing of an updated bathymetric (water depth) map of Hebgen Lake; Improvements to sections of a recreation trail at West Bank Park in Great Falls; Construction of a trailside shelter along the south shore of Cochrane Reservoir in Great Falls; Installation of new information kiosks at four Fishing Access Sites along the Missouri River; Upgrades to the Causeway Fishing Access Site at Hauser Lake; Rehabilitation to one section of the historic walking bridge in Fort Benton. The Missouri-Madison River Fund, a $6.6 million trust fund for public recreation, was created through the collaborative efforts of NorthWestern Energy; Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks; U.S. Forest Service; U.S. Bureau of Land Management; Madison, Gallatin, Broadwater, Lewis & Clark, Cascade and Chouteau counties; and numerous other public and private partners. This year marks the 11th year in which earnings from the trust have been awarded to recreation improvement projects through the River Fund program. Since 2007, nearly $4.7 million has been awarded by the River Fund and the utility in support of 97 projects which, when combined with agency and private partner contributions, totals nearly $7.5 million in recreation enhancements in the Missouri-Madison Corridor. Created as a public-private partnership to meet public recreation needs along the Madison and Missouri rivers, the River Fund supports ongoing efforts to protect and enhance recreation from Hebgen Reservoir downstream to Fort Benton, excluding the Toston and Canyon Ferry hydroelectric plants and the river segment between them. River Fund awards for qualifying projects will continue on an annual basis, with grant awards in December. A list of projects can be found under the River Fund tab at http://www.missourimadison.com. Details on NWE: www.northwesternenergy.com. I am writing in response to Michael Bacons letter urging opposition to House Bill 201. This bill requires court appointed special advocates (CASA) to be the preferred appointed guardian ad litem (GAL) in dependent-neglect cases. As a commissioner on the Protect Montana Kids Commission, I was a member of the legislative subcommittee and strongly urged my colleagues to approve this amendment. At the time I was the executive director of CASA of Montana, Inc. (dissolved 12/8/16). My wide and deep experience over 35 years as a family law attorney, mediator, CASA volunteer and state court administrator led me to propose this amendment to my Commission colleagues. There are 14 independent, local CASA programs in Montana who have over 600 CASA advocates. Over 2,000 children in Montana have a CASA appointed to provide the Court with detailed information and a recommendation for the best interests of a child. CASA advocates are commonly referred to as Athe voice of the child@. The CASA advocate must successfully complete a minimum of 30 hours of National CASA approved pre-service training. Upon completion of the training, a District Court judge swears in the advocates who then become officers of the court. Every CASA advocate must complete 12 hours of in-service training annually. CASAs typically handle 1-3 cases. Children have a consistent, reliable, involved adult during the tumultuous process of being removed from their home and being part of the CPS process. A statutory preference for CASA GALs has benefits: they are highly trained and their services are voluntary. The state pays $62 per hour for attorney/GAL attorneys. Attorney/GALs are part-time public defender contract lawyers. There is no requirement for specialized training in matters relating to child welfare. CASA advocates are dedicated, highly skilled, trained citizens appointed by District Court judges. CASAs are not expected to play the role of lawyer or social worker. District Court judges have high regard for the thoughtful recommendations of CASA/GALs. Montana pays millions of dollars a year for attorney/GALs, in contrast to CASA programs which donate their services to the courts. An attorneys role is to advocate for the expressed wishes of the child which is an ethical conflict with the role of a GAL to advocate for the best interests of the child. The report cited by Mr. Bacon was released over 13 years ago in January 2004 and cannot be relied upon for the current state of child welfare in Montana. Joyce Funda, Rollins BILLINGS A woman was being held in the Yellowstone County jail Tuesday on charges that she assaulted, killed and dismembered a former boyfriend. Carri Elizabeth Standsoverbull, 40, will appear for arraignment Wednesday on the deliberate homicide in the death of 39-year-old Jeffery Hewitt. Standsoverbull was arrested on a $500,000 warrant. Portions of Hewitt's body were found by investigators on April 14, 2015, in a canyon on Pryor Road, between Pryor and St. Xavier. After death, Hewitt's head, legs and one arm were removed. His remains were then set on fire, according to charging documents. Standsoverbull's brother, 35-year-old Patrick Saint Standsoverbull, was named in the charging documents as a participant in trying to conceal Hewitt's death. He may have also been involved in beating Hewitt prior to his death, according to the charging documents. He is also in custody at the Yellowstone County Detention Facility. Three others were named in the affidavit charging Standsoverbull. The charges against Carri Elizabeth Standsoverbull include alternative charges she could face of negligent homicide and three charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. MISSOULA Federal workers scrambled on Tuesday to interpret how President Donald Trumps hiring freeze of civilian employees might affect seasonal firefighters and other part-time employees. Trumps order, issued Monday, stated no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances. The head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities, the order continued. In addition, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) may grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary. National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Council President Melissa Baumann said the order left her in the dark about U.S. Forest Service staffing, especially with hiring fairs for permanent firefighting professionals starting next week. We all had hard time just trying to get ahold of the executive order itself yesterday, Baumann said. Were waiting to see where the chips fall. Baumann said in 2015, the Forest Service hired about 11,000 seasonal workers. At least 6,200 of those were firefighters or had firefighting-related duties. But many were for positions such as logging sale analysts, trail maintenance workers, and forest rangers. Forest Service officials told the Missoulian they were preparing a response to the order on Tuesday morning, but had not delivered their comments as of 1 p.m. MST. Trumps order also called for contracting outside the government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted. That also raised concerns within the Forest Service, where many tasks such as drafting environmental impact statements are handled case-by-case through private contracts. The Forest Service has struggled to accomplish regular tasks in recent years because of increased demands of firefighting nationwide. In whats known as fire-borrowing, the agency has had to spend more than 50 percent of its total budget on firefighting activity, by raiding budgets for other services. It has reduced its non-fire personnel by 39 percent between 1998 and 2015, from 18,000 workers to less than 11,000, according to FEDManager.com, a Washington, D.C., news service for federal executives. Firefighting personnel have more than doubled in the same period. While Montanas congressional delegation has proposed legislative fixes to let the Forest Service pay fire costs similar to how other national disasters are funded, those measures have not passed Congress. Trumps order advised department leaders to make reallocations to meet the highest priority needs and to ensure that essential services are not interrupted and national security is not affected. That raised questions of whether seasonal firefighters would be considered an increase in federal workforce that would have to be offset by reductions in other areas. Is all the attrition going to come from the rest of the workforce? asked NFFE regional vice president Lisa Wolfe. Weve got seasonal people doing things like wildlife, hydrology, recreation, timber, archaeology pretty much anything, we have a temporary work force there somewhere. From airports with the most flight delays and largest price hikes to airports youll love to fly out of, WanderBat has got you covered with wh NOTICE OF PROBATE OF WILL, OF APPOINTMENT OF EXECUTOR, AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF Charles E. Reiner, Deceased. To All Persons Interested in the Estate of Charles E. Reiner, Deceased, who died on or about January 10, 2017: You are hereby notified that on January 11, 2017, the last will and testament of Charles E. Reiner, deceased, bearing date of November 25, 2014, was admitted to probate in the above named court and that Michael Channon was appointed executor of the estate. Any action to set aside the will must be brought in the district court of said county within the later to occur of four months from the date of the second publication of this notice or one month from the date of mailing of this notice to all heirs of the decedent and devisees under the will whose identities are reasonably ascertainable, or thereafter be forever barred. Notice is further given that all persons indebted to the estate are requested to make immediate payment to the undersigned, and creditors having claims against the estate shall file them with the clerk of the above named district court, as provided by law, duly authenticated, for allowance, and unless so filed by the later to occur of four months from the second publication of this notice or one month from the date of mailing of this notice (unless otherwise allowed or paid), a claim is thereafter forever barred. Dated January 11, 2017. Date of second publication 24th day of January, 2017 Michael Channon Executor of the Estate 713 Court St. Wilton, IA 52778 Robert DeKock #2295 Attorney for the Executor DeKock Law Office, P.C. 227 Mulberry Ave. Muscatine, IA 52761 Probate Code Section 304 Todd Lorack plans to submit a Notice of Intent to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to be covered under the NPDES General Permit No. 2 "Storm Water Discharge Associated with Industrial Activity for Construction Activities. The storm water discharge will be from agricultural construction located in SE 1/4 of Section 36, T77N, RO5W, Fremont, Johnson. Storm water will be discharged from 1 point source(s) and will be discharged to the following streams: Richey River. Comments may be submitted to the Storm Water Discharge Coordinator, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division, 502 E. 9th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0034. The public may review the Notice of Intent from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the above address after it has been received by the department. WILTON, Iowa - Wilton's aging City Hall was a main focus during Monday night's City Council meeting. Becky Allgood, executive director of the Wilton Development Corporation, reported she discussed the historic Depression era building earlier in the day with a state historian. "She said it's a beautiful example of colonial revival," Allgood said. "Of course, it was part of the New Deal. We want to focus on getting it back to its original beauty." Renovation will come with a cost. Michael Hart from the Des Moines office of Northland Securities presented a $2,580,000 bonding plan to cover those costs and other projects. The entire bond would be paid off in 10 years. Hart said the plan would take the city to about 60 percent of its legal borrowing capacity. The largest amount of funding would go to the Industrial Park at $1,775,000. It would be paid off with tax increment financing proceeds. The next largest at $400,000 would go to City Hall renovation. Hart said payoff over 10 years would raise property taxes by 40 cents per thousand dollars taxable valuation. "You could pay it off over 10 years, or you could go to a more aggressive schedule," Hart said. Other funding uses would be $255,000 for downtown revitalization and a $150,000 economic development grant for Triple B Construction. The council set a public hearing for its Feb. 13 meeting to hear comments about the proposed bonding plan. On a related note, Police Chief Tim Leathers presented Sergeant Dave Clark with a plaque in recognition of Clark's work preparing former administration spaces in City Hall for use by the Police Department. City administration, including the council, and police recently traded spaces. FIRE STATION UPGRADE City Hall is not the only public structure that officials want to slate for a facelift. The council unanimously approved using $217,486 from the Herbert Townsend Estate donation for improvements to the fire station. Assistant Fire Chief Jim Shipp presented a detailed $193,986 proposal for renovation from Point Builders of Davenport. The remaining $23,500 is for items not included in the proposal. "A building that age, it's due for some improvement," commented Council Member Ted Marolf. "We're not using taxpayer dollars for it," Council Member Keith Stanley added. "This is a donation. So I don't see what's wrong with it." The Herbert Townsend donation, originally $300,000, was left to the city for use by the Fire Department, and $41,325 had already been used. The drawdown approved Monday night will reduce the fund to $41,188. In other business: The council approved payment of bills totaling $260,414. The council approved accepting ownership of the new water and sewer lines from the city to the Interstate 80 rest stop with a one year warranty provided by the DOT. The council approved a $250 donation to Wilton High School's post prom activities. DES MOINES Legislative Republicans agreed Monday to make $117.8 million in adjustments to the state general fund budget by June 30 that shaved reductions proposed by Gov. Terry Branstad for higher education, corrections, public safety and the courts but still prescribed smaller cuts in those areas. Under the tentative agreement, regent universities would be cut by $18 million rather than the $25.56 million the governor sought, while community college funding would be shaved by $3 million rather than $8.7 million; corrections would be cut $5.5 million, not $15 million; the court system would be reduced by $3 million, not $7.7 million; and public safetys $3.8 million cut would be lowered to $1 million. Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the changes made to the governors original $110 million starting point for erasing the current fiscal year budgets projected shortfall reflect the priorities expressed by GOP legislators in the House and Senate. It was not a fun puzzle to have to put together, but ultimately youve got to make it work and thats what were here for, Schneider said after the de-appropriations bill cleared subcommittee. They are tough decisions. You could hear in the room today people arent happy. But it is what it is. We can only work with what were given. We cant spend more than we have. Thats just the reality. Thats not politics, thats math. Overall, the plan moving forward by majority Republicans would make $88.2 million in targeted cuts, return $4.5 million in unused property tax credits, transfer $25 million from economic development, cultural and other trust funds, and provide a $4.3 million supplemental appropriation for indigent defense spending. The changes would not affect current year funding for K-12 schools, the Medicaid safety net and property tax credits and backfill to local governments and communities. Schneider said House and Senate Republicans had agreed not to partially couple the state tax code with federal changes as Branstad proposed that would carry a $29 million price tag for the 2016 tax year, but to hold harmless the $8.2 million in the taxpayer trust fund the governor would have used to balance the current year budget. Subcommittee member Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said minority Democrats disagreed with the proposed GOP cuts in a number of areas, but Republicans noted the problem was a carry-over from budget decisions made last session based on projected revenue growth that did not materialize. Were not dealing with a situation where revenues are decreasing now. Were dealing with a situation where growth is slower than we anticipated it. There was no room for error, Schneider said. Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said the problem relates to decisions over the past three or four years to spend down more than $750 million in state surplus funds which GOP senators opposed. Its ironic that we vote no on something for three or four years when were not in the majority and then all of a sudden were to blame when it does happens. Along with targeted cuts, GOP legislators are directing state agencies to identify $11.5 million in departmental reductions by trimming out-of-state travel, purchases and leaving unfilled positions vacant for the next five months. The specific cuts to regent universities would trim funding by $8 million each at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, and $2 million at the University of Northern Iowa. Were concerned about the cuts to higher education. Were especially concerned about significant increases in tuition for our community college students and our university students and their families as a result of these underfunding of these institutions, Bolkcom said. We think that this is going to have a super detrimental effect on those students, and while we might not look at a tuition increase this spring I suspect that were going to see one soon and one thats going to have to take effect for more than one year, he added. Bolkcom suggested an alternative approach might be to slash state tax credits to corporations that have growth expeditiously in recent years. After the subcommittee meeting, Bolkcom issued a statement warning the proposed GOP cuts threaten public safety, education and human services. The deep, mid-year budget cuts endorsed today by Republican legislators are mean-spirited and will harm Iowa college students, working families and seniors, Bolkcom said in his statement. The last thing we should do is cut services that Iowans depend on, including higher education, job training, public safety and human services. Schneider said he expected the provisions of Senate Study Bill 1018 would clear committee on Tuesday and he expected both the House and Senate would send the measure to the governor possibly yet this week. During his weekly news conference Monday, Branstad did not address the specifics of the negotiations on the fiscal 2017 de-appropriations bill be expressed hope a final agreement would be approved and indicated we appreciate the cooperation that were receiving from the Legislature. LETTS, Iowa Louisa-Muscatine district staff will learn about Professional Learning Communities in a 3-day conference next August. The L-M Board of Education approved a $31,920 contract which will cover the cost of training the district staff. Superintendent Mike Van Sickle said the Columbus Junction School District staff may join the Louisa-Muscatine District for the training, but that Columbus Junction will cover the cost of training its own teachers. The training, which will be offered from Aug. 16 to Aug. 18 at Calvary Church, will delve into practical and theoretical aspects of creating Professional Learning Communitiesgroups of teachers who work together to problem-solve and track student achievement throughout the year. Professional Learning Communities are part of a new approach that the L-M district implemented this year, which involves tracking student achievement and offering different levels of support depending on need. Vice President Pam Lee said that in the past, the district sent some of its teachers to conferences across the country. But the in-house conference, she said, will offer some consistency in training. Even though its the same company, there might be different presenters and this way everybody is going to hear the message exactly presented the same way, she said. Superintendent Mike Van Sickle said the move will save the district money. We want everybody trained anyway, he said. And its $399 a head for this training, but if we were to send them somewhere, it would be $699 a head and youd be paying for hotels and travel and meals. The money availability there, [but] it squeezes us tight within the PD [professional development] budget, Van Sickle said. Most of the money for the training will come from the general fund, with some money coming from the schools TLC grant. Board Secretary Charles Domer said the district has the money to cover the training. In other business, Elementary School Principal Dough McBride will retire at the end of the year. McBride has been with the district for 10 years. To fill the position, the board discussed the option of hiring a consulting firm for the search. But Lee introduced a motion to use in-house staff with helps from the AEA to search for the principal. Lee said involving teachers will help create staff buy-in for the new hire. There is a lot of [staff] participation in either system, van sickle said. The positives of going with the firmthey know more people than I do. But he acknowledged that this kind of knowledge may not be necessary. The board decided to use an in-house search committee first, and revisit the consulting firm idea at a later time. The board approved the purchase of a new 84-seat handicap-accessible bus, to replace an old bus that has over 200,000 miles on it. The new bus will cost $103,940 and will be delivered in August. Van Sickle said the purchase of the bus was part of the districts 5-year plan, and the money for the purchase was already allocated. The board also approved the hiring of a full-time agriculture teacher for the district. Currently, the Louisa-Muscatine district shares an agriculture teacher with the Muscatine Community School District, with each district paying half of the teachers salary. We had a half-time Ag position and now its going to full-time cause its busting at the seams, and thats good, thats just indicating that the program is being very successful, Van Sickle said. Van Sickle said the move would allow the district to offer agriculture classes once a year rather than once every two years. The board unanimously approved the academic calendar for next year. In response to parent feedback, Van Sickle said, the district will end the first semester of the next school year on December 22, instead of after the holidays. But the change will create a shorter first semester, and Van Sickle said state law does not allow the academic year to begin before Aug. 23. Its not ideal, but its workable, Van Sickle said, adding that teachers can schedule special activities and class outings for the longer second semester. WAPELLO, Iowa - It was mostly good news for the Louisa County Board of Supervisors Monday when the members began the initial round of departmental budget proposal reviews. During the morning session, the supervisors reviewed their own spending plan for the 2017-2018 fiscal year (FY18) that begins July 1, 2017, started examining several miscellaneous county budgets, and met with Louisa County Attorney Adam Parsons and Louisa County Zoning Administrator Julian West to look at the proposals for their departments. The supervisors proposed spending of $127,815 would be about $4,200 more than their FY17 spending. Most of that would come from a 2.5 percent salary increase, which most county staff will also be receiving. In other miscellaneous budgets, the supervisors generally agreed to hold the line at the same spending levels as this year. That included $4,400 for miscellaneous community services for congregate meals and assistance to battered women; $2,000 to the Historic Preservation Commission; $2,000 to the Pioneer Cemetery Commission; $15,000 to the County Fair; $50,800 for independent auditing; $20,000 for human resource consulting; $30,000 for road clearing; $26,500 for the Medical Examiners office; $68,788 for Clerk of Court expenses; $113,297 for the courthouse; $46,374 for county libraries; $3,000 for the Louisa County Historical Society; and other areas. Parsons had some of the best news for the board, explaining the County Attorney Collections Program, which West also administers as an assistant county attorney, was continuing to boost county revenues through delinquent court debt collections. In the last fiscal year our office collected over $76,888 in qualifying delinquent court debt, up from $43,700 the year before, Parsons explained in a letter that accompanied his $220,317 budget request. He said over 40 percent of the collections was returned to Louisa County, with the remainder going to the state treasury. A portion of the countys funding is used to help finance the recovery program. West said an effort the supervisors authorized him to make last year helped identify over 5,000 cases where delinquent court fees were owed. He said without the identification and subsequent notification to state officials, those cases could have been handled by a third-party collection agency and the county would not have been able to receive even the partial funding. It was a good deal we did it, West said. The county attorneys request was about $8,046 above this years spending, with most of the increase coming from the 2.5 percent salary boost given to most county staff and higher contributions for retirement and other benefits. Meanwhile, West said his own zoning administration budget request would actually drop from this years $28,143 level to $26,535. Most of that decrease came from combining three part-time secretarial positions into two part-time positions. In the afternoon session, the supervisors met with Recorder Leanne Black, IT Director Chuck Borschel; Veterans Affairs Service Officer Andy Beaver and Safety Coordinator Staci Griffin to review their proposed department spending. Borschels proposed budget of $308,578 would be about $130,900 more than this years anticipated level, but most of that would come from a new courthouse computer software system the supervisors approved earlier. Black proposed around $144,000 in spending; Griffin identified safety expenditures of $2,639; and Beaver projected his departments spending at $45,057. Beaver also warned that state legislators had recently said that $10,000 in state funding to each countys veteran affairs office could be cut this year because of projected state revenue shortfalls. The supervisors will continue the budget reviews later this week. WAPELLO, Iowa - The county subsidy to the Morning Sun Ambulance Service (MSAS) should be substantially raised to help keep the service in operation, MSAS Director Tom Bryant and Wapello Ambulance Service (WAS) representative Cindy Small told the Louisa County Board of Supervisors during the boards regular weekly meeting on Tuesday. The request could potentially impact the supervisors budget discussions being held this week with department heads. According to Small and Bryant, the MSAS is the smallest of the countys three ambulance services and also receives a smaller subsidy than either the WAS or the Louisa County Ambulance Service (LCAS) in Columbus Junction. According to county budget reports the supervisors reviewed on Monday, MSAS is receiving a $23,575 subsidy for Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, with a $37,506 subsidy going to WAS and $42,864 to LCAS. The two told the supervisors the county had it wrong with the subsidies. Ive always thought the smaller services need a bigger piece of the pie, Small said, pointing out MSAS still had to meet ambulance service standards for training, equipment and other rules. I have to meet the same requirements, Bryant agreed. Small said MSAS was also more financially handicapped than its neighbors because of its primary patient base. She said MSAS serves a greater number of Medicaid patients, meaning the ambulance service must write off around 80 percent of it service charges. The other services handle more Medicare and private insurance patients, which allow more of their operating costs to get covered. (The county) has the funding reversed. It should be (switched), Bryant suggested. The two also pointed out the funding problem has been around since 1987 when Bryant launched the countys first ambulance service not associated with a funeral home. (The MSAS) started with $18,000 in 1987, Small said. I had to take out a second mortgage on my house, Bryant added. Small said the funding disparity needed to be addressed, especially since the county, which has no hospital, would have a difficult time getting by with two ambulance services. In order to keep Morning Sun viable, could we ask for a substantial increase for Morning Sun? Small asked, suggesting the increase should be between $8,000 and $10,000. At last Mondays meeting the ambulance subsidies were reviewed, but the supervisors did not discuss any possible changes, pending their meeting with Small and Bryant. After Tuesdays report, they agreed to look at the situation, but did not promise any relief. Supervisor Brad Quigley however suggested the board needed to take action. We have to find someplace where we can find (the money), he said. That opportunity is expected to come later this week when the supervisors renew their review of departmental budget requests. In other action during Tuesdays meeting, the supervisors: Met with department heads to review the monthly activities in each county office; Approved several applications from Windstream Communications to bury fiber optic fibers along several county roadways; Signed a $2,133,153 contract with Flynn Company, Inc., Dubuque, for a overlay project on County Road G40; Signed an $80,154 contract with Brandt Construction Company and Subsidiary, Milan, IL., for an overlay on the Letts Bridge; Approved signage on county roadways for the Littleton Brothers Memorial in Toolesboro; Met with Sheriff Brad Turner, General Assistance Director Cyndi Mears and Mental Health and Disability Services Director Bobbi Wulf for their monthly program update. MUSCATINE, Iowa Muscatine City Attorney Matthew Brick says charges for removal of Mayor Diana Broderson may not be filed for weeks, and the nature of the charges has yet to be determined. Brick said he will continue to investigate, and "slow equals fair." "I want to make sure if there are relevant issues that they get looked at," he said. The Muscatine City Council two weeks ago voted to take the first steps toward ousting the mayor. Councilman Michael Rehwaldt cited "habitual neglect" and "willful misconduct or maladministration in office" as two possible reasons. State law says elected officials can be removed by two-thirds vote of the council. "It would be nice for not only me but for the people of Muscatine to know sooner rather than later so both sides could work to prepare," Broderson said. If evidence for removing the mayor under state law is not found, Brick said at the end of the investigation he would report back to council. "I wouldnt file a document that didnt have grounds for removal," he said. Brick said he has not found many cases where removal charges are being handled by the city council, rather than in court, which the law also allows. Cases handled in court, he said, are also difficult to find. "Fortunately it's not something that has happened a lot in Iowa," he said. The code does not provide much specific guidance for this situation, Brick said, but he said he will do what he can to make sure the procedure follows due process and both sides have an opportunity to present their arguments. "It's sort of a brave new world," he said. Brick said over the past year, inaccurate information has been given to the public about the city, city staff and elected officials, so the city does not want something he is investigating to be released that is discovered later to be inaccurate or that is not grounds for removal. "So if there's something that they want me to look into or a charge that I'm following up that isn't accurate or isn't grounds for removal, they dont want that thing to get out into the community and hurt the reputation of an elected official or city staff that ultimately is not relevant anyway," he said. If charges are filed, the council will decide whether or not to move forward with a hearing, and according to city code must set a date for the hearing at least 10 days after the notice of the hearing is given to the mayor. According to Brick, a separate attorney will present the charges at the hearing while he advises the council, and both sides will present arguments before they give a final opinion and the council makes its decision. Both residents and officials have asked to see what Broderson is being accused of, and Brick said he understands the frustration. "I am moving faster than I thought possible to try to get things done," he said. Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Today is *National Candy Day*. O.K., I know every day is *Candy Day*, but to celebrate, have a truffle, candy bar, or your favorite 'penny' candy. One of ... 12 hours ago Nairobi senator Mike Sonko will not be withdrawing from the Nairobi gubernatorial race to be Peter Kenneths running mate contrary to reports by a local daily. The Sunday Standard reported that the two leaders had a closed door meeting and agreed that Sonko would be Peter Kenneths running mate. But Sonko has dismissed the report as the joke of the year and accuses malicious politicians of plotting to confuse people of Nairobi. It has come to my attention that some malicious politicians are out to confuse our supporters and the great people of Nairobi City County that the Jubilee Party has struck a deal on a line up for the August elections. Reports appearing in the Sunday Standard claiming that I have withdrawn from the gubernatorial race and accepted to be Peter Kenneths running mate or defend my senatorial seat is a joke of the year, said Sonko in a press statement. He urged his supporters to ignore such propaganda as no such arrangement has been reached. Sonko added; I swear and undertake to support whoever the party members will nominate to fly the Jubilee gubernatorial flag. He also asked aspirants to concede defeat and back whoever will win the nominations. Those invoking the name of H.E Uhuru Kenyatta for their own selfish political gains must stop forthwith. Let us conduct mature and peaceful campaigns and let the Jubilee Party members nominate a candidate of their choice, he said. However, attempting to impose any leader on the electorate by invoking the Presidents name will not be tolerated and will only backfire and give our opponent Daktari yet another chance to take control of our Great City. Political activist David Matsanga has pledged his full support towards President Uhuru Kenyattas reelection in August. The Ugandan lawyer and journalist says Uhuru Kenyatta will get back to power after the August poll as he has already won. To be very honest, does anyone expect Uhuru to be voted out as President? In my own opinion, Uhuru has already won the elections thanks to his good leadership record. Personally, I am fully behind him and it is no secret that I am in the forefront campaigning for him. Uhuru must become president again, he told MondayBlues. Matsanga is remembered for his active role in the fight against the International Criminal Court (ICC) on cases where President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto had been accused of fuelling 2007 election violence. He further noted that he will not be able to vote but will play his part as a good supporter. I may not have a voters card as I am not a Kenyan but politics is more than a voters card. I am only going to play my part as a good supporter and believer of Uhurus leadership, he added. Churchill Show comedian Paul Kimani Njoroge aka MCA Tricky is without a doubt one of the biggest comedy talents in the country at the moment. His creative skits revolving around the life and stories of Nairobis street kids are a big hit on the show. He recently spoke to SDE about his past life as a street child and what forced him into the streets at the tender age of 12. Why the name MCA? MCA: It stands for Members of Chokoras Assembly where I once belonged to as a former street urchin. You had a bright future in school why did you quit and join the harsh street life? MCA: Hailing from a humble family background in Mombasas Makindu where poverty was the order of the day, lack of school fees forced me to taste unremorseful street life in Nairobis Saika estate for a period of three years at a tender age of 12. This was upon Completing Class Eight in 2004. During the time I experienced the vagaries of street life during which I not only worked as an errand boy who ferried vegetables among other goodies to and from Gikomba market, but I occasionally sniffed glue, smoked shada, pick-pocketed and mugged people- all in the name of survival. Other hardships ranged from hunger, negligence, lack of education to mistreatment by indifferent members of the public. Prior to this you lived in Mombasa- how did you make your way to Nairobi? MCA: My peers convinced me to accompany them to Nairobi in search of greener pastures without my parents knowledge. Due to the fact that I was idle, frustrated and needed to survive, I heeded to their plea only to realize that life in Nairobi was more difficult than I ever imagined. This drove me to the streets. Speaking of Churchill Show how did you make your way there? MCA: Some of my friends who live in Nairobis Jogoo Road encouraged me to do so. Also the set book group that I was part of for a year persuaded me to try my luck. What happened next? MCA: The moment I got to Carnivore grounds I met Proff Hammo who apart from being my role model was very friendly towards me. He too encouraged me to follow my hearts yearnings. What was the audience first reaction upon being called on stage? MCA: For a moment I wasnt sure what to expect from them since mine was a different style of comedy that revolved around real life happenings around me including the less privileged in the society. For the first few minutes they sort of took pity on me but with time I could hear them roaring in laughter. Do you write your own routines? MCA: Mine is right in the head- things that I have been through including life observations among the less privileged. I believe I tell it as it is without letting my fans down and making them share my story. What happens if the audience doesnt laugh? MCA: Bombing is inevitable. Everyone has sets that dont go well. The first few times it feels really bad besides being unprepared and confused. But despite this, I have learned to live with it being the hard-core type. You make a living out comedy? MCA: Yes comedy pays well. I am glad that I able to pay off my bills besides catering for my needs. What are some of the life lessons you have learned so far? MCA: That life is a battlefield and not a playing ground we are here for a short time hence the need to strive and make the best of it. Source: SDE Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi has come out to disown a quote associated with him regarding the next president of Kenya. The controversial political commentator famous for his Tyranny of Numbers hypothesis was quoted as saying that Raila will be the next president of Kenya. Raila will be the next president of Kenya come August 2017. And even president Uhuru Kenyatta knows. he is rumoured to have said. The fake quote added, The house of Mumbi is not happy with his presidency we politic as a team but when it comes to eating meat. The meat eaters are just a few. Commenting on Twitter yesterday, the real Mutahi Ngunyi dismissed the quote and reiterated his belief that Raila Odinga will never be president. The message below is FAKE. It is part of RAILA propaganda. Raila is a SLOW-PUNCTURED politician who will NEVER become KING! #OdingaDynasty he tweeted. A police officer was on Sunday shot in the head in Kayole, Nairobi, during an MPs rally. The officer was shot while responding to an order by Embakasi Central MP John Ndirangu to arrest a suspect at the rally. The suspect was part of a crowd of about 60 people who had gathered in front of the Cooperative Bank, Kayole branch, on Spine road. The police said the MP had told the police officer to arrest a man for a yet to be known reason. As the officer moved to arrest the suspect, a gun-wielding man in the crowd shot him in the head. The officer was rushed to a nearby hospital by his colleagues where he received treatment. He is in stable condition. Police have launched investigations to establish the motive of the shooting. They have one suspect in custody. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's pursuit of an "America first" foreign policy is raising questions about who, if anyone, will fill the void if the U.S. relinquishes its traditional global leadership role. China and Russia are among the aspirants for greater economic and military influence, while an ambivalent Germany could emerge as the West's moral compass. For generations, the U.S. has largely set the terms for the global economy, policed international security threats and spearheaded the response to crises like Ebola and Haiti's earthquake. But after sweeping into office with an isolationist-tinged message rooted in the idea the U.S. needs to refocus on itself, Trump has said and done little to dispel the notion that he wants the rest of the world solve its own problems. In his inaugural address, Trump said the U.S. for too long has been invested in other countries' industries, militaries, borders and infrastructure while letting its own fall into "disrepair and decay." "That is the past," Trump said. In one of his first acts, Trump on Monday formally withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a project launched under President George W. Bush and negotiated by President Barack Obama to set trade rules with Asia and counter China's economic influence Trump said he was doing a "great thing" for U.S. workers by tearing it up. But Sen. John McCain, a fellow Republican, said the withdrawal "abdicates U.S. leadership in Asia to China." China isn't the only country that could profit from U.S. retrenchment. In their own ways, Russia and Germany also could stake a claim to a greater global role. But no one can simultaneously match America's economic, military and moral might, and a more isolationist U.S. could mean a power vacuum. "There's no country or collection of countries that can do what the U.S. has done for the last half-century," said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's partly a question of resources and capacity, and it's partly a question of ambition." "A huge number of things will simply not be done," he said. While U.S. rivals like China and Russia would relish the opportunity to try to replace the United States, many countries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere are fretting the prospect of an American retreat. Even Germany is unsettled about being increasingly looked to as a moral example. China, which has been investing billions in Africa and Latin America to curry influence in the developing world, could become an increasingly dominant economic power. It already is aggressively pursuing a multicountry trade deal that would appear the likeliest alternative to TPP, a scenario Obama's administration had warned would let China "write the rules" and lead to worse labor and environmental standards. Beijing has used Trump's inauguration as an opportunity to ridicule America's democracy and tout its own communist system as superior. And many of China's neighbors share its fears about Trump's threats to trigger a "trade war" with the Asian powerhouse by taxing Chinese products. "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from," Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, laying out his plans for growth, overseas investments and expanded trade opportunities. It was the type of agenda the U.S. might have previously touted. America's military alliances are no sure thing, either. Trump has suggested a broad rethink, calling NATO "obsolete" and challenging U.S. allies to bear greater cost while beefs up its military in the Pacific and Russia exerts military power in Eastern Europe, which suffered for decades under Soviet domination. It's not the only place the Kremlin is flexing its muscles. In Syria, Russia has backed more than a year of successful Syrian government offensives against rebels and is currently directing peace talks between the two sides. The U.S. was but a bystander at the negotiations Monday, while the White House said it could partner Russia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria. Such an arrangement could significantly enhance Russia's reputation in the Middle East. "With the election of Donald Trump, the old world of the 20th century is finally over," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in the Bild newspaper, reflecting a broader European lament about confused international leadership and increased disorder. Trump's push has mirrored a broader global debate about globalization vs. isolation. British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Trump later this week, seeking cooperation from an American leader who cheered her country's vote to leave the European Union which Obama campaigned against. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who once cursed Obama for the American's criticism of his country's war on drugs, has embraced Trump's "America first" approach and expressed relief the U.S. will no longer lecture others on how to behave. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long accused of undemocratic tendencies, echoed that message, declaring "the end of multilateralism" in the age of Trump. While China's increased economic strength and Russia's military vigor may appeal to some, few Western-looking nations will turn to either for moral leadership. Germany has tried to fill that void, embracing hundreds of thousands of refugees and championing a dwindling multilateralism 70 years after being culpable for some of history's greatest ever atrocities in World War II. But Germany, Europe's economic motor, has a glaring shortcoming: An inability to match the hard power of aspiring leaders in Moscow and Beijing. And for all her efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a tough re-election later this year, where she will find out if her Germany is immune to the new populist surge. Rianda House Senior Activity Center is pleased to offer another in a series of articles from one of our collaborating agencies to introduce you to vital support services in the upper Napa Valley. We are grateful to this months guest writer, Casey Rockwood, the Aging and Disability Program Manager with the Napa County Comprehensive Services for Older Adults, for sharing this important and helpful insight. Napa Countys Comprehensive Services for Older Adults (CSOA) division provides services supporting older adults and people with disabilities so they may remain safely and well cared for in their own homes and in the community. A key program within CSOA is In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS), a needs-based program which helps people obtain care within their own homes. It does so by assessing clients and authorizing them to hire a care provider of their choice who is then paid by the IHSS program. The majority of IHSS clients choose to hire a relative to be their care provider, but for some, a relative may not be an option or what works best for them. The IHSS Public Authority is a program that is able to refer potential care providers to IHSS clients. A client can use the referral list to set up interviews and hire a care provider of their choice. IHSS currently has over 1,300 care providers who help over 1,100 people in Napa County remain safe, independent and fulfilled in their own homes. Recently the IHSS program has taken several steps in developing connections between care providers and people in need of care. The Supported Individual Provider Program (SIPPS) are social workers who help clients navigate the IHSS application and provider hiring processes. This unique effort represents Napa Countys dedication to customer service and access. IHSS is also committed to expanding access and exposure to Upvalley Napa County residents. IHSS and SIPP social workers will be using an office in Calistoga and as a place for clients and providers to drop off any paperwork or meet with social workers. Furthermore, new provider orientations will be held at the Rianda House in St. Helena as a convenient option for Upvalley providers. These orientations will begin in March. There will be a Spanish language orientation on the first Friday of every Month starting at 9 a.m., and an English language orientation on the first Wednesday of every month starting at 3 p.m. SIPP social workers and Upvalley outreach efforts represent Napa Countys dedication to providing place-based services and increasing access to needed care throughout Napa County. Who is Eligible for IHSS through Napa County? To receive IHSS you must be: -A Napa County resident. -SSI/SSP or Medi-Cal eligible. -Living in a home, apartment or residence of their choosing (excluding hospital, skilled nursing home, assisted living or licensed care facility). -At risk of requiring out of home placement without IHSS provided services. What services does IHSS provide? -Domestic and Related Services: meal preparation, grocery shopping, cleaning, laundry and taking out the garbage. -Personal Care Services: bathing, feeding, dressing, grooming and toileting. -Paramedical Tasks: assistance with medications, injections, ostomy care. -Protective Supervision: monitoring persons with cognitive or mental impairments to prevent injury. -Transportation and accompaniment to medical appointments. How do I apply for IHSS? If you are interested in applying or referring someone to the IHSS program please call 253-6272 to start an application. How do I become a Public Authority Care Provider? The Public Authority needs care providers, especially people who live in or are willing to work in Upvalley locations. Some of the benefits of being a Public Authority Care Provider include: Competitive wages, flexible schedules, paid travel time between clients and overtime pay. If you are interested in becoming a Public Authority care provider please call the Public Authority at 259-8359. The IHSS program depends on the wonderful care providers who are willing to care for a loved one or who offer to join the Public Authority Registry and care for fellow community members who need help remaining in their home. A giant thank you to all care providers! Rianda House is located at 1475 Main Street in St. Helena. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 707-963-8555 or visit our website for our monthly activities calendar: riandahouse.org. Contact Julie Spencer, executive director with any qustions or suggestions for future articles. Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency for Napa and nine other counties in Northern California and across the state on Monday due to severe winter storms. According to the governor's office, Brown issued two emergency proclamations to secure funding that will support communities affected by inclement weather. The emergency proclamations were issued due to storms in December and January. The state of emergency includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, and Sonoma counties. The proclamations will direct Caltrans to formally request immediate assistance through the Federal Highway Administration's Emergency Relief Program. They will also direct the Office of Emergency Services to provide assistance to local governments. Napa County suffered numerous rock and mud slides, including one on Silverado Trail outside St. Helena that blocked traffic for days. On Monday, the county asked residents and businesses to report financial losses from the storms of Jan. 3-12 so that the county might qualify for assistance. Damage reports can be filed by calling 707-253-4421 by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Mayor Rachel Hundley slipped on her "Nasty Woman" tank top on Saturday morning and joined 3,000 people, many of them her constituents, outside Sonoma City Hall for their own mini-Women's March. A 33-year-old single woman born and raised in the Deep South, Hundley had only a passing interest in politics most of her life. But a combination of gumption and curiosity led her to run for public office in a town she barely knew. Since the Women's March on Washington, and the hundreds of sister marches across the country and the globe, there's now a lingering question of how to channel that energy and keep the participants, many of them first-time activists, engaged. Part of that calculus includes encouraging women, and men, who may have never considered running for office before to do so. That message was also part of President Barack Obama's farewell speech: "If you're disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself," he said. What spurred Hundley to pursue elected office wasn't a response to the 2016 presidential election - though that motivates her now - but a desire to connect with her community in a meaningful way. Lately she's been heartened to see that same passion emerging in others. "One of the things I was proud of was I heard from other young adults that they want to be more involved," she said in an interview. "I sensed a greater commitment from younger people to get involved and stay involved. [The march] was a successful way to energize." Hundley's road to public service was unconventional. She had been laid off from a high-pressure, high-paying law firm job in New York City during the economic recession when she decided to pick up and move across the country to California to open a Southern cuisine food truck business. While figuring out her next steps after the layoff, she had worked in a Manhattan cupcake shop. Food service was about making people happy, she reasoned, and that's how she wanted to spend her life. What she found in Sonoma, a picturesque, bucolic town, known for its rolling vineyards and stunning views, was a community at odds with itself, with the competing interests of residents and tourists, and a reputation for wealth clashing with a desire to be more economically inclusive. Hundley envisioned a Sonoma with affordable housing options where people who work in the town could actually live. Eager to immerse herself in her new community, she decided after about a year to run for an open seat on the Sonoma city council. She googled "how to run a campaign" and taught herself the ins and outs of financial disclosures and raising money, she said. She reached out to everyone on the council and asked them out for coffee. She would pepper them with questions about what it was like, and what issues arose, and then she would ask for four or five names of other local people she should meet. She said she followed up with all of them, and listened to their concerns about the community. "Through the process, not only did I meet a lot of people who invited me into their networks, I learned from these people what the most important issues were and all about the history," she said. "It was a fact-finding mission in addition to meeting people that I'd have to later convince to vote for me." Her campaign slogan was: "Fresh perspective with a long term commitment to Sonoma." She made campaign signs and canvassed across town. On Election Day 2014, not only did she win a seat on the council, but she ousted a 16-year incumbent who had been a former mayor. From her new position she learned that even Sonoma has a homelessness problem. Blocks from the main square is a small three-bedroom shelter. Kathy King, the executive director of Sonoma Overnight Support, said she had been trying to convince the council to allow a parking lot in town to be used overnight for "safe parking," so the local homeless who live in their cars would have a place to go. She asked for a pilot program, just five parking spots over six months. The council wasn't having it, King said. Then, after one meeting, Hundley approached her and asked if she could come by the shelter and meet some of the people there, King said. Hundley helped King show the council that there was a real homelessness issue to deal with, even in their quaint storybook town. In September, with Hundley's push, the council approved the program. "Rachel stood up for us. She read the material, she did the homework so when she asked questions they were good and then she spoke for [the homeless], King said. "This is a very rich city, let's face it, it wasn't a popular thing to do, but she did it. We need people with her energy and time and smarts." That's become harder to come by in public service. In 2012, just before that year's presidential election, Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women & Politics Institute at American University, co-authored a study examining young people's interest in running for office. At that time, 89 percent said it was something they never intended to do. Though the data is four years old, Lawless fears that given the vitriol of this last campaign cycle, it could be much worse now. It's particularly less appealing to women who are turned off by a system that still feels like an old boys' club. But Lawless said Hundley is an example of how young women can make a big difference at local levels of governments. "There are certain things you can't do from behind the scenes, there are things that require legislation so if you want to effect those outcomes this is the only way you can do it," Lawless said. "All you have to do is throw your hat in the ring and you have as good a shot as all these men who have been doing this for centuries." Groups like Emily's List, a left-leaning organization that seeks to get women elected, hope the renewed desire for action after the Women's March will inspire women of all kinds to run for office at every level of government. Who knows where it may lead? In December, two years after Hundley was elected to the city council, it was time to choose a new mayor. The five-person council voted unanimously to appoint Hundley. That night they handed her the gavel. She took the mayor's seat and immediately got to work. Tuesday, Jan. 17 0849 -- Medical aid for an elderly woman with back pain on Pope Street. 1000 -- A local business organization reported receiving a suspicious voicemail from a woman who said her husband needs help. 1014 -- Report of a small dog in a car at the corner of Main Street and Pratt Avenue. 1429 -- Non-injury hit-and-run involving a parked car on Grayson Avenue. 1454 -- Police took a vandalism report at the high school. 1555 -- Report of a reckless driver almost running someone off the road on Hunt Avenue. 1852 -- Report of a reckless driver on Main Street. Wednesday, Jan. 18 0814 -- Medical aid for a woman with flu-like symptoms on Pope Street. 1128 -- Medical aid for a fall victim on Pope Street. 1158 -- Report of a white truck parked on Fulton Lane for four days. 1808 -- A dog in an open front yard on Spring Street reportedly attacked a pedestrian who was walking their own dog. The pedestrians dog seemed to be fine. 1947 -- An officer cleared debris that was clogging a storm drain at Main/Grayson. 2237 -- Report of a new land slide, with trees down, in the area where the barricades were placed on Silverado Trail at Pratt Avenue. Police notified the sheriffs office and Napa County roads. Thursday, Jan. 19 1205 -- Medical aid for a fall victim on Pratt Avenue. 1557 -- A Fitbit was found on the sidewalk near Main/Adams. 1616 -- A resident came to the police department lobby to turn in unwanted pellet guns. 1653 -- A woman said she was watching a movie in the theater when a man grabbed her shoulder and shook her because her phone was out. The man was then talking to his wife during the movie, and when the caller asked them to stop the man flipped her off and the wife said something very profane and rude. Police determined it was a civil problem. 1730 -- Two dogs were reported missing from Madrona Avenue. 1846 -- Report of a pickup blocking a driveway on Charter Oak Avenue. Police left voicemails and texts for its owner and didnt get an immediate response, so the pickup got towed. Its owner came to the police department at 9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20 0200 -- Following a traffic stop at Main/Grayson, police arrested a 27-year-old Yountville woman on suspicion of DUI. 0459 -- Officers discovered that a vacant commercial space near Main/Spring was close to flooding. Police left a voicemail for the leasing agency listed on the door sign. 0619 -- Report of large rocks in the roadway on Silverado Trail north of Pratt Avenue. The county roads division was notified. 0836 -- Report of a restraining order violation. Police determined the report was unfounded. 1128 -- Report of a fox going up onto peoples porches on Sylvaner Avenue and not running away, as is typical. Police checked the area. 1458 -- A person said their car was keyed while they were at work in south St. Helena on Dec. 31, and they think they know who did it. Police took a vandalism report. 1530 -- Report of traffic backing up on Silverado Trail because a driver was too scared to cross the Pope Street bridge. The traffic jam soon cleared up. 1707 -- Report of two high school-aged boys putting a kayak into Spring Creek near Spring/Hudson. The caller was concerned about their safety. Police checked the area. 1959 -- Calistoga police asked a St. Helena officer to respond to a riot at the high school on Lake Street in Calistoga. 2240 -- Medical aid for an elderly woman with high blood pressure on Laguna Seca Court. Saturday, Jan. 21 0147 -- Following a traffic stop at Main/El Bonita, police arrested a 19-year-old St. Helena man on suspicion of DUI, underage DUI and driving without proof of insurance. 1127 -- A wallet was found on the train tracks near Pope Street. 1215 -- Report of a disabled limo blocking traffic near Madrona/Main. Sunday, Jan. 22 0215 -- Following a traffic stop near Main/Adams, police arrested a 22-year-old Paso Robles woman on suspicion of DUI. 0653 -- Firefighters responded to Spring Mountain Court for a lift assist. 0717 -- Medical aid for an elderly woman on Pope Street who was feeling very weak and couldnt stand. 1114 -- Report of water main gushing in the street on Oak Avenue near Tainter Street. 1309 -- Medical aid for a man on Chiles Avenue who accidentally cut his wrist while working with a box cutter. 1332 -- Report of a big white dog roaming the Chablis/Sylvaner area for a few days. 2058 -- A Hunt Avenue home was burglarized at 2 p.m. Saturday. 2241 -- Medical aid on Sylvaner Avenue. Monday, Jan. 23 0930 -- Report of a driver trespassing on private property on Crane Avenue. 0958 -- A bus hit an SUV at Main/Pratt. Nobody was hurt. 1126 -- Medical aid for an elderly woman on Pope Street. 1613 -- A large tan-colored dog was reported missing. 1624 -- A man came to the police department asking to speak to an officer regarding his jacket. The 68-year-old Napa man was arrested for an active warrant. 2049 -- Report of traffic cones and a bent sign post lying on Main Street, posing a tripping hazard. Police picked up the post but left the cones for safety reasons. Once upon a time, Brantley Gilbert was a struggling musician, battling addictions to alcohol and pills. Today, Gilbert looks back on his time in rehab and credits one man with saving his life and his career: Keith Urban. Gilbert tells the Tennessean that he was ready to leave rehab when he found himself in a room with Urban, also a former addict. I told him, I dont think I can do my job. I dont know if I can ever play a song at my shows without being (messed) up. Or writing, I was worried my songs wouldnt be the same, that I wouldnt be on everyone elses level, Gilbert recalls to the Tennessean. Its a drinking environment. When Urban admitted he struggled with the same fears, but found that he was a better artist and person while sober, something changed in Gilbert. My whole world flipped, he said. At that point, I was like, All right. Today, Gilbert feels better than ever, both as an artist and as man, and he credits all of that to Urban. If it werent for him, I dont know if Id be sober or be in this business anymore. Id probably be dead. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg led the North Atlantic Council in celebrating the opening of the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) Regional Centre on Tuesday (24 January 2017). During an inauguration ceremony in Kuwait, the Secretary General highlighted the Centres potential in strengthening the partnership between NATO and Gulf partners, including in the important fight against terrorism. The Secretary General thanked Kuwait for hosting the Centre and for its long-standing leadership in promoting regional security. As NATOs first presence in the Gulf region, the NATO-ICI Regional Centre will be a vital hub for practical cooperation in a range of areas, including strategic analysis, civil emergence planning, military-to-military cooperation and public diplomacy. The partnerships we will strengthen through this Centre are vitally important to NATO, because the security of Gulf countries is directly linked to the security of all Allies, said Mr. Stoltenberg. Following the ceremony, the 28 members of the North Atlantic Council and its partners of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative met to discuss common security challenges. They were joined by Oman and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In his opening remarks, Mr. Stoltenberg stressed NATOs commitment to working with partners in the Gulf region to enhance regional security and to counter shared threats, such as terrorism and extremism. In Kuwait, the Secretary General met with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the President of the Kuwait National Security Bureau, Sheikh Thamer Ali Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. Today, he also met with Bahrain's foreign minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohamed Al Khalifa and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. Posted by Mark Williams | January 24, 2017 Ford used the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit to announce it will bring back a U.S. version mid-size Ford Ranger for the 2019 model year. Now that we've had some time to digest that news, here's what we think: 1. Pickup Truck Buyers Have Long Memories There were many Ford Ranger owners who loved their little pickups because of their nimble handling and convenient compact size and efficiency. Now Ford wants to bring in a new Ranger to compete with other mid-size pickups because ... well ... why not? We have no doubt there are many buyers who have been waiting for this to happen, but our guess is the vast majority of the Ranger's following have already found substitutes and will be slow to take another look. 2. Why Now? For the longest time, Ford argued that truck buyers didn't want a smaller pickup if they could get a larger one for a similar price with similar fuel-economy numbers. Has that changed? The most significant benefit of a mid-size pickup is that it offers better fuel economy, and Ford spent millions developing its EcoBoost technology to combat the idea that you couldn't get V-6 fuel economy with V-8 power. Will buyers be as curious about an inline four-cylinder engine that provides V-6 power? 3. Will Pricing Separate the Ranger From the F-150? It's almost a clich among auto writers to say that much of a new vehicle's success hinges on how the manufacturer prices it. F-150 pricing has been creeping up steadily during the last decade, but Ford will have to careful about keeping enough separation between entry-level F-150s and fully loaded Rangers, especially since average transaction prices for the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon are well into the mid-$30,000s. 4. Current Global Ranger Is Too Big Ford engineers will have to do quite a bit of research to make sure they understand how much change will be necessary to make a new Ranger for the U.S. It's likely the current-generation global Ranger, which is longer and narrower than other U.S. mid-size pickups, will not meet federal safety requirements. GM spent quite a bit of time and money slowly figuring out it couldn't use the global Colorado for the U.S. market. That meant putting huge investment dollars into extra safety standards. No doubt "smaller" seems to be the wave of the future, but U.S. buyers seem to want much more content. 5. Ford Dealers Have Preached 'Don't Compromise' Chevy and GMC dealers did not spend years telling potential buyers that mid-size pickups didn't make sense. Ford dealers did and then steered buyers to an F-150. GM was the first to say that it opted for a three-truck strategy to give customers more choice, creating a huge advantage for Chevy and GMC. Ford dealers will have the added burden of explaining why they didn't see this coming. Manufacturer image The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] UC Santa Cruz has established an endowed chair to honor the person most responsible for the thriving Jewish Studies program that exists on the campus today. Over 150 donors have committed a combined total of $977,130 to establish the new Murray Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies in the Center for Jewish Studies, located in the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Humanities Research. The purpose of the chair is to promote research, teaching, and public outreach activities in the area of Jewish Studies. "Murray Baumgarten is truly one of the finest, most decent people I've ever known," noted UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal. "Wherever he goes, Murray builds community. He nurtured the Jewish Studies program, helped launch our Jewish Studies major, and teamed up with Peter Kenez to teach a legendary class about the Holocaust, the online version of which has reached more than 20,000 people in 60 countries. Murray is a campus treasure." Nathaniel Deutsch, director of the Center for Jewish Studies, was honored as the inaugural chair holder at an investiture ceremony held yesterday on campus at College Nine and Ten. A professor of history, Deutsch is also director of the Institute for Humanities Research at UC Santa Cruz and the chair of the University of California Consortium of Humanities Centers. "Murray has been a mentor, teacher, and friend to me, said Deutsch. I am tremendously honored and humbled to be the first holder of the Baumgarten Chair in Jewish Studies. The fact that so many peopleformer students, community members, and others whose lives Murray has touched over the yearscontributed to the Baumgarten Chair speaks to the tremendous impact that he has had, and through his legacy, will continue to have at the university," Deutsch added. Now a distinguished professor emeritus of English and comparative literature at UC Santa Cruz, Baumgarten was born on a boat traveling from Europe to Panama on the eve of World War II. In an essay titled My Panama, he recalled the circumstances of his birth: Not that it was any of my doing: running from the Nazis, we were penniless, frightened, wearing out. In the terror of flight, and confusion, I came early from my mothers womb, popping out on the ship that was taking us to Panama. Was it a premonition that mine was not to be the ease of a citizen relaxed in the amniotic fluid of home? After spending time in the refugee Jewish community of Colon, Panama, Baumgarten immigrated to America, where he earned degrees from Columbia University and UC Berkeley before coming to the newly created UC Santa Cruz in 1967. Hired as a scholar of 19th century British literature, he helped co-found the world renowned Dickens Project. Although the new university did not have a program in Jewish Studies, Baumgarten and a few colleagues decided to create courses in Jewish history and culture to fill the void. Eventually, with the help of a grant from the Helen Diller Family Foundation, Baumgarten founded the Jewish Studies program and created an undergraduate major. "Jewish culture has responded to--and been shaped by--interactions with the major cultural, political, and social movements since ancient times, and has had a role in shaping them," Baumgarten observed after UC Santa Cruz approved the major. "Our program builds bridges between Jewish culture and the many other cultures that exist in today's world, and illuminates what it takes to navigate in a diverse world," he added. The Campaign for UC Santa Cruz supports excellence across the university through increased private investment in the people and ideas shaping the future. It is bringing critical new resources to the student experience, excellence in research, and the campus commitment to environmental and social justice. Indian tribesmen help scientists catch Everglades pythons Two University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural wildlife biologists are using tribesmen from India and Labrador Retrievers to help the state remove Burmese pythons from the Florida Everglades. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reached out to Frank Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology and Christina Romagosa, an assistant research professor to help find and eradicate Burmese python in the southern part of the state. Mazzotti and Romagosa, both in the UF/IFAS department of wildlife ecology and conservation, decided to team up using unique methods to rid the state of the invasive pest. The Irula tribesmen, located in southern India, are world renowned for their ability to catch snakes, Mazzotti said. I heard about them through an acquaintance, Rom Whitaker, who lives in India and works with the tribesmen. He recommended that I work with the Irula to find the Burmese python in the Everglades, and five years later we finally made it happen. Two Irula tribesmen will spend two months in Florida, living in a private home, Mazzotti said. Whitaker and a colleague from India are translating for the tribesmen, he said. The job of the tribesmen is to find the snakes, catch them and teach us how to do it better, Mazzotti said. They are better at finding snakes than anybody else in the world. And when they catch the snakes they dont let go, no matter what refuge the python might seek. Meanwhile, Romagosa leads a team that uses canines provided by the Auburn University Canine Performance Sciences program to detect the Burmese pythons in the greater Everglades. Recently, Romagosa, who is an expert on invasive species, used the dogs in North Key Largo to find python. She then turned to Mazzotti for help in capturing them. We were in Crocodile Lake National Wildlife Refuge and the dogs indicated that there was python activity in that area. The dogs sat around the bunker, but they couldnt exactly pinpoint where the odor was coming from, Romagosa said. The next day, The Irula came to the bunker and went into a shaft at least 10 feet down into the ground. The tribesmen found a 16-foot female Burmese python with two smaller males, and another male snake in a nearby location. This is a great example of my team being able to locate the snakes, and Dr. Mazzottis team removing the python. These techniques help us to target our searches better. The partnership has proven invaluable, said Kristen Sommers, section leader of FWC. Without the partnership across public land managing agencies and researchers, we will not be successful in developing or enhancing effective techniques to remove pythons from the wild, Sommers said. The outcomes of these projects and partnerships will help us to identify and remove more pythons from the wild now and in the long-term. According to Mazzotti, there are no estimates for the number of Burmese python in the Everglades. Researchers believe the pythons were released into the Everglades or escaped pet owners. Hopefully, we can manage or eradicate an invasive species that is wreaking havoc on the ecosystem, Mazzotti said. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has outlined his government's new foreign policy goals, which aim to adapt to the new realities presented by US President Donald Trump, a media report said on Tuesday. "We must redefine...Mexico's relationship with the new government of the United States," said Pena Nieto on Monday, who is scheduled to meet Trump on January 31, Xinhua news agency reported. Trump supports more protectionist and isolationist policies to protect US industry, and wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico, as well as to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep out illegal migrants. In his negotiations with Trump, Pena Nieto said he would pursue 10 key goals, including "preserving the free trade" between the three. "Trade exchange between the three countries must be exempt from any tariffs or fees, as has been the case since 2008," according to a statement from the president's office. Pena Nieto also said he would strive to maintain a border that unifies, rather than divides. "Our border should be our best space for coexistence; a safe, prosperous space of shared development," said the President. Faced with a more closed northern partner, Mexico would also seek to diversify its trade and political ties with the rest of the world, particularly Argentina and Brazil, among Latin America's largest economies. To that end, Pena Nieto will attend an upcoming meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in the Dominican Republic. "Mexico must not only tackle the new global challenges that are emerging, but also take advantage of the new opportunities they present," said Pena Nieto. This year, his administration will work to update a trade agreement with the European Union and begin to negotiate a trade deal with Britain, once it has formalized its exit from the EU. One of Trump's first steps since taking office on January 20, was to quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging free-trade agreement, including countries in Asia and Latin America, which his predecessor promoted. Mexico will participate in talks related to changes to the agreement, and continue to strengthen trade ties with Asian countries, the president said. --IANS in/ ( 375 Words) 2017-01-24-10:02:06 (IANS) Another person who is injured has been rushed to a hospital for immediate treatment. While the actor did not step down from the train, choosing to wave at the crowds and urged them to watch the film on a loudspeaker, fans in Vadodara swarmed the railway platforms since several hours before the scheduled arrival of the train. The two fans were injured in the crowd which had gathered to get a glimpse of the 'Dilwale' actor at the Vadodara Railway Station. The police baton-charged the fans who had assembled to see their favourite hero. On arriving in Surat, Shah Rukh had tweeted, "Thank u Gujarat. This is so beautiful. Thanks for waiting for Raees Surat." Shah Rukh had last boarded a train to Mumbai from Delhi as a young budding artiste with starry dreams, and yesterday got onto a train to Delhi once again -- this time as a star to promote his film. Ditching the usual air travel to go to a city for film promotion, Shah Rukh -- who is known for his marketing ideas -- took a train to Delhi to promote 'Raees' -- which will hit the screens on January 25. (ANI) The two foreigners from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Hadoora village in the northern district of Ganderbal, police said in Srinagar. "The operation was carried out by 5 Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of police and the Central Reserve Police Force," an officer said. The security forces did not suffer any casualty in the fighting that lasted more than six hours. The battle erupted as the security forces cordoned off Hadoora village following a tip. The terrorists then opened fire at the security forces who retaliated. A terrorist was also killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district as the army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS in Jammu that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. --IANS sq/mr/sar ( 251 Words) 2017-01-24-13:50:13 (IANS) The entire Opposition members today staged a walk out from the Assembly alleging non-functioning of the government. As soon as the house assembled after an adjournment for fifteen minutes after adopting condolence resolutions, the opposition N R Congress and AIADMK members were on their feet objecting to the house adopting government resolutions. Their contention was that there is no use of adopting resolutions when the elected government could not implement any schemes due to the power struggle between the Lt.Governor and it. While the N R Congress members led by former Chief Minister N Rangasamy was on their feet by shouting, the four AIADMK members moved to the podium of the Speaker V Vaithilingam and entered into an argument with him. AIADMK legislature party leader A Anbazhagan was heard asking why the government had failed to waive agricultural loan to the tune of Rs.15 crore and release Rs12 crore arrears to the cane growers which were already announced. They later, moved into the well of the house and sat in a dharna.As the N R Congress members were shouting and AIADMK members raising voice in the well, the Speaker asked the members to speak one by one. Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Kamalakannan moved a government resolution seeking central assistance towards drought in Puducherry and Karaikal regions of the Union Territory. As Mr Kamalakannan was speaking on the resolution, the N R Congress members staged a walk out. The AIADMK members who resumed their seats continued their argument stating that the government did nothing in the last seven months because of the confrontation with the Lt.Governor. The government machinery had come to a standstill and the officials are functioning in two groups, he charged. Mr Anbazhagan said all these issues need to be discussed in the house and the mere adoption of a resolution will do no good to Puducherry. Later the AIADMK members also staged a walk out.MORE UNI PAB CS 1508 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1120749.Xml Several police personnel and Jan Adhikar Party (JAP) leaders and workers were injured during a clash between them near JP roundabout under Gandhi Maidan police station here today. Patna Police Superintendent (City) Chandan Kumar Kushwaha said the trouble began when JAP leaders and workers under the leadership of MP and party chief Rajesh Ranjan broke barricades and threw stones at police personnel in their attempt to move ahead during a party sponsored march. He said police resorted to baton charge and used water cannons on JAP leaders and workers when they continued to create unruly scenes. Mr Kushwaha said several cops were injured in the attack by JAP leadersand workers. He said a riot control vehicle of the state police was also calledto disperse the mob. He said the situation was brought under control after additional police personnel were rushed to the spot from various police stations. Rapid Action Force (RAF) jawans were also rushed to the spot to assist district police authorities in bringing the situation under control, sources added. Meanwhile, JAP supremo Mr Yadav said several party leaders, including state party president Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, and workers sustained injuries in the police action. He claimed that he and his party activists could not be cowed through such police 'high-handedness'. JAP organised "Garib Adhikar" march in protest against black money and 'benami' property to coincide with the birth anniversary of former chief minister Karpoori Thakur. UNI DH KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-1120824.Xml The indigenously built multi barrel Rocket launcher guided ''Pinaka'' was today successfully test fired from the Integrated Test Range(ITR) at Chandipur-on-Sea, about 15 kms from here. ITR sources said the guided Pinaka is successfully test fired from Launch Complex-III at 1245 hours for further enhanced range. Pinaka Rocket Mark-II, equipped with Navigation, guidance and control kit, is transformed to a guided Pinaka. The conversion has facilitated to enhance the range and improve the accuracy of Pinaka. ITR sources claimed that the mission met all the objectives. All the Radars, Electro Optical and Telemetry Systems at ITR Chandipur tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path. The guided Pinaka is developed combinedly by ARDE, Pune, RCI, Hyderabad and DRDL, Hyderabad. ITR, Chandipur provided the range and Launch support. Dr KM Rajan, Director ARDE, Pune, Mr.i BHVS Narayana Murthy, Director, RCI, Hyderabad, Dr BK Das, Director, ITR, Chandipur,Mr. KPS Murthy, Director HEMRL, Pune and Mr.R Appavuraj, Director, PXE, Chandipur monitored the Launch operations. Lt Gen Subrata Saha, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (P&S), Lt Gen PK Srivastava,DG Artillery and other Senior Officers of Army witnessed the launch. Dr G Satheesh Reddy, SA to RM and DG(MSS), who was present during the launch operations said the success of guided Pinaka has shown the capability of the county in converting unguided systems into precision weapons. Dr S Christopher, Chairman DRDO said it is an example of synergy between Armed Forces and DRDO. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated both Army and DRDO for developing guided Pinaka in a very short span of time. UNI DP AKM 1630 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0213-1120949.Xml The Assembly today adopted a resolution seeking adequate funds from the Centre towards drought relief in Puducherry, Karaikal and Mahe regions in the Union Territory. Replying to the debate allowed on the issue, Agriculture Minister R Kamalakannan said that a sum of Rs.100 crore would be sought from the centre towards drought relief. Intervening Kamlakannan, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said that the centre was approached for drought relief and in the meantime, as an interim measure. funds would be made available from the state budget. After the independent member Dr Ramachandran from Mahe informing the plight of Mahe following monsoon failure, the Mahe region was also included in the scheme. Earlier, Mr.Kamalakannan said that the issue of government order in respect of waiver of agricultural loan was delayed because of the assembly by-election. Certainly the loan amount of Rs 22 crore for 6,0000 farmers would be waived and there is no change in this regard. He said there was a loss of 7890 metric tones of paddy in Puducherry region costing Rs 11.61 crore because of the failure of monsoon, while in Karaikal the loss is estimated around 364 metric tones of paddy costing Rs.1.82 crore. The loss in other grains is for Rs.60.19 crors and sugarcane for Rs.25 crore, he added. The Minister also advised that there should be a caution in utilizing groundwater in the coming days, failing which the government will have to spend a huge amount towards water. Mr Kamalakannan said that when he was in New Delhi along with Chief Minister, a Central team was requested for Puducherry and Karaikal to assess the drought condition and it was reiterated when the Chief Minister went to attend the GST meeting. The centre would do the needful after January 28 since, the rainy season is coming to a close by then, he added. Moving the resolution, Mr Kamalakannan said that the North-East Monsoon had failed in Puducherry and Karaikal this season and added that compared to the average yearly rainfall of 986 MM, only 283 mm were received this year in Karaikal while it was 637 mm in Puducherry. Due to the monsoon failure, the ground water level depleted and crops in an area of 4400 hectre in Karaikal and 4483 hectre were affected. After the minister's reply the government resolution was adopted in the house. Chief minister V Narayansamy also moved a government resolution seeking to exempt Puducherry from the National Entrance and Eligibility Test(NEET) and urging the Centre to permit Puducherry to pass necessary bill for conduct of Jallikattu here.The two government resolutions will be taken up tomorrow.UNI PAB CS 1655 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1120993.Xml The step is to further accelerated its manufacturing, skilldevelopment and engineering footprint in India besides forging theway towards building a strong and indigenous aerospace ecosystem insupport of the 'Make in India' initiative, Boeing said in a statementhere . Boeing is also shaping research and technical collaborationswith Indian companies and institutions. Hundreds of local employees will work to support Boeing invarious fields including Information Technology and Data Analytics,Engineering, Research and Technology, and Test, the statement said. BIETC will leverage a talented pool of employees to increaseproductivity and long-term competitiveness to support Boeing'sengineering growth in strong global markets like India. When we look for regions of competitiveness for the companyaround the world, we look at building cost, capability and marketaccess advantages,'' said Pratyush Kumar, President for BoeingIndia. ''In India we see a true path towards a mutual partnershipfor success, and the launch of BIETC is a major step in thatdirection'' he added. The BIETC and the talented people who work here are strengtheningBoeing's efforts to innovate, compete and win by providingcontributions in key technology areas that make our products andservices more capable and more valuable, said Greg Hyslop, BoeingChief Technology Officer, and Senior Vice President, BoeingEngineering, Test & Technology. The company said the new centre is instrumental in promoting thedigital transformation of Boeing by utilising India's talentseamlessly with our U.S. teams. With a mix of technically proficient engineers, BIETC willundertake high quality technology-driven work to support areas asdiverse as the development of advanced environment friendlycoatings, data analytics for next generation, Airplane HealthManagement tools, software tools for airlines and airports toimprove their operations and reduce costs, automation for moreefficient next-generation manufacturing, systems, infrastructure andanalytics. UNI CNR RS CS 1643 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1120954.Xml The opposition Congress party leader inthe Lok sabha Mallikarjun Kharge today appealed to the Supreme Courtthat it should reconsider its verdict on presentation of the UnionBudget on February 1 before elections to the five states and uphold democracy. Talking to the presspersons here, Mr Kharge said the presentationof Union Budget before elections to five states would violate theModel Code of Conduct in poll-bound states. Mr Kharge said that on upholding the value of democracy the courtmust consider its earlier pronouncement and restrict thepresentation of budget before elections. The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition which soughtpostponement of the Union Budget from February 1 on the grounds ofensuing Assembly elections in five states. A bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D YChandrachud junked the plea, which claimed that the Union Budgetwould violate the Model Code of Conduct in poll-bound states. "There is no illustration to support that presentation of UnionBudget would influence voters' mind in state elections," the apexcourt had said. The Senior Congress leader however welcomed the ElectionCommission's direction to the Centre over the Union Budget againststate-specific schemes. He said that democracy requires a levelplaying field between the ruling government and opposition and addedthat the poll panel has rightfully upheld it with its order, he said. Mr Kharge further added that the Prime Minster Narendra Modi-ledBJP Government had a history of misusing government schemes beforeelections and the Election Commission order would be essential inmaintain level playing field in a democratic country. He expressed dissatisfaction over slow work in completion of railwayprojects and regional airports in Hyderabad-Karnataka region anddemanded the union government officials to expedite the ongoing project. With the demand mounting for revoking ban on Kambala, Mr Khargesaid "We are in favour of Kambala. It is an old traditional game andit has to be continued. We will examine it that whether to bring anordinance or not. If necessary, we will do it," he added.UNI SD RS CS 1700 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-1121010.Xml Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today denied that there was a turf war between the Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and the government. Talking to newspersons after the house was adjourned, he said `the Ministers are all functioning within the powers available to them. We will never compromise on the powers available to the democratically elected and constituted ministry`. Stating that there was no turf war between the Lt Governor and the Ministry, the Chief Minister said that it had been recorded in the proceedings that there should be any critical comments on Lt Governor on the floor of the Assembly. He regretted that the AINRC, the main opposition in the Assembly, had been shirking its responsibility and without discussing people`s issues in the house, its members had staged a walk out of the house today. `This is not acceptable` he said, adding that the AINRC had been in deep slumber during its regime without addressing woes of the people. Mr Narayanasamy was confident that the Central budget being presented in Parliament on February 1 would unveil copious funds for the developmental programmes of Union Territory of Puducherry. Asked about the criticism of AINRC President Rangasamy for the failure of Congress government in getting funds from the centre, Mr.Narayanasamy said that those who had not gone to New Delhi in the last five years have no moral right to criticize the Congress government. On the statehood issue, he said Mr Rangasamy could have obtained statehood when N R Congress was supporting the central government.UNI PAB CS 1813 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-1121221.Xml The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today asked Punjab Congress Chief Capt Amarinder Singh to first settle the battle for Chief Ministerial post within his own party before dreaming of capturing power and crossing swords with other parties at the February 4 Assembly polls. In a statement here, SAD spokesman Manjinder Singh Sirsa said everybody knows that the Congress has nearly half a dozen CMs-in-waiting. Partap Singh Bajwa, Sunil Jakhar and Charanjit Singh Channi have always considered themselves as Chief Ministerial material. Even lesser beings such as Rana Gurmit Sodhi and Rana Gurjit Singh also harbour such ambitions.The latest to join this long list is Navjot Singh Sidhu who has presumably been given assurance in this regard by none other party Vice-president Rahul Gandhi himself. Mr Sidhu himself has been cleverly trying to dodge this issue publicly but posters which have appeared in his constituency seeking votes in the name of 'Sidhu for CM' tell a tale. Capt Singh will be well advised to take note of this ominous development, he added.Mr Sirsa said Mr Gandhi has so far refused to declare Capt Singh as party's Chief Ministerial face despite desperate pleas by the latter. Capt Singh's royal lifestyle and his cross-border connections in Pakistan are well known to the people of Punjab. This is what has prevented Mr Gandhi from declaring Capt Singh as CM's candidate. Mr Gandhi is scheduled to tour Punjab from January 27. It remains to be seen if he will oblige Capt Singh this time on this score. The SAD leader said people of Punjab will never vote for person like Capt Singh who likes to live life king size, love his drinks and remains inaccessible to the common man.UNI DB SW SNU 1826 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0292-1120963.Xml Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today appealed all to come forward to hold talks with the government. Suspected NSCN(IM) militants, meanwhile, continued to attack a convoy of vehicles on the Imphal Jiribam highway today which resulted in damage of an oil tanker. Mr Ibobi said he has reiterated time and again that the government is ready to hold talks with the stakeholders to resolve the ongoing economic blockade in the national highways which began on November 1 after a day of total shut down on October 31. He said the government wants to resolve the problem amicably. He said the government was already ready for talks and his government had already written to the Centre indicating the preparedness to hold talks. He, however, said there is no information from the Centre about holding of talks with the United Naga Council (UNC). The role of the Centre is important as the blockade is on the national highways which is under the jurisdiction of the Centre and the UNC is the frontal organization of NSCN(IM) with which the Centre is holding talks. He said seven new districts were created for administrative convenience and it should not be interpreted as done on ethnic lines. The government is also trying to bring in essential commodities twice a week by providing security. Petroleum products was airlifted for the third day today but it could not meet the demands of the people. Normalcy can be restored only when traffic is restored on the highway. The security personnel have been repeatedly attacked by NSCN(IM) cadres which resulted in the death of a Naga youth on the highway according to Manipur Police. At the highway at Noney district today an oil tanker was hit by a bullet . The state continues to reel under shortage of all essential supplies due to the blockade . UNI NS AD1934 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0108-1121470.Xml In an effort to discourage cash transactions throughout the country, the Chief Minister Sub Committee on Digital Payment today recommended to levy banking cash transaction tax (BCTT) on withdrawal of Rs 50,000 from banks. The committee-headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu submitted the interim report on digital payment to Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. Addressing the mediapersons here, Mr Naidu said, To curb use of cash for large transaction consider levy of Banking Cash Transaction Tax of Rs 50,000 and above. Among others recommendations, the panel suggested to consider all government sections like insurance, educational institutions, fertilisers, PDS, petroleum, etc to switch over to digital payment. It also recommended for lower or zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for all digital payments to government entities. The panel is also in favour of making Aadhar a mode of primary ID for Know Your Customer (KYC). More UNI ASH RSA 2031 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-1121594.Xml Responding to a question while addressing the BJP's youthconvention in the poll-bound state, he said, ''Though situationin Goa is different, the social condition of SC (Scheduled Caste)and ST (Scheduled Tribe) people across the country is not good.'' ''I admit there is some misuse of reservation but I feel weneed to work out a mechanism to bring up those who aredowntrodden into the social structure. The reason behindreservation is to bring them up. I feel that there is a need forreservation policy,'' he added. Recently Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) publicity chiefManmohan Vaidya had reportedly said that even Dr B R Ambedkar,architect of constitution of the country, was not in favour ofcontinuation of reservation and there was a need to reviewreservation policy. UNI AKM SS RSA 2028 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-1121452.Xml U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after he was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the presidential inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order to officially withdraw U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal. Trump called the move "a great thing for the American workers", local media reported. "We've been talking about this for a long time," Trump said as he signed the order. The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, was formally signed by ministers from these 12 countries in last February after more than five years' negotiation. Trump's action on Monday was considered as a symbolic move, as the U.S. Congress hasn't approved the deal yet. However, the move indicated that the new administration is actually shifting trade policies from previous U.S. norms. According to the trade strategy put forward by the Trump administration, the strategy starts by withdrawing from the TPP and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The White House also said it will pursue trade deals which are in the interests of American workers and crack down on nations that violate trade agreements and harm American workers. During his election campaign, Trump promised to never sign massive trade agreements like the TPP, which he said would "destroy" U.S. manufacturing. He also vowed to renegotiate NAFTA and threatened to levy hefty tariffs on Mexico. Trump said on Sunday that he would soon meet leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss the renegotiation of NAFTA. At a meeting with business leaders on Monday, Trump also said that the administration will impose "a very major border tax" on companies that are shifting production overseas. International institutions, such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund, have warned that the inward-looking policy and protectionism could be a threat to global growth. CAIRO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump discussed on Monday with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi war against terrorism and extremism in a phone call, Sisi's spokesman said in a press statement. "Sisi stressed to Trump Egypt's commitment in the fight against terrorism despite economic burdens faced by the Middle Eastern country in the past three years," the spokesman said. Meanwhile, Trump reiterated his appreciation for the efforts Egypt has made in the fight against terrorism. The two leaders also stressed their beliefs in the strategic relations between Cairo and Washington. Trump is looking forward to the Egyptian president's visit to Washington, which is in the planning stages, the spokesman added. UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Gurerress has made it a priority for the United Nations to have a whistleblower protection policy that meets the highest possible standards, a spokesman said here Monday. Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General, said at the daily news briefing that Gurerress has just approved a policy to provide better protection for individuals who report possible misconduct or cooperate with duly authorized audits or investigations. Staff and management both agreed on the policy, contained in a bulletin that was just issued, said Dujarric. Major policy changes include that the Ethics Office and Office of Internal Oversight Services will now be able to take preventive action where a risk of retaliation has been identified, he said. The policy affords protection from retaliation to whistleblowers who report wrongdoing committed not only by staff but also by contractors, non-UN peacekeepers and others, he said, citing another change which says "complainants will be notified of disciplinary measures taken against staff members found to have retaliated against them." The Secretary General has also tasked an internal working group to examine whether the policy on protection against retaliation should be further expanded to also provide more protections for consultants and individual contractors. He has given the working group a deadline of June 30, 2017 to come back with their recommendations on this, according to Dujarric. On the first day at the helm of the United Nations, Guterres pledged to work for peace, development and a reformed United Nations. ACCRA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The Ghanaian government will use capital provision to boost growth of the private sector, Minister-designate for Trade and Industry Allan Kwadwo Kyerematen said Monday. This, he told the Appointments Committee, was part of the government's intended focus on the private sector to lead the industrial transformation of Ghana. According to him, the government will ensure that the private businesses have access to medium and long-term capital. "We all recognize that it is not as if the banks in this country do not provide credit and financing, but we know it is the tenure of the credit they provide which is a challenge for our companies," the ministerial nominee said. The New Patriotic Party (NPP), which won the December election, had made the promise of building one factory in every districts during the political campaign. Kyerematen said providing capital for the private sector was critical to the realization of the One-District-One-Factory pledge. He argued that providing capital for the private sector would remove difficulties SMEs faced in raising credit through commercial banks. He called for a case-by-case implementation as "some of the companies may only need marketing support, some may require an infusion of new technology, some may require additional investment capital." Enditem JERUSALEM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli court said Monday that the country's nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was convicted of violating his parole conditions, more than a decade after he spent 18 years in prison. The Jerusalem Magistrate Court made the decision on Jan. 10, but it was not cleared for publication until Monday. A sentencing hearing was scheduled for March 14. Vanunu was released in 2004 under a series of restraining orders, including a prohibition on contacting non-Israelis, possessing a mobile phone and leaving Israel. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Judicial Authority said Vanunu was charged with three counts of violating his release. He was convicted of meeting two U.S. citizens in a hotel in East Jerusalem in 2013 without permission from Israeli authorities. He might face two months in jail for this count. He was cleared of two other counts, including one related to giving an interview to Channel 2 TV news in 2015. Vanunu was jailed in 1986 after disclosing information of the nuclear facility in Israel's Dimona, where he worked as a technician, to the British Sunday Times. Israeli intelligence agents arrested him in Italy and brought him back to Israel. Tanzanian President John Magufuli (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Jan. 23, 2017. Tanzania and Turkey on Monday agreed to boost economic ties shortly after they had signed partnership agreements in education research, health, transport, defence and security. (Xinhua/Mroki) DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania and Turkey on Monday agreed to boost economic ties shortly after they had signed partnership agreements in education research, health, transport, defence and security. The signing of the agreements was witnessed by Tanzanian President John Magufuli and visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam. The agreements will see cooperation between the two countries' airlines, broadcasters, and in health, development, tourism and industrialization. Other areas of cooperation included defence and security where Tanzanian security personnel will have a chance to receive training in Turkey. Magufuli said trade between Tanzania and Turkey stood at 190 million U.S. dollars by last year, adding that that there was need for the two countries to enhance cooperation. The Tanzanian president asked Erdogan to support Tanzania with a loan through Exim Bank of Turkey to help in finalizing the construction of a section of the Standard Gauge Railway project. Magufuli said the tender for the railway project was still under way, adding that one of the companies competing in the tender was from Turkey. The Turkish president said his country saw a great potential of cooperation in Tanzania in various areas. "When we join hands we can achieve more than this because the current trade figures does not reflect the real potentials that our countries have. We can be able to reach at least 500 million U.S. dollars a year if we can cooperate fully," he said. Erdogan is also scheduled to visit Mozambique and Madagascar in his African tour. DUBLIN, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Three men, including two Aer Lingus employees, have been arrested over alleged immigrant smuggling through Dublin airport, Irish police said on Monday. Meanwhile, Aer Lingus, Ireland's national flag carrier airline, said it was cooperating fully with police in their investigation. The three men, aged 61, 56, and 28 years, were arrested at the airport on Sunday night and are being detained separately at two police stations. Police said the immigrant smuggling network had been running for years and it was possible that up to 100 illegal immigrants a year were smuggled through Dublin airport. According to Ireland's public broadcaster RTE, a so-called travel agency, based in Rome, is suspected of having been involved in helping bring illegal immigrants from Asia to Dublin. When the illegal immigrants arrived at Dublin airport, they were met by someone who escorted them to a secure area and gave them uniforms or high visibility jackets to disguise them as Aer Lingus employees, RTE said. They were then put in cars and trucks that had security clearance and driven from the airport to a safe house in the city, it said. UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- More than 161,000 people are internally displaced as a result of ongoing fighting in Iraq's Mosul city, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing on Monday. Humanitarian partners delivered aid packages consisting of food, water supplies and hygiene materials to 4,500 people in an east Mosul city neighborhood on Sunday, said Dujarric. Over last week, some 56,100 people living in east Mosul received aid packages from UN partners, he noted. Iraqi security forces have been fighting fiercely to drive out the Islamic State (IS) militants from their last stronghold on the northern outskirts of the eastern side of Mosul, the city which has been under IS control since June 2014. In October 2016, Iraqi troops kicked off operations to recapture Mosul, some 400 kilometers north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. Battles in Mosul slowed down in December as extremist militants started using civilians as human shields, resorted to suicide car bombings and made mortar and sniper attacks. SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The University of California, Berkeley, launched a new laboratory Monday to work on data-intensive computer systems that provide on real-time intelligence with secure execution (RISE). Housed in UC Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences within the College of Engineering, the RISELab is a five-year intensive research lab supported by founding sponsors including Amazon Web Services, Ant Financial, Capital One, Ericsson, GE Digital, Google, Huawei, Intel, IBM, Microsoft and VMWare. The RISELab researchers are looking to make real-time decisions in milliseconds. "The RISE challenge is to allow machines to make decisions in a tight loop with the real world," said lab principal investigator professor Joseph Gonzalez, an expert in Machine Learning systems. "So we need systems that can both understand the big context, and continuously adapt their beliefs and make robust decisions in real time." RISELab's principal investigator and director Ion Stoica said the lab's mission is to tackle"a longstanding grand challenge in computing: to enable machines to rapidly take intelligent actions based on real-time data and context from the world around them. This technology has applications wherever computing decisions need to interact with the world in real time, ranging from earthquake warning systems, to coordinating fleets of self-driving cars and drones, to cybersecurity and real-time financial services." "Data science is a critical area of expertise for the future of organizations across all industries," Dinesh Nirmal, vice president of analytics development at IBM, was quoted as saying in a news release from UC Berkeley. "We are looking forward to working with UC Berkeley RISELab to further advance data science technology for the next generation workforce." BUDAPEST, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation with China could help the European Union (EU) to rebuild and strengthen its economy, National Bank of Hungary Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy said on Monday. The EU needs to build political, intellectual, financial and human bridges between the EU and China, he said at the Lamfalussy Conference in Budapest. The EU, Matolcsy said, needs financial stability and job creation, but it can't achieve this with austerity measures. He proposed strong bridges between the EU and Asia, with China at the center of cooperation and initiative. Bank of China Chairman Tian Guoli discussed the various advantages of linking East Asia with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe at the conference. Tian noted that the full connection of the European and Asian markets would create the world's longest economic corridor, for the two regions complemented one another. Addressing the conference among the dignitaries, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called China "a fixed star" that would define the world economy for many decades to come. Regarding Europe's ties with Russia, Orban said that sanctions against Russia had "failed," saying Europe should not ignore either the power or the opportunities inherent in Russia. TIRANA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The main opposition party in Albania, the Democratic Party (DP), has started a process in which citizens are invited to participate and propose their political candidates for the elections of 2017. The initiative called "Propose Your MP" was launched by the DP on Monday. All members, supporters and common citizens are invited to propose who they would like to run for them in the elections, the DP chairman Lulzim Basha said in a press statement. Calling this initiative as the first step towards a big political turn, the opposition leader said the proposed names will be vetted and then the DP will pick up the ones that will represent their voters throughout the country. According to Basha, the country is going through a socioeconomic crisis, therefore, transparency in elections of lawmakers is crucial. Albania will hold parliamentary elections on June 18 and the political parties here are already preparing for the election campaign. U.S. President Donald Trump gestures after delivering his inaugural address during the presidential inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 20, 2017. DonaldTrump was sworn in on Friday as the 45th president of the United States. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The White House said Monday that the newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump is open to conducting joint strikes with Russia on Islamic State (IS) terrorists. "I think if there's a way that we can combat ISIS (IS) with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure we'll take it," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said at a briefing. The stance breaks from the policy of the previous U.S. administration, which only worked with Russia to de-conflict air strikes in Syria. The remark came after the Russian defense ministry claimed that two jets from the U.S.-led coalition participated in a strike on IS targets alongside Russian aircraft. But the Pentagon on Monday denied the claim. "The Department of Defense (DoD) is not coordinating air strikes with the Russian military in Syria," Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, said. "DoD maintains a channel of communication with the Russian military focused solely on ensuring the safety of aircrews and de-confliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria," Pahon added. LONDON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled an industrial strategy to fit the condition of post-Brexit British economy on Monday as she held her first regional cabinet meeting in the northwest of England. The plan titled Building our Industrial Strategy has 10 points, including investing in science, research and innovation, developing skills, upgrading infrastructure, supporting business to start and grow, improving government procurement, encouraging trade and inward investment, delivering affordable energy and clean growth, cultivating world-leading sectors, driving growth across the whole country and creating the right institutions to bring together sectors and places. According to the plan, the objective of this modern industrial strategy is to improve living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the whole country. This strategy is "a critical part of our plan for post-Brexit Britain. It will help to deliver a stronger economy and a fairer society," May said. The prime minister hopes that through this new approach Britain will "seize the opportunities of Brexit to build a brighter future for all." Greg Clark, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said a modern industrial strategy must make the UK one of the most competitive places in the world to start or grow a business. CANBERRA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government on Tuesday urged national and state political parties to ensure they are adequately protected from cyber attacks. Following claims that U.S. presidential election campaigns were manipulated by hackers, Australia's Assistant Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan has warned federal and state political parties to keep up to date with cyber security protocols in order to protect themselves from attacks. "We're heading into a new election cycle, we've got two state elections coming up this year," Tehan told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday. "We have to make sure our political processes, our democratic processes, are protected from this type of intrusion." Next month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will host a summit aimed at teaching political entities about the risks of cyber attacks, with the Australian Cyber Security Centre to brief leaders on how to best limit the risk. "Australian democracy is something that we have to preserve, it's something that we have to cherish, it's something that we have to protect," Tehan said. Last year, the government was the subject of at least two cyber attacks. The Bureau of Meteorology's website was breached and malicious software was installed, while the nation's first online census was also hit by a number of Denial of Service attacks, prompting the shut-down of the service for almost 48 hours. Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in Cauquenes commune, Maule Region, Chile, Jan. 23, 2017. Chile is battling the worst forest fires in its history "affecting an area 20 times larger than in 2016," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Twitter Monday. The message came as firefighters battled 110 fires, 23 of them considered to be "large scale," spreading over 200 hectares or more, the El Mercurio daily reported online. (Xinhua/Victor Perez/AGENCIA UNO) SANTIAGO, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Chile is battling the worst forest fires in its history "affecting an area 20 times larger than in 2016," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said on Twitter Monday. The message came as firefighters battled 110 fires, 23 of them considered to be "large scale," spreading over 200 hectares or more, the El Mercurio daily reported online. Another 76 fires have been brought under control by the National Forest Corporation (Conaf). Chile's Minister of Foreign Affairs Heraldo Munoz told reporters his country has requested international aid to tackle the blazes. The United States, Argentina, Mexico and France have offered to help, Munoz said. Fires have destroyed more than 127,000 hectares of crops and vegetation in six regions in the northern, southern and central parts of the country. Three firefighters have died battling the fires, which have also razed homes and killed cattle, birds and other forest faunas. Some 2,000 volunteers have joined the Conaf to help stamp out the fires. Bachelet has declared three regions to be in a state of emergency. KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's budget airlines AirAsia has denied its involvement in the bribery case of British aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce, local media reported Tuesday. British media reported earlier that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has named AirAsia as among foreign parties allegedly involved in bribery cases with the aircraft engine maker. In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, the stock exchange in Kuala Lumpur, AirAsia denied any dealing with Rolls-Royce. "We wish to state that at all material times, AirAsia has had no dealings or transactions with Rolls-Royce and has no knowledge of any matter mentioned in the article," said the low-cost carrier, refering to the media report. MEXICO CITY, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Monday outlined his government's new foreign policy goals, which aim to adapt to the new realities presented by U.S. President Donald Trump. "We must redefine...Mexico's relationship with the new government of the United States," said Pena Nieto, who is scheduled to meet Trump on Jan. 31. Trump supports more protectionist and isolationist policies to protect U.S. industry, and wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep out illegal migrants. In his negotiations with Trump, Pena Nieto said he will pursue 10 key goals, including "preserving the free trade" between the three. "Trade exchange between the three countries must be exempt from any tariffs or fees, as has been the case since 2008," according to a statement from the president's office. Pena Nieto also said he will strive to maintain a border that unifies, rather than divides. "Our border should be our best space for coexistence; a safe, prosperous space of shared development," said the president. Faced with a more closed northern partner, Mexico will also seek to diversify its trade and political ties with the rest of the world, particularly Argentina and Brazil, among Latin America's largest economies. To that end, Pena Nieto will attend an upcoming meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in the Dominican Republic. "Mexico must not only tackle the new global challenges that are emerging, but also take advantage of the new opportunities they present," said Pena Nieto. This year, his administration will work to update a trade agreement with the European Union and begin to negotiate a trade deal with Britain, once it has formalized its exit from the EU. One of Trump's first steps since taking office on Friday was to quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging free-trade agreement, including countries in Asia and Latin America, which his predecessor promoted. Mexico will participate in talks related to changes to the agreement, and continue to strengthen trade ties with Asian countries, the president said. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 3,800 people in China were arrested for crimes related to intellectual property rights (IPR) violations last year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) announced Tuesday. Over 7,000 people were prosecuted for violating IPR in 2016, the SPP said. According to official statistics, over 3,500 people were arrested for crimes involving trademark infringement, accounting for over 92 percent of all IPR offenders in 2016. Other IPR crimes in China last year included infringement of copyright and commercial secrets, said the SPP. Procuratorates nationwide have stepped up efforts to protect IPR by enhancing supervision over administrative and public security organs in transferring and filing IPR violation cases, according to the SPP. WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate voted Monday evening to approve the nomination of Mike Pompeo as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The 100-seat chamber voted 66-32, with 14 Democrats and an independent senator voting alongside the 51 Republicans to confirm the nomination. A simple majority is needed to confirm cabinet position nominations. This is the third confirmation for top officials in the administration of newly-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump, after James Mattis and John Kelly were cleared to head the Defense and Homeland Security Departments respectively. The vote came two days after Trump visited the CIA to deliver a goodwill speech during which he lamented that Congress has been slow in confirming the agency's new chief. Former CIA director John Brennan resigned on Friday as Trump took office. Pompeo, 52, has served as a hardline Republican congressman from Kansas since 2011. He was an early supporter of Trump's presidential bid and a member of the Tea Party movement in Congress. WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Despite speculations that the U.S.-China relationship could fall into uncertainties and instability under the Trump administration, experts say the two powers could avoid the case by holding an early dialogue to establish "rules of the road." As newly-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to take a tougher stance toward China on a range of issues, the experts hope the two countries could find a new "modus vivendi" through talks in a one-or-two-year timespan. POTENTIAL FRICTIONS IN TRUMP ERA On his year-long campaign trail, Trump, a brash billionaire, kept hammering China for the U.S. trade deficit and losses of jobs. He has threatened to designate China as a "currency manipulator" and impose high tariffs on Chinese goods, regardless of the potential damage to both sides, as the two economies are deeply interwound. Trump even claimed that everything, including the one-China policy that has always been upheld by his predecessors, is negotiable. This stands as a typical epitome that the new president would employ every bargaining chips in talks with China, which he believes, would serve American's national interest. Bonnie Glaser, a sinologist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Xinhua that she expects "a lot of frictions" in the U.S.-China relationship in the first year of the Trump administration. Glaser said the Taiwan issue could have the most harmful impact on the bilateral relationship, if the new U.S. government has a fundamental policy shift, as Beijing considers the one-China policy as the political foundation of the relationship. Under the three joint communiques governing China-U.S. ties, the United States is obliged to abide by the one-China policy, which recognizes that Taiwan is part of China and Beijing is the sole legal representative of China. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that tensions in the U.S.-China ties are expected under the Trump administration, citing tough comments made by Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for secretary of state, at a recent Senate hearing. Tillerson demanded a complete halt of China's construction activities in the South China Sea waters while vowing to deny China's access to the islands, which China regards as integral parts of its territory. The issues of dealing with the nuclear weapons program by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and cyber security could also invite miscalculations that will test the U.S.-China relationship, according to Dan Mahaffee, vice president and director of policy of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. POSSIBILITY OF MILITARY CONFLICT DOWNPLAYED Despite the likelihood of uprising U.S.-China frictions, the experts downplayed the possibility that China and the U.S. are headed for a military conflict. "I doubt there will be a military conflict. Perhaps after the first year or so, the two countries will find a new modus vivendi," Glaser said. Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua that "tensions are something we can live with...I doubt there is an appetite for conflict on either side," adding that his prediction is likely to be tested in the coming months. NEED FOR DIALOGUE TO CREATE "RULES OF THE ROAD" The experts agree that conflicts would be detrimental to both China and the United States, while highlighting the importance of holding early talks by the two sides to establish "rules of the road." "It will be important for the officials on both sides ... (to) maintain a constant dialogue to steer the negotiations and discussions -- be it diplomacy or bargaining -- away from conflict," Mahaffee said. He added that establishing "rules of the road" through emphasizing the shared interests are important for the two sides. O'Hanlon, for his part, called on Washington to adopt a more realistic goal and exercise "substantial restraint" on handling the South China Sea issue. , In Glaser's opinion, holding an early dialogue by the two nations is essential to avoiding tensions or conflict. "Set out clearly what are each other's bottom lines, and see where compromise is possible. Early in-depth dialogue is essential," she said. KUNMING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Fossils of a newly discovered otter species dating back about 6 million years have been found in southwest China's Yunnan Province. The well-preserved fossil has a nearly complete cranium and mandible and a partial skeleton. The otter, named Siamogale melilutra, weighed about 50 kilograms, around the same as a wolf, and measured up to two meters in length -- almost double the size of a modern otter. Computed tomography restoration of the skull revealed a combination of otter-like and badger-like skull and tooth characteristics, according to Xiaoming Wang, head of vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, adding that the species belonged to an extinct group of otters in East Asia. Otters are semi-aquatic predators. Modern otters have worldwide distribution, but their fossil record is poor. The new species discovered in Yunnan and that previously found in Shanxi Province outlined the migration paths of otters moving from Southeast Asia to south China and then north China and can help scientists better understand the evolution of the animals. The fossils were unearthed in a coal pit by a team of archaeologists in Yunnan in 2010. The discoveries were published in the latest issue of the Journal of Systematic Paleontology by scientists from China, the United States and France. by Xinhua Writer Shen Zhonghao DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The 2017 Summer Davos, to be held in the northeast Chinese city of Dalian in the coming summer, will mainly focus on environment and technology issues, a senior official with the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said. Dominic Waughray, head of the Public-Private Partnership and a member of the Executive Committee of the World Economic Forum (WEF), made the remarks in a recent written interview with Xinhua. According to him, the Summer Davos, also known as the Annual Meeting of the New Champions, will discuss, among others, circular and sharing economy, oceans, green investment and new technology innovations for environmental management. This was viewed as an effort of addressing pressing global environmental risks, as the WEF stressed in its latest annual Global Risks Report. According to the report, climate change stands to be one of the top underlying trends in 2017, and environmental risks rank for the first time among the most likely and most impactful risks in the world. Actually, issues regarding climate change, environmental protection and sustainable growth were extensively discussed amid the WEF annual meeting in Davos last week. "A common approach to protecting our global commons is required," Waughray emphasized, in view of the environmental deterioration and declining biodiversity. Global cooperation between public and private sectors can create new alliances to reverse these trends, and demonstrate especially to young people how collaboration, rather than isolation, can bring benefit to all, he added. Investment in green energy, green transport and other green infrastructure and circular economy is actually the key to boosting economic growth, Waughray said. China plays an increasingly vital role as a world leader in a green and sustainable development model, both in the public and private sectors, said the WEF senior official. The world's largest issuer of green bonds during 2016 was the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, with China's priorities placed on ecological and digital economy, he added. In terms of the current environmental challenges China is facing, such as smog, Waughray pointed out, it is a worldwide problem plaguing cities, while China is attaching great importance to improving its urban air quality. U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after he was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the presidential inauguration ceremony at the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C., the United States, on Jan. 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed three memorandums, ordering the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a freeze on federal hiring and a ban on financing pro-abortion programs abroad with U.S. federal funds. "We've been talking about this for a long time," Trump said as he signed the paper ordering the exit from TPP. "Great thing for the American worker, what we just did," Trump said as he held up the signed document to the press. The White House has yet to release the details of the executive order. The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, was formally signed by ministers from these 12 countries in last February after more than five years' negotiation. Trump's action on Monday was considered as a symbolic move, as the U.S. Congress hasn't approved the deal yet. However, the move indicated that the new administration is actually shifting trade policies from previous U.S. norms. Trump has also said he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with the Canadian and Mexican governments, seeking a better deal for the United States. International institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that the inward-looking policy and protectionism could be a threat to global growth. Trump then signed an order that put a freeze on hiring employees from federal agencies. "Except for the military," Trump stressed as he signed the paper. The order dictates that no vacant positions can be filled, or new position created, unless an agency head deems the position "necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities," according to the memorandum. The memorandum also said the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management will devise a plan within 90 days to "recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the federal government." The third executive order Trump signed on his first working day as president was a ban on the financing of pro-abortion programs abroad with U.S. federal funds. The policy, nicknamed the Mexico City policy, originated from the Reagan years and went on and off in the years after depending which political party took hold of the White House. Former President Barack Obama rescinded the policy when he entered the White House in 2009. Accompanying Trump in the oval office as he signed the orders were Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon, among others. by Liu Xue, Hu Dandan, Liu Qu JERUSALEM/BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- What will happen if Artificial Intelligence (AI) knows us better than we do about ourselves? Yuval Noah Harari, author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, shared his insight on how trends in science and technology may progress and influence human kind in a written interview with Xinhua. Harari is recently making quite a splash in China with the launch of the Chinese version of his equally compelling new book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, in which he turns his focus on humanity's future and the quest to upgrade humans, as science, especially AI, advance rapidly nowadays. INTEGRATION OF HUMANS AND SMART MACHINES According to Harari, people have already taken the first steps on the path of integration of humans and smart machines. People are already merging with their smartphones, and in the case of China, their Wechat accounts -- the intelligent devices and apps that constantly study us, adapt to our unique personality, and shape our worldview and innermost desires. "In the coming decades, we are likely to proceed much faster along this path, by developing machine learning, biometric sensors and direct brain-computer interfaces. In 2050, it is likely that your smartphone will not be separate from you at all," said the bestseller author, who is also a historian, adding that AI will also detect diseases such as cancer when they are still in their early stages. "It will be embedded in your body via biometric sensors, and it will monitor your heart rate, your blood pressure and your brain activity 24 hours a day. It will also have the computing power necessary to analyze the endless stream of biometric data coming from these sensors," said Harari. "I think by 2100, humans and machines might merge so completely that humans will not be able to survive at all if they are disconnected from the network," he said. BY DATA ANALYZING, AI GETS TO KNOW US BETTER THAN OURSELVES An AI could know us better than we know ourselves by collecting and analyzing immense amounts of data about ourselves, and "this can give the corporation or government that controls AI the ability to understand my desires, predict my decisions, make choices for me, and manipulate me," predicted the author. For example, "devices such as Amazon's Kindle are able to constantly collect data on their users while they are reading books ... If Kindle is upgraded with face recognition software and biometric sensors, it could know how each sentence you read influenced your heart rate and blood pressure. Soon, books will read you while you are reading them ... Such data should eventually enable Amazon to choose books for you with uncanny precision. It will also enable Amazon to know exactly who you are, and how to press your emotional buttons," said the author. "Take this to its logical conclusion, and eventually people may give algorithms the authority to make the most important decisions in their lives, such as whom to marry," according to the author. Imagine the scenario. "In a data-driven society I will ask Amazon to choose my mate for me. 'Listen Amazon,' I will say, 'both John and Paul are courting me. I like both of them, and it's so hard to make up my mind. Given everything you know, what do you advise me to do?'" "And Amazon will answer: 'Well, I know you from the day you were born. I have read all your emails, recorded all your phone calls, and know your favorite books, your DNA, and the entire biometric history of your heart. I have exact data about each date you went on, and if you want, I can show you second-by-second graphs of your heart rate, blood pressure and sugar levels whenever you went on a date with John or Paul ... Based on all this information, on my superb algorithms, and on decades' worth of statistics about millions of relationships -- I advise you to go with John, with an 87 percent probability of being more satisfied with him in the long run." Just like that, with data analyzing and algorithms, our machine gets to know us better, at least better on average, as most people don't know themselves very well, and many make terrible mistakes in the most important decisions of their lives. RULES MATTER Harari thinks it is a must to map out rules for future development of smart machines, since they will dominate people's economy, politics and personal lives. Take self-driving cars as an example. Suppose a self-driving car lost its breaks, and it has to choose between driving forward and killing five innocent pedestrians, or swerving to the side and endangering the life of its owner. If the free market is left to make the say, disturbing things would happen as people will naturally opt for the model that gives the driver the utmost protection, even at the price of the pedestrians' lives, and therefore it is necessary to map out rules beforehand, he said, adding as shown in history, technological breakthroughs can create very different kinds of societies. For example, in the 20th century people could use the technology of the Industrial Revolution -- trains, electricity, radio, telephone -- to create fascist dictatorships, socialist countries or liberal democracies.Similarly, in the 21st century the rise of AI and biotechnology will certainly transform the world, but it does not mandate a single deterministic outcome. Therefore how to use them wisely is the most important questions facing humankind today. The future not only of humanity, but probably of life itself, depends on how people choose to use AI and biotechnology, according to the author. Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in world history. Harari's 2014 book Sapiens became an international bestseller which Microsoft founder Bill Gates recommended to his wife, calling it one that would spark great conversations. Homo Deus was first published in Hebrew in 2015. The English version was published in September 2016 in Britain and will be published next month in the United States. The Chinese version hit the shelves in China in January 2017. JINAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two people were handed prison terms Tuesday after being convicted of selling vaccines without a license in east China's Shandong Province, according to a local court. Pang Hongwei was sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally purchasing vaccines, including rabies vaccines, which she stored in warehouses in Jinan and Liaocheng, and then selling them to clients in the province and other parts of the country between June 2013 and April 2015, according to a statement from the intermediate people's court of Jinan City, capital of Shandong. Pang improperly stored the vaccines she bought, and she earned nearly 75 million yuan (11 million U.S. dollars) in sales income, according to the statement. Pang was not a first time offender. In 2009, she was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year probation period for illegally trading vaccines in Heze City, Shandong. However, the case was retried, as required by the provincial higher people's court, and in April 2016 her sentence was extended to six years in prison without probation. The intermediate court ruled that Pang will serve 19 years in prison in total for her offences in the two cases. In addition, all of her property will be confiscated. The other defendant Sun Qi, Pang's daughter, was sentenced to six years in prison for assisting her mother and involvement in the sale of vaccines worth over 42 million yuan from September 2014 to April 2015. She will have more than 7.4 million yuan of property confiscated. The pair were caught by the police on April 28, 2015. The next day, the police found vaccines worth nearly 700,000 yuan they had stored in a warehouse of a towel factory in Jinan. An actress performs Peking Opera during a preview for media at the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. Aug. 27, 2014. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu) BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese operas are too difficult to learn? Try Chinese opera calisthenics! The rhythmic exercises have gone viral in the country after being released online by the China Central Television ahead of the lunar New Year. Designed by four Chinese opera artists, the four-minute calisthenics feature signature movements of Chinese operas and a blend of folk opera rhythm with pop music. The special exercises have attracted many young Chinese netizens, reminding them of their old campus life as the daily calisthenics are mandatory for all the students in China's primary and middle schools in the morning. Radio calisthenics is a very popular way to keep fit among Chinese. Students across the country line up every morning on the playground stretching, kicking and jumping to the music on the radio. Senior citizens and work-unit employees are also encouraged to work out. Students do morning exercises on the playground in east China's Anhui Province. (Xinhua/Du Yu) Inspired by the morning calisthenics in Japan and the former Soviet Union, China's first edition of the morning exercises was broadcast on radio in 1951. Today, Chinese are doing the ninth edition. Chinese actors perform Peking Opera in the Montecarmelo House of the Citizenship, in Santiago, capital of Chile, on Nov. 9, 2015. (Xinhua/Jorge Villegas) Four Chinese artists spent three months designing the movements of the opera-style workout, hoping the innovative program can better promote the traditional Chinese arts among young people. The country is working to build a "healthier China." According to the "Healthy China 2030" plan, China wants to increase its citizens' average life expectancy to 77.3 by 2020 and 79 by 2030. Fitness has become the new fashion in China as millions of Chinese today have taken up the habit of working out through anaerobic or aerobic exercises. Square dancing has become the most popular exercises among "dama" (a Chinese term for middle-aged and elderly women) everywhere in the country. Elders exercise the fan dancing on a square in Tengzhou City, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Zhang Zebiao) But more efforts are needed. National surveys on the health of China's adolescents from 1985 to 2014 show a decline in fitness, despite better nutrition. SYDNEY, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Papua New Guinea and the autonomous island of Bougainville have appointed a commission on Tuesday that will oversee a referendum on the region's independence. In 2001, after a decade-long civil war, a peace treaty was established with the precondition of holding a vote on Bougainville seceding from Papua New Guinea. The date of the referendum has been set in 2019. Bougainville will have to follow two conditions in order to secede: the region must create "good governance structures" and dispose of any "remaining firearms." "The referendum is conditional on those two key conditions. We have to make sure those are fully compiled to the letter of the law," Papua New Guinea chief secretary Isaac Lupari told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. There will also be a review process if the vote for Bougainville is successful. KABUL, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan National Police (ANP) discovered and defused five Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) near a main foreign forces' base in eastern province of Parwan on Monday, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. "A total of five IEDs were discovered and defused by ANP in Chinzaye village, Bagram district of Parwan province on Monday," the ministry said in a statement. The Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul, has been serving as a main U.S. and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 15 years. The Taliban militant group uses IEDs to target security forces but the lethal weapons also inflict casualties on civilians, according to military officials. IED explosion is the third largest cause of civilian casualties in Afghanistan, following ground engagement and suicide attack. More than 2,560 civilians were killed and over 5,830 injured in conflict-related incidents across Afghanistan in the first nine months of 2016, according to the figures released by the UN mission in the country. by Lan Jianzhong, Yan Lei TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese APA hotel chain has refused to remove from its guest rooms the untruthful books denying the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women" ever happened, despite the unethical nature of imposing historical and political lies on customers, and the protests from people of countries victimized by Japan before and during World War Two. The incident is only the tip of the iceberg of Japan's ultra-right wing's efforts to revise the nation's war history, with the Japanese government indulging and even promoting such a dangerous tendency. The Nanjing Massacre is one of the most outrageous crimes Japan committed in China during the war, and thus, is one of the historical stains that the Japanese ultra-right wing forces are most eager to whitewash and discard. The historical revisionists here at first tried to claim that the number of victims was not accurate, and then completely denied the massacre happened all together. The Japanese government even slammed UNESCO for adding the Nanjing Massacre documents to its Memory of the World Register. The fact is, however, that the International Military Tribunal for the Far East has reached verdicts on the issue, and Japan accepting the trial results was a precondition for it to be reaccepted into the international community. Since the war ended over 70 years ago, Japan has marked the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9 respectively, every year, to remember the tens of thousands of people killed in the aftermath. But when countries victimized by Japan during the war pay honor to their deceased kinfolk and ask Japan to reflect upon its war history so as to prevent the tragedies from happening again, Japan denounced it as making political use of history and aiming at "smearing Japan." As well as being reluctant to reflect upon the war, Japan also does not want to see or hear its neighbors raise the issue. When asked about the controversy stirred up by the APA hotel chain's act, Japan's top government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said "we need to tackle shared global challenges with a forward-looking view, rather than paying excessive attention to our unfortunate history." What Japan does not want its victims to "pay excessive attention to" is, in fact, its ignominious wrongdoings during the war. In 1994, Japan's then justice minister Shigeto Nagano was forced to resign amid protests from the Japanese people and Japan's neighboring countries, just three days after he called the 1937 Nanjing Massacre a fabrication and denied that Japan was guilty of aggression in WWII. But now, some right-wing politicians are trying to attract attention and win support from right-wing voters by denying historical truths. The government has, in addition, tightened its control over the contents of its history textbooks. An exhibition curated by the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) in Japan shows that middle school history textbooks compiled by seven publishers in Japan mentioned the "comfort women" issue in 1997, while none of them mentioned the issue in 2012 copies of the textbooks. A few politicians and high-ranking government officials even openly visited the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals alongside 2.5 million Japanese war dead. The controversial shrine is predominantly regarded as a symbol of past Japanese militarism. Meanwhile, those who exposed Japan's war atrocities were attacked and threatened by ultra-right wing forces in Japan. For example, WAM, as Japan's first museum focused on wartime sexual violence against women, constantly receives harassing calls and threatening emails. Takashi Uemura, former journalist for The Asahi Shimbun, was attacked and defamed for reporting on the "comfort women" issue. Such a change in the political and social atmosphere should alarm the Japanese people as it is certainly alarming to Japan's neighboring countries. by Juan Limachi LIMA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to build a wall along his country's southern border could prove divisive for its relations with Latin America, said Eduardo Arroyo Laguna, director of Peru's College of Sociologists. A wall would drive a very visible wedge between the developed north and the developing south in the Americas, Laguna told Xinhua while talking about the sociopolitical ramifications of the proposed measure. "We are no longer even talking about a backyard, we are now talking about...a Berlin wall," he said. For years, U.S. decisionmakers have routinely referred to Latin America, and Mexico in particular, as their "backyard," but until now none has proposed physically segregating the continent, said Laguna. Trump's way of thinking is a reflection of a larger problem, said Laguna, who also teaches at the Federico Villarreal National University. "Ultimately, Trump is revealing the major crisis affecting society in North America. It is a frightened world...when you put up a wall, it is because you are frightened," he said. Underlying that fear may be a refusal to acknowledge the demographic changes taking place in the United States, where major cities, such as New York, Los Angeles and Miami, are home to large Hispanic populations. "Los Angeles is the third-largest Mexican city in the world," joked Laguna, referring to the city's approximately 2 million Latino residents. "Not being able to see New York for what it is," a city notable for its diversity, "is not having a clear view of things. In New York, 95 percent of street vendors are Latinos," said Laguna. Given the U.S. ethnic diversity and history as a cultural melting pot, as well as its global influence, it is surprising that Trump's brand of isolationism has found so much support, he said. "Amazingly, the world's dominant power, the United States, is proposing a nationalist policy to protect itself against globalization, which is a policy of open doors and open borders," said the academic. The outlook is uncertain given the global impact the new president in the White House can have, Laguna said. NEW DELHI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 45 people were injured after their bus turned turtle in the eastern Indian state of Odisha Tuesday, a senior police official said. "The bus was carrying 60 tourists from the neighboring state of West Bengal when the accident took place in Dhauli, a Buddhist site, on the outskirts of state capital Bhubaneshwar this morning," he said, on condition of anonymity. All the injured, including four children, have been admitted to a government hospital where the condition of some are said to be serious, the official said. Local TV channels reported, quoting Odisha Tourism Minister Ashok Panda, that the mishap happened after the driver lost control of the speeding bus while negotiating a curve, though a formal inquiry has been ordered into the incident. India has the world's highest number of road deaths, with an accident taking place every four minutes. More than 130,000 people get killed on Indian roads every year, according to figures. MELBOURNE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The deaths of 16 critically endangered Australian parrots in captivity has been described as "heartbreaking." 16 orange-bellied parrots at a captive breeding center in Hobart were killed by a common bacteria variety, the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) confirmed in a statement on Tuesday, bringing the population of the birds at the facility to just 120. It is the second time in 12 months that a significant percentage of the population at the breeding facility in Taroona have been killed in one event after rats got into the facility in January 2016, killing 14 parrots in an incident that then Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt describes as "deeply disturbing." In 2013, two more birds died after a cat breached a perimeter fence and startled two birds which flew into an aviary wall. Autopsies carried out on four of the dead adults at Taroona revealed that the dead birds tested positive to pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common strain of bacteria. Orange-bellied parrots have previously died from the same bacteria at two mainland breeding facilities. In a statement, a spokesperson for DPIPWE said additional biosecurity measures had been put in place to stop the outbreak from spreading. "The concern for the parrot is being felt by all and these events are always devastating for all who care for this species, directly and indirectly," the spokesperson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday. "Following a successful breeding season in 2015/16 in which the Hobart Wildlife Centre produced 61 fledglings for the insurance and breed-for-release program it's been an absolutely heartbreaking start to the new year." Rosalie Woodruff, a Member of Parliament for the Greens party in Tasmania, said there were no excuses for the 16 deaths. "You might expect a couple of birds to die, but this is clearly a case of transmission between birds," Woodruff told the ABC on Tuesday. "And that suggests there's a lack of process and procedures, there may be training issues, caused by a government that's starving DPIPWE of core services funding." TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Japan launched an X-band defense communication satellite on Tuesday for the Japanese Ministry of Defense. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. launched the X-band defense communication satellite-2 aboard the H-2A Launch Vehicle No.32 at 4:44 p.m. local time on Tuesday from JAXA's Tanegashima Space Center in Japan's southwestern Kagoshima prefecture. The Kirameki-2 satellite is the first communications satellite for the Japanese Ministry of Defense, which shoulders the mission to upgrade the Self-Defense Forces' communications network. The Kirameki-2 satellite, operating with X-band technology, is one of three defense communications satellites which will replace three civilian satellites used by the Self-Defense Forces at present. The new satellites will facilitate direct communications among units of the Ground, Maritime and Air Self-Defense Forces through a high-speed and high-capacity network and serve as a communications infrastructure, local media quoted Defense Ministry officials as saying on Tuesday. Giant panda twin cubs Dashuang (L) and Xiaoshuang are seen at the Chongqing zoo in Chongqing, southwest China, Jan. 22, 2017. The twin cubs, born in July of 2016, met the public here on Sunday. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng) Hi, here's what you need to know about China. BEIJING -- China and the Philippines have confirmed cooperation programs worth 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, during a meeting held in Beijing, a senior Chinese official said Monday. "The cooperation projects, which are the first batch, on improving people's living standards now only needed a series of bank-related procedures," said Gao Hucheng, China's commerce minister, after a meeting between a Philippine cabinet delegation and Chinese officials. xhne.ws/f8zVM ---- BEIJING -- China's fiscal revenue grew 4.5 percent year on year in 2016, to 15.96 trillion yuan (around 2.33 trillion U.S. dollars), according to preliminary figures released by the Ministry of Finance Monday. This was a sharp slowdown from the 8.4 percent in 2015 and 8.6 percent in 2014, partly because the country's business tax was replaced with a value-added tax, the ministry said in an online statement. xhne.ws/QTo6O ---- CHONGQING -- A pair of giant panda twins met with the public for the first time at the municipal zoo in southwest China's Chongqing city. The baby pandas nicknamed Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang, were born in July, 2016. They now weigh 13.7 kilograms and 13 kilograms respectively and are both in very good health condition. xhne.ws/3VzlI ---- GUIYANG -- Police have arrested 12 suspects in connection with producing illegal drugs, and seized 450 kilograms of ketamine in southwest China's Guizhou Province, authorities said Monday. It is the largest haul of the drug in the province in recent years.xhne.ws/IVqSH ---- TOKYO -- Japan's major convenience store chain Lawson and China's Ant Financial Services Group jointly announced here on Monday that customers will be able to use China's online payment solution Alipay to pay for commodities in the around 13,000 Lawson stores in Japan from Tuesday. "Lawson introduced the Alipay solution in 9 stores in Jan. 2016 for a test run and now this service will be extended to all of Lawson's stores in Japan," said Genichi Tamatsuka, CEO of Lawson. xhne.ws/CWsnm ---- DRMNO -- China Engineering Machinery Corporation (CMEC) on Monday began assembling modern mining equipment at a mine here in order to increase its production for the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) in a project worth 123 million U.S. dollars. Serbian state officials and those from the Chinese embassy met at the Drmno mine, where representatives of EPS and CMEC signed a decision to begin works on installing equipment.xhne.ws/On07g DUBAI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Dubai Airports, the government-controlled holding of Dubai International Airport (DXB), said here on Tuesday the Middle East's biggest civil aviation hub recorded an annual traffic to 83.6 million passengers in 2016, representing a year-on-year growth of 7.2 percent. The monthly passenger traffic breached the seven-million mark six times during the year, Dubai Airports added. Earlier last year at the IATA World Passenger Forum in Dubai, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths said he expected 85 million passengers for 2016. The hub suffered a setback when a Boeing 777 of Emirates Airline, flying from Thiruvananthapuram, India, to Dubai, made an emergency landing at the Dubai International Airport on Aug. 3, 2016. The aircraft crashed and burnt out, as 300 people, including 18 crew members, left the plane unharmed, but one Emirati firefighter was killed while putting out the blaze. WELLINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Growth in the number of Chinese visitors to New Zealand over the Chinese New Year holiday this year is expected to level off, the government's Tourism New Zealand agency said Tuesday. This year the number of Chinese New Year holidaymakers was expected to be about the same as last year, with around 30,000 arriving over the two weeks, said Tourism New Zealand general manager Asia David Craig. "New Zealand experienced rapid growth in recent years of up to 40 percent so a slowdown in growth can be expected," Craig said in a statement. Fewer Chinese tour groups were coming, but the number of free independent travelers was increasing. "There are still likely to be 27,000 to 33,000 visitors for the two weeks of Chinese New Year, providing great opportunities for tourism operators," said Craig. "Chinese New Year, and the weeks around it, will continue to be a key travel period for the Chinese, especially families, much as Christmas is an immovable family time for Westerners, so operators can look forward to a busy fortnight for the foreseeable future." ANKARA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Tuesday denied claims that the northern Syrian city of al-Bab will be handed over to the Assad regime forces, the Anadolu news agency reported. "We've said it from the beginning that Operation Euphrates Shield is an operation regarding Turkey's own national security," Kurtulmus said, adding that the operation focuses on clearing terror threat on the country's southern border with Syria. Kurtulmus criticized the U.S.-backed coalition for failing to give sufficient support to liberate the area from the Islamic State (IS) terrorists. He said Turkey hopes the U.S. under the Trump administration can change its stance and provide support for policies which will work in favor of the people in Iraq and Syria. The Turkish army is supporting Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters in liberating al-Bab, a town of strategic importance for gaining control in northern Syria and the Aleppo countryside currently occupied by IS. In the last 24 hours, the Turkish army in al-Bab hit the IS targets, killing 13 terrorists, Turkish General Staff said on Tuesday. The Turkish Armed Forces launched the Euphrates Shield Operation last August against both IS and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). Turkey regards the YPG and the PYD as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A young woman with long silk sleeves danced to the music of Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto, sometimes spinning herself with a loud applause. But take a closer look; you will be amazed to find that the girl was only a puppet handled by a performer. It was at Sibu in the Malaysian state of Sabah on Jan. 19. The performers from North Sichuan Puppet Troupe was on a tour to Malaysia, where its ethnic Chinese communities, almost one fourth of the total population, still value Chinese traditions and celebrate the Spring Festival, or Chinese New year. Aside from Sibu, the troupe also visited the capital Kuala Lumpur and Kuching, where local people present at the performance gasped with admiration at the superb skills of the performers, who can miraculously make the 1.5-meter puppets blow out or light up a lamp, kowtow and bow, change face and even spit fire. Sometimes, the puppet looks like a real man and is exquisitely modeled with flexible five sense organs. Dating back to more than 300 years ago, the folk art has become an intangible cultural heritage in China. No wonder they could be chosen by the China Overseas Exchange Association as one of the representative art troupes to offer overseas Chinese communities a bite of the old Chinese art. At one point, a puppet, dressing as a modest and self-disciplined gentleman, took up the brush and wrote down four Chinese characters - "Si Hai Tong Chun," which means "people all around the world celebrate the Spring Festival" as well as words "Selamat Malam," which means good evening in Malay. People gave the performer another round of applause when they heard that the puppet, perhaps one of the largest puppets in the world, weighs some 15 to 20 kilograms, which renders normal people impossible to handle such complicated movements. Then it was the performance of "Bian Lian," or "Face-changing," one of the most famous and most mysterious kind of dramatic art in Sichuan opera. Performers changed from one face to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of a fan, a turnaround of their head and a wave of the sleeve. In the culmination of the performance, several face-changing performers also brought on stage some puppets and showed how the puppets and the performers could change face together. Kong Hian Khim, a senior management official of the local Chinese community, said the performance not only broadened people's mind, but also help people realize the profoundness of Chinese culture. "While we appreciate the appeal of culture, we still have an affinity with our ancestral country," said Kong. Lam Lee Hong, one of the audience who also participated in the preparation work, said the performance totally exceeded his expectation. "Many people wanted to come, but we only had 2,500 seats, so we hope more Chinese troupes can come to bring on the show," she said. Fu Jijun, the Chinese consul general in Kuching, said the performances are in line with the spirit of the Belt and Road Initiative, which advocates people-to-people exchanges. He said such cultural events can help the two countries better understand each other while improving cooperation in economic and educational spheres. SINGAPORE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana reaffirmed friendly bilateral defense relationship between his country and Singapore, said Singapore's the Ministry of Defense on Tuesday. Lorenzana who is in Singapore for an introductory visit from Monday to Wednesday called on Singapore's Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen on Tuesday morning after he inspected a Guard of Honor at the Ministry of Defense. "Both ministers exchanged views and discussed ways to enhance cooperation on regional and international security issues, including counter-terrorism and cyber security," said the ministry in its press statement. Lorenzana is due to call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong later on Tuesday. The ministry added that both countries' armed forces interact regularly through visits, professional exchanges, cross-attendance of courses, and multilateral exercises in May last year. WELLINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said on Tuesday that New Zealand will not rule out other versions of free trade, as the United States decided to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). English said in a routine news conference in Beehive, the New Zealand Parliament building, that President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the TPP was not unexpected, but still a disappointment to New Zealand, after the hard work of negotiating the agreement. According to English, the remaining TPP ministers are going to meet over the next few months to consider the next possible steps, but how it will play out remained to be seen. The New Zealand PM noted Trump's comment about negotiating bilateral deals. He said New Zealand has always interested in closer trade ties with the U.S., whether it's through agreements like TPP or through bilateral deals. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay planned to visit the U.S. to meet the new trade representative Robert Lighthizer. New Zealand will remain positive in open trade, said English. He emphasized New Zealand will not rule out other opportunities of multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. "Bear in mind, TPP is not the only game in town for us," English said in the news conference, "We got the EU discussion going on, we got the RCEP agreement in Southeast Asia." He believed the political wills of RCEP will pick up speed, as TPP does not proceed. U.S. President Trump Monday signed three memorandums, ordering the withdrawal from the TPP. He said the 11 other countries of the TPP will be approached to negotiate a one-on-one deal with the U.S. Artists from China and Benin sing during the eighth edition of Benin's celebration of the Chinese New Year in Cotonou, Benin, Jan. 21, 2017. Chinese artists highlighted their performance with Chinese music, choreography and acrobatics as the west African country is organizing celebrations for the eighth time for the Chinese New Year. (Xinhua/Seraphin Zounyekpe) COTONOU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- An art troupe from China's northwestern Gansu province elevated celebratory activities for the Rooster New Year in Benin's economic capital Cotonou. Chinese artists highlighted their performance with Chinese music, choreography and acrobatics as the west African country is organizing celebrations for the eighth time for the Chinese New Year. Hundreds of spectators, including the Chinese community, Beninese citizens and foreign diplomats, watched the show in the Palais des Congres of Cotonou. Wei Jun, cultural counselor to the China Embassy, said the performance of the Chinese art troupe is part of efforts to revitalize the cultural cooperation between China and Benin. He said it is an excellent example of cultural values being shared for mutual understanding and traditional friendship between the peoples of the two countries. An art troupe from China's northwestern Gansu Province performs during the eighth edition of Benin's celebration of the Chinese New Year in Cotonou, Benin, Jan. 21, 2017. Chinese artists highlighted their performance with Chinese music, choreography and acrobatics as the west African country is organizing celebrations for the eighth time for the Chinese New Year. (Xinhua/Guo Mingtao) According to Ange N'koue, Benin's Minister of Culture and Tourism, the friendship and cooperation between the two countries has reinforced a win-win partnership. "In that momentum, Benin always learns from the very important artistic and cultural heritage of the great China that has a quite impressive experience in cultural heritage management," he said. Paul Dossa, Beninese cultural operator, said he appreciated the whole cultural evening with the Chinese art troupe. "We greatly appreciated this cultural show that enabled, during at least two hours, the immersion of Cotonou people in the Chinese culture," Dossa told Xinhua. "This cultural evening gave us an opportunity to discover part of the Chinese culture and to get closer to Chinese people," he added. KATHMANDU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting former President of Mauritius Cassam Uteem on Tuesday praised Nepal's peace process that started in 2006 following the abolition of monarchy. Cassam, who is visiting Kathmandu since Sunday, made the remarks during a meeting with Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday morning, the prime minister's office said. "The former president of Mauritius praised Nepal's road to peace process calling it as unique. He congratulated Nepal for embarking into a new political course through the peace process," the prime ministers' office stated in a press release. On the occasion, the Nepalese prime minister said Nepal is in the phase of implementing the new constitution introduced in Sept. 20, 2015. MANILA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte apologized Tuesday to the government and people of South Korea including the wife of a South Korean business executive, who was kidnapped and killed by alleged rouge policemen. Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the president also sent his and the Filipino people's condolences and sympathies to the wife of the victim, and assured that the full force of the law would be meted out against those responsible for the kidnap-slaying of the victim. "We apologize to the South Korean government and people for this irreparable loss. But we commit the full force of the law to ensure that justice is served and not delayed. To the Korean people, please accept our sincerest and deepest regrets," Abella said. The victim was reportedly serving a fake warrant by the rogue policemen in October last year and had not been heard of since. Reports said the police had asked for ransom in exchange for the businessman's release but the victim was reportedly killed inside the police general headquarter in Camp Crame. Abella said the kidnap-slaying is an indication of the depth of corruption within the government system including the police. He said he is not sure if there is truth to the observation of some sector that the strong support of the president to the police had emboldened the policemen. But he acknowledged the assessment of some that the incident was proof that there is an existing culture of impunity in the country. "The culture is there and it was existing even before the president came in. In fact, that's exactly why he came in, to address that particular culture," he said. Abella reiterated that the president continues to trust Philippine National Police Director General Ronald Dela Rosa who is part of Duterte's team in fighting crime and corruption. He also branded as "over imaginative" the pronouncement of Senator Leila de Lima that the president is to blame for the incident. Attorney GeneralJeremy Wright (2nd R) arrives at the British Supreme Court inLondon, Britain, Jan. 24, 2017. The British Supreme Court onTuesday ruled on that Prime Minister Theresa May must consultParliament before triggering formal negotiations on Britain leavingthe European Union. (Xinhua/Han Yan) LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The British Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering formal negotiations on Britain leaving the European Union (EU). The British government lost its legal battle to have the right to trigger Britain's exit from the EU without first getting the approval of the British Parliament. Judges in the Supreme Court in London ruled by 8-3 in favor of a group of individuals who challenged the government's insistence it could trigger the article 50 process to leave the EU. Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty says: "Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements." The decision is seen as a blow to the government as it says that it has the power to start the Brexit process, but opponents led by investment manager Gina Miller say it needs the parliament's approval to officially commence the at least two-year negotiations. MPs will now be given a vote in a parliamentary bill before the process can start. The court rejected claims that Britain's devolved assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should give their assent before Brexit officially starts. Attorney General said the government is disappointed by the outcome of the supreme court case. Opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said his Party will demand a plan from the government to ensure it is accountable to parliament throughout the Brexit negotiations. Related: British PM calls for early Brexit talks with new European Parliament president LONDON, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May called Saturday for an early meeting with the new president of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani to discuss Britain's exit from the European Union. JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The South Africa state rail company Transnet said Tuesday their engineers will go to China next month to verify locomotives they bought, before commissioning. Transnet was responding to an inquiry from Xinhua after South African media reports indicated that locomotives bought from China's CRRC Corporation Limited were found to be faulty. Mike Asefovitz, senior manager of Corporarte Affairs at Transnet told Xinhua that there were technical problems with the alternator and the problem has been resolved successfully. "There were vibration problems with the alternators. The OEM has resolved the problem successfully. This is common practice in projects of this size and nature, Transnet is contractually covered should there be problems experienced before during and post receipt of these locomotives," Asefovitz said. "Transnet engineers will travel to China to validate technologies and sub-systems in February. This is part of the contractual and costed process. All sub-systems are tested independently as an assembly and then as an integrated system," he said. Asefovitz said brand new locomotives that are for the first time being designed for a rail gauge even with proven technology will go through various tests and findings so that any shortcomings are rectified during and post commissioning phases. The South African engineers will witness the locomotives undergoing extensive testing by the OEMs to ensure that they comply with Railway Safety Regulator's requirements and processes. He said all the costs associated with the checking and testing are covered in the contract and they will be no further prejudice to the company. In 2014 Transnet contracted four international original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to supply 1064 new locomotives. These included China North Rail (CNR), China South Rail (CSR), General Electric (GE) and Bombardier. CNR and CSR merged into CRRC in 2015. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China National Tourism Administration on Tuesday asked all outbound travel agencies and websites to stop cooperating with a right-wing Japanese hotel chain. The APA hotel chain recently began leaving a controversial book, on the 1937 Nanjing Massacre and comfort women, in its hotel rooms. "The APA's move is a blatant provocation and violates fundamental ethical principles," said Zhang Lizhong, spokesperson for the administration. The administration's Japanese office has lodged a solemn representation to Japan, demanding the removal of the right-wing books, he said. Outbound travel agencies and online platforms have been asked to stop cooperating with the hotel, Zhang said, and Chinese tourists have been urged to boycott the chain. LUSAKA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zambia requires about 20 million U.S. dollars to completely phase out the use of incandescent bulbs and enforce the use of energy saving bulbs, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Zambia has already banned the use and manufacture of incandescent bulbs as one way to deal with a power deficit the county has been grappling with since 2015. Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary Kayula Siame said the money was required to procure and distribute about five million energy saving bulbs in the country. She told reporters during a press briefing that the ban on the use and manufacture of incandescent bulbs came into effect on January 1, 2017 following the issuance of a statutory instrument, adding that the phasing out of the bulbs was a viable means of saving energy. The phasing out of the incandescent bulbs was expected to save about 200 megawatts of power, she added. The government has since zero-rated the importation of energy-saving bulbs. PHNOM PENH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has discovered two chemical bombs, each weighing over 200 kg, which were dropped from a U.S. warplane in wartime half a century ago, a senior official said on Tuesday. Heng Ratana, director-general of the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC), said experts on chemical bombs had found the two bombs, typed Chlorobenzalmalononitrile (CS), under the ground in the complexes of a primary school and a pagoda in Koki village in southeastern Svay Rieng province. "During the wartime, the U.S. had dropped four chemical bombs at the location. Two exploded and the two others did not explode and have existed until today," he told Xinhua. "We need to evacuate people from the school and the pagoda, and villagers from the area for two or three days in order to remove the bombs," he said, adding that the removal operation would be conducted early next month. Cambodia is one of the countries that suffer worst from mines and unexploded ordnances (UXOs), as a result of three decades of war and internal conflicts from the mid-1960s to 1998. An estimated 4 to 6 million landmines and other munitions were left over from the conflicts. According to CMAC, between 1965 and 1973, the United States dropped about 2.7 million tons of explosives on 113,716 locations in Cambodia. Government figures showed that from 1979 to 2016, landmines and UXOs had killed 19,748 people and either injured or amputated 44,914 others. MOGADISHU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people including government soldiers were killed and several others injured in a series of attacks by extremist group Al-Shabaab on the Somali town of Afgoye, some 30km south of the capital Mogadishu, police said Tuesday. An Afgoye police commander, Col. Abdi Ibrahim Shamow, said a landmine blast killed three government soldiers, a civilian and injured nine others early Tuesday. He said the injured had been rushed to a hospital in Mogadishu and that "we are in an operation in the town at moment." Local police earlier said Al-Shabaab militants attacked Afgoye on Monday evening, killing four people. A local official Abdullahi Hassan Abdi confirmed the Monday evening attack. "Al-Shabaab militants killed civilians including a famous businesswoman in this town and injured five others including a government soldier on Monday evening," the local official said. "The soldiers inflicted casualties on the militants, but I cannot tell the number of deaths and injuries on their side," he added. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the Monday evening attack, claiming its militants killed a number of government soldiers and officials, but it has not commented on the Tuesday blast. Locals told Xinhua there had been intense gunfire between government troops and Al-Shabaab fighters in Afgoye in the past two days. Al-Shabaab militants have carried out frequent attacks in Somalia in its decade-long fight against the government. The Somali troops, backed by African Union peacekeeping forces, are battling the militants as the Horn of Africa nation gears up for presidential election. Police dog Lulu checks the luggages at the security checkpoint in Lanzhouxi Railway Station in Lanzhou, capital of northwest China's Gansu Province, Jan. 22, 2017. Many police dogs are on duty during China's Spring Festival travel rush between Jan. 13 and Feb. 21. (Xinhua/Chen Bin) HANGZHOU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Just like their human handlers, retirement is an inevitable part of any police dog's life. But what happens to them when they retire? This was something that Bai Yan, a 55-year-old policeman from Hangzhou, was concerned about. So, six years ago he opened a police dog retirement center, complete with a small sunny lot near the entrance to bury the dogs. His center is now home to 14 retired police dogs. Bai and his dogs featured in a video shared on miaopai.com, a video-sharing service, in December. The video had been viewed more than 15 million times as of Monday night. Many people were moved by Bai's selfless commitment to the dogs. "Police dogs die earlier than pets. They have worked their whole life and I want them to spend their remaining years in comfort," said Bai, who is due to retire soon, too. GOLDEN YEARS NOT DOG DAYS Bai wakes up every morning before sunrise to see to his pack. The day starts with him feeding the dogs a hearty breakfast of dog food, calcium tablets, meat and eggs. Then its time for exercise. "I continue to do training exercises with the dogs, as it has been a part of their routine all their lives. Even though they are retired whenever I shout commands, I can see excitement in their eyes," said Bai. "Come to the bridge!" On hearing this command, Xingzai, a female German shepherd, deftly springs onto a single-plank bridge, which is about a meter off the ground. "Good girl." Bai said as he stroked her head and tenderly pinched her left ear, the tip of which had been bitten off by a criminal years ago. Despite the assault, she caught the man. In her seven years of service, she has helped police officers in more than 100 criminal cases. German shepherds are the most common breed used by the police, but Labrador Retrievers and Belgian Malinois are also chosen to assist patrols and as bomb and drug sniffer dogs. Puppies usually start their training at around eight months, and they will work until they are seven or eight. "For more than a decade I have worked with service dogs, they are like members of my family," he said. In order to provide his four-legged family members with the best of care, Bai has created special massage techniques and studied dog behavior and psychology. BOND BEYOND GRAVE Bai joined the police in 1983 after retiring from military service. In 2004, his police station were given two dogs by their local government. As he was deputy chief of the police station at the time, Bai sent two young officers to learn how to train the dogs. Out of curiosity, however, he participated in the classes and found he had a natural flair for dog handling. During the first week of their jobs, the dogs helped police officers to catch a thief. "They are so smart and agile. They are an invaluable addition to our team," said Bai. After that, more police dogs joined his team. "At one time we had 26," Bai said. "Little tiger, Silver fox, Prince, Doudou ..." he said, starting to list the name of the dogs he has cared for and worked with. Of all of them, Carsey, he said, was his favorite and he often thinks of him when he passes by his grave at the entrance to the center. Around the end of 2012, Bai and Carsey were called in to help with a manhunt for a suspected burglar. The suspect had managed to evade detention multiple times, so Carsey was called in to sniff him out. "All he needed was a piece of the suspect's clothing -- in this case it was a shoe -- and Carsey led us to the man within 20 minutes," Bai recalled. Carsey died in 2015 after being injured while on duty. "Working together, police dogs and their handlers are brothers. The bond goes beyond the grave," he said. Carsey was involved in more than 200 cases during his short life. It costs Bai more than 1,000 yuan (146 U.S. dollars) per dog every month to provide them with food, care and shelter. But he has refused requests by people to adopt his dogs or donate to the center. "I want to grow old with them," Bai said, "when they sit beside me or run in the yard, they still look young, and so do I." BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The central government has issued a guideline to encourage more college graduates to work at the community level. The guideline, which was jointly issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and the General Office of the State Council, has been designed to involve college graduates in economic and social development. College graduates will be encouraged to find employment in the modern seed industry, agrotechny, countryside tourism, rural e-commerce, rural cooperatives and water conservation projects, according to the guideline. The guideline says college graduates will be encouraged to work in the middle and western parts of the country, the northeast China and other less-developed and remote areas. Graduates will also be encouraged to join the army with preferential policies. The guideline says college graduates will be encouraged to work for small- and medium-sized enterprises, or start their own businesses. To be attractive to graduates, companies must offer good training programs as well as higher wages and allowances, according to the guideline. The guideline stipulates that civil servant recruitment in provincial-level agencies will only consider candidates with at least two years of grassroots working experience. The government estimates that about 7.95 million college students will graduate this year, accounting for over a half of newly-added urban labor force. BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and 10 others wounded in a car bomb explosion at a crowded area in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said. The attack took place before noon when a booby-trapped car detonated at al-Nahda commercial area on the eastern bank of Tigris River, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The massive blast set fire on several civilian cars and badly damaged many other cars and nearby buildings, the source said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for deadly bombings targeting Iraqi security forces as well as crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across the country. The attack came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. LUSAKA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zambia has launched a fund aimed at unlocking the potential of non-traditional exports, its investment agency said on Tuesday. The Zambia Export Development Fund (ZE-DEF), to run from 2017 to 2021, is being financed by the European Union (EU) at a cost of 7.6 million Zambian Kwacha (about 760,000 U.S. dollars), the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) said in a statement. ZDA said that the fund will provide low cost trade finance to exporters of non-traditional exports. Zambia hopes to see stronger performance in non-traditional exports such as cotton, sugar and coffee. The fund will also help increase the volume and value of non-traditional exports to the regional and international markets and boost earnings to 10 percent from the current 0.05 percent, it added. The fund will also target to grow the loan portfolio to 3.8 million U.S. dollars from the current 2.4 million dollars by the end of 2018. The investment agency intends to put in place stringent credit policy and procedures as well as develop an efficient and effective information management system on the operations of the fund. Attorney GeneralJeremy Wright (2nd R) arrives at the British Supreme Court inLondon, Britain, Jan. 24, 2017. The British Supreme Court onTuesday ruled on that Prime Minister Theresa May must consultParliament before triggering formal negotiations on Britain leavingthe European Union. (Xinhua/Han Yan) LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The British Prime Minister Theresa May can't trigger Britain's exit from the European Union without first getting the approval of the British Parliament, according to a Supreme Court ruling on Monday. Judges in the Supreme Court in London ruled by a margin of eight to three in favor of a group of individuals who challenged the government's insistence that it could trigger the article 50 process to leave the EU. It means MPs (members of the Parliament) will now be given a vote on a parliamentary bill before the process can start. May was given 15 minutes advance notice of the decision before the president of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger. Immediately after the case, the government's attorney general Jeremy Wright said although the government accepted the decision, it was disappointed by the ruling. "We have the good fortune to live in a country where everyone, even government, is subject to the rule of law. So we will comply with the judgement," he said. "The government will comply and so all that is necessary to implement the decision." Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, David Davis, will make a full statement later Tuesday in the House of Commons. May and her advisers were locked in discussions at Number 10 to decide on their next steps. An official spokeswoman for May said the government intended to press on with its intention to trigger article 50 by the end of March. It is now widely accepted that the government will introduce a very short bill into the parliamentary process within days to seek approval to start the process. A number of MPs have already indicated they will vote against the process in the House of Commons. The group of Scottish Nationalist Party MPs and a group of MPs from the main opposition Labor Party have already indicated they will oppose triggering article 50. In the judgement Neuberger made it clear the court was not deciding on whether Britain should leave the EU, or what the timetable should be for the exit. "The main issue is whether the government can trigger Article 50 without prior approval from an Act of Parliament. The government cannot exercise that power if it would change UK laws unless it is authorized to do so by Parliament," said the judgement. The court also decided unanimously that government ministers are not legally compelled to consult the devolved parliaments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Investment fund manager Gina Miller, who brought the case against the government, welcomed the decision outside the court. "No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged -- Parliament alone is sovereign. There's no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation but this case was about the legal process and not politics," she said. LUSAKA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's energy regulator said on Tuesday it has shortlisted five international bidders to conduct research on production and cost of electricity as the southern African nation tries to move to cost-reflective tariffs in order to attract private investment. Alfred Mwila, director for economic regulation at the Energy Regulation Board, said the study will help ascertain the cost of production of electricity. "We have shortlisted five international bidders from different countries. We have looked at their technical capabilities and now we are looking at their financials and within the month, we should be able to know who is the most competitive," he said when he appeared before Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs. It is expected that the winner of the bid will undertake the study within a 12-month period. The official added that the project was being undertaken with the help of the African Development Bank. Stakeholders have expressed concern that the pricing of electricity in the country was too low to attract private sector investment. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior foreign exchange official has reiterated that there are no restrictions on foreign firms' cross-border profit transfers. Authorities will maintain the continuity and consistency of its forex policies, said Pan Gongsheng, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), when meeting Joerg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China. China will also make foreign trade and investment more convenient and support Chinese companies' outbound investment as long as it's authentic and compliant, Pan said, as quoted by a SAFE statement released Tuesday. With its economy growing 6.7 percent in 2016, China has the conditions to ensure balance of international payment, Pan said. He promised that China will create an easy and ordered environment for investment and a more transparent and regulated market. Weighed on by a weak Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar, regulators have moved to crack down on illegal cross-border capital flow in the past few months, while reiterating that normal business will not be affected and foreign investment is still welcome. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura should kneel and apologize to the Chinese people for the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The comment came after Kawamura downplayed the severity of APA, a Japanese hotel chain, placing in its rooms a book denying the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of comfort women. Kawamura said the Japanese should go to Nanjing to kneel down and apologize if Japanese troops really slaughtered 300,000 Nanjing citizens. But he doubted the Nanjing Massacre ever took place. China is willing to have friendly exchanges with Japan but will never tolerate brazen distortions of history that hurt the Chinese, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing. "Whoever acts recklessly will pay the price," Hua said. "As for the comments by the mayor, I want to remind him that the Nanjing Massacre is a historical fact recognized by the international community. The mayor should deliver on what he said," the spokesperson added. Also on Tuesday, China's National Tourism Administration released a call to action -- asking Chinese tourism agencies and websites to stop promoting or using the APA. The tourism authority also called on Chinese tourists to boycott these hotels. More than 600,000 people lived in Nanjing before the Japanese slaughtered around 300,000 soldiers and civilians in December 1937, but the book by Seiji Fuji, the pen name of the APA CEO, claims that there were only 200,000 people in the city at the time. MOGADISHU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least eight people including government soldiers were killed and several others injured in a series of attacks by extremist group Al-Shabaab on the Somali town of Afgoye, some 30km south of the capital Mogadishu, police said Tuesday. An Afgoye police commander, Col. Abdi Ibrahim Shamow, said a landmine blast killed three government soldiers, a civilian and injured nine others early Tuesday. He said the injured had been rushed to a hospital in Mogadishu and that "we are in an operation in the town at moment." Local police earlier said Al-Shabaab militants attacked Afgoye on Monday evening, killing four people. A local official Abdullahi Hassan Abdi confirmed the Monday evening attack. "Al-Shabaab militants killed civilians including a famous businesswoman in this town and injured five others including a government soldier on Monday evening," the local official said. "The soldiers inflicted casualties on the militants, but I cannot tell the number of deaths and injuries on their side," he added. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the Monday evening attack, claiming its militants killed a number of government soldiers and officials, but it has not commented on the Tuesday blast. Locals told Xinhua there had been intense gunfire between government troops and Al-Shabaab fighters in Afgoye in the past two days. Al-Shabaab militants have carried out frequent attacks in Somalia in its decade-long fight against the government. KABUL, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan and neighboring Uzbekistan signed agreements on Tuesday to enhance security cooperation and expand ties in transport and trade sectors, the Afghan national television RTA reported. Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani and his visiting Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov signed the agreements during a ceremony held in Afghan Presidential Palace here. The signed documents included a Bilateral Cooperation Agreement on fight against drug trafficking and its precursors, protocol of intentions on further development of cooperation in transportation infrastructure and a agreement of cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries, RTA said without giving more details. An agreement for creating a joint security commission between the two Central Asian countries was also signed by the two sides, the television channel added. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- As the Chinese Spring Festival approaches, local disciplinary organs are strengthening in the anti-corruption battle. Chinese people traditionally give out "red envelopes" to friends and relatives, especially to children, during Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, to bring good luck and happiness. However, the tradition had been misappropriated by corrupt officials who use it as an opportunity to flatter their bosses. This year's Spring Festival falls on Jan. 28. A week-long holiday is usually a peak banqueting period with much celebration and exchanging of gifts. It was once common for officials to fund such an occasion with public money. Since the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress in 2012, China has stepped up its anti-corruption efforts. Frequent notices and guidelines on discipline have attempted to purify the political air, preventing the tiny seeds of transgression from growing into major trees of corruption. BETTER SOCIAL MODE The spread of corruption has been effectively contained and the battle against corruption has gained crushing momentum, but the government is not resting on its laurels. "Fewer people come to offer gifts before the Spring Festival. Also, fewer officials receive gifts now," said a township head in Liling City, central China's Hunan Province. "We enjoy a much better social mode now," he said. A manager on a real estate project in east China's Fujian Province confirmed things had changed for the better. "Phone calls and visits have been refused (by local officials), let alone the receiving of gifts," he said. "Disciplinary authorities in Changsha (capital of Hunan) have detected few corruption cases, as most CPC members have improved awareness of rules and their discipline in a tough anti-corruption atmosphere," said Yu Yongbing, an official with the city's discipline inspection commission. Some local officials also vowed to refuse gifts and serve as role models for other cadres. Leading officials in the city of Chenzhou in Hunan signed a letter of commitment on Jan. 12, vowing to refuse "red envelopes." So far, all county-level officials in Chenzhou have signed. MISCONDUCT IN COVERT WAYS However, covert use of public money in gift-giving, dining and traveling, as well as other extravagant consumption, has not been completely rooted out, posing more challenges for supervision by disciplinary authorities. "Some new subtle forms have emerged," said Chen Hui, secretary of the discipline inspection agency of the CPC in Chengfeng Township, Yongtai County of Fujian. "People tend to send 'red envelopes' via the popular online payment services provided by Alipay and WeChat. Digital gift cards are also making it easier to circumvent anti-graft watchdogs. It is difficult for us to detect," he said. Hu Chaofeng, another discipline inspection cadre in the county, said punishment and supervision should be strengthened as indulgence would lead to unhealthy practices. Using public money for feasts has shifted from restaurants to less noticeable places in recent years. Some banquets are even held in residential buildings. Fujian's discipline inspection authorities have launched a campaign to strengthen supervision before Spring Festival, especially targeting covert gifting. During the campaign, two leading heads of Yunxi Village in Dehua County were found using 193,000 yuan (28,174 U.S. dollars) of public funds to buy local products as gifts to send to others via delivery companies. They were also found using public money to feast in rural courtyards. TOUGHER MEASURES The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the CPC have ordered local inspectors to step up supervision and discipline ahead of Spring Festival. To avoid government cars used for private purposes, Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, has installed GPS systems on official vehicles. "The parking, dispatching and driving routes of each government car is under supervision by the city's official vehicle service center," said Chen Gu, director of the center. Government officials and even vice mayors of the city always take a bus or the subway to go home after work or big evening events. "They have got used to it," Chen said. "Many government officials drive their own cars to work, ride bikes or take a bus," said Lou Yunju, a local discipline inspector. "The city government has signed contracts with property management companies asking them to manage their entrance guards, and all kinds of gifts and goods are not allowed to be stored in the reception office," said Xiong Xiong, the publicity chief with the city's discipline inspection commission. A number of local discipline inspection agencies in Zhejiang have included express delivery receipts in their investigation, to prevent covert gift giving. Before Spring Festival, the discipline inspection authorities of many cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, also issued statements to order Party members to prevent "festive corruption." HONG KONG, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong Customs has completed its investigation and will return a batch of military vehicles detained two months ago to Singapore, the commissioner of Hong Kong Customs said Tuesday. The military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore through the carrier, while the investigation might lead to criminal prosecution, said Commissioner of Hong Kong Customs and Excise Roy Tang. Nine Singaporean armored vehicles were seized by Hong Kong customs on Nov. 23, 2016 while in transit at a dock in China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. "Import, export and transshipment/transit of strategic commodities in breach of licensing requirement are criminal offences punishable under the Hong Kong law," Tang said, "The action by the Hong Kong Customs on Nov. 23, 2016 was taken because there was a suspected breach of the Hong Kong law." As an active and responsible trading partner in the global economy, Hong Kong is committed to complying with international standards of strategic trade control, thus implementing a robust control system to achieve it, Tang said. Meanwhile, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded Tuesday to this latest development, saying the releasing of the vehicles and other equipment "is a positive outcome". BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday urged the U.S. side to speak and act cautiously on the South China Sea issue, reiterating that China was committed to solving the issue peacefully through negotiation with the countries directly concerned. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily briefing, when commenting on White House spokesperson Sean Spicer's comments on Monday concerning the South China Sea issue. Noting that the United States is not a party in the dispute, Hua said that China exerts indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and its adjacent waters, and China is firmly committed to safeguarding its own sovereignty and maritime rights. Hua said that China firmly preserves the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, as well as peace and stability in the region. China makes continuous efforts to try to peacefully solve relevant disputes through negotiation with countries directly concerned, said Hua, adding that China's stance on the South China Sea issue is clear-cut, consistent, and unchanged. According to reports, Spicer on Monday said that, "it's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China property, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country." Related: Commentary: U.S. should stop flexing its muscles in South China Sea by Xinhua writer Zhu Junqing BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- With the USS Carl Vinson battle group heading toward the Western Pacific, the United States is completing its deployment of three carriers to Asia, putting on another muscle show and making waves again in the South China Sea. By Shristi Kafle KATHMANDU, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Magh, a Nepalese month as per the lunar calendar, is regarded as an auspicious time for weddings and thousands of people throughout the country, having found their perfect match, tie the knot in this winter-month. One of the more unique of these weddings was held in the capital city recently and to the surprise of some, the occasion was not only a cross-cultural marriage between two youngsters but also a cross-country marriage. While this was not the first time that a cross-country marriage has been conducted in the Himalayan country, for many it became even more spectacular and as it was a Nepalese lady and a Chinese man who were tying the knot together. The marriage between 19-year-old Puja Tuladhar, an inhabitant of Bungmati in Lalitpur and 25-year-old Guyun Fei from Hebei Province in China was made possible through their relatives and other well-wishers. Indra Tuladhar, the uncle of the bride, told Xinhua, "Puja has been raised in a middle-class family although has had to overcome a lot of struggles. Guyun Fei is a brother of my business partner. We felt that they could be a good match for each other and could have a happy life together, and so we made the decision for them to marry." They got married as per both the ethnic Newari tradition and traditional Chinese culture amid the presence of around 50 people from both the bride and groom's sides. Representatives from the Chinese Embassy in Nepal also witnessed the marriage ceremony. Puja lives with her father and her step-mother in Bungmati after her mother left the family a few years back. Her father drives a private vehicle for a living. Since she failed the School Leaving Certificate (SLC) examination, she decided to take a break from education for a while and coupled with the daily burdens of dealing with the family's crisis, she decided to enjoy nuptial bliss with the Chinese gentleman after being impressed by his behavior. Dressed in a traditional red saree, modeling jewelry fitting of such an auspicious occasion and carrying a gentle smile on her lips, Puja told Xinhua after the function, "I am so happy for this new beginning." Both Puja and Guyun Fei have suffered through difficult phases in the past as they were both victims of the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015. Puja's house was destroyed in the deadly disaster while Guyun Fei, who was working as an engineer in the dry port at the Nepal-China border in Tatopani (Zhangmu Port), sustained a severe injury to his leg after being hit by a rock. The dry port has not been in operation since then due to which Guyun Fei has been living with his brother's family in Kathmandu and assisting in their construction business. Dressed in a smart navy blue suit, he told Xinhua, "I would like to work in Nepal for few years before moving back to homeland with my wife." Many of the relatives who attended the marriage ceremony expressed their happiness about the cross-cultural marriage, which they said would also enhance the broader cultural bonds between the people of the two nations. However, some mentioned that the language barrier might be an obstacle. The bride's uncle, Tuladhar, said, "The bride doesn't understand the Chinese language whereas the groom known only a few Nepalese words. They might communicate in sign language initially before getting used to each other's language." Sharing an open border with India, cross-border marriages are common in the bordering towns in southern plains of the country. The trend is widely termed as "roti-beti relation" in both Nepal and India. In regards to China, Nepal's northern neighbor, cross-border marriages are steadily gaining popularity. However, recently concerns have ben raised about Nepalese women being trafficked to China and Korea through marriage bureaus and fake arrangements. To prevent human trafficking, Nepalese authorities have set up some standard rules for such cross-country marriages, including the need of police reports and letters from the Home Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Since the number of marriages among youngsters is gradually increasing, many believe that cross-country marriages boosts bilateral social and cultural relations between the two friendly neighbors. MANILA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte claimed on Tuesday that the United States Central Intelligence Agency was behind the 2015 clash that resulted in the killing of 60, including 44 elite police commandos. In a speech before the families and widows of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force who were killed in the clash, Duterte slammed former President Benigno Aquino for covering up details of the operation which he claimed was "an operation of the CIA." "Let it be brought out in the open. It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some with your blessing. You fed the young men to the lion's den," he said, referring to the 44 elite policemen who were killed in the operation. "Why was it under wraps and why did you hide that actually it was an operation of the CIA," Duterte said. Aquino gave his former police chief Alan Purisima, who was then under suspension, to launch the operation on Jan. 25, 2015 to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkipli bin Her alias Marwan who was reportedly hiding in a remote Mamasapano town in Maguindanao province. Marwan, the suspected Malaysian bomb maker with 5 million U.S. dollars bounty on his head, was eventually killed in the operation. Police cut off a finger of the suspected terrorist and sent the severed finger to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation for DNA identification. Duterte also ordered the creation of a commission to investigate the so-called Mamasapano massacre to probe deeper into the carnage, including the involvement of the U.S. in the operation. The Philippine senate launched an investigation into the operation and revealed the alleged involvement of U.S. soldiers in the vicinity of the village. In fact, there were reports that a U.S. helicopter waiting nearby. In the same speech, Duterte said that he has no plans to visit the U.S. "There will never be time that I will visit America. I swear. I swear," he said. At one point, Duterte slammed the U.S. for the first time after President Donald Trump assumed office. He said Trump supports his administration while former U.S. President Barack Obama did not. He said he did not attend the inauguration because he was not invited anyway. "I do not need them. It's about time that we disabuse the colonial mind," he said. By John Kwoba NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Olympic 5,000m silver medallist Hellen Obiri of Kenya has her eyes focused on the cross country, but will divert to compete at the Karlsruhe Indoor Meeting in Germany on Feb. 4. Though Obiri has no plans to contest the full indoor circuit, she will honor the meeting, which she last ran in 2012 as part of her desire to improve her speed. She will compete over the 3,000m flat distance. "It is obvious that I want to do well. But the focus this season is on Cross country and I have a contract obligation to compete in Karlsruhe and after that I will return to train on cross country because I want to make the Kenya team to the World event in Kampala in March," she said. In Germany, Obiri, 27 will come up against British 1,500m record-holder Laura Muir, one of the event favorites over 3,000m. The Karlsruhe meeting is part of the IAAF World Indoor Tour. Both athletes will be seeking their first victory in the German city. Obiri finished second over 1500m in Karlsruhe in 2012 before going on to win the world indoor 3000m title one month later. Muir, meanwhile, finished second over 3000m in 2015. Obiri and Muir have been in the form of their life over the past 12 months. Obiri clocked season's bests of 3:59.34 for 1500m and 8:24.27 for 3000m before going on to take the Olympic 5000m silver medal in Rio and ended her summer season with a PB of 14:25.78 at that distance. Her form has continued through the winter and the Kenyan has won numerous cross-country races in recent months against quality fields. Muir broke Kelly Holmes' British 1500m record with her 3:57.49 run at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in London last summer. She improved it to 3:55.22 in Paris and ended the year as the Diamond Race winner in the event. Earlier this month, she smashed the British indoor 5000m record with a time of 14:49.12. Obiri holds the Kenyan indoor 3000m record at 8:29.99. Muir's outright PB of 8:38.47, set outdoors in early 2015, looks due for revision and she may have one eye on the British indoor record of 8:31.50. Both runners could also challenge the meeting record of 8:35.28 set by Meseret Defar in 2013. Obiri and Muir will line up against the top two finishers from the 1500m in Karlsruhe last year: Ethiopia's 2014 world indoor silver medallist Axumawit Embaye and Germany's world U20 3000m bronze medallist Konstanze Klosterhalfen. Iraqi firefighters extinguish fire at the site of a car bomb attack at a car garage in the capital Baghdad on January 24, 2017. (AFP/Xinhua) BAGHDAD, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and 10 others wounded in a car bomb explosion at a crowded area in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, a police source said. The attack took place before noon when a booby-trapped car detonated at al-Nahda commercial area on the eastern bank of Tigris River, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The massive blast set fire on several civilian cars and badly damaged many other cars and nearby buildings, the source said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Islamic State (IS) militant group, in most cases, is responsible for deadly bombings targeting Iraqi security forces as well as crowded areas, including markets, cafes and mosques across the country. The attack came as the Iraqi security forces backed by anti-IS international coalition are carrying out a major offensive to drive out the IS militants from its last major stronghold in and around Mosul. Many blame the current chronic instability, cycle of violence, and the emergence of extremist groups, such as the IS, on the U.S., which invaded and occupied Iraq in March 2003. A Syrian man walks along a damaged street in Aleppo's Tareeq al-Bab neighbourhood on January 18, 2017, a month after government forces retook the northern Syrian city from rebel fighters. (AFP/Xinhua) ANKARA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus on Tuesday denied claims that the northern Syrian city of al-Bab will be handed over to the Assad regime forces, the Anadolu news agency reported. "We've said it from the beginning that Operation Euphrates Shield is an operation regarding Turkey's own national security," Kurtulmus said, adding that the operation focuses on clearing terror threat on the country's southern border with Syria. Kurtulmus criticized the U.S.-backed coalition for failing to give sufficient support to liberate the area from the Islamic State (IS) terrorists. He said Turkey hopes the U.S. under the Trump administration can change its stance and provide support for policies which will work in favor of the people in Iraq and Syria. The Turkish army is supporting Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters in liberating al-Bab, a town of strategic importance for gaining control in northern Syria and the Aleppo countryside currently occupied by IS. In the last 24 hours, the Turkish army in al-Bab hit the IS targets, killing 13 terrorists, Turkish General Staff said on Tuesday. The Turkish Armed Forces launched the Euphrates Shield Operation last August against both IS and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). Turkey regards the YPG and the PYD as terrorist organizations due to their links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China said Tuesday that it was committed to the process of Asia-Pacific economic integration in a spirit of openness, inclusivity and transparency, despite the United States quitting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "China will forge ahead with the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the construction of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) so as to add new impetus to regional and global economic development," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing. U.S. President Donald Trump Monday signed a memorandum ordering withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, was formally signed by ministers last February after more than five years of negotiation. China is not a member of the TPP. Hua said that China had always called for an open, transparent and mutually beneficial regional free trade arrangement and believed trade rules should be made through neogtiation with all parties on an equal footing. "The Asia Pacific region should continue to exert its role as the engine of global economy under the current economic downturn and establish an open economy," said Hua. The RCEP covers 16 countries, including 10 members of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations and their regional trading partners, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India. The FTAAP was launched with a roadmap at the 2014 APEC Summit in Beijing. A collective strategic study was subsequently conducted and the result approved at the APEC meeting in Lima. By encompassing all 21 APEC economies in trade liberalization, the FTAAP will become the world's largest free trade zone, covering 57 percent of the global economy and nearly half of world trade. When asked whether China would play the role of leader on the issue, Hua said "it is more precise to use the word 'responsibility' rather than 'leader.'" She said that from the G20 Hangzhou Summit to the APEC meeting in Lima and to the Davos Forum last week, China had made constant promises and concrete efforts. "China is willing to work with all other countries to solve the problems facing the world today so as to shoulder its due responsibility to promote the common development and prosperity of the world," she said. RIYADH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi police have arrested 16 terrorists, who were in connection to the recent Jeddah raids, Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. The police raided on Saturday two hideouts of terrorists in Jeddah, killing two extremists and arresting 16 others, including 10 Pakistanis. The ministry confirmed that the two killed were Saudis. One of them had connection to the deadly blasts that targeted two mosques, including the 2015 attack that killed 15 police personnel in Asir region. The police confiscated three grenades, eight explosive molds, 48 explosive-making chemicals and metal pieces from the raided hideouts. The police also seized guns and bullets. The raids and recent arrests were part of ongoing counterterrorism operations. Since the surfacing of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in 2014, Saudi Arabia has arrested 566 terrorists who formed eight sleeping cells, including six women, local newspaper said this week. TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- German major oil and petrochemical companies have offered to invest in the Iranian oil and petrochemical sectors, Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday. A total of 12 billion U.S. dollars in finance have been offered by the German companies, including the chemicals manufacturing corporation BASF. BASF, whose managing director paid an official visit to Iran last year as a member of a delegation accompanying German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, has offered to invest six billion U.S. dollars project in a petrochemical project in the south of Iran. Wintershall Holding GmbH, Germany's largest crude oil and natural gas producer, is another company that has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to make studies on four oil fields in the west of Iran. One year after the sanctions against Iran were lifted, several international companies have started negotiations to establish themselves in Iran's oil and gas projects. Iran possesses one of the world's largest oil and gas reserves. Saudi police secure a neighbourhood where two men reportedly blew themselves up during a firefight with security forces on January 21, 2017, in the Red Sea city of Jeddah. (AFP/Xinhua) RIYADH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi police have arrested 16 terrorists, who were in connection to the recent Jeddah raids, Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. The police raided on Saturday two hideouts of terrorists in Jeddah, killing two extremists and arresting 16 others, including 10 Pakistanis. The ministry confirmed that the two killed were Saudis. One of them had connection to the deadly blasts that targeted two mosques, including the 2015 attack that killed 15 police personnel in Asir region. The police confiscated three grenades, eight explosive molds, 48 explosive-making chemicals and metal pieces from the raided hideouts. The police also seized guns and bullets. The raids and recent arrests were part of ongoing counterterrorism operations. Since the surfacing of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in 2014, Saudi Arabia has arrested 566 terrorists who formed eight sleeping cells, including six women, local newspaper said this week. Enditem ASTANA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Russia, Turkey and Iran called for a political settlement of the current crisis in Syria in a joint statement issued here Tuesday, saying they will establish a trilateral mechanism to safeguard the full ceasefire in the Middle East nation. According to Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry, the statement was announced after the three countries' meeting on the Syria issue. They stand for separating the Syrian opposition groups from terrorists, said the statement, noting that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara "support the willingness of the armed opposition groups to participate in the next round of negotiations" led by the United Nations (UN) to secure the full implementation of the truce. They also reiterated their commitment to securing the independence and territorial integrity of Syria. Russia and Turkey brokered a nationwide truce between government forces and the main opposition groups from Dec. 30 and they also serve, together with Iran, as guarantors for the two-day Astana peace talks that kicked off Monday. The nearly six-year civil war in Syria has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced nearly 11 million others. TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said here Tuesday that the concluded Syria talks in Kazakh capital of Astana have acknowledged the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, Tasnim news agency reported. "The Astana meeting demonstrated that all parties, both Turkey and the opposition groups, and even countries not present there (in the talks), have somehow recognized the Syrian government's legitimacy, directly and indirectly," said Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader. He expressed the hope that Astana negotiations would help a ceasefire in Syria, but added that one should not expect the talks to put an end to all hostilities. "Such meetings should continue, and in every meeting forward steps should be taken," Velayati was quoted as saying. The two-day inter-Syria talks, concluded in Astana on Tuesday, were the result of a Russian-Turkish initiative which excluded terror-designated groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State group. In a joint statement issued in Astana on Tuesday, Russia, Turkey and Iran called for a political settlement of the current crisis in Syria, saying that they will establish a trilateral mechanism to safeguard the full ceasefire in the Middle East nation. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May delivers her keynote "Brexit speech" in Lancaster House in London, Britain on Jan. 17, 2017. (Xinhua) LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May has been grilled over an alleged cover-up of a reportedly failed missile test. On Monday, the prime minister confirmed that she had been informed of last year's Trident missile test when she came into office in July 2016. However, on Sunday, the prime minister refused to answer questions over what she knew about the test. Media reports claimed there had been a cover-up of the incident. The Sunday Times had reported that a Trident II D5 missile veered off course after being launched off the coast of the United States in June. The alleged failure happened weeks before the British Parliament voted in favor of the new 40-billion-pound (43 billion U.S. dollar) Trident submarines. Media reports said the vote occurred days after May was sworn in as the new prime minister, but she did not mention the test as she set out the case for renewing the Trident system in a Commons speech. Defense secretary Michael Fallon on Monday told the Commons he had "absolute confidence" in the system but refused to give more details about the failed mission. Members of Parliament of Labour and the Scottish National Party have urged the government to be more transparent on the issue. Shadow defense secretary Nia Griffith said that at the heart of this issue was a worrying lack of transparency and a prime minister who'd chosen to cover up a serious incident, rather than coming clean with the British public. "This House, and more importantly the British public, deserve better," she added. Other opposition members in Parliament urged the government to be frank about the incident. Turkish Foreign Ministry Deputy Undersecretary Sedat Onal, Russia's special envoy on Syria Alexander Lavrentiev, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura and Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaber Ansari pose after the announcement of a final statement following Syria peace talks in Astana on January 24, 2017. (AFP/Xinhua) TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said here Tuesday that the concluded Syria talks in Kazakh capital of Astana have acknowledged the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, Tasnim news agency reported. "The Astana meeting demonstrated that all parties, both Turkey and the opposition groups, and even countries not present there (in the talks), have somehow recognized the Syrian government's legitimacy, directly and indirectly," said Ali Akbar Velayati, the senior advisor to Iran's supreme leader. He expressed the hope that Astana negotiations would help a ceasefire in Syria, but added that one should not expect the talks to put an end to all hostilities. "Such meetings should continue, and in every meeting forward steps should be taken," Velayati was quoted as saying. The two-day inter-Syria talks, concluded in Astana on Tuesday, were the result of a Russian-Turkish initiative which excluded terror-designated groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State group. In a joint statement issued in Astana on Tuesday, Russia, Turkey and Iran called for a political settlement of the current crisis in Syria, saying that they will establish a trilateral mechanism to safeguard the full ceasefire in the Middle East nation. JERUSALEM, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israel's prime minister and defense minister agreed on Tuesday to approve the construction of 2,500 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. "In an agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, it was decided to approve 2,500 homes in Judea and Samaria (the Jewish biblical names for the West Bank)," said a statement by the defense ministry, referring to the Israeli name for the West Bank. Most of the houses will be built in settlement blocs, the ministry said, adding that the new construction would be approved to "answer the housing needs and the continuation of the daily life." "We are going back to normal life in Judea and Samaria," Lieberman said, referring to end of the term of Barack Obama, who criticized the settlement expansion, and the recent inauguration of the U.S. President Donald Trump, who stated his support for the settlements. The ministry did not elaborate on the locations of the new housing units but said that some of the construction was already agreed upon by previous governments, including hundreds of units in Beit El, a settlement south of Ramallah. "We construct and we will continue to construct," Netanyahu said in a separate statement. On Sunday, Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that he has decided to lift restrictions on new construction for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu also said he supports an "Israeli sovereignty over Ma'aleh Adumim," a major West Bank settlement. However, he asked the ministers to postpone the vote on a bill to annex the settlement, putting forward by the pro-settler Jewish Home party, citing a request by the Donald Trump admiration "not to make surprise moves but to draft a joint policy." The announcement came a few hours after the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved 560 new homes in the urban settlement neighborhoods of Ramot, Ramat Shlomo, and Pisgat Ze'ev, in lands Israel annexed to Jerusalem in a move never recognized internationally. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said more permits are expected to be issued after "eight difficult years with Obama, who pressured to freeze the construction." Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal" capital, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community. FRANKFURT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Two German-Moroccan brothers suspected of being members of the Islamic State (IS) were arrested in the region of Bonn on Tuesday, Germany's Federal Procuratorate said. The two men, 24 and 25 years old respectively, were arrested by the police of State North Rhine-Westphalia, based on the arrest warrant issued by investigating judge of the Federal Court on Dec. 22, 2016. The dwellings of both of the arrested have been searched, Federal Procuratorate said. The man named Rachid B. had traveled in February 2013 via Egypt and Turkey to Syria, where he has joined the IS and received military training since then, according to the Federal Procuratorate. The younger brother Khalid B also allegedly joined the IS in the beginning of 2013 and received basic military training in Syria. TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese APA hotel chain has sparked fury among people of China and Japan recently for placing books written by its CEO in its guest rooms denying the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women" ever happened. The incident, after being exposed on social media by a young woman from the United States and confirmed independently by the media, including Xinhua as well as major Japanese media outlets, has also led to great controversy in Japan. While some right wing forces fiercely defended the hotel's act by citing so-called "freedom of speech," many people in Japan condemned the hotel for wittingly imposing political and historical lies on its customers. The Tokyo Shimbun newspaper, for example, published an article on Tuesday, which, quoting scholars, pointed out the fallacies in the book by Seiji Fuji, the pen name of the APA CEO, and expressed concerns over Japan's distorted historical view. "The book claims that there were only 200,000 people living in the city of Nanjing in 1937. The number is obviously false, as it is too small," Toru Kubo, a professor of history at Shinshu University, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "The key issue is not the scale of the massacre, but that the massacre obviously did happen," said Kubo. The newspaper also revealed that Toshio Motoya, the author of the book as well as the CEO of the APA Group, is a vigorous supporter and sponsor of right-wing political causes. "A hotel would have to shut down if it were found placing Adolf Hitler's "My Struggle" or books denying the Holocaust in its guest rooms in Germany, " Takanori Hayao, associate professor at Tokyo Keizai University, was quoted as saying. "In fact, many Japanese people as well as the media, are opposed to the hotel's act, for they believe that tourists from China and South Korea bring a myriad of benefits to Japan and it is inappropriate to impose such an ideology on customers in hotels," Zhu Jianrong, a professor of international relations at Toyo Gakuen University in Tokyo, told Xinhua. However, many people are afraid to speak up and criticize the hotel in public, as they are scared of attacks and threats by ultra-right wing forces, Zhu pointed out. Meanwhile, the organizer of Asia's 8th Asian Winter Games (AWG) in Sapporo told Xinhua on Jan. 19 that it has requested APA to "remove the right-wing books placed in the hotel guest rooms." The 8th AWG will be held in Sapporo and Obihiro during Feb. 19-26 and to save costs, the organizing committee has chosen two local hotels as official designated hotels for the athletes, and the APA Hotel & Resort Sapporo is one of the two hotels and will probably accommodate Chinese and South Korean delegations. Xinhua has since contacted the APA hotel in Sapporo and the hotel has yet to respond directly to Xinhua's question as to whether it would remove the books from its guest rooms. But a video posted online shows the CEO of the APA Group, Toshio Motoya, telling a meeting of Shoheijyuku, a right-wing platform for Motoya to preach his ideas, on Jan. 19, that he would not remove the books. "People will forget about the whole incident in a few months, but will remember the name of the hotel. Maybe the hotel can take advantage of such fame to make up for losses caused by the incident," he boasted in the video. When asked about the controversy stirred up by the APA hotel chain's deed, Japan's top government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga said on Jan. 18 that "we need to tackle shared global challenges with a forward-looking view, rather than paying excessive attention to our unfortunate history." Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda echoed Suga's words on Tuesday, saying China and Japan should work together on common issues facing the international community, rather than focusing too much on the "unhappy past." Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura, said on Monday at a press conference that the Japanese should go to Nanjing to kneel down and apologize if Japanese troops really slaughtered 300,000 people. But he doubted the Nanjing Massacre ever took place. Regarding the APA incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing on Tuesday that China is willing to have friendly exchanges with Japan but will never tolerate brazen distortions of history that hurt the Chinese. "As for the comments by the mayor, I want to remind him that the Nanjing Massacre is a historical fact recognized by the international community. The mayor should deliver on what he said," she added. Also on Tuesday, China's National Tourism Administration released a call to action, asking Chinese tourism agencies and websites to stop promoting or using the APA chain. The tourism authority also called on Chinese tourists to boycott these hotels. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Tuesday that Mongolia shall draw lessons from the Dalai Lama's visit last November and respect China's major concerns and core interests. Wang made the remarks over a telephone conversation with his Mongolian counterpart, Tsend Munkh-Orgil, at the latter's invitation. The Chinese minister said the development of China-Mongolia relations, which is in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples, has been overshadowed by the negative impacts of the Dalai Lama's visit. Wang said that Mongolia has reflected deeply upon the visit and made an explicit promise not to allow the political exile to visit the landlocked Asian nation again. Mongolia shall keep its promise and make practical efforts to improve the China-Mongolia relationship, the top Chinese diplomat added. For his part, Munkh-Orgil said the Mongolian government had expressed regret over the negative impact of the visit on Mongolia-China relations. Mongolia, a staunch supporter of the one-China policy, has always believed that Tibet is an integral part of China, said Munkh-Orgil. The Mongolian top diplomat reiterated his country's public stance on the Dalai Lama's visit and the approval of the 10th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, saying Mongolia attaches great importance to its relations with China, and will safeguard the bilateral ties' political basis and promote bilateral relations with practical actions. The Dalai Lama, a political exile with ambitions to split Tibet from the Chinese territory under the guise of religion, paid a visit to Mongolia on Nov. 18-23. China has voiced strong dissatisfaction over the visit. People gather to commemorate the first anniversary of the Westgate attack, Sept. 21, 2014. A group of masked gunmen stormed the upscale Westgate shopping mall on Sept. 21, 2013, killing 68 civilians. (Xinhua/Zhangchen) NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that the country's counter-terrorism strategy is paying off with reduced number of terror incidents being recorded in 2016. Kenyatta said last week only 16 people died last year as a result of the terror incidents staged by Somalia Islamist militants, Al-Shabaab, as compared to the 202 who died in 2015. "There has been significant progress in counter-terrorism arising from enhanced capacity. These emanated from terrorism and other forms of organized crime, which required innovative ways to tackle," Kenyatta said at a ceremony to receive 500 police vehicles meant to stabilize security in the country. The East African nation has experienced a spate of terrorist attacks since its troops entered Somalia in 2011 to flush out Al-Qaeda linked terrorist network, Al-Shabaab. The militants were responsible for a siege in Nairobi's upscale Westgate shopping mall in September 2013 where they killed 68 civilians. The year 2014 also marked an escalation of Al-Shabaab attacks in the coast and northeastern region where dozens of civilians lost their lives. Police statistics show some 45 incidents were reported in 2014 that left 70 people dead and 78 injured. In April 2015, the militants again raided Garissa University campus where they killed 147 students. "The year 2015 was particularly darkened by the Garissa University attack," he said, noting that the reduction in the incidents is attributed to combined efforts by security agencies in the country. According to a recent report from Kenya's security agencies, hundreds of youth have been intercepted on their way to Somalia to join Al-Shabaab since 2015. The report disclosed that in the last one year, 100 Kenyan youth have defected from Al-Shabaab and are gradually being integrated in the community. The Kenyan leader said they have invested heavily in the security services to ensure they work safely for the safety of Kenyans. He said a total of 260 million U.S. dollars has been invested in various police equipment and medical insurance scheme to address their needs since 2013. Crime incidents rose to 76,986 in 2016 as compared to 72,490 of 2015, 69,372 of 2014 and 71,832 of 2013. He said robbery cases dropped to 2,667 in 2016 as compared to the 3,551 in 2013 while theft of motor vehicles declined to 1,355 in 2016 as compared to the 1,631 of 2013. Kenyatta said reporting of crime incidents increased due to various issues hence the rise in terms of numbers, which included presence of police. He said crime reduced in Nairobi County due to various factors including the use of CCTV cameras at various places. He said robbery cases in Nairobi alone reduced to 295 in 2016 as compared to 436 of 2014 while theft of motor vehicles dropped to 195 last year as compared to 340 of 2014. Cases of mugging reduced to 992 in 2016 as compared to the 1,360 of 2014. The president said the government is constructing the first phase of 1,500 housing units for police and would be completed by end of this year. The second phase comprising of 4,800 units will be commenced later on, he said. It is not clear at what cost and who is constructing the units. The security officers say the East African nation is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that terrorism and other forms of criminal activities threatening the country's security were minimized if not eliminated. Al-Shabaab militants have vowed to attack Nairobi after the east African nation entered southern Somalia in 2011 to flush out the insurgents it blamed for kidnappings of tourists. Kenya has more than 4,000 troops in the 22,000-strong AU force in Somalia helping the UN-backed government battle Al-Shabaab, which is part of the Al-Qaeda allied terror network. Al-Shabaab has said it views the presence of Kenyan troops in southern Somalia as an act of war and has vowed an all-out war in Kenya, in protest against the military incursion "against our brothers in Somalia." NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan soldiers, who are part of the Africa Union Mission in Somalia, killed seven Al-Shabaab militants in Badhaadhe area of southern Somalia during fighting on Tuesday. Kenya Defense Forces (KDF) spokesman Col. Paul Njuguna said that during the dawn operation, eight AK 47 rifles and ammunition were captured as well as Al-Shabaab flags, magazines, improvised explosive devices and two bombs. "KDF soldiers operating under AMISOM, while on routine pacification operations in the general area of Badhaaadhe, successfully launched an offensive operation on Al-Shabaab terrorists who had taken control of a mosque and police station in the area," Njuguna said in a statement issued in Nairobi. Somalia-based extremist group Al-Shabaab has carried out a series of attacks in Kenya since Kenyan troops launched cross-border operation in southern Somalia in October 2011 to fight the group. Enditem PHNOM PENH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Environment on Tuesday partnered with conservationist group Wildlife Alliance to prepare the kingdom's largest REDD+ project in Southern Cardamom Mountain National Park and Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary, according to a joint statement. REDD+ ((Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) is a U.N.-initiated program designed to mitigate climate change through reducing net emissions of greenhouse gases through enhanced forest management in developing countries. The Southern Cardamon Mountain REDD+ project will generate sustainable financial support to protect Cambodia's forests -- 500,000 hectares of the Cardamom Mountain Rainforest Landscape, which is one of the largest and most biodiverse rainforests still standing in Southeast Asia, the statement said. "This demonstrates the Royal Government of Cambodia's commitment to the protection and conservation of natural resources in conjunction with livelihood improvement," it said. Under the partnership, Cambodia will be able to sell carbon credits originating from the Southern Cardamoms landscape, the statement said, adding that the revenue will finance the long-term protection of the landscape and support sustainable local livelihoods and rural communities. "REDD+ in Cardamoms landscape will be the third effort in establishing sustainable financing support for the protection and conservation of forests in Cambodia," Environment Minister Say Samal said. Wildlife Alliance Chief Executive Officer and Founder Suwanna Gauntlett said it has been a long-term goal of Wildlife Alliance to secure sustainable funding for the protection of Asia's jewel. "We're looking forward to working with the Ministry of Environment as well as the local communities for implementing this exciting project and ensuring the protection of the forests and wildlife in perpetuity," she said. Wildlife Works Carbon, one of the world's leading carbon project developers, expressed that the REDD+ project in the Southern Cardamoms has the potential to be Asia's leading REDD+ given the global significance of the landscape. "It will position Cambodia as a global leader in REDD+," said Brian Williams, director of Wildlife Works Carbon to Asia. Currently, the Ministry of Environment is cooperating with Wildlife Conservation Society and Disney International in implementing REDD+ project in Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, while working with NGO Conservation International in formulating REDD+ project in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, the statement said. NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has launched a mobile phone application system to boost the fight against crime, a senior government official said on Tuesday. Attorney General Githu Muigai told a media briefing in Nairobi that the app will enable the public to report and document crimes as they happen. "The mobile phone crime reporting system will boost the fight against crime by leveraging on the large number of Kenyans with smart phones," Muigai said. The mobile app will work on all smart phones with android, IOS and windows operating systems. Data from the Communications Authority of Kenya shows that there are 38.5 million mobile phone subscriptions in Kenya, out of which an estimated 44 percent are smart phones. The data collected by the mobile app will be analyzed and verified by the National Crime Research Center (NCRC), which will then pass on the information to security agencies in real time. Muigai said that efforts to boost national security were hampered as citizens are often unwilling to report crime through traditional channels. "In fact up to 70 percent of all crimes go unreported as the public fears reporting to the police due to safety concerns," he added. Muigai said that the mobile technology ensures that information can be reported anonymously and this will boost reporting of crimes. "The NCRC will use the information to map out crime hotspots in the country. The information gathered will help members of the public to remain vigilant towards crime," he added. Enditem by Maria Spiliopoulou ATHENS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua)-- The Greek government is seeking tangible progress at the forthcoming Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on Thursday to conclude the delayed second review of the Greek bailout with no further delays, according to Greek officials. "Our aim is to find common ground and achieve progress during Thursday's meeting in order to quickly conclude the review without legislating additional measures so that Greece can participate in the European Central Bank's quantitative easing program," Greek government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos told a regular press briefing on Tuesday. "Athens was willing to agree on the extension of the automatic contingency mechanism for one more year after the end of the current third bailout program in 2018 in case of an agreement in all the other issues so to alleviate doubts mostly International Monetary Fund's," Tzanakopoulos added. There will be no need to activate the mechanism and implement more austerity measures, he said. Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos who will present Athens' proposals over the pending issues during the Eurogroup meeting, also urged for swift progress in an interview with local daily "Ethnos" (Nation). "No one gains from inaction, no one wants a repetition of 2015," he said referring to the year Greece came close to the brink of default as negotiations with its international creditors dragged on for several months before the sides agree on July 2015 on the third Greek bailout since 2010. Concern over a possible return of uncertainty is mounting in recent weeks as the second review of the third bailout which was initially scheduled to close in 2016 has stalled over diverging views on thorny issues, including fiscal targets and labor reforms. During the upcoming meeting the Greek side expects that eurozone finance ministers will give the green light for the immediate return of their envoys to Athens to restart the talks which stopped in mid-December. Should the two sides reach a compromise within the next few weeks Greek officials expect that the next Eurogroup scheduled for Feb. 20 can ratify the conclusion of the second review. In order to move forward towards further debt relief to exit the crisis, Greece also expects that IMF will also soon determine whether it will join the third Greek bailout. The Fund has yet to be convinced that the current fiscal targets can be met and pushes for supplementary austerity measures. Yu Zhengsheng (3rd L, rear), chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, talks at a symposium with leaders of national religious groups ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 24, 2017. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing) BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Top Chinese political advisor Yu Zhengsheng Tuesday called on religious groups in China to uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and national unity. Yu, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, made the remarks at a symposium with leaders of national religious groups ahead of the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year. On behalf of the CPC Central Committee and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping, Yu extended New Year greetings to religious personages and believers nationwide. Noting that the 19th National Congress of the CPC was scheduled for this year, Yu called on religious groups to study and implement the requirements made by Xi, and policies adopted at the national conference on religions to create a good environment for the congress. "The CPC Central Committee's policy toward religious work is consistent and clear," Yu said, urging relevant religious groups to make efforts to ensure such policies were properly understood and observed by religious personages and believers. He also called on religious groups to oppose extremism and terrorism. Yu said that religious groups should act as a bridge between the Party and government and religious people, and promote a positive image. He also stresses the building of a talent pool in relevant religions and government support for religious groups. TOKYO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Japan's hopes of seeing the expansive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement involving 11 other nations come to fruition and significantly boosting regional trade between countries involved and potentially bolstering global gross domestic product have come crashing down after the United States pulled out of the deal. U.S. President Donald Trump in one of his first tasks as the nation's new president signed an executive order permanently removing the U.S. from the TPP negotiations and as the biggest signatory to the deal, in doing so, has effectively quashed the pact from launching in the form it was intended. In his run up to being elected, Trump had made no secret of his intentions to scarp the deal, calling the pact "the worst deal ever" with his words after signing the order canceling America's participation echoing his former sentiments. Ditching the deal that had been approved by the 12 countries involved when former U.S. President Barack Obama was in office, Trump called the presidential memorandum "a great thing for the American workers." Although Japan has prior to and since Trump taking office as president vocally rallied to have the U.S., who accounts for 60 percent of the signatories' GDP alone, remain on board, with a personal visit from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and pleas from other high-ranking Japanese officials for Trump to come around to Japan's view of the TPP of being of "great strategic and economic significance", Japan, it would seem, has been left high and dry. "We believe that President Trump recognizes the importance of free and fair trade, and we want to take the time to seek his understanding on the strategic and economic significance the TPP holds," Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda told a press conference Tuesday, reiterating the government's long-held position. However, despite media reports that other nations may be considering continuing with a similar pact without the participation of the U.S., Japan's involvement seems unlikely, with Hagiuda saying that Japan is "not considering proceeding with the TPP without the United States." The unlikelihood of Japan pushing forward with a TPP-like deal without the U.S. was also underscored by the the position of chief negotiator for the TPP being left vacant, with Hiroshi Oe, who had held the position since May last year, being reassigned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. Despite Hagiuda saying the move was "not prompted by the U.S. withdrawal from TPP," analysts believe that Japan, having also been admonished by Trump for engaging in trade practices described by the new president as "unfair to American companies", particularly regarding Japan's dealings in auto trade, will now fall back and reassess its next move and broader trade alliances with the U.S. Whether the comments were warranted or not is somewhat down to conjecture, as despite Japan trying ardently to protect its own "sacred sectors" like agriculture from abolishing tariffs that would have battered part of the nation's farming industry that has long enjoyed exponentially high tariffs on rice imports from overseas, for example, Japan had, in fact, removed non-tariff barriers on importing U.S. automobiles. This move was deemed a huge boon for the U.S. and was highlighted as such by the U.S. Commerce Department in a 2016 report on the matter, with its applause for Japan readjusting its position, running somewhat contrary to Trump's remarks, observers here said Tuesday. In response, albeit it too late, Japan's trade minister hit back at Trump saying that Japan had in no way been involved in unfair practices that might harm American interests, including its labor force, or for U.S. automakers to sell their vehicles in Japan. "Japan is not imposing tariffs on American cars or conducting any unfair trade practices," trade minister Hiroshige Seko told reporters Tuesday. For Abe's part, the hawkish leader may possibly be more concerned with Japan's continued security alliance with the U.S., rather than FTA's, with sources close to the matter saying his administration is, in light of Trump reneging on the U.S. signing the pact, considering other regional FTA's and further bilateral deals with the U.S., in the meantime. "I believe President Trump understands the importance of free and fair trade, so I'd like to pursue his understanding on the strategic and economic importance of the TPP trade pact," Abe told a lower house parliamentary session this weak, adding that he was keen to "strengthen the U.S.-Japan security alliance, based on mutual trust with Trump." "When we met last time, I believed him to be trustworthy, this belief has not changed today," said the Japanese leader, with reference to his meeting in November with Trump. Abe told the parliamentary session that Japan would continue to fully try to explain exactly how its companies have helped bolster the U.S. economy and helped create jobs, rather than take them away. Sources close to the matter, however, with Trump's seemingly unwavering mantras of "America First" and "Made in America", believe that Japan may be toeing the line for now or risk facing unilateral border tax from the U.S. on its exports, which would further damage Japan's already ailing export-led economy. Had the TPP deal come to fruition Japan's economy stood to grow by around 0.66 percentage point, or around 3.2 trillion yen (28.25 billion U.S. dollars) in 10 years, according to some conservative estimates, but critics of the deal were quick to point out that Japan would have somehow had to have keep its tariffs on rice and other fragile agricultural sectors for up to 10 years, a scenario that seems highly unlikely under a Trump leadership. Economists here previously said that according to the government's own estimates, the flood of cheaper imports by participation in the TPP would cause around a 3 trillion yen drop in the value of domestic agriculture products, from the current 8 trillion yen. But agriculture aside, the industrial sector had warmly welcomed the deal and the Japan Business Federation, Japan's largest business lobby also known as Keidanren, hailed the TPP as being a monumental godsend for Japan's flagging economy. The Japan Association of Corporative Executives was also a huge proponent of the TPP deal, although, since its inception, the TPP has not been without its significant hurdles, and notably, Japan was one of the last countries to get onboard, which slowed down the deal's proceedings under Obama. Some economists here are already suggesting that the pact would have ended up being more about managed trade rather than free trade and questioned the lack of transparency of the overall process. Experts have also claimed that, along similar lines, not all the deals inked would see tariffs eliminated following pledges made in earlier negotiations, with the details of the accord, in fact, a diluted version of the original grand vision. The TPP which involved Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, if ratified, would have accounted for some 40 percent of global gross domestic product and more than 30 percent of global trade, with economists estimating that combined growth could have been worth in access of 28 trillion U.S. dollars. BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's top insurance regulator announced Tuesday a ban of insurers acquiring listed firms in concert with non-insurance parties, in a move to prevent radical stock investment and maintain financial market stability. The China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) set new rules on insurers' investment in the stock market, so that when insurance companies make major stock investment with non-insurer parties, they must use their own funds to make a purchase. A purchase of at least 20 percent of stock in a listed company by an insurer is considered a major investment. The new rules came in the wake of recent "barbaric" behavior of some insurers using leveraged money to buy shares of listed companies late last year. Triggering sharp volatility in the market, such moves annoyed corporate executives and caused individual investors to suffer. The CIRC will take action when an insurance company, together with non-insurance parties, increases its holdings of a certain listed firm to 5 percent, such as suspending insurance funds to non-insurer parties acting in concert with the insurer. Insurance firms are also not allowed to acquire listed companies or purchase a major stake, at least 20 percent, of their shares before gaining regulatory approval, according to the rules. To prevent the radical investment of some players in the insurance sector, the CIRC ordered that an insurer's investment in one single stock should not exceed 5 percent of its total assets at the end of the previous quarter. Meanwhile, an insurer's total equity investment should be less than 30 percent of its total assets at the end of the previous quarter. The CIRC said that insurers should be friendly investors and maintain good communications with stake holders and management of the listed companies, so that insurance funds could better facilitate operations. "Insurance companies should be financial investors in good faith, instead of making hostile takeovers," said Xiang Junbo, chairman of the CIRC, in a meeting last month. BUJUMBURA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza Tuesday swore in Celestin Ndayizeye as the new east African country's minister for water, environment, territory planning and urbanization, replacing Emmanuel Niyonkuru assassinated on Jan. 1 in the Burundian capital Bujumbura. The ceremony attended by the country's top leaders and diplomats accredited in Burundi took place at Kigobe Parliament house. In his oath, Ndayizeye swore fidelity to the Burundian unity charter, the national constitution and other laws. "Before the Burundian president and the parliament, I swear fidelity to the National Unity Charter, the National Constitution and other laws. I commit to dedicate all my forces to defend high interests of the nation, to promote unity and cohesion of Burundian people, to promote peace and social justice in accomplishing my assignments," said Ndayizeye. He also committed to combat "every genocide ideology and exclusion" as well as all kinds of discrimination. The new minister also pledged to promote human rights and liberties. Ndayizeye was appointed by Nkurunziza in a presidential decree on Monday evening. Ndayizeye, a senator elected in Muramvya constituency, replaced Niyonkuru, also born in Muramvya, who was assassinated on Jan. 1 in the Burundian capital Bujumbura. Investigations into his assassination are still underway. Niyonkuru, 54, was shot dead with a firearm in front of his house in Rohero. He had been the minister for water, environment, territory planning and urbanization since August 2015. VIENTIANE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A hand grenade that exploded Tuesday morning during a military-tactics training drill at a secondary school in Lao northern Oudomxay province was brought to the school by the trainer, who was killed in the accident, said a police officer. A military trainer was killed and 26 students were injured on Tuesday when a hand grenade accidentally exploded at about 9 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) during a demonstration of how to properly use grenades at Muaengxay Secondary School in Xay district, Oudomxay, some 360 km northwest of capital Vientiane, Lao News Agency reported. "Only fake grenades are ever used for such training courses, but the trainers, who have been running such courses for years, this time brought both real and fake grenades to the training course," Chief of Police Headquarters of the district, Lieutenant Colonel Maidaeng Khampanya said to Lao state-run Vientiane Times. "It was an accident. Normally he (the trainer) brought only fake grenades to the training course. It is routine practice that only the fake grenades are brought to such training courses," Maidaeng said. The tragedy happened as the trainer, Military First Lieutenant Somphone brought both real and fake grenades to the training course held at a the school. The trainer accidentally took the real grenade and pulled its pin as he was demonstrating how to use the grenade. First lieutenant Somphone later realized that the grenade he had pulled the pin on was a real one and he then used himself to cover the grenade to protect the students, Maidaeng was quoted by Vientiane Times as saying. The trainer was killed instantly while some 26 students suffered minor injuries, Maidaeng said after his team rushed to the scene and cleared the incident. Head of the Outpatients Division of Oudomxay provincial Hospital, Dr Somphan Oudomphan confirmed that the students had suffered only minor injuries, mostly shrapnel wounds. However, three injured students who suffered symptoms such as difficulty breathing were sent to a Chinese-run hospital in the province to undergo CT scans to identify the causes, according to Somphan. Every year in Laos, secondary school students are encouraged to take a one-week military course and higher education students are encouraged to take a military course lasting several weeks. WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has asked James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to stay on, U.S. media reported Tuesday. The New York Times has quoted sources as saying that Comey had told his top agents across the country that he had been extended the offer. Comey has thrown himself into the spotlight during the presidential campaign for launching two investigations into allegations that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton had improperly handled her work emails as the Secretary of State. The second investigation just took place days before the presidential vote, though Comey said the FBI had closed the case just before the vote, Democrats say the publically-announced action could have cost Clinton her presidency. The U.S. Justice Department on Jan. 13 said it would look into whether Comey's handling of Clinton's emails were proper during the election campaign. If he stay on as FBI director, Comey would play a crucial part in the ongoing probe to determine the specific around Russia's alleged hacking activities that may have swayed the presidential election. CAPE TOWN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday rejected allegations that it allocated 50 million rand (about 3.7 million U.S. dollars) for a "covert campaign" against opposition parties during the 2016 local government election. "We further reject any allegation that the organisation owes any monies to any companies purporting to run such clandestine campaign," the ANC said in a statement. It came after claims by public relations consultant Sihle Bolani that she was part of a team called the War Room tasked with disempowering the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) election campaigns and setting a pro-ANC agenda in the media. Its jobs reportedly involved printing fake posters of EFF leader Julius Malema with a gun. Bolani has opened a case with police after being threatened and sued the ANC for over 2 million rand over her involvement in the campaign before the municipal elections in August last year. But on Tuesday, the South Gauteng High Court dismissed Bolani's application with costs. In defense, ANC national spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said the party has always been and remains committed to running clean campaigns in all the elections it has participated in since 1994. "We welcome that we have been vindicated in this matter" by the court, Kodwa said, adding the party does not need clandestine "black ops" to woo voters. Kodwa said Bolani and other people were not contracted or mandated by the ANC or any of its structures tasked with the communications work in the 2016 Local Government Election. "Their activities were not sanctioned by the ANC and consequently, we distance ourselves against any insinuation that any such campaign was known to or approved by the African National Congress," said Kodwa. The 2016 local election, the most fierce since 1994 when apartheid was brought to an end, marked the greatest setback for the ANC that lost some major metropolitans like Johannesburg, Pretoria and the Nelson Mandela Bay to opposition parties. COLOMBO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese New Year is to be celebrated in Sri Lanka on a grand scale, the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said on Tuesday. China will host the Happy Chinese Year' together with Sri Lankan officials with a cultural fair and film festival. China and Sri Lanka are also preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both countries this year and the 65th anniversary of the signing of the Rice and Rubber pact between Sri Lanka and China. The Cultural Attache to the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka Liu Dong said that several cultural events will be staged over the next couple of months in Sri Lanka to mark the New Year and the anniversary. He said that a concert will be staged in Colombo next month with the participation of President Maithripala Sirisena and other high ranking officials to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations. "In the next 60 years, China-Sri Lanka relations will definitely be lifted to a new historical height," Liu Dong said at a media briefing. He said that no matter what took place in the international landscape or domestically, the relations between both countries has seen a healthy and dynamic development. "The mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has delivered tangible benefits to our two peoples," he said. Liu Dong said that while the people to people relationship is expected to see a boost this year, on the political field high ranking visits are scheduled to take place between China and Sri Lanka. JUBA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan said Tuesday that it exported its first honey product last year, marking a breakthrough for its nascent honey industry. The Undersecretary for Industry in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Elizabeth Manoa Majok, told journalists in Juba that so far about 1,500 small scale farmers had benefited from the honey industry. "We are very happy to know today that a product from South Sudan has reached Japan. They are buying honey from the community here. More than 1,500 farmers have benefited," she said. She said the country would no longer rely 98 percent on oil to finance its fiscal budget as it is trying to develop other products like peanuts and sesame products to diversify its economy. South Sudan exported 100kg of honey to Japan in December last year, and over 30 metric tons to Kenya, according to the director of Honey Care Africa South Sudan, Matata Safi. "South Sudan imports everything from the region, but if we have local companies that manufacture from here, we can save on our hard currency," Safi told Xinhua. He however said the ongoing conflict in Equatoria region, where most of their farmers operate, had affected the honey business. As renewed fighting between South Sudan's rival political factions broke out last July, the official feared that many of the farmers had been displaced by the violence. "The challenge is that the honey we have been selling is what we collected last year. Most of the farmers should have gone in exile." Safi said. Enditem SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Three militants were killed in two separate gunfights with Indian troops Tuesday in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said. Two militants were killed during a gunfight at village Hadoora of Ganderbal district, about 20 km north of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Two militants affiliated with Lashker-eToiba (LeT) were killed today afternoon in a gunfight with joint parties of police and army in Ganderbal," a senior police official posted in the district told Xinhua. "We have recovered two assault rifles and some ammunition from the spot." Police officials said the area was cordoned off following specific intelligence inputs regarding presence of militants in the village. "As the joint contingents were busy searching the area, the militants fired upon them indiscriminately, thereby triggering a gunfight," the official said. According to police spokesman in Srinagar, the slain militants were foreign cadres of LeT and involved in many attacks on Indian troops and police in the region. According to the spokesman the duo was planning to carry out attack around India's Republic Day celebrations scheduled on Thursday in Ganderbal and Srinagar. Last week a top commander of LeT was killed in the adjacent Bandipora district in a similar gunfight. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their Independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. BUCHAREST, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Romania's President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday launched the procedure on a national referendum on anti-corruption and integrity issues. The president sent a letter to the two heads of the Parliament chambers in this regard, according to a statement of the Presidential Administration. The people are called to express their will regarding continuing the fight against corruption and the assurance of the integrity of public office in the referendum, the president said in his letter. Romanian Prime Minister Sorin Mihai Grindeanu was also informed of the president's request, announced the Presidential Administration. Iohannis said on Monday the Romanian people had a right to express their views on the government's plan to grant collective pardon and amend the criminal code. The president also took part in a massive protest held last Sunday in Bucharest against the government's proposals. The ruling Social Democratic Party said the president's move is politically motivated and an attempt to win back popular support after the opposition lost the elections. Justice Minister Florin Iordache explained that the changes proposed are needed in order to alleviate the current state of overcrowding in prisons and to bring legislation in line with some of the decisions of the Constitutional Court. YEREVAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) would focus on five many priorities in its relations with Armenia in the coming months, said the head of the EU delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski on Tuesday. In a meeting with the press, he said among those the most significant issue was that of pertaining to the electoral process in Armenia. "The European Union has provided serious financial support to Armenia for the national elections on April 2," said Switalski, adding that the EU had given Armenia 7 million Euros for the organizations of parliamentary elections last May. According to Ambassador Switalski, the EU is also interested in continuing talks on the improvement of the business environment in Armenia, for the purpose of which they intend to have a series of meetings with the government, business organizations as well as the European Business Alliance. Next top priority for the EU is the fight against corruption for which an allocation of 15 million Euros has been made to the Armenian government. The EU-Armenia agenda also includes the implementation of the agreement related to the budgetary support of the protection of human rights. The last priority according to Switalski had to with the strengthening of the independence of the judiciary. The European Union is planning to provide a fiscal support of 10 million Euros for the implementation of reforms in this area. A relevant agreement on this direction was signed with Armenia earlier. ISLAMABAD, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Seven people were killed and five others injured in separate rain-related accidents in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan Province on Tuesday, local Urdu media reported. A woman and a kid were killed after the roof of their house collapsed due to heavy rains in Zhob district of the province, the Neo News said. Separately in Kharotabad district, a woman was killed and five others were injured in another roof collapse incident. In Chamman district, four people were killed following their vehicle was swept away by flood water. The Balochistan government has issued a travel advisory, asking residents to avoid unnecessary traveling in some areas which are likely to be hit by flash floods. The residents were also advised not to cross seasonal streams on foot or vehicles as the streams are feared to swell due to flood water. Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Zehri has directed the provincial disaster management authority to provide rescue and relief to the affected people. He also put administration in affected districts and towns on high alert to combat any untoward situation. Local weather office said that heavy downpour will continue in the province over the next 24 hours. Enditem ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Five African female scientists on Tuesday won this year's Kwame Nkrumah Regional Awards for women held by the African Union (AU). The ceremony took place during the Gender Pre-Summit as part of the 28th AU heads of states and government assembly in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. The AU Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards is made to top African scientists at national, regional and continental levels. The regional awards aim at promoting participation of African women in science and technology, according to the AU. Laureates of the Regional Awards for women are from East, North, South, and West African Regions, including Jane Catherine Ngila from Kenya as the East Africa Region laureate for her analytical-environmental chemistry research on water resource management. Lamia Chaari Fourati from Tunisia, the North Africa Region laureate, won the award for her research on conception and validation of new protocols and mechanisms for quality of service provisioning over emerging networks technologies. Laureate of the South Africa Region, Celia Abolnik from South Africa, was awarded for her research in avian respiratory viruses, especially those that effect chicken and ostrich production in Africa. The other two laureates from the West Africa Region are Rokia Sanogo from Mali, whose research in pharmacognosy focuses on traditional medicines, and Olu-Owolabi Bamidele from Nigeria, a researcher on the development of sustainable alternative materials for water treatment. A sponsor of the award, the European Union (EU) said participation of women in research, their opportunities to contribute fully and their recognition, as well as gender issues in research itself, are an integral part of good research policy. The EU's support for the award is part of the EU-Africa collaboration in science, technology & innovation (STI), under the Human Development component of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), according to the statement. Enditem by Alessandra Cardone ROME, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Italian Constitutional Court was set to rule Wednesday on the legitimacy of the country's electoral law, a decision that could also determine whether snap elections will be called this year. A ruling of the highest court on the issue became necessary as different election laws now apply to the lower house and the upper house of the parliament. The supreme judges have to decide whether the current system to elect the Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, is legitimate in all of its parts. The law has been in fact challenged under several points of view before five Italian tribunals, which referred to the highest court. The panel of constitutional judges could take different paths: they could rule the law is legitimate as it is; or, they could call it illegitimate (in one or more parts), without saying what amendments are needed; or, they could provide some suggestions on what is needed for the law to be right. Somehow, the tangle concerning Italy's electoral system resulted from reforms implemented by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government combined with recent political events. The new law was in fact passed in 2015, and would apply to the lower house only. It would allocate a 54 percent majority of seats to the party winning at least 40 percent of the vote in a first round. If no party reach the threshold, the two biggest parties would face a second round providing still a 54 percent majority to the winner. On the other hand, the senate, or upper house, is elected on a proportional system. The 2015 electoral law was not designed for the senate, because a constitutional reform approved by lawmakers last year would have demoted it into a non-elected regional assembly. Yet, the constitutional reform was rejected in a referendum held on Dec. 4. Thus, the senate remained untouched, and a prior (to the reform) proportional law would govern its election. The harsh defeat of the cabinet-backed constitutional reform brought about the resignation of Renzi from the post of prime minister in early December. Paolo Gentiloni followed in the post with a similar parliamentary majority to take care of the most urgent issues, and the current legislature was due to end in February 2018. While Italian President Sergio Mattarella has repeatedly asked the parliament to "harmonize" two electoral systems before going to the polls again, most parties -- including Renzi's center-left Democratic Party (PD) -- are calling for early elections. Yet, they have very different views on the kind of law they prefer, and no agreement was in sight in parliament. If the constitutional court rules the so-called "majority premium" is illegitimate, the electoral law would essentially become proportional. In this case -- as well as in the case the court confirms the law is right as it is -- a snap general election in spring 2017 would be likely, according to most media analysts. On the other hand, if the court says the law does need some changes before being applied, the parliament will have to intervene, making early elections much less likely. The constitutional judges have saved Tuesday and Wednesday to the hearing, after which the ruling will be issued. BRUSSELS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday welcomed closer cooperation between the Alliance, Kuwait and other Gulf partners, according to a full text of his speech posted on NATO's website. NATO chief made the remarks during a joint press conference with Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah in Kuwait. Calling Kuwait a strong and dedicated NATO partner, Stoltenberg praised Kuwait's efforts to build greater security and stability in the Gulf region. He said the two sides signed a NATO-Kuwait Transit Agreement last year to facilitate the transit of personnel and supplies to NATO's mission in Afghanistan. Kuwait was the first country to join NATO's Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) in 2004. Now four countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, have joined the initiative. "Our relationship with Kuwait and the other the ICI partners reached a new level last year, when all four countries opened diplomatic missions to NATO," Stoltenberg said. He added that NATO will step up cooperation with ICI countries in many areas, including fight against terrorism, energy security and cyber defence. NEW DELHI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates (UAE) - Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Tuesday arrived in India on his three-day visit, officials said. Al Nahyan, who is the deputy supreme commander of UAE armed forces was received by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his arrival at New Delhi airport. He is the chief guest for India's Republic Day parade on Thursday. The Republic Day in India marks the date when India's new republican constitution came into force on 1950. Every year the day is celebrated officially by India on January 26. The main function is held in Indian capital -New Delhi, where India's cultural diversity and military might is displayed. Indian officials said, this year a contingent of UAE soldiers will march along with Indian troops during the republic day function. According to India's state-run broadcaster- All India Radio, the visiting dignitary will be accorded ceremonial reception at the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday. Al Nahyan will hold talks with Modi, besides meeting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. The Crown Prince is accompanied by a high-level delegation including ministers, senior officials and captains of industry from UAE, officials said. A statement issued by India's foreign ministry said UAE is among the top investors in India in terms of foreign direct investments and it contributes significantly to India's energy security. India's secretary economic relations, Amar Sinha told media Al Nahyan's visit will solidify defence and security cooperation between the two countries. Authorities in India have made adequate security arrangements across country in wake of the Republic Day functions. MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Tuesday full liberation of the eastern side of the city of Mosul after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist militants of the Islamic State (IS) group. Meanwhile, Abadi urged the security forces to move quickly to liberate all the remaining areas of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, in particular the western side of the provincial capital city of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. He made the remarks at a press conference here, praising the "heroic forces and the unity of all Iraqis." In addition, a military statement said that the army soldiers fulfilled liberation of eastern Mosul after they swept the remaining areas left in the hand of IS militants in the northern outskirts of the eastern bank of the city. The troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, freed the neighborhood of Rashidiyah and the nearby villages of Ba'wiza, Baysan and Shrikhan after heavy clashes with IS militants, leaving dozens of them killed and destroying eight car bombs, according to a statement from the Joint Operations Command. The troops also killed two suicide bombers, shot down five unmanned drones carrying bombs and destroyed three vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, the statement said. Experts believe that with the recapture of the whole eastern side of Mosul, the troops will soon begin a new phase of the anti-IS major offensive on the western part of the city. On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city. The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on Dec. 29. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 19, 2017. The 47th WEF's annual meeting kicked off in Davos on Jan. 17 and will last to Jan. 20. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) LONDON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Theresa May's government will put a bill before the British parliament within days to trigger the country's exit from the European Union, the House of Commons was told Tuesday. The announcement to MPs (members of the Parliament) by Brexit Secretary David Davis came just hours after the highest court in Britain, the Supreme Court, ruled that the prime minister could not start the process of leaving the EU without first gaining approval from the British Parliament. The 8-3 majority decision by the judges has been described as one of the most important constitutional rulings in British legal history. In its decision, the judges also ruled that the government did not need to seek the approval for Brexit from the devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon criticized the decision, raising fears the region could pave the way for a new Scottish independence referendum if the will of the people of Scotland, who voted remain, is ignored. SNP MPs at Westminister have warned they will put forward 50 amendments to the forthcoming "article 50" bill when it is presented to the House of Commons. The ruling announced by Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger was hailed as a victory for democracy by wealthy Investment fund manager Gina Miller, who brought the case to the courts. Just three hours after the decision was announced Secretary Davis made a statement to a packed House of Commons. Sitting alongside Theresa May, Davis announced that the government will introduce a short parliamentary bill within days to trigger article 50. It will be the most straightforward bill possible, he added. He insisted that the government will respect the will of the British people to leave the EU following the countrywide referendum last June. Davis said the government intended to keep to May's timetable to trigger article 50 by the end of March. "The judgement does not alter the fact that we will leave the EU," said Davis. He made a plea to politicians at Westminster not to use the process of the new bill to frustrate or thwart the will of the British people to leave the EU. Sir Keith Starmer, Brexit spokesman for the main opposition Labour Party, described the events as a "good day for democracy." He said it had been wrong of May to sideline parliament by her attempt to trigger article 50 without Westminster approval. Describing the stakes as high, he called for a detailed government paper on the Brexit process, rather than a simply worded bill. He insisted that Labour will not frustrate the triggering of article 50. Despite that assurance a number of Labour politicians have said they will oppose the triggering of the process if the result would be a hard Brexit. Richard Tice, co-chair of Leave Means Leave, the campaign group campaigning for a hard Brexit, accused anti-democracy campaigners of delaying the Brexit process. "A one line bill must be tabled this week in Parliament and a clear timetable set out to ensure that Article 50 will be triggered no later than the end of March as promised by the Prime Minister. Any attempt to delay the Brexit process after backing the previous vote would be an unforgivable betrayal of the British people." He warned that any attempts in the House of Lords to delay or crush the bill would ensure the abolition of the unelected upper chamber. The army fulfilled liberation of eastern Mosul after they swept the remaining areas left in the hand of IS militants in the northern outskirts of the eastern bank of the city. (Reuters photo) MOSUL, Iraq, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared on Tuesday full liberation of the eastern side of the city of Mosul after more than 100 days of fighting against the extremist militants of the Islamic State (IS) group. Meanwhile, Abadi urged the security forces to move quickly to liberate all the remaining areas of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, in particular the western side of the provincial capital city of Mosul, locally known as the right bank of Tigris River which bisects the city. He made the remarks at a press conference here, praising the "heroic forces and the unity of all Iraqis." In addition, a military statement said that the army soldiers fulfilled liberation of eastern Mosul after they swept the remaining areas left in the hand of IS militants in the northern outskirts of the eastern bank of the city. The troops, backed by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi aircraft, freed the neighborhood of Rashidiyah and the nearby villages of Ba'wiza, Baysan and Shrikhan after heavy clashes with IS militants, leaving dozens of them killed and destroying eight car bombs, according to a statement from the Joint Operations Command. The troops also killed two suicide bombers, shot down five unmanned drones carrying bombs and destroyed three vehicles carrying heavy machine guns, the statement said. Experts believe that with the recapture of the whole eastern side of Mosul, the troops will soon begin a new phase of the anti-IS major offensive on the western part of the city. On Oct. 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city. The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on Dec. 29. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has put in place an elaborate security mechanism to ensure safety of August's general elections, a senior official said Tuesday. Interior Ministry Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho said Tuesday that firm action will be taken against those engaging in hate speech and incitement ahead of the elections. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who will seek re-election in the election, faces stiff challenge from a coalition of opposition parties that will field one presidential candidate. There are already fears of election violence over growing rigging claims by the opposition against the ruling party. On Tuesday, opposition leader Raila Odinga claimed the country's National Intelligence Service was interfering with voter registration by listing people in Uganda and Ethiopia. Odinga, who has been leading campaigns for voters to register ahead of the August poll, categorically stated that he will not accept "results of a rigged election". The president has dismissed such claims and called on Odinga to substantiate his allegations. The electoral agency is currently conducting its second phase of mass voter listing across the country with the hope of registering between 4 to 6 million new voters. The exercise will end on Feb. 14. On Tuesday, the Kenyan government directed security agencies to decisively deal with any violation of law in regard to organized criminal gangs, political incitement and political intolerance. The interior ministry also directed the security apparatus to deal with hate speech, misuse of social media, intimidation and disruption of rival campaign rallies. "The law will be applied equally to anyone irrespective of his or her political and or social status who engages in activities likely to incite others into politically motivated violence," Kibicho said. The ministry also directed police to enhance the ongoing crackdown on organized criminal gangs. The government on Dec. 30, 2016, declared 90 groups criminal and outlawed them to help avert insecurity. Enditem RAMALLAH, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized Israel on Tuesday for deciding to construct 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank settlements. However, Abbas said he is keen to work with the new U.S. administration to reach a just peace. A press statement from Abbas's office said that the Israeli government's approval to build 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank settlements "is condemned, rejected and will have consequences," adding that the decision "is provocative and challenges the entire world." Aide to Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdineh, said in a press statement published on the official Palestinian WAFA news agency website that "what is currently required from the international community is a serious stance to face this challenge," adding that "this decision will obstruct all the efforts made towards achieving peace and stability." Furthermore, Secretary General of the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, Saed Erekat, stated that the decision to build 2,500 units in the West Bank and 560 units in the occupied east Jerusalem challenges the United Nations Security Council resolution 2334, which condemns the settlements. "The Israeli position undermines the two-state solution, replacing it with the principle of a single state with two regimes. I mean apartheid," said Erekat in a press statement issued by his office. "Israel wants to keep the situation as it is and push the region towards further violence." In addition, he called on the international community "to understand that defeating terrorism and replacing it by peace and stability depend on ending the occupation, establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital and resolving all permanent status questions." Israeli Radio reported on Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman approved the construction of 2,500 housing units in the West Bank settlements, adding that the units will be incorporated into the larger settlements. A Palestinian diplomat told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that Palestinian leadership began moving in three different levels to implement the UNSC's resolution 2334, and called on Israel to halt its settlement expansion activities in Palestinian territories. Permanent representative of Palestine's non-member observer state in the UN, Reyad Mansour, said the first level is the security council and the second level is the UN Secretary General's report which he presents to the Security Council every three months to ensure that the resolution is implemented. "The third level is addressing all specialized companies and agencies explaining the difference between Israel and Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem," said Mansour, adding "We will ask these companies and agencies to stop dealing with our territories as part of Israel." He also stated that the Palestinian mission in the UN will strengthen its ties with countries like Jordan in addition to Arab and Islamic Groups, non-aligned countries and the European group. Plus, he called on the Security Council to start implementing the latest resolution related to the settlements. Meanwhile, Abbas stated that he is keen to work with the new American Administration of U.S. President Donald Trump in an attempt to reach a just peace. Abbas's remarks were made during a meeting held in Ramallah with David Bloom, the United States consul in Jerusalem. According to WAFA's report, Abbas stressed that he is interested in cooperating with the United States of America "to boost bilateral ties in order to reach a just peace in order to stabilize the region, secure it and rid it of violence and terrorism." Diplomatic aide to Abbas, Majdi el-Khaldi, said in press statements that President Abbas is willing to remain in contact with the new American administration to attain peace, noting that "one of the important points is that the US Administration must start listening to the Palestinian side." "I believe the coming step of the American Administration of President Donald Trump is to work jointly with other states as it cannot work alone on the Israeli-Palestinian issue," said el-Khaldi, adding that "the U.S. has to work with the Quartet and other Arab states to find a way to end the Israeli occupation." The U.S.-sponsored bilateral talks between Israelis and Palestinians ended in vain in April 2014 following nine months without progress due to deep differences on Israeli settlements, borders, security and the recognition of a Palestinian state. BEIRUT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Visiting French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron stressed here Tuesday his "determination to bring an inclusive political solution to the Syrian crisis." Macron, also the former French minister of economy and industry, met with Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri when they reviewed the general situation in Lebanon and the region, a statement by the PM's media office said. Macron expressed great satisfaction for France to see stability built in Lebanon, saying that Lebanon is probably "the country in which this Syrian crisis must be best grasped." They also discussed the situation of the refugees, the Syrian crisis and the security, political and economic issues of the region. Macron reiterated determination to bring an inclusive political solution to the Syrian crisis, saying that it is the only solution that will "provide a credible and lasting solution to the issue of refugees." DUBLIN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The president of the young Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Jin Liqun, said on Tuesday AIIB's success will ultimately rest on transparency and strong governance. "Our success will ultimately rest on our transparency and strong governance, as we intend to run this organization by the highest international standard," Jin said in a keynote speech to the second European Financial Forum, which took place in Dublin on Tuesday. "Our bank is trying to do things differently, and do different things, finding unique, Asian approaches to development for the 21st Century," he said. On Tuesday, the Financial Times in partnership with IDA Ireland, the Irish inward investment agency, presented the second European Financial Forum, bringing together hundreds of international and Irish industry leaders, policy makers, regulators and subject matter experts to explore the various forces that are shaping the global financial services industry. "The bank should be squeaky clean, or should not exist at all," Jin said. "We will adhere to high standards of governance, transparency, and zero tolerance for corruption," he said. "This focus has also boosted interest in joining this bank, and there are almost 30 countries, including Ireland, that are expected to join our ranks this year," said Jin. Jin, the former Chinese vice minister of finance and ex-vice president of Asian Development Bank, was chosen as the first AIIB president in January 2016. On the management of the bank, the president said the bank is adopting new approaches to governance, contributing to the evolution of best practice for the 21st Century. "Transparency is an important characteristic and informs how the management of this bank operate and interact, both among themselves and with the board," he said. Internally, major decisions are not made without thoughtful consideration and in-depth discussion by all of the members of the senior management, he added. "In the name of transparency, we are currently recruiting an internal auditor, who will have full access to the bank and be a member of the management committee," Jin said. "Externally, we ensure our board is always informed of the bank's activities. Indeed, the board's access to information does not rest on residency," he said. Information provision is predicated on the division of responsibility between board and management, with the board focusing on the policies and strategy, and management focusing on the day-to-day operations of the bank, according to Jin. "We also have an Audit Committee for our board of directors, which will have external members. This concept, to include both internal and external participants on the Audit Committee, is an innovation and a first for any MDB (multilateral development bank)," he added. As a multilateral financial institution, AIIB commenced operation in January 2016. "One year into operation, we have made important progress in varying respects, and have approved a lending program of 1.73 billion U.S. dollars," Jin said. BEIRUT, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The European Union ambassadors to Lebanon expressed on Tuesday their "full support of Lebanon in its handling of the immense challenge of hosting Syrian refugees since the crisis began." According to a statement by Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad El Hariri's media office, Ambassador Christina Lassen, Head of the EU delegation to Lebanon, said after a meeting between EU ambassadors and Hariri that "as EU and member states, we gave over two billion Euros to Lebanon, in order to help both the refugees and the country host the communities and maintain its infrastructure." "We are proud to have delivered our commitment from last year's London Conference and assured the prime minister that we will continue our support to Lebanon in this endeavor," she added. Lassen stated they have conveyed strong support to the new government and the efforts exerted to resume Lebanon's political and institutional life. She further stressed their confidence that Prime Minister Hariri will exercise the leadership concerning the legal framework for a timely, transparent and peaceful round of parliamentary elections, "contributing to the democratic legitimacy of state institutions." "We commended the Lebanese armed forces for the role they played in fighting terrorism, maintaining internal stability, preventing radicalization and upgrading Lebanon's border control." TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A French delegation, comprised of representatives from six French companies, will arrive in Tehran on Saturday for talks on trading opportunities, Tehran Times daily reported Tuesday. The French traders are scheduled to meet with their Iranian counterparts at Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture on Jan. 28. French enterprises in fields including energy, transportation, mining machinery, forestry, baking industry, home appliances, and healthcare products are seeking to explore avenues for further cooperation with Iranians, the report said. Iran is planning to establish three trade offices in Europe and launch them before October 2017, said Abolfazl Koudeie, director general for trade with Europe and the U.S. from Iran's Trade Promotion Organization. "We also plan to set up three other trade offices in Ukraine, Armenia and Tajikistan," Koudeie was quoted by the report as saying. An Iranian trade office was inaugurated about four months ago in Germany, he added. One year after the nuclear-related western and international sanctions against Iran were lifted, several international companies have started negotiations to establish themselves in Iran's diversified market. NAIROBI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will have to negotiate new trade deals with both the European Union (EU) and Britain in order to maintain its market share, an official said Tuesday. British Prime Minister Theresa May last week set out her Brexit strategy, including leaving the EU single market, which will prompt renegotiation of trade deals with African countries and other partners. Nelson Ndirangu, Director of Economic Affairs and International Trade at Kenya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, confirmed that Nairobi was in the process of initiating negotiations with Britain and the EU. "We are ready to employ strategies to help us sustain our market share in the EU and Britain," Ndirangu said. Britain accounts for a 20-percent share out of the total Kenyan exports to the EU market, according to Ndirangu. Kenya has been negotiating with the EU over the trading framework -- Economic Partnership Agreement -- for the past ten years. With Britain preparing to leave EU formally, Kenya is now forced to devise new ways to maintain its market share in the EU as well as in Britain. According to Kenya's Economic Survey 2016, Kenya exported goods to the EU market worth 1.45 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, out of which 406 million dollars of goods went to the British market. Ndirangu said that the new trade negotiations will border on maintaining the market shares in both the EU market and the British one. "Our intention is to negotiate for a similar or slightly better than the current trade regime," Ndirangu said. Kenya's exports to the EU market include flowers, French beans, cowpeas, coffee, and tea. Currently Kenya is the main exporter of cut flowers for the EU. The East African nation is not the only African countries that will have to negotiate new trade deals with the EU and Britain. Though trade analysts believe the impact of Britain's EU exit on many African economies will be short-term and relatively insignificant, Britain will have two years to renegotiate trade agreements with African countries. Other quarters however argue it is likely that Britain would leave many existing trade agreements in place and thus mitigate risk of trade disruption. Most of the trade deals Britain has in place with African countries are essentially trade agreements with the EU, which has exclusive jurisdiction over its members' trade deals. Enditem by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- As U.S. President Donald Trump starts his first month as leader of the world's largest economy, businesses have mixed feelings on his plans to renegotiate a deal that has been governing North American trade for two decades. Trump recently announced he would seek to renegotiate North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), honoring one of his major campaign promises. While proponents say the deal has many benefits, including providing Americans with lower-cost consumer products, critics said it has contributed to a loss of U.S. manufacturing jobs. Talks on the deal, which Trump has repeatedly said is bad for U.S. workers, will start next week with Trump's meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. While many have blasted the new president with espousing what they call protectionism, there are mixed feelings among businesses. Edward Mermelstein, international real estate lawyer at One & Only Realty Holdings, told Xinhua he believes NAFTA has been bad for the U.S. economy, arguing that the agreement has been "disadvantageous" to the U.S. economy. "Renegotiating NAFTA in a way that would allow the U.S. economy to render some favorable positions rather than having the United States carry the burden on trade, would be a beneficial scenario for the U.S. economy going forward," Mermelstein said. Renegotiating the deal would "increase jobs in the United States and benefit our economy, and all of those items would, for the most part, be beneficial to the real estate industry," he said. "The idea as a whole would be that the current agreements -- and not only with our North American countries but also with trading partners in Europe and Asia -- would be fair game for a renegotiation," Mermelstein said. The United States has seen "negative effects," including losses of jobs, from trade agreements that have been put in place over the last 20 years, he said. "So the idea is to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector by renegotiating the trade agreements," he said. But others are not so keen on what they believe is stifling free trade. "Any kind of economic protectionism and attempt to stifle free trade is potentially not in the best interest of society in general," Phil Shawe, Co-CEO of TransPerfect, told Xinhua. The company, which it claims to be the world's largest and most profitable privately owned translation service provider, operates in more than 100 countries with 4,000 employees. "What would the cost to society be if people were paying 1,500 dollars for an iPhone instead of 600 dollars?" Shawe asked. "There's a benefit to free trade that is maybe not being completely articulated when politicians are giving speeches," he said. If the U.S. wants to bring jobs back, it should make sure that the jobs perform sophisticated, value added, highly educated positions so they can't be so easily off-shored, Shawe said. "What I don't hear when I hear politicians talking about bringing manufacturing jobs back to America... is the cost to society," he said. WHAT CHANGES TO NAFTA LIE AHEAD? Despite much media attention to the NAFTA issue, specifics of any new deal remain unknown. To reopen negotiations on NAFTA and stop U.S. businesses from shipping jobs to Mexico, Trump will have to make some concessions, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "All this will be a contentious process and it is not clear what will come out of it," he said. Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that negotiations could center on the desire of Trump and some others in the Republican Party (GOP) to consider some kind of import tax or border adjustment. "Whether that could apply to existing free trade agreements is unclear. Furthermore, with Mexico, adjustments to NAFTA could serve as a bargaining chip to push on other negotiations regarding border security and migration," Mahaffee said. GOP members of Congress will be skeptical of major changes to the trade deal, but the grassroots pressure to make some sort of adjustment is palpable, he said. HARARE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's trade deficit narrowed to 2.38 billion U.S. dollars in 2016 from 3.29 billion dollars the previous year after the government introduced various import control measures. Zimbabwe's underperforming economy has been battling high trade deficits in recent years due to its low productivity. Total imports in 2016 stood at 5.21 billion dollars, against exports of 2.83 billion dollars, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency. In 2016, the Zimbabwean central bank introduced a raft of measures to curb non-essential imports and save meager foreign currency resources in the country. The measures included an import priority list favoring goods such as raw materials, fuel, capital goods and dividends. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce also introduced a Statutory Instrument to essentially ban importation of basic goods that are adequately produced in the country. According to the government, the ban boosted manufacturing capacity utilization from 34.3 percent in 2015 to 47.4 percent last year. Zimbabwe's main export products include tobacco, gems and precious metals, ores, slag, ash, iron and steel, sugar and cotton while the bulk of imports are fuel and lubricants, machinery and motor vehicles. Enditem HELSINKI, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) and its NGO partners showed their commitment here on Tuesday to strengthen support for Syria and the neighboring countries affected by the ongoing crisis. A conference named "Supporting Syrians and the region" was held in Helsinki aiming to launch the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) for 2017 and 2018, and provide humanitarian support for the region. At the conference, UN agencies and NGOs called for 4.63 billion U.S. dollars in new funding to help at least 4.8 million people who'd escaped the war by going abroad. The new funding for 3RP is in addition to the estimated 3.4 billion dollars to meet the needs of 13.5 million people in Syria in 2017. The funding totals about 8 billion dollars. Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila, who opened the conference, said Syria's humanitarian crisis was the worst since the conflict broke six years ago. The population movements caused by the crisis have not been seen since World War II. Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said that Syrian refugees and host communities needed international support more than ever. "UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) and partners are ready to address the needs and vulnerabilities of Syrian refugees and the communities hosting them, but require the necessary and flexible funding to do so," Grandi was quoted as saying. Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, stated that UN agencies and NGO partners were committed to helping governments and host communities build resilience in the face of the crisis. "We've made important strides, but we need more support," she said. It is necessary to step up the collective efforts of the international community to meet the needs of the people who've suffered from the crisis in Syria, said Stephen O'Brien, head of the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs and emergency relief coordinator. In addition to the UN and aid agencies, government members from Syria's neighboring countries, which most of the refugees have fled to, also attended the conference held in Helsinki. According to the UN, at least 250,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in March 2011. During the prolonged war, more than 4.8 million Syrians have been forced to flee their homeland to neighboring countries such as Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) has reported that one peacekeeper from Chad was killed and two others were wounded in a mortar attack on its camp in Kidal region, said a spokesperson here on Tuesday. UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing that "the UN expresses its sincere condolences to the people and the government of Chad." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be writing a letter to the government of Chad to express his own condolences, said Dujarric. Koen Davidse, the interim head of the UN mission, condemned the attack and stressed that attacks against the UN Mission would not weaken its determination to implement its mandate. MINUSMA has become a frequent target of terrorist attacks in Mali, known as the deadest active UN mission. It is mandated with tasks of supporting and monitoring the implementation of a peace deal in Mali. Mali has struggled with instability for years and the country's peace process has been slow and fragile. Last week, a suicide bomb attack ripped a military camp shared by Malian parties cooperating on the peace deal, making the situation even worse. LOS ANGELES, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- BYD's electric-powered buses will make the University of California, Irvine (UCI) the first college campus in U.S. to convert its traditional diesel fuel-powered buses to an all-electric transit fleet, according the UCI. The student-funded and operated Anteater Express shuttle service is acquiring 20 buses from BYD (Build Your Dreams) for 15 million U.S. dollars. These high-quality vehicles are being built at BYD's Lancaster, California plant to roll onto campus for the 2017-18 academic year, the UCI said. "UC Irvine has made a strong, forward-looking decision by becoming an all-electric campus, and we know more universities and cities will follow. That is why we are adding hundreds of thousands of square feet and hundreds more jobs in Lancaster -- to meet demand for this important technology," Stella Li, president of BYD America, told Xinhua on Tuesday. Undergraduates previously voted to pay up to $40 each quarter to the ASUCI to finance the bus purchase and other costs. Individual rides are free. "I hope the rest of the country can follow us," Tracy La, the president of Associated Students of UCI (ASUCI) said in a statement. "I hope other colleges and universities will do this." UCI plans to slash tons of carbon dioxide and harmful soot annually by replacing diesel with electric buses. A survey of students last year found that of an array of transportation options, the top priority was providing electric buses over conventional ones. "The hydrogen electric bus emits no carbon -- neither does the battery electric bus," said engineering professor Scott Samuelsen, who heads the National Fuel Cell Research Center. "This forward-looking decision is proof of what many in higher education already know: that electric vehicles aren't a far-off technology of the future but are here and ready to be put to use today," Li said. A worker inspects liquor products at a Russian distillery on March 30, 2011. (Xinhua/RIA Novosti) MOSCOW, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Alcohol consumption per person in Russia has decreased by over 33 percent since 2009 as a result of anti-alcoholic efforts, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Tuesday. The annual alcohol consumption per person has dropped from 15 liters in 2009 to over 10 liters now, RIA Novosti cited Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) as saying. The positive changes were due to the implementation of measures including banning alcohol advertising, setting up a minimum price for alcohol products and a minimum age on alcohol consumption, as well as restrictions on retail distribution, according to Rospotrebnadzor. The statistics also showed that since 2009 the number of acute poisonings with alcohol containing products has dropped by 30 percent, with patients under medical supervision with diagnosis of alcoholism for the first time decreasing by almost 37 percent. The number of patients with alcoholism who were registered in health care organizations has fallen by 24 percent. However, the level of alcohol consumption in Russia is still dangerous, as it surpasses the eight-liter-per-person standard suggested by the World Health Organization. To continue preventing and reducing alcoholism in the country, Rospotrebnadzor stressed the necessity to promote healthy lifestyles, support relevant organizations, set legislative restrictions on retail trade, ban latent advertising and abolish wine and beer festivals. On Dec. 17 2016, a mass poisoning by Boyaryshnik, an alcohol-containing liquid, started in Irkutsk. Investigators have opened a criminal case on the manufacturing, storage and sale of the product, which they said does not meet safety requirements. A total of 120 people have suffered from methanol poisoning during this period, with 11 of them remaining in hospital. MINSK, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Belarus is intent to secure the World Trade Organization membership, Belarusian first deputy foreign minister Andrei Yevdochenko said during the session of WTO in Geneva on Tuesday. A press release by the Belarusian Foreign Ministry quoted Yevdochenko as saying that Belarus already lives in accordance with standards of the WTO to a considerable extent and hopes the WTO membership allows the country to take advantage of the progressive mechanisms of the organization. The Belarusian delegation led by Yevdochenko is taking part in its membership negotiations at WTO's headquarters in Geneva on January 23-26, the eighth meeting of the WTO Working Party on the Accession of Belarus. Belarus is the only country of the Eurasian Economic Union which is not a WTO member. In March 2016, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko instructed the foreign ministry to intensify negotiations on the country's accession to the WTO. ARUSHA, Tanzania, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Refugees will not be allowed to enter Tanzania in groups, the country's home affairs minister announced on Tuesday. Mwigulu Nchemba made the announcement in western Tanzania's region of Kigoma where he oversaw the dismantlement of 5,608 illegal firearms. Proliferation of arms and ammunitions in Tanzania is largely believed to be fueled by refugees from troubled neighboring countries seeking shelter in the east African nation. The minister said the decision came after realizing that not all those who claim to be refugees are genuinely in need of protection and shelter in a foreign land. According to Nchemba, those seeking refuge will be considered as individuals and be allowed in only after they pass checks. The minister said in the past, people used to approach authorities in groups of tens and hundreds and they were easily granted refuge without thorough checks. "Before, only one person would speak on behalf of tens or hundreds of arrivals. That has ended from today," he announced. He further said the groups also included families and individuals who had poor harvest and feared hunger in their countries. Such people took advantage of instability in their countries and smoothly gained entry into Tanzania. Tanzania is hosting more than 200,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia and a few others from Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Refugee camps are situated in western regions of Katavi, Tabora, Kigoma, and Kagera. Enditem KHARTOUM, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Sudan's security forces announced on Tuesday the abortion of an attempt to smuggle 64 foreigners across North Darfur State to Libya, Sudan's Ashorooq Net reported. The arrested 64 foreigners included Ethiopians, Somalis, Eritreans and Yemenis, with six children among them, Mohamed Braima Hassab el-Nabi, deputy governor of North Darfur State, was quoted as saying. Primary investigation indicated that they were planning to head to Europe from Libya, he added. Those who were refugees in Khartoum would return to their camps, while those who entered illegally would be handed to the interior ministry, he said. He praised the role of the Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, who are roaming the desert to secure the border and arrest human traffickers, and reiterated the country's determination in combating terrorism and human trafficking. Sudan is considered one of the thoroughfares for human trafficking and illegal immigration, as the country has witnessed an increase in such activities. European countries had previously vowed to support Sudan in this issue after Khartoum asked for logistical air and maritime support to pursue the multinational human smugglers. Enditem Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (front,R) is welcomed by Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi(front,L) in Maputo, Mozambique, Jan. 24, 2017. Mozambique signed six agreements with Turkey on Tuesday in Maputo. (Xinhua/Mauro Vombe) MAPUTO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mozambique signed six agreements with Turkey on Tuesday in Maputo, including on scrapping service and diplomatic visa between the two countries. The agreements were signed between the president of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is on 2-day visit to Mozambique accompanied by senior officials and 150 businessmen from his country. The other agreements are in the areas of political consultation, commercial and economic cooperation, culture and tourism, reciprocal protection of investments and education. In the education sector, Turkey promised to provide scholarship to the Mozambican students also as part of the agreement. The Turkish president also invited Nyusi for an official visit to his country. "Mozambique is without doubt moving towards progress and we will mobilize all our support and help so that our friends and partners can restore their capacities for sustainable development," said Erdogan. WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. experts on Tuesday warned against using wearable baby monitors, saying such devices may cause undue alarm to parents, with no evidence of medical benefits, especially to healthy babies. In a viewpoint commentary published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Christopher Bonafide of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues examined five models of infant physiological monitors introduced over the past two years, with names such as MonBaby, Baby Vida and Owlet, at costs ranging from 150 to 300 U.S. dollars. The manufacturers did not directly claim their products treat, diagnose or prevent disease, and the monitors have not been regulated as medical devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, an advertising video for Owlet mentioned sudden infant death syndrome and suggested that the device may notify parents that something is wrong. The study came against the backdrop that a new class of smartphone-linked wearables built into socks, onesies, buttons, leg bands and diaper clips and marketed to parents for use in the home has emerged in the past two years. These devices are used to measure infants' respirations, pulse rate, and blood oxygen saturation, and generate alarms for apnea, tachycardia, bradycardia, and desaturation. "These devices are marketed aggressively to parents of healthy babies, promising peace of mind about their child's cardiorespiratory health," said Bonafide, citing an example that Owlet recently reported sales of 40 000 units of its "smart sock" monitors that claim to alert parents if their infant stops breathing, at 250 dollars each. "But there is no evidence that these consumer infant physiological monitors are life-saving or even accurate, and these products may cause unnecessary fear, uncertainty and self-doubt in parents," Bonafide said. Even if these consumer monitors prove to be accurate, Bonafide continued, "there is a serious question whether these are appropriate in monitoring healthy infants" because "a single abnormal reading may cause overdiagnosis -- an accurate detection that does not benefit a patient." For example, he said, one reading of low oxygen saturation that would resolve on its own may trigger a visit to an emergency department, followed by unnecessary blood tests, X-rays and even hospital admission. "Rather than reassuring parents, these experiences may generate anxiety and a false assumption that their infant is at risk of dying," they wrote. "These considerations introduce the prospect that using a monitor could indirectly result in harm to infants and their families." As a result, the researchers concluded that until these monitors have been thoroughly evaluated and guidelines for use have been established, doctors should not recommend the use of these products. "Their performance characteristics are unknown to the public and there are no medical indications for their use," they wrote. "There is potential for harm if parents choose to use them. Child and family advocates should make it clear to the FDA and policy makers that regulatory guidance and research evaluating the safety, accuracy, and effectiveness of these products are needed." In a response statement, Utah-based Owlet said many users will use the Owlet Sock "for several months without ever getting a false alarm, greatly reducing the risk over diagnosis." "We have invested millions of dollars into data collection and storage, as well as the creation of a clinical team to focus on our mission to further knowledge of the issues affecting infant health," the company said. "As a company with more than 80,000 families using the product, we are confident in the positive results these families are experiencing." SKOPJE, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- With only a few days to go before the Sunday deadline for the formation of a new government set by Macedonia's Constitution, the VMRO-DPMNE party which won most parliamentary seats in the election on Dec. 11 is still struggling to seek a partner to form the government. Head of VMRO-DPMNE Nikola Gruesvki was mandated on Jan. 9 by President Gjorge Ivanov to form the new government, after his party garnered 51 seats against 49 seats won by the Social Democrats SDSM led by Zoran Zaev. However, according to the Constitutional Court, if Gruevski cannot manage to form a government, he must return the mandate to President Ivanov, who in turn will give it to the second party with most seats in parliament, SDSM. Zoran Zaev, leader of the social democratic SDSM party, told reporters on Monday that he was expecting to receive mandate to form the next government. According to him, his opponent won't be able to form the new government while he stressed that 612,000 citizens in Macedonia voted for change, thus voted for SDSM. But as none of the parties has the majority of 61 seats needed to form a new government on its own, the choice of the ethnic Albanian party the Democratic Union for Integration (DUI), which took 10 seats in the election, becomes crucial. Both Gruevski and Zaev have held separate meetings with DUI leader Ali Ahmeti, trying to reach an agreement on the creation of new government. Despite the meetings, there has been no official statement confirming any coalition that would pave the way to the forming of a new government. Political experts here said that it would be difficult for both parties to form a coalition. The ethnic Albanian parties have recently formed a joint platform through which they demanded higher representation in state institution but also the usage of Albanian language as Macedonia's second official language. But VMRO-DPMNE has made it clear that it will make no concession in this regard, while the representatives of DUI have declared this as a prerequisite for starting talks. Zaev of SDSM, although he got many votes from Albanians and promised to made Albanian language official, has not made any comment on the platform. However, DUI doesn't have many options, as it can either make an agreement with Gruevski or Zaev. As the deadline is drawing near, the week will be crucial. RIGA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Latvian government on Tuesday approved the signing of an intergovernmental agreement with Lithuania and Estonia on the construction of Rail Baltica European-gauge railroad. Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have already received the necessary EU funding and set up a joint venture, RB Rail, in charge of the project's implementation. Although the three Baltic states have repeatedly confirmed their commitment to the Rail Baltica project intended to connect them with the rest of Europe, they have yet to sign a legally binding accord on the railroad's construction. According to the draft agreement, the new railway infrastructure will belong to the three Baltic countries' governments, which will be obliged to ensure non-discriminatory access to Rail Baltica. The intergovernmental agreement is scheduled for signing at the three Baltic prime ministers' meeting in the Estonian capital of Tallinn next week. While Latvia and Estonia have already confirmed their readiness to sign the agreement, questions remain about Lithuania's position. Lithuania's new Transport Minister Rokas Masiulis has said that the government still needs to study the agreement in greater detail. The Rail Baltica II project is intended to link Finland, the Baltic states and Poland and also improve the connection between central and northern Europe and Germany. It is planned that 85 percent of the projects costs will be financed from the EU funds. The Rail Baltica II line will be about 360 kilometres long in Lithuania, more than 300 kilometres long in Latvia and roughly 300 kilometres long in Estonia. Earlier, the Baltic states had disagreements over the Rail Baltica project's procurement procedures. Eventually, an agreement was reached on Sept. 7 that some of the purchases will be made through RB Rail, while others will be made by national governments. Enditem TIRANA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Macedonia needs to form a government as soon as possible in order to initiate reforms and resolve its name issue with Greece as these issues would allow Macedonia to open its EU accession talks, local media cited European Commissioner Johannes Hahn as saying Tuesday. Hahn made these statements at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) when asked by PACE members Mark Pritchard and Liz Christopherson about the developments in Macedonia, the Macedonian information agency said. According to media reports, Hahn stressed that the new government should also have a broad majority in parliament. On the other hand, Hahn described the EU's role in Macedonia as one showing determination in reaching a political agreement that would allow the country to exit the political crisis, MIA reported. The VMRO-DPMNE won a narrow victory against the Social Democrats (SDSM), winning 51 and 49 seats respectively. As the party winning the most seats in Macedonia's 120-seat parliament, the VMRO-DPMNE led by Nikola Gruevski was mandated by President Gjorge Ivanov to form the new government. But so far, there has been no sign of any agreement for possible coalitions between VMRO-DPMNE and any of other parties to form the new government. At least 61 seats are needed to create the new government. Enditem SANTIAGO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chile announced it will exit the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, but still seek to expand trade with the Asia-Pacific region, local newspaper El Mercurio reported on Tuesday. Chile's Foreign Minister Heraldo Munoz made the announcement late Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump reversed his predecessor's position on the TPP by withdrawing from the accord. "The TPP as we know is no longer on the negotiating table. Evidently there is no chance to send a project (to Congress for approval) that does not include the United States, because that is one of the clauses of the agreement," the newspaper quoted Munoz as saying. The negotiating phase of the TPP has concluded, but still pending the approval of each country's congress. However, Chile will continue to pursue open trade and greater exchange with Pacific Rim countries, many of which were taking part in the TPP negotiations. Chile is inviting trade and foreign ministers from Asia-Pacific countries, including China and South Korea, to a meeting in March at the Pacific-coast resort of Vina del Mar, said Munoz. Chile is extending the invitation as current president of the Pacific Alliance, a Latin American trade bloc that also comprises Mexico, Peru and Colombia. The national flags of the United States and China wave out of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, the United States, Jan. 5, 2009. (Xinhua/Hou Jun) WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Despite speculations that the U.S.-China relationship could fall into uncertainties and instability under the Trump administration, experts say the two powers could avoid the case by holding an early dialogue to establish "rules of the road." As newly-inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to take a tougher stance toward China on a range of issues, the experts hope the two countries could find a new "modus vivendi" through talks in a one-or-two-year timespan. POTENTIAL FRICTIONS IN TRUMP ERA On his year-long campaign trail, Trump, a brash billionaire, kept hammering China for the U.S. trade deficit and losses of jobs. He has threatened to designate China as a "currency manipulator" and impose high tariffs on Chinese goods, regardless of the potential damage to both sides, as the two economies are deeply interwound. Trump even claimed that everything, including the one-China policy that has always been upheld by his predecessors, is negotiable. This stands as a typical epitome that the new president would employ every bargaining chips in talks with China, which he believes, would serve American's national interest. Bonnie Glaser, a sinologist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Xinhua that she expects "a lot of frictions" in the U.S.-China relationship in the first year of the Trump administration. Glaser said the Taiwan issue could have the most harmful impact on the bilateral relationship, if the new U.S. government has a fundamental policy shift, as Beijing considers the one-China policy as the political foundation of the relationship. Under the three joint communiques governing China-U.S. ties, the United States is obliged to abide by the one-China policy, which recognizes that Taiwan is part of China and Beijing is the sole legal representative of China. Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that tensions in the U.S.-China ties are expected under the Trump administration, citing tough comments made by Rex Tillerson, Trump's nominee for secretary of state, at a recent Senate hearing. Tillerson demanded a complete halt of China's construction activities in the South China Sea waters while vowing to deny China's access to the islands, which China regards as integral parts of its territory. The issues of dealing with the nuclear weapons program by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and cyber security could also invite miscalculations that will test the U.S.-China relationship, according to Dan Mahaffee, vice president and director of policy of the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. POSSIBILITY OF MILITARY CONFLICT DOWNPLAYED Despite the likelihood of uprising U.S.-China frictions, the experts downplayed the possibility that China and the U.S. are headed for a military conflict. "I doubt there will be a military conflict. Perhaps after the first year or so, the two countries will find a new modus vivendi," Glaser said. Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua that "tensions are something we can live with...I doubt there is an appetite for conflict on either side," adding that his prediction is likely to be tested in the coming months. NEED FOR DIALOGUE TO CREATE "RULES OF THE ROAD" The experts agree that conflicts would be detrimental to both China and the United States, while highlighting the importance of holding early talks by the two sides to establish "rules of the road." "It will be important for the officials on both sides ... (to) maintain a constant dialogue to steer the negotiations and discussions -- be it diplomacy or bargaining -- away from conflict," Mahaffee said. He added that establishing "rules of the road" through emphasizing the shared interests are important for the two sides. O'Hanlon, for his part, called on Washington to adopt a more realistic goal and exercise "substantial restraint" on handling the South China Sea issue. In Glaser's opinion, holding an early dialogue by the two nations is essential to avoiding tensions or conflict. "Set out clearly what are each other's bottom lines, and see where compromise is possible. Early in-depth dialogue is essential," she said. GAZA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli tanks stationed on the borders with central Gaza Strip struck an Islamic Hamas movement military post with shells after gunmen fired at Israeli army forces, security sources in Gaza said Tuesday. The sources said that the shells hit a post that belongs to Hamas armed wing after the Israeli army announced that gunmen from Gaza fired at its forces patrolling the borderline area between central Gaza Strip and Israel. The sources said no injuries were reported, however citizens live in the area said they heard two huge bombs. Tension between the Israeli army and Gaza militant groups mounts as unknown militants fire rockets or open fire at Israeli army forces stationed on the borders. Israel usually fires back. In 2014, Israel and Gaza Hamas-led militants had reached a ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, ending 50 days of a large-scale Israeli military air and ground offensive that killed 2,200 Palestinians and wounded 11,000 others. ANTANANARIVO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Madagascar aims to reach the goal of 500,000 tourists until 2020, senior officials said Tuesday. Joel Randriamandranto, board chairman of the national office of Madagascar tourism made this comment at a press conference for the 6th International Tourism Fair (ITM 2017) scheduled to be held in the country from June 8 to 11. In 2016, 293,000 tourists visited Madagascar, an increase of 20 percent compared to 2015, Randriamandranto said. Before the political crisis in 2008, Madagascar had planned to receive 375,000 tourists, Randriamandranto said, adding that new infrastructures will have to be put in place in addition to other strategies to achieve this goal. Madagascar's minister of tourism Rolland Ratsiraka said the ITM 2017 would serve to support the sector at the institutional level. Official statistics revealed that in 2016, 10,000 tourists came to Madagascar for various international meetings and competitions and nearly 39,000 others came thanks to cruise ships that visited the country and festivals held here. New cruise companies will be solicited to come to Madagascar, the minister added. Data from the ministry of tourism said that French and Italian tourists are on the top of the list of tourists visiting Madagascar and tourism brought in more than 702 million dollars of foreign currency in 2016. Enditem NEW YORK, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices recovered Tuesday as market saw signs of global oil producers' compliance with an output cut deal. Media reports said that Iraq has trimmed supply by 180,000 barrels a day and will cut a further 30,000 a day by the end of the month, adding to signs of a tightening market. Last week, Saudi Arabia's energy minister said that 1.5 million barrels per day had already been taken out of the market this month. The World Bank said Tuesday in its commodity markets outlook that it is holding steady its crude oil price forecast for the year at 55 dollars per barrel, a 29 percent jump from 2016. The energy price forecast assumes members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other oil producers will partially comply with an agreement to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output. The West Texas Intermediate for March Delivery added 0.43 dollars to settle at 53.18 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for March delivery increased 0.21 dollars to close at 55.44 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. LIMA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Peru's President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Tuesday proposed the creation of a trade bloc between member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and other nations. Kuczynski made the proposal a day after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), dealing a blow to the trade deal negotiated between 12 Asian Pacific countries, including Peru. "We should work with China, Asian countries, India, Australia, New Zealand ... and create the APEC-Pacific group reaching as far as India," Kuczynski said in an interview with local radio station Radio Programas del Peru (RPP). He said to create the new trade bloc, parties should salvage the better points of the TPP and abandon some of the deal's more controversial clauses. "We are going to take the best of the TPP and leave out the not-so-good things of the TPP, such as the additional five years of testing for medicines, which added up to 10 years of testing, which is too long," said Kuczynski. In contrast to the protectionist ideology Trump has brought to the White House, Peru will pursue greater economic opening, he said. "I am in favor of free trade, because it benefits Peru," said the president. APEC promotes free trade among 21 Pacific Rim economies, including China, Russia, the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Peru. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura speaks at a press conference after the Syrian talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, Jan. 24, 2017. The Syrian talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, ended on Tuesday, with a final communique backing a one year ceasefire reached recently in Syria, and brought six-year-old foes face to face for the first time. (Xinhua/Kalizhan Ospanov) DAMASCUS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, ended on Tuesday, with a final communique backing a one year ceasefire reached recently in Syria, and brought six-year-old foes face to face for the first time. Turkey, Russia and Iran, the three sponsors of the two-day Syrian talks, made a joint statement at the end of the meeting, stressing their commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria. They said the three countries support talks between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups and believe that there is no military solution to the conflict. The parties reaffirmed their commitment to reach peace and fight against the terror-designated Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and to separate them from other armed opposition groups. The statement also supports the Syrian opposition's willingness to participate in the next round of negotiations. The three states highlighted that the international meeting in Astana is an effective platform for a direct dialogue between the Syrian government and opposition. The Russian, Iranian and Turkish sides have decided "to establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire," according to the statement. In short, the conference consolidated the ceasefire that was reached on Dec. 29 and implemented on Dec. 30 in Syria. The signatories of the ceasefire were the government and rebel groups, under the auspices of their backers, Russia as the supporter of the Syrian government, and Turkey the long time backer of the rebels. The Astana talks also stressed on the need to separate the rebel groups, mainly those who attended the conference, from the terror-labeled ones such as Nusra and IS, as both groups have been labeled as terrorist groups by the UN and were excluded from any settlement. This was a main demand of the Syrian government and this conference has helped in cornering the Nusra and IS, both powerful and enjoy considerable sway in many Syrian areas, mainly the northern city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of IS, and the northwestern province of Idlib, the main stronghold of Nusra. Russia said Monday that maps were being drawn on the locations of IS and Nusra in Syria for targeting them. Analysts in Damascus hailed the results of the Astana talks, but said it all relies on the credibility of Turkey and the rebels it has vouched for. Osama Danura, a Syrian political analyst, said If the Turkish side and the rebels it's backing complied completely with the plan, "it will be an important turning point in the course of resolving the conflict in Syria." "Now the credibility of Turkey and the rebels who attended the Astana talks is on the line, because it will be under test in the coming days," he said. He added that the rebels should be truthful in terms of separating themselves from the terror groups. "The success of this means that an old obstacle, about the overlapping of the rebel groups with the terror-designated ones, is over," Danura said. He stressed that "It's all about the credibility of Turkey", noting that Ankara has the means to guarantee the commitment of the rebels. For his part, Hmaidi Abdullah, another analyst, said there are several good aspects in the Astana talks. He said the talks underscored basic demands such as separating the rebels from the terrorists, and the second is the approach of the three countries to fight the terror groups in Syria. It's worth mentioning that Turkey and Russia carried out their first joint airstrikes against IS positions earlier this week in Syria, a translation to the agreement between both countries. Meanwhile, Zahra Fares, a Syrian journalist and political analyst, said Astana talks achieved things that failed to be reached in previous talks between the government and the political opposition. "I think there were several breakthroughs in the talks in terms of the shape of the talks as for the first time we have seen the rebels and the government sitting face to face, for the first time Turkey was the guarantor and be part of a coalition with Russia and Iran in the face of the terrorist groups," she said. Fares also pointed out to another new thing in the history of the Syrian talks, saying "it's the first time when we didn't see a main role for the U.S. in these talks," as the U.S. wasn't among those making the conference or reaching the ceasefire as the country was busy with its presidential elections. Regarding the tension that was sensed in the first session, Fares said "even though there was tension in the talks, but it was normal as those in the meeting are fighting on ground, and it's their first meeting." Related: Iran says Astana talks realization of Assad's legitimacy: official TEHRAN, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- A senior Iranian official said here Tuesday that the concluded Syria talks in Kazakh capital of Astana have acknowledged the legitimacy of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, Tasnim news agency reported. ROME, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The number of victims in the avalanche that crushed a ski resort last week has risen to at least 17, Italian media reported on Tuesday. The official death toll had been updated to 14 by the Italian civil protection department coordinating rescue efforts on Tuesday morning. After that, at least three more bodies were pulled out from the ruins of the hotel throughout the day. When the avalanche hit in mid-afternoon on Jan. 18, there were 40 people inside the facility: namely, 28 guests and 12 employees, local authorities have said. A previous estimate had put the number at around 30. So far, eleven people survived the incident, including nine saved by rescuers. Four children were also involved, and all of them were among those rescued. Fire and civil protection teams were working non-stop at the site to try to locate the other 12 people still missing. The search operation would continue until all of them were found, the civil protection said. Meanwhile, funerals were held on Tuesday for some of those who died in the disaster. People crowded the local church of Farindola, the town nearest to the ski resort, to pay their respects to Alessandro Giancaterino, 42, a waiter of the Rigopiano, Ansa news agency reported. The same happened in the nearby town of Penne for Gabriele D'Angelo, 31, another employee. The Rigopiano hotel, a luxury ski resort, was located on the lower slopes of 2,912-meter-tall Gran Sasso peak in the central Abruzzo region. The huge avalanche materially uprooted the facility, which remained engulfed under metres of snow, mud, and rubble. Two guests were outside the hotel, when the snowslide occurred, and survived. They were able to launch the first SOS call. The disaster was believed to be triggered by four powerful earthquakes that struck the Abruzzo region on Jan. 18 in the morning. All four seismic events were above 5 of magnitude on the Richter scale, with epicenters between the provinces of Rieti and L'Aquila, according to Italy's National Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (INGV). LIMA, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski on Tuesday said the discredited Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht should leave the country. "They have to go. It's over. They will have to reach an agreement with the Prosecutor's Office," state news agency Andina quoted Kuczynski as saying. The president said the firm, which has admitted to paying some 29 million U.S. dollars in bribes to Peruvian officials in exchange for lucrative public-work contracts, should liquidate its business ventures in Peru. Kuczynski also ordered an Odebrecht-led consortium to pay a 262 million-U.S. dollar fine for the breach of contract early Tuesday, after the consortium failed to secure the financing needed to complete Peru's Southern Gas Pipeline, which it had won in a bid. The 1,080-km pipeline project, estimated to cost some 7.328 billion U.S. dollars, was to supply the southern port city of Ilo from gas fields in Camisea in central Peru. The government is to issue a new bid on the project, which began in 2015. Zvi Heifetz (R), Israeli Ambassador to China, gives an exclusive interview to Xinhuanet in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 23, 2017. (Xinhuanet/He Xianfeng) By Tian Shaohui BEIJING Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) --- Chinese-Israeli relations can be even stronger and better, said Zvi Heifetz, the new Israeli Ambassador to China, during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet on Monday. China and Israel mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on Tuesday. To improve the bilateral relations is his task in the future, and he will try his best, said the ambassador. "We started our relations twenty five years ago with a lot of hopes. I think the reality is even better than we dreamed of twenty five years ago,'' he said. It is not only because of the economic cooperation between the two countries, but also spirits of the two peoples, he explained. "We share the ancient history. But we also share our modern history," he added. The ambassador stressed the bilateral cooperation not only in the fields of high-tech and innovation, but also in traditional economy of mutual interests. He wished to "see more delegations, more cooperation, more agreements, more students, more tourists from China to Israel." He also praised what China has achieved in recent years, saying "we are very happy to share it (innovation experience) with our Chinese friends. But we also have a lot to learn from our Chinese friends." Talking about the Belt and Road Initiative, the ambassador said, "It involves a lot of communications, Internet, technology. We can be part of that." He wanted more high-level exchanges between the two sides under this initiative. "We are going to have a lot of meetings this year," he added. According to Zvi Heifetz, enough funds have been channeled to improve Israels tourism industry as it is ready to present itself to more Chinese tourists. The ambassador also extended New Year greetings to Chinese people through Xinhuanet. Actors perform during the lighting ceremony of a lantern fair at the Bao'en Temple Heritage Park in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Jan. 23, 2017. The 31st Qinhuai Lantern Fair, displaying over 140 sets of colored lanterns, will officially meet the public at the park between Jan. 28 and Feb. 14. (Xinhua/Sun Can) He was killed for talking to cops According to reports, at about 8 pm, he was liming near a bar when a man walked up to him and fired several shots. Tyrell died at the scene. His killer remains at large. The relative claimed that police were responsible for Tyrells murder. The police need to be more discreet when treating with members of the public who are sharing information with them, said the relative, during a brief interview outside the Forensic Science Centre in St James. An autopsy concluded that Tyrell died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was a father of four who was described as a family-oriented individual. The police cannot come in police uniform and in a marked vehicle to speak to a person. That is setting them up to be killed as was the case with Stephon, the relative said, adding that Tyrell was giving information to the police pertaining to a murder inquiry. You can never be sure who is hiding and watching what is taking place. The relative, who asked not to be identified, said that Tyrell never indicated to loved ones that his life was threatened. He did not fear anyone. He didnt give any formal statement to the police you know. He just spoke informally. He continued life like normal, going to work, seeing about his children, liming and so on. The autopsy revealed that Tyrell was shot four times to his chest, head and arm. Although relatives are claiming police interaction is what led to Tyrells death, police sources said they had no motive for the murder and were not aware that he was an informant. The murder toll for the year yesterday stood at 41. Two on robbery charge The accused men Nicholas Ballah, 23, and a 17-year-old youth appeared yesterday in the First Court before Magistrate Nanette Forde-John charged with the offence. It is alleged that on January 13, the duo together with another person, armed with a firearm robbed Vanessa Cuffie of a quantity of cigarettes, liquor and 200 in cash at the bar located at Battoo Avenue, Marabella. PC Mohammed of the Marabella Police Station laid the charge. Both men pleaded not guilty yesterday. Attorney Martin Jadoonanan represented the teen who hails from St James Street in Marabella. The accused men are to reappear in court on February 20. Man released after spending 16 years in jail In ordering his release, Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas agreed with Kenrick Hercules attorney, Shontel Hinds, that to further incarcerate him would not serve the interest of justice. Hercules, 59, of Roxborough, Tobago, spent almost 16 years in prison for the killing of his wife Susan, whom he accused of being unfaithful to him, and mother-inlaw Tara Reid, who intervened when the couple were arguing, taunting him, saying her daughter could sleep with whomever she wanted. The mother and daughter were killed on March, 29, 2001. Hercules told police his wife would continuously bring men to their marital home to have sexual intercourse and his motherin- law would encourage his wifes infidelity. He attacked both women with a knife and, after doing so, went to the Roxborough Police Station where he reported the incident. He was charged with the murder of the two women. At the time of the incident, Hercules was employed with the Tobago House of Assembly as a farmer. He underwent psychological and psychiatric evaluations which revealed that he had a psychiatric history since 1973 and had cannabis-related psychosis. He began using marijuana at the age of 21 and graduated to cocaine use at the age of 30, which led to him hearing voices. In March 2006, the State accepted Hercules plea of guilty to manslaughter, by reason of diminished responsibility and former High Court judge, Justice Herbert Volney, sentenced Hercules to eight years at the Courts Pleasure with his sentence to be reviewed by the court. Hercules came up for his first review in March, 2014, before St. Clair-Douglas. Hinds submitted that Hercules completed and attained certificates in at least eight rehabilitative programs and was described as an exemplary inmate. In releasing Hercules on a three-year bond to keep the peace under the supervision of the Probation Department in Tobago, Hercules also has to attend the Tobago Rehabilitation and Empowerment Centre and be subjected to mandatory random drug tests. Speaking after his release, Hercules expressed regret for the lives he took and blamed himself. He said he has asked God and the family of his wife and motherin- law for forgiveness. He is also looking forward to making amends with his children and was grateful for the opportunity to be able to see his 87 year-old mother. Hercules also wants to assist other drug abusers and is expected to return to the Port of Spain High Court on January 17, 2018, with a Probation Officer for a status report on his compliance. Shot last year, officer dies On Saturday, Williams never regained consciousness after his decision to take a nap after having lunch with his common-lawwife of 18 years Sharon Jackson. He and my mom had just eaten something, said Jacksons son Nyron. My head not in the best place right now, but all I remember is that after they ate together, he told my mom he was going to lie down...and that was it. A distraught Jackson said that her husband lost consciousness and was rushed to the Chaguanas Health Centre, then to the EW MSC where it was determined he was bleeding in the brain. They said it must have been bleeding little by little for a while now, but on Saturday something burst and everything went downhill from there. They performed emergency surgery on him to drain fluid in his brain, but after that, all his organs began to shut down, she said. On August 24, 49-year-old Williams was at his Edinburgh 500, Chaguanas home with fellow police constable Adesh Mano. Police reported that Williams and Mano were in the driveway when three armed suspects attempted to rob them. The officers exchanged fire with the robbers and Williams was shot in his leg. The bullet pierced Williams left leg, passing through his scrotum and finally lodged itself in his right leg, where it remained. He underwent emergency surgery hours after the shooting and a second surgery in December. Since then, he had been recovering with no complications. It was not yet confirmed whether the gunshot wound Williams sustained in the robbery was connected to the bleeding in his brain, but police sources said that the slow bleeding may have been the result of Williams falling and hitting his head during the robbery last August. An autopsy is expected to be performed today. Two men, who are out on bail, were charged in relation to the armed robbery and shooting of PC Williams who served 17 years in the Police Service. He is survived by two sons and two daughters. Murder/suicide rocks Gasparillo Christine and Roberts were attempting to reconcile their relationship when she met her death yesterday. The couple recently became estranged following an incident in which Roberts is said to have burnt up all her clothes including her work uniforms. They endured a stormy relationship which often became violent and according to relatives there are numerous reports filed at the Gasparillo Police Station against Roberts. As they always do after a break-up, the couple once again met in an attempt to reconcile. Josephs body was discovered yesterday morning by police. She was stabbed several times and her throat was slit. She was found on a couch inside Roberts Parforce Road Extension, Gasparillo home. Roberts uncle Roland King was on his way home from work and it was he who raised an alarm after hearing a voice crying out for help inside Roberts house. I didnt make him out, a distraught King told Newsday. I hear the person in the bathroom calling for water. I say, who are you?, and he said, is Keyon. All he was saying was, bring water, throw water on me. I got water and threw it on him and called my mother and the police, King said. Roberts, a construction worker reportedly set himself on fire after murdering Joseph. Police said that while Roberts was in a tumultuous relationship with Joseph, he was still with Leisha Andrews, mother of his children threemonth- old Kerdeen and three-year-old Kaydeen. Yesterday, Andrews told Newsday: He used to sleep by me but he was a confused and frustrated man. He wanted to tie the knot with me but she (Joseph) would not leave him. Andrews said she and Joseph often crossed swords over the phone. On Saturday when I talked to him, Keyon told me he was going to kill that girl (Joseph) and then himself. I kept telling him that is not the way to go because he has children. I tell him I have children for him and that we should make a commitment. But he was frustrated as that other woman did not want to give him up. She still went back to him although he burnt up all her clothes, Andrews said. Josephs grieving mother Roxanne, 45, and stepfather Peter Boatswain, 44, disclosed that they often begged her to leave Roberts, but she was smitten. She with him since she was 16. She was too harden. He was not nice...he was possessive and abusive. They were always fighting, the weeping mother said. The bodied were removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James for autopsies. Investigations are continuing. Teen girl still missing The Form Three student of Picton Street, Diamond Village left her home to conduct research and other school related activities at the San Fernando Carnegie Library. She however never returned home. A missing persons report was subsequently filed to police by her parents . Yesterday, worried father Neil Lezama told Newsday he made personal checks with officials at a section of the San Fernando Library which is now temporarily housed upstairs KFC at Library Corner . It was revealed that Nicole was at the library and completed her assignments around 4 pm on Saturday before leaving . So she was there as planned, Lezama told Newsday. He said he also spoke to the mall manager and they too will check their surveillance cameras for any information that could assist in locating his daughter. The information he has so far gathered has been passed on to the investigators on the case. The teenagers mother Lynda Hinds said investigators have been speaking to them and following any leads they may get. We are praying for her safe return. Nicole was last seen wearing a pink and white sleeveless top, black jeans and grey sandals. Anyone with information can contact San Fernando Police Station Minister on troubled CAL flight According to reports, the pilot put passengers - including Minister of Education Anthony Garcia - on alert that one of the engines had problems and as a safety precaution he was turning around. The aircraft, BW 1532 had taken off around 5.30 p.m. and was in the air for about five minutes when the problems arose. CAL uses the ATR turbo prop aircraft on the domestic air bridge, and holds 68 passengers . Reports are this particular flight yesterday afternoon was was filled. Garcia was on his way to join in the activities of the Peoples National Movement (PNM) following yesterdays Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Elections . The plane landed safely and passengers were being re- scheduled for alternative flights to ANR Robinson airport on the sister island during the evening . La Brea fisherfolk praise oil spill clean-up According to reports, waves of oil began washing ashore along the Carat Shed Beach, Coffee Beach, Station Beach and Point Sable, La Brea early on Saturday morning. However, a clean-up contractor, Tiger Tanks Limited, was dispatched to the area by Petrotrin, and by Monday morning, the majority of the beaches had been cleaned by the company. In a telephone interview yesterday, La Borde observed that while fishermen had been affected by the oil slick, they would not be making noise about claims for compensation as the oil had not inflicted significant damage to their vessels. Yes, we were affected but we not going to jump out and make noise about money for those two days, La Borde said, adding, one thing we looking at is different types of oil came up there as compared to the ordinary oil that come up, that oil that came up there is something they are calling weathered oil, it was not really sticking onto the anchor rope or the throw line or sticking onto the boat also. He continued, It seems as if the oil spend some time out in the weather before it come onshore and that is why it really did not stick to the boats or the ropes. That is the thought. The Global Marine Oil Pollution Information gateway website notes that when different kinds of oil enter the sea, many physical, chemical and biological degradation processes start acting on them with some processes changing the properties and behaviour of the oil. In Weathering, winds, waves and currents may result in natural dispersion, breaking a slick into droplets which are then distributed throughout the water. These droplets may also result in the creation of a secondary slick or thin film (sheen) on the surface of the water. Petrotrin, in a media statement on Saturday, described the oil as oil pellets and noted that a team of company personnel had visited the beaches and confirmed the presence of the oil pellets. Meanwhile, La Borde observed that the source of the oil would not be identified by the company saying a similar spill had occurred last September and while Petrotrin had sent the oil sample for analysis, the source had not been made public by the company. Police optimistic about Enterprise The recent killing of Nicholas Simon, 18, an unemployed plumber of Johnson Street, Enterprise for crossing over onto the other side of the Enterprise community, an area controlled by a rival gang, has shot the depressed community back into the spotlight. A 12 year-old SE A student was also wounded along with Simon when gunmen riding on two bicycles opened fire on him as he escorted the girl home into what is considered dangerous territory for persons living on the other side. Simon had been warned not to cross the border line, relatives had told Newsday when a team visited. The warring communities in which rival gangs Rasta City (Bhagaloo Street and environs) and Unruly Isis (Circular Drive and environs) operate are separated by the Southern Main Road. Because of the heavy influence of drugs and guns in the communities, the Ministry of National Security recently set up a joint army/police post in one of the HDC apartments at Lions Gate Crown Trace Enterprise. Law abiding residents breathed a sigh of relief until January 16 when Simon was killed. Mc Intyre however admitted that the area where Simon was gunned down was not in the area where the post was set up. The murder came as a surprise to many residents who had hoped that the increased presence of police and soldiers in the area would put a dent in criminal activity. However Mc Intyre told Newsday: My intention now is to get additional resources and we will expand the cordon to the other side as it has some activity taking place there. The cordon will now go to Africa Ground. According to reports, the young girl who is a friend of one of Simons sisters had visited their home and complained about someone firing gunshots at her earlier in the day. Relatives said because she was scared to go home alone, Simon opted to escort her home. His bullet riddled body was found a short while later near African Grounds. The primary school girl was shot four times in her hand and was taken for medical treatment. Relatives told Newsday that Simon was not a gang member or a bad boy but was focused on being employed. He was just doing the girl a favour when he met his death. He had in the past received threats, they said, because a member of the Rasta City gang believed he was involved in a relationship with a girl from their territory. They denied any such relationship as he had a girlfriend. Grieving relatives told Newsday that a similar post needed to be set up in African Grounds. A lot takes place there, said one resident. McIntyre said he is fighting the scourge on several fronts among them tackling head on the social aspects in the community. Already social workers are on the ground in Enterprise and he is already seeing a difference, he said. The social workers are in there talking to the people in an effort to reduce the levels of crime in the community, the senior officer told Newsday. Smart tells troops, rededicate yourselves Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier General Rodney Smart was speaking on Sunday at the TTDFs Interfaith Service at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain. Smart said that while 2017 has already brought its own challenges, the country also has to contend with the unresolved challenges from 2016 in terms of the spiralling crime rate. You therefore understand that the defence and security landscape in 2017 has the potential to be even more challenging than it was in 2016. I therefore cannot promise you, the members of the Defence Force and your families, an easy 2017, but rather one that is filled with excitement and opportunities as we defend our nation. Therefore our force, like our country must be constantly ready for strategic, operational and for tactical manoeuvring and change. He also reminded officers that while they come from varying religious, racial and family backgrounds, they are all part of the family of the TTDF. Christlyn holds her ground Speaking with reporters after casting her vote at the Lambeau Anglican Primary School at about 7.35am, Moore maintained that any Trinidadian going to Tobago to subvert the democratic will of Tobagonians ought to go back home. We have no difficulty with any visitors to Tobago, she said. What we have a problem with is persons who have been imported into this space to try to change the outcome of the will of residents. Moore has come under fire for her claim made during a live radio interview in Scarborough on Friday. She also has been chastised for advising hoteliers and operators of small guest houses to not feed them (Trinidadians)... treat them with scant courtesy and drop Visine in dey water. Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley has urged her to apologise for her remarks, which he felt, has the potential to damage relations between the two islands beyond the THA election. Moore yesterday made it clear she had no difficulty with visitors. How can we? she asked. Our entire economy runs on visitors but nobody invites somebody into their house so that they could destroy their house. Nobody does that and certainly we cannot encourage that. Moore argued that governance systems in Tobago worked in a particular way and visitors cannot come in and change that. That is wrong, she said. Moore, who was greeted with a long line when she arrived at the school to cast her ballot, said the party was very concerned about irregularities in the voting process. She said: We have voiced those concerns. We have maintained throughout this election cycle that there has been mischief afoot in the camp of the PNM. We have maintained that there has always been a plan that thwarts the will of Tobagonians. I used to be one of those parents who took a second look at their kids bags of candy theyd gotten Halloween night and think, Wait a minute. Is that a full-size Butterfingers bar? Why would a kid need that much candy in one serving? Id either then ask if they really wanted that item or I We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Any Algerian vying for political, military and judicial top positions needs to be holding the Algerian nationality only and renounce dual nationality if such is the case, the Algerian Presidency announced. In total, 15 top positions are targeted by the decision. The new law published earlier this month restricts the positions of Parliament Speaker, Prime Minister, President of Senate, President of the Constitutional Council, Member of the cabinet, and cabinet secretary generals to nationals holding only Algerian nationality. Other positions such as President of Supreme Court, President of the State Council, Governor of the Algerian Central Bank, Head of High Independent Body of Election Monitoring as well as top security positions must also be held by Algerians with single Algerian nationality. The Head of the Algerian army as well as top army commanders are no exception to the law, Jeune Afrique notes. All Algerians occupying those positions but still holding a dual nationality have six months to get rid of the other nationality and notify it in written form to President of the Supreme Court, the law says. The law, proposed last year and discussed in the parliament, is deemed as a way to get rid of exiled Algerians opposed to President AbdelAziz Bouteflika. For Chafia Mentalecheta, a Paris-based Algerian lawmaker representing the diaspora, the new law is discriminatory towards Algerian expatriates. Some lawmakers and parties aligned with the regime proposed, during a parliament session in November, to extend the restriction to economic positions. The government, represented by justice minister Tayeb Louh, rejected the amendments arguing that the new law must not totally target Algerians with dual nationalities. Egyptian President Sisi and President Donald Trump discussed on Monday the fight against terrorism and extremism. The phone talk between the two Heads of State was positive according to Sisis spokesman Alaa Youssef. He said President Trump appreciates Cairos war on terror and gave assurances of his administrations desire to support Egypts efforts. Washington restricted its support to Cairo after President Sisi led a military-backed coup detat against Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. Spokesman Youssef explained that Sisi stressed to Trump Egypts commitment in the fight against terrorism despite economic burdens faced by the Middle Eastern country in the past three years. The country has been struggling with economic and financial challenges worsened by sporadic bomb, suicide and armed attacks that have paralyzed the tourism sector. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the discussion was geared towards ways to deepen the bilateral relationship and support Egypts fight against terrorists as he reiterated that the US, under Trumps administration, remains strongly committed to the bilateral relationship, which has helped both countries overcome challenges in the region for decades. Sisi had strained relations with President Barack Obamas administration which led to the restriction of military aid but Trump is committed to ensuring that US military assistance to Egypt effectively supports the Egyptian militarys fight against terrorism. Ties between the two leaders are expected to be strong especially after Trump applauded the Egyptian president for being the first Head of State to congratulate him on his victory in last years US presidential polls. Preparations for Sisis official visit to Washington are already ongoing. After a deadlock in forming a new government that lasted more than three months, Royal Advisor Fouad Ali El Himma visited Abdelilah Benkirane to tell him that the King urges him to continue negotiations on the political composition of the new cabinet. The news was relayed by Moroccan media outlets which said that EL Himma told Benkirane that the King does not want him to resign and that he should manage government formation talks patiently. A source from the Islamist PJD party close to Benkirane told Telquel magazine that Benkirane was seriously considering resigning after talks to form a new cabinet reached a deadlock. The source added that negotiations would resume after the African Union summit. Benkirane was appointed Head of Government by King Mohammed VI after his party came in first in the October 7 general elections with 125 seats, but his talks with other parties to form a coalition government have so far been fruitless. Morocco came to an unprecedented political deadlock after Benkirane broke off talks to form a new government with two main coalition partners, the Rally of National Independents (RNI) and the Popular Movement (MP), three months after the countrys elections. After five years in government, the PJD won 125 seats in Octobers election followed by its archival the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) with 102 seats, while the conservative Istiqlal Part won 46 seats. The fragmentation of Moroccos political landscape makes no party able to win an outright majority. To secure the majority of seats needed to form a coalition government, the PJD needs to enter into a coalition with at least 4 parties, a task that may put the PJD on a rocky road to negotiate the distribution of ministerial portfolios and compromise on their partys policy to bring it in tandem with its partners in the future government. With 12 parties represented in the lower house, the Moroccan stalemate indicates how too many parties can spoil politics giving way to incoherent governmental coalitions involving odd bedfellows including Islamists, former communists and conservatives as was the case with the previous government. Moroccan authorities have started the process of depositing the instruments of ratification of the Constitutive Act of the African Union, according to media24 website. The ratification was endorsed by the two Chambers of the Moroccan parliament, paving the way for the countrys readmission to the African Union during the coming African Summit due in Addis Ababa by end of this month. Morocco has so far gleaned the backing of more than the required quorum for rejoining the African organization. Nearly 80 pc of the UA members are in favor of Moroccos return to its African institutional family. Last July, King Mohammed VI announced his countrys decision to rejoin the African organization in a letter addressed to the 27th AU summit held in Rwanda. Following the royal letter, nearly 30 member countries out of the 54 tabled a motion welcoming the Moroccan bid, noting that the North African country is one of the founding members of the AUs predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU.) They had also called for the immediate suspension of the membership of the self-proclaimed RASD, which was illegally admitted in 1984 through the illegitimate use of threats, deceit, coercion and dirty petrodollar money. According to several analysts, Moroccos reintegration into the African Union is just a matter of time and formality because the large majority of African countries have overtly expressed backing to Moroccos readmission in the UA saying that the African continent will be stronger, safer and better with Rabat on board. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP Senate Democrats today unveiled a plan to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure. What is noteworthy about this proposal is less the substance than the underlying strategic rationale for it. Democrats are eager to drive a wedge between the new president and congressional Republicans and persuade [President Trump] to adopt ideas that would put him at odds with GOP leaders, reports the Washington Post. A senior Democratic Senate aide, speaking with the Atlantics Michelle Cottle, lays out the partys strategery in more explicit detail: We are presenting a choice to the president, said the senior Senate aide. If he pursues issues that align with Democratic priorities, he will find Democrats eager to work with him. This will, however, require Trump to buck the Republicans in Congress, stressed the aide. Democrats selective cooperation is not aimed at finding middle ground with GOP members, the aide clarified, but about Trumps upending decades of Republican orthodoxy and going around congressional Republicans on particular issues. The goal: deny the majority legislative wins while positioning Democrats as the party that can work with Trump to get stuff done. So thats the plan: force Trump into a choice between either failing to uphold his campaign promises or else proving that Democrats, not Republicans, are the ones who can make governing work. Alas, this theory rests upon numerous assumptions that are almost certainly false. 1. It assumes Trump will not really want to sign a huge infrastructure bill. Trump promised a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan during the campaign, but proposed a plan based on tax credits that would mostly confer windfall benefits on existing proposals. Democrats think this is because Trump doesnt really want to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure. I suspect otherwise. His chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has made it clear that a massive infrastructure plan is a key, and perhaps the key, element in Trumps plan to cement the loyalty of white working-class Democrats. The notion that Trump would refuse to spend the necessary funds on such a plan because he cares too much about the deficit seems fanciful. Trump also seems to grasp that infrastructure gives him the chance for a high-profile bipartisan deal. Describing his beautiful relationship with leaders of both parties yesterday, Trump boasted, Were about to make a big deal. The infrastructure bill would provide the sweet bipartisan coating to the bitter pill of his otherwise orthodox right-wing agenda. Democrats think theyre calling Trumps bluff, when in all likelihood, Trump is calling theirs. 2. It likewise assumes that congressional Republicans bitterly oppose large-scale infrastructure spending on principle. Were going to challenge [Trump], explains Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer. Break your promise to the blue-collar world, or work with us and split with the right, the Republican establishment, which hates these things. It is true that they stonewalled any such plan during President Obamas tenure. But this is because they understood that a bill with the optics of bipartisan cooperation, and the substance of fiscal stimulus to the economy, would benefit Obama and his party. When Republicans had control of government under George W. Bush, they were very happy to pass debt-financed spending programs. To be sure, it is a slightly awkward messaging task for Republicans to immediately abandon their eight years of debt hysteria the moment a Republican moves into the White House. A bit of time will be required to reprogram the Fox News and talk-radio audience. From this standpoint, Democratic support for the bill provides Republicans with an added benefit: They can posture virtuously against the bill, and later decry it as a cause of the increase in deficits that is coming, while Democrats supply the votes to pass it. 3. The Democrats most deeply mistaken premise is their belief that the voters will make specific judgments about which congressional party is more effective. That is simply not how voters think. They make judgments about the state of the country, and hold the president and his party accountable. They do not separate their judgments about the congressional party from the president indeed, they are so single-minded in their focus on the president that voters actually base their vote for state legislature on their assessment of the president. In theory, it might make sense for the public to conclude that Democrats are doing a better job than Republicans of helping Trump govern. In reality, that is not how they think at all. If Trump passes a bipartisan bill, it will make Trump more popular, and thus Trumps party more popular. Democrats success in the next two elections will be determined by Trumps approval ratings. The lower his ratings, the better Democrats will do. Voters are not going to reward Democrats for proving they can get stuff done with Trump. To be sure, it would be awkward for Democrats to openly oppose infrastructure spending after having supported it for years before. The easy way out for them would be to follow Arizona Representative Ruben Gallegos proposal to deny support for any infrastructure bill unless Trump releases his taxes to prove he would not personally benefit. Trump might get away with unprecedented corruption in office, but why not make Republicans in Congress bear the sole responsibility for this destruction of long-standing norms? Why should Democrats participate? But Senate Democrats have not imposed any such condition on their infrastructure plan. Matt House, a spokesman for Schumer, told me, Our position is that the president should make his returns public, that he shouldnt earn any money off of this bill, and that he should support the legislation. In other words, Democrats will not require any mechanism to ensure that Trump and his family do not profit off the bill as a condition for supporting a bill. That means they are willing not only to give Trump the political win he craves but also to tacitly cooperate with his obliteration of long-standing norms. Now, perhaps Democrats are so passionate about the cause of public infrastructure they are willing to sacrifice their vulnerable members and reduce their chance of picking up seats in order to secure progress on this vital issue. And perhaps they care about it so deeply they are willing to give Trump the boost in approval ratings, by demonstrating his ability to work with both parties. But if we take Democrats at their word, they are not proposing to sacrifice their own self-interest for the sake of building infrastructure. They instead appear to believe they have devised a clever plan to advance their own interests. In that case, they are badly deluded. Mike Pompeo, his wife, Susan Pompeo, and Vice-President Mike Pence at his swearing-in ceremony. Photo: Ron Sachs/Bloomberg via Getty Images On Monday evening, Representative Mike Pompeo of Kansas was confirmed by the Senate as director of the CIA, despite Democrats concerns about his view on domestic surveillance and torture, and previous claims that Muslims are not doing enough to stand up to terrorism. Pompeo was sworn in by Vice-President Mike Pence several hours later. The vote was 66-32, with Rand Paul and more than half of the Democrats voting against Pompeo. Several prominent Democrats voted to confirm, including Chuck Schumer, Tim Kaine, and Dianne Feinstein. Democrat Ron Wyden led the opposition, grilling Pompeo for more than an hour during his hearing. In summer 2015 Congress let the collection of Americans phone data in bulk lapse, but as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pompeo argued it should be reinstated in expanded. Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database, Pompeo said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published a year ago. Pompeo has said hes open to reinstating waterboarding, which was banned in the Army Field Manual under President Obama, and Trump said on the campaign trail that he would allow much worse. Pompeo told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he would not authorize any enhanced interrogation techniques that fall outside the Army Field Manual. However, he also said he would consider rewriting the rules if experts say banning waterboarding is an impediment to gathering vital intelligence. His record reveals extreme positions, including enthusiasm for sweeping new surveillance programs targeting Americans and an openness to sending our country backward with regard to torture, Wyden said in a statement. Furthermore, his views on intelligence assessments on Russian interference in our election shifted along with the presidents, raising questions about the nominees objectivity. Pompeo said during his hearing that he considers the U.S. spy agencies conclusion that Russia meddled with the U.S. election sound. He said he would continue investigating the issue, even if it caused problems for the president. I promise you I will pursue the facts wherever they take us with respect to this issue and with respect to every other issue, he said. Other Democrats said they were voting against Pompeo due to his troubling remarks about Muslims. In 2013, Pompeo told Congress that Muslim leaders in the U.S. arent doing enough to combat terrorism and their silence is deafening. He added that Muslim leaders who fail to condemn terror attacks committed by those with radical Islamic beliefs are potentially complicit in these acts, and more importantly still, in those that may well follow. Republicans wanted Pompeo confirmed on Friday, arguing that no more debate was needed, and its dangerous not to have a permanent CIA director in place. This is a man who understands exactly what it takes to keep America safe, said Republican senator Tom Cotton. Pompeo was voted into Congress in 2010 as part of the tea-party wave. He graduated at the top of his class at West Point, then earned a law degree from Harvard. He is the third member of Trumps cabinet to be confirmed. No, youre the baby. Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images The president is a 70-year-old child whose TV time must be closely monitored because any news story that upsets his ego will trigger a temper tantrum followed by irrational demands that his indulgent, overwhelmed guardians will be helpless to refuse. Or so Donald Trumps aides keep confiding to the nearest available reporter. On Sunday, one of the presidents confidantes told Politico that his staffers have to control information that may infuriate him, a task made difficult by the fact that the leader of the free world gets bored and likes to watch TV. That same day, some Trump aides provided the New York Times with a portrait of the president as a moody adolescent. Mr. Trump grew increasingly angry on Inauguration Day after reading a series of Twitter messages pointing out that the size of his inaugural crowd did not rival that of Mr. Obamas in 2009. But he spent his Friday night in a whirlwind of celebration and affirmation. When he awoke on Saturday morning, after his first night in the Executive Mansion, the glow was gone, several people close to him said, and the new president was filled anew with a sense of injury. The lack of discipline troubled even senior members of Mr. Trumps circle, the paper wrote, some of whom had urged him not to indulge his simmering resentment at what he saw as unfair news coverage. And then, on Monday night, Trumps staffers whispered an even more vivid account of his rough weekend to the Washington Post. President Trump had just returned to the White House on Saturday from his final inauguration event, a tranquil interfaith prayer service, when the flashes of anger began to build. Trump turned on the television to see a jarring juxtaposition massive demonstrations around the globe protesting his day-old presidency and footage of the sparser crowd at his inauguration, with large patches of white empty space on the Mall. As his press secretary, Sean Spicer, was still unpacking boxes in his spacious new West Wing office, Trump grew increasingly and visibly enragedOver the objections of his aides and advisers who urged him to focus on policy and the broader goals of his presidency the new president issued a decree: He wanted a fiery public response, and he wanted it to come from his press secretary. The Posts story is chock-full of remarkable details. To list just a few: 1. After forcing Spicer to baldly lie to the White House press corps about the size of his inauguration crowd, the president fumed that his press secretarys performance was not forceful enough. According to Axios, Trump was also incensed by Spicers poor taste in suits, and is already considering treating the former RNC staffer to his signature catchphrase. 2. Trump already feels demoralized that the publics perception of his presidency so far does not necessarily align with his own sense of accomplishment. 3. Some Trump aides think Kellyanne Conway is trying to undermine Spicer so as to steal his job. 4. Jared Kushner tried to prevent Conway from being invited into the White House at all, because he viewed her as a possible threat to his role as Trumps chief consigliere. 5. Also, am I correct in reading this passage to imply Trump is too weak/lazy to walk up one flight of stairs? pic.twitter.com/RSidv1vuwP Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) January 24, 2017 Ultimately, though, the most astounding sentence in the Posts write-up might be the following: This account of Trumps tumultuous first days in office comes from interviews with nearly a dozen senior White House officials and other Trump advisers and confidants, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations and moments. Nearly a dozen of Trumps closest confidantes helped plant an embarrassing news story about how their boss cant handle embarrassing news stories. Which is to say: A president who prizes loyalty in his subordinates has already been betrayed by a huge swath of his inner circle. It isnt hard to understand why Trumps aides would want to distance themselves from the moguls decision to begin his presidency by shouting self-aggrandizing delusions at CIA employees, congressional leaders, and the Fourth Estate. But we arent in the late days of a losing campaign, when its normal for advisers to start leaking dirt on the boss to save their reputations. Were less than four full days into the Trump presidency, with (barring death, impeachment, resignation, or coup) at least 1,461 to go. Everybody knows there were five lights. Picard choked like a dog. Photo: Ron Sachs/Bloomberg via Getty Images The evidence that President Trump is exactly the same as candidate Trump just keeps piling up. After having his press secretary falsely insist that his inauguration crowd was bigger than Obamas, now Trump himself is repeating a lie about why he lost the popular vote and displaying his knack for dragging out an unflattering story into multiple news cycles. The Washington Post reports that during a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders on Monday night, Trump insisted that he only lost the popular vote because between 3 million and 5 million people voted illegally. According to the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and NBC News, Trump said the votes were cast by illegal immigrants, but other reports suggest he wasnt that specific. Either way, theres nothing to back up that claim. Analysis of the November election found almost no instances of voter fraud, and there is no evidence that millions of people cast their ballots illegally. Trump won the presidency by securing 304 electoral votes, but nationwide, Hillary Clinton received 2,864,974 more votes than Trump. The presidents argument was thoroughly debunked when he tweeted back in November: I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. When asked for evidence, Trump spokesperson Jason Miller pointed to a study thats been discredited. PolitiFact found that the conspiracy website InfoWars was spreading a report that 3 million votes were cast by illegal aliens. The source for the story was a nonexistent report from VoteFraud.org, and two tweets from a man named Gregg Phillips, who refused to say how he came to that conclusion. Trump reportedly spent about ten minutes rehashing his win during the reception in the State Dining Room. Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer said Trump also bragged about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. It was a huge crowd, a magnificent crowd. I havent seen such a crowd as big as this, Hoyer told CNN, quoting Trump. He said the president did not spend a lot of time on that, but it was clear that it was still on his mind. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn confirmed to Politico that Trump repeated his voter-fraud claim on Monday, but he suggested Republican lawmakers will be sticking to their plan of ignoring Trumps wild declarations. I didnt pay a lot of attention to it, Cornyn said. I was ready to move onto some policy issues. I didnt anticipate that discussion. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy tried to downplay Trumps false claim as well, but his explanation made little sense. We talked about different electoral college, popular votes, going through the different ones, McCarthy said. Well, we talked about going back through past elections. Everyone in there goes through elections and stuff, so everybodys giving their different histories of different parts. None of the Republicans who commented on the meeting stressed that theres no reason to think millions of votes were cast illegally, though spreading such claims can have serious consequences that go well beyond distracting from the presidents agenda. As The Atlantic pointed out in November: But the more immediate effect of rhetoric like this is probably on the partisan debate over voting laws. Despite the lack of any evidence of systemic voter fraud, Republicans around the country have been advocating for tougher voter laws for the last decade or so. The most commonly proposed provision requires voters to present a photo ID for voting, even though theres practically no evidence of in-person voter fraud. There is, however, evidence that changes like this as well as reductions in early voting, another common tack do disproportionately affect young and minority voters, who tend to vote Democratic. During his confirmation hearing, Senator Jeff Sessions admitted that he and Trump never discussed the millions of alleged illegal votes, though as attorney general, it would fall on Sessions to prosecute and protect the integrity of U.S. elections. If Trump really thinks he was robbed of a popular-vote win, why isnt his administration looking for evidence to prove it, and trying to stop it? This post has been updated with additional details and analysis. I can tell that we are going to be friends. Photo: Andrew Harrer-Pool/Getty Images Two days before he was elected president, Donald Trump accused James Comey of rigging the FBIs investigation into Hillary Clintons email server. Right now, she is being protected by a rigged system. Its a totally rigged system, the GOP nominee told supporters in Michigan, following Comeys announcement that the emails the FBI had discovered on Anthony Weiners laptop had no bearing on Clintons case. You cant review 650,000 new emails in eight days. You cant do it, folks. Trump lamented the possibility that Comeys last-minute announcement had taken [victory] away from us. And then, the opposite proved true. Polling both public and internal suggested that Comeys previous letter had tilted the playing field dramatically rightward. That missive which broke with long-standing Justice Department precedents against commenting on ongoing investigations and making significant announcements in close proximity to an election alerted the world that FBI agents had discovered new, ostensibly Clinton-related emails on Weiners laptop. (Comey had not yet read these emails, but decided he had a public duty to disclose the hypothetical significance of his new discovery.) Irresponsible headlines and Trumpian hyperbole ensued. Many of Clintons marginal supporters decided to let someone else vote for the corrupt, career politician, who was going to win anyway. In hindsight, all that Comeys last-minute exoneration accomplished was to provide voters with one last reminder that the most important thing to know about Hillary Clinton is that she cant send an email without getting embroiled in a scandal. And that isnt all that weve learned about Comeys conduct since November 8: Even as the FBI director was telegraphing new developments in the Clinton case, he was pressuring journalists not to report on the existence of the bureaus investigation into the Trump campaign. Last week, New York Times public editor Liz Spayd revealed that the paper had gotten word that the FBI was investigating possible collusion between the Russian government and members of the Trump campaign back in September but with doubts about the material and with the F.B.I. discouraging publication, editors decided to hold their fire. All this has rendered James Comey one of the most widely reviled public servants in all of blue America. It has also secured him a vote of confidence and bro-hug from the new president of the United States. Here it is, in all its glory. The infamous Trump - Comey bro hug. #trump https://t.co/uubcmSAb06 MAGA_trump (@MAGAtrump5) January 22, 2017 Last week Comey informed the FBIs senior staff that Trump has decided to retain him for the new administration, the New York Times reported Tuesday. The FBIs investigation into Trumps alleged Russia ties is ongoing, as is the Justice Departments internal investigation into Comeys handling of the Clinton case. But theres no reason to worry that those investigations will be compromised by political considerations. If theres one thing the new president cant stand, its when a rigged system shields the powerful against justice. The U.S. didnt join in not yet, at least. Photo: Russian Defence Ministry Press Service The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that it had conducted its first combat mission with U.S.-led coalition aircraft in Syria, and that it had gotten coordinates of ISIS targets in the town of al-Bab from the American side of the international coalition, reports Reuters. Given President Donald Trumps apparent admiration for Russian president Vladimir Putin, it appeared that that the new administration wasnt wasting any time in resetting relations. That is, until the spokesperson for that U.S. coalition shot down the Russian ministrys statement, calling it propaganda and rubbish. The Pentagon, now under the helm of General James Mattis who has expressed skepticism about Putin and his motives also denied the Russian claims. The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria, spokesman Eric Pahon said. But that doesnt mean it wont ever happen. During his lengthy and chaotic briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the Trump administration would work with any country that shares our interest in defeating ISIS. To recap: Pentagon, CENTCOM, US Coalition all deny cooperation w/ Russia in Syria. Sean Spicer doesn't confirm/deny, says Trump open to it. Samuel Oakford (@samueloakford) January 23, 2017 Its unclear, exactly, how this alternative fact of joint cooperation surfaced. The United States and Russia maintain a line of communication to avoid any incidents in the airspace above Syria. Turkey, a NATO member, did cooperate and carry out joint airstrikes with Russia in al-Bab against ISIS for the first time last week, which is a pretty significant development. According to Al Jazeera, its the closest the two historic adversaries have worked together in Syria. Turkey backs the Syrian opposition, while Russia supports President Bashar al-Assad, but the two countries have been steadily putting their differences aside, brokering a ceasefire between the rebels and Assad without involving any Western powers. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images You can call it post-truth, you can call it fake news, or you can, as Kellyanne Conway helpfully suggested on Meet the Press over the weekend, call it alternative facts. Or you can borrow Dan Rathers phrasing from earlier this year: A lie, is a lie, is a lie. In a fantastic recent piece for Politico, psychology writer Maria Konnikova investigates 20 years worth of research on what happens when your brain is overloaded with a constant stream of untruths, and comes to a bleak forecast for the next four years. In short: Sorting fact from fiction can become so exhausting that, after a while, your brain simply stops trying. Upon first hearing a lie, your brain must accept it as truth. Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert has theorized that to do the work of separating truth and lies, our brains first must accept the false statement as if it were true; otherwise, its impossible to engage with it. For instance, if someone were to tell us hypothetically, of course that there had been serious voter fraud in Virginia during the presidential election, we must for a fraction of a second accept that fraud did, in fact, take place, Konnikova explains. Only then do we take the second step, either completing the mental certification process (yes, fraud!) or rejecting it (what? no way). If you hear a lie often enough, it starts to sound true. According to whats called the illusory truth effect, the more you hear a false statement, the truer it starts to sound. This is even true when you should know better. In a fascinating, if disheartening, 2015 study, researchers showed that if people repeated the phrase The Atlantic Ocean is the largest ocean on Earth enough times, the Atlantic Ocean did indeed begin to seem like the largest ocean on Earth. A constant stream of lies becomes so mentally taxing that your brain gives up. Its called cognitive load, Konnikova writes, meaning that our limited cognitive resources are overburdened. Lie detection is difficult work, and your brain can only handle so much. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Two weeks ago, Science of Us published my critique of the implicit association test, a Harvard-backed reaction-time-based task that supposedly measures your level of implicit bias against certain groups, but which is riddled with methodological and statistical problems. While the article mentioned glowing media coverage mostly in passing, focusing instead on the academic literature, overly credulous media coverage of the IAT has greatly helped to increase the popularity of the test, as well as to spread misunderstanding about it. A good example of this came over the weekend, in an article entitled How Unconscious Sexism Could Help Explain Trumps Win. In the article, Carl Bialik lays out the case for how IAT data about implicit sexism might offer some hints about how Donald Trump prevailed over Hillary Clinton. But if you look closely at the data and claims he evaluates, things get pretty muddled. This doesnt mean implicit sexism didnt affect the campaign, of course it just means we should think twice before accepting that the IAT accurately measures implicit sexism and is a useful tool for explaining what happened. The first thing to know about implicit-sexism IATs is that they follow a pattern not really seen in other areas of IAT research. Generally speaking, for IATs dealing with some oppressed class of people, nonmembers of that group score higher, and are therefore seen as more implicitly biased against the group. White people generally score higher on a so-called black-white IAT than black peoples for example, for example, while ethnic Germans generally score higher than ethnic Turks on IATs involving traditionally German and traditionally Turkish names (Turks are a marginalized minority group in Germany). Sexism IATs are different. As Greg Mitchell and Phil Tetlock put it in a book chapter that is very critical of the IAT, One particularly puzzling aspect of academic and public dialogue about implicit prejudice research has been the dearth of attention paid to the finding that men usually do not exhibit implicit sexism while women do show pro-female implicit attitudes. This appears to be a pretty robust finding, and if you translate it into the same language IAT proponents speak elsewhere, it means men dont have implicit sexism and are therefore unlikely to make decisions in an implicitly sexist manner (women, meanwhile, will likely favor women over men in implicitly-driven decision-making). Even weirder, when you switch to IATs geared at evaluating not whether the test-taker implicitly favors men over women (or vice versa), but whether they are quicker to associate men versus women more with career, family, and similarly gendered concepts, the IAT somewhat reliably evaluates women as having higher rates of implicit bias against women than men do. After explaining that Trump voters tend to express higher degrees of explicit sexism, Bialik writes that the tendency to associate men with careers and women with family is stronger on average in women than in men, and, among women, it is particularly strong among political conservatives. And at least according to one study, this unconscious bias was especially strong among one group in 2016: women who supported Trump. Bialik, who is a good and smart reporter who I read regularly, is cautious in his phrasing throughout the piece at no point does he make explicitly overheated claims about the IAT. But there is some shakiness to the claim that any of the IAT data he presents makes a credible case for IAT-measured implicit bias playing a role in the election, and this is a useful case study in the broader journalistic conversation about the IAT, which tends to be a bit too solicitous toward questionable claims made by IAT proponents. First, Bialiks only direct support for the idea of a link between vote preference and IAT scores is a preelection study conducted by HCD Research, a New Jersey research firm, but the results of that study dont really support a narrative in which IAT scores help us understand the election. Bialik relates the striking result that [m]ore than 80 percent of [respondents who intended to vote for Trump] showed a bias toward linking men with careers more quickly than women, compared with 74 percent of women supporting Clinton and a little more than 50 percent of men supporting either candidate. But if you follow Bialiks own link over to the study, HCD Research notes that, Interestingly, we found that study participants did not exhibit gender stereotype associations, regardless of who they plan to vote for (Clinton, Trump, or third party). Bialik explained to me that this simply had to do with how HCD Research broke down the subgroups in its publication versus the more granular way they did so for him. He pointed me to the firms staffer Michelle Niedziela, and she confirmed this to me in an email. Nobody was gender biased and there were no significant differences across parties, she wrote. However, when we began to dig a bit deeper we found that women held a low level of gender bias while men did not. Looking at the Clinton men and women, we found they had no gender bias. Trump women, however, were the only group to show low levels of gender bias, with Trump men just missing the cutoff (.2 [on the scoring scale]). And Bialiks 80 percent and 74 percent figures include anyone who scored positively on the scale, even if they were below the firms own cutoff for a meaningful positive score. Long story short, one subgroup in the HCD experiment exhibited a low level of gender bias against women, while none of the others exhibited a meaningful amount, by the firms scoring convention. Is this striking, or worth pointing to as even a potentially interesting explanation for the cognitively and sociologically complicated act of choosing whom to vote for? Would we be talking about it at all if we werent in the midst of an age of rampant, frequently overheated excitement about these nifty tests? This chart from the FiveThirtyEight piece, drawn from data generated by Harvards Project Implicit website, also stands out: Keep in mind that were evaluating a couple claims not settled facts here. The claims in question are that sexism IATs (1) accurately measure implicit sexism, and (2) that theres some good reason to think that data generated from these scores might tell us something interesting about voting behavior. Were off to a rocky start given that, as noted above, the gender-stereotype IAT data follows, basically, the exact opposite pattern as racism IAT data, with members of the marginalized group scoring higher. And yet were being asked to nod along with the same story line that high IATs predict biased behavior against the out-group or marginalized group. That is, were being asked to believe that strongly and moderately liberal women are, all else being equal, more likely to hold implicitly sexist associations than far-right men, and therefore by the logic of both IAT proponents and Bialiks article more likely to act in an implicitly sexist manner in the voting booth and other contexts. Again, if these arent the claims, then whats the point of any of this? We wouldnt care about these scores or this graph if they didnt come accompanied by the claim, or at least the possibility, that all this data maps onto actual real-world bias and real-world behavior. Is it possible that liberal women are more implicitly sexist than far-right men? I suppose? The IAT narrative gives itself an out here by claiming that the IAT taps into implicit beliefs that are unconscious and totally separate from our explicit beliefs. But at a certain point, common sense has to kick in: Theres a lot of research showing that strongly conservative men (and women, too) have traditional, rigid notions about where men and women belong. Theres no residue of this in implicitly held beliefs? Liberal women really believe, in their deep-down unconscious, that women belong in the kitchen more than conservative men and women do? In light of the numerous problems that have been uncovered with the IAT, Occams razor suggests that this test is less meaningful than we thought is a more justifiable conclusion. Bialik, for his part, was very responsive to my queries, even after I explained I was going to be criticizing his article. And he made some fair points. These are preliminary results, worth treating with caution and following up with further research, he said via DM. I dont think we should discount them automatically because the results are counterintuitive, or seem different at first glance than results of tests for other kinds of implicit bias. This gender test is fundamentally different from the typical tests of implicit racial bias, which test associations between racial groups and positive or negative words. There isnt anything inherently positive or negative about family vs. career, the subjects of this test; its about how quick people are to associate men or women with family-related words relative to career-related words. Sure a result being counterintuitive definitely isnt reason enough to discard it. But it just feels like the problem with IAT coverage goes deeper than that, that something about how sexy the IAT is, and how much promise it offers (on paper), seems to short-circuit certain forms of question-asking. There is a lot of confusion about what the IAT can and cant do, and a lot of claims about it dont quite seem to be falsifiable. Its telling that if you flipped the above graph on its head if men were more implicitly biased against independent and career-oriented women than women were at every point on the political spectrum you could also write an article about how IAT scores might help explain voter behavior: This test shows that, as we might expect, men are implicitly biased against the notion that women should have careers and be independent, which can help explain why they voted for Clinton in such lower numbers. A small but telling moment comes at the conclusion of Bialiks piece: HCD would like to do follow-up studies on the topic, including tracking bias levels over time and examining whether exposure to certain segments of the media affects bias. Michelle Niedziela, scientific director of HCD Research, said she initially found the finding surprising but has since rethought her position. She recounted a conversation she had after the election with a woman she knows who had voted for Trump. She was saying things I found to be really shocking, that I had never heard before, Niedziela said. The woman, a professional, told Niedziela that she didnt think men and women should get equal pay. This study reflects these beliefs; they are out there, Niedziela said. Maybe we shouldnt be shocked. But thats an explicit belief! An IAT study is very much not supposed to reflect an explicit belief. The entire conceit of the test, in fact and the justification for its widespread popularity and adoption is the claim that it can capture implicit beliefs, which are separate. The fact that were two decades into the history of these tests, and even the people who get paid to administer and study them seem a bit shaky about exactly what theyre measuring, should tell us something about the quality of the underlying instrument. Ajit Pai. Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images The Trump administration yesterday named Republican Ajit Pai to head the Federal Communications Commission. Pais appointment was a foregone conclusion, given that he is the ranking Republican on the five-member body, but its important for one reason: Pai is an outspoken critic of net neutrality one of the fundamental principles of the free, open internet weve all been using for the past several decades. During the Obama administration, the commission was headed by Tom Wheeler, a Democrat who most famously used his majority to pass what is informally known as the Open Internet Order. That order classified broadband internet as a telecommunications utility, though did not subject internet-service providers to the intense regulations that other common carriers often are. The Open Internet Order bolsters a principle known as net neutrality (the specific term was coined by law professor Tim Wu in 2003). To understand it, we need to first understand how the internet works. The internet is literally a network of data cables that crisscross the globe. When you open your computer, say, you connect to a network most likely owned by one of a handful of private internet-service providers the dreaded Comcast, Time Warner, and so on. (Same thing on your iPhone: Thanks to smartphones, cellular providers like Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile are also ISPs.) That network communicates with the networks owned and operated by other ISPs, and those owned by a handful of other organizations government bodies, academic institutions, and independent nonprofits, generally and those many, global, interconnected networks, some public, some private, make up the internet. The internet took off, as did the World Wide Web which rests on top of it, because its open. In other words, if youre connected to Comcast, you can send data to someone connected via Time Warner, without issue or negotiation. Neither Comcast nor Time Warner is allowed to (or able) to slow down or speed up your connection or, for that matter, cut it off. Unlike phone service, you dont have things like long-distance fees either. Perhaps the single most important aspect of the internet as it was first conceived is that it was designed as a dumb pipe, or one that does not give priority to certain types of data or certain sources of said data. Video of a presidential speech gets the same bandwidth as video of a dude getting hit in the nuts. Market conditions change, however, and the unchallenged freedom under which the internet blossomed is now regarded as a liability for the ISPs which are, as you probably have experienced, de facto monopolies. If we own the highway, their thinking goes, why cant we charge tolls? To that end, some have proposed so-called fast lanes for companies willing to pony up for faster bandwidth. In practice, this could radically change our experience of the internet. For example, if Netflix cuts a deal with Verizon for a fast lane and Hulu doesnt, Hulu loads more slowly, and users would presumably favor Netflix. More likely than that is that video-streaming services owned and operated by the ISPs themselves get preference over independent streaming services. This is a clear pay-to-play system in which an upstart little guy could easily get crowded out by industry incumbents. The most extreme scenario would be one in which businesses have to pay in order to get onto an ISPs network at all imagine, lets say, SBC customers cant access Google because the company refuses to pay SBC for access. Mobile carriers have inverted this concept through what is known as zero-rating, in which certain services dont count toward a customers data cap. A choice between a service that would use up your limited data or one that doesnt is hardly a choice at all. The Open Internet Order, adopted in February 2015, banned paid prioritization of traffic, as well as blocking or throttling traffic to legal internet content. The net-neutrality debate is about whether one class of private entities, ISPs, should be regulated in order to allow millions of other private entities, users and businesses operating online, to operate freely. Pretty much everyone agrees that they should except for the ISPs and Ajit Pai. Pai even wrote a 67-page(!) dissent when the order was adopted. Even Google and Facebook support the principle, in part because they often buy up the smaller startups that flourish on an unfettered internet. Imagine an internet where, rather than buying Instagram for $1 billion, Facebook instead paid for a fast lane and forced Instagram out by other means. The past decade has been defined by a trend of centralization the collection of everything under the umbrellas of a few giant companies. The end of net neutrality will only increase this, as companies will be given more latitude to block services that dont fit their revenue model. Soon, Pai will be in charge of the FCC, and he has said that net neutralitys days are numbered. If you think your internet-service provider is horrible now, just wait until theres no regulatory body watching them. Angelina Jolie. Photo: John Salangsang/BFAnyc.com For the first time in ten years (since her deal with Shiseido), Angelina Jolie will be the face of a beauty brand. Jolie will represent French beauty house Guerlain for a new, unnamed female fragrance that will represent the notes of a woman. According to the brand, Jolie has fond memories of Guerlain from her mothers face powder and the deal was struck in December 2015 in Cambodia, when she was directing her film, First They Killed My Father. Jolie will also donate her entire Guerlain salary to charity. Although neither her fee nor the charity was quoted, its a pretty good deal for charity giving (for reference, her last big deal with Louis Vuitton was for a reported $10 million). Founding partner of SCM Private LLP Gina Miller is seen after the High Court decides that the Prime Minister cannot trigger Brexit without the approval of the MPs. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images On Tuesday, the U.K. Supreme Court ruled that Britain cant begin the process of leaving the European Union without parliaments approval. The ruling, which upheld an earlier decision by a lower court, is the result of a case brought by U.K. businesswoman Gina Miller, whom British newspapers have dubbed Brexit-wrecker, and whos dealt with months of online threats and abuse for what she describes as simply bringing and asking a legitimate question. Heres what you need to know about Millers history and motivations. Who is she? Gina Miller was born in Guyana, but her parents sent her and her brother to the U.K. to attend school. According to the BBC, she attended Roedean School when she was 10 and later moved to Moira House Girls School in East Sussex. Her parents were barred from sending money to the U.K., so she worked as a hotel chambermaid and in restaurants to earn extra cash while her brother delivered newspapers. We were aware that it would be illegal to live unsupervised until my brother turned 16, so I did everything to look older, she told Vogue. I would leave for school in the morning wearing grown-up clothes and high heels, and then change into my school uniform in a petrol station on the way. Miller later went to university in London where she studied law. She married hedge-fund manager Alan Miller (who was dubbed Mr. Hedge Fund by the British press) in 2005, and in 2009 she co-founded an investment firm and launched the True and Fair Foundation, which supports smaller charities. She told the Financial Times that after she launched a campaign to promote transparency in Londons fund-management industry, financiers gave her the nickname black widow spider and no, it wasnt a compliment. Ive been quite used to being the most hated woman in the investment and charity sectors, she wrote in Vogue. Now Ive been called the most hated woman in the country. Why is everyone talking about her? Along with Brazilian-born hairstylist Deir Dos Santos (who is a British citizen) and the Peoples Challenge group, Miller brought a lawsuit against the British government arguing that it couldnt invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty Any member state may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements without approval from parliament. (Prime Minister Theresa May had said she wanted to begin exit negotiations by the end of March and reportedly planned to bypass parliament altogether.) Three judges ruled in Millers favor in November, but the government appealed the decision, so the case went to the U.K.s Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the court again ruled 8-3 in Millers favor on the basis that Brexit will change a number of citizens rights, therefore citizens by way of their elected officials should have a say in the process. So why did she file the lawsuit? According to Miller, it was a matter of principle. Even a first-year law student learns that an overriding principle is that parliament is sovereign, she wrote in an op-ed for the Guardian. Therefore Mays decision to bypass parliament made it immediately obvious to me that this would deny the sovereignty of parliament. She went on, It is one of the most beautiful things about our country that just one individual, so long as he or she has the law on their side, can take on the most powerful institutions or people in the land and win. After the first court ruling, Miller received numerous death and rape threats, as well as sexist and racist comments on Twitter. [People tell me] Im not even human, Im a primate, I belong in a kitchen thats the nicest of some of them, she told BBC Radio 5. Police told CNN at the time that they were aware of the situation, and in December a 55-year-old man was arrested for making threats against Miller; he was later released on bail. Miller blamed politicians and the media for politicizing the case, saying they are the ones inciting racism and violence and acrimony. Miller has faced accusations that shes anti-Brexit, and that her goal in suing the government is to subvert the will of the people. True, she told BBC shed campaigned for remain, reform, and review during the referendum, but she clarified, Were all leavers now. This is about creating legal certainty, she said. Everyone in the country should be my biggest fan because Ive used my own money to create legal certainty for Mrs. May to move ahead. Indeed, her case wont stop the Brexit process, but it will make sure it occurs on her terms. What happens now? Again, its pretty unlikely Millers case will stop the Brexit process, but it might complicate things a little. Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wont stand in the way: Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50, he told BBC. But he added his party will seek to amend the bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain-basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. Representatives for May, meanwhile, said the ruling wouldnt delay the Brexit timetable. According to the New York Times, her government has previously argued that leadership doesnt need parliamentary approval to break or leave international treaties. Thousands of people attend a womens march in Salt Lake City. Photo: Steve Griffin/AP Over the weekend, as many as 3.2 million people (including Ivanka Trumps brother-in-law) participated in Womens Marches across the country. The crowds were so impressive that even President Trump took note, and on Monday thousands of protesters tried a similar tactic with Utahs State Legislature. Despite the snow, as many as 6,000 people marched on the capitol during the State Legislatures first session of the year. Utahs state government is overwhelmingly male, and according to the Salt Lake Tribune, the march was organized to call for equality for women, minority groups, and LGBTQ people. Im sick and tired of men making laws about our bodies and our choices and our lives without consulting us, Kate Kelly, the events organizer, told the paper. (Kelly helped found Ordain Women in 2013, which advocates for women to be included in the Mormon churchs priesthood she was excommunicated last year.) Other marchers were skeptical about the new presidents agenda. With Trump being inaugurated, theres a lot of fear for womens rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ, Muslims, one told the paper. Were afraid that our voices arent going to be heard and our rights will be given away. The Utah State Capitol building only holds 5,000, so the rest of the marchers spilled out into the street. The Tribune reports that noise from the demonstration interrupted legislative business, which was kind of the idea. William Grant appoints two new brand ambassadors William Grant & Sons UK has appointed two new UK brand ambassadors for its brands The Balvenie and Reyka Vodka. The independent family distiller has taken on Alwynne Gwilt as UK ambassador for The Balvenie Single Malt Scotch whisky. Gwilt joined the company in January 2016 as Whisky Specialist for the Ancient Reserves portfolio. She comes with significant industry experience and is the founder and editor of whisky-focused website, Miss Whisky. Jonathan Cornthwaite, head of whisky, said: Alwynne has a deep passion for whisky and the way it is made, which is why she is the perfect person to take on the UK ambassador role for The Balvenie, the most handcrafted single malt. With her wealth of unique experience, Alwynne will play a crucial role as the face of one of William Grant & Sons UKs core brands. Alwynne will lead from the front to develop key relationships and initiatives to further enhance The Balvenies excellent reputation with whisky novices, enthusiasts and connoisseurs alike as well as with on-trade partners. William Grant has also appointed Fabiano Latham as the new Reyka UK ambassador; Latham previously held the role of Bar Director for Chotto Matte and he has more than ten years worth of on-trade experience. Latham takes over from Joe Petch who has held the role since 2013. Petch has moved into the role of Global Brand Ambassador for the companys UK brand, Monkey Shoulder Triple Malt Scotch Whisky. Gwilym Cooke, brand manager at William Grant & Sons, said: With his vast experience and exceptional reputation in the on-trade, Fabiano is the perfect candidate to take on the role of UK ambassador for Reyka. His innovative nature, creativity and passion for the industry will be key for the work he does with the team and our on-trade partners. Both Gwilt and Latham will be responsible for generating brand awareness, building brand advocacy and bridging communication between the brand and consumers, bars and restaurants, retailers, distributors and press. Related articles: i hope the telling osp to go suck a dick is pretty clear Reply Thread Link why is sucking dick a bad thing Reply Parent Thread Link apparently to her it is Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Men use it to degrade women other people yet is all they want. A double edge shaft Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Republicans shitting their pants over Madonna's comments were silent when Ted Nugent (on multiple occasions) threatened to shoot Obama. Joe Walsh did the same thing too and he was a former congressman. This hypocrisy is too much. Like Spicer spending an entire presser gaslighting and whining about how it's ~demoralizing~ people are mean to Trump. First week in and they're already crying - yet they mock safe spaces and call everyone snowflakes. I'll be shocked if Spicer lasts 4 years. Reply Thread Link our current president encouraged people to shoot hillary, like Reply Parent Thread Link tbh i'm not here for this "violence doesn't solve anything!! destruction of private property doesn't solve anything" ish. like... yes the fuck it does lmao the boston tea party was destruction of private party. the entire american revolution was bloody violent "protests" that turned into battles and wars. get out Reply Thread Link Here's how the far right is responding to Richard Spencer getting sucker-punched, via Gab: pic.twitter.com/XVnpTFMKMS Matt Pearce (@mattdpearce) January 23, 2017 As I said in another post, pay attention to people who empathize with a Nazi getting punched and say things like violence is never the answer but stay silent on police brutality and disparage BLM. Their reactions to Richard Spencer are hilarious. A nazi whining that people want them dead lmao.As I said in another post, pay attention to people who empathize with a Nazi getting punched and say things like violence is never the answer but stay silent on police brutality and disparage BLM. Reply Parent Thread Link "they want us dead" and you want us dead lol Reply Parent Thread Link He wasn't "punched" he just had an alternative handshake. Reply Parent Thread Link these assholes care more about property than people lbr Reply Parent Thread Link punch a nazi revolution of love isn't going to do shitpunch a nazi Reply Thread Link idt i'll ever get tired of seeing this gif Reply Parent Thread Link this guy was too kind to this piece of human sludge Reply Parent Thread Link I'm kinda scared for the man who punched this pos. I hope they never find him. Reply Parent Thread Link same, he's the hero we need maybe the cops will "lose" his report lol Reply Parent Thread Link I don't feel bad at all, not a single iota. Reply Parent Thread Link true american hero. i hope his identity is never revealed. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Destroy ha. Whoop ha ass Reply Parent Thread Link this made me gleefully happy Reply Parent Thread Link Benn submitting post about Secret Service plans an investigation on Madonna, rejected 4 times I gave up lol As much as I love political Madonna, I hope she calms down, Trump is capable to do some vile shit... Edited at 2017-01-23 11:06 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link she's just living out the American dream Reply Thread Link if i had said the same thing being the arab that i am, i would have promptly been arrested and the fbi would have prob waterboarded me before sending me to gitmo having said that, if someone wants to do what she said (too paranoid to put it into words) while trump is in the building, i wouldn't be opposed tbh Edited at 2017-01-23 11:47 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link American Life was probably my favorite album by her so damn underrated. Im conflicted cause Ray of light is so good too. Reply Thread Link I saw it live on CNN and thought it was absurd that they cut her off when she said "dick". Like how prude. Reply Thread Link I adore that Nobody Knows Me interlude Reply Thread Link The wording gave me fucking chills. https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2017-01798.pdf Original link: Edited at 2017-01-24 12:51 am (UTC) So...has anyone seen this? Trump is declaring the 1/20 officially as the "National Day of Patriotic Devotion".The wording gave me fucking chills.Original link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/01/24/2017-01798/special-observances-national-day-of-patriotic-devotion-proc-9570 Reply Thread Link awful. i could puke. Reply Parent Thread Link I wouldn't be surprised if in a year Trumpster Fire tries to commission golden statues of himself. Reply Parent Thread Link Whatever. It isn't like what she said was offensive given the dire circumstances. Fuck him. Reply Thread Link She doesn't need to apologize. Reply Thread Link oh, wow. I've always been a huge fan of hers. that's pretty damn awesome of her. Reply Thread Link same! she's fucking iconic and has always been one of my faves. Reply Parent Thread Link i loathe her personal style most of the time but IDEC because i get to see her plus no one rocks the crazy shit like she does. i miss seeing her in campaigns :( Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omg wow!!! good for her!!! Reply Thread Link That's awesome and brave of her. I've always thought she was uniquely beautiful Reply Thread Link Good for her! Reply Thread Link "Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a condition that results in the partial or complete inability of the cell to respond to androgens. The unresponsiveness of the cell to the presence of androgenic hormones can impair or prevent the masculinization of male genitalia in the developing fetus, as well as the development of male secondary sexual characteristics at puberty, but does not significantly impair female genital or sexual development. As such, the insensitivity to androgens is clinically significant only when it occurs in genetic males (i.e. individuals with a Y-chromosome, or more specifically, an SRY gene). Clinical phenotypes in these individuals range from a normal male habitus with mild spermatogenic defect or reduced secondary terminal hair, to a full female habitus, despite the presence of a Y-chromosome. AIS is divided into three categories that are differentiated by the degree of genital masculinization: complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) is indicated when the external genitalia are that of a normal female; mild androgen insensitivity syndrome (MAIS) is indicated when the external genitalia are that of a normal male, and partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) is indicated when the external genitalia are partially, but not fully, masculinized." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome This is rad. Here's a brief explanation of AIS from wiki for anyone allergic to google. Reply Thread Link Thanks for doing the work for us! <3 Reply Parent Thread Link I've read this two times and still don't understand what she has, can someone explain it to me please? Soooo sorry but English isn't my first language Reply Parent Thread Link When people are conceived they all start out with female characteristics. Genetic females develop into women, generally with female characteristics. Genetic males develop male features in response to androgens (male hormones). In androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), genetic males don't respond to these hormones and maintain some degree of standard female genitalia and secondary sexual characteristics. It does sound like there are degrees of it and it can occur in genetic females but obviously in genetic females the result is usually less of an issue. **I didn't read the original article so I don't know if the model stated what her genetics are of what degree of AIS she has. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link A person has: 1. XY chromosomes 2. Testicles BUT their body can't process male hormones very well. Fetuses start out female-like and can only become male if exposed to testosterone. They develop less masculine characteristics, in the womb, in childhood, and during puberty if they don't have enough testosterone. AIS can cause an almost completely female appearance, but they still have testicles. Or they can look more like the average man. The more testosterone the body can use, the more masculine they look. There are many more symptoms and they vary a lot from person to person. Sorry if this is a bit too simple, lol Edited at 2017-01-24 12:18 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That was the subject of (a very fucked up) House episode! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm reading a book about Wallis Warfield Simpson and the author speculates that she had AIS, due to a variety of health issues she had in her life. Reply Parent Thread Link I misread that Hanne Golden Oldies. Good for her for being able to share this. Reply Thread Link good for her! i always saw her editorials around tumblr. i pray this post can stay civil. Reply Thread Link Yas, go her! The horror stories of mutilating intersex children's genitals are so awful. Reply Thread Link reading up on it while prepping this post was horrifying. i just hate what ppl do to children. Reply Parent Thread Link Do you think hormone blockers are okay? I need opinions, I'm confused Reply Parent Thread Link Personally, I think that unless the child's life or health is at risk, you let them be and involve them in their own healthcare. They can decide what interventions they want. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Puberty blockers are very safe and their effects are reversible by just stopping them. Not letting children use hormone blockers, on the other hand, causes irreversible changes to their bodies and can be emotionally extremely difficult for them. Reply Parent Thread Link We had to read some for our psychology courses and it was so fucked up. Reply Parent Thread Link yasssss, she is truly iconic Reply Thread Link omg i didnt know this about her. good for her on opening up! Reply Thread Link iconic queen! when will ur favs conquer the modeling world w/ a sixhead and broken legs? Reply Thread Link The number of pressed people in the comments I saw to an article about this yelling that people need to keep their sexuality to themselves was astonishing... Reply Thread Link they clearly have no idea what intersex means omg Reply Parent Thread Link people are actually so fucking stupid Reply Parent Thread Link Ignorance and bigotry is a real wining combo :/ Reply Parent Thread Link You're not kidding. I had someone try and convince me that Jewish people wanted to eradicate black people. Their proof was what is happening with the occupied West Bank/Isreal/Palestine. Reply Parent Thread Link Like... what. Are they members of ONTD? Did they not read the second paragraph? Reply Parent Thread Link congrats to her for speaking out about this, very brave <3 Reply Thread Link Does this mean she's like gender fluid or was born with both genitals? Also are we supposed to call her by girl pronouns still? Not trolling I'm in a FB group for non-binary ppl and they get mad about a lot of things, like some say calling someone a trans women is offensive and some of them like they/them pronouns. Reply Thread Link someone above posted a great comment explaining what AIS is Reply Parent Thread Link "The model was also born with undescended testicles, which were surgically removed at age 10 due to concerns about cancer and regular female development, and at 18 she underwent vaginal reconstruction surgery. " She probably identifies as female? Reply Parent Thread Link trash Reply Thread Link excellent, next step death! come on 2017, I know you can do it!! Reply Thread Link It's the only thing that could make up for last year. 2017 is welcome to claim Woody, Polanski, Trump, Pence, etc etc. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link from your keyboard to god's monitor. Reply Parent Thread Link bye fucker Reply Thread Link OMG Mel Gibson got a directing nom! Reply Thread Link Why hasn't he dropped dead yet? Why only good people die? Reply Thread Link Speaking of pieces of shit, Mel Gibson just got nominated for Best Director. Reply Thread Link SHUT UP Thay couldn't nominate Todd Haynes but they nominate this fucking piece of shit. fuck them. Reply Parent Thread Link Silence was shut out. Damn shame. Paramount really fumbled the release. Reply Parent Thread Link hollywood keeps trying to give mel gibson this comeback and it's clear that audiences DGAF about him. he is disgusting and he is not likable. they need to fucking stop. Reply Parent Thread Link Unfortunately audiences absolutely give a fuck. Hacksaw Ridge made a lot of money. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omfg noooooooooooooooooo how did his career get resurrected so quickly???? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Are the nominations out? Reply Parent Thread Link fuck that Reply Parent Thread Link unbelievable* *believable, but STILL. Reply Parent Thread Link of course Meryl Streep got a nom lmao this is getting ridiculous at this point. I like her, but c'mon Arrival Fences Hidden Figures Lion Moonlight YASSS and YAS @ best director for Barry and Denis Edited at 2017-01-24 01:38 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link Sis, what's it like to have the same opinion as Donald Trump, lmao I agree, Amy Adams should have gotten her spot Reply Parent Thread Link lmao i hate u Reply Parent Thread Link Oh fuck it was Amy who got snubbed!! I was going through my head in whose spot Ruth took..(which was a good surprise). Reply Parent Thread Link oh fuck, Amy got snubbed?! Reply Parent Thread Link My coworker is pissed an Annette Benning didn't get in Reply Parent Thread Link amy adams is so overdue for an oscar, like that woman has RANGE for days just give it to her already! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Amy adams or taraji shouldve gotten her spot tbh Reply Parent Thread Link Meryl could be in Scary Movie 25 and they would give her a nomination for that Reply Parent Thread Link idc i want an oscar nominations post tbh Reply Thread Link Make the post then? Reply Parent Thread Link um nah? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link omg!! dev patel got nominated for an Oscar!! he's probably so adorably excited!! so so happy for him (still havent seen lion yet though i'll get on that) Reply Thread Link omg yaaaaaas! Reply Parent Thread Link I'm so happy for him!!! was he seriously not for slum dog? Reply Parent Thread Link It was a disgrace then as it is now. I'm so happy he's been nominated for this though! He's so talented. Who would've thought Anwar would be the first one to get nominated for an Oscar lol Reply Parent Thread Link for some reason i thought he had been for slumdog, so happy for him!! Reply Parent Thread Link omg YES finally my bb Reply Parent Thread Link So happy for him! Rooting for Mahershala, but if he doesn't win I want Dev too! Reply Parent Thread Link ce putain de connard de merde. good fucking riddance. Reply Thread Link lmao my sentiments exactly Reply Parent Thread Link My week has been fueled by man tears so far. This is great! Reply Thread Link Crude oil from the North Sea is flowing to Asia at record rates, set to reach 12 million barrels this month, Bloomberg reports, citing shipping data. Tankers carrying 9 million barrels are already on their way to Asian refiners and another 3 million barrels are to be loaded this week. North Sea producers have been struggling with falling yields due to field depletion and lack of capital for investments in new deposits because of the price crash, in addition to a mini-glut of 12 million barrels of crude accumulated since the start of the price crash. The glut was relieved late last year thanks again to Asian refiners. The increased demand for North Sea oil from Asia comes on the back of the OPEC production cut agreement that saw many Middle Eastern producers slash their exports in proportion with output cuts. This curb in Middle Eastern supply has made the more expensive North Sea blends inevitably more appealing, hence the record loadings. These developments, although certainly good for North Sea energy firms, raise the question how long it will take Middle Eastern producers to recapture the market share they will certainly lose over the next five months, until the production cut agreement is in force. Related: Oil Prices Could Reach $60 This Year: Novak If Chinese demand for oil continues to rise as predicted, to 12 million bpd, this year the hunger for alternative supplies will persist, allowing more players to replace Middle Eastern producers that supply Asian markets. Once there, they are unlikely to go quietly once the Middle East states return. This prospect could turn the next five months into a nervous game and reduce the willingness of the signatories to the agreement to keep their end of the bargain, despite the recently announced setting up of a monitoring committee to ensure compliance. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Iran has been raising eyebrows with its unwavering determination to put its energy industry back on its feet since most Western sanctions against Tehran were lifted last year, and its progress so far is considerable. The news from the last two weeks alone include crude oil output close to 4 million barrels daily; the National Iranian Oil Company shortlisting 29 foreign companies to take part in oil and gas tenders to take place later this quarter; and the National Iranian Gas Company announcing it wants to build a US$2.5-billion trunk gas pipeline, in partnership with Russian energy firms. Also since the start of January, an insurance business group announced that it has found a way around the remaining U.S. sanctions against Iran, and will now offer almost full coverage for export-bound Iranian crude shipments, excluding U.S.-based sector players. This will help Iran further boost its oil exports and possibly start filling gaps left by its regional rival, Saudi Arabia, which had to slash its own output by almost half a million barrels as per the OPEC agreement from November 30 last year. These reports paint a pretty rosy picture for Tehran, but as usual, the reality isnt quite as clear cut. At the end of last year, the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation, a Saudi Arabia-based firm, published a report in which it acknowledged Irans progress, but warned that a lot of challenges remain, such as the lack of capital; U.S. sanctions, which are making the likes of BP and Shell wary of returning to Iran; red tape, which invariably hampers the inflow of foreign investment; and, perhaps most importantly, the forthcoming May presidential elections. Related: North Sea Oil Producers Cash In On Asian Demand, OPEC Deal Current president Hassan Rouhani is the leader of the reformists in Irans politics. It was thanks to this reformist camp that the new International Petroleum Contract was developed anddespite conservative oppositionapproved it, demonstrating to international oil companies the countrys commitment to restarting its energy industry. It was this reformist camp that sealed several major oil and gas development deals that will see Iran get closer to its stated daily output goal of 5 million barrels by 2020. The problem now is that there is no certainty that Rouhani will be elected for a second term. Iranian politics lack a system of formal political parties, and there are various groups that could theoretically come up with an attractive candidate for the May vote, especially in the current situation, which, according to one regional observer from Russia, is ripe for a change in political discourse. The picture is still pretty blurry even for Iranian political analysts, so wariness and uncertainty among energy players is understandable. Then there is Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States, who was sworn in last Friday. Trump has said on more than one occasion that the deal that the West struck with Tehran aiming to stop its nuclear program was unfair, and now all eyes are on him to see how he will approach the issue. Related: Why Cheap Natural Gas Is History Almost the entire Middle East, from Israel to Bahrain is cheering Trumps stated hostility towards Tehran, worried about Irans rising influence in the region. Some local analysts expect that the new U.S. President will turn into a second Ronald Reagan. Should Trump live up to these expectations, things could get difficult for Iran. On the other hand, Trump has also stated he wants to have a productive relationship with Russia, which is Irans biggest backer in the Middle Eastfor now. Geopolitics, especially in the Middle East, is a complex game and it always has been. There is just too much oil and gas there. Should conservatives in Iran win in May, the capital needs of the energy industry, which have been estimated at some US$200 billion, might turn out to be Irans smallest problem. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Saudi Arabias rift with Egypt is spiraling out of control, with major strategic ramifications for both countries, as well as for the Yemen conflict and other Red Sea security challenges. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait had built solid economic and political ties following the election victory of Pres. Abdul Fatah Saeed Hussein Khalil al-Sisi in May 2014, with promises of extensive economic support for Egypt as Cairos relations with the US Barack Obama Administration withered. But Saudi Arabia and the UAE failed to make good on their promises of economic aid to, and investment in, Egypt, while at the same time the Saudi Government put immense pressure on Egypt to support its military offensive in Yemen. The crisis began over Pres. al-Sisis refusal to accept the dominance in the Saudi-Egypt relationship of Saudi Minister of Defense & Aviation and Deputy Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) the son of King Salman bin Abd al-Aziz al Saud and particularly over the issue of the use of Egyptian troops and intelligence officers to help MBS become King and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the head of the House of Saud, outside the succession process (even though this is King Salmans real wish). This would circumvent the nominated heir to the Throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayif bin Abd al-Aziz al Saud, in much the same way that the Sudeiri side of the House of Saud circumvented with help from US Pres. Barack Obama the role and future of Prince Muqrin bin Abd al-Aziz, who became Crown Prince to King Salman after the death of King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz al Saud, 91, who died on January 23, 2015. Crown Prince Muqrin was stripped of his position on April 29, 2015, nominally by King Salman, in order to elevate his youngest son, MBS, to a position even as Deputy Crown Prince of unparalleled power of the military and economic policy of the Kingdom. Egypt resisted attempts by MBS to insist on support by Cairo for the consolidation of his power and to commit militarily to the Saudi-led Coalition fighting in Yemen, a conflict which the Egyptian Government felt was ill-advised. Riyadh started financial pressure. Pres. al-Sisi got angry and defiant. Saudi Arabia, which had not made good on its financial promises from 2014-15, cut off oil supplies and other aid to Egypt. So now, in Yemen, the Egyptians are supporting their own Sunni factions along the Red Sea coast, fighting more the pro-Saudi forces than either the Zaidi Shia Houthis or the jihadists. Indeed, the nascent reflowering of the Egyptian-Iranian relations blossomed in direct proportion to the souring of Egyptian-Saudi relations, particularly during 2016. Indeed, hope for an improvement in Saudi-Egyptian relations vanished after the visit by King Salman to Egypt beginning on April 7, 2016, when Pres. al-Sisi offered to return the Egyptian-occupied Saudi islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Gulf of Aqaba, a gesture subsequently overturned by the Egyptian Administrative Court on June 21, 2016. Related: Why Oil Wont Rally Above $60 In The Near Term As well, Egypt and Iran each disagree for different reasons with the Qatar-, Saudi-, and Turkish-sponsored plans to overthrow the Syrian state, and thus have a common position at odds with Riyadh. The Cairo-Tehran modus vivendi creates a gap in Saudi hopes to dominate Yemen and the Red Sea (and motivates Riyadh and the UAE to attempt to rebuild relations with Ethiopia and Djibouti). Saudi Arabia and the UAE are working to bolster relations with Sudan (and put pressure on the outgoing US Barack Obama Administration to normalize US-Sudanese relations) in order to hinder Cairos ability to pressure Ethiopia. Hence Cairos move to rebuild relations with South Sudan to get behind Sudan. All of this has placed a very significant economic burden on Egypt, which is also strongly at odds also with Riyadhs other main partners, Qatar and Turkey, but Cairo has felt impelled to revitalize its efforts to project power down the Red Sea. This has meant a revival of Egypts security relations with Eritrea, and in support of Eritreas objectives to destabilize Ethiopia by funding and arming dissident groups particularly the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) inside Ethiopia, at a time when the Ethiopian Government, dominated by the Tigre Popular Liberation Front (TPLF), was facing significant public unrest from Oromo and Amhara groups. Related: Why Cheap Natural Gas Is History Cairo has also courted the Government of South Sudan, previously on very good terms with Addis Ababa, to help with Egypts [White] Nile water strategies, thereby opposing Ethiopias plans to dam the Blue Nile with the hydro-electric scheme of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) (aka the Millennium Dam). South Sudan Pres. Salva Kiir visited Cairo in mid-January 2017 in response to a surprise invitation from Pres. al-Sisi; they discussed bilateral relations and agreed to work together to support Egypt in its campaign against building dams on the Nile. Significantly, all of this impacts the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), which has now built its Middle East/Africa strategy around the Red Sea and logistics links extending from Djibouti into Ethiopia, down into Africa. South Sudan was to have been an integral part of that logistical network. And the PRC had also committed to an increasingly close naval relationship with Egypt, in part to help reinforce Beijings global ports strategy, in which friendly access through the Red Sea and Suez Canal would be critical, linking with, for example, the PRC-controlled port of Pireaus in Greece. Now, the rifts between Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia threaten Beijings plans. Meanwhile, with King Salman ailing and Obama gone from Washington, will MBS feel obliged to move more quickly to assume the Throne in Riyadh? By Gregory Copley via Defense & Foreign Affairs More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Donald Trump signed TPP United States (US) President Donald Trump moved Monday to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), making good on a pledge to scrap a deal he denounced as a job killer and a rape of US interests. Embarking on his first full week in office, the 45th US president began rolling out his policy agenda after a tumultuous first weekend for his administration by signing a series of executive orders. Among the first was a memo on withdrawing from the vast TPP trade pact, which aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century and bind US allies against growing Chinese economic clout. We've been talking about this for a long time, Trump said as he signed the executive order in the Oval Office. Great thing for the American worker what we just did. Promoted by Washington and signed by 12 countries in 2015, the TPP had yet to go into effect and US withdrawal is likely to sound its death knell. Its signatories Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Brunei together represent 40 per cent of the world economy. The real estate mogul's White House bid was fuelled in part by a pledge to overturn trade deals such as TPP and the North American Free Trade Agreement that he says have drained US jobs and destroyed its industrial heartlands. Trump also signed two other orders, on freezing the hiring of federal workers and hitting foreign NGOs that help with abortion. The Republican leader is looking to shift attention firmly back onto his policy agenda after a first few days that put his incoming administration on the back foot. Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security, he tweeted early Monday. Since he was sworn in on Friday, Trump's White House has been pilloried for lying to the public about inaugural crowds and over a campaign-style speech by the president before a memorial to fallen CIA officers. On Saturday several million Americans poured onto the streets for women-led demonstrations against Trump, the scale of which were unseen in a generation, in a potent rebuke to the president. Trump has upbraided top aides over unfavourable media coverage on everything from crowd sizes to suggestions he has ruled out releasing his taxes. He is the first presidential candidate in recent memory not to do so. On Sunday the president vowed to swiftly start renegotiating NAFTA in upcoming talks with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. Trump has already moved to curb Obama's health care reforms and more quick legal tweaks in the form of executive orders are expected on immigration and limiting environmental legislation. But more substantive changes will need buy-in from the Republican controlled Congress. On Monday, Trump was hosting separate meetings with business leaders, unions and members of both houses of Congress. He will also meet the speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan. Tax reform is likely to be high on the agenda. What we're doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, and that's massively, he said. A bigger thing, and that surprised me, is the fact that we're going to be cutting regulation massively. Reform of Obama's health care laws is also likely to be on the menu. Trump has publicly promised that none of the tens of millions of Americans who obtained health insurance under Obama will lose it. That makes any meaningful changes difficult to pay for. But the more urgent task for Trump may be to keep always skeptical establishment Republicans on board the Trump train. Trump's approval rating is around 40 percent, according to the RealClearPolitics average, low for a president just starting out. That could make legislators think twice about toeing the line with an unpopular leader. But Trump's bare-knuckle style has also kept dissent in check, with some terrified they will become the object of a presidential tweet that sets off a world of political pain. Senator Ben Sasse was among the few who had mild criticism for Trump's decision on the trans-Pacific trade deal. It's clear that those of us who believe trade is good for American families have done a terrible job defending trade's historic successes and celebrating its future potential, he said. We have to make the arguments and we have to start now. On Thursday, Trump will travel to a Republican Congressional retreat in Philadelphia to further build ties. If You Enjoy My Articles, Please Consider Supporting My Writing By Giving A Donation Of Any Amount. Thank you! Renowned Economist, Mr. Kusi Boafo has predicted that it will take President Nana Akufo-Addo and his economic team two years to start seeing some reliefs in the current economic situation in the country. According to him, Ghanas economic fundamentals are too weak to see signs of improvement within the first year of President Akufo-Addos administration. Speaking to the choice of Mr. Ken Ofori Atta for the Finance Ministry and Hon. Osafo Maafo as Senior Minister by President Akufo-Addo, Mr. Kusi Baofo on Okay FMs 'Ade Akye Abia' Morning Show said they have rich experience to help solve the economic problems. He stressed that despite the economic prowess of the appointees like; Ken Ofori Atta, Hon. Osafo Maafo and Dr. Anthony Osei Akoto, Ghanas economy will show positive signs in 2019; urging Ghanaians to understand that things will not change overnight. "Akufo-Addos government cannot solve all the challenges within a year or two and Ghanaians must understand that things will not change overnight. Ghana has weak economic fundamentals and it will take experience and hard working appointees to do better negotiations to resolve our economic fundamentals, he averred. He again emphasized that without economic fundamentals, we cannot develop and restore confidence in Ghanaians; they need deeper understanding of the economic situation and the people who have been packed at vantage places of the economy will help strengthen the weak economy. He hinted that though the economy is weak, the country has potentials to overturn the economic situation; reiterating it will take hard work, determination, honesty and knowledge to make it a reality. Ghanas economic success will take a while because managing the economy is not practicing magic, he stressed. Source: Daniel Adu Darko/Peacefmonline.com.gh Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Since the Presidential election there has been a lot of loose talk about change. In this series of posts well try to tighten up that conversation by identifying some specific changes Americans have on their minds. Specifically, Ill touch on some of the more controversial changes the new Administration will be evaluating. Before we get to that, though, I want to make a couple of preliminary points. The first is to emphasize how overwhelming the desire for change is across the land, however loosely or tightly change might be defined, and whatever we might think of the incoming Administration. We can safely assume, for example, that the roughly 63 million people who voted for Trump want change. We can also safely assume that millions of other people who were too disgusted to vote at all want change. Finally, we know that millions of people who voted for Clinton, but who much preferred Sanders, also want change. But these peoplecall it roughly 90 million Americans, or three-fourths of all votershardly want the same changes. Indeed, despite the overwhelming mandate for change, there is probably no single act, policy, practice or custom that a majority of people could agree to change in the same way. Different answers or not, Americans want change and the Democrats are, unfortunately, the party standing in the way of it. By passing over Bernie Sanders for Hillary Clinton, the Democrats announced that they were the party of business-as-usual. I rarely agree with the Democratic political leadership in this country, but then I rarely agree with the Republican political leadership, either. Most Americans feel the same and they believe that we need both points of view if were going to govern a vast and extraordinarily diverse society. Yet, so far, all we hear from the Democrats is how Trump must be resisted at all points and at all times. The idea that Americans actually want changeindeed, that Americans are overwhelmingly demanding change, doesnt seem to have penetrated the Partys mindset. If this attitude persists it would be a significant loss for the country. Whether the Dems like it or not, virtually everything that has happened over the past eight years is going to be reexamined. Indeed, much of what has happened over the past sixteen years is also going to be reexamined. We need a thoughtful and responsible Democratic opposition speaking up constructively on these issues, or God knows where well end up. My second point is how profound the consequences have been for politicians who resisted the desire for change. Only eight years ago the Democrats controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress. Not only that, but the Democratic President was extremely popular and has remained so up to the present day. Yet, on the morning of November 9, 2016, the Democrats woke up to find that the Republicans controlled Washington, D.C. And it was worse than thatthe Republicans also set a record by gaining control of 69 of the 99 legislative houses in the states and they now control both the governorship and both houses in 25 states. The Democrats control the governorships and both houses in exactly four states. Since Barack Obamaa popular President, lets rememberwas elected eight years ago, the Democrats have lost 800 seats in state legislatures. The Democratic Party today has retreated in disarray to a few isolated redoubts: the eastern edge of Massachusetts, the southern tip of New York, the northern third of Illinois, and, of course, California. It is entirely possible that, viewed nationwide (not just in Washington, D.C.) the Democrats have just suffered the worst defeat of any political party in American history. It wasnt that the Democrats werent warned. The high-handed tactics of the Democrats between 2008 and 2010especially the passage of the Affordable Care Act without a single Republican votesoured American voters and in 2010 they handed the House of Representatives back to the Republicans. Back in 1994, when mid-term elections cost Democrats eight Senate seats and 54 House seatshanding control of the House to Republicans for the first time since 1952Bill Clinton (another popular Democratic President) didnt continue with business-as-usual. Instead, he moved toward the center. But President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi didnt get the message, instead continuing to press for policies that delighted the left wing of the Party but that left most Americans cold. A second message was sent to the Democrats in 2014, when they lost control of the Senate, but this message was also DOA. Finally, in 2016, the Dems were routed all across the country. For two years Washington had operated as though the Republicans didnt exist, and then for six years Washington operated as though the President didnt exist. Ironically, one reason the Democrats didnt get the messages America was sending them is that their President remained quite popular. Indeed, only Bill Clinton rivals Obamas overall approval ratings among postwar Presidents. But as Clinton found out in 1994, the fact that Americans like their President doesnt mean they like his policies. Barack Obama has received high approval ratings in spite of a lack of enthusiasm for his politics because Americans view him as a thoughtful and decent man, a good father and a man of faith, a man who has behaved with great dignity and grace in office, often under considerable provocation. Finally, and maybe most important of all, Americans are proud of the fact that they, alone among the great powers of the world, proved they could elect a black man as their leader, not once but twice. Angry Democrats can complain about bigoted support for Trump, but Obama, in 2008, received more votes from white males than any Democrat since 1980. Its possible that once the Trump Administration takes office and the process of legislative and policy reevaluation begins, Democrats will have a change of heart. In particular its possible that the moderate Democrats who are up for reelection in two years will decide to play a positive role in shaping that legislation and those policy reviews, especially if they hail from districts that went for Trump. If so, the future could look a lot brighter for the Democrats in a few years. Next week well begin our survey of some of the changes Americans want, however loosely defined. Next up: Loose Change, Part II Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the American Authors Association Douglas V. Gibbs is a proud member of the Military Writers Society of America. GLENS FALLS FitzGerald Morris Baker Firth, a long-time Glens Falls law firm, is considering purchasing the Genpak office building at 68 Warren St. in Glens Falls, said John Aspland, the law firms managing partner. Genpak, which has owned the building for many years, is relocating its corporate headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina at the end of May. The law firm is looking to move from rented space on Pearl Street in Glens Falls to larger space to accommodate more staff, Aspland said in an interview on Monday. The firm recently hired two additional lawyers, and expects add three more lawyers in the next few months, Aspland said. Aspland said the firm is in discussion with Genpak officials about the building, but has not yet made a formal purchase offer. QUEENSBURY Warren County prosecutors have decided not to use results of blood tests that were alleged to show fatal boat crash defendant Alexander M. West used drugs when he stands trial later this year. The Warren County District Attorneys Office filed paperwork in Warren County Court in recent days informing Judge John Hall that it does not intend to use results of blood tests at trial that showed Alexander West had three types of illegal drugs in his system after the crash on Lake George that killed 8-year-old Charlotte McCue. Warren County Assistant District Attorney Emilee Davenport wrote that her office has decided not to present findings of the chemical analysis of Wests blood because the warrant does not comport with the technical requirements of CPL (Criminal Procedure Law). She did not elaborate, and Warren County District Attorney Kate Hogan said she could not discuss the issue Tuesday. However, law enforcement sources familiar with the matter said the decision not to use the blood test results was connected to a legal issue related to an oral application for the warrant made to Warren County Judge John Hall. Defense lawyer Cheryl Coleman said she questioned whether the move related to a date discrepancy on the search warrant that directed sheriffs officers to take a sample of Wests blood. That warrant was signed by Warren County Judge John Hall. Its the first time in 31 years I havent seen them give it the old college try at a suppression hearing, she said. Colemans colleague, Kathryn Conklin, pointed out the discrepancy in a pre-trial motion last month, showing that a warrant to take Wests blood was dated the day after the sample was taken. The blood sample was taken July 26, the day after the crash, but the warrant was dated July 27. By the time the chemical analysis and application were executed, Mr. Wests 4th Amendment rights had been violated, Conklin wrote last month. Prosecutors can still elicit witness testimony of his use of what appeared to be drugs at the annual Log Bay Day part on Lake George, and his actions after using the substances. Warren County Sheriff Bud York said he did not believe the decision to withdraw blood test results would have a significant impact on the case. The defense has asked Hall to dismiss the indictment, a request that is still pending. Coleman said she planned to file a reply in light of Davenports withdrawal of the blood test, asking for dismissal based on presentation of the inadmissible blood test to the grand jury. She also said that blood test results of a sample taken from Robert Knarr, Charlottes grandfather and the driver of the other boat, would be at issue, because Knarr initially refused a test and the sample was given hours after the accident. York, though, said Knarr was cooperative with police as he waited at Glens Falls Hospital while his daughter was treated for her injuries, and a court order was acquired as a matter of course to take a blood sample. The sample was given at 1:51 a.m., about 4 1/2 hours after the collision, and he showed no signs of being under the influence of any drugs or alcohol after the crash, York said. The test showed no alcohol in his system, he said. Charlottes mother and Knarrs daughter, Courtney McCue, was seriously hurt in the crash. Evidence of drug and alcohol use is also not needed to prove recklessness, the legal finding to prove the weightiest charge of second-degree manslaughter, but would be needed for the lesser counts of vehicular manslaughter and boating while impaired. In court filings, Davenport referred to witnesses saying West smoked hashish and snorted cocaine, and wrote that cocaine was later found on his boat. West faces a 12-count indictment that includes counts of second-degree manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, vehicular assault, leaving the scene of an accident and boating while ability impaired. Police said he restarted his boat after the collision and fled south to the village of Lake George, abandoning his boat at the motel where he worked and turning himself in the next day as police searched for him. He is accused of speeding after a day of drinking alcohol and using drugs and not paying proper attention when he drove his fathers boat over the top of one that Charlotte and her family were on. Charlotte was killed, and her mother was seriously hurt. West, 24, of Lake George, has pleaded not guilty and is free on bail. No further court dates have been set pending Halls decision on pre-trial motions. CORINTH A Greenfield woman was seriously hurt Tuesday afternoon in a head-on crash on Route 9N on Tuesday afternoon, police said. The crash happened around 1:11 p.m., and two people were hospitalized after a northbound car crossed into the oncoming lane, hitting a pickup truck head on, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office. A passenger in the car, Melissa A. Mansfield, 33, was seriously hurt and taken to Albany Medical Center. The driver of the car that hit the pickup, Joseph J. Sesselman, 29, of Saratoga Springs, was taken to Glens Falls Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The driver of the pickup, Jennifer J. Orologio, 37, of Corinth, was not hurt. Route 9N was closed for about two hours. The crash remained under investigation later Tuesday, and police said traffic charges were likely. The estimated 1,500 people who flooded downtown Glens Falls on Saturday got our attention. If it did not get yours, it should. One longtime resident told us that as political gatherings go, this rivaled Robert Kennedys City Park appearance when he was running for the U.S. Senate in 1968. So this is significant. Maybe historic. While this was billed as a womens march focusing on womens issues, we suspect there were a lot of reasons why people turned out, but most specifically fear of what President Trump will do in the weeks and months ahead. It is clear that the new president did not heal the wounds of a divisive election with his inaugural address. What is especially startling is that this is Trump country. He won the popular vote in just about every community upstate. Yet, 1,500 people turned out to march to send him a message. So the first thing we all have to acknowledge is that as angry as Trump voters were at the status quo, there seems to a significant segment of the community that is just as frightened by what that change will look like. And they were concerned enough to do something. That is especially significant. Weve lamented repeatedly how little the current citizenry participates in local government, that half of the populace doesnt even bother to vote and many cant be bothered to even learn the pros and cons of the issues. If you are old enough to remember the Vietnam War protests in the late 1960s, you know the impact that it had on our country. It divided us, it drove one president from office and it eventually stopped the fighting. It changed the direction of government. We dont believe this protest was just about defunding Planned Parenthood or Trumps lack of respect for women. It is more complicated than that. Many see dark and dire consequences ahead. The concerns cover a wide spectrum from Trumps many business conflicts and his refusal to adequately address them to his cozy view of Vladimir Putin and possible foreign interference in the election. Each day brings another new concern regarding incessant lying, conflicts by some of his cabinet appointees and his refusal to release tax returns. And the bullying on Twitter does not help. So this past weekend, a lot of people marched, and they say they are going to do it again. Standing up for what you believe in is a good thing. Getting involved in the direction of the country is a good thing. Listening to each other is a really good thing. So if you like what President Trump is doing, let him know. Send an email on the White House website. Sign a petition. Contact Rep. Elise Stefanik and tell her what you like and dont like about the new president. That is what she is there for to carry out your wishes. Let Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand know what you believe as well. They are there to represent you as well. Write letters to the editor. Join a political party and make your wishes known. Get engaged, because ultimately, this is our country and we all should get a say. Post-Star editorials represent the opinion of the Post-Star editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle and citizen representatives Dan Gealt, George Nelson and Tim Robinson. President Trump acted on Monday to keep a signature campaign promise: withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump's action is mostly symbolic.As he signed the memorandum in the Oval Office, Trump said, "We've been talking about this for a long time," adding it's "a great thing for the American worker."Trump also signed two other presidential memorandums (a pool report, and the original version of this story, referred to these actions as "executive orders").One imposes a hiring freeze on federal workers, except for military positions and in the case of national security. The other action reinstates the so-called Mexico City policy, a rule that began in 1984, when Ronald Reagan was president. As NPR has reported , the policy "blocked federal funding for international family planning charities unless they agreed not to 'promote' abortion by, among other actions, providing patients with information about the procedure or referrals to providers who perform it."The TPP, as it's known, is a trade agreement with 12 Pacific Rim nations. It was never ratified by the U.S. because of congressional opposition but was strongly backed by the Obama administration. It would create a free trade area stretching from Japan to Chile, and it was seen as an effort to create a counterweight to China, which is not a party to the agreement. - Read More, NPR In addition to intervention in the suit mentioned by Jeff (below), 6 state attorneys general today moved to intervene in a federal district court case against the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), an accreditor of for-profit colleges. The suit is a challenge by ACICS to the Department of Education decision to terminate ACICSs recognition as an accreditor in December 2016. The states say that they are intervening "to protect consumers in their states, who rely on federally-recognized accreditors to ensure that colleges offer quality education and protect against abusive practices." The Department's actions follwoed an investigtaion pursuant to which it concluded that ACICS failed to meet the requirements of federal recognition. ACICS has a long track record of failures of oversight. ACICS failed to identify misconduct by a number of schools and failed to take action once the misconduct came to light through investigations by state or federal agencies. The states moving to intervene are Massachusetts, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, and New York, along with the District Of Columbia. The motion to intervene is here. The memorandum in support of the motion is here. The Chief Magistrate, Alhassan Husaini, ordered that Dahiru should be remanded at the Federal Prisons, Koton-Karfe and advised him to get a lawyer to represent him. The court cannot take your plea because you have no counsel representing you. I want you to get a lawyer before the next date of adjournment, he ruled. Dahiru is facing a two-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping. Earlier, Police Prosecutor Mohammed Abaji told the court that the accused committed the offences with three others along Okene-Lokoja Road, opposite Federal College of Education, Okene. He alleged that the accused had been on the run since the boy was kidnapped, but was arrested at Okengwe in Okene Local Government Area following a tip-off He said investigations showed that the accused and members of his gang belonged to a dreadful group that indulged in armed robbery in Okene. The offences contravened Section 97(1) of The Penal Code and Section 4 of the Kogi State Kidnapping and Other Related Offences Law, 2015. READ ALSO: High Court sentences man to death by hanging Yaw Isaac, 27 and Asante Maxwell, 32, are alleged to have conspired together with an unnamed accomplice who is currently on the run to rob the victim, Sumaila Ibrahim. On Thursday January 19, 2017, at about 7:30am, the complainant boarded the taxi of Yaw Isaac from Wenchi heading towards Banda Nkwanta, a mining community in the Bole District of the Northern Region. According to Ultimatefmonline.com, Sumaila Ibrahim, a gold dealer, is a regular customer of Yaw Isaac and makes trips together with the victim to Banda Nkwanta, a well-known gold purchasing area in the Northern region. But on the said day, upon reaching Subinso II and Branam on the Wenchi Wa Highway, his accomplices in another taxi crossed their way and threatened to kill the gold dealer if he refused to surrender the amount of money he was traveling with. All this while, Yaw Isaac feigned innocence and allowed his friends to seize the about GH50,000 from Sumaila Ibrahim and fled READ ALSO: Two NADMO officials nabbed for theft The Wenchi Divisional Police Commander, ACP Peter Gyimah said that, the victim and the taxi driver later came and reported the matter to us. We earlier had intelligence as they were hatching the plan so we detained the taxi driver for further interrogation. He admitted to committing the crime and led us to arrest Asante Maxwell. We managed to track down [the one on the run] at Techiman but on arrival at his home he had wind of our presence and fled. We ransacked the room and retrieved GH43,000, he revealed. According to the epidemiological surveillance service of the Veneto region, the outbreak was discovered in the farm at the outskirts of the town of Mira in Venice province on Saturday. Preventative seizure of the farm was adopted immediately to avoid the spread of the disease, and the presence of the highly contagious H5N8 virus was confirmed by health authorities. Of the 20,500 turkeys overall at risk in the commercial farm, some 6,000 were infected, and 600 died of the virus, the Italian health authority for animal health and food safety said. The mayor of Mira said in a statement that as a result, it had ordered the immediate slaughter of all captive turkeys on the site. City authorities also upheld the seizure of the factory, and imposed a strict sanitary surveillance zone around it. As due in such cases, the Italian government has reported the outbreak to the World Organisation for Animal Health in Paris. The outbreak is the first detected among poultry. Also on Monday, the H5N8 virus was confirmed in a wild swan, which had been found dead in the province of Gorizia at the border with Slovenia. In an interview with Pulse.com.gh, Ghana winger Christian Atsu revealed that the singers hit song Confession was the inspiration behind their dance. You know that song by Kofi Kinata asking God to take the steering wheel is what we are dancing to. We are also celebrating God taking the steering wheel for us. READ MORE: Reacting to this, Kofi Kinaata told Pulse.com.gh that he feels honoured by the Black Stars' support for his song. "I feel honoured by the Black Stars' support for my song. Good to see them draw motivation from it and be using it as their victory song after goals and wins," Kinaata told Pulse.com.gh He said he went into exile and served as a refugee in the United States due to the incident. Read more: "I went to the US as a political refugee and qualified as such. In a matter of two years, I was able to upgrade my status from a refugee to that of a resident permit holder. This is because I had a number of equity situations, namely; my sister could apply for me to hold a green card as well as my mother, who had become a naturalised American citizen. Throughout the period, I stayed in America on a Green card, and at no point in time did I become a citizen of the United States." Boakye Agyarko said to the committee that, "I was employed by Management and Investment Consultants in 1980 after my national service. In June 1983, for those who will recall, there was a mutiny led by Lance Corporal Halidu Giwa. I was picked up by the Military and sent to the Airforce Station and put against the wall and shot. I almost lost my life, and through the intervention of Monsieur Le Veloire and my two sisters who are seated behind me, I was able to leave Ghana through London to France, and then settled in the United States under very difficult circumstances. So for that period, I was close to being an invalid; and I didnt do any work. Some members of the NPP youth in the area have claimed that the aforementioned pair have been taking monies from members who wish to be named District Chief Executives (DCEs) in the constituency. Harisu Abudulai, who identified himself as the leader of the group, said Sulemana and his secretary have abused the offices they occupy, claiming there is a conscious effort to lobby for one Ibrahim Abdulai to be chosen as DCE in the area. The chairman and his secretary were also accused of forging the signature of the Bole Chief in a letter appended to the partys hierarchy to get them to accept the said Ibrahim Abdulai as the DCE. The Bolewura (Bole Chief) has denied any knowledge of such a letter. Interestingly the said Ibrahim Abdulai is the younger brother of the constituency secretary. The constituency secretary was installed chief of Wakawaka in November 2014 and instead of resigning his post as secretary as stipulated by law, he still currently engages in active politics and perpetuating such crimes to serve his personal and parochial interest, Harisu fumed. READ ALSO: Osu chief dragged to court for fraud According to the group, the two party executives do not want the progress of the party, accusing them of even campaigning against the partys parliamentary candidate in the constituency. Member of Parliament for Wa Central Rashid Pelpuo criticised the chairman following a banter between him [Joe Osei Owusu] and the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini. Joe Osei Owusu on Monday, 23 January, overruled Suhuyini from questioning Energy Minister-designate Boakye Agyarko. During the vetting of Boakye Agyarko, the MP exchanged arguments with the Chairman telling him in the face that he has not been fair to freely engage nominees the way he wanted, especially, about over issues relating to their respective ministry they are assigned. "Mr. Chairman, I think that I have to make it clear that I am not happy with the way that I am treated on this Committee," Suhuyini complained. Read also: Nana Addo to name Regional Ministers The Chairman of the Committee [Joe Osei Owusu] in reply said, "Honourable. Member, please play by the rules or else I will go pass you." But the chairman of the committee speaking in an interview with Accra-based Joy FM said, "People may conceive things in their minds, but they must make them relevant. It is unacceptable in Parliamentary practice to name persons who are not available to answer." According to him, "In all fairness its only about two or three instances that Ive overruled I think the charge is really unfair." However, the Minority Chief Whip Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak says Alhassan Suhuyini breached the rules of Parliaments Appointments Committee. He said "What he said was unfortunate and I want all of us to understand, when you first go to committee you have one difficulty or the other in trying to abreast yourself with the rules. Read more: Franklin Cudjoe hits out at Vetting Committee chairman "If Suhiyini was conversant with the rules, the same question that he posed, he could have put it in a way would have made it difficult for the chairman to overrule it," Muntaka said. President of policy think tank IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe has lashed out at the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament for his autocratic powers during vetting of ministerial nominees. Franklin Cudjoe in a Facebook post said, "It was rather disappointing that the chairman of the vetting committee had exercised his autocratic powers yet in preventing Alhassan Suhuyini from asking a question which the nominee minister would have confidently dealt with". The MP [Suhuyini] has however, apologised to the Appointments Committee because he couldn't control his temper. He said "What he said was unfortunate and I want all of us to understand, when you first go to committee you have one difficulty or the other in trying to abreast yourself with the rules. Read more: Franklin Cudjoe hits out at Vetting Committee chairman "If Suhiyini was conversant with the rules, the same question that he posed, he could have put it in a way would have made it difficult for the chairman to overrule it," Muntaka said. At a sitting, the MP exchanged arguments with the Chairman telling him in the face that he has not been fair to freely engage nominees the way he wanted, especially, about over issues relating to their respective ministry they are assigned. "Mr. Chairman, I think that I have to make it clear that I am not happy with the way that I am treated on this Committee," Suhuyini complained. Read also: Nana Addo to name Regional Ministers The Chairman of the Committee [Joe Osei Owusu] in reply said, "Honourable. Member, please play by the rules or else I will go pass you." Muntaka on his part said, the minority could have defended Suhiyini but he broke the rules of the appointments committee. Meanwhile, President of policy think tank IMANI, Franklin Cudjoe has criticized the Chairman of the Appointments Committee of Parliament for his autocratic powers during vetting of ministerial nominees. Franklin Cudjoe in a Facebook post said, "It was rather disappointing that the chairman of the vetting committee had exercised his autocratic powers yet in preventing Alhassan Suhuyini from asking a question which the nominee minister would have confidently dealt with". Argument between Suhiyini and Chairman of the Committee: Suhiyini: Thank you very much Mr. Chairman. Congratulations, Hon. Nominee. Even though, it is a substantive matter, I will take if from your CV. You indicated that you worked with the Bank of New York. Now the Bank of New York is a very very controversial bank. Im sure you are aware and I will tell you why before I ask the question. In 2005, the Bank was made to pay to federal officers US$38million for engaging in money laundering and this led to the prosecution of one of its Vice Presidents and this was a results of money launded to the tune of about US$17billion. It ended up in the prosecution of nine people. This was the time that per your CV you were working there. 2007, the same Bank Russia filed a US$22.5billion lawsuit against the bank against for money laundering which was settled for US$14million and this also happened at the time that you were working there per your CV, if it is correct that indeed you worked there. Now in 2011, the Justice Department in New York filed civil suit against the bank alleging a decade old foreign currency fraud. Now the question is Mr. Chairman Committee Chairman: Sorry. I have tried earlier and you go on social media alleging that I am trying to prevent you from asking questions and that is why I am indulging you. Now this is a clear breach of our rules, Order 67. Can you please go on to your question? What has the Banks prosecution of others not the candidate, not the nominee here got to do with us? The chairman of the vetting committee Joe Osei-Owusu stopped the Tamale North MP from asking questions because he breached the rules of the house. During the vetting of Boakye Agyarko on Monday 23, 2017 the MP exchanged arguments with the Chairman telling him in the face that he has not been fair to freely engage nominees the way he wanted, especially, about over issues relating to their respective ministry they are assigned. "Mr. Chairman, I think that I have to make it clear that I am not happy with the way that I am treated on this Committee," Suhuyini complained. Read also: Nana Addo to name Regional Ministers The Chairman of the Committee [Joe Osei Owusu] in reply said, "Honourable. Member, please play by the rules or else I will go pass you." Member of Parliament for Wa Central Rashid Pelpuo criticised the chairman following a banter between him [Joe Osei Owusu] and the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Suhuyini. Read also: He accused the chairman of being autocratic and a dictator. At the vetting of Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh Minister-designate for Education, Suhuyini asked forgiveness from the Chairman and the appointments committee. "I sincerely apologise to you for losing my temper," he said. Meanwhile, Joe Osei-Owusu says he's been fair to both the majority and minority of the committe. "People may conceive things in their minds, but they must make them relevant. It is unacceptable in Parliamentary practice to name persons who are not available to answer," he said. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! He took the time to blame them for a number of things, including making bad decisions and ensuring that the majority of Nigeria's businesses continue to treat electricity like gold dust. According to him, they had sucked the life out of the power sector by selling the power companies; in his words, "what government did was to privatise, but they privatised wrongly. People who wanted to buy all these plants thought that this was another opportunity like mobile phones...". This government in question was the Goodluck Jonathan-led government that left power in 2015, not the Buhari Presidency that was in office when he made the comments. But Dangote made no distinctions. This is typical, but it is very funny for a big reason. In January 2016, one very important picture was taken. It had Aliko Dangote on one part and the governor of the Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele on the other. Governor Godwin looked very pleased with himself as he stood in his trademark dark suit and glasses, beaming like a Christmas Tree on the 25th of December, but it was not him who should have been smiling with such enthusiasm. The smiles belonged to Dangote, who had just convinced the government to give his company foreign exchange aka dollars for his company's 17 billion dollar refinery in Lagos. That agreement is the biggest concession made by the Nigerian government since Independence, and it happened during a recession that started because of a shortage of foreign exchange. Over the next weeks and months, Dangote Group got a dollar at the rate of 199 naira while we, regular people had to find between 300 and 500 naira for the same amount. Naturally, not everyone was happy with the arrangement. Especially, twitter people. Because God forbid that one entrepreneur is getting bonuses from the government while the rest of us have to fight and line up to get dollars at disturbing prices. Dangote may not have portrayed Buhari in a good light at his speech in June last year but his relationship with the government is better than a new couple on wedding night. Why? Because companies like Dangote Group help the government do its job, which is exactly why some will tell you that the refinery deal is one of the best decisions that the Buhari administration has made in its 20 months. ALSO READ: The Sujimoto Story Big businesses - or large companies like the Dangote Group contribute jobs to the economy by just being present. Where the average small company may employ between 10-100 people, corporations can give a livelihood to hundreds of thousands, even millions of people. The Dangote refinery, which should go online in late 2018, will create 130,000 direct jobs in Lagos and its environs. That's not counting 100,000 extra indirect jobs that will also show up in that time. That's very good news for you or anyone, but the government is ecstatic about it. Remember all those jobs they promised you on the campaign trail? Someone else is creating them on their behalf. There's also the matter of GDP. Whatever a company makes in a year will form part of its country's gross domestic product, which is sort of the value of the goods and services that it has produced in that period. Big businesses earn in the billions and trillions of dollars annually - and that money forms part of the country's GDP and helps it look very good on paper. A country's GDP is important because it is the biggest indicator of its performance, how big a market it is and its rate of growth. The government understands this better than anyone else, so it does its best to help big businesses grow as much as it can because when they grow, it grows too. You may be getting the feeling that this relationship is all about money. That's because it is. Times change, presidents come and go, economic policies are scrapped and brought back again in the name of being "re-developed" but money remains - always as valuable as the day before. That is why the resources that big businesses bring to the table do not come as freely as you may be inclined to think. Let's use a good example; the same one we've been using. Dangote. Remember when the billionaire seemed like Jonathan's soul brother - those days when his name was part of every speech and interview, when he thanked him for creating policies that were favourable to his company. All that love got a very fast manual reset when everyone began to whisper about the 2015 elections. For big business to survive, especially where they rely heavily on the country's natural and human resources, it is very important for them to remain friends with the government in power. But no-one really knows who will win elections, so, sometimes, they play both sides. It is not uncommon for corporations to finance two candidates vying for the same post; by providing much-needed funds, and staying as invisible as they can, they can have the support of whoever gets the votes. Which is why it took Dangote very little time to appear beside Muhammadu Buhari just as soon as the results began to suggest that Jonathan would no longer be president. Big business lives for profit, and the government wants that profit to be a part of its story - the alliance continues for as long as those interests are met. So Buhari may be Dangote's best friend - but like all corporations and governments around the world, it is a friendship based on money and power and very little else. According to him, they almost lost their daughter at eight months. Read his full post below: "To my dearest wife, I might be silly and puffed, but I will never forget. I will never forget your sorrow, tears and strength. The strongest of women are sometimes the weakest in the hands of men, especially the men they love. The pains and emotions of love are more than enough to throw you off balance. I have decided that no matter how masculine I am, I will let you reign in the right places for the pains you bore for me. The scars that are visible and invisible. Do you know people wonder why I flaunt our God's gift Tiwaloluwa? Maybe, because they are ignorant of our testimonies. I would have loved to share them all, but the space here will be too small. How do I tell people we almost lost her at eight (8) months? The issue that got you stuck to the hospital bed for almost a month with a monitoring machine strapped to your protruding belly. Can I ever forget the number of injections you took without me being able to hold your hands to help you ease the pains and the doctors scary words? Will people ever know the journey that took you to the theatre with Fifteen (15) doctors on you alone, denying your family room to witness the birth of God's miracle? Don't let me even mention the hospital bills, because all these Oyinbo no dey gree send their own once. Thank God for his miracle and Mrs. Abosede Holloway (Mummy Yetunde), Olori B of Baltimore. Story for another day. Any child wey dem take over N10million born, no be ordinary pikin na ISSUE in capital letters. Our testimonies are numerous, but our God is one, yes ONE big GOD. If I don't celebrate you who will? Thank you for everytime, I have forgotten to say it. Thank you for all the times, I will never be there to say it. You are more than a JEWEL OF INESTIMABLE VALUE rather you are the SPECIAL EFFECT that makes the JEWEL OF INESTIMABLE VALUE. I love You NOW and ALWAYS. SEYILAW." Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Mr Sowoolu in his Facebook post titled 'The New Reality: Fake It!' blasted DSTV for shooting Big Brother Naija in South Africa. "Smacks of ridicule, discrimination, utter disrespect, and blatant disregard for Nigeria and all Nigerians. It is a nasty slap on the industry and potential of the Nigerian professional who still excels among peers, despite all, and any manner of niggling societal or operational odds" wrote the veteran. His sentiments echo those of many Nigerians who were angered that the reality show is being produced in South Africa. They felt it was a slap in the face of Nigerians. Now, this is where I have to add my 2 Kobo on this matter. Dear Nigerians, you feel too entitled over nothing. DSTV shooting Big Brother Naija is a perfectly rational decision. Last year, I had the opportunity of interviewing Obi Asika who produced the first edition of Big Brother Naija (then known as Big Brother Nigeria) and he revealed to me that MNET bankrolled the show singlehandedly and it cost them $3m. The cost to produce the show was so expensive because of the production crew and equipment that had to be brought into the country. ALSO READ: Why are we hooked on Big Brother In 2014, Uti Nwachukwu hosted Star, The Winner Is..., another Nigerian show produced in South Africa. When asked by journalists why this show wasn't produced in Nigeria, Uti said the cost of production would have been too much if it was done here. I am not privy to how much Big Brother Naija is costing MNET now but I am sure it is not up to $3m. Any production person in Africa will tell you it is easier to produce TV content in South Africa than in Nigeria. This is because the TV industry in South Africa is far more advanced. Also, the equipment needed is readily available. This is why some Nigerian music acts prefer to shoot videos in SA than in Nigeria. It is cheaper. In South Africa, there are more professionals in the TV industry than in Nigeria. South Africa has more TV and film institutions of international repute. Let's face the facts. Nigeria barely has any. PEFTI is a joke and the National Film Institute is archaic. Like I said, we have a bloated opinion about ourselves. Presently, we cannot produce what South Africa is producing. This was very glaring when The Voice Nigeria and Project Fame was airing simultaneously. The gulf in the class of production was embarrassing. Secondly, let's say it as it is. Nigerians are largely unprofessional. We don't keep to time and we don't have a spirit of excellence. You can argue all you want but take a look at the country we live in. Case closed. Did you know that during Big Brother Nigeria in 2006 there was a power issue problem? "I remember a particular day when our generator provider decided to switch off the generator at 5 am on a Saturday morning. We had to put the cameras on loop. Some guy was just being an irritant. I cant remember why he even did it. He had decided he wasnt getting enough adverts or something (it was a barter deal). So that was probably the most hectic day of all the days. It took us till about 12 noon to get the generator back on" revealed Obi Asika. According to Dr Tony Rapu, Senior Pastor at This Present House, My Lagos Diaries is a first-hand experience of challenges people face trying to survive in the city of Lagos. Since its inception, the Freedom Foundation has transformed and positively impacted several lives in impoverished communities including but not limited to Ejigbo, Ijora, Iwaya, Bariga and Somolu, and led to the creation of this video journal which documents 10 years of my team and Is experiences in these areas. My Lagos Diaries ultimate goal is to sensitize the general public about the struggles of these underprivileged persons while providing an opportunity for interested individuals and organizations to support Freedom Foundations vision via donations and funding. The event which had her Excellency, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, wife of The Governor of Lagos State in attendance, kicked off with a red carpet that was graced by guests such as Omawunmi, Soni Irabor, Bolanle Austen Peters. This was followed by a viewing of Reflections, a unique photo exhibition by Kelechi Amadi-Obi where he uses notable celebrities such as Waje, Omawunmi, Joke Silva, Banky W and Alibaba to further create awareness and trigger social change and soul searching amongst Nigerians. With drinks in hand, guests were ushered into the IMAX screening room to watch the documentary. In her opening remarks, Angela Attah, Chairperson, Executive committee of The Freedom Foundation, enlightened guests on the activities of the foundation while also informing guests that more volunteers and funding would be appreciated to continue and sustain the work of the foundation. Her words were echoed after the documentary in a call to action by Soni Irabor and Alibaba who asked guests to each make little sacrifices towards the foundation and the society which would go a long way to help curb some of the societal menaces highlighted in the documentary. The highlight of the evening was the revealing of Ifeoma, one of the success stories by the freedom foundation, who got a standing ovation from guests, after which Mrs Nkoyo Rapu gave the closing remarks and vote of thanks. Other guests at the premiere include Olorogun Sunny Kuku, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Audu Maikori, Nike Ogunlesi, Waje, Olisa Adibua and Stephanie Coker. The premiere will launch the 13 week documentary series which will begin airing online on Freedom Foundations YouTube channel and tell some of the real stories of rehabilitated prostitutes, armed robbers, drug addicts, beggars and other neglected individuals in the society. Obiho, who is unemployed, appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates Court. Obiho resides in Iyana-Ipaja area of Lagos According to the Prosecutor, Insp. Clement Okuoimose, the accused committed the offences on Jan. 14 along Oba-Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos. Okuoimose said that the accused was having with him weeds suspected to be Indian hemp when he was arrested by policemen on patrol. The police, while on patrol at 1:00 a.m stopped the accused and he was interrogated, but he could not give satisfactory explanations to what he was doing at that time of the night. He was searched and 12 wraps of Indian hemp were recovered. He confessed to the police that he was a distributor of hemp and that he was there to distribute hemp to one of his customers. He said that he was selling the hard drug to sustain himself, the prosecutor said. The offences contravened sections 327 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. The accused may be jailed for six months if found guilty according to the provisions of Section 327. The accused pleaded innocence and was granted N10, 000 bail with two sureties in like sum. Guardian Newspaper reports that the sexual assault occurred at Agbinis house at Agbarho community in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state. It was gathered that Agbini admitted that he raped his wifes younger sister on December 12, 2016, after he was taken to a healing home and he was told to confess what he did or he would die from the stroke. The aggrieved wife, Grace, 28, is said to have packed out of the house with their 10-month-old baby as a result of the act while he has been pleading with her to come back, claiming that strong temptation led him into the act. It was a temptation that made me rape the girl. I dont understand how it happened. Please forgive me, he was quoted as saying. It was learnet that Agbini had consistently raped the 15-year-old girl without the knowledge of his wife but the trouble started for him after he defiled her in December of 2016. Yetunde who resides at Academy area of Ibadan, told the court on Monday that her husband, Olamilekan constantly subject her to battery which sometimes result into her being hospitalised, and then abandoned. For seven years that I married Olamilekan, I have had no rest of mind, as his constant punches on me usually results into my being admitted. In addition, he does little or nothing about fending for our two children and me. In short, it is one day, one trouble in our home. My lord, I am completely fed-up with him,she pleaded with the court. She also prayed the court to grant her custody of the two children from the union. Olamilekan who did not oppose the divorce suit, however said that his wife Yetunde often starved him of sexual intercourse. My lord, Yetunde usually deny me sex which is an integral part of what stabilises a marriage. As if that is not enough, she usually keeps late night, and she no longer take to my instructions. Her mother had been supporting her in her strange behaviour and she assisted her in parking her belongings from my home two weeks ago, Olamilekan said. Punch reports that apart from brutalizing the protesters who are said to be the children and next of kin of late primary school teachers in the state, three of them were arrested while one of them was beaten to coma as the police chased them away from the areas around the Government House and adjoining streets. It was gathered that the police were acting on a directive given to them by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in the state, C. Abibo, who reportedly ordered his officers and men to beat up the protesters. Eyewitnesses said that the leader of the protesters, Benjamin Benson, was attacked by about five policemen who descended on him, tearing his clothes to shreds. The police were also said to have used tear gas canisters and an Armoured Personnel Carrier to disperse the orphans who numbered about 100, while also threatening to shoot and beat up the journalists who were on the ground to cover the protest if they report their actions. The reports quoted ACP Abibo as saying: Beat up these people; if you cannot beat them; let me beat them myself. The spokesman for the group, Aniekan Thompson, said the families of the dead teachers had obtained letters of administration from the court and had been screened by the State Universal Basic Education Board since 2010, which gave them clearance slips for payment, and wondered why the police should take the laws into their hands and brutalize them in the manner they did. They beat us up mercilessly, you need to see how they beat and bundled our colleagues , and into their vehicle like criminals. We asked them for our rights, but the government and the police were accusing us of being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress. 90% of us are card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party. We belong to different groups that ensured the victory of the present Akwa Ibom State Governor, , he said. As a result of this, she has lost confidence in ever finding love and is worried if any man would ever find her worthy. Read her story here: "My name is Oge, a 38-year-old woman who has been hurt and traumatized by men so much I have come to the conclusion that love was not meant for me. For starters, I have a good job and I will not say I am ugly. I have a good heart, generous, with a soft heart and I cant stand to see anyone suffer. Maybe that has been my undoing because whenever I find myself in a relationship, I give my all including sharing what I have with my man but I end up getting hurt all the time. It all started when I met in my first year in the university. I fell in love madly with Kelvin and being from a not too comfortable home, I did almost everything for him, cooking for him, buying his handouts and even paying his school fees till he graduated. But how did he pay me back? He dumped me immediately after his youth service without looking back. I was terribly hurt and I mourned for almost a year because my friends practically forced me into giving myself another chance. Since then, it has been one heartache or the other with men using me as a plaything, capitalizing on my free spirit and using me for their gains. In the long run, I have had two children for two different men whom I have been taking care of without their inputs but as a woman, I still need the comfort and security of a man but it seems I was not meant to find love. All my friends and younger sisters are all married and living happily in their husbands homes but I cant seem to find love. I wonder if there is a good man out there who will wipe out this misery from me. Oge. The teaser for the day was: How Nigeria voted: She should take her problems to God in prayers - 36% She should stop worrying as a good man will soon find her - 29% She should forget finding love and be happy with herself - 8% Since she has children, she should concentrate on them - 38% Here are three reasons why president Buhari rejected Senate's recommendation to sack the SGF as contained in the letter to the upper chamber. 1. Senate's report failed to meet the Principle of fair hearing According to President Buhari, the Senate failed to invite the SGF or company indicated by the report. The letter reads in part:I observed that the Senate Adhoc Interim committee report and the votes and proceedings of the Senate have not in its own right established that Lawal Babachir was ever given an opportunity to appear before the committee and defend himself. "You are invited to note that none application of principles of fair hearing by the Senate Ad Hoc Committee is a clear contravention of Section 36 Sub-section (1) of the 1999 Constitution," President Buhari said. 2. Only three out of nine members signed the report The Senate Committee set up to investigate the mounting humanitarian crisis in the North-East comprised of nine members but shows that the interim report was signed by only three of the nine members," the President said. 3. President Buhari conducted investigation on the matter I had also conducted further investigation based on Babachirs response to the allegations and issues raised in the Senates resolution, he said. But, Senator Shehu Sani who chaired the committee alleged that the "SGF and his minions in the presidency misinformed President Buhari to sign the letter." Dudafa was charged alongside one Iwejuo Joseph Nna (alias Taiwo A. Ebenezer and Olugbenga Isaiah) before Justice Mohammed Idris on 23-counts of conspiracy and concealment of crime proceeds. They are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The allegations against the accused border on conspiring to conceal proceeds of crime amounting to over N1.6billion on June 11, 2013. They pleaded not guilty to all the counts. At the resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, EFCCs lawyer, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, continued with the cross-examination of Dudafa in a trial-within-trial. A trial-within-trial is conducted in a case to determine the voluntariness of an accuseds statement. In his response to one of the questions from the EFCCs counsel, Dudafa claimed that he was never offered administrative bail by the EFCC, while in its custody for 60 days. He said: I did not know whether or not I was offered administrative bail on the 18th of May, 2016. There was no time I was released on bail by the commission throughout the 60 days I was in detention. However, the EFCCs lawyer later sought the admission of a document allegedly signed by Dudafa when he was offered administrative bail by the agency. The document was admitted by the court as an exhibit. Dudafa also maintained that he was never remanded in EFCCs custody, pursuant to a magistrate courts order. Oyedepo had asked him if he will be surprised to know that the commission actually secured an order from a magistrate court to detain him. Meanwhile, the proceedings were halted following an objection raised by Dudafas lawyer to the admissibility of the remand order as an exhibit. After entertaining arguments by both parties, Justice Idris adjourned to Feb. 13 for ruling on the admissibility of the document and for continuation of the trial-within-trial. In the charge, the accused were alleged to have concealed N1.6billion through a company, Seagate Property Development and Investment Ltd. The offence is said to have contravened the provisions of Sections 18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012. They were also accused of knowingly concealing proceeds of crime through Avalon Global Property Development Company Ltd, in the sum of over N390 million, among others. It was alleged that Dudafa, between June 1 and June 4 2015, procured Nna and Ebiwise Resources to conceal N150million being proceeds of crime. Waripamo-Owei Dudafa on Monday, January 23, told a Federal High Court in Lagos that the EFCC obtained oral and written statements from him under duress, forcing him to implicate Jonathan. He said the statements were gotten from him during his detention in the EFCC facility, as he suffered pains from a spinal cord ailment - adding that he was denied adequate medical treatment. He also said the anti-graft agency tricked him to sign the statements in exchange for freedom. Giving details of his experience in detention, Dufafa said his family members were barred from bringing him food, leaving him to starve. He said: "April 27 till May 12 was so tormenting. Sometimes I was taken out from the detention centre and kept in EFCC office between 8am and 8pm, and sometimes until 11pm depending on their mood. "The ailment I have today is a spinal cord dislocation. It was within that period of my torture and agony that my spinal cord got dislocated. "I was not in the best frame to write statements but they went on to force them from me. The document remains fake as they only brought out those items to nail me." The ex--presidential aide further explained that after the statements had been forced out of him, he was denied access to his lawyers. "In fact my lawyers were driven away," he said. Dufafa added that when he health condition worsened, EFCC operatives only gave him paracetamol and aspirin, and allowed him to visit an in-house medical doctor. He explained that he was then referred to a military hospital by Commission's doctor. After they ran some tests at the hospital, it was revealed that he had a spinal cord injury and needed to see a specialist, he said. According to him, the EFCC refused to let him see a specialist and even denied a request by his family to bring in a specialist to the facility to examine him. "My Lord, I was dehumanised to the extent that I got scared of the people around me. The mistreatment was also extended to my immediate family as they froze my wifes bank account and my childrens schools savings accounts in a bid to frustrate and break me down," he said. "When I realised that I did not make any statements voluntarily I raised objections." Dufafa, however, admitted during cross-examination by EFCC's prosecutor, Rotimi Oyedepo, that he was cautioned before making the statements. He also said he was never forced to admit committing any crime in the statements, but insisted he was forced to him. The presiding judge Mohammed Idris, adjourned the case till January 24 for the continuation of the trial-within-trial. Dufafa, alongside Iwejuo Joseph Nna alias Taiwo Ebenezer and Olugbenga Isaiah were arraigned on 23-counts of conspiracy and concealment of crime proceeds. Speaking at the official handing over, Nnaghe said in order to achieve greater accomplishment in law enforcement, Danmusa has to be opened, transparent, and always willing to be accountable for whatever happens under his leadership. The minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udoma, revealed the strategies at the Presidential Villa in Abuja during the Second Presidential Business Forum presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. He said the plan, dubbed Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017-2020), is in its final stage and would address current economic challenges, restore growth and reposition the economy for sustained inclusive growth. According to him, 59 strategies have been developed for implementation, but 12 of them have been prioritised based on their import to the success of the ERGP. Udoma listed the 12 plans as restoring production to 2.2mbpd and reaching 2.5mbpd by 2020, privatising selected assets, accelerating non-oil revenue generation, drastically cutting costs, aligning monetary, trade and fiscal policies, expanding infrastructure especially power, roads and rail as well as revamping the four existing refineries. Other strategies are; improving ease of doing business, expanding social investment programmes, delivering on agricultural transformation, accelerating implementation of National Industrial Revolution Plan using special economic zones as well as focusing on priority sectors in order to generate jobs, promote exports, boost growth and upgrade skills. ALSO READ: Nigeria will come out of recession stronger in 2017 - LCCI The minister stressed that the ERGP is different from the previous plans and visions that have been developed and not effectively implemented. He said the implementation of the ERGP will be driven by: strong political will, close partnership and strong collaboration between public and private sectors, especially in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, services and infrastructure, rigorous implementation plan and delivery unit. He said the ERGP forms the basis of the 2017 Budget. Dung told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Jos that the service was able to rescue seven lives and property worth N4.2 billion during the period. He said that 213 residential houses and 45 commercial places were gutted down during the period, and revealed that the highest number of incidents happened during the Harmattan period usually seen by fire service workers as the fire season. Usually, during the Harmattan season, we experience a lot of fire outbreaks; this is associated with the weather that is very windy and dry. From our experiences, any little spark can be fanned by the wind into an inferno if not immediately attended to, he said. Other factors responsible for fire outbreaks, he said, included the usage of hot coals to warm rooms. "When a spark from the coal touches the mattress or blanket, it leads to fire outbreaks. Power surge also lead to fire outbreaks, especially in our society where people tend to forget to turn off their electrical appliances before leaving home or going to bed, he further explained. Dung regretted that some victims had often refused to invite the Fire Service when in trouble because of the wrong assumption that the servcies were always paid for. "In a bid to avoid paying such fee, they try to control the fire and only alert us when they can no salvage the situation, he said. Kachikwu made the call in Rome in a presentation to top Executives of ENI, an IOC, the Director of Press in the Ministry, said in a statement released in Abuja on Monday. He urged the group to move beyond just the business of crude exploration to firmly supporting the vision of enhancing local production of petroleum products in Nigeria through the building refineries. He said the major plan of the Federal Government was to stop importation of petroleum products in the long term. It would be expedient that every IOC should invest in building a refinery with a chain of distributions, Kachikwu said. He reiterated the need for the building of refineries and power plants to drive Nigerias economy. The minister said that the refineries could be built by IOCs, and within a short period of time, investment in the venture could be recouped by direct sales model. He gave a historical background of the nation and challenges of the oil sector. Kachikwu said that the refineries were built in the 1970s and 1980s and were currently working at sub-optimal levels and hence could not cater to local needs. The minister said Nigeria was dependent on product importation but the present administration had promised to correct this anomaly by upgrading old refineries and building new ones. This will increase local production capacity with an objective to reduce importation of petroleum products by 60 per cent in 2018, and by 2019 become a net exporter of petroleum products and value added petrochemicals, he said. A Memorandum of Understanding between ENI and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was signed with ENI committing to the refurbishment of the Port Harcourt Refinery. The company also agreed to build Phase 2 of Okpai Power Plant and to further invest in Nigerias Oil and Gas industry. Kachikwu, currently in Rome, is slated to meet the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Economic Development of Italy to formalise the cooperation between Oil Majors and Nigeria and meet with 10 other IOCs to further expand the partners of investments in Nigerias Oil and Gas sector. Nigerias oil industry is facing a lot of challenges with government-owned refineries not functioning optimally and militants in the oil producing Niger Delta region destroying facilities. The Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Mr Ita Enang, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said he was not aware of such letter. Enang was reacting to media reports that the President, who is currently on a 10-day annual vacation, had sent a letter to the Senate insisting on the confirmation of Magu. You are about the third person calling me on this matter. I am not aware of that discussion and I dont want to speak on the matter because I dont have details, he said. NAN recalls that the Senate on Dec. 15, 2016, rejected the request for the confirmation of Magu based on security reports from the Department of State Security (DSS). It thereafter returned the nomination Magu to the President for further action. The presidency had in July 2016 written the Senate, requesting the screening and confirmation of Magu as Substantive Chairman of EFCC. Buhari appointed Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC after the removal of Mr Ibrahim Lamorde on Nov. 9, 2015. The endorsement was confirmed on Monday in Abuja by the Chairman, Forum of Finance Commissioners of the Federation Account Allocation Committee, Mr Mahmoud Yunusa. The Adamawa Finance Commissioner said the states would cooperate with the audit firms appointed by the government to carry out the exercise. The Federal Government had, in December 2016, appointed eight accounting firms to evaluate the rate of compliance by state governments to the implementation of the Fiscal Sustainability Plan which they signed in June 2016. A total of 35 states signed onto the plan with Lagos being the only state that backed out of the agreement. The FSP was a condition given by the Federal Government before it commenced the disbursement of the N510 billion budget support facility to the states to enable them pay workers salaries. Before the conditional loan was released by the Federal Government, about 27 states were unable to pay the salaries of their workers. The appointment of the firms was confirmed by the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, through a statement by the Director, Information, in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Salisu Dambatta. The accounting firms are PriceWaterHouse Coopers, KPMG Professional Services, Ernst and Young, PKF Professional Services, Muhtari Dangana and Co, S.S. Afemikhe and Co, Ahmed Zakari and Co, and Ijewere and Co. Yunusa said the scarcity of resources to implement the programmes of government owing to economic recession, had made it imperative for states to be prudent and transparent in the area of financial management. The plan of the Federal Government to audit the fiscal sustainability plan of the states is welcomed. They are welcome because we have nothing to hide in the states. Aderanti on Tuesday gave the assurance that the kidnapped students and staff of the Nigeria Turkish International School, Isheri, Ogun, would be released. Aderanti gave the assurance while speaking with newsmen shortly after his visit to former President Olusegun Obasanjo at his hill top residence in Abeokuta. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that eight students and staff of the Nigeria Turkish International College in Ogun were recently abducted from the school by unknown gunmen. The AIG, however, said that he spoke with the leader of the search team shortly before his visit and that he got a positive response from him. He denied rumours that the families of the victims had been paying ransom, insisting that no ransom has been paid. Aderanti commended the states Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, for putting in place an effective security system in the state. The Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali, who presented the cheques, also promised that the welfare of the serving military personnel would be given priority. Dan-Ali also said that government owed both serving personnel and families of deceased personnel eternal gratitude, respect and prayers. As we are gathered here today Monday, our officers and men remain steadfast in the execution of their duties spread across the various flashpoints across the nation, fighting insurgency, militancy, communal clashes and cattle rustling among others, all in a bid to ensure our collective national unity. Unfortunately, as with all conflicts, lives have been lost and family units disrupted as their bread winners pay the ultimate sacrifice in the discharge of their duties, the minister said. Dan-Ali, however, expressed satisfaction that with the improved security and overwhelming successes in the fight against insurgency, fewer military casualties would be recorded in years to come. He also noted that life insurance claims being paid over the years had grown tremendously. This, the minister attributed to heightened activities of insurgents in the North-East and continued militancy in the Niger Delta, especially between 2015 and 2016. He called for a minute silence in honour of personnel who had paid the supreme price. Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Amb. Danjuma Sheni, said cheques for insurance claims had earlier been issued to next of kin of 383 officers and men who died in the line of duty during the period. Obi berated the governors for their refusal to save when revenues were at its optimal level. Speaking on CNBC Africa, the former governor said the governors opposed Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Minister of Finance, and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) when they begged the Federal Government to build its savings. ALSO READ: I saved over N75b for Anambra state Peter Obi says On the plan of the Muhammadu Buhari administration to borrow money, Obi said he is not against the idea, but against borrowing without a plan. He said: "I was in government when the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Aganga, Sanusi were crying that we should save; we collectively said we don't want savings, and we are now in this mess. "We cannot afford to increase it by going to borrow without a clear road map on what we would use it for. "People start saving in crisis. Go and check most nations that save. They started it in crisis situation, because they could see the point of not saving yesterday, and that is where we are. "I have said it before that even if we saved five percent of all our oil earnings from 1960 to date, which is about $1.2 trillion, considering a compound interest of about five percent, we should have about $150 billion today." Obi further said: "Imagine what would have been happening if we were in that situation. That was 56 years ago; we have 44 years to our 100th year of independence. "What I am saying is that if we decide today to save on 50 per cent of our budgeted output of 2.2 million barrels per day, if we decide to save on just 1 million barrels per day, with our earnings at $50 per barrel, in the next 44 years, we would be at 50 to 60 billion dollars. "I was in government when Ngozi-Iweala was crying meeting after meeting, lets save money; we need to save for a rainy day. Government position is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. The minister said that the whole issue of the journalists arrest was purely a private affair involving a citizen and a privately-owned newspaper. He wondered how that could now be construed as an attempt by the government to intimidate the press. The minister reassured that government would not do anything to stifle press freedom, because it is keenly aware that a free press is vital to the success of any democracy. We have said it before and we want to re-state it: The Federal Government has no immediate or long-term plan to stifle press freedom. Even the Social Media, with its warts and all, will neither be regulated nor have its operations tampered with, he said. The publisher of Premium Times, Olorunyomi, who was arrested on Thursday evening by the police, has been released. Mr Olorunyomi was released alongside the companys judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu, who was also arrested. They were said to have been released on bail and asked to report at the FCT police command headquarters by 8:00 a.m. on Friday. Plain-clothed officers were said to have conducted search at the Abuja office of the organisations, saying they were acting on a complaint filed by the Nigerian Army. THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER Buhari asks Senate to review stand on Magu, Babachir President Muhammadu Buhari has allegedly pleaded with the Senate to reconsider its rejection of Ibrahim Magu as Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Plateau records four deaths, five cases of Lassa fever The Plateau government says it has so far recorded four deaths and five cases of Lassa fever in the state. Dangote Cement distributors get N2.4bn bonus Dangote Cement Plcs distributors nationwide were at the weekend given N2.4 billion for as their sales bonus for 2017. VANGUARD NEWSPAPER Outrage trails pension for ex-govs, deputies Former governors, who are now senators and ministers, have been taken to task over their continued enjoyment of governors pensions while drawing normal salaries and allowances in their new political offices. Rivers police arraign 45 Pro-Biafran agitators for treasonThe Rivers State Police Command yesterday arraigned 45 members of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, and the Movement for the Actualisation of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, before two Chief Magistrate Courts sitting in Port Harcourt for treason over their alleged involvement in the Friday agitation in Rivers State. TURKISH COLLEGE KIDNAP: Victims starve as kidnappers run out of foodstuffs Gunmen in Army camouflage stormed Atanda farm in Igbodu community, Epe area of Lagos, abducting a female graduate of Nutrients and Biotechnology from the Ladoke Akintola University, LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Ifeoluwa Olabiyi and three other farmers, all men. THE NATION NEWSPAPER Fed Govt releases N72b for Lagos/Ibadan rail The Federal Government yesterday released N72 billion counterpart funding for the Lagos-Ibadan mordernisation railway project. Sultan to El-Rufai, others: punish criminals The Sultan railed yesterday against impunity, saying it fuels violence. Buhari insists on Magu After weeks of intrigues, President Muhammadu Buhari has renominated Ibrahim Magu for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman. THE PUNCH NEWSPAPER Mixed reactions as Buhari sends Magus name to Senate again President Muhammadu Buhari has replied the Senate on its rejection of the nomination of the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, The PUNCH reliably learnt on Monday. Turkish college kidnap: IG deploys three helicopters in creeks Ten days after eight persons were kidnapped on the premises of Nigerian Turkish International Colleges, the police authorities became desperate on Monday, asking its operatives to waste no more time in rescuing the abductees. Jammeh stole $11m, says Barrows aide Saraki, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Sanni Onogu, made this known at a dinner with the theme Investing and Localization organized by General Electric (GE) and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment. He said that Nigeria was ready for business in spite of the current economic recession and reiterated that the 8 assembly was determined to ensure that businesses thrived in the country. The National Assembly has also opened its doors to the private sector to exchange ideas, opinions and engagements to enable it create the critical legal and legislative superstructure on which the next free market economy will anchor. Our focus in the National Assembly has been the economy and will remain so until we can chart a course out of recession, create jobs and facilitate private sector investment in infrastructure projects. We will also encourage interest in the agriculture and mining sector, he said. Saraki commended General Electric and other investors who had continued to invest and maintain their businesses in Nigeria in spite of the trying times. He added that he would continue to encourage local entrepreneurs to invest in the economy. I am delighted at the efforts General Electric has shown in recent times as to its investment strategy in Nigeria. Clearly, General Electric is committed to investing in Nigeria and has shown that you are not only here just for the good times but have a long-term outlook for your engagement with Nigeria. He stated that efforts to bridge the infrastructure deficit in the country must be led by the private sector if the country was to succeed in its drive to lay a solid foundation for economic growth. We must look at roads, ports, railways and power and see how we can encourage the private sector to invest so as to bridge the gap. For us in the 8 National Assembly, it is not enough for government to say, patronize Made-in-Nigeria products and services. We must ensure that government leads the way. This is why the Senate has passed the Bill clearly giving a margin of government patronage to local investors and those who have chosen to make locally, use locally and create jobs for our teeming population. However, sources close to the matter have denied that Jammeh used Tinubus jet to steal public funds. No such happened. In fact, it was impossible for looted monies to have been taken away on an aircraft that was in public glare. The radar of the international media, security forces and Gambian people was on the aircraft, a source told The Nation. It is practically impossible to load millions of dollars on the plane. In any case, no money was loaded into the plane, safe Guinean President Conde, Jammeh, his wife, mother and son, the source added. Jammeh was forced to leave The Gambia for exile in Equatorial Guinea after refusing to hand over power despite losing the December 1, 2016 election to Adama Barrow. The former Gambian president has been accused of stealing $11 million from the countrys treasury. The allegation was made by Barrows adviser, Mai Fatty who said that the nations coffers were largely empty. Over two weeks, over 500m dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn by Jammeh. As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress, Fatty told journalists in Senegal. Jammeh left The Gambia after holding talks with Guinean President Alpha Conde and Mauritanias President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz. His departure followed the arrival of regional troops into The Gambia in preparation for a forceful removal. ALSO READ: Nigerian Army ready to remove Gambian President by force Report According to Vanguard, the camp where the victims are being held has run out of foodstuff as the kidnappers' food supplier failed to show up since Saturday, January 21. The victims - three pupils, two intending Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination candidates, and three staff members - were abducted on the night of Friday, January 13, from the school premises, located in Isheri, Ogun State. The newspaper cited two separate sources - one said the food supplier has been arrested while the other said he disappeared with some foodstuff he was to supply on Saturday night to avoid being arrested by the Police who mounted surveillance around the den. It was gathered that a man suspected to be an informant to the kidnappers was on Monday, January 23, arrested by members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) around Riverview estate in Isheri area. ALSO READ: Kidnappers of College students demand N100m ransom The informant, popularly known as 'Turkey' was said to be scooping information from the school to the kidnappers when he was nabbed. He has been handed over to the Ogun State police command. In a statement, the minister asked that NBC ascertain weather Multichoice is violating the National Broadcasting Code by shooting outside Nigeria. As a country of laws, only the outcome of the investigation will determine our next line of action, he said. According to Mohammed, concerned Nigerians have bombarded his office with calls to complain about the shoot holding in South Africa. He however asked that they should remain calm while the NBC investigates the issue and submits its findings. ALSO READ: undefined Big Brother Nigeria returned for a second season on Sunday, January 22, 2017. The reality show is hosted by Nigerian lawyer and media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, who was a housemate in the maiden edition of the show. The Peoples Democratic Party lawmakers, Jude Idimogu and Olusola Sokunle made this known on Tuesday, January 24, 2017. The lawmakers, in separate interviews with the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that Fayoses experience should be used to unite the party and form a vibrant opposition to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Mr Olusola Sokunle, the Chairman, House Committee on Special Duties and Inter government Relations said, It is a good omen for the party; we need to congratulate Fayose. Now that Fayose is the Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum, what should be the priority is to find a way of settling all rancour in the party. They should not create more, other than to resolve all crises within the party. By so doing, we will be able to have rest of mind in the party. As it is today, let me be frank with you, nobody is happy with what is happening in PDP being the ruling party for 16,years and all of a sudden everything is in disarray. Lets be realistic, if Fayose wants to perform well, he should find a way of settling the crisis in the party. He said that the party would not get itself right until people in the party sheath their swords and come together. Another lawmaker, Mr Jude Idimogu, representing Oshodi/Isolo II at the Assembly, described the choice of Fayose as a wise one. Fayose is the oldest among the governors and this makes him the most experienced. He is not only bold and courageous, but also on the side of the poor masses. He (Fayose) is outspoken and is a committed leader of the party. Fayose deserves it. We need people like him that are outspoken. Meanwhile, the urgent task ahead of him is to see how all stakeholders in the party can come together as a united family. Fayose should ensure that concerted effort is geared towards reconciling all factions especially at the top. This is a big issue; it is key, he said. The lawmaker said that the party had to pay urgent attention to re-unification to be able to regain power at the federal level in 2019. According to him, Fayose should bear in mind that ruling human beings remains the most difficult task ever. Idimogu urged PDP members at the National Assembly and all stakeholders in the party to support Fayose to move the party forward. NAN reports that Fayose, the Ekiti State governor, was elected on Thursday by the PDP Governors Forum as chairman. Obasanjo made this on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 while playing host to the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun State chapter, at his Abeokuta Hilltop residence. Throwing his weight behind the South-East geopolitical zone, Obasanjo reportedly said he thinks the South East should also have a go at the presidency in 2019 general elections. In his words: Obasanjo said, Irrespective of the thinking of the people ahead of 2019, I personally think that South-East should have a go at the Presidency too. Continuing, Obasanjo said:"The same is happening here. If Ijebu and Egba have produced the governor, it is only fair and just to allow the Yewa or Ogun West to also produce governor. Or else, one day, they will also stand up and take up arms against this injustice against them. That is my personally position on this. Speaking at the backdrop of recent defection of some leading politicians in the South-East to other political parties, Okala told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu that the action was condemnable. Former President of the Senate, Chief Ken Nnamani, for governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo and some other politicians in Enugu State defected to the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the weekend. The NCP chairman said that the movement of politicians from one party to another showed lack of clear political ideology and vision. I do not know why our people are usually gullible. By now, the South-East people should have developed a political platform for negotiation and projection to the highest political position in the land. Why cant they learn from the political consistency and strong-will of President Muhammadu Buhari, who weathered all storms and stayed in the opposition and vied for presidential elections continuously for over four times. Why is the Igbo man running away from building a formidable political structure as the Yorubas have continued to do all these years? he queried. Okala criticised Igbo politicians for trailing behind and seeking for crumbs that fell from the table. We should be the ones dishing the food to others eating at the table, he said. Okala, who contested the governorship election in the state in 2003 on NCP platform, said no good is coming out of the defection of these heavyweights to Igbo land since they are not carrying the people along. According to him, the defection shows that the defectors do not have any programme for the people but what they can get for themselves in the ruling partys political arrangement. On the evening of Sunday, 22nd of January, 5 students were in a cab headed for school from Kafanchan. The driver was the sixth person in the cab. Vanguard spoke to a brother of one of the deceased, Michael Joseph. This is what he shared about the incident: His brother, James Joseph is a 26 year old final year student of Mass Communication at the College. He was just coming back home from a weekend with the family at their native home in Kurmin Musa, Jaba Council, in Kaduna State. While they were travelling, the driver suddenly stopped while they were making a turn at a sharp bend at Gadoro - Passakori - Gidan Waya Road. This was around 5pm. Suddenly, armed men, believed to be herdsmen, jumped out from the bush, dragged all passengers out of the cab, and summarily executed them. They disappeared into the bush. The driver wasn't harmed. How does Michael Joseph know this? He said, "My family was informed that a farmer, who was on a hill not so far away, saw everything." The corpses have now been taken to the Zangon Kataf General Hospital. Some reports say while five people were killed, only four were actually students. "I can not talk to you officially but I can attest to you that it was only four of the victims that were student of the College of Education," the source said. And what about the police? The Canard Enchaine, which mixes satire with investigative reporting, detailed various periods during which Penelope Fillon was paid from money available to her husband as a longstanding MP for the central Sarthe region. Hiring family members is not against the rules as long as the person is genuinely employed, but the newspaper said it had been unable to track down witnesses of her work. Citing pay slips, the paper said Penelope, who has always been seen as uninvolved in her husband's political life, was paid from 1992 to 2002 from funds intended for parliamentary assistants. From 2002, when Fillon took up a cabinet post under then president Jacques Chirac, she became an assistant to the man who carried out Fillon's parliamentary duties in his place, earning between 6,900-7,900 euros per month. The paper said that she was again paid "for at least six months" in 2012 when Fillon, then prime minister, left government after the defeat of rightwing president Nicolas Sarkozy. "In total, Penelope will have earned around 500,000 euros from parliamentary funds," the paper said. The paper also claims that Penelope Fillon was paid around 5,000 euros a month between May 2012 and December 2013 by the periodical La Revue des Deux Mondes (The Review of the Two Worlds). The literary magazine is owned by a friend of Fillon, Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere. Canard Enchaine quoted the director of the monthly, Michel Crepu, as saying he was shocked. "I have never met Penelope Fillon and I have never seen her in the offices of the review," he said. Polls forecast that Fillon, from the rightwing Republicans party, would win presidential elections due in April and May if the vote were held today. But many analysts see the contest as highly unpredictable with Fillon facing competition from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron and others. The amnesty was passed by parliament last October and entered force this month, the court said in a statement sent to AFP, adding that the "act of humanism" involves a total of 39,748 people. It said the amnesty focused on women, minors, men over 60 and foreign nationals and was timed to coincide with 24 years since the passing of the country's Constitution. Uzbekistan has held regular amnesties since soon after its late leader Islam Karimov came to power in 1991. Last year's amnesty covered some 55,000 people, more than 3,000 of whom were immediately released from jail sentences, while others had their sentences shortened or had their criminal cases closed. Karimov died in September at the age of 78 after suffering a stroke. He had held onto power since winning Uzbekistan's first elections after the fall of the Soviet Union. His authoritarian rule came under fire over accusations of heinous rights abuses. Interim leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev won a crushing presidential election victory in an uncompetitive vote in December. Amnesty International in a report released last April said that there was "overwhelming evidence that torture continues unabated in Uzbekistan". It passed a controversial cybersecurity bill last November, tightening restrictions on online freedom of speech and imposing new rules on service providers. But companies and individuals often use VPNs to access the unfettered internet beyond China's "Great Firewall". Telecom and internet service providers will no longer be allowed to set up or rent special lines such as VPNs without official approval, the ministry of industry and information technology said Sunday. Its "clean up" campaign would last through March 2018, it said in a statement on its website. The announcement comes days after President Xi Jinping extolled globalisation and denounced protectionism in a keynote speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he insisted that China was committed to "opening up". China's internet access services market has grown rapidly, and the "first signs of disorderly development are also appearing, creating an urgent need for regulation", the statement said. The new rules were needed to "strengthen internet information security management", it added. IT expert Li Yi told the Global Times newspaper, which often takes a nationalistic tone, the new regulations were "extremely important". While some multinationals such as Microsoft needed VPNs to communicate with overseas headquarters, other companies and individuals "browse overseas internet pages out of illegal motivations", Li said. A 2015 report by US think tank Freedom House found that China had the most restrictive Internet policies of 65 countries it studied, ranking below Iran and Syria. Turning the ship before it hits the iceberg The story of the stolen barn was Rose Frantzen's unlikely muse. The celebrated Maquoketa artist was out of the country when I wrote in the spring of 2015 about the century farm near Welton, Iowa, where thieves made off with the family's barn. Two brothers who were born at the farm, Everett and Ken Ruggeberg, were in an assisted-living facility in Eldridge when their beloved old barn was stolen. From the hand-hewn beams to the walls, floors even the original hay door were cut into pieces and hauled away by greedy, heartless no-goods. At an art show this past May, Frantzen met Everett's daughter, Sally Ruggeberg. The chance meeting produced something remarkable. "She said a sentence I never heard before: 'My father died in April. It was after our barn was stolen,'" Frantzen said Tuesday. "I said, 'What?! I've never heard of something like that.' "After my first shock ... an image of a painting hit me in the head. I had to paint it." Frantzen offered her condolences to Ruggeberg over the loss of her father. That's when she learned that the brother, Ken Ruggeberg, 89, was still alive. "I said, 'Do you think he would sit for me?'" The next day, Frantzen met her newest subject, whom she referred to as "Uncle Ken." He was "sharp as a tack and really funny," and she was surprised by the power of the emotion that grew within her. In the living room of his little apartment at Grand Haven was a collection of his wood carvings. In that first meeting, Uncle Ken was wearing a T-shirt. She estimates she took 300 or 400 pictures of him. On a second visit, Uncle Ken was shirtless. He sat on his bed, and Frantzen took several hundred more pictures. Except for the quilt on his bed, the room was barren. "It gave me a deep sense of loneliness," she said. "There was nothing near his bed. It was just the bed. You knew his life wasn't like that. I knew that's where I wanted to photograph him. "I knew I wanted to paint that fragility." After taking nearly 900 photos in two visits, Frantzen thanked Uncle Ken for his patience for having sat so long for her. He replied that farmers come by patience honestly, having to wait all season for their corn to grow. The remark endeared her to him even more. She had come to realize why his bed was in such an empty space. Though his mind remained keen, Uncle Ken's body did not cooperate with it. He needed a clear path to get around. He longed to spend time outdoors, but he had become a fall risk and was required to spend most of his time inside. About two months after Frantzen met Uncle Ken three months before she finished his portrait he passed away. But the impression had been made. The idea had been planted. "I wanted to put him in the spring corn to put his bare feet in the earth," Frantzen said. "It's a painting that formed itself. It wasn't the stolen barn painting. "This is what happens when you spend time with people. The spring corn was a gift to him." Her affection for Uncle Ken is obvious in his portrait. Her genius for light and color and detail explode from the canvas. Sally Ruggeberg described the 6-foot tall portrait thus: "... she painted in the most honest metaphor for a farmer at his life's sunset. His shirt and shoes are off. His body is impaired with his age, his fight with cancer and a pacemaker bump. "At his feet, corn is growing! Corn is growing at his feet!" A Rock Island man serving time in Illinois on a parole violation has been charged in Scott County in connection with a burglary and shooting in August. Eric Caprice Gibson, 26, was booked into the Scott County Jail on Monday afternoon on charges of first-degree burglary, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, assault while participating in a felony, felon in possession of a firearm or offensive weapon, and fourth-degree criminal mischief, a serious misdemeanor. The most serious charge, first-degree burglary, is a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Bond was set Tuesday at $25,000 cash-only. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 3. At 10:46 a.m. Aug. 22, Davenport police were dispatched to the 900 block of Gaines Street for a report of shots fired, according to an arrest affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint. Police say Gibson forced entry into the home and pointed a gun at a man, causing him to fear for his safety. As the man retreated to an upstairs bedroom, Gibson fired one 9mm round in the mans direction, according to the affidavit. Gibson is an acquaintance of the man and was identified through a photo lineup, according to the affidavit. In April 2014, Gibson was sentenced to two concurrent five-year prison sentences on charges of aggravated fleeing and robbery out of Rock Island County. According to online records from the Illinois Department of Corrections, he was released on parole on Jan. 5, 2016. He was back in prison on a parole violation in early October, according to online records. The majority of the East Moline teachers union, District 37, made it loud and clear Monday it wants and expects a raise in pay. At the end of an after-school meeting that lasted almost two hours, more than two-thirds of the East Moline Education Association, which has 279 members, voted to organize a strike, union spokesman Rich Palmer said. "It felt like we were pushed into a corner, and this was our only response," Palmer told members of the media after the meeting at the United Auto Workers Local 865 hall. "Clearly, our actions prior to this were not taken seriously." Shortly after the private, standing-room only meeting began, members of the union asked a Quad-City Times reporter to leave the building and ordered him to delete photos taken inside the building off his phone. The teachers union, Palmer said, will file its intent to strike with the Illinois State Board of Education as soon as possible. Following a 10-day waiting period, the union must then vote to approve the action and set a strike date. In Iowa, the law prohibits public employee unions, including teacher unions, from striking. In the meantime, the East Moline Education Association, which recently reported its members have not seen any base salary increases since 2009, hopes the district will budge. "Our hope is still that the district will come back to the bargaining table and provide an equal and fair contract for our members," said Palmer, who noted contract talks began nine months ago. "We're still hoping to avoid this." Their last bargaining session "broke down" Friday evening, according to a news release issued by the teachers union. Kristin Humphries, superintendent of the East Moline School District 37, said negotiating members representing the teachers union walked out of bargaining Friday night. They need to get back to the table, said Humphries, who called the unions decision to go on strike extremely unfortunate and troubling. The board was prepared to stay there all night, he added. Our community needs to know that were going to get this done because the education of our students is far too important. Specifically, the East Moline Education Association has proposed a set of salary increases for its licensed teachers, para-educators and secretaries through the 2017-18 school year: This school year, the union proposed a 1.75 percent raise for teachers who have worked in the district for fewer than 20 years, including base rate, step increases and lane advancements; a 2.5 percent raise for those who have worked in the district for at least 20 years and are at the top step; and two $.75 hourly wage raises for para-educators and secretaries on the base rate and steps the next two years, along with the same increase for those at top step. Next school year, the union also submitted a proposal asking for the same raise for teachers who have worked in the district for fewer than 20 years, and a 3 percent raise for the 20-year-plus teachers. Humphries said the district's offer totaled $190,000 less than what the East Moline Education Association proposed. During Monday's meeting, several cheers and large rounds of applause could be heard from outside the building. "There was a lot of unity, and we were excited to hear and see that as a group," Palmer later said. "I haven't felt the unity in this district more in the last 17 years than I've felt in the last several months." Following the meeting, other members of the East Moline Education Association declined comment as they exited the union hall. Palmer, a 17-year history teacher who works at Glenview Middle School, said 62 percent of staff in the district, including him, holds a master's degree. "The district has been putting money into stuff rather than staff," Palmer said. "It makes it difficult for us to recruit and keep good teachers." LONDON Britain's Supreme Court will rule Tuesday on whether the prime minister or Parliament has the right to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union. Justices of the Supreme Court leave the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in Parliament Square in London, in this file photograph dated October 1, 2009. [Photo/Agencies] The 11 justices will either uphold an earlier ruling giving Parliament a direct role in invoking Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty or reject that ruling in favor of the government's claim it can do so without a vote in Parliament.Article 50, which has never been used before, starts the formal process of taking Britain out of the 28-nation EU bloc, a move favored by 52 percent of voters in the June referendum that has upended British politics.The Supreme Court case is viewed as the most meaningful constitutional test in recent decades because it addresses a question central to British law: the dividing line between the powers of Parliament and the power of the executive.The government says it can use "prerogative powers" dating back to medieval times to start the EU divorce process, but the High Court ruled in November that it could not act without a parliamentary vote. A roundup of legislative and Capitol news items for Monday: DAY OF ACTION: Hundreds of Iowans are expected to be at the Capitol Tuesday for Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund day of action in conjunction with Our Revolution, the successor to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unsuccessful presidential campaign. At a 10 a.m. rally, Iowa CCI Action and Our Revolution members will address clean water, raising the statewide minimum wage, wage theft, racial justice and campaign finance reform. They also plan to lobby on proposals to change voter ID laws, pre-empt local minimum wages and so-called stand your ground legislation. For more information, visit cciaction.org. LT. GOV. CONFIRMATION: Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds are cool to a state senators idea of requiring any future appointment to the office of lieutenant governor be subject to a simple majority vote of the Iowa Senate. Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, introduced Senate File 50 as a transfer of power may be forthcoming at the Statehouse if Branstad is confirmed to be President Donald Trumps ambassador to China and he resigns the governorship. Reynolds would become governor and would appoint her lieutenant under Iowa law. Bisignano favors confirmation because any appointed lieutenant governor could become governor with no input from voters or Iowans. Thats never been the process before, Reynolds told reporters Monday. The process is in place. Theres no precedent for doing anything different. Branstad agreed, saying the current system is good and fair and has worked well in the past when a governor has been called upon to appoint someone to fill a vacant elective statewide office. WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING: The GOP-led Senate Labor and Business Relations Committee voted 7-4 Monday to expand Iowas workplace drug-testing law include hair samples. Iowa law already lets companies demand blood, urine, saliva or breath samples from workers for random drug tests. Forty-seven states currently allow the testing of hair for drugs, said Sen. Michael Breitbach, R-Strawberry Point, said. Its another tool in the employers tool box to make sure that they provide a safe and viable workplace. Four Democrats on the committee opposed Senate File 32, arguing hair retains evidence of drug use for months, even years. The bill now goes to the Iowa Senate debate calendar for further consideration. GLENWOOD INVESTIGATION: Gov. Terry Branstad told reporters at his weekly news conference that he wont second guess decisions made by the state Department of Human Services in handling recent problems at a facility at Glenwood. The governor called it concerning that investigators recently determined some staff at the state-run Glenwood facility where patients with profound mental disabilities live were physically and verbally abusing the patients. Asked how the culture of abuse was allowed, Branstad replied: Thats a good question, and thats the reason why significant changes have been already made. Six employees at the Glenwood facility were fired, six quit and five others have been disciplined, but no supervisors were disciplined. The governor said DHS officials have taken the action they think is appropriate If theres additional action that should be taken, Im certain theyll do what needs to be done, but Im not one to second-guess, Branstad said. The governor said a majority of employees at the Glenwood Resource Center are hard-working, conscientious people who do a good job. QUOTE OF THE DAY: They told me to keep a secret until now. Diego Garcia Orellana, a student at Des Moines Central Campus school, in response to reporters questions about what he has been telling his friends about a new state website with career and job information that was unveiled Monday at a news conference in which he was a participant. Times Bureau With all the buzz and excitement of Sterilite Corp.'s impending move to Davenport, concerns have come forward from local residents who wish to understand the direct impacts of the development. Sterilite, North America's leader in plastic housewares, intends to build a $73 million, 2.4 million square-foot facility by the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, which is currently witnessing the construction of the Kraft-Heinz plant. With all the current and prospective development projects nearby, Alderwoman Kerri Tompkins, 8th Ward, invited residents to hear about the projects and voice concerns Monday night at the city's Eastern Avenue Library branch. While the city has been proactive in explaining that the economic incentives provided to Sterilite come in the form of rebates after the company has paid its property taxes, Community Planning and Economic Development Director Bruce Berger said there are some risks with the deal. The city is paying upfront for infrastructure improvements, including rail spurs on the property, which is atypical of the city's other tax increment financing agreements. "There are some bad examples of cities that fronted the money and wrote a check to businesses and developers and then that business or developer didn't even do that project," Berger said. But in discussion with the City Council, Berger said moving forward with the project made sense not only because the road improvements were needed, but also for the creation of the 500 jobs the plant is expected to generate. "In this case, the road is going to benefit us because we want to see this intersection improved," Berger said. "We want to see that intersection improved because it will help that development over there." After cautioning the City Council last week about moving too quickly after it agreed to fast-track the deal, resident Jeff Milne had the opportunity to ask Berger about environmental and infrastructure impacts. While Berger said an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was not required for the project nor was it completed by the city, he said the city looked at impacts at other Sterilite facilities. "From an environmental standpoint, it's a very clean industry," Berger said. As to the traffic concerns, Berger said road improvements were part of the incentive package offered to Sterilite with concerns in place at the intersections of Slopertown Road and Division Street, Northwest Boulevard and Hillandale Road and Slopertown Road and Hillandale Road. Berger said the city is applying to the state for financial assistance, which likely will take place next month. Although there are concerns from residents over the expected increase of car and truck traffic, Berger said Sterilite's business model controls the number of trucks needed. Berger said the construction of rail lines would allow the company to store rail cars on the property and there also would be space for trucks to come to facility and drop off trailers, which would be filled by Sterilite employees. "As a result, Sterilite doesn't have a lot of truck drivers and trucks that sit around," Berger said. "They have retailers come to them to get their product so it was important for them to locate in the Midwest along I-80 so that they could serve retailers in this region." While separate from the Sterilite deal, Berger said the expansion of West 76th Street will help alleviate any stress from truck traffic because it would provide an easier route to reach I-80. The road expansion is expected to be completed in the summer, which is well before the April 1, 2018 target date for the plant's opening. Anwho led an Ohio officer on aturned out to be awho took his parents'and drove 11 miles to a nearby city to shop at a convenience store, police said. An officer in Fostoria, roughly 40 miles south of Toledo, tried to stop a driver who wasn't using headlights and kept braking Sunday morning, and the vehicle took off at 70 mph. The vehicle eventually struck a curb and stopped in a restaurant parking lot, where the officer was surprised to discover that the driver was a child. "It appears he wanted to go shopping," said Police Chief Keith Loreno. No one was hurt, but police said the boy had nearly collided head-on with a tractor-trailer and jeopardized the safety of others in the area. "At one point, he far exceeded the speed limits of the city," Loreno said. "Besides himself, he placed a lot of people in serious danger." The boy, from the nearby town of Kansas, was taken into custody and charged with fleeing from a law enforcement officer. 1. Some rain, some snow on the way A good Tuesday to all. A dose of rain with a little snow, but not enough to amount of much, are on tap for the Quad-Cities in coming days. Here are the weather details from the National Weather Service. Today we have a 30 percent chance of showers after 5 p.m. Skies will be cloudy, with a high near 41 degrees. Winds could gust as high as 20 mph. Tonight rain is likely before midnight. The chance of precipitation is 60 percent with new precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Skies will be cloudy with a steady temperature around 39 degrees. Wednesday brings a chance of rain before noon then rain and snow likely. The chance of precipitation is 60 percent with little or no snow accumulation expected. Skies will be cloudy with a temperature falling to around 35 degrees by 8 a.m. Snow, possibly mixed with rain is likely Wednesday night. The chance of precipitation is 60 percent with new snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Skies will be cloudy with a low around 28 degrees. Northwest winds will gust as high as 25 mph. Meanwhile, area river levels including the Rock in Moline and the Cedar in Conesville have fallen below flood stage. 2. UT teacher removed from classroom, social media post investigated United Township High School teacher Mark Kaczmarek has been removed from the classroom after parents and students complained about a comment he posted on social media. The Board of Education is reviewing his Twitter post about the Womens March, and district administration is conducting an investigation into the matter, Superintendent Jay Morrow said in the statement. Read more. 3. East Moline teachers union set to strike for more pay The majority of the East Moline teachers union, District 37, made it loud and clear Monday it wants and expects a raise in pay. At the end of an after-school meeting that lasted almost two hours, more than two-thirds of the East Moline Education Association, which has 279 members, voted to organize a strike, union spokesman Rich Palmer said. The teachers union, Palmer said, will file its intent to strike with the Illinois State Board of Education as soon as possible. Following a 10-day waiting period, the union must then vote to approve the action and set a strike date Read more. 4. Meeting softens concerns over Sterilite project With all the buzz and excitement of Sterilite Corp.'s impending move to Davenport, concerns have come forward from local residents who wish to understand the direct impacts of the development. Sterilite, North America's leader in plastic housewares, intends to build a $73 million, 2.4 million square-foot facility by the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, which is currently witnessing the construction of the Kraft-Heinz plant. With all the current and prospective development projects nearby, Alderwoman Kerri Tompkins, 8th Ward, invited residents to hear about the projects and voice concerns Monday night at the city's Eastern Avenue Library branch. Read more. 5. Davenport police subdue man after confrontation on East High Street Davenport police subdued an agitated man with a knife around 6:30 p.m. Monday near the corner of East High Street and College Avenue near Genesis Medical Center, East Rusholme Street, Davenport. The man was shouting and had a knife with a blade 8-10 inches long, according to Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski. Read more. 6. $18M in Davenport school cuts proposed over 3 years Some of the programs that make Davenport officials most proud of the Community School District are now on the chopping block, the school board learned Monday night. There are $18 million in cuts proposed over the next three years, according to figures introduced during the board's regular session. Proposed changes for 2017-18 include class size increases adding two students to each high school class in order to reduce the teaching staff by eight teachers to save $600,000. Key reductions for 2018-19: Reducing funding to the Creative Arts Academy by $350,000 and increase elementary school classroom sizes by one student each, cutting seven teachers for $525,000. Cuts that year include diversion teachers, interventionists and programs that Davenport started to make itself a "District of Distinction." Closing a school which one was not named is listed for 2019-20 at an estimated savings of $1 million. Read more. WASHINGTON A spokesman says President Donald Trump's belief that there were millions of illegal votes cast in the November election is based on "studies and evidence." But spokesman Sean Spicer did not provide examples of that evidence. Trump first made the false claim during the transition. He reiterated the statement in a meeting Monday night with lawmakers, blaming illegal ballots for his loss of the popular vote. Spicer says Trump "continues to maintain that belief." There has been no evidence to support the claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the election. Spicer's only attempt to support Trump's assertion was to point a 2008 Pew Research survey that showed a need to update voter registration systems. WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered a "temporary suspension" of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment Monday or Tuesday. SPRINGFIELD Illinois public universities would see state funding restored to the level it was before the start of the ongoing budget impasse under a bipartisan grand bargain being considered in the state Senate. While university officials welcome the prospect of additional funding, they said its important for the public to understand that the Senate proposal would still represent a funding cut over a two-year period. The states nine public university systems have been funded through a series of emergency and stopgap spending measures since the 2014-15 school year ended and the standoff between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled General Assembly began. As a result, some schools, including Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois universities, have laid off hundreds of employees, and others have frozen hiring and made additional spending cuts. The Senate package, which also includes tax increases, gambling expansion, pension reforms and a host of other issues, would allocate an additional $1.1 billion in the current year for higher education. That includes money for universities, community colleges and grants to low-income students through the Monetary Award Program. Combined with nearly $1 billion for higher education that was included in a stopgap spending deal approved in June, the Senate plan would restore university funding for this year to where it was in the 2014-15 school year. Schools currently arent receiving any state funds because the stopgap deal expired after Dec. 31. The various components of the package, cobbled together by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, are scheduled for committee hearings beginning Tuesday. Anything that gets us more money, were certainly supportive, said John Charles, executive director for governmental and public affairs at Southern Illinois University. Under the Senates proposal, Southern Illinois would receive $93.4 million on top of the $106.2 million it received from the June stopgap spending plan. But the university, like others across the state, used the stopgap money to pay for expenses from the 2015-16 school year, during which it received only $57.5 million from an emergency funding measure approved in April. In effect, Charles said, because the June stopgap money was used for last years expenses, the $93.4 million from the Senate plan would be the universitys only state funding for the current year, compared with $199.6 million for the 2014-15 school year. However, the university supports the plan, Charles said. If its approved, Southern Illinois will get through the rest of the year by continuing a hiring freeze and spending cuts at its campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville and medical school in Springfield, he said. Eastern Illinois Treasurer Paul McCann likewise said the university would be grateful to receive any state funding. We have done the things that we need to do to make the university viable, and so we are appreciative of anything they can do for us, he said. Eastern Illinois, which has laid off more than 400 people in the past two years, would receive $11.2 million in additional funding under the Senate plan. Thats on top of $26.2 million it received from the June stopgap and $12.5 million from the April funding measure, which were used for expenses from last school year. The university received another $5.6 million in emergency funding that the Illinois Board of Higher Education doled out in November. It put that money toward payroll and other expenses from the current year. Meanwhile, Western Illinois would receive $11.7 million under the Senate plan. It received $31.4 million from the June stopgap, $14.9 million from the April measure and $8.4 million from the Board of Higher Educations November allotment. Matt Bierman, the universitys budget director, said the Senate proposal is a good first step toward bringing back appropriate state funding levels for higher education. We take (it) as a really good sign, as recognition that the universities have unfortunately been collateral damage in this budget process, he said. Bierman said that although the new funding would make a difference, the university wants to remind legislators that the lack of full funding for last school year took a toll on the universities. Western Illinois laid off nearly 150 employees last school year. Illinois State University is in a stronger financial position than some other universities, chief of staff Jay Groves said, but the lack of consistent funding has been a problem for the entire public higher education system. Illinois State would receive $33.9 million under the Senate plan on top of $38.3 million from the June stopgap and $20.9 million from the April measure. Its important and significant that they are having productive discussions about a full budget, Groves said. Even if the proposal is approved, schools will still have some financial difficulty that we will have to address, he said. We certainly look forward to a solution on predictable and stable funding for public higher education going forward, Groves said. DES MOINES Legislative Republicans agreed Monday to make $117.8 million in adjustments to the state general fund budget by June 30 that shaved reductions proposed by Gov. Terry Branstad for higher education, corrections, public safety and the courts but still proposed smaller cuts in those areas. Under the tentative agreement, regent universities would be cut by $18 million rather than the $25.56 million the governor sought, while community college funding would be shaved by $3 million rather than $8.7 million; corrections would be cut $5.5 million, not $15 million; the court system would be reduced by $3 million, not $7.7 million; and public safetys $3.8 million cut would be lowered to $1 million. Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the changes made to the governors original $110 million starting point for erasing the current fiscal year budgets projected shortfall reflect the priorities expressed by GOP legislators in the House and Senate. It was not a fun puzzle to have to put together, but ultimately, youve got to make it work, and thats what were here for, Schneider said after the de-appropriations bill cleared a subcommittee. They are tough decisions. You could hear in the room today people arent happy. But it is what it is. We can only work with what were given. We cant spend more than we have. Thats just the reality. Thats not politics, thats math. Overall, the plan moving forward by majority Republicans would make $88.2 million in targeted cuts, return $4.5 million in unused property tax credits, transfer $25 million from economic development, cultural and other trust funds and provide a $4.3 million supplemental appropriation for indigent defense spending. The changes would not affect current year funding for K-12 schools, the Medicaid safety net and property tax credits and backfill to local governments and communities. Schneider said House and Senate Republicans had agreed not to partially couple the state tax code with federal changes as Branstad proposed that would carry a $29 million price tag for the 2016 tax year, but to hold harmless the $8.2 million in the taxpayer trust fund the governor would have used to balance the current year budget. Subcommittee member Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, said minority Democrats disagreed with the proposed GOP cuts in several areas, but Republicans noted the problem was a carry-over from budget decisions made last session based on projected revenue growth that did not materialize. Were not dealing with a situation where revenues are decreasing now, Schneider said. "Were dealing with a situation where growth is slower than we anticipated it. There was no room for error." Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, said the problem relates to decisions over the past three or four years to spend down more than $750 million in state surplus funds, which GOP senators opposed. Its ironic that we vote no on something for three or four years when were not in the majority, and then all of a sudden were to blame when it does happen, he said. Along with targeted cuts, GOP legislators are directing state agencies to identify $11.5 million in departmental reductions by trimming out-of-state travel, purchases and leaving unfilled positions vacant for the next five months. The specific cuts to regent universities would trim funding by $8 million each at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University and $2 million at the University of Northern Iowa. Were concerned about the cuts to higher education, Bolkcom said. "Were especially concerned about significant increases in tuition for our community college students and our university students and their families as a result of these underfunding of these institutions. We think that this is going to have a super detrimental effect on those students, and while we might not look at a tuition increase this spring, I suspect that were going to see one soon and one thats going to have to take effect for more than one year. Bolkcom suggested an alternative approach might be to slash state tax credits to corporations that have grown expeditiously in recent years. After the subcommittee meeting, Bolkcom issued a statement warning the proposed GOP cuts threaten public safety, education and human services. The deep, mid-year budget cuts endorsed today by Republican legislators are mean-spirited and will harm Iowa college students, working families and seniors, Bolkcom said in his statement. The last thing we should do is cut services that Iowans depend on, including higher education, job training, public safety and human services. Schneider said he expected the provisions of Senate Study Bill 1018 would clear committee on Tuesday, and he expects both the House and Senate would send the measure to the governor possibly yet this week. During his weekly news conference Monday, Branstad did not address the specifics of the negotiations on the fiscal 2017 de-appropriations bill, but he expressed hope a final agreement would be approved and indicated we appreciate the cooperation that were receiving from the Legislature. DES MOINES A state lawmaker still paying his college loans is proposing to undo tuition increases already approved for the next academic year at Iowas three public universities. Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, wants to freeze tuition for the 2017-18 academic year to provide some relief for students and their parents at Iowa State University, University of Iowa and University of Northern Iowa as well as their parents. I think it time we slow down the growth in the regents budget, he said Monday. Every year, we grow the budget. Were investing a lot in our kids. Were investing a lot in higher education. I think we should freeze tuition and let them save a little money. Highfill's bill is House File 45. The Board of Regents has registered in opposition to the bill because regents think they should have discretion and flexibility to work with the universities to set tuition, board spokesman Josh Lehman said. After freezing resident undergraduate tuition for two-and-a-half years, regents since approved three increases as enrollment continues to grow to record levels. The most recent increase was in December when regents approved a 2 percent per semester increase that bumped the base rate for in-state undergrads at the UI to $7,270 and to $7,240 at UNI and ISU in the 2017-18 academic year. The package they approved also set varying increases for other students, including for out-of-state undergrads who pay four times more. The bill, if ultimately adopted, would reset tuition to the current 2016-17 levels. The in-state undergrad rates now are $6,878 at the UI and $6,848 at ISU and UNI. Last year, the regents unveiled a two-year budget blueprint to help students and parents plan for the cost of education one that also draws a clear correlation between state support and tuition rates. The blueprint envisioned a 2 percent increase in state support for the universities in both the 2018 and 2019 budget years. And it laid out a proposed 2 percent bump in resident undergraduate tuition for each of the two years. Highfill, who attended Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa, didnt know the state would have to make cuts in the current year budget when he filed his bill, but he said the state is required by law to balance its budget even if that means making mid-year cuts. He doesnt see any incongruity in the Legislature freezing tuition at the same time it is cutting the regents budgets. Lawmakers and the governor have agreed to cut Iowa State and the University of Iowa by $8 million each and Northern Iowa by $2 million this year. Were really not cutting their budget, he said. Were not growing it as much as they would like, but its still higher than the year before and higher than the year before that. Gov. Terry Branstad and lawmakers tentatively agreed to cut both the UI and ISU budgets by $8 million and UNI by $2 million this year below levels that were already appropriated. Total general fund appropriations to the Board of Regents were $595 million in fiscal 2016. Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed appropriating $587 million and $597 million in fiscal 2018 and 2019, respectively. In proposing the freeze, Highfill said enrollment is growing at the universities and out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition, now account for more than half of the enrollment. According to Lehman, enrollment is 60 percent in-state and 40 percent out-of-state. More students than ever enrolled last fall at the three public universities, reaching a total 81,899 overall. Ten years ago, total enrollment including undergraduate, graduate and professional students was 69,178. PIERRE | A special legislative panel is set to discuss the conduct of a state representative who has resigned after admitting to sexual contact with two interns. House Select Committee on Discipline and Expulsion Vice Chairman Spencer Hawley said the panel will meet Tuesday even though Rep. Mathew Wollmann resigned from the Legislature the day before. Wollmann said last week that both interns were over age 21 and that the contact during the 2015 and 2016 legislative sessions was consensual. But his colleagues voted to set up the committee to investigate his actions. Wollmann, from the eastern South Dakota city of Madison, first won his seat in 2014. In his resignation letter, Wollmann expressed regret, writing that he hoped to return to the Legislature in the future. PIERRE | South Dakota senators have unanimously passed a resolution calling pornography a public health crisis that warrants the attention given to other statewide epidemics. Republican Sen. Jenna Netherton of Sioux Falls says South Dakota should join other states in trying to educate the public about the harms of porn and prevent children from watching it. Netherton sponsored the resolution. She says porn "harms men, women and children" and has gained a broader influence due to the increased use of smartphones and the internet in younger generations. The resolution says porn leads to risky sexual activity, eating disorders and low self-esteem. A Virginia lawmaker has proposed a similar resolution this year and Utah state legislators did the same last year, declaring it ruins marriages and the innocence of children. 23 STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA ) )SS COUNTY OF FALL RIVER ) Estate of ) MARY JANE VARICK, ) Deceased. ) IN CIRCUIT COURT SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT 23PRO16-31 Notice is given that on December 15, 2016, Daniel R. Stubblefield and Cynthia M. Arnold, whose addresses are 1109 East Teakwood Street, Apt. 6, Brandon, South Dakota 57005 and 2319 Georgetown Place, Bellevue, Nebraska 68123, respectively, were appointed as co-personal representatives of the Estate of Mary Jane Varick. Creditors of decedent must file their claims within four months after the date of the first publication of this notice or their claims may be barred. Claims may be filed with the co-personal representatives, or the claim may be filed with the Clerk, and a copy of the claim mailed to the co-personal representative. Dated this 22nd day of December, 2016 /s/Daniel R. Stubblefield 1109 East Teakwood Street Apt. 9 Brandon, SD 57005 (605) 553-4791 Dated this 22nd day of December, 2016 /s/Cindy Arnold Cynthia M. Arnold 2319 Georgetown Place Bellevue, NE 68123 (402) 657-3218 Carol E. Foster Clerk of Courts 906 North River Street Hot Springs, SD 57747 (605) 745-5131 Justin L. ONeill, Attorney P.O. Box 629 Hot Springs, SD 57747 (605) 745-6415 Published three times at the total approximate cost of $53.20. Jan. 24, 31, Feb. 7 PIERRE - The State 4-H organization is holding a Quotes to Live By essay contest. The contest promotes reading, reflection, critical thinking and composition skills for youth who will write about the importance of having good character. All South Dakota school/home schooled/individual 4-H members are eligible to participate. Schools must judge their entries locally, and may send five winning entries in each class section/per grade/per school to South Dakota 4-H. Five winning essays will be selected in each grade statewide. Cash prizes and awards will be given to the winners in each grade level. Essays must be based on the Quotes to Live By Maxims & Educational Guide packet found at iGrow.org. Essay Contest Rules Up to five essays per class/per grade/per school can be submitted in grades 4, 7, & 9. Home School & Individual 4-H Entries To be fair to students who have participated in local contests through their schools or local organized contests, home school & individual 4-H entries will be judged in a preliminary round at the State 4-H Office. Following the preliminary round entries will be sent on to the state judging competition based on the following format: 1-5 entries 1 State Entry, 6-10 entries 2 State Entries, 11-15 entries 3 State Entries, 16-20 entries 4 State Entries, 21-25 entries 5 State Entries 4-H members must go through their local contest. Maximum length of essay is as follows: 500 words for 4th grade; 1,000 words for 7th & 9th grades Deadline for postmarking submissions is March 1,2017. For more information contact: SD 4-H Quotes to Live By Essay Contest, Karelyn Farrand, SDSU Extension Regional Center, Tel. (605) 626-2870, Fax: (605) 626-2874, e-mail - karelyn.farrand@sdstate.edu. HILL CITY | A tip led to the arrest of Cathy Jo Brown, a Wisconsin woman who allegedly abducted her two children and hid with them in the Black Hills. At 10:30 p.m. Monday, Pennington County sheriffs deputies found Brown, 37, and her two kids Averie, 11, and Dalton, 9 at a hotel in Hill City. In a statement, the sheriff's office said deputies arrested Brown without incident. Another woman, Amanda Hull, who was also found with Brown and her two children, was not arrested. Authorities had originally believed that Brown, Hull, and the two children were camped out in a remote spot in the Black Hills. Authorities learned of Browns location from a tip that her 2001 red Chevrolet Silverado K1500 pickup had broken down somewhere near Castle Peak Road. Deputies later learned that the two women and two children had been given a ride to a motel in Hill City. The release said the children were in good condition. The sheriff's office would not comment on the children's status, but typically, they would be taken into protective custody until they can be released to another family member. PIERRE | Setting aside partisanship, state senators voted unanimously Monday to ask President Trump to visit South Dakota. Sen. Jim Bolin, R-Canton, said its his belief that the new Republican president hasnt been to the state. He suggested Trump visit the Mount Rushmore or Crazy Horse sites. Or hopefully both, Bolin said. Sen. Troy Heinert said he wished Bolin had circulated the resolution for signatures among more legislators, since only the names of Republicans appear on the sponsors' list. Heinert, D-Mission, said he too hopes Trump visits South Dakota. He suggested the president travel to one or more of the nine Native American reservations. It is important the president learn about the Natives in our state and our unique relationship with the federal government, Heinert said. I would be glad to take him around. Bolin said the combination of his own lack of planning and the deadline for submitting resolutions was the only reason he didnt circulate the resolution to everyone. The vote was 35-0. Senate Concurrent Resolution 1 now moves to the House for consideration. Its lead sponsor there is Rep. Tim Rounds, R-Pierre. An active-duty airman stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base was found dead at his off-base residence Sunday, according to a release from the 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Office. The name of the deceased is being withheld until the airman's family has been informed, the release said. There is no initial indication of foul play in the death, which is being investigated by the Meade County Sheriffs Office and Ellsworth's Office of Special Investigations, said 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs Chief Miranda Simmons. South Dakota School of Mines & Technology President Heather Wilson has been nominated to serve in President Trump's administration as secretary of the Air Force. Heather Wilson is going to make an outstanding secretary of the Air Force, Trump said in statement Monday. Her distinguished military service, high level of knowledge and success in so many different fields gives me great confidence that she will lead our nations Air Force with the greatest competence and integrity. Wilson declined to comment on her nomination, but later issued this statement: "America and our vital national interests continue to be threatened," Wilson said in a statement. "I will do my best, working with our men and women in the military, to strengthen American air and space power to keep the country safe." School of Mines students joined state politicians in expressing excitement on her behalf. Rohit Dulal, 26, was studying in the Devereaux Library on Monday morning when he and other students learned the news from an email sent out by school administrators. I think its awesome, he said. She is a great leader, and she deserves that position. Anneka Swedland, a 20-year-old computer engineering student said: She has definitely done quite a lot for our school, so were a little worried to see her go. U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem, both Republicans, issued statements applauding Wilsons nomination. I congratulate Dr. Wilson for being nominated to lead the Air Force, Rounds said. While I am selfishly disappointed she wont be continuing to serve (the School of Mines), our states loss is our countrys gain. Noem said: Time and again, Heather Wilson has answered her countrys call and inspired those around her to always aim higher. I am confident her diversified experience, continually forward-looking vision, and bold leadership will enable our Air Force and the servicemen and -women within it to fly, fight, win. A statement by the South Dakota Board of Regents said Wilson will continue on as School of Mines president until she is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, at which point she will immediately step down. An interim president will then be appointed and the Board of Regents will conduct a national search for her successor. Wilson first announced in December that she had been contacted by the Trump administration to discuss her candidacy for a high-ranking security position. As secretary of the Air Force, Wilson will oversee the organizing, training, and equipping of 670,000 military and civilian personnel. A Rhodes Scholar, Wilson became the School of Mines first female president in 2013. Before that, she served as a U.S. representative from New Mexico's 1st District from 1998 to 2009. While there, she served on several committees and subcommittees related to national security, including the House Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence. According to her School of Mines biography, Wilson worked in Europe as an Air Force officer during the Cold War, then served on the National Security Council staff at the White House for President George H.W. Bush. Early in her career, she worked closely with several large defense firms. Keystone International Inc., the company she founded in 1991, continues to do work with the defense industry. U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., also supported Wilson's nomination. As an Air Force veteran, former member of Congress, and now leader of one of the nations top science and engineering schools, Heather Wilson is uniquely qualified to help lead Americas airmen, and I look forward to supporting her nomination, said Thune in a release. Our military requires strong and bold leadership, particularly in the early stages of a new administration, and Heather is exactly what the Air Force needs. Fair disclosure: I have a dog in the fight over whether South Dakota should seize Little Spearfish Canyon and Bismarck Lake from me. Since I own those lands, its not OK with me to make them state parks subject to the vagaries of state policy, including potential loss of those lands to meet state needs at some future date. Having said that let me just say that I appreciate Katie Cerolls straight talk in a op-ed piece in the Rapid City Journal about her plans to take two of the gems of the only wild lands most Americans will ever own and give them to the state of South Dakota before the rest of us love them to death by our constant visiting and enjoying these special areas. We can all agree that special places like Spearfish Canyon and Bismarck Lake need to be protected, she wrote. Who protects them and how they are protected is the issue, however. With a nod to my friends who believe the wide open arid prairie is equal in value to the rocky magnificence of the interior Black Hills, I dont buy it. In fact, its a form of insidious corruption in which the state plans to use Congressional power to high-grade, high-value lands for low-value lands. The natural resources available in riparian areas are simply not comparable to the high plains. State oversight of state parks has, for the most part, been admirable. I love Custer State Park and use it often. But state management of that and other parks is not without blemish. A visit to the north shore of Sylvan Lake or to the biggest now-dead tree in South Dakota highlights the failure of managers to anticipate and protect critical park resources from things like mountain pine beetles. Public policy on any issue is often clumsy, sometimes inept, and sometimes ill-informed. The roll out of the proposed land exchange has something of these elements and is troubling. If, as Gov. Daugaard has said, its just about the exchange and not about making the lands in question into state parks, why not just boot it down the road to the Noem administration? Why tarnish an otherwise admirable legacy with a final quarter end run that violates the spirit of state law and has angered many voters? The Facebook page dedicated to stopping this exchange hit more than 500 likes in less than two weeks. If you multiply that metric times ten, as is usual practice, thats 5,000 South Dakotans who think the proposal is a bad idea, enough votes to swing an election. I believe balancing use and providing responsible stewardship is already happening under Forest Service leadership. Theres no need to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. Director Cerolls wide-eyed assertion that state coffers would ensure a constant flow of capital to build, enhance and maintain facilities at these locations is just not credible. Federal pockets are much deeper than state-government pockets and state handouts from Uncle Sam would be the main payee for improvements in any event. Appropriately reacting to sudden dangers like the Mountain Pine Beetle eluded state officers in the current epidemic. What would change? State officers are no more passionate, wise or dedicated than their federal counterparts. Keeping Americas public lands in Americas hands is the only guarantee against the narrower interests of individual states. The assertion that the parks as presented are not already a done deal is absurd. They are planned, proposed and all but built as I write this opinion. Giving these special areas to the state is not the same as protecting them. Raise your voices at public meetings. Protect your lands. Russian Supreme Court upholds sentence for justifying terrorism online MOSCOW, January 24 (RAPSI, Oleg Sivozhelezov) The Supreme Court of Russia has upheld a 2.5-year term in penal colony settlement given to Arslan Khirasulov for justifying terrorism, public calls for terrorism and extremism and incitement of hatred and enmity on the Internet, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Tuesday. The court thus dismissed appeals by the convict and his lawyer seeking for non-custodial punishment. The sentence has taken effect. As a court of the first instance found, in October 2015, Khirasulov posted video on his social network page containing public calls for terrorism, justifying terrorist activity and aimed at incitement of hatred, enmity, humiliation of human dignity on religious and social grounds. Moreover, he commented on an extremist publication. Vnukovo Airport Ex-Customs Chief arrested in absentia MOSCOW, January 24 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko) Moscows Meshchansky District Court has issued an arrest warrant in absentia for former Vnukovo Airport Customs Chief, General Yury Shebunyayev, who stands charged with smuggling, the courts spokesperson Julia Bocharova told RAPSI on Tuesday. Earlier, Shebunyayev was put on the international wanted list. According to investigators, acting Deputy Head of the airports customs Roman Kurzenkov has organized smuggling of goods from Turkey held for sale through Vnukovo customs. Several Vnukovo employees were arrested. Deputy chief of the airports customs post Vyacheslav Latskikh was detained. Head of the airports customs department Mikhail Fast, Chief State Customs Inspector of Vnukovo Igor Kudryashov and Ex-Deputy Chief of a special customs procedure department Alexey Plitin were put under house arrest. Fast and Kudryashov pleaded guilty. Plitin denied his guilt. Kurzenkov escaped from investigators and was put in the wanted list. Home Sales December 2016 Low inventory hampered home sales in December, but 2016 nonetheless was the housing market's best year in a decade. Ohio posted its strongest sales since 2005. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio's housing marked closed out its busiest year since 2005 in December, despite a nationwide sales slowdown as winter weather set in. Statewide home purchases approached 151,600 last year, up 7.5 percent from 2015, according to a Tuesday report from the Ohio Association of Realtors. In Northeast Ohio, sales rose by almost 8 percent, based on listing-service data tied to previously owned and newly constructed residences. "It was a remarkable year for the Ohio housing market, as we experienced record gains in sales and average prices," Pete Kopf, a Cincinnati-area Realtor and the statewide trade group's president, said in a news release. December sales were 2.8 percent higher than they were in 2015, though Northeast Ohio and a handful of other markets posted year-over-year declines. The average sale price in Ohio was $159,531 last month, up 4.8 percent from late 2015. Price growth and supply shortages were the headline concerns in a Tuesday report released by the National Association of Realtors, which looks exclusively at sales of existing homes. A separate report on new homes is due out Thursday. Though nationwide sales experienced their strongest year in a decade, a December slide tempered the gains. Sales of previously-owned homes ended the year only 0.7 percent ahead, the national Realtors said, when compared with the market's 2015 performance. The U.S. median - or middle - sale price for an existing home was $232,200 in December, up 4 percent from a year before. "Solid job creation throughout 2016 and exceptionally low mortgage rates translated into a good year for the housing market," Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the trade association, said in a news release. Last month, he said, rising mortgage rates threatened that upswing. Higher prices and a tight supply of listings - challenges that Realtors have been citing for more than a year - also factored into a less-than-dramatic finale to 2016. "The surge in rates since early November ultimately caught some prospective buyers off guard and dimmed their appetite or ability to buy a home as 2016 came to an end," Yun said. At the end of last week, the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 4.09 percent. The average rate on a 15-year, fixed-rate loan was 3.34 percent, according to mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Rates surged after the U.S. presidential election but have dipped in recent weeks. They're still sitting at notably low levels. Nela Richardson, chief economist for real estate company Redfin, described buyer demand as "titanic," unshaken by the recent rate creep. "Buyers are out touring in droves, ready to pounce on new listings that fit the bill," she said in an emailed statement. "The only thing missing is homes for sale to satisfy demand, because there just aren't a lot of homes available to buy right now. We are in a real estate black hole until those listings show up again." Svenja Gudell, chief economist for real estate data company Zillow, echoed that opinion. She dismissed the idea that the Trump administration's decision Friday to halt a planned mortgage insurance premium cut on loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration will have much of an impact on the housing market. "At this point," Gudell said in an emailed statement, "lackluster inventory remains the number one driver of sales and prices." Based on December's numbers, the nation has a 3.6-month supply of available housing, the Realtors said. That means the pool of available properties would sell out in fewer than four months. Housing analysts often say that a six-month supply of listings reflects a balanced market, one in which neither buyers nor sellers have the upper hand. Blog Archive November 2022 (10) October 2022 (61) September 2022 (60) August 2022 (63) July 2022 (65) June 2022 (68) May 2022 (67) April 2022 (62) March 2022 (68) February 2022 (54) January 2022 (61) December 2021 (70) November 2021 (72) October 2021 (67) September 2021 (59) August 2021 (56) July 2021 (57) June 2021 (66) May 2021 (63) April 2021 (75) March 2021 (73) February 2021 (61) January 2021 (69) December 2020 (62) November 2020 (62) October 2020 (70) September 2020 (51) August 2020 (52) July 2020 (60) June 2020 (57) May 2020 (79) April 2020 (56) March 2020 (52) February 2020 (50) January 2020 (69) December 2019 (58) November 2019 (64) October 2019 (44) September 2019 (49) August 2019 (71) July 2019 (71) June 2019 (71) May 2019 (67) April 2019 (74) March 2019 (85) February 2019 (64) January 2019 (73) December 2018 (66) November 2018 (81) October 2018 (87) September 2018 (66) August 2018 (76) July 2018 (84) June 2018 (86) May 2018 (64) April 2018 (83) March 2018 (78) February 2018 (69) January 2018 (69) December 2017 (82) November 2017 (87) October 2017 (89) September 2017 (77) August 2017 (75) July 2017 (76) June 2017 (90) May 2017 (86) April 2017 (59) March 2017 (61) February 2017 (82) January 2017 (91) December 2016 (90) November 2016 (80) October 2016 (75) September 2016 (95) August 2016 (104) July 2016 (93) June 2016 (96) May 2016 (98) April 2016 (99) March 2016 (113) February 2016 (82) January 2016 (98) December 2015 (113) November 2015 (94) October 2015 (93) September 2015 (98) August 2015 (97) July 2015 (105) June 2015 (103) May 2015 (95) April 2015 (100) March 2015 (102) February 2015 (93) January 2015 (114) December 2014 (110) November 2014 (103) October 2014 (105) September 2014 (96) August 2014 (96) July 2014 (112) June 2014 (119) May 2014 (109) April 2014 (116) March 2014 (117) February 2014 (109) January 2014 (116) December 2013 (117) November 2013 (121) October 2013 (125) September 2013 (93) August 2013 (115) July 2013 (110) June 2013 (102) May 2013 (115) April 2013 (113) March 2013 (119) February 2013 (108) January 2013 (119) December 2012 (132) November 2012 (115) October 2012 (121) September 2012 (115) August 2012 (124) July 2012 (102) June 2012 (121) May 2012 (121) April 2012 (127) March 2012 (130) February 2012 (112) January 2012 (131) December 2011 (129) November 2011 (118) October 2011 (118) September 2011 (110) August 2011 (138) July 2011 (146) June 2011 (139) May 2011 (144) April 2011 (127) March 2011 (140) February 2011 (116) January 2011 (134) December 2010 (133) November 2010 (136) October 2010 (148) September 2010 (128) August 2010 (155) July 2010 (129) June 2010 (138) May 2010 (152) April 2010 (161) March 2010 (119) February 2010 (149) January 2010 (155) December 2009 (177) November 2009 (171) October 2009 (176) September 2009 (159) August 2009 (156) July 2009 (170) June 2009 (157) May 2009 (185) April 2009 (179) March 2009 (183) February 2009 (170) January 2009 (181) December 2008 (189) November 2008 (183) October 2008 (164) September 2008 (164) August 2008 (177) July 2008 (179) June 2008 (170) May 2008 (191) April 2008 (175) March 2008 (195) February 2008 (162) January 2008 (188) December 2007 (187) November 2007 (189) October 2007 (194) September 2007 (156) August 2007 (194) July 2007 (163) June 2007 (176) May 2007 (190) April 2007 (177) March 2007 (192) February 2007 (165) January 2007 (170) December 2006 (182) November 2006 (177) October 2006 (185) September 2006 (180) August 2006 (156) July 2006 (160) June 2006 (177) May 2006 (173) April 2006 (157) March 2006 (158) February 2006 (146) January 2006 (144) December 2005 (135) November 2005 (138) October 2005 (128) September 2005 (141) August 2005 (136) July 2005 (133) June 2005 (119) May 2005 (143) April 2005 (52) DUBAI: A state-owned newspaper in Dubai is reporting that authorities are investigating a center for the disabled after it hosted and publicized a visit by Kim Kardashian West. A story in Tuesdays edition of Emarat Al Youm says the investigation focused on Rashid Center for the Disabled not getting prior approval for the visit by Kardashian West. It also says authorities are concerned about T-shirts bearing Kardashian Wests image that were being handed out during the Jan. 16 visit. Dubai officials and the Rashid Center for the Disabled did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. Kardashian West traveled to Dubai to give a makeup class. It was her first major public appearance since being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week in October. Guwahati : Security forces had recovered at least three Improvised Explosive Device (IED)s and a live grenade from the Tinkupani reserve forest in Upper Assam's Tinsukia district during the combing operations against the militants on Monday morning. Massive combing operations are being conducted by the Assam police, army and other security agencies against the militants along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border ranging till the Myanmar border following the militants attack on an Assam Rifles vehicle on Sunday morning resulting three jawans killed and two others injured. Following the militants attack, security forces launched combing operation against the attackers and killed four militants. On Monday morning, security personnel had recovered three IEDs and a live grenade from the jungle area, which were later defused. Assam Police Special Director General Kula Saikia, who is camping near the ambush site at Warabasti in the Upper Assam district since Sunday evening, said that the IEDs recovered during the combing operations by several security agencies including Arunachal Pradesh counterparts. "As the area is densely forested and nearby to Myanmar border, we have sealed all the entry and exit points to the area and using sniffer dogs to track the militants," Assam Police Special DG Kula Saikia said. Meanwhile, a top army official said that, security personnel used another strategy to reach the militants hide site following the militants planted several land mines at the remote jungle area. On the other hand, a security meeting of top security officials including Assam Police Special DG, SPs of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh district was held at the 13 Assam Rifles base in Tinsukia to finalise the counter insurgency strategy. On Sunday, three army personnel and four militants were killed and two jawans injured in a fierce gun battle in Tinsukia district along Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border. The gun battle occurred following militants of Corcom comprising ULFA(I), NSCN(K) and UNLF ambushed an Assam Rifles vehicle, which escorting tourists to Pangsu Pass festival held along Arunachal Pradesh-Myanmar border. The militants ambushed the army vehicle at Warabasti 12th Mile area on NH-53 near Jagun in the Upper Assam district along border with Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday morning. The militants attacked on a vehicle of Assam Rifles by grenades and loud explosions were heard at the remote area. In the militants attack, five jawans were critically injured and they were rushed to the nearest government hospital. Among the injured army personnel, three succumbed their injuries. Two martyred jawans has been identified as riffleman L Ginlan Ven Nagaithe and riffleman Khampai Wangsu. Following the militants attack, top police and army officials had rushed to the bordering area and launched massive operation against the militant group which comprised over 50 cadres equipped with sophisticated weapons. Assam police ADGP Pallab Bhattacharya said that, at least four corcom militants killed and many injured in the follow-up action by army and police after the militants attack. Security personnel had recovered 5 IEDs, 2 hand grenades, one M-16 rifle, a G3 rifle, a 9mm pistol, huge quantity ammunitions, and uniforms and fired lathode shells from the encounter site. ULFA (I) and Corcom had claimed that, at least three army personnel were killed and many others injured in the militants attack. The militant groups also claimed that, they had snatched three weapons including two AK series rifles from the Assam Rifles troopers. Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday said that his government is fully committed to wipe out militancy and corruption from the state. He warned of stern retaliation against the militants behind the ambush on Assam Rifles and reiterated his firm stands on militancy. The Assam CM termed militants attack on Assam Rifles troops as cowardly act. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Guwahati : Security forces had apprehended three hardcore NDFB(S) militants with arms and ammunition from Assam's Chirang district on Sunday, Police said on Monday. Based on an intelligence input Chirang police, army and 210 COBRA had jointly launched operation at Thaisobari village near Laimuti under Runikhata police station in the BTAD district about sheltering of a group of NDFB(S) militants in the house of one Prahlad Muchahary. Security forces had apprehended three militants from the area and they were identified as Dhakaru Muchahary, Kapilau Basumutary and Birjoy Muchahary. Security personnel recovered one 7.65mm pistol with two magazines, two live ammunition, one country made pistol with two rounds live ammunition, two hand grenades, three Mobile Handsets, eleven Sim cards. (Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) LONDON, Jan 24: Britain's government must get parliamentary approval before starting the process of leaving the European Union, the Supreme Court ruling Tuesday, potentially delaying Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to trigger negotiations by the end of March. The ruling forces the government to put a bill before Parliament, giving pro-EU politicians a chance to soften the terms of Brexit Britain's exit from the EU. "Leave" campaigners had objected, saying Parliament shouldn't have the power to overrule the electorate, which voted to leave the bloc in a June 23 referendum. May had said she would use centuries-old powers known as royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty and launch two years of exit talks. The powers traditionally held by the monarch permit decisions about treaties and other issues to be made without a vote of Parliament. "The referendum is of great political significance, but the act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result, so any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. Constitution, namely by an act of Parliament," the president of the Supreme Court David Neuberger said in reading the judgement. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries," he said. The case was considered the most important constitutional issue in a generation, clarifying who ultimately wields power in Britain's system of government: the prime minister and her Cabinet, or Parliament. Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller sued to force the government to seek Parliamentary approval before invoking Article 50. Leaving the EU will change the fundamental rights of citizens and this can't be done without a vote of lawmakers, she argued. May had argued the referendum gave her a mandate to take Britain out of the 28-nation bloc and that discussing the details of her strategy with Parliament would weaken the government's negotiating position. The decision doesn't mean that Britain will remain in the EU. But it could delay the process. "Today's result comes as a surprise to no one. Unfortunately for businesses and other institutions, Brexit still means uncertainty," said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at Clifford Chance. "Parliament remains divided and the outcome of the negotiations remain unknown." Legal experts suggest that May's government will introduce an EU bill quickly and keep the scope of the legislation narrow focusing solely on triggering Article 50 - in order to limit the chance for amendments that could delay a vote. However, the bill could still be subject to delay in the unelected House of Lords. "Defeat in the House of Lords would not stop Brexit from happening, but it could delay it until mid-2020," Souta said. Miller, who founded SCM Direct, an online investment manager, had argued the case wasn't about blocking Brexit. Instead, she said, it was about "democracy" and the "dangerous precedent" that a government can overrule Parliament. The case revolved around an argument that dates back almost 400 years to the English Civil War as to whether power ultimately rests in the executive or Parliament. Underscoring the importance of the case, May put Attorney General Jeremy Wright in charge of the legal team fighting the suit. Wright had argued the suit is an attempt to put a legal obstacle in the way of enacting the referendum result. KHOTANG, Jan 24: Two elderly men, who were on the run in a drug-smuggling case, have been rearrested after 15 years from the district. Nar Bahadur Magar, 83, of Dhikuwa-2 in Khotang and his brother Harka Bahadur, 75, who were imprisoned after being convicted of smuggling illegal drug, had escaped from the prison 15 years ago, police said. The Magar brothers are yet to serve their remaining one year jail term and pay Rs 5,000 in fine each. The Magar brothers were arrested on Sunday evening and they were sent to jail after presenting in District Court on Monday, said Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Yadav. Alongside the Magar brothers, four other convicts in the case were also sentenced to one year in prison and fined Rs 5,000 each. The District Court delivered the verdict on September 17, 2002. Other four convicts have already been dead. RSS Donald Trump's executive order ending America's commitment to the Trans-Pacific Partnership has left U.S. allies like Japan and Australia aghast at the waste of time and effort on what was once a signature - and effective - policy in the region. His "America First" refrain in his inauguration speech, with all its suggestions of a widespread retrenchment of U.S resources from the Pacific, was equally disturbing. But they should be at least as alarmed by the contrary indications that Trump is intent on a newly assertive foreign policy in Asia, one more reliant on hard power. That latter vision, especially in combination with the former, is no less dangerous for America's friends in the region. FROM OUR PARTNERS: Beijing Calls 'One-China' Policy 'Non-Negotiable' Pause Unmute Current Time 0:43 / Duration Time 1:03 Loaded : 0% Progress : 0% Fullscreen Consider the testimony offered by Trump's Secretary of State pick Rex Tillerson, former CEO of ExxonMobil, in his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 11, as he warned of a more confrontational South China Sea policy: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." There are only so many ways the Trump team can go about sending such signals given its vow to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which America's allies had been hoping the United States would complete. By preemptively eliminating tools like economic statecraft from its foreign-policy toolbox, the Trump administration will be leaving itself with only hard power to counteract China's ambitions. That would probably mean an attempted military blockade against the Chinese navy in the South China Sea. But that raises a host of other questions: Is the Trump administration prepared to risk major conflict with China? What costs would they be willing to suffer in a clash far from American shores in Beijing's backyard? And would America's allies welcome such a clash? Tillerson's provocative remarks may be a rhetorical gesture, another tenuous red line, or they may signal the beginnings of a far more assertive American policy of containment aimed at curbing China's control of the South China Sea. Either interpretation invites peril. Or consider the "peace through strength" vision offered by Alexander Gray and Peter Navarro, two of Trump's Asia advisers, on Foreign Policy. They say the president will strengthen U.S. military might in the Pacific by expanding its presence of navy ships. The Asia hawks on Team Trump seem to think that a show of force is necessary to persuade Beijing to relent in its quest for regional domination. However, rather than stabilizing the region, such a strategy will increase the likelihood of a great power conflict between the United States and China. China is likely to believe the United States is trying to contain its rise, a position already popular among the leadership in Beijing. Bereft of trade incentives and heavy on military posturing, a Trump strategy of peace through strength will only empower Chinese hard-liners and increase the chances of a superpower conflict. Partners and allies in Asia look to Washington not just for security but for trade and investment. The two components complement each other as twin pillars of a comprehensive regional strategy. For decades, Washington has pursued a multifaceted approach encompassing both hard and soft power, advancing U.S. interests by diplomacy and the attractiveness of American investment, values, and culture. Hard and soft power are mutually reinforcing. American military strength has protected open sea lanes, guaranteeing freedom of commerce and navigation, while trade ties have justified U.S. military presence, which Asian countries view as necessary for stability and prosperity. Though the Obama administration downplayed the military component of its "pivot to Asia," its signature foreign policy aiming to shift attention and resources to the region, it failed to convince Beijing it was anything but a containment strategy. Beyond new defense deals, the administration sought to invest the United States in the incredible growth opportunities of "the Asian century." But the failure to pass TPP represents the collapse of the rebalance's economic pillar. Trump risks exacerbating this dangerous imbalance. If his advisors are unable to craft a more rounded Asia strategy, including new trade initiatives, the administration would reinforce Beijing's suspicions of U.S. intentions. It also would put our Asian partners in an uncomfortable position: Smaller countries don't want to be forced to choose between two competing superpowers. Nor is it clear whom they would select in such a circumstance. At times the inconsistency of various U.S. administrations has frustrated Asian partners. Moreover, each change in administration brings with it new personnel, many of whom are not known to local counterparts and spend years building trust and diplomatic capital. Beijing, on the other hand, presents a more or less consistent face due to glacial political change under a one-party system. It's far easier for America to pursue its interests in the region, and support its allies, when the military and economic components of its strategy go in tandem. Piggybacking on free-trade agreements (FTAs), the Obama administration was able to ink an array of deals on defense cooperation with Asian countries. For example, since Washington and Singapore signed an FTA in 2004, bilateral trade grew by 50 percent in a decade. The two sides signed a strategic partnership in 2012 and further elevated security ties by signing an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement in 2015. Similarly, the Korea-U.S. FTA goes hand in hand with a deep security alliance. Not only the most expansive free-trade agreement yet envisioned, the TPP also represented an on-ramp to a U.S.-Japan FTA, connecting the world's largest and third-largest economies and further strengthening the two countries' strong treaty alliance. Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the TPP marks a huge letdown for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who invested a huge amount of political capital betting on the deal's success. It is also a disappointment for American partners such as Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam, which view the United States as a counterweight to China's heft. American credibility rests on its ability to follow through on economic and security commitments. As Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, "If at the end of it all you let [Abe] down, which next Japanese prime minister is going to count on you - not just on trade but on security?" Lee also noted the implicit connection between American trade and security commitments: "If you are not prepared to deal when it comes to cars and services and agriculture, can we depend on you when it comes to security and military arrangements?" [Likely to appear in "Mainstreama weekly"] A judge of the Bombay High Court recently gave bail to three men who were charged with a murder committed in the presence of eye-witnesses. Here is part of the judgment, which looks not at facts but at presumed motivation: aThe fault of the deceased was only that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. Moreover, the applicants/accused have no criminal record and it appears in the name of the religion, they were provoked and have committed the murder.a This is extraordinary. In the first place, it sees abelonging to another religiona as a afaulta which can invite lethal assault. Beyond that, murder committed by people who are aprovokeda is seen as no worse than a minor transgression which should not invite incarceration. The Indian Penal Code recognises what it calls abetment. Section 109 of that Code prescribes this punishment for the crime of abetment: aWhoever abets any offence shall, if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, and no express provision is made by this Code for the punishment of such abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence.a Here is the explanation which follows: aAn act or offence is said to be committed in consequence of abetment, when it is committed in consequence of the instigation, or in pursuance of the conspiracy, or with the aid which constitutes the abetment.a Is there any difference between ainstigationa and aprovocationa and aabetmenta ? Did the judge who pronounced this judgment say anything about identifying, arresting and punishing the abettors? Did the judge even consider the fact that Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code deals with apromoting enmity between different groupsa ? What other meaning can there be of provoking Hindus to kill a Muslim because he is a Muslim? The New York Times, 22 January 2017 To Secular Bangladeshis, Textbook Changes Are a Harbinger By ELLEN BARRY and JULFIKAR ALI MANIK Students at a madrasa, or Islamic school, last year in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Changes were recently made to textbooks after requests from conservative Islamic religious scholars. Credit A.M. Ahad/Associated Press DHAKA, Bangladesh a Bangladeshas Education Ministry was preparing to print the 2017 editions of its standard Bengali textbooks when a group of conservative Islamic religious scholars demanded the removal of 17 poems and stories they deemed aatheistic.a By the time the books were distributed to schools on Jan. 1, the 17 poems and stories were gone, with no explanation from the government. Other changes had crept in, too: First graders studying the alphabet were taught that aoa stands for aorna,a a scarf worn by devout Muslim girls starting at puberty, not for aol,a a type of yam; and a sixth-grade travelogue describing a visit to the Hindu-dominated north of India was replaced by one about the Nile in Egypt. The changes were barely noticeable to the general public, but they alarmed some Bangladesh intellectuals, who saw them as the governmentas accommodating a larger shift toward radical Islam. Bangladesh has struggled to contain extremist violence in recent years, as Islamist militants have targeted secular writers and intellectuals. But equally significant, over the long term, are changes taking place in the general population: The number of women wearing the hijab has gradually risen, as has the number of students enrolled in madrasas, or Islamic schools. That religious organizations now have a hand in editing textbooks, a prerogative they sought for years, suggests that their influence is growing, even with the Awami League party, which is avowedly secular, in power. It is a shift that, increasingly, worries the United States. Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan in 1971, and in the decades that followed, it defined itself as adamantly secular and democratic. For years, this ideology seemed to serve as an insulating force. Transnational jihadist networks that flourished in Afghanistan and Pakistan found little purchase in Bangladesh, despite its dense, poor Muslim population and porous borders. But over the last several years, as extremist attacks on atheist bloggers and intellectuals became commonplace, secular thought was also fast receding from Bangladeshas public spaces. Islamist organizations, analysts say, are so skilled at mobilizing that it has become harder for the government to ignore their demands, especially with a general election coming in 2019. Hefazat-e-Islam, a vast Islamic organization based in Dhaka, the capital, first called for changes to the textbooks during huge rallies in 2013. aWe went to the higher-ups in the government,a Mufti Fayez Ullah, the groupas joint secretary general, said. aThe government realized, aYes, the Muslims should not learn this.a So they amended it. I want to add that all the political parties, they consider their popularity among the people.a A spokesman for the Education Ministry would not comment on the changes. Narayan Chandra Saha, chairman of the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, said the revisions were routine and not made at anyoneas request. aIf Hefazat claims the changes were made per their demand, I have nothing to say in this regard,a he said. A protest against the changes, held outside the textbook boardas offices on Sunday, drew a few hundred students and political activists. But there has been no criticism from the countryas main opposition party, the Bangladesh National Party, which typically pounces on any controversial move by the Awami League. aItas like there is perfect consensus between the ruling party and the opposition on these issues,a said Amena Mohsin, a professor of international relations at the University of Dhaka. aIn a majoritarian democracy, you give in to populism.a The divide between Islamist and secular Bangladeshis came into sharp, sudden focus in 2013, when tens of thousands of activists a mostly students at provincial madrasas a flooded into the center of Dhaka with a list of demands: punishment for aatheist bloggers,a the destruction of sculptures and mandatory Islamic education, including changes to textbooks. Photo Supporters of Hefazat-e-Islam, a vast Islamic organization based in Dhaka, demanding the enactment of an anti-blasphemy law in 2013. The group has been seeking changes to textbooks. Credit Ismail Ferdous/Associated Press The government, alarmed, put forward its own education overhaul. Beginning in 2014, education officials required the countryas 10,000 government-registered madrasas to use standardized government textbooks through eighth grade, in the hope of better integrating young people from conservative backgrounds. Siddiqur Rahman, a retired educator leading the effort to revise government textbooks for use by madrasas, said the goal was apushing them into general education.a aThere was a wide gap in beliefs and thinking and attitude,a he said. aWe are trying to change the attitudes of people on the street. It is difficult, but not impossible.a It has required many compromises with religious leaders. Madrasa leaders, in written recommendations to education officials, requested that abeautiful Islamic namesa replace Hindu, Christian or foreign-sounding names in textbooks used in madrasas, saying this was athe concrete right of the people of Islamic monotheism.a They also requested the omission of any conversation between boys and girls, saying, aItas a great sin in Islam to talk to a young girl for nothing.a The authorities, apparently, were quite receptive. In English textbooks for use in madrasas, all Hindu, Christian or foreign-sounding names have been replaced by Muslim names. Conversations between boys and girls have been omitted. Illustrations of girls with bare heads have been edited out. The word aperioda was removed from a section on girlsa physical development. The name of the chairman of the textbook board, a Hindu professor, does not appear. aThe government was a little flexible in that regard,a Mr. Rahman said. aI think that for achieving the greater good, some sacrifice should be made.a But the officials who oversaw the editing initially refused Hefazatas demand to omit the 17 poems and stories from the general textbook, used in 20,000 secondary schools as well as madrasas, according to two officials on the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Mufti Fayez Ullah, of Hefazat-e-Islam, said he had been compelled to go over those peopleas heads to high-ranking officials. aIf the government is willing to address this demand, bureaucracy cannot be that much of a hurdle,a he said. aWe went to the Education Ministry. We went to the higher-ups in the government.a Rasheda K. Choudhury, an activist who served as a government adviser to the Education Ministry under the previous administration, said it was unclear who made the decision to accept the Islamistsa changes. aNobody knew about it. Nobody is taking responsibility,a she said. aParents are asking me, aShould we start teaching our children at home?aa The leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam, meanwhile, are eager to suggest the next round of changes. Arts and crafts courses should not instruct children to depict anything living, which is proscribed by Islam, and should instead offer instruction only in calligraphy, said Abdullah Wasel, a member of Hefazatas central committee. The group also wants to eliminate physical education textbooks that depict exercise by girls or young women, Mr. Fayez Ullah said. aWhat boys do, girls cannot do,a he said. aI can climb a tree, but my wife and sister, they cannot. It is not necessary to have pictures of girls doing exercise.a But the larger goal, he said, goes far beyond textbooks. He hopes to push through a full separation of boys and girls beginning in the fifth grade. Mixing of sexes in the classroom, he said, results in young men and women who aprefer to live together, prefer to have physical relations before marriage.a As for the National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Hefazat has petitioned the government to remove every current member, starting with the boardas chairman, Mr. Saha, who is Hindu, Mr. Fayez Ullah said. aI would like to raise the question a and I am not saying I am against him a but is there not any Muslim that can be a chairman of the textbook board in this country?a he said. The group, he said, has requested that Mr. Saha be replaced with aa patriot who understands the sentiment and spirit of the population of Bangladesh.a He added, aYou cannot expect to grow jackfruit from a mango tree.a A version of this article appears in print on January 23, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Turn to Islam in Bangladesh. o o o The Financial Express, 11 January 2017 The debate over school textbooks Pamelia Khaled Use of language in Bangladesh school textbooks is spurring battles across the country. The nation is divided on school textbooks that were distributed recently to school students all over the country. Teachers, educators, parents, social groups and lawmakers are protesting every day in the media. People view the texts as an explicit portrayal of certain religious views and teachings. People are concerned why the Bangladesh curriculum committee added this year some of those seventeen stories and poems that were not accepted last year, as those allegedly reflect communal sentiments. And why 12 stories and poems rejected earlier by Hefajat E Islam a political party, were not included. This Islamic political party accused that those pieces reflect the idea of atheism and Hinduism, so those must not be included as texts. The texts of Humayun Azad, Kusumkumari, were also rejected by this party. It is indeed strange to see that to satisfy this party, gendered and religious ideas were included while introducing alphabets in grade 1 textbook. It seems a secular multicultural country lost its essence due to the political trickery of racial and political agenda. Development of a society is hugely reliant on how it invests in human capital from the early stage of learning. Human capital theory rests on the assumption that formal education is instrumental and necessary for improving the productive capacity of a population. It focuses on productivity and efficiency among the labour force and supports investment in formal education to enhance individuals capabilities by increasing their levels of cognitive development. The idea was to invest in the establishment of education systems, create employment and to develop strong cores of workers and managers. This idea of human capital theory was critiqued as "technocratic-meritocratic" because of its over-emphasis on producing skills and knowledge for learners to become successful workers. It has also been criticised for its failure to adequately address inequality in society. However, since 1970s, Bangladesh like the other developing countries concentrated on this human capital agenda and the belief that teachers time and effort can enhance learners skills and abilities, leading to job market rewards. But currently, Bangladesh is prone to developing racial texts. Scholars view racial theory as central to understanding curriculum. The issue of multiculturalism has created debate about whether curriculum reform is necessary. Bangladeshi intellectuals and educators insist that curriculum must be reformed to reflect the history of the nation and its cultures, including those of the ethnic groups. Reading the current conflicts about the texts issue, I am pessimistic about the role of current formal education, as I consider school and the racial and political text is the source of social inequalities, increasing unequal power relationships in Bangladesh. I argue that current racial texts will fuel up social inequality and favour a social structure that is biased towards certain religious groups. This will challenge the significance of education and skills for economic and social development, and the unequal power relationships will undermine the marginalised. Education and employment opportunities are closely inter-related, but school structures and curriculum help maintain societys social and economic structures. The concept of ideology is central to understanding curriculum as a political text. As the current curriculum appears to have hidden dimensions, its ideological values would negatively affect learners self-development. Racial text is the consequence of the tricks and trickery of politics of the ruling elites. We hope the government acknowledged how they are losing their political grip to racist, fundamentalist political view. As we all know, how allowing a vulnerable, religious fundamentalist stream into politics and making coalition with them jeopardised Bangladeshs secular environment. Past regimes idea of declaring Islam as a state religion was a hard blow for the multicultural people of Bangladesh. Zia and Ershad regimes are (equally) responsible for dividing the nation in the name of religion. Later on, the current government is alleged to have adopted this divisive notion for its own political advantage. Getting votes with the attitude of go with the flow is not beneficial in restoring countrys peace, safety, security, and crafting a stable social and political environment. The writer is an anthropologist and environmentalist. She is pursuing her PhD research on Curriculum Studies and Teacher Development at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Canada. pamelia07[at]hotmail.com o o o bdnews24.com Scholars, writers call for recall of faulty textbooks that feed radicalism Staff Correspondent, Reuters Published: 2017-01-11 01:28:50.0 BdST Updated: 2017-01-11 01:29:21.0 BdST A group of 85 eminent scholars, writers and cultural workers have demanded that the error-riddled textbooks be withdrawn and action taken against those guilty for the blunder. Signed by cultural activist Kamal Lohani, the statement issued by the group on Tuesday alleged that materials insinuating fundamentalism and extremism have been intentionally inserted in the books. They have alleged that the books could encourage fundamentalism and terrorism in Bangladesh. The statement says, "We strongly demand the immediate withdrawal of the books. At the same time, we demand that the young minds be saved from being fed with ideas of extremism and negativism and help develop a healthy nation by forbidding education through these books." They have found faults with the book on three counts: "One: Spelling and factual mistakes, Two: Problems in sentence formations and Three: injecting communally sensitive ideas." They believe that the first two are the results of mismanagement while the third is a planned outcome. In the statement, they have protested against the governments indulgence to communalism and terrorism which the "government claims to be against". "On the one hand, the government is harvesting communalism in the textbook, and on the other, it is peddling poison of discrimination among the young minds," the statement observed. Protesting against the omission of works by Rabindranath Tagore, Lalon Fakir, Satyen Sen and other writers, the group warned that the "base thinking that allowed deletion of these writers will wreak havoc in the future by inspiring fundamentalism, and extremism in Bangladesh." The Indian Express Social activist Bela Bhatia threatened, asked to leave Bastar in 24 hours This comes days after Bela Bhatia accompanied an NHRC team to Bijapur to record statements of rape and assault victims. Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: January 23, 2017 6:26 pm Social activist Bela Bhatia was allegedly threatened by a group of men who barged into her home in Bastar on Monday morning. Around 30 men arrived at Bhatiaas home in Parpa village and gave her 24 hours to vacate the house. They threatened to burn it down if she refused to comply. This comes days after Bhatia accompanied an National Human Rights Commission team to Bijapur to record statements of rape and assault victims. The NHRC recently released a report, accusing Bastar Police personnel of raping 16 tribal women in the area. Statement signed by Bela Bhatia today under pressure. Statement signed by Bela Bhatia today under pressure. Bhatia reportedly called the local police for help, but they failed to restrain the men, except for when they tried to enter her house again. Similar intimidation tactics have been used in the past to apply pressure on activists fighting for tribal rights in Bastar. In 2016, lawyers representing the Jagdalpur Legal Aid group were also similarly asked to leave after a few unidentified persons had put pressure on their landlord. More details awaited [See also: http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/activist-bela-bhatia-attacked-at-home-in-chhattisgarhs-bastar-asked-to-leave-in-24-hours-1651745 http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chhattisgarh-bela-bhatia-civil-rights-activists-attacked-bastar-asked-to-vacate-house/1/864431.html http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/raipur/Activist-Bela-Bhatia-threatened-asked-to-leave-Bastar-within-24-hours/articleshow/56735402.cms http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/activist-bela-bhatia-threatened-ld-leave-chhattisgarh http://www.rediff.com/news/report/security-for-activist-bela-bhatia-vanishes/20170125.htm ] o o o Editorial in The Indian Express, 25 January 2017 Another Black Mark Mob threat to Bela Bhatia underlines a disturbing pattern: Raman Singh governmentas failure to enforce rule of law The reported threat to Bela Bhatia, a well-known academic researching tribal rights, must be seen as a challenge to the writ of the Indian state. On Monday, a gang of 30 men on motorcycles arrived at her doorstep and asked her to leave her rented house in a Bastar village within 24 hours. The immediate provocation for the threat seems to be that Bhatia had accompanied a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team to Pedagellur and Bellam Nendra, villages in Bastar, to record the testimonies of tribal women who had complained of being sexually assaulted by security personnel. In an interim report earlier this month, the NHRC had confirmed that 16 women were aprima facie victims of rape, sexual and physical assault by state police personnel in Chhattisgarha in Bijapur district in October 2015 and asked the state government for a detailed report from Pedagellur and Bellam Nendra. The ultimatum issued to Bhatia is a blatant attempt by vested interests to silence voices that could help the NHRCas probe. What is alarming is that these interests appear to have the backing of the administration in a state where all those who speak for the rights of tribes and argue for due process run the risk of being instantly labelled aides of Maoists. Bhatia is not the first person to face intimidation in Bastar. Ever since the Maoist insurgency broke out in Chhattisgarh in the early 2000s, state administrations, starting with the then Congress government, have sought to silence opposition by intimidation. Salwa Judum, the state-sponsored vigilante movement, primarily targeted civil society actors who highlighted the plight of tribals caught in the crossfire between Maoists and the state. The state government discontinued the Salwa Judum after the Supreme Court intervened, but similar vigilante inititiatives have flourished in Chhattisgarh with the tacit support of the state government. In recent times, journalists, lawyers, activists, and even, mainstream politicians have been targeted by these vigilante groups while the administration turns a blind eye. Last November, the NHRC summoned S.R.P. Kalluri, IG of Bastar range, along with the chief secretary of Chhattisgarh to explain why the police lodged FIRs against academics who were in the state to investigate rights violations. The meeting is yet to take place as Kalluri pleaded for its postponement on health grounds. The reluctance to appear before the NHRC is just another reflection of the administrationas callous approach towards addressing peopleas concerns. The core question is the Raman Singh administrationas commitment to civil liberties and democratic processes. Evidence suggests that it has failed in protecting the fundamental right of its citizens to disagree and dissent. o o o [Text of Statement issued by Peoples Union for Democratic Rights ] Peopleas Union for Democratic Rights Condemn the Intimidation of Bela Bhatia PUDR strongly condemns the intimidation of activist Bela Bhatia by members of the vigilante group AGNI on 23 January 2017. This intimidation comes just a few days after the NHRCas visit to Bastar to record the statements of women who have suffered sexual violence at the hands of the security forces and the police in two separate incidents in October 2015 and January 2016 in Peddagelur and Bellamnendra villages. The NHRC recently released a report also accusing the Chhattisgarh police of sexual violence in this area. Bela Bhatia accompanied the NHRC team on its visits. Bela Bhatia was terrorized by a mob of 30 men outside her home in Parpa village, Jagdalpur. The men threatened to burn the house down if she did not leave Bastar immediately. The mob entered the house and threatened her landlady as well. The mob was extremely belligerent and threatened to break her lock and burn the house. While Bela Bhatia managed to contact the Bastar collector, when the police actually arrived, it shockingly did little to disperse the mob. The men continued to harass Bela and forced her to sign a declaration saying she would leave Bastar in 24 hours. Before this, Bela Bhatiaas landlady and her sons had been called to the police thana on 22nd January and asked to ensure that Bela leaves the house immediately. Bela Bhatia is a social scientist and has been researching on counter insurgency and sexual violence against adivasi women in Bastar. She has been on the Planning Commission looking at the problems of governance in conflict areas. She has taught in institutions like TISS, Mumbai and CSDS, New Delhi. For exposing the lawlessness in Chhattisgarh and the violations of the rights of the adivasis through her work, she has constantly been harassed by the police and vigilante groups. On an earlier occasions on 24th October personnel of the Chhattisgarh Auxilliary Police Force had burnt effigies of Bela Bhatia along with Soni Sori, Malini Subramaniam, Nandini Sundar, and Manish Kunjam and had called them aanti-nationala. This aprotesta by the police was in response to the CBI submitting its finding in the Tadmetla massacre of 2011 which held 7 SPOas and 26 Salwa Judum members guilty of arson and looting in the village. CBI also found evidences of killing, rapes, brutal assault in Tadmetla. In burning effigies, the police had claimed the CBI charges were baseless and that these individuals were responsible for maligning them by spreading false stories about them. The vigilante group AGNI which harassed Bela Bhatia is an offshoot of Salwa Judum which was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2011. However even after its dissolution, the group continued its activities under different names, like the Samajik Ekta Match and now as AGNI. This group was involved in another incident of harassment involving lawyer Shalini Gera who provides legal aid to adivasis in Chhattisgarh. This systematic targetting of activists by the vigilante group could not have been carried out without the help and support of the police, especially the IG, SRP Kalluri who has repeatedly threatened activists working in Chhattisgarh. Shockingly, text messages sent to IG SRP Kalluri today by individuals concerned about Bela Bhatiaas safety were replied to in a dismissive, mocking, abusive manner. The messages sent by SRP Kalluri threatening violence against and accusing those asking for protection for Bela of being Maoists who would be finished off, offer ample evidence of his contempt for the rule of law and how he sees his authority as being beyond challenge. His response also reveals a lot about the nexus between police and operations of the vigilante groups like AGNI and how they enjoy complete impunity in violating peopleas rights. It should be noted that the NHRC had summoned SRP Kalluri on 16 January, 2017, in connection with the police vendetta against lawyers, activists and journalists who are critical of the increasing police atrocities in Chhattisgarh. SRP Kalluri however, never appeared before the NHRC while under his rule violations of democratic rights continue to increase daily. The attempt at silencing activists has proliferated in Chhattisgarh. Members of the Telangana Democratic forum were arrested by the police on 25th December 2016, while going for a fact finding in Chhattisgarh in relation to a case of fake encounter, Shalini Gera was harassed by members of the same vigilante group which are targetting Bela Bhatia. PUDR in an open letter to the Chief Justice of India has highlighted the increasing intimidation of activists, lawyers and journalist who are attempting to uncover incidents of murder, sexual violence and torture in Chhattisgarh at great personal risk to themselves. (See: http://pudr.org/content/open-letter-chief-justice-india-seeking-immediate-intervention-arrest-activists-telangana) While reports of atrocities on adivasis are pouring in daily, the new strategy of the Chhattisgarh government is to silence any news by targetting activists, lawyers and journalists. The hounding of Bela Bhatia and the unrelenting attacks on those uncovering stories of violence or attempting to provide any kind of help to adivasis is extremely distressing and points towards the failure of rule of law and justice in the State. PUDR demands 1) The harassment of Bela Bhatia along with the harassment of her landlady and her family should stop immediately. Their safety should be ensured and steps should be taken to make sure Bela Bhatia is not hounded out of her residence. 2) Action be taken against members of the vigilante group AGNI for threatening and harassing Bela Bhatia. 3) The immediate removal of IG SRP Kalluri under whose regime atrocities against adivasis and activists have increased with utter impunity. 4) The harassment of activists, lawyers and journalists in Chhattisgarh should stop immediately. Cijo Joy and Anushka Singh Secretaries, PUDR 24 January 2017 http://pudr.org/content/condemn-intimidation-bela-bhatia US President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington January 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] A group including former White House ethics attorneys will file a lawsuit on Monday accusing President Donald Trump of allowing his businesses to accept payments from foreign governments, in violation of the US Constitution. The lawsuit, brought by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, will allege that the Constitution's emoluments clause forbids payments to Trump's businesses. It will seek a court order forbidding Trump from accepting such payments, said Deepak Gupta, one of the lawyers working on the case. Trump does business with countries like China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, the group noted in a statement. "When Trump the president sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman," it said. Trump told reporters on Monday the lawsuit was "without merit," when asked about the case after signing some executive orders in the Oval Office. The White House referred questions to a law firm representing the president on ethics matters. "We do not comment on our clients or the work we do for them," said the representative of the firm, Morgan Lewis & Bockius. The case is part of a wave of litigation expected to be filed against Trump by liberal advocacy groups. It will be filed in federal court in Manhattan, Gupta said, and attorneys for the plaintiffs will include Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer in Republican President George W. Bush's White House. The impending lawsuit was earlier reported by The New York Times. Eric Trump, one of Trump's sons and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Times on Sunday that the company had taken more steps than required by law to avoid any possible legal exposure, such as agreeing to donate any profits collected at Trump-owned hotels that come from foreign government guests to the US Treasury. "This is purely harassment for political gain," Trump told the newspaper. The Constitution's emoluments clause states: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." When I buy DVD's or Blu-rays, the cover art normally doesn't concern me all that much... unless we're talking about a super-special edition, in which case I'll see if it warrants a Pretty Packaging article.Newly commissioned covers can be cool, of course, but more often than not they are like fan-art, either not reaching the quality of the original posters or overdoing it (and often spoiling half the film to boot). Sure, many posters forbeat the original artwork, but a lot of them rely on everyone knowing by now what the monster looks like. Arrow UK had this thing going where they let people on their forum choose the commissioned art for their new releases, but that almost invariably resulted in the lewdest design winning the battle. So in general, I'm perfectly happy to just see the original poster art, as used during the film's theatrical release.Exceptions always occur though. I mean, check out the art above, for French distributor Carlotta's upcoming Ultra Collector release of Brian De Palma's. In my opinion it's damn awesome, and I'd sure want this on MY wall (preferably as a blacklight poster)!It's not the first time Carlotta scores with their commissioned cover art: the first of their Ultra Collector Releases looked pretty fine as well . Also, many people will have fond memories of some non-original VHS covers of that platform's hay-day. And I haven't even mentioned Mondo yet...So our question of the week is: what is your favorite "new" (as in: not-used-in-theaters-originally) film poster? Which piece of art which struck the right tone and style?Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY!(Oh, and feel free to post links towards the images.) Sorice. It was created by a Dutch filmmaker named Angelo De Whitt (White) and it landed him a gig with a studio in Los Angeles. Having watched it I said that Sorice was "a neat blend of horror visuals that caps off with a sci-fi element". If you recall, last month we brought you a teaser for a proof of concept short film called. It was created by a Dutch filmmaker named Angelo De Whitt (White) and it landed him a gig with a studio in Los Angeles. Having watched it I said thatwas "a neat blend of horror visuals that caps off with a sci-fi element". Unable to escape from something that lives within, a young woman must learn to control her fears, only to reveal her past and to discover a powerful future. As promised the complete short is now available and you may watch it below. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). Rounding up some diverse prison stories from the industrial midwest | Main | Two Governors dealing with prison overcrowding problems in distinct ways January 24, 2017 "Judge Gorsuch & Johnson Resentencing" The title of this post is the title of this timely new commentary now on SSRN authored by Leah Litman about the latest "hot name" to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. Here is the first paragraph: Jan Crawford has reported that President Donald Trump is strongly considering appointing Judge Neil Gorsuch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to the U.S. Supreme Court. I do not know Judge Gorsuch, but I do know his opinion in Prost v. Anderson, which is a rather wonky case on a somewhat technical area of federal habeas law. Prost provides an interesting insight into Judge Gorsuchs jurisprudence. The case concerns an issue on which the court of appeals disagree, and so it provides a nice glimpse into how Judge Gorsuch might address matters that are reasonably susceptible to different resolution, as many of the Supreme Courts cases are. Prost illustrates how Judge Gorsuch will balance competing considerations of fairness and administrability in criminal law. While there is much to like about Prost it is well written, clearly reasoned, and adopts an administrable rule the opinion also raises some concerns. The opinion overvalues proceduralism relative to substantive rights in a way that will have the effect of eroding litigants access to courts. January 24, 2017 at 09:20 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment Two Governors dealing with prison overcrowding problems in distinct ways | Main | "Orange is the New Black: Inequality in America's Criminal Justice System" January 24, 2017 Split Colorado Supreme Court concludes federal law precludes state officers from returning marijuana to acquitted defendants The Colorado Supreme Court yesterday issued an interesting ruling driven by the conflict between the state's marijuana reforms and federal prohibition. (SCOTUS fans might note the majority opinion was authored by Justice Allison Eid, who is on Prez Trump's (not-so-)short list.) Here are parts of how the majority opinion in Colorado v. Crouse, No. 2017 CO 5 (Colo. Jan 23, 2017) (available here), gets started: The states medical marijuana amendment, article XVIII, section 14(2)(e) of the Colorado Constitution, requires law enforcement officers to return medical marijuana seized from an individual later acquitted of a state drug charge. The federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) prohibits the distribution of marijuana, with limited exceptions. 21 U.S.C. 801971 (2012). The question in this case is whether the return provision of section 14(2)(e) is preempted by the federal CSA.... The CSA does not preempt state law on the same subject matter unless there is a positive conflict between [a] provision of [the CSA] and that State law so that the two cannot consistently stand together. 21 U.S.C. 903 (2012). The return provision requires law enforcement officers to return, or distribute, marijuana. Distribution of marijuana, however, remains unlawful under federal law. Thus, compliance with the return provision necessarily requires law enforcement officers to violate federal law. This constitutes a positive conflict between the return provision and the CSAs distribution prohibition such that the two cannot consistently stand together. Moreover, the exemption relied upon by the court of appeals does not resolve this conflict. Section 885(d) of the CSA immunizes only those officers who are lawfully engaged in the enforcement of any law . . . relating to controlled substances. 21 U.S.C. 885(d) (2012) (emphasis added). This court has held that an act is lawful only if it complies with both state and federal law. Coats v. Dish Network, LLC, 2015 CO 44, 4, 350 P.3d 849, 851. The officers here could not be lawfully engaged in law enforcement activities given that their conduct would violate federal law. Here is part of the start of the dissent authored by Justice Gabriel: Because I believe that the plain language of 885(d) of the CSA, 21 U.S.C. 885(d), immunizes federal and state officers from civil and criminal liability in the circumstances at issue here, I perceive no conflict between the CSA and section 14(2)(e) of article XVIII of the Colorado Constitution, nor do I believe that it is impossible to comply with both the CSA and the Colorado Constitution, as the majority implicitly and the People expressly contend. Though not in any way related to this ruling, I cannot help but take this not-quite-perfect opportunity to share titles and links to some coverage of marijuana reform issues from my other major blog, Marijuana Law, Policy and Reform: January 24, 2017 at 11:07 AM | Permalink Comments Just going by the excerpts, realizing the full remarks often colors judgment, the majority seems to be on solid footing here. Immunity from liability as such wouldn't necessarily be enough there -- it can be illegal on federal law grounds and you can be immune from punishment without being obligated to also return the marijuana. Overall, this shows how the two tier system in place is complicated and a clear rule fully giving state discretion here would be a major step. It also goes to show that how Sessions et. al. applies the rules in question, clearly open to debate, is important. Posted by: Joe | Jan 24, 2017 12:32:14 PM States shouldn't be handing out contraband. This should have been an easy case. Off topic: http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2017/01/24/michigan-man-whose-drug-sentence-commuted-by-obama-is-shot-dead/ Posted by: federalist | Jan 24, 2017 3:13:59 PM A Controlled Substances Act that fails to ban alcohol and tobacco is lawyer quackery. If pubic safety is the aim of the Act, it is allowing substances that kill 500,000 people directly, and over 25,000 people indirectly, by suicide and murder. Lawyer quackery violates Fifth Amendment procedural due process rights. It may be ignored. If federal officials assert the Supremacy Clause, any litigation would take so long as to moot the claim. The substances would have long been consumed. Posted by: David Behar | Jan 24, 2017 4:21:37 PM If, as in this case, 1)defendant is found not to have violated the law and 2)the seized materials cannot be legally returned to the defendant, does this imply 3)payment requirement for destruction of property by the state? Also, given the outrageous prices cited by LE to puff up values of seizures (and possibly already filed in a case such as this), the assessed cost of damage could be rather high. Posted by: SS | Jan 25, 2017 10:15:10 AM I think the statute clearly would cause the officers to violate Federal law. Therefore, the court's ruling is logical. I do think there is an argument for compensation under the Takings Clause, though. Posted by: Erik M | Jan 25, 2017 2:55:32 PM Post a comment "Judge Gorsuch & Johnson Resentencing" | Main | Split Colorado Supreme Court concludes federal law precludes state officers from returning marijuana to acquitted defendants January 24, 2017 Two Governors dealing with prison overcrowding problems in distinct ways I covered some midwest prison stories here yesterday, and today brings these interesting state prison reform stories from the south and west: From Alabama here, "Gov. Robert Bentley says new prisons top priority this year" As of September, Alabama had about 23,000 prisoners in facilities designed for about 13,000, an occupancy rate of about 175 percent. Overcrowding is not a new problem but makes it harder to deal with other pressing concerns. In October, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was investigating the state's prisons. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson is conducting a trial on claims that mental health care for inmates fails to meet constitutional standards. A trial on similar claims about medical care is expected later this year. Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn told lawmakers in November that prison violence was rising and the number of corrections officers had dropped by 20 percent in five years. Bentley and Dunn say the plan to build four new prisons, called the Alabama Prison Transformation Initiative, would be the most cost effective way to alleviate the overcrowding, under-staffing and other problems. From Nevada here, "Sandoval wants to streamline parole process to fight prison overcrowding" Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval is pursuing creative solutions to a potential prison overcrowding challenge that could see capacity exceeded by 700 inmates by the end of the next budget without prompt action. Our goal is to not construct a new prison, Mike Willden, chief of staff to Sandoval, said in a budget briefing last week. Prison construction is not cheap, and it has to be paid with state general funds. In 2007, the Legislature approved $300 million for prison construction projects. Sandovals solution rests primarily with the Division of Parole and Probation and the Parole Commission, which will be given new resources to speed up parole for as many as 300 to 400 eligible inmates.... At the Prison Board meeting, it was reported that one-third of paroled inmates being returned to prison were there for parole violations only. Crowding is a problem within the prison system. Corrections Director James Dzurenda said at the meeting that 13,742 inmates were housed in the system well over capacity if only regular housing beds were used. But the department has converted large areas of prisons, created for other purposes, into dormitory-style beds. In addition to seeking to expedite paroles, the Department of Corrections has a capital construction project worth about $6 million to add 200 beds at the Southern Desert Correctional Center. A third element of the plan, if needed, sets aside about $12 million to temporarily house some Nevada inmates out-of-state while the parole efforts get up to speed, Willden said. State lawmakers will get a first look at the corrections and parole budget proposals at a hearing Jan. 31, a week ahead of the start of the 2017 session on Feb. 6. Sandoval said in his budget that his goal is to reduce prison inmate recidivism by 10 percent through education programs and intervention services and resources, particularly in the areas of behavioral health, drug addiction and workforce training. January 24, 2017 at 10:31 AM | Permalink Comments Post a comment The Bay Area work of the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright, both the ten or so projects that were built and twenty or so more that only made it to the design or sketch phase, has now been chronicled and thoroughly documented in a new book from Yale University Press, Frank Lloyd Wright and San Francisco. Written by Wright scholar and emeritus professor of art at Stanford Paul V. Turner, the book tells the complete story of Wright's unusual affinity for the Bay Area, in spite of his famous dislike of cities in general. "Wright's Bay Area works are distinctive mainly for their diversity and the unprecedented nature of many of them," writes Turner. "They demonstrate, perhaps more than his buildings in any other location, the amazing variety and innovation of creations, and the fertility of his imagination." Favorites among local residential architecture lovers include the Buehler House in Orinda now available for weddings and other events the Hanna House on the Stanford campus, and the Berger House in San Anselmo, commissioned by a young college professor, Robert Berger, in 1950, and which Berger then built by hand over the course of 20 years. Notably, Berger's son Jim Berger, who still owns the home, asked the architect to design an adjacent dog house for the family dog, which Jim Berger reconstructed several years ago after his late mother had destroyed it. Wright's thirty or so projects in the Bay Area, beginning in the 1910s though a mysterious sketch of an unbuilt house in Oakland from the year 1900 is the first evidence of Wright's interest in the region and ending with one of Wright's last completed public buildings, the Marin County Civic Center in 1959, represent an incredibly diverse collection of buildings, some of them among his most ambitious and dramatic. One example is his unbuilt "Butterfly Bridge" design to span the Bay from Alameda to San Francisco, a duplicate effort of then 12-year-old Bay Bridge but more elegant, complete with a public park in its center, which he unveiled with great fanfare in 1949, including displaying a model of it at Stonestown shopping center. Another is an unbuilt cliffside home in the Seacliff neighborhood for one of his most loyal clients, the Vere Morrises, for whom he also designed the V. C. Morris gift shop on Maiden Lane in Union Square, which still stands today. The Seacliff mansion, for which Wright would design several schemes over multiple years, is one that Turner considers among the architects "most tragically unbuilt" projects, as well as a skyscraper for the San Francisco Call, commissioned in the years after the 1906 earthquake and fire, which destroyed the paper's original headquarters. The grand Marin County Civic Center, visible from the 101 in San Rafael, like so many public projects, faced plenty of opposition before breaking ground in 1961 (two years after Wright's death), as the Chronicle explained in this piece last year. Ultimately fully completed in 1976, Turner tells SFist he thinks the building "is one of his most powerful works. Moreover, it is beautifully maintained by the county administration and the various boards and organizations that oversee and support it." But probably the most wildly ambitious, beautiful, and unfortunately unbuilt of Wright's local projects, and one that could have been among his great masterworks, was the headquarters of nascent technology firm The Lenkurt Electric Company, commissioned by early Silicon Valley telecom pioneers Lennart G. Erickson and Kurt E. Appert. Lenkurt had a promising construction budget of $1,000,000 in 1955 (about $9 million in today's dollars) which quickly grew to almost double that as their construction plans expanded. They ultimately wanted an office and manufacturing facility of about 50,000 square feet on land they'd purchased in San Carlos on the Bayshore (101) freeway. Wright would devise a grand scheme based loosely on his famed Johnson Wax Company building in Racine, Wisconsin (completed in 1939), with much of the building's structure supported on a series of 240 "lily-pad" columns, with natural light allowed in across coned skylights between the columns. Different from the much smaller building in Wisconsin, this one would be raised up by the columns allowing for a one-story parking structure to occupy the entire ground level. For the project, Wright's team would draw one of his dramatically colorful nighttime renderings on black paper, as shown above, with one side of the building flanked by a reflective moat. Ultimately, the project would prove ill-timed for the clients and possibly un-buildable for various reasons with Erickson indicating at one point that Wright's local people, including his main San Francisco architect Aaron Green, weren't capable of spearheading such a complicated project, and with Wright himself approaching 90 years old by the time construction would have been set to begin. And, by 1959, Lenkurt would be a victim of its own success, and in a great Silicon Valley tradition would get acquired by General Telephone and Electronics, allowing Erickson and Appert to retire early and abandon the building project for good. (And ultimately, Lenkurt, which made carrier equipment for telecoms, would become a division of GTE Communications, and be subsumed by Lucent in the 1990s.) Check out photos of the Lenkurt Electric Company and more in our slideshow. Related: Marin Man Rebuilds Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Doghouse A photo posted by Keak Da Sneak (@therealkeakdasneak) on Jan 22, 2017 at 4:53pm PST Oakland rap legend Keak da Sneak, the stage name of Charles Kente Williams (Bowens), a progenitor of the term hyphy, is reportedly recovering after being shot on Friday. "I'm sad to hear that shortly after we took this pic he was shot," All Bay Music Magazine indicated in an Instagram photo caption and on its website. "Fortunately he is doing ok and will be back like yadada!!" they write. A caption from Keak da Sneak's own Instagram seems to corroborate this, indicating that he was back performing as recently as yesterday. You'll never understand how valuable life is until it flash before ya eyes Gods plan can never be determined by man an fa that I'm still livin an Can't nothin on this earth stop me! A video posted by Keak Da Sneak (@therealkeakdasneak) on Jan 22, 2017 at 12:08am PST Keak da Sneak is known for such hit tracks as "Tell Me When To Go" with E-40 and the encyclopedic East Oakland neighborhood jam Town Business: Sadly, this is only the latest scare for Keak da Sneak's fans: As XXL Magazine wrote last September, the artist was arrested after leading police on a brief high-speed chase in his Black 1988 Mustang in Hercules, California, before losing control of his car. He was uninjured, but continued to flee on foot before he was detained by officers. Sadder still, hyphy fans will recall that in 2015, frequent Keak da Sneak collaborator the Jacka was shot and killed in East Oakland. Related: Rapper 'The Jacka' Shot Dead In East Oakland Whatever apocalypse prep you might be making these days, however drastic, it's probably quaint in comparison to what certain members of America's one percent are busy undertaking. Doomsday "preppers," a category of paranoiacs most commonly associated with rural Americans digging bunkers and stockpiling weaponry, has now come to include elites from Silicon Valley to Wall Street, some of whom spill to the New Yorker this week all the hottest high-end prepping trends for an article titled "Doomsday Prep For The Super Rich." Apocalypse compounds are the new vacation homes (the 2010s version of atomic bomb bunkers) and for the piece, the New Yorker travels to such destinations as "the Survival Condo Project" in Kansas, "a fifteen-story luxury apartment complex built in an underground Atlas missile silo" where, for example, one room's interior is imported from the owner's Connecticut home and features nine-foot ceilings and a gas fireplace. But If the midwest is a bit too close to home for your comfort, you might consider a different continent. "The first seven days after Donald Trumps election, 13,401 Americans registered with New Zealands immigration authorities," the magazine writes. "Much as Switzerland once drew Americans with the promise of secrecy, and Uruguay tempted them with private banks, New Zealand offers security and distance." As Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, tells the magazine, Saying youre buying a house in New Zealand is kind of a wink, wink, say no more. Once youve done the Masonic handshake, theyll be, like, Oh, you know, I have a broker who sells old ICBM silos, and theyre nuclear-hardened, and they kind of look like they would be interesting to live in. After explaining that his recent laser eye surgery was actually to keep him from fumbling for glasses in a doomsday scenario, he adds that I own a couple of motorcycles, I have a bunch of guns and ammo. Food. I figure that, with that, I can hole up in my house for some amount of time." (Not mentioned here is Tesla's innovation, just out two years ago from local billionaire Elon Musk, is a bioweapon filtration system in the new Model X.) It all just gets more ridiculous from there: In private Facebook groups, wealthy survivalists swap tips on gas masks, bunkers, and locations safe from the effects of climate change. I keep a helicopter gassed up all the time, and I have an underground bunker with an air-filtration system," said a member of one such group identified only as the head of an investment firm. That was "extreme," he said: A lot of my friends do the guns and the motorcycles and the gold coins. Thats not too rare anymore. Tim Chang the 44-year-old managing director of the venture capital firm Mayfield Fund, told the magazine: Theres a bunch of us in the Valley... We meet up and have these financial-hacking dinners and talk about backup plans people are doing. It runs the gamut from a lot of people stocking up on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, to figuring out how to get second passports if they need it, to having vacation homes in other countries that could be escape havens. He said, Ill be candid: Im stockpiling now on real estate to generate passive income but also to have havens to go to. The form this hypothetical apocalypse might take is a point of disagreement for wealthy preppers. As Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman asks, Is the country going to turn against the wealthy? Is it going to turn against technological innovation? Is it going to turn into civil disorder? The Reddit CEO, who attributes his prepping inclinations to a formative viewing of Deep Impact and experiences at Burning Man, isn't sure. But whatever the coming disaster might be, instead of trying to use their finances to avert it, the super rich are busy fending for themselves, and no one is surprised. I mean, why fight a war on the rich by redistributing wealth when you just use that wealth to buy an expensive escape hatch? This month, at a literary event held at the Mission District bar the Make Out Room, I was in the audience when Antonio Garcia Martinez read a scene from his early Facebook employee tell-all memoir, Chaos Monkeys. As a New York Times review of the book makes mention, Garcia Martinez lives on a 40-foot sailboat in the San Francisco Bay. Surprise surprise, turns out he's in the prepper crew, too. I think people who are particularly attuned to the levers by which society actually works understand that we are skating on really thin cultural ice right now," Garcia Martinez told the New Yorker to explain his purchase of five remote acres on an island in the Pacific Northwest where he's stocked generators, solar panels, and "thousands of rounds of ammunition." He's ready, it seems, to set sail at any moment. Bon voyage! Related: Y Combinator President Sam Altman Is Prepping For The AI Apocalypse With Guns, Planes, Peter Thiel, And Elon Musk Tomorrow's Tech Campuses, Built On Yesterday's Hippie Commune Space Dreams A death near Muni's Church Street Station made headlines in January for the crowds of commuters left stranded in its wake but new details reported Monday suggest that the tale was far more grisly than first reported. It was around 3:30 January 11 when, as previously reported, the SFMTA halted Muni Metro service traveling both ways between the Van Ness and West Portal Stations, causing delays until around 9:30 p.m. UPDATE: #subwaysvc delayed btwn WP and Church due to a medical emergency at Church Station. Shuttles to support from Church to WP. SFMTA (@sfmta_muni) January 11, 2017 The cause, the MTA said at the time, was a body discovered in the tunnel between the Castro Street and Church Street Stations. According to SFMTA spokesperson Paul Rose, who spoke with CBS 5 at the time of the incident, a train operator reported a person in Muni's inbound tunnel around 3:05 p.m. Responding officers with the San Francisco Police Department "found a deceased person just east of the Castro Street station." That person was later identified as 57-year-old SF resident Joaquin Barnes, according to the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office. Preliminary reports stated that Barnes was killed in a collision with a Muni train, with Rose saying that Muni was pulling surveillance video of the incident. However, Hoodline reported Monday that the death might have occurred earlier, and was the result of an effort to steal transfers. From Hoodline's report: While the SFPD report hasn't provided in-depth details, a witness said he saw the victim exit a Muni train into Castro station, then reach the top half of his body through the window of the Muni car in an attempt to take transfer tickets. The train began moving, and the victim's lower body crashed into a metal security gate. The witness stated that the victim held on for seconds longer before rolling out of the window. While the SFPD confirmed that officers responded to the scene at 3:05pm, the witness claimed to have reported this incident to authorities at 11:25am. There is no current explanation of the reported discrepancy between the incident and response. Accordinfg to Twitter user @sfgiantcdxv, who described the situation in a series of messages to the SFMTA, "There was a train directly behind the one we were on," the one, it appears to be suggested, that struck Barnes. @sfmta_muni happened as it happened from beginning to end. I was the person who reported it to the driver that called it in this a.m., the Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni the man was on an inbound train, last door second car & got off at Castro station. The man got stuck in the window of the 2nd Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni car driver compartment, head to waist was inside and waist to feet were in the air out the window trying to snatch transfers Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni that were left in the unoccupied driver compartment. He was unable to neither pull himself in nor out the window when the train Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni began to pull out of Castro station. As we passed the orange metal gate preventing pedestrians from walking into the tunnel Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni the lower half of his body crashed into that metal gate. He held on maybe two seconds longer before he rolled out of the window Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 @sfmta_muni completely. There was a train directly behind the one we were on. He looked directly into my eyes before he got off. I am hurtin Damaged Youth (@sfgiantcdxv) January 12, 2017 A call from SFist to SFPD for comment on this accounting of events has not been returned as of publication time. Previously: Fatality At Church Street Station Causes Major Muni Snarl At Rush Hour A swearing-in ceremony for SF's new police chief Monday at the City Hall rotunda was interrupted briefly by a small group of protesters affiliated with the Frisco Five the hunger strikers who led the charge last spring in calling for the resignation of former chief Greg Suhr. Newly hired chief Bill Scott comes to the department from the LAPD, and as ABC 7 reports, several of his LA colleagues were on hand to congratulate him on his first official day on the job here, including LAPD Chief Charlie Beck. It's unclear whether the protesters were specifically there to protest Scott's hiring by Mayor Lee, or just the police department in general. Seven individuals were detained briefly on Monday and cited for trespassing and disturbing the peace, including local rapper and frequent mayoral heckler Equipto, whose real name is Illyich Sato. 48 Hills says that Sato was "roughed up" in the process, but did not require medical attention. Three protesters standing outside City Hall after Sato's arrest, including Sato's mother and Frisco Five leader Maria Christina Gutierrez, held signs saying "Jail Killer Cops" and "Mario is our son," referring to Mario Woods. As KQED puts it, "The demonstrators were quickly removed from the highly choreographed swearing-in ceremony beneath the City Hall rotunda Monday, but their message to William Scott was nonetheless delivered: Welcome to San Francisco you have your work cut out for you." Scott has pledged to be a "good listener," to be "transparent and accountable to you the community," and to "deal with community violence and understand the complexities of serving the mentally ill and homeless." During his speech at Monday's swearing in he addressed the fact that he arrives to the department as an outsider. Speaking to officers in the rank and file, he said, "I accepted this position knowing that your respect and trust in me as your chief is not simply granted by the virtue of this appointment. It has to be earned, and I fully intend to earn your respect." But he then added, "In turn, what I expect of every member of this department, both sworn and not sworn, is to respect the sanctity of human life, to police this city in a constitutional manner... and to treat each other and the public with the utmost dignity and respect." Scott has spent 27 years on the force in LA, helping see that department through "the turbulence of the '90s," as LAPD Chief Beck told ABC 7. And Suhr spoke to KQED saying, "This is a veteran police officer that handled a very tough area in Los Angeles, and yet he has this very quiet, calm, humble, genuine, gracious persona. Roll it all up, and thats going to make for a great chief who does have a very hard job in the greatest city in the world." We have not heard much from Suhr in eight months since his resignation, though two weeks ago he appeared in the news after taking a security consulting gig with the Golden State Warriors. The announcement drew some immediate community backlash, and within a day KRON 4 was reporting that Suhr and the team had mutually parted ways. Below, an interview Scott did with ABC 7's Carolyn Tyler, and he says that coming from the outside "I felt I was a good fit [and] there's not many cities that I was willing to leave the comfort and satisfaction of Los Angeles to do this [and] this was it." Previously: Mayor Lee Picks Outsider For New SFPD Chief, Veteran LAPD Cop William Scott #BREAKING Berkeley Police say suspicious:2 people (approx. 30's), 2 cats found dead in Deakin St. unit of 4-plex bldg pic.twitter.com/Z5BPB8j2Qw Jana Katsuyama (@JanaKTVU) January 24, 2017 There were no signs of trauma and in fact no clues at all as to what might have killed two people and two cats in a Berkeley apartment yesterday. CBS 5 and the AP reported that the building, on the 3000 block of Deakin Street, was evacuated, but that other residents have been given the all clear to return. "As their cause of death is not immediately apparent, the building [was] evacuated out of an abundance of caution, the Berkeley Police told local news outlets. The department has classified the two deaths as a suspicious circumstance. Deputy Fire Chief Dave Brannigan also reports that his firefighters and a PG&E Electric crew team ruled out hazardous causes like carbon monoxide poisoning. A neighbor who spoke with ABC 7 News identified the two deceased people as a man and a woman in their 30s. One body was apparently discovered first, and police responded to a call at about 1 p.m. yesterday. Investigators then found the other body and the two dead cats. Berkeleyside reports that the case is with the coroner's office for further analysis. A century ago the Wisconsin Idea went on the air, broadcasting the University of Wisconsins mission of service beyond the lecture hall. In 1917 the radio station that became WHA, the mothership of Wisconsin Public Radio, began as a project by UW-Madison physics students. As WPRs former director Jack Mitchell admits in Wisconsin on the Air, WHA is not Americas oldest radio station. However, it is the nations oldest public broadcaster, sustained by an ideal of public service rather than advertising. Mitchells account is engaging reading for anyone interested in Wisconsin history. Who remembers that in the 1960s WHA was managed by the states future GOP governor, Lee Sherman Dreyfus (the students called him LSD). For many years the station devoted much airtime to school instructional programs, but under Mitchells leadership, it moved toward an array of popular talk and call-in shows with personality hosts such as Kathleen Dunn and Zorba Pastor. Former Sioux Cityan Ron Clements is in the Oscar hunt. His latest feature, Moana, was nominated for Best Animated Film. It also picked up a nomination for Best Song (How Far Ill Go). "I'm thrilled," the Bishop Heelan High School grad said from Sweden, where he's promoting the film. "This was a hugely competitive field in the category of animation, so it's a real honor to be included." For Clements, this is familiar territory. He and his co-director John Musker have been nominated before for The Princess and the Frog and Treasure Planet. While their earlier films The Little Mermaid and Aladdin picked up trophies for music, there wasnt an animated film category in which they could compete. Now, that slight has been corrected and the two could be taking home their first prizes. Moana will be competing against Kubo and the Two Strings, Zootopia, The Red Turtle and My Life as a Zucchini. Tuesdays nominations were dominated by La La Land, which scored in 14 categories, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress (Emma Stone) and Best Director (Damien Chazelle). It will go up against Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Manchester by the Sea, Moonlight, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge and Lion for Best Picture. While there were some surprises on the list (Mel Gibson for Best Director for Hacksaw Ridge, for example), there were notable performers who were missing in action. Even though her film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director, Amy Adams didnt score a nod for Arrival. Similarly, Annette Bening was not nominated for 20th Century Women. Aaron Taylor-Johnson won the Golden Globe for Nocturnal Animals but wasnt included in the Best Supporting Actor mix (his co-star Michael Shannon was). Octavia Spencer scored the only acting nomination for Hidden Figures. Ruth Negga was something of a surprise for her work in Loving (particularly since her co-star Joel Edgerton was shut out). Meryl Streep, who made headlines when she addressed President Trump at the Golden Globes, got her 20th nomination, this time for Florence Foster Jenkins. That makes her the most nominated performer in Oscar history. She has three trophies (for Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophies Choice and The Iron Lady). Hollywood obviously doesnt think shes overrated. Of the 20 acting nominees, six are previous winners. Of that same 20, seven are minorities, suggesting last years Oscars So White campaign had an effect. Three of the five Documentary Feature nominees deal with black subjects. While La La Land tied the record for most nominations (with Titanic and All About Eve), it cant win that many because it got two nods in the Best Song category. Still, the achievement is impressive, particularly since the musical is considered an anomaly in a sea of heavy dramas. Now five days into his presidency, President Donald Trump has announced he is set to name his pick to fill the yearlong vacancy in the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump on Tuesday said he would make the nomination next week, which will begin a process where Iowa's senior U. S. senator, Charles Grassley, will lead committee hearings. Grassley, a Republican, is the Senate Judiciary chairman. He had a notable 2016, when Grassley over the majority of the year refused to take up the nomination of Merrick Garland by then-President Barack Obama, a Democrat. Grassley steadfastly said he wouldn't hold hearings. He remained firm in his position that the court vacancy should remain until 2017, so Americans could pick a new president in November. "It ought to be carried over 'til the next president is sworn in," Grassley told people last March at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa, and that was a position he never left. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also refused to schedule a confirmation hearing. There was a risk with Grassley's stance, as it was no lock that a Republican would win the presidency. But Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and Republicans holding power in the U.S. Senate have a chance to place Trump's nominee on the court, to succeed Antonin Scalia. Trump in May 2016 released a list of 11 people he said were on his short list of court nominees. Grassley at the time said Trump's list was "pretty encouraging." The list included one Iowan: Steven Colloton, a federal judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The others were federal judges William H. Pryor, Raymond Gruender, Thomas Hardiman, Raymond Kethledge and Diane Sykes, Allison Eid of the Colorado Supreme Court, Joan Larsen of the Michigan Supreme Court, Thomas Rex Lee of the Utah Supreme Court, David Stras of the Minnesota Supreme Court and Don Willett of the Texas Supreme Court. Grassley this morning chaired the first executive business meeting of the Judiciary Committee. He welcomed a new committee member from the tri-state area, Ben Sasse, R-Neb. In Grassley's opening comments reported by his staff Tuesday, he didn't address the Supreme Court nomination. Grassley did note one important piece of work, as "Senator (Jeff) Sessions nomination to serve as Attorney General is on the agenda for the first time." UPDATE: Just before 3 p.m. Central time, Grassley tweeted the following short message, "Just finished meeting at White House on filling Supreme Court vacancy." Here are a few replies to Grassley's tweet: "Are you going to obstruct this one for a year too?" "Shouldn't you vote on the nominee you've had for a year first?" "Proud of u Mr. Grassley. U are such a hard worker. Live it!" SIOUX CITY | The City of Sioux City will cover out-of-pocket medical expenses and a handful of associated costs for the 26-year-old Hinton, Iowa, man who was severely injured in November after his car was struck by a Sioux City Transit bus. The Sioux City Council on Monday approved a payment assistance agreement with Rosanne Plante, the wife of Chad Plante, the man who sustained two broken legs and a brain injury after the Nov. 15 crash in which a turning Sioux City Transit bus failed to yield at the intersection of Lewis Boulevard and Outer Drive and struck Plante's 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe. Plante is currently recovering at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he is undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy. The agreement approved Monday will cover out-of-pocket medical expenses related to the accident that are not covered by health insurance, as well as Plante's lost wages for 26 weeks and lodging, food, mileage and other miscellaneous expenses that are submitted to the city through Plante's attorney. City attorney Nicole DuBois said Monday the agreement is a voluntary move by the city and will cover some retroactive expenses. Rosanne Plante told the Journal Monday she was glad the agreement had passed, although she wished it had come sooner since her family had been stuck with expenses up to that point. Plante said her husband has made "marked improvements" in his therapy so far. "He is gaining ground," she said. "We are very blessed." Jamie Pica, the driver of the transit bus, was cited in December for failure to obey a traffic control device and failure to wear a seat belt in connection with the accident. DuBois said Pica is not currently employed with the city. West Seventh Street project In other action Monday, the council approved construction documents for the West Seventh Street Reconstruction Project. The estimated $8.5 million project will redevelop the seven blocks stretching from Hamilton Boulevard to Wesley Parkway, as well as three to four blocks of side streets and connections. Its projected completion date is August 2018. Development agreements The council also voted on development agreements that will provide approximately $88,000 and $30,000 in tax rebates to Bruening Eye Specialists and TMS Inc., respectively, to support their businesses' expansions. Bruening Eye Specialists is planning to construct an office complex at Sioux City's Sunnybrook Plaza, an investment of $1.6 million. Technology company TMS Inc. is looking to construct a new building at 3809 Stadium Drive, a nearly $500,000 investment. Both businesses received withholding tax credit awards from the Iowa Economic Development Authority last year. SIOUX CITY | The Sioux City Council on Monday interviewed three applicants, among them a former two-time Sioux City mayor, interested in receiving an appointment to the council's one vacant seat. Residents Doug Waples, Maria Rundquist and former mayor Craig Berenstein went before the council Monday as the first of what are anticipated to be several applicants to interview for the position in the coming weeks. Waples, a longtime resident, cited delays in completing city bridge projects on Hamilton Boulevard and Dearborn Boulevard -- the latter of which is near his residence -- as his main motivation for running. "I think we need to have more control of the projects that are going on with the city money and get them done on time," Waples said. Rundquist, who in the past ran unsuccessfully for the Sioux City Council and Iowa Senate, said she is interested in serving the city, which she said has been a good place to raise her children. "I have the ability to bring people together," she said. "I am interested in this vacancy because I can provide leadership skills ... honesty and responsibility in our local community." Berenstein, who served on the council from 2000 to the end of 2007, including two stints as mayor from 2002 to 2003 and from 2006 to 2007, told the council he is interested in returning to the position after taking nine years off to spend more time with his children. "I think were in the service business," Berenstein said of his vision for the city. "I think we need to continue to offer a safe and secure community, promote economic development and promote quality of life." Applications are currently available for the seat in the city clerk's office and on the Sioux City website's homepage. All applications must be handed in to the clerk's office by the end of the day Feb. 6. The council plans to select one of the applicants to fill the seat made vacant Jan. 3 when Keith Radig resigned to take his new position on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors. The council plans to vote on the appointment Feb. 27. One year remains in Radig's term, meaning the appointee would serve for 10 months. Under Iowa law, the council has 60 days following a resignation to make its appointment. The public then has 14 days to petition for a special election if it so chooses. NORTH SIOUX CITY State and local officials have wrapped up a deal to bring a producer of frozen burritos to North Sioux City. Reds All Natural, based in Franklin, Tennessee, announced the expansion Tuesday after the South Dakota Economic Development Board approved financial assistance for the project through two state economic development programs. Its my pleasure to welcome Reds to North Sioux City, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said in a news release. Reds CEO, Mike Adair, made the right choice to establish production capabilities in South Dakota. I am confident our workforce and business climate will help Reds All Natural achieve even greater success. The news release did not identify how many the company expects to employ in North Sioux City or the total investment in the southeast South Dakota city. Reds All Natural produces a variety of frozen products, including burritos, bowls, enchiladas and taquitos, some of which are organic, dairy-free and gluten-free. The companys products are found in more than 40 retail chains across the country. Adair started Reds in 2007 after tasting one of his wifes homemade burritos. The company is named after his rescue dog. Weve had a very warm welcome from everyone in South Dakota, and weve been impressed with the work ethic of the people and the skill sets they bring to the food industry, Adair said in the release. Weve seen tremendous sales growth over the last several years and we look forward to continue that momentum and get production underway in North Sioux City. Paige Petersen, executive director of North Sioux City Development Corporation, said Red's would be a "natural fit" for the metro area's growing food processing sector, and would add quality jobs in the region. Chris McGowan, president of The Siouxland Initiative, a regional economic development entity, echoed her sentiments. The companys executive management team recognized and identified with the exceptional number of successful food processing companies that call this community home," McGowan said in the release. "To their credit, state and community leaders recognized that this is an extraordinary company with a unique corporate philosophy that represents an ideal fit for southeast South Dakota. The state Economic Development Board approved an undisclosed amount of financial assistance to the company through the state's Revolving Economic Development and Initiative and Reinvestment Payment programs. SIOUX CITY | A driver of a Chevy Impala lost control of her vehicle -- due to the snowy weather conditions -- and almost slid into a wooded ravine Tuesday. Sioux City Police Officer Bert Shoumaker said the female driver was traveling east on Lincoln Way -- across from the Landmark Apartments -- and lost control of the vehicle because of Tuesday's winter storm. "Shortly after 2 p.m. this evening, we received a call that a vehicle was near a ravine and was in danger of sliding further into the ravine," Shoumaker said. When authorities arrived, the driver's side of the Impala was leaned against a tree -- keeping it from going further down the wooded cliff. The driver was uninjured and was able to climb out of the passenger's side door of the car. "I asked that people use caution and don't drive unless it is absolutely necessary," Shoumaker advised. "Also, we ask if you are traveling in these road conditions, you give yourself plenty of distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you. We ask that you slow down and add more time to your travel so you are not rushed." As of 5 p.m., the online police call log listed more than 15 traffic accident calls since the snow started falling Tuesday morning. SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Disgruntled South Sioux City homeowners displaced for nearly four months by putrid odors are seeking assurances that they won't be kicked out of hotels on Jan. 31. The South Sioux City Council members for the second time in two weeks postponed a housing repair agreement. Displeased with being part of an ongoing saga since October, displaced city residents therefore asked if they should worry they will have to, in less than 10 days, look for a third place to live. "Today is the 23rd, and we are leaving here with no answer...Thanks for no answer, once again," city resident Marie McCullick said Monday during the public comment portion of the city council meeting. About 10 families have been living in hotels for three months after rotten egg-smelling gas from the sewer lines entered their homes. Those hotel bills have been paid by a South Sioux City business, Big Ox Energy, which some people suspected was responsible for the stench reaching homes. Residents in the five-block area along 39th Street near Red Bird Lane and Lemasa Drive were driven from their homes due to potentially toxic hydrogen sulfide gas. The gas was originally tied to Big Ox Energy, a renewable fuels plant that shares a sewer line with the residences and went online around the same time the odors developed. Big Ox stopped sending waste into the sewer lines shortly afterward, and city officials say tests show hydrogen sulfide levels are back to normal in the lines and manholes. City council members and Mayor Rod Koch said it was only a "target date" that Big Ox would pay for hotels through Jan. 31. After hearing the resident criticisms, Koch at the end of the meeting said he would speak with Big Ox officials by Wednesday to see if they would extend the payments for people's hotels into February and beyond. "We will get you an answer, as swift as we can...We aren't going to put anybody out on the street," Koch said. The council had been expected on Jan. 9 to vote on an agenda item related to an "agreement on expediting house restoration with Big Ox." But City Attorney Wayne Boyd instead at that council meeting said the item would be pushed back to a later meeting, citing unspecified changes that came up. Boyd said he hadn't had enough time to run those changes by Big Ox officials. At the Monday council meeting, the topic was again on the agenda and yet again postponed. Koch said that was done so the city and Big Ox officials could reach an agreement on what amounts the two entities could pay in remediation to affected city residents. That delay upset displaced resident Jonathan Goodier. The council members "table it every time ... We don't know what is going on," Goodier said. The Big Ox plant in early January restarted its flows, which now go through a new forced main the city constructed to separate industrial and residential wastewater. Big Ox, a Denmark, Wisconsin-based renewable energy firm, converts organic industrial waste into methane gas that can be commercially sold. Koch said the city has taken many steps to determine what gases may have entered people's homes and when it will be safe for them to return. Last week, Innovative Business Consultants, a Sioux City firm hired by the city, began collecting air samples from three homes. The samples will be tested for 22 different sulfur-related compounds in the homes. New South Sioux City councilman Also during the meeting, Jack Ehrich was sworn in as a new council member after being appointed. Ehrich is a city native who moved back to South Sioux City in 2011 to run a law practice with his mother. Ehrich will serve out the last two years of a vacated four-year term through 2018. He is a son of former South Sioux City Mayor Sandra Ehrich. DENISON, Iowa | Additional help has been enlisted to search for a girl who disappeared in the Boyer River after a car crash, and the driver of the car faces several criminal charges Ramon Hernandez, 25, of Denison, was arrested Monday on three counts of distribution of a controlled substance to a person under age 18, possession of a controlled substance, failure to maintain control, reckless driving and driving while under suspension. Additional charges may be filed, according to the Crawford County Sheriff's Office. Yoana Acosta, 15, has been missing since Thursday morning, when a car carrying five people entered the river. Four of the people were removed from the cold water by emergency personnel. Acosta was believed to have disappeared into the river. A search and rescue team from the Sioux City Fire Rescue was activated Tuesday to help search the river for Acosta. The Sioux City team will assist local agencies in Denison that have been searching since Thursday morning. SIOUX CITY | Fifty teachers and other staff in the Sioux City School District have opted for early retirement next year, generating sufficient enough savings that the district will not have to resort to layoffs, administrators said. Facing a projected budget deficit for the 2017-18 academic year, the district last fall expanded its new early retirement package in an effort to encourage more teachers to accept the offer. Early retirement eligibility in Phase I of the program for teachers enrolled in the Iowa Public Employees Retirement plan, or IPERS, begins at age 58. A teacher must have served a minimum of 20 total years in the district. Phase II expands the criteria to include more people. Teachers now will be eligible for reimbursement for banked sick days. Broken down in four levels, a teacher could earn a sick day stipend of up to $8,000 a year until a person reaches Medicare eligibility, based on how many sick days have been accumulated. Administrators set a goal of at least 45 retirements. A final report released Monday showed that 36 teachers signed up for Phases I and II by the last deadline on Jan. 11. An additional 11 teachers, an administrator and two non-certified staffers signed up for the districts regular early retirement policy. Five more teachers are retiring without early retirement benefits, bringing the total retirements to 55, according to the report. The early retirement plan was unveiled in November in conjunction with a plan to shift away from standalone reading classes in the middle schools. It called for shifting reading teachers displaced by the restructuring into open positions vacated by early retirements. Sioux City associate superintendent Kim Buryanek said that the total amount of retirements will save the district an estimated $2 million. Some of the positions vacated by early retirements will be filled by younger teachers on the lower end of the salary scale. At least 18 positions, meanwhile, will be left vacant to generate additional budget savings. The district's preliminary plans calls for $2.9 million, or 1.75 percent, more spending than the roughly $168 million in estimated expenditures for the current budget year. Gov. Terry Branstad last week proposed to boost state aid to K-12 public schools by 2 percent for the 2017-18 school year. Based on a 2 percent increase in state aid, the district estimates it must reduce its general fund budget by nearly $2 million, while also dipping into its reserves, or unspent authorized budget, by about $2 million. While no existing staff member will be laid off as a result of the 50 retirements, Buryanek said additional budget reductions will still need to be made. There will be reductions in addition to the retirements, but were climbing our way out of the budget challenge, she said. Iowa public school districts are required to notify teachers of layoffs starting in April, but Buryanek said the district would have needed to start that process in February. "We are fortunate that the layoff process does not have to be enacted because we have enough positions available through early retirement to avoid layoffs," she said. SIOUX CITY | Hefty snowfall in Siouxland Tuesday caused closures to government offices, businesses, and schools and induced many traffic accidents -- including one that claimed a life in Plymouth County, Iowa. The National Weather Service in Sioux Falls reported at 4 p.m. Tuesday that Yankton, South Dakota, had the most Siouxland snowfall at 7.5 inches, and Orange City, Iowa, said they received 2.7 inches at last report. The latest count for Sioux City Tuesday was 3 inches at 5:15 p.m, Brad Temeyer, a meteorologist for the weather service, said. Sioux City is under a winter storm warning until noon Wednesday, and areas around Storm Lake, Iowa, and Spencer, Iowa, are in the warning area until 6 p.m. Wednesday. Temeyer said Tuesday the snow will hit the hardest along the Missouri River over into northwest Iowa by Cherokee, Storm Lake, and Spencer. Those places could see more than 12 inches total. Sioux City is predicted to get a total of 10 inches, he said. Sioux City Schools and other area school districts declared a two-hour early dismissal and canceled all evening activities Tuesday when the storm first hit. Schools further west in Nebraska and South Dakota canceled school for the day. The University of South Dakota in Vermillion also canceled classes and activities. The Sioux City Police Department responded to numerous traffic accident calls as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, and they expect more calls as the storm is predicted to add another 6 inches of snow. "We definitely had some accidents, cars in ditches, with the slick roadways. I think we have taken one person to the hospital with minor injuries since I came on shift a few hours ago," Police Sgt. Jim Cunningham said at 5 p.m. "But other than that, just a lot of slipping and sliding with cars in ditches right now and I only expect that to get worse." Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew said in a tweet that there was a semi accident on Interstate 29 near mile marker 134 Tuesday morning. Drew added in a text to the Journal that there had been about six traffic accidents in the county, but none with any injuries as of 5 p.m. On Highway 3, east of Le Mars, Iowa, an unnamed female driver died Tuesday after she lost control of her car on the ice- and snow-covered roadway and collided with another vehicle in the opposite lane, the Plymouth County Sheriff's Office said in a release. On Tuesday, the Woodbury County Courthouse closed at 1 p.m and the Union County Courthouse in Elk Point, South Dakota, closed at 3 p.m. The Woodbury County Board of Supervisors' weekly Tuesday meeting was postponed to 2 p.m. Wednesday. "I've been here 21 years and I only remember a handful of times (that offices closed early)," Amy Berntson, Woodbury County Clerk of Court, told the Journal. The weather service predicted that the snow would continue Wednesday mainly before noon with areas of blowing snow with a high of 27 degrees. Wednesday's snow accumulation could be around an inch, the weather service said. There is also a slight chance of snow before midnight Wednesday. Thursday will be mostly cloudy with a high near 24, the weather service said. SIOUX FALLS | A Georgia man was sentenced to more than two years in prison Monday for his role in a 2015 armed robbery at a North Sioux City convenience store. Terry McCoy, of Ellenwood, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls to 30 months in prison on one count of accessory after the fact to interference with commerce by threats or violence. He was ordered to pay $3,340 in restitution jointly with Mykel Booth. According to court documents, McCoy attempted to hinder and prevent Booth's arrest by not telling police what he knew about the robbery. Booth, 26, of Mableton, Georgia, pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to one count of discharging a firearm during a federal crime of violence. Booth entered Casey's General Store, 1313 River Drive, on Dec. 1, 2015, took out a handgun and fired a shot in the air near one of the clerks and demanded money. He fled the store with cash and was arrested a day later in Sioux Falls. PENDER, Neb. | According to its website, the National FFA Organization's mission is to help students grow through leadership and agricultural education. The Peters family in Pender certainly has the leadership part down. Current Pender High School FFA chapter president Braden Peters is a third-generation chapter president and the fifth person in his family to hold that title. "We just really appreciate the organization. It aligns well with our beliefs," said Braden, the 17-year-old son of Matt and Pam Peters. The Peters family tradition began with Braden's grandfather Roger Peters, who was president in 1966-67. It passed down to father Matt in 1987-88. Then came Braden's older brothers, Brant in 2008-10 and Logan in 2010-12. His brothers were the first in Pender history to serve two, one-year terms. So as Braden entered high school and got involved with FFA, he naturally set his sights on someday holding the chapter's highest office. "I've always had that goal after seeing my brothers be president. It is something my family takes pride in," he said. His brothers also joked with him that he had a family tradition to uphold. "There was some unspoken pressure from my brothers," Braden, a senior, said with a laugh. The selection process is a combination of submitting an application, sitting through interviews and a vote by chapter members. At a special meeting in May, Braden was announced as the next president. Braden said he was happy to achieve his goal and honored that the chapter trusted him to be its leader. "It was just really fulfilling when they announced my name as president," Braden said. The president oversees the chapter, conducts meetings and performs several other organizational tasks. Braden said with all the former presidents in his family, there are plenty of people to ask for advice. Especially helpful is dad Matt, who remains an active volunteer with the chapter while running the family's farm, on which they raise cattle and grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa. "It's just really, really helpful, having my dad to draw upon, get his opinion," Braden said. "Sometimes I use him to bounce ideas off of." From the sound of it, Braden's doing just fine on his own. While giving articulate, thoughtful answers to interview questions, he believes that FFA and the leadership roles it has presented have helped him become a confident public speaker. He's also comfortable being in front of people after the many meetings, banquets and conventions he's attended. "It presents a lot of opportunities for me," he said. "I'm sure my brothers wouldn't have been involved in things in college as much if it wouldn't have been for FFA. It's an overall good organization in the way it promotes leadership and agriculture." His brother Brant is an ag teacher and FFA adviser in Schuyler, Nebraska. Brother Logan is moving to Idaho for a job soon. Up next for Braden is college, where he plans to major in engineering. With his family's longtime involvement in FFA, the question, naturally, becomes: will there be a fourth generation of the family to lead the Pender chapter? Braden playfully puts the responsibility of providing a fourth-generation Peters president on his brothers. "I'm the youngest," he said. "If there's going to be another Peters FFA Pender president, it's going to have to be one of my brothers' kids if they move back." Todays top picks from our online calendar. Find more events at siouxcityjournal.com/calendar. Once Featuring an impressive ensemble of actor/musicians who play their own instruments onstage, "Once" tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who's about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs. The Orpheum Theatre curtain opens at 7:30 p.m. Tangled Yarns Tangled Yarns is a group of needle workers who meet each Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at the South Sioux City Public Library, 2121 Dakota Ave., to ply their needlecraft and to teach one another new techniques in crochet, knitting and other needle work. Everyone is invited to attend. Siouxland Street Project meeting The Siouxland Street Project is a coalition of concerned citizens and organizations that serves to coordinate services provided to homeless individuals and to promote safe, decent, affordable, appropriate housing. A facilitator will be present at the 9 a.m. meeting at the Sioux City Public Museum, 607 Fourth St. DAKOTA CITY | The second of two men charged with killing and dismembering an Emerson, Nebraska, man has pleaded not guilty to murder. Brayan Galvan-Hernandez, 18, of Wakefield, Nebraska, entered his plea Tuesday morning in Dakota County District Court to charges of first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony. District Judge Paul Vaughan set his trial for May 9. A pretrial conference was scheduled for March 14. Galvan-Hernandez and Andres Surber, 25, also of Wakefield, both are charged with the Nov. 1 shooting death of Kraig D. Kubik, 41, of Emerson. Surber has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. His pretrial conference is set for Feb. 21. No trial date has been scheduled. Galvan-Hernandez and Surber remain held in the Dakota County Jail on $5 million bonds. Surber and Galvan-Hernandez are accused of killing Kubik with a 9 mm firearm. Authorities stopped at Kubik's home at 2605 Highway 35 near Emerson the morning of Nov. 2 after his young son made statements at school that his father had been killed or harmed, court documents said. Evidence eventually led authorities to a severed arm and leg in the trunk of a Chevrolet Impala located at 86975 579th Ave. in rural Dixon County. The rest of Kubik's remains were found four days later in a creek about four miles away. Using a national database, authorities matched the fingerprints to those belonging to Kubik. Autopsy results showed a gunshot wound to Kubik's head. SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Big Ox Energy released a report Tuesday asserting that below-code plumbing in dozens of South Sioux City homes has been the primary reason for ongoing sewer odor issues over the past four months -- not wastewater from the company's plant. The report, prepared by an engineering firm Big Ox hired, shows that most of the homes that reported sewer odors either had inadequate or broken residential plumbing systems or were residential units that shared a wall with other units that had failed the test. The report also points to readings in the sewer lines that showed spikes in gas levels even after Big Ox went offline as evidence that the renewable fuels plant was not conclusively the main source of the high levels in the sewer. Big Ox, a Denmark, Wisconsin-based firm that converts organic waste into methane gas, went online in South Sioux City's Roth Industrial Park Sept. 2. Shortly after, a number of residents in the five-block area of Red Bird Lane and Lemasa Drive that share a sewer line with the industrial park began complaining of "rotten eggs" odors. As many as two dozen residents were displaced from their homes at the peak of the odors. About a dozen families still remain in hotels, citing continued odors in their homes. Test results have shown hydrogen sulfide gas is now within safety levels established by the state of Nebraska. A firm hired by South Sioux City began testing last week for other sulfur-related compounds in the homes that could be causing continued odors. The report released Tuesday was prepared by Black & Veatch, a Kansas City-based engineering firm hired to help study the odor issues in South Sioux City. The report said hydrogen sulfide gas is common in sewer systems and can be produced by a variety of industries similar to those existing in South Sioux City, but if a home's plumbing protections, such as traps and vents, are up to code, hydrogen sulfide should not intrude into residences, regardless of the level of the gas. Of the 66 homes in the neighborhood associated with the odors, 35 reported an odor while 31 reported no odor, according to the report. Of 32 homes that agreed to be tested, 26 failed plumbing tests, the report said. Three affected homeowners refused to have their homes tested. Of the six homes that reported odors but passed plumbing tests, three were multi-unit buildings that shared a common interior wall with units that had failed plumbing tests. The other three, the release suggested, may have addressed the faulty plumbing at the city's recommendation prior to the inspection. Of the homes that did not report odors but still requested plumbing tests, all passed but one, according to the report. Kevin Bradley, Big Ox's director of business and economic development, said the deficiency for that home was found in the attic of the house and that any odor likely escaped without the residents' knowledge. A map of affected residences shows a number of instances in which one home was reportedly affected while the homes directly around it were reportedly not. Tina Mowry Hadden, a spokeswoman from the city, said the report helps the city gain a clearer understanding why some houses were affected and others were not. "We've all wondered why some houses had odor issues and other houses did not," Mowry Hadden said. "Whether or not that's the only issue, we're still trying to put the puzzle pieces together." Mowry Hadden said once South Sioux City issues a certificate of occupancy for a constructed home and a person purchases the home, keeping plumbing up to code is the homeowner's responsibility. South Sioux City resident John Goodier, who moved into his home Aug. 15 of last year but has been displaced from his residence since Oct. 24, said Tuesday that he still believes Big Ox is at fault, since the odors coincided with Big Ox's startup. "The bottom line is we did not have this until Big Ox came online," Goodier said. "People lived in my house before and didn't have a problem." Bradley said the odors could have been due to new reactions in the system, or in the city's recent changes to the rerouting of its sewer system. "That could also impact a change downstream," he said. Goodier also questioned the reliability of the smoke tests, saying he believed the company that conducted the tests turned up the pressure too high in an attempt to find a deficiency. Big Ox also said in the report that other industries likely contributed to hydrogen sulfide levels in the sewer line after Big Ox voluntarily went offline Nov. 1. According to the report, between Nov. 2 and Dec. 7, levels of sulfide continued to spike above expected levels, pointing to "new and on-going sources" for the gas levels. Hydrogen sulfide levels have returned to normal in the residential line since a separate sewer line rerouted waste from the Roth Industrial Park around the residences. Bradley added Tuesday that Big Ox has always been in compliance with its discharge permit and has not violated any requirements as far as the strength of the waste it discharges. Big Ox has been reimbursing South Sioux City for the displaced residents' accommodations and out-of-pocket expenses. Bradley said Big Ox will continue to pay for resident accommodations into February, although the company is still deciding how long it will continue. At Monday's City Council meeting, some residents said they were worried Big Ox would stop the reimbursements on Jan. 31, forcing them to vacate their hotel rooms after that date. DES MOINES Legislation to defund Planned Parenthood is being pushed by lawmakers who never had a pap smear or used a tampon, a Democratic opponent of Senate File 2 said Monday. The Republicans co-sponsoring the bill that would cut Planned Parenthood funding by about $3 million want to make it easier to get a machine gun than a pap smear, Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, told about 70 people, including eight lawmakers, at a Moral Mondays gathering at the Capitol. She was referring to SF 108, a proposal from Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, to remove prohibitions on the ownership of a variety of weapons, including machine guns and short-barreled shotguns. Schultz and Petersen are both members of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee that will consider the defunding proposal at a hearing at 11:30 a.m. in Room 22 of the Capitol Tuesday. Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton, is the third member. The proposal calls for reducing funding for Planned Parenthood by about $3 million. The services are mandated by the federal government, so Gov. Terry Branstads budget proposal calls for using federal block grant money that currently is used for children and family services. Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds said recently that wont mean a reduction in those services. Monday Gov. Terry Branstad said his administration supports access to family planning services, but doesnt want to be tied to one provider that doesnt serve rural Iowa. He wants to meet those needs in the most economical and efficient manner we can. But Erin Davison-Rippey of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said Branstads effort to accomplish this political move makes no sense on the fiscal side or the moral side. Planned Parenthood, she said, does more than any other organization to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. The organization is at the forefront of programs reducing the unintended pregnancy rate in Iowa to a 30-year low, Davison-Rippey said. Schultz wants to eliminate the state's prohibitions on possessing weapons that are regulated under federal law. He said Senate File 108 was drafted with gun enthusiasts, hobbyists and sportsmen in mind. "They are legitimate sporting tools for recreation under federal guidelines, and as such, I don't think we should regulate them beyond what the federal government does," he said. DES MOINES A state lawmaker still paying off his college loans is proposing to undo tuition increases already approved for the next academic year at Iowas three public universities. Rep. Jake Highfill, R-Johnston, wants to freeze all tuition for the 2017-18 academic year to provide some relief for students and their parents at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa. I think it time we slow down the growth in the regents budget, he said Monday. Every year we grow the budget. Were investing a lot in our kids. Were investing a lot in higher education. I think we should freeze tuition and let them save a little money. Highfills bill is House File 45. The Board of Regents has registered in opposition to the bill because regents believe they should have discretion and flexibility to work with the universities to set tuition, board spokesman Josh Lehman said. After freezing resident undergraduate tuition for two-and-a-half years, regents since approved three increases as enrollment continues to grow to record levels. The most recent was in December when regents approved a 2 percent per semester increase that bumped the base rate for in-state undergrads at the UI to $7,270 and to $7,240 at UNI and ISU in the 2017-18 academic year. The package they approved also set varying increases for other students, including for out-of-state undergrads who pay four times more. The bill, if ultimately adopted, would reset tuition to the current 2016-17 levels. The in-state undergrad rates now are $6,878 at the UI and $6,848 at ISU and UNI. Last year, the regents unveiled a two-year budget blueprint to help students and parents plan better for the cost of education one that also draws a clear correlation between state support and tuition rates. The blueprint envisioned a 2 percent increase in state support for the universities in both the 2018 and 2019 budget years. And it laid out a proposed 2 percent bump in resident undergraduate tuition for each of the two years. Highfill, who attended Kirkwood Community College and the UI, didnt know the state would have to make cuts in the current year budget when he filed his bill, but said the state is required by law to balance its budget even if that means making midyear cuts. He didnt see any incongruity in the Legislature freezing tuition at the same time it is cutting the regents budgets. Were really not cutting their budget, Highfill said. Were not growing it as much as they would like, but its still higher than the year before and higher than the year before that. Gov. Terry Branstad and lawmakers tentatively agreed to cut both the UI and ISU budgets by $8 million and UNI by $2 million this year below levels that were already appropriated. General fund appropriations to the Board of Regents totaled $595 million in fiscal 2016. Branstad has proposed appropriating $587 million and $597 million in fiscal 2018 and 2019, respectively. In proposing the freeze, Highfill said enrollment is growing at the universities and so out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition, account for more than half of the enrollment. However, according to Lehman, enrollment is 60 percent in-state and 40 percent out-of-state. More students than ever enrolled last fall at the three public universities, reaching a total 81,899 overall. Ten years ago, total enrollment including undergraduate, graduate and professional students was 69,178. That means the three campuses saw an 18 percent spike in a decade. Matador Resources Company, an independent energy company, engages in the exploration, development, production, and acquisition of oil and natural gas resources in the United States. It operates through two segments, Exploration and Production; and Midstream. The company primarily holds interests in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring plays in the Delaware Basin in Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. It also operates the Eagle Ford shale play in South Texas; and the Haynesville shale and Cotton Valley plays in Northwest Louisiana. In addition, the company conducts midstream operations in support of its exploration, development, and production operations; provides natural gas processing and oil transportation services; and offers oil, natural gas, and produced water gathering services, as well as produced water disposal services to third parties. As of December 31, 2021, its estimated total proved oil and natural gas reserves were 323.4 million barrels of oil equivalent, including 181.3 million stock tank barrels of oil and 852.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The company was formerly known as Matador Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to Matador Resources Company in August 2011. Matador Resources Company was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. National Bank Holdings Corporation operates as the bank holding company for NBH Bank that provides various banking products and financial services to commercial, business, and consumer clients in the United States. It offers deposit products, including checking, savings, money market, and other deposit accounts, including fixed-rate and fixed maturity time deposits. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans and leases, such as working capital loans, equipment loans, lender finance loans, food and agriculture loans, government and non-profit loans, owner occupied commercial real estate loans, and other commercial loans and leases; non-owner occupied commercial real estate loans consisting of loans on commercial properties, such as office buildings, warehouse/distribution buildings, multi-family, hospitality, and retail buildings; small business administration loans to support manufacturers, distributors, and service providers; term loans, line of credits, and real estate secured loans; residential real estate loans; and consumer loans. In addition, it offers treasury management solutions comprising online and mobile banking, commercial credit card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, electronic bill payment, lock box, remote deposit capture, merchant processing, cash vault, controlled disbursements, and fraud prevention services, as well as other auxiliary services, including account reconciliation, collections, repurchase accounts, zero balance accounts, and sweep accounts. As of January 20, 2022, the company operated through a network of 81 banking centers located in Colorado, the greater Kansas City region, New Mexico, Utah, and Texas. It also operates 121 ATMs. The company was formerly known as NBH Holdings Corp. and changed its name to National Bank Holdings Corporation in March 2012. National Bank Holdings Corporation was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Generac Holdings Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells power generation equipment, energy storage systems, and other power products for the residential, and light commercial and industrial markets worldwide. The company offers engines, alternators, batteries, electronic controls, steel enclosures, and other components. It also provides residential automatic standby generators ranging in output from 7.5kW to 150kW; air-cooled engine residential standby generators ranging from 7.5kW to 26kW; liquid-cooled engine generators with outputs ranging from 22kW to 150kW; and Mobile Link, a remote monitoring system for home standby generators. In addition, the company offers various portable generators ranging in size from 800W to 17.5kW; outdoor power equipment, such as trimmers, field and brush mowers, log splitters, stump grinders, chipper shredders, lawn and leaf vacuums, pressure washers, and water pumps; and clean energy solution under the PWRcell and PWRview brands. Further, it provides light towers, mobile generators, and mobile energy storage systems; commercial mobile pumps and dust-suppression equipment; various gaseous-engine control systems and accessories; light-commercial standby generators ranging from 22kW to 150kW and related transfer switches providing three-phase power for small and mid-sized businesses; and industrial generators ranging in output from 10kW to 3,250kW used as emergency backup for healthcare, telecom, datacom, commercial office, retail, municipal, and manufacturing markets. Additionally, the company sells aftermarket service parts and product accessories to dealers. It distributes its products through independent residential dealers, industrial distributors and dealers, national and regional retailers, e-commerce partners, electrical, HVAC and solar wholesalers, catalogs, equipment rental companies and distributors, and solar installers; and directly to end users. The company was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. distributes aerospace products and provides supply chain management services to the aerospace industry in North America and internationally. Its services include distribution, supplier relationships management, quality assurance, kitting, just-in-time delivery, chemical management, third-party logistics or fourth-party logistics program, and point-of-use inventory management. The company supplies approximately 563,000 active stock-keeping units, including hardware, chemicals, electronic components, bearings, tools, and machined parts. Its hardware products comprise blind and panel fasteners, bolts and screws, clamps, hi lok pins and collars, hydraulic fittings, inserts, lockbolts and collars, nuts, rivets, springs, valves, and washers; and chemicals include adhesives, sealants and tapes, lubricants, oil and grease, paints and coatings, industrial gases, coolants and metalworking fluids, and cleaners and cleaning solvents. The company's electronic components include connectors, relays, switches, circuit breakers, lighted products, wires and cables, and interconnect accessories; and bearings consist of airframe control bearings, rod ends, spherical and ball bearings, needle roller bearings, bushings, and precision bearings; and machined parts and tooling comprise brackets, milled parts, shims, stampings, turned parts, welded assemblies, and installation/removal tooling products. It also installs various products that include air and hydraulic tools, as well as drill motors; provides maintenance and repair services for tools; and rents or leases tools. The company serves airline-affiliated and independent maintenance, repair, and overhaul providers; and original equipment manufacturers and their subcontractors, as well as customers in the automotive, energy, health care, industrial, pharmaceutical, and space sectors. Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Valencia, California. WASHINGTON (Jan. 24, 2017)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., is being awardedfor modification P00003 under a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-16-C-0054) to exercise an option to procure six full rate production Lot I RQ-21A Blackjack unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for the Navy (3) and the Marine Corps (3). The UAS consists of air vehicles, ground control stations, multi-mission (plug and play) payloads, launch and recovery equipment, and systems engineering and program management. Work will be performed in Bingen, Washington (70 percent); and Hood River, Oregon (30 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2018. Fiscal 2017 overseas contingency operations aircraft procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2017 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount $70,813,700 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor modification P00218 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-06-C-0081) to provide additional funding for the CH-53K system development and demonstration effort. This modification includes the on-going efforts and the current work focusing on the flight testing of the CH-53K engineering development models. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (40 percent); West Palm Beach, Florida (40 percent); and Patuxent River, Maryland (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2018. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,025,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awardedfor firm-fixed-price delivery order 0011 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-16-G-0001) for the automated maintenance environment of the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G aircraft in support of the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri, and is expected to be completed in December 2019. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Navy); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $21,031,225 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Navy ($19,667,784, 93.5 percent) and the government of Australia ($1,363,441; 6.5 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded aindefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division. Services to be provided include establishing and maintaining a comprehensive program to provide hardware systems development, maintenance, training, and repair services. Work will be performed in Farmingdale, New York (90 percent); and St. Inigoes, Maryland (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2022. Funds are not being obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on each task order as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0020)., is being awardedcost-plus- fixed-fee modification to delivery order 0112 previously issued against a basic ordering agreement N00019-12-G-0006 in support of the V-22 aircraft. This modification provides for the procurement of non-recurring engineering in support of the development, qualification test, integration, airworthiness substantiation, flight test demonstration, validation/verification and incorporation of the government of Japan (GOJ) configuration into MV-22B Block C aircraft and the MV-22 containerized flight training device. Additionally, kits for the government of Japan unique configuration will be procured as part of this effort. Work will be performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (46.2 percent); Tokyo, Japan (19.8 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (14.5 percent); Chantilly, Virginia (8 percent); Mesa, Arizona (4.7 percent); Huntsville, Alabama (1.8 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (1.1 percent); Red Oak, Texas (0.8 percent); Corona, California (0.5 percent); and various locations within and outside the U.S. (2.6 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2019. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $138,616,043 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity. Troy Townsend, assistant professor of chemistry at St. Mary's College of Maryland, left, and Jeff Croisetiere, '04 SMCM alumnus and project manager for Solar Tech Inc. are working together to develop a proof-of-concept process to print low-cost and lightweight solar modules. (Photo: SMCM) Dr. Kortet Mensah. (Photo: SMCM) Troy Townsend, assistant professor of chemistry at St. Mary's College of Maryland (SMCM), was awarded a $100,000 technology product development grant through the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program. Townsend will be working closely with Solar Tech Inc., a Maryland-based startup company, to develop a proof-of-concept process to print low-cost and lightweight solar modules from the bottom up.Townsend explained that with this process in place, Solar Tech Inc. aims to produce solar panels faster and at a fraction of the cost of traditional silicon-based photovoltaics."We are very excited to partner with the College to develop new solar technology that can be applied both for commercial and residential applications," said Jeff Croisetiere, '04 SMCM alumnus and project manager for Solar Tech Inc.Solar Tech Inc. specializes in solar electric and solar thermal systems for residential, business and municipal applications. The company has served the Southern Maryland area since 2005.Townsend said the project involves using inorganic nanocrystal inks in air under ambient conditions to produce printable solar modules. This comes in contrast to current solar modules, which are created using high-purity silicon under vacuum and high temperatures."It's mostly about getting solar power to people in a more cost effective way. Solar cells right now are a little bit too expensive for the average person," he said. "By reducing the cost of fabrication and installation, solar companies will be able to sell more affordable systems.""The collaboration between our research group at St. Mary's College and Solar Tech Inc. strengthens the college's ties with the community and offers our students first-hand experiences bringing new technology out into the entrepreneurial market." Townsend said, "We predict that this partnership will create jobs in Maryland in the next few years as we develop our process."Along with this project comes more opportunities for state-of-the-art undergraduate research, while students also benefit from the broad liberal arts college experience. Elena Donahue, a rising senior chemistry major and math minor, is the lead research student on this project. She has been working on synthesizing nanocrystal inks and fabricating devices since her freshman year. "I was very fortunate to begin research early in my undergrad career, and under the guidance of Dr. Townsend I have learned many useful skills in the lab," Donahue said. Solar Tech Inc. and Dr. Townsend expect that this project will lead to more undergraduate research opportunities and future collaboration.The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program promotes the development and commercialization of products and processes through industry/university research partnerships. MIPS provides matching funds to help Maryland companies pay for the university research.St. Mary's College of Maryland has appointed Dr. Kortet Mensah to the inaugural role of associate vice president of diversity and inclusion/chief diversity officer. She joined St. Mary's College on Nov. 28 and reports directly to St. Mary's College President Tuajuanda C. Jordan.Mensah brings over 19 years of experience with initiating, overseeing, and evaluating programs and initiatives that facilitate diverse students and employees' successful inclusion and adjustment. Her background in multicultural programming, fostering student success, advancing academic and social relationships, as well as examining cultural influences on individuals' psychosocial development provide Mensah with a unique skillset to serve as the College's first chief diversity officer.In this inaugural role, Mensah will collaborate with administration, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners to infuse inclusion, diversity and equity efforts into all aspects of the College. Through these collaborative efforts, she will propose and jointly implement programming and initiatives, policies, procedures, goals and resources needed to enhance diverse students and employees' educational, employment and social experiences on campus.Mensah earned her bachelor's degree from Stephens College, and her master's degree and PhD in Human Development, Family Studies, and Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.St. Mary's College of Maryland, designated the Maryland state honors college in 1992, is ranked one of the best public liberal arts schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Approximately 1,700 students attend the college, nestled on the St. Mary's River in Southern Maryland.Kirsten Deane-Coe, assistant professor of biology for St. Mary's College of Maryland, was awarded $130,079 by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Dimensions of Biodiversity Program. She will be working with collaborators to investigate the drivers of diversity in an ecologically important clade of dryland mosses.Syntrichia is a large and diverse genus of mosses occurring worldwide and generally in dryland habitats. Despite its dominance in certain communities such as biological soil crusts, surprisingly little is known about the drivers of biodiversity in this clade according to the grant proposal.Deane-Coe is a physiological ecologist and has spent much of her career studying dryland mosses. She explained that mosses are the second most diverse group of land plants next to angiosperms (flowering plants), and they play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems."My role on the grant is to lead research that helps us gain insight into the comparative physiology of these dryland mosses with regard to the trait of desiccation tolerance."This important traitthe capability to dry without dyingallows many mosses to survive and reproduce even in drylands and may be the key to their survival in the face of rapid climate change.The overall goal of the project is to understand the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms that have produced and maintained diversity at different levels of organization (i.e. genes to ecosystems). The approach will include examining tradeoffs between asexual and sexual reproduction and between phenotypic plasticity and canalization into specialized genotypes."This is cutting edge research because my lab will be using novel imaging fluorescence techniques coupled with infrared gas analysis to examine variability in photosynthetic capacity in a diverse but understudied clade of dryland mosses," says Deane-Coe. "We believe photosynthetic capacity under various hydration regimes directly relates to the degree of desiccation tolerance, a key trait that may give us insight into the drivers of biodiversity in these organisms."Deane-Coe is looking forward to the opportunity to involve students in the research, exposing them to unique organisms and plant physiology techniques they likely haven't interacted with before.The St. Mary's College of Maryland physics program is highlighted as a role model in the report, "Phys21: Preparing Physics Students for 21st Century Careers." The report, published by the Joint Task Force on Undergraduate Physics Programs (J-TUPP) and convened by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), selected the College as one of five case studies of successful, innovative physics programs.Josh Grossman, associate professor of physics and chair of the department for the public honors college, said those involved with the report put out a call for best practices and "just how many we do caught their eye."St. Mary's College is cited eight times, highlighting examples of the department's best practices, including its use of assessments to truly measure innovations; keeping its finger on the pulse of the department; getting students involved in the career center early; keeping in touch with alumni; embedding career exploration into the introductory course sequence; giving administration values for the money spent and giving exit surveys to students majoring or minoring in physics.To see the College highlighted several times in one report, Grossman said, shows how much the department has evolved since 2000.Grossman said the goal was to get students to come to St. Mary's for the physics program. "I think we're starting to succeed with that," he said.St. Mary's College averages 11 or 12 graduates per year from the physics department putting it in the top 10 percent among schools with undergraduate-only programs."The physics department is preparing me for a 21st century job for many reasons," said junior Brigid Morris. "Professors make sure we not only understand the material we learn in class, but also that we understand how to apply that knowledge in the lab setting. [Professors make] sure we can 'write and explain' physics as opposed to just being able to plug numbers into an equation not really knowing why. Lastly, we do a lot of group work in the classroom as well as in the lab, which teaches us how to work in a team which is an important part of any job," Morris said.Grossman credits all of the faculty and staff in the department for its success especially former chair of the department Chuck Adler, who has been instrumental in building up faculty and best practices over the years.Innovative application of high impact educational practices at St. Mary's College earned the school recognition among the nation's Colleges of Distinction.Schools must demonstrate results across the Four DistinctionsEngaged Students, Great Teaching, Vibrant Community, and Successful Outcomes. Each school is evaluated on key indicators including student engagement, student empowerment, and curricular innovation. Colleges that have distinguished themselves in each of the Four Distinctions and that have demonstrated dedication to enriching student outcomes through innovative learning opportunities are then invited to join Colleges of Distinction.More than 50 percent of St. Mary's College students earn college credit and valuable life experience while participating in study abroad programs in 10 different countries, as well as through intensive internships within the United States and across the world, and annually performing more than 9,000 hours of volunteer work in the local community.The annual process to select the nation's Colleges of Distinction also includes a review of each institution's experience for first-year students, as well as its general education program, strategic plan, and alumni success and satisfaction measures.The next quarterly meeting of the St. Mary's College of Maryland Board of Trustees will be held on Saturday, Jan. 28. The general session is open to the public and will start at 8:30 a.m. in the St. Mary's College Glendening Annex building (18952 E. Fisher Road St. Mary's City, MD 20686). For more information, contact Kathy Grimes at (240) 895-3058. The agenda will be posted prior to the meeting at www.smcm.edu/board/bylaws-agendas-minutes. LA PLATA, Md. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at so.md/expungeme. (Jan. 24, 2017)The Charles County Sheriff's Office released the following incident and arrest reports.ACCIDENT INVOLVING SCHOOL BUS ON POPLAR HILL ROAD: The Charles County Sheriff's Office Traffic Operations Unit is investigating an accident on Poplar Hill Road which involved a school bus and two other vehicles. The call came in at approximately 2:30 p.m. regarding an accident involving a school bus. Preliminary investigation reveals a vehicle, which was occupied by only the driver, reportedly struck the side of the school bus, went on to strike another car, and then became disabled. There were 8 occupants on the school bus, including seven students and the driver, none of whom were injured. There were 2 adults in the second vehicle that was struck, both of whom were transported to a local hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the striking vehicle was uninjured. The school bus had minor damage and was driven away from the scene. The cause of the crash is under investigation.OFFICERS APPREHEND ARMED ROBBERY SUSPECT: On September 7, 2015 at 10:55 p.m., officers responded to the parking lot of a local restaurant in Waldorf for the report of an armed robbery. An investigation revealed the victim was confronted by an unknown female suspect who placed a gun to her head and demanded money. U.S. currency and property was surrendered, and the suspect fled. During the course of the investigation,, was identified as being responsible for the robbery, and additional evidence supported the identification.On January 12, 2017, Williams was arrested following a traffic stop by the Maryland State Police. Officers responded to the Glen Burnie Barrack and transported Williams to the CCSO for interview. Williams was charged with armed robbery, first-degree assault, and theft. Detective J. Feldman investigated.OFFICERS ARREST SUSPECT IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE: During the early morning hours on December 24,, reportedly touched a juvenile female inappropriately in his home. The incident was reported to a detective from the Charles County Sheriff's Special Victims Unit. Evidence was collected and on January 12, officers arrested and charged Mann with fourth-degree sexual assault and second-degree assault. The investigation is ongoing.THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE: Sometime between 4 p.m. on January 9 and 7 a.m. on January 10, unknown suspect(s) stole two tires off of a company truck that was parked on Industrial Park Drive in Waldorf. The vehicle was left sitting on wooden pallets. PFC S. Hooper is investigating.OFFICERS APPREHEND WANTED BURGLARY SUSPECT: On January 6, officers with the Charles County Sheriff's Fugitive Warrants Unit located and arrested, who was wanted for a number of burglary, theft, and destruction of property charges. Williams is currently being held without bond at the Charles County Detention Center.CCSO PROPERTY CRIMES UNIT RECOVERS TWO STOLEN MOTORCYCLES: On Jan. 4, a motorcycle was reported stolen from the 15000 block of Mountain Place in Brandywine. A suspect was developed as a result of the investigation, and a search warrant was issued. On Jan. 17, detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division, along with officers from the Emergency Services Team (EST) and the Patrol Division, executed the search warrant in the 15000 block of Regina Avenue in Brandywine. The suspect,, was called out of the residence and ultimately arrested and charged with theft. Det. D. Savoy investigated.CHILD STRUCK BY MOTOR VEHICLE: On Jan. 19 at 8:39 a.m., officers responded to Cannon Park Road off of Marshall Hall Road in Bryans Road for the report of a child struck by a motor vehicle. An investigation revealed that a 5-year-old female was at the bus stop waiting for the bus. At one point the child ran into the roadway from between two parked vehicles. A Hyundai Santa Fe was traveling northbound on Cannon Park Road when the child ran out in front of the vehicle. The driver saw the child and attempted to stop. The child ran into the side of the vehicle as it was still in motion. The driver of the Santa Fe stayed with the child and called 911. The child was transported to the hospital with minor injuries. The School Resource Officer, Cpl. K. Selkirk, was contacted and responded to the scene. Cpl. Selkirk also followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed with the child until her mother arrived. PFC P. E. McPherson investigated.THEFT OF CANDY LEADS TO DRUG ARREST: On Jan. 16 at 10:45 p.m., officers were notified of a theft in progress at a gas station in the 5900 block of Crain Highway in La Plata. The suspect stole candy and fled. The clerk flagged down an officer who was nearby, and he observed the suspect flee in a blue car. Other officers responded and located the suspect's vehicle in the parking lot of a hotel. Further investigation led the officers to a room where they located the man, along with cocaine in the man's pants., was arrested and charged with theft and possession of illegal drugs. Pfc K. Lerch is investigating.SECOND-DEGREE ASSAULT: On Jan. 16 at 6:48 p.m., officers responded to a house in the 11900 block of Homestead Place in Waldorf for the report of a fight in progress. Investigation showed two juvenile males went to the house of a known acquaintance and asked him to step outside. When the victim did, he was punched in the face several times by the suspects, who were wearing metal knuckles. The suspects, both 16-year-old males from Waldorf, were arrested and charged with second-degree assault and possession of a concealed dangerous weapon. M/Cpl. C.P. McCue is continuing the investigation.VICIOUS DOG ATTACK: On Jan. 16 at 1:35 p.m. officers were called to the area of Raymond Avenue in Indian Head for the report of a man being attacked by a dog. When officers arrived, they observed a pit bull dog viciously attacking a man. Both officers attempted to dislodge the canine with a catch pole, but the dog continued attacking and would not release. Another officer discharged his agency-issued taser, but the dog did not release and instead kept attacking the man. Officers were finally able to get the canine separated from the victim. However, the canine was still aggressive and attempted to attack the officers. Fearing the dog would injure the man or other people, one officer discharged his firearm, mortally wounding the animal.FIRST-DEGREE ASSAULT: On Jan. 15 at 3:14 a.m., officers responded to an address in White Plains for an unknown trouble call. Upon arrival, officers made contact with family members who stated their father had stab wounds to his body and was being transported to the hospital by their mother. Officers obtained a description of the car and spotted it in La Plata. They observed a male inside with stab wounds. He was transported to Charles Regional Medical Center and then later transferred to another hospital with serious injuries. The investigation is ongoing. Detective M. Kelly is investigating.STOLEN HANDGUN: On Jan. 14 at 6:29 p.m., Officer L. Hamilton was on patrol in the area of Crain Highway and Mall Circle. He conducted a vehicle registration check on a passenger car and learned that the tags were expired and did not belong to the vehicle they were attached to. The officer initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle, and upon approaching the car, he smelled a strong odor of marijuana. Further investigation revealed the driver,, was in possession of marijuana and a loaded handgun. Further investigation into the handgun revealed that it had been reported stolen in Prince George's County. Campbell was arrested and charged with theft and concealing a dangerous weapon.FIRST-DEGREE ASSAULT: On Jan. 14 at 1:47 p.m., officers responded to the 4400 block of Quillen Circle in Waldorf for the report of a stabbing. Upon arrival, they learned that, attempted to stab the victim during a struggle. The victim grabbed the knife and cut his hand in the process. Mozon was arrested and charged with first-degree assault.ACCIDENT INVOLVING SCHOOL BUS ON BRYANTOWN ROAD: The Charles County Sheriff's Office Traffic Operations Unit is investigating an accident on Bryantown Road involving a school bus and a passenger car. Preliminary information is that a call came in at approximately 3:24 p.m. about a bus overturned. The cause of the crash is under investigation. There were five minor injuries. There were three occupants on the bus, including the driver, an attendant, and one student, and two occupants in the passenger car. The cause is being investigated. Details to follow.THEFT FROM AUTO: Between Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, unknown suspect(s) stole two tires from a truck in the area of Industrial Park Drive in Waldorf. Pfc S. Hooper is investigating.STOLEN VEHICLE: On Jan. 7 at 6:45 a.m., a car that had been left warming and unattended was stolen from the 2600 block of Hamilton Place in Waldorf. Pfc J. Marti is investigating.PATROL OFFICERS RECOVER STOLEN VEHICLE: On Jan. 6 at 5:17 a.m., CCSO officers observed a car that had just been reported stolen from La Plata traveling at a high rate of speed on St. Charles Parkway in Waldorf. Officers were able to successfully stop the car. The driver, Matthew Kyle Bacon, 18, of Waldorf, was turned over to La Plata police officers. The car had been left warming in front of the owner's home prior to it being stolen.CCSO SEEKING PUBLIC'S HELP LOCATING MISSING MAN: The Charles County Sheriff's Office is seeking the public's help in locating Chase John Martinez, 18, of Waldorf. Martinez was last seen on Monday, January 2 at the Hampton Inn on Crain Highway in Waldorf. Martinez is 5'9", 200 lbs., stocky build, green eyes, tattoos on both arms, pierced ears, and sometimes wears glasses. He is under a doctor's care and is in need of medication. He does not have access to a car. Anyone with information is asked to call Officer T. Thayer at (301) 932-2222. (CNN) First they marched. Now, Democratic organizers are telling the scores of women who turned out to oppose President Donald Trump over the weekend, it's time to run for something. The massive turnout in Washington and across the country at women's marches Saturday stunned even the most optimistic liberals -- injecting an energy into their cause that many accused the Hillary Clinton campaign of lacking. But it is also forcing Democrats to rapidly find ways to channel that energy into a sustained movement before the moment is lost. Related: Women Roar Into Washington One way several groups are attempting to do that: recruit the women who participated Saturday to run for office from school boards and city councils to Congress. Emily's List, which helps train and fund female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, hosted 500 women for a day-long training session Sunday with nearly 500 more on its waiting list. "I'm confident I talked to a future United States senator. I just may not know who it is yet," Stephanie Schriock, the president of Emily's List, said in an interview Monday. One of those candidates is Bella Stenvall, an 18-year-old from California who is interning on Capitol Hill for Rep. Salud Carbajal. She said she'd like to run for local office at home one day. Her mother moved to the United States from the Philippines at age 18, so "the opportunities I have in America were always stressed to me very strongly," she said -- one of the reasons she signed up for the Emily's List training. Trump's campaign rhetoric was infuriating, she said, and his victory was "a firm call to action." "All of a sudden, it's real," she said. "None of us saw this coming. It was genuine shock." The message of Sunday's training session, Schriock and Stenvall said, was that women who participated in Saturday's marches already have the most important quality they need to run for office. "We have to start by reminding each and every one of them that the most important thing is a commitment to make some change -- a true desire to help your community. That is the most important piece," Schriock said. "We so often hear from our women who are getting trained they'll list off things like, 'I don't have enough experience, I don't have that law degree, I don't have connections to really wealthy people.' What we do is say, none of that matters. That's actually nothing that you need," she said. Post-election surge Other organizations that help women run for office -- some nonpartisan -- are also reporting upticks. VoteRunLead has trained 5,000 women to run for office over a two-year period -- but 2,300 of those came in the two months since Trump's election. "Something switched," said the group's founder, Erin Vilardi. Related: Thousands in West Palm rally against Trump, for women's rights Similarly, the Center for American Women and Politics, which is part of Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute of Politics, saw increased enrollment in their seminars, according to the group's director, Debbie Walsh. The group holds an annual training program in March. Two years ago, four people had registered by January 1. Last year, there were two. However, this year, by New Year's Day, more than 100 had registered and paid in full. Walsh said the influx her group has seen wasn't an anomaly -- partner programs across the country have seen a similar trend. "People are seeing the consequences of elections and that they really matter and that's where we're seeing the upsurge in women," Walsh said. Campaign veterans start recruiting Stung by the depth of Democrats' problems that were laid bare after Clinton's loss, Democrats hope to use the anti-Trump energy to begin rebuilding the party's empty bench. A new group called "Run for Something" -- launched by Democratic operatives Amanda Litman and Ross Morales Rocketto, with a board made of veterans of the Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns -- is seeking to recruit and train progressives under 35 for races for city councils, state legislatures and more. In the group's first 72 hours, more than 400 people reached out, expressing interest, Litman said. Those include "a lot of people who haven't thought about public service before this particular moment; a lot of people who say, 'I'm frustrated and angry that my community and my politicians won't represent me anymore,' " she said. The mix of those expressing interests, she said, is split evenly between men and women, includes many African-Americans, members of the LGBT community, immigrants and "quite a few veterans." The group is looking for people who don't already have inroads into politics. It has a network of more than 200 Democratic operatives who have offered to help prospective candidates -- guiding them through launching candidacies, raising money and more. It's eyeing 2017 municipal races and contests for Virginia House of Delegates seats. "The reason why the focus on some of these down-ballot races is so critical is that these are the individuals whoa re going to be future congress people, future senators, future governors, future attorneys general," said Morales Rocketto. "These are the individuals who 10, 15, 20 years from now are going to be essentially running the country." Donor, activist energy Beyond potential candidates for office, Democratic groups say they are seeing a major influx of new donors and supporters. Emily's List said 60% of its donors in the week after the presidential election had never contributed before. The group has doubled the number of people who are online monthly donors since then. And 3,300 have reached out to express interest in running for office -- including 860 since Trump's inauguration Friday. Related: Madonna Defends Her Anti-Trump Speech at Women's March The official Democratic infrastructure is benefiting, too. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee -- the campaign arm for the party's House candidates -- has already had its best-ever January for digital fundraising, and has seen its list of grassroots supporters grow by 500,000 people in 2017 so far. Now, the DCCC and other Democratic groups are rapidly hashing out strategies to channel the sudden energy toward the 2018 midterms -- not the 2020 presidential race. "We will focus on educating voters on the importance of the midterms, to get people to turn that emotion into electoral success as soon as possible," said DCCC spokeswoman Meredith Kelly. Can Democrats sustain the momentum? The seven candidates seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee spent Saturday in Florida at a donor summit organized by David Brock that was largely focused on the party's failings in 2016. They quickly realized they were missing a major moment. Back at home, the family of former Labor Secretary Tom Perez -- one of the DNC chair candidates -- was cramming 10 visitors in town for the march into their house. It took Perez -- who said he was "frankly very conflicted" about missing the marches in the first place -- multiple runs to Union Station to drop all his visitors off as they departed Sunday. Perez said beyond Trump's moves on health care and home mortgages and his wealthy Cabinet appointments, Americans already miss the "grace" and "integrity" of President Barack Obama's tenure in office -- and that "there have been more integrity breaches since this election by Trump than any president I can think of." "That's why you see America waking up -- and America is going to stay awake," he said. Another candidate for DNC chair, Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison, said he got a call from his niece, a senior at Emerson College in Boston, who he'd not been able to get involved in the 2016 race -- but who told him by phone Saturday she was inspired by the marches. He said the Democratic Party "must support and partner with the energetic activists we saw -- not just ever so often, but 365 days a year." "We are stronger," Ellison said, "when voters know that our party stands for the human rights and dignity that were highlighted during the marches." Japans HTV-6 resupply ship is pictured attached to the Harmony module during robotics operations. Credit: NASA. NASA Mission controllers are preparing to release Japans Kounotori cargo ship from the International Space Station at the end of the week. Meanwhile, the Expedition 50 crew is getting ready for a new protein crystal experiment and reconfiguring combustion science gear. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is getting ready to complete its sixth cargo mission to the station. Overnight, robotics controllers maneuvered Canadas 57.7-foot-long robotic arm holding an external pallet with discarded nickel-hydrogen batteries and installed them inside the Japanese cargo ship for disposal. Next, the Canadarm2 will release Japans HTV-6 resupply ship from the Harmony module Friday for a fiery re-entry back in Earths atmosphere. The HTV-6 arrived Dec. 13 four days after its launch from the Tanegashima Space Center carrying crew supplies, new science experiments and lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the stations power supply. The California-based space company SpaceX is planning its tenth station cargo mission. The Dragon cargo craft will deliver a new experiment to study protein crystals to help scientists design better drugs to fight diseases. In advance of the Dragon delivery, Astronaut Peggy Whitson set up the Light Microscopy Module with new lenses today to get ready for the new experiment installation. Commander Shane Kimbrough is getting the Combustion Integrated Rack ready for the Cool Flames Investigation (CFI). That study will observe how fuels burn at lower temperatures with no visible flames. CFI may engineers develop advanced engines and fuels and improve crew safety. On-Orbit Status Report Minus Eighty Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)-1 Autostop and Recovery: MELFI-1 went to Autostop mode Friday evening (during crew sleep). The Cold Stowage team performed troubleshooting including a rack reboot but remained in autostop. Failure signature had anomalous values on the 120 and 28 volt inputs, as well as failure statuses on multiple Motor Drive Electronics (MDE) status bits. This is similar to the power supply failures seen in previous Electronic Unit failures (Failures #2, 3 & 5). The decision was made to perform an Electronic Unit swap. The failed unit (S/N 15) was replaced by the MELFI 1 Spare (S/N 11). During the repair activity, the crew released a small amount of ITCS fluid when removing the return line QD from the UIP. The crew corrected the QD with the standard rotate and tap steps. They also noted significant moisture around the water connections at the Brayton motor QDs in the coldbox, however this is expected as the cold lines collect condensate. The crew commented on corrosion around one of the electrical connections in the coldbox area. Photos were taken for review. When installing the Spare EU in the Prime position, the crew was unable to seat the bottom right fastener (#2 in the procedure). The remaining 7 fasteners were connected and the EU is secure in the rack. The warmest temperatures seen per Dewar were: Dewar 1: -75C, Dewar 2: -73.9C, Dewar 3: -76.4C, Dewar 4: +3.5C, and ground teams do not anticipate any loss of science from this EU failure. Light Microscopy Module (LMM) Biophysics 1 Configuration: Earlier today the crew configured the LMM for the Biophysics science runs in the Fluids Integrated Rack (FIR). The Advanced Colloids Experiment-Temperature-1 (ACE-T-1) Module was removed from the FIR then the LMM Control Base and LMM objective lenses were installed and configured inside the LMM Auxiliary Fluids Container (AFC). Finally the LMM Petri Base was installed into the AFC. LMM Biophysics 1 (The Effect of Macromolecular Transport of Microgravity Protein Crystallization) will launch on SpaceX-10. When installed, investigators will use the results from LMM Biophysics 1 to examine the movement of single protein molecules in microgravity. By studying the crystals of a higher quality that can be grown in microgravity, scientists will be able to better understand their structure and how they work. Fluid Shifts Chibis Imaging Day 2: One of the 49S subjects performed their second portion of Chibis imaging. The subject donned the Chibis device, and while the crewmember was exposed to the negative pressure (pulling the fluid feetward), then with ground and onboard operator support they configured the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and the Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) hardware, before completing a DPOAE test, OCT exam, and a Tonometry exam. The purpose of this investigation is to characterize the space flight-induced fluid shift, including intra- and extravascular shifts, intra- and extracellular shifts, changes in total body water and lower vs. upper body shifts. Noninvasive techniques are used to assess arterial and venous dimensions and flow parameters, ocular pressure and structure, and changes in intracranial pressure. Lower body negative pressure is being investigated for its ability to mitigate some of the effects of the space flight-induced fluid shift. Results from this investigation are expected to help define the causes of the ocular structure and vision changes associated with long duration space flight, and assist in the development of countermeasures. Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) Reconfiguration: After the successful removal of the MDCA from the Combustion Integration Rack (CIR) last week, the crew began the reconfiguration to the Cool Flames Investigation (CFI). Today, the crew removed the MDCA Chamber Insert Assembly (CIA) from the Combustion Chamber and restrained it to the MWA. The crew then disabled the ignitor pressure switch and replaced the MDCA internal components. The Combustion Chamber was then reinstalled in the CIR. Reconfiguration activities will continue tomorrow. CFI provides new insight into the phenomenon where some types of fuels initially burn very hot, then appear to go out but they continue burning at a much lower temperature, with no visible flames (cool flames). Understanding cool flame combustion helps scientists develop new engines and fuels that are more efficient and less harmful to the environment. Node 3 (N3) Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Research Valve Install: The crew removed the Air Selector Valve (ASV)-104 valve from the N3 CDRA and install a new CDRA Developmental Research Valve. This new Research Valve was developed to improve CDRA valve operational lifetime. The valve was delivered on HTV-6 and has the same interfaces, form, fit and function as the existing valve design. The removed ASV-104 valve will be stowed as an on-orbit spare. Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) Operations: Overnight, the Robotics Ground Controllers powered on the SSRMS and maneuvered it to grapple the H-II Transfer Vehicle 6 (HTV6) External Platform (EP) grappled by the Mobile Base System (MBS) Payload/Orbital Replacement Unit (ORU) Accommodation (POA). After the POA released the EP, they maneuvered SSRMS to move and insert EP in the HTV6 Unpressurized Logistics Carrier (ULC) where it was latched and SSRMS was maneuvered to release the EP. Finally, SSRMS was maneuvered to perform a survey of the HTV6 Earth Sensor Assembly (ESA) unit B before grappling HTV6 Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture (FRGF) in preparation of HTV6 release and re-entry scheduled for Friday 27-January. Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Sample Collection: The crew conducted ITCS fluid sampling from the Lab Low Temperature Loop (LTL) sample port. This maintenance is performed periodically to monitor the quality of the water in the ITCS loops. Todays Planned Activities All activities were compelted unless otherwise noted. Fine Motor Skills Experiment Test Fluid Shifts Ultrasound 2 HRF Rack 1 Setup Power On From Cargo Transfer Bag Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) /Group Combustion Module (GCM) Component Activation Regeneration of Micropurification unit (???) ?1cartridge (begin) Combustion Integrated Rack Hardware Gather FLUID SHIFTS. Comm configuration on RS Fluid Shifts Ultrasound 2 Data Export Alternate FLUID SHIFTS. Gathering and Connecting Equipment for TV coverage Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Setup Alternate FLUID SHIFTS. Connecting OCT Laptop to RS BRI and HRF PC to ???-26 (instead of RSE-MED). Fluid Shifts RSOS Operations Historical Documentation Photography Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus Session Review Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Power On ALGOMETRIA. Preparation and measurements in strain-gage and thermoalgometry modes Fluid Shifts CCFP Service Module Configuration Fluid Shifts DPOAE Service Module Setup Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Combustion Chamber (CC) pressure gauge check and Valve Operation part 1 FLUID SHIFTS. Operator Assistance with Chibis and Gamma-1. Fluid Shifts Tonometry Service Module Setup Search for missing ISS RS Hardware (FGB service hardware Fluid Shifts Experiment Service Module Data Collection Operator Fluids Integrated Rack Rack Doors Open FLUID SHIFTS. Crew Onboard Support System (????) Hardware Deactivation and Closing Applications on ?? SSC Fluid Shifts CCFP DPOAE Service Module End FLUID SHIFTS. Comm Reconfiguration to nominal on RS LMM Biophysics Configuration Fluid Shifts Tonometry Service Module Stow Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Power Off FLUID SHIFTS. Disconnecting Laptop OCT, HRF and connecting RSE-Med. Removal of 800? (?103) and 800? (?102) units Fluid Shifts OCT Service Module Stow Alternate Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) Combustion Chamber (CC) pressure gauge check and Valve Operation part 2 Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus MWA Prep Fluids Integrated Rack Rack Doors Close Multi-purpose Small Payload Rack (MSPR) /Group Combustion Module (GCM) Component Deactivation Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill Recording of French Experiments Valorisation Message ALGOMETRIA. Measurements in strain-gage algometry mode Re-install 800? (?103) and 800? (?102) units at original locations Combustion Integrated Rack Rack Doors Open Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Valve 104 Remove and Replace Part 1 Progress 433 (DC1) Stowage Ops with IMS Support Combustion Integrated Rack Front End Cap Open Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus Hardware Replacement Intermodular TORU Test with Docked Progress 433 Exercise Data Downlink via OCA Fluid Shifts OCT Laptop USOS Transfer URISYS Hardware Setup Progress 433 (DC1) Stowage Ops with IMS Support Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Sample Gathering VEG-03 Wick Open Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Questionnaire Node 3 Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Valve 104 Remove and Replace Part 2 Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Test WIRELESS LEAK DETECTOR ULTRASONIC SENSOR DEPLOYMENT Regenerative Environmental Control and Life Support System (RGN) WSTA Fill CB/ISS CREW CONFERENCE Health Maintenance System (HMS) Vision Questionnaire Regeneration of ??? ?1 Absorption Cartridge (term) ALGOMETRIA. Measurements in strain-gage and thermoalgometry modes Closeout Ops Completed Task List Items AQUAPAD Label Modification [Completed Sunday] ESA PAO Recorded Message Rugby: 6 Nations [Completed Sunday] EVA Simplified Aid For EVA Rescue Swap [Completed Sunday] Spaceflight Cognitive Assessment Tool for Windows (WinSCAT) Test [Completed Saturday] Manufacturing Device Print Removal, Clean and Stow [Completed Sunday] NanoRacks Platform-1 Module-72 Deploy [Completed Sunday] JPM1F6 ZSR Audit [Completed Saturday] SOLAR SWITCH OFF Crew Recorded Message [Completed Sunday] PhotoTV Node 3 Camcorder cleaning[Completed Saturday] MSG W203 Cable Exchange [Completed Saturday] MELFI 1 Electronic Unit Swap [Completed Saturday] ESA Active Dosimeter Area Monitoring [Completed Saturday] Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) Reconfiguration [Completed Saturday] Aerosol Samplers Charger Stow [Completed Saturday] Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. Node 3 Internal Thermal Control System (ITCS) Mode Transition to Single MT Lab MCA Zero Calibration Activation of N3 AR Rack and leak checks. Three-Day Look Ahead: Tuesday, 01/24: Story Time Meniscus, COL CWSA R&R, Fluid Shifts, JEM ITCS Sample, NORS Transfer Wednesday, 01/25: N3 MCA R&R, Fluid Shifts, N2/Lab ITCS Sample, Eye Exams Thursday, 01/26: HTV5 (Depart/ROBOT OBTs, Final load, Hatch Closure, Vestibule Demate, CPA Install), Eye Exams, ARED Detent R&R QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group: Component Status Elektron Off Vozdukh Manual [???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) Off [???] 2 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2) On Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Operate Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Standby Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Idle Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Process Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up On Saturday, January 21, the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association honoured horsemen, horsewomen, and equines throughout the state for their accomplishments during the 2016 racing season at the Ohio Harness Horsemens Association and USTA District 1 annual banquet held at Doubletree by Hilton Columbus/Worthington in Columbus, Ohio. The days activities included the annual PACER stallion service auction, HHHRP trustees meeting, ladies luncheon, USTA directors luncheon, USTA District 1 annual membership meeting, and the annual Ohio Harness Horsemens Association membership meeting. The day wrapped up with the annual awards banquet. The PACER auction was moved online, which was highly efficient and enabled the auction to raise more than $100,000 in bids for 2017 Ohio stallion bookings. The ladies who attended the ladies luncheon enjoyed participating in a painting activity led by Elements Art Studio following their lunch. In the annual membership meeting, members were informed of updates on issues and projects that the organization has been working on throughout the year. Also highlighted were projects for the upcoming year, anchored by the full-scale marketing plan approved to commence with the Richards Group and Marcus-Thomas firms and the inaugural Buckeye Stallion Series, second-tier stakes program for 2017. The nomination committee finalized the Boards election results with directors for breeder, owner, and driver/trainer confirmed as follows: breeders Randy Haines, Joe McLead, Ayers Ratliff, and Jake Mossbarger; owner directors, District 1 Scott Cox, District 4 Suanne Kochilla, District 7 Steve Bateson, Northfield Park track director Kurt Sugg; President Kevin Greenfield and Vice President Steve Bateson. Members enjoyed the pre-banquet cocktail hour socializing with each other, legislators and other industry members while enjoying a slideshow of Ohio fair racing activities. Dinner began at 6 p.m. when Ohio Harness Horsemens Association Executive Director Renee Mancino welcomed guests; dinner was served and the awards presentation began. The Ohio Harness Horsemens Association presented special awards to Cindi Johnson and Aaron Merriman. Johnson was recognized for her outstanding service on the track as an outrider. She has been an outrider for 20 years and her horse Beau has been with her for 17. Her career as an outrider began in 1997 at Pompano Park in Florida and she has been in Ohio since 2003. Aaron Merriman was recognized for his achievements on the track, including being known as the winningest driver of the decade. He has taken home more than 800 wins each year for the past three years, an accomplishment only one other driver has achieved, and had won the national dash title in both 2015 and 2016. The 2016 Terry Holton Youth Award was presented to Ashley Dunn in recognition of her hard work, dedication, and passion for harness racing. She is 18 years old and from Polk, Ohio, and the daughter of Kurt and Becky Sugg. Ashley has been involved in harness racing extensively for the past eight years. She travels to Northfield Park, Scioto Downs, and the Ohio County Fairs. She is a groom and owner of many horses and is pursuing her trainers license. Darke County Harness Horsemens Association was presented with the Dick Brandt Sr. Extra Effort Award for 2016. The Darke County Harness Horsemens Association works hard to bring not only a strong racing program to the Darke County Fair but to involve the community in harness racing throughout the year. They have an extensive list of activities and promotions that they pride themselves in to bring horsemen and the community together. New this year, OHHA presented an Outstanding Groom Award to Dawn Hamman. She has been a groom for more than 30 years and takes pride in the work she does. She also has owned racehorses and has done some training. She trains retired horses for trail riding, giving them the opportunity for a second career. The divisional winning horses were recognized: Two-year-old pacing colt-Scotch McEwan Two-year-old pacing filly-Berazzled Two-year-old trotting colt-Rose Run Spanky Two-year-old trotting filly-Lets Get Started Three-year-old pacing colt-Mr Wiggle Pants Three-year-old pacing filly-My Tweed Heart Three-year-old trotting colt-Wegoferdaprize Three-year-old trotting filly-Consolidator Older trotting horse-I Know My Chip Older pacing horse-Dancin Yankee The 2016 Ohio Horse of the Year was presented to two-year-old trotting filly Lets Get Started, owned and bred by Richard and Joyce McClelland, trained by Bobby Brower, and driven by Josh Sutton. Congratulations to all the winners. The Ohio Harness Horsemens Association would also like to thank all the sponsors and volunteers who made the evening a success. (Ohio Harness Horsemens Association) Americans Support Supreme Court Ruling to Restrict Abortion, Oppose Taxpayer Funding New K of C-Marist poll finds support for abortion restrictions on both sides of the political aisle Contact: Andrew Walther, Knights of Columbus, 203-824-5412, andrew.walther@kofc.org WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- Significant majorities of Americans oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortions and want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of abortion restrictions, according to a new Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Americans overwhelmingly oppose the use of tax dollars to support abortion in other countries (83 percent). More than six in 10 Americans (61 percent) also oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortions in the United States. This includes almost nine in 10 Trump supporters (87 percent) and even nearly four in 10 Clinton supporters (39 percent). The poll demonstrates that there is a clear bi-partisan consensus on limiting abortion to at most the first trimester, with a majority of Clinton supporters (55 percent) and more than nine in 10 Trump supporters (91 percent) saying they support such limits. Among Americans overall, nearly three-quarters (74 percent) want abortion restricted to, at most, the first trimester. Among those who want restrictions, 74 percent want the Supreme Court to rule in favor of those restrictions. This equates to about 55 percent of Americans who support such action by the court. In fact, nearly six in 10 (59 percent) say it is either an immediate priority (34 percent), or is an important one (25 percent), to limit abortion to the first trimester. This includes 78 percent of Republicans and almost half of Democrats (47 percent). Even among those who identify as pro-choice, more than four in 10 say restricting abortion is an immediate priority or important (44 percent). "There is a consensus in America in favor of significant abortion restrictions, and this common ground exists across party lines, and even among significant numbers of those who are pro-choice," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "This poll shows that large percentages of Americans, on both sides of the aisle, are united in their opposition to the status quo as it relates to abortion on demand. This is heartening and can help start a new national conversation on abortion." Regardless of their views on whether abortion should remain legal, almost six in 10 Americans (59 percent) believe that abortion is morally wrong. This includes eight in 10 Trump supporters and nearly four in 10 Clinton supporters (37 percent). Nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) think laws can protect both the well-being of a woman and the life of her unborn child. The survey of 2,729 adults was conducted Dec. 12-19, 2016, by the Marist Poll and sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Adults 18 years of age and older residing in the continental United States were interviewed in English or Spanish by telephone using live interviewers. The results are statistically significant at 1.9 percentage points. Contact: Troy Newman, President, 316-683-6790 ext. 111; Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Vice President, 316-516-3034; both with Operation Rescue, info.operationrescue@gmail.com WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2017 /Standard Newswire/ -- President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order reinstating the Reagan-era Mexico City Policy, which effectively defunds International Planned Parenthood and stops American tax dollars from funding organizations that conduct or promote abortions internationally. This reverses former Pres. Barack Obama's unpopular 2008 Executive Order that rescinded the Mexico City Policy and opened the doors for tax-funding of abortions overseas. "This is a welcome first step on Trump's first full business day in office. It shows us that he is serious about keeping the promises he made to protect innocent lives from abortion," said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. "Today's executive action shows Trump is placing a high priority on protecting the pre-born." Other pledges Trump made during the 2016 presidential campaign included: Nominate a pro-life conservative to the U.S. Supreme Court. Appoint strong pro-life judges to the Federal Courts. Defund Planned Parenthood. Pass the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act banning abortions at 20 weeks and later. Repeal and replace Obamacare and the abortion mandate that forces the insured to pay for abortions and abortifacient drugs. Steps have already been taken to fulfill some of these promises. The Trump Administration has signed an Executive Order "minimizing the economic burden" of Obamacare until it can be repealed and replaced. This essentially halts enforcement of financial penalties for those who, as a matter of conscience, refuse to purchase health insurance that pays for abortions. Trump has also telegraphed that his nomination for the Supreme Court is imminent. "Today's reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy is encouraging," said Newman. "It is refreshing to see action instead of the lip service we have gotten from establishment politicians. We expect that Trump will continue to act quickly to keep all his pro-life promises." Read this press release at OperationRescue.org About Operation Rescue Operation Rescue is one of the leading pro-life Christian activist organizations in the nation and has become a strong voice for the pro-life movement in America. Click here to support Operation Rescue. Contact: Nancy Jensen, Relevant Radio , 920-406-7338; Karen Moran, Immaculate Heart Radio , 916-221-2238GREEN BAY, Wis., Jan. 24, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- Board members of Relevant Radio and Immaculate Heart Radio today signed their merger agreement and have submitted a petition to the FCC for the required ownership transfer of radio licenses to the merged entity. The non-profit corporation will be known as "Immaculate Heart Media, Inc. d/b/a Relevant Radio." Bishops, clergy, listeners, donors, and employees across the country have expressed enthusiastic support for the merger.Through a successful seven month capital campaign sufficient cash and pledges have been raised to substantially strengthen the financial condition of the network and free up resources to be invested in programming, Mission advancement and emerging media opportunities."We are enthusiastically moving forward with the merger in order to unite and join forces to continue to serve the Church and its Bishops," said Tom Vorpahl, Chairman of the Relevant Radio Board of Directors.The merged corporation will broadcast inspirational Catholic radio programs over 108 AM and FM radio stations and translators in 36 states reaching 133 million potential listeners. The network will operate 24/7 in 22 of the nation's top 50 media markets*, including the four largest markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. Additionally, all programs will be live-streamed and available on podcast through multiple internet platforms including websites, mobile apps, and social media portals.According to Doug Sherman, President of Immaculate Heart Radio, "Catholic radio has been an oasis of encouragement for all of our listeners. It's a place that they can come and be reminded that there's hope and Good News. We look forward to the fruit that will come from this merger and the strengthening of Catholic radio in our country."The first example of potential market reach can be found in " The Drew Mariani ShowTM ." Starting January, 17, the third hour of Drew's show is broadcast live on both networks, starting at 5p Eastern/2p Pacific.The FCC is expected to rule on the merger by May 1, 2017.*Source: Nielsen Market Rankings with populations as of 8/31/2016 The essential component of totalitarian propaganda is artifice (het toepassen van kunstgrepen. svh) . The ruling elites, like celebritie... Chile and neighbouring Argentina have declared states of catastrophe due to worst forest fires in decades. Over 175,000 square miles of raging inferno in the area south of Santiago in Chile and more than one million hectares across several locations in Argentina have been ravaged. And high winds are currently blowing! Fire fighters are battling the worst forest fires for over 10 years in central Chile as President Michelle Bachelet declares the state of catastrophe. Over 175,000 square miles were the site of a raging inferno in the area south of Santiago, the countrys capital city. More than 200 people were evacuated as hundreds of firefighters, military and forestry workers were brought into the region to battle the blaze. Josephina Lopez, from to the countrys National Emergency Office (ONEMI), said no fatalities have been reported yet but huge economic losses were expected. The disaster was called a sort of earthquake for the area, agriculture minister Carlos Furche said on Chiles national radio, with a farming emergency declared. Crops and vineyards have been destroyed. President Bachelet was seeking help from other countries, including its neighbour Argentina, while France had already offered assistance. Ive instructed the Interior Ministry to declare a catastrophe zone and a state of emergency in the areas affected by the fires, President Bachelet said on Twitter. By calling a state of catastrophe, military personnel can be deployed to assist in dousing the wildfires. Helicopters and planes were needed to drop fire retardant onto the forest areas, as high winds and a heat wave fuel the flames. Thick smoke from the intense fires is causing a thick haze over acres of land. Television news footage showed helicopters and planes attempting to put out the fires, but apparently to little effect. Authorities are attempting to discover the cause of the blaze although the forests have been extremely dry after several weeks without rain. January is the hottest month of the Chilean summer. The head of Chiles CONAF forestry service, Aaron Cavieres, said the, fires were caused by people, but whether they were set on purpose could not yet be determined. In 2014, a fire in Valparaiso killed 15 people and destroyed over 2,000 homes. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Argentina, a state of disaster and an agricultural emergency were declared in the province of La Pampa, on Sunday. Wildfires have ravaged more than one million hectares across several locations, according to local authorities. The argentinian wildfire started during a dry storm, which saw around 500 lightning strikes in a predominately dry grass area. Follow us: Facebook and Twitter Several South Kelso residents had a scary Saturday night after an apparently intoxicated man broke into several residences before police arrested him. Gary Dean Clark Isaacson, 22, was arrested on suspicion of two residential burglaries and two attempted residential burglaries and booked into the Cowlitz County Jail early Sunday morning. Kelso police were dispatched to the 1100 block of South Seventh Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. for a burglary in progress, according to police records. The call came from a resident who reported that a man had broken through her front window. As officers responded to this incident, 911 dispatchers called to update that several more calls from area residents reporting that a man was smashing windows and attempting to break into their homes. While officers were still gathering information, dispatchers updated again that another caller from the 1100 block of South Sixth Avenue was reporting a man suspect had broken into the residence and was still inside struggling with the homeowner. When officers arrived, the suspect seemed to be under the influence of narcotics, according to police reports. He kept telling officers Kill me, shoot me, pull the trigger. Officers finally arrested Isaacson, who had cuts to his arms, fingers and left leg. Isaacson also had several apparent self-inflicted wounds to his neck. Cowlitz 2 Fire & Rescue medics arrived shortly after officers arrested Isaacson and treated his injuries. Isaacson was taken to St. John Medical Center for medical treatment and later was booked into jail. Isaacson spent seven days in jail in 2015 for violation of a no-contact order and for possession of a dangerous weapon. His city of residence was not immediately reported. Local teenagers saw history in the making last week as they stood in the audience and watched Fridays inauguration of President Donald Trump. And what a whirlwind adventure it was for one of them to make it on time. Spencer Boudreau, a Mark Morris junior, and Emma Ortiz-Walters, a Three Rivers Christian School sophomore, both returned over the weekend after attending the inauguration of the 45th president, despite the fact that neither of them is old enough to vote. Ortiz-Walters was not available Monday afternoon for comment on her experience traveling to the nations capital. The Daily News first reported about her upcoming trip earlier this month. Boudreaus trip was spur of the moment. On a whim, the Mark Morris teen emailed U.S. Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Southwest Washingtons 3rd Congressional District, a week-and-a-half before the election. I thought, Why not email to see if I could get a ticket? not thinking anything of it, Boudreau said. At 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, just as he went to bed, Spencer got an email. Herrera Beutlers office said she had a ticket to the inauguration as long as he could pick it up from her office in Washington, D.C., the next day. I called (last Thursday) and told them, Hey I cant make it today, can I pick it up tomorrow? Spencer said, referring to the day of the inauguration. The secretary said he was welcome to any time up until the event started. And so began the race against time. A family member bought two plane tickets leaving Thursday night. The plane didnt leave Portland until 10:30 p.m., and with layovers, a three-hour time difference and a five-hour flight, Spencer didnt arrive at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., until just before 11 a.m. the morning of the inauguration. We immediately got in a taxi and asked How close can you get us to the Capitol? Luckily, Spencer ended up with a savvy cabbie: He and the family member were dropped off within two blocks of Herrera Beutlers office in the Longworth building around 11:20 a.m. They dashed out of the office at 11:30 a.m., tickets in hand, and by the time the two made it through security, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, was on stage giving his remarks. We were probably 300 feet from the podium, Spencer said. A lot of the people that were up closer were Trump supporters. A lot of them had Trump hats on and red, white and blue ties. Boudreau, who said he supports Trump and would have voted for him if he was old enough, was happy to be up close. There was chanting from the left and the right from where I was, Spencer said. Most of the chants consisted of shouting U.S.A and Trump. I thought it was a very formal event, like if youve ever seen an inauguration or something in the movies. It was just like would see in a movie, Boudreau said. It was very cinematic and very well planned out, I thought. Most memorable was Trumps speech itself, Boudreau said. I thought his speech was very on point, Boudreau said. He didnt go off the wall a lot like hes done at rallies and campaign speeches. It was very forward looking and it didnt dwell on the past much. And then it was all over. I was in D.C. for only six hours, Boudreau said. His flight took off at 11 p.m. that night, so he could be back home in time for work Saturday morning. Dewy the Anatolian Shepherd is 115-pound teddy bear. He may bark at first, but he loves to meet new people and show off his tricks to score some extra treats. But he really, really doesnt like it when his owners leave town. Especially when he has to go to a boarding facility. Dewys distaste for boarding gave his owners, Kyle and Matt Wheeler, a new business idea. They recently opened Paws & Stay Bark & Breakfast, a small-scale doggy daycare and boarding facility that is designed to feel like home away from home. We tried to design to (feel) like it was going to stay with a family friend rather than somewhere else, said Kyle Wheeler. The dog ranch is built on two acres of country property in Toledo, with plenty of room for dogs to run, play and explore. Although its located in Toledo, Paws & Stay offers free shuttle service from Kelso-Longview to Centralia. Shuttle rides as far north as Olympia or as far south as Ridgefield cost $5 to $10 each way, depending on the distance. About half of the Wheelers home is sectioned off for Paws & Stay. A 750-foot living room, dubbed the Dogitorium, is lined with new tiled carpet that can easily be removed and cleaned. The open room offers space for indoor play and six oversized, open crates. Dogs are crated overnight and for a two hour break during the day. Canine guests have the option to go outside if they wish at least once every two hours, and at least twice a day theyre taken to a half acre portion of the property to run and play, Matt said. In the summer, the Wheelers said they hope to add agility equipment and complete a project to install a pond so that they can open up entire property for dogs. The Wheelers said they try to limit the time the dogs spend inside the kennels. We thought we could provide the environment we would want for our dogs, Matt said. Up to 15 dogs can be on the property at any given time under a county permit, including the three dogs that the Wheelers already own. From the get-go, we never wanted it be a large-scale facility, Kyle said. And being more smaller scale allows us to pay more close attention to each of the dogs, Matt added. The couple moved to Toledo in September, after relocating to the Northwest from Texas in 2015. Originally from Portland and California, Kyle said he has previously worked for the Humane Society and a veterinary clinic in Texas, as well as a doggie daycare and boarding facility in Portland. We both love dogs and Kyles experience he gained over the years with animal care, and also the trouble (we had) finding a place we were comfortable leaving our dogs at . (made us) decide that this would be a business we would love to do, Matt said. Guest dogs will meet the resident pups: Dewy; Dinky, the ten pound Chihuahua-Dachshund mix; and Delshad, the outgoing, three-legged husky who was rescued from Iran. Rates are $40 a night for boarding, but prices drop 15 percent after three days and weekly rates are arranged on as-needed basis. Daycare is $25 per day Monday through Friday or $30 per day on weekends. More information is available at pawsandstay.com. tech2 News Staff BlackBerry announced last year that it will be leaving the hardware business and focus on software services. Apart from mobile and enterprise security services, the company has been working on secure networked crisis communication platform which is heading its way to India. The decision comes right after the events of Chennai Cyclone that had an impact on the city's connectivity in December last year. According to this report, BlackBerry has already begun discussions with enterprises for potential deployments and is expected to begin the pilot projects in a month or so. The full commercial contract will however come towards the second half of 2017. The rollout will be done via AtHoc which was acquired by BlackBerry in 2015. Adrian Szwarcburg, director-APAC/Africa sales at AtHoc, BlackBerry believes that there is a huge potential of the service in India and it could contribute 15-20 percent of its revenue here over a period of time. Starting from a pilot, the contract value could be in tens of thousands of dollars per year. So far, Indian customers that we are meeting are companies with large employee base across multiple locations. You need crisis management plan in such cases. A lot of companies have actually started creating functions for these. It is no more an additional job for IT, IT security or HR. There are specialised people to do this job, added Szwarcburg. AtHoc offers a suite that provides a multi-channel communication system allowing users to send warning message as a text, phone call (automatic text to speech), email and even voicemail. Microsoft used AtHoc during the recent cyclone in Chennai to advise its staff to not to come to the office. Apart from Microsoft, there are other companies that are using this. The company is also looking at partnering with defence and security, government agencies, airports authorities, metro services like Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and healthcare. hidden China's internet supervisors have taken down more than 5,500 illegal apps for disseminating pornographic and violent content among other things, the official Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday. The move is the latest step taken by Beijing to clean up its cyberspace, having launched a crackdown on virtual private network services that allow users to bypass censorship on Monday. More than 1,600 mobile video apps circulating pornographic and violent content were taken offline, said the cyberspace administration in China's southern province of Guangdong on Monday. Over 1,200 social apps had pornographic content, while others hacked users' private information, infringed upon other rights or charged malicious fees. The administration said illegal apps had been available on app stores operated by Tencent, China Mobile and other smartphone producers like Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, Meizu, OPPO and VIVO. Tencent, China Mobile, Huawei, Coolpad, Meizu, OPPO and VIVO could not be reached for comment. ZTE declined to immediately comment. The administration said the apps violated cyber laws in China and said it would step up supervision. This is part of a larger crackdown on the internet users in the country. Internet regulatory introduced more stern guidelines for the internet users last year. This move is an extension of the regulations. With inputs from Reuters Anirudh Regidi Now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is officially over, its time we take another look at the whole fiasco and figure out what India can learn from it. Regulatory bodies I think the biggest take away from the fiasco is the lack of any regulatory body in India with sufficient drive and power to spearhead a recall of this nature. If you remember the first Note 7 recall, once reports of fires started pouring in, Samsung, on its own initiative, issued a recall of the product in the US. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wasnt apprised of the situation, but they still only took six days to issue a countrywide advisory against the Note 7. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a warning a day before the CPSC. This was on 8 September. Samsung issued no such recall in India (at the time) and there was no official statement on the same. Granted, the Note 7 hadnt yet officially gone on sale in the country at the time of the initial recall, but that doesnt mean that devices werent in the country or that people werent flying with the phone. The FAA officially banned the Note 7 from all flights on 14 October, but it wasnt until 20 October that the device was officially banned from Indian flights. The DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) was so late, in fact, that local airlines banned the device on their own initiative. Bodies like the FAA and CPSC are always on red alert and they ensure that other companies do the same. India needs a regulatory body with this level of commitment and drive. Taking responsibility While a regulatory body to oversee such situations is good, there needs to be a system in place to ensure that companies that sell their products in India take responsibility for their products. Taking the case of the Note 7 again, Samsung was quick to issue a recall in the US, Europe, South Korea and China. India was conveniently ignored until sometime after the recall became a global phenomenon. As mentioned earlier, the device hadnt officially launched in the country, but again, thats still no excuse for not taking responsibility for the products. Customers who had pre-ordered the Note 7 didnt get refunds or replacements on time and those who already had the device had to wait much longer for the official recall process to be initiated. If you remember the recent ban of Nestles Maggi noodles, the only reason that the recall went so smoothly was that Nestle took responsibility for its product. Why arent we expecting this from other companies? Supposing you find that some product sold in India is defective? Who do you turn to? Quality control Higher standards for quality are necessary. Samsungs own investigations narrowed the cause of the battery fires to poor quality control. Products that are sold in India need to be subjected to some kind of standards. Institutes like the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) do exist, but were all aware of the number of shoddy products sold in India. Not to say that BIS test processes are flawed. The problem is that BIS certification is voluntary for most products. The Indian Standards Bill of 2015, passed in March 2016, has helped to some extent. The bill essentially aims to establish the BIS as the National Standards body of India and give it more authority. Greater awareness Speaking of BIS, how many people actually check for BIS certification or other such certification before buying a product? Are we even aware of what BIS certification is for or why it's necessary? Did you know that products like milk powder and LPG cylinders, this certification is mandatory? Did you know that all electronic and information technology goods sold in India require BIS certification and that it's illegal to sell a product without such certification? Did you know that you could report uncertified products to the BIS? The public needs to be more aware of the importance of such standards and the fact that they exist. Of course, if Samsung couldnt detect flaws in the Note 7, the BIS could have done little to detect the flaws in the Note 7 in advance. Make in India not just for India, but for the world as well The whole point of the Make in India campaign was to give manufacturers incentive to shift production to India. Right now, most manufacturers seem to be interested in assembling in India and selling in India. If we ever intend to see a Made in India iPhone sold in western markets, the aforementioned stricter standards and capable regulatory bodies will go a long way to ensuring the standards of goods manufactured here. Samsung, for example, has listed out an 8-step test process for its batteries. Whats stopping India from enforcing such strict quality control measures on products manufactured here? Once standards are established, selling to a global market will be that much easier. Every mistake is a learning experience. Samsung made huge mistakes with the Note 7 fiasco and hopefully, theyve learned from it. India can learn a lot from that fiasco as well, and those learnings will only stand to benefit us in the future. tech2 News Staff Students of IIT Bombay have been working on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) since December 2011, says a report. The autonomous submarine isnt ready yet, but shows promise. Quartz reported on the progress of the project and states that a team of 30 undergraduate students is working on the AUV. The students have apparently spent many a late night and most of their weekends on the project. The AUV is called Matsya, which is named after Vishnus fish avatar. Its completely autonomous in that it uses onboard sensors to determine the best course of action in a given situation. Matsyas sensors include a camera that can recognise the shape and colour of an object. Its capabilities have been enhanced to include the ability to launch torpedoes, place markers, grab objects and more. For underwater use, an autonomous vehicle is essential because radio waves do not propagate very well in salt water, which is conductive. Traditional submarines themselves can only receive ultra-low frequency (ULF) or extremely low frequency (ELF) transmissions under certain conditions when submerged. Even in these cases, specially constructed radio stations are needed to transmit the signal. Not surprisingly, the Naval Research Board (NRB) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have expressed interest in the project and have given the students a little under Rs 30 lakh in 2013. These funds are not enough, however. The students require in excess of Rs 25 lakh this year alone and have only raised about Rs 15 lakh from various government sources. The DRDO and NRB funding is running low as well. As Quartz points out, the team has been very successful, winning awards at RoboSub over the years and bagging second place in RoboSub 2016. Theyve also won multiple awards in India. Private sponsors are still hard to come by, apparently. The team is currently in talks with the Indira foundation to map the Ganga rivers dolphin population. For more information and to express your support, head to IIT Bombay's AUV page. Nimish Sawant Looks like the Pixel isn't the cash cow like the Samsung and Apple flagship smartphones that came in before it. After racing to the third spot behind Samsung and Apple within a month of launch, the Pixel/Pixel XL has seen really slow sales according to a report in The Economic Times. According to retailers and analysts, Pixel sales have been tepid at best. The major reason being given is the high starting price point of Rs 57,000 for the Google Pixel. Analysts also point to the greater brand recall of Apple and Samsung in this segment. Stagnation after the initial jump in India and abroad According to the shipment data shared last year, Google had managed to sell around 33,000 Pixel devices in the initial launch period around Diwali. Post that initial surge, shipments have been hovering around the 10,000 mark since, according to industry insiders. Apple and Samsung in comparison, have sold lakhs of units in the same Oct-Dec 2016 period. It is not just the case in India, but is globally true of Pixel as well. According to Counterpoint Research, Google has sold around 2.5mn Pixel devices as compared to 70mn Apple iPhones and 80mn Samsung phones in the Oct-Dec period. This despite the fact that Samsung faced a heavy backlash after its Note 7 devices started exploding and were eventually taken off the market. Even retailers such as Bengaluru-based Sangeetha Mobiles have stated that Google Pixel sales saw hype initially, but sales haven't been great since. However, a Google representative told ET that Pixel sales have been going on as expected and there had been quite a positive response from consumers. Google hardware never managing to take off The poor sales of Google Pixel, reminds one of the failed Android One project that Google had embarked upon on India. Affordable Android handsets made by Indian smartphone makers were supposed to get the next billion users online. But thanks to poor sales and better offering by competition in a similar price range, put a spanner in the works of the Android One project. Come to think of it, Google hasn't really tasted massive success with any of its hardware products. Except maybe Chromecast. But if you look at the past, Google's hardware hasn't been breaking any records in terms of shipments. Nexus Q, the media streaming device, was shuttered soon after launch. Nexus Player was discontinued last year. Pixel C and Chromebook Pixel, have a very niche market and don't even sell in India. Google Glass was another product which promised the moon, but never really saw a commercial release. Google Wi-Fi, Google Home and Daydream VR headsets are yet to make it to India and it is premature to talk about their sales as they have been launched just recently. The Nexus smartphones, which were made by third parties, however were an exception. But then, there was an existing supply chain and offline and online channel support to sell these smartphones. With the Pixel, Google has to take care of all these aspects on its own. Considering it is a brand new smartphone player and has still to earn its stripes in the branding department in the smartphone segment it is really no wonder that sales haven't been the best. According to one analyst quoted in the ET report, Pixel seems more like a brand building exercise and there was no expectation of high volume sales. If that is the case, Google suddenly coming out with a new online partner, Snapdeal, and offering cashback offers with the purchase of the Pixel, seem to point otherwise. Analysts are also expecting a price correction in the first half of the year to drive up sales. Considering Samsung is not releasing its Galaxy flagship next month, it gives Google more time to cash in on the leeway. But still, I wouldn't bet on tens of millions of sales of the Pixel line. Barring pure Android and baked-in Assistant, nothing extraordinary to justify price Back in November 2016, when we had reviewed the Google Pixel XL, we had observed that it was a great device probably the best Android device out there but there was no justification for the high asking price. To elaborate on that point: Barring the fact that the Pixel XL comes with stock Android 7.1 Nougat OS which is expected to get timely Android updates before anyone else, there is really no reason that makes the Pixel XL stand apart, to justify that price tag. Assistant may be baked into the Pixel XL, but is still available on other Android phones inside the Allo app. Daydream VR platform is yet to go live, and moreover with time and with more devices getting VR ready, that USP is also gone. And honestly speaking, the Daydream VR experience is not really top priority for a lot of consumers. In the Android ecosystem, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge priced at Rs 51,000 still offers a lot more of a value proposition. Plus, you get the option to expand storage. Pixel XLs unlimited storage for photos and videos is great, but that storage facility is not applicable for documents. If you are a photography enthusiast, yes the Pixel XL offers a great camera. But so does the S7 Edge. On the Apple side of things, the iPhone 7 Plus 32GB is priced at Rs 72,000. The price is Rs 5,000 more, but keep in mind that Apple has a robust after-sales service ecosystem in India. Google Pixel XL is offering support from within the device and its offline services are handled by HTC. A quick search on their respective after sales service pages, you will notice that Apple offers far more centres than HTC. When you are spending around Rs 70,000 on a phone, you want to make sure that an after sales centre is easily accessible. It is a well known fact that Apple iPhones have a much higher resale value than any Android device priced in the same bracket. Moreover, if you work on macOS and have an iPad, the choice is a no-brainer, and it just makes sense to spend Rs 5,000 more and go for the iPhone 7 Plus. Google Pixel XL offers an excellent camera, great raw performance, good battery life. Theres nothing to not like about the device. The only downer is its price point. Whether Google wants to use Pixel to show off its mobility and AI prowess or it wants to focus on creating an ecosystem of devices, which communicate with each other, one thing is clear Google has a lot to learn on how to effectively sell volumes of the hardware it makes. tech2 News Staff Reports have now surfaced that Samsung has called dibs on the entire first batch of Snapdragon 835 chips from Qualcomm. The report, independently verified by The Verge and Forbes, states that Samsung intends to use the chips in its upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone. The device, which was initially expected to debut at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, will now launch on 14 April, says Forbes. No other smartphone manufacturer will be able to use the 835 SoCs before that date, reports The Verge. As a result, its unlikely that well see any Snapdragon 835-powered phones at MWC, this includes the HTC U Ultra and LG G6. A Motorola Moto Z with a Snapdragon 835 was spotted on GeekBench and there are many rumours that Nokia will announce a Snapdragon 835-powered device at MWC. Given this report, we might see the launch of these devices pushed to late April or early March. The only alternative for other manufacturers is last years Snapdragon 821 chip, which you can find on phones like the Google Pixel and the OnePlus 3T. Samsung is able to do this because its actually worked with Qualcomm to build the chipset. The Snapdragon 835 is built on a 10nm fabrication process, which makes the phone extremely power efficient, allowing the performance to be pushed higher. Samsung has provided that 10 nm fabrication technology and its Samsung's foundries that are producing the chip. Hogging the entire production run, whether intentional or not, is a very smart move from Samsung. Getting to launch an exclusive, Snapdragon 835-powered device should do a great deal to overcome the bad press from the Note 7 fiasco and the lack of a flagship device at MWC 2017. Read our complete coverage of the Mobile World Congress 2017 Nash David Last year, among the most popular news stories was a series of device accidents involving the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Sometime towards the end of the year, I boarded a flight to the United States. Typically, the route involves flying over cold regions reeling under winter weather conditions. I was supposed to land at Frankfurt Airport. We were ready to descend. All safety related announcements were done. The pilot only announcing that visibility was low. I didnt get the extent of how low visibility was till the air hostess asked us to open the window shades in preparation for landing. Truth be told, I was scared. I was sitting behind the wing of the aircraft. An Airbus A380. And I couldnt see the wing. The weather wasnt pleasant. As a result of that experience, I was beginning to go wary of air travel. The pieces of technology that work together Since I'm obsessed with technology, there were several thoughts that went through my mind during descent. What is the state of current technical capabilities in civil aviation? With Airbus? I remembered reading articles on the superior statistical record around civil aviation. Helped me to an extent. But who wants to be in the data set that is a rounding-off error? I also wondered if Airbus outsourced any of its critical software modules to a software company in India. Here I was, in the span of a moment, wondering every nut, bolt and screw or line of code associated with that aircraft would take me through the thick fog and cloud cover to land. The capabilities of Indian software did instill some confidence in me. It wouldnt be for nought that the world looks to India for good quality software. The aircraft did take me through. But I couldnt see the wing till touch down. There was thick cover even on the runway. Usually, street lights and lights around residential areas give you a sense of arriving at your destination. But this time, it dawned on me, that in reality its the on-board computer that handles navigation and critical manoeuvres. It theoretically didnt need a pilot in the first place. Self-driving is already here. Its called autopilot. Im interchanging the terms here for the sake of a broad level understanding and driving across a point. If we can fly autonomously, why are we sceptical of cars? Remember self-driving cars by Google? Theyre pods, pretty much what a kid would imagine a car to be. Without any visible signs of sensors, or cutting edge technology to intimidate. There are superior components in these works of engineering marvel that use cloud computing, big data, radars and cutting edge technologies with high bandwidths to process real time information to make the drive as effortless for you as possible. But self-driving cars always find themselves in the news even if a human driver gets involved with it in an incident. Humans will always be humans. Im sure if I was in one of those cars zooming away at a 100 miles per hour, Id be equally traumatised as I was in the Airbus A380 at 900 miles per hour. Despite being at a lesser scale, my pessimism rested on the thought that the streets are filled with idiots. Quite a few companies are working on self-driving technologies. But the very instant one of these computer science-automotive hybrids experience an on-road crash, many questions are raised in popular discussions. It wouldnt matter what kind of number crunching the cars array of sensors do in real time, with how wide a data bus or bandwidth. It wouldnt matter if self-driving cars is the innovation the world needs. Each incident with a self-driving car involved would be looked down as the failure and futility of a work of engineering. To be fair, Id have doubts in my mind about how efficient algorithms are. I saw widespread criticism of Samsung as well Ever since the first Samsung Galaxy Note 7 blew up global media did pounce on the South Korean giant. Somehow, the fall of a titan makes for a great story. Now I dont discount the magnitude of the flaw with number of incidents with the Galaxy Note 7. What I felt was alarming how questions were raised on the stability of the Samsung and its Galaxy stable. The cause for this phenomenon could be several. From genuine fear, uninformed users, confusion arising out of a lack of information due to miscommunication, or even disgruntled individuals. As the numbers emerge, it turns out the total damage is pegged at $5 billion. Its not a small amount, but is certainly an amount that Samsung has the wherewithal to handle. Every once in a while, there are reports of failures. And some of these failures stun the world. For all its superior technology capabilities, Japan is yet to make a mark in the space realm. India, in comparison, has made steady progress. Seven years ago, the rocket system carrying the GSAT 5P blew up shortly after lift off. So when I saw the investigation result from Samsung, I was content with the amount of information put out. The company did do well in going to the smallest detail. Failures are only stepping stones to success. Im sure not just Samsung, but the whole tech fraternity would learn from the episode. And all of this would result in more efficient and safer battery technologies. For now, it seems to be emerging victorious. tech2 News Staff Xiaomi CEO Hugo Barra quit the company citing health reasons, and has plans to go back to Silicon Valley. Barra was one of the founders of Xiaomi. Barra's exit comes at a time Xiaomi is trying to adjust its strategy. The company has pulled back from several overseas markets, including Singapore and Brazil, in 2016. It is increasing its offline retail presence and aims to develop artificial intelligence and internet finance as growth areas. India was the one of the few bright spots on the company's international growth map last year, and is also where Barra opted to make his final public appearance for the company during a launch event in New Delhi last Thursday. In a letter released to employees earlier this month, Xiaomi Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun said "the worst is over", referring to the company's recent struggles to keep up with an ever increasing number of local competitors. "For Xiaomi to return strongly in 2017 the biggest priority is the China market," says Nicole Peng, senior analyst at Canalys. Barra's replacement, senior vice president Xiang Wang, will oversee the company's global efforts going forward, a spokeswoman confirmed. Formerly the President of Qualcomm's greater China operation, Xiang joined Xiaomi in 2015 to oversee strategic partnerships. "Given his international experience he's a very safe pair of hands," said Peng. "However they are very different types of persons and have a different type of leadership style." Xiang is has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Beijing Polytechnic University, and the Senior Vice President at Xiaomi. Xiang currently leads the Supply Chain and Intellectual Property divisions at Xiaomi. Before joining Xiaomi, Xiang worked for Qualcomm for 13 years from 2002 to 2015. At Qualcomm, Xiang served as VP of Qualcomm CDMA technologies, President of Qualcomm greater China and Senior VP of Qualcomm Incorporated. Prior to working for Qualcomm, Xiang was in key positions at Lucent/Agere and Motorola. He has more than twenty years experience in the semiconductor and communications industries. With inputs from Reuters tech2 News Staff Trai has issued recommendations to the DoT in building access to telecom infrastructure. The recommendations are the result of a consultation process, where Trai sought inputs from stakeholders on the regulations necessary for the set up of telecom infrastructure in large urban constructions such as housing complexes, stadiums, malls, hospitals and airports. Builders were not required to provide suitable infrastructure such as ducts, rooms and spaces for telecom infrastructure so far. Telecom service providers would enter into agreements with builders, with exclusivity contracts that allowed the service providers to monopolise coverage in a particular space. At times, builders would also charge exorbitant prices from telecom service providers, increasing the cost for the end user, or prevent connectivity options from being available. Another problem addressed in the regulation is the need for sharing telecom infrastructure, as it would be inefficient and impossible for all service providers to set up their own infrastructure in each building. The recommendations hopes to put an end to exploitative and anti-competitive practices by telecom service providers or builders. In large commercial and residential complexes, telecom service providers are now required to share infrastructure that has already been set up. The move increases competition in services available at airports, hotels, malls and multiplexes. Cables, ducts and in building solutions all need to be now shared. Telecom service providers are no longer allowed to enter into any kind of exclusive contracts with builders. Telecom service providers will be violating their license agreement if they enter into formal or informal arrangements with builders for offering exclusive service in the building. There is a thirty-day response period for providing valid reasons for not allowing a competitor access to telecom infrastructure in a building. The telecom service providers may enter into commercial agreements on the cost of sharing the infrastructure. The service providers can decide the terms and costs of the sharing of infrastructure, provided the agreements are drawn up in a fair, transparent and non discriminatory manner. Trai has requested DoT to take up the issue and formulate the new by laws required on the construction of new buildings to provide adequate facilities for the set up of telecom infrastructure. Trai wants DoT to ensure that new projects including airports, malls, hotels, stadiums, hospitals, commercial and residential complexes have sufficient Common Telecom Infrastructure (CIT). Trai wants DoT to make telecom infrastructure and cabling a part of the National Building Code of India (NBC). Trai recommends that no new building plan should be approved without the provision of ducts for cables, and a telecom room within the building. The recommendations are designed to make telecom services an integral part of planning new urban infrastructure projects, and will help accelerate the roll out of high speed internet services across the country. Telecom services alone cannot provide the necessary bandwidth required in densely packed urban areas, because of a scarcity of spectrum. Trai's recommendations on Public Wi-Fi hotspots are anticipated, after conclusion of the ongoing consultation process. The Public Wi-Fi consultation aims to make Wi-Fi hotspots as ubiquitous as PCOs once were in urban areas will also help increasing broadband availability in urban areas. hidden President Donald Trump on Monday tapped Republican Commissioner Ajit Pai to head the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which is expected to roll back many of the Obama administration's telecommunications and internet policies. Pai, a former Justice Department, FCC and Capitol Hill staffer, in December said the administration's landmark net neutrality rules adopted in 2015 would not last. Pai, the son of Indian immigrants who grew up in Kansas, said last month the commission should take a "weed whacker" to unneeded rules and was harshly critical of many FCC regulations imposed during the Obama administration. "During the Trump Administration, we will shift from playing defence at the FCC to going on offence," he said last month. "We need to fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation, and job creation." Pai will also have a key role in deciding whether to approve or reject or impose conditions on mergers involving cable and telephone companies. In May, Pai opposed conditions imposed by the FCC on Charter Communication's acquisition of Time Warner Cable. Last week, then FCC chairman Tom Wheeler urged Republicans against dismantling the Obama administration's landmark "net neutrality" protections that bar internet service providers from slowing consumer access to web content. Internet providers fear net neutrality rules make it harder to manage internet traffic and make investment in additional capacity less likely. The Republican-controlled Congress is also considering rewriting the net neutrality rules. Reuters Welcome Welcome to my Blog. It consists of my thoughts on whatever I feel like sharing my thoughts about: popular culture; guns, shooting, self-defense and personal responsibility; Amateur Radio; literature; science fiction and fantasy; history; the Army and military affairs; beer, wine, and other Adult Beverages; food and cooking; current events; cats; and whatever else I feel like commenting on. I will not be talking about my job--I don't know, offhand, what my employers policy is regarding blogs, and I do not intend to test it. It may not be the best job in the world, but it's the only one I have. I also have little interest in conspiracy theories... Please Note: This is MY blog. I hope you enjoy reading it. I do not make any promises, however, not to offend you. I have no problem with dissent and/or disagreement, but please keep it polite, and rational. Pentagon chief vows 'unshakeable commitment' to NATO Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford greets Defense Secretary James Mattis at the Pentagon. US Secretary of Defense James Mattis reassured NATO allies that Washington had an "unshakeable commitment" to the military alliance, despite President Donald Trump previously deriding the organization as "obsolete." On his first full day in office Mattis spoke by phone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and his British and Canadian counterparts. Mattis "emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO" in his call with British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis said in a statement. Mattis "emphasized the United States and the United Kingdom will always enjoy a uniquely close relationship, reflected in our defense ties which are a bedrock of US security." British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Washington on Friday, the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he took office. In his call with Stoltenberg, Mattis-who had previously served in a senior NATO post-discussed "the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security." Mattis "wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance," the statement read. "The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values," and Mattis "emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe." Stoltenberg later said from Brussels that he had "an excellent discussion" with Mattis, and described him as "a strong friend of NATO at the Pentagon." Mattis also called Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, and the two men "reiterated the depth and breadth" of the US-Canada relationship as partners in the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), "NATO allies, and North American neighbors." The two military leaders also "addressed the importance of North American defense relations among the United States, Canada, and Mexico," the statement read. Ahead of his inauguration, Trump told two European newspapers he had long considered that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had "problems." "Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago," he said, referring to its Cold War, post-World War II origins. "Number two, the countries aren't paying what they're supposed to pay." Trump said in his inaugural address Friday that the United States had "subsidized the armies of other countries," highlighting a common cause of friction in the 28-nation alliance. In response to Trump's remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe had to take responsibility for itself. New US admin vows to stop China taking South China Sea islands US warned China it will \"defend\" its own and international \"interests\" in the South China Sea. Reuters, Washington : The new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump vowed on Monday that the United States would prevent China from taking over territory in international waters in the South China Sea, something Chinese state media has warned would require Washington to "wage war." The comments at a briefing from White House spokesman Sean Spicer signaled a sharp departure from years of cautious U.S. handling of China's assertive pursuit of territory claims in Asia, just days after Trump took office on Friday. "The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," Spicer said when asked if Trump agreed with comments by his Secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, on Jan. 11 that China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. "It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," he said. Tillerson's remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say the United States would need to "wage war" to bar China's access to the islands where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems. Tillerson, who was expected to be confirmed as secretary of State on Monday, was asked at the hearing whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China and said: "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed." The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands. But analysts said his comments, like those of Spicer, suggested the possibility of U.S. military action, or even a naval blockade, that would risk armed confrontation with China, an increasingly formidable nuclear-armed military power. It is also the world's second-largest economy and the target of accusations by Trump that it is stealing American jobs. Spicer declined to elaborate when asked how the United States could enforce such a move against China, except to say: "I think, as we develop further, we'll have more information on it." Military experts said that while the U.S. Navy has extensive capabilities in Asia to stage blockading operations with ships, submarines and planes, any such move against China's growing naval fleets would risk dangerous escalation. Aides have said that Trump plans a major naval build-up in East Asia to counter China's rise. China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the White House remarks. BAU Badhon gets new body Vice-Chancellor of Bangladesh Agricultural University Prof Dr Md Ali Akbar is seen with the newly appointed executive members of Badhon, a voluntary blood donating social organization of the University on Saturday. Mahdi Hasan, BAU : The new executive committee of Badhon, a voluntary blood donating social organization of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) zonal unit was formed for 2017 on Saturday evening. The thirteen member executive body has been announced in Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the organization at the agriculture faculty conference room of BAU. Sudipto Talukder and Umar Khaiyam Sony have been selected as President And General Secretary respectively. Other members of the committee, Prosenjit Chandra Roy and Maria Begum Mousumi as vice-president, Rizvy Ibney Mahmud as joint-secretary, Sohanug Mehedi as oraganizing secretary, Md Ashikur Rahman as assistant organizing secretary, Anjali Barmon as treasurer, Chandan Mitra as office secretary, Md Aliuzzaman as Press and publication secretary, Shamima Ashraf Silvy as information and education secretary, and Md Mehedi Hasan Siam and Shaila Afrose Setu as central representative from BAU zone. The BAU Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Md Ali Akbar was present as chief guest with Sajib Roy, outgoing president of the organization, in the chair. Director of BAU research system Prof Dr Md Monjurul Alam, dean of fisheries faculty Prof Dr Suvash Chandra Chakraborty were present as special guest in the programme. Among others, BAU teachers, former and present members and blood donors of the organization participated in the programme. Seminar on Blue Economy at BSMRMU Speakers at a seminar on ocean governance at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University are seen at a photo-pose held on Tuesday at the University Auditorium at Pallabi area of the capital. Campus Report : With a vision to encourage the positive engagement of stakeholders to overcome the challenges of ocean governance, a seminar on "Ocean Governance and Its Challenges: Role of Stakeholders" was organized by the Faculty of Maritime Governance, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Maritime University (BSMRMU), Bangladesh at the University Auditorium at Pallabi in the capital. Chief of naval staff, Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed, (TAS), OSP, ndc, psc, Bangladesh Navy graced the seminar as the Chief Guest. Vice Chancellor of the University Rear Admiral ASM Abdul Baten, (E), BSP, ndc, psc presided over the Seminar. Rear Admiral M Khurshed Alam (Retd.), Honorable Secretary, Maritime Affairs Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the key note paper. Along with that, Ambassador Farooq Sobhan, Chairman, Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Professor Fatimah Md. Yusoff, Dr. Md. Aminur Rahman, head of Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology, University Putra Malaysia and Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal, Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority presented their papers as well. Representatives from Ministry of Shipping, Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Education and other concerned Ministries, different maritime organization like Bangladesh Navy, Coastguard, maritime scholars from different universities and the teachers and students of the university participated in the seminar. Dean of the same faculty, Commodore M Ziauddin Alamgir chaired the technical session and proposed the vote of thanks. Navy Chief expressed his thoughts that, BSMR Maritime University may generate planning and research in new wide sea areas and contribute to develop maritime human resource. Participants of the seminar discussed as to identify and analyze the challenges and risks of governance in ocean and also delivered their valuable thoughts on the role of stakeholders in overcoming those challenges. The participants provided their valuable thoughts and comments on bringing maritime stakeholders in a common platform to explore valuable mineral resources, discover and invent new technology, tools and strategies, and develop expert manpower to contribute in the progress to build a developed Bangladesh, and uplift the nation's economy to "Blue Economy". Germany keen to work with Bangladesh in textiles education UGC Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan talks with Christian von Mitzlaff, Programme Coordinator, German-Bangladesh Higher Education Network on Sustainable Textiles at UGC on Monday. Campus Report : Christian von Mitzlaff, Programme Coordinator, German-Bangladesh Higher Education Network on Sustainable Textiles called on UGC Chairman Prof Abdull Mannan at the latter's office on Monday. Mitzlaff informed the Hon'ble Chairman that the German Government through GIZ is interested in working with Bangladesh in areas of Textiles and Higher Education to produce high quality skilled manpower for socio- economic development of the country. GIZ is also willing to train the faculty members of the textiles universities to enhance the quality of teaching-learning and research at tertiary level. They also stressed the need for establishing academic and research collaboration among the higher educational institutions of Bangladesh and German. The Chairman of UGC observed that University Grants Commission always welcomes any assistance and cooperation from donor country for enhancement and internationalization of higher education. He added that teaching and learning process of textile education need to be modernized to meet the demand of the country's skilled manpower. Prof Dr Mohammad Yousuf Ali Mollah, Member, UGC, Prof Dr Dil Afroza Begum, Member, UGC, Prof Dr Md. Akhtar Hossain, Member, UGC, Prof Dr M Shah Nowaz Ali, Member, UGC, Dr Md. Khaled, Secretary, UGC, Abdullah Al Hasan Chowdhury, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Education, Dr Md. Fakhrul Islam, Joint-Secretary, UGC and Rafique Ahmed Siddique, Deputy Chief, Ministry of Education, among others were present on the occasion. Indonesian envoy pays farewell call on President Indonesian Ambassador to Bangladesh Iwan Wiranata-atmadja on Tuesday paid his farewell call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban. The President thanked Wiranata-atmadja for the successful completion of his assignment in Bangladesh. President Abdul Hamid said the existing bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Indonesia are excellent and hoped that cooperation in various sectors, including trade and commerce, will be strengthened in the days to come. He said Bangladesh and Indonesia show similar stance in the conferences of various regional and international forums, including the United Nations and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin briefed reporters after the meeting. The outgoing ambassador expressed his gratefulness to the President for providing all-out cooperation during his stay in Bangladesh. Mentioning the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, the Indonesian envoy said trade relation between Indonesia and Bangladesh is increasing day by day. He said there are many unexplored potential sectors in the two countries and both the countries can be benefited by taking joint initiatives to exploit these potentials. Concerned secretaries to the President were present. Tk 375 cr project for water body excavation, JS told The government has undertaken a project involving Taka 375 crore to renovate or re-excavate various water bodies, including ponds and dighis, of zila parisad across the country for preserving and supplying potable water. Local Government and Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Khandker Mosharraf Hossain told this in the Jatiya Sangsad on Tuesday while replying to a question from treasury bench member Begum Nasrin Jahan Ratna of Barishal-6. "Under the project, 809 ponds would be re-excavated across the country and 43 ponds, owned by zila parisad, would also be re-excavated in rural areas," he said. The minister informed the House that the groundwater level dropped to 10 meters from three meters because of high dependency on groundwater for agriculture and drinking water. During the summer season enough water is not available in tube wells, he added. 2 killed in Sylhet landslide Sylhet Correspondent : Two workers were killed and several others injured in a landslide while cutting a hillock for lifting stone in Companiganj upazila on Monday morning. The deceased were identified as Jalal Uddin of Chhanbari village and Chunu Miah of Bhagarpar village of the upazila. Pashchim Islampur union chairman Shah Jamal Uddin said when a group of workers were cutting a hillock, locally known as Shah Arpin, for lifting stone in the morning a big chunk of earth fell on them, leaving the duo dead on the spot and several others injured. Local people said the death toll may rise. However, officer-in-charge of Companiganj police station Bayes Alam said one worker was killed in the incident. Incorporating ethical elements in human resource management practice Mohammad Mosaddek Hussain : Nowadays, human resource management is a very crucial and important field in the organizations and a significant factor for its growth and stability. On the other hand, we do not think about the ethical development both of the employees and the organization. Human beings are always want to see the justice in every sphere of their lives including working life. Without practice of ethical norms in dealing with the employees and stake holders some parts of the organization might be reluctant to perform their duties attentively and properly as per need of the organizations. So, it is necessary to practice the ethical principles for raising effectiveness and confidence among the employees and the stakeholders as a whole. As we know that the word "ethos" used in the sense of character and trait, Aristotle originated the adjective "ethical" to manifest a specific class of human qualities that he called the ethical virtues that are prevalent within the human beings. These virtues are, according to Aristotle, some character faculties which are also mentioned as the spiritual qualities of human beings. To mention all the ethical virtues within a separate area of epistemology and to include this field in a separate area of science, Aristotle introduces the otion "ethics" which is a very essential area for the human societies and culture. As we see that ethics was defined in many ways, this field was focused on the ethical principles and standards that should govern human interaction. Ethical traits such as honesty, truth, fairness, equality, dignity are standards for how people should treat each other as human being in the societies and organizations. Ethical concepts such as rights, duties and responsibilities build the structure of social relations among people. Researchers define the field of individual authority and specify what exactly do individuals owe to each other and what they owe to the community. Today ethics is perceived as a fundamental aspect of management. An ethical design of management is essential to attract support and positive involvement of all participants in the success of the company: employees, customers, shareholders, creditors, suppliers and the community in which they run their enterprises. Here we can emphasize the main aspects of ethical issues in human resource management practice. The issues are: how people perceive fairness in organizations and which are those moral rights and obligations of employees which, although not stipulated in the work contract, have a great impact on ensuring an ethical management of human resources? This may be referred here that discrimination in the workplace ,moral and sexual harassment and the legal framework governing equal treatment in labor relations. The proposal of an ethical model of human resources management which is inspired by the spirituality of an ancient religion, Zoroastrianism. Confidence of employees in the company and when feel they are treated fairly, then they will enthusiastically contribute to the smooth running of the business as shown in many research papers. On the other hand, management ethics include more than issues of corruption, theft or deception. It is concerned with the continuous conflict between the economic performance of the organization as measured by revenue, costs and profits due to the shareholders and the social performance of the organizations or enterprises which is more difficult to measure and represented by obligations to employees, customers, creditors, members of society in general. As mentioned that equity is an ethical and legal principle underlying the regulation of all social relations in the spirit of justice, equality and justice, cooperation and mutual respect to each other Moreover, equity is a behavior based on rigorous compliance with mutual rights and duties, on equally meeting the interests, rights and liabilities of each of us .On the organizational level, equity has to do with perceptions that people have about how they are treated as compared to other peoples. Being treated with equity is to be treated fairly and impartially compared with a group of people or other relevant person. Actually the equity theory proposed by S. Adams and J. Weick is based on two basic assumptions about human behavior:1. People engage in an evaluation of their social relations, which are seen as an "exchange" in which they make contributions and expect some rewards in return.2. People evaluate the fairness of an exchange by comparing their situation with the situation of others as well. In this theory, people assign a specific value to different investments and outcomes, based on their perceived importance. A state of equity occurs when the report between rewards and their corresponding personal investment is equal to the ratio of these two elements for another person who occupies a similar position. If a person perceives his report as being less than that of another person an inequity is perceived. The fundamental human rights and the right to work is enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights and the European Charter of Human Rights. The right to work derives on one hand from the right to life, because work provides the foundation necessary for subsistence and on the other hand, from the right to respect as the ability to create goods and means through labor is a major source of self-respect for each individual. In the context of modern economy heated debates are held around the question whether the right to work is by itself definable as the right of each individual to be offered employment. While governments have a responsibility to create economic conditions to protect the right of every citizen to work, this cannot be met without the contribution of the people. In the situation of a developed capitalist economy, provide most jobs in various organizations and enterprises. However, private companies will be able to provide jobs only to people whose work is demanded by the employer, according to their criteria. Employment and wage payment are possible only if a company manages to produce and s ell its goods and services profitably and a base of continuous profit . Therefore, the employees' right to work of has to match the employers and shareholders' rights. The employees' right to work must not be understood as the state's or private companies' obligation to find each person a job; it is only an obligation to provide to all individuals equal conditions for the exercise of this right without any discrimination. The proverb goes that "Equal Pay for Equal Work" but not in force everywhere. The above is one of the principles of the Constitution of Romania but also of many international regulations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the European Social Charter which enshrine the right of an equitable wage. Under the conditions of market economy, private organizations/enterprises/firms wish to build a wage pay system according to the ratio between supply and demand of human resources in the workforce. This rule, however, defies moral sense, because some forms of activity are much better paid than others, even if the effort, expertise and skills required to pursue the mare not very disproportionate. Some companies try to reduce the gap between the wages of employees by introducing a reward system based on performance. For such a system to become motivating for high performance a very clear link is needed between reward and performance level. Performance evaluation is one of the most important issues of ethics in human resource management practice. Some ethical dimensions of performance evaluation are: the evaluator must be perceived by those evaluated as fair, impartial and credible; information obtained by the evaluators in the evaluation process should be used strictly for purposes of the assessment being made and should involve privacy; the evaluation should be based on aa appropriate methods and it should come from several sources; the evaluator will have to respect the dignity of those evaluated; the evaluating persons should not be in a conflict of interest when performing their duty. Working conditions, in which the psychosomatic health and integrity of employees is not endangered, is one of the ethical issues concerning the status of employees. In the case of occupations involving high risk, the ethical principle of fully aware consent must be respected. This involves informing the employees about the dangers they run by accepting the job. From a survey made by the Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions we can see that most Romanian employees work in unfavorable environmental conditions and in positions that involve either added fatigue or strenuous physical effort. The right to exercise discretion concerning the private life is another moral right of employees. In this respect, Michele Simms distinguishes four aspects of privacy that an individual may want to protect from any indiscretion: a. Physical inviolability, or the right to a personal space; Social inviolability or the individual's freedom to interact with anyone he pleases in his private life; b. Informational inviolability or the individual's right to decide how, when and to what extent their personal data may be made available to others; Psychological inviolability, the individual's right not to be compelled to disclose private thoughts and feelings. Employees' duties to their employers are included in the work contracts, according to current legislation and internal regulations of the various companies. However, beyond the legal framework, certain moral duties of employees to the organizations where they work are being shaped, duties that are sometimes controversial. A company that offers job security, support and understanding at difficult times for employees has every right to expect from them a certain degree of fidelity and loyalty. What happens when the conduct required at the work place is contrary to widely accepted moral standards in society or the individual's ethical standards? Is it morally allowable for the employees to denounce this felony or would this be an unacceptable deviation from standard corporate loyalty? these questions should be considered for practicing good ethical principles. In the current organizational situation, discrimination in the work place id fairly common. By workplace discrimination we understand any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference made based on race, age, nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, belief, sexual orientation, disability, non-contagious chronic disease, HIV infection or belonging to a disadvantaged category, which has as purpose or effect the restriction or removal of recognition, use or exercise on an equal footing of any human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by law in the politic, economic, social and cultural fields of or in any other areas of public life. Actually, positive discrimination, a concept developed in the USA and sometimes called affirmative action, defines a type of discrimination in favor of an individual based on race, sex, regional backwardness or marital status. Therefore, another person becomes disadvantaged on the same grounds. In some cases affirmative action is necessary to develop the situation of the distressed and disadvantaged people. In several activities of human resources management we can encounter discrimination. So we are to be alert to avoid this tendency for raising harmonious work place environment Changing working conditions and job description without the consent of the employee may affect the ability of the employees and can create bad impression towards management. As research shows, workplace discrimination increases when employees feel threatened by such factors as the financial crisis. As a result, employees change their attitude towards their fellow colleagues belonging to other ethnic groups. In turn, the management staff is reluctant to hire such persons. Negative effects of the financial crisis are felt by cutting bonuses and promotion opportunities, by increasing mandatory unpaid leave and dismissals. It is therefore an increase in competition for job retention, leading among others to stigmatization of minority employees. Discrimination between men and women, whether it is through pay or promotion to management functions is a topic which is given particular importance in Europe. Although progress was announced on gender equality concerning promotion in management functions, management of leading companies in Europe is still dominated by men. Moreover the word "Harassment" is a form of discrimination manifested through an unwanted conduct, which has affected the human dignity of the person in question and which creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive environment against a person based on any of the grounds for discrimination. There is no single definition, internationally accepted for moral harassment at work. This may involve an erroneous exercise of a function or an abuse of office, from which those concerned may find it difficult to defend. Moral harassment may also involve in various interests in the organizations that can create entirely negative attitude among employees. As a result, growth and stability are affecting the whole process of development and management and the goal may not be achieved in the stipulated time. From the above discussion we can say that ethical practice is really essential for running the organization smoothly as well as profitably. Rampal protesters half-day hartal tomorrow Staff Reporter : The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports will observe a half-day hartal on January 26 tomorrow in Dhaka in protest against the Rampal coal-fired power plant. Prof Anu Mohammad, member- secretary of the committee, in a mass rally announced on November 26 after a general strike a seven-point programme including a half-day hartal on January 26 if their demands were not met. He said "We have been working for the last seven years to protect the Sundarbans. But the government pays no heed to our demand. Now, we are constrained to call the strike." "This time the hartal from 6am to 2pm on the day will be a different hartal," he said. "There will be no destruction, but creation." "The committee and the mass people will stage demonstration and protest rally countrywide on January 26," he further said. Anu Mohammad said, "It has been found in several researches that the project will be harmful for the nation. Had the government ever been concerned about the national interest, then they would have already stopped the project showing respect to the public sentiment." About 3.5 million people depend on the Sundarbans alone, he said: "If the world's last remaining mangrove forest is destroyed, around 50 million people will be affected as there will be no natural protection for them." The government is adamant to implement the project, claiming that it will not harm the mangrove forest or the water species in the nearby Pashur River. The national committee has been demanding the cancellation of the 1,320MW coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans in Rampal of Bagerhat. Apart from Bangladeshis at home and abroad, the UNESCO has also demanded shifting of the project to any other location to protect the Sundarbans World Heritage site. Mahmoud Abbas due on Feb 1 bdnews24.com : Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is coming to Dhaka for a three-day visit on Feb 1, a spokesperson at the embassy in Dhaka told bdnews24.com. This will be his first official visit to Bangladesh. Earlier in February last year, he made a stopover at Dhaka on his way to Japan from Jordan. He will meet President Md Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali during the visit. "We are still working on the programme," the spokesperson said, adding that the President would leave on Feb 3. Bangladesh has consistently backed the demand of the Palestinian people for an independent and viable state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Dhaka also condemns the Israeli occupation and backs the demand for Palestine's "full membership" of the UN. The UN Security Council in adopted a resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building in December after the United States abstained from the voting, breaking a long-standing approach of shielding Israel. But President Donald Trump, who took office on Jan 20, took an extraordinary step and personally intervened in a foreign policy matter before taking office, by speaking with Israeli President Benjamine Netanyahu on the phone. Trump also tweeted after the vote, "As to the UN, things will be different after Jan 20th." Trump has also promised to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move to back Israel that many have seen as endangering the peace process. Trump for wars against `Islamic terrorism` The Kashmir Monitor, Washington : On his first full working day as US president, Donald Trump reiterated his pledge to eradicate "Islamic terrorism" from the face of the planet and alerted the American intelligence agencies to be ready for wars. "Radical Islamic terrorism. And I said it yesterday - it has to be eradicated just off the face of the Earth. This is evil. This is evil," Trump told officers of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) when he visited its headquarters at Langley, Virginia, on Saturday. In his inaugural speech on Friday, the new US president vowed to "unite the civilised world against radical Islamic terrorism" and pledged to "eradicate (it) completely from the face of the Earth". During the long campaign for the 2016 presidential election, Trump often criticised Barack Obama for not using the terms "radical Islamic terrorism" and said that unless the enemy was openly identified, it could not be defeated. In his speech at the CIA headquarters, the new president went a step ahead and warned his intelligence officials, and the American nation, that the war against the radical form of Islam was far from over. Trump said that when he was young, he heard from one of his instructors that "the United States has never lost a war". But now, "it's like we haven't won anything. We don't win anymore." Referring to America's longest foreign war, in Afghanistan, Trump said it had continued for so long because the United States did not use its full might. "We have not used the real abilities that we have. We've been restrained," he said while promising CIA officials more powers than they have ever had to combat the country's enemies. "We have to get rid of ISIS [Islamic State militant group]. Have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice," he declared, earning a warm applause from the audience. "There can be wars between countries, there can be wars. This is a level of evil that we haven't seen. And you're going to go to it, and you're going to do a phenomenal job. But we're going to end it. It's time. It's time right now to end it," he said. He told CIA officials that previous governments had not given them enough support but he would change this. "I want to just let you know that I am so behind you and I know, maybe sometimes you haven't gotten the backing that you've wanted and you're going to get so much backing. Maybe you're going to say - please don't give us so much backing," he said. Trump also criticised the US media for reporting that he had a feud with the American intelligence community. "They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth . I am with you 1,000 per cent," he said. Before taking oath, Trump had criticised the CIA for saying that the Russian intelligence had hacked the 2016 elections and that the Russians had materials that they could use to blackmail him. "Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to 'leak' into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?" Trump had tweeted on Jan 11. The president's decision to talk about his war with the media and complain about the reporting of the size of the crowd at his inauguration ceremony, however, irked CIA veterans. "Former CIA director Brennan is deeply saddened and angered at Donald Trump's despicable display of self-aggrandisement in front of CIA's Memorial Wall of Agency heroes," Brennan's former deputy chief of staff Nick Shapiro said in a statement. Other veterans said that many in the audience were troubled by the political tone of the speech, in which Trump speculated about how many people in the room might have voted for him. CIA veterans argued that their agency was not a political party, it was always loyal to the president, whoever he or she might be. Power gen from renewable sources stressed Staff Reporter : State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid on Tuesday said that the government is giving emphasis on increasing power generation from renewable sources as soon as possible. "We are trying to involve more entrepreneurs of the private sector with the government efforts for increasing power generation from clean, green and renewable sources," he said. Nasrul Hamid said this to journalists after attending a progress evaluation meeting of different bodies responsible for renewable energy sources, including solar, air and water. Currently, different countries in the world have been increasing power generation from renewable sources as the technology has developed and reduced the generation cost day by day, he said. The projects which have already been approved should sign power purchase agreement in a definite date. Otherwise, the government will initiate to cancel the agreement, he said, giving a warning to the renewable power project owners. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has already given approval to 16 renewable energy projects with 975MW power generation capacity. But of them, only two project owners of 82MW power generation capacity have signed power purchase agreement. Five of the rest issued Letter of Interest (LoI), purchase committee approved one, tariff approved one; and other six projects are in the examination level of the project approval committee, sources said. The meeting discussed the procedure to enhance renewable energy fund and getting donation from International Renewable Energy Agency (IREA), a UN organization for renewable energy. Power Division Secretary Dr Ahmed Kaukaws, PDB Chairman Engineer Khaled Mahmud, Bangladesh Renewable Energy Research Council Chairman Md. Anowarul Islam Sikther, among others, present at the time. Truckers call off strike Staff Reporter : The indefinite strike enforced by the Freight Transport Owners-Workers Union Council in 21 districts in the country's South-West region was called off on Tuesday. The business community heaved a sigh of relief following withdrawal of the indefinite strike. The decision came from a three and half hours meeting between the transport owners and workers, and the government held at Secretariat in the city, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told journalists. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and State Minister for LGRD and Cooperatives Moshiur Rahman Ranga were also present at the meeting. In the meeting, leaders of Freight Transport Owners-Workers Union Council requested the ministers to implement their 12-point demand including an end to highway robbery, extortion and police harassment. Union Council convener Abdul Gaffar Biswas came up with the announcement after the meeting. As the Ministers and authorities concerned assured them of meeting their demands, they called off the strike from Tuesday afternoon, said Abdul Gaffar Biswas, convener of the Union Council said. Union members in 21 districts, including Khulna, Greater Faridpur and Barisal enforced the indefinite strike from Monday protesting extortion, harassment and violence against their staff. "The transport owners and workers agreed to accept the government's decisions on different issues, including the removal of additional bumpers from truck's front side and stopping overloading," Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said. He said, owners will change the truck structures as per the instructions issued by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority. "A committee, headed by representatives of the government and the transport leaders, was formed to curb alleged irregularities while measuring weight of a vehicle in overload control centers," the Shipping Minister added. Due to the strike, trucks, lorries, tank-lorries, covered-vans and pickups remained off the roads in the 21 districts for the last two days, affecting activities at different land ports, including Benapole and Bhomra ones. As transport owners and workers enforced a strike demanding the withdrawal of excel load of vehicles, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Tuesday said the government will in no way allow overloaded trucks to ply on the highways. No overloaded truck will be allowed to ply on roads. The vehicles must run on roads maintaining the excel load of vehicles set by the government, he said. Responding to a query about extorting money from transport workers on highways, the minister said, We'll surely take action against the offenders if we receive any specific allegation. Due to the strike, trucks, lorries, tank-lorries, covered-vans and pickups remained off the roads in the 21 districts for the last two days, affecting commercial activities at different land ports, including Benapole and Bhomra ones. 6 top labour leaders under NBR scanner The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has sought information on bank accounts of six top labour leaders in the readymade garment sector. The labour leaders are: Moshrefa Mishu, Shamima Nasreen, Nazma Begum, Roy Ramesh Chandra, Amirul Haque Amin and Towhidur Rahman. They are the leaders of Garment Workers Unity Forum, Swadhin Bangla Garment Sramik Federation, Combined Garment Workers Federation, United Federation of Garment Workers, Industrial Bangladesh Council and Bangladesh Poshakshilpa Sramik Federation. All these labour organizations have long been working for establishing workers' rights in the garment sector. These organizations have also been blamed for instigating labour unrest in the garment industrial belts time and again, including the latest in Ashulia last year. The Central Intelligence Cell (CIC) of the revenue board recently sent letters to authorities of all banks and financial institutions requesting them to provide information about financial transaction of their bank accounts since July 1, 2009, on saving instruments, vault, credit cards and FDR within 7 days. The cell also asked to provide account details on Roy Ramesh's wife Krishna Roy, Nazma's husband Aminul Haq and Amin's wife Mazeda Begum. The CIC letter said information of any bank account operated alone or jointly by these persons and their family members had to be sent to the cell in seven days. "We have information that many of the garments worker leaders are maintaining a lavish life and frequently traveling abroad. Such an information has led the revenue board to verify bank accounts of labour leaders to determine whether they are eligible for paying tax or not," a senior NBR official told The New Nation, yesterday seeking anonymity. He said, most of the banks have already submitted the relevant information following the letters sent by the revenue board recently. "We are now assessing their account details. If the details show any thing unusual, the NBR will take action against the labour leaders," he added. NBR exercised its power as per Article 113(F) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 1984 for the sake of proper internal review. CIC usually seeks bank account information of an individual or organisation out of suspicion that the person or institution is dodging income tax. Police had detained a total of 14 persons in connection with the Ashulia labour unrest. The detainees are the activists of the above mentioned labour organizations, sources said. Police later framed charges against the labour activists accusing them inciting vandalism in garment factories and disrupting production in the Ashulia garment industrial belt. Wondered by the NBR's move, Shamima Nasreen, President of the Swadhin Bangla Garment Sramik Federation told The New Nation yesterday that she is not aware of this. "I am a low profile citizen of the country. I involved myself for establishing rights of the poor garment workers," she said, adding, "NBR has taken the move only to harass me." She said, "It is nothing new. The labour leaders were facing harassment, including cases, intimidations since they had raised voice against unfair wages, termination of garment workers, and establishing their rights." Police not happy Md Joynal Abedin Khan : Police personnel are not happy as they failed to get any assurance over the formation of their long expected 'New Police Act' from the government high-ups which they think will make the force more people-friendly. The law enforcers are also not pleased with the country's apex court's recent judgment over 'Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act' that prohibits torture in custody by law enforcers. Some members of Police raised the issue at the inaugural function of the 'Police Welfare Parade Meeting' held on the occasion of the 'Police Week-2017' attended by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Rajarbagh Police Lines ground on Monday. This was the first time the Prime Minister attended such an event of police and listened to policemen -- from constable to Additional Superintendent. Earlier, only officials from Superintendent of Police to Deputy Inspector General were allowed to speak and place demands before the Home Minister -- that too during indoor meetings. The police raised their objection to the recent Supreme Court verdict that the judicial court would be able to take into cognizance by issuing suo moto order if allegations of torture against the police are brought. It was argued that such a judgment hampers the rights of the police. On May 24 last year, the Supreme Court upheld a High Court order that asked for the reform of the provisions of arrest without warrant and interrogation on remand under sections 54 and 167 of the CrPC. In 2015, the Police Department had sent a proposal to the Home Ministry for bringing major changes to the law and wanted safeguards from prosecution for custodial death and torture. In 2009, the ruling Awami League's member of parliament Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who was allegedly tortured during the previous BNP regime, proposed the law in line with article 35(5) of the constitution. "No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment or treatment," reads the article. The Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, which the National Parliament passed in 2013, stated that torture in custody by law enforcers or government officials is a punishable criminal offence. Additional Superintendant of Comilla police Tanveer Salehin Emon taking part in the discussion said that taking advantage of the law anyone can file a case putting forward false allegations of mental torture. Some other demands, which include increasing residential and hospital facilities and job quota for officers of the Police Dependant were also placed in the programme. In defense of the proposed changes, police argued that the law might cause impediment to the duties of law enforcement agencies to save lives and properties during political instability, especially from arson and other subversive activities, sources said. The Home Ministry had formed a committee to scrutinise the proposals and made a move to bring amendments. At that time, rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Ain o Salish Kendra, expressed deep concern and denounced the government move and the police demand, they said. At the welfare parade, Constable Khairun Nahar, thanked the Prime Minister for increasing ration facilities. She, however, mentioned that they only get two sets of uniform a year and one full sleeve shirt for winter. She demanded at least three sets of uniform. Sergeant Moshiur Rahman of Jhenidah expressed satisfaction for upgrading the post of sergeant to class-II from class-III. Demanding more staff quarters, he said they are facing space shortage in police stations and police outposts. Suza Kumar Kundo, Sub-Inspector of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit, demanded at least 10 percent job quota in the force for dependants of police officials. Monirul Islam, Inspector at Keraniganj Police Station, wanted for police modern and unique hospital services that would include the ICU facilities. In a query, Sheikh Hasina said that two or three more barracks, like that in Rajarbagh, will be constructed in Dhaka and the search for locations has begun. Residential facilities will also be built for police outside the capital, she said. Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque laid importance on making the police more capable with logistics support and equipment to fight terrorism. The IGP also said whenever the AL comes to power, the police forces see development and expansion. He said there is no frustration at the lower echelon as promotion has now been a regular phenomenon. Police are discharging duty around 16 hours, he claimed. Besides, Police force has 1,94,713 members, including 25,000 officials while the current ratio of public and police members is 822:1. It needed to be 400:1, said Sheikh Hemayet Hossain, Additional IGP of Criminal Investigation Department (CID). It has only 9,066 vehicles, including 5,000 old and sub-standard transports. It has also shortage of fire arms, lack of proper training, he said. Police Headquarters sources said, police force, established in the colonial period in 1960, is the barrier to modern police. For this reason, the force personnel expected an announcement for a new Police Act. 5-man search body for new EC anytime Staff Reporter : A five-member search committee over the reconstitution of the Election Commission (EC) will be formed within a day or two, President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin confirmed on Tuesday. As the President Abdul Hamid's dialogue with political parties over the EC's reconstitution ended on 18 January, work on forming the search committee is going on in full swing. The President initiated the talks on 18 December last year as the five-year tenure of the incumbent EC expires on February 8. When contacted President's Press Secretary Joynal Abedin told The New Nation that a letter relating to form the search committee will be sent to the cabinet division by this week. Based on recommendations and proposals given to the President by the political parties during the talks, a search committee will be formed for the appointment of the next Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. Abdul Hamid is now assessing and examining the recommendations and proposals in order to form a five-member search committee following the tradition set by his predecessor late president Zillur Rahman in 2012. Although during talks, most of the political parties proposed enactment of a law over the recruitment of the CEC and election commissioners, the proposal seems to go unheeded, as government does not want it this time, sources said. Meanwhile, President Abdul Hamid held an exclusive meeting with the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday after the beginning of 14th session of the 10th Jatiya Sangsad. The government will publish a gazette notification containing the names of the members of search committee after obtaining the President's letter. However, before publishing the gazette notification, the President's letter will be sent to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for her approval. Later, the members of search committee will draft the names of CEC and other election commissioners and it will be sent to the President. As per the committee's recommendation, the President will appoint the CEC and other election commissioner who will conduct the next general elections scheduled to be held in 2019. The President held meetings with a total of 31 political parties beginning with BNP on December 18, 2016. During the month-long talks, the political parties separately placed a series of proposals and most of them proposed making a law for formation of EC. Ruling Awami League (AL) led by its President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met President Abdul Hamid on January 11. AL's proposals included introduction of e-voting in the next general elections and making a law for formation of EC. During the talks, BNP put forward a set of proposals for the formation of a search committee and the new EC. It also proposed strengthening the EC and amending the Representation of the People Order (RPO). Jatiya Party (Ershad) gave a five-point proposal over constitution of the next EC and proposed making a law regarding Constitution of the new EC. Other major parties that joined the talks were Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Workers Party (WP), Bangladesh Nationalist Front (BNF), Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ), Jatiya Party (Manju), Bangladesh Tarikat Federation (BTF), Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP) Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (BSD), National Awami Party (NAP), Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), Gano Forum (GF), Ganotontri Party (GP), Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan (BKA), Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh (BDB), Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD), Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Ambia), Bangladesh Islami Front (BIF), Zaker Party (ZP) and Bangladesh Muslim League (BML), Khilafat Majlish and Jamiat e Ulama e Islam Bangladesh. In 2012, late president Zillur Rahman first formed a four-member search committee following the dialogue with 24 political parties before the formation of the incumbent election commission headed by Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad. The committee was headed by an appellate division judge and also comprised a High Court judge, the comptroller and auditor general and the chairman of the Public Service Commission. The then committee recommended two names against the vacant post of the chief election commissioner and two for each of the election commissioners. As per the committee's recommendation, the then president appointed Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad the CEC, while Mohammad Abdul Mobarak, Abu Hafiz, Zabed Ali and Md Shah Nawaz election commissioners. Dubai crack down on illegal money transfer MEDIA reports on Monday said the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai has penalized 25 Bangladeshi shops accused of alleged involvement in illegal money transfers from Dubai to Bangladesh through hundi and other channels. As the Bangladeshi expatriates receive money transfer offers from these shops with affordable rates, they are using their channels but breaking the law. We must say that Dubai authorities have taken a good step to stop illegal money transfer; which is causing big drop to remittance inflow into Bangladesh. We apprehend such shops and private agents are also diverting money from formal channel to other destinations from other countries. Due to these illegal money-transferring shops, Bangladesh economy is incurring heavy losses in terms of phenomenal decline in remittance. But these shops started as illegal banking activities without license from the authorities concerned. Dubai authorities have identified the offenders and put on the dock. It appears that Bangladesh government may have taken the issue with Dubai government has taken the step in the backdrop of sharp decline in formal transfer of expatriates' money. Such activities are depriving both the country's banking services while helping to boost illegal trade. As per reports, the shops were transferring money through SIM cards. They installed electronic devices and issued no invoices to the customers. They also use the devices to scribble down customer details. These devices were helping them to avoid regulatory oversight. It is very alarming that these shops are not only transferring remittances to Bangladesh; they are also operating within our country. Some influential people or business houses own these illegal shops and collecting foreign currency to use in informal imports or sending the money abroad. It is accelerating capital flight and amply explains why formal remittance inflow has sharply declined. We must say the government should take this matter seriously and take steps to plug the loopholes. The country is losing hard earned foreign currency, which is going to third country for hoarding. Detectives must check these illegal shops, identify their owners and stop the illegal business. The prevalence of this illegal business has three folds effect such as illegal channels deny accurate information on the flow of cash; secondly, they deprive authorized money exchanges and banks of their deserved share of business, and thirdly, customers depending on such illegal channels risk losing their hard-earned money. All these are contributing to the huge loss to the economy of Bangladesh. It cannot go unchecked for long to protect fair business and economy. The Undead Archives I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world. When Great Harvest customers come in between Jan. 23 - 28, and mention Moncus Park Farmers Market, 20 percent of their purchases will be given to the Moncus Park to support the building of a Market Pavilion for local Lafayette farmers. Molly Daigle, owner of Prudhomme City Farms gets a kneading lesson from Meagen Hebert Photo submitted As one of its earliest vendors, the Great Harvest Bread Company has been selling its products at the Lafayette Farmers Market since it was founded in 2013. And whenever the storms threatened overhead, Great Harvest could always operate from their permanent bakery, however, most vendors are completely dependent on the venue of the Lafayette Farmers Market to sell their product. This is why Great Harvest plans to raise dough to raise the Pavilion. When customers come in between Monday, Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan. 28, and mention Moncus Park Farmers Market, 20 percent of their purchases at the bakery-cafe will be given to the Moncus Park to support the building of a Market Pavilion for local Lafayette farmers. We want to help support local farmers in the Lafayette area by donating to a permanent structure, which will allow the market to continue without being adversely affected by weather, said Michelle MacFadyen, owner of Great Harvest Bread in Lafayette, in a release about the fundraiser. We want the market to thrive in the community rain or shine. On Tuesday, Jan. 24, Great Harvest will have guest kneaders from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. working on classic Great Harvest breads, including local farmers and E.B. Brooks, Executive Director of Moncus Park. Great Harvest is located at 854A Kaliste Saloom Road in Lafayette and specializes in selling made-from-scratch breads, with flour milled in-store from fresh wheat berries delivered from the Golden Triangle in Montana. The Moncus Park Farmers Market is a year-round market open from 8 a.m. to noon every Saturday. At the podium Monday is 1A CEO Jason El Koubi, who is surrounded by members of the Senior Pastoral Alliance, DOTD offiicals, economic development officials and members of other community groups who have come together as the Connect Lafayette Coalition Photo by Paul Kieu/image courtesy 1A Community leaders, including several prominent members of the local black ministry, gathered in an unfinished church in north Lafayette to profess their faith in the I-49 Connector at a press conference Monday. Members of the Senior Pastoral Alliance, One Acadiana, at least two mayors, state transportation officials, and representatives of three economic development lobbies announced a new support coalition that believes completing the Connector will do more than just ease traffic congestion it will bolster the economic prospects of north Lafayette, nee the Northside, a.k.a. Lafayettes historically black neighborhoods. While the gathered signatories to the Connect Lafayette Coalition displayed a belief in the promise of the project, questions yet remain as to how, exactly, an urban interstate will catalyze urban redevelopment in the economically vulnerable neighborhoods it touches. Of particular concern here is the cost of such an ambitious undertaking and who will pay for it. Considering the history of urban freeway projects, signing on support from prominent black leaders is nonetheless a decisive coup for Connector proponents. Whatever negative impact occurs will happen disproportionately in the neighborhoods that produce congregants of those black churches, and perhaps to the disproportionate benefit of business interests in south Lafayette. Curious as it is that black leadership would imbue a manifest spiritual destiny into a class of infrastructure that obliterated Americas black neighborhoods during a process often called Urban Renewal, its an indication of just how bad things have gotten along the Evangeline Thruway, and how circumstantially exceptional this project is. The Rev. Ken Lazard Photo by Paul Kieu/courtesy 1A As The IND has reported in the past, the damage interstates do in cities has by and large already happened along the Thruway. The Rev. Ken Lazard, named a 2015 Influencer of the Year by The IND, made clear in his remarks at the presser on Monday that he views the Connector as a chance to correct the blight and disinvestment wrought by the Thruway, and borne primarily by black neighborhoods severed from south-crawling suburban Lafayette. It was in Lazards unfinished church, surrounded by middle-income housing developments he spearheaded, that the coalition was announced. We know that new investments in our area, historically neglected portions of our community, will generate tremendous returns that reverberate throughout Lafayette Parish and the Acadiana region, and will help create a more resilient community, Lazard said at the presser. The Connector offers even greater opportunities to invest in positive environmental, social and economic improvements that will assure better quality for our families and our business. The revitalization potential of the Connector offers economic development through new commerce, job creation, and stronger neighborhoods. Benefits that will make a better and more prosperous Lafayette. 1A CEO Jason El Koubi Photo by Paul Kieu/image courtesy 1A The rub in this endeavor is cost. Building something thats never been built before a not only urban-sensitive but neighborhood-improving interstate is an ambition thats likely to be expensive. Interstates are designed to move cars, not change lives. With no budget set, no funding identified, and a conceptual design phase thats getting longer, its not clear where the state will get the money for a project that does more than serve commuter traffic above and through the neighborhoods it promises to restitch, in the words of One Acadiana CEO Jason El Koubi. Emerging now is the very real probability that the city will have to cough up money to make this project the catalyst for revitalization that some of its supporters espouse. We recognize that for the full potential of the project to be realized, its going to take significant investment not only from the state and the feds, but also locally, El Koubi said of the Coalitions discussion of the projects financing. In a technical memo produced late last year, the states design team crunched preliminary cost estimates for the various design options currently on the table. For the elevated interstate options, designated Series 4 in the states design process, the state produced no cost estimates for the signature bridge feature which has been held out as an essential place-making element for the project. Both elevated concepts evaluated by DOTD rang in the $430 million range without the signature bridge. Its unclear how much a signature bridge would cost, but its arguable that its design plays a key role in mitigating the urban impact of the Connector. Costs will rise depending on the type of bridge and its height. The Evangeline Corridor Initiative, the city organization in charge of planning for the neighborhoods around the Connector, has submitted a set of questions regarding the cost and technical evaluations contained in that memo. The ECI has not yet received a response. Officials with DOTD have intimated in the past that it would not cover the costs above the preliminary budget estimate of $700 million. That would likely leave the city to pick up the remainder of the check, potentially to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. During failed negotiations over a memo governing the relationship between DOTD and LCG at the tail end of the Durel administration, the state specifically stipulated in a draft that enhancements" on the project "that result in costs exceeding the preliminary budget would be the responsibility of LCG. Urban sensitivity routinely seems to hit the chopping block before level of service, the measure of a roadway's capacity and speed. Both DOTD and MPO want the facility to blend with the community and hopefully serve as a catalyst for redevelopment along the corridor, wrote DOTD Deputy Secretary Eric Kalivoda in a chippy, late 2014 email to LCG concerning those memo negotiations. Having said that, it is important to keep in mind that cost is always a consideration. Mayor-President Joel Robideaux and DOTD chief Shawn Wilson Photo by Paul Kieu/image courtesy 1A According to DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson, the state cannot pay for elements of the project that lie outside the projects scope picking up litter, mowing the lawn to standards set by the city, ornate water features, or under-bridge lighting etc. Wilson noted in a interview after the presser that this is standard operating procedure. What you have heard from people talking about urban revitalization tends to transcend the core footprint. I dont have a problem having that negotiation and discussion. I want to manage the expectation that the state cannot absorb all of those costs, Wilson said. Wilson said thats a matter of long term of costs born by a budget strapped state. DOTD cant be on the hook for changing out light bulbs under the Connector when its staring down a backlog of infrastructure projects some tens of billions of dollars long. Bicycle paths, lighting for bicycle paths, architectural landscaping all of those are elements that we dont necessarily invest in. We love them because they have value.," Wilson added. "We see how they affect the adjacent property, but at the end of the day I cant go out and plan that if I cant maintain that. The key tension here is that what the state considers lagniappe may be considered essential by the people who live in the Connectors radius. Should elements demanded by the city or its citizens exceed what the state considers its responsibility, the burden of that excess cost seems likely to go to city taxpayers. Considering the legacy of neglect invoked by Pastor Lazard, theres good reason to be skeptical that the city will pick up the states slack. That this new coalition was launched in a black church, buttressed by the moral clout of the Pastoral Alliance, was a fitting reminder that all the community has to go on is faith that the Connector can indeed be a catalyst for urban revitalization and not a revisit of 20th century urban renewal. Theres very little, if any, record of an urban freeway serving as a positive change agent for urban neighborhoods, a fact recognized publicly since design activities on the two decades-old project resumed last year. As the Trump administration mulls implementation of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, urbanists and city planners have grown wary of a new urban renewal. For many, projects like the Connector hearken to that legacy. Should we take it on faith that the past wont repeat itself? Paris, TX (75460) Today Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 42F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 42F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. The sextoy market is growing quite rapidly in India right now. Although it is not a big trend, it is a hot topic on the internet as it is secretly expanding its market. In this article, we will focus on sextoy and introduce recommended sextoy for Indian beginners of sextoy by gender. India, the birthplace of the Kama Sutra, is very strict about sex. Also, premarital sex is basically not allowed. Therefore, there are many people who are sexually restricted. But what happens when you continue to be sexually restricted? Frustration may build up and you may end up taking your sexual stress out on your partner. If you are able to adopt sextoy in a timely manner, you can get rid of those problems. I want to have more exciting sex than Im having now. I want more variation in masturbation I want to get even stronger pleasure than I do on my own. If you have any of these problems, please stay with me until the end. What is sex toys for Indian? Sextoy, as the name implies, is a toy used during sex and masturbation. It is a generic term for vibrators, Egg-vibrators, Electric massagers, dildo, handcuffs and condoms. They are used to make regular sex more exciting or to make masturbation more pleasurable. Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner. The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner. It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past. In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping. Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order. In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing. Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome. Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own. But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance. More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around. Sextoy situation in India Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years. In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India. Mumbai Kolkata Bangalore Delhi Chennai Hyderabad These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India. In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well. If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too. If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it. What are Sextoys for beginner? Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms. Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy. I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion. I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy. If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma. Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it. Advantages of using sextoy for Indians There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways. Can have stimulating sex Can develop new sexual zones If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern. However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways. You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation. Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever. There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure. This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it. When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems. It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms). For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles [Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou... Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India. Sextoy for beginner men in India So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners. For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men! The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men Masturbator Cock rings Love Doll Sex Lubricants Toys for the prostate Lets check each one in detail. Masturbator The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products. It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands. Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands. They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.) Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much. Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! ! Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa SEXToys India PR (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018 Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood. If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here Really pleasant male masturbation and how to do it Are you in a rut with your daily masturbation routine? I'm going to show you five ways men masturbate that you might ... [For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien... Cock Ring A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis. It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow. It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber. In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection. Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction. It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it. Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time. Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function. Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy. You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect. [Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat... Love Doll Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex. There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women. Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price. The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true. You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste. There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice. You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls. If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to... Sex lubricants Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules. It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution. Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse. There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent. Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent. If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here. What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many... Toys for the Prostate Another sextoy for men is prostate toys. The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line. Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men. Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men. What is the prostate? The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm. You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus. By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms. Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.) The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation. Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure. sextoy for beinner women in India The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy. The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy. Vibrator. Dildo Electric Masserger Lets check out what each one is in detail. If you want to check out womens toys, click here. [BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm... Vibrators A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator. Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy. It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy. Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women. For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators. Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex. Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself. This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual. Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men. When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons. Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most... Dildo A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis. It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass. A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it. They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well. It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device. A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo. Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands. For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis. This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one. To learn more about dildo, please click here. What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th... Electric Masserger A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores. It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low. Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels. Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation. It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure. For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm. It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out. If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager? To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here. What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th... How to choose a sextoy for Indian Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one. Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points: Does the size fit you (the partner)? Does the size fit you (your partner)? Is the environment able to produce sound without problems? Price range First of all, the choice of size is quite important. Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women. For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage. Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems. Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise. If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level. Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it. Finally, there is the price range. The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest. Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy. Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy? I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance. For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics. If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out. How to buy sextoys in India The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping. For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below. Sextoy is one of them. Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping. SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India. They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry. Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card. To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy. ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal. Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on. Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture. Cautions for Indians using sextoy When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind Keep sex toys clean Watch out for electrical leakage Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone. Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there. It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case. In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness. Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful. If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it. You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly. Summary What did you think? In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India. The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future. As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values. However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health. If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try? Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women. I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it. The Anna Fire Department responded to an early morning fire at 205B E. Vienna St., according to fire department representative. The department received a report of a structure fire at about 6:20 a.m. Monday, Jan. 23. The family who lives in the home safely evacuated the fire, the representative said. A wall heater inside the house caught on fire and caught the structure on fire, according to the department representative. An investigation is continuing. Marilyn Halstead CARTERVILLE Police Chief Heather Reno had some advice for avoiding scams to those gathered for the departments second Chat with the Chief: Stop giving personal information over the telephone. I dont know how to properly convey to the public to stop giving personal information over the phone, she said. Just hang the phone up. Resources about scams being perpetrated against senior adults were available during the afternoon event, held from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday at Pizza and Pasta Express. Residents also could ask questions and discuss issues with Reno and several other officers. The first chat was in the evening. With Monday's event, Reno said she wanted to give people who may not be available during evening hours a chance to attend. Rindi Reeves, program coordinator for Egyptian Area Agency on Aging Inc., asked if new scams were being perpetrated in the Carterville area. Reeves often gives presentations to help educate seniors about scams as part of her job. Officer Bill Johnston said a new scam claiming to be from the FBI surfaced last week. It seems to have evolved from one saying an individual owes money to the IRS and is about to be arrested. When they call, they may know something about you, but you dont ever give your bank account number over the phone, Reno said. Along with scams, Reno said some door-to-door salespeople have been a problem for seniors in the past. They can coerce seniors into signing up for services or goods that the seniors do not want or need. Carterville has an ordinance that requires each salesperson or peddler to have a permit authorized by the Police Department. The department checks the background of each person selling door-to-door. Were trying to protect our citizens and still allow that type of commerce to exist, Mayor Brad Robinson said. Reeves said another scam that seniors sometimes do not catch involves ordering back or knee braces. A salesperson signs the senior up for a brace, then bills Medicare for the brace. Once they have legitimate Medicare numbers, they can keep billing Medicare for goods and services. A few residents shared concerns about traffic in their neighborhoods. Edward OKeefe said seven out of 10 drivers do not stop at a stop sign near his home. I think they should at least make an attempt to stop, OKeefe said. Johnston said he would be happy to watch the intersection. Before the end of the meeting, Johnston had issued a ticket to a driver running the stop sign at that intersection. Reno encourages residents who have questions to call the police department or city hall for answers. MURPHYSBORO Work is continuing on a former youth detention facility, preparing it to reopen as a repurposed facility for prisoners about to re-enter the community. A Department of Corrections spokeswoman said there is no firm timeline on when the former Illinois Youth Center will reopen as the Life Skills and Re-entry Center. "The Department has not solidified an opening date," spokeswoman Nicole Wilson said in an email. "The department is committed to reducing the prison population and equipping offenders with tools that will help them be successful once they are released from IDOC custody," Wilson continued. "We are working diligently to create staffing plans and develop criteria and curriculum for the offenders who will be eligible to participate in the Life Skills Re-entry Center, located at the former IYC Murphysboro." The governor created the facility to provide training, education and support to those who are nearing the end of their sentences, as part of his focus on prison reform in the state. Murphysboro Mayor Will Stephens said about a month ago he was told by the governor that the facility could open anytime from March to July. Im happy that its on the way," Stephens said. "I know that a watched pot never boils. It was a little more than three months ago that Gov. Bruce Rauner traveled to Murphysboro to announce that that facility, closed in 2011 by then-Gov. Pat Quinn, would be reopened and repurposed as a facility for those transitioning back into the community. It was built in 1997. A minimum security facility, the center will prepare offenders for re-entry with educational, vocational and life-skills training, Rauner said at an October 2016 news conference at the site. Rauner's press secretary said in October it will cost approximately $800K to repurpose the old IYC. Monday morning, only a white pickup truck was visible outside the facility, where the entrance is gated. A few weeks earlier, a large white truck was seen at the facility. This facility is expected to house about 300 prisoners preparing for re-entry into the community and employ about 120 people, Rauner said in October. The center will be managed under the Pinckneyville Correctional Center, which is managed by Warden Jacqueline Lashbrook, who was also at the October 2016 news conference. When the facility is up and opened, Murphysboro will not be receiving any property taxes, as it is a state-run facility that is exempt from paying property taxes, Stephens said. "Anytime people are working in Murphysboro, they will do all those things that we know people will," such as buying gas at a local gas station or eating at a restaurant or even buying a screwdriver at the local hardware store or having a tire fixed at the local tire shop. "All those things make for a stronger community and a stronger tax base, he said. Anyone who is interested in working for the IDOC, who is not already employed with the Department, can apply to be a Correctional Officer Trainee on the Illinois Department of Correction's website at https://www.illinois.gov/idoc/Pages/default.aspx. CHESTER Dressed in a chambray shirt and khakis, wearing a solemn face, London Williams met the 12 people who hold his future in their hands Monday. Charged with first-degree murder, Williams stands accused of the stabbing death of Timothy Michael outside of Bernaseks, a bar and grill in Chester, in June of last year. If convicted of the Class X felony, Williams will face 20 to 60 years in prison without the option of early release. Williams, 27, appeared with his attorney, Justin Kuehn, in Judge Gene Gross Randolph County courtroom for jury selection. The selection questions presented by both sides leaned toward the standard, with neither tipping their hand too much as to how they would run their case. However, Kuehn did make a point to ask jurors their opinions of the Second Amendment and of self-defense, possibly because his case will hinge on whether jurors believe Williams acted in self-defense or if he intended to kill Michael, as suggested by discussion during a pretrial motion hearing earlier this month. Kuehn also asked prospective jurors to be a bit existential, wondering if it would be too much of a burden having a mans future at their discretion. Several said it was not ideal but believed it was their civic duty to serve. Of States Attorney Jeremy Walkers chief concerns was whether jurors felt they had a favorable, or at least neutral, opinion of law enforcement. He said while in the past it may have been that many would take the word of a police officer as gospel, things have changed. While specifics of the case were not brought up, Kuehn did reveal that his case would center less on whether police were credible but if eyewitnesses were. Both the state and the defense, as well as Gross, were concerned with jury poisoning. All three said they believed there would be many jurors who would have developed an opinion of guilt based on the many media reports of the incident and subsequent court proceedings and would ultimately pass this prejudice on to others who were called to serve. They started the day interviewing the pool of 40 in groups of four. However, after speaking with several groups this way, all parties agreed to bring the remaining potential jurors in as a whole, realizing there were fewer who were familiar with the case than they had anticipated. Of the 12 selected, 10 were women. The two alternates chosen were men. Opening statements are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Gross said he anticipates the jury to begin deliberation by Thursday. The Illinois treasurer has sent President Donald Trump a letter urging him clear guidance to the banking industry about medical marijuana. State Treasurer Michael Frerichs issued a news release Monday saying Trump's approach will be crucial to the continuing availability of medical marijuana in Illinois. Federal law prohibits banks from processing money used in the legal marijuana industry. Frerichs says this makes it difficult for businesses to get loans and restricts customers to cash-only transactions. Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department stated it would not make enforcement a priority, knowing that many states had legalized some marijuana use. Frerichs' letter to Trump urges him to give assurance that responsible financial institutions will not face penalties or prosecution for conducting business with state-licensed marijuana cultivators and dispensaries. The Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley resigned Tuesday as South Carolina's CEO to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, giving the state's helm to an early backer of President Donald Trump. The Bamberg native turned in her resignation letter minutes after the U.S. Senate confirmed her as Trump's Cabinet pick. Under the state constitution, Haley's resignation letter immediately made Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster the 91st governor of South Carolina. His official swearing-in ceremony will be held later. Haley is expected to attend. After officially resigning, Haley addressed a crowd in the Capitol lobby. "There's lots of work to do, but we have the right person to do it," she said, referring to McMaster. "It's an absolute privilege and honor to turn over the reins to you." The South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants became the state's first female and first minority governor in January 2011. The term-limited governor leaves office with two years remaining in her tenure. Haley used her final State of the State address earlier this month to say goodbye to South Carolinians and a job she called "the greatest honor of my life." Her departure gives 69-year-old McMaster a job he's long wanted, one year after the veteran of South Carolina GOP politics stunned political observers by becoming the nation's first statewide officeholder to endorse Trump. His support never wavered, despite Democrats' calls to renounce it. Legislators of both parties are eager for McMaster to take over. He has said little publicly since Trump picked Haley for the Cabinet position. And he's not expected to make any broad administrative changes. But legislators, many of whom have known McMaster for decades, believe he'll work with them in his characteristic congenial style a sharp contrast to the combative approach Haley often took as she assailed legislative leaders she disagreed with in speeches and in social media. Legislators particularly hope McMaster's ascension finally leads to a long-term solution for fixing South Carolina's roads which again tops their priority list. Haley's threats to veto anything with a gas tax increase stymied efforts for years. McMaster, the state's former GOP chairman and attorney general for two terms, has been a close ally of Haley's since she trounced him and two other better-known men in the 2010 Republican gubernatorial primary. Just days after taking a beating at the polls, McMaster endorsed Haley with an exuberant "I'm all in!" Beyond campaigning with her statewide, he arranged a series of private meetings between Haley and skeptical business leaders a week after she publicly chided the state Chamber of Commerce as a fan of bailouts and corporate welfare. He served on her transition team, and she then appointed him to the State Ports Authority. During his 2014 campaign for lieutenant governor, McMaster touted his close relationship with Haley. His support of Haley, then Trump, has helped him accomplish a five-decade first in South Carolina. Voters haven't elected a lieutenant governor to the state's highest office since 1970. The last time a lieutenant governor ascended to the job through a vacancy was April 1965, when then-Gov. Donald Russell appointed himself U.S. senator following a death. His replacement, Robert McNair, served Russell's remaining three years. McMaster's move leaves a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's office. While the state constitution calls for the Senate's leader to fill the role, Senate President Pro Tem Hugh Leatherman has refused to leave the Senate to take the largely ceremonial position. Leatherman resigned his leadership post Tuesday afternoon, as the U.S. Senate was voting on Haley's confirmation. Way champions S.C. State Congratulations to South Carolina State University Board Chairman Charles Way on the recognition by The Times and Democrat as Person of the Year for 2016. I see his commitment to a better country and state in steering support for South Carolina State University, a valuable higher education university that has made its mark turning out leaders in education, law, agriculture and the military. Leadership is rare and committing to an agenda like restoring South Carolina State to its role in a highly political environment required an understanding of the need for the institution, its principal constituents and the state's commitment to educational diversity. Way has done what we (African-Americans) should have been able to do. There is hope that African-Americans will put education high in their minds and divorce any self-aggrandizement shown in previous university management. -- Porter Bankhead, Washington Solar farm is bad approach The proposed solar "farm" in Orangeburg County is just plain stupid -- a waste of good farmland. This monstrosity will also tie us further to the vulnerable electric grid. Instead, let us use space where solar panels will actually help shade parking lots and flat-roofed buildings; where they will help to decentralize power sources and make us less vulnerable to accidents and terrorists. -- David L. Green, Orangeburg Rememembering Nat Hentoff Journalist and jazz critic Nat Hentoff, who died at age 91 earlier this month, will probably be best remembered as a stalwart advocate of the First Amendment. He defended the right to free speech in all its forms including the freedom to speak up for animals rights. In a 2006 piece for Jewish World Review, he agreed with another writer who called out the FBI for wrongfully targeting PETA and other groups that work to protect animals and the environment. In the 1990s, he spoke out against expanding the RICO Act, which criminalizes certain actions by political, social and religious groups as racketeering even when those actions serve no economic purpose. Calling the act "a terrible, terrible law," he pointed out that it could lead to lawsuits against groups like PETA, which takes on well-funded foes such as the animal-experimentation and meat industries and he was right. The law was used that way by a laboratory where PETA found evidence of wrongdoing. Thankfully, the facility didn't prevail. In Hentoffs memory, lets exercise our right to speak up for those whose cries are often ignored, by raising our voices for animals. -- Lindsay Pollard-Post The PETA Foundation Norfolk, Virginia A blog for students in my introductory classes in government, and any interested passersby. You'll find news items and random stories that illustrate any of the topics we cover in class. Special attention will be paid to the constitutional issues associated with contemporary issues and disputes. Feel free to send me stories you find important. Please note that due to spam, I'm limiting the ability of people to comment on these pages. My apologies. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. By Azertac Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree determining monthly allowance for IDPs and those equal to them. A monthly allowance of 36 manats shall be allocated for IDPs and those equal to them from 1 January 2017 on, instead of payments for food as well as communal and other services from the state budget for IDPs and those alike. The Cabinet of Ministers was tasked to determine the contingent to which the monthly allowance prescribed. The procedure of payment shall be determined and reported to the President. Proposals on adjusting the presidential acts to this decree shall be prepared within one month and submitted the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The installation of meters in IDP populated areas shall be ensured by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan, Azerishiq OJSC, and Azersu OJSC. This post is prompted by a number of things that have left me pondering how as Christians we are to bring about change in our churches. When we strongly b... 7 years ago Dubai Properties (DP), a leading UAE-based real estate master developer, concluded 2016 with a successful handover of more than 3,000 residential units, supporting one of the citys leading handover tallies since 2012. The developers sought-after projects in Culture Village and Dubailand comprised the majority of handovers including 124 units at Dubai Wharf, three months ahead of schedule, said a statement from the company. Last year, DP also handed over 2,900 units in Dubailand that included 1,600 units in the pioneering built-to-suit staff accommodation Rahaba Residence, more than 900 units in the affordable housing community Remraam and 360 units that completed Phase Two of the family-friendly Mudon. The Emirati developer continues to pave the way in supporting Dubais path towards 2020 with a successful pipeline of timely handovers, coupled with a robust leasehold portfolio supporting thriving occupancy rates across housing and retail, it stated. The real estate market is poised for a rebound this year and industry eyes are on developers to deliver projects on time. Industry reports indicate 20,000 new homes are set to enter the Dubai market, with the mini-communities in Dubailand witnessing the maximum number of home handovers this year. With this in mind, the Dubai firm remains committed to timely delivery and a phased approach for new project launches, providing a stable foundation for the market over the medium term. This year, DP will continue to serve the citys social diversification needs as the master developers portfolio further expands. Investment in sustainable infrastructure, accessibility, community amenities and family-focused facilities will continue to be a key focus for DPs masterplanned residential destinations across the emirate, it added.-TradeArabia News Service Mirroring the global trend of figh-quality care and reduced hospitalisation hours for patients, Thumbay Hospitals recently launched daycare services concept is fast catching-up in the UAE region. A host of factors, including improved anesthetic and surgical techniques, better patient education, convenience of recuperating at home, state-of-art infrastructure and round-the-clock access to skilled doctors and nursing staff have largely contributed in making the Thumbay Hospital Daycare, Rolla, Sharjah, a sought-after destination for healthcare services. Alia, a Pakistani national, who was suffering from a breast lump had been postponing the surgery for lack of medical leave. But new daycare services that are dramatically changing the way these operations are done, giving women more options, faster treatment, smaller scars, fewer long-term side effects and better cosmetic results proved to be a blessing in disguise for Alia. Her scar-less breast lump excision procedure at Thumbay Hospital Daycare was successfully conducted in less-than three hours time. Alia walked into the hospital post work hours at 7 pm, underwent the surgery by 8 pm, and was certified healthy to recuperate at home by 10 pm. Thats not all, she even resumed work the next day. In order to follow-up on her post-surgery recovery, the surgeon also conducted a screening two days later that confirmed Alia was lump-free, hale and hearty. Not everyone can afford prolonged post-operative rest, which keeps them away from work and other daily activities. Same-day surgeries get you back to your normal routine from the very next day of the procedure, said Dr. Ashish Sam Enos, Specialist Surgery at Thumbay Hospital Day Care. As all the procedures are well-planned, the patient may directly move to the operating room after registration and will be discharged from the hospital two hours after the surgery, he added. Akbar Moideen Thumbay, vice president of the healthcare division of Thumbay Group said that the surgical procedures at Thumbay Hospital Daycare provided multiple benefits for patients, including lower costs and fewer chances of hospital-acquired infections, in addition to early recovery and less mental stress. The hospital offers minimal waiting times and faster admissions and discharges, in addition to delivering high quality, patient-focused and affordable care. We also offer flexibility in scheduling operations, and there are zero chances of a procedure getting delayed or cancelled due to the pressures of emergency surgeries, he explained. Thumbay Hospital Day Care is a state-of-the-art multispecialty facility envisioned as a center housing all major specialties under one roof, located at the heart of Sharjah in Rolla (behind Rolla Mall). The hospital is the youngest member of the Thumbay academic hospital network, affiliated to the Gulf Medical University, Ajman. It offers treatments and procedures as day-cases, meaning no overnight stay in the hospital is required, and patients can rest and recuperate in their own homes. The hospital offers a wide range of same-day surgeries for hernia, gastroenterological problems, urological problems, vascular surgeries, breast surgeries, plastic surgeries and laparoscopic procedures. Fully-equipped laboratory, advanced radiology services with ultrasound and x-ray facility and trained personnel to ensure optimum patient safety and satisfaction are some of the highlights of the hospital. The hospital uses the latest healthcare technology, which combined with excellent post-operative care and effective pain relief enable patients to recover in just a few hours. This also ensures minimal risk of hospital infections. The hospital has a dedicated anesthesia team as well as operation theatre, and private patient beds for pre-op and post-op care. There are 19 consultation chambers spread on two floors. - TradeArabia News Service Ericsson, a multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company, has appointed Wojciech Bajda as head of industry and society unit for Middle East region. Bajda will be responsible for driving business growth and capturing market opportunities within the Middle East region with a special focus on energy and utilities, public safety and security; and intelligent transport systems and Smart cities. Bajda joined Ericsson in Poland in 2000 as a sales manager. During his 17-year tenure with the company, he has held many roles including key account manager for T-Mobile, which was the biggest Ericsson account in Poland at the time. He started his international assignments in 2009 working with Orange and Millicom Accounts in Africa. Prior to joining Ericsson Region Middle East, Bajda led Ericssons business in Eurasia consisting of 11 countries from Belarus to Mongolia. In 2005, Bajda completed his MBA at the University of Bradford in the UK. Before joining Ericsson he obtained a Master of Science degree in Electronics from the Technical University of Lodz in Poland. Rafiah Ibrahim, head of Ericsson Region Middle East and East Africa, said: We are pleased to welcome Wojciech Bajdas to our leadership team in the region; with the ongoing transformation of all industries enabled by 5G, the Internet of Things and Cloud technologies, Wojciech and his team will drive our plans supporting our customers and industry partners to build a truly connected Networked Society. - TradeArabia News Service Global oil and gas recruitment firm Petroplan is expanding its presence in Oman, working with international operators and service companies to help fill specialist roles. There is an urgent need for qualified oil and gas personnel in Oman, which has sprung from two sources. A number of major upstream and downstream projects are under construction, including the Khazzan tight gas field and Duqm refinery. Alongside this, international companies long-established in Oman are looking to expand their operations, said the company. Despite stringent rules on the proportion of local workers required on projects (the ratio is officially nine Omanis to every expatriate), it is not always possible to fill roles from the local workforce. Specialist recruiters such as Petroplan can bring their expertise and extensive candidate networks to bear in this instance, identifying and mobilising the talent required to execute projects, and helping with associated documentation requirements (for example, securing visas), it said. Given the effect of the oil price downturn on other oil-producing regions (particularly Canada and the North Sea), the supply of suitable candidates is good at the moment. Candidates are also attracted by low living costs, low security risk and good quality of life offered in Oman. This supply is likely to tighten if and when oil prices move upwards again, the company said. Petroplan recently completed its corporate registration in Oman, giving it a licence to operate in the country, and has opened an office in Muscat. It is currently expanding its Oman team to meet customer demand, with the in-country team able to draw upon the support of existing Petroplan offices in London, Houston, Calgary, Dubai and South Africa. Jon France, regional manager, Emena at Petroplan, said: It is vital in markets such as Oman that the oil and gas industry recruits as many nationals as possible. However, there will always be some disciplines with skills gaps that require international support. "Oman is one of the regional bright spots for the oil and gas industry, with some major projects underway, and I am delighted that Petroplan is growing there and working with operators and service companies to help square the talent circle. - TradeArabia News Service Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has issued a request for proposals (RFPs) to all qualified bidders for its 200 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant being developed in the fourth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. This supports the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to make Dubai a global centre of clean energy and green economy, said a statement from Dewa. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park is the largest single-site strategic solar energy project of its kind in the world, based on the independent power producer (IPP) model. The 13 MW first phase of the Solar Park was launched in 2013, while the 200 MW second phase will be operational this year, it stated. In June last year, Dewa had announced that the Masdar-led consortium was the selected bidder for the 800 MW third phase of the solar park which would be completed by 2020, based on the IPP model, after getting a levelised cost of electricity of $2.99 cents per kilowatt hour (kW/h). Announcing the RFP move, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and chief executive of Dewa, said: "This 200 MW CSP Plant will be operational by April 2021, since we intend to continue generating 1,000 MW from CSP by 2030. Undoubtedly, this project is another milestone achievement that will put Dubai and the UAE at the forefront in the region in producing renewable and clean energy, and supports the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed." "We are determined to continue building and developing a greener economy, to achieve the UAE Vision 2021 of a sustainable environment in terms of air quality, conserving water resources, more reliance on clean energy, and implementing green development in Dubai, as well as Dubai Plan 2021 to establish Dubai as a smart and sustainable city, whose environmental elements are clean, healthy and sustainable," he noted. According to him, the total capacity of the solar park will reach 1,000 MW by 2020, and 5,000 MW by 2030, with investments of Dh50 billion ($3.24 billion). This is part of Dewas efforts to support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 which will see the share of clean energy in Dubai total energy output at seven per cent by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030, and 75 per cent by 2050, observed Al Tayer. "To achieve our vision to become a sustainable innovative world-class utility, we are working to establish sustainability as the roadmap that secures a brighter and happier future for Dubai, by launching distinguished world-class initiatives and projects in green development," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Saudi Aramco has awarded the National Petroleum Construction Company (NPCC) two new contracts for 17 jackets in Berri and Marjan oilfields. These contracts for Berri and Marjan oilfields include engineering, procurement, construction, transportation and installation of nine and eight jackets, respectively, said Aqeel A Madhi, CEO of NPCC. Madhi added that the two new contracts come under the scope of the long-term agreement (LTA) between Saudi Aramco and NPCC, signed in October 2016, to help with offshore oil and gas producing platforms and related facilities in the Arabian Gulf. Under the six-year agreement, contractors will be responsible for delivering a number of offshore oil and gas producing platforms, tie-in platforms, pipelines, power cables, and all the related facilities, as required under the current masterplan for Saudi Aramco's offshore fields. Entering into such a strategic agreement with global major Saudi Aramco is an endorsement of NPCCs state-of-the-art expertise, Madhi said. He said that carrying out these two new contracts will take 11 months and expressed his full confidence and trust in NPCC staff and their ability to deliver these projects on budget and schedule. The NPCC team is qualified and well trained, with years of experience of delivering such projects with NOCs and IOCs, said Madhi. TradeArabia News Service Hotels in the Middle East reported negative total-year 2016 results, while hotels in Africa posted mixed results in the three key performance metrics for the same period. Compared with 2015, the Middle East reported a 2.2 per cent decrease in occupancy to 66.2 per cent, a 7.2 per cent drop in average daily rate (ADR) to $174.60 and a 9.2 per cent decline in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to $115.59, according to data by STR, a hotel data benchmarking company. Africa experienced a 3.6 per cent drop in occupancy to 55.4 per cent, but a 10.7 per cent rise in ADR to $108.14 pushed RevPAR up 6.7 per cent to $59.87. Performance of featured countries and local markets for 2016 The UAE hospitality sector posted a slight increase in occupancy rates (+0.3 per cent to 75.0 per cent) in 2016, but saw declines in ADR (down 9.2 per cent to Dh631.51/$171.8) and RevPAR (down 9.0 per cent to Dh473.70/$128.9). While supply (up 4.8 per cent) in the UAE grew at a rapid pace, demand (up 5.0 per cent) grew at a stronger rate for the first time since 2013. At the market level, Abu Dhabi closed the year with declines in both occupancy (down 3.6 per cent to 71.7 per cent) and ADR (down 9.9 per cent to Dh467.49/$127.2). Dubai reported a slight increase in occupancy (up 0.5 per cent to 77.3 per cent) but a significant drop in ADR (down 9.9 per cent to Dh711.41/$193.6). Saudi Arabia's economy and hotel industry were heavily affected by the oil crisis as occupancy rates drop 4.8 per cent to 59.5 per cent, with ADR (down 3.9 per cent to SR764.08/$203.5) and RevPAR (down 8.5 per cent to SR454.84/$121) following suit. As STR reported in August 2016, there is a correlation between the drop in oil prices and the downturn in hotel performance and profitability for GCC countries. At the market level, Riyadh was heavily affected in 2016 with occupancy down 10.2 per cent and ADR down 8.1 per cent. According to STR analysts, oil is not the only factor affecting the countrys hotels, however, as sharp supply growth has pressured occupancy levels and overall performance. In December, Saudi Arabias Luxury segment experienced an 18.6 per cent increase in supply compared with the same month the previous year, contributing to a 23.3 per cent year-over-year RevPAR decline for the countrys Luxury hotels during the month. Egypts occupancy (-14.5% to 45.8%) continued to fall amid ongoing security concerns, dropping 36.2% below pre-Arab Spring levels. The devaluation of the Egyptian pound resulted in a sharp increase in ADR (+31.2% to EGP793.97), pushing RevPAR up 12.3 per cent to EGP363.46 Egypt has recorded very little supply growth since 2012, while demand has been volatile (-13.9% for 2016). - TradeArabia News Service The Etihad Aviation Group board of directors today announced that James Hogan will step down as president and chief executive officer of the company in the second half of this year. The board and Hogan first initiated the transition process last year with the formation in May of the Etihad Aviation Group, a diversified global aviation and travel organisation, a statement from the airline said. Hogan will join an investment company along with Etihad Aviation Group CFO James Rigney, who will also leave the company later this year. A global search for a new Group CEO and a new Group CFO is already underway. Commenting on Hogans time at Etihad, Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, chairman of the board of the Etihad Aviation Group said: We are very grateful to James. In just 10 years, he has overseen the growth of the company from a 22 plane regional carrier into a 120 aircraft global airline and aviation group, with seven airline equity partnerships which together serve more than 120 million guests every year. It is a business which has set new benchmarks for service and innovation. Under his leadership, the company has provided new opportunities for thousands of Emiratis and has been a critical element in the remarkable progress of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We look forward to James continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways. Hogan commented: Along with the board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi. The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad. Commenting on current priorities for the business, Mazrouei said: To position the company for continued success in a challenging market, the Board and management team will continue an ongoing, company-wide strategic review. We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy, he said. Last month, Etihad Airways unveiled plans to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG. A new codeshare agreement with Lufthansa and an aircraft leasing agreement between airberlin and Lufthansa were also announced. As a minority shareholder, Etihad is actively participating in the next phase of Alitalias restructuring plan. Mazrouei added: Etihad is a great business with strong fundamentals and a deeply experienced aviation and airline management team. These assets, along with a realigned organisation, provide more agility and added focus as Etihad enters the next phase of its development. The group has developed a senior management structure with strength in depth, led by a highly-regarded senior team. This team includes Peter Baumgartner, CEO, and Richard Hill, COO, of Etihad Airways; Bruno Matheu as CEO of Airline Equity Partners; and Jeff Wilkinson as CEO of Etihad Airways Engineering. Darren Peisley is Acting Managing Director of Hala, the companys destination marketing and global loyalty unit. A further strengthening of the Group structure was announced earlier this month with the creation of Etihad Airport Services led by Managing Director Chris Youlten. In addition, the group chiefs leading the core corporate functions include Kevin Knight, strategy and planning; Ray Gammell, people and performance; Rob Webb, technology and innovation; and Harsh Mohan, executive affairs. - TradeArabia News Service So when they butt-stroked me to the head from an AK-47 and I was bleeding down the side of my face and they threw me back in the cell I could Valentines for Veterans The American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 2 of Casper, is collecting Valentines for Veterans to be sent to veterans at the Sheridan VA facility, the Cheyenne VA facility and the Wyoming State Veterans Home in Buffalo. Valentines will be accepted at the Senior Center, 1831 E. 4th St. in a red box in the main lobby. The valentines do not need to be in envelopes and a simple note, such as Thank you for your service, or something similar may be written. Please do not put names on the valentines as they will be divided among the three facilities. They will be picked up at the Senior Center on Feb. 7 and mailed on Feb. 8. For more information, please call 234-0246. If there is no answer, please leave a message and your call will be returned. This would be a wonderful project for schools as well, and you may call the above number for large group information. Volunteer for new literacy program INGLES!, a non-profit group teaching English as a second language to adult learners, is currently looking for enthusiastic, patient volunteers. Volunteers will help adult students improve their English one-on-one and in small classes. Volunteering requires a commitment of two hours twice a week. No Spanish proficiency or prior teaching experience required. Volunteer application forms are available at the Natrona County Library Reference Desk located on the second floor. Socks and gloves drive continues Community Action Partnerships Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) launched a Glove and Sock Drive in our community beginning in December, which has been a huge success. The initial goal of 500 pairs of new socks and gloves has been exceeded. So far, the community and local businesses have generously donated 678 pairs of socks and gloves, which makes 6,780 cozy toes and fingers. The new goal is to receive a total of 1,000 pairs of socks and gloves by the time the drive is finished. There are currently nine drop box locations throughout Casper-Central Wyoming Senior Services, River Rail Credit Union, Casper Recreation Center, Nicolaysen Art Museum, YMCA, Mills Senior Center, Evansville Senior Center, Natrona County School District Central Office and Community Action Partnership. The Sock and Glove Drive will last until Jan. 31. So far, the donations have helped a family who lost their home to a fire, a church that distributed socks and gloves to homeless during a holiday event, and several needy families with children. In January, RSVP volunteers will be sorting and distributing the gloves and socks to schools in the Natrona County School District for students in need. The donations will also benefit the homeless during the annual Point in Time Count event in January. Blood centers extend hours United Blood Services (UBS) is expanding hours at its Casper and Cheyenne donor centers in an effort to make blood donation more convenient for more donors. The center at 2801 East 2nd Street in Casper will be open six days a week. Closed only on Tuesday, the Casper center will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The center at 112 E. 8th Ave. in Cheyenne will be open five days a week, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Blood donations can drop as much as 20 percent during the holidays and winter months, but every two seconds, every day of the year a patient in the U.S. needs a blood transfusion. Whole blood donors are eligible to give blood every eight weeks and are encouraged to donate at least three times each year to help UBS meet the needs of patients. Donors can save time and fill out their Fast Track Health History Questionnaire online at unitedbloodservices.org the day of their donation. To donate blood, volunteers must be at least 16 years old (16 and 17-year-old donors need a minor donor permit which is available online) and be in good health. In addition to its community donor centers in Cheyenne and Casper, UBS operates various blood drives across Wyoming. To make an appointment call 877-827-4376 or go to unitedbloodservices.org. Monthly fleece blanket making continues The Fleece Blanket Project meets on the third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at First Christian Church, 520 CY Ave. Parking is in the back of the building. Upcoming dates are Feb. 18, 2017 and March 18, 2017. Thus far, 289 blankets have been made and given to individuals in need of comfort and warmth and to agencies that serve a vulnerable population. Bring two yards of a print fleece and two yards of a solid fleece for each blanket, or just come and join others who want to make a difference. For more information, call First Christian Church at 234-8964. Disabled vets need volunteer drivers The Disabled American Veterans need volunteer drivers to take veterans to their medical appointment at the VA hospital in Cheyenne. The volunteer driver will transport them in a VA vehicle. If you are interested, please call the DAV transportation office in Cheyenne at 307-778-7577 for further information. Museum needs Troopers items Fort Caspar Museum will be celebrating 60 years of the Troopers Drum & Bugle Corps with an exhibit to run in 2017 and 2018. The museum has acquired a number of items from the Troopers such as uniforms, flags, and instruments, but additional, more personal souvenirs and memorabilia items are desired. By loan or by donation, any souvenirs or collectibles will appreciated. Trooper photographs will also be considered. With a potential spring opening, donations are welcome as soon as possible. Please contact Rick Young at Fort Caspar Museum at 235-8462 or at ryoung@casperwy.gov. Jerry Behrens Foundation to assist vets The doctors and staff at Casper Orthopedics have established the Jerry Behrens Foundation to honor the lifelong achievements and commitment to community service that was demonstrated by Jerome A. Behrens, M.D., retired orthopedic surgeon and co-founder of Casper Orthopedics. The practice will be funding administrative costs so that all financial contributions will go directly toward assisting injured, wounded and ill service members and their families. To donate to the Jerry Behrens Foundation, please call 265-7205. Dr. Behrens practiced medicine in Casper for over 40 years and was known as a compassionate, conscientious and trusted orthopedic surgeon and community member. Dr. Behrens demonstrated courage and determination as he served our country as a surgeon for the Marines in Vietnam. Volunteer at WMC Wyoming Medical Centers Volunteer Services Program is seeking individuals who enjoy helping others. If you enjoy walking, we have openings for patient escorts. Its a great way to lend a helping hand and get exercise. Both early and late morning shifts are available. Volunteers are also needed in the surgical staging area. Volunteers will assist families who are waiting on a patient in surgery. There are many ways to help in every department. For more information, please call NJ Olsen at 577-2794 or email nolsen@wyomingmedicalcenter.org. English speakers needed CHAT, the English Conversation Club at Casper College Adult Learning Center, needs English speakers to meet international community members and help them speak English. Join us for an international potluck in the Werner Technical Center, Rm. 105: Jan. 26, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; Feb. 14, 11 a.m. to noon; March 22, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.; April 13, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.; and May 4, 11 a.m. to noon. For more information, call 268-2230 or email mdugan@caspercollege.edu Save the date, restorative justice Save the date! Restorative Justice Symposium 2017: Wyomings Introduction to a New Frontier. March 15 and 16, 2017, at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center. Hosted by Natrona County Restorative Justice. For additional information and to learn more on what restorative justice is all about, visit and like NCRJsFacebook page. News that President Donald Trump placed a hiring freeze on all federal workers other than military personnel was met with mixed emotions on Monday in Wyoming. Some in the conservation community worry that depleting federal workers in a state composed of large swaths of federal land could mean an even larger backlog on permitting and other projects. One southwest Wyoming county commissioner, on the other hand, applauded the new presidents attempts to cut employees, while hoping reductions to the federal workforce will be done selectively. Thousands of people in Wyoming work for the federal government, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The BLM alone has 714 employees, with 112 positions currently open, according to BLM public affairs specialist Cindy Wertz. Wally Johnson, a Sweetwater County commissioner, said he doesnt know if the local BLM and Forest Service offices are over-or under-staffed, but it should be studied. If I were involved in helping with that, its deciding where to make the cuts you cant do it across the board, he said. You have to do it selectively. You have to get the right return for the cuts. He said his goal in office has been to shrink the size of government. Permitting times for energy projects would not worsen, he added, because those delays happen in Washington. The federal government is about 10 percent smaller than it was in 1967, according to the Washington Post. The Post also cited a 1982 Government Accountability Office report showing the major hiring freezes by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan ultimately cost the government more than they saved and were not an effective means of controlling federal employment. Federal employees help drive local economies, said John Gale, conservation director for the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers. And theyre often in rural areas that need jobs. Theres a misconception out there that federal land managers are absentee landlords and its all done from Washington, D.C., and that is a dialogue that is false, he said. They are locally managed by local people that understand the importance of working with stakeholders to do the right thing. A few weeks before the federal hiring freeze, the U.S. House voted to reinstate the Holman Rule, an act created in 1876 that gives Congress the ability to adjust pay of federal workers down to $1. Gale called the rule draconian. I dont know any Americans who want to take us back to 1876 again, he said. At a time when the Republican Party is trying to build jobs and growth and economic prosperity in the nation, it seems to fly in the face of their own ethos. If Congress doesnt like a program, it can cut the programs funding, but lawmakers should not single out salaries of individual civil servants, said Lisa McGee, program director for the Wyoming Outdoor Council. U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who voted for the Holman Rule in early January as part of a larger House rules package, told the Star-Tribune recently that she believes if it is used, it would be meant more for federal workers in Washington than in Wyoming. The federal government has employees who havent performed for years and cant get fired, she said. I believe government that is smaller is better, and that is sort of a guiding principle, she said. That doesnt mean, certainly, that there arent really good people who are working in the federal government But I think people have to be accountable. Cheney went on to add that policy decisions made in Washington directly affect peoples lives in states like Wyoming. As important as it is to talk about the policies and positions on policies, she said, I want people to know that I understand and am constantly thinking about the individuals who will be affected. Prosecutors charged the former mayor of Mills with four misdemeanors last week after more than a year of investigation into whether she used her position for personal gain. On Jan. 17, the Natrona County District Attorneys Office charged Marrolyce Wilson with interfering with a peace officer, conflict of interest by a public official, official misconduct and illegally holding a liquor license. In late 2015, an agent with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation began to help with an investigation into funds missing from Mills. Investigators later arrested the towns former treasurer, Lisa Whetstone, on charges that allege she stole more than $64,000 from the town. In February 2014, Wilson personally bid $20,000 on a property owned by the town that was for sale, according to court documents. The next day, the town opened sealed bids for the three town properties that were for sale one bid per property. After the bids were opened, Wilson said that a bid for one of the properties had been forgotten. Wilson and Whetstone then went into another room and brought back a bid that was supposedly the winning bid for a property, though not the one the mayor had bid on, the documents state. Investigators obtained a recording of a July 2015 executive session of the Mills Town Council. At the meeting, Wilson said she and Whetstone had written another bid to replace one they had lost, court documents show. The councilmembers then had a long discussion about the incident and other instances of overreaching by Wilson, according to the documents. People at the meeting alleged Wilson had ordered a clerk to not enter her sons traffic ticket on the court docket, which effectively blocked the ticket from being filed, the documents state. Councilmember Lawanda Codgill asked Wilson to resign, but the mayor refused. The conversation then turned to how to keep the information about the bids quiet. The town later voided the bid process that Wilson and Whetstone allegedly interfered with, though town administrators said they voided the bids because proper notice wasnt given about the property sales. A new bidding process began in October 2014. Stacy Faigle, Wilsons daughter, then bid $15,000 of her mothers money for the same property her mother had bid on earlier that year. Faigle knew the highest and only bid during the first round of bidding had been $20,000, and her mother advised her to bid lower. The estimated value of the property was $45,000, documents allege. Faigle won the bid and was told to bring a cashiers check to the Jan. 14, 2015, council meeting to get the deed. Her mother signed the transfer of the deed. The check for the property indicates it was written on Jan. 28, 2015, however, bank records indicate that Faigle did not pay for the property until March of that year. According to the documents, Faigle then sold the property to Wilson for $10, who sold the property for $30,000 with the mayor allegedly netting $15,000 in the process. In an August 2016 interview with investigators, Wilson admitted that she gave the money to her daughter for the purchase and said she sold the property for a profit. Wilson resigned as mayor days after the interview. During the investigation, a town employee told investigators that Wilson and Whetstone had told her to not let any law enforcement into the town hall building, even if they had a search warrant, according to court documents. Whetstone and Wilson told the employee that they would fire her if she let investigators in. The employee was later disciplined for letting a DCI agent into the building to serve a search warrant, the documents state. Investigators also learned that Wilson had a retail liquor license for the Hideaway Bar, of which she is the sole owner. Wyoming law prohibits elected officials to own liquor licenses in the area that they oversee. The town treasurer, Whetstone, approved Wilsons liquor license renewal. If found guilty, Wilson could face $11,000 in fines and up to a year in jail for the interference charge. Wilson does not yet have an attorney, according to the Natrona County Circuit Court. She is scheduled to appear in the courthouse at 10 a.m. Feb. 24 to hear the charges against her. CHEYENNE An ambitious effort to solve Wyomings school funding crisis would freeze spending on special education and transportation, while dipping heavily into savings and possibly raising the sales tax. The House Education Committee voted Monday night to sponsor the omnibus bill. The measure is the broadest effort so far by the Wyoming Legislature to tackle the estimated $400 million annual school funding shortfall. It includes reducing administrators salaries while lowering the number of school operating days. What it did is it modifies the funding model we have now, said Rep. David Northrup, a Powell Republican who is chairman of the House Education Committee. If the bill becomes law, the states main legislative savings account, which currently holds around $1.6 billion, would transfer funds into the primary public school funding account on June 30 of each fiscal year to restore the account's amount to $100 million, provided the rainy day fund has more than $500 million in it. The bill proposes a 0.5 percent sales tax increase should the rainy day fund dip below $500 million. Revenue from that tax increase would go to the school funding account. The increase will disappear if the 43 property tax mills public schools current funding stream begin to provide 65 percent of the necessary funding. It also calls for diverting a 1 percent severance tax for the 2019 through 2022 fiscal years into the general fund, and then into the primary school funding account. That 1 percent amounts to about $89.1 million annually, according to the report. Schools days of operations would be cut from 185 to 180. Reducing the number of days would save an estimated $15 million annually, starting in fiscal year 2018. Additionally, the bill calls for a freeze on special education and transportation funding at the amount spent in this school year. Freezing transportation spending, which includes a halt to bus purchases, would save $3.1 million in fiscal year 2019. A special education funding freeze will save an estimated $9.2 million in the next fiscal year. Monday was the first day most members of the House Education Committee saw the bill. Rep. Garry Piiparinen was the only member of the committee who opposed the group sponsoring the bill. My concern is we didnt have any input on this, the Evanston Republican said. Elsewhere, the bill calls for: A moratorium on alternative schools until at least 2019. The Joint Education Committee will study the schools and report back no later than November 2018; A 10 percent reduction to the base salaries of superintendents, assistant superintendents and business managers, starting in fiscal year 2018-19. This would save an estimated $3.4 million annually, according to Legislative Service Office projections; Continue the 1.4 percent reduction, equating to a $21 million statewide decrease, in the 2017-18 school year. A similar reduction hit districts in the past year. Partially reverting to the level of funding called for by consultants in 2015, to the tune of $22 million per year. Move funding for extended day and summer school into the block grant given to schools. The bill would also create a joint select committee on education starting March 1, 2018. The committee would consist of 16 lawmakers, with legislators from the House and Senate education, revenue and appropriations committees. The committee will review the educational program ... and complete a recalibration of the education resource block grant to determine if modifications are necessary in light of changing conditions and modifications to law, according to the bill. Focusing on savings, revenue diversions and revenues, the committee will also study and recommend solutions to the education shortfall. In addition to the supercommittee, the bill calls for the governor to appoint three advisory groups consisting of teachers, lawmakers, parents, taxpayers and more. These groups would provide input to the supercommittee. The Senate has filed its own bill to address the crisis. Among other things, that bill would increase class sizes, cut funding for instructional facilitators and leave 50 percent of local school administration positions unfilled. The magnitude of it and the suddenness of it ... its huge, said Senate President Eli Bebout, who co-sponsored the Senate bill. But the good news is weve prepared ourselves better than we have in the past. It just happened so quickly and so severely ... I dont think any of us anticipated a decline of this magnitude. Nearly all of the provisions in the omnibus bill come from a report released before the session began. Called the white paper, it laid out a number of suggestions that ultimately ended up in the omnibus bill. The white paper received around 600 public comments, lawmakers say. Sen. Hank Coe, R-Cody, said that in those public comments, there was support for cutting instructional facilitators funding and for shortening days of operation to 180. The Senate bill, of which Coe is another co-sponsor, also calls for cutting instructional facilitators funding, along with reductions to transportation and special education funding. Both special education and transportation were often brought up before the session as areas where lawmakers could save some money. Both are fully reimbursable, meaning that every dollar a district spends on special education and transportation is repaid by the state. Still, education lawmakers have said there is little appetite for cutting the rate of reimbursement for those areas because there hadnt been any abuse of those funds by districts. Instead, both the House and Senate bills look to cap at current levels the money the state is paying back to districts. House Speaker Steve Harshman said he was open to securing the auditorium at nearby Cheyenne East High for one or more nights in which educators and parents from across the state can comment on the bill. Rep. John Freeman, D-Green River, believes that the Legislature should take a day off, mid-session, to listen to the publics comments. Harshman said there is some flexibility in the legislative calendar to do that. Whether this makes it to the finish line or not, its a long ways, he said. CHEYENNE A handful of lawmakers are sponsoring a constitutional amendment bill that anticipates that cuts to education may spark a lawsuit legislation that a teachers group warns would make it nearly impossible to sue the Wyoming Legislature over education funding. Sen. Curt Meier, a LaGrange Republican who is sponsoring Senate Joint Resolution 6, said he is working with the Wyoming Attorney Generals office to perfect the bill. He said the point of the measure is to provide instructions for the courts on how to approach education funding lawsuits. Currently, Meier said, its ambiguous as to the questions the courts should ask when tackling complicated education funding litigation. The need for the bill is to make clear what the standards are in future for educational finance litigation, he said. The constitutional amendment bill comes as state lawmakers are discussing how to fill an education funding deficit thats expected to reach $1.8 billion by 2022. Lawmakers have floated a number of proposals to fill the gap, from increasing class sizes to cutting transportation and special education. SJ6 would require the courts to protect equality among school districts, as guaranteed in the Constitution, by using a standard of review known as strict scrutiny, said Meier. Thats a very, very high standard of review for equal protection, basically meaning you have to do everything to protect equality to ensure there is no disparity between education in rich and poor districts, Meier said. After a series of lawsuits, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Wyoming education must be equitable and adequate from Cody to Cheyenne including in school buildings, special education and nearly every other piece of learning. Meier said the bill includes a second requirement for the courts to consider: that when deciding whether education funding is adequate, the judicial branch must determine whether the changes to school finance were rational and not arbitrary or capricious. For SJ6 to end up on the ballot in 2018, it must receive support from two-thirds of each the Wyoming Senate and House. The Star-Tribune relayed a message to an education expert at the Wyoming attorney generals office, seeking comment about the issues SJ6 present in the bills current form. The message was not returned. Kathy Vetter, president of the Wyoming Education Association, noted that education is considered a fundamental right in the Wyoming Constitution. Shes worried the constitutional amendment would dilute that right. This would make anything the Legislature passes OK, she said. Sen. Chris Rothfuss, a Democrat from Laramie, also isnt interested in amending the Constitution even if the bill is made stronger. I still dont believe we should be amending the Constitution as a means to solve our revenue shortfall, he said. We have a really good model; its been proven to be successful. We should try to stick to it and identify new revenue streams both internal and through additional taxation to address our shortfall before we mess with the Constitution. More meat from the Cowboy State would land on cafeteria menus across the state under a bill filed Monday. The bill, SF123, would establish the School Protein Enhancement Pilot Project, under which the state Department of Education could give money to school districts to increase "the quantity of Wyoming poultry, lamb, pork, beef or bison used in school lunches." School districts can apply for aid from the state, and the bill calls for $25,000 to be appropriated to the state Department of Education. The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Brian Boner, Ogden Driskill, and Larry Hicks and Republican Reps. Hans Hunt, Tyler Lindholm and Albert Sommers. WASHINGTON The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has postponed a meeting that had been scheduled for Tuesday to vote on the nominations of Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke and Rick Perry to head the departments of Interior and Energy. No reason was given for the delay, although the Senate has a shortened work-week because of a Republican retreat in Philadelphia later this week. Only three of President Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees have been confirmed so far, although secretary of state-designate Rex Tillerson has been approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. No mention of the postponement of a vote appeared on the committee's website. There have been no particular controversies through the pair's hearings so far, although Perry did retract his campaign statement saying that he wanted to abolish the Energy Department. CHEYENNE A state legislative committee advanced a pair of bills Tuesday that would permit people to pack heat on college campuses, at state and local government meetings and at the Wyoming Legislature. After a two-hour morning meeting, the House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 136, which would allow people to carry firearms on Wyoming college campuses if they had a concealed carry permit. Four hours later, the committee met again and approved HB137, which allows guns at government meetings and the Legislature although there are questions about how the bill will affect local boards of education that meet in schools at times when there are children and sporting events occurring. The bills now head to the Wyoming House floor, where they must pass a series of three votes before proceeding to the Senate. Campus carry Supporters of HB136 successfully argued the measure would be an antidote to concerns about shootings on campuses. The purpose of the bill is to restore fundamental and natural rights to self-defense, said sponsor Rep. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester. Parents said they would feel safer if they knew there were people with guns to protect their children. I would like to know there could be good guys with guns to combat bad guys with guns, said Michelle Sabrosky, a Bar Nunn parent of a Casper College student and membership coordinator with Wyoming Gun Owners. Sheridan parent Jan Loftus said that the campuses across the country that have experienced shootings were gun-free zones. Criminals target areas, as we all know, that are not allowed to have guns, she said. Another bill sponsor, Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, called the measure the gold standard of school safety since conceal carry permit holders take seriously their responsibility of having a gun. A former director of Wyoming Gun Owners, Bouchard described the bill as a compromise. In a perfect world we wouldnt (require) a permit to carry on campus, he said. But officials from colleges across the state argued the bill stripped away local control, the ability for school boards of trustees to make decisions about who can carry weapons. Chris Boswell, a University of Wyoming vice president, said that there is a K-8 lab school in the middle of campus and an early education center for younger children. UW officials worry about insurance and certification if guns were allowed on campus. He said UW is working on suicide prevention on campus. Guns make suicide easier and would stymie the schools efforts. Laramie County Community College President Joe Schaffer asked lawmakers on the committee many of whom are bill co-sponsors whether HB136 is their way of trying to improve campus security with an overly simplistic fix. We need to have a broader conversation before we make changes on the assumption that this is going to improve campus safety, he said. Govt. meetings, Legislature Rep. Mark Baker, a sponsor of both gun bills, recalled a sudden loud bang two years ago in the Wyoming Capitol. The Rock Springs Republican was a member of the Judiciary Committee back then, too. The group was in a committee room, discussing legislation that involved law enforcement. Seconds after the bang, police ran from the room to the source of the sound. They thought it was a gunshot, Baker said. I never felt more vulnerable at any point in my legislative career, he said. It turned out to be someone moving chairs. The sound echoed off the rotunda. But Baker said it reinforced his belief that guns should be allowed at the Legislature. Gun supporters argued many of the same points with HB137 as they did with the campus carry bill that gunmen who intend to do harm arent stopped by laws prohibiting firearms. People would be safer if they could protect themselves. Rep. Charles Pelkey, D-Laramie, was also present during the incident. He, too, remains a member of the Judiciary Committee, but he voted against the bills, saying more harm than good would be accomplished. The states cities and towns want the public to attend government meetings, said Rick Kaysen, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Municipalities, which opposes the bill. What is the need to bring a weapon? he asked. Weapons are currently prohibited from K-12 schools in Wyoming statute. But boards of education often meet in schools, said Brian Farmer, of the Wyoming School Boards Association. The organization opposes the bill because its not clear whether HB137 would trump the ban on weapons in schools. Our position has always been it ought to be a local control issue, Farmer said. Next steps HB136, the campus guns bill, passed the committee 6 to 3. Reps. Biteman, Baker, Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, Tim Salazar, R-Dubois, Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, and Nathan Winters voted in favor of the bill. Reps. Pelkey, Dan Kirkbride, R-Chugwater, and Bill Pownall, R-Gillette, opposed it. CHEYENNE Wyoming's unemployment rate fell slightly to 4.8 percent in December. The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services says the rate is down from November's 4.9 percent. From November to December, unemployment rates followed their normal seasonal pattern and increased in nearly every county. As colder weather sets in, employment often falls in construction and other sectors. The largest jobless rate increases occurred in Johnson, Crook and Sheridan counties. Teton County's unemployment rate fell thanks to the start of the ski season. Natrona County's 6.6 percent jobless rate was the highest rate in December, followed by Fremont's 6.4 percent, Campbell's 6 percent and Sublette's 5.8 percent. The lowest unemployment rates were in Niobrara and Albany, both at 2.8 percent, and Goshen, at 3 percent. Payroll systems giant ADP is adding 250 positions to its Tucson workforce at Williams Centre, eventually boosting the number of employees at its local sales office to 400. The company renovated a two-story building at 5451 East Williams Blvd., providing nearly 50,000 square feet of space to accommodate the expansion. Chad Northheimer, ADP vice president of sales and the Tucson site's leader, said the company has been hiring since last year and is up to about 190 employees. The company is hiring inside sales managers who will make about $55,000 to $60,000 a year plus benefits, Northheimer said. A four-year degree is required. "We're not a call center, we're a full-blown sales office," he said. Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild and Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, joined company executives and associates during a ribbon-cutting celebration at the Williams Centre site on Tuesday. ADP also is in the process of an expansion of a customer-service center in Tempe that will add 1,500 new jobs there. Founded in 1949, New Jersey-based ADP is a global provider of payroll and related human-resources management software and services. The Tucson International Airport had a great year in 2016, but is starting 2017 with concerns over keeping its prized new nonstop flights to New York. The passenger count at Tucson International Airport rose 3.4 percent in 2016, to 3.3. million, the biggest uptick since 2007. The airport also marked the opening of a new air-traffic control tower, debuted nonstop flights to John F. Kennedy International Airport and renewed air service to Mexico in October. But filling seats on American Airlines nonstop service to New York so the airline will keep flying the route has proven to be challenging. American was behind forecast flight revenues by about $400,000 in December, and if the shortfall continues the airline could be eligible to collect more than $1 million from a revenue-guarantee fund set up by the Tucson Chamber of Commerce to encourage airlines to start new service, said Tucson Airport Authority board member Bill Assenmacher. A revenue shortfall also could prompt American to suspend the JFK nonstop over the summer and turn it into a seasonal flight something local officials want to avoid, Assenmacher said. Tucson Airport Authority President and CEO Bonnie Allin said the airport does not have all the key data, but Americans nonstop New York flights were full over the Christmas holidays despite American temporarily shifting the flights to a red-eye schedule. Allin said the airport, the Tucson Chamber and Visit Tucson have marketed the flight very aggressively, but more needs to be done to keep the flights going. She noted that the Chamber is consulting with a local marketing agency on a stronger promotional push. We want to fill those seats so they will add more flights, she said during the Airport Authoritys annual meeting at the Arizona Inn. At a later TAA board meeting, Assenmacher said that American has indicated the JFK flights have performed below projections, and that demand during the first 10 days of January was weaker than expected. Compounding the problem, Assenmacher said, is that revenue per passenger is down on the Tucson-JFK route because American has faced stiff price competition from other carriers one-stop flights to New York, preventing it from collecting an expected premium on its five-hour, nonstop route. Price isnt the only factor working against Americans Tucson-New York nonstop flight. Board member Mike Hannley said that when he had to change a return flight recently, he bought a new ticket on Southwest Airlines, rather than pay a high flight-change fee to American. Assenmacher said its also tough to get travelers to switch loyalties from their regular airline, because they want to rack up or use frequent-flier miles. He said he still believes the JFK flight will be a success, but a stronger marketing effort is needed and local businesses need to use the flights and encourage their employees to fly them. At least one business has limited its reimbursements to employees who drive to and fly from Phoenix, and the University of Arizona is developing a policy to encourage its employees to fly from Tucson, Assenmacher added. Allin said its important to rally support for the New York nonstops, as well as Aeromars new four-day weekly service to Hermosillo and three other Mexican cities. Data on the performance of the Aeromar flights was not immediately available. The key is not to give up theres a lot on the line, Allin said. If this is not a success, then its going to be tougher to attract other flights. Tucson Airport Authority Chairman Tony Finley, who was elected to a second term on Monday, said 2016 was a banner year for TIA, citing the new nonstops, news that Raytheon will lease more airport land in a major expansion and progress on the airports renovation project, which will enter a major terminal reconstruction phase in March. Finley, chief financial officer of Long Cos. and Long Realty, said its up to the local community to keep the momentum on new flights going, urging authority members to champion the New York and Mexico flights. So far, the response to both flights has been extremely positive, Finley said. Lets get our friends to fly from Tucson instead of going up the road to Phoenix. The airport authority board added Rob Draper, principal and general manager of ORielly Motor Co. Two airport authority board members, David Goldstein and Steven Cole, stepped down as their terms expired. Whether they traveled for business or pleasure, almost 700 million passengers flew with U.S. carriers in 2015. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, in 2015, demand for air travel grew at the fastest rate in eight years, with passenger carriers reporting a combined operating profit of $24.1 billion up from $14.9 billion in 2014. The Big Four airlines Southwest, Delta, United and American Airlines control nearly 70 percent of the market, while low-cost carriers like Spirit and JetBlue are vying for marketshare and travelers' business. American Airlines is the latest large, passenger airline to offer more affordable flight fares, but passengers who purchase these tickets should pack a smaller bag or expect extra fees. With so many airlines, airports and flight paths to keep track of, the data experts at WanderBat, a travel research site powered by Graphiq, curated a list of 25 facts you should know about traveling by air in the U.S. For most calculations, they used the Bureau of Transportation Statistics' 2015 data the most recent full calendar year of data available. The facts are ordered on the number value of the answers to the flight questions the analysts asked themselves. From airports with the most flight delays and largest price hikes to airports you'll love to fly out of, WanderBat has got you covered. Compiled by Taylor Johnson | Additional reporting by Haley Sorensen WanderBat.com We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some Jan. 24 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages. PHOENIX State lawmakers are moving to keep medical marijuana dispensaries in rural areas of the state from moving to cities. On a 5-4 vote Monday, the House Committee on Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs approved legislation saying those who were the first to open marijuana stores following the 2010 voter approval of medical marijuana sales cannot move outside the areas where they first opened. Its not that Rep. Vince Leach, R-Tucson, the sponsor of HB 2029, particularly likes having dispensaries in the rural areas of his district, which extends into Pinal County. Leach pointed out that the 2010 law says anyone legally entitled to use medical marijuana must purchase it from a state-licensed and -regulated dispensary. But there is an exception for those who live more than 25 miles from such a shop: They can grow their own. As the owners of rural dispensaries seek more financially fertile sites in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, Leach told colleagues, that will leave large areas of the state where residents would be free to grow plants in their homes and yards, unregulated by the state. Leach said it already is happening. He said a dispensary that had been in Florence is now gone. Mondays vote came over the objections of Kevin DeMenna, who lobbies on behalf of the dispensary owners. He said changing the rules now and precluding his clients from taking advantage of better locations would amount to an unconstitutional taking of their property rights. That could land the issue in court, he said. The 2010 law allows people with a doctors recommendation and state-issued ID card to obtain up to 2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. The law also directed the state Department of Health Services to allow a certain number of dispensaries. If there was more than one applicant for any area there had to be a lottery; if not, the sole applicant got the right to sell marijuana in that area. With that distribution, virtually every area of the state was within 25 miles of a dispensary. State health officials estimated in 2014 that the dispensaries covered 98 percent of marijuana users. But the health departments rules also say that any dispensary in an area for three years is free to move anywhere else in the state, assuming the applicant gets the proper zoning, said department lobbyist Colby Bower. Thats whats happening now and what Leach is seeking to stop. If you take the dispensaries out of small towns such as San Manuel, Oracle, Florence, and you move them to where the population is, and the wealth base, youll see that theyll be moving into Scottsdale, Phoenix and the like, he said. Leach said he has no problem with larger communities having more dispensaries. If they want to accept as many as they want, that is up to them, he said. That is local control. His issue is the flip side. Well be turning rural Arizona into an open-grow because the dispensaries will be leaving, Leach said. He noted the law permits growing up to 12 plants. DeMenna told lawmakers the state cant change the rules now. He said some of the people who invested in rural dispensaries years ago did so with the understanding that they could sell their dispensary licenses after three years to someone who might want to make a go of it in an urban area. And while the dispensaries are technically nonprofit operations, DeMenna said they are worth money to those who own them and pay themselves a salary, with licenses recently selling for $2 million to $3 million. That argument was enough to convince Rep. Richard Andrade, D-Glendale. He said the dispensary owners are running a business and the state should not be imposing new restrictions. But the majority of the panel thought otherwise, setting the stage for a vote of the full House. Leach could have his hands full there. Because the medical marijuana law was approved by voters, lawmakers can make only changes that further the purpose of the original law. Even if Leach can meet that hurdle, amendments like this require a three-fourths vote of both houses. Rodrigo Guerrero and about 300 other volunteers understand that the Northwest YMCA is much more than a gym. Our mission is to build healthier communities, healthier families and develop youth. Basically we have a social responsibility along those avenues, so it is hard to put us in one category here at the YMCA, said Yevette Sykes, senior program director at the Northwest YMCA and coordinator of the Fourth Annual Teen and Awards Gala on Saturday. People view us as just a gym, but we are really a family center. Started as a benefit for the Teen Leadership Programs, the event has transformed into the annual campaign fundraiser and volunteer celebration for the Northwest YMCA, which serves more than 20,000 members annually at 7770 N. Shannon Road. This is embraced as the Northwest YMCA annual campaign fundraising event, and we present awards to people who have made a difference in the lives and the families of the Y, said Sykes. We have so many dedicated volunteers, and many of them have been with us since we opened 11 years ago. Gala honorees include YMCA Northwest Branch Volunteer of the Year Cris Jablonski; Board of Managers Excellence of the Year Award, Laura Corona; Staff Member of the Year Award, Pandora Larsen; Donor Impact of the Year, La Frontera; and Youth Excellence of the Year Award, Rodrigo Guerrero. Sykes said the gala retains an emphasis on youth involved in the YMCAs three teen leadership programs: Youth in Government, Y Leaders and Y Leaders in Training. Participants in these programs and the public are eligible for the Todays Youth ... Tomorrows Leaders program. Participants not only help to organize and stage the gala, but implement community service and leadership skills year-round through volunteerism at the Marana Food Bank, the UA Spring Fling, the Fourth Avenue Street Fair and other events. Among the young leaders is Guerrero, 16. A junior at Catalina Foothills High School, Guerrero has been active in programs such as Youth in Government, which promotes democracy and civic engagement for middle school and high school students through a model Legislature and model Congress. Participants can be eligible to attend a Conference on National Affairs with students from throughout the nation, which Guerrero has attended three times. Guerrero said the experience is invaluable in helping to demystify government. This is one great way to inform youth and others about how important civics is and help them to realize that government is not a daunting thing. We want to make people familiar with it so they can play an active role, especially since government dictates our lives to a certain extent, Guerrero said. His experiences at the YMCA have helped to catapult him into activism in the community as well: Guerrero is an intern with Ward 5 Councilman Richard Fimbres; he served as lead intern with U.S. Rep. Tom OHalleran during the last election; he has volunteered with U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva and he is a member of the American Patriot Memorial Foundation, which was started by Thomas Boyle to increase economic prosperity and aid veterans. I have been able to see what it is like to work on the government side to assist constituents with cases and to work on the political side to promote different measures that can impact yourself and constituents. I think that campaigning is fun and exciting and nitty-gritty, and we need to change the negative rhetoric. The only way to do that is to get involved yourself, Guerrero said. In the future, Guerrero would love the opportunity to attend American University or George Mason University in Washington, D.C., and to intern on Capitol Hill. As a fourth-generation Tucsonan, he is also dedicated to his roots and wants to continue to serve the Southern Arizona community. Tucson is an interesting and special place because of the diversity. The southern border of the U.S. is 67 miles away, and we have such diverse groups of individuals within the city and suburbs. The city of Tucson is a growing metropolis with many different businesses, and there is an exciting revitalization of downtown with a real diversity not just of race but of thought and opinion, he said. Diversity is also a hallmark of the YMCA, which serves people of all cultures, religions and socioeconomic groups, according to Sykes. She said proceeds from the upcoming benefit will help to retain that diversity by providing scholarships for YMCA memberships and programs to about 6,000 individuals. These programs include summer camps, swimming classes, gym memberships and youth and family programs. We give out more than we raise and last year we gave out $124,000 in financial assistance, Sykes said. The United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona is offering free assistance with tax preparations through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The services are available to individual and families earning up to $64,000. IRS certified VITA volunteers will help taxpayers access all tax credits they are eligible for, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit. VITA services are available at several sites around Tucson and some are open starting this week. Help India! By Atul Anand and Amit Kumar, Twocircles.net In an important turn of events in JNU, the Vice Chancellor Jagdeesh Kumar has confirmed to the protesting students that there will be no fees hike for SC, ST and OBC students in the upcoming academic year. Support TwoCircles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72Yv-IrkV6Y&app=desktop However, Dileep Yadav, one of the nine students suspended last month by the JNU administration, was forcibly taken away in an ambulance by the Delhi police after sitting on a hunger strike for the past three days. On Monday, the suspended students met the VC, and put forward a set of demands. The demands include: 1. Implementing the Nafey Committee recommendations or reduction the viva-voce number from 30 to 10. 2. Implementing minority deprivation points. 3. Roll back fee Hike The VC in his reply said that the students must raise points which are objectionable in the UGC gazette and that he would raise the same in his meeting with the Commission on Tuesday. Yadav, a member of the United OBC forum, had been suspended along with eight other students from marginalised backgrounds for disrupting an academic council meeting. Apart from the hike in fees, the students were also demanding a reduction in interview marks and weightage be given to entrance tests in the admission process for MPhil and PhD programmes. In December, the Universitys Executive Council (EC) approved the adoption of the May 2016 UGC gazette notification, which makes interview the sole criterion in MPhil and PhD admissions. Although these demands were passed in the Academic Council meeting, a number of faculties have also denied and criticised such a move. On January 20, Yadav pitched a tent outside the Administrative Block, and had been on a hunger strike. According to eyewitnesses, Delhi police officers in plain clothes with the help of G4S security picked up Yadav even though he refused to go with them. Help India! By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net Independent MLA from Langate, Engineer Rasheed, left the J&K government in a tight spot after producing the birth certificate of a juvenile, Sahil Ahmed Malik, who is presently under the notorious Public Safety Act in Kot Bhalwal jail, Jammu. Support TwoCircles On Saturday, January 21, the Parliamentary affairs minister of J&K Abdul Rahman Veeri had said that the age of juvenile was ascertained by the District Magistrate, Srinagar. As per that report, his age is 20 to 22 years, the minister had informed the members when Er. Rasheed had raised the issue in the legislative assembly. Rasheed had refused the government report and had asked for considering school records to seek his release. But the speaker suspended him for two days which was later revoked. Ten days ago I went to Kot Bhalwal jail, where people from my constituency had informed me about a boy lodged under PSA, who kept crying. I met him and felt that he was just a 12-15-year old child, Er. Rasheed told TwoCircles.net. Following the case, MLA Rasheed on Monday produced the birth certificate of juvenile in the house issued by the Government Middle School which reads that the boy Sahil Ahmad Malik son of Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik is a resident of Pamposh Colony and is aged 13. I asked his parents to get birth certificate from school. It clearly states that he will be 14 this March, he said. Er. Rasheed also alleged the authorities of wrongly mentioning the name of juvenile in the FIR dossiers so that they can create confusion in the case at later stage. Rasheed took this opportunity to point out the lack of juvenile rights in Kashmir. Dozens of children are languishing in jails and I have been fighting for their rights from day one and I will continue fighting till my last breath. In October, 2016 after taking note of crackdown on protesters in Kashmir during the summer unrest, three global watchdogsAmnesty International India, Human Rights Watch and International Commission of Juristshad issued a joint statement in which they asked the state and central government to stop the wrongful detention of protesters in the state, particularly the children. The use of the PSA to detain people, particularly children, violates a range of human rights, and its increasing use in recent weeks undermines the rule of law and further entrenches impunity in Kashmir, Sam Zarifi, ICJ Asia Director had then said. On September 1, 2016, Rayees Ahmad Mir, who was 16 years old according to his school records, was arrested in Baramulla district under ordinary criminal procedure for allegedly throwing stones at security forces. Two days later, an executive official passed an order to detain him under the PSA, to preclude his release on bail. The order incorrectly stated that he was 18 years old. Rayees Mirs family challenged the order before the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, producing documents that proved he was only 16. The annual report of separatist faction Hurriyat (M), headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq had also brought out the darker side of the Juvenile rights in state of Jammu and Kashmir. By Rajan Pandey, Twocircles.net Armed with a press card and a laptop, I started from Delhi on a motorcycle around ten days ago to understand the mood and political situation of my state during UP elections 2017. Though a bit tiring, a two wheeler gives one greater access to rural areas, the nerve centres of politics in the Hindi heartland. What I write in this article are my observations of this journey, which I intend to continue till the polling day of seventh phase, covering the whole state on the bike. Support TwoCircles Chaupal Charcha around PM Modi: Fading Magic The advantage of doing political coverage during winters is the ease with which one could find groups of respondents sitting around alaos in mornings and evenings, or enjoying the dhup during daytime. On the Jewar seat of Gautam Budh Nagar district, I find a group of Muslim respondents in Dankaur town. Where is the vote going this time, I ask them. BSP is good for our region and Behenji works for development of our district, as she is also from here, so we will vote Behenji, they reply. Why not Akhilesh? See, Akhilesh is all good, they say, but here the contest is between BJP and BSP, so we will vote for BSP, as we dont want BJP. While some Muslim respondents in the same seat assert they will prefer the SP, it is a group of Gurjar youth on the Dadri seat that gives a very peculiar response. They say that they voted for BJP in the Lok Sabha elections despite being opposed to BJP candidate Mahesh Sharma, but this time they will vote for BSPs Satveer Gurjar if BJP does not give ticket to their preferred candidate. Why, has the Modi magic faded, I ask? Vo to abhi bhi hai, par tab Modiji ko PM banna tha, is chunav main aisa nahin hai (it is still there, but in 2014 Modiji was going to be the PM, and its not the case in this election), they reply. A number of Jat, Gurjar and Saini-Kashyap respondents assert that PM Modis magic is still intact, as I travel across Ghaziabad, Hapur, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur. We will vote for BJP, only because of Modi, says 45 year old Nanhu Ram Prajapati in Gandhinagar, Nakud assembly seat of Saharanpur district, which falls in the foothills of Shivalik range. The wheat crop has grown a foot taller creating a green carpet in the vast expanses of fields, with the contrast of the grey of leafless, Poplar trees that stand around the fields. He is the greatest PM that the country has ever got, says a group of Jats in Muzaffarnagar, while Thakur respondents in Mathura assert that notebandi has been a great step. But most of the respondents are angry with notebandi and while Dalits-Muslims are the most vocal, even upper-caste voters express their displeasure on it. BJP said ek bar Modi ko bhi dekh lo, so we gave him a try, but no more mistakes now, and we will vote for BSP this time, says a group of Dalit voters sitting around an alao in Pilona village of Barauli assembly segment in Aligarh. A person approaches the group and tries to reason about the good work of Modiji, including demonetisation, which has destroyed the black money hoarders. But the Dalit respondents are not convinced- kiska paisa pakda gaya batao, they ask. The BJP sympathiser tries to take refuse in religion- the Hindus must unite as Muslims have always remained united. Hindus end up supporting the Muslims but a Muslim will never do so, he reasons. Why, isnt Akhilesh a Hindu, and arent Muslims supporting him? the Dalits reason back. The wit and quickness of response is far too obvious to miss. Clearly, BJPs campaign is facing a tough time on the trial of chaupals in villages, while the 2014 wave and magic of Modijis seems to be fading, or at best getting weak. The Silent Victims of Notebandi While some sections of the electorate are vocally opposing the demonetisation, the hardest hit section is the business class. Perceived as traditional BJP vote banks, the Baniyas are still maintaining a silence on the issue. They are silent, but their dissatisfaction is simmering, says Rajendra Bharadwaj, a journalist from Bulandshahr. A senior BJP leader in Mathura agrees that the Vaishya voters are angry, and may favour the BSP as its track record on law and order is also pro-market. But still we hope that they may not vote against BJP, and at worst remain inactive during elections, he says, on condition of anonymity. The signs of the Baniya voters losing enthusiasm for a BJP victory are visible here and there. We have been BJP voters since I started voting, but this time I will go to Krishna Janmbhumi a day before polling, says 35 year old Sunil Varshney in Atrauli seat of Aligarh. If the Baniya votes changes sides, then BJP will come down on all four, while the biggest gainer in this scenario would be BSP, which is favoured by the business class for keeping the crime in control. Aise to BJP jitni chahiye, par baspa bhi thik hi hai, said a group of Vaishya shopkeepers in Saharanpur. Still, the Vaishya voters are considered so close to BJP, that as of now it seems very farfetched that they will go against the party, no matter how angry they are. Akhilesh Yadav has earned Goodwill After finishing the days work in Agra, I move around to hunt for dinner, and end up near a roadside stall in the Cant. area which is selling Indianised version of Pasta and Chinese food. I eat to my hearts content for just forty rupees and spot a Sheroes Cafe while searching for tea. Run completely by acid attack victims, Sheroes Cafes are library-cafe-snack joints all rolled in one. I enter the cafe, the girls are busy in talking with some local youths working for other NGOs, discussing a joint program. Still, I am immediately attended, and my order for the tea quickly delivered. The girls radiate confidence as they do the cafe work, and the tea is far better than my expectations. As they resume their discussion, which often breaks into laughter, I try to imagine how hard it would be to lay faith in humanity again, after someone disfigures ones face completely and permanently by throwing corrosive acid. A chemical which melts skin, eyes, lips all and leaves ones body and soul scarred, for life. I think their laughter is the most valuable thing around, which should never stop. Suddenly one of the youths asks- arey, tumahara Akhilesh Bhaiyya jitega kya is bar (will your Akhilesh bhaiyya win this time)? Jit jaye to achcha hi hai (its good if he wins), says one of the girls. Suddenly I remember that Sheroes Cafes got a generous grant from the Akhilesh Yadav government, which made them possible to function, an action that has certainly won the hearts of these girls. I try to think- what could be a politicians biggest achievement, his biggest take away. Development, progress, peace, all is fine, but goodwill is certainly the biggest one. Clearly, Akhilesh Yadav has generated good will in the hearts of many people, and that certainly is his biggest achievement. Parliament must be allowed to vote on whether the Government can begin the Brexit process, the Supreme Court has ruled. The judgement on the government's fast-tracked appeal means Theresa May will not be able to commence talks with the European Union until MPs and peers give their backing. However, this is likely to occur in time for the government's March 31 deadline, as ministers are set to introduce emergency legislation into Parliament to authorise the UK's departure from the EU. Brexit Secretary David Davis promised a parliamentary bill "within days". The Supreme Court ruled that there was no need for the government to wait for consent from the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. What was the case about? During the Supreme Court hearing, it was argued that denying Parliament a vote was undemocratic and breached the UK's long-standing constitutional principles. Campaigners said that triggering article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty would mean overturning UK law, so MPs and peers should be given the right to decide. However, the government argued that it could act without consulting Parliament - citing its Royal Prerogative (powers handed by the Crown to the government). It also pointed out that MPs had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the calling of June's Brexit referendum, putting this issue in the hands of the British public. What was the court's view? The Supreme Court, by a majority of eight to three, ruled that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of Parliament authorising it to do so. The court's president, Lord Neuberger, said: "When the UK withdraws from the EU treaties , a source of UK law will be cut off. Further, certain rights enjoyed by UK citizens will be changed. "Therefore, the government cannot trigger article 50 without parliament authorising that course.. The court also rejected, unanimously, arguments that the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly should get to vote on Article 50 before it is triggered. Their overwhelming consensus was that relations with the EU were a matter for the UK government. How has the government reacted? Mr Davis told MPs he was "determined" Brexit would go ahead as voted for in June's referendum. He said: "It's not about whether the UK should leave the European Union. That decision has already been made by people in the United Kingdom." "There can be no turning back. The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year." The eight-to-three margin of defeat suffered by the government was bigger than ministers had hoped for, although they had already conceded they were likely to lose. In Mays favour, there is not a large appetite in either the House of Commons or the Lords to actively block the process. The Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats will probably vote against the bill if their amendments are not passed, and some Labour rebels are likely to join them. But Labour will not wish to appear to be trying to prevent the referendum result being honoured. Donald Trump started his first term as President of the United States on the defensive after millions of protesters took to the streets on the weekend of his inauguration. Demonstrations occurred in London, New York, Berlin and Hong Kong. Largest demonstrations in over 50 years Angered by the largest demonstrations in the U.S. since the 1960s when anti-Vietnam protesters took to the streets, Trump and his cabinet spent the weekend inflating the number of people in attendance at his inauguration. Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, declared that the media had 'deliberately reported inaccurate attendance figures,' stating that 'we're going to hold the press accountable for their mis-reporting of figures'. Further, Spicer claimed: 'On Friday, we witnessed the largest audience at a presidential inauguration in history. We will not stand for the media's continued attempts to dampen the enthusiasm for President Trump'. 'Alternative facts' In an interview with NBC, Kellyanne Conway claimed that Sean Spicer had stated 'alternative facts'-a comment that has sparked a meme on Twitter and Reddit. 'You're saying that our figures are wrong, we gave alternative facts to your figures. I don't think that there is a way to quantify large crowd numbers'. The Washington Transport Service reported that over one million trips were made on Saturday-the day of the Women's March- but only 520,000 trips were made on Friday-the day of Trump's inauguration. Conway's comments came during the Women's March. Trump faces a lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, who alleges that the President assaulted her during filming of 'The Apprentice'. Admittedly, the attendance for Trump's inauguration is a trivial matter. However, Trump and his team's willingness to distort reality mere hours into his term sets a concerning precedent. 'If Trump is butting heads with the media over something as minor as crowd size, just wait until the media pick over employment figures, healthcare issues, the economy and budgets,' Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said. Last week, Trump labelled an unverified dossier of leaked to the media as "Fake News". Already, Trump is under fire. A petition containing over 200,000 signatures is demanding that Trump declares his personal tax return. Trump didn't release his tax declaration throughout the election campaign, a decision that goes against convention. Conway closed her interview with NBC by stating that 'Trump will not be releasing his tax returns'. President Donald Trump bragged to the media about a "beautiful Letter" which had been left in the Oval Office by departing President Barack Obama. However, the new President of the United States has refused to release details of the letter. In front of media, Trump said: 'I just went to the Oval Office and found this beautiful letter from Barack Obama'. Keeping it private After the swearing in ceremony for Trump's senior staff members, the President brandished the letter addressed to Mr President. 'It is really great that President Obama left me this letter. I will cherish it and I wont ever tell the media about the contents of the letter,' Trump exclaimed. Historically, the departing president has left a personalised letter to the incoming president. On Friday, George W Bush's letter addressed to Barack Obama was published in the National Archives. 'Congratulations on becoming our new President. Few people in the world have had the honour of knowing how you feel at this very moment. Few have faced the excitement of the challenges that are ahead. You have started an amazing chapter in your life,' Bush told Obama. Trump, after putting the letter firmly away in his breast pocket, stated: 'We will tell the media that we have had a very interesting couple of days. We have arranged a meeting with the Prime Minster of the United Kingdom, Theresa May. She will be flying out to Washington DC late next week to discuss issues of trade and terrorism. Furthermore, we have arranged meetings with the presidents of Canada and Mexico-those will occur after we have met Theresa May'. A peaceful passover of power During Trump's election campaign, he vehemently criticised a number of policies introduced by President Obama and was major proponent of the conspiracy theory that stated Obama was not born in the United States-a legal requirement of all presidents of the United States. Despite these erroneous claims, Obama proved incredibly welcoming of the incoming President as power was handed over peacefully. Between suits brought against him and the trump Organization and, his suits against anyone who annoyed him (comedian Bill Maher was essentially sued for a joke) businessman Trump was no stranger to legal action and now President Trump is facing his first suit in office to add to the 75 plus ongoing suits. Who is suing? A group of lawyers forming the Citizens for Responsibility and ethics in Washington, or CREW are moving today to bring the action which contends that the instant President Trump was sworn in he was already in violation of part of The Constitution by accepting money from foreign governments. That violates Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution (a.k.a. the Emoluments Clause) because of his foreign holdings and even in Trump Tower in Manhattan which has tenants including offices of foreign governments. There was nothing wrong with that when he was a private citizen but the contention is that now he is in violation because he gets money for leasing property. CREW is not a partisan left or Democratic organization having been co-founded by Richard Painter, the chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush and President Obamas ethics advisor Norman Eisen. The concern is that The President will be negotiating with people who are giving him money. This is further complicated by his refusal to release any tax returns which was the new policy announced by Kelleyanne Conway on Sunday. President Trump called the suit "baseless." What the heck is an emolument? In plain English, an emolument is simply a payment other than actual salary. If you are a food server and get a tip thats an emolument. If you get a company car thats an emolument and so forth. The Emolument Clause states "no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust ... shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State." In human speak that means that monies going to the Trump Organization from > Leases held by foreign-government-owned entities in Trump Tower in New York > Bookings at Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office in Washington, DC > And even Payments from foreign-government-owned broadcasters related to "The Apprentice," put The President in violation of The Constitution. What is standing? One of the elements which must be met before a civil suit can proceed is that the person or group suing must demonstrate to a judge that they are being directly harmed in some way by the subject of the suit. In this instance, a spokesperson for the group said that the work of their good government organization is being significantly impacted by the amount of work they must put in on President Trumps alleged violation of the Emolument Clause. In an ironic twist President Trumps nominee for head of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), Scott Pruitt will if confirmed, be in the position of heading a government agency which he was suing. In other words he will be in charge of defending against his own lawsuit. The action wasnt personal it was brought by a number of states including Oklahoma when Mr. Pruitt was serving as the state Attorney General. Mr Pruitt is aware of the problem and has had discussions with the EPAs ethics head. Criminal cases In addition to the civil suit, the Trump University action claims criminal fraud on the part of now President Trump. Trump University wasnt actually a university, or even a college, it is alleged that it was little more than a scam perpetrated on thousands of individuals who thought they were going to get an advanced education on real estate investing and development but which they allegedly discovered has little or no benefit. Meanwhile the FBI is currently investigating reported contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials including a call to the Russian ambassador which coincided with President Obamas newly imposed sanctions. Donald Trump has appointed Sean Spicer as the White House Press Secretary and communications director, the Sun newspaper reports. But the role will effectively be Trump' spin doctor. The questions to ask are, who is he, what is a spin doctor and what does the role entail? Who is Sean Spicer? First of all, a bit of background information. Spicer was born on September 23rd, 1971, in Barrington, Rhode Island, USA. His first job in politics was working for Republican Congressman for the state of New Jersey Mike Pappas in the late 1990s. He eventually became the Communications Director and spokesman for the House Budget Committee and then the Communications Director for the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives. From 2006 to 2009 Spicer was the assistant US Trade Representative for President George W. Bush. The role of spin doctor Spicer in his new role has been described as being Trump's spin doctor, but what is that exactly? The definition of a spin doctor according to the English Oxford dictionary is someone employed "to give a favourable interpretation of events to the media, especially on behalf of a political party". In trying to find more about the role of a spin doctor, it is important to examine those in the past who have taken up such a position. A prime example is that of Alistair Campbell, who served as Tony Blair's spin doctor after he was elected in 1997. The BBC reported that for Blair, a big part of his handling of the media was using 'spin'. New Labour was described as being the most "media-obsessed government" that Britain had had in modern times. And a key part of that obsession was the role played by Campbell himself. The BBC noted that from the start, there seemed to be a tendency to "brownbeat and cajole journalists", and to "fight for every comma and exclamation mark in every headline, quote and piece of analysis". Further on from this was the tendency to tell different newspaper and proprietors "what they wanted to hear". With Rupert Murdoch Tony Blair seemed robustly anti-euro and othertimes a "keen" libertarian. It was clear that the role of spin was crucial to the Labour party in ensuring positivity in the media towards them. Already started And that, in sorts, is the role that Sean Spicer has to fill. And, although very early on, he has already begun to fill the role. As the website Newsonahand stated, Spicer has already sold himself as being in "open battle" with a lot of the mainstream media, pledging to "maintain the press accountable". It does seem that Spicer will have a big role to play in Trump's presidency, especially in ensuring that positivity trumps (excuse the pun) negativity with regards to the new administration. The decision of the Supreme Court that Brexit must not be initiated without Parliament's approval has led to fears it could take the Government two years to start the process of leaving the European Union. Geoffrey Robertson QC, a leading constitutional lawyer, said the court's ruling was a momentous reaffirmation of the sovereignty of Parliament. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she expects to trigger Article 50 - the formal procedure for leaving the EU under the Lisbon Treaty - by the end of March. However, Mr Robertson said that the necessity to go through the complete parliamentary process - which would involve the House of Lords as well as the assent of the Queen - means that this may not be possible until 2019, just one year before the next general election. Triggering Article 50 would enter the UK into negotiations with the other EU states. This process is likely to take up to two years - after which the UK would leave the EU even if no agreement on trade, movement of people, etc, had been made. This means Brexit might not actually take place until after the next general election, which would then become a hugely significant campaign. 17.86 million new babies were born in Chinese hospitals last year, witnessing a new growth of 7.9 percent in birth rate, said an official from Chinas National Health and Family Planning. Second-child birth rate soars after the relaxation of Chinas one-child policy in 2013. More than 45 percent of the newborn babies were from families who had already have one child, with an increase of more than 10 percent compared to the figure before 2013, according to the latest statistics from National Health and Family Planning. Do Chinese people really want a second child? Although the easing of the one-child policy contributes to the significant growth in birth rate, it seems that Chinese couples are unwilling to have a second baby. 66.7 percent of people refused to raise a second baby regardless of preferential two-child policy, according to a survey from Chinas social media Sina Weibo in late 2015. At the same time, more than 82 percent of people believed that the new child policy might result in the dilemma of female employment. A poll conducted by National Health and Family Planning in 2015 shows that financial burden is the most important factor influencing the willing of raising two children. On top of that, Chinese families are also refraining from caring pressure and education cost. End of the one-child policy, End of female employment? China welcoming two-child policy has been widely discussed on social media in recent years. Nowadays even state-owned enterprises are unwilling to hire female employees. Women face more difficulties in finding a job after the easing of one-child policy, as the maternity leave encourages them to go back to families. said one Chinese social media user. Another social media user pointed out that the change of birth policy wont be able to solve the problem of aging population, Rather, it will set heavy barriers to the right of women. How one-child policy influenced China? The one-child policy has existed in China for three decades. However, it has also been a controversial issue in public discussion, especially after the law enacted to impose penalties for unapproved births. Those children who were born in secret had no chance to attend public school or take trains, as they lived without a residence permit. Meanwhile, the number of Chinese parents who lost the only child has increased to at least 1 million in 2016, according to the survey by China's Ministry of Health. Some of them have suffered life-long mental pain, but have no choice to raise another baby due to venerable age. Jon Stevenson was the secretary for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and has recently resigned. One of the concerns during his two years at the job was the Mosaic Sinkhole that opened up last year, the current picture for the news article seen here. While Mosaic is continuing to try and plug up the sinkhole, residents near the gypsum plant are suing for not being notified. Stevenson's resignation is effective Feb. 3 of this year. Inexperienced Stevenson was the replacement pick for secretary and has been the secretary for the DEP under Gov. Rick Scott. Hershel Vinyard Jr. was the other candidate for the job, but has no prior experience due to his background being a shipyard executive and working alongside ex-Sen. Thrasher as a law partner. Stevenson worked on a special council from 2011 to 2012, working with the legislative and policy issues of the DEP. Stevenson was acting deputy on things like water policy and ecosystem restoration. It was his experience in the position as acting deputy secretary that got him the job as secretary for the DEP. Somehow it seemed like a big mistake. Bad choices When Jon Stevenson became DEP secretary, he went back to some of his co-workers in the Northwest Florida Water Management District, where he worked previously for his cabinet picks. Gary Clark Jr. was Stevenson's pick for acting deputy secretary. Gary Clark Jr. had no prior experience as acting deputy or for any other state agency except running his quail hunting preserve in the Northwest portion of Florida. Last month, Stevenson replaced Donald Forgione with Public Service Commission member Lisa Edgar. The big focus for Jon Stevenson was secretary to the DEP, was the parks within the state. Currently the parks make about 80% of revenue for expenses. Stevenson wanted to bring other resources to the parks that could help them be self-sustaining. These include options such as timber harvesting and cattle grazing to name a couple. "This is the biggest threat to the park system that I have seen," said former DEP employee Jim Stevenson to the Tampa Bay Times. Later as Jon Stevenson worked his way through the duties of DEP secretary, he pushed for an increase use of benzene, a known cancer causing chemical to be put in rivers, streams and other sources of drinking water. This chemical caused concerns with the EPA and are reviewing the increase usage of the product that is commonly found as a waste product of fracking. The doses for the chemical exceeded the governmental standards found in water. The biggest issue was the sinkhole that opened up last year. 220 feet deep, 45 feet wide, it dumped 215 million gallons of radioactive water into the ground. Stevenson was notified, but did not notify Gov. Rick Scott. On Friday, police in Palm Beach arrested a banana-wielding federal employee after she broke into Donald Trump's private club and committed random and bizarre acts of vandalism. Kelly Weidman, 48, is facing misdemeanor trespassing charges after sneaking into the Mar-a-Lago club, smearing bananas on cars in the parking lot and typing obscenities on a club computer. According to Palm Beach County's Sun Sentinel, the Clearwater woman was arrested on Friday after Mar-a-Lago security called the police and reported that a female was illegally on the grounds and refused to leave. When Palm Beach police arrived shortly after 7:45 a.m. they discovered Kelly Weidman had walked onto the private property and smeared bananas on vehicles parked in the parking lot. Says she wanted to make a statement Weidman confessed to the bizarre behavior and admitted that she had entered the club illegally just hours before Trump took the oath of office, found a computer, and typed a vulgar anti-Trump message on the screen. She also confessed to moving balloons from inside the building to the bushes outside. When police asked her why she had gone onto the property, Weidman said that she wanted to make a statement about being "cyber attacked." but no one would listen to her. A security officer at Mar-a-Lago said that Weidman arrived at the club earlier in the day in a gray sedan but was turned away. She returned later on foot. Weidman was released by authorities after being charged with misdemeanor trespassing. She is scheduled for a court appearance on February 14. Vandal a federal employee According to the Sun Sentinel, the banana-wielding vandal is employed by the U.S. Postal Service. She has worked for the Postal Service as a clerk since 1999. Donald Trump purchased the 18-acre oceanfront property in 1985 and maintains a part-time residence there. Referred to as the "Winter White House" by some Trump insiders, the Mar-a-Lago club is expected to serve as the president's vacation getaway during his tenure in office. Heading into Election Day, all signs pointed to a historic win by Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. By the end of the night, Donald Trump was the new president-elect, but he was unable to win the popular vote in the process. Trump claims After putting his foot on the gas in the final weeks of the election, Donald Trump was able to pick up big electoral wins in key swing states. Walking out the winner in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, and Pennsylvania was enough to seal the deal and enable the former host of "The Apprentice" to take the next step in moving into the White House. Despite this, the popular vote count ended in Hillary Clinton's favor, with the former Secretary of State gaining nearly three million more total votes than the billionaire real estate mogul. In the months since the election, Trump has gone on to claim that "voter fraud" was what caused him to be denied the popular vote. This theory has been debunked, but Trump is sticking with his story, as reported by The Washington Post on January 23. Despite no evidence,Trump tells congressional leaders that millions of illegal ballots cost him the popular vote https://t.co/xcuWzsTmYI Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 24, 2017 On Monday afternoon, Donald Trump met with several leaders of Congress at the White House, and reportedly spent time dusting off his debunked voter fraud theory as his excuse for why he didn't win the popular vote. An anonymous aide close to the situation quoted the president, who told those at the meeting that between three million and five million "illegals" cast their vote for Clinton on Election Day. In addition to his conspiracy theory, Trump went on to say, "I do respect the electoral college." Trump wrongly tells congressional leaders that millions of "illegals" cost him the popular vote https://t.co/kfizc33Zdi pic.twitter.com/ZWKL3X6X4o Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 24, 2017 Myth-busters Despite Donald Trump and his supporters pushing the conspiracy that illegal immigrants voted against him, fact-checkers have repeatedly confirmed that there is no evidence to back up the allegations. The rift between the Trump team, made up of his supporters and administration, and his critics has reached a new level, where factual information is even turned away. Former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway used the term "alternative facts" over the weekend as a way to describe talking points and theories created by the new president, which was instantly met with push back. As Trump and his team continue their feud with the news media, it appears the next four years could get very interesting. In one of his first moves as President of the United States, Donald Trump signed an order formally withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade deal. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a twelve-country trade agreement among Pacific Rim countries, had been negotiated and promoted by former President Barack Obama but had been waiting on ratification by the US Senate. Trump fulfils campaign pledges on protectionism President Trump's signing of the executive order ending the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, fulfilled a history of promises then-candidate Trump made on the campaign trail. Trump campaigned on promise of economic protectionism, ending what he considers to be trade deals that are harming American workers, and renegotiating the global world order that has existed with the United States as the uni-polar global superpower since the end of the Cold War. Trump breaks with long-standing Republican orthodoxy on trade, as previous Republican presidents and most congressional Republican leaders are in favor of free trade and large trade deals. In addition to his executive action on the TPP, President Trump also made executive actions freezing hiring of federal government workers, and also re-instituted the 'Mexico City Policy.' This policy bans federal government spending toward international organizations that perform abortions and is typically instituted by Republican presidents upon entering office. The President's actions on the TPP drew sharp responses from other US elected officials in a way that blurred party lines. Fellow Republican and Arizona Senator John McCain criticized Trump's actions, whereas Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders welcomed the ending of the TPP. Trump may signal the end of international free trade President Trump had been a longtime critic of the TPP, a stance that is typically shared not by Republicans but by the American labor movement and those on the left in the Democratic Party. Many critics of the TPP usually object to measures in the agreement that lower tariffs and trade barriers, as well establishing investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Proponents of the TPP and other trade agreements state that free trade boosts standard of living, makes products cheaper for consumers, and is necessary to keep the United States economically competitive. However, opponents of the TPP argue that this and other international trade agreements lower wages for workers, can hurt certain national industries, and undermine national sovereignty by giving international corporations the right to override laws of individual countries. Now that the U.S. has left the TPP, many political observers believe Trump will next target NAFTA, a North-American trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Trump had harsh words for NAFTA on the campaign trail, and is planning to send representatives to discuss trade with Canadian officials next week. In a move that did not surprise so much for the decision taken, but for the speed of its execution, President #Donald Trump today signed an executive order that will make it easier for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines to proceed. The decision was expected as the subject had been addressed by him during the Presidential campaign won by him on November 8th last. Before today the two pipelines were the subject of orders by ex President Barak Obama, effectively blocking their construction, but todays order have now eased these restrictions. Pipeline of discordance While the decision will undoubtedly be widely applauded by big business, the executive order will inevitably be the cause of even more open dissention against the newly installed President who began his term only last Friday and which was followed by a heavily attended national Womens Protest the following day. The two pipeline projects have been the subject of much controversy and were opposed by environmentalists and the Indian tribes whose lands were directly affected. The fears were not only regarding the direct environmental consequences to the Indian tribal lands and the other territories to be crossed, but also because many environmentalists believe that government and big business should concentrate on alternative and Renewable Energy sources rather than continuing dependency on oil for the future. On December 4th environmentalists had been heartened by President Obamas decision to block the Dakota Access line, yet few doubted that the incoming President would eventually address the issue. In the end the development came on the fourth full day of his Presidency. New jobs for Americans The principal reason given by President Trump for the decision was of course the creation of new jobs and that the resumption of the pipelines would be a message that he would remove any legislative obstruction to big business. At the same time, the Presidents promise that the pipelines would be made with American steel raised questions about the process which would allow work to formally proceed. Naturally the executive order will send a strong message to the international community leading up to the International Conference in Climate Change to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on February 16th and 17th next. With the stroke of a pen Donald Trump today set the stage for a very different international conference than was expected only last night. Until this morning the United States government had supported Climate Change targets, but this has now surely changed. Appropriately one of the few western countries to oppose these targets was Canada which is now the direct beneficiary of todays decision. In addition, other western governments which harbor such doubts, such as the Liberal/National Party Coalition in Australia, will see their doubts about climate change reinforced. Four busy days The first four days of the new Administration have now seen the beginning of the repealing of the Affordable Care Act, known also as Obamacare, the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and yesterdays Anti-Abortion Executive order. Today the world also saw Israel announce plans for 2,500 new Jewish settler homes on the West Bank which are undoubtedly the result of President Trumps open support for such a move. As the opposition organizes its reaction to todays Executive orders, the United States and the world are now waiting to see what will be the next decision by President Donald Trump. In the days since Inauguration Day, Donald Trump and his transition team have continued their feud with the mainstream media. During his first official press conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had some strong words for the news media, which didn't go over well on Twitter. Spicer trolled When Donald Trump was sworn into office last Friday, close to 200,000 people were there to witness the new president take the oath of office. The projected crowd size was not a number that the administration was happy about, which prompted Trump and his team to accuse the media of deflating the attendance to undermine his inauguration. Sean Spicer addressed members of the press over the weekend and repeated the Trump talking point. In addition, Presidential Counsel Kellyanne Conway spoke to "Meet the Press" host Chuck Today, and backed up Spicer's comments as "alternative facts." When Spicer held his press conference on Monday, social media was quick to fire back, as seen on various Twitter feeds on January 23. .@PressSec Sean Spicer says the default narrative about Trump is "always negative," calling it "demoralizing" https://t.co/7H9gvjEYWU pic.twitter.com/Lsew5giLMS CBS News (@CBSNews) January 23, 2017 During the aforementioned press conference, Sean Spicer said "sometimes we can disagree with the facts," while hitting back at the press for their alleged "negative" and "demoralizing" media coverage of Donald Trump. Many thought Spicer came across as easily offended and triggered, and took it out on the new press secretary. Sean Spicer, President Trumps press secretary: "Sometimes we can disagree with the facts. https://t.co/EWPlULMpxK pic.twitter.com/KkW72FpMmB New York Times Video (@nytvideo) January 23, 2017 Celebrities speak "Breaking News: Sean Spicer is an idiot," horror author Stephen King was quick to point out on his Twitter feed. Comedian Sarah Silverman also chimed in, giving her thoughts on the Spicer press conference. "At the end of every press conference the last question should be 'Do u swear to God that everything u said today is the truth?'" At the end of every press conference the last question should be "Do u swear to God that everything u said today is the truth?" Sarah Silverman (@SarahKSilverman) January 23, 2017 Breaking News: Sean Spicer is an idiot. Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 22, 2017 "Trump just sent his Press Secretary out to lie about the numbers at his inauguration," "Star Trek" actor George Takei wrote on Twitter, while adding, "Guess all those pictures of must be fake, too. SAD!" Trump just sent his Press Secretary out to lie about the numbers at his inauguration. Guess all those pictures of must be fake, too. SAD! George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 21, 2017 Media backlash "THESE are the people who refer to their opponents as 'snowflakes???' MSNBC host Joy Reid rhetorically asked on Twitter, also adding, "Jesus." In a follow-up tweet, Reid wrote, "This is amazing. Sean Spicer is literally begging for the media to say nice things about them, because it hurts when we don't. My god." This is amazing. Sean Spicer is literally begging for the media to say nice things about them, because it hurts when we don't. My god. https://t.co/jV6LNzmtmm Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 23, 2017 THESE are the people who refer to their opponents as "snowflakes???" Jesus. Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) January 23, 2017 "Oh, @seanspicer says 'it's a little demoralizing' for Trump to hear people say the crowd was not so big," David Corn of "Mother Jones" tweeted, before adding, "Oh, poor baby." Corn didn't stop there, also tweeting, "@seanspicer keeps denying there was a rift between Trump & intel community. Yet it was Trump who compared IC to 'Nazi Germany.'" Oh, @seanspicer says "it's a little demoralizing" for Trump to hear people say the crowd was not so big. Oh, poor baby. David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 23, 2017 Next up The rift between Donald Trump and the news media doesn't appear to be ending anytime soon. Due to the former host of "The Apprentice" pushing to delegitimize the press during the election, many of his supporters no longer trust traditional outlets for news and information, and now rely on right-wing websites and the billionaire real estate mogul's Twitter feed. Officials representing Beijing and Manila shook hands on joint projects worth $3.7 billion on Monday during a meeting in the Chinese capital. The agreement was the latest evidence of warming ties between China and the Philippines. While the specific types of deals and locations were not revealed, the package is the initial installment of planned cooperative projects that aims to improve livelihoods, Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng told reporters at a news briefing. The briefing came after discussions with a delegation led by Philippines Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez. Dominguez, in China from Sunday to Tuesday, led a heavyweight delegation that includes ministerial officials responsible for areas such as economic planning, telecommunications, financing and public projects. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that several Filipino ministers have led delegations to China recently to discuss such areas as trade, infrastructure and energy. This has "fully showcased the consistent increase in mutual trust and increasingly deepened cooperative relationships," Hua said on Monday. Also on Monday, the two sides agreed to a speedy resumption of meetings of the China-Philippines Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation, an important body that ground to a halt in 2012 as the relationship deteriorated over territorial sovereignty issues. Vice-Premier Wang Yang, who met with the Philippines delegation on Monday, said the countries also should gear up their joint efforts in drafting a plan for bilateral economic and trade cooperation and press ahead with their priority bilateral projects. China is now the second-largest trade partner of the Philippines. The relationship warmed markedly after Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte paid his first state visit to China in October. Duterte is expected to make a second trip to China in May to attend an international forum on building the China-led Belt and Road Initiative. Manila is seeking greater infra-structure cooperation within the initiative's framework, Dominguez said. "We think that both our governments, as well as both our peoples, will move quickly to support (projects under) this initiative in the Philippines." Luo Yongkun, a researcher in Southeast Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, noted that although the Philippines' economy has seen rapid growth in the past few years, it is still weak in infrastructure and is in need of foreign investment. Two-way ties, frozen by the South China Sea arbitration case brought by former Philippines president Benigno Aquino III, showed signs of reviving after Rodrigo Duterte took office in June and decided to thaw ties with Beijing by shelving maritime disputes. This month, senior diplomats from both sides agreed to establish bilateral consultations on the South China Sea issue to address concerns and promote maritime cooperation. Artist Wu Junyong in front of his work at the ongoing Monument of the Peach Blossom Valley exhibition in Shanghai. Photos Provided to China Daily Chinese curator Song Zhenxi wanted to impress fashion designer Vivienne Westwood at her first cross-over exhibition in China called Get A Life!. The show, which opened on Dec 20 and runs through Feb 28 at K11 Art Mall in Shanghai, presents the British designer's cutting-edge collections and campaigns as dialogue with contemporary Chinese art. So, Song put together seven contemporary Chinese artists' works in the Monument of the Peach Blossom Valley exhibition. "Vivienne Westwood is a bold and pioneering brand, which tends to advocate ideas such as freedom and anarchy," Song says about his collaboration with the British fashion house. The fashion brand is closely tied with social activities, instead of just being a luxury label for visual exploration, he says. Westwood, 75, is best known for bringing fashion punk and new-wave styles into the mainstream as well as her involvement in campaigns for nuclear disarmament and climate change. The exhibition opens with a handwritten note by the designer at the entrance, which says: "My enemy is the status quo ... The solution is switch to green energy!" The note is signed by Vivienne Westwood, Fashion designer and activist. When I met Lu Qi in 2011, he was the Microsoft Corp executive in charge of Office, Bing and related products in Seattle. I didn't expect that he would make headlines last week by joining Beijing-based search engine Baidu Inc as its group president and chief operations officer. Well, at least not that soon. A widely respected engineer and technology leader, Lu is among a rare few Chinese talents who once held vital positions in an American tech company. He played a key role in pushing Microsoft into new areas, including artificial intelligence (AI). "I have a problem with the name of our slogan," Lu said during our business meeting six years ago, teasing that the name "Bing" in Chinese implies "sickness or insanity". "Our Chinese clients might not feel comfortable with (the slogan) Have you Bing?'" In September, Lu left Microsoft "to focus all his time on recovering from health conditions caused by a prior injury", according to an email from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in response to public inquiries about a bicycle accident Lu had. Now, Lu needn't worry about the localization of Bing, the launch of Microsoft products or even office politics. He is embarking on a new journey at Baidu, where he will oversee products, technology, sales, marketing and operations. In a statement released last week, Baidu's Chairman and Group CEO Robin Li called Lu "the best global talent". Lu possesses a wealth of leadership and management experience and is a leading authority in the area of artificial intelligence, said Li, adding, "I am confident that Dr. Lu will make major contributions to the overall strength of our management and technology." According to Li, artificial intelligence is Baidu's key strategic focus for the next decade, and he is confident that with Li on board, "our strategy will be executed smoothly, and Baidu will become a world-class technology company and global leader in AI". Rajesh Jha succeeded Lu as leader of the Office group, and the company simultaneously created a new 5,000-person AI and Research Group, led by Harry Shum. The year of 2016 probably was Robin Li's most trying time in business, as the company he founded 16 years ago had undergone a severe credibility crisis. In May, government regulators ordered Baidu to strictly limit advertising per page and clean up its medical-related paid-search business. The action followed public outrage over the death of a 21-year-old computer science student, Wei Zexi, who used Baidu to search for a cancer treatment that turned out to be a hoax. As a result, Baidu in June lowered its second-quarter earnings guidance by 10 to 12 percent after more than half of its medical customers temporarily cut or delayed spending on its platform. A significant portion of Baidu's revenue was sacrificed under the adjustment. In an internal memo, Li rallied Baidu staff to help change the company's culture and do the right thing. "The management and employees' obsession with KPI (key performance index) has twisted our values ... and distanced ourselves from users," Li said. "If we lose the support of users, we lose hold of our values, and Baidu will truly go bankrupt in just 30 days." Li assured that Baidu has taken steps "to further bolster a healthy, safe and trustworthy online and offline ecosystem. The challenges Baidu faced in the second quarter served as a healthy reminder to stay focused on the key drivers of growth, sustainability and leadership: delivering the best user experience and staying at the forefront of technology." Lu's appointment also suggested that Chinese technology giants are becoming increasingly lucrative destinations for top-notch talents who have international backgrounds and know well both the Eastern and Western business cultures. Chinese Americans now are in a golden era of going east, said Tom Zhang, a Silicon Valley-based human resources specialist who also is the founder of an AI-related startup. "In China, opportunities are much more plentiful than those in the US. I would suggest talents of Chinese background return to China to find your fortune," he said through his social media platform. Contact the writer at junechang@chinadailyusa.com Official: Trump expected to respect one-China principle China called on the new US administration to stick to the one-China principle and strictly limit its relationship with Taiwan to the nonofficial level, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday. She made the remarks at a regular news conference when asked about China's expectations of the government led by Donald Trump, who was inaugurated as president on Friday. President Xi Jinping sent Trump a congratulatory message. Every US administration should follow the commitment made by both the Republicans and Democrats to stick to the one-China policy, she said, adding that it is the foundation for the Sino-US relationship. China established channels to maintain communications with Trump's team after he won the election, she said. In a 1978 joint communique, the US said that it recognized the one-China policy that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China, and the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing China. In his inaugural speech, Trump did not mention China directly. Last month, however, he challenged the one-China principle by answering a congratulatory call from Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen. China and the United States should respect each other's core interests and handle disputes in a proper manner, Hua said, adding that China's stance on its sovereignty issues is clear. She called on both sides to deal with economic and trade frictions prudently since "trade war and confrontation will result in no winners". Teng Jianqun, a senior researcher in US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the Foreign Ministry's remarks constitute a message to the new US president that China's core interests should not be challenged. "Washington should keep the promises it made and abide by established policies," he said. Beijing also expressed its hope of maintaining the current stability in the China-US relationship under the Trump administration, he added. Fu Mengzi, a Sino-US relations researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the "America first" policy espoused by Trump cannot be accomplished without the assistance of other countries, including China. "All countries are closely connected within the context of globalization. Every single country that wants to develop, change or prosper will need help from other countries," he said. Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn Former U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon feeds a elderly woman at a social welfare facility in Eumseong, South Korea, January 14, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] SEOUL - It has been an inauspicious return to crisis-plagued South Korea for former U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, once the odds-on favorite to be the next president, who has been ensnared in a family corruption scandal and struggled with a sceptical press. Ban, 72, has been unable to capitalise on his much-anticipated homecoming after a decade as secretary-general of the United Nations in New York. Since his return on Jan. 12, he has cut a sometimes-irritable figure in public and been pilloried for a series of perceived PR gaffes - all without announcing any intention to run for president. Now the United States has asked South Korea to arrest his brother, Ban Ki-sang, on charges that he engaged in a bribery scheme to carry out the sale of a Vietnamese building complex. The timing of the case could hardly be worse for Ban, whose high international profile and clean image were expected to be assets as he returned to a nation reeling from a presidential corruption scandal. President Park Geun-hye has been impeached by parliament and stripped of her powers while a court decides her fate. Ban Ki-moon apologised on Saturday for family members who had caused public concern. "I have absolutely no knowledge of this case," he said in a statement. However, a Realmeter poll released on Monday showed Ban's support slipping from 22.2 percent last week to 19.8 percent, compared with 29.1 percent for Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic Party. The poll numbers are volatile and analysts say it is too early to count out Ban. However, if Moon holds his lead, he would become the first liberal to be elected president in nearly a decade. Ban has yet to affiliate himself with a party but had been expected to run as a conservative. If the impeachment vote against Park is upheld by the Constitutional Court, she will have to quit and an election would be held two months later. A ruling is expected as soon as next month. Ban has a team of politicians and former diplomats supporting him and has made several campaign-style appearances around the country since his return, pitching him in the full glare of the media spotlight. SLIP-UPS On his arrival in Seoul, Ban took the airport express train instead of a limo, but didn't know how to buy a ticket. He was pictured trying to insert two 10,000 won bills into the machine at the same time for a 7,500 won ticket. "Couldn't you have treated it as something cute from a person who'd been in New York for a long time?" he protested at a meeting with voters and reporters in the southern city of Daegu. "I really wish they wouldn't act with malice." Two days later, Ban visited a care home where he fed porridge to an old woman. He was criticized for wearing a bib when the old woman was not - and for feeding someone lying flat on their back. He also dressed head to toe in protective gear to try out a disinfectant spray when most of those around him wore ordinary clothes, media said. And he was criticised for picking up a bottle of Evian mineral water from a convenience store before being told by an aide he should buy a local product. A cartoon in the left-leaning Hankyoreh newspaper managed to combine the gaffes - Ban in protective gear and bib trying to feed a hospital patient with two 10,000 won notes with a giant bottle of Evian on his back. Until recently, Ban had been tipped to run as a member of Park's conservative Saenuri party. But being a Saenuri candidate looks far less attractive now because of the corruption scandal and he has been seen as likely to join a new breakaway group from the conservative bloc, the Barun Party, which has been weighing several potential candidates for president. However, a party, funds and political machinery to support Ban could come together quickly if and when he announces he will run for president. Kookmin University political science professor Hong Sung-gul said Ban must be disappointed by his reception. "That's what happens when there are high expectations and you don't come in with a clear and specific message," he told Reuters. "But it is too early to write off his campaign as being in serious trouble." Ban himself admitted on Monday to some "clumsy moments" and irritability since his return. "I was impatient and had passion for wanting to go and meet the people as soon as I could, so there were little mistakes," he told reporters. "I'll take it as a tough lesson learned and try to be better prepared." US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement that his predecessor Barack Obama had hoped to become his legacy. Trump signed the order in the Oval Office after meeting in the Roosevelt Room with US business leaders to talk about American manufacturing industry. Sean Spicer, the new White House press secretary, argued on Monday that the US will gain more from a bilateral trade agreement than a multilateral agreement. "This is not a deal that was in our country's best interest," he told the daily briefing on Monday. Wilbur Ross, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, made the same argument in his confirmation hearing in the Senate last week. Spicer emphasized the symbolism of the executive order, calling it "symbolic both here in America and around the world of a new era of trade policy", a policy he said would put American workers first and foremost and one that assures the world that the way the US negotiates bilateral agreements is to ensure that the US gets something out of the deals. TPP was signed in February 2016 by the US and 11 other Pacific Rim economies. Obama had hoped that the US Congress would ratify the agreement during the lame-duck session after the Nov 8 presidential election, but it never got the chance. Trump had called the TPP a "horrible deal" on the campaign trail. The other presidential candidates in the 2016 election, Republican Ted Cruz and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, also opposed TPP during the campaign. Most Democratic lawmakers also oppose TPP. David Dollar, a senior fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institute, said Trump's withdrawal from TPP signals a turning away from Asia. "The other countries in the TPP agreement are likely to proceed without the US. There is an opportunity for China if it is ready to open up its own economy more," Dollar, who had previously worked for the US Treasury and the World Bank, told China Daily on Monday. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, described Trump's executive order to withdraw from TPP as "more symbol than anything new". "Because the TPP was never submitted to Congress, so (it) was not going to go anyplace anyway. But it was a strong symbol," said Hufbauer, deputy assistant secretary for international trade and investment policy at the US Treasury (1977-79). TPP was an important component of the Rebalance to Asia strategy pursued by the Obama administration to curtail China's growing influence in the region, where China is the largest trade partner for most nations. Obama had consistently used the geopolitical argument to sell the controversial TPP, saying repeatedly in national speeches that "the United States, not countries like China, should write" trade rules. On Jan 13, just a week before leaving office, Michael Froman, US trade representative under Obama, described TPP as "not to contain China". But he quickly said withdrawing from TPP would be a huge gift to China in terms of damaging the US role in the region. "And I can't understand why any president or administration would want to hand the keys of the castle over to China to say it's better that China set the rules for this region rather than the United States. I think that would have very damaging consequences." US economists, such as Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute, believe the economic benefits of TPP to the US are limited. China is not a party to the 12-economy TPP agreement. Most Chinese at first regarded TPP as part of a US containment strategy. But the Chinese government later expressed interest in the agreement. China has been pushing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a free trade deal between 10 ASEAN nations and six other countries, including China. The US is not a participant in RCEP negotiations. He Yafei, a former vice-foreign minister, earlier described TPP as "both a challenge and opportunity for China, as it comes at a critical moment when China tries to engage more deeply and widely in global governance". "The potential short-term impact of the TPP on China's trade and economy as a whole is almost negligible, while the medium- and long-term impact depends on how China reacts to the TPP and handles its economic 'new normal.' The TPP could even provide impetus for China's efforts to deepen its economic reforms," He wrote. chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com Guests pose at the opening ceremony of the Happy Chinese New Year: Chinese Story photo exhibition on Jan 13 at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library at the University of Toronto. From left: Larry P. Alford, chief librarian at the university; Xue Bing, Chinese consul general in Toronto, and Joseph Wong, university associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience. NA LI / CHINA DAILY A popular Chinese New Year exhibition is returning for a fourth year to Toronto, but this time it has enhanced meaning. Happy Chinese New Year: Chinese Story will be held at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library and the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library at the University of Toronto until Feb 10. It started on Jan 13. And starting in 2017, the Spring Festival (New Year) will become a statutory festival in Canada. "The University of Toronto has always been an active participant in the cultural exchanges between China and Canada," said Xue Bing, Chinese consul general in Toronto, who attended the opening ceremony on Jan 13 at the Cheng Yu Tung East Asian Library. "This photo exhibition, being held for the fourth consecutive year, is a manifestation of our friendly relations." "I hope this photo exhibition will enhance the festival atmosphere in Toronto and provide an opportunity to the Canadian people of all ethnic groups, especially young people to understand the Spring Festival and China." According to Xue, 2016 marked a milestone in the history of China-Canada relations. The successful exchange of visits between Premier Li Keqiang and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has opened a new chapter in bilateral relations and brought new opportunities for cultural and people-to-people exchanges. "The narratives that the photos convey are about China and Chinas historical development, Chinese people and their relationship to their land and their nation, and this is really an incredible story," said Joseph Wong, associate vice-president and vice-provost, international student experience at University of Toronto. According to Wong, there are 9,000 students from China here at University of Toronto right now, which makes up more than 10 percent of the entire students body. "The Chinese students here are ambassadors of China," Wong said. "They represent China, and they are the people that are conveying the inter-culture that is extremely important between the two nations. Meanwhile, they are also ambassadors for University of Toronto and Canada; theyre dual ambassadors with global learning experiences." Hong Kong customs officials announced on Tuesday that nine Singaporean armed vehicles seized two months ago will be returned after the completion of an investigation. The Singaporean vehicles were impounded by customs on Nov 23 "because there was a suspected breach of Hong Kong law", said Roy Tang, commissioner of customs and excise of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The armed vehicles were inside a cargo ship from Taiwan that was passing through Hong Kong. They were on their way back to Singapore following a military drill in Taiwan. Tang said that customs has finished its investigation. The case may lead to criminal prosecution, according to a news release from the Hong Kong government. "Import, export and transshipment/transit of strategic commodities in breach of licensing requirements are criminal offenses punishable under the Hong Kong law," he said, adding that the military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore. In a statement released on Tuesday, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had thanked Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for resolving the matter. "This is a positive outcome," the Singaporean ministry said. On Jan 17 in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged the Singaporean government to stick to the one-China principle when she was asked about the seizure of the vehicles. China attaches great importance to its relationship with Singapore, and at the same time, China's stance on the one-China principle is firm and unchanged, she said. Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher in Southeast Asia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that by seizing the vehicles, China sent a signal to Singapore that the city-state should stick to the one-China principle, especially as Taiwan authorities led by Tsai Ing-wen are challenging Beijing on sovereignty. Returning the vehicles is a positive sign for the China-Singapore relationship, he said, adding that bilateral ties have been frustrated in recent months as a result of what he called Singapore's "improper remarks" on China's stance on the South China Sea issue. In July, Singapore asked "all parties to fully respect" the ruling of an arbitration case on South China Sea territorial disputes. China insisted that the ruling is "null and void", and has no binding force. Gabina VOA is designed to be an infotainment youth radio show broadcasting to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Amharic language. The show brings varied perspectives on issues concerning young people in the Horn of Africa region. Gabina in the Amharic language is a front row taxi ridesymbolic of the shows content as a fun ride that takes audiences from point A to point B. Gabina VOAs main goal is Enlightening young people, introducing them to cutting-edge technological innovations, exposing them to new processes and ideas so they can be productive, informed and self-governing citizens. Answers Africa is one of a kind platform created for Africans both locally and in the diaspora and those seeking for more in-depth information about Africa. We have always focused on creating the highest quality informational contents right from the beginning. We share the most relevant information on the latest and trending news, events, people, and places in Africa. We produce contents across various categories including Politics, People, Love and Romance, Nature, Entertainment, Technology and pretty much everything else that Africans may find relevant. We aim to answer the most relevant questions about Africa in areas of entertainment, famous people, emerging technologies while we also engage with various distribution capabilities to connect with Africans in need of information who rely on our website to keep in touch with the world that is changing so fast. These are some of the articles you may be interested in reading: 10 Famous TV Personalities Born In Ethiopia Ethiopia is a country best known for its fast athletes like Dibaba and Bekele, breathtaking models like Liya Kebede and of course Haile Selassie but there are also famous TV personalities who are doing a great job in entertainment and pushing the country to civilization. The following is a list of ten most famous TV ... Top 10 African Authors of All Time The pace of present African literature is moving at a high-speed; more defiant in both style and tone than those of the great independence writers generation. Here, the subjects of taboo are widely explored. The emerging African authors of this generation are not afraid to go further afield for the literary fodder. Meanwhile, since the birth ... Maina Kageni Biography Daughter, Salary and Gay Rumors Maina Kageni is one of those Kenyans who has remained as interesting as ever in the eyes of the public. A strong Red devil fan and lover of football, the man is currently a Breakfast Show presenter with Mwalimu Kingangi on Nairobis Classic 105 Radio Station. Many questions have always emerged on the man in serious ... Kalekye Mumo Biography, Boyfriend and Salary Kalekye Mumo has been described as someone who is as vibrant as she is beautiful, a Kenyan radio queen, TV host and media personality, movie actress, Musician, businesswoman, and fashionista but what else is there to know about this Kenyan icon, Kalekye Mumo and her co-host Shaffie Weru have been among the most listened to radio presenters ... Julie Gichuru Bio Age, Husband & Children In Africa, women have a long history of bringing under control obstacles to keep their heads above the water. So, it comes as no surprise whenever African women are recognized and decorated across the continent and globe for performing brilliantly well in their various fields of endeavor. In Kenya for instance, a list of national ... Jeff Koinange Biography All About His Age, Wife Shaila Koinange & Family Jeff Koinange is a well-known Kenyan journalist. He currently hosts Jeff Koinange Live on KTN. Koinange has served as a journalist in the United States and has also worked for a few U.S. broadcasters. He was born in Kenya but attended college in the United States, which may explain his accent. There are several interesting ... Caroline Mutoko Biography Age, Daughter & House Caroline Mutoko is a Kenyan radio presenter, famously known for hosting a morning breakfast show on Kiss 100 FM. The station is based in Nairobi and ranks among the highly-rated radio stations in Kenya with online streaming services as well. Learn more about the Kenyan-born journalist. Caroline Mutokos Age and Bio Born on January 4, 1973, Caroline is ... The Most Stunning News Presenter In Kenya Discloses Her Real Age You Would Not Believe It In modern African societies, it is often regarded as impolite or outright lack of disrespect to ask a woman of her age. We also have seen celebrities lie about how old they are when asked their age. People, mostly women have refused to let people know their real age, despite being public figures. The few ... Demystifying Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Biography, Husband & Education Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian novelist, non-fiction writer, short story writer and actress. As a seasoned Nigerian writer, she has been called the most prominent of a procession of critically acclaimed young anglophone authors that is succeeding in attracting a new generation of readers to African literature. She has been making Nigeria proud in the global scene ... Wole Soyinka Biography, Wife, Children, Family, Quick Facts Professor Wole Soyinka, a great and brilliant Nigerian writer and political activist, who was the first African to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. The name, Wole Soyinka, is a household name both in Africa and beyond especially in the field of literature. With over 50 pieces of work, his writing includes poems, novels, memoirs ... 5 Most Vulgar Kenyan Radio Presenters It appears being vulgar is the real deal nowadays especially for the fact that the world is becoming more exposed and civilized. Sadly, but true, young people are constantly being exposed to images, discussions, and content that most people would deem detrimental to the African culture and moral statutes. This is because most of us ... 6 Sexiest News Anchors In Kenya Some news anchors have been stealing eyes every time they appear on-screen. Most of us hardly concentrate on the programme they present as our entire focus is usually on their striking physique and beautiful faces. It is common knowledge that Kenyan women are amazingly beautiful. From the celebrities to the everyday woman, they are all in ... Interesting Oprah Winfrey Quotes To Keep You Motivated Oprah Winfrey is one of the worlds most powerful women in the media and business sectors. Her life is the typical success story that motivates and lifts ones morale. One amazing thing about this media mogul is her sincerity about past hurts, mistakes, healing, and success. The renowned talk show host and media personality is the first ... Chinua Albert Achebe Biography- Family, Net Worth & Death Chinua Albert Achebe, of blessed memory, was a Nigerian prolific author best known for his inventive style of writing and simplicity of expressions. Famed as one of the finest writers Nigeria has ever produced, Achebe lived and died an international hero and a literary giant, who left behind unforgettable legacies and footprints in the sands of ... Steve Harvey His Wife, Kids & Height Steve Harvey is an American comedian, actor, radio and TV show host, producer and an author of different relationship advice books. Steve Harveys Early Life Born in Welch, West Virginia, on January 17, 1957, as Broderick Stephen Harvey, Steve was the last of five children. His family relocated to Cleveland when he was young and there, he attended Glenville High School from ... Intriguing Things You Should Know About Danny Kokers Rise to Fame and Who His Wife Is Danny Koker is popular as the star of the History Channel reality TV series, Counting Cars. Prior to him appearing on the show, the TV personality was a musician who had embarked on a number of national tours with his rock group, Counts 77. He and his group have released quite a number of songs ... Fun Facts You Didnt Know About Andy Cohens Rise to Prominence and His Partner Andy Cohen is one of Americas top media personalities who gained prominence after helping to bring the Bravo network back to life. He also hosted a couple of shows on the network, including the popular nightly series Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. After rising to the position of head of production and development at ... Tracing Isha Sesays Career Until CNN, Her Worth And Why She Divorce Her Husband As far as journalists of African origin go, Isha Sesay is one of the most famous on the continent and by extension, the world. The Sierra Leonean and British journalist has had a successful career since she joined the industry in 1998. In that time, she has worked for a host of major media ... Open Secrets of How Joanna Gaines Balances Her Career With Being a Wife and Mother Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia Homes, a business she runs with one goal: converting houses to homes. She doubles as the lead designer of the company which she co-owns with her husband, Chip Gaines. Lady Gaines gained massive popularity when she became a co-star with her husband on the HGTVs show, Fixer Upper. ... Juicy Details of Ayesha Currys Love Story With Stephen, Her Family Members and Recent Pursuits When your husband is one of the greatest basketballers that the NBA has ever seen, then it bestows on you the status of a celebrity wife and may not even demand that you do anything extra to maintain that status. However, Ayesha Curry, the wife of multiple NBA champion, Steph Curry, is not one ... What Is Tarek el Moussas Ethnicity, Why Did He Divorce His Wife and Who Is He Dating? Tarek El Moussa has made himself one of the most recognizable men on reality television, especially to fans of HGTV. Thanks to his expertise in the world of real estate, Tarek has become a national star. But even to his hardcore followers, there are questions about Tarek El Moussa that remain unanswered, such as his ... Fun Facts About Natalie Beckers Lonely Childhood and Eventual Career Success Natalie Becker is an actress of South African descent who became famous for her appearance in films like The World Unseen and The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior. A multitalented individual, Natalie is also a television/radio presenter. She is also a co-founder of the Thought Leader Global Media which she runs together with ... Top 3 Female CNN News Anchors You Didnt Know Were Africans CNN is one of the leading news agencies in the world. The satellite and cable news network was founded in 1980 by Ted Turner and has been one of the best sources of news for a number of years. It also boasts of the best journalists and presenters all around in media broadcasting. The company is a ... Channels That Aided Katie Pavlichs Growth as a Journalist and All About Her Marriage To Friedson If you have ever come across any Fast and Furious featuring Barack Obama, it is the handiwork of Katie Pavlich. The book which claims to have exposed Obamas bloodiest scandal and the shameless cover-up thereof, has been earning Pavlich much praise and fame ever since it was published in 2012. Nonetheless, Pavlich is more famed ... Is Oprah Winfrey Married? Husband, Children, Biography, House, Facts Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire philanthropist, talk show icon, producer, actress, and writer. The media icon famously dubbed The Queen Of All Media owns and hosts the highest-rated television program in the media circle. Read more about the powerful television star below. Oprah Winfrey Biography Oprah was born as Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, to a ... Who Is Arsenio Hall, What Happened To His Talk Show and Why Do Fans Think He Is Gay? He is one of the funniest beings to have graced the comedy constituent of the American entertainment industry. Arsenio Hall has a reputation for the rib-cracking disposition always portrayed in his comedy roles. He is not just a comedian; he is also an actor and a former talk show host for his popular show, The ... What Is Woah Vicky Famous For and Who Are Her Family Members? Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Woah Vicky is one of those stars that have utilized the internet as a powerful tool to propel themselves to instant fame. The social media space, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc., offers lots of people the right opportunities and potentials to become superstars overnight. Not everyone achieves ... Where Is Michael Strahan Since His Retirement From The NFL and Who Is His Partner? Michael Strahan is a retired American football player turned media personality. He played the defensive lineman position and holds the record for most sacks in a single NFL season. He also only played for the New York Giants throughout the entire 15-year professional career that saw him win a Super Bowl ring. In February 2014, ... How Wendy Williams Went From Being a College DJ to Having Her Own Talk Show and More About Her Divorce Wendy Williams is a former radio personality, now talk show host, who is known for her outspokenness and brash no-nonsense attitude. She gained fame and notoriety for her on-air clashes with celebrities before moving on to host her own talk show. Since 2008, Williams has hosted the nationally syndicated television talk show, The Wendy Williams Show. ... Who is Sunny Hostin? Her Husband, Family & Net Worth Sunny Hostin is no ordinary Latina American lawyer but also a successful columnist, multi-platform journalist, and social commentator. A happily married woman and mother of two, Hostin is the Senior Legal Correspondent and Analyst for ABC News and co-host of ABCs popular morning talk show, The View. She is a legal expert popularly known as a former ... Who Is Robert Costa and Is He Married, Who Is His Wife? Robert Costa is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC who is regarded as being part of Americas next generation of journalists. The University of Notre Dame graduate, who is of Italian/Portuguese descent, has been lauded for his fresh political perspectives in an industry full of old heads. In addition to his work listed above, Costa ... Team Valor Pokemon Go 7 Key Facts You Need To Know Team Valor Pokemon Go The craze of the new game Pokemon Go is one that took the gaming world by storm sending teenagers and adults alike into a frenzy and one of its teams Team Valor, has proven to be instrumental in making it so. Before the game was created, Pokemon was a cartoon ... Sheryl Underwood Husband, Family & Net Worth She is known for her trademark smile which can be described as the brightest and broadest smile ever seen on planet earth. She is none other than Sheryl Underwood the comedian, actress, and TV host whose funny wits has left America in great awe. Although Sheryl has risen to become an important personality in the industry, ... Team Mystic Pokemon Go: 7 Facts You Need To Know And Signs You Are One Team Mystic of the break out game Pokemon Go is a team that is full of sass and chivalry. With an enchanting monicker, Team Mystic stands out from the rest of its counterparts and deserves to take the crown as champion in the Pokemon gaming-verse. To be a member of this exceptional team of Pokemon battle ... Exploring Guy Beahms Dr Disrespect Persona, Wife and Why He was Banned Permanently From Twitch Guy Beahm who is popularly known by his online alias Dr DisRespect, is an award-winning Twitch.tv streamer. He has leveraged on the Twitch platform to become an internet personality that is quite widely known. His online success is just more proof that anyone who is good at what they do can attain celebrity status ... Critical Facts About Lee Ann McAdoo The Infowars Anchor Lee Ann Mcadoo is a conservative journalist and television host whose interests in conspiracies and astrology has established her as a famous American reporter. Often referred to as Wonder Woman, McAdoo is a reporter who works for InfoWars.com, a controversial right-wing website run by radio show host, Alex Jones. Who Is Lee Ann McAdoo? Lee Ann McAdoo was born on 7 ... Millie Weaver Age, Husband & Infowars Career Millie Weaver is an American model, journalist, political activist, and social commentator. The young and beautiful journalist rose to fame working as a reporter for a controversial right-wing website InfoWars.com. Also known as Millennial Millie, Weaver is a social media influencer with over 100,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and over 35,000 followers on Twitter. Who Is Millie Weaver and What Is ... Is Jessica Tarlov Married? What Are Her Height & Weight? Jessica Tarlov is an American political consultant, strategist, and analyst whose influential and regular TV presence has made a popular figure. A good example of beauty with brains, Tarlov has appeared on various TV networks, mostly the FOX News Network where she is known for her liberal views on political analysis and insights. She is also the senior director ... Who Is Kelly Rebecca Nichols Alex Jones Ex-Wife? Kelly Rebecca Nichols is the ex-wife of controversial American radio show host, Alex Jones. She got nationwide attention following her divorce and subsequent custody battle with her estranged husband. Nichols, who worked with PETAs public relations department, was herself no stranger to controversies as she was involved in several publicity stunts of the non-profit animal rights ... Who Is Bree Morgan Cole Sprouse Ex-Girlfriend And What Is She Up To Now? Although Bree Morgan became famous through the Instagram, she also sapped some dose of popularity from Disneys sweetheart, Cole Sprouse of the Sprouse brothers. She is not only an Instagram star but also a YouTube vlogger whose popularity has long exceeded the ordinary level. Bree is conspicuously prominent on the internet and has her digital savviness ... Does Vanna White Have Husband or Children, What Is Her Net Worth / Salary? For over three decades, Vanna White has been a household name, famous as the co-host and letter turner of the iconic NBC game show Wheel of Fortune. The talented and beautiful television personality is also an actress with several TV series and films to her credit. Since making her Wheel of Fortune debut in 1982, she has become one ... Liz Wheeler Biography, Husband & Net Worth Liz Wheeler is the kind of girl who sets the room on fire whenever she comes around. In this situation, however, she sets our screens on fire each time she appears as the host of One America News Tipping Point. She is, therefore, a presenter, publisher, consultant and a member of the Board of Zoning ... Betty White Net Worth, Children & Husband The entertainment industry will remain indebted to personalities like Betty White who brought something extra to the table and kept the world entertained for donkey years. The comedienne, actress, and writer graced the big screens in the early 50s as a show host and has been a delight since then. She is the queen of ... Is Bill Nye (The Science Guy) Dead or Alive, What Are His Net Worth & Education? Everyone will always remember Bill Nye as the Science Guy. Besides his TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, he is well-known for his Netflix show Bill Nye Saves the World which started airing in 2017 as well as his appearances in many famous media projects as a science educator. The star studied mechanical engineering ... Is Cesar Millan Dead, Who Is The Wife & What Is His Net Worth? Cesar Millan is the famous dog whisperer who often stirs up mixed emotions. The Mexican-American is precisely speaking, a dog behaviorist; he has been in the game for over 25 years. His Emmy-nominated television series, Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan further pushed his method and tactics into the limelight. The series was produced from 2004 ... Is Thomas Sanders Gay and Does He Have A Boyfriend? By the time Vine was shut down in January 2017, Thomas Sanders was already popular within and beyond the internet community for his heavy involvements on the online video hosting platform. After the tragic shutdown of Vine impacted on the growing career of the multi-talented personality, he immediately switched over to YouTube where he continued to upload ... Is Shepard Smith Gay, Who Is The Boyfriend & What Is His Net Worth? There are only a few media personalities who are as bold and confident as Shepard Smith. Apart from his impressive stint at Fox News Channel which includes but not limited to his classic news delivery, upfront stance on virtually every issue and much more; he loves his job as much as he loves his personality. Smith ... Is Milo Yiannopoulos Gay? His Husband and Net Worth Milo Yiannopoulos is a popular writer, journalist, polemicist, public speaker, and political commentator who is also known as the founder of The Kernel, an online blog. He has been said to be among the list of 100 weird and influential people in the United Kingdom. He appeared on this list as a result of personal beliefs and ... Does Ryan Seacrest Have A Wife Or Girlfriend, What Is His Net Worth? From radio to television, Ryan Seacrest is a household name and a force to be reckoned with in showbiz. The radio personality, television host, and producer is best recognized as the host of the popular TV talent search contest American Idol. Heres how the media personality who always knew what his lifes ambition was and diligently pursued ... Is Anderson Cooper Gay, Who is The Boyfriend or Husband? For many, the thought of becoming a millionaire by writing and talking about other people appears unachievable but this is the reality of the prominent American journalist Anderson Cooper who gathered millions of dollars for conducting accurate political analysis and other vital reports on TV. He is the main anchor of the CNN news show Anderson ... Is David Muir Gay or Does He Have A Wife, What Is His Salary? David Muir is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works for the ABC broadcast-television network and anchors the ABC World News Tonight with David Muir program while also co-anchoring the magazine program 20/20. The Ithaca College graduate, whose show has become the most-watched newscast in America, has covered stories from all across America and the world; reporting ... Joel Osteen Divorce Rumors, Net Worth & Family Members Joel Osteen is an American Televangelist, Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church based in Houston, Texas, a husband and a father of two. He is an author of many books, seven of which are New York Times Best Sellers and his televised sermons capture more than 7 million viewers per week and 20 million every month ... Who Is Todd Chrisley? What To Know About His Children, Gay Rumors & Net Worth Premiered on the USA network in 2014, Chrisley Knows Best is one of the most watched family reality TV shows in the U.S. The series which is currently in its sixth season is centered around U.S real estate mogul Todd Chrisley and his family. The show reveals Todd the patriarch of the Chrisley family as a strict dad who rules ... Who Is Shannon Bream Of Fox News? Her Husband, Children & Net Worth Shannon Bream who hosts the iconic primetime program started her journalism career in the late 1990s debuting as the evening and late-night news reporter for the CBS affiliate, WBTV. The beauty from America currently works for the Fox News Channel and she is best known for anchoring the primetime program. She also hosts Americas News ... Is Troye Sivan Gay, Who Is His Boyfriend and What Is His Net Worth? Troye Sivan is an Australian singer and songwriter best known for songs like Happy Little Pill, Youth, Heaven (with Betty Who) and The Boyfriend Tag (with Tyler Oakley) which have all garnered him different awards and ranked on the Billboard Charts. Sivan, who was born in South Africa but now resides in the United States, is ... Did iDubbbz Have Cancer, Is He Gay and Who Is His Girlfriend Now? iDubbbz is one YouTuber who has made a career out of courting controversy. Renowned for his absurdist channels and comedy video series, the Los Angeles based personality is the owner of two channels, iDubbzTV, and iDubbzTV2, as well as the brains behind comedy video series such as Content Cop, Kickstarter Crap, Gaming News Crap, and ... Inside Greg Gutfelds Love Story With Wife Elena Moussa and Why Fans Thought He Was Gay Greg Gutfeld is a seasoned American television producer whose career in the media industry has spanned over a decade. He is a man of many talents who makes extra income through comedy, journalism, and editorial works. Gutfeld regularly appears on Fox News Channel as a panellist and co-host of the political talk show The Five ... Works That Made Bo Burnham A Household Name and How Much He Is Worth Now One of YouTubes first viral stars and the worlds most exciting young comedian, Bo Burnham, has always amazed critics and comedy aficionados alike. Often regarded as the Justin Bieber of comedy, thanks to his fresh looks, floppy blond hair and hoodies, he has a multi-faceted career bigger than many comedians twice his age. It wouldnt ... Is Louie Anderson Gay And What Is His Net Worth? Louie Anderson has one of the most abstract faces in the industry and equally knows how to use it to his advantage. He is not only a stand-up comedian but also an actor and television host who is known for his distinctive comic wits. Some of his notable projects include Family Feud, where he was ... Is Don Lemon of CNN Gay, Who is His Partner and What Is His Salary? Don Lemon has risen to become one of the most recognizable faces on CNN over the past few years. The fiery journalist, who anchors CNN Tonight with Don Lemon, is liked and somewhat disliked for his strong and candid opinions on a variety of matters that do not just include politics but also race, significantly, matters that ... Is Rachel Maddow Gay, Who is the Wife and How Much Does She Earn in Salary? Rachel Maddow is an award-winning American journalist, political commentator, and television news anchor. She is best known for hosting the popular nightly TV show The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Prior to this, she hosted a talk radio program on Air America Radio from 2005 to 2010. As of now, the TV sensation co-anchors MSNBCs ... Demystifying Pokimane Her Real Name, Ethnicity & Boyfriend Like most social media celebrities in this digital era, Pokimane Thicc is one of those stars who took advantage of the internet to make a name for herself. Given the unlimited potentials which the social media space offers, many people have been instantly propelled to fame just by posting creative online contents. Not only has ... A Breakdown of Kris Jenners Net Worth, Sources Of Income and Relationships Over The Years Standing outside and looking in, Kris Jenner looks like the oil that greases the wheels of the entire Kardashian/Jenner machine. She has been dubbed a momager and rightfully so because she seems to have had a part to play in the trajectory of each and every one of her daughters individually and the Kardashian brand ... Pursuits That Brought Liza Koshys Fame To its Zenith and Her Love Life Since David Dobrik Liza Koshy is an American actress who has leveraged YouTube as a platform to promote her comedy while also serving as a television host on occasions. She is talented and funny and has gathered a lot of fans from around the world. Koshy started on Vine in high school and was able to get millions of ... Alex Aiono Biography Inside The Life Of The American Singer Not everyone who started from the streets has attained the heights where Alex Aiono is currently. His story could be referred to as the perfect definition of rising from Grass to Grace. He came into the limelight after he started out as a YouTuber, singer, and producer. One fascinating thing about the young YouTuber is ... Virginia Vallejo Biography And Her Love Story With Pablo Escobar Virginia Vallejo can be referred to as one of the oldest whistleblowers in history after her involvement with Pablo Escobar which made her famous. Over the years, many questions have been raised about her relationship with the drug lord and why she endangered her life to be with him despite his notorious acts. The death ... Princess Love Bio Ethnicity, Real Name & Parents For many people, Princess Love is simply Ray Js wife but there is so much more to this feisty lady than meets the eye. She is a star in her own right and has many feathers on her cap. Princess Love is a reality TV star, a model, video vixen, and fashion designer. She and her ... Who is Papa Franku Also Known As Filthy Frank or Joji, Where is He Now? The social media as we all know today has given people the opportunity to be creative and innovative and at the same time, make something of themselves. YouTube is one of the known social platforms we have today that makes it possible for people to express their God-given talents and post videos they created to ... Who Is Molly Qerim, How Did She Become a Famous Sports Anchor and Who Is Her Husband? Molly Qerim is an American sports anchor popularly known for moderating First Take, a highly rated sports talk show, on ESPN. Prior to joining ESPN, Qerim hosted Fantasy Live and NFL AM on NFL Network. It is quite obvious that the widely acclaimed television personality is in a class of her own when it comes ... Safiya Nygaard Height, Parents & Net Worth Safiya Nygaard is an American YouTuber, writer, content producer, and director who is popular for posting makeup, beauty and fashion videos on YouTube. Her videos regularly top at least one million views, thanks to her lively character as well as her willingness to experiment with outrageous outfits and different beauty products. Here are the things to ... The Rigors of Sunlen Serfatys Career Journey Until CNN and Fun Facts About Her Personal Life CNN correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty is an Emmy Award-winning journalist known for covering a broad range of breaking news stories, national news, and Washington politics. She has been able to garner widespread recognition for herself which even goes beyond the sphere of her work. Her profile also increased with the extensive work she did in covering ... Demystifying Jazz Jennings Real Name, Boyfriend & Family Of One The Youngest Transgenders Jazz Jennings is an unusual personality who became famous as a transgender activist and was recorded as the youngest documented public figure to be seen as transgender. She is also a YouTube personality and spokesmodel for brands, her fans, and other transgenders. She fought for acceptance in her high school with her super supportive family for over ... Inside Fred Armisens Life Ethnicity, Romantic Relationships and Gay Rumors Fred Armisen is an award-winning American comedian, he is also a writer, an actor as well as a musician. He was a cast member of the legendary comedy show, Saturday Night Live for 13 years and also one of the brains behind the successful satirical show Portlandia. Find out more about this incredibly talented guy ... Ed and Lorraine Warren Biography: Cases, Kids, and Family Life Have you ever woken up with fear you could not explain, or felt a strange presence that made the hair at your nape rise or even experienced strange occurrences around you? Well, these were some of the promptings that made the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren delve into trying to explain the ideas ... Truth About Tony Romos Wife, Kids and Life Since His NFL Retirement Tony Romo grew from the field as a quarterback to the screens as an American Football Analyst. He was a quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys in the richest football league in the world (NFL) before retiring. As a junior, he was honored as an All-Ohio Conference Member, an Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and ... Who is Brittany Venti, The Controversial Game Streamer and YouTuber? In recent times, many people live stream themselves playing video games. This has become a popular pastime on the internet and many highly skilled gamers have become internet celebrities through this means. However, some of them rather than becoming renowned for their gaming skills and great commentary, have become controversial and infamous. A good example ... Rob Dyrdeks Family: His Kids And Relationship With Wife Bryiana Noelle Flores A multi-talented star and an elite pro skateboarder, Rob Dyrdeks success story began at a remarkably young age. Yet another proof that schooling doesnt always correlate with success, Rob has established himself not just as a phenomenal sportsman but also as a successful entrepreneur. Besides perfecting his skill as a natural talent on the board, ... xChocobars Biography and Everything You Should Know About Her Having distinguished herself and recorded massive successes in an industry notably dominated by men, it is very safe to say that Xchocobars deserves all the attention and cash she makes from her career. A household name on Twitch (a smart live streaming video platform), the online-gamer is popularly known for streaming classic games such as Stardew ... Everything To Know About Mary Padian, Her Boyfriend and Net Worth Mary Padian is a famous American television reality personality best known for her involvements on the Reality show Storage Wars. She also has her own shop called Mary finds where she displays her antique collections. Since her childhood, Padian has been a creative learner. At the time, she used to create new items out of reusable ones and ... Betsy Woodruffs Family Life: Is She Married or Related To Bob Woodruff? An old name in the world of journalism, Betsy Woodruff has warmed her way into the hearts of many with her impressive talents. Through hard work, Woodruff has carved a niche for herself in a very competitive field. Betsy has strong family and work values and is also an advocate for equal opportunities for everyone ... Matpat (Matthew Patrick) Wife, Height & Net Worth As far as internet business is concerned, Matpat remains one of the most dynamic and seasoned figures. He boasts a wealth of experience that has helped him in growing his business from one level of greatness to another. Like most successful people, MatPat started out small but today, he makes millions of dollars from his ... Facts About Ricegum His Girlfriend, Real Name & Net Worth Ricegum is an online gamer and YouTube sensation who ditched college; took advantage of the digital era, and made a name for himself on the internet. Though he began as a gaming YouTuber, Ricegum soon gained recognition as a controversial internet star following his many diss tracks. Here is everything you need to know about the youngster ... Joy Taylor Once Married MLBs Richard Giannotti Inside Look At Her Love Life and Family The erosion of the sexist idea that women have no business in sports broadcasting created a host of women celebrities who attained fame outside of modeling and acting. One of them, Joy Taylor, a radio personality and TV host for Fox Sports 1, has been in the industry since 2009, becoming one of the most ... What To Know About Conan OBriens Wife, Kids & Family Today The name Conan OBrien is one that jumps right at you almost immediately you start talking about the most popular television hosts in the USA and this is no surprise because the man behind that name has risen to become one of the most admired men in the business. Known for hosting the late-night talk ... David Letterman Net Worth, Wife & Son In all of American, one man whose face has been seen frequently by late night TV talk show lovers is none but David Letterman. The comedian and TV show veteran has been hosting late night talk shows for more than three decades. His Late Night with David Letterman show began on February 1st, 1982 aired ... Demystifying Sssniperwolfs Family Background And The Boyfriends Shes Had Since she launched her eponymously named channel in 2013, Sssniperwolf has been on the rise when it comes to video game influencers. She is one of the biggest names in the online gaming subgenre of YouTube videos. Real name Lia Shelesh, she started with Call of Duty: Black Ops II but has diversified with other ... Lester Holt Wife, Family & Net Worth Lester Holt is a multiple award-winning journalist, newscaster, reporter, and actor who has worked for notable media houses like WCBS TV, CBS, MSNBC and among others. His remarkable feat in journalism has endeared him to the hearts of many and earned him some awards and recognitions. Read on to get acquainted with his biography, ethnicity, ... What Is Louis C.K. Doing Now, Where Are His Family And How Much Is His Net Worth? It is not easy to make it in comedy. It takes more than a funny bone and the ability to elicit a few giggles from a listening audience. For all the complexities that go into making a successful career in comedy, Louis C.K, the Washington D.C-born comedian, did it. For years, he was at the ... The Progression of Hoda Kotbs Career, Her Ancestry and Family Life Hoda Kotb gained fame as a television host and news anchor for NBC. She anchors the shows signature show Today, and it has been an excellent vehicle for her skills in front of a camera. Kotb has won several awards, including Daytime Emmys and Peabody Awards. Simply put, she is one of the most successful ... Jerry Seinfelds Family: All About The Amazing Comedians Wife and Kids Apparently one of the highly important entertainers in America, Jerry Seinfeld is a man of many talents. A very funny man, he is considered to be one of the most successful comedians in the USA who has been in the business as a professional rib-cracker for more than 40 years. As an actor, he has ... The Rigors Of Sarah Silvermans Rise To Prominence And Rundown Of The Men She Has Dated A comedian, writer, and actress, Sarah Silvermans art and craft is as unique as you would ever find. Her poignant use of comedy to discuss social issues such as race, sexism, politics, and religion has gained her an impressive following. As unorthodox as her style is, so is her life experiences. She previously suffered from epiglottitis ... Who Is Hannibal Buress, Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend & Why Was He Arrested? Making people laugh when they are tense or not in the mood is a tough order and to ply the trade, it must indeed take some guts and expertise, this is what the humor maker, Hannibal Buress has been able to achieve and sustain after his inital teething process. The African-American is a screen writer, stand-up ... The Success of John Mulaneys Career Efforts Since His Work On Saturday Night Live and Facts About His Wife John Mulaney had been working as a professional comedian for years before Saturday Night Live changed his status for life and like many who are now his fans, you probably did not know of him then. However, that changed when he joined the sketch comedy show in 2008. Since then, he has been one of ... Jeff Dunham Wife, Children and Net Worth Ventriloquism is a very subtle method of making an inanimate object (like a puppet, doll or dummy) appear to be saying words which are actually coming from the person (holding the inanimate object). In effect, the individual throws his/her voice to the puppet and can even appear to be having a conversation with it. Not ... Ellen DeGeneres Net Worth, Wife Portia de Rossi & Parents Ellen DeGeneres is an American female standup comedian who has proven that whatever a man can do, a woman can also do. Since her journey as a standup comedian started in 1981, she has held swirl as one of the finest comedians America and the world at large has seen. She is often referred to ... Revisiting Joan Rivers Death The Daughter, Husband & Net Worth She Left Behind Joan Rivers was a renowned American comedian, TV host, writer, and actress. Her brand of comedy consisted of scathing one-liners and no individual or topic is spared. She hosted her own talk shows in the 80s and 90s and was a pioneer for women in stand up comedy. She was the first woman to host a late night ... The Struggles of Margaret Chos Childhood, How It Influenced Her Career Growth and Love Life Margaret Cho is best described as a comic star who knows how to maneuver everything related to life into a rib-cracking joke. She is also known to criticize every social and political problem, especially those involving race and sexuality. Apart from her talents as a comic actress, she does amazingly well as a singer and ... Where Is Eric Bolling Today? Who Is His Son & What Is His Net Worth? Eric Bolling who was once a notable figure on Fox News, is an American TV personality, an author, and versatile Journalist. As a political and financial analyst/commentator, he anchored discussions bothering on finance for Fox Business Channel. Here is everything there is to know about his career, family, and allegations that led to his exit ... Who Is Chelsea Handler and Does She Have A Husband or Boyfriend? Chelsea Handler is one of Americas top female comedians. She is also an actress, writer, television host, producer, and activist. She is known to be very outspoken even with things that are very personal. In separate interviews with The New York Times, Handler revealed that she had an abortion twice when she was 16. She has authored five books ... How Did Laura Lee Achieve Fame, How Much is She Worth and Who is Her Husband? Laura Lee is a popular American YouTuber, make-up artist and beauty blogger. From posting videos of her makeup routines on Instagram, Lee has transformed into a beauty influencer and a YouTube sensation. Today, her YouTube Channel has over 630 million views and 4.5 million subscribers. Asides having millions of followers across all social media platforms, ... Madison Gesiotto Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Measurements Madison Gesiotto is no ordinary woman; although she excelled in quite a number of pageants and competitions while she was in school, it is her views on politics and issues in America that has made her name known to most people. She possesses beauty and intelligence in a seemingly equal measure and has been able ... Who Is Lil Tay? Parents, Brother, Sister, Age, Net Worth, Ethnicity Child stardom is nothing new in the entertainment world. With the advent of social media, we have seen more stars made from the internet than ever before, and Lil Tay is one of them. Her uploaded rap videos trademark is cursing, swearing, cash-throwing, and use of obscene languages. Her fame went wild after she dropped ... What To Know About Tig Notaros Wife, Kids and Family Today Tig Notaro is an American stand-up comic star, writer, actress, and radio analyst. Since she started her career in 2001, she has become one of Americas best comedians, particularly when it comes to observational comedy. One prominent aspect of her routine involves her family, which includes a wife and two children. Interestingly, Tig Notaro is part ... Who Is Chantel Jeffries? What To Know About Her Age, Ethnicity & Net Worth Chantel Jeffries is a lady of many talents. Beyond being celebrated as a DJ, she has fared well as a model, an actress, musician, and as an artist. She first rose to fame on Instagram where she has a large following. However, in recent times, she has hit the spotlight for her rumored relationships with some ... Is Ellen DeGeneres Married, Who Is The Brother Vance DeGeneres and Family Members? Ellen DeGeneres is one of a kind celebrity in todays world as she has used her wealth for the greater good for many people. She has served a host of famous awards shows like the Grammy, Primetime Emmy and Academy Awards. Moreso, she is probably one of the most decorated entertainment personalities around the world and ... Carli Bybel Bio Height, Boyfriend & Net Worth Video blogging is now on the rise and YouTube is the place where most of it happens. If you are a lady who cares about her looks or a guy who likes to help his woman out with her looks, then one person whose name rings a bell when it comes to giving beauty tips ... Who Is Lexy Panterra? What To Know About Her Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth Lexy Panterra is one of the YouTube personalities whose breakout came through the Twerk dance videos she posted on her social media handles and YouTube which has so far generated over 13 million views for her. From there on, she created her LexTwerkOut workout program in 2014. She is sure very talented as she as moved ... Who Is AnneMunition? What Is Her Ethnicity & Does She Have A Girlfriend or Boyfriend? AnneMunition is a professional gamer and content creator of American origin. She is one of the most sought-after streamers on Twitch a popular online platform for watching and streaming videos, especially video games. AnneMunition has almost half a million followers on Twitch and her channel has accumulated at least 13 million views. Her favorite games ... Norm MacDonald Former Wife, Son & Net Worth Recently, 59-year-old former Saturday Night Live stand-up comic Norm MacDonald caused a not-so-funny stir when he expressed his personal opinion about the #MeToo movement speaking in defense of Louis CK and Roseanne Barr. Following the backlash of his actions, he is diligently doing damage control for his questionable opinion by posting a public apology on ... Inside Iliza Shlesingers Life With Husband and How Much She is Worth Now Witty, spontaneous, and truly humorous, Iliza Shlesinger is an American comedian who is clearly proving that the stereotypical claim that women are not really funny is not only incredibly wrong but completely outrageous. Having been in the game for more than 10 years, Shlesinger has grown bigger with each step, stunning fans with her incredible ... Who Is Nessa Diab? Details of her Parents, Ethnicity & Relationship With Colin Kaepernick Nessa Diab has gained more fame as the girlfriend of different footballers than in her career. She is currently with the popular National Football League (NFL) player, Colin Kaepernick, and has stood by his side during his most trying times. Also known for her mononym, Nessa, she recently engaged in a tweet battle with the ... Samantha Bee Inside the Life of Full Frontal Comedian and Presenter We have over the decades seen various brands of humor and personalities who have walked the ropes. One of the formidable forces in the world of comedy is no other than the iconic Samantha Bee of the Daily Show who now runs her own television show on TBS channel. She is a Canadian-American political commentator, ... What Happened To Jessica Williamss Boyfriend And Which Are Her Best Works? Jessica Williams is a woman who has a lot of feathers in her cap and keeps acquiring more. The former senior political correspondent of the comic Daily Show, who is also a comedian and actress whose recent movie appearance include starring as a playwright just recovering from a recent split with her boyfriend, Damon, and ... Who is Nicole Byer? Here are 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Comedian Nicole Byer, an American comedian, actress, and writer, made a name for herself after she played supporting roles on MTVs prank show Ladylike and the reality show Girl Code. The latter was a series that featured comedians who analyzed in minute details, all the issues that young women deal with daily, from period to dating, to weird friendship dynamics and questions about sex. Currently, ... A Closer Look At Bart Kwans Ethnicity, Height & Personal Life Bart Kwan is one of few Asians who is known for being successful in the comic industry at an international level. His fame broke out after the YouTube channel which he created with his close pal Joe Jo garnered up massive followings. The talented duo has been running the channel since 2007 and their success ... Heres How VanossGaming Achieved Fame Online, His Worth and Other Facts About The Gamer For many years, the decision to drop out of college to pursue an online career was considered to be foolish and self-destructive by conventional wisdom. It was no different when Evan Fong, popularly known as VanossGaming, dropped out of college to pursue a YouTube career. However, that radical move paid off, and he stands shoulder to ... Desi Perkins Ethnicity, Net Worth & Husband YouTube is littered with videos of makeup tutorials by different people but if you are interested in learning how to do your makeup like a pro, there is just one person on that platform who you must follow. She is none other than Desi Perkins! She is a popular make-up artist, Instagram star, and vlogger. Desi, ... The Phases of Casey Neistats Pursuits and His Love Story With Candice Pool YouTuber, vlogger, filmmaker, and creator extraordinaire; these are just a few hats that Casey Neistat wears and the story of how he got here is incredible. A native of Connecticut, Neistat started out by making refreshingly-authentic short films and videos that featured content that was based on everyday life and called attention to serious issues. He ... Connor Franta Inside The Life of American YouTuber YouTube has produced a lot of young celebrities in modern times and Connor Franta happens to be one of them. Apart from being a YouTuber, the young American is also an entrepreneur, entertainer, and writer. His journey to fame began almost a decade ago when he started a self-named YouTube channel where he uploads content ranging ... Rhett and Link Bio, Who are Their Wives, Net Worth and Family Facts Rhett and Link refer to an American comedy duo who are very popular on YouTube. They are known for their comic songs, viral commercials, skits and the daily show, Good Mythical Morning. Good Mythical Morning is the most watched daily show online, averaging 100 million views in a month. The show has featured guests such ... A Walk Through The Maze of Ryan Higas Career Pursuits And Relationship With Arden Cho Ryan Higa is not only celebrated as a YouTube star, but he is also famed for appearing on television screens as an actor and comedian. Nigahiga, his Youtube channel, has gathered over 20 million subscribers and billions of views with his different comic acts, short films, and music videos uploads. With the rise in his career, ... What to Know About The Shows That Made Craig Ferguson a Star and His Family Ties Rising to the top of your profession can sometimes be a hard and difficult process. It requires days and nights of working consistently hard to be better than what you were yesterday. It requires not giving up when all of your experiences seem to be pushing you to quit. It is because of these challenges ... David Dobrik Married Liza Koshy for One Month Inside His Family and Relationships David Dobrik is a YouTube sensation who has garnered fame not just for his vlogs but his love life too. Given his career as a YouTuber, his channel is one place where he shares his romantic escapades. With a cute boyish look like his, this Slovakian young man is definitely a good catch, and not ... Merrell Twins Bio Ethnicity, Parents & Boyfriend One of the beautiful things about modern life is social media. As rudimentary as it might seem, it could turn out to be the greatest thing that would be invented in the next 50 years because of its impact on human life. Very few tools have revolutionized human behavior and culture as much as social ... Who Is Bunny Meyer, Is She Married & What Is Her Net Worth? Bunny Meyer is a YouTube celebrity who has amassed over 8.8 million subscribers with 1.5 million viewers on her channel. She is popularly known as Grav3yardgirl and is one of the highest-paid YouTubers in the world. She initially started out as a fashion designer and later chose the path of a YouTuber. Grav3yardgirl has used her knowledge on fashion, makeup, ... Ninja Inside The Life of The American YouTuber and Internet Personality Ninja is a talented video game player known for his mastery of Fortnite and other seemingly difficult games he plays with ease. The video gamer made a career out of what is ordinarily the hobby of many people and has since then amassed a huge online following. Find out about him here, including the controversies that ... What Is Eva Gutowskis True Sexuality and How Did She Rise So Fast As an Influencer? Ever since Eva Gutowski joined YouTube in 2011, it has been an interesting journey for her, moving from one milestone to the other. Backed by an army of young women and teenage girl fans known as Evanators, she has risen to become one of the most-talked-about personalities in the digital stratosphere. She has also leveraged ... Emma Chamberlain Biography Age, Height & Net Worth Before now, people in the entertainment industry could only achieve popularity after many years of dedication and hard work but since social media came into the scene, massive success and overnight popularity became possible. That is the story of Emma Chamberlain who encountered fame as a fifteen-year-old. Emma is one of the many young people who became ... Anna Akana Ethnicity, Boyfriend & Net Worth There is a new crop of YouTubers known by their different contents with a very strong uniqueness that stands every one of them out, some upload video games, some fashion while some others have comedy video contents to showcase on their channels. Anna Akana has used her platform to showcase her comedy contents to the ... Revealing Truths About Lilly Singhs Ethnic Background, Family and Her Relationship With Yousef Erakat Lilly Singh is an Indian-Canadian YouTube personality, actress, and comedian also known as Superwoman. She kicked off her YouTube career in 2010 with the launch of her channel IISuperwomanII and followed it up with a vlog channel in 2011. This paved the way for her fame and success which led to a world tour. The ... Who Is Andrea Constand, Is She Married and What Is Her Connection With Bill Cosby? Many people got sexually molested but could not voice out due to the stigma victims suffer and what will become of them thereafter. Very few of the victims danm every consequence to seek justice and bring the perpetrator to the book, like Andrea Constand. She never got any media buzz, not until her friend cum molester; ... Who Is Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott)? Here Are Facts You Need To Know Lannan Eacott became a person of interest after his YouTube channel, LazarBeam pulled him to the limelight. Initially, he started with uploads of Madden Challenge videos before deciding to build his own channel in January 2015. Within the space of three years, his YouTube channel had gathered over 7 million loyal subscribers. Today, he has not ... Puzzling Facts About Wengies YouTube Success and More About Her Fiance Among the many YouTubers who have succeeded in winning the hearts of millions of people is Wengie. She is a Chinese-Australian YouTube personality, vlogger, singer, and voice actress. Wengie is famous for a lot of things, from her simple life hacks, DIYs, craft ideas to fun experiments, tricks and pranks. Her content portfolio also includes hair tutorials, diet & fitness tips, lookbooks, ... Is Jeffree Star A Billionaire and How Much Does He Make On YouTube? If looks can be deceptive then theres no other person who proves this maxim better than Jeffree Star. A quick look at Stars pictures would likely leave you wondering whether or not to tag him a male or female. But who says being controversial has to be a curse? For Star, his looks have caught ... The Place of Rosanna Pansinos Career Hats In Her Rise To Fame and Facts About Her Personal Life There are a few phrases that could summarize Rosanna Pansinos rise to fame. None of them can do it better than the famous axiom, no knowledge is lost. Her popularity YouTube comes out of her foray into other professions, specifically acting. Although acting now occupies one of the major professional hats in Rosannas resume, it was ... Muselk (Elliott Watkins) Biography Age, Girlfriend and Net Worth The new and best in-thing in terms of career is video gaming and we have over time seen young men and women make massive income from an activity that was purportedly designed to serve as a hobby or a relaxation activity. One of such individuals is the Australian-born YouTube Celebrity and Twitch streamer, Muselk, whose ... PopularMMOs Biography: 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know We have over the years seen social media millionaires, especially on the YouTube social platform. These celebrities cum millionaires have made names for themselves after carving out niches on the internet, and a typical example of one of such exciting media personality on the YouTube is American Minecraft gamer and YouTube star, PopularMMOs whose channel ... Jason Nash Once Married Marney Hochman What To Know About His Ex-Wife and Kids The now-defunct video-sharing app Vine was the path that led Jason Nash to fame. With it, he built an audience of over two million followers, which he parlayed into a significant YouTube career. That move has seen him become one of the most popular personalities on the internet, with the cash income to go with ... Where Does Dantdm Live? What Do We Know About His Net Worth, Wife and Brother? Most parents buy video games for their kids to occupy their time leisure, while other parents frown at their kids when they play video games. Despite the disparity, every parent would be proud of their child if he/she eventually turns a celebrity or millionaire through playing video games like Dantdm. Biography of Dantdm Dantdm was born Daniel ... LaurDIY Biography: 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTuber LaurDIY is the YouTube channel of Lauren Riihimaki which she created on December 1, 2011, when she was still a college undergrad with the sole aim of giving Do It Yourself (DIY) as well as practical fashion and beauty tips to her followers. She has used the channel to establish herself as a YouTube personality ... Lachlan Ross Power Bio And Family Life Of Australian The YouTube Star It is amazing the varied sources of income that the internet has made possible in this day and age. Internet fame can get its holder a whole lot of monetary and social benefits, but it must be noted that it does not come easy or cheap. For those who desire fame, content is the sacrifice ... Alfie Deyes Bio and Net Worth: Everything You Need To Know Alfie Deyes is one internet personality you definitely would like to know about. He boasts of over 10 million subscribers on three of his YouTube channels and has three bestseller books to his name. He is probably the most renowned young personality on YouTube today and his vlogging empire continues to grow by the day. ... Colleen Ballingers Love Story With Husband Erik Stocklin and How Much She Is Worth Now Colleen Ballinger is an American comedian and YouTuber who is a very funny, adventurous, and highly talented woman. She is also an actress, singer, and writer. Collen is widely known for her work on YouTube where she posts content on her channel, Miranda Sings. The comedian has gained many subscribers over the years and has ... Who Are The Dude Perfect Members and How Much Are They Worth? Entertainment in the 21st century can be digested in many forms and with platforms like YouTube, the creators and purveyors of entertainment have been democratized. Today, one of the most popular platforms to exhibit ones creative talents is YouTube, even though there are other platforms like Twitter, Facebook, who suffer in comparison to YouTube because ... Who Is Rudy Mancuso, What Is His Earning Power and What Do We Know About His Girlfriend? Rudy Mancuso started his internet journey on Vine. He would later transition to YouTube where he solidified his place among the internets most beloved comedic creators. He is now regarded as one of the renowned internet personalities in the world, with a presence in mainstream TV and film projects like Comedy Centrals Drunk History and ... Vsauce (Michael Stevens) Biography and Net Worth: All You Need To Know The advent of YouTube and the internet as a whole revolutionized how human beings consume information. With each passing year, the percentage of learning that is done in a traditional classroom decrease as a seismic shift to internet-based learning happens in our education industry. From open courses online to YouTube classes and videos, there are ... How did Jake Paul Make His YouTube Big Break and Who is His Wife? One of the most interesting Social Media personalities of the 21st century is the young and popular Jake Paul whose elder brother is the famed Vine star, Logan Paul. Jake has utilized the power of the internet to bring himself to the limelight with a channel named JakePaulProductions that has amassed up to six billion ... 5 Facts You Need To Know About Reaction Time (Tal Fishman) The American YouTuber Before 2015, the leading meaning of reaction time was the amount of time it takes to respond to a stimulus, until Tal Fishman started his channel, Reaction Time on YouTube and the dominant meaning changed. Today, a google search of Reaction Time would deliver Tal Fishmans videos and YouTube channel link with a few physics ... Grace Helbig Net Worth, Boyfriend and Family Life of The YouTuber Grace Helbig is an American internet personality, comedian, actress, and writer. She became popular due to her daily vlog series, DailyGrace, which ran on My Damn Channel from 2008 to 2013. Helbig is also popular for her own indie series on YouTube, ItsGrace, which she launched in 2014. Her vlogs which feature random stuff such as ... Mark Wiens Bio Ethnicity, Wife and Parents Food is a great way to connect with people. We all love to eat, if not for the pleasure of food, the satisfaction of quenching hunger, and the very process of providing and sharing that food is part of the strongest bonds that bind humanity together. Maybe it is our historical connection to food, where ... Is Filthy Frank Dead, What Happened To Him and How Much Is He Worth? As George Kusunoki Miller, he was a nobody. However, as Filthy Frank, George was one of the most famous internet personalities on the planet. The Filthy Frank Show, a sketch series on his YouTube channel, TVFilthyFrank, was one of the platforms most influential creations. He is the reason a crazy dance song, Harlem Shake, made it ... CaptainSparklez Bio Net Worth, House and Cars of The Famous YouTuber Sometimes, what society wants from its citizens is quite different from what the citizens want for themselves. This is evident in the life and career of video blogger and American YouTube personality, Jordan Maron famous for his YouTube channel CaptainSparklez. He dropped out of school after discovering his talent in playing an online game called Minecraft. ... Who is Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg)? Here are Facts You Must Know Canadian Youtube personality, Simply Nailogical (Cristine Rotenberg) originally started out polishing and designing nails even before it became a trendy culture in the social media. Simply Nailogica started out her showbiz career in her early days as a child actress, acting in commercials for game and toy companies. Aside from acting, she is blogger, vlogger, specializing ... 5 Interesting Facts You Need To Know About Huda Beauty In the world of entrepreneurship, it is interesting when an individual has a mentor who he/she looks up to, this yield more productivity on the part of the individual. The iconic and rich American beautician and makeup artist Huda Kattan nicknamed Heida is the founder of the Huda Beauty blog which is number one Instagram beauty blog ... Is Dino MasterChef Gay? Details About His Ethnicity, Girlfriend, Where He Is Now Food, for the better part of the early years of human life, was nothing more than what we needed for survival. There was no artistry or curation to the method of cooking. The scarcity of food left no room for artistic expression until we figured out agriculture and we could make as much as we ... Who Is Gabbie Hanna And How Did She Become Famous? As the world shifts to digital media and depends more and more on streaming services for its news and entertainment content, YouTubers have become one of the leading creators in the new media world. Their understanding of the online audience: how to create, maintain, and increase followers, are all handy skills that have primed them ... Jacksepticeye Height, Girlfriend & Net Worth Jacksepticeye is a YouTuber and actor who gained popularity with a series of gaming videos he uploads on his channel to the delight of millions of his subscribers. He is Known primarily for his comic video game series titled Lets Play and his vlogs. His channel was formerly ranked 46th in the list of most subscribed ... Chris Heria Personal Details: About His Wife, Height & Ethnicity Background In this generation, keeping fit has become one of the major criteria for being hale and hearty. In fact, most occupations these days are majorly concerned with ones body mass, weight and looks. Unlike the past where most people have to register in a gym to keep fit, social media has made it quite easy ... Everything You Need To Know About Game Grumps Gaming is becoming incredibly popular on YouTube these days with game vloggers make millions of dollars out of them yearly. One of the most popular up-coming gaming YouTube channels is Game Grumps. The Lets Play series was created in 2012 and celebrated its fifth anniversary on July 18th, 2017. In six years of its existence, the ... Daithi De Nogla Biography, Girlfriend and Net Worth YouTube has created an avenue for many to make wealth and become famous from the comfort of their homes while having fun. Many have built a career out of the platform, uploading numerous videos that have earned them the admiration of viewers across the globe. For Daithi De Nogla, he is loved for his humorous commentary on ... Does Phoebe Robinson Have A Boyfriend or Husband and What Do We Know About Her Family? Phoebe Robinson is a New York-based comedian, writer, and actress. She is best known as the co-creator and co-host of the WNYC Studios podcast 2 Dope Queens. Just like some other female comedians, she never had any original plans of becoming a stand-up comedian even though, according to her, she took a class on a whim at Carolines on Broadway. After ... Who Are Lex and Alana from Listed Sisters? What Is Their Ethnicity & Is the Show Cancelled? America is a country built on diversity. Everywhere you look all over the country, a countless number of immigrants or children of immigrants have become an integral part of the fabric of the country. From entertainment to business, immigrants are creating a niche for themselves and climbing to the summit of their respective professions. One ... Riveting Facts About Danielle Lombard And What She Is Best Known For The American entertainment industry is one that provides many avenues for aspiring hopefuls to express their talents and become famous. From films to television shows and game shows, there is no shortage of ways for men and women who desire fame to pursue and earn it in the United States of America. Another tested medium ... Unearthing New Details About The YouTube Success And Personal Life of Alex Burriss of Wassabi Productions Wildly hilarious and truly audacious, Alex Wassabi is an American YouTuber who has become a very popular face on the video-sharing platform after having garnered millions of subscribers over the years by keeping people glued to his channel with his witty parody video releases. If you have always loved parody videos, there is every chance ... Everything You Need To Know About H2O Delirious H2O Delirious whose full birth name is reported to be Jonathan Gormon Dennis has successfully kept himself mystified by hiding his face behind the masks leaving his loyal fans speculating who he really is for many years. The American YouTube star is easily identified by the Jason Mask Style with make-up which he wears on his ... Who Is HolaSoyGerman and What Happened To Him? German Garmendia has certainly seen it all when it comes to internet success. His channels, HolaSoyGerman and JuegaGerman are in the top twenty most subscribed channel on YouTube. The Chilean YouTuber found a way to tap into one of the worlds greatest inventions and make a living from it. He has been able to build ... Who Are Glenn Becks Family, What Is His Net Worth And What Happened To Him? The American political commentary space is filled with different personalities. A few of them, through their rhetoric, charisma, and resources have been able to build a large following of men and women who listen to them for insight and direction for various political and social issues in the United States. For Conservatives, the story is ... Following Charissa Thompsons Rise Through The Ranks Of Sports Casting and All About Her Boyfriend Superstar TV host and sportscaster, Charissa Thompson, has been hailed as one of the highest-profile women journalists in America, and the reason is there for all to see. She has worked for popular establishments such as Versus, Yahoo! Sports, ESPN, GSN, and Big Ten Network. She currently hosts the popular pre-game show, Fox NFL Kickoff, ... Is Chris Kattan Gay or Does He Have A Wife? What Is His Net Worth? Chris Kattan is a popular American comedian and actor. He has appeared in several comic movies and TV series such as The Middle, A Night at the Roxbury and Bunnicula. Kattan is, however, most popular for his six-year stint as a cast member of Saturday Night Live. During his time on the legendary show, he ... Everything You Should Know About the Rise of Insta Star Claire Abbott and Why She Gave It All Up A lot of young Americans have shot into the limelight for uploading different kinds of videos on YouTube. Some of these young stars include Connor Franta, Desi Perkins, Emma Chamberlain, the Dolan Twins (Ethan and Grayson), and Claire Abbott. The latter became a social media celebrity for uploading sexy bikini pictures of herself on social media. Apart from ... 5 Facts You Need To Know About The YouTube Channel h3h3Productions H3h3Productions is a YouTube channel that specializes on Comic responses or reactions of other contents or trendy stories. The celebrity couple that created the channel has over time racked up sizable views for their commentaries and contents. Even though they had their own fair share of copyright cases, thankfully they scored an unprecedented victory in all ... Lilypichu Bio Height, Brother and Love Story With Albert SleightlyMusical Chang Like most popular internet celebrities, Lilypichu is one of those Twitch streamers who spend their lives on camera. From daydreaming about the possibility of becoming a full-time professional streamer, she grew to live out her dreams on the popular live streaming platform where people play games, make crafts, and showcase their day-to-day activities. Given the rise of ... KSI What To Know About His Girlfriend, Brother Deji Olatunji & Net Worth Assuredly, when Internet inventors Vint Cerf and Bob Khan created the technological masterpiece, they probably did not know how massive the creation will be harnessed by many for different purposes including as a platform for earning money through content creation. One of such person who smiles to the bank regularly today for spending time creating ... The Interesting Progression and Highlights of Carrie Keagans Career as a Host and Actress Carrie Keagan has garnered huge fame through her various stints on television. She is not just your regular TV host but one with a difference. Keagan has hosted several high profile events and TV shows, including VH1s Big Morning Buzz Live and Fox News Channels Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. However, not many know she ... The Gist On Elise Jordans Marriages And Her Rise To Prominence Political commentaries tend to be boring when it is handled by someone who does not have a knack for it. However, when you see the likes of Elise Jordan run the same commentary, you will have a lot of reasons to look forward to watching her again as the journalist is well-versed in the field ... What Is Timmy Thick Best Known For and How Successful Is The Star? Thanks to the internet, many people whose talents would have ordinarily gone unnoticed have become famous. A very good example of this modern-day internet celebrity is Timmy Thick, an American social media star. He became popular on Instagram due to his penchant for posting raunchy pictures of himself. He also often posted videos of himself ... What Does Heather Storm Do For a Living and Who Is She Dating? Reality Television is a great way to make a name for oneself as well as amass a fortune. Heather Storm can attest to this as she is one of those who have made a name and earned a lot from reality TV. She made her name appearing on shows like Car Fanatics, Awesome Autos, and, ... Matt Carriker Biography Net Worth, Wife & Height Unlike your regular veterinary doctor next door, Matt Carriker chose to spice up his noble profession with the unusual. Though he is known to many as a medical practitioner, Carriker is better renowned as a YouTube star and an animal lover. Having recorded huge successes on his various YouTube channels, the vet doctors name and ... Jillian Mele of Fox News Career Achievements, Husband & Measurements There are quite a good number of presenters on radio and television who listeners and viewers may never wish to miss any of their shows because of their sensational golden voice, beauty or the special way or artistry they anchor their shows. Jillian Mele is one of such. She has been at the top of ... Who is Gillian Turner of Fox News? Her Fiance or Husband and Net Worth Gillian Turner is well-known as a news correspondent for Fox News Channel but before she became a TV personality, she built an intimidating resume working for different institutions, including the American government. She served in different capacities at the White House National Security Council during the administration of former US Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. ... Gloria Govan Bio Age, Ethnicity & Height Even as Gloria Govan is famous as an American actress, author, a TV host, and reality television star, shes more popular as the wife of the former NBA player, Matt Barnes. She became known after appearing on the Florida version of the reality television series, Basketball Wives and later, Basketball Wives: LA after Matt was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sadly, ... Michael Fishmans Interesting Start as an Actor and Why He Divorced His Wife of Many Years When one door closes, another one opens. As silly as that axiom may seem, it is the story of the resurgence of Michael Fishman, who plays D.J Conner on the popular show, Roseanne. Having played the character for several years as a child actor into his teenage years; when the show originally ended, Michael did ... Who Is October Gonzalez Tony Gonzalezs Wife? All You Need To Know October Gonzalez is a popular American TV host and media personality. Additionally, she is also a model. Gonzalez has hosted several TV shows such as Beat Shazam, Entertainment Tonight, and Rachel Ray. She has also featured in several reality TV shows. Gonzalezs fame is not just due to her profession but also because of her ... Who Is Tony Berlin Harris Faulkners Husband: His Children and Family Facts Tony Berlin is a popular American media guru. He has variously worked as a reporter, anchor, and producer for some of the biggest TV networks in America. They include CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC (where he hosted the popular Good Morning America). Berlin has now diversified into public relations and owns his own PR firm. ... The Progression of Gianna Tobonis Journalism Career and Details About Her Marriage to Kyle Buckley Gianna Toboni may not be your ideal newscaster but her unusual reporting is what made her a household name. The American journalist is renowned for her hard-hitting and authentic reportage. A motivator and activist for total press freedom, Gianna loves to explore pervasive cultural issues. Not only does this unique and ambitious journalist call for all ... Dog The Bounty Hunters Family Including Details of His Late Wife and Kids Popularly known as Dog, a name which he got from the television series, Dog The Bounty Hunter, Duane Chapman, an American bounty hunter, and one-time bail bondsman, went from being convicted for a felony to being a reality TV star. He was brought to the limelight following the capture of the convicted criminal, Andrew Luster in 2003 and this eventually made ... Vicky Karayiannis, Chris Cornells Wifes Bio, Children and Family The world of showbiz is made up of different people who serve different roles, and function in a variety of capacities, and one of the most important people are those in the background. Publicists are undoubtedly one of these background people yet they are vital to the life and fame of most of our favorite ... Joe Rogan Has A Step-Daughter and 2 Other Kids With Wife Jessica Ditzel Meet His Family Joe Rogan is a popular American stand-up comedian and TV host. His journey to stardom began in the late 80s and has seen him host several shows, the most popular is the game show titled Fear Factor. The exciting show dares contestants to face some of their greatest fears and embark on challenging stunts. The ... Josh Gates and Wife Hallie Gnatovich Have 2 Kids But Who Has the Higher Net Worth? Best known for his explorations and adventures, Josh Gates, is a television presenter with a voracious appetite for seeing the world and the beauties in it. Some of that beauty, however, is in his home, in the form of two children he shares with his wife, Hallie Gnatovich. Not excluded is their marriage which has lasted ... Holly Sonders Wiki, Plastic Surgery & Why She Divorced Her Husband Erik Kuselias After trying everything within her capacity to have a low key wedding, Holly Sonders was drawn to the public because of her husbands controversy at his workplace. Well, the two are rumored to be divorced but the article below will give more light on how true these rumors are. Meanwhile, Holly Sonders is yet to ... Nadeska Alexis Bio Age, Boyfriend & Net Worth Journalism is one diverse profession that allows the practitioners to choose their area of specialty, build a career on it by reporting the truth and facts which in the long run will distinguish them as deserving commendation and recognition among their peers. Some choose to specialize in political journalism, while to others it is sports ... Media Platforms Charlamagne Tha God Has Explored and All The Controversies He Has Courted Charlamagne Tha God is an American on-air personality, radio presenter, and more recently, author. He is popularly known as a co-host on New York radios nationally syndicated show, The Breakfast Club, a program he has been hosting alongside DJ Envy and Angela Yee since 2010. However, his early years had no connection to his current career ... A Look At Jimmy Fallons Net Worth and Family Including His Wife & Kids Sometimes, a childs passion for something is a pointer to what he/she would become in the future. As a child, Jimmy Fallon was literally obsessed with watching the late-night comedy program, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Then, his parents would tape the clean parts for him to watch and later, he and his sister would re-enact sketches from the ... Kay Adams Biography Does The Sportscaster Have A Husband or Boyfriend? When you hear the phrase sports enthusiast, women are hardly the first group that comes to mind. Well, thats changing pretty fast. Especially with the rise of female sports analysts and broadcasters like Kay Adams who is famed for knowing more about sports than most men do. And why not, shes paid handsomely for it ... Ben Shapiros Family Meet His Wife, Kids and Sister Who is Popular for the Wrong Reasons A multi-talented man, Ben Shapiro is a man of controversial nature, an attribute that has made him an unusual public figure. An intellectual whose career path was clearly defined even before he became a man, the Jewish conservative commentator has always had his way with words. He became popular by sharing his critical and often ... QVC Shawn Killinger Bio Husband, Net Worth & Facts To Know Shawn Killinger is a prominent TV personality who has worked her way to the top. Though not initially a journalist by training, she defied the odds and today has established herself as a household name, as well as, worked alongside some industry legends. More than just being a reporter, newscaster, and anchor, heres all you ... Liv Lo Dissecting the Ethnicity, Parents and Personal Life of Henry Goldings Wife While many are aware that Liv Lo is the better half to Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding, only a few understand why his beautiful wife appears increasingly endearing to fans. A former model turned TV personality, and fitness star, Liv has an impressive resume which when combined with that of her statuesque spouse is considered a perfect ... Stpeach Age, Husband and Other Facts About The Twitch Streamer Lisa Vannatta, famously known by her online alias, STPeach is a Canadian video game streamer cum vlogger who has garnered fame through her appearances on different video-sharing/social networking platforms such as Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, Reddit, and Twitter. The beautiful lady got her career to a start in August 2015 when she joined the live streaming video platform, Twitch. She rose to ... Insights into Seth Meyers Wife, Family and What His Net Worth Is Celebrities are mostly remembered and known for the work they do. For Seth Meyers, his career as a comedian, writer, actor, TV host, and producer is his biggest identifier. He was on Saturday Night Live SNL show as a head writer and cast member for more than ten years during which he built a reputation ... Who Is Jessica Gadsden Age, Net Worth & All About Charlamagne tha Gods Wife Jessica Gadsden is an American fitness coach as well as a personal trainer. She is better known as the spouse of popular American media personality, Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamange Tha God is a well-known TV and radio personality in the U.S. He has featured in several shows (both on the radio and TV) and is ... Who Is Collins Tuohy Michael Ohers sister ? Her Wedding, Husband & Net Worth Collins Tuohy is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, blogger, and social media personality. She is also better known as the adoptive sister of NFL player, Michael Oher, whose life story inspired the Hollywood blockbuster The Blind Side. The Blind Side tells the true life story of Oher who grew up in an impoverished background consisting of a ... Eye-Popping Facts About The Personal Life And Career Success Of Sportscaster Heidi Watney Heidi Watney is a media personality who has created a niche for herself as a sportscaster. Starting out as a radio presenter, the brilliant young lady has gone on to work for several prominent sports networks, and currently, she is with the MLB. The sportscaster is also known to have been an avid sports lady right ... Marty Lagina Bio Siblings (Martina and Rick Lagina), Net Worth and Wife Marty Lagina is an American engineer and businessman who has risen to fame as a reality TV star. This is thanks to his involvement in the adventure TV series, The Curse of Oak Island. The Curse of Oak Island is a long-running TV series which airs on the history channel. The show aims to solve ... Is Jordan Schlansky Just A Character or a Real Life Person and What Does He Do? The world of late-night television is an interesting one. Shows during that time are geared towards giving viewers comedic relief from a long day at work through interviews and comedy sketches. The often charismatic host of this show requires the balancing talent of a producer whose primary job is to deliver great episodes. It is ... Heres How Wealthy Jimmy Kimmel Is From All The Phases of His Career, Marriages and Sons Health Jimmy Kimmel is a renowned late-night talk show host known for his charm, wit, and the A-list guests he features on his show. As the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! On ABC, Jimmy has been serving comedy to television viewers for years which played a pivotal role in launching him into mainstream fame and enabled ... Natasha Bertrand Biography Is She Married? Who Is the Husband & What Is Her Age? Natasha Bertrand is not just a young prominent journalist but a first-rate investigative reporter. With her natural beauty and smile, Natashas sharp, insightful political commentary also makes her a thorough reporter. Her sound political perspective and coverage in the country have made her a force to be reckoned with in the profession. Renowned for her ... What Happened to Shane Kilcher? His Injury Update, Net Worth and More Shane Kilcher is well-known thanks to the Discovery Channel series Alaska: The Last Frontier. It is a show that documents the daily lives of the extended Kilcher family, people who live without plumbing or modern heating. The episodes follow their routines as they rely on hunting and farming for their nutritional needs as well as ... Is Stephanie Gosk Gay or Lesbian, Who is the Wife or Partner Jenna Wolfe? In August 2013, NBCs Today viewers were greeted with two shocking news. Today weekend anchor, Jenna Wolfe, announced that she was as a lesbian, introducing her partner as NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and said the two are expecting their first child. A long time has passed since then and certainly, a lot of things ... Nikki Mudarris Bio and Net Worth: 5 Interesting Facts You Need to Know Nikki Mudarris, also known as Miss Nikki Baby, is a reality television star, model and fashionista. Shes best known for VH1s reality TV series Love & Hip-Hop: Hollywood. Her entrepreneurial skills enable her to create and run a successful lingerie line Nude by Nikki. Not only that, but Nikki has also successfully run the Las ... 5 Interesting Things You Need To Know About Kelly Nash Ever heard of the lady who gained national prominence for taking a selfie with a dangerous ball just a few inches away from hitting her? Its no other person than Kelly Nash, an American sports broadcaster currently working as host of The Rundown show which airs on MLB Network every weekday at 2 pm ET. ... Understanding The Height of Fame John Oliver Achieved With The Daily Show and How He Met His Wife Without knowledge of who he is and his exemplary career, John Oliver cuts an unassuming figure of a regular man but he is one of the most influential personalities in America, especially on television. Since he began his career in 1998, he has been a loud and unapologetic agent of change, using his wit and ... Why Did Big Chief Leave Street Outlaws, Where Is He Now And Why Did He Divorce His Wife? Justin Shearer, otherwise known by his professional name Big Chief is a famous street racer and television personality. He is famously known for being one of the main characters on the racing reality television series, Street Outlaws. Justin, who had been a significant part of the show since its premiere in 2013, appeared in a ... Who is Josina Anderson of ESPN? Her Husband and Family Facts There has been a gradual paradigm shift in the world of sports which has today produced the likes of Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka, and other female athletes that are pulling great feats in different sporting fields. Their achievements have also been followed by the emergence of female sports journalists such as Jillian Mele, Eboni Williams, ... Is Brittany Wagner Married, Who Is The Husband, How Old Is She? Brittany Wagner has been an inspiration to a lot of sports youngster. She has won the hearts of many athletic students with her role as a life coach and an academic counselor. She is well groomed in her career and has worked over a decade for The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and The National ... Tati Westbrook Bio Age, Husband & Net Worth With five videos dished out every week, alongside running her own brand, beauty guru, and YouTube superstar Tati Westbrook has proved to the world that theres utterly no impossibility or limit to whatever one is passionate about. Tati is best known for being the owner and manager of the worlds most-viewed beauty and lifestyle YouTube channel, ... Cathy Areus Long Road to Becoming a Freelance Journalist and What to Know About Her Kids An American freelance journalist, news analyst, and author, Cathy Areu has built a lasting reputation for herself on cable television. Popular for her skillful and sassy presentation of professional views on varying topics including cultural and feminist issues, Cathy is an inspiration to many women across the globe. In addition to being a journalist, she ... Tucker Carlsons Love Story With Wife Susan Andrews, their Children and Net Worth Today On the TV screens, Tucker Carlson is that fiery fellow who passionately dishes out his conservative and often controversial views on issues of national importance. Such brazenness has fetched him many enemies, especially on the left-wing, but it has also helped him cement a reputation as one of the foremost broadcast journalists in America. His ... Paige Wyatts Net Worth, Boyfriend and Where She Is Now Paige Wyatt became popular after the Wyatt family began running the reality television show, American Guns. The Wyatt family comprises Rich Wyatt (father), Renee Wyatt (mother), Paige and Kurt Wyatt (children). Rich Wyatt originally ran a gun shop, the Gunsmoke Guns in Wheat Ridge, Colorado which is outside of Denver. The business which he ran together ... The Progression of Howard Sterns Career As A Media Personality And Why He Divorced His First Wife Howard Stern is a legendary American radio host, who has also done some notable work as an actor, producer, author, as well as photographer. The radio personality achieved worldwide fame as a result of his self-titled radio program, The Howard Stern Show. As a professional radio personality, he has worked in different radio stations. Since 2006, ... Lisa Joyners Biography Ethnicity, Net Worth and Other Key Facts Lisa Joyner is an American Journalist, TV talk show host, and actress. Some of her well-known works are her correspondences for the Los Angeles based TV KCBS, inFANity show, Find My Family Show including her film and television appearances in Brimstone, American Sweetheart, The Bold and The Beautiful among others. Lisas passion for reconnecting people with their biological families ... Amanda Balionis Rise Through the Ranks of Sportscasting and the Identity of Her Boyfriend Amanda Balionis is an American sportscaster currently working as a golf broadcaster for CBS Sports. Among so many of her works in the field of sports reporting, Amandas PGA Tour coverage seems to be the most popular so far. She covered the Super Bowl working with CBS Sports social media team in Atlanta, where she ... Dissecting Charles Paynes Sexual Allegations, Its After Effects and More About His Wife Charles Payne had a respectable career as an analyst on Wall Street before he made the transition to television and became a contributor and later a host on Fox. In that time, his expertise has come under scrutiny, and he has been at the center of at least one major controversy. The major controversy in question ... Erik Asla And Tryra Banks Split: Everything You Need To Know Tyra Banks and Erik Asla have called it quits! The couple, who began dating in 2013 and have a son named York Banks Asla, has decided to end what everybody taught was the perfect relationship. Neither person has come out to give a reason for the breakup, but what is obvious right now is that ... What to Note About Dr Terry Dubrows Qualifications, TV Works and Marriage to Heather Kent In the realm of people that we expect to see regularly on our screens, medical doctors are closer to the bottom of the list. Aside from the fact that their work has little correlation with TV, they are presumably too busy to pursue life as TV personalities. Yet, a few of them have usurped this ... Jessica Goch Bio: 5 Things You Didnt Know About Ninjas Wife Jessica Goch is the Schofield-born American Social Media Influencer who has worked as a model but is now better known as a host and interviewer of prominent Electronic sports celebrities at popular gaming events/tournaments. The screen queen also serves as the manager of her famous husband Ninja aka Tyler Blevins whose exploits on Twitch and Fortnite has ... CNNs Chris Cuomo Biography Wife, Family & Net worth Chris Cuomo needs no elaborate introduction as he has starred graced many prominent Television cable networks and his voice has been heard through acknowledged radio shows. He is a television journalist and Lawyer who has previously worked for ABC News as Chief law and justice correspondent as well as a co-anchor on 20/20. If you still ... Neil deGrasse Tyson Family, Religion & Net Worth Neil deGrasse Tyson is a distinguished American astrophysicist and author who has been able to achieve so much after falling in love with astronomy at the age of 9. He has since attended and become an alumnus of prestigious universities such as Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and also recorded numerous achievements in his field of ... Is Simon Cowell Gay? Does He Have A Wife or Girlfriend and Why is He Famous? Simon Cowell is a well-known talent show judge, TV producer, entrepreneur and one of the most popular TV personalities that Britain has ever produced. In conjunction with his company, Syco, Cowell is the brain behind hugely successful talent hunt shows such as The X-Factor UK, The X-Factor US, Britains Got Talent, Americas Got Talent and ... Everything To Know About Joanna Gaines Life With Chip Gaines, Their Business Pursuits and Kids Joanna Gaines and her husband Chip Gaines became celebrities after their television show Fixer Upper began airing back in 2013. The show which was about home renovation and decoration ran for about 6 seasons with a total of 79 episodes before the couple bade farewell to it in April 2018. Apart from their appearances on ... Who Is Larry The Cable Guy? What To Know About His Wife And Net Worth Larry the Cable Guy is a self-professed country kid renowned for his trademark Southern accent and sensational catchphrase Git-R-Done! The famous comedian who talks about anything under the sun has gone on to become one of the most memorable characters in comedy history. Join us in unearthing lesser-known facts about the former on-air-personality, standup comedy superstar, movie ... Who Is Patrick Starr, What Is His Net Worth and Gender? The make-up industry over the years has grown to become a billion dollar industry not just because there are probably more women wearing make-up but because a whole lot of men, especially the young ones, have become bold enough to wear it unlike before. A few of these men, like Patrick Starr, have even gone ... How Did Chris Jansing Become a Senior Correspondent at MSNBC and Who Is Her Husband? An award-winning American television news reporter and journalist, Chris Jansing has succeeded in carving a spectacular niche for herself in the field of TV journalism. Outstanding for not just her excellence in journalism, Chris is also cherished for her incredibly gorgeous looks post 60! For close to four decades, Jansing has continued to soar in her ... Jaclyn Glenn Biography Age, Height & Ex-Boyfriend American Youtuber, Jaclyn Glenn, rose to prominence through her self-titled YouTube channel Jaclyn Glenn. She has remained an acclaimed atheist and continues to air her views on hot issues from politics, religion, animal rights, to atheism. During the heated 2016 US Presidential elections, Glenn featured in Hump Trump: Official Donald Trump Song. Her parallel acting career ... Is Pat Sajak Married to a Wife or is He Gay With a Partner? Pat Sajak is one of the most popular TV game show hosts in America. He commenced his career as a radio disk jockey as well as a TV weatherman before being tapped to host Wheel of Fortune, the longest-running syndicated game show in the United States. Sajak has hosted the popular game show from 1983 ... Nayyera Haqs Bio What To Know About Her Husband, Parents And Family Nayyera Haq can take anyone on political debates as well as discussions on social issues affecting many. Her ability to masterfully deliver her stance on every issue or political debate has made her a regular face in morning and evening news media platforms. This is not a common feat especially for someone from her kind ... Inside Guy Fieris Family With Wife, Kids and Sister Who Died of Cancer Over the years we have seen men dominate the kitchen and churn out amazing delicacies from it. Some do it way better than their female counterparts and one of such men is Guy Ramsay Fieri an American TV host, celebrity chef, restaurant owner, bestselling author of four culinary books, and game show host. His ... Meet Phil Mudd of CNN The Former CIA and FBI Exec, Is He Married, Who Is The Wife? When it comes to discussing issues surrounding terrorism, American Counterterrorism and National Security Expert, Phil Mudd, occupies a globally significant position. He has voiced his interest in the fight against terrorism and insecurity on many popular media platforms, both print and broadcast, such as CNN, BBC, CBS, MSNBC, al-Jazeera, ABC, NBC, Fox, The New York Times, ... Jim Hoffer: Biography, Wife Mika Brzezinski, Children and Net Worth Jim Hoffer is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who works as an investigative reporter for Eyewitness News, New York City. In his over two decades of investigative journalism, Hoffer has been at the front lines of several crucial stories from the 9/11 attack to the crash of American Flight 587 to the 2003 Blackout. On top of ... The Ups and Downs of Erin Mcpikes Journalism Career and Other Facts About Her Personal Life Erin McPike is a journalist working for the Independent Journal Review (IJR) as a White House Correspondent but she gained widespread recognition for her coverage of general news. Whether its breaking news or some mainstream story, McPike has a reputation of baring the facts. As a journalist, her work as a White House Correspondent for Independent ... Bert Kreischer Is Married To LeeAnn Kreischer With 2 Kids Meet His Family Those familiar with Bert Kreischer mainly have the image of a large-bellied party man whose college life inspired the National Lampoon film, Van Wilder. It is an image that one would not naturally associate with a wholesome family. The standup comedian still maintains his wild party animal image on stage. But, back at home, he is ... How Brendan Greene Became a Game Designer to Look Out For and Facts About His Failed Marriage The name Brendan Greene may not easily ring a bell in the larger society but for gaming enthusiasts, he is considered a god and this is because of his invention of the video game, Player Unknowns Battlegrounds, also called PUBG. Based on the popular last-man-standing/battle royale concept, Greenes creation has taken the gaming world by ... WFAAs Sonia Azad Bio Does The Reporter Have A Husband Or Boyfriend? Emmy Award-winning journalist and Health & Wellness reporter Sonia Azad is on the news segment News 8 Daybreak for the television station WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, a channel which she joined in October of 2015. Besides her time on the news, Azad is also a marathon runner and a certified yoga instructor. She has covered major news ... This Is Everything You Should Know About Caroline Heldman, Her Career Portfolio and Other Facts Love it or hate it, there is no escaping the fact that feminism has come to stay in our world. The movement has continued to garner momentum over the years and this is due to the sustained push by several women, and even men, including the likes of Caroline Heldman. A Professor of Politics at ... Understanding The Enigma That Is Gavin McInnes, The Controversies He Has Stirred and All About His Wife Gavin McInnes is a polemical English-born writer and TV personality, who is best known for his racist and fascist ideologies, as well as his co-ownership of Vice Media and Vice Magazine. He is also an actor a With the successful ousting of Gambias Yahya Jammeh, Africa is gradually seeing the last of its young leaders, who came to power at 30 or before. These erstwhile youngest African leaders held power for decades on end in their respective countries. The continent has not only produced the youngest leaders in the world but also the oldest with people like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Muhamadu Buhari of Nigeria, Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana, and Jacob Zuma of South Africa in power. Youngest African Leaders Ever Here, however, are some of the youngest African leaders ever who ruled even before the age of 31: Valentine Strasser (25, Sierra Leone) Now living quite a secluded life, Strasser was days short of 25 when he overthrew the government of Joseph Saidu Momoh in 1992. That made him the youngest head of state in the world, only after Jean-Claude Duvalier of Haiti who became president at the age of 19. His successful coup as a Captain saw him become the third president of Sierra Leone. His cabinet was made of lieutenants who were not even up to thirty. Hardly with any experience or grasp of reality, Strasser and his team which was known as The Boys took a lavish lifestyle, which cost them the trust of the people. After spending close to four years in power, Strasser bowed to the pressure to pass on power to a democratically elected government. Hence, he set to conduct elections in 1996. The problem, however, was that he decided to contest in the elections. Some members of his government were not happy with his style of governance so they booted him out through a coup which was led by his deputy, 32-year-old Maada Bio in 1996. Michel Micombero (26, Burundi) Micombero became the first president of Burundi. He began his rise to power when he became the head of the countrys military at the age of 23. In 1966, there were two coups in the country, and the second which was in November 1966, abolished the monarchy and a republic was proclaimed with colonel Micombero taking power as the first President in December 1966. His government dominated all institutions and established a one-party system. After a serious crisis between 1972 and 1973 which claimed over a thousand lives, Micombero brought in a new constitution that gave him a further seven-year term. In November 1976, however, he was booted out of power by Colonel Jean-Baptiste Bagaza who led a successful coup detat and brought himself to power. Samuel Doe (28, Liberia) In 1980, Samuel K. Doe, a 28-year-old Master Sergeant, assumed power in Liberia after a bloody coup. Doe and some soldiers he led, murdered President William R. Tolbert Jr, bringing an end to the rule by black American settlers and their descendants (Americo-Liberians). By 1990, Doe who was Liberias first president of exclusive indigenous heritage, had seen the country into a most devastating war that would end his life in an undignified way. He was caught tortured on camera after he was stripped to his underwear as he had done to others before he met his death. Souley Abdoulaye (29, Niger Republic) After the resignation of Mahamadou Issoufou in 1994, Souley Abdoulaye was brought in to replace him. Before the appointment, Abdoulaye had served as the minister of Trade, Transport, and Tourism from 1993. Abdoulaye, however, did not spend a long time in power, as in less than six months a call was made for an election as a result of a no-confidence vote. Joseph Kabila (30, Democratic Republic of Congo) After the assassination of his father, Laurent-Desire Kabila in 2001, Joseph Kabila took over office at the age of 30 as the president of Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2006, he contested the countrys presidential elections and won, and he got a second term in 2011. His tenure was supposed to have elapsed in 2016, but he refused to organise an election which led to a political crisis that cost the country many lives. To ensure a peaceful transition, the countrys opposition parties have agreed to a deal which would see President Joseph Kabila leave office by the end of 2017. David Dacko (30, Central African Republic ) Among the youngest African leaders ever, Dacko had a rather interesting story. He became the 1st President of the Central African Republic in August 1960, at the age of 30. After the country got her independence in 1960, he was made its Provisional President, before later becoming the president. He immediately got to work to ensure a long time grip of power by holding key positions and amending the countrys constitution to allow for a one-party system and a 7-year tenure. With this, he was able to win the 1964 elections which he ran alone. By 1965, he had lost the faith of his people due to his closeness with France and his desire to please the French government. This cost him his seat as he was ousted in a successful coup by General Bokassa. Before long he was made personal counsellor of President Bokassa. He later sneaked out of the country to France in the late 1970s when Bokassa was losing popularity. With the help of the French who carried out a coup against General Bokassa in 1979, Dacko made it back to power. He contested the March 1981 elections and won. However, widely regarded as Frances puppet, he was out of power by September that year following a bloodless coup by General Andre Kolingba. Jean-Baptiste Bagaza (30, Burundi) On November 1976, a coup was led by a lieutenant colonel and deputy chief of staff of the army, Jean-Baptiste Bagaza in Burundi, ousting Michel Micombero. The 30-year-old Bagaza became the president. He contested in 1984 and won by a very large margin. Part of the things that marked his administration was a heavy infrastructural change in the country. He built roads, provided electricity, water, and other things for his people. Another thing he was never forgotten for, was the radical persecution of the Catholic church in the country. Mr. Bagaza was overthrown in September 1987, while attending a conference of French-speaking nations in Quebec. Marien Ngouabi (30, Peoples Republic of Congo) Marien Ngouabi, a soldier, rose to power after he was arrested by the president of the Congo Republic, Alphonse Massamba-Debat on July 29, 1968. On 31st of July, he was freed by soldiers and by August 5 the National Revolutionary Council (CNR) was created and headed by him. The countrys prime minister became the acting head of state with the resignation of the president and on December 31, 1968, the CNR formally became the countrys supreme authority. With Ngouab as head of the CNR, he became the countrys president. Immediately, he renamed the country to the Peoples Republic of the Congo. He ruled the country until March 18, 1977, when he was assassinated by an alleged suicide commando. Yahya Jammeh The second president of Gambia, Jammeh began ruling the country since 1994 after a military coup that ousted Sir. Dawda Jawara. Jammeh was only 29 when he led the coup that toppled Jawaras Government and became president. In September 1996, he was elected president on the flag of the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction which he founded. He was reelected in 2001, and in 2006 there was a coup attempt against his government but it failed. In the same year, he contested again and won, just as in 2011. In 2016, he contested but lost to the candidate of the opposition coalition party, Adama Barrow. While he first accepted the result, he later rejected it, saying it was marred by irregularities. With the intervention of other African countries and the Ecowas who sent soldiers into Gambia, Jammeh was forced to leave power and go into exile after Barrow was sworn-in in neighbouring Senegal. The capacity increase will cater to high demand during the peak summer season. The announcement comes as the Abu Dhabi-based airline completed five years of operations to the Maldives. The summer expansion will be supported by a two-class A320 aircraft operating the route, with 16 Business and 120 Economy seats. The four extra flights each week will provide more options for local passengers travelling between Abu Dhabi and Male with an early morning arrival into the Maldives islands. Overall connectivity to and from key destinations in the GCC and Europe will increase and, new two-way connectivity will be established from markets such as Edinburgh, Jeddah, Madrid, Moscow and Zurich. Over the past five years, Etihad Airways has carried more than 450,000 passengers on the route, with the majority travelling to the Maldives from Abu Dhabi, the GCC and key European markets. Denmark used Russian research data to substantiate its application for the expansion of its Arctic shelf, TASS reports citing Russian Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergei Donskoi. "We have questions for Denmark and are currently discussing the issue with them. Last month, our experts went to Copenhagen to present our perspective and our comments regarding their claim. <> We had our say about the claim and the points where we have significant differences of opinion. Our view is that Denmark's application is mainly based on Russia's geological data that we published in open sources," Mr Donskoi commented. In 2014, Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous administrative division within the Danish Realm, announced its claim to the North Pole and 895,000 sq km of the Arctic Ocean seabed, according to TASS. They declared that the Lomonosov Ridge on the ocean floor is an extension of the Greenland Shelf. This is Denmark's fifth application. Three earlier submissions were partially accepted by the commission. The country has already spent $50 million on research. Is the grass really greener on the other side? Millions of professionals may wonder what their life would be like if they pursued another line of work. However, theres obviously a big difference between fantasizing about a better job and actually finding one. With that in mind, today well take a serious look at what starting over will mean for experienced professionals. Here are all the pros and cons associated with pursuing a new career: Pro: New Opportunities Perhaps the most obvious benefit to adopting a new career is the opportunity to learn new things, meet new people, and have new experiences. Theres something to be said for shaking things up and trying something different regardless of your age or income level. Plus, a new career may give you the chance to do work youve always wanted to do but havent been able to in the past. Con: Cost In the long run, switching careers can actually be a wise financial decision. In the short term, though, starting a new career will almost certainly cost you a substantial amount of capital. Indeed, whether you want to become a chiropodist or a digital marketer, youll probably have to go back to school in order to gain employment in a new field. Whats more, youll also likely have to take entry-level positions or even internships to cut your teeth when you first join a new business. If youre not financially willing or able to take on this risk, then starting a new career may not be the best decision. Pro: Expanded Knowledge While starting a new career will require you to hit the books so to speak the good news is that youll learn a ton of new skills and information along the way. Starting a new career can be a great way to become a more well-rounded and cosmopolitan person. If your current job doesnt challenge you intellectually or force you to grow as a person, switching careers could allow you to expand your worldview. Con: Lack of Security Theres something to be said about having a stable job with a decent paycheck and health insurance. Such an existence might not seem glamorous, but giving it up to start over in a new venture is a risk. Note, this is a particularly salient point for individuals who are trying to start or raise a family. Beginning a new career comes with a ton of uncertainty so be aware of that before you make any rash decisions and look for ways to save money now if youre serious about making this big change. Pro: Growth Sometimes, the only way to advance your career is to switch lanes. Ambitious professionals who join burgeoning fields will often have the chance to either climb the corporate ladder or, alternatively, start their own business. Nothing is guaranteed when you start a new career, but if your current job feels like a dead-end, it may be just what you need to do. Con: Increased Competition If you want to get involved in a popular and exciting industry, then, odds are, so do millions of other people. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone, but you should know now that if you want to pursue your dreams, expect to experience some adversity along the way. Competition for desirable jobs,especially during difficult economic times, can be intense. As such, prepare yourself for this reality if you decide to start over. Conclusion Unfortunately, there is no way to 100% know for sure if starting a new career is the right path for you. Each situation is unique, and what may work well for one individual may not for another. In the end, its important to think deeply and carefully about your future and do whats best for you and those you care most about. Everything else is just noise anyway! Cover Image credits Grammy winning artist Ryan Lewis of Mackelmore announced the launch of a worldwide health care nonprofit via Youtube. The nonprofit would provide healthcare worldwide to people in need. The 26 year old producer/ DJ credits his mom as motivation. Ryan Lewis mom, Julie Lewis, was infected with HIV after receiving a blood transfusion 30 years ago in Seattle, WA. The blood was needed following delivery of Ryans older sister. It had not been tested prior to the transfusion. It would be years before his mother was diagnosed with HIV. Ryan Lewis and his siblings did not contract HIV even though they were born after she had received the transfusion. Julie Lewis receives regular medical care, and is still living with HIV 30 years later. In her statement, she reveals I had never thought about dying. The Lewis family has launched the 30/30 project in her honor and is soliciting donations. We believe that healthcare is a human right. We have the knowledge and we have the treatment what people need is the access. (30/30 project) The goal of the program is to build 30 medical facilities that will last for 30 years worldwide. In addition to building the facility, the 30/30 Project will leverage the local economy to build the facilities. They also intend to contract with other worldwide health care organizations and nonprofits to staff them. Providing healthcare for conditions like HIV is expected to make a huge impact. The CDC reports that more than 35 million people are living with HIV worldwide. With healthcare, transmission to future generations through childbirth can be prevented and patients can live longer. There is currently no cure for HIV. While this is the first nonprofit affiliated with Makelmore & Ryan Lewis, the pair was previously in the news for their controversial song about homosexuality, Same Love. The group launched their first album in 2009, and experienced worldwide success with their second album, The Heist. More information about the 30/30 Project is available here. The first facility is planned to be built in Malawi. Flipkart's appointment of Kalyan Krishnamurthy as CEO and Ola's choice of PepsiCo's Vishal Kaul for COO speaks to the growing trend of bringing in experienced professionals to run business. Karan Choudhury reports. IMAGE: Clockwise from top, Vishal Kaul of Pepsico is now Ola's COO; Kalyan Krishnamurthy of Tiger Global is now Flipkart CEO; and Jason Kothari of Housing.com is now with Snapdeal. Professional run companies are what investors are looking for right now. India's largest cab aggregator Ola has named Vishal Kaul, a former PepsiCo executive as its chief operating officer, a trend that is picking up among large Indian start-ups of bringing experienced hands to run operations as investors look at returns. Ola's peers in the Indian startup space such as Flipkart and Snapdeal have also brought in outside professionals to steer the company's path forward. Early this month, Snapdeal named Jason Kothari, former CEO of Housing.com, who turned the company and help merge with larger rival NewsCorp's PropTiger, as its chief strategy officer. India's largest e-commerce firm Flipkart saw Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who came from its largest investor Tiger Global as its new CEO, replacing co-founder Binny Bansal to the top post as it looks to fend off competition from global rival Amazon. Kaul, who has expertise in sales and marketing was PepsiCo's General Manager of PepsiCo's Thailand, Myanmar and Laos units. He replaces Pranay Jivrajka, Ola's first employee, who has been elevated as Founding Partner to drive strategy. IMAGE: To fight off competition from Uber Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and co-founder of Ola, called for protectionism against foreign companies. Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters. The Bengaluru-based Ola is looking to fend off competition from Uber, its global rival that has been aggressive in India after it lost China to local competitor Didi Chuxing. Ola has struggled to raise fresh funds from investors due to Uber's aggressive stance, with its main backer Softbank marking down the value of its investments in the company. Ola's founder Bhavish Aggarwal has called for protectionism against foreign companies in India's internet sector. Over the last one year, Ola has rationalised costs by reducing employees, slashed incentives to drivers and subsidies to customers, while offering services such as share, prime and luxury to improve customer loyalty and lock them on its platform. Jivrajka's elevation, as well as bringing in a new COO from an established multinational as PepsiCo is a move to show investors that the company is in hands of professionals. Kaul, with his knowledge of the end consumer market, will be tasked to streamline operations, gain more loyal customers and drivers, while pushing the firm towards profitability. "This is what investors are looking for before they give out any more funding. Professional run companies give investors that added boost that, there are checks and balances in running operations, and not just whims and fancies of founders that might affect profitability," said a senior analyst belonging to a major international consultancy. "The mobility opportunity is massive with over 300 million trips happening every single day in urban India. Ola is committed to adding value to each of these trips and making mobility accessible to every single Indian with localised solutions and innovative use cases," the company said. Ola's operations are spread across 100 plus cities and multiple categories. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. The Prosecutors Office of Belarus decision on granting Bakus request for Russian Israeli blogger Alexander Lapshins extradition to Azerbaijan will be appealed. January 24, 2017, 09:23 Attorney: Belarus prosecutors office decision on Lapshin extradition to Azerbaijan will be appealed STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: Lapshins attorney informed about the aforesaid to NEWS.am. The lawyer noted that the said decision was made on January 17, whereas the bloggerwho is in custody in Belaruswas briefed on this decision on January 18. Pursuant to Belarusian laws, attorneys may appeal a decision within ten days. The decision certainly will be properly appealed during that time, stressed Lapshins attorney. After his visits to Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in 2011 and 2012, famous blogger Alexander Lapshin was blacklisted by Azerbaijan. In June 2016, however, he paid a visit to Azerbaijan, but with a Ukrainian passport. Subsequently, he issued several articles criticizing the Azerbaijani authorities. Afterward, the Azerbaijani authorities issued an international search for this famous blogger. On December 15, 2016, he was detained in the Belarus capital city of Minsk, and based on this international search. Baku demands his extradition to Azerbaijan, and for visiting Artsakh. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and US Department of State Spokesperson John Kirby, however, had spoken against Lapshins detention and such extradition, noting the importance of upholding freedom of speech. Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, who is Personal Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Chairperson-in-Office (OSCE CiO), and Azerbaijan Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov discussed the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. January 24, 2017, 13:02 OSCE CiO personal representative, Azerbaijan defense minister discuss situation in Karabakh conflict zone STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: They conferred on the present-day situation on the line of contact, and on ceasefire violations, Haqqin.az news agency of Azerbaijan reported citing the press service of the countrys ministry of defense. The ministry noted that, also, the interlocutors discussed the matter of repatriating the body of the Azerbaijani soldier that had died during the diversionary infiltration into Armenia, on December 29 of the year past. January 20, 2017 In death, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was able achieve something that had eluded him the last decade of his life: favorable coverage from Irans conservative and state-run media. Watching their effusive coverage of Rafsanjanis funeral, one could easily forget that these outlets had spent the better part of the last decade committed to destroying the elder statesmans political career. The editorial about-face, rather than being a result of a sensational media overcome with emotion over the death of a figure who played a central role in shaping the 37-year-old Islamic Republic, appears instead to have self-serving objectives which does not bode well for Reformists and moderates hoping to ride Rafsanjanis legacy and popularity to electoral victories. In Irans political world, Rafsanjanis four-decades-long political career has covered various, and even sometimes conflicting, identities: revolutionary activist cleric; right-hand man to the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; powerful executive tasked with post-war reconstruction; and finally, surrogate of the fledgling Reformists and moderates. Conservative media outlets, which are sometimes backed by powerful conservative politicians and security organizations, seem intent on posthumously tacking on one more role to Rafsanjanis political legacy: that of a revolutionary committed to Khomeini, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and, ultimately, the Islamic Republic as it currently is. For those who closely follow Iran, they would understand that in recent years Khamenei and Rafsanjani sometimes referred to as the two pillars of the state had disagreements about the direction of the Islamic Republic. Rafsanjani advocated better relations with the West, while Khamenei believes any drop in revolutionary fervor will lead to state collapse. Conservatives rallied around Khameneis message, while Reformists and moderates rallied around that of Rafsanjani. Yet if history is written by the victors, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, history will be written by those who live longer and are better financed. For conservatives and Khamenei, their history will take center stage when it comes to framing Rafsanjanis life. Rafsanjanis true role in Iranian politics outweighed his official titles. He had political leeway to express controversial opinions due to his history within the political establishment. He would open up sensitive political discussions, giving the chance for Reformists and moderates to piggyback on those ideas without having to pay the political cost themselves. His comments in favor of a more open society and better relations with the West, such as his support for ending the "Death to America" chants, gave the space for Reformists to expound on these ideas with less risk of censure from conservatives. Not only was Rafsanjani one of the key power brokers for the presidencies of Reformist Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) and moderate Hassan Rouhani (2013-present), he was the biggest supporter of the nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers, which was perhaps the most significant event in the Islamic Republic since the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988. At one particular telling moment, when Irans conservatives were in near panic over the deal and lashing out daily at the Rouhani administration, Rafsanjani redirected their anger by accusing them of being one voice with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who also vehemently opposed the deal. The tactic worked. Rather than attacking the nuclear negotiators, conservatives turned their focus to Rafsanjani. The editor of the conservative Kayhan newspaper, Hossein Shariatmadari, was so incensed by the accusation that he wrote a column in which Rafsanjani was described as no longer a pillar of the state. Yet, after his death, Kayhan seems to have forgotten the harsh column. It also seems to have forgotten the various accusations it made against Rafsanjani after the contested 2009 presidential elections, when Rafsanjani did not condemn the protests in his Tehran Friday prayer sermon July 17 but instead indirectly criticized the crackdown and urged reconciliation. In contrast, during his Friday prayer sermon on June 19 after that election, Khamenei warned that those who protest were responsible for the blood that is spilled. But in death, borrowing a line from Khameneis public letter of condolence, the headline of Kayhan newspapers top story referred to Rafsanjani simply as the comrade of the supreme leader. The headline also referred to those who came out for his funeral as those who support the Guardianship of the Jurist, a misleading reading of the millions of mourners on the streets of Tehran. Kayhan was not alone in its editorial U-turn. A number of newspapers linked to conservative politicians or the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps suddenly dropped all of their previous harsh criticisms. An article in Vatan-e Emrooz praised the first two decades of Rafsanjanis political life in the Islamic Republic and vaguely referred to differences in the last two decades. Irans state television, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), whose director is appointed by Khamenei, was so excessive in its coverage of Rafsanjanis funeral that some questioned why it hardly had any favorable coverage of Rafsanjani in the years before his death. Even hard-line Raja News accused the IRIB of distorting history in its attempts to gloss over key parts of Rafsanjanis political stances, especially with respect to the 2009 presidential elections. The reframing by conservatives undoubtedly is intentional. It is an effort to bring Rafsanjanis legacy into the fold, to once again rebrand him as a pillar of the state, and most importantly, one in the vision of Irans conservatives. Rather than the untouchable statesmen who pushed the envelope on sensitive political topics, conservatives will rebrand him as a revolutionary who got in line behind the supreme leader. This reframing will rob Reformists of the opportunity of using Rafsanjanis numerous public statements to push their political agendas. It will also seek to demand that Reformists and moderates get in line behind both Khamenei and the conservatives who claim to speak on the supreme leaders behalf. Reformist and moderate media, who often are at the mercy of conservative forces in the security establishment and the judiciary, will have a difficult time pushing back against this narrative. Rather than using Rafsanjanis political legacy to their advantage, they are likely to waste considerable resources on the defensive, pushing back against the legacy presented by conservatives. President of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Galust Sahakyan, on Tuesday received Japanese Ambassador Eiji Taguchi. STEPANAKERT, JANUARY 24, ARTSAKHPRESS: Sahakyan positively assessed the enlivening of Armenia-Japan parliamentary relations in recent years. He expressed hope that the activities of the Embassy in Japan Armenia, in turn, will promote the development and strengthening of bilateral relations, the NA informed. Touching upon the development and deepening of parliamentary relations, the NA Speaker highlighted the respective role of the friendship groups in the parliaments of the two countries. In his words, there are great expectations in connection with the implementation of joint Armenian-Japanese programs and further cooperation. Ambassador Taguchi, for his part, noted that Armenian-Japanese relations are developing smoothly and step by step. Referring to the Sahakyan-led Armenian parliamentary delegations visit to Japan, the diplomat stressed that this will give impetus to further develop bilateral relations and actively cooperate in several domains. In the ambassadors words, during the visit the Armenian parliamentarians will have an opportunity to study the track-record of Japan that transitioned to parliamentary government, and to connect to Japanese culture and history. Several other matters regarding this upcoming visit also were discussed at the talk. HA NOI Ha Noi authorities have asked three construction giants to devise planning schemes to develop the areas along the iconic Hong (Red) River that flows past the capital city. According to the decision of the municipal authority, three investors -- Sun Group, Vingroup and Geleximco -- will each devise plans and submit them to the municipal authority for selection. They can invite designing consultancy units to collaborate in the project. The final design ideas will be selected by March 30. Nguyen uc Chung, chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee, at a meeting with investors interested in the project, asked them to develop a scheme which ensures the citys flood-resistant capability, effectively makes use of land funds and creates a modern urban area along the river. Additionally, the scheme should give priority to on-site resettlement for residents and to the development of waterway transportation and tourism. The city has suggested two options for the scheme. Option one is to build a new system comprising roads and dykes to replace the current dyke system. This will serve to protect the city from flood alarm level 3+, or emergency flood condition, which sees general and widespread uncontrollable flooding and severe damage to infrastructure. Option two is to build a new system of roads and dykes which can protect the city from flood alarm level 2 or dangerous flood condition. In addition, water reservoirs and canals will also be built to support the current dyke system, which is located further inland, to protect the city from flood alarm level 3+. The planning scheme will be divided into two phases, with the first one covering areas on the banks of the river from Thang Long Bridge to Thanh Tri Bridge and the second one covering the remaining areas. The Red River, originating in China, flows past Ha Noi and several provinces in the north of Viet Nam before emptying into the Gulf of Tonkin. Besides being one of the main river systems that play a crucial role in irrigation and waterway traffic, the river is also seen as a symbol of the capital city. VNS Despite facing difficulties, Viet Nam will strive to achieve rice exports of more than 5 million tonnes this year, the Viet Nam Food Association has said. VNA/VNS Photo HCM CITY Despite facing difficulties, Viet Nam will strive to achieve rice exports of more than 5 million tonnes this year, the Viet Nam Food Association has said. Speaking at a meeting to review the VFAs performance last year in HCM City on Monday, its secretary, Huynh Minh Hue, said last year only 4.89 million tonnes were exported for $2.12 billion, a 25.5 per cent fall in volume and 20.57 per cent decline in value. There was excessive supply in the global market last year, and there has been a recent trend of major importing countries increasing domestic production to reduce imports, he said. Viet Nams rice exports are likely to face another difficult year as supply outstrips demand and global competition intensifies, he said. He quoted the US Department of Agriculture as saying global rice output in 2016/17 is estimated to increase by 1.6 per cent from last year to 480 million tonnes due to an expansion in the area under rice in many countries including Australia, Myanmar, Brazil, India, Indonesia, North Korea, Pakistan, Thailand, and the US, he said. Global exports are expected to rise by one million tonnes or 2.6 per cent to 40.6 million tonnes, he said. Stockpiles have been increasing for the last three years and are expected to reach the highest levels since 2001/02 crop, he said. Huynh The Nang, VFA chairman, said despite the hurdles, rice businesses would strive to export higher volumes than last year to ensure farmers can sell off as much of their outputs as possible. In the long term the domestic rice sector targets exports of high-value rice to affluent markets, he said. He said the Plant Protection Department and other relevant agencies should take measures to improve the hygiene and food safety of Vietnamese rice to enable more exports to choosy markets. The association said rice exporters should meet hygiene and food safety standards and strengthen linkages with farmers to ensure a steady source of the grain to meet market demand. Hue called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to build an international standard laboratory in Can Tho to help exporters check their rice quality, especially look for plant protection chemical residues, instead of sending to other countries for analysis as is done now. Nang said authorities in rice growing localities need to do more to instruct farmers in producing rice meeting safety standards, encourage them to use more certified rice seedlings and improve technical and financial support systems. o Ha Nam, chairman and general director of Intimex Group Joint Stock Company -- one of the countrys 10 largest rice exporters -- said while exports of other kinds were down, exports of Japonica and sticky rice went up by 136.95 per cent and 96.59 per cent. But farmers have [since] rushed to grow more sticky rice, which [poses a] risk. He said the Government should work with China to facilitate exports of Vietnamese rice to that country. We face severe competition in terms of price from Pakistan and India. There may be difficulties but if we choose to invest in varieties like fragrant rice and sticky rice, there will be opportunities. Le Thanh Tung of the Crop Production Department said Viet Nam has the potential to boost exports of sticky, fragrant, Japonica and high-quality rice varieties. Besides improving quality, Vietnamese firms should also focus on building brands, he said. Rice stockpile The association on Monday called on the Government to approve a programme to stockpile rice temporarily from the winter-spring crop to ensure farmers do not lose. Tung said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, based on rice production and consumption in February and March, would make specific recommendations for it. The quality in the 2016/17 winter-spring crop would be better than last years, he added. VNS TORONTO Vietnamese overseas in the US and Canada enjoyed activities to celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year in their host country. Viet Nams Embassy in the US celebrated Tet for Vietnamese people living in Washington DC and neighbouring areas last Saturday. Some 300 Vietnamese attended the event, which featured traditional music and Tet food. Vietnamese Ambassador to the US, Pham Quang Vinh and Vietnamese people here burnt incense to pray for a year of peace, prosperity and happiness for the country and Vietnamese overseas. Speaking at the event, the Ambassador briefed the audience on the development in Viet Nam and praised the contribution of Vietnamese living in the US to home countrys development and Viet Nam-US ties. Also on this occasion the Ambassador recounted the important phases of the two countries relationship as well as diplomatic achievements of the country over the year. Earlier this month, Vietnamese overseas in Toronto and Montreal, Canada also celebrated the tradtional new year in the freezing -20 degrees Celsius weather. This was the first time Canada-Viet Nam Society, a representative organisation of Vietnamese people in Canada, worked with Viet Nam Embassy in Canada to hold such an event for Vietnamese people to celebrate Tet together. With youth theater troupe artists and other beloved Vietnamese artists including Chi Trung and Ngoc Huyen, participants enjoyed familiar music of the three regions of Viet Nam as well as comedy drama. Also on this occasion, the Vietnamese overseas in Canada held a fund raising event to support poor people in the central Viet Nam. Canadian senators and friends including Senator Michael Levitt also attended the event and lauded the contributions of the Vietnamese community to the political, economic, social and multicultural environment of Canada as well as the development of the Viet Nam-Canada relationship. VNS THANH HOA Visitors to Lam Kinh historical site in Tho Xuan District in the northern province of Thanh Hoa will be exempt from purchasing tickets for one week. The week begins from the night of January 27 to February 3, or from December 30 to January 7 of the lunar month. According to Trinh inh Duong, the sites director of the management board, thurifying ceremonies will be held for visitors at the temple of national hero Le Lai, temple of King Le Thai To (1385-1433) and the altars the kings of the late Le Dynasty (1428-1789). Constructed in 1433, Lam Kinh Citadel is both an original imperial temple of the latter Le dynasty and the historic location of the Tay Son uprising. It is also the site of a number of important royal tombs and tombstones, including Vinh Lang stone stele, four imperial tombs of kings from the Le Dynasty and the tomb of Queen Ngo Thi Ngoc Giao, mother of King Le Thanh Tong (1442-1497). In 1962, the historic site was recognised as a national historic relic by the State. VNS Vladimir Goshin, Ambassador of Belarus to Viet Nam 24th of January, 2017 marks 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Belarus and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. The following is a statement from Vladimir Goshin, Ambassador of Belarus to Viet Nam In 1992, Viet Nam was among the first countries to officially acknowledge the independence of Belarus. Despite 7000 km of distance, our countries possess a common history and traditional ties, based on the historical memory of the two nations. Thousands of Vietnamese citizens were educated in Belarus when it was a part of the USSR and later when the country became independent. Many Belarusians helped Viet Nam restore its national economy after war and to build crucial industrial projects. During the 25 years of diplomatic relations Viet Nam has achieved significant success in socioeconomic development and now enjoys a leading position in terms of integration to the global economy. The Republic of Belarus also leads in various projects among the Eurasian states. Our countries maintained high level political dialogues and provided fruitful co-operation in the international arena based towards numerous issues. High-level visits in the two past years like the visit of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vieat Nam Nguyen Phu Trong to Belarus and State visit of the President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko to Vieat Nam, gave great impetus to the development of relations. Belarus regards co-operation with Vieat Nam as one of priorities of its foreign policy in Asia and wishes to establish a strategic partnership. We highly appreciate friendly ties with your country whose international authority is constantly growing. In South East Asia Vieat Nam is a traditional trade partner for Belarus. Except for geographical distance and normal competition with third parties, our bilateral relations have few issues prohibiting expansion of economic connections, since the economic structure of Vieat Nam and Belarus is mostly complementary. During the previous 10 years our trade turnover has increased threefold, but this is still far from the full potential. Brands like heavy-duty dump trucks of BelAZ, MAZ trucks, tractors Belarus have been well known in Vieat Nam for decades. Belarus wishes to increase exports to the Vietnamese market of high-quality goods like potassium fertilisers, ultra large off-road tires, buses, engines, radio electronic industry products and other items. Belarusian goods have stable demand among Vietnamese consumers and due to the combination of price and quality are effective for the development of the Vietnamese economic. The Belarusian consumer has also got accustomed to Vietnamese goods such as apparel, shoes, seafood, tea, coffee, nuts, spices, processed fruits and vegetables and, in recent years, cell phones, printers and computers marked with the label Made in Viet Nam. The Free Trade Agreement between Eurasian Economic Union and Viet Nam which came into effect in October 2016, abolishes custom duties for 90 per cent of mutual trade positions and opens new horizons for trade between our countries. If we want to achieve further growth its necessary to shift from normal trade to joint production of goods. Belarus considers Viet Nam a base in the South East Asia to enter the ASEAN market with our jointly made products. Jointly making projects will localise the production of Belarusian machinery in Vieat Nam, provide new jobs, upgrade skills and transfer technology, moves which meet the interests of Vieat Nam and corresponds to its 5-year development plans. Currently, Belarusian automobile plant MAZ with its Vietnamese counterparts is organizing the production of trucks and low-floor buses of high passenger capacity, which were designed for Vietnamese costumers and in accordance with Vietnamese regulations. Besides that, in the nearest future there will be joint production of medical equipment. We also need to emphasise the availability of infrastructure and good will of the Belarusian side for Vietnamese companies to use Belarus as a base to enter the market of Eurasian Economic Union and Eastern Europe. But its not only pragmatic interests of mutually beneficial trade relations that unite Belarus and Viet Nam. In 2015 Belarus entered the European Higher Education Area with membership in the Bologna Process. In a relatively short term Belarus has managed to create a national educational model which is appreciated by the global educational community. Now diplomas issued in Belarus are valid in all the Bologna Process states. Vietnamese students are invited to get their education in Belarusian universities in such areas of study as physics, mathematics, informational technologies and foreign languages. Along with our pride for present achievements we are happy to share the memory of prominent dates in our history. In 2017, we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Belarusian book-printing. In 1517 Francysk Skaryna, a Belarusian noble from the ancient city of Polotsk opened a typography in Prague and printed the first Bible in Belarusian. One can get a deeper insight into Belarusian culture in May 2017, when Ha Noi and the Province of Lao Cai will host Belarus Cultural Days, so we invite everyone who has interest in Belarus and those who are unfamiliar with our country to attend. The 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations is also a time when Belarusian Vietnamese ties gain new dynamics due to an increase in contact between citizens of our states, provided by visa facilitation measures. From the 1st of July 2015 Belarusian citizens can visit Viet Nam without visas and from February 2017 many Vietnamese citizens will also get this privilege. Obviously visa facilitation fosters not only business ties but also increases tourist influx. We also hope that these measures will promote contacts between Belarusian and Vietnamese regions and provinces. And now, on Lunar New Years Eve, Id like to congratulate Vietnamese people and extend my warm wishes for well-being, good health and success in achieving your goals and of course to travel and discover our beautiful welcoming Belarus. ang The Vinh, former head of the Bac Giang Peoples Procuracy Division 10 at the Bac Giang Province Peoples Court. Photo thanhnien.vn BAC GIANG Two officials responsible for Nguyen Thanh Chans wrongful 10-year prison term will spend eight and 12 months behind bars for their negligence in the case. Delivering its conviction after a two-day trial yesterday, Bac Giang Province Peoples Court found that ang The Vinh, former head of the Bac Giang Peoples Procuracy Division 10, and Tran Nhat Luat, former police chief of the Viet Yen District, acted short of responsibility causing serious consequences. Luat, who investigated a murder in Viet Yens Me Village on April 15, 2003 in which Chan was the main suspect and was later wrongfully convicted of the crime, received a 12-month sentence while Vinh got eight months. According to testimonies from police officers from Bac Giang polices Criminalistics Division, they found footprints from the alleged murderer that did not match Chans, informed the investigation team, and verbally informed Luat in person. Luat did not seek an official reassessment of the forensic results and was charged with not fulfilling his responsibility in collecting evidences to prove Chan guilty or not. Luat, however, denied being informed of the forensic results. Vinh, meanwhile, was said to have left two interrogation documents out of the case file in which Chan claimed his innocence and denounced investigators for extortion and torture, according to the court. The wrongful murder case of Nguyen Thanh Chan was brought to light in 2014, only after he had served 10 years out of the life sentence he received in 2004. The Ha Noi Supreme Peoples Court had to issue a formal apology to the man who was later compensated a record amount of VN7.2 billion (US$320,000) for the decade-long miscarriage of justice. VNS The agreement on the administrative requirements for the conduct of the referendum on the political status of Bougainville was signed between the Government of Papua New Guinea, the Autonomous Bougainville Government, the Electoral Commission of Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville Electoral Commissioner. THE signing of this agreement signifies the progress of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville as we strive to find a lasting political solution that will be the ultimate political future of Bougainville. The Papua New Guinea and Autonomous Bougainville Government governments this week agreed to create a Bougainville Referendum Commission to oversee the 2019 vote on whether Bougainville should become an independent nation. Bougainville vice president Patrick Nisira issued this statement on the important milestone. The formation of the Bougainville Referendum Commission (BRC) will give flesh to the referendum process on Bougainville; it will be an independent commission that will oversee the referendum with the hope that the process follows stringent democratic principles and has integrity. The signing of the agreement between the two governments signified an important step forward and I give all stakeholders the assurance of the ABGs full support and respect of the independence of the commission. However I must remind the parties present at the signing that the independence of the BRC does not mean the commission works alone of the two governments. The two governments will continue to play a crucial role on agreeing on the framework on important matters as the options available in the referendum, security and funding issues. In his inauguration speech, President John Momis said the Bougainville Peace Agreement is the real basis for us all being here today. It provides us with an exclusive right to self-determination. We can choose and shape our future, a right unique in PNG and rare internationally. We should celebrate this right, as we do by being here today. The peace agreement is a political and constitutional contract between the national government and Bougainville. It must be honoured in full. The agreement is not a gift without any strings attached. Instead it will deliver real benefits only if we work hard to make use of the opportunities provided to us. We cannot just sit back and wait for the national government and donors to deliver us to a promised land. Only we Bougainvilleans can build the new Bougainville we want. We must grasp our opportunities. We cannot ignore the requirements of the agreement. Without it, we would have no legitimate basis for what we do. In the last Joint Supervisory Body meeting we agreed with the National Government on the key questions to be asked, the common roll to be used of who are eligible to vote, the body to conduct the referendum and the date for the referendum. It is very clear that time is not on our side and we need to move fast. As the Vice President and Minister for Referendum I am proud that we have achieved the final two points the formation of the BRC and a working date for the referendum of 15 June 2019. The ABG has singled out unity as the key to the successful holding of the referendum and for Bougainville to achieve much progress in the way forward to self-determination and eventual independence. The ABGs Referendum Department is already conducting a region-wide consultation for this government to visit all districts to sit and discuss government policies and programs but more importantly to hear what our communities are saying. Sometime our communities cry foul on us merely because we have not given them the opportunity to be heard and to participate. We need to take heed of the adage divided we fall, united we stand. The greatest threat to a progressive and vibrant Bougainville is the people of Bougainville to remain polarised between different groupings such as Meekamui, Kingdom of Papala and Ex-Combatants. My appeal is for the people of Bougainville to come under the legally constituted entity the Autonomous Bougainville Government. The Bougainville Referendum Commission will now help foster the responsibility of this issue and ensure that we have a successful outcome. I now challenge Bougainvilleans to focus on weapons disposal to provide secure environment where the referendum process is free and fair. It is time we all took responsibility of our actions and work hard to make Bougainville great again. A new set of tools that emphasise employee-employer dialogue, neutral evaluations and sustainable compliance with labour regulations are needed to resolve workplace conflicts in Viet Nam, experts said at recent workshop held in HCM City. Photo baobinhphuoc.vn HCM CITY A new set of tools that emphasise employee-employer dialogue, neutral evaluations and sustainable compliance with labour regulations are needed to resolve workplace conflicts in Viet Nam, experts said at recent workshop held in HCM City. ang Thi Hai Ha, founder of Respect Viet Nam, which develops workplace-improvement programmes, said that wildcat strikes and disputes in the country had been triggered by prolonged or unsettled conflicts in the workplace. Resolving disputes when they have already occurred "is only the tip of the iceberg", she said at the workshop, which examined how to effectively manage conflicts between employees and employers. "Integrated conflict management" offers lasting solutions, she said, adding that dialogue between employees and employers in Viet Nam had been poor and that a system for identifying and solving conflicts had yet to be developed. Ha suggested a set of tools called WE@WORK that helps employers and employees work together to build a lasting integrated conflict-management system. Such a system improves daily sustainable compliance and continuous enhancement of workplace efficiency, helping to prevent disputes, she said. It also assists companies in complying with labour laws and international labour regulations in a sustainable manner. For instance, the tool WeTALK is used for continuous conflict identification, decoding and resolution tracking, according to Ha. The tool includes one set of codified and standardised forms. Workers who have questions or complaints about problems related to their jobs submit their ideas on forms to managers via a box. The managers read the forms and provide feedback on a yellow form that is attached to the factorys employee noticeboard. The tool has been used with positive results in factories in Nha Trang and the provinces of Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc, Ha said. At the workshop, Vu Minh Tien, deputy head of the Institute for Workers and Trade Unions at the Viet Nam General Federation of Labour, told Viet Nam News that nearly 300 strikes had occurred last year. Tien said that economic growth had been stable in the last several years, and that provincial and city authorities had created conditions for trade unions to operate for the benefit of workers. Free trade agreements signed between Viet Nam and other countries in recent years have urged the use of integrated conflict management in order to protect jobs and incomes as well as improve workplace efficiency and competitiveness. The workshop was organised by Respect Viet Nam, the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolutions at Cornell University (US) and Ton uc Thang University in HCM City. VNS Hospitals and health centres in HCM Citys districts and wards last year attracted more patients, reducing overcrowding at central and city-level hospitals, according to the citys Department of Health. Photo suckhoedoisong.vn HCM CITY Hospitals and health centres in HCM Citys districts and wards last year attracted more patients, reducing overcrowding at central and city-level hospitals, according to the citys Department of Health. The number of outpatients at district-level hospitals in the city last year increased by nearly 21 per cent compared to 2015, thanks to the departments programmes to improve quality. The departments report, released last Saturday, showed that the number of inpatients had increased by more than 10 per cent compared to 2015. Of these, Thu uc District Hospital had the largest number of patients with more than 4,000 a day, followed by Tan Phu District Hospital with more than 3,000 patients a day, and hospitals in districts 2, Binh Thanh and Binh Tan with more than 2,000 patients a day. Over the last several years, the department has sent doctors from city-level hospitals to offer training to doctors at district-level hospitals, Asso Prof Dr Tang Chi Thuong, the departments deputy head, said at a meeting last week. The city has also allocated a portion of its budget to develop facilities and equipment for district-level hospitals, he said. In addition, establishing family doctor clinics at district-level hospitals has helped attract more patients, he added. Leaders of district-level hospitals such as Thu uc, Tan Phu, Cu Chi, Nha Be, Binh Chanh, 2, and 12 have set up satellite clinics at health centres located in wards in their areas. The first satellite general clinic set up in Binh Chieu Ward by Thu uc District Hospital saw an increase of patients from 168 in January to 3,621 in December. Thuong said the department continued to develop a system of general clinics in more district wards, with human resources and equipment given top priority. Nguyen Thi Thu, deputy chairwoman of the city Peoples Committee, said that satellite clinics should be set up at wards with a high number of workers and in outlying rural areas. The city is encouraging investment from the private sector in health centres at the grassroots level to ensure implementation of national healthcare programmes, Thu said. VNS HCM CITY Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Monday called on authorities in HCM City to continue efforts to tackle the worsening traffic congestion in the city. Phuc, along with Deputy PM Trinh inh Dung, organised an online conference with city leaders and State agencies to seek urgent measures to address the issue. PM Phuc, who chaired the online conference in Ha Noi, asked the city to reorganise the citys traffic activities in a more appropriate manner. Phuc urged the city to restrict the number of personal vehicles as well as promote public transport in the countrys largest city. He said that a number of facilities should be relocated away from the downtown area, while priority should be given to construction of public places such as parks and pedestrian areas instead of high-rises. Phuc said he appreciated the citys efforts and coordination with agencies to tackle the problem, but called on the city to establish a clear and strong roadmap to improve congestion. He also said the city should stop building high-rises in the city centre where traffic infrastructure remains insufficient. The PM also urged the city government to continue to work out immediate solutions to address traffic congestion, particularly ahead of Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, which begins this week. Drivers of vehicles in HCM City have increasingly lodged complaints about serious traffic jams in recent days. Also speaking at the online conference, Party Secretary inh La Thang said HCM City authorities would make a concerted effort to improve the situation, especially before and during the holiday. The days ahead of Tet see a hike in traffic volume due to higher demand for goods deliveries, while residents are busy shopping for the most important holiday of the year or paying visits to friends and business partners. Le Van Khoa, vice chairman of the citys Peoples Committee, said the city had managed to resolve traffic congestion at seven out of 37 traffic congestion hotspots last year. Poor traffic infrastructure, however, had not kept up with the rapid rise in the number of personal vehicles, especially motorbikes and automobiles, Khoa said. Population growth due to the increasingly high number of migrants from other provinces, mostly from the central and northern regions, has also contributed to worsening traffic conditions. Congestion will become even worse in the next few years if no effective measures are taken or no appropriate policies are applied on the use of personal vehicles, particularly automobiles, he added. Urban planning Khoa said the city would focus on a number of measures to curb traffic jams, including using traffic infrastructure effectively. The city will continue to improve public transport and restrict the number of personal vehicles as well as enhance peoples education and awareness of traffic laws. Law enforcement on traffic safety and order must also be enhanced, he said. The city is continuing to review and manage urban planning to ensure smooth traffic in the downtown area and on roads to surrounding provinces. As part of its urban planning to 2025, the city is applying IT to improve the traffic situation. The citys Transport Department, for example, has launched a digital traffic app that provides recommendations for the most appropriate routes for commuters to reach their destination, and helps them avoid certain streets with serious gridlock or where accidents occur. The app updates its users on traffic situations at specific times, including the volume of traffic, speed of vehicles, and traffic flow images at congested hotspots across the city (using more than 300 cameras operated by the department). The city has 37 congestion hotspots, including the Tan Son Nhat airport area (Truong Son, Tran Quoc Hoan, Hoang Van Thu, Cong Hoa, Truong Chinh, Nguyen Van Troi and Nguyen Kiem streets), Cat Lai Port, downtown area, and streets that connect the city with outlying districts. Khoa said traffic congestion at the airport area and Cat Lai Port in particular had become more serious. The city also plans to develop a series of road infrastructure projects to address the issue at these locations and other congestion hotspots, Khoa told conference attendees. Total investment for the project would be nearly VN324 trillion (US$14.36 billion) in the 2016-20 period, according to Khoa. At the conference, delegates also discussed measures to combat worsening congestion around Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The airport is seriously overloaded, both on the ground and in the air. It serves 28 million passengers per year even though its capacity was originally planned to be only 25 million per year until 2020, speakers said. Phuc said that the Government was determined to work closely with the city to seek long-term and consistent measures to curb traffic congestion, including mobilising all resources. Traffic congestion has become one of the most serious problems in the countrys largest cities, HCM City and Ha Noi. With a population of more than 10 million, HCM City is seeking urgent measures to tackle traffic jams, especially during rush hour. The city is considering changing some major streets to one-way streets, building elevated roads, and even banning private vehicles from downtown areas. Nearly 9 million motorbikes are in use on more than 4,000 kilometres of roads in the city, not to mention private cars and bicycles. Nearly 4,200 new cars and 9,000 new motorbikes are registered every month, while public transport is limited to buses. VNS A NANG Five fishermen from Binh inh Province were rescued and taken home safely on Monday after their boat sank in rough seas on Sunday. The Maritime Rescue and Search Coordination Centre No 2 in a Nang said the fishing boat from Hoai Nhon District sent emergency signals for help when water washed over its deck 368 nautical miles off the coast . The centre contacted the Philippine Coast Guard for support, and a cargo ship, the British Innovator, was located 60 miles away from Vietnamese vessel and was asked to help save the fishermen. A rescue ship from the centre was sent to take the five home from the British cargo ship on Sunday evening. These fishermen were all healthy and taken home on Monday. VNS HA NOI Firefighters from Ha Nois Firefighting Police Office have put out a blaze that occurred at Dich Vong Market in Cau Giay District early this morning. The blaze is believed to have started at 1:30am at a kiosk and quickly spread to two adjoining kiosks. After the office dispatched firefighters and three fire engines to the scene, the blaze was controlled at about 3am. Fortunately, no casualties were reported. Local police are investigating the cause of the blaze, which at present remains unidentified. VNS HA NOI More than 370,000 cases of traffic violations have been discovered and fined for one month nationwide, the online newspaper Vietnamplus reported. The fines amounted to a total of VN227.2 billion (US$10 million). Some 2.300 cars, more than 47,000 motorbikes and hundreds of other vehicles that violated traffic laws were seized. The police confiscated 32,500 driving licences. The violations were related to speeding, driving on the wrong lane, parking in the wrong place, driving under the influence of alcohol and carrying overloaded and oversized goods. Along with traffic violations, the traffic police cooperated with other relevant bodies to unearth more than 200 criminal cases and arrested 250 criminals, including drug dealers, robbers, thieves and illegal weapon holders. The police seized 10kg of opium, more than 1kg of heroin, 1,500 pills of MethyleneDioxyl-MethamphetAmine and an AK gun, as well as bullets and 550kg of firecrackers. Besides this, the traffic police also discovered 290 cases involving transportation of illegally imported goods, more than three tonnes of foods without original and safety certificates and nearly 1,200 cigarette packs. The Traffic Police Department has asked the local police to set up plans to ensure traffic safety during Tet. VNS HA NOI The health insurance medical information system, rolled out last June, is the optimal solution to ensure transparency and prevent insurance fraud. This consensus of opinion was evident among Government officials at a conference by the Viet Nam Social Security agency on Monday to announce its review on implementation of the health insurance medical information assessment system. According to reports delivered by Pham Luong Son, Deputy Director General of the VSS, 99.5 per cent of medical facilities nationwide have been linked to the health insurance medical information assessment system since its launch, except for 65 commune-level health stations in remote areas without electricity access. The health insurance medical information assessment system received some 68.9 million dossiers requesting insurance payments worth VN35 trillion (US$1.55 billion) in the last six months of 2016, and another three million requesting insurance payments of VN2 trillion ($88.6 million) in the first month of 2017, the report said. The information system can identify the use of a health insurance card multiple times in a short period at different locations, both inside and outside a province. In the final quarter of last year, about 100 cases of wrongfull card use over 50 times were discovered mostly at district-level hospitals and commune-level health stations. However, multiple plaguing issues still inhibit the effectiveness of the system, Son said. For example, many medical facilities still dont fully update information in the system on a regular basis, and the names of services and drugs are not consistent across related legal documents. Nguyen uc Chung, Chairman of the Ha Noi Peoples Committee, said all the citys 673 medical facilities had connected to the information system. A number of duplications and possible fraud had been exposed as a result, he added. Chung also proposed the idea of piloting electronic health records of all of the citys residents. Push for efficiency Deputy PM am said "computerised management of healthcare information is a necessity that will increase healthcare efficiency, achieve transparency and prevent fraud in a country with 90-million population, and about 23,000 drugs and 16,000 medical services covered by health insurance. The use of modern technology will initially be difficult for many people since they are not familiar with it. Those who have taken advantage of the lack of transparency to profit from the patients will be even more resistant to the idea, he said. Hospitals and localities which are found to deliberately delay or failed to properly deploy the implementation of information system will be suspected of corruption, am added. According to the Deputy PM, private insurance companies have always wanted to co-operate with VSS to develop insurance services, and assist each other in areas such as approaching customers, sharing information and preventing insurance profiteering. Deputy Prime Minister said that only four out of 10 insurance holders went to local-level clinics for examination. Many others dont even go for health checkups until they get sick so they dont see the benefits of buying healthcare insurance. At least once per year, he said, a round of "intensive medical examination" for the population must be performed. With full awareness of the amount of efforts involved in compiling the records of 90 million people, the Deputy PM insisted that it must be done. Truong Thi Mai, Politburo member and head of the Party Central Committees Commission for Mass Mobilisation, reiterated that social and health insurance is an important pillar of social security. Universal health insurance is the answer to ensuring health services for all people without constraining the already limited budget. But, peoples money must be cherished and used efficiently to prevent losses, Mai said, any loss is a crime against the people. Implementing linkages The Government Office yesterday conveyed to relevant Government ministries the orders of Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am on implementing linkages between Government-sponsored health and social insurance programmes private insurance plans, in a bid to expand universal healthcare coverage to all the people. The Ministry of Finance and Viet Nam Social Security (VSS) are tasked with conceiving a plan for co-operative mechanisms to build a database that stores the information of those holding health insurance and social insurance and can be shared with private insurance companies. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids, and Social Affairs, in collaboration with VSS, have ordered reports on the health insurance and social insurance systems, respectively. Also included in the reports will be measures that other countries have implemented in linking government-sponsored insurance programmes with their private counterparts, as well as their experiences and measures suitable for implementation in Viet Nam. The ministries are ordered to report to the Prime Minister in February.VNS WASHINGTON President Donald Trump yanked the United States out of a major Pacific trade deal Monday, making good on an election campaign promise and delivering a hammer blow to Asian allies. Trump said he had "terminated" the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade deal binding the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Viet Nam and seven other allies against growing Chinese economic clout. Together, TPP members represent 40 per cent of the world economy. After signing an executive order, Trump said he would be "going back to those countries one-on-one" to find terms more favourable to the United States. "We are going to have trade but we are going to have one-on-one," he said. "And if somebody misbehaves, we are going to send a letter of termination -- 30 days and theyll either straighten it out or we are gone." Trump came to office promising to gut existing trade pacts and reclaim manufacturing jobs lost overseas. Trump has also vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. Economists warn those jobs are never coming back and point to automation, not trade, as the main reason. But Trump has sought to tap populist anger and argued for much more transactional trade deals, regardless of the impact on international norms and standards. Serious mistake? According to a Peterson Institute analysis, the United States stood to be the biggest beneficiary from TPP, with an annual increase in exports of US$357 billion. The Institute also projected that the pact would be broadly neutral for employment levels. President Barack Obamas administration had also touted the deal as a strategic counterweight to China. Trumps Republican ally John McCain described the new presidents decision as a "serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region." "It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it." It remains far from clear whether countries that have spent years negotiating the TPP would be willing to enter new talks. "The US already has trade deals with six of the 11 TPP partner countries so that leaves a handful of countries for potential new deals, most notably Japan," said Cathleen Cimino-Isaacs of the Peterson Institute. "The emphasis on bilaterals is based on the perception that the US gave up too much in the TPP and will get better concessions from other trading partners in bilateral deals," she said. "But its not clear that would be the case. The US actually gave few new concessions in the TPP in big areas like services and government procurement," Cimino-Isaacs added. "At the same time, it was able to get greater concessions from countries like Japan in exchange for helping secure market access and agreement on high standards in other TPP markets." Tax cuts Later Monday, Trump met with Congressional leaders and had private talks with the speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan. Tax reform is likely to be high on the agenda. "What were doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies," Trump said Monday. To pay for those cuts, Trump has promised a "border tax," which is likely to come in the form of increased tariffs on exports. That move is likely to face a challenge at the World Trade Organization and from big-box retailers. Trump also vowed Monday to cut regulation "massively" by up to 75 per cent. It remains unclear how this would be done or quantified. Rocky start Trump signed two other executive orders Monday -- freezing the hiring of federal workers and hitting foreign NGOs that help with abortion. The Republican leader is looking to shift attention firmly back onto his policy agenda after a first few days that put his incoming administration on the back foot. Since he was sworn in on Friday, Trumps White House has been pilloried for lying to the public about inaugural crowds and over a campaign-style speech by the president before a memorial to fallen CIA officers. On Saturday, several million Americans poured onto the streets for women-led demonstrations against Trump, the scale of which were unseen in a generation, in a potent rebuke to the president. Trump has upbraided top aides over unfavorable media coverage on everything from crowd sizes to suggestions he has ruled out releasing his taxes. He is the first presidential candidate in recent memory not to do so. AFP PENNE Rescuers recovered three puppies from under the rubble of Italys avalanche-hit hotel on Monday sparking fresh hopes some of the 22 people still missing after five days could be found alive. Firefighter Fabio Jerman said the discovery of the three shaggy white Abruzzo sheepdog pups meant there were still air pockets in the collapsed luxury spa resort, "an important sign of life, which gives us hope". But as light began to fade, the body of a woman was recovered from the rubble, bringing the number of the dead to seven. A new route was being dug into the wreck in a last-ditch effort to find survivors, as questions mounted as to whether the disaster could have been avoided. "Its a race against time, we know we need to go fast, but its not an easy working environment," fire service spokesman Luca Cari said as teams worked feverishly to reach the centre of the resort, where they believe many of the missing could be. An email sent by the hotel to local authorities pleading for help just hours before Wednesdays tragedy has gone viral. Although the email did not mention fears of an avalanche it described the mounting panic of guests trapped in the hotel by snow as earthquakes shook the region. Five days after the huge avalanche, which struck with the force of 4,000 trucks driving full speed, the small, fresh sign of life within the concrete tomb spurred rescuers on. The puppies were born in December in the ill-fated Hotel Rigopiano to Lupo and Nuvola (Wolf and Cloud), who escaped when the avalanche hit and were found the following day in a nearby hamlet. Nine people pulled out alive on Friday had described being trapped in tiny spaces, eating dirty snow in the pitch black to survive. Burrowing narrow holes in the snow and rubble, rescue workers have been painstakingly searching each room of the lodge. AFP U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced Tuesday that she'll oppose the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who's President Donald Trump's pick for education secretary. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., revealed her decision in a string of tweets. She thanked those who have contacted her office and voiced opposition to DeVos before announcing her position on the nomination. "I share your deep concerns about Betsy DeVos's nomination and will be voting against her confirmation," Gillibrand wrote. "I'll urge my colleagues to do the same." Auburn school board resolution to oppose DeVos as education secretary fails AUBURN A resolution asking the Auburn Enlarged City School District to publicly oppose Pre DeVos faced tough questions from senators last week during her confirmation hearing. She's an advocate for charter schools and supports voucher programs, which puts her at odds with some Democrats and teachers unions. After the hearing, Democrats asked for another session to ask DeVos questions. But U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, rejected the request. The Senate panel hasn't voted to advance DeVos's nomination, which would allow for the full Senate to vote on the education secretary's confirmation. The vote was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but has been pushed back to Tuesday, Jan. 31. DeVos likely will be confirmed by the Senate. There are several Democrats who, like Gillibrand, either plan to or have hinted that they will oppose her nomination. "Students, parents and teachers deserve an Education Secretary whose commitment to public education and safe schools will never waver," Gillibrand tweeted. She added in another tweet, "If our public education fails, then America fails, and I do not believe Mrs. DeVos shares my commitment to a strong public education system." DeVos won't be the first Trump nominee Gillibrand has voted against. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Senate has confirmed three of Trump's nominees Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, Defense Secretary James Mattis and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Gillibrand opposed Kelly's and Pompeo's nominations. She was the lone vote against Mattis. Before the vote to confirm Mattis, Gillibrand opposed granting him a waiver to become defense secretary. The waiver was necessary because Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, had only been retired from military service for three years. A statute requires nominees to be separated from military service for at least seven years in order to hold the civilian post. DES MOINES Legislative Republicans agreed Monday to make $117.8 million in adjustments to the state general fund budget by June 30. The changes shaved reductions proposed by Gov. Terry Branstad for higher education, corrections, public safety and the courts but still prescribed smaller cuts in those areas. Under the tentative agreement, regent universities would be cut by $18 million rather than the $25.56 million the governor sought, while community college funding would be shaved by $3 million rather than $8.7 million; corrections would be cut $5.5 million, not $15 million; the court system would be reduced by $3 million, not $7.7 million; and public safetys $3.8 million cut would be lowered to $1 million. Sen. Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the changes reflect the priorities expressed by GOP legislators in the House and Senate. It was not a fun puzzle to have to put together, but ultimately youve got to make it work and thats what were here for, Schneider said as the de-appropriations bill cleared subcommittee. Overall, the plan moving forward by majority Republicans would make $88.2 million in targeted cuts, return $4.5 million in unused property tax credits, transfer $25 million from economic development, cultural and other trust funds, and provide a $4.3 million supplemental appropriation for indigent defense spending. The changes would not affect current year funding for K-12 schools, the Medicaid safety net and property tax credits and backfill to local governments and communities. The specific cuts to regent universities would trim funding by $8 million each at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, and $2 million at the University of Northern Iowa. Were concerned about the cuts to higher education. Were especially concerned about significant increases in tuition for our community college students and our university students and their families as a result of these underfunding of these institutions, subcommittee member Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City said.We think that this is going to have a super detrimental effect on those students, and while we might not look at a tuition increase this spring I suspect that were going to see one soon and one thats going to have to take effect for more than one year, he added. Legion Post sets coming events WATERLOO American Legion Post 138 at 728 Commercial St. has several events planned. Chicken strips and fries will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, with bingo at 6:15 and 7 p.m. Cheeseburgers, hamburgers and hot dogs are set for 11 a.m. Wednesday, and brats and macaroni salad will be served at 11 a.m. Thursday. The menu at 11 a.m. Friday will include barbecued riblets and fries, and a fish fry will take place from 5:30 to 8 p.m. A pepper tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, with Easy Does It music from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. On Sunday, bingo is planned for 1:15 and 2 p.m. Radio license classes slated CEDAR FALLS -- The Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association will offer classes for people interested in receiving amateur radio licenses. Classes begin at 6 p.m. Thursday and meet once a week for four weeks at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are free except for the test fee. The final test is scheduled for Feb. 18. For more information, go to www.w0mg.net or contact Mark Colby, president, at 883-5260 or Mark.colby@gmail.com Church to host meal on Sunday WATERLOO -- The Knights of Columbus Council 11192 will host an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, Scallon Hall. The menu will include sausage, scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls and beverage. Cost is $7 for adults or free for those younger than 5, and part of the proceeds will go to St. Vincent de Paul Society. Blood drive set in Fairbank FAIRBANK -- There will be a community blood drive from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at Fairbank United Methodist Church, 107 N. Second St. To schedule an appointment, go to lifeservebloodcenter.org or call (800) 287-4903. WATERLOO A Waterloo man told police he was grazed by a bullet while walking Sunday night. Carl Williams, 24, decided to go to the hospital the following day, according to the police report. Williams told police he was walking in the 400 block of Vermont Street when he heard what sounded like firecrackers and felt something hit his leg, according to the report. Police said the injury appeared to be a grazing wound to his left thigh. On Monday, Williams noticed the injury had become swollen, and a nurse at his place of work advised him to go to the hospital, according to police. Authorities were notified when Williams arrived at UnityPoint-Allen Hospital at about 1:40 p.m. WATERLOO Police are investigating if gambling was tied to a Sunday morning shooting that took the life of a Waterloo man. Officers were called to the 700 block of Logan Avenue for a report of gunfire at about 5:05 a.m. Sunday and found 55-year-old Denelius Nesby on the ground in a parking lot with several gunshot wounds. He was later pronounced dead at UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital. An autopsy was planned Monday at the Iowa State Medical Examiners facility in Ankeny. No arrests have been made. One of the leads police are investigating is information Nesby had been gambling at a nearby establishment and robbed after winning, said Capt. David Mohlis with the Waterloo Police Department. He said officers also are investigating other leads. Nesby was found near a car parked in the lot to the south of Greer Funeral Home, and police seized the vehicle to check for possible bullet holes and other evidence. It wasnt clear if the vehicle was Nesbys. Mohlis said officers believe the shooting happened in the parking lot. Police reports show at 2:30 p.m. Sunday about nine hours after the slaying officers were called to Nesbys home on St. Albans for a vandalism report. Someone had ripped a surveillance camera from his home. Family members were able to repair the camera, according to the report. Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information in the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Waterloo Police Department at (319) 291-4340 ext. 7 or Cedar Valley Crime Stoppers at (855) 300-8477. Tips may also be left at WWW.CVCRIMESTOP.COM or sent with TipSoft or by texting the word CEDAR plus the information to CRIMES (274637). WATERLOO A Waterloo man who fled while on work release has been captured. Shawn Washington, 38, was serving a 45-year sentence for ongoing criminal conduct and intimidation with a dangerous weapon when he failed to return from a furlough on Jan. 15. Waterloo police arrested Washington in the area of Conger Street and Oakland Avenue on Monday night. He was taken to the Black Hawk County Jail and is being held without bond. He had been placed on work release on Jan. 3 following time in prison. Washington was originally sentenced to prison in 2005 in connection with an October 2004 shooting that claimed the life of Tyanna Parsons. He was paroled in 2012 but returned to prison following violations that included a 2013 incident where he failed to return to the work release center. WATERLOO The Black Hawk County Gaming Association will consider a request from Hawkeye Community College for $1 million in funding toward an adult learning center. Linda Allen, college president, outlined services and plans for the downtown Waterloo center to the BHCGA on Monday night. The BHCGA holds the gaming license to the Isle Casino and Hotel in Waterloo and receives 5.75 percent of the casinos gross receipts to disburse in grants to nonprofit and public projects. Hawkeyes $1 million grant request will be considered at the gaming boards meeting in February when the group votes on quarterly grant disbursements. The proposed $12 million, 45,000-square-foot adult learning center would be built at Mullen and Jefferson streets. About $8 million the cost would come from a $25 million bond passed in February 2015. Other funding sources would include other grants and a capital campaign, Allen told the board. Allen described the center as a hub for educational and assistance services. It would house a nursing program, CNC training, English language learning, childcare, a healthcareclinic as well as a third-floor event center and art gallery. We needed a way to bring all these services together, Allen said. Allen said detailed floor layout designs werent yet complete for the presentation but the project, being designed by Cardinal Construction of Waterloo, is far enough in planning for construction to begin this spring. Sharon Juon, BHCGA board member expressed concern about starting a project before all the funding was in place. How do you start when you dont know about the funding, Juon asked. The Hawkeye Metro Center, 844 W. Fourth St., and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, 515 Beech St., would close when the new center opens. The presentation ahead of grant funding requests gives members of the BHCGA board a chance to ask questions and learn more about projects that have large grant requests. We find we wish we knew more when we get big applications, said Tim Hurley, board president. The board voted unanimously to move the request forward for funding consideration at the February meeting. CEDAR FALLS Accounting students at the University of Northern Iowa are providing free income tax assistance again this year through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. Assistance in the preparation of tax returns will be available Monday and Wednesday nights from Feb. 6 through April 12 (except March 13 and 15). Returns for foreign students and scholars will be prepared beginning March 6. Returns are being prepared from 7 to 9 p.m. with registration taking place in Room 223 of the Curris Business Building on the UNI campus. No appointment is necessary. Room 223 will open at 6:30 p.m. People are encouraged to arrive early to allow students sufficient time to complete returns. VITA was established by the Internal Revenue Service to help low-income taxpayers who may find it difficult to pay for tax preparation services. The program also provides accounting students with experience working with taxpayers. Students will be available to electronically prepare and e-file federal and Iowa tax returns for eligible taxpayers. Accounting students have completed a one-semester comprehensive tax course, plus additional training for IRS certification, and have access to a variety of federal and state reference materials. Taxpayers seeking assistance should bring Social Security cards for the taxpayer, spouse and dependents; valid photo identification; a copy of last years federal and Iowa tax returns; Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, from each employer; Forms 1099, for such things as interest, dividends or retirement payments; a list of other income and expenses; Form 1098-E, student loan interest statement; Form 1098-T, tuition payment statement (also bring institution billing statement); banking information (account and routing numbers) for automatic deposit of refund; and all other information pertinent to the 2016 tax return. Clients will be asked about health insurance coverage for themselves and their dependents. Bring a Form 1095-Ahealth insurance marketplace), Form 1095-B or 1095-C statement. to indicate health insurance coverage. For more information, call the UNI department of accounting at 273-2394. Letters to the Editor Tuesday, Jan. 24 Tenure bill DAN PRICE WAVERLY - State Sen. Brad Zaun has again filed a bill (Senate File 41) to eliminate tenure at state universities. He claims this is necessary to permit universities to fire bad professors. He mistakenly believes tenure guarantees a lifetime job. It doesnt; it simply ensures a professor cannot be fired at will, possibly due to pressure from someone (a vindictive legislator, perhaps?) who may not like the professors activities. Instead, tenure (granted only after years of probationary status and high performance) assures a professors dismissal must be for just cause such as elimination of the program, lack of funding or evidence of incompetency or unprofessional behavior. Elimination of tenure will make it difficult to retain top faculty who would be more easily wooed to other universities offering that protection. Can Zaun show examples of bad professors, which means presenting evidence of incompetency or proof of unprofessional behavior, and prove the process of tenure revocation in Iowa universities didnt work? If he cant, one must be suspicious of his motivation for this bill. Unfortunately, we voters must wait until the next election to remove bad legislators. Even they are allowed impeachment proceedings before they are fired. Waverly media ELAINE MAIN WAVERLY It was a long way up a very old stairway to Waverly City Council meetings 40 years ago. Mayor Emil Roloff called meetings to order on sloping floors behind a long table that nearly encompassed the room above the former First National Bank. As a newcomer to Waverly, I felt privileged to cover the meetings for the nearby daily newspaper. Then, Id write until early morning hours and dictate the report word-for-word by phone. The story appeared in the newspaper that night. By informing citizens and encouraging their participation, I felt part of the democratic process. At council meetings, I was respected, my questions answered and facts clarified. Had that experience morphed into a media table with copies of the same background information City Council members received, I would have felt honored and endorsed in my goal of furthering the democratic process. Waverly should encourage media coverage. Good media coverage is difficult and needs to be respected. Alternative facts SCOTT PETERS CEDAR FALLS Apparently Dennis Clayson has invented his own reality, one in which there is no recorded evidence of Donald Trump claiming a judge could not be impartial because of his ethnicity, mocking a reporters disabilities or bragging of grabbing women by the genitals. Courier readers deserve better than such alternative facts. A survey of voters found strong support for a proposal that would assist New Yorkers save money to buy their first home. The poll commissioned by the New York State Association of Realtors and conducted by the Siena Research Institute revealed that 84 percent support the creation of tax-free savings accounts that would allow individuals to save money to purchase a home. The proposal is supported by the state Association of Realtors. Dawn Carpenter, president of the realtors' organization, said her group has seen how families struggle to achieve the goal of homeownership. "Their biggest challenge is being able to save enough for the down payment and to pay for the closing costs, which are among the highest in the nation," Carpenter said. "We believe that the NY First Home savings proposal is an important part of the discussion as New York state leaders consider meaningful solutions that can reduce the outflow of population, and help improve the lives of New Yorkers and their communities this legislative session." The proposal would allow individuals and families to place up to $10,000 annually into the savings account. The accounts would be tax deductible for state income tax filings. The accounts would then be used for down payments, closing costs and other expenses. The tax-free savings accounts plan is supported by a vast majority of Democrats and more than three-quarters of Republicans. While there's strong support for the idea, most voters said buying a home in their area is too expensive. "Voters from every party and region overwhelmingly want Albany to make helping first-time home buyers a priority," Siena pollster Steve Greenberg said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has his own proposal that would help recent college graduates buy homes in upstate New York. The program would offer participants a first-time homebuyer loan through the State of New York Mortgage Agency and other assistance. Q: What was the date of the newspaper the article reporting the death of Glen Martin was published? A: His obituary was in the paper Jan. 15, and there was a feature story Jan. 16. Q: Is there anybody in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area who helps the elderly with their taxes who cant otherwise afford to have them done? A: Accounting students at the University of Northern Iowa provide free help through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program from Feb. 6 through April 12, from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays at the Curris Business Building on campus. For information, call the UNI department of accounting at 273-2394. The Waterloo AARP/RSVP volunteer tax service also offers help for those who need it before the tax filing deadline. For more information, call 272-2250 or (866) 469-2211. Q: What were the rainfall totals in 2016 for Waterloo, Des Moines and Mason City? A: According to the National Weather Service Waterloo: 41.84 inches; Des Moines: 34.53 inches; and Mason City: 47.74 inches. Q: How can I reach Scott Cawelti? A: Email him at S.cawelti@uni.edu. Q: Are JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers from The Bachelorette still together? A: Yes, they are engaged, according to a December interview with People magazine. Q: Will Michelle Obamas mother receive a pension for living in the White House for eight years and being a babysitter? A: Of course not. The rumor evidently goes back to a story on the Boston Tribune website, a fake news site that makes up stories to lure readers. Presidents receive pensions, but first ladies do not, and first grandmas dont either. Q: Did Brian Ferentz go to college? If so, when did he graduate? A: Ferentz earned his bachelors degree in history from the University of Iowa in 2006, according to the school. Q: Who would I contact to have the air quality in my home checked for things that are detrimental to my health, such as mold spores, etc.? A: According to the Black Hawk County Department of Health, you can call Linn County Air Quality at 892-6000 for assistance. If youre concerned about radon, there are radon test kits available at the health department one for $8 or two for $15. Q: What is the status of the two shows Young and the Restless and General Hospital? How much longer are their current contracts with the networks? Have they been renewed or in negotiations? A: Y&R has been picked up through the 2017 season, but it looks as if ABC hasnt made an announcement about GH yet. Q: Mayor Hart wasnt at the council meeting Jan. 17. I understand he was in Washington, D.C. Is he there representing Waterloo to attend Trumps inauguration? Is this a trip paid for by taxpayers or on his own? A: Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart was attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington, D.C., during the week of Jan. 16 where he picked up a $100,000 grant to tackle childhood obesity in the city. The event was not related to the Trump inauguration, and Hart paid for the trip out of his own pocket. There is no a verdict on Gadafi. In Libya there are many found news. They indicate its last days; others, after its counterattack, the prolongation of its government. The advisable thing is that Libya must solve its internal problems without foreign intervention. Martin OMalley is likely to agree. The United States hurried to send their fleet of the Mediterranean before the fear that the Islamic extremism (it is read To the Qaeda) takes the power. While, the European Union reacts with caution, because Libyan petroleum is to him vital. The economic and political interests weigh more than the human rights and the democracy. The panorama is confused, I take part or I do not take part? The world rejects an unilateral entremetimiento, one multilateral one would be bad sight, also, by the Arabs. Libya is not Iraq and, in the flat Gadafi intern it governed with hard hand to avoid the dismemberment of his country by the irreconcilable differences between his tribes. Although for many it is considered like " dios" , 42 years it was not sufficient to him to lessen the poverty, even though that swam in petroleum. Many nations wanted to see the God Gadafi died by their support, financing and training to the terrorists, but pair of North American pumps of the two Reagans to bnkers of the Libyan leader that escaped with life made it reflect and to forget the armed warfare in other nations and tolerated it to the West and it forgot his regime of repression, like it happened to other Arab countries. The oppression is not friend of La Paz and first in reacting they have been the young people who are lost the fear to their leaders " histricos" , that they govern by 20, 30 or 40 years, with high levels of corruption. There are revolts in 18 Arab countries. It is not known who will follow tomorrow. Around Midland and around the world, loving and leading all people to deeper life in Jesus Christ. By WestKyStar Staff Jan. 24, 2017 | 08:51 AM | PADUCAH In their mission to serving the children of the world, the club gave away over $14,000 in scholarships in 2016, and plans on meeting or surpassing that number in 2017. Each scholarship will be no less than $500 and could be as high as $2,000. Scholarships will be based on academic achievement, essay content and writing ability, and extracurricular and community involvement. Funds for the scholarship program are raised through BBQ on the River, the annual Kiwanis Christmas Charity Auction, and other BBQ cooks through the year. The Paducah Kiwanis Club meets weekly on Thursdays at noon at 701 Broadway. Visitors and prospective members are always welcome. The club is a group of men and women dedicated to philanthropic efforts (focusing on childrens charities) and community service. For more information on the Kiwanis Club of Paducah or with questions regarding the 2017 scholarship program contact club president Brent Housman at bhousman@hilliard.com The Kiwanis Club of Paducah is now accepting applications for its 2017 scholarships - available to high school seniors from McCracken County. All students are encouraged to apply through their high school guidance counselor. By Bill Hughes Jan. 23, 2017 | 02:04 PM | PADUCAH, KY Sorry for the delay How about we do something great for the those who have served out nation & 1st responders https://t.co/G9BPmVAXKS Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) January 24, 2017 They aren't sure why it's even being discussed, but the folks at Dippin' Dots hope to make friends with White House press secretary Sean Spicer.After multiple news outlets including the New York Daily News shared Tweets from Spicer about the ice cream company dating back to 2010, company president Scott Fisher wrote an open letter to Spicer on Monday, saying they should be, "friends, rather than foes."Dippin' Dots media relations manager Billie Stuber told West Kentucky Star that neither Fisher or founder and CEO Curt Jones have had any interaction with Spicer.Stuber said, "We've not really had an relationship with him in the past, so I'm not really sure (of) the genesis of his comments about Dippin' Dots, but we certainly want to turn him into a fan."In April 2010, a Spicer Tweet contended Dippin' Dots is not "the ice cream of the future," refuting the company's long-time slogan. At the time, Spicer was working at a public relations firm he had co-founded near the nation's capitol.When Dippin' Dots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011, Spicer shared a link to an article about it, calling it the "ice cream of the past."While it may have been less high-profile than his statement this weekend while arguing with news media about crowd size at President Trump's inauguration, Spicer's claim about the Paducah-based company has apparently been proven wrong.In Fisher's letter, he says under his ownership, Dippin' Dots has experienced double-digit growth over the last three years, creating jobs and opportunities."We hear that's on your agenda, too," Fisher wrote, acknowledging Spicer's new job with the president.Fisher's letter offered to bring the new administration some of their product.Stuber said, "We're happy to treat them to some Dippin' Dots, to an ice cream party. We want to have fun. Ice cream is serious to us, and apparently it's serious to him as well."Here is the entire letter from Fisher:Spicer has since responded back to the company with another tweet: On the Net: Senate Democrats, led by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, are asking President Donald Trump to support their $1 trillion infrastructure plan. Schumer, D-N.Y., unveiled the proposal Tuesday. The investment would be spread over a 10-year period and create more than 15 million jobs, he said. Most of the funding would be focused on four key areas, including $210 billion to repair bridges and roads and an additional $200 billion for the creation of the Vital Infrastructure Projects program. The Democrats' plan calls for $180 billion to make bus and rail system improvements, $110 billion for water and sewer infrastructure and $100 billion for energy infrastructure projects. Funding for schools, broadband expansion and airport improvements is also part of the proposal. "Our nation's infrastructure issues are vast, and they go well beyond just road and bridge repair," Schumer said in a statement. "Senate Democrats have unveiled this blueprint because we need a wide-sweeping infrastructure plan and we need it now." The Senate Democrats' proposal, named "A Blueprint to Rebuild America's Infrastructure and Create 15 Million Jobs," is in response to Trump's previous statements that he would pursue a $1 trillion infrastructure plan once he took office. While they may differ on the specifics, Democrats and Trump, a Republican, could find agreement on infrastructure investments. Republicans haven't been as enthusiastic about Trump's talk of a $1 trillion infrastructure plan, mainly because of the cost and the potential impact on the debt. Schumer and Senate Democrats didn't disclose how they would pay for the $1 trillion plan. So far, Trump hasn't released his infrastructure proposal. He's discussed the topic with other leaders, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo and Trump met last week at Trump Tower two days before the inauguration. "During his campaign, President Trump talked often about a big and bold infrastructure package," Schumer said. "Well, this is one of the most comprehensive overhaul proposals in a generation, and we're challenging President Trump to work with us on this broad plan that will sustain our positive economic growth, create millions of jobs and build a modern economy." past daily news Sep 13 (1) Sep 09 (15) Sep 06 (12) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (10) Aug 31 (17) Aug 29 (14) Aug 26 (13) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (12) Aug 19 (21) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (10) Aug 10 (10) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (10) Aug 06 (10) Aug 05 (8) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (14) Jul 29 (1) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (10) Jul 22 (11) Jul 19 (16) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (10) Jul 15 (13) Jul 12 (7) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (11) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (8) Jun 28 (7) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (8) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (9) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (9) Jun 18 (8) Jun 15 (9) Jun 13 (13) Jun 11 (11) Jun 09 (19) Jun 06 (10) Jun 04 (10) Jun 03 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (5) May 30 (5) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (7) May 26 (6) May 25 (4) May 23 (6) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (7) May 19 (9) May 18 (4) May 17 (6) May 16 (5) May 15 (7) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (9) May 10 (3) May 09 (7) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (5) May 05 (8) May 03 (9) May 02 (1) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (8) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (10) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (7) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (8) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (12) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (8) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (1) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (2) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (2) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (1) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (2) Jan 20 (2) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (2) Dec 17 (1) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (2) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (1) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (5) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (10) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (2) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (5) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (9) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (6) Oct 22 (4) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (1) Oct 06 (10) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (1) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (6) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (8) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (5) Aug 31 (8) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (8) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (8) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (8) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (10) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (1) Jul 16 (10) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (7) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (8) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (10) Jun 05 (14) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (6) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (2) May 29 (7) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (4) May 25 (5) May 24 (4) May 23 (5) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (3) May 19 (10) May 18 (6) May 17 (3) May 16 (6) May 15 (2) May 14 (3) May 13 (5) May 11 (1) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (2) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (5) May 03 (5) May 02 (1) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (8) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (14) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (1) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (1) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (1) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (9) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (10) Mar 22 (9) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (11) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (6) Mar 07 (13) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (6) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (9) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (9) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (2) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (5) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (12) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (7) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (1) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (10) Dec 13 (7) Dec 12 (12) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (6) Dec 08 (7) Dec 07 (12) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (13) Dec 04 (6) Dec 02 (8) Dec 01 (8) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (8) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (11) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (14) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (11) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (10) Nov 01 (8) Oct 31 (12) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (13) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (8) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (11) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (5) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (10) Oct 12 (11) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (10) Oct 09 (7) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (14) Oct 04 (9) Oct 03 (12) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (9) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (10) Sep 21 (12) Sep 20 (12) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (11) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (8) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (10) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (9) Sep 07 (8) Sep 06 (11) Sep 05 (2) Sep 04 (8) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (9) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (2) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (6) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (7) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (11) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (9) Jul 31 (11) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (11) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (5) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (8) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (7) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (5) Jul 06 (6) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (6) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (3) Jun 30 (8) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (7) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (8) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (8) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (7) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (9) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (8) May 30 (7) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (3) May 23 (5) May 22 (2) May 21 (3) May 20 (7) May 19 (11) May 18 (1) May 17 (7) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (4) May 11 (11) May 10 (2) May 09 (6) May 08 (6) May 07 (2) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (8) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (13) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (7) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (7) Apr 22 (9) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (2) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (9) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (10) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (6) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (9) Feb 24 (11) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (6) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (2) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (10) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (2) Feb 05 (9) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (7) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (14) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (10) Jan 18 (11) Jan 17 (9) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (10) Jan 06 (8) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (9) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (5) Jan 01 (14) Dec 30 (13) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (5) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (7) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (9) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (17) Dec 09 (8) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (10) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (9) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (15) Nov 24 (7) Nov 23 (15) Nov 22 (9) Nov 21 (6) Nov 20 (11) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (13) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (7) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (13) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (8) Nov 03 (9) Nov 02 (8) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (15) Oct 26 (10) Oct 25 (10) Oct 24 (13) Oct 23 (9) Oct 21 (8) Oct 20 (13) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (8) Oct 16 (14) Oct 14 (9) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (13) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (15) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (11) Oct 05 (18) Oct 04 (14) Oct 03 (1) Oct 02 (10) Sep 30 (11) Sep 29 (11) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (15) Sep 26 (7) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (17) Sep 20 (20) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (11) Sep 16 (10) Sep 15 (12) Sep 14 (9) Sep 13 (12) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (8) Sep 09 (9) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (13) Sep 06 (15) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (10) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (12) Aug 31 (14) Aug 30 (14) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (8) Aug 27 (9) Aug 26 (12) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (11) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (7) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (9) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (8) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (6) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (6) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (15) Jul 15 (14) Jul 14 (5) Jul 13 (6) Jul 12 (12) Jul 11 (8) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (10) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (10) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (7) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (11) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (14) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (8) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (11) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (16) Jun 03 (8) Jun 02 (12) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (7) May 30 (15) May 28 (7) May 27 (5) May 26 (21) May 25 (14) May 24 (10) May 23 (7) May 22 (8) May 21 (11) May 20 (5) May 19 (4) May 18 (10) May 17 (11) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (7) May 13 (12) May 12 (10) May 11 (7) May 10 (13) May 09 (4) May 08 (7) May 07 (3) May 06 (6) May 05 (9) May 04 (14) May 03 (7) May 02 (10) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (5) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (14) Apr 22 (16) Apr 21 (11) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (16) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (8) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (10) Apr 11 (8) Apr 10 (12) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (13) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (15) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (15) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (11) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (10) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (12) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (8) Mar 24 (7) Mar 23 (15) Mar 22 (17) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (8) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (19) Mar 15 (13) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (20) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (13) Mar 08 (13) Mar 07 (7) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (16) Mar 02 (16) Mar 01 (13) Feb 29 (8) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (16) Feb 26 (10) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (12) Feb 23 (14) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (8) Feb 19 (12) Feb 18 (12) Feb 17 (11) Feb 16 (8) Feb 15 (9) Feb 14 (7) Feb 13 (10) Feb 12 (11) Feb 11 (13) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (13) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (7) Feb 02 (19) Jan 31 (21) Jan 29 (11) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (13) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (2) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (13) Jan 21 (11) Jan 20 (9) Jan 19 (13) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (11) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (13) Jan 13 (9) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (7) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (5) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (1) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (7) Dec 19 (13) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (11) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (9) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (10) Dec 08 (13) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (12) Dec 05 (8) Dec 04 (11) Dec 03 (12) Dec 02 (16) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (11) Nov 28 (15) Nov 27 (16) Nov 26 (11) Nov 25 (9) Nov 24 (13) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (11) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (10) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (10) Nov 13 (14) Nov 12 (8) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (11) Nov 06 (12) Nov 05 (17) Nov 04 (12) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (12) Oct 31 (11) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (10) Oct 28 (18) Oct 27 (16) Oct 26 (11) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (12) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (12) Oct 20 (17) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (15) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (10) Oct 14 (16) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (12) Oct 09 (21) Oct 08 (22) Oct 07 (19) Oct 06 (18) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (17) Oct 03 (13) Oct 02 (14) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (14) Sep 29 (15) Sep 28 (12) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (15) Sep 25 (13) Sep 24 (9) Sep 23 (10) Sep 22 (12) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (12) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (16) Sep 16 (21) Sep 15 (14) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (10) Sep 11 (16) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (8) Sep 08 (10) Sep 07 (7) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (9) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (10) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (14) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (13) Aug 20 (9) Aug 19 (13) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (12) Aug 11 (9) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (14) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (2) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (6) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (6) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (9) Jul 14 (2) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (13) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (7) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (7) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (9) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (7) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (11) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (8) Jun 03 (9) Jun 02 (6) Jun 01 (4) May 30 (7) May 29 (9) May 28 (13) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (2) May 23 (8) May 22 (9) May 21 (7) May 20 (4) May 19 (6) May 18 (7) May 17 (8) May 15 (9) May 14 (5) May 13 (8) May 12 (6) May 11 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (6) May 07 (11) May 06 (7) May 05 (4) May 04 (11) May 03 (5) May 02 (4) May 01 (9) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (10) Apr 22 (8) Apr 21 (9) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (6) Apr 10 (2) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (2) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (7) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (9) Mar 19 (9) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (9) Mar 16 (7) Mar 15 (11) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (12) Mar 11 (9) Mar 10 (12) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (11) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (8) Feb 27 (9) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (10) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (7) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (2) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (12) Feb 12 (8) Feb 11 (10) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (11) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (12) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (8) Jan 26 (13) Jan 24 (8) Jan 23 (12) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (10) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (11) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (6) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (6) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (8) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (9) Dec 15 (7) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (10) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (10) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (9) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (10) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (1) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (9) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (12) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (6) Nov 18 (10) Nov 17 (12) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (12) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (7) Nov 09 (6) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (9) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (14) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (9) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (8) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (11) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (7) Oct 15 (7) Oct 14 (8) Oct 13 (5) Oct 12 (8) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (11) Oct 08 (10) Oct 07 (8) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (8) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (10) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (7) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (8) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (11) Sep 24 (15) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (10) Sep 17 (10) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (11) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (7) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (6) Aug 24 (9) Aug 22 (11) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (12) Aug 19 (8) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (4) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (8) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (12) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (8) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (12) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (8) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (8) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (8) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (9) Jul 13 (10) Jul 11 (9) Jul 10 (8) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (7) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (7) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (1) Jun 27 (15) Jun 26 (10) Jun 25 (9) Jun 24 (16) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (12) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (7) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (13) Jun 12 (7) Jun 11 (14) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (16) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (18) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (8) May 31 (3) May 30 (6) May 29 (6) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (8) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (2) May 18 (9) May 17 (1) May 16 (5) May 15 (5) May 14 (7) May 13 (7) May 12 (7) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (5) May 08 (10) May 07 (4) May 06 (13) May 05 (4) May 04 (10) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (9) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (9) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (7) Apr 14 (11) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (9) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (10) Apr 03 (9) Apr 02 (9) Apr 01 (12) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (7) Mar 27 (8) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (11) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (7) Mar 21 (14) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (11) Mar 17 (12) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (8) Mar 14 (13) Mar 13 (8) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (8) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (15) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (12) Mar 02 (20) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (8) Feb 26 (11) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (14) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (8) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (8) Feb 16 (11) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (5) Jan 29 (2) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (2) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (7) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (6) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (1) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (1) Dec 29 (5) Dec 27 (1) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (8) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (1) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (2) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (9) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (8) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (12) Nov 20 (12) Nov 19 (10) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (8) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (7) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (12) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (9) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (10) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (11) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (7) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (11) Oct 22 (2) Oct 21 (7) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (7) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (7) Oct 11 (20) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (21) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (34) Oct 04 (24) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (7) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (6) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (2) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (9) Sep 19 (11) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (6) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (8) Sep 12 (11) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (6) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (10) Sep 05 (7) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (8) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (7) Aug 29 (10) Aug 28 (7) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (8) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (8) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (7) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (6) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (10) Jul 22 (8) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (7) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (10) Jul 16 (11) Jul 15 (5) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (11) Jul 10 (12) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (8) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (10) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (12) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (5) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (23) Jun 27 (18) Jun 26 (12) Jun 25 (14) Jun 24 (15) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (15) Jun 20 (9) Jun 19 (8) Jun 18 (11) Jun 17 (7) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (6) Jun 14 (6) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (9) Jun 10 (10) Jun 09 (9) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (8) May 24 (7) May 23 (6) May 22 (9) May 21 (6) May 20 (5) May 19 (6) May 18 (9) May 17 (10) May 16 (11) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (7) May 11 (7) May 10 (5) May 09 (3) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (11) May 05 (5) May 04 (9) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (8) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (9) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (11) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (7) Apr 19 (10) Apr 18 (8) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (8) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (7) Apr 12 (11) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (9) Apr 05 (10) Apr 04 (7) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (7) Mar 22 (6) Mar 21 (9) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (8) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (10) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (2) Mar 10 (1) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (1) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (2) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (5) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (4) Feb 05 (9) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (10) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (8) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (8) Jan 15 (7) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (1) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (1) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (8) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (4) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (4) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (8) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (8) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (7) Dec 06 (7) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (1) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (16) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (5) Nov 25 (2) Nov 24 (6) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (15) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (7) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (8) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (5) Nov 08 (8) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (9) Nov 05 (1) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (8) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (3) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (7) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (1) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (1) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (6) Oct 18 (10) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (15) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (1) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (8) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (13) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (8) Sep 24 (8) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (9) Sep 20 (7) Sep 19 (8) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (8) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (9) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (10) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (15) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (9) Aug 31 (7) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (8) Aug 28 (11) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (6) Aug 25 (15) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (7) Aug 19 (2) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (9) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (7) Aug 07 (9) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (9) Aug 01 (10) Jul 31 (11) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (11) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (8) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (6) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (7) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (8) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (14) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (5) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (9) Jul 05 (8) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (8) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (8) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (14) Jun 22 (11) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (7) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (12) Jun 15 (12) Jun 14 (10) Jun 13 (10) Jun 12 (9) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (12) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (12) Jun 06 (6) Jun 05 (7) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (8) May 28 (7) May 27 (4) May 26 (3) May 25 (5) May 24 (9) May 23 (16) May 22 (12) May 21 (11) May 20 (7) May 19 (10) May 18 (8) May 17 (8) May 16 (10) May 15 (8) May 14 (5) May 13 (1) May 12 (6) May 11 (9) May 10 (9) May 09 (10) May 08 (9) May 07 (6) May 06 (5) May 05 (7) May 04 (10) May 03 (7) May 02 (9) May 01 (10) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (9) Apr 28 (12) Apr 27 (9) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (5) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (8) Apr 20 (9) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (10) Apr 14 (7) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (7) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (10) Apr 06 (8) Apr 05 (8) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (11) Mar 30 (12) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (10) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (9) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (12) Mar 20 (14) Mar 19 (8) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (9) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (10) Mar 07 (12) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (2) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (8) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (13) Feb 25 (10) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (10) Feb 22 (9) Feb 21 (18) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (5) Feb 16 (9) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (8) Feb 09 (5) Feb 08 (8) Feb 07 (10) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (12) Jan 30 (7) Jan 29 (7) Jan 28 (7) Jan 27 (12) Jan 26 (7) Jan 25 (11) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (12) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (11) Jan 16 (9) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (6) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (9) Jan 10 (10) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (10) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (8) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (10) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (10) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (9) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (8) Dec 19 (5) Dec 18 (1) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (6) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (13) Dec 13 (8) Dec 12 (7) Dec 11 (9) Dec 10 (12) Dec 09 (7) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (9) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (10) Dec 04 (6) Dec 03 (8) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (14) Nov 30 (7) Nov 29 (8) Nov 28 (8) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (9) Nov 25 (10) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (10) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (8) Nov 17 (9) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (12) Nov 14 (6) Nov 13 (9) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (10) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (8) Nov 06 (10) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (11) Nov 01 (10) Oct 31 (5) Oct 30 (8) Oct 29 (8) Oct 28 (8) Oct 27 (11) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (9) Oct 24 (10) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (14) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (11) Oct 18 (13) Oct 17 (7) Oct 16 (6) Oct 15 (9) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (12) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (9) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (9) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (12) Oct 06 (8) Oct 05 (13) Oct 04 (11) Oct 03 (7) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (14) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (12) Sep 28 (11) Sep 27 (11) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (10) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (7) Sep 22 (8) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (7) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (14) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (11) Sep 14 (13) Sep 13 (11) Sep 12 (9) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (13) Sep 08 (11) Sep 07 (11) Sep 06 (16) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (10) Sep 03 (8) Sep 02 (8) Sep 01 (7) Aug 31 (1) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (8) Aug 25 (5) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (9) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (7) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (8) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (12) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (7) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (13) Jul 28 (10) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (7) Jul 25 (7) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (12) Jul 22 (14) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (12) Jul 18 (9) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (8) Jul 14 (15) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (10) Jul 11 (6) Jul 10 (6) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (9) Jul 06 (15) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (10) Jul 03 (6) Jul 02 (6) Jul 01 (11) Jun 30 (7) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (8) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (11) Jun 24 (9) Jun 23 (10) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (8) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (15) Jun 17 (8) Jun 16 (13) Jun 15 (15) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (6) Jun 12 (15) Jun 11 (7) Jun 10 (7) Jun 09 (18) Jun 08 (20) Jun 07 (17) Jun 06 (9) Jun 05 (9) Jun 04 (12) Jun 03 (13) Jun 02 (14) Jun 01 (8) May 31 (13) May 30 (8) May 29 (6) May 28 (8) May 27 (17) May 26 (8) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (9) May 22 (4) May 21 (4) May 20 (11) May 19 (14) May 18 (6) May 17 (10) May 16 (4) May 15 (5) May 14 (28) May 12 (9) May 11 (17) May 10 (15) May 09 (12) May 08 (5) May 07 (4) May 06 (10) May 05 (8) May 04 (10) May 03 (5) May 02 (6) May 01 (8) Apr 30 (8) Apr 29 (12) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (12) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (10) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (13) Apr 19 (11) Apr 18 (11) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (11) Apr 14 (17) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (16) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (18) Apr 08 (14) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (21) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (13) Apr 01 (8) Mar 31 (10) Mar 30 (11) Mar 29 (10) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (12) Mar 25 (15) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (12) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (8) Mar 20 (4) Mar 19 (11) Mar 18 (7) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (9) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (14) Mar 11 (13) Mar 10 (7) Mar 09 (9) Mar 08 (17) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (13) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (14) Mar 02 (12) Mar 01 (18) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (2) Feb 26 (9) Feb 25 (13) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (13) Feb 22 (12) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (11) Feb 19 (16) Feb 18 (17) Feb 17 (15) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (15) Feb 14 (10) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (10) Feb 11 (15) Feb 10 (11) Feb 09 (13) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (9) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (15) Feb 04 (15) Feb 03 (11) Feb 02 (14) Feb 01 (15) Jan 31 (11) Jan 30 (9) Jan 29 (19) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (9) Jan 26 (16) Jan 25 (19) Jan 24 (17) Jan 23 (8) Jan 22 (15) Jan 21 (9) Jan 20 (11) Jan 19 (7) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (12) Jan 14 (9) Jan 13 (14) Jan 12 (11) Jan 11 (13) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (20) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (11) Jan 05 (8) Jan 04 (14) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (7) Jan 01 (7) Dec 31 (14) Dec 30 (15) Dec 29 (7) Dec 28 (10) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (11) Dec 24 (9) Dec 23 (9) Dec 22 (15) Dec 21 (12) Dec 20 (11) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (16) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (12) Dec 15 (14) Dec 14 (11) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (10) Dec 10 (17) Dec 09 (11) Dec 08 (12) Dec 07 (16) Dec 06 (11) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (12) Dec 03 (15) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (12) Nov 30 (16) Nov 29 (7) Nov 28 (11) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (13) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (15) Nov 23 (10) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (8) Nov 19 (9) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (11) Nov 16 (11) Nov 15 (10) Nov 14 (9) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (10) Nov 11 (12) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (10) Nov 07 (6) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (12) Nov 04 (14) Nov 03 (10) Nov 02 (13) Nov 01 (9) Oct 31 (9) Oct 30 (11) Oct 29 (18) Oct 28 (13) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (12) Oct 25 (14) Oct 24 (20) Oct 22 (18) Oct 21 (18) Oct 20 (19) Oct 19 (12) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (5) Oct 16 (18) Oct 15 (8) Oct 14 (11) Oct 13 (9) Oct 12 (13) Oct 11 (6) Oct 10 (7) Oct 09 (27) Oct 08 (14) Oct 07 (10) Oct 06 (9) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (10) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (9) Oct 01 (13) Sep 30 (12) Sep 29 (13) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (8) Sep 25 (14) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (14) Sep 22 (20) Sep 21 (11) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (9) Sep 18 (14) Sep 17 (8) Sep 16 (17) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (11) Sep 13 (9) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (7) Sep 10 (14) Sep 09 (12) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (12) Sep 06 (13) Sep 05 (9) Sep 04 (20) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (16) Sep 01 (10) Aug 31 (13) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (9) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (8) Aug 26 (11) Aug 25 (10) Aug 24 (14) Aug 23 (12) Aug 22 (13) Aug 21 (10) Aug 20 (13) Aug 19 (15) Aug 18 (8) Aug 17 (10) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (11) Aug 13 (12) Aug 12 (15) Aug 11 (10) Aug 10 (17) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (13) Aug 07 (11) Aug 06 (13) Aug 05 (11) Aug 04 (11) Aug 03 (10) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (10) Jul 30 (21) Jul 29 (14) Jul 28 (13) Jul 27 (16) Jul 26 (10) Jul 25 (15) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (15) Jul 21 (19) Jul 20 (17) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (26) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (20) Jul 14 (16) Jul 13 (19) Jul 12 (11) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (13) Jul 09 (11) Jul 08 (8) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (16) Jul 05 (9) Jul 04 (5) Jul 03 (15) Jul 02 (11) Jul 01 (14) Jun 30 (13) Jun 29 (19) Jun 28 (8) Jun 27 (9) Jun 26 (16) Jun 25 (22) Jun 24 (17) Jun 23 (11) Jun 22 (15) Jun 21 (14) Jun 20 (8) Jun 19 (17) Jun 18 (10) Jun 17 (10) Jun 16 (17) Jun 15 (13) Jun 14 (14) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (13) Jun 11 (15) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (10) Jun 08 (23) Jun 07 (14) Jun 06 (20) Jun 05 (10) Jun 04 (11) Jun 03 (12) Jun 02 (21) Jun 01 (14) May 31 (10) May 30 (14) May 29 (8) May 28 (23) May 27 (20) May 26 (16) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (10) May 22 (18) May 21 (14) May 20 (12) May 19 (18) May 18 (14) May 17 (13) May 16 (4) May 15 (7) May 14 (16) May 13 (13) May 12 (8) May 11 (18) May 10 (8) May 09 (7) May 08 (13) May 07 (11) May 06 (15) May 05 (18) May 04 (17) May 03 (7) May 02 (5) May 01 (11) Apr 30 (19) Apr 29 (21) Apr 28 (18) Apr 27 (16) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (11) Apr 24 (9) Apr 23 (20) Apr 22 (23) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (16) Apr 19 (13) Apr 18 (6) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (16) Apr 15 (18) Apr 14 (13) Apr 13 (14) Apr 12 (9) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (14) Apr 08 (12) Apr 07 (18) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (11) Apr 04 (9) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (16) Mar 31 (16) Mar 30 (22) Mar 29 (16) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (19) Mar 26 (31) Mar 25 (25) Mar 24 (26) Mar 23 (27) Mar 22 (22) Mar 21 (22) Mar 20 (13) Mar 19 (21) Mar 18 (20) Mar 17 (24) Mar 16 (18) Mar 15 (9) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (29) Mar 12 (15) Mar 11 (11) Mar 10 (11) Mar 09 (20) Mar 08 (12) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (21) Mar 05 (22) Mar 04 (19) Mar 03 (9) Mar 02 (20) Mar 01 (11) Feb 28 (11) Feb 27 (27) Feb 26 (15) Feb 25 (18) Feb 24 (17) Feb 23 (19) Feb 22 (24) Feb 21 (10) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (25) Feb 18 (16) Feb 17 (19) Feb 16 (23) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (11) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (16) Feb 11 (12) Feb 10 (18) Feb 09 (12) Feb 08 (14) Feb 07 (8) Feb 06 (27) Feb 05 (28) Feb 04 (24) Feb 03 (17) Feb 02 (20) Feb 01 (23) Jan 31 (16) Jan 30 (20) Jan 29 (26) Jan 28 (17) Jan 27 (21) Jan 26 (24) Jan 25 (16) Jan 24 (14) Jan 23 (16) Jan 22 (17) Jan 21 (19) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (17) Jan 18 (13) Jan 17 (14) Jan 16 (10) Jan 15 (21) Jan 14 (16) Jan 13 (19) Jan 12 (30) Jan 11 (14) Jan 10 (11) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (23) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (21) Jan 05 (15) Jan 04 (18) Jan 03 (9) Jan 02 (12) Jan 01 (15) Dec 31 (18) Dec 30 (7) Dec 29 (13) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (6) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (28) Dec 23 (12) Dec 22 (12) Dec 21 (17) Dec 20 (19) Dec 19 (19) Dec 18 (22) Dec 17 (24) Dec 16 (17) Dec 15 (29) Dec 14 (22) Dec 13 (12) Dec 12 (22) Dec 11 (24) Dec 10 (25) Dec 09 (18) Dec 08 (15) Dec 07 (21) Dec 06 (24) Dec 05 (30) Dec 04 (28) Dec 03 (26) Dec 02 (22) Dec 01 (33) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (18) Nov 27 (25) Nov 26 (17) Nov 25 (23) Nov 24 (27) Nov 23 (12) Nov 22 (10) Nov 21 (15) Nov 20 (23) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (24) Nov 17 (21) Nov 16 (20) Nov 15 (13) Nov 14 (15) Nov 13 (27) Nov 12 (23) Nov 11 (19) Nov 10 (21) Nov 09 (13) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (16) Nov 06 (32) Nov 05 (24) Nov 04 (20) Nov 03 (29) Nov 02 (12) Nov 01 (15) Oct 31 (20) Oct 30 (22) Oct 29 (27) Oct 28 (20) Oct 27 (23) Oct 26 (21) Oct 25 (15) Oct 24 (23) Oct 23 (26) Oct 22 (27) Oct 21 (28) Oct 20 (24) Oct 19 (13) Oct 18 (9) Oct 17 (30) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (20) Oct 14 (14) Oct 13 (17) Oct 12 (16) Oct 11 (8) Oct 10 (19) Oct 09 (22) Oct 08 (16) Oct 07 (18) Oct 06 (23) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (15) Oct 03 (21) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (22) Sep 30 (25) Sep 29 (20) Sep 28 (17) Sep 27 (13) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (15) Sep 24 (24) Sep 23 (23) Sep 22 (18) Sep 21 (20) Sep 20 (11) Sep 19 (24) Sep 18 (25) Sep 17 (25) Sep 16 (19) Sep 15 (21) Sep 14 (15) Sep 13 (10) Sep 12 (23) Sep 11 (23) Sep 10 (25) Sep 09 (25) Sep 08 (17) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (17) Sep 05 (14) Sep 04 (24) Sep 03 (16) Sep 02 (11) Sep 01 (19) Aug 31 (20) Aug 30 (11) Aug 29 (24) Aug 28 (24) Aug 27 (16) Aug 26 (26) Aug 25 (21) Aug 24 (15) Aug 23 (19) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (25) Aug 20 (27) Aug 19 (19) Aug 18 (24) Aug 17 (14) Aug 16 (10) Aug 15 (15) Aug 14 (16) Aug 13 (21) Aug 12 (30) Aug 11 (19) Aug 10 (8) Aug 09 (12) Aug 08 (17) Aug 07 (21) Aug 06 (26) Aug 05 (23) Aug 04 (21) Aug 03 (12) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (19) Jul 31 (21) Jul 30 (25) Jul 29 (29) Jul 28 (23) Jul 27 (17) Jul 26 (11) Jul 25 (21) Jul 24 (14) Jul 23 (15) Jul 22 (19) Jul 21 (15) Jul 20 (9) Jul 19 (10) Jul 18 (15) Jul 17 (22) Jul 16 (18) Jul 15 (21) Jul 14 (20) Jul 13 (7) Jul 12 (9) Jul 11 (29) Jul 10 (19) Jul 09 (17) Jul 08 (26) Jul 07 (21) Jul 06 (18) Jul 05 (14) Jul 04 (20) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (24) Jul 01 (23) Jun 30 (23) Jun 29 (18) Jun 28 (16) Jun 27 (16) Jun 26 (17) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (32) Jun 23 (29) Jun 22 (8) Jun 21 (17) Jun 20 (25) Jun 19 (28) Jun 18 (19) Jun 17 (25) Jun 16 (23) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (11) Jun 13 (14) Jun 12 (22) Jun 11 (19) Jun 10 (17) Jun 09 (15) Jun 08 (16) Jun 07 (7) Jun 06 (29) Jun 05 (27) Jun 04 (24) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (22) Jun 01 (13) May 31 (9) May 30 (26) May 29 (19) May 28 (15) May 27 (15) May 26 (23) May 25 (13) May 24 (12) May 23 (24) May 22 (13) May 21 (21) May 20 (18) May 19 (16) May 18 (7) May 17 (12) May 16 (25) May 15 (24) May 14 (23) May 13 (19) May 12 (17) May 11 (8) May 10 (6) May 09 (14) May 08 (21) May 07 (26) May 06 (14) May 05 (14) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (24) May 01 (13) Apr 30 (15) Apr 29 (24) Apr 28 (24) Apr 27 (11) Apr 26 (8) Apr 25 (13) Apr 24 (27) Apr 23 (15) Apr 22 (21) Apr 21 (19) Apr 20 (17) Apr 19 (8) Apr 18 (20) Apr 17 (27) Apr 16 (27) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (8) Apr 12 (7) Apr 11 (7) Apr 10 (22) Apr 09 (15) Apr 08 (15) Apr 07 (17) Apr 06 (14) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (12) Apr 03 (19) Apr 02 (17) Apr 01 (19) Mar 31 (25) Mar 30 (13) Mar 29 (9) Mar 28 (16) Mar 27 (23) Mar 26 (22) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (25) Mar 23 (16) Mar 22 (13) Mar 21 (24) Mar 20 (27) Mar 19 (20) Mar 18 (24) Mar 17 (17) Mar 16 (11) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (20) Mar 13 (28) Mar 12 (30) Mar 11 (20) Mar 10 (21) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (8) Mar 07 (17) Mar 06 (20) Mar 05 (19) Mar 04 (15) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (12) Feb 28 (16) Feb 27 (17) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (23) Feb 24 (15) Feb 23 (8) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (24) Feb 20 (14) Feb 19 (24) Feb 18 (19) Feb 17 (27) Feb 16 (13) Feb 15 (11) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (13) Feb 12 (13) Feb 11 (21) Feb 10 (16) Feb 09 (15) Feb 08 (10) Feb 07 (17) Feb 06 (21) Feb 05 (17) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (23) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (8) Jan 31 (17) Jan 30 (22) Jan 29 (23) Jan 28 (10) Jan 27 (24) Jan 26 (12) Jan 25 (9) Jan 24 (12) Jan 23 (19) Jan 22 (19) Jan 21 (14) Jan 20 (21) Jan 19 (12) Jan 18 (8) Jan 17 (20) Jan 16 (14) Jan 15 (23) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (20) Jan 12 (9) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (18) Jan 09 (11) Jan 08 (18) Jan 07 (13) Jan 06 (12) Jan 05 (12) Jan 04 (11) Jan 03 (10) Jan 02 (9) Jan 01 (9) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (11) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (9) Dec 27 (13) Dec 26 (15) Dec 25 (8) Dec 24 (6) Dec 23 (8) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (6) Dec 20 (14) Dec 19 (17) Dec 18 (14) Dec 17 (14) Dec 16 (13) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (9) Dec 13 (11) Dec 12 (16) Dec 11 (18) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (24) Dec 08 (11) Dec 07 (19) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (26) Dec 04 (15) Dec 03 (20) Dec 02 (17) Dec 01 (11) Nov 30 (10) Nov 29 (18) Nov 28 (21) Nov 27 (10) Nov 26 (22) Nov 25 (16) Nov 24 (12) Nov 23 (8) Nov 22 (18) Nov 21 (9) Nov 20 (17) Nov 19 (16) Nov 18 (16) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (9) Nov 15 (21) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (20) Nov 12 (16) Nov 11 (13) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (10) Nov 08 (16) Nov 07 (15) Nov 06 (18) Nov 05 (19) Nov 04 (16) Nov 03 (11) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (17) Oct 31 (17) Oct 30 (21) Oct 29 (9) Oct 28 (16) Oct 27 (6) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (16) Oct 24 (18) Oct 23 (14) Oct 22 (17) Oct 21 (10) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (8) Oct 18 (11) Oct 17 (12) Oct 16 (14) Oct 15 (19) Oct 14 (15) Oct 13 (11) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (10) Oct 10 (23) Oct 09 (13) Oct 08 (15) Oct 07 (20) Oct 06 (13) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (16) Oct 03 (17) Oct 02 (17) Oct 01 (20) Sep 30 (17) Sep 29 (9) Sep 28 (8) Sep 27 (14) Sep 26 (20) Sep 25 (19) Sep 24 (13) Sep 23 (11) Sep 22 (9) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (21) Sep 18 (12) Sep 17 (20) Sep 16 (16) Sep 15 (10) Sep 14 (6) Sep 13 (18) Sep 12 (14) Sep 11 (24) Sep 10 (17) Sep 09 (16) Sep 08 (16) Sep 07 (10) Sep 06 (20) Sep 05 (13) Sep 04 (23) Sep 03 (14) Sep 02 (12) Sep 01 (11) Aug 31 (11) Aug 30 (13) Aug 29 (18) Aug 28 (14) Aug 27 (21) Aug 26 (10) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (10) Aug 23 (17) Aug 22 (15) Aug 21 (14) Aug 20 (20) Aug 19 (20) Aug 18 (7) Aug 17 (9) Aug 16 (11) Aug 15 (12) Aug 14 (14) Aug 13 (19) Aug 12 (14) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (12) Aug 09 (7) Aug 08 (18) Aug 07 (16) Aug 06 (16) Aug 05 (20) Aug 04 (12) Aug 03 (8) Aug 02 (12) Aug 01 (14) Jul 31 (16) Jul 30 (16) Jul 29 (11) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (9) Jul 26 (17) Jul 25 (20) Jul 24 (17) Jul 23 (11) Jul 22 (18) Jul 21 (7) Jul 20 (10) Jul 19 (14) Jul 18 (11) Jul 17 (15) Jul 16 (12) Jul 15 (10) Jul 14 (8) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (17) Jul 11 (18) Jul 10 (16) Jul 09 (13) Jul 08 (10) Jul 07 (12) Jul 06 (8) Jul 05 (16) Jul 04 (14) Jul 03 (17) Jul 02 (13) Jul 01 (16) Jun 30 (19) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (19) Jun 27 (21) Jun 26 (27) Jun 25 (23) Jun 24 (23) Jun 23 (12) Jun 22 (9) Jun 21 (18) Jun 20 (15) Jun 19 (24) Jun 18 (21) Jun 17 (13) Jun 16 (9) Jun 15 (9) Jun 14 (18) Jun 13 (24) Jun 12 (18) Jun 11 (23) Jun 10 (25) Jun 09 (24) Jun 08 (27) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (25) Jun 05 (30) Jun 04 (23) Jun 03 (22) Jun 02 (16) Jun 01 (17) May 31 (18) May 30 (19) May 29 (17) May 28 (23) May 27 (15) May 26 (10) May 25 (19) May 24 (16) May 23 (16) May 22 (27) May 21 (20) May 20 (26) May 19 (6) May 18 (8) May 17 (20) May 16 (8) May 15 (18) May 14 (5) May 13 (21) May 12 (9) May 11 (8) May 10 (12) May 09 (18) May 08 (11) May 07 (27) May 06 (12) May 05 (16) May 04 (19) May 03 (14) May 02 (18) May 01 (18) Apr 30 (25) Apr 29 (27) Apr 28 (11) Apr 27 (10) Apr 26 (18) Apr 25 (10) Apr 24 (29) Apr 23 (29) Apr 22 (14) Apr 21 (15) Apr 20 (20) Apr 19 (22) Apr 18 (16) Apr 17 (32) Apr 16 (12) Apr 15 (21) Apr 14 (21) Apr 13 (15) Apr 12 (13) Apr 11 (14) Apr 10 (16) Apr 09 (20) Apr 08 (36) Apr 07 (22) Apr 06 (11) Apr 05 (28) Apr 04 (20) Apr 03 (29) Apr 02 (32) Apr 01 (18) Mar 31 (12) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (15) Mar 28 (22) Mar 27 (24) Mar 26 (17) Mar 25 (17) Mar 24 (13) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (12) Mar 21 (15) Mar 20 (18) Mar 19 (19) Mar 18 (16) Mar 17 (10) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (18) Mar 14 (24) Mar 13 (18) Mar 12 (18) Mar 11 (17) Mar 10 (13) Mar 09 (12) Mar 08 (18) Mar 07 (25) Mar 06 (16) Mar 05 (16) Mar 04 (22) Mar 03 (17) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (23) Feb 29 (19) Feb 28 (25) Feb 27 (26) Feb 26 (23) Feb 25 (12) Feb 24 (13) Feb 23 (15) Feb 22 (26) Feb 21 (31) Feb 20 (12) Feb 19 (21) Feb 18 (15) Feb 17 (10) Feb 16 (15) Feb 15 (19) Feb 14 (15) Feb 13 (25) Feb 12 (20) Feb 11 (9) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (28) Feb 08 (20) Feb 07 (22) Feb 06 (20) Feb 05 (19) Feb 04 (14) Feb 03 (16) Feb 02 (28) Feb 01 (37) Jan 31 (27) Jan 30 (31) Jan 29 (18) Jan 28 (14) Jan 27 (10) Jan 26 (18) Jan 25 (26) Jan 24 (34) Jan 23 (21) Jan 22 (21) Jan 21 (18) Jan 20 (18) Jan 19 (18) Jan 18 (26) Jan 17 (24) Jan 16 (23) Jan 15 (30) Jan 14 (20) Jan 13 (18) Jan 12 (24) Jan 11 (11) Jan 10 (23) Jan 09 (22) Jan 08 (17) Jan 07 (17) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (18) Jan 04 (15) Jan 03 (19) Jan 02 (14) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (12) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (15) Dec 28 (11) Dec 27 (7) Dec 26 (10) Dec 25 (16) Dec 24 (13) Dec 23 (16) Dec 22 (11) Dec 21 (26) Dec 20 (28) Dec 19 (14) Dec 18 (25) Dec 17 (23) Dec 16 (19) Dec 15 (22) Dec 14 (38) Dec 13 (26) Dec 12 (25) Dec 11 (27) Dec 10 (31) Dec 09 (15) Dec 08 (30) Dec 07 (31) Dec 06 (27) Dec 05 (38) Dec 04 (25) Dec 03 (27) Dec 02 (15) Dec 01 (36) Nov 30 (23) Nov 29 (17) Nov 28 (23) Nov 27 (13) Nov 26 (16) Nov 25 (14) Nov 24 (18) Nov 23 (21) Nov 22 (21) Nov 21 (24) Nov 20 (20) Nov 19 (23) Nov 18 (17) Nov 17 (17) Nov 16 (34) Nov 15 (25) Nov 14 (17) Nov 13 (21) Nov 12 (18) Nov 11 (9) Nov 10 (15) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (9) Nov 07 (12) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (4) Oct 29 (1) Oct 01 (1) Jul 29 (1) May 11 (1) Jul 11 (1) All of the materials used here are copyright Doug Stowe. Photos of our students at work are published solely for the promotion of the Wisdom of the Hands program and Other uses are strictly prohibited and copyright will be enforced. Questions about Wisdom of the Hands can be addressed to The European Commission and the Fundacio Mies van der Rohe announced the list of 356 works competing for the 2017 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award, which include Zaha Hadid Architects, MVRDV, COBE, BIG, Emre Arolat Architecture (EAA), FAT, Tabanloglu Architects, Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Erginoglu & Calslar Architects. The distribution of the nominated projects shows that 28 projects from France, 28 projects from Spain, 19 projects from UK, 17 projects from Germany, 17 projects from Italy, 16 projects from Denmark, 15 projects from Austria, 14 projects from Netherlands, 13 projects from Turkey, 13 projects from Portugal, 13 projects from Belgium, 13 projects from Norway, 10 projects from Czech Republic will compete for this prestigious award. Renzo Piano Building Workshop's Stavros Niarchos Cultural Centre (SNFCC), Greece. Image courtesy of RPBW 10 projects from Greece, 10 projects from Poland, 10 projects from Romania, 10 projects from Slovenia, 9 projects from Finland, 9 projects from Ireland, 8 projects from Croatia, 8 projects from Cyprus, 8 projects from Hungary, 8 projects from Latvia, 7 projects from Estonia, 7 projects from Georgia, 7 projects from Lithuania, 6 projects from Sweden, 5 projects from Luxembourg, 4 projects from Serbia, 4 projects from Slovakia, 3 projects from Bulgaria, 2 projects from Albania, 2 projects from Iceland, 1 project from Malta, 1 project from Bosnia-Herzegovina and 1 project from Ukraine are among the list. Emre Arolat Architecture's Abdullah Gul Presidential Museum And Library, Kayseri, Turkey. Image Cemal Emden Mies van der Rohe Award recorded that Housing and buildings for Cultural programmes continue being the most representative works for 2017. They are followed by education buildings which have increased their presence significantly. The number of mixed used works connected to cultural and social programmes such as a Library with an Auditorium or a City Hall with a Civic Centre have also increased and form the fourth most important group of works. Tabanloglu Architects' Beyazt State Library, Istanbul, Turkey. Image Emre Dorter Initiated in 1987 after an agreement between the European Parliament and the Barcelona City Council, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award has been co-organised by the Fundacio Mies van der Rohe and the European Commission since 2001. Zaha Hadid Architects' Investcorp Building, UK. Image Luke Hayes The Prize is awarded biennially to works completed within the previous two years. The principal objectives are to achieve a thorough understanding of the transformation of Europes built environment; to recognize and commend excellence and innovation in the field of architecture (in conceptual and construction terms) and to draw attention to the important contribution of European professionals in the development of new ideas, the clients who support them and the citizens that enjoy them. Wilkinson Eyre Architects' Weston Library, University of Oxford. Image James Brittain 86 independent experts, the national architecture associations from the 39 participating countries and the Advisory Committee nominated the 356 projects that will compete for the Prize and the Emerging Architect Prize. The Jury will make a shortlist of 40 works in late January 2017 and afterwards it will announce the 5 Finalists that will be visited in April. OMA's Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Venice. Image Delfino Sisto Legnani, Marco Cappelletti The Granting Ceremony will take place on May 26 at the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion in Barcelona with the Winners, the Finalists, the Jury members, the clients of the works, authorities from the European Commission and Parliament and the Barcelona City Council and all those people who support an architecture that responds to the needs of our century. The Prize Winner receives 60.000 and a sculpture that evokes the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion of Barcelona. Professionals starting out on their careers have the opportunity to become an Emerging Architect Winner, and receive the sculpture together with 20.000. Erginoglu&Calslar Architects' TAC-SEV New Campus, Mersin, Turkey. Image Image Cemal Emden The prestige of the Prize and the determination to disseminate the knowledge and savoir-faire of European architects is brought forward with the organization of exhibitions and debates worldwide, bringing architecture nearer to citizens. FAT's A House for Essex, Essex, UK. Image Living Architecture The Award also recorded that more countries participate this year. Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine have joined the Prize for the first time. Georgia outstands with 7 nominated works, pushing the boundaries of the Prize further east to cities such as Kvareli, towards the Caspian Sea. Barozzi/Veiga and A4 studio's Philharmonic Hall in Szczecin won the 2015 Mies van Der Rohe Award. You can download the full list of the Nominees for the 2017 Mies van der Rohe Award. Top image: Ragnarock - The Museum for Pop, Rock and Youth Culture, Denmark by MVRDV+COBE. Image Ossip van Duivenbode > via Mies van der Rohe Award AUBURN A Rochester woman involved in a high-speed chase last year will serve time in jail for selling heroin in Cayuga County. According to the Seneca County Sheriff's Office, 42-year-old Ann Douglas was picked up on a warrant in March 2016 following a high-speed police chase near Waterloo. Douglas had been a passenger in a vehicle driven by Rochester man Samuel McCullough who allegedly intentionally crashed his car into an unmarked sheriff's vehicle and led police on a high-speed chase. After the vehicle which belonged to Douglas ended up stuck in a field, deputies turned Douglas over to the Auburn Police Department, as she was wanted on four felony drug charges in Cayuga County: two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. In December, Douglas admitted to selling heroin on two occasions in Auburn in 2015, pleading guilty to two of the four felonies. And on Tuesday, Judge Mark Fandrich sentenced Douglas to six months in Cayuga County Jail plus five years probation. "This is a difficult case," Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said in at sentencing. "Again we have an addict who was trafficking heroin, which has plagued our county." Defense attorney Matthew Parrinello asked Fandrich to sentence Douglas to straight probation, blaming his client's behavior on her serious addiction to opiates. "I've seen it a million times," he said. "Douglas went from using opiates to abusing opiates to using heroin ... and unfortunately, she became addicted. She then bought and sold heroin to support her habit. "We're asking you to give her a chance," Parrinello added. "She wants to get treatment." While Budelmann recommended Douglas receive two years in prison and two years post-release supervision with a shock camp order, Fandrich compromised by sentencing the defendant to shock probation. "It's obvious to me that you suffer from addiction, but at the same time you committed serious crimes in this county," he said. "I am embarrassed that I am a heroin addict ... and I didn't mean to hurt anyone," Douglas told Fandrich. "I take full responsibility for my actions." Also in court: An Auburn teen was sentenced to prison Tuesday for burglarizing two homes in Cayuga County. Jeffrey Murray, Jr., of 3031 Turnpike Road, pleaded guilty in November to two counts of third-degree burglary. During his plea, the 18-year-old admitted to breaking into his aunt's apartment to steal her credit card last summer. A month later, Murray broke into a barn in the town of Sennett and stole chainsaws and other equipment. Murray was sentenced to 1 1/3 to four years in prison with a shock camp order. He was also ordered to pay around $400 in restitution. A Syracuse man will spend the next four years in prison for selling cocaine in Cayuga County. In September 2016, 37-year-old Rajsean Jones, of 213 Hubbell Ave., pleaded guilty to two felony counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance for selling cocaine in May 2015. His plea satisfied four other counts, including two misdemeanors and two felonies for criminal possession of a narcotic. A second felony offender, Jones was sentenced Tuesday to an indeterminate term of four years in prison followed by two years post-release supervision. He was also ordered to pay $360 in restitution. DETROIT (AP) The threat from President Donald Trump to tax Mexican-made cars sold in the U.S. would throw the industry into disarray, analysts say, forcing some uncomfortable choices: Raise car prices or swallow the cost. Stop selling Mexican-made cars in the U.S. but risk losing customers. Move production to the U.S. but make less money. "I don't think the auto industry would turn up its feet and die, but it would be a terrible shock. It would create mayhem with their profitability," said Marina Whitman, a business professor at the University of Michigan and a former vice president at General Motors Co. Trump hosted a breakfast meeting early Tuesday with the heads of General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Prior to the meeting, Trump demanded on Twitter that automakers build new factories in the U.S. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here," his tweet said. He has warned of a "substantial border tax" on companies that move manufacturing out of the country and promised tax advantages to those that produce domestically. For more than two decades, Mexico has been an oasis for the auto industry, offering cheap labor and access to dozens of markets through free-trade deals. Whitman says Detroit automakers can't build small cars profitably in the U.S., where a unionized auto worker can make $58 an hour in wages and benefits. By comparison, a Mexican auto assembly worker makes a little more than $8. That helps to explain why automakers have announced $24 billion in Mexican investments over the last six years, according to the Center for Automotive Research, a Michigan think tank. In all, $50.5 billion in vehicles and $51 billion in auto parts were shipped to the U.S. from Mexico in 2015, U.S. government data show. Mexico's auto sector, while still smaller than the U.S., is growing at a faster clip. Mexico's vehicle production capacity is expected to rise 49 percent to 5.5 million vehicles by 2023, according to LMC Automotive, a forecasting firm. U.S. capacity will grow 13 percent to 14.2 million vehicles in the same period. But Trump could change that. In frequent tweets targeting the auto industry, he has proposed both a 35-percent tariff on Mexican-made imports and a "border tax," which would tax companies' imports. That's forcing automakers to consider a number of options. STAY THE COURSE Abandoning Mexico and moving production to the U.S., as Trump demands, would cost the industry billions and scuttle plans that are years in the making. Audi, for example, just opened a plant in Mexico that it decided to build five years ago. "It's very difficult to turn on your heels quickly in the auto industry," said Laurie Harbour-Felax, a manufacturing consultant and president of Harbour Results Inc. In recent weeks, Volkswagen, GM, Toyota and BMW have all said they won't shift their production plans, while stressing the amount they've invested in the U.S. BMW, for example, said it's proceeding with a $1 billion plant in Mexico that will make the 3 Series sedan starting in 2019. The German automaker also noted that its SUV plant in South Carolina is its largest plant worldwide. Trump's border tax would hurt some automakers more than others. Volkswagen, for example, imports 32 percent of the vehicles its sells in the U.S. from Mexico, according to LMC. But Honda imports just 11 percent, and that's expected to fall this year after it moves production of the CR-V SUV from Mexico to Indiana. PIVOT ON PRODUCTION In early January, Ford made the surprise announcement that it would halt construction of a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico slated to build the compact Focus. It also announced plans to invest $700 million of that savings into a Michigan plant where it will make new electric and autonomous cars. Ford said declining sales of small cars, not Trump, influenced the Mexico plant decision, and the company will still make the Focus in Mexico at a different plant. But Ford CEO Mark Fields noted that Trump's promise to lower corporate taxes and ease regulations would make it more attractive to do business in the U.S. Fields also said he's not worried about the possibility of tariffs Others appear more nervous. Speaking to reporters at the Detroit auto show, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said his company might withdraw from Mexico altogether if tariffs got too high. "Those plants were designed, built and purposed at a time when NAFTA was alive and well," he said. "It's one of the perils associated with the business that we run." Trump can't place tariffs on companies or groups of companies without congressional approval, says Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics. But he could fashion tariffs that hurt some companies more than others by, for example, picking and choosing from the dozens of import classifications for vehicles and parts. SELL ELSEWHERE Automakers could stop selling some Mexican-made cars in the U.S. altogether, but that would cost them customers. They could also try to sell the cars elsewhere. Mexico has free trade agreements covering 45 countries, including agreements with the European Union, Japan and South America. By comparison, the U.S. has agreements with 20 countries. Nissan Motor Co., the biggest producer in Mexico, made more than 823,000 vehicles in the country in 2015. Forty-six percent were shipped to the U.S., but another 17 percent went to other countries, including Canada and Saudi Arabia. Nissan could tweak those numbers if U.S. tariffs were prohibitive. "All carmakers will adapt to the new rules, if there are new rules," Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said this month in Detroit. PASS THE COST If Trump imposes tariffs, automakers could try to pass along the cost to U.S. customers. But that would raise the price tag of cars like the $17,000 Nissan Sentra or the $21,000 Chevrolet Trax by thousands of dollars. Even a U.S.-built vehicle like the Toyota Camry would cost more. Jim Lentz, CEO of Toyota North America, said 25 percent of the Camry's parts are imported, and tariffs on those parts would add roughly $1,000 to the cost of the car. Automakers could swallow the cost of the tariff, but it would hurt their bottom lines. Dustin Blanchard, 31, who works for a software startup in Austin, Texas, drives a 2007 Nissan Sentra that he bought for $18,000. His car was made in Mexico, but he didn't think much about that when he bought it. "The parts all come from everywhere. Domestic brands are made overseas and Japanese cars are made here," he says. "It's so interconnected that you don't feel like it's a patriotic duty to buy a Ford or something." But a 35-percent tariff would have added $6,300 to the cost of his Sentra, which would have put it out of his reach. Blanchard has thought more about NAFTA's impact since the election. When he recently drank a Mexican Coke, he says, he half-joked that he better enjoy it while he can. "It's something I had taken for granted, that free trade was here to stay," he says. HIT: To the The Women March in Seneca Falls, a local event that took place Saturday in conjunction with the women's marches held that day around the globe. Saturday turned into a historic day, with millions around the United States and beyond demonstrating for women's rights and respect, including the massive rally on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Given its place in women's rights history, Seneca Falls was an ideal site to have a sister event in the Finger Lakes region. Kudos to all the people involved in making the Seneca Falls march happen, including former Auburn Mayor Melina Carnicelli and Skaneateles resident Maureen Quigley. MISS: To a fatal crash Sunday night on state Route 34 in Sennett. State police said a Weedsport man, 52, was killed when he was struck by an automobile while walking on a rural stretch of the busy road. The driver was a 19-year-old Weedsport woman. HIT: To the 16 men and women who are still alive in The Citizen Masters bowling tournaments. The Masters is the biggest competition of the year for local adult bowlers. The double-elimination tournament takes place over the course of an entire month, and now both the men's and women's competitions are down to the final eight competitors. The action resumes Saturday at Rainbow Lanes in Weedsport. Best of luck to all the bowlers as they aim for the title. MISS: To the reminder from Old Man Winter that he's still around. Winter storm warning issued for Cayuga County; heavy wet snow, sleet expected The National Weather Service has upgraded the winter storm watch that was issued Sunday to a After a mild weekend that had people walking outside in light jackets in January, a major storm with wind, sleet and snow was bearing down on upstate New York as of Monday afternoon. We urge everyone to be careful out there, and remember that each day is a step closer to spring. It's the grand opening of Berkeley's new 1951 Coffee Shop, and despite the downpour outside, almost every seat in the house is full. The sleek wood and charcoal interioradorned with bright stripes snaking across the walls, espresso bar, and floorshouses a diverse swath of the local community, from chatty groups of Cal students to weekend warriors glued to their laptops coming together under one roof to escape the rain and sip lattes. With Verve coffee beans, artisanal local pastries, and a modern design, the Channing Street cafe could easily be considered just another entrant into the third-wave coffee scene embraced throughout the Bay Area. But 1951 Coffee also serves its community in another way: by bringing employment opportunities to refugees and connecting them to the neighborhood they now call home. The nonprofit organization 1951 Coffee Company, which runs the cafe, works primarily with refugees and asylees, most referred by local organizations who assist these groups in the surrounding area. Named after the year the United Nations first defined and set forth guidelines for the protection of refugees, 1951 offers a free two-week coffee training program, during which trainees are able to brew coffee and craft espresso drinks without the pressure of customers or orders. Graduates of the 1951 training program have gone on to jobs at Blue Bottle, Peet's Coffee, and Dropbox (which has an onsite cafe), and now have the opportunity to interact with coffee-loving locals at the physical cafe, which officially opened January 22. 1951 Coffee Company cofounders Rachel Taber and Doug Hewitt. (Courtesy of the cafe) Cofounders Rachel Taber and Doug Hewitt first decided to open 1951 Coffee Shop back in 2015, but it took a little convincing to get the idea up and running. Taber and Hewitt had both worked for the International Rescue Committee in Oakland, in different programs but in the same office, and Hewitt was looking for his next venture while Taber was on maternity leave with her second child. "Doug mentioned the idea for a coffee shop over lunch, and I called him up one Friday night and said, 'Hey, what do you think about doing this idea?' And he was like, 'Oh, well'" remembers Taber. "It felt like a denied proposal!" "It was more of a delayed proposal," counters Hewitt. After two months of back and forth and some trepidation over finding a commercial space and negotiating rents, the duo lucked out when they realized Berkeley's First Presbyterian Church was looking for a coffee shop with a social mission to take over a space on its building's ground floor. After negotiating permits and establishing their nonprofit status, Taber and Hewitt's good fortune continued when they connected with Berkeley design firm Montaag, which was able to realize their vision and design the space in way that was both creative and upliftingpro bono. "There are a lot with refugee stories that are sometimes very tragic and difficult, and the last thing we'd want is for refugees to be working in a space that was constantly bringing them down," says Hewitt. "[Montaag] actually interviewed a few refugees that had moved to Oakland to hear their backstories and what their challenges were. They put a lot of work into it." While Taber and Hewitt continued to find partners and secure funding, they also discovered that the coffee industry was an ideal starting point for refugees and other new entrants to the U.S. workforce. Both knew that coffee shop positions paid a little more than your average entry-level opportunity, since both had worked as baristas and Hewitt had logged some time with the coffee roasting side, but they quickly discovered that the Bay Area was uniquely poised to welcome additional workers into the business of caffeine, as well as serve the refugee community. "Based on a survey of barista incomes, San Francisco and Oakland were the first and third highest barista incomes in the country, respectively, and also the first and third respective highest tips," says Taber. "And the Bay Area has the largest per capita coffee shops, expected growth, and depth and breadth of expected coffee sales." "You can move up and around the coffee industry without having to access really expensive formal education," adds Hewitt. "And we also knew that from cultural perspectives, there are very few cultures that would have a problem with coffee or tea. Coffee and tea are welcoming beverages from around the world, so that kind of aligns with our mission as well." Aside from offering employment, 1951 Coffee Shop also serves as a place for refugees to share their stories, and for customers to be able to put a face to an issue that's often misunderstood or misrepresented. "We want to be a part of adding good, positive, personal information into the discussion around refugees," says Hewitt. "We want the cafe to be a convergence point for the community and refugees, and for both to be changed and feel like one community when they leave. That feeling of belonging is immeasurable. You can simply make an impact by being a customer." // 2410 Channing Way (Berkeley), 1951coffee.com As much a child of the sleepy Anglo suburbs of southern Hillsborough County as the mezcla streets of Ybor City, I came of age as a student at Booker T. Washington school -- a stones throw from the Ybor Square steps, where during Tampas formative years at the end of the 19th century, Cuban national hero Jose Marti roused cigar factory worker support for the islands independence from Spain.From early morning ventures to grab "cafe con pan'' to nighttime folklores about the fruitless hunt for guava trees that sparked early commercial interest in our region, an intimate if partial connection to Cuba has always been intractably linked to my understanding of Tampa, of Florida, of the world.And so, with the passing of Fidel Castro and the easing of Cuba travel restrictions for Americans, this New Year felt like a momentous occasion to visit and reflect on this deep historical connection, and to imagine what the future of Tampa-Havana relations may look like.For those of us without direct Cuban relations, the luxury of joining Tampa Bays elite on official envoys or the extra pocket change to sign on to one of the pricey "cultural exchange'' tours currently hitting the market, visiting Havana while remaining under the good legal graces of Uncle Sam still presents a few hurdles.In 2014, the Obama administration announced important tweaks to the visa requirements for Americans traveling to Cuba. Under the new rules, individuals can self-certify that they meet one of 12 authorized travel categories , ranging from humanitarian work to educational activities -- including self-directed itineraries with a full-time schedule of activities.Visitors will also need to obtain a Cuban tourist visa, which easily can be purchased online through an authorized third party. Southwest Airlines, which flies directly between Tampa and Havana, partners with Cuba Travel Services , for example.As a doctoral student in urban geography, I planned my independent visit to explore how Havanas inner-city neighborhoods are evolving in an age of renewed American curiosity. What do (tentatively) thawing relations between our two nations portend for life in Havanas urban quarters, among the densest human settlements in the world and home to some of the most splendid, if unevenly declining architectural heritage in the Americas?Buried in my academic curiosities about city life, a simpler question: How can I relate to Cuba in the 21st century, beyond the sharp binaries that iced over the long Cold War?Over the course of a short week in Havana, I began to form a nascent impression of life in Havana through bursts of connection and contradiction: through the daily ritual of waking up for a conversational breakfast with the hosts at my "casa particular,'' over the course of miles-long wanders through bustling streets in a state of dynamic change, during extended sunset pauses and casual dialogue with locals along the Malecon -- Havanas famed waterfront boulevard where locals gather en masse under golden glowing streetlights to escape the still heat of the city in exchange for the cool breeze off the Straits of Florida. The rhythms of the street cornera serve up insights that rival the material in Havanas dozens of museums and cultural institutions.Such contradictions coalesce in Habana Vieja (Old Havana), the area most familiar to foreign visitors. Old Havana exudes a fascinating cultural heritage that stretches from 16th century colonial Cuba to that of the post-1959 Revolution present. Here, striking efforts by the Cuban state to reconcile socialist orthodoxy with a cosmopolitan tourist economy are both remarkable and representative of some of the broader paradoxes that frame an outsiders encounter with Havana life.Habaguanex, a tourist company run through the Office of the Historian of Havana City, operates dozens of hotels, restaurants and retail shops in carefully restored buildings, where many visitors eat and sleep in elegant settings that at times feel worlds away from the remainder of the city, where the average Cubans monthly salary is less than the cost of a single nights dinner.About half the proceeds raised by Habaguanex are reinvested in historic preservation -- vital in a city in which several buildings are said to collapse every day -- while the rest goes into social programs and facilities ranging from healthcare to housing.It has been reported that the Cuban government has funded hundreds of social initiatives since the program was concocted by Havanas head Preservationist Eusebio Leal. And so the very city itself, ever in a state of careful reconstruction, has become one of Cubas greatest global exports, attracting visitor coin to keep aspects of socialist Havana working for locals.Near the end of my visit, in a small bookstore off Calle Obispo, I uncover a magazine geared to American real estate investors and tourists, published months before Castros 1959 revolution. Inside, aged pages are filled with renderings for luxury hotels and marina developments yet to come (including a proposed Havana Hilton, today nationalized as the Habana Libre hotel), travel tips for foreigners and airline route maps that draw dotted lines to our own Tampa.Flipping through the magazine, I recognize an important historic symmetry between Florida and Cuba, especially in terms of the importance of the agricultural, real estate and tourism industries in our respective economies. This familiarity extends to the present, to timely questions about how to balance investment in our regions communities against an imperative to keep our sand and sun attractive and affordable to visitors and investors.In an age where gentrification, displacement and inequality are shorthands for the darker obverse of urban renewal in cities the world over, the Havana analog provides ample food for thought. For all the important and persistent distinctions between Florida and Cuba, I am struck by a common struggle, a shared project to weigh out better lives in a global urban era by building better housing, better schools, better neighborhoods.That well-worn magazine has a second and eerie resonance today, as Americans step off jets at Jose Marti International Airport and rejoin Canadians, Brits, the French and others in the cafes and cabarets of Havana in growing numbers. A mild January breeze minds its way down the streets of central Havana, stirring a sense of uncertainty as to whats yet to come -- there or here.On a more pragmatic note, the logistics of a Cuba visit require a fair amount of advance thought. Visitors need to choose between state-owned hotels or "casas particulares'' (private houses, or homestays). Our group found accommodation in a private house through AirBnB at a price of just under $50 per night for three.Given that its difficult to directly arrange hotel bookings in advance, booking online through a third party service like AirBnB affords some of peace of mind and a way to anchor your trip. Our homestay hosts offered to prepare daily meals (for an additional $5-10 per meal) and help arrange taxis and tours, though often at a cost higher than what might be negotiated on the street.Meals at state-owned restaurants catering to tourists typically run at prices commensurate with the States, while spots catering to a more local clientele serve up fare for a fraction of that price.Remember that American credit cards wont work in Cuba under the conditions of the U.S. embargo, so its important to travel with enough cash to last your entire visit (we found $100 per person per day more than sufficient).Although we didnt leave Havana during our visit, on day trips to neighborhoods far beyond the tourist-friendly center of town we always found our Cuban hosts to be friendly and generous.For the average American, both restrictive rules and realities on the ground mean that a trip to Cuba must necessarily be approached with a hearty mix of firm intention, flexible good will and creative curiosity.For the Tampa local looking to better understand our neighbors to the south, so foundational in the making of our Cigar City, this moment presents a powerful opportunity to see Havana beyond the metaphorical looking glass that has so long stood between these two places. Loving, the true-life story of the Virginia couple whose marriage led to the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down laws against interracial marriage, is the winner of this year's Best Movie for Grownups Award. Presented by AARP The Magazine, the Movies for Grownups Awards celebrate and encourage films with unique appeal to movie lovers with a grownup state of mind and recognize the inspiring artists who make them. Actors, directors and writers become eligible for the awards after their 50th birthday. This year's most-honored films are Fences, Manchester by the Sea and 20th Century Women, with two wins each. The awards will be presented Feb. 6 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Here's the complete list of this year's winners. Best Movie for Grownups Loving (Director: Jeff Nichols) Best Director Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea Best Actor Denzel Washington, Fences Best Actress Annette Bening, 20th Century Women Best Supporting Actor Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water Best Supporting Actress Arrival Called a thinking persons sci-fi film, Arrival is a subtle and thoughtful alien invasion movie that puts at its center the idea that any relationship worth having is one we enter knowing that it may end in heartbreak. Amy Adams performance as a linguist trying to communicate with the extraterrestrials is stellar. Fences Fierce performances by Denzel Washington and Viola Davis power this drama, exploring hard truths of family life and the American dream. The late August Wilson wrote the script, based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1983 stage play and directing his first film, Washington makes a triumphant debut behind the camera. FULL REVIEW Hello, My Name Is Doris Sally Field is adorable, tragic and hilarious as Doris, an eccentric 60-something whose life has gone unchanged for too many years until she falls for a hunky young art director at her office (Max Greenfield). In turns a love story, a rock concert and a social media tutorial, Doris proves its never too late to shake up your own life. Tyne Daly is an absolute hoot as Fields brutally honest best friend. FULL REVIEW Jackie Natalie Portman paints an unflinching portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy, whose poise, grace and vulnerability galvanized the nation in the dark days after JFKs assassination. If you lived through that awful November, youll shiver with recognition as director Pablo Larrain re-creates, with chilling detail, the cold wind of grief that engulfed not only one mans family, but also the entire nation. FULL REVIEW La La Land Harking back to the golden age of movie musicals with its bright colors and dreamy sequences yet decidedly contemporary in its view of modern life La La Land reminds us that great filmmaking and catchy songs are timeless crowd-pleasers. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling play struggling performers whose love affair is punctuated by one snappy song-and-dance scene after another. FULL REVIEW Lion Take note, any parent who has lost track of a kid in the grocery store: Nicole Kidman will choke you up more than once as an adoptive mother in Australia who must let her grown son (Dev Patel) return to India in search of the family he lost on a crowded train 25 years earlier. In a story that deals with lifes ever-mounting list of what-ifs, director Garth Davis delicately balances his characters scales of loss and gain. Loving Within the living memory of many Americans, interracial marriage was illegal in a huge swath across the U.S. In telling the true story of the interracial Virginia couple (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga) whose quiet insistence on their right to love each other went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, writer-director Jeff Nichols eschews dramatic speeches and over-the-top villains. From small-town America to the county jail and all the way to Washington, this inspiring story proves that love may yet conquer the world. FULL REVIEW Manchester by the Sea There are no easy Hollywood answers in this sometimes searing, often hilarious story of lifes unexpected turns. Casey Affleck gives a top-notch performance as a janitor whose world is forever changed when he suddenly becomes the guardian of his nephew (Lucas Hedges). Navigating the complicated world of loss, family and resilience, Manchester by the Sea taps into what it means to be human. FULL REVIEW Silence Leave your modern-day sensibilities behind as director Martin Scorsese plunges you into 17th-century Japan, where two Jesuit priests (Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield) risk their lives to locate their missing mentor (Liam Neeson). Based on the acclaimed novel by Shusaku Endo, its the kind of tale of brutality and beauty that only the veteran Scorsese could pull off. Sully Tom Hanks rocks a spectacular head of white hair as Capt. Chesley Sully Sullenberger, who safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in January 2009. Still Hollywoods most efficient storyteller, director Clint Eastwood nails the landing with white-knuckle aplomb then guides us through Sullys ensuing post-traumatic stress disorder as an investigation into the flight unfolds. FULL REVIEW Northern football players, cheerleaders from beyond the U.S. Two Northern football players and two cheerleaders have common ground with hometowns outside the U.S. January 20, 2017 TANGIER, Morocco With their natural ability to learn melodies, goldfinches have attracted the interests of thousands of breeders and trainers around the world. Palestinian interest in the songbirds' varied colors and capacity to sing different melodies emerged in the 1980s. There are mainly two types of goldfinch people. Some are interested in the natural singing of the birds. Contests are held to choose the birds with the strongest ability to sing harmoniously and in tune. Then there are those concerned with training the birds to sing musical sequences that vary from one country to another. Many goldfinch breeders and trainers in the Gaza Strip wish to take part in international contests, and some breeders want to sell their birds at auctions. But so far they have been prevented from doing either. I tried several times to participate in international contests in Morocco, but I couldn't because the border crossings are closed," breeder Khalil Hamada told Al-Monitor. Instead, they communicate with Moroccan goldfinch breeders via social media and online forums. Goldfinches are popular in all the Maghreb (northwest African) countries, but Moroccan goldfinch melodies are the closest to those of Palestinian goldfinches. Hamada, who resides in the Sheikh Radwan district in Gaza City, breeds at least five singing goldfinches annually. The price for a well-trained bird can reach $3,000, but the value is highly dependent on the bird mastering the melody. A single mistake in a sequence can drop the price to $100. If Palestinians could enter competitions, we [would] have the ability to compete in our goldfinches own 'language,' but we need to get acquainted with the Moroccan goldfinches' language, which differs from the Palestinian melodies in terms of the series of tones arranged, the intros and outros, and number of tones in each section. He said, We have started to establish a joint group for trainers and breeders of singing goldfinches in the Gaza Strip, and we are making efforts to hold competitions in Gaza in the presence of international judges. Having prize-winning goldfinches in international competitions would increase demand for the birds. Training the birds requires a strict regimen. After chicks hatch, Palestinian goldfinch trainers isolate them for 27 days in individual covered cages in soundproof and semi-lightproof chambers to block any external static and light. These birds listen only to clean recorded music for six hours a day, intermittently. The birds continue some form of training for an entire year. Moroccan goldfinch trainer Mohammed Said Yacoubi works in the Beni Makada district of Tangier. His training features combined Palestinian and Moroccan melodies, which he gets online. Yacoubi told Al-Monitor, The goldfinches Palestinian language is attractive. I train small birds to acquire the Palestinian and Moroccan melodies for an entire year. I have been trying to contact Palestinian trainers from Gaza to exchange our experiences. Abdelhak al-Zahweili, former head of the Moroccan Ornithological Federation and head of a Casablanca songbird league, told Al-Monitor, Annual contests for singing goldfinches are held in Morocco in the presence of Spanish and Belgian judges. Goldfinches are evaluated at several levels, most notable among them their continuous singing capacity, the length, intros and outros of the melody, and the distance between the bird and the public and between the bird and judges when performing. We have noted that Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip, have great interest in goldfinches, but have not taken part in contests so far. Zahweili expressed his concerns about the potential of goldfinches becoming extinct in Morocco due to arbitrary hunting and the smuggling of birds from Morocco to Algeria. He added, A law prohibiting the possession and poaching of goldfinches was issued Aug. 23, 2011, except for those individuals who took part twice in goldfinches annual contests after obtaining prior permission. Ahmad Fawzi, from El Jadida in Morocco, is the foreign relations director at the Moroccan Ornithological Federation. He told Al-Monitor, The language of the Palestinian goldfinches is beautiful, but lacks the cadence, which concludes the section. We hope to find Palestinian trainers from the Gaza Strip capable of participating in annual contests held in Morocco. Fawzi revealed that an Arab union will be established to include all concerned songbird associations in all Arab countries. The unions headquarters will be in Tunisia, and we hope that Palestine becomes a member. We will be working in the coming months in 2017 to launch the union, he said. Said Abu Mustafa is a goldfinch trainer and breeder from the city of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. He told Al-Monitor, We have tried for many years to exchange experiences with trainers in the entire Maghreb. Palestinian trainers periodically meet to listen to the birds that we are training. The melodies are evaluated, and birds are exchanged and sold. We rely on baby birds produced in cages and large chambers. The birds caught from the wild find it difficult to learn melodies, because they need a long period of time to get accustomed to the cages. It is difficult to train and teach them a language through melodies, because they had only been used to the sounds of nature. Taking part in international contests would prove trainers' efficiency, increase their expertise and keep them informed about the species, which is endangered due to poaching and deforestation. Goldfinch aficionados believe the number of goldfinches, which are migratory birds to Palestine, has significantly decreased in recent years, even though thousands of goldfinches were brought in through the tunnels out of Egypt. In the absence of any official party concerned with migratory birds in Gaza, there are no accurate statistics on songbirds. The Ynet News website reported Jan. 21 that two Palestinian minors were arrested for trying to smuggle wild European goldfinches out of Jordan in their pants. Guards at the Allenby crossing said they became suspicious when they heard tweeting sounds coming from the legs of the pair's pants. Each was carrying 19 birds, security officials said. At the same crossing in December, four people were caught trying to smuggle more than a hundred of the songbirds. A wild goldfinch can be sold for $39, while people will pay as much as $1,500 for a goldfinch-canary hybrid, Ynet reported. The global argan oil market share is fragmented with production bases concentrated in Morocco. The market is unregulated with the presence of many manufacturers & traders supplying different quality of oil at different rates. Argan Oil Market Trends, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Analysis (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Competitive Landscape & Forecast, 2016 2023 Argan oil contains 200% more vitamin E (tocopherols) in comparision to olive oil, which acts as an anti oxidant and free radical scavenger. The manufacturers can derive up to 771 mg of tocopherols per kg of oil in comparison to 320 mg per kg of olive oil. It also increases the effectiness of sunscreen products and also helps in preventing & treating scars. Global argan oil market size was estimated at over 3 kilo tons in 2015. Increase in natural products demand from regions such as North America and Europe has prompted morocco government to raise production to 10 kilo tons by 2020 with creating new chain of modern argan farms. Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/274 Morocco argan oil production capacity is estimated at close to 4 kilo tons per annum. Increase in naturally derived ingredients demand for cosmetics & personal care products coupled with growing awareness of toxicity of fossil derived chemicals is likely to drive demand. They are widely preferred in cosmetic products and have found acceptance in Europe and U.S. argan oil market. Morocco argan oil market exports count up to approximately 700 tons per year. Much of the oil is used I skin care & hair care products. Major personal care & cosmetic companies such a LOreal and Unilever source it to use in product portfolio. LOreal has introduced product under the brand name which is argan oil containing serum whereas, Unilever has introduced Dove hair care shampoos & conditioners containing the oil. LOreal procures argan oil in sufficient quantities from BASF, which buys from Morocco based Berber cooperatives. Request for Inquiry before buying @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/274 It is widely preferred in skin care products as it counters drying & elasticity loss of skin, delay wrinkles and makes skin suppler & toned. Anti-ageing product market containing organic & naturally derived ingredients for skin & hair care applications is likely to grow at a CAGR of over 7.5% from 2016 to 2023. It is expected to provide a lift for sale in hair care product segment which can make the personal care & cosmetic market exceed USD 100 billion over the forecast period. U.S. argan oil market price may see a surge over the forecast period. To view or purchase this report titled, Argan Oil Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Analysis (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Landscape & Forecast, 2016 2023 please click on the link below: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/argan-oil-market Increasing application scope in cooking is likely to drive demand over the forecast period. It is widely used as a common ingredient in couscous and taijines. It is also preferred to be used as an ingredient for many seasoning types and can be used in for meat and fish foods. The global argan oil market share is fragmented with production bases concentrated in Morocco. The market is unregulated with the presence of many manufacturers & traders supplying different quality of oil at different rates. Argan oil producers are engaged in trading domestically and export large quantities of the product. Some of the producers have trade names while some trade unbranded and few have retails offices in North America or Europe. Major companies include Sidi Yassine, Marogonia, Vima Souss, Malak Bio, Amorre, BioAdorates, Zineglob and Mabioma. Sidi Yassine also has retail branch in Switzerland whereas Marogonia manufacture the product for Olvea. Some brand names include Tiwarga, Natubelle, Argamine, Argane Achifae. Mabioma is engaged int exporting the product. Browse Related Report Organic Personal Care Market Size, Potential, Industry Outlook, Regional Analysis (U.S., Germany, UK, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development, Competitive Landscape & Forecast, 2016 2023 https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/organic-personal-care-market About Global Market Insights Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology. Media Contact Company Name: Global Market Insights Inc. Contact Person: Arun Hegde Email: sales@gminsights.com Phone: 1-302-846-7766 Address:29L Atlantic Avenu, Suite L 105 City: Ocean View State: Delaware Country: United States Website: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/argan-oil-market Flooring America of Fayetteville is offering up to 50% off of name-brand, star-rated products through February 26. Customers can choose from select flooring in Fayetteville, NC, including hardwood, carpet, luxury vinyl, and tile. Because floors are some of the largest surfaces in most rooms, one project can produce a dramatic change in the look and feel of the space. In addition, new flooring is attractive to potential homebuyers, making it a smart investment for homeowners who plan on moving. Home and business owners can spend less on their renovations by shopping at Flooring America of Fayetteville during its Red Carpet Clearance Sale. The flooring store in Fayetteville, NC, is discounting many of its products up to 50%, making it more affordable to redo the floors of a single room or an entire property. This sale enables customers to get discounts between 30% and 50% on select 3-Star, 4-Star, and 5-Star floors from several name brands companies, including Hearth & Home. Star ratings correlate to each products quality level, letting customers know the durability and longevity of the floors they purchase. During this clearance sale, customers can apply for 12 or 18 months of deferred-interest financing on select star-rated items. Storewide products that are eligible for discounts include a wide variety of tile, laminate, hardwood, vinyl, and carpeting. Flooring America of Fayetteville enables customers to buy products with more confidence through their diverse service offerings and their Ultimate Guarantee. Customers can schedule a consultation with an in-store design specialists who helps them determine which flooring material meets their functional needs and which styles match their decor. The Ultimate Guarantee gives customers a 30-day warranty on 4-Star and 5-Star products, allowing them to get a new floor installed with no labor costs if they arent satisfied with the initial installation. It also provides a lifetime installation guarantee that takes care of any installation-related issue for free. Learn which flooring products are on sale by calling (910) 764-6618. Flooring America of Fayetteville serves customers in and around Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Clinton, Hope Mills, and Dunn, North Carolina. Media Contact Company Name: Flooring America of Fayetteville Contact Person: Marty Skinner Email: mskinner402@earthlink.net Phone: (910) 764-6618 Address:402 Hope Mills Road City: Fayetteville State: NC Country: United States Website: http://www.flooringamericafayetteville.com Lyles Flooring America is hosting a Red Carpet Clearance Sale that gives customers up to 50% off select floors storewide. Customers of this Minnesota City, MN, flooring showroom can choose from a range of carpets, hardwood, tile, laminate, and other flooring materials. Getting high-quality flooring in Minnesota City, MN, does not have to be expensive. Lyles Flooring America is providing clients with huge savings ranging from 30% to 50% off of select flooring materials at the Red Carpet Clearance Sale, on until February 26. These include many 3-Star, 4-Star, and 5-Star products from top brand names like Hearth & Home. Products at the showroom are given star ratings to help buyers understand the level of quality and durability of each product. During this sale, customers can defer interest on financing for 12 or 18 months, making their purchase even more affordable. Carpets, hardwood, luxury vinyl, tile, and laminate flooring are available during the clearance event, enabling clients to choose the materials that match their decor and functional needs. If customers have a hard time choosing between materials, sales professionals with extensive product knowledge are on-site to explain the advantages of each. At the showroom, design specialists also assist customers in choosing patterns and colors that match their existing decor. Many customers find this service helpful because they can envision what the results will be in their homes or businesses. To ensure even more confidence, Lyles Flooring America also offers a Confidence Plus Warranty, which gives clients 30 days to determine if they are completely satisfied with their 4-Star or 5-Star floor. If not, the flooring store will replace it and pay for the labor costs. The stores in-house installation team works with clients to accurately measure their space so they dont have to buy more flooring material than they need. The installers are experienced and licensed professionals who use precise methods to install all types of flooring. Their services are covered by the Lifetime Installation Guarantee, which lets customers know that any installation-related issues that occur will be taken care of by Lyles Flooring America at no cost to the customer. Contact Lyles Flooring America today to request a free estimate on new floors. They work with customers throughout Minnesota City, Winona, Goodview, Buffalo City, Dodge, and the surrounding areas in Minnesota, as well as Arcadia and Galesville, Wisconsin. Media Contact Company Name: Lyles Flooring America Contact Person: Nick Ebnet Email: nick.ebnet@lylesfa.com Phone: (507) 858-4578 Address:125 County Road 32 City: Minnesota City State: MN Country: United States Website: http://www.lylesflooringamericamncity.com With renovation costs on the rise, home and business owners can look to Collins Flooring America for affordable and high-quality flooring in Belleville, IL. Customers can expect huge savings of up to 50 percent off brand names, such as Hearth & Home, from a leading Belleville, IL, flooring store. Customers who come in for a free consultation can save up to 50 percent on flooring storewide, including quality brand names like Hearth & Home. The stores Red Carpet Clearance Sale is one of the biggest flooring events of the year. No matter how much square footage the project covers, this company has the resources and expertise to provide the right kind of high-quality product, in any amount necessary, to get the job done well. Their expert staff is prepared to answer any questions in order to help all customers achieve the desired end result. The state-of-the-art showroom is staffed by qualified design consultants who are dedicated to helping clients settle on the ideal flooring solutions for their home or commercial space. Currently offering $100 off any qualifying purchase, Collins Flooring America is ready to make any renovation an affordable success story. When customers download the free app they offer, any style, type, brand, or color flooring can be envisioned as the final result. That way, home or business owners can be certain that theyll love their new floors before they even purchased the materials. Along with the companys comprehensive satisfaction guarantees, the app helps to make certain that customers get the look they want. The company has numerous options for its clients to choose from, including selections from other well-known name brands in the following types of flooring: Carpet Hardwood Laminate Tile Vinyl For more information about the affordable and attractive flooring they offer, call Collins Flooring America at (618) 539-8398 to schedule a free consultation. Visit them online at http://www.collinsflooringamerica.com to peruse the many different types of flooring they offer and the design concepts they present in the idea gallery. Located in Belleville, Illinois, they also serve customers in Fairview Heights, Waterloo, Scott Air Force Base, OFallon, Millstadt, Collinsville, Maryville, Glen Carbon, Smithton, and Freeburg, Illinois. Media Contact Company Name: Collins Flooring America Contact Person: Lynn Collins Email: lynn@collinsfloors.com Phone: 618-539-8398 Address:2431 North Illinois Street City: Swansea State: IL Country: United States Website: http://www.collinsflooringamerica.com Good News for UK Buyers Theres a good news for UK buyers who import goods from China, that recently China has launched a direct cargo train service from Yiwu to London, as a part project of its One-Belt-One-Road scheme. Theres a good news for UK buyers who import goods from China, that recently China has launched a direct cargo train service from Yiwu to London, as a part project of its One-Belt-One-Road scheme. Its of great significance in driving mutual trade and investment, and it means a lot more for those individuals who do business with China. Especially in terms of the shipping, transporting goods by the Yiwu-London line is not only half as cheap as air transport, but it also occupies half the time as sea shipping does. Yiwu-London cargo train will pull out weekly On Jan., 1st, the train departed in Yiwu West Station, carrying 34 standard containers of small commodities most of which were directly purchased from local Yiwu market such as home appliance, decorations and bags etc, and directly heading to Londons Barking Station. After departing Yiwu Station, the train started to run straight northward, crossing the Alashankou border and then traversed Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, Belgium and France, until finally pulling into the Barking station at 1:00 pm on Jan., 18th on schedule. Link the biggest wholesale market to UK As we all have known, Yiwu is the worlds largest small commodities wholesale market. In recent years, we have seen a huge surge in sales to England. In the last 11 months, Yiwu exported goods of about 578 million dollars to England, which increased by 16.7% on the same time basis. England has become Yiwus largest export destination in Europe right now. President Xi had brought up the idea to build the Yiwu-London rail service. Now the time comes. With one years strive; we finally get to see the running of Yiwu-London cargo train. Following the successful operation of Yiwu-Spain, Yiwu-Tehran and Yiwu-Pakistan, the opening of Yiwu-London makes the China-Europe Silk Road Initiative more consolidated and powerful. Until now, London has become the 15th European city which joined the New Silk Road project. And the list goes on. China-Europe rail freight train Scheme Statistics showed that as of Jan., 11st, 2017, Yixinou China-Europe rail freight train has completed 139 round trips, and successfully delivered 10,566 standard containers of cargoes between Yiwu to Europe countries. In terms of the one-way trip, it totally generated 118 times and tugged 9,966 containers of small commodities, including: 97 Trips Yiwu-Madrid Rail Freight with 8,074 containers 6 Trips Yiwu-Russia Rail Freight with 580 containers 1 Trip Yiwu-Belarus Rail Freight with 92 containers 11 Trips Yiwu-Afghanistan Rail Freight with 984 containers 1 Trip Yiwu-Iran Rail Freight with 64 containers 1 Trip Yiwu-Latvia Rail Freight with 84 containers 1 Trip Yiwu-London Rail Freight with 88 containers Rajesh Agrawal, Londons deputy mayor in charge of business conferred the most significance for the train. He said It means London has become one of Chinas most prominent trade destinations. London will offer a huge market for Chinese companies, as well as professional service and capital channels. London station is not the end; instead, it is the start for China to tap into the Western market. Media Contact Company Name: ABC Sources Email: abcsources@gmail.com Country: China Website: https://www.abcsources.com/first-freight-train-yiwu-london-opened-good-news-uk-buyers/ New home customers and remodelers are benefitting from buying flooring in Plaistow, NH, at Eds Flooring America. Take advantage of the Red Carpet Clearance Sale for significant discounts from this Plaistow, NH, flooring store and save big. 2017 is the year for homeowners to replace their old flooring with something modern and stylish. At Eds Flooring America, customers are able to get more for less thanks to the Red Carpet Clearance Sale. From now until February 26, select flooring is discounted heavily throughout the store. Customers are able to save 30, 40, and even 50 percent off a number of great flooring options. One of the big highlights of this months sale is the popular brand Hearth & Home. Now is the perfect time for customers to upgrade their flooring to high-quality brands at low prices. Eds Flooring America isnt pulling the punches with this sale; their best three-star, four-star, and five-star floors are on sale, including hardwood, luxury vinyl, laminate, and more. On top of the flooring stores already amazingly low prices, they are making it even easier for residents to get the best flooring without breaking the bank. Special financing is available with 12 or 18 months deferred interest. All of their star-rated products are available for financing as well, making this the perfect time for customers to upgrade their existing floors without having to pay a large sum of money up front. Residents in the area who have been thinking about upgrading their flooring should head down to Eds Flooring America as soon as possible. These sales wont last forever and customers would be hard pressed to find a better deal anywhere else. With so many great brands available at such low prices, it is no wonder that so many homeowners are going to this flooring store. Call (603) 819-4674 to learn more about the Red Carpet Clearance Sale and how to save up to 50% on three, four, and five-star-rated products from Hearth & Home and other great brands. Eds Flooring America serves the communities of Plaistow and Haverhill, Massachusetts, as well as Atkinson, Hampstead, Kingston, Danville, Newton, Salem, and Windham, New Hampshire. Media Contact Company Name: Eds Flooring America Contact Person: Jacob Cross Email: jacob@edsfa.com Phone: (603) 819-4674 Address:18 Plaistow Road City: Plaistow State: NH Country: United States Website: www.edsflooringamericaplaistow.com Maiden License Agreement Signed Melbourne, Jan 24, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Xped Limited ( ASX:XPE ) ("Xped" or "the Company") is pleased to announce it has signed its first licensing agreement with Shenzhen Lenze Technology Co. LTD ("Lenze") and their subsidiary Complex Semiconductor (HK) Co. LTD ("Complex"). Highlights - Licensing agreement signed with Lenze Technology Co. Ltd - a major customer of Telink Semiconductor - Lenze shipped 100 million devices in 2016 and are forecast to increase this to 200 million+ devices in 2017 - Licensing agreement grants rights to use Xped technologies including Xped App, ADRC Proxy, custom built RML files and widgets and the Xped infrastructure platform - Lenze to integrate Xped technologies into multiple existing and new products - Revenue expected to commence in 2H 2017 The Company has licensed its Auto Discovery Remote Control ("ADRC") technologies to Lenze in return for a fee payable per active download of the Xped App. The Xped technologies licensed include: - ADRC Device Proxy - RML files and custom widgets developed by Xped - Xped App framework ("Device Browser") Lenze and Complex will pay Xped a fee based on a per active download of Lenze or OEM branded versions of the Xped App from either Google Play or Apple app stores. A download is considered active when it is first registered and then used to interact with a Lenze or Complex OEM hardware device. Xped will receive payments monthly based on licensing fees that were negotiated from the Xped standard rate card being: - Per active download per device: USD $0.15 - Per system on chip per gateway: USD $1.00 - Per gateway to utilize Xped Infrastructure Platform: USD $2.00 Under the terms of this agreement, Lenze and Complex have obtained a nonexclusive license to utilise Xped technologies in any of their products. The license grants them the global rights to manufacture, market, distribute, use and sell under their own brands or other OEM brands, which include "Disney" branded products. Lenze customers include some very large Chinese domestic companies including iQiYi and Moijing. The Company will develop a number of tailored apps based on the Xped App Framework that will be branded using the Lenze brand or other OEM brands. The apps will be developed for both Google Play and Apple app stores and will support a mix of device specific applications and also multi-device applications. Both English and Mandarin versions will be developed. Xped will own and maintain the enhancements and additions to the Xped technologies that are to be developed for Lenze and Complex. Both Xped and Lenze will retain equal ownership of the customer and device data generated by the devices. The Company anticipates revenue from this agreement to commence in the second half of the 2017 calendar year. Lenze have indicated that they shipped in excess of 100 million devices in 2016 and expect to increase units shipped to over 200 million devices in 2017. This is Xped's first license agreement with a mass market consumer device manufacturer and is a significant milestone for the company. The signing of this agreement with Lenze demonstrates that ADRC technologies and the Xped Infrastructure Platform provide high volume manufacturers with an innovative and compelling solution for providing their customers with smart devices. Xped's Chairman and CEO Athan Lekkas commented: "This is an enormous win for the Company as we have been engaging with Telink and Lenze for over 9 months now. Our company is extremely thankful for the support that our collaboration partner Telink Semiconductor has provided to the Xped team to achieve this, the first of hopefully many more licensing agreements to come." About LENZE Shenzhen Lenze Technology Co. LTD and their subsidiary Complex Semiconductor (HK) Co. LTD are a mass market producer of consumer devices. Lenze sells under their own brands and also produce OEM products for worldwide distribution. Total Lenze sales exceeded 100 million devices in 2016. Lenze produces some "Disney" branded merchandise and some of their large customers include iQiYi and Moijing. http://www.lenzetech.com About XPED Ltd XPED Ltd (ASX:XPE) is an Australian Internet of Things (IoT) technology business. Xped has developed revolutionary and patent-protected technology that allows any consumer, regardless of their technical capability, to connect, monitor and control devices and appliances found in our everyday environment. Xped provides technology solutions for Smart Home, Smart Building, and Healthcare. At Xped, were Making Technology Easy Again(TM) CEO Appointment, Board and Team Update Sydney, Jan 24, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - DroneShield Ltd ( ASX:DRO ) ("DroneShield" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following changes to its Board and management. - Oleg Vornik, who has been the Chief Financial Officer of the Company for over a year, has been appointed as the CEO and Managing Director of the Company; - Claire Newey (based in Sydney) has been appointed the Company's Chief Financial Officer; - Peter James, the current Interim Executive Chairman, has resumed his prior position of Non-Executive Chairman; - Robert Clisdell, an experienced Sydney financier, has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Company; - The Sydney-based Anand Sundaraj of Whittens & McKeough Lawyers and Consultants will serve as the Company's Secretary going forward; and - Winton Willesee has retired as a Non-Executive Director of the Company and Miss Erlyn Dale has retired as Company Secretary. Peter James commented: "Our Chief Financial Officer Oleg Vornik has co-led the Company over the recent year. He has been instrumental in the Company's recent exciting developments, including the introduction of the DroneGun product, the high profile product sales, and many others. With substantial opportunities presently in front of the Company, the Board is excited that Oleg will provide the Company with continuity of leadership and a proven executive capability." Prior to joining DroneShield in 2015, Mr. Vornik was an investment banker with the Sydney office of the Royal Bank of Canada, with prior positions with Brookfield Asset Management, Deutsche Bank and ABN AMRO in Australia and New Zealand, as well as with Leighton Contractors. Ms. Newey was until now the Company's Financial Controller. She has previously worked as the Group Finance Manager with ASX-listed GrainCorp, and an audit Director with Deloitte in Sydney and London. Mr. Clisdell is based in Sydney and is the Vice-President at Bergen Capital (Australia) Ltd, an affiliate of the Company's largest shareholder. Prior to Bergen, Mr. Clisdell led the middle market corporate advisory practice for Credit Suisse's Private Bank in Melbourne. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Clisdell was an M&A banker with Caliburn Partnership (now Greenhill & Co.) in Sydney, and worked in Equity Capital Markets at Ord Minnett Corporate Finance. Mr. Sundaraj is a Principal and Solicitor Director of Whittens & McKeough Lawyers and Consultants, with prior positions at law firms Allen & Overy, King & Wood Mallesons and Herbert Smith Freehills as well as for global investment bank Credit Suisse. He is the company secretary of several ASX listed companies. Dr Samantha Ravich remains on the Board of the Company. The Board wishes to take this opportunity to thank Mr Willesee and Miss Dale for their valuable contribution to the successful development and listing of the Company on the ASX earlier this year and its subsequent strong growth since listing. The Board wishes them well in their future endeavours. About DroneShield Ltd DroneShield Ltd (ASX:DRO) (OTCMKTS:DRSHF) is an Australian publicly listed company with its head office in Sydney and teams in the US and UK. We specialise in RF sensing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Sensor Fusion, Electronic Warfare, Rapid Prototyping and MIL-SPEC manufacturing. Our capabilities are used to protect Military, Government, Law Enforcement, Critical Infrastructure, Commercial and VIPs throughout the world. Through our team of primarily Australian based engineers - we offer customers bespoke solutions and off-the-shelf products designed to suit a variety of terrestrial, maritime or airborne platforms. DroneShield is proudly exporting Australian capability to customers throughout the world and supporting Australia's defence, national security and other organisations protect people, critical infrastructure and vital assets. . December 2016 Activities Report Canberra, Jan 25, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Alt Resources Ltd ( ASX:ARS ) is pleased to provide the Company's Quarterly report for the period ending 31st December 2016. Highlights: - A 2,088m RC drilling program at Mount Roberts, WA, revealed high grade gold mineralisation, up to 67.4 g/t Au - Significant intercepts from Mount Roberts include: o MRRC0003: 3m @ 28 g/t Au, including 1m @ 67.4 g/t Au o MRRC0008: 1m @ 20.3 g/t Au o MRRC0009: 1m @ 24.4 g/t Au, and 4m @ 7.96 g/t Au, including 2m @ 13.75 g/t Au - Results confirm high grade mineralisation beneath Mt Roberts workings - First drilling results from an extensive gold soil anomaly south of Mount Roberts highlight a significant, newly identified mineralised structure, named Rum Punch - Significant intercepts from Rum Punch include: o MRRC0014: 1m @ 1.20 g/t Au 1m @ 3.57 g/t Au o MRRC0015: 1m @ 0.97 g/t Au o MRRC0021: 1m @ 0.99 g/t Au o MRRC0032: 7m @ 1.66 g/t Au - Diamond drilling commenced at Windy Hill, Paupong, NSW, testing combined magnetic, IP, geochemical and geological Intrusion-Related Gold targets OVERVIEW Australian-focussed base and precious metals explorer Alt Resources Ltd ( ASX:ARS ) ("Alt or the Company") focussed on drilling activities at its Western Australian and New South Wales projects during the Quarter (see Figure 1 in the link below). A 2,088m RC drilling program was completed at the Mount Roberts-Cottee Project near Leinster. This program aimed to confirm historical drilling results and target extensions to known mineralisation beneath a series of oxide workings. High grade gold results were returned from this drilling program, including 1m @ 67.4 g/t from 19m in drillhole MRRC0003. An un-drill tested gold-in-soil anomaly south of Mount Roberts also returned encouraging results, confirming the existence of a significant new mineralised system in the south of the area. Diamond drilling has also re-commenced at the Company's flagship Paupong Project in southern NSW. A minimum of 7 holes, for 2,000m, are planned across the Windy Hill area which the Company has defined as a significant Intrusion-Related Gold (IRG) target through comprehensive geophysical, geochemical and geological investigation1. One hole has been completed thus far, and assay results are pending. To view the full report, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6E9ELT90 About Aurenne Alt Resources Pty Ltd Aurenne Alt Resources Pty Ltd is an Australian based mineral exploration company that aims to become a gold producer by exploiting historical and new gold prospects across quality assets and to build value for shareholders. Power pros vital to Iraqi rescue missions Imagine a work day without electricity; not being able to send emails or use radars; living in a tent with no heat or air conditioning. Luckily, this isnt a reality for most bases, thanks largely to the Airmen who maintain the electrical systems. At forward-deployed locations such as Al Asad Air Base, its a bit more complicated since they rely on generators to produce most of their power. I was told when I first got in that nobody will know you exist until something happens, so prepare to be living in the shadows, said Staff Sgt. Abraham Wanner, a Detachment 1, 370th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group power production craftsman. And thats essentially what we do. If were not providing prime power then were there just in case we do lose prime power. If they were to lose power, it would be a big deal. The power production teams primary mission at Al Asad AB is to provide power to the 66th Rescue Squadron, which manages combat search and rescue forces in support of Operation Freedoms Sentinel. Powering the squadron requires two prime-power generators and approximately 10 smaller convenience generators that serve as backups in case the prime-power generators fail. The squadron relies on these generators for a myriad of mission-critical items everything from communication for commanders to lighting for maintainers. To prevent the squadron from losing power, Wanner and his team conduct preventive maintenance on these generators to ensure they remain in tip-top shape and perform at their best. Not unlike a family sedan or pickup truck, these checks are done at specific points in the lifecycle of the machine, Wanner said. Since the detachment and the squadron operate out of an austere location, they must find ways of doing more with less. This includes incorporating members of other career fields to help perform highly important preventive maintenance, which can be time consuming even with two people. Its an hour and a half to two hour job, said Staff Sgt. Gregory Speed, a Detachment 1, 370th Air Expeditionary Advisory Group electrician craftsman. Ive gotten pretty good at it. Its probably my fifth or sixth time doing them with the very first time being out here. Im stepping outside my career field a little bit, so its been an eye opener. In the case of the generator, these checks are done anywhere between 250 to 300 hours of running time, Wanner said. The preventive maintenance on these generators includes changing the oil; replacing fuel, oil and air filters; and inspecting the engine for any leaks, loose hoses or burnt wiring. Once we pass it on, if we dont document or inspect these things, then the next person might not be able to catch onto it, Wanner said. So at least if its documented and visualized by us then they can be more prepared. Its all about setting someone else up for success. Multi-national coalition fire training course strengthens team fight Deployed French and U.S. Air Force firefighters competed in a firefighting confidence course to ensure operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant continues safely at an undisclosed location, Jan. 17. Firefighters were required to perform ladder climbing, hose dragging, ax swinging, equipment hoisting and rescue carrying during the timed event while donned in personal protection equipment weighing roughly 50-75 pounds. Chief Master Sgt. Mark, the 380th Expeditionary Civil Engineering Squadron fire chief, discussed the importance of developing coalition relationships while in a deployed environment. The first time that we meet these guys shouldnt be at the scene of a crash, Mark said. This training instills that sense of confidence that they are doing the same thing were doing and were doing the same thing theyre doing. The 380th ECES designed the course with the intent of strengthening the bonds and relationships between participants. Its all about teamwork, said Staff Sgt. Jonathan, a 380th ECES firefighter. Were coming together and cheering each other on as were doing the obstacles and also this stuff goes hand-in-hand with what we do daily. Coalition airpower in support of Joint Coalition Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve has assisted Iraqi Security Forces in the liberation of more than 50 percent of the territory held by ISIL since December 2016. Due to the high volume of sorties flown in support of OIR, firefighters must maintain strong relationships with coalition partners. Its very important for my guys to develop this relationship and exchange different techniques, said Stephan, a French air force fire chief. If there were ever a big incident with a French aircraft, Im sure we would need their (the 380th ECES firefighters) help; its important to know how each of us work. Im an ambassador for the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program. As an ambassador, Im an advocate for the program and I work in my local area to plan events which bring our wounded together.Its a concept of family helping family. We are all in this great big Air Force family, and there are many of us who are still struggling with everyday life. Getting off the couch and participating in life is not a reality for many of our family. Our members struggle with a sense of belonging and value. Many feel they have been cast aside and suicide is a daily thought.This program has a unique way of combating behaviors where we suffer in silence. Its a program which shows love for others and a true sense of caring by putting others needs above our own. Helping the person who is struggling with you greatly helps.I originally thought the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program was one of those things were they parade severely injured folks in front of people to get attention. I also confused it with the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization. I didnt want to be a part of anything which put me in the spotlight or focused on making me a poster for sympathy. Ive never been more wrong.The program focuses on two things. The first is to put our wounded, ill and injured together so we can strengthen and support each other. People who have never had post-traumatic stress disorder will never understand what its like to suffer mentally in this way. Second, the program offers unique opportunities to give our Airmen value and give them a sense of I can still function and participate in life. I cant say enough about the program and I want to encourage all of our wounded, ill and injured to attend an event.Another thought which kept me from being part of the program prior to 2016 was that I had healed from my injuries (which Ill talk about shortly) and didnt want to take advantage of a program which helps those who are still healing.The point of this program and what makes it work is our warriors are together for each other. The program is not designed to single out anyone or make them feel broken. Those who have healed are the most vital to the programs success.When many think of wounded warrior, I assume most feel its just for the combat wounded. There are folks severely injured from non-combat and cancer survivors who also qualify. If you fall into any of these categories, I encourage you to contact the Regional Care Coordinator at your location. The RCC knows the criteria, and if you cant find them, contact me.I share this so if there are agents suffering as I suffered, this may give them the strength and confidence to seek help and know what I now know. Behavioral science and the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program are available and can greatly help the healing process.My story begins on July 8, 2005. While returning from a successful operation where we captured nine of 11 cell members responsible for setting roadside bombs and shooting mortars and rockets at the base, my vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device.Two 155 mm mortars were strung together and command detonated as we drove over them. I was in the back seat and I remember black smoke filling up the inside of the vehicle. The next thing I know I am laying on the ground beside a burning vehicle. I assumed I was the only one alive as I was drug to safety by Senior Airman Pam Bolton while receiving small rounds fire.I was taken by medevac to the hospital and spent the better part of the next six months healing from groin and pelvis injuries. Once I was physically healed, I wanted to feel normal again. I wanted to prove I could still be an agent. I wanted to do the things I did before to prove to myself and others there was nothing wrong with me.As I struggled to prove I was normal, the nightmares about losing Dice, and his family blaming me, surrounded what little sleep I got. If I was lucky, I would sleep two to three hours per night. I was on the verge of rage every single day. I knew something was wrong and I had to control it. I knew if I acted on my emotions the rest of my time as a special agent would be very short. I constantly felt agitated and I had no idea why.The smallest event would send me to fury. I remember an argument I got in with my wife. The argument was over where we should eat. I lost it. I remember punching myself in the face screaming at her. These types of events were a daily reality for my wife and 3 children. I tried so hard to control myself each day at work. I would let my guard down once I got home because I couldnt maintain that level of self-control any longer.My kids suffered emotional and physical abuse for the next seven years. My wife did her absolute best to shield the children from my behavior. She made sure the house was perfect and the kids stayed away from me. She closely monitored their behavior. If one of my children misbehaved, she would quickly remove them from me. She would constantly warn the children to not do anything to upset me. The children adapted and stayed away from me. I had no relationship with them and wasnt involved in their lives.I was numb to any joy or any happiness occurring around me either at work or home. I knew something was wrong with me but I didnt know how to fix it. I refused to visit a shrink because I didnt believe in the merit of psychologists. I felt mental health was for weak minded individuals who werent smart enough to figure out their own problems.I decided the best thing to do was to put as much fun in my life as I could. I scheduled trip after trip, taking me on adventures around the country: rock climbing in West Virginia, mountain biking in Utah, kayaking in North Carolina. I felt alive while I was doing these things, only to feel empty again once I returned home to work and my family. These behaviors pulled me further away from my family. I would get back to my life and feel the rage build all over again.I still couldnt figure it out. I wasnt mad at the office of special investigations for sending me on the deployment. I volunteered! I wasnt mad at the insurgency, because if someone came to my house and told me I was going to adopt their government and do things their way, I would likely behave similarly.In 2010, the command sent me to the Air Force Institute of Technology for 18 months. While in that program, I was able to re-grow a relationship with my family and fall in love with them again. Our relationship grew and I started to learn what it was like to care for someone besides myself again.I would not be in the military if it werent for Dr. Dave Englert who helped me understand how the mind works and how to heal from a traumatic experience. There are numerous other people who had patience with me, guided me, covered for me, shielded me and most importantly directed me. I thank all of those who cared enough to invest in me when my behavior didnt warrant it.In 2014, the greatest healing occurred when I repented for my sins and dedicated my life to God.Since Ive put God first in my life and focused on healing and helping others with PTSD, the joy I now experience is incredible.I encourage each of you reading this to reach out to me, your RCC or the Wounded Warrior Program. If you were wounded, injured or ill, you have a family who is here for you. The program wont turn you into a martyr and it wont make you do anything you dont want to do.(Editors note: Special Agent Patrick McGees goal in sharing his story is to help others who have suffered and point them to help. Education, awareness, letting his fellow warriors know they are not alone and that help and resources are available is what he wants to drive home. For more information on the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program, visit the website Superintendent encourages Airmen to follow the Yellow Ribbon road The superintendent of a Minnesota security forces unit joined his Airmen at an Air Force Reserve Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program event here Jan. 20-22 after attending a previous one that convinced him of its value. I was hesitant the first time I attended but quickly saw the benefits of the program and made it a goal of sharing my experience and encouraging others to attend, said Senior Master Sgt. Mike Bier of the 934th Security Forces Squadron at Minneapolis-St. Paul Air Reserve Station. Most security forces members are type-A personalities and its against their nature to ask for help or attend something created to help them. Yellow Ribbon promotes the well-being of reservists and their loved ones by connecting them with resources before and after deployments. (It) has so many beneficial aspects to it, but sometimes its more about building relationships, said Bier, who attended the event following a deployment to the Middle East. The program allows (Airmen and their families) to interact with others who are going through the same thing. An added benefit, he said, is that the program allows Airmen to connect with co-workers away from monthly drill weekends. (Yellow Ribbon) gives us time to do just that with our family present, said Bier. That bond makes it much easier to reach out for help before or after a deployment if it is needed. Friends and family often dont know what military members and their families go through when they are deployed, so building relationships with people who have experienced the same thing is critical. Senior Airman Erik Quamme, 934th SFS unit training manager, was initially skeptical about attending but did due to encouragement from his leadership. He said the program has been beneficial for him and his family. Attending has really helped build a support team for my family, Quamme said. Im glad my leadership encouraged me to attend, and it has really been a good experience for my wife. Each year the Air Force Reserve trains 7,000 reservists and family members in education benefits, health care, and retirement information via Yellow Ribbon while providing break-out sessions that include resume building, anger management, couples enrichment, financial management and much more. As a senior leader and supervisor, Bier said that he speaks with squad leaders and junior NCOs about the program and encourages them to attend and pass the information down to their Airmen. If I can get the squad leaders to attend and see the benefits of the program they are more likely to encourage their Airmen to attend, Bier said. Even if its not going to benefit them, it might benefit their families. Quamme encouraged pre- and post-deployers to try the program at least once. Ill definitely be using my experience to encourage others to attend, he said. Bier said its all about taking care of your people. If I can help someone in the future through my experiences than thats what I want to do, he said. I dont care what makes them decide to attend as long as they receive the benefits the program has to offer. For more information about the program and upcoming events, reservists should contact their unit's Yellow Ribbon representative. The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday has stayed the Uttar Pradesh governments order to include 17 sub-castes in the Scheduled Caste category. In December, the proposal for the inclusion of the sub-castes (Kahar, Kashyap, Kewat, Nishad, Bind, Bhar, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Batham, Gaur, Tura, Majhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Dheemar and Machua) was cleared by a Cabinet meeting which was presided over by UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati had them termed the SC governments act as a mere drama. On January 12, the Allahabad High Court had directed the Uttar Pradesh government to file its reply on a petition challenging the decision. Petitioner Raj Kumar had alleged that subsequent to the Cabinet decision, the state governments personnel department issued a notification on December 31 whereby it was ordered that all benefits provided to the SCs be extended to the aforementioned 17 caste groups. Petitioner Raj Kumar had alleged that this decision by the SP government was in violation of Article 341 of the Constitution which empowers only the Centre, and not the states, to decide the inclusion or exclusion of any caste group in the list of the Scheduled Castes. The Delhi Police is probing corruption charges against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals brother-in-law. On the basis of a complaint filed by an NGO, the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has initiated a preliminary inquiry against the Aam Aadmi Party leaders relative. Kejriwals brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal had the tender to construct a drain and allegedly used dummy companies to do the work. The NGO, Road Anti-Corruption Organization, has claimed Kejriwal had helped his relatives. Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra listed the plea for 2 February after hearing submissions of the counsel for the complainant who alleged deep-rooted corruption and said the documents showed no material was actually purchased for completing the work. The court was hearing the complaint filed by Rahul Sharma, founder of Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), in which officers of Delhi governments Public Works Development (PWD), Kejriwal and his brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal, proprietor of a construction firm, were accused of corruption and an FIR was sought to be lodged against them for alleged offences including cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy under the IPC. Sharma said Bansal cheated the public exchequer and accused an executive engineer of helping him. The chief minister of Delhi must also be investigated as he has caused the substantive gain to Bansal and his other relatives by using his chief ministerial influence, the complaint read. Officials said prima facie it would be wrong to assume that the Kejriwals brother-in-law was guilty. After the preliminary enquiry is over, the complaint will either be disposed (of) or an FIR will be registered. It is too early to comment, an official said. Earlier, complainant Brijesh Shukla submitted to the court documents relating to his allegation that the Delhi government had spent over Rs. 42 lakh by giving advertisements in 20 newspapers in which the misleading statement was made by Mr. Kejriwal. The counsel for the complainant had earlier informed the court that in a reply to a RTI application, the Delhi government had admitted that a total expenditure of Rs. 42,01,405 was incurred on giving advertisements to the newspapers on October 30, 2015. CBI has taken over investigation in three cases of alleged murder and extortion, purportedly masterminded by gangster Chhota Rajan. The gangster, who is in custody following his deportation from Indonesia in 2015, is being booked by CBI on the request of Maharashtra government and further notification from the Centre. The CBI had taken over a case of alleged murder and other two cases of extortion against Rajan, who is a former key aide of dreaded don and Bombay blasts main accused Dawood Ibrahim. Giving details of the case, CBI Spokesperson R K Gaur said, the first case (of extortion) was earlier registered at Nirmal Nagar in Mumbai (Maharashtra) against unknown persons in April 1999. It was alleged in the complaint that during the period from March 2, 1999 to April 8, 1999, the unknown accused persons identifying themselves as Rohit, John, Ashok, etc of Chhota Rajan gang made telephonic calls to the complainant and threatened him with dire consequences to extort money to the tune of Rs. 25 lakh (approx), he said. Gaur said, in this case, provisions of MCOC Act, 1999 were subsequently applied by the local police. In the second case registered at Police Station Tilak Nagar in Mumbai against two unknown persons, it was alleged that on October 7, 1998, when deceased Bala Kotiyan along with his friend was sitting at Navgrah Hotel, two unknown persons holding revolver and pistol entered the hotel shot him dead, he said. In the third case, Gaur said, it was alleged that on July 31, 2004 accused persons with common intention forcibly entered in the office of complainant at Mulund posing themselves as the gang members of Chota Rajan and assaulted complainant and his servant and demanded money at gun point. The accused also damaged mobile phone/remote of the complainant. In this case, provisions of MCOC Act, 1999 were subsequently applied by state police, he said. Rajan was detained by Indonesian Police in Bali on his arrival from Australia following a Red Corner Notice by the Interpol. He was later deported to India on November 6, 2015. Mumbai Customs detected three cases of smuggling of tobacco and gold at international airport here and arrested one person. In the first case, the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of the Customs intercepted two passengers, identified as Vijay Rupapara and Manish Khambani, who were to fly to Lubumbashi via Addis Ababa. The passengers were attempting to export 5869 pouches and 900 tins of tobacco products, 185.5 kgs of cut betel nuts, 11 pieces of mobile phones and 2 pieces of phone tablets collectively valued at Rs. 5.12 lakh, an official said, adding the articles were stuffed in 17 checked-in bags and 4 hand bags of the passengers. In another case, a flyer who landed here from Abu Dhabi was arrested. Faisal Chalil was attempting surreptitious removal of gold collectively weighing 1379 grams valued at Rs. 37.35 lakh, the official said, adding the gold was concealed in the copper winding of mixer/ grinder, which was recovered and seized. Chalil told the officials gold belonged to a resident of Deira in Dubai. In third incident, Abdussaleem Pallickal, who arrived from Dubai, was intercepted and 13 gold bars weighing 10 tolas each and 2 cut pieces if gold bars, collectively weighing 1624 gms were recovered from him and his checked-in baggage. They are collectively valued at Rs. 43.98 lakh. The passenger had ingeniously concealed the said gold bars in a space between coils of transformer of electric microwave oven, the official said. He said Pallickal has given a statement saying the oven containing gold bars was given to him by one Zulfikar in Dubai and that he was supposed to hand it over to another person in Mumbai. During last 2 days, the Mumbai AIU has seized 8.260 kg gold valued at Rs. 2.29 crore, in separate instances and registered six cases. However he was given a cold shoulder by party president Uddhav Thackeray. Former Congress MLA Krishna Hegde has quit Congress party to join BJP ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation polls scheduled to be held next month. Hegde has taken this decision as he was unhappy with functioning of MRCC president Sanjay Nirupam. Earlier Hegde was keen to join Shiv Sena but he was given a cold shoulder by party president Uddhav Thackeray. Hegde even approached some journalists for seeking an appointment with Uddhav but the latter refused to meet him. Later, he changed his mind to join BJP. There have been several instances where leaders have quit their own party to join rival parties. Even Hegde too has taken similar step and he can be termed as an opportunist politician and switched loyalties. According to political analysts, Krishnas entry into BJP wont make any difference to the party. Hegde has not done any substantial work during his tenure in the Congress and he was merely known as the PR of the party. Even Bollywood actor Dalip Tahil has joined BJP. When asked about the reason behind his exit from Congress party Hegde said, I am unhappy with the autocratic behaviour of Sanjay Nirupam. I tried to point out to party leadership about how Nirupam was damaging the party. However, no cognisance was taken of my plea, Hegde, who represented Vile Parle Assembly constituency said. I am a second generation Congressman. Nirupam has ruined the party. Congress wont get more than 25 of the total 227 seats in the BMC polls, he said. Hegde and Tahil had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday. Later they were officially inducted into the party. Even Raosaheb Danve and Ashish Shelar were present on this occasion. Those who worked against the party in the Assembly elections are being favoured, while loyalists are sidelined. If the party does not want my services, it is better that I quit, said Hegde. Senior Congress leader Gurudas Kamat alleged that partys Mumbai unit chief Sanjay Nirupam and AICC general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Mohan Prakash were deliberately driving out partymen at a time when Rahul Gandhi is busy with Uttar Pradesh elections. Sad to see second generation Congressmen forced to leave the party due to Nirupam and Mohan Prakashs behaviour. Rahul Gandhi and Ahmed Patel must stop the bleed, Kamat tweeted. Ex-MLA Krishna Hegde quits Congress to join the BJP. No attempt to stop him or others who left from Nirupams own constituency North Mumbai, he posted. On the other hand, Sanjay Nirupam refuted all the allegations made against him and said, We have formed committee for selection of candidates for the BMC election. Priya Dutt had selected certain candidates who are likely to be issued tickets but Hegde raised objections against them. Those leaders who have quit Congress must note that senior leaders are working for the development of the party. Hegde was elected to the Assembly in 2009. He was defeated by BJP MLA Parag Alvani in the 2014 Assembly elections. Bangladeshi writer and human rights activist Taslima Nasreen on Monday batted for Uniform Civil Code, saying that the measure was urgently needed to empower people with their rights. In an impromptu session at the Jaipur Literature Festival here, the author who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, said the Islamic society needed to be more tolerant towards criticism to make progress. It is necessary for Islamic society to be tolerant and accept criticism without which they cannot progress. Uniform Civil Code is urgently required for empowering people with human rights, she said. The writer, who was in conversation with Salil Tripathi, a former board member of English PEN, slammed religious fanatics saying she did not believe in terms like nationalism or religious fundamentalism. I dont believe in nationalism, religious fundamentalism. I believe in one world. I believe in rights, freedom, humanism and rationalism. Until Islam accepts criticism, no Islamic country can be considered secular. Whenever I criticise, people want to kill me. Citing the treatment meted out to her by the West Bengal government, that issued a fatwa against her in 2007, she questioned why secular writers were forced to leave the country or murdered. Why are secular writers being forced to leave the country or murdered, while religious fanatics are sheltered. I was attacked in Kolkata. Fatwa was issued against me, she said. Secularism doesnt mean to save and shelter such people just to cash in on Muslim votes. Hindu and Muslim fanatics have equally attacked me, but they were never punished, she said. Noting that true secularism was not being practised, she said both the right to believe in a religion and not to believe in one must be respected by the state. People do not practice true secularism. Everyone has a right to believe in their religion and I respect it. The problem is that the state and the society respect the right to believe in a religion, but not the right to not believe in one. The state must not be religious. All laws must be based on equality and justice, she said. She also said that all religions were against women and only education can help mitigate the rising intolerance. Be it any religion, they are always against women. I believe in absolute freedom of expression. To curb rising intolerance in society and atrocities on women, education can play a major role. When I talk about women rights, I criticise religions that do not have equal rights for women. Hindu women in Bangladesh do not get the freedom they have in India. What kind of democracy is it? she said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that he believed United States President Donald Trump understood the value of free trade and that he would keep pitching a multinational trade pact that Trumps administration has vowed to exit. I believe President Trump understands the importance of free and fair trade, so Id like to pursue his understanding on the strategic and economic importance of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade pact, Abe told a session of parliament`s lower house. Abe also said he wanted to strengthen the U.S.-Japan security alliance, based on mutual trust with Trump. When we met last time, I believed him to be trustworthy, this belief has not changed today, Abe added, referring to his November meeting with then-president-elect Trump. Abe also said Tokyo wanted to explain how its companies have contributed to the U.S. economy, a stance the Japanese government has adopted to try to fend off threats of a border tax on imports into the United States. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said separately that Tokyo would closely monitor any impact of the new U.S. administration`s policies on its companies and that he wanted to deepen economic ties between the two countries. Trump took office as the 45th president of the U.S. on Friday and pledged to end what he called an American carnage of rusted factories and crime in an inaugural address that was a populist and nationalist rallying cry. The new Trump administration said on Friday its trade strategy to protect American jobs would start with withdrawal from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. The trade deal, which the United States signed but has not ratified, was a pillar of former president Barack Obamas pivot to Asia, and Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China. The Malaysian Government has withdrawn its offer of a reward to find the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after the search for the missing aircraft officially ended on Monday. The three-year underwater search for the Boeing 777 that disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board ended with the search vessel Fugro Equator docking in Fremantle, Western Australia, earlier in the day. Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the offer of a reward was not a government proposal, rather a personal decision by the country`s Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported. The government has not made any decision it was the Deputy Minister`s personal view, not the governments, said Lai. Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester and Liow went aboard the Fugro Equator to thank the crew. This has been an extraordinary search effort, it`s been in some of the most inhospitable oceans in the world, Chester said. The search for MH370 has been at the very cutting edge of technology and scientific expertise, but also has been quite a heroic human endeavour. The search covered an area of 120,000 sq.km. and while some experts believe the plane is likely to be just outside the searched area, the investigation will now take a different turn, the ABC said. Work will continue in relation to further analysis of data and if any more debris comes forward, we`ll work with our Malaysian counterparts in assessing debris of interest and work is also going on in terms of further analysis of satellite imagery, Chester said. He thanked the crew, the Australian and Chinese governments for the help in the $200 million search effort, of which Australia contributed about $60 million. Liow and Chester are expected to later meet the families of the victims, who began a campaign Sunday to urge Malaysian and Australian authorities to resume search operations. The Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) has said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can be summoned for recording his statements in the ongoing Panamagate case. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa made these remarks in response to a plea made by Jamaat-e-Islami counsel Advocate Taufiq Asif. Justice Khosa is heading a five-judge larger bench of the apex court to hear a slew of petitions against the Sharif family over corruption. Asif requested the top court to summon the prime minister and record his statement on the ownership of luxury apartments in London, reports the Express Tribune. Justice Khosa informed Asif that the court may summon the prime minister if required after listening to the counsels of Sharif`s children. However, the judge made it clear that the prime minister would be summoned only after hearing arguments of both sides. The JI counsel concluded his arguments by saying that the court should summon Sharif as he has appeared in the top court several times in different matters. Sharif`s daughter Maryam Nawaz in her written reply submitted to the apex court on Tuesday once again rejected the allegations that she was a beneficial owner of the London properties. She also denied having correspondence between the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca. German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung had tweeted on Monday documents linking the role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif`s daughter Maryam in the Panama Papers scandal. The newspaper tweeted the attachments purportedly showing her involvement with Minerva Financial Services. The tweet was accompanied by a document titled Minerva Financial Services Limited Personal Information, which contains the personal details of Maryam Safdar. Roger Federer beat giant-killer Mischa Zverev to become the Australian Opens oldest mens semi-finalist in nearly 40 years today, as fellow veteran Venus Williams also rolled back the years. The stylish Swiss made light of the challenge posed by German serve-volleyer Zverev, who stunned top seed Andy Murray in the fourth round, to reach a record-extending 41st Grand Slam semi-final. Federer won 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 in just 92 minutes to set up a last-four clash with his compatriot Stan Wawrinka, who won a bad-tempered quarter-final with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 6-3. The 35-year-old Federer becomes the tournaments oldest semi-finalist since Arthur Ashe in 1978, and the oldest at any Grand Slam since Jimmy Connors reached the 1991 US Open last four aged 39. The draw has opened up invitingly for Federer, a four-time winner in Melbourne, and 2014 champion Wawrinka, as well as fellow thirty-something Rafael Nadal after the exits of Murray and title-holder Novak Djokovic. Earlier Wawrinka and Frances Tsonga, who have been at odds in the past, argued heatedly at the first-set changeover before the Swiss charged into his third Melbourne semi-final. In the semis I play Roger. Its going to be tough to have some fans but I hope some people will cheer for me, said Wawrinka, 31. Amid uncertainties over a pre-poll pact with the BJP, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Monday released his partys manifesto for the BMC elections; even as he maintained that seat-sharing talks with the ally are still on. Thackeray, flanked by a number of party MPs and MLAs, said the manifesto was being released independently by the party as today was the birth anniversary of Sena founder Bal Thackeray. January 23 is a very important day for Shiv Sainiks and we continue to be committed to the people of Mumbai on this day. Hence, (we) decided to release our manifesto today, he said. People are surprised and their eyes are left wide open when they see the budget of the Mumbai civic body and they ask where does all this money go. But if they study the subject in detail, they will find that BMC can only spend Rs. 29,000 per person in Mumbai, said Thackeray. The Sena chief said if at all an alliance with BJP for the BMC (Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation) polls materialises, good suggestions by the ally will also be incorporated in the manifesto. He, however, refused to divulge details on the parleys being held by the two parties. Talks are still on. As and when we come to a conclusion, I will have to announce it anyway, he said. Among sops in the manifesto, Sena has promised to open e-learning centres for students and broaden the scope of teaching to meet demands in the current age. The party also offered to give preference in jobs in the BMC to those educated in civic-run schools. The manifesto, read out by Arvind Sawant, MP, also revealed the partys plans in sectors like tourism, health, environment, 24X7 water supply, free travel in BEST buses to students in school uniforms, besides promises in areas like sanitation and treatment of waste water. BMC goes to polls on February 21. [dropcap]B[/dropcap]randed to be the most corrupt and compromised, former CBI Chief Ranjit Sinha finds himself in trouble once again after his retirement. He himself will be the focus of an enquiry to ascertain whether he misused his power, said Supreme Court. Sinha, as CBI chief, met at his home with several of the suspects accused of corruption and bribe-giving in the allocation of coal fields to private firms. The swindle, dubbed Coal-Gate, was executed when Dr. Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister. It is the new CBI chief, Alok Verma, who will be in charge of the investigation against Sinha. The examination will determine if Sinha worked to impede his agencys case against the people whom he met privately as often as 50-60 times, according to earlier updates provided to the Supreme Court. Judges had last year accepted as authentic a visitors book from Sinhas home furnished as evidence of inappropriate appointments in 2014 with those under investigation for serious criminal charges. In 2012, the national auditor said that the process of allotting coal fields without transparency and at depressed prices, the country had lost up to Rs. 1.86 lakh crores or about 33 billion dollars. The Supreme Court in 2014 said the allocations of coal mining rights over a decade stood cancelled. Then Prime Minister Manomhan Singh has not been charged with any crime, but has been investigated for criminal breach of trust and conspiracy in the allocation of a coal field in 2005 to Hindalco Industries, part of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group, which has denied that it manipulated the government and its processes. The Supreme Court on Monday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), to be headed by the CBI Director, to look into the prima facie allegations against former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha of trying to influence the probe in the coal scam cases. The apex court had on July 12 last year reserved the order on the issue after Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told the Bench that the panel headed by former CBI Special Director M.L. Sharma has held that Sinhas meetings with some high-profile accused in the scam, prima facie indicated that there was an attempt to influence the investigation. On December 7, 2015, the court had ordered handing over the original visitors diary of the official residence of the former CBI Director to the Sharma-led panel. Ranjit Sinha earlier dealt with communal conflict, law and order issues and crime related to international border while posted as a superintendent of police in Ranchi, Madhubani and Saharsa districts in the early part of his career. He was also involved in counter terror operations as the Inspector General (Operations) in the Kashmir Valley when the bus service between India and Pakistan was started in 2005, and the additional director-general of the Indo-Tibetan Border Force. He worked as the Director General of the Railway Protection Force from November 14, 2008 to May 19, 2011, where he raised commando units, bomb disposal squads, quick reaction teams to protect railway stations from terror strikes after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. After having served as the heads of the Railway Protection Force and the ITBP, he was selected as the Director CBI in November 2012. He had earlier served in the CBI for 11 years before being appointed its Director. He took over as Director CBI from his batchmate, who was junior to him in seniority. Then Prime Minister of India chose Ranjit Sinha as the CBI chief over Sharad Sinha, the Director, National Investigation Agency and Atul, Director General, Uttar Pradesh who were recommended by the Central Vigilance Commission as he was senior to the other two. However, the Bhartiya Janata Party objected to his appointment, protesting that the Government had not followed the collegium system that it had approved and that was part of the Lokpal Bill which was waiting to be passed by the Parliament. The Director General of Delhi Police, Neeraj Kumar, who had brilliantly cracked important cases during his 9 years in the CBI, went to court against the non-inclusion of his name in the panel prepared by the CVC, but later withdrew his case. In 1996, as a DIG in the CBI under the Joint Director (East), UN Biswas, Sinha was accused of scuttling the investigation to help protect the accused, Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Fodder Scam case. UN Biswas was the chief investigator into the case, whose progress was being monitored by the Patna High Court, and was asked by the court to file a report on the case. The original harsh report by Biswas was swapped with a toned down one authored by Sinha by the then Director CBI, Joginder Singh and submitted to the court. When the court asked why the submitted report did not carry details of the original charges, Biswas admitted before the court that the report had been changed by the CBI Director and that the original report was more damaging. The court indicted the CBI and ordered that Sinha be removed from the case. Later, Sinha, Biswas and other CBI officers apologized to the Privilege Committee Council of the Bihar Legislative Assembly, which decided to drop a privilege proceeding against them for lodging a complaint against them to the High Court. Earlier, his father-in-law as the Director General Vigilance was accused of scuttling initial investigations into the Fodder Scam but the accusations could not be substantiated. Sinha was then posted to Bihar Bhawan in New Delhi against a specially created post by Lalu Yadav. After taking over as the CBI Director, he transferred out four crucial officers investigating the Fodder Scam after obtaining consent of the Jharkhand High Court, but the orders were later cancelled by the Supreme Court of India following filing of a PIL. As the head of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), Sinha objected to Mamata Banerjee continuing to be provided protection by the RPF commandos, even after she quit as the Railway Ministry and became the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Banerjee did not take to these objections kindly and got Sinha replaced as the RPF head in May 2011. In April 2013, on the behest of the Supreme Court of India, as the CBI director, he submitted an affidavit stating that the draft investigative report on the Indian coal allocation scam was vetted by the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar before it was submitted to the court. There was widespread outrage in India on this issue as it undermined the autonomy of the CBI. Observing this, the Supreme Court scathingly criticized the UPA government, for its meddling with the report, and the CBI, for behaving like a caged parrot that speaks in its masters voice. Sinha has confirmed the comments of the Supreme Court as being correct. As a fallout, Ashwani Kumar was sacked as the Law Minister. On May 6, 2013, the Supreme Court asked the government to bring a law before July 10, 2013 to insulate the CBI from external influence and intrusion. Hurriedly, the government set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) under the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to work on the details for implementing the courts order. In 2013, the CBI busted a cash-for-posts scandal in the Indian Railways that led to the resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal. However, it was also reported that Sinha had held a grudge against Mahesh Kumar, and ordered his phone to be tapped that led to the case being busted. Sinha is seen to be close to Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo, who kept the post of the Director General of the Railway Protection Force unfilled for three months till Sinha was appointed to the post. He also accepted that he is friends with Yadav, stating that Lalu was his boss both in the state of Bihar and the Indian Railways and hence, they have good interpersonal relations. Sinha has landed himself in scandals, time and again, but always managed to escape the scanner. Now, he is trapped. Lets see, who will bell this fat cat. (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Peace talks gathering the Syrian regime and rebel groups began Monday in the Kazakh capital Astana, although rebels said they would not negotiate face-to-face with the government in the first session. Representatives from the two sides sat at the same round table as Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov delivered an opening speech. Rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi said earlier on Monday that the opposition was backing out of the first direct talks because of the regime`s continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint area near Damascus. It remains unclear whether rebels could negotiate directly with the regime at a later session. Rebels have said the talks would be focused on strengthening a frail nationwide ceasefire that was brokered last month by Russia and Turkey. Damascus has meanwhile pushed for a comprehensive political solution to the conflict and insisted that rebels lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal. The Astana talks were organised by regime backers Iran and Russia and rebel ally Turkey. Several rounds of failed negotiations in Geneva saw political opposition figures take the lead in negotiating with the regime. But in Astana, the 14-member opposition delegation is composed solely of rebels leading the armed uprising, backed by nearly two dozen legal and political advisers. More than 310,000 people have been killed and more than half of Syria`s population displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011 after protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. British Prime Minister Theresa May will stress the value of free trade and her support for the Iran nuclear deal when she meets U.S. President Donald Trump later this week, her spokeswoman said on Monday. Trumps election has raised questions over the future of the so-called special relationship that has underpinned close British-American ties for decades, but the new U.S. leader has praised last years vote to leave the European Union and says he wants to arrange a swift bilateral trade deal with Britain. Supporters of Britains exit from the European Union have cheered these comments, but others have questioned how this will fit with his protectionist policies, including his inaugural speech promise to put America first. You can expect the prime minister to be very clear during her U.S. visit on the benefits of free trade and championing them and wanting to look at what more can be done to increase that, Mays spokeswoman told reporters on Monday. The spokeswoman said she expected the prime minister would also make clear to Trump that Britain is a strong supporter of the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers, which the new U.S. leader has threatened to either scrap or change. May is due to attend the annual Republican Retreat in Philadelphia on Thursday, becoming the first serving head of state to speak at the event, before holding bilateral talks with Trump in Washington on Friday. Thousands of women marched in London on Saturday to protest about Trumps attitude to women, joining demonstrations held in major cities across the globe. When asked during a BBC interview on Sunday about controversy over Trumps comments on women, May, Britains second female premier, said she would not be afraid to challenge any unacceptable talk from Trump. She is also expected to discuss NATO with Trump, who has described the military alliance as obsolete. Ahead of her U.S. visit, May spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday. They discussed the continued importance of the alliance as the bulwark of our defence and agreed on the need for the alliance to continue to evolve to be able to effectively counter the biggest threats of the day, in particular terrorism and cyber attacks, a spokesman for May said after the call. The prime minister said she would be taking these messages to Washington later this week. If you were finally giving in and ready to buy a snowblower Monday, you were out of luck at least in Flagstaff. Not a single hardware store had one in stock, and even shovels were scarce although new shipments are due in later this week. But if you were a schoolkid, it was the fourth day in a row out of class since Friday on the way to a fifth today. Mondays third wave of snow since Thursday canceled school for most students in Flagstaff, Williams and Grand Canyon. Blowing snow also resulted in students and employees being sent home early at NAU and CCC. Trash pickup in Flagstaff was halted early, with Monday routes to be completed Tuesday. FUSD will be closed again Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, the Arizona Department of Transportation closed a 36-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 180 from just north of Bader Road to milepost 264, two miles west of State Route 64. There were ADOT personnel stationed at both ends of the closure to let people out if needed and the department will have its plows working through the night to clear the road, spokesperson Steve Elliott wrote in an email. Flagstaff had recorded more than two feet of snow from Thursday through Sunday and 3.5 inches fell Monday, with between 2 and 4 inches of additional snow to fall Monday night. But even if the total snowfall hits three feet, it would barely make the top 50 multi-day snowfall events since 1898, said David Vonderheide, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The high winds on Monday shut down the Humphreys Peak Quad lift at Arizona Snowbowl and the Aspen double lift, along with the Big Spruce conveyor. Jonathan Allen with Flagstaff Snow Park said 1,800 people came through the park over the weekend. The snow kept the Coconino County Sheriffs Office busy. From Friday through Monday afternoon, the office responded to 75 motorist assists, 11 calls to help other departments with accidents and slide-offs and 36 parking or other traffic-related issues. Deputies also responded to 10 non-injury accidents and seven injury accidents and three search and rescue calls. The search and rescue calls included two for skiers or snowboarders who were out of the bounds at Arizona Snowbowl on Humphreys Peak and one call for two overdue snowmobilers on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The Arizona Department of Public Safety and Flagstaff Police Department were still calculating accident numbers Monday afternoon. Skies are finally expected to clear Tuesday, with an overnight low of 3 degrees in Flagstaff and highs the rest of the week that wont get above the freezing mark. We are heartbroken to announce that our dear friend, our brilliant colleague, journalist par excellence, dedicated book co-author, the heart, soul and leader of our "rebel alliance," Dan Olmsted, passed away this weekend. Age of Autism has been a family for many years, and to all of you, we send our condolences, as we are grateful for yours. We will share more information as it becomes available. And the rebel alliance will carry on in his name, we assure you. Mark Blaxill, Kim Stagliano and the entire Age of Autism Team Aiken, SC (29801) Today Overcast with showers at times. High around 80F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.. Tonight Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 66F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. The following editorial appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Friday, Jan. 20: This editorial is addressed specifically to the numerical majority of American voters who did not choose the man inaugurated Friday as the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. The message to them is, get used to it. He is extremely likely to be in office for at least the next four years. There was some thought at first that maybe he didnt really want to be president he just wanted to win the election, to make a point. That turned out to be wrong. There is and was some thought that he might eventually be impeached. No U.S. president has yet been removed from office, and the chances that the Republican legislators who currently make up the majority in both houses of Congress would oust Trump, even if his governance of the United States turned out to be a branding operation for his enterprises, are close to zero. Four of our presidents have been assassinated, but the security measures that the U.S. Secret Service can now employ are such that it is extremely unlikely that what happened in 1865, 1881, 1901 and 1963 could occur again. The Secret Service certainly sharpened its teeth protecting President Barack Obama, given the many threats posed against him. Four of our presidents have died in office of natural causes, although Trump gives every indication of strong health, and those who dont like him would probably like Vice President Mike Pence even less. Washington Post cartoonist Herbert Block, who had the habit of drawing Richard M. Nixon with a five oclock shadow, drew a cartoon offering Nixon a free shave when Nixon was elected president for the first time in 1968. (That turned out to be misguided optimism, of course.) In spite of misgivings about Trump by many Americans, he deserves the same fresh start. Watch Trumps deeds more than words The following editorial appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday, Jan. 20: Everyone stands when the president enters the room. Its protocol, a deserved sign of respect for the office and the American people who select its occupant. Donald J. Trump, who stood at the West Front of the Capitol on Friday and swore an oath, deserves every ounce of that respect for as long as he is in office. He wont be everybodys friend or hero, but he is now everybodys president. Plenty of people have reason to doubt and distrust. Dozens of members of Congress planned to boycott the inauguration after Trump disparaged civil rights legend and Georgia Congressman John Lewis. Hundreds of thousands of women plan a march in Washington on Saturday while perhaps as many more show solidarity in similar marches in cities across the U.S. Organizers say marchers want to express concern and fear about campaign rhetoric from Trump that insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us immigrants of all statuses, Muslims and those of diverse religious faiths, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, survivors of sexual assault. Others still disagree with, even dispute, the results of Novembers election. But the election is over. Trumps a businessman and a showman. All weve had to judge him by are his business (hes done very well for himself) and his words which, like those of any showman, are crafted to draw attention. Having taken the oath, his deeds from this point forward push everything else to the background. What he says still counts, but what he does or fails to do counts even more. No one should take that to heart more than the nations news media. Trump has been openly hostile to the press for many months. He has clashed head to head with reporters from some of the nations largest news organizations. Trump doesnt need the news media to transmit his words to the public, long a traditional role of the press. He has Twitter and other social media for that. Far more important is the news medias role in reporting the accomplishments, mistakes, deeds and misdeeds behind those words. Trump may label unfavorable stories as fake news, but the people of America can judge by his deeds whether they will still respect him four years from now. Ignoring climate change comes at worlds peril The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, Jan. 19: Unsurprisingly, 2016 was the hottest year on record the third straight year in which worldwide temperatures have reached record levels. Ironically, Scott Pruitt, the climate change skeptic whom Donald Trump has chosen to run the Environmental Protection Agency, just happened to be testifying before a Senate committee charged with vetting his nomination when the announcement was made. So the nation was reminded simultaneously of the threat the world faces and that the Trump administration seems poised to ignore it. The facts are plain, and verifiable. The Arctic experienced an unfathomably warm fall up to 35 degrees warmer than usual in places which is expected to accelerate the shrinking of the Arctic ice cap. And the Antarctic ice shelves are melting faster than scientists anticipated as warming salt water eats away at them from below. It may be quixotic to hope that President Trump or Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt will respect the science and change their tunes on global warming. It is unlikely the new administration will advance the Obama administrations policies to address rising temperatures rather than rolling back crucial regulations. But if Trump continues to question the significant role that human activity particularly the burning of fossil fuels has played in increasing global temperatures, American states and cities and countries around the world can still press forward. Trump might deny the science, but the rest of the world cannot. Why Trumps tantrums will soon be dangerous The following editorial appeared in The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, Jan. 17: Its churlish for President-elect Donald Trump to pick fights with the likes of actress Meryl Streep. Its divisive to feud with Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights hero, on Martin Luther King Jr. weekend no less. Its damaging to criticize a key ally such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and our NATO partners. But if Trump cant control his tantrums once hes sworn in on Friday, it becomes downright dangerous. What if an enemy say North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un provokes the new president by testing a missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland? Will Trump talk to his national security advisers, consult with South Korea and Japan and develop a strong yet measured response? Or will he immediately launch a war of words that could lead to a real military confrontation? Statesmanship may be beyond Trumps capacity, but his inability to act at least somewhat presidential was on full display in his assault on Lewis. The 30-year congressman said that he did not consider Trump a legitimate president because of Russian interference in the election, and that he would not attend Fridays inauguration. Its a bold statement, but not completely out of bounds. Trump could have stayed above the fray, as President Barack Obama did when Trump questioned his legitimacy, or merely expressed disappointment as did Vice President-elect Mike Pence. Instead, Trump went on the offensive, tweeting Saturday: Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart. All talk, talk, talk no action or results. Sad! Whats pathetic is how Trump continues to ignore history and the facts. First, the Atlanta-area district Lewis represents includes corporate headquarters, Emory University and some suburbs as well as poor neighborhoods. Second, Lewis has a record of eloquent words and courageous action. As a student activist, he spoke at the March on Washington in 1963. He was also jailed and beaten multiple times, most graphically while trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma in 1965. In a follow-up tweet, Trump repeated his racist and ignorant view that Americas inner cities are burning and crime infested ghettos. Trumps tweets were the last straw for a growing number of Democrats, two dozen-plus and counting, who are joining Lewis in boycotting the inauguration. Were not sure its the right response. Even if you dont support the man, you have to respect the office. But this is not a normal transition of power, so it is understandable. As he becomes our 45th president, Trump should be uniting the nation, as he promised to do on election night. Instead, he is further dividing it and raising more doubts about his readiness to lead. 2 p.m. Due to hazardous weather and driving conditions, both Flagstaff Public Library locations closed at 2 p.m. today. 1:15 p.m. All schools in the Flagstaff Unified School District will be closed tomorrow due to severe weather and road conditions, marking their third snow day in a week. However, Tuesday will be a workday for all 10, 11 and 12-month employees. Northern Arizona University will be closing the campus at 3 p.m. with only employees performing essential duties required to stay. A text alert was sent out to students at 11 a.m. announcing the cancellation of classes starting at or after noon. 12:15 p.m. The City of Flagstaff is closing early due to the snow. City Manager Josh Copley authorized the early closure of all non-emergency city operations and services beginning at 2 p.m. City of Flagstaff snow removal crews are working to keep city streets clear for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians, but be prepared for snow packed and icy conditions. The city's trash service is also on hold for the rest of the day. Service will remain on the regular schedule for the week. Any areas where trash was not picked up will have their trash picked up tomorrow or as soon as they are accessible. To report missed containers, email Debra Shafer at dshafer@flagstaffaz.gov, or call the office at (928) 213-2110. Call (928) 213-2005 (Public Information Line) to check on any weather related changes with the City schedule. Refer to the City of Flagstaff Website for more snow news information at http://www.flagstaff.az.gov/snownews. 10 a.m. The National Weather Service says the brunt of this third storm will be felt in Flagstaff Monday afternoon and evening, with up to a foot of new snow and strong, gusty winds that will send wind chills plummeting. Areas north and east of Flagstaff will see even stronger winds, with gusts to 50 mph creating blowing snow and dangerous driving conditions in low visibility. FUSD and most Flagstaff-area charters have canceled classes, along with schools in Williams and Grand Canyon. CCC has canceled classes beginning at 10 a.m. NAU and the city of Flagstaff are on a regular schedule. ADOT is reporting no closures of major roads this morning, although most in northern Arizona are covered in snow and ice. Skies will begin to clear Tuesday, but daytime highs will not reach the freezing mark and overnight lows will be in the single digits in Flagstaff. The Weather Service recorded 1.7 inches of snow at Pulliam Airport Sunday, putting Flagstaff over the two-foot mark for this snow event, which began Thursday. 6 p.m. Sunday: FUSD cancels school as Flagstaff due 10-16 inches of snow The Flagstaff Unified School District has canceled school Monday amid a forecast that calls for between 10 and 16 inches of snow to fall in Flagstaff through Tuesday morning. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm for the region through Tuesday at 5 a.m. Light snow began falling late Sunday morning and will pick up tonight, with strong winds throughout the storm causing dangerous wind chills. Gusts of up to 50 mph are expected Sunday night and Monday along the Highway 89 corridor in Doney Park north to Cameron and Jacob Lake. Between 2 and 4 inches are expected Sunday night in Flagstaff, 5 to 9 inches Monday, and 2 to 4 inches Monday night. Following are predicted snowfall totals through Tuesday morning: DONEY PARK 6 TO 10 INCHES FLAGSTAFF 10 TO 16 INCHES GRAND CANYON 9 TO 13 INCHES JACOB LAKE 10 TO 16 INCHES NORTH RIM 16 TO 22 INCHES VALLE 4 TO 8 INCHES WILLIAMS 7 TO 11 INCHES Following is the detailed forecast for Flagstaff through the week: Tonight Snow. Areas of blowing snow after 11pm. Low around 28. Breezy, with a southwest wind 14 to 19 mph increasing to 20 to 25 mph in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. Monday Snow. Areas of blowing snow. Temperature falling to around 26 by 5pm. Breezy, with a southwest wind 23 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible. Monday Night Snow. Low around 12. West wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Tuesday A 30 percent chance of snow showers, mainly before 11am. Partly sunny, with a high near 26. Wind chill values as low as -1. West wind 9 to 13 mph. Little or no snow accumulation expected. Tuesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 3. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Wednesday Mostly sunny, with a high near 24. Wednesday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 2. Thursday Mostly sunny, with a high near 29. Thursday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 6. Friday Sunny, with a high near 28. Friday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 13. Saturday Sunny, with a high near 31. Saturday Night Mostly clear, with a low around 15. Sunday Sunny, with a high near 34. 11:15 a.m. Sunday update: Winter storm warning issued through Tuesday morning The National Weather has upgraded its winter storm watch to an immediate warning for Coconino County as the first flakes begin to fall earlier than expected. The warning runs through Tuesday at 5 a.m. and up to a foot of new snow is expected in the Flagstaff region on top of the 22 inches already officially on the ground. The heaviest snowfall will occur Sunday night through Monday night. Winds will gust above 20 mph in Flagstaff throughout the storm and could top 40 mph at lower elevations to the east. Sunshine will return Tuesday through Thursday but the weather will be unseasonably cold, with daytime highs below freezing and overnight lows in the single digits. Saturday 6 p.m.: Flagstaff snowfall tops 22 inches; foot more on the way Monday Flagstaff snowfall topped out Saturday at 22.8 inches after two rounds of storms, with a third due to dump up to a foot more Monday. The National Weather Service said Forest Lakes recorded 33 inches over the three-day event, with 23 inches falling near Williams, 13 inches at Grand Canyon Village and 11 inches in Doney Park. Strong winds and heavy snow in the White Mountains caused power outages near Pine and Payson, where the Red Cross set up temporary shelters until power could be restored. Despite the heavy snow, ADOT reported no closures of major highways, although a crash on I-17 near Munds Park Saturday afternoon temporarily shut down one northbound lane. The Weather Service says skies will again start to cloud up Sunday night as the third and final storm front arrives from the west. Snow is expected to start falling heavily in Flagstaff Monday morning and into the evening, with 8 to 12 inches possible. The North Rim, including Jacob Lake, could receive 18 to 24 inches. The weather will continue cold through the week, with lows in the single digits Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and highs not getting above freezing through Friday. Iraqi Assyrians Return to ISIL's Wreckage On the roof of their house, Mary Batlos picks up a makeshift bed that was used by ISIL fighters. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) The Batlos family fled Qaraqosh more than two years ago, when ISIL fighters captured the city. They recently returned home for the first time, only to discover their town in ruins. As the battle rages to retake Mosul, the last Iraqi stronghold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group, members of Iraq's Christian minority have started returning to the recently liberated town of Qaraqosh. The Batlos family, who are Assyrian Catholics, fled Qaraqosh on August 6, 2014, after Kurdish forces warned them that ISIL would soon seize the city. Leaving all of their belongings behind, the family travelled to nearby Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdish region. In December 2016, less than two months after Iraqi forces retook Qaraqosh from ISIL, the Batlos family returned home to discover large areas of the town in ruins, with no power or water supply. The threat of hidden improvised explosive devices planted by ISIL fighters continues to loom large. "We are still scared here," Haitham Zeia Batlos told Al Jazeera. In the heart of Qaraqosh, Camel Batlos Shamon, 75, and his family walk along the desolate streets towards their home, passing by the ruins of once-beautiful houses destroyed by air strikes. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) Shamon's wife, Mary Batlos, looks through some of the things left behind by ISIL, fighters who occupied and destroyed her home. 'I have no money to restore the house,' she said. 'We are waiting for the government to compensate us.' ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) The family's belongings were strewn across the floor throughout the house. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) Among what was left of their belongings, the family discovered that all of their religious ornaments had been decapitated. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) Directly opposite their home was a large house that was part of a network of tunnels created and used by ISIL. Rooms were filled with displaced earth to hide it from the view of coalition airplanes. 'I am very scared because the tunnel is so close to our house,' said Amira Batlos, noting she was afraid that ISIL fighters may still be using the tunnels. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) Haitham Zeia Batlos and his sister, Amira Zeia Batlos, search for Christmas decorations to salvage for their rented home in the Kurdish city of Erbil. ( Claire Thomas/Al Jazeera) ASL Belgium, formerly TNT Airways, has poached Ulf Weber from AeroLogic, the Lufthansa and DHL Express joint venture. Weber, who is currently managing director and accountable manager at AeroLogic, will join ASL Belgium as chief executive. Colin Grant, who had been acting chief executive of the airline following its acquisition by ASL last year, will assist Weber during the transition to his new role. Grant also holds the role of ASL Airlines Europe chief executive. Ulf is an accomplished international aviation professional and his excellent record makes him a perfect fit for us, said ASL Aviation Group chief executive Hugh Flynn. He is a high-achiever in all of the areas on which we focus with our corporate values, including people where he has always excelled in leadership and team-building. Weber studied Aeronautical Engineering in Berlin and conducted research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has had an extensive career in aviation that has seen him progress to senior executive roles in both passenger and cargo operations. "His world-wide experience includes long-haul and short-haul networks with various aircraft types and he has achieved great success in key areas including safety, reliability, quality, network planning and cost and performance management," ASL said. Meanwhile, Grant will continue to drive strategy and actively interact with the airlines customers. He will support key relationships and the coordination of support companies. Share this story Jews are the most rewarded and most punished people in the history of the world. I spent my professional career working at Psychological Services and Counseling at San Diego State University. Over the years we had regular staff trainings that included the need to better understand our increasingly diverse student population. As a Jew who was starting to appreciate more about our heritage, I was frustrated that Jews didn't seem to qualify as a minority or a persecuted one at that. I was told that since we were white and, for the most part, very successful in America it was fitting to be lumped in with the white majority. So I came up with my own presentation that would help my colleagues realize that we Jews have a unique culture of our own that a lot of people might not be aware of. Who are the Jews? We are the sons and daughters born of Jewish mothers and the righteous converts throughout the course of Jewish history. We are the descendants of Avraham Avinu (Patriarch Abraham), the discoverer of monotheism, an idol smasher of the first degree. We carry on his tradition to this day: we have a keen eye and ear for falsehood and injustice; we are often in the forefront of social causes and revolutions. We make good lawyers, psychologists, social workers, and teachers. We are a spiritual people with intense spiritual needs. We need not take credit for that we were designed that way in the factory for our lifes task. We go through life as seekers, often not realizing what we seek. If we do not fill our spiritual void with our own spiritual traditions, we will seek out just about anything else to fill it. We are wildly over-represented in cults and religious fringe movements, psychology, and politics. We are a spiritual people a spiritually hungry people, a spiritually forgetful people. We are messengers who have forgotten the message. We are in exile and sometimes we dont even know it. Our alphabet goes from right to left. Our calendar is lunar, not solar. We feel alienated but dont know why. We are the epitome of strangers in a strange land. The lands of our dispersion keep changing, but our sense of alienation never does at least not while we are in exile away from our land and in spiritual shambles. On the Seder night we ask Why is this night different from all other nights? But we mean Why is this exile different from all other exiles? We are show and tell across the stage of history. Who are the Jews? We are show and tell across the stage of history. We are a demo in the classroom of life. We are the most rewarded and most punished people in the history of the world. We are given the mandate to be a separate and distinct people a holy people, an ethical people. When we blow it, we are usually spectacular. If we dont remind ourselves who we really are and keep to our traditions, we are usually reminded by the other nations of the world. The Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust might be the best-known examples of these reminders. Our periods of greatest acceptance and assimilation have usually been followed by suffering, bloodshed, and dispersion. Our lives in America are terrific right now and that itself is cause for alarm to the spiritually sensitive. We feel free so maybe we ought to think about leaving while we still can. On the other hand, we still exist, and that alone should be an awe-inspiring thought to Jew and gentile alike. We could not possibly have continued to exist because of our military might or our popularity with the other nations of the world. Our ambivalence towards our own spiritual traditions should have done us in ages ago. Our existence is truly miraculous, and our existence in our Jewish homeland after thousands of years of dispersion should certainly give us some food for thought. Who are the Jews? We are the character analysts of history, the ancient psychologists, the custodians of wisdom. For centuries, the greatest Jewish sages analyzed the actions and language of Torah personalities and biblical figures in order to determine just what it was that we were supposed to be learning from a particular story, event, or character. We were given the clues, traditions, and structures to make this endeavor possible. Its in the Talmud accessible, but largely unknown to todays psychologists. We have a tradition of mussar most Jews have never heard the word. It deals with mans capacity to rationalize. It deals with keeping ourselves honest and enabling us to get unstuck and grow. It is a rich tradition. We say we want to know about character development, but we look every place else for our answers. This is extremely sophisticated stuff, right from the source. We dont like to hear this, but let it be said that psychology has always had very little respect for its elders. We always like to know whats new and not necessarily whats true. Psychology and counseling have borrowed tremendously from these sources and we dont always give credit where credit is due. But, unbeknownst to most of us, psychology and counseling have borrowed tremendously from these sources and we dont always give credit where credit is due. Therapy is most comfortable as a humanistic, values-neutral undertaking, and religion and spirituality are often characterized as judgmental and superstitious. Our profession itself stems largely from Freud and other early psychoanalysts. Yet, for the most part, these were disgruntled, irreligious Jews who were exceptionally unspiritual in their outlook. Freud borrowed heavily from Jewish mysticism, even if he failed to acknowledge it. We have an ancient tradition of character analysis, character development, and dream analysis beginning with Joseph in ancient Egypt. We are an overlooked source for most of the truly useful measures of human growth. We waited for Jung, a gentile, to respond to our need for the missing spiritual piece we had all been hungering for. As Jews, we may have a tradition of wisdom and truth, but as Jewish psychologists we tended to associate this tradition with superstition and the loss of individual freedom. Who are the Jews? The Talmud tells us that we have three distinguishable qualities or character traits compassion for our fellow man, a love of kindness and good deeds, and a sense of modesty or humility. We are told that we dont have a monopoly on these characteristics, but if we see these qualities lacking in a Jew we might question his lineage. Sadly, our public image these days doesnt necessarily reflect these three qualities. Some of this has to do with the nature of anti-Semitism. Some of it, however, has to do with the fact that we have simply dropped the ball ourselves. We have not always been inspiring examples. Our ranks are filled with lawyers, doctors and Nobel Prize winners, but were like ignorant kindergarteners when it comes to our knowledge about Judaism. Alas, we are largely out of touch with ourselves, particularly when it comes to our spiritual dimension and our spiritual tradition. For the most part, we have no idea of who we really are and what were really about. Our ranks are filled with lawyers, M. D.s, Ph.D.s, and Nobel Prize winners, but we are usually at the level of an ignorant kindergartener when it comes to our knowledge about ourselves and our spiritual traditions. A basic Jewish teaching is that an ignoramus cannot be a righteous person. It takes intense study, discipline, and practice. It is a lifetime endeavor. We cant just adopt an attitude or practice some breathing exercises. Its hard work and, for the most part, it can be unappealing when we look at it from the outside. Why, we may ask, would we want to cramp our style? After all, people are people, arent they? We have a whole tradition relating to self-esteem. We are told to keep two pieces of paper in our pocket to be used for different occasions. When we are feeling down and discouraged about ourselves, we should pull out the one that reads, For you the entire world has been created. But when we are feeling too arrogant or prideful, we can pull out the one that says, Even the lowly gnat was created before you. This is the Jewish teaching that should guide all of us: Seek balance, moderation, a sense of awe about life itself, above all, an appreciation for the Divine essence deep within that complex human being that sits across from you as your client. Recognize that your clients have been sent here to grow. Excerpted from No Stories to Tell: The Psychologist Meets Infinity, by Steve Sherr. Click here to order. Please Donate In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation. Racist PayPal Tries to Close Down My Blog As you can see from this article PayPal have removed my blog. I would therefore ask people to make any future donations to the following: Name of Account: Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre Account No: 04094107 Sort Code: 09-01-50 Reference: Web donations December 27, 2016 KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip Palestinian citizen Marwan Shahwan has turned the basement of his Khan Yunis home into an archaeological museum. His private exhibit features 10,000 artifacts collected over 30 years that attest to the history of the seven civilizations that called Palestine home: the Pharaonic, Greek, Romanian, Byzantine, Islamic, Mamluk and Ottoman civilizations. He bought his first archaeological find in the 1980s from a popular market. It is a copper teapot that an archaeologist later on told him was a valuable artifact dating back to the Ottoman era. A carpenter and interior designer, Shahwan designed and built a museum to house and display his artifacts. Shahwan told Al-Monitor that he was encouraged to collect archaeological pieces by stories his grandfather told him about an Israeli officer named Moshe Dayan, who had been buying large amounts of artifacts after the 1967 war and labeling them as part of Israels history. He added, "This pushed me to collect antiquities, as I wanted to preserve Palestinian heritage." The archaeological museum, the largest in Gaza, contains a variety of pieces including rare stones and coins, as well as a historical copy of the Quran from the Islamic Golden Age. Shahwan allocated a corner of the museum for Palestinian heritage. The display includes Palestinian women's outfits before the Palestinian Nakba in 1948, musical instruments used in wedding celebrations and old farming tools, including an ancient pottery water jar and a Pharaonic mill. In another corner, he displays ancient weapons dating back to the Ottoman Empire and others used in World War I and World War II, in addition to lead ammunition boxes dating to the British Mandate. Shahwan also keeps a stone statue of Alexander the Great. His artifacts are priceless, he says. He noted that the museum has become a destination of many tourists who visit the Gaza Strip, adding that diplomatic delegations have also visited, including the Norwegian ambassador and Chinas minister of information, in addition to students, researchers and foreigners interested in archaeology. Shahwan said he spends most of his time buying and collecting archaeological pieces. He hopes that the authorities will take action to support museums and their owners, as their work is vital to preserving the historical evidence of a unique Palestinian identity. He indicated that he often buys items from traders who are unaware of their real value. Shahwan looks forward to one day opening a larger museum and participating in international archaeological exhibitions outside the Gaza Strip to display his archaeological pieces from the various civilizations that inhabited Palestine. Gaza historian Nasser al-Yafawi spoke highly of Shahwans museum, saying that it features treasures from Palestines ancient civilizations. He said it features a set of clay jars dating to various periods, including the Roman, Byzantine and other Islamic civilizations. He warned, however, The museum is in dire need of special tools to preserve the archaeological pieces. Yafawi stressed to Al-Monitor the importance of projects like Shahwan's at a time when Palestinians are fighting a cultural and historical heritage battle with Israel. He added, These archaeological components must be employed for our cause to preserve Palestinian heritage. They must be exhibited at a comprehensive national museum, as they are proof of the civilizations that were present in Palestine at different points in history. He called on educational institutions in the Gaza Strip to organize educational visits to archaeological museums to enrich the students sense of history. According to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, there are 10 private museums in the Gaza Strip. Ahmed al-Barsh, director general of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in Gaza, told Al-Monitor that the ministry visits and registers the private museums and maintains an inventory of all the displayed archaeological items. He added that while such a museum is considered private property, its owner is not entitled to sell or dispose of any of the displayed items without working with the ministry. These [artifacts] are the states properties that must be preserved, he said. Barsh noted that the ministry is looking to create a national museum in the Gaza Strip, but is hindered by a lack of financial resources and high construction costs. The ministry currently owns two museums, Basha Palace Museum and the Museum of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Gaza is one of the oldest cities in the world, founded by Arab Canaanites around the third millennium BCE. Arabs called it Hashim after the grandfather of the Prophet Mohammed, Hashim bin Abd Manaf. Across the various stages of history, it was a transportation hub for travelers and convoys and a global trade center. Egyptians came up with the name Gaza Strip when the region fell under Egypt's sovereignty following the Egyptian-Israeli armistice agreement in 1949. Tourism in Gaza relies heavily on archaeological and historical sites, some of which date back thousands of years. There are 150 recognized ancient houses in the Gaza Strip, 20 historic mosques, three churches, an ancient market, one ancient fountain and two prayer rooms, in addition to 15 other archaeological sites. Antiquities in the Gaza Strip are at high risk of not only neglect but outright destruction, as Israeli military forces often target them. January 23, 2017 Twenty-five House Democrats unsuccessfully wrote to President Barack Obama earlier this month to urge him to end US support for the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen before Donald Trump took over. The Jan. 13 letter, led by habitual Yemen war critics Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and John Conyers, D-Mich., raises concerns that the United States is abetting war crimes by supporting Riyadhs imprecise bombing campaign. It goes on to argue that the fight against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels is doing little more than fueling terrorism. These airstrikes which have killed children, women, doctors, newlyweds and funeral mourners are likely war crimes, the letter states. We respectfully ask you to do the right thing before you leave office and stop the US refueling of Coalition aircraft that strike civilian targets in Yemen. News of the letter comes as the Trump administration signed off on its first airstrikes in Yemen, which are separate from the Saudi campaign and target different actors. Six al-Qaeda fighters were reportedly killed Jan. 21 in a pair of US strikes in the Sawmaa region of Al-Bayda province, while a local military instructor for al-Qaeda had been killed by a drone strike in the same province Jan. 20. Trump himself has said little of substance about the war in Yemen, but is expected to support the Saudis against their regional foe, Iran as long as Riyadh pays up. Right now if you look at right now, we already defend Saudi Arabia, right now, were defending them. Every time theres a problem we go in and defend, he told Fox News a year ago. And frankly, as far as Im concerned, thats all fine. Congressional concerns about the Saudi-led effort have been growing since it began in March 2015. More than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed since then, according to the United Nations. In September, 27 senators voted to reject a proposed $1.15 billion tank sale to Saudi Arabia in a rare public rebuke of a US ally. The vote was not enough to stop the sale but sent a clear signal to the White House that congressional patience with Riyadh was fraying. Three months later, the Obama administration blocked a sale of precision munitions to Riyadh because of very significant concerns about the high rate of civilian casualties and cut back on intelligence sharing. The US Air Force has since continued to refuel Saudi warplanes, however, sparking the latest letter. We are extremely puzzled that the Administration decided to continue the US military operation of refueling the very same aircraft that strike civilian targets in Yemen, the letter states. This approach sends a mixed signal to Saudi Arabia and is logically and internally inconsistent. Signing the letter were three members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over US foreign aid and arms sales: Lieu and Reps. Karen Bass, D-Calif., and David Cicilline, D-R.I. Two freshmen also signed on: Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash. January 23, 2017 A recent decision by Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity mandating all youth to complete at least a year's worth of community service has caused a stir among Egyptians, with some even describing it as compulsory civil conscription for women. The decision is the first to impact women in 2017, a year that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has labeled the "Year of Women." According to ministry officials, many companies will require a certificate of completion of public service upon hiring. The decision, which is based on the 1973 Public Service Act No. 76, will go into effect in February. However, many university students rejected the decision due to its compulsory nature. I will be forced to spend a whole year doing unpaid work just to get a certificate at the end, said Rasha Mohamed, a university student. We were not keen on performing public service because the companies that we apply for dont ask about it, but I think this decision will put more restrictions. Unlike Mohamed, Sara Hassan, also a student, welcomed the decision as a way for her to serve her country. I support this decision because its an honor serving my country, Hassan told Al-Monitor. The ministry decision represents a government attempt to harness the energy of Egyptian young people, including young women, who represent 49% of Egypt's population. However, several campaigns that have called for women's inclusion in the military were disheartened by the decision, which they described as not living up to their ambitions. Jihad el-Komy, 20, the founder of Mognda Masria (A Female Conscript) campaign, has been calling for females to be allowed to join the military since 2011, but she rejected the ministrys decision because it is limited to civil service. Its like a civil conscription, and thats not our demand. We want an optional military [enrollment], Komy told Al-Monitor. Egypt has a mandatory military service program for males starting at age 18, though enrollment is regularly postponed for students until the end of their university studies, so long as they enroll before they turn 28. A male with no male siblings, or a male who supports his parents, is exempt from military service. Military service is not required for females, although they do work in administrative and medical posts. Yet Komys dream is to join the army and receive military training. We demand military training for women to raise their national awareness and sense of belonging. We also want to establish a separate training center for women to train them in martial arts. This will also allow women to protect themselves against harassment, she told Al-Monitor. Two years ago, Komy, a sociology student at Alexandria University, met then-Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb to discuss her campaign. After he left his post, no one called us, and we still want to be heard, said Komy, who has obtained 500,000 signatures from females across the country who support her campaign. Jihad said she has held a number of silent protests to express her demands. Our next step is to meet some of the members of parliament to discuss our idea with them, she added. Moganada Masreya is not the only campaign that calls for military conscription for women. Several similar campaigns have appeared recently on social media. Hajar Khaled, 18, the founder of the Jnedona (Conscript Us) campaign, based in Sharqia governorate, is also calling for military service for females, especially those who study vocational education. Public service is for university and high institute graduates. But we need to work in the military police in the security field. We also call for military training [for females], as we want to be ready to participate in any event and to confront violent acts against women and harassment, said Hajar, who studies in a secondary commercial school in Sharqia. Female graduates of secondary commercial schools can volunteer in the military police and work as secretaries, while girls who studied in health or nursing institutes can volunteer in medical services, Hajar explained. Mainly inspired by Kurdish female fighters in Syria, Hajars dream is to fight "the enemies of the country." In Syria, there are female conscripts who are only 18 or 19 years old, and they are on the front lines fighting the Islamic State. We are no less than they are, she said. Jnedona has around 15,800 supporters on Facebook. She has not yet received a reply to the several letters she has sent to the president seeking support. Amany Ghoneim, head of the Central Department for Social Development at the Ministry of Social Solidarity, said that the desire of young women to serve in the army is much appreciated, but that the ministry's recent decision does not extend to the military. If it is a decision about conscription,' it wont be issued by the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The ministrys decision states that all university and higher institute graduates who are not eligible or exempt from army conscription are tasked to perform public service for a year, Ghoneim told Al-Monitor. She also said the word "conscription" was not accurate and described it as public service. Public service is compulsory for females and males who want to apply for work in the companies that require the certificate of public service, and many companies in the public and private sectors will require it, she said. According to Ghoneim, public service has several benefits. It is a national duty that allows young people to help develop their society, and it also helps them gain professional experience and enables them to engage with people of all social classes. The graduates can perform public service in more than 35 fields. They can teach literacy classes, monitor orphanages and participate in family planning campaigns, said Ghoneim. We dont force the graduates to perform their public service in a specific field, we let them choose the field they want, she said. Ghoneim said the government offers a monthly remuneration of 4 Egyptian pound (less than 25 cents) for their public service, but that many institutions offer up to 200 or 600 Egyptian pound ($10-$30) a month. She also added that a proposal is in the works to amend some articles of the 1973 law to increase remuneration. January 24, 2017 Chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of the System (EDCS) and former Iranian President Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Jan. 8, and his death might have put a nail in the coffin of normalization between Egypt and Iran. The Egyptian diplomatic reaction to the death of Rafsanjani was different from the Egyptian reaction to the death of Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis mother in March 2015. While the Egyptian government chose to ignore the death of Sakineh Peivandi, Rouhanis mother, two years ago, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry sent the deputy assistant foreign minister for protocol affairs, Ambassador Ashraf Mounir, on Jan. 12 to the Interests Section of Iran in Egypt to offer condolences to both the office manager and the Iranian government, on behalf of the Egyptian government. Although the office in Cairo received several ambassadors from different countries, a diplomatic source in the Interests Section told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Iran deeply appreciated the Egyptian condolences in particular. He said that those in charge of the office warmly welcomed Mounir because it was the first contact between the two countries at this level following a long time of strained relations, which suggests that the chances of improving relations and rapprochement between the two countries are increasing and are further applauded by the two governments. Egyptian-Iranian relations have been strained since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the overthrow of Iran's last shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who had good relations with Egypt. Those ties had led former President Anwar Sadat to give Pahlavi political asylum in Egypt after the Islamic Revolution, thus resulting in a complete severing of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979. The Iranian Interests Section office in Egypt is the most prominent footprint left by Rafsanjani in Cairo. The office was opened to mark the return of a limited diplomatic representation between the two countries in 1991 under Rafsanjanis presidency. However, the efforts that Rafsanjani made, both when he was president and chairman of the Iranian regime's EDCS, have seemingly not been sufficient for normal relations to return. His death now calls into question his ability to incite Iranian officials to improve relations with Egypt and lead Egyptian officials to trust the Iranian intentions. Also, it calls into question the future of the improving relations following his departure. To answer these questions, Mohamed Mohsen Abu al-Nour, a researcher specialized in Iranian affairs at Al-Azhar University, said, Rafsanjani was very influential in attempts at bringing Egypt and Iran closer. He believed it was necessary to be open to Egypt, and he transferred his line of thought to many of his students such as former President Mohammad Khatami and current President Hassan Rouhani. Rafsanjani and his students viewed Egypt as a country no less important than Syria, sensing that peace and stability in the Middle East could not be achieved without Egypt. He added, I dont think attempts at rapprochement with Egypt will end, even if conservatives win the presidency in the May 2017 elections. Rafsanjani was able to popularize the idea of rapprochement with Egypt in the Iranian regime in general albeit to varying degrees, with the idea taking hold the strongest among moderates and Reformists like Rouhani and Khatami. It should be mentioned that Rafsanjani called in remarks to Al Jazeera in 2003 for the need to normalize relations with Egypt, but he pointed out in the same context that the severance of relations was by order of the commander of the Islamic Revolution, late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This is why it is difficult to change the decision, he said. In an interview with Iranian radical newspaper Jomhuri-ye Eslami, Rafsanjani said on Feb. 11, 2011, that during the Egyptian revolution against former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt needs a new Khomeini, and I call on Egyptians to successfully complete their revolution." In this regard, Mohammed Saeed Idris, the head of the Arab and regional studies unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor that the Iranian leaders are pragmatic. He said it is unlikely that the sanctification of Khomeini's orders to cut off relations with Egypt could be the reason behind the ongoing rupture. The current attempts to break the ice between the two countries emanates from [Irans] interests as the country sees in Egypt a strong ally in the Syrian crisis despite the fact that Egypt does not support the survival of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, but favors stability in Syria, he said. Idris added, Iran's attempts at rapprochement have increased following the tension between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which suggests that Iran is trying to improve its relationship with Egypt to deal a political and regional blow to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. This is why I welcome the improvement of Egypt's relations with Iran, provided there is a balance in relations with Iran on the one hand and the Gulf states on the other. The relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been tense since the beginning of October 2016, when Egypt voted in one of the United Nations Security Council meetings in favor of a Russian draft resolution to halt the war in Aleppo at a time when Saudi Arabia was against this draft. Later in October, Saudi Aramco notified the Egyptian government that it would stop supplying it with oil. Many observers considered this as a response on the part of Saudi Arabia to Egypts vote for the Russian draft law. Asked about Rafsanjanis role, Idris said, I think he was a supporter of reducing tension with the Gulf states, which would have easily helped Egypt create some balance in its relationship with Iran on the one hand and the Gulf states on the other. But I think the attempts to improve relations are ongoing even after the departure of Rafsanjani, and the evidence is that Egypt offered its first diplomatic condolences to Iran on Rafsanjani's death. In 1998, Rafsanjani called for the resolution of the conflict between Iran and the United Arab Emirates over the three islands: the Greater Tunb, the Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa, through negotiations between the two countries. Columnist Ali Hashem wrote in an Al-Monitor article that Irans Rafsanjani and Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah were able to build a bridge for dialogue between their countries in a bid to end political differences. Rafsanjani left the door open to many scenarios. Only time will reveal whether his moderate and Reformist successors will continue the march of openness to Egypt and calm the situation with the Gulf states or the fundamentalists will rise to power again and confuse the calculations of the region. January 23, 2017 On Jan. 25, 2011, protests demanding Bread, Freedom and Social Justice erupted in Cairo and other major Egyptian cities. Inspired by the uprising in Tunisia that 10 days earlier had succeeded in bringing down the autocratic Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime, the protests in Egypt began as demonstrations but quickly evolved into a full-scale revolt with tens of thousands of anti-government protesters gathering in central Cairos Tahrir Square to demand the downfall of the regime. When longtime president Hosni Mubarak announced that he was stepping down less than three weeks later, the Tahrir pro-democracy activists erupted into jubilant celebrations that lasted into the early hours. We were taken completely by surprise; no one had expected the regime to fall so quickly, Zeinab Mohamed, a blogger known to her readers as Zeinobia, told Al-Monitor. Mohamed had fervently tweeted from Tahrir Square about the dramatic events of the popular uprising and has continued to report since on the ensuing turmoil, building up a 226,000-strong following on Twitter. I wanted to let the world know what was happening in Egypt at a time when mainstream Egyptian media had failed us by initially ignoring the protests and later by vilifying the Tahrir activists, branding them thugs and foreign agents, she said. Describing the political and economic upheavals the country has experienced in the last six years as a roller coaster ride, Mohamed recalled there had been moments of hope and others of utter despair. Her most uplifting memories are of the day Mubarak first appeared in court and of seeing the long lines of voters in the first parliamentary elections of 2011-2012. The apathy had vanished," she said, adding that it was replaced by "enthusiasm and a sense of empowerment. For several weeks after Mubaraks ouster, Egyptians were in a state of euphoria; there was hope and optimism in place of the feelings of frustration and helplessness that had marked Mubaraks last years of stagnation. On the night he fell, the Tahrir protesters expressed their elation with the spontaneously created slogans Raise your head high, you are Egyptian and Everyone who loves Egypt, come and build Egypt. In the immediate aftermath of the uprising, scores of young people had painted curbs and removed garbage from streets in their neighborhoods. After decades of marginalization and oppression, they finally felt they had a stake in their country. Eager to participate in the political process, the young activists joined the new political parties that mushroomed during the early period of transition. The main activists who had mobilized for the January 25 protests joined the Coalition of Revolutionary Youth, a watchdog group comprised of a range of movements from diverse orientations. They piled pressure on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (which oversaw the transition) to ensure that the revolutionary demands were met. One of their primary demands was that Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister appointed by Mubarak, resign. In a leaked phone conversation aired earlier this month on the privately owned Sada El Balad satellite channel, former reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei was heard telling then-Chief of Staff Sami Anan that the young leaders were unwavering in their position: Shafiq is the face of the old regime and must go, the young people had told him. A few days later, Shafiq stepped down after facing off with novelist Alaa Al Aswany in a TV debate. That was then, but this is now: Six years on, the space for civic engagement that was created in Tahrir Square has been all but completely shut down. Hundreds of young activists are behind bars for violating a controversial anti-protest law passed in November 2013. Their incarceration is part of a wider crackdown on dissent that has seen thousands of opposition figures imprisoned on what rights groups say are trumped-up charges. The draconian anti-protest law, which was recently amended, initially required that groups who were planning demonstrations seek prior approval from the Interior Ministry. On Dec. 3, however, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled the protest ban unconstitutional, giving the judiciary (instead of the Interior Ministry) the upper hand in deciding whether a planned protest should or should not take place. Skeptics dismiss the amendment as cosmetic, arguing that violators would still face jail terms of up to five years and that security forces would continue to use excessive force against peaceful protesters. Prominent activist Ahmed Maher, one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement which played a key role in organizing the 2011 mass protests against Mubarak was released from prison earlier this month after completing a three-year jail term for reportedly taking part in an unauthorized protest. He remains, however, under judicial supervision. Fellow activists Mohamed Adel, Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Douma (considered by many to be symbols of the revolution) languish behind bars on similar charges of violating the anti-protest law. Adel is expected to be released in the coming days as he, too, has served his three-year sentence. There is little hope for Doumas release, however, as he has been convicted of inciting violence, attacking security forces and taking part in an unauthorized protest and has been handed down a life sentence, part of a wider security crackdown on political opponents liberal and Islamist since the overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013. Four months after the Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed and designated a terrorist group in Egypt in December 2013, a Cairo court banned the April 6 Youth Movement on the grounds that the group had engaged in espionage and had sought to tarnish Egypts image abroad. Members of the group have been persistently persecuted, and several of them have been found dead in mysterious circumstances. The body of cartoonist Hisham Rizk was found in a Cairo morgue in early 2015 and forensics determined that he had died of asphyxiation as a result of drowning in the Nile River. Two other members of the group were shot and killed on separate occasions by unidentified gunmen. It is not surprising, then, that Esraa Abdel Fattah, an information technology specialist and member of the April 6 group, has kept a low profile the last two years. She decided to quit her activism and steer away from politics, lamenting that she had been labeled a traitor by the very people who had supported her in the early days of the revolution. Furthermore, she had discovered that her name was on a travel ban list a sign that perhaps she, too, may be prosecuted. I have not been investigated or formally charged to date, she told Al-Monitor, adding that she suspected the decision was related to Egypts nongovernmental organizations' "foreign funding case. Dozens of civil society members are being prosecuted under the foreign funding case, which dates to 2011. The case was reopened late last year in a move that rights groups say would effectively wipe out civil society activities in the country. A number of those under investigation in the case have been banned from travel and a few, such as rights lawyer Gamal Eid and womens rights activist Azza Soleiman, have also had their assets, and those of their organizations, frozen. Until last week, Abdel Fattah had resigned herself to the fact that the revolution had been in vain. Its a depressing thought, but I felt I had to move on with my life after all the time that has been wasted, she said. But then something happened that gave her a change of heart: Egypts Supreme Court ruled against Egypts handover of two Red Sea Islands to Saudi Arabia. The courts decision is final and cannot be appealed. Nevertheless, the matter has now been referred to parliament for a final decision. Abdel Fattah said the ruling has renewed her faith in the revolution. Our revolution is not dead. As long as there is a new generation of young people refusing to give up and willing to fight the good fight, the revolution shall prevail, she said. Mohamed agrees fully: It may take several years for the revolution dust to settle. Besides, the country is facing serious economic and security challenges and the entire region is in tumult. Last weeks unexpected ruling on the islands is the glimmer of hope we needed to revive our dream of a better future." January 24, 2017 As Barack Obama left the White House on Jan. 20, transferring power to Donald Trump, assessments were made about his legacy and whether he fulfilled his promises. To Iranians, one of the most noted of these pledges was the focus on diplomacy to resolve the stalemate over Irans nuclear program. In an August 2007 speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Obama had said that not talking does not work and suggested that the United States engage in dialogue with adversaries Iran, North Korea and Syria. Obama had also promised that by talking to Iran, he would be able to resolve differences. Unfortunately, his first term in office coincided with that of Irans hard-line former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and thus, there was no practical breakthrough in the row over Irans nuclear program. But when President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, things took a turn for the better. Nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six world powers accelerated with a particular focus being placed on Iran-US dialogue. These talks ultimately led to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on July 14, 2015. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Nasser Hadian, a prominent professor of international relations at Tehran University, said, Obama wanted to resolve the other remaining issues between Iran and the United States [as well]. However, Iran was neither prepared nor interested in this. He added, At the same time, Obama knew that if he could succeed in solving things between the two countries, it would be a positive mark on his report card and he would be remembered as the sole US president who was able to put an end to the crisis in Tehran-Washington relations after nearly three decades a commendation that was even more valuable than solving the conflict with Cuba. In Iran, there have been widely divergent views about Obamas approach. The Kayhan daily, which epitomizes the movement opposed to restoring relations with the United States, published a piece Nov. 19 in which it evaluated the performance of various American presidents. With reference to Obama, the hard-line daily wrote, By using the politics of smiling amid [engagement in] terror, Obama pursued the same path that other former US presidents had taken with regard to Iran, and by imposing various wide-ranging sanctions whether in the nuclear arena or in regard to terrorism and human rights he showed that there was no difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to Iran. This is not to mention the danger that Obama posed by winning international consensus on the implementation of his wide-ranging sanctions over Irans nuclear program." In this vein, Ali Akbar Velayati, the foreign policy adviser to Irans supreme leader, said in an interview with Jam-e Jam daily June 11, Obama is no different than [George W.] Bush. US policies have always been in support of Israel while opposing Iran and the Muslim world. He added, Some say the Democrats are better for Iran while the principal sanctions against Iran were imposed during Obamas term in office. The only difference between Obama and the other US presidents is that he speaks nicely and some think he is a better person. However, Obama did have one unique experience in regard to Iran: the historic phone call he had with his Iranian counterpart. Taking place at the very end of Rouhanis first visit as president to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly in September 2013, the conversation was the first between an Iranian and an American head of government since Irans 1979 Islamic Revolution. For Rouhani, the phone call was followed by harsh domestic criticism. In addition to being reprimanded by some members of parliament, Irans supreme leader also hinted at his disapproval of the move. In comments made on Oct. 5, 2013, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "I support the government's diplomatic moves, including the New York trip, because I have faith [in it]. But some of what happened during the New York trip was not appropriate. I am skeptical of the Americans and have no trust in them at all. The American government is untrustworthy, arrogant, illogical and a promise breaker. Notwithstanding the historic phone call, Iranians have broadly held two widely differing views about Obama. One group thought he was no different than previous US presidents, while others saw him as an opportunity for Iran. Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesman for the Iranian nuclear negotiating team, said on Jan. 2, 2016, Some may think what I say here is foolish but the reality is that Obama has been an opportunity for Iran and still is and this [opportunity] should be used for solving differences between the two nations. Many in Tehran agree with this assessment. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Sadegh Zibakalam, a prominent political analyst and Tehran University professor, said, Obama was a great opportunity for Iran that is now gone. The combination of Obama, [Vice President Joe] Biden, and [Secretary of State] John Kerry played a great role in reaching the nuclear deal, and after Obamas successor takes office we will realize what a great opportunity we lost to resolve our differences with the United States. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who served as chief nuclear negotiator, noted Feb. 16 that it would have been much more difficult to achieve the nuclear deal without Obama and Kerry in office. As such, when it comes to US relations with Iran, Obama has left the White House with a valuable legacy: the nuclear deal, which resolved a crisis that at one point seemed unsolvable. And while far from all share the same view of his performance when it comes to Iran, there is consensus that if he and Rouhani had not been in power in Washington and Tehran at the same time, reaching a nuclear agreement would have been much harder than it was. January 24, 2017 Seeing the smiling face of Mousa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, sitting comfortably in Moscow on Jan. 17 alongside senior Fatah official Azam al-Ahmed, it was hard not to recall the famous interview by Avigdor Liberman in April before his appointment as defense minister. In that interview, Liberman promised that if appointed, he would give Hamas 48 hours to hand over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza during the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. The Yisrael Beitenu chairman threatened that if Hamas failed to acquiesce to his demand, he would recommend to Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas' leader in Gaza, that he book himself a plot at a nearby cemetery. As far as anyone can tell, Haniyeh is doing well after Libermans first eight months in office. On the other hand, the romance between Israel and Russia, which the Moldova-born politician did everything in his power to broker, is in very bad shape. The photo of the two senior Palestinian leaders, which did not get the coverage by Israeli media that it merited, was taken at a news conference held after three days of talks among representatives of Fatah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and other factions under the auspices of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. One can understand Israeli editors decision to play down the final communique from the Moscow talks announcing agreement on forming a Palestinian government of national unity and setting a date for elections in the Israeli-occupied territories. There are not enough fingers to count the number of similar announcements that ended in nothing being done. One usually says of such contacts that their importance lies in the fact that they took place. In this case, the importance of the meeting is in its venue and timing. The official invitation to Hamas representatives to visit Moscow and prior to that Russias support for UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted unanimously Dec. 23 and affirming the illegality of Israels West Bank settlements, constitute failures of Israeli foreign policy. One can add to these the delivery of Russian S-300 missiles to Iran, despite efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to thwart the deal. Russia supported the 2015 nuclear deal between the world powers and Iran and opposes Israels nuclear policy. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September 2013 that Syrias chemical weapons had been built in response to Israels nuclear weapons, and that given its technological superiority, Israel does not need to maintain nuclear weapons. Zvi Magen, former Israeli ambassador to Russia, even said that year that Russia is dragging the Israeli nuclear issue into the Mideast negotiations and that this could signal a change in the Russian attitude to Israel. Indeed, as reported by international media, Russia is not standing in Israels way when it bombs Hezbollah-linked targets in Syria, but Putin is providing legitimacy to Palestinian groups that Israel views as forces of terror. For 11 years, since Hamas' 2006 election victory in Gaza, Israel has had the backing of a decision made by the Middle East Peace Quartet Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union banning contacts with the organization until such time as it commits to renouncing violence, recognizing Israel and honoring all Israeli-Palestinian past agreements. When Hamas rejected these conditions, Quartet members made sure to conduct any contacts, which have been denied, with the groups members behind closed doors. Russia is now publicly flouting these rules. The Palestinians view this as the first step toward neutralizing, and perhaps even dismantling, the Quartet, which has aged prematurely. The agreement between senior Hamas and Fatah officials reached in Moscow is critical of the Quartet. That Russia succeeded in brokering an agreement where the Quartet failed strengthens this criticism and challenges the Made in the USA label often attributed to the group. Abu Marzouk said that Russia has a central role in influencing the Quartet, which he claims is controlled by the United States. Ahmed went even further, announcing that the Palestinians had severed ties with the Quartet given its failure to find practical solutions for the Arab-Palestinian struggle. The United States' renewing the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue under its auspices in accordance with the so-called Kerry plan, while pushing Russia and the other two Quartet members aside, was perceived in Moscow as underhanded, Magen wrote in a 2014 position paper for the Institute of National Security Studies. The failure of the Kerry channel contributed to the decision by the Barack Obama administration to shift the center of gravity of US diplomacy to East Asia. In doing so, the United States opened up or abandoned, if you like the Israeli-Palestinian arena to Russia. As a result, Washington de facto assisted Moscow in completing the puzzle of gaining influence in the entire region: i.e., rapprochement with Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia, heavy-handed involvement in Syria and reconciliation with Turkey. Two months before the US elections in November, President Vladimir Putin invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to a summit in Moscow. The invitation is still out there. Meanwhile, President Donald Trumps America First policy fits in with the Russian vision of restoring Russia to its former glory, this time under Putin. He will not miss an opportunity to jump into the vacuum created by the unilateral US withdrawal from attempting to settle international conflicts. Putin does not need permission from the Russian parliament for moves he makes at home or abroad. In addition, no foreign leader would dare interfere in his business or humiliate him in public. There is no pro-Israeli Russian lobby like AIPAC, which can mobilize parliament and influence public opinion. Putin does not need donations from Netanyahus wealthy friends to remain in power. He will do just fine without stamps of approval like the ones provided to him by Faina Kirshenbaum, Libermans party colleague who served as an observer for the 2012 Russian presidential elections, the same Faina Kirshenbaum who was suspected of committing fraud while serving as Libermans right hand and rejected numerous publications' allegations of election fraud by Putin supporters. Putin does not have a special relationship with Israel like the United States does nor with any country that does not serve his needs. He is not impressed by statements of shared values with the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel may well miss Barack Obama one of these days. January 16, 2017 Since the new year, several Lebanese rights groups have been demanding that the government established by Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Dec. 18 implement a quota of 30% of seats for women in the May parliamentary elections. Women's rights organizations had expressed dissatisfaction over the appointment of a man to head the new Ministry for Women's Affairs, Jean Ogasapian. Hariri's newly appointed government is composed of 29 men and one woman, and a ministry for women's affairs was implemented for the first time in Lebanon. Led by Ogasapian, a parliamentarian from the Future Movement and consultant for private and public institutions on social cohesion and women's empowerment, this ministry will have the task of advocating for new laws and amendments favorable to the advancement of women in Lebanese society. The day after the news broke, the feminist organization Kafa issued a press release condemning the creation of a special ministry for women and the fact that only one minister is a woman. Kafa criticized the idea of one ministry specialized in womens affairs and said women should not be exiled to one institution. The new government shows that politicians intended to keep women away from the government because the male intellect is still dominant in themselves and their minds, the press release read. As for the Ministry for Women's Affairs, we stress that our main problem is not with the minister who was appointed, because we originally did not ask for the establishment of a ministry for women's affairs. The release went on, There have already been women in the ministries of education, finance and social affairs, and no one can deny their ability to fill such positions. Our main demand for the government is to respect the right of women to full citizenship through active participation in political life and in the management of the country equally with men. Other groups like FE-MALE are not against such a ministry, but worry about its possible efficiency as a nascent entity with no pre-defined budget. The idea of having a ministry for women's affairs is positive because women's issues need a lot of work and struggle in Lebanon. So it is good to have a specialized entity to work on this topic, FE-MALE co-founder Hayat Mirshad told Al-Monitor. But I am afraid that it is a kind of opiate to say the government did what we wanted but in the end there will be no action. If we consider these numbers 3.1% of women in parliament and only one female minister we can see clearly that political parties do not support women to run in elections, even in smaller ones like the municipal elections, she added. Mirshad said that this ministry is not a primary one, like the defense or foreign affairs ministries. It doesn't have its own budget or system, so it is an incomplete step. She added, I am not sure about its efficiency, so we have to wait now to see what will be done. Ogasapian said that studies about the ministry's strategy, vision, core values and the current situation of Lebanese women have already been conducted, and the next step is to properly apply their findings. We are already in the process of recruiting relevant people who have experience in women's issues and coordinating with United Nations organizations in order to receive funding and international expertise on the subject, he told Al-Monitor. Our first focus after that is to establish a 30% quota of [women's] participation in the political world, in parliament, the government and inside the ministries themselves, he added. The quota initiative was announced by Hariri on Jan. 3. The next focus should be to work on amending laws discriminating against women in Lebanese society, Ogasapian said, adding, For example, we need to address discrimination regarding work and social security. Our goal is to bring women and men [together] as equals. Asked about a man being picked for the minister position, Mirshad said, First, I think no one can feel the suffering of women as much as a woman. A man can be a supporter of the cause but can't possibly feel what women go through." She noted, It is also a question of power dynamics. We have to create spaces for women to have a voice and act, as they are directly concerned, so the [leadership] of these spaces shouldn't be for men. Plus, picking a man for this ministry is like saying that political leaders couldn't find a single woman able to lead it, and this is quite insulting, patronizing even. Ogasapian does not see his gender as a problem. He said, The question of women's rights is not limited to the struggle of women, but the responsibility of society as a whole. He asked, Why couldn't a man carry responsibilities and defend [women's] rights in order to reach equality? The question of fairness and justice is the duty of a man too. Two of the main struggles feminist organizations in Lebanon have been leading for years are the right for Lebanese women to [pass on] their nationality to their spouse and children, and amending the domestic violence law to improve protections for women. The fact that women cannot pass their citizenship to their children is not fair. They contribute to society" and their families should benefit from it, Ogasapian said, adding, We have to work on it, but many Christians are concerned about the confessional balance of the country if this becomes the case. For the domestic violence law, amendments are possible and we can work on it with the organizations that are asking for a change. Some Christian leaders believe that if women could pass on their nationality, it would mostly benefit Muslim foreigners although there are no figures available to support that point and if Lebanon becomes more heavily Muslim, Christians could lose political space in the country. Ogasapian reported meeting with women's rights groups to learn about their demands and projects. He said, So far, they did a lot and reached some success. They should continue doing so. My work is not to replace them. Instead, I will help them by lobbying in parliament and in the government in order to support their demands. He continued, The main thing the minister can do is to raise the voice of women in public and between politicians, and to show support for womens causes. The Ministry for Womens Affairs seems like a good idea on paper for Lebanese women, but it will need to take concrete actions in the next few months to prove itself. January 24, 2017 The first day of long-awaited negotiations between the Syrian regime and opposition groups began with recriminations and wrapped up with conflicting progress reports. The good news is all parties returned to the negotiations on Tuesday. As this story was being written, the negotiations were still underway. The information coming from Astana, Kazakhstan, was scarce and at times contradictory. The Syrian opposition demanded the discussions be held behind closed doors without media access, except for occasional leaks and briefs from the delegates. But even though there was no obvious breakthrough after the first day, if preparation is half the battle, the talks have a good foundation. Astana, the capital of Central Asias largest country, was chosen for the talks for a good reason. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev is a rare leader who over the years has been able to build good working relations with all of the players involved Russia, Turkey, Iran and the Arab world. Kazakhstan has long wanted to establish itself as a champion of mediation diplomacy and has a short but successful record of doing that work. In preparing for the talks, Moscow reported strong communication among all parties. The amount of effort invested in bringing them to the negotiating table set high hopes that the talks would succeed. The mood carried through to the opening day of negotiations despite the predictably tense atmosphere between representatives of the Syrian government and the militant opposition groups hours into the negotiations. Holding the event in Astana was seen as an attempt particularly on Russias part not to replace Geneva, but to rebrand the Syria talks. Unlike previous efforts in Geneva, this time the opposition is represented by the leaders of the militant groups fighting on the ground, and not just political opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sitting in comfy offices in Europe or the Gulf, as a Russian diplomat described them to Al-Monitor. Russias primary go-to mediators were also different this time: Moscow changed the cease-fire guarantors from Europeans and Americans to Turks and Iranians. The Geneva meetings had been largely viewed in Moscow as the talks for talks, while Astana is to be the place of the talks for results. The seating preferences at the talks are quite telling. Opposition forces preferred to be seated between the Turkish delegation and the US ambassador to Kazakhstan; representatives of the Syrian government sidled up to the Iranians. Moscow came with the belief that the war fatigue suffered by key stakeholders would translate into a principled political will to seek a serious conversation over the future of Syria, although the process would be wearisome and time-consuming. The key objective at Astana was then to proceed with the transformation and turn the small yet operationally important agreements on the ground into a real platform for engaging the interests of the chief warring parties with those of the Syrian government. From the very start, however, the opposition set the precondition that the cease-fire must be maintained for any forward movement to be achieved during the talks. It soon became clear the militant groups werent prepared to go any farther at this stage and expected other serious matters to be discussed at other venues. Russia has been working to assume a power-broker role. In the months prior to the talks, it made a U-turn in its attitude regarding some of the militant groups and pooled its efforts with Turkey to broker a cease-fire effective Dec. 30. As if this werent enough, on Jan. 12, Moscow and Ankara signed a memorandum ensuring aviation safety during military operations in Syria that stipulated joint military actions by Russia and Turkey in the country something that was barely conceivable six months ago. On Jan. 18, Sergey Rudskoy, the head of the Chief Operational Department of the Russian General Staff, announced that nine Russian and eight Turkish attack aircraft had started hitting 36 Islamic State targets at al-Bab. Moscow had also been actively involved in reconciling the Iranian and Turkish positions on Syria, though it has never been easy to soften the three states differences. The day before the Syria negotiations, the three held more than five hours of talks that a Russian diplomat described as viscous, underlying their sticky, uneasy course. On the bilateral level, Moscows own conflict with Tehran over US participation in the peace talks popped up at a bad time. Commenting on Irans reluctance to invite Americans to Astana, the Russian presidents press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, made no attempt to conceal the sensitivity of the matter in the bilateral contacts. The situation is very complicated. So it is a very complicated issue for a very careful play," Peskov said. Iranian concerns apparently spread a little wider, with some expressing uneasiness over the prospect of a potential rapprochement between Moscow and Washington, as US President Donald Trump is now in office. Mikhail Bogdanov, Russias deputy foreign minister and President Vladimir Putins top official on Middle Eastern affairs, met with the US ambassador to Russia, John Tefft, last week to discuss the Astana talks. Bogdanov passed along an invitation for the United States to join. Yet the new US administration decided not to send a delegation but its ambassador to Kazakhstan, George Krol, as an observer. Iranians got what they initially insisted on. Russians were relieved of the need to show extra flexibility maneuvering in the same room between the new US team and Iranian partners, and the United States saved itself some awkwardness, as its diplomats wouldnt yet have clear directions on their stances. Irans role as a mediator has apparently evolved under pressure from the opposition, according to Maya Gebeily of Agence France-Presse. Gebeily saw a draft summary of the preparations that said, A rebel negotiator told his team [he] would agree to Russia as the truce guarantor, but not Iran. This development puts additional pressure on Russia, as the role of a mediator demands impartiality in the conflict. Russias first public expression of concern over violations to the cease-fire by the Syrian government is indeed an interesting development. So are the allegations that Russia and Iran split on the idea of a power transition, with Moscow being more flexible on the issue. A major concern the Kremlin should have and probably does is whether this empowerment of Russia by the rebel groups is an intentional move to drive a wedge between Moscow and Tehran, to weaken the pro-government faction at the negotiations. That Moscow voiced its criticism of the Syrian armys lax truce observation may be a sign Russia is prepared to apply additional pressure on Assad if it will move the talks in the right direction. However, if Russia spots signs that the talks are played out or headed for derailment, Moscow might return to square one with its full-fledged support for Assad bombing the opposition. That obviously would be a far less preferable scenario for everyone. So far the Astana process has made modest progress so far. Whether the key word is modest or progress will be seen between now and the next round of Syria peace talks in Geneva, scheduled for Feb. 8. January 23, 2017 ALEPPO, Syria Military operations are ongoing near al-Bab, northeast of Aleppo, between the Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions and special Turkish forces on the one hand, and the Islamic State (IS) on the other. The battles that the armed Syrian opposition is waging with Turkish air and land support in the framework of Operation Euphrates Shield that Turkey launched on Aug. 24 face major challenges against IS. The organization is defending, ever so strongly, its main stronghold in the Aleppo countryside. Al-Monitor accompanied FSA soldiers participating in the battle and closely watched the progress of the military operation that has been faltering for many reasons. For one, bad weather conditions were far from helpful. Besides, IS strong resistance in al-Bab which the organization considers an important hub for moving men and military equipment did not make the battle any easier. The strong presence of civilians in the city also complicated the operation, as IS forbade them from leaving the city and is using them as human shields. IS has also benefited from defenses it has built and planted around the city, such as tunnels and trenches and the sowing of mines of varying sizes and types. Some mines are anti-personnel, while others target armored and four-wheel drive vehicles. Euphrates Shield fighters lost many of their vehicles and men during IS ongoing raid attempts. Notably, IS relies on car bombings and motorcycle suicide attacks. A car bombing targeting Euphrates Shield recently occurred in Jubb al-Barazi near al-Bab and killed seven people, including two civilians. During Al-Monitors field visit to Operation Euphrates Shield battlefronts near al-Bab, FSA leader Mohammed Haj Ali told Al-Monitor, Despite our repeated attempts to raid al-Bab city and open new battlefronts against IS, we have failed so far in breaking the organizations defenses and its front lines surrounding the city from the north and west. We changed our military tactics several times by attacking Qabasin, Suflania and Bizaah towns in the east and northeast of al-Bab. The battles are ongoing on these axes to pave the way for besieging al-Bab and threatening it from the east, at the same time as the land attacks in the west and north. He said, Turkish air raids against IS locations, ammunition warehouses and military headquarters in al-Bab and its surroundings have increased lately. The Turkish tanks have also been increasingly targeting IS locations, but the shelling did not really weaken the organization, which is maintaining its fierce defense. IS has large amounts of weapons and ammunition, including anti-tank missiles. Ali added, IS has many local fighters in al-Bab and its surroundings, in addition to hundreds of foreign members who came to the aid of their fellows in the battles to deter Operation Euphrates Shield. IS has a remarkable amount of heavy weapons and ammunition and is using them in al-Bab battle. Perhaps those are part of its spoils of war in Palmyra city. Operation Euphrates Shield forces failed to gain control of nearby Jabal al-Sheikh Akil and Al-Farouq Hospital two strategic locations where IS members are positioned. Jabal al-Sheikh Akil is a key passage for controlling al-Bab. For that reason, IS increased its reinforcements there to protect the area from any land attack from Euphrates Shield forces. The forces also failed to take the town of Qabasin, located just northeast of al-Bab, despite violent battles with IS on Nov. 15, which resulted in the Euphrates Shield forces controlling the town for a few days. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Mustafa Sejari, the head of the political bureau of Al-Mutasim Brigade, which is affiliated with the FSA, said, The battles on the outskirts of al-Bab are ongoing, and the FSA factions are trying to weaken IS by striking its defense lines and burdening it with losses. Operation Euphrates Shield forces are expanding the battlefronts against IS to catch the organization off guard in several locations and disperse its military efforts. But the weather in al-Bab was rainy and cloudy almost all the time a month ago, thus impeding the forces advance and gains. He added, Due to the large number of civilians in al-Bab, the operation is more difficult. The forces are trying to avoid massacres against civilians as much as possible. Several calls have been made to urge civilians to leave the city, but in vain. IS does not allow them to leave, and civilians are afraid to sneak out through byroads due to mines that the organization had planted in the citys surroundings and that have killed dozens. The head of the Sultan Murad Division affiliated with the FSA, Col. Ahmad al-Othman, told Al-Monitor, The Turkish army has made new reinforcements in Syria. It has sent [in late December] more than 2,000 soldiers and armored vehicles to support the efforts of Operation Euphrates Shield to control al-Bab and settle the battle. The battles will escalate in the coming days and the forces will enter the city soon. The next target will be Manbij city, which is under the control of the Syrian Democratic Forces [SDF]. The forces leading Operation Euphrates Shield, which includes FSA factions and special Turkish forces, have been at odds with the SDF, of which the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) constitute the backbone. Turkish officials consider the SDF a threat to Turkey's security as the organization is an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which Turkey considers a terrorist group. The interests of Turkey and the FSA are similar, as they both fear the SDFs separatist goals. The YPG has sought to establish an autonomous entity in the Syrian north under the name Rojava. SBS News, by Ben Winsor Run on sentences and disjointed syntax have created an ethical dilemma for interpreters. Translators around the world reported that its a struggle to accurately interpret Donald Trumps speeches, statements and interviews a challenge which shows no signs of abating as the dominant newsmaker assumes the worlds most influential office. For translators, Trump is an unprecedented and desolating struggle, wrote professional translator Berengere Viennot in the French version of Slate last month. In the widely circulated article, Ms Viennot lamented the presidents disjointed syntax, run-on sentences and limited vocabulary. When it comes to speaking of something other than his victory, he clings desperately to the words contained in the question put to him, without succeeding in completing his own thought, she wrote. The poverty of the vocabulary is striking. Ms Viennot who isnt a fan of the newly inaugurated leader says that as a translator Mr Trumps speech puts her in an ethical dilemma. If she translates him directly French listeners may struggle to understand, but if she translates him into smoother, intelligible speech she risks making him sound like an ordinary politician who speaks properly. Soraya Caicedo, executive producer of the Spanish Language program for SBS radio said translating Mr Trump could be a challenge. He aims to speak not as a president would speak, he speaks as someone in the community would speak, she said. I wouldnt say that its difficult in terms of the words, but for people from South America it can be difficult to interpret his meaning. Balancing clarity while retaining the style of speech can be a struggle, as can be relaying the presidents sarcasm and metaphors. When he says Mexicans are rapists, hes talking about crime, but when he says China is raping America, hes talking about economics, Ms Caicedo said. We cannot translate it literally as China is sexually abusing America. Other phrases can gain new meaning when interpreted for foreign audiences. Make America Great Again can sound like Make America Powerful Again in the minds of many Spanish language listeners Ms Caicedo. When he says Make America Great Again, we are thinking of the kind of America that used to intervene in governments in Latin America, she said, noting instances of US intervention in Chile, Nicaragua and El Salvador. Ms Caicedo said the leaked of a video of Trump bragging about being able to do whatever he wanted to women posed a particular challenge. There are some words I wouldnt say in a media context, as a journalist or even in my case as a woman, she said. It was a balancing act between moderating the language, but still reporting accurately on what was said. Its an added responsibility for us journalists who have to translate what he has to say, she said. Accurate translations can be vitally important in global politics, especially when it comes to powerful leaders. In 2006 debate broke out over whether the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had threatened to wipe Israel off the map, or merely predicted that the government would vanish from the pages of history. Reports that Vladimir Putin labeled Trump intelligent or a genius have been similarly contested (A more accurate translation would have been that Trump was bright as in colourful). January 24, 2017 In rare and hopeful sign that Turkey still cares about its fraying ties with Europe, the government has quietly passed a series of new decrees that ease detention terms under the state of emergency that has been in force since the July coup attempt. The measures, which came into effect on Jan. 23, sharply reduce the detention period for those held without charges from a maximum of 30 days to 14 and allows immediate access to lawyers. They also call for the establishment of a commission to examine complaints arising from detentions, dismissals and closures of companies, including media outlets, under the state of emergency. Those dissatisfied with the commissions findings will reportedly be able to appeal their cases in domestic courts. Turkeys Minister for European Union Affairs Omer Celik said that Turkey deserved applause from the EU for defending democracy against the failed putsch. The move came hours before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted on whether to debate Turkeys status amid ever louder calls for the country to be placed on a monitoring list of members with shoddy human rights records. The debate was voted down. Veteran columnist Murat Yetkin wrote in the English-language Turkish Daily News that the moves could be read as an attempt by the government to prevent further severing of ties with European institutions. Despite the anti-Western rhetoric in government circles, he added, The governments official policy remains sticking with the West at present. Kati Piri, Turkey rapporteur for the European Parliament and a vocal critic of Turkeys rapidly deteriorating rights record, told Al-Monitor, The new decrees are hopefully the first step toward normalization and restoring the rule of law. Abolishing the denial of access to a lawyer during the first five days under custody is crucial, as the current situation was enabling ill-treatment of prisoners. Still, Piri said far more needs to be done to improve the situation of detainees, including granting access for independent monitors. The state of emergency needs to be lifted as soon as possible, she added. Rights advocates are even less optimistic, calling the steps largely cosmetic. Human Rights Watch's director for Turkey, Emma Sinclair-Webb, noted that maximum detention periods had only been reduced for regular suspects and not terror suspects, the bulk of detainees. It looks like an improvement but it's another game of smoke and mirrors, she told Al-Monitor. Sinclair-Webb noted that the independence of the proposed review commission was also in doubt. Three of its seven members are to be appointed by the prime minister and one each by the justice and interior ministers. The remaining two will be drawn from the top courts, giving the aura of being a judicial body, she said, when in fact it isnt really. Not only that, how would the commission, given its size and two-year mandate, handle the 100,000-plus cases of individuals who have been sacked since the coup? She concluded that the process may well be a way for creating an appearance of domestic remedy to stop people from taking their cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Turkey is a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights and accepts its rulings as binding in line with its efforts for full EU membership. But within days of the failed coup, the Turkish government informed the European court that it might suspend its jurisdiction during the ongoing state of emergency. At least 100 Turkish citizens are believed to have taken their cases to the Strasbourg-based body since the coup. Turkey has refrained so far from suspending the convention, but there are worrying signs that it may, warned human rights lawyer Erdal Dogan. It that happens Turkey will be shielded from all international scrutiny and accountability, thrusting it into the league of countries like Syria and Turkmenistan, Dogan told Al-Monitor. January 23, 2017 Turkey is in the fifth month of its Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria. The troops have completed the first two phases of the operation, which entailed clearing the Islamic State (IS) out of Jarablus and creating an IS-free zone in the 37-mile (60-kilometer) border stretch between al-Rai and Jarablus. In those two phases, IS was ousted from 22 villages and towns between Azaz and Jarablus. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Turkish army now control a territory there of 722 square miles (1,870 square kilometers). Military experts agree that these phases, carried out by Turkish special forces and FSA elements, were militarily successful. The third phase of the operation, aimed at capturing al-Bab, was launched at the beginning of December. In the second week, attacking forces reached the suburbs of the town from the west and north. By reinforcing Turkish forces operating around al-Bab with new commando battalions and armored units, the number of Turkish army elements in the al-Bab region reached the level of FSA forces. The operation's momentum is now being determined not by the FSA, but by the Turkish army. Despite all efforts, Turkish army advances in the operation, which took the lives of 47 Turkish soldiers, have stalled at Aqil Hill west of al-Bab. According to the Turkish military command, 1,775 IS militants have been neutralized in Operation Euphrates Shield. Of this total, 1,518 were killed and 257 were wounded. In the same operation, 310 Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) fighters that the government said were affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) were also neutralized. The Turkish air force said 1,233 guided munitions were fired at 1,141 IS targets, and army soldiers destroyed 2,845 roadside bombs. Sources in Ankara told Al-Monitor there is significant resentment there because officials believe NATO and the United States abandoned Turkey, which they said is the only NATO member successfully fighting IS and the only NATO member fighting IS at al-Bab. Many people in Turkey wonder about the economic costs of Operation Euphrates Shield. Accurate figures are not yet available, because none of the media or defense sources Al-Monitor reached have made any serious study of the costs. Obviously, air sorties, ammunition and armored units are among the most significant items. According to lists of damaged, hit or lost armored vehicles reported by the media and not contradicted by official sources, 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks, one M-60 tank, two infantry fighting vehicles, one improved armored personnel carrier and two Cobra armored vehicles have been immobilized, mainly in combat at Aqil Hill, where intensive clashes have taken place since Dec. 20. From an overview of the field situation, it is clear that Turkish planners did not anticipate IS' determination in al-Bab, as the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and FSA units captured Jarablus rather easily with a high-tempo offensive and without using armor. Now, Ankara is having problems coping with the strong IS defenses. The group, just as in Mosul, is successfully using vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED), tunnel warfare and anti-tank missiles. IS uses VBIEDs to disrupt its enemies' field planning, organization and morale. With tunnels, IS maintains high mobility despite air attacks. With effective anti-tank missile attacks, IS curtails the movements of enemies' armor and limits their coordination with infantry units. This combat strategy enables IS to maintain superiority in the field even though it is on the defensive. Military experts argue whether al-Bab should be a special forces operation, a commando offensive or a tank/armored infantry assault. Should the al-Bab siege be commanded by a special forces officer or the senior commander of the armored forces, given the imperative use of armored mechanized units? The TSK must deal with FSA fighters' lack of discipline despite efforts to keep them in line. Problems not often mentioned include disruptions in logistical supply, and how heavy rains and fog interfere with drone reconnaissance and close air support. The most vital impediment is IS control of the road to Raqqa, which it uses to move in reinforcements and conduct evacuations. There might also be a diplomatic cause for the prolonged al-Bab siege. Some sources in Ankara told Al-Monitor that Turkey actually wants to stall the siege and put off decisions until it can size up the administration of new US President Donald Trump. Some officials say Ankara prefers to wait and assess the Syria policy of the new administration and whether the United States will continue with its support of the Kurdish nationalist Democratic Union Party before deciding the next step for al-Bab. Finally, there is the matter of deciding whether the siege of al-Bab constitutes a risk or an opportunity for Turkeys constitutional referendum, expected in April. The proposed amendments would greatly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Many people feel that a decision by Erdogan on the eve of the referendum would decide everything. Erdogan may wish to speed up the al-Bab operation to paint its capture as a military victory; he has enough charisma and media tools to do that. But if the military move fails and al-Bab is still not captured, it could increase the no votes on the referendum. Some experts are wondering if, with improving weather conditions and possible support from the Trump administration, Turkey will launch a major offensive to capture al-Bab in February. Or, the question could be whether Erdogan sees al-Bab as a risk or an opportunity for the approaching referendum. After an IS VBIED killed five soldiers and wounded nine recently near al-Bab, Erdogan no doubt will be thinking hard. The Alabama Department of Commerce is rolling out a redesign of its popular "Made in Alabama" website, along with a more aggressive social media and advertising presence. It constitutes a new look and feel for the brand, one of the most recognizable in and outside of Alabama. "Made in Alabama" was launched almost four years ago to boost the state's image in recruiting new jobs and investment. It was conceived by Birmingham public relations and advertising agency, Big Communications. Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said officials began talking about a redesign around the middle of last year, fresh off another success. Commerce's 2016 International Air Show trade booth won "Best in Show" in the U.S. Pavilion, what Canfield called a big honor in a crowded field. "Made in Alabama" encompasses original and aggregated content to help business recruiters showcase Alabama's business climate - from stories about automobile manufacturing to aircraft to the homegrown entrepreneur. The challenge now, Canfield said, is to make sure "Made in Alabama" stays vibrant and relevant in a marketplace saturated with ideas and images. One way is by examining analytic data and tailoring facets of the campaign around it. "My desire was to continue to present the brand in a way that took advantage of the way we saw the analytics," he said. "In a way that made it more vibrant, more alive, more active looking." Bright colors, cleaner lines and bolder design is only part of the overall package. The website, the look and the use of social media will make the stories easier to share online. One of the successes of the "Made in Alabama" brand has been how Alabama's local economic developers have embraced it as a sales tool, Canfield said. "It gives us an opportunity to project Alabama's strengths, its achievements, it capabilities, and let businesses know they locate here and be successful here," Canfield said. "It's also a way to deliver the brand through a variety of social media. It allows us as a small state, in terms of population and budget, to extend our reach to a larger national and international audience." By Laura Williams, a former staff member to a Democratic member of the US Senate who is now a Republican. She is wife to Scott, mom to Kern and Miller and hopelessly in love with the most beautiful puppy in the world named Emmie. Saturday I marched. Actually, I strolled. Under a near-perfect Alabama sky. To suggest we marched would be such an extreme exaggeration. We laughed, sang, held signs, pushed strollers and wheelchairs, all while strolling. We took pictures, switching sides so the signs aligned perfectly, and said thank you to police officers on the side streets and bringing up the rear of the crowd. Most of them waved, a lot of them said they hoped we'd had a good time and weren't we all lucky for such a beautiful day to be outside. One young girl I met told me I didn't look much like a protester. I told her maybe I'd take that as a compliment as I wasn't sure I was actually protesting anything. My intent was to be there. With folks who believe they've got quite a lot to protest. And a lot to fear. I am not marginalized, at least that I know of. I'm not an immigrant, neither gay nor transgender nor lesbian nor queer. I learned Saturday that queer is no longer hateful fifth-grade slang but is now a descriptive term preferred by some humans who don't feel at home in any of the traditional categories. I am grateful to have learned that since it is a word we hear frequently these days. I am not a Muslim, a Mexican or a Jew. Just a 55-year-old Methodist. But the idea of a Festivus for the rest of us does make me laugh out loud. That girl's comment rattled around my head all day. "What is a protestor supposed to look like?" Walking through downtown Birmingham today were women and men, boys and girls, babies, puppies and kittens, old ladies in wheelchairs and one spectacular couple riding three-wheeled bicycles. People wore t-shirts, jeans, shorts, hoodies and the usual representation of Auburn, Alabama, UAB and UAH gear. Of course commitment to other schools, teams and passions were also on full display. Some people carried purses or backpacks or camera bags. Surprisingly there were no metal detectors to pass through nor big garbage bins used for discarding backpacks and purses deemed too big to possibly contain anything but danger. There was also joy in the air. Not actual celebration but the sort of joy found in being with friends and neighbors and thousands of hopeful people. Hopeful because there was no carnage in the streets but there were lots of seemingly educated students high-fiving and hugging their teachers who carried "PROTECT OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS" signs. Some of my compatriots had pink or purple hair, tattoos and piercings. Just as many were dressed in Kate Spade and the ever-present lululemon. I lean toward preppy so maybe I wasn't what my new friend was accustomed to seeing at these gatherings. I sensed this was not her first march. So I was left wondering, what does a protestor look like? I share the fears of millions, though my husband and I try to convince ourselves that we will be fine in our comfortable, middle-class lives - driving our decent cars while beaming with pride at our two young adult children, products of great public schools and even greater teachers. But I can't shake the angst of fellow Americans who assume that the words spoken by the president of the United States are to be taken at face value. They fear one catastrophic illness or injury could ruin their lives. They worry because their son, daughter or spouse volunteered to join the greatest fighting force the world has ever known, and though they radiate with the dignity of a citizen whose most beloved has sworn to protect us all, the fitful emotional stability of the new commander in chief has them scared. Some people cherish the great outdoors and find that spending time in America's national parks is a near holy experience. They fear, it seems with validity, that protection of our natural beauty is at risk. Surely most are terrified that the most powerful man in the world thinks sexual assault is something to brag about. I know women who receive their birth control and annual checkups at Planned Parenthood clinics across this great nation. I've also known some Planned Parenthood nurses. They are as devoted to their patients as all nurses are and they worry what will happen to the young and old in their care. The patients are scared too. So, as for what a protestor looks like, I think I know. Any person concerned enough about fellow human beings to walk with them, listen to them, understand their fears about a president lacking in civility, curiosity, and self-control is well on his or her way. If you realize that good people remaining silent is how hate unfurls and millions of people are exterminated, and you find your voice to question authority and hold on to your courage to speak up for those lacking the resources or position in life to help themselves; then you, my friend. look like a protester. Andys.PNG Vestavia Hills investigators are asking for the public's help after someone started a fire at Andy's Farm Market on Rocky Ridge Road. (Vestavia Hills Police) Authorities are asking for the public's help after someone set fire to a popular Vestavia Hills business. Police and firefighters responded about 6:45 a.m. Sunday to Andy's Farm Market at 2489 Rocky Ridge Road. Investigators determined that the fire was intentionally set, according to police. "We need help with any information you may have about this fire,'' police wrote on their Facebook page. "Any information is important, no matter how small you may feel it is." Anyone with information is asked to call Fire Marshal Key at 205-978-0218 or Sgt. Clemons at 205- 978-0107; Vestavia Hills Police Department at (205) 978-0140; text an anonymous tip to 274637 (CRIMES) keyword VHPD; or submit an anonymous tip via the web by clicking on the "Submit a Tip" tab on Facebook. Gov. Robert Bentley said there should be an investigation into leaks about the status of ethics complaints against him and his former political adviser, Rebekah Mason. Alabama Political Reporter on Monday published a story saying that the Ethics Commission appears to be almost finished with an investigation of complaints against the governor and Mason. APR cited "well-placed sources" that it did not name. Ethics complaints and investigations are covered under the grand jury secrecy act. Several news outlets reported Bentley's comments on Monday calling for the investigation. Asked today if he intended to order an investigation, Bentley said: "I think my statement really stands. ... What I said yesterday was that if leaks occurred, illegally, that should be investigated. And I certainly think that what was reported would be leaks." State Auditor Jim Zeigler, state Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, D-Red Bay and state corrections officer and former Bentley election opponent Stacy George filed complaints with the Ethics Commission last year concerning Bentley and Mason. That was in the wake of accusations that the governor had an affair with Mason and interfered with a state law enforcement matter. The governor admitted to inappropriate comments to Mason and issued an apology after the release of recordings of some his phone calls. Bentley's wife of 50 years had filed for divorce seven months before the accusations became public. But Bentley and Mason denied having an affair and denied doing anything illegal. Zeigler said his filing with the Ethics Commission was a compilation of information he received from different sources. He said he filed it under a state law that requires state agency heads to report potential ethics violations within 10 days. Zeigler said he received a confirmation letter with a case number and was cautioned not to talk about the case. He said he has not heard anything further from the commission. George said he filed five complaints concerning whether state resources or campaign funds might have been used illegally because of Bentley and Mason's relationship. Some were based, in part, on stories reported by AL.com. George said he received letters showing his complaints were assigned three case numbers and has not heard anything further. Ensley Building A 10-story building in downtown Ensley west of Birmingham, Alabama known as the Ramsay-McCormack building on the corner of Avenue E and 19th Street was completed in 1929. (Frank Couch/fcouch@al.com) (Frank Couch) The Birmingham City Council showed support for Mayor William Bell's plan to renovate the historic Ramsay McCormack building in Ensley as part of a public safety complex during its regular meeting on Tuesday. The council unanimously approved a resolution, proposed by Councilor Jay Roberson, supporting the Ensley Public Safety Complex. Council President Johnathan Austin and Councilor LaShunda Scales weren't present for the vote. City leaders say the $40 million project will help revitalize the Ensley community and attract more retail and residential development. According to the mayor's office, the plan for the complex will be made public in the next two weeks. The proposed Ensley Public Safety Complex will include the rehabilitation of the 10-story, 50,000-square-foot Ramsay McCormack Building located at 508 19th Street in Ensley for municipal court. New buildings will be constructed for Birmingham police and Fire and Rescue headquarters. The complex will move municipal court, police and fire headquarters out of downtown Birmingham. Bell thanked the council for its support in a written statement. "Together we are much stronger and much more successful. We thank the Council for their show of support," he said. On Dec. 1, 2016, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo ordered the Ramsay McCormack building to be demolished. This order was in response to a 2012 lawsuit filed against the city of Birmingham by the Ensley Revitalization Committee, Hope International LLC and Playover Games & Movies. The groups were demanding the city demolish the deteriorating building after officials failed at promised action to redevelop it. About seven days later, at the request of plaintiffs, Graffeo issued a new order allowing for the renovation of the 87-year-old building. On Monday, Graffeo issued another order dismissing parts of the 2012 lawsuit, at the request of the plaintiffs, but still ordering the city of Birmingham to start seeking bids on the renovation work by Feb. 10, 2017. The judge stated that plaintiffs in the case may seek further relief from the court. According to Bell's office, the city is on target to meet the judge's deadline. When previously asked for comment by AL.com on whether they support Mayor Bell's public safety plan, only three councilors said they were in favor of the project: President Pro Tem Steven Hoyt, William Parker and Roberson. Birmingham lawyer Phillip McCallum has been named the Alabama State Bar's new executive director, the bar announced Tuesday. McCallum, who is a past president of the state bar, will replace longtime Executive Director Keith Norman when he retires in June. "I am pleased that Phillip was selected as the Alabama State Bar's new executive director," Alabama State Bar President J. Cole Portis, of the Beasley Allen Law Firm in Montgomery, stated in the announcement. "He is a servant leader who has answered a unique calling to serve his beloved profession and the public. Phillip possesses the ability to motivate others and the vision necessary to help Alabama lawyers." McCallum is a founding shareholder of McCallum, Methvin & Terrell, P.C. He is a graduate of Samford University's Cumberland School of Law and was admitted to practice law in Alabama in 1988. From 1989 to 1992, he worked as a prosecutor in the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office before becoming a civil litigator. "I am deeply humbled to be selected to serve as the executive director of the Alabama State Bar," McCallum stated in the announcement. "It is a privilege to have practiced as an Alabama lawyer for almost 30 years. I now embrace the opportunity to serve our bar in helping lawyers maintain the highest of ethical standards as they deliver critical services to the people and businesses of Alabama." McCallum has served as: president of the Birmingham Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division; member of the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice's Commission for Professionalism; and member of the Alabama State Bar's Board of Bar Commissioners representing the 10th Judicial Circuit of Alabama. He served as president of the Alabama State Bar (2012-2013). Besides being a member of the Alabama State Bar, he is also a member of the Texas Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association, West Virginia Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the National Conference of Bar Presidents and the Southern Conference of Bar Presidents. The Alabama State Bar is the official statewide organization of lawyers in Alabama that currently has more than 17,800 members. Capitol mug by Mike Cason.jpg (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com) Gov. Robert Bentley said a plan to borrow $800 million to build four new state prisons will be his most important goal during the 2017 legislative session, which is two weeks away. Another high priority is a $20 million increase in prekindergarten, which would be about a 30 percent increase and would advance the governor's goal to expand the program statewide. During the last two years, Bentley has proposed tax increases, shifting money from education and establishment of a lottery to support the state budget. But Bentley said the General Fund budget is in better shape for fiscal year 2018. One reason for the brighter outlook is a plan lawmakers approved last year allocating money from a BP oil spill settlement to support Medicaid temporarily and to pay down General Fund debts. Bentley discussed his goals for the session in a recent interview with AL.com. Prisons Last year, the governor proposed borrowing $800 million through a bond issue to build four new state prisons, three prisons for men and a replacement for Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. Thirteen of the 15 existing men's prisons would close. Versions of the plan passed both the House and Senate last year but failed to win final approval. Bentley said he plans to introduce a similar proposal that will incorporate some changes proposed by lawmakers last year. "It will be basically the same bill with the amendments on it so they won't have to worry about passing those amendments again," the governor said. As of September, Alabama had about 23,000 prisoners in facilities designed for about 13,000, an occupancy rate of about 175 percent. Overcrowding is not a new problem but makes it harder to deal with other pressing concerns. In October, the U.S. Justice Department announced it was investigating the state's prisons. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson is conducting a trial on claims that mental health care for inmates fails to meet constitutional standards. A trial on similar claims about medical care is expected later this year. Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn told lawmakers in November that prison violence was rising and the number of corrections officers had dropped by 20 percent in five years. Bentley and Dunn say the plan to build four new prisons, called the Alabama Prison Transformation Initiative, would be the most cost effective way to alleviate the overcrowding, under-staffing and other problems. Modern prisons could operate safely with fewer corrections officers because of smarter designs and improved technology, Dunn has said. Dunn and Bentley say new prisons would better accommodate education, vocational training and substance abuse treatment programs that help inmates succeed after release. "That (new prisons) will alleviate part of our problem," Bentley said. "But we've got to look at this in a holistic way." The governor said he was uncertain on whether he would call a special session to consider the prison plan. Prekindergarten Bentley has advocated for expansion of the state's prekindergarten program for years. To a large extent, the Legislature has agreed, increasing funding steadily, from $19 million in 2013 to $64 million this year. That has allowed an expansion from 217 classrooms with 3,906 students in 2013 to 811 classrooms with 14,598 this year. The program, called First Class, now serves about one-fourth of the state's 4-year-olds, but Bentley wants to make it available statewide. "The reason we want to do that is because we have proof, statistical proof, that pre-k changes the numbers," Bentley said. "It truly does, and we've got the statistics to show that." A report by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, released in 2013, showed that students who attended First Class, including low-income students, performed better in elementary school. The program has consistently won recognition for its quality because of learning standards, teacher qualifications, class sizes and other measures. General Fund budget Debates about how to close budget shortfalls have dominated legislative sessions the last two years. The governor said things have improved for fiscal year 2018. "This will be our seventh budget that we've prepared," Bentley said. "And this has been the easiest of any budgets that we've prepared." A key reason is that Medicaid, which spends more General Fund dollars than any other agency, will receive $105 million under a plan approved last year to allocate most of a $1 billion oil spill settlement from BP. However, that funding boost for Medicaid ends after next year. "The $105 million really helps this year," Bentley said. "Now next year is going to be difficult. But this year, it's good." A traditional problem for the General Fund has been slow growing or stagnant sources of tax revenue. But that has changed somewhat, Bentley said. In 2015, the Legislature passed a bill allocating more of the use tax to the General Fund and another bill that is increasing collections of taxes from internet sales. Those changes are putting more growth potential in the General Fund. This year's education budget calls for spending $6.3 billion from the Education Trust Fund, the most since 2008, right before the recession cut deeply into the budget. Bentley said he expects next year's education budget to be similar to this year's, with spending of about $6.4 billion from the ETF. Bentley said a growing economy, with more people paying income taxes and spending more to boost sales taxes, means the state has more revenue to pay for government services. "I'm very optimistic about how our state is doing right now," Bentley said. "I believe our economy is going to continue to improve." Lottery and casinos After Bentley's lottery proposal failed during last year's special session, he announced the creation of an Advisory Council on Gaming. The council has held public meetings to gather information about state laws on gambling, lotteries, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians' casinos and other topics. Bentley's executive order creating the commission called for it to give findings and recommendations to the governor and Legislature by Jan. 31. But Bentley said the council won't meet that deadline and he granted an extension. He expects it to report in June. "They are really having some good meetings," Bentley said. "I want them to come up with some ideas on how we can resolve this issue. Because ultimately, I still believe that the people have to resolve this." Bentley said he wants the council to help develop a proposal that the Legislature could present to voters as a constitutional amendment. He said he did not direct the council toward any specific recommendation. "They're taking it very seriously," Bentley said. "And I think we'll get something positive out of it to allow the people to finally vote on it. But we'll have to get it through the Legislature." Some lawmakers have already filed lottery bills for this year's session, which starts Feb. 7. Bentley is expected to outline his proposals during his annual state of the state speech that evening. A high school student in Blount County is facing disciplinary action after the school's broadcast team aired a photograph of President Donald Trump with the caption "Make America White Again" during morning announcements last week. Oneonta City Schools Superintendent Michael Douglas said an Oneonta High School student was looking for a clip about Trump's inauguration on Friday. The student, who was not identified due to his age, pulled a small, thumbnail picture he thought said "Make America Great Again" and used the photo without checking the caption, Douglas said. "The student did not double check the picture, nor did a teacher preview the picture," Douglas said. "The student recognized the mistake after it was enlarged and projected. The team pulled the background immediately." The picture created a stir on social media over the weekend from students, alumni and beyond. Desiree Stockdale, a 2015 Oneonta graduate, said she heard about it from her youngest brother, who is a freshman at the school. Douglas said the student apologized to the student body over the intercom as well as making personal apologies via Facebook messages to individuals who felt offended by the incident. Disciplinary actions were taken on the student. However, Douglas didn't go into details about the discipline itself. To prevent similar situations from reoccurring, the broadcast team will prerecord their broadcasts instead of going live, Douglas said. "We apologize for this terrible mistake," Douglas said. "From a district perspective, we failed to have sufficient safeguards in place, and we are working to ensure an accident like this does not occur again." Stockdale was one of the people who received a message. "I accepted his apology and I pray that it was genuine," she said. An investigation is underway in Walker County after a 40-year-old woman disappeared more than four months ago. Janell Farley Massey was reported missing on Dec. 28, 2016, Jasper police Chief J.C. Poe announced on Tuesday. She was last seen on Sept. 2, 2016 in the area of the Chevron service station on Alabama 5 and the Alabama 195 split. Poe said Jasper police, along with the Walker County Sheriff's Office, have followed several leads but their efforts have been to no avail. They are "very concerned with the length of time and inclement weather we have had for the safety of Janell,'' according to a department press release issued Tuesday. Massey is described as a white female, 5-feet, 4-inches tall and weighing 115 pounds. She has red hair and hazel eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call Jasper police Det. Betty Thompson at 205-221-8133 or 205-221-6790. It was a case that almost didn't make it to trial. "Everybody, from Alabama, Maine, Dallas, Houston, New York - it was a herculean task and it took a lot of people at the DA's office working hard to make it happen," said Keith Blackwood, Mobile County assistant district attorney, "to make sure I had what I needed to prove my case." In the end, three leaders of a religious Alabama bootcamp for troubled teens were convicted on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse for what they did to the children in their care. The convictions were thanks in large part to the testimony of five former students, who told the court about the physical and mental abuse they suffered at the school. Despite multiple investigations by the Mobile County DA's office, local law enforcement and the Alabama Department of Human Resources, it took officials five years to close down the school and another seven months to arrest the employees accused of the worst of the abuse. On Jan. 13, 55-year-old pastor John David Young was convicted on five counts of aggravated child abuse at the Saving Youth Foundation, a bootcamp-style residential school in Mobile for troubled teens that was associated with Young's Solid Rock Ministries church. Two other school leaders, boys' instructor William Knott, 48, and girls' instructor Aleshia Moffett, 42, were convicted on three counts each of aggravated child abuse. None of the attorneys for Young, Knott or Moffett have returned AL.com's calls or emails asking for comment. Punishment and abuse The prosecution built its case around specific instances of abuse involving isolation, handcuffs, and excessive exercise. "We were able to put in front of the jury a lot of good testimony and evidence about what these people were doing to these teenagers at the Saving Youth Foundation," said Blackwood. "The jury got to hear about the isolation chambers, kids being put in restraints for punishment and transport, and the excessive physical training over several hours with no breaks." AL.com previously reported stories shared by former students about their experiences at the Saving Youth Foundation and its predecessor camp, the Restoration Youth Academy, also run by Young and Knott. Students talked about being locked in isolation cells for weeks at a time, with little or no clothing, a single bulb burning overhead day and night. They shared stories of other students being handcuffed to beds as punishment, and being forced to exercise outdoors in the south Alabama heat for hours. The five former students who testified at trial, now young adults, were all from out of state. Some have substance abuse problems, some have mental health disorders. Some of their fellow students who were originally going to testify found the idea of a trial too much to take. "When two of (our potential witnesses) heard about the trial," said Blackwood, "they made suicide attempts and had to be hospitalized." He had to drop the charges associated with those students. "One of them was in basic training with the Army. He had a total PTSD reaction and had to be put on suicide watch." The DA's office had indictments for three more witnesses who disappeared; their families aren't sure where they are, he said. "One of our witnesses who did end up testifying, when she found out the trial was going to take place a couple of months ago, she went on a heroin bender and almost overdosed," said Blackwood. "She was actually incarcerated, and we had to have two of our investigators fly up (to the state where she lives) and bring her back in custody so she could testify." State law loophole The Saving Youth Foundation operated without license or regulation of any kind because Alabama laws allow church schools to operate without regulation or oversight. State law does not require church-affiliated schools to file any registration papers to let the state know they exist, how many students they have or who is teaching them. Young originally opened a similar church-affiliated boot camp for troubled teens in Pritchard, Ala., called Restoration Youth Academy. Despite occasional investigation by local law enforcement, Young only closed the school in 2012 after being ordered to pay $27,000 in back rent to the city. Within weeks, he reopened in Mobile, renaming the school and operating it under his church, Solid Rock Ministries. An investigation by the Mobile Press-Register in 2012 found that multiple school employees had criminal records. Police raided Saving Youth Foundation in March 2015. Alabama DHR removed 36 children from two campuses - one for boys, one for girls - following allegations of child abuse and deplorable living conditions. While Alabama does have a few basic reporting requirements for private schools, it exempts those that are church schools in every instance. Teachers don't have to undergo background checks and schools don't have to be inspected. Blackwood said recruiting students from out of state is part of the reason these kinds of schools can operate without investigation. It's difficult for out-of-state parents to have a clear understanding of how their kids are being treated. If the schools are shut down, it can be an uphill battle to convict operators because prosecutors have to build a case around testimony from the students that are willing and able to come back to the state to testify. "These schools pop up all over the country and it's the same sorts of people running them," said Blackwood. "They'll open them as a quote 'religious school,' and there's no licensing requirement in Alabama for them. "Their M.O. is to advertise themselves as something they're not," he said. "The Saving Youth Foundation had a very sophisticated website where they advertised they had a full-time therapist on staff, full-time teachers. "Of course they had none of that. Their teacher was the janitor, and there was no therapy, period." Blackwood told the jury that Young and his staff defrauded parents, charging them $20,000 a year for tuition. The staff supervised all communication in and out of the school so the children couldn't tell their parents what was happening. If they did, they were punished. "That's what it's all about, keeping them here and cashing their checks," said Blackwood. "They were bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year keeping these kids down here. That's a lot harder to do if you have local parents able to get in there and visit the facility." Witness tampering During the trial, Knott was caught tampering with one of the witnesses. The young man, from Texas, was at the school for years and is still friendly with Knott. Blackwood said after the school was shut down and the boy turned 18, he went back to live with Knott: "Very often the abused will start to identify with their abusers." One day during the trial, on a lunch break Knott called the former student and told him to water down his testimony. "I think (the former student's) exact words were that William Knott called him to tell him to say the restraints never happened, the isolation never happened," said Blackwood. The student took the stand and minimized the testimony he had originally given police, making the abuse sound less serious. When the prosecution learned of Knott's call, they "got to the bottom of it, and the witness ended up testifying again and was truthful," said Blackwood. He said the witnesses have since said "it was very liberating for them to be able to come here and finally tell their story," he said. "From what I've heard back, actually being able to testify and bring justice was a positive experience for them." Sentencing for Young, Knott and Moffett is scheduled for Feb. 22. Aggravated child abuse is a Class B felony and comes with a sentencing range of 2-20 years per count. "It took a lot of people, a lot of resources for us to do this, and the jury did the right thing in sending the message we're not going to tolerate a fake school like this in Mobile County," said Blackwood. "We're not going to tolerate people hiding behind a church or anything else in order to abuse kids." Trumps gamble in moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will have horrific and irreversible outcomes. Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump is about to reverse an historical course that has been in the making for 100 years. The inexperienced, demagogic politician hardly understands the danger that lies in his decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If he goes through with this, he is likely to unleash an episode of chaos in an already volatile region. The move, which is now reportedly in the beginning stages, is not a mere symbolic one, as some naively reported in Western mainstream media. True, American foreign policy has been centred mostly on military power, rarely historical fact. But Trump, known for his thoughtlessness and impulsive nature, is threatening to eradicate even the little common sense that governed US foreign policy conduct in the Middle East. If the new president moves forward with his plan, unsympathetic to Palestinian pleas and international warnings, he is likely to regret the unanticipated consequences of his action. A century ago, British forces under the command of General Sir Edmund Allenby occupied the Palestinian Arab city of Jerusalem. That ominous event in December 1917 disturbed the cultural and political equilibrium that existed in Palestine for nearly a millennium. Throughout his campaign for the White House, Trump made numerous, wholesale, often contradictory promises. While initially he pledged to keep a similar distance between Palestinians and Israel, he later reversed his position, adopting that of Israels right-wing government. It also initiated a war that has proved the longest and one of the most bloody and destabilising in modern human history. Although Palestine was wrestled from the hand of its governing bodies operating under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire, its new British rulers understood the unequalled importance of Jerusalem to its people. That understanding was always present, even when France and Britain signed the Sykes-Picot agreement in May 1916, dividing Ottoman territories among themselves, Jerusalems status was designated as an international area owing to its shared religious significance. The same emphasis regarding the neutrality of Jerusalem was made time and again, including in the League of Nations decision in 1922 to give Britain a political mandate over Palestine, and the United Nations resolution to divide Palestine into two countries, one Arab and one Jewish, in November 1947. While that envisaged Palestinian state never actualised (thanks to numerous obstacles placed by the US and Israel), Israel became a reality in May 1948. Mere months after an armistice agreement was reached, Israel declared Jerusalem as its capital in December 1949. It was then that biblical mythology was remoulded to fit political exigencies. Israels first Parliament (Knesset) declared in January 1950 that Jerusalem was, and had always been the capital of Israel. The was and always been are references to a twisted interpretation of history that has no place in modern international law, of which Israel is never a follower to begin with. After 1,500 years of Canaanite rule over Palestine, the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea fell under the rule of numerous invaders, including the Philistines, the Israelites, the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Macedonians, the Romans, the Arabs, the Crusaders, and then it was ruled by various Islamic Caliphates from 1291 until the British mandate in 1922. The Israelites control barely lasted for 77 years and it is largely contested that Israeli Jews of today are even blood relatives of the groups that inhabited Palestine 2,000 years ago. Yet, that was enough for the modern Israeli national myth, which is now championed by the most right-wing, religious extremists in both the United States and Israel. READ MORE: How Britain destroyed the Palestinian Homeland In 1967, Israel occupied the rest of historic Palestine, including Palestinian East Jerusalem, annexing the city in 1980. The international community has continually rejected and condemned the Israeli occupation, with repeated emphasis on Jerusalem. Countries around the world, even those that are considered allies of Israel, including the United States, reject Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, and refuse Israeli invitations to relocate their embassies from Tel Aviv to the illegally occupied city. The United States attitude towards Jerusalem, however, has been marred with contradictions. Since 1995, the US position has been divided between the historically pro-Israel US Congress and the equally pro-Israel but slightly more pragmatic White House. In October 1995, the US Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The act was passed by an overwhelming majority in both House and Senate. It called Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel and urged the State Department to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The US administration at the time protested against the violation of protocol as such a decision is the responsibility of the executive branch, not politicians beholden to Israels influential lobby in Washington. The other dilemma is that if the US walks away from international consensus on the matter, it both loses the little credibility it had as a peace broker and would be left to contend with the terrible consequences that are likely, including political instability and violence. It is true that Jerusalem has tremendous spiritual significance for Muslims, Christians and Jews, but the uninterrupted cultural and religious significance it had for Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike makes it unpatrolled as an economic, political and cultural hub as well. For many years, US administrations under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama have signed a presidential waiver that deferred the Congressional bill six months at a time. The last time the waiver was signed by former President Obama was on December 1, 2016. Throughout his campaign for the White House, Trump made numerous, wholesale, often contradictory promises. While he initially pledged to keep a similar distance between Palestinians and Israel, he later reversed his position, adopting that of Israels right-wing government. Now the opportunistic real-estate mogul enters the White House with an eerie agenda that looks identical to that of the current Israeli government of right-wingers and ultra-nationalists. We have now reached the point where envoys from one country to the other could almost switch places, wrote Palestinian Professor, Rashid Khalidi, in the New Yorker. He wrote, The Israeli Ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, who grew up in Florida, could just as easily be the US Ambassador to Israel, while Donald Trumps Ambassador-designate to Israel, David Friedman, who has intimate ties to the Israeli settler movement, would make a fine Ambassador in Washington for the pro-settler government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli right is almost in a state of political euphoria. Not only are the superfluous references to a peace process and a Palestinian state over, but they also now have a free hand to build illegal Jewish settlements (colonies) in occupied Jerusalem unhindered. New bills are springing in the Israeli Knesset to annex even the Jewish settlements rendered illegal by Israels own definitions, and to remove any restriction on new settlement construction and expansion. The Trump administration has no qualms with that; to the contrary, this falls squarely in the agenda of the new rulers of the United States who now control the legislative and executive branches. INTERACTIVE: Will the American embassy move to Jerusalem? The odd thing is that the US is about to violate the very international consensus (as in US-led Western consensus) regarding the conflict in Palestine. Speaking to the Paris peace conference on January 15, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned Trump against the very serious consequences that await in case the US embassy is in fact moved to Jerusalem. The French and other European countries are aware that such a move would end the US-led peace process along with the thus far futile quest for a two-state solution. However, this should be the least of anyones concerns, since both the peace process and the two-state solution charade have been largely an American investment to maintain US leadership, power and influence over the conflict in Palestine. The US, and its Western allies, certainly had the needed clout and power to achieve a peaceful and just resolution to the conflict, if that was indeed their overriding priority. They failed to do so over the course of 25 years, starting in the Madrid Talks of 1991 and ending with the pitiful Paris conference on January 15. Past American failures notwithstanding, the Trump administrations gamble in moving the US embassy is likely to ignite a political fire throughout Palestine and the Middle East with horrific and irreversible outcomes. Palestinians and Arabs understand that moving the embassy is far from being a symbolic move, but a carte blanche to complete the Israeli takeover of the city, including its holy sites, and complete the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Muslims and Christians. That escalation will certainly and explicably lead to violence. Vital US interests in the Middle East could and will also suffer the consequences of such an imprudent move. Palestinian officials and religious figures alike condemned the US decision. A top Palestinian official referred to it as a declaration of war on Muslims. Considering the significance of Jerusalem to Palestinian Muslims and Christians, and hundreds of millions of believers around the world, Trump might indeed be igniting a powder keg that would further derail his already embattled presidency. While some in the mainstream Western media are already predicting a fresh wave of Palestinian violence should the embassy be relocated, the new US administration must think carefully before embarking on such self-destructive moves. Just because Trump intends to reverse the legacy of his predecessor doesnt mean the new American president should begin his legacy by inviting more violence and pushing an already volatile region further into the abyss. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for more than 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include Searching Jenin, The Second Palestinian Intifada and his latest, My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gazas Untold Story. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net. London, United Kingdom Iesha fights back tears as she watches the demonstrators walk through Brixton, the multi-ethnic area of southeast London that has been her home since she was 15. They took my babies dad on one of those flights, she says. Her partner, Leon, was deported from the UK to Jamaica in 2016. This charter thing is wrong. Im a mother of five kids and my partner has been here 14 years. The Brixton march is part of more than two weeks of action against charter flights which forcibly remove migrants from the UK to countries such as Nigeria, Jamaica, Ghana and Pakistan. Protests are being held between January 9 and 25 in communities and outside embassies across the UK, as well as in Jamaica and Nigeria. Campaigners are also taking aim at the security companies that are providing escort services for these flights. READ MORE: Slavery trafficking victims crippled by fear in UK Between 2001 and 2014 nearly 30,000 people were removed from the UK on charter flights. These can stop off in multiple countries with up to 80 people on board, including failed asylum seekers, people with criminal convictions and people whose visas have expired. Past charter flight destinations have included the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq . For the Home Office, charter flights offer a practical means of returning significant volumes in a controlled environment. While people are also removed from the UK on commercial flights, with other travellers, these private flights are paid for by the government and are exclusively for those being forcibly removed from the country. Iesha explains that Leon had been trying for nine years to secure his immigration status in the UK and was detained twice in that time. Most people who have applied for asylum, or have been released from detention on bail must check in regularly at their local Home Office reporting centre or a police station. But, although Leon had been in the country for 14 years, he was detained when he last reported to the centre. A week later, Iesha says, he was on a flight bound for Jamaica. He phoned me to say he was on a plane, handcuffed. He had been allowed to phone me to say goodbye, Iesha says. I went into labour the next day my baby wasnt due for another four weeks. Leon still hasnt seen his child and Iesha says his other two young children are struggling at school. Theyve broken my kids hearts and mine, she says. Ive been left to do this by myself. Deported after serving time In Nigeria, another deportee, Larry, who doesnt want to use his full name, is trying to make a new life for himself. The 30-year-old was transported from the UK on a charter flight in July 2015. His London accent attests to the years he spent in the UK, which amounted to nearly half his life. He had served a short prison sentence in the UK for conspiracy to defraud, but had been released on bail. While attending a weekly signing as part of his bail conditions, he was detained and eventually deported on a charter flight. His wife and eight-year-old daughter are still in the UK. Id served my sentence, he says. That was my first offence. Shouldnt I be given another chance? L arry says from the country he hardly knows and where he has no family. There were actually a lot of people who had nowhere to go, he explains. I thought it was pretty bad for me but then I started hearing peoples stories people who hadnt been there since they were four years old In a statement explaining its policies, a Home Office spokesman told Al Jazeera: We are clear we will enforce the departure of anyone with no legal basis to remain in the UK who refuses to leave voluntarily. This includes illegal immigrants and foreign national offenders convicted of offences such as murder and rape. READ MORE: Foreign students targeted by UK anti-migrant policies Jasmine Sallis is part of Roots to Return , an organisation set up in September 2016 that o ffers practical support to people trying to appeal against deportations that have already taken place and support to families that have been separated. Sallis says that, in her experience, not all the criminal convictions are as serious as the ones cited by the Home Office. It could just be people who have worked with fake documents or committed driving offences, she says. Surely these people could be rehabilitated? Its hardly terrorist activity. We feel like its quite a tactical thing; it helps them fill up the charter flights. Its a way of getting people out the country quicker and easier, says Sallis. READ MORE: UK slated over planned anti-refugee wall in Calais Abuses on flights Human rights organisations have accused the government of deporting people without proper access to justice and say that many people who have been removed on charter flights have never had a criminal conviction . Larry, the Nigerian deportee, describes his flight as something like Ive never experienced before. There were people shouting. When I walked into the flight I saw a guy that was pretty much naked and he was throwing up on the floor, peeing on himself. He was tied to the chair, he could barely move. It was inhumane. They were pinning people to the floor, people trying to struggle. Sallis expalins that v iolence on these flights is really hidden because there are no members of the public, i n contrast with commercial flights, where there are a whole plane load of people who are witnessing how people are getting treated. While there has been some documentation of charter flights from independent inspectors, campaigners argue that this does not happen often enough. Many reports mention the lack of dignity for passengers, particularly not being able to close the door while using the toilet. A report from a charter flight to Jamaica in 2011 found that some escort staff swore at detainees and used racist and deragatory language. A 2014 inspection report on a charter flight from Stansted airport to Islamabad, Pakistan, found that staff made animal noises at detainees and fell asleep when in charge of someone who was deemed to be at risk of self-harm. In a statement to Al Jazeera, a Home Office spokesman said it was addressing these concerns. Detention and removal are also essential parts of effective immigration controls and it is vital these are carried out with dignity and respect. We take the welfare of our detainees very seriously and Immigration Enforcement charter flights are regularly monitored by Her Majestys Inspectorate of Prisons and the Independent Monitoring Board. READ MORE: UK Conservative Partys migration comments prompt anger Deport first, appeal later The secretive nature of charter flights, including the difficulty of finding out who is on board and where and when flights will take off, makes it difficult for lawyers and campaigners to take action . In some cases, lawyers have been able to get people removed from charter flights they have been booked on, but once their client has been deported, things become more challenging. Many people are given the right to appeal against their removal once they have left the UK, reflecting the UK governments deport first, appeal later policy. They argue that an out-of-country appeal meets the requirements of Article 8 of the Human Rights Act respect for family and private life but campaigners say that in practice these appeals are very difficult to undertake. Hilary Brown is the managing director of the legal firm Virgo Consultancy. Some of her clients were among those deported on a charter flight to Jamaica last year. The immigration rules have changed so much now that if you have been removed, at a cost to the public purse, unless there are absolute extenuating circumstances, you face a ban on coming back for a period of time. That can be from one year to 10 years, she explains. People will leave the UK once they are at the end of their appeal rights and if you allow them the dignity to buy their own ticket and leave of their own volition then when they make attempts to come back to their family, their partner, their children, they dont have to go through the additional indignity of being separated by time as well as distance, Brown says. Brown says the logistics of out-of-country appeals can be very difficult as the person is in one country while their hearing, lawyer and potentially evidence is in another. Theres all of these difficulties about gathering the evidence, going through the evidence, getting statements prepared, she explains. Youve compiled the evidence with someone who could perhaps be on the other side of the world. Sallis points out that people struggle with employment and practicalities such as access to the internet or phones when they arrive. These are all things that make carrying out an appeal more difficult. We had to send money to some of them just to use a fax machine, Brown tells Al Jazeera. The families, they really suffer the people Ive spoken to have become really disillusioned with the UK. Theyre often UK citizens who are born here and they just dont believe that its happening. For Larry, watching his family back in the UK is a struggle. He says that the situation is taking its toll on his daughter. Every time I speak to her its very difficult, he explains. Shes got a disorder that means that whenever shes aggravated and angry she pulls out her hair. He can tell his wife is holding back from telling him how hard things are. She works and looks after our daughter but its very difficult. I ts s omething that two people are meant to be doing together but the other person is now doing [it] alone, Larry says. Ive heard that someone I met on the plane committed suicide. Youre tempted every now and then but if you know youve got family somewhere that you might not end up seeing again then it keeps you going. Astana, Kazakhstan Russia, Turkey and Iran have pledged to strengthen a fragile ceasefire in Syria, even as opposition negotiators expressed reservations over Tehrans role in monitoring the truce. The three regional powers announced on Tuesday in the Kazakh capital Astana the creation of a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire, which has been in place since late December. The three regional powers also agreed that rebel groups, which represented the opposition in this weeks meetings, would take part in a new round of United Nations-led peace talks next month in Geneva. Osama Abu Zaid, a legal adviser to the Free Syrian Army, said opposition participation in the Geneva talks depended on whether their demands, which were presented to the Russians, were met. We presented a scheme for mechanisms to monitor and implement the ceasefire, Abu Zaid said during a press briefing shortly after the joint statement was made. The Russians have promised to review [the demands] in a week and said they will make a decision with the Turkish side during their meeting in Astana after seven days. READ MORE: Astana joint statement by Iran, Russia, Turkey in full The joint trilateral statement also stipulated that the Syrian government and opposition agreed to jointly fight against ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and al-Nusra Front, and to separate them from armed groups, but opposition officials claimed they had not discussed which groups were to be excluded from the ceasefire. The communique used al-Nusra Front for the group now known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which changed its name last year after allegedly breaking ties with al-Qaeda. Although it has seen large-scale defections in recent weeks, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham is one of the strongest players on the ground and often fights alongside elements of the opposition represented in Astana. This is a joint statement by three countries. We are not party to this agreement. It is an agreement between Russia, Iran and Turkey they can sign any agreements they want to. But from our side, we said we had many reservations, said Abu Zeid. Rebel representatives also said the success of the talks would depend on the removal of all foreign [Iran-backed] militias from Syria and the ability of Moscow and Ankara to ensure that Iran abides by the agreement. No direct talks The two-day Astana talks, organised by Russia and Turkey, came as Moscow takes the diplomatic lead in the Syrian war after its 2015 military intervention helped turn the tides of the conflict in favour of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Before the meetings began, observers expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the government and representatives of the armed opposition since violence began in 2011, but rebels refused to participate in direct talks because of continued fighting in a new flashpoint area outside the capital, Damascus, and the proposition that Iran might be named a third guarantor in addition to Russia and Turkey of the ceasefire in any final communique. The Russian delegation spent the two days shuttling between meetings with the Syrian government, the Iranian delegation one of the Syrian governments strongest allies, the opposition, and the Turkey a key backer of rebel groups operating in the country. READ MORE: Russia, Turkey, Iran agree plan to support Syria truce The talks mark the beginning of the latest diplomatic initiative to put an end to nearly six years of war which have left much of the country in ruins, killed nearly half a million people, and displaced half of the population. Lead government negotiator Bashar al-Jaafari told reporters on Tuesday that the meeting succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians. But neither Jaafari nor Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Syria, could provide specific details as to how the newly established three-way mechanism would help bolster the truce and prevent further violence. De Mistura said the UN was ready to assist the parties of the trilateral mechanism and to ensure that it helps strengthen the quality of the ceasefire. Wadi Barada Elsewhere, rebels have called for an immediate halt of the governments offensive in Wadi Barada, an area in rural Damascus home to the capitals main water supply. But Jaafari said on Tuesday that operations would continue in order to drive terrorists from the area. INSIDE STORY: Can Astana talks be turning point to end Syria war? (24:49) This is about freeing the main source of water, said Jaafari. As long as there are terrorists depriving seven million people in the capital of water, we will continue the operation. The government claims Jabhat Fateh al-Sham fighters are responsible for cutting water supplies to 5.5 million Syrians in Damascus since late December. Rebel representatives have refuted the accusations, saying that Jabhat Fateh al-Sham has no presence in the area and that government bombardment was responsible for disrupting the water supply. At one point during the Astana talks, rebels threatened to withdraw from the process if the government refused to halt its advance there. President Donald Trumps administration has instituted a media blackout at the countrys Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants, according to the Associated Press news agency. Emails sent to EPA staff since Trumps inauguration on Friday, and reviewed by The Associated Press, detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agencys social media accounts, the news agency reported on Tuesday. The Trump administration also ordered a temporary suspension of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors, it said. The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate effect on EPA activities nationwide. The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment on Monday or Tuesday, AP added. Meanwhile, during a meeting with executives from the car industry, Trump described himself as an environmentalist. READ MORE: Donald Trumps cabinet bodes ill for the planet He did not elaborate on why he views himself as an environmentalist, but the comments came after urging companies from the car industry and beyond to bring jobs back to the US. On Monday, he made similar comments at a business breakfast, stating again without elaborating, Im a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment. On Tuesday, Trump signed two executive orders to advance the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines, drawing outrage from activists who have serious concerns over the potential damages to land and water sites that the oil-carrying pipelines could cause. Erich Pica, the president of Friends of the Earth, a network of environmental organisations, condemned Trumps move in a statement sent to Al Jazeera on Tuesday. She accused the president of pledging his allegiance to the oil companies and Wall Street banks that stand to profit from the destruction of public health and the environment. New deputy leader had previously vowed to prosecute ex-ruler Yahya Jammeh for alleged crimes committed by his regime. The Gambias president, Adama Barrow, has named senior politician Fatoumata Tambajang as deputy leader, as regional troops continued security sweeps to prepare for his return to the country from neighbouring Senegal. The announcement of Tambajangs appointment will be followed by the unveiling of the rest of Barrows cabinet later on Tuesday, according to presidential spokesperson Halifa Sallah. Tambajang, a former minister and United Nations Development Programme staffer, was the architect of an opposition coalition that helped Barrow defeat longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh in a December 1 presidential election. She made headlines last month when she told The Guardian newspaper that Jammeh, who came to power in a 1994 coup, would be prosecuted for alleged crimes committed by his regime. Following her comments, Jammeh, who had initially conceded defeat, announced he no longer recognised the result, triggering a protracted political crisis which ended when he flew into exile late on Saturday. READ MORE: The Gambia Ex-ruler Jammeh plundered coffers Barrow, who fled to Senegal earlier this month for security reasons, was sworn in as president on January 19 at The Gambias embassy in Dakar. His return date has not yet been fixed, and the appointment of his cabinet is aimed at filling a void created by his absence. The armed forces have pledged loyalty to him, though troops from West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which entered the country last week to pressure Jammeh to step down, continued clearing the presidential compound in advance of Barrows arrival. They also took over a Republican Guard barracks training centre in Bakau, just outside the capital, Banjul. On Sunday, a Barrow aide accused Jammeh of plundering millions of dollars from the state coffers in his final weeks in power before flying to Equatorial Guinea. Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn by Jammeh, Mai Fatty said in Dakar. As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress. Jammeh also took luxury cars he piled onto a Chadian cargo plane, Fatty said. Torture, killings In addition to the accusations surrounding Jammehs wealth, sections of the security services under the ex-ruler personal control have been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention during his rule, rights groups say. A truth and reconciliation committee is Barrows preferred method of dealing with grievances against the previous government, according to his spokesman, but many Gambians take the harder line of his new vice president. Critics have also raised concerns over a statement issued by the UN, regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union that seemed to offer Jammeh comfortable guarantees in return for his exit. The statement said no legislative measures would be taken that against Jammeh or his family, noting that he could return when he pleased and that property lawfully belonging to him would not be seized. Haider al-Abadi says army took back eastern part of city, day after defence ministry retracted earlier claim of victory. Iraqs prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, said eastern Mosul has been fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group. Abadis announcement on Tuesday came 100 days after a US-backed operation to retake the city began. In a news conference, Abadi hailed the unmatched heroism of all security forces factions and public support for the operation. Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse, Abadi said, using the Arabic acronym of ISIL, also known as ISIS. The heroism of our security forces was behind Daeshs defeat. A day earlier, the Iraqi defence ministry issued a statement retracting an earlier claim in which it announced the liberation of the eastern part of Mosul from ISIL, calling it a mistake. On its website on Monday, the army said that the armed forces succeeded in liberating the left bank of the city completely, after inflicting heavy losses in lives and equipment to the enemy. READ MORE: Iraqi forces gear-up for anti-ISIL push in west Mosul However, in a later statement on Monday, the defence ministry said that the 9th and 16th army brigades were still locked in fierce battles against ISIL in the Al-Rashidiya district, while Iraqi troops were still clearing other neighbourhoods and clashing with ISIL fighters. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, Abadi told the Associated Press news agency: I cant tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so. International and Iraqi aid groups have expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the citys ISIL-held west. The UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, voiced fears for civilians in the western half of the city in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. The cost of food and basic goods has been soaring, supplies of water and electricity were intermittent, and some residents were being forced to burn furniture to keep warm, Grande said. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Grande said in the statement. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives. The statement called on warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance. In Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for the UN human rights office said it had received reasonable corroboration for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an air strike in the al-Jadida neighbourhood of ISIL-controlled western Mosul last week. Attributing responsibility for air strikes is very difficult, Shamdasani said, adding that it is clear that civilians are being killed in air strikes. The UN human rights office also said ISIL fighters have taken over many hospitals in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. READ MORE: Iraq civilians may face abuse, torture in Mosul battle Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city and the ISILs last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the the armed group in the summer of 2014, when the fighters captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighbourhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on fighters. Meanwhile, Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial, a day after ordering a probe into a video on social media purportedly showing government troops beating and killing at least three ISIL suspects in Mosul. On Monday, a provincial investigative committee in the countrys western Anbar province concluded its probe into human rights violations in June near the town of Fallujah. It found that a member of a Shia militia killed 17 civilians, he said. The fighter, affiliated with the Badr group, is now in detention and awaiting trial, Abadi said. Popular Mobilisation prepares to soon launch operation in citys western part, even as fighting continues in the east. A hundred days into a major push to recapture Mosul from ISIL, the Iraqi army has said it is gearing up for an offensive to take the citys western half, even as troops are still battling the armed group to take full control of the eastern sector. The Popular Mobilisation is preparing an operation in the next two, three days, to back up the operation to retake the right bank of the city, on the western side of the Tigris river, Mosuliya TV cited General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah, commander of the anti-ISIL campaign, as saying on Tuesday. Popular Mobilisation is a coalition of predominantly Iranian-trained Shia groups, formed in 2014 to take part in the war on ISIL, also known as ISIS. The armed militia became officially part of the Iraqi armed forces last year. READ MORE: Are foreign countries enabling war crimes in Iraq? Yarallahs comments came as the UN and several aid groups warned on Tuesday that an estimated 750,000 civilians are still living under sharply deteriorating conditions in ISIL-held western Mosul. The prices of basic food and supplies are soaring. Water and electricity are intermittent in neighbourhoods and many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm, Lise Grande, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. The operation to recapture Mosul, ISILs main stronghold in Iraq, was launched on October 17, backed by air strikes and advisers from a US-led coalition against the armed group. IN PICTURES: Iraqi Christians return to ISILs wreckage ISIL, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, took control of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city, in mid-2014. But even as they prepare to retake western Mosul, Iraqi forces continue to fight ISIL fighters in the eastern part of the city. On Monday, the defence ministry said it had reclaimed Mosuls eastern sector, but later retracted the statement. Dramatic and horrific As the anti-ISIL offensive in Mosul enters its 100th day, the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate amid ongoing fighting and a lack of essential supplies. To date, some 180,000 people have fled eastern Mosul, according to the UN. Yet, more than 550,000 people have stayed in their homes, and they do not have adequate water, food or healthcare. It was tragic, there was no food, no water, nothing. Thank God, the forces came and liberated us, a resident of Hay al-Arabi, in eastern Mosul, told Al Jazeera. A main water pipe was damaged in the fighting, leaving people without clean water, or forcing them elsewhere in their district as Iraqi forces get rid of unexploded ammunition. In one military hospital on the outskirts of Mosul, medics have started treating civilians with chronic diseases, as well as wounds from the fighting, receiving more than 200 new patients a day. OPINION: Chemical dangers in the battle for Mosul People are also worried about what will happen once Iraqi forces move into the west of the city. Given that western Mosul is now covered on all sides, from the river and all around it, the ability for people to escape or to leave the city is now very limited, Peter Hawkins, a representative for the UN childrens agency, or UNICEF, in Iraq, told Al Jazeera. The situation has become dramatic and horrific. Study casts light on conditions women endure in refugee camps as they attempt to reach northern Europe. Women in refugee camps live in fear of violence, including rape, according to a report about the adversities female asylum-seekers face in Greece. The study published on Tuesday by the Refugee Rights Data Project (RRDP) found that women were exposed to dangers including gender-based violence, abuse by authorities, and sexual harassment. Researchers from the UK-based organisation spoke to more than 300 refugees and aid workers in nine camps and residences late last year. They found incidences of rape, forced prostitution, forced marriage, and trafficking, with younger refugees particularly affected. Perpetrators included fellow refugees and volunteers, the study said. An NGO worker interviewed said that at one informal camp in Athens, virtually no security measures existed to protect women, who were at constant risk of sexual violence. The camps are run by the Greek government and local NGOs, but some are informal and run by refugees themselves. READ MORE: Refugees in Greece work together and build communities More than 46 percent of women told researchers that they did not feel safe living in the camps, and 69 percent said they lived in dwellings that did not have a secure lock. Many said they were afraid to go to toilets at night, because poor lighting in the camps made them vulnerable to attack. I am afraid of the snakes and the rats, the wild pigs I am afraid of some of the people, one woman told the researchers. Safe spaces required Marta Welander, RRDP director, told Al Jazeera that European governments should help survivors of abuse and ensure that appropriate measures are put in place to protect refugees in the first place. [The report] exposes a critical absence of adequate medical and psychosocial support for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and highlights the need for dedicated safe spaces within all camps, she said. It is entirely unacceptable that Europe is failing to provide adequate protection and meet minimum standards for vulnerable women and girls. READ MORE: Female refugees face sexual exploitation in Greece Roland Schoenbauer, a spokesperson for the UNHCR, which provides assistance on the ground to refugees, said the organisation was concerned at reports of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Greece. Whenever such reports occur, authorities should proceed with an immediate and thorough investigation, he said. SGBV is closely linked to substandard living conditions in areas accommodating refugees. Many sites were not set up to prevent or respond to such risks, contributing to the increase of risk and vulnerability, he explained further. Schoenbauer said local authorities should take bold action to prevent such incidents and called for further training to help support workers counsel survivors of abuse. UNHCR and partners have developed initiatives such as the Blue Dots to provide a single point for referral to appropriate service providers, safe spaces for women and children, and access to medical and legal services, he said. Health problems In addition to safety, more than three-quarters of the women interviewed said they had experienced health problems since arriving at the camps, with a majority attributing their conditions to the physical and mental strains of living in them. About 95 percent of women said they had experienced depression, with half saying they felt depressed all the time, according to the RRDP study. The NGO said residents of the camps lived in unsanitary conditions without access to necessary reproductive health services. Roughly a quarter of the residents said they did not know where to access services if they became pregnant and 88 percent said they did not where to obtain contraceptives. After northern European and Balkan states closed off their borders to stop refugees entering their countries, many live in makeshift and formal settlements in Greece, the first EU country they enter. Their presence has stoked anger from the far-right and left them vulnerable to criminals. The refugees are mainly concentrated near the Macedonian border and in Athens. More than 173,000 people arrived in Greece as refugees in 2016, according to the UNHCR. Supreme Court rules the prime minister must seek approval from parliament before initiating negotiations to leave EU. The British Supreme Court has ruled the government must seek parliamentary approval before formally initiating the process to leave the European Union. Tuesdays decision, which affirms an earlier High Court ruling, is a setback for Prime Minister Theresa May, who intends to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the bloc by the end of March this year. The UKs 11 most senior judges voted by eight to three to reject the governments appeal against the earlier ruling. In his statement, the presiding judge, Lord David Neuberger, said the act of parliament establishing the referendum to leave the EU did not say what should happen as a result. Any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an act of parliament, he said. To proceed otherwise will be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries. The ruling means May must put forward legislation to initiate Brexit to MPs for approval, a vote she would almost certainly succeed in passing as the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, is expected to order his MPs to vote in support of it. Corbyn reacted to the decision on Monday, saying that his party respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. He also urged the government Brexit plan to include accountability to parliament during exit negotiations as well as a vote on the final deal. A spokesperson for the government said it would be setting out its next steps shortly but insisted there would be no changes to the current timetable for Brexit. The British people voted to leave the EU, and the government will deliver on their verdict; triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Todays ruling does nothing to change that, the spokesperson said. READ MORE: Brexit tensions play out on steps of UK Supreme Court The judgment will not give MPs an opportunity to stop Brexit from happening but will give them more influence on the negotiations, according the University of Surreys Simon Usherwood, a specialist on movements that oppose the EU. Losing in the Supreme Court isnt going to change the complexity, but it might change the outcome, he told Al Jazeera. Despite the broad support for EU membership among MPs, I dont think that will translate into any particular protection of single-market membership, since many MPs will fear that their constituents will see that as trying to get around the referendum result. Kevin McGuire, associate editor of Daily Mirror, told Al Jazeera that the development was an emberassment for May rather than a setback. It is embarrasing when Theresa May wanted to act like a monarch and make the decision herself rather than let parliament be sovereign and make the decision, he said. Brexit will still go ahead. Regional opposition The court also ruled that the government need not consult devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon expressed disappointment over the courts decision regarding the devolved administrations. We are obviously disappointed with the Supreme Court decision in respect to the devolved administrations and the legal enforceability of the Sewel convention, she said in a statement. The Sewel Convention is a procedure with which a devolved parliament in the UK gives the London government permission to legislate on a devolved matter. However, it is becoming clearer by the day that Scotlands voice is simply not being heard or listened to within the UK, Sturgeon said. The claims about Scotland being an equal partner are being exposed as nothing more than empty rhetoric, she added. This raises fundamental issues above and beyond that of EU membership, she said. Is Scotland content for our future to be dictated by an increasingly right-wing Westminster Government with just one MP here or is it better that we take our future into our own hands? It is becoming ever clearer that this is a choice that Scotland must make. Nicola Sturgeon previously said her administration was not bluffing about a second referendum on Scotlands independence from the UK in case the central governments Brexit negotiations cut her country off from the European single market. In Northern Ireland, tensions centre on the regions future relationship with the Republic of Ireland, and the potential introduction of a border between the two, a move opposed by most politicians across the sectarian divide. Uncertain future The British government has struggled to outline its terms for negotiating its exit from the EU after the unexpected vote to leave in June last year. In opting for a so-called hard Brexit, Mays government faces the prospect of hammering out countless agreements on freedom of movement, trade, and the status of EU and British citizens living in each others territory. Earlier this month, the British ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, resigned in opposition to the governments handling of Brexit, warning it may take up to 10 years to complete. Once the decision to leave the EU is formally invoked, negotiations between the UK and the EU must conclude within two years. The three nations also said they supported the willingness of the armed opposition to participate in UN-led talks. Talks between key Syria war players in Kazakhstans capital, Astana, have ended with Russia, Turkey and Iran agreeing on a mechanism to support a delicate ceasefire. The meeting, organised by Russia and Turkey and attended by the government and the armed opposition, was aimed at strengthening a nationwide ceasefire that has largely held despite pockets of violence, and at paving the way towards United Nations-led political negotiations in Geneva on February 8. It was not immediately clear whether the opposition or the government backed the communique. READ MORE: Astana joint statement by Iran, Russia, Turkey: in full The three nations also said they supported the willingness of the armed opposition groups to participate in the Geneva talks and that they were committed to minimising violence, building confidence, ensuring humanitarian access, protection and free movement of civilians, according to a final statement read by Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the Kazakh foreign minister. The mechanism will also seek to prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire, the statement said. There are very intense discussions because this is not about a paper; it is about cessation of hostilities, which means saving lives, Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy to Syria, said at the beginning of the second day of talks on Tuesday. Opposition spokesman Yahya al-Aridi had earlier played down expectations that the rebels would sign a potential collective statement at the end of the talks, saying that several obstacles still needed to be overcome. I dont believe that the communique will be strong enough to be taken to the UN, said Aridi, citing a number of rebel demands, including the lifting of sieges, the release of prisoners and the delivery of aid to besieged areas, that he said had not yet been confirmed. READ MORE: Rebels focused on ceasefire at Astana peace talks The talks mark the first time the Syrian opposition was represented solely by representatives of armed groups. On Monday, delegates from the warring sides sparred over interpretations of the December 30 ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey, as their respective regional backers met behind closed doors to keep the meeting on track. Bashar al-Jaafari, head of the Syrian government delegation, accused the opposition of misinterpreting the tenets of the truce, saying the provocative tone and lack of seriousness in the opposition delegation chiefs speech had irritated the attendees diplomatic senses and experience. Referring to the rebel delegation as terrorists, Jaafari said opposition groups who signed the truce deal were trying to undermine and sabotage the Astana meetings. Rex Tillersons nomination as Secretary of State advances and Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as CIA chief. The foreign affairs panel in the US senate has narrowly endorsed Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, while the senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday greenlighted Tillerson, a former ExxonMobil boss whose nomination has been controversial largely because of his lack of government or diplomatic experience, and because of reported links to Russia. The move cleared the way for a confirmation vote by the full chamber, which is controlled by Republican allies of Trump. INTERACTIVE: Whos who in Donald Trumps cabinet? The vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was 11 to 10, along party lines, setting up a period of debate and a subsequent vote on an as-yet-undetermined day. Tillerson received a major boost when Senator Marco Rubio, one of three Republicans who had expressed doubts about him, announced he would support him despite serious reservations. Rubio said that given uncertainty about the direction of US foreign policy, it would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two other Republicans who had expressed reservations about Tillersons dealings with Russia, gave their blessing on Sunday. The committees Democrats all voted against Tillerson. Questions about Russia dominated his confirmation hearing earlier this month after allegations that the Kremlin meddled in the election. New CIA chief The committee endorsement of Tillerson followed a 66-32 Senate vote confirming Mike Pompeos CIA appointment. Pompeo, 52, is a former Army captain who graduated first in his class from the US Military Academy at West Point. He later attended Harvard Law School and worked as an executive in the defence industry. A staunch critic of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, he has served on the House Intelligence Committee. Pompeo opposes closing the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay and has called for the execution of fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, whose revelations exposed massive electronic surveillance by the National Security Agency. OPINION: Donald Trumps cabinet bodes ill for the planet Pompeo becomes only the third member of Trumps cabinet to take up his post, as the presidents Republican Party has pushed hard to speed up confirmation of his nominees. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were sworn in Friday, Inauguration Day. Republicans were also hoping to get Trumps pick for US attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, installed swiftly. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Sessions on Tuesday, the same day that the Foreign Relations Committee votes on South Carolina Governor Nikki Haleys nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Australian PM opens door to Beijing amid efforts to recast Trans-Pacific Partnership without the United States. Australia and New Zealand have said they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to sign up, after President Donald Trump formally pulled the US out of the huge trade deal. The agreement, the biggest trade deal in history, was signed in 2015 by 12 countries, which together account for 40 percent of the global economy. TPP SIGNATORIES Australia, Vietnam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Brunei, United States (withdrawn) Malcolm Turnbull, Australias prime minister, said on Tuesday his government was in active discussions with other signatories including Japan, New Zealand and Singapore on how to salvage the agreement. It is possible that US policy could change over time on this, as it has done on other trade deals, Turnbull told reporters in Canberra, adding that the nominee for US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and other Republicans supported the TPP. There is also the opportunity for the TPP to proceed without the United States, he added. Certainly there is the potential for China to join the TPP. The agreement, which has not yet gone into effect, was seen as a counter to Chinas rising economic influence. OPINION: If TPP fails, China takes advantage Steven Ciobo, Australian trade minister, said Australia, Canada, Mexico and others had canvassed for a pact without the US at a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Davos. There would be scope for China if we were able to reformulate it to be a TPP 12 minus one, for countries like Indonesia or China or indeed other countries to consider joining, Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. This is very much a live option and we are pursuing it it will be the focus of conversations for some time to come. Bill English, New Zealands prime minister, expressed similar views, saying that Chinas government hasnt been slow to spot the opportunity to cast itself as a free trade supporter. There was a willingness towards making an effort to find out what we can do with TPP, rather than just dropping it and waiting and hoping to get a call [from Washington] about bilateral agreements sometime, he told reporters in Wellington. Trump declared on Monday he had terminated TPP in line with election pledges to cancel the job killer pact. The US president said he would pursue bilateral deals with TPP signatories to secure terms more favourable to Washington. But English said a US-New Zealand pact would be challenging, given Trumps insistence that his government would dictate terms. China has long been noncommittal on the idea of joining the TPP, choosing to back an alternative trade pact. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a more modest deal, calls for lower and more limited regulatory standards. It includes the 10 members of the Southeast Asian grouping ASEAN plus China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, but notably excludes the US. At a regular press briefing on Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying remained coy about Beijing joining the TPP, simply noting that China supports open, transparent, and win-win trade pacts. Russia is throwing its weight behind a political solution by organising negotiations in Kazakhstans capital. World leaders have often said the fate of Syria lies with its people. Yet foreign powers have fuelled and funded the war in Syria. Now they are again organising talks to try to end it. Iran, Russia and Turkey have organised negotiations in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. It is a change from the regular venue of Geneva and the talks host an unusual combination of power-brokers compared with the norm of the UN and the US. Is the chance of success more or less likely? Presenter: Hazem Sika Guests: Marwan Kabalan Syria analyst and head of policy analysis at the Arab Center, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Pavel Felgenhauer Russian military and defence analyst Mohanad Hage Ali Carnegie Middle East Center This summer, fifteen UF journalism students will fly to Cuba to hone their reporting skills in a country that ranks among the worst in terms of press freedom, according to activist groups. The trip, announced Jan. 12, will allow students to spend 10 days near the countrys capital of Havana, where they will gain experience with multimedia storytelling, said Matt Sheehan, the director of stories and emerging platforms lecturer. Were going down to seek the truth and report it, Sheehan said. Tell the stories of people who may not have their stories told. But according to the 2016 Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders, Cuba ranks 171st out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom. And in 2016, the non-partisan non-governmental organization Freedom House ranked Cubas press freedom as 91 out of 100, with 100 being the worse, stating the country has the most repressive environment for media in the Americas. Although this isnt the first UF course taught in Cuba, its a first for the UF College of Journalism and Communications. The course, which costs $1,898 without airfare, extends from May 3 to May 12, according to the website. The submission deadline is Feb. 15. Amaury Sablon, a UF telecommunication junior born in Cuba, said he hopes the trip helps participants challenge preconceived notions about the country, specifically that it is not safe. Ive been all over Europe and over 20 countries, and yet Ive never felt safer than in Cuba, Sablon said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now UF students strapping on their high heels and tugging on their business jackets will have access to a new app during Career Showcase today and Wednesday. The app, called UF Career Services, was created by the Career Resource Center and is free for about 6,000 students who are planning to attend the event. The app also includes a map of about 300 employers booths in the Stephen C. OConnell Center, said Liza Allison, a graduate assistant with the center. During the event, students can learn about employers education requirements and what theyre hiring for. (The app) is live, and its out right now, Allison said. Many students go to Career Showcase to learn about employers and make personal connections, said UF business sophomore Lauren McAllister. Career Showcase is about exposing myself to that high-intensity environment, the 20-year-old said. The event, to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is moving back to the OConnell Center after it relocated to the Southwest Recreation Center in Fall due to construction on the OConnell Center, Allison said. Working with the OConnell Center is always a great experience because all of the knowledge they have and how much they care, she said. Students will meet with nontechnical employers today and technical employers Wednesday. One of the things we are always striving to do is to attract employers that our students are looking to connect with, Allison said. Alachua County residents who enjoy spending time outside now have 3,000 more acres to explore. After a decade of planning, Little Orange Creek Nature Park, located at 24115 SE Hawthorne Road, opened Saturday. The project cost about $5 million, which was funded by a grant from Florida Community Trust, said Robin Frey, a board member of Friends of Little Orange Creek Nature Park. Entry to the park is free. One of the main goals we have for the park opening is to educate people, and primarily children, about nature and how to protect it, she said. In addition to providing education on preserving and protecting nature, Frey said the park will hopefully boost Hawthornes economy. Were hoping that the opening of this park brings more people to the city of Hawthorne, she said. The park features trails, guided tours and a fishing pier, according to its website. UF student Rebecca Maguire, 21, said she is excited to visit the park for some artistic inspiration. The visual art studies junior said she is always looking for new places and parts of nature she hasnt adventured before. I love the outdoors because I see it as one of the purest forms of beauty, Maguire said. Im an arts major, so a place like this is going to be great for me and my artistic freedom. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now In Florida, tampons are considered a luxury item. A new bill in the Florida House of Representatives is trying to change that. House Bill 63, filed by Florida House Rep. and Democrat Katie Edwards in December, proposes that feminine hygiene products are necessary for women and should not be subject to Floridas 6-percent sales tax. If passed, the law will exempt tampons, pads and similar items from the taxes starting Jan. 1, 2018. Republican Rep. Rene Plasencia of District 50, co-sponsor of the bill, said he decided to support proposal after many of his constituents requested the removal of tampon taxes. I thought to myself, They dont have a choice; they have to buy it, he said. Plasencia, 44, said he thinks the bill is important, but only about 15 percent of bills actually pass into law. He believes the tax break would be reasonable. Why wouldnt we include a tax break for something that women have to have? Plasencia said. It just seems unfair. HB63 has a companion bill in the Florida Senate, which may help the bill pass, Plasencia said. Currently, only seven states have removed the sales tax from feminine hygiene products, according to The Council of State Governments. Last year, tax exemptions were passed in Connecticut, Illinois and New York. Limited access to tampons and pads have dangerous repercussions, which include risk of infection, said UF assistant Professor Deepthi Varma, who specializes in womens health. If feminine products are not easily available and are not affordable to all women, it can impact their health, Varma said. Varma said women who are homeless, have disabilities or come from low-income families have a harder time accessing or paying for tampons and pads. Any policies or regulations that make access easier for women Im completely in support of that, Varma said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now UF student Sachy Garg said tax-free tampons would help those who cant afford expensive products. Theres a huge disparity when it comes to having access to sanitary projects, the 20-year-old nutritional sciences sophomore said. Many women have a stressful time dealing with menstruation due to a lack of resources, she said. New inventions such as absorbent under- wear are helpful, but dont solve the problem. It just sucks that it happens every single month, Garg said. @molly_vossler mvossler@alligator.org When Alex Becsey signed his lease, he was concerned that no one showed him the blueprints to his future unit. They wouldnt show blueprints, like the dimensions of the room, which was a little bothersome, the 18-year-old said. In the Fall, Becsey expects to move into the Standard at Gainesville, a monstrous building on the corner of West University Avenue and Northwest 13th Street that has yet to be constructed. At the beginning of the semes ter, 1,200 bedrooms are expected to be ready for residents, wrote Cody Nichelson, a spokesperson for Landmark Properties, in an email. But a similar promise was made last year to students moving into The Standard complexes in Boone, North Carolina, and Knoxville, Tennessee, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. Many of them, however, ended up being sent to nearby hotels and apartments while Landmark Properties, the company that develops The Standard complexes across the nation, nished completing its delayed, already-leased apartments, he said. Though Landmark Properties projects in other states have had delays, Gainesville construction is on schedule and ready for August 2017, he said. As we do with every project, we apply lessons learned from previous developments and hope to continue to improve in all aspects with each and every new endeavor, Nichelson said. It was the location of The Standard that made Becsey want to sign on for the Fall. At the time of signing, team members from The Standard showed Becsey the clause in the contract about providing accommodations if the building was not complete. Obviously they want to finish as soon as possible, so they wont have to buy everyone hotels, the UF psychology freshman said. Even though he does not know the exact dimensions of his room, and the building is still in construction, Becsey signed anyway. If the room was small, or if there were delays, so be it, he said. Nichelson said third-party inspectors have shown that The Standard at Gainesville has been on or ahead of schedule at each check. Delays in Boone and Knoxville were anomalies not the norm and our companys industry-leading track record proves ample evidence of that, he said. Though the project has been on schedule, Landmark Properties has a backup plan in case delays do occur, Nichelson said. If the project should be delayed, residents would be provided temporary living accommodations until The Standard was move-in ready, Nichelson said. Gigi Anderson, 18, knew about the delays, but said she isnt concerned. Shes mostly excited about the apartments amenities, like a rooftop pool, and the chance to get out of her dorm, Mallory Hall. When signing, officials from Landmark Properties assured her and her roommates that their project had a firm deadline, especially because of the businesses ready to move in downstairs. If they dont finish on time, itll be a big deal for them; theyll lose a lot of money, the UF chemistry freshman said. So Im pretty confident theyll finish on time. Brett Dembrow, 20, signed for his room at The Standard the first day it was available. When choosing where to live next year, he was between Social 28 and The Standard, he said. Though The Standard was still in construction, he trusted it to be more complete than Social 28, which he feels is always having work done. He weighed the pros and cons of The Standard, knowing about the delays, but decided it was the best option for its price and location. The issue with The Standard was pretty minor, the UF business administration sophomore said. I dont have any doubts theyll be done on time. @romyellenbogen rellenbogen@alligator.org A closer look at one of the sides of The Standard at Gainesville. According to the construction foreman, construction is on schedule with a projected turnover date in August. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now The Democrat Fakestream, filled with liberals who make a practice of not reading history, are now telling us that Donald Trump is not just a weirdo with fascist tendencies, not just a Fat Cat Monster of Wall Street, but also "an anomaly" -- a creature never before seen in American history, like the Loch Ness Monster. A lot they know, having been brought up on Howard Zinn's mendacious "history" of America in college and the New York Times, which is today's Daily Worker. Communism has disappeared wherever it has actually been tried (Venezuela is the latest), except on Western college campuses, where blue-collar workers are virtually unknown, but LGBT snowflakes are now the new revolutionary class. Donald Trump is the nearest president to George Washington, with a few exceptions like FDR and Herbert Hoover, who were also rotten rich and, in the case of Hoover, a famous and wealthy engineer. Like Trump, George Washington was wealthy, indeed the wealthiest man in the country at the time. Like Trump, George Washington was passionately interested in real estate, land being the principal source of wealth and national economic value in his time. Washington was a farmer, land surveyor, a British officer in the French and Indian Wars and therefore knowledgeable about military affairs, and like the other Founders was deeply steeped in political history going back to the Greeks and Romans and well as the political philosophies of the Western Enlightenment. Washington was famously wary of "foreign entanglements," which made perfect sense when we were protected by two great oceans, and the young American Navy and Marine Corps were as important as the Army for defense, to protect our trade and seapower. Yes, Washington was a Virginia slaveholder, an ugly and morally repulsive historical fact that applies to every single nation in the world at that time, when economic power was human power. China's and Russia's peasants were slaves. Hispanic Latin America was run by slaves. The Muslims, of course, kidnapped men, women, and children from African villages, marched them in misery to coastal ports, and sold them to the infamous Atlantic slave trade, as dictated by the Qur'an itself. Today the jihadist gang of Boko Haram (i.e. "books are forbidden") does exactly the same thing, and Obama, who knows all about Muslim slavery, allowed them to do their worst. Trump's generals have just killed 100 Al Qaida in Syrian training camps with air strikes, the same folks Obama allowed to exist under the name of Al Nusra. Trump and his general officers hate Al Qaida and its evil ilk, having witnessed their depredations among innocent civilians for years. Like the British and later the American Navy, SecDef Mattis is striking Al Qaida because it is evil personified. Under international law, slavery is a crime against humanity, and genocidal action is a just cause for sovereign nation states to punish crimes against humanity. Again, our "civil rights" establishment long ago decided to overlook African slavery and Muslim genocide in countries like Mauretania and the Sudan, because the Saudis and OPEC have bought influence in black neighborhoods after Valerie Jarrett's father, the confessed Communist, wrote an article in the 1970s proposing an alliance between black politicians and the Saudis and all their oil money. Today's Muslim converts, starting with champion boxer Muhammed Ali, were the result of that missionary effort, and American blacks simply chose to forget and even rationalize the millennial history of Muslim slave taking and collusion with the trans-Atlantic slave trade for all the centuries when it held sway. Instead, black politicians have chosen to turn slavery in the American South into a race issue, although Muslims have always been delighted to kidnap slaves from Britain, Ireland, and the Mediterranean nations, white flesh being especially prized as a commodity going back to ancient times. Congressman Keith Ellison, who may become the Chair of the DNC, denies that smarmy and wicked history, of course, but there you are. As the leading general of the American War of Independence, George Washington founded American military institutions, and used American disadvantages against British and Hessian professionals to his advantage. Washington's amateur army was excellent in the use of snipers against the easily visible redcoats using European marching tactics. American guerillas melted into the woods after sniping at the Redcoats, making their lives a misery, and keeping them on the defensive until the decisive battles at the end. The French aided Washington with a naval blockade. Trump is getting the very best military advice, something that Obama famously snubbed in favor of his own Harvard-style of anti-terror warfare, not to mention his infamous "apology for America tour," when he bowed ostentatiously to the Emperor of Japan, the President of China, and various other monsters around the world, not least the King of Saudi Arabia. Obama was not one of our great patriots, let's face it. Like George Washington, Trump is an outspoken patriot. While he has not had a military career, he received basic officer training at military school, where he was sent to learn some self-discipline by his father. As an international businessman, Trump has the equivalent of an international intelligence service, because around the world where crony capitalism holds sway, you can't do business without knowing about politics. Trump is not the anomaly. Barack Hussein Barry Soetoro Obama, Jr., is an amazing anomaly in American history. His degree of anomaly is so far out that he has not a single precedent in U.S. history. Let's face it, Obama is just plain weird, and that fact has nothing to do with the color of his skin, which is totally different from Michelle, who has a true African-American family history. Obama is an oddity. Our lying media are constantly trying to sucker American ignoramuses about that plain fact, but blacks and Africans know it instinctively. Africa is the most racially diverse continent in the world, a fact that Charles Darwin recognized as a scientific argument for human origins in Africa. Human morphology (body and facial features) range from the Khoi San, who look Mongolian morphologically, to the Bantu and the Tuareg of North Africa. Egyptians are Africans who look quite different. For Americans to treat Obama as a black African-American when he is half-white and half-Luo Kenyan genetically is simply myth making. Africans know this instantly. American mediots don't. So Trump is like George Washington in many ways. He is also like Herbert Hoover, a great construction guy and builder. He is like FDR, who came from an extremely wealthy family in New York. He is like JFK and RFK for the same reason. Furthermore, Trump is an anti-establishment politician, like Abe Lincoln and the Jacksonians, a business person like Harry Truman and Calvin Coolidge, and an individualist, like all American presidents before that great historic anomaly Barack Obama. History is a great guide to the present and the future, a great deal wiser than some "smelly little orthodoxy," as George Orwell dubbed the Left (after he left the Left). Obama follows an orthodoxy, or maybe two orthodoxies, Jihadist and Marxist. Both of those orthodoxies prescribe revolutionary terror as a legitimate warfighting method, even against children and noncombatants, the aged, the women, religious pacifists, and any other infidels. Both Muslims and Marxists hate Christianity and devout Judaism (ethnically Jewish Marxists are all atheists, which is their true faith). Those are facts. Trump is a pragmatist in the great American tradition of pragmatism. He dislikes Big Government when it is harmful and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars, not when it is beneficial, as in allocating land for the trans-American railroad. It was Thomas Jefferson who launched the Lewis and Clark expedition, part of a great effort to measure and allocate all the land in these United States to beneficent purposes. Jefferson wanted a nation of landowners, and forty acres and mules gave rise to the most widely decentralized wealth in the world. When Chinese peasants were still slaves of local warlords, American farmers were free, hard-working, and feisty. Outside of the South, farming, logging, and land trading became the greatest engine of economic growth before the industrial revolution. Trump's business career followed that traditional American model, and his showbiz career is also typically American. But Trump is more than just a successful business and showbiz guy, just as George Washington was more than a farmer, a political and moral philosopher, a pioneering land surveyor, a British Army Officer, a victorious general against the best professional soldiers in the world, and our first president. Washington was also a family man, who valued his family and friends more than the seductions of foreign powers. He was a great "localist," not a "globalist," because he understood more about the real world than any New York Times scribe. Washington was appreciated by Americans as a general and a leader, a visionary and the first President of the United States. But most of all he was praised by Americans for stopping after two terms in office, and going back to the farm (with a sigh of relief). Washington didn't love politics. He was not, emphatically not, a professional politician. He was a great American who did his duty by his country and went home. Not Obama. Not Michelle. Not any of the Washington politicians we see today. George Washington was a man of many parts. He was typically American. So is Donald Trump. There has been a good deal of hammering going on in the world of education ever since American businesswoman and education activist Betsy DeVos was named Donald Trumps pick for Secretary of Education. So far, DeVos has taken this relentless pounding with grace. Perhaps this is because shes lived long enough to know that when you study an issue for decades and dont care about those wielding the hammer, you can move forward with new ideas and innovations gravely needed in the American education system. Why is this overhaul of public education necessary? Every year I serve on a panel of judges for a national essay contest. Students send in their composition to vie for a series of cash prizes including a five thousand dollar grand prize. Their lone goal is to sling together no more than five hundred cogent words on a topic of American history. Aside from showcasing students' ability to write lucid sentences, the contest reveals the history knowledge (or lack thereof) of students between the ages of fourteen and nineteen. If you think the education system in this country is fine and dandy, check this out: The topic of the essay was how the U.S. Constitution leads public officials to make good decisions. Students were asked to read an article on the subject and comment. Here are a few gems from the 2016 contestants: An example of one of these Events was when president Theodore Roosevelt has put Japanese Americans into internment camps Almost a half-dozen students believed Teddy did the dastardly deed, including this one who confused the word descent with decent and ended the sentence mid-thought: President Theodore Roosevelt's internment of Americans of Japanese decent. In the continuing saga of essays and the quagmire of presidents and wars, there is this one: This is exactly the kind of leadership that Harry S Truman illustrated when he made the decision for the United States to enter into World War I, (This was not a typo as World War I was repeatedly referenced throughout the essay.) Then there are these beauties illustrating an inability to put ones thoughts into a coherent sentence: President Roosevelt did a few war preparing things during his term. From President jefferson to current president barrack obama president have followed their duties given to them by the constitution but one that stands out among most is President Trumans choice to use the atomic bomb on japan at the end of World War 2. (At least he got the right president with the correct war. Ding. Ding. Ding.) The United States constitution is the overall law of the land that provides the government limitations on the government to protect the rights of the American Citizen This one was bound and determined to sound intelligent: History has prominently displayed that the actions of authoritative figures have widespread and influential effects of an extensive span of people. Finally, there always seems to be one particular essay that comes out of left field. Here is this years winner: Look, honestly I don't really want to do this essay or don't know what it is supposed to entail. However, my teacher is making me do this and I'm pretty sure he just wants the prize, and he doesn't really deserve it because we, as students, are forced to teach ourselves. Sorry for the waste of time. This student was certainly able to make his thoughts known in writing. Sometimes young people have a way of articulating truth in a way that adults simply can't ignore. This last contestant complained that students are forced to teach themselves, which makes one wonder just what is or isnt going on in that classroom. The essays would be funny if they werent so disheartening. And that bring us full circle back to Ms. DeVos. In an unflattering piece in the Washington Post, DeVos was quoted with the following heretical views regarding the state of education in America: Its a battle of Industrial Age versus the Digital Age. Its the Model T versus the Tesla. Its old factory model versus the new Internet model. Its the Luddites versus the future. We must open up the education industry -- and lets not kid ourselves that it isnt an industry -- we must open it up to entrepreneurs and innovators. DeVos outlined just what that Tesla might look like in an article in The New Yorker: In a 2013 interview with Philanthropy Magazine, DeVos expressed her ultimate goals in education reform, which she said she saw encompassing not just charter schools and voucher programs but also homeschooling and virtual education: That all parents, regardless of their zip code, have had the opportunity to choose the best educational setting for their children. And that all students have had the best opportunity to fulfill their God-given potential. Public school advocates consider DeVoss unorthodox goals sacrilege. They point to the Detroit charter school program which she spearheaded. And they continually cite an analysis of that program conducted by the Detroit Free Press. Like many such studies, it is not without its champions or detractors. Not surprisingly, one critic was highlighted in The New Yorker: After DeVoss nomination, the editorial-page editor of the Free Press, Stephen Henderson -- whose own children attend a high-performing charter school -- wrote a searing indictment of Detroits experiment. This deeply dysfunctional education landscape -- where failure is rewarded with opportunities for expansion and choice means the opposite for tens of thousands of children -- is no accident, he wrote. It was created by an ideological lobby that has zealously championed free-market education reform for decades, with little regard for the outcome. DeVos was at the center of that lobby; her lodestar, Henderson wrote, has been her conviction that any nontraditional public school is better than a traditional one, simply because it is not operated by government. On the other side, there is Jay P. Greene, head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas who was incensed by a New York Times op-ed written by Doug Harris: Several critics, including me, noted that the well-regarded study Harris cites actually finds that Detroit charter schools are producing significantly greater gains than traditional public school alternatives -- gains that are only slightly smaller than those in New Orleans and greater than in another high-regulation darling, Denver. Whichever side of the Detroit Free Press study one falls on, there is no doubt that an animated debate is currently underway about the state of American schools and how best to chart a new path forward. As excerpts from the essays in this article demonstrate, something must be done to help these students learn how to think and write not to mention rudimentary factual information. And while it may be true that Betsy DeVos never attended, taught or sent her children to a public school, one wonders if it isnt high time for a change in the way the American education system is run from top to bottom. In the words of that elegant wordsmith President Donald Trump, What the hell do we have to lose? Leesa K. Donner is Editorial Director of LibertyNation.com and also writes commentary for CNS News. In the Senate's ongoing confirmation hearings, knee-jerk liberals keep asking President Trump's appointees even though the question is totally irrelevant to the secretaries being questioned about global warming (AGW, for anthropogenic global warming), aka global climate change. Surprisingly, most of those appointees have affirmed their "belief" in climate change. In the light of the president's deletion of all mentions of AGW and climate change from the White House website at high noon on January 20, those appointees might want to reconsider their stance. In affirming the "reality" of AGW, these cabinet appointees buy into the two points that liberal climate fanatics seem to miss, but which President Trump seems to get. First, when, for a decade, the globe's temperatures refused to budge, those doctrinaire doomsayers who publicly "believe" in their patently corrupted "climate science" quietly tried to change the subject. Without making a big deal out of what is, after all, a very big deal, those obsessive climate Gore-clones tried to move away from decrying global warming and toward viewing with alarm their new menace, global climate change. Their reasoning is simple. When the globe stopped getting hotter in the late 1990s, and since these facts slipped out despite all that "climate scientists" could do, the view-with-alarmists had to move to a more defensible position. After all, the globe's dynamic climate changes every day. No two days are alike. Never have been, never will be. So they can actually tell the "truth" when they point to "climate change." These private-sector doomsayers were supported by Obama's own climate minions bought and paid for "experts" working for NASA and NOAA, as well as those over at the Pentagon and even in the CIA who had been commanded to buy into the absurd fiction that climate change is America's greatest threat. With that "official" position about to change, President Trump's go-along-to-get-along nominees might want to rethink their position. The bigger issue these climate-waffling appointees need to address is one the doomsayers never admit to. President Trump seems to grasp this bigger issue, if only because he has often referred to both AGW as a hoax. His cabinet nominees should ponder this and pay close attention to the logical fallacy President Trump sees lurking behind the entire issue of climate change. The only way AGW could possibly be important is if there were just one perfect, ideal global climate that benefits everyone and harms no one. If you follow the climate fanatics' flawed logic, that one ideal, perfect global climate was that unnamed benchmark year, sometime in the 1980s. Those grant-addicted "climate scientists" can't agree on a benchmark year, but climate fear-mongers act as if any variation from that perfect Year Zero benchmark climate must be a bad change. The facts tell a different story, one that mocks the very notion of a benchmark climate that we must return to or see the world destroyed. Instead of going along with out-of-context questions about climate change, President Trump's appointees ought to present this logical fallacy instead of meekly agreeing with the Democrats' most climate-focused senators. Throughout human history, the globe's climate has changed, often drastically. Humanity has survived a half-dozen or more ice ages which ended only when the globe once again grew warmer. This natural cycle represents true global climate change. Despite the horror stories offered by climate-changers, humanity has survived ice ages and heat waves, droughts and floods, tornados and hurricanes, typhoons and blizzards. Humanity has survived even prospered while "enduring" climates significantly warmer than today's. Human history when compared to various global climate changes, as shown by Greenland ice cores shows that we have advanced far more during warming periods than during cool-downs. The "why" of human progress during warming trends is fairly simple to figure out. A warmer climate means a longer growing season, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Warmer temperatures push the frozen tundra northward, creating more arable land, producing extra food. This, in turn, creates well fed people who have more free time to innovate. The Renaissance was the product of a warming climate, while the fall of Roman civilization coincided with a sharp temperature decline. If you advance the idea that historically warmer is better, climate change extremists will ignore civilization's blessings, instead tying the advance of Western civilization to a variety of evils ranging from chattel slavery to the conquest of indigenous populations, from deforestation to industrial sweat shops. Count on it. Setting that kind of knee-jerk reaction aside, the real fallacy of any plan to address climate change is the unprovable assumption that Year Zero a specific moment-in-time climate is somehow ideal for all people, everywhere. There is no such thing as a perfect climate not for the globe, not even for any particular portion of the globe. Regardless of climate, some people, cultures, and civilizations will do better because of it, while others will do less well. For instance, a long-term drought might hurt crops and farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. But that same drought might lead to forest fires in the nearby Sequoia forests, fires necessary to propagate the next generation of giant redwoods. In such a warming-driven drought, farmers suffer, but tree-huggers triumph. Those same warmer summers would help northern Canadian grain farmers by extending their growing season but would hurt Australian sheep ranchers by parching Australia's already arid outback. President Trump's nominees should keep this in mind. Winners and losers result from every shift of global climate. If the climate were somehow, miraculously, to refuse to change, there would still be winners and losers from that climate stability. Over the long history of humanity's time on Earth, the then-current climate has always worked out well for some, while it didn't work out so well for others. Both climate advocates and cabinet nominees should keep this in mind. Ned Barnett is owner of Las Vegas-based Barnett Marketing Communications. He is the author of a dozen books on professional communications, which he has taught at several universities. Primarily, he works with conservative causes and organizations, as well as with start-up businesses and high-tech and health care businesses. Just imagine if a coalition of Second Amendment groups had barracked a pre-inauguration gala at the second Obama inauguration. Yet even FoxNews radio soothingly reported the Inauguration Day protests against President Trump by a coalition of leftist activist groups as mostly peaceful. Yeah. Imagine if my imaginary Second Amendment guys protesting President Obama had been merely mostly peaceful. Imagine what the Fake News guys at CNN would have said about that. I am here to say that the whole activism culture of the left is a crock and a profound betrayal of the whole modern culture of changing governments through the sham fights of elections rather than the real fight of civil war. And under universal suffrage, nobody is outside the system; everyone has a vote. Back in the day, before the workers got the vote, the only way they could get the attention of the ruling class was to march and to riot. But now the ruling class cares about the poor: they have the vote. A couple of years ago I audited a philosophy course on David Hume at the University of Washington. One of the good little girls in class defined politics as marching to City Hall. Really, I thought? Who is teaching her that? Because people that have the vote dont need to protest and call for bloody revolution. The proof is that the Marxists had to issue an update to their street revolution app. By World War I, the once-revolutionary workers had all become good Germans and good Brits, and so the political software engineers at Frankfurt issued Marxism 2.0, changing class politics to identity politics. Activism, or todays conceit of resistance, is rich kids acting out. It is rich kids pretending to protest for the marginalized and oppressed. Really, it is rich kids playing at being the oppressed. How about the global womens march this last weekend? Compare the women you saw on the march with the women you saw at Trumps inauguration: upscale privileged women versus ordinary Americans. Or climate. The climateers are always demonstrating and protesting. Why? They are already powerful and already have the ear of the ruling class. Oh wait, they are the ruling class. What do you call a protest of the already powerful? You call the protest regime intimidation, and you call the protesters regime thugs. And the left has been doing this for 170 years. Marx and Engels? Rich kids. Horkheimer and Adorno? Rich kids. Herbert Marcuse? Rich kid. Bill Ayers? Son of Commonwealth Edison CEO. Now these chaps could have done what Donald Trump and the Koch Brothers did. They could have taken Daddys money and made it bigger, creating jobs and wealth and all. But there is a problem with that. Business is very hard work, and risky too. What if the rich kids lost all of Daddys money and had to work for a living? Much better get down for the struggle in the streets and burn a bit of George Soros money, or a bit of income from the family trust. No worries, no responsibility, no potential downside. The genius of our lefty friends is to have taken the age-old desperate rage of the excluded and made it into an instrument of state power. The peaceful protest has become a club with which the educated and powerful cudgel the ordinary citizen into silence. If you oppose the billionaire-supported Black Lives Matter riots you are a racist supporting police violence. If you sit next to a liberal woman from Seattle on an airplane, she will treat you like a deplorable. If you oppose the endless climate protests, you want to fry the planet. Its brilliant: to use the travails of the inner city, the conceits of up-scale women, the salvation of the world as arguments for more power to the powerful, to transform the cry of the powerless into the routine projection of ruling-class thuggery. But it is vile. It is vile because it takes the desperate cry of the unprotected and transforms it into merely another tool of the powerful. It is vile because it violates the modern social contract, that you put your weapons away and submit with a good grace to the decision of the ballot box, even if you dont like the result. It is vile because it suppresses the real voices of the forgotten ones, and substitutes in their place the canned voices of the ruling classs little darlings. The nation has been groaning for an end to the hegemony of rich-kid lefty activists, and it looks like we found just the guy to charge mostly peaceful protesters with felony rioting, and to tell the privileged women of America that we just had an election. Two years ago, who would have thought it possible? Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class. The day after Donald Trump took the oath of office to become the forty-fifth President of the United States, radical liberal feminazis took to the streets of Washington D.C. and put on a disgusting display of hedonism and hate. What was billed as the Womens March on Washington quickly devolved into what any sound-minded political observer knew it would, and the worst of the American left was on unhinged display for all the world to see. Clueless to the notion that their unseemly words and deeds were instrumental in Mr. Trump winning the White House and conservative candidates across the U.S. winning in historic fashion, angry leftist women held back little as they vented their political rage in the nations capital and across the U.S. Illustrated by a young female (perhaps a juvenile, which should surprise no one) with F-ck Trump written on the front of her shirt and both middle fingers singularly pointed at the sky, Drudges headlined blared, Womens March Turns Nasty. Was there any real doubt it would? What else is to be expected when angry liberals dont get their way, especially in an election? Have you ever wondered why liberals get so upset when they lose elections? It is because they have placed their hope in the forces of this world, especially political ones. Thus, when they lose at the ballot box, often, a fit ensues. Those who understand that this world is not our home -- that real hope and real change are not brought about by mere politicians -- are not very prone to throwing vile and violent tantrums when an election doesnt go their way. The Drudge headline was only a sampling of the ugliness on display this past Saturday. The very appropriately named Jezebel magazine provides a revealing montage (warning: graphic language -- of course) of the message liberals wanted to impart to the world after Donald Trumps inauguration. Reporting on what he deemed a p*ssy riot, Byron York at the Washington Examiner provides another smattering of the rampant nastiness that was paraded across the U.S. Of course, being like-minded, the liberal media gleefully lapped this all up and spewed it back out far and wide. Again, all of this was probably to President Trumps advantage. As if we needed to be reminded of the liberal double-standard in the mainstream media, nevertheless, as Erick Erickson noted, People are idiots. Donald Trump will keep winning because people are idiots. And no, I am not talking about Trump supporters. I am mostly talking about the press corps. Lets review Saturday shall we? The press decided to give massive coverage to the Womens March in Washington with members of the press gleefully reporting every insult against Trump, but patently ignoring that one of the key speakers opposed the collapse of the Berlin Wall because she thought the communists were better than us. Another speaker, Ashley Judd, suggested Trump supporters were Nazis. Consider the reaction of the press had this been said of Barack Obama. Well, we do not have to ponder it. We know. The press was outraged. Remember how a congressional staffer got fired for tweeting something about the Obama kids? On Friday, multiple people with blue checkmarks on Twitter were attacking Baron Trump and the press said nothing. We also know how the press responded when anyone called Obama a muslim, Nazi, commie, etc. All this reinforces in many peoples minds that there is a double standard. And that double standard went into full force on Saturday. Supposedly objective reporters spent the day as activists and you all know it. Along with the expected Nazi and Hitler references, the most common theme of the protestors centered around sex organs and sexual acts. Probably the most-used verb on any poster was, as Ralphie Parker put it, the queen mother of all dirty words: the f-dash-dash-dash. Taking her queue from the posters (as if she needed any encouragement), pop-harlot Madonna left the live-broadcasting media to apologize for her f-themed tirade. And along with foolishly declaring that she had thought about blowing up the White House, Madonna also sang some of her nastiness and changed the lyrics of one song to include Donald Trump suck a d*ck. No doubt the most used noun on any poster was some vulgar reference to a vagina. In fact, whether in print or of a more knit variety, there were more references to female genitalia at this womens march than in all of the dirty gas station mens rooms across the U.S. Yet, we are told that Donald Trump is the vulgar one. Again, no one should be surprised that tens of thousands of angry protestors devoted to a liberal worldview would resort to hypersexual behavior in order to make their point. For liberals, sex so often is the point. Whether screaming about Planned Parenthood, ObamaCare, the Supreme Court, bathroom privileges, redefining marriage, redefining gender, and so on, the left -- especially the feminist left -- is consumed with sex. Most of this energy is concentrated on keeping the right to kill children in the womb. Tellingly, pro-life women were excluded from the march. When it initially looked like pro-life groups were going to be allowed to participate, the radical pro-abortionists went ballistic. Declaring that the killing of children in the womb is central to feminism, Jessica Valenti was horrified that pro-life women were going to be allowed to march with what she must deem as real feminists. March organizers soon apologized for including those willing to stand for the most innocent and defenseless females (and males) among us. The photo below reveals the tragic level of devotion to abortion that exists among the modern left: Having placed such hope in politics and government explains well why liberals crave political power and why they will do most anything -- including donning a p*ssy hat, conducting a p*ssy riot, and longing for the death of the unborn baby Jesus -- to obtain such power. After all, as the Obama years well demonstrated, perverse liberal values are best imposed -- whether by the threat of jail, fines, or even at the end of a gun -- by Big Brother. Trevor Grant Thomas At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason. www.trevorgrantthomas.com Trevor is the author of the brand new book The Miracle and Magnificence of America tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com In a recent viral Facebook post , a conservative woman found it necessary to point out that she wasnt a disgrace to women for not supporting the Womens March on Washington. Of course not. Saying otherwise is a bit like having called a soldier a disgrace to soldiers for not having supported the My Lai Massacre. One D.C. marcher held a placard stating, I am more than my v-----. This was clear: she was also a mouth and a sign. British journalist Katie Hopkins, who attended the Saturday event, cited the above message and pointed out that possession of such an anatomical feature is a matter of biology, not a political argument and that the marchers had no political arguments. Theirs was a collective tantrum. Madonna spoke at the rally, dropped f-bombs, led the throng in chanting I'M NOT YOUR B----! and then, quite ironically, complained that Good didnt win in the election. Hopkins quipped that she didnt even know Good was a candidate. If he was, though, Madonna should have told us whether Donald Trump is the Bad or the Ugly . Then wed better know what to expect the next four years. But Madonna, dont preach; youre in trouble deep. Its not just that the Secret Service is now investigating her for saying at the march that she thought about blowing up the White House. Its that shes blowing up her own life and helped blow up our culture. After peddling sexuality to make money and demonstrating a pathological unwillingness to constrain herself, Madonna has (as a parent must) tried to constrain her children. Unsurprisingly, however, son Rocco Ritchie rebelled against the immaterial girl and now lives with his father. The 58-year-old pop tart has also become the Peter Pan Syndrome personified and is clearly unhappy, as 2016 on-stage meltdowns evidenced . Is this woman, whose own ship is listing badly, one to advise on the ship of state? Madonna, take the log out of your own eye before worrying about the speck in Donald Trumps. Actress Ashley Judd spoke at the rally as well (and as badly). Perhaps now too dependent on having others write her material, she recited a poem disgorged by a 19-year-old Dunkin Donuts worker that included the line I feel Hitler in these streets, a mustache traded for a toupee. What profundity! Move over, Whitman and Yeats youve just been dunked on. In the same vein, there were march messages such as This p---- bites and she slays, P---- power itll grab ya, B------ get stuff done (finally, some specificity!), Ovaries before brovaries, My p---- bites, Utereses before duderuses (so obsessed with sexual body parts but cant spell them?), and Trump is a big p----. They forgot to say he smells and has cooties. These were, mind you, among 150 slogans provided for protesters to choose from because, well, no one could ascend to such heights of intellectualism all by himself. Additionally, many marchers wore pink p---- hats, which, Yahoo.com stated , would Unite Millions at Womens Marches Around the World. If men held a rally and wore doggy hats with phallic symbolism, would they be called brave or boorish, be exalted as protesters or excoriated as pigs? The march was pointless, classless, and brainless, but not harmless. One common theme was anger at certain crass comments Trump made in the past. To combat this, the marchs leaders and their lemmings decided to be crude, lewd, and even more crass in the present. Its much like trying to correct your childs cursing by cursing him out. A famous sentiment used to justify such behavior, and one written on a protesters sign, stated, Well behaved women seldom make history. This is like complaining that well behaved children seldom make a mess, for empowered ill behaved people often do make history and make a mess of it. Contrary to this was the father of our nation, George Washington. He defeated his times greatest power and won our nations independence, all while being a pillar of civility. Not only is he known for helping popularize 110 Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior, but in 1776, he issued general orders to the Continental Army condemning the practice of profane cursing, writing that every man of character ... detests and despises it. Seeking rights without character is like seeking health without nourishment. Washington himself observed, Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people while fellow founder Samuel Adams warned that public liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals. The D.C. vixens-cum-vice peddlers should take note. Fortunately, there are millions more women making history by, every day, molding the next generation to be well behaved and not to mistake boorishness for bravery and sexual snake oil for sophistication. We were told that fossil fuels, human activity, and melting ice in Alaska caused the drought in California, so how did the drought end? We were told we would have snowless winters, so why were there record snows in the Northeast a couple years ago, and why is there so much snow this year out west? After Katrina, we were told that hurricanes would be more frequent and stronger than ever, so why have the succeeding eleven years been some of the mildest on record? This article shows that the average temperature in 1934 in the U.S. was 55.1 degrees. Average temperature in 2015 was 54.4 degrees in the U.S. Whatever the actual temperature is, there is very little movement in the last eighty years, despite massive industrialization, population growth, fossil fuel use, and CO2 increases. We have been treated to alternative facts by scientists such as Michael Mann, as they have continually manipulated data because actual data havent supported their computer model predictions. The media have been willing to continually repeat these alternative facts as they call climate change caused by humans settled science. Scientists and politicians have presented alternative facts by manipulating data to confiscate trillions from all the people in the world. Many enrich themselves on the backs of the poor and middle class. For the past eight years, the media have been willing to accept alternative facts from the White House, such as: If you like your insurance and your doctor, you can keep them. Your health insurance premiums will drop. Theres not a smidgen of corruption at the IRS. Fast and Furious was no scandal. Benghazi was caused by a YouTube video. And thats just for a start. Theres the Iran deal, the Iran ransom payments, the heroism of Bowe Bergdahl, student loan defaults, climate data, the number of people covered because of Obamacare, and the number of illegal immigrants deported. And the media were willing to repeat these alternative facts as gospel but now all of a sudden they are up in arms and say they cant trust the Trump White House because they disagree on crowd size estimates. The key word here is estimates. On Friday, Rasmussen had a poll that showed Trumps approval at 56%, yet I did not see any network report that poll. Today, the number is 55%. Instead, the media continue to repeat that Trump is the most unpopular president in decades. Based on their obviously skewed polls. The bias is amazing. The media cheered for Hillary and lost, and now their feelings are hurt, so they will seek to trash Trump no matter what he says or does. A limousine owned by a Muslim immigrant was totally destroyed by fire during the anti-Trump protests over the weekend. Muhammad Ashraf, the owner of the company, Nationwide Chauffeured Services, is now out $70,000, and there is no guarantee that his insurance will cover it. Red Alert Politics: In an exclusive interview with Red Alert Politics, Ashraf said he wasnt a supporter of Donald Trump during his campaign, but Fridays protests were completely counter-productive. I have a different point of view, Ashraf told Red Alert. I did not agree with many of the things he said, but that still does not give me the right to go and affect someones livelihood. Ashraf noted that the Womens March on Washington and in other cities around the country was a model for how to peacefully protest. I really dont think we need to take this [violent] route. Ashrafs employee, Luis Villarroel, 58, was dropping a client off at their destination when things turned ugly. Protesters smashed doors and windows in the vicinity, but then turned their attention to Villarroel and the limo. People began pounding on the car and started throwing stones and bricks in his direction. The driver ended up going to the hospital for cuts on his hands and arms from glass being shattered by thrown projectiles. What possible motivation did the anarchists have for going after the driver? Aren't they all about standing up for the little guy? Isn't their anti-capitalist narrative all about the inequities in the system harming ordinary people? Guess not. My feelings of disgust toward the mainstream media (MSM) have only intensified since my recommendation to purge them from your lives. They remain the festering wart on America's underbelly, replete with hatred and animosity toward traditional Americans. Since failing in their phony polling efforts to starve then-candidate Trump of votes in critical battlegrounds, they have continued to eschew important suggestions that may preserve their existence, such as telling unbiased truth from time to time. They went directly into trying to subvert the Electoral College vote and, when that failed, into throwing anything, from so-called "popular vote" totals to Russia to inaugural crowd sizes, at the wall to delegitimize the new president, who was elected in the same fashion that every one of his predecessors has been since 1788. I had the privilege of attending the Trump inauguration, and I can assure you that there was no shortage of attendees. While the MSM, spearheaded by The New York Times, attempts to spread half-truths and even full lies, they will also debunk their own garbage from time to time. CNN was kind enough to release a gigapixel of the crowd, which shows a sea of humanity in the non-ticketed area as far back as allowed. Refer to the photo below if you don't believe me. The misrepresentation puts the Trump team in a difficult spot because it does seem petty to bother disputing it if you are prone to believe the media even after they tell more lies than anyone can count. Keeping in mind that Sean Spicer's most important order of business at his maiden press conference was to correct the lie about the supposed removal of the Martin Luther King, Jr. bust, it is clear that a response of some sort was warranted. It is, however, not petty to draw the attention of the public to the lies of the press that we can refute with their own gigapixel releases. The size of the crowd should be a non-issue. Yes, Barack Obama had more people at his first inauguration than Trump did last week. He had more people filling in on the sides of the National Mall and closer to the Washington Monument. If any Democrat failed to outdraw any Republican, I would honestly wonder what went wrong for him. Here are some simple, back-of-the-napkin visuals, with a little math, to hopefully put this issue on the trash heap. Hillary Clinton eked out an 86.8% margin of victory in the District of Columbia to take its three electoral votes on election night. As you can see in the graphic above, she received over 22 votes for every vote Trump garnered. Had she won, it is likely that a vast majority of those 282,830 bloated government-dependent voters would have spilled into the National Mall to see her ceremony, just as they did for Barack Obama on two occasions. When you examine the surrounding area, it becomes even more evident that Washington, D.C. is practically the home stadium of the Democratic Party. The map above shows a 200-mile radius from Washington as the crow flies. Within that circle lies all of Maryland and Delaware, most of Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, half of West Virginia, and a smidgeon of New York and North Carolina. I used 200 miles for the radius to represent a reasonable distance for a day trip, particularly for families with kids, such as my own. Referring back to the "home stadium" reference, Washington's neighbors include Philadelphia County (82.4% Clinton); Montgomery, Prince George's, and Baltimore Counties, Maryland (all 75.0+% Clinton); Fairfax County, Virginia (65.3% Clinton); Essex County, New Jersey (77.1% Clinton); and New York City (at the fringe of the bubble), where Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx all cleared 75.0% support for the Democrat, with hundreds of thousands of voters each. The only conservative regions within the day trip radius consist of generally sparsely populated counties in purple states like Pennsylvania and Virginia. Torch-red West Virginia is only partly in range and is small in population. For Trump to pack out the National Mall to the degree in which he did, and to pull in over 31 million viewers on television, is a great accomplishment. That number of viewers does not count those who tuned in via the internet, whether on home computers or mobile platforms. Internet viewers represent a growing demographic, particularly when you consider that so many people have to work on Fridays. Additionally, with so many Americans unable to even come up with $500 for an emergency, a Washington expedition is not an easy choice for a family trip. In conclusion, no matter how you slice and dice the numbers, the verdict is clear: Barack Obama was so much more popular than Donald Trump that his presidency did not yield to another candidate of his party, but resulted inDonald Trump. Seth Keshel, former Army captain and Afghanistan veteran, is a grassroots coordinator for the Convention of States Project, Texas. Yesterday saw a stunning contrast as it was revealed that the outgoing Barack Obama funded Palestinians as almost his last act in office, while Donald Trumps first full workday saw him call Egypts President El-Sisi to offer support in his battle against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Ikhwan, which seeks his overthrow. Its all about the Muslim Brotherhood, that octopus of Islamic supremacist jihad that seeks to use all methods legal, violent, or deceptive to advance the goal of a world ruled by Islam. Former president Obamas last few hours in office saw him override a congressional hold placed on $221 million in funding for the Palestinians, whose goal remains the destruction of Israel in line with the Muslim Brotherhoods strategy. Matthew Lee and Rick Lardner broke the story for the AP: A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. (snip) Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. That this move was a single-digit salute to his opponents is evident in the other last-minute beneficiaries of Obamas granting of boons: the United Nations and climate change funding: In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations President Trump has come under fire for allegedly being anti-Muslim, when in fact his opposition is to violent jihad and those who promote world domination for Islam and the imposition of sharia law on every human being on the planet. Oddly enough, the women marching on Saturday were led by a fan of sharia, Linda Sarsour. Actually, President Trump sees good relations with Muslims who oppose violent jihad and the Ikhwan and acted dramatically on that yesterday, as Reuters reports: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and U.S. President Donald Trump discussed ways to boost the fight against terrorism and extremism on Monday and the new American leader underscored his commitment to bilateral ties, the two countries said. Trump told Sisi in a telephone call he appreciated the difficulties faced by Egypt in its "war on terror" and affirmed his administration's commitment to supporting the country, Sisi's spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

"The U.S. president also expressed during the call his looking forward to the president's awaited visit to Washington which is being prepared for through diplomatic channels," the statement said. The people who want to inflict terror attacks on us support the Palestinians funded by Obama, while they want to force El-Sisi out of office. For the moment, I will leave it to historians to explain why Obama chose to align himself with the former group, and I thank God that President Trump is supporting President El-Sisi, who has openly called for reform of Islam. La Piedra Del Penol, Spanish for "The Rock of Guatape", also known as El Penol Stone or simply as La Piedra is a massive rock located in the town and municipality of Guatape, in Antioquia, Colombia. The 10 million-ton rock rises 200 meters from the surrounding plain, visible from miles around the countryside. The rock, which is almost entirely smooth, has one long crack running top to bottom on one of the faces. Across this crack, is wedged a 649-step masonry staircase, that appears like a giant stitch holding the split rock together. The top of the rock consists of a small fenced in area with stalls for buying souvenirs, and a viewing platform. Food vendors have laid out outdoor tables where you can enjoy snacks with a bottle of beer taking in the outstanding vista that stretch to the horizon in every direction. Photo credit The rock is located near the border of two towns - Guatape and El Penol. Both towns claimed ownership of the rock. Once, the residents of Guatape decided to settle the matter by painting the town's name on the rock in huge white letters. It did not take long for the residents of El Penol to notice the work, and a large mob was gathered to stop it. Only the "G" and part of the "U" were completed. The two giant letters can still be seen on the northern face of the stone. The rock was first scaled officially on July 1954 by three climbers using sticks embedded in the fissure on the rock. The staircase was built later. Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit Photo credit View of the Guatape lake from the top. Photo credit Travellers to early modern London, while approaching the port city up the river Thames, were greeted by a ghastly sight. The riverbank was lined with gallows, from which hung a number of rotting corpses, bound in iron cages. They swung in the wind and made a horrid creaking noise that both terrified and offended wayfarers. But the gallows at Londons infamous Execution Dock would remain for nearly four hundred years. This was a time when Britain was expanding its empire. The British crown, driven by commercial ambitions and the necessity to one-up the competition with Spain and France, began setting up colonies at far-flung places across the oceans. The crown traded extensively with its colonies. The colonies provided essential raw materials for England, and at the same time, served as markets for British manufactured goods. A replica gallows by the River Thames in London. Photo credit: Toby Bradbury/Flickr For this modern system of maritime commerce to succeed, Britain needed secure trade routes. In those days, and especially during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, piracy, or rather privateering, was a state-sponsored affair, actively supported by the crown and used as a tool of hostility against vessels of foreign nations. But Queen Elizabeths successors did not support the hiring of mercenaries. Privateering was abolished, and many privateers, used to the life of crime and riches, became pirates. Piracy on the high seas was ruled a grievous crime, for it became a threat to maritime trade. The only punishment fitting for such a crime was death. Maritime criminals including pirates, mutineers, and smugglers, who awaited the fatal punishment were held at Marshalsea Prison, from where they were transferred southeast to Wapping for public execution at Execution Dock. London had many public execution spots, but Execution Dock, by the Thames, was used specially for pirates. The condemned man, or woman, was either carted or paraded through the streets from the prison to the Execution Dock, led by the Admiralty Marshal or one of his deputies. The Admiralty Marshal, riding on horseback, would carry a silver oar, an item which represented the authority of the Admiralty. Public executions were family affair. The streets would be lined with spectators and the riverbanks would be overflowing with them. Others would float on the river in packed boats. There would be men and women, old and young, as well as children an immense crowd, all keen to see a man hang by his neck and die. A 1795 engraving depicting a pirate being hanged at Execution Dock. It has also been suggested that the pirate is Captain James Lowry, hanged in 1762. Photo credit: Royal Museums Greenwich On the way to the gallows, a pub named The Turks Head Inn, which is now a cafe, would serve the last quart of ale to the condemned pirate. Once at the scaffold, the pirate would be given the chance to make the last dying speech, in which he would either express regret for his actions or lash out violently against whoever he blamed for his fate. When this ritual was completed, the pirate would be hung by the neck until dead. To make the ordeal as painful as possible, pirates were hung by a short rope. The shortened rope would make the drop insufficient to break the prisoners neck. Instead, the executed would die a slow death from strangulation. During the suffocation, the victim would writhe and struggle. This macabre display was nicknamed the Marshals Dance. Hangings always took place at low tide. After the convict was dead, they waited until three tides had washed over the body before it was brought down. But the most notorious pirates would be left on display, hanging by the rope, and bound in an iron cage, known as a gibbet, to serve as warning to all those who would follow their footsteps. The most famous criminal to be coated in tar and hung in a gibbet was Captain Kidd, who was convicted of piracy in 1701. His body remained hung for two years, some say three. Its highly unlikely that his body remained hanging for twenty years, a figure thats frequently quoted by some writers. Its just one of the many fables and lore surrounding the infamous pirate. The final hangings at the dock occurred on 16 December 1830. Today, no one is sure where the Execution Docks gallows actually stood, as the originals are long gone. Although, there is a replica now just outside the nearly 500-year-old pub, Prospect of Whitby, by the Thames. A woodcut showing the execution of two pirates at Wapping in 1583. The gibbeted body of Captain Kidd who was executed at Wapping in 1701. A pub in Wapping named after Captain Kidd. Photo credit: Felix Cohen/Flickr In order to promote the launch of pirate drama Black Sails on Amazon Prime Instant Video in 2014, men dressed as pirates were strung up in gibbets on a beach of the River Thames. Photo credit: Mischief PR Photo credit: xpgomes10/Flickr Sources: Wikipedia / Historic UK / BBC / englishlegalhistory.wordpress.com ASUS has launched the ZenPad 3S 10 LTE in Malaysia. The device which bears the model number Z500KL has been priced at 1,799 ringgits, which amounts to approximately $405. The ZenPad 3S 10 LTE is currently available for purchase only in the Slate Grey color. The Taiwanese company had previously launched the ZenPad 3S 10 (Z500M) that did not support cellular connectivity and came with the MediaTek MT8176 SoC under the hood and a smaller price tag. The new unit, as its name suggests, comes with support for a number of LTE bands, and also with the Z Stylus that the company says is capable of detecting 1024 different pressure levels. The tablet ships with mid-range hardware for the most part, but has a few interesting features thrown in, like a stereo audio system with dual five-magnet speakers. Taking a look at some of the key hardware specs of the ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 LTE, the device features a 9.7-inch IPS display with a QXGA resolution (2048 x 1536) and a viewing angle of 178 degrees. The tablet is powered by the Snapdragon 650 system-on-chip which comes with an embedded Adreno 510 GPU and a 64-bit hexa-core CPU clocked at a maximum frequency of 1.8GHz. The ZenPad 3S 10 LTE also ships with 4GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 32GB of built-in eMMC storage out of the box. Buyers will also get 100GB of Google Drive space for a period of two years. The ZenPad 3S 10 LTE is powered by an 7,800mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 thanks to the presence of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 SoC. On the imaging front, the device ships with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with ASUS proprietary PixelMaster technology, while the front-facing shooter comes with a 5-megapixel sensor. Both cameras are capable of recording 1080p videos at 30fps. On the software side of things, the ZenPad 3S 10 LTE is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, most likely with a ZenUI overlay. However, theres no official confirmation on whether the device will receive the Android Nougat update at any stage in the future. In terms of build quality, the device has a forged aluminum body and measures just 5.8mm in thickness. It is also a fairly lightweight tablet considering its size as it weighs only 490 grams. Raspberry Pi Foundation have announced on their blog that Google is set to introduce a range of artificial intelligence and machine learning services to the Raspberry Pi platform. These new tools will be used to bolster the already capable device, which has sold over ten million around the world. Some of the reasons why the Raspberry Pi has been a very popular hobbyist computer is that the device is supremely flexible, highly portable, reasonably well equipped and inexpensive. There have been no shortage of developers willing to experiment with the tiny computer. In addition to the artificial intelligent features, Google are reportedly bringing other developer tools to the Raspberry Pi platform. Theres even a survey for existing Raspberry Pi owners to complete to help steer Raspberry Pi Foundation towards providing the services and features that customers want for their Raspberry Pi device. It will be interesting to see what new projects people will come up with for the Raspberry Pi once it is connected to Googles deep machine learning and artificial intelligence systems, and its encouraging to see Raspberry Pi Foundation asking customers what they would like to see developed for the platform. There was some excitement generated back in April 2016 when a new developer tree was discovered on the Android Open Source Project, which looked like a development team were modifying the Android platform so as to make it run on the Raspberry Pi hardware. We do not know if this is an official, unofficial or separate developer team from Google but their efforts have so far not yielded in a full blown Android for the Raspberry Pi platform. We have, however, seen Google working with Raspberry Pi technologies, such as an online coder allowing HTML, CSS and Javascript projects be loaded direct to the Pi. More recently at the end of 2016, Raspberry Pi Foundation has ported a version of its Pixel operating system to both the Mac and PC platforms. This move is not necessarily to allow people to run the Raspberry Pi platform on their desktops and laptops, but to allow developers to build applications direct from their computer and run them in a desktop application on a more powerful computer. Unfortunately, we do not know when Googles artificial intelligent new services will be released for the Raspberry Pi, other than Raspberry Pi Foundation is hopeful there will be developments to reveal later in 2017. At this time, Google have yet to comment about the Raspberry Pi project. The Meizu M5s seems to be on the way, and its price just leaked. If you take a look at the provided image (below the article), youll get to see a pamphlet which reveals the price of the Meizu M5s, allegedly, of course. The Meizu M5s will cost 999 Yuan ($146) if this information is accurate, chances are were looking at the base model of the device because Meizu will almost certainly release at least two different storage variants of this smartphone, quite probably 32GB and 64GB models, though 16GB storage variant had also been mentioned. The aforementioned pamphlet also mentions that the device will ship with a 5.2-inch IPS display, Meizus mCharge fast charging and the companys multifunctional mTouch home key. That being said, Meizu had already scheduled a press conference for the reveal of the Meizu M5s, the device will be announced on January 27th in China. Needless to say, the Meizu M5s will be a direct competitor to the Redmi 4 and Redmi Note 4 handsets, which are Xiaomis budget offerings. The Meizu M5s popped up on Geekbench earlier this month, and it was certified by TENAA (Chinas equivalent to the FCC) in China at the end of last month, so we basically know what to expect in terms of both its specifications and design. If TENAA is to be believed, the Meizu M5s will be made out of metal, while it will resemble other Meizu-branded handsets which were introduced in the last couple of years. The Meizu M5s will be a very compact smartphone, as it will sport a 5.2-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display. The device will ship with 2GB / 3GB / 4GB of RAM and 16GB / 32GB / 64GB of internal storage, if the aforementioned listing is to be believed. MediaTeks MT6750 or MT6573 SoC will fuel this smartphone, and a 2,930mAh battery will also be a part of this package. A 13-megapixel shooter will be placed on the back of the Meizu M5s, while youll be able to find a 5-megapixel snapper up front. Android 6.0 Marshmallow will come pre-installed on the Meizu M5s, and on top of it, youll get Meizus Flyme 5 or Flyme 6 OS. The device will be released in Rose Gold, Gold and Gray color variants, it will measure 148.2 x 72.53 x 8.4mm, while it will weigh 138 grams. Advertisement Buy the Meizu M3 Note Pictures have surfaced via Twitter that allegedly show part of the extensive testing Samsung undertook to find and solve the exploding phone phenomenon associated with the companys Galaxy Note 7. However, isnt at all surprising that Samsung went to such lengths to discover the underlying issue. This is especially true, considering how much the problem hurt the company despite that some users have still refused to give up their beloved devices. The images are said to portray one of the tests that Samsung conducted on the Galaxy Note 7 after it instituted its massive recall last year. Although the validity of the images hasnt been confirmed, Samsung did release a statement recently about just how extensive those tests were. That said, the photos themselves should be taken with a grain of salt, as they werent released through official channels. The pics were shared by Twitter user @arter97 on January 22nd, and show a room filled with slotted racks. Each row of the racks appears to have more than one hundred of the now-recalled devices slotted onto it and connected to chargers. There are five rows on each rack. Not surprisingly, there seem to be what looks like very impressive fire-suppressant systems mounted above each of the racks. One photo also shows an additional, more traditional, fire extinguisher sitting on the floor. The racks fill what looks to be a warehouse-sized room, with several suspected employees milling around in the background. The story of Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 started out well enough. The device made some great improvements over the previous member of the Note family and was on track to be among the best-selling smartphones on the market. Unfortunately, it wasnt long before reports started surfacing of critical meltdowns both during charging and while not charging. It should be said here that incidents of smartphones catching fire, exploding, or failing are not entirely unheard of. Although devices have steadily gotten safer over the years, complex technologies will always have weaknesses built right in because of the complexity itself. Whether the photos of the testing facility are real or not, Samsungs latest statements seem to point to a much safer battery in the future. Finnish networking and handset business, Nokia, has issued a white paper providing details as to how the company believes the mobile industry should do its part to reduce carbon emissions. Nokia has a long history of supporting key environmental and ethical issues and the latest white paper follows a new technology released in 2016 called Nokia AirScale Radio Access, a high efficiency radio network designed to reduce power consumption. The paper, entitled Building zero emissions radio access networks, outlines the companys position, especially on global warming caused by a buildup of greenhouse gases, which is associated with burning fossil fuels. The report states: Global warming is a threat to every person on the planet, which is why governments have joined forces to address the challenge. The report was mentioned by the Global mobile Suppliers Association, or GSA, via Twitter last week and a Nokia spokeswoman explained: Nokia has always had a strong sustainability approach. That is, in protecting the environment, this means reducing the environmental impact of both our own operations and that of our customers. In the detail, the white paper make a number of observations. One is that over two thirds of all installed masts or base stations are using obsolete technology, or in their language unmodernized. Older equipment is less power efficient than newer kit, but the means of converting a radio network to be zero emissions will take many years and replacing the masts is only one part. However, for network operators there are considerable advantages to doing this not only will a business reduce its carbon footprint, but also its energy bill as well as boost its reputation within the industry. Nokia estimate as the majority of an operators carbon emissions are from the portfolio of antennas and masts and of this, around 80% of energy is consumed by the base stations. Replacing older networking equipment for new, high efficiency hardware will bring about it a meaningful difference. Another part of Nokias report is that of introducing more reliance on renewable energy sources, including solar and wind power. The white paper points out that modern renewable energy sources are significantly more reliable than similar equipment from only a decade ago, where previous trials were considered technical failures on account of the variable availability of energy. Furthermore, renewable energy technologies are still more expensive than traditional, conventional technologies but the cost difference is narrowing. American semiconductor designer, Qualcomm, has issued a statement saying Apple intentionally mischaracterized [their] agreements and negotiations as an initial defence to the news that Apple has filed a lawsuit. This lawsuit against Qualcomm is for more than $1 billion, which Apple claim has been withheld as punishment by Qualcomm because Apple collaborated with South Korean authorities in a recent anti-competitive case. Furthermore, Apples case is also that Qualcomm are insisting that they pay royalties for older technologies despite repeated attempts to negotiate new terms. Apple, of course, are no stranger to the courtroom but neither is Qualcomm. Both have taken an aggressive legal stance against the opposition. Apple and Qualcomm have both a customer and supplier relationship as well as being indirect competitors. Apple have used Qualcomms baseband or modem chips in number of products, but the two are indirect competitors in the chip design market. Apple design their own chips, which are only available for Apple devices, where Qualcomms designs are licensed for other manufacturers. In full, Qualcomms statement is: While we are still in the process of reviewing the complaint in detail, it is quite clear that Apples claims are baseless. Apple has intentionally mischaracterized our agreements and negotiations, as well as the enormity and value of the technology we have invented, contributed and shared with all mobile device makers through our licensing program. Apple has been actively encouraging regulatory attacks on Qualcomms business in various jurisdictions around the world, as reflected in the recent KFTC decision and FTC complaint, by misrepresenting facts and withholding information. We welcome the opportunity to have these meritless claims heard in court where we will be entitled to full discovery of Apples practices and a robust examination of the merits. Apples complaint seemed to echo sentiments from competition authorities from around the world, that Qualcomms licensing deals are unfair and penalise the customer. Qualcomms view is that they have designed and provided significant technology for the mobile sector and it is only fair that they are rewarded for this. Furthermore, Qualcomm have said that Apple have misrepresented facts and withheld information. Their statement comes with the promise that the company will be able to discover how Apple go about their business. Presumably, Apple would have anticipated this and are prepared to reveal their closely guarded secrets to Qualcomm representatives. Advertisement The Federal Trade Commission is separately suing Qualcomm for its contract with Apple to provide baseband chips, which it alleges is anti-competitive. Interestingly enough and perhaps anticipating ongoing legal battles with Qualcomm after years of using the one companys product, Apple diversified the iPhone 7 components by introducing a new baseband chip into the smartphone, manufactured by Intel. iPhone 7s for the American carriers, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, use the Qualcomm modem where as devices for the AT&T and T-Mobile US carriers use the Intel baseband. The Qualcomm modem is shared with the Samsung Galaxy S7 family. Industry tests have showed that this Qualcomm modem allows considerably higher download speeds in the Galaxy S7 compared with the iPhone 7 and at up to twice the download speed of the Intel-modem equipped models. If Apple were to stop using Qualcomm modems, this could give the company a model performance headache. The Huawei P10 could be more expensive than your think, at least according to a new rumor. According to Ricciolo, a well-known tipster, the Huawei P10 will be quite expensive, which essentially means it will be more expensive than the Huawei P9 was when it launched in April last year. He also mentions that the Huawei P10 will land during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona which kicks off at the end of last month and lasts until early March. Huawei had introduced a couple of truly costly smartphones in the last couple of months, including the Huawei Mate 9, the Huawei Mate 9 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 9. All three of these handsets are high-end offerings by Huawei, the first two devices are the companys flagships, while the third one is kind of a luxury smartphone, which is why it costs approximately $1,500. So, how much will the Huawei P10 cost? Well, we dont know, but do expect it to be more expensive than its predecessor, but we doubt it will be more expensive than $800, chances are it will be under $750 as well, but well see. We have seen quite a few Huawei P10 leaks and rumors recently, the device has been leaking left and right, and if the latest leak is to be believed, it will resemble the Huawei Mate 9, which was to be expected. It seems like Huawei is planning to release more than one variant of the Huawei P10, and one of those variants will feature a curved display. Huawei will probably introduce both the Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus during the Mobile World Congress, and you can expect both of those devices to ship with the HiSilicon Kirin 960 64-bit octa-core processor, which is Huaweis very own SoC. The Huawei P10 Plus will be the larger of the two smartphones, though theyre expected to pack very similar internals. Leicas lenses will be utilized in both of these devices, as they were in the Huawei P9 series, while you can expect Android Nougat to come pre-installed on the Huawei P10 and the Huawei P10 Plus, along with Huaweis Emotion UI (EMUI) 5.0 skin. Advertisement Buy the Huawei P9 Huaweis Watch 2 is said to be debuting next month, possibly at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and itll bring cellular connectivity along for the ride. According to Venture Beat, the Huawei Watch 2 is going have a built-in SIM card slot, which will allow the user to still use their smartwatch when their smartphone is not around, or when they are not paired. This is a feature that has begun to be more popular with smartwatches recently. This report doesnt mention whether itll be 4G LTE or simply 3G (which is fast enough to deliver notifications in a timely fashion), but it is likely to feature 4G LTE since that is the latest standard when it comes to wireless networks. The Huawei Watch 2 is actually supposed to look more sportier than the original did. Itll have a 42mm casing with a 1.4-inch circular display. Theres no word on what specs will be available inside the Huawei Watch 2, but itll likely sport Qualcomms latest wearable processor, the Snapdragon Wear 2100. Along with around 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. We may see a bit more storage available, since the Huawei Watch 2 is supposedly going to work independently, so there could be more room for saving things like music, offline. Many signs are pointing towards Huawei debuting this new Android Wear smartwatch at Mobile World Congress next month, however according to Venture Beat, their sources warned that the announcement date is not yet set in stone. Huawei does already have a press conference scheduled for February 26th, the day before Mobile World Congress officially opens up. Which is where they are supposedly launching a flagship device, which many people are expecting to be the Huawei P10. It wouldnt be that surprising to see the Huawei Watch 2 debut alongside the P10 at the same event. Advertisement The Huawei Watch 2 looks to be one of the first smartwatches to debut with Android Wear 2.0. Google is reportedly working with LG on two smartwatches that will launch with the new version of the software, and Huawei may be next in line, among many other smartwatch makers who are planning their releases for 2017. Samsungs next Tizen-based smartphone will reportedly bear the model number SM-Z250F and be the first phone to run Tizen 3.0 out of the box. This information comes from a report by SamMobile and the outlets sources also claim that the device has been codenamed Pride. The handset has apparently been under development for some time now and will be launched at some stage this year. According to the report, the upcoming device will be an entry-level smartphone that will be sold in emerging markets in South Asia and Africa, with an emphasis on more populous nations like India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Theres no word on whether Samsung will also release the device in other regions around the world including Europe and North America. The South Korean company has already launched a few Tizen-powered smartphones, including the Samsung Z, Z1, Z2, and the Z3. While not much is known about the phones hardware specs at this point in time, the report claims that Samsung is giving a lot of attention to one particular software feature that is currently not available on most other entry-level devices. Namely, the upcoming Tizen-powered Pride will apparently boast a major focus on voice control with Samsungs new AI assistant Bixby on board. Bixby will also reportedly be baked into the companys upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S8. The company got its hand on the assistant last October when it acquired a San Jose-based artificial intelligence startup Viv Labs, which was founded back in 2012 by the same group of people who had previously created Apples AI assistant Siri. It will indeed be interesting to see if Samsung eventually does include Bixby in the upcoming Tizen-based Pride as the device will likely be an entry-level handset if earlier Tizen smartphones from the company are any indication. It also remains to be seen if other Tizen-based devices from Samsung will also come with the companys new digital assistant, as most of Samsungs smartwatches, smart TVs, and fitness bands run on Tizen instead of Android Wear. For now, though, it is worth noting that these are still very early rumors, and with no concrete info on the companys next-gen Tizen smartphone, it is imperative that we take these rumors with a grain of salt. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ smartphone has been spotted on the GFX Benchmark website running Android 7.0 Nougat. The discovery follows the two sister Samsung Galaxy S6 family members, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, also spotted running Android 7.0 Nougat on the same website. Samsung has traditionally updated the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge to a new version of Android some weeks or months before following up with the Galaxy S6 Edge+. It is no surprise that the later, larger device was spotted running the new Android version after the smaller devices. The discovery follows Samsungs official announcement that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge devices are receiving the update to Android 7.0 Nougat and suggests that Samsung are pushing ahead with testing the larger Galaxy S6 family member. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ was released some months after the two smaller devices back in August 2015. The device is based around slightly improved hardware compared with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. The most obvious difference is that the Galaxy S6 Edge+ has a larger, 5.7-inch, QHD resolution AMOLED panel. Under the display the device has the same Samsung Exynos 7420 chipset as the two smaller devices, but is backed up with 4 GB of RAM rather than the smaller models 3 GB. Theres at least 32 GB of internal storage, a 16MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing camera for selfies and video chatting, plus a 3,000 mAh battery with support for both wireless and fast charging technologies. Samsung have given the Galaxy S6 Edge+ a front-mounted fingerprint sensor plus a heart rate and SpO2 sensors, which are useful for the Samsung S Health application and service. Even today, the Exynos 7420 remains a very capable System-on-Chip and the device has plenty of memory, so it should be capable of running Android 7.0 Nougat very well. However, at this time we have no official word as to when exactly Samsung are planning on releasing the software update to Android 7.0 Nougat for the Galaxy S6 Edge+. We will have a better idea once the new software is available for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge; although we do know that it will be before the end of June 2016. Samsung SDI announced a $128 million investment into improving the safety of its batteries. The Samsung Electronics-owned company will primarily invest resources into expanding its manufacturing operations and advancing its infrastructure to consequently produce safer batteries, the firm said in a statement on Monday. Samsung SDI is also establishing a special task force whose sole goal is driving innovation aimed at improving general product safety. Furthermore, the company revealed how it built an emergency situation room located at its Cheonan plant in western South Korea as soon as the Galaxy Note 7 was recalled last year. The battery-making division of Samsung Electronics announced these new measures as a direct response to the ordeal surrounding the companys latest phablet. The task force team established by Samsung SDI consists of 100 members of the companys development, production, and technology units. The team will both oversee existing operations and drive innovation in their field. The diverse structure of the new unit is meant to reflect Samsungs new focus on better connecting its large operations with the goal of avoiding safety issues like the ones that plagued the Galaxy Note 7. Samsung SDI also implemented X-ray inspections into its quality assurance process, the company said on Monday. The new measure is said to be efficient enough to determine a one in a million chance of product failure. The firm also increased the sampling size of all finished products its testing for defects by over 1,000 times. Samsungs battery-making division is confident the new measures are sufficient to ensure maximum product safety in the future. Yesterday, Samsung announced a number of other safety measures for phone batteries and vowed that the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco will never happen again. The South Korean tech giant is now under immense pressure to make amends with the Galaxy S8, both in terms of innovation and safety. Despite the Galaxy Note 7 ordeal, Samsung isnt giving up on its phablet lineup and is planning to release the Galaxy Note 8 later this year, Samsung Electronics President DJ Koh revealed on Monday. It remains to be seen how consumers will react to the companys upcoming flagship, though most signs point to it being a commercial success. Samsung Electronics President Koh Dong-jin vowed that the Galaxy S8 will be a smartphone thats both safe and innovative. While speaking to Korean reporters on Tuesday, the companys executive reiterated how battery manufacturers were to blame for the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco, saying that its his responsibility to elaborate on what happened with Samsungs latest phablet before the Seoul-based tech giant unveils the Galaxy S8. Nonetheless, Koh explained how consumers are still demanding smartphones that are both slim and boast large batteries, adding how that kind of innovation is something Samsung wont abandon with the Galaxy S8. Following the Galaxy Note 7 ordeal, Samsung is now looking to rebuild its image as a leader in smartphone innovation while simultaneously regaining customer trust by delivering products that are perfectly safe, Koh said. Yesterday, the company announced new safety measures that will ensure its future batteries are as efficient as they can be while still being reliable and dependable. The past three generations of the Galaxy S flagship lineup was unveiled at the annual Mobile World Congress in February, but Koh hinted at the possibility of Samsung skipping this years trade show in Barcelona. The companys President said that the Galaxy S8 will be released after MWC 2017, though he didnt rule out the possibility of the company still unveiling its next flagship at the February event. Recent rumors suggest that Samsung is planning a special unveil event in New York City after MWC 2017 wraps up. While the event was previously said to be held in mid-April, new reports indicate that Samsung may unveil the Galaxy S8 in March while the phone will officially launch in April. The Galaxy S8 is expected to sport a larger screen than its predecessors while not boasting much larger dimensions in overall. The smartphone will also likely host Bixby, Samsungs upcoming AI assistant thats set to challenge the likes of Google Assistant and Amazons Alexa. The company will reportedly ditch the traditional home button with the Galaxy S8 and integrate an iris scanner into the device. Finally, Samsungs next flagship will likely be powered by the Exynos 8895 and the Snapdragon 835 in select territories. More information about the Galaxy S8 is bound to follow soon. Samsungs 2017 mobile strategy is focused on innovation, the Seoul-based tech giant revealed in its latest earnings report published on Monday. The company said its planning to innovate both in terms of hardware and software, and specifically asserted how its future innovations will encompass all tiers of devices. Like most other phone makers, Samsung believes the global phone market will experience a slow growth in 2017 but is still adamant to grow its business as efficiently as possible. The South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer said that new contemporary services will give it the competitive edge it needs to succeed in this increasingly saturated market. The company specifically mentioned artificial intelligence solutions as one of the key growth factors in 2017, which coincides with numerous rumors about Samsung working on an AI assistant called Bixby. In addition to innovation, Samsung used its latest financial report to reiterate its intent to focus on consumer safety in 2017. This statement is related to the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco which reportedly cost the company approximately $6 billion. Despite incurring significant losses due to the Galaxy Note 7 recall, Samsungs mobile division was still profitable and its hoping to improve its performance next year, mostly thanks to the premium phone market. Samsung is expected to release the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus in the first half of the year, followed by the Galaxy Note 8 in fall. All of its upcoming flagship devices should significantly boost its profits, the company said. Apart from innovative software features, Samsung is looking to differentiate its upcoming premium devices from competing products by adopting a unique design, the firms financial report states. The South Korean tech giant is also planning to launch low-end and mid-range devices that boast resistance to both water and dust particles, as well as integrated fingerprint scanners. Services like Samsung Pay and Samsung Cloud will also roll out to more territories over the course of 2017, the company said. In the short-term, Samsung is planning to increase shipments of its mid-range smartphones in Q1 2017 but is expecting to see slightly weaker phone profits as its flagship devices with largest profit margins likely wont launch until the second quarter of the year. The Android 7.0 (Nougat) update is due begin rolling back out again to select Sony Xperia devices soon. Sony Mobile took to Twitter to provide an update on the status of the OTA while also looking to reassure owners of Sony Xperia devices that the user experience is Sonys top priority. The OTA to Android Nougat for the Sony Xperia devices in question, actually commenced almost a week ago on January 17. However, the update was quickly pulled back again (on January 21) due to various issues that had been found with the update. As such, todays information is more designed to keep those who are waiting on the update in the loop on how the issues are being remedied prior to the update re-commencing a rolling out status. While a Twitter announcement is pretty short by nature, Sony has stated that they are still working on the inconsistencies which suggests that the issues found have not been entirely ironed out yet. Specifically, Sony addresses this news for the Sony Xperia Z5, Z3+ and Z4 Tablet. While Sony has yet to provide a firm indication of when the update will begin to roll back out again to users, the Twitter announcement does state that they are looking to resume the rollout ASAP. So it would seem to fair to assume that the update will be on its way again, sooner rather than later. While the latest announcement does not provide any further clarity on the issues in question, in previous reports, Sony was noted explaining that after updating a number of users were encountering various inconsistencies. Which seem to mainly focus on either audio playback (through third-party apps) and/or issues with the SD card and encryption. Likewise, while the Tweet simply mentions Z5, it is largely understood that this refers to the Xperia Z5 family in general. Therefore, owners of the Sony Xperia Z5, the Z5 Compact and the Z5 Premium. As well as owners of the older Xperia Z3+, and the Xperia Z4 Tablet. Although, it is currently unclear whether the update will be held back until the issues are considered fixed on all of the mentioned devices, or whether Sony will release for some devices beforehand, if they show quicker progress than the other affected Xperia models. There are currently four American national carriers offering coast to coast coverage. In subscriber number order, these are Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile US and Sprint. Of these four carriers, there is one that is more often appearing in headlines thanks in part to an outspoken Chief Executive and also to how the company has marketed and operated: T-Mobile US, and CEO John Legere. T-Mobile US calls itself the Uncarrier and in the last few years has changed the way it conducts business, and by so doing so has forced the other carriers to change their ways. Weve seen equipment installation plans all but replace traditional contracts and carriers forced to offer customers more for their dollars. In the latest Uncarrier announcement during CES this year, T-Mobile US announced it was going all in with plan charges and is ending the additional taxes and surcharges that many competitors place over and above plan costs on monthly bills. At the same time, Legere also announced solid results showing another gain in subscribers. T-Mobile US is on something of a roll, gaining subscribers quarter after quarter. The company is, however, paying for this high customer growth. According to data as at the third quarter 2016, T-Mobile US has the lowest ARPU (average revenue per user) figure of the four national American carriers. AT&T had the highest revenue, at $59.64, closely followed by Sprint at $58.03. Next is Verizon Wireless, with $47.52 but the company includes what the business calls lower value connections such as IoT and tablet devices, which the other carriers remove from this data. Finally, we have T-Mobile US at $48.15: essentially, the business is funding customer growth by aggressively marketing and reduced charges and as such the revenue generated by each user. The ARPU is one metric that carriers are measured in. Another is the service revenue, that is, the money generated by a business for providing the service. T-Mobile US has witnessed an increase in service revenue for several years now. In the third quarter 2016, its three national competitors saw a drop off in service revenue. Verizon Wireless saw a 5.2% decline, Sprint witnessed a 6.8% decline whereas AT&Ts drop was only 0.9%. However, during the same time, T-Mobile US managed a 13.2% increase in service revenue. T-Mobile US is expecting a double digit increase in service revenue over 2017. Lets take a look at the reasons why this should be the case. Firstly, T-Mobile US keeps adding customers. It stands to reason that all things being equal, adding more customers is a sure fire way of adding regular revenue. The company added 8.2 million customers in 2016 and of these, 3.3 million are described as extremely high-value postpaid subscribers. The company claims to have added over 100% of net subscriber additions since 2015, helped here by acquiring large numbers of dissatisfied customers leaving other carriers. Second, lets talk about T-Mobile US 2017 Uncarrier announcement: All In. This arrangement, which takes effect from the 1st of February, means that customer taxes, fees and the $5 autopay discount are included into the headline price. The other side to all in is that the company are also removing Simple Choice plans from their portfolio and are only offering customers the One plan, which offers unlimited airtime, minutes and importantly, data. This has the effect of putting all new customers onto the one plan even where they might not necessarily need so much data. T-Mobile US released the One plan late the third quarter 2016 and during this time, with only one month of the One plan being available, the company reported a 2.2% rise in average revenue per postpay subscriber. In other words, customers adopted the higher priced plan. Going forward, the simpler pricing structure should be good news for the business and the net effect of bundling up taxes and fees, together with effectively removing the $5 autopay discount, will cancel themselves out. Advertisement T-Mobile worked hard to increase its network coverage during 2016, but it has not been able to grow its number of retail stores as quickly. The company has plans to open another thousand retail stores by the middle of 2017. As T-Mobile US markets itself on a national level, the business already has significant brand recognition, which means that the new retail stores will not have to work so hard to establish themselves. The companys estimates are that these additional stores will reach another 30 to 40 million potential customers, which should help the company increase its customer base. The final part of T-Mobile US strategy for 2017 is to increase their exposure to the enterprise market, where currently the two bigger operators AT&T and Verizon Wireless have the majority of contracts. Currently, T-Mobile US have under 5% of the enterprise or big business market as they have concentrated their efforts on the consumer side of things. There are a number of reasons for this disparity in customer bases, such as customer inertia: many big companies do not move service providers quickly and if an existing arrangement is working, often do not see a reason to change. However, T-Mobile US has worked on improving its network coverage, which had been a weakness of the companys enterprise offering, and has now started marketing towards business. With so little market share, it has a long way to go but given such a relatively small number of enterprise customers, T-Mobile US could manage very respectable subscriber growth here. There are substantial differences between the consumer and enterprise markets and it remains to be seen how well T-Mobile US manage this, but an improvement here should be good news for driving the service revenue up. We can expect T-Mobile US, and its outspoken Chief Executive, to generate headlines during 2017 but under the surface, the carrier is working hard to generate service revenue. It will be interesting to see what new Uncarrier initiatives the company offers during the year and how the competition is forced to change their own offerings to stay competitive. Xiaomi is updating many of their phones to Android 7.0 Nougat with some of the more obvious being their most recent devices, which includes the Xiaomi Mi 5s, Mi 5s Plus, and the Xiaomi Mi 5. A list has recently been populated which reportedly shows all of the devices that are expected to get the update, as well as those which are not expected to be among those moving away from older versions of the Android software. That being said, the operative words are expected and unexpected, which means there is always a chance that Xiaomi could push the software to certain devices that are listed as unexpected and hold it back from those that are listed as expected. While the most recent phones that have been launched are sure to have the upgrade on the way, others that are bit older are generally being left out, such as the Mi 3 which is not expected to get the software version bump. This shouldnt be a surprise as older devices may not have the necessary hardware to support the new software, as is the case with even Googles lineup of Nexus phones, and generally any other manufacturer. The good news is that devices like the Mi 4 are getting the software, but this is as far back as it goes for the Mi franchise. Xiaomis Redmi Note lineup has at least a couple of devices that are expected to be updated like the Redmi Note 4 and the Redmi Note 3, but the Redmi Note and Redmi Note 4G are being left out. As for the rest of the devices that are slated to get the new Android 7.0 Nougat software, the list includes the Redmi 4, Redmi 4 Prime, Redmi 4A, Redmi 3s, Redmi 3s Prime, Mi Note 2, Mi Max, and finally the Mi MIX. Theres no way to verify this list so some of the devices may not get the update, and if all of the devices that are expected to get it actually do, theres no detail on when as no dates have been listed, though with software version updates its usually typical for the OEM to focus on the newest flagship devices first. Theres also no information just yet on what sorts of MIUI specific changes that each device can expect, although features and changes that are specific to Android 7.0 Nougat should be included, like the multi-window feature. Brexit the Daily Express and the 55 Tufton Street gang So keen are migrant workers to pay UK taxes, the Daily Express says more than 1 million citizen of them will rush in before the country leaves the European Union. Well, maybe they will. Maybe they wont. The headline figure is the opinion of Richard Tice, billed as co-chairman of the Leave Means Leave campaign. Why there should be a campaign to implement something decided by a free and legal vote is off. And how Tice came to be the voice for it is not investigated. But its exists. And the Express is all ears, keen to support Tices views and guesstimates on its front page. Indeed, this is the third time this January Mr Tices views have reached Express readers. Who is he? What is Leave Means Leave? The Express doesnt say much about the group based at 55 Tufton Street, London. The Independent has a little, reporting on February 10 2016: The address where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders The offices of 55 Tufton Street in Westminister [sic] are home to no fewer than eight right-of-centre organisations After the clanger in the headline, the Indy has some insight on goings on at 55 Tufton Street. But this low-profile four-storey block, a stones throw from Parliament, is home to no fewer than eight right-of-centre organisations dedicated to pulling Britain out of Europe and undermining the battle to curb global warming. We get some names, most of which the Daily Express seems to have on speed dial: The former Conservative chancellor Lord Lawson is one of the key figures at 55 Tufton Street, after he moved his climate-sceptic Global Warming Policy Foundation to the premises. This puts the foundation in the same building as the TaxPayers Alliance, the bullishly effective low-tax pressure group Were told that 55 Tufton Street is owned by Richard Smith. Who is he? Richard Smith is probably best known for flying David Cameron to his home in Shobdon, Herefordshire in 2007 shortly after the then leader of the Opposition proposed taxes on unnecessary flights His company, HR Smith Group, owns number 55 Tufton Street He is also a trustee of the Politics and Economics Research Trust, the charitable arm of the Taxpayers Alliance. At the time of writing, the Indy said you could find the following organisations at 55 Tufton Street: Global Warming Policy Foundation, Global Vision, The European Foundation, Civitas, Taxpayers Alliance, Business for Britain, Big Brother Watch and UK2020. You may well wonder why London-based think tanks carry so much weight in the media? If their thoughts trigger debate, we should know more about how their treatises came to be. Richard North claims: 55 Tufton Street is a nest of vipers. It harbours groups which form a nexus of influence which dominates the fringes of right-wing Conservatism. And it provides the spiritual home of those who believe they are entitled to run the leave campaign. Adding: the referendum is an opportunity to rethink how we do political research in this country, working towards the idea of virtual think-ranks, freed from the stultifying grip of the Tufton Street Gang, and the intellectual constraints that it brings. So to the Express story, which does little more than repeat Mr Trices claims. Over pages 4 and 5, we get Fears over EU migration in run-up top Brexit. Tice says we could easily see one million to 1.25 million extra EU migrants move to Britain if freedom of movement for EU citizens continues over the next two years. Will these rushing foreigners be allowed to hold British passports or continue to work here after the country leaves the EU? Dunno. How much will they pay in tax? Dunno. Will all the jobs they do be low-paid? Dunno. Few facts, then. But the Express has heard enough. Mr Tice says that estimate is a conservative one based on National Insurance registrations, it reports. One million could be millions of rushing foreigners. Tices guess does not take into account the extra pull factor of Britains looming departure from the EU, making this the last chance saloon for people to secure better prospects offered in the UK than elsewhere in the bloc. How many will see it as their last chance to leave the UK and secure better prospects in the bloc? Dunno. Lest readers still not have got the message that foreigners are to be feared, the Express presses f7 and conjures up one of its other sources of fact: MigrationWatchm, an outfit not hymned for its love of immigration. Have loaded the argument the Express invites readers to vote in a premium-rate phone line poll which asks, Should Britain act NOW to control immigration. Vote now and vote often. Karen Strike Posted: 24th, January 2017 | In: Key Posts, News, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink Palestinians lash out at Israel's plan for more settlements Abbas's spokesman warns move will 'promote terrorism' (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JANUARY 24 - The office of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has strongly criticized Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu's announcement that 2,500 more housing units for Jewish settlers will be built in the West Bank. ''This is a challenge and provocation towards the international community that will have consequences,'' news agency WAFA quoted Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina as saying. ''The move will hinder any attempt to restore security and stability and will promote extremism and terrorism by putting up obstacles to any way to achieve peace and security.'' (ANSAmed). MOSCOW - UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he hopes talks in Astana will conclude Tuesday, in response to a question on the final document expected to emerge from negotiations taking place on the Syrian crisis in Kazakhstan's capital city. De Mistura said the parties are working "in a fairly intense way" and "there are positive expectations". Osama Abu Zeid, a spokesman for the Syrian opposition, said the opposition "refuses to discuss political affairs: we're only interested in the ceasefire". "We won't talk about them until there's a ceasefire; we haven't discussed any political matters and we don't intend to discuss them," Zeid said. Another spokesman for the opposition, Yahya al-Aridi, said work is now focused on the details of the ceasefire agreement. "We expect there will be a ceasefire, we're working very carefully on this question, and we're devoting a lot of attention to the smallest details of the ceasefire," he said. Al-Aridi criticised Russia, Iran and Turkey, the three countries sponsoring the Astana talks. "There's the feeling that the guarantor countries are thinking more about their own interests than those of the Syrian people," he said. "We want to keep the ceasefire, but in order to do so the other sides have to think above all of the Syrian people". Russia, Turkey and Iran 'to monitor ceasefire' in Syria Accord inked in Astana, Ankara 'will not give Al-Bab to regime' (ANSAmed) - MOSCOW, JANUARY 24 - Russia, Turkey and Iran on Tuesday signed an agreement to create a joint mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Syria, Russian news agencies reported. A joint statement issued by the three countries on the results of the Astana talks on the Syrian conflict was cited. In the statement read by Kazakh foreign minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the three countries behind the Astana talks pledged to use their ''influence'' to strengthen the ceasefire. They reiterated that the Syrian conflict should be resolved peacefully on the basis of UN Security Council decisions, saying that they respect the ''sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity'' of Syria. They added that they support the talks planned in Geneva on February 8, that they are prepared to fight against terrorist groups in Syria such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (JFS, formerly known as Jabhat Al-Nusra) and that they will push for the separation of armed opposition groups from JFS. The Syrian government has accused Turkey of hindering the reaching of an agreement between the Syrian parties to the conflict present in Astana. Cited by the pro-Iranian television station Al-Mayadeen, the head of the government delegation Bashar Jaafari said that ''Turkey continues to put obstacles in the path of achieving positive results in Astana.'' Jaafari added that ''it is urgent resolving the issue of the border between Syria and Turkey''. The military operation against ISIS in Al-Bab was ''not launched to liberate it and give it back to the regime'' under Bashar Al-Assad, Turkish deputy prime minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said in an interview with state-owned Anadolu. He was refering to the Turkish army operation against a strategic stronghold of ISIS in northern Syria that has been underway for several weeks as part of the Euphrates Shield operation which ''concerns Turkish national security'', according to the Turkish government. Cited by the pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera, lead negotiator for the Syrian opposition Muhammad Alloush said that the Syrian regime, pushed by Iran, was trying to make the talks fail. He added that ''Iran is part of the problem'' and not of the solution, and that the opposition thus rejected the idea of Iran serving as a guarantor for the truce in place since December 30. (ANSAmed). AltaRoma winter fashion week to spotlight Med creations From 26-29/1, Lebanese, Libyan and Italo-Maltese designs (ANSAmed) - ROME, JANUARY 24 - Rome winter fashion week AltaRoma, taking place this year January 26-29 in former barracks across the street from the city's MAXXI modern art museum, will promote labels from throughout the Mediterranean under the theme "Fashion from the Rest of the World". AltaRoma President Silvia Venturini Fendi said that year after year, despite a decline in funding, the event aims to help emerging talents establish themselves in the world of fashion. Roman haute couture such as Gattinoni and Renato Balestra will participate in the event alongside foreign labels like Lebanese Rani Zakhem and young Mediterranean talents. One of those is Krikor Jabotian, a Lebanese of Armenian origin who, at age 21, trained in the creative department at Elie Saab. Jabotian has also worked with fellow Lebanese designer Hussein Bazaza, and in 2008 was chosen by the Starch Foundation, which supports emerging Lebanese designers, to showcase his collection. That year he was named a "Middle Eastern Designer of the Year" at Dubai Fashion Week. American photographer Jeff Bark will be on hand to capture their creations, as well as those of the Italian designer Antonio Grimaldi and Algerian Yacine Aouadi of Aouadi Paris. Another important event at AltaRome is the "World of Fashion" feature. Artistic director Nino Graziano Luca told ANSAmed that this year three Italian labels will be featured in the event (Azzurra di Lorenzo, Cerrone and Morphe), along with two foreign brands: Rujji, by Libyan designer Raja El Rayes; and Ferragiu, by Juliana Scerri Ferrante, who is also president of the Maltese Chamber of Fashion. "I've known Raja for many years and I wanted to give her visibility with an anthology," Luca said. The Rujji runway show will feature pieces that tell the brand's story from the last six to seven years, prior to the fall of the Gaddafi regime. Luca said the story of Ferragiu is something different altogether. "It was created in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Culture in (Maltese capital) Valletta," he said. He explained that the brand offers a unique product, bringing together the "savoir-faire" of Maltese and Italian artisans with prized Italian wool and silk. Luca said the World of Fashion event has hosted "about 60 designers from 23 countries" over the past 18 years. Included among those countries are Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Albania. He said this year's event will embrace the theme "migrants and fleeing war", which will be symbolized by a work of art: a wooden reproduction of a boat designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. The artwork will be loaned from the Palazzo della Cancelleria where it is currently part of the exhibition "Leonardo: The Genius and the Machines". Luca said it's a way "to remember the thousands of people who have died in the attempt to reach our shores and to thank the many Italian rescue workers".(ANSAmed). Italian embassy urges caution in Egypt on January 25 Tension possible due to anniversary of 2011 prising (ANSAmed) - CAIRO, JANUARY 24 - The Italian embassy in Cairo has warned its citizens in Egypt to be careful in the coming days due to the anniversary of the January 25, 2011 uprising. ''Demonstrations and tensions may occur. Italians in Egypt are urged to take care to avoid crowds and limit movements'', reads a statement issued online by the embassy. Telephone numbers are listed and the embassy stated that it would be available at any time. The embassy also sent out text messages noting heightened security measures. Over 5,000 Italians reside in Egypt including about 3,500 in Cairo. (ANSAmed). If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both The appointment comes after the approval of Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) and Honorary President of NAFL, due to Khediyas extensive experience of over 25 years in the field of shipping and logistics in local as well as international markets. Nadia Abdul Aziz, CEO, said the decision to appoint Khediya will support NAFL to implement its strategies toward further strengthening the freight and logistics industry in the UAE. The Board and Hogan first initiated the transition process last year with the formation in May of the Etihad Aviation Group, a diversified global aviation and travel organisation. Commenting on Hogans time at Etihad, Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, chairman of the Group said: We are very grateful to James. In just ten years, he has overseen the growth of the company from a 22 plane regional carrier into a 120 aircraft global airline and aviation group, with seven airline equity partnerships which together serve more than 120 million guests every year. It is a business which has set new benchmarks for service and innovation. Under his leadership, the company has provided new opportunities for thousands of Emiratis and has been a critical element in the remarkable progress of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We look forward to James continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways. Hogan said: Along with the Board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi. The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad. Commenting on current priorities for the business, Mazrouei said: To position the company for continued success in a challenging market, the Board and management team will continue an ongoing, company-wide strategic review. We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy. Last month, Etihad Airways unveiled plans to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG. A new codeshare agreement with Lufthansa and an aircraft leasing agreement between airberlin and Lufthansa were also announced. As a minority shareholder, Etihad is actively participating in the next phase of Alitalias restructuring plan. Mazrouei added: Etihad is a great business with strong fundamentals and a deeply experienced aviation and airline management team. These assets, along with a realigned organisation, provide more agility and added focus as Etihad enters the next phase of its development. Analyst Saj Ahmad said: The planned departure by Etihad's group president and CEO James Hogan doesn't come as a complete surprise. Having overseen a rapid period of growth, expansion and shift towards moving premium cabin offerings above that of its competition, Etihad is arguably well positioned to move forward with new leadership that will set the foundation for its shift to Abu Dhabi's Midfield Terminal and allow it to unlock it's growth potential. Ahmad added: However, Etihad's piecemeal airline stake acquisition policy has called into question whether these investments will ultimately pay off. Where Etihad has had success with Air Serbia and Air Seychelles, it has battled hard to try and turn around Air Berlin and Alitalia. Whether the new leadership team follow this model remains to be seen, however, Etihad's inherent strength and size put it in a very good position to continue its organic growth strategy as it expands it's fleet and network. Demonstrating the capability of its Pilatus PC-12NG aircraft, GI landed at Zero Gravity, Sky Dive Dubais famous drop off zone on Jumeirah Beach. The 750m landing strip is home to the Sky Dives PC-6, Twin Otter and NG Viking fleet. GI Aviations PC-12 became the first commercial aircraft to land there since it accepted fixed wing aircraft in 2011. This is an auspicious occasion for us, said GI Aviations Marios Belidis as the aircraft arrived on the flight from its current base at Al Bateen Executive Airport. The company received its GCAA Air Operators Certificate in December 2016 during the MEBAA show. GI Aviation is the first company to operate this aircraft commercially in the region and is pioneering an all new business model for the Gulf. Our goal is to deliver a competitively priced, reliable private charter service that will encourage new clients into this sector and stimulate the market, Belidis said. We are looking forward to engaging with charter brokers, travel agencies, corporate entities and individuals alike to demonstrate the unique characteristics the Pilatus PC-12NG holds over similar sized jets. We expect demand will initially focus on key city pairs in the region where we will serve Doha, Kuwait, Bahrain, KSA and Sir Bani Yas from Abu Dhabi and Dubai, he added. The distinctive Swiss-built high-speed turboprop (520 km/h cruise speed with a pressurized cabin of up to 30000ft) is well suited for private group charter. Equipped with a stylish BMW DesignWorks interior the aircraft offers the jet experience with a large rear cargo door. The introduction of this new market in the Gulf received praise from MEBAA founding chairman Ali Alnaqbi who said that entrepreneurial companies like GI Aviation with the flagship PC-12NG and fresh approach to marketing is going to help widen the customer base for business aviation in a region where larger jets typically dominate. On short flight routes within the Gulf region, the PC-12NG makes commercial sense, he said. GI Aviation expects to receive its second PC-12NG aircraft in February 2017 to begin operations at its primary base in Dubai South Airport. Left to right: Gabriel Cordova, First Officer; Yousif Al Hammadi, Director of Security and Government Relations for GI Aviation; Jukka Vito, Captain and Flight Ops Director; and Marios Belidis, General Manager, GI Aviation; at the launch of their private charter service and their first Pilatus PC-12NG at Sky Dive Dubai, one of the worlds most famous drop off zones. The super mid-sized business jet covered the 2,257 nautical miles/4,180 kilometers from McClellan-Palomar Airport to Kona International Airport at a brisk Mach 0.84. Flying from California to Hawaii involves crossing one of the longest isolated overwater stretches in the world, and the G280 can do that with ease, even after departing the short runway at Carlsbad, said Scott Neal, senior vice president, Worldwide Sales, Gulfstream. The class-leading performance of the G280 means this aircraft can connect cities other aircraft in the class just cant, including flying reliably from London to New York. The G280, which has earned 57 speed records since its November 2012 entry into service, can fly eight passengers 3,600 nm/6,667 km at Mach 0.80. The agreement covers Lufthansa's flights from each of Frankfurt Int'l and Munich to Tehran Imam Khomeini and will come into effect from February 1. Total international arrivals were up 18.3% last year, sustaining an upward path since 2013 (up 2.7%), 2014 (24.8%) and 2015 (12.7%). The pattern is reflected by a consistent year-on-year increase in total scheduled seats: 2014 (up 10.5%), 2015 (18.3%), 2016 (17.3%). The study is timely, coming just weeks ahead of the inaugural Iran Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (IHTIC) on 7-8 February 2017 in Tehran, which will be attended by numerous international investors and hotel industry experts. ForwardKeys, which monitors future travel patterns by analysing 16 million flight reservation transactions each day, also found that international arrivals to Iran saw positive monthly growth throughout 2016, with the exception of June because of the timing of Ramadan. The main source regions for air travel to Iran are North America, Europe and the Middle East. Together, they made up 83.7% of international arrivals during 2016. Germany, with a 14.3% market share, was up 8.3%, followed by the USA (10.7% share) up 9.3%. Bahrain, Canada and the UK, all with significant market shares, also showed healthy growth in visitors to Iran. Among the 12 top origin countries, only China and Pakistan were outside these main regions. ForwardKeys data also shows that 40% of Chinese visitors to Iran last year were on business trips. Looking ahead, forward bookings (ie: bookings already made for future travel) for the first half of 2017 are ahead 14.8%, based on those issued at the beginning of January, suggesting the upward surge of international visitors to Iran is still growing in momentum. Arrivals in Iran during 2017 are being boosted by increased air connectivity from a number of centres: Italy is benefiting from Alitalia and Iran Air tripling their scheduled seats since November last year. The Netherlands is connected by one more daily flight from Amsterdam to Tehran by KLM since October 2016. An increasing number of Belgian travellers are using Amsterdam to transfer to Iran, while Swiss travellers tend to route via Vienna, from where Austrian Airlines is doubling its scheduled seats during the first half of 2017. Olivier Jager, CEO of ForwardKeys, said: Our findings support the conclusion that political change in Iran is making the country more approachable an attractive place to visit and potentially do business. The image of Iran around the world is changing. Its many tourist attractions, historic, religious and spectacular, are once again being emphasised. I expect visitor numbers to increase, so long as Irans airport capacity can keep pace. Jet Aviation announced the acquisition of Ross Aviations FBO location at Washington Dulles International Airport, one of the world's most active business aviation markets. With more than 20 FBO operations worldwide, the addition of Washington Dulles allows Jet Aviation to meet increasing demand for high-quality, customer-oriented FBO services. Jet Aviations Washington Dulles facility encompasses six hangars, 10 acres of ramp space and a newly renovated best-in-class FBO terminal building that includes on-site Customs and Immigration clearance, VIP lounge, flight planning center, executive conference room and on-site car rental. We are delighted to expand our FBO network in the U.S. to include Washington Dulles International Airport, said Jet Aviation Group President Rob Smith. Washington Dulles is well connected to Jet Aviation's other US locations, particularly Teterboro Airport, and with a large volume of international traffic its a significant expansion of our global network. Jet Aviations unparalleled hospitality and premium customer service makes us a great addition to Washington Dulles, just in time for the Presidential Inauguration. The United States has been reluctant to give approval for the export sales of armed UAVs even to friendly nations in the Middle East. It has, however, sanctioned sales of the Insitu ScanEagle, an unarmed long-endurance mini-UAV that is launched using a pneumatic wedge catapult. Equipped with an electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensor and high-resolution video cameras that enable the operator to track both stationary and moving targets, the ScanEagle has a service ceiling of 5,000 metres and an endurance of more than 20 hours. Tunisia was the first country in the Middle East to operate the ScanEagle and, in July 2016, it was revealed that additional UAVs would be delivered under a US foreign military sales (FMS) contract. Insitu has also been awarded a $9.4 million contract to supply four upgraded ScanEagles to Lebanon, along with training, programme management and field service. Much of the work will be carried out at Hamat in Lebanon. Deliveries of 12 ScanEagles to Yemen began in 2015 but these have been halted due to the civil war. Ten UAVs were delivered to Iraq in 2014. Taking advantage of the US reluctance to give approval for the export sales of armed unmanned aerial systems (UAS), China has been staging a successful marketing programme in the Middle East to fill this gap. One of its most capable unmanned medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms is the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) Rainbow CH-4. With a wingspan of 18 metres and a length of 8.5 metres, the CH-4 has a maximum take-off weight of 1,330kg and a payload of 354kg. It has an endurance of 14 hours cruising between 150 180km/hr with a dash speed of 210km/hr. The payload includes electro-optic and infrared sensors for TV in a semi-retractable turret, synthetic aperture radar and semi-active laser guidance. The armed variant, the CH-4B, can carry up to six HJ-10 laser-guided anti-tank missiles or FT-9 60kg precision-guided bombs, or four FT-6A 250kg range-extended precision-guided weapons. Designed for the suppression of enemy air defences (SEAD) role, the FT-6A utilises a fragmentation warhead to destroy radio frequency communication systems, jamming, and command posts. Two systems of three CASC CH-4B platforms were delivered to Iraq in 2015 and are operating from Kut Airbase, supported by Chinese operators and maintainers. An undisclosed number have also been delivered to Saudi Arabia, which have been used to attack rebel forces Yemen during Operation Restore Hope. Saudi Arabia also operates the German EMT X-2000 Luna, an unnamed short-range surveillance UAV over Yemen. The Algerian Air Forces No 545 Squadron is equipped with unarmed versions of the CH-4, while Egypt and the UAE are also reported to have acquired the UAV. The UAE has been developing a family of MALE Yabhon UAVs designed by Adcom Systems but few have reached production. In March 2016, the UAE signed a 316 million ($353m) contract for eight Piaggio P.HH Hammerhead MALE UAVs. These are derived from the P180 Avanti II business twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Italian company, which is now owned by Mubadala Development Company, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm. The twin-pusher MALE has the Selex ES SkyISTAR mission management system (MMS) that manages sensors, video and data, and communications. The Hammerhead has an operational ceiling of 13,500 metres and an endurance of 16 hours with a 225kg payload and with a transit speed of 395 knots. It is the fastest MALE ever designed. However, the prototype crashed in May 2016, which may delay deliveries. One of the most successful short-range surveillance UAVs is the Austrian Schiebel S-100 Camcopter, a small rotary-wing air vehicle with a 50kg payload. An S-100 derivative, the Al-Saber, is in production in the UAE with more than 40 of 80 on order delivered to date. Two S-100 systems of two air vehicles, equipped with the L-3 Wescam MX-10 EO/IR sensor turret were delivered in 2011 for operation by the Jordan Armed Forces Reconnaissance Squadron. There is a growing global market for low-cost ISR platforms. Ecarys GmbH, the military division of Germanys Stemme AG, which won the French Armys tactical UAV contract with its S15-1-based Sagem Patroller against the Thales Watchkeeper, is offering an optionally manned variant (OPV), the ES15. Powered by a single 115hp Rotax 914F, the Patroller can carry 250kg of high-performance multi-sensor intelligence-gathering payloads, including optronics, radars, and electronic warfare (EW) systems in sensor turrets and under-wing pods to an altitude of 6,000 metres for up to 30 hours. In September 2015, Sagem announced that it had teamed up with the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Aircraft Factory to offer the Patroller MALE to the Egyptian armed forces. AOI would be responsible for final assembly of the Patroller in country, and would provide system support and commissioning, according to Sagem. No firm order has yet been announced. Stemme is promoting its ES15 OPV, a single-engine multi-sensor surveillance variant of its high-performance composites aircraft, on which Patroller is based. With an endurance of up to 20 hours, and a maximum range of 2,500km at low consumption cruise, the ES15 can carry a 350kg payload, including an electro-optical gimbal system and an infrared sensor on under-wing pods and an airborne laser scanner or synthetic aperture radar in the fuselage. The aircrafts composite construction gives a very low radar signature and low cross-section. With low noise emissions and an operating cost of only 300 ($335) per hour, Ecarys is confident of a wide market, especially in the Middle East. At the same time, Qatar is developing an OPV ISR the Q01 platform designed by the former CEO of Stemme AG, Dr Reiner Stemme. High flames could be seen Monday afternoon after a propane truck rolled and caught fire. Shortly before 1 p.m. Monday, a Farmers Co-op propane truck drove off the roadway onto a soft shoulder. The rear tires caught the soft shoulder, which caused the truck to roll. The truck then caught fire, according to a press release from the Gage County Sheriffs Office. The crash occurred mile west of Southwest 61st and the PWF roads, around six miles north of Odell. The driver, Douglas A. Pieper, 54, was able to exit the vehicle. He driver received minor injuries and burns. Pieper was transported to Beatrice Community Hospital by a private vehicle. The wreck was investigated by the Gage County Sheriffs Office, which was assisted by the Odell Fire Department, Wymore Fire and Rescue, Nebraska State Patrol, and Norris Public Power. The 2017 Beatrice Public Library Book Discussion will be co-sponsored with Homestead National Monument of America featuring books from the Nebraska 150 Books project. Committee members from the Board of the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors recommended a list of 150 titles selected as a way to celebrate Nebraskas 150th birthday. A shorter list of 42 titles is the focus of a reading program that will end on March 1, 2017, Statehood Day. More information about Nebraska 150 Books can be found at www.Nebraska150Books.org . The first selection will be Hams, Eggs and Corn Cake; A Nebraska Territory Diary by Erastus f. Beadle. It will be discussed on Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Sargent Conference Room at the Beatrice Public Library. This book was originally published in 1923 with the title To Nebraska In 57 which helps explain its selection as the initial title in the series. It predates Nebraskas Statehood by ten years and also parallels the founding of both Beatrice and Blue Springs. Participants can read about activities in an area north of Omaha City and at the book discussion, they will be able to hear about events that happened at the same time in Gage County Mr. Beadle created a remarkable record of his impressions of Nebraska Territory. It is recognized as both an informative and entertaining account of early days in this state. The discussion will be lead by Laureen Riedesel, a member of the Nebraska 150 Book Committee. Copies of the book can be borrowed from the Beatrice Public Library. OMAHA The university system president is providing extra oversight on spending at the University of Nebraska at Omaha campus that he's not requiring at the three other university campuses. President Hank Bounds confirmed to the Omaha World-Herald that he's reviewing any new nonroutine expenditure of $10,000 or more. He says the state's budget bind and particularly tight financial margins at the Omaha campus prompted his move. Bounds also says the extra oversight is no slight to Omaha's chancellor, John Christensen, who is retiring in the middle of the year. Christensen says the directive indeed reflects the state's budget challenge and also is based on the fact that a new person will be in his office this year. YEREVAN, JANUARY 23, ARMENPRESS. The traditional festive reception of the members of Chezh Republic-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group was held in the Armenian Embassy in Prague on January 19, press service of the MFA told Armenpress. In his welcoming speech, Armenian Ambassador Tigran Seyranyan talked about the bilateral relations, stating that the positive dynamics of the previous years continued in 2016, and the year was marked by the official visit of the Czech President Milos Zeman to Armenia, as well as by a number of mutual visits. The Ambassador expressed confidence the mutual partnership between the two states in various sectors will expand during 2017. Speaking about the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia, Ambassador Seyranyan said Armenia is interested in holding fair and transparent elections in accordance with the international standards. Chairman of the Czech Republic-Armenia Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group Robin Bohnisch in his turn thanked for the traditional reception and wished success to the two countries and peoples. Other high-ranking officials of the Czech Republic, Armenian community representatives took part in the reception. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) initiated a campaign for justice on the occasion of the launch of Donald Trumps tenure as the 45th US President, reports Armenpress. ANCA calls on all interested people to address letter to Trump and urge him to assist Armenia. The campaign initiated by the Committee in particular calls on to tell the new US President about the justice on the Armenian Genocide, to recognize the independence of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, as well as to further strengthen the relations with Armenia. Donald Trump won in the US Presidential election on November 8, 2016. After the inaguaration ceremony on January 20, 2017, Trump officially assumed the Presidents post. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Parliament Speaker of Armenia Galust Sahakyan on January 24 had a meeting with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Armenia Eiji Taguchi, press service of the Parliament told Armenpress. Welcoming the guest, Speaker Sahakyan positively assessed the intensification of Armenia-Japan parliamentary relations of the recent years. He expressed hope the activity of the Japanese Embassy in Armenia will in its turn contribute to the development and strengthening of bilateral relations. Galust Sahakayn attached importance to the role of parliamentary friendship groups of the two countries in this regard. He said there are great expectations over the implementation of Armenian-Japanese joint projects and further cooperation. In his turn the Japanese Ambassador said the Armenian-Japanese relations are gradually developing. Referring to the upcoming visit of the Armenian parliamentary delegation led by Galust Sahakyan to Japan, the Ambassador expressed hope the visit will boost the bilateral relations and contribute to actively cooperating in the fields of culture, politics, economy and etc. The Ambassador said during the visit the Armenian parliamentarians will have a chance to examine the Japanese experience of parliamentary governance, as well as the Japanese culture and history. Other issues related to the upcoming visit were discussed during the meeting. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. On January 24, 2017, in accordance with the agreement reached with the leadership of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted a planned monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the north-west of Seysulan village of the NKR Martakert region, press service of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Armenpress. From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistants to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Irji Aberle (Czech Republic) and Ghenadie Petrica (Moldova). From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant to the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria), Personal Assistant to the CiO Personal Representative Simon Tiller (Great Britain), and staff member of the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden). The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. From the NKR side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. The Other Side of Home a documentary by Nare Mkrtchyan - which is under consideration for an Academy Award, was screened for film industry members, including members of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, at New Yorks Soho House, Asbarez reports. The final five nominees for the category will be announced Tuesday, January 24th. Im so thankful that this film was chosen as one of the final ten candidates for an Academy Award. As a grandchild of survivors of the Armenian Genocide this means a lot to me. In a way, its a confirmation that this topic which has been silenced for so long is universally understood, that its one worth telling, and one that audiences would like to sew, Mkrtchyan said. Conceived, directed and narrated by Mkrtchyan, the 40-minute documentary follows her on a trip Turkey in April, 2015, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. The 89th Oscars will be held on Sunday, February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. YEREVAN, JANUARY 24, ARMENPRESS. Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to set up ceasefire monitoring mechanism in Syria, reports TASS. Kazakhstans Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov read the joint statement by the three countries following the talks on Syrian conflict settlement in Astana on January 24. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara are committed to the principles of Syrias sovereignty and territorial integrity and believe that there is no military solution to the conflict in that country. We confirm our commitment to the principles of Syrias sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity. We express our confidence that there is no military solution to the Syrian conflict. The conflict settlement is possible only through a political process based on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2254, he said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From Artesia, Laura Mischke Simon received a significant gift every librarians dream, really: To build a library from the ground up. Mischke Simon arrived in Artesia from Sioux City, Iowa, nearly two years before the March 2015 completion of the new Artesia Public Library. She accepted the position of library supervisor in replacement of former supervisor Pam Castle, who continued to remain on board to aid in the facility transition. Around one month after the new library opened its doors, Castle retired, and Mischke Simon settled fully into her new role. Theres nothing like being in at the beginning and building a library, Mischke Simon said last week. Its such a feeling of ownership and pride, and this library is fantastic. It turned out so beautiful. Along with their support staff, Mischke Simon and her team of librarians which includes adult services librarian Jo Scott, teen services librarian Erin Loveland, and childrens services librarian Geri Dosalua went to work immediately on taking full advantage of all their new library had to offer. Coming over here just opened up so many possibilities, because we were so cramped and so limited in the old library, Mischke Simon said. Weve been able to do so much more programming-wise and outreach-wise, and it shows in our numbers. Circulation has gone through the roof, and the number of people through the doors has doubled. Its been such a pleasure to be in on that and the move over here, and everything that has allowed us to do. The library staff is now able to engage Artesians of all ages through a wide variety of special programs and events; each month, numerous activities can be found taking place at the library. Being able to come over here and encourage the staff to be as creative and open to new ideas as possible has been amazing, Mischke Simon said. Im really proud of the things that they have done and been able to provide to the community just by being wide open to Well, lets try it and see what happens. But theres also the simple draw of the pleasing open floor design, numerous computer stations and meeting rooms, and, of course, Peter Hurd mural that make the library a favorite everyday destination. Its wonderful that teens have more to enjoy now than just their little corner at the old library, said Mischke Simon. They can sit, read, hang out, do homework. And the increase in the amount of computers has been wonderful, as well. People constantly had to wait for computers at the old library. It also took up staff time, keeping track of who was on, how long theyd been on. Here, its never been an issue. We have enough computers for everyone who needs one, plus the technology has taken the pressure off the staff it just automatically shuts down now when time is up. And its not just people from Artesia. Having this facility and having it be as well-known as it is, we have people come in driving from Roswell or Carlsbad or other places throughout the country who say, I came here specifically to see this library, I came here specifically to see the mural. But although Mischke Simon has enjoyed her time helming the Artesia facility, a recent opportunity arose that was too tempting for her to pass up, and she spent her final day as library supervisor last Saturday. I accepted another position, and its as the executive director of the Jefferson County Library System in Arkansas, Mischke Simon said. Its a county-wide system with five different branches in five different communities. Theyve also just passed a bond issue. Four of the libraries will be renovated, and the main branch in Pine Bluff, Ark., will be building an entirely new library. Mischke Simon is particularly excited to apply lessons she learned during the building of the new Artesia Public Library to her next endeavor. To be in on the design phase of a new library, you learn a lot going through that process, and there are a lot of things I learned that I will take with me and that will be of great benefit to me in that project, she said. The position of library supervisor is currently posted on the City of Artesias website, and while the library remains a bit short-staffed until it is filled, Mischke Simon is confident all will go smoothly as Artesia finds its next librarian. Weve worked hard to spread out the duties so everybodys helping out a little bit, which is what the staff has always done worked together and helped each other out, she said. Itll be a seamless transition when the new person comes in. They have a wonderful facility and a wonderful staff to take over, and itll go great places. As she begins her next project, Mischke Simon is proud of the legacy she and her staff have created and encourages Artesians to continue to take advantage of the biggest adventure a small town has to offer: its local library. This has been a wonderful experience, and having the opportunity to not just work in this library but really have my imprint on it has been fabulous, Mischke Simon said. The support Ive received from the community was great, and to have that wider impact on everyone from infants to the elderly is really special. If you havent been to the library and you havent spent time here, its a wonderful respite. We not only have books and e-books but newspapers and magazines, and its just a great place to take a step out of the hustle and bustle, enjoy the ambiance, relax, and just get away from everything for a little while. The criminal network handled artworks looted from war-stricken countries, as well as works stolen from museums and other sites, the statement said. In the southern Spanish city of Murcia, the police recovered about 500 archaeological pieces, including 19 stolen from the citys archaeological museum in 2014. Its on the tiny Ilet La Biche, a tiny spit of land off the coast of the main islands of Guadeloupe in the West Indies, is rapidly being subsumed by the sea. There is no land, really. You can walk around the structure but you walk in the water, basically. The idea, he added, is that each artwork will die on the island. Its unusual for me to write pieces that dont see print, but back in the days when I was covering classical music and dance for Time, the press of breaking news would occasionally knock me out of the book. That happened when I wrote about Mikhail Baryshnikov, whom Id seen on stage many times but never met, in 1998. The occasion was his fiftieth birthday, which he celebrated by giving a series of solo concerts, his first in America. In those days Time considered such things sufficiently important to send me to interview him at his Manhattan apartment. Heres how star-struck I was: when I got there, I looked at his mailbox to see if his full name was on it. (It was.) I wrote what I thought was a pretty good piece. Alas, it was scheduled to run on the same week that it became known that President Clinton had had a fling with Monica Lewinsky, and so it was killed. If memory serves, it ran in the Latin American edition of Time, but nowhere else. I did review Baryshnikovs City Center concert for the New York Daily News that same week: No matter what hes dancing, Mikhail Baryshnikov fills his space to overflowing, and to see him perform alone is to witness one of the few indisputable miracles that contemporary dance has to offer. But my Time piece was relegated to my files, and I didnt even think about it again until the other day, when someone on Twitter asked the world a wonderful question: Whos the coolest person youve ever interviewed? All at once I remembered my Interview That Never Ran, and found that I still had an electronic copy. Here it is, in its entirety. I hope it amuses you. * * * Once Mikhail Baryshnikov was as pretty as a ballerina, and soared through the air with heedless grace. Now age has peeled the prettiness from his bony face, just as three decades worth of jumps and turns have left their cruel marks on his small, wiry body. But even after five knee operations, the greatest dancer of our time, who turns 50 on Jan. 27, is still dancingbrilliantly. Fifty is just a date, Baryshnikov says. It doesnt mean anything. Hell be proving it this week at New Yorks City Center, when he gives his first American solo recital ever. Why solo? Why now? Why not? Baryshnikov replies cheerily, in a soft voice whose every vowel is redolent of the former Soviet Union, from which he defected in 1974 (and to which he returned for the first time last October, dancing a solo concert in Riga, his birthplace). Ive been working on solo repertory for many years with different choreographers, and a few years ago I first had the idea to try to do a full evening of solos. It sort of keeps me happy, and keeps me on my toes, keeps me in shape. What keeps Baryshnikov on his toes today, to be sure, are not the high-flying classical ballet roles that made him the most famous male dancer since Rudolf Nureyev. For the past seven years, he has led a small troupe, the White Oak Dance Project, which performs the works of such noted modern-dance choreographers as Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp and Merce Cunningham; his City Center program will feature Morris Three Russian Preludes and the world premiere of HeartBeat: mb, a dance by Sara Rudner and Christopher Janney accompanied not by the yearning strings of Tchaikovsky, but the amplified sounds of Baryshnikovs heart. Nor does his dancing look the same as it did in the days when his appearances in Giselle and Don Quixote filled the Metropolitan Opera House with starry-eyed fans. I dance the way my body understands, he says matter-of-factly. When choreographers make dances on me now, they know that I cannot be much in the air and I cannot be much to the floor because of certain physical problemsmy knee, you know. Which means I am somewhere in the middle. They know my register, my octave. But I feel 100% at home in this octave. Maybe I cannot take high C anymore, but I know exactly what I can do. The challenge of sustaining what he reckons to be an hour of pure solo dancing would be daunting for a man half Baryshnikovs age. But once the curtain goes up, everything snaps into place: The evening goes really fast for me. At the end, Im sort of losing sense of time, and it floats. The hours before the show, theyre sometimes dragging, Im sort of nervous, trying to get away from all these negative thoughts, insecurity, anxiety. Baryshnikovs decision to give up classical ballet is, he says, final. I can still do a few classical pieces very easily, he explains pensively, but theres no time left. My life is almost over. I believe in family genetics, and I feel that to put together amount of years that my mother and father lived in this world and divide by twothe difference, you know, its not much. So I am working now just for total pleasure. It is not a job, its not for money. It keeps me scared. Because I like to get scared. I like to get nervous. To go in front of peopleits fun. A smile crackles across his face, and he speaks in the plummy tones of a circus barker: Come to see Grandpa dance! Ho, ho, ho! Some of the fans who flock to City Center to see Grandpa Misha dance (he will also be performing in Los Angeles, Escondido and Santa Barbara next month) will surely be startled by the rigor and austerity of the modern works he now espouses so compellingly. But Baryshnikov has always been the most curious of the great dancers, and his boundless curiosity, as he well knows, is no small part of what makes him great. It was what made him take his life in his hands and break away from his KGB guards in Toronto a quarter-century ago; it is what makes him submit to the sometimes painful demands of choreographers who were still in diapers when he took his first curtain call. I try to digest the best influences, the best moves and mannerisms, of other dancers whom I highly, highly admire, and I try to make all those elements my own, he says. But Im also just trying to be myself on stage. Just me, nobody else. And thats enoughif it works. It always has. * * * A rare home video of a 1998 performance by Mikhail Baryshnikov of Sara Rudners HeartBeat: mb. The venue and performancedate are unknown: Baryshnikov receives a Kennedy Center Honor in 2000. The presenter is Gregory Hines: It was a year ago today that I began posting tributes to Carl Weissner (1940-2012), whose unexpected death last January came as a shock. My own words went up with a photo and funeral announcement by the filmmaker Signe Mahler, another of his friends. The poet and performance artist William Cody Maher, the journalist and author Matthias Penzel, the author and literary accomplice Jurgen Ploog, all sent tributes of sorrow and praise. That only scratched the surface of an outpouring in newspapers, magazines, and blogs, largely in Germany, where Carl lived and worked as the peerless translator of more than 100 books mostly the writings of American vanguardists from William Burroughs and Charles Bukowski to Nelson Algren, from Andy Warhol and Allen Ginsberg to Ken Kesey, from Frank Zappa and Bob Dylan to Harold Norse the list goes on and on from the British authors J.G. Ballard and Denton Welsh to the Canadian jack-of-all-trades Leonard Cohen Ill stop there. Carl was also a little magazine editor, a radio playwright, and a literary agent who spread the work of dissident writers even further. Not least by any measure, he was the brilliant, bilingual author of four killer works of fiction, The Braille Film and Death in Paris (both written in English) and Manhattan Muffdiver and Die Abenteuer von Trashman (both written in German). Now, on the anniversary of his death, Carls friends and colleagues have been remembering him again with as much gusto and warmth as ever. Last night (Thursday, Jan. 24) in Heidelberg, Signe and Cody showed the first 20 or so minutes of a film documentary theyre making about Carl. great, and moving, too, to see Carl up there on screen. telling tales, Walter Hartmann messaged in an email. Walter, who was another of Carls cherished colleagues, writes: Signe/Cody collected quite a few of his oral recollections re this n that over cafe tables or @ their home. [] ever hear Carl relate the story how he, age 6, went on a ride w/his grandfolks over into the french sector gramps at the wheel theyre going to relatives who have a vineyard, war is over and gramps wants to stock up on good ole white wine, right? trouble is, youre not allowed to import wine from the french into the american sector. now on their way back, gramps dont give a hoot, you see he hit the accelerator, its a good ole DKW? going 80 kmh max, and they CRASH right thru that checkpoint french guards shooting their MPs, bullets hit the car but hurt no one lil Carl is safe in back behind the wine case load [] plus (in the film) he talks abt how in his own write he plans to include N.Lunch characters (such as Hassan OLeary) & let them DIE since he cant see why they shd be allowed to LIVE Besides Walter, who recently translated Death in Paris into German for the Vienna publisher Milena Verlag , others at the Heidelberg gathering included Benno Kasmayr, the founder of Maro Verlag , which published Carls early translations of Bukowski back in the 60s, and Matthias, who is editing Milena Verlags forthcoming volume of writings, Eine Andere Lega, which will be anchored by Walters DiP translation and is scheduled to appear in March. The night before (Wednesday, Jan. 23) in St. Gallen, Switzerland, Anna Boger & Florian Vetsch toasted Carl and remembered him in a reading-cum-performance, Revisited, at the Palace / Blumenbergplatz. Anna is a noted German actress who often performed in readings with Carl. Florian, who worked with Carl on three anthologies and appeared with him in readings in Switzerland, is editing a special memorial issue of the Zurich magazine Rote Fabrik Zeitung (RFZ: Red Factory Magazine) dedicated to Carl. It, too, will be published in March. Laurin is standing at the window on the left looking across the grey sunbleached corrugated tin roofs, the noise of the streets only a distant murmur, and there is the dull feeling that maybe he is running dry. He has been wandering around all day, oblivious to his surroundings, bumping into people and getting shoved aside by delivery men, and nothing has come to him. He might as well light a candle at the feet of the Black Madonna in St. Sulpice and complain to her, in a pissed and grating tone of voice, Wheres my raison detre, goddammit? Lets wrap up this blogpost with words from the maestro himself, shall we? Here are a few from Death in Paris, detailing a brief moment in the life of its protagonist, a book-writing serial killer described as a virus in shoes, who is known alternately as Gerald Lake, G, G23, and Alain Laurin: Carl, god bless him, never needed one of those. Postscript: Feb. 8 Signe and Codys magnificent elegy! At times like these, when not only the United States but also the world is a-twitterno, forget the pun, much more than a-twitterseriously concerned about the political direction of so many countries, it may seem trivial to spend time on issues of art. Or even looking at art. Not reallyreaders know that I have always fostered the idea of museums as a place to think, to seek knowledge and revelation. I was cheered by the news that Angela Merkel, instead of watching the inauguration of Donald Trump, went to the opening of the Barberini Museum in Potsdam. Far from a dereliction of duty, it was admirable. She can catch up with the speechand probably already has. Ive been looking myself, as you have been. Several days ago, I went to Houston, to see Two Centuries of American Still-Life Painting: The Frank and Michelle Hevrdejs Collection, a recently announced gift to the Museum of Fine Arts there. As I write in a review published in todays Wall Street Journal, Its a Texas-sized goal. And if the exhibition doesnt quite attain it, well, it does succeed on other levels. For one, that private collectors have amassed such a wide range of American still lifes at all is a unique feat, writes renowned scholar William H. Gerdts, himself a collector of the genre, in the exhibition catalogue. The collection doesnt meet its goal because its too small to hit every point in the story. But, as I write at the end, its growing, and maybe someday it will. Meantime, go see it if you can. Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Responding to an RTI inquiry from Mumbai-based activist RBI denied having information with it. New Delhi: There is no record available of the fake currency which has been detected in the demonetised notes deposited in banks, Reserve Bank of India has said. Responding to an RTI inquiry from Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali seeking to know the extent of fake currency found in demonetised notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 deposited in banks till December 10, 2016, the RBI has said no information is available with it. Earlier, RBI had refused to disclose information about consultation undertaken before the demonetisation move was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8. Even Prime Minister's Office had refused to disclose if Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Minister were consulted before the decision was announced. The busy actor will take a trip abroad with his family this year. Salman Khan is known to be one of the most workaholic actors in Bollywood. At 51, the actor has ensured that his dates are blocked for nearly two more years, and vacations almost never appear on his wishlist. However, Salman, who is currently shooting for his next flick, Tubelight, has planned two major holidays in 2017. Salman will be going on two small vacations this year, a source reveals. He will be going on an international trip once he finishes shooting for Tubelight, and the next will be once he finishes shooting for major chunks of Tiger Zinda Hai. Salman is usually seen taking small breaks at his Panvel farmhouse, a little distance away from Mumbai. But this time, he seems to have a fun time in store for him and the family with a leisurely trip abroad. Gen. Bipin Rawat later interacted with officers and men at the Leh Garrison. Srinagar: Army Chief Gen. Bipin Rawat on Monday visited Siachen, the worlds highest battlefield in eastern Ladakh where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since 1984, to meet the soldiers. Siachen at a height of 19,600 feet above sea level has also been the scene of many natural disasters, leaving hundreds of soldiers dead or maimed. The Army Chief accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lt. Gen. D. Anbu also visited military formations and bases in Leh and Srinagar. Defence spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said that on his arrival at Siachen base camp, the Army Chief paid tributes to the martyrs by laying a wreath at Siachen War Memorial and then interacted with troops posted in the area. Thereafter, the Army Chief moved to Leh where he was briefed on the overall security situation and operational preparedness by the commander of the Army14th Corps, he said. Gen. Rawat later interacted with officers and men at the Leh Garrison. During his interaction, he appreciated the commitment, dedication, sacrifice and professionalism of all officers and men posted to the region and called up on them to continue to uphold the core values of the Indian Army, the spokesman said. In Srinagar, the Army Chief was briefed about the prevailing security scenario in the Kashmir Valley and the measures instituted to integrate all government agencies for efficient intelligence generation and successful conduct of (counter-insurgency and other) operations. The spokesman said, He complimented the soldiers on ground for their high morale, outstanding vigilance and state of preparedness. This was Gen. Rawats second visit to Kashmir after taking over as the 27th chief of the 1.3 million strong Indian Army earlier this month. He had visited the state for three days from January 5, his first outside New Delhli after taking over as the Army Chief. Gen. Rawat has served in J&K at the head of a brigade and a division and also commanded a counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles sector in the restive Valley, the experience that gave him the edge and was chosen as new Army Chief over two senior officers. The defence spokesman said, The Army Chief who has served the people of Kashmir in various capacities including commanding the prestigious Dagger Division in 20112012 and a Rashtriya Rifles Sector in Sopore - Bandipora in 2006-2007, also conveyed his greetings to the Awaam (people) of Kashmir and reassured them of the Armys commitment towards their well being. Kejriwal's attack on the poll panel comes in the wake of the EC censuring him for his bribe remarks made at a rally in Goa. New Delhi: Citing heavy bribery being carried out by other political parties in poll-bound Goa, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday attacked the Election Commission for taking him on, and said that the poll panel failed in stopping corruption ahead of elections. Responding to a tweet by fellow Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Ashutosh which said that a car was seen distribution money among the poor in Cumbarjua constituency in Goa, Kejriwal said, "EC fails to stop this. EC prevents me from saying-"Take money from them n vote 4 us". EC's msg - "vote 4 those who give u money". Meanwhile, the AAP has filed a complaint with the Election Commission in the matter. "In Goa ask anyone, he/she will tell you how political parties distribute money to buy votes. More than 20 crores has been distributed by candidates. In Cumbarjua constituency our volunteers saw a car distributing money among poor. A complaint has been made to EC. It's just a beginning," Ashutosh said in a series of tweets. Kejriwal's fresh attack on the poll panel comes in the wake of the EC censuring him for his bribe remarks made at a poll rally in Goa. The panel had warned that if he continues to violate the model code then stern action would be taken against him and his party including suspension or withdrawal of recognition to the AAP. The Election Commission stated that the statements amount to abetting and promoting electoral offence of bribery under Section 171B and 123(a) of the Representative of Peoples Act, 1951 and under Section 171E of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). "The Commission is, prima-facie, of the opinion that by making the statements you have violated the above said provision of the Model Code of Conduct," the order read. Attempting to downplay the summons issued against him Kejriwal had said that he was instead trying to end the heinous practice of accept bribes in exchange of votes, adding the poll body must appoint him as its brand ambassador. The AAP supremo in a statement said the notice suggesting that he asked the people to accept bribes in exchange of votes is absolutely baseless. "The truth is I am actually trying to end this heinous practice. The entire nation is aware that the AAP was built for the cause of ending corruption," said Kejriwal. "I said that if other parties offer you bribe then accept it, but vote only for the Aam Aadmi Party. What wrong did I say? Where am I instigating the people here? Had I asked them to accept bribe and vote for that very party then it would be assumed that I am trying to incite them, but the fact is that I am asking them to do the exact opposite?" he added. Asserting that the Election Commission has been trying to curb the practice of buying votes for the last 70 years, Kejriwal further said this would end in two years if the poll body accepts his assertion. "I am only trying to put an end to the practice. The Election Commission should elect me as its brand ambassador. We even proved it right in the Delhi assembly elections. The people (in Delhi) accepted whatever the Congress and BJP offered, but ultimately vote for us," he added. The Commission observed on the basis of media reports that unprovoked police action amounts to violation of human rights. Pro-Jallikattu protesters during a violent clash with the police near Marina Beach in Chennai on Monday. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports that after the passage of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the State Assembly, the state police, without any prior caution, resorted to beating, arresting and damaging private property in order to disperse a large number of people gathered at landmark places in Chennai in support of Jallikattu. It has taken a serious view of the unprovoked police excesses and has issued notices to the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Government of Tamil Nadu and Chennai Police Commissioner calling for reports in the matter within two weeks. The Commission observed on the basis of media reports that unprovoked police action amounts to violation of human rights. Visuals on television news channels as well as videos on social media show that police set on fire huts, autos, motor cycles, vegetable shops on streets and other properties in streets in Chennai. Bleeding students ran for their life. Police even entered into the houses and started beating people indiscriminately. The police blocked the major routes leading to Marina Beach as well as Chennai city, the Commission observed. The people of Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai, had been conducting protests over a week demanding conducting of 'Jallikattu', a sport associated with 'Pongal' festival reflecting Tamil culture. Govt plans to investigate sabotage angle in recent mishaps. New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency has sent a team to the train accident site at Vizianagram to investigate any possibility of a sabotage. The Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Express train had derailed near Vizianagram on Saturday in which nearly 41 persons are said to have been killed. The NIA is already probing the role of Pakistans ISI in the train accident near Kanpur in November last year after some criminals arrested by the Bihar police disclosed that they were paid by the ISI to plant explosives on the train. Sources said the Centre was planning to constitute a multi-agency team for further investigations into possibility of sabotage in recent cases of train accidents. Following the disclosure made by the criminals arrested by the Bihar police, we are not taking any chances. So all incidents of train derailment or accident in the last few months are being thoroughly investigated to ascertain whether there was any sabotage on part of Pakistans ISI. Nothing can be ruled out at this stage since rail network is a soft target and since surgical strikes, Pakistan has been trying to increase subversive activities in the country, a senior intelligence official said. The NIA is looking into the larger conspiracy involving ISI agents based in Nepal and Dubai into recent cases of train derailment. If claims of those arrested by the Bihar police are found to be correct, it would be the first incident of train derailment in India carried out on instructions of ISI. The home ministry has also sought reports from the Research & Analysis Wing about ISI activities in Nepal, Dubai and India. Intelligence sources said they too had received so-me inputs that Pakistans ISI had paid Rs 30 lakh to its agent, Brajesh Giri, for triggering blasts on rail tracks targeting popular trains in Bihar. Central security agencies are now looking for two more persons, identified as Gajen-dra Sharma and Rakesh Yadav in East Champaran area, for their suspected links with the accused. Investigating officials claimed that during custodial interrogation, the three arrested persons provided some positive lead about the Indore-Patna Express derailment in Kanpur. Intelligence sources said they were also investigating the possibility of some more terror modules across the country who may try to target the rail network at ISIs behest. Singh blamed Pakistan for the rise in number of drug addicts in the state, as banned substances are smuggled from Pakistan to Punjab. Abohar: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accused Pakistan of supplying drugs in the Indian state of Punjab and warned the Asian neighbour of dire consequences of it does not mend its ways. Addressing an election rally in poll-bound Punjab, Singh assured that whosoever promotes such activity will have to face severe circumstances. Singh blamed Pakistan for the rise in number of drug addicts in the state, as banned substances are smuggled from the neighbouring country to Punjab. The Home Minister urged the voters to cast their votes in favour of the SAD-BJP alliance yet again as they will provide corruption-free government in Punjab. "There has been no corruption allegations levelled against the Centre in the last two and a half years," he added. Singh also expressed his disappointment over the recent incident wherein a shoe was hurled at Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. "If you don't want to vote then please don't, but will you lathi charge or throw shoes at the current chief minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal?" he said. A shoe was hurled at the Punjab Chief Minister earlier this month by a relative of a radical Sikh leader during a poll campaign in Lambi constituency. Punjab goes to polls on February 4. The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on petitions challenging Centres notification allowing the sport. Two wheelers suspected to be set on fire by protestors go up in flames in Chennai. (Photo: PTI) Chennai/New Delhi: Jallikattu supporters fought pitched battles with the police and resorted to widespread violence in Chennai and elsewhere in Tamil Nadu on Monday, but began heading home in the evening as the state Assembly unanimously passed a proposed law to circumvent a 2014 Supreme Court ban on the controversial bull-taming sport. The Assembly hurriedly approved an amendment Bill to allow Jallikattu without any hindrance even as weeklong protests in support of the ancient sport turned violent with agitators burning a police station, hundreds of police and private vehicles, and throwing stones at cops, who fired teargas shells and wielded lathis. To become law the new Bill must be signed by the state governor and the President. The top court has reserved its verdict on a batch of petitions challenging the Centres notification allowing the sport. At least 130 people, including 100 cops, were injured in Chennai alone. Authorities said 35 cops suffered serious injuries. Violence started after the police began clearing protest sites, including Chennais iconic Marina beach. After the early-morning crackdown, Marina beach and areas around it in Triplicane, Teynampet and Sellur in Madurai and Gandhipuram in Coimbatore witnessed pitched battles between the protesters and the police. Protesters who thronged Marina beach for six days calling for the practice to be fully re-legalised and action against animal rights group PETA began leaving after the Bill was passed. All hurdles to Jallikattu have been removed. All legal and constitutional procedures were followed, said Tamil Nadu chief minister Panneerselvam. Protests in Madurai, famous for its Alanganallur bull-taming event, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore and other places were also withdrawn late in the evening. The Tamil Nadu government informed the Centre that crowds at Marina beach had started dispersing slowly after the Bill was passed. However, the Tamil Nadu police will keep overnight vigil, and situation in the state is expected to improve from Tuesday. Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi also had a telephonic conversation with the state police chief. Sources said that the Centre was closely monitoring the situation in Tamil Nadu, and was ready to offer all assistance to restore normalcy in the state. The Supreme Court banned Jallikattu in 2014 on animal cruelty grounds. The government brought an Ordinance for which the Centre gave its quick approval on Saturday to temporarily circumvent the SC ban and quell raging protests. Several villages and towns in Tamil Nadu held Jallikattu events the next day. The state government moved to replace the Ordinance with a law on Monday. Animal rights activists say the spectacle causes unnecessary stress to bulls, while many in Tamil Nadu, including some celebrities, are against the ban as they see Jallikattu as an important part of their cultural heritage. On Sunday, two people died after being gored during one contest in the state. The Bill to amend the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 was unanimously adopted by the House after members of all parties spoke welcoming the legislative initiative. Opposition leader M.K. Stalin was among those who spoke welcoming the Bill. The Bill defines Jallikattu as an event conducted to follow tradition and culture from January to May. Considering the vital role of Jallikattu in preserving and promoting tradition and culture and ensuring the survival and continuance of native breeds of bulls, the government of Tamil Nadu has decided to exempt Jallikattu from the provisions of the PCA Act, the Bill said. Earlier in the day, actor Rajinikanth said miscreants were trying to hijack the protests and defame those behind the Jallikattu movement. Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar also appealed to the people to end the row over Jallikattu with a celebration after the Bill was passed. Actor Kamal Haasan also came out in support of the protesters, saying that aggressive police action on students passive resistance will not bear good results. Several schools chose to shut early in view of the sudden turn of events, while city buses went off roads as a preventive measure. The police suspected that some protesters belonged to ultra-Left organisations like CPI-ML and Revolutionary Youth Front of India, but agitators said students and youth who had given the protest call were not involved in violence. Bhutan-type op needed to tackle insurgency in Northeast, say security sources. Guwahati: The growing indulgence of Coordination Committee (CorCom) of seven militant outfits of Manipur with Ulfa (I) in Assam has alarmed the security forces, which on Tuesday stressed the need for effective action to bust the base of Northeast insurgents in Myanmar. Pointing out that two militants killed in Sundays ambush in Upper Assams Tinsukia district were Manipuri, security sources told this newspaper that it was for the first time that Manipuri militants were found to have been involved in operations with Ulfa (I) in Assam. Admitting that growing alliance of insurgent groups in Myanmar has been the major area of concern, security sources said that possibility of some external forces working behind the scene cant be ruled out. Referring to the route used by militants holed up in Myanmar, security sources said that it was not practically possible to sanitise entire hilly terrain of Tirap and Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh where militants are having a free run. We may close some of the corridors between Myanmar and Arunachal Pradesh but not all, security sources said, while stressing the need of Bhutan-like operations in Myanmar. Security sources, however, regretted that Myanmar was reluctant and ignorant to the growing insurgent base in its territory. Though, in course of bilateral discussion, Myanmar keeps on reaffirming its opposition to the insurgent activities in its frontier region, security sources said, adding that Myanmar is the last resort for the Northeast insurgent groups. Pointing out that despite their repeated attempts Northeast militants have failed to re-enter Bhutan and Bangladesh, security sources said that role of some Chinese agencies is also suspected in polarising the Northeast insurgents. Meanwhile, some heavily armed militants on Tuesday ambushed a convoy of trucks and oil tankers along a National Highway that connects Assam with Manipur. There were no casualties despite fierce exchange of fire between the security forces and the armed rebels near Khongkhang. Police said that a convoy of about 300 trucks and oil tankers were proceeding from Jiribam under armed escort of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Seema Suraksha Bal personnel when some armed militants opened fire on it on National Highways 37. The militants punctured one of the oil tankers but the drivers succeeded in plugging the holes, security sources said. EC decision came after SC observed that there is nothing in law to bar Centre from presenting the Union Budget on February 1. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday night gave its nod to the Centre to present the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly polls, but said no schemes related to these poll-bound states can be announced and the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the government's achievements in these states. It also reminded the government of a 2009 advisory which said vote-on-account instead of a full-fledged budget is presented ahead of elections as per convention. Read: Budget will be held as scheduled on February 1: SC "The Commission hereby directs that in the interest of free and fair elections and in order to maintain level playing field... no state-specific schemes shall be announced which may have the effect of influencing the electors of the five poll going states in favour of the ruling parties," the EC told Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. It also said in the Finance Minister's speech, the government's achievements in respect of the five states "will not be highlighted in any manner." Polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa will be held between February 4 and March 8. The EC's decision came on a day when the Supreme Court observed that there is nothing in law to bar Centre from presenting the Union Budget on February 1. The top court on Monday had dismissed a PIL challenging the Centres decision to advance the Budget from February 28 on the grounds of upcoming Assembly elections in five states. Congress Lucknow Cantt MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who recently joined the BJP, will contest from the same seat. Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president and UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav averted a potential family crisis on Monday when he finally announced a ticket for Aparna Yadav, younger daughter-in-law of his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. The party released its fourth list, comprising 37 candidates, for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. But an exodus also began from the party with leaders belonging to the Mulayam faction opting for greener pastures after being denied tickets. There was uncertainty about Aparna Yadavs ticket since Lucknow Cantt, from which she had been declared a candidate by Mulayam Singh Yadav, is held by the Congress with which the Samajwadi Party announced a poll pact Sunday. Congress Lucknow Cantt MLA Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who recently joined the BJP, will contest from the same seat. The chief minister had not uttered a word on Aparna Yadavs seat, and sources said that he would not pressure the Congress to give up its claim on the seat. However, it is learnt that on Mulayam Singh Yadavs insistence, the SP leadership managed to convince the Congress to leave the Lucknow Cantt seat for Aparna Yadav, wife of Mulayam Singh Yadavs second son, Prateek Yadav. In other names announced, Rakesh Varma, son of SP MP Beni Prasad Varma, has been replaced with UP minister Arvind Singh Gope as the candidate from Ramnagar seat in Barabanki. Rakesh Varma will now be joining the BJP to contest from the same seat. Beni Prasad Varma termed it a battle between Ram and Ravana, and said he would take the support of Ram to defeat Ravana. Vijay Misra, another sitting MLA, resigned from the SP on Monday, and threatened to expose party leaders. He will contest as an independent. Former MP Shafiqur-Rehman Warq has also quit the SP and joined the AIMIM after his grandson Ziaur Rahman Barq was denied a ticket form Sambhal. Two days ago, former minister Ambica Chaudhary had joined the BSP, and three other MLAs Rampal Yadav, Ashish Yadav and Ramvir Singh also quit the SP to join the Lok Dal. If seniors are treated shabbily by the new leadership, people will obviously move out of Samajwadi Party, and by the time the new leaders realise their mistakes, it will be too late, said Ambica Chaudhary. Akhilesh Yadav has also held back tickets to sacked ministers Shadab Fatima and Narad Rai, and both are expected to join the BSP in a day or two. Two other SP MLAs Guddu Sharma and Mukesh Sharma have joined the RLD after being denied tickets, while SP MLA Kuldeep Sengar has already managed a ticket for himself from the BJP. Akhilesh Yadav has left no choice for us. He is allowing personal vendetta to guide his decisions. We have been with Samajwadi Party since its inception, and now we are being targeted because we are loyal to Mulayam Singh Yadav, said one of the disgruntled legislators. According to sources, in the past two days, about 50 members from Mulayam Singh Yadavs list met him after they were denied tickets by the CM. Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed his helplessness on the issue, and is said to be upset at the fact that seniors are being driven out of the party because they are loyal to me. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party will now cancel the tickets of about 42 candidates after the alliance with the Congress. The SP will contest 298 seats, of the 403, under the arrangement. UPs SP president Naresh Uttam said on Monday that a fresh list would now be issued in view of the seat adjustment with the Congress. Sources said that those whose tickets were being cancelled would contest as rebel candidates or join another party. While Ansari is lodged in a Lucknow jail, his son has been campaigning door-to-door for him. Lucknow: Quami Ekta Dals (QEDs) leader Mukhtar Ansari may fight the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as an independent candidate from the Mau Sadar constituency as the Samajwadi Party has given the ticket for the seat to someone else. The Quami Ekta Dal had merged with the Samajwadi Party in 2015 but chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had expressed discontent with the move due to Ansaris criminal background. QED was founded in 2010 by Mukhtar, along with his brothers Afzal Ansari and Sigbatullaha Ansari. Ansari is in jail for his alleged involvement in the murder of former BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai. According to an Indian Express report, Ansari is unfazed by SP denying him a ticket and will fight the polls as an independent candidate. Earlier too, he fought from Mau Sadar constituency while he was in jail and still managed to win the seat comfortably in 2007 and 2012 as an independent candidate. Ansari had tasted electoral success even before he was sent to prison and had won in 1996 and 2002. Mukhtar Ansaris son has been campaigning hard for his father and other family members are supporting him in his efforts. I have been canvassing door-to-door in Mau constituency seeking vote for my father. I am staying in Mau for last six months and looking after the campaign. Other members of the family too would join me soon in the campaign, Abbas Bin Mukhtar said. Akhilesh Yadav known for his dislike for the gangster-turned politician, has given the SP ticket to Altaf Ansari . "Mukhtar Ansari will not be welcome in the party. We don't want such people in the party," Yadav had said in 2015 after the QED had merged with his party. He had also made it clear that he did not have a say in the merger. Cadres of both parties favour going separately in the BMC polls. New Delhi: As the deadlock continues over seat-sharing formula between allies BJP and Shiv Sena for the upcoming crucial BMC elections, the latter used the birth anniversary of its late supremo Bal Thackeray to hurl a taunt at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the late leader never boasted of a 56-inch chest but the nations enemies were scared by his very name. Meanwhile, paying tributes to the late Shiv Sena founder on his 91st birth anniversary, Mr Modi said he personified courage and had emerged as a voice for the aspirations of many people. Sena also reminded that Thackeray had stood by Mr Modi when the BJP had plans to remove him as the Gujarat chief minister after the 2002 post-Godhra riots. Balasaheb Thackeray personified courage and emerged as a voice for the aspirations of many people. Tributes to him on his birth anniversary, Mr Modi tweeted. While the BJP is a senior partner in the Maharashtra coalition government, headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Sena has a dominance in the Mumbai civic body whose elections are scheduled next month. Cadres of both parties favour going separately in the BMC polls. Sena also released its manifesto for the BMC polls on Monday. An editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said that after the 2002 riots, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was about to oust Mr Modi from the post of Gujarat chief minister, but it was Balasaheb who staunchly backed him then. It was very courageous of Balasaheb to support Mr Modi at the time. The (late) Sena supremo never revealed the size of his chest but Pakistan and enemies of the nation got jittery by the mention of his mere name. He was an invisible force that kept extremist forces at bay, Sena said. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, Mr Modi had famously claimed at an election rally in Uttar Pradesh that a 56-inch chest can solve problems faced by the country. The Sena also said the country is in a pitiable state now with the ruling dispensation refusing to speak about the problems being faced by people and only keeps making new announcements. The (late) Sena supremo was firm on his ideals. He did not believe in duping people in the name of democracy, it said. Priyanka Gandhi played a key role in forging the alliance with Samajwadi Party for the upcoming assembly elections. New Delhi: Having played a key role, along with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, in sealing the alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was expected to play a prominent role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Sources, however, suggest that her role in the elections will remain limited as she would be campaigning only in the parliamentary constituencies of her mother Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and brother Rahul Gandhi (Amethi) much like the previous years. After the Congress joined hands with the Samajwadi Party, the party-workers were keen that Priyanka takes the centre stage this time but it now seems their wait will continue. The Congress, which reportedly submitted Priyanka's name in the list that was given to the Election Commission at the start of the campaign, hasn't made any changes to it. Sources said the Congress had made two campaign strategies - one based on alliance and the other in case of solo battle in the high-voltage polls. Initially, when former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was declared the chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka was supposed to campaign in the entire state. A team had also been formed to ideate for her campaign. The party leadership, however, realised that the only way to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was to cobble an alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Hence, the second strategy was adopted, according to which the Congress is not in favour of over-exposing Priyanka before the penultimate 2019 Lok Sabha battle. Priyanka's role for now will be limited to strategising the election campaigns for the poll-bound states, selecting the candidates and keeping tab of Rahul Gandhi's election campaign. This political development comes after many senior leaders had expressed their desire that Priyanka should join mainsteam politics. A 'Priyanka lao Congress Bachao' campaign was also launched. Priyanka has so far not been very active in Indian politics and kept her responsibilities confined within the promotions and campaign. The new species and genus of crab, Harryplax severus, also honours researcher Harry Conley who was the first to find them The new species is a tiny crab measuring less than a centimeter in both length and width and can be found deep in coral rubble on the island of Guam. (Photo: Pixabay-picture for representational purpose only) Singapore: Potterheads,take note! Anunderwater crab species has been named after Harry Potter and Severus Snape - characters from the British writer J K Rowling's popular fantasy novel series. The new species and genus of crab, Harryplax severus, also honours researcher Harry Conley, who had collected the crab specimen about two decades ago. Having dug as deep as 30 metres into coral reef rubble in the island of Guam in the western Pacific Ocean, Conley collected many specimens. Among the lot, were two unusual specimens which were not studied until much later. Only recently, researchers from the National University of Singapore discovered that they represent not only a new species, but also a new genus. Having chosen the name Harryplax for the new genus, researchers paid tribute to Conley. The name is also meant to allude to the main protagonist in Rowling's famous fantasy novel series, whose magical abilities the scientists liken to Conley's knack for finding rare or new species.The crab's species name, severus, is inspired by another character from the wizarding world - Professor Severus Snape, who despite being a central character in the series, keeps his background and agenda mysterious until the very end. Showing his real identity, the character is "just like the present new species which has eluded discovery until now, nearly 20 years after it was first collected," researchers said. The new species is a tiny crab measuring less than a centimeter in both length and width and can be found deep in coral rubble or under subtidal rocks, perhaps also in cavities. To survive in the dark depths, the species has evolved with reduced eyes, well developed antennae, and long, slender legs. For the time being it is known only from the island of Guam. The party workers will visit 23 constituencies in Punjab. New Delhi: To counter the growing influence of Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab and Goa, the Delhi BJP will be sending hundreds of party workers to both the states. The workers will talk about how Mr Kejriwals government has failed to bring development in the Capital. Union minister Rajya-vardhan Singh Rathore on Monday flagged off a bike rally of 250 workers of Delhi Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha (BJYM), who headed to poll-bound Punjab on bikes. The BJYM team will visit 23 constituencies, where BJP candidates are contesting in the Punjab assembly elections. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari told The Asian Age that a team of party workers will also be visiting Goa in near future. Mr Rathore also told party workers to launch a campaign on social media to expose the AAP government. Special responsibility lies on the shoulders of Delhis youth to share their two years of experience under Mr Kejriwal government with the youth of other states. Youth of Delhi needs to launch a strong campaign on social media to expose the AAP government, said Mr Rathore. Mr Tiwari, who flagged off the rally with Mr Rathore, said workers will discuss how Mr Kejriwal, who was busy campaigning in Punjab for some time now, has neglected the problems of its own people in Delhi. Yuva morcha workers will tell people of Punjab how the AAP government stalled developmental work in Delhi. The workers will also talk about how the AAP government failed to deliver on its major promises such as increasing seats in schools and colleges, beds in hospitals and installing of CCTVs at dark spots, said Mr Tiwari, adding, The workers will also bring up the issue of how the government failed to provide free Wi-Fi service to Delhiites, and failed to address water scarcity problems and joblessness. in the Capital. Delhi BJYM president, Sunil Yadav said, Yuva Morcha is going on a Pol Khol Mission to Punjab to expose Mr Kejriwal. Students, however, alleged that Dileep Yadav was abducted by police and the administration. New Delhi: Suspended JNU student Dileep Yadav who has been on a hunger strike for three days was rushed to hospital by police on Tuesday even as students alleged that he has been abducted. Yadav is among the nine students who were suspended by the university last month for allegedly disrupting an academic council meeting. He has been on hunger strike for three days demanding that the suspension of the students be revoked. Students alleged that Kumar was "abducted" by police and JNU administration on Tuesday, a charge denied by both. "A student who has been on a hunger strike for the last three days has been literally abducted from campus by the police and JNU admin, said the JNU union. It further added, Repression is real. Where a fellow student, Najeeb disappears after being beaten up by ABVP activists, teachers are threatened; student activists punished and even democratic means of protest like hunger strikes are trampled upon." According to a senior police official, "The student was not taken forcefully. Seeing his critical health conditions, he was shifted to hospital in the university's ambulance for emergency medical attention with local police assistance". The awards are given to children who distinguish themselves by performing outstanding deeds of bravery. New Delhi: In an encouraging message to children, who were selected for the National Bravery Awards this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told them on Monday that bravery is a state of mind. Therefore, we need to make the mind strong. Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraged them to read biographies of leaders and sportspersons. Mr Modi presented the National Bravery Awards to 25 children, who were shortlisted from across the country for their acts of valour. Presented the National Bravery Awards 2016. I congratulate all the award winners for their exemplary courage, Mr Modi tweeted later. While interacting with the awardees, Mr Modi said, Bravery is a state of mind. A healthy body helps, but the prime moving force is the mind. Therefore, we need to make the mind strong, according to a PMO statement. He urged the children to ensure that the adulation and fame that they are getting should not become an obstacle to their future progress. The PM told the awardees that their deeds of bravery show their decisiveness as much as their courage, the statement said. Reminding the children about the significance of the day, which coincided with the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the Prime Minister urged the children to read as much as possible. Department will use high-grid engines to produce solar power for irrigating fields in places where shallow tubewells have been installed. Kolkata: The state water resource investigation and development department is planning to use solar power to supply irrigation water to the farmland. At present, farmers mainly use electric pumps for irrigation purposes. The use of solar power will benefit the farmers by bringing down their electricity bill, minister Soumen Mahapatra said. The department has already entered into an agreement with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL). The department will use high-grid engines to produce solar power for irrigating fields in places where shallow tubewells have been installed. The project has already been implemented in 28 enclaves of Cooch Behar. It has also been launched as a pilot project in North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, East Midnapore and West Midnapore districts. Once we examine the feasibility of this project, we will introduce this throughout the state. We will charge a fee for channelising water through this process and have plans to provide solar electricity to the farmers residences too, an official of the department said. According to the estimates of the department, each of these units will cost around Rs 9 lakh and will have the capacity to channelise water across 80 to 100 bighas land. Mr Mahapatra has already written to CM Mamata Banerjee for naming the project. Once the cost of irrigation comes down, farmers will be encouraged to take up variety of crops for production, the official added. In the recent review meeting at Town Hall, Mr Mahapatra was lauded by Ms Banerjee for his good work, which the minister said he hopes to continue in the days to come. The project will also be a boost for the state in the use of solar energy, which is being encouraged by the Central government. Baldwin, who has been portraying Trump on a semi-regular basis this season, will host the Feb. 11 show. Alec Baldwin impersonates Donald Trump on one of the earlier episodes of 'Saturday Night Live'. New York: At the dawn of the Donald Trump administration, 'Saturday Night Live's' own Trump - Alec Baldwin - will be back as the show's guest host for the 17th time. The NBC show said Monday that Baldwin will host the Feb. 11 show. Baldwin, who has been portraying Trump on a semi-regular basis this season, has hosted the venerable comedy show more times than any other person. SNL said that actress Kristen Stewart will debut as a host on the Feb. 4 show. Alessia Cara will be the musical guest on Stewart's show, with Ed Sheeran performing on Baldwin's show. When the search was limited to people section on Twitter, Donald Trumps profile appeared at the first position. Social media website Twitter is showing account of 45th President of the US, Donald Trump, on searching the term a**hole on the website. The search was originally discovered by Don Amaro, a Twitter user. He revealed the search results to the Mashable saying he found it while searching for one of his tweets which reads a*hole not welcome to our island. In our independent search as well we found Donald Trumps Twitter account to pop up at first among other tweets. On drilling down further, when the search was limited to people section on Twitter, Donald Trumps profile appeared at the first position. Amaro, who works as a social media editor and web administrator in Portugal, after the search he made on the social media site concluded that Twitter search doesnt solely rely on keywords in the account or description, instead it rely on what is in associated tweets. Nasreen, who made a surprise entry to fest on the last day called for immediate implementation of the UCC. Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen stirred a controversy by touching upon politically sensitive issue of Uniform Civil Code in India and criticising countrys secular fraternity particularly opposition parties for patronising Muslim fanatics. Nasreen, who made a surprise entry to fest on the last day called for immediate implementation of the UCC. That UCC is urgently necessary for womens rights. Some fanatics may not want it for selfish reasons but why you the Indian secular people do not want uniform civil code. Why Muslim women should not have the same democratic right that Hindu women enjoy under modern laws, she asked. In a candid discussion with Salit Tripathi, criticising Indias secularists for their selective approach towards fanaticism because, Taslima said, It was writers and intellectuals in Kolkata, which we call a progressive city asked government to ban my book (Dwikhondito). Sanjay Kumar is a professor and currently director of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. The views expressed are personal. The fate of BJP depends more on how other parties go into these elections rather than its own strength. After many ifs and buts, finally the Samajwadi Party and the Congress have entered into an alliance, agreeing to contest 298 Assembly seats, leaving 105 seats for the Congress. What looked like uncertain at numerous moments during last few days has finally been materialised. This was possible only after the intervention of the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and SPs new and undisputed boss and current chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. Mrs Gandhi and Mr Akhilesh Yadav personally seemed to have intervened because this alliance was necessary to put up a strong contest against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP was no less anxious about this alliance. A divided Opposition (if alliance had not materialised) would have certainly put the BJP ahead of all others in the electoral race in Uttar Pradesh. It would certainly have been the frontrunner; the single-largest party if not getting the requisite majority to form the government. The fate of BJP depends more on how other parties go into these elections rather than its own strength. This alliance seems to have changed the political fortunes of the political parties in UP. If the SP-Congress secular alliance clicks at the ground level, this could be a frontrunner in the forthcoming electoral contest in Uttar Pradesh, with strong possibility of the BJP emerging as the main Opposition party and the BSP at number three. This alliance would help in consolidating the votebank of the Congress and the SP, which could easily fetch winning numbers. The Yadavs, who have voted for the SP in large numbers in the past elections, will polarise more sharply in favour of this alliance keeping in mind the winnability factor. This alliance will now be perceived as a real challenger. Muslims would consolidate behind this alliance and vote in large numbers. This will also prevent splitting of the Muslims votes between the two. The Muslims, who constitute nearly 18 per cent of total voters will sharply polarise in favour of the SP-Congress alliance. The recognition of cycle as the symbol for the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP was the first assurance to them, but the alliance with the Congress would hardly leave any doubt among them about who is more suitably placed to defeat the BJP in the state. There are 73 Assembly constituencies where Muslims form more than 30 per cent of the total electorate while in another 70 Assembly constituencies, Muslims are between 20-30 per cent of total voters. In a three-way contest, party getting little over 30 per cent votes would emerge victorious. A sharply polarised Muslim vote in favour of the alliance can make a huge difference in these 140 Assembly constituencies. It is true that Congress has been out of power in the state for nearly 27 years and has not been able to perform well during various Lok Sabha elections held during this period, except for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. Yet, it still commands roughly 10 per cent votes. It is reasonable to assume that those who have voted for the Congress in its worst times are the loyal supporters of the party. The alliance of the SP-Congress would help in transferring the votes of loyal Congress supporters to the SP. Studies indicate that parties find it easier to transfer the votes of their loyal supporters compared to their add-on voters. The SP may also be able to transfer votes of its loyal Yadav supporters to the Congress. So both the parties stand to gain from this alliance. This alliance of the SP and the Congress may also help in mobilising the non-Jatav dalit voters in its favour. Studies by CSDS have clearly indicated that the Jatavs still remains sharply polarised in favour of the BSP, but the recent elections have witnessed splitting of the non-Jatav dalit votes. They did vote for the BJP in sizeable numbers during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but there is a huge possibility of them voting for the SP-Congress alliance in forthcoming Assembly elections. After all, the shift amongst various communities of voters, including the non-Jatav dalits towards the BJP in 2014 was largely due to Narendra Modi and not that much for the party. Results of various Assembly elections held after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have clearly indicated a movement of the dalits away from the BJP to state-based parties with Bihar being the latest example. There is no reason to believe why at least non-Jatav dalits will not vote for the alliance in sizeable numbers. Besides consolidating the non-Yadav, the other non-Kurmi OBC votes, which used to get divided between the SP and Congress, will also consolidate with coming together of these two parties. While there is a possibility of counter-polarisation in favour of the BJP since Muslims will vote in favour of the alliance, this counter-polarisation has its limits as various section of voters are already polarised Yadavs in favour of this alliance, dalits and Jatavs in particular with the BSP, Jats in favour of Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal. Clearly, there hardly remains any community sizeable enough to make a difference even if there is a counter-polarisation. Whether alliance or no alliance, the upper castes are already in favour of the BJP. They hardly have a choice. With recent statement by RSS leader Manmohan Vaidya on the issue of reservations, the BJP may not find easy to mobilise the OBC and the non-Jatav salits. With this alliance, the BJP has certainly been pushed on the backfoot and that too overnight. There is no way China can refer to a legally-acceded J&K to India as a disputed territory. The territories of independent India and Pakistan had to have the sanctity of law, and follow due process of law. (Photo: Representational Image) As Republic Day nears, it is worthwhile to take a look at Indias constitutional history, and perhaps clear the doubts of some who may have misgivings about Indias territory and its exercise of sovereign power. This is well established and well documented, unlike several sovereign nations that may have firepower but not the structured legal foundation to justify or defend their actions while challenging or trampling upon Indias sovereignty. It began in the British Parliament with the draft Indian Independence Act, passed and placed on the statute book with amazing speed as Indian Independence Act 1947. The bill, introduced in the House of Commons on July 4, 1947, received the royal assent July 18, 1947, in 14 days, and came into force the same day. The Act provided that from August 15, 1947 (referred to as the appointed date), in place of India as defined in the Government of India Act, 1935 there would be set up two independent dominions, to be known as India and Pakistan... Under the Act, the Dominion of India got the residuary territory of India excluding the provinces of Sind, Balochistan, West Punjab, East Bengal and North-Western Frontier Province and Sylhet district in Assam. No other territory, contiguous to Pakistan, was referred to. The striking feature is whereas Balochistan, comprising the four princely states of Las Bela, Kharan, Makran and Kalat, was categorised as part of the new state of Pakistan, being both Muslim majority and contiguous to it, no other territory, either Muslim majority or contiguous to Pakistan, was mentioned. Thus, no further geographical territory could be claimed as a matter of inherent right by the Dominion of Pakistan. There was nothing left for Pakistan to make claim on any other part of any territory now legally, politically and geographically identifiable as India. If anything had to happen, it had to be through the legal route, not through roads ridden by armed bands of looters, lashkars and loafers in Land Rovers, supported and instigated by the Pakistani state, through illegal means. The territories of independent India and Pakistan had to have the sanctity of law, and follow due process of law. After August 15, 1947, when the princely states hurried to join either India or Pakistan in accordance with the Instrument of Accession Act, or taking their own time to follow legal routes of accession, came the blatantly illegal violent invasion from Pakistan of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir on October 22, 1947. Understandably, to counter this illegal act of Pakistan, the Maharaja of J&K had to act quickly and took recourse to the legal route to accede to India on October 26, 1947. What did the ruler of J&K do to declare, and state, his authority over territory which fell under his legal and bona fide jurisdiction while signing the Instrument of Accession to India? I, Shriman Inder Mahendar Rajrajeshwar Maharajadhiraj Shri Hari Singhji, Jammu Kashmir Naresh Tatha Tibbet adi Deshadhipati, ruler of Jammu and Kashmir state, in exercise of my sovereignty in and over my said state, do hereby execute this my Instrument of Accession... Should India, post-accession of J&K to New Delhi, have claimed sovereignty thereon? Has India ever made this claim? When things were legally valid, being offered by the competent authority to India through a bona fide, legal accession document? Nothing like that was to happen due to the Indian rulers inherent respect for the sensitivities of neighbouring countries. Indias rulers usually are too gentlemanly, hence the only accusation/criticism made against them is that traditionally they lacked aggressive instincts to go beyond what they considered their natural, bona fide boundary or frontier. Never more, but may be less. That indeed is Indias unique characteristic. That is why at least two neighbouring countries, even today, are totally unconcerned about Indias concern over its own bona fide territorial integrity and sovereignty. From the beginning, India played fair, acknowledging for example Chinas forced claim on Tibet. Unlike J&K, Tibet didnt have any Instrument of Accession to show or fall back upon. Tibet, some non-Tibetans claim, enjoyed suzerainty but not sovereignty. Without conceding this point on Tibet, will it be wrong to counter-question those having doubts about the integration of a sovereign J&K through legal means? Is it not a fact that while J&K voluntarily gave up sovereignty in Indias favour in October 1947, Tibet involuntarily accepted occupation by Chinese troops? Can these cases be even remotely seen as similar? There is thus no way China can refer to a legally-acceded J&K to India as a disputed territory. Obversely, if J&K is disputed in Chinas eyes, Tibet could very well be perceived as more than disputed territory; it could be deemed conquered and trampled land in future. If that were to happen, where would Chinas sovereign sensitivity stand? Seen in this perspective, it will be advisable for those who challenge Indian sovereignty over J&K to stop in their tracks and cease vitiating the peace initiatives. They must understand that geostrategically or geopolitically, whereas J&K belongs to India, Chinas claim to Tibet can only be seen as a reciprocal, mirror image. Both Tibet and J&K are landlocked territories that were traditionally coveted by distant powers. Realistically speaking, no landlocked territory in that part of geography can afford to retain or exercise its independence. Someone is bound to pounce. Pakistan used illegal means to grab a part of J&K. India got J&K through the legal route instead. China, unlike Pakistan, nevertheless succeeded in Tibet through the use of force. Today, however, both China and Pakistan should cease trampling upon Indias sovereignty over J&K under the guise of one belt, one road. What if threatened external powers join hand to snap, rather than shape, it? JuD official says statement erroneously mentioned Chinas name. Lahore: In an embarrassing gaffe, Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawah erroneously quoted the Mumbai attack mastermind as saying that China and Russia had a role in terror being perpetrated in Pakistan. Pakistan must put pressure on China, Russia and other countries to stop India from committing terrorism in Pakistan, Saeed said while talking to reporters at the JuD headquarters on Sunday. However, in a statement issued by the JuD after the meeting, it quoted Saeed as having said, The Pakistani government should increase pressure on India to stop state terrorism in the country through China, Russia and other countries. JuD official Ahmad Nadeem later said that the statement erroneously mentioned Chinas name regarding terrorism in Pakistan. Hafiz said that the Pakistani government should link China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with freedom of Kashmir and put pressure on China and Russia and other countries which are part of CPEC or going to be part of it to influence India to stop terrorism in Pakistan, Nadeem said. In another demand from the PML-N government, the Mumbai terror attack mastermind asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to stage a sit-in outside the office of the United Nations along with his cabinet members to press for the implementation of its resolution in Kashmir and ensure that the Kashmiris get the right to self-determination. Nawaz and his ministers should continue holding the sit-in till the end of Indian aggression on Kashmiris," Saeed said. Saeed, who carries $10 million bounty on his head, also demanded that Mr Sharif should immediately sever trade ties with India. China relaxed the one child policy in 2015 after concerns about an ageing population. A file picture shows two Chinese babies. 2016 was the lunar year of the monkey considered a particularly auspicious zodiac sign to be born under. (Photo; AFP) Beijing: China last year saw its highest number of births this century, officials said, a baby bump that came after the country relaxed its family planning policies in 2015 to allow more families a second child. The country welcomed 17.86 million new children in 2016, an annual increase of 7.9 per cent, with nearly half of the new births occurring in families which already had one child, Yang Wenzhuang, an official from the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said on Sunday. The figure was 1.31 million higher than in 2015, according to an article in the state-run China Daily. The proportion of newborns born to parents who already had a first child rose from around 30 percent in 2013 to 45 percent in 2016, Yang said, attributing the increase to the rule change. According to statistics released earlier, new births were concentrated in the first half of the year, before the policy could have had an effect. In addition, 2016 was the lunar year of the monkey considered a particularly auspicious zodiac sign to be born under. Since the late 1970s, strict measures in the worlds most populous country restricted most couples to only a single child, with violators facing fines and even forced abortions. The country loosened restrictions on the repressive one child policy a little over a year ago in response to concerns about an ageing population and shrinking workforce. While some parents had long been allowed more than one child, the change allowed every family a second. Nevertheless, the financial costs of a second child have stopped many parents from pursuing the option. At least 53 per cent of one-child families have no desire for a second, according to a survey of 10,000 families with kids under 15 by the All-China Womens Federation. The school has a strict uniform policy, including no headwear or scarf and asked parents of the girl to respect it. The unnamed child was told by staff at St Clare's School in Handsworth, Birmingham, that she should not wear her hijab to lessons. (Photo: Representational Image) London: A 4-year-old Muslim girl in the UK has been banned from wearing a hijab by a Roman Catholic school under a strict uniform policy, sparking a massive row on social media. The unnamed child was told by staff at St Clare's School in Handsworth, Birmingham, that she should not wear her hijab to lessons. The school has a strict uniform policy, including no headwear or scarf and asked parents of the girl to respect it. The girl's father called on Birmingham City Council's Labour cabinet member for equalities Waseem Zaffar to intervene causing the row to erupt. The row has now divided senior councillors and women's rights activists who have been locked in a feud over Facebook and Twitter, the Birmingham Mail reported. Zaffar wrote that he had met with the head teacher and told her the ban on the scarf was against the equalities act. "I'm insisting this matter is addressed asap with a change of policy," he said. However, his cabinet colleague Majid Mahmood countered that as a faith school St Clare's is "maybe within its rights to insist upon a particular dress code," just as a Muslim faith school "may require girls to wear headscarves". Mashuq Ally, a former head of equalities for Birmingham City Council, agreed saying there is no religious requirement for girls of infant school age to wear the hijab. He also pointed out that a faith school is allowed to set its own uniform policy and exempt from discrimination legislation. Where there are demographic changes which lead to a significant number of Muslim children attending a Christian school, then the parents should ask the school governors to consider changing the uniform policy, he said. Campaigner Gina Khan attacked Zaffar on Twitter, accusing him of backing parents who enforce the hijab on little girls as a means of control. Councillor Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children, families and schools, was quoted as saying, "Each school's governing body is responsible for the creation and implementation of its own uniform policy. However, the local authority is supporting the school to ensure its policy is appropriate, in line with legal requirements, and we are engaging with all schools to remind them of their responsibilities when it comes to setting school uniform policies." by Shafique Khokhar Prof Salman Haider and four Lahore bloggers have been missing for almost three weeks, possibly kidnapped for criticizing radical elements in the government and the military. Anyone who is accused of a crime should have the right to defend himself in a court of law. Pakistan ranks among the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists and human rights defenders. Lahore (AsiaNews) The abduction of the five activist intellectuals, missing for almost three weeks, is "a failure of the State, said Samson Salamat, head of the Rwadari Tehreek Movement (Movement for tolerance) who spoke to AsiaNews. Together with other Pakistani activists, he is concerned about the fate of Professor Salman Haider and of four Lahore bloggers, who went missing, possibly detained by the police for comments criticising radical elements in the government and the military establishment. "International human rights laws and Pakistan's Constitution guarantee freedom of conscience, opinion and expression, Salamat explained. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the State and its institutions to safeguard the rights and freedoms of all citizens, without discrimination." According to the activist, "the disappearance of Prof Haider and the bloggers raises serious questions about the government's performance, especially since nothing has been done to find the intellectuals, who have been missing for several days." The rule of law requires that each accused be brought before a court, Salamat noted, where he must have the right to prove his innocence under Article 10, paragraph A of the Constitution. Unfortunately, "in many cases, this does not happen. It is really sad that activists have been abducted for their progressive ideas, for dissenting from those of others. We must remember that no society can live peacefully without respect for the opinions of others. Lack of respect creates violent reactions and society itself slides towards greater violations." Farooq Tariq, a spokesman for the Awamy Workers Party, said that the protests in favour of the liberation of the intellectuals will continue until "they return and until attacks against human rights defenders are not stopped." For activist Diep Syeda, "abducting people is against the law. Security agencies cannot be exonerated from their responsibility to protect life and provide security to the missing activists." The most worrisome thing for Rojar Noor Alam, Caritas programme chief in Lahore, "is that those who go missing include those who raise their voice in favour of the missing. Pakistan is becoming really dangerous for liberals and secular people. Free thought and free expression of ideas are labelled treason." The country, he noted, "always shows up at the top of the list of those most dangerous for journalists and human rights defenders, who are often imprisoned, beaten and even killed." S. Prabagaran, 29, was sentenced to death for drug trafficking. For his lawyer, the prisoner was denied a fair trail; he needs a review. Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews) - Today, representatives of the NGO Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) and Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suram) went to the High Commission of Singapore to ask for a review of the trial of S. Prabagaran, a 29-year-old Malaysian sentenced to death on drug trafficking charges. The two organisations are urging Singaporean authorities to stop the execution and review the case by 6 February. LFL representative Raul Lee Bhaskaran said: We want to impress upon the Government of Singapore that we activists are not challenging the fact that a Malaysian citizen may be hanged. We are saying that the prisoner was denied a fair trial. "We urge the Malaysian government and the Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to take legal action against Singapore because under Article 5, Prabagaran has the constitutional right to life, Bhaskaran told reporters outside Malaysian High Commission. The LFL representative said that on 16 January, his organisation asked for a judicial review hoping that the Malaysian government would seize the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to recognise the absence of a fair trial. Prabagarans execution is set to take place in a matter of weeks. On 21 December, his mother handed over a memorandum to the authorities in Putrajaya (Malaysias new federal administrative centre), asking for action. Prabagaran was convicted in 2012. When he arrived in Singapore, officers at an immigration checkpoint found 22.24 grams of diamorphine (heroin) in his car. At his trial, he pleaded not guilty, claiming that the car he was driving was not his, and that he was not aware of the narcotics hidden in it. He also claimed to have helped Singapores Central Narcotics Bureau to disrupt drug activities. by Santosh Digal Three Capuchin friars were ordained on Saturday; two deacons and Fr Digal, a Salesian, were ordained yesterday. Mgr Barwa, archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar, led both ceremonies. "I want to be a pastor for those who are in need," the Salesian said. Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) Kandhamal has six new priests, including the first Salesian. The ordinations took place on Saturday and Monday in the presence of Mgr John Barwa, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar. Their consecrations take an even greater significance since Kandhamal is the district in the State of Odisha (Orissa) that saw a pogrom by Hindu radicals against Christians in 2008. Three Capuchin friars Fr Tejeswar Badaraito, Fr Pratap Chandra Bishoyi and Fr Liman Nayak were ordained on Saturday in the Parish of Padre Pio, Simonbadi, in the archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar. About 30 priests, 20 nuns and more than 3,000 Catholics attended the ceremony. "I thank God for their call to religious life, which occurred in Kandhamal despite persecution and threats, Fr Chinnu Polisetty, provincial head of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, told AsiaNews. I admire the people of Kandhamal for their deeply rooted and fervent faith in Jesus, which is an inspiration for many to bear witness courageously to the Gospel in modern India, braving the hatred and opposition toward Christians." Yesterday, Archbishop Barwa also ordained Fr Kumuda Kumar Digal, from the Salesian Order in Kolkata (Calcutta), and two deacons, one diocesan and another one from the Indian Missionary Society (IMS), in the Parish of the Sacred Heart in Kattingia. These ordinations confirm a trend already visible last year, when several religious were consecrated. Fr Digal thanks God for becoming the first Salesian ordained in an area that has suffered the most vicious anti-Christian slaughter in India. "I am humble before God, he said, and I seek his guidance to serve poor and abandoned youngsters, because this is the main charisma of the congregation to which I belong." The Salesian comes from the village of Malebadi, near the city of Daringbadi, and grew up in the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary. He has a brother and three sisters, one of whom took her vows in the Congregation of the Servants of Mary. In 2004 he entered the seminary in Siliguri, Murshidabad (West Bengal). He later studied philosophy at the Salesian College in Sonada, Darjeeling, and was involved in pastoral work in Kolkata and Bihar. He graduated in Education Sciences at the Don Bosco College in Tura, Meghalaya, and in theology at Kristu Jyoti College in Bangalore. "The long education in the seminary has enriched me, Fr Digal said. Each phase was a unique experience." His motto is The Lord is my shepherd. "I chose it because I really felt on myself the hand of the Lord, the Good Shepherd, which guided me to this point. In return I want to be a pastor for those who are in need." (Purushottam Nayak contributed to this article) Baghdad (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The militias of the Islamic State (IS) have expelled many of the inhabitants of the western part of the Tigris in Mosul, in preparation for a possible final attack by Iraqi forces by river. This according to anonymous local sources, while the government army continues its offensive launched last October against the jihadist stronghold in the north of the country. Analysts and experts confirm the success of the operation, which could be completed by the middle of 2017. A resident of the Al-Maidan district reports that "the (SI) group has forced us to leave our homes, not allowing us to take anything." The militiamen, he adds, have "installed the shooting positions and have positioned snipers on rooftops and windows." "We were forced to leave the area continues the source - because it will soon become a battlefield and they transferred us with some families to another part of town." Recently, the Iraqi security forces regained almost all of the eastern part of Mosul, Iraq's second most important city which is crossed by the Tigris River. The IS militias, however, continue to occupy the western part of the metropolis, home to about two million people before the arrival of Daesh [Arabic acronym for the IS] in the summer of 2014. In recent weeks all the bridges in the city were destroyed, as a strategic defense by militants or under the bombing of the US-led international coalition. Soufian al-Mashhadani, a native militiaman in Mosul, confirmed that IS has deployed several fighters inside some houses, along the western bank of the river. "They have prevented the owners - says the militiaman - of these homes and businesses, from taking their belongings and the food, claiming that everything is now owned by the mujahideen." Having advanced victoriously through the Nineveh plain, up to the eastern sector of the city of Mosul, now the leaders of the Iraqi and Kurdish militia forces are studying a strategy to conquer the west and liberate the city from the jihadist presence. Among the hypotheses, an encirclement to the north, west and south of the city, and then launching an offensive on the eastern sector of using mobile bridges. Patrick Martin, an expert on Iraqi issues at the Institute for the Study of War, says the American genius has formed "the federal Iraqi forces" to build "fighter bridges." These movable bridges "have already been used with success" in Ramadi and Qayyarah, two Iraqi cities retaken by the Iraqi army in recent months. For the first time, government delegates and representatives of armed groups meet. Rebels refuse to hold the first session face-to-face to protest the governments failure to respect the truce. Syrias chief negotiator calls the oppositions attitude "provocative". Russias role and Turkeys shift are key factors. Astana (AsiaNews/Agencies) The Syria peace talks opened this morning in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, convened by Russia, Turkey and Iran, in the presence of representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition. Their aims are the consolidation of the still fragile nation-wide truce in force since late December and finding a solution to propose to the next round of UN-sponsored negotiations in Geneva, set to start on 8 February. For the first time, the opposition delegation includes only representatives of the armed groups active on the ground. Until now, the UN talks in Switzerland saw the participation of exiled members and representatives who are in Astana only as consultants. At the last moment, the rebel front decided against a face-to-face session with the government, saying that the latter had not respected the ceasefire deal of 30 December. Rebels claim that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad raided the Barada River Valley, a strategic area for the water supply to the Syrian capital. The loyalist army justified the action arguing that groups associated with the former al-Nusra front are active in the area. The former (along with the Islamic state) are not included in the truce. The two sides sparred verbally on the first day with mutual accusations. Bashar Jaafari, the Syrian government's chief negotiator, slammed his rebel counterpart's "provocative" comments. For their part, the rebels said that they are ready to fight in case talks fail. Russia and Iran, which are close to the Syrian government, and Turkey, which has long supported the rebels, are behind the talks. Organisers have tried to minimise expectations, noting that no breakthrough is likely. Nevertheless, the meeting highlights Russia's role as a new hegemonic power in the Middle East. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is present at talks, together with the ambassadors of Western countries to Kazakhstan, most notably France, Britain and the United States. Recently, the possible presence of a representative of the new US administration was discussed. Only last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued an invitation. European Union delegates are also present, but pro-Western Kurdish militias, which are unpopular in Ankara, are not. A Western diplomat said that "with the capture of Aleppo" by Assads troops, and the expulsion of the rebels "everything has changed" as a new balance of power has emerged. One of the signs of change is Turkeys current position. Once a leading rebel supporter (including perhaps Jihadi groups like the Islamic State), now it is open on the political future of Syrias President. "The facts on the ground have changed dramatically, so Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad. It is not realistic," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek. by Nirmala Carvalho A clergyman was arrested in Telangana as he handed out copies of the Bible. He is now in hospital in serious condition. Sajan K George cites the murder of an Australian clergyman, Graham Staines, as a prelude to the anti-Christian pogrom of 2008. He says to pray for the clergyman: May the blood of the martyrs be the seed of future Christians and of ecumenical unity." Mumbai (AsiaNews) - Rev K A Swamy was arrested in Tankbund, Hyderabad (Telangana) as he handed out copies of the Bible, this according to Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). He was attacked by a group of fanatics, the GCIC leader said. They ordered him to stop the distribution and falsely accused him of proselytising." The clergyman was taken to the local police station, where he was held in custody all day and subjected to mental torture and severe questioning. Despite everything, "he remained firm in his faith and said that he was exercising his fundamental right." After his release in the evening, he became incapacitated and was rushed to Kamineni Hospital where doctors diagnosed a severe brain hemorrhage. At present, his conditions remain critical and are closely monitored. As anti-Christian persecution continues, said Sajan K George. "we remember in prayer the brutal murder of Rev Graham Staines and his two youngest children. It is important to note that their blood was not shed in vain, and that it has jointed the blood of the martyrs of Kandhamal". For the Orthodox Christian, the death of Australian missionary in 1999 was a prelude to the persecution visited upon Christians in Odisha (Orissa) in 2008. What is more, the sacrifice of the Anglican clergyman and that of 100 martyrs in Kandhamal have not curbed vocations, which are actually up in the Indian state. The GCIC president noted that "the movement remains vigilant with respect to religious freedom and is attentive to the protection of constitutional guarantees for India's tiny Christian minority, which represents just over 2 per cent of the total population." "We must thank Jesus Christ for the miracle that took place in Kandhamal and throughout Odisha, where the blood of the martyrs was spilled for the love of his name." The GCIC mourns the victims of Kandhamal and continues in its efforts to secure justice for survivors and relatives [of the victims]. At the same time, we celebrate their heroic faith and the good that God has given us after all that evil. Lastly, Let also pray for Rev K A Swamy, who is in serious conditions< George said. May the blood of the martyrs be the seed of future Christians and of ecumenical unity ". Fiji High Commissioner His Excellency Mr Filimone Waqabaca says, It is important for us to recognise and celebrate the achievements of one of our very own writers from Fiji who now lives in New Zealand. The Fiji High Commission in Wellington is therefore hosting an event to promote Maiden Fiji on Friday 22 April at its offices at 31 Pipitea Street, Thorndon. The event is co-sponsored by the Kai Fiji Club (Fiji Students Association at Victoria University of Wellington) and will feature readings of excerpts from the novel by members of Voqa Kei Seri: Fiji Writers in Wellington. A secondary school teacher by profession, with a daughter currently attending Victoria University of Wellington, Peckham-Togiatama is excited by the attention her book is finally receiving. It started off as a manuscript she developed while enrolled in the Master in Creative Writing programme at the University of Auckland. Then she submitted it for consideration in a USP Press competition in 2011 and received a commendable mention for it. The book was finally published a few years later in 2014. Maiden Fiji weaves together the stories of several generations of the Logan family. From the fiery 19th-century character of Eliza to her great-granddaughter Ginger, the novel is set in locations as diverse as the old capital of Levuka and a plantation in Bua, Fiji, and the University of Waikato and Whakatane in New Zealand. Copies of Maiden Fiji will be available for sale ($20) at the launch and the author will be available for book signings. The book is also available for sale online via the USP Bookstore For RSVPs and more information, please contact: Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A specially constituted governmental Commission suggests the adoption of special legislation to authorize the Emperor Akihito to abdicate. It is expected to announce its deliberations next March. The sovereign, who succeeded his father in 1989 and is now 83 year old, had expressed the concern of not being able to fully exercise the role of being a "symbol of the nation and the unity of the Japanese people" in August. The monarch's statements shocked the country and sparked a heated debate. According to the law governing the imperial household the Emperor of Japan is not allowed to leave the throne in his lifetime and this is the first time in two centuries that a monarch from the Land of the Rising Sun should want to do so. Following the announcement of Akihito, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delegated the study of the matter to the Commission that expressed itself yesterday. The debate, which strongly divides the population, focused on the method to legislate for abdication: a revision of the law on the protocols that govern the imperial house or writing a special legislation from scratch granting the present Emperor, and only to him, the right to leave the throne in favor of his eldest son Naruhito. If this second option is the preferred one by the commission, the opposition and many experts prefer a reform of the law governing the imperial house. However, the nationalists, close to Abe, do not want to reopen talks on the amendment of this text from the early post-war period to avoid a wider debate, in particular on the matter of the succession of women to the Chrysanthemum Throne, which is still prohibited today. Two other options were presented yesterday by the commission: to reduce the official duties of the emperor or appoint a regent, instead of abdication. The people, however, seems to have sided with the emperor. In fact, according to various surveys, about 90 percent of the population believe it is fair to satisfy the will of Emperor Akihito, 125th emperor in a hereditary line which began in 660 BC, in what is the oldest hereditary monarchy currently in operation in the world. According to media speculation, Japan may begin a new imperial era at the end of 2018 with the ascent to the Chrysanthemum throne of Crown Prince Naruhito, first in line of succession to the throne 56 years old and the Emperors eldest son. No more federal funding will go to pro-abortion NGOs. Activist Reggie Littlejohn, who is elated by the presidents historic decision, slams International Planned Parenthood and its Malthusian policies. Card Dolan applauds the decision. Washington D.C. (AsiaNews) Yesterday morning, the President of the United States of America Donald Trump reinstated the "Mexico City Policy", which prevents US federal funds from going to international organisations that provide or promote abortion. President Reagan first announced the policy in Mexico City in 1984 at a UN conference. It was rescinded by President Clinton, reinstated by President George W Bush, and rescinded again by President Barack Obama. Trumps executive order ends funding to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)), an organisation that favours pro-abortion legislation and policies for coercive population control. The historic decision, announced the day after the 44th anniversary of a contested ruling by the US Supreme Court that sanctioned the "right" of American women to abortion even in the absence of health reasons, was greeted with great joy by those fighting for life and true women's rights. Reggie Littlejohn, a pro-life activist and president of the Women's Rights Without Frontiers, has fought for years against abortion in China, especially the selective abortion of female fetuses. "We are elated that U.S. taxpayer dollars will stop going to International Planned Parenthood, she said reacting to Trumps decision. The latter has been working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Party in their brutal, coercive population control program in China, which includes forced abortion and sterilization of women. We published an open letter to then President-Elect Trump, asking him to investigate and ultimately, to defund International Planned Parenthood for complicity with these women's rights atrocities. We are thrilled that he has taken this swift and decisive action. This is a huge victory for all those who have worked so hard to end abuses by IPPF and to relieve the suffering of women and babies in China." The open letter slams the organisation's activities for supporting Chinas coercive one-child policy since the early 1980s. Such a policy (which now has become a two-child policy) is responsible for hundreds of millions of forced abortions, sterilisations and a lot more suffering. Urging the President to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into IPPF and its relationship with the China Family Planning Association, Reggie Littlejohn describes the horrors committed against Chinese women and captures the bitter contradictions of these foundations that are presented to the public as paladins of "free choice" when forced abortion actually is far from what women who undergo it want. If International Planned Parenthood stands for choice, then why are they working hand in hand with the Chinese Communist Partys coercive population control machine? writes the activist. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, has welcomed President Donald Trumps executive order reinstating the Mexico City policy. We applaud President Trumps action today to restore the Mexico City policy, which withholds taxpayer funds from foreign non-governmental organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas, often in violation of the host countrys own laws. This is a welcome step toward restoring and enforcing important federal policies that respect the most fundamental human rightthe right to lifeas well as the long-standing, bipartisan consensus against forcing Americans to participate in the violent act of abortion. Washington (AsiaNews / Agencies) - As promised in the election campaign, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the TTP Trade pact (Trans-Pacific Partnership). The gesture was rather symbolic because Congress had not yet ratified it. By canceling the agreement, Trump said: "What we have done is a great thing for the American worker." Democrat Bernie Sanders, former candidate for the White House, has expressed support for the Trump move, saying that agreements such as the TTP were "a disaster" and have cost millions of jobs for the United States. "For the last 30 years - said Sanders - we have had a series of trade deals - including the North American Free Trade Agreement[linking Mexico, USA and Canada],, permanent normal trade relations with China and others - which have cost us millions of decent-paying jobs and caused a race to the bottom which has lowered wages for American workers." The TTP was negotiated in 2015 and aimed at strengthening economic ties between Asia-Pacific nations such as the US, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico. It outlined common criteria for treatment at work, respect for the environment, for copyrights, etc .. to create a sort of single market. The pact did not include China. Trump has often stressed that he is not against business, but wants to have a "fair trade", accusing countries such as Japan or China which place huge taxes on US products, making sales difficult in their countries. According to some commentators the Trump move and its prospects of "withdrawing" from the Asia-Pacific market is very dangerous because it leaves all the space open to China. "US withdrawal from the pact will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers, - said Republican Senator John McCain - And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it. On the same day, Trump also canceled all funding for international groups that provide abortion for population control. Aleppo (AsiaNews) - The joy of the Christian community which charged" the Apostolic Nuncio and the Vatican representative "to bring greetings to Pope Francis"; the feeling of gratitude and emotion of many Muslims, who "say they have learned from charity 'you Christians'." This is what the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo of the Latins, Mons. Georges Abou Khazen, tells AsiaNews at the conclusion of the official visit of Card. Mario Zenari and Msgr. Giampietro Dal Toso, under-secretary of the Congregation for Integral Human Development. "Christians, not just of Aleppo - adds the prelate - have seen and heard that we are very close to the community not only in charity and testimony, but also presence." From January 18 to 23, on behalf of Pope Francis, the top Vatican official, and the papal representative in Syria visited the metropolis in northern Syria, the former epicenter of the conflict and now under full government control. This was the first official visit by a Holy See representative since the end of hostilities. In a statement the Department for Integral Human Development explains that the delegation met with "the Christian communities and their pastors," who "have expressed gratitude to the Pope for his constant concern for the beloved Syria." The statement continued, the visit "to Catholic charitable institutions and some refugee camps" was of particular significance. The visit was to a Caritas center in Aleppo Hanano district was deeply moving as was the ecumenical prayer service during the Week for Christian Unity. Following this, meetings with representatives of Islam in the interests of peace and reconciliation in a country still battered today by the conflict, despite the timid attempts of international diplomacy such as the current meeting in Astana, Kazakhstan. "We visited hospitals - said Msgr. Abou Khazen -, met with bishops and priests, religious and many faithful. We had the opportunity to visit two refugee camps together with the pastors and members of the Jesuit Refugee Service. We entered in cathedrals and churches destroyed or damaged by bombing (pictured), the Citadel and the great mosque of Aleppo ". Msgr. Dal Toso and Card. Zenari, says the vicar, "were very moved by what they saw. For us, this meeting was a further sign of hope and joy. There were very significant meetings with the faithful, one dedicated to young people and the second open to the community. " The visit of Cardinal and high Vatican official also drew attention to the religious and secular personalities of the city, of Muslim leaders and administrators "who wanted to meet and greet the Christian authorities". "We then visited the Mufti of Aleppo - underlines Msgr. Abou Khazen - who could not come in person due to illness. The Muslim leader greatly appreciated our gesture." It is only the second time that the apostolic nuncio, now a cardinal, was able to visit Aleppo since the war began in March 2011. "He made a beautiful gesture - says the Apostolic Vicar - saying that his crimson is the blood of the innocent victims, children, and every time he wears it, his thoughts go to them and to the suffering that Syria is experiencing." Although today the city is free from the conflict, the situation in Aleppo remains difficult; there is no electricity and heating. In addition, the archbishop said, the Islamic state militia cut water supplies from the Euphrates and the city has been without water for 12 days. However, he adds, "there is desire to leave, to rebuild, to revive the city. A hope that we have seen in the eyes of children and families, all Muslim, whom we met in the Jibrin refugee camps. Their joy, their enthusiasm in our encounter, their eyes devoid of hate are indeed a great sign of hope. " Meanwhile in Astana the second day of peace talks between the government and opposition is in progress, mediated by Russia, Turkey and Iran. The goal is to strengthen the truce in force since the end of December, to be extended to the entire country with the exception of jihadist groups, including the Islamic state and the former Nusra Front. The UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura reports that the two sides "are not far" from a final declaration. However, the spokesman of the rebel Yahya al-Aridi said that they "will not sign any agreement." "We have hope in the talks in Astana - concludes the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo - of course there remains a note of skepticism, but today the hope is stronger than in the past. Both sides are at the same table, we hope we can achieve a cease-fire. "(DS) Messages You have no messages Archived Results for Tuesday, January 24th, 2017 Older Page 1 Rate attraction: 8 1 View Map History comes to life in Gettysburg and the first place that people should stop is the museum. Upstairs people can see a painted mural from the war that comes to life before their eyes. Everyone will feel like they are stepping back in time as they listen to the war in the background and see the fighting happening in front of them. After the museum, everyone should start out to follow the Gettysburg Trail. This can be done in a car or by foot, but people should know that the trail is very long. There are dozens of stops along the way and it is helpful to pick up a map before leaving the museum. At the military cemetery, people can see where Abe Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address and they can also look over to the cemetery next to it to see where the one local civilian who was killed in the war is buried. Address: Gettysburg, PA Also Read: Top 10 American Civil War Sites To Visit A renowned lawyer has been caught inserting himself into a clients will, standing to get a fifth of her estate, but has not been suspended from practicing.According to a Herald Sun report, Dino De Marchi, a Vietnam War veteran who was feted by former Governor-general Dame Quentin Bryce at Government House in 2010, has pleaded guilty of including his name as a significant beneficiary of the will of client Lidia Toffolon. The client is said to have visited De Marchis law office in 2013 to have a new will prepared, and later instructed the lawyer to include himself as beneficiary.Even after a solicitor employed by De Marchi told him the act would be a breach of rules, the lawyer did not cease to act for the client. Instead, he ordered his law firm and its address to be deleted from the cover page of the will.De Marchi is said to have then taken the client to another lawyer, Carl Soccio, who read the will and asked if the client understood it. Toffolon said she did. Soccio said he told Toffolon that a lawyer is prohibited from getting substantial benefit from a clients will.The Legal Services Commissioner found de Marchi guilty of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct in 2014. It then referred the matter to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which has recently decided to reprimand the lawyer. According to the Herald Sun, the VCAT decided taking into consideration De Marchis otherwise blameless record that a reprimand for each offense, in addition to a $5,000 fine and an order to pay costs of $15,000, satisfied the need for deterrence and protection of the legal professions reputation. The Law Council of Australia has rejected provisions of the Turnbull Governments same-sex marriage bill saying that the changes would further engrain discrimination.The lawyers group, which represents 16 Australian state and territory law societies and bar associations, told a Parliamentary inquiry in Melbourne that it opposed giving civil celebrants and religious service providers rights to serve same-sex weddings. The law should apply to service providers since commercial activities are not part of protections under religious freedoms, the organisation argued.The exclusion of same-sex couples from the Marriage Act denies them a right afforded to all other Australians and is inconsistent with the right to be free from discrimination, said Fiona McLeod SC, president of the Law Council of Australia.The council supports freedom of religion and allowing ministers of religion to conduct religious marriage ceremonies aligns with their religions doctrines, but it does not support extending this to civil celebrants and religious providers which are not specifically defined.Extending this exemption to civil celebrants discriminates against same-sex couples without any proper basis. The marriage ceremonies that civil celebrants perform are secular, not religious. They do not merit the same protection of freedom of religion and have no other proper basis for exemption, McLeod said.The council also opposed the proposed exemption for religious bodies and organisations in providing facilities, goods or services, saying the change could be abused.This proposed exemption would erode fundamental principles of non-discrimination and represent a disproportionate extension of existing exemptions to discrimination laws for religious bodies in defined and limited circumstances, McLeod said. Further, an organisation not established for religious purposes, but connected with a religious body, which provides commercial services incidental to the solemnisation of marriage such as, photographers and caterers should not be able to rely on the exemptions to unlawfully discriminate against couples on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.There is an important distinction between freedom of religion and the freedom to express ones religious beliefs. The freedom to express ones religious beliefs must be carefully balanced where it intrudes upon other rights, such as the fundamental right to be free from discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity. The UKs Supreme Court ruled that parliament must pass legislation to begin the official process of the UK leaving the European Union.The decision upheld a previous ruling of the High Court in the case, which was brought by businesswoman Gina Miller, represented by law firm Mishcon de Reya.Following the ruling, Mishcon released a statement:From the beginning, the purpose of this case was to ensure that the Government followed the correct constitutional process in triggering Article 50. Today 8 out of 11 Judges upheld the judgment of the High Court.As lawyers, we believe in the rule of law, the separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary. This case has seen challenges to each of these principles we hold dear. We are proud that today the strength and primacy of those principles has been restated by the highest judges in the land.Meanwhile DLA Piper litigation and regulatory partner Hazel Moffat said that it may not be the end of court action on the matter, continuing the legal uncertainty of Brexit.There are also other legal proceedings in the offing, not least as to whether the Article 50 notice, once given, can be revoked. It is unlikely that we have seen the end of court involvement in the Brexit unwind," she said.Partner Charles Brasted of Hogan Lovells said that the ruling would be studied by constitutional lawyers as it addressed several issues including the interplay between the Government's executive powers in international law and legislative sovereignty, the powers of the Court to supervise the exercise of prerogative powers particularly where existing law or rights are affected.Charles Bankes, partner and co-chair of the Brexit task force at Simmons & Simmons commented: The judgment of the Supreme Court was a careful and balanced one demonstrating the Supreme Court was mindful of its constitutional role.Allen & Overy has topped the league table for advisers on global debt, equity and equity-related capital markets transactions.Thomson Reuters data shows that the firm advised on 926 deals in 2016 with a value of U$657.9 billion. It also scored well in the Asia Pacific G3 bonds, Australia international bonds and EMEA equity & equity-related transactions categories.An Indonesian businessman who is suing Goldman Sachs for alleged unlawful trades in a property firm, is facing a countersuit from the investment bank.Reuters says that Goldman Sachs is countersuing Benny Tjokrosaputro for U$1 billion. He businessman filed a suit against the bank in September.The dispute relates to shares in PT Hanson International, of which Tjokrosaputro is president director. He claims that he owned 425 million shares traded by Goldman Sachs International; the bank says it owned them. . The UK Supreme Courts decision that a parliamentary vote is needed before the government can trigger Brexit is not the only significant feature of the ruling, a top lawyer says.It may surprise some that the question of whether an article 50 notice could be revoked by the UK after the Brexit process has been triggered remains unanswered, Charles Brasted,a partner at the regulatory practice of Hogan Lovells , wrote in an advisory posted on the global firm site.Noting that the government expressly resisted the issue to be ruled on, the issue could ultimately be determined by the Court of Justice of the European Union, he said.The Supreme Court handed down the ruling Tuesday with an 8-3 majority. The decision blocks Theresa May from beginning talks with the European Union until MPs back the Brexit with a vote. However, Brasted noted that it is expected ministers will no doubtreact quickly.The Government will be looking to get a Bill through quickly. The expectation is that it will be able to do that, he wroteHe added, however, that theres a real risk concessions must be given by the government on parliamentary involvement in the process.Brasted also noted that one of the most significant features of the ruling is that the Brexit does not require approval by the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies.From a practical perspective, it will be at least as important for the Government that the Court confirmed that it has no legal obligation to consult any of the devolved legislatures in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales something which could have caused material delay, not least given the forthcoming Stormont elections, Brasted wrote.The lead claimant of the case, investment manager Gina Miller, was represented by law firm Mishcon de Reya. US President Donald J. Trump is a controversial figure but most US general counsel expect is administration to have a positive impact on their business. The results of a new Acritas survey showed that 72% of GCs based in the US believe their business operations will be impacted by the new administration while 21% are still uncertain. A minority of 7% said the Trump government wont affect their operations at all. Clearly, a large majority of of GCs surveyed believe that there will be an impact on their business operations with President Trump in office. The biggest takeaway is that the GC community is on the whole more positive than negative about the potential impact of the Trump administration on their business operations, Lizzy Duffy, Acritas US vice president, told Australasian Lawyer.Chief legal officers seem to be most optimistic about the prospect of reduced regulation many believe this should make it easier for them to do business. Its also notable that 7% do not expect the Trump administration to have any impact to their business, she said.Reduced regulation was identified by the 56% who were positive on the Trump administration as their main reason, followed by business- or industry-friendly policy change, reduced tax and economy boost. Other reasons cited for the upbeat outlook were infrastructure investment and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.Meanwhile, the 44% who were negative on the Trump administration were most concerned about instability, uncertainty and inconsistency followed by barriers to global trade. Recently, Trump took the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The GCs also said they worried about poor international relations, reduced focus on alternative energies and the changing policy on healthcare.The overall positive reaction of GCs is in contrast to the virtually all negative reaction GCs had in a separate survey on the impact of Brexit, Acritas noted. GCs said in the survey they were concerned about barriers to European Union trade, the loss of EU nationals as staff, the devalued currency and uncertainty and the knock-on effect to the UK economy.Asked why Acritas compared both surveys, Duffy said that the firm wanted to benchmark the result but had not previously measured the impact of a change in US administration on business operations among GCs.The potential impact of Brexit, like a US election, was the closest and most recent comparison both have implications that are far-reaching and varied for the business community across all sectors and markets, she said.Nonetheless, she pointed out that an important difference between the two is that the Brexit was quite unprecedented, whereas in the US, the administration changes every four to eight years.We expect that US respondents have greater experience to draw from when giving their views, she said.Meanwhile, private practice law firms need not worry about lower regulation eating into business generated by their compliance practices.I think its fair to say that regardless of the overarching regulatory climate, general counsel are still responsible for ensuring their organizations conduct their operations appropriately in the US and elsewhere. To that end, they will still need to rely on their outside counsel for understanding and navigating whatever regulatory changes result from the new administration, Duffy said. The battle of Tra Binh Dong was between the South Koreans and North Vietnamese.Several counties supported the South Vietnamese government. The USA, Korea, and Australia provided the most foreign troops in combat.South Korea provided the 2nd largest force to support South Vietnam. Approximately 320,000 military personnel suffered 5099 KIA and 10,962 Wounded.The Republic of Korea, ROK (pronounced Rocks), recruited and trained independently and effectively. I am told that American commanders hoped for a 10 to 1 kill ration and some Korean units exceeded that goal with 25 to 1. They sometimes won battles outnumbered 4 to 1.Conclusion: I do not understand Asian battlefield techniques.I added some reference links:The Korean Movie Sunny (2008) is about the Vietnam experience and also the TV series Decendance of the Sun.https://beaufortcountynow.com/addon/videos&videoid=FNEHoNJ_vswhttps://beaufortcountynow.com/addon/videos&videoid=J2qgaWSgyC8 By Fraser Allison, PhD Candidate in Human-Computer Interaction, University of Melbourne Shutterstock If unexpected packages start showing up at your door, you might want to have a word with one of your smart devices. Earlier this month, a six-year-old in Dallas asked her familys Amazon Echo smart speaker for a dollhouse. And Alexa, Amazons Siri-like artificial assistant, promptly ordered one to their house. A San Diego TV news show picked up the story, and inadvertently repeated it when one of the news anchors commented: I love the little girl, saying Alexa ordered me a dollhouse. Overhearing this, several other Amazon devices in homes across San Diego attempted to buy more dollhouses. The story might sound ruefully familiar to anyone who has tried to have a conversation with Apples Siri or Microsofts Cortana. Our devices have become quite good at listening to us, but that doesnt always mean they understand. Researchers at Microsoft recently pinpointed this as a potential problem with todays talking interfaces: they are marketed as intelligent assistants, with clever jokes and worldly knowledge, yet they often frustrate us with their lack of common sense. In a small study, the researchers found that the people who continued to talk to their digital assistants over time were those who had started out with the lowest expectations. What does a voice interface actually do? When you speak to a voice interface, it has to: hear the sound of your voice, and distinguish it from background noise figure out where each word begins and ends, ignoring your umms and ahhs match the sound of each word to a word in the dictionary, picking the right one from context if there are homophones correctly interpret the meaning of the whole sentence generate a meaningful and useful response that matches your request. Each one of these is a complex technical challenge, and different technology companies have made progress in different areas. Google Now is good at giving relevant responses to a wide range of requests because it benefits from Googles troves of data about the web, and your personal activities, if you use Google services. Amazon Echo is particularly good at hearing your requests from across a noisy room, thanks to a noise-cancelling far-field microphone array. Of course, its also good at making purchases through Amazon. Over the past few years, voice interfaces have become much better at understanding everyday or natural speech rather than only stilted and carefully worded commands. They are still better at handling simple queries, like whos playing in the Australian Open?, and tend to struggle with more complicated requests, like whos playing in the Australian Open for the first time this year?, and follow-up questions, like will it rain during the finals?. The situation is even more mixed for languages other than English: while Siri supports more than 40 languages and dialects, so far Alexa is only available in English and German. But all of these features are steadily improving. Where voice interfaces stutter So will voice interfaces soon take over all of our technology, as predicted in the film Her? Gartner, a technology research firm, has forecast that by next year, 30% of our interactions with technology will be conversations with voice-enabled interfaces. But voice interfaces have limitations, and not all of them can be solved by better technology. Noise pollution is one major hurdle. Can your device distinguish what youre saying from the background noise around you? Technology can help with that, including noise reduction, personalised voice recognition and lip reading. But what about the background noise youre creating for others by talking to your smart device? Imagine a person sitting next to you at the office or on an aeroplane chatting to Siri while youre trying to read, and you can see why voice interfaces may not always be socially acceptable. Another set of issues come from the mental demands of voice interfaces. Learning to use a voice-based system can be hard, especially if there is no screen, as with Amazon Echo. If youve ever called up a bank or a telephone company, you know the miserable combination of concentration and boredom that comes from listening to a synthesised voice list out all your options while you wait for the one you need and try not to mix them up. Traditional graphical interfaces avoid this problem by showing you the available options and letting you quickly tap your choice. After youve learned voice commands, using them can be distracting. Researchers have found that voice commands derail your train of thought more than a mouse and keyboard. This is particularly dangerous for in-car voice interfaces: a pair of studies from the University of Utah found that drivers were distracted for up to 27 seconds after using voice commands. Finding its voice? So voice interfaces are unlikely to take over entirely, but they will find useful niches in our lives. They are already common in cars, where they will hopefully become less distracting as the technology improves. In the kitchen, you can ask Alexa to talk you through a recipe or update your shopping list while your hands are busy cooking. In virtual and augmented reality, voice interfaces can let you control the system when you cant see your hands at all. In language learning, they can be used for practicing pronunciation. Most importantly, voice interfaces help users with motor impairments, RSI or dyslexia to overcome their disabilities. Voice interfaces are a long-awaited technology, and there are good reasons to think their time has finally come. Just remember that they may not yet be as clever as they sound. And you might want to put a PIN code on voice purchases if children are around. Fraser Allison receives scholarship funding from the Victorian State Government and Microsoft through his contributions to the Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces. Originally published in The Conversation. By Cathy Foley, Deputy Director and Science Director Manfacturing Flagship CSIRO, CSIRO Shutterstock/Julija Sapic Have you ever wondered what inspired the United States to initiate the mission to put a man on the Moon? Or who first thought of building the Large Hadron Collider or the massive Square Kilometre Array radio telescope? What is it that prompts these multi-billion-dollar scientific projects to start? This is the issue explored by Australian author Thomas Barlow in his first novel, A Theory of Nothing, published last November and which I had the chance to revisit over the summer holiday. Barlows previous work tends to focus more on the factual coverage of science and innovation in Australia and beyond, including the regular Barlow Advisory on the Australian research and development system with a particular focus on universities. His first work of fiction, though, clearly draws on his experience of dealing with people in scientific research. Barlow touches on some sensitive issues that we scientists dont always like to acknowledge. But A Theory of Nothing didnt start out as a Barlow publication. Barlow originally self-published this novel with the title Critical Mass as a fictional autobiography of the protagonist, Professor Duronimus Karlof. Early feedback from scientists and administrators gave Barlow the confidence to tighten up the story a little, to change some character names to protect the innocent and republish with a new title under his own name. Into the novel The novel begins with Prof Karlof, a physicist and rising star of Harvard University. The inspiration for setting up his major project is the death of a colleague, Sandra Hidecock, a renowned professor of natural law with many accolades. Thomas Barlow Hidecock apparently jumped to her death from her office window as she challenged the laws of nature because she was opposed to their soulless and frigid constraints. In support of Hidecock, Karlof somewhat reluctantly initiates the Ooala Project, a billion-dollar project to, as he puts it, have a go at the laws of nature. Securing his first million dollars from the president of Harvards slush fund, Karlof goes about creating his handpicked multidisciplinary team of five of the leading second-rate scientists at Harvard. They were the disaffected scholars who rarely published in the top journals and whose careers had never lived up to their self-imagined promise. These were the ones who wanted to feel important again and their backing would be easy to obtain. In return they would receive kudos [] and re-ignite in their hearts a sense of mission and destiny. Having assembled his B-team, they decide that the focus of the Ooala Project should be creating sub-stationary motion. They would create an environment that slows matter down to being stationary compared to all other points of the universe and then slow the matter down more to be beyond stationary! And so it begins. Karlof builds an international research community including a professional society and a journal. He secures secret defence funding and creates international collaborations. Karlof attracts additional funding of more than a billion dollars. He builds an extraordinary facility in the Nevada desert, complete with a new-concept electricity generator. He has a community of students living on site in a Manhattan Project-style remote community, all working together to show that the laws of physics are not as they seem. He even discovers a new negatronium particle, an invisible, massless entity that reduces the mass of anything with which it collides. More than just a story But the satirical novel is more than a fun raspberry blown at the establishment of international science. Barlow has woven several important themes into a very engaging and humorous story. He shows how the human element is a critical requirement in the scientific process to build a new research field. He suggests how supporting the best and brightest leader, regardless of the quality of the team, can lead to an extraordinary and unexpected impact on society. Although its a cynical view of how to set up a major research project, Barlow delves into the investment in science by politicians based on a scientists reputation. He shows too clearly how to buy collaborators, revealing that scientists follow the research money and jump on research bandwagons regardless of what they think of the research quality and whether its good science. Barlow also has a dig at the public service and the silly consequences of secrecy and the unexpected ways that fundamental research can impact society due to completely unforeseen applications in disparate fields. In this case, because the negatronium particle affords a mechanism to cross the boundary between the physical and the psychological, the US Treasury uses the impact of this new particle on controlling human emotion to match government financing failures with policymarkers expectations. In doing so they create compliance. And, finally, Barlow demonstrates his strong underlying support for women in science. On trying to find a female to make up a diverse B-team, Karlof didnt know any second-rate women. He finds Assistant Professor Millicent Parker on the recommendation of the Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who describes the female professor as very good very competent. Parker adds: [] but shes too generous with her time. She takes on too many responsibilities [] She writes half my papers for me, she has twice the teaching load of the male assistant professors and if any student runs into trouble, shes always the one they go to. She doesnt leave any time for herself. Based on Barlows experience of real people in the research community, perhaps? But for Karlof, Parker is a perfectly sensible person: conscientious, considerate [] a women with excessive helpfulness. He believes she will create a great culture, encouraging everyone to pitch in and work together for a common goal. Fiction or faction? This book could be seen as a shift for Barlow from his razor-sharp evaluation of innovation in his non-fiction books The Australian Miracle: An innovative nation revisited (2006) and Between the Eagle and the Dragon (2013). I see this as Barlow using his novel as a different genre to make us think about how science is done. It questions if we are really approaching the creation of new knowledge in the best way via the constructs built up over the years to create a science industry of sorts. He also reveals the bitterness of a scientist when their success leads to loss of control of their work once it is taken over to be applied to practice. A Theory of Nothing is, above all else, a great read. It is funny and the characters (intentionally or not) do capture the personalities of science, not just in Australia but internationally. Barlow also captures the human dimension of multidisciplinary research teams, personal ambitions and the rise and fall of a scientific career that is dependent on your latest projects success. If you are a scientist, you will love the cynical description of a clever person playing the system. And for the non-scientist it provides a hilarious expose of the way major projects start. I just hope that our new science minister did not read it over the summer holiday. A Theory of Nothing is available in paperback and online from various sellers. Cathy Foley receives funding for her salary and her research as a CSIRO full time employee. She is affiliated with Science and Technology Australia as the Chair of the Policy Committee and is a member of the Editorial Board of the The Conversation. She has no relationship with Thomas Barlow but received a free copy of the second version of his book on which this review is based. She bought the first version Critical Mass at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society in 2014. Originally published in The Conversation. Hi everyone, I'm new here.Trying to apply PMV for my partner.Searching for alot of answers for my questions and I will probably post a questions which has already been asked but please do not hate me for that.Thank you and you all have great night and happy new year. You need to determine if you are "an Australian resident for tax purposes". If you are, you will be taxed on income outside Oz.Read the rules and guidance here:It says, "If you leave Australia temporarily and do not set up a permanent home in another country" then you will be taxed on income in Dubai.If you say you are going back to Dubai to close out your affairs there, then it sounds like this is "leaving Oz temporarily".The next "test" is the "domicile test" found here -The 183-day test: If you're actually present in Australia for more than half the income year, whether continuously or with breaks, you may be said to have a constructive residence in Australia, unless it can be established that your usual place of abode is outside Australia and you have no intention of taking up residence here.So taking everything into account, even though you are leaving Oz temporarily, since you did not meet the 183-day test of being present in Oz, then you are not an Australian resident for tax purposes.Just my opinion. Market regulator Competition Commission of India clears proposal by Chinese automaker SAIC Motor Corp to acquire GMs Halol plant. The acquisition of General Motors Halol plant by a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corp, Chinas largest automaker, has inched closer to completion, with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) clearing the proposed acquisition, according to reports. In line with its decision to stop production at its plant in Halol, Gujarat, which was set up in June 1996, GM was scouting around for a buyer for it. Around end-2016, it is learnt that a subsidiary of SAIC Motor Corp applied to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire these assets of GM India. Discussions with SAIC on the sale of Halol are progressing well. We continue to work with our employees on the implications of a sale and with the Government to secure necessary approvals, a GM India spokesperson told Autocar India. General Motors, which has two plants in India, one at Halol in Gujarat and other at Talegaon near Pune, said last year that its Halol factory would function only until March 2017. The Halol plant has an annual manufacturing capacity of over 1,30,000 units while Talegaon is reported to manufacture over 1,60,000 units. Both plants have a very low capacity utilisation and by selling off the Halol plant, the carmaker will aim to strengthen its operations at Talegaon and turn around its volumes in India. Sales during April-December 2016 declined to 20,888 units, from 24,479 units a year ago with market share contracting to 0.93 percent from 1.18 percent for the same period. Moreover, it has put on hold its planned investments on new models for India as the company undertakes a full review of its future product portfolio for the country, according to the spokesperson. As we stated publicly in July 2016, given the shift in customer preferences in India, we are conducting a full review of our future product portfolio and have put on hold future investment in our all-new vehicle family for the market until we firm up our product portfolio plan, the company spokesperson said. As a part of GM's effort to strengthen presence in the emerging market, Mary Barra, CEO of GM, had announced an investment of $1 billion in India, with plans to introduce 10 new models in the next five years. This investment was a part of the company's global plan to invest $5 billion to strengthen business in emerging markets through the development of an all-new vehicle family. The investment was going to be made at the carmaker's Talegaon plant, where it announced plans to ramp up production to 2,20,000 units by 2025. Moving forward, our priority remains to establish the right business conditions for sustainable profitability. We are consolidating our manufacturing operations in Talegaon for both domestic market and exports. Exports continue to be an important aspect of our operations in India indeed. In 2016, GM India more than tripled exports compared to 2015 with 69,390 Chevrolet Beats shipped to Central and South America," the spokesperson further added. GM's original plan, as announced in July 2015, was to launch 10 new models in India across the next five years, beginning with the Trailblazer SUV in October 2015 and the Spin MPV in early 2017. The Trailblazer SUV was first of the new models to be launched, when it was rolled out in October. But plans to launch the Spin MPV, which was expected to be carried out in early 2017, were shelved last year. Plans are also underway to introduce the new Cruze, the Beat hatchback, as well as the Beat notchback. Peugeot may tap the India base for both domestic and export markets; product expected to be launched in 2021; to tie-up with CK Birla group The PSA Group is said to be seriously considering manufacturing cars in India, this time under a joint venture with the CK Birla Group. According to a report in the French financial daily, Les Echos, the PSA Group has inked an alliance with the CK Birla Group to make a re-entry into the Indian market. Specific details of the tie-up are likely to be given on Wednesday morning by Carlos Tavares, chairman, Groupe PSA. As per the plan, the two new partners will set up a joint venture which will integrate the Hindustan Motors plant in Chennai. Our sister publication Autocar Professional had reported on June 10, 2015 about Peugeot's plan to enter India by 2018-19 through the assembly or contract manufacturing route. There was also a newspaper report in October 2015 that the French company was in talks with Tata Motors to re-enter India. In its first innings in India, which ended in late 1997, Peugeot had partnered Premier Automobiles. The second attempt was made independently in 2011, with a plan to set up a plant with an initial annual production capacity of 1,70,000 units. Financial woes forced the company to put it on the backburner. But the Indian market continued to attract Peugeot's interest. In September '14, the French carmaker formed a new 'India-Pacific' business zone comprising of India, SAARC countries, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. This is the fifth geographical business zone of the company and the only one without a single manufacturing unit. It is likely that Peugeot may now tap the India base for both domestic and export markets. India in 'Push to Pass' growth plan The PSA Group had in April 2016 revealed its aggressive Push to Pass growth plan for the 2016-2021 period. India is part of this plan as per which, the carmaker is targeting a partnership deal by 2018 and a product launch before the end of 2021. India, expected to become the world's third largest car market by 2020, could well play a crucial role in Groupe PSA's vision to be a great global carmaker with cutting-edge efficiency and the preferred mobility provider worldwide for lifetime customer relationship". It is likely the French carmaker has advanced its India entry plan with this tie-up with the CK Birla Group. Stay tuned for more details. Sets 1 million unit sales target for 2017; plans to make India biggest market in five years. Yamaha has set its sight on making India the second-largest market for its two-wheelers by end-2017, and has set a sales target of one million units this year. Indonesia is currently Yamahas No 1 market with sales of 1.45 million units in CY2016. If everything goes as per plan, Yamahas subsidiary company India Yamaha Motors management team believes India will ride past Vietnam, the current No. 2 for Yamaha with sales of 8,00,000 units in CY2016. In 2016, India Yamaha Motor sold a total of 7,80,000 two-wheelers, with 53 percent of them being scooters. This year, the company is gunning for a million sales, with around 6,00,000 of them being scooters. According to Masaki Asano, MD, Yamaha Motor India sales, India Yamaha Motor should become the No. 1 in about five years. The company is likely to reach peak manufacturing capacity of 1.8 million units per annum at its three plants in the country. While the Surajpur and Faridabad plant in Haryana have similar capacities of 7,00,000 units each, the Chennai plant has a manufacturing capacity of 4,50,000 units per annum. Speaking at the launch of the new FZ25 today in New Delhi, Asano said that India is the first and only market to produce this motorcycle. The company will, if needed, export this made-in-India product. Nevertheless, Yamaha is targeting export sales of over 2,00,000 units this year. CVT Mitsubishi, as well as a plethora of unofficial reports, hinted that the Japanese automaker would try to mend things by introducing a compact-sized crossover and, according to Auto Express, its nameplate could be Eclipse . You mean that green two-door coupe in the first Fast & Furious movie? In name, yes. In terms of exterior design, however, the two will be worlds apart. Auto Express took a pre-production prototype for a spin, but the Eclipse name is not set in stone. As per the cited publication, the car is still a year away and its likely to be called the Eclipse when it arrives. Whatever it will be called, the compact-sized crossover looks identical to the pre-production prototypes spy snappers dub the replacement for the ASX (Outlander Sport) From an aesthetic standpoint, its much more pleasant to the eye than the sport utility vehicles Mitsubishi sells nowadays, ranging from the seven-year-old ASX to the 11-year-old Pajero . I cant say that Im a fan of the dramatically raked rear end, though, but thats what the public wants. Speaking of which, even Range Rover decided to do a coupe-ified Sport.Said to be underpinned by a shorter version of the Outlanders platform, the 2018 Mitsubishi Eclipse is gifted with a modern dashboard design and a different infotainment system from todays Rockford Fosgate factory-installed unit. Auto Express was also impressed by the Qashqai levels of legroom.On the mechanical front, a multi-link rear axle will help the Eclipse hold its own in the twisties. An electronically controlled S-AWC all-wheel-drive system is also in the offing, but lesser models will have to make do with front-wheel-drive. A 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder (believed to pack 120 bhp and 200 Nm) and arepresent one of the confirmed powertrain combos, as is Mitsubishis 2.2-liter four-cylinder turbo diesel and six-speed manual.After the Eclipse or whatever the ASXs successor will be called, Mitsubishi will continue its offensive with a Nissan Juke-sized model. Presumably inspired by the eX Concept and due to be launched in 2019, the subcompact crossover is expected to gain a pure-electric powertrain option with a range of 150 miles at the very least. In 2020/2021, the Outlander is also due to be replaced.Mitsubishi confirmed that an all-new compact SUV will be revealed at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. It didn't say its name, but what we do know for sure is that it will slot between the ASX and Outlander. From the adjacent teaser image, this is the vehicle speculated to be called Eclipse. AMG While we still don't have an official answer to that question, we want to focus on a more practical aspect of the four-door coupe, namely its rear cabin. And that's because the third coming of the car that popularized the four-door coupe segment will see the vehicle finally offering rear seat accommodation that deserves the "luxury" tag.We've enjoyed ourselves in several CLS models so far, but none of them treated the rear passengers as well as those sitting up front. Well, the 2019 model will change this, all thanks to the new platform of the vehicle.The MRA architecture, which has already proven its worth on the market, means that, for instance, rear passengers of the sporty model won't have to deal with knee room limitations.For one thing, the most recent spyshots of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz CLE, which you can find in the gallery to your right, show Mercedes engineers testing the rear cabin of the vehicle.Sure, we won't receive as many seating options as in the S-Class, but the compromise brought by that sexy roof will me more balanced than ever before. And speaking of the vehicle's exterior lines, we might just end up with the world's most aerodynamic production car, as we explained in a dedicated story - we could even get a Cd as low as 0.19.In the powertrain department, the rumor mill talks about a separation, with the CLE engine range being topped by six-cylinder units, a breed that will be represented by the German automaker's upcoming straight-six engines. You can expect a "400" model animated by a twin-turbo six-pot aided by a 48V electric system delivering mild hybrid assistance at low and mid revs, while boosting efficiency.The same rumors mention Affalterbach developing a bespoke version of the car, which should skip the CLE badge. Regardless of the labeling, we'll get to see the Mercedes-twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 in action, while a detuned version of the unit should serve "550" models (make that "500" in Europe).The lavish four-door coupe we're discussing should bow in the first half of next year, so we have plenty of time to get under its camouflaged skin. Audi describes the solution as paint etching, and it can offer personalized designs for its customers with the setup. The first that have access to the new procedure are clients of the R8 , which can receive a bespoke design on the side blades of the mid-engined model . The German brand even provided an example of paint etching, and you can see it in the photo gallery.Audi says that the new feature works with a distinctive powder, that can roughen the clear lacquer on the surface of the paint to a depth of just a few thousandths of a millimeter, which is less than the thickness of a human hair.The Ingolstadt brand also stated that it can implement this into regular series production with ease, and that it is an example of how flexible their production setup can be.The process requires a template with the desired pattern to be placed on the component that will be painted, and the part is then blasted with the distinctive powder. After that part, the reflection properties of the desired area change, and it appears matte despite being glossy around the template.Unlike traditional lettering and stickers, this process is weather resistant so that Audi could employ it on some models instead of the usual badges. Currently, all components that have a size of up to a square meter can be processed with the new technology, and Audis exclusive program is the only one to have access to the system at first.Audi plans to spread the system to other models in the future. The carmaker's paint shop can apply almost any pattern that may be requested by a customer, but it must not affect any third-party rights. In other words, you can design your logo, or only use something from Audis portfolio. The fate of House Bill 17 may be decided by the members of the General Assembly, depending on Gov. Pat McCrory's actions over the next couple of weeks. (CJ file photo) Opening day of the 2017-18 General Assembly was filled with warm greetings, friendly exchanges, and promises of compromise. After a short break, lawmakers have returned to get down to the real work of the session.It's time to govern. But can lawmakers find common ground?Some areas of common interest may be found in education funding. Both the General Assembly and Gov. Roy Cooper have cited a desire to increase teacher pay. Cooper wants to raise it to the national average, and a merit pay system has been discussed. Cooper has said he'll fight school choice, but legislative leaders will fight back to keep it.We all agree economic growth brings jobs, yet economic growth happens when property rights are secure. North Carolina could employ a constitutional amendment to protect property owners from governments using eminent domain. Though introduced every session since the U.S. Supreme Court'sdecision, a bill has not yet passed. Will this be the year we finally secure eminent domain protections in the state Constitution?Saving for the future is fiscally responsible, no matter your political party, right? The General Assembly in December voted unanimously to use money from the "rainy day" fund for victims of Hurricane Matthew and the western wildfires. Thank goodness money was set aside, which surely everyone agrees is a good idea.Chief Justice Mark Martin and folks from the left and the right, after several studies, agree lawmakers should raise the age juveniles convicted of nonviolent crimes are considered adults by the criminal justice system. When juveniles are housed with adults, they are more likely to be victims of sexual and physical violence and have less access to education. Most states keep 16- and 17-year-olds in separate facilities through the juvenile justice system. Recidivism rates are lower, and cost savings are significant.The General Assembly created a Strategic Investment Plan for transportation funding that takes out politics, basing decisions on data. This enabled lawmakers to think strategically and long-term about infrastructure planning and funding, and Cooper has talked about a transportation bond. With $160 billion in projected needs over the next 30 years, lawmakers widely agree funding for transportation and infrastructure must be addressed in a comprehensive, long-term plan. Let's make one now.Can we expect everyone to reasonably work through issues, look for common ground, focus on solving problems? Govern without politics?The power struggle between the executive and legislative branches began before Cooper was sworn in. During several contentious special sessions in December, the General Assembly stripped power from the governor, required Senate approval for his cabinet appointments, and changed the makeup of the State Board of Elections . Cooper struck back with lawsuits.Legislative leaders believed they were double-crossed over House Bill 2 repeal. Cooper accused lawmakers of changing the deal, and any trust that existed between Cooper and the General Assembly was gone.Cooper used his first public speech after his swearing in to propose Medicaid expansion , which legislative leaders adamantly oppose. Cooper proceeded in spite of a state law saying only the General Assembly could expand Medicaid and a Constitution that says a governor must uphold state laws. Cooper claimed he was just going after federal money, but the General Assembly reminded him expansion would cost state taxpayers upward of $600 million, and only legislators were authorized to appropriate state funds under the state Constitution. Cooper asked the Obama administration for a waiver, and the General Assembly asked the courts to stop him.Cooper has overstepped his authority and unnecessarily caused more animosity, hard feelings and mistrust. The power struggle isn't over. Cooper has the veto, but Republicans in the General Assembly have supermajorities.Most of us are looking for good ideas, reasonable debate, and sensible solutions to challenges facing our state, but so far we've seen brawls, backbiting and stalemates.But it's early, right? Faraday Future is accused of owing about $1.8 million to The Mill Group, which is a company that is known for its work in the field of visual effects. According to their complaint, Faraday Future contacted them in September 2016, and the company requested a graphic presentation to promote the launch of the automakers first production vehicle, the FF 91.The bill was estimated at $1.82 million, out of which Faraday Future reportedly paid $20,000. The automaker has agreed to pay the company in three separate stages, but the payments stopped after the first $20k. The Mill Group still expects to receive $1,802,750.00 from Faraday Future, which is why they started the lawsuit, as reported by Jalopnik Representatives of both companies have refused to comment the ongoing legal action, which is standard practice in cases like these. In case you are questioning what kind of services could have led to an $1.8 million bill for a presentation, the requested product included virtual reality, augmented reality, and even holographic components.All of those elements are expensive to create, especially when the graphic artists must simulate a vehicle that must look its best and be as realistic as possible.According to The Mill Groups court complaint, the last payment should have been done by October 10, 2016. The first installment from Faraday Future was expected to feature the amount of $455,687, and it was expected by September 12, 2016. That's a long way from $20,000, if you ask us.The product of the presentation was supposed to be shown to wealthy people that were potential customers. Unfortunately, things may have backfired for Faraday Future, as this is not the first time when the Chinese -funded company is at the center of a scandal that involves people and contractors not getting paid. Instead of Benjamin Parker, which is a character some of you might remember as Uncle Ben, the voice that told the new sheriff of Volusia County to ask to get a ticket for speeding was his. Sheriff Chitwood was driving an unmarked car while wearing his green uniform, and his actions did not go unnoticed, as he was 23 mph over the posted limit.One of his subordinates, an unnamed sergeant, lit up the lights on his cruiser, performed a U-turn, and pulled up beside the sheriff. He recognized his superior, notified him that he was driving 78 mph in a 55 mph limit zone , and let him drive off as a professional courtesy.Later that day, the sheriff realized he was wrong to accept the courtesy of his subordinate, and called him requesting a ticket. At first, the deputy was hesitant, but he proceeded in writing the ticket and registering it with the sheriffs office regardless. The sheriff paid the $281 fine in full, and he provided the proof to News Journal Online Chitwood explained that he insisted on getting a ticket to be sure that his subordinates will be fair if they ever catch each other speeding, and to ensure that the public will trust the institution and its employees to do the right thing every single time.On the day Sheriff Chitwood was caught speeding, the organization he now runs settled a lawsuit that was started against a deputy that crashed while speeding. A similar issue has led to an investigation within the institution after another deputy struck another car because of speeding.Mike Chitwood is not the first law enforcement official to be caught speeding and ask to be fined for it. We approve of these examples, but we believe they should have been ticketed just like anyone else except the situations where there was a real emergency ahead of them. That's right, the Japanese widebody specialist has now moved past assisting 458 s with receiving as much attention as they did back in the day. Given the moderate visual gap between the two Fezzas, anybody who's seen an LB Walk 458 knew what to expect from the twin-turbo tuner machine.Even so, the traditional fat fenders, along with that massive tail, make the 488 look like an all-out racecar.And, given the motorsport roots of the Prancing Horse , the little mods, such as the winglets found on the sides of the front apron, are also welcome, at least if you're the kind who doesn't mind such an identity change being mixed with a Ferrari badge - we'll remind you that, for instance, the new wheel arches required the tuner to cut into the fenders of the mid-engined animal.If the body kit of this 488 doesn't split opinions, the Forgiato wheels certainly will, with the association between the bling-focused brand and the Ferrari name being enough to generate such a reaction. The road connection chapter is completed by an AirRex air suspension, which means that the Italian exotic doesn't have to pack a racercar-grade ground clearance at all times.One of the most effervescent sides of the package we're dealing with comes from the exhaust department. The Maranello beast has been gifted with a Fi Exhaust system.The Taiwan-based exhaust specialist has built a reputation for delivering some of the most vocal setups on the market and the one under this 488 is no exception. Despite the twin-turbo nature of the supercar's V8 heart, the soundtrack of the presentation clip below is the kind that begs for a proper sound system, or at least some premium headphones.The exhaust system is a complete proposal, including a catback Valvetronic muffler (the valves allow the driver to play with the dB intensity) with dual tips and a catless downpipe. And yes, the decatted setup is less than street legal... A report from Swede Speed tells it as it is: Volvos been on a trademarking spree lately. The cited publication is referring to the names P5, P6, P8, P9, and P10. These marks were filed with the European Unions Intellectual Property Office on December 19, 2016. At the time of writing this story, the EUIPO has yet to approve them.Well have to wait until March 22 of the present year for the EUIPO to make up its mind if Volvo is entitled to use the names. The five marks mentioned beforehand have two things in common with one another: the Volvo Car Corporation as the owner, and a description that goes like this: vehicles and conveyances; electric vehicles.Its no wonder, then, why Swede Speed speculates that Volvo could use these names for its yet-to-be-confirmed electric vehicle offensive. The publication also notes that Volvo filed applications for V20 and V30, making for yet another mystery waiting to be unfolded. Is Volvo going to burst into the subcompact segment? Only time will tell.As highlighted beforehand, the Swedish automakers next step is to redesign the 60 and 40 Series from the ground up. Both model lineups will be gifted with Twin Engine plug-in hybrid powertrains. The XC60 will make use of the SPA platform introduced by the XC90, while the XC40 will be gifted with Volvos all-new CMA platform Based on the latest reports available, the XC60 could become a reality at this years Frankfurt Motor Show. As for the XC40 , The Chinese News reports that the new compact crossover is due to debut this April in Shanghai. Photo of 2017 Niro courtesy of Kia. Kia Motors' 2017 Niro hybrid crossover will retail for at least $23,790 when it arrives at dealer lots in the coming weeks, the Korean automaker announced. Kia will offer the Niro in five trim grades, including the FE, LX, EX, Touring, and the limited production Launch Edition. While the FX retails for $23,790, the top-of-the-line model will retail for $30,550. Prices include destination charges. The highly-efficient Niro delivers fuel economy ratings north of 50 miles per gallon. U.S. EPA ratings have been set for the five models, which are rated in city/highway/combined driving cycles FE (52/49/50), LX (51/46/49), EX (51/46/49), Touring Launch (46/40/43), and Touring (46/40/43). The hybrid utility is powered by a 1.6L direct-injected gasoline four-cylinder that makes 103 hp and a 43-hp electric tractive motor. Standard equipment on the Niro FE includes 16-inch wheels, six-way front seats, keyless entry, cruise control, a 7-inch touchscreen display with rear-view camera, as well as the UVO3 infotainment system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and a six-speaker audio system with steering-wheel controls. The LX trim adds Blind Spot Detection with Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Lane Change Assist driver assistance features. Photo: Deborah Lockridge Transportation agencies in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan have formed the Smart Belt Coalition that will focus on automated and connected vehicle initiatives. Among the coalition's aims is to look at "commercial freight opportunities in testing, including platooning (connecting more than one vehicle) and potential coordination on interstates." The coalition, which includes transportation and academic partners, seeks to support research, testing, policy, funding pursuits and deployment of technologies. The partnership will also share data and provide opportunities for private-sector testers. "I'm excited for us to continue our efforts in fostering safe and effective development of this technology," said Leslie S. Richards, PennDOT secretary. "This multi-state partnership not only offers fantastic collaboration opportunities, but will also bring some consistency to testing scenarios that will help the private sector as they develop these technologies." With similar climates, truck traffic, and active work on these technologies going in the three participating states, the coalition is designed to act as a resource for both government and the private sector. The coalition is developing a strategic plan that will initially focus on connected and automated work zones, the aforementioned commercial freight opportunities in testing, and incident management. Weve been working with U.S. DOT, the Ohio Department of Transportation and the Governor's office for a while on initiatives regarding autonomous vehicles," Tom Balzer, president and CEO of the Ohio Trucking Association told HDT. "As far as a formalized coalition, its not surprising to me that they are working with the surrounding states to try to continue to advance this initiative." Balzer said that a combination of testing conditions and talent at nearby universities makes the region an ideal location to test the technology. Also, some trucking companies in the state have proven to be early adopters of safety technologies, such as adaptive cruise control and automatic braking that areprecursors to fully autonomous vehicle technology, and truck platoons have already been tested on the Ohio Turnpike. When you take a look at what the region can offer for the future of autonomous vehicle technology development, given our particular climate and the volume of freight and the volume of traffic that moves through those states, its not surprising that theyve come together, said Balzer. We are ripe grounds for companies that are willing to accept technologies and are willing to put them in place." Moving forward, the coalition will finalize a strategic plan outlining the framework for participants and opportunities for private-sector testers. The coalition membership may expand in the future, but for now the participating agencies and universities include: Pennsylvania: PennDOT, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and Carnegie Mellon University PennDOT, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, and Carnegie Mellon University Michigan: Michigan Department of Transportation and University of Michigan Michigan Department of Transportation and University of Michigan Ohio: Ohio Department of Transportation, Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, The Ohio State University and Transportation Research Center This new coalition recognizes that automated and connected vehicle initiatives transcend state boundaries and spur emerging technologies," said Mark Compton, CEO of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. "Working together, we will be able to more effectively advance these emerging technologies for all motorists." Photo via Wikimedia/mindfrieze The Illinois Supreme Court told Chicago to stop collecting taxes on suburban car rental companies that may rent cars for use within city limits, according to a report by Law360. The court ruled that the way Chicago imposes the tax violates the home rule article of the Illinois constitution. All seven judges of the Illinois Supreme Court agreed that a rule setting how the city collects taxes on rental companies outside its jurisdiction is unconstitutional, says the report. That rule, circulated by Chicagos Department of Revenue in 2011, tells how a city property use tax is to apply to cars leased from businesses within three miles of the citys boundaries. Under the guidelines, the city required those renting the vehicles to check a box declaring whether they plan to use the car within city limits for at least 50% of the time that they are in possession of the vehicle. If the box is not checked, the city automatically imposes the tax if the customers drivers license lists a Chicago address, according to the report. But intent is not actual use, according to the Illinois Supreme Court. The end result could be that Chicago is taxing property being used outside city bounds in violation of the Illinois Constitutions clause on home rule authority. There is no delivery of the leased vehicles into Chicago, and the lease transactions take place wholly outside Chicago, the court wrote. At most, there is only a tenuous connection between the city and the taxed transaction. A representative for Enterprise Holdings, one of the two rental companies challenging the rule, said the company was pleased with the ruling and that it will continue to pay taxes for leases of vehicles within city limits, which totaled more than $21 million last year. The courts decision only holds that the city cannot require out-of-city businesses to collect city taxes when they do not sell their product in the city, Laura Bryant told Law360 in an emailed statement. Karen Drake, a representative for Hertz Corp., told Law360 that the company was also pleased with the ruling. Enterprise and Hertz both sued the city after the guidelines were handed down in 2011. The circuit court granted summary judgment to both but the appellate court reversed, ruling that it was in the citys authority to tax leased property being used within its boundaries, according to the report. Chicago urged the high court to uphold that ruling, arguing in part that the vehicles and their drivers are using city streets and receive the protection of city-funded services like the fire department and police force. But because the current rule doesnt actually ensure that the leased vehicles are being driven on city streets, the Illinois Supreme Court marked it as unconstitutional, according to the report. Click here for the full Law360 report. Smart Car Rental is a new carsharing service available in Dubai. The service enables customers, especially public transport users, to rent cars up to six hours via apps. The Roads and Transport Authority contracted with short-term rental companies U drive and ekar to operate 200 vehicles (100 each) at fares ranging from approximately USD $6.50 to $8.17 per hour, according to a press release by the Government of Dubai. Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said that the vehicles would be available at over 45 locations within Dubai, including five locations at Dubai Metro stations. Click here for the full Government of Dubai report. Honda recently mentioned that the company's success in 2016 U.S. sales was from discipline. As the industry groaned under pressure of having seventh straight annual sales boost, 0.3 percent this time and surprisingly grew 4.8 percent. In fact, the company has been confirmed as the fastest growing mainstream car brand in Europe for the year 2016. Latest data from the European industry body ACEA revealed that total sales for the automaker in EU and EFTA countries in 2016 were 159,126 units until the end of December, a fast increase of 20.8 percent than 2015. Its significant growth surpasses the results for the EU passenger car market as a whole. Jim Lake, dealer principal at Vern Eide in Sioux Falls, S.D. and current chairman of Honda's dealer advisory board said, "It's a great time to be a Honda dealer." "The product lineup has never been like this ever, and the cadence that is happening has been phenomenal." When the automaker introduced the redesigned Odyssey in Detroit this month, it was also celebrating its success as the North American Truck of the Year award for the 2017 Ridgeline midsize pickup. In addition, its also topped Google's ranking as the most-searched car brands in the United States and six Honda models were among the most-searched vehicles. Today, the famous automaker can see itself with not only as a highly competitive lineup but also an excellent balance of cars and trucks and a manufacturing base that spread across North America. The company has three crossovers that target sweet spots of consumer demand, plus their midsize pickup and minivan. However, the Takata airbag predicament is still a headache for the automaker, its dealers, and customers, and as Takata's biggest customer, the company has the widest bearing to repeated recalls. But the automaker announced that it will be moving all Acura MDX prolongation out of a Lincoln, Ala., plant and transfer it to East Liberty, Ohio, facility. Company's executive vice president, John Mendel, stated that the company might hit another sales record for the year, even though the majority of the industry is preparing for a plateau. Still, he's calm to let other automakers such as Nissan, Ford, Hyundai and Kia chase outright sales number and market share. Recently, supercars have been the apple of the eyes of the thieves. Worth millions of these luxurious cars from a dealership in Johannesburg has been eyeing South part of Africa for super car orders. According to some experts, the orders of these high valued cars mainly from Germany's automotive industry, originated from the people living in the neighboring countries of South Africa. One in particular is in the Middle East. In a report, thieves were able to go past around the Infiniti Motors security system in Melrose. They got off with not more than six cars such as a Land Cruiser (Toyota), Range Rover Evoque (Land Rover), X6 model (BMW), and Mercedes Benz's ML 63, ML 43, and G 63 last Sunday morning. Later on, there were three of the stolen supercars found somewhere in Yeoville, Kensington, and Berea. Jason Nestadt, the co-owner of the car dealership Infiniti Motors did not leave any comments on the said troubled event. After a week from the Toyota dealership, the thievery situated and was believed that those were the same people who attacked Infiniti Motors. There was a total of seven Hilux bakkies (Toyota) and Land Cruiser (Toyota) were taken away during the invasion. Four of these cars were recovered with one found in Zimbabwe. A private investigator whose specialization is in cross-border crime investigation, Danie Day, have said that "Currently in Zambia, there is also a high demand for luxury German cars such as Audi's BMWs and Mercedes Benz especially if these cars are rental vehicles. Recently a vehicle racketeering scam whose operators were dealing in Mercedes-Benz ML55s was uncovered. We have also recovered a number of Mercedes-Benz ML 63s as well in that country." He also added that his team was able to found out that numerous amounts of these millions worth luxurious supercars are exported to Dubai traveling through Mozambique. As of now, the investigation is still in a sensitive stage according to Captain Mavela Mosondo. He later added, "Our detectives are looking at a number of other luxury car dealership thefts to see if there are any links which can be made with the latest theft. We will be reviewing CCTV footage to see if we can identify the suspects." Lieutenant Joshua Shiflett Beaufort County Sheriff's Office On January 3, 2017 at about 6:00 PM the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office received a call reporting a shooting at a residence on Main Street in Pinetown, North Carolina. First responders including Pinetown Fire/ EMS, Beaufort County Emergency Services and Beaufort County Deputies were immediately dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival First Responders found that 6 year old Victoria Irene Whitehurst, of Pinetown, died from a fatal accidental gunshot wound.Beaufort County Sheriff's Investigators were called to the scene to investigate the incident. After conducting eye witness interviews and collecting physical evidence Investigators learned that Victoria was visiting the home and staying with two other juveniles, an un-named 12 yr. old female and an un-named 11 yr. old male. The 11yr. old male was showing the two girls a shotgun he got for Christmas when the gun went off, struck Victoria, killing her and injuring one of the family dogs. The dog suffered minor injuries and was taken for medical treatment.After completing their inquiry into the shooting Investigators charged Bambi Dickerson and Jerry Lee Dickerson Jr. with one count each of Misdemeanor Failure to Store a Firearm to Protect a Minor. Additionally Jerry Dickerson Jr. was also charged with Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. Bambi Dickerson has been arrested and released on bond, Jerry Dickerson's arrest is pending. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev hailed a sharp rise in Armenias exports to Russia recorded last year and spoke of a great potential for their further growth as he met with his visiting Armenian counterpart Karen Karapetian on Tuesday. Public statements made by the two men suggested that their talks held near Moscow focused on commercial issues, with Karapetian calling for more Russian investments in the Armenian economy. We have come here with new proposals which would allow us to diversify and expand the spheres of our [economic] cooperation, Karapetian said in his opening remarks at the meeting. Greeting the recently appointed Armenian premier, Medvedev said: Despite international market trends, changes in the prices of energy resources and a number of other economic factors, our commercial exchange is stable. And if we look at imports from Armenia to our country we observed a 70 percent increase last year. In my view, this is a consequence of Armenias accession to the Eurasian [Economic] Union and the strengthening of our economic ties, he added. Armenian government data shows that Armenia exported $337.3 million worth of goods to Russia in January-November 2016, a year-on-year increase of 54 percent. Fresh agricultural products, alcoholic beverages and processed foodstuffs accounted for most of those exports. Addressing the press after the talks with Karapetian, Medvedev said that the Armenian agriculture sector has a very good potential for development not only in terms of continued exports to Russia but also through the launch of Russian-Armenian joint ventures. We have a big market, Medvedev said. I think that we should concentrate on this as well in the near future. Armenian exports to Russia plummeted by nearly 27 percent in 2015 primarily because of the Russian rubles sharp depreciation caused by the collapse of world oil prices. The ruble regained some of its lost value in the course of last year. According to an Armenian government statement, one of the economic proposals submitted by Karapetian to Medvedev is the creation of a Russian-Armenian investment fund that would finance business projects in Armenia. The Russian side positively assessed the proposal, the statement without elaborating. Karapetian, 53, lived and worked in Russia for five years preceding his appointment as Armenias prime minister in September. He held senior executive positions in local subsidiaries of Russias Gazprom energy giant. Karapetian managed Armenias Gazprom-owned gas distribution network from 2001-2010. The premiers Gazprom connections appear to have been instrumental in the networks decision late last year to cut gas prices for Armenian households and businesses. 24 January 2017 10:00 (UTC+04:00) By Melvin Sanicas Looking back on 2016, there may not seem to be much to celebrate. In terms of global health alone, the year appeared to be one of unrelenting tragedy. Beyond stories of hospitals in conflict zones being bombed, the Zika virus emerged as a growing threat. There was also the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant microbes, or superbugs, the continued revival of yellow fever, and the reemergence of polio in Nigeria, which had previously been declared polio-free. Hopes for a respiratory syncytial virus vaccine were dashed. And in Europe, the incidence of alcohol-related deaths increased. But, buried among all of the bad stories, there were some inspiring developments in global health in 2016. The first took place in Tanzania and Mozambique, where African giant pouched rats, which had previously been trained by the Belgian NGO APOPO to detect landmines, were repurposed to help in the fight against tuberculosis (TB). The rats undergo a thorough training process, in which they are introduced to various stimuli, shown how to interact with people, and taught to detect TB in samples of sputum (mucus that is coughed up from the lower airways). The rats can detect TB with almost 100% accuracy, though they cannot distinguish between normal and drug-resistant strains. A second positive development was the creation of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The emergence of infectious diseases (like Ebola, chikungunya, Zika, and, previously, SARS, swine flu, and MERS) typically highlights the inadequate capacity of public-health systems to build up defenses quickly. CEPI aims to change this. Its members which come from international organizations, governments, industry, public and philanthropic R&D funders, academia, NGOs, and civil-society groups will work to develop new vaccines that can prevent emerging infectious diseases from becoming epidemics. The third positive development of 2016 was the progress made in combating malaria. Deaths from malaria have been on the decline for years. In Africa, which faces the worlds highest malaria mortality rates, the number of victims dropped from more than 800,000 per year in 2000 to roughly 400,000 last year. Moreover, European drug regulators approved the first licensed human vaccine against malaria RTS,S, or Mosquirix in 2015, after nearly three decades of research and development. It will not necessarily be smooth sailing from here: researchers have noticed that the vaccines effect weakens over time, and it is only 4% effective over a seven-year period. But the vaccine remains a major breakthrough. Reflecting its lifesaving potential, the World Health Organization has secured funding for an initial trial phase; beginning in 2018, the WHO will roll out RTS,S in pilot programs that would test its real-world efficacy in Sub-Saharan Africa. There is more good news on the vaccine front: a herpes vaccine for shingles has been developed. Shingles, a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters, is caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox virus within a persons body. If the rash involves the eye, vision loss may occur. Some people develop ongoing nerve pain, which can last for months or even years. The new vaccine is significantly more effective than the one that is currently available, which reduces the risk of contracting shingles by only about 50%. Dengue fever, too, is now vaccine-preventable. Dengue, ranked by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the worlds most significant and fastest-growing mosquito-borne viral disease, causes nearly 50 million infections every year. But, in 2016, the first and, currently, the only dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, was approved in 12 countries. Dengvaxia has received endorsements from key medical societies, at the national and regional levels. The recommendations are consistent with the WHOs position paper recommending that countries with a high burden of disease consider the introduction of the vaccine as part of an integrated dengue-management program. As if that were not enough, we now have an Ebola vaccine, too. An experimental vaccine tested on humans has been shown to provide 100% protection against the disease. Though no regulatory authority has approved it yet, it is viewed as so powerful that an emergency stockpile of 300,000 doses has been created for use in the event of another outbreak. Diseases for which we do not have vaccines have also been beaten back. For example, HIV infections and deaths have stabilized, despite rapid population growth in Africa. This is a testament to the tremendous effort that has been made to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic, through prevention, education, and treatment programs. To maintain progress against the epidemic, the global health community must sustain these efforts. Furthermore, the Americas are now almost free of river blindness, a parasitic infection spread by black flies that causes itching and, in severe cases, vision loss. Guatemala has been declared free of the disease, meaning that, in the Americas, only one remote area in the Amazon remains affected. We are also one step closer to eliminating lymphatic filariasis, also known as elephantiasis. Caused by the filarial worm, elephantiasis is a parasitic infection that can cause horrific swelling of the legs and scrotum. This year, Cambodia, the Cook Islands, Niue, and Vanuatu received acknowledgement from the WHO for having eliminated lymphatic filariasis as a public-health problem. Also on the brink of eradication is guinea worm, a nasty tropical parasite that spreads via contaminated water. According to the Carter Center, one of the organizations leading the effort to eradicate guinea worm, there were around two dozen casesin the first ten months of 2016. Guinea worm is now on a path to becoming the second human disease ever to be eradicated. As we begin 2017, it is important to recognize the public-health victories that we have achieved. However bad things may seem and however heartbreaking the hurdles are, there are plenty of reasons to remain hopeful and to keep working for a better, healthier future. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Hope for Global Health in 2017 --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 14:32 (UTC+04:00) By Peter A. Singer and Jill W. Sheffield This year, the World Health Organization will elect a new Director-General. Last September, WHO member states nominated six candidates for the position: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Flavia Bustreo, Philippe Douste-Blazy, David Nabarro, Sania Nishtar, and Miklos Szocska. On January 25, the WHO Executive Board will shortlist three candidates; and in May, the World Health Assembly will elect one of those candidates to succeed Margaret Chan. All of the candidates have presented a vision for how they would lead the organization, and we personally know and admire several of them. But, ultimately, we believe that Ghebreyesus is the most qualified person for the job. Our endorsement is based on three considerations that are important in any hiring process, and especially for a position such as this: the candidates past achievements, leadership style, and the diversity that he or she brings to the table. With respect to the first consideration, Ghebreyesus has a proven track record of success. As Ethiopias health minister from 2005 to 2012, he championed the interests of all of the countrys citizens, and strengthened primary-care services. He created 3,500 health centers and 16,000 health posts, and dramatically expanded the health-care workforce by building more medical schools and deploying more 38,000 community-based health extension workers. Ghebreyesuss efforts now serve as a model that other countries seek to emulate as they try to achieve universal health coverage for their citizens. He is the only candidate who has achieved such results at a national level. Ghebreyesus is also a longtime champion and advocate of gender equality and the rights of women and girls. In fact, his efforts to strengthen Ethiopias health system played a crucial role in more than doubling the percentage of Ethiopian women with access to contraception, and in reducing maternal mortality by 75%. When Ghebreyesus was Ethiopias foreign minister from 2012 to 2016, he gained extensive diplomatic experience, not least by leading negotiations for the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the international communitys plan to finance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This same knack for diplomacy is now needed to bring WHO member states together for cooperative action on collective health challenges. Ghebreyesuss leadership style is also perfectly suited for this role: he speaks last, and encourages others to share their views. He also knows how to spot and nurture talent, and how to bring the best out of the people around him. He would undoubtedly boost organizational morale and motivate the staff to deliver maximum value and efficiency to the benefit of all member states and their citizens. And while he is a receptive listener, he is also decisive, which is an attribute for the leader of the worlds foremost health institution, especially during global public-health emergencies. Then there is Ghebreyesuss extensive leadership experience within global health institutions. As Board Chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria between 2009 and 2011, and as Chair of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership between 2007 and 2009, Ghebreyesus pushed through sweeping changes that dramatically improved both organizations operations. Whats more, he helped them raise record-breaking financial commitments from donors: $11.7 billion for the Global Fund, and $3 billion for Roll Back Malaria. This is precisely the kind experience and expertise that the WHO needs in todays global health environment, and it explains why the African Union has officially endorsed Ghebreyesuss candidacy. Amazingly, in its almost 70-year history, the WHO has never had a Director-General from Africa. This fact alone is not a reason to pick a candidate; but in Ghebreyesuss case, his direct experience working in developing countries makes him uniquely qualified to tackle our toughest global health problems, which tend to hit developing countries the hardest. It is time to break the WHOs African-leadership glass ceiling. Sustainable development is truly achievable only when leaders of global institutions are from the communities most affected by those institutions work. Ghebreyesuss candidacy presents the WHO with an historic opportunity, which its Executive Board should seize on January 25. Copyright: Project Syndicate: Breaking the WHOs Glass Ceiling --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 13:50 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Those, wishing to get an apartment in social houses, to be constructed in Yasamal residential complex, will be eligible to apply to the State Housing Construction Agency (MIDA) in the short run. A new system of subsidized housing will become operational starting from May 1, local media reported. The project of social houses is expected to provide young and low-income families with renovated apartments with all conveniences. Population will be provided with all necessary information about requirements for acquisition of apartments on easy terms. Until the launch of the system, citizens will be able to submit their applications in hard copy form. The complex occupies a total area of 11.6 hectares. The complex will consist of 29 multi-apartment buildings. A foundation stone for the first nine-storey building to be built in Yasamal residential complex was laid in late December 2016. A number of social facilities will be built in the complex, including a 240-seat kindergarten and a 960-seat secondary school. The opening of this first project is scheduled for 2018. This residential complex will have more than 1,800 apartments which will be provided on concessional terms primarily to the families of martyrs, war veterans, young professionals, teachers, scientists, soldiers, citizens of this category. Payment terms will be concessional. People will move into new apartments on long-term payment conditions. The inner quadrature of one room apartments will range from 30 to 35 square meters, two-room apartments 50-60 square meters, three-room apartments 65-75 square meters. Some 60 percent of apartments will fall to a share of two-room apartments, while one-room apartments will account for 16 percent. The sum of monthly payment will be determined on the basis of average rental fee for such apartments. The sum of monthly payment for one-room apartments will range from 130-140 manats ($ 70.9 76.4), while the payment for three-room apartments will stand at 330-350 manats ($ 180.2-191.1). Financial resources for the buildings to be constructed are envisaged in the state budget. The construction of social buildings will be carried out both in other districts of Baku and all major cities in the future. The work is currently underway on analysis and choice of area for the construction of such buildings in other districts of the capital city, as well as in Sumgait, Ganja, Masalli and Lankaran. The government of Azerbaijan plans to achieve a GDP growth by 249 million manats ($ 135.9 million) until 2020, through the implementation of measures envisaged in the Strategic Road Map for the development of housing provision at a reasonable price. Under the Road Map, some 10,000 new jobs will be created in the construction sector of the country. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 16:23 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The State Committee on Property Issues held another auction for privatization of state property on January 24. The Committee told Trend that two non-residential areas, located in the Nasimi and Nizami districts of Baku, were privatized at the auction. The most expensive state object sold at the auction was the basement section of a building, located in the Nasimi district of the capital. It was privatized at a price of over $45,000. The third stage of privatization in Azerbaijan started in the framework of the presidential decree dated May 19, 2016. Under the decree, the acceleration of the state property privatization process has been defined as an important direction of the economic policy. The portal for privatization privatization.az, launched in July 2016, reflects all necessary information about the facilities, their addresses, location, and even initial cost and aims at facilitation of the process. The website is available in two languages - Azerbaijani and English. Why Azerbaijan is special section available on the website explains the reasons and advantages of investing in the country. The privatization process is designed to attract both foreign and local investors, as well as improve the business environment of Azerbaijan. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 17:38 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The Trans-Caspian Transport Route, a promising infrastructure project enjoying an opportunity to become attractive and profitable for consignors from European and Asian countries, continues to attract more and more supporters. The Chief Advisor to the Turkish President highlighted that the shortest and most profitable ground itinerary from Turkey to the Central Asia runs through Azerbaijan and the Port of Baku along this Route. Azerbaijan plays a role of the most profitable and reliable logistics center in the Caspian Sea region, said Yalchin Topcu. The importance of the Trans-Caspian Transport Route (TITR), which is laid via Azerbaijan, has essentially increased over the past years. No doubt, that the Baku International Sea Trade Port in the Alat settlement has crucial role here, Azertac quoted Topcu as saying. The TITR, which is created to provide transport connections between the East and West of Eurasia, runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then to Europe via Turkey and Ukraine. The route was launched with the establishment of its Coordinating Committee in October 2013. In January, 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine decided to apply the competitive tariffs for cargo transportation via the TITR. New competitive tariffs were introduced for the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route since June 1, 2016. In October 2016, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Georgia signed an agreement on the establishment of the International Association of TITR, whose office is located in Astana. Topcu further emphasized that moving the Port to Alat, will be very important for the activity of the Silk Road. Today, the governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan jointly carry out transportation and similar works over the Caspian Sea. We are ready to render any support to brotherly country in this sphere. We also wish that companies involved in the international cargo transportation first choose the Baku Port and Caspian Sea itinerary. Turkish people feel in brotherly Azerbaijan as comfortably as in their home country, the former Turkish minister emphasized. The Baku International Sea Trade Port in Azerbaijans Alat settlement is expected to become one of the leading trade and logistics hubs of Eurasia. The implementation of all 3 phases of construction is projected to increase the capacity up to 7,660 tons on a daily basis. The first stage of construction of the Port is projected to be completed until late 2017. Till that period the Baku Port is expected to increase its capacity handling some 10-11 million tons of freight and 50,000 TEUs per year. The second stage will provide for the handling of 17 million tons of freight and 150,000 of containers, while the implementation of the final stage is projected to increase the capacity up to 25 million tons of freight and 1 million of containers. The volume of freight transportation via the Port increased in 2016 by 47 percent as compared to the index of 2015. The figure stood at 4.5 million tons, while transit transportation accounted for some 87 percent of the total volume. The official further said that the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will make big contribution to the Baku International Sea Trade Port project. The railway project, expected to be completed in the first half of 2017, is the most-anticipated regional railway link. Being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement, BTK is expected to expand multi-modal transportation opportunities, ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation and boost the transit potential of the regional countries. The project is of great significance for not only Azerbaijan and the region, but also for the entire Eurasia. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 12:35 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Nizami Ganjavi corner will be opened at Bulgaria`s Varna City Library. Yana Sabeva, Deputy Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising at "Varna-European Youth Capital" Association, commenting on the news, stressed the importance of Azerbaijan`s literary tradition, Report.az reported. "This year, we are confident that enough guests will come from Ganja to Varna, which was announced European Youth capital 2017. Your literary tradition is one of the key issues that are of interest to us. We hope that Nizami Ganjavi corner will be opened in Varna City Library and there will be the works of the great poet," she said. An official opening ceremony of "Varna - European Youth Capital 2017" will be held in March. As the European Youth Capital, Varna will focus on social innovation and entrepreneurship under the slogan Innowave. Ganja was announced the European Youth Capital 2016 . "Deputies of Azerbaijani Parliament, Head of the Executive Power of Ganja city Elmar Veliyev, Rector of Azerbaijan Technical University, as well as members of "Ganja European Youth Capital 2016" Association are expected to join the event", said Y. Sabeva. She further voiced hope that cooperation between the two cities will continue in the future. Nizami Ganjavi is one of the greatest representatives of literary heritage of the Eastern Renaissance. The poet, who began by writing lyrics in short forms gasida, gazal, rubai, gained popularity not only in the Near and Middle East, but also on distant shores. His five poems, known collectively as the Khamsa (Quintet) are considered the treasury of Azerbaijani poetry. In his work, the poets revealed the living pages of history. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 10:55 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijan gave a decent response to another provocation of Armenia at the international tourism fair FITUR held in Madrid on January 18-22. The Azerbaijani Culture and Tourism Ministry reported that aggressor Armenia once again resorted to provocation by trying to show photos and materials about Karabakh in its stand, and thus proving that it occupied and continues to occupy the Azerbaijani territories. The Azerbaijani delegation headed by Culture and Tourism Minister Abulfas Garayev and Azerbaijan's Embassy in Spain immediately reacted to the provocation. The Culture Ministry sent letters of protest to the leadership of FITUR and the UN World Tourism Organization with reference to the UN documents confirming the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and also to the decision of UNWTO Executive Council On illegal propaganda of conflict zones for the purpose of tourism from 2015. Garayev also held discussions on this issue with Secretary General of UNWTO Taleb Rifai, and brought to his attention the disrespect shown by the Armenian side, which took actions contrary to international law. Rifai stressed that he would hold negotiations with the appropriate agencies in this regard. Subsequently, the UNWTO informed the ministry that discussions at various levels were held in this context, and necessary measures would be taken. Moreover, Azerbaijans Ambassador to Spain held meetings at the countrys Foreign Ministry and with the leadership of FITUR, conveying Azerbaijan's position and noting the need for suppression of such provocations by Armenia. The Spanish side confirmed that it recognizes territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, further adding that in some cases the state can not intervene in the private sector, but also stressed that it would warn the organizers of the fair about the sensitivity of the issue. Azerbaijanis living in Spain organized a protest in front of the stand of Armenia. Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan laying territorial claims on its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 11:12 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Pedro Agramunt expressed regret over PACEs inability to visibly contribute to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in 2016. He was addressing a PACE winter plenary part-session that kicked off in Strasbourg on January 23. Agramunt also reminded about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts escalation in April 2016, adding that the situation remains explosive. He said that conflicts cannot be solved by military means, and the PACE is an important tool for dialogue on their peaceful solution. Earlier Agramunt made a proposal to hold a meeting of Azerbaijani and Armenian delegations within the PACE. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz With the Midterm Elections less than one week away: What do you consider the top issues that you will be voting on to be corrected by your better representation? Education Crime Big Government getting Bigger Biden /Democrat controlled Spike in Energy Cost Inflation created by Legislation of Majority in Power Gender Reassignment Corrupted Bureaucratic /Service (DOJ, FBI, etc.) Institutions Abortion Discredited Legacy Media Ending the Corruption of Dishonest Politicians Corruptive Influence of Social Media Wide Open Southern Border 24 January 2017 12:54 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The Parliament of Djibouti has adopted a resolution on recognition of the Khojaly Genocide, committed by Armenian militaries back during the Karabakh War. The resolution was officially presented to Ambassador Elman Abdullayev by Parliaments Chairman Muhammad Ali Humad on January 24. Ali Humad once again emphasized that his country always supports and stands by Azerbaijan, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported. The resolution recognized the crimes committed by Armenian Armed Forces in Khojaly on February 26, 1992, as genocide and a crime against humanity, and declared that the responsible persons must be punished according to the relevant international instruments. Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian Armed Forces in 1992. About 613 civilians mostly women and children were killed in the massacre, and a total of 1,000 people were disabled. Eight families were exterminated, 25 children lost both parents, and 130 children lost one parent. Moreover, 1,275 innocent people were taken hostage, and the fate of 150 of them remains unknown. Moreover, respect for the sovereignty and internationally recognized territorial integrity of Azerbaijan was reaffirmed in the resolution and it is declared that the occupation of territory by force is unacceptable on the basis of the UN Charter and the international law. The National Assembly demanded the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, the Security Council, as well as other international organizations regarding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The document called on the international community to exert pressure on Armenia in this issue. The Djiboutian MPs expressed concern over the fate of more than one million Azerbaijanis, who were victims of the Armenian aggression, the scale of humanitarian problems and their critical situation. Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war. Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. Peace talks mediated by Russia, France and the U.S. have produced no results so far. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 15:17 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov Azerbaijans Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov noted the importance of taking specific and serious measures to return the body of Azerbaijani soldier killed by Armenian Armed Forces. Hasanov made the remark on January 23 as he received the personal representative of the OSCE chairman, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk. The minister criticized Armenias refusal to return the body of Azerbaijani soldier Chingiz Gurbanov, who was killed during suppressing Armenian provocation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border on December 29, 2016. Ambassador Kasprzyk assured that additional measures will be undertaken in this regard and expressed confidence that the issue will be resolved in the possible shortest time. The sides also discussed the latest situation on the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops and violations of the ceasefire. A reconnaissance group of the Armenian Armed Forces attempted to violate the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on December 29, 2016. The Armenian group found itself in the ambush of the Azerbaijani army while violating the borders and suffered heavy losses. During the fighting, Azerbaijani serviceman Chingiz Gurbanov went missing. Later, it was clarified that he was killed by the Armenian Armed Forces and his body remained on the territory controlled by the Armenian Armed Forces. The Azerbaijani side officially appealed to the Azerbaijani representation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), OSCE Minsk Group, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk in order to return the body. Despite this, the body of Azerbaijani soldier has still not been returned. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 16:30 (UTC+04:00) The OSCE mission conducted a monitoring on January 24 on the line of contact of troops in Azerbaijan`s Gapanli village of Tartar region in accordance with the mandate of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. Azerbaijan`s Defense Ministry reported that the monitoring ended without an incident. On the Azerbaijani side, the monitoring was held by field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Hristo Hristov, Simon Tiller and Peter Svedberg. On the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenian troops, the monitoring was carried out by field assistants of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Jiri Aberle and Ghenadie Petrica. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day. A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 17:45 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The Azerbaijani state continues to assume primary responsibility for the care and protection of the country's more vulnerable population -- internally displaced persons (IDPs) and persons equated to them, who fled their homes in the early 1990s, as a result of Armenian aggression to Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The recent presidential decree on determining a single monthly allowance for IDPs and persons equated to them will considerably simplify a mechanism to compensate part of social need for people representing this category. A monthly allowance of 36 manats ($19.21) shall be allocated for IDPs and those equal to them from January 1, 2017 instead of payments for food as well as communal and other services from the state budget for IDPs and those alike. The State Oil Company (SOCAR), electricity supply operator Azrishq and water supply operator Azersu are committed to install in a short time the public utility meters in places of accommodation of internally displaced persons. Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijans Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, said that the decree will strengthen the social protection of the citizens of this category. Stressing that it will ensure transparency in this field and eliminate direct contact in the process of the issuance of allowances, he said that the decree will also eliminate bureaucratic delays. The decree targeted for social protection of internally displaced persons and persons equated to them, and the simplification of the mechanism of their payments is a commendable measure, said MP Elman Mammadov. He said that henceforth IDPs and persons equated to them will dispose of allowance as they want. "Until now, part of the allowances allocated for food has been converted into cash to bank cards of IDPs. A part of the allowance for utilities was translated by the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs to the account of Azerigas, Azerishig and Azersu. There are some displaced families who use public services at a lower amount than transferred. Now all the benefits will be fully transferred to the accounts of internally displaced persons, and they will decide the target and amount of money they want to spend, the MP explained. Mammadov emphasized that it is a more efficient option, as displaced people themselves will allocate their funds, without depending on any organization. In this case, the families of IDPs, who spend little money from the part of the grant allocated for utilities will be able to spend the rest for other needs that will serve to improve welfare of this category of people, the MP clarified. Earlier to benefit from these payments IDPs had to issue the relevant documents, to obtain a certificate from the relevant bodies. But after that, it will not be necessary to obtain any documents or certificates, since these funds will be paid directly to IDPs and they themselves will determine how to dispose these funds. In turn, MP Aydin Mirzazade considers this act as a financial assistance from the state to the families of this category, appraising this as a good material support to the families. The most tragic pages in the history of Azerbaijan in the 20th century are linked to refugees and internally displaced persons. After aggression of Armenia against ethnic Azerbaijani civilians many thousands of Azerbaijanis living in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia were deported from their historical lands thus abandoning to their fate. Thousands of children, elderly, women and men had no choice but to move to the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway territory of Azerbaijan, has continued for about 30 years, following the Armenias territorial claims against Azerbaijan in 1988. The military conflict, characterized by violence against civilians and ethnic cleansing, resulted in the injury, death, and disappearance of thousands of people, ended with occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. All ethnic Azerbaijanis expelled from their native lands. According to official figures, Azerbaijan hosted more than 1 million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs from 1988 to 1993. That was a staggering figure for the small country experiencing economic and political problems, when to consider that the country's population was about 7 million people at the time. All the problems of more than 1 million of people became the subject of daily care and the number one issue for the country, when the amount of funds allocated to address the problems of refugees and IDPs increased in dozens. With the growing economic and political situation of the country, the state began to pay more attention on the most difficult problem once concerning the refugees and displaced persons. The state improves the living conditions of refugees and IDPs, adopted relevant state programs and legislative acts. Refugees from Armenia have been granted Azerbaijani citizenship and now enjoy the same rights and opportunities as other Azerbaijani citizens. Significant resources has devoted to IDPs problems over the past two decades. Starting in 2001, the government began to close down IDP camps and move IDPs to specially-built settlements. Today, being an IDP does not necessarily equate to being poor or disadvantaged. Many IDPs have been able to achieve good living standards, but still are awaiting for the justice to be restored and repatriation to native lands. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 15:36 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova Foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Moldova will hold political consultations on February 27-28 in Baku, Moldovan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Gheorghe Leuca told reporters in Baku on January 24. Leuca noted that the consultations will be held during the visit of Moldovas Deputy Foreign Minister Lilian Darii to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijans the trade turnover with Moldova amounted to $3.75 million in January-November 2016, some 3.25 million of which fell for imports from that country, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. The number of exported products will increase between the two countries, as this year Azerbaijan will export horseflesh to Moldova. Both countries are members of a free trade area that were signed into law in 1994 with the participation of the CIS countries. Within the free trade agreement, member countries are expected to eliminate export and import duties on a number of goods. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 18:12 (UTC+04:00) The third meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) is scheduled for February 23 in Baku with the consent of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev. The countrys Energy Ministry told Trend that several meetings and discussions were held in connection with the organization of the Advisory Councils next meeting. The meetings initial program and agenda have already been prepared. The list of the meetings participants has been determined, invitations for participation in the meeting have been sent to energy ministers of countries involved in the SGC [Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Albania and Bulgaria], Balkan countries, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, heads of international financial institutions and representatives of other interested parties, said the ministry. The SGC Advisory Council held its first meeting on February 12, 2015, and the second meeting on February 29, 2016. The Southern Gas Corridor envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. The Shah Deniz gas will be exported through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. Shah Deniz Stage 2, or Full Field Development (FFD) is a giant project that will add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) of gas production to the approximately 9 bcma produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1. The field is located in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, approximately 100km south of Baku and 90 km east-south east of Sangachal in water depths ranging from 50m to 500m. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 12:18 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva The potential of economic cooperation between Iran and Russia is very high and the turnover will be increased by several times over the next years. Under the Iranian-Russian protocol on implantation of simplified customs corridor, Iran supplied its first batch of agricultural products from the western province of Mazandaran to Russia. The first batch of Iranian products was delivered to Russia from the export terminal Abbas Abad, IRNA agency reported. The Customs Administration of Russia and Iran agreed to exchange information on customs value of the goods crossing the border, as well as a plan for the development of Russian-Iranian cooperation in the customs area for 2016-2017. Russia and Iran had quite limited economic cooperation until recently, as the goods turnover heavily amounted to $1 billion a year between the two countries. For comparison, Germany, that joined the additional EU sanctions lines in addition to the UN's, has the turnover with Iran in the sum of over $3 billion, and China - $40-50 billion. The goods turnover between Russia and Iran increased by 80 percent in 2016. According to Iranian sources, in the first seven months of the current solar year (that end on March 20), Iran exported to Russia goods worth $86.5 million. Creation of a simplified customs corridor approximately halves the time of transportation and the cost of transportation of goods from one country to another. Also, this allows speeding up the process of customs clearance by two or three times. The development of Iran's economic relations with Russia, taking into account its special role in the Eurasian Economic Union, consisting of the five former Soviet republics, might open the regional markets to the Islamic Republic and to create preconditions for lasting business relations with all these countries. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 16:41 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Turkey, Russia and Iran have agreed during ongoing peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana on a joint mechanism to guard against cease-fire violations in Syria, a source told Anadolu Agency. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media, said the countries will jointly monitor the truce through the mechanism and ensure its implementation. Moreover, the countries involved in the mechanism will use their influence on violating parties to stop the attacks, the source added. The tripartite mechanism is expected to be mentioned in the final declaration, which will be released at the end of the talks. Peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict entered the second day on January 24 in Kazakhstan's capital Astana. The meeting is due to last until Tuesday evening, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry said. However, the duration will be extended if need be. The Syrian government and Syrias armed opposition, delegations from Russia, Iran and Turkey and UN Secretary-Generals Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura attended the meeting held behind closed doors on January 23 . U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol attended the talks as an observer. Commenting on the results of the first public session of talks, the head of the Syrian opposition delegation Mohammad Alloush noted that he hoped the negotiations would result in a truce that will help solve some humanitarian problems in Syria. The truce should show that it really works before we move on to other issues, he said, Tass reports. The Chief Advisor of the President of Turkey ,Yalcin Topcu called the talks in Astana "a historic event, which will give impetus to the process of restoring peace and stability in Syria, Iraq and the Middle East." Negotiations on the Syrian settlement will not lead to quick results, but they will contribute to peace and stabilization in Syria, said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmush during press conference on Monday. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 12:06 (UTC+04:00) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed the first framework agreements for uranium mining legacy fund in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Bank reported that these agreements will provide the legal basis for implementation of projects for dealing with uranium mining legacy in these countries. The uranium mining legacy fund was established at EBRD in May 2015 at the request of the European Commission (EC) to finance projects to rehabilitate high-priority sites in Central Asian countries. The conclusion of framework agreements with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan marks an important milestone. The preparatory phase of the Environmental Remediation Account has come to a close and work can start to address a serious hazard for the population of Central Asia and for stability in the region, said EBRD First Vice President Phil Bennett The purpose of the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia is to support measures to deal with the legacy of Soviet-era uranium mining and processing in the region. The EBRD has been managing nuclear safety and decommissioning funds on behalf of the international community since 1992, when the G7 requested the creation of the Nuclear Safety Account to deal with the legacy of Soviet-era nuclear facilities. Central Asia served as an important source of uranium in the former Soviet Union. Many of the uranium legacy sites are concentrated along the tributaries to the Syr Darya River, which runs through the densely populated Fergana Valley, the agricultural center of the region that is shared by the Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 24 January 2017 18:31 (UTC+04:00) By Kamila Aliyeva Citizens of Georgia and Ukraine may gain visa-free entry to the European Union (EU) very soon. The EU is making great efforts to eliminate the visa regime with Georgia and Ukraine, said Johannes Hahn , the Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiation. The EU has prepared the list of conditions for Georgia and Ukraine, after implementation of which the visa regime will be completely canceled between our countries, he said during the PACE winter session. The Commissioner said Georgia should fulfill more than 40, and Ukraine more than 150, economic and political conditions of the EU, in order to achieve the complete elimination of entry visa. Last year, the EU approved the completion of the legislative process of providing the citizens of Ukraine and Georgia with the visa-free regime with the EU member states. The prospect of easier travel to Europe has been used by the pro-Western governments in Kiev and Tbilisi to win popular backing for painful EU-sponsored reforms. Georgia, with only 3.7 million citizens, is an easier case for the EU but has been held hostage by the greater hesitation over Ukraine, which has 45 million people, and is stuck in a conflict with Russia. Negotiations on visa liberalization for Ukraine and Georgia began back in 2008 as part of the Eastern Partnership Program. Georgia entered the practical phase of those talks in 2012 as it prepared for associate EU membership. Ukraine reached that stage in 2014. Ukraine abolished visa requirements for EU citizens back in 2005, and Georgia followed this example in 2006. According to the Eastern Partnership Visa Liberalization Index prepared by the Visa-free Europe Coalition and the Stefan Batory Foundation, Armenia, Belarus, and Azerbaijan are the countries which are next in line to gain ratification of visa-free regimes. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz How Kathy McCabe Made Her Italian Dreams Come True Many of us dream of Italy. Kathy McCabe transformed her Italian dreams into an award-winning newsletter and a PBS travel series. Blonde-haired McCabe doesnt look Italiannor does her name sound Italian. But the first time she visited her great-grandfathers village in Campania, McCabe felt that she had come home. When I was growing up in New Jersey, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparentsboth children of Italian immigrants. They had a great love for family, food and Italy, and when I went to Italy, I felt that I was with them again. Her grandfathers longtime dream was to visit the small town his father had left in the late 1800s. In 1995 McCabe and her mother fulfilled his wish by traveling to Castelvetere, a town of about 1,000 people an hour from Naples. We were the only blondes and the only American women at our hotel, McCabe recalls. Armed with a list of residents with the same last name as her grandfather's parentsNargithey knocked on doors until they found two cousins. Manfredo and Livio Nargi invited them into their homes, showed them the local churches and cemetery and took them to the town hall, where they found her great-grandfathers birth certificate. It was like a scene from Brigadoon. The town seemed to come magically to life for one special day. Back at work as a broadcast journalist at ABC news, McCabe never forgot Italy's magic. I kept going back almost very year. I realized that a lot of people felt the same waysome because of their Italian blood and others because theyd fallen in love with the country." In 2002, while working as a travel editor at USA Today, she launched a print and digital newsletter highlighting the best of Italy. Other than a designer and part-time help, Dream of Italy has been a one-woman show ever since. I feel like Ive 140 children, says McCabe, who publishes ten issues annually. You cant do something for 14 years without being really committed. The newsletter has been my passion, first and foremost. Its been a constant thats given me a purpose, no matter what else was going on in my life. Because of her extensive broadcasting experience, McCabe always saw the possibilities of a television series. Last year six episodes of Dream of Italy debuted on PBS. (Click here to watch online.) Each show highlights a different region, but she describes it as more of a documentary than a how-to travel show, with a strong emphasis on face-to-face experiences with local Italians. In Piedmont, McCabe hunted for truffles with two adorable brothers. In Rome she studied mosaic-making. In Naples, she learned to dance the pizzica. Still in the planning stages, the second season, scheduled for late 2017, has two definite episodes. In one, McCabe traces her own genealogical search for her ancestors. I discovered that one was a Norman invader from a region thats now part of Germany. That explains my fair coloring. Another features Francis Ford Coppolla, who, like McCabe, first unearthed his Italian roots in his twenties. He kept returning to Bernalda, a small town in Basilicatta that was his grandfather's birthplace and home. In 2004 Coppola bought the 19th-century Palazzo Margherita, which he converted into a luxury hotel to attract more visitors to the stunning but largely unknown region. In an elegant salon, guests can view movies from Coppollas collection of favorite films. As she watched Christ Stopped at Eboli, based on Carlo Levi's book about the bleak poverty of Basilicata, McCabe reflected on an almost dream-like coincidence: The great grand-daughter of poor immigrants was sitting in an exquisitely restored hotel created by another descendant of impoverished Italians and watching a film about the most wretched of Italys poor. How have Italians responded to her venture? Theyre tickled pink. They cant believe how long Ive been doing it or how many people want to learn more about their country. I think that what theyre really responding toboth in the newsletter and the seriesis how much I love Italy and Italians. McCabe doubts that feeling will ever change. Ive always loved Italy, but when we are shooting episodes, I fall in love with it over again. Dianne Hales is the author of La Bella Lingua: My Love Affair with Italian, the World's Most Enchanting Language and Mona Lisa: A Life Discovered. She contributes regularly to L'Italo-Americano, where this article originally appeared. Karl Thornson continues to push General Mills to greater levels of food safety. Food safety and sanitation are so important to General Mills that they are an integral part of its 2016 Global Responsibility Report. In 2015, the company spent $13 million on food safety, more than 10% of the essential capital investment it spends on average each year for food safety-related projects. The company has more than 600 trained, quality professionals and 55-plus certified, quality engineers monitoring food safety worldwide. And 100% of its facilities were audited using globally recognized food safety criteria (excluding its Yoki division) while 90% of its facilities are audited and/or certified by third parties. Still, there is room for improvement, according to Karl Thorson, food safety and sanitation manager. Food safety is always a journey, he likes to say. According to the company, Global Food Safety Initiative (GSFI) programs have certified 72% of its company-owned businesses. Additionally, GFSI partners audit 75% of co-manufactured sites while 49% of its ingredient supplier facilities received the certification, according to the report. The certification of General Mills facilities is an additional assurance that our existing, robust food safety systems continue to evolve and improve, the company noted. Mr. Thorson added that such certification is another critical measure of validating that word is so precious to someone like him in food safety what General Mills has strived for and attained over decades. Thats not always an easy task, especially from a global perspective. Weve been known for world-class food safety for years, but we need to prove it from a sanitation standpoint, he noted. In some cases, controls are more advanced in some countries than others. Brazil, for instance, only recently added regulations concerning allergens that have long been in place in the US, Europe and other regions. General Mills Sanitation Center for Excellence has been actively involved in implementing best practices in Brazil and elsewhere around the globe. Again, thats not always an easy task in so many countries with such a vast wealth of cultures. My biggest challenge globally is communication, so Im trying to educate our Brazilian team on sanitation, and I found a company that does simultaneous, real-time translation in subtitles [to expedite the process], Mr. Thorson noted. Were helping Brazil along with eliminating allergens in their journey and understanding of food safety risks, he added. Of course, creating a universal standard around food safety is an issue with many global food companies, as well as a concern among their customers and every consumer. Every multinational [company] has this challenge on how were going to better communicate, Mr. Thorson noted. Fortunately, communication is Mr. Thorsons forte, and he stressed its the heart and soul of spreading the news about improving food safety across the entire industry. As he likes to say, Food safety has no borders. WASHINGTON White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer responded to a question about the future of the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipeline projects during a press briefing in Washington on Monday, Jan. 23. Though he did not say exactly how President Donald Trump would handle the projects, his response outlined Trumps interest in using domestic natural resources as an economic driver. Im not going to get in front of the presidents executive actions, but I will tell you that areas like Dakota and the Keystone pipeline, areas that we can increase jobs, increase economic growth and tap into Americas energy supply more -- thats something that hes been very clear about, Spicer said in remarks broadcast on cable news. The future of the Dakota Access Pipeline has been unclear since early December, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declined to permit construction of the pipeline under Lake Oahe. The location near the Standing rock Sioux Reservation has been a major point of contention, with months of national attention focused on protests expressing concerns about the safety of the area water supply. If completed, the pipeline would transfer 470,000 barrels of oil each day from oil fields in western North Dakota to across much of the Upper Midwest en route to Illinois. Proponents see the project as a significant economic engine in the petroleum industry. Keystone XL is a separate oil pipeline project that has seen a similar debate, stretching from Alberta and into the continental United States. President Barack Obama declined to back the project in 2015. I think that the energy sector and our natural resources are an area where I think the president is very, very keen on making sure that we maximize our use of natural resources to Americas benefit, Spicer said. Its good for economic growth, its good for jobs, and its good for American energy. If repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act is Republicans job one, defunding Planned Parenthood is a close second. In fact, the two priorities might be paired. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Jan. 5 that efforts to defund the organization would be in our reconciliation bill, referring to a measure Congress has put on a fast track aimed at repealing major pieces of the health law. But just as Republicans are discovering that undoing the health law could be complicated, so, too, is separating the controversial reproductive health care provider from its federal funding. Efforts to hastily jettison Planned Parenthood from federal ledgers could actually jeopardize GOP efforts to repeal the health law. One problem is that Planned Parenthood gets its funding from several different government sources. According to the groups most recent annual report, covering 2015, Planned Parenthood affiliates, got $553.7 million from federal, state, and local governments, accounting for almost half of total funding. According to the organization, about 75 percent of that government support comes from the Medicaid program to pay for direct medical services provided to low-income patients, including contraception, cancer screenings and sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment. The remaining quarter comes from other sources, primarily the Title X federal family planning program. The Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that the group gets approximately $390 million annually from Medicaid and $60 million from Title X. None of the funds from either program may be used for abortion, under longstanding federal prohibitions. Only half of the Planned Parenthood affiliates even offer abortion services, the group says. But it is still the largest single provider of the procedure in the nation, which has made it a target for anti-abortion lawmakers since the 1980s. In recent years one of the most ardent foes of the organization has been Vice President-elect Mike Pence. When he was a member of the House of Representatives, he led unsuccessful efforts to defund the program. As governor of Indiana he was able to accomplish some of his goals. He also vowed to stop federal spending for Planned Parenthood during the campaign last fall. Yet federal lawmakers have been stymied in these efforts. One big reason is that taking away Planned Parenthoods access to Medicaid funding would require a change in the federal law that guarantees most Medicaid patients with a choice to use any qualified provider. The Department of Health and Human Services has repeatedly warned states that have tried to evict Planned Parenthood from their Medicaid programs that they cannot legally do that because such a move would violate that law. Federal courts have consistently blocked states that have tried to end Planned Parenthoods Medicaid funding. Changing that section of Medicaid law likely would require 60 votes in the Senate to break a filibuster by Democrats. Republicans currently have 52 votes. The budget reconciliation bill, however, that is expected to be used to repeal portions of the health law operates under special rules. It cannot be filibustered and needs only 51 votes to pass. That presents two problems for Republicans. According to CBO, permanently changing Medicaid law to make Planned Parenthood ineligible would cost, not save, money approximately $130 million over 10 years. That is because, said CBO, taking away contraceptive access for some women would result in more pregnancies, and additional births that would result from enacting such a bill would add to federal spending for Medicaid. That is not just theoretical. In 2013, Texas kicked Planned Parenthood out of its family planning program, and gave up its federal funding. The result was fewer women using birth control and more babies being born, according to an analysis published last March in The New England Journal of Medicine. The second problem is political. While the House under GOP control has been strongly in favor of cutting off Planned Parenthoods access to federal funds, there are a handful of Republican senators who oppose the idea. And a handful three to be exact is all it would take to threaten passage of the health law repeal effort. Obviously Im not happy that the speaker has decided to include the defunding of Planned Parenthood an extremely controversial issue in the (budget reconciliation) package, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters on Jan. 5. A spokeswoman for Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said she is concerned about defunding Planned Parenthood as she is a longtime supporter of Planned Parenthood and has opposed broadly defunding the organization. Collins and Murkowski fought against the inclusion of a one-year defunding of the organization in a 2015 health law repeal bill that President Barack Obama vetoed last January. Although neither senator has said she would vote against the upcoming budget bill if it includes the Planned Parenthood defunding, they join a growing list of Senate Republicans who have questioned the idea of repealing major portions of the health law before devising its replacement. Meanwhile, eliminating Planned Parenthoods access to funding under Title X also would likely be addressed in an appropriations spending bill. The current spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services (and most of the rest of the government) expires April 28. But rather than simply making Planned Parenthood ineligible, Republicans in the House have proposed doing away with the 45-year-old federal family planning funding and instead send the money to the nations network of Community Health Centers. Last September, the Trump-Pence campaign released a letter to anti-abortion leaders vowing to defund Planned Parenthood as long as they continue to perform abortions, and reallocating their funding to community health centers that provide comprehensive health care for women. At a Jan. 12 CNN Town Hall, Ryan expanded on that. We dont want to effectively commit taxpayer money to an organization providing abortions. But we want to make sure that people get their coverage. Thats why theres no conflict by making sure these dollars go to federal community health centers. But that might not work either. For health centers, which currently serve about 25 million total patients, to have to absorb an additional 2 million people is totally impossible, said Sara Rosenbaum, a health policy and law professor at George Washington University who looked at the issue in 2015. In some areas of the country, Planned Parenthood and community health centers may not overlap. Planned Parenthood says in a fifth of the counties it serves, it is the only provider for low-income women. Asking community health centers to move into new areas, said Rosenbaum, displays a fundamental misunderstanding of how long it takes a new provider to move into a potentially new community. Despite the difficulties, however, the shifts in political control this year leaves Planned Parenthood concerned about its future. While the organization has weathered funding threats before, it is very true when you have people like Mike Pence and Paul Ryan, who have been laser focused for years (on ending funding), that they will make it a very high priority, said Mary Alice Carter, Planned Parenthoods vice president for communications. She said the organization is counting on the 2.5 million patients it serves every year to make sure their elected officials know they oppose the defunding effort. Whether that will be enough remains unclear. If you could potentially save someones life with one click, you would probably do it. Thats exactly what a properly fastened seat belt does. Countless studies have shown that seat belt use is the single most effective way to prevent deaths and injuries on our roadways. Yet Montanans are far less apt to buckle up than drivers in many other states. Only about 75 percent of Montana drivers and front seat passengers wear seat belts, according to the Montana Department of Transportation. The national average is 86 percent. In 2015, 224 Montanans were killed in automobile-related crashes, an increase from the year before. Out of these 224 lives lost, 68 percent were not wearing seat belts or their seat belts were improperly fastened. Nationally, seat belt use saves an estimated 13,000 lives each year. Education is one key to getting people to buckle up. But unfortunately most people are more likely to do the right thing if they fear potential negative consequences. Among teenage males, who are at the highest risk for traffic accidents, the threat of losing their drivers license is more effective at getting them to use seat belts than having them listen to a classroom presentation on traffic accidents. Among adult drivers, the threat of a ticket is more apt to get drivers to use their seat belts than the knowledge that there could be potentially fatal consequences in a car wreck. Montana has a secondary seat belt law, which means that motorists can be fined for not wearing seat belts only if the vehicle is pulled over for another traffic violation. A primary seat belt law makes not wearing a seat belt a traffic violation. Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia already have primary seat belt laws for the driver and front seat passengers. Montana is one of just 15 states with only secondary seat belt laws. Enacting a primary seat belt law has the potential to save more lives on our roads than any other policy change in Montana. In other states, enacting a primary seat belt law has encouraged 10 to 15 percent more people to wear seat belts. In Montana, a primary seat belt law is predicted to save between 20 and 30 lives each year. Nationally, motor vehicle related crashes are one of the leading causes of death among people ages 1 to 54, totaling more than 21,000 deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since no one can predict when theyll be in an accident, its important to wear a seat belt properly every time youre in a vehicle. In our community, the most recent MDT data shows that speed was a factor in just 13 percent of all injuries and deaths among those who didn't use a seat belt. Bad weather was a factor in only about 30 percent of those accidents. If youre driving, making a habit of waiting for everyone to buckle up before starting the engine may add a few seconds to your trip, but could add years to your life and the lives of your passengers. In addition to saving lives, a primary seat belt law would save money in terms of reduced health care and emergency medical response costs, lost wages, worker compensation, long-term disability, property damage and travel delays. Montanans expect our elected officials to do what they can to help create a safe and healthy environment. The costs of failing to enact a primary seat belt law have been difficult to bear for Montanans who have lost family and friends. Montana farm and ranch groups know little about President Donald Trumps pick for agriculture secretary but are being assured former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is a good hire. Perdue, a Republican, was tapped Jan. 19 as the nominees Trump first floated in December were finishing Senate confirmation hearings. He has set to begin one-on-one visits next week with members of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, which includes U.S. Sen. Steve Daines. I look forward to meeting with Gov. Perdue to ensure our farmers and ranchers have an open line with the top of the ag department," Daines said Monday. Daines said he would talk to Perdue about opening foreign markets to Montana agriculture products, particularly wheat and beef exports to China. The senator also identified expanding broadband service in rural areas and making protecting Montana ingredients from discrimination in food labeling as other issues to be raised. USDA includes the Forest Service, which Daines said needs to renew active management of U.S. forests, a goal most commonly associated with increased logging on federal lands in Montana. The leadership transition at the U.S. Department of Agriculture comes as lawmakers begin crafting a new five-year farm bill, which will determine federal policy for everything from crop insurance and forest management to food stamps and the Conservation Reserve Program, Americas largest wildlife habitat and water protection effort. The last farm bill, passed in 2014, weighed in at $500 billion. I dont have much of an opinion, except Im glad we have a nominee, said Lola Raska, of the Montana Grain Growers. The USDA has the staff and expertise for lawmakers to draw on while crafting a new farm bill. In the last two months, as farm organizations from around the state have met for winter meetings, the question about who would be agriculture secretary has gone unanswered. Last week in Billings, Montanas sugar beet and barley farmers were hopeful they would hear Trump announce his USDA pick. Trump was holding his first press conference in several months and American Sugar Beets Association lobbyist Luther Markwart had one eye on the Montana meeting and the other on the Trump press conference. Markwart settled on describing how Trumps pick for commerce secretary and trade representative might influence agriculture policy. Sugar producers depend on the United States buying up sugar when foreign imports drive down prices. The practice assures sugar producers receive a minimum amount. The program is seldom used, but has been recently as sugar from Mexico flooded U.S. markets. Support for the sugar program by the agriculture secretary is a must for Montana sugar beet farmers, whose industry contributes about $100 million a year to the state's economy, primarily around Billings and Sidney where sugar is made from beets. John Youngberg, of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, said his members havent heard much about Perdue, but the president of the American Farm Bureau Federation is a Georgian who says the nominee will do well. The American Farm Bureau Federation is excited and we can only follow their lead, Youngberg said. The Montana Farmers Union is focused on the next farm bill, as well, said Alan Merrill, MFU president. We ask that the USDA work to strengthen rural America while supporting family farms which is consistent with our organizations mission for over 100 years, Merrill said. Montanas union Democrats praised President Donald Trump as he canceled a U.S. trade agreement the states conservative farm and ranch groups had hoped would boost the economy. As promised, the Republican president formalized the United States withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal with countries that buy $814 million in Montana merchandise annually, according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Trump said he would pursue trade agreements with individual nations. Withdrawing from the deal was particularly disappointing for Montana wheat farmers. More than 80 percent of Montanas wheat is sold to TPP nations in the Asia Pacific, including Japan, which is also a top-five buyer of U.S. beef. With more than $3 billion in annual sales, agriculture is Montanas largest private economic sector. Certainly, I think we are a little big anxious about what this move means, in particular for beef, given the fact that 96 percent of consumers live outside the U.S., said Erol Rice, Montana Stockgrowers Association executive vice president. Unions welcomed the cancellation of TPP, which Montana AFL-CIO Executive Al Ekblad said was bad for manufacturing. Labors position on trade agreements has been clearly stated for the last 20-plus years, Ekblad said. Weve been very clear that trade agreements are hurting workers at home and hurting workers in other countries with which we sign agreements. I reference to President Trump; hes coming to a point of agreement with the labor movement. Its a place that weve been forever. Montanas federal delegation was mixed in its support for the trade agreement. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester hasnt voted in favor of a trade agreement during his two Senate terms. In 2015, he voted against giving the TPP an up-or-down vote. Sen. Steve Daines, a Republican, was noncommittal about the trade agreement, but Daines agreed to give TPP an up-or-down vote. However, once Senate President Mitch McConnell of Kentucky declared TPP dead, Daines concurred, as did Tester. Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke said he didnt like Barack Obamas track record on negotiations enough to give the executive a simple yes-or-no vote on TPP. Zinke wanted Congress to have the chance to change the trade deal, but concluded last summer the House wouldn't support TPP. By the time the 2016 elections heated up, both Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton were opposing TPP. There was a push by farm groups and the U.S. Trade Representative for approval of TPP before Obama left office, which fell through. Withdrawing from TPP will not only hurt Montanas economy but also the nation's, said Vincent Smith, Montana State University economist. U.S. manufacturing is not going to return to its 1970s heydays, Smith said. The world has changed. The truth of the matter is those jobs are gone. Theyre not going to come back. Nobody can bring them back, Smith said. If we try to bring them back, were going to hurt a whole bunch of people even more. Free trade involves agreeing to terms for allowing products to cross borders with no conditions or minimal conditions. Things like tariffs, designed to increase the cost of foreign products to make them less attractive than domestic goods, are lowered or go away entirely. Returning to tariffs means the cost of foreign products will increase. In cases where U.S. manufacturing is more expensive, which is most cases, domestic products also present consumers with higher prices. The cost of living goes up as a result, Smith said. The United States has spent years advancing the TPP, while not pursuing bilateral trade agreements. A shift to those bilateral agreements will take months, if not years, during which U.S. exports will be sold at a disadvantage. Australia, which is one of Montanas biggest competitors for wheat sales in Japan, has already renegotiated tariffs lower than current tariffs on U.S. grain products. That disadvantage will exist until a bilateral agreement with Japan can be negotiated. While TPP has failed in the United States, China has advanced its own trade policies, the Regional Economic Partnership and the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. Those China-led trade policies could set the table for trade talks in the Asia Pacific, becoming the foundation for any trade agreements the U.S. pursues bilaterally in the region. Authorities are investigating a boat accident that claimed the life of a father of three. Chad Derksen, 36, died on January 15 Derksen, who didn't have life insurance, left behind a wife and three children On January 15, Chad Derksen, 36, was riding in a boat with his 6 year-old son on the Anclote River, according to an FWC report. Sean Riley was operating a Gheenoe boat when it struck an unknown object. Derksen was killed on scene, and his young son has minor injuries. Riley was not hurt. Derksens wife Veronica, a stay at home mom, is now left to care for her three children. Her husband was the breadwinner. He ran an irrigation company. My husband was just an awesome man," said Derksen. "He was the rock in our family. He went out and worked every day, mostly six days because we go to church on Sundays." Derksen did not have life insurance. Their church family has rallied around them and started a fundraiser to help with the expenses of raising three children. So far, they have raised almost $10,000. You can visit that site here. Although both men in the boat were experienced anglers, Derksens family says it serves as a reminder to everyone to be vigilant on the water. It goes to show me it doesnt matter your experience on the water, these things can be easily missed, said Nicholas Derksen, Chads brother. The Derksens participated in a church ceremony dedicating their 6-month-old daughter to Jesus Christ in the hours before the crash, according to Derksens wife. She is thankful her daughter shared that moment with her father on his last day. FWC says it will complete the crash investigation in six to eight weeks. Officials overseeing Montana State University Billings won't move immediately to find a permanent replacement for former Chancellor Mark Nook, leaving an interim position filled for "the foreseeable future." Nook left MSUB last week to become president of the University of Northern Iowa. Ron Larsen, who was an associate provost at Montana State University, started as interim chancellor at MSUB on Monday. No date has been set to begin an official search for a permanent chancellor, and no committee has been formed to carry it out, said Tracy Ellig, executive director of communications for MSU. "Dr. Larsen started serving today with a full agenda to continue to advance MSUB into the foreseeable future," Ellig said in an email. Aaron Clingingsmith, director of university relations at MSUB, also used the phrase "foreseeable future" to describe Larsen's stay in a statement on Monday. He added that there's "no expectation of a forthcoming chancellor search" at this time. In the Montana University System, MSUB follows the leadership of MSU in Bozeman. MSU President Waded Cruzado will guide the chancellor search process. The slow approach could mean that Larsen will remain at MSUB longer than previous interim chancellors. With an ongoing legislative session and a looming president search at the University of Montana in Missoula, the Montana University System has a full plate. In the meantime, Larsen may be more than just a placeholder at the Billings university. Ellig said that Larsen will focus on enrollment and retention two problem areas that have dragged on the school's budget. Cruzado has expressed confidence in Larsen's ability at the helm of MSUB. She said in a Jan. 12 conference call with regents that the university is in good hands. "Search processes are important and are good, but let's also make sure that we encourage people to reach out to our current leaders," she said. "Because they are the ones who, on a daily basis, fill that necessary foundation for whoever is going to come. Transition period Larsen will be MSUB's fourth chancellor since 2010. Ronald Sexton became the university's first chancellor in 1995 after a reorganization and the university's name changed from Eastern Montana College. He announced his retirement in February 2010 and gave a notice of seven months. By March of that year, Cruzado named an interim chancellor and plans formed for a search committee. At that same time, university system officials were looking to replace longtime UM President George Dennison, who also retired that year. Rolf Groseth, who was the interim chancellor, took the oath for the full-time role in September 2010. When Groseth announced his retirement in early January 2014, a search committee formed by the end of the month. At around the same time Groseth officially left office, Nook was named chancellor in May 2014. Nook's departure left a smaller window. It was publicly announced Nov. 30 that he was a finalist for the UNI job. On Dec. 6, he was chosen as the school's president. Cruzado acted within days to announce Larsen as interim chancellor, and he worked with Nook through January on the transition. "I'm comfortable with them not taking a search immediately, so long as we're making progress," said Martha Sheehy, a member of the Board of Regents. Sheehy, who works as an attorney in Billings, said that addressing issues like enrollment and program prioritization may be more important at this time. And if Larsen is empowered to carry that duty, she said she backs that plan. The Board of Regents will eventually grant final approval when a permanent chancellor is chosen. But until then, much of the process is under the guidance of Cruzado. At this moment MSU Billings is one of our top priorities for Montana State University, Cruzado said on Jan. 12. The Yellowstone County commission on Tuesday approved a tax break for Billings Flying Service, which relocated and expanded its helicopter flying and service business to property next to the Billings airport. The business qualified for the countys tax incentive program, which gives new and expanding businesses that meet qualifications property tax breaks. The incentive provides that the increase in taxable value because of the expansion will be taxed at 50 percent of its increased value for five years, with the tax rate increasing by 10 percent a year for the subsequent five years. The commission voted unanimously to approve the incentive. Commission Chairman John Ostlund said while he has a longstanding relationship with the Blain family, which owns the business, he had no financial interest in the company and would participate in the vote. Last year, Ostlund also disclosed his relationship with the Blains and said he jointly owned an airplane with the family and others. Brothers Al and Gary Blain, who co-own the business, thanked the commission for its support during a public hearing on the proposed resolution for the tax incentive. No one spoke in opposition. BFS is an international flying service that owns and operates Chinook helicopters. The company operated at the family farm at 6309 Jellison Road for 52 years before moving and expanding to its new location near the airport. The company invested about $2.2 million to purchase the land and to build a hangar and maintenance facility. At the time of the expansion, BFS had 55 full-time employees and 20 part-time employees. With the expansion, the company expects to have up to 75 full-time and 20 part-time workers. The company is getting new and exciting prospects, Al Blain said. He added that he is going to Israel later in the month to discuss business opportunities. The skys the limit, he said. Gary Blain said construction on the new hangar and facilities is mostly complete, with projects like the parking lot to be finished as weather improves. Everything is working great, he said. The move to 2101 Highway 3 sparked controversy last year when area residents objected to zone change requests, saying the change was spot zoning, did not comply with city and county growth policies and that the helicopter service would hurt property values. Pearl Moen, who at 17 years old stabbed a 23-year-old woman to see how it would feel to kill someone, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison. Friday she pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the Nov. 14, 2015 attack, which took place outside of an apartment complex in the 4400 block of Speedway in Austin. THE ARREST: Texas teenage girl stabbed woman 21 times and called it 'absolutely fantastic' in her diary At the time, Moen detailed the premeditated act in a murder diary where she wrote: "So, okay I'll start with the exciting bit. I stabbed an innocent woman to death earlier today (well yesterday since it's 1 a.m.)...It was absolutely fantastic. Murder gives me a high unlike any other, it feels like this crisp unreality, flashing and sparkling, adrenaline and shock. Fight or flight mode. How do I even go about describing it. The whole thing was unreal. I'm so proud of myself. I stabbed her like 20 times. Maybe more." In the same journal entry, Moen said that she committed the crime because she's "a homicidal psychopath" and had "a deep hatred towards people right now." HAVE YOU SEEN HER?: Family desperate to find missing Conroe ISD teen The woman Moen attacked, who said she did not want to be identified, spoke at the sentencing hearing, KSXAN reports. She said that she was glad the vicious assault happened to her instead of to a child or "someone who could not defend themselves." Following the attack, she reportedly suffered from a collapsed lung, severe blood loss and had to undergo physical therapy. CAUGHT: Escaped suspect in deadly attempted robbery caught in Converse According to the Austin-American Statesman, Moen never posted bail or left the Travis County Jail after she was arrested in late February. "Moen was 17 years old at the time of the crime and had a history of drug use and psychological issues, but no criminal record," the DA's office told the Statesman. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Jefferson County Sheriff's Office Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Jefferson County authorities arrested an Humble man Monday after they found 10 pounds of marijuana and $5,000 cash in his vehicle during a traffic stop, the sheriff's office said in a release. Deputies stopped Terrence Claiborne, 43, on Interstate 10 near Hamshire Road for a traffic violation, according to Deputy Marcus McLellan. During the traffic stop, deputies noticed Claiborne was acitng "suspicious and nervous." To honor former Montana Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, Yellowstone County is seeking to name a portion of Highway 3 known as Airport Road after the senator. County commissioners on Tuesday approved a letter to the Montana Department of Transportation seeking to designate the portion of Highway 3 from Main Street in the Billings Heights to the roundabout at the Billings Logan International Airport as the Conrad Burns Memorial Highway. Commissioner Denis Pitman, who proposed the action, said he wanted to honor Burns for his service, which included securing money for road projects in the community. Its easy to forget what Airport Road used to look like, Pitman said. Airport Road is just one thing, Pitman said of the projects Burns supported. He said Burns also helped get funding for Zimmerman Trail improvements. The letter is addressed to Stefan Streeter, administrator of the Billings District. Pitman said state Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings, had said he will help support the matter. Streeter said if the dedication is approved, the cost would be minimal and that new signs would need to be installed. In Yellowstone County, Main Street in the Heights was dedicated to Richard Dean Robeling, a road construction engineer, who was working on a resurfacing project in a marked construction zone on Main Street at night when he was hit and killed in 2004 by a drunken driver. A former Yellowstone County commissioner, Burns served two years before being elected in 1988 to the U.S. Senate, where he served for 18 years before losing in the 2006 election to Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat. Burns suffered a stroke in 2009 and died last year at age 81 at his home in Billings. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO San Antonio police are searching for two armed suspects who yelled "I'm going to kill you!" at a mother and daughter outside a Northwest Side mall Tuesday. Police responded to the threat around 11:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Ingram Park Mall at 6301 NW Loop 410. The victims, who have yet to be identified but are both adult women, told police that men wearing black handkerchiefs over their faces pulled up next to them in a green SUV. RELATED: Police release name of second suspect in Rolling Oaks Mall shooting The suspects jumped out of the SUV, pointed guns at the women and yelled at one of them "I'm going to kill you!" The women then ran into the Macy's at the mall and called for help. Witnesses said they heard the suspects fire about two or three gunshot before fleeing the scene. Police said no demand was made, so the incident is not being considered an attempted robbery at this time. "The woman and her mother are obviously very shaken up," said Sgt. Jesse Salame, a San Antonio police spokesman. "But they're okay." READ MORE: "Good Samaritan" killed in mall shooting went to get wedding rings cleaned with his wife The incident comes just days after Jonathan Murphy, 42, was killed and three more injured -- including a suspect -- by gunfire during a botched robbery at a jewelry store at Rolling Oaks Mall in the Northeast Side. Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, and Jose Luis Rojas, 34, both face aggravated robbery and capital murder charges. "It's concerning for us," Salame said. "But again, it just highlights the need for everyone to always pay attention. No matter where your surroundings are, no matter what's going on." This story will continue to be updated as more information is available. Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Staff writers Tyler White and Madalyn Mendoza contributed to this report. cdowns@mysa.com Twitter: @calebjdowns Roughly 466 million years ago, something huge exploded in space and sent shrapnel raining down on Earth. It was the biggest such cataclysm to happen in our celestial neighborhood in some 3 billion years. An asteroid belt body, roughly as large as Connecticut and made of some of the most ancient material in the solar system, collided with another object and splintered into pieces. Those pieces in turn slammed into one another, creating more debris. One by one, the fragments fell toward ancient Earth, where the continents were clumped into a single, gigantic mass called Gondwana and the very first terrestrial plants were just beginning to creep onto land. At the time, those meteorites, called L chondrites, made up 99 percent of all space rocks that landed on our planet. Millennia passed, the continents broke apart and bunched back together, mountains ranges rose up and eroded away, countless creatures - trilobites, dinosaurs, woolly mammoths - evolved and went extinct. But the debris from that 466 million-year-old breakup continued to fall. And fall. And fall. Even now, they make up the largest group of meteorites that land on Earth. "That collision cascade" - the series of smaller smashes and crashes that followed the initial breakup - "had consequences that are still felt today," said Philipp Heck, a cosmochemist at the University of Chicago and curator of meteorites for the Field Museum. The L chondrite meteorites that we find all over Earth aren't representative of the asteroid belt from which they came. For the past several years, Heck has been working to understand the implications of the "L chondrite parent body breakup" (astronomers clearly weren't feeling very creative when they named that one) - and it's become clear to him that the event masks the true diversity of space rocks that bombard our world. Looking at Earth today and assuming that "L chondrites" are common is like looking out the window after a big blizzard and assuming that snow is the most common type of weather. "What has arrived on Earth is definitely not representative of what's out there," Heck said. "If we want to understand nature better, especially the asteroid belt, we have to look at other time windows." In a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, Heck and his colleagues take their first look out a new time window, at the period just before the L chondrite parent body breakup. They report that the meteorite "weather" during that time was dramatically different from what we now see. Back then, in the early part of the geologic period known as the Ordovician, now-rare meteorites like achondrites (stony meteorites that come from planets and the largest asteroids) were common. Among these were space rocks thought to come from Vesta, a bright protoplanet that is the second-largest object in the asteroid belt. There were also far more "ungrouped" meteorites - the designation given to rocks too weird to fit into any of the established categories. By comparison, L-chondrites (many, but not all, of which come from the 466 million-year-old breakup) represented a just a small proportion of Earth's meteorite flux (the quantity and type of meteorites that rained down). "Our main finding was that these primitive achondrites and the ungrouped meteorites ... were almost 100 times more abundant than they are today," Heck said. "That was a big surprise that no one expected." Uncovering this fact was no easy task. Meteorites are hard to spot under any circumstances. Finding ones that have survived for half a billion years, without being eroded into dust or subsumed into the Earth by weather and plate tectonics, is even harder. Instead of looking for whole meteorites, Heck and his colleagues sought out chrome spinels, hardy black minerals found in space rocks, in rock formations from China, Sweden and Russia. Though the sediments are now on land, they once formed the bottom of ancient seas, where the minerals were most likely to survive. The team dug up nearly 600 pounds of rock in search of mineral grains that can barely be seen without a microscope. "It's a needle in the haystack problem," Heck acknowledged. "So we have to take a brute force approach: we burn away the haystack to find the needles." The scientists didn't actually light the rock on fire. Instead, they used acid to dissolve the sedimentary rock. This left them with 41 extraterrestrial chrome spinels, most of them the diameter of a human hair. By analyzing the chemical composition of the minerals - particularly the varying ratios of oxygen isotopes - they were able to develop a chemical "fingerprint" for each one, giving at least a rough understanding of what kind of meteorite it came from. Those fingerprints can also be compared to spectroscopic analysis of bodies out in the solar system, offering important clues about bodies scientists will never get to see up close. "We can do essentially space exploration by finding rock fragments on Earth," Heck said. Heck said his latest findings - along with future looks through other "time windows" on the meteorite record - will help astronomers understand the collision history of the asteroid belt (which circles the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) and its influence on our own planet. He pointed out that scientists are just beginning to understand the behavior of near-Earth objects - asteroids and other bodies in space that could one day strike Earth. Understanding what meteorites fell in the past could answer questions like, "how long does it take [after a collision] until the fragments arrive on Earth, and when are they all used up?" he said. "How important is the collision cascade in generating fragments?" "People always ask me, 'Why is it important to know about the past?' " Heck said. "I answer, 'because it's interesting.' But also because we need to learn about how nature works if we want to know what's going to happen in the future." Independent physicians in Vermont have been pushing forward a proposal to build a freestanding ASC in Colchester, with payer Schenectady, N.Y.-based MVP Health Care sending a letter expressing its support to the Green Mountain Care Board, according to VT Digger. Here are five points: 1. The Green Mountain Care Board, a regulatory body in Vermont, has been hearing from the physicians as well as the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health System for more than a year and a half. The board has yet to hold a hearing about the proposed center. 2. Stark opponents of the ASC, the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems say the surgery center would have a direct negative impact on local hospitals, including the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. 3. The proposal for Green Mountain Surgical Center seeks approval to offer surgeries such as knee repairs, hysterectomies, colonoscopies and spinal pain treatment. 4. In the letter, MVP writes the payer has experience with freestanding ASCs in New York, which shows such facilities are cost-effective and offer patients convenience and high satisfaction. 5. Other Vermont businesses have backed the physicians' proposal including Burlington-based Seventh Generation, Colchester-based Champlain Cable, Burlington-based Boys and Girls Club and Lake Champlain Chocolates in Burlington. Throughout the United States, the number of data breaches continues to escalate year-over-year, according to an Identity Theft Resource Center and CyberScout report. Here are four highlights: 1. In 2016, the nation tracked 1,039 total data breaches, an all-time record. 2. This figure equates to a 40 percent jump compared to 2015. 3. The business sector comprised 45.2 percent of all data breaches last year, with the healthcare sector trailing behind at 34.5 percent. 4. Hacking attacks constituted 55.5 percent of overall breaches, a 17.7 percent increase from 2015. Major Hospital in Shelbyville, Ind., part of Major Health Partners, closed Saturday after its services were relocated to MHP Medical Center in Shelbyville. Since it opened in 1924, Major Hospital has undergone two expansions. In 2014, hospital officials realized the facility once again needed to grow due to an increase in patient volume. Instead of expanding the hospital again, Major Health Partners' board of directors voted to build a new facility. The new hospital, MHP Medical Center, opened Saturday, the same day Major Hospital closed. MHP Medical Center includes 56 inpatient rooms, 38 outpatient rooms and a concourse design for ease of access throughout the building. MHP Medical Center is better designed for outpatient care and will be more cost-effective to operate than the old facility, according to hospital officials. More articles on facilities management: St. Joseph's Hospital completes first phase of $21.6M expansion Mercy Health's $271M medical center on track for 2019 completion 8 hospitals planning facility upgrades, expansions Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump's nominee for education secretary, has a stake in Palo Alto, Calif.-based blood testing startup Theranos, according to government ethics paperwork released Friday. In her paperwork, Ms. DeVos said her stake in Theranos was valued at more than $1 million. Theranos has drawn scrutiny from CMS and the FDA. The company has been sued multiple times over faulty blood tests, and federal prosecutors launched an investigation into the company in 2016 over allegations it misled investors by misrepresenting the readiness of its technologies and operations. Ms. DeVos reported income from her Theranos holdings at less than $201. More articles on healthcare finance: 5 latest hospital bankruptcies Northwestern Memorial HealthCare's operating income jumps 87% In the effort to improve healthcare outcomes for American families, few things matter more than ensuring access to quality care a rare statement on which there is broad bipartisan agreement. Creating pathways to preventive care, in particular, is crucial to addressing chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes that have long-term costs and place extraordinary stress on our healthcare system. But if we are to deliver on this promise amidst the complexity of our current healthcare system, we must have talented leaders who not only possess the ability to develop effective solutions, but also the fortitude to build the coalitions necessary to see them through. One such leader is Seema Verma, a healthcare innovator nominated to serve as administrator of the CMS. As the architect of Governor Mitch Daniels' Healthy Indiana Plan, Ms. Verma created the nation's first consumer-directed Medicaid program: delivering groundbreaking reform to the state's Medicaid program while garnering bipartisan support for how it expanded access and more fully-engaged lower income Indiana citizens in their healthcare choices. Since the inception of HIP in 2007, our colleagues at St. Louis-based Ascension's 20-hospital system in Indiana have seen first-hand how HIP has improved the lives of countless Indiana residents. We've seen how its pioneering approach to expanding coverage for the most vulnerable had the added benefit of better equipping Indiana physicians and nurses to provide the quality care our citizens deserved. Because of HIP, we were better able to engage those living in poverty and most vulnerable in their own healthcare, which is at the heart of our Mission. Following the passage of the ACA in 2010, Ms. Verma again stepped forward to craft a creative and innovative approach that would even further expand care in Indiana. At a time when there was little bipartisan agreement on healthcare policy, Ms. Verma helped Indiana become a bright spot of collaboration between Republican legislators and the Obama administration. With nearly 400,000 Indiana residents facing the possibility of making too much for Medicaid, but too little to receive assistance on the new federal healthcare marketplace, Indiana faced a unique challenge. While the ACA offered states the ability to expand traditional Medicaid programs, leaders at the Indiana Statehouse wanted to do so in a way that didn't abandon the consumer-driven principles they'd established with passage of the original Healthy Indiana Plan. The situation called for nuanced leadership and a commitment to help a diverse range of stakeholders, from hospitals to patient advocates, find common ground. In partnership with then-Governor, now Vice President, Mike Pence, Ms. Verma spearheaded the development of HIP 2.0, bridging a partisan divide to create a new model for healthcare coverage. By creating this new pathway to care for hundreds of thousands Indiana patients, HIP 2.0 helped realize the fundamental goal of healthcare reform: ensuring greater access to care. But by also including consumer-driven incentives that encouraged enrollees to be cost conscious, HIP 2.0 has also equipped patients to access the right care at the right time, rather than waiting for health problems to become emergent a key priority for providers and lawmakers that can increase the quality of care and help reduce costs. The results have been a tremendous success. Nearly 350,000 Indiana citizens were enrolled in HIP 2.0 in its first year. Moreover, our physicians report that HIP members have responded well to the structure of their new coverage, including the consumer-driven elements that give patients and families a greater voice in directing their own care. Seema Verma has made it her life's work to advocate for these patients, and her track record of success in Indiana makes her precisely the type of leader we need at the national level: an innovator able to cut through the partisan divide, fight for patients and deliver results that make healthcare accessible and far more affordable. If her reputation in Indiana is any indication, Ms. Verma will bring a fresh perspective that can do for the nation what she's done for our patients. We strongly support her nomination and look forward to a continued partnership with her to ensure that low-income Americans not only have health insurance coverage, but access to quality care. Dr. Anthony R. Tersigni is President and CEO of Ascension, the nation's largest non-profit, and the world's largest Catholic, health system. Jonathan Nalli is CEO of St. Vincent, a 20-hospital Ascension ministry in the state of Indiana. More articles on leadership: ContextMedia becomes Outcome Health The corner office: Children's Hospital of Orange County CEO Kim Cripe on the value of unfettered curiosity GOP's latest ACA replacement allows states to choose fate of law: 8 things to know President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 to reduce the economic burden of the ACA. Fourteen academics and leaders of healthcare companies and hospitals discuss the executive order's implications on hospitals and physicians. Michael Abrams. Co-founder and Managing Partner of Numerof & Associates (St. Louis). "The takeaway for healthcare industry players (and consumers) is that Trump intends to follow through on his promise to revamp the fundamentals of the ACA. The executive order outlines Trump's vision for a healthcare policy that minimizes economic and regulatory burdens, decentralizes control to the states and creates a more open, market-based model. It's entirely consistent with his campaign statements and shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. There's also no reason for physicians, hospital executives or pharmaceutical companies to hit the panic button. The order itself acknowledges that any action taken by agency heads is subject to applicable rules and regulations regarding review and comment periods." Alejandro Badia, MD. CEO of OrthoNOW (Doral, Fla.). "President Trump's executive order on the ACA indicates a spirit that change is imperative. This is a first step toward unwinding the law, specifically by limiting further expansion of the federal government's reach, which has been deemed to be financially unsustainable as it has had zero impact on cost. Furthermore, this allows a more common sense approach to changing healthcare delivery in the U.S., and having an orthopedic surgeon leading the primary government agency involved will allow a more realistic methodology to developing an improved plan. Having healthcare providers, including hospital executives and pharmaceutical companies, involved in decision-making will bring about more cost-effective change that will enable providers and empower patients who demand the industry's quadruple aim: better costs, better outcomes, better patient experiences and better clinician experience." Dan Ehlke, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management at SUNY-Downstate School of Public Health (Brooklyn, N.Y.). "In the short term, I think there's likely to be little impact. The order is very vaguely worded, and I suspect most of the relevant bureaucrats at [the] state and federal level will await congressional action before changing course dramatically. Insurers are unlikely to drop out of exchanges to which they are signed on for 2017, though some could opt out for 2018, given that the order may signal the marketplaces' eventual demise. Should that occur, hospitals will likely see greater numbers of uninsured, and this could, in turn, lead to greater amounts of uncompensated care. However, this will be highly contingent on what any 'replacement' legislation looks like, and less the result of the order itself which, while symbolically important as a sign of administration policy intent, is unlikely to be substantively significant on its own." John Greenbaum. National Practice Leader of Employee Benefits of Risk Strategies Company (Boston). "The executive order could open the door for low value (limited coverage) insurance that will result in a significant increase in uncompensated care as individuals who had objected to the broad coverage offered under ACA plans seek to move to lower cost alternatives." Terry Hush. President and Co-founder of Roji Health Intelligence (Chicago). "President Trump's executive order is largely a signal at this point that he will proceed with supporting a repeal of the ACA. In particular, he has made it clear that there will be no consequences for individuals who don't have health insurance in terms of penalties. But it leaves open the huge question of what a replacement will look like, and it also creates other questions for hospitals and physician companies about what will happen to other provisions under the act. One of these uncertainties is the future of ACOs, which were begun by hospitals under the ACA and were intended to stem the rising costs of Medicare. The executive order may well have the effect of slowing down action by providers to develop or participate in risk programs, until the future is clearer." Gary S. Kaplan, MD. Chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Health System (Seattle). "While it is too soon to address with any certainty the implications of the executive order, I do urge President Trump and Congress to be mindful of the importance of access to affordable, high quality and safe healthcare for all Americans. They must focus on the fundamentals of healthcare, such as adequate access, appropriate care, value and transparency, which are all necessary for positive outcomes and patient experiences. Their decisions must be based on facts, not political fervor, and in the long term interest of everyone. The ACA, while not perfect, was a step forward in the right direction. Our nation should build on this momentum. I also encourage the president to launch a national initiative involving healthcare providers, payers, patients and lawmakers from both political parties with the goal of understanding and addressing the underlying broken processes across the nation's healthcare system that negatively affect quality, efficiency and cost. This is the strategic, big picture perspective we urgently need. Healthcare deserves an open-minded, thorough search for the meaningful path forward because it is essential to the quality of life for all Americans." John Kelliher. Managing Director of Berkeley Research Group (Washington, D.C.). "Trump's executive order has more symbolism than actual impact. New regulations promulgated by Trump administration agencies under the executive order would take more the six months to process and would have effective dates in 2018 or beyond. Before such regulations could be in place, Congress is likely to have changed the underlying laws making new regulatory interpretations moot. The issuing of the executive order does reaffirm yet again that Republicans, including President Trump, are committed to significant reform of the U.S. healthcare system including revisiting the structure of the ACA and even going beyond that to a complete overhaul of the Medicaid program." Steve Look. Executive Vice President of The Medicus Firm (Dallas). "Initially, the greatest impact of Trump's executive order regarding the ACA will be uncertainty among the healthcare workforce and employers, whether it's warranted or unwarranted. That's because this week's executive order signifies change is coming, while it's still quite unclear what that 'change' will look like, or when said 'change' will actually occur, and that will cause some uncertainty. It will be very difficult to make sweeping changes, given the complexities associated with replacing the current programs, while fulfilling his promise of 'having insurance for everybody,' as he told The Washington Post last week. A truly significant shift will likely take place over years, not months. By executing this order to alleviate the financial burden of the ACA, I think it means that the president is committed to making as significant changes as possible to the ACA and to healthcare legislation in general." Simon Lorenz, PhD. Co-founder of Klara Healthcare Messaging App (New York City). "From a physician's perspective, repealing the ACA will have an impact on business operations with the most pressing issues stemming from the financial side. Physician-owned smaller practices will be hit the hardest, especially in poorer or rural communities, although many physicians in diverse areas will still be affected. Potentially 20 million Americans will lose insurance coverage, creating gaps in the patient base of doctors, ultimately hurting their income. Not only would [fewer] people actively schedule services and appointments due to lack of insurance, patients who do seek treatment may not follow through with fulfilling prescriptions due to increased costs. Doctors will have increasing pressure to take a hard look at income, profits and business operations. This would be an excellent time to audit your practice operations to see how much money is tied to areas that may be impacted. From a business standpoint, doctors need to stay on their toes and adjust to the changes that will come as a result of these executive orders." Adam Powell. President of Payer+Provider Syndicate (Boston). "While the executive order provides a mandate, it leaves it up to others to determine how it will be implemented. Sections 2, 3, and 4 are all prefaced by the phrase, 'To the maximum extent permitted by law.' We will have to wait and see how various parts of the government determine what changes are permitted. Secondly, while the executive order provides a command to reduce the fiscal burden on various participants within the healthcare system, reducing the burden on one may increase the burden on another. As the goal is to reduce the burden on both healthcare organizations and families, some trade-offs will have to be made. It is currently unclear how the government will make these trade-offs." Jay Reddy. President and CEO of VitreosHealth (Plano, Texas). "There will likely be some concessions made due to lobbying from poor-performing entities. However, we believe that CMS will not budge on its overall payment model, where the expectation is that 50 percent of all CMS payments in 2018 will be capitated and 80 percent of the payments will be quality-based. Otherwise, companies will just stick to the old way of doing things, hoping that the government will keep pushing out or revising their mandates." Marc Samuels. CEO of ADVI and Former Health Policy Advisor to President George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush (Washington, D.C.). "As a lifelong businessman, Donald Trump is used to moving quickly, but if the new administration follows through with its self-imposed pressure to accomplish so much so fast, it is certain to result in reckless policy decisions. As alumni of the Bush administrations, we saw this occur in President George W. Bush's time in D.C., compared to his experience as governor. Mr. Trump will need to focus on what really matters to the people who elected him. Right now, there's no bigger issue than what comes next for healthcare." Julie Scott Allen. Senior Vice President of Drinker Biddle's District Policy Group (Washington, D.C.). "The executive order provides for flexibility by CMS to make adjustments to their current ACA regulations and/or what had been their interpretation and enforcement of current regulations under the Obama administration. Revised regulations could be issued, or more likely, new sub-regulatory guidance could be released by CMS as such efforts would not require legislation or legislative approval. For hospitals that have sought changes in implementation, such changes could be made while Congress plans its ACA repeal and reform strategy. For example, hospital systems have argued that hundreds of quality measures and threat of penalties for not meeting measures have made it a challenge to comply with the ACA's effort to improve quality. Recognizing that a value-based payment system is not going away, even with repeal of the ACA, lessening the number of measures would be a win for many hospitals." Vernita Todd. Senior Vice President, External Affairs of Health Center Partners of Southern California (San Diego). "For safety-net providers, this could increase the number of people accessing care in the costly halls of emergency rooms, decrease patients' access to specialists and cause patients to forgo any type of preventative care in order to manage the expenses of daily life. As reimbursements decline, it will be inevitable that providers will have to modify their practices to survive. While community health centers will continue to provide access to affordable primary medical and dental care, it is possible that even health centers will be forced to close sites, lay off staff and scale back on services." On Friday morning, the House Judiciary Committee will hear a bill of crucial importance to the operation of the Montana Judiciary. House Bill 44, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, is the legislative response to years of rapid growth in District Court caseloads. Independent research as well as daily court calendars show that Montana needs another 20 judges to expeditiously handle all the cases filed last year. Essmanns bill proposes only five new judges, which is the number requested by the Judicial Branch. Two of the new judges in HB44 would work in Yellowstone County by far the busiest, most overloaded judicial district in the state. According to national standards, Yellowstone actually needs six additional judges. The addition of two, as HB44 proposes, is essential. The other new judgeships would be created in Missoula, Great Falls and Kalispell. Each of those districts presently is short one judge. Its not surprising that the judicial crunch is in the states urban counties; thats where most Montanans live and work. Its where most business is transacted. So the people bring their legal disputes, contract issues, divorces, parenting plans and other problems to court. All types of cases have been growing in Billings for years, but in the past few years, theres been a rapid rise in criminal and child protection cases. All other cases are delayed when the courts overflow with criminal and child protection cases. The main message is that the people who are affected by this are the people in the court system, said District Judge Gregory Todd. We have a pressing need for more help so peoples cases can be decided expeditiously. The Yellowstone County judges have made changes to handle cases more efficiently, but the number of cases continues to slow the system. For example, all felony arraignments are now done one day a week with the judges rotating that duty. Typically, there are 20 to 25 new felony suspects arraigned every Wednesday. Additionally, each judge takes up other criminal matters that typically run from 9 a.m. into the noon hour every day. We stopped counting cases; we count pages, Todd said. Usually, there are seven or eight pages listing cases for every criminal law and motion session. Most of the divorce cases filed in Yellowstone County involve at least one spouse who doesnt have an attorney. Cases in which someone doesnt have an attorney typically take longer because the pro se litigant isnt as well prepared for court. Meanwhile, getting a trial on a civil case means waiting at least 12 to 18 months. So on Friday, Todd plans to be in Helena, along with Judge Michael Moses and Yellowstone County Commissioner Robyn Driscoll, to present the case for more judges. We again commend Essmann for carrying this bill that is important to the entire state system, but especially to justice in Yellowstone County. Four Yellowstone County lawmakers serve on the House Judiciary Committee. We call Reps. Virginia Court, Kathy Kelker, Dale Mortensen and Barry Usher to be leaders in supporting HB44 in committee and on the House floor. The cost of meeting justice system demands would be $549,000 in the first year of the biennium and $1.7 million in the second year, according to the HB44 fiscal note. The cost of doing nothing would be denying justice to Montanans who depend on their courts. Washington, D.C.-based Children's National Health System developed the Children's National Rare Disease Institute, a center focused on advancing the care and treatment of individuals with rare genetic disorders. Here are five things to know. 1. The CNRDI's main goal is to improve the lifespan and quality of life of rare disease patients, according to an emailed release. 2. The institute will track patient outcomes and treatment regimens, creating a database to advance rare disease research and knowledge gathering. 3. The CNRDI will also test and develop new therapies for rare diseases and provide training specific to rare diseases for clinicians, genetic counselors, nurses, researchers and allied health professionals, according to the report. 4. The National Organization for Rare Disorders designated CNRDI as its first Center of Excellence for Clinical Care for Rare Diseases. 5. Marshall Summar, MD, chief of genetics and metabolism at Children's National Health System, will head the institute. Dr. Summar also serves as NORD's board chairman. More articles on hospital and physician issues: ERs taking steps to prescribe fewer opioids Harvard Medical School dean launches diversity task force Woman posing as physician administered physicals at Philadelphia high school A former employee of Mercy Hospital in Portland, Maine, is accusing the healthcare provider of improper Medicare billing, according to a Portland Press Herald report. Here are seven things to know about the allegations. 1. Jennifer Worthy, Mercy's former manager of patient accounts, filed a lawsuit, claiming the hospital and its billing companies took part in a scheme to get higher Medicare payments, according to the report. Ms. Worthy filed the lawsuit after resigning from Mercy in early 2014. 2. In the False Claims Act lawsuit, Ms. Worthy names Mercy Hospital, as well as the hospital's parent company, Brewer-based Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems. 3. Ms. Worthy's lawsuit accuses Mercy and the two billing companies, Chicago-based Accretive Health, now known as R1 RCM, and Escondido-based California Healthcare Medical Billing, of taking part in various plans to improperly bill Medicare, according to the report. The report cites a number of these plans noted in the lawsuit, such as "unbundling" bills and elevating the severity of patients' physician visits. 4. Mercy and the billing companies previously moved to dismiss Ms. Worthy's allegations, according to the report. U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. dismissed some of Ms. Worthy's claims under whistle-blower protection laws because they weren't filed in time, but most of her allegations are moving forward, according to the report. Parts of the lawsuit that were dismissed relate to Ms. Worthy and her employment, the report notes. One example cited in the report is an allegation against CHMB, which was dismissed due to lack of evidence that the company could be considered her employer, instead of Mercy and Accretive. 5. Speaking on Ms. Worthy's lawsuit, Mercy spokesperson Wayne Clark told the Portland Press Herald state and federal officials looked into the former Mercy worker's claims and both declined to intervene in her lawsuit. "While the law allows the employee to pursue the claim independently, we believe the lawsuit is deficient on the law and the facts," he told the publication. 6. Jeffrey Neil Young, one of Ms. Worthy's lawyers, told the Portland Press Herald the overbilling amounts to "millions" of dollars, but he said more detailed numbers won't be available until lawyers are able to examine Mercy records as the trial proceeds. 7. Now that most of the case can proceed, Mercy is supposed to reply to the lawsuit by early next month, Mr. Young told the Portland Press Herald. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: Lingering FTC concerns could stall $9.4B Walgreens-Rite Aid merger Ex-UPMC Health Plan executive pleads guilty in $846k embezzlement case 10 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements David H. Newman, MD, a former emergency room physician at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, was sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for sexually abusing four female patients, according to The Wall Street Journal. Dr. Newman, 46, was arrested Jan. 19, 2016, after two female patients accused him of sexual abuse. Two more women subsequently brought similar allegations against Dr. Newman. He was arraigned in March on charges of sexually abusing four female patients in the emergency room, including touching their breasts and, in one case, sedating, groping, masturbating and ejaculating on a patient. Prosecutors alleged Dr. Newman sexually abused the four female patients, who ranged from ages 18 to 29, between August 2015 and January 2016. In December, Dr. Newman pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse in the first degree and four counts of sexual abuse in the third degree. Under his plea agreement, Dr. Newman was sentenced to two years in prison. After his release, he will be under court supervision for three years and will be required to register as a sex offender, according to The Wall Street Journal. A spokeswoman for Mount Sinai told The Wall Street Journal that Dr. Newman was suspended after the investigation began and is no longer employed at the hospital. New York records show his medical license was suspended in February 2016 amid a state medical board investigation. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: Lingering FTC concerns could stall $9.4B Walgreens-Rite Aid merger Ex-UPMC Health Plan executive pleads guilty in $846k embezzlement case 10 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Police say a 22-year-old employee of Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, N.Y., stabbed a man who was visiting a patient at the hospital Jan. 21, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. Devin J. Brown, the hospital employee, is accused of stabling 39-year-old Karriem Mixon in the upper body when the two men were involved in an altercation near an elevator bank at the hospital. Rochester police investigator Jackie Shuman told the Democrat & Chronicle Mr. Mixon's injuries were not life threatening. Mr. Brown was charged with second-degree assault. He denied the charges in court Monday. A hospital spokesman told the Democrat & Chronicle Mr. Brown will not return to Strong Memorial pending an investigation into the incident. More articles on healthcare industry lawsuits: Ex-UPMC Health Plan executive pleads guilty in $846k embezzlement case 10 latest healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements Penn Health System settles improper billing allegations for $845k In a 156-page opinion, U.S. District Judge John Bates ruled in favor of the Justice Department and blocked Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna's proposed $37 billion takeover of Louisville, Ky.-based Humana over antitrust concerns. In his ruling, Judge Bates determined Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare should not be considered the same market. Therefore, the deal would violate antitrust laws as Aetna and Humana would have an "unlawful" Medicare Advantage market share in 364 counties across 21 states. In terms of public exchange markets, Judge Bates ruled the deal would be anticompetitive in 17 counties across 3 states, and Aetna's withdrawal from the public exchange in the 17 complaint counties "was to avoid antitrust scrutiny [and] the Court gives that evidence little weight." Here are five reactions from healthcare leaders, litigators and company spokespersons regarding the judge's decision. 1. American Medical Association President Andrew Gurman, MD, issued a statement on behalf of the association applauding the decision. Dr. Gurman said the "court's ruling sets a notable legal precedent by recognizing Medicare Advantage as a separate and distinct market that does not compete with traditional Medicare. This was a view advocated by the AMA, as well as leading economists. AMA also applauds the decision for protecting competition on the public exchanges." 2. Matthew Cantor, partner at Constantine Cannon, told Becker's Hospital Review he thought the decision of whether Medicare Advantage and original Medicare should be considered the same market was never "a real significant dispute." However, he found it interesting Judge Bates gave little weight to Aetna's argument that its exit from ACA exchanges in the 17 complaint counties was a business decision. He said it "may have hurt Aetna's creditability with the court." In terms of Aetna's possible appeal of the ruling, Mr. Cantor said while as a matter of law the ruling will be hard to reverse, the "most important part now is how the Trump administration is going to react to this. I would think they would be receptive and listen to what the merging parties have to say, particularly if it scores them political points on the repeal and replacement of the ACA." 3. Randal Schultz, a partner at Lathrop & Gage and chair of the firm's healthcare strategic business planning practice group, told Becker's Hospital Review he thought the judge's ruling was logical and an easy decision. He said should Aetna successfully appeal the deal and it does go through, his hope is the court requires the insurers to "disclose financial information about the actual cost of care. By putting requirements on merged groups to release actual healthcare costs it opens up a black box [and] people will know what it actually costs to insure a population." Doing so would push more employers toward self-insuring their workers, he said. Regarding the looming decision of Indianapolis-based Anthem's proposed $54 billion acquisition of Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna, Mr. Schultz added, "I'll be shocked if the other case doesn't come down the same way." 4. Aetna spokesperson T.J. Crawford said immediately after the ruling was released, "We're reviewing the opinion now and giving serious consideration to an appeal after putting forward a compelling case." 5. On Tuesday, Aetna Chairman and CEO Mark Bertolini and Humana CEO Bruce Broussard issued a joint statement: "After putting forward a compelling case that addressed each of the Department of Justice concerns, we are disappointed with the court's decision and will carefully consider all available options. We continue to believe a combined company will create access to higher-quality and more affordable care, and deliver a better overall experience for those we serve." Mr. Bertolini and Mr. Broussard added each company will remain focused on its current operating plan while working through potential outcomes. "Members should continue to expect the same high-quality products and services that have come to define both companies," they said. This article was updated at 9:07 a.m. to include comments from Aetna and Humana. Much of the discussion on an ACA repeal has focused on the consequences for the 20 million Americans who gained coverage under the law's main provisions, such as Medicaid expansion, the health insurance marketplaces and changes to private insurance that allow children to remain on their parents' plans until age 26. But people who have health insurance through their employer are not immune to the effects of repeal, according to the Sun Herald. An estimated 150 million Americans get insurance from their employers and are at risk of losing consumer protections that have become the expectation if Republican lawmakers make good on their promise to repeal the ACA. Here are nine protections brought by the ACA that could change or disappear with the repeal of the ACA, for both individual insurance plans and employer-sponsored plans, according to the report. 1. Coverage for preventive services. The ACA requires most health plans to cover recommended preventive services such as mammograms and colonoscopies with no out-of-pocket payments for patients. It also requires that insurance plans cover all forms of contraception that are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration without any cost sharing. 2. Guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Before the ACA, smaller companies were allowed to refuse to cover or charge more for employees with pre-existing conditions. Large companies were allowed to impose year-long waits before granting coverage to an employee with a pre-existing condition. Under the ACA, such discrimination against employees with pre-existing conditions is illegal, according to the report. President Donald Trump has indicated that he favors keeping this provision in an ACA replacement plan. 3. Long waiting periods. Employers could previously make employees wait an indefinite amount of time before extending eligibility for coverage under the company plan. Under the ACA, companies cannot impose a wait time of more than 90 days. 4. Annual and lifetime limits. The ACA bars employer-sponsored plans from imposing annual or lifetime limits on coverage for "essential health benefits" set by the law. Prior to the ACA, even the most generous plans often had caps on such benefits, according to the report. 5. Caps on out-of-pocket payments. The ACA created annual limits on out-of-pocket costs for individuals and families. In 2017, the limit for individuals is $7,105, and the limit for families is $14,300, the Sun Herald reports. 6. Coverage for dependents up to age 26. The ACA requires all health plans, including those offered by large employers, to cover employees' dependents until age 26, even if they're married, financially independent or live in a different state, according to the report. Republicans have also indicated they would like to keep this provision. 7. Summary of benefits. The ACA requires all health insurers to provide a summary of benefits and coverage in a standard form so consumers can understand their coverage and compare plans. 8. Coverage for mental health and substance abuse. Under the ACA, employers must cover mental health and substance abuse disorder services that are comparable to general medical care. 9. Limited emergency room costs. If a patient is taken to an emergency room that is not part of his or her insurance network, the ACA requires all health plans to charge patients out-of-pocket costs that are equal to in-network rates. The Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, is warning state residents about potential concerns regarding mumps exposure due to an outbreak in neighboring Arkansas that has sickened more than 2,500 individuals since its onset in August 2016. In a Jan. 18 release, Dr. Dreyzehner encouraged all parents and adults to consult with their healthcare providers regarding the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine both for their children and themselves. Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox! "We are talking about this now because we are obviously worried about the significant rise in mumps cases in neighboring states and want everyone to be sure they are up to date on immunizations before it's too late," said Dr. Dreyzehner. "Mumps is a viral illness acquired through close contact with an infected person. It is usually a mild condition in children but can have more serious complications for adults. We should all be sure we and the people we care about are current on immunizations." More articles on infection control: 200 college students sickened with norovirus in Toronto Study: Up to 45% of men could have HPV Measles outbreak continues despite California's new vaccine requirements President Donald Trump plans to tackle high drug prices through his ACA replacement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during a Monday press briefing. President Trump has been a vocal critic of the pharmaceutical industry in recent weeks, saying drugmakers are "getting away with murder" at his Jan. 11 press conference. "I'm sure you've heard the president the last few weeks talk about the price of pharmaceutical drugs, and the need to get those prices down and bring manufacturing back in the pharmaceutical industry to benefit the country," Mr. Spicer said when asked about Mr. Trump's plan to meet with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) about high drug prices. "He understands as we reform healthcare, as we repeal and replace Obamacare, that getting a hold of the cost of prescription drugs to give more people access to them, but also to allow greater access in healthcare greater plans in healthcare, that's going to be key part of it," Mr. Spicer said. More articles on supply chain: Medline partners with Potrero Medical: 4 things to know Mobile supply chain solutions market to grow 13.2% annually through 2020 How bioelectronic medicine could disrupt the drug industry: 4 thoughts with Dr. Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institute The pharmaceutical industry's major lobbying group has launched its largest-ever ad campaign designed to improve the industry's public image following heated criticism over rising drug prices and President Donald Trump's comments in a January press conference, in which he said the drug industry is "getting away with murder," according to The Washington Post. The campaign, launched by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, doesn't actually mention the price of drugs, which have been the subject of multiple hearings before Congress, a leading topic of debate during the recent presidential election and a top healthcare concern for consumers. Instead, the first television ad lauds researchers for the role they play in the development of lifesaving drugs, science and for patients, according to the report. Steve Ubl, president of PhRMA, said Monday at a press event that the pharmaceutical industry has not told the story of science behind its work well enough. The campaign, which includes print, online and TV ads, are intended to fill that gap and explain to consumers that drugmakers are in a "new era of medicine," according to the report. This new era is characterized by immunotherapies for cancer and personalized medicine and genomics to tailor therapies for individual patients' condition. PhRMA said the campaign will cost tens of millions of dollars per year. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below As America marks National School Choice Week, Wyoming can look to the Williams family of Centennial as a shining example of why education options for state families are critical. Doug and Liz Williams have six children at Wyoming Virtual Academy, a public school program hosted by Niobrara County School District 1 in the town of Lusk for students who wish to be educated in a home-based environment by a state certified teacher. Liz Williams began homeschooling her eldest son Jacob after realizing he was an advanced learner and needed more of a challenge than traditional school could provide. However, she quickly found a couple of issues with traditional homeschooling namely its high cost and the fact that there were no other teachers to support Jacob. After considering her options, Liz found WYVA to be the best choice for her son, and later, for the rest of her children, as it combines the hands-on participation she desired as a parent with teacher support, a personalized curriculum and a strong focus on academics. Jacob turned out to be not the only advanced learner in the Williams household. All six children are high performers. Whats more, two of the youngest Williams children, Trinity and Selah, suffer from Type 1 diabetes. The fact that Liz can help her daughters manage their diabetes at home is meaningful, as brick-and-mortar school staff are not always properly trained on how to assist students with medical conditions. Support for school choice exists across the political spectrum and is rooted in the firm belief that parents know their children best. As the head of school for WYVA, I know that K12 Inc., the company that powers our school and others like it across the country, works hard to put our 540 currently enrolled students first every day. I respect parent choice in education because I firmly believe children can succeed when placed in a supportive environment that suits their individual needs. I see it occur firsthand for families like the Williams every day in my school. Not to be overlooked is how school choice positively impacts thousands of teachers across our state and the country. Online and blended charter schools provide teachers with new opportunities and exciting ways to teach kids. Some of the strongest advocates for education options are professional educators who freely choose to work in schools of choice and passionately defend the rights of parents to exercise educational choice for their children. I am firmly committed to increasing education options for families, from online and blended charter schools, to innovative digital learning programs offered through school districts nationwide. Children are the leaders of tomorrow. Therefore, we must do everything we can to give them the best education possible. A critical element toward achieving this goal is expanding school choice for all families and increasing the number of educational success stories for families like Williams across the nation. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said Prime Minister Theresa May has only given a list of Brexit priorities, and business chiefs are still waiting for the details of her plans Business leaders are pressing the Government to spell out whether the Supreme Court ruling will affect the timing of the UK's exit from the European Union. Dr Adam Marshall, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said firms were more interested in the practical impact of the ruling, not the "political intricacies". He added: "What businesses will want to know is whether this ruling will affect either the terms of the Government's approach, or the timeline that firms across the UK have been told to expect. "Businesses will also want to see action to ensure that this further political wrinkle does not add further to the volatility of exchange rates." TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "The Prime Minister has only given a list of Brexit priorities, and we are still waiting for the details of her plans. "Before voting to trigger Article 50, MPs must demand a clear plan from Theresa May on how she will protect working people from paying the price for Brexit, and make sure their workplace rights do not fall behind those in the EU. "Parliament also needs to see detailed proposals for how the UK's devolved governments will be engaged in the negotiations, and a full plan for how we can keep our common travel area with Ireland." Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey said: "The Supreme Court judges made the right decision for the people of this country. "There has been scant detail in the Prime Minister's statements to date. What she has said on workers' rights has been ambiguous and her declaration that the country would not seek access to the single market is shocking. "It is now for our MPs to hold the Government to account. They must defend workers' rights, both now and from future Conservative Party threats." Northern Ireland pre-pack salad company Willowbrook Foods has said it could lose up to 1m turnover as lettuce supplies are hit by extreme weather in Spain. John McCann, founder and managing director of Willowbrook Foods, spent a week braving floodwaters in Murcia, Spain to inspect the damage to his firm's raw material supplies. The Willowbrook boss said that as a result, he could not fulfil orders of ready-to-use lettuce to the retail and food service industries. The crisis is set to hit the company's sales, which last year reached 22m. Floods in southern Spain have hit the country's crops, leaving around 80% of the salad crops produced in Murcia unusable. And the worst snow in decades has hit the company's other suppliers in Italy. "Last week we had up to 70% shortages - a disaster for our customers who could not understand why," he said. "Modern supply to customers is around 99.8% and this level has dropped down to 30% and was unacceptable and unheard of. "Looking to the future, assuming the weather does improve as the spring arrives, the problems have not gone away. "A certain fact is that with three to four weeks of no planting at the end of December and January, there will be no crops maturing in March. "This will see a possible total stoppage. Maybe warm weather and growth compensate a little, but the growers and lettuce users are facing a period of no crops. "This has never happened before." Murcia in south east Spain produces around 80% of the salad mixes eaten in northern Europe and supplies vegetables to firms including Willowbrook Foods, which is based in Killinchy. The firm has warned customers and is sending daily updates on the situation. Mr McCann said he travelled to Spain to investigate the severity of the problem for himself. But the worst could be yet to come as growers have been unable to plant for almost four weeks. That will leave Willowbrook Foods and other customers with a lack of supply as there will be nothing to harvest. Willowbrook Farm Foods said the situation is a "disaster" and likely to continue for at least six to eight weeks. Willowbrook is one of the UK's largest bagged salad processors. Heavy rain started to flood the south east of Spain in mid-December and has continued to get worse. Mr McCann described the carnage wreaked on agricultural land in the area. "Floods washed away planted crops, fields became lakes and mud washed over the level fields which did have crops. Fields due to be planted became rivers of mud and planting had to stop." He said lettuces were almost half their normal size, a deficiency likely to cost the firm 150,000. Extra labour required to wash mud carried by flood water off the vegetables is expected to cost a further 116,000 in the first quarter of the year. Willowbrook Farm Foods employs 250 people at its processing plant in Killinchy. Mr McCann started importing fresh leaf vegetables from Spain and Italy 20 years ago when he started making the mixed salad bags. He said it was the "worst disruption" in the company's service he had ever seen since he started trading in 1968. "The hardest part is telling people and hoping that your reputation won't be destroyed by this," he said. "It's hard in this day and age where things come back in stock within a few days - people don't understand what you mean when you say the crop just isn't there. Mr McCann added that supplies from the USA or further afield could not plug the gap as crop production could not be sped up. And where available, emergency supplies could cost up to five times the normal price. He added that it was not viable for farmers to grow lettuce in greenhouses here during winter. Financial services company FinTrU is creating 160 new jobs in Belfast paying an average of around 26,250 over the next five years, it has announced. The London-based business carries out financial regulatory reporting, compliance and legal services for investment banks and other institutions. It set up in Belfast in 2014 with 80 staff - and now says it will be filling another 60 experienced roles and 100 graduate positions by 2021 to support its growth. The company recently moved to a new three-storey office at the Gasworks in south Belfast. Its creating the new jobs, and holding a pre-employment training programme, using over 1.5m in government funding. Chief executive Darragh McCarthy said: We are delighted with progress to date at our Belfast centre of excellence and indeed completed the recruitment of our 80 strong workforce nine months ahead of schedule. The continued impact of increased regulation and the ongoing emphasis on cost reduction within the financial services sector is creating scope for us to expand our client base. This expansion will allow us to put additional resources in place to grow our service offering and capitalise on these business opportunities. Economic development agency Invest NI said it had given the firm 1.1m in support for the jobs and training, as well as 480,000 from the Assured Skills programme for a pre-employment training academy. Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton said the firm was an ambitious enterprise with aggressive expansion plans, and this recruitment drive underlines its confidence in Northern Ireland as an investment location. The 160 new roles to be recruited over the next five years will generate 4.2m annually in additional salaries and provide valuable jobs opportunities for graduates from a range of disciplines. Secretary of State James Brokenshire has said the Prime Minister's new industrial strategy will bring opportunities to Northern Ireland. Theresa May launched the Government's new industrial strategy for a post-Brexit UK as she held her first Cabinet meeting in the regions yesterday. Mrs May and 30 ministers met in Cheshire to discuss a new approach as the nation prepares to exit the European single market. The plans include a 556m boost for the so-called "northern powerhouse" in the north of England, an overhaul of technical education and 170m cash for a new emphasis on science, technology, engineering and innovation. The Prime Minister opened the cabinet meeting with an address to her ministers on the new strategy for industry. She said the strategy would be part of shaping "a stronger future for the UK and also ensure we are building a fairer Britain and a better Britain". And the Secretary of State said he was confident that Northern Ireland would benefit. "The industrial strategy is a vital part of the plan set out by the Prime Minister last week to drive growth across the whole UK and create more high skilled, high paid jobs and opportunities," he said. "New sector deals and investment in research and development will support the industries of the future where the UK - and Northern Ireland in particular - has the potential to lead the world, from electric vehicles to biotech and quantum technologies." The Government has also proposed a ministerial forum for each devolved nation to address barriers to productivity. NI Chamber of Trade and Industry chief executive Ann McGregor said she hoped to address Northern Ireland's productivity. "Low productivity has been a persistent feature of the Northern Ireland economy, with output (GVA) per hour worked in NI remaining the lowest of the 12 UK regions, lagging 19% behind the UK average," she said. "The gap has been persistent and widening for many years despite being the target of a number of economic strategies." And she said a new economic strategy should be a key priority for the Executive, and would work alongside the UK's new industrial strategy. Premium Margaret Canning Opinion Conservatives have gone back to traditional territory with a mini-budget that just might cost the party the next election Many of the measures in Kwasi Kwartengs first big statement as Chancellor had been trailed in advance changes to stamp duty, the cancellation of both the rise in National Insurance and the rise in corporation tax, and bringing forward a cut in the basic rate of income tax to 19 pence. 'Allo 'Allo! star Gorden Kaye was a "kingpin that everyone revolved around", according to his co-star Arthur Bostrom. Kaye, who played cafe owner Rene Francois Artois in the show set in Nazi-occupied France during the Second World War, died on Monday aged 75. Bostrom played British agent Officer Crabtree, whose mangled vowels led him to adopt the greeting "Good moaning", and said it has been the highlight of his career. He told BBC Three Counties Radio: "Gorden led the company. He was an energetic actor and he brought so much energy to that role and that fired everyone else. "You have to have a kingpin that everyone revolves around, my part was funny but was just a cameo, Gorden's part of Rene connected everything and he attacked it with such passion. "He was also so dependable, if he was feeding you a line he would always do it bang on." Actress Vicki Michelle, who played Rene's mistress and waitress Yvette Carte-Blanche, told the radio station: "H e was just a brilliant actor, a consummate professional but also a bit of a prankster. "He had a bucket of water behind the bar and used to put my foot in it, stupid things like that, but he was serious sometimes too." In 1990, he nearly died in a freak accident which left him with severe head injuries when a wooden advertising hoarding blew through his car windscreen during a storm in London. Kaye had a five-and-a-half hour emergency brain operation following the incident and Michelle recalled: "W e were at the Palladium doing the stage play and we heard the news and were all in shock because we didn't know if he would live or die." The actor starred in the successful stage version of 'Allo 'Allo! alongside the original cast, and later a new-look line-up, which frequently toured in the UK and internationally. Michelle said: "W e had to go to Australia without him and do it with an Australian actor but he came through it and a few months later, after massive surgery, he was on the stage again. "He learned his lines really well even after the accident but later in life when we did the return he was struggling more." Before landing his career-defining role, Kaye appeared in a number of shows including It Ain't Half Hot Mum and Are You Being Served? - and played Elsie Tanner's nephew Bernard Butler in Coronation Street from 1969 to 1970. He was nearly injured in another bizarre incident in 1997 when starring in Travels With My Aunt at the Oxford Playhouse after a heap of suitcases toppled over, just missing him and the other cast members. In 2007, he was in a one-off documentary exploring the history of 'Allo 'Allo!, featuring clips from the original series, a cast reunion and brand new scenes written by co-creator Jeremy Lloyd. The comeback saw Rene back in his cafe writing his war diaries, with a little help from Yvette and some of the establishment's characters. Johnny Depp's daughter Lily-Rose Depp cemented her spot in the modelling industry as she graced the catwalk during the finale of the Chanel show at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris. The 17-year-old - who is carving out a career of her own as a model and actress - wore creative director Karl Lagerfeld's most ostentatious design of the collection; a powder pink, heavily ruffled bridal gown. Lagerfeld joined his young muse on the catwalk during the event, which also saw models-of-the-moment Kendall Jenner, 21, and Bella Hadid, 20, sport his couture designs. Despite Jenner and Hadid's presence, Depp was the star of the show - having landed the coveted finale spot due to her affiliation with French fashion house Chanel. Depp has walked the runway for Chanel in recent years, and has fronted two of its campaigns - including for its new fragrance Chanel No.5 L'Eau. The rising star was supported at the fashion presentation by her mother, French model and actress Vanessa Paradis, also a Chanel ambassador. As well as her flourishing fashion career, Depp has a handful of acting credits under her belt and received a nomination for most promising actress at the Lumieres Awards, a French film awards, for her role in French musical drama The Dancer. She also recently starred opposite Natalie Portman in Planetarium, a drama about two sisters who perform as supernatural mediums in 1930s France. Depp is prominent on social media, with 2.4 million followers on Instagram, and last year used the platform to defend her Hollywood star father during his bitter divorce battle from Amber Heard. Rapper Soulja Boy is to appear in court next month after he pleaded not guilty to illegally possessing firearms. The US musician, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, was arrested at his home in Los Angeles on December 15 after he was allegedly found with the guns, one of which was reported stolen from a police vehicle. He is charged with possession of an assault weapon, a Mini Draco AR-IS; unlawful firearm activity; a felon in possession of a firearm, a Glock 21 .45 calibre; and receiving stolen property, a Glock 21 handgun. Way - who faces more than four years in prison if convicted - is due to appear at Los Angeles County Superior Court on February 28. The 26-year-old has had two top 10 hits in the UK - Crank That in 2007, which reached number two, and Kiss Me Thru The Phone in 2009. The case against him is being investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department. The Government has lost its historic battle in the Supreme Court over Brexit. Top lawyers, including Northern Ireland's Attorney General, had locked horns in the Supreme Court over whether Government ministers can use the royal prerogative to commence the UK's withdrawal from the EU. Read more: Read More The highest court in the land rejected an appeal by ministers against a High Court judgment blocking their decision to begin Britain's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. It means Parliament must vote on legislation to trigger Brexit. Supreme Court justices ruled, by a majority of eight to three, that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot lawfully bypass MPs and peers by using the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two-year process of negotiating the UK's divorce from its EU partners. Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." The ruling is a blow to Mrs May, who has repeatedly said she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March following the clear majority in favour of Brexit in the June 2016 referendum. It was won by a wide-ranging group of anti-Article 50 campaigners led by investment manager Gina Miller, 51, and hairdresser Deir Dos Santos. The court ruled the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say. In its judgement, the court said: "On the devolution issues, the court unanimously concludes that neither Section 1 nor Section 75 of the NIA is of assistance in this case, and that the Sewel Convention does not give rise to a legally enforceable obligation. Speaking after the ruling the Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but will do "all that is necessary" to implement the ruling. REACTION Ulster Unionist MPs, Tom Elliott and Danny Kinahan said the challenge now is to find the best deal for Northern Ireland. In a joint statement, Mr Elliott and Mr Kinahan said: It is welcome that clarity has finally been given on this issue. The Supreme Court has ruled that Parliament must have a say on the triggering of Article 50. However we recognise that Parliament voted to give the people of the United Kingdom the opportunity to vote in a straight in/out referendum. On the 23rd June the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and on that basis, our MPs will be voting to trigger Article 50 when the vote comes to Parliament. We welcome that the Supreme Court has noted that the devolved administrations will not have a veto on the UKs decision to withdraw from the EU. We joined the European Economic Community as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom. The challenge now is to secure the best deal for Northern Ireland. It is clear that the failed DUP/Sinn Fein Executive, which has crumbled after 8 months, is incapable of addressing Northern Irelands unique needs in Brexit negotiations. In contrast, the Ulster Unionist Party have published a vision for Northern Ireland outside the EU, a plan to achieve that vision, and key asks which must be delivered. SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MLA said the decision "undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our Assembly". Mr Eastwood said: This judgement marks a significant and serious departure from our devolution settlement. It significantly undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our Assembly. Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union, yet the Northern Ireland Assembly is being denied any role or rights in the upcoming negotiations with the European Union. The SDLP is now the only party standing by the will of the majority of people in Northern Ireland at Westminster. We will be the only voice of the 56% who voted remain. Although the Supreme Court disagreed with the view that there is a legal requirement to gain legislative consent from the Assembly, it remains our view that it a political requirement to gain that consent and this will be top of our agenda in any post-election negotiations. That agenda will also include gaining special status for Northern Ireland in the event of Britain leaving the EU. Today's judgement is particularly serious given the fact that it is being suggested that the unelected, unrepresentative House of Lords will be permitted a vote yet the devolved regions will not. I welcome the part of the judgement which ensures that a vote in Westminster will be required to give consent on the triggering of Article 50. We will submit our own amendments and support any other amendments which protect our interests. We will vote against any Bill which triggers Article 50. I would strongly urge all pro-Remain MPs to join us in this action. Last week Theresa May set out her vision for a Tory hard Brexit which, if left unchallenged, will mean a hard border in Ireland. Everyone on this island has a responsibility to ensure that this does not happen. It would prove devastating both politically and economically. That includes the Sinn Fein MPs who do not take their seats at Westminster. If Sinn Fein are serious about new leadership they cannot shirk their responsibility to the people of Ireland and should therefore take their seats to vote against Article 50. Alliance MLA David Ford has welcomed the ruling but said he was disappointed the devolved institutions will not be consulted on the Brexit process. It is welcome the Supreme Court has recognised the sovereignty of Parliament and that the EU referendum was only advisory, said Mr Ford. This means the Government should now produce a much more detailed plan and their Bill may be subject to amendments before it can move through Parliament. However, the decision the three devolved assemblies do not need to be consulted does raise significant issues for the future of devolution across the UK, on a wide range of issues and not just membership of the EU. In the longer term, this is likely to create significant debate in all three. Brexit has such fundamental implications for the wider UK and specifically Northern Ireland, it would have been an affront to democracy to if the formal triggering of Article 50 was not subject to detailed scrutiny and accountability by Parliament. DUP MP Nigel Dodds said: "The people of the UK made their decision in June, the British people have spoken and their Parliament will respect that. Today's verdict brings clarity on the matter. "We expect the government to bring forward legislation which will deliver the Brexit the DUP campaigned for, and which will be in the national interest. It is vital to get this work in the Parliament right and we will ensure that it does. At Westminster the duty on politicians and the government alike is clear. Other European countries have had their will denied and overturned at Brussels, by being made to vote and vote again. "The DUP campaigned for Brexit and we believe we are stronger outside the shackles of the European Union. We voted as a whole to leave the EU and that vote must be continually respected." HELENA Montana Native American tribes would be able to resume licensed bison hunts near Yellowstone National Park under a measure given initial approval by the state House. The House voted 65-35 Monday to grant eight tribes two state licenses each. Those hunts are separate from the unregulated hunts by four tribes that have treaty rights to take bison near the park. Since November, state hunters have killed 34 bison and treaty tribes 139. The bison killed in the licensed hunts are to be used in ceremonies, such as the sun dance and the medicine pipe dance. The Legislature originally passed a bill allowing the tribal licenses in 2005; that measure expired in 2015. The bill is up for a final vote Tuesday before it goes to the Senate. Gina Miller speaking outside The Supreme Court in London after Britain's most senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the power to trigger the formal process for the UK's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. Ministers do not need to ask permission from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales before triggering Article 50, the Supreme Court has ruled. The UK's most senior judges said the Government was not legally compelled to consult devolved legislatures. The so-called Sewel Convention means that the UK Parliament generally does not legislate on devolved matters without consulting the other legislatures, but the court ruled unanimously that it "does not give rise to a legally enforceable obligation". Read more: Read More Politicians in Northern Ireland had been preparing measures to block Brexit, if the Supreme Court had ruled Stormont had to be given a say over Article 50. Northern Ireland voted to Remain in the EU by a margin of 56 per cent and the overwhelming majority of local parties are pro-EU. As the only part of the UK which also shares a land border with another EU nation, in the form of the Republic of Ireland, concerns have been raised about how the border will be affected, and how this could undermine the peace process. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, had promised MSPs they will have the opportunity to vote on triggering Article 50 regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court case. The Scottish Government has put forward proposals for a differentiated settlement that would allow Scotland to stay in the single market while the rest of the UK leaves. Writing in the Daily Record, Ms Sturgeon said: "This isn't some academic debateremoving us from the largest single market in the world would be devastating for people's jobs and living standards." The Government lost its appeal this morning after arguing it did not need to seek a Parliamentary vote on starting the Brexit process. A bill is thought to be heading to Parliament later this week. Giving a short summary of the court's findings, Lord Neuberger stressed: "The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with whether the UK should exit from the EU, or the terms or timetable for that exit. "The main issue is whether the Government can trigger Article 50 without the prior authority of an Act of Parliament." A spokesperson for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. "However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe." Some of Mr Corbyn's MPs are pushing for a referendum on whatever Brexit deal the Government reaches. Gina Miller, the lead claimant, said outside the Supreme Court: "There is no doubt Brexit is the most divisive action for a generation ... but this wasn't about politics.. "In Britain we are lucky to voice legitimate concerns and views. I have therefore been shocked by the personal abuse I have received from the many quarters for simply asking a legitimate question." Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, President of the Supreme Court and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the UK who will be sitting on the Article 50 case (Supreme Court) Here Lord Neuberger's summary of the Brexit ruling read at the Supreme Court: "On 1 January 1973, the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (now the European Union, the EU). This was achieved by Government ministers signing a treaty of accession and Parliament enacting the European Communities Act 1972. Over the next forty years, developments in the EU resulted from further treaties, many of which were adopted in subsequent Acts of Parliament, some of which curbed the exercise of the powers of UK ministers in EU institutions. One of those Acts of Parliament was in 2008, and it approved the inclusion of Article 50 into the EU Treaties. In broad terms, Article 50 provides that a country wishing to leave the EU must give a notice 'in accordance with its own constitutional requirements', and that EU Treaties 'shall cease to apply' to that country within two years. On 23 June 2016, a UK-wide referendum produced a majority in favour of leaving the EU, and the Government then announced its intention to trigger Article 50. The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with whether the UK should exit from the EU, or the terms or timetable for that exit. The main issue is whether the Government can trigger Article 50 without the prior authority of an Act of Parliament. The other issues concern the obligations of the UK Government under the devolution legislation before triggering Article 50, and in particular, whether the legislatures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must be consulted. So far as the main issue is concerned, as a general rule, the Government has a prerogative power to withdraw from international treaties as it sees fit. However, the Government cannot exercise any power if it would thereby change UK laws, unless it is authorised to do so by Parliament. The claimants argue that, as a result of leaving the EU, UK law will change and legal rights enjoyed by UK residents will be lost. Accordingly, they say, the Government cannot trigger Article 50 unless authorised by Parliament. In reply, the Government argues that the 1972 Act does not exclude the power for ministers to withdraw from the EU Treaties, and that section 2 of the 1972 Act actually caters for the exercise of such a power. By a majority of 8 to 3, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so. Put briefly, our reasons are as follows. Section 2 of the 1972 Act provides that, whenever EU institutions make new laws, those new laws become part of UK law. The 1972 Act therefore makes EU law an independent source of UK law, until Parliament decides otherwise. Therefore, when the UK withdraws from the EU Treaties, a source of UK law will be cut off. Further, certain rights enjoyed by UK citizens will be changed. Therefore, the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without Parliament authorising that course. We reject the Government's argument that section 2 caters for the possibility of the Government withdrawing from the EU Treaties. There is a vital difference between changes in UK law resulting from changes in EU law, which are authorised by section 2, and changes in UK law resulting from withdrawal from the EU Treaties. Withdrawal effects a fundamental change by cutting off the source of EU law, as well as changing legal rights. The UK's constitutional arrangements require such changes to be clearly authorised by Parliament, and the 1972 Act does not do that. Indeed, it has the opposite effect. The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result. So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament. To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries. Subsequent events are entirely consistent with the proposition that the Government has no power to withdraw from the EU Treaties without an authorising Act of Parliament. The dissenting Justices consider the Government can trigger Article 50 without an authorising Act of Parliament. Their view is that the 1972 Act (taken with the 2008 Act), renders the domestic effect of EU law conditional on the EU Treaties applying to the UK. In their view, Parliament has not imposed any limitation on the Government's prerogative power to withdraw from the Treaties, and, if Article 50 is triggered, EU law will cease to have effect in UK law in accordance with the 1972 and 2008 Acts. On the devolution issues, the court unanimously rules that UK ministers are not legally compelled to consult the devolved legislatures before triggering Article 50. The devolution statutes were enacted on the assumption that the UK would be a member of the EU, but they do not require it. Relations with the EU are a matter for the UK Government. The Sewel Convention plays an important role in the operation of the UK constitution but the policing of its scope and operation is not a matter for the courts. We thank all those who have played a part in helping us determine these important legal questions. Copies of the full judgment, and a summary version, are now available on the Supreme Court website. The Court is now adjourned." Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police , ATO and Firefighters at the scene of a suspected explosion that took place inside a property in the Grosvenor Court area of west Belfast on 24th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) A man has been arrested after a house fire in Belfast which saw the Army bomb squad attend the scene. Police received a report of a fire at the Grosvenor Court home in west Belfast shortly before 9am on Tuesday morning. Army bomb experts later attended the scene while the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service sent three appliances to deal with the incident on the ground floor of an end terrace house. The fire is being treated as suspicious and a 33-year-old man arrested. Detective Inspector Lisa McCambridge said: "The man was arrested in the South Belfast area this evening and is currently in custody assisting us with our enquiries. "I would appeal to anyone who witnessed any suspicious activity in the area to contact Musgrave Police Station on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference number 195 of 24/01/17. Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111." All roads in the area have been reopened. The mother of a pupil at a north Belfast girls' school has failed in a High Court bid to stop its planned amalgamation with an all-boys' college. A judge dismissed the challenge to former Education Minister John O'Dowd's approval of merging Little Flower with St Patrick's College Bearnageeha. Mr Justice Deeny rejected claims there was a failure to properly assess the impact of the proposals on Catholic students wanting to attend a single-sex, non-grammar school in the area. He ruled that the Minister was entitled to rely on a screening process carried out by the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) on behalf of the Department. With the new co-educational school due to open in September, the judge also held the challenge should be rejected because of the delay in bringing proceedings. He said: "It cannot be denied therefore that to halt this process at this late stage would cause disarray and prejudice in a scheme that has been in gestation for a period of years and which affects more than a thousand adults and children." Lawyers for the girl's mother were seeking to quash decisions to close both Little Fower and St Patrick's and create a new school for both sexes. They claim the plan discriminates against Catholic students in north Belfast and Glengormley. Amalgamation plans were approved in March last year following a proposal from the CCMS. But the parents of children at Little Flower have been fighting the move, with a petition gaining more than 1,600 signatures. Central to the judicial review challenge was the contention that the plan breached an obligation under the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to promote equality of opportunity. Hundreds of Catholic pupils will be denied the opportunity of single-sex, non-grammar education, it was claimed. Lawyers for the Department of Education insisted there was no requirement to carry out an equality impact assessment because necessary steps had already been taken by the CCMS. Backing their case, Mr Justice Deeny said: "It seems to me therefore that the Department and the Minister were perfectly entitled to conclude that it was proper for CCMS to carry out the screening process, in effect, on behalf of the Department." He added that any uncertainty about whether girls suffer disadvantage from co-educational schools must be balanced against "the firm view" that boys do benefit from the arrangements. Dismissing the application, he concluded: "Even if I had not found against the applicant for the reasons set out it would be my duty to hold this is a case where the failure to act promptly should lead to the refusal of the application." Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) The scene at a petrol station on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast where an on duty PSNI officer was shot in the arm from a passing car on Sunday evening. Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) ACC Mark Hamilton holds a press conference after an officer is shot in North Belfast on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) the scene at a petrol station on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast where an on duty PSNI officer was shot in the arm from a passing car on Sunday evening. The silver Audi believed to be used by the gunmen as a getaway car on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police officers rush to the scene after an officer is shot on the Crumlin Road on 22th January 2017 (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) A north Belfast gun attack that injured a PSNI officer was a planned operation with automatic gunfire sprayed across a garage forecourt, the chief constable has said. The attack took place on the Crumlin Road in Belfast. Picture By: Arthur Allison/Pacemaker Press Two men, aged 39 and 36, arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer in north Belfast on Sunday have been released unconditionally. Another 30-year-old remains in police custody. More: Read More The officer, shot as he left the petrol station at around 7.30pm on Sunday on the Crumlin Road, was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he is said to be recovering well. The officer targeted may have been saved by his bullet-proof vest after the filling station he was in was riddled with gunshots during a suspected dissident gun attack. Police believe the gunman could have been lying in wait across the road before opening fire on the packed forecourt with a high velocity rifle as families went about their business. They are now appealing for the public's help in locating a car which they believed was used in the attack. After firing as many as nine or 10 shots, the gunman is thought to have made his getaway in an Audi car at around 7.30pm. Expand Close A car police believe was used in the attack / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A car police believe was used in the attack Chief Constable George Hamilton said police expected CCTV footage would be collected from the garage and forensics officers spent much of yesterday at the scene. Mr Hamilton described the attack, believed to have been carried out by dissident republicans, as reckless and despicable. "I would simply condemn this despicable attack, this act of recklessness at a filling station out on a public road which was riddled with high velocity gunfire when people were there to buy fuel, to buy groceries for their children's lunches," said Mr Hamilton. Janice Reid with her daughter Leona who died from cancer last year A group of women in Londonderry are to ensure the legacy of a young cancer victim is not forgotten as they make wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy in her memory. Leona Reid had planned to enter the world of journalism when she finished university. But sadly this was not to be the case after the bright 22-year-old from the Drumahoe area was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The cancer cut short Leona's life and she passed away in April 2016. Despite the battle she had with cancer, Leona's passion for writing continued for as long as her illness. Nor did it deter Leona's enthusiasm for raising funds for the Little Princess Trust, which makes wigs for children who lose their hair either from the effects of chemotherapy or through other illnesses. This year's President of the Londonderry Soroptimists, Mary McLaughlin, is a family friend of the Reids and has continued Leona's incredible fundraising efforts in her memory - something Leona requested herself before she passed away. Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Leona's mother Janice said her daughter would have been so pleased that the charity will continue to benefit. Mrs Reid said: "When Leona decided to do something she put all her energy into it. That was just her nature so when she knew she was going to get chemotherapy and would lose her own hair she said she wanted some good to come of it. "Leona could have sat on her hair it was that long, so she decided to donate it to the Little Princess Trust who make wigs for children. "She had to raise 300 because that's how much it cost to make each wig so Leona set up a justgiving page. "I remember so well it was on a Saturday night and by the Monday morning 1,500 was donated and it just escalated from there until she had 4,000 raised," her mum added. Leona managed all this while dealing with her own diagnosis which came completely out of the blue and shocked everyone, even her mum who is a nurse. Mrs Reid recalled: "Leona was diagnosed in late summer 2015, but she didn't have any of the classical symptoms. "In fact we had such an amazing summer. We went to New York in June for Leona's 21st and it was just incredible. "In August she was getting ready to go back to university in Dundee when she developed a sore throat that would not go away even with antibiotics. "Her GP in Dundee sent her for tests and she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. "Back home with us, Leona was being treated with chemotherapy at Altnagelvin Hospital, but it didn't work. "We were told there was nothing that could be done. "After we got that news we had 13 weeks with Leona and we cherished every second we had and that is something we are grateful for. "I know there are so many parents whose children are taken from them without warning so the time we had with Leona is something we treasure." Mary McLaughlin supported both Leona and her mother through the painful experience. "Janice and I work for the Western Trust and have been friends for so many years that our small team were just devastated when we heard about Leona," she said. "I was able to ask Leona what charity she would like the Soroptimists to help while I was president and she chose the Little Princess Trust. "So far with the help of so many others in the Western Trust and the Eglinton Quizzers, who donated their draw money for five weeks, we have raised another 2,200 which we hope to add to. "The final amount will be sent to the charity in Leona's memory and along with her mum, I know Leona would be delighted." The court ruled the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say Chancellor Philip Hammond has vowed to put the public finances back in the black 'as early as possible' in the next Parliament TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said Prime Minister Theresa May has only given a list of Brexit priorities, and business chiefs are still waiting for the details of her plans Gina Miller speaking outside The Supreme Court in London after Britain's most senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the power to trigger the formal process for the UK's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. The Supreme Court ruling that Ministers do not need to ask permission from Northern Ireland before triggering Article 50 'undermines the democratic mandate of our Assembly", the SDLP have said. Top lawyers, including Northern Ireland's Attorney General, had locked horns in the Supreme Court over whether Government ministers can use the royal prerogative to commence the UK's withdrawal from the EU. Read more: Read More On Tuesday the highest court in the land rejected an appeal by ministers against a High Court judgment blocking their decision to begin Britain's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. It means Parliament must vote on legislation to trigger Brexit. The court ruled the Scottish Parliament, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say. Northern Ireland voted to Remain in the EU by a margin of 56 per cent. SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union, yet the Northern Ireland Assembly is being denied any role or rights in the upcoming negotiations with the European Union. The SDLP is now the only party standing by the will of the majority of people in Northern Ireland at Westminster. We will be the only voice of the 56% who voted remain. He added: I welcome the part of the judgement which ensures that a vote in Westminster will be required to give consent on the triggering of Article 50. We will submit our own amendments and support any other amendments which protect our interests. We will vote against any Bill which triggers Article 50. I would strongly urge all pro-Remain MPs to join us in this action." Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams warned that Brexit "will undermine the institutional, constitutional and legal integrity of the Good Friday Agreement". He said: "It puts the British Government on a collision course with the EU in which our stability and economic progress are regarded as collateral damage. "The Taoiseach and the Irish government must uphold the Remain vote in the North. And to argue for the North to be accorded a special designated status within the EU." Ulster Unionist MPs, Tom Elliott and Danny Kinahan said the challenge now is to find the best deal for Northern Ireland. On the 23rd June the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union and on that basis, our MPs will be voting to trigger Article 50 when the vote comes to Parliament. We welcome that the Supreme Court has noted that the devolved administrations will not have a veto on the UKs decision to withdraw from the EU. We joined the European Economic Community as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom. The challenge now is to secure the best deal for Northern Ireland. It is clear that the failed DUP/Sinn Fein Executive, which has crumbled after 8 months, is incapable of addressing Northern Irelands unique needs in Brexit negotiations." DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: "We will be using our votes and voice to ensure a rapid commencement on the negotiations to leave the EU, completely as the Prime Minister promised." He said the party will ensure "that the issues most concerning to Northern Ireland are articulated by our MPs". Mr Wilson added: "It would have been totally irrational to have the Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament dictate the direction in which the nation should go after such a clear and decisive vote. Alliance MLA David Ford welcomed the ruling but said he was disappointed the devolved institutions will not be consulted on the Brexit process. The decision the three devolved assemblies do not need to be consulted does raise significant issues for the future of devolution across the UK, on a wide range of issues and not just membership of the EU. In the longer term, this is likely to create significant debate in all three. Brexit has such fundamental implications for the wider UK and specifically Northern Ireland, it would have been an affront to democracy to if the formal triggering of Article 50 was not subject to detailed scrutiny and accountability by Parliament. GILLETTE, Wyo. A 30-year-old Gillette woman has pleaded not guilty to stealing from the clients of a faith-based organization that helps convicted felons re-enter society. Yelizaveta "Lisa" Zolotova is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from Volunteers of America clients over a three-year period. Felony theft carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines. Court documents say Zolotova quit June 1 after the VOA's chief financial officer questioned her about discrepancies in the accounts of VOA residents. Authorities say Zolotova's job was to act essentially as the bank for VOA clients. Zolotova is accused of taking clients' money and depositing it into her own account or putting the money on a prepaid Visa card in her name. Raymond McCord said he was encouraged by the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the Government can start the Brexit process A victims' campaigner who challenged Brexit in the Supreme Court has called on the DUP to support the wishes of the majority in Northern Ireland to remain in the EU. Raymond McCord, a campaigner for victims of paramilitary violence, said he was encouraged by the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the Government can start the Brexit process. But he said he was concerned that DUP MPs would "put party first and people second". "Because 56% voted in Northern Ireland in favour of remaining within the EU, the DUP should vote for what the majority want. "I am saying to the DUP now, are you going to go in there and vote for the wishes of the people or will you vote party first and people second?" DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: "We will be using our votes and voice to ensure a rapid commencement on the negotiations to leave the EU, completely as the Prime Minister promised." He said the party will ensure "that the issues most concerning to Northern Ireland are articulated by our MPs". Mr Wilson added: "It would have been totally irrational to have the Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament dictate the direction in which the nation should go after such a clear and decisive vote. DUP parliamentary leader Nigel Dodds said: "The DUP campaigned for Brexit and we believe we are stronger outside the shackles of the European Union. We voted as a whole to leave the EU and that vote must be continually respected." Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams warned that Brexit "will undermine the institutional, constitutional and legal integrity of the Good Friday Agreement". He said: "It puts the British Government on a collision course with the EU in which our stability and economic progress are regarded as collateral damage. "The Taoiseach and the Irish government must uphold the Remain vote in the North. And to argue for the North to be accorded a special designated status within the EU." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the judgment "significantly undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our Assembly". He added: "Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union, yet the Northern Ireland Assembly is being denied any role or rights in the upcoming negotiations with the European Union. "The SDLP is now the only party standing by the will of the majority of people in Northern Ireland at Westminster. We will be the only voice of the 56% who voted Remain." The Human Rights Consortium campaign organisation said it was deeply concerned about the risk of entering into a process to withdraw from the EU without ensuring that human rights protections, emanating from EU membership, are first safeguarded. Director Kevin Hanratty said: "Those safeguards are important elements in the Northern Ireland peace process and need to be protected." He added: "Northern Ireland now finds itself in a particularly perilous situation with regard to the protection of human rights. "We face the combined threats of a removal of EU rights protections through Brexit, the threat to the Human Rights Act and withdrawal from the European Convention of Human Rights. "We face these threats without the full protection that the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement was to afford us, most notably through a local bill of rights. "Undermining these rights can only be seen as a fundamental threat to the principles of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement." Mr Eastwood said his party would vote at Westminster against triggering Brexit talks and challenged Sinn Fein MPs, who do not take their seats, to do the same. He encouraged all Remain MPs to vote against. The man who got Ian Paisley to sit down with Gerry Adams has announced he is to step down as head of spy agency GCHQ after just over two years in the post sparking a search for candidates to take over one of the most senior roles in British intelligence. Robert Hannigan was previously the Northern Ireland Offices political director-general from 2005 to 2007, before heading the security, intelligence and resilience at the Cabinet Office and moving to the Foreign Office in 2010. Mr Hannigan was credited with coming up with a novel compromise solution following the St Andrews Agreement in 2007 by getting Mr Paisley and Mr Adams to sit close together at a diamond-shaped table. It meant that they could appear together in photos of the historic occasion without appearing too close. The former adviser to Tony Blair was credited with the idea by former Downing Street chief of staff Jonathan Powell in his book Great Hatred, Little Room. Yesterday, Mr Hannigan informed Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson of his intention to leave the role for personal reasons. He spoke of his pride at how many lives had been saved by the agencys work and its relentless efforts to counter terrorism, crime and other threats. In a letter to Mr Johnson, the 51-year-old wrote: I have been lucky enough to have some extraordinary roles in public service over the last 20 years, from Northern Ireland to No 10, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office. But they have all demanded a great deal of my ever patient and understanding family, and now is the right time for a change in direction. Mr Johnsons response thanked him for his service. He said: You have led the renewal of some of our most important national security capabilities, which we continue to depend on every day to save lives from terrorism and to protect our interests and values. Mr Hannigan, a married father-of-two, was born in Gloucestershire. He was director-general of defence and intelligence at the Foreign Office before he succeeded Sir Iain Lobban at GCHQ. 'Belfast International Airport boss Graham Keddie has previously said the airport was 'very close' to securing a replacement carrier to the US' Northern Ireland holidaymakers will be able to fly directly to the US once again this December - on a one-off flight to Newark. The news comes just a fortnight after the last scheduled flight from Belfast International Airport touched down in the US. Airline Jet2.com confirmed the flight will be a one-off journey aimed at Northern Ireland holidaymakers wanting to take in the bright lights of New York, but it will not be a replacement for the former United route. The flight will leave Belfast International Airport on Thursday, December 14, and will fly directly to Newark with a return flight scheduled four days later. Jet2.com chief Steve Heapy said: "It's clear how much our customers love New York, so we are delighted to add our first ever flight from Belfast, giving customers in Northern Ireland a chance to see the Big Apple." Belfast International Airport boss Graham Keddie has previously said the airport was "very close" to securing a replacement carrier to the US. It's understood the airport is still in talks with three airlines. A man has been jailed seven months for sexually assaulting three young girls in a Co Fermanagh swimming pool last year. Spaniard Cristian Diaz (35), a Madrid University graduate, was jailed after appearing at Dungannon Crown Court. Judge Stephen Fowler QC told the electrical engineer that while he accepted he did not pose a serious risk of harm, the courts considered all sexual touching of young children as serious, particularly when committed in a public arena where children should have been able to feel safe, and where parents allowed them to go in safety. Judge Fowler, who also put Diaz on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years, said his young victims had been understandably left confused, distressed and upset. He added it was also a serious case as it involved three different children, during three separate incidents on three different dates, and all in a public place. However, in mitigation, Judge Fowler said that Diaz had pleaded guilty and, while not at the first opportunity, it had vindicated the children, spared them from having to give evidence in court, and was an indication of a level of remorse on Diaz's part. In a statement issued on behalf of the parents, they praised the bravery of their children in coming forward. "They should be very proud of themselves in helping to stop further harm to members of the public," they said. The mother of one of his victims said the defendant may have come into Dungannon Crown Court "as Cristian Diaz - but he is going out as a registered sex offender". Diaz, living at East Bridge Street, Enniskillen, at the time, admitted sexually touching the schoolgirls, aged between nine and 11, in the Lakeland Forum swimming pool in the town on February 24, March 10 and March 12, 2015. Diaz was sentenced to a total of 14 months, seven to be served in custody, followed by seven on licence. He has expressed a wish to return to his family home on the outskirts of the Spanish capital afterwards. Prosecuting counsel Simon Reid told an earlier hearing that the girls had been left frightened, scared and traumatised after Diaz had approached them in the pool and "touched" them outside and over their swimsuits. Mr Reid said the defendant would either dive into, or duck under, the water beside the girls who later reported being touched by him, and it felt like a "prod or a poke", and that on one occasion the man tried to apologise, telling the youngster, who did not reply, that he was "sorry". The barrister added that following the complaints, police were able to identify Diaz from CCTV footage pieced together from the dates and times of the assaults. Diaz, he said, had no criminal record, either here or in Spain. Mr Reid said an aggravating factor was that the girls were "exposed and vulnerable, swimming in a place where they should have felt safe". However, Diaz's guilty pleas had saved the girls the trauma of having to relive their ordeal in open court. Defence barrister Ian Turkington said that a remorseful Diaz, who lost any friends he had made since coming to Enniskillen, accepted the upset, suffering and hurt caused by his actions, which were short-lived, with no skin to skin contact. Mr Turkington continued that his client, a university graduate, came from a respected family, and that he had a previously clear record, with an impeccable character and work ethic. "He describes it as the greatest mistake of his life," Mr Turkington added. Michelle O'Neill said she was prepared to work with anybody who displayed respect and support for equality to restore the devolved government after the March 2 election Michelle O'Neill has called for a "step change" in the attitude of the Democratic Unionists if powersharing is to be restored in Northern Ireland. The new leader of Sinn Fein at Stormont said the creation of an Irish language Act, a bill of rights and dealing with the legacy of the violent past were outstanding issues from previous negotiations and should be implemented. She said she was prepared to work with anybody who displayed respect and support for equality to restore the devolved government after the March 2 election. "We enter the negotiations on the basis of trying to find solutions but clearly there needs to be a step change in attitude from the DUP. "The reason we are in this situation is because of their arrogance, because of their disrespect to the public, because, quite rightly, of their contempt for the public." She said they needed to get back to the principles of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely ended decades of conflict. "Clearly we are only interested in powersharing and being here and being in partnership government with other people who are wedded to equality, who are interested in parity of esteem and respect. "Without those principles we cannot be in powersharing and share government with people who are not interested in that." An Irish language Act to promote its development has been repeatedly vetoed by the DUP and support for extra funding for dealing with legacy inquests into Troubles killings has not been forthcoming. Mrs O'Neill said: "It is important that we see the full implementation of those outstanding issues. "Clearly we will be going into a negotiation on the basis only of equality, mutual respect and integrity in the institutions. "We believe that the institutions can deliver for the citizens but they have to deliver for all of the citizens." She accused the DUP of displaying disrespect towards the LGBT community (the DUP does not support gay marriage), ethnic minorities and women, and attacking the Irish language. "They are all things that are not acceptable to us," she added. Northern Ireland's largest unionist party has said it backs civil unions for same-sex couples. Its leader, Arlene Foster, is a woman and the party has had many female ministers and senior officials. Democratic Unionist assembly member Emma Little Pengelly has previously said: "I am not corrupt and I am not arrogant. I honestly know that my colleagues are not arrogant and corrupt either. "I got into politics to serve the people, to be an advocate and to deliver for the people of South Belfast and Northern Ireland." The DUP has parodied the Irish language in inflammatory comments made by East Londonderry MP Gregory Campbell and repeatedly refused to agree to the introduction of an Act according it official protection. Mrs O'Neill said: "I want to get to the point where we have institutions that deliver but we can only do that and only share power with people who are wedded to equality and to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement." Police at the scene of the death. (Photo - Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Police are investigating the sudden death of a man in Belfast. The man, thought to be aged in his 20s, was found dead in a property off the Antrim Road in the north of the city on Tuesday morning. A police spokesman said: "Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a man, aged in his 20s, whose body was discovered in a house on the Antrim Road in north Belfast shortly after 11.30am. "A post mortem examination will take place to determine the cause of death. "A 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of a number of drugs offences and remains in police custody at this time." Lawyers for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe say they will fight President Donald Trumps executive order to expedite easement approval for the Dakota Access crude oil pipeline in court. Jan Hasselman, of Earthjustice, which has been representing the tribe in its months-long legal battle against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over its issuance of permits for DAPLs construction, said Trumps actions could essentially nullify the corps environmental impact statement process started before Barack Obama left office. Hasselman said he thinks Trumps action is totally illegal and that his organization will test it in court. Four days after taking the oath of office and three days after millions across the country and world marched in protest of his administration, President Trump appears to be ignoring the law, public sentiment and ethical considerations with this executive order aimed at resurrecting the long-rejected Keystone XL pipeline and circumventing the ongoing environmental review process for the highly controversial Dakota Access pipeline, Earthjustice President Trip Van Noppen said in a statement. This move is legally questionable, at best .... He should brace himself to contend with the laws he is flouting and the millions of Americans who are opposed to these dangerous and destructive projects. We will see his administration in court," he said. Environmental lawyers say the executive order does not directly put an end to the corps EIS, instead, ordering the agency to review and approve in an expedited manner to the extent permitted by law. The corps could interpret this to continue with the EIS or the agency could decide that an EIS is not required. The lawyers now wait to see how the corps will respond. Its the obligation of an agency to justify a change in its course of action, said Sharon Buccino, an attorney and director of the Land and Wildlife program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, adding that case law has typically applied this to the rule-making process but it could be applicable here. The basic principle is there has to be a reasonable basis for a change of action." Hasselman agrees. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota Tim Purdon, who specializes in Native American law as a lawyer for Robins-Kaplan, said this administrative action leaves lawyers for the tribe with the same argument that lawyers for the Dakota Access Pipeline have been making namely, their administrative rights have been violated. Purdon said the Obama administrations delay of DAPL was decried as politically motivated and a circumvention of the established pipeline permitting process. Now that the process for an EIS has been started, the tribe is making similar claims. The Trump administrations politically motivated decision violates the law and the tribe will take legal action to fight it, the tribe said in a statement. The tribe has been battling the 1,172-mile-long pipeline project, expressing fears that a leak where the pipeline crosses the Missouri River north of the reservation would contaminate tribal water supply. President Trump is legally required to honor our treaty rights and provide a fair and reasonable pipeline process, said Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II. We are not opposed to energy independence. We are opposed to reckless and politically motivated development projects, like DAPL, that ignore our treaty rights and risk our water." Its all going to be resolved by the court, Purdon said of the legal battle that could be drawn out for years. He said the question is over the status of the project, whether it will be allowed to finish construction, during litigation. Dallas Goldtooth, a DAPL protest organizer and member of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said he is not sure to what extent Tuesdays decisions will reignite protest actions in North Dakota. He said IEN is implementing a mass call to action nationwide, not just locally, for civil disobedience on a scale never before seen. Goldtooth said he spoke with tribal officials Tuesday and is still unsure what impact will be had on the few hundred protesters still camped on corps and privately owned land near the pipelines river crossing site. Were just trying to respond to whats happening right now, said Goldtooth, adding the camp is in a floodplain. Thats first and foremost why we need to move out of that space." Forensic officers attend the scene on the Crumlin Road Belfast where a PSNI officer was shot Detectives investigating a shooting attack on a Northern Ireland policeman have released a suspect unconditionally. Two other men, aged 30 and 39, are still being questioned in connection with the petrol station forecourt targeting of a young officer in north Belfast. The community officer was shot three times in the arm with a high velocity rifle, and commanders believe his body armour may have saved him from further harm. A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) statement said: "A 36-year-old man, arrested on the evening of Sunday 22 January in connection with the attempted murder of a police officer at a filling station on the Crumlin Road, North Belfast that same night, has been released unconditionally." Detectives believe rounds may have been fired from behind a fence across the road from the garage forecourt on the Crumlin Road on Sunday night as two officers emerged from the shop. Dissident republicans have been blamed for the attack. Ulster Unionist MLA Ross Hussey has spoken emotionally for the first time about his "darkest days" as he denied a newspaper sting surrounding his private life has brought an end to his political career. The veteran West Tyrone politician and former RUC Reservist said the episode had nothing to do with him stepping down. In July last year Mr Hussey was left red faced after a sting by the Sunday Life revealed details of his private life after he used an online dating app to arrange "stranger sex" and send nude pictures - unasked for - to an undercover reporter. A reporter contacted Mr Hussey after he advertised on a contact site seeking sex with strangers as young as 17. The well-known MLA and Policing Board member had posted a photograph of his face and gave graphic descriptions of his sexual preferences on his profile page which was easily accessible to the public via search engines such as Google. Speaking to the BBC Stephen Nolan show on Tuesday, Mr Hussey told how following the episode he felt the walls were falling down on him. Mr Hussey paid tribute to his party leader Mike Nesbitt who, when he tried to tender his resignation, rejected it and instead gave him a hug. "I went through hell and had my darkest days in July. "I really was in the depths of despair. I went through that, I had public support from my party, who I can say nothing but the highest regards for Mike Nesbitt. "On the Monday I went into Mike Nesbitt and said I would resign, he hugged me and told me he wouldn't. "He helped me through everything. "It hurt and it was my own making, it really did hurt." 'Humiliated' Describing what it was like seeing his personal life on the front of a newspaper, Mr Hussey said he was "humiliated" but said he regarded it all as his "own making". "I was humiliated, embarrassed, ashamed and I regard that all of my own making. "It was my own fault, I was stupid and naive, you name it. "I was an idiot and I paid for that. I went through hell." The 57-year-old said that he was as "close to total despair" as he could ever be, but he paid tribute to his family who rallied around him. "We have a very strong family. "I came to work on the Monday I had to face my demons. But when I was on my own, in bed at night, I felt walls falling on top of me, I would wake up and I couldn't breathe, if I was sitting in a room on my own I would start to cry. It really hurt and it still hurts me now. "But it was my own fault and I paid the price. "But that is not why I'm standing down. "I love this job and I would challenge anyone to do it as well as I have in west Tyrone." Support Reflecting on the outpouring of support he received following the publication of the story, he said he had support from people he would never have expected it from. He said: "In one way, it was humiliating, the lowest of the low of my life and on the other hand it was an experience to see how people can support you when you need it." The tearful politician said he had found happiness now but that he was getting upset thinking "about what a fool I was". "I'll never be back to where I was. "I'm a fighter but when it comes to my personal life, I am very closed, I want my personal life to be personal. "It has hurt me and it will always hurt me." He added: "I love this job. Everything I have done I have been upfront. I've done it and I stand up to it. I did my job here in West Tyrone as a professional politician and I served everyone without favour. "I've been destroyed by that story but I bounced back. I've been there I know what despair is like, but I'm over that. When I made the decision to retire I made it after long consideration, I will go on with my life and I will enjoy my retirement. "Get on with your life, you only get one", he added. Pictured at the official opening of the Bishop's Gate Hotel are from left, Ciaran O'Neill, operator, John Meehan, Chairman, Inner City Trust, Mark H. Durkan MLA, Environment Minister, the Mayor, Councillor Elisha McCallion, Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness and Helen Quigley, Chief Executive, Inner City Trust. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 04.03.16 Two Northern Ireland hotels have been named as among the best to visit in the UK - with one of them narrowly missing out on the top spot. The 2017 TripAdvisor Travellers Choice awards for hotels, announced on Tuesday, revealed the top rated UK hotels based on guest reviews. And in the UK, Bishops Gate Hotel in Derry came in at number two - just behind London's Hotel 41 which also made it on to the list of the world's best places to lay your head for a night. "Fantastic overnight luxury stop," said one guest of their time in the Derry hotel, "well worth a visit." Opened in March 2016 by charity the Inner City Trust, the grade B1 listed Bishops Gate describes itself as 'a Derry Landmark reborn' with 30 bedrooms, The Wig & Gown Champagne Bar & Restaurant and the Northern Counties Ballroom. The former Northern Counties Building was previously a private members' club and base for the city's business and civic leaders, which once hosted the likes of Ulster Unionist leader Lord Carson as well as Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Nobel-winning poet, WB Yeats. It has been supported by National Lottery funding and the Northern Ireland Executive and was recently the location chosen for Martin McGuinness to announce his retirement from front line politics. The Sinn Fein veteran also opened the hotel. Hotel operator Ciaran O'Neill said he was in a state of shock at the achievement and spent 30 minutes double checking it was right. "It is exceptional for Northern Ireland - I'm delighted," he said. Ciaran said he visited four of those on the list to use as benchmarks for him prior to opening and he put the success of the hotel down to the dedication of its staff. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The Bushmills Inn The Bushmills Inn Bishops Gate Hotel, Derry. Bishops Gate Hotel The Gown Restaurant in Bishops Gate Hotel Pictured at the official opening of the Bishop's Gate Hotel are from left, Ciaran O'Neill, operator, John Meehan, Chairman, Inner City Trust, Mark H. Durkan MLA, Environment Minister, the Mayor, Councillor Elisha McCallion, Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness and Helen Quigley, Chief Executive, Inner City Trust. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 04.03.16 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Bushmills Inn "In the reviews people mention the experience and the work of the staff. My theory is always to deliver the service and product rather than pay too much attention to the reviews. We are a small boutique hotel and I always find the smaller the operation the easier it can be to deliver the best for our guests. "TripAdvisor is a double-edged sword, it is what it is - but our reviews, I find are truthful and very genuine." "This is marvellous - for us to be in this particularly on a UK basis and given the scale of the hotels we are among - I'm delighted." While London dominates the top 25 UK list, Northern Ireland does get a second appearance with the Bushmills Inn coming in at number 23. "The perfect getaway," said one guest in their review on TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor spokeswoman Hayley Coleman added: "Unlike other hospitality awards, these are based on feedback from actual guests over the past year, which is what makes them so prized within the industry. "With rooms at winning hotels notorious for selling out shortly after our annual announcement, travellers wishing to experience these world class hotels for themselves will need to book quickly if they want to find out why they earned such rave reviews throughout the year from fellow travellers." Michelle O'Neill: "It is a huge honour a real, real big privilege for me to be chosen as the new leader in the North. As a wee girl from Clonoe in Co Tyrone it just gives me immense pride to be able to say that I am going to lead our party in the future. To follow in the footsteps of Martin McGuinness, who is a political giant, is no mean feat but a challenge that I am certainly up for. "Well obviously we are an all-island party and, for me, it is going to be working very closely with Gerry Adams, with Mary Lou McDonald, Pierce Doherty our whole team at Leinster House our team here in the north, our councillors, we are a 32-county movement so it is really, really important that we continue to work as a team." Suzanne Breen's analysis: The new Sinn Fein leader has gone for a totally different style of video interview to that which Arlene Foster chose a fortnight ago. Mrs Foster adopted a stiff, formal pose in front of the fireplace in Stormont Castle. Ms O'Neill was filmed in warehouse type surroundings. She speaks in a conversational manner, rather than reading from a teleprompter. She opens by noting her humble rural origins. She is just an ordinary young Tyrone woman who has found herself in the extraordinary role of leading Sinn Fein. But far from being over-awed by the situation, she is "up for" it. Given that there may be some reservations about her political experience, she stresses that she will be working closely with party leaders and senior figures. She also points out, as Sinn Fein routinely do, that theirs is a collective leadership. Michelle O'Neill: "Well I am from Clonoe, a small village in Co Tyrone. I have two grown-up children Saoirse is 23 and Ryan is 18 and they are a handful. For me growing up in a rural area was a brilliant childhood. A very troubled area, an area that was very impacted by the conflict and I suppose down through the years we had very many dark days. But I think for me growing up in that area a tremendous sense of community, I love being from a rural area, I loved being part of that community. My father Brendan Doris definitely had a massive impact on my life. He was a brilliant man. He was a Sinn Fein councillor at a time when it was really so dangerous to put yourself forward to be an elective representative. Around the time he was a councillor ... loyalists were killing Sinn Fein councillors. John Davey lost his life so it was a very difficult time for him to put himself forward. But I saw the influence he had on our local community I could see how brilliant he was in helping people out and dealing with their issues. I could see his commitment to the republican struggle so I think that certainly he definitely has played a big part in shaping who I am today. Sadly he is not with us now. But I know rightly he would be looking down and be very proud of his wee girl being the new leader of Sinn Fein in the North." Suzanne Breen's analysis: Ms O'Neill is acknowledging that being a child in the "many dark days" of the Troubles, has influenced, but not warped her. Hers was a "brilliant childhood". She again roots herself firmly in her local republican community. She indicates that she isn't a Johnny-come-lately to republicanism. Her father was a Sinn Fein councillor when that made him a target for loyalist paramilitaries. But Ms O'Neill emphasises that politics isn't just about the constitutional issue. She refers to her father helping people out with everyday local issues. Michelle O'Neill: "I think the troubles absolutely really impacted on our community and I think that when I look back to some of the times that really stand out to me, the Clonoe ambush where four local young fellas - really, really young people - lost their lives in that time. It was a harrowing time for our community and I think that for me that it really had a massive impact. I think that if you think back through the years and think back to things that happened right across Tyrone. Different things, I suppose impacted on different people at different times, Loughgall ambush happened and eight people lost their lives and that again a harrowing time for the local community. "But for me that strengthened my resolve. I think it made me feel that I wanted to go out, that I was active and that I did everything I could to deliver an united Ireland. I think republicans right across Tyrone, I think they have always been active, they continue to be active, they are fully behind the peace process, they do everything they can and for me it really is an immense pleasure, pride, honour everything that I feel today I feel for all those families that lost loved ones right through the conflict." Suzanne Breen's analysis: Ms O'Neill notes that there was extensive loss of life during the conflict in Tyrone yet the only two incidents that she details are the Clonoe and Loughall ambushes where a combined total of 12 IRA men were killed by the SAS. She points to her extensive involvement in local republicanism stressing that such emotional incidents "made me feel that I wanted to go out, that I was active and that I did everything I could to deliver a united Ireland". She makes no mention whatsoever to the deaths or injuries sustained by civilians or security force members in the Troubles. Yet she puts to bed any fears of a return to armed struggle, stressing that republicans are "fully behind the peace process". Michelle O'Neill: "Martin McGuinness is an absolute legend and I am so proud to have worked with him all these years and to have actually learned so much from him all these years. I think his record speaks for itself. He has stretched himself time and time again, reaching out to all sections of the community, making sure he really represented everybody. He showed tremendous leadership. He reached out to the unionist community time and time again because it was the right thing to do. So I want to, in my time as leader, to build on the tremendous work that he has done, to carry on the work that he has done because as a republican the future that we see in the island of Ireland obviously has a place for everybody. We need to make sure that everybody feels they have a comfortable place in that so we very much want to be involved in a conversation that shapes that new island new Ireland. But I want to carry on the brilliant work that Martin has carried out over the last number of years." Suzanne Breen's analysis: Martin McGuinness is clearly a personal hero for Ms O'Neill. Some worry that the new Sinn Fein leader will not be so keen to reach out to unionists. Here, she moves to allay those concerns by pledging to continue his "brilliant work". But her political rivals will be watching to see if Ms O'Neill actually delivers on her words and stretches herself to the extent that her predecessor did. Michelle O'Neill: "Well I have been active republican since I was a teenager but I was a full-time activist in the party since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. So I have been working alongside Francie Molloy, working along with Martin McGuinness for many, many years and I think I have learned an awful lot from both of them throughout the years that I have worked with them. I think that when I first went into Dungannon Council in 2005, it was I suppose for me a big task at that time to go into council but it was a great, great experience. I was the first woman to take on the position of mayor. I couldn't believe it for one, women were under-represented but two, couldn't believe there was never a female mayor in the council so that is one thing I am always very proud of to say that I was the first woman ever to take up that position. But throughout the years I went on from council I worked as an assistant in the Assembly and then I went on into the Assembly, obviously I was elected in 2007. I have held the post of Agricultural Minister that was a challenging job at that time. I had to navigate my way through Common Agricultural Policy reform. I decentralised a whole Government department. Again no Minister has ever taken a public department and actually brought jobs into rural areas. That is something that I am very proud of. I then went on to on the post of Health Minister and of the very first things that I was able to do in that position was to remove the ban on gay blood donation and I think that was the right thing to do. That was an equality issue for me and I think that throughout all the positions which the party have asked me to take up I have always applied myself, I have always worked really hard and I think that the track record speaks for itself. I think that public confidence in the institutions has absolutely been rocked to the core because of the RHI scandal. What we have seen is an absolute contempt for the public in relation to the DUP's handling of the issue, so for me the upcoming election is absolutely about equality it is about respect, it is about integrity and I think that the public need to have their say in relation to what they want and who they want to govern in the future. We will obviously go out, we will be engaging with the public but clearly we can be only part of institutions that have equality at their core and without that then, you know, people won't have confidence in the institutions. So we want institutions to work, we want an Assembly that delivers for everybody. But that is the point - it has to deliver for everybody. Currently the DUP trajectory is all about looking after certain sections of society. They are not looking for equal rights for the LBGT community for minority groups, looking at the rights of woman - so for us that is not something that is tolerable. We cannot have an Assembly that delivers in terms of the status quo we have to have an Assembly that delivers equality at the core for all citizens." Suzanne Breen's analysis: Ms O'Neill is stressing her liberal and feminist credentials here in an attempt to appeal strongly to the next generation of voters. She emphasises the glass ceiling she has smashed as a young, female politician and her pride in ending the gay blood ban. She is positioning herself as radical and progressive. Surprisingly, she makes only one dig at the DUP over the RHI scandal, suggesting that Sinn Fein will fight the election more on a 'civil rights' than a 'cash for ash' agenda. Michelle O'Neill: "I think the negotiations after the election are absolutely vital. We are only interested in being in the Assembly being in the Executive with partners who are absolutely, genuinely wedded to equality. Without that we can't be there and we can't be governed in the absence of that so the negotiations are going to be really, really critical. There is an opportunity for an absolute step-change. There is an opportunity to actually fix something that is wrong and obviously the DUP approach has been wrong. Well I am Irish republican so obviously we are committed to achieving an united Ireland but that Ireland that we want and that Ireland that we envisage has a place for everybody. So I see it as my job as leader to make sure that we are reaching out to all sections of the community to make sure so that we can have a conversation about how we shape that future island and I think that for me as a leader that certainly is going to be a key part of my work." Suzanne Breen's analysis: She is warning the DUP that Sinn Fein will want substantial concessions in future negotiations. There will be no return to the 'same old, same old' after the election. It's not just about changing the mood music of their coalition government, there has to be "absolute step-change". The references to a united Ireland are just window-dressing. Ms O'Neill, like other senior party figures, fails to outline any plan of delivery. Donald Trump and Theresa May will discuss issues including trade at White House talks on Friday. The special relationship between Britain and the US "can always be closer", the White House has said. Donald Trump is "excited" about meeting Theresa May in Washington DC on Friday and will have a "great conversation" about the potential for trade with the UK, his p ress secretary Sean Spicer said. The Prime Minister will become the first foreign leader to meet the new president for talks. Mr Spicer said the visit, a week after President Trump's inauguration , reflects the historic ties between the UK and the US. "I think we have always had that special relationship with Britain and that reflects in the Prime Minister's first visit here," Mr Spicer said. "He's had a great conversation with her and he looks forward to having her here but we can always be closer." Mrs May will use the meeting to make the case for increasing free trade between Britain and the US. But Mr Trump has been clear that he believes international trade deals have been damaging for American industry. Mr Spicer said there would be a "new era of trade policy" that would "put American workers first and foremost". He added: "We are excited that Prime Minister May is coming on Friday. We look forward to it. "I'm sure that there will be discussion of trade. The degree to which, I don't know yet. "I don't believe we have any plans right now for a joint press conference. That's something that our team will be working out with Prime Minister May. "When he talks to Prime Minister May he is going to have a great conversation about the potential for greater trade with the UK." The Prime Minister will travel to the United States on Thursday when she will become the first foreign serving head of state or government to address the annual congressional Republican retreat, when it gathers for its 30th anniversary in Philadelphia. In her meeting with President Trump, the PM will stress the "importance of Nato as the bulwark of our defence", following his description of the transatlantic security alliance as "obsolete". Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon talked to US counterpart James Mattis in a "very warm" telephone conversation on Monday. He said: " We talked of our joint leadership in Nato, including modernising the Alliance and how we ensure that all members meet the Nato 2% spending commitment alongside America and Britain, with our growing defence budget. "Operationally, we discussed the importance of working together to accelerate the defeat of current threats, including from Daesh in Iraq and Syria, and tackling terrorism in all its forms. "I look forward to meeting Secretary Mattis at the next meeting of Nato defence ministers in February." Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Mr Mattis emphasised that the two nations "will always enjoy a uniquely close relationship", adding that their defence ties were a "bedrock of US security". More than half a million children in the west African area wracked by Boko Haram extremists are so malnourished their lives could be in danger unless they get aid, a UN humanitarian official has said. Toby Lanzer, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for the area, described a region where millions get by on one meal a day and some communities have lost all their toddlers. Military campaigns have driven Boko Haram from much of the territory it took during a seven-year uprising that killed more than 20,000 people, displaced over two million and shocked the world with the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls, but as aid workers got into areas the Islamic militants had controlled, the suffering they left behind became clear. Mr Lanzer said: "What we have seen is extraordinary. I have seen adults sapped of all energy, who are almost unable to walk. We have had villages and towns devoid of two and three and four-year-old children because they've died." Some totally destroyed towns had been cut off from the outside world for more than three years, he said. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared that Boko Haram was "technically defeated" in December 2015, but attacks have continued in some places. Two female suicide bombers killed at least 30 people and wounded 67 on Friday at a north-eastern Nigerian market, in violence blamed on Boko Haram. With Nigeria and the Lake Chad region enduring the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, the UN is launching a more than 1 billion US dollar (800 million) appeal and hopes a conference next month in Oslo will spur donations, Mr Lanzer said. About 11 million people are "in desperate need" of aid, about 7.1 million are "severely food-insecure" - essentially, getting one meal a day if they can - and roughly 515,000 children are or soon will be severely, acutely malnourished, he added. "If they don't get the help they need on time, they die." While the Nigerian government has stepped up efforts to help, an international push is needed, Mr Lanzer said. Mr Buhari has accused the UN and aid agencies of exaggerating the crisis to seek donations. AP Pro-settlement Israeli politicians such as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been emboldened by Donald Trump becoming US president (AP) Israel has approved plans to build 2,500 new settlement homes in the West Bank. The move signals a major ramp-up of construction just days after the swearing-in of US president Donald Trump, whose election has emboldened the settlement movement. Mr Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration. He also has vowed to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Israel's nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the new construction plans "in response to housing needs". He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs", areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. All of the projects announced on Tuesday still require additional bureaucratic approvals, meaning that construction is unlikely to begin any time soon. "We are building - and we will continue to build," Mr Netanyahu wrote in a brief Facebook post. Settlement construction was a contentious area of disagreement during the Obama years, when the White House sided with the Palestinians and the international community in condemning it as an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war - for their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal. Some 600,000 settlers live in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the latest settlement plans, saying they would hurt peace hopes and "promote extremism and terrorism". "This decision is a challenge and provocation and disregard for the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world," he said. Mr Trump has signalled a softer approach to the settlements, and some of his top aides have close ties to the settler movement. Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement, has received donations from Mr Trump's designated ambassador to Israel and from the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a top White House adviser. That has buoyed Mr Netanyahu and his pro-settler coalition allies, who see in Mr Trump's election a chance to press forward with settlement initiatives. Mr Netanyahu has welcomed what he says will be a new era under Mr Trump and has vowed to drive up settlement construction in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Since Mr Trump took over, Mr Netanyahu has also been under heavy pressure from the pro-settler Jewish Home party to move ahead on an explosive bill that would annex Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement of nearly 40,000 people near Jerusalem. A vote on the legislation, which threatens to unleash fresh violence and damage already faded hopes for Palestinian independence, was put on hold this week, apparently so Mr Netanyahu could co-ordinate his policy towards the Palestinians with the new administration. He is scheduled to visit the White House in early February. Despite his promises to build, Mr Netanyahu has also called for restraint, saying he does not want to surprise the Mr Trump administration. He said he intends to deploy "responsible and informed diplomacy" with the new US leadership. Oded Revivi, a settler leader, welcomed the new housing. "Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria are the answer to peace," he said in a statement, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. "We hope to continue building a peaceful future with the blessing of the new Trump administration." Tuesday's housing announcement came two days after Israel approved nearly 600 settler homes in east Jerusalem, a move that would have elicited sharp censure under the Obama administration but which the Trump White House did not comment on. Mr Trump has not outlined a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he has said he would like to broker a peace deal. His election platform made no mention of a Palestinian state. His pledge to move the US Embassy from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. However, since taking office, the White House has been vague about its plans for the embassy. Earlier on Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas rulers warned the US not to move its embassy to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said such a move would "open a new chapter of conflict" and "add fuel to the fire". The rival Palestinian Authority has also urged Mr Trump not to follow through on his campaign promise to move the embassy. AP Flint's water system no longer has levels of lead exceeding the federal limit (AP) Flint's water system no longer has levels of lead exceeding the federal limit, Michigan state environmental officials said. The findings are good news for a city whose 100,000 residents have been grappling with the man-made water crisis, the officials added. The 90th percentile of lead concentrations in Flint was 12 parts per billion (ppb) from July until December - below the "action level" of 15ppb, according to a letter from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to Flint's mayor. It was 20ppb in the prior six-month period. Flint's lead levels are again comparable to other US cities, state officials told the Associated Press ahead of an official announcement. "This is good news and the result of many partners on the local, county, state and federal levels working together to restore the water quality in the City of Flint," Michigan Department of Environmental Quality director Heidi Grether said in a statement. "The Flint water system is one of the most monitored systems in the country for lead and copper, and that commitment will remain to ensure residents continue to have access to clean water." Residents, whose mistrust in government remains high nearly three years after a fateful switch of the city's water source in April 2014, are being told to continue using faucet filters or bottled water because an ongoing mass replacement of pipes could spike lead levels in individual houses. Flint's public health emergency began when officials failed to properly treat lead lines for corrosion. The state acknowledged the lead problem in October 2015. Lead from old pipes leached into the water supply because corrosion-reducing phosphates were not added due to an incorrect reading of federal regulations. Elevated levels of lead, a neurotoxin, were detected in children, and 12 people died in a Legionnaires' disease outbreak that experts suspect was linked to the improperly treated water. Governor Rick Snyder has apologised for the crisis that has largely been blamed on his administration. "The remarkable improvement in water quality over the past year is a testament to all levels of government working together and the resilient people of Flint helping us help them through participation in the flushing programmes," he said in a statement. "There is still more work to do in Flint, and I remain committed to helping the residents recover and restore their city." AP Staffan de Mistura said there is 'some optimism' amid ongoing Syria peace talks (Sergei Grits/AP) Peace talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and rebel factions have concluded with Russia, Turkey and Iran striking a deal on a three-way mechanism to consolidate a ceasefire in the country. At the end of the two-day summit in Astana, Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said the three countries will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, without specifying how that would work. His statement said the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. It also calls for Syria's rebels to separate from the al-Qaida-linked group, known as Fatah al-Sham. The statement added that agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva on February 8. The Syrian government said the talks have succeeded in consolidating the month-long truce. Bashar al-Ja'afari, Syria's UN ambassador, who headed the government delegation to the talks in Astana, said president Bashar Assad's government has done all it can to "remove obstacles" facing the gathering. He told reporters t hat the deal paves the way for more dialogue among Syrians in the future. Calls for the Syrian opposition to separate themselves from the al-Qaida-affiliate has proven a thorny issue, which was previously cited as the reason other ceasefires failed. The rebel groups have formed close links with Fatah al-Sham on the ground. The group is excluded from the ceasefire, according to the government, but the rebels say the truce should include all of Syria. The Astana summit featured a brief face-to-face meeting between the government and rebel representatives - their first since the Syrian civil war began in 2011 - but this was quickly followed by harsh exchanges. Syrian opposition representative Osama Abo Zayd said the rebels had reservations about the final statement, because Iran, which fights alongside the government, should not be considered a sponsor of the talks, but a party to the conflict. The former deputy U.S. marshal accused of peeping on girls at Target will plead guilty to a federal child porn charge. In a plea agreement signed by his attorney Friday, Michael Rivera admits to downloading sexually explicit pictures and videos of young teens from the internet. He had at least 36 pictures and 52 videos of 6- to 11-year-old girls, according to the agreement. Police found the materials on Rivera's computer during an investigation that followed the initial peeping allegation from June. Rivera is set for a change of plea hearing on Friday at 10 a.m. before Judge Ralph Erickson at the U.S. District Courthouse in Fargo. The 29-year-old is expected to plead guilty to one count of attempted receipt of images depicting the sexual exploitation of minors, according to the agreement. This crime carries a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison. The federal case is separate from the Burleigh County case that alleges Rivera recorded 19 women in retail dressing rooms around Bismarck. In exchange for the plea, the U.S. Attorney's Office will ask the judge to dismiss a second charge of attempted possession of child pornography. They will also recommend the federal sentence be served concurrently with any sentence he may receive in state court. The federal case is being handled by Tim Maher, of the South Dakota U.S. Attorney's Office. According to Maher, the North Dakota office recused itself due to Rivera's working relationship with staff members at the federal courthouse in Bismarck. His connection to the courthouse and judiciary is also the reason his change of plea will happen in Fargo. Rivera will go to trial Jan. 30 on the 20-count Burleigh County peeping case. He is being represented by Bismarck defense attorney Lloyd Suhr. A message for comment left with Suhr's law partner Monday evening was not returned. A Bangladeshi minister who oversees humanitarian relief efforts expressed sadness upon learning of allegations that one in three Rohingya women interviewed at refugee camps had reported being raped by Myanmar security forces before fleeing to Bangladesh. Minister of Disaster Management Mofazzel Hossain Chowdhury Maya said that he and other officials had no direct knowledge of such abuses, but assured that he would look into these claims. If it has happened, then it is really pathetic and inhuman. But we are not aware about this condition/experience of Rohingya women, the minister told BenarNews on Tuesday. In an article published last week by BenarNews, 17 of 54 recently arrived Rohingya women who were interviewed by a correspondent at refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh, reported that Myanmar security personnel had raped them during a military crackdown in Myanmars Rakhine state. Widespread allegations have emerged since the crackdown began in early October that Myanmar government forces have sexually assaulted Rohingya woman and carried out targeted killings and other atrocities against members of the countrys stateless Muslim minority. The BenarNews report marked the first time that specific numbers of rapes were cited based on random surveys of refugees. The government in Naypyidaw has refuted these allegations. We will try to [find out] about this and will discuss this among ourselves to determine what is doable on this issue from our end, the minister said, adding that Bangladesh was trying to draw the attention of the international community regarding the disaster created by Myanmar. Myanmar solely responsible An official who chairs Bangladeshs Human Rights Commission blamed Myanmar for allowing atrocities in Rakhine, but he did not say whether his agency would investigate claims that Rohingya women had been raped. Whatever happened with Rohingya, Myanmar is solely responsible for all those incidents. Rohingya who entered into Bangladesh, if they were in Myanmar, then they would have died, Kazi Reazul Haq, chairman of the autonomous government-appointed commission, told BenarNews. He said the government should treat the refugees on humanitarian grounds within our capacity, adding, the government is already trying to do so accordingly. At least 65,000 Rohingya have crossed the border into the Coxs Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh since the Myanmar military launched a crackdown in Rakhine following the killings of nine policemen by suspected militants, according to U.N. figures. The new Rohingya arrivals add to a refugee population in Coxs Bazar that totals at least 300,000, according to Bangladeshi government estimates. The international community should come forward to solve this issue, Haq added, saying it should put pressure on Myanmar to acknowledge the rights of Rohingya to citizenship in their home country. OIC meeting Delegates from 57 member-nations of the Muslim worlds largest inter-governmental body, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) last week held a special meeting in Kuala Lumpur, where they called on predominantly Buddhist Myanmar to end the violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine and hold perpetrators of alleged human rights abuses accountable. Shahriar Alam, Bangladeshs state minister for Foreign Affairs, headed his countrys delegation at the extraordinary meeting of the OICs Council of Foreign Ministers. He told BenarNews that Bangladesh reported to the OIC that we are trying to increase bilateral relationship with Myanmar, and we have also offered them our eagerness to support Myanmar in solving Rohingya crisis. But we did not get any positive response from them. He also told that based on recommendations from all member countries, a resolution has also been agreed in the OIC meeting, which will be conveyed to Myanmar authority. The OIC meeting followed a series of bilateral talks in Dhaka between Bangladesh and Myanmar officials earlier this month, in which both sides agreed to hold further discussions about the fate of the 65,000 newly arrived Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh has asked that Myanmar take them back. Meanwhile, representatives of the Dhaka office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an international humanitarian body that runs camps for unregistered Rohingya refugees in Coxs Bazar, did not respond to questions sent by BenarNews via email on Monday. The bodies of three Muslim villagers missing in Myanmars violence-ridden Maungdaw township were found Saturday in a case authorities are investigating as a murder, the State Counselors Office said Monday. The three men were identified as Mahmud Shawfee, 30, Sunta Ahmed, 70, and Mahmud Supai, 22, after their bodies were discovered in shallow graves about 500 meters west of Padakah village following an anonymous phone call to local police, the statement said. Their bodies, which bear the marks of violent injuries, have been sent to a local hospital for examination, while police investigate the murder case, it said. Last month, the bodies of three other murdered local Muslim men who worked closely with local administrative officials in restive northern Rakhine state were discovered in Maungdaw, according to BenarNews sister entity Radio Free Asia. The men were said to have collaborated with authorities as they continue to try to round up militants who raided three border guard stations in northern Rakhines Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships on Oct. 9 and killed nine officers. The government has blamed the October attacks and subsequent violence in the area on Rohingya insurgents who received training and financial support from Islamists abroad. A security sweep of northern Rakhine by the Myanmar military and border police has forced more than 65,000 Rohingya villagers to flee the area and cross the border into Bangladesh. Some Rohingya have alleged that the security forces indiscriminately killed civilians, tortured villagers, raped women and girls, and burned down houses, though the Myanmar government and military have denied the charges. Meanwhile, Myanmars foreign affairs ministry said on Monday it cannot confirm reports that 152 people from the country had been arrested by Bangladesh police for illegal entry, as reported by Bangladesh media. We need to carefully check this story because a lot of people have been arrested in Bangladesh as Myanmar nationals... especially those going to that country, said ministry director Kyaw Zeya. At present, we havent heard anything from our embassy there, he said. If we get a detailed report, well carry out inquiries and let you know. The Bangladesh media also said that 13 of those coming from Myanmar had escaped, with the rest being sent to the Myanmar embassy. Time and space to resolve crisis The international community has continued to put pressure on Myanmar to resolve the Rohingya crisis, with concern being expressed by other countries, especially by Muslim-majority nations. Rear Admiral Myint New, Myanmars deputy defense chief, asked other countries on Monday for more time and space for Myanmar to resolve the crisis amid concerns that the Islamic State terrorist group could exploit it as it seeks a base in Southeast Asia, Agence France-Presse reported. He told a told a security forum in Singapore that the Myanmar government was aware of the growing concern about widespread reports on the situation in Rakhine state, and was committed to addressing the issue and punishing wrongdoers, the report said. Myint New was responding to comments by Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein at a regional defense forum, who warned that a failure to address the situation in Rakhine could be exploited by Islamic terrorists with the potential to cause death and destruction well beyond the borders of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], the report said. Myanmar took Malaysia to task on Saturday for organizing a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a 57-member state group whose mission is to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world, on Jan. 19 to address the Rohingya crisis, Reuters reported. During the meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on Myanmar to end reported violence and discrimination against the stateless Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, where security forces have allegedly carried out atrocities against the group. Buddhist-majority Myanmar has accused the Malaysian leader of using the crisis for political purposes to deflect corruption allegations surrounding his involvement in the disappearance of billions of dollars of public money from a state investment fund. On Saturday, Yanghee Lee, the United Nations human rights envoy to Myanmar, wrapped up a 12-day mission to the country, which included stops in villages and at border guard stations and prisons in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and Buthidaung townships in northern Rakhine state. When the allegations of human rights violations consequent to the security operations started surfacing, the governments immediate response was to deny them, she said. Even when a scientifically-based analysis of the burning and destruction of houses was presented, the immediate response was dismissal. But for the government to continue being defensive when allegations of serious human rights violations are persistently reported, that is when the government appears less and less credible, she said. Lee will submit a report the findings of her visit to the U.N. Human Rights Council in March. A 33-year-old man accused of terrorizing pipeline protesters outside the Ramada Inn in Bismarck waived his right to a preliminary hearing Monday. Jesse McLain is charged with two counts of terrorizing after police identified him as one of two masked men captured on a Facebook video yelling expletives and threats into a vehicle at the hotel at 1400 E. Interchange Ave. He was scheduled to appear before South Central District Judge Bruce Romanick, but chose to waive his right to a hearing and have his charges heard in court. A trial date has not yet been set. McLain's lawyer, Justin Vinje, called McLain's case a "unique" one that is involved in the recent months-long protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline. We havent had protest activity on this scale that Ive been aware of, Vinje said. Vinje said McLain has told him that he and his family have received threats, including "a number of death threats," since he has been charged and identified. Last month, McLain pleaded not guilty to the charges. A video of the altercation shows two men being threatened in a car outside the hotel. McLain matched a description given in a police affidavit of a man wearing a skeleton mask on his face. McLain is also accused of terrorizing a bystander who caught the incident on video. Vinje, who was recently hired in the case, is still reviewing information from police, including the video. There are two sides to every story, and there may be more information than was immediately available," Vinje said, noting there may have been more to the situation than what was seen on video. "(The video) is certainly something that we will be looking at," he said. The daughter-in-law of former Lao prime minister Thongsing Thammavong distanced herself Tuesday from rumored ties to an alleged Lao drug dealer arrested last week in Thailand, saying a photo showing her and Thammavongs son together with crime boss Xaysana Keopimpha was taken by accident." The photo, which has circulated widely on Facebook pages following Xaysanas Jan. 19 arrest, shows only a casual social connection among the three, Sommaly Thammavong told Radio Free Asias (RFA) Lao Service, a sister entity of BenarNews. We have not done any business with him, and we didnt know what he was involved in, Thammavong said. We met him by accident and had photos taken occasionally at parties or at weddings, Thammavong, the wife of the former prime ministers son Dethsongkam Thammavong, said. We each earn our living in different ways. Many in Laos suspect closer connections between Xaysana, the alleged leader of a major methamphetamine distribution network in the ASEAN region, and the Thammavongs, though, a legal expert living in Laos told RFA. The photo shows that they are close friends, and the public believes they have close ties, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Is it really possible that they knew nothing about Xaysanas background or the nature of his work before they allowed themselves to be photographed with him, he asked. [Xaysana] was arrested in Thailand because the police there know that he is protected in Laos by powerful political figures, and that law enforcement in the country is weak. 'Enormous assets in Laos' Speaking to the press on Jan. 20 following Xaysanas arrest the day before at Thailands Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thai police Maj. Gen. Sommai Kongwisaisuk thanked Lao law-enforcement authorities for providing information that helped lead to the arrest. Lao authorities said to us that if we couldnt arrest him here, they wouldnt be able to do anything in Laos. Xaysana has enormous assets in Laos, Kongwisaisuk, chief of Thailands Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said. I dont know whats going on over there. Prior to Xaysanas arrest, Thai police in 2016 took into custody four members of Xaysanas drug network, seizing more than 5 million methamphetamine, or yaba, pills, Thai officials told reporters at a press briefing on Jan. 20. The arrests and subsequent investigation led finally to the Jan. 19 arrest of Xaysana and three associates after they arrived in Bangok following a visit to the southern Thai resort town of Phuket, Thai officials said. Reached by telephone for comment, residents in the Lao capital Vientiane declined to discuss the case, saying they feared their conversations were being monitored. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. Nicht personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung werden u. a. von Inhalten, die Sie sich gerade ansehen, und Ihrem Standort beeinflusst (welche Werbung Sie sehen, basiert auf Ihrem ungefahren Standort). Personalisierte Inhalte und Werbung konnen auch Videoempfehlungen, eine individuelle YouTube-Startseite und individuelle Werbung enthalten, die auf fruheren Aktivitaten wie auf YouTube angesehenen Videos und Suchanfragen auf YouTube beruhen. Sofern relevant, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auerdem, um Inhalte und Werbung altersgerecht zu gestalten. Wir verwenden Cookies und Daten, umWenn Sie Alle akzeptieren auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies und Daten auch, umWahlen Sie Weitere Optionen aus, um sich zusatzliche Informationen anzusehen, einschlielich Details zum Verwalten Ihrer Datenschutzeinstellungen. Sie konnen auch jederzeit g.co/privacytools besuchen. A Bismarck lawmaker is proposing a bill to establish an Education Savings Account program as an option for North Dakota parents. The concept is not new at the North Dakota Legislature the bill would allow parents to opt out of sending their kids to a public school and, instead, use that public school funding for private school tuition or homeschooling. Its a school choice program," said Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, who introduced House Bill 1382 Tuesday at a House Education Committee meeting. The bill would allow parents to enroll their children in an Education Savings Account, or ESA, which would fall under the authority of the state treasurer. It would still require parents to send their children to accredited schools and qualified teachers, Becker said. Over the course of a school year, the state would put money into a debit account for parents to use for "specific educational purposes." Becker said 75 percent of the states contribution to public schools about $5,600 would go to an ESA each year. Those who support the bill say it allows parents to decide how to educate their kids. However, opponents of the bill say it would take funding away from local school districts. Some are also concerned about whether the state could provide public money to sectarian schools, and an issue was brought up in regard to separation of the church and state. Theres nervousness about this bill statewide," said Aimee Copas, director of the North Dakota Council of Educational Leaders, which represents school administrators at public and non-public schools. Supporters of the bill say it would allow parents to have a choice. Becker said the bill could save the state some money. However, exact numbers and figures still need to be determined. He also said the program would make districts "more competitive." Former Rep. Mark Dosch, R-Bismarck, gave testimony in support of the bill Tuesday. Education Savings Accounts would provide the resources to help assist parents in paying for their childrens education and, at the same time, save the state of North Dakota 25 percent of the cost of education," Dosch said. Given the status of the states current budget crunch, I think, now more than ever is the time for this bill. A few parents also gave testimony in support of the bill to provide more funding for homeschooling families. "I think this bill would greatly benefit our children. It is costly to homeschool," said Cathy Schwartz, who attended the hearing with her husband, Kent Schwartz, and their children. She said they have chosen to homeschool their children due, in part, to their medical needs. Opponents such as Nick Archuleta, who heads the North Dakota United union for teachers and public employees, said the bill would only harm public schools. What is certain is that if an exodus from the public schools does occur, public schools will have fewer resources to meet the needs of the remaining students," he said. Copas told the committee some school districts could stand to lose millions of dollars. The cost to operate our public schools would not change. It would simply mean less dollars to do so, which would hurt the opportunities for the overwhelming majority of our students," she said. Anita Thomas, general counsel with the North Dakota School Boards Association, testified in opposition of the bill. Almost every session, bills are introduced to try and direct dollars into the hands of parents who choose to send their children to private schools or to homeschool their children. These bills have not been successful for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is questions about the constitutionality," Thomas said. Thomas pointed to Article 8, Section 2 of the constitution, which states the legislative assembly "shall provide for a uniform system of free public." And Section 5: "No money raised for the support of the public schools of the state shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian school." "While this bill does not appropriate money for any sectarian school, it most certainly would make money available for parents to use in support of those sectarian schools and therein lies the next constitutional issue," she said. New students or students who spent the previous year at a public school would qualify for the ESA program, Becker said. Five states have established Education Savings Account programs Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Tennessee and Mississippi. The current program in Nevada is suspended due to a Nevada Supreme Court ruling. The sponsor of a bill to decriminalize marijuana hopes it will help curb jail populations, but stakeholders say it won't make much of a difference there. Of about 1,800 people in the state prison system, 10 are there primarily for a marijuana possession offense, said Pat Bohn, director of transitional planning. There is one person in the Burleigh County jail on a marijuana offense, according to Sheriff Pat Heinert. House Bill 1340, introduced by Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, would make it an infraction punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and no jail time to use or sell pot. That's down from a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a year in prison and a $3,000 fine. If certain aggravating factors apply selling with a gun, near a school, to kids or in quantities more than 500 grams it would be a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $3,000 fine. Thats down nearly 10 years from the current law, which makes it a Class A felony. Becker told the House Human Services Committee he brought up the measure due to learning about how drug offenders were filling the prisons and the state's overwhelming approval of medical marijuana. He also contends decriminalizing would keep low-level offenses from clogging the court system. Looking around the room, the local plastic surgeon suggested several people would have surely smoked marijuana at some point. Do you believe that all of those people should have served jail time? Or do we just cross our fingers and hope that all of these productive citizens that have tried marijuana just dont get caught? he asked. The North Dakota State's Attorneys' Association opposes the bill as it applies to drug dealing and is staying neutral regarding personal use. We recognize ideas are changing on marijuana, but dramatic shifts are probably very difficult to control, said executive director Aaron Birst. Were looking at more of a gradual step and studying these issues. But Birst also argues from experience that the bill wouldn't have its desired effect on jail populations. Few people spend even a night in jail for possessing marijuana, Birst said. They typically get deferred sentences later wiped off their record. And infractions would require about equivalent time in court. The bill was also criticized by some in the committee, who worried it would draw in dealers and lead to more sales in schools. The Department of Corrections supports the bill in so far as it applies to marijuana possession but not distribution. HB1340 is one of a number of bills introduced this session to modify the penalties for drug crimes with an eye toward treatment. Twenty-one states, including Minnesota, Nebraska and the District of Columbia, have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, according to the National Council of State Legislatures. Unknown It was a lesson in political pragmatism delivered by the defense attorney for beleaguered State Senator Larry Farnese at the opening of Farnese's corruption trial.You don't pay a bribe with a check, lawyer Mark Sheppard told the U.S. District Court jury that will decide Farnese's fate. And you don't pay a bribe for one vote when you need 30."This isn't how bribery is done," Sheppard said. "This isn't how criminals act."In a brief but pointed opening statement that outlined the defense strategy in the trial, Sheppard asked the jury to use "common sense" in evaluating the charges against his client and co-defendant Ellen Chapman, a Democratic Party ward committeewoman.The two are charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and wire fraud in what prosecutors said was a bribery scheme to insure Farnese's election as ward leader in Philadelphia's eighth ward back in 2011. Authorities allege that Farnese donated $6,000 from his campaign fund to help underwrite a study abroad program for Chapman's daughter. In turn, the prosecutors said, Chapman agreed to vote for Farnese in the ward election. "Senator Farnese paid a bribe in exchange for her vote," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Kravis said in his opening to the jury this morning, later adding that Chapman willingly sold her vote.That quid pro quo is at the heart of the government's case against Farnese, 48, and Chapman, 62. The trial, before Judge Cynthia Rufe, is expected to last about a week and will provide an inside look at the workings of ward politics.Few of the facts in the case are in dispute. But the defense has argued that the government misinterpreted and misconstrued the actions of both defendants."This case will offend your sense of justice...your sense of right and wrong," Stuart Patchen, Chapman's lawyer, said in his initial remarks. Both Patchen and Sheppard argued that the ward vote and the financing for the study abroad program were two separate and unrelated issues.The government, on the other hand, says they were intertwined and were the crux of what they contend was a quid pro quo "bribery scheme."The jury heard testimony this afternoon from FBI Agent Chad Speicher who handled the investigation. His testimony focused on a series of emails and phone calls during the alleged conspiracy.Two key witnesses in the case, Theodore Mucellin and Stephen Huntingdon, are expected to take the stand when the trial resumes Wednesday morning. Mucellin, who is testifying under a grant of immunity, is a political consultant who worked for Farnese and who, the government contends, took part in the conspiracy by helping to expedite the loan-for-vote scheme.Huntingdon is a ward committeeman who planned to run against Farnese for ward leader in 2011, but dropped out of the race. Huntington is expected to testify about a tearful phone call he received from Chapman in May 2011 in which she told him she was shifting her support to Farnese. He has told authorities that his impression was Chapman had shifted her support because Farnese was going to help with the study abroad financing.In fact, the defense argued, Farnese did agree to help after learning that Chapman's daughter Hannah, then a student at the University of Pennsylvania, had been accepted in a summer study abroad program in Kyrgyzstan but lacked the money -- $14,000 -- needed for tuition and other expenses.The program was run by Bard College in New York.The defense pointed to emails in which Farnese put Chapman in touch with potential scholarship and grant programs run by PNC Bank, Comcast and Verizon. Ultimately, Farnese decided to use the discretionary fund from the Friends of Farnese, his political campaign fund, to donate $6,000 to the Bard program. The donation was made by check and included in the memo field the name of the study program as well as Chapman's daughter's name.There was never any attempt to hide what was happening, Sheppard told the jury. Nor, he said, was there ever a bribe."If you're gonna bribe somebody, you gonna do it by check?" he asked the jury."This was never a bribe. There never was any discussion of it being a bribe."Both he and Patchen argued that Farnese was providing a "constituent service" that had nothing to do with courting Chapman's vote. What's more, Sheppard said, Farnese was eventually elected unanimously by acclamation at a ward meeting in the fall of 2011.The government contends that the mere agreement between Chapman and Farnese was a crime, regardless of the vote. Prosecutors said Chapman had violated her fiduciary responsibility as a committeewoman and was guilty of "honest services fraud."FBI Agent Speicher testified that a review of the hundreds of donations made by the Friends of Farnese indicated that the $6,000 donation to Bard College was by far the largest. Most were for $1,000 or less, he said. He also pointed out that only four donations were made to institutions outside of Pennsylvania and that the other three were each for $250.Chapman's attorney said the donation was a story of "a mother, a daughter and a state senator" and how an elected official tried to help someone in his district. Sheppard hit on that same theme."There was never a this for that," he said of the donation. "It was a good deed....Don't let them (the government) make this into something dirty."George Anastasia can be reached at George @bigtrial.net For Immediate Release, January 24, 2017 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Trump Puts Keystone XL, Dakota Access Pipelines Back on Table WASHINGTON President Trump signed executive orders today to push ahead with the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Both projects sparked widespread opposition and protests, especially because of their risks to water, wildlife, climate and people. Donald Trump is wasting no time in digging up two of the worst oil industry projects in the past decade and trying to rush them out the door, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. If it wasn't clear before that Trump is acting at the behest of the oil industry, it certainly is now. Keystone XL would stretch across hundreds of miles and carry up to 35 million gallons of oil every day from Canada's tar sands one of the dirtiest energy sources in the world to refineries in Texas. Most of it would be exported. Anyway you look at it, the Keystone XL pipeline is an environmental disaster. Not only does it dig us deeper into the climate crisis, but the State Department predicts it could spill oil up to 100 times during its lifetime, Suckling said. It's despicable to see President Trump gleefully put this project back on the table call it the rewards of a corrupt system that puts profits over people and wildlife. The Dakota Access Pipeline has been opposed by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and more than 150 American Indian nations. The pipeline will worsen global warming, desecrate sacred lands essential to the Sioux Nation's history, culture and identity, and threaten the water supply of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Trump hasn't even been in office for a week and he's already ignoring tribal leaders and brave protectors trying to safeguard their land and resources, Suckling said. The Dakota Access Pipeline is profoundly wrong on so many levels but that doesn't seem to matter to the new president. But he should know: The thousands of people who rose up to fight Keystone XL and DAPL are strong and mobilized, and they aren't going away. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, January 24, 2017 Contact: Collette Adkins, (651) 955-3821, cadkins@biologicaldiversity.org Reward Increased to $15,000 for Information on Illegal Killing of Endangered Whooping Crane in Indiana INDIANAPOLIS The Center for Biological Diversity today added $5,000 to the reward for information leading to a conviction or fine in the latest illegal killing of an endangered whooping crane in Indiana, bringing the total reward offered to $15,000. The bird was found shot to death earlier this month in rural Indiana, making it the fifth crane illegally shot in the state since 2009. Investigators believe the 5-year-old female crane was shot with a high-powered rifle near the Goose Pond Fish and Wildlife Area in southwestern Indiana. The cranes, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, visit the state-owned prairie and marsh lands each winter on their migration. It's a sad injustice to all of us that someone would gun down this beautiful, endangered bird, said Collette Adkins, an attorney and biologist with the Center. This shooting reminds us that whooping cranes still face many threats to their survival and recovery. Indiana has had more illegal shooting deaths than any other state among the eastern migratory population of whooping cranes. Each shooting death is a loss to recovery efforts; the crane killed this month had just reached breeding age and was expected to raise a chick this year. Only about 100 whooping cranes remain in the eastern population, which was reintroduced in 2001. We're adding to this reward because whooping cranes are a critical part of America's heritage, and we shouldn't let a few killers deny future generations their opportunity to see these animals in the wild, Adkins said. The whooping crane is North America's tallest bird, with males standing nearly 5 feet tall. When the snowy-white birds are alarmed, they make a loud, single-note vocalization, which is the likely origin of their common name. Threats include habitat degradation and destruction, shooting, power-line collisions and the limited genetics of the remaining population. These illegal killings can result in fines up to $100,000 and up to one year in prison. Anyone with information can call the Indiana conservation officer dispatch number at (812) 837-9536 or the state's poacher hotline at 1-800-TIP-IDNR. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1.1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. It can be tough to be a vegetarian. You have to work harder than everyone else to make sure youre getting all the nutrients your body needs. So, when its time to take a Jacobsen-Reiser, of Mandan, received her first set of beads as the result of arson; several storage units in her area were badly damaged. "A lot of people lost everything," she said. "I helped them clean up, practically blackened from head to toe with ash. ... I just wanted to be there for them." The owner of one storage unit told Jacobsen-Reiser she could take the beads that were in the back of the unit, if she could find them. "Jewelry fell right into my lap," she said. Her art, created under the business name Beading Yourself Up, is also reminiscent of an old passion of hers: doing macrame with the kids she tried to keep off the streets. "I had done jewelry years ago, back in Texas where gangs were pretty prevalent in my area," Jacobsen-Reiser said. Inspired by her mother, who taught immigrants English for nearly two decades, Jacobsen-Reiser decided there was a way she could help some of the children in her city through jewelry-making. "Often, there's no place for them to go," she said. "So I taught them how to macrame, sitting at my kitchen table, and it kept them out of trouble." Using stretchy cord, hemp and string, Jacobsen-Reiser and her adopted "children" would create necklaces and bracelets. "I had some parents who asked, for example, 'How did you get my son to sit down and make jewelry?' and I would always say, 'They came in themselves.' ... I told them I'd buy the materials if they would make the projects, and they did," she said. "We did make those projects." One of her success stories was a specific "problem child" she helped who is now a guitar player in New York. He has headlined for a few major bands, she added, but he hasn't stopped wearing the necklace they made together. "I had a lot of them who would call me mom," she said. "I even got one of them off heroin and to do beading instead." That passion, coupled with her inability to properly hold a pen for a while, turned into the art she makes today. "I love flashy, classy things," she said. "The flashier, the better." Still, her jewelry exhibits a wide variety of styles, incorporating everything from beads scrounged from antique stores to nut shells, turquoise and crosses. "If I don't like something I've made, it comes apart," Jacobsen-Reiser said. "I don't want to sell something I don't like or wouldn't wear." Her mother, Coliene Jacobsen, has seen rapid improvement over the past few months in her daughter's artistic skills. "It's good for her," Jacobsen said. "It calms her ... she does unique pieces and, every once in a while, she lets me choose ones I like." Her craft does have challenges at times, however. Whether that's customizing a bracelet for a customer's wedding or finding the perfect memorial pieces for a friend's late husband, Jacobsen-Reiser said she enjoys the test. "I'd say the most difficult thing is finding a bead I really like with no matching pieces for it and waiting for a combination to come to mind," she said. "It gets frustrating sometimes, but it's a challenge. And I think a lot of people would say, 'Oh, stringing beads isn't hard at all, because you just slap something together,' and I never do that ... everything has to work, has to sparkle." As for the process of making the jewelry, it's often about unique items and found pieces, even from her own backyard and in Jacobsen-Reiser's eyes, it's become an interdisciplinary form. "I had a math teacher tell me, 'Karra, you'll use math at some point in your life,' and I didn't believe him, but he was right," she said. "I mean, math in jewelry, of all places? I do use math every day, though, for bracelet sizing and pricing and counting beads. ... I think art has a lot of science to it, along with the bling." Should anything break, customers are welcome to bring it back to Jacobsen-Reiser for a free fix, she said. Recently, she's been experimenting with creating reversible pieces as well. "It's a two-for-one kind of deal," she said. "On a lot of my pieces, you can wear a glittery, opulent piece -- but when you turn your wrist over, the other side of the bracelet is simple and elegant." Jacobsen-Reiser has been able to bring the sparkle and glitter to her life in order to restore balance and make her happy, she said, but finding beads to do so can be tricky. "If I'm out and about, I might see a bead that strikes my fancy, but it has to be appealing and catch my eye to be something I'll use," Jacobsen-Reiser said. But overall, glam can be anything someone wants it to be, she said -- whether that's an arm cuff, an algae-themed bracelet with a whale, or a simple amethyst choker. "Jewelry is different, I'm different, and we're all different and different is good," she said. Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia Turkey's slain journalist Ugur Mumcu commemorated on 24th year of his killing - A + BirGun/Ankara Turkeys slain investigative journalist Ugur Mumcu was commemorated in front of his house in Ankara, where he was killed in a car bomb assassination on 24 January 1993. Along with Mumcus family and friends, several people, including representatives and members of civil society groups, journalists, parliamentarians, and politicians attended the ceremony. One of the most prominent journalists of his time in Turkey, Mumcu was especially keen in investigating radical Islam, corruption, as well as the Kurdish issue and the alleged ties of members of Turkeys intelligence and PKK. Mumcu was murdered in front of his house as his car loaded with explosives got detonated when he attempted to start it. Some groups, such as Islamic Liberation Organization, Raiders of Islamic Great Ease, and Islamic Jihad had claimed responsibility for the murder. And, former interior minister and police chief Mehmet Agar, who served jail time in connection to Susurluk case, had said about the assassination of Ugur Mumcu: If we take out just one brick, the whole wall would collapse. However, the case still remains unsolved after 24 years. His blasted car has been displayed in Ugur Mumcu museum in Eskisehir since last year. *** Commemoration ceremonies were also held by civil society groups in Istanbul and certain institutions are organizing seminars throughout the week on works of Mumcu, who was also a firm secularist following along principles of Turkeys founding president Ataturk. Mumcu's esteemed works that he left behind are still among the most significant sources sheding light on matters that are still relevant in today's Turkey. Source: http://www.birgun.net/haber-detay/ugur-mumcu-evinin-onunde-anildi-144357.html The Accra-based Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) has opened applications to entrepreneurs in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Ivory Coast to join its entrepreneurship programme and stand the chance of gaining funding of up to US$100,000. The latest MEST programme will begin in Accra in August, and will be the most pan-African yet, after it extended to accepting South African, Kenyan and Ivorian entrepreneurs over the last 18 months. Selected entrepreneurs will be exposed to new and diverse cultures, learn how to become globally competitive, and be eligible to receive seed funding of between US$50,000 and US$100,000 from the Meltwater Foundation. The entrepreneurs-in-training (EITs) who are accepted into MEST also receive perks that allow them to focus 100% on building globally successful software companies, such as accommodation for one year in Ghana, three meals a day, and a small monthly stipend. Applications are open here, with South African entrepreneurs required to apply by March 10. For those in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Ivory Coast, the deadline is May 10. Previous MEST entrepreneurs have developed solutions addressing local and global markets, received outside follow-on funding from global investors, and have gained admittance to top accelerator programmes, such as Y-Combinator, 500 Startups and Techstars. The Media Institute of Southern Africa in Malawi is disturbed by news of the closure of Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company (Times Group) offices by the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) over unpaid taxes. Image by 123RF The statement read: While MISA Malawi does not condone default on taxes, we strongly believe that the closure of Times Group is ill-timed and can easily be construed as an attempt by government to stop the media house from further publication of the 'maize gate' investigation specifically, and to silence critical voices generally. The issue of unpaid taxes could have been resolved through mutual business negotiations. The closure of Times Group comes less than a week after the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) sought an injunction restraining the media outlet from publishing stories on the 'maize gate'. The move by MRA (see MRA statement) will deny Malawians access to relevant information and is likely to tarnish the image of the Peter Mutharika administration. The move is also likely to affect the operations of Times Radio and Times Television, in addition to those of Times newspapers. MISA Malawi believes that the best approach would have been to engage the management of the Times Group and resolve the matter in an amicable manner: We therefore appeal to the MRA and President Mutharika to re-open Times Group offices and allow for a progressive means of resolving the tax matter. Such a move will help to clear the impression that government has started taking systematic steps to suffocate the media, thereby strangling our young democracy in the process. This statement was originally published on misa.org. KIGALI, Rwanda - More than 300 global and African thought leaders and youth agripreneurs will come together for The MasterCard Foundation's second Young Africa Works Summit on February 16-17, 2017, in Kigali, Rwanda. The event will spark new thinking on how Africa's growing youth population can transform the agricultural sector. Image by 123RF Fifty young people will also attend to share their perspectives on employment and self-employment in this sector. Africa is home to the world's youngest population with enormous potential to improve agricultural productivity and make the sector a viable source of employment for youth across the continent," says Ann Miles, director of Financial Inclusion and Youth Livelihoods, The MasterCard Foundation. "The 2017 Summit will highlight the contributions being made by young people to transform the agricultural sector from subsistence farming to a modern, competitive, sustainable, and equitable business." With 11 million young Africans entering the job market annually and the rapid expansion of the continent's agricultural sector, young people are driving the modernisation of agriculture through the use of innovative technologies and production systems. The need for agricultural transformation on the continent, however, has never been more pressing. The increasing severity of climate change is already amplifying existing stress on water availability and food security in many African countries. And a growing youth population means this group will be particularly vulnerable. Despite economic growth over the last 10 years, the continent has yet to experience the levels of agricultural productivity that historically paved the way to modernisation and industrialisation of middle and high-income countries. The agricultural sector, already the largest sector for employment in Africa, is expected to create eight million stable jobs by 2020 and offers tremendous promise for catalysing prosperity and creating sustainable livelihoods for young people. "Agricultural transformation is a clarion call for us, the youth of Africa," says Pilirani Khoza, founder of Bunda Female Students Organisation at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. "For decades, agriculture has continued to operate using the same static methods and technologies adopted by our forefathers. We must adopt the new technologies that are available to us. Youth are technological doers and thinkers, they are energetic and hungry for knowledge and they should be actively involved in transforming Africa." The recently appointed registrar and CEO of the Council of Medical Schemes (CMS), Dr Humphrey Zokufa, died on Sunday after a short illness. In a statement, minister of health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said: ""His death is a great loss to the health sector in general and the medical scheme industry in particular." "We struggled a great deal in getting the most suitable registrar for CMS and unfortunately now he is gone with the wealth of experience and skills he possesses." The Health Funders Association (HFA) also expressed its condolences, saying Zokufa had held a number of pivotal positions within South Africas healthcare sector, both public and private. Humphrey was an important figure in the private healthcare arena. The industry will be all the poorer for the loss of his wealth of experience and knowledge, said Lerato Mosiah, CEO of HFA, a recently-formed association representing the private healthcare funding industry. Zokufa was appointed as head of the CMS in September last year, replacing Dr Monwabisi Gantsho, who left amid allegations of corruption. Prior to taking up is current role, Zokufa was the CEO of The Board of Healthcare Funders. "He was a passionate proponent of a fair and equitable health system for all South Africans," the HFA statement said. The DA was sharply critical of Zokufa's appointment, saying:"It is improper and bad judgment for the minister of health, Aaron Motsoaledi, to place somebody who was part of representing the industry in this position to now play the role of regulator. "Of key concern is the fact that Dr Zokufa is openly sympathetic to the governments National Health Insurance (NHI), for which no legislation has yet been passed and for which there is no money. "We fear this could be another case of 'state capture', this time by Motsoaledi, to make sure that a person is in place to manipulate medical aid schemes and capture them for NHI purposes. We are further concerned that putting a private medical scheme industry lobbyist in charge of the regulator has the purpose of harming medical scheme coverage to justify a NHI tax." The CMS' chief financial officer Daniel Lehutjo will be acting registrar in the interim. Hangberg Pre-Primary School, situated in the Hangberg community of Hout Bay in Cape Town, opened its doors this month. Rotary Club am Kap, Cape Town's German-speaking Rotary Club, spearheaded the funding of the early childhood development centre and built the school together with the Hangberg Education Trust and with support from the Departments of Education and Transport and Public Works. The much-needed learning facility will provide guidance and care to 120 children. In attendance at the inauguration of the school were provincial minister of Transport and Public Works, Donald Grant and provincial minister of Education, Debbie Schafer. Both dignitiaries expressed their optimism at the potential of the school to ease the plight of the most vulnerable in the community. There are approximately 2900 school-going children and approximately 1200 pre-school children in the area with only two registered play schools catering for some 200 children. For many of the children, the streets are their playground. By the time the children enter school, many are struggling to cope. Raising funds through the global Rotary network When our club got approached by an NGO, the Hangberg Educational Trust (HET), we just loved their plans, says Rotary am Kaps Mike Schroder who was responsible for service projects. The problem was the funding: the total outlay of R5.7m initially looked very steep. But Rotary Club am Kap has well established contacts with several Rotary Clubs in Germany, and some of these had already been participating in educational projects within the Cape Town area. Rotary Club am Kap brought together four Rotary Clubs in Germany, namely the Rotary Clubs of Neuss, Germering, Landshut-Trausnitz and Eggenfelden-Pfarrkirchen. Together, just over R5,2m was raised to make this project reality of which just over R3,2m was raised by Rotary. The foreign Rotary organisations donated 200,000 with Rotary Club am Kap donating R350,000. Says Friedrich Schafer, president of Rotary Club am Kap, This project proves Rotary Internationals global impetus as a humanitarian service organisation, focusing on action and making a difference in the lives of people around the world. And we are very proud that we as Rotarians were able to harness this power. The Hangberg Educational Trust, which supports neglected pre-school children in Hangberg, Hout Bay, had strong support from the adjacent Sentinel Primary School as well as from the departments of Education and Public Works in approving plans to build the early childhood development facility. Hangberg Educational Trust founding member Marquerithe Schreuder says, "We saw that there was a big need in the community of Hangberg and we proceeded to found the Hangberg Education Trust (HET), from the community for the community. At Hangberg we are providing high quality education and this will make a huge difference to the lives of these children and their families. A self-sustainable school thanks to the power of the sun Construction of the school started in January 2016 and was completed in only eight months. The building is rather unusual: situated at the entrance to the Hangberg location, it is highly visible to the whole community and it stands out due to its shape - a double story in an L-shape - and the intense use of bright colours, which were taken from the local kingfisher bird. The building is environmentally friendly and built predominantly of timber rather than concrete or bricks. SolarWorld Africa donated a solar system that produces more power than it needs and thus is able to feed the excess power into the neighbouring Sentinel Primary School. The solar system includes 18 SolarWorld 255 Mono solar modules as well as the mounting structure. The solar system was installed by SolarWorld Africas partner, OneSolar who also donated the solar inverters. Gregor Kupper, SolarWorld Africas MD, said, It is an honour to contribute to a facility that promises to uplift the lives of young people in this community. And what a way for children and the community to see the positive effects of renewable energy first hand. Agriculture is the most important sector of African economies, from the livelihoods it supports to the future jobs it can generate. The basic recipe for boosting performance is well known: more investment, better access to financial services, improved seeds, and a lot more fertiliser (appropriately applied). What is less appreciated is the key role played by agricultural extension workers. They link small-scale farmers to new research, helping to improve their knowledge and skills so they can take advantage of market opportunities. In African countries prone to climate shocks, these extension workers have an increasingly important role to play if farmers are to learn to adapt and build their resilience. There's just one big problem: governments have tended to ignore extension work. "The extension service provider's role is enormous and urgent, especially as [the unpredictability of] climate change has brought a new dimension to agricultural research and development," Max Olupot, of the African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services, told IRIN. In addition, Qureish Noordin, from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), warned that climate variability is distorting "a huge portion of indigenous knowledge," making the design of "realistic and practical adaptation programmes" even harder. African agriculture, in general, is massively underfunded. In 2003, African governments agreed to the Maputo Declaration, committing 10 percent of spending to agriculture. But only 13 countries have ever managed to reach that target in any one year. Two decades of IMF programming had pushed governments to cut spending, diminishing the reach and quality of the assistance provided to small-scale producers. The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization recommends there should be one extension worker for every 400 farmers. In the rich world, the ratio is roughly one to 200, but in Africa, it's closer to one to 3,000, according to Noordin. The Kenyan example Kenya has the largest, most diversified economy in East Africa, and farming is its market-driven mainstay. In 2010, it adopted a new constitution supposed to devolve significant powers to county governments. But in reality, agricultural policy is still set at the national level and there is a complicated relationship with the counties over responsibilities for the day-to-day running and financing of services and programmes. Kakamega is a lush county in western Kenya, a seven-hour drive from Nairobi. More than 80 percent of its population is directly employed in the agricultural sector. The Kenyan government should be stepping up its help for farmers here, but since devolution there's been a drop in the number of extension workers employed. Currently, the ratio is roughly one to 3,000-5,000 farmers, according to Johnston Imbira, the county's director of agriculture. "The number has decreased due to officers retiring and exiting from the service since devolution," Imbira told IRIN. "There are no deliberate efforts to support day-to-day extension delivery as it does not appeal to the county legislators compared to roads, which are visible to the electorate [and are a vote-winner]." The county spends less than 4 percent on agriculture annually, despite the government's 10 percent target. "Expertise is dwindling," said Jacob Masimba, an extension research liaison and training officer. "There is no regular short course training, even with climate change." That's bad news for farmers like Harrison Wesa, a 63-year-old retired teacher who grows bananas on his irrigated, half-hectare plot. "We used to have monthly visitations by government officers," he told IRIN. "Today, you are lucky to be visited." Wesa was forced to abandon vegetable farming due to unpredictable rains and a rise in insect infestation. He soon found he was spending far too much on pesticides, pushed by agro-dealers out to turn a profit. With losses mounting, his son introduced him to the internet, where he soon found plenty of websites on banana production. "My challenge now is too much information that at times confuses me," he said. Noordin recognised this problem well. "Even if some farmer can download some of the information, they might require help to interpret some of the messages," he explained. Smartphone use is spreading, but not all small-scale farmers can individually afford the data charges for downloading YouTube videos on the latest techniques, few of which are in Kiswahilli, the most broadly spoken language in Kenya. New approaches But there are alternatives. In many countries, extension services are going through profound change, out of necessity. What used to be a centrally controlled, top-down model is increasingly more participatory, farmer-led, and market-orientated. Farm Africa is an international NGO that has been working with East African farming communities for decades. Its approach includes not only a farmer-to-farmer extension model in which "elite" farmers are trained and pass on the message to their peers but also partnerships with the private sector. Geoffrey Nyamota, Farm Africa's head of market engagement, explained how private businesses buying peas and beans are now providing extension services "directly to the farmers". "Public-private partnerships are a win-win," he told IRIN. "The government is happy, as they know their goals will be delivered on, the private sector is happy because they get the quality they need." Farm Africa has also tested mobile technology in Tanzania, with farmers viewing interactive training modules on tablet computers, as an alternative to traditional demonstration plots. It found that farmers trained using tablets were able to achieve similar increases in knowledge of sesame cultivation, but for about a third of the cost. And old-fashioned radio still has a role to play, acting as a "megaphone" for extension work. Typically, farmers group themselves into listeners' clubs and can call in or use SMS to participate in the FM programmes. And while some governments don't appear to be getting the message yet, Agriculture for Impact, an advocacy initiative, says a revitalised and expanded role for advisory and information services is now seen "as central to pro-poor agricultural growth". Read the original article on IRIN. Gov. Doug Burgum has rejected a plea by North Dakotas American Indian tribes to give them exclusive rights to host internet gambling and sports betting in the state. But Burgum did endorse the tribes appeal to lower the legal gambling age from 21 to 19 at American Indian casinos and to allow use of credit or debit cards to bet. The tribes asked Burgum to approve the gambling expansion under tribal-state agreements. The tribes wanted gamblers using mobile devices to place bets that would be funneled through computer servers on tribal land. Burgum says state law doesn't allow that. Africa has seen great economic growth over recent years and is expected to continue growing at an average rate of 6% annually, between 2013 and 2023. However, one thing that may hinder Africa's growth prospects is its lack of infrastructure. The absence of adequate infrastructure is said to cost Africa approximately two percentage points off GDP growth per year. Nearly three quarters of construction projects in Africa are simply not getting off the ground. Africa requires a mediator, and facilitator of business in this crucial area. Lack of funding is often cited as the biggest reason behind Africas infrastructure gap. According to the World Bank, Africa needs to spend about $93bn annually until 2020 to bridge its infrastructure gap. As daunting as that sounds, half of this amount is already being financed by African governments, multilateral and bilateral sources of finance and official development assistance. Europe is the biggest financier in Africa, funding more than $4bn annually to the continent. Crucially, as the second most attractive investment destination in the world, the continent has become an attractive market to private investors. Major challenges identified The answer to bridging the infrastructure gap in Africa does not therefore lie in identifying new sources of funding but rather in ensuring that planned projects are completed within reasonable timeframes. This will ensure that projects can start to deliver returns to their investors, helping to attract further investment in the future. We have learnt from challenges being experienced on current large infrastructure projects on the continent which has helped to identify the key areas to focus on to ensure success. These major challenges include a lack of policy frameworks for infrastructure projects, poor financing structures, weak contract and project management, as well as a lack of the necessary monitoring and evaluation throughout projects. In order to complete projects within the hotel and real estate space of infrastructure, IDE will be running three summits in Africa in 2017, in order to facilitate the completion of existing projects in Africa as well as encourage further development on the continent. Through its industry networks, global reach and regional African focus, IDE aims to create personal and business opportunities providing stakeholders with quality contacts, content and communities. Exclusive closed-door initiative What sets IDEs summits apart from other business events in Africa is that it is an exclusive closed-door initiative, meaning only vetted stakeholders can attend. IDE-Global will bring together over 200 industry experts including international and leading hotel and real estate owners, operators, developers, architects, interior designers, consultants and service providers. The summits in Africa will explore the exceptional opportunities the African market offers. In 2017, IDE will host the following summits to bridge the infrastructure gap in Africa: Hotelier Summit Africa (South), hosted in Johannesburg April Hotelier Summit Africa (North), hosted in Casablanca - October Design Mission Africa, hosted in Cape Town November Africa is facing a critical development phase and is on the eve of an economic explosion. Project completion is the key to unlocking Africas true economic potential. It can make both living and doing business in Africa less challenging. We look forward to facilitating this business in the region. SARS has again objected to evidence about its "rogue unit" being presented at the constructive dismissal hearing of its former spokesman, Adrian Lackay. Lackay left SARS in February 2015 amid a furore about the legitimacy of the unit and its activities that continues to stalk the revenue service's former top brass, including former commissioner and current Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Lackay, who worked for SARS for 11 years, took the taxman to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration alleging constructive dismissal. He wants the CCMA to order the service to pay him 12 months' salary in compensation. The hearing began yesterday with Lackay's lawyer, Paul Pretorius SC, sketching the "context" in which SARS operated at the time. He then introduced questions about the establishment and legality of the "rogue unit". Lackay is among former SARS employees who have said that the establishment of the covert unit was aboveboard and had ministerial approval. He said the unit was set up with the approval of Gordhan and of former finance minister Trevor Manuel. SARS lawyer Wisani Sibuyi objected when Lackay was asked if state security agencies were consulted when the unit was formed. Sibuyi objected to the questions on the formation and existence of the unit on the grounds that Lackay did not work for it. - Additional reporting by Sibongile Mashaba and Nelly Selepe Cities around the world are struggling to tackle the onslaught of technology. Accommodation is a big sector. Hotels contribute a significant amount towards municipality revenues in the form of special taxes and rates, i.e. bed tax. These industry players are being threatened by the likes of Airbnb which is flooding the with thousands of extra beds, with no direct tax payable to the municipality, and threatening the incumbent hotel players. Cities like Berlin and New York have responded by either banning Airbnb or capping the number of rooms that can be made available. This seems to be an old-school approach. Command and control. You cant command the internet. It's better to shape the energy and opportunities presented by companies such as Airbnb. The City of Cape Town will soon be faced with a dilemma of letting residents load their spare rooms on Airbnb, or conceding to hotel demands for a cap of beds or scrapping of bed taxes. An Airbnb model for emerging markets Instead of following the Berlin model of killing Airbnb, Cape Town can try something different. Rather request Airbnb to list three rooms in a poor community, Khayelitsha for example, for every one room listed in a wealthy suburb such as Sea Point. What this does is force an American company to assist the City is tackling a massive social problem - housing. Migrants from rural communities continue to flock to the metros for economic opportunity, but there are no efficient means for respectable landlords and tenants to find one another. Airbnb has solved that problem using the internet and reputation ratings. If Cape Town can use Airbnb to tackle housing shortages in poor communities and provide residents with additional rental income whilst increasing the availability of tourist accommodation, it will have created a model that Airbnb can replicate in emerging markets across the world. Its a win-win. Durban is rubbing its hands in glee at the prospect of raking in millions when the World Economic Forum Africa rolls into town in May. Sihle Zikalala, MEC for economic development, tourism, and environmental affairs, announced yesterday that the city would be hosting the money-spinning event from 3 to 5 May. oldeani0 via pixabay He predicted that direct revenue from hosting the event would be at least R63-million, with a total revenue of R155-million and the creation of more than 500 jobs. Zikalala accompanied the South African delegation led by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland last week. The Africa forum will see regional and global leaders from business, government, and civil society discuss the creation of economic opportunities for the continent. "The reason we have lobbied for WEF Africa to come to Durban is precisely because of its immense potential to enhance the brand equity of both the city and province," Zikalala said. He is hopeful that the WEF Africa will become a "permanent feature" in Durban. "The fact that it's WEF Africa does not only mean that people from Africa will be attending. We will be expecting delegates from other major countries and so we need to promote the city and South Africa." Zikalala said the forum would give the province a chance to "showcase" itself to investors, particularly in the manufacturing sector. James Seymour, head of the Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau, a special division of Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, said they would be exposing the province's tourism potential to the international business sector. "With regard to WEF Africa, it may be the only chance for international delegates from long-haul destinations to see Africa. They want to visit our game reserves and experience our culture." Source: The Times A modern version of the Maasai traditional dwelling, equipped with clean energy, is helping tribal women earn an income. In the late evening, Eunice Kaparo and Rosemary Nenini finish up their daily cleaning routine in the modern Maasai dwellings, or manyattas, owned by the Twala women's group. "This is elephant dung - they destroyed trees last night. They are such a nuisance, but we can't do without them since they attract tourists," said Nenini. The "eco-manyatta" she's tidying is an environmentally friendly version of a traditional Maasai one-room hut normally built with mud and wood. The eco-manyatta, a solid structure made of bricks and cement, comes equipped with a solar panel, a digester to produce biogas, a water harvesting tank, and a bathroom with a toilet. While maintaining the oblong shape of the traditional building, it is well-ventilated thanks to windows in the bedroom and sitting area. And solar power means it has lighting both day and night. "We also have enough time to attend to other chores since we don't have to go and look for firewood or fetch water, as we have a rain-harvesting tank and a biogas digester," said Nenini. Kaparo said the modern manyattas do not require frequent repairs, whereas traditional manyattas need a makeover every three months and suffer from leaks in the rainy season. Culture in comfort The Twala women's group has decided to add more eco-manyattas on its 40-acre (16-hectare) plot of land in Laikipia County in Kenya's Rift Valley, to expand tourism as a source of income, the two women said. Since they started welcoming guests in 2007, they have hosted close to 1,000 visitors, they estimate, and can now put up 12 people at a time in the manyattas they began building in 2009. Kenyans and foreigners are attracted by the opportunity to experience the Maasai tribal culture but cannot be accommodated in old huts due to smoke and poor ventilation, the women explained. Hosting tourists in the modern buildings allows them to gain an insight into the Maasai identity in comfort, they added. Nina Kosen Soila, managing director of Eco-Manyatta Afrika, the company that constructs the modern huts, said building one traditional manyatta requires three trees, excluding the wood used for repairs. This has had a negative impact on the environment, such as rivers drying up, partly due to deforestation, she added. But modern manyattas don't come cheap - including all the additional features, they cost $5,800 each. Kosen Soila admitted the price is quite high but said the company has come up with a way to ease the financial burden. "We accept payments in the form of bulls, since it's what the Maasais have in plenty," she said. "One mature bull can cost between $490 and $980, so with two bulls per year for a period of five years, a buyer will have cleared the balance." Building contractor Francis Njuki said the cost of the modern huts will be lower once there is skilled labour to do the work. He is currently training women and young people to bake bricks and put up the eco-manyattas. John Akaale, minister in charge of culture for the Laikipia County government, said Maasai community members needed to be sensitised to the benefits of the new houses since they are traditionally a nomadic, pastoralist people. But many families are now stationary since there is no longer enough grazing land to move around with animals, and children are required to attend school, he added. The modern manyattas can act as markers, shielding communities from losing their land even if they do move with their herds in search of pastures, he added. New hope for girls Johnson Sipitek of the African Conservation Centre, an NGO that is collaborating with Eco-Manyatta Afrika on the Twala project, said the green buildings would prove a cheaper option in the long run for pastoralists, as they can provide water for their animals. More donors should follow the example of the Netherlands and Britain, and fund eco-manyatta projects that help protect the local environment, he added, urging communities to pool their resources to start innovative projects like this that can boost their livelihoods. Akaale said commercial ventures, such as tourism, would give communities an alternative source of income, making them more resilient to severe droughts, which are expected to increase with climate change. Kosen Soila said the tourism business of the Twala women's group was bringing more money into the community - especially to the benefit of women, who are often married early and mostly do not own land - without altering the tribal culture. Local women are making profits, which they use mainly to cover household spending, she said. This can offer girls a different perspective on life, she added. With a higher income, their mothers can pay their school fees and avoid them being married off due to poverty. "It gives them hope for a better future," she said. Reporting by Benson Rioba; editing by Megan Rowling. Thomson Reuters Foundation. The cost of any type of theft is often a lot higher than just the value of the stolen goods. If your house was broken into, you would feel violated. While your insurance company would reimburse you for the items stolen, you might not have the same sense of security as you did before the break-in. Rancz Andrei via 123RF To feel more secure, you might invest in security system upgrades and even change your habits, like going out less often or not coming home in the dark. At the end of the day, you end up spending more and not necessarily just money in order to feel safe again. Corporate breaches are no different and the ripple effects of cybercrime are often more damaging than the actual theft of information. The loss of confidence both from your company and your customers make you overspend on security solutions, feel obligated to pay impacted suppliers and cause your customers to flee. Initial costs According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a data breach is $154 (R2,180) per record. With many incidents involving thousands or even millions of records, the average cost of a single breach is often in the region of $3.79 million. The initial splash costs of a breach when the stone first hits the water includes several direct expenses: The value of stolen intellectual property Downtime analysing, repairing and refortifying all compromised systems Checking all systems for additional infections Restoring systems from backups and checking backups for vulnerabilities Changing security procedures and training personnel on new safeguards Ripple costs The less obvious ripple costs, however, can quickly overshadow these direct costs, and include: Reputational damage: Brand value decreases 21% as a direct result of a security breach. Loss of business resulting from breach of trust: Research found that 73% of US customers switch their financial service provider due to personal data theft, and 44% of financial services companies reported business loss of 20% or more due to reputation issues. Knock-on attacks: People often use the same passwords to access different websites. Stolen passwords from one site are used in multiple breaches targeting other sites. Disruption caused to other businesses, such as suppliers and partners: In the case of critical infrastructure, if one grid goes offline, hundreds or thousands of businesses could be impacted in ways not easily quantified. In 2013, US retail chain Target suffered a data loss event in which 40 million debit and credit card records were stolen. Direct expenses added up to $248 million over two years but some sources estimate costs will exceed $2.2 billion when including losses from fraudulent charges, reimbursing suppliers, and penalties from class action lawsuits. The ripple effects to company reputation are difficult to estimate, but very real. If a company has strong customer support and handles the situation carefully, customers may be shaken but not leave. Holistic security approach Organisations can protect themselves by taking a holistic approach to security instead of patching together point solutions, and by focusing on threat prevention as opposed to threat detection and remediation. To further reduce risk, they should include data loss prevention in the security mix and use best practices when configuring security. When considering their cybersecurity goals, organisations should ask the following questions: Understand the situation: How confident are we that our cybersecurity is effective against zero-day threats? How well trained are my employees about cyber threats and the potential consequences of their actions? See whats coming: Do we have clear visibility of log activity in all of our network segments? Secure workloads not servers: Do the workloads I run in virtual, cloud and software-defined environments receive the same protections as workloads run in my data centre? Get prepared: Do the companys policies protect information and resources in all environments? How is the executive leadership informed about the current threat level and potential business impact of cyber-attacks? The volume of attacks and attack points requires complete visibility into operations and centralised security management, but not complete transparency. Security officers should be cautious about exposing protection methods or discussing attack details because when cybercriminals see where attacks have an impact, they adapt their tactics. Because of this, organisations especially financial institutions now share attack information through shared threat intelligence feeds. Since most hackers use the same successful attack methods against multiple victims, it increases their costs if a hack method only works once. The more expensive hacking is, the lower the number of hackers, making everyone safer. KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Malaysia-based AirAsia on Monday denied any connection to the corruption scandal engulfing Rolls-Royce, which reportedly paid millions of dollars in bribes to win contracts. Riyad Filza via Wikimedia Commons After its largest ever graft probe, Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) found Rolls-Royce paid massive bribes over three decades to win contracts in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Russia, Nigeria, China, and Malaysia. The SFO alleges that Rolls-Royce bribed an AirAsia Group executive with credits worth $3.2 million to be used to pay for the maintenance of a private jet. The SFO added that "this financial advantage" was given to the executive "in return for his showing favour towards Rolls-Royce in the purchase of products and services." AirAsia, which is the region's biggest budget carrier by fleet size, said it had done nothing wrong in purchasing the Bombardier Global Express private jet and that it had "gone through the due process and obtained the necessary approval." "We wish to state that at all material times, AirAsia has had no dealings or transactions with Rolls-Royce," AirAsia said. Earlier in January, Indonesia's anti-corruption agency named the former CEO of the country's flag carrier Garuda a suspect for allegedly receiving bribes from Rolls-Royce while he was head of the airline. In Thailand, investigators found some $36 million in bribes and incentives were paid between 1991 and 2005 to intermediaries - including "agents of the State of Thailand and employees of Thai Airways" - to help the company win lucrative jet engine deals. Rolls-Royce last week agreed to pay a $808 million fine to authorities in Britain, the United States and Brazil to settle bribery and corruption claims. Source: AFP In all modesty: Zainab Slemang van Rijmenant on the rise in modest fashion In the past few years, the world's runways beauty pageants and even the digital space have seen more and more women opting to go modest in their choice of clothing. It's been called a movement and been embraced by women for religious reasons and personal choice. Zainab Slemang van Rijmenant In 2016, modest wear gained so much traction that high-end fashion brands like Dolce & Gabbana launched modest fashion lines. We spoke to blogger, content creator, style curator and editor, Zainab Slemang van Rijmenant about her take on modest fashion and more. Modestly speaking about fashion What is your definition of modest fashion? What is your definition of modest fashion? Theres a misconception that modest fashion is oppressive but this couldnt be further from the truth. Modest fashion and choosing to cover your body, head, etc. is empowering. It provides you with the opportunity to be creative in your fashion choices without having your body sexualised because your clothing is too tight, too low-cut or too short. I also think that the term modest fashion is quite broad as it can be interpreted differently across religions and cultures, and even within them. Why do you think there has been a rise in modest fashion? Why do you think there has been a rise in modest fashion? Modest fashion isnt a trend. Theres been a growing demand for clothing that covers while still being fashionable. And it may not just be for religious reasons. Many girls and women (whether they are Muslim, Orthodox Jews, devout Catholics etc.) want to dress in a way that isnt revealing and why should they opt for less fashionable clothing just because they are covering up? Hijabi fashion and bloggers, and social media are massive forces behind the growth of modest fashion. There are so many modest styles or looks from office-appropriate and elegant evening wear to skater chic and everything in between, there are a variety of voices adding to the conversation. A young Muslim girl looking to dress modestly can now easily turn to Instagram, Snapchat or Google to find everyday looks that are modest yet still stylish. High-end modesty and the online modest fashion space How do you feel about high-end designer brands like Dolce & Gabbana entering the modest fashion landscape? How do you feel about high-end designer brands like Dolce & Gabbana entering the modest fashion landscape? When I first saw the D&G Ramadan and Eid collections, I was extremely happy that a designer brand was recognising the need for modest clothing at that level. I definitely think its a step in the right direction but I feel that its not groundbreaking in terms of fashion design in any way. Designers shouldnt simply look to emulate modest styles that are already widely available. They should incorporate the trends they are using in their other collections. I often see amazing trends that arent necessarily modest and have them made for myself in a way that I can wear them appropriately or incorporate them into my looks in a more modest way (it also helps that my mom is a dress designer). How do you think Instagrammers and digital influencers like HipsterHijabi and TheFrockNYC have contributed to the increase in popularity of modest fashion? How do you think Instagrammers and digital influencers like HipsterHijabi and TheFrockNYC have contributed to the increase in popularity of modest fashion? Theyve definitely given a voice and a face to a movement. Modest-wear and hijabi bloggers are driving an interest towards this type of product and how it can work for an individuals personal style, and big-name designers and companies are taking note. They see these bloggers followings and the need for clothing of this nature, and are starting to listen to their consumers, even collaborating with the influencers on lines. Modest fashion in SA Whats the state of modest fashion in South Africa? Whats the state of modest fashion in South Africa? I think modest fashion in SA has been around for a long time, especially when you consider the freedoms our constitution allows, and the diversity of people we have here. In the Mother City alone, the Cape Malay-Muslim community is huge and many of the girls and women in this community already dress modestly. In terms of mainstream exposure, the industry in South Africa is still quite niche but definitely growing. Organisations such as the Islamic Fashion & Design Council (IFDC), which has a South African chapter, modest bloggers like Veiled Beauty and Modest Fashion Blogger, and designers like Mod-ish and M Couture, are driving more interest towards it though. How much more exposure does modest fashion need in SA? How much more exposure does modest fashion need in SA? A lot more. Modest fashion bloggers have not been prominently featured in our news media and I think that should change. In the UK, modest fashion blogger/vlogger Dina Torkia has appeared in a campaign for YouTube and even designed her own range of scarves for Liberty Id love to see that happening with modest fashion and beauty bloggers in South Africa. Must have modest-wear What are some of your tips and tricks for dressing more modestly? What are some of your tips and tricks for dressing more modestly? Play with proportions. Try layering multiple items of clothing such as a silk slip dress with straps over a T-shirt or long-sleeved top, or pair a long dress with no sleeves with an oversized army jacket or shirt. Heels! Adding height to a layered look or when youre wearing oversized items elongates your figure and makes your look smarter. Invest in basics like long-sleeved tops, kaftans, scarves and cardigans. This is a fashion rule whether you dress modestly or not. However, I think for modest wear, its especially important to always have items you can layer over clothing thats more revealing. Find your signature style so you always have a go-to outfit. I cant stress this enough when youre running late or simply dont have the time to put together a whole look, this will be your saviour. I personally only wear black, white, grey and nude tones, and buy clothing in the same styles that I can mix and match easily. This helps me always look put-together without compromising on my modesty. My go-to items are: Black skinny or straight-cut pants and jeans A long black dress A good-quality shirt, preferably oversized A biker jacket Long-sleeved tees Heels a pair of biker boots, a strappy sandal and a court shoe with a height youre comfortable walking in can all be worn with different looks A patterned oversized summer scarf. What are some of your must-have modest-wear items? What are some of your must-have modest-wear items? At the moment, I love all things oversized and shirting. Ive had a few shirts made with bell-sleeves that are slightly longer that wrist-length, which pairs amazingly well with boyfriend jeans, skirts or even thrown over a long dress. I also borrow a lot from my husbands closet his shirts and tops are about three sizes too big for me but I pair them with smart trousers, jeans or a skirt. I particularly like wearing his shirts backwards with the collar up and the back tucked in on one side again, playing with proportions so you dont look too frumpy. For more on Zainabs take on fashion and style, check out her blog or follow her on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. SAN FRANCISCO: Apple sued Qualcomm, accusing the California chipmaker of abusing its market power to demand unfair royalties, echoing charges filed days earlier by US antitrust regulators. Tech giant Apple said in the court filing that it has been overcharged "billions of dollars" by its chipmaking partner's "illegal scheme." The company also claimed Qualcomm owes it a billion dollars but is refusing to pay in retaliation for the iPhone maker's cooperating with South Korean antitrust regulators looking into the chipmaker's actions in that country. "For many years Qualcomm has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with," Apple said in an email statement. "To protect this business scheme Qualcomm has taken increasingly radical steps, most recently withholding nearly $1 billion in payments from Apple as retaliation for responding truthfully to law enforcement agencies investigating them." Qualcomm rejected Apple's claims at baseless, contending the iPhone maker "intentionally mischaracterised" agreements as well as the value of the company's technology. "Apple has been actively encouraging regulatory attacks on Qualcomm's business in various jurisdictions around the world... by misrepresenting facts and withholding information," Qualcomm general counsel Don Rosenberg said. "We welcome the opportunity to have these meritless claims heard in court." The suit charges Qualcomm of building a business model on using its rights to older, legacy technology considered telecommunication industry standards to raise royalties when Apple innovates with features such as TouchID fingerprint recognition or digital wallets in mobile devices. "Despite being just one of over a dozen companies who contributed to basic cellular standards, Qualcomm insists on charging Apple at least five times more in payments than all the other cellular patent licensors we have agreements with combined," Apple said. Apple noted in the suit that Qualcomm's business practices have come under scrutiny by antitrust regulators in an array of countries for selling its smartphone chipsets only to makers agreeing to its "preferred license terms" for essential mobile telecom patents. Apple asked for a jury trial, and for damages including Qualcomm paying the company what it owes plus giving up excessive royalties it has raked in. Qualcomm did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment. The Apple filing came three days after the US Federal Trade Commission filed suit in federal court in California claiming Qualcomm abused its market power in as part of its "unlawful maintenance of a monopoly in baseband processors," which are devices that enable cellular communications in phones and other products. Qualcomm rejected the agency's case as "significantly flawed", arguing that reasoning at the heart of the civil complaint is wrong. South Korea's anti-trust watchdog last month slapped Qualcomm with a record fine exceeding $850 million for abusing its dominant market position as a maker of baseband chipsets used in mobile phones. Apple relies on Qualcomm for chip-based modems that enable iPhones and iPads to communicate with telecommunication networks. Apple undoubtedly knows of the antitrust tide rising against Qualcomm and would like to help provide room for rival chipmakers to flourish, perhaps letting Intel improve its position, according to analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights and Strategy. "I think Apple is not comfortable in feeling that they have only one source and are taking this opportunity to go after Qualcomm," Moorhead said, referring to the mobile device modems. "Qualcomm is being looked at on every continent on the planet; this is probably, strategically, the right time for Apple to do this." While the legal case alleges exclusionary contracts and the idea of being overcharged for licensing, it may well be powered by Apple wanting to ramp up competition to Qualcomm so it can negotiate better deals, the analyst said. Modem chips are separate from processors that act as the brains or graphics engines for mobile devices. Source: AFP Ford has deliberately obstructed the police investigation into the Kuga fire that killed Reshall Jimmy, the investigating officer charges. Constable Thembekile Matwa made the claim in an affidavit handed to the Cape Town High Court yesterday. The affidavit was sworn in response to Ford's urgent High Court application for an order giving it access to evidence in the inquest docket on 33-year-old Jimmy's death. In its affidavit, Ford said the police and Jimmy family had deliberately thwarted it in its investigation into the cause of the fire. The evidence the company wants to see includes video footage of Jimmy's burning car. Jimmy was burnt to death in December 2015 while on holiday in the Wilderness, in Western Cape, when his 2014 1.6-litre Kuga caught alight. In his affidavit Matwa says that, despite Ford representatives signing agreements to share information - including forensic reports, wiring schematic diagrams, vehicle service history job cards and registered complaints from Jimmy to Ford about his vehicle - the company had refused to do so. He said throughout his investigation he had found Ford's "conduct obstructionist". He said that when Ford's fire inspector, Anthony Young, inspected Jimmy's car on 20 January last year, he had pointed to two wires under the dashboard on the passenger side of the vehicle and said there had been "arcing" between them. He said police fire investigators and Jimmy's car insurance company had agreed with Young. "When I requested Young's report from Ford I was told that he had not provided it. I contacted Young and asked him about his report. He said he had given [Ford] the report on 17 February 2016." He said when he phoned Ford again he was told that the company was now "perusing it". Matwa said that soon afterwards a senior Ford employee asked him for his commander's number. "My commander then told me that Ford wanted a third inspection of the car. I told my commander that if they gave me their report it will place me in a position to consult all role-players." He said the only report he got was a preliminary one and a letter requesting another inspection of Jimmy's car. "I have received the police and insurance forensic reports but up to this day I have not received the photographs and report by Young. The investigation is complete in all respects, except for the absence of the reports of Young. "I have also not received the report from the third inspection done by Ford on 5 December 2016." Matwa, who said Ford did not ask him for the inquest docket until November, said the company was wrong in laying the blame at the door of the police for not giving information to the company. "All along I took the view that Ford must provide the outstanding reports to place the police in a position to obtain all the information and present the docket to the prosecuting authorities to proceed with an inquest. "I made formal requests for these reports but received no responses to these requests ... notwithstanding that Young signed an undertaking of collaboration. "It is in the public interest that Ford submit the information, especially the information concerning the schematics of the burnt vehicle and Young's report." Since Jimmy's death, 51 other Kugas have caught alight across South Africa. Two others have caught fire in Botswana and Swaziland. Jimmy is the only motorist to have died in the fires. Ford claims all the fires other than that which killed Jimmy were caused by the vehicles' faulty coolant systems. The global carmaker claims Jimmy's fire started at the back of his vehicle, but it has been unable to explain the blaze. Jimmy's family, the police and private forensic and insurance fire investigators believe the fire was caused by an electrical fault behind the dashboard on the passenger side of his vehicle. LOME, Togo Microsoft and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, parent company of pan-African banking group Ecobank, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to complement African governments' efforts to modernise and raise the standards of the continent's major cities through state of the art digital solutions. Ade Ayeyemi, CEO Ecobank Group (left); Amr Kamel , General Manager, Microsoft (right); Richard Uku, Directeur de la Communication, Groupe Ecobank (centre). The MOU will see the modernisation of sectors that will have the most immediate and significant impact for African countries. These sectors will include bursary disbursements and school fee collections in the education sector; market shop and small vendor municipality collections, vehicle and driving licensing as well as eVisa and ePassport fee collections. The agreement also supports the implementation of a comprehensive e-skills and a digital literacy programme. Other key areas such as land registration and fee collections in the municipal and hospital services are all expected to see some tremendous modernisation. The collaboration ensued from increasing pressure on African cities due to urbanisation and the need to provide services that will ensure a healthier and safer environment, delivered in a fair, open and sustainable manner. "At Microsoft, our aim is to help societies digitally transform, from the single consumer to entire government departments," said Amr Kamel, general manager, Microsoft. "Any nation properly supported by technology can transform into an intelligent ecosystem, capable of engaging with its citizens, empowering employees and optimizing operations to vastly improve lives." As a means of ensuring the effective modernisation of key areas in government, Microsoft and Ecobank will collaborate in sharing best practice and technical guidance to government workers or citizens who will be using the applications regularly. Ecobank Group CEO Ade Ayeyemi said: "Microsoft is a globally recognised brand. We are delighted to partner with Microsoft to move faster on our digital transformation strategy- the main focus of which is to increase financial inclusion in Africa." Ringier Africa Digital Publishing (RADP) further expands its news and media portfolio in Africa with the launch of Business Insider , the digital news brand for the global business community, for Sub Saharan Africa. Tony Elumelu is on the cover of Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa The digital edition leads with an exclusive interview with Tony Elumelu, who the newly launched editorial team for Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa met with at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Elumelu, recognised as one of the continents most dynamic business leaders and philanthropists, is chairman of the Board of Heirs Holdings, the United Bank for Africa and Transcorp, and founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa will be operated by RADP under its new media brand, Pulse. It will cover business news, enterprise, finance, politics, and technology from across the continent and beyond. The digital outlet debuted on existing Pulse platforms, in West Africa on 23 January, with more to come soon. The Africa-focussed business title has secured an impressive roster of leading and authoritative African commentators, including Bright Simons, Ethel Cofie and Herman Chinery Hesse. In addition to business and lifestyle stories from the continent, Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa will feature news highlights from around the world. The publication, which is part of the Axel Springer family, is the largest business news site in the US and one of the fastest-growing news brands in the world. Collectively, the Business Insider network of sites reaches well over 100 million unique monthly visitors across all platforms. RADP and its Pulse brand is Africas leading Pan-African digital content publisher, which includes Mens Health, and Womens Health in West Africa. Ringier Africa and Asia CEO, Robin Lingg says: With the launch of Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa, we are giving African leaders a trustworthy, informed and reliable voice and platform. Africa is one of the worlds most buoyant and innovative emerging markets. Such a time in the continents history necessitates the savvy, sharp and analytical news commentary that is Business Insiders hallmark. We are looking to make a significant impact in the continents business narrative by bringing smart, straightforward news to the African marketplace, with commentary from political heavyweights and African leaders and business innovators, whose collective insight will be instrumental in telling the African business story from inside. Ringier Africa GM, Leonard Stiegeler says: RADP and Pulse have an unparalleled reputation for quality content in various fields across many digital and social platforms. We believe Business Insider will complement our coverage for our audience in Africa, whose reach now numbers in the millions. We are happy to add quality business journalism that faithfully reflects and records whats happening within and outside the continents business sector. Said Henry Blodget, Global Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Business Insider: Were thrilled to launch our 15th version of Business Insider in Africa an incredibly exciting and fast-growing market. Ringier has a deep understanding of the digital space and is the ideal partner to help us bring to Sub Saharan Africa Business Insiders unique voice and attitude. Betsy DeVos, whom Donald Trump has nominated as education secretary, doesnt know basic education terms, doesnt know about federal statutes governing special education, but thinks school officials should carry guns to defend against grizzly bears. Monica Crowley, selected as deputy national security adviser, withdrew after it was revealed that much of her past writing was plagiarized. Many other national security positions remain unfilled, and its unclear how much if any of the briefing materials prepared by the outgoing administration have even been read. Meanwhile Rex Tillerson, selected as secretary of state, casually declared the United States would block Chinese access to bases in the South China Sea, apparently unaware that he was in effect threatening to go to war if China called his bluff. Do you see a pattern here? It was obvious to anyone paying attention that the incoming administration would be blatantly corrupt. But would it at least be efficient in its corruption? Many Trump voters certainly thought they were choosing a smart businessman who would get things done. And even those who knew better may have hoped that the president-elect, his ego finally sated, would settle down to running the country or at least delegate the boring business of governing America to people actually capable of doing the job. But its not happening. Trump hasnt pivoted, matured, whatever term you prefer. Hes still the insecure, short-attention-span egomaniac he always was. Worse, he is surrounding himself with people who share many of his flaws perhaps because theyre the sort of people with whom he is comfortable. So the typical Trump nominee, in everything from economics to diplomacy to national security, is ethically challenged, ignorant about the area of policy he or she is supposed to manage and deeply incurious. Some, like Michael Flynn, Trumps choice as national security adviser, are even as addicted as their boss to internet conspiracy theories. This isnt a team that will compensate for the commander in chiefs weaknesses; on the contrary, its a team that will amplify them. Why does this matter? If you want a model for how the Trump-Putin administration is likely to function (or malfunction), its helpful to recall what happened during the Bush-Cheney years. People tend to forget the extent to which the last Republican administration was also characterized by cronyism, the appointment of unqualified but well-connected people to key positions. It wasnt as extreme as what were seeing now, but it was striking at the time. Remember Brownie, youre doing a heck of a job? And it caused very real damage. In particular, if you want some notion of what Trump governance is likely to look like, consider the botched occupation of Iraq. People who knew anything about nation-building werent wanted; party loyalists and corporate profiteers took their place. Theres even a little-known connection: Betsy DeVos brother, Erik Prince, founded Blackwater, the mercenary outfit that, among other things, helped destabilize Iraq by firing into a crowd of civilians. Now the conditions that prevailed in Iraq blind ideology, contempt for expertise, effective absence of any enforcement of ethics rules have come to America, but in a far more acute form. And what will happen when we face a crisis? Remember, Katrina was the event that finally revealed the costs of Bush-era cronyism to all. Crises of some kind are bound to occur on any presidents watch. They appear especially likely given the crew thats coming in and their allies in Congress: Given the stated priorities of the people about to take charge, we could very well see collapsing health care, a trade war and a military standoff with China just in the next year. But even if we somehow skirt those dangers, stuff always happens. Maybe there will be a new economic crisis, helped along by the rush to undo financial regulation. Maybe there will be a foreign affairs crisis, say over adventurism in the Baltics by Trumps good friend Vladimir. Maybe it will be something were not thinking about. Then what? Real crises need real solutions. They cant be resolved with a killer tweet, or by having your friends in the FBI or the Kremlin feed the media stories that take your problems off the front page. What the situation demands are knowledgeable, levelheaded people in positions of authority. But as far as we know, almost no people meeting that description will be in the new administration, except possibly the nominee for defense secretary whose nickname just happens to be Mad Dog. So there you have it: an administration unprecedented in its corruption, but also completely unprepared to govern. Its going to be terrific, let me tell you. After consulting with the global digital agency, Wunderman for six months, Haydn Townsend has been appointed as its group chief executive in South Africa. Townsend is to supervise all of Wunderman's operations in the country including Wunderman-owned companies like Aqua, Applogix, Base Two and Cerebra. Townsend obtained a bachelor's degree in psychology along with a chartered marketer qualification from the Graduate School of Marketing and a postgraduate diploma in advertising from AAA School of Advertising. Townsend has more than 20 years of experience in marketing communications having worked at agencies like Ogilvy Johannesburg, The Jupiter Drawing Room and Trinergy Brand Connectors and he even launched his own agency, Pangea Ultima. Open letter to Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven. On Wednesday, Jan. 11, a measure by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, which would have allowed pharmaceutical distributors and pharmacists to import low-cost medicine from Canada, was defeated by a vote of 52-46 with 13 Democrats voting against. 13 Republicans supported the measure. The typical excuse legislators offer for voting against less expensive drug importation from Canada is that Canada does not offer American safety standards. Interestingly, none of those legislators has ever pointed to a safety problem with drugs used in Canada. Additionally, most of the drugs that would be imported from Canada were originally manufactured in the United States; theyre just cheaper there because the Canadian government uses a review board and price negotiation to make drugs more affordable. According to a 2015 Kaiser poll, roughly 72 percent of Americans support pharmaceutical importation from Canada. Even Donald Trump backs it. And yet, some Democrats have continually sided with Republicans who want to block importation. Both of North Dakotas senators voted against lower drug costs for North Dakotas citizens. Two questions for Sens. Heitkamp and Hoeven: How much did you receive in campaign donations from the pharmaceutical industry in 2016? Why did you vote against lower drug prices for North Dakotans? If you used the safety excuse, please point to an example of a drug issue in Canada. [Comment: On African Revolutions] The revolutions sweeping over the Middle East and North Africa continue to be of tremendous inspiration to people everywhere. Africa is hard hit by many shameless tyrants and closet dictators who are just as bad. It is time to turn things upside down, and sooner is better. African chants and slogans will be slightly different from those in the Middle East in order to reflect the African reality. To be more precise, there should be strong emphasis on the urgent need for leaders and those led to end deadly games of ethnic and sectarian politics if inclusive national movements are to flourish. The discredited African warlord, Laurent Gbagbo, is bound to face a more unified, national resistance as more and more Ivorians begin to question his ethnic and xenophobic politics which are tearing the nation apart. Gbagbos Ivory Coast represents the worst part of African politics indicative of Rwanda in 1994. Like Eritreas Isaias Afewerki, Gbagbo has created a new privileged class of blind worshipers and greedy supporters --new "tribe," if you will-- who hate democratic change. Isaias and other African dictators are looking closely at Gbagbo and Gaddafi's plans on how to crush peaceful protests and turn them into civil wars in order to stay in power. But that is also how these dictators often end up in exile or imprisonment for life. The Egyptian, Tunisian and Libyan strongmen had outlawed freedom of expression and assembly. The protesters knew they would be shot and killed if they marched in the streets. Security forces murdered scores of peaceful demonstrators right away in Tunis, Cairo and Tripoli as a means of scare tactic. Such move only emboldened the protesters. For the of the demonstrators to rise above religious, ethnic and political differences and the readiness to sacrifice their lives for the benefit of all is an amazing mindset requiring strong faith and adherence to higher ideals. The last words I once heard on TV from a dying protester in a Cairo street were Victory and Allah O Akbar. Regardless of what others think and understand of death or God, it is clear that this Egyptian patriot died a happy, heroic death believing his compatriots will one day attain their freedom and dignity. Historians and activists will be analyzing the key components of the North African and Middle East revolutions. My position is that in addition to the careful pre-uprising planning and preparation by youth ring leaders, the protesters deep faith in God/Allah played an important role in overcoming fear as the security forces opened fire on them with the aim to kill or maim. An individual who decides to be guided by such values is unlikely to be afraid of what tyrants and their agents may do to him or her. It is also true that we cannot effectively fight for liberty and justice unless we are first armed with higher moral and ethical principles. In tyrannized Eritrea, the regime manages and controls all places of faith; and the youth in the trenches or in schools pay heavy price if found carrying a Bible or Koran for meditation or inspiration purposes. The regime needs mindless zombie-like creatures with free muscles to build infrastructures to consolidate repressive state apparatus. It is morally and legally unacceptable for Western gold mining companies such as Canadas Nevsun to exploit Eritrean slave labor. These companies are well aware that the Eritrean regime relies on public servitude for survival. Each revolution is unique. The initial Eritrean uprising may or may not start out of Sundays Church services or Fridays Mosque prayers. But it sure will begin in the blessed hearts and minds of millions of Eritreans everywhere; be it in the trenches, army barracks, in schools and colleges, families, mosques and churches. Revolutions are first fought and won in the hearts and minds of millions of citizens. The rest is easy. "Speaking Truth To Empower." Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION Two of the countrys biggest lenders- Standard Chartered Bank Botswana and First National Bank Botswana - are expected to report dampened financials because of BCL closure. The commercial banks, which have a combined market value of more than P10 billion have already raised red flags ahead of their full and interim results respectively. The oldest bank in the country, Standard Chartered, has told its shareholders that the full impact of the liquidation of BCL group on the 2016 financial performance of the Bank is still being determined. The bank, which is headed by Moatlhodi Lekaukau, is expected to report full year results in the coming months. It has warned shareholders to exercise caution until the results are announced. Botswana Guardian could not establish the full exposure of the BSE quoted-company as they are in closed periods which limit comments on operations for the period (2016). BCL has been put under liquidation due to pressures from inside and outside their sphere of control such as weak commodity prices in the global market. Government appointed liquidator of BCL mine, Nigel Dixon-Warren told the press on Tuesday that the mine cannot be saved. It can only be stripped and sold in parts or wholly as early as July this year. Suitors have already lined in to get assets of the decades-old copper mine. The mining group owes creditors more than P1 billion. Meanwhile, Standard Chartereds peer, FNBB has also told its investors that they have determined the full impact of the closure of BCL mines. A cautionary statement signed by acting Chairman, John Macaskill and Chief Executive, Steven Bogatsu, says the full details of the impact will be made public when the bank releases its interim results to December next month(February). The bank, which is a unit of South African banking group, FNB has also told shareholders to tread carefully when dealing with its shares at Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE). Meanwhile, Barclays Bank Botswana appears to be the only creditor that is smiling all the way to the bank. In March 2016, the listed bank which traces its origins from Britain bailed out BCL to the tune of $100million (about P1 billion). The loan fortunately was guaranteed by the government who is the sole shareholder of the BCL mine. Botswana Guardian reported last week that government has since paid back the loan, citing various sources close to the deal. Secretary for Development Budget in the (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development), Cornelius Dekop confirmed that indeed government in its capacity as the mine owner and guarantor has paid the facility that the bank advanced to the BCL mine. We settled the principal amount in full at the end of December 2016. Originally, we have been contractually obligated to pay interest as BCL failed to do so before they were put in provisional liquidation, Dekop was quoted saying. The switching of political parties has increasingly become the dominant feature in the Botswana political arena. We continue to witness political defections of activists from one party to the other with surprising alacrity. This article endeavors to analyse this experience of political deviance in conjunction with the theory of prevailing politics in Botswana. I have written this article in reminiscence of revolutionary political study circles of the International Socialists Botswana. The jibe of this article is to a relative extent, preoccupied with the individuals who held key leadership positions during their reign in the opposition and also played active role in frontal attack of BDP political ideology. Their energetic function in the legitimisation, championing of opposition politics and contestation of the BDP rule portrayed them as individuals who had conformed to the opposition out of morality and social conscience, and not coercion. Such individuals attracted accolades like party firebrands and political stalwarts whilst in the opposition. It would seem to me that to be showered with such praiseworthiness, one would have gone through a thorough initiation of political consciousness for his or her in-depth clarity regarding fundamental ideological differences between adversarial parties i.e. BDP vis a vis Opposition. On the contrary, we are experiencing a different situation. The then political deviants have switched their political conviction as if they had never pioneered opposition politics. They behave as if the social and economic underpinnings of the poor and disadvantaged have all of a sudden evaporated. The former so called opposition firebrands have chosen to ignore the appalling misery and poverty affecting the majority of Batswana. Whilst, it has been established that the BDP uses utilitarian power (use of money) for its recruitment drive, it is also evidently clear that the opposition activists have become calculative on incentives they perceive to gain for having to jump into the BDP bandwagon. The truth is that these political defectors have been blinded by their opportunistic greed and immorality that they are so determined to worm their way into the BDP`s ruling liberal social clique to the extent of even being used as victims to be saved and liberated by the BDP superior leadership. In return the BDP superiors fashionably use these economically-marginalised peasants to robotically propagate the BDP government palliative programs which are only useful in curing the symptoms of poverty and not the root causes of poverty. Yet the socio-economic status of majority of these opportunistic defectors has not changed much. The only jobs these poor ignoramuses can find include; mowing the lawns of the privileged, picking up their garbage, unplugging their sinks, transporting and delivering so many of their expensive lifestyle furniture, being nominated as specially elected councilors, getting appointed as campaign managers and serving as public - rally rousers. This new political sensibility ultimately expresses and celebrates a paradoxical lifestyle of self interest. Defectors to BDP from opposition are victims of opportunistic ignorance. In their inquisitive spirit of idle curiosity, they juggle political interests for economic goals. By abandoning sympathy of the poor in preference of ascribing themselves to the ruling class, these former opposition leaders have been mystified into conforming enthusiastically to a political system that exploits and their instincts have been contaminated by their vile selfish-interests. The main reason why we are experiencing this hype of political deviancy is that our politics has become stagnant and is going through a process of degeneration and pollution because all parties are trying to find the cheapest way of galvanising the electorate. The increasing lack of political education and clarity across parties, especially over where they stand on fundamental economic issues and the well being of the electorate at large, suggest that they have all succumbed to the temptation of playing for short-term gains. Sadly, Botswana politics have been subjected to cheap phrase-mongering election cry for winning common people votes. For a fact the BDP state does not have much that it can deliver to the masses. BDP is a party which is not truly serious about using the state as a means of improving the well being of Batswana. The party has failed to ensure ample economic opportunities for Batswana to live a happy and a poverty free life. Its perverse backwash of welfare colonialism has specialised in sustaining poverty and preventing personal autonomy of Batswana. After half a century of its rule, majority of Batswana are either unemployed or underemployed, underpaid and overexploited. The BDP leadership has demonstrated how violent and cruel they are. Their use of police brute force to donkey - whip young graduates with sjamboks for their rightful demand of job security, and the closure of Tati Nickel and BCL Mines in the most unscrupulous fashion, are recent cases in point. In a nutshell, BDP`s empty slogan DOMKRAG accurately defines its identity. Conversely, the Botswana opposition lacks the utmost thoroughness in giving true answers to the concrete political crisis brought by BDP. It seems the compulsions and imperatives of finding alliances (UDC+) have become the only alternative driving choice rather than considered political convictions of opposition parties. Some of the leadership in the opposition are allegedly questioning and considering to turn their back on their party`s best instincts, and willing to sacrifice their party`s long-term political and economic interests for short-term gain. In essence they seek to uproot working class politics from opposition. By so doing the opposition will have resolved to launch a ferocious ideological offensive against the oppressed and to assert that capitalism is a natural and permanent form of society. This does not augur well for Botswana politics. The abandonment of working class politics by opposition will be to drift into the morass of unbelievably disgraceful confusion in the preference of bourgeois democracy. The working class does not only possess a numerical muscle in terms of voting power, but they are the most oppressed and enslaved people under BDP rule. Their miserable condition is the most justification for regime change and therefore it will be disappointingly and flippantly scandalous in the increasing monstrous oppression of the working class by BDP if the Opposition can choose to be opportunistic. Truth of the matter is that the Opposition describes its politics in a liberal pompous fashion and most of the time without content. The political agitation adopted by opposition exposes its fear to break irrevocably with the petty - bourgeois democracy and therefore countering BDP in a spirit of sentimental romanticism. Practically, the opposition seems to have accepted that BDP must be overthrown but emotionally being attracted by its predatory bourgeois democracy and its perpetual exploitation of the poor. Yet to prune politics to such an extent means to reduce it not only to opportunism, but to ram it into public`s perception in the most shallowest form and therefore imperceptibly falsifying the opposition core political programme: social democracy. This character of politics has consequently resulted in the opposition adoption of the tactics of despair in providing alternative solutions to the prevailing conditions bedeviling the masses. The approach has blunted and vulgarised the politics of opposition in that they now push to the foreground and extol what appears to be the same BDP political agenda the neo-liberal utopia. To put it in Karl Marx words such a panegyric is by no means a mere impulse, a mere declamation, or a political sally. It is a folly of despair. This has consecutively caused the state of Botswana political arena to smack of nothing but venal political opportunism and atrocious vulgarism. No wonder all parties across the political divide do claim to be in alliance with tenants of social democracy. The failure to adopt the revolutionary boldness by Opposition will cost them a prolonged struggle against the BDP because it now increasingly becomes difficult for the electorates to gauge the difference between opposition and BDP. This even creates a potentially disastrous uncertainty about the future of regime change. For it to appeal in a more resounding way, Opposition has to instill into the minds of the masses, that it is really capable of realising the interests of Batswana, especially the working class and peasants. Opposition politics should mark a new and qualitatively different stage of human development as the question of bringing about a new regime that is capable of serving the exploited instead of exploiters is acquiring practical importance. This requires the opposition to introduce political education that will strip its members of every shadow of ideological ignorance. The opposition should demonstrate the stronger will, the greater organisation and the most skilful and resolute leadership to deal with the concrete crisis emerging under BDP rule so as to compel the electorates to recognise that indeed the era of regime change has set in. Agencies that keep an eye on snowpack and flood potential are issuing reports this week to help North Dakota prepare for possible high water in the spring. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reported Tuesday that snowpack above Garrison Dam is 110 percent of normal in the plains drainage region and 78 percent of normal in the mountain drainage region further west. The agency also says its reservoirs are at full flood control capacity. The National Weather Service Bismarck office will release its first seasonal flood outlook Friday based on current snowpack and long-range information from the Climate Prediction Center. NWS hydrologist Allen Schlag said Fridays flood outlook will be no surprise to anyone with an eye on snow conditions now at 57.3 inches at Bismarck and will show a normal to above normal risk of flood in some areas. He said there will be some high water, but its too soon to say where and how high. Id be surprised if we make it through spring without at least some minor flooding. Its too far out to say anything about a major flood, Schlag said. The Bismarck office predicts flood potential for the Knife, Heart, Cannonball and James rivers, as well as Beaver Creek and the Souris River Basin. The Missouri River is predicted to flood at Williston because of the Yellowstone River confluence, but not Bismarck because of the influence of Garrison Dam operations, Schlag said. These are still early days, considering that March has the most snowfall of any month in North Dakota and conditions can change quickly. Snowfall to date is in the range of other record-setting years. Schlag said there is no significant snowfall in the 10-day forecast, while the Climate Prediction Center is predicting a spring cooler and wetter than normal, the after-effect of the LaNina weather pattern that will dissipate in February. Recent foggy conditions are the result of moisture evaporating from the snowpack, and Schlag said hes gotten anecdotal information that the ground is not deeply frozen under the snow and a slow melt could put some of that water into the soil instead of the rivers. Schlag said that, after Friday, the next seasonal flood outlook will be provided Feb. 16 and again in early March. January is traditionally a time for looking ahead and setting out a vision for the year. For some of us, our goals may be simple more time with family, lose weight, travel or study. For politicians however, sometimes the vision encompasses a major or historic change in international relations. UK Prime Minister Theresa May gave a much anticipated speech on 17 January in London in which she set out 12 objectives for negotiating Brexit, the UKs exit from the EU, as well as the new, positive and constructive partnership she is seeking between the UK and the European Union. These objectives were: certainty, control of our own laws, strengthening the Union, managing the Common Travel Area with Ireland, control of immigration, rights for EU nationals in Britain and British nationals in the EU, protection of workers rights, free trade with European markets, new trade agreements with other countries, the best place for science and innovation, cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism and a smooth, orderly Brexit. But the speech was not just about the UK and the European Union. The Prime Minister also set out her vision for our relationship with the rest of the world. Her message was clear: the vote to leave the EU was not the moment Britain chose to step back from the world; it was the moment we chose to build a truly Global Britain. The Prime Minister wants the United Kingdom to emerge from this period of change stronger, fairer, more united and more outward-looking than ever before. The UK will be a secure, prosperous, tolerant country - a magnet for international talent and a home to the pioneers and innovators who will shape the world ahead. The UK will be a truly Global Britain the best friend and neighbour to our European partners, but a country that reaches beyond the borders of Europe too. A country that gets out into the world to build relationships with old friends and new allies alike. The UK is a European country and proud of our European heritage but we are also a country that has always looked beyond Europe to the wider world. That is why we are one of the most racially diverse countries in Europe, one of the most multicultural members of the European Union, and why whether we are talking about India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, America, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, countries in Africa or those that are closer to home in Europe so many of us have close friends and relatives from across the world. We will continue to attract the brightest and best to work or study in Britain we are at this moment short listing candidates from Botswana for our prestigious Chevening scholarships. The UK is a great, global, trading nation and one of the firmest advocates for free trade anywhere in the world. We want to get out into the wider world, to trade and do business all around the globe. One key element of a Global Britain is the ability for the UK to strike our own trade agreements with countries like Botswana. UK companies already invest significantly in Botswana, and we are working to support other new investors to bring skills and expertise to support Botswanas economic diversification. We are continuing work with Botswana on its investment framework, including the development of Public Private Partnerships. And our development programmes across the region continue to support some of the biggest environmental challenges, including water management. So the message for Botswana is that, while we are leaving the European Union, we are not stepping back from the world. It means, as weve set out, that we are an outward looking country, a country that welcomes global talent and investment to Britain, a country that will play its part to the full in our global role contributing to security, peace and prosperity across the world, including in Botswana. * Katy Ransome British High Commissioner to Botswana Economists have expressed contradicting views on Botswanas economic performance for the rest of the year. However, what is clearer about their opinions is that while the economy might exit troubled waters experienced in 2016, it will not expand by what has been projected by government. This will further put pressure on government which faces an expanded budget deficit, rising numbers of the jobless due to closure of mines as well as increased budget for social safety programmes. Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Kenneth Matambo and his boss, President Ian Khama have forecast that the mineral-led economy will increase at a rate of 4, 1 and 4, 3 percent during their budget and state of the nation address speeches last year. In particular, treasury minister Matambo based his predictions on the recovery of the mining industry which had sunk the economy into a technical recession for the first half of last year. At First National Bank Botswana (FNBB), we forecast a lower growth rate of 3.3 percent for 2017, slightly higher than our forecasted growth of around 2 percent in 2016 and much lower than the forecasts from the ministry of finance and economic development, said FNBB research manager and economist, Baboloki Sebabole. A cut in rate growth puts the landlocked-country in the spotlight as this means reduced revenues, budget deficits in the coming financial years as well as poor ratings from credit rating agencies such as Moody and S&P. Moreover, World Bank has already slashed the countrys growth forecast for 2017, citing weak commodity prices. The Washington-based company which offers credit to developing nations made the revelation in a yearly report, which also painted a gloomy picture for the Sub-Saharan region, which Botswana is part of. The FNBB economist, who is a former finance lecturer at the University of Botswana (UB), has also forecast subdued economic expansion in the medium term. We remain cautiously optimistic on medium-term growth prospects with our forecasted average growth rate of 3.8 percent to 2023 (compared to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Developments forecast of 4.4 percent to fiscal year 22/23), commented Sebabole. We believe that attaining these growth rates would require an acceleration in FDI in Special Economic Zones and more efficient management and delivery of projects through much-anticipated public private partnerships (PPPs). Furthermore, subdued private sector employment prospects and the freeze on government headcount will also continue to constrain growth in household consumption, with consumers also pressured by high levels of debt, he said. Government has established Special Economic Zones Authority (SEZA) which will be responsible for establishing special economic zones around the country that will leverage on specific resources that are found in those regions. Investors in the region will be given preferential treatment when it comes to taxes, company registrations and other incentives. Head of Research at Motswedi Securities, Garry Juma said there are several factors which are going to make the year tough for us. Top in the list is the closure of BCL mine which had more than 5000 employees under its belt. The mine and its subsidiaries have been closed due to factors within and outside their sphere of control such as the weak commodity prices. BCL liquidator, Nigel Dixon Warren this week told reporters in Selibe Phikwe that there is no way the BCL mine could be saved from the dead. It will be sold by winter, either after being stripped or being sold as a whole. Suitors are already knocking on the office door of minister responsible for minerals, Sadique Kebonang with a view to acquire the assets of the closed mine and its subsidiaries. As a mineral-led economy, Botswana depends on minerals such as copper to survive. The closed mine basically means revenue from its copper and nickel exports have been reduced to zero. Challenges to growth in the current year may stem from base metal pressures (copper and nickel); low consumer spending; low business confidence and global demand dynamics, added Sebabole.The domestic economy contracted by 0, 8 percent quarter on quarter for the period to September 2016. This is according to data released by Statistics Botswana two days before last Christmas. However, Sebabole is optimistic that the good times are here for the economy as diamonds, the biggest export revenue earner have bounced, possibly for good. Diamond sector improved in 2016, with year-on-year sales increasing by over 30 percent and we expect the momentum to remain positive in line with global prospects of more stable currencies, recovery of major economies like the US which will be supportive for diamond demand, said Sebabole in response to Botswana Guardian questions on Wednesday. Chief Executive of De Beers, Bruce Cleaver on Tuesday told site holders that for the industry to grow there must be increased collaboration by players. We have made some good steps in this direction, with greater collaboration across the value chain to stimulate demand, to share industry insight and to support pipeline efficiency. But we must continue on this path and increase the impact of our combined efforts to grow industry value, said Cleaver, who is in his second year of leading the worlds biggest diamond producer by value. De Beers sells Botswanas diamond abroad. While Sebabole is optimistic of the diamond recovery, Juma is of the opinion that there is too much uncertainty He cited the somewhat unpredictable relation with China, the worlds second biggest economy. When bulls fight, it is the grass that suffers, he explained. Elsewhere, there appears to be good news coming from the agricultural sector, which is likely to post improved output as a result of below average rains experienced in the past weeks. Improvement in rainfalls might alleviate droughts, stated Sebabole. Botswana has experienced droughts in recent years which necessitated bigger budgets for social safety programmes across most sectors of the economy. Juma said that even if the agricultural sector will improve, its contribution to GDP will still be little. The sector contributed 1, 7 percent of total Gross Domestic Product in the three months to September 2016(Q3: 2016). The improvement in agriculture will lead to increased supply in grain, both Sebabole and Juma agree. Manufacturing- cited among sectors that can lead the economic diversification drive - has improved from 0,4 percent in the second quarter of 2016 to 1,7 percent in the quarter to September last year. Manufacturing has the potential to be boosted by several initiatives like AGOA, but will be dependent on accelerated implementation of policies that are favourable for the sectors prospects to make it more competitive in real terms, said Sebabole. Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) leadership is said to have failed to convince the partys Parliamentary aspirants for Tlokweng Constituency to reach a compromise and have a consensus candidate. Botswana Guardian can safely reveal that the meeting, which was held this past Saturday in Tlokweng, could not produce the desired results. The BDP leadership believes having a consensus candidate could give the party a greater chance of securing the constituency. So far there are five candidates vying to represent the party in the by-election expected sometimes this year. This was the second meeting that the BDP convened to convince the aspirants but with no success. The BDP now remains with only one chance to reach a compromise. At press time the closed-door meeting was scheduled for yesterday (Thursday). Information gathered by this publication is that members who are interested are Amantle Matlapeng, Thulaganyo Segokgo, Elijah Fashion Katse, Akanyang Seitshiro and Phineas Molefhe. Matlapeng and Katse are not new in the BDP political race in Tlokweng. They were in 2014 suspended alongside other members. Katse, who at the time wanted to contest the Parliamentary seat and his council candidates, Tidimalo Motlhose, Stella Matlapeng and Amantle Matlapeng had their primary election victory set aside by the party, alleging vote rigging. However, their suspension was given a blanket pardon by party President Ian Khama in the build-up to the 2014 general election during a star rally in Tlokweng. BDP insiders expect a tight contest between Segokgo, Amantle Matlapeng and Katse should a compromise fail. Some BDP members are said to be sympathetic to Katse and Segokgo while others believe that Amantle should be given a chance as she has been more active in the constituency even though the party structures there were ineffective. BDP Secretary General Botsalo Ntuane confirmed the weekend meeting and the one scheduled for Thursday (yesterday). He said they have engaged the Tlokweng aspirants over the need to bring their dialogue to closure given that time is fast receding. We had a good meeting on Saturday morning with them. By Thursday the final position whether we are going for primary elections or managed to agree on a consensus candidate will be determined, said Ntuane. The Secretary General stated that it is common cause that the party will sometimes have members agreeing on the compromise but sometimes they do not. If they do not agree we then go for primary elections because our constitution as the party protects that, he said. Party President Ian Khama introduced compromise with the aim of trying to curb factions within the party. The successful BDP candidate either through consensus or election would go head to head with Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) candidate Masego Segokgo. Segokgo, who is Botswana National Front (a contracting member of UDC) Chairman for Tlokweng Branch, was endorsed by the party structures in the constituency. UDC, which will be seeking to retain the constituency, enjoys the backing of Botswana Congress Party. Botswanas tourism industry received a shot in the arm after the country was this year voted one of the best 52 countries to visit in 2017 by an international publication. The New York Times has named Botswana among places to visit in 2017 particularly the Okavango Delta thats rife with lions, elephants and species specific to northern Botswana like the red lechwe. Many travellers across the globe use such information when they decide on places to visit. Last year, Lonely Planet ranked Botswana the number one destination in the world to travel to in 2016, acclaiming the country as progressive, enlightened but above all, invigoratingly wild. Botswana is endowed with many tourism sites and is home to the worlds second largest game reserve the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The desert country is well known for having some of the best wilderness and wildlife areas on the African continent. Botswana is the last stronghold for a number of endangered bird and mammal species, including Wild Dog, Cheetah, Brown Hyena, Cape Vulture, Wattled Crane, Kori Bustard, and Pels Fishing Owl. The tourism sector plays an important role in the economy of Botswana. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) 2015 report showed that the direct contribution of travel and tourism to Botswanas Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014 was P6.2 billion up from P5.2 billion in 2013. The report also stated that travel and tourism generated 32,000 jobs directly in 2014, constituting 4.6 of total formal employment. Motor Centre Botswana (MCB) - a motor dealership company owned by long-serving Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) Treasurer, Satar Dada want a decision against him to pay Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) over P12 million income tax for the tax year 2009 set aside. This comes after the tax agency, BURS, charged the multimillionaire, tax income even though he argues that he lost money amounting to P53 million after a loan deal between his company and Lobatse Cash Store (LCS) Pty Ltd and Lobtrans Pty Ltd. The protracted legal battle emanates from a loan in 2007 by MCB to Lobtrans to enable it to meet its additional working capital requirements. MCB invested R50 million in Lobatse Cash Store and the parties agreed that all transactions in respect of the agreement be made in the name of LCS. The agreement was also that the repayment of the investment capital was to be made by Lobtrans on the first Friday of every calendar month. Court documents seen by this publication indicate that in the agreement Lobtrans had arranged an investment of R50 million from MCB and the investment was to be secured by tankers of the company. In 2003, MCB started acquiring South African Rand from a Mr. Asmal, a member of the local Muslim community known to the Dada family, who owned three companies, Lobatse Cash Store Pty Ltd, Lobtrans Pty Ltd and a business known as ASA Bureau de Change which dealt in foreign currency.At the beginning of January 2007, Lobtrans, LSC and MCB entered into a written agreement in terms whereof MCB ostensibly undertook to invest the sum of P50 million in Lobtrans for a period of 12 months. MCB was to make the investment by making payment to LCS. Towards the end of 2007 the relationship with Mr. Asmal came to an unhappy end, this is according to the court papers. The usual eft (electronic funds transfer) payment for the December 2007 purchase was not made at the beginning of January 2008. MCB deposited two cheques of P60 million and R5 million which were dishonoured. MCB derived benefit from the fleet of vehicles as prior security interests had been given to financial institutions by Lobtrans, argues MCB in court papers. When the tax agency in 2009 made its assessment, it ignored the loss that Dadas company made and assessed the appropriate tax payable in respect of the assessment to be P12 million, says the motor vehicle company. MCB argues that it cannot be taxed this amount because the company has made a loss of over P53 million. When the tax agency approached MCB in 2009, the company appealed to the Board of Adjudicators who dismissed the appeal. MCB then took the matter to the High Court, which also dismissed the companys appeal. The appeal was heard on 3rd December 2013. In July 2014 the Board dismissed the appeal and confirmed the additional assessment. The Board agreed with the characterisation of the loss being the loss of a loan and thus of a capital nature. Now MCB wants the highest court to set aside the lower courts ruling in its favour. High Court Judge Godfrey Radijeng in his ruling in March last year stated that, the agreement in my view was a commercial document intended by the parties to bind them. The literal meaning of the words used as canvassed by the Board are to my mind what they say and nothing more. Radijeng concurred with the Board of Adjudicators that MCB cannot argue that the agreement should not be relied on because it was not implemented. He said in his view MCB cannot seek to absolve itself of its responsibilities arising from the agreement that was implemented because as the company alleges, it is unenforceable for vagueness.The appellants contention in relation to the first issue is that both the Board and the High Court came to a conclusion that the amount was to be characterised as a loan solely on the basis of a written document and the interpretation to be given thereto and ignored all the objective factual evidence of the transaction that occurred between the parties, reads MCB heads of argument. But BURS counters in its heads of argument that what was payable on the investment by Lobtrans is covered in one of the clauses of the agreement. BURS argues that Lobtrans was obligated to repay the loan monthly, whereby the payable amount was determined by adding eight basis points to the obtaining ZAR/BWP corporate rate of First National Bank Botswana Limited quoted on the first Wednesday of the month. It is further argued that a closer and a careful examination of the shaping of the repayment obligation shows that MCB was expected to make a return on the financial advancement made to Lobtrans. The fixed rate of return in the agreement is consistent with being a conscious investment decision and is inconsistent with being a simple forward cover contract. This shows that Lobtrans was under the obligation to pay cost plus. The rate fixed is a non-arms length one which the Appellant (MCB) could not obtain from bankers under the normal forward cover arrangements. Consistent with funding Lobtrans, which needed additional working capital, an inflated rate was set. MCB is represented by Senior Counsel John Peter while BURS was represented by Kealeboga Tshane. Judgement will be delivered next month (February). This resource is no longer available This resource is no longer available. Return to previous page. Exploring Boston's hidden sacred spaces Professor Wendy Cadge is shining a light on the chapels and prayer rooms tucked away in the corners of the city Photo/Randall Armor, courtesy of Boston's Hidden Sacred Spaces The entrance to the Peddocks Island Chapel in Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Aside from their relative closeness on a map, Logan International Airport, the Massachusetts Correctional Institution in Norfolk and the Prudential Center all have something else in common: Each has a designated sacred space for prayer, reflection and tranquility. Wendy Cadge, professor of sociology and women's, gender and sexuality studies, has been working to document these places and others like them more than 50 in all for a project launched last year called Boston's Hidden Sacred Spaces. The research has led to unusual discoveries and stunning photographs by her collaborator, Boston-based professional photographer Randall Armor. These spaces run the gamut: Some are opulent and prominently placed; others are tucked away and austere. While some remain much as they were built, others have been refitted - or sometimes simply renamed - to be more inclusive. The Wolfson Chapel at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, for example, was originally a Jewish chapel but was recently renovated to become an interfaith space. Now, along with its original stained glass windows, there is a tabernacle for Catholic communion and a sign pointing to Mecca. Rather than removing all religious symbols when the space was renovated, the hospitals Advisory Committee on Religious Diversity opted to add new ones to recognize the range of religious practice among its staff as well as patients and families. "When you start to look at these spaces over time, many have changed," Cadge said. "To me this is a story about how and where religion and spirituality have been present in Boston and how the city has changed with waves of immigrants." It is also a story of religion around the citys edges in the chapel on Peddocks Island in Boston harbor; in the seaport in several spaces; and at the modernist Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center building in Bostons Government Center. Some spaces changed to reflect diversifying of religious beliefs in the region, while others changed because the institution that housed them changed. What is now Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Cambridge was once Youville Hospital & Rehabilitation Center, a Catholic hospital. When it was purchased and renovated by Spaulding in 2009, its chapel was converted into a conference room. Its old pews and cabinets sit out in the hall. A meditation room, long a part of the building, remains open by the main entrance. "You can see the history of these institutions through changes in these spaces," Cadge said. The project had its beginnings in a Radcliffe Institute Exploratory Seminar, Sacred Spaces in a Secular Nation of Believers organized by Cadge, Wellesley College Professor Alice Friedman and Karla Johnson, an architect who designed the multi-faith space at Tufts University. After Johnson died in 2016, Cadge and Friedman continued the project in her honor, recruiting Armor to join their team. Research for the project has been funded by grants from Brandeis and Wellesley College, and through support from The Theodore and Jane Norman Fund For Faculty Research and Creative Projects at Brandeis. The Hidden Spaces Project also recently received a grant from Mass Humanities that will allow the project to develop a traveling exhibition featuring photos and research from the sacred spaces. Cadge and Friedman are also looking into other possible ways to promote the project, such as a more expansive exhibit and online tools that could make the research more accessible. "We would like the audience for this to be the people of greater Boston," Cadge said. "Were open to suggestions about how to best share these images and stories throughout the city." Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The second stage of the new Bellafield neighbourhood on Brandons southern edge hit a bump in the road at Monday nights city council meeting specifically on Maryland Avenue. VBJ Developments vice-president Steve McMillan objected to one of the conditions outlined in the development agreement with the city, which requires the company to contribute more than $100,000 for the future extension of Maryland Avenue, between 26th and 34th streets. McMillan says the road extension is not in the secondary plan for the area or the Bellafield Neighbourhood Plan, which was adopted by council in 2015. Its not there, so now all of a sudden it is, McMillan said. We dont want to be paying for something that isnt going to be constructed. We just want to be sure that if its going (ahead). I guess well have that discussion, but if its not, we shouldnt be paying towards it. Jacqueline East, the citys general manager of development services, explained to council the road extension is identified in a city road network plan from several years ago, but admits it wasnt indicated in the secondary plan. They plan to bring forward an amendment to ensure it is clear that the intention is to extend Maryland to 34th Street. As a result of the confusion, city council voted to table the subdivision application so this particular discrepancy can be resolved. McMillan is optimistic this issue will be dealt with by the next council meeting, and they hope to get started on roadwork construction in early spring, followed by foundation work in June, if all goes well. Stage 2 of the project proposes a total of 76 rowhouse condo units be built south of Maryland Avenue, between Marquis Drive and 26th Street. It will be a mix of two-, three- and four-unit buildings, and McMillan expects it will be a popular option for first-time homebuyers and seniors who wish to downsize. There were no issues with the other conditions, which include standard things like arranging for postal service, site servicing plan, private hydrants, etc. The first stage, which includes 50 single detached dwellings, is located south of the Marquis Drive and Maryland Avenue intersection. Forty lots have been completed, with the final 10 to be started at the same time as Stage 2. The development will be similar to VBJs Elements and The Landing, which have proven popular in the local housing market. The days of buying a house for $100,000 or $150,000 and then upsizing are over, McMillan said. To buy into the market here is well over $200,000 now, he said. When youre getting into a brand new unit for that $200,000 price point, its pretty appealing for new homebuyers. A few years ago, The Landings 226 units sold out quickly. The Elements, 122 units, has sold about 100 and McMillan expects a busy spring. Those will be filled up pretty soon so its good timing for the next one, he said. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter:@jillianaustin Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Brandon School Division will receive additional funding to support the increasing enrolments of refugee students. Manitoba Education and Training has approved a request for contingency funding from the Intensive Newcomer Support (INS) Grant, providing BSD with a total of $51,000 that will be used toward funding a half-time teacher and an itinerant Arabic-speaking educational assistant. BSD has registered 35 refugee students during the 2016-17 school year in nine schools, and is in the process of registering an additional 13 refugee students in January. BSD assistant superintendent Mathew Gustafson said there has been a bit of an influx of refugee students during the school year. Its just a little unpredictable on the number of students that we will receive. This just gives us another support for the students, Gustafson said. Its not that we havent had refugees in the past we have, from a number of different countries. But there obviously is a change in the number (of enrolments) in a short period of time We want to make sure were supporting them as best we can. BSD doesnt have a concrete timeline for when these positions will take affect, but the program is being developed right now. It wont be long we dont have anyone in place at this point, but we are in the hiring process, Gustafson said. The INS Grant is an initiative to provide Manitoba school divisions with direction for developing programming for newcomers with disrupted schooling and limited English-language skills and education due to war, civil conflict, poverty or cultural backgrounds. I think its safe to say that we have staff that have a lot of experience in working with English as an Additional language students. We have the staff development specialist whos been in place for a number of years and has a number of professional development opportunities, and we have school teams that have experience in effectively transitioning students, Gustafson said. There will be some new challenges but well make this transition as smooth as we can for the students. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Brandon School Division will not be changing the random selection process for enrolment at Ecole Harrison to exempt francophone students, despite one father claiming it goes against his familys constitutional rights. The board has given this serious consideration, BSD chair Kevan Sumner said during the school board meeting Monday night. The board will take no further action. Sumner added that the board deliberated and sought legal advice in-camera before coming to the resolution. Erin Debooy/The Brandon Sun Brandon School Division chair Kevan Sumner, seen during Monday nights board meeting, said the division would not be changing its lottery-style enrolment process for Ecole Harrison after a francophone dad requested his son be automatically given a spot in the citys only single-track French immersion school. Paul Alexandre approached the school board at a meeting earlier this month, asking them to make amendments to the random selection process for enrolment at Ecole Harrison Brandons only single-track French immersion school. He proposed francophone children be exempted from this selection process and accepted automatically, which Alexandre argued was their constitutional right. Under Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadians are entitled to have their children educated in their first language of the countrys two official languages, French and English. BSD has two dual-track French immersion schools Ecole New Era School and Ecole OKelly School which run French immersion classes alongside English ones, but Alexandre said these were not good enough options, and that he wants his sons education to be completely in French. The lottery-style system was introduced last January as a solution to parents lining up outside Ecole Harrison, in some cases overnight and in frigid temperatures, for kindergarten enrolment, Sumner said. Alexandre was absent from Monday nights school board meeting, and was not able to be reached for comment. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A cow was shot over the weekend on a farm located between Rivers and Rapid City, inflaming the controversy over illegal hunting practices in southwestern Manitoba. Colin Hunter set off to feed his herd Saturday afternoon at the southwest section of his 1,200-acre cattle and sheep operation when he discovered a motionless cow. Its right eye was punctured; a small pool of blood, emanating from the eye socket, leaked onto the snow. Colin Corneau/The Brandon Sun Conservation officers Gerry Pidborchynski (kneeling) and Don Baker, along with Colin Hunter and his daughter, Katie, inspect a cow that was shot dead on the Hunters farm located between Rivers and Rapid City over the weekend. The cow was six weeks from giving birth. Without any sign of a struggle, he assumed the cow was shot. Colins wife, Ann, was disturbed to find out what happened. I mean, weve had calves die; you have livestock and you have deadstock, Ann described, but you dont expect to find somebody shot your cow. The cow was six weeks from giving birth. Dismayed by the killing, Ann wrote on Facebook that one of the familys cattle was picked off. The post was shared more than 1,000 times by Monday morning. An attached picture showed the carcass picked up by a tractors bucket. Hearing gunshots is nothing new around the Hunters homestead, where hunters are known to roam. But this seemingly random killing has them worried. The fog was thick. No footprints were noticeable, suggesting the gunshot came from afar, during a period of heavy fog which made visibility poor. Nobody received permission to hunt on the familys land at the time. Its concerning, said Ann, who is not against hunting. We ride our horses around, the kids go down riding, it could have been worse. The gunshot which the family did not hear could have pierced the cow between 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday afternoon, Ann said. Though there is no evidence this was an example of night hunting, it was certainly illegal as livestock cannot be targeted by hunters. She feels cases of illicit hunting, like her family witnessed this weekend, should be publicized. I think if there arent examples, then people are going to say it doesnt concern us, Ann said. On Monday, two conservation officers were at the Hunters residence, inspecting the cow for a lodged bullet. They removed a slice of the animals skull to search for ammunition, and while no conclusive trace was found, tissue behind the eye was consistent with an abrasion. The conservation officers, who werent permitted to answer media questions, told the family they believe the cow was shot in the eye, with the bullet exploding on impact, said Anns daughter, Katie. Amid a season of widespread illegal hunting in southwestern Manitoba, rural landowners in the region have spoken up en masse. They organized a community meeting and made overtures to the provincial government, which ramped up enforcement efforts this season. A group of reeves and councillors representing at least six rural municipalities met with provincial officials late last year and will again today. The landowners want night hunting banned altogether. Currently, night hunting is only permitted for indigenous hunters on Crown lands or private lands where they received permission. There is at least one example of livestock being shot in recent months. In late November, two head of cattle were shot overnight near Virden. Its believed the shooter thought they were aiming at wildlife. Manitoba Conservation said Monday they dont keep track of livestock killings, since the animals are considered property and thus fall under the responsibility of RCMP. Police did not immediately reply to a request for comment Monday. ifroese@brandonsun.com Twitter: @ianfroese Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Fourteen young women from across Manitoba have been selected to take part in Daughters of the Vote a new initiative by Equal Voice dedicated to cultivating women leaders of tomorrow. Brandon-Souris delegate Racheal Wu and Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa delegate Jayden Wlasichuk will represent their ridings on International Womens Day on March 8, when 338 young women from every federal riding in the country will take a seat in the House of Commons in Ottawa. We see Daughters of the Vote as an opportunity to continue this conversation around having more women in politics because the journey is still incomplete, said Denise Siele, director of community relations with Equal Voice. Early last year, (we) put out a call to young women ages 18 to 23 to apply for an opportunity to be one of 338 young women to not only represent their communities but to share their vision of Canada. Submitted Racheal Wu is the delegate for the Brandon-Souris. Wu said she was honoured to find out she had been chosen to be the delegate for Brandon-Souris. I have lived in the area almost my entire life and it is amazing to be granted the opportunity to represent Brandon-Souris on a national level, Wu said. I am hoping to gain an even greater understanding of the inner workings of our political system, primarily how individuals in rural spaces can become more involved in local and national politics. In addition to expanding her knowledge on politics, Wu said she is excited to learn from the other women taking part. I am most looking forward to hearing so many different individuals speak about their experiences and journey in politics and meeting all of the incredible women from across our country, Wu said. Equal Voice received more than1,500 applications from across Canada, Siele said, with almost 70 vying to fill one of the 14 seats in Manitoba. It was a self-nomination process, with no prior political knowledge or specific schooling necessary. There has been a real appetite and enthusiasm from young women across the country, and certainly here in Manitoba, to have a conversation around what their vision is for their communities and the issues that are important to them, Siele said. Were absolutely thrilled by the response the calibre of young women is phenomenal. Today, more than a dozen of Manitobas Daughters of the Vote will take part in a special event at the legislature in Winnipeg, taking part in discussion panels that include speakers including Speaker Myrna Driedger, Progressive Conservative MLA Rochelle Squires, NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine and Liberal MLA Cindy Lamoureux, as well as former MPs Anita Neville, Dorothy Dobbie and Judy Wasylycia-Leis. Submitted Jayden Wlasichuk is the delegate for the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa. The Manitoba delegates will then travel to Ottawa, along with all the delegates across Canada, gathering to mark International Womens Day to have their voices heard and mark a century of womens suffrage. They will literally take their seats in the House of Commons as part of that symbolic visual of them filling the chamber, and well have an address from (former prime minister Kim Campbell), Siele said. Weve invited the members of Parliament to take their seats in the spectator gallery, so its a real role reversal, which is super exciting. edebooy@brandonsun.com Twitter: @erindebooy Already have an account? Log in here It was a busy day for loss prevention officers at a store located in the 900 block of Victoria Avenue, with two incidents reported on Friday. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Already have an account? Log in here Military bomber training at CFB Shilo over the next two weeks will result in loud noises in the vicinity of the base. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! A pastor and North Carolina native is being held in Turkey on unsubstantiated charges of terrorism related activity. After more than 20 years of serving as an evangelical missionary in Turkey, Andrew Brunson, 48, thought he was being summoned to receive a long-awaited permanent residence card. Instead, Brunson was notified that he was being deported based on being a threat to national security. He was held for 63 days while being denied access to an attorneyand even denied access to a Bible. Brunson was then taken to a counter-terrorism center in Izmir and then taken to court, where he was accused of having ties to an American-based cleric, Fetullah Gulen, who is being blamed for a July coup attempt. According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), an organization that is representing Brunsons family, the Turkish court had the option to deport Pastor Brunson, release him with the condition that he sign-in with local authorities weekly, or imprison him. The judge decided to keep him in prison. The government of Turkeyled by an Islamic partyhas begun increased crackdowns on Christians, said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the ACLJ, and Pastor Andrew, if convicted, may face years in prison based on extremely seriousand falsecharges. We are launching a global campaign to call attention to his plight demanding that Turkey a NATO memberrelease Pastor Andrew without delay. There is a petition that you can sign, and when commenting on this situation on social media you can include the hashtags #freeAndrewBrunson and #SaveBrunson. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 24/01/2017 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Future looking bleak Those worried about Premier Brian Pallister taking holidays in Costa Rica should be more concerned about the cost of hydro in the coming years due to the ridiculous decisions made by the past NDP government. Manitoba Hydro realizes that its runaway expansion plans have turned into billion-dollar mistakes. We will be looking at rate increases of at least four per cent for many upcoming years to pay for the boondoggle. Manitoba residents are on a path to energy poverty, similar to what is happening in Ontario. Add a carbon tax to hydro increases, among other perpetual increases, and the future is looking bleak for working Manitobans. Thank you, NDP, for allowing Manitoba Hydro to make lives more difficult for low- and middle-class Manitobans. Here we go again I read with great interest about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visiting Western Canada. In the Jan. 18 paper, we see about a man in his 60s who had bins full of grain. As a retired farmer, I know exactly what he is talking about. I remember going to Winnipeg to the wheat board and we asked Trudeau if he could see his way through to sell us a little bit of grain and all he gave us was the finger and a fuddle duddle and hopped on a train and went down east and never came back again. Are we going to experience that again? Let them speak French at home first I dont understand why the Brandon School Division must make an exception to their rule for the French family. If they first took students who speak, read and write French (conducting the whole interview in French) and then filled the rest of the spaces with their lottery, that would make more sense than the system they now use. Anyone wanting a guaranteed space in the school would then have an incentive to start their French language skills long before school age, and it would make it so much easier for the early years teachers. Solution for gun control If the Liberals are serious about effective gun control, heres a simple way to accomplish it. If you commit a crime with a gun, 10 years is added to the sentence. Commit a robbery sentence for the robbery plus 10 years for the gun. Commit murder sentence for the murder plus 10 years for the gun. Basically, any time you commit a crime and have a gun in your possession, you get at least 10 years. STARS being dispatched by a smartphone app? Pretty sure thats a violation of the Emergency 911 Public Safety Answering Point Act. To imply that an app, in any case, can replace our critical-thinking provincial E911 dispatchers is an absolute insult to the hard work they do every single day. Enough Trump-bashing In your Jan. 20 Sound Off, another person went on a tirade against Donald Trump. A major reason he was elected president of the United States was because people were fed up with old career politicians who catered to the Washington elitists and lobbyists. The fact a few self-important Hollywood types chose to embarrass themselves by chastising his election only made him more popular with the middle class. I personally believe he will be a great president of the free world, so the left-wing liberal sore-losing whiners out there should accept it accordingly and give Trump a chance and they, too, will embrace this great man. This morning, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Brexit may not go forward unless Parliament votes to authorize withdrawal from the European Union, despite the fact that the motion won a national referendum last year. Here are five facts you need to know about British citizens attempt to reassert their sovereignty by leaving the Brussels-based international government body. 1. Brexit passed handily and remains popular in England. Parliament voted in June and December 2015 to allow for a national referendum on Brexit. Last June 23, approximately 72 percent of UK voters took part in the election, voting 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the European Union primarily over the right to restrict immigration from the rest of the EU. A recent poll found that 53 percent of Brits would support leaving the European Union regardless of the final exit agreements details. 2. The Supreme Court ruling does not halt or overrule Brexit. Todays 8-3 ruling is a procedural issue, not a substantive one. The president of the UK Supreme Court, Lord David Neuberger, said, The referendum is of great political significance, but the act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result. Thus, Parliament must officially vote to trigger Article 50 of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, allowing member states to leave the EU. The government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of Parliament ordering it to do so, Lord Neuberger said. Opponents say this disregards the will of the people, while supporters call todays decision a victory for parliamentary sovereignty. 3. The Conservative government will act swiftly but the parliamentary process could greatly slow the process. Brexit Secretary David Davis said he will introduce a bill possibly only one line long in Parliament within days, and Prime Minister Theresa May still expects Article 50 to be triggered by the end of March. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that, while his party will not frustrate the process, he wants a vote on the final agreement in order to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven. Staunch Remainers say that muscular opposition could stall Brexit for up to two years, on top of two-year withdrawal process. Liberal Democrats and the Scottish government want a second national referendum after the final agreement is negotiated, a position favored by only 26 percent of the British people. Fewer, only 12 percent, think Parliament should have final say. 4. Westminster doesnt have to consult the devolved governments: Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Thats good news for Brexit. While a majority of voters in England and Wales voted Leave (53 percent each); Scotland (62 percent) and Northern Ireland (56 percent) voted to Remain. Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish government, has vowed to introduce 50 serious and substantive amendments to the Brexit bill to stall the process. 5. Virtually all Brits want to remain in the European single market, a massive free trade zone that includes both EU and non-EU member nations. A poll found 90 percent of people, regardless of how they voted on Brexit, hoped to remain in the European Economic Area. However, the nation need not remain in the EU to enjoy that access. Three nations Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are not part of the EU but enjoy access to the EEA single market as members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). A fourth EFTA member, Switzerland, has negotiated numerous bilateral trade agreements (Switzerland) granting most Swiss industries access to the EEA. In 2015, trade with the EU accounted for 44 percent of UK exports (223.3 billion) and 53 percent (291.1 billion) of the UKs imports. (Photo credit: lazyllama / Shutterstock) A victims' campaigner who challenged Brexit in the British Supreme Court has called on the DUP to support the wishes of the majority in Northern Ireland to remain in the EU. Raymond McCord, a campaigner for victims of paramilitary violence, said he was encouraged by the ruling that Parliament must vote on whether the Government can start the Brexit process. But he said he was concerned that DUP MPs would "put party first and people second". "Because 56% voted in Northern Ireland in favour of remaining within the EU, the DUP should vote for what the majority want. "I am saying to the DUP now, are you going to go in there and vote for the wishes of the people or will you vote party first and people second?" DUP MP Sammy Wilson said: "We will be using our votes and voice to ensure a rapid commencement on the negotiations to leave the EU, completely as the Prime Minister promised." He said the party will ensure "that the issues most concerning to Northern Ireland are articulated by our MPs". Mr Wilson added: "It would have been totally irrational to have the Northern Ireland Assembly, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament dictate the direction in which the nation should go after such a clear and decisive vote. DUP parliamentary leader Nigel Dodds said: "The DUP campaigned for Brexit and we believe we are stronger outside the shackles of the European Union. We voted as a whole to leave the EU and that vote must be continually respected." Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams warned that Brexit "will undermine the institutional, constitutional and legal integrity of the Good Friday Agreement". He said: "It puts the British Government on a collision course with the EU in which our stability and economic progress are regarded as collateral damage. "The Taoiseach and the Irish government must uphold the Remain vote in the North. And to argue for the North to be accorded a special designated status within the EU." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the judgment "significantly undermines the value placed on the democratic mandate of our Assembly". He added: "Northern Ireland voted to remain in the European Union, yet the Northern Ireland Assembly is being denied any role or rights in the upcoming negotiations with the European Union. "The SDLP is now the only party standing by the will of the majority of people in Northern Ireland at Westminster. We will be the only voice of the 56% who voted Remain." The Government has given the go-ahead to include a definition of sexual consent in our laws. The Tanaiste says the proposed changes make it clear that people who are asleep or unconscious after drinking alcohol cannot give permission for sex. Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said the change aims to provide clarity in our legal system. The Tanaiste said: "The Government has agreed to the inclusion of the new provisions on consent in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015. The changes proposed will make it clear that a person who is incapable of contenting to a sexual act due to, for instance, being asleep or unconscious, as a result of intoxication or being mistaken as to the identity of the other person involved cannot give consent. "Also, a person does not consent if he or she is being unlawfully detained, cannot communicate whether or not they agree to the act due to a physical disability or if the only consent given is that of a third party "The provisions will help provide additional clarity, together with established case law, in cases involving sexual offences. "The changes in the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill are far-reaching and will bring additional protections to some of the most vulnerable people in our community." The Jobs Minister has warned that any laws to ban ticket touting may not benefit Irish customers. Mary Mitchell O'Connor says any measures could mean tickets going on sale for higher prices abroad, instead of in Ireland. A new poll has found that almost three-quarters of people in Ireland feel less positive regarding world affairs since the inauguration of Donald Trump as US President. The poll, out by Amarach Research among over 1,000 Irish adults for Claire Byrne Live earlier today, also revealed a willingness among the Irish public to maintain ties with the EU, following the British vote to leave. Theresa May has declined an invitation to make a historic address to the Dail. The British Prime Minister was asked by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to give a speech in the Dail during a one-day official visit to Ireland before the end of the month. She would have been the first Tory leader, and only the second British prime minister, to speak before the Dail - following on from Tony Blairs ground-breaking address in 1998. But Mr Kenny has indicated that Mrs May has turned down the offer, originally advanced by the Ceann Comhairle on a suggestion from the Green Party. "My understanding is that the Prime Ministers schedule will not allow that to happen and I am not in control of that schedule," Mr Kenny told the Dail. "Obviously, when details are absolutely finalised, we will be aware of those. "My understanding is that the visit was to come to Government Buildings to have a Taoiseach to Prime Minister discussion, and to follow that with a particular set of issues. "It is around this that the visit will take place." Mrs May and Mr Kenny are due to meet in Dublin to discuss Brexit. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan had said it was vitally important that Mrs May sets out her views on how Brexit will affect Ireland during her visit. Last November, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon got a standing ovation when she addressed the Seanad. CAMERA Featured Letter-Writer | Main | Major Catholic Outlets in U.S. Pass Over Archbishops Death in Silence January 24, 2017 Updated: Peacemaker Supported by World Council of Churches Promotes Lie About Israel Update: January 25, 2017 Yusef Daher has edited the Facebook post described below, deleting a link to an article from a fake news site that broadcast a lie about Israels President Reuvin Rivlin. Here is a screenshot of the post below. CAMERA commends Daher for doing the right thing and calls on him to remove other hateful posts from his social media accounts. It's what a peacemaker would do. Here is the original post that drew attention to the fake news article on Daher's Facebook page: Peacemaker Supported by World Council of Churches Promotes Lie About Israel Yusef Daher just cant help himself. Daher, who works as executive secretary of the Jerusalem Interchurch Center, an ecumenical peacemaking? organization supported by the World Council of Churches, has a nasty habit of posting ugly anti-Israel propaganda on his Twitter and Facebook accounts. For example, in January 2016, he posted a picture an Israeli soldier getting kicked in the rear end by Jesus who is hanging on the cross. And on October 13, 2015, Daher posted a picture that lionized Palestinian rock throwers. (Snapshot readers can read more about Daher's habit of posting hateful images here and here.) Posting images like this is in direct contradiction to Dahers status as part of the ecumenical peacemaking community in Jerusalem supported by the World Council of Churches. Instead of promoting peace, Daher posts images that incite hostility toward Israel. CAMERA has prepared two articles about Dahers work, but the World Council of Churches has not responded publicly to Dahers postings, nor has Daher himself refrained from posting anti-Israel propaganda. Hes still at it. For example, he recently posted a link to an article published on AWD, a well-known fake news side, that falsely attributes a quote to Israeli Presidnet Reuvin Rivlin. The article falsely reports that that Rivlin stated that Israels treatment of the Palestinians is worse than the Holocaust. Here is a picture of the Facebook Post (which also appears at the top of this entry). Just how many acts of incitement does Daher have to engage in before the people at the World Council of Churches who support his work in Jerusalem take notice and bring him to account? Posted by dvz at January 24, 2017 03:45 PM Even though I have zero regard for the WCC (their record of being perfectly fine with how Jerusalem was run between 1948 and 1967, and then shocked/SHOCKED! by the city since it's dared to have Israeli rule, makes them a DQ for ever trying to be part of any discussions on this or any other important matter again) I still thought that this was below even one of their barn boys, so I did some research and found something interesting: the fake news that Daher found is based on a real article from 2014 in the Jerusalem Post--and the only line the fake news site adds is the fraudulent one about Palestinians and Nazis. I sent the link to Facebook along with a block on Daher. Pretty sure they'll do nothing with it but it felt good to post anyway. Posted by: Ben at January 25, 2017 12:13 PM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment Dubai authorities are investigating a centre for the disabled after it hosted and publicised a visit by Kim Kardashian West. A story in Tuesday's edition of the state-owned Emarat Al Youm newspaper said the investigation focused on the Rashid Centre for the Disabled not having prior approval for the visit by the American reality TV star and wife of rapper Kanye West. Gina Miller (pictured), the lead claimant in the Brexit challenge, welcomed the UK Supreme Court's ruling, saying "no prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. "Parliament alone is sovereign." Outside the central London court, she said that MPs will now have the chance to help the UK Government select the "best course" in Brexit talks. She also spoke of how this "divisive issue of a generation" had led to her and her legal team facing "extraordinary and unwarranted criticism". Ms Miller said: "Today, eight of the 11 Supreme judges upheld the judgment handed down by the High Court in November in a case that went to the very heart of our constitution and how we are governed. "Only Parliament can grant rights to the British people and only Parliament can take them away. "No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Parliament alone is sovereign. "This ruling today means that MPs we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the Government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations - negotiations that will frame our place in the world and all our destinies to come. "There is no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation but this case was about the legal process, not politics." "Today's decision has created legal certainty based on our democratic process and provides the legal foundations for the UK Government to trigger Article 50. "I want to express my gratitude to the UK Supreme Court, my team at Mishcon de Reya, Lord Pannick QC and my other counsel for conducting themselves with such integrity and thoughtfulness in the face of extraordinary and unwarranted criticism. "In Britain we are lucky, we are fortunate to have the ability to voice legitimate concerns and views as part of a shared society. "I have therefore been shocked by the levels of personal abuse that I have received from many quarters over the last seven months for simply bringing and asking a legitimate question." She added: "I sincerely hope that going forward that people who stand in positions of power and profile are much quicker in condemning those who cross the lines of common decency and mutual respect. "Lastly, I would like to wholeheartedly thank those who have sent me the most heart-warming messages of support. They have truly helped to bolster me in this most arduous process.Thank you." Germanys head of state has announced that this years general election will be held September 24. President Joachim Gauck announced he had approved the Cabinets proposed date, the last Sunday in September. Israel has approved 2,500 new settlement homes in the West Bank. Defence minister Avigdor Lieberman said he and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs". He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement blocs, areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. The election of US president Donald Trump has emboldened pro-settlement politicians, including Mr Lieberman and Mr Netanyahu. Mr Trump has indicated that he will be more sympathetic to Israeli settlement construction than his predecessor Barack Obama. Much of the international community views the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians. Legislation will be introduced "within days" to keep Theresa May's timetable for leaving the EU on track, after the Prime Minister suffered defeat in a historic legal battle over Brexit. By a majority of eight to three, judges at the Supreme Court rejected the Government's plan to use prerogative powers to trigger withdrawal talks under Article 50 of the EU treaties, ruling that ministers must first obtain the consent of Parliament. Downing Street insisted the ruling would not derail the Prime Minister's deadline of invoking Article 50 by the end of March. And Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons that a "straightforward" bill would be tabled to give effect to the decision of Britain's voters. He said the Supreme Court ruling did not affect the fact Britain will be leaving the EU in line with the result of the 2016 referendum, telling MPs: "There can be no turning back. The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year." Delivering the court's verdict, Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger stressed: "The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with whether the UK should exit from the EU, or the terms or timetable for that exit." Withdrawal from the EU would mean a "fundamental change" to the UK's laws by cutting off one of its sources, as well as changing the legal rights of British citizens, he said. "The UK's constitutional arrangements require such changes to be clearly authorised by Parliament," said Lord Neuberger. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries." No date has yet been set to begin the process of taking an Article 50 bill through the Commons and Lords, with officials at Mr Davis's Department for Exiting the EU due to finalise its wording over the coming days. Mr Davis said: "Parliament will rightly scrutinise and debate this legislation, but I trust no-one will seek to make it a vehicle for attempts to thwart the will of the people or frustrate or delay the process of exiting the European Union." With Labour declaring it will not frustrate the invocation of Article 50, there was little doubt the Prime Minister can get a bill through Parliament. Met today with Members of Scottish Parliament on BREXIT followed by meeting with Commissioner Special Designated Status within the EU needed Martina Anderson Sinn Fein (@M_AndersonSF) January 24, 2017 But she risks having her hands tied in negotiations by any conditions inserted by MPs into the legislation, with the Scottish National Party declaring it will table 50 "serious and substantive" amendments. Mr Davis resisted pressure from MPs in the Commons to commit himself to a White Paper setting out Mrs May's objectives in withdrawal negotiations. Number 10 insists that Mrs May has already set out her aims in full in her Lancaster House speech last week, but the chair of the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, Hilary Benn, said that the failure to spell them out in a formal paper would show "a lack of respect" to Parliament. Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, warned that the PM's speech set out a "high risk" strategy, containing "big gaps, inconsistencies and unanswered questions" which could impose a heavy cost on British families and businesses. He warned that it would be "wrong" for ministers to try to stop MPs amending Mr Davis's bill. Sir Keir denounced the Government's decision to appeal an earlier High Court defeat in the Supreme Court as "a waste of time and money". But Mr Davis insisted it was right to test the legal position in the highest court in the land. Attorney General Jeremy Wright - who led the Government's court battle - acknowledged ministers were "disappointed" by the judges' ruling, but said they would "do all that is necessary to implement it". To relief in Downing Street, the judges unanimously rejected a bid to require Mrs May to consult devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March," said a Number 10 spokesman. "Today's ruling does nothing to change that. "It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not "frustrate the process for invoking Article 50", but would seek to amend the legislation to prevent the UK becoming a "bargain-basement tax haven". "Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given parliamentary approval," said Mr Corbyn. The SNP's Alex Salmond confirmed plans to table multiple amendments, adding: "If Theresa May is intent on being true to her word that Scotland and the other devolved administrations are equal partners in this process, then now is the time to show it." The Liberal Democrats, who have just nine MPs but more than 100 peers, will vote against Article 50 unless there is a guarantee of the public having a vote on the final deal, said leader Tim Farron. But Ukip leader Paul Nuttall warned MPs and peers not to hamper the passage of the legislation. "The will of the people will be heard, and woe betide those politicians or parties that attempt to block, delay, or in any other way subvert that will," he said. The Supreme Court ruling was welcomed by investment broker Gina Miller, the lead claimant in the case against the Government. Speaking outside court, she told reporters: "This ruling today means that MPs we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the Government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations." A lawyer for co-claimant Deir Dos Santos described the ruling as "a victory for democracy and the rule of law". The US Senate has approved the appointment of Donald Trump's nominee Mike Pompeo to run the CIA, despite claims that he has been less than transparent about his positions on torture, surveillance and Russia's election meddling. Mr Pompeo, whose appointment was approved by 66 votes to 32, takes the helm of America's top spy agency at a crucial time for US national security as intelligence, traditionally a non-partisan issue, has been thrust into the political arena. President Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies after their assessment of Russian involvement to help him win the election, but has also has said he is fully behind them. Senate Republicans hoped to vote on Mr Pompeo's nomination on Friday, after Mr Trump's inauguration, but Democrats succeeded in stalling action until they could hold a debate. Senator Ron Wyden said Mr Pompeo was the "wrong man for the job". "He has endorsed extreme policies that would fundamentally erode liberties and freedoms of our people without making us safer," the Oregon Democrat said. He said Mr Pompeo's answers to questions from some senators had been "vague" and "contradictory", making it impossible to know what he believed. "I see no real commitment to transparency and his views on the most fundamental analysis of the day - the involvement of Russia in our election - seemed to shift with those of the president," Mr Wyden said. In written responses to questions from the Senate on January 3, Mr Pompeo said only that intelligence agency assessments in general should be taken seriously. After Mr Trump conceded Russia was behind the campaign hacks, Mr Pompeo told the Senate intelligence committee that particular assessment was "solid". "We need a CIA director who is direct about his beliefs and his assessments," Mr Wyden said. But Republican senator Richard Burr, chairman of the intelligence committee, said Democrats were playing politics in its efforts to delay and derail Mr Trump's choice to run the CIA. One of Mr Trump's first stops as president was at the CIA's headquarters in Northern Virginia on Saturday, where he made a speech that focused more on falsely accusing the media of lying about how many people attended his inauguration than on the role the CIA plays protecting the US. Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents, he assured intelligence officials: "I am so behind you." He made no mention of his repeated criticism of the intelligence agencies following the election, including his public challenges of their high-confidence assessment that Russia meddled in the White House race to help him win. In its final days, Barack Obama's administration announced intelligence findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election with the goal of getting Mr Trump elected. Mr Trump himself has denied most of the assessment, though eventually conceded Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the campaign. Mr Pompeo, a conservative Republican from Kansas and a member of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, faced a mostly friendly confirmation hearing on January 12. He enrolled as a teenager at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated first in his class in 1986, serving in the army at a time when the Soviet Union was America's number one adversary. Later, at a swearing-in ceremony for Mr Pompeo, US vice president Mike Pence praised his "wealth of experience" and "character" and said he was "stepping up to lead the finest intelligence-gathering operation the world has ever seen". US president Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has prompted other member countries to seek ways to salvage the trade pact. Leaders of some of the 11 other nations involved in the initiative said they hope to push ahead with the agreement in some form, with or without the US. Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had discussed the pact's future recently with the prime ministers of Japan, Singapore and New Zealand, all TPP members, and believed the pact could survive without the US. "Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that," Mr Turnbull told reporters. "But we are not about to walk away from our commitment to Australian jobs." Mr Trump has said he favours one-on-one agreements with other nations rather than multinational pacts like the TPP, which would have included markets comprising 40% of world GDP and was eventually meant to be the foundation for a wider pan-Pacific trading bloc. As expected, the new president officially abandoned the trade deal in one of his first acts after taking office, as promised. Advocates of the TPP said it would set a "gold standard" for modern trade rules, with stringent requirements for intellectual property, labour and environmental protections. A key goal was to lead in shaping trade rules for this century, and also to counter the growing influence of China, which is not part of the pact. Critics have said the TPP would put corporate interests ahead of public and national sovereign interests. The US about-face on the deal is a setback for leaders of other TPP countries who invested political capital in fighting to get it ratified. That includes Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who told MPs during a parliamentary debate that he hoped to gain Mr Trump's "understanding" on the TPP's importance. Mr Abe has said he hopes to meet the American leader as soon as possible. Japan completed the TPP ratification process last week, well aware that Mr Trump planned to drop out. Mr Abe said its goals were still important for Japan and the TPP could be a model for trade deals with other nations, including those in Europe. The remaining 11 TPP members will meet to discuss the next steps, said Malaysian Second Trade Minister Ong Ka Chuan. He said: "Twelve countries signed the (TPP), but now one wants out. The other 11 can continue by making change to the clauses. There are many possibilities that these 11 countries can still proceed with." Other TPP members are Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei. Mr Turnbull said that in theory China could join the pact following the US departure, although this would require a revamp of the deal. In its current form, the TPP can only take effect after it is ratified by six countries that account for 85% of its members' combined gross domestic product. The US made up 60% of the TPP's combined GDP, so it could not be implemented as it stands now. Though he did not suggest Mr Trump himself would reverse his position, Mr Turnbull did say that the US might, over time. New Zealand prime minister Bill English said he agrees with his predecessor John Key's view that the US risks ceding some influence to China in the Pacific without the TPP. Whatever the deal's fate, the region shows no sign of retreating from the market-opening trend that helped transform its many developing nations into a relatively stable zone of affluent, middle-income economies. Peace talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and rebel factions have concluded with Russia, Turkey and Iran striking a deal on a three-way mechanism to consolidate a ceasefire in the country. At the end of the two-day summit in Astana, Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said the three countries will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, without specifying how that would work. More than half a million children in the west African area wracked by Boko Haram extremists are so malnourished their lives could be in danger unless they get aid, a UN humanitarian official has said. Toby Lanzer, the UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for the area, described a region where millions get by on one meal a day and some communities have lost all their toddlers. Military campaigns have driven Boko Haram from much of the territory it took during a seven-year uprising that killed more than 20,000 people, displaced over two million and shocked the world with the abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls, but as aid workers got into areas the Islamic militants had controlled, the suffering they left behind became clear. Mr Lanzer said: "What we have seen is extraordinary. I have seen adults sapped of all energy, who are almost unable to walk. We have had villages and towns devoid of two and three and four-year-old children because they've died." Some totally destroyed towns had been cut off from the outside world for more than three years, he said. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari declared that Boko Haram was "technically defeated" in December 2015, but attacks have continued in some places. Two female suicide bombers killed at least 30 people and wounded 67 on Friday at a north-eastern Nigerian market, in violence blamed on Boko Haram. With Nigeria and the Lake Chad region enduring the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, the UN is launching a more than US$1bn appeal and hopes a conference next month in Oslo will spur donations, Mr Lanzer said. About 11 million people are "in desperate need" of aid, about 7.1 million are "severely food-insecure" - essentially, getting one meal a day if they can - and roughly 515,000 children are or soon will be severely, acutely malnourished, he added. "If they don't get the help they need on time, they die." While the Nigerian government has stepped up efforts to help, an international push is needed, Mr Lanzer said. Mr Buhari has accused the UN and aid agencies of exaggerating the crisis to seek donations. FIFA have written to World Cup teams urging them to focus on the soccer in Qatar and not let the sport be dragged... PARIS: People with monkeypox can spread the virus up to four days before symptoms appear, with more than half of... TOKYO: Japan and Lithuania have decided to upgrade bilateral ties and start up security dialogue, Japanese Prime... Canberra's emergency department workers are bracing for a busy Thursday with Australia Day recognised as an occasion of "over-indulgence". A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia this month found alcohol-related presentations on January 26 were higher in Australia than on the same day in New Zealand. Doctors are urging moderation ahead of Australia Day. Credit:Peter Braig An ACT Health spokeswoman said Australia Day last year saw fewer presentations than on January 25, but Calvary Hospital emergency department consultant David Caldicott said workers approached the national holiday with caution. "Australia Day is an event which for some people marks an occasion for over-indulgence, so we will see all around Australia people presenting to emergency departments with not only the direct consequences of excessive consumption of alcohol but also the indirect consequences," Dr Caldicott said. Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council Deputy General Manager Peter Bascomb Credit:Rohan Thomson "You're still getting a good house, it's not necessarily a cheaper house, but an equivalent house on more land." Mr and Mrs Merriman moved to Bungendore from Sydney about 14 years ago after falling in love with the town's sense of community. Bungendore Ray White real estate agents Ellie and Doug Merriman Credit:Rohan Thomson Their kids grew up able to walk or ride their bikes to their friends' places. Their butcher - Mr Darmody - knows which cuts of meat they prefer. When they ring to book a spot for dinner at the pub (not always necessary, they admit), there's no need to state their name. You could never feel lonely in a small town, Mrs Merriman said. "People always say to us ... 'You're crazy, why would you leave Sydney?' but we never think about going back," she said. An expanded IGA will open later in 2017. Credit:Jamila Toderas "We're more like, 'Why would we want to go back'. It's just a really nice place to be." It's the sense of community that brings many in. But it's the perceived loss of it that worries some residents. In 1977, David MacLaren moved from bustling Manhattan to the decidedly quieter Bungendore in pursuit of a more simple and sustainable lifestyle. Almost 40 years later and the NSW town has grown and changed significantly. "People say 'I just don't know people in town any more', there's a lot of strangers," said the softly-spoken founder of the iconic Bungendore Wood Works Gallery. Peter Bascomb said the freshly-minted Queanbeyan-Palerang Council was keenly aware of the angst caused by the shift in the town's physical and social structure. "There's a range of opinions and some people will argue any new subdivision or new housing is making the place look like Gungahlin when the average lot size in Gungahlin is 400m and the average lot size here is 800m," the council's deputy general manager said. "It's not like Gungahlin but I understand what they're trying to say in terms of it's not what we've moved here for. "It's a constant struggle. We go out to community consultation and ask what they want and they say things like high schools and better medical services, public transport, better playing fields. All that comes with growth." But perhaps the biggest impediment to growth is water supply. Bungendore is allocated enough water to service 5000 people. It's enough for now - the 2011 census listed the population as 2754 - but with population projections of up to 12,000, it's an issue on the council's mind. "The question is if we're going to do any expansion of the village with new greenfields we have to secure additional water licence," Mr Bascomb said. "To do that we have to prove there is more water than we currently think there is in the aquifers or there's an alternative aquifer." Larger-scale developments are unable to get the green light until an alternative water source is found. The council has funded the drilling of 10 test holes to locate a new supply, hoping to tap into a fractured rock aquifer. "Without additional water, we can't expand the town effectively, unless it's an expansion in the form of those who have become self-reliant through rainwater and so forth which would be very difficult to achieve," Mr Bascomb said. There's also shortages of what the council calls soft infrastructure. The town has become home to a Priceline pharmacy and will soon welcome a much larger IGA in a nod to its booming population. But there's no high school, ambulance station or dedicated fire and rescue facility, while the childcare and pre-school both have waiting lists. "At the moment we don't have a solution but we're going to have to get a solution for the current population, let alone for any growth that might occur," Mr Bascomb said. "All those things need to happen, but they're being dealt with and will be dealt with." Loading Canberra businesses can now opt to upgrade their light bulbs to LED for free in a territory-wide push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After the program that installed more than one million energy saving items in 75,000 Canberra homes came to an end last year, businesses can now sign up to have their existing lights swapped for more energy efficient LED lights. Canberra business owners can sign up for a free upgrade to LED light bulbs. The program is part of the ACT government's Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme, which is funded by the electricity retailers, who will in turn pass on a portion of their costs to their customers. However ACT climate change minister Shane Rattenbury said it would help save approximately 40,000 tonnes of polluting emissions in 2017. A Canberra prisoner who fled and assaulted a corrective services officer after his parole was revoked lashed out because he was desperate to avoid more time behind bars, a court has heard. The violent scuffle broke out after Stanley Shane Connors, 22, found out he would be sent back to jail for breaching his parole when he appeared before the sentence administration board in the ACT Magistrates Court on November 1 last year. A violent scuffle broke out at the ACT Magistrates Court on November 1 last year. Credit:Graham Tidy Connors pushed officers away as he was led away from the courtroom before he wrapped his arms around the neck and throat of one guard, the court heard on Tuesday. He then fled towards an exit before he was tackled by nearby police. He struggled and refused to be handcuffed before officers restrained him. Happy hump day! It's all downhill from here, particularly for the lucky ones looking forward to Thursday's public holiday. Wednesday looks to be a relatively mild 29 degrees with light winds. For those planning Australia Day activities, good news: Thursday will be 30 degrees and clear. Furious Centrelink workers have taken to their union's website to air their grievances about the robo-debt debacle. According to the CPSU website, waiting times to review "debts" found under the agency's data-matching compliance program have blown out to 50 days and the human service department has received more than 200 freedom of information requests since last July. Centrelink didn't respond to our requests for comment - read Noel Towell's story on the workers' woes here. Also on Centrelink, Peter Martin talks about the true rate of errors made by the agency's data-matching machine. How to deal with snakes in the grass An eastern brown snake. Credit:Brook Mitchell Tayla Ballard clearly isn't one to hold a grudge. The 18-year-old vet nurse was bitten by an eastern brown snake while tending to her horses in a Kambah paddock on Monday but says she has no issue with the slithery reptiles. Ms Ballard was tended to by paramedics and spent several hours in Canberra Hospital after the incident. Experts have told Finbar O'Mallon about how best to deal with snakes here. Ecstasy, ecstasy, e-e-e-e-ecstasy Filling empty bedrooms across the country could help to alleviate the nation's housing affordability crisis, according to the chief executive of Flatmates.com.au. Thomas Clement estimates there are more than 10 million empty rooms across Australia. Treasurer Scott Morrison is considering ways to address Australia's housing affordability crisis. Credit:Andrew Meares "Even if 10 per cent of those rooms were put on Flatmates or other share accommodation sites, we wouldn't have a problem," he said. "The housing problem in Australia is more a utilisation problem than a stock problem." Australians underpaid their super entitlements have balances down almost $20,000, new research from Industry Super Australia shows, and this rises to more than $35,000 for those in the 60 to 64 age bracket. The findings have big implications, not only in terms of lost revenue, as people could become more reliant on the age pension. Australians who were underpaid their super had balances $19,709 or 47 per cent lower than those who had received it. Credit:Karl Hilzinger Industry Super and Cbus released research earlier this year found employers failing to make compulsory superannuation payments are pocketing $3.6 billion per year from 2.4 million workers. For the average worker this represented $1489 or four months' worth of savings. New ISA research being unveiled on Wednesday as part of the first hearing of a Senate inquiry into unpaid Superannuation Guarantee in Melbourne, shows across all ages and all salaries, those Australians who were underpaid their super had balances $19,709 or 47 per cent lower than those who had received it. Labor is preparing to fire a fresh salvo in the political fight over penalty rates, ahead of a long-awaited decision from the Fair Work Commission on whether to cut Sunday penalties. Opposition leader Bill Shorten will promise in a speech on Wednesday evening that if the commission decides to reduce Sunday overtime - a move that could affect nearly 800,000 people in the retail and hospital industry - Labor will move to change the law to protect workers' take-home pay. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says penalty rates 'are not a luxury'. Credit:Penny Stephens Mr Shorten's promise stops short of the Greens' pledge, during the 2016 election, to put a floor under penalty rates but enshrines in law workers' overall take-home wage. The pledge to legislate in a speech at the John Curtin Research Centre in Melbourne goes further than Labor has previously promised. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, dead as we know it ten years after negotiations began, was designed to create major changes in the economies of the 12 signatory countries, including Australia. Even before the Trump administration withdrew the United States' support, negotiations around the complex series of agreements faltered several times, including over protection of the intellectual property of pharmaceutical companies. It has also faced criticism, including for its investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provision, which would enable foreign corporations to sue governments when their interests were harmed. The 12-country TPP was one of the largest free-trade agreements in history but economists warned its impact would be felt only over the long-term. To take effect, six countries representing 85 per cent of the group's economic output would have to ratify it. Without the US, accounting for 62 per cent on its own, this cannot happen. Trucks, cars and junk from old machinery decorate Coober Pedy?s landscape, waiting to be used as spare parts. Credit:Tamara Merino Being capable to involve the story of a town into a single story of what I experienced, is such a gratifying feeling, because I can share with the world the voices and stories of these amazing people. Having the opportunity to document this community encourages me to always follow my dreams, no matter how big or impossible they seem to be, because the people here do it every day. Being above ground during the summertime is a rough place to live for anyone, because is it an extremely dry, hot and isolated place. Coober Pedy breaks all of the social structures and rules of a conventional town, and for a moment, it deceives you. At first glance this is nothing but a ghost town. In reality, it is a subterranean culture that is as mysteriously dark as it is bright and beautiful. Coober Pedy is a closed community, and therefore wary of outsiders, but with time I made friendships that allowed me to do my work confidently. When we arrived we walked around the streets for five days without finding a soul. An unexpected storm hits Coober Pedy at the beginning of 2016, dropping half the amount of water in two days as falls in a full year. Miners need to wait for the ground to dry to go back to work. Credit:Tamara Merino Who were some of the characters you met and befriended in Coober Pedy? We rambled for hours everyday with our faces wrapped in dust and 47 degrees of dry heat burning our faces. I felt the loneliness and the immensity of the vast desert land. Finally on the sixth day we met Gaby, a German woman who has been living in Coober Pedy for more than 6 years, and is one of the few female miners and who works occasionally with her husband. I also have a German background, so after a good conversation and some words in my rusty German, we connected immediately. Gaby and her husband invited us to stay at their home for as long as we wanted. I could not believe when I first crossed the door from the desert to their home it was a cave! The 47 degrees of heat from outside turned immediately into fresh air at a pleasant 23 degrees throughout the year. The extremely high and low temperatures that hit Coober Pedy vary between 50 and minus one degrees, and it is one of the reasons why people have chosen to live underground. Goran, a miner from the former Yugoslavia, works with his circular tunnelling machine while searching for opal. With this technique he covers more surface, allowing him to potentially have more access to the gemstone. Credit:Tamara Merino I soaked up the obscurity of their underground home and my eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness. In the morning when we woke up, our blanket was covered with dust and small pieces of soil that had fallen from the ceiling. I could feel the earth was alive and wanted to tell its story. Jurgen, Gaby's husband, was the first miner to take us down the mine where he was working. We went down 15 meters, sitting on an electric winch, through a hole about one meter wide. The 45 second journey down seemed like an eternity. Little stones fell off while I was going down the shaft and, because the generator was supplying the power for the winch, the mine was completely dark below us. There are only a couple of spotlights at the entrance shaft and walking around with a torch in the complete darkness feels like a labyrinth that doesn't lead you anywhere. But the miners know that opal is there somewhere; they just have to find it. Why Coober Pedy in Australia of all places? Underground Orthodox church built in 1993 by the Serbian community. Every Sunday the monk offers service. Credit:Tamara Merino I was totally enchanted by this mysterious lunar landscape and intrigued about the underground living in this remote and timeless place. I was fascinated with the fact that a stone can drive people into the deepest joy or misery. Somehow, I needed to meet those people and hear those underground stories. I wanted to be part of it, and I got to do that. I sought to understand and to participate in their daily life, which felt so different from my reality. As a photographer, do you approach a series like this with images in mind to form a narrative or is it just bouncing off what happens? Joe, an Italian immigrant, has an underground museum with a private collection of stones including fossils, opal and other antiques that he has found in the desert around Coober Pedy. Credit:Tamara Merino In my life I never plan too much, because I like to be open to everything that life is offering to me. When you plan too much you miss so many opportunities and surprises and often you can be disappointed. Life is always going to be completely different from what you planned and that for me is the beauty of life. When I find a subject or a theme I stick with it, wanting to tell their story and I try to capture their most sincere inner essence. When I feel completely satisfied with my images I start to create a narrative, trying to include all the aspects of that certain community, town or group of people. What was the most difficult aspect of this series? Any particular moment? A man accused of lighting a blaze which threatened scores of his neighbours' properties on Tuesday has also been grilled over similar blazes which have been sparked within a few hundred metres of his home. The 26-year-old man, from Weston in the Hunter Valley, was arrested near the scene of the latest blaze at Kurri Kurri after police and firefighters raced there around 11.30am. Fire crews battle a blaze at Kurri Kurri on Tuesday. Credit:Marina Neil Police allege it is the third fire to be deliberately-lit during extreme weather conditions in Kurri Kurri bushland in less than a week. As two dozen fire crews along with the welcome aerial attack from planes and helicopters arrived again to push back the flames from properties, the suspect was driven to Maitland police station and interviewed. A group of wildlife volunteers have come across the burnt remains of reptiles at a Sunshine Coast national park where they are searching for surviving animals of the devastating bushfire that ripped through the area last week. More than 25 fire crews were called to Coolum national park last Thursday afternoon after reports of a bushfire. The area hit by the bushfire has been described as an "alien landscape". Credit:Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast/Facebook The fire rapidly escalated and spread quickly as nearby homes were evacuated and firefighters battled to control the blaze. By Sunday, the operation was scaled down and an aerial survey of the national park revealed 900 hectares had been burnt. Queensland's Health Minister Cameron Dick is the second high-profile Queenslander to call on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to find an extra 15 medical training places to let the new $1.9 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital open with a medical school in April. A national review of medical training places around Australia including the Sunshine Coast - will be finished by April 2017, Rural Health Minister Dr David Gillespie said. Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick inspects a new 3-D medical imaging screen at the new Sunshine Coast University Medical Institute with mayor Mark Jamieson. However Dr Gillespie said he was not in a position to say whether an extra 15 spaces could be found and says a "national audit" of medical training places must be considered first by Cabinet. The new hospital was promised 50 medical training places, but the University of Queensland pulled out of the deal in 2013 believing it was not financial. Pauline Hanson has promised to "drain the billabong" in Queensland, echoing US President Donald Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp". Speaking to media on the Sunshine Coast on Tuesday, Ms Hanson announced member for Buderim Steve Dickson as the state leader of One Nation in Queensland. Let parents decide on vaccines: One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Credit:Lisa Maree Williams "I'm going to hand Queensland over to you now, although I'm still the senator, never forget that, for Queensland," Ms Hanson told Mr Dickson, the two clasping hands in a handshake and smiling at one another, with the senator wagging an index finger at her new MP. "It's up to you now to lead the candidates in policy on the floor of parliament and just prove to the people what we want to do, what we want to achieve." A 38-year-old man will face court on Wednesday, accused of trying to get more than half a dozen women aged between 17 and 74 into his car north of Brisbane. The Inala man was charged with trying to kidnap one of the women, while the other charges included sexual assault, stalking and public nuisance over a bizarre alleged crime spree. The man will face Redcliffe Magistrates Court. He allegedly approached the women in the Redcliffe and Scarborough areas between 7am and 9am on on Tuesday. A police spokeswoman alleged he grabbed one of the women inappropriately, stalked one woman as she moved down the street and cornered another woman in a car park and telling her to get in the car. The bomb response unit has declared Footscray Hospital safe after a suspicious item was found on a nearby street. Traffic and pedestrian diversions were in place for several hours on Tuesday night while police examined whether or not the item was a threat to patients and hospital staff. Police shut down Eleanor Street, Footscray, on Tuesday night due to a bomb scare. A Victoria Police spokesman said the bomb squad attended the scene as a precaution. "An item has been deemed safe," he said. Mississippi Maritime Museum.jpg Campaign leaders with the Mississippi Maritime Museum wants the community to pledge support to assist in the construction of the museum to preserve over 300 years of maritime history and to promote children to remain in their community as they become adults. (Tyler Carter/tcarter@al.com) PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The preservation of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's Maritime history is of paramount importance to city leaders and as the project continues to surge forward, campaign leaders are asking for the community to "Get on Board" and support the efforts their efforts in making that happen. Campaign leadership council involved with the construction of the new maritime museum inside of the old Pascagoula High School held a meeting on Tuesday morning to bring the public up to speed on the museum's construction and to implore those in attendance to think about the impact the museum could have on the community and its most important investment, its children. "People know that most of the ships that sail the waters are warships, and the majority of those ships were built right here in Pascagoula and that is a pretty significant statement to make, but our goals are bigger than that," said Terry Bollman, President of the Mississippi Maritime Museum. "What we are trying to have this museum do is make sure all the people around the country understand that - believe me, beyond the confines of this community, people do not know this and they should, specifically our children," Bollman said. "When our children grow up, they will be looking for the best way to earn a living, to raise a family, and in order for them to stay in our local community, they need to know there is a future in their local community for them and the maritime industry in this community does exactly that." According to Project Director Gary Lightfoot, the transferal of knowledge from generation to generation is important and its importance could not be understated. "What is really important right now in our time frame is to learn about history and your heritage and there are a lot of times where someone would work a job for 20-30 years and after they retire, that heritage is gone because they did not pass along that history to their kids," Lightfoot said. "This gives them a place they can come to where they would be able to point to the things that they have done. It is really important to instill in future generations that instead of going outside of their community, you have something here that you can point to and say, "I did this" and that is why this museum is important to the community," said Lightfoot. So far, Phase I of the maritime museum project has been completed. Renovations involved the transforming of the former PHS Band Hall building into a 3,000-square-foot Maritime Activity Center, which will house museum offices, conference room, and facilities for receipt and archival storage of maritime artifacts. Additionally, 3,000 square feet will be provided for training and hands-on projects for local students as the MAC becomes operational. Phase II has been officially launched and will involve renovations to the former Math and Science building, which will consist of it being converted into the 17,000-square-foot Maritime Museum. Members of the community can become involved by taking a five-year pledge to donate fund either annually, quarterly, or monthly and any amount residents desire to donate is acceptable. Additional information can be found here. "Administering first aid with me, under that skinny little tree, is a man named Lou: he is everything great and courageous you have seen, heard or read, rolled into one authentically humble bloke," Henry wrote. Floral tribute at the Bourke Street Mall. Credit:Eddie Jim Henry's story about Lou has been shared more than 17,000 times. He read it out again at the vigil for the victims in Federation Square on Monday night. Like others who have spoken about what they saw last Friday, Lou said the first sign that something bad was happening came from the sound of helicopters. An image of Henry Dow and taxi driver Lou caring for a victim of the Bourke Street attack on Friday. Credit:Seven News Melbourne As the choppers buzzed overhead, police cars began to descend with lights and sirens on. Seconds later, the car roared by at about 55 km/h, metres from hitting Lou. The car was almost close enough to touch. If a bike rack wasn't in the way, Lou said he would have jumped through the open driver's side window to try and stop the driver. There was no thought of his own safety. Henry Dow. Credit:Facebook "I saw three people flying through the air, I wasn't worried about myself," he said. But Lou's work was just beginning. He set about trying to provide treatment to the five injured people who were around him. "Lou was not. Lou, in his white shirt and neat dark tie, was a taxi driver," wrote Henry. Lou said some military training when he was younger had prepared him for how to react to an emergency. He fetched water, provided guidance and offered calming words to those who were stricken on the footpath. The word "hero" gets thrown about a lot these days and Lou rejects the tag being applied to what he did. After a "rough night" on Friday, he has been back at work since Saturday. The media has had to find time to interview him in between fares. "I'm not a hero, I'm just a bloke who did what they had to do," he said. "If I had stopped the car, fine. But at no point was my life in danger, so I'm not a hero." Instead, Lou said credit should go to the bystanders and first responders who stepped in to help before the full extent of the carnage was known. These included three police officers, two nurses and the orthopedic surgeon in his 50s, who used travel catalogues from RACV to stem the bleeding of a woman with a serious leg injury. "It was like a scene from M*A*S*H*, it was all teamwork," he said. "You just do what you've got to do, you do your duty first." Henry Dow's full letter This moment already feels surreal; without the sounds of violence, rush of adrenaline and smell of fear the photo doesn't look real. The images playing in my head are more vivid and more colourful. This image looks so orderly; no rushing, no shaking hand and quivering voice, no screams, crashes or bangs. I write this not for sympathy (I'm fine); I just wanted to share a story that otherwise might be lost. Administering first aid with me, under that skinny little tree, is a man named Lou: he is everything great and courageous you have seen, heard or read, rolled into one authentically humble bloke. Having seen the car fly past, my legs carried me across the street almost on auto-pilot, swearing under my breath repeatedly as it sunk in what had just happened. Some basic Surf Life Saving training got me through the first stages of helping this poor woman: role her on her side, support her neck, we talked kindly and as calmly as we could to her. Then the gunshots. Holding her head, my hand was, for want of a better word, shaking. It was more like bouncing, moving several inches up and down as the fear and thoughts of what had happened, what could happen, raced through my head. Lou grabbed my hand and firmly told me to keep it together, that I was ok and that we needed to keep strong for this woman. In a level and loud voice, Lou barked orders at other pedestrians standing by, having not fled, but still too stunned to think or move. He directed assistance to several of the victims laying on the pavement around us, all whilst keeping me calm and speaking lovingly to this woman: "I am Lou, you are going to be ok, we are looking after you". It kept going through my head, "thank f**k I lucked out and have an emergency services veteran here with me". Surely Lou was Ambulance, Police or SAS. Lou was not. Lou, in his white shirt and neat dark tie, was a taxi driver. In our small story, of this much bigger tragedy, Lou took command and was a genuine hero. We have all seen images and opinions flood the media over the past 24 hours. If you feel like shaking your head and feeling sad for the state of humanity, I implore you: Don't. Their was no evil on Bourke street yesterday; one sick young man did a terrible thing, and hundreds responded with the love and sense of community that makes Melbourne such a beautiful city, and Victoria such a great State. There was only kindness in the voices of the police who came to relieve us. Dressed in prison greens and glasses with his hair neatly trimmed and his hands clasped together, the accused Claremont serial killer made his second appearance in court on Wednesday, with interest in the case so intense his hearing was moved to its own courtroom. Bradley Robert Edwards has been behind bars for a month since being taken into custody by police on December 22. The 48-year-old Kewdale man is charged with the murders of Jane Rimmer, 23, and Ciara Glennon, 27, in 1996 and 1997 respectively. He has also been charged with the rape of a 17-year-old girl in Claremont in 1995, and the indecent assault of an 18-year-old woman in a Huntingdale home in 1988. Perth is all set to celebrate Australia Day on Thursday with celebrations across the city ranging from the biggest fireworks displays to backyard barbeques and parties. The public holiday will see thousands of people receive Australian citizenship in ceremonies across the state, including the largest in Australia in Wanneroo with 800 residents set to take part. Nilesh Sewpal, a Clarkson resident, moved to Australia in 2012 with his wife Yashnee and their three daughters, Sonia, Tiya and Layla. The South African family initially lived in Darwin before moving to Perth in 2014. Nilesh said he was looking forward to becoming an Australian citizen. Greens senator Scott Ludlam has announced he will returning to work after taking leave from his parliamentary duties to deal with long-term mental health issues. The WA senator, a co-deputy leader of the minor party, revealed his decision in November, saying he would return "as soon as I'm able to give the commitment the work demands". Former Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam. Credit:Jacky Ghossein "I am taking a leave of absence to treat depression and anxiety. These are issues I've been dealing with for a while," he wrote on Facebook at the time. The Fremantle-based Senator took to Facebook again to announce he was heading back to work at his port city office on Tuesday. Angela Merkel is facing a fresh electoral headwind after Social Democratic leader Sigmar Gabriel unexpectedly said he won't run against her for the chancellorship, opening the field to the more popular Martin Schulz to be her main challenger. Gabriel, 57, told Social Democratic lawmakers in Berlin on Tuesday that he will also step down as party chairman, a post he's held since 2009. The SPD had left the decision over a candidacy against Merkel in the September 24 vote to Gabriel, with most in the party expecting him to run. "I respect the decision very much," SPD Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks told reporters as she left the meeting. "Actually we can be very grateful to Sigmar Gabriel for this decision -- he made it from a position of strength." Polls show that Schulz, who left his position as European Parliament president last month to join the German political fray, has better chances against Merkel. Gabriel told lawmakers that his decision was based in part on his recognition that he had been associated with the Social Democrats' three-year-old "grand" coalition with Merkel, making Schulz the more popular choice, SPD lawmaker Lothar Binding said. Jakarta: It's hard to comprehend it happened in this century: human slaves trapped on fishing boats being whipped with poisonous stingray tails, having ice blocks thrown at them and being shot. "If Americans and Europeans are eating this fish, they should remember us," says Hlaing Min, 30, a runaway slave from Benjina, a remote fisheries weight station in eastern Indonesia's Aru Islands. "There must be a mountain of bones under the sea. ... The bones of the people could be an island, it's that many." In 2015 more than 1300 foreign fisherman from Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos were rescued from Benjina and Ambon, after an Associated Press investigation revealed the brutal conditions aboard many foreign vessels reflagged to operate in Indonesian waters. Latest News Mortgage stress hits Australian households Learn seven ways to ease the interest rate burden, says broker New investor strengthens Invoice Finance Group Partnership will provide funding, new products for SMEs With the newly-appointed NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian identifying housing affordability as a key issue moving forward, one property expert has said the government should now look beyond simply creating additional supply.While there was a supply issue as the Sydney property market played catch up, focus should also be put on other areas of policy, Nathan Birch, cofounder of property investment group Binvested, told Australian Broker.There are a few things that the NSW government could do, he said. Playing on stamp duty would be a nice one.With laws for stamp duty remaining unchanged for twenty years, the additional financial stress this caused has been rising exponentially, Birch said.Home buyers need to factor this into their overall purchase price, and it could be in the hundreds of thousands for stamp duty alone. Given the median house and apartment price, its basically a given that youll be hit with the additional fee, regardless of the cap the government promises.This was backed up by John Cunningham, president of the Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW), who also urged the new Premier to review the states outdated stamp duty policies.It's time for a Premier to step in and take charge. We believe that Gladys Berejiklian has the potential to be the Premier who leads NSW into a future where property consumers aren't being ripped off by outdated stamp duty brackets.Premier Berejiklian can lead NSW into a future were incentives for first homebuyers purchasing existing properties are reinstated. We call on Premier Berejiklian, as leader of the NSW Government to reduce stamp duty for first homebuyers by 50 per cent for the purchase of a residential property less than $1 million.Birch also suggested that the NSW government could also bring in a first home buyers allowance a policy which had not been used in general for many years.It is applicable for new builds but many first home buyers are locked out of that.Some stimulus from the government would be a positive move to support those wishing to enter the property market, he said.Birch concluded saying that even if the government didnt focus on these measures, the Sydney property market was still projected to experience positive growth. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Fort Greene is getting a Whole lot ritzier. Whole Foods is opening a mini-market inside the new luxury tower next to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where it will join a long-awaited Apple store. Both companies are known for their high-priced products, but at least one local homeowner says she is excited to see more money flowing into the area. I want the neighborhood to be desirable and I want property values to go up because thats what Im going to retire on, said Fort Greene resident Karen Hurrman. So Im not going to complain, its progress. The new 365 by Whole Foods Market will open in 2018 in developer Two Trees Managements in-the-works 32-story building on Ashland Place and Lafayette Avenue formerly known as BAM South, but now blandly renamed as 300 Ashland alongside the Apple store, a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, a new home for Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, a new Brooklyn Academy of Music cinema, and 379 apartments. Whole Foods 365-branded stores currently only in operation on the West Coast are just like the standard markets known to many as Whole Paycheck, but with slimmed-sown selections of grocery items and pre-made meals. It will be a few blocks from the larger and cheaper Atlantic Terminal Stop and Shop, and a forthcoming Trader Joes at the City Point mall on Fulton Street, but many locals say they cant wait to start stocking up on asparagus water and $6 pre-peeled oranges at the high-end emporium. Ill be definitely be there, said Fort Greene resident Derek Zimmerman, who usually travels to BJs in Bay Ridge or Costco in Sunset Park to pick up groceries. But Hurrman isnt sure she will be a customer she says she enjoys escaping the hustle and bustle of living in a metropolis at the full-sized Whole Foods in tranquil Gowanus. It depends on if I like the vibe of the store better, she said. Shopping in Whole Foods in Gowanus is like my therapy I ride my bike there and I like it there because the buildings are low, its open sky and I feel like Im not in New York. This will be the boroughs second Whole Foods-Apple combo both companies opened adjacent stores in Williamsburg last year. A staffing agency hired by Arizona school districts to tackle the states severe teacher shortage is testing out a new recruiting strategy: Seek recent graduates in cold-weather states and sell them on moving to the sunny Southwest. We have beautiful weather nine months of the year, said Phil Tavasci, president of Educational Services, Inc., the agency hired by Arizona districts to find qualified candidates to lead their classrooms. It gets hot in the summer, but if youre born and raised in a state with treacherous weather, it might be nice to try out a different state. Educational Services, Inc. staffs 150 districts in Arizona, but the new program to recruit recent education school graduates nationwide is only up and running in 20 districts so far. Back in June, the agency started what it calls a flex teach program, which would allow ed school graduates to try teaching in Arizona for a year to see how they like it. The agency has hired four full-time recruiters who meet with soon-to-be ed school grads in Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, and Minnesota, talking up teaching in a state with great weather most of the year. The agency also advertises nationally on Craigslist and other online platforms. According to Tavasci, the agency doesnt necessarily focus on recruiting in hard-to-staff subjects like math and science. Arizona has shortages in every subject, so were really looking for the nations best and brightest, whether thats a 2nd grade position or a high school math position, he said. So far, the agency has recruited 30 new teachers. Next year, the goal is 300. If everything goes wellthe teacher likes the school and the school likes the teacherthen the staffing agency steps aside so the district can hire the teacher. But if the teacher is unhappy with the position, the staffing agency will place the candidate in another school in another state. The ultimate goal is to find the right fit for the young teacher to come off contract with us and get hired with a school district, Tavasci said. Tavasci is betting the strategy will work with young ed school graduates who he describes as more mobile than past generations, more willing to strike out on their own in a whole new city or state. The weather notwithstanding, those heading to Arizona will have to forego big paychecks. The average starting teacher salary is just $31,874, according to the National Education Association. Low pay is one of the reasons for the teacher shortage in Arizona. According to a study by the Arizona School Personnel Administrators Association, there are more than 2,166 unfilled teacher jobs in the state, plus an additional 2, 221 classroom positions held by teachers lacking standard credentials. Exacerbating the shortage is the fact that Arizona has one of the highest teacher turnover rates of any state, according to a September 2016 report by the Learning Policy Institute on the nationwide teacher shortage. And the situation isnt likely to get better any time soon, with 24 percent of the teacher force eligible to retire by June 2018 and current teachers fleeing the state . Tackling the Shortage in the Long Term For his part, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey isnt just relying on the states weather to attract out-of-state teachers. His objective is to convince Arizonas current teachers to stay put, and to encourage young people in the state to consider the profession. Ducey laid out his plan in the State of the State address on January 9, calling for a pay raise for teachers. He also proposed a $1,000 signing bonus for those willing to commit to teaching in low-income schools, and an overhaul of the teacher certification process. (Check out this EdWeek article to find out how other states are addressing teacher shortages .) Ducey decried in the address the fact that young teachers receiving low salaries have a hard time paying off student loans. So he called on Arizonas universities to create a teachers academy to attract young people to the profession. If you make that commitment, he said in the speech, well make this commitment: your education will be paid for, a job will be waiting, and you will be free of debt. Duceys education plan comes on the heels of proposition 123, the ballot measure that will put $3.5 billion into schools over the next 10 years. The measure settled a lawsuit over the states underfunding of schools during the Great Recession, according to azcentral.com . While many Arizona lawmakers are optimistic about the governors education plans, they wonder how hell pay for the proposals considering his pledge to not raise taxes. Ducey, who submitted his budget four days after the address, insists the states modest surplus will cover his plan. Yardley Friends Meeting at 65 N. Main Street in Yardley will host the documentary Organic Roots on Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Join director Al Johnson for a showing of this film followed by a discussion of the last 50 years of this movement. Organic foods are part of our life today and a tool in our concern for... latest news October 31, 2022 Buddy TV In November, there are hundreds of new and returning TV showsit can be overwhelming to try and choose what to watch. That's why we've selected some of the best options... In The Murder of Jesse James, Timeless travels to 1882. The team joins forces with the real life Lone Ranger and his right-hand man, Tonto, to track down Flynn, whos enlisted the help of none other than the infamous bank robber Jesse James. But just what is Flynn up to? Lucy, Wyatt and Rufus race to find out, hoping to prevent James and Flynn from changing the past and the future. [WATCH]Star Leslie Jones Really Loves>>> Before the Mission The Murder of Jesse James begins with Wyatt in a whole new setting: jail. No, the time traveling military man hasnt been convicted of a crime. Hes visiting prison to speak with his wifes killer. He wants the man to admit that he murdered Jessica. Without confessing to the murder in so many words, the prisoner admits that if he could change things, he would. Wyatt muses aloud that theyd only be able to if they had a time machine. Lucy, meanwhile, is having a nightmare. She dreams that her sister, Amy, is back, but she soon realizes that its not real but not before Amy guilts her for forgetting about her. Rufus, on the other hand, is at Mason Industries and receives a kiss from a happy Jiya. Seeing his confused reaction, Jiya explains that Mason just approved her for training as a new Lifeboat pilot, and she thanks him for putting in a good word for her. When Rufus confronts Mason about this, he informs him that Jiya will replace him as pilot in six months. Saving Jesse James The crew gets word that Flynn has traveled back to April 3, 1882, and Lucy immediately recognizes that date as the day James is murdered by two of his accomplices in an effort to receive the reward money. Before long, we see the scene ourselves. James turns his back toward his men to dust a painting, and the two men pull out their guns, ready to kill. But before they get the chance to shoot, Flynn bursts through the door and shoots both men dead. He explains to James that he heard the two men bragging about their plans to kill him and hunted them down because he wanted to buy James a drink. At a bar, Flynn shows James a map that goes through Indian territory. He needs James help getting through the hostile area. James questions what Flynn is after and learns that its not a treasure but a person. Flynn assures James that hell be rewarded for his troubles, giving him half of the payment upfront. Following Flynn Wyatt, Rufus and Lucy arrive in the past and realize that theyre going to need help. Lucy comes up with the idea to ask Bass Reeves, the man known in popular culture as The Lone Ranger. They travel to his home, and Rufus is happily surprised to learn that hes a black man, not the white man that popular culture has presented to audiences time and time again. They ask for his help and he declines, explaining that he has enough on his plate at the moment. But he soon agrees to help them travel through hostile Indian territory. Since Reeves used to live with Native Americans, hes the perfect candidate to help them find Flynn and James. But Reeves insists that, if he helps, no one will be killed. Flynn and James must be safely taken into custody and brought to justice. Wyatt, who initially wanted to kill James (since hes already supposed to be dead), reluctantly agrees, shaking Reeves hand. With the help of his friend Grant, known as Tonto in popular media, the gang soon sets off after Flynn. In the present, Jiya practices piloting the time machine, but shes having some difficulties. She asks Mason to review the video logs to give her a glimpse of a successful pilot in action, but he claims that they were all destroyed in a power surge a few years earlier. He instructs her to go home and get some rest. However, Jiya has another idea in mind. She heads to another area of Mason Industries and hacks into their database. Unfortunately, Mason interrupts her and sends her away. Quiz: Which TV Vigilante Are You? >>> Flynns Master Plan After making it through the most dangerous territory, with James killing innocent Native Americans who were defending their land, Flynn and James make it to their destination: an isolated cabin. At once, theyre shot at. But before James can fire back, Flynn shouts that hes from the same place as the shooter and that he has a ship. The firing stops, and a woman appears. Flynn instructs James to grab the horses while he steps inside the cabin to speak with the woman. Once inside, its clear that the woman is not from the 1800s. There are bits of technology like computers and cell phones laying about her home. She tells Flynn that she wants a map of the ship. He refuses and informs her that he knows all about her. Intercut with video footage that Jiya stole from Mason Industries, we learn that this woman is Emma Whitmore, one of the first pilots of the time machine. She was eventually threatened by Rittenhouse and decided to fake her own death and hide in the past. Anthony was the only man who knew about her plan. Flynn shares that he too ran from Rittenhouse, but hes rising up against them now. He wants her help, but she insists that he doesnt understand what hes going up against. Once hes secured Emma on his side, they head off in the direction of the time machine but not before James insists on one final payment: the large automatic rifle Flynn has stored on his horse. Flynn agrees and hands it over. Becoming a Killer Lucy and the gang head to the cabin and cautiously walk inside. They find all the parts of the technology and even a copy of The Hunger Games, but Rufus comes to a conclusion about the owner of the cabin once he finds Emmas name on a shirt. Before they can truly process Rufus information, gunshots rain down on the cabin, causing everyone to hit the floor. As soon as theres a pause in the gunfire, they realize that Grants been shot. Lucy and Reeves hurry to his side, but its obvious that hes not going to make it. Wyatt, meanwhile, uses this opportunity to head outside and shoot James in the arm. He plans to kill him, but Reeves pulls a gun on him, threatening him to lower his weapon. Reeves, after all, still plans on bringing James back to town for justice, even though the outlaw had just killed his friend. But before that plan can go into action, James is shot dead by Lucy. Back in town, reporters take photos of James dead body, as Lucy and the others hang around waiting for Reeves. Reeves returns with the reward money for James and hands it to Lucy. She insists that he give it to Grants family, but Reeves refuses. He doesnt believe Lucy did the right thing. Before Reeves can leave, Rufus goes after him and encourages him to tell his story so a white man doesnt take credit for his brave actions. He tells him that people need to hear his story, but Reeves isnt interested. Back in the Present Rufus informs Mason and Agent Christopher that Emma is still alive and that shes now with Flynn. They wonder why Flynn needs another pilot but have no answers. Mason then approaches Jiya and informs her that he knows she hacked into their system. He warns her against hacking into his system again, while Rufus looks on from afar, worried. The scene soon changes, and we see Lucy staring at the photograph of James body with her in the foreground. The episode ends with Wyatt asking Rufus for help in a bar. He wants to steal the time machine so that he can go back in time and save his wife. Rufus doesnt want to kill anyone, but Wyatts willing to find a way around it. He asks Rufus point-blank, Will you help me save my wife? How did you like this episode of Timeless? Was The Murder of Jesse James as thrilling as you expected it would be? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Timeless season 1 airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC. Want more news? Like our Facebook page. (Image courtesy of NBC) UB law school selects interim dean for its highest honor BUFFALO, N.Y. James A. Gardner, interim dean of the University at Buffalo School of Law, will receive the Edwin F. Jaeckle Award, the highest honor given by the law school and its Alumni Association, at the schools annual New York Alumni Luncheon on Jan. 27 in New York City. The Jaeckle Award is given annually to an individual who has distinguished himself or herself and has made significant contributions to the School of Law and the legal profession. It is named after its first recipient, the late Edwin F. Jaeckle, a UB alumnus who for decades was a towering figure in the legal profession and in local, state and national politics. Previous winners have included Charles S. Desmond, Frank G. Jaichle Jr., M. Robert Koren, Matthew J. Jasen, Manly Fleischmann, M. Dolores Denman, William R. Greiner, Eugene F. Pigott Jr. and Kenneth F. Joyce. Gardner, who holds the title of SUNY Distinguished Professor, is the Bridget and Thomas Black Professor at the UB School of Law. He has served as interim dean since December 2014 and during that time has led significant initiatives to strengthen the schools administration, teaching and clinical education offerings. A member of the law faculty since 2001, Gardner is a highly regarded specialist in constitutional and election law. His scholarly research and writing have focused on the workings of subnational governments, such as states and provinces, both in the United States and abroad. He has published six books, as well as numerous book chapters, articles and review essays. He recently was recognized as one of the 10 most frequently cited scholars in the field of election law by the Election Law blog. Gardner earned a BA from Yale University and a JD from the University of Chicago. The construction industry has welcomed the government's new Industrial Strategy proposals, praising its support for business and plans to boost skills. Intended to help boost the UK's economy post-Brexit, the Strategy has outlined a 10-point plan which, the government says, will upgrade UK infrastructure, encourage trade and investment, and boost skills, as well as helping to deliver affordable, clean energy. The 10 strategic pillars of the strategy are: Investing in science, research and innovation. Developing skills (in particular science, technology, engineering and maths), as well as building a new system of technical education to benefit those who do not go to university Upgrading infrastructure for the digital, energy, transport, water and flood defence sectors Supporting business to start and grow by improving access to finance and management skills Improving government procurement to help develop the UK supply chain Encouraging trade and inward investment Delivering affordable energy and clean growth to secure the economic benefits of a low-carbon economy Cultivating world-leading sectors Driving growth across the whole country Creating the right institutions to bring together sectors and places. As part of these plans, Prime Minister Theresa May has announced a further 56m investment in the Northern Powerhouse, including a new innovation fund for businesses in Manchester and Chester. A designated free school for 11-to-18 year-olds will also be established in every city, to act as a specialist centre of learning for maths, in an attempt to remedy the shortage of graduates in that subject. Julia Evans, BSRIA chief executive, said the government's plans were positive, especially the aims to boost STEM skills, digital skills and numeracy. On the plans for a 170m fund to create a new string of Institutes of Technology in England and Wales, described as 'builders' universities' for students aged 16-to-19, she said: "The UK has some of the best universities in the world but students and the 'workforce of tomorrow' have had fewer alternatives to learn practical skills. Clearly, engineering, technical and hands-on skills are crucial for our industry to address the ever increasing skills shortage. And build the houses the country needs." The Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering (CIPHE) also welcomed the plans, noting that the UK's decision to leave the EU would mean the lifting of state aid rules that would allow the government to take a more active role in supporting industry and backing businesses. Kevin Wellman, chief executive officer of CIPHE, said: "The government is right to be worried about the impact of skills shortages, especially in the construction and manufacturing sectors. The issues we have been confronting for decades will come to a head with the UK's withdrawal from the single market. "We encourage all measures in strengthening education in the construction sector and developing greener more sustainable technologies. We would welcome greater recognition of the competency of individuals in the plumbing and heating sector who are indeed 'proud to be professional' and provide essential support for British industry." To take advantage of these plans, Richard Threlfall, head of infrastructure, building and construction at KPMG UK, said the construction industry now needed to come together with a single voice and strong leadership. "The openness of the government's invitation to support sectors which can unite under strong leadership is to be applauded, but will present a challenge to the construction industry whose voice in government is fragmented. Substantial infrastructure investment is critical if the UK is to remain competitive in a post-Brexit future. The industry will be keen to know quickly the identity of the major new infrastructure proposed; and will be disappointed if it transpires that these are ones which have previously been announced." The consultation also outlined plans to move the UK's energy grid towards affordable and cost-effective decarbonisation, with energy storage solutions listed as a priority. Paul Barwell, STA chief executive, said: "The strong political support for storage in this strategy is warmly welcome. Many of our members stand ready today to deliver intelligent storage solutions across the power system. We look forward to working with government to unlock storage markets in the UK as quickly as possible." He warned, however, that government's recent removal of support for the cheapest forms of renewable energy were at odds with this strategy, and that a coming business rates rise for some solar systems may put off commercial sector investors. A consultation has now been launched regarding the Strategy, with government calling on businesses of every size and from every industry to take part. More information on the plans can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/building-our-industrial-strategy Alumasc Water Management Solutions (AWMS) has joined the Construction Products Association (CPA) as an affiliate member. Invited to join by the CPA chairman, AWMS membership sits alongside other prominent construction brands. The CPA is a leading industry body that represents UK manufacturers and distributors of construction products and materials. It seeks to gain greater recognition for the sector, grow members businesses and reduce their regulatory risks and burden. The Association also acts as an umbrella trade body for dozens of other industry trade associations including the Builders Merchants Federation, British Woodworking Federation, Association for Specialist Fire Protection, National Merchant Buying Society, Future Water Association, BRUFMA and NFRC. Steve Durdant-Hollamby, managing director of AWMS, said: Its a privilege to be part of a high profile association. The CPA is the leading voice for manufacturers and distributors in our industry. It is committed to raising the profile of construction, which includes supporting and lobbying government and other public bodies in the UK to develop effective policies and solutions. The CPAs recent Flooding & Resilience workshops are clear examples. Recognising the need to protect our built environment from the increasing risk of floods, the CPA is actively building awareness of an important issue and working towards driving change in regulations and standards. Weve attended these workshops and hope that as an industry we can come together to influence government and other relevant bodies to act on better flood resistance and resilience. Dr Diana Montgomery, chief executive of the Construction Products Association, added: As the CPAs membership continues to grow in strength and numbers we are delighted to welcome AWMS. The matter of flood resilience is an important one for the CPA and through our affiliation we will continue to build awareness on this issue. We look forward to working with them in the coming year. Picture caption: Steve Durdant-Hollamby, managing director of AWMS, is privileged to be part of the CPA. Corinne's Place in Camden is now in the food truck business The James Beard Foundation award-winning restaurant has been cooking up soul food in Camden for 30 years. Speaking to Shan Herald today, a local source in Mong Hsu who wished to remain anonymous said, Villagers here were informed that the Tatmadaw [Burmese army] had ordered the SSPP/SSA forces to withdraw from their Nam Nab Base near Khojom village in Monghsu by this afternoon. Now, many local villagers have abandoned their homes and gone to seek shelter in Monghsu town. On January 10, SSPP/SSA representatives met with Brig-Gen Htet Htun, the head of Central Eastern Command, which is based in Kholam Township, Shan State, to discuss plans for road construction in SSPP/SSA territory. The Burmese commander told SSPP/SSA representatives that he would reinforce his troop strength in the area whether the Shan militia approved or not. According to an official from the SSPP/SSAs News and Information Department, who spoke to Shan Herald under condition of anonymity, the Tatmadaw ordered the Shan army to withdraw from the area before January 20 because they will bring reinforcements in. Because of this [troop reinforcements], they ordered us and the local villagers to move out, said the official. This could lead to an outbreak of hostilities. Apart from the Burmese military presence under Kholam command which is active in the area, more troops from Namsang Battalion No. 151, Kali Battalion 150, and Kunheng Battalion 524, as well as two security battalions have now been brought in, he said. The SSPP/SSA representative said that the Burmese military had also beefed up its troop strength in Tangyan Township, Lashio District, near the SSPP/SSA base at Loi Je, a strategic mountain outpost. We do not wish armed conflict, said a representative of the SSPP/SSA who was due to meet with government peace negotiator Thein Zaw today in Yangon. We have requested the Tatmadaw not deploy soldiers to build the road. Instead, they should employ civilians. But they did not agree. We also requested a meeting with Gen. Yar Pyae in Naypyidaw but it didnt happen, so we proposed a meeting with U Thein Zaw today, he added. We want to solve the problem by political means. He re-emphasized: We need to solve this problem immediately. Otherwise, fighting will break out and people will suffer. The Burmese armed forces launched heavy offensives against the SSPP/SSA, including assaults on its Wan Hai Headquarters in Kesi Township, during the general election last year. SSPP/SSA is a member of the United Nationalities Federal Council which has to date declined to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement, or NCA. The Shan militia previously approved state-level and union-level ceasefire accords with the former Burmese government administration headed by President Thein Sein. By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN) Trump launched his campaign in front of an "audience" of actors paid $50/each to wear campaign shirts and cheer wildly, and he's brought his paid cheering section with him into the presidency, bringing along staffers to applaud at key moments during his press conferences and other appearances. The practice has its origin in ancient Rome, where the Emperor Nero deployed his own crowds, called "Augustiani," to cheer at his indifferent poetry and lyre playing. It was revived in 17th and 18th century opera circles, where "claques" were used to "huzzah or hiss their favorite performers." The claque died out in the 19th century, but everything old is new again, and Trump has revived claques as an integral part of his governing strategy. It's a sharp move: if you can't see who's applauding, you might assume that when Trump draws cheers for damning CNN as "fake news" that the press corps is cheering him on. One can recognize some key elements of the Neronian claque in its nascent revival. Imperial demands for adulation that abhor a silence that may leave the ruler exposed. The triumph of celebrity rule over stifling norms and propriety. Indeed, the latter element is why the contemporary claque may win the approval of those who helped elect our current president. The Neronian claque did not simply demand that Romans put aside their critical judgement and submit to a day at the theatre one could not escape, but it did so for specific political aims. Clackity Claque [Richard Byrne/Crooked Timber] (Image: Simone Giertz/Applause Machine) Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' promotion by train turned fatal on Tuesday as one of his fans died in Gujarat's Vadodara. Another person who is injured has been rushed to a hospital for immediate treatment. While the actor did not step down from the train, choosing to wave at the crowds and urged them to watch the film on a loudspeaker, fans in Vadodara swarmed the railway platforms since several hours before the scheduled arrival of the train. The two fans were injured in the crowd which had gathered to get a glimpse of the 'Dilwale' actor at the Vadodara Railway Station. The police baton-charged the fans who had assembled to see their favourite hero. On arriving in Surat, Shah Rukh had tweeted, "Thank u Gujarat. This is so beautiful. Thanks for waiting for Raees Surat." Shah Rukh had last boarded a train to Mumbai from Delhi as a young budding artiste with starry dreams, and yesterday got onto a train to Delhi once again -- this time as a star to promote his film. Ditching the usual air travel to go to a city for film promotion, Shah Rukh -- who is known for his marketing ideas -- took a train to Delhi to promote 'Raees' -- which will hit the screens on January 25. Limited on Tuesday said its wholly-owned subsidiary Inc has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Certon-based in Melbourne and Florida. moved the Delhi High Court on Tuesday against a Rs 950-crore penalty recommendation made by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for alleged failure in providing sufficient points of interconnection to rival telecom operator Reliance Jio. Idea's challenge to the TRAI recommendation, before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal on Tuesday, follows an earlier petition filed by Vodafone against a Rs 1,050-crore recommendation on the same grounds, which is currently pending before another bench of the court. Alongside Idea and Vodafone, TRAI had on October 21, 2016 also recommended a Rs 1,050-crore penalty against Bharti Airtel, taking the total tally to Rs 3,050 crore against the three service providers. Subsequently, DoT had on January 12 received confirmation from the Attorney General's office that the imposition of such a penalty was legal and within the scope of the law. In its plea, Idea has claimed that it has complied with all requirements of providing interconnectivity as per the quality of service (QoS) rules and as such is not liable to any penalty. The company has stated that as on January 19, it has allocated 19,175 points of interconnection to Reliance Jio and attributed the congestion and call failures as result of Jio's gross underestimation of call volumes, due to its free voice-calling offer. In response, Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain appearing on behalf of the DoT, argued against the maintainability of the Idea petition. Jain submitted that the present plea, like the Vodafone challenge, had been filed prematurely on a mere recommendation by the TRAI and not the actual imposition of a penalty by the DoT, which could then make the order appealable. After considering the submissions, the bench issued notice to TRAI and the DoT to file affidavits on the issue of maintainability before the next date of hearing and listed the matter for further consideration on February 21. In its own petition, Vodafone has also made similar submissions regarding compliance of the QoS rules and contended that TRAI's powers are restricted to recommending the revocation of a license for breach of license conditions, but do not to propose such a penalty. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. The December quarter results, declared by key consumer goods companies, so far show the Rs 3.2-lakh-crore domestic fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market has borne the brunt of the high-value note ban announced by the government two months ago. Even though Apple has sued for nearly $1 billion over royalties, the US chipmaker reportedly does not intend to stop doing business with the iPhone maker, a media report said. According to a report in tech website Re/Code, has said that Apple was trying to turn a simple contract dispute into a regulatory issue. was considering filing its own lawsuits in response, whether in the US or elsewhere, as well as trying to get Apple's case dismissed, the report noted. Apple alleged that Qualcomm did not give fair licensing terms for its processor technology. Apple also said Qualcomm sought to punish it for cooperating in a South Korean investigation into Qualcomm's licensing practices by withholding a $1 billion rebate. "For many years Qualcomm has unfairly insisted on charging royalties for technologies they have nothing to do with," Apple said in a statement. "The more Apple innovates with unique features such as TouchID, advanced displays, and cameras, to name just a few, the more money Qualcomm collects for no reason and the more expensive it becomes for Apple to fund these innovations," a CNET report said, quoting the statement. While Apple uses its homegrown processors to power the iPhone, it relies on modem chips from Qualcomm especially in the US. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed chargesheets against 11 accused, including businessman Vijay Mallya, in the Rs 1,300-crore loan default case, raising hopes of his extradition from the UK. Rolls Royce just arranged for a "deferred prosecution" with UK prosecutors over revelations that it had committed jailable offenses by bribing overseas officials in order to secure their business; under this arrangement, prosecutors have allowed Rolls Royce to pay to have the prosecution halted and to have their executives immunized from criminal repercussions for their actions. In other words, the UK government offered to drop its bribery prosecution in exchange for a bribe. Writing in the Financial Times, John Kay condemns this practice which has come under increased scrutiny since the 2008 crisis, in which banks were allowed to bribe their way out of criminal prosecutions under an official policy of former Attorney General Eric Holder and says that the failure to jail executives is a moral hazard that invites more criminal wrongdoing. Imagine the reaction if an individual citizen acknowledged that he or she had not only committed criminal offences but paid large sums of money for prosecutors not to initiate proceedings. Yet such behaviour has become the norm for large corporations. JPMorgan, Johnson & Johnson and Siemens have all paid out settlements totalling billions to stop proceedings for alleged wrongdoing. The detail varies, but in all cases, the company concerned promised to implement an internal compliance programme to discourage similar behaviour in future. Yet the very prevalence of such settlements is an indication that their deterrent effect is small. Senior executives appear not to mind paying out large amounts of shareholders' money to escape any personal liability for their actions, or the actions of those whom they ostensibly supervise. In the US, settlements have come to resemble extortion from well-heeled corporations especially by attorneys for individual states rather than a means of bringing malefactors to justice. Some Siemens executives went to jail, but that case is exceptional. It is notorious that only small-bit players have been convicted for their role in the 2008 financial crisis and the scandals that have plagued the banking industry since. Retired judge Jed Rakoff sat in the courts of the southern district of New York and was involved in the review of many such cases involving Wall Street companies. Mr Rakoff has delivered a series of coruscating attacks on these negotiated settlements. He describes them as both "technically and morally suspect". If there is no individual wrongdoing, he argues, there is no corporate wrongdoing. And if there is individual wrongdoing, that individual wrongdoing should be identified and punished. Personal liability is the means of deterring repeat offences of corporate crime. Personal liability is the means of deterring repeat offences of corporate crime [John Kay] (Thanks, Tim!) Government employees, who were charged with corruption or other criminal cases but later acquitted by courts, will get promotion even if an appeal is pending against such decisions in higher courts, as per new rules formed by Personnel Ministry. The directive follows as the Ministry was receiving references seeking clarification with regard to the course of action in cases where the government servant is acquitted by a trial court but an appeal against the judgment is either contemplated or has been filed. The matter has been examined with Department of Legal Affairs and it is decided that in cases where the recommendation of Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) has been kept in sealed cover solely on account of pendency of the criminal case, the sealed cover may be opened in case of acquittal of the government servant provided it has not been stayed by a superior court. "In the order of promotion a mention may, however, be made that the promotion is provisional subject to the outcome of the appeal that may be filed against the acquittal of the government servant. "The promotion thus will be without prejudice to the action that may be taken if the judgement of the trial court acquitting the government servant is set-aside," the rules said. In case the government servant stands convicted, then the provisional promotion shall be deemed 'non est' (does not exist), it said. "In case of the government servant being sentenced to imprisonment exceeding 48 hours, he will be deemed to be under suspension," the rules said. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, whose tenure was scheduled to end on January 28, has been given a second extension of his term by one year, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said in a notification on Monday. According to the notification, Jaishankar's term has been extended from January 29, 2017 until January 28, 2018. Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer and who is widely known to have the ear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was appointed Foreign Secretary on January 29, 2015, a couple of days before his retirement, replacing Sujatha Singh, who resigned in protest seven months before her date of superannuation. Jaishankar is known for his proximity to both Modi and Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his experience of having served as ambassador in China and the US stands him in good stead. With Donald Trump taking over as the US President, Jaishankar's experience will be invaluable in dealing with the new administration. He has already been to Washington and met key members of the Trump transition team prior to the US presidential inauguration on January 20. Jaishankar, a known workaholic who, according to insiders, often sleeps in the night on his office couch, has been an astute articulator of the Modi foreign policy vision. Many drivers attached to India's two largest cab aggregators and Ola went off the roads on Monday to protest falling earnings as the two companies dropped fares to compete for customers that led to reduced incentives. An unnamed taxpayer owed the government Rs 21,870 crore for the assessment year 2014-15, which was 11% of to be paid by all Indians, according to 2016 data, the latest available, from the department. The government is planning to set parameters for companies hoping to secure concessions such as tax breaks for investing in the country. Sale of smartphones in top 50 cities in India plunged 31 per cent in November due to demonetisation. Sale of handsets in smaller towns, too, suffered heavily as consumers postponed purchases. While Tier-I towns saw smartphone sales declining 32 per cent month-on-month, in Tier-II and III cities, and smaller habitats, sales dipped 30 per cent, analyst firm International Data Corp said in a report on Tuesday. A Rs 2,254-crore international convention and exhibition centre will be developed at the here in time to host the G20 summit meeting in 2019. Just days ahead of the Union Budget, a high-powered panel headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday recommended imposing a tax on cash transactions of at least ~50,000 through banks to discourage the excessive use of cash and promote digital payments. The wonderful new movie Hidden Figures (based on a book by Margot Lee Shetterly) tells the story of three black women who were crucial to the success of NASA's Apollo missions in the 1960s. And now NASA is celebrating the many black women who play a crucial role in the space program today. In a series of videos, women like systems engineer Julie Williams-Byrd, project manager Antja Chambers, and astronaut Jeanette Epps discuss their work with NASA and how the women of Hidden Figures inspired them. You can learn more on NASA's "From Hidden Figures To Modern Figures" page and you can see all of the "NASA's Modern Figures" videos on YouTube. Just days ahead of the Union Budget, a high-powered panel headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday recommended imposing tax on cash transactions of at least Rs 50,000 through banks to discourage the excessive use of cash and promote digital payments. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is heading a committee on boosting digital payments, tells Indivjal Dhasmana that he never did a flip-flop on demonetisation, but only put pressure on RBI and bankers to ease the sufferings of the common man after scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Naidu, who submitted a report on digital payments to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, says digital payments have to be cost-effective vis-a-vis cash to encourage people to use them. Edited excerpts: You are heading a committee on digitalisation formed after demonetisation. But, you did a flip-flop on demonetisation, criticising the Centre's move and also praising it later, didn't you? No, that was not the case. I, in fact, put pressure on the Reserve Bank of India and banks. Immediately after demonetisation, the common man suffered and I wanted to reduce that suffering. I had expressed displeasure to the RBI and bankers for the way they were responding to the suffering. I was always inclined towards the (demonetisation) policy. The first statement supporting was given by me. When I was in the opposition, I had raised the issue of of high-value currency notes. Has the suffering of the common man eased now? Those pains were over in 60 days. Every day, I monitor. It's normal now. Are you talking about Andhra Pradesh or the entire country? These sufferings are over in Andhra Pradesh and more or less the situation has normalised in the country as well. But, in a recent submission to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), RBI governor Urjit Patel was learnt to have said that there are still cash problems in the rural areas? There are some problems, but by and large, sufferings have been reduced. You also stated that you would support reforms in political funding. What will you recommend to the government on this issue? of old Rs 500 and 1,000 currency notes would itself acts towards these reforms. Distributing currencies in these high-value notes was very easy during elections. Now, it is difficult in small denomination notes. It is difficult to distribute the money through mobile currency, as it is traceable. Once political corruption is reduced, corruption in other spheres would also be reduced. But, political parties need not disclose the source of funding up to Rs 20,000. Will you recommend these provisions in the Income Tax Act and the Representation of The People Act be amended? I don't mind discussing these reforms with everyone. Do you think demonetisation has succeeded in its prime objective of curbing the black money as much of the scrapped currencies has returned back to the banks than the anticipated amount? You have to understand that demonetisation will curb generation of future black money. In future, all transactions will be done digitally, according to me. It is the best achievement. What are the discounts and incentives you would recommend for promoting digitalisation after the finance ministry announced some? Ours is a comprehensive report on digitalisation. For instance, your finger will act as a bank, it would be Aadhaar-based. A merchant having a smartphone needs only a biometric device that costs only Rs 2,000. The consumer need not have anything. He is to remember only his bank's name, Aadhaar number. He can go with Aadhaar authentication and do transactions. Would you announce any further tax rebates , discounts or rebates to promote digitalisation? We are making a clear recommendation that digital currency should be cost effective than cash currency. If physical currency is cost effective than digital currency, nobody would shift to the latter. We have to create that environment to promote digital transactions. Will you recommend tax on cash transactions to promote digital transactions? If necessary, we have to levy some tax above a threshold. Do you see this to come up in the Budget? Let us see how does the government respond. You had asked for a special category status for Andhra Pradesh from the union government, instead a financial package came. Does it mean your demand was turned down by the Centre? How does this matter if it is a financial package instead of the special status. All the benefits that I could have got from the special category status are being extended through financial package. That is why I have accepted that. You made tremendous efforts to create Cyberabad which will go to Tenlangana. What kind of companies do you think would come and base in the proposed new capital ? It will be a green field capital. Earlier I had built a brown field city Cyberabad. When IT sector came to Andhra Pradesh earlier, it was all body shopping. I kept on telling people that they should go for products. IT players may be there in the new capital, but a few ones. Now, there are some more areas like fintech, cyber security, data analytics, higher level of mathematical application. I am looking at them. With Donald Trump administration focusing on US jobs, do you think that it would come in the way of your plans in Amaravati? There will be a drain of knowledge from America to Asia, that will be a gain for India. They will create a silicon valley in Andhra Pradesh. Americans will come to India for doing business. This is advantageous for us. Long back, Bill Gates told US government if you don't give H1-B visas, I will go to India and start my development centre, and I will change my headquarters. The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government seemed to have had a bumper harvest of arrests for drug offences after coming back to power for a second successive term in 2012. When Parkash Badal was the Chief Minister of the state between 2008-2012, a total of 30,422 people were arrested for drug offences under the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. (See Table: Punjab's Drug Arrests) In 2012, a vigorous debate started shaping up in civil society over the magnitude of the drug problem in Punjab. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) information, the number of arrests made by the Sukhbir Badal government during its four years of rule stood at 58,511. Thats almost twice the number of arrests by a government run by the same SAD-BJP alliance in its second term. In fact during its second tenure, three out of every 10 people arrested for drug offences in India were from Punjab. $37-billion deal to buy rival insurer Humana was blocked by a federal judge, thwarting one of two large mergers that would reshape the US health-care landscape. said it was considering an appeal. A bot (short for robot) performs highly repetitive tasks by automatically gathering or posting information based on a set of algorithms. They can create new content and interact with other users like any human would. But the power is always with the individuals or organisations unleashing the bot. China has said that trade wars or confrontation with the United States will produce no winner, but only harm the interests of both parties and everyone else. Responding to a question about a possible trade war with China as the new U S President Donald Trump office with his "America first" agenda, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday, " On the issue of China-U S business ties, it is mutually beneficial in nature. The two-way trade between China and the US started from scratch over 40 years ago and has grown from strength to strength, bonding the two sides with increasing interconnected interests." She pointed that the U S-China Business Council released a report, saying that the two-way trade and investment in 2015 created 2.6 million jobs for the US and contributed $216 billion to U S economic growth, about 1.2 percent of US GDP. "The council also believes that apart from job opportunities, the two-way trade has also raised American people's living standard and secured the advantage of the US in the global industrial chain, calling on the new US administration to strengthen business ties with China," she said. Chunying added that Beijing and Washington should work together to expand cooperation in trade and maintain sustained, healthy and stable growth of China-US business ties. The spokesperson said that despite some disagreements, China and the US share important interests in a wide range of areas and they manage the disagreements in a constructive way so that they will not affect the overall relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, Trump in the first day of his office signed an executive action to withdraw from the negotiating process of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing. Earlier, Trump had also threatened to impose trade tariffs as a way to revive American manufacturing and compel US companies not to take their manufacturing operations abroad. The new US administration has also entertained renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a free trade deal joining the US, Mexico and Canada. James Hogan with Naresh Goyal. The two are said to have been at loggerheads over the choice of an European hub Corp's board will meet on Friday to approve plans to make its chip business a separate company and hopes to raise more than 200 billion yen ($1.8 billion) by selling a 20 per cent stake in it, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said. The sale is part of the conglomerate's efforts to avoid being crippled by an upcoming multi-billion dollar writedown for its US nuclear business, although it would not completely offset a charge that other sources have said may exceed $4.4 billion. Some domestic media have said the writedown could be as much as $6 billion. declined to comment on plans for its chip business but said earlier on Tuesday that it will unveil the extent of the write-down on Feb 14 when it reports third-quarter results. "We will explain the reasons why this occurred to the nuclear business and offer measures to prevent a repeat of the incident," it said in a statement. is rushing to raise funds by the end of the financial year in March as a massive writedown could wipe out shareholders equity that has shrunk to just $3 billion in the wake of a 2015 accounting scandal. Toshiba estimates the value of its chip business - the world's second-biggest NAND flash memory producer after Samsung Electronics - at 1 trillion yen to 1.5 trillion yen ($8.8 billion to $13.2 billion), the person with direct knowledge of the matter said. Chief Executive Satoshi Tsunakawa told Toshiba's main creditors of the plans when visiting them earlier on Tuesday, said the person, who was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and declined to be identified. The person added that Toshiba was also looking at selling other businesses. Other sources have said that potential buyers for the stake in the chip business include private equity firms as well as business partner Western Digital Corp, while it has also approached the government-backed Development Bank of Japan for support. Earlier in the day, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's cut Toshiba's rating to "CCC+" from "B-", pushing Toshiba one notch deeper into junk territory with a rating that denotes substantial risks for investors. "We see a heightened likelihood Toshiba will face difficulties in continuously fulfilling its financial commitments in the long term," S&P said. The Sunday Times has caused a furore by reporting that a 2016 test of the UKs submarine-borne strategic nuclear deterrent ended in failure. After the submarine HMS Vengeance returned to sea following a 350M refit, it tested a Trident-II D-5 missile off the coast of Florida. Immediately after launch, the unarmed missile reportedly veered off course and flew towards the US mainland rather than following its planned trajectory towards a sea target near West Africa. The Trump administration has imposed a freeze on grants and contracts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move that could affect a significant part of the agency's budget allocations and even threaten to disrupt core operations ranging from toxic cleanups to water quality testing, according to records and interviews. In a stern warning to China, the US has vowed to "protect its interests" in the disputed South China Sea and defend territories from being taken over by "one country", evoking an angry response from Beijing which claimed "indisputable sovereignty" over the region. "I think areas in the South China Sea that are part of waters and activities... I think the US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first news conference. "So it's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, we're gonna make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," Spicer said. He was responding to a question related to a recent statement made by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson that US would deny China access to these islands as they are in international waters. China in a strongly worded statement had warned US of a war if it is denied the access. China has become more assertive over the South China Sea after an international tribunal struck down its claim over almost all of the area. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have counter claims over the South China Sea. Reacting to Spicer's remarks, China today warned the US that it would not back down over its claims in the South China Sea. "China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing, adding that the country is "firm in safeguarding our rights and interests." "The US is not a party to the South China Sea issue," she asserted. Hua also said China "firmly upholds freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea in accordance with international law" and urged the US to "fully respect the efforts of regional countries to safeguard peace and stability". On trade ties with the Communist giant, Spicer said that President Donald Trump understands that China is a big market for US goods and services. "When he met the head of Alibaba a couple of weeks ago, that was part of the point. There's huge market issue there. But in many cases, it's not a two-way street," he said. "I think that whether or not you're talking about the financial services or the banking, you know, the other service industries, or our manufacturing goods and services, or some of the IP problems that we have with China, that it really is not a two-way street," Spicer said. "So he understands the market that China has and our desire to further penetrate that market. But he also recognises, there's a lot of concerns with how we are treated entering into China's market, and we need to review that," he said in response to a question. US President signed orders on Tuesday smoothing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, rolling back key Obama administration environmental actions in favour of expanding energy infrastructure. While oil producers in Canada and North Dakota are expected to benefit from a quicker route for crude oil to US Gulf Coast refiners, going ahead with the projects would mark a bitter defeat for Native American tribes and climate activists, who vowed to fight the decisions through legal action. Trump campaigned on promises to increase domestic energy production and before taking office indicated he supported completion of the Dakota pipeline and reviving the C$8 billion ($6.1 billion) Keystone XL project, which was rejected in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama. TransCanada Corp said it would resubmit an application for a permit for Keystone XL after Trump signed an order saying they could re-apply. The application will be reviewed by the US State Department, which has 60 days to reach a decision. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Tuesday it was important to "get this process back on track and get it moving," saying Keystone XL is "too important for our country." The orders also may undo victories won by protesters in North Dakota against Energy Transfer Partners , which was denied a permit to tunnel the Dakota line under the Missouri River in December. Protesters rallied for months against plans to route the $3.8 billion pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it threatened water resources and sacred Native American sites. At one point, nearly 10,000 people had flocked to federal land in North Dakota, including a contingent of 4,000 veterans after protests turned violent at times. The primary protest camp has dwindled to several hundred after the Standing Rock tribe asked activists to leave when the US Army Corps of Engineers denied the easement in December. In a statement, the Standing Rock Sioux said they would fight the orders. "Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream," said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock tribe. The North Dakota Petroleum Council, the trade group for state oil producers relying on Dakota Access to expand their crude transport options, cheered Trump's order. About 1 million barrels a day are currently produced in North Dakota. "We think this is a great step forward for energy security in America," said Ron Ness, the council's president. The more-than 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline would bring heavy crude from Canada to the US Gulf Coast. The project was conceived nearly a decade ago, but since then the US shale revolution has redefined oil flows, with domestic refiners finding themselves awash with plentiful supply and needing fewer foreign imports. Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said in Calgary on Tuesday that Keystone XL has all the regulatory approvals it needs in Canada, and that the project would be "very positive for Canada." Environmental activists broadly opposed the Keystone XL pipeline and campaigned against it for more than seven years, eventually winning a victory when Obama rejected the project in 2015. Trip Van Noppen, president of nonprofit environmental law organisation Earthjustice, said in a statement that Trump "appears to be ignoring the law, public sentiment and ethical considerations" with the decision. TransCanada shares last traded up 2.9 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company did not respond to a request for comment. 'STANDING WITH THE NATIVES' The Standing Rock tribe won a key victory when the US Army Corps of Engineers in early December turned down Energy Transfer Partners' request for an easement to tunnel under the nearby Missouri River. Most of the 1,172-mile (1,885 km) Dakota pipeline was completed by the summer of 2016, except for a small section under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that forms part of the river. The White House memorandum said the Army and the US Army Corps of Engineers should review and quickly approve permits for Dakota Access. The Army Corps earlier this month said it would begin an environmental assessment that could delay the Dakota project further. The Standing Rock statement suggested Trump's order circumvents the environmental review. In Cannon Ball, North Dakota, protesters, many of whom have stayed at the camp for months, expressed concern about the order but said they would continue fighting to protect the environment. "I'm staying here. I'm standing with the natives. This is our future," said Benjamin Buffalo, 45, a Blackfeet tribal member from Browning, Montana. "I disagree with what Trump did because he's ruining the future for our children." Trump, speaking on Tuesday in Washington, said Keystone XL would create 28,000 jobs, but that figure is at odds with a 2014 US State Department environmental study, which said the project would create 3,900 US construction jobs and 35 permanent jobs. Shares of ETP, the company building the 450,000 barrel-a-day Dakota pipeline, were up 4 percent in US trading. Trump owned ETP stock through at least mid-2016, according to financial disclosure forms, and ETP's chief executive, Kelcy Warren, donated $100,000 to his campaign. A 4-year-old Muslim girl in the has been banned from wearing a hijab by a Roman Catholic school under a strict uniform policy, sparking a massive row on social media. The unnamed child was told by staff at St Clare's School in Handsworth, Birmingham, that she should not wear her hijab to lessons. The school has a strict uniform policy, including no headwear or scarf and asked parents of the girl to respect it. The girl's father called on Birmingham City Council's Labour cabinet member for equalities Waseem Zaffar to intervene causing the row to erupt. The row has now divided senior councillors and women's rights activists who have been locked in a feud over facebook and twitter, the Birmingham Mail reported. Zaffar wrote that he had met with the head teacher and told her the ban on the scarf was against the equalities act. "I'm insisting this matter is addressed asap with a change of policy," he said. However, his cabinet colleague Majid Mahmood countered that as a faith school St Clare's is "maybe within its rights to insist upon a particular dress code," just as a Muslim faith school "may require girls to wear headscarves". Mashuq Ally, a former head of equalities for Birmingham City Council, agreed, saying that there is no religious requirement for girls of infant school age to wear the hijab. He also pointed out that a faith school is allowed to set its own uniform policy and be exempted from discrimination legislation. Where there are demographic changes which lead to a significant number of Muslim children attending a Christian school, then the parents should ask the school governors to consider changing the uniform policy, he said. Campaigner Gina Khan attacked Zaffar on twitter, accusing him of backing parents who enforce the hijab on little girls as a means of control. Thank you @birminghammail for picking up on this story .. & quoting me re @WaseemZaffar & his #patriarchy mindset https://t.co/HRr4GZ1pgt Gina Khan (@GinaKhanUK) January 23, 2017 Councillor Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children, families and schools, was quoted as saying, "Each school's governing body is responsible for the creation and implementation of its own uniform policy. However, the local authority is supporting the school to ensure its policy is appropriate, in line with legal requirements, and we are engaging with all schools to remind them of their responsibilities when it comes to setting school uniform policies." Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has said his government is prepared to negotiate with US President if Mexico's national sovereignty is respected. Pena Nieto gave a speech detailing what Mexico's baseline negotiating points would be, including economic integration, respect for the rights of migrants and the money they send home. Those remittances amount to about $25 billion annually and have become a major source of foreign revenue for the country. Trump had originally suggested that the US might retain some of that money to help pay for a wall between the two countries, a project he says Mexico will pay for but which Mexico opposes. Pena Nieto sought to chart a middle course. "Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution," he said. Pena Nieto said over the weekend that he has talked with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the North American Free Trade Agreement ahead of a planned January 31 meeting with Trump. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the three-nation trade agreement and slap tariffs on imports. Pena Nieto's office said that during Sunday's conversation, Trudeau and the Mexican president "spoke about the importance of the United States for both countries, and agreed to join forces to continue promoting the economic integration of North America." Trump announced yesterday that he's set up meetings with Trudeau and Pena Nieto, saying "We're going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA." Mexico's manufacturing sector has benefited from NAFTA, but Trump claims it has displaced US jobs. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump "has already spoken to both the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada about his desire to renegotiate, and as he meets with both of these individuals over the next 30 days or so, that is going to be a topic." "If they come in and express their willingness to do that, you could negotiate it in the current parameters and update it through the existing structure," Spicer said. "If they don't, and decide to pull out, we will have to go back to the drawing table in the future. Five best entries, shortlisted by a power-packed jury, will now compete for the coveted Business Standard Best Project Award 2016, in the final round to be held on January 25. The BSE stock exchanges Initial Public Offering (IPO) of equity garnered 51 per cent subscription on Monday, first day of the Rs 1,240-crore issue. The retail (for small investors) portion of the issue was subscribed 86 per cent. That for high net worth individuals and institutional portion was subscribed 12 and 16 per cent, respectively. The IPO will remain open till Wednesday. The offer is is entirely a secondary share sale by existing investors. BSE on Friday raised Rs 363 crore by allotting 4.6 million shares to anchor investors at Rs 806 each. Asian face many headwinds in the first half of 2017, says Mixo Das, Southeast Asia equity strategist at Nomura. Das tells Samie Modak that India is better-placed given its low export dependence and it should outperform Asian peers this year. Excerpts: United States (US) President Donald Trump reiterated his protectionist stance in inauguration speech. How big is this a risk for equities? It is a big risk. So far, we don't know how far he will go with this. But it is clear there will be some kind of protectionism by the US. It could end up being some minor tax adjustments. But it could even be significant tariffs for specific countries like China or Mexico. So clearly, that is a major downside risk for Asian economies. But given there isn't much clarity yet, we haven't factored it in our forecasts. gained 6% to Rs 493 on the BSE after the company announced acquisition of US-based Certon Software Inc., in an all cash transaction. India hopes to conclude negotiations with the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to fill its strategic oil reserves at Mangalore, in the southern state of Karnataka, a foreign ministry official said. India has retained its forecast for 2016-17 season at 22.5 million tonnes, a top government official said, after a meeting of representatives from India's leading sugar-producing states. "We will meet again after two weeks to re-assess these production numbers," said the official, who requested anonymity. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will be on a three-day official visit to India from today during which he will attend the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest. The Crown Prince will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow, following which he will lay wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at the Raj Ghat. The Crown Prince will in the afternoon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House here following there will be exchange of agreements between both sides. Later in the evening, he will meet Vice President Hamid Ansari at hotel Leela Palace here and then call on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will emplane for Abu Dhabi after witnessing the Republic Day parade on January 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the proposal of short term borrowing by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development or NABARD, in order to lend funds to Cooperative banks. The approval will ensure increased availability of short term crop loans to farmers through Cooperative banks at reduced rate of interest. This, in turn, will promote digital and cashless transactions by farmers. The decisions will enable NABARD to make short term borrowings at prevailing market rate of interest for approx. Rs.20, 000 crores for on-lending to Cooperative Banks at 4.5 percent rate of interest. Interest Subvention of about 1.8% and NABARD's administrative cost of 0.2 percent to be provided as per the scheme of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW). The extent of interest subvention may vary depending on the rate at which NABARD raises funds. NABARD will coordinate the conversion of operative/live KCCs into RuPay/ATM-enabled Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) by Cooperative Banks and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in a mission mode. In the light of good monsoon, expectation of increased credit demand and in order to boost agricultural production, farmers need to be supported through Cooperative Banks, which are capable of providing credit easily to help them expand their agricultural operations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Delhi High Court will on Tuesday hear a case relating to nursery admission notification issued by the state government that made it mandatory for private unaided minority schools to admit students in the unreserved category on the basis of neighbourhood criteria. In the last hearing, the court had stayed the Delhi Government's notification for 15 to 20 minority schools. As per the new set of guidelines approved by Lieutenant Governor, Anil Baijal, all applicants living in the neighbourhood of the school will be given priority over those living further away. Apart from this the other pointers includes, no preference to girl child and guidelines for sibling in the same school. The admission process for nursery classes has started from January 15 and will continue till January 31. Around 260 schools have approached the court against notification. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking postponement of the budget session, senior advocate K.T.S Tulsi has said the apex does not have the authority to determine the schedule of the presentation, as decision to determine the date falls on the prerogative of the Parliament. "The Supreme Court cannot determine the business of Parliament. That is entirely prerogative of the Parliament itself. Therefore, to expect the Supreme Court to interfere with the schedule of the Parliament is asking for the moon," Tulsi told ANI. The apex court yesterday rejected lawyer Manohar Lal Sharma's plea seeking postponement of Union Budget to March due to the ensuing assembly elections that is to be held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand next month. Sharma in his plea stated that the people would face a lot of problems due to the upcoming assembly elections in these five states. The opposition had also sought the same, arguing that the budget announcement would allure the voters and influence voting thereby leading to unfair elections. The Union Budget will now be announced on February 1, as had been decided by the government. Meanwhile, the Election Commission has ordered that no state specific schemes shall be announced in the budget to keep the elections free and fair. "It may be ensured that in the budget speech the government's achievements in respect of five poll-bound states will not be highlighted," the release stated. The government has also called for an all-party meeting on January 30 ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Waiting to catch a glimpse of Bollywood's king Khan, Shahrukh, scores of fans gathered at the Nizzamuddin Railway station on Tuesday, where the actor boarded off the train he took from Mumbai. Fans of the 51-year-old actor, who is currently on a promotional spree for his upcoming flick 'Raees' in the national capital, went hayway while waiting to meet their favourite star. Sultan, a die-hard Shahrukh fan had been waiting at the railway station from 7:30 am to catch a glimpse of the 'fan' star. He said, "People are saying that he has left from here. It's not possible that Shahrukh Khan can leave without meeting us." Another fan said if the 'Dilwale' star doesn't meet them, they would go and watch Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Kaabil' instead of 'Raees'. He stated, "We will wait till evening and if Shahrukh will not meet us, we will not see his film 'Raees'". Some of the crazy fan had even bunked their schools and colleges just to meet their favourite star and get an autograph. A school going boy said, "I have seen Shahrukh once at the Kapil Sharma Comedy Show in Delhi, I had come to see him again but couldn't." Some fans always expressed resentment against the actor for leaving the station without meeting them. A group of fans said, "Shahrukh, if you see this video, we want to tell you that we love you". The entire team of Raees, along with producer Ritesh Sidhwani, director Rahul Dholakia and other crew members were also aboard with the 'DDLJ' star. The film, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is slated to release on January 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has asserted that soldiers of his country's Army are the best in the world, and he is proud to be COAS of a brave and highly professional Army. "I'm proud to be COAS of a brave and highly professional Army," Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted General Bajwa as saying. The Army Chief had visited the elite Strike Corps at Multan Garrison on Monday. He laid floral a wreath at Yadgar-e Shuhada and offered Fatiha for the martyrs. Corps Commander briefed General Bajwa on operational preparations and administration of troops. Later, the Army Chief addressed the soldiers and officers of the Garrison. He appreciated troops' participation from Multan Corps in ongoing counter terrorism operations in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). General Bajwa especially praised them for concurrently keeping themselves fully trained and prepared to thwart challenges of conventional war. "Our experience of counter terrorism operations has made us battle hardened which is a valued add-on in operational preparedness," he said. General Bajwa directed officers and soldiers to keep themselves fully trained and abreast to defeat all types of threats. Soldiers freely interacted with the Army Chief and expressed their pride and eagerness to selflessly serve the country and the nation. Earlier, on his arrival at Multan, General Bajwa was received by Lieutenant General Sarfraz Sattar, Commander Multan Corps. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India tour, which was scheduled to take place in February, is likely to be delayed. According to the Daily Star, the delay is to happen due to the upcoming polls in five states in India, including the most populous Uttar Pradesh, beginning from February 11. According to sources, it would be very difficult for India to arrange a schedule for Hasina in February and March as the country's key political leaders would be in the midst of the election campaign and watching the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa. Hasina wants a very positive outcome from her India visit which includes signing of the Teesta deal water sharing deal, which remains a major challenge for the Hasina government as no visible progress has been made on ratification of the treaty since the signing was stalled in September 2011. Though the diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi said signing of water sharing treaty was not a precondition for the Prime Minister's visit, it remains the most important issue in Bangladesh-India relations. About the prospect of Hasina's visit taking place in March, the Indian Government would be busy with the national budget, making the very small. Hasina was scheduled to visit New Delhi last month, but the tour was postponed due to scheduling problems. A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official said that during the Prime Minister's proposed visit, the two countries are likely to ink over two dozens of agreements, including those for using Chittagong and Mongla ports by India. India is also likely to make a fresh commitment to provide loans of over USD 12 billion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Data released in the public domain by Pakistan's Interior Ministry reveals that around 266,412 Pakistanis nationals have been deported from different countries between 2014 and 2016. The data shows that Pakistanis were deported from 133 countries. Most were deported from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Iran, reports The Nation. The data further revealed that 78,409 Pakistanis were deported in 2014, 116,185 in 2015 and 71,818 during 2016. The statistics show that 1920 Pakistanis were deported from Oman via sea and 48,093 from Iran via land in last three years. Thirty seven deportees sent to Pakistan were returned to European Union countries for verification of their national status as required under SOPs for deportation from abroad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A total of 200 doctors and dentists from 24 states were honoured with top honours in the first edition of the Indian Professionals Awards organized by Pune-based International Research Organization for Life & Sciences (IROLHS). The event, held in Pune at Residency Club, witnessed awards bestowed upon top notch doctors, dentist, hospitals & institutions, recognising their extraordinary contribution to the healthcare industry. International Research Organisation for Life & Sciences (IROLHS), a research organization registered under Government of Corporate affairs in association with Smile Nation organised the first edition of the awards. Medical and dental professionals from Pune were also awarded for their work in their respective fields. Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital topped the awards list as it bagged the award for 'Overall Best Hospital' in India amongst stiff competition from top hospitals at a pan-India level. Dr. Abhishek Soni was adjudged as the outstanding dentist of the year, whereas Dr. Anand was awarded as Best Editor of Dental Journal. In the new practice dental clinic category, Dental and Dental Clinic emerged as the winner. Diya Rupawat was bestowed as Best Intern of the year from MA Roonganwala Dental College, while, Dr. Nitin Darda was honored with Excellency in Homeopathy. The event witnessed participation of doctors and dentists from 60 cities across 24 states. The nominees were judged by an independent jury comprising experts from the medical field. Also, honorary special awards were given to various professionals for their outstanding work and overall contribution to the industry. The mega initiative witnessed get together of the who's who of the healthcare sector in one place to discuss and network on issues that are pertinent to this industry. The discussion highlighted the issue related to securing India's health concerns. The event witnessed leaders from private & government organisations, policy makers, representatives from the government and key people from sector affiliates, all assembled to recognise and applaud the achievements of the best healthcare providers. Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Swapnil Sunil Bumb, Founder & CEO, IROLHS and the stalwart behind the initiative said, "We are thrilled with the response that we received in the first edition of the awards. The awards truly acknowledged the medical fraternity for their tireless dedication to the cause of healthcare; we felt there was a strong need to build a forum that will bring all the stakeholders of healthcare sector onto a single platform. It is with this perspective IROLHS & Smile Nation come together to host Indian Health Professionals Awards. We strongly feel The Indian Health Professionals Awards can become an exchange of idea forum where the stakeholders from the healthcare sector can discuss, deliberate and put forth their solutions to the issues plaguing the healthcare industry. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and one of his top advisors, will meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. According to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokesperson, Kushner will travel to Calgary on Tuesday to hold the meeting, reports the CNN. This comes as the Trump administration has entertained renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a free trade deal joining the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Revamp of the NAFTA, which Trump said was the worst trade deal the U.S. has ever signed and continues to kill American jobs, was a central promise of Trump's presidential campaign. The controversial free trade deal has been criticised for allowing companies to move jobs abroad, but its supporters say it provides millions of jobs in the U.S. At a White House event on Sunday, Trump said he had scheduled meetings with Prime Minister Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to renegotiate NAFTA. The present agreement lowers trade restrictions between the U.S., Canada and Mexico and was signed by President Bill Clinton in December 1993. On Sunday, Kushner's name was cleared to work at the White House by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, saying the appointment does not violate federal nepotism laws. The lawyers determined that the White House is not an 'executive agency' and is therefore exempt from restrictions on hiring in a 1967 nepotism law. Kushner was instrumental in Trump's campaign and his transition. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least two foreign militants have reportedly been trapped in a massive gun-battle that is underway between security forces and terrorists near Khimber's Hadoora area in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir. The entire area has been cordoned off as security forces are engaging in an attempt to smoke out the militants. Earlier on January 16, three terrorists were gunned down by security forces during an encounter operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. More details awaited. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in a massive gun-battle with the security forces near Khimber's Hadoora area in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. Two AK 47 have been recovered from their possession and combing operations have been launched to ensure no untoward elements are still active in the area. Earlier in the morning it was reported that at least two foreign terrorists were trapped in the operation underway. The entire area was cordoned off as security forces were engaging in an attempt to smoke out the militants. Earlier on January 16, three terrorists were gunned down by security forces during an encounter operation in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam. Earlier in the day, One militant was gunned down after an infiltration bid foiled in Sunderbani sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Information Minister K.T. Rama Rao has pitched for friendly state policies to investors in Japan. During his tour to Japan, Rao met several investors and top managements of different organizations. He met Satoshi Shimizu, Ryohin Keikaku, MUJI, (MUJI is a retail giant which sells wide variety of household and consumer goods without any brand) Director and General Manager, East Asia Business and invited them to Hyderabad to explore the opportunities available in the state. He also pitched for setting up their outlet which offers local talent developed products of high quality at affordable prices. The minister also explained them the friendly policies of the government. After the meeting, Rao presented them Pochampally Stole. In another meeting, Minister Rao met with JICA. Hidetoshi Irigaki, senior vice-president; Kyosuke Inada, Senior Director, SE Asia; Katsuo Matsumoto, Deputy Director General, SE General and discussed on priority sectors like Urban Infrastructure, Forestry, Water and Sanitation, and Industrial Development. JICA has invited Telangana to submit its proposals on these sectors for consideration for funding. Rama Rao also met JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization). Shikegi Maeda, Executive vice-president; Takashi Suzuki, Senior Director for Global Strategy, South West Asia and agreed on holding business summits in Tokyo and Osaka cities of Japan with various industry leaders prior to invest in Telangana. The minister also met Satoshi Shinozaki, president, Mayekawa Research Institute Co. Ltd., vice-president, the public-private council for promoting Global Food Value Chain and requested to consider Telangana for their future expansions. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a former chairman and three other ex-officials of IDBI Bank along with four former executives of Kingfisher airlines in connection with the Vijay Mallya loan default case. The CBI has alleged that former IDBI chairman approved the loans and also instructed to expedite the ratings while finalising the loans to Kingfisher Airlines of over 900 crore rupees. The loan was allegedly sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits. Those arrested include by the CBI are former Chairman of IDBI Bank Yogesh Aggarwal and former CFO of now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines A Raghunathan. The IDBI bank executives arrested are O V Bundellu, S K V Srinivasan and R S Sridhar while the three former executives of Kingfisher Airlines arrested are Shailesh Borke, A C Shah and Amit Nadkarni. The arrests have been made from multiple cities. While Raghunathan was arrested in Mumbai, Aggarwal was taken into custody from Gurgaon. The arrests were followed by searches at 11 places including Mallya's residence in New Delhi, three floors of UB towers in Bengaluru and residences of Aggarwal and Raghunathan among others. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Manipuri terrorist group commander, who was arrested in Delhi by the special cell, will be produced before the Patiala House Court today. As per the reports, the Delhi Police anti-terror wing special cell, had on January 12, arrested commander in chief of Kangliepak Communist Party (KCP) along with a woman. According to the police, accused has been identified as Khoirom Ranjit alias Rocky alias Great Macha. The accused was reportedly held from a house situated in east Delhi Mayur Vihar area. KCP is involved in various crimes including terror attacks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in Pakistan has terminated two of its key contracts with a Chinese firm, even before the formal launch of USD 4.5 billion Dasu hydropower project, citing 'fundamental breaches' of the agreement. WAPDA encashed the performance guarantees of the two contracts awarded to China Railway First Group (CRFG) in November 2015 - worth Rs. 5.4bn - and ordered the contractor to vacate the project area immediately, while calling for fresh tenders to make up for lost time, reports the Dawn. The Bank is the major financier of the 4,320MW Dasu project. The project's terminated contracts include the 'construction of colony and infrastructure' worth Rs. 4.806bn and 'resettlement of village Choochang and construction of Shatial Museum' worth Rs. 572 million. Meanwhile, CRFG project director Fan Lingang said, "The termination of the contract is un-contractual, illegal and fiercely unfair." He claimed it was WAPDA's responsibility to complete the land acquisition process and hand over the required area to the contractor, adding that all Dasu contracts were suffering due to its default. "We are going to approach the local courts to allow us to approach an international court of arbitration to protect our rights because WAPDA is not willing to resolve [the issue] amicably," said Lingang. He maintained that his firm would complain to the Bank as well. He claimed that the contract had been terminated without prior legal notice and without being provided the opportunity to rectify any violation, if any, by the contractor. The authority, however, defended its decision, saying: "The contracts were terminated due to fundamental breaches of the contract by the contractors. In these circumstances, no legal notice was required to be served on the contractor to rectify under the conditions of the contracts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The doctors' strike in Shimla's Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) has left the patients in lurch as they have been finding it difficult to get treatment. The doctors are on a one-day 'mass casual leave' in support of the strike called by the Himachal Pradesh Medical Officers Association. The association has been alleging that the doctors are facing humiliation in different hospitals of the state and said that if demands are not fulfilled in a month, a 'mass resignation' would follow on February 24. The association also wants the implementation of 'Medi-Person Act', a non-bailable offence. These doctors have given a demand charter to the state government demanding security and safety of the staff and medical officers in the state. The resident doctors in three hospitals of the state have also joined the "mass casual leave" protest in Shimla. Nearly 2,500 doctors are on mass casual leave in the state. Medical Superintendent of the IGMC Dr. Ramesh Chand said the doctors had announced to go on strike two days ago and the hospital administration has prepared adequately for this. He said that while the resident doctors have joined the strike, senior doctors and emergency doctors are trying to deal with the patients and have been asked to run the Out Patient Department (OPD) and operation theatre services. The association will mark the protest by wearing black badges for 10 days starting from Tuesday and would continue till February 2. All the officers would hold two hours pen down strike daily starting from February 3 till February 12. Love him or hate him, one just cannot ignore Shah Rukh Khan! But, people on the set of his upcoming movie 'Raees,' never used to talk to him much. But what was the reason behind it? During an interview with ANI, while travelling from Mumbai to Delhi by train, the 51-year-old actor shared that it was because of the kohled-eyes he had for his character, people used to keep a bit distance. "People on 'Raees' set, never used to talk to me much. I felt quite awkward. Normally people, on the set of other films, speak to me, spend time with me; but here, all used to leave me alone. Initially I felt, all are very serious and thinking about the film all the time. Later I got to know, it was because of my kohled-eyes, people used to keep a bit distance," he said. May be, people were a bit terrified of the seriousness SRK's on-screen avatar. Further, the 'Dilwale' actor explained that to keep up the dignity of the movie, which is very earthy by nature, the makers chose train as a promotional prop. "One thing we keep in mind before a film's release is that people get to understand about the movie, through its promotional activities. 'Raees' is an earthy movie. To keep up the dignity of the movie, this step is taken. Moreover, I did not travel in the Indian Railways for years now. So both the things connected well," he said. Presently, SRK has reached his hometown Delhi, where thousands of fans have gathered at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station to get a glimpse of their favourite star. The Rahul Dholakia directed flick, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is all set to hit the theatres on January 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Having played a key role, along with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, in sealing the alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was expected to play a prominent role in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Sources, however, suggest that her role in the elections will remain limited as she would be campaigning only in the parliamentary constituencies of her mother Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and brother Rahul Gandhi (Amethi) much like the previous years. After the Congress joined hands with the Samajwadi Party, the party-workers were keen that Priyanka takes the centre stage this time but it now seems their wait will continue. The Congress, which reportedly submitted Priyanka's name in the list that was given to the Election Commission at the start of the campaign, hasn't made any changes to it. Sources said the Congress had made two campaign strategies - one based on alliance and the other in case of solo battle in the high-voltage polls. Initially, when former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was declared the chief ministerial candidate for Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka was supposed to campaign in the entire state. A team had also been formed to ideate for her campaign. The party leadership, however, realised that the only way to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was to cobble an alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Hence, the second strategy was adopted, according to which the Congress is not in favour of over-exposing Priyanka before the penultimate 2019 Lok Sabha battle. Priyanka's role for now will be limited to strategising the election campaigns for the poll-bound states, selecting the candidates and keeping tab of Rahul Gandhi's election campaign. This political development comes after many senior leaders had expressed their desire that Priyanka should join mainsteam politics. A 'Priyanka lao Congress Bachao' campaign was also launched. Priyanka has so far not been very active in Indian politics and kept her responsibilities confined within the promotions and campaign. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Agri and Food FMCG major Ruchi Soya Industries on Tuesday announced its plans to expand its Edible Oil Fortification initiative and play a role in curbing malnutrition in India. The company has been voluntarily fortifying its leading edible oil brands Mahakosh, Sunrich and Nutrela with Vitamin A and D since 2014, cumulatively impacting 12 million consumers every month across the country. The household brand informed that it will benefit 15 million households every month by 2018 with Fortified Edible Oils. Moreover, the company also has plans to include Ruchi Gold, reckoned amongst the market leader and the largest-selling refined palm oil brand across the country in its fortification programme in the near future. The proposed move is likely to have huge benefits as Ruchi Gold caters to over 20 million households per month including consumers in the low income group. "We are now happy to announce the expansion of our fortification initiative which will benefit more and more consumers; specially the low income group households and play a role in combatting the malice of malnutrition in the country," said MD Ruchi Soya, Dinesh Shahra. "It is only recently that the FSSAI has released draft standards for fortification of edible oil along with other items; but Ruchi Soya has been voluntarily fortifying it's four of its key edible oil brands since 2014; thereby positively impacting 12 million households every month," said COO- Ruchi Soya, Satendra Aggarwal. The loss due to micronutrient deficiency costs India one percent of its GDP. This amounts to a loss of Rs. 27,720 crore per annum in terms of productivity, illness, increased health care costs and death. Every day, more than 6,000 children below the age of five die in India. 50 percent of above deaths are because of malnutrition-mainly the lack of Vitamin A, iron, iodine, zinc and folic acid. About 57 percent of pre-schoolers and their mothers have subclinical Vitamin A deficiency. Anaemia prevalence among children under five years is 69 percent and among women it is over 55 percent in a recently concluded national study. The consequences of micronutrient malnutrition are unacceptably high morbidity and mortality. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today unveiled its election manifesto for the 2017 assembly elections by coming up with a slew of initiatives which will make agriculture a sustainable profession, revolutionize rural infrastructure, create 20 lakh jobs for youth, establish mega complexes for industry and provide succor to the poorest of the poor. The vision document, which was released by SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal here, follows the dictum - 'jo keha so kar vikhaya'. "We have delivered what we have promised earlier be it making the State power surplus, introducing unique welfare schemes like aata-daal and Shagun, to providing 100 per cent water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns across the State. We are similarly committed to delivering on the promises made today." Giving details, Mr. Badal announced the SAD- BJP alliance was committed to waiving off farm debts of all small farmers. He said the alliance government would also give a State fertilizer input incentive of Rs 100 per quintal on both wheat and paddy as an additional support to farmers over and above the minimum support price (MSP). All small farmers will also be eligible for a Rs two lakh interest free agriculture crop loan. Besides this the government will provide tube well to all farmers irrespective of the land holding and free and regular ten hour day time power supply for farm operations. Mr. Badal said "Farm laborers will also be compensated in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities." Stating that the next five years would be known as the period when rural infrastructure was revolutionized in the State, Mr. Badal said "We have provided clean drinking water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns. Now we will do the same in all 12,000 villages besides making cemented streets and putting up solar lights". He said "Besides this a one stop shop which will dispense aata daal, medical clinic and Sewa kendra will be opened in villages. All link roads will be made 18 feet wide." The SAD president said, "The Akali-BJP alliance was also committed to skilling 10 lakh youth in 25,000 skill centers with one skill centre catering to five villages. Those doing the skill courses will be eligible for Rs 10 lakh interest free loan. The alliance government will also facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. We will give government employment and also create jobs in tourism and industrial sectors to reach the 20 lakh job promise," Outlining his vision for the industry, Mr. Badal said now was the time to think big, "We have laid down all needed infrastructure. All major towns and cities will be connected with four and six lane highways. We need mega industry centers. Accordingly we have planned to make the Malwa region a textile hub. An industrial park will be created over 2,500 acres in Rajpura. Trade fair centres will come up in Mohali, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Similarly world class IT hubs will be created in Mohali and Amritsar. A manufacturing hub will be created in Ludhiana by way of the Cycle Valley. A pharmaceutical hub will be created in Rajpura and medicity at Mullanpur." Mr. Badal also assured that traders having a turnover of Rs two crore per annum would not have to maintain books and can do self certification and pay lump tax. Currently this facility is available for traders with a turnover of Rs one crore. Mr. Badal said ameliorating the lot of the weaker sections was a cornerstone of SAD-BJP philosophy. "The welfare of weaker sections is closest to our hearts. We have accordingly decided that all kutcha houses will be made pucca and the houseless would be given jobs. He said in another important decision it was decided that economically backward among general category citizens will also be eligible for all social welfare schemes meant for SC/ BC categories. He said it had been decided to increase all welfare pensions from the present Rs 500 per month to Rs 2,000 per month. Shagun scheme will be raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 51,000. A new initiative to give five kg sugar @ Rs ten per kg and two kg ghee @ Rs 25 per kg would also be implemented. Free gas connections will also be given to all blue card holders even as medical treatment to blue card holders, small farmers, petty traders and construction workers would be raised to Rs one lakh per annum." Highlighting the initiatives which would be taken for womenfolk, Mr. Badal said all matric pass women would be eligible to get sewing machines. Stating that controlling crime and continuing the fight against drugs was a top priority for the akali - BJP alliance, Mr. Badal said CCTV cameras would be installed on all entry and exit points of villages and cities to check crime. He said a special border area force would be constituted to form a second line of defence and check infiltration. Mr. Badal said rehabilitation centres would be upgraded and new policy of incentivisation to encourage addicts to leave drugs would be initiated. Mr. Badal said the SAD - BJP government had done a lot to improve infrastructure as well as beautify the precincts around the Darbar Sahab. He said in the next five years the entire walled city would be given a world class heritage look. He said other heritage and religious towns would also be taken up for a heritage makeover. Mr. Badal also announced that the government would take steps to regularize all unauthorized colonies at a nominal price. He said there would not be any tax on CSD to benefit ex servicemen. He said big infrastructure projects which would be taken up in the next five years would include super expressway linking Jalandhar and Ajmer Sharif and new express alignment between Amritsar and Delhi. Mr. Badal also made it clear that presently Punjab did not have land or water for construction of the SYL canal. "We have returned the land on which the canal stood back to the farmers from whom it was acquired. The SYL canal cannot be constructed under any circumstances now. We are also committed to continue a peaceful democratic struggle to secure inclusion of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas in Haryana back into Punjab. We will also work devotedly to ensure the criminals who massacred innocent Sikhs are brought to book and the victims are fully rehabilitated. We also stand for a genuine federal structure, protection of minorities and peace and communal harmony." The SAD president said above all we seek a vote on performance - both on development of Punjab as well as the people friendly policies, programmes and decisions of the SAD - BJP government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Whenever we talk about martial art or action stunts in movies, the very first name that pops up in our mind is Jackie Chan. But who does he think to be the best action star in Bollywood? Looks like Chan has two names in the list. The 62-year-old actor, who is presently in India to promote his upcoming Sino-Indian movie 'Kung Fu Yoga,' feels, "Salman and Aamir are the best action stars in Bollywood." Further speaking about his fame and stardom, the 'Skiptrace' actor, during a press conference yesterday, said, "Everybody thinks I am Jackie Chan, so I am fine. But I am also a normal human being." The Chinese action star also met up the biggies of Bollywood, mentionable Salman Khan, and spent some fun-time with them. The 'Dabangg' actor took to his Twitter handle to share a glimpse of the epic moment. The duo, in the snap, is seen flaunting a pleasant smile as they pose with UNICEF's adorable Chinese mascot. Stanley Tong directed 'Kung Fu Yoga,' which also stars Sonu Sood, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur, is slated to release this month. This movie is one of the three Sino-Indian co-productions being made, as part of an agreement between the two countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Saudi security forces recently foiled major terror attempts by storming two hideouts in Jeddah. Two suspected terrorists blew themselves up following a confrontation with security forces, according to an Interior Ministry spokesman , national daily Saudi Gazette, quoted. The hideouts raided included a rest house in eastern Al-Harazat district and an apartment in Al-Naseem district. Security forces surrounded the rest house in eastern Al-Harazat district and exchanged fire with two men, who blew themselves up. In the security operation in Al-Naseem district, a Saudi national Hussam Bin Saleh Bin Samran Al-Juhani and a Pakistani woman Fatimah Ramzan Balochi Ali Murad were arrested. Security forces seized a machine-gun and a bag of explosives. Daesh (the so-called IS) has carried out several bombings and shootings across the kingdom since mid-2014 that have killed scores of people. The interior ministry neutralised several terrorist operations through pre-emptive strikes and arrested a large number of Daesh supporters and sympathizers. The pre-emptive strikes led to the arrest of 566 terrorists forming eight terrorist cells. They included six women (five Saudi and one Filipina), five experts in manufacturing explosives and explosive vests. Six labs for manufacturing explosive were also busted. Two years ago, the Interior Ministry announced the busting of splinter cells linked to Daesh with the arrest of 431 terrorists forming four cells. This resulted in thwarting ten terror operation attempts. The same year, two terror locations in Riyadh region were busted. In another operation six terror suspects were arrested. Last year, several terror attempts were foiled. Last year, a suicide bomber was killed and two people were wounded in a blast near the US consulate in Jeddah. Early this year, 14 terrorists were arrested in Shaqra governorate. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the plea in connection with the Ganga sewage treatment plan. The apex court earlier on January 17 had sought a fresh status report from the Centre on its plans to revive the Ganges. The report was sought on a 32-year-old pending public interest litigation (PIL) filed by famous environmentalist M. C. Mehta. In 2014, the apex court had said Green Tribunal (NGT) was its "last hope" and referred the task of monitoring industrial units that are along the Ganges River to it. The Green Tribunal on December 7 last year sternly criticised the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam on attitude and approach to the Ganga Action Plan, saying that the institution is one of the best examples of uselessness, as it has done nothing since its inception in 1975. "The Centre is spending around Rs. 20000 crore to clean the Ganga, but a useless institution like yours (UP Jal Nigam) and other agencies are effectively blocking progress and preventing the plan's implementation," the tribunal said. This is not the first time that the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam has been pulled up by the NGT. In August last year, the NGT had sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh and to the UP Jal Nigam asking both to explain as to why the western parts of Uttar Pradesh were not being provided with sufficient potable, clean and drinking water. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) has said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can be summoned for recording his statements in the ongoing Panamagate case. Justice Asif Saeed Khosa made these remarks in response to a plea made by Jamaat-e-Islami counsel Advocate Taufiq Asif. Justice Khosa is heading a five-judge larger bench of the apex court to hear a slew of petitions against the Sharif family over corruption. Asif requested the top court to summon the prime minister and record his statement on the ownership of luxury apartments in London, reports the Express Tribune. Justice Khosa informed Asif that the court may summon the prime minister if required after listening to the counsels of Sharif's children. However, the judge made it clear that the prime minister would be summoned only after hearing arguments of both sides. The JI counsel concluded his arguments by saying that the court should summon Sharif as he has appeared in the top court several times in different matters. Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz in her written reply submitted to the apex court on Tuesday once again rejected the allegations that she was a beneficial owner of the London properties. She also denied having correspondence between the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca. German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung had tweeted on Monday documents linking the role of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam in the Panama Papers scandal. The newspaper tweeted the attachments purportedly showing her involvement with Minerva Financial Services. The tweet was accompanied by a document titled "Minerva Financial Services Limited Personal Information", which contains the personal details of Maryam Safdar. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The former ExxonMobil chief executive's name was approved after the voted 11-10 in his favour, reports the CNN. Senator Marco Rubio also voted in favour of Tillerson after he had raised concerns about Tillerson's views toward Russia and human rights. Rubio's vote was important as if he had voted against Tillerson, it would have halted his nomination. According to leadership aides from each party, Senate's final approval on Tillerson's nomination is likely to happen next week. Praising Tillerson as an "adept negotiator" with relationships around the world, committee's Republican chairman, Senator Robert Corker of Tennessee said that "diplomacy has been a critical component" of his job at ExxonMobil. On the other hand, the Democrats raised a series of concerns on Tillerson's views on Russia and his decisions that could affect ExxonMobil and its business. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Pakistan has made numerous promises to Iran in the recent past, and according to observers, is unlikely to fulfill most, which raises the question of whether it can ever be a reliable partner for Tehran. Since 2012-13, Islamabad has been sending confusing signals to Iran, Saudi Arabia and many other alliance partners. The latest setback to the progress of bilateral ties, if it can be called that, is Pakistan dragging its feet on the Iran-Pakistan Gas pipeline under pressure from China. Experts and observers of this development are of the view that Islamabad has been forced to put the above project on hold because Beijing has convinced it that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is sufficient for reducing energy scarcity in the country. One of the outcomes of this pressure tactic has been Pakistan placing the proposal to start ferry services between Gwadar in Balochistan and Chabahar in Iran on the backburner without offering an explanation to Tehran. It may be recalled that in March 2013, Pakistan and Iran signed an agreement wherein the former agreed to import 21.5 million cubic meters of Iranian gas, per day. No progress has been made since then. Both countries share an over 900-kilometer-long border, and all is not well on this front too. The Pakistan military's collusion with radical Sunni Islamic groups has resulted in groups like the Taliban, getting support from Pakistani security agencies, to carry out activities on the border, even at the cost of hurting Iranian security. Bilateral defence cooperation with Iran is in plodding mode despite the latter showing keen interest to go forward on the same. In March 2015, Pakistan's decision to stay away from the Saudi-led military alliance for operations in Yemen, and instead wooing of Iran, came as a rude shock to the its long-term ally and benefactor, Saudi Arabia. However when former Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General (Retired) Raheel Sharif flew to Riyadh to hold discussions on taking over as the head of the 39-nation Islamic Military Alliance, immediately after his retirement in end-November 2016, it raised concerns in Tehran. General Sharif's successor as COAS, General Bajwa's maiden foreign visit to Saudi Arabia, to reassure the country of Pakistan's commitment to the defence of that country, has further buttressed these doubts in Tehran. Historically, Iran has always taken the first step to reach out to Pakistan. Iran was the first country to recognize Pakistan as a sovereign state after its independence from Britain, and the Shah of Iran was the first Head of State to visit the country. Their relations continued remained cordial till the 1978 Iranian revolution. Islamabad is hosting the 13th Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) Summit on March 1, 2017. Iran is a founder member of the body, along with Afghanistan, Turkey and Pakistan, and President Hassan Rouhani is scheduled to attend the Summit. On this occasion, he is expected to follow up on pending issues and seek reasons for delays in implementation of MoUs related to trade, economic and defence cooperation, and progress on the Free Trade Agreement and Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. It is, therefore, important that Iran exercises due caution while moving ahead in its relations with Pakistan. These relations, it seems, can no longer be based on trust, but on compromises, possibly influenced by the self-serving agenda of Pakistan's political and military leadership. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Expressing her wrath over the 'promotional stunt' by Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan where a person ended up losing his life, social activist Abha Singh on Tuesday called for stern action against the actor and his PR team saying it is an offence to create nuisance at Railway platforms. "One person has died in Vadodara while many other lives have been endangered. This is an offence under Section 145 of the Railway Act because you cannot create any nuisance at the platforms. It is necessary that Gujarat police issues a notice to the railways under Section 149 of the CRPC to immediately withdraw this permission," Singh told ANI. The social activist further said that the promotional event was an offence under Section 333 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) as it is endangering the life of passengers and people who are collecting at the platforms. "An FIR needs to be registered immediately and action needs to be taken against those Railway officers who have given permission for this promotional event. It was their duty to look into the interest of the passengers travelling in the train," she added Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' journey by rail, from Mumbai to Delhi turned fatal on Tuesday as a person died of suffocation in Gujarat's Vadodara, which left the 51-year-old actor deeply saddened. While speaking to the media on the same, the actor said, "One of our colleagues was travelling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Baroda. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate." "We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings are with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour," the actor added. In a bid to get a glimpse of the 'Dilwale' actor at the Vadodara Railway Station two fans were also injured in the crowd. Rahul Dholakia directed 'Raees,' which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is set to be released on January 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Two Bangladesh nationals were arrested in Malaysia for suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, media reported on Tuesday. Malaysian Special Branch's Counter- Division held four persons, including the two Bangladesh citizens, in separate raids between January 13 and 19 in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, the Daily Star reported. The suspects included a 31-year-old Filipino and a 27-year-old Malaysian woman. The Bangladesh men, aged 27 and 28, worked as salesmen, and were arrested last Thursday in Kuala Lumpur. They were suspected of having ties to suspected IS militants in Bangladesh and planning to join a terror cell led by Mahmud Ahmad, according to the report. Mahmud Ahmad was a former lecturer at University Malaya who had joined IS militants based in the southern Philippines. Malaysian police said the arrests meant that police had effectively destroyed a new IS cell which had planned to turn Sabah into a transit station for Southeast Asia and South Asia terrorists to join a Philippines-based IS group led by Mahmud and Isnilon Hapilon. "Preliminary investigation revealed that the cell, led by Mahmud, had combined with an Abu Sayyaf group headed by Isnilon, which had pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi," police said in a statement. Malaysia is a major destination for Bangladeshi job-seekers. Around four lakh Bangladeshi nationals are now working in the country. --IANS sm/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Pakistani woman was arrested in Jeddah on terror charges, taking the total number of Pakistanis arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in terror activities to 69, media reports said. On Saturday, Saudi security forces rounded up Fatima Ramadan Balochi Murad along with her Saudi husband from an apartment in al-Naseem district, the Saudi Gazette reported. Murad was detained in a security operation launched after a firefight and subsequent blowing up of two suspected terrorists in Jeddah on Saturday. In July last year, a Pakistani suspect, Abdullah Qalzar Khan, blew himself up near Solaiman Fakeih Hospital in Jeddah, which led to the arrest of as many as 49 Pakistani residents who were put under interrogation. A operation attempt was also foiled last October in Jeddah. It involved two Pakistanis - Solaiman Arab Deen and Farman Naqshaband Khan. They had planned to carry out blasts in Al-Jowhara Stadium. According to Saudi Gazette, Fatima was "a Pakistani woman married to wanted Saudi terrorist Hussam Al-Johani". Her arrest "is further proof that terrorist organizations are still recruiting women to use them in terror operations". "Terrorists, hit by preemptive security operations, had no other option but to recruit women to help them carry out their heinous crimes", it said, quoting security sources. "They took advantage of the respect given to the privacy of women by the Saudi government and its security forces. Spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said terrorists were exploiting the respect for the privacy of women especially at security checkpoints. "The recruitment of women by terrorists is not a new phenomenon, but the number of such women is still very little," he said. "According to the ministry's statements, the exploitation of women has remarkably dropped and has come down to terrorists recruiting their own wives," the Gazette said. The Saudi interior ministry has revealed that 5,085 terror suspects from 40 countries were undergoing detention in five intelligence prisons in the kingdom. "There are 4,254 Saudis detained in intelligence prisons constituting the largest number of suspects," it said. The Saudis are followed by 282 Yemenis and 218 Syrians. There are three suspects from the US and one each from France, Belgium and Canada, it said. --IANS rn (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday kicked off the Samajwadi Party's election campaign by promising to provide better living conditions if he was re-elected. In his first public meeting after a bitter feud with his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav said his party had fulfilled all promises made in the 2012 manifesto. If people reposed trust in the Samajwadi Party again, it would usher in an era of prosperity in the state, he said. Listing various work down by his government, the 43-year-old said the biggest achievements were in infrastructure and power sectors and maximum budget had been allocated for farmers' welfare. "The US is a powerful country. It became so as governments there focussed on building fast lane roads. We propose to do the same here in Uttar Pradesh so that economic progress is expedited," he told the gathering. "We have completed the Agra-Lucknow Expressway in record time and we will build the Poorvanchal Expressway in 30 months," he added. This is also the first public rally by the Chief Minister after his party sealed an alliance with the Congress for the staggered assembly polls starting on February 11. Mulayam Singh was expected to join the Chief Minister in the campaign but he did not turn up. Akhilesh Yadav also came down heavily on the Narendra Modi government and blamed it for making people stand in long queues with its demonetisation decision that caused an unprecedented cash crunch. He also slammed the BSP and said its leader Mayawati was busy building parks and erecting statues when she ruled Uttar Pradesh. --IANS md/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A terrorist was killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district as the foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS here that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. The "Judima" traditional rice wine, a popular alcoholic beverage of Assam's Dimasa tribe -- and an integral part of the community's social and cultural life -- is a fit candidate for geographical indication (GI) registration, a don at New Delhi's Indian Law Institute says. In a report published in the Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, Assistant Professor Jupi Gogoi has urged the Judima producers to form an association and file for GI registration to protect the traditional knowledge and promote the wine's trade for the community's economic development. Under the international agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the GI tag is assigned to a product that has a specific geographical origin and possesses qualities or a reputation that are unique to that place. The GI recognition gives local producers exclusive brand protection. Darjeeling tea became the first GI tagged product in India in 2004. Since then, 272 products have been added to the list that includes Dharwad Pedha, Tirupati Laddu, Muga Silk, Kangra Tea, Madhubani Paintings and Telangana's Pochampally Ikat. Besides protecting the cultural identity of a community, the GI recognition prevents unauthorised use of the tag by others and promotes economic prosperity of producers by enhancing the demand for their goods in national and international markets, Gogoi says. In India, there are many communities (such as Pochampally) that were economically benefited by GI recognition to their traditional products, he says. "If Judima is registered as a GI, it can go a long way in maintaining the cultural identity of Dimasas as well as bringing economic prosperity to the tribe." To produce Judima, the Dimasa tribe uses a glutinous rice called Bora that is indigenous to the region and the bark of a plant called Thembra (Acacia pennata) collected from forests surrounding the region. The powdered bark is mixed with rice flour and some water and made into a dough that, on fermentation, yields the beverage. The uniqueness of this product lies in the use of Thembra. "The taste of Judima is a result of the plant Thembra and various other ingredients used in a particular manner known exclusively to the Dimasa community," says Gogoi. "So, without a doubt, Judima is a traditional knowledge of the Dimasa community and is a strong case for getting GI registration." Judima, according to Gogoi, can seek GI protection in similar lines to Goa's Feni -- a drink made from cashew apples or coconut sap -- which got the GI tag in 2009. He says existing documentary evidence and the role that Judima plays in the lives of the people of the Dimasa community should be regarded as adequate proof of its origin for getting the GI tag. According to Gogoi, studies have indicated that Judima may have tremendous health benefits. "Therefore, more scientific research may be undertaken to highlight the nutraceutical and therapeutic properties of Judima which can give a huge boost to its trade." (K.S. Jayaraman can be contacted atkillugudi@hotmail.com) --IANS ksh/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he was removed as Chief Executive Officer of the Formula 1 Group by US-based Liberty Media, which consolidated its takeover of the motor sport. The 86-year-old Briton shared the news with German magazine Auto Motor und Sport on Monday, reports Efe. "I was deposed today. I am simply gone. It's official. I am no longer the leader of the company. My position has been taken by Chase Carey," Ecclestone said, referring to the 21st Century Fox vice-chairman who became chairman of F1 in September. Auto racing's international regulatory body, the FIA, gave its approval last week to Liberty Media's acquisition of commercial rights to F1 for $4.4 billion. Ecclestone, who has dominated Formula 1 for four decades, told the German publication that he will remain involved with the sport, though the nature of his continuing involvement was not immediately clear, even to him. "My new position is one of those American terms. It's something like an honorary president. I have this title now, even though I don't know what it means," he said. Reflecting on his contribution to the sport, he said: "I'm proud of the business that I built over the past 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula 1. I would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with." "I'm very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport," he added. --IANS tri/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday slammed Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, even comparing him to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, after the death of a person at the Vadodara railway station during the promotional tour of the actor's movie "Raees". One man -- social activist Farid Khan Pathan of Hatikhana area of Vadodara -- died, and two others got injured as the crowd went berserk to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh at the railway station. The actor was en route from Mumbai to Delhi on board the August Kranti Rajdhani Express. Commenting on the incident, Vijayvargiya on Tuesday told reporters: "If Dawood Ibrahim comes on street, there would be a crowd to see him ... You can't gauge the popularity on the basis of crowd. I will not comment further... People have understood what it means." Vijayvargiya also gave the incident a political twist when on Tuesday, he tweeted an image reading: "If one is 'kaabil', even a 'chaiwalah' can become a Prime Minister. Otherwise even a 'raees' born with a silver spoon wears torn clothes." On January 21, Vijayvargiya tweeted: "Now it's the turn of the country's 'kaabil' citizens. No 'Raees' can take away merit from the 'kaabil'." "The Raees that couldn't be of its own country is of no good, and we should all support a 'kaabil' patriot." --IANS sas/rb/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) As we get to celebrate 67 years as a Republic on January 26 and 70 years as an independent nation in a few months, it is time we reflect upon the quagmire that we have got ourselves into. A Republic means "a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated President rather than a monarch". This definition makes us wonder as to whether power in the country is with the people, or is it a facade of power to the people? I personally believe that, despite having elected leaders, the country is under absolute control and in the clutches of the bureaucracy and bureaucratic processes. The present-day bureaucracy reflects the age-old analysis propounded by Socrates that the strong (bureaucrats) have the advantage. Here we need to ask the question: What is the job of a civil servant? Is it to enable or control? What I see is that processes in the country have been built to perpetuate control at all possible levels, and the bureaucrats have have ended up being the de facto rulers of the land. The advantage that the bureaucracy has is accentuated by information asymmetry that gets perpetuated through masquerading control via processes that slow things down and thereby enhance corruption. Bureaucrats are representatives of the state and not the state in themselves. They behave as if they are the state with their arrogance and know-all attitude. These are the people who I see as the biggest folly of our democracy that none of us have thought of setting right. They have been waging war against the people of this nation by enslaving their will, destroying and stalling the pace of change and setting the the country back. We do see some examples of courage within the bureaucracy that tries to change the system, though these are too few and are subject to peer pressure that curtails their thinking and will. This, though, only reflects the shrillness and silence of moral corruption. This shows that the country is still governed with an iron fist by the last remnants of the Raj. I believe we entered the age of bureaucratic authority and control somewhere within two or three decades of independence. We as a nation became free from the British only to be enslaved by the brown sahibs -- as Mahatma Gandhi had predicted. I am sure if he were alive today he would be very worried and pained by the state we the people are in. Why is it that we are perpetually asked to suffer a career bureaucrat in whose fear and perpetual brutality we live? The enslaving of the country by its babus cannot be explained or put across in words. The bureaucrat is a symptom of all the problems that we have or face -- problems that reflect their failure to do their job sincerely. For them, destroying a life or an idea is ever so easy so as to protect their turf and playground. By the time the realisation dawns, it would be so late to seek redemption and we shall live in the throes of an ever-painful existence. Having given this abysmal picture, I see hope in the coming years. The idea is to overhaul the system and reduce the elected leaders' dependence on a career bureaucracy. I see the beginning of a new era: some bureaucrats have been sacked for non-performance. I am elated and delighted with this news. This is the best step Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken and he deserves an ovation for this. I do hope this is the beginning of the end of the last relic of the Raj and the incestuous structures bureaucrats have created around themselves. Modi has the mandate to bring about change within the country that no other government at the Centre has had in the last three decades. What India has required for ages is change in its governance structure, and it is for the first time we are seeing a government taking the right step -- dismantling a demonic relic of the Raj. (Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amit@amitkapoor.com and tweets @kautiliya) --IANS amitk/vm/ky/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) China plans to build a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility in Beijing, according to a researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dong Yuhui said on Monday that the project is expected to start in November 2018 and will be completed in six years. The total investment will reach 4.8 billion yuan ($698 million), the China Daily reported. The facility, dubbed Beijing Light Source, will meet the national security demands and create aerospace materials among other products. It will provide high-resolution method to know substantial structures better. Beijing Light Source will be the so-called fourth generation light source and its key performance indicators would be higher than the third-generation ones. It will create the brightest X-rays worldwide, 70 times brighter than the US National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II) and 10 times brighter than Sweden's MAX IV, the strongest of its kind in the world. Bright X-rays could help measure the atomic structure of various substances and the higher brightness will help people to see more details of substances, something akin to using flashlight to see things, Dong said. Around the world, there are more than 50 such facilities providing support in many research fields. The light source plays an important role in the medical field, helping researchers know mechanisms of tumours and cerebrovascular diseases. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chinese conglomerate HNA has signed an agreement to buy a controlling stake in SkyBridge Capital, an investment firm owned by US President Donald Trump's adviser Anthony Scaramucci. SkyBridge Capital, which manages a $12 billion portfolio of assets, announced it was selling the majority of its stake to HNA's financial subsidiary in the US and to conglomerate RON Transatlantic for an undisclosed amount, the China Daily reported on Tuesday. Scaramucci, who represented Trump's transition team last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, will leave the firm in which he is an associate. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2017 and the detailed financial transactions were not disclosed. HNA, the parent of Hainan Airlines Co Ltd, China's largest private airline, has strengthened its global portfolio with a string of overseas acquisitions in aviation, logistics and hospitality businesses. The deal, the first acquisition of an alternative investment firm by HNA, would add to the assets of the group, which are now valued at more than 600 billion yuan ($87 billion), the China Daily reported. "Our investment in SkyBridge is an important step in HNA Capital's strategy to build a global asset management business," HNA Capital CEO Yang Guang said. The HNA group, which owns the private Chinese airline Hainan Airlines, recently bought New Zealand's financial agency UCD (belonging to the ANZ New Zealand bank), and owns the largest stake in Spain's NH hotel chain. --IANS ksk/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The sealing of the electoral alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) has altered the political landscape in Uttar Pradesh for the crucial seven-phased assembly elections from February 11 to March 8. While leaders of these two parties claim to have been forced into a political embrace to "stop the forward march of the communal BJP", the tie-up seems to have come as a rude shock for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), waiting in the wings to return to power on the time-tested Dalit-Muslim combination. A resurgent BSP, which is targeting the ruling SP on poor law and order and focusing on the its failure during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots which left more than 60 persons dead and thousands homeless, has suddenly gone into a huddle, haunted by the spectre of Muslims rallying behind the SP-Congress combine. "There was euphoria in favour of Behenji (BSP supremo Mayawati) as the electoral race started in Uttar Pradesh. The SP was mired in infighting between father (Mulayam Singh Yadav) and son (Chief Minister) Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress had little to write home about. The BSP was a serious challenger to the BJP, itching to come to power at any cost," a senior Muslim voice in the old city pointed out. He, however, said the political situation has changed drastically in the last 48-hours since the SP-Congress brokered a deal to stop the BJP. "We as a community want to keep the BJP at bay and the new alliance seems better placed to do so," Faiz-ur-Rehman, a worker at a city mosque, contended. The writing on the wall seems to have already worried the BSP leadership as its senior leaders, mostly Muslim faces, have been asked by Mayawati to "go out and explain to the community that SP-Congress tie-up will only help the BJP by dividing votes and that she remains their best bet". "The coming together of the SP-Congress is nothing but an attempt by both sides to piggyback each other in the face of certain electoral defeat," Naseemuddin Siddiqui, the tallest Muslim leader of the BSP, said. One of Mayawati's closest aides, Siddiqui scoffed at the "winnability prospects" of the alliance. Mayawati, on her part, has sharpened her attack on both the parties and has appealed to the Muslims not to be swayed by the last-minute tie-up as this was being done at the "behest of the communal forces to weaken the BSP". "The Congress leadership has surrendered before the SP in a bid to garner a few seats but it has failed the aspirations of the Muslim voters," she thundered. With 19 per cent votes that could influence 60-70 seats of the 403-member assembly, political observers here concede that while the Congress aligning with the SP could "offer a serious threat" to the BSP, they for now are giving the BSP and the Congress-SP alliance a 30:70 chance of splitting Muslim votes. The BSP is stressing to its Muslim voters that the coming together of the 19 per cent Muslim vote and 23 per cent Dalit vote is potentially a match-winning cocktail. A section, however, dittoes Mayawati's fears that a triangular fight could give the BJP an edge it has been waiting for. The jury is, however, out on who benefits and by how much from this alliance. For the SP, it is felt that the alliance is timely as, due to the infighting within, it was being largely considered knocked out of the race. The tie-up returns it to the reckoning and it can now pitch in with its winning and time-tested MY Muslim-Yadav combination. The pan-Indian acceptance of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi as benefactors of the Muslim community stays intact and could benefit the SP. For the Congress too, it's a good situation as it is now riding with a regional party and is back in the fight. Relegated to the fourth position in the state over the past few decades, the Congress now stands a decent chance of enhancing its numbers in the assembly and, in any case, can only hope to taste in power in a coalition. With its organisational structure in tatters, the 105 seats that have come its way is a "bumper draw", in the words of an old Congress worker. The Congress won a mere 28 seats in the 2012 assembly polls. On the face of it, the BJP is chuckling, saying the alliance will result in a surge in its favour. "We have always been saying that the SP is the B-team of Congress and they are now out of the closet, making it easier to target them," said a senior BJP leader. The Congress, he pointed out, is still not favoured by the people in north India and the SP faces strong anti-incumbency. BJP strategists also say that the SP-Congress alliance to consolidate the Muslim vote could trigger "reverse polarisation" on a larger scale among Hindus and force them to stand behind the saffron camp. Senior journalist Arvind Bajpayi, who has followed Muslim for very long, however, says "its an open field for all as of now". "Campaigning is yet to start. On the face of it, the SP-Congress alliance seems to have taken a head start. How it pans out during the course of the polls -- we will have to wait and watch closely," he said. The verdict on the winnability of this new political combination will be out on March 11 when votes are counted -- but, for now, the two have clearly managed to create a buzz. (Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in) --IANS md/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Newly-installed US President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak over phone with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night, four days after he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. According to a White House press release, Trump will speak to Modi at 11.30 p.m. IST (1 p.m. D.C. time), marking the first official dialogue between the heads of the two democracies. Trump has called four other foreign leaders over the phone since he took over charge from Barack Obama on January 20. The first to receive the call from Trump was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau followed by Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. Trump called up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and dialled Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Monday. The Indian PM also gave a congratulatory call to Trump after his surprising victory in the November 8 US presidential election in which he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In a series of congratulatory tweets, PM Modi had said he looked forward to working with President Trump to "further deepen" India-US ties and "realise the full potential of our cooperation". All throughout his campaign, Trump pushed his India-friendly stand and many times spoke about how important it is to strengthen the relationship with India and Israel if he is elected the 45th President of the United States. At a fundraising event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition in New Jersey on October 15 last year, Trump praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact, I would take the term better out and we would be the best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said praising Modi, adding that "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi." --IANS soni/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Chinese court has sentenced Wang Tianpu, former president of Sinopec group, the country's largest oil refinery, to 15 years in prison for corruption. Wang was arrested and expelled from the Communist Party of China in September 2015, accused of taking bribes and helping his relatives, Xinhua news agency reported. His sentence comes less than a week after the former general manager of China's largest oil company, CNPC, Liao Yongyuan, was sentenced on January 19 to 15 years in prison for extortion and receiving bribes. The Nanchang City Intermediate People's Court in Jiangxi province also fined Wang 3.2 million yuan ($468,500) and ordered the confiscation of all his illicit gains. According to the ruling, Wang received bribes totalling 33.4 million yuan ($4 million) in money and property between 2003 and 2014 and illegally possessed assets worth almost 800,000 yuan ($117,000). The court explained it had reduced his sentence because during the trial he confessed to his crimes, showed remorse and voluntarily turned over all his appropriation. Wang is one of the high-profile cases netted in the anti-corruption campaign of Chinese President Xi Jinping since taking power four years ago. Wang has been president of Sinopec since 2011. The company has joint ventures with Spain's Repsol and large investments in Latin America. While in office, the former Sinopec chief was also fined for the company's oil pipeline explosion in Qingdao city which killed 62 people and injured 136 in November 2013. --IANS ksk/mr (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India on Tuesday conducted the second successful test of the Guided Pinaka rocket from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch pad at Chandipur in Odisha. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated both the Army and the DRDO for developing the Guided Pinaka in a very short span of time. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired the Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket System around 12 45 p.m from the ITR (Integrated Test Range) in the presence of senior artillery officers, an official statement said. According to sources, the range of the rocket has increased from 40 to 70 km with an improved accuracy from 500m to 50m. The Guided Pinaka is a modified version of the Pinaka Rocket, equipped with a navigation, guidance and control kit. This conversion has considerably enhanced the range and accuracy of Pinaka, an official statement said. "The Mission met all the objectives," the statement said.A The Radars, Electro Optical and Telemetry Systems at ITR Chandipur tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path. Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister G. Satheesh Reddy, who was present during the launch operations, said the success of Guided Pinaka has "reinforced the technological strength of the country in converting unguided systems into weapons of high precision." On January 12, the first test flight of the improved version was conducted by the DRDO. The radars, electro-optical and telemetry systems at Chandipur, tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight-path. The Guided Pinaka is developed jointly by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL). India at present is operating two regiments of Pinaka and has ordered for two more regiments. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) last year cleared a proposal for six additional regiments at a cost of Rs 14,633 crore. --IANS ao/gsh/vm (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) India and the UAE are likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on an investment fund during the course of the visit here of Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan this week, a senior official said on Tuesday. "The UAE (United Arab Emirates), of course, also has the largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF)," Amar Sinha, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry, said at a media briefing here. "There is an agreement that they will invest nearly $75 billion in India over the next couple of years," he said. "During the visit (of Sheikh Mohamed), we are hoping that there will be an MoU signed between their investment fund and our National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF)." Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to the UAE in August 2015, the two sides agreed to set up UAE-India Infrastructure Investment Fund, with the aim of reaching a target of $75 billion to support investment in India's plans for rapid expansion of next generation infrastructure, especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks. This was reiterated during Sheikh Mohamed's visit to India in February last year. According to Sinha, bilateral trade and commerce will figure prominently during the talks between the two sides. Stating that bilateral trade last year stood at an "impressive" $50 billion, he said that that the UAE "is the gateway for our exports to Africa and Central Asia". Another key area in which the two sides hope to reach an agreement is petroleum reserves, according to Sinha. The UAE is a significant contributor to India's energy security and was the fifth largest supplier of crude oil in 2015-16. "We are adding a new element to this relationship of just being a buyer that UAE has decided to become a strategic partner in the energy sector," Sinha said. He said that both sides would be investing and filling up a key petroleum reserve facility in Mangalore. Other areas of cooperation in which India and UAE are looking at include defence and security, space, civil nuclear, and counter-terrorism and intelligence sharing. Sheikh Mohamed will be visiting India from Tuesday to Thursday during the course of which he will attend the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, senior officials and captains of industry. Prime Minister Modi and Sheikh Mohamed will hold bilateral discussions on Wednesday following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed. The visiting dignitary will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and and meet Vice President Hamid Ansari. This year, a contingent of the UAE armed forces will also be marching with the Indian armed forces at the Republic Day parade. Sinha said that apart from participating in the events in New Delhi, the UAE Economy Minister and business delegation would also go to Vishakhapatnam to participate in the CII's Partnership Summit. --IANS ab/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Legendary action star Jackie Chan, who is here to promote his forthcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga", met Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, during his visit. Salman posted a photograph with the "Rush Hour" star from their meeting on Monday. The image shows the two actors posing with two stuffed panda toys, sharing a light moment for the camera. Previously, Salman had thanked Chan on Twitter for offering this film to his "Dabangg" co-star Sonu Sood. Sonu had replied to the "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" star by tweeting: "Bhai Salman Khan I have an unusual power-packed surprise for you. See you soon in India... Pandeji Hum aah rahe hai. Jackie Chan." "Kung Fu Yoga" is part of the three-film agreement signed between China and India during Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent visit to India. The film also stars actors Disha Patani, Sonu Sood, Amyra Dastur and Sonu Sood. Directed by Stanley Tong, the action comedy film was shot in India, Dubai and Beijing. --IANS dc/ks/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Life is back to normalcy on Tuesday here and in other parts of Tamil Nadu a day after the violence by supporters of Jallikattu-the bull taming sport. "The area is calm now. Buses, suburban and metro trains are operating," a resident of Triplicane told IANS. Triplicane is near Marina Beach and its streets saw pitched battle on Monday between police and the protesters. A large contingent of police force is deployed at Marina as a precautionary measure. The Southern Railway for the first time during the past couple of days did not cancel any train fully, though partial cancellations and rescheduling and diversion of trains were announced. On Monday police resorted to forcible removal of youth protesting for Jallikattu which in turn resulted in the large scale violence here. Commissioner of Police Chennai S. George on Monday told reporters that anti-national forces had infiltrated the protest and hence the police action. In other parts of the state protesters were dispersed by the police. In the evening the Tamil Nadu assembly passed a law legalising Jallikattu. The local community at Alanganallur in Madurai announced their decision to hold Jallikattu on February 1. Alanganallur is famous for the sport. --IANS vj/in (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has outlined his government's new foreign policy goals, which aim to adapt to the new realities presented by US President Donald Trump, a media report said on Tuesday. "We must redefine...Mexico's relationship with the new government of the United States," said Pena Nieto on Monday, who is scheduled to meet Trump on January 31, Xinhua news agency reported. Trump supports more protectionist and isolationist policies to protect US industry, and wants to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico, as well as to build a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep out illegal migrants. In his negotiations with Trump, Pena Nieto said he would pursue 10 key goals, including "preserving the free trade" between the three. "Trade exchange between the three countries must be exempt from any tariffs or fees, as has been the case since 2008," according to a statement from the president's office. Pena Nieto also said he would strive to maintain a border that unifies, rather than divides. "Our border should be our best space for coexistence; a safe, prosperous space of shared development," said the President. Faced with a more closed northern partner, Mexico would also seek to diversify its trade and political ties with the rest of the world, particularly Argentina and Brazil, among Latin America's largest economies. To that end, Pena Nieto will attend an upcoming meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States in the Dominican Republic. "Mexico must not only tackle the new global challenges that are emerging, but also take advantage of the new opportunities they present," said Pena Nieto. This year, his administration will work to update a trade agreement with the European Union and begin to negotiate a trade deal with Britain, once it has formalized its exit from the EU. One of Trump's first steps since taking office on January 20, was to quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging free-trade agreement, including countries in Asia and Latin America, which his predecessor promoted. Mexico will participate in talks related to changes to the agreement, and continue to strengthen trade ties with Asian countries, the president said. --IANS in/ (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Suspected armed militants on Tuesday ambushed a convoy of trucks and oil tankers along a national highway that connects Assam with the Manipur capital, a police officer said. There were no casualties despite fierce exchange of fire between the security forces and the tribal militants near Khongkhang around noon, the officer said. About 300 trucks and oil tankers proceeding from Jiribam, adjacent to Assam, under armed escort of Central Reserve Police Force and Seema Suraksha Bal personnel were attacked along NH-37, the officer said. The militants chose a difficult section of the highway with numerous hairpin bends to launch the stealth attack on the commercial vehicles. One loaded oil tanker was punctured by bullets but did not explode. A driver present on the scene said: "It took over 30 minutes to plug the bullet holes, as petrol was gushing out of the tanker. The vehicles were halted during this time." As the security personnel, escorting the vehicles, retaliated, the militants fled. Additional forces were rushed to launch a combing operation. The militants are believed to have fled to the mountains, a security personnel added. Some weeks back, two drivers were injured in a similar attack while some vehicles were also damaged as the militants fired from automatic rifles. However, no arrests were made. There have been ambushes of police personnel in the Imphal-Moreh sector of the Trans Asian Highway-1, claiming lives of some personnel and injuring several others. Recently, tribal militants also opened fire killing a civilian and injuring three others in Noney district along NH-37. Police said a similar ambush was carried out by NSCN(IM) militants also. The Manipur government has said that despite its request for 60 companies of central paramilitary forces, only 29 companies were sent to Manipur to escort vehicles along NH-37. As there is no security cover along NH-2 that passes through Nagaland, that route has remained impassable. --IANS il/in/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) got the unanimous approval of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, clearing the first stage for becoming the first Indian American to be appointed to a cabinet-level post. Haley's nomination by President Donald Trump to be the US ambassador to the UN will now go before the full Senate for final approval. Senate approval assured for her because of her popularity across the political divide as witnessed by the unanimous committee approval. When she appeared before the panel last week, she got what was probably the best reception for a Trump nominee. At the confirmation hearings she criticised the UN for its paralysis, corruption and inefficiency and said that she would work to reform the world organisation. The South Carolina Governor has no diplomatic or foreign policy experience which raised questions about her qualification for the post. Democratic Party Senator Ben Cardin dismissed these doubts saying that her "track record of building coalitions in South Carolina" as governor makes suitable for a diplomatic job. She makes up for her lack of diplomatic experience through her "capability, intelligence," he added. She has won high marks for her leadership of the southern, conservative state, particularly for getting the state leaders to agree to take down the flag of the Confederacy, the states supporting slavery, during the Civil War. It was considered a symbol of enduring racism. Haley has also spoke at her confirmation hearings about her achievements in negotiating with corporate leaders to get businesses to invest in her state, One of her successes was getting Boeing to set up a aircraft factory in the state. She also spoke of her immigrant parents and her struggle as an Indian American child in racially polarised South Carolina. Her father Ajit Singh Randhwa, wearing a red turban, sat proudly behind her during the hearings. After the hearings, committee chairperson Bob Corkr complimented her on her performance and said that she would have smooth-sailing in the Senate. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday inaugurated a metro bus service in Punjab province's Multan city, officials said. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Governor Rafique Rajwana, Law Minister Rana Sanaullah and other high-ranking officials were present at the event, Dawn news reported. The Premier later took a ceremonial ride on one of the buses to formally begin the service, which will initially operate 35 buses. Deputy Commissioner Nadir Chattha told Dawn that the project had been completed at a cost of over 28 billion Pakistani rupees ($267 million). It included 21 bus stations spread over an 18.5 km route, which are expected to facilitate 97,000 commuters daily, he said. The project's technical adviser, Sabir Khan Sadozai, claimed that as many as 2,600 jobs would be created over time due to the project. He informed that the project had been divided into nine phases, and that 356 million Pakistani rupees had been paid to various departments for the shifting of various services along the route. --IANS ksk/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday said it may summon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to record his statement in the ongoing Panamagate case trial. The remarks were made by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who is heading a five-judge larger bench of the apex court to hear a slew of petitions against the Sharif family over corruption, in response to a plea by Jamaat-e-Islami counsel Advocate Taufiq Asif. Asif requested the apex court to summon the Prime Minister and record his statement regarding the ownership of luxury apartments in an upscale London neighbourhood. Justice Khosa told the JI counsel that the court will first hear the stance of the counsels of PM Sharif's children and if there was anything required, then the Prime Minister may be summoned, Geo TV reported. The judge, however, clarified that such a move will only be taken after hearing the arguments of the counsels. Meanwhile, Justice Gulzar Ahmed observed that the apex court declared in the Khewra Mines case that it can record evidence under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Concluding his arguments, the JI counsel said Sharif had appeared in the top court several times in different matters, therefore, the court should summon him in this matter as well. "Everyone's has doubts regarding the money trail of London flats given by the Sharif family," he argued. In her reply submitted in SC, Prime Minister's daughter Maryam Nawaz also rejected the correspondence between Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands and Mossack Fonseca. Maryam's response came a day after German newspaper, Suddeutsche Zeitung - the original source of the Panama Papers leaks -, reaffirmed that the Prime Minister's daughter was connected with Minerva Financial Services Ltd, the company that owns the Park Lane flats in London. The family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was named in the Panama Papers, one of the biggest leaks in history. The leak, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, shows how some of the world's most powerful people have secreted away their money in offshore jurisdictions. --IANS ahm/dg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) PETA India on Tuesday responded to actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan's dare to ban bull riding rodeos in Donald Trump-led US, saying the animal rights organisation helps animals only in India. Kamal, who feels Jallikattu -- the ancient bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu -- should not be banned but regulated, recently told PETA in a tweet: "PETA go ban bull riding rodeos in Mr. Trump's US. You're not qualified to tackle our bulls. Empires have been made to quit India." In response to this, Poorva Joshipura, PETA India CEO, said in a statement: "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, as is indicated by its name, helps animals in India only and is an Indian entity." PETA US, on the other hand, has been working to stop animal abuse in the United States since 1980, where bull fighting is illegal and cruel activities associated with the rodeo, which Kamal refers to, are also against the law in many states, the PETA CEO added. "The rodeo is further prohibited in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and elsewhere. Spanish supporters of another organisation, PETA Europe, have made bull fights in many areas of Spain illegal," added Joshipura. On Tuesday, Kamal held a press conference at his residence and told the media that the agitation against the ban on Jallikattu is nothing but a symbol of discontent and anger among people. --IANS nn/rb/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six former engineers and designers of Chinese smartphone maker Huawei were reportedly arrested for leaking commercial secrets to their new employers and rivals, media reported. "The arrests of former Huawei employees may well have been helped by the company's position as a national hero as the company has been a favourite of the Chinese government as the country's largest seller of telecom equipment," Fortune reported, quoting Chinese news site sina.com. "Huawei alleged that its rivals stole two patents for an antenna design and a children's smartwatch and the accused employees allegedly shared all this info with the rivals," reported tech website androidheadlines.com. Huawei has taken tough measures against the product designers, the report added. Touted as the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, Huawei shipped 140 million smartphones last year, a 30 per cent rise from the previous year. --IANS sku/na/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actor Suriya's Tamil actioner "SI3", the third instalment in the "Singam" franchise, which was slated for release on Thursday after being deferred multiple times, has been postponed again. In a statement, the makers confirmed the postponement of the film. "There is an unrest situation in the state and it is completely beyond our control. Releasing SI3 under such a distress situation will have a negative impact on the film collections and also on the reputation of the stakeholders. It will be very difficult to monetise and recoup the funds invested in the film under the current circumstances," read the statement. "Considering the sentiments of the Tamil people, prevailing situation in the state, for the general good of stakeholders and all the other vital factors, we regret to postpone the release," it read. Directed by Hari, the film also stars Shruti Haasan, Anushka Shetty and Thakur Anoop Singh. The film marks the return of Suriya as khaki-donning hero Durai Singam, and he will fight crime on an international scale. Following the film's postponement, Tamil romantic-thriller "Adhe Kangal" has advanced its release to Thursday. --IANS hp/dc/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Popular Telugu actors such as Pawan Kalyan, Sai Dharam Tej, Varun Tej and Sundeep Kishan among others have declared their support for immediate sanction of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Spearheading the movement is Pawan Kalyan, who has said that his party Jana Sena will support the proposed protest in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. "If the youth of Andhra Pradesh are planning to do a silent protest at R.K. Beach, Jana Sena will support them," Pawan Kalyan tweeted. He went on to add that "Youth of AP should raise their voice through peaceful protests. This is the only remedy to achieve the promised special status." On Tuesday, he released a special song, a protest musical, Desh Bachao, extending his full support to the movement. The song was the official release via his party's Youtube channel. Actor Varun Tej, who is currently shooting for Telugu romantic-drama "Mister", tweeted: "Will be supporting anything that is for the welfare of the people of our states. I support the special status of AP." Sai Dharam Tej wrote: "It's time for us to be united and fight for what we were promised and deserve. AP demands special status." Actor Sundeep Kishan confirmed his participation in the silent protest. "Will be taking part in the silent protest in Vizag on the 26th to do my bit as a responsible citizen. Please join us, Sundeep tweeted. --IANS hp/dc/bg (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Security forces on Tuesday shot dead three terrorists, including two foreigners, in Jammu and Kashmir, authorities said. The two foreigners from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Hadoora village in the northern district of Ganderbal, police said in Srinagar. "The operation was carried out by 5 Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of police and the Central Reserve Police Force," an officer said. The security forces did not suffer any casualty in the fighting that lasted more than six hours. The battle erupted as the security forces cordoned off Hadoora village following a tip. The terrorists then opened fire at the security forces who retaliated. A terrorist was also killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district as the army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS in Jammu that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. --IANS sq/mr/sar (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) President has appointed Ajit Pai to head the powerful US communications regulatory agency, becoming the third Indian American picked for key positions in his administration. Pai, 44, will be the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the federal authority regulating cellphone spectrum and services, radio, television, phone, internet and satellite and cable. Pai announced his appointment on Twitter, saying he was told of it on Monday and that "it is a deeply humbling honour". He added that he would work to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans. The FCC also has a major role in controlling the content of television and radio, a sensitive issue given Trump's contentious relations with the media. The agency sets and enforces certain norms on content like obscenity in TV and conditions like having a certain amount of local news content for stations to keep their licences. Underscoring its importance, Representative Frank Pallone said: "By some measures, the FCC oversees approximately one sixth of the US economy." Nikki Haley, Trump's nominee for the cabinet-level post of US ambassador to the UN, is scheduled to be recommended on Tuesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for approval by the entire Senate for the job. Another Trump nominee is Seema Verma, who is to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency for government health insurance programmes. Already a member of the FCC, Pai will succeed Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, who quit recently. A free enterprise advocate, Pai has been a critic of the functioning of the FCC and clashed with its Democratic Party leadership. Recently he took issue with an FCC report that questioned the legality of offerings given free of charge for people to access online music, videos and other content. He has said he wants to end net neutrality, which prevents internet service providers from giving special preferences to certain web sites or accept payment from a web service to give it priority or better access. Democrats expressed their concern about Pai's role in a letter to him. The senior Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that deals with communications wrote to him saying his success would depend on being responsive to members of Congress from both parties and working for consensus on major decisions. Before his appointment to the FCC in 2012, Pai had worked as a lawyer for the telephone and communications giant Verizon, the Senate Judicial Committee and the Justice Department. Pai's parents, both doctors, immigrated from India. Trump has also appointed an expert on strategic communications and political research, Raj Shah, as deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff. Another Indian American, Balaji Srinivasan, is under consideration to head the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), according to Sean Spicer, Trump's spokesperson. Srinivasan is a biotechnology entrepreneur who has been critical of the connections between large pharmaceutical companies and FDA. He now heads a start-up that deals with bitcoin, the internet-based currency. With President Donald Trump withdrawing his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it could mean a big blow for the 11 other nations that signed up, though New Zealand and Australia have said they are hopeful of pressing ahead with the mega trade deal. On Monday, Donald Trump began his efforts to dismantle Barack Obama's legacy, formally scrapping the flagship trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, that together represent 40 per cent of the world economy. Trump had denounced the trade deal as a "job killer". "Great thing for the American worker, what we just did," Trump told reporters on Monday in the Oval Office as he signed the order, fulfilling his campaign promise. The US Congress hasn't approved the deal yet. The TPP had been negotiated under former President Barack Obama and was signed by ministers from these 12 countries in February last year after more than five-year-long negotiation The trade deal -- which has also included Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei aimed to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs for American imports and exports with those countries. The deal was seen as a remarkable achievement given the very different approaches and standards within the member countries, including environmental protection, workers' rights and regulatory coherence. To take effect, six countries representing 85 per cent of the group's economic output would have to ratify it. Now minus the US, which accounts for 62 per cent on its own, this cannot happen. Trump has said he would pursue bilateral deals, and would be "going back to those countries one-on-one" to find terms more favourable to the United States. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his government would find a way forward. Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said on Tuesday it would require "a little bit of elbow grease" to orchestrate a plan B with the remaining TPP members, including Japan, Mexico and Canada, but goodwill remained to "capture the gains" made under the agreement. Singapore said Tuesday it will pursue other trade agreements after Trump withdrew from the deal. A spokesperson for the ministry of trade and industry told the media there are other trade agreements that are similar to the TPP such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The Japanese government said the deal was "meaningless" without the participation of the US. "We don't have the choice America has. It's big enough that they can make a living selling things to themselves," said New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English on Monday. "We have to trade." "Economists have warned that many of Trump's proposals - including suggestions that he would impose blanket double-digit tariffs on goods from Mexico and China - could backfire on the American economy by causing prices to rise or igniting a trade war," wrote Washington Post's Ylan Q Mui. Former President Barack Obama treated trade deals as a priority during his tenure, and through this particular deal, he sought to reassert American influence in Asia and balance against a rising China. But US opponents have characterised the TPP as a secretive deal that favoured big business and other countries at the expense of American jobs and national sovereignty. On the campaign trail Donald Trump called it a "horrible deal". Critics also said that the deal would cost US jobs and the TPP would pave the way for companies to sue governments that change policy on to favour state-provided services. And it was also seen as intensifying competition between countries' labour forces. China, which was not part of the deal, has hinted it may look to take advantage of TTP's collapse saying it was in favour of "open and transparent regional economic arrangements". "Trump has single-handedly given away an enormous source of leverage over China," Edward Alden, of the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN. "The first rule of negotiating doesn't give away something for nothing, and he's done that right off the bat." The Trump administration has also announced to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with Canada and Mexico, that was ratified decades ago with the consent of the Senate Trump said that he would soon meet leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss the renegotiation of NAFTA. The White House said it will pursue trade deals which are in the interests of American workers and crack down on nations that violate trade agreements and harm American workers. At a meeting with business leaders on Monday, Trump also said that the administration will impose "a very major border tax" on companies that are shifting production overseas. institutions, such as World Bank and Monetary Fund, have warned that the inward-looking policy and protectionism could be a threat to global growth. Also, in a meeting with business leaders on Monday, Trump promised to cut taxes "massively" and slash regulations by 75 per cent, CNBC reported. He also warned during a meeting at the White House that he would impose a "border tax" on goods imported by companies that move jobs out of the US. US President Donald Trump has called for a strong barrier on the country's southern border, the British government wants a "hard Brexit" with full immigration control, but history teaches us that civilisations only flourish with free movement of people and walls eventually lead to the downfall of even powerful empires, says a British academician. "Walls are not a sensible barrier. They stop the free movement of people and eventually civilisations collapse... Look at the case of the Roman empire," Sir Barrington Windsor "Barry" Cunliffe, one of the world's pre-eminent archaeologists, told IANS in an interview at the Jaipur Literature Festival, 2017. Cunliffe, who headed Oxford's European Archaeology department for over three decades and is now a professor emeritus there, had in a session titled "By Steppe, Desert and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia" at the litfest, stressed on the long "understated and underestimated" role of the steppe stretching from what is China's Manchuria to the Great Hungarian Plain in the making of Europe and Asia. He had also cited the effect of climate change in determining the course of human development and society, as well as geography -- as Eurasian mountain ranges run east to west and close to the latitudes which determines climate as against the north to south chain on the American continents. Cunliffe argued that it was the large-scale migrations of people from East to West (as well as southward into India and China), compelled by climate change (which has been well proved) as a major reason, that led to Eurasia becoming the centre of the world from the earliest times to the 13th century and guiding the course of human civilisation till now. Among other things, he noted it was the steppe nomads that had domesticated the horse and learnt to ride it, enabling humans to cover more distances; invented the wheel and subsequently the chariot; and forms of subsistence and organisations that allowed larger concentrations of people to live together. The invasions of Mongol warlord Genghis Khan, which also demonstrates the effects of climate change on pastoral societies, was the last phase of these migrations, Cunliffe told IANS. Cunliffe, who has also written about the Celts, a people of Western and Northwestern Europe from the Iron Age to around the medieval era and whose language is the root of Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Irish and Breton (in France), said they were more important to European society. "They are embedded in feelings of Europeans as a people, of their ancestry, to understand their roots. We can read stories about them, they feel real as peoples. On the other hand, they have been manipulated for political reasons, especially in Britain and France," he said. The Celts, encountered by the Romans when they invaded Western Europe and Britain in the 1st century BC, are most vividly known to most of us through one of their most prominent warriors, though in a comic book -- Gaul warrior Asterix of the sole village to withstand Roman occupation. Cunliffe agreed. "Yes, the Asterix series... they are very clever, well-researched, full of insights and can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and can be a good introduction. "I am in favour of anything that can popularise the subject." (Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in) --IANS vd/vm/sac (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) together with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology has assessed the e-readiness of states and Union Territories of India six times since 2003. This body of work defines e-readiness as the ability to pursue value-creation opportunities for inclusive economic development facilitated by information and communications technology (ICT). The NCAER e-Readiness Framework includes three stakeholder groups individuals, businesses and government and consists of three components environment, readiness and usage. The environment component comprises the market, political, regulatory and infrastructure environment. Readiness assesses the ability to use and produce ICT/ICT-enabled goods and services by the three stakeholders. Lastly, given the environment and readiness, usage covers the extent to which the stakeholders actually use ICT-enabled goods and services. Economic intuition would say that businesses would be ahead of individuals and the government in creating a conducive environment and hiring or training a labour force that knows how to use and produce ICT/ICT-enabled goods and services. However, this information is not always readily available or is only available at significant lags. To fill this gap, we conducted a perception-based analysis of business e-readiness under the Business Expectations Survey (BES) framework in six major cities. The NCAER has been conducting the BES every quarter since 1991. It tracks the business sentiments of over 500 Indian companies to compute the composite Business Confidence Index. The survey elicits responses from firms/industries spread across regions (Delhi NCR representing the north, Mumbai and Pune the west, Kolkata the east, and Bengaluru and Chennai the south).The BES conducted in September 2016 included a survey about ICT readiness of firms. In the environment section, we assess the presence of a well-established ICT policy and available infrastructure within the firms. The presence of ICT policy provides dynamism to the ICT infrastructure of companies. The southern region leads the way in this parameter. Continuous electricity supply is a prerequisite for ICT implementation and power back-up serves the purpose of overcoming any deficit in that infrastructure. More firms in the northern and southern regions have power back-up. A smaller percentage of firms located in the western and northern regions view the ICT infrastructure in their company as good. Overall, the survey indicates that the ICT environment of the firms in the southern region outperforms other regions. In the ICT readiness category, we assess the preparedness of firms in terms of being able to use ICT. Questions were asked about the presence of either the IT department or manager, use of various operating software like MS Office and Enterprise Resource Planning; if computer literacy is a prerequisite for hiring at various levels; and if ICT training is imparted to employees at regular intervals. The presence of either an IT department or a dedicated IT manager is maximum in the western region. As much as 82.9 per cent of the firms use one or the other operating system with a relatively limited regional variation. Only 62.5 per cent of the firms responded positively regarding computer literacy as a prerequisite for hiring managerial workers. The western and southern regions particularly stand out. Regarding imparting ICT training to employees of various types, results are similar to the previous parameter. Despite not having the best ICT environment, the western region exhibits a higher degree of readiness with a dedicated IT manager/department, use of software, hiring computer-literate managers, and imparting ICT training to employees. Lastly, we ask firms whether they are using ICT in various activities. A majority of firms use ICT in their finance and accounting operations. More than 60 per cent of the firms use ICT in sales, marketing and public relations. The percentages of firms using ICT in HR, administration, production and supply chain management stand at 54.4 per cent, 50.8 per cent and 57.1 per cent respectively. Overall, in usage, firms located in the western region are at one end of the spectrum compared to firms in the east. The survey indicates that firms in the western region are more e-ready relative to other regions, followed by the south. It also indicates that there is a tremendous scope for firms to use ICT in their various activities to improve their productivity. The effectiveness of various key government programmes such as Digital India and Make in India may be enhanced if ICT is adopted by firms in all regions of the country. There is an acute need to assess business e-readiness of firms on a more continuous basis and in a comprehensive manner, which may give key policy insights to all stakeholders. Bornali Bhandari is a Fellow and Ajaya Sahu is a Research Associate at NCAER. Views are personal and do not necessarily represent those of the organisation (Published with permission from (www.ideasforindia.in), an economics and policy portal) While the judiciary has been facing subtle defiance from the executive in the matter of appointment of judges, a new threat has arisen on the constitutional horizon. Its social justice thrust has met with open revolt in the Jallikattu case in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, people in Kerala had organised mass killing of stray dogs that became a threat to their lives. If disobedience, encouraged by politicians, can stall implementation of orders the stature of the writ courts would be diminished with disastrous consequences. Economic issues with political colour like sharing of Cauvery water and Sutlej-Yamuna canal, apart from socio-religious questions like womens right to enter temples and the Uniform Civil Code might be the next in line. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Tuesdayappealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fulfill his promise of making political funding more transparent, as a means to strike at the root of black money. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday accused the Election Commission of promoting bribery by banning him from telling people to take money from other parties but vote for the AAP. Kejriwal also asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to make him its brand ambassador if it really wanted to end use of money to lure voters during elections. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader's letter to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi comes after the poll panel censored him on Friday for violating the Model Code of Conduct and warning of stern action. Kejriwal was accused of "deliberately and intentionally" instigating the public to take bribes for voting in the Goa assembly election of February 4. "The allegation is baseless. The truth is I am trying to curb bribery. The whole nation knows the AAP was born to fight corruption and bribery and is committed to put an end to it," Kejriwal wrote in his letter. Kejriwal said he was not instigating people to take bribes. "What wrong am I saying? If I asked them to vote for the same party that they take money from, that would be bribery. I am telling them not to vote for the party which gives them money," he wrote. "My statement will reduce bribery. When parties distributing money will realise that people won't vote for them even after taking money, they will stop distributing money," he added. Kejriwal said the people of Delhi voted for AAP even after taking money from the Congress and the BJP and these parties would think twice before distributing money again as "they would feel it is of no use". "Through my statement, I am trying to put an end to bribery. The Election Commission should make me its brand ambassador. The political parties will stop distributing money in just two years then. "By stopping me from making my statement, the Election Commission is promoting bribery instead of curbing it. A Delhi court has also ruled that my statement doesn't instigate anyone to take bribes," Kejriwal added. Kejriwal said the Election Commission was trying for 70 years to prevent the use of money to lure voters but this had only gone up. "If the Election Commission accepts my statement and advertises that people should not vote for parties that offer them money, I assure parties will stop distributing money in two years," he said. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Uttar Pradesh president Keshav Prasad Maurya on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav of "patronising the corrupt and the criminals". Referring to a report released by Governor Ram Naik, Maurya said it smacked of the Samajwadi Party (SP) government's "complicity" with criminals and the corrupt. He said the governor's report drew attention to the fact that only two out of the 53 petitions sent by Lokayukta were responded to. "This report has exposed the corrupt and criminal face of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav," the BJP leader said, claiming no action or prosecution was allowed against 22 ministers of earlier Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) regime against whom Lokayukta had completed probe. Akhilesh's own ministers like Gayatri Prajapati were shielded despite humongous corruption in the mining sector, Maurya alleged. "The UP government has ignored cases like Jawahar Bagh land grabbing and illegal mining resulting in the loss to state exchequer and the chief minister is shying away from bringing out a white paper on these issues, despite strong demand by BJP," he added. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik has said on Sunday that the SP government's "inaction" on Lokayukta complaints against the previous Mayawati regime gave an impression that it was going "soft on corruption". In his six-monthly report that came at a time when the state was in the midst of electioneering, the Governor said the UP Lokayukta had sent 53 reports to the ruling Samajwadi Party, but it cared to give clarifications on only two of the complaints. He said the Lokayukta had sought reports on a number of ministers under the previous government, but there was no response from the present dispensation. The Governor said he had also directed the state to issue a white paper on encroachment of government land in the wake of the Jawaharbagh violence in Mathura early this year, but nothing happened. Twenty-nine people, including then SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Station House Officer (Farah) Santosh Yadav, were killed during clashes on June 2, 2016 between police and the supporters of cult leader Ram Vriksh Yadav, who had encroached upon the 270-acre Jawahar Bagh, a government land. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is set to seek a clarification from the Public Relation firm, hired by the Delhi government for promotion of its social media campaign 'Talk to AK', sources stated. The investigating agency will seek clarification from the PR agency as part of its probe into the preliminary enquiry (PE) registered against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. As per sources, the agency is also contemplating seeking clarification from social media platform (Facebook, YouTube and Google) for launching the 'Talk to AK' campaign. The CBI, on January 18, registered a preliminary enquiry against Sisodia, in connection to the alleged irregularities in the 'Talk to AK' campaign. According to CBI sources, the Deputy Chief Minister has been charged on the basis of an alleged violation of extent rule and regulation in the social media campaign 'Talk to AK,' that was being live-streamed on Google, Facebook and YouTube. 'Talk to AK', which was launched a year ago, was a live interactive session, whereby people used to ask questions on social media platform and Arvind Kejriwal would respond to them. The programme was an hour-long session, where people, who had questions, were asked to log on to 'talktoak.com' or call on 011-2339299. During the talk session, the Chief Minister used to cover a wide array of issues, especially to the strenuous relations shared between the Centre and the Delhi Government. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday held Pakistan responsible for the drug menace in Punjab even as he lashed out at opposition parties for "defaming" the entire state on the issue. Anyone who tries to encourage drug trade in Punjab will not be spared and taught a lesson, he said. "If India has become self-sufficient in terms of foodgrains, then Punjab's contribution is on the top. But, these people (opposition) are trying to defame Punjab, not just within the state, but even abroad where they say that Punjabi youth is taking drugs and is an addict," Rajnath said while addressing a series of election rallies for BJP-SAD in Abohar, Fazilka and Ferozepur today. Punjab goes to polls on February 4 and opposition Congress and AAP have made drug problem a major poll issue, blaming SAD-BJP government for its failure to check the menace. Rajnath said the opponents are blaming the government for drug menace which is not right. He said he wants to ask such people does youth in Punjab only indulge in taking drugs. "Taking drug is not a good thing, anyone can fall in this menace, but you cannot defame entire state and its youth like this. This has to be stopped and effective steps need to be taken. Our neighbouring country Pakistan is definitely doing 'gadbad' (mischief) on this (drug issue)," Rajnath said. "As the country's Home Minister, I want to assure that you vote back SAD-BJP to power, no matter how big a power that may be, I promise you, anyone who tries to encourage drug trade in Punjab will not be spared and taught a lesson. No one can stop me, no matter how big that person may be," he said. He said that he wants to appeal to social organisations to come forward, that even if some youths have fallen prey to this menace, efforts should be made to take such youths away from drugs. "But not that you defame (hitting at opposition) youth of entire Punjab like this. Our youth cannot be defamed," the Union Home Minister said. "What our neighbouring country is doing with India, you are well aware of that. From time to time, it keeps doing one thing or the other," Rajnath added. Rajnath recalled how he delivered a stern message to Pakistan on terror issue during a visit last year. Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed had warned of a countrywide protest in Pakistan if India's Home Minister arrived in Islamabad to attend the SAARC conference last year, but he today said that it was precisely for this reason that he decided to go to deliver a strong message on terror. "You will recall that in September last year, I went to Pakistan... I had said that I will not go. When my officials asked me, I said that Minister of State for Home will go instead and read out the speech over there. "But when I got the information that terrorists over there were opposing India and raising anti-India slogans, saying when India's Home Minister will visit, they will oppose him too, hold protest and will not allow him to take part in the function and he will be forced back to go to India, it was then I decided to change my decision. When I learnt that, my blood boiled," Rajnath said. "I told that Minister of State for Home will not go, if anyone has to go, it will be me. When I went there, standing on their soil in Pakistan, I clearly told them to stop fuelling terrorism and if it continues, then they will have to face repercussions, I said this very firmly to them," he said. The Union Home Minister also talked about the Uri terror attack and how India has carried out surgical strikes to send out a strong message that it will not tolerate such attacks. "What happened with our jawans in Uri terror attack, did you see the bold decision our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) took after that. A bold man and lion-hearted person like our Prime Minister alone could take such a step. I do not want to go in details, but we sent out a strong message to the world that those who will take up the cudgels against us, what consequences they will have to face. "We gave a message that we will not take up the cudgels against anyone, but if anyone does so, then we will not spare them. We gave a message that we cannot strike and go after them (terrorists) just within our territory, but we can hit them on the other side (across the LoC) as well," Rajnath added. Rajnath said that he has come to appeal to the youth of Punjab to stand up united. Whatever gaps may have remained during previous tenures, efforts will be made to fill those when SAD-BJP returns to power again. "The central government, Prime Minister and together we will further accelerate Punjab's development... Punjab is a land of Gurus... And India cannot become world leader if Punjab is not fully developed," the Union Home Minister said. Hitting out at the Congress, Rajnath said it is a "sinking ship" and he can well understand how difficult it is for Capt Sahib (Amarinder Singh) to steer such ship. "Congress is sinking and how can it stay float in Punjab. They are seeking votes to form government and there is one more party AAP... I want to ask my friends in the media, let them go to Delhi and see how they are faring over there. How can they run government here." he said. Rajnath made an oblique reference to recent incidents of stone pelting on the convoy of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and shoe throwing at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during a poll rally. "It pains me. Stones being thrown and shoe being hurled, is this humanity? No matter how big our opponents may be, but everyone must not violate rule of law... Is it okay for people that someone may come and hurl a shoe at Parkash Singh Badal, stones, I want to ask Congress people... Sardar Badal is an elderly statesman. "You defeat him in the polls or there are other ways to take on political opponents, but you cannot do this (hurl shoes). And such people are going to run the government, those who do not respect elders, women, are such people going to run government," Rajnath said. On January 11, a shoe was hurled at Parkash Singh Badal allegedly by a relative of a radical Sikh leader during a poll campaign at Ratta Khera village in his home constituency of Lambi in Muktsar district. BJP's Sukhpal Singh is contesting from Ferozepur city. Surjit Kumar Jayani of BJP is among others facing Davinder Singh Ghubaya from Fazilka assembly segment. Rajnath talked about development works undertaken in these constituencies by the SAD-BJP Government. "Congress ruled the state for so many years, what development did they bring to Punjab. I want to appeal to you to once again the SAD-BJP government," he said. Rajnath referred to a new initiative to give five kg sugar at the rate of Rs 10 per kg and two kg ghee for Rs 25 per kg which would be implemented if SAD-BJP returns to power. Girls from poor families, if they want to do PhDs, entire expenditure will be borne by the government, he added. Rajnath said Punjab polls has its own importance. "You must be thinking that Vidhan Sabha polls taking place and in that series, its just another election. "But you must not be aware that these polls are not being watched just by people living in other parts of India, but entire world has an eye on these elections... Punjab passed through difficult days in 1980s (militancy) and peace was restored after a lot of effort. Now, an atmosphere of peace must prevail in the State. Because when this peace gets disturbed in any state, it hits development," Rajnath said while addressing a gathering of people in Fazilka. He said that for the first time post-Independence, if any Prime Minister had enhanced country's prestige across the globe, it is Narendra Modi. Unlike the previous Congress-led UPA, which had been hit by a number of "scams", nobody has been able to point a finger at the BJP-led NDA ruling at the Centre, Rajnath said. "During past two-and-a-half years, no one pointed a finger at us...," he said, adding that India today is the fastest growing economy in the world. The Centre had started a number of schemes for jawans, farmers, women and other sections, the Union Home Minister said, adding that SAD-BJP government had accelerated development works during its tenure. Rajnath said there will be many who will point fingers, saying the state government did not do this or do that. "I do not want to make any claim, but this land of Punjab produces brave soldiers who guard our country's frontiers. Our farmers, especially those from Punjab, have helped make our country self-sufficient in foodgrains," he said. Rajnath said even though Punjab constitutes just 1.5 per cent of India's geographical area, the state contributes nearly half of foodgrains to the Central pool. He talked about free power being given by the SAD-BJP government for the farmers, which he said had no parallel anywhere else, and pro-poor schemes like "Atta Daal" scheme. Rajnath said he had started 'Krishi Aamdani Bima Yojana' as union agriculture minister in the erstwhile Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and at that time Parkash Singh Badal had praised the scheme. "Now, I notice that they (SAD) have decided to start that scheme by mentioning about it in their manifesto, which will safeguard farmers' interests," he said, adding that the Narendra Modi-led government too had started Prime Minister Fasal Bima Yojana for the benefit of farmers. Speaking at border town of Ferozepur, Rajnath, who was donning a 'Punjabi pagri', said the land of Ferozepur is also known as the land of martyrs as it was due to sacrifices made by martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru that the country attained freedom. "When Sukhdev, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh were fighting for country's freedom, they must have thought when India becomes free it will be a country just like they might have dreamt of it to be," he said as he blamed Congress for not doing enough to take the country forward in terms of development. Rajnath said that even smaller nations, which gained freedom around that time like India did, today were among the powerful nations of the world. The 2017 election manifesto of the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh seeks to establish Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadavs credentials as a development-oriented youth leader rather than one yielding to populism. The 24-year-old man who had rammed his BMW into an Uber cab, killing its driver, in south Delhi's Munirka on Sunday, has been released on bail. While the accused, Shoaib Kohli, had denied driving in an inebriated condition and said that the Uber driver, Nazrul, had applied brakes suddenly, he admitted that he was driving at close to 120/km/hr, since he wanted to reach his friend's house in Vasant Vihar fast. The offences he was charged with are bailable, said a senior police officer. Nazrul, who was on the first day of his job, was killed on Sunday night after Shoaib's BMW had rammed into his WagonR near Munirka flyover. The accused was arrested yesterday and was released on bail. Nazrul's family left for his hometown Murshidabad in West Bengal for his last rites. During questioning, Kohli had told police that after the incident he had run away fearing that he may be lynched by the mob, the police had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Justifying its decision to levy parking charges on vehicles entering its premises, the Mumbai International Airport Limited has told the Bombay High Court it was imperative considering the chaos and security issues. A charge of Rs 110 is levied on each vehicle for entry into Terminal 2. A fine of Rs 1,100 is levied on those vehicles which lose their parking receipt. The MIAL filed an affidavit in response to a PIL by city resident Akhil Chitre, seeking direction to the authority to stop levying parking charges on vehicles entering the international airport. MIAL, in its affidavit, said the situation at Mumbai's airport is chaotic with security concerns and hence, a systematic navigation system needed to be implemented. "When there was no charge or minimum time prescribed for a vehicle entering or staying during pick-up, grave problems were noted on a daily basis. It was noted that commercial vehicles would park at pick-up points endlessly, leading to chaotic situation," it said. "Such chaotic situation was a security nightmare and the Mumbai airport being a highly sensitive location and also a probable target for terrorist attacks, the security of the airport was being compromised," the affidavit said. "The situation at the Mumbai airport is so chaotic that it cannot be regulated despite presence of security personnel as there is always a barrage of vehicles picking up passengers. Considering all this, it was imperative to regulate the pick-up points so as to avoid compromising the safety and security of the airport," MIAL said. The affidavit further pointed out that the Mumbai airport is extremely constrained space wise and with limited availability of land for further development, it is necessary that every possible space is put to best use. The affidavit claimed that MIAL under its agreement with the Union government has exclusive right and authority of operating, maintaining, developing, designing, constructing and modernising the Mumbai Airport. "Under the said agreement, MIAL has been authorised to levy and collect charges for provision of aeronautical and non-aeronautical services and vehicle parking falls under the second category," it further said. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Manjula Chellur posted the petition for hearing after two weeks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) 240117QUAKE HITS BOUGAINVILLE By Aloysius Laukai in Buin The major earthquake that hit Bougainville two days ago has damaged properties and caused three deaths in South Bougainville according to the Police Commander/ senior Sergeant JOHN POPUI from the Buin Police Station. SSergeant, JOHN POPUI told New Dawn FM that two kids are still being dugged out from earth and rocks that fell on the two children a boy and a girl who were swimming at the time of the incident. The 3rd child managed to escape with injuries. The incident happened at OKOMO village in Buin district. Okomo village landslip killed two children 3rd one escape with injuries They are still buried they are trying to retrieve the bodies Police unable to go to the location because of no road access. Reports from Kauona village Nagovis says that a small girl seven years of age ,Janet Sipena was picking greens up the Pangara river when stones from another landslip smashed her head killing her instantly. Police officere POPUI sais that they were waiting for Reporst from Torokina, which was close to the epicentre of the 8 point Quake. Senior Sergent John POPUI is calling on the people of South Bougainville to report to Police any damages and deaths that the earthquake has caused. He said that many houses in Buin were destroyed and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, the Member for South Bougainville Timothy Masiu has already called on the National Disaster Office to support his people in this time of need. MR.Masiu called from Port Moresby and said that he was monitoring the situation and will support wherever he can. Ends Actor Alec Baldwin, who plays President Donald Trump on the current season of "Saturday Night Live," will host the show for a record-breaking 17th time. The 58-year-old actor, whose absence was felt on "SNL" this past weekend is all geared up to present the show on February 11, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This time with his appearance as host on the series, Baldwin will leave actor Steve Martin behind by one show. He had earlier hosted the show in the year 2011. The actor will be preceded by "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart on February 4, which marks her hosting debut on the show. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Angelina Jolie will reportedly donate the entire salary that she earns from her being the face of new fragrance campaign, Mon Guerlain to charity. The 41-year-old star has not disclosed the name of the charity she will hand over the funds to, reported FemaleFirst. It is also been said that Jolie may give the collected amount to the UN Refugee Agency, of which she is a Special Envoy or the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative. The scent has been named, "Notes of a Woman" and Jacques Guerlain's spokesperson said, "We create perfumes for the women we admire." The perfume endorsement is Jolie's first huge campaign since she filed for divorce from Brad Pitt. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sunshine and rainbows alternated with thunderclaps, downpours, snow and hail as the last in a trio of storms broke up over California after flooding roads and homes and trapping people in swamped vehicles. At least four people died, three were missing and others were rescued from raging floodwaters during the storms. Anguished relatives gathered along a creek in Alameda County southeast of San Francisco as searchers looked for an 18-year-old woman whose car plunged into the rushing waterway after a collision late Saturday. Two other people remained missing after being reported in waters off Pebble Beach on Saturday. The search along the Monterey Peninsula was suspended. In Los Angeles, receding stormwater revealed a body in dense vegetation at a regional park in the Harbor City area. The cause of death was not known, but the Fire Department said the body may be that of a man reported missing Sunday night. The powerful weekend tempest added to impressive amounts of precipitation that have suddenly arrived in a state after years of withering drought. By afternoon, downtown Los Angeles had recorded 14.3 inches of rain since the start of the water year on October 1, less than a half-inch away from the average for the entire season. Heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada triggered an avalanche that shut down a highway just west of Lake Tahoe. Officials warned of continuing avalanche danger at all elevations of the Sierra. In northern Nevada, schools were canceled after more than a half-foot of snow fell near Reno. Flood watches and warnings remained in place for much of Southern California, a day after nearly 4 inches of rain fell south of Los Angeles, inundating roadways, toppling trees and raising fears of damaging mudslides. Low-elevation snow dusted rural communities just north of Los Angeles while resort communities to the east in the San Bernardino Mountains were digging out from more heavy snow. Many schools in the inland region closed for the day. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Fighting for a key port city on Yemen's Red Sea coast has left at least 40 rebel and pro-government fighters dead, military officials said today. Loyalist forces said yesterday they had captured the port of Mokha, almost three weeks into an offensive to oust Shiite Huthi insurgents and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast. But they exchanged fire overnight with rebels still holed up in the port on Mokha's southwestern edge. Clashes continued today on the southern and eastern outskirts of the city. "Despite the significant human toll, the Huthis are still in the centre of Mokha," a military official told AFP. Rebel snipers were reported to have slowed the loyalist advance. At least 28 rebels and 12 pro-government fighters have been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours, military and medical sources said today. That brought to nearly 200 the number of deaths on both sides since the offensive began. Huthi forces had controlled Mokha since they overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced on other regions aided by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Forces supporting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched a vast offensive on January 7 to retake the coastline overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 8,000 Gambians who fled the country have returned since strongman Yahya Jammeh went into exile after being threatened with regional military intervention, the UN refugee agency said today. Political outsider and businessman Adama Barrow won a December election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the internationally-backed Barrow take his oath of office in Senegal last week. Jammeh's defiance prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said, citing Senegalese authorities. It said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of yesterday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. According to the last estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees put out on Friday, about 45,000 people had streamed into Senegal from The Gambia while at least 800 went to nearby Guinea-Bissau since the start of the year. "Authorities in The Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home," UNHCR said, adding that thousands of Senegalese had opened their homes to the fleeing Gambians. The NGO Enda Tiers-Monde in a statement also hailed "the spontaneous and brotherly mobilisation" in Senegal in the past weeks. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The much-anticipated visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India is likely to be delayed further, top Bangladeshi officials indicated here. "Both the prime ministers (Narendra Modi and Hasina) have been busy and she herself had been very busy with meetings and (WEF at) Davos. So, we have not finalised any date as of now," a source said. Asked if the visit would be happening sometime in February as expected, he said, "We are still not sure about it. Maybe, we will having a meeting next week and work out on the dates." During Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar's visit to Dhaka last month, Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim had said she (Hasina) has plans to visit India and officials of the two countries would work out the schedule. Hasina was earlier expected to leave for New Delhi on December 18 to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues with her Indian counterpart Modi, but the plan got postponed. The postponement had come amid speculation in the media in Dhaka that it was not a suitable time to discuss Teesta water sharing issue given the preoccupation of the government post-demonetisation. A source in the Prime Minister's Office in Dhaka and three Awami League policymakers had in December said the Teesta issue requires the consent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is protesting the NDA's government's demonetisation move. Since Mamata has overtly expressed her dissatisfaction, the Bangladesh administration, keeping everything in mind, realised that it was not a suitable time to discuss the Teesta issue, the Dhaka Tribune reported last month. Hasina, early December had told reporters in Dhaka, "I am going to India, I am not going with any conditions... discussion is on for Teesta river water sharing and we are hopeful". In October, Modi had met Hasina on the sidelines of BRICS- BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa. At the invitation of Hasina, Modi visited Bangladesh in June 2015. "We are at fortunate phase of our history and we hope there will be no obstacles to future solution... The horizon of bilateral relations has become a sunrise horizon," Akbar said at an event here yesterday. A senior Bangladeshi official said, "We (India and Bangladesh) have to take note of each other's sensitivities and vulnerabilities and sustain dialogues with an open mind. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Bangladeshi national was arrested on charge of possessing fake passport at N S C B International Airport, airport sources said today. The arrested man, identified as Md Alauddin, was stopped by Immigration Officials at airport while he was on way to boarding a Dubai-bound flight yesterday who found his passport to be fake, the sources said. He will be produced in court today. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Germany-based BASF, whose global business portfolio includes chemicals, agricultural solutions, oil and gas, today said it plans to launch five products for rice crop protection in India. Three of them would be launched this year, while two others are planned to be introduced in the next couple of years, Rajendra Velagala, BASF's Business Director-South Asia, Crop Protection, told reporters here. The three products planned to be introduced this year are -- Adexar, Seltima and Basagran. The fungicides Adexar and Seltima help to combat rice diseases, including sheath blight and blast. BASF's herbicide Basagran aims at addressing the weed challenges for Indian farmers, he said. In addition to rice, BASF plans to introduce 26 new products in India for different crops, he said. BASF is a worldwide leader in crop protection, with global sales of more than 5.8 billion Euros in 2015, a company release said. The BASF group has invested nearly 300 million Euros in India over the past four years in both manufacturing and innovation, supporting local industries, including scientific agriculture and food manufacturing, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief Minister Harish Rawat's media advisor Surendra Kumar today accused BJP of coming out relentlessly with ads that fall into the category of paid in violation of the Model Code of Conduct in poll-bound Uttarakhand. "Power at the Centre has intoxicated the party (BJP) like never before making it indulge in a vulgar show of strength in a small state like Uttarakhand at the cost of all democratic norms. "The party is giving ads on print and electronic media which fall into the category of paid to mislead the masses in violation of the Model Code of Conduct," Kumar said in a statement here. He also charged BJP with using unparliamentary language in its advertisements. Claiming Harish Rawat government had brought about inclusive development in the state, he expressed confidence that people will vote it back to power. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) American planemaker Boeing Corporation today launched the Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center in Bengaluru. The centre will employ hundreds of locals who will work to support Boeing, including its information technology & data analytics, engineering, research and technology, and tests, the company said in a statement. The company did not specify how many people the centre will hire or the investment gone into the facility. "The centre will leverage a talented pool of employees to increase productivity and long-term competitiveness to support Boeing's engineering growth in strong global markets like India," Boeing India president Pratyush Kumar said. In India we see a true path towards a mutual partnership for success, and the launch of this centre is a major step in that direction, he added. "Our IT has been working here with tier-1 suppliers for many years," Ted Colbert, Boeing chief information officer and a senior vice-president said, adding the new centre is instrumental in promoting our digital transformation by utilising India's talent seamlessly with our global teams. The centre will undertake high quality technology- driven work to support areas as diverse as the development of advanced environment-friendly coatings, data analytics for next generation airplane health management tools, software tools for airlines and airports to reduce their costs, and automation for more efficient next gen manufacturing, and analytics. Boeing has been active in the country for the past 75 years primarily with commercial plane. More recently, its military aircraft and services business are playing an important role in the defence forces. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Business / Companies by Staff reporter Zimbabwe is considering scrapping royalties levied on gold producers in order to boost output, Mines and Mining Development Minister Mr Walter Chidhakwa has said.Gold miners pay three percent royalties after Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa lowered the fees from five percent last year.According to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, mining royalties contributed $62,9 million to revenue in 2016.Zimbabwe earned $914 million from 21 tonnes of gold last year.Since 2008 when the country produced three tonnes, its lowest ever, output of the yellow metal has been increasing.This year the Government targets 28 tonnes of gold and at its peak in1999, Zimbabwe produced 29 tonnes.Small-scale miners have contributed nearly 40 percent of total output since 2015 when Government decriminalised artisanal mining and embarked on an aggressive collection strategy, which saw the country's sole buyer of gold Fidelity Printers and Refineries setting up buying depots across the country.Last week, Minister Chidhakwa told delegates at a gold producers' awards gala in Harare that the Government was considering removing royalties on gold earnings."Government cannot whip miners to force them to sell their gold to Fidelity . . . but we can offer an incentive," said Minister Chidhakwa."We have been in discussions with the Minister of Finance (Patrick Chinamasa) to see how we can further incentivise miners and we are of the idea that we can do away with royalties."The Government does not even get much from royalties anyway but as a tax they stifle the miner."Gold is one of Zimbabwe's main export earners that include tobacco and platinum. US aircraft maker Boeing today announced the formal launch of its engineering and technology center in Bangalore. The newly set up centre, Boeing India Engineering and Technology Center (BIETC), would undertake high quality technology-driven work to support Boeing in various areas of aviation engineering and technology, a release said. BIETC plans to employ locals to undertake engineering and technology tasks. The local Boeing employees will work to support the company- including information technology and data analytics, engineering, research and technology, and test, it added. BIETC will leverage a talented pool of employees to increase productivity and long-term competitiveness to support Boeing's engineering growth in strong global markets like India, the company said. "When we look for regions of competitiveness for the company around the world, we look at building cost, capability and market access advantages. In India, we see a true path towards a mutual partnership for success, and the launch of BIETC is a major step in that direction," Boeing president for India Pratyush Kumar said. With a mix of technically proficient engineers, BIETC will undertake high quality technology-driven work to support areas as diverse as the development of advanced environment friendly coatings, data analytics for next generation Airplane Health Management tools, software tools for airlines and airports to improve their operations and reduce costs, automation for more efficient next-generation manufacturing, systems, infrastructure and analytics. "The BIETC and the talented people who work here are strengthening Boeing's efforts to innovate, compete and win by providing contributions in key technology areas that make our products and services more capable and more valuable," said Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief technology officer, and senior vice president, Boeing Engineering, Test & Technology. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bulgaria's new President Rumen Radev has set early general elections for March 26, his office announced today. Radev, who only took office this week, will disband parliament on Friday and appoint an interim cabinet headed by ex-parliamentary speaker, Law professor Ognyan Gerdzhikov, 69, who will organise the vote, the presidency said in a statement. The names of the ministers in Gerdzhikov's interim technocrat cabinet are expected to be announced at the end of the week. The European Union's poorest country entered renewed political turmoil after the Socialist-backed ex-airforce chief and political novice Radev won the presidential vote resoundingly in November over the candidate of the ruling conservative GERB party. Radev's election prompted GERB's premier Boyko Borisov and his government to resign the same month. According to the latest opinion polls, the conservative GERB and the Socialists are running neck in neck, making the formation of a future government appear extremely difficult. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The CBI today filed a charge sheet in connection with the IDBI loan default case involving the defunct Kingfisher Airlines in which its promoter Vijay Mallya, who has been declared a proclaimed offender by a court, is a wanted accused. The agency has named nine people whom it arrested yesterday in the case-- former chairman of IDBI Yogesh Aggarwal, former CFO of the Kingfisher Airlines A Raghunathan, IDBI executives O V Bundellu, S K V Srinivasan, R S Sridhar, B K Batra, and Kingfisher executives Shailesh Borke, A C Shah and Amit Nadkarni--in the charge sheet, leaving out Mallya, as he is yet to be arrested. A CBI source said the charge sheet mentioned that its special investigation team found there were many commissions and omissions on the part of IDBI officials in the process of sanctioning and disbursement of loan of Rs 1,300 crore to KFA. According to the probe so far, about Rs 260 crore was diverted by KFA, while Rs 263 crore was used to pay salaries, tax deducted at source, income tax and loan instalments. A part of the loan amount was also allegedly diverted by Mallya for his "personal expenses". The CBI source said all the IDBI officials who have been arrested were instrumental in sanctioning and facilitating disbursement of the loan. The entire team of officials from IDBI, from the proposer to the verifier, was arrested yesterday. According to CBI, a Letters Rogatory (request for legal assistance) has been sent to authorities in British Virgin Islands and Singapore seeking details of use of money lying in Kingfisher's accounts in these tax havens, and the agency is awaiting their reply. IDBI allegedly showed "undue favour" to KFA in the matter of sanction and disbursement of short-term loans of Rs 150 crore in October 2009 and Rs 200 crore in November 2009, and another corporate loan of Rs 750 crore in November 2009. Despite weak financials, negative net worth and low credit rating of the borrower company, and despite the fact that Kingfisher being a new client did not satisfy the norms stipulated in corporate loan policy of the bank, loans were sanctioned, CBI source said. "It is further alleged (in the charge sheet) that significant portion of the disbursed facility (loan) was diverted by Kingfisher to service their existing debt with other banks, and was also diverted to settle the documentary bills discounted by Bank of Baroda," the CBI source said. Significant amounts were also allegedly remitted out of India on the pretext of payment of lease rental and purchase of aircraft parts, while Rs 3.45 crore was paid into the bank account of Kingfisher in London. The applications for availing of short term loans were submitted by A Raghunathan wherein he gave reference of meetings between Mallya and then CMD of IDBI, Yogesh Aggarwal. This loan later became a Non-Performing Asset, resulting in loss of over Rs 900 crore to IDBI, the CBI source said. Meanwhile, the special judge for CBI cases H S Mahajan today remanded all the arrested accused in judicial custody, till February 7, as requested by CBI. Their bail applications will be heard on January 30. Senior Chinese officials, Beijing-based diplomatic corps, defence attaches and foreign media professionals today attended a reception hosted by the Indian Embassy here ahead of the 68th Republic Day. China's Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was the Chief Guest at the reception. Addressing the gathering, Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale said 2016 was an important year in India-China relations as a number of bilateral visits took place. From the Indian side, last year was marked by the visits of the president, the ministers of defence and finance, the National Security Advisor, while China's Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, State Councillor, Foreign Minister and Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission visited India, he said. On the state of relations between the two countries, Gokhale quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments made in New Delhi on January 17 in which he said, "I see the development of India and China as unprecedented opportunity for our two countries and the whole world". "At the same time it is not unnatural for two large neighbouring powers to have some differences. In the management of our relationship and for peace and progress in the region, both our countries need to show sensitivity and respect for each other's core concerns and interests," Modi said. "Building on this momentum, we look forward to work with our Chinese friends to continue our engagement in 2017 and making further progress in our relationship," Gokhale said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Amidst speculations of his return to Goa if BJP is voted to power, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said chief minister should be "young at heart", even if he is slightly "an elder person". "Though there is a requirement of youth to be the chief minister, I feel that the chief minister can be slightly elder person who can understand the aspirations of youth," Parrikar said at the party's youth convention in Panaji, along with BJP's candidate in the seat Siddharth Kuncolienkar. "Chief Minister, whoever he is, has to be young at heart," the former Goa CM said, responding to a query by a young voter. Goa will go to polls on February 4 to elect the 40-member House. Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had recently said after elections in Goa, the MLAs would choose their leader, but with a rider that the choice for the top slot could either be from among them or can be sent from the centre. BJP president Amit Shah, at a rally yesterday, said the next government would function under the leadership of Parrikar, further fuelling speculation on possible return of Parrikar at the helm of affairs in the state, in the event of his party securing a fresh mandate. Parrikar said political stability was essential for the development in a state like Goa, which had been witness to rise and fall of ministries through the 1990s. "I remember, in 1989 I never thought that I was destined to be in politics. But due to certain circumstances, I was pushed into politics. In those 10 years, I saw at least 12 Chief Ministers," he said. "If you want to have comprehensive development of Goa, the plan needs to be worked out. But during that time (when I joined politics), there was no plan. Entire ten years went only to change the chief ministers," he said. "After every 10 years there was political instability. The MLAs used to get huddled in a camp and for eight to ten days they were out of contact from the world trying to work out a new political equation," he said. On the issue of reservation, Parrikar said he feels there is a need for the policy to continue. "Though the situation in Goa is different, the social condition of SC and ST people across the country is not good...It is improving," Parrikar said to a question. "I admit there is some misuse of reservation. But I feel we need to work out a mechanism to bring up those who are downtrodden into the social structure," he said. (Reopens BOM12) "The reason behind reservation is to bring them up. I feel that there is a need for reservation policy," Parrikar said. Notably, RSS publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya had on Friday said that even B R Ambedkar, architect of the Constitution, was not in favour of perpetual continuance of reservations, and the reservations policy should be reviewed. However, after Vaidya's remarks kicked up a row, the Sangh clarified that reservation as provided by Constitution should continue and there should be no unnecessary controversy. Parrikar today questioned the need for compulsory attendance in colleges, but said he will take up students' concerns with University Grants Commission. "If you want to answer an exam why does one need to give such an importance to attendance? I am telling you my secret, I never attended classes," Parrikar said. "But unfortunately, though we don't agree, we will have to abide by the set rules to make us good student. Sometimes we don't agree with all the laws but we should abide by it, that is the quality of a good citizen," he said. "The quality of good student is that he should abide by 75 per cent attendance. But since this issue is in the purview of University Grants Commission, it should be discussed with them as to when the exception should be given, under what circumstances it should be given," Parrikar said. "I will raise this issue through student bodies before UGC and we will try to find out the solution," he said. Recalling his days during IIT Mumbai, Parrikar said "though I did not attend classes I went to the library as attendance was not compulsory in IIT. I used to fair well in the exams." Regarding his entry into politics, he said, "The day I entered politics, I knew that there are several pitfalls on the way. There is every probability of losing the control. Easy money comes with power, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," he said. Parrikar said he still follows the principles that he adopted while entering the politics. "Whatever personal work is there I do it with my own money. If you come to my bungalow in Delhi, you will find that only those things which are officially given to me by the government. You will not find any army person, except for those who are attached officially," he said. The Congress today attacked BJP President Amit Shah over his statement that the next Goa government will be functioning under the leadership of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that "Goa is not a union territory to be governed by Delhi." "It is for the people of Goa to think on what Shah said. We are not a Union territory to be ruled from Delhi. We are a full fledged state developed much compared to the other states," Goa's Leader of Opposition Pratapsinh Rane told reporters here. Rane was reacting to remarks made by Shah yesterday at a public meeting in Vasco town. When asked whether such a trend favours the state, Rane said, "it is not good for the entire country where Defence Minister is seen more interested in Goa than what is happening at the border." "Parrikar is already ruling the state through remote control. Every weekend he spends here since he became the Defence Minister," Rane quipped. Yesterday, Shah had said that though Parrikar is needed at Centre the next government in the coastal state will "function under his leadership," irrespective of his posting. "Goa has given a big asset to the country in Manohar Parrikar. There is a huge demand for Parrikar in Delhi and also here in Goa. The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to the state," Shah had said. Goa is going to polls to elect the 40-member House on February 4. Speculations on who will don the mantle of CM after elections reached feverish pitch after Gadkari, the election in-charge of Goa, had said the CM candidate will either be chosen by elected representatives in state or a leader could be sent from Centre, perceived as a reference to Parrikar. Parrikar, the former CM of Goa before he was elevated as Defence Minister, had recently said, "let us cross the bridge when it comes". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) High voltage drama was witnessed outside Vasantrao Deshpande Hall here hours before the staging of play 'Hey Ram Nathuram' on Sunday, when workers from Congress, NCP and Sambhaji Brigade indulged in slogan shouting and blocked auditorium entrance preventing viewers entry. Congress and NCP had earlier warned that they will not allow staging of the play claiming that Nathuram Godse, who had assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, was glorified in it. Tight security was maintained out the auditorium following the threat, police said. Congress workers led by city president Vikas Thakre gathered in front of the hall and blocked the entrance to the hall, they were joined by workers from Sambhaji Brigade, said police. The youth wing of NCP led by Salil Deshmukh also staged agitation in the front of the auditorium and raised slogans against the play. Some protestors, including the officer-bearers of various political parties were detained, said police. The second show of the play that was supposed to be staged today at Sai Sabhagruh was cancelled. However, producer of the show Pramod Dhurat told PTI that the play could not be held as one of the artist was not available due to family emergency. "There are no other reasons to cancel the show. The other cast of the play are in Nagpur," he said. The 50th show of the play will be held at Gadkari Rangayatan in Thane on January 25 as per schedule, he said. Earlier, on January 22 activists of Sambhaji Brigade and Shiv Sena allegedly indulged in a scuffle before the staging of the play at a theatre in Aurangabad. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Corruption is endemic in Sri Lanka, main opposition leader R Sampanthan today said in the Parliament, demanding independent commission to probe into the alleged Central Bank (CB) treasury bond issue scam. During the adjournment debate on the alleged bond issue scam, Tamil National Alliace (TNA) leader Sampanthan said the current government which came to power pledging anti- corruption action as its main policy is duty-bound to check corruption in the country. The opposition moved debate was held on the report issued by the parliamentary oversight committee which pointed out irregularities in two issues of Central Bank bonds in 2015 and 2016. A company linked to the former central bank governor Arjuna Mahendran was accused of making undue profits from the two issues allegedly benefitting from close connections with the government. Mahendran was selected for the job by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. "I won't say that Sirisena is corrupt, Wickremesinghe is corrupt yet there is corruption under this government too," Sampanthan asserted. Sampanthan said an independent commission must be appointed to investigate the allegations. The opposition has accused Wickremesinghe of trying to cover up his friend when the two issues had caused massive losses to the state coffers. The government defended its action, saying it would not protect if anyone was found to be corrupt and th due legal process would be pursued on the outcomes mentioned in the report by the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Government should defer the implementation of taxation rules for shell companies to next financial year as the POEM norms have been unveiled 10 months into the current fiscal and could lead to "confusion" over retrospective application, experts said today. Targeting shell companies, the tax department today issued Place of Effective Management (POEM) rules requiring foreign firms to pay taxes in India if the effective control of business, management decisions and majority of board meetings take place within the country. "The issue to be considered is how would one comply with these guidelines as they have been issued only now, while POEM is effective from April 1, 2016 and we are already 10 months down the line," KPMG in India, National Head of Tax, Girish Vanvari said. "This certainly merits deferment of POEM by a year to April 1, 2017, else this retrospective application could lead to confusion," he said. Grant Thornton Advisory Director Radhika Jain too said that given the rules have come 10 months into the current fiscal, the government could have considered deferring its effectiveness by a year to April 2017. "Moreover, the notification lacks guidance on consequences of a foreign company coming into the POEM net such as whether it would need to comply with all compliances (e.G. Withholding tax and TP) as required under Indian domestic tax law," Jain said. Nangia & Co Managing Partner Rakesh Nangia said that with POEM rules government has closed tax avoidance opportunities for companies which artificially escape the residential status by shifting insignificant or isolated events related with control and management outside India. "This move, just ahead of the budget, shows government's conviction to set the rule book right for the tax officers to catch hold of those trying to avoid taxes in India by playing around with their residential status," Nangia said. The Finance Act, 2015 amended the conditions for determining the corporate residency status by introducing the concept of 'Place of Effective Management'. It was deferred by the Finance Act 2016 to be effective from April 1, 2016. "The intent of introducing POEM was to ensure that companies incorporated outside India, but controlled from India, do not escape taxation in India and to align the concept of residency of corporates with the globally accepted principles," PwC Partner (Direct Tax) Hitesh Sawhney said. EY India Tax Partner Rajendra Nayak said the guideline strikes the right balance between providing certainty to taxpayers as well as ensuring that offshore companies with no substance or activities, which are controlled from India, are subject to Indian tax jurisdiction. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Days after AICC general secretary Gurudas Kamat denounced Mumbai Congress head Sanjay Nirupam's "negative attitude" to distance himself from ongoing campaign for BMC polls, state unit party president Ashok Chavan today took a dig saying "public spat" should be avoided. In a bid to paper over the fissures, Chavan ruled out any "groupism" in the faction-ridden unit even as he conceded existence of "differences of opinion". "There is no groupism in the party's Mumbai unit even though there may be only differences of opinion which should be resolved within four walls (of party). Public spat should be avoided as it is against the interests of party," Chavan told reporters here. The fault-lines within the city unit came out in open recently after Kamat, former head of Mumbai Congress, withdrew himself from campaigning for the BMC polls, citing "negative attitude" of Nirupam. Former MLA from suburban Vile-Parle Krishna Hegde recently crossed over to the BJP. Chavan said the party's state election committee meeting is deliberating on finalising the names of candidates for next month's elections to Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis for the districts of Osmanabad, Latur, Hingoli, Nanded, Wardha, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli. "We are discussing names of candidates for these districts where the first phase of polls will be held. At the local level, talks are on for alliance with the NCP. We want to ensure there is no division of secular votes," Chavan said. He said the tie-up will be formalised with NCP in Latur and Beed whereas the Congress will contest solo in Osmanabad. A total of 25 Zilla Parishads and 283 Panchayat Samitis will go to polls in two phases next month. Apart from Chavan, party's women wing president Charulata Tokas, former minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan, Latur legislator Amit Deshmukh, senior leaders Kripashankar Singh and Vilas Muttemwar were present. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Business / Economy by Staff repporter The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) redistributed $370 million through the normal banking channels to production companies in the period August to December 2016, out of the $2 billion earned, showing severe foreign currency constraints, which are hampering local producers.RBZ governor, John Mangudya said the remainder of the foreign exchange went to various transactions with a majority gobbled by current transactions through the usage of Visa cards and MasterCard.Mangudya said the continued usage of these cards was contributing to the challenges in adequately allocating foreign exchange funds as they were not going back into productivity.A number of local banks have restricted the use of Visa and MasterCard for local transactions. They have also put caps on foreign transactions using Visa and MasterCard. The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no fresh caste certificates are issued to those belonging to 17 Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups which the state cabinet had last month decided to include among the Scheduled Castes. A division bench comprising Chief Justice D B Bhosle and Justice Yashwant Verma passed the order on a public interest litigation filed by a Gorakhpur-based organisation Dr Ambedkar Granthalaya Evam Jan Kalyan Samiti, challenging the Akhilesh Yadav government's decision to include the 17 OBC groups in SC catergory. The move was criticised by opposition parties as a populist step taken by the ruling Samajwadi Party ahead of the Assembly polls in the state. Appearing on behalf of the state government, Advocate General Vijay Bahadur Singh submitted that the recommendation of the state government has been sent to the Centre for approval by Parliament and in the meantime no fresh caste certificates have been issued in the light of the notification. The court, while issuing the direction, also asked the state government to file its counter affidavit within two weeks. Earlier, hearing a PIL raising similar objection over the state government's move on January 12, the court had sought reply from the state government and fixed February 9 as the next date of hearing in the matter. Rampant Coco Vandeweghe stunned French Open champion Garbine Muguruza in a blitz of big hitting to steam into her first Australian Open semi-final on Tuesday, where she will meet fellow American Venus Williams. The unseeded power-server upset the seventh-seeded Spaniard 6-4, 6-0 on Rod Laver Arena in a dominant display to secure her first ever berth in a Grand Slam last four. She now faces Williams for a place in Saturday's final after the 36-year-old veteran battled past Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in two sets. Vandeweghe, one of the tallest women on the circuit at 6ft 1ins (1.85 metres), had been supremely confident heading into the match after stunning world number one Angelique Kerber in round three, and there was no stopping her. "I really wasn't feeling great out there. I was nervous... I was second-guessing myself," the 25-year-old said. "But I kept the pressure on and she finally cracked. Once I got rolling in the second set it was like a freight train, you couldn't stop it." It is her best performance at a major, bettering her quarter-final appearance at Wimbledon in 2015, which was her only run to the last eight at a Slam until now. The right-hander, ranked 35, has a reputation for inconsistency and she finished last season with a whimper, losing seven of her last 10 matches. But she has in brilliant form so far this year. She has a booming serve and phenomenal groundstrokes, with a game suited to the fast and hard courts of the Australian Open. - Work in progress - ==================== She created two break point opportunities on the Spaniard's opening serve, but an aggressive smash and a forehand winner saved Muguruza who held to go 1-0 up. It went with serve until a titanic seventh game that lasted 11 minutes, with the American coming out on top on her fifth break point when Muguruza sent down a double fault. A determined Muguruza saved a set point when 3-5 down but it was staving off the inevitable as Vandeweghe thundered crisp winner after winner. Muguruza, with her right thigh strapped, was stunned at falling behind and was unable to hit back, getting broken in the first game of the second set. Vandeweghe was in no mood to give an inch as she blitzed through the set in just 28 minutes with Muguruza having no answers. Known as being fiercely competitive, Vandeweghe also has a reputation for being hot-tempered. She threw a temper tantrum in her second-round clash against Pauline Parmentier, slamming her racquet into the ground three times when she gave away a break point. It was the second time in as many weeks that her frustrations had boiled over, pulling a similar stunt at this month's Sydney International. But she largely kept her emotions in check against Muguruza, staying cool under pressure. "I'm a work in progress. I'm not perfect," she said, adding that playing Williams would be "an honour". Vandeweghe comes from a sporting family. Her mother Tauna was an Olympic swimmer and volleyballer, her grandfather Ernie played for the New York Knicks and her uncle Kiki is general manager of the Denver Nuggets. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Unidentified miscreants today fired at a convoy of trucks laden with essentials in Tamenglong district of Manipur even as the Centre has started airlifting diesel to mitigate the impact of fuel crisis triggered by the indefinite economic blockade by United Naga Council. The wall of a diesel tanker was pierced by bullets in the 11:20 AM attack on the convoy, when it was heading towards the state capital from Jiri town, a police officer said. The trucks were bringing essential commodities, particularly fuel, in the wake of the severe fuel shortage in the state due to the 82-day long economic blockade imposed by United Naga Council (UNC) along the National Highways of the state, he said. The unknown miscreants, however, taking the advantage of the thick forest, escaped after the oil tanker retaliated and resorted to blank firing, the officer said. No casualty was reported during the incident. More fuel have been brought to the state by IAF planes as the state gears up for the coming 11th state assembly elections. Meanwhile, despite requests by several civil bodies, UNC have refused to lift the blockade along the highway of the state. Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had earlier said that the UNC must lift the blockade if it wanted to have discussions with the state government. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Business process management and services provider on Tuesday said it has increased fully paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for its employees in India. Applicable to not only birth mothers but also adopting and commissioning mothers, the maternity leave is accessible to women employees for giving birth to or adopting up to two children, a company release said. "We are committed to finding ways to bring more women into the workforce and once they are in, finding ways to enable continuity of employment as they balance family and work," SVP and Chief Human Resources Officer Piyush Mehta said. The changes to the maternity leave policy came into effect from this year for employees in India. The company also has other women-friendly initiatives under its 'Returning Moms' programme - like access to day care facilities at or near the office locations, stork parking at all locations, work-from-home or flexible hours if the nature of work permits, and shift timings and location of their choice for up to an year upon return from maternity leave. "Gender diversity is among our top organisational priorities and creating a supportive ecosystem for our women is the first step in that direction," SVP and Diversity and Inclusion Leader Sasha Sanyal said. German authorities have arrested two German-Moroccan brothers suspected of being members of the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front extremist groups. Federal prosecutors said the two men, who were only identified as 25-year-old Rachid B. And 24-year-old Khalid B. in line with German privacy laws, were arrested Tuesday near the western city of Bonn. Prosecutors alleged both men traveled to Syria in 2013, where they trained in military camps. Rachid B. Initially joined al-Nusra and is accused of kidnapping and holding an alleged spy. He later joined IS and participated in several battles. The younger brother, Khalid B., joined IS right away, went to a military training camp and also participated in IS battles. The statement didn't say when or why the two men returned to Germany. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) God's Own Country is turning into the land of demons, RSS ideologue Dattatreya Hosabale today said while demanding an urgent intervention of the Backward Commission and the National Human Rights Commission into the political violence taking place in Kerala. Hosabale condemned the recurring assaults and gruesome killings of RSS and BJP workers and also urged the people in the state to demand President's rule in the wake of political murders taking place there. The RSS joint general secretary was speaking at a sit-in protest against political violence in Kerala organised by Hindu groups in front of Kerala House here. "The Backward Commission and NHRC should look into the issue political murders happening in Kerala immediately," he said. "God's Own Country is turning into the land of demons. I appeal to the common man to spread the message about the brutal killings of RSS and BJP workers in Kerala. The violence is staged by CPI(M)," Dattatreya alleged. The RSS leader claimed that the media has not focussed on the killings. "We had to do so much to raise the issue, the media is being mute on the killings," he said. BJP spokesperson and MP Meenakshi Lekhi said the Centre's intervention would be sought to stop the political attacks. "The government should take steps to announce rehabilitation package and compensation to the family members of the victims and the injured," Lekhi said. Later, an RSS-BJP delegation led by Hosabale submitted a memorandum to Minister of State Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir demanding the Centre's intervention for ending the attacks and announce rehabilitation package for the affected. Joining the protest at Kerala House, yesteryear actor Mukesh Khanna said Hindus dharam existed and will continue to exist and it can't be diluted by saying it was "the way of life". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Palestinian courts in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip sentenced two men to death today, legal sources and a human rights NGO in the enclave announced. The Supreme Judicial Council in Gaza announced that a court in Gaza City and another in Deir al-Balah sentenced the two to death by hanging in unrelated cases. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) said that in the first case a man was convicted of murdering his brother, while the second man was found guilty of premeditated murder. The names of the individuals and their victims were not published. Four people have already been sentenced to death since the beginning of the year in Gaza, PCHR said. The NGO condemned what it called "excessive application of this punishment in the Gaza Strip in light of absence of fair trial guarantees". Hamas controls Gaza, while the Palestinian Authority led by president Mahmud Abbas runs the West Bank. In theory, all execution orders in the Palestinian territories must be approved by Abbas, but the Islamist Hamas no longer recognises his legitimacy. The authorities in Gaza executed three men behind closed doors in May, the first time the death penalty had been carried out in the enclave since 2014, drawing condemnation from the United Nations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Mobile phone maker Huawei hopes to be among top five smartphone companies in the country with 10 per cent market share in value terms by end of this year. "We expect to achieve 10 per cent market share in terms of value by end of this year in the smartphone segment. The Indian smartphone market is very dynamic, we expect to be among top five smartphone players in the country," Allen Wang, Director, Product Center, Huawei India Consumer Business Group, today said after unveiling the 4G VoLTE smartphone Honor 6X here. He said that the company will focus on bringing new technology at lower price points for consumers starting with Honor 6X which packs a rear dual camera in the mid-economy smartphones segment. "With the launch today, Honor 6X has become India's most low priced smartphone at Rs 12,999 apiece with dual camera in the back. Having said that, it does not matter how many cameras you add to the phone as long as it delivers value to users," Wang said. Honor 6X comes with Huawei's Kirin 655 octa-core chipset with four cores having computing speed of 2.1 GHz and another four clocked at 1.7 GHz. It has a 3,340 mAH battery promising up to 11.5 hours of video, 70 hours of music, or up to 8 hours of gaming on one full charge. The dual camera at the rear side of the phone includes 12 megapixel camera for composition of image and 2 MP camera to get depth of field information. The company unveiled two models of Honor 6X in three colours -- one with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal memory priced at Rs 12,999, and the other with 4GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage priced at Rs 15,999. Both phones support external memory card up to 128 GB storage capacity. The registration for the 3 GB version of the phone would begin on Amazon from 2pm till January 31 and a flash sale will be held on February 2 at 2 pm. Wang said that the top model of Honor 6X will be available by the end of this month but the company is yet to decide on its sales model. He said that Huawei will start making Honor 6X in India from the first week of February. "We are already making Honor Holly 3 here. Now, Honor 6X will also be manufactured here," Wang said. He said that in line with Indian government's regulation, Honor 6X will support 14 local languages including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, and Punjabi and comes with a panic button. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Hospitality major Hyatt Hotels Corporation today launched its luxury lifestyle brand 'Andaz' in India with the opening of a 401-room hotel in Delhi. This is the first hotel under the brand in India and 16th worldwide. The hotel will also offer 129 serviced apartments. "This is the 16th global property under the Andaz brand. There are 3 more properties under construction in Singapore, Munich and Vienna. It is nice to know Andaz as a luxury lifestyle brand is growing," Andaz Delhi General Manager Heddo Siebs told PTI. The company currently has 25 hotels under its various brands in India, he added. "Andaz Delhi is a joint venture between a subsidiary of Hyatt and Juniper Hotels Pvt Ltd (JHPL). Hyatt's subsidiary owns 50 per cent of the hotel. Arun Saraf & Family own the other 50 per cent," Hyatt Vice President Operations India Kurt Straub said. This is the third such venture between JHPL and Hyatt. The other two properties owned by JHPL include Grand Hyatt Mumbai and Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad, he added. Similar to the brand's other hotels, Andaz Delhi offers inspiring experiences through the neighbourhood's rich history and culture, helping guests get to know their surroundings more intimately and leave feeling like a local, he added. The hotel offers 37,500 sq ft of meeting and event spaces. Chicago headquartered Hyatt Hotels Corporation as of September 30, 2016 has a portfolio of 12 premier brands and 679 properties in 54 countries. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The board of Hindustan Zinc Ltd (HZL), a Vedanta group firm, is likely to deliberate next month on the issue of Rs 15,000-crore dividend payout to the government for the ongoing fiscal. The government has demanded dividend from HZL as the partly state-owned mining firm is sitting on surplus cash reserve. "Hindustan Zinc has intimated the Mines Ministry that it will bring the matter (of dividend payout) before its board for its consideration," a source privy to the development said, adding that ultimately the authority to take the final call lies with the board. The board meeting of Hindustan Zinc is likely to be held on February 10, sources said. In 2002-03, the government sold its 64.92 per cent stake in HZL to mining baron Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources, while retaining 29.54 per cent. The company is sitting on about Rs 25,000-Rs 30,000 crore of surplus cash, a company official said. Last year, Hindustan Zinc had announced that it will pay Rs 10,141 crore as dividend, which includes Rs 3,000 crore to the government, to its shareholders for the 2015-16 fiscal, the highest by any private company. HZL CEO Sunil Duggal had informed that the firm's Board has declared a special golden jubilee dividend at the rate of 1,200 per cent -- Rs 24 per equity share of Rs 2 each -- for 2015-16 fiscal. "Since 2002 (disinvestment of HZL), the firm has paid Rs 32,500 crore to the government in terms of royalties, direct and indirect taxes, dividend distribution tax, etc. And if the dividend tax on dividend announced today is included, this contribution would go up to Rs 34,500 crore," Duggal had said. Meanwhile, in a statement, HZL had said the special dividend is in addition to the first interim dividend paid (Rs 3.80 per share or 190 per cent) in October 2015 of Rs 1,932 crore, including dividend distribution tax. A subsidiary of Vedanta Ltd, HZL is an integrated producer of zinc-lead and a leading producer of silver. The Udaipur (Rajasthan)-headquartered firm has zinc-lead mines at Rampura Agucha, Sindesar Khurd, Rajpura Dariba, Zawar and Kayad and primary smelter operations at Chanderiya, Dariba and Debari, all in the state of Rajasthan as well as finished product facilities in Uttarakhand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE People First Masvingo provincial chairman Retired Colonel Claudius Makova has resigned in the wake of the party's crushing defeat in the Bikita West by-election won resoundingly by Zanu- PF.Rtd Col Makova has shouldered the blame for his party's dismal performance in its first attempt to have a member in Parliament.The ZimPF Masvingo provincial chairperson was previously accused of "handpicking" the party's losing candidate Mr Kudakwashe Gopo.Mr Gopo - who managed to get only 2 453 votes - lost by a huge margin to Zanu-PF's Beauty Chabaya who garnered 13 156 votes in an election in which she faced six male candidates.Mr Madock Chivasa of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) polled 343 votes, Mr Terence Makumbo of Progressive Democrats of Zimbabwe (PDZ) got 132 votes, Mr Innocent Muzvimbiri an Independent candidate had 725 votes while Mr Heya Shoko another independent candidate managed 76 votes.Rtd Col Makova confirmed the latest development saying while he had resigned as the provincial chairman, he would remain an ordinary member of the party."It's true that I tendered my resignation to my president Dr Joice Mujuru yesterday morning (Monday) as provincial chairman because we have lost the Bikita West by-election. I accept blame for this loss and I feel that someone with fresh ideas should take over."I am now over 70 years old and we have agreed that elderly members should remain in the party as advisors and not office bearers."Prior to this by-election, I had told my colleagues that if we lose, I would step down as the provincial chairman and that is what I have done. I have stood by my words and would expect others to do the same," said Rtd Col Makova.He said despite the differences that the provincial executive had over participating in the by-election, the decision to take part was supported by the national executive that includes its leader Dr Mujuru."I know that there are some of our members who were against us participating in this election and are saying I should shoulder the blame for our defeat.We had differences when we selected our candidate Mr Gopo but later the national executive led by Dr Mujuru changed its position and supported my idea to participate," Rtd Col Makova said.In the run up to the by-election, ZimPF was rocked by divisions with founder member Mr Dzikamai Mavhaire leading a group which was against taking part in the election while on the other hand Rtd Col Makova led those who were adamant that the party should contest.Rtd Col Makova said despite Zanu PF winning by a wide margin, ZimPF had done "exceptionally" well by garnering more than 2 000 votes."Given the circumstances, we did exceptionally well. Getting more than 2 000 votes is not a joke for first timers. MDC-T garnered 24 percent of the votes in 2013 general elections and we managed 14 percent in a by-election. That is not bad for starters," he said.Rtd Col Makova said some members of his party supported an independent candidate Mr Shoko but "he performed dismally by garnering the lowest number of votes." Known across the globe for his action films, superstar Jackie Chan says that he does gets scared to perform stunts on the screen and insists that he is no superhero. "I am motivated to do action because of you (audience). I do get scared to do action. When I do a stunt I think will this be my last shot. When I look around so many fans, the love and warmth, I want to do different kind of films. That's my goal," Jackie told reporters here at a promotional event of his upcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga" last night. "I don't know how many years I can continue to do making films and doing action but as long as I can I will do it," the 62-year-old actor said. Jackie arrived in Mumbai last morning the Indian-Sino venture "Kung Fu Yoga" and was welcomed at the airport by his co-star Sonu Sood. He later shot "The Kapil Sharma Show" before heading to his hotel in suburban Juhu to address the media. The "Who Am I" star couldn't stop heaping praises on Sonu Sood. "He (Sonu) is tough. We learn martial arts first and then do films. He doesn't look that strong but he is. He learnt all of it in one week, he knew the timing and rhythm," he adds. Jackie thinks beside Sonu, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are good at action. When asked who is the best action star in Bollywood, he said, "It is difficult to say. Aamir Khan, Salman Khan. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Bharatiya Janata Party's coup de maitre fielding Garima Singh, the estranged first wife of Sanjay Singh, might turn the fight for the prestigious Amethi Assembly seat into a 'rani versus rani' affair with the Congress leader's present wife Ameeta deciding to throw her hat in the ring. BJP fielded Garima from Amethi, ostensibly to reap the sympathy for her and redeem her name and position in the royal family. Samajwadi Party, which got the seat under a seat sharing arrangement with Congress, gave ticket to sitting MLA and controversial leader Gayatri Prajapati in the Congress bastion, leaving Ameeta in the lurch. Ameeta, however, is in no mood to relent and has let it known to her party leadership that she has worked hard for so long and will not quit the fray. "Amethi is my family and my home and I cannot leave it...I will contest from here," she said, adding that she had been working hard among the electorate since long and was on a very strong footing. "I have talked to senior Congress leaders and told them about the ground reality here and have requested them to do the needful as the seat also falls in the Parliamentary constituency of party Vice President Rahul Gandhi," she said. Ameeta minced no words in condemning BJP for putting up Garima from here. "BJP has resorted to petty leaving seniors out and giving ticket to someone who has no recognition in the region...People here have neither seen her nor has she seen them for years," she said. "I do not have any worry...All this is BJP's after it played the dirty game of snatching the IIIT and Paper Mill (from Amethi)," she said, adding its candidate has no experience in nor has ever come in public glare. Garima (60) will be making her first political venture in the Assembly polls. She was in news when she returned to the family's Bhupati Bhawan palace in Amethi in July 2014 along with her son Anant Vikram and daughters Mahima and Shaivya, and camped in one portion of the palace for days. She had also got involved in a bitter battle for control over the family fortunes against Sanjay Singh and his second wife Ameeta. Even as Congress preferred to stay out of the family feud, BJP fished in troubled waters by reportedly reaching out to the family in 2016 following which Anant Vikram and his sister Mahima joined the party. The saffron party has put its bet on Garima for a bigger battle in 2019 when the party plans to cause a major upset against Rahul Gandhi for which Union minister Smriti Irani is also working hard. Despite losing to the three-term Congress MP, Irani has not severed ties with Amethi and is a regular visitor. Irani had dented Rahul's victory margin giving BJP hopes that it could make a foray in the Congress stronghold. Garima happens to be the niece of former PM VP Singh and is a descendant of the royal family of Daiya and enjoys fair amount of support among locals despite her prolonged absence. According to locals, the family feud notwithstanding, caste equations in the area favour Prajapati, a backward who has worked hard to carve out a niche for himself in state politics. Polling for the seat is scheduled in Phase-5 on February 27. As Haryana braces for a fresh round of quota agitation by Jats from January 29, the State Government today directed civil and police administration to ensure that law and order is maintained and to provide security of all major critical points like drinking water supply to Delhi. In a written communication addressed to all Administrative Secretaries, Divisional Commissioners, Inspector Generals of Police, Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police, they have been directed to closely monitor the situation and take necessary steps immediately, an official spokesman said here. "They have been directed to ensure the security of all major critical points like drinking water supply to Delhi in Karnal and Sonipat. Also, traffic movement on the G.T. Road and roadways depots should also be secured," the spokesman said. He said that all departments should also secure their own installations and services with the assistance of their own staff and the police wherever required. He said Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police have been directed to undertake people contact programme in the wake of the call for agitation. The spokesman said that district administration has been directed to be prepared to deal with the situation and must ensure that law and order is maintained. The Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners have been asked to send situation report relating to their divisions or districts to Chief Secretary's office in the prescribed proforma daily by 2 p.M. The report could also be sent to Secretariat Control Room, he added. Notably, the Manohar Lal Khattar government has sought 55 companies of paramilitary forces from the Centre besides deployment of 7,000 Home Guards in the state which saw 30 deaths and widespread destruction of property during a similar stir one year back. Last year's agitation had largely affected Delhi as the protesters cut water supply to the national capital and caused massive damage to public property in Haryana, with Rohtak, Sonipat and Jhajjar being among the worst-hit districts. Jat community outfits, while accusing the Khattar government of not fulfilling their demands for reservation, have threatened to launch the next round of agitation from January 29 in districts including Rohtak, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panipat, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal and Fatehabad. Malik said February 26 will be observed as "Black Day" by Jats, who would wear black turbans, ties, ribbons or arm bands that day to protest against the government's policies. The community members have also been urged "to stop paying their power and water bills till their demands are met". From March 1, the protesters will not cooperate with the government, Malik said adding "no one will pay power, water bills and instalment of loans that they owe to the government." The AIJASS leader added that Jats from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh will protest in the national capital on March 2 and submit a memorandum on the issue to the President. They also plan to gherao Parliament, the date for which is to be announced on March 2. The AIJASS has also appealed to the community members to stop supplying milk to Delhi, the date for which would be fixed later. Amid the ongoing stir across Haryana, he said "we are committed to maintain peace at all costs." Besides seeking quota in education and government jobs under the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, the demands of the Jats include the release of those jailed during last year's agitation, withdrawal of cases slapped during the stir and government jobs for the kin of those killed or injured in the stir. There is also a demand for action against BJP MP from Kurukshetra Raj Kumar Saini for his alleged anti-Jat rants. Haryana's key opposition party INLD has openly come out in support of the agitating Jats this time and asked the government to meet their demands. In view of the fresh Jat stir, paramilitary forces have been deployed in sensitive areas, while the state police is maintaining a strict vigil. Haryana police is also keeping a vigil near statues of various state icons in sensitive districts to thwart any act of vandalism. As many as 30 people were killed and property worth crores of rupees was damaged at many places in Haryana during last year's stir. Rohtak and some of its neighbouring districts, including Sonipat and Jhajjar, were the worst hit by the violence last year. The state had last year enacted a law for providing reservation to Jats in consultation with all stakeholders, but the same had been stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Once the stay on the law is vacated, the state government would request the Centre to include the law granting quota to Jats and others in the 9th Schedule, a government official said. Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasreen whose impromptu session at the Jaipur Literature Festival yesterday drew a minor protest here, will not be invited to the event from next year, organisers said in a statement today. "They expressed their anger.... I heard them out. Explained we supported minorities in every way. Underscored that we are a platform for all points of view. Agreed that we should consider their request not to reinvite them," Sanjoy K Roy, Producer of JLF, said. Protesting organisations including Rajasthan Muslim Forum, All India Milli Council, Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim Personal Law Board, had said yesterday that the writer, who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, was a "disputed" personality. They demanded that no invitation must be extended to the writer again. "Nasreen is a disputed personality. JLF organisers did not name her in the schedule in JLF booklet. Organisers played hide and seek game and police administration too supported her and allowed her in a session. So we had gone to protest. "We had a meeting with organisers where producer Sanjoy Roy promised that they will not provide platform to Salman Rushdie and Nasreen from next year," Mehrunnisa Khan, state president of Women India Movement, had told PTI yesterday. Taslima participated in a surprise session titled, 'Exile' at the festival yesterday, the speakers for which were not revealed until the morning of the concluding day, presumably to avoid the sort of protests that rocked the pink city 10 years ago, when the writer was refused shelter in the city after being driven out of Kolkata by the West Bengal government. Last evening, the festival's co-director William Dalrymple appeared unwilling to disclose much. "I vaguely knew that she was coming," was the most he would offer when asked by PTI. During her session, Nasreen batted for a Uniform Civil Code as a tool for "empowerment" and said the Islamic society needed to be more tolerant towards criticism to make progress. "It is necessary for Islamic society to be tolerant and accept criticism without which they cannot progress. Uniform Civil Code is urgently required for empowering people with human rights," she had said. Upholding the freedom of writers around the world, she slammed religious fanatics, saying she did not believe in terms like "nationalism" or "religious fundamentalism". "I don't believe in nationalism, religious fundamentalism. I believe in one world. I believe in rights, freedom, humanism and rationalism. Until Islam accepts criticism, no Islamic country can be considered secular. Whenever I criticise, people want to kill me," she had said. Nasreen, an award-winning writer, is best known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A day after police forcibly evicted pro-jallkattu protesters, actor Kamal Haasan today questioned the action and said he was shocked that women and children were also reportedly caught in the melee. The popular actor said he wanted "reasonable explanation" for the police action. He said women and children were also reportedly affected by the crackdown. On videos which have gone viral purportedly showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, Haasan said he hoped they were not 'real cops.' "Hope cops seen in videos are not real". Referring to the protests, he said it was a symbol of discontent. The uprising is "absolutely legitimate", the top star said, adding, he was very touched by the protests. On the ban on jallikattu, he said more people die in accidents than . On demands for banning animal rights group PETA, he said he did not support banning PETA. "Can Correct them, if they are wrong." The 62-year-old actor, reacting to the police crackdown on protesters, had yesterday tweeted "aggressive police action on students' passive resistance will not bear good results." He had also urged protesters not to resort to violence. Haasan, a known supporter, had earlier lauded students for conducting a peaceful stir on the bull taming sport, saying he had become a fan of these students. Police had yesterday evicted scores of pro- protesters from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially Marina beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and lathicharge at a few places in the city. Ahead of the Union Budget, city-based tax solutions provider KDK Softwares has launched a toll-free number to resolve GST-related queries. The company, which launched its ' Helpline' service recently, said it has received over10,000 calls with most of the callers inquiring about the new tax regime whether it will be beneficial for small businesses. "Over 70 per cent calls received by the helpline had a single concern on rates and whether this will be a beneficial tax structure to small businesses," KDK Softwares CEO Mohit Bhambhani said here. Queries of over ten thousands callers were studied, he said. "About 80 per cent calls received were from the organisation having a business turnover below Rs 1 crore. Most of them were worried on the rates and how it will be levied on supply in case a company is supplying products directly to the end customers," he added. With the recent demonetisation and upcoming GST regime, SMEs and startups are facing very challenging economic environment in addition to their experience of several highs and lows during the past five years, the CEO said. But at the same time, understanding the importance of the SME sector, the central government has re-implemented Public Procurement Policy and also launched Make in India, Startup India and Skill India campaigns to promote the sector, he noted. The company said its national toll-free helpline number 1800 103 9271 is available in 6 languages - English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam. The Centre today gave its nod to ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol that commits countries to contain the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to ratify the second commitment period of the international treaty which was adopted by nations in 2012 and till now, 65 countries have ratified the second commitment period. "In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines India's leadership in the comity of nations committed to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice. "Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise," an official statement said. Implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under this commitment period in accordance with sustainable development priorities will attract some investments in India as well. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seeks to stabilise GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would minimise interference with the climate system. Recognising that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHGs, the Kyoto Protocol places commitments on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets and to provide financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing nations. "Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol," it said. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the first commitment period was from 2008-2012. At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for the period 2013-2020. Developed countries have already started implementing their commitments under the 'opt-in' provisions of the Doha Amendment. "India has always emphasised the importance of climate actions by developed country parties in the pre-2020 period. "Besides, it has advocated climate actions based on the principles and provisions of the Convention, such as the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR & RC)," it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Six school girls were allegedly beaten up by liquor traders after villagers of Beda in Bihar's Rohtas district alerted police about the illegal manufacture of the brew in the area. Three persons of Beda have been arrested on charge of keeping liquor as well beating up natives of adjacent Banrasiya including the six girls, Superintendent of Police Manavjit Singh Dhillon said today. The girls, while returning from school yesterday, were targeted by liquor manufacturers of Beda village and beaten severely after which they were taken to hospital, the SP said adding the girls have been discharged from hospital after treatment. Elaborating on the chain of events, the senior officer said on Sunday last few people of neighbouring Banrasiya village had informed the police about illegal manufacture of country liquor at Beda village. The complainants accompanied a police team which seized huge quantity of spiced alcohol hidden in houses of around 12 people of Beda village. Angry over the complaint, the people whose liquor was seized fought with natives of Banrasiya village who had informed the police. They then turned their ire on six girls of Banrasiya village, accusing them of alerting the cops and thrashed them. As the police swung into action after the girls' assault, three persons were arrested from Beda village. They were charged under sections of Excise Act as well as attacking complainants and the girls, Station House Officer of Muffasil police station Birendra Prasad Yadav said. Beda village is close to BMP women police training centre in Rohtas district. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Shiromani Akali Dal President and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal releases the party's manifesto for upcoming Punjab Assembly elections in Ludhiana Ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) today released its election manifesto promising farm debt waiver for small farmers, 20 lakh jobs for youth, mega complexes for industry and succour to the poor. The 'vision document', which was released by Punjab's Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal here, has the catchline - 'jo keha so kar vikhaya' (fulfilled what was promised). "We have delivered what we have promised earlier be it making the Punjab power surplus, introducing unique welfare schemes like aata-daal and Shagun, to providing 100 per cent water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns across the state. "Now we will do the same in all 12,000 villages besides making cemented streets and putting up solar lights. We are similarly committed to delivering on the promises made today," Badal said on the occasion. A new initiative to give 5 kg sugar at the rate of Rs 10 per kg and 2 kg ghee for Rs 25 per kg would also be implemented, Badal said. He said that free power and other facilities being given to farm sector will continue. Wooing the farmers, Badal announced the SAD-BJP alliance was committed to waiving off farm debts of all small farmers. He said the alliance government would also give fertiliser input incentive of Rs 100 per quintal on both wheat and paddy as an additional support to farmers over and above the minimum support price (MSP). "All small farmers will also be eligible for a Rs two lakh interest free agriculture crop loan. Besides, the government will provide tubewell to all farmers irrespective of the land holding, and free and regular ten hour day time power supply for farm operations," he said. Badal said farm labourers will also be compensated in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities. He said besides, a one stop shop which will dispense 'aata daal'. Sewa kendra will be opened in the villages. All link roads will be made 18 feet wide. The SAD president said the Akali-BJP alliance was also committed to imparting skill to 10 lakh youth in 25,000 skill centres with one skill centre catering to five villages. Those doing the skill courses will be eligible for Rs 10 lakh interest free loan. The alliance government will also facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. "We will give government employment and also create jobs in tourism and industrial sectors to fulfill the 20 lakh job promise," he said. Assembly Polls in Punjab will be held on February 4. Sukhbir Badal also promised free gas connections to all blue card holders. He also announced that the government would take steps to regularise all unauthorised colonies at a nominal price. The SAD chief said medical treatment to blue card holders, small farmers, petty traders and construction workers would be raised to Rs one lakh per annum. The SAD manifesto also promised 10 hour a day free power supply to farmers instead of the present eight hours. "If voted to power SAD will pursue a multi pronged initiative to help farmers under debt in collaboration with the Centre and the banks," Badal said, adding that Lok Adalatas for settlement of farmer debt cases would be set up in every district. Stating that controlling crime and continuing the fight against drugs was a top priority for the SAD-BJP alliance, Badal said CCTV cameras would be installed on all entry and exit points of villages and cities to check crime. He said rehabilitation centres would be upgraded and new policy of incentivisation to encourage addicts to leave drugs would be initiated. Notably, the ruling Akalis have been under mounting attack from opposition parties including Congress and AAP over failure to check the drug menace in Punjab. Badal said a special border area force would be constituted to form a second line of defence and check infiltration. Badal also made it clear that presently Punjab did not have land or water for construction of the SYL canal. "We have returned the land on which the canal stood back to the farmers from whom it was acquired. The SYL canal cannot be constructed under any circumstances now," he said. He also said, "We are also committed to continue a peaceful democratic struggle to secure inclusion of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas in Haryana back into Punjab. Badal said ameliorating the lot of the weaker sections was a cornerstone of SAD-BJP philosophy. "We have accordingly decided that all kutcha houses will be made pucca and the houseless will be given jobs," he said. The manifesto promised that economically backward among general category citizens will also be eligible for all social welfare schemes meant for SC/BC categories. He said it had been decided to increase all welfare pensions from the present Rs 500 per month to Rs 2,000 per month. Shagun scheme will be raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 51,000. Highlighting the initiatives which would be taken for womenfolk, Badal said all matriculate women would be eligible to get sewing machines. A mortar attack in restive northern Mali has killed one United Nations peacekeeper and seriously wounded two others in their camp near the Algerian border, the UN said today. The statement from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA on Monday's attack at the Aguelhok camp did not provide nationalities, but most of the UN troops there are from Chad. "Mortar fire targeted the MINUSMA camp in Aguelhok", the force said in a statement, adding "it took the life of a peacekeeper and seriously wounded two others." The United Nations has deployed 13,000 troops in Mali to serve in the MINUSMA force, considered one of the deadliest missions in peacekeeping. Mali's north fell under the control of Tuareg-led rebels and jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda in 2012. The Islamists sidelined the rebels to take sole control. Although they were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013, implementation of a peace accord struck in 2015 has been piecemeal with insurgents still active across large parts of the region. Mali last week saw its worst attack in years, when more than 70 people died in a suicide bomb attack in the northern Mali city of Gao. The attack targeting militia groups committed to restoring peace in the country, was claimed by the group of Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar, allied to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). "If the security situation continues to deteriorate, there won't be any peace to keep," said UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous at the time. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) News / National by Staff reporter Harare City Council is set to refurbish Mbare Musika Farmers' Market to the tune of $1,5 million as it seeks to improve the working environment, as well as address water and sanitation issues.There are fears that lack of proper sanitation at the market could have been one of the major drivers of water borne diseases such as typhoid which hit Mbare suburb recently.Acting town clerk Josephine Ncube said council was also set to decongest the market, while long-term plans were to develop it into a modern multi-storey market. Prime Minister Prachanda today unveiled an ambitious plan to provide insurance cover to Nepalese workers going to India and double the insurance cover for those going to 110 other destinations across the world. According to the plan, migrant workers for destinations other than India will now have to buy life insurance and general insurance coverage worth Rs 2 million from January 28. However, workers going to India, after taking permission from the concerned district administration office from February 12, can buy the insurance worth up to Rs 1.25 million. The announcement was made during a press meet organised at PM's residence in Baluwatar. Hundreds of Nepalese cross the porous southern border with India every day in search of job opportunities. It seems difficult to implement such a plan due to lack of mechanism to stop the movement of migrant workers at Nepal-India border. While unveiling the plan, Prachanda said it was aimed at providing better social security schemes to migrant workers, more importantly to the families of those killed and injured at their work destinations. The decision, if enforced, could benefit more than 5 million Nepalese working at more than 110 work destinations across the world. "The plan is to make it binding for workers to obtain work approval from the concerned District Administration Office," said an official from Ministry of Labour and Employment. Officials said it might be extremely hard to persuade workers to buy insurance package due to bureaucratic hassle and cost factor. "A majority of the people go India because they cannot afford to pay to go to the Gulf or Malaysia. Each worker will at least need Rs 20,000 to follow the due process," according to the official. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Expressing serious concern at the deteriorating condition in Manipur following the economic blockade since November one last, the North East Students Organisation (NESO) has demanded that the Central Government intervene to solve the crisis. At a meeting here, the NESO demanded that the Centre bring all those involved to the negotiating table to amicably resolve the issue. The organisation would meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to request him to resolve the issue at the earliest, said NESO Chairman Samuel B Jyrwa and general secretary S Prakash Singh. The meeting also opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which aims at recognising all Hindu Bangladeshis as Indian citizens. NESO advisor Dr Samujjal Bhattacharya said, "The Government of India should realise the North East is not a dumping ground of illegal migrants, whoever they may be -- Hindus or Muslims. The North East region will not take burden of any illegal foreigner who came after 1971 as per the Assam Accord". (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The European Union warned that Israel's announcements that it will build thousands of new settler homes in occupied Palestinian territory "further seriously undermine" prospects for a two-state solution. Israel said yesterday that it had approved 2,500 homes in the occupied West Bank days after it gave the go-ahead for 566 new units in east Jerusalem in a major expansion following the election of US President Donald Trump. The twin announcements "further seriously undermine the prospects for a viable two-state solution," the EU's foreign policy arm said in a statement. Settlements in both the West Bank and east Jerusalem are viewed as illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians want for their own state. "It is regrettable that Israel is proceeding with this policy, despite the continuous serious international concern and objections, which have been constantly raised at all levels," the external action service's spokesperson said. "Continued settlement expansion... Goes directly against long-standing EU policy and the recommendations of the quartet Report," it said. The EU is part of the quartet supporting diplomatic efforts for Palestinian-Israeli peace, along with the United States, the United Nations and Russia. "A negotiated two-state solution is the only way to fulfil the legitimate aspirations of both parties and to achieve enduring peace," the EU statement said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : A new organization for producers, theatre owners and distributors was formed under the leadership of noted Malayalam film actor Dileep here today. Announcing the decision to form Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK), Dileep claimed the backing of over 100 theatre owners for his new association. The trigger for forming the new association was a strike called by Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation (KFEF) last month, virtually paralysing the Malayalam film industry during Christmas celebrations. KFEF had held a one month long protest shutting down 353 A-class theatres under the association demanding a change in the sharing ratio from the collection of Malayalam movies between distributors and exhibitors. No films could be released in December due to the strike called for by the KFEF. The strike was finally called off following the intervention of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Dileep said FEUOK would be a good initiative for films and there will be no incidents of shutting down of theatres in the state. "The film sector should not be paralysed," Dileep said. He also claimed support of Malayalam movie stars Mohanlal and Mammootty for the new association. Dileep is the president of FEUOK. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A plea alleging large scale unauthorised and illegal sand mining with the use of heavy machinery in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh despite prohibition today prompted the National Green Tribunal to seek responses from the Centre and the state government. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Environment Ministry, UP government and others while seeking their replies in two weeks. The NGT was hearing a plea filed by UP resident Brij Mohan Yadav, who has alleged that illegal sand mining was being carried out in rivers Betwa and Ken flowing through Banda district despite NGT's direction to state authorities to "ensure that no illegal mining is permitted" in the district, particularly on the rivers Badain and Ken. The plea, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, alleged that despite giving an undertaking before the NGT that no sand mining would be allowed in the area, District Magistrates of Banda and Chhattarpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Zila Panchayat CEO have failed to comply with the direction of tribunal. "Illegal sand mining is being continued unabated under the nose of the government officials in Banda district and the incidence of illegal mining taking place on Ken and other rivers of Banda district is gross violation of undertaking by the District Magistrate, Banda, and CEO, Zila Panchayat acting District Magistrate, Chattarpur. Referring to reports that various 'influential' leaders were involved in illegal sand mining in the area, the plea said non-compliance of the NGT order and unregulated sand mining can change the natural course of the Ken river. "The letter from the office of the SP Banda to the DM in October 2016 clearly states that several trucks carrying heavy quantity of sand from Madhya Pradesh are running through the district border resulting in the damage of the district roads. "The letter states that it has also come to the knowledge of SP, that these trucks are not paying required state tax. The letter also states that various heavy machineries are used in the Kurdhan sand mine which is changing the natural course of the river. "The changing course of the river is also creating a serious chance of heavy flood in the neighbouring villages. The letter further stated that there is not enough sand in the border area of Madhya Pradesh and sand is being originally mined from the border areas of Uttar Pradesh under the cover of Madhya Pradesh," the plea said, seeking penal action against the erring officials. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) There is no record available of the fake currency which has been detected in the demonetised notes deposited in banks, Reserve Bank of India has said. Responding to an RTI inquiry from Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali seeking to know the extent of fake currency found in demonetised notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 deposited in banks till December 10, 2016, the RBI has said no information is available with it. Earlier, RBI had refused to disclose information about consultation undertaken before the demonetisation move was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8. Even Prime Minister's Office had refused to disclose if Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Minister were consulted before the decision was announced. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed uproarious scenes and a walkout by the opposition members after the government did not agree to their demand for an hour long discussion on urban traffic mobility plans and heavy jams in the capital cities. In reply to BJP MLA Rajesh Gupta's question regarding heavy congestion in Jammu and Srinagar and the measures to deal it, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told the House that with a view to address this problem, the government, through Srinagar and Jammu Municipal Corporations and Jammu and Srinagar Development Authorities, is managing to provide suitable parking facilities to the people. The opposition members sought details about urban traffic mobility plans constituted by the previous government for decongestion of the twin capital cities. NC MLA Devender Rana demanded an hour-long discussion and the setting up of a committee to discuss the issue as traffic congestion in the twin cities was causing great inconvenience to the people. Congress Legislative Party leader Nawang Rigzin Jora also raised the issue and sought a reply from the government about the measures being taken in this regard. Nirmal said a meeting of legislators can be held to discuss the issue, however, the opposition members pressed for constitution of a committee and a discussion. They walked close to the Well of the House as Speaker Kavinder Gupta told them that they can raise the issue during the grants of the Housing and Urban Development Ministry. The dissatisfied opposition then staged a walkout from the House. Earlier, Nirmal said Jammu Municipal Corporation has proposed a parking at Panjthirthi for 240 vehicles on the land measuring 6.5 kanals with provisions of firefighting facilities, two lifts, a ramp and an attendant room. One more parking project for 150 cars at Peer Kho near Baba Lal Ji temple at Circular road in Jammu costing Rs 15 crore has also been approved and parking for 22 cars completed near Mubarak Mandi Jammu, he said. Jammu Development Authority has undertaken the project of multi-tier parking at Jammu Bus Stand at a cost of Rs 202 crore with parking space of 1,312 cars and 177 scooters. Another parking is also coming up at City Chowk with a capacity of 350 cars, he said. Srinagar Municipal Corporation is managing ten parking places almost all of which have been outsourced, he said. The government admitted that vehicles are being parked along the roads in Jammu and Srinagar, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) British-Indian actor Dev Patel, who earned his maiden Oscar nomination in best supporting actor category for "Lion", today said the feeling is yet to sink but he is filled with an "overwhelming sense of gratitude". Alluding to the role that India has played in his career be it his debut "Slumdog Millionaire" or "Lion", Patel says the country holds a special place in his heart. "Ok, so I just received a call to say that I've been nominated for an Academy Award... "To be totally honest, the hasn't made it's way into my brain yet, but I'm looking at these beautiful smiling faces around me... Faces of the ones I love. And I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude," the 26-year-old actor said in a statement. "What makes this moment so much more poignant is that I've just wrapped shooting another film in India. This enthralling country holds such a deep place in my heart, and it is where Saroo's journey was born," he added. Patel, who plays the role of a man I search of his lost parents in India in the true-life inspired drama also thanked his director and co-stars. "This film would be nothing without Garth Davis. Without his love, commitment and vision this "Lion" wouldn't have been able to roar. To that extent I want to share this incredible feeling with Luke, Grieg, Jenny Kent, Iain, Angie, Emile, Sunny, Nicole, David, Rooney, Divian, Priyanka, the Brierley family as well as the Weinstein Co team. "'Lion' reaffirms the message that love is not dictated by the color of your skin, not by race, gender, sexuality, social status, or origin. It is a message I am proud to be spreading during these uncertain times. This will forever be one of the most memorable experiences of my life," he said. Patel has received widespread praise for his performance as Saroo Brierley with critics hailing it as a career-defining moment. "Lion", which co-stars Nicole Kidman, is also nominated in the Best Picture category alongside awards favourite romantic musical "La La Land", "Arrival", family drama "Manchester by Sea", "Moonlight", war movie "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures", African-American drama "Fences" and "Hell or High Water". The 2017 Academy Awards ceremony will take place in Hollywood on February 26. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) An influential judge in Pakistan, who has been charged with employing a 10-year-old girl as maid and torturing her, has secured a pre-arrest bail. Additional District and Sessions Judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan, who was suspended after the case surfaced in December, obtained the bail from the court of his fellow judge here. ADSJ Raja Asif Mehmood Khan granted the interim bail to Khan, Dawn reported today. Khan had sought the bail to prevent his arrest. The court issued notices to the Station House Officer (SHO) Industrial Area and the parents of the maid for January 26 when the pre-arrest bail may or may not be confirmed. Khan's wife has already been granted bail in the case, which made headlines after pictures of the traumatized and tortured minor girl went viral on the social media. Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar took suo moto action in the case and ordered police to investigate the judge and his family. An investigation into the alleged abuse of the maid found Khan employing the girl as a maid. The investigation also confirmed torture on her body by the spouse of the judge. An incomplete investigation report submitted to the Supreme Court on January 18 stated that the investigation was carried out from all angles and it revealed the young girl was brutally tortured by the woman accused. The police have accused the judge of employing the little girl as maid without providing her an appropriate medical treatment on seeing the 'acute' injuries. "He cannot be absolved at this stage," the report read. On December 2, after the completion of the initial inquiry, Khan had reached a compromise with the parents of the girl and on the basis of the compromise deed his wife obtained a pre-arrest bail the same day. Under Section 328-A of Pakistan Penal Code, the accused can be imprisoned from one to three years or fined from 100,000 to 300,000 rupees or given double punishment of sentence and fine. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) News / National by Staff reporter Civil rights activists yesterday accused Norton Independent MP Temba Mliswa of denying the scope of the Gukurahundi genocide after the voluble legislator said VP Emmerson Mnangagwa was not to blame for the killing of 20 000 civilians in the Midlands and Matabeleland provinces.They said Mliswa must acknowledge that slayings took place and minimize the ethnic dimension of the tragedy.The former Zanu-PF chair for Mashonaland West was addressing journalists in Harare, where he placed the blame on President Robert Mugabe while saying Mnangagwa was merely a victim of a grand plot by the former to annihilate non-Zezurus.Mliswa, a perceived Mnangagwa ally, said it was unfair to blame the VP and current Air-Force Commander Perence Shiri for the genocide which was waged by a North Korean trained Zimbabwean army unit ostensibly to track down armed army insurgents which were loyal to former VP and one time bitter Mugabe rival, Joshua Nkomo."Gukurahundi was an act by the Zezurus against the Ndebeles and the Karanga people."President Mugabe was the Commander-in-Chief, Minister of Defence was (Sydney) Sekeramayi and the army commander was (Solomon) Mujuru; you cannot blame Shiri, he was taking instructions," Mliswa said.Mliswa said current claims Mnanagwa was at the forefront of waging Gukurahundi were calculated to discredit him in his current pursuit to succeed President Mugabe."There was Gukurahundi in Midlands and you want to point to Mnangagwa; he is Karanga. Why would he want to see his people dying, he is from the Midlands," Mliswa said.He added: "Let's not try to beat about the bush. Gukurahundi was an act by the Zezuru people to eliminate any other tribe so that they would maintain superiority. No-wonder why they have ruled from 1980 to now."I have always said to Honourable Mnangagwa, the President doesn't like you, you are a Karanga but you protect him every day and you are loyal to him', and in his own way, he says I have worked with this man I continue working this man'."In 2004, Mnangagwa was supposed to come in from a democratic point of view and Mai (Joice) Mujuru, a secretary for production, a Zezuru was elevated to the position of a Vice President in place of a Karanga."Mnangagwa, a top aide to Mugabe for decades, has been linked to post-independence Zimbabwe's darkest period which President Mugabe has avoided discussing, his closest public explaination about it being that the atrocities were "an act of madness".The former Chirumanzu-Zibagwe has since denied any involvement in the atrocities after former education minister David Coltart fingered him in his book as having played a big role in the killings.Meanwhile, Mliswa has vowed to block any attempts by Zezurus to continue ruling the country beyond the 2018 elections."I now talk about the tribal aspect of 2018," he said."I will never vote for a Zezuru President, I am done. It's about time other tribes enjoy what we call the balance of power and the balance of power cannot be on one side." Panama's former dictator Manuel Noriega has been allowed to move from prison to house arrest in order to undergo an operation for a non-malignant brain tumor. The country's Supreme Court granted the lesser detention after hearing recommendations from the 82-year-old's doctors, attorney Ezra Angel told AFP yesterday. Noriega, who is increasingly frail, is serving three 20-year sentences for the disappearances of opponents during his 1983-1990 rule. The United States invaded Panama in 1989, seizing Noriega on drug trafficking and money laundering charges. After time behind bars in the US then France, he was extradited to Panama in 2011 where he was incarcerated in El Renacer prison on the banks of the Panama Canal. The tumor was detected several years ago and "has grown pretty rapidly during the time Noriega was here in Panama," Reyes said. He added that removing the tumor was necessary to avoid "convulsions and even cardio-respiratory arrest." No date has yet been set for the surgery, according to the lawyer and Noriega's daughter Thays Noriega. Reyes said authorities would decide after the operation whether Noriega would return to prison or see out the rest of his sentence at home. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) New US Secretary of Defence James Mattis reassured his British counterpart that Washington has an "unshakeable commitment" to NATO, despite President Donald Trump previously casting the military alliance as obsolete. During a phone call with Michael Fallon on his first full day in office, Mattis "emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement. British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Washington on Friday. She will be the first foreign leader to meet with Trump since he took office last week. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Peru today called for China and other Pacific countries to forge an alternative free trade agreement after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the key TPP accord. Trump yesterday signed a memo on withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), effectively ending what was meant to be a major trade pact championed by his predecessor Barack Obama. The TPP was to have included Mexico, the United States and 10 other countries spanning the Pacific including Peru, but it excluded China. "We should work with China, the countries of Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand," Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said on television today. "We should make an APEC-Pacific group reaching as far as India, that way we will include everyone. We are going to take the best parts of the TPP and get rid of the less good parts. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A police jawan, who was critically injured in a fierce encounter with Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district last week,diedat a private hospital here today. Assistant Constable Santosh Markam (32), posted at Orchha police station of Narayanpur, diedthis morning at RamkrishnaCareHospital in Raipur, a police official said. Markam was a native of Ghodagaon village of Narayanpur district, located about 250 kms from here. The body will be sent to Jagdalpur (Bastar district's headquarters) after postmortem, as the jawan's relatives want to perform his final rites there, the official said. He will be cremated with full honour, he said. Markam had sustained bullet injuries in his stomach during the gun-battle between security personnel and ultras in the restive Kodenar forests under Orchha police station limits on January 19 this year. He was airlifted to the state capital on the same day for treatment. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The US Senate has confirmed former Congressman Mike Pompeo as CIA director while Rex Tillerson's nomination to be the Secretary of State moved a step closer to approval as Donald Trump's Cabinet takes shape. Pompeo, who was confirmed by the Senate by 66-32 votes, replaces John Brennan, a political appointee, whose term ended on January 20 with that of Barack Obama as the US President. Later, Pompeo was sworn in last night as CIA director. "You are stepping up to lead the finest intelligence- gathering operation the world has ever seen," Vice President Mike Pence said during the swearing-in ceremony. "The men and women serving under your command give true meaning to the word courage," he said. Significantly, Trump, who succeeded Obama as the 45th President of the US, made his first visit to a federal agency to CIA headquarters in Langley. Pompeo, 53, is only the third member of Trump's cabinet to take his post after Secretary of Defence James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were sworn in Friday. On Pompeo's conformation, Senator John McCain, in a statement, said the new Director of the CIA must focus on uncovering facts about the many complex national security threats confronting the nation. "Now is the time to turn the page on our discussions of old programmes and activities, which we have thoroughly reviewed and addressed," he said. Congressman Davin Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Pompeo with his deep background in intelligence and military affairs, he is confident will serve the intelligence community well and make vital contributions to national security. "At a time when Americans face escalating threats from both terror groups and state entities, it's reassuring that someone with as much experience and knowledge as Mike will be leading one of the nation's premier intelligence agencies," he said. Meanwhile, a key Senate panel approved the nomination of Tillerson as the Secretary of State. This has paved the way for the Senate to formally vote on his nomination following which Tillerson would occupy the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department as the top American diplomat. The position has been vacant since January 20 when John Kerry's term demitted office with outgoing president Obama. Even as Trump had nominated Tillerson as his Secretary of State much in advance, the Senate has not been able to confirm him because of some reservations by a few lawmakers, including from Trump's own Republican party. The approval by Senate Foreign relations Committee came after Senator McCain and Senator Marco Rubio -- both of the Republican party -- announced that they will support his nomination. (Reopens FGN 6) "I personally have no doubt that Rex Tillerson is well-qualified. He's managed the world's eighth largest company by revenue with over 75,000 employees," said Senator Bob Corker, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "Diplomacy has been a critical component of his positions in the past, and he has shown himself to be an exceptionally able and successful negotiator who has maintained deep relationships around the world," he said. Announcing his support for Tillerson, Rubio said he believes the President is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet. "I also believe given the uncertainty surrounding the future direction of our foreign policy that a higher degree of scrutiny is justified in evaluating whoever is nominated to serve as secretary of state," Rubio said. Democratic National Committee national press secretary Adrienne Watson said Trump's pick of Vladimir Putin's best American friend should be disturbing to anyone concerned about national security. "Given Mr Tillerson's history of taking Putin's side against US interests, the Kremlin could not have asked for a better Secretary of State," he said. Congratulating Pompeo on his confirmation, Senator Mark R Warner, Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said, "I believe that he can be an effective leader of the CIA at a time when the Agency is facing many challenges." "While I do not agree with some of the views he has expressed, Congressman Pompeo has impressed me with his respect for the dedication and impartiality of the intelligence professionals at the CIA," Warner said. Senator Chris Murphy, who opposed Pompeo's confirmation, said he believes he will take the CIA in a dangerously wrong direction. "America needs a CIA director who will uphold American values by resolutely condemning torture and mass surveillance. Congressman Pompeo's last minute attempt to walk back his opposition to torture is very disturbing, and suggests the Trump Administration is readying to abandon our commitment to international human rights," he said. Pompeo was a member of the US House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. Pakistan's state-run television has banned its two female anchors for "defaming" the channel by taking to social media and appearing in talk shows to raise alleged sexual harassment case against a senior official. Prior to taking the issue to media, the female anchors - Tanzeela Mazhar and Yashfeen Jamal - had complained to the PTV management against Director Current Affairs Agha Masood Shorish for the alleged sexual advances and harassment. The two took to social media to highlight their case, after which the PTV management on January 20 asked them to remove the contents on social media "within 24 hours" or face disciplinary action. The anchors not only refused to remove the content from their social media but also participated in a private TV talk show on Sunday and discussed the issue on air. PTV's Controller Current Affairs Habibur Rehman yesterday issued a letter banning both the anchors from appearing in any programme of the state broadcaster. Rehman accused the duo of "defaming" the PTV organisation. He said already an internal inquiry headed by a female officer of the information ministry with authority of the judicial magistrate was underway to determine the allegations. It was second major scandal of harassment hitting the PTV after a similar made headlines last year when at least six female anchors accused Director Athar Farooq Buttar of sexual misconduct. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Actress Eva Longoria said it wasn't love at first sight for her when she was introduced to her now-husband Jose 'Pepe' Baston. The former "Desperate Housewives" star wed the television executive in Mexico back in May last year, with celebrity guests including Melanie Griffith, Ricky Martin, and Victoria Beckham, who also designed the bride's wedding dress. But the actress reveals when she first met Jose sparks did not fly between them, reported Access Hollywood. "It was love at second sight. A mutual friend of ours introduced us and we were like, 'Hey', and then like six months later that same friend reintroduced us and I was like, 'Who is that?' "And he was like, 'I introduced you, like, six months ago'. I was like, 'I don't remember meeting that guy. He's the most handsome man I've ever met'... It's all about timing and the universe and destiny." The 41-year-old actress and Baston are looking forward to celebrating their one-year anniversary at the start of this summer. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Samsung India today announced the launch of its service vans for Telangana to provide world-class service to its customers at their door steps. As many as 19 service vans were flagged off in the city in the first phase of the initiative by Anurag Prashar, vice president, Customer Satisfaction at Samsung India in the presence of key dealers and distributors, a press release issued by Samsung said. These vans will reach out to 68 talukas across the state with each van being equipped with a DG set and key fixtures, enabling multi-skilled service engineers to provide quick response and on-spot resolution of complaints. The unique customer service initiative for consumers across India was launched in October 2016 and will see a total of 535 service vans connecting 6,000 talukas. "At Samsung, it is our constant endeavour to provide the best customer service to our consumers. With this initiative, our customers in rural India will enjoy the same level of speedy and high quality service as urban customers. We are committed to provide the very best of customer service for our customers across the state, especially in rural areas," Prashar said. The resident engineers will be located in remote areas and will help reach out to Samsung's consumers in their local areas. The new initiative takes Samsung's tally of touch points from 2,000 to over 3,000, helping Samsung extend its lead as the country's largest service network in the industry, it added. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Concerned over reports that about five lakh vacancies exist in the police forces across the country, the Supreme Court today directed the Home Secretaries of all states to provide details of vacant positions at all levels in four weeks. Terming the issue as "important", a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar made it clear that if any state does not file such affidavit giving details, the apex court would summon the Home Secretaries concerned. "In view of the importance of the issue, we require Home Secretaries of all the state governments to file affidavits in this court depicting the vacancy position," the bench said. "In order to ensure compliance of the order, we hereby direct respondent number one (Centre) to communicate the instant order to all the Home Secretaries of state governments within one week," it said, while noting that figures of January 2015 given to it indicated that there were around 4.73 lakh vacancies. "Such state governments, who would fail to file affidavit sought in the order, we will ensure the presence of the Home Secretary himself along with all necessary records to assist this court in disposal of the instant matter," the bench, also comprising Justices N V Ramana and D Y Chandrachud, said. The apex court observed that currently, the workload on the police was heavy but there was less staff to deal with it. "As soon as the vacancy are filled, work will be done. Now, the workload is so much but number of staff are so less," the bench said. When one of the advocates sought more time for the Home Secretaries to furnish details in the court, the bench said, "they have enough time to file the affidavit". The bench noted in its order that despite issuance of notices earlier, most of the state governments have not filed the response giving details of the vacancies. The court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Manish Kumar who has highlighted the number of vacancies in police services across the country and has said that due to this, the law and order situation has deteriorated. Referring to a 2015 report, he has claimed that there was a total of around 5.42 lakh vacancies in the police services. In his plea, he has sought a direction to the states and union territories to "fill up the vacant posts in the police and state armed forces so that the police forces do not remain overburdened". During the hearing, the petitioner told the bench that around 24 per cent of the sanctioned posts for police services at all levels were lying vacant in the country. The counsel appearing for Chhattisgarh told the court that they had filed an affidavit earlier in the matter. After perusing the affidavit, the bench noted in its order that it has been acknowledged by the state government that there were vacancies in police services there. In the plea, the petitioner has sought a direction for constitution of Police Commission to deal with allegations of police action, redressal of grievances of police and to make recommendations for welfare of the force. It has also sought directions for providing periodic training and upgradation of police force and also fix their working hours. Besides this, the plea has sought directions for formulation and implementation of "guidelines for prevention and control of violent mass agitations and destruction of life and property" in terms of the guidelines suggested by the apex court in its earlier judgement. The plea said the Centre should be directed to "prescribe guidelines for media reporting of the violent mass agitation and police action for prevention and control thereof". It also sought that the states should be restrained from "drawing a presumption against the action of police acting under the constitutional and statutory obligations". The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred a PIL on cleaning of river Ganga, pending for over a decade, to the Green Tribunal (NGT) which is hearing the matter since 2014. A bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar said since issues relating to municipal solid waste and industrial waste are already being heard by on a day-to-day basis, the remaining issues concerning the discharge of domestic sewage and other sources of pollution will also be now heard by the . The bench, which also comprised Justice N V Ramana, said the green panel will be required to submit an interim report to it every six months, only to give an idea as to the progress made and difficulties, if any. It also granted liberty to petitioner M C Mehta to approach it if he had any grievances in consonance with law. Mehta who appeared in person raised concerns over the hearing being carried out at the saying there is no compliance mechanism. While disposing of the matter, the bench said the NGT Act provided for penalty and other penal provisions in case of non-compliance of the tribunal's orders. The apex court had on October 29, 2014, referred the issue relating to enforcement of the provisions of statutes touching environment and its preservation arising out of discharge of industrial effluents into river Ganga to NGT, citing time constraints. The court had then said "time constraints unfortunately" do not allow the apex court to do monitoring on a continuing basis, no matter it has over the past 30 years devoted enough time and energy in that direction. Mehta, who had filed the PIL in 1985, brought to focus the problems arising from unabated pollution in the river by referring to media reports alleging that Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited in Bhadrabad near Haridwar was discharging untreated industrial effluents into the Ganges. He sought several reliefs primarily aimed at restraining polluting industries that had mushroomed on the banks of the river from polluting it. Subsequently on September 9, 1985, the apex court issued notices to all industries situated in urban areas on the banks of Ganga to stop discharging effluents without treating them properly in accordance with the standards prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In its first major order on September 22, 1987, the apex court directed closure of 20 tanneries working on the banks of Ganga and discharging effluents into it, noting that industrial pollutants were ten times more noxious then domestic waste. Similarly, on January 12, 1988 the apex court, while reiterating the earlier directions, ordered the municipalities concerned to set up Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) to ensure that untreated domestic sewage does not enter the river. In 2006, it took note of the CAG report on the expenditure on the Ganga Action Plan for year ending March 2000 in which it was said that Rs 587.63 crore had been incurred by the implementing agencies. It said that audit test check in the states, however, found many instances of financial mismanagement, such as fund diversion to unauthorised activities (Rs 36.07 crore), incorrect reporting (Rs 6.75 crore) and funds remaining unutilised with the implementing agencies (Rs 72.62 crore). Several other important orders were also passed by the apex court on the PIL including that industrial units shall submit a time bound action plan for setting up of anti- pollution measures to be completed before March 31, 2015. News / National by Staff reporter A man from Mzilikazi suburb in Bulawayo who was arrested for allegedly killing his mother after accusing her of bewitching his sick daughter, has appeared in court facing a murder charge.Amadi Nyathi (39) allegedly assaulted his mother with a metal crutch all over the body after accusing her of practising witchcraft.This was after he allegedly found her with items he believed were used for witchcraft. Nyathi allegedly assaulted his mother on January 13 and she died in hospital six days later from injuries sustained during the beating.He was arrested last Friday, a day after his mother died.Nyathi was not asked to plead when he appeared before Bulawayo Provincial Magistrate Mr Tinashe Tashaya yesterday.He was remanded in custody to February 6.Prosecuting, Mr Nkathazo Dlodlo said on January 13 this year at 10PM, Nyathi had an argument with his mother accusing her of witchcraft."Accused assaulted the now deceased all over the body with a crutch. A misunderstanding had rose after accused found the now deceased with items he believed were used for witchcraft. Complainant was taken to Mpilo Central Hospital where she died six days later," said Mr Dlodlo.There are witnesses who saw accused assaulting the now deceased. He gave indications to the police that led to the recovery of the crutch he used in the assault. Five names have been shortlisted for the Director's post at the prestigious AIIMS here by a selection-cum-search panel headed by Union Health Secretary C K Mishra today. The names that are understood to have figured in the shortlisted five include Dr V K Paul, HOD paediatrics; Dr Randeep Guleria, HOD of pulmonary medicine and sleep disorder; Dr S C Sharma, HOD of ENT; Dr Balram Bhargava, Professor Cardiology and Dr Subrata Sinha, Director of National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Manesar. "These five shortlisted names will now be placed before the Institute Body, the top decision making body at AIIMS, on January 28. It will select one name and send it to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister for the final approval," said a senior Health Ministry official. The seven names that were shortlisted by the panel in its last meet also included Dr V K Bahl, HOD Cardiology and Dr Chitra Sarkar, Professor, Pathology besides the ones that were shorlisted today. Apart from Health Secretary Mishra, who was the chairperson of the panel, the committee comprised Prime Minister's Principal Scientific Adviser R Chidambaram, Secretary in Department of Health Research Soumya Swaminathan, Director General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad and Vice Chancellor of Delhi University Yogesh Tyagi. AIIMS had last month recommended a search-cum-selection committee headed by Union Health Minister J P Nadda which was rejected by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). The PMO had then ordered reconstitution of the search panel based on DoPT guidelines. 53 eminent doctors, including 35 from outside AIIMS, have applied for the post. The current Director of AIIMS Dr M C Mishra is slated to retire on January 31. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Both the indices, Sensex and Nifty ended at almost 11-week high at 27,375.58 and 8,475.80 respectively on fresh buying ahead of the Union Budget next week couped with higher global advices. Shares of Metal, Auto, Power, Utilities, Energy and Oil &Gas sectors firmed up on good buying enquiries while IT and Teck dclined on selling pressure. The S&P BSE benchmark sensex resumed hiher at 27,170.88 and hovered in a range of 27,393.35 and 27,140.85 before finishing at 11-week high at 27,375.58, showing a gain of 258.24 points or 0.95 per cent. The sensex had last ended at 27,517.68 on Nov 10, 2016. The NSE 50-share Nifty rose by 84.30 points or 1.00 per cent to close at nearly 11-week high at 8,475.80. The Nifty had last closed at 8,525.75 on November 10, 2016. Overseas, most Asian stocks rose amid uncertainty over US President Donald Trump's policies and his withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Key indices in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan rose by 0.22 pct to 0.54 pct while indices in Japan and South Korea fell by 0.01 pct to 0.55 pct. European stocks were trading higher in their afternoon trade as investors waited for a key decision on the process for Brexit. The UK's Supreme Court is set to rule later today on whether Prime Minister Theresa May requires parliamentary approval to trigger the formal separation process from the European Union, which is expected to begin by the end of March. Key indices in France, Germany and UK rose by 0.06 pct to 0.12 pct. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Delhi High Court today asked the office of Lieutenant Governor to clearly state whether the rape crisis and other cells, run on court orders by Delhi Commission for Women, should be shut down over alleged illegal appointment of staff by the women's panel. Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva also asked the LG's office to make its stand clear on whether all appointments made by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) were illegal or only some of them. The court sought clarification on whether the LG's office intended to make fresh appointments to run these cells and asked the Centre's standing counsel Anurag Ahluwalia, appearing for the LG, to take instructions on these issues. The matter was listed for further hearing on February nine. The clarifications were sought after LG's office in an affidavit claimed that DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal had "no power or authority to arbitrarily, unilaterally,unauthorisedly engage or appoint employees" in DCW and should have approached the competent authority if more manpower was needed. Maliwal is an accused in a case of alleged irregularities in the recruitment process of the DCW and a trial court has directed Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of Delhi government to further probe and identify her associates in the crime. Meanwhile, advocate Rajshekhar Rao, appearing for DCW, said since the cells have budget sanction till March 31, 2017, the workers should be allowed to be paid till then. He also asked Delhi government to consider DCW's staffing requests. The court was hearing a plea filed by advocate Amita Singh Kalkal, on behalf of 97 employees of DCW, for a direction to the commission to disburse the salaries of these individuals who have not been paid since September last year. It had in December last year directed DCW to disburse 50 per cent arrears of salary to its 62 workers and then on January 18, 2017, the relief was extended to 35 others who had moved the court, subsequently. It had also directed the commission to provide records of the staff appointed without approval of the LG. The petitioners have claimed that with their help, DCW has dealt with 11,696 complaints since July 2015 and in view of the work being done by the commission with their help, Delhi government transferred 181 helpline programmes to them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Sikh leaders are making efforts to establish their first place of worship in Geelong in Australia's Victoria state by converting a historic former church building into a gurudwara. An application has been lodged before the City of Greater Geelong to convert a former South Geelong Uniting Church building into a Sikh gurudwara to host daily prayers and weekly gatherings, Geelong Advertiser newspaper reported. Applicant Prabhjot Singh Dhaliwal said Sikhs who had been living in Geelong for up to 20 years didn't currently have their own local base and community members have to go to Melbourne for worship and social gathering. The Moorabool/Fyans St site, which included the church and the UnitingCare headquarters, was sold in 2013 for an estimated 4.5 million dollars as the Uniting Church offloaded several assets. The property was sold to help ease debt linked to the costly closure of Acacia College in Melbourne, with the church holding its last service in April 2014. Under the new plan, the gurudwara would be established in the church's old Sunday school building, which is accessed from Balliang St, the paper said. Hours of operation would be from 7 AM to 9 PM Monday to Saturday, and 9 AM to 9 PM on Sunday. The weekly gatherings would be held on Sundays. "All the activities will be held indoors," the application reads. "No alcohol and smoking will be permitted within the premises at any time." A council decision is not expected to be made before February 8. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Secretary Rajeev Kapoor today called upon state governments to prepare a conducive policy regime for the sector. Speaking at the concluding session of National Review Meeting with state government officials, he emphasised on the need to comply with Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPOs). He also urged upon states to view renewable power in the backdrop of India's commitment of raising 40 per cent of electric installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030. The Secretary urged upon the states to formulate and modify their policies and prepare a conducive policy regime for renewable energy, an official statement said after conclusion of the two-day review meeting. A mobile app for solar rooftop systems 'ARUN' - Atal Rooftop Solar User Navigator and Information Guide on Rooftop Systems was also launched on the occasion. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Stempeutics Research, an advanced clinical stage biotech company, today announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a process patent for its novel stem cell-based drug Stempeucel. "We have received European Process Patent for our novel stem cell drug Stempeucel. Stempeutics becomes first company in the world to be granted an EU process patent for an allogeneic stem cell drug based on pooling technology," a company statement said here. Stempeucel will initially be used for the treatment of Critical Limb Ischemia (CLI) and is a breakthrough treatment option which directly addresses the root cause of the disease, unlike other drugs which typically treat the symptoms and not the disease itself. CLI is a progressive form of peripheral arterial disease, which blocks arteries in lower extremities, resulting into reduction of blood flow. It is a debilitating disease which manifests with severe unmanageable pain in the feet or toes of patients. The technology allows more than one million clinical doses from a single set of master cell banks, which is said to be unique in regenerative medicine. Insufficient supply of blood flow results in the development of sores and wounds in legs and feet. If left untreated, patients may finally have to undergo amputation of the affected limb. Globally, the most common treatments for CLI are characterised by high rates of primary amputations, multiple procedures and high rates of procedure-related complications. In severe cases of CLI, the disease not only affects the quality of life but also increases the economic burden of patients and their family. On the EU patent, Stempeutics CEO B N Manohar said, "The patent granted by EPO is a strong recognition for Stempeutics for its sustained excellence of scientific and clinical work and underscores the global leadership on pooling technology of MSCs for allogeneic therapy. We believe that the Stempeucel product is a game-changer in offering an advanced therapeutic treatment for millions of patients suffering with this debilitating disease." The Bengaluru-based Stempeutics was founded by Manipal Education and Medical Group (MEMG) in 2006 and later entered into a strategic alliance with Cipla in 2009. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The UN envoy for Syria said today that a final declaration was close to being achieved at indirect talks between Syrian rebels and their war-torn country's regime in Kazakhstan's capital Astana. The talks, which yielded no apparent breakthrough yesterday, could have been the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, but the rebels backed out. "We are not far from a final declaration," UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said. "There are very intense discussions because this is not about a paper, this is about a cessation of hostilities which means Syrian lives." Rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi said the rebels would not sign a final declaration coming out of the talks, saying it would be issued by their sponsors, rebel backer Turkey, regime ally Russia and possibly Iran. He added the final declaration was a "general statement" that is "not meant to be signed by the parties". The rebels rejected face-to-face talks because of the regime's continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the capital Damascus. The two sides sat at the same table for the opening statements, but spent the rest of yesterday negotiating via mediators. The rebels have insisted the talks focus on bolstering a frail truce brokered by Turkey and Russia last month, while the regime has called for a political solution to the nearly six-year conflict and for rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal. Rebel spokesman Osama Abu Zeid said ceasefire violations and threats of forced displacements were hindering the negotiations, and that the rebels would focus on the truce in today's talks. In addition to having different objectives, the two sides also disagree about the role of the talks' three organisers, Russia, Turkey and Iran. A member of the rebel delegation told AFP yesterday that the group would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, another backer of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian regime, meanwhile, has said it would refuse to hold government-level talks with Turkey and sign any document bearing the signature of a Turkish official - suggesting this would include any deal to come out of the talks. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the country's second city Aleppo. More than 310,000 people have been killed and more than half of the country's population displaced since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad's rule. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) At least 11 people, including two children, were killed today in Syrian government air strikes as they fled a northern town held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters were killed in air strikes and shelling in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. The monitor said the group of 11 were fleeing the embattled IS-held town of Al-Bab, near the northern border with Turkey, when they were hit in a government air strike. The dead included at least 10 civilians, among them two children, but the identity of the 11th person killed was unclear. The strike hit the group as they reached the nearby village of Qasr al-Bureij, also under IS control, the Observatory said. Al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo has come under heavy assault in recent weeks, with Turkish, Russian and Syrian warplanes carrying out strikes in or around the town. IS is also fighting fierce battles in Deir Ezzor city, which the jihadist group has besieged since early 2015. It already controlled half the city, but has made further advances in recent days, prompting fierce fighting and heavy air strikes by both Syria and its Russian ally. The Observatory said air strikes by Syrian and Russian warplanes killed 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters, but the toll could rise further. Deir Ezzor is the capital of the oil-rich province of the same name which borders Iraq. The fighting has forced the World Food Programme to suspend air drops of aid to besieged civilians in the city, and the UN has warned food supplies could run out within weeks. More than 310,00 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests that were met with a regime crackdown. A truce brokered by Russia and rebel backer Turkey has been in place since December 30, but it excludes IS. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Leading eco friendly paints manufacturer Nippon Paints today said it is aiming at increasing its market share to 10 per cent in the decorative paint segment in the next five years from the present three per cent. The company will consolidate its position in the South and maintain it in the West and Northern State to achieve the target, President Decorative Nippon Paint, Mahesh Anand, told reporters here. Anand, who was here to introduce a new Customer-centric Select Store at nearby Tirupur, said the company was also looking at strengthening its position by reaching out to people in Tier II and III ares. Moreover, the company planned to increase the depot network to 20 from the present 14 by 2018 so that distribution becomes easier, he said. Though Nippon Paint as a brand was yet to make a dent even in the South, it was available in close to 2,000 stores out of the 45,000 plus outlets selling paints across India, he said. The company was registering an average annual growth of 15 per cent as against the national average of 10 per cent. It witnessed a four to five per cent dip in business in the last two years and the recovery would happen in another two to three months, he said Attributing the lesser growth of the decorative paint sector to decline in new painting segment and not so good economy sentiment, Anand said there was also a slight slump in the real estate market. Stating that the company has started a skill development centre for painters in Chennai, which has already trained 100 persons, he said there were also plans to start such centres here and at Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tirunelveli. On the store in Tirupur, he said the 2000-square foot revamped store offers end-to-end painting solutions from products to painting services, which would be extended to other places. The painting service would be by professionals trained at Nippon Paint Painters Training Academy, he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Dozens of people including a general arrested in Thailand's crackdown on human trafficking appeared in court today to begin presenting their defence but journalists were barred from reporting trial proceedings. The kingdom has long been a major hub for human trafficking and people-smuggling, with officials accused of turning a blind eye and even of complicity. Thailand's junta launched a belated crackdown in 2015, a move that uncovered grim camps on the Thai-Malaysia border and led to dozens of arrests. But it also led to the sudden closure of the trafficking route, leaving thousands of people -- mainly Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh -- abandoned by gangmasters on land and at sea. More than 80 suspects, including local officials and senior army general Manas Kongpan, packed into a chamber at Bangkok's main criminal court today for the opening of their defence on an array of human trafficking charges. Reporters watched proceedings on a television screen in a side room. But they were told by court officials that any reporting of what was said at the trial had been banned since the start of proceedings last year. No reason was given for the decision. Thailand's generals seized power in 2014. Secret court hearings have since become more commonplace, particularly in military tribunals and for royal defamation prosecutions. But it is rare for such restrictions to be placed on a criminal trial. The alleged involvement of senior military officers in the trade is an incendiary topic given that the ruling junta proudly shows off its anti-corruption credentials. "As a matter of basic judicial principles, trials should be public unless there is a very good reason why they're not," Sam Zarifi, Asia director for the International Commission of Jurists, told AFP. The Thai Navy has sued reporters for investigations that alleged the complicity of their officers in human trafficking. Southern Thailand has long been known as a nexus for lucrative smuggling networks used by persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, and Bangladeshi economic migrants, on their way to Malaysia. Many were held in pitiful jungle camps on the Thai-Malaysia border suffering beatings, rape and murder until relatives paid ransoms. Thailand's image has been battered in recent years by a series of human trafficking scandals -- including in its lucrative fishing and food production sectors. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) News / National by Staff reporter ZIMBABWE, remember baby Thayel Makatendeka Botsa we published in December last year while she was in urgent need to undergo liver transplant in India!The cause is still urgent.In fact, time is no longer on her side and her parents are still seeking help to save life of the minor, who is now 10 months old.Makatendeka's mother Adelaide Botsa last week told H-Metro that they have only managed to raise $2500 so far.However, they need US$50 000 to cover her medical and travel expenses after she diagnosed of Jaundice (Liver Cirrhosis and Billiary Atresia)."We only managed to raise $2500 so far out of the $50 000 needed. We are still appealing to people to help."The donations are so far coming in small denominations and some of the organisations are promising."It's now two months still we started the campaign to raise funds and I just pray that everything goes according to plan," she said.She added: "The transplant is due but funding is the challenge. She was booked on 30th of November 2016 hoping that the funds would be available but we had to cancel."It's written in Jeremiah 32 verse 17, "Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, (and) there is nothing too hard for thee." With all the Mighty power from God, we can."Thayel Makatendeka was diagnosed as having severe Jaundice after her birth and it turned out to be more serious life threatening ailment after a liver biopsy.She was diagnosed with consistent Liver Cirrhosis and Billiary Atresia, a condition that requires a liver transplant for her survival.Her father, Richard Kumbirai Botsa, has volunteered to donate part of his liver.Those willing to help baby Makatendeka can do so by depositing the money to:CABS Chipinge BranchAccount Name: Botsa Kumbirai RichardAccount Number: 9040419140.Donations can also be eco-cashed to 0774100122.The parent's contact details are 0774100122/0773726108 Police today cracked the murder of a 32-year-old poll aspirant in Nashik Road area by arresting three persons in Shirdi, but ruled out any political motive behind the crime. Surendra Shejwal alias 'Gharya', a slum-dweller, was murdered with sharp-edged weapons on January 20, creating tension in the sensitive Nashik Road area. Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sachin Gore ruled out the political motive behind the murder, which he said was the fallout of an old enmity. Shejwal was seeking ticket from Shiv Sena to contest from municipal ward number 18 for the Nashik municipal corporation polls, slated on February 21. The arrests were made on a tip-off that a car used in the crime was spotted in Shirdi in neighbouring Ahmednagar district and accused were arrested in morning. They are being investigated at Nashik Road police station. The accused are identified as Anil alias Bala Digraskar, Rambhau Chavan and Rahul Gotarane, all residents of Nashik Road. They are booked under various sections of IPC including murder. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) : Three kilos of gold worth Rs 91.98 lakh have been seized by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officials from a man allegedly smuggling it from Sri Lanka. The DRI officials acted on a tip off that gold was being smuggled from the island nation by a man posing as a passenger and detained Mohammed Ali Jinnah at suburban Pallavaram bus terminus here last evening, an official release here said. The arrest was effected there as all roads were choked following the violent protests as a fallout of the eviction of pro jallikattu protesters from various areas,an official said. Jinnah on being questioned, told DRI officials 3.097 kg gold valued at Rs 91.98 lakh was concealed in his bag.A search revealed two crude gold bars of 24 per cent carat purity. He was charged with violating the Customs Act, 1962. The release said Jinnah was subjected to detailed questioning to ascertain the nature of smuggling of gold along the Indo-Sri Lanka border through the Tamil Nadu coast. He admitted he had acted as courier on many occasions in the past to carry gold for monetary considerations. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Russia, Iran and Turkey today agreed to shore up a shaky truce in war-torn Syria, but rebels and Damascus made no breakthrough towards a political settlement of the conflict after indirect talks. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, the sponsors of the negotiations in the capital of Kazakhstan, announced they would "establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire" in place since late December. The three powers also backed the participation of the armed rebel groups at a new round of peace talks set to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and... It can only be solved through a political process," the final statement by Russia, Iran and Turkey, read out by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said. The two days of meetings in Astana -- which have left the West sidelined -- were mainly a Kremlin initiative and come as Russia has made itself the main powerbroker in Syria with its gamechanging military support for leader Bashar al-Assad. The meeting was expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, but the rebels backed out and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria that has cost 310,000 lives comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the country's second city Aleppo. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and rebel-backer Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels -- who insisted they would use the Astana talks to push Damascus to respect the truce -- refused direct talks with the regime yesterday because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. Regime negotiator Bashar al-Jafaari said after the end of the talks that the meeting "succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians." "Astana has only one goal: consolidating the regime of the cessation of hostilities," he said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Tamil Nadu Assembly today paid rich tributes to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with her successor O Panneerselvam and DMK leader MK Stalin among others heaping encomiums on the former AIADMK general secretary. In a sombre atmosphere, some ministers and MLAs were seen getting emotional and wiping tears as Panneerselvam, Stalin and others recalled the "illustrious" career of Jayalalithaa. She passed away on December 5, 2016 following a cardiac arrest preceded by 75 days of hospitalisation. Panneerselvam moved a resolution and in his introductory speech described December 5 as a "dark day for Tamil Nadu". He recalled the political career of Jayalalithaa since her debut in politics in 1983 at the behest of her mentor and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran. He hailed Jayalalithaa as "gutsy" and said she later went on to lead the party. "Amma received plaudits and appreciation from various political party leaders and their members for her oratorical skills, visionary schemes, her approach towards people and tireless hardwork," Panneerselvam said. "She was known for strong will, keen sense of governance and had "established herself in ways that even made her rivals respect and laud her," he said. The chief minister recalled her uniting AIADMK after MGR's death in 1987, adding she went on to become an "unparallelled leader". Jayalalithaa led her party to a grand victory and became chief minister for the first time in 1991, repeating the success in 2001, 2011 and 2016 Assembly polls, he added. "She was No.1 in everything, whether it be studies, dance, acting or politics, and therefore always strived to make the state numero uno in all fields," Panneerselvam said. Among others, she established Tamil Nadu's rights in inter-state water disputes while ushering in 'Brand Amma' under which a number of schemes were running, he said. The Leader of Opposition, Stalin, recalled that both he and Jayalalithaa had first entered the state Assembly in 1989. He was a ruling DMK member, while she was Opposition Leader then, Stalin said. Years later, she was once again Opposition Leader during the 2006-11 DMK regime where he was also Deputy Chief Minister, he added. It also so happened that he had become the Opposition leader when Jaya was the chief minister i.E. After the May 2016 polls, the DMK leader said. Stalin also recalled an incident last year where he was allotted seat in the 11th row for Jayalalithaa cabinet's swearing-in ceremony and when she later came to know about this, she expressed regret. "She later issued a statement saying the intention was not to insult me or DMK and had also stressed on joint working for Tamil Nadu's welfare," he said. Stalin further recalled his meeting with Jayalalithaa in 2005 when she was the Chief Minister, to present Rs 21 lakh collected by DMK towards tsunami relief. "She had then enquired about Kalaignar (Karunandihi), and wanted me to convey her thanks to him," he said. The DMK working president also recalled his visit to the Apollo Hospitals where Jaya was undergoing treatment and later leading his party in paying homage to her when her mortal remains were kept here, on the advice of his father and party chief M Karunanidhi. "Her speciality was that she was unfazed in facing things," he added. Congress member K R Ramasamy also paid tributes to the former chief minister, and expressed condolences on behalf of his party chief Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi. He recalled that Rahul Gandhi had attended Jayalalithaa's last rites. Speaker P Dhanapal also paid tributes to Jayalalithaa. The resolution moved by Panneerselvam hailed Jayalalithaa as a "great daughter of Tamil Nadu" and a mass leader who enjoyed the whole-hearted support of Tamils across the world. She led a selfless life, it said. The resolution condoled her death and expressed sympathies with the people of the state "who are grieved over her demise". The House later observed a two-minute silence in respect of Jayalalithaa before adjourning for the day. Earlier, obituary references were made to former Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala, veteran journalist Cho S Ramaswamy, carnatic musician M Balamuralikrishna and former Cuban President Fidel Castro. He may be called the King of Romance but superstar Shah Rukh Khan says he is now too old to do larger than life love stories. The 51-year-old actor has often been hailed for ushering in modern day romance with films like "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege," "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" among others and when asked if romantic films do not interest the audience anymore, Shah Rukh said the language of romance is different now. "I think the times have changed a lot in terms of the language. Romance hasn't changed. I think people have less time. I also find this whole rightly-so pushed for equality I think creates more buddy-feel between men and women," Shah Rukh said in an interview. "When you are buddies, you can't romance. There is a whole wave which I notice with youngsters, because I have kids and some young actors and actresses talk to each other very differently," he added. The actor was speaking en route Delhi in August Kranti Rajdhani train, last night. He is visiting the capital to promote his latest crime-thriller "Raees". Shah Rukh feels there has to be some tenderness and chivalry in romance which is classic old school. "Romance has to have a little formality. Whether it's 'tehzeeb,' going down on your knees, whether it is saying couplets in praise of a girl. I am from that school, I still believe in it. "I think romance has to be formal. 'Aur phir kya kar rahi hai?' It can't work like that, even if there is equality." The "Fan" actor says his forthcoming film with Imtiaz Ali will have a mix of both the world- the old world romance and the new language. "I think I am too old for a romantic film now, of that genre. May be the youngsters will have to find language which has formality but still of today. "May be in Imtiaz's film it might be there because I am playing kind of my age, 40s, the lady of course Anushka is younger than me. There is this formality because he (Ali) belongs to that world, but the language is very Imtiaz. He is very modern thinking, has a different take on romance." While the actor may say it is the buddy-feeling between youngsters today which is opposite to the old world romance, his film "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" popularised "pyaar dosti hai" to the generation of 90s. When asked about the same, he said, "It must be, I am sure, for some it works. I don't believe in everything that I do. My daughter calls me bro. I want to ask her, and everyone, do they say it to other boys also? I am not saying it's wrong, it's really cool. "But romance requires a little bit of formality, space, enjoyment. From the days of walking on the beach holding hands, to under starlit night to full moon night. All the connotation of romance need time and formality." Directed by Rahul Dholakia, "Raees" is set to release on January 25. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump must appoint a high-level envoy to South Asia to seize an opportunity missed by his predecessor to coordinate a response to the regional terrorist threat, former Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has said, criticising Barack Obama for never interacting with Pakistani leaders properly. "[Do] what [President] Obama never did - Obama never had proper interaction with any Pakistani chief executive," he said. Zardari, who met with Obama at the White House in 2011, said he was not interested in openly criticising Obama. However, his comments sounded at times like an indictment of Obama's handling of what has, for more than two decades, been one of Washington's most vexing and complex foreign relationships, Washington Times said. Tensions between the US and Pakistan soared to new heights during Obama's tenure during which US Special Forces conducted a raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Zardari said what is needed today is a US president who can breathe new life into the relationship by realising that the wars against extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan are the same - and are no different from those being waged against the Islamic State and al Qaeda-aligned groups from Syria and Iraq to Yemen and Libya, the paper said. "We're losing the battle of minds against extremists in Afghanistan, we've lost it in Pakistan, we've lost it in Syria, we've lost it in Yemen, we've lost it in Iraq, we've lost it Libya, we've lost it everywhere," the 61-year-old former president was quoted as saying by the paper. "I would humbly request the new president of America to sit back and interact with world leaders - present and past leaders and regional leaders - and think forward toward a policy which is doable," he said. "That would entail, basically, confidence-building between the different countries in the region and meaningful actions" toward defeating the extremist mindset. Trump should appoint an envoy like Richard C Holbrooke early in his term and not allow Washington partisanship to influence the move, Zardari said. The former Pakistani president suggested that a good pick might be Anne W Patterson, a career Foreign Service officer and a former ambassador to Pakistan and Egypt. "With the world being as it is, with the mindset of terrorism as the new war in the world," he said, "the least [the US] can do is sit down with us and have a long, drawn-out strategy, which we can work on together to fight this mindset." Zardari, the only elected Pakistani president ever to have completed a full term in office, said that Trump's critics should not dismiss him out of hand but rather give him a chance to make his mark in the region, beset by conflicts in Afghanistan, jihadi terrorist movements and the increasingly tense India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir. "Wait for the first 90 days at least, and then we see how the cookie crumbles, or talks and walks. " Zardari, co-chairman of the left-leaning Pakistan People's Party, was in Washington to participate in Trump's inaugural festivities. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President Donald Trump has picked Ajit Vardaraj Pai, an outspoken opponent of new net neutrality, to head the crucial Federal Communications Commission, making him the fourth Indian-American in the administration at the senior level. "I am deeply grateful to the President of the United States for designating me the 34th Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission," Pai said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the new Administration, my colleagues at the Commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans," the 44-year-old said. Congratulating Pai on being named Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, its Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said he is bright, driven and committed to bringing connectivity to all Americans. "I am hopeful that we can come together to serve the public interest by supporting competition, public safety, and consumer protection," Clyburn said. Republican Senator Jerry Moran said Pai is an excellent choice to lead the FCC. "I know him to be a capable and talented leader and one of the smartest people I have ever met when it comes to public policy," he said. "Ajit understands the importance of quality access to broadband and wireless connectivity, and I believe growing up in Kansas makes him uniquely qualified to advocate for rural America. I look forward to continuing to work with him to make certainwe can improve connectivity and bring critical updates not only to our homes and businesses but also to our hospitals and schools," he added. "Commissioner Pai's expertise on the issues has been well documentedand we're looking forward to working with him to advance conservative, thoughtful solutions at the FCC," said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn in a joint statement. Republican Congressman Tom Graves said Pai has the type of experience and no-nonsense attitude that will help reset the FCC's relationship with Congress. "Further, I am confident that he will work on a nonpartisan basis to stop harmful regulations, develop lawful and Constitutional solutions to 21st Century problems, and protect the American people's access to information while allowing the industries under his purview to grow and prosper," he said. Pai is the fourth Indian-American to become part of Trump's administration, following Nikki Haley, nominated US ambassador to UN, Seema Verma, head of medicare and medicaid and Preet Bharara, US attorney for the southern District of New York. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the US government to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. (Reopens FGN 10) Pai's deep knowledge and experience at the commission makes him the right person to begin undoing the damage of the previous administration and rolling back the harmful, partisan regulations that choke investment and innovation in the communications sector, said Congressman Ron Johnson. However, Democratic Senator Edward Markey said that he will oppose Pai as FCC head. "We need an FCC that protects consumers, promotes competition, and spurs innovation,"he said. "I will vigorously oppose any efforts by leadership at the FCC to undo net neutrality and broadband privacy rules, undermine E-Rate, or roll back any fundamental consumer protections," Markey said. Pai, a Republican, was nominated by the previous US President Barack Obama, as a FCC Commissioner and was confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate on May 7, 2012. Pai's regulatory philosophy is informed by a few simple principles. Rules that reflect these principles will result in more innovation, more investment, better products and services, lower prices, more job creation, and faster economic growth. He believes that consumers benefit most from competition, not preemptive regulation. Free markets have delivered more value to American consumers than highly regulated ones. He believes that no regulatory system should indulge arbitrage, regulators should be skeptical of pleas to regulate rivals, dispense favours, or otherwise afford special treatment. Pai believes that particularly given how rapidly the communications sector is changing, the FCC should do everything it can to ensure that its rules reflect the realities of the current marketplace and basic principles of economics. Pai was born in the US after his parents moved from India to the US in 1971. His mother grew up in Bangalore, and father was raised in Hyderabad. The national security team picks of the new US President Donald Trump are quite strong, former Defence Secretary Robert Gates today said and emphasised that the new administration would have to come out with initiatives to reach out to Asian countries. "I think that his picks for the national security team are really quite strong. (James) Mattis at (Department of) Defence and John Kelly at Homeland Security both worked for me and I have the highest regard for them," Gates told MSNBC. Gates also praised Rex Tillerson, former Exxon CEO, for the position of Secretary of State. "I was one of the introducers at his hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee and I addressed this directly," he said, responding to a question on Tillerson's relationship with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I think that because he was a successful businessman in negotiating with the Russians, who better to negotiate with Vladimir Putin and the Russians than somebody who actually knows who they are, knows how they negotiate, knows how they do business. As I said at the time, I think Rex Tillerson's only goal is going to be to do what's in the best interest of the US," Gates said. On the new CIA Director, Gates said it is really Mike Pompeo's challenge to figure out how to convince the President that CIA is an important asset for him and for him to figure out how the agency can best support Trump in the way that is congenial to the way he makes decisions. "Every President deals with intelligence briefings and with the intelligence community in a different way and some have taken personal briefings. When President Carter was in office he never saw a CIA briefing. Zbigniew Brzezinski, the national security advisor, took the President's daily brief in to him every day," he said. On Trump abandoning Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), he said the administration needs to have some kind of initiatives to reach out to them. "I think the administration is going to have to come up with some initiatives to reach out to Asian countries to try and establish if not a multilateral relationship, a bilateral relationship, economically and so on," he said. "That the disappearance of TPP creates a vacuum and the Chinese are going to fill that vacuum in Asia unless we come up with some ideas on how to replace it with something that may be bilateral but that demonstrates we are still out there, we're still engaged, and the area is very important to us economically," Gates said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the has White House said. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for today. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. US President Donald Trump has warned business leaders that he would slap a "substantial border tax" on American firms that set up manufacturing bases abroad while offering to "massively" cut down regulations and taxes to encourage companies to produce products domestically. During a breakfast meeting with America's top 12 business leaders in the White House on his first full day in office yesterday, Trump said a "wave" of manufacturing is now headed back to the US and warned the CEOs of consequences if they shift jobs abroad. "There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here. So we've seen it. It's gonna be wave. You watch, it's gonna be a wave. I've always said, by the time you put them in these massive ships or airplanes and fly them I think it's gonna be cheaper," Trump said. "A company that wants to fire all of its people in the US and build some factory someplace else and then thinks that that product is gonna just flow across the border into the US, that's not gonna happen. They're gonna have a tax to pay, a substantial border tax," said the new President. "Some people would say that's not free trade, but we don't have free trade now because we're the only one that makes it easy to come into the country. If you look at China, if you look at many other countries...Many other countries, they can't believe what we do. "So we take in things free, and yet, if you wanna take a plant or you wanna do something, you wanna sell something into China and other countries, it's very, very hard," he said, arguing that massive free-trade agreements have disadvantaged American workers. "In some cases, it's impossible. They won't even take your product. But when they do take your product, they charge a lot of tax. So I don't call that free trade. What we want is fair trade, fair trade. We are gonna treat countries fairly, but they have to treat us fairly," Trump said told the business leaders, including Michael S Dell of Dell Technologies, Mark Fields of Ford Motor Company, Elon R Musk of SpaceX and Tesla Motors. "If they're gonna charge tax to our countries -- if as an example, we sell a car into Japan and they do things to us that make it impossible to sell cars in Japan, and yet, they sell cars into us and they come in like by the hundreds of thousands on the biggest ships I've ever seen, we have to all talk about that. It's not fair, it's not fair," Trump said. Promising the business leaders that he will not impose any new tax, Trump said: "All you have to do is stay. Don't leave, don't fire your people in the US, we have the greatest people." He promised that he would cut taxes "massively" and slash regulations by 75 per cent or more. "What we're doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, and that's massively. We're trying to get it down to anywhere from 15 to 20 per cent, and it's now 35 per cent but it's probably more 38 per cent than it is 35, wouldn't you say? That's a big thing," he said. "A bigger thing, and that surprised me, is the fact that we're gonna be cutting regulation massively. Now, we're gonna have regulation and it'll be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now," he added. Trump said the problem with the regulation is that it puts a lot of hurdles for companies and businesses. "When somebody wants to put up a factory, it's gonna be expedited," Trump said. "You have to go through the process, but it's gonna be expedited and we're gonna take care of the environment, we're gonna take care of safety and all of the other things we have to take care of, but you're gonna get such great service," he said. "There will be no country that's going to be faster, better, more fair and at the same time protecting the people of the country, whether it's safety or so many other...," he said. The Vice President Mike Pence was also present at the meeting along with other senior officials. News / National by Stephen Jakes An MDC-T senior official Tapiwa Mashakada has said the state of the roads in Zimbabwe's cities must be declared a national disaster."The state of Zimbabwe's roads in urban and rural areas must be declared a State of National Disaster. Budget votes will have to be viramented towards roads rehabilitation and I think the arrangement in the 1980s where we used to have the Ministry of Roads under George Silundika must be reintroduced," he said."Where is the District Development Fund (DDF)? The brawl between Zinara and urban councils over funds does not help the situation. In my own views, roads must never be the business of local authorities. The state must take over the maintenance of all roads with immediate effect."He said the private sector must help partner urban councils to repair the road network."It is also instructive to know that the collapse of the rail system has put pressure on our roads as heavy cargo is now hauled by road. By-laws are no longer be adhered to as heavy traffic now passes through city centres and surburban areas. The rains have triggered a road network crisis in Zimbabwe and its now a national disaster," said Mashakada.Government however has declared Harare State of roads as the State of Disaster after assessment which discovered that the roads were in a bad state. Two foreign militants of Lashkar- e-Toiba (LeT) were killed in an encounter with security forces in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir today, officials said here. Security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in the wee hours in Hadoora area of Ganderbal district, 25 km from here, following information about presence of militants in the area, an army official said. He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, the latter opened fire on the troops who retaliated. "In the ensuing gun battle, two militants were killed," he said. The official said the slain militants have been identified as Abu Anas and Abu Ali, both foreigners, who were associated with the Lashkar outfit. The official said two AK assault rifles, ammunition and hand grenade were recovered from the possession of the slain militants. "It (killing of militants) is a good success for the security forces especially as it comes ahead of the January 26 (Republic Day)," he said. The official said the security forces followed the standard operating procedure while dealing with the militants to ensure that the civilians and their property did not suffer any damage during the operation. This is second major encounter in Kashmir this year. Security forces killed three local militants in an encounter in Pahalgam area of south Kashmir on January 16. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "very carefully" listened to what was said by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who discussed the Kashmir issue with him during a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "I think the Secretary-General listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister of Pakistan said. The Prime Minister presented the Secretary-General with a number of information. And I will leave it at that," Secretary General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing when asked about the Secretary-General's response to Sharif asking for India to hold talks with Pakistan. Sharif last week raked up the Kashmir issue in his first meeting with the new UN Secretary General but got no positive response to his request for the world body's intervention on the issue. Sharif met Guterres on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos and said Kashmir needed attention of the UN, according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad. "A sustained dialogue process on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir is essential to make progress. It was in this spirit that we invited India for discussions on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and aspirations of the Kashmiri people," Sharif had told the UN chief. Sharif had said Pakistan looks forward to Guterres's leadership and good offices and the United Nations has longstanding responsibility to play a role in the resolution of these issues. Guterres gave no positive response to Sharif's demand. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Comparisons between Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra started as soon as the actresses signed their Hollywood projects, but the "Piku" star says it is "unfair" as they both are following a different path. Priyanka, 34, made her international debut with "Quantico" in 2015, while the 31-year-old actress debuted in Hollywood with her recently released "xXx: Return of Xander Cage". During an interview with USA Today, Deepika finally broke silence over being compared with her "Bajirao Mastani" co-star. "It's not fair to make comparisons. Let me just say everyone has a different path and journey," she said. Even Priyanka, who was recently on filmmaker Karan Johar's chat show, said "It's so nice for me to see that Deepika is doing 'xXx...'and whatever else she does in the future or Sonam (Kapoor) or so many other actors, who want to come to America I hope they are starting out." Sonam has also signed up with United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the Hollywood's premier talent agencies. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) US President tonight spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn-in as the 45th President of America. President Trump had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Modi, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said. Modi is the fifth foreign leader Trump have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Monday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then-Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact, I would take the term better out and we would be a best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the White House said, four days after he was sworn-in as the 45th President of America. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for today. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released USD 221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated January 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. In addition to the USD 221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another USD 6 million in foreign affairs spending, including USD 4 million for climate change programs and USD 1.25 million for UN organisations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the State Department official weren't authorised to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers - Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee - had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organisations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the US Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress. The last-minute allocation also contained USD 1.05 million in funding for the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan office and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month. He has also pledged to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer yeterday said a final decision on that had yet to be made. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Jackie Chan was in the city to promote his upcoming action-adventure film "Kung Fu Yoga" and the action star met Bollywood superstar Salman Khan during his visit. The 51-year-old actor took to social media to share a picture with Chan in which they can be seen holding two stuffed panda toys with a tag "UNICEF: For every child." The 62-year-old martial art expert, who is a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, had arrived in India on January 23 for the promotion of the Stanley Tong-directed film. Earlier, Salman had tweeted the official trailer of the film where he thanked Chan for providing an opportunity to his "Dabangg" co-star, Sonu Sood. "Thank you @EyeOfJackieChan for giving this film to my Chedi Singh @SonuSood. This is the coolest," wrote the actor. The movie, starring Disha Patni and Amyra Dastur, alongside Jackie and Sonu, is slated to release on February 3 in India. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) The Trump administration has opened the door to cooperating with Russia "or anyone else" to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, suggesting it could reverse a previous refusal to coordinate military action with Moscow as long as it backs the Syrian government. "I think if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Asked if the openness extended to working with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been condemned internationally for killing civilians, Spicer said, "We're not going to get together with people under the guise of defeating ISIS if that's not truly their guise." He added, "So let's not take that too far." Spicer also suggested that Trump already has told Defense Secretary James Mattis to review how he might change the US approach to fighting the Islamic State. "I think he has ordered it," Spicer said, adding that Trump would discuss the matter with Mattis during a visit to the Pentagon Friday. "At that time, he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs," he added, referring to the military service chiefs. During the more than two years that President Barack Obama directed US military action against IS in Syria, he resisted Russian overtures to coordinate military action. Obama believed Moscow was acting counter to US interests by propping up Assad, whose government Obama called illegitimate. The Pentagon has maintained a hotline with the Russian military to deal with the narrower issue of avoiding air accidents in Syria. With Trump in the White House, Moscow seems eager to draw the new administration into closer military cooperation, perhaps reflecting Trump's frequent statements during the presidential campaign that he welcomed opportunities to improve relations with Moscow. On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the U.S. Had provided targeting information for a joint airstrike against Islamic State fighters in Syria. But Pentagon officials flatly denied the Russian assertion. US Air Force Col. John Dorrian, chief spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, called the Russian statement "rubbish." At the Pentagon, a spokesman, Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, said the U.S. Military is not providing targeting information to the Russians or coordinating air operations with them. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Israel announced plans today to build 2,500 more settler homes on the West Bank, moving to step up construction just days after the swearing-in of Donald Trump brought to power a US administration seen as friendly to the settlement movement. "We are building and we will continue to build," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. The Trump White House had no immediate comment. Its response could set the tone for the next four years of Mideast diplomacy. While Trump has signaled that he will be far more tolerant of Israeli settlement construction than his predecessors, he also has expressed a desire to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, and siding closely with Israel on such a contentious matter could hurt US credibility. Netanyahu repeatedly clashed with President Barack Obama over settlement construction. Obama, like the rest of the international community, considered the building of settlements on occupied lands claimed by the Palestinians to be an obstacle to peace. Those tensions boiled over last month when the Obama White House allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the settlements as illegal. Trump harshly criticised Obama for going against Israel and promised a new approach after taking office, raising hopes inside Israel's nationalist government for a new era in relations. Trump has already invited Netanyahu to visit the White House next month, and both men, after speaking on the phone Sunday, promised close coordination on a range of sensitive matters. Netanyahu's office would not say whether he had consulted with the White House before today's announcement, but just a day earlier, the prime minister told a meeting of his Likud Party that there should be no surprises for the new president. The construction plans were announced by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said in a statement that he and Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs." He said most of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs," densely populated areas where most settlers already live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A woman was critically injured after she was allegedly thrown out of a running train by unidentified miscreants near Haroa station in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the GRP said today. The incident occurred around 10.30 pm last night when the 35-year-old woman, who works as an ayah, was on her way to Sealdah station from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas by the last train. She was spotted this morning lying near the railway track by the locals who rushed her to Barasat Government Hospital. Hospital sources said she was critically injured in her head and leg. The woman, the mother of two, was travelling alone and it was yet to be ascertained what prompted the miscreants to throw her out of the moving train, the Government Railway Police said. The woman, a resident of Joynagar in South 24 Parganas district, had been away from home since Sunday. She has a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter. Investigation into the case was on, the GRP said. (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) News / Press Release by Luke Tamborinyoka President Morgan Tsvangirai today met opinion leaders in Binga, Matabeleland North province where the community here expressed concern over their underdeveloped area, among other concerns.They gave thumbs up to the proposed alliance of opposition parties, expressing hope that the new government will deal with the interests and concerns of ethnic minorities such as the Tonga people.They had grievances over the lack of proper schools and hospitals, blaming Mugabe and Zanu PF of pursuing exclusive policies that sidelined other people and groups.The community leaders had issues with the stringent fishery regulations that failed to take into account the fact that their lives revolve around fishing in the Zambezi.They said they had hope in the 2018 election and that the coalition of opposition parties would overthrow the Zanu PF culture of exclusion.President Tsvangirai assured the Tonga community that the new government would take seriously their concerns and usher in a new governance culture in full compliance with the Constitution.President Tsvangirai is on a tour of all the country's provinces, listening to the concerns of the people and allowing them to input into the sculpting of the governance architecture of the new government of 2018.The Tonga community welcomed the alliance of opposition parties and the creation of a common front in 2018, saying it gave them hope that this time around, Zanu PF would be consigned to the dustbins of history.In the next two days, President Tsvangirai will engage opinion and party leaders in Lupane and Hwange.Luke TamborinyokaPresidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications A charitable foundation backed by and his wife has said it has bought a Canadian artificial intelligence start-up as part of a mission to eradicate disease. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Toronto-based Meta, which uses AI to quickly read and comprehend scientific papers and then provide insights to researchers. Meta capabilities will be unified in a tool made available for free to scientists. "We are very excited about what lies ahead," Meta co-founder and chief executive Sam Molyneux said in a statement. Zuckerberg and his doctor wife, Priscilla Chan in September pledged $3 billion over the next decade to help banish or manage all disease, pouring some of the Facebook founder's fortune into innovative research. "This is a big goal," Zuckerberg said at a San Francisco event announcing the effort of the philanthropic entity established by the couple in 2015. "But we spent the last few years speaking with experts who think it is possible, so we dug in." In the field of biomedicine alone, thousands of research papers are published daily, initiative science president Cori Bargmann and chief technology officer Brian Pinkerton said in a post on the charity's Facebook page. Meta artificial intelligence can analyse insights across millions of papers, finding connections and patterns at scales and speeds impossible for humans to match unassisted, according to Bargmann and Pinkerton. "Meta will help scientists learn from others' discoveries in real time, find key papers that may have gone unnoticed, or even predict where their field is headed," Bargmann and Pinkerton said. "The potential for this kind of platform is virtually limitless." Zuckerberg said last month that he built an artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler" -- named Jarvis -- that even plays with his family. The Facebook chief took on the personal project last year, devoting about 100 hours to making a system inspired by "Iron Man" film character Jarvis as a virtual assistant to help manage his household. Jarvis is not a physical robot, but an application Zuckerberg can access through his phone or computer to control lights, temperature, music, security, appliances and more. US President pushed the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Tuesday to increase production in the United States and boost American employment. Trump opened a meeting with GM Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne at the White House by saying he wants to see new auto plants built in the United States. The new Republican president vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. He promised frequently during his election campaign to be a job-creating president and stressed that message in his inaugural speech last Friday. "We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants - many other plants," he told reporters at the start of the meeting with auto executives. "It's happening." The meeting was the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a US president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American." Marchionne told reporters after the meeting that Trump did not give them specifics on what regulations he would cut. GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler have all announced recent new jobs and investments in the United States, but are still investing in Mexico. Fields said automakers wanted to work with Trump to create a "renaissance in American manufacturing." "We're very encouraged by the president and the economic policies that he's forwarding," Fields told reporters, praising Trump's decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which Fields said did not address intervention in currency valuations by trading partners. "As an industry we're excited about working together with the president," he said. Barra said there was a "huge opportunity" to work together with the government to "improve the environment, improve safety and improve the jobs creation." Trump has criticised automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles. GM said in 2014 it would invest $5 billion in Mexico through 2018, a move that would allow it to double its production capacity, and Barra has said the automaker is not reconsidering the plan. Earlier this month, Ford scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and said it would instead invest $700 million in a factory in Michigan. Ford will still move production of Focus small cars to Mexico from Michigan, but will cut total production of the cars by consolidating their assembly in an existing Mexican plant. US automakers have been reluctant to open new US auto plants in recent years, but they have expanded operations at existing US plants. GM and Ford last built new US assembly plants in 2004, while Fiat Chrysler opened a new transmission plant in Indiana in 2014. Flattening Auto Sales With flattening US auto sales and some excess capacity, US automakers may be reluctant to agree to open new plants, which likely would not come online for several years. Tuesday's meeting included the former Republican governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt, who heads a US automaker trade association. Vice President Mike Pence, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and other senior administration officials also attended the meeting. Auto stocks rose on the meeting. US-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler rose 6.3 per cent to $10.93, up 0.65, while Ford was up 1.6 per cent and GM rose 1.3 per cent. Tuesday's gathering was the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers have met jointly with a US president since a 2011 session with Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025. Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler. Automakers have urged the Trump administration to rethink those aggressive fuel efficiency mandates. Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson said in a note Tuesday that he thinks "automakers will be willing to make a deal that would bring back jobs to the US (whether by voluntary commitments or tariffs or border taxes is less clear) in return for a slower ramp of (fuel efficiency) targets and related state-level mandates. US and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump's comments. Trump, a New York businessman, often singled out Ford's Mexico investments for criticism during his election campaign. While automakers are adding US jobs they are also cutting US small car production. On Monday, GM ended two shifts of production of small cars in Ohio and Michigan, cutting about 2,000 jobs. Social networking sites like WhatsApp, Facebook, et al, have become a breeding ground for phishing activities and spreading malicious links. According to a report published in India Today, swindlers are cashing in on Digital India drive by creating fake mobile recharge and government websites carrying name and picture of Modi and circulating the malicious link on social media platforms. Ahead of what is expected to be a populist Union Budget, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) committee, which submitted its report to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday, is said to have provided only small wiggle room to the government to boost spending. Opinion / Since the arrival of the shona hooligans in the Matebele soil in Bubi there hasn't been rest. All the way from Shurugwi the undisciplined illegal miners arrived accompanied by machetes,knifes & swords with the help of ZRP and Army.They came following the nationally known gold claims which are under John Muer. From their arrival it is estimated that they have caused more than 20 murders most of these could not be clarified as they throw the deceased in the deep shafts that are known as impisi or empisini.They go down underground and harass other residents of Bubi and take their ore by force as there is one way to survive their wrath. It is either you are forced to flee or you surrender without a fight.They have underestimated the Mthwakazi people such that they have brought the fight from the mines to their door steps, this is witnessed by the merciless attack they unleashed in the middle of the inyathi business centre famously known as KoMahamba at Senco night club.This left more than 15 casualties with the on-leave soldier Martin Khabo left fighting for his life at Mpilo hospital. Arrests were said to be made but this leaves untrust in the community as to how genuine the arrests were? Lest we forget the police is also part of these bloody dirty war mongery activities. A few days ago a few police officers of the ZRP where arrested as they were found in the act of looting the gold from these controversial claims.This disregard for the locals existence by the Shurugwi hooligans saw a deadly attack on the Shurugwis at Badala just a few days after their attack at Mahamba.They arrived at Tshux drinking spot carrying machetes as they usually do but alas the day was not theirs the locals attacked the Shurugwi hooligans and left one for dead. "We will resort to mob justice if the relevant authorities are failing to contain these people " one of the villagers said.And for these past few days 15 of these Shona people raped a lady who they had offered a lift from Durban mine where they have gained dominance and supremacy.They all raped her and left her also fighting for her life at impilo hospital. As if that was not enough they also a few days back attacked a caretaker at queens area and cut off her private parts.In Matabeleland we have three army barracks but they are failing to dispatch just one troop to deal with these people.To any one that have seen these events unfold they will tell you that this is just an continuation of the genocide atrocities that the Shona people once unleashed on the mthwakazi people.This leaves the community perplexed as to what the leadership is planning about this whole series of events? All they do is, deny and this has left the writing clear on the wall that the Mthwakazi people are not regarded as anything in this land.Up to date raids and attacks still continue to rob people of their belongings and they remain untouched, what is the fate of the Bubi people under the circumstances?We understand that police officers are also going around intimidating locals. That must stop.This is a true report of what is happening in Bubi District and specifically Nyathi mining area as reported by Mlamleli Ngwenya MRP Youth district chairperson for Bubi district. India has put its foot down on a proposal made by the European Union and Canada about a global investment pact with an investor-to-state dispute settlement provision to be incorporated in the WTO agreement. The issue was discussed at an informal meeting of key WTO members, including India, China, Brazil, Japan and Australia at Davos last week. ``We rejected it completely. We want anything to do with investments to be a bilateral thing... We do not believe in making investments a subject of multilateral disputes,'' Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters here. The minister said she is not in favour of the contentious investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms, which is part of a bilateral agreement between the European Union (EU) and Canada. Under ISDS, corporates can take sovereign governments to international arbitration for resolution of disputes. Both these countries want other WTO members to agree to this mechanism and the template to resolve investor disputes at the multi-lateral level. ... there is no way, we will have investment treaty in which companies can take the sovereign or even the regional governments to court, the minister said. We want that anything with regard to investments should be settled by domestic laws and courts and only after that an appeal can be made outside, she explained. Sitharaman said other WTO member countries, including Argentina and Brazil, too did not support the move. So at this stage, to have this template for a multi-lateral approach to investment may be immature, she said. However, the minister added that India put its view informally as this was an informal discussion of WTO member countries. On WTO issues, she said the countries discussed the forthcoming ministerial conference in Argentina in December. ``We reinforce that the Bali and Nairobi issues be fulfilled, she said, adding that WTO DG Roberto Azevedo admitted that although Nairobi meeting was successful, the process was not right. India, Sitharaman said, wants resolution on providing safeguards to poor farmers and permanent solution for public stock holding purposes. India asked the members for detailed discussions on these issues among the groups before they meet in Paris in June. On its proposal on trade facilitation agreement on services, Sitharaman said India will submit a proposal soon. Many people said it is a low-hanging fruit which can be harvested, she said. Sitharaman said that during a bilateral discussion with the EU, the bloc indicated that it will hold negotiations for the comprehensive free trade agreement only after concluding the new bilateral investment treaty with India. ``I went to check up with the EU Trade Commissioner as to when the talks could start. They are keen to get the investment agreement negotiated, she said. Last year, India had asked all countries with which India has investment protection agreements, including the EU, to renegotiate those pacts on the basis of the new model draft text of BIT. There is no record available of the fake currency which has been detected in the demonetised notes deposited in banks, Reserve Bank of India has said. Responding to an RTI inquiry from Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali seeking to know the extent of fake currency found in demonetised notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 deposited in banks till December 10, 2016, the RBI has said no information is available with it. Earlier, RBI had refused to disclose information about consultation undertaken before the demonetisation move was announced by the Prime Minister on November 8. Even Prime Minister's Office had refused to disclose if Chief Economic Advisor and Finance Minister were consulted before the decision was announced. US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight over phone, the White House has said. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for today. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 PM Washington DC time, which is 11:30 PM IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. ALSO READ: Trump signs order withdrawing US from Trans-Pacific trade deal At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. The world could see its first trillionaire in the next 25 years, and it is not difficult to guess that it could be Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. According to a recent Oxfam report, the richest are accumulating wealth at such an astonishing rate that the world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years. In the report titled 'An economy for the 99 percent', Oxfam claims broken economies are funnelling wealth to a rich elite at the expense of the poorest in society, the majority of whom are women. The richest are accumulating wealth at such an astonishing rate that the world could see its first trillionaire in just 25 years. According to the report, when Bill Gates left Microsoft in 2006, he had net wealth of $50 billion. A decade later this had increased to $75 billion, despite his commendable attempts to give it away through his Foundation. The fortune of Bill Gates has risen 50% or $25 billion since he left Microsoft in 2006. "It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of so few when 1 in 10 people survive on less than $2 a day. Inequality is trapping hundreds of millions in poverty; it is fracturing our societies and undermining democracy," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam International. The report also claimed that eight richest men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of humanity. The eight men include Bill Gates, Amancio Ortega, Warren Buffett, Carlos Slim Helu, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison and Michael Bloomberg. Global financial services company UBS has estimated that in the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over $2.1 trillion to their heirs - a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people. US President Donald Trump addressed business and trade issues on Monday. Highlights of the day follow: TRADE Trump formally withdraws the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, distancing America from Asian allies as China's influence in the region rises. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto says his country will aim to keep tariff-free commerce with North American Free Trade Agreement partners Canada and the United States in its talks with the Trump administration. Canada has a "very special status" and is unlikely to be hit hard by changes the United States wants to make to the NAFTA trade accord, the head of a business advisory council to Trump says. BUSINESS Trump meets with a dozen prominent US manufacturers, promising to cut regulations and corporate taxes but warning them of penalties if they move production outside the country. Trump meets at the White House with leaders of construction, carpenters, plumbers and sheet metal unions, the administration says. Trump will have breakfast on Tuesday with the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV as he pressures automakers to boost American employment. CABINET The US Senate confirms Representative Mike Pompeo as Trump's CIA director. Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corp Chairman Rex Tillerson, narrowly wins approval from a Senate committee and is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate. The White House says national security adviser Michael Flynn held just two phone calls with Russia's ambassador to Washington, amid reports that Flynn's communications are being scrutinized by U.S. counterintelligence agents. FOREIGN RELATIONS The Trump administration vows to prevent China from taking territory in international waters in the South China Sea, something Chinese media has said would require Washington to "wage war." Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed terrorism and extremism in a call with Trump, and Trump applauded Egypt's efforts on those fronts, Sisi's office says. ALSO READ: Trump signs order withdrawing US from Trans-Pacific trade deal SUPREME COURT A White House spokesman says Trump will announce a nominee in the next couple of weeks to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. HEALTHCARE Two Republican senators say U.S. states should be allowed to stay in the Obamacare medical insurance program if they like. LAWSUIT Trump dismisses allegations in a new lawsuit accusing him of violating the U.S. Constitution by letting his hotels and other businesses accept payments from foreign governments. President Donald Trump's press secretary promised reporters on Monday that he would never lie after a weekend briefing in which he made statements about the crowd size for Trump's inauguration that were debunked. In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the "alternative facts" briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump's crowd was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period." Photographs showed the crowds at Trump's swearing-in on Friday were smaller than Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration in 2009. Spicer's statement drew further criticism after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Sunday the White House had wanted to "put alternative facts out there" to counter what she said was a biased media. At his first formal White House briefing on Monday, Spicer was asked by a reporter if he intended to always tell the truth from the lectern. "Our intention is never to lie to you," he replied. Spicer defended his right to give the administration's point of view. He said he had been including television and online viewers in his remarks on Saturday about the size of the inauguration crowd. He told reporters that Trump and his advisers had been frustrated by "demoralizing" coverage that he called a "constant attempt to undermine his credibility." "I want to have a healthy relationship with the press," Spicer said. Spicer answered questions on a wide range of policy issues, with a focus on trade policy. He did not take questions from reporters on Saturday. "That moves it away from the acrimonious session on Saturday," said Martha Kumar, a political scientist and emeritus professor at Towson University in Maryland who studies the relationship between the White House and its press corps. Spicer took questions from 43 reporters - more than twice the average, Kumar said in an interview. He also said he would start taking questions from four "Skype seats" later this week to allow news organizations outside of Washington to participate. In a huge setback for British Prime Minister Theresa May that could delay her Brexit plans, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that she cannot trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union (EU) unilaterally and must seek Parliament's consent over it. The judgement means the British Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to officially begin Brexit negotiations with the EU until Britain s MPs and peers give their backing. The government had argued that it already had the executive powers to trigger Article 50 but Supreme Court judges rejected the case by a majority of eight to three. Reading out the ruling, Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." The official judgement in the case concludes: "The change in the law required to implement the referendum s outcome must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by legislation." In a joint judgment of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union." The government had lost a High Court case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners last November, leading to the landmark appeal in the Supreme Court heard by all 11 justices of Britain s highest court. The hearing also included arguments from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as interested parties in the case. The Supreme Court, however, ruled that the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say in the formal Brexit process. Gina Miller, the lead campaigner in the case, said: "Brexit is the biggest decision for a generation. But this case was about process, not politics. "Only Parliament can grant right to the British people and only parliament can take them away. No prime minister, no government, can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Parliament alone is sovereign." UK Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but would "comply" and do "all that is necessary" to implement the court's judgement. Downing Street stressed that the ruling will not derail May's timetable to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that," a Downing Street spokesperson said. "It s important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. We respect the Supreme Court's decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly," the spokesperson added. UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons. Downing Street has been preparing for the result for weeks and is understood to have drafted a short bill to seek parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. As a result of the ongoing tariff war, Vodafone prepaid consumers benefited heavily with offers that gave them four times more data for the same price. Post-paid customers are not left ignored. The company's Red post-paid connection will get free unlimited voice-calling, data and more for a new revamped rental scheme. The offers start at Rs 499 with the users getting unlimited calling facility, free national roaming, and 100 local national SMS and3 GB data users with 4G smartphones and 1 GB for non-4G smartphones. At the price of Rs 699 the user will get 5GB data for 4G smartphone users and 2.5GB data for non-4G smartphone along with the other benefits. The offers go on till Rs 1999 which will give the user 24GB data for 4G smartphones and 20 GB data for non-4G smartphones. The company put out a notice saying the prices may vary in accordance to circle. Currently, the plan in available only in a few states namely, Madhya Pradesh & Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Bihar & Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh. The tariff war began with Jio's entry in the telecom sector which transformed the entire game of industry giants like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea in the country. Jio further expanded its free offers till March 2017, which has propelled these companies to release new offers on a regular basis. The first annual "Write @ the Logan Library" conference takes place Saturday. Jan. 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Logan Library (255 N. Main Street). Throughout his ten years of employment at the Logan Library, Jason Cornelius, adult fiction librarian, has wanted to coordinate a writing conference for aspiring Cache Valley authors. I just felt like there was a need or an interest to have writers come together at the library and talk about the writing craft, he said, but for one reason or another, I hadnt taken the plunge. This year, however, Cornelius has jumped in with both feet, organizing the first annual Write @ the Logan Library conference. On Saturday, Jan. 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the day-long event, which is free of charge to participants, will provide both aspiring and seasoned writers with tips of the trade as they attend breakout sessions and meet presenting authors. With 110 writers having already registered to attend, the conference appears to have widespread support. Were excited to see that theres quite a lot of interest, Cornelius said. We have five authors who are coming this year, representing all different kinds of genres, and theres going to be a number of different opportunities. Im really excited with what were offering, especially for our first year. The presenters for the 2017 Write @ the Logan Library conference are all published Utah authors who have substantial expertise in the writing craft. Their bios, available on the event website, showcase the contributions they have made to the publishing industry and emphasize their unique professional interests and writing styles. The featured authors and the workshops they will present include:

The authors will also host book signings throughout the course of the day, inviting conference participants to become more personally acquainted with their work. If youre an author and youre interested in learning more about writing, then I would strongly encourage you to come to this event, said Cornelius. All the authors here are great, animated individuals whod love to talk with you and maybe give you some pointers about your writingand certainly help you learn more about how to write well. While preregistration is encouraged, conference registration will be offered on a space-available basis at the door. More information about Write @ the Logan Library, including a complete conference itinerary, is available at library.loganutah.org/write.
jennifer@cvradio.com Opinion / As Parliament resumes sitting on the 24th of Janaury 2017 and legislatures are going to be debating the 2017 National Budget Statement, Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights would like to urge the Members of Parliament (National Assembly and Senators) to demand the Minister of Finance to allocate funds for Constitutional awareness as in accordance with Section 7 (a)(b) and (c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.Section 7 of the Constitution demands that:The State must promote public awareness of this Constitution, in particular bya) translating it into all officially recognised languages and disseminating it as widely as possible;b) requiring this Constitution to be taught in schools and as part of the curricula for the training of members of the security services, the Civil Service and members and employees of public institutions; andc) encouraging all persons and organisations, including civic organisations, to disseminate awareness and knowledge of this Constitution throughout society.It is disheartening to note that since the year 2013 when the new constitution came into force, the Government of Zimbabwe has not made deliberate efforts to ensure that more Constitutional copies are printed and public awareness of the Constitution is made.Currently it has been noted that about 80% of urban citizens and about 90% of rural citizens of Zimbabwe have never had access to the Constitution of Zimbabwe.According to a MIHR 2016 Survey on access to human rights information in Bulawayo, 20.7% of the respondents claimed to be having possession of a copy of the Zimbabwean Constitution and 90% of those who did not have a copy of the Constitution said they want to have a copy of the Constitution.Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights is an independent human rights watchdog that exists to enhance the protection, promotion and fulfilment of human rights in the Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe.Statement By:The General SecretaryMatabeleland Institute for Human RightsMr Benedict Sibasa LOGAN A 43-year-old Smithfield man accused of physically and sexually abusing a child will remain in jail on $125,000 bail. Andrew Facer appeared in 1st District Court Monday afternoon for a pretrial conference. He was previously charged with one count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and five misdemeanors including two counts of voyeurism, along with assault, domestic violence and child abuse neglect. After talking with attorneys for both sides, Judge Kevin Allen said public defender Mike McGinnis was planning to file a motion that the court will consider. The type of motion was not discussed. State attorney Jacob Gordon said he was unable to comment on the motion until it is submitted. Police allege that the abuse occurred in recent years and involved a victim who knew Facer. Detectives questioned the defendant while investigating a Richmond man, Dustin Mangum, who was arrested in August on similar allegations. Facer and Mangum reportedly know each other through marriage. During Mondays court appearance, Judge Allen ordered Facer to appear again in court March 13.

will@cvradio.com ictrotia-atresia, s even-year-old Kambri Strawn endured six surgeries in 2016 to construct an outer ear. Stephanie Strawn, Kambri's mother, documented her daughter's journey on a blog, " Born with meven-year-old Kambri Strawn endured six surgeries in 2016 to construct an outer ear. Stephanie Strawn, Kambri's mother, documented her daughter's journey on a blog, " Redefining Perfect ." Kambri Strawn is seven years old. Throughout her young life, this courageous little girl from Wellsville has endured countless appointments with doctors and specialized service providers in an effort to restore hearing in her right ear and construct an outer ear. She has also had multiple surgeries, the most recent being Dec. 28, 2016. Born June 3, 2009 to Stephanie and Jared Strawn, Kambri was born with microtia-atresia, which is the underdevelopment of the external ear and the absence or closure of the external auditory ear canal. While Kambris left ear formed properly in utero, her right ear did not fully develop. Shortly after Kambris birth, her family lovingly nicknamed the small formation of skin marking the incomplete formation of her right ear a nubin. Initially, we were shocked and surprised with her diagnosis, and there was a whole range of emotions that came with it, said Kambris mother, Stephanie Strawn. We went from being excited and thinking, this is gonna be ok, to where we would cry and say, what are we gonna do? But eventually, we came to terms with it, and weve grown to love who she is with a nubin. Unfortunately, Kambris infancy was characterized by pain. Constant crying, arching of her back and stiffness throughout her tiny body led the Strawns to believe that their daughters condition extended beyond microtia-atresia. Seeking the advice of multiple specialists, they dedicated themselves to ruling out more serious conditions. When Kambri was 2 months old, Stephanie and Jared worried that the eardrum in her good ear had burst. On August 9, 2009, Kambri had her first of many surgeries to explore what might be happening. Instead of finding a burst eardrum, Kambris doctor discovered a significant impaction in her ear canal. Once it was removed and the pressure it caused was relieved, Stephanie describes her daughter as a different baby. The constant tears nearly ceased and she started to smile, Stephanie recorded on the blog, Redefining Perfect, she created to record Kambris journey. She relaxed and was no longer stiff. We were able to rule out almost all of our concerns shortly after. As they learned more about their daughters condition, Kambris parents debated how best to approach it. Having learned shortly after her birth that surgical intervention would have to wait until Kambri was five, Stephanie and Jared determined that theyd simply give their baby the best life possible. The best advice we were ever given came from a doctor, wrote Stephanie, His advice was, if you dont want her to be self-conscious, then you dont be. We took that to heart and it changed everything for this little girl. The Strawns did, however, explore every option to optimize the hearing in Kambris left ear and facilitate normal speech development. Kambri began speech therapy at just three months old, she was fitted with a bone-conducting hearing aid at seven months and she was enrolled in Utah State Universitys Sound Beginnings program as a toddler. We were blessed with incredible teachers and staff and an opportunity to rub shoulders with many amazing families who were also dealing with hearing loss, said Stephanie. Kambri made leaps and bounds of progress during her time at Sound Beginnings. It was amazing and we are forever grateful. The Strawns traveled to Primary Childrens Medical Center (PCMC) in Salt Lake City many times over the next several years, but their appointment on Jan. 5, 2016 was different. This day marked the first of a series of six surgeries Kambri would have during the next year. Progressively over the next 12 months, Dr. Harlan Muntz, Kambris, ENT-otolaryngologist at PCMC, performed five surgeries to construct an outer ear, using cartilage from her ribcage to form its shape and skin grafts from her stomach and thighs to cover the cartilage. Slowly, her new right ear began to match her left ear more closely. Kambris sixth surgery, which took place at the University of Utah Medical Center on Dec. 28, was undertaken as a means to reconstruct her inner ear to restore hearing. Performing an intricate 4 hour operation that was more complicated than originally expected, Kambris surgeon, Dr. Clough Shelton, drilled through her skull to create an ear canal, using a skin graft from her right hip to cover the inside of the canal. He also implanted a prosthetic ossicle (middle ear bone) and fashioned an eardrum using sinew taken from above her ear. The ear was then filled with a protective bolster to keep the ear canal open. Kambri returned for a post-op visit with Dr. Shelton on Jan. 5, to have the bulk of bolster removed, and the remainder of this surgical packing will gradually dissolve. Although an official hearing test wont be conducted for three months, Kambri reports that she has a limited amount of hearing in her right ear, and Dr. Shelton has expressed confidence that her hearing will gradually improve over time. Surprisingly, completion of the surgical construction of Kambris right ear has been bittersweet for her family. Shortly after her final procedure, Kambri expressed to her mother that she missed her nubin, and Stephanie has similar sentiments. It was an adjustment for us to accept the nubin, said Stephanie, and now its going to be an adjustment for us to accept the ear. I dont know for sure why, but its been a harder transition than I imagined. Whats ahead for Kambri? Stephanies greatest hope is that her daughter can simply live a normal life. She and Jared have promised their daughter a full year off from having additional surgery, and she shouldnt need more invasive intervention until well into adolescence. Its been a long, hard year and weve struggled, said Stephanie, but weve also gained a lot this year. Weve learned a lot, weve really pulled together and Kambri has blossomed. This is a story not only of the transformation of an ear, but also one of a beautiful little girl who has conquered hard things. Its been a year of sleepless nights, countless doctor visits and many miles back and forth to Primarys. There have been many tears, pain meds and barf bags but it has also been a year of growth, courage, service and gratitude!

jennifer@cvradio.com Utah Highway Patrol trooper Ben Jensen talking to a motorist after UDOT officials ordered the canyon closed Monday morning because of an avalanche in the upper canyon. LOGAN Logan Canyon, US-89, reopened Tuesday morning a day after it was closed because of an avalanche and the possibility of more slides. Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Jason Kendrick said Utah Department of Transportation officials allowed the canyon to be reopened to all traffic at 10:20 a.m. UDOT had ordered UHP troopers to close the canyon Monday morning, after the avalanche was reported in the upper-portion of the canyon. Sgt. Cade Brenchley said UDOTs avalanche experts spent the day assessing the situation where the avalanche danger was. The closure came just as skier and snow boarders were set to drive to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort and enjoy the new snow. Many parked at the mouth of Logan Canyon for hours waiting for the canyon to reopen. Mondays closure came a week-and-a-half after a similar avalanche also closed the canyon for a day.

will@cvradio.com Opinion / Columnist THE emphatic victory by Zanu-PF in the Bikita West by-election at the weekend is significant in many ways in serving as an indicator of the outcome of the 2018 harmonised elections.Particularly, the by-election has all but sealed the fate of Dr Joice Mujuru and her Zimbabwe People First party whose candidate suffered an embarrassing defeat.The ruling party candidate Beauty Chabaya romped to victory polling 13 156 votes trouncing Mr Kudakwashe Gopo of ZimPF who polled a paltry 2 453 votes. Independent candidate Mr Innocent Muzvimbiri polled 725 votes while Mr Madock Chivasa (NCA) got 343 votes and Mr Terrence Tanyaradzwa Makomborero (PDZ) received 132 votes. Former MDC-T legislator for the area Mr Heya Shoko, touted as the MDC-T's proxy candidate, got a paltry 76 votes.This was Dr Mujuru's first electoral contest outside Zanu-PF following her 2014 expulsion from the ruling party over allegations of plotting to topple President Mugabe. The result has shown her that it's cold outside Zanu-PF.Not only is it cold for Dr Mujuru but the elections confirmed that her ZimPF project has suffered a still birth before it even holds a congress to elect substantive portfolio holders, delayed by internal fighting and growing divisions.In the eyes of anti-coalition elements within MDC-T, the loss disempowers her in terms of negotiations on the terms of the merger ahead of the 2018 elections. The MDC-T, we are told, as a show of power (real or imagined) refused to hold a joint rally with ZimPF in the run-up to the Bikita West by-election to gauge the capacity of Dr Mujuru's party.More importantly, the Bikita West election result exposed the false claims by armchair analysts when Dr Mujuru decided to join opposition politics that ZimPF will eat into the Zanu-PF support base.Even some excitable Western regime change organisations had also entertained this lie.To the contrary, Chabaya's numbers are more than double those posted by Munyaradzi Kereke in the 2013 harmonised elections in a constituency where another Zanu-PF candidate, Elias Musakwa, also contested. Both candidates polled about 6 000 votes each, only separated by a small margin.In fact, Chabaya polled more votes than Kereke and Musakwa combined in 2013 showing that Zanu-PF is not only unshaken by the entry of Dr Mujuru into opposition politics but is actually getting more voters. Naturally, Zanu-PF is happy about the result following a misstep in the Norton by-election late last year won by independent candidate Mr Temba Mliswa.The party's secretary for administration said that opposition parties stand no chance against Zanu-PF in the 2018 elections but emphasised on the need for unity and service delivery among party cadres."We are happy we won by such a wide margin," he said. "This is a clear statement to all other political parties that come 2018, they are going to be thrashed like prodigal children in this political contest."We commend the commissariat, Masvingo leadership and voters for coming out with that colossal victory and believing in our party. We should not relax for us to post wider margins than this next year."Chombo called on the revolutionary party to shun petty fights."The main reason why political parties exist is to win elections," he said. "We should focus on how to win elections and not to expend our energies on personal differences. We want to focus on what really unites us. This has been proven in Bikita that when people are going in one direction, it is easier to win."We maintain that Zanu-PF faces no credible threat ahead of the 2018 polls if cadres heed President Mugabe's calls for unity and cohesion. There are political parties that are not Zanu-PF but in real terms the ruling party faces no competition next year.It has been said that Dr Mujuru, is at best, a creation of her late husband Solomon Mujuru and a beneficiary of President Mugabe's benevolence. Sadly, however, Dr Mujuru has learnt nothing from serving under the wings of one of Africa's greatest political icons.In the absence of the shed provided by President Mugabe from her teenage years, Dr Mujuru's political life will continue to wilt as ignited by the Bikita West by-election.The real Dr Mujuru, not the famed helicopter-felling Teurai Ropa based on false accounts of the liberation war by her sidekicks in an attempt to defraud history, has been exposed by the Bikita West poll.She is just an ordinary woman, drunk by limitless delusions of filling shoes way bigger than her tiny feet, shoes of President Mugabe, in the process ignoring her glaring shortcomings.With divisions rocking her party, it has become clear that leading a political party is different from leading a faction, the infamous Gamatox. Put simply, Dr Mujuru does not possess any credible leadership qualities or rather she is no leader.While they collectively dreamt of ascending to power within Zanu-PF, they still enjoyed the shed of the leader they so wanted to replace and the legacy of a party that brought Independence from colonial bondage.Now they bark from outside the walls of the revolutionary party, far away from the corridors of power, two places they will always talk about in retrospect.Many have spoken about how cold it is outside Zanu-PF but Dr Mujuru stands as testimony of that fact, Bikita West has all but sealed her fate in the Zimbabwe political theatre. Amid looming uncertainties over the future of globalization, China has reiterated its commitment to work toward global economic integration. At this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Xi Jinping told the worlds political and business elites that China will keep its door wide open and not close it. An open door allows both other countries to access the Chinese market and China itself to integrate with the world. The best way for China to tackle the rising tide of populism, nationalism and protectionism is to push ahead with its reform efforts and further open up its economy to the outside world. The process of globalization is the inevitable result of development. It is driven by the need to efficiently allocate scarce global resources such as capital, goods, services and talent. After two decades of unfettered advancement, this process of economic integration started losing steam in recent years and suffered major setbacks in 2016. While anticipating a fallout from a more-protectionist, inward-looking Trump administration and a disruptive British exit from the European Union, the worlds largest trading nation has promised to defend the structures that have nurtured globalization and economic growth. International trade has seen sluggish growth for five straight years, mainly due to a rise in protectionist sentiments. Putting up trade barriers often leads to retaliation and triggers trade wars that hurt the poor disproportionately. It also harms all countries involved. As Xi said at Davos: Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, that dark room will also block light and air. Protectionist voices have grown louder as the world economy is stuck in a vicious cycle of low growth, low spending and high unemployment. But the trend of globalization is unstoppable and irreversible. Simply blaming economic globalization for the worlds current woes is misguided, and it will not help solve these problems. Globalization has brought about both good and bad results, but its advantages outweigh the negative effects. What needs to be done is to develop a balanced, equitable and inclusive growth model that ensures that everyone has access to equal opportunities and shares in the benefits of development. It should also have enough safeguards to cushion the adverse effects of rapid change. Also, instead of ignoring the anti-globalization voices, we should respond to their reasonable demands. Chinas own example shows how much a country can be transformed through globalization. Deng Xiaoping, the countrys reform architect, once said China had spent over three decades failing behind closed doors before it opened its economy, paving the way for its rapid rise. Within a decade since its accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, China became the worlds largest trader. Its foreign trade value rose to 13.8% of the worlds total in 2015 from only 0.92% in 1980. This alone is a testimony to the power of global economic integration. Now the country has become a major international investor, with direct outbound investment reaching $200 billion last year. According to Xi, China plans to invest a total of $750 billion overseas over the next five years. As the new Trump administration is likely to favor trade protectionism, the world is looking for a new torchbearer to champion the course of globalization. Many are expecting China to pick up the baton. If China wants to shoulder this responsibility, it has its work cut out for it. For example, the country should give outside investors more access to its industries, promote the international use of the yuan, push ahead with the One Belt, One Road initiative, and pick up the pace of negotiating free trade agreements with other countries. More importantly, China must deepen reforms and improve its governance capacity. It also needs to address the widening wealth gap at home and improve the scanty social security network to protect the most vulnerable groups from any adverse effects of globalization. Despite these challenges, China will be steadfast in its commitment to openness. Last week, the State Council, the nations cabinet, issued a new directive offering foreign investors greater access to several key sectors, including services, manufacturing and mining. The government eased restrictions on overseas capital flowing into various types of financial institutions, and it further liberalized emerging sectors such as telecommunications, the internet, culture and education. This was a bold move, signaling continued efforts to build an open economic system in China. The latest round of opening-up, which involved a number of areas that were carefully protected in the early days when the country was accepted into the WTO, is in line with China's need to restructure its own economy. It will also help rebalance the books with its global trading partners. Opening wider to the outside world should not be seen as bowing down to external pressure. It is a prudent choice that will help China achieve its own growth targets because introducing more competition will improve business efficiency, benefiting consumers and other stakeholders. The success of the opening-up strategy relies on effective implementation. The State Council has left local governments and different ministries in charge of fleshing out the implementation details related to these reforms. Whether those enforcing the policies can overcome resistance from groups with vested interests will be key to making progress. China has spent decades learning how to integrate itself into the world economy, especially after its WTO accession. Although it has outperformed most other emerging nations even after the 2008 financial crisis, it is important for the country to be conscious of the fact that it was still a developing state and has plenty of room to learn from others. Policymakers should also ensure that trade issues such as the ambiguous stance on granting China market-economy status and other disputes do not get overly politicized. China should better use the WTOs dispute-settlement mechanism to protect its rights and refrain from fueling negative public sentiment towards specific trading partners. Only with an open mind can China further embrace the outside world and fulfill its pledge to open up further. Hu Shuli is the chief editor of Caixin Media. Opinion / Columnist The Parliament of Zimbabwe has indicated that it is going to be soon holding public hearings to gather people's views on the proposed amendments to the Constitution of Zimbabwe to give the President of the country the sole right to appoint the Chief Justice, his or her deputy and Judge President of the High Court.Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights urges the people of Zimbabwe to unite across political lines and overwhelmingly reject this amendment proposal on the following reasons:1. The judiciary is a third tier of government which should be allowed to operate independently and have the power to even hold the Executive accountable on the Constitution and the law. Amending this section of the Constitution will weaken the strength and independence of the judiciary in Zimbabwe and thus affect human rights protection, promotion and fulfillment.2. There is need for clear separation of powers between the Executive and the Judiciary to ensure a sound democracy and Constitutionalism in the country. Having the President as the sole appointer of the Judiciary leadership weakens the Judiciary's mandate as they are subconsciously whipped into playing to the whims of the Executive failure to which they will be expelled.3. The Judiciary is not a political tier of government but a public interest professional tier of democratic safeguard. Therefore the appointment of the Judiciary leadership should by no means be politicized but should be safeguarded from petty political appointments.4. We have observed the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, High Court, Magistrate Courts ruling objectively for and against the government and this was because they were operating independently. Taking away that independence is practically taking away the rights of the people and the confidence of the citizenry in the judiciary as an impartial adjudicator in case there are conflicts between the government and the people.5. As a country we should not be in the habit of amending the Constitution just because it has a clause that does not suit our individual personal interests. The Executive needs to be reminded that the Constitution is not there to serve them but to serve the people and thus the executive should amend its interest to align with the Constitution instead of amending the Constitution to align with personal interests.As a human rights think tank that exists to enhance the promotion, protection and fulfillment of human rights in Matabeleland, we thus urge all the people of Matabeleland and civic society in the region and in Zimbabwe to come out in large numbers and overwhelmingly reject this amendment to the Constitution.The MIHR General SecretaryBenedict Sibasa Genichi Tamatsuka (left), CEO of Lawson Inc., and Douglas Feagin, senior vice president of Ant Financial Services Group, pose with mascots in front of a Lawson convenience store in Tokyo on Monday. Customers can now use Ant Financial's online payment service, Alipay, in the approximately 13,000 Lawson stores in Japan without incurring fees for paying with Chinese yuan. Photo: Xinhua (Beijing) China's Ant Financial Services Group has announced that its electronic payments service, Alipay, will be accepted at the 13,000 Lawson convenience stores throughout Japan effective Jan. 24. The move is an extension of a pilot program that was first implemented in nine Lawson branches in January 2016. The move comes just four days before Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, the most important holiday in the lunar calendar, during which many Chinese people travel overseas. Japan as one of the top destinations. Lawson is a leading convenience-store operator in Japan, and more than 60% of its customers are tourists from overseas, spending 20% more than domestic shoppers, Lawson Inc. chairman and CEO Genichi Tamatsuka said at a news conference on Monday. Japan receives more visitors from China than any other country, with Chinese accounting for 26% of all foreign tourists in 2016, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization. Customers will be able to use Alipay to settle payments in Chinese yuan rather than Japanese yen in Lawson stores without an additional service charge, said Douglas Feagin, Ant Financial Services Group senior vice president, on Monday. Lawson also started to introduce Chinese-language in-store radio announcements on Tuesday to cater to Chinese customers, Feagin said. Alipays partnership with Lawson is part of a broader strategy as the payment service provider moves into overseas markets popular with Chinese travelers. The payment services of major rival Tencent Holdings Ltd. are still confined to China and are connected to its popular QQ and WeChat social networking platforms. A month ago, Alipay announced plans to partner with four financial institutions in Europe Barclays PLC, BNP Paribas Group, UniCredit SpA and SIX Payment Services Ltd. to provide payment services to Chinese travelers in nearly 1 million stores throughout Europe. The Chinese online payment service also inked deals with Thai payment firm Ascend Money last month, U.S. payment processors First Data and Verifone in October, French payment technology firm Ingenico in August, and Indias largest online payment provider, Paytm, in 2015. Alipay has more than 400 million users worldwide, and Ant Financial is eying an initial public offering in either Hong Kong or the Chinese mainland as soon as this year. Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com) Opinion / Religion Qn "The Prophets Spoke Only The Word Of God, and Not Their Opinions" How Far does this explain Israel and Zimbabwean prophets? (25)COMMENT OVERVIEW- The above question requires one to show that indeed prophets of Israel were divinely inspired ,same applies with Zimbabwean prophets. Number of so many prophets in Israel were divinely inspired, this cannot be denied .This include the following prophetsa) Mosesb) Samuelc) Gadd) Nathane) Ahijahf) Miciah Ben Imlahg) Elijahh) Amosi) Hoseaj) Isiaahk) Jeremiah- Among the Israelite prophets, they were unauthentic prophets ,hence meaning they had their own source .The above question will be fully hammered below.SUGGESTED ANSWERS - J Thompson define a prophet as a messenger of God ,B.W. Anderson define a prophet as someone who communicate the divine will ,whereas J Mulienburg defined a prophet as a covenant mediator .Israel prophets spoke only the word of God .This is true in the case of Deuteronomy 18:18, where it is indicated that Yahweh inspired the prophets to deliver their message and the same message was suppose to come to pass, this is recorded in Deueteronomy 18:22.The message of some Israel prophets came from Yahweh ,this is evidenced by the fulfilment and the use of messenger style of speech even though this style was hijacked by false prophets. Elijah predicted the death of Ahab as he said the dogs will lick your blood, this is recorded in 1st Kings 21:24. Micaih Ben Imlah prophesied about the defeat of Israel, perhaps, the death of Israel leaders "I see Israel scattered in mountain" This came to pass during the Ramoth-Gilead battle as Ahab died ,and the dogs licked his blood .This is evidenced in 1st Kings 22:38. In Zimbabwean context ,number of prophets claim to be messengers of God, this is evidenced by the fulfilment of their predictions for instance, documents of Wimbo according to Bulawayo24.com indicates that in 1957, Wimbo prophesied about Zimbabwe being led by a man with a name of the angel "Gabriel" and it came to pass [Readers can follow the following website for more information. http://bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-100061.html ] .Daily News paper in April 28 2016 published headline that Makandiwa had prophesied about the Zambian Xenophobic attacks. Sunday News Newspaper on the 8th of January 2017 published the prophecies of Chiza were he claimed that he was speaking the word of the Lord "God is saying the church will be rich. I see a hand pushing money into the church." Pastor of Mugadza of Kariba should not be ignored who claimed that he spoke only what God told him to predict the future, this was further recorded by New Zimbabwe online newspaper on the 12th of January 2017 "I would not want to force anyone to believe this but I am just saying it because this is what God told me, so it is up to the individuals to believe if it is going to happen or not," Mugadza further said. [Readers can follow the link for more information http://www.newzimbabwe.com/newsMugadza+Bob+to+die+2017,+thus+says+God/news.aspx] All this indicates that Zimbabwean prophets just like Israel prophets only speak the word of God not their opinions.- Samuel predicted the future of Israel.He predicted the dangers of having a King, after Israelites had requested for a King ,this is recorded in 1st Samuel 8:4 .The predictions of Samuel are recorded in 1st Samuel 8:11, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots". [You can read the above verse using RSV ,to find out about more of his predictions].Some of the predictions came to pass during the reign of different kings in Israel. Jeremiah predicted the death of Hananiah after predicting that Israel will be exiled in Babylon will take 2 years, this is evidenced in Jeremiah 28:15 and it came to pass in Jeremiah 28:17. In Zimbabwean context, the predictions of well known prophets has came to pass for instance Dr Chiza in 2016 prophesied the return of Zimbabwean money and it was set before the end of the year. All this indicates that the above named prophets spoke only the word of the God,N.B More Examples Can Be Added.HOWEVER PART - In as much as it can be said that Israel prophets and Zimbabwean prophets spoke only the word of the God, it will be a mischief, if one ignore the other side of the coin which postulate that some prophets in Israel spoke their opinions .For instance, Hananiah who prophesied that Israel will go to exile for two years after using a messenger style of speech, this is recorded in Jeremiah 28:11.As a result, Israel was exiled for 52 years. Four hundred court prophets during the Ramoth Gilead prophets, prophesied victory against Syrians, this is recorded in 1st Kings 22:11. As a result, Israel was scattered. In Zimbabwean context, number of predictions of Zimbabwean prophets have failed to come to pass [Examples can be extracted from the local news newspapers. Basing on the Deuteronomy 18:22, one will be forced to conclude that they speak their own opinions. Therefore, this is an enough evidence to prove that the above named Israel prophets and Zimbabwean prophets spoke or speak their own opinions.Questions by schools to be answered on Newspaper can be submitted through my mobile number +2363777896159 or Email address : witnessdingani@gmail.com .Readers of the Daily Old Testament Questions and Answers can follow the Questions and Answers on Sunday News Newspaper every week | Bulawayo24.com Online Newspaper | Listen to Divinity on Lips Radio Program with Witness Dingani every Sundays on Channel Zim Free Tv Decorders [Radio Dialogue] 09:00am -10:00am or Like Facebook page "Witness Dingani" where some of useful information will be posted.If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams - T. S. Eliot Thoughts After Lambeth "The World is trying the experiment of attempting to form a civilized but non-Christian mentality. The experiment will fail; but we must be very patient in awaiting its collapse; meanwhile redeeming the time: so that the Faith may be preserved alive through the dark ages before us; to renew and rebuild civilization, and save the World from suicide." Dubai Civil Defense Reveals Firefighting Jetpacks Trending News: Firefighting Jetpacks Are Here, And They're Awesome Long Story Short Dubai firefighters are now equipped with a water-powered jetpack that lets them soar into the air like a fire-quenching flash rising from below. The idea is to get firefighters to emergency scenes quickly via the water, thus avoiding potentially life-threatening delays caused by traffic congestion. Long Story The video produced by the Dubai Civil Defence Media Office isnt subtle. In fact, it looks like the trailer for a Michael Bay movie. But it does show you a firefighter using a jetpack, which is pretty neat. Even the goofy, thundering strings, drums and vocals cant hide the fact that what this thing does is pretty cool. Dubbed The Dolphin, the water-powered jetpack is the next step in fighting fires in a city that has seen an uptick in them in recent years, thanks in part to its breakneck, take-no-prisoners development. This is how the Dolphin works, according to the video: a jet ski-riding firefighter (which is pretty cool right there) straps himself to a giant hose, and then uses the water from whatever waterway he is currently occupying to both propel himself into the air and to put out the blaze being fought, using the very hose he is strapped to. Its a fairly simple and elegant solution that guarantees rapid access to an emergency scene and also is a showcase for Dubais technological prowess. The Dolphin can be used to fight fires on boats, roads, bridges, beaches and high-risesimportant areas for a city built on (and in) the Persian Gulf. Dubai has a reputation for being a little bit jetpack crazy (and who can blame them?). In 2015, it placed an order with a New Zealand company called Martin Aircraft for 20 jetpacks and two simulators, to be used by its emergency personnel, at a cost of $250,000 per. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Is there a more effective recruiting tool than a jetpack? Drop This Fact Dubai is so insanely rich that their police and paramedic fleet includes vehicles made by Mercedes, Bugattis, Lotus and Lamborghinis. CAMEROUN :: OPEN LETTER TO His.E Paul BIYA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON AND THE GOVERNMENT OF PHILEMON YANG Your Excellency, dear grandfather, dear great grandfather of many young Cameroonians. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, members of the government, at least dads and grandfathers I write to you very respectfully as one writes to the dummies, not that you are, but simply because it is a historical and serious moment in the life of our nation, the affair of the regions of the south-east and Northwest of our dear and beautiful country Cameroon. I would like to make it very simple and very humble because everything was said by Cameroonians in many ways better qualified because living in the country and having been on the ground from the marches unfortunately repressed lawyers to the unspeakable acts that have undergone in Both the nation through its symbols deviated by some and the inhuman treatments that a certain student youth received from a minority of passionate soldiers. Excellencies, I have followed closely the last reactions of the government with the exit of the minister of communication TCHIROMA and the decrees of the minister SADI. It seemed to me that you have changed course to make claims less true and to value the idea that a small marginal group wants to destabilize our dear and beautiful country. What is, as you know, a dilatory maneuver worthy of dictatorships to stifle in the name of the struggle against secessionists, enemies of the nation of rather democratic inclinations. Cameroon does not have secessionists, if any, they would be very marginal. The government's policy can not be that of the marginalized. Your Excellencies Why do you think that you have the monopoly of the spirit that the Cameroonians should have of their country? Why do you think that living together in Cameroon should be based on a pattern, yours, which was drawn up by our founding fathers, whom you have never honored? Who does not remember the resignation of JOHN NGU FOCHA on June 9, 1990? Excellencies, in 1966 FONCHA was at the forefront of the formation of the single party UNC (National Union of Cameroon) after his party the Kamerun National Democratic Party was phagocytosed by the UNC, the party of President Ahmadou Ahidjo. In 1970, disillusionment was great when President Ahidjo replaced him as Vice-President of the Party. He retired from political life and then acceded to the post of Grand Chancellor of the National Orders much later, in December 1979. Excellencies, with Paul BIYA He will return to the front of the scene in the Cameroon Democratic People's Assembly (RDPC) until his resignation. 9 June 1990. He resigns from his position as Vice-President of the CPDM and withdrew once again. On 18 July 1990 he was replaced as Grand Chancellor of the National Orders. He later became an opponent, close to the independentists of the Southern Cameroon national council. In 1994, he led the delegation of this movement to the UN to ask more autonomy for the English-speaking provinces. On 10 April 1999, John Ngu Foncha died. Had you treated him worthily? His resignation was regarded with contempt as a non-event his Excellency Paul BIYA. Your Excellencies You are in power, you enjoy it enormously but you abuse it. Return humans, humble and fragile. You answer a people who ask you a little consideration by the attitudes of another era. Why is federalism a problem for you? Why is decentralization a problem? Is Cameroon yours? Cameroonians have no rights over their institutions. Your Excellency President Paul BIYA The hawkish operation you have been carrying out for a few years should push you to more humility. It shows whether it was necessary that the centralized power which makes you master of everything has enormous limits. How can you justify that Cameroon entrusts you its heritage and that collaborators whom you name use so many billions. It is always to the late that you realize it and stop some. Decentralization is necessary. Regional Presidents must be elected. The central government must retain positions of authority, in particular those linked to the defense of the territory and internationally. Why can not each region manage its resources? You are well aware that there is not an anglophone problem, but there is a general frustration associated with your management. More than 70% of credit authorizers and managers are from the same "large region". This "great region" is also francophone. A little syllogism would make us understand more that this frustration takes place. When the English-speaking regions complain, Google Traduction pour les entreprises :Google Kit du traducteurGadget TraductionOutil d'aide a l'exportWhen the anglophone regions complain, the subject is perceived as a linguistic problem. But in reality, even among francophones, there is much to be said in your human resources management. The tribal management of the country has left frustrations that it is up to you to repair before leaving. Thanks to excellence, accelerate decentralization and offer our anglophone brothers a few fold-out seats on the six major bodies of the state. Today, they have only the first ministry. There are things to review. Federalism does not take away national unity. The United States, Canada, Belgium, Germany, etc. Are federal states. But they remain a nation, a nation. France is out of breath and wants to accelerate decentralization because centralism is an unfair and reductive system. Yes, we can review the form of our state while remaining Cameroonian. Let us not confuse the demands of our brothers with the frustrations we have inflicted on them with secession. All Cameroonians wish to remain in any case the vast majority wherever it is in the territory likes to remain Cameroonian despite this opaque and very ethnic management that can become a political project, that of never saying that again. CAMEROUN :: DECLARATION BY THE ADISI-CAMEROON ON THE VIOLATIONS OF THE CITIZENS 'RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND PRESS FREEDOM BY THE GOVERNMENT OF CAMEROON Since November 2016, the North-western and South-western regions of Cameroon have experienced a socio-political crisis known as the "Anglophone problem". This situation, which evolves over the course of the days at the will of the protagonists, has impact on the citizen who suffers the inherent consequences: paralysis of economic life, prohibited mens movement (ghost town), attack on physical and moral integrity sometimes aimed at children. The North- west and South- west are isolated from the rest of the world in general and Cameroon in particular since January 17, 2016 around 10 pm for no reason so far. The other Cameroonians who go through social networks are now threatened by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, and therefore, by the government. Never has the Law No. 2010/013 of 21 December 2010 governing electronic communications in Cameroon been the subject of the same awareness by the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, since the break-up of the crisis. An attitude that hides badly a strong threat to the Cameroonian Net surfers. Indeed, in recent years, the violation of public and individual freedoms by authorities has caused a real rush of Cameroonians to the social networks which remain the only place where they truly exercise their freedom of opinion, expression and information. Since several months now, bloggers, web activists are the target of the Cameroonian government which says fears the destabilization of the country by social networks. As for not staying behind in this movement where all the depositaries of the authority of the State want to show that they are working, it is around the President of the National Council of Communication (NCC) to recall its existence and that of its structure. He made read on the antennas of the national radio on January 20, 2017 at 1 pm, a statement that declares war on the private media. Indeed, while warning the private press based both in the english-speaking and French-speaking parts of the country, the threat, the others with, closing if they came to speak or relay any information relating to federalism and secession. A few days earlier, it was the radio station Hot Cocoa FM based in Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region, which was shut down by the local authorities on the pretext of defending federalism and secession. The president of the NCC thus becomes an accomplice of a serious and flagrant violation of the right of the citizens to the information and the freedom of press. Moreover, it undermines the democracy that is so dear to us and conquered in a hard struggle without passive participation. On the other hand, he says in the threats statement that talking about secession and federalism is "anti-democratic". A true incongruity which hides the wish to muzzle the citizens and the press, while depriving them in the meantime of the exercise of their opinions on the march of their city while Cameroon is a decentralized state. From the above, the ADISI-Cameroon condemns with the last energy: - Violations of citizens freedom of opinion; - attacks on the freedom of expression of citizens; - Violations of citizens freedom of information and information; - Violations of press freedom; - infringements of the editorial and tonal freedom of the press; - The bloating of the press; - The return to censorship; All these rights and freedoms being guaranteed by the constitution of the State of Cameroon and by international texts deliberately ratified by our country. Thus, from the above, call on the Cameroon government to: - Stop the manipulation of information; - Respect for the citizen's right to quality information; - Respect for the freedom of tone of private media; - Re-establish, as soon as possible and unconditionally, electronic communications in the North-West and South-West regions; - Communicating on the current crisis in order to build citizens, notably on the historical stages of the two parts of the country that are the subject of this crisis and the Foumban agreements; - To design an OMBUSMAN as soon as possible to resolve this situation and many others which take unacceptable and alarming turns; - The urgent adoption of a law on freedoms of access to information (FOIA) that would guarantee the transparent management of such crises; - Calls on citizens to defend their rights and draws journalists attention to the dangers facing their profession Done at Douala on 22 January 2017 For ADISI-Cameroon; Paul-Joel KAMTCHANG Executive Secretary ETATS-UNIS :: The first person president Donald Trump should ban from entering the US :: UNITED STATES During his electoral campaign for the White House, Donald Trump promised to stop Muslims from entering the US in order to protect his country from the threat or plague of terrorism. This statement generated waves of criticisms all over the world. It is obvious that all Muslims are not dangerous; it is even very bad when people dare to think so. Terrorists can come from any corner of the world, from any country, any religion and culture, and can be well-educated people as ill-educated or illiterates. At times, people refuse obstinately to see or avow it. To be honest, how can a fair and aware eye regard someone like Henri-Bernard Levy? As a philosopher? As a writer? As a businessman? An Author? A well-educated and civilized person? Humanist? Oh, none of all the above. None. Bernard-Henri Levy is a famous world criminal and terrorist, not a famous philosopher as depicted by some corrupt social Medias across Europe and America. Were living in a world where impostors and nonentities are praised and sublimated, while the honest and great are belittled and scorned. What is Bernard-Henri Levys worth, compared to French intellectuals that have won renown like, Gaston bachelor, Bergson, De Beauvoir, Merleau Ponty, Descartes, Montesquieu, Diderot, Camus, Victor Hugo, Montaigne, Rousseau, Blaise pascal, Sartre, Levinas, Maupassant, Levi-Strauss, Zola, etc. ? To say it like an African, He cannot dare carry the bag of any of these guys, indeed. He has incited riots, violence and conflicts that have resulted in bloodsheds in Georgia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya, Ukraine, Serbia, Syria, Iraq, etc. I can cite this remark made by him, ISIS are good terrorists but bad fighters. Is this man actually normal? Is there anything good left in him? Does he have any thought for these innocent children and families crushed, bombed, decapitated, and dismantled by his friends? Wheres humanity in this man? What does he defend in his books, articles and speeches? He regards himself as a great defender of the free world, of human rights and freedom, while having as good friends Qatari and Saudi authorities; countries where women have no rights and where barbarities and dictatorship are peoples daily meal and drink. He wont tell the world that his family fortune was founded on the destruction of vast African forests of Gabon, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, etc. and that they largely violated human rights there and enslaved the workers in order to have all that. All these riots and wars he keeps inciting here and there are to increase their fortune. Why should president Trump absolutely ban this guy from entering the US? He must, and immediately, because hes bringing what hes successfully tried in other parts of the world to the USA. Talking about the new president, his relations with Russia and his son-in-law, this is what he said this January 2017 on CNN, and I quote, All this is very strange. And I dont see I am here since a few days. I have to be honest. I dont see such a turmoil or such a stress about that. A president elected who owns, maybe, part of his election to the hacking of the system by the worst enemy of America? I thought I would find riots in the streets of Washington and of New York. Is USA really in decline as some tongues mutter? If not, would this world fire raiser and anarchist ever come and tell American people what to do? This is how he started in Libya, Georgia, Ukraine and other parts of the world, and as smokes and death consumed societies, he was nowhere to be found. He stressed on CNN that president Trumps actions were strange. Those who know Bernard-Henri Levy understand clearly that all that is strange in this arsonists world is what does not serve his interests and those of his friends. If all Washington, New York and other US major cities would burn down and he get what he wanted, he wont care at all. Hed be completely at ease. Thus is this Stain (BHL) left on the French fascinating intelligentsia by the social Medias and pompously called philosopher; philosopher of atrocities and of doom. If we were living in a fair world, a world nurtured on Justice, this man should not be free any more. Bernard-Henri Levy is an impostor, a famous world terrorist, a skillful killer and robber. For destabilization attempt and what he plans still, this terrorist in disguise should be banned from entering the country or be arrested. Barrister Agbor Balla Middle Leader of CACSC Wilson MUSA These Are The Charges Levied Against Balla, Fontem And Mancho. Charges Against Dr Fontem: Conspiracy to Terrorism, Rebellion against the state, Incitement of civil unrest, Breach of the constitution. He was arraigned and remanded into custody at Yaounde Central Prison Kondengui Charges Against Barrister Agbor Balla Nkongho: Charges: Terrorism, Rebellion against the state, Incitement of civil unrest, Breach of the constitution. He was arraigned and remanded into custody at Yaounde Central Prison Kondengui Charges Against Mancho Bibixy: Terrorism, Rebellion against the state, Incitement of civil unrest, breach of the constitution. He was arraigned and remanded into custody at Yaounde Central Prison Kondengui. Trial begins on February 1, 2017. ACCESSORIES (ACCOMPLICES) WITH MANCHO BIBIXY TO: 1. Law No. 2016-7 of 12/07/2016 on Penal Code. Hostilities against the Fatherland (102), Secession (111), Civil War (112), Propagation of False Information (113), Revolution (114), Armed Band (115), Contempt of Public Bodies & Public Servants (154), Collective Resistance (158). Then Sections 74 & 97 on criminal responsibility & accessories PRINCIPAL OFFENDERS OF: 2. Provoking civil war by inciting the people to take arms against each other During his electoral campaign for the White House, Donald Trump promised to stop Muslims from entering the US in order to protect his country from the threat or plague of terrorism. This statement generated waves of criticisms all over the world. ADS Itis obvious that all Muslims are not dangerous; it is even very bad when people dare to think so. Terrorists can come from any corner of the world, from any country, any religion and culture, and can be well-educated people as ill-educated or illiterates. At times, people refuse obstinately to see or avow it. To be honest, how can a fair and aware eye regard someone like Henri-Bernard Levy? As a philosopher? As a writer? As a businessman? An Author? A well-educated and civilized person? Humanist? Oh, none of all the above. None. Bernard-Henri Levy is a famous world criminal and terrorist, not a famous philosopher as depicted by some corrupt social Medias across Europe and America. Were living in a world whereimpostors and nonentities are praised and sublimated, while the honest and great are belittled andscorned. What is Bernard-Henri Levys worth, compared to French intellectuals that have won renown like, Gaston bachelor, Bergson, De Beauvoir, Merleau Ponty, Descartes, Montesquieu, Diderot, Camus, Victor Hugo, Montaigne, Rousseau, Blaise pascal, Sartre, Levinas, Maupassant, Levi-Strauss, Zola, etc. ?To say it like an African, He cannot dare carry the bag of any of these guys, indeed. He has incited riots, violence and conflicts that have resulted in bloodsheds in Georgia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Libya, Ukraine, Serbia, Syria, Iraq, etc. I can cite this remark made by him, ISIS are good terrorists but bad fighters. Is this man actually normal? Is there anything good left in him? Does he have any thought for these innocent children and families crushed, bombed, decapitated, and dismantledby his friends? Wheres humanity in this man? What does he defend in his books, articles and speeches? He regards himself as a great defender of the free world, of human rights and freedom, while having as good friends Qatari and Saudi authorities; countries where women have no rights and where barbarities and dictatorship arepeoples daily meal and drink. He wont tell the world that his family fortune was founded on the destruction of vast African forests of Gabon, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, etc. and that they largely violated human rights there and enslaved the workers in order to have all that. All these riots and wars he keeps inciting here and there are to increase their fortune. Why should president Trump absolutely ban this guy from entering the US?He must, and immediately, because hes bringing what hes successfully tried in other parts of the world to the USA. Talking about the new president, his relations with Russia and his son-in-law, this is what he said this January 2017 on CNN, and I quote, All this is very strange. And I dont see I am here since a few days. I have to be honest. I dont see such a turmoil or such a stress about that. A president elected who owns, maybe, part of his election to the hacking of the system by the worst enemy of America? I thought I would find riots in the streets of Washington and of New York. Is USA really in decline as some tongues mutter? If not, would this world fire raiser and anarchist ever come and tell American people what to do? This is how he started in Libya, Georgia, Ukraine and other parts of the world, and as smokesand death consumed societies, he was nowhere to be found. He stressed on CNN that president Trumps actions were strange. Those who know Bernard-HenriLevy understand clearly that all that is strange in this arsonists world is what does not serve his interests and those of his friends. If all Washington, New York and other US major cities would burn down and he get what he wanted, he wont care at all. Hed be completely at ease. Thus is this Stain (BHL) left on the French fascinating intelligentsiaby the social Medias and pompously called philosopher; philosopher of atrocities and of doom. If we were living in a fair world, a world nurtured on Justice, this man should not be free any more. Bernard-Henri Levy is an impostor, a famous world terrorist, a skillful killer and robber. For destabilization attempt and what he plans still, this terrorist in disguise should be banned from entering the country or be arrested. Leon Tuam January 24th 2017 ADS | BY Ricki Green | A new integrated national marketing campaign from nbn is set to launch via BWM Dentsu Sydney, as the company is on track to rollout to almost half of the country by June 2017. The campaign introduces us to gen nbn and focuses on a connected Australia; highlighting how advancements in technology and nationwide access to fast broadband will transform all aspects of the Australian way of life. The creative brings to life how access to the nbn network will see the nation benefit from increased business opportunities, flexible-working arrangements as well as new healthcare and education services. The campaign will launch on Australia Day, leading with a 60 second TVC where gen nbn is seen deploying the latest agricultural technology, enhancing remote learning opportunities and enabling local business to expand into global markets. The creative will also extend into press, targeted digital and social media and is supported by large and small outdoor advertising placements. Kent Heffernan, executive general manager for brand and marketing at nbn, said the focus of the first national advertising campaign was developed to align with the planned scaling of the nbn networks rollout in 2017 into new markets. Says Heffernan: We have reached a tipping point where 3.8 million Australian homes and businesses can access the nbn network, and more than 1.6 million are connected. We have built enough of a footprint now that mass communication on a national scale is the most efficient and effective way for the company to reach our target market. The campaign weve launched this week reflects the evolution of the nbn brand and our shift towards urban markets for the first time, including Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Moving into these new metro markets we wanted the creative to speak to nbn as a visionary brand by showcasing the possibilities fast broadband will bring all Australians. National rollout messaging and metro-focused marketing strategies will help ensure everyone understands not only why to switch over to the nbn network, but when, how, and the benefits it can bring. Says Asheen Naidu, executive creative director, BWM Dentsu Sydney: Were incredibly excited and proud to be part of such an important project for the future of Australia. I think this campaign will really give people a better understanding of the how the nbn network can redefine every Australian, regardless of their age, profession or location. Creative Agency: BWM Dentsu Sydney Group Chief Creative Officer: Rob Belgiovane Executive Creative Director: Asheen Naidu Creative Directors: Jon Foye & Denny Handlin Planning Director: Caitlin Schuch Managing Director: Alex Carr Client Service Director: Brent Kerby Senior Account Director: Andrew Henderson Senior Onscreen Producer: Paul Johnston Senior Print Producer: Simon Holdaway Design Director: Eeuwout Baart Production Company: Goodoil Films Director: JH Beetge Producer: Andrew McLean DOP: Germain McMicking Editor: Dan Lee Sound Company: Rumble Studios Sound Engineer: Tone Aston Composer: Cam Ballantyne Beatworms Post Production: Fin Design + Effects Executive Producer: Alistair Stephen VFX Supervisors: Justin Bromley & Stuart White Photography company: Flint management Photographer: Toby Dixon | BY Ricki Green | Nikon Australia has today announced a joint-venture marketing partnership with Tourism New Zealand to demonstrate the capabilities of the new KeyMission 360 action camera through a series of video content pieces showcasing stunning New Zealand scenery. This is the first time Nikon Australia has partnered with a tourism body, shooting a content campaign solely with the Nikon KeyMission 360 to represent New Zealand in a unique and immersive way. (Please note videos must be viewed in Chrome web browsers) The KeyMission 360 is the leading camera in Nikons new Action range of shock/water/cold and dustproof cameras, and is capable of recording 360-degree video in 4K UHD. Action-ready, tough and wearable, both video and still images can be shared seamlessly with phones and smart devices through Nikons SnapBridge apps to deliver content that is interactive to the viewer when uploaded onto YouTube and Facebook platforms. Footage for the campaign was captured in November 2016, across three stunning locations: Doubtful Sound, Bay of Plenty and Auckland. The joint-venture marketing campaign will see Tourism New Zealand promote the footage globally from January 2017 across digital and social media in three short videos (15 seconds in length) and three longer videos (60 seconds in length), with all content including a Nikon credit. Nikon Australia will leverage the same footage with Tourism New Zealand branding for additional marketing purposes across its My Nikon Life online community with reference to Tourism New Zealand branding. Says John Young, marketing manager, Nikon Australia says the partnership is a natural fit as New Zealand is an appealing destination to photographers and travellers alike. Says Young: New Zealands renowned scenery has proven to be the perfect stage to show the world the exciting capabilities that 360-degree filming can deliver. With the KeyMission 360, images are combined in-camera to create a single realistic and high definition 360 image output, and the robust design means its ready for outdoor adventures virtually anywhere. As the leading camera in our new action range, the KeyMission 360 creates immersive content that truly places the viewer at the heart of the action to provide a more exciting and absolute imaging experience than weve ever delivered before. Tony Saunders, general manager, Australia, Tourism New Zealand says the partnership will demonstrate New Zealands beauty in an exceptional way, and is the perfect way to entice visitors to New Zealand. Says Saunders: The nature of the KeyMission 360 is incredibly immersive and will give viewers the feeling they are in fact experiencing these activities in New Zealand. Leveraging 360 photography to promote New Zealand is an opportunity to add depth and richness to our country and promote autumn travel. The KeyMission 360, the first of Nikons action cameras, along with a variety of dedicated accessories, is on sale now. Two other cameras complete the range, the KeyMission 170, for wide 170-degree action, and the wearable KeyMission 80 for instant action shots and video content. How to view the interactive content: Mobile: Tilt your phone and move it around to explore. Desktop: Move your mouse over the image to get the full 360 degree experience. | BY Lynchy | A new advertising campaign, created by Ogilvy Australia, showcasing excellence in Victorias defence industry, has been unveiled by the Andrews Labor Government to help secure major defence contracts, attract investment and create jobs. Minister for Industry and Employment Wade Noonan said the Defence Excellence Mission Possible campaign will boost the visibility of Victorias defence industry, and promote its aerospace, land and maritime capabilities. The campaign aims to help secure future Commonwealth defence projects including LAND 400 Phase 2, which will see the development of 225 Combat Reconnaissance Vehicles to replace the current Australian Light Armoured Vehicle fleet. Victoria has a proven track record with military land vehicles through its expertise in engineering, design and technology, as well as strong research and development sectors and a world-class tertiary system. The six month campaign begins today, featuring in industry publications and defence supplements in major newspapers as well as on billboards at Canberra Airport. It will roll out to parts of Melbourne next month. The Labor Government has a proposal with the two shortlisted bidders for the LAND 400 Phase 2 project BAE Systems Australia and Rheinmetall Defence to base their project activities in Victoria. The Government is also a major sponsor of the Australian International Airshow 2017 which begins in late February. Monday, January 23, 2017 at 6:23PM Samsung is looking to avoid the mishap of the Galaxy Note7 by introducing a new testing process as well as forming a battery advisory board. The latter will be comprised by academics from the likes of Cambridge, Berkeley, and Stanford. The former will be implemented for all lithium ion batteries in Samsung products. The first three stepsdurability, visual inspection, and X-rayas well as open circuit voltage tests are already being conducted on batteries but now Samsung says the testing has been enhanced and will be done more frequently. As you see above, the other tests include charge and discharge tests, tests of total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), disassembling tests, and accelerated usage tests. Itll take some time for Samsung to win back the trusts of consumers but taking steps to make sure they do that is a step in the right direction. Source: The Verge And Canberra is at the centre of Australia's space surge. UNSW Canberra has committed $10 million a year for five years to build a space program in the capital, while the government and the Australian National University have committed tens of millions of dollars to different projects and infrastructure. It's an industry worth more than $300 billion internationally - and the ACT is keen to cash in. NB-IoT is one of the finalised standards released last year by the 3GPP last year for low-powered wide area networks (LPWAN), along with LTE-M and ECGSMAOT. The GSMA is predicting 5.5 billion NB-IoT devices will be in use by 2021. With the launch in Valencia and Madrid, Vodafone becomes one of the first operators to rollout the technology through a commercial network. It will then expand coverage to include Barcelona, Bilboa, Malaga and Seville by the end of March 2017. Vodafone expects to have more than 1,000 mobile sites supporting NB-IoT in Spain by the end of Q1, with each site able to connect more than 100,000 devices, and increasing signal coverage area by up to seven times. The deployment, which was carried out with Huawei, uses Vodafones existing 800MHz spectrum, which it said is the best use for its 4G airwaves, increasing signal strength and coverage. "Using licensed spectrum means we also provide customers with the same levels of security as 4G and that the service will not be subject to potential disruption like alternative technologies utilising unlicensed spectrum. "To launch NB-IoT we just needed to update the software in existing base stations. In Valencia that took just a few hours, which was really fast when you consider that it can take up to a year to add a new 3G or 4G mobile site to a mobile network." Vodafone has also worked with Nokia and Telit to trial NB-IoT in lab tests in Dusseldorf. Huawei has also been a key proponent of the technology, working with Telia to launch an NB-IoT network in Norway and MTNin Africa. The 3,900 km Hong Kong Guam Cable System (HK-G) is due to begin operation in January 2020, with 100Gbps transmission. No price was given for the project. The cable is being planned by RTI Connectivity, a private cable developer set up by US entrepreneurs in Singapore. The contract will partially use capital from the Fund Corporation for the Overseas Development of Japans ICT and Postal Services (Japan ICT Fund) NEC is delighted to be selected as the supplier of the HK-G submarine cable planned by RTI Connectivity, said Toru Kawauchi, general manager of NECs submarine network division. With Guam becoming a new hub in the Pacific, we look forward to helping the RTI group of companies provide for the expanding Asia-Pacific demand for more connectivity. A map published by NEC indicated three possible extensions, to Taiwan, the Philippines and Vietnam. The HK-G cable is due to connect in Guam with the SEA-US system that directly connects south-east Asia to the US, which NEC began constructing in March 2015. The SEA-US project is backed by a related company, RTI Cable, whose founder, president and CEO is Russ Matulich, who has provided advisory services to subsea projects in the Asia-Pacific region. From January 2002 to December 2010, he was managing director for the Asia-Pacific region of TE SubCom formerly Tyco Telecommunications. According to Singapore records, RTI Connectivity was set up in September 2015. CHATHAM Although the chief reason most voters at Monday night's special town backed the purchase of the Eldredge Garage property was to expand downtown parking, the land could be put to a number of other uses, according to town officials. Open space, public rest rooms, and even workforce housing are among the possible uses for the 1.4 acre site. Selectmen will have the ultimate authority to decide the use, although funds to improve the property will require town meeting approval. By a 277 to 26 vote, the meeting approved spending $2.5 million to acquire the property at 365 Main St. Many saw it as an opportunity to preserve the last major piece of downtown open space. I think it makes sense to preserve this unique property on the east end of Main Street, and preserve its future use in some way, said Chairman of Selectman Jeffrey Dykens. It took voters less than 90 minutes to complete the 11-article warrant. In addition to the Eldredge Garage purchase, voters agreed to add a lot in West Chatham to adjacent open space, took care of a number of housekeeping measures and approved two articles designed to assist property owners having difficulty paying back taxes. Selectmen previously rejected purchase of the Eldredge Garage because of the possibility of contamination from years of use as a service station. They changed their position after a group of business owners and residents, concerned that the potential to add much-needed parking to downtown could be lost if the property were to be developed, stepped in and negotiated a purchase and sales agreement with the Eldredge family. The group provided financing and guidance to help the family undertaken an environmental assessment of the land a final report is in the works and develop a plan to remove the historic garage/livery building, which although historic was determined to be unsafe. We felt the town must have the option to protect the property from intense development, said Wayside Inn owner David Oppenheim, the group's spokesman. They also wanted to honor the wishes of the late family patriarch William Eldredge, who wanted the town to have the opportunity to buy the land that had been in his family for more than 100 years. It is the last major piece of open space downtown, Oppenheim said. Selectmen backed the purchase 4-1, while the finance committee endorsed it unanimously after flip-flopping several times, said Norma Avellar. Ultimately the committee decided public ownership of the land would enhance Main Street, she said, adding that those who will decide how to use it will have the most exciting job this year. It could be many things, many things that invite people downtown, she said. The land currently has about 60 parking spaces, and Selectman Dean Nicastro said he could see about 20 to 30 more being added, but no more than 90. We don't want it to look like a cheesy parking lot. Other uses he envisions for the property include open space land at the rear overlooks Mill Pond rest rooms and renovation of the gas station building, which will be preserved, to house historical memorabilia about the property. But his main purpose in supporting the purchase was to keep the land, which could be worth as much as $3 million as single-family house lots, from being developed either residentially or commercially, which would only add to the downtown parking problems, Nicastro said. This is the last opportunity the town of Chatham will have to protect this property from development, Nicastro said. Michael Westgate suggested the property could also be used to build workforce housing to help keep young people in the community. This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of that part of Chatham, he said. Seth Taylor was the lone voice of opposition on the board of selectmen. He said he could not support the purchase given the expenses he sees down the road and urged voters to judge for themselves whether the cost of the land was worth the benefits. In a perfect world I would love to own the property, I truly would, but in my world, having analyzed the cost of this to the town...I couldn't justify the cost versus the potential benefit, he said. Resident Norman Pacun pointed out that the article did not include funding for improvements to the property, which he estimated could cost a half million dollars or more. Exactly what we are paying for tonight is unknown, he said. Voters are giving the board of selectmen carte blanche to decide the property's future. Surely this is a decision that we at town meeting ought to be able to make, he said. Finance committee member Florence Seldin said the article was to authorize the purchase of the property and any additional expenditure would need town meeting approval. The finance committee asked that the board of selectmen have public discussions about the property's future, she added. David Lycos suggested the vote be put off until the annual town meeting. But downtown merchant Scott Hamilton said timing is an issue and urged voters not to miss the opportunity we have tonight to do the right thing. Voters approved $125,000 in Land Bank funds to purchase a buildable lot on Valley Farm Road that is smack dab in the middle of 18 acres of open space owned by the town and Chatham Conservation Foundation, said Jack Farrell. The Foundation will contribute $55,000 toward the purchase to keep this 18-acre parcel pristine forever, he said. Also approved were two articles aimed to address issues related to delinquent property taxes. One creates a town bylaw that allows the town to waive up to half of the interest owned on back taxes on properties in tax title, provided the entire principal is paid. There are 56 properties currently in tax title, said Finance Director Alix Heilala, and if all applied approximately $170,000 in interest is eligible for the waiver. An article seeking a moral obligation tax abatement a term Moderator William Litchfield took exception to, but said had been used as shorthand allows the town to use $7,197 from the overlay surplus to cover outstanding taxes and interest on a Habitat for Humanity house resulting from numerous errors dating back to 2002. Both Taylor and Selectman Amanda Love, who formerly worked in the tax collector's office, opposed the measure, saying the property owner was responsible for making sure the assessment was correct and apply for an abatement. Love said the state department of revenue rejected the abatement and she worried about the precedent the measure could set. Others cited errors on the part of the town and a bank and numerous unsuccessful attempts by the property owner and Habitat to get to the bottom of the situation. This was not fair and she has been trying for years to get to this resolved, said long-time Habitat volunteer Nancy Erskine. Dykens said the article's approval would not set a precedent and the circumstances were unique, the holes in Swiss cheese lining up. Selectmen spent hours discussing the issue, which he said should have just been a housekeeping measure. Voters agreed and approved the article on a voice vote. Voters also reauthorized the filing of two home-rule petitions with the legislature, paid outstanding bills, approved three budget adjustments and authorized $375,000 from water revenue to accelerate the replacement of old water meters with new automated meters. With the current door-to-door system, it takes about three months to read all the water meters in town; the automated meters can all be read in a matter of days. This April, my parents and I are flying to London for their very first trip overseas, and my first trip to Europe. We got a spectacular deal on plane tickets, but everything else is up in the air. And since you ladies were so incredibly helpful before my Cuba trip, I thought this was the perfect way to start the in-depth planning. Were traveling in early April, so I know it will be rainy and chilly. What would you pack? I would like to stay in Mayfair or Kensington so that were close to many of the attractions we want to see. Do you have favorite neighborhoods, hotels/airbnbs, restaurants? We have seven days in London, so were considering taking two days to travel somewhere else. I wanted to go to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches, but its difficult to get there from London. Were considering Paris, but that seems to be a destination that needs more than a few days. So now, were talking about taking a flight to Barcelona or traveling to Scotland or Ireland. Have any of you ladies combined trips before or been to these destinations? Also, you ladies had the best tips before Cuba. Things that werent even in the professional guidebooks, you knew about it. You were basically lifesavers. So what do I need to know about Europe? Im sure most of you, if youre anything like my girlfriends back in D.C., have been to London. So Im excited to hear your thoughts. And Im sure my Mother, who is nervous about what and how much to pack will appreciate it, too. I cant wait to read your comments. [image found here] Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Teach them when they are young so believes the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education as it has decided to include a chapter on demonetisation and cashless economy in the Class XII textbook of economics. "Looking at the present scenerio in which government is pushing for cashless economy, the board has decided to include a chapter on demonetisation and cashless economy in the text book of economics of Class XII," Meghna Chaudhary, Secretary of the board, told PTI today. She said directions to the officials to start the process for the same has been issued. The new chapter will be introduced from the next academic session. The Rajasthan government has been taking steps to make the Centre's idea of a cashless economy a reality. Ajmer is among the top five districts in the country to go cashless in a major way. Jaipur Metro has also gone cashless with the entire transaction of purchasing tickets made cashless. How do demonetisation and digital economy help in boosting educational sector and Skill India? Rachit Jain, Founder & CEO - Youth4work.com explains how in this article. In its efforts to create opportunities for skill development in the country, India's government constantly studies to provide students with the technical knowledge of various vocations. Click here to read the complete story. There is good news for MBA aspirants who are giving their CAT to get into IIM. The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) is planning to add 800 seats under an expansion plan suggested by the government. In a proposal submitted to the government, IIM - A plans to increase from 860 to at least 1,200 seats in its ostentatious two-year MBA course, the post-graduate programme (PGP) in management. Also, in the post-graduate programme for executives (PGPEX), fellow programmes and other similar courses another 400 seats would be added, it is learnt. The time taken for the expansion might go up to five years after obtaining the approval from the government. Currently there are 1,100 students in IIM-A. The proposal has come after the Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry urged IIM to admit more students into their batches. "IIMs are willing to expand and have submitted their proposals to the ministry last year. It is much more practical to strengthen the existing IIMs that are already a brand name rather than concentrating on constructing new ones," a ministry official said. The expansion would happen in a phased manner over three years, IIM-A would add seats to PGP. In the next two years, PGPEX and other courses would do the same. There are 20 IIMs in the country which are autonomous but depend on government aid. Newly added colleges to the existing list of IIMs likethe ones in Amritsar and Ranchi are finding difficulty to get faculty and improving their hostel and infrastructure facilities. Earlier, last year in September, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar had announced that IIMs would double the number of students, as he also talked about improving hostel facilities, hiring new faculty, and more research. However, funds from the Ministry play an important role in improving the facilities of the colleges. Sources said in case the ministry can't bankroll the expansion, IIMs would be asked to raise money through higher education financing authority, a non-banking corporation that offers affordable loans to educational institutions for infrastructure and research. Also, Javadekar-led IIT council recommended increasing the seats in the premier engineering institutes to 100,000 by 2020. IIM Bangalore to Host Workshop on Creative Sustainability IIM Calcutta has launched Executive Program in Applied Finance to help build a successful career in the field of Corporate Finance in association with Training.com- a multi-modal learning platform of NIIT for Advanced Learning Programs. Mode of Instruction The program will be delivered through a combination of online and offline modes. The online component will be in a direct-to-device mode delivered through training.com. In addition, the program will also have campus visit components at IIM Calcutta. Key Objectives The program aims to create high-impact learning experience by bridging the gap between quality, affordability and accessibility. The 12 months Executive Program in Applied Finance will provide in-depth knowledge in the frontiers of finance that is required for a successful professional in the corporate sector, banks, and financial institutions. Eligibility Professionals seeking to develop their careers in Corporate Finance with a background in MBA Finance, CA, CS etc. can apply for this program. Applicants should be a graduate (10+2+3 or equivalent) in any discipline with a minimum of 50% marks (Aggregate). They should also have a work experience of at least 2 years. On successful completion of the program the participant will receive a certificate of successful completion from IIM Calcutta. The candidates will also be awarded an Alumni status by IIM Calcutta. Websites What organisers have to say Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Udai Singh, Head, New Business Initiatives, NIIT Ltd. said, "NIIT has played a pioneering role in redefining the education and training sector in India through technological & pedagogical innovations in the space. With the launch of Applied Finance program through training.com in collaboration with IIM Calcutta, we aim to help professionals in developing their ability to create greater value for their organization." Professor Subir Bhattacharya, Chairperson, Long Duration Programmes, IIM Calcutta, said, "Today online learning holds the key towards making quality content accessible to learners across geographies. Being a leading management educational institutions, we would like to make the best of content available to young professionals. With this aim, we have joined hands with NIIT to deliver high quality content in management education in a direct-to-device mode, through its multi modal learning platform- Training.com." More on the program The Executive Program in Applied Finance will be taught with the help of case studies, live corporate examples and general discussions. In order to provide greater industry insights, business leaders from the different industries will be invited to share their experiences. This is the 12th batch of the EPAF Program and the first batch being conducted in the live online interactive mode through www.training.com. IIM - Ahmedabad to Increase Student Intake Soon : Proposal Submitted to Government Sometimes its good to be reminded of just how good a car is by giving it go once more. In the case of the Mitsubishi Xpander, its the smal... While this accident may look horrific from afar, thankfully the rider was OK and even managed to get up almost immediately after the impact. Crashing your motorcycle into a car is supremely dangerous at just about any speed. Weve seen these types of incidents over and over again. The only thing we can say about the rider in this instance is that perhaps he should have been more careful approaching that intersection. His speed seemed a bit high too. Other than that, its definitely the driver of the Honda CR-V whos at fault. Not only did he assume the coast was clear and initiated his right turn, he also did so without at least stopping for a second in front of the truck that was recording the action. Stopping and looking again could have prevented the entire accident. The angle of the impact was also a positive factor, believe it or not. It decreased the riders forward momentum significantly, allowing him to hit the ground with less force. Video courtesy of Tony via Dash Cam Owners Australia VIDEO China is proving to be such an important market for premium automakers that Cadillac believes it could soon overtake the United States as its largest market. In 2016, sales of Cadillac models in the U.S. dropped by 3 per cent whereas deliveries in China skyrocketed by 46 per cent to 116,406 units, about 53,000 behind U.S. figures. Consequently, company president Johan de Nysschen recently told Automotive News that China could become the firms largest market within three years. We are moving Cadillac from having this very strong U.S.-centric focus to having a global focus. The time will come when we will sell more Cadillacs in China than here, he said. Despite rising sales in China, not everything is perfect for Cadillac. The brand wont launch any significantly new models in the next 18 months, causing some concern among U.S. dealers. Additionally, sales of the luxurious CT6 are unlikely to swell beyond the 1,200 units that were sold monthly in the second half of 2016. Cadillac also has just a single crossover on sale, the XT5, despite this segment of the industry exploding in popularity in the last 18 months. According to reports, Cadillac is developing three new crossovers as an answer to this demand but de Nysschen confirmed that they wont launch in the immediate future. The majority of our portfolio is exposed to downdraft, while we cant really capitalize adequately on all the opportunities that exist with the swing of demand into crossovers. Now, this will be remedied, of course, over time as we expand our portfolio, but in the meantime it is our reality, he said. PHOTO GALLERY While the 1959 CERV I looks nothing like the Chevrolet Corvette of today, the legendary experimental prototype could be considered the spiritual predecessor to some of the most fabled Corvette generations ever. Developed largely by race car driver and Chevrolet engineer Zora Akrus-Duntov, the CERV I served as a test bed for the American automaker to better develop the handling of its various models. When completed, CERV I weighed a mere 726 kg (1,600 lbs) and was powered by a small V8 engine delivering 350 hp. Later CERV prototypes followed, but few are as desirable as the original and over the weekend, the car crossed the auction block. For the past 21 years, the model has been owned by the Yager Family Collection and when the hammer fell at Barrett-Jacksons Scottsdale auction, CERV I fetched a respectable $1.2 million, excluding the sellers commission, bringing the total price to $1.32 million. While the name of the buyer hasnt been released, it is reported that it was none other than General Motors itself meaning the car could eventually be displayed at the GM Heritage Center in Michigan. PHOTO GALLERY At Marchs Geneva Motor Show, Mitsubishi will premiere its rival to the Nissan Qashqai and thanks to a UK publications review of a prototype, we have some juicy new details about the model. According to Auto Express, the new Mitsubishi SUV will likely be dubbed the Eclipse and have a design closely mimicking the bright red XR-PHEV Concept II from the Geneva Motor Show in 2015. That means that the Eclipse will include the same sleek roofline, aggressive front fascia and edgy panels. Beneath the skin, a shortened version of the Outlanders platform can be found but it has been lightened and strengthened for the Eclipse. Additionally, the SUV comes standard with a multi-link rear axle and the availability of the companys electronically controlled S-AWC all-wheel drive system that allows torque to be funnelled to the wheel with the most grip. Although details about the full range of engines isnt known at this early stage, a new 1.5-liter turbo petrol mated to a CVT and four-wheel drive could prove the most popular. A 2.2-liter diesel will also be available as will front-wheel drive options and a six-speed manual. Stay tuned for more details about the Mitsubishi Eclipse in the coming weeks. PHOTO GALLERY Photo: Flickr- B.C. gov't If you have $5,000 sitting around and don't know what to do with it, you could have some one-on-one time with B.C. Premier Christy Clark. Somewhere in Kelowna on Thursday, Clark, MLA for Westside-Kelowna, will host a pricey private fundraising dinner, The Vancouver Province reports. The paper cites leaked emails about the event: "An outstanding dinner experience," as Kelowna-Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick described it. Read more. Photo: Flickr/BC Gov't Minister of Forests Steve Thomson is welcoming the provincial announcement of job training tax credits in the timber harvesting industry. Premier Christy Clark made the announcement at the Truck Logger Associations 74th annual convention last week. The average age of a tree faller is 57, Clark told the convention. Youve got a 50 per cent retirement rate that youre looking down the barrel at over the next five years. David Elstone, TLA executive director, said the funding is a landmark ... for timber harvesting contractors and for the forest industry as a whole. Thomson, MLA for Kelowna-Mission, said he's pleased the timelines are quick. Im really pleased we are able to respond, listen and move it forward with the urgency and the timing that the associations have been advocating for," he said. An independent facilitator will be in place by March 31. Elstone characterized it as "the most important announcement for contractors in years. You cant send someone to school for logging. So much of the work has to be learned on the ground from people whove worked in the industry a long time. Its really an apprentice-type situation. The TLA represents 470 independent forest contractors and their suppliers in British Columbia. These tax credits will help pass on the unwritten and essential knowledge timber harvesting contractors close to retirement have learned over their multi-decade careers, explained Elstone. This will not only help contractors but the industry as a whole in ensuring the supply chain continues to deliver logs efficiently. Photo: The Canadian Press A controversial plan that would have denied BC Ferries passengers access to the car decks has been put on hold. The company said in December it planned to ban passengers from closed decks when the vessels are in motion for safety reasons. Ferries spokeswoman Deborah Marshall said Monday the company continues to work with Transport Canada to resolve outstanding details. The initial proposal met a negative response from passengers, many of whom said they like to sleep in their car on sailings. She also confirmed BC Ferries is working on a plan to phase out all smoking on vessels. with files from CTV Vancouver Island Photo: Contributed It wasnt me! A quick internet search will take you to the hilarious farting scene in Rocket Man. Two astronauts in space suits are connected by a hose. One astronauts space suit balloons up with gas pressure after the sound of a fart. A gas bubble slowly moves along the hose to the other astronaut who gasps and gags from the smell. The first astronaut says it wasnt me." Its about as ridiculous as your four year old, confronted by a crayon drawing on the wall saying it wasnt me." Oh, OK then. I suppose it was Daddy who did that? Avoiding responsibility for our actions seems to be a natural human instinct. It is the most common challenge Ive faced as an employer. I value those who buck that natural instinct and accept responsibility without hesitation and defensiveness. How else do we learn, if not from our mistakes? A particularly heinous example of responsibility avoidance is the hit and run. It happens more often than you might think. Offenders have a split second choice to make: face the consequences or take off. If driving impaired or without insurance, or a significant increase in your insurance rates would result, the chance of avoiding consequences might well outweigh the risk of an added charge for leaving the scene of a crash. This is one area of the law where Id like to see much stiffer penalties. I want that split second cost/benefit analysis to weigh heavily in favour of sticking around. Sticking around can make a life or death difference to a critically injured victim. It can also make a significant difference to a victims ability to recover fair, financial compensation for injuries and losses. When the negligent driver sticks around, compensation for the injured victims losses is paid by the offending drivers liability insurance company. What about in a hit-and-run scenario? We are fortunate in British Columbia to have a protection that kicks in to provide compensation in hit-and-run situations. A victim must follow certain steps in order to qualify for that protection, though. These are steps that the insurance company is under no obligation to tell you about. The part of the law that hit-and-run victims are often in the dark about is the legal onus to take all reasonable efforts to ascertain the identity of the unknown driver and owner of the offending vehicle. Most people think its enough to report the incident to the police and ICBC, giving whatever information you have to assist them in their investigation. Its not enough. Innocent victims have had their claims dismissed for not doing more. Post a notice in the newspaper or online news site, use social media, post notices on power poles at the scene. Ask witnesses to the crash, or anyone seeing a damaged vehicle matching your description, to come forward. Ask auto body shops to be on the lookout. The odds of these efforts actually leading to the identification of the offending driver are slim to none, but thats not the point. The point is satisfying your legal obligation, because failure to do so could result in your entitlement to fair compensation disappearing. Do you know of someone who has been the victim of a hit and run? Please enlighten them. It might not be too late for them to take these steps if they havent been taken already. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: BC Hydro The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a legal challenge filed by two First Nations of the $8.8-billion Site C dam project in northeast British Columbia. The Prophet River First Nation and the West Moberly First Nations appealed a Federal Court judge's decision to deny their application for a judicial review of the project's environmental approvals. The aboriginal bands are among those who signed Treaty 8 in 1899, a historic agreement that grants beneficiaries hunting, trapping and fishing rights within treaty territory. Prophet River and West Moberly argued the environmental review process for Site C should have assessed the scope of their treaty rights and determined whether the project infringed them. A panel of three Federal Appeal Court judges issued a unanimous decision today upholding the earlier ruling, which found the environmental review process was not an appropriate venue to draw conclusions about treaty rights. The process, conducted jointly by the federal and provincial governments, did examine the effects of Site C on Aboriginal Peoples, and the judge ruled the Crown had fulfilled its duty to consult. Photo: Contributed British Columbia hopes to reduce the over-representation of indigenous children in government care with a new aboriginal family court pilot program. The Aboriginal Family Healing Court Conference pilot program will be based in New Westminster, B.C., and limited to hearing family case conferences after an initial court hearing has already been held. The program will include band elders in proceedings, supports families to create a healing plan with treatment options, and cultural ceremonies to mark the progress. Chief Clifford White of the Gitxaala Nation on B.C.'s northern coast says the initiative is an aboriginal-led solution and the hope is that communities can adapt the model to use in child-welfare cases. Children's Minister Stephanie Cadieux says the project complements several recommendations made by Grand Chief Ed John in his special report issued last November on how the current system is failing aboriginal children and families. The portion of indigenous kids in B.C.'s care has increased over the past decade, from 50 per cent in 2006 to 61 per cent last year, and Premier Christy Clark's government has faced fierce criticism on the issue. B.C. has several First Nations courts, which handle sentencing in criminal cases in four communities across the province, and the concept of an aboriginal family court has been in development since 2012. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Pakistan: Cherat plans third production line 24 January 2017 Pakistan cement producer Cherat Cement Company has disclosed that it will undertake another expansion of some 2.34Mta (7100tpd) at its existing site of Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, in north of the country. Azam Faruque, Cherat Cement's CEO has informed Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that it would take its total cement capacity to around 4.64Mta. The Board of Directors has authorised the company's management to finalise terms and conditions for the procurement and supply of equipment and conclude all necessary agreements for execution of project. Last week Cherat Cement completed its second kiln line, including a waste heat recovery plant (WHRP), to take capacity to 2.4Mta. As both existing plants have ~6MW WHRPs, it is likely that the announced expansion will also see the construction of a WHRP, according to a local research house, JS Research. Cherat Cements latest expansion plan will be entirely financed by debt, costing close to PKR13bn, according to JS Research. The financial close is expected in the next couple of weeks and the production line may become operational by the second half of 2016-17. In broader picture, it believes that production from the newly commissioned production line would be the major price trigger, since the announced expansion would at least take 38 months from now to come online where other players would also be adding to the countrys capacity. Industry officials say the Pakistani cement industry is currently investing at least US$700m to US$1bn in expansions. Now including the recent two announcements, the level of investment in the cement industry goes up from US$1.05bn to US$1.35bn in the last two years alone. Published under Jordan: AUCBM opens regional office in Amman 24 January 2017 The Arab Union for Cement and Building Materials (AUCBM) is opening a regional office in Amman. The office is headed by Eng Khaled Tarawneh, gneral manager of Arab Company for White Cement Industry and AUCBM board member. "The opening of the regional office is an important step towards supporting AUCBM General Secretariat to serve member companies, particularly in the field of training employees and workers in cement factories as well as organising the events adopted by AUCBM Board of Directors in its annual plans," the organisation said in a statement. Published under US citizens and Orthodox Jews were the targets of suicide bombers in Brussels Zaventem Airport in March 2016, a report citing investigation sources said, adding that one of the bombers decided to pursue 2 Jews, instead of 60 high school students. The report released by AFP, which contacted investigators from different countries probing the attack, states that the Brussels attackers were not targeting random people. "It's clear they had quite specific targets We know they wanted to target Americans," one source said on condition of anonymity, adding that one of the suicide bombers "attacked the [US] Delta Airlines check-in." "We know they were obsessed with the Israelis too," the source added when asked if the bomber targeted Israeli check-ins. Four American citizens were among the casualties in the Brussels bombings, according to data from the US State Department. Two Israeli citizens were injured in the attacks. One of the suicide bombers in Zaventem Airport, Najim Laachraoui, a Belgian-Moroccan national, was reportedly standing among about 60 high school students before the attack happened, camera footage never released to the public showed, AFP reports. The extremist, however, suddenly decided to pursue two Orthodox Jews. "The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews," one of the sources said. "He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew." Another source, this time from US law enforcement agencies, claimed that Hasidic Jews were the targets of the terrorists. Hasidic Jews are easy to recognize they wear beards, kippahs (a brimless cap, usually made of cloth) and peyots (sidecurls). Investigators "are very confident they were targeting the US, Russia, and Israel," the US government source added. According to airport data, seen by AFP, flights to the US (United American Delta, Russia's Aeroflot, and Israel's El Al) were scheduled right after the attack, which took place at nearly 8:00am. This information has been circulating in the Belgian media ever since. Unconfirmed reports from June 2016 claimed that Khalid El Bakraoui, one of the suicide bombers, received messages stating that planes from the US, Russia, and Israel take off every Tuesday from Zaventem. Another US source also confirmed the 'specific target' theory on condition of anonymity. "Even early on [in the investigation] there were indications that they targeted US, Russian and Israeli check-in counters," the source said. "That understanding has held up with later investigations, including with [Mohamed] Abrini's alleged confession." Abrini, a Belgian national of Moroccan origin, was captured shortly after the attacks, and later admitted to prosecutors that he was involved in suicide bombings in Brussels. He was also accused of assisting the Paris attacks in 2015. Unreleased airport CCTV footage allegedly shows Abrini lagging behind the attackers before hiding behind a pillar, AFP said, citing two independent sources. Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) will tour Cleveland High School, Walker Valley High School and Hardwick Clothes Tuesday as he continues to monitor the Labor Education Alignment Program. The program, sponsored by Senator Norris, provides for cooperative efforts between government, education and businesses to fill the skills gaps in the local workforce pool, while increasing the number of Tennesseans with post-secondary degrees. The Cleveland High School tour will begin at 10 a.m. at 850 Raider Dr., while the Walker Valley High School tour will start at 11 a.m. at 750 Lauderdale Memorial Hwy. The Hardwick Clothes tour will begin at 1:30 p.m. at 3800 Old Tasso Road NE. Senator Norris will also meet with local leaders at a reception hosted by Bradley County Mayor Tom Rowland at 3 p.m. at the Holiday Inn Express on Paul Huff Parkway in Cleveland. A 2017 LEAP Report, released by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission about the program, notes that through the completion of LEAP 1.0, students from 51 counties participated in 19,847 training and workforce development experiences. Projects engaged students through a range of activities, including enhancing Career and Technical Education offerings, initiating new dual enrollment and dual credit courses in partner high schools, establishing or expanding new academic programs at Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology and community colleges, and facilitating employer engagement with students via professional training events, academic camps, job shadowing and internships. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission has requested a $20 million grant for LEAP during the 2017-2018 budget year. FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga received national recognition out of more than almost 650 locations worldwide at the 2017 FASTSIGNS Convention, which was held in Phoenix, Az.The locally owned and operated business received three awards including the Sales Achievement Award for Highest Volume Centers, which recognizes the top five centers in the FASTSIGNS network with the highest total sales volume; the CEO Circle Award, which recognizes the top 25 centers with the highest sales volume in the U.S.and Canada between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016; and the Million Dollar Award for achieving over $4 million in yearly sales.We are truly honored to be recognized as a top performing center in the country, said franchisee Phil Bacon, who owns FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga with his wife, Cindy. These awards reflect our entire teams dedication to helping businesses and organizations in the community tell their story, increase awareness and achieve their goals.FASTSIGNS of Chattanooga has been serving the area since 1990. The center is located at 3763 Powers Court and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.We thank our customers for their support and look forward to continue to provide comprehensive visual communications solutions in Chattanooga and the surrounding areas for many years to come, Mr. Bacon said. See Rock City (SRC), Inc. has selected Emily Clark as the recipient of the Martha Bell Miller Scholarship for 2016 in the amount of $2,000. This annual award honors Martha Bell Miller and her legacy of portraying the beloved Mother Goose at Rock City, as well as recognizing a current partner (employee) of SRC for his or her educational efforts. We are so excited to have Emily as our 2016 scholarship winner, said SRC President & COO Susan Harris. Almost as if Martha Bell herself envisioned it, Emily has changed and grown in her time working on our team, and the training opportunities she has received working here have fueled her educational dreams. With the scholarship now being renewable for up to four years, Emily will be able to finish her studies completely while working with us. We are incredibly proud of her and look forward to her future success. Clark began her work at Rock City on the food service team in 2013 and currently works in many food locations throughout SRC including helping with catering and setup for special events. She graduated from Dade County High School in 2015 and is attending the Advanced Emergency Medical Technician/paramedic program at Georgia Northwestern Technical College. She recently completed the Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) certification class offered by Rock City and serves as an EMR for guests and partners at the attraction. She has several family members who have also worked for SRC, including her mother Amy, the companys retail manager. In 2009, the scholarship committee at SRC made the decision to name the award after Martha Bell Miller, a lifelong educator and promoter of character and integrity, who dedicated her professional life to education. She worked as Mother Goose from 1983 2005, but her love of Rock City began on opening day in 1932 when she was one of its first visitors. Ma Goose as she was affectionately called, had a love for learning and for Rock City that is something the company hopes can be imitated and remembered well through this scholarship. The 15th class of the Cleveland/Bradley Youth Leadership program recently took a field trip to learn about Health and Social Services in Cleveland and Bradley County. Youth Leadership is an initiative of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce that serves to enhance the quality of life in our community at the student level by familiarizing future business leaders with the community and providing exposure to volunteer opportunities. On the field trip, the young leaders visited the Family Resource Agency Blythe Center and classrooms of the children served by this agency. They also visited Life Bridges, which helps people with intellectual/developmental disabilities, to learn how they teach these individuals to become more self-sufficient, train them to perform everyday tasks and help them to gain employment in the community. The students enjoyed lunch at Tennova HealthcareCleveland and toured departments that often affect the healthcare of individuals throughout the community. The students were asked to bring items to donate to The Caring Place food bank, which gave 106,110 pounds of food to those in need in 2015. The Caring Place also addresses basic spiritual, physical and social needs of the disadvantaged in the community. They also visited the United Way offices to learn about its goals in health, education and stability and how its services influence individuals and improve the foundations of our community. This is a very valuable trip for our students as they learn about needs in their own community and how they may volunteer and make a difference, said Sherry Crye, coordinator of the Youth Leadership program. The students were especially generous to The Caring Place and donated several pounds of food to be distributed. The success of the day was reflected in comments from the students: This day made me want to volunteer and reach out to places here. I enjoyed learning about all the service opportunities that I can get involved in. I also enjoyed learning about new opportunities for service in the area. Ms. Crye concluded, This is a great group of future leaders who see the needs and are willing to step up and get involved. Selection of the 16th class will take place soon. The Youth Leadership program is open to rising juniors and seniors from Bradley Central, Cleveland and Walker Valley High Schools and Tennessee Christian Preparatory School. The application will be available on the Chamber website in early February. If you have any questions about the program, please call Sherry Crye, 423-472-6587, or email scrye@clevelandchamber.com. A group of Lindblom Math & Science Academy high school students sure seem excited to be working on a sinking project. That's because it'll be be used to help research fish in the Antarctic. Advertisement The eight robotics enthusiasts worked through the weekend to make a device that will be used for a spring expedition to research Antarctic icefish, the only known vertebrates with no red blood cells. "We get experience. I get to say I was involved in a research project," said Faith Jones, a senior at the selective enrollment Chicago Public Schools high school in West Englewood. "And I get to use power tools. I love that." Advertisement Chris Hernandez, left, and Andrea Bossi, center, work on the Fish Spy as fellow student Faith Jones and her sister Joan look on. (Cheryl V. Jackson / Blue Sky) The time-lapse photography system, called Fish Spy, consists of a GoPro camera, a marine battery and an underwater light. It was shipped Monday morning. The Fish Spy will help provide new insights to the biology and ecology of the icefish by allowing researchers to study them in their natural habitat, said Kristin O'Brien, associate professor of biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It's the second time she and her team have worked with students from Lindblom to study the icefish. "We wanted to involve young people in our research because we're training the next generation of scientists," O'Brien said. "We want to encourage their interest in science and expose them to the many different career opportunities in science with the long-term goal of increasing diversity in science." Along with Elizabeth Crockett, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Ohio University, O'Brien is co-principal investigator on the expedition, scheduled to run from April through July. Little is known about the Antarctic icefish's reproductive biology, important for understanding population dynamics and for establishing commercial fishing policies in Antarctica, she said. The temperature and depths of the icefish's environment make the study of the animals challenging, she said. "Antarctica is a really unique environment, and it's fascinating and not something that students are exposed to in their general curriculum," O'Brien said. The Fish Spy project is led by Lindblom biology teacher Paula Dell, who has worked with the researchers over the past several years, after meeting through the PolarTREC program that allows teachers to participate in field research in polar regions. Advertisement It's the latest in a series of projects Dell has had students work on for the team, at researchers' requests. A different Lindblom student group in 2013 developed the first version of the Fish Spy, a more basic device a frame with a light and a camera tethered to the back of a ship used to get a couple of shots in more shallow water. This iteration will be launched with the researchers' fishing equipment and able to stay on its own on the sea floor. "This is kind of the next step up, where it's independent," Dell said. "They'll leave it down there for 24 hours." This group has been researching for the Fish Spy II after school since last school year, and began work more fervently in recent weeks as materials have come in. Dell and two students senior Christopher Hernandez and junior Alyssa Barker went to OceansWide over the summer, a marine science camp in Maine, where they were certified for scuba diving and learned about marine life. The researchers accounted for the Lindblom project in their research grant request from the National Science Foundation, and sent the school $3,300 to build the Fish Spy. Advertisement Most of the eight students are members of the school's robotics team and appreciated working on a project outside of competition. "This is a real world application of robotics," said Gustavo Tovar, a programmer who's on both teams. "Something that we make, something that we design, is going out there." Cheryl V. Jackson is a freelance writer. Twitter @cherylvjackson Craig Breedlove lent his record-breaking jet car to the Museum of Science and Industry 50 years ago. The car has been cut up and taken apart without Breedlove's knowledge generating a lawsuit. Jan. 23, 2017. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Craig Breedlove reached an agreement Monday with the Museum of Science and Industry over a lawsuit alleging his record-setting Spirit of America jet car was damaged during its 50 years on display. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, according to a joint statement released by Breedlove and the museum. Breedlove had been seeking $395,000 to cover estimated repair costs. Advertisement "For more than 50 years, millions of museum visitors were able to get an up-close view of the racecar," the joint statement said. "The confidential agreement fully resolves a lawsuit brought against the museum regarding the condition of the car." When Breedlove loaned his Spirit of America jet car to the Museum of Science and Industry in 1965, it was freshly repaired from a harrowing crash during a land speed record run at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Advertisement Fifty years later, the museum took the car off display and returned it in far worse shape than after the record-setting crash, Breedlove said in an interview with the Tribune. "Unquestionably, the damage from the museum was much, much more severe than the crash," Breedlove said. "It was in beautiful shape when we loaned it to them." Breedlove and his attorney were in Chicago on Monday for settlement discussions before a federal magistrate judge in their lawsuit against the museum, seeking funds to repair the historic jet car. Filed in June and amended in October, the lawsuit alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duty by the museum. Breedlove, now 79, designed, built and piloted the world's fastest car while still in his early 20s. In 1963, he became the first to cross the 400 mph threshold, and set a record the following year, topping 526 mph before crashing into a saltwater pool far beyond the course. It was the last time he drove the car. At the urging of his sponsors, the Spirit was cosmetically repaired and loaned to the Museum of Science and Industry for exhibition minus the jet engine, which was subsequently destroyed in a flood. Breedlove and the museum entered into an "oral agreement" that the car would be returned to him in the event it was pulled from display. "At the time, I was a young guy, I didn't have experience, I didn't have an attorney," Breedlove said. "It was something the sponsors wanted and the museum wanted it. It seemed like the right thing to do and they had this marvelous reputation. I just had no idea that something like this could happen." When the car was taken off display and shipped to his Rio Vista, Calif., home in October 2015, damage included exterior panels that no longer fit, stretched intake duct mountings for the jet engine and graffiti where schoolchildren carved their initials in the aluminum finish, Breedlove said. In addition, Breedlove said the vehicle's frame had been cut and "unprofessionally" rewelded, and the driver's seat was missing. The car was taken to a professional restoration shop, which estimated repair costs at $395,000. Advertisement "It was a real art piece and an icon in automotive history for the United States," Breedlove said. "I was just totally stunned at the condition. I couldn't believe the amount of damage that was done to it. I'm just broken-hearted over the thing." While Breedlove expected normal wear and tear over 50 years of kids' field trips and hands-on admirers, he said the decision to cut the car was by far the most damaging to the vehicle and his faith in the museum. Breedlove said he wasn't looking for damages only the cost of repair. He believes the car can be restored to its glory, and despite his "disappointing" experience with the Museum of Science and Industry, he may donate it to another museum for display. While the Spirit of America is permanently retired from racing, Breedlove, who turns 80 in a couple of months, hasn't lost his need for speed. He is hoping to help recapture the title of world's fastest car, currently held by England, with a new car and his son at the wheel. "We're hoping to put a car together for the United States to take them on," Breedlove said. "The good news is I won't have to drive it anymore." rchannick@chicagotribune.com Advertisement Twitter @RobertChannick President Donald Trump speaks alongside General Motors CEO Mary Barra (L) and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne (2nd R) during a meeting withautomobile industry leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, January 24, 2017. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images) President Donald Trump told the chief executives of the country's largest automobile manufacturers Tuesday that environmental regulations are "out of control" and pledged to make it easier for the companies to open assembly plants in the United States. Trump said that a "very big push" is underway to expand all manufacturing in the U.S. in an effort to create more of the long-term manufacturing jobs that he promised on the campaign trail. Many of the states where Trump scored victories, including Ohio and Michigan, are home to many U.S. auto plants. Advertisement Tuesday's meeting comes after Trump has taken to Twitter several times in recent weeks to lambaste automobile companies who manufacture cars in Mexico, where labor is cheaper and export laws more favorable. He has threatened to penalize companies who don't build in the U.S. with a hefty border tax. Chief executives Mary Barra of General Motors, Mark Fields of Ford and Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler attended the meeting, along with other top executives from their companies. Advertisement Trump said he plans to focus on "real regulations that mean something" and eliminate those that he finds to be inhospitable to business. The executives declined to answer questions after the meeting, including whether the president cited any specific regulations he would cut. "I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist, I believe in it, but it's out of control," Trump said. Vice President Mike Pence, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner were also in the meeting. Trump met Monday with business leaders from a smattering of industries, including Fields and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The president reportedly told executives that he intends to eliminate a majority regulations and "massively" cut corporate taxes, but that in return those companies must keep production in the U.S. and preserve American jobs. The CEOs were told to devise a "series of actions" that will boost U.S. manufacturing and submit those plans to Trump within the next 30 days. "I come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious about making sure that the United States economy is going to be strong and have policies on tax, regulatory or trade to drive that," Fields told reporters after Monday's meeting. "That encourages all of us as CEOs as we make decisions going forward. It was a very, very positive meeting." Though Trump spoke often on the campaign trail about the need to revive manufacturing across the economy, he narrowed in on the automotive industry in particular in the weeks following his election. Through his Twitter account, he separately criticized Ford, GM and Toyota for plans to build certain cars in Mexico and then sell them in the U.S. Trump threatened automotive companies that build abroad with a 35 percent tariff on goods imported to the U.S. for sale. That topic was discussed at length with executives at Monday's meeting, and whether Trump has the power to impose such a tax on select companies has been called into question. Advertisement Conversely, Trump has also praised automakers who pledged to invest in the U.S. and add jobs here - often taking credit for those decisions even when companies said they had been in the works for months or years. This month alone, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Toyota and Hyundai pledged to spend billions of dollars in the U.S. over the next several years on new factories, expanded production and hiring. The Washington Post's David Nakamura contributed to this report. Greg Callaham Graphic Design has won four American Graphic Design Awards. Graphic Design USA, a national trade publication, conferred four 2016 awards to Callaham's design work for Village VW, CHI Memorial Hospital, and Center MedSpa. "Im grateful to the AGDA for the opportunity to shine the national spotlight on clients such as these who are willing to go the extra mile in crafting consistent, memorable advertising and marketing messages," said Mr. Callaham. "That extra effort is worth it and this is the proof. Its something they can be very proud of." Mr. Callahams award-winning billboard design for Village VW features a photo of a red Volkswagen Beetle taken from slightly above so the car appears to be smiling. A clean car is a happy car, said the designer, And this board encouraged folks to visit the dealership for a great deal on a detail special. A Rehabilitation Brochure and a series of one-sheets touting the features and benefits of various therapies and maps to the corresponding departments garnered Callaham two more AGDA honors for CHI Memorial Hospital. Our challenge with these pieces was to incorporate all the pertinent information along with inviting photography while maintaining the CHI Memorials brand integrity, said Callaham. The staff of each department was very pleased to have these one-sheets representing their services to potential patients. The Rehabilitation Brochure was a marketing tool used to make patients aware of the overall rehabilitation options offered by CHI Memorial. Mr. Callaham also created an award-winning, two-piece campaign consisting of a postcard and 8.5x11 flyer promoting a client appreciation event for Center MedSpa. Both items feature beautiful photography of natural elements designed to instill a sense of tranquility while inviting the reader to visit the facility. The client works hard at building a market presence and my job was to make sure these materials were instantly recognizable as Center MedSpa collateral, said the designer. For 50 years the American Graphic Design Awards, through the editors of Graphic Design USA, has honored the outstanding work of creative professionals in the graphic arts community. To win an American Graphic Design Award means the entry is recognized as some of the best and brightest among thousands of entries from graphic design firms, advertising agencies, in-house corporate and institutional designers, publishers and other media across the United States, in 23 categories from print and packaging to internet and interactive design. Greg Callaham is the owner of Greg Callaham Graphic Design, a Chattanooga design studio delivering outstanding creative for outdoor advertising, the medical and rehabilitation device industry, catalogs and product brochures, logo design and corporate identity packages, and a wide range of other advertising and marketing materials to the global marketplace. Attractive common areas, such as a bright, well-designed lobby, can add to a building's property value. The lobby at The Lofts at River East in Chicago, pictured here, has modern finishes. (Group Fox) The decisions and priorities of community association boards govern the daily lives of their residents. But those actions also have a huge impact on selling prices. We asked several city and suburban real estate agents who work in the community association trenches for advice on how boards can improve or at least not deflate property values. Here are seven ways to do just that: Advertisement Be an excellent money manager. Buyers are savvy, and they or their attorneys ask pointed questions about the association's financial condition. If you can't pay your bills and your reserves are near zero, they lose interest, said Stephen Katsaros, a Redfin real estate agent in the northwest suburbs. "Buyers very well may not want to buy if the association faces issues like that," he said. "Or if they really want to live there, they will pay less." Advertisement "If there is a special assessment, buyers will most likely walk away," said Jeff Salhani at Re/Max At Home in Rolling Meadows. "In a lot of situations, the seller ends up paying that at closing, but it could be a big bill." Get FHA approval. Many buyers plan to use mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration these days. To do that, the entire association must be approved, not just the unit. The paperwork can pay off. "Most homeowner associations are not (approved), for a variety of reasons, so if you are, that will have an advantage," Katsaros said. Be a friend to animals. Buildings with dog bans seem to have a lot of service dogs and comfort animals these days. Some residents may be circumventing the rules, but that could be because dog ownership is so popular, said Santiago Valdez at Re/Max Premier Properties in Chicago. "Boards should review their rules and regulations more frequently to make them more up to date with what buyers are looking for," he said. "A lot of times people in a restrictive building don't share those beliefs anymore." Create a positive first impression. Keep lawns neatly groomed, adhere to a painting schedule and replace roofs as needed. "People want to pull into a subdivision that is well-maintained and nicely landscaped," Salhani said. "It's important to present the property properly, so you can get top dollar," Katsaros said. Advertisement Little things count. Katsaros owns a condo where outdoor receptacles for dog waste were installed. It's a small amenity that sends the message that people care about keeping the community clean, he said. Make common areas sparkle. Buyers don't like lobbies and hallways that are dark and dingy, said Rano Khudayberdieva, a Redfin real estate agent whose communities include Evanston, Skokie, Glenview and Wilmette. "Common areas are one of the biggest hurdles I face when helping condo buyers," said Khudayberdieva. "I recently had a client who liked the condo unit itself because it faced the woods and had a picturesque scene, but the hallway had a strong odor and was dated. He said it was depressing to walk through and can't imagine living there." Open the door to renters. Rental bans eliminate a large pool of buyers, whether they are investors or owner-occupants. Restrictive buildings can control renters while meeting owner needs with rental caps and hardship clauses, Valdez said. "Most buyers want the ability to rent out their unit at some point in the future because they don't want to be stuck with it and have to lower the price to sell it," he said. "If a property is rentable, you'll have more buyers," Salhani said. "That will potentially increase the value on the property when there is higher demand." Advertisement Stay out of court. Many lenders won't hand out mortgages on a unit if the association has an active lawsuit against it, Katsaros said. pmckuen@aol.com Watch our latest Real Estate videos. House Republicans are working on a major tax reform proposal that may entirely cut out or seriously restrict the use of tax-deferred "like kind" exchanges, known as property swaps, under Section 1031 of the tax code. (Gary Waters / Getty Images) WASHINGTON The small-scale owners of millions of rental homes, parcels of investment land and income-producing commercial and business real estate might not know it, but one of their key financial planning and tax tools is in danger of disappearing on Capitol Hill. House Republicans are working on a major tax reform proposal that, as part of an overall streamlining of the Internal Revenue Code and reduction in tax rates, may eliminate or seriously restrict the use of tax-deferred exchanges property swaps under Section 1031 of the code. President Donald Trump has identified tax reform as one of his top priorities, and legislation is expected to move quickly in the new Congress. Advertisement In a tax-deferred exchange, owners can postpone recognition of gains on investment real estate when they swap one property for another of "like kind." The capital gains tax that would otherwise be due gets deferred until the owner sells the replacement property and receives cash. Under Section 1031, which has been part of the tax code since 1921, a rental house in Santa Barbara, Calif., might be exchanged for an investment duplex in suburban Chicago. Oklahoma farmland could be exchanged for rental condos in Washington, D.C.; Boston; or Miami. Exchanges also are used to further environmental protection objectives, such as through swaps involving conservation easements to preserve habitat and prevent future development. Advertisement To qualify for tax deferral, exchanges must follow a detailed set of IRS rules specifying the timing for identifying replacement properties and transaction closing deadlines. An entire industry of "qualified intermediaries" exists to facilitate exchanges by escrowing proceeds and administering transactions to comply with IRS rules. Fixer-upper houses and other real estate held for short periods and then flipped to new purchasers do not qualify for tax-deferred exchanges, nor do owner-occupied residences. Loss of the ability to use an exchange would be a significant blow to mom-and-pop and other small-scale realty investors. According to a study posted on the website of the National Rental Home Council, there were 15.7 million rental homes in the U.S. as of 2015, and 99 percent of them were owned by noninstitutional investors. A study by professors at the University of Florida and Syracuse University estimated that most exchanges involve relatively small properties; in 2011, 59 percent had a sale price of less than $1 million. Bill Horan of Realty Exchange Corp. in Gainesville, Va., discussed recent transactions that illustrate some of the objectives of tax-deferred property swaps. In one, a rental property owner exchanged it for two Dollar General stores. The owner "didn't want to be a daily landlord anymore," which involved hands-on management duties and liabilities, Horan said. By rolling his rental housing gains and equity into "triple net" leased retail properties, where the tenants essentially are responsible for everything, he was able to simplify his life, diversify his portfolio and potentially make greater gains in the future with retail real estate. Another small investor swapped a rental home in Virginia for a rental condo in Fort Myers, Fla., where he intends to move for retirement. "He wanted to own property near where he's going to live," said Horan. Since the Fort Myers unit cost $412,000 and the rental home he relinquished was valued at $525,000, the investor ended up paying a modest amount of capital gains taxes. Exchanges have been on congressional tax writers' hit lists before, in part because they generate tax "expenditures" losses of otherwise immediately collectible revenue for the federal government. In December 2015, the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that during fiscal year 2017, exchanges would generate tax expenditures of $11.7 billion attributable to corporations and $6 billion attributable to individual taxpayers. For the same year, by comparison, revenue losses caused by deductions for mortgage interest and local property taxes by individual homeowners were much larger $84.3 billion and $36.9 billion, respectively. Exchange proponents, such as Suzanne Baker of Investment Property Exchange Services in Chicago, argue that most of the deferred taxes ultimately are collected when properties get sold for cash, and that exchanges stimulate economic activity redevelopment and upgrades of properties for example that would not occur if owners faced immediate taxes on their gains and therefore simply sat on them. Bottom line: If you own investment real estate, and have contemplated a Section 1031 exchange, there's a significant possibility that tax reform could knock your plans off track. Keep a close eye on what's happening, because it could happen fast. Advertisement kenharney@earthlink.net Watch our latest Real Estate videos. The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation plans to display about 200 statues of German shepherds as an arts initiative and fundraiser for the group and PAWS Chicago. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Hundreds of dog statues will be on display around Chicago this summer to honor fallen police officers and assist the families of those killed or wounded in the line of duty. The Chicago Police Memorial Foundation is backing a public art initiative called K-9s for Cops to bring 200 German shepherd statues to the Magnificent Mile and other locations, the foundation and police officials announced Tuesday. Advertisement Much like the Horses of Honor campaign, which featured life-size horse statues dedicated to Chicago police officers killed or injured in the line of duty, the fiberglass dog statues will be designed and painted by artists working with sponsors, and later will be auctioned off to raise money for the foundation, said John Gordon, the foundation's project manager. The statues, which will be about 54 inches tall and mounted to a concrete base, will be on display from July 23 to Labor Day. The sale and sponsorships of about 125 horses a few years ago brought in $480,000, Gordon said. The foundation uses its funds to provide financial assistance to families of slain officers and those wounded, maintain the Gold Star Families Memorial and Park near Soldier Field, and purchase bullet-proof vests for police officers. Advertisement Chicago police officer and artist Peter Bucks stands behind the police dog art piece he created during a press conference Jan. 24, 2017. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) This year, a portion of the sale proceeds also will be donated to PAWS Chicago to go toward the free spay and neuter services and medical care for pets. "Building on the success of Horses of Honor, K-9 for Cops brings together two great organizations, the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation and PAWS Chicago," Chicago Police Memorial Foundation Executive Director Phil Cline said in a news release. The public art initiative "highlights the work of Chicago's premier artists while honoring the real Canine Unit police officers and their canine partners who help keep Chicago safe," he said. Currently 65 dogs are part of the canine team helping Chicago police conduct building searches, detect narcotics and explosives, and track down suspects, the release said. "We are honored to partner with the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation, whose police officers and K9s are on the front lines protecting our communities every day," PAWS Chicago founder Paula Fasseas said in the release. lvivanco@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lvivanco Pulque, a drink of fermented agave juice, can be difficult to find fresh in the States. Canned versions can be natural or flavored with fruit, such as coconut-pineapple, center, or strawberry, right. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) At Pulqueria Chicago, they serve a popular Mexican drink called pulque, a centuries-old beverage that chef and TV food star Anthony Bourdain has called "man juice" and "Mexican Viagra." Like so many supposedly macho foods and drinks, pulque can be somewhat challenging. Before contact with Europeans, indigenous peoples in what is now Mexico had already figured out multiple ways of catching a buzz by drinking fermented juices made from fruit, corn, plant roots and agave, the spiny succulent also used to make tequila and mezcal. Advertisement Before agave was used for tequila or mezcal, however, it was used in the production of pulque, another alcoholic beverage. Pulque is a fermented, undistilled drink, slightly viscous, milky and off-white in appearance, remarkably easy to make. As the agave matures and prepares to send up a central stalk topped with a flower, its core swells with sweet juice called aguamiel (literally "honey water"). Centuries before Columbus came to the New World, the ancient Aztecs and others discovered that if they cut out the core of the still-living agave plant, this central cavity would fill with aguamiel that in a matter of days ferments to become pulque. Advertisement Surely pulque is one of the easiest alcoholic beverages to prepare: simply cut out the core of the agave, and let nature make your hooch. As with other forces of nature that ancient pre-Columbian Mexicans feared and revered, the Aztec personified the agave plant: Mayahuel, the agave goddess, is frequently portrayed with 400 breasts, from which pour aguamiel. Drinking at her breasts are 400 tipsy rabbits, the gods of drunkenness. Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. > Related: Chewing podcast tastes pulque in Mexico on Episode 22 Pulque is sour and can be challenging, though the tartness perks the palate between bites. At Pulqueria Chicago (6543 Cermak Road, Berwyn), pulque is flavored with fruits, vegetables and even other alcoholic beverages. You can have your pulque with pineapple or coconut juice, salsa or tomato juice, beer or wine or any one of over a dozen different additives. We quite enjoyed pulque with pineapple juice: The sweetness complements the tartness of the drink and enhances spices in the food, the sweet balancing heat. Coconut-flavored pulque proved a little too "thick," probably not a preferred version unless you enjoy milk shakes with your meals. Though Pulqueria Chicago sells a lot of pulque, it's not making it on site. Pulque, like beer, is considered best when fresh, though despite rumors of underground pulque production in the U.S., fresh pulque is virtually impossible to find. The most common canned version is Pulque 1881, a product of Tlaxcala, Mexico. Even canned, pulque is rather rare. Binny's doesn't carry it, but you can purchase six-packs at select Mexican liquor stores, such as Moreno's Liquors (3724 W. 26th St.). David Hammond is a freelance writer. Pie and wine for dinner? Sounds like an indulgent night alone, remote in hand but make that a savory pie, and you've got yourself a dinner party. This simple galette (a rustic tart) is made with butternut squash, sage and blue cheese. The latter is traditionally tough to pair with wine, but sommelier Nate Redner of Lincoln Park's Oyster Bah suggests ripe, fruit-forward pours that will tame the cheese's sharpness. MAKE THIS Advertisement Squash galette Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; add 1 onion, sliced in thick half-moons. Cook until softened, 10 minutes. Mix in 1 package (10 ounces) cooked frozen butternut squash puree, thawed. Season with salt. Place 1 pie crust for a 9-inch pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet; spread with squash mixture, leaving a border about 1 1/2 inches wide. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese and 5 fresh sage leaves, chopped. Season with plenty of pepper. Fold the border of the crust over the edge of the filling. leaving the middle exposed. Bake at 375 degrees until crust is golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Makes: 4 servings Advertisement Recipe by Joe Gray DRINK THIS Pairings by sommelier Nate Redner of Oyster Bah, as told to Michael Austin: 2014 Hugel & Fils Gentil, Alsace, France: This traditional blend is composed of gewurztraminer, pinot gris, riesling, muscat and sylvaner grape varieties, which contribute varying amounts of warm spice and floral aromatics, weight and high acidity. The wine's notes of clove, cardamom and allspice will complement the squash. The tart blue cheese in the dish, often a pairing challenge, will match nicely with the wine's ripe fruit and slight honeyed character. 2012 Domaine Raspail-Ay Gigondas, Rhone, France: From the southern Rhone, this red shows dark berry aromas and strong notes of thyme, rosemary and juniper all great matches for any squash or root vegetable. This wine has a fine tannin that will not be too tight or take over the dish. Again, looking at the tricky blue cheese component, the dark fruit core of this wine will help tame the cheese's sharpness. 2015 Bedrock Esola Vineyard Zinfandel, Amador County, California: This heritage vineyard was planted in the 1910s and then replanted in 1964, landing it solidly in the "old vine" category. Old vine zinfandel translates to concentration and intensity, and this wine is packed with mulberry, boysenberry, plum, tobacco and cocoa notes, with pomegranatelike acidity. Earthy notes will match the squash and sage, with plenty of fruit to play nicely with the blue cheese. food@chicagotribune.com Twitter @pour_man The Chicago Blues Festival will be moving to Millennium Park in 2017, joining city events such as the Jazz and Gospel fests at the Michigan Avenue venue. In a statement, Mark Kelly, head of the Department of Cultural Affairs, said: Advertisement "We are excited to move the Chicago Blues Festival to Millennium Park where fans will be able to enjoy the finest blues performances in a setting that will only heighten the event's reputation as the world's preeminent free blues festival." A few performers for the event, June 9-11 this year, were announced Tuesday, according to WXRT. They include Billy Branch and the Sons of Blues, Che "Rhymefest" Smith and what looks to be a packed day on Sunday, when Rhiannon Giddens, Gary Clark Jr. and Ronnie Baker Brooks perform. Advertisement The Blues Fest has been at its Grant Park location, based at Petrillo Music Shell, since 1984. At its peak, the event drew hundreds of thousands of fans. The new venue, Millennium Park, has a capacity of 11,000 (seats and lawn combined). MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Jeff Tweedy of Wilco is the latest entertainer to draw ire from fans for expressing his political opinion. After Tweedy shared a photo of him and his wife at Saturday's Women's March in Chicago the day after President Trump's inauguration, fans took to the comments section to express their distaste for the musician's liberal stance. Advertisement In a letter posted to Facebook Monday afternoon, Tweedy addressed his "fellow citizens who are being mean in our comments section." You can see some of those impassioned comments here. He writes, "It occurred to me that being in the position I'm in - where people devote their time and energy to negatively comment and insult their Formerly Approved of Musician (F.A.M. - I think that's going to really take off as a phrase in these upcoming years) for lending his support to things he and his band mates and all of our families have feelings about - I should take advantage of the opportunity to occupy your time and energy as often as possible to infiltrate your minds. Not because I have much hope of changing your opinions (again, I don't know you, so I'm not sure what your bag is) but I mean, MAYBE our sincerity about the things that concern us can inspire some deeper investigation into those concerns." Advertisement Adding he's aware that folks live in their own bubbles and share their opinions on social media as helpful reminders to other like-minded people, he hopes more people will believe him as they do "a reality TV star billionaire when he says, 'believe me.'" Celebrities have been widely criticized by conservatives for expressing their political opinions during the 2016 election cycle and over the inaugural weekend at the numerous marches and protests across the country. Comments on Tweedy's post range from counter-critiques of Bill Clinton if Hillary Clinton had won to calling celebrities "insufferable hypocrites." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR While Tweedy hopes to bridge the division with sharing his take on current events, he maintains he's as strong in his convictions as detractors are in theirs. "I'm not afraid of you. There are more of us here and there always will be. So please come back! We'll keep laying out dishes of warm outrage for you to lap up in the form of our vision of a better world, causes we believe in, actions we're taking, etc., and in turn we'll have peace of mind in knowing that you aren't out in the world acting on the anger so evident in your hastily typed and misspelled defenses of a man who has been elevated to a position of immense power but in whom I've yet to see any evidence of virtue. You'll be here where we want you and the most vulnerable among us will have one less danger to encounter. With love (seriously), Jeff Tweedy" RELATED STORIES: Advertisement Wilco to play Chicago Theatre in 2017 Wilco brings sonic violence and whispers to Millennium Park Wilco gets quieter, but not safer on 'Schmilco' Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) In the wake of the news that "Saturday Night Live" writer Katie Rich has been suspended indefinitely from her job after posting (and then deleting) a tweet about Barron Trump, a #keepkatierich hashtag emerged on social media. On Friday, Rich tweeted about President Donald Trump's 10-year-old son: "Barron will be this country's first homeschool shooter." The tweet was deleted shortly thereafter and her account deactivated. Advertisement On Monday, the account was live again, showing just a single tweet: "I sincerely apologize for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I'm so sorry." I sincerely apologize for the insensitive tweet. I deeply regret my actions & offensive words. It was inexcusable & I'm so sorry. Katie Rich (@katiemaryrich) January 23, 2017 For some, the apology wasn't enough. Radio personality Kim Carson tweeted: "U should B fired for this. If U don't have the common sense 2 know a child is off limits U don't belong on the SNL platform." Advertisement "SNL" has made no official statement concerning Rich's future employment status. That uncertainty has also prompted support for her reinstatement, including from friends and former co-workers at Second City, where she performed on the mainstage before being hired to write at "SNL" over four years ago. "Got your back," tweeted the official Second City account. The company's CEO and executive producer Andrew Alexander also tweeted from his personal account: "She has apologized this lady who has a heart of gold does not deserve the nasty pile of hatred directed her way a class act." Got your back. #keepkatierich The Second City (@TheSecondCity) January 23, 2017 From Jen Ellison, a longtime Chicago actor, writer, director and teacher: "She was held to account for her words & sincerely apologized. Give her a 2nd chance. THEN HOLD EVERYONE TO THE SAME STANDARD." And from performer John Sabine: "Sincerely confused how the moral rubric for a comedian is stricter than for the president." Late-night talk show writers also tweeted, including Brian Stack ("The Late Show With Stephen Colbert"): "Katie Rich is a very kind, smart and funny person. I'm not defending her Tweet but neither is she. She sincerely apologized," and Laurie Kilmartin ("Conan"): "I have tweets in my drafts folder that I'm glad I sat on. There but for the grace of me not hittin' that tweet button go I." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR A woman by the name of Tamara Leigh tweeted her concern about Rich's deleted tweet: "It's not comedy when you attack a kid -- no matter what your politics! Common sense & decency over vicious punchline," which prompted a retweet from a woman with the handle KingAngie, who added: "This is right also ... But I still begging SNL to #KeepKatieRich." The support is not unanimous. On Tuesday morning, there were 19 separate Change.org petitions calling for her to be fired. Should Rich ultimately lose her position at "SNL," The Wrap is reporting that "Community" creator Dan Harmon "seemed to offer Rich a job," and quoted him saying, "I'm sure Katie Rich will have better offers but I'll start bidding, will fly her to LA first class and give her what my studio pays me," he said, adding, "Now you want her fired AND you don't want her to work somewhere else?" Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Source: 'SNL' writer suspended after Barron Trump tweet Leave Barron Trump alone In 'SNL's' first post-inauguration episode, Putin roasts Trump on crowd sizes Alec Baldwin returns as Trump on SNL to take on Russian dossier, inauguration plans 'SNL' goes after Trump's Cabinet picks - by introducing Walter White as the head of DEA Advertisement 'SNL' makes fun of Trump's tweets, and Trump immediately tweets his disapproval Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Ajit Pai, the designee for chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, believes net neutrality puts unnecessary restrictions on a free market that rewards the biggest and most aggressive entities. (Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg) After years in which the five-member Federal Communications Commission stood solidly if narrowly behind the concept of net neutrality, things could be changing for the worse as far as advocates of a free and open internet are concerned. Among those who would pay the price are artists and bands that have used the internet in recent years to build unprecedented relationships with the fans of their music: Chance the Rapper, Run the Jewels and OK Go, among countless others. Dozens of independent labels across the world also would feel the pinch, including Chicago-based Closed Sessions, Bloodshot, Thrill Jockey and more. Advertisement The warning bell for net neutrality rang Monday when President Donald Trump designated Ajit Pai, a Republican member of the FCC and a net-neutrality critic, to be the agency's new chairman. Pai would take over from Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, who stepped down last week now that Republicans have gained an FCC majority. MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement Pai is a free-market advocate who said in a speech last month that the agency needs to "fire up the weed whacker and remove those rules that are holding back investment, innovation and creation," essentially echoing Trump's position. Near the top of Pai's agenda: stripping away online traffic rules that the FCC approved in 2015 by a 3-2 vote. These rules were designed to ensure the free flow of online information by imposing utility-like restrictions on internet service providers. The net neutrality campaign arose more than a decade ago amid growing fears that service providers would create tiers of access based on users' financial clout a pay-to-play system not unlike the one that ruled commercial music radio for half of the 20th century and contributed to a virtual monopoly of playlists by a handful of multinational corporations. Current FCC rules essentially ensure that service providers act as gateways to a free flow of information and creativity rather than gatekeepers who reward the highest bidders. But Pai could swing the balance of power away from consumers and entrepreneurs and put it in the hands of corporate behemoths such as Verizon, Amazon and Netflix who can in essence buy faster and more efficient access at the expense of their less well-financed competitors. The Future of Music Coalition, a musicians education and advocacy nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., recently reaffirmed its stance on net neutrality as a cornerstone of intellectual property and artistic growth. "Fair online access enables artists to build careers, generate revenue and connect with diverse audiences," FMC executive Kevin Erickson wrote. Pai, on the other hand, has stoked fears that he wants to protect corporate interests. To him, net neutrality puts unnecessary restrictions on a free market that rewards the biggest and most aggressive entities. If he gets his wish, almost everyone who does business on the internet will feel an impact. And for artists who create music, it would represent a variation on the new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss theme, with a handful of corporations and middlemen controlling the pipeline between artists and fans. Greg Kot is a Tribune critic. greg@gregkot.com Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Live blog: Week one of the Donald Trump presidency FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announces he is stepping down Satellite dishes that power Time Warner imperil merger with AT&T Court upholds 'net neutrality' rules for equal internet access Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) For a great many years of my younger Christian life, the Lords Supper was frightening. I dont believe anyone set out to make it so. But I always tended to hear the warnings or what we in the business call the fencing of the table in ways that left me fairly nervous, unsure, and unsettled when taking Communion. UNWORTHY MANNER was how I heard it, shouted in ALL CAPS. Even though I know it wasnt shouted. ANY UNCONFESSED SINS or UNRECONCILED RELATIONSHIPS...? The comprehensive nature of the demands for admittance blared much more loudly than anything good that may have been said about what we were about to do. ARE YOU WILLINGLY CONTINUING IN ANY SIN? or some such diagnostic would undo me. Taken together, I came to conclude that the Lords Supper was an awful, somber, and unflinching religious rite, and I had sure better be more than careful there. And, I surmised, it was a time that was all about me looking at myself to make sure I was living my faith with integrity, correctness, and undiluted loyalty. Unfortunately, I could never satisfactorily scrutinize myself without there still being sizable space for a possible misunderstanding or self-deception. My inner-dialogue might skitter confusingly like this:I dont want to continue in any sin. But I keep continuing in some sins. If I say I am making a break with sin, maybe I am fooling myself. I might be determined to break with it now, but what about later? And I think I have confessed my sins, but maybe I left some out, maybe my heart is too cold, too distant, too disorganized, too disloyal....maybe I havent repented enough, believed enough, examined enough, worked hard enough for reconciliation....All sorts of neurotic patterns of theological banter pinged and ponged on my insides.Now, it is always dangerous to absolutize ones own experience as if it neatly aligns with that of everyone else. So I am not presuming that everyone feels or has felt the same way as I. Nor do I mean to attribute blame to ministers whom I am certain were seeking with all their might to be faithful to Scripture and to the Savior presented there.But those experiences, for good or ill, (and I think good!) have shaped my approach to the Lords table as a participant and, as what Episcopalians would call a Celebrant, the one who administers the Lords Supper on Jesus behalf. My understanding of Scripture and our own theological tradition have also done some heavy-lifting in unburdening my diseased view of these matters.I came to realize that I had been hoodwinked and sabotaged by at least two mistaken notions. One had to do with my relationship to Christ (or rather, his to me!). And the other, with the nature of the Lords Supper itself.I was erroneously, but earnestly, staying stuck in the murky precincts of my own fitness of heart, belief, and understanding. As a result, I rarely had any rest or could receive any rich welcome from Jesus. Always looking within, as I had understood myself required to do, left me trapped, and damned no matter which way I zigged or zagged. No amount of mental gymnastics could give me the internal quiet I presumed I must have to gain a rightful admission to our Lords dinner table.Even the ordinarily good advice that unless you see the depths of your sin, you will never see the heights of Jesus love for you always backfired on me. Because, I generally stayed trapped in a labyrinth of my own toxicity of heart, and it created a filmy slime over my eyes that kept me from fully gazing on Christ. Its hard to see whats above you when your eyes are zoomed downward in introspection.Happily, I discovered, for instance, that Paul had insisted, my conscience is clear but that does not make me innocent, it is the Lord who judges me. Of course, Pauls words insist that what you feel about yourself can be altogether wrong. Oh happy discovery!You can think you are innocent, but be guilty. You can pronounce yourself guilty, but be innocent. Or your own self-assessments can snugly concur with reality...but at the end of all that sorting out, it isnt your heart, thoughts, or even your ability to address them, but Christ who is greater than your heart, thoughts, or ability to address them who is the one who acquits or condemns, welcomes or rejects.And this Jesus insisted whoever comes to me, I will never drive away. This Jesus is the one who has called us into fellowship with himself and who has become sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And in him, there is no condemnation left for sin.John Calvin gave me some self-stewarding advice:And elsewhere in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, he offers a joyful crowbar for those who are riveted in self-watchfulness:For in Christ he offers all happiness in place of our misery, all wealth in place of our neediness; in him he opens to us the heavenly treasures that our whole faith may contemplate his beloved Son, our whole expectation depend upon him, and our whole hope cleave to and rest in him.I had mistakenly gotten locked up in a tiny room, looking at myself where my damnation was certain rather than Christ who offered a misery-erasing happiness as I looked out towards Him, rather than so unproductively within.And of course, through prayer, loitering in Scripture, being around Gods people, and learning more and more about the good news of Christs reconciling and renovating work in the world (aka The Gospel), I also came to fervently believe that our charismatic friend and church member, Virginia Beard was absolutely correct when she insisted There are only two types of people who deal with sheep in the world, butchers and shepherds, and our Lord aint no butcher.All this has altered my approach to communion considerably. Now it is the place where the Shepherd who restores our souls, has come that we might have life and have it to the full, and who assured the woman caught in adultery, neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more, is welcoming us to his table to dine with him--as dinner guests whove been emancipated from self-consumption.He isnt saying, stay away, stay away, unless you are extra-super-duper positive that you have tidied up every aspect of your life and are 100% certain youll never flub up again--- no, on second thought, just dont bother, better not risk it, you arent worthy of this so dont participate---Id hate to have to kill you even though you want to be near to me.His tone seemed to change. And his posture was less huddled in defense than I originally imagined, and more open with welcome.Sure, I still examine myself and lead our congregation to join in, as we corporately and individually hand over our sins to God (a practice hes encouraged for our benefit, not his!) prior to our approach to the table, but I dont coddle, inspect, and dissect every micro-organism of sin I find there. I discover whats brought to mind, then offer it to Him who became a curse for me in his vocation of unlimitedly patient Savior. Then I trust its taken away, and I bear it no more. Its an important aspect of the remembering to which we are called. And prepares us for realizing his presence and the unifying solidarity hes constituted among us as we eat.With this vantage point, confidence and expectation becomes the appropriate manner of approach, as we can apply Tozers reflection on the prodigal son returning to his awaiting, and compassionate Father:"The returning prodigal honors his father more by rejoicing than by repining. Had the young man in the story had less faith in his father he might have mourned in a corner instead of rejoicing in the festivities. His confidence in the loving kindness of his father gave him the courage to forget his checkered past."The meal, Ive now come to see, is a place where Jesus means to furnish weary and returning travelers, sons and daughters, in fact, who are in so many ways a great burden to themselves, with replenishing, reassuring grace for our continued pilgrimage.Its where he means to spread the Christ-life to us rather than where we go once we determine we are Christ-like enough. Its where we get to participate in His self-donation to eradicate every act of rebellion and unworthiness and the penalty for such from us, and to bear them himself. Its where we come to realize, over and over again, that the One we approach, is somehow, inexplicably fond of us, and ardently committed to our repair.Poet Mary Karr must have gotten the hang of this. In her poem, Disgraceland, she ponders a wayward life of lurching out to kiss the wrong mouths, get stewed and sulk around. Even so, Christ always stood to one side with a glass of water. But she always swatted the sap away. Eventually, her thirst became so pronounced that it lead her back to this refreshment offering Savior.Apparently she discovered like Jill Pole in The Silver Chair who was herself achingly parched as she stumbled upon a cool and promising stream which happened to be guarded by a magnificent and terrifying lion. Obeying her fear, she decides to go to another stream, so as to avoid the Lion. But the waiting Aslan assures, There is no other stream. If she wants refreshment, shell have to approach Him. Of course the great secret is not that she has to, but that she gets to!We who come to the Lords Table have learned thats true. The Apostle Peters words to Jesus have become autobiographical, Where else would we go, you have the words of eternal life...And Ms. Karr, lured by a consuming thirst like ours, Jills and Peters, eventually found faith flowering within her, and she ventured to her first communion and could have sworn at that welcoming table, she hungry, heard, You are loved, take that and eat it.I hope you hear and taste the same.----- Eric Youngblood is the senior pastor at Rock Creek Fellowship (PCA) on Lookout Mountain. Please feel free to contact him at eric@rockcreekfellowship.org or follow him on Twitter @GEricYoungblood. In the lobby of a theater the other day, an acquaintance of mine observed that the only good thing about the rise to power of Donald J. Trump was the post-facto unification of, well, let's call it the arty left you know, those fact-dependent types who work for newspapers, magazines, TV stations, websites and publishers; those who occupy cubicles in the service of educational nonprofits; those overeducated, underemployed souls who toil in the salt mines of our more prestigious cultural organizations, always worried that the days of their free K-Cups are numbered. "We all hate Trump so much," this cynical person said, before vanishing with a diabolic grin, "he's made us forget how much we also hate each other." Advertisement That hatred, of course, is often framed around race, gender or sexual identity, as well as (far more rarely) around class. But in the intemperate world of social media, it also is not uncommon to read a comment by someone explicitly hoping for the demise of the baby boomer generation, especially a member thereof who holds down a job perceived as influential or desirable, whether or not that is actually true. Trump has tempered the intramural, factional Facebook fighting. But among cultural progressives, it still often feels that the main conflict is generational. For that view, writ large, one need only walk through the doors of the Goodman Theatre for "Gloria," a shocking, hilarious and spectacularly honest play by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins set among the hyperambitious cubicle dwellers of a thinly veiled version of The New Yorker magazine. That's where Jacobs-Jenkins actually worked in his youth. This thrilling writer, a recent MacArthur "genius" and deservedly so, is still in his youth; that youth just was his younger youth. Advertisement In essence, the Goodman has imported and expanded the entire, original off-Broadway production from New York's 144-seat Vineyard Theatre replete with its original cast and directed with searing honesty and unstinting attention to detail by Evan Cabnet. I've been worried of late that the theater in Chicago had lost its taste and capacity for risk risk that must include forcing the culture business to confront its own complacency and growing love of groupthink. But "Gloria," which I could see heading to Broadway from here, is a great roar of truth-telling, keenly observed, self-critical and yet voiced with schadenfreude. You'll be gripped, dear reader. And if you work at a place anything like mine, you'll recognize half your colleagues. And, perchance, your paranoid, flailing self. In Act 1 we hear the most from the gossipy, ambitious editorial assistants in their adjacent cubes, all trying to articulate their naked ambition as loudly as possible without upsetting the fact-checkers actually working down the hall. Jacobs-Jenkins nails the types you find in any media organization the out-of-it bosses in the glass offices who can't remember the names of the interns; the lifers with the gray visages and sad-sack demeanors still editing copy after decades chained to their desks; and the gossipy editorial assistants allergic to work they think beneath them but still furious at how the media industry has torpedoed its own once-ironclad ability to offer career advancement. Boomers boomers who preferred to spend quality time partying around the office martini cart than actually anticipating the rise of the internet are the main object of their outrage. "Now everything is constipated," shouts Kendra (Jennifer Kim), a loud, self-involved assistant who says she hates the patriarchal power of straight white males even as her chief antagonist Dean (Ryan Spahn) says that being "an Asian girl from Pasadena with a degree from Harvard" means she has all the same privilege in today's world. "People died back then," the undaunted Kendra says, staring down Dean, who has his own issues, and continuing to rail against those who fiddled with their pencils, and wallowed in the gravy of print advertising, while the internet took off. "There was something called turnover," Kendra snarks, perhaps forgetting that waiting for people to die or retire is not a new workplace dilemma, nor one limited to the media. The overeducated editorial assistants some of whom work hard, some of whom do not dread turning into the title character (played, creepily but sympathetically, by Jeanine Serralles), someone for whom a job has replaced a life and whose social status around the office, or lack thereof, is reflected in her throwing a house party for her colleagues and virtually no one bothering to come. Jacobs-Jenkins clearly has sympathy for these young creatives for whom New York now is impossibly expensive and whose leaders know little or nothing about making people feel valued at work. (They're all narcissists or insecure or both; sound familiar?) But "Gloria" also is a cautionary tale for the ambitious, a play about how advancement means nothing when your world explodes. Trouble beyond a spilled Starbucks does indeed come to these cubes, trouble of a magnitude the editorial assistants could never have anticipated coming to their vitamin water-filled lives. So leave the kids at home. But in today's America, what is crisis but an opportunity? And in Act 2, which is not quite as in-the-moment powerful as Act 1, but a sophisticated politicized coda nonetheless, Jacobs-Jenkins shifts his scalpel a little to dig away at another great internal battle of our progressive moment: Who has the right to tell whose story? And for how much money? Advertisement All of the performances are bang on target. Catherine Combs plays the relatively normal Ani without quite succumbing to normalcy, Michael Crane's fact-checking Lorin embraces the sadness of nonadvancement and Kyle Beltran plays the quiet intern Miles with just enough guilelessness that you firmly suspect guile, as does everyone else. But the play revolves around Dean, a survivor, and thus a man whose cynicism has passed the point where he can access genuine feeling, even when circumstances change. Spahn is superb. I just walked passed his doppelganger in my own office and thought of him again. Communities of oppressed people under stress often make great drama (see "Fiddler on the Roof"), and "Gloria," which wastes few words, is the best and most direct theater piece I've seen about one oft-ignored truth applicable to today's cultural jobs they stick you right in the middle of a group of people under constant macro stress, people with a deep-seated fear of plunging toward zero influence or paychecks, even in the face of their best (or worst) efforts. Which is not a reason not to do these jobs, of course. They're fun. Until Gloria comes along. Chris Jones is a Tribune critic. cjones5@chicagotribune.com Twitter@ChrisJonesTrib Advertisement REVIEW: "Gloria" (4 STARS) When: Through Feb. 19 Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes Tickets: $25-$85 at 312-443-3800 or www.goodmantheatre.org Another Door Opens, a design industry event benefiting Chicago House, was held Jan. 18 at Architectural Artifacts. This second annual fundraiser attracted over 800 guests who mingled with some of Chicago's top designers, architects and artists. More than 60 vintage doors that had been transformed into works of art or functional objects were featured in a silent auction to benefit Chicago House, a social service agency that provides support for those who are affected by HIV/AIDS and members of the LGBTQ communities. There were emerging and established participants, including Francine Turk, Nate Berkus Associates, Mike Hines, Michael Del Piero, Doug Van Tress, Tom Kehoe, Tom Stringer, Soucie Horner, Lukas Machnik, Michael Abrams, Lewis Giannoulias, Scott Dresner and Aimee Wertepny. Advertisement "Our work is pretty fierce. We like deconstructing and shredding things, so when we were presented with an idea for our door, we chopped it up and made it into jewelry," said Wertepny, of PROjECT Interiors. Other vintage oak and pine doors were re-imagined as a Japanese-style soaking tub by Emily Mackie of Inspired Interiors (with a swimsuit-clad model inside); a wheel of chance game created by Alan Design Studio; a door covered in faux grass by Mike Hines for Epoch Floral; a Mondrian-inspired bar by Mitchell Channon Design; and a bicycle by Modern Millwork Innovations. (The highest-selling door, created by artist Linc Thelen, was transformed into a lacquered bench paired with a painting by the artist and sold for $2,200). Scott Ammarell, Chicago House CEO, explained the meaning behind the event's theme. "'Another Door Opens' is all about doors, and most of our clients see doors as barriers that they can't get beyond. These transformed doors represent something more welcoming and inclusive. To me, this visceral connection represents everything we, as an agency, are trying to achieve for our clients, to get them in a position where they can overcome these barriers to lead self-sufficient lives." Advertisement The evening began with a VIP reception hosted by Eddie Ross, style editor/author, who provided copies of his book, "Modern Mix: Curating Personal Style With Chic & Accessible Finds," to VIP ticket holders. As a lover of vintage finds, Ross said he enjoyed seeing designers "take a thrown-away door, one that probably opened and closed years ago in a beautiful old house, and turn it into a modern interpretation." Presented by Architectural Artifacts' owner Stuart Grannen and showroom director Erik Retzer, the event raised over $100,000 for Chicago House. Founded in 1985, the agency was the first HIV housing provider in the Midwest. Today, its expanded services also include employment support, preventive care, case management and much more for over 1,800 people annually. Freelance writer Candace Jordan is involved with many local organizations, including some whose events she covers. More coverage Find more photos and events at www.chicagotribune.com/candidcandace. Visit Candid Candace's website at www.candidcandace.com, or follow her on Twitter @CandidCandace. RELATED STORIES: Chicago Blackhawks hit the ice for Ronald McDonald House Charities Kandy Kane Ball collects toys for Chicago Children's Charities WINGS fundraiser focuses on victims of domestic violence Tree work is complex and dangerous, so be sure to hire a trained and certified arborist to inspect and care for large trees. (Morton Arboretum) You may not be thinking of yardwork on a crisp winter day, but here's one important task you can accomplish without even putting on your mittens: Call a professional arborist to inspect your trees. Mature trees are beautiful and valuable, and they need maintenance like any other part of your home, said Doris Taylor, manager of the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. Advertisement "Trees grow and change all the time," she said. "It's important to have them inspected regularly to make sure no problems have developed." Regular tree maintenance to prevent problems or catch them early is always a sound investment. Advertisement Winter is an ideal time to get it done. With leaves gone from many trees, it's easier for a trained arborist to check for cracks, evidence of disease, branches that are growing too close to the house or garage, or other issues that need to be addressed. Often, the prescription will be pruning. "Winter is a good time to prune trees because they're in their dormant state and aren't growing," Taylor said. Because the ground in your yard is usually frozen in winter, a tree crew using heavy equipment is less likely to cause damage to other plants in your yard or to compact the soil. "Tree care firms usually aren't as busy in winter, so you may be able to get someone out sooner," she said. If you wait until spring, or until a big storm has already caused big problems, good tree care companies are often too busy to come right away. Be careful whom you choose to work on your valuable trees. "It's important to hire someone with the latest expertise," Taylor said. Look for an arborist who is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture, which trains tree workers, tests their knowledge and requires them to keep their training up to date. You can search for certified arborists through the association's website, www.isa-arbor.com/findanarborist. For certified arborists in Illinois, check the website of the Illinois chapter, www.illinoisarborist.org. "A recommendation from friends or neighbors is a good place to start," Taylor said, but whether it's a one-man operation or a big company, check to ensure they are certified before you hire them. Tree work is dangerous; a large branch can weigh thousands of pounds. That makes insurance essential, both for accidents and for any damage that may be done to your home or your neighbors' property. Companies that quote you an extra-cheap price may be skimping both on insurance and on the equipment and training needed to work safely. Before you sign a contract with any firm, ask to see current certificates of liability insurance and workers' compensation insurance. Have your trees checked every few years. "With proper care, a big shade tree can beautify your yard for decades to come," Taylor said. Advertisement Beth Botts is a staff writer at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle (www.mortonarb.org). For tree and plant advice, contact the Arboretum's Plant Clinic (630-719-2424 or plantclinic@mortonarb.org). RELATED STORIES: A guide to sowing seeds How to choose a snowblower How to pick a tree that won't grow too wide for your yard Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 The Lolla Bootie from Sorel for women is crafted with waterproof leather (for light rain) and stylized with cutouts and a two-tone stacked heel, providing comfort and style for spring and summer and obviously for Lollapalooza, it's in the name), $160 www.sorel.com (Sorel) Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 A West Loop condo situated at 659 Randolph St. Unit 614 is currently on the market for $462,900. (Rick Knoell / VHT Studios) Chicago Public Schools is advancing a plan to streamline an often complex high school application process for students who will be freshmen in the 2018-19 school year. If approved Wednesday by the Chicago Board of Education, a San Francisco-based company would be hired to create an "online, mobile-friendly application" designed to simplify the process for parents and help administrators manage enrollment. Advertisement CPS parents now have to wrestle with an application process that requires separate bids for options such as military, magnet, international baccalaureate, selective enrollment or privately run charter programs. The new application would allow families to rank their choice of up to 20 schools, CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson said. CPS then would offer the students a seat at one of their school choices based on the rankings. If the student is not happy with that offer, they could file another application. Advertisement Students eligible to attend one of the city's rigorous selective enrollment schools still would have to use a separate admissions process that allows them to apply for up to six of those buildings. Those families also could use the new application process for alternative options. The district expects privately run charter schools to participate in the centralized process. "Parents are really savvy now and they have choices, and we think that competition leads to better quality schools," Jackson said Monday. Updating the application process long has been debated in a district where many neighborhood high schools face dwindling enrollment. Researchers have questioned whether a common application process expands disadvantaged students' access to better schools, long a concern in economically stratified Chicago. One parent advocate expressed concerns about how the district might use data collected from applications, and called on CPS to openly discuss any algorithms employed by the new application. "It's not that a single application in and of itself isn't a good thing, it's questions about how it's going to be used," said Wendy Katten, head of the Raise Your Hand parent advocacy group. "Is CPS going to use the data to figure out their next neighborhood high school closing list? "I imagine there will be some insecurity about how this decision is made," Katten said. "It could play a big role in how the school landscape changes, and we don't have a lot of answers yet." Advertisement Jackson acknowledged a need to consult and educate community members about the new application process and "customize it so that it best suits their needs." The district said The Chicago Community Trust will join in the effort to help parents understand the process. Students still would be able to attend the neighborhood school they're assigned under the new application process, the district said. "Children will make choices, and sometimes there isn't a good choice in their neighborhood school. They might make a choice outside of that," Jackson said. "We want the neighborhood schools to be successful, we want children to see that as a choice. But we also know that in cases where children are not choosing their neighborhood's school, we have a responsibility to do something about that as a district," Jackson said. CPS expects to roll out the centralized process for students who will become high school freshmen in the 2018-19 school year. The application process would begin in the 2017-18 school year. The district has tried twice to enact a simplified application process, Jackson said. "The first step is with high schools," Jackson said. "We don't want to roll it out too fast. Because, you know, the district had a few starts and stops on this before and it's important that we be logical in this approach." Advertisement The number of charter school operators that will participate isn't clear, but CPS expects charters to sign on to the new application system. Jackson said the district would have charter operators sign memorandums of understanding to update their contracts and opt in, a process she said should be complete by the end of March. "We know that many will sign up and be early adopters, and other folks will have to be brought along," Jackson said. "We can use the (charter) renewal process and other things to really negotiate that when the time is appropriate." According to a group of experts and officials organized by the district last year, the current application system leaves students and families to navigate the complex process alone or with help from "likely under-equipped" elementary school staff. Families who understand the process can benefit, Jackson said. But children who don't have enough support from parents or school counselors "don't understand all these different loopholes, all the deadlines and all the requirements to get into schools," she said. As part of the effort to solve such problems, the school board Wednesday is set to consider a roughly 11/2-year contract, worth up to $250,000, with SchoolMint Inc. of San Francisco. SchoolMint's job, according to board documents, includes developing a website for CPS parents to handle applications and appointment scheduling, and form a step-by-step school selection process. Advertisement Also on Wednesday, the board will have public briefings about steps officials are taking to make up for a $215 million budget gap that has led the district to order four unpaid furlough days for employees this school year, a school spokeswoman said. jjperez@tribpub.com Twitter @PerezJr Chicago police detectives and crime scene technicians work a crime scene in the 1800 block of West 63rd Street in the Englewood neighborhood, where four people were wounded at 12:15 p.m. (Eric Clark / Chicago Tribune) After a violent weekend that saw 54 people shot, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson on Monday announced an operation that resulted in the arrests of 120 drug and gun offenders and the seizure of 14 firearms. Most of those arrested had prior contact with police, Johnson said. Eighty-three are convicted felons, 63 are documented gang members, 33 were previously arrested on gun charges and 15 are on parole, Johnson said. Advertisement Anthony Riccio, head of CPD's organized crime unit, said the initiative targeted the individuals believed to be driving gun violence in Chicago with illegal weapons and narcotics sales. About 40 arrests were made in the 11th District, which is centered around Garfield Park. The organized crime unit executed 24 search warrants across the city and seized four rifles, Riccio said. Advertisement "These guns were recovered from gang members," he said. "These guns were guns that were going to be used in the street. We recovered shotguns. We recovered assault weapons. We recovered firearms with extended magazines capable of shootings 30 or 40 rounds at a time." Johnson also detailed a three-pronged strategy police have put in place and will continue to execute in 2017: targeted and data-driven enforcement; renewed community engagement and partnership programs; and addressing the flaws in the sentencing guidelines for repeat gun offenders. Echerney@chicagotribune.com Twitter @ElyssaCherney A struggling south suburb was supposed to use a special pot of money to pay off millions in past due water bills to Chicago, but court filings allege some of the money was used to make payroll, pay off credit card debt and even contribute to a college savings fund. The city of Chicago said in court documents that it uncovered evidence of the spending in its broader push to get Harvey to make good on its 2015 promise to promptly to pay for water it takes from Chicago and slowly pay back nearly $18.5 million for water it had previously taken from Chicago and then resold. Advertisement While not directly addressing the alleged misspending, a Cook County judge Friday effectively took away Harvey's control of its own water fund, which by law and court order is supposed to be used for paying only water-related expenses. The judge ordered Harvey to pay $21.7 million, which includes the remainder of its debt plus the late fee penalties Chicago had been willing to waive if Harvey had kept its promises. It's unclear what effect that will have on the finances of a suburb facing increasingly dire financial hurdles. This week, an appellate court agreed Harvey owed $7.3 million to shore up its police pension fund putting even more pressure on a suburb awash in debt that for years used collections from its water fund to make payroll and cover budget deficits. It was something Chicago officials alleged had continued despite the 2015 promise by Harvey, according to court records. Advertisement In court documents, the suburb denied misspending money. And Monday, Harvey spokesman Sean Howard said the suburb expected to resolve the broader dispute over missed payments with Chicago in an "appropriate fashion." He did not directly address the specific misspending alleged by city of Chicago attorneys in the court records, which included $2,549 in four payments to Kohl's Department Store, two payments to a Capitol One credit card totaling $1,867, a payment of $5,000 to a college fund account and $1,490 paid to Kay Jewelers. The Cook County sheriff's office confirmed it is reviewing the expenditures as part of an ongoing investigation into the suburb's spending but declined further comment, except to note that the Kay Jewelers expenditure appeared to be an erroneous charge that was quickly reversed. The filings by Chicago did not detail who authorized the other payments and exactly what they were for, but Chicago officials alleged they did not appear to have anything to do with water-related expenses. The expenditures were among a host of alleged misuses of water-related cash. The city of Chicago also alleged in court records that Harvey failed to put nearly $9 million into the water fund, improperly transferred more than $26 million from that fund to other accounts and used water-designated funds to cover payroll of employees not tied to water operations. Court records show the suburb hadn't made its monthly past-due payment to Chicago since September. Harvey also hasn't paid for water it took from Chicago in November and December and resold to residents, businesses and neighboring suburbs, according to the Chicago Law Department, which said in a statement that it pushed for the court to intercede as part of "vigilant" efforts to ensure Chicago got the money it was owed. Harvey now owes more than $3 million in past-due payments and unpaid water from November and December, Chicago's Law Department said. Like any suburb drawing from Chicago's pipes, Harvey was trusted to collect payments from downstream suburbs and then pay Chicago its cut. But Cook County Circuit Judge Kathleen Pantle on Friday told those downstream suburbs Homewood, Dixmoor, Hazel Crest, East Hazel Crest, Posen to directly pay Chicago for water they used. Pantle also directed the bank holding Harvey's water funds to transfer that cash to Chicago as well. Advertisement The water dispute follows a series of Tribune investigations in recent years that documented the suburb's struggles with high crime, subpar policing and insider deals that drained its coffers. Added to that, now, is the question of whether longtime Mayor Eric Kellogg's administration failed to properly spend money that a 2015 court settlement required be sent to Chicago to pay off past water debts. A majority of Harvey aldermen have fought Kellogg complaining he doesn't share details of how municipal money is being spent or let them have a say. The dispute became so toxic that the aldermen boycotted months of City Council meetings, leading Kellogg to unilaterally declare the aldermen had abandoned their jobs and swear-in replacements. In December, a judge ruled Kellogg's move was illegal. At the urging of the bloc of critical aldermen, the sheriff's office agreed to become the suburb's inspector general in recent years a role in which it could push for greater access to records to investigate any wrongdoing. One of those aldermen, Christopher Clark, said the latest alleged misspending reinforces the public pleas he and other critics have made over the past 1 1/2 years for outsiders to investigate Harvey. "You have an unauthorized transaction for what is obviously personal reasons," he said of the latest allegations. Advertisement "It's the same thing that the Tribune has been talking about for year after year. These things happen, and nobody does anything," Clark said. jmahr@chicagotribune.com mwalberg@chicagotribune.com Twitter @joemahr1 Twitter @mattwalberg1 Anthony Hollins, 19, in a Chicago police booking photo taken June 6, 2016. Hollins died seven months after being shot when authorities say he and another man tried to rob a man at gunpoint in a Portage Park parking lot. (Chicago police 2016 photo) A man has died almost seven months after being shot when authorities say he and another man tried to rob a man at gunpoint in a Portage Park parking lot. Anthony Hollins, 19, was pronounced dead at 9:36 p.m. Sunday at RML Specialty Hospital in Chicagoa hospital for patients who need long-term medical careaccording to the Cook County medical examiner's office. Hollins died from a gunshot wound to the neck which he suffered June 30, 2016, in the 4000 block of North LaPorte Avenue, the medical examiner's office determined Monday. Advertisement At the time of his death, Hollins, of the 3000 block of West Addison Street, was free on bond on attempted murder and attempted carjacking charges in connection with the attack that police and prosecutors say led to his being shot. The then-28-year-old man police say was the intended victim was walking to his car at a parking lot, 4038 N. LaPorte Ave., when two people with guns, one of them Hollins, walked up to him and announced they were robbing him, authorities said. The three started fighting and the 28-year-old pulled out his own gun and shot Hollins twice in the neck, police said at the time. Advertisement The other would-be robber fired shots and ran away, but the 28-year-old wasn't wounded, police said. Hollins initially was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition. Hollins had been scheduled for a court appearance Thursday before Cook County Judge Thomas Gainer Jr. in the attempted murder case, according to court records. Records indicate no one else has been arrested in the robbery attempt. People planning to visit the Shedd Aquarium this week to see Ellie the sea otter pup or Diego the penguin might need to change their schedule. The aquarium will be closed to the public Wednesday and Thursday for routine maintenance and cleaning, reopening on Friday with free admission for Illinois residents. Advertisement The Shedd Aquarium closes to the public annually for improvements and maintenance, ranging from cleaning animal habitats to repainting hallway walls, said Kayley Ciocci, spokeswoman for the Shedd. During the closure, more than 200 staff members will participate in group team-building activities and training on providing a more proactive approach to guest services, she said. Advertisement Free general admission for Illinois residents is available Friday through Tuesday along with discounted passes to special exhibits. Shedd is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. lvivanco@chicagotribune.com Twitter @lvivanco Hacksaw Ridge the movie about the late area Medal of Honor recipient Desmond Doss has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of nine pictures nominated for Hollywoods biggest and most prestigious award during a special announcement at the website Tuesday morning. Other nominations for Hacksaw Ridge include a Best Actor nomination for Andrew Garfield for his portrayal of Mr. Doss, a Directing nomination for Mel Gibson, and Sound Mixing and Writing (Adapted Screenplay) nominations. Hacksaw Ridge portrays the early life and World War II experiences of Mr. Doss. He was a conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon due to his Seventh-day Adventist Christian faith, but aids countless injured soldiers on the battlefield as a medic. He received a Medal of Honor for his actions at Okinawa. He lived near Chattanooga in later decades and was often seen at local veterans and patriotic gatherings. He died in 2006 and was buried in Chattanoogas National Cemetery. The ceremony will be held on Sunday night, Feb. 26 , on ABC. Two teenagers were injured in a hit-and-run crash Monday night on the West Side. Jan. 23, 2017. (CBS Chicago) Two teenagers were hospitalized after a hit-and-run on the West Side on Monday evening, police said. A 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were crossing at the crosswalk in the 800 block of North Lorel Avenue at 7:30 p.m. when someone driving a van hit them, then kept driving south, police said. The teens were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with injuries described as non-life-threatening. The van that struck the two teens was later found nearby in the 5300 block of West Huron Street. Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Topspin Chicago's Trump street signs have gone missing. Advertisement More than a month ago, a city crew quietly removed the honorary "Trump Plaza" signs from near President Donald Trump's downtown skyscraper amid calls from aldermen to melt them down or auction them off for charity. Now, a spokesman for the city Department of Transportation says he doesn't know where they are or what happened to them. The City Council voted to take down the signs in November, just days before Trump's surprise election victory. Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, spearheaded the removal, saying the then-GOP presidential nominee didn't deserve the honor because he was "painting a distorted caricature of Chicago" on the campaign trail by "comparing our great city to a decimated, war-torn country." Advertisement The measure also noted Trump was running a "hateful, racist campaign against immigrants and minorities," and that he had a "complete disregard for civil liberties dating back to the 1970s." Mayor Rahm Emanuel didn't oppose the move, though he was less strident than aldermen about the symbolism of punishing Trump by taking down the signs. "Look, he has a sign on a building, he has a sign on the street," said Emanuel, who declined to return a $50,000 campaign contribution Trump made to him in 2010. "Here's what I would say: I think he's wrong for America. You know my view of what I think is right. The aldermen took the way they want to express themselves, so my recommendation: Don't just take a sign down. Make sure we mobilize and get out and vote, because it's a very important and big election." Trump went on to beat Democrat Hillary Clinton, and in early December, city transportation workers took the remaining two signs off poles along Wabash Avenue at 8 a.m. on a Sunday. (A third sign had been stolen months prior). Where they went from there, however, is a mystery. "I don't know what happened to them," transportation spokesman Michael Claffey said in a recent email. Claffey said he did not know what the city had planned to do with the signs, or whether they had already been destroyed. (John Byrne) What's on tap *Mayor Rahm Emanuel has no public schedule. Advertisement *Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public events. *Illinois lawmakers reconvene in Springfield, with the Senate scheduling committees to hear a massive group of budget proposals. *The city's Committee on Finance and Committee on Budget and Government Operations are set to meet in the morning. What we're writing *Rauner rolls out plan to protect pharmacy customers from drug interactions following Tribune investigation. *Chicago State spends money to lobby state which isn't giving out money. *Women's March on Chicago: How it compares with Chicago's largest crowds. Advertisement *Emanuel says Trump should not fixate on inauguration crowd size. *CPS to revamp high school application process. *After Women's March tweets, suburban school board member resigns. *New women's shelter designed to serve victims with diverse cultural backgrounds. *Workplace lawsuits could rise under Trump, but Supreme Court still a wild card. What we're reading *Shootings, homicides in Chicago both higher than start of violent 2016. Advertisement *Justices reject appeal over Illinois concealed-carry rules. *Why does Chicago have so many old-style Old Style signs? From the notebook *Avoid drawing the short straw: The state's Democratic County chairmen are trying to jump start the 2018 race to determine a nominee for governor with an online straw poll of potential candidates. The Democratic County Chairman's Association acknowledged that the results of the straw poll, which ends at midnight Sunday, aren't going to be scientific, and the group said it will do its best to prevent multiple votes. But they said it is the first of several polls planned to gauge Democratic interest in challengers to first-term Republican Gov. Rauner. "Democrats must offer a positive vision to voters and draw their attention to the numerous well-qualified and exciting candidates who can lead Illinois into a better future," said Doug House, the Rock Island County Democratic chairman who heads the state group. Advertisement The candidates included in the first straw poll, listed in alphabetical order, are: state Sen. Daniel Biss of Evantson, U.S. Reps. Cheri Bustos of Moline and Robin Kelly of Matteson, Chicago businessman Chris Kennedy, state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, Chicago Ald. Ameya Pawar, Chicago businessman J.B. Pritzker, state Sen. Kwame Raoul of Chicago and Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers. The straw poll voting will occur via the web here. To vote, the county chairmen's group requires an identifiable and valid email address and an Illinois ZIP code. So the straw poll also provides the group with a way to develop an email list for campaign time. (Rick Pearson) *How they voted: Democratic U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois both voted against confirming former Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo as the new CIA director. Durbin issued a statement citing what he called Pompeo's "changing statements on torture," saying that left him "no choice" but to vote against. Pompeo was sworn in Monday night after the 66-32 Senate vote to confirm him. Last week, Durbin and Duckworth both voted in favor of confirming John Kelly as Homeland Security secretary and James Mattis as Defense secretary. Advertisement Senate rolls calls can be found here. *Mendoza media: New Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza was on WTTW Ch. 11's "Chicago Tonight" on Monday for nearly 11 minutes. The highlights: --- Lawmakers remain waiting in line for pay amid the budget impasse and bill backlog. --- Should the office be merged with treasurer? No, better ethically to keep them separate. --- Is there any hope for a budget in Springfield amid the feud between Republican Gov. Rauner and Democratic Speaker Michael Madigan? It's the governor's responsibility to propose a balanced budget, then lawmakers can take it up. Don't believe she said the speaker's name during the appearance. Just seven weeks on the job, she hasn't sat down and tried to move budget impasse forward, but hopes to. Watch it here. Advertisement Follow the money *City Treasurer Kurt Summers reported $17,275 in contributions, including a $10,000 donation from Pharmore Drugs in Skokie. *Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here. Beyond Chicago *Trump withdraws from TPP, which he had called a "potential disaster" and starts a federal hiring freeze via executive orders. *Trump press secretary at press briefing: "Our intent is never to lie to you." *A tally of Obama's promises kept and broken. Advertisement *Former Trump foe Rubio backs his secretary of state pick. *Residents pick up pieces after tornadoes leave 19 dead. After an impressive year for sales of newly built, single family homes in the Greater Chattanooga area, the National Association of Home Builders forecasts continued growth in 2017 and 2018. Thats great news for the people who work and live here, because every year home construction supports twenty-eight hundred Chattanooga-area jobs and generates over one hundred and ninety-two million dollars in local income and twenty-six million dollars in support for community services and improvements. As the newly installed president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Chattanooga, I am in the unique position of helping lead one of the largest HBAs in the country during a time of this exciting expansion and progress in our vibrant community. Last weekend I, along with 19 of my industry colleagues, raised our right hands at the HBAGC Annual Installation Dinner and pledged our continued commitment to the core principles that help our members build the homes that shape our communities. Among the foundational ideals that we uphold as a group are the promotion of affordable housing for all, the responsible stewardship of our community resources, and the pursuit of continuing education in best practices for quality construction. As individuals and families across our area continue to build, buy, sell, and renovate their homes, we will continue to build on the tremendous momentum established by our thriving community and the great principles set forth by our predecessors. I am honored to stand with these industry professionals to usher in the new year, and I look forward to witnessing the exciting growth of our great city. I am a 64-year-old white woman who, to my shame, had never marched to support or protest any cause. Nothing has obviously moved me to get off my butt until the candidacy and election of Donald Trump. I gave more money to a politician's campaign than I ever have. I volunteered to make phone calls on behalf of my candidate. And when Trump won the election, I sent the Tribune my first ever letter to the editor. I searched the internet in the hopes of finding the formation of a protest. I found that in the Women's March on Washington. God bless all the women around the country who gave their time and energy to rally the hundreds of thousands of people who took part. I signed up with my sister to travel to Washington from Oak Park. I learned of the "Pussyhat Project" and knitted six pink hats. I took a day off of work to make protest signs: "Ashamed of my president" and "You are reaping what you've sown." Advertisement My sister and I boarded our bus for our 40-hour, mostly sleepless adventure along with 220 other women, young and old. We marched. We chanted, "Welcome to your first day, we won't go away," etc. We interacted with many men and women during this journey on the bus, on the street and in lines waiting for food and, of course, the bathroom. The underlying expressed sentiment, personal causes aside, was the disbelief that such a vile individual is now our president and more important that things can't end with this march; people must stay engaged. I am now wearily typing this letter after a few hours of catch-up sleep and, like many others I'm sure, pondering my next steps. Unlike our president, I hope all politicians were paying attention. Advertisement Mary Cashin, Riverside Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway gets ready to go on television outside the White House on Jan. 22, 2017, in Washington. In the broadcast, she used the term "alternative facts." (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP) Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway said more than a little bit when she described President Donald Trump's press secretary as offering "alternative facts." That may well be the most startling description of our new president's promotional style that I have heard since his best-selling book, "Trump: The Art of the Deal," said his most useful promotional tool is "truthful hyperbole." Advertisement Sure, Conway's description was probably a slip, yet it also was too on-the-nose in its accuracy to warrant a correction. Conway, a counselor to the president after managing his election campaign, was in a heated exchange Sunday with NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press," defending an inaccurate claim by Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary. Advertisement The issue started Saturday when Spicer yelled at reporters for allegedly "sowing division" with "deliberately false reporting" of Trump's inauguration crowd which he called "the largest audience to witness an inauguration period!" Unfortunately for Spicer, there was no evidence to support his claim. Trump's inauguration crowd was much smaller than President Barack Obama's in 2009, and he drew fewer television viewers in the United States (30.6 million) than Obama did in 2009 (38 million) and Ronald Reagan did in 1981 (42 million), according to Nielsen figures reported by The New York Times. Figures for online viewership were not available, although Spicer expressed confidence that the final count would reveal that more eyeballs witnessed this inauguration than any other. The fact-checking later grew even more interesting on "Meet the Press" when Todd challenged Conway about Spicer's promoting "falsehoods." Conway disagreed: "You're saying it's a falsehood, and Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that," Conway said. "Alternative facts?" Call me old fashioned but, is that a euphemism for lying? I'm just asking. Or maybe Conway, who has described herself as a "fully recovered" lawyer, is simply thinking like a lawyer and spin doctor. Courtrooms and political campaigns are arenas for dueling narratives. Each side has its set of facts and the other side has its, well, alternative facts. But why is Team Trump so determined to argue on behalf of its president over something so seemingly trivial as his crowd count and television ratings? Because they represent Donald Trump, the unlikely candidate whose aspirations to greatness have left him disappointed that more Americans don't think he's all that great. Advertisement So he turns for reassurance to favorable numbers like crowd size, TV ratings and poll numbers, especially when they show him "winning." But his desperation is showing. His efforts to minimize the significance of the Women's March and Obama's inaugurations only served instead to glorify them with more attention well deserved, in my view. Even on Monday, The New York Times reported that the new president used part of his first official meeting with congressional leaders to rehash his old and false claim that millions of unauthorized immigrants had robbed him of a popular vote majority. He also reportedly talked about the size of the crowd for his inaugural address. Donald, let it go. But even after his swearing-in, his inner salesman will not be contained. It is still hard at work, giving us a hard sell to prop up his legitimacy, perhaps in his own mind as much as anyone else's even if he has to inflate a few numbers here and there. "The final key to the way I promote is bravado," he says in "Art of the Deal," co-authored by Tony Schwartz, who says he made up the phrase "truthful hyperbole" and Trump approved it. "I play to people's fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That's why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It's an innocent form of exaggeration and a very effective form of promotion." Advertisement Welcome to the zone of alternative facts, where your fantasies will be pandered to. Trump's bravado challenges our traditional notions of the presidency. George Washington never told a lie, according to legend; but would he have told an alternative fact? Or would alt-facts make "Honest Abe" Lincoln less honest? In today's politically cynical times, maybe not so much. But I wouldn't call that progress. Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage. cpage@chicagotribune.com Twitter @cptime Advertisement Related articles: 'Baghdad Sean' Spicer doubles down on crowd lies 5 things a pro-lifer learned from pro-choice friends at the women's march Trump's bizarre cult of personality Repealing Obamacare will kill more than 43,000 people a year You can't believe what President Trump says "I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts." Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, at a briefing Monday Advertisement America got yet another earful of Trumpspeak the afternoon of Jan. 23, when White House press secretary Sean Spicer attempted to paper over the misstatements and misrepresentations that he'd issued Jan. 21. In the earlier statement, which Spicer read to assembled reporters without taking questions, he accused the media of engaging in "deliberately false reporting" for noting that crowds at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C., were far smaller than the crowds that gathered for Barack Obama's first inauguration in 2009. Advertisement "Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall," Spicer initially said. False. The comparative photographs were taken from fixed cameras, framed identically, and they showed vastly larger crowds for Obama. Spicer went on to claim that usage figures from D.C. public transit were greater for Trump's inauguration than for Obama's. False. And he claimed that protective grass covering on the mall distorted the effort to estimate the crowd size. Laughably false. His bottom line: "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period. Both in person and around the globe." Social media exploded at the Orwellian brazenness of this lie, a lie whose portentousness was magnified, not minimized, by the triviality of the subject matter. Wags quickly dubbed Spicer "Baghdad Sean," a play on "Baghdad Bob," the nickname given to Saddam Hussein's blithe Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, who continued to reassure the Iraqi people that all was well even as U.S. troops overran Iraq in 2003. Video made the rounds of Spicer's Jan. 4 appearance at the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics in which he said, "I have never lied ... because if you lose the respect and trust of the press corps, you've got nothing. To go out and tell an all-out lie is something that's just not acceptable." Why, in his first public act as press secretary, would Spicer ignore his own advice and shatter his credibility for something as inconsequential as crowd size? His answer, in response to questions at his second press briefing, was that he didn't. Advertisement "It was the most-watched inaugural," he said, when you add up TV ratings (which were comparatively small), in-person attendance (also comparatively small), and viewers of online streams. A reporter asked, "Just to clarify, you're not saying, and you weren't saying on Saturday, that it was the largest inaugural crowd in person?" "I am not," Spicer said. "I'm saying that it was the total largest audience witnessed 'in person and around the globe.'" Three things, though. 1. It's so unconventional as to be dishonest to use the word "witnessed" to mean watched on TV or a mobile device. 2. On Jan. 21, Spicer, in his prepared statement, said "both in person and around the globe." On Jan. 23, he artfully and persistently avoided repeating the word "both" while quoting himself, but that word alone has enough meaning to transform plausible spin into an outright falsehood. Advertisement 3. There is no way to know yet how many people watched not witnessed all or part of Trump's inauguration via an online stream. Politico reported that CNN had 21 million streaming views of Obama's 2009 inauguration compared with 17 million views of Trump's inauguration, but noted that there are now more sources for streaming video, and reliable metrics may never be available. Why did Trump obsess about the size of the crowd on the National Mall earlier Jan. 21, he told an audience at the CIA headquarters that it was 1.5 million, which is about three times the size of most estimates so much that he directed Spicer to confront the media about it? "Overall frustration" with "demoralizing" coverage that serves to minimize Trump's popularity, Spicer explained. Sorry, but doubling down on petty lies isn't going to bring up those sagging approval ratings. Giving the public the impression that you're willing to mislead them on small things erodes your ability to gain their confidence when you want them to believe you on big things, things that really matter. What Spicer could have first said about the inaugural crowds: "We're pleased with the turnout on a rainy day in Washington and what we believe was strong TV and online viewership around the world for President Trump's message about the future of our great nation. Period." What Spicer should have said about the inaugural crowds: Nothing. Advertisement Twitter @EricZorn Related stories: "Alternative facts" and "truthful hyperbole": How Trump panders to Americans' fantasies 5 things a pro-lifer learned from pro-choice friends at the women's march How long will Sean Spicer allow himself to be humiliated by President Trump? You can't believe what President Trump says Fulton County farmer Matt Howe speaks out against hog confinements during a news conference Jan. 24, 2017, at the Capitol in Springfield. The Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water organized a news conference during which several residents from around Illinois spoke about the adverse effects hog and dairy confinements have had on their lives. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Facing opposition from local farmers, one of the state's largest pork producers has pulled its application to build a hog confinement in downstate Fulton County, handing opponents a rare victory in their efforts to slow the growth of the massive livestock facilities in the state. The hog producer, an affiliate of Professional Swine Management, formally withdrew its notice of intent to construct from the Illinois Department of Agriculture last week after sustained protests from neighbors who feared that waste from the proposed 20,000-hog confinement could foul rivers and creeks, and that the operation might ruin roads and jeopardize their rural way of life. Advertisement "It's a great thing," said Fulton County crop and livestock farmer Matt Howe, referring to the decision to cancel plans for the hog confinement. "Twenty-thousand animals is a monstrosity. I don't count it as agriculture." Two weeks ago, Howe resigned from the Fulton County Farm Bureau's board of directors to protest the group's apparent support for the facility, initially called Cleer Farm and recently changed to Memory Lane Acres. Howe said his own farm and home sit just 3,000 feet from the proposed site. Advertisement Last Wednesday, the Fulton County Farm Bureau held a meeting in which a handful of farmers voiced continued opposition to the facility, according to Farm Bureau officials and participants. "They wanted to know our concerns with the hog confinement and why we were opposing it," said farmer Craig Porter, who is also a member of the local Isabel Township Board. The next day, Professional Swine Management pulled the plug on the project, though the company could submit a new application that would restart the permitting process, state agricultural officials told the Tribune. Officials with Professional Swine Management could not be reached for comment. Company officials said last month that they would not comment on their plans in Fulton County or any aspects of their business. County farm bureaus are part of a politically influential statewide network that says it is dedicated to family farmers but has been criticized for promoting industrial-scale food production. Bill Carlberg, president of the Fulton County Farm Bureau, told the Tribune in a written statement that "our members had questions and concerns about the Memory Lane farms project, which they expressed to us at a recent meeting." The decision to cancel Memory Lane Acres is not the only recent setback for Professional Swine Management, which over the years has withstood periodic opposition from local residents and environmental groups to install 27 hog operations in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri with a total of more than 120,000 sows. In nearby Bernadotte Township, the company's Runway Ridge facility, a proposed 20,000-hog confinement located on farmland near the famed Spoon River, also has stalled in the face of opposition. The Tribune highlighted Fulton County residents' battle against Runway Ridge and Memory Lane Acres as part of its ongoing series, "The Price of Pork." Advertisement Waste spills from hog confinements accounted for nearly half of the 1 million fish killed in Illinois water pollution incidents from 2005 to 2014, killing at least 492,000 fish and impairing 67 miles of waterways, the Tribune found. Fulton County commissioners on Dec. 13 passed a resolution urging the state to halt action on Runway Ridge and all new large confinements in the county until "there is meaningful reform" to the state law that governs the construction and oversight of the massive livestock operations. The law gives Illinois communities little if any power over the siting of new confinements. The Fulton County resolution urged lawmakers to give communities a voice and "protect citizens of all counties in the state of Illinois." On Tuesday, Howe, Porter and a dozen other small farmers and residents gathered at the state Capitol building in Springfield to launch an effort to persuade legislators to strengthen the Livestock Management Facilities Act, which governs the permitting and siting of hog confinements. Citing the Tribune investigation and describing noxious odors, declining property values, damaged roads and other problems associated with confinements, the speakers urged state legislators to give local authorities the power to approve or deny permits for constructing the massive facilities. "The LMFA is a toothless tiger," said Judy Koehler, a former Republican state representative and Illinois Appellate Court justice who owns land near a hog confinement in western Illinois. "It is working for 'Big Ag' against the little guy, the family farm." Advertisement Past efforts in Illinois to toughen the livestock facilities law stalled in the face of strong opposition from rural lawmakers backed by farm and livestock associations. But Karen Hudson, co-founder of Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water and a longtime critic of confinements, said she hopes the balance of power may be shifting as more local farmers join environmentalists in opposing the livestock facilities. "We have a growing number of Farm Bureau farmers who are being affected and who are stepping forward," Hudson said. Sen. Andy Manar, a Democrat from Bunker Hill who is on the Agriculture Committee, said he would support closing what's known as the "expansion loophole" in the law. Currently, many large hog confinements in the state can grow dramatically in size with little or no public input. "This is a place where we could potentially move forward," Manar said. Broader changes would be difficult given the political divisions in Springfield, he added. Another committee member, Democratic Sen. David Koehler of Peoria, said Tuesday that he is committed to reviewing the state livestock facilities act to ensure that current laws protect citizens while at the same time being "sensitive to the needs of legitimate producers." Advertisement "Do we have adequate laws and do we have adequate enforcement and do we have adequate transparency? I'm just not sure we have a well-functioning system right now," said Koehler, who is no relation to Judy Koehler. Republican Rep. Charlie Meier, a grain and livestock farmer from Okawville, cautioned against giving local counties control over the siting of livestock confinements, saying they don't have the necessary expertise or funds to regulate the massive facilities. "One in six jobs in the state of Illinois are agriculture," Meier told the Tribune. "We need to protect the last thriving business in the state of Illinois." gmarx@chicagotribune.com dyjackson@chicagotribune.com Twitter @garyjmarx Advertisement Twitter @poolcar4 Public Education Foundation is recruiting Chattanooga area businesses to hire Hamilton County Department of Education high school students for paid summer internships through its STEP-UP Chattanooga initiative. Launched in January 2016, this internship program for high school sophomores, juniors and seniors is designed to address the challenges faced by both businesses and students in a complex, changing global economy, said officials. STEP-UP Chattanooga will provide work readiness training designed to help students be successful in interviews and professional settings. Throughout the experience, students will receive support and feedback from STEP-UP staff and supervisors at their place of employment. STEP-UP Chattanooga aims to place 150 students in internships this summer, doubling the number of participants from last year. Organizations hosting STEP-UP interns will build relationships with a pool of talented, diverse future employees while filling job vacancies and demonstrating a commitment to improving the lives of at-risk youth, said officials. Students will have opportunities to explore careers while developing work skills, as well as to network with adult professionals who can help them achieve educational and professional goals. The following businesses, nonprofits and organizations have already signed up for Summer 2017: 2nds in Building Materials (Southeastern Salvage), 3H Group Hotels, Application Researchers, Bessie Smith Cultural Center, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga Gas, Chattanooga Library, Chattanooga Publishing Company, Chattanooga Renaissance Fund, Chattanooga State Community College, Chattanooga Zoo, Chattem, Inc., City of Chattanooga, Creative Discovery Museum, Electric Power Board (EPB), Elemi Architects, Erlanger Health System, The Enterprise Center, Greenspaces, Habitat for Humanity, Hullco, Lamp Post Properties, MediTract, Merrill Lynch, Newcomb Spring, Northside Neighborhood House, River City Company, Signal Centers, SmartBank, Southeastern Tennessee Development District, SunTrust Bank, Tennessee American Water Co., Tennessee Aquarium, United Way of Greater Chattanooga, University of Tennessee Chattanooga, Vayner Media, Vision Hospitality and WRCB-TV. Many of these businesses participated in the pilot year of STEP-UP Chattanooga, employing 76 HCDE high school students in summer 2016 who earned over $100,000 in combined income. One hundred percent of STEP-UP Chattanooga interns indicated they would participate again if given the opportunity. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation, Inc. committed $300,000 and Benwood Foundation contributed $200,000 for the first two years of the program which serves underrepresented students, those most at risk for joblessness. The city of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, HCDE, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce are also founding partners. STEP-UP Chattanooga is modeled after the nationally-recognized STEP-UP Achieve Minneapolis program, which has served over 20,000 students since 2004. The program complements PEFs other College Access & Success initiatives, including Camp College, Passport Scholars, support for Hamilton Countys College Access & Career Advisers, and community education. For more information on becoming a business partner, visit stepupchattanooga.org. The Chicago Tribune tested 255 pharmacies to see how often stores would dispense risky drug pairs without warning patients. Fifty-two percent of the tested pharmacies sold the medications without mentioning the potential interaction. (Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune) Responding to a Tribune investigation that found drugstores frequently failed to warn customers about potentially dangerous drug interactions, Gov. Bruce Rauner is unveiling a major plan designed to improve public safety at pharmacies throughout the state. The administration's proposal would require pharmacists to counsel patients about risky drug combinations and other significant issues when buying a medication for the first time or when a prescription changes. Illinois law now requires only that patients be offered counseling, a mandate often addressed at the cash register with a brief inquiry, such as: "Any questions for the pharmacist today?" Advertisement The governor also plans to beef up state oversight, including directing inspectors to put more emphasis on adverse drug reactions and launching a "mystery shopper" program to test how well pharmacists comply with the law. "The Tribune investigation revealed deficiencies in the state's current pharmacy system that put patients at risk," Rauner said in a statement. "Our team conducted an immediate review to find out what pro-active steps state government could take to address those gaps." Advertisement More broadly, Rauner said he wants to seek input from pharmacists and other health care providers on ways to protect patients at a time when many people use multiple prescription drugs obtained through various doctors and pharmacies. The package of initiatives, expected to be announced Tuesday, represents "commonsense changes that we can quickly implement to ensure that pharmacists are able to carry out their important work while protecting the people of Illinois from adverse drug reactions," he said. The Republican governor took action as the leading Illinois House Democrat on health matters is preparing for legislative hearings beginning next month on other contentious issues the Tribune raised, including whether to regulate the hours worked by pharmacists who sometimes handle hundreds of prescriptions a day. The Tribune's investigation, published in December, found that 52 percent of 255 chain and independent pharmacies tested sold potentially dangerous drug pairs to reporters without a warning. Among the seven pharmacy chains tested, CVS had the highest failure rate at 63 percent. Walgreens had the lowest, at 30 percent. Independent pharmacies had the highest failure rate overall, at 72 percent. CVS, Walgreens and Wal-Mart each promised to take significant steps to improve patient safety nationwide. Combined, the actions affect 22,000 drugstores and involve additional training for 123,000 pharmacists and technicians. Wal-Mart had a 43 percent failure rate in the Tribune's tests. CVS "is committed to assisting our pharmacists in providing the highest standard of care to their patients, and we look forward to reviewing Governor Rauner's proposed changes" to state rules, a spokesman said Monday. A Walgreens spokesman said: "Our goal is to provide the highest level of care to patients, and we are supportive of the governor's effort to further promote a culture of safety in community pharmacies." Advertisement Rauner's plans to use existing inspectors and new mystery shoppers to improve safety at Illinois pharmacies can be achieved through executive orders. But changing the counseling requirement would need the approval of a bipartisan House-Senate panel, as would his proposal to post signs in pharmacies with a consumer hotline along with information about a patient's right to counseling. The changes could be approved by summer if the proposal can avoid the Capitol's ongoing political gridlock. Under the proposed counseling requirement, the pharmacist must have a conversation with any patient who gets a new medication or whose doctor has made significant changes to an existing prescription, such as dosage or frequency. The goal would be to educate the patient on how to take the medicine and how to avoid risks, such as drug interactions. Currently, customers often reflexively decline the required "offer to counsel," not knowing to ask questions about dangerous drug combinations or other potential problems. Required counseling places the responsibility on the pharmacist to address such issues, said Greg Bassi, the governor's policy adviser for health and human services. The administration said it surveyed other states and determined more than 40 have tougher counseling standards than Illinois. Advertisement One major proponent of required counseling is Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, who commended Rauner for taking "quick and definitive action" that would address "critical areas identified by the Tribune study and story." Garth Reynolds, executive director of the Illinois Pharmacists Association, said the proposed new counseling requirement would be "reflecting what pharmacists should be doing." Reynolds also welcomed the governor's proposal to establish a task force to determine best practices in situations when patients use multiple doctors and pharmacies. Though pharmacists' practices affect patient safety, the doctors who write the prescriptions also should be part of any effort to improve care, Reynolds said. Rep. Mary Flowers, the Chicago Democrat who chairs the Health Care Availability and Accessibility Committee, said she is seeking the governor's input at the legislative hearings she will hold and praised him "for making an effort." "But I think it doesn't go quite far enough," Flowers said. Pharmacists should be limited to shifts of "eight hours, no more than nine at the most," because overworked pharmacists are more likely to make mistakes, she said. Advertisement Reynolds said he does not favor a law that sets such limits. "You can't cookie-cutter that into every pharmacy practice setting," he said. Flowers also said she wants pharmacists to deal less with daily distractions, such as pitching flu shots to patients, and focus more on safety checks for drug interactions. Higher standards are needed for the computer programs pharmacists use to check for interactions, Flowers said. Experts told the Tribune that programs often issue so many alerts, including for rare and minor interactions, that pharmacists can get "alert fatigue" and skip over serious warnings that should be communicated to patients. Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said the governor is open to ideas from lawmakers that could be implemented without creating a Byzantine oversight process. In Washington, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has called on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to determine how software can be better used to alert pharmacists to the risks of drug interactions and how common it is for pharmacists nationwide to dispense dangerous drug pairs without warning patients. Durbin asked the agency to establish concrete steps to ensure consumer safety and to issue guidelines to state boards of pharmacy and private industry groups. He also asked the agency to examine how company metrics that track prescriptions, workload and customer wait times might affect patient safety and pharmacy error. Advertisement rlong@chicagotribune.com sroe@chicagotribune.com Twitter @RayLong, @SamRoe The Bethlehem Center will host Fall in Love With Swing, an evening of swing dancing, on Thursday, Feb. 9. The benefit will take place in The Bethlehem Centers gymnasium at 200 W. 38th St. from 5:30-7 p.m. and will include step-by-step instructions from a local swing dance enthusiast. Our United We Dance fundraiser was such a hit in November that we decided to host a Valentine's dance event, said Debbie Boggs, director of Development for The Bethlehem Center. Couples as well as singles are encouraged to come and learn a fun dance from a seasoned instructor. You don't want to miss it. Tickets are $20 for couples and $10 for individuals. Childcare will be provided at $5 for one child and $1 for each additional child. Proceeds from the event will benefit various youth programs at Bethlehem Center. Tickets are available at www.thebeth.org or at the door on Feb. 9. Call 266-1384 ext.6 for more information. The Bethlehem Center is a 97-year-old nonprofit organization that contributes to the community in a holistic way by offering discipleship, education, leadership development programs, and more to children and families in Chattanooga. Randi Zuckerberg, the best-selling author and founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media, will be Chattanooga Womens Leadership Institutes (CWLI) keynote speaker at the 12th annual IMPACT Leadership Dinner on Feb. 23rd. CWLI celebrates women in leadership roles and works to increase the influence of women in the Chattanooga community. As an early employee at Facebook, which was co-founded by her brother Mark Zuckerberg, Ms. Zuckerberg led major marketing campaigns and was instrumental in the creation of Facebook Live, the live-streaming initiative now used by over one billion people around the globe. Additionally, Zuckerberg was nominated for an Emmy in 2011 for her innovative coverage of the midterm elections, which combined television and social media. After leaving Facebook, Ms. Zuckerberg launched Zuckerberg Media in order to create media content that puts intelligent, tech-savvy, entrepreneurial women and girls at the forefront. Zuckerberg has published two books, including New York Times bestseller Dot Complicated and Dot. a childrens book which recently debuted as a television show on NBCs childrens network Sprout. Randi also hosts a weekly radio show Dot Complicated on SiriusXM Business Radio. Her full biography can be found here. Her entrepreneurial mindset and award-winning accomplishments made Randi Zuckerberg a clear choice for this years IMPACT Leadership Dinner keynote speaker, said CWLI Event Chair Jennifer Nicely. As a wife and mother of two young sons, Ms. Zuckerberg is a leading example of how to balance personal and professional success, which many of our members can relate to. This years IMPACT Leadership Dinner is set for Thursday, Feb. 23 from 5:30 8:30 p.m. at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Tables and individual tickets are currently available for purchase online. For more information about the event, including sponsorship opportunities, visit cwli.org or call 423.394.8173. The Dalton Fire Department opened Tuesday mornings monthly meeting of the Dalton Public Safety Commission by presenting seven candidates for promotion. Presented for promotion from the rank of Firefighter 1 to Firefighter 2 were Katelen Farmer, Dwayne Pangle, Danny Arthur, and Casey Jones. Ms. Farmer has been with the department since February 2006 and is a graduate of the prestigious FLAMES (Firefighters Laboring and Mastering Essential Skills) course in addition to holding numerous other training certifications. Mr. Pangle joined the department in January 2013 and also is a FLAMES graduate as well. Mr. Arthur also joined the department in January 2013 and is a graduate of the grueling Georgia Smoke Diver program and also serves as an Emergency Medical Technician. Casey Jones also joined the department in January 2013 and is a hazardous materials technician in addition to numerous other training certifications. Firefighter 2 Adam Stanley and Firefighter 2 Andy Brock were both presented for promotion to the rank of Engineer. Mr. Brock and Mr. Stanley both have served the Dalton Fire Department since July 2011. Both are Georgia Smoke Divers each serves as an EMT and hazardous materials technician in addition to holding many other certifications. Firefighter 2 Matt Daniel was presented for promotion to the rank of Firefighter 3. Mr. Daniel is a 14-year veteran of the fire department, joining in January 2003. In addition to numerous other training qualifications, Daniel is a member of the Georgia Search and Rescue Team. Each of the seven promotions were approved by a unanimous 4-0 vote of the Public Safety Commission (commission member Carlos Calderin was not in attendance). A 28-year veteran of the Dalton Police Department also received an increase in rank at Tuesday mornings meeting. Captain Chip Whitfield had his promotion from the rank of lieutenant approved by a 4-0 vote of the commission. Captain Whitfield currently serves as the division commander of the agencys Administration Division. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Columbus State University and has his bachelors degree from the University of West Georgia. He has served the department in every capacity, as a patrol officer, detective, and supervisor. In addition to his duties with the police department, he also serves as a part-time instructor in the criminal justice program at Dalton State College. As Tuesdays meeting was the first of the year, commission members voted to name a commission chairman and secretary. Chairman William B. Weaver and Secretary Terry Mathis were both re-elected to their same positions for 2017 by unanimous vote. The Dalton Public Safety Commission is comprised of Chairman William B. Weaver, Carlos Calderin, Terry Mathis, Keith Whitworth, and Kenneth E. Willis. Burglars Smashed Ipsento 606's Milwaukee Avenue Storefront Tuesday, Stole Money & Valuables By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 24, 2017 4:32PM Ipsento 606, the second outpost of Logan Square's beloved Ipsento Coffee, opened last year at 1813 N. Milwaukee Ave. near The 606, announced the robbery on Instagram Tuesday morning, saying: "Attention: Our 606 location was broken into early this morning. Thankfully no one was hurt. This has been happening throughout the neighborhood. Local business be aware." In an update around 10:00 a.m., reps from the coffee shop added that they have temporarily fixed their front door and are back in business: "UPDATE!! We are now open for business! Got our door temporarily fixed. Still in good spirits but come say hey and support us on this sad day." A store manager told DNAinfo that the burglars stole money and other belongings from the business, sometime in the early hours Tuesday morning. Director of Retail Harris Nash told Chicagoist that the burglars likely took at least $3,000 to 5,000 worth of belongings and cash from the shop, including cash drawers, a safe, an employee's bicycle and an iPad. "Mainly, we want people to know that we're still open," Nash said. "We'd love support, it's a hard time of year for us anyway, so this happened on top of that." Nash noted that Ipsento 606 is one of several coffee shops to experience burglaries in recent weeks, including Gaslight in Logan Square and Wormhole in Wicker Park. After Women's March, Longtime Chicago Activists Answer 'What Next?' By Stephen Gossett in News on Jan 24, 2017 9:22PM Photo: Tyler LaRiviere Saturday's historic Women's March on Chicago felt like a watershed moment, perhaps most of all for those to whom activism and protest are relatively new avenues. Even before the rally took place, one of the event's organizers, Liz Radford, told Chicagoist that it was always intended to be a jumping off point. With that in mind, we reached out to a few Chicago-based, veteran activists, for whom sustained action is a longtime pursuit. For everyone wondering, "What next?" here's the advice they offered. Hoda Katebi, Communications Coordinator, Council on American-Islamic Relations: "First of all, welcome. Thank you for expressing your solidarity and coming together to support a necessary movement. Moving forward, it is important to listen. Listen to those who are speaking from lived experiences and do not challenge their words. Center those who are on the margins and support their work and their leadership. Plug into organizing that challenges the complex interconnectedness of anti-Muslimism, anti-Blackness, imperialism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia, and other systems of oppression. Be conscious of the space that you are taking up and use your voice to amplify those who are systematically silenced (and be careful not to speak over or for them)." Brandon Lee, Communications and Research Coordinator of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a member organization of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: "For me there's an emphasis on thinking and acting and donating locally, especially in a city like Chicago. It's important to know that there are all sorts of groups that focus in an intersectional way, and are already doing incredible organizing. Some were visible at the rally, some weren't. When I was getting started in activism, I thought. 'where do I go? If you want to support reproductive rights for low income people, there's the Chicago Abortion Fund. If you're white and want to get involved in social justice, there's SURJ. If your'e queer and Asian, there's Invisible to Invincible. There are already so many of groups building community to tap into." Lee stressed that victories on a federal level will be exceedingly hard to come by, so also advocate on a community and school-system level, such as working to make Chicago Public Schools commit to being sanctuary schools. He pointed to #100daysofresistance and ICIRR's ICIRR's Platform for Resistance, Unity, and Respect Photo: Tyler LaRiviere Ed Yohkna, Director of Communications and Public Policy, American Civil LIberties Union of Illinois: "There are three important directions that we would recommend. One: people ought toand I felt in that crowdstay informed, as painful as it may feel every day to pay attention. Stay connected to your groups and to media; stay on top of what's going on.Two: struggle to pay attention to all issues, not just a coupleand this was often reflected in signage on Saturday. Have commitment across the board. If, say, reproductive health care improves, you don't get to not worry about trans equality, discrimination against Muslims or immigrant rights. Three: show up and show out. If you look at the success of the Tea Party getting coverage, there weren't that many people showing up, but enough were showing up and asking questions. And think about doing it beyond the context of elected officials. Keep calling those folks but find family members, colleagues, old classmates who live in exurban districts; engage them to be present." One of our favorite pieces of writing to emerge after Saturday's rally was from Kelly Hayes, of Lifted Voices, who spoke, despite feeling conflicted, at the Women's March. Hayes wrote on Truthout: "I hope everyone who started organizing on November 9 keeps building and learning, in spite of any mistakes. It was a beautiful community-building experience for many people. But we must acknowledge that, most of the time, the resistance will not be permitted, or feature celebrity performances. The resistance will be messy. It will sometimes strike you as offensive, and that might be because you have something to learn. We won't build forward if we don't build honestly." Kofi Ademola, Black Lives Matter Chicago: "Before I got involved with anything I did extensive reading: Stokely Carmichael, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., the list goes on. I wanted to study history and find out more about movements. As I progressed, I wanted to study feminism, particularly the black feminist movement and early ideas around intersectionality. So first and foremost, ground yourself in the history and stories, know that people are already doing the work and see what theyve done. Ask questions and learn. Dont think you're radical because youve come into an already existing space. Know your proximity to privilege. For example, I'm a black cis heterosexual male. I face discrimination but privilege over, say, a trans woman or a disabled, gender-non-conforming person. So, ask 'How do I center my voice to help most marginalized?...'" (Demonstrators staged a massive sit-in in the Loop to demand police accountability and support Black Lives Matter Monday, July 11, 2016. Photos By Tyler LaRiviere/Chicagoist) Eva Lewis, founder of The I Project and Co-organizer of Youth for Black Lives; a high school senior at Walter Payton College Prep: "This is a really important time for society, a lot of people, black people especially, have been oppressed in the U.S. for forever, and this is the first time that a lot of other marginalized groups can feel the extent of what it means to be extremely oppressedespecially white women. The Women's March was extremely powerful. From where we were it looked very inclusive, all the speakers were inclusive, but when I started marching, I noticed that there was so much white feminism, and not a lot of inclusivity among the marchers. I think what's important in these times is to be inclusive and to understand, recognizing privilege. Even though our anger is righteous for sure, we can't be so consumed in our own problems that we don't recognize what other people are experiencing. Noting that activism is not a "one-time thing," Lewis recalled seeing and agreeing with a sign that read, "I'm going to see all of you lovely white women at the next Black Lives Matter protest, right?" She wondered why there wasn't a similar outpour when Youth for Black Lives protested this summer against Chicago police misconduct and the shootings of unarmed black youth. Lewis added that she hopes future Women's March-like events will be more careful about using inclusive language and making people who are not cis women and people of color feel more welcome. "People kept saying "sisters," and I'm like, 'Well, everybody isn't a woman, what about trans women or non-binary folks?' you can't say you're trans inclusive and not be trans inclusive in your language. And someone said they wanted us to be like suffragettes well, the suffragettes only did stuff for white women, and that made me uncomfortable. this lady said [she wanted us to be] like suffragettes, and like John Lewis and the civil rights movement... [and I thought] 'you couldn't even name a black woman!' It's really subtle, but language is really important. When Eloise Diaz Bahrmasel from the RISE Movement was speaking at the march, she said that 55 percent of white women voted for Trump, 'So y'all know you all did this, right? And if it wasn't you, it was your cousins, your friends. Holding people accountable in the way that makes people uncomfortable is so important. We don't have time to be comfortable, we don't have time to ease people in, and we have to hold people accountable." Further reading: Ways To Take Effective Action Following The Magnificent Women's March How To Mobilize Your Election Fear & Anger Into Action In Chicago Chinese New Year pictures take on a modern look in the creations by Chinese young artists. As every Spring Festival approaches, Chinese households follow the custom of hanging paintingsusually colored woodblock printson their doors and walls to welcome the new year. However, the tradition has changed a little in the digital age. One such painting now appears on gadgets' screens, with the swords of door gods replaced by karaoke microphones. In addition, a door god holds a camera and a bird's cage, and behind him are skyscrapers and fancy cars. The peace-themed Chinese Lunar New Year painting created by Beijing-based artist Ye Hongxing was first designed on a computer and then turned into a physical artworka mosaic of tens of thousands of stickers. "I combined modern and traditional elements to make it interesting. They can be downloaded as wallpapers on phones and computers," says Ye. She is one of the five artists invited by US tech giant Apple Inc to make paintings focusing on reunion, fortune, peace and harvesttraditional themes of Chinese woodblock prints for Spring Festival paintings that date back hundreds of years. Unlike Ye, whose paintings have both electronic and printed versions, the other four artists' works are only online. But pictures by all five artists are shown on screens at subway stops and on skyscrapers, and mostly on phone screens to celebrate the Year of the Rooster. "New Year pictures are used to convey people's good wishes for the coming year. They often feature fish to herald good fortune and door gods to signal peace and safety," says Ye. The 45-year-old was born in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. Her family would hang pictures of door gods and New Year paintings of various themes on walls when she was a child. Apart from those heralding good fortune, some traditional works were created based on stories from Peking Opera, literature and folk legends. "You can learn about people's lives in different periods of time through these pictures, such as how they dressed or what they ate. The pictures are different in different places in China," Ye says. Ye's work has motifs that make the door gods look modern. In addition, the karaoke microphone, camera, bird's cage, high buildings, wheels, cars and a flying astronaut all reflect different aspects of our society, she explains. Parts of the massive image are made up of stickers that are small in size and feature popular motifs like Hello Kitty and Angry Birds. "It's the first time for me to create a Spring Festival picture in such a modern way. I thought they were only made by craftsmen, who teach apprentices," Ye says. Chinese comedian Zhou Libo (C) and his lawyer (L, Front) prepare to leave after Zhou was released on bail at Nassau District Court, the United States, on Jan. 20, 2017. Chinese comedian Zhou Libo spoke out for the first time after his arrest by US police and said he is not interested in drugs. Zhou was arrested in Long Island, New York, for alleged illegal possession of a firearm and drugs. He spoke out on Monday on his social media Weibo account, "I'm not a saint, so I do make mistakes. I'm sorry that I have disturbed everyone's New Year celebration mood." The 49-year-old comedian said he would keep on devoting himself to "social responsibility and charity causes for his public virtue pursuits," while also improving his own "personal morals." He added, regarding the allegations of porn, gambling and drug abuse, I never was, am nor will be interested in such things. Please rest assured, the truth and law will clear my name!" Zhou also joked, "Plus, I'm sorry Mr. Trump, I took away your headlines for these few days," referring to the discussion of his arrest on Chinese social platforms which had overshadowed the spotlight of the new US president's inauguration. The once beloved comedian has suffered from a bad reputation in recent years due to backlashes for his outrageous discriminatory remarks, as well as his attacks on other celebrities and ordinary citizens alike during his show and daily rants. Last Thursday, he and the passenger, Shuang Tang, 30, were stopped at 12:07 am because their Mercedes-Benz was "being driven erratically and the operator was using a cell phone" on Bayville Road in Lattingtown, New York. Upon further investigation, a loaded pistol was recovered along with two clear plastic bags containing crack cocaine, it said. They have then been charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance, Criminal Possession of a Weapon and Criminal Possession of a Firearm, Nassau County police said in a press release. Zhou is also charged with Mobile Phone Use While Driving. They were charged on Friday at the First District Court in Hempstead. Zhou has been released on bail and is expected to appear in court again for his next hearing on March 9. Tu Lei, Zhou's attorney in China, said to the press that he had discussed this case with Zhou, "He was fine. This case was greatly hyped in China but is not that serious in the U.S. First, the gun is legal; second, we didn't know yet whether the drugs are illegal. Even if the drug is illegal, it didn't belong to Zhou personally." You are here: Home Internet supervisors in south China's Guangdong Province said Monday that more than 5,500 illegal apps had been taken offline. More than 1,600 mobile video apps disseminating pornographic and violent content were closed, according to the Guangdong provincial cyberspace administration. Over 1,200 social apps had pornographic content. Other apps were found to hack users' private information, infringe upon others' right and maliciously incur fees. The administration said the illegal apps had been available on app stores operated by Tencent, China Mobile and other smartphone producers such as Huawei, ZTE, Coolpad, Meizu, OPPO and VIVO. The apps violated cyber laws and regulations in China, the administration said. It promised to step up supervision and enforcement of laws and maintain a healthy online environment. A Chinese couple with a penchant for adventure are planning an 80,000-kilometer round-the-world trip that will see them fly themselves to five continents, including Antarctica. Zhang Xinyu and his wife, Liang Hong, will travel globally in a Chinese-made airplane. [Photo/China Daily] Zhang Xinyu and his wife, Liang Hong, plan to begin their journey by flying a Chinese-made plane from Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang province, to North America via the Russian Far East. Their itinerary will take them to the Mexican Plateau and Chile's Atacama Desert before they arrive in Antarctica. Afterward they plan to fly to Africa via Brazil's rainforests, visiting Ethiopia and Kenya, before eventually returning to China via Southeast Asia, completing a journey that is twice the length of the equator. "Many of the countries we want to go offer visa-free or visa-upon-arrival entry to Chinese nationals," Zhang said. "I want my fellow people to know the world, and I want to document the kindness and the beauty of the world," he added. Their trip is scheduled to begin before the end of this month, and the adventure will last until June. In preparation, the couple completed a six-month training session that taught them skills such as flying at night or in complex weather conditions, as well as aircraft maintenance. "I was moved when they said they wanted to pilot a Chinese aircraft to Antarctica," said Li Xinming, a manager at China Fly Dragon General Aviation, where the couple were trained. "As professionals, we know all about safety." According to the couple, only about 200 people are thought to have completed such an expedition and it is the first time that a Chinese-made plane will be used. The plane, the Y-12, is a twin-engine utility aircraft built by Harbin Aircraft Industry Group, with a range of about 1,300 km. The aircraft has been used for many scientific missions. The People's Liberation Army Navy on Sunday commissioned its fifth Type 052D guided missile destroyer to the North Sea Fleet. Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, commander of the North Sea Fleet, views the guard of honor on the CNS Xining in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sunday. [Photo/China Daily] The PLA Navy said in a news release on Monday that the CNS Xining, which has a hull number of 117, was delivered to a destroyer flotilla of the North Sea Fleet at a naval base in Qingdao, Shandong province. The fleet's new commander, Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, who was deputy chief of staff of the PLA Southern Theater Command, conferred the flag to Captain Zhou Minghui, commander of the Xining. The news release said that the Xining has a stealth design and can act as a flagship for a strike group. It is capable of conducting anti-ship, anti-submarine and air defense operations, it said. The Type 052D class is deemed by military experts to be the mightiest destroyer and the most capable fleet escort deployed by the PLA Navy. With a large load of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles, it has been described by some Western observers as a "carrier killer". According to military sources, a Type 052D destroyer has a full displacement of nearly 7,000 metric tons and a wide range of weapons, including a single-barrel 130-mm naval gun and a close-in weapon system as well as a total of 64 HHQ-9 long-range anti-aircraft missiles and YJ-18 or YJ-83 anti-ship cruise missiles. Adopting a host of cutting-edge technologies, the vessel features a low radar signature, a high information level and a state-of-the-art phased array radar. The first Type 052D destroyer, the Kunming, joined the PLA Navy in March 2014. The second, the Changsha, started active service in August 2015. The third, the Hefei, was delivered to the Navy in December 2015 while the fourth, the Yinchuan, was commissioned in July last year. All of them belong to the South Sea Fleet. The Xining is the first such vessel to serve with the North Sea Fleet. A Navy officer told China Daily on condition of anonymity that compared with other Chinese warships he has served with, the Type 052D class features better performance in terms of target detection, air defense, strike precision and joint operations. China created 13.14 million new jobs for urban residents last year, exceeding the official target, but the country faces challenges this year to create jobs for a historic high of almost 8 million university graduates. University graduates attend a job fair in Shanghai early this month.[Photo/Xinhua] The registered unemployment rate in Chinese cities stood at 4.02 percent at the end of last year, down from 4.04 percent three months earlier, Lu Aihong, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, told a news conference on Monday. He said the country has "obtained obvious achievements" in promoting entrepreneurs to create jobs through the construction of incubation bases, and the government has also encouraged migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns. The government pledged to keep the whole-year registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent and create at least 10 million jobs last year. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, China created 13.12 million jobs in 2015, and the registered unemployment rate in cities stood at 4.05 percent. "The employment situation this year is stable, but there is also something to be worried about," Lu said. Though the Chinese laboring population has been declining since 2012, some laborers entered the market comparatively late due to educational reasons, which will keep the demand for jobs high in cities this year, and the rural laborers who are entering cities for work also increase the demand, he said. He said employment pressure also comes from the task of re-employing workers laid off from a reduction in capacity and the downward pressure on the economy. Meanwhile, Lu said he is expecting more jobs to be created as the country reforms its economy amid the acceleration of urbanization and the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative. This year, there will be 7.95 million university graduates300,000 more than last year. Lu said the ministry will encourage graduates to work in grassroots organizations and encourage them to start their own businesses. Chen Yang, 27, a senior postgraduate at the School of Government, Nanjing University, said he thinks the employment situation this year will be "not that bad". "As far as I am concerned, one-third of the 2017 graduates have guaranteed themselves a job, though they are still several months away from graduating," he said. Chen, who hasn't found a job yet, doesn't show much interest in working for grassroots organizations, though it's "possible" that there might be good opportunities there, he said. Flash China and the Philippines have confirmed cooperation programs worth 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, during a meeting held in Beijing, a senior Chinese official said Monday. "The cooperation projects, which are the first batch, on improving people's living standards now only needed a series of bank-related procedures," said Gao Hucheng, China's commerce minister, after a meeting between a Philippine cabinet delegation and Chinese officials. The meeting was held to implement the results and consensus agreed by the two countries' leaders in October 2016. The Philippine delegation are on a two-day visit to China, which started Monday. Gao said earlier Monday that the two sides had basically reached agreement about the implementing process and rules, and that he expected the two sides to sign the agreement before the delegation left Beijing. Gao said the document would help ensure smooth, efficient, fair and transparent cooperation between the two countries in the fields of infrastructure, transport, highways, telecommunications, railways, irrigation and living standards. He said that the six-year development plan for the two countries was nearly finalized, adding that he expected it to be signed next month in Manila. Flash More than 20 think tanks and other academic agencies from China and Nepal gathered in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal on Jan. 17 for the China-Nepal Think Tank Conference 2017, lasting for two days. At the opening ceremony, former Nepalese Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli referred to China as Nepal's "all-weather good friend;" as China never interferes with Nepal's internal affairs, wishes to help with Nepal's development and stands ready to stretch a helping hand whenever Nepal has troubles. Oli recalled his latest trip to China last year when he was in office as saying that the China-led Belt and Road Initiative would be highly beneficial to Nepal, and that Nepal will make most of this initiative to develop its own economy. Oli's comments on the Nepal-China relations was shared by Kamal Thapa, former vice prime minister and foreign minister of Nepal, who also stressed the importance of enhancing the connectivity between the two countries. Thapa added that only through better connections could Nepal accelerate its pace towards prosperity. At the forum, Huang Youyi, member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, and former vice president and editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group (CIPG), delivered a keynote speech, representing the Charhar Institute. In his speech entitled "International communications and the media coverage of Nepal in China," Huang said that Chinese media has a long tradition of being friendly to Nepal. Over the past years, the extensive and intensive coverage of Nepal on Chinese media has conveyed a friendly and positive message to the Chinese audience. Huang mentioned that Chinese people in general have a good feeling about Nepal; that Nepalese people are amicable and peace-loving, and that the Nepalese natural scenery is beautiful beyond words. He added that foreign language media in China have also been using different languages to promote Nepal's national policy of peaceful development to international audiences. Also in his speech, Huang compared the quantity, themes and general attitudes of the two countries media when reporting each other. In specific, among Nepalese media coverage of China, 21 percent of it reflected a positive attitude, 60 percent neutral and 12 percent negative, which was a "striking contrast" compared with how Chinese media report Nepal. The reason, as Huang interpreted, was that Nepalese media has been quoting the negative reports of China from Western or non-China friendly neighbouring countries, which has led to the Nepalese people's misunderstanding of China. Hence, he urged China to be more proactive as to provide more English-composed information about itself, strengthen bilateral exchange of information and encourage journalists from both countries to visit each other. Prof. Wang Yiwei of Renmin University of China (RUC) and senior researcher at the Charhar Institute shared his view on how non-governmental think tanks could contribute to the peace, stability and harmonious development of China and the world. He told Nepalese delegates to the conference that the Charhar Institute now has offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea and will soon set up a new office in Lhasa, which shall strengthen the agency's research capacity of Tibet-related diplomacy. Wang's six-point interpretation of the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as his proposal for the common revitalization of civilizations and the construction of a China-Nepal economic corridor was accepted with positivity by Nepalese think tanks. Trump's cabinet [By Zhai Haijun / China.org.cn] The contrast between Donald Trump's words at his inauguration speech and the goings-on under the dome of the Capitol could not be greater. As Trump puts forth rhetoric claiming to represent "the people" taking back their government, two of the top 100 campaign contributors in America testify in consideration for high level government positions. Far from a return to popular democracy or meritocracy, Trump's choices to lead the departments of government represent a coarsening of what critics call "oligarchy." The government of the United States under Trump will be run by billionaires, bankers, political contributors, political hacks and cronies. Among the 23 cabinet members and cabinet-level positions, there are three billionaires, half a dozen CEOs, six Republican legislators and governors, two losing candidates for president in 2016 and at least six private citizens who donated large sums of money to Republican presidential candidates in 2016. Together, the total wealth of just the first ten nominees exceeds $10 billion, more than four times as much as the combined wealth of Obama's entire cabinet, and 30 times more than Bush's. The wealthiest is private equity investor and Republican activist Betsy DeVos, who is nominated for education secretary. DeVos has no experience in education positions, but she has worked tirelessly campaigning for Republican politicians and supporting private school vouchers, a policy that Republicans support. In 2008, as director of the political fundraising group All Children Matter, her group was fined $5.3 million for illegally funneling money from out-of-state to Ohio to elect Republicans. Neither the group nor she ever paid the fine. In 2016, DeVos and her husband, Richard Devon Jr., the son of the cofounder of Amway, contributed $3.2 million to Republican candidates, making them the 77th biggest fundraisers in the country. That's 57 times the median American income at a time when her prospective boss, Trump, won the presidency on a campaign that promised to put the needs of "forgotten Americans" first. DeVos's father-in-law, Richard Devon Sr., contributed $2.8 million to Republican Super PACs, and Devos's son also threw over a million into Republican politics. Politics is a family business. Asked during her confirmation hearing whether her family could have given $200 million to the Republicans over the years, DeVos said, "That's possible." One might forgive Sen. Bernie Sanders, then, for his next question: "I don't mean to be rude. Do you think, if you were not a multi-billionaire, if your family had not made hundreds of millions of dollars of contributions to the Republican Party, that you would be sitting here?" It's not hard to imagine that money could have bought her the position considering her lack of credentials. The previous education secretaries under Obama had experience as the New York Commissioner of Education and Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools. DeVos has no experience implementing education policy. DeVos flunked question after question from senators, showing no understanding of the distinction between student growth and proficiency or the regulations covering for-profit colleges. She wasn't the only mega donor whose campaign cash might have helped them get a cabinet post. Former WWE CEO Linda McMahon, who was nominated as administrator of the small business administration, has given Republicans more than $1 million every campaign year since 2010. In 2010, she contributed $53 million to candidates and PACs, and she was the country's 20th biggest donor to Super PACs in 2016. Fast food mogul Andrew Puzder, taped to oversee the labor department, contributed to the campaigns of six Republicans running for president, including $75,000 to a Trump Super PAC. Investor Wilbur Ross, nominated for commerce secretary, donated more than $100,000 to the Republican National Committee. Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson was CEO of ExxonMobil and a board member of the trade lobby the American Petroleum Institute from 2006-16, during which time ExxonMobil PAC contributed 90 percent of its money to Republicans, including over $1.3 million every year from 2012-16. Among the recipients were every Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which will confirm him, despite concern from Russia hawks Marco Rubio and John McCain, both of whom received $10,000 contributions from ExxonMobil PAC in 2016. American politicians always run on "anti-establishment" records and then go on to appoint a certain number of political hacks and ex-lobbyists. In fact, some wealthy influence-peddlers are quite talented. What is different about Trump, however, is the level of contrast between his words and actions. No one in modern history was able to lie as shamelessly as him. But presidents from both parties - Bush and Obama - appointed qualified candidates for lower level positions like Education, Housing and Urban Development and Commerce Secretary. Trump apparently views those positions as spoils for his supporters. The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. Li Heping (right) poses with U.S. Congressman Chris Smith. (Photo: China Aid) China Aid ChinaDec. 13, 2016) The case of a missing human rights lawyer has been moved out of the investigation stage and transferred to a court in Chinas northern Tianjin Municipality for prosecution, his wife learned on Dec. 6. (Tianjin,ChinaDec. 13, 2016) The case of a missing human rights lawyer has been movedout of the investigation stage and transferred to a court in Chinas northernTianjin Municipality for prosecution, his wife learned on Dec. 6. 10, 2015, Li Heping, a Christian defense attorney who used his career to protect those targeted by the Communist Party, vanished into police custody when officials herded him from his home as part of a nationwide round-up of human rights lawyers. Li Chunfu, his brother, who also practiced law, went missing on Aug. 1, 2015. Neither man has been seen or heard from since. On July10, 2015, Li Heping, a Christian defense attorney who used his career toprotect those targeted by the Communist Party, vanished into police custodywhen officials herded him from his home as part of a nationwide round-up ofhuman rights lawyers. Li Chunfu, his brother, who also practiced law, wentmissing on Aug. 1, 2015. Neither man has been seen or heard from since. Wang Qiaoling, Li Hepings wife, received the news on Dec. 6 that her husbands case had been handed over to the court, concluding its investigation process and moving it into the prosecution phase. Yesterday, she went to the Tianjin Peoples Procuratorate No. 2 Branch, where officials confirmed that Li had been charged with subversion of state power. His brothers charge is still unknown. China Aid reports abuses, such as those experienced by Li Heping and Li Chunfu, in order to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians and promote human rights, religious freedom and rule of law in China. ChinaAid Media Team Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985 Email: [email protected] For more information, click here Li Chunfu (Photo: China Aid) China Aid (TianjinJan. 13, 2017) Traumatized by more than a year of torture, a prominent Christian human rights lawyer in Chinas Tianjin municipality fears he might die of medical conditions. Li Chunfu, a rights attorney, was released on bail yesterday, emaciated and aged. When she noticed he was fearful of entering his own apartment, his spouse wept. Since his release, Li revealed to his wife that he was subjected to medical examinations almost daily while being held in an unofficial black jail. The authorities diagnosed him with high blood pressure, even though he has never suffered from it before, and fed him unknown medications. Li also claimed that his heart is damaged and believes he does not have long to live. Li was likely tortured while imprisoned, prompting his fear. His family is calling for immediate professional help. Wang Qiaoling (left), wife of incarcerated attorney Li Heping, weeps as she greets Li Chunfu. (Photo: China Aid) Li disappeared into police custody on Aug. 1, 2015, shortly after his brother, Li Heping, was apprehended during a nationwide crackdown on human rights defenders. On Dec. 6, Wang Qiaoling, Li Hepings wife, learned that her husband had been charged with subversion of state power and was to be prosecuted. During his incarceration, Li Chunfu was held incommunicado. The Chinese regimes Nazi-style brutality enacted against innocent peaceful rights defense lawyers such as Li Chunfu should be condemned by everyone with a conscience, said China Aids president and founder, Bob Fu. This is a barbaric act against humanity that is in absolute violation of international standards that prevent arbitrary detention and torture and protect of human rights defenders. In 2012, Li Chunfu was part of a delegation that traveled to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Texas to meet with Members of Congress, State Department officials, the Congressional Executive Commission on China, and personnel from the Human Rights Watch, the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and Baylor Law School. China Aid reports abuses, such as those experienced by the Li family, in order to obtain international aid for persecuted Christians and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law. Workers try to put cables onto Jiaolong, China's first manned deep-sea submersible, after the completion of a research program.[Photo/Xinhua Firm developing maritime nuclear power plant, its submersible to plumb the depths China has begun to upgrade the design of its first-ever floating nuclear demonstration platform and is nearly finishing the building of a new manned submersible capable of reaching the majority of seabeds in the world, said China Shipbuilding Industry Corp, the primary contractor for the country's navy. A floating nuclear platform is a maritime nuclear power station. The technology can be installed in vessels and provide a stable source of electricity to oil rigs or remote areas such as the South China Sea. It can also provide power to offshore engineering ships, desalination ships or projects. "This technology can be applied in the development of nuclear powered icebreakers, nuclear-powered research ships for polar region and other high-power marine engineering projects in the long-term," said Wang Junli, a senior specialist at CSIC's technology and information department. The construction of China's first maritime nuclear power plant is scheduled to be completed by 2018, and it is due to become operational in 2019, according to earlier information last year by China National Nuclear Corp, CSIC's partner in this project. Eager to enhance its earning ability, China National Nuclear Corp also signed a cooperation agreement with State-owned China State Shipbuilding Corp, a domestic rival of CSIC, to develop a similar equipment last week. In another key project, Shao Kaiwen, deputy general manager of CSIC, said developing deep-sea manned submersibles for rough seas would be one of the group's priorities in 2017, with the assembly work and shakedown tests for the vessel are due to be completed by the end of this year. The project is dominated by the group's 702 research institute that led the development of Jiaolong, China's first manned deep-sea submersible, capable of diving to 7,062 meters deep in the ocean. While Jiaolong is able to carry out research and exploration missions in 99.8 percent of the world's seabed areas, CSIC is now building up a new manned submersible that can reach a depth of 4,500 meters. The vessel is now under final assembly and testing phase. The submersible will be equipped with five observation windows and three seats. Compared with Jiaolong, the new vessels boasts wider commercial usage and lower cost, according to CSIC. Meanwhile, a CSIC shipyard is building a mothership, with a displacement of around 4,000 tons, for Jiaolong. The vessel is expected to be put into service in March 2019. "We have also made breakthroughs in big-ticket projects such as the installation and operation of a high-efficiency liquefied natural gas gasifier engineering project, and a measurement system for nuclear reactors with a capacity in excess of 1 million kilowatts, as well as a number of electric propulsion products and chemical cells," said Shao. An Binfeng, deputy director of CSIC's business operation department, said that, as it is affected by low vessel prices, the group's ship business currently only accounts for 17 percent of its overall business. CSIC is deploying resources in 10 areas, including power and underwater defense products, electronic information and intelligent equipment, and mechanical and electrical equipment to integrate its civilian and military businesses over the next five years. Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong. [Photo/VCG] Ma Xingrui was elected as the governor of Guangdong province on Monday. The fifth session of the 12th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, which ended in Guangzhou on Monday, also elected Li Yumei as chairwoman of the standing committee of the local legislative body. Ma highlighted developing an innovation-driven economy and the revitalization of eastern, western and northern Guangdong as important tasks this year when he delivered a Government Work Report to the session as acting governor on Thursday last week. Guangdong has had the highest gross domestic product among all provincial-level regions in China in the past 28 years. Its GDP in 2016 surpassed 7.9 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion), up 7.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Guangdong Bureau of Statistics. Ma laid out a goal of achieving GDP growth of at least 7 percent this year, specifying that research and development expenses should make up 2.65 percent of its GDP. This is the first time for the provincial Government Work Report to state the share of R&D expenses of its GDP target," said Xin Pu, a member of the financial and economic affairs committee of Guangdong People's Congress. "It shows that Guangdong attaches great importance to R&D, hoping to boost science and technology development, and promote innovation." Ma, born in 1959, was the head of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp from 2007 to 2013 and then served as the vice-minister of industry and information technology before moving south to Guangdong in 2013. He was appointed as Party chief of Shenzhen in 2015 and held the position until December last year. Ma has high expectations for leading Guangdong, China's manufacturing powerhouse, to accomplish industrial transformation and upgrade with information technology. Another notable number mentioned in the provincial Government Work Report is the 540 billion yuan investment in key projects this year, especially those focusing on infrastructure construction including rapid transit networks. "Improving the rail transit systems, especially in less-developed eastern, western and northern Guangdong, can help to link these areas with the Pearl River Delta and thus increase the efficiency of the whole province's economic growth," said Lin Jiang, head of the public finance and taxation department at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. BUDAPEST - Bank of China in Hungary and China UnionPay issued the first Chinese renminbi and Hungarian forint debit card here on Monday. This is the first renminbi bank card to be issued in Europe by Bank of China. The card will operate in Hungarian forints as well as Chinese renmibi. People can draw cash through ATMs and at point of sale locations with UnionPay logo all over the world. Xu Luode, executive vice president at Bank of China said at the card issuing ceremony that the debit card was an important achievement of financial cooperation between China and Hungary. It is also an important symbol of internationalization of the renminbi in Europe, he said. It will facilitate the advance of the Belt and Road initiative as well as Chinese-Hungarian economic and financial ties, Xu added. Plans call for Bank of China to introduce similar cards in Prague, Vienna, and Belgrade, according to the bank. SHENZHEN - The gross domestic product in South China's Shenzhen hit 1.95 trillion yuan ($284 billion) in 2016, up 9 percent year-on-year, according to the municipal statistics bureau Monday. The volume, bigger than that of some provinces, such as Shaanxi in Northwest China, continues to rank fourth, after Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, among mainland cities. "The 'new normal' for Shenzhen's economy has clearly featured innovation, quality and stable rates," said Yang Xinhong, director of the Shenzhen Municipal Statistics Bureau. Shenzhen, home to the headquarters of technology giants such as Huawei and Tencent, has developed from a small fishing village into a metropolis, thanks to China's reform and opening up over 30-plus years. It has a population of nearly 12 million. Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech on leaving the European Union at Lancaster House in London, January 17, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Now we finally have a fundamental idea of what Brexit is supposed to mean and look like. Brexit means Brexit, was reduced to meaningless tautology for the last few months, but was cleared by British PM Theresa May as going out of the single market of the EU. May, in a major policy speech, finally said, what everyone had known, that the policy of staying in a single market is not concurrent with the policy which Britain is planning to pursue. Acknowledging the fact that the single market is important, and that Britain would need to do some interim deals with the EU, May had to acknowledge that immigration has been a driver of the Brexit vote, and cutting down net migration figures remains a priority. May sounded confident and optimistic on the future prospects of the British economy. The address was still low on actual policy, but had two significant developments. The first one was the news of the Chinese goods train reaching the U.K. In a logical continuation of the Belt and Road initiative , and Xi's recent Davos speech, Chinese trade is increasing in Europe. And the U.K. is a significant urban market, and China logically should seek to capitalize on it. The second factor was the open hostility of Donald Trump towards the EU, and Trump favoring a free trade deal with the U.K. It is for analysts to debate, but in superficial examination, these issues seem connected to the fact that May seems confident enough to venture out in the open market, with a knowledge that the Chinese investment and American free trade deal might be the push for the UK needs to balance off whatever significant drawbacks it might face from an intransigent EU. But there's more to it than trade, which goes back to history. It is not fashionable these days to talk about geopolitics, as that is an old fashioned way of conducting international politics in the post-modern world. But patterns of geopolitics emerge. The reality remains, that the EU is by and large the continuation of a German grand strategy from the 1870s. First militarily, and then economically, Germany has sought to dominate Europe. This has been continuously counter-balanced by the external powers of the Russian empire, British empire, and the United States. The reason is simple. Britain, Russia and the United States despite several differences are great powers, both economically and militarily, and it was in their interest to not let a centralized Europe become dominated by one single great power. As long as France was there to balance the rise of any potential hegemon, the task of these external powers was comparatively easy. That all faltered in the 20th century, with France failing twice to balance the rise of imperial and later Nazi Germany. After the Second World War, Europe was divided and Germany was broken and powerless. But German objectives and foreign policy remained the same. Germany was always an expanding power, as noted by Peter Hitchens in his phenomenal lecture last year at Keele University. It first wanted to expand in Central and Eastern Europe militarily, and failing that, it attempted the same through economic might. According to Hitchens, the entire Ukrainian fiasco was therefore a natural reaction between the EU foreign policy dominated by Germany and a natural backlash by Russia. Similarly, Brexit is qualitatively a point in time of a British backlash against German domination. I wrote last year in my analysis for Center for Land Warfare , how Britain needed to finally reconcile with the truth that if it wants to get out of the EU, it will have no other option than to have a volatile relationship with Germany and the German dominated EU. There is no sugar coating that fact. And in order to do that, Britain will need all the economic might of China, India, Australia and the U.S. British policy should be reoriented to winning these countries over. The one key way to do that is encouraging massive investment from China and India. Boris Johnson in his recent tour to India tried to do the same, but there's one key problem. Capital won't flow unless there's a quid-pro-quo free movement of Indians and Chinese students who can go, study and work in the U.K. Visa restrictions will be a big problem for the U.K. therefore, and unless that is solved, there's no going forward. But otherwise, from May's speech, it seems that that prophecy of a hostile Brexit is slowly coming true. Sumantra Maitra is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/SumantraMaitra.htm Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors only, not necessarily those of China.org.cn. BUDAPEST - Cooperation with China could help the European Union (EU) to rebuild and strengthen its economy, National Bank of Hungary Governor Gyorgy Matolcsy said on Monday. The EU needs to build political, intellectual, financial and human bridges between the EU and China, he said at the Lamfalussy Conference in Budapest. The EU, Matolcsy said, needs financial stability and job creation, but it can't achieve this with austerity measures. He proposed strong bridges between the EU and Asia, with China at the center of cooperation and initiative. Bank of China Chairman Tian Guoli discussed the various advantages of linking East Asia with the Middle East, Africa, and Europe at the conference. Tian noted that the full connection of the European and Asian markets would create the world's longest economic corridor, for the two regions complemented one another. Addressing the conference among the dignitaries, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called China "a fixed star" that would define the world economy for many decades to come. Regarding Europe's ties with Russia, Orban said that sanctions against Russia had "failed," saying Europe should not ignore either the power or the opportunities inherent in Russia. DRMNO - China Engineering Machinery Corporation (CMEC) on Monday began assembling modern mining equipment at a mine here in order to increase its production for the Electric Power Industry of Serbia (EPS) in a project worth $123 million. Serbian state officials and those from the Chinese embassy met at the Drmno mine, where representatives of EPS and CMEC signed a decision to begin works on installing equipment. Serbian energy and mining minister Aleksandar Antic said at the signing ceremony that the beginning of the installation of the ECS (Excavator-Conveyor-Spreader) system would provide an additional three million metric tons of coal per year for the functioning of the new block unit at the Kostolac power plant, also being constructed by CMEC. "By 2020, Serbia will get its first new block-unit energy facility that has the capacity of 350 megawatts, which will significantly influence our energetic security. The first precondition for us to use the new block unit is to have enough coal here in Drmno, and for this we need a modern ECS system that will increase the production of coal," Antic explained. He concluded that the works at Drmno were important for Serbia and its whole energy system together with the construction of the new block unit because "this is the only way EPS can continue producing energy for the accelerated development of Serbia." The project, to be completed in 47 months, foresees installation of an ECS system to the Drmno coal mine consisting of a rotary excavator, eight conveyors with 12 km-long conveyor system and a spreader with the capacity of 8,500 cubic meters per hour, as well as two new substations. Acting general director of EPS, Milorad Grcic, estimated that "this day presents a beginning of new era for the municipality of Kostolac and the city of Pozarevac, and it's a guarantee for a bright future of this region." He explained that ECS system was everything Drmno mine needed to increase production from nine to 12 million tons of coal, that it would pay off in five years while it would be in operation for the next 39 years, which would provide Serbia with necessary energy security. "This system complies with the highest EU standards and environmental protection, and will provide an additional three million tons of coal per year. Completion of works should coincide with the completion of the new block with the capacity of 350 megawatts. Without this coal, our energy sector could not function," Grcic said. Chinese ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang referred to the project as yet another achievement of the strategic partnership between Serbia and China. The works on installing the ECS system are a part of the second section of the Kostolac B Power Plant project that has a total value of $715.6 million, 85 percent of which were provided by EXIM bank. According to a CMEC statement, the new excavator will be installed by the end of the month, works on the conveyor will begin in February and once that is completed the company will proceed installing substations, a conveyor system, and other elements. Toursits take photos at Tian'anmen square on Jan 21, 2017. [Photo/IC] BEIJING - Beijing saw 285 million tourist arrivals across all transportation in 2016, up 4.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development Tuesday. Total tourism revenue grew 9 percent to 502 billion yuan ($73 billion) last year. Beijing has 504 star-rated hotels, over 2,000 travel agencies and 41,000 registered tour guides. "We hope to increase Beijing's tourism revenue by 8.5 percent in 2017," said Song Yu, director of the commission. In the meantime, Beijing's inbound overseas visitors fell last year. Data from the municipal statistics bureau showed about 4.2 million overseas tourists visited Beijing in 2016, a year-on-year decline of 0.8 percent. Song said Beijing would work on a more flexible visa service and further simplify tax-refund procedures to lure more visitors. A Chinese mobile phone user scans the QR code on the bicycle of bike-lending service Mobike on a road in Shanghai, Aug 17, 2016. [Photo/IC] Chinese bike-sharing startup Mobike signed an exclusive strategic partnership with Foxconn Technology Group on Monday, in a move to double its annual bicycle production capacity to more than 10 million units. Under the deal, Foxconn, the world's largest contract consumer electronics maker, will set up production lines for Mobike's bicycles, with an annual production capacity of 5.6 million units. Foxconn also becomes a strategic investor in the startup. Davis Wang, CEO and co-founder of Mobike, said the deal will help the Beijing-based company expand presence in China and overseas markets. "The move will lower the manufacturing cost. Foxconn's industrial design capability and overseas footprint will also be of great help," Wang added. Founded in 2014, Mobike is one of the fastest-growing bike-sharing companies in China, with services available in 13 cities. It is competing with Ofo in the race for control of the nascent bike-on-demand sector. The deal came shortly after Mobike raised $215 million in a new round of funding in January, led by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. James Du, senior vice-president of Foxconn, said the deal is part of the company's efforts to facilitate public transportation with new technology. A man looks at Aliyun cyber security services, platform provided by Alibaba, which is shown at a cyber security exhibition on Nov 24, 2014. [Photo/Asianewsphoto] The newly established China Internet Investment Fund is expected to foster innovation and entrepreneurship within the internet sector via a market approach, analysts said on Monday. The 100-billion-yuan ($14.6 billion) internet investment fund, co-sponsored by Cyberspace Administration of China and Ministry of Finance, was launched at the weekend. Six strategic partnersincluding Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Co Ltd, CITIC Guoan Group Co Ltd, China Post Life Insurance Corp Ltd and China's three major telecoms carriershave funded the first 30 billion yuan. Three State-owned banksICBC, China Development Bank and Agricultural Bank of China Co Ltdwill provide financial services and 150 billion yuan of credit for enterprises which have raised money from the internet investment fund. "Based on market operations, the fund aims to cultivate and promote a new driving force in the internet sector," said Deputy Finance Minister Yu Weiping. Shen Meng, director of Chanson & Co, a boutique investment bank in China, said the establishment of the State-backed fund was of great significance for the development of the internet sector and the Internet Plus industry. "It will bring new opportunities for all parts of the internet sector. However, it is difficult to make profits for enterprises without their own core technologies and those unable to cater to consumers' new needs." A report published by the China Internet Network Information Center during the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen last year showed that China's global ranking among countries with a strong internet-based industry had moved up to 25 in 2016 from 36 in 2012, with a score of 72.8 out of 100, surpassing the average of G20 economies for the first time. Shen added that as China stepped up efforts on economic restructuring and upgrading, the government aimed to boost the development of Internet Plus by bankrolling innovation companies. "The fund has several advantages, such as abundant money and supportive policies. However, it will take on risks for higher yields," he added. One analyst urged caution. "They should invest in firms and projects of real value to avoid bubbles in the innovation field," said Li Zichuan, an analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys. Xiang Ligang, CEO of telecoms industry website cctime.com, said the fund also aimed to better manage cyberspace. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung Electronics' mobile communications business, bows during a news conference in Seoul on Jan 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Monday flaws in battery manufacturing and design have led to the global recall of its flagship model the Galaxy Note 7. Koh Dong-jin, Samsung's mobile division president, said at a news conference it was the battery, not the device itself or software, that had caused the business crisis. The recall was estimated to cost more than $6 billion. After testing more than 200,000 Note 7 smartphones, the company found defects in two separate sets of batteries that caused overheating and even fires. The first batch of Note 7 batteries were manufactured by a unit of Samsung. In those phones, the battery was too large for the casing of the phone. Replacements and the batteries for the Note 7 sold in China were from Amperex Technology Ltd, a Chinese manufacturer. But as Samsung was in a rush to get the new phones out, the new battery also had a defect. That is also the reason why China was not among the first group of countries taking part in the recall of the Note 7, Koh said. "We initially did not realize the second batch of batteries also have problems," he said, apologizing for the delay and ineffective communication with Chinese consumers. The announcement came as Samsung is losing ground to opponents Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Oppo Electronics Corp in China, the world's largest smartphone arena. Xiang Ligang, a smartphone expert and CEO of telecom industry website cctime.com, said Samsung's explanation will not help the South Korean firm recover its glory in China. "It may work in other markets, but the competition in China is too intense and there are too many alternatives for Samsung's handsets," Xiang said. According to him, Samsung now ranks as the sixth-largest player in China. Nicole Peng, research director at global consultancy Canalys, said Samsung's high-end products, in fact, resonate quite well with Chinese consumers. "The problem lies in its mid-range gadgets, which can't compete with local players. It needs to beef up efforts in marketing and retailing channels," Peng said. Fan Feifei contributed to this story. JERUSALEM/BEIJING - What will happen when computers push humans out of the job market and create a massive new class of "useless people"? Yuval Noah Harari, author of the international bestseller Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, who has recently made quite a splash in China with the launch of the Chinese version of his equally compelling new book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, expressed his concerns about the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In the new book, he turns his focus toward humanity's future and the quest to upgrade humans due to the development of science, particularly the rise of AI. Talking about the potential threats and hazards brought about by AI in a written interview with Xinhua, Harari said he is more worried about non-conscious AI driving billions of humans out of the job market and creating a massive new class of "useless people" as he thought it is unrealistic that AI could develop consciousness and try to manipulate or even exterminate humankind. While computers have gained impressive intelligence, they still have zero consciousness. So the fear of killer robots trying to exterminate humankind is actually unwarranted, he said. What is more worrying is that experts estimate that within 20-30 years, about 50 percent of all the jobs in advanced economies might be taken by computers as we are now developing smart machines that outperform humans in more and more tasks. Humans have basically just two types of skills - physical and cognitive - and if computers outperform us in both, they might outperform us in the new jobs just like in the old ones. "What will we do with billions of economically useless humans? We don't know. We don't have any economic model for such a situation. This may well be the greatest economic and political question of the 21st century," Harari said. In addition, as algorithms push humans out of job, wealth might become concentrated in the hands of the tiny elite that owns the all-powerful algorithms, creating unprecedented social and political inequality. Harari said that the key to the balance of relations between humans and AI is to make technology serve us, instead of us serving it. According to him, very often in history, humans invented new technologies, but instead of letting the technologies help us live a better life, we became slaves to them. "The most famous example of such a process is the Agricultural Revolution. The invention of farming gave humankind immense new powers, but that power enriched only a tiny elite, whereas the vast majority of simple peasants found themselves enslaved to the needs of the new agricultural economy, and living a worse life than their hunter-gatherer ancestors," said the historian. "We should be very careful that the rise of AI won't result in something like the Agricultural Revolution -- enriching a tiny elite while enslaving the majority of humans," he said. Harari has a PhD in history from the University of Oxford and now lectures at the Department of History, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, specializing in world history. Harari's 2014 book Sapiens became an international bestseller which Microsoft founder Bill Gates recommended to his wife, calling it one that would spark great conversations. Homo Deus was first published in Hebrew in 2015. The English version was published in September 2016 in Britain and will be published next month in the United States. The Chinese version hit the shelves in China in January, 2017. University graduates attend a job fair in Shanghai early this month.[Photo/Xinhua] China created 13.14 million new jobs for urban residents last year, exceeding the official target, but the country faces challenges this year to create jobs for a historic high of almost 8 million university graduates. The registered unemployment rate in Chinese cities stood at 4.02 percent at the end of last year, down from 4.04 percent three months earlier, Lu Aihong, an official with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, told a news conference on Monday. He said the country has "obtained obvious achievements" in promoting entrepreneurs to create jobs through the construction of incubation bases, and the government has also encouraged migrant workers to start businesses in their hometowns. The government pledged to keep the whole-year registered unemployment rate below 4.5 percent and create at least 10 million jobs last year. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, China created 13.12 million jobs in 2015, and the registered unemployment rate in cities stood at 4.05 percent. "The employment situation this year is stable, but there is also something to be worried about," Lu said. Though the Chinese laboring population has been declining since 2012, some laborers entered the market comparatively late due to educational reasons, which will keep the demand for jobs high in cities this year, and the rural laborers who are entering cities for work also increase the demand, he said. He said employment pressure also comes from the task of re-employing workers laid off from a reduction in capacity and the downward pressure on the economy. Meanwhile, Lu said he is expecting more jobs to be created as the country reforms its economy amid the acceleration of urbanization and the promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative. This year, there will be 7.95 million university graduates300,000 more than last year. Lu said the ministry will encourage graduates to work in grassroots organizations and encourage them to start their own businesses. Chen Yang, 27, a senior postgraduate at the School of Government, Nanjing University, said he thinks the employment situation this year will be "not that bad". "As far as I am concerned, one-third of the 2017 graduates have guaranteed themselves a job, though they are still several months away from graduating," he said. Chen, who hasn't found a job yet, doesn't show much interest in working for grassroots organizations, though it's "possible" that there might be good opportunities there, he said. An employee of a hotel in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, puts The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe in a guest room on Friday.[Photo provided to China Daily] Chinese are outraged over a remark by a Japanese hotel chain that has refused to withdraw books from its guest rooms in Japan that deny the Nanjing Massacre in China during World War II. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying reiterated on Monday that forgetting history means betraying it, and denying responsibility for crime means recommitting it. The determination of a small group of people in Japan to ignore the country's historical crimes helps cultivate new ground for the far-right to flourish, she said. "These people's retroaction has already evoked strong indignation among the Chinese people," she said at a daily news conference in Beijing. Hua said the Japanese government should not shirk its duty under the excuse of so-called freedom of speech or misguide the Japanese people by saying that "China has placed too much focus on a certain period of history". "We urge the Japanese to realize the seriousness of the problem, shoulder their responsibility in earnest and properly handle related issues, to avoid new disturbances in the China-Japan relationship," she said. On Thursday, it was disclosed on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like site, that the Japanese chain APA Hotels was distributing the book Theoretical Modern History II: The Real History of Japan. A statement released by APA confirmed that the book, written by its CEO, Toshio Montoya, and available in Japanese and English, claims that "Japan constitutionally guarantees freedom of speech, and no one-sided pressure can force any assertion that is made to be repealed". China is the top source of Japan's inbound tourism industry. In 2016, 6.37 million visits to Japan were made by Chinese mainland travelers. After the event, major Chinese travel agencies refused to provide booking service for the Japanese hotel chain. To protest the book's use, Koro Hotels, an international hotel chain in Zhejiang province, has begun distributing the book The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe in its guest rooms. The book compiles the personal journals of a German businessman who lived in Nanjing from 1937 to 1938 as Japanese troops overran the city. It describes an unassuming hero who saved the lives of 200,000 Chinese. Xu Xiaolei, a China Youth Travel Service spokesman, said that if the APA incident is merely company behavior, it should not affect the bigger picture of tourism exchange between China and Japan. "Tourism as an industry is very easily affected by exterior factors including terrorist attacks, exchange currency rates and the political environment," Xu said. Shi Xiaofeng in Hangzhou contributed to this story. China issues guidelines on new material industry Xinhua | Updated: 2017-01-24 08:23 BEIJING - China has published guidelines for industries that create new materials, such as graphene, seeking to improve innovation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Monday. The guidelines said that China aimed for the stable supply of advanced basic materials by 2020, to provide 70 percent of critical and strategic new materials the country needs, while making technological breakthroughs in frontier materials, such as graphene and nanophase materials. "The new material industry is strategic and fundamental for the national economy. China should make great efforts to improve new materials to shore up industrial development in the critical period of becoming a world manufacturing power," said MIIT Minister Miao Wei. The output value of China's new material industry has more than tripled in five years to nearly 2 trillion yuan (292 billion U.S. dollars) as of 2015, official data shows. The guidelines were jointly composed by the MIIT, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance. Wuzhen Town, China's Zhejiang During the Spring Festival, the streets in Wuzhen are illuminated for the celebration. People put up posters on their doors and walls. Many customs of the lunar New Year holidays are inherited in the town. The most distinctive one is the "long street banquet". In the past, wealthy families would hold banquets for guests in the Spring Festival. The neighbors set out tables and chairs along the street. The connected tables formed the lively and colorful "long street banquet". Today, the "long street banquet" is still held in Wuzhen town with more splendid dishes. The most indispensable one is the well-known braised sheep. It is a usual practice to put up a pot and boil sheep meat. The scent penetrates the whole street. Visitors are strongly advised to taste this gourmet. Other activities in the town: worshipping the kitchen god (Dec.23 on the lunar new year); pasting spring couplets, setting off fireworks and holding the reunion dinner (on the eve of the lunar new year); burning the first incense, watching traditional Chinese opera, enjoying festive lanterns, attending the temple fair and the lantern festival in January. [China.org.cn] 55 percent of polled overseas workers worry about air quality China's problems with air pollution are undermining government efforts to make the country more attractive to overseas talent, according to recruitment professionals. A survey by Spring Professional, a subsidiary of human resources company Adecco Group, found that the interest among top foreign talent in working in China has risen nearly 150 percent over the past five years. Yet fears over the environment and climate have also increased. Fifty-five percent of 2,000 foreign employees that Spring Professional polled last year - who had each lived in the country for at least five years - said they had concerns about air quality, up from 23 percent in 2012. Air pollution has hurt recruitment for the past two years, said Ma Erman, head of overseas recruitment for language training company EF English in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province. "During interview processes, foreign applicants frequently check the air quality index," she said. "Many will turn down an offer after thinking carefully about their health. For those who work here in Shijiazhuang, all of them will visit the hospital several times, especially during winter. "Hebei doesn't have many advantages to compete with coastal provinces, which have better economies and offer higher salaries, and air pollution is making recruitment even more difficult." According to data provided by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the average daily concentration of PM2.5 - small particulate matter that is hazardous to health - in the country's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and provinces was 47 micrograms per cubic meter last year, down by 6 percent from 2015 levels. He Kebin, dean of Tsinghua University's School of Environment, predicted it could take 10 to 15 years for most of the heavily polluted Chinese cities to meet the national air quality standard. China has been watched closely by foreign job applicants in recent years due to the rapid development of its economy and its openness to overseas talent. Hu Xin, a senior consultant at Spring Professional, said China has become more competitive in the talent war compared with five years ago. "China has an advantage over European countries, whose economy, social order and political situations are deteriorating," Hu said. "In 2015 and 2016, many private firms in China had a growing demand for high-end overseas technical talent and they are willing to provide attractive salaries and opportunities for promotion." However, many expats are having second thoughts as air pollution has become a long-term issue. Will Suh, 27, stayed in Beijing for six months last year. "I miss China, but I had to come back to California. Maybe I will go back to China, but I think I will choose Shanghai or Guangzhou," he added. Two incidents in Beijing and Shanghai involving teachers sexually assaulting students when giving private tutoring have attracted wide public attention and raised concerns among parents about children's safety. A junior middle school teacher in Beijing was detained in Haidian district on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old female student, the Mirror, a newspaper in Beijing, reported on Friday. The teacher, surnamed Zou, used to teach the student math at school and the student's father, surnamed Wang, hired Zou in September 2015 to privately tutor her after school. According to the student, she was assaulted in April last year for the first time, and then on three other occasions in July, August and December. Zou allegedly intimidated the student to prevent her from telling anyone about the incidents. On Dec 25, Zou was caught sexually assaulting the student on a surveillance camera that Wang had installed upon his daughter's request. Wang said Zou charged him 700 yuan ($102) per hour for the tutoring, and he had paid Zou more than 160,000 yuan over the past 14 months. "If I didn't see it myself, I wouldn't have believed that a teacher from a well-known school in Haidian district could have done this," Wang was quoted as saying by the Mirror. In a similar incident in Shanghai, a teacher at a private junior middle school, surnamed Qian, was recently sent to prison for two and a half years for sexually assaulting and intimidating a female junior school student when he gave the student tutoring at his own house. He was also banned from working in the education field for at least three years after he is discharged. Some netizens described the actions of the two teachers as "unbearable" and "unforgivable". To regulate teachers' actions and protect students, the Ministry of Education released a series of guidelines in October 2014, stipulating that teachers found to have sexually harassed a student or had an "improper relationship" with a student will receive warnings, be degraded, fired or transferred to judicial departments. zhaoxinying@chinadaily.com.cn Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, commander of the North Sea Fleet, views the guard of honor on the CNS Xining in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sunday.Wang Songqi / For China Daily The People's Liberation Army Navy on Sunday commissioned its fifth Type 052D guided missile destroyer to the North Sea Fleet. The PLA Navy said in a news release on Monday that the CNS Xining, which has a hull number of 117, was delivered to a destroyer flotilla of the North Sea Fleet at a naval base in Qingdao, Shandong province. The fleet's new commander, Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, who was deputy chief of staff of the PLA Southern Theater Command, conferred the flag to Captain Zhou Minghui, commander of the Xining. The news release said that the Xining has a stealth design and can act as a flagship for a strike group. It is capable of conducting anti-ship, anti-submarine and air defense operations, it said. The Type 052D class is deemed by military experts to be the mightiest destroyer and the most capable fleet escort deployed by the PLA Navy. With a large load of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles, it has been described by some Western observers as a "carrier killer". According to military sources, a Type 052D destroyer has a full displacement of nearly 7,000 metric tons and a wide range of weapons, including a single-barrel 130-mm naval gun and a close-in weapon system as well as a total of 64 HHQ-9 long-range anti-aircraft missiles and YJ-18 or YJ-83 anti-ship cruise missiles. Adopting a host of cutting-edge technologies, the vessel features a low radar signature, a high information level and a state-of-the-art phased array radar. The first Type 052D destroyer, the Kunming, joined the PLA Navy in March 2014. The second, the Changsha, started active service in August 2015. The third, the Hefei, was delivered to the Navy in December 2015 while the fourth, the Yinchuan, was commissioned in July last year. All of them belong to the South Sea Fleet. The Xining is the first such vessel to serve with the North Sea Fleet. A Navy officer told China Daily on condition of anonymity that compared with other Chinese warships he has served with, the Type 052D class features better performance in terms of target detection, air defense, strike precision and joint operations. zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn Move will provide greater choice and opportunities for millions of students from all walks of life The State Council, China's Cabinet, has decided to promote private educational institutes after approving a guideline on encouraging more social support for the educational system in a move to ensure it plays a bigger role in compensating for what public schools cannot do. Since reform and opening-up began more than 30 years ago, private education has improved greatly thanks to its crucial contribution to the promotion of education modernization and social development, according to the guideline that was released on Wednesday. Relevant departments should focus on innovations for the educational system, improving support policies, strengthening regulation and enhancing the quality of teaching, in an effort to further stimulate social enthusiasm in support of private education, it said. Private schools should be managed under categories of profit-oriented and nonprofit ones, both of which should give priority to cater to public concerns over quality education for the younger generation. However, no profit-oriented schools will be allowed in the nine-year compulsory education from primary to middle school. Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, an education think tank, said compulsory education is crucial for the nation's school-aged children and no profit should be earned in this field, while private high school and colleges can compete for profit. The funds used in this regard should be included in local government budgets and be revealed to the public, with the aim of improving efficiency in spending the funds. To provide further incentives for private education, the document also said students at private schools will enjoy the same policies on low-interest loans as those at public schools. Meanwhile, private schools, as market entities, will enjoy a series of preferential tax policies. The guideline also called for speeding up the modernization process of the schooling system in private schools with clearer management mechanisms and regulations. In addition, private schools should deepen reform of teaching and innovate schooling patterns while enhancing training for teachers and introducing international educational resources to improve the country's overall quality of education. To further guarantee the implementation of the guideline, local governments are urged to embrace private educational projects into their overall plans for education and social development. According to the 2015 communique on the development of education in China, the country has more than 162,000 private schools with 45 million students, 2.68 million more than in 2014. In addition, more than 20,000 private training schools have tutored 8.98 million young people for the purposes of enrolling in college, studying overseas and getting through exams for public servants. Recent years have seen huge progress in private schools in educating talented students and they have increasingly gained popularity among parents. In Huoshan county, East China's Anhui province, the private Wenfeng High School enrolls more than 1,000 students each year from four neighboring counties. Parents flock to Wenfeng to register their children, even though tuition fees are double that of a public school. Parents believe they provide a better chance of passing college entrance exams. In many places across the country, public high schools cannot enroll all middle school graduates, making it necessary to find another way to educate them, said Zheng Zonggen, a 31-year-old teacher at Wenfeng. Zheng said the school charges much higher fees than public schools but still attracts swarms of students who appreciate its strict management and high ratio of graduates enrolled by renowned universities. The new guideline will speed up the development of private schools like Wenfeng, Zheng said. "In many countries such as the United States, private schools are among the best because they are expensive and meet the demands of wealthy people that public schools cannot do. I believe this is the direction China's private schools are taking," he said. Liu Xiangqian, a teacher at Tangchi High School in Yuexi county, also in Anhui, said some teachers have left for private schools and the higher salaries but more choose to stay because public schools can ensure their positions and income. "Private schools are more attractive to young teachers, who are more enthusiastic in teaching students and finding new ways to improve their performances in exams," Liu said. "The new guideline will probably work as an incentive to boost private schools." huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn Departments and ministries under the State Council, China's Cabinet, have responded to a series of public concerns in the past week including supervision over infant formula, normal college construction and the judicial examination reform. Zhang Jing, a China Food and Drug Administration official in charge of food supervision, said at the administration's media conference on Jan 16 that the product names and labels on infant formula should be clear and not mislead consumers. Zhang pointed out that some infant formula product names and labels are exaggerating their benefits, such as claiming that they are conducive to developing children's intelligence, a claim with no scientific basis. Meanwhile, it is inappropriate to use the word "gold" or "silver" in branding or naming infant formula. Zhang pointed out that his administration is regulating labels and the names of infant formula and will take effective measures to enhance supervision, to safeguard consumer rights. According to Zhang, the quality and safety of infant formula is a priority for the administration. The administration has implemented strict supervision on infant formula from the milk's source, through the production process to sales, and will enhance supervision. Wang Dinghua, head of the Teacher's Work Division of the Ministry of Education, said on Jan 15 that none of the overall 181 normal colleges in China will be closed or renamed during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20). During this period, the mechanism, models and lessons used in teacher training will be improved, and teacher education will be enhanced. Wang said that during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20) a comprehensive reform of the primary and middle school teacher's professional title system will be implemented. In the future, students of normal colleges should take a professional teacher certification examination, and the students that fail to pass will be disqualified from being a teacher. A senior professional title will be introduced into the primary and middle school teacher's professional title system. In addition, teachers' examination and evaluation mechanisms will be revised, in order to encourage teachers to pay more attention to teaching. According to a meeting of the Ministry of Justice on Jan 14, the National Judicial Examination, one of the most difficult exams in China, will be held for the last time in 2017. The meeting required that preparations be made for a revision of the national judicial examination system to a national unified legal professional qualification examination system, and implementation of measures and regulations. The reform is expected to improve the professional standard of all legal practitioners in China. Minister of Justice Wu Aiying stressed that local authorities should pay attention to the work of legal exam reform. wangyiqing@chinadaily.com.cn Su Rong, a former State official who had also served as Party chief in Jiangxi, Qinghai and Gansu provinces, has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption. The Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, capital of Shandong province, sentenced Su on Monday. Su said he would not appeal. He had been one of the 23 vice-chairmen of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference until disciplinary authorities began investigating him in June 2014. He was found guilty of taking bribes, abusing public power and possessing a huge amount of unexplained assets, said the court. According to the verdict, Su took 116 million yuan ($16.9 million) in bribes and failed to explain an additional income of 80 million yuan. Also on Monday, two former officials who had been hiding overseas for years to avoid trial were sentenced for corruption. Wang Guoqiang, who voluntarily returned to China in December 2014 after more than two years on the run, was sentenced to eight years in prison. Li Huabo, who came back to China in May 2015 after about four years in Singapore, was sentenced to life in prison. Huang Feng, head of the Institute for International Criminal Law at Beijing Normal University, said the courts showed leniency in the two cases, taking into consideration that the two returned to China of their own will. Li returned after serving two years in jail in Singapore and turned himself in to police. Wang was found guilty of bribery and having a large amount of unexplained income. The Intermediate People's Court in Shenyang, Liaoning province, said Wang took bribes of nearly 9.6 million yuan when he held top positions in Fengcheng, Liaoning province. In addition, he failed to give a reasonable account of the sources for an additional 5.4 million yuan. Wang was the first to return to China of his own will after the anti-graft authority, as well as a number of central government departments, launched operations in 2014 to net corrupt officials who fled to other countries to avoid punishment. The Intermediate People's Court in Shangrao, Jiangxi province, found that Li misused his powers at the finance bureau in Poyang to embezzle 94 million yuan, along with former co-workers, from the local government's infrastructure fund between 2006 and 2010. Since 2014, Skynet operations launched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country's top anti-graft authority, have brought back 2,442 suspects in economic crimes, including 397 corrupt government officials, from overseas. In that same time, China recovered 8.5 billion yuan in assets connected to the cases, according to CCDI data. zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 01/24/2017 page3) He urges residents and governments to work together to ease move from uninhabitable land Premier Li Keqiang called for innovative ways to relocate poverty-stricken families to a more habitable location during a visit to Zhaotong, Yunnan province, on Monday. In Yujiadachong village in suburban Zhaotong, Li sat beside a fire pit with villagers whose houses cannot withstand wind and snow. He called on local governments and residents to work together to shorten the relocation process to improve their living conditions. Villagers in Yujiadachong rely on growing corn and potatoes, and some work in cities to earn extra income. The per capita income was only 3,044 yuan ($445) last year. The barren land is no longer suitable for living on, and the villagers should be relocated with more government support, including favorable policies and funds, Li said. People in the far-flung village will be moved in March to new houses in a place with convenient transportation, as part of Yunnan's target from last year to relocate 677,000 people below the poverty line at a cost of 23.9 billion yuan. The local government will pay half of the cost of building new houses, and villagers can get interest-free loans of up to 60,000 yuan for three years, in addition to using their own savings. The villagers are willing to take out loans, and the government should work with them to complete the relocation as soon as possible, the premier said. Before his visit to the village, the premier bought gifts to wish the locals good luck ahead of Spring Festival, which begins on Saturday. More than 5 million people were lifted from poverty in the province between 2011 and 2015. But Zhaotong, one of Yunnan's four major poverty relief clusters, still has an enormous task to eliminate poverty. On Monday, Li also visited the reconstructed village of Ganjiazhai, one of the places most damaged by a magnitude-6.5 earthquake that devastated Ludian county in Zhaotong in August 2014. The quake killed 617 people. In the quake's aftermath, all 63 houses in Ganjiazhai were destroyed in a landslide, a catastrophe that killed 21 villagers and left 31 missing and 45 injured. Monday was Li's latest visit to the epicenter. A reconstruction plan funded by the central and provincial governments has made it possible for survivors to strive for a new life. In December 2015, Gan Yongrong, 47, and other villagers moved into their new homes, for which the government paid one-third of the cost. "Without the reconstruction plan, my family could not have moved into the new home in such a short time," Gan said. Premier Li Keqiang visits a farmer's home in Yujiadachong village of Zhaotong, Yunnan province, on Monday to review local poverty alleviation work.Wu Zhiyi / China Daily (China Daily 01/24/2017 page3) Political advisers in Shanghai have proposed the city learn from other cities about publicizing the smoking ban that will take effect in five weeks. Beginning March 1, all public indoor venues and work areas, as well as some outdoor places, such as art performance and sporting venues, open areas at maternity and infant hospitals, kindergartens and bus stops in Shanghai will become nonsmoking zones to shield nonsmokers from secondhand smoke. But the current anti-smoking advertisements in the city are far from enough, said some local political advisers during their annual gathering last week. "In Singapore, smoking bans with pictures, such as broken cigarette butts and children covering their mouths and noses surrounded by smoke, are very commonly seen in the streets to gain people's attention," said Wang Xinmei, a member of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Shanghai's political advisory body. "Beijing also did a good job informing the public of its smoking ban, which became effective in June 2015. On all the flights and trains bound for Beijing there are repeat broadcasts of the smoking ban, which seems powerful, and Shanghai can learn from that," said Wang, who is also chairwoman of the Jinshan district branch of the city's political advisory body. Gwan Tat-cheong, a Hongkonger and another political adviser in Shanghai, said Shanghai may look to Hong Kong, where smoking indoors has been prohibited since 2007. Publicity of the smoking ban is ubiquitous in public venues and on different communication channels throughout the city, and the notifications also highlight the cost that violators face. "It always states clearly that errant smokers can be slapped with fines of HK$1,500 ($193)," said Gwan, who is also a senior adviser at the Bank of East Asia (China) Ltd. Severe punishment for violators in the first few days after the regulation takes effect may also serve as a powerful deterrent, said the political advisers. Individuals caught smoking in forbidden areas will be fined from 50 to 200 yuan, and organizations that fail to stop smokers will be fined up to 30,000 yuan, according to the new regulation. Wu Fan, director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control, said: "Any new regulation, such as the citywide fireworks and firecrackers ban since the beginning of last year, faces challenges when it first comes into being, but it'll become easier when a consensus is formed in the whole society." China is the world's largest consumer and producer of tobacco. World Health Organization statistics showed that there are more than 300 million smokers in the country, accounting for almost one-third of the world's total. An employee of a hotel in Taizhou, Zhejiang province, puts The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe in a guest room on Friday.[Photo provided to China Daily] The country's tourism authority has urged Chinese tourists to boycott Japanese right-wing chain hotel APA which has refused to withdraw books from its guest rooms that deny the Nanjing Massacre during World War II. Zhang Lizhong, spokesman of China National Tourism Administration, said on Tuesday this is a blatant provocation to Chinese tourists and has violated the industry's professional ethics. The Japan branch of the administration has urged APA to withdraw the books. However, official statement of APA said "Japan constitutionally guarantees freedom of speech, and no one-sided pressure can force any assertion that is made to be repealed. Zhang said the administration has asked the whole industry to stop doing business with APA hotel chain. "We also hope all Chinese tourists should boycott the hotel," added Zhang. Lanterns depicting ancient Egyptian gods line the Divine Avenue in the Jinsha Site Musuem in Chengdu, Sichuan province. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn] It's that time of the year again, when people in Chengdu, Sichuan province, visit the Jinsha Site Museum to see lanterns displayed at the Jinsha Sun Festival. The festival, consisting mainly of a lantern show, is held each year to celebrate the Spring Festival. But unlike before, museum goers can find a rich variety of lanterns with ancient Egyptian elements, which are being displayed during the 21-day festival lasting until February 12. The lanterns feature many gods from ancient Egyptian mythology in addition to those pertaining to relics from the Jinsha Site museum. Lanterns with Egyptian elements coincide with an exhibition in the museum entitled "Ancient Egypt: World of Pharaohs and Gods." The 155 cultural relics on display at the museum until May 4 are from the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. They are typically used for research and this is the first time they are open to visitors, according to Nick Bobrow, deputy director of the Canadian museum. The exhibits from his museum include mummies of a woman, cat, bird and crocodile, as well as a marble statue of Cleopatra VII, who was the last Egyptian pharaoh, and ancient bronze weapons. The Jinsha Site museum is located at the Jinsha Ruins, four square kilometers discovered by accident. On Feb 8, 2001, builders working on an apartment construction site in Jinsha village found ivory and jade pieces among the piles of dirt. Since then, archaeologists have excavated more than 10,000 precious relics including gold, jade, bronze and stone wares as well as one metric ton of entire elephant tusks and tens of thousands of pottery and ceramic shards. The sun bird gold foil unearthed at the Jinsha Ruins is the symbol of China cultural heritage. Flash Despite its neighboring countries finding themselves in complicated and often volatile situations, China still markedly extended its influence in the Asia-Pacific region during 2016. Issues involving the U.S. (such as the South China Sea dispute and the Obama administration's pivot on Asia strategy) became key factors affecting China's neighborhood diplomacy over the past year. As both parties exerted excellent control over the situation, no confrontational diplomatic moves occurred. With Donald Trump set to become the 45th President of the United States in 2017, China's neighborhood diplomacy will undoubtedly face new challenges; China will continue, regardless of any changes, to maintain strategic focus and patience, so as to build a favorable neighboring environment. China's Increasing Influence Transfer of power in several countries in the Asia-Pacific region did not impact on their bilateral relationships with China, but actually improved them. On March 31, the new government of Myanmar, led by the National League for Democracy, took its oath of office and formally started their administration on April 1. The head of the party, Aung San Suu Kyi, made China the destination of her debut state visit in August, fully demonstrating the importance of China in its diplomatic relations. Then, in late October, Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing also paid a visit to China. In late January 2016, at the first plenum of the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the Party's new leaders were elected, with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the head. The former Prime Minister of the Vietnamese government, Nguyen Tan Dung, failed to gain a place on the Party's Central Committee or the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. Therefore, it was generally regarded that Vietnam's moderate political sect had won. In mid-September, the new Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc made his first visit to China after assuming office, which significantly increased stability in the South China Sea. In late May, Rodrigo Duterte was elected as the new President of the Philippines. Duterte's state visit to China in October thawed the icy bilateral relationship after the South China Sea arbitration and also forced changes to the American Asia-Pacific rebalancing strategy. Some unexpected political incidents also occurred in the region last year, but did not upset political stability in the countries involved. Bhumibol, the King of Thailand, died on October 13. Many people speculated that civil unrest would sweep through Thailand, but in reality the situation is much more positive. Uzbek President Islam Karimov died of an illness after 27 years in power on September 2. Despite fears for political stability in Central Asia, no civil disorder occurred and the country is running as normal. Soft Landing on the South China Sea Issue As China's policies regarding its claims on the South China Sea are gaining increasing support from its neighboring countries, this red-hot issue is slowly being cooled down. Despite its adverse impact on China's relations with neighboring countries, during the whole process China's stance has won greater understanding and support from other countries in the region. When an arbitration award was issued on July 12, a handful of countries such as the U.S., Japan, and Australia advocated its "binding force." The decision, however, has not won support from ASEAN countries. At a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on July 24, no agreement was reached regarding the arbitration award. In addition, both the UN and the International Court of Justice were eager to stress that they had no connection with the tribunal. On July 13, the UN stated on its official microblog that it was not affiliated with the arbitral tribunal. The International Court of Justice in The Hague also declared that it had not been involved in the "South China Sea arbitration case." All parties involved in the dispute, including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, have been cautious in their attitude towards the award, which suggests that it is not an appropriate way of dealing with the South China Sea issue. The dual-track approach proposed by ASEAN countries and China to cope with the issue should be the chosen approach, namely settling disputes peacefully through negotiations and consultations between the states directly concerned on the basis of respecting historical facts and conforming with international law. The peace and stability in the South China Sea should be maintained with the joint efforts of both China and ASEAN countries. Integrated Asia-Pacific Economy China's proposals and initiatives for cooperation in the region are timely and expected to make headway. This signifies China's increasing capacity for crafting new trade and investment rules in the Asia-Pacific region. China's proposal to integrate the Asia-Pacific economy took a remarkable step forward in 2016. Xi Jinping expounded the proposal at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima on November 19, saying that China will be deeply involved in the process of economic globalization, support a multilateral trading system, advance the establishment of free trade zones in the Asia-Pacific region, and push forward negotiations on Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The U.S. President-Elect, Donald Trump, declared that the U.S. would exit the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. As a result, China's proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) became one of the key topics at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting. The summit approved a research report on collective strategy for Asian-Pacific free trade zones submitted by the APEC ministerial meeting, intending to make free trade zones a major platform for an integrated Asia-Pacific economy in future. The ASEAN-led RCEP is also expected to make headway. Just prior to the summit, Peru declared it would start negotiations about joining the RCEP. The advancement of both FTAAP and RCEP signifies that China is starting to play a leading role in integrating the regional economy. Major progress was also made in the Belt and Road Initiative during 2016. Gwadar Port formally went into operation on November 13, turning the concept of the China-Pakistan economic corridor into reality. It is a new milestone for interconnectivity in South Asia. The Port of Colombo in Sri Lanka resumed construction in June after suspension due to internal politics. In addition, interconnectivity advocated by China's Belt and Road Initiative saw great advancement in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, evident in policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds. China's economic power is turning into a capacity for shaping regional order. Safe and Stable Future amid Uncertainties Of course, China's neighborhood diplomacy also suffered some adverse factors in 2016. On January 6 and September 9, North Korea carried out two nuclear tests, defying the whole world and exacerbating the situation in the Korean Peninsula. In response, on July 8, South Korea and the U.S. declared that a THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile system would be deployed in South Korea by the end of 2017. But the THAAD system is far beyond the defense needs of the Peninsula, and will disrupt regional stability. Moreover, two terrorist attacks were carried out against Indian military bases in 2016. India put the blame on Pakistan, thus injecting further hostility into their bilateral relationship. As an adamant supporter of Pakistan, China was rebuked by India, who accused China of being biased towards Pakistan; this dampened China-India relations to some extent. As it stands, China's peripheral situations are still changing and will face multiple uncertainties in the coming year. The most critical factor will be Donald Trump's foreign policy on Asia. His claims during the presidential campaign have already impacted on the diplomatic policies of China's neighboring countries. China still needs to give full consideration to American factors and put greater importance on developing China-U.S. relations when considering its relations with neighbor states. At the same time, China should combine its principle of stability with flexible operations in its neighborhood diplomatic practices. China's experience in dealing with the South China Sea dispute shows that as a regional power China has the responsibility to provide more public resources for the region but that it also needs to make it clear to neighboring countries that it will not be bullied. Last but not least, China should lead the region towards establishing a new type of safety architecture, reflecting regional needs, conforming to the interests of related parties, and widely received by them, so as to cope with the jostling of growing superpowers brought about by the adjustment of the Asia-Pacific geopolitical landscape. The common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security strategy for Asia advocated by China could constitute the ideological foundation of the architecture. A composite, multi-level, and diversified security network should be chosen. The most critical point is to form an effective operational mechanism, which is expected to play a key role in maintaining regional security and solving regional crises. Lin Minwang is a research fellow at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University and guest researcher at the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies at Nanjing University. Seized military vehicles from Singapore are covered by green sheets at Kwai Chung Container Terminals in Hong Kong on Nov 24, 2016. [Photo provide to China Daily] Hong Kong customs officials announced on Tuesday that nine Singaporean armed vehicles seized two months ago will be returned after the completion of an investigation. The Singaporean vehicles were impounded by customs on Nov 23"because there was a suspected breach of Hong Kong law", said Roy Tang, commissioner of customs and excise of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The armed vehicles were inside a cargo ship from Taiwan that was passing through Hong Kong. They were on their way back to Singapore following a military drill in Taiwan. Tang said that customs has finished its investigation. The case may lead to criminal prosecution, according to a news release from the Hong Kong government. "Import, export and transshipment/transit of strategic commodities in breach of licensing requirements are criminal offenses punishable under the Hong Kong law," he said, adding that the military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore. In a statement released on Tuesday, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had thanked Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for resolving the matter. "This is a positive outcome," the Singaporean ministry said. On Jan 17 in Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying urged the Singaporean government to stick to the one-China principle when she was asked about the seizure of the vehicles. China attaches great importance to its relationship with Singapore, and at the same time, China's stance on the one-China principle is firm and unchanged, she said. Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher in Southeast Asia studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that by seizing the vehicles, China sent a signal to Singapore that the city-state should stick to the one-China principle, especially as Taiwan authorities led by Tsai Ing-wen are challenging Beijing on sovereignty. Returning the vehicles is a positive sign for the China-Singapore relationship, he said, adding that bilateral ties have been frustrated in recent months as a result of what he called Singapore's "improper remarks" on China's stance on the South China Sea issue. In July, Singapore asked "all parties to fully respect" the ruling of an arbitration case on South China Sea territorial disputes. China insisted that the ruling is "null and void", and has no binding force. BEIJING -- Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura should kneel and apologize to the Chinese people for the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, a spokesperson said Tuesday. The comment came after Kawamura downplayed the severity of APA, a Japanese hotel chain, placing in its rooms a book denying the Nanjing Massacre and the forced recruitment of comfort women. Kawamura said the Japanese should go to Nanjing to kneel down and apologize if Japanese troops really slaughtered 300,000 Nanjing citizens. But he doubted the Nanjing Massacre ever took place. China is willing to have friendly exchanges with Japan but will never tolerate brazen distortions of history that hurt the Chinese, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing. "Whoever acts recklessly will pay the price," Hua said. "As for the comments by the mayor, I want to remind him that the Nanjing Massacre is a historical fact recognized by the international community. The mayor should deliver on what he said," the spokesperson added. Also on Tuesday, China's National Tourism Administration released a call to action -- asking Chinese tourism agencies and websites to stop promoting or using the APA. The tourism authority also called on Chinese tourists to boycott these hotels. More than 600,000 people lived in Nanjing before the Japanese slaughtered around 300,000 soldiers and civilians in December 1937, but the book by Seiji Fuji, the pen name of the APA CEO, claims that there were only 200,000 people in the city at the time. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (second left) talks with Zhu Zhaoyun (right), top scientist of Yunnan Baiyao Group during a visit to the group on Jan 24, 2017. Yunnan Baiyao is a Traditional Chinese Medicine manufacturer based in Southwest China's Yunnan province. The Premier urged Yunnan Baiyao to continue its craftsmanship to make better Traditional Chinese Medicine for China and the world. [Photo by Wu Zhiyi/chinadaily.com.cn] Syrian peace talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran and seeking to bolster a shaky cease-fire in place since last month opened on Monday in Kazakhstan, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the Damascus government and rebel factions fighting to overthrow it. The gathering in Astana, the Kazakh capital, is also the start of a new effort to end six years of carnage that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced half of Syria's population and sent millions of refugees to neighboring countries and Europe. The UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is participating in the talks, which if successful, are expected to be followed by more political talks in February in Geneva. The new US administration is not directly involved, because of the "immediate demands of the transition", the US State Department said on Saturday, but Washington is represented by the US ambassador to Kazakhstan, George Krol, who attended Monday's opening session held at the luxury Rixos President Hotel in Astana. Osama Abo Zayd, a rebel media representative, said before the start that the scope of the negotiations is limited to strengthening the cease-fire. "There's no significance to negotiations if the people on whose behalf we are negotiating are being killed," he said, adding that there has been absolutely no discussion about elections. Syria's war is estimated to have killed about 400,000 people since March 2011. Ahead of the talks, delegates passed through the hotel's soaring atrium, where songbirds are kept to chirp in cages, on their way to the conference room. Reflecting persisting tensions, Arab TV stations said the rebel delegates stalled, entering the room a few minutes late to register their displeasure at being seated at the same oval-shaped table as the Iranian delegation. The hotel was closed off to all but a handful of representatives of the media. Russia, Turkish and Iranian delegates were all seated around the same table, along with de Mistura and the U.S. ambassador. After a short opening ceremony during which Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov spoke, the meeting went into closed session. It wasn't immediately clear if there would be any direct talks between the rebels and Damascus representatives behind the closed doors. At the top of the agenda is an effort to consolidate last month's cease-fire brokered by Turkey and Russia. The truce, which excludes extremist groups such as the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, has reduced overall violence but fighting and violations continue on multiple fronts. (China Daily 01/24/2017 page12) The Manchu Qing Dynasty used to rule over the entirety of China, but where are the Manchu people in the 21st century? After centuries of contact with Han Chinese, Manchu culture seems to be fading from memory and only a handful of people can still even speak the Manchu language. Filmmaker Evan Luchkow travels to Jilin province in Northeast China to discover what contemporary Manchu culture looks like against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing China. While Manchu culture may be fading, it turns out it is also making a surprising resurgence in unexpected places! Manchu culture remains a powerful and persistent influence on the culture and trajectory of modern China. Austrian artists perform at the Chinese New Year concert, Vienna, Austria, Jan 15, 2017. [Photo/Chinaculture.org] A Chinese New Year concert was held in Vienna, Austria, on Jan 15, marking the start of 2017 Happy Chinese New Year celebrations in the country. Li Xiaosi, Chinese ambassador to Austria, addressed the concert. He said the Chinese Lunar New Year is the most important festival in traditional Chinese culture. The festival bears Chinese people's best wishes for better lives and peace in the world. China will continue to deepen cooperation with Austria. Dancers and musicians from Shanghai and Vienna performed a series of Chinese folk dances and songs during the event. About 400 Chinese and Austrian government officials, representatives and locals attended the concert. Sprays of melted iron, known asTiehua in Chinese, lights up the night sky at the Taitai Mountain scenic spot in Taiyuan, North China's Shanxi province. The traditional event is held to welcome lunar New Year. [Photo by Sun Ruisheng/China Daily] The old tradition of Datiehua, which literally means to spray melted iron, dates back some 2,000 years in Shanxi province as a way to celebrate Spring Festival and scare away demons. With iron melting in pots reaching temperatures of up to 1,700 degrees Celsius, local workers spray the scorching liquid into the air producing a shower of magnificent sparks that seem almost like fireworks. Lu Ping's Diamond Sutra [Photo provided to China Daily] An exhibition, titled A Dialogue Through Centuries Traditional Chinese Watermark Woodcut Prints since AD 868, will be held at Sunny Art Center in London from Jan 27 to Feb 27. The show celebrates the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan 28. This exhibition is divided into three parts: Chinese ancient prints, modern classics between the 1960s and 1980s, and contemporary woodcuts featuring young Chinese artists' works. The highlights of the exhibition will showcase Chinese artist Lu Ping's version of the Diamond Sutra. The earliest dated book printed using the watermark woodcut technique is the Diamond Sutra, made in AD 868. The original version is now in the British Library, London. Lu, a professor from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, authorized the repair and copy of the original version. This duplicate, which is to be exhibited, is currently in the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Contemporary examples of woodblock printing featured in this exhibition come from artists, such as Bao Tao and Cui Dezheng. Bao expresses his interpretation of the identity of women. Cui's work explores the Song Dynasty's aesthetic, inspired by the Western idea of a rational abstraction, as opposed to a more expressive and emotive concept of abstraction. Young Chinese artists continued to present contemporary painting and philosophy using the traditional watermark woodcut technique. Print artists who employed woodblock printing usually painted each design individually and uniquely. [Photo provided to China Daily] New Couture Committee, a Chinese organization dedicated to promoting the concept of "Chinese couture", hosted a China-themed event in Les Suites, a multibrand fashion boutique in Paris, in mid-January. Chinese brands like Dan, Huangxu1983, Liu Lisi and Miuki Wen, Moodbox and Sheme all took part. More than 10 examples of gowns and shoes were showcased. The event brings Chinese couturiers to Paris twice every year. Their dresses have been sold in the boutique since 2015. Related: Zhou Xun and Hu Ge pose for fashion magazine Diesel Black Gold show held in Milan The UK-based Standard Life said it is planning to establish a wholly owned foreign enterprise (WOFE) in China, and Shanghai's Lujiazui will become its first choice of location. Established in 1825, Standard Life is an investment company, headquartered in Edinburgh, with operations across the globe. In 1847, Standard Life came to Shanghai to start its business in China. Later, it established the Standard Life Assurance Company in Shanghai. It's among the first batch of UK assurance companies, which developed businesses in China. The company stopped its business in China due to the war in 1937. Colin Clark, director of Global Client Group at Standard Life said the company now has been preparing for materials and documents that required for the applying work. "We are now studying the related supervision laws and regulations in China," he said. The WOFE is expected to establish later this year. "There is large demand for assets management in Chinese market, especially the requirement for saving financing. And the long-term saving products is our advantages," he said. Colin Clark also noted that Lujiazui Financial City is their first choice of location. The Standard Life also handed over Lujiazui Financial City the copies of some historical documents about the company's business in China more than 100 years ago. As the core area for Shanghai to build itself into international finance center, Lujiazui Financial City has become an important gathering place for international assets management companies to carry out their China business. By the end of 2016, more than 30 overseas assets management companies from seven countries have already carried out business or are being prepared for the opening of business in this area, according to Lujiazui Financial City Authority Wang Hua, head of Lujiazui Financial City Authority said so far a whole industry chain for foreign fund and assets management service has formed in Lujiazui, including related expertise, trade, rating, systematic service and other related parts. "All of these will be good for the foreign fund and assets management companies' development and growth in China," Wang said. Flash The first day of the two-day Syrian negotiations in Astana ended on Monday, with government delegation and rebels holding indirect meeting, with expected tension surfacing in that venue. The delegations of the rebels and the Syrian government were set to meet face to face for the first time in the country's nearly six-year-old conflict, but it wasn't completely that way. A brief face time actually took place during the opening session of the talks, with both parties sitting around a round table with their respective foreign backers. This short vis-a-vis is considered by observers as an important step, as it's the first time the rebels' representative and government delegation sit face to face in an international arena with the hope of hammering out the first step of a solution to the country's long-lasting conflict. Turkey, Iran and Russia were at the table, during the opening session, which was delayed for 40 minutes due to some differences, as the rebel delegation was against the presence of the Iranian delegation in the conference room. Later on, reports emerging from Astana indicated that Russians were the government mediator and the Turks were the mediators of the rebels in the indirect talks. Following the opening session, Bashar al-Jaafari, the head of the Syrian delegation to the conference, told reporters that the opening statement of Muhammad Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, was "proactive and rude." He further charged that the rebel delegation was ill-educated in the principles of diplomacy, adding that they didn't even seem to know what they have signed on when they agreed to a Turkish-Russian sponsored ceasefire that went into force on Dec. 30. One of the sticky points between both delegations is the topic of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, which later changed its name to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, Arabic for the Front of Conquering the Levant. The group is designated as a terrorist group by the UN, and thus excluded from any ceasefire or settlement. However, the rebel delegation didn't seem to be ready to deem that group as an enemy. During the first session, the rebels' delegation brought up the subject of the ongoing military campaign in the water-rich Barada Valley northwest of Damascus. They said the government was breaching the truce through its attacks in Barada, where the rebels were accused by the government of cutting the main water source of Ain al-Fijeh spring from the capital. The government delegation was astonished by the remarks, pushing Jaafari to say that the rebels didn't seem to know what they have signed on when they agreed to the ceasefire. It's known now that the Nusra Front is the striking force in Barada, and it's the rebel group that has hindered several deals with the government, prompting the later to push with a military campaign to in that area to restore water to Damascus that has been struggling with the scarcity of water since a month ago. In a briefing to reporters, following the first session, two of the rebels delegates were asked by reporters whether they area ready to turn their guns on the Nusra Front. But the answer came rather vague, as they said that this topic was discussed with the Russians, and the rebels said all foreign groups fighting alongside the government forces should withdraw from Syria before such point can be discussed. They were referring to the Shiite fighters of Hezbollah and other Shiite fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan, who were of a great help to the Syrian army in the fight against the rebels. So it's the same old story, about the need to categorize the rebel groups, particularly the Nusra Front, which enjoys several key alliances with other rebel groups, unlike the Islamic State (IS), which has no alliances with key rebel groups in Syria. A media source in Astana told Xinhua over the phone that the Russians are trying their best to make the conference a success, particularly that the major aim of the meeting in Astana is to agree on a robust ceasefire and the rebel detachments from Nusra. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that pressure is being practiced by the supervising powers on their Syrian allies respectively to achieve the goals of the conference. He said that the rebels were the ones refusing to hold the face-to-face meeting with the government, adding that they reluctantly agreed to meet in the opening session only. Later on, both parties held a meeting separately from different rooms, with the Russians and the Turks mediating the talks. The source said the outcome of the conference is not yet clear, but the Russian and Turkish patrons are working toward reaching an understanding, whose feature will be clearer at the end of the talks. US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, Jan 20, 2017.[Photo/IC] An Italian band refused an invitation to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration as the 45th US president on Friday in Washington and some European representatives did not turn up. Meanwhile European TV viewers were left constantly shaking their heads as Trump delivered his inauguration speech. These are signs of the mounting anxiety, distrust and even fear that ordinary Europeans have been feeling since the businessman won the US presidential election. Without a doubt, Trump is expected to bring more uncertainties to Europe, mainly because his policies toward the European Union are still not clear, and his guiding principles are isolationism and nationalism, which he believes will make the United States great again. During Barack Obama's presidency, relations between the EU and the US went through a dramatic change because of Washington strategically increasing its interventions in the Asia-Pacific region with its strategy of rebalancing to the Asia-Pacific. In previous decades, the alliance partnership between the EU and the US has played a big role in shaping global governance by encouraging global exchanges, and they have shared their capital, knowhow and management expertise with less-developed economies. However, most of the conflicts over that period have escalated mainly because of their interventions. The transatlantic alliance will likely experience its biggest shift for decades during Trump's presidency, if his guiding principles do not change. And the extent of the shift is likely to be evident soon. First of all will be how Washington prioritizes its relationship between London and Brussels. Trump's taking power in the White House will be soon followed by the United Kingdom's commencing negotiations to leave the EU, so their respective bilateral relationships with the US will need to be rearranged. London wants to maintain its "special relationship" with Washington, and British Prime Minister Theresa May will be the first foreign leader to be a guest at the White House. Their meeting will be on Friday, one week after Trump's inauguration. Brussels has also indicated its urgent desire to meet Trump. EU leaders wrote a congratulatory letter to Trump in early November and invited him to hold a Washington-Brussels summit as early as possible. This year's G7 summit will be in Italy in May and the G20 summit will be held in Germany in July. If he does not do so earlier, Trump may fly to Brussels to meet his EU counterparts then. Second, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, on which 15 rounds of talks have been completed, is at risk. Brussels is eager to reap such a deal and the current European Commission listed it as among its 10 priorities in late 2014. Obama had the ambition to conclude the deal, but failed, and politicians in France and Germany, two vital countries within the EU, have publicly showed their disagreements with the TTIP. The TTIP may easily suffer the same fate as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. Third, the security system in the EU's eastern and southern regions is also facing a testing time. Right now, NATO, with its huge presence and contribution from the US, has played a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the EU and its neighboring areas. Europeans fear Trump has no interest in having the US work as the world's policeman and it may finally withdraw its military influence from Europe. How the European countries respond to that if it materializes will deserve close observation. All in all, Trump will be bringing changes to this region and, hopefully, they will be positive and constructive in re-recognizing transatlantic relations. However, it is clear they are in for a testing time in coming months. The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn Food safety administration staffs inspect a restaurant in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, on Nov 10, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua] THREE BEIJING franchises of the Han Li Xuan Korean barbecue chain were found to be using duck meat for what they claimed was geese, pork, and corned beef. The food and drug authorities in Beijing ordered the three restaurants to stop operations and have sent a request to the related provincial administrations to check the details of the meat supply companies before proceeding further with their investigation. The Legal Evening News commented on Monday: It is not the first time that the Han Li Xuan brand has been embroiled in such a scandal about its meat. In December 2016, in one of its outlets in Changsha, the secret of its special cuisine of corned beef was uncovered as being duck. And the restaurant staff expressed their "pride" at being able to fool customers for so long. The company which has more than 200 franchise restaurants across the country seems not to have learned any lessons from that scandal, as the three outlets have been exposed for using the same practice just a month later. The food scandals exposed in recent years have severely damaged the confidence of people in the domestic food market. Food safety can only be guaranteed through strong law enforcement and strict supervision throughout the food chain. Enterprises need to be made aware of the bottom line. Business morality will only return to the market when the food safety laws are executed to the letter and those responsible for inspection and investigation fulfill their duties. A woman reads profiles of single men at a match-making event in Liaocheng, Shandong province, Aug 11, 2013. [Photo by Kong Xiaozheng/Asianewsphoto] IN THE EYES OF MANY, the phenomenon of "leftover youngsters" is not new as generations of ambitious young adults from rural areas have chosen to explore the life-changing opportunities offered by cities, and, unavoidably, some struggle on their own before finally settling down. Beijing Youth Daily commented on Monday: So is the social isolation of these so-called leftover youths overstated? Yes and no. These urban newcomers are being noticed more as a group because their ways of living are often coupled with isolation and financial hardships, according to a survey conducted by China Youth Daily. Their reliance on social media and the soaring cost of living an urban life, particularly the rocketing property prices, may have contributed to their reluctance to interact with people in real life. On the other hand, most of these young adults aspire to work and settle in metropolises in the pursuit of a better life, despite the challenges. These "leftover youngsters" deserve respect for their determination to achieve greater success. Their very existence not only indicates that there is still room for unprivileged yet diligent young men and women to make a difference, but also makes it possible for cities to prosper in the long run. Thus in return, urban governments need to offer care and assistance to the young newcomers, instead of taking them for granted. The net influx of young talents is expected to serve as a key, possibly the most important indicator of urban vitality, and most cities are trying to provide services for them. Yet giving them hope is certainly not enough to help them stay permanently, especially against the backdrop of the rising cost of living in urban areas. It cannot be ignored that a host of young non-locals, although choosing to stay in cities, are struggling to make a living and have a lot to say about their compromised welfare as non-permanent residents. Their voice must be heard and their problems properly addressed. A bank clerk shows a social security card at a branch of China Construction Bank (CCB) in Haian county, Nantong city, East China's Jiangsu province, 30 October 2014.[Photo/IC] AT A RECENT SESSION OF THE GUANGDONG PEOPLE'S CONGRESS, the provincial legislature, representatives from several cities with relatively poor economic conditions complained about the widening gap in the social security fund. With society aging, the number of elderly residents receiving pension payments has grown at a much faster rate than the number of young people paying taxes. That is a problem not only for Guangdong, says a comment on Beijing News: It is good that China's social security system is covering increasingly more residents. From 2000 to 2015, the national social security fund increased from 20 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) to 1.5 trillion yuan. All urban residents are covered and the percentage of rural residents covered is growing. However, the social security system now faces a problem. Society is aging rapidly, while the surplus labor that could be transferred from agriculture to industry and services has reached its limit. In 2016, senior citizens, or those aged above 60, accounted for 210 million of the total population of 1.36 billion in China, while data of the National Bureau of Statistics show that the number of migrant workers grew by 0.3 percent. In other words, the "input" for the social security fund is decreasing while the "output" is increasing. If that trend continues, those who are working hard today might be unable to get their pensions when they retire. That is a problem that we cannot afford to ignore. Actually, in some regions, the local social security fund already finds itself unable to pay pensions. Just like Gu Shuhui, a representative from Chaozhou, Guangdong province said, there is a gap in their social security fund and they need to find a way to pay pensions. Currently many provinces resort to a solution of "overall planning". They unite the local social security funds of all subsidiary regions and use the richer ones to subsidize the poorer ones. But that solution is unsustainable because the richer areas face the same problem too. It is urgent that the central government consider how to reform the social security system. Models of residential buildings are seen at a sales center in Zhengzhou, Henan province, September 23, 2016.[Photo/VCG] Urbanization will be a main engine for sustainable economic development in China, and urbanization will also promote the restructuring of China's economy, as it boosts consumption, investment and development of the service sector. The apparent gap between China's current urbanization rate of slightly above 50 percent and nearly 80 percent rate of developed countries means China still has great potential for growth in investment and consumption as more rural residents become urban residents in the next 10 to 20 years. However, the system for distributing fiscal resources from the central to local governments is too rigid to help promote the country's urbanization. The governance capability in cities also lags behind the current urbanization trend, with city governments usually attaching more importance to infrastructure construction than to integrating new residents. Given the obvious development gaps among different regions, it is unrealistic for them to apply the same strategies to boost urbanization. But many of them do so in practice. And for farmers to become urban residents takes much more than simply moving them, sometimes unwillingly, from their villages to apartment buildings built on the villagers' land. This kind of fake urbanization only raises the urbanization rate on paper and it can never be an engine driving sustainable development and urbanization. Farmers' property rights of land must be protected and they should be entitled to urban residents' welfare, especially the opportunities of education and training to ensure they can earn a living when no longer farming. Providing migrant workers with their overdue citizen welfare entails huge government financial inputs. The central government needs to set aside more funds for local governments to support urbanization, or allow city governments to come up with new legal and reliable sources of revenue so they can cater to both their existing and new residents. --Beijing Youth Daily People perform fire dragon dance amid sparkles to greet the upcoming Spring Festival in Tai'erzhuang ancient town of Zaozhuang City, East China's Shandong province, Jan 21, 2017. The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Jan 28 this year. [Photo/Xinhua] For many years, I celebrated the Chinese New Year with my fellow Chinese. However, in the past couple of years, I was lucky to add global flavor to the festivities. Last year, I had the chance to share the joys of the Spring Festival with my Canadian compatriots. To celebrate the event, my friends and I satisfied our taste buds with a blend of sumptuous Chinese and Canadian dishes while toasting the New Year with both Chinese and Canadian drinks. This year, Im spending the Chinese New Year in the land of the pyramids with members of my Egyptian family and friends. Fortunately, the Chinese and the Egyptian governments just wrapped up the Chinese-Egyptian cultural year. The celebration attracted a lot of coverage in the Egyptian media. That in turn has spurred interest in China in general and in Spring Festival in particular. My family and friends are flooding me with questions regarding customs and traditions associated with the Chinese New Year. They want to know the name of the Chinese dishes served at the family reunion and the greetings exchanged. They are going out of their way to create a Chinese atmosphere so that I feel at home during the Chinese New Year. Plus, they are keenly seeking my suggestions to make the event authentic. I have told them that having a picnic in the shadows of the great pyramids fits the occasion perfectly since it would give us a chance to reflect on the kinship between the two glorious civilizations. As my Chinese cooking skills leave a lot to be desired, I, reluctantly, volunteered to prepare a Chinese dinner for them if they were willing to risk eating it. Of course, I emphasized that the Chinese dishes are delicious when they are prepared by an expert chef. By no means, I can bestow that honor upon myself. The children in my family were excited when they heard that they will receive a monetary gift from me on the day of the Chinese New Year. They are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the day. Though they were not that happy when they learned about the responsibility that comes with the gift. To be frank, I feel sad leaving my beloved China during this special time of the year. However, watching the efforts of my family and friends to enthusiastically share the celebration have eased the pain. For that, I shall be eternally grateful to them. Finally, from the land of the pyramids to the land of the Great Wall, on behalf of all Egyptians, I wish to extend our best wishes of a very happy Chinese New Year "xinniankuaile" to my fellow Chinese. May the Chinese New Year grant them the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of excellent health, to rejoice in the fulfillment of achieving exceptional success and to experience the magical wonders of ultimate happiness. As for my beloved China, I wish that the New Year brings it peace, prosperity and good fortune. US President Donald Trump shows the Executive Order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, January 23, 2017. [Photo/IC] For Asian businesspeople who were expecting greater access to the US market, perhaps the best advice for the time being may be to heed the suggestion of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin to beat the day of grief: "Merry days will come, believe." On Monday, US President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which was submitted for US congressional approval last year by the Barack Obama administration. US officials once touted the TPP as the best and largest multilateral trade deal ever, even although it was to a great extent a political device aimed at curtailing China's influence in the Asia-Pacific. Now that protectionism is on the rise in the US, Asian nations can no longer expect to develop their economy by providing ever increasing exports to the US markets. It is time for Asian economies to start relying more on regional and neighborly ties. A much more accommodative reality, as China realized a few years ago, hence its proposal of the connective and cooperative Belt and Road Initiative, is that Asian nations focus on forging stronger economic ties among themselves. The ongoing urbanization of Asian nations means the middle class in the region is growing rapidly. Their demand has already become an important part of the global market. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, for instance, is the European Union's third largest trading partner after the US and China. Negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a multilateral economic arrangement by ASEAN and its six free-trade agreement partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea have been taking place, and no nation has shown an interest in backpedalling. Thus the US' withdrawal from the TPP may prompt the RCEP partners to speed up the process, so they can reach an agreement as soon as possible. SHI YU/CHINA DAILY People are always lamenting that the flavor of Spring Festival, which falls on Jan 28 this year, has waned and it is not what it used to be, as a result how to preserve this Chinese tradition has become a hot topic. People used to get busy preparing for the Lunar New Year celebrations at the beginning of the last month of the lunar year. Every family would have a long list of necessities to purchase for the most important holiday of the year. The dinner for the Lunar New Year's Eve was regarded as the most important dinner of the year for families, and it would be eagerly anticipated by kids. It not only meant a family reunion, but also the best possible in an era when people faced a shortage of daily necessities. Most Chinese enjoyed gathering around the dinner table to welcome the New Year. The festive atmosphere would come to a climax when the bells rang at midnight. People would begin setting off firecrackers in the last month of the lunar calendar, but their quick-fire pops would reach a crescendo as the New Year arrived, as they scared away bad luck and carried people's wishes that everything would go well in the year ahead. In the following days, people would visit and eat with friends and relatives and enjoy the festive atmosphere at Spring Festival fairs. However, the situation has changed drastically nowadays. With the remarkable improvement in people's livelihoods since reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, most ordinary Chinese people, even in many rural areas, can easily purchase many good things, beautiful clothes, tasty foods and many kinds of gifts at anytime of the year, not just during Spring Festival. And thanks to the rapid development of e-commerce and the well-developed delivery network nationwide people not only in urban areas but also in the countryside can purchase what they want, whenever they want in an easy and convenient way. No wonder the Spring Festival fairs are no longer as popular as they used to be. And, although the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner is still important for most Chinese families, many people in the cities choose to have dinner at a restaurant rather than cooking at home. Also, thanks to a greater awareness of how detrimental setting off fireworks is to the air quality, more and more people are choosing to forgo the activity that used to be such an explosive part of the celebrations. The traditions of Spring Festival link different generations in a family and indeed the country together. I understand the feeling that many people, especially the elderly, have toward the changing character of Spring Festival. But there is no holding back time and social customs are not fixed, inflexible rules, instead they evolve over time in tune with the changes in society. Instead of feeling sad about the losing Spring Festival traditions, I would rather look on the bright side of this social transition. To some extent, people's waning enthusiasm for Spring Festival is due to the big improvements in people's livelihoods. They no longer have to save to buy the best food they can for the celebration, most can eat what they like, when they like. And people living in the countryside no longer have to rely on the fairs to select merchandise that would otherwise be unavailable, as they can now use the internet to easily purchase commodities that once only were sold in the urban areas. And the environment-friendly trend of not setting off fireworks is becoming more evident year by year. In addition, changes to these old Spring Festival traditions don't mean that Chinese people no longer cherish the spirit: The most important part of Spring Festival is still the family, that's something that hasn't changed. The author is a writer with China Daily. wangyiqing@chinadaily.com.cn A member of Iraqi security forces stands at the top of a building during a battle with Islamic State militants in Mosul, Iraq January 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] MOSUL, Iraq - Iraqi security forces fought fierce clashes on Monday to dislodge the Islamic State (IS) militants from their last stronghold on the northern outskirts of the eastern side of Mosul, the Iraqi military said. The army soldiers, backed by Iraqi and US-led coalition aircraft, advanced to the neighborhood of Rashidiyah and took control of its northern part after heavy clashes, Lieutenant General Abdul-Amir Yarallah from the Joint Operations Command said in a statement. The troops will continue their advance in the neighborhood and the adjacent Baysan area until eliminating IS militants from Mosul's eastern side, locally known as the left bank of Tigris River which bisects the city, according to Yarallah. The latest progress made the Iraqi forces completely in control of the eastern bank of Mosul, with only part of the northern outskirts of Rashidiyah and Baysan left under control of the IS. Experts say once the troops recapture the whole eastern side of Mosul, they will begin a new phase of the anti-IS major offensive on the western part of the city. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said in a recent report that the military operations in Mosul have pushed up to 160,000 civilians to flee their homes in the city and its adjacent areas since the military offensive in Oct. 2016 to reclaim the IS largest stronghold in Iraq. On Oct 17, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of a major offensive to retake Mosul, the country's second largest city. The second phase of the offensive to free the eastern bank of Mosul began on Dec 29. Battles in Mosul slowed down in December when extremist militants started using civilians as human shields, resorted to suicide car bombings and made mortar and sniper attacks. Mosul, 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces abandoned their weapons and fled, enabling IS militants to take control of parts of Iraq's northern and western regions. Flash The British Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering formal negotiations on Britain leaving the European Union (EU). The British government lost its legal battle to have the right to trigger Britain's exit from the EU without first getting the approval of the British Parliament. Judges in the Supreme Court in London ruled by 8-3 in favor of a group of individuals who challenged the government's insistence it could trigger the article 50 process to leave the EU. Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty says: "Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements." The decision is seen as a blow to the government as it says that it has the power to start the Brexit process, but opponents led by investment manager Gina Miller say it needs the parliament's approval to officially commence the at least two-year negotiations. MPs will now be given a vote in a parliamentary bill before the process can start. The court rejected claims that Britain's devolved assemblies in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales should give their assent before Brexit officially starts. Attorney General said the government is disappointed by the outcome of the supreme court case. Opposition Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said his Party will demand a plan from the government to ensure it is accountable to parliament throughout the Brexit negotiations. US President Donald Trump shows the Executive Order withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after signing it in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, January 23, 2017. [Photo/IC] US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade agreement that his predecessor Barack Obama had hoped to become his legacy. Trump signed the order in the Oval Office after meeting in the Roosevelt Room with US business leaders to talk about American manufacturing industry. Sean Spicer, the new White House press secretary, argued on Monday that the US will gain more from a bilateral trade agreement than a multilateral agreement. "This is not a deal that was in our country's best interest," he told the daily briefing on Monday. Wilbur Ross, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, made the same argument in his confirmation hearing in the Senate last week. Spicer emphasized the symbolism of the executive order, calling it "symbolic both here in America and around the world of a new era of trade policy", a policy he said would put American workers first and foremost and one that assures the world that the way the US negotiates bilateral agreements is to ensure that the US gets something out of the deals. TPP was signed in February 2016 by the US and 11 other Pacific Rim economies. Obama had hoped that the US Congress would ratify the agreement during the lame-duck session after the Nov 8 presidential election, but it never got the chance. Trump had called the TPP a "horrible deal" on the campaign trail. The other presidential candidates in the 2016 election, Republican Ted Cruz and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, also opposed TPP during the campaign. Most Democratic lawmakers also oppose TPP. David Dollar, a senior fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center of the Brookings Institute, said Trump's withdrawal from TPP signals a turning away from Asia. "The other countries in the TPP agreement are likely to proceed without the US. There is an opportunity for China if it is ready to open up its own economy more," Dollar, who had previously worked for the US Treasury and the World Bank, told China Daily on Monday. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 US Vice President Mike Pence (R) swears in Mike Pompeo, flanked by his wife Susan Pompeo, to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the vice president's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, US January 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] US Vice President Mike Pence is praising Pompeo's "wealth of experience" and "character." He says Pompeo is "stepping up to lead the finest intelligence-gathering operation the world has ever seen."Pence is speaking at a swearing-in ceremony for Pompeo that comes about an hour after the incoming CIA director was confirmed by the Senate. Pompeo will lead the nation's top spy agency at a critical time for US national security and in the aftermath of Russia's meddling in the US election. The White House had hoped to have Pompeo in place Friday but Democrats stalled, arguing that his nomination needed more vetting and debate. The Senate has confirmed Rep. Mike Pompeo to run the CIA in President Donald Trump's new administration. The vote Monday was 66-32. Firefighters try to contain a forest fire in the town of Empedrado in the Maule region, south of Chile, January 23, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] PUMANQUE, Chile - Lambs suffered broken legs trying to escape the blaze that tore across Tarcila Becerra's land. Today there's nothing on the blackened soil left for the few chickens that survived to graze on, and horses whinny in a makeshift stable a few blocks from her ravaged home. "We tried to defend our home, but the flames were too big and we had to run out," Becerra said later, standing next to a charred brick wall that's just about all that remains of the house. She and her brothers work as fruit packers. But she fears that after missing a week of work to try to save their home and livestock, they may have lost their jobs too. Residents in the town of Pumanque, located in the hard-hit south-central region of O'Higgins, have lost most of their belongings and their very livelihood to some of the worst wildfires ever seen in Chile. The fast-spreading blazes of recent weeks have destroyed about 300,000 acres (more than 130,000 hectares) of forest; many fires are still burning, and more are expected to flare up. Chile's Public Works Ministry said Monday that heavy machinery will be sent to the area to bury the hundreds of animals that died in the wave of fires, which have been stoked by a prolonged drought and temperatures topping 100 Fahrenheit (40 Celsius). In Pumanque, some 130 miles (215 kilometers) south of the capital, Santiago, folks have been battling the fires themselves, without any protective gear and often using just branches or bottles of water. The few helicopters working in the area have been dropping water on the flames, and firefighters have dug ditches to stop their spread. But sometimes those efforts are undone as winds or smoldering ash spread the fires anew. Their ferocity prompted President Michelle Bachelet to ask Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Spain for help. The US is also sending a group of experts and funds to replace equipment at Chile's national forestry agency. "Chile is living the greatest forest disaster in our history," Bachelet said. "But we have the courage and the solidarity to face it."As the flames destroyed homes, pasture and livestock in O'Higgins, some ranchers set their animals free to flee. The government has declared a state of emergency in the area. But some say the government has been slow to react make the declaration, which frees up resources to be distributed to victims. Smoke has shrouded various cities including Santiago, where the nearby Andes mountain range remains hidden from view. Ash has blanketed homes and vehicles. The forestry agency, CONAF, said Monday there were still 122 wildfires burning across the country. The agency says there have been 2,808 fires since July that burned a total of about 550,000 acres (221,000 hectares), a large spike over previous years. More blazes are expected with forecasts of high temperatures, strong winds and low humidity for the coming days. The Dorchester, 23 January 2017 Chairman Perry, The Right Honourable George Osborne, President Jin Liqun, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure to join you at this "Icebreakers" Annual Chinese New Year Dinner. We are gathered to welcome the Chinese New Year of the Rooste. For seven consecutive years I have been truly delighted to attend this outstanding annual event hosted by the 48 Group Club. Every year, I share with you the meaning of the zodiac animal of the year. By now I have covered half of the twelve animals. This evening I will continue this tradition. In Chinese culture the rooster is an image of an early riser. This bird works hard and energetically. That's why the Chinese often say: "A golden rooster heralds the break of the day." We also quote: "Rising at the crow of a rooster makes a vigorous start of the day." In the Chinese language, the pronunciation of the word "rooster" is similar to that of "auspiciousness". Therefore the rooster also signals propitious good luck. Moreover, China's land territory is shaped just like a rooster: The northeastern region is its head. Xinjiang is the feathered tail. And Hainan and Taiwan the two feet. So, people in China love to compare the Chinese nation to a proud rooster standing in the East. In this sense, the Year of Rooster is much admired by Chinese people for reasons more than the 'Rooster' being a lucky zodiac animal. In his New Year message, President Xi Jinping said that 2016 has been an extraordinary and unforgettable year for the Chinese people. I think this is also a pertinent description of the relationship between China and the UK in the past year. In 2016, China-UK relations stood the test of Brexit. Our relationship demonstrated resilience and continued the momentum of growth. In that context I would like to share with you my three observations. First, the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations, which stood the test of Brexit, remains a clear goal that both countries are firmly committed to: Building the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations is a long-term strategic vision of the leaders of our two countries. It is in the interests of both sides. Here I would like to pay my sincere tribute to Mr. George Osborne. While you were First Secretary and Chancellor, you and then Prime Minister David Cameron, together with Chinese leaders, jointly opened the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations. For Britain, 2016 was an eventful year. The British people voted to leave the EU, which was then followed by the formation of a new government with a new Prime Minister. However, China and the UK managed to overcome the uncertainties and steadied our relationship in this time of transition: President Xi and Prime Minister May had a successful meeting in Hangzhou. And both leaders reaffirmed our shared commitment to the "Golden Era" of our bilateral ties. This has kept our relationship on track. Towards the end of last year the three dialogue mechanisms between China and Britain were all successfully held. These are the Economic and Financial Dialogue, the High Level People to People Dialogue and the Strategic Dialogue. All three mechanisms speak to one fact that the high-level cooperation between our two countries has been running smoothly and steadily. Some media have predicted the coming end of the "Golden Era". I would like to use a new and increasingly popular catch phrase in response to such reports: Fake news! My second observation is that China-UK cooperation has become more tangible and resilient with more diversified outcomes. The "Golden Era" is not simply a slogan. It is increasingly being materialised by business cooperation across the board, from trade, investment, financial services, to infrastructure, energy, and in many other fields. It is evidenced by people-to-people exchanges in the fields of culture, education, science and technology, media, think tanks, tourism and sports. Here too the list can go on and on to cover a wide range of areas. And now "abundant golden fruits" have begun to adorn a truly "Golden Era". Let me give you a list of some of the "golden fruits" we have harvested in 2016: Golden fruit one - China's Ministry of Finance issued a three billion yuan RMB sovereign bond in London. This is the first time for Chinese Government to issue RMB sovereign bond outside China. This is truly a new milestone in RMB internationalisation. Golden fruit two - China and the UK together with France signed the package deal for the Hinkley Point C nuclear project and set up the Joint Research and Innovation Centre. It means China and the UK have made a solid step forward in our nuclear energy cooperation. Golden fruit three - the Bank of China issued in London a three billion dollar green bond. This opened up the new area of green finance cooperation between our two countries. Golden fruit four - China and the UK started to issue two-year multi-entry visas to each other's nationals. In addition both nations lifted the limit on the number of flights between our two countries. These measures will greatly facilitate mutual visits. And golden fruit five our two countries co-hosted a series of activities to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the passing of Tang Xianzu and William Shakespeare. These events have brought our cultural and art exchanges to a new high. Now let me share with you my third observation: China and the UK have worked together to expand our global coordination both in width and depth: Last September, with the strong support of the UK among others, China successfully hosted the G20 Hangzhou Summit. Within the G20 framework, China and Britain are committed to boosting world growth. Together we aim to promote global trade and investment. Together we seek to advance inclusive and interconnected development. Together we pledge to strengthen cooperation in anti-corruption and anti-microbial resistance. China and the UK co-hosted the first High Level Security Dialogue and agreed to reinforce cooperation in counter-terrorism and cyber security. Our two countries played a leading role in global governance, climate change, sustainable development and peacekeeping. Together we issued joint statements on Syria and Afghanistan. And together we enhanced cooperation within the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by jointly contributing capital to the AIIB special fund. These are highlights of the fruitful and effective cooperation between our two countries. They are concrete examples of how China and the UK as key players on the global scene have fulfilled our international obligations. Such cooperation helps increase stability and positive forces in time of uncertainties in the international relations. And all these advances help enrich the China-UK global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century. Looking ahead to the new year, we have a great deal to expect. As Prime Minister May put it in her New Year message: "2017 is a year of opportunity" And she added that Britain has: "A golden opportunity to demonstrate". I think her words are also true for China-UK relations. 2017 marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of the ambassadorial-level diplomatic ties between China and the UK: We will co-host a number of celebration and commemoration events. We will use these celebrations to reflect. In this way we can strengthen relations going forward by learning from the experience of the past four and a half decades. We must all the more value the strong momentum of our ties today. And we also need to jointly plan for the future of our relations and endeavor to achieve even more. 2017 also marks the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong to China. The return of Hong Kong is significant in many ways: It meant China and Britain successfully resolved a major issue that was left from history. It helped clear the way for further growth of our bilateral relations. And, more importantly, it set a good example for the world that international disputes can be solved peacefully through negotiations. 30 years ago, both China and the UK demonstrated extraordinary political wisdom, long-term vision and courage during the negotiations over Hong Kong. Today as we usher in a new year, China and the UK need to work together more closely, build stronger mutual trust, and handle disputes properly. Hong Kong should be a bridge to facilitate China-UK cooperation. We should focus on making it a positive factor in our bilateral ties. We need to do this so that China-UK relations will advance steadily and smoothly. 2017 is a year for consolidating the "Golden Era" of China-UK relations: I am more than happy to hear the announcement by the UK government at the beginning of the year. This was the news that the generic design assessment of HPR1000, China's nuclear reactor, has begun. That's great news. There has been more good news at the start of 2017. Last week, the first China Railway Express arrived in London. It was the first direct freight train between China and Britain. In Davos, President Xi Jinping announced an important agenda for 2017. China is going to host the "Belt and Road" Forum for International Cooperation in May. I hope that in the new year, China and the UK will seize the new opportunities arising from the "Belt and Road" initiative and maintain high-level exchanges. I hope we will make solid steps forward in our practical bilateral cooperation. This covers many areas such as trade, investment, finance, energy, infrastructure, scientific innovation, education and culture. And I hope we will advance our "Belt and Road" cooperation. We need to bring in more flagship projects, create new highlights and deliver more tangible benefits to our two countries and peoples. 2017 is a year for China and the UK to join hands and promote world peace and development: There is a broad consensus that 2017 will see much complexity and uncertainty around the world. In particular, there will be general elections in Germany and France. The Brexit negotiation will begin. And there is a new administration in the United States. In a world of uncertainty, we have every reason to pull together rather than to pull apart. Just as President Xi Jinping pointed out in his keynote speech at the World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos that: "As long as we keep to the goal of building a community of shared future for mankind and work hand in hand to fulfill our responsibilities and overcome difficulties, we will be able to create a better world and deliver better lives for our peoples." In this spirit, China and the UK should keep our respective doors wide open for cooperation. Through these channels we must: Uphold free trade. Oppose protectionism. Adhere to multilateralism. Oppose unilateralism. And stand for a new type of globalisation that is open, inclusive and benefit-sharing. By working together we can make new contribution to world peace, stability and security. Ladies and Gentlemen: The Chinese often say: "A day's work starts with the first thing you do in the morning and a year's success starts with what you do in spring". Tonight, we celebrate the beginning of 2017. In the coming year: Let us carry on the "Icebreaker" spirit! Let us roll up our sleeves to work with vigor. Let us seize the "golden opportunities" arising from our cooperation in all fields, including the "Belt and Road". And, let us work together to contribute more "golden fruits" to the"Golden Era" of China-UK relations. Thank you. Pakistan tests long-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Xinhua | Updated: 2017-01-24 20:19 ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan has conducted its first successful flight test of surface-to-surface ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of 2200 kilometers, the military said Tuesday. The "Ababeel" missile is capable of delivering multiple warheads, using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, an army statement said. "The test flight was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system," the statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations said. "Ababeel" is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and has the capability to engage multiple targets with high precision, defeating the enemy's hostile radars, the military said. "Development of Ababeel' Weapon System is aimed at ensuring survivability of Pakistan's ballistic missiles in the growing regional Ballistic Missile Defense environment. This will further reinforce deterrence." President and prime minister of Pakistan conveyed their appreciation to the team involved and armed forces of Pakistan on this landmark achievement. The top military leaders have also congratulated the scientists and engineers on successful conduct of missile test, the statement said. This is the second time Pakistan has test fired missiles this month. On Jan. 8, Pakistan conducted its first successful test fire of submarine launched cruise missile "Babur-3," having a range of 450 kilometers. The missile was fired from an underwater, mobile platform and hit its target with precise accuracy, according to the military. China called on the United States on Tuesday to respect facts and "speak and behave with caution" after the new US administration of President Donald Trump hinted it would take a tougher stance on the South China Sea. "China's determination to protect its own territory and sovereignty will remain unchanged, regardless of what other countries say or what changes occur," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news conference in Beijing. China will firmly safeguard its maritime sovereignty, as it has talks with countries directly involved, to maintain stability in the region, she said. Hua had been asked to respond to White House spokesman Sean Spicer's comment on Monday that "the US would make sure that we protect our interests" in the South China Sea. On Jan 11, Trump's secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson said that China should be denied access to the South China Sea islands. Hua, when asked whether China worried that the Trump administration would take further steps regarding the sea, said China is not the only country concerned about that. "China's position on the South China Sea is consistent, and our actions are justified," she said. Tensions have cooled over the South China Sea issue since China and other countries involved, including the Philippines, agreed to peacefully solve disputes through negotiations. In October, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte made a state visit to China, during which the two nations agreed to restore bilateral ties that had been jeopardized by the ruling of an arbitration unilaterally launched by his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III. "Any responsible country should be glad to see this trend, and play a positive role in promoting regional peace and stability," Hua said on Tuesday. Li Haidong, a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University, said the Trump administration's attitude toward the South China Sea is similar to his predecessor's namely, emphasizing disputes there. "While Obama dealt with it in so-called multilateral and legal ways, Trump might try to get rough and try to overwhelm China with force there," he said. The South China Sea will continue to be an increasingly disputed area between the two countries, he speculated. However, Li said, it remained a question whether Washington would follow up on Tillerson's proposal because of "Trump's unpredictability and the different opinions within the Cabinet". "The Trump administration might make an adjustment, adopt a more practical China policy after six months, when it sees it has failed to force China to concede to its aggressive manner regarding issues Washington believes are critical," he added. Teng Jianqun, a senior US studies researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, said the Trump administration will continue to test China on various issues, including trade and security, but China will never compromise on territorial issues. Wang Qingyun contributed to this story. Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn (Photo : Getty Images. ) Besides China, only five more countries have constructed manned submersibles that have managed to reach the depth of 6,000 metres. Advertisement China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) is set to construct a manned submersible vehicle capable of taking humans to deepest depth of any ocean on planet earth. This manned submersible vehicle will reportedly have the ability to go as deep as 10,900 meters to explore the ocean. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement If the experiment is successful, it will be another feather in the cap of China as the country deepens its deep ocean exploration to catch up with U.S technology. CSIC constructed China's first manned submersible machine, Jiaolong. In 2012, Jiaolong carried out a deep ocean exploration in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, reaching a depth of 7,062 metres. The Jiaolong carried three crew members during its exploration and returned with samples of deep water. Shao Kaiwen, the deputy general manager of CSIS, said that it is in the final stage of testing another manned submersible that can reach to depth of 4,500 metres. He claims that construction of this vehicle will be completed this year. This particular vehicle will boast of five observatory windows that will allow scientists to observe the oceanic surroundings from different angles. Like space, China has also made praiseworthy progress in ocean exploration over the years. This quest is apparently not just driven by scientific curiosity, but also by Chinese government's search for oceanic resources. Besides China, only five more countries have constructed manned submersibles that have managed to reach the depth of 6,000 metres. These countries include United States, France, Russia, and Japan. Advertisement TagsSubmersible Vehicle, China Submersible, Deep Ocean Exploration, china (Photo : Getty Images. ) Online censorship has not been able to stop the growth of internet in the world's most populous country. Advertisement The Chinese government is stepping up its internet censorship with a 14-month-long nationwide crackdown on devices that helps to bypass online censorship. The campaign will mainly target virtual private networks (VPNs), a special technology that is widely used to evade internet censorship. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Henceforth, telecom and internet companies in China would not be allowed to install special lines such as VPNs without approval, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The statement further added that this "clean up" campaign would last until March 2018. The ministry claims that such a crackdown is needed to "strengthen Internet information security management." The announcement comes just as President Xi Jingping is busy promoting China at the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where he once again reiterated that China is committed to "opening up" to the world. China's propensity to regulate internet has been a subject of widespread criticism. Critics have said that the government is curtailing its citizen's freedom of speech. Even big internet giants like Google and Facebook have had to limit their operation in the country due to strict online censorship. However, online censorship has not been able to stop the growth of internet in the world's most populous country. According to China Internet Network Information Center, the country was home to 731 million users as of December 2016, making it the world's largest internet market. Lured by its enormous market size, big tech giants including Facebook have become less critical about China's internet censorship, hoping that this will pave the way for them to re-enter the Chinese market. Advertisement TagsInternet censorship, china, china online censorship, china internet (Photo : Kevin Frayer/Getty Images) University students partake in a polo competition in China. Advertisement Chinese colleges and universities located in major cities such as Beijing may have to relocate to the suburbs or other cities as part of the government's efforts to ease overcrowding. Although this was among the key recommendations made by the country's political advisers, the proposed locations for the schools will first have to meet the requirements of employees who will be displaced by such a move, according to China Daily. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Over the years, Beijing's high-quality education resources have been a magnet for people from across the country, attracting students from faraway places to relocate to the nation's capital. However, this migration has contributed to chronic congestion in the city, causing a major strain on public services and prompting Chinese authorities to move colleges and universities to less congested areas. In line with this strategy, the city government has rolled out a five-year plan for education development that seeks to keep higher education institutions "small" both geographically and population-wise. Moreover, some of the schools' facilities for undergraduates will have to be relocated from central areas to less crowded locations. These innovative proposals did not come as a surprise to many, as overcrowding and urban planning were major topics during the annual session of the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "It's almost imperative that some colleges and universities leave the city, but we expect it will be a long process," noted Yuan Jixi, a member of the committee and deputy director of Renmin University of China's School of Chinese Classics. As part of the process of moving top Chinese colleges and universities to less congested locations, the government will have to address potential problems confronting university employees, such as quality of life, schools, public amenities and employment opportunities in the new locations. In the meantime, a premier university in Southern China has prohibited its teachers from criticizing China's Constitution and the Communist Party during class, the South China Morning Post reported. Some fear that this could be a sign of the Chinese government's efforts to enforce ideological control over the nation's learning institutions. Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou has issued a set of guidelines that contained 10 things teachers cannot say or do inside the classroom. In light of these developments, President Xi Jinping has also vowed to turn Chinese colleges and universities into "strongholds of the party's leadership." Advertisement Tagschina, China education, China Schools and Universities, Chinese Colleges and Universities (Photo : Getty Images) Trudeau's government has made deepening trade relations with China a key foreign-policy issue. Advertisement The media has learned that Canadian security agencies warned Ottawa against allowing a Chinese firm to take over a Montreal tech company, fearing that the move would undermine the technological edge that Western militaries have over China. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "If the technology is transferred, China would be able to domestically produce advanced-military laser technology to Western standards sooner than would be otherwise the case, which dismisses Canadian and allied military advantages," said a national-security assessment prepared for Canada's cabinet by the Department of National Defense and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in 2015. The national security assessment mentioned the use of laser technology by the military but did not elaborate on it. The acquisition of ITF Technologies by Hong Kong-based O-Net Communications has caused a furor in Canada, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau feeling the heat after his government reversed a cabinet order that sought to block the purchase. The liberals, who are committed to deepening relations with China, canceled the order for O-Net to abandon its purchase, instead offering the Hong Kong tech firm a second chance to win national security approval. National security officials were concerned because they considered the Hong Kong company to be under the control of the Chinese Communist government. A review of the takeover concluded that the deal would be "injurious to national security." However, in November 2016, Trudeau's Liberal government started a legal challenge to the cabinet decision by initiating a second security review. Trudeau's government has made deepening trade relations with China a key foreign-policy issue. The Canadian government is also loosening its restrictions on foreign investment. Advertisement Tagschina, Canada, technology (Photo : https://pixabay.com/en/business-internet-web-technology-1012761/) The fund has reportedly raised close to $4.36 billion so far. Advertisement China announced the launch of a new $14.6 billion internet investment fund on Sunday. The fund was been started by the Cyberspace Administration of China and the country's Ministry of Finance. It aims to provide advisory and financial assistance to internet companies. The fund has been approved by China's cabinet. The government is looking to provide impetus to the country's technology sector. The creation of the fund is part of this new drive and is expected to help propel China to become a major force in internet technology. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Various banks and telecom firms have contributed to the fund. These firms include China Mobile, China Unicom, and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). Earlier, Chinese authorities stated that the country will invest nearly $175 billion into promoting information infrastructure between 2016 and 2018. The fund has reportedly raised close to $4.36 billion so far. ICBC contributed $1.45 billion for the initiative. The bank will further collaborate with the China Development Bank and the Agricultural Bank of China to offer financial services to the firms selected under this project. The consortium will also extend up to $22 billion in loans. China is one of the largest internet markets in the world. The country has over 731 million people who use internet. A report released by the China Internet Network Information Center showed that 695 million of these users access the internet through their mobile phones. It is believed that China's internet market grew by 6.2 percent during the past year, adding 43 million new users Advertisement TagsInternet Fund, Cyberspace Administration of China, Ministry of Finance (Photo : Getty Images) Alibaba's Jack Ma has downplayed the possibility of a trade war erupting between China and the US. Advertisement The trade relations between China and the US have hit a new low with the swearing-in of US President Donald Trump. Nonetheless, Chinese business tycoons have expressed their optimism that the two countries will be able to overcome their differences. Alibaba founder Jack Ma is one of the people who hold this hopeful perspective. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Speaking at the Davos World Economic Forum, Ma stated that America's economic problems were not created by China. He stressed that the US is responsible for its economic turmoil. Ma added that the United States has splashed nearly $14 trillion in waging costly wars, instead of investing these funds in developing its infrastructure. He said that China did not steal any jobs from the United States. Ma claimed that the decreasing jobs in the US are also due to strategic mistakes made by the country such as controlling intellectual property rights. Alibaba founder said that this move left lower level tasks to be carried out by other countries. Earlier this month, Ma met the US President Donald Trump. After the meeting, Ma unveiled his plan to create more jobs in the US. He also put forth a plan to market more American products. In Davos, Ma stated that his meeting with the US President was more productive than expected. He said that the main focus WAS on China-US trade and state-owned companies. Ma emphasized that it is easy to start the trade war, but difficult to end It. China and US have seen a consistent rise in their bi-lateral trade volume. The countries generated $519.6 billion worth of trade in 2016. Advertisement TagsDavos, donald trump, Jack Ma, Alibaba, World Economic Forum (Photo : Getty Images) Despite the absence of a concrete plan, the Trump administration has that said it would stop Beijing from occupying disputed territories in the South China Sea. Advertisement A US official under the administration of newly-installed President Donald Trump on Monday warned Beijing that Washington would be taking drastic measures to prevent China from occupying territories in international waters in the disputed South China Sea. At a media briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Washington has to protect its vital interests in the strategic waterway. However, he failed to elaborate on how the Trump government would stop China from taking over islands in the disputed sea. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Spicer's comments were a reiteration of Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson's suggestion during his confirmation hearing that the US must deny China access to the islands and reefs it has built in the South China Sea. War China has warned that the US would need to "wage war" to bar Beijing from accessing the islands and reefs in the disputed waters. Beijing has been accused of militarizing the contested islands by deploying an anti-missile system and advanced military weaponry as well as building airstrips that can accommodate large military aircraft. "The U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," Spicer said Trump attacked China early on in his campaign, accusing Beijing of building a "military complex" in the South China Sea. Naval Blockade Spicer said that he agrees with Tillerson's suggestion to bar China from accessing the islands saying the U.S. has a duty to defend the rights of other countries to use the international waters freely. "It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," he said. Defense and military analysts have said Tillerson and Spicer's statements suggest a call for U.S. military action which may include a naval blockade that could ignite a war between the two superpowers. Spicer said the U.S. would come up with concrete ways to enforce its plan in the coming months when they have more information at their disposal. Around $5 trillion worth of ship-borne trade passes through the South China Sea yearly. Aside from China, several countries such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines have overlapping claims to the region. Advertisement TagsSouth China Sea islands, Washington, Beijing, international waters, anti-missile system, President Donald Trump, china, strategic waterway (Photo : PLAN) CNS Xining at her commissioning. Advertisement The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) awaits acceptance of two more Type 052D-class guided missile destroyers this year following the recent commissioning of the CNS Xining (DDG-117). Four more Type 052D destroyers -- the most modern destroyer in the PLAN -- are expected to be commissioned in 2018, bringing to 11 the total number of this type in service with PLAN by 2018. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement CNS Xining joined the North Sea Fleet after her commissioning on Jan. 22. Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, commander of the North Sea Fleet, presented the PLAN ensign and naming certificate for the CNS Xining. Chinese military media described the CNS Xining as "a homegrown guided-missile destroyer integrated with many new types of weaponry. The destroyer has high informatization level, advanced stealth capability and electromagnetic compatibility. "The destroyer is mainly responsible for formation command, regional air defense, anti-submarine warfare and other missions." To be commissioned this June will be the CNS Urumqi (DDG-118) followed by the CNS Xiamen (DDG-154) in November. Urumqi will join the North Sea Fleet while Xiamen will join the East Sea Fleet. In 2018, PLAN expects to commission the CNS Guiyang (DDG-119); the CNS Nanjing (DDG-155) and DDG-156 and DDG-120, both of which have yet to receive a ceremonial name. All these four warships are currently fitting out. PLAN claims the Type 052D is the equivalent of the U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, of which 62 are active. The primary weapon of the Type 052D is its new vertical launching system (VLS) that can carry 64 surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles, anti-submarine missiles and anti-ship missiles in combination. Among the missiles the VLS can unleash are the YJ-18 or YJ-83 anti-ship missiles; HHQ-9 long range SAM; HQ-16 medium range SAM; DK-10A medium range SAM; CY-5 anti-submarine missiles and the CJ-10 land attack cruise missile. The main gun armament on the destroyer is an H/PJ-38 130 mm dual purpose gun. Advertisement TagsPeople's Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, Type 052D-class guided missile destroyers, CNS Xining, North Sea Fleet, Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan (Photo : PLAGF) PLAGF motorized troops and their armored personnel carriers. Advertisement Indian military experts dismissed as beyond ridiculous and a figment of the imagination a claim made on Chinese state television last Jan. 18 that mechanized troops of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF) can fight their way to the Indian capital of New Delhi in a mere two days in the event of a war with India. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The same broadcast also claimed Chinese paratroops can drop on New Delhi, which is 200 miles from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), in just 10 hours after the war breaks out. The Line of Actual Control is a demarcation line that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory. The Indian states the LAC borders are Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which are all mountainous and mostly high-altitude locations very difficult for PLAGF troops to traverse quickly, especially in the face of determined Indian Army resistance. In addition, the Indian Army in 2016 began heavily reinforcing its units along the LAC with more infantry; T-72 main battle tanks; advanced airfields for fighter jets and positions for the fearsome BrahMos supersonic cruise missile. How PLAGF can fight through all of this in just 48 hours is a military impossibility unless China rains down nuclear missiles on the Indian defenders, an action that will invite massive nuclear retaliation from India. "This claim is beyond ridiculous. It's saying their motorized troops will reach Delhi in 48 hours. How will they cross the Himalayas?" asked retired Indian Army Brigadier General Gurmeet Kanwal. For Chinese motorized and armored units to infiltrate the mountainous terrain of the northeastern border of India and quickly advance further is not possible, said retired Indian Army Colonel Rohit Agarwal. He said if you're talking about motorized troops, "you need to first look at the terrain. Where will those troops come from? All of our northeastern border is mountainous, so, even if they plan on using that route for their troops, how far can they advance?" And as for the Chinese paratroops, why on earth will they invade New Delhi when the only thing awaiting them is their certain destruction? The lightly armed paratroops will be cut-off from the rest of the invading Chinese forces and can hardly be expected to defeat Indian Army units backed by tanks and heavy firepower. "You can drop paratroopers in Delhi as and when you like, but what will they do once they reach the ground? So, I think it's just rhetoric," said Agarwal. A former Army commander who refused to be identified said the claim "is nothing but a figment of imagination of the television channel and a matter of who they're quoting and how. It's just imaginations running wild and typical punch line reporting by the state channel." Advertisement Tagschina, New Delhi, war with India, Line of Actual Control, LAC, Indian Army, People's Liberation Army Ground Force (Photo : YouTube Screenshot) China commissioned its guided missile destroyer Type 052D on Sunday. Advertisement The People's Liberation Army Navy of China (PLAN) commissioned its fifth Luyang III-class (Type 052D) destroyer, dubbed the Chinese Aegies, on Sunday, according to the Chinese Ministry of Defense. The naming and commissioning ceremony of the Xining (with pennant number 117) was held at the Guzhenkou naval base south of Qingdao and was conducted by Rear Admiral Zhang Wendan, the newly appointed commander of the North Sea Fleet, according to IHS Jane. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "With the hull number 117, Xining is a homegrown guided-missile destroyer integrated with many new types of weaponry. The destroyer has high informatization level, advanced stealth capability, and electromagnetic compatibility," the ministry said in a statement. "The destroyer is mainly responsible for formation command, regional air defense, anti-submarine warfare, and other missions." The Type 052D, which was manufactured by the Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company and Jiangnan Shipyard, is a multirole warship and can be deployed against enemy aircraft carrier strike groups and submarines, the Diplomat reported. The Type 052D is equipped with two vertical-launch system grids (VLS), which support the HHQ-9A long-range surface-to-air missile, giving the ship an area air-defense capability. The VLS is also believed to be able of carrying out land-attack and anti-ship cruise missiles. According to IHS Jane, the 7,500-ton ship is the first Type 052D to be allocated to the PLAN's North Sea Fleet, while the four other vessels were assigned to the South Sea Fleet. Its twin hangars are also able to embark either Harbin Z-9 or Kamov Ka-28 anti-submarine helicopters or Kamov Ka-31 airbone early warning helicopters. Advertisement TagsPeople's Liberation Army Navy, china, Luyang III, Type 052D, Xining, Chinese Aegies, vertical launch system grids (Photo : PLAN) First and second islands chains. Advertisement Russia's state-run propaganda machine claims China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) will become a true "blue water" navy with an international presence by the 2050s. It assumes PLAN "has accomplished the periodic goal of controlling the first island chain," or the first chain of major archipelagos out from the East Asian continental mainland coast. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The first island chain consists of the Kuril Islands; Japan; the Ryukyu Islands belonging to Japan; Taiwan; northern Philippines and Borneo. The first island chain, therefore, extends from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the north to the Malay Peninsula in the south China views the first island chain as an area it must secure by destroying American bases, aircraft and aircraft carrier groups inside it. The aim of the China's first island chain doctrine is to seal off the Yellow Sea, South China Sea and East China Sea inside an arc running from the Aleutians in the north to Borneo in the south. Russian propaganda also said China will achieve "a military presence and operations in the second island chain region before 2020, and establish an ocean-going Navy that can carry out missions at any point of oceans around the world by 2050." The second island chain extends from Japan's Ogasawara Islands and Volcano Islands in the north to the Mariana Islands (which is United States territory) in the south. Russian propaganda also claims PLAN has "enormous overall strength with more than 700 surface vessels and submarines." It noted PLAN remained weak for a long time after the People's Republic of China was founded. The rapid build-up of PLAN in recent years might be a "compensation" for its slow development over the past few decades. The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) believes it now has the quantitative and qualitative advantages needed to send its planes on regular combat patrols over the first island chain it must secure to be able to attack U.S. Navy warships and their bases among U.S. allies in Southeast Asia. PLAAF also said it will organize its aviation units for regular "far-sea training" beyond the first island chain. It noted its planes have flown patrols over the First Island Chain since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2012. Advertisement TagsRussia, People's Liberation Army Navy, PLAN, First Island Chain, second island chain (Photo : US Navy) China militarizes Hughes Reef. Advertisement The Trump administration vows to stop China from seizing any more territory in international waters in the South China Sea in its harshest warning to China yet. "I think the U.S. is going to make sure that we protect our interests there," said White House spokesman Sean Spicer in Washington, D.C. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "It's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country," said Spicer. He was referring to China's unlawfully claimed and militarized man-made and natural islands in the South China Sea. China's claim to own the South China Sea was declared illegal on July 12, 2016 by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. China refused to abide by the court's decision to withdraw from the islands it illegally seized from the Philippines and instead will emplace more anti-aircraft defenses on those islands this year. Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson indicated he's in favor of using military force to evict China from the man-made islands it's built in the disputed South China Sea. A former CEO of American oil giant ExxonMobil, Tillerson made these remarks during his confirmation hearing at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Jan. 11. His statements are the first time a U.S. administration has indicated its readiness to use military force to stop China's relentless "sea grab" in the South China Sea. "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that first, the island-building stops, and second, your access to those islands also not going to be allowed," he said. The statement implies the use of military force to enforce it. Tillerson also saw China's activity in the South China Sea as "extremely worrisome." He compared China's territorial claims over the South China Sea to Russia's military annexation of the Crimea, which belong to Ukraine, in March 2014. "Building islands and then putting military assets on those islands is akin to Russia's taking of Crimea. It's taking of territory that others lay claim to," Tillerson pointed out. Tillerson noted the Obama administration neglected to tackle the problem. He said the "failure of a response has allowed them (China) to just keep pushing the envelope on this." Tillerson's testimony, plus Trump's known hostility towards China, apparently makes it clear the Trump administration will do more than talk tough to China. Tillerson also took a dig at Obama's proclivity for inaction and penchant for being outmaneuvered by the Russians. "I think a lot of our troubles today are that we do not enforce -- we make commitments, we say we are going to do something and then we don't enforce it," said Tillerson. China's first response to Tillerson's tougher rhetoric was surprisingly muted. It again repeated the worn line the U.S. should stay out of the dispute in the South China Sea and leave it all to China. Advertisement TagsTrump administration, South China Sea, Sean Spicer, Permanent Court of Arbitration, rex tillerson ChristianHeadlines.com recently corresponded with MAP International, a Christian relief organization which is providing aid to Syrian refugees who have fled to Jordan. MAP International's president and CEO, Steve Stirling, spoke about the situation and the help MAP is providing. ChristianHeadlines.com: What is the greatest need of Syrian refugees at this time and what can outsiders do to help? MAP International: One of the greatest needs is medicine and medical supplies. Because families had to flee their homes quickly, many came to Jordan with nothing. Although they receive a small stipend from the UN, its not enough to cover more than food. So in addition to providing life-saving medicines and antibiotics, MAP International is also providing basic care products like soap, vitamins and toothbrushes. These are things we often take for granted, but can make a big difference. We are thrilled that we were recently able to deliver our $6 billionth shipment since MAP was founded 63 years ago. While there is still much work to be done, we are honored to have reached this milestone and look forward to continuing to help those who urgently need medicine and medical supplies. ChristianHeadlines.com: Are these refugees from the conflict in Aleppo? MAP Interntaional: Most of the Syrians who flee to Jordan are not from Aleppo, but rather from the southern part of Syria. Most of the refugees from Aleppo escaped to Turkey or other parts of Syria. ChristianHeadlines.com: Is there anything unique about the refugee situation in Jordan (as, perhaps, opposed to Iraq or other places in the Middle East)? MAP International: Jordan is a relatively resource poor country with a population of 6.5 million. With an estimated 1 million refugees now in the country, many cities have doubled in population and 1 in every 6 people in the country is a refugee. The situation has strained resources of Jordan in every way. ChristianHealdines.com: Are there any personal stories that could be shared about the help these refugees need/have received from MAP? MAP International: One woman came to the clinic to see a doctor because she and her children had been ill for weeks. The doctor gave her prescriptions to treat their illnesses, but she headed to the door to leave. When one of our staff stopped her, she explained that she didn't have any money to pay for the prescriptions. When she was told that the medicine had been donated by MAP International and was free for her, she threw her arms around our staff person and said, Thank you, thank you! So many refugees just need medicine like ointment for diaper rashes or ear infection for their kids. The response from the refugees has been overwhelmingly full of gratitude and disbelief that the medicine and medical supplies have been donated for them. To find out how you can help refugees in need, visit https://www.map.org/ Photo courtesy: Thinkstockphotos.com Publication date: January 24, 2017 One Sunday morning in August, three policemen came to Don Ossewaardes home in Russia, where the Baptist missionary from Illinois was holding his weekly Bible study. Afterwards, they took me to the police station and charged me with conducting missionary activities in violation of a new law that took effect on July 20, 2016, Ossewaarde wrote. At a court hearing, I was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of 40,000 rubles, which is over $600. Ossewaarde was snagged by Russias new anti-terrorism law that President Vladimir Putin approved last summer. The Yarovaya law calls for tighter restrictions on missionaries and evangelism, and has resulted in at least 32 prosecutions since it went into effect in July. But now that law might be getting a second look. Ossewaarde appealed his case three times, and has worked his way up to Russias Supreme Court, where his attorneys hope the case will be heard in the next few months. He also plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court; if judges accept the case, the consequences could be immense. This makes Ossewaarde's case the first under the anti-missionary amendment to reach this level in the Russian courts, and the first to issue a challenge to the legislation itself, Forum 18 reported. The Constitutional Court, if it accepts the appeal, will examine whether the amendment contravenes the provisions of the Russian Constitution. It wouldnt be the only review. Last week, a working group created by the Duma, Russias legislative assembly, began to review the Yarovaya law, reported the Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin. Putin conceded in September during elections that the unpopular law may need to be adjusted to not put people in a difficult position. Those difficult positions include: being charged for not using a churchs full name on phone bills. allowing children onto a playground within hearing distance of sermons. handing out New Testaments on a train. All are accusations that have been made against Protestants under the new law, reported Forum 18 in its analysis of all cases thus far. Officially, the Yarovaya law requires missionaries to have permits, makes house churches illegal, and limits religious activity to registered church buildings, among other restrictions. Individuals who disobey can be fined up to $780, while organizations can be fined more than $15,000. The law has drawn protests from the Protestant Churches of Russia, as well as the European Evangelical Alliance and USCIRF (the US Commission on International Religious Freedom). But the application of the law has been seen as a very huge question mark, as Slavic Gospel Association communications manager Joel Griffith told Mission Network News after the laws passage last summer. Months later, there is still no clear answer. Missionaries can only operate as formal representatives of state-recognized religious associations. But not having written proof of that has been evidence of both innocence and guilt, according to Forum 18. Whether such cases end in conviction or acquittal appears to rest on, firstly, the ability of police or prosecutors to link the defendant with a particular association, and secondly, whether the judge decides to uphold an individual's constitutional right to share beliefs as a private citizen, Victoria Arnold reported for Forum 18. The Yarovaya law also does not clearly define religious activitywhether that be individual interaction, or open concerts, or Bible studies in a home. Of the 32 people that have been charged so far, 5 had their cases dropped before making it to trial, Forum 18 reported. Five more were acquitted, leaving 18 convicted in the 23 trials that have taken place so far. Many were Protestants, including five Pentecostals, two Baptists, two Seventh-day Adventists, and four other Protestants. Though several Protestant charges were dropped for legal or technical reasons (including the charges against a man believed to be sharing on behalf of the Gideons), only one has been overturned. Pentecostal pastor Andrei Matyuzhov successfully argued that he had authorization from a group called New Generation, and that the religious service in his home was for friends and family. The religious aspects of the law are widely seen as a gesture of solidarity from the Kremlin to the Russian Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox Church is part of a bulwark of Russian nationalism stirred up by Vladimir Putin, David Aikman, history professor and foreign affairs expert, told CT in July. Everything that undermines that action is a real threat, whether thats evangelical Protestant missionaries or anything else. However, earlier this month the Orthodox churchs top Moscow lawyer did state that a courts decision to fine the Salvation Army and destroy its improperly marked publicationsincluding 40 Bibles and hundreds of songbooks and hymnalswas a great overreach. This last Saturday, half a million women participated in the Womens March on Washington. In response to the organizers decision to cut ties with pro-life partners, some women elected to boycott the march while others voiced their protest on the ground. Among those marching was Abby Johnson, director of the nonprofit organization And Then There Were None (ATTWN), which provides financial, legal, and other transitional assistance to abortion workers who want to leave the industry. (ATTWN was among the delisted groups.) Johnson herself is a former abortion worker and controversial figure who spent eight years at Planned Parenthood before joining the pro-life movement. I ended up leaving after witnessing a live, ultrasound-guided abortion procedure where I saw a baby at 13 weeks gestation fight and struggle for his life, says Johnson. I knew there was humanity in the womb and that I had to work to defend that life. When she left, Planned Parenthood issued an injunction against Johnson to prevent her from divulging confidential information to the Coalition for Life, the nonprofit she aligned herself with after her crisis of conscience. I had no desire or plan to ever share my story publicly, says Johnson, but the lawsuit was picked up by the national media, and thats how this project got started. Johnson spoke recently with CT about the unique trauma experienced by abortion workers, her decision to participate in both the Womens March and the March for Life, and why she thinks a unified branding vision will propel the pro-life movement forward. Some pro-life women chose to boycott the Womens March. You chose to attend (while pregnant with twins, ... 1 Americans Support Supreme Court Ruling to Restrict Abortion, Oppose Taxpayer Funding New K of C-Marist poll finds support for abortion restrictions on both sides of the political aisle Contact: Andrew Walther, Knights of Columbus, 203-824-5412, andrew.walther@kofc.org WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- Significant majorities of Americans oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortions and want the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of abortion restrictions, according to a new Marist Poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Americans overwhelmingly oppose the use of tax dollars to support abortion in other countries (83 percent). More than six in 10 Americans (61 percent) also oppose the use of tax dollars to fund abortions in the United States. This includes almost nine in 10 Trump supporters (87 percent) and even nearly four in 10 Clinton supporters (39 percent). The poll demonstrates that there is a clear bi-partisan consensus on limiting abortion to at most the first trimester, with a majority of Clinton supporters (55 percent) and more than nine in 10 Trump supporters (91 percent) saying they support such limits. Among Americans overall, nearly three-quarters (74 percent) want abortion restricted to, at most, the first trimester. Among those who want restrictions, 74 percent want the Supreme Court to rule in favor of those restrictions. This equates to about 55 percent of Americans who support such action by the court. In fact, nearly six in 10 (59 percent) say it is either an immediate priority (34 percent), or is an important one (25 percent), to limit abortion to the first trimester. This includes 78 percent of Republicans and almost half of Democrats (47 percent). Even among those who identify as pro-choice, more than four in 10 say restricting abortion is an immediate priority or important (44 percent). "There is a consensus in America in favor of significant abortion restrictions, and this common ground exists across party lines, and even among significant numbers of those who are pro-choice," said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson. "This poll shows that large percentages of Americans, on both sides of the aisle, are united in their opposition to the status quo as it relates to abortion on demand. This is heartening and can help start a new national conversation on abortion." Regardless of their views on whether abortion should remain legal, almost six in 10 Americans (59 percent) believe that abortion is morally wrong. This includes eight in 10 Trump supporters and nearly four in 10 Clinton supporters (37 percent). Nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) think laws can protect both the well-being of a woman and the life of her unborn child. The survey of 2,729 adults was conducted Dec. 12-19, 2016, by the Marist Poll and sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. Adults 18 years of age and older residing in the continental United States were interviewed in English or Spanish by telephone using live interviewers. The results are statistically significant at 1.9 percentage points. Share Tweet Family Research Council Applauds Pres. Trump's Executive Order Restoring Policy Against Funding Foreign Abortion Groups Contact: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, Family Research Council, 866-372-6397 WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /Christian Newswire/ -- President Donald Trump, in one of his first official acts, issued an executive order restoring the Mexico City Policy, a memorandum first issued by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 at the United Nations population conference in Mexico City. The policy halts federal funds from going to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that perform abortions or "actively promote" abortion as a method of family planning in other countries. The order ensures U.S. aid will continue to go to health care, humanitarian relief, and even family planning in the millions of dollars. It just will not subsidize abortion overseas. Prior to President Reagan's actions, American policy on paper was to never promote abortion overseas, however in practice U.S. tax dollars directly supported organizations which advocated and performed abortion. It remained in effect until 1993 when President Clinton rescinded the Mexico City policy on January 22, 1993 for the entirety of his tenure in office. On January 22, 2001, President Bush issued an executive order restoring the Mexico City policy. President Bush had also determined UNFPA was complicit in China's forced abortion and sterilization program, and withdrew its U.S. funding. President Obama ignored such facts and rescinded the policies. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins applauded President Trump for acting swiftly to restore the Mexico City Policy: "This is a vital step in the journey to make America great again, recognizing and affirming the universal ideal that all human beings have inherent worth and dignity, regardless of their age or nationality. "I thank President Trump for issuing an executive order in keeping with his campaign promise that he will protect taxpayers from having to pay for abortions. "According to a post-election survey, nearly 60 percent of Trump voters were impacted by the Republican Party's strong pro-life, pro-religious liberty platform. This executive order aligns with the GOP platform which states that the Mexico City Policy should be restored. Funding foreign groups that promote or participate in abortion violates the principle that there should be a 'wall of separation' between taxpayer money and abortion. "Family Research Council and the pro-life movement looks forward to continuing to work with the Trump administration in bringing about a culture of life in which every child is welcomed into this world and protected under our laws, both here and abroad," concluded Perkins. Share Tweet home World Boko Haram attacks camp that was mistakenly bombed by Nigerian air force Boko Haram insurgents attacked a refugee camp that was accidentally bombed by the Nigerian military last week in an operation targeting the terrorist group. The military fought hard to repel over 100 Boko Haram gunmen who came to attack the Rann IDP Camp in Borno State on Thursday evening. Eight of the insurgents were killed while one soldier was wounded in the attack, according to the Premium Times. The officers said that the attackers came from Cameroon, which is less than 10 kilometers away. "We battled them for almost 30 minutes. We suddenly saw residents running towards the battalion headquarters and we quickly mobilized troops," Lieutenant Colonel Igwe Omoke, commander of the third battalion based in Rann, told Reuters on Friday. Meanwhile, a local official has stated that the death toll resulting from the air strike has risen to 200. "People have suffered enough. We buried more than 200 people. The military should compensate our people," said Babagana Malarima, head of the local government in Rann. The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) previously stated that there were up to 170 people who died in the air strike. Some residents put the death toll at around 180 or fewer, while the army refused to reveal exactly how many were killed. The Red Cross said on Friday that around 100 people were sent to Maiduguri city for medical care. Over 15,000 people have been killed, and about two million have been displaced from their homes since the start of the Boko Haram insurgency in 2009. Most of the areas held by the terror group have been retaken by the Nigerian army, but it still operates in Rann. Boko Haram has stepped up its attacks in the past few weeks as the end of the rainy season allowed them to move more easily in the bushes. The terror group claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombing that occurred on the day before the airstrike at the University of Maiduguri. A professor and a child were killed, and 17 more were wounded in the attack. According to a report from Breitbart, the suicide bombers were seven and 12 years old. home World Burmese army admits detaining two Baptist pastors who went missing last month The Burma Army announced last Thursday that it had detained two Kachin Baptist pastors, whose disappearance last month raised concerns among human rights groups. In November, Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, assisted journalists from Rangoon to take photographs of the rubble of a Catholic Church. The church had been destroyed by airstrikes in the battle between the Myanmar Army and the Brotherhood of the Northern Alliance, a new coalition of ethnic groups in northern Myanmar. The two pastors were last seen on Dec. 24 after they were summoned by the Burmese army to a military base in the northern Shan state. The military had previously denied detaining the two men, and government officials have not responded to questions from human rights groups or the pastors' families. However, the Defense Ministry announced on Thursday that the men had been secretly detained for security reasons. The pastors were suspected of recruiting and spying for Kachin ethnic rebels, according to the Indian Express, citing the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. The army said in a statement that the two men were investigated in accordance with Section 376 of Burma's Constitution, which stated that no one can be detained for more than 24 hours without charge except "on precautionary measures taken for the security of the Union or prevalence of law and order, peace and tranquility." It added that the pastors "could not be detained under investigation by opening files of lawsuits" because of the ongoing military clashes in Mong Ko, and there was no functioning police force in the town during that time. Zau Ra, an official from the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), rejected the accusations that the two men assisted the rebels. "They only helped the wounded. They did not support the [ethnic armed groups]," he told The Irrawaddy. The KBC, which is the largest Christian denomination in Myanmar, made a request the Burma Army to turn over the two pastors to the Mong Ko police as soon as possible. The organization has been providing aid to internally displaced people who fled the fighting between the government army and militias in the Kachin and Shan states. home US Catholic hospitals opt out of Colorado's assisted suicide law Catholic hospitals in Colorado have refused to provide terminally ill patients with the option of physician-assisted suicide even though the practice was legalized in the state. Proposition 106 or Medical Aid in Dying, which was passed by a two-thirds majority of Colorado voters in November, allows mentally capable patients to end their lives with the use of lethal medication prescribed by a doctor. The law, which took effect last month, requires patients to be 18 years or older, have less than six months to live, be mentally competent and ask for aid in dying twice over 15 days, apart from a separate written request. Two faith-based health care systems in the state have already expressed intentions to resist the law. Centura Health, which is jointly operated by Catholic Health Initiatives and Adventist Health System, have stated that it would opt out of offering aid in dying. The said health system is reportedly the largest in Colorado, with 15 hospitals and more than 100 physician practices in clinics, according to STAT. SCL Health, the second largest Catholic system, has released a statement declaring that any of its patients requesting aid in dying "will be offered an opportunity to transfer to another facility of the patient's choice." It currently runs seven hospitals and dozens of clinics. HealthONE, a secular health system, has also decided that it won't provide life-terminating medications or allow its patients to take them on the premises of its eight hospitals. However, it would not impose similar restrictions on its physicians. A provision in the aid-in-dying law allows health care systems to bar assisted suicide on its premises. Physicians, nurses and pharmacists also have the option not to participate in the practice. However, the Colorado law states that health systems are not allowed to prohibit its doctors from discussing end-of-life options with patients or writing prescriptions to be taken off-site. The provision was made to prevent health systems from blocking access to assisted dying. Advocates of the assisted suicide law have suggested that the Catholic systems may be testing the limits of the provision. "From what we've seen, it appears that Centura's and SCL's policies go beyond what is allowed under the law," said Kat West, national director of policy and programs for Compassion & Choices. She also noted that a legal challenge is "a distinct possibility." home World Church of England considering plans to drop celibacy question for gay priests The Church of England is considering plans to stop asking its gay clergy whether they are living a celibate lifestyle. Under the new proposal by Anglican bishops, gay priests are still expected to remain celibate, but they will no longer be asked about their personal lives when they join the church, Premier reported. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, who is in a civil partnership, criticized the proposal as it would still require the clergy to be celibate. "It is progress for them to stop asking the celibacy question but it still leaves the Church of England policy based essentially on dishonesty and encouraging its clergy to lie," Bradshaw said, according to the Daily Mail, citing Sunday Times. Under the current rules, gay and lesbian clergy are required to vow celibacy when they seek ordination or promotion to positions such as a bishop. The Church has been debating the subject of homosexuality since same-sex marriage was legalized by the Parliament in 2013. The clergy members are still forbidden from performing same-sex marriage services or marrying their same-sex partners. The recommendation put forward by the House of Bishops will be considered by the General Synod next month. Bradshaw suggested that the government could intervene in the affairs of the church if change does not come soon. "There is a growing sense that if the church can't sort this out for themselves, then parliament may have to do it for them," he said. The proposal came just a few months after the gay clerics alleged that 11 bishops were gay in September. That same month, Nicholas Chamberlain, the Bishop of Grantham, admitted that he was gay and in a celibate same-sex relationship. His admission came after a Sunday newspaper threatened to reveal his sexuality. "It was not my decision to make a big thing about coming out. People know I'm gay, but it's not the first thing I'd say to anyone. Sexuality is part of who I am, but it's my ministry that I want to focus on," Chamberlain told the Guardian. An increasing number of priests have married or expressed plans to marry same-sex partners in defiance of the current policies of the Church. home US Indiana school draws backlash from parents over worksheet portraying Sharia in positive light Parents in Southern Indiana have expressed their disapproval of a worksheet that purportedly portrays Sharia or Islamic law in a positive light. The worksheet, which was assigned to seventh-graders at Highland Hills Middle School, features a passage written by a fictional 20-year-old woman from Saudi Arabia named Ahlima, according to a report by the Courier-Journal. In the worksheet, Ahlima stated that she feels "very fortunate" to live under Sharia in Saudi Arabia, and she explained how she will soon become a man's second wife. "I understand that some foreigners see our dress as a way of keeping women from being equal, but ... I find Western women's clothing to be horribly immodest," the worksheet read. Dean Hohl, one of the parents who attended a meeting with New Albany-Floyd County's school board regarding the issue, said that the way Sharia was presented on the worksheet was "like describing how effective Hitler was at nationalizing Germany and creating patriotism but leaving out that he slaughtered 6 million Jews," he said. Jon Baker, whose daughter also received the assignment, said that the document is "almost propaganda." Baker added, "If you read that, you would think everything's wonderful in that world." Bill Briscoe, a spokesman for the district, announced that the curriculum is currently being reviewed after hearing the complaints. Hohl said that he often travels to Malaysia, where Sharia is in effect in the judicial system, according to the CIA World Factbook. He said that he does not have a problem with Islam, and he wants his daughter to learn the difference between moderate Muslims and extremists. "Let's tell the whole truth. Let's help people understand what's really happening and what the rest of the world is like so when they are interacting with the rest of their global peer group, we can reduce the likelihood of conflict and misunderstanding," he said. In some versions of Sharia, women can be stoned to death for adultery or be punished for leaving home unaccompanied by her husband, father or closest male relative. The worksheet, created by InspirEd Educators Inc., also became a source of controversy in 2011, when it was used at a middle school in Smyrna, Georgia. Sharon Coletti, the president of InspirEd Educators and the creator of the document, said that she was accused of "indoctrinating" children and that she received death threats at the time. She said that the lesson was developed over 20 years ago when the state's social studies standards required middle school students to learn about Middle Eastern culture. She noted that Ahlima, the character in the worksheet, was based on a woman who was interviewed for a news report about her opinion on Sharia. Coletti said that the worksheet will be removed from the curriculum because of the unwanted media attention. Baochang Church is located in the southmost border town in central Inner Mongolia and it belongs to a county, also called "Banner," under Xilingol League. It is called Taibus Banner and was named after an imperial ranch in the Qing Dynasty. The church was first built in 1943 when Zhang Dejun, a Kuomintang military surgeon following Fu Zuoyi, returned to Taibus Banner after retiring from the army and spread the Gospel. At first the church was just a home fellowship with around 20 people. The number of believers reached hundreds before the Cultural Revolution and the meeting place changed to a house on the street. It relocated later to a house in a prime location for the commercial use of the government. After the Cultural Revolution, believers resumed house fellowships because the worship place was confiscated without reason. In the 1980s, China implemented the Religious Property Law, and the elder of the church worked hard to recover the property for many years, but was unsuccessful. Time passed quickly, and in 1997 with the grace of God and prayer of believers, the church bought two one-story houses just for meetings. The next year, they built a building on the same site because the old houses were badly damaged. In 2013, the government claimed the property for urban redevelopment. The church followed the arrangement, and the government contributed funds to building a new church near the old one. During that time the Gospel had been thriving in different villages and the number of believers had been increasing steadily. It is estimated that there will be around 300 people by Christmas this year. Right now, the Gospel ministry of Baochang Christian Church has begun to take shape. With the leadership of the Christian Council, the church started the choir, visitation team, Bible study, prayer group, pastoring and affairs group. However, due to the impact on the local economic constraints, the church still faces bottlenecks on manpower and material resources. Translated by: Grace Hubl home World ISIS destroys ancient monuments in Palmyra The Islamic State has blown up famous monuments in Palmyra just weeks after the jihadist group recaptured the ancient city from the Syrian government. Syrian antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters on Friday that the militants destroyed the tetrapylon, a collection of pillars near the city's entrance, and the facade of its Roman Theatre. The satellite imagery has shown that only four of the 16 pillars of the tetrapylon are left standing. The Roman Theatre also acquired extensive damage, with several towering stone structures destroyed on the stage. The theater was the site where the Mariinsky orchestra performed last May after Palmyra was first liberated from the Islamic State. Abdulkarim said that he learned about the destruction 10 days earlier, but he decided not to reveal any details until the researchers from Boston University published the satellite images. "As long as this Isis storm continues, I fear it will get worse. My heart is in those buildings," Abdulkarim said, according to the Guardian. Syrian archaeologists have sent numerous artifacts to Damascus to prevent further destruction, but many reliefs and buildings still remain at the site. "This new blow against cultural heritage ... shows that cultural cleansing led by violent extremists is seeking to destroy both human lives and historical monuments in order to deprive the Syrian people of its past and its future," said UNESCO's director general, Irina Bokova. ISIS also destroyed several monuments in Palmyra when it first captured the city in 2015. The terror group blew up the Temple of Baal Shamin and destroyed the Temple of Bel in August 2015. In October that same year, the jihadists destroyed the Arch of Triumph. The terror group managed to take hold of the city for 10 months until Syrian government forces, with the help of allied militia and Russian air power, drove the terror group out last March. ISIS regained control of Palmyra after it swept up into the city last December when the Syrian army and its allies were focused on fighting the rebels in the city of Aleppo. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the jihadists executed 12 people in different sites in Palmyra on Wednesday. Some were executed in the Roman amphitheater while others were killed in the Palmyra Museum's courtyard. The victims included teachers, government workers, opposition fighters and pro-government soldiers. home World Israel announces large expansion for West Bank settlements; plans 2,500 new settlement homes Israel's Defence Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since President Donald Trump took office. A statement from the Defence Ministry said the plans, authorized by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, were intended to fulfill a demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs. The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement which according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It was not immediately clear whether it was the first time that the new construction had been announced. There are several stages involved in the process of approving and building new settlement homes. home US Mother files lawsuit over Bible study classes in West Virginia schools A mother of a kindergartner has filed a lawsuit against a West Virginia school district, seeking to put a stop to an optional Bible class that has been operational in the school system since 1939. The mother, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, is joined by her daughter, named as Jamie Doe, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) as the primary plaintiffs in the case filed on Jan. 18. Jane, an atheist and a member of the FFRF, contended that Jamie has "an untenable choice" whether to join the Bible class or face likely ostracism for opting out. The lawsuit named Mercer County Board of Education, Mercer County Schools, and Superintendent Deborah S. Akers as the defendants. According to a press release from the FFRF, the classes are taught by itinerant teachers. The weekly classes are held in 15 elementary schools, one intermediate school, and three middle schools. The classes known as the "Bible in the Schools" were initially financed designed, administered, and staffed by a small group of Mercer County citizens. But complaints from parents of eight students in 1985 prompted the Mercer County schools to take over the instruction in 1986. In the lawsuit, the FFRF cited examples of proselytization in the curriculum. The complaint pointed out that one of the lessons promoted creationism and claimed that dinosaurs and humans co-existed. The FRFF also noted that the students are persuaded to follow the Ten Commandments, and they are also taught about the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. "The U.S. Supreme Court ruled such religious instruction unconstitutional more than 65 years ago, in the landmark McCollum v. Board of Education. It's unacceptable that such clearly unconstitutional indoctrination is still being conducted in any public schools," said FRFF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. According to The Christian Post, "Bible in the Schools" started out as a single course at Bluefield High School in 1939. As time passed, other schools and grade levels adopted the course. On the issue of constitutionality, its website cited the 1963 Supreme Court Decision Abington School District v. Schempp. The decision banned school districts from mandating Bible reading and recitation of the Lord's Prayer, but it allowed for the objective study of the Bible in public schools. home World Open Doors disputes report that claims 90,000 Christians are martyred annually Persecution watchdog group Open Doors has disputed the methodology of the report that claimed 90,000 Christians were martyred annually between 2006 and 2015. The report, published by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Seminary last month, claimed that 900,000 Christians were murdered for their faith in the past 10 years. Academics said that they arrived at the 90,000 figure by estimating the killings of Christians between 2006 and 2015 and dividing the total by 10. Open Doors, however, reported that a total of 1,207 Christians were killed for their faith between November 2015 and October 2016, which is less than two percent of CSGC's figure. In an interview with BBC World Service's More or Less program, Open Doors director of research Dr. Ron Boyd-MacMillan noted that the figure relied on witnesses, adding that it was "probably lower than it should be, but you've got to give figures you can absolutely verify." Boyd-MacMillan also noted that the latest figure is significantly lower than the one reported in 2015 when more than 7,000 Christians were killed for their faith. He said that the decrease was the result of Boko Haram jihadists in Nigeria being routed and of some Christians in Iraq and Syria fleeing from the areas where they were at risk of being killed. The report from CSGC noted that only 30 percent of the 90,000 were killed because of terrorism while the remaining 70 percent were killed in tribal conflicts in Africa. In an email to its supporters, CSGC explained the definition of "martyr" used in the study. "Our definition of 'martyr' highlights two important aspects: (1) the motivation of the killed rather than the killer; and (2) the inclusion of Christians who have died as a result of mass killings and genocides," CSGC stated. "Martyrdom is a broad-based phenomenon not limited to state persecution that profoundly affects Christians experiencing civil war, genocide, and other conflicts," it continued. Gina Zurlo, CSGC's assistant director, said that the study assumed that most Christians would not wish to participate in a war, so any Christians who died would have been targeted for their faith. Germany-based Professor Thomas Schirrmacher, president of the International Council of the International Society for Human Rights, said the figure in the CSGC report was misleading because it gave "the impression that somebody counted 90,000 cases." He said that the higher figures served as a reminder of how grave the problem is, adding that accurate statistics still do not exist. He estimated that less than 10,000 Christians are killed for their faith annually. home World Philippine president slams Catholic church for opposing war on drugs Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte denounced the Catholic Church for speaking out against the summary killings linked to the government's war on drugs. In his speech during the oathtaking of Philippine National Police officials on Thursday, Duterte questioned the Church's moral ascendancy to criticize the drug war and accused the clergymen of homosexuality, corruption and child abuse. According to police figures, as many as 7,042 people have been killed in the drug war. A total of 2,250 died in anti-drug operations while most of the other deaths are still being investigated. He said that the priests should use their influence to help end drug addiction instead of denouncing him. "Most people here are Catholic. If you are a good priest, make them understand that they will die," the president said, referring to drug users, as reported by The Guardian. "You criticise the police, you criticise me. For what? You have the money. You are all crazy ... when we were making confessions to you, we were being molested. They are touching us. What is your moral ascendancy, religion? What is the meaning of it?" he continued. Duterte's speech came a day after one of his top advisers met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza delivered the president's letter to the pope to thank him for his visit to the Philippines in 2015. "The Philippines values its special relations with the Holy See and regards with gratitude your Holiness' gracious stewardship of the Catholic Church Please accept, your Holiness, the assurances of my highest esteem and respect," the president said in the letter, according to Inquirer. Dureza said that the pope told him that he would bless the Philippines as well as the president. Duterte caused controversy when he cursed the pope for causing traffic jams during his papal visit in January 2015. The president subsequently apologized and explained that he was cursing at the government's incompetence, and not the pope. In 2016, he claimed that he was physically molested by a priest when he was young. Responding to Duterte's tirade, Catholic Bishop Ruperto Santos said that the Church is open to dialogue with the government, but it will not compromise its pro-life stance. home World Priest who performed 6,000 exorcisms says the devil is afraid of him An 80-year-old Mexican priest, who has conducted at least 6,000 exorcisms in his 40 years of service, has claimed that the devil is afraid of him. In an interview with Catholic News Agency, Fr. Francisco Lopez Sedano shared some of the things he learned working as an exorcist. He belongs to the order of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, and he is the national coordinator emeritus of exorcism for the Archdiocese of Mexico. Lopez, who currently serves at the Parish of the Holy Cross in Mexico City, emphasized that the devil is not a thing but a person who wants to separate people from God. He pointed out that Jesus confronted the devil several times and spoke with him. He also said that the devil is able to enter into persons because they allow him to do so. "He can't enter us if we do not open doors," said Lopez. "Because of this, God prohibits the practice of magic, superstition, witchcraft, sorcery, divination, consulting the dead and spirits and astrology. These are the seven lands of lies and deceit," he added. Lopez had learned through his years of experience that possessed people exhibit specific behaviors. He noted that he had observed possessed people who "began to shout, to bark like a dog, to scream or writhe and who squirmed like a snake on the ground. There are a thousand forms." In one case, he encountered a possessed 18-year-old boy who pushed five large benches that should have required the strength of 10 people to move. He said they had to get the boy between three people to perform the exorcism. The priest further explained that possessed people are sometimes afflicted by illnesses that doctors cannot detect. "The injuries of Satan are outside the control of clinical medicine," he said. "People who live with permanent diarrhea and nothing makes it go away; people who have eye pain and ophthalmologists find nothing. These are injuries that science does not detect," he went on to say. Lopez said that his 40 years of ministry have taught him that his exorcism is a divine mandate. After seeing serious cases of possession, he affirmed that his appointment as an exorcist was "out of necessity." Some experts have raised their concerns about the growing demand for exorcists due to the spread of pornography, the occult, and use of illegal drugs. About 400 Catholic leaders met in Rome last October in order to strategize on how to recruit and train more exorcists. home World Queen's chaplain quits to openly criticize reading of Quran in Glasgow cathedral One of the chaplains of the Queen of England has stepped down in order to freely criticize the reading of a Quranic passage at St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral earlier this month. Quranic passages denying that Jesus was the Son of God were recited at the church during a service marking the Feast of the Epiphany as part of an interfaith project. Rev. Gavin Ashenden, who was one of the 33 special chaplains to the Queen, said that the reading was "done badly, in the wrong way, in the wrong place, in the wrong context." "There are a number of members of the congregation who have written open letters complaining of the profound upset they experienced as people who are part of the Eucharistic community who had come to worship Christ," he told BBC Radio 4's Sunday program. Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, the provost at St. Mary's, said that the recitation was an effort to strengthen ties between Muslims and Christians in Glasgow. He noted that similar events have taken place in St. Mary's and other churches in the past, and these events resulted in "deepening friendships." Ashenden wrote a letter to The Times newspaper earlier this week, calling on the church to apologize to Christians who were persecuted by Muslims and said that the denigration of Jesus in a Christian worship would be considered as blasphemy by some. Ashenden explained in his blog that he decided to resign from his post so that he could speak out on important issues without drawing attention to the Queen. He said that it was "wrongly assumed" that he had the "Queen's ear" while he was serving as her chaplain, adding that there was a danger that the media might construe his views as those of her Majesty. "Because I think it a higher and more compelling duty to speak out on behalf of the faith, than to retain a public honour which precludes me doing so at this time, I resigned my post," he said. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said that The Royal Household has accepted Ashenden's resignation. As hundreds of thousands gathered in Washington D.C. for the Womens March on Washington on Saturday, sister marches were held across the globe, including in Menomonie. The marchers advocated for womens issues while protesting policies of the new administration of President Donald J. Trump, who won the Nov. 8 presidential vote in Dunn County, defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton by 11,488 votes to 9,026. Menomonie was the site of one of the 673 sister marches in the country. Over 400 people attended to show their support with those going to Washington D.C. People gathered at the University of Wisconsin-Stout Clocktower Plaza Saturday morning where signs were made, buttons distributed and songs and poems shared. The March on Menomonie was organized by Glenda Jones, an English and Gender Studies professor at UW-Stout, who knew it would be logistically tough for herself and other community members to travel to marches in Eau Claire or the Twin Cities. Jones said she felt it was important to take charge and lead by example as a catalyst and agent of change. After sending the word out through various social media sources, Jones said there were about 50 people who initially expressed interest in a march in Menomonie. It did not take long for that list to multiply. The ball just started rolling and it just got bigger and bigger, Jones said. The marchers heard from speakers such as Mark Pruett, a former professor of UW-Stout and local musician, and Kathleen Remund, a new pastor at the First Congregational United Church of Christ. Remund talked about the importance of basic human rights for all people of our society. Songs sang at the event included This Land is Your Land and This is My Fight Song led by Shayna Lund of Menomonie as well as This Little Light of Mine led by the children attendees. Several individuals shared poetry as well. Keedon Lund, son of Shayna Lund, read the poem On the Pulse of This Fine Day while Pruett read the poem Making Peace. The march then got underway, starting on Main Street and moving north on Broadway. The group stopped at the intersection of Broadway Street and Crescent Street where they cheered as they waved their signs at motorists. Many drivers honked their vehicles horns as a show of support. Among the many posters, slogans and images on display ranged from peace signs to various messages such as: Women Changing the World, Walls Wont Divide Us, and Love Trumps Hate Many of the men and boys attending made signs with the slogan of Im With Her with arrows pointing in all directions. Marchers continued up the path leading to the Stout footbridge where they halted to wave signs as cars passed underneath. They continued on over the bridge and to the Menomonie Public Library, where they stopped again before heading back to the clocktower. The official Womens March website estimated a total sister march turnout of 4,797,500 people. It was by far the biggest wave of marching ever gone on in one day in history, Jones said. Anti-Gay Protesters Object To Lesbian Pastors At Washington Church Police were called after protestors "aggressively" engaged with members of a Baptist church in Washington that has appointed a lesbian couple as co-pastors. The group of 5-7 protesters "stormed through" Calvary Baptist Church on Sunday, shouting slogans and carrying signs as they made their way to the pulpit, according to the Baptist News. The group was confronted by church members but only left after the police were called, before re-forming on the pavement outside the church. Pastor Elijah Zehyoue of Calvary said the protesters were "aggressively engaging" members arriving for the 11am service, as well as a passer-by who appeared to be interested in attending the church. The protesters, who said Calvary members were "going to hell" and that the church was "the house of Satan", reportedly did not identify themselves as representing any particular group. The protest came after the church announced on 9 January that it was hiring Sally Sarratt and Maria Swearingen as the congregation's new senior ministers. The couple, who married the weekend after same-sex marriage became legal in South Carolina (SC) in 2014, were ordained to the ministry by First Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, the following year. The women, who are currently chaplains in the Greenville area, are scheduled to begin their work at Calvary on 26 February. Zehyoue said of the protesters: "It was pretty difficult to get them to stop and leave the sanctuary. Outside they were still pretty aggressive with members and visitors and a random passer-by who looked like they may have been coming to the church." The church was almost empty when the protesters took over the pulpit, except for choir members who were practicing at the time. Nonetheless, Zehyoue, who is preparing new security measures before the pastors join in February, said the incident was "disturbing and unnerving". Church moderator Becky Vaughn added: "While the language was not comfortable, it was still basically peaceful. There was no effort to do harm, and they did move out to the side-walk." She said that about 15 members stayed at the front door while the protesters remained on the pavement, adding that members prayed and sang hymns and "assured them that God loves them and we love them." After the confrontation the morning service went ahead planned, with the associate pastor, Erica Lea preaching her scheduled sermon: a call to unity. "As disturbing as it was, the protest was a good moment where many of our church members were energised and found the presence of the Holy Spirit on the steps of our church and that was powerful moment," said Zehyoue. He added that it was "what we call just another Sunday at Calvary." Brexit, The Law And Our Christian Heritage: Is Britain Looking At A Revolution? "British court deciding British stuff. Good." So tweeted the Rev'd Giles Fraser, following the ruling of the Supreme Court that Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty may only be triggered by Act of Parliament and not by the Government under prerogative powers. Only then can the process of leaving the European Union lawfully commence. "This is what I wanted when I voted Leave," he continued. "Can't see any room for Brexiters carping on about it." I prefer "Brexiteers" it's a more "buccaneer, pioneer, musketeer" kind of word, as Michael Gove observed. But that neologistical quibble aside, I'm in complete agreement with Giles on this. When he and I teamed up to form "Christians for Britain" under the doughty chairmanship of the Rt Hon Ann Widdecombe, our objective was simple: the restoration of the people's sovereignty and the renewal of democratic accountability. This was, for us, commensurate with our national Christian heritage; part of our inalienable rights as freeborn Englishmen and women. It was invidious to us that an entire corpus of overarching EU law was being promulgated by remote and unaccountable bureaucrats, and that global financial and trade agreements were being negotiated which were becoming immutable and inviolable. It was the idolatry of a self-propagating, ever-circulating elite, if not the deification of Mammon and Globalisation: "In the beginning was the Market; all things were made by it, and without it was not anything made that was made" Giles and I were (and are) a world apart on many aspects of political policy, but on this matter of philosophy we are united: it is for the elected governments of democratic nations to enact laws, and it is for their peoples to judge them at the ballot box and, if desired, to sack their law-makers in order to effect change. By such a process of accountability, correction and rebuke, governments may nudged toward righteousness. In the anti-democratic supranational structures of the European Union, this is not possible. Any time the peoples of Europe have expressed a will which was contrary to the Treaty of Rome precept of "ever closer union", the inconvenient result was duly set aside by the ruling elite, and the recalcitrant electorates were asked again (and again, in some cases) until they gave the "correct" answer. The Commission's "infallibility" has been evidenced in various referendums of France, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and Greece. Until Brexit, the whole EU project seemed to proceed on a fixed trajectory. But I take the view that Gina Miller has done Brexit and Brexiteers an enormous favour. She says she is concerned with due process and the rule of law, which I rather doubt. But whether she is or not, I have to ask what is to be gained by Brexiteers insisting on the Royal Prerogative to invoke Article 50 if it means that our secession from the EU will forever be cast into legal doubt? The EU Referendum was about taking back control: giving power back to the people, thereby restoring a democratic check on executive and parliamentary power. That is a wholly biblical principle of governance, though I perfectly accept its limitations. Members of Parliament are meant to be the guardians of sovereignty and democracy, not the owners of them. This philosophy, coupled with the Protestant emphasis on the individual's personal relationship with God and the right to read and interpret Scripture for oneself, heralded the decline of government by elite autocrats and an increased emphasis on the dignity and responsibility of the individual; the "priesthood of all believers". In a democracy, our responsibility towards governments permits an input to those governments. The UK Supreme Court, though not quite supreme (still being subject to "foreign" courts of Europe), is one of our national institutions of self-governance in the dispensation of justice. The Justices of the Supreme Court have determined that the Government must seek the approval of elected members of Parliament, and thereby the sovereignty of Parliament is upheld and asserted. Its judgment is not violating "the will of the people", as some assert, not least because 48 per cent of people didn't vote for Brexit. It has simply clarified the law with regard to the process by which we leave, and that reasonably entertains the voices of nuance and non-conformism. The event of Brexit hasn't been halted: the process of Brexiting has been subject to heightened scrutiny. It is the sovereign, democratic way. Parliament, of course, voted by a majority to devolve the question of UK membership of the EU to the people. Whether our elected representatives will vote in accordance with the will of the majority remains to be seen. What is in no doubt, however, is that should they fail to do so after what will undoubtedly be lengthy and fevered debate the people might just be inclined to assert their sovereignty at the ballot box. It is the stuff of which revolutions are made. Dr Adrian Hilton is an educational academic, theologian and author. Find him on Twitter @Adrian_Hilton. 'Christianophobic' Attacks In France Have Risen to 38 Percent in 2016, Group Reveals Islamist extremist attacks on Christians in France intensified in 2016, with the country experiencing a 38 percent rise in faith-related incidents. This was revealed by the pressure group Observatoire de la Christianophobie, according to Breitbart News. The group revealed that "Christianophobic" attacks in France rose from 273 in 2015 to 376 in 2016, with majority of these incidents happening in December. Many of the attacks took place in churches and other places of worship. One church had its wall vandalised by blasphemous graffiti. A Jesus Christ figure at a Catholic memorial in Fournes-en-Weppes was likewise attacked by the Islamist militants. However, the group noted that the most notorious anti-Christian attack had to be the one against Fr. Jacques Hamel, who was killed by two young Islamists in the middle of mass at Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray church. Hamel reportedly shouted "Be gone, Satan!" as the men slit his throat. During Hamel's memorial service, Archbishop Dominique Lebrun cautioned those who might be tempted to carry the banner of Islamist extremism. "You who are tormented by diabolical violence, you who are drawn to kill by a demonic, murderous madness, pray to God to free you from the devil's grip," he said. "We pray for you, we pray to Jesus who healed all those who were under the power of evil." A nun named Sister Helene, who witnessed the attack, said Hamel shouted at ISIS fanatics Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean, both 19, to stop what they were doing. But they refused to listen, according to the Mirror. "It was then that one of them struck the first blow to his throat," she said. "Thinking I was going to die, I offered my life to God." Thankfully, Sister Helene survived the attack, although one of the nuns sustained some injuries because of the attack. The police later gunned down the fleeing suspects outside the church. Did Jesus Really Tell Us To Ask God For Daily Bread? Most churches use the Lord's Prayer every Sunday, which means that every week Christians pray, "Give us today our daily bread." But if you think about it, it's a very odd expression. "Daily bread" what's that about? The bread that we're used to getting every day, or that we're entitled to get every day? If we go back to the original Greek, it gets even odder. Because the word for "daily" in Matthew 6:11, epiousios, only appears in this one place in all of ancient literature. That's a problem for translators, because the way to decide how to translate a word is to look at how it's actually used in different contexts and if the only context they have is this one, they can't do that. The problem has been known since the very earliest Christian times. Origen, the 3rd-century Greek-speaking scholar, thought Matthew had invented the word. But the early Church had two possible solutions, each of which had two alternatives within it. 1. The first was to say the 'daily' referred to time. It was either literally the bread we need for today the interpretation we usually put on it or, as St Jerome said in the 5th century, the bread we need for tomorrow. So it was a prayer to be delivered from anxiety about having enough to eat, and in some interpretations it was a reference to the great Messianic banquet at the end of time. 2. The second was to say that "daily" referred to amount. Some of the early Church Fathers said Christians should pray for just enough to stay alive. But the Syriac Church thought that was too harsh. In their translation they opted for "the bread we need" not just a slice, but a whole loaf in the cupboard. In his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth Bailey an acknowledged expert whose work has enriched generations of scholars suggests a way of choosing between these interpretations by going back to a very rare early translation. The translation from Greek into Old Syriac was made in the second century, very close to when Matthew's Gospel was written the oldest translation from Greek anywhere. Syriac is related to Aramaic, which Jesus spoke most words are the same. And the Syriac translation uses a word for "daily" with the same root as the word "Amen", meaning "lasting, never-ceasing, never-ending, or perpetual". In English the Old Syriac version might say, "Give us today the bread that doesn't run out." Bailey suggests the prayer is about being delivered from the fear of not having enough, not just now but in the future. He says: "One of the most basic human fears is the dread of economic privation. Will we have enough? We are managing now, but what about the future? What if I lose my job? What if the kids get sick? What if I am unable to work? How will we survive?" So in the prayer, "Give us today our daily bread," we are asking God for his provision not just today, but tomorrow and forever. We are asking him to deliver us from the fear of the future. It's a prayer that has rich layers of meaning, and careful scholarship has helped recover them for us. Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods 'Does God Really Love Me?' Billy Graham Offers Words of Encouragement for Doubters One Christian was taught that God gets angry every time people sin. Since people commit sin constantly, that Christian grew up afraid that God is always upset with him and therefore does not love him anymore. When he shared his concerns with Billy Graham, the evangelist tried his best to assuage his fears. "I want to assure you as strongly as I possibly can that God loves us! From one end of the Bible to the other, God repeatedly assures us of His undying love for us. God's words are true: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness' (Jeremiah 31:3)," Graham wrote on his website. But how else can people know if God truly loves them? Graham said people need only check out their surroundings to be assured of God's love. People can feel it in the beauty of His creation, His gift of human love, and His constant care for people's welfare. However, the best proof of God's love is Jesus Christ. Graham said if God did not love people, He would not have sent His only son into the world to save them. "If God didn't love us, would Jesus Christ have given His life for our salvation? The Bible says, 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16)," he said. Yes, Graham cannot stress enough that sin is serious. He said it's something that Christians must never take lightly. But there is no denying that God loves His children in spite of their sins. Whenever believers find themselves doubting about God's love, they need only remember the story of Jesus Christ. "Ask Him to come into your life, and then thank Him every day for His great love for you," said Graham. Government Loses Brexit Supreme Court Case Over Article 50 The Supreme Court has ruled against the government, insisting that MPs must vote before Theresa May can trigger the UK's exit from the European Union. Delivering the landmark judgement on Tuesday morning, the Court's president Lord Neuberger, said the decision was agreed by eight to three on the panel of 11. "Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union," he said. The focus of the judgement, read out by Lord Neuberger, said that because the UK would change as a result of leaving the EU, Parliament must be consulted. "Withdrawal makes a fundamental change to the UK's constitutional arrangements, by cutting off the source of EU law," the ruling stated. "Such a fundamental change will be the inevitable effect of a Notice being served. "The UK constitution requires such changes to be effected by Parliamentary legislation," it concluded. The government's lawyers had argued ministers had the power through their royal prerogative to enact Article 50 without a vote from MPs. They said that parliament was already consulted when it passed the bill to hold a referendum and had not asked for a final say. But opponents insisted parliament must be consulted before such a wholesale change in the UK's constitution and the two years of negotiations over the terms of exit begin. Ministers had anticipated their loss and Theresa May moved to nullify the effects of the legal defeat by granting that Parliament will be consulted on the final shape of any Brexit deal. Brexit secretary David Davis is expected to outline the government's next steps in a statement to the Commons and the government is thought to draft a very simple piece of legislation to trigger Article 50 before March. Although the government lost the legal case, it is thought the Commons will easily pass a bill to trigger Article 50 with all 329 Conservative MPs backing the move. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has told MPs to approve the bill and it is thought, despite dozens rebelling, that most will fall in line. SNP and Lib Dem MPs have vowed not to back the bill. The panel of 11 justices is the largest ever for a single case. Normally the Court sits in panels of five. The Supreme Court judgement insisted it did not affect whether the UK should leave the EU and was not a political judgement. "The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with political issues such as the merits of the decision to withdraw, the timetable and terms of so doing, or the details of any future relationship between the UK and the EU," it read. It comes after High Court judges were accused of blocking Brexit and were branded "enemies of the people" after the initial ruling that MPs must vote on triggering Article 50. The judgement added that all 11 judges agreed unanimously that the government did not have to consult the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before triggering Article 50. Is Donald Trump The Antichrist? Is Donald Trump the Antichrist? Are we really seeing the advent of the Beast from Revelation? Donald Trump has begun his presidency with a rash of executive actions aimed at undoing a lot of what his predecessor achieved. His inauguration was marred by an unseemly row about the numbers attending and overshadowed by mass protests from women marching to express their disdain for him, though it's fair to say he probably doesn't care. This is day four and already his is arguably the most divisive presidency in modern American history. So far there's no sign of it getting any better. Well, is he the Antichrist? Some would say so. One website, The Hypertexts, points out the sinister connections between Trump and the number 666. The family bought 666 Fifth Avenue. The Trump coat of arms at Mar a Lago contains three sixes. His company's building a $666 million tower at One Journal Square. Oh, come on. The Trump surname is an anglicised version of the German name Drumpf. In Jewish gematria - the cipher by which numerical values are associated with words - the value of the letters in Don Drumpf is 666. Is this for real? There's lots more, not all of which is entirely convincing. However, the site also points out that the Antichrist in Revelation will be a cultish figure, the centre of everyone's attention, and draws attention to some of his very questionable policies and statements. Rather sensibly, it says that even if Trump isn't the actual Revelation Antichrist, he might be one of the many referred to in 1 John 2:18. It makes a change from people saying he's a sort of messiah, anyway. Indeed. One of the troubling things about this election is the way Christians have described Trump in biblical terms, without any biblical warrant. Christian leader Lance Wallnau told a gathering of hundreds of Christians he believes God has anointed Trump to be a "secular Cyrus" who, like his ancient Persian counterpart, will usher in an awakening that will lead to the transformation of the United States. Trump is the 45th president and the reference is in Isaiah 45, so it must be true. I thought the original Hebrew Bible didn't have chapters? It didn't. Back to Revelation, though. Another Bible teacher has a slightly different take on it. In Steve Wohlberg's opinion it's America, rather than Trump, who is the beast. Wohlberg outlines Revelation 13:11-17, about the beast who comes out of the earth, and says that no other nation on earth today fits the specifications of this prophecy like the United States of America. A bit niche, though, that view? Probably, though Wohlberg says that by special invitation he was "invited to share his views on America's role in prophecy before an audience inside the United States Pentagon." So is Trump a beast from Revelation or God's messenger sent to save the world? Both, and neither. Revelation talks about the characteristics of powerful people who are opposed to God and goodness, who lust after power and wealth. There are plenty of them around. But the Bible also tells us to pray for those in authority, because they have the opportunity to do a lot of good. Trump, in biblical terms, is nothing special he certainly isn't the fulfilment of any particular prophecy but the Bible has things to say about people like him. It's important not to demonise him, but it's important not to divinise him, either. Christians should pray for him and hold him to account, just as they would any ruler. That's not nearly as exciting as saying he's the Antichrist. I think we've had enough excitement for a while, thank you. Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods ISIS Burns Alive Mother and Her 4 Children After They Were Caught Trying to Leave the Caliphate When it comes to brutality, it would be extremely hard to beat the Islamic State (ISIS). In its latest atrocious act, the Islamist extremist group burned alive a mother and her four children who were caught fleeing the caliphate, or the territory it still controls in Iraq, Iraqi News reported. The four children comprised of three girls and a nine-month-old boy. They were caught by ISIS militants in Hawija on their way to Kirkuk, a source told Iraqi News on Jan. 14. Upon capture, the mother and her children were bound, doused with petrol, and set ablaze, the source said, adding that they were torched to death in front of a group of civilians. In an earlier report, a Syrian woman told the American human rights group Roads of Success that the ISIS shows no mercy even to innocent children, Christian News reported. The woman identified as Alice Assaf said her young son was murdered by ISIS militants who also "grabbed six strong men working at the bakery and burned them alive in the oven." Still not content, the terrorists "caught some 250 kids and kneaded them like dough in the bakery dough machine," Assaf said, adding that the oldest child killed was four years old. "Two days later, when the Islamic militants got the news that the army will invade the area, they started to throw the children out of balconies as a warning to the army," Assaf said. If they're not killing children, the ISIS is indoctrinating and teaching them to become savages like their mentors by forcing them to execute prisoners by shooting them at point-blank range. Recently, the ISIS released a video showing a toddler shooting a man tied up in a children's ball pit. The video even showed children beheading prisoners. In September 2016, human rights activist and lawyer Jacqueline Isaac testified at the United Nations that ISIS thugs in Syria are kidnapping girls, raping, torturing and then killing themwith their dismembered body parts given to their mothers, CNS News reported. Japanese Samurai Who Gave Up Everything To Follow Jesus To Be Made A Saint A Japanese samurai who gave up his status to follow Jesus will be beatified in a ceremony in Japan on 7 February. The ceremony for the beatification of Justo Takayama Ukon (1552-1615), known as the "Samurai of Christ", will take place in Osaka, Agenzia Fides reported. Pope Francis signed a decree for his beatification in January last year and the Japanese have been preparing for the event since then. Born into a family of landowners, Ukon converted to Christianity at the age of 12 after coming into contact with Jesuit missionaries. When shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi took power and banned the practice of Christianity, Ukon refused to follow the great feudal lords. As a result, he lost his properties, his position and his social status and was eventually forced into exile. With 300 other Japanese Christians he fled to Manila where, just 40 days after his arrival, he fell ill and died on 4th February, 1615. The ceremony for Ukon will be presided over by Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and broadcast on live television in Japan. The Japanese faithful proclaimed Ukon's sanctity in the seventeenth century, but the isolationist policy of the country prevented the canonical investigators to collect evidence in order to certify his holiness, Ahenzia Fides said. The Japanese bishops took up the cause in 1965. News of the ceremony comes after the international release of the Martin Scorsese film Silence, which tells the story of Christian martyrs in Japan in the 16th century. The movie is based on the 1966 novel by Shusaku Endo. 'Jihadists Used Our Church As A Shooting Range': Iraqi Christians Return Home To Devastation Iraqi Christians are determined to return to their homelands despite devastation wreaked by ISIS. Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town on Iraq's Ninevah Plain, was largely destroyed under the jihadist occupation. Now back under Iraqi control, local Christian are insisting on better security as they prepare to go home. Father Sharbil Eeso, a 72-year-old Catholic priest, has returned to Qaraqosh more than two years after he fled. "Despite all the damage, I have hope for the future. If our security is guaranteed, Christians can continue to live in Iraq," he said. In an appeal for help from fellow Christians outside of the Middle East, he said: "I want to return to Qaraqosh when there is electricity and water again, although I think that safety is the main condition for returning." Speaking to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, local salon owner Manal Matti, described how the militants set fire to the nearby Church of the Immaculate Conception and beheaded its statues. "The jihadists used the church as a shooting range and the mannequins as targets. The mannequins are completely riddled [with bullets]." ACN reports show that Qaraqosh's St George's Syriac Catholic Church was used by ISIS as an improvised bomb factory and contained hundreds of bombs and grenades. The extremists also wrote battle plans on church walls and chemicals were found in the building together with instructions on how to mix them into explosives. In celebration of Donald Trumps inauguration, I decided to see how he got elected by reading an op-ed column in the New York Times. It was written by Robert Leonard of radio stations KNIA/KRLS in Knoxville, Iowa, and titled Why Rural America Voted for Trump. I am not too fond of Iowa. It is too flat; you may fall off the end of the world if you are not careful. The opinion column began with this paragraph: One recent morning, I sat near two young men at a coffee shop here whom Ive known since they were little boys. Now about 18, they pushed away from the table, and one said: Lets go to work. Let the liberals sleep in. The other nodded. That got a smile from me for several reasons, but let me continue. The column went on to say that both boys were hard workers. One was going to college on scholarship, and the other was a welder. Both boys are conservative, believe in hard work, family, the military and cops, and they know that abortion and socialism are evil, that Jesus Christ is their savior, and that Donald J. Trump will be good for America. I started laughing here because I remember being 18. At 18 you have just graduated from high school, and are young and pretty naive. Your life stands before you with all the majesty of unlimited time and an endless horizon. Life has not yet smacked you upside the head, but it will. I turned 18 in June of 1969. I worked for Marshfield Water and Light, registered for the draft, registered for a deferment, drank some beer and planned to go to UW-Eau Claire in the fall. I didnt care who slept in. I was leery of the military, had no contact with the cops, did not care about abortion, did not think about socialism, did not worry about Jesus Christ and I knew Richard Nixon was very evil. In the column, the two kids above were profiled as the new middle American Conservative. I did not know this when I was 18 and neither will the kids above: your upbringing, your parents, your own decisions, your luck and other things create your life. Politics can become a source of dumping blame on other people for reasons that often reflect our own poor judgement. The young man above who is the welder may indeed have a great life or he may wake up some morning when he is 45, find out that breathing all the fumes from his welding career has damaged his lungs and he can no longer work. If he has no health insurance, life is going to change for him and his family. If there is no safety net, perhaps he will understand the good things about socialism, like Medicare and Social Security disability. The young man going to Iowa State University may pursue a major and find that his skills do not match the available jobs in rural Iowa. He may end up moving out of state to a city to find work. Goodbye Iowa, hello Chicago! Chicago will be unlike Knoxville, Iowa. Hopefully neither young man will be required to make a decision on abortion for the life or health of their spouse. Hopefully they will not face a crisis of faith in Jesus Christ. Hopefully neither one has gender identity issues or is in fact gay. Hopefully both kids will never have an encounter with the police that ends in tragedy, nor will they be drafted and sent off to fight a war that in the end is meaningless. So, kids, to answer your concern about liberals sleeping in: I paid my dues and I will sleep in. Until you have paid all of your dues, suck it up, buttercup. Mr. Trump has and will continue to take care of himself. Congress has and will take care of itself. The question you two gentlemen need to answer is: Can you take care of yourselves or will I and other liberals have to take care of you? The jury will be out on that one for a long time probably 50 years. Whether you are a conservative or a liberal, remember that life is what happens when youre making other plans, and there is no way around that. At 18 you have just graduated from high school, and are young and pretty naive. Life has not yet smacked you upside the head, but it will. Pastor And Wife Who Lost Both Children In Tragic Car Accident Now Expecting Twins A US pastor and his wife whose two children were killed in a tragic car accident in 2015 have announced that they are now expecting twins. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Hadley Eddings shared the couple's news. "Y'all have held us up in prayer and we are so grateful!" She wrote. "Now we ask you to add two more Eddings to your prayers! We are expecting twins this summer!" The devout Christian couple made headlines when just days after the accident, they publicly forgave the truck driver who caused the incident in which Gentry Eddings' car was hit. A worship leader at one of Charlotte's biggest churches, Forest Hills, Gentry was driving back from his sister's wedding on May 23 when his car was struck by 28-year-old Matthew Dean at traffic lights. His car then hit Hadley's, killing their two-year-old son Dobbs. Hadley was eight months pregnant at the time. Their son, Reed, was born by emergency C-section, but also died three days later. "We have, in our hearts, forgiven the man who did this. It was not the easiest thing to do, but in some ways it was because we know Hadley and I that Jesus Christ has forgiven us our debt... So in some ways, it was very easy to forgive a man who made an accident," Gentry said at their children's funeral. He asked those present to also forgive Dean, and "anyone in your life who you hold anything against". The couple later said they'd had to "learn how to do things differently", but still had faith in God. Asked about how they cope with having survived the devastating incident, Hadley told WRAL: "The only thing I can think of is that if God left us here, he must just not be finished with us. That's the only thing I can think". Persecuted Christian Group Free Burma Rangers Extends Helping Hand to ISIS Victims in Iraq Without a second thought to their own lives or welfare, a group of persecuted Christians from Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country formerly called Burma, answered God's call for them to travel to Iraq to help those who have been victimised by the Islamic State (ISIS) and help get them out of the ISIS-occupied city of Mosul. Former U.S. Army Ranger officer David Eubank, the leader of the Christian humanitarian aid group Free Burma Rangers (FBR), told The Christian Post that a missionary friend in Kurdistan got in touch with him and asked for help back in 2014 when ISIS was on the rise. The missionary asked Eubank if he and his team could leave Myanmar and lead a mission to help thousands of Iraqis who have been displaced because of the violence in the region. The FBR has been conducting charitable activities across Myanmar for over 20 years now. But after being called on for help, Eubank did not have second thought and quickly assembled his team for their new mission in Iraq. He and his team faced financial challenges to get to Iraq. Moreover, the Myanmar military, which considers them as a rebel group, made it extremely difficult for them to leave the country. Eubank prayed to God for help, and the response was quick. The following day, the Myanmar forces suddenly moved to another location, enabling the FBR team to leave the country. What happened next was a series of miracles. "Once we got to another country, then we still needed to buy plane tickets out to meet that seven-day window, but we had no money. But my friend living in the United States bought them for us. But it also happened to be a holiday and everything was full, but we happened to get five seats," Eubank shared. "There were a lot of different things happening that got us to Kurdistan, which we felt we had no place being [there]. But with all these miracles, it was like a sign that we were supposed to go," he added. Eubank decided that the most important thing they could do was provide humanitarian aid to people in war zones. Iraqi Christians who return to their hometowns have found their homes in ruins and their churches destroyed. The FBR took care of providing food for them as well as caring for wounded Iraqi fighters. 'Respect The People': Christian MPs Give Verdict On Supreme Court's Brexit Ruling Conservative Christian MPs have warned the government against any temptation to "thwart" the will of the British people following today's Supreme Court decision. Leave campaigners said Parliament must move forward now and allow Article 50 to be triggered so that Britain can begin the process to leave the European Union. The Supreme Court today ruled against the government, forcing ministers to consult MPs before triggering the UK's exit from the EU. Brexit secretary David Davis is expected to publish a simple bill to be passed by both the House of Commons and Lords before March. He will give a statement to MPs later on Tuesday. A Downing Street spokesman has said the ruling will not change their plans to trigger Article 50 within weeks. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50 as planned - by the end of March." After the ruling Christian MPs on both sides of the debate gave their reaction to Christian Today. David Burrowes, a Conservative MP for Enfield South and a Leave campaigner, said: "I fully respect the Supreme Court's decision and Parliament now needs to do what it should have done soon after the Referendum which is to authorise the triggering of Article 50." He warned MPs against opposing the government's bill. "While it is constitutionally right for Parliament to trigger negotiations to leave the EU it would be democratically wrong for MPs to thwart the result of the Referendum," he said. SNP and Lib Dem MPs are expected to vote against triggering Article 50 but all 329 Conservative MPs and most Labour MPs are thought likely to ensure it passes. Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems and an evangelical Christian, said the case was never about legal arguments but rather was about "giving the people a voice in what happens next". The ardent Remain campaigner added: "The Liberal Democrats are clear, we demand a vote of the people on the final deal and without that we will not vote for Article 50." Labour MP David Lammy, another Christian Remainer, branded Theresa May "absurd" for trying to avoid consulting parliament. "The government alone cannot interpret what the referendum result means and where we go from here they have to bring forward legislation that will be scrutinised and debated by Parliament." Anticipating ministers' desire to speed a simple bill through Parliament, he added the government must not "steamroll legislation" past MPs. "What happens next will define the future of our country for generations, there is too much at stake," he said. The case sparked intense scrutiny after Gina Miller, an investment manager, launched the legal challenge to the government's plans not to consult parliament before triggering Article 50. High Court judges initially ruled against the government but ministers appealed and took the case to the Supreme Court. On Tuesday after the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's decision, Lord Chancellor Liz Truss called for respect for the decision. "Our independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law and is vital to our constitution and our freedoms," she said after receiving intense criticism for not defending the judiciary in the face of press attacks in relation to the High Court ruling. The decision led to judges facing accusations of thwarting the referendum vote and being "enemies of the people". She added: "The reputation of our judiciary is unrivalled the world over, and our Supreme Court justices are people of integrity and impartiality." Thousands Pray For Indian Priest Kidnapped By Islamists Thousands of people across India held a special day of prayer this weekend for the release of Father Tom Uzhunnalil, the priest who was kidnapped by Islamists last year in Yemen. "We prayed that Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil may soon be free and safe," said Rev Thomas Jacob, of St. Stephen's Church in Bandra to Asia News. Dioceses throughout India prayed over the weekend following a request by the president of the Bishops' Conference. Father Thomas Toretkiu, secretary to the bishop, said that the Church in India is "worried and distressed about the fate of Father Tom." Uzhunnalil, from Bangalore in India and a member of the Salesian order, was kidnapped by gunmen who murdered four Indian nuns, two Yemeni female staff members, eight elderly residents and a guard at a nursing home in Aden, Yemen, on 4 March 2016. Some reports suggest the attackers were members of ISIS, but this has not been verified. In the aftermath of the abduction, rumours spread online that his captors would crucify him on Good Friday, but no evidence for the claim was ever produced and both his superiors and the Indian government consistently denied it. A video released in December by his captors showed Uzhunallil looking frail and pleading with the government and Pope Francis for his release. He said he is "very sad and depressed" and that not enough is being done because he is Indian and not European. "If I were a European priest, I would have been taken more seriously. I am from India. I am perhaps not considered as of much value," he said. He added: "Nothing has been done by Pope Francis or the Bishop of Abu Dhabi to get me released, in spite of contact being made by my captors... Dear Pope Francis, dear Holy Father, as a father please take care of my life. I am very much depressed. My health is deteriorating." India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded to the video, saying: "You are aware of the circumstances currently prevailing in Yemen where fighting is going on with no central authority in that country. With regard to safe release of Father Tom who was abducted some months ago, we have been in regular touch with countries in the region, especially Saudi Arabia as also the local Yemeni authorities. Efforts continue in this regard." External Affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter: "I have seen the video from Fr. Tom. He is an Indian citizen and the life of every Indian is most precious for us. We have spared no effort and we will spare no effort to secure Fr Tom's release from captivity." What Sermon Did Donald Trump Listen to Before His Inauguration Ceremony? His inauguration as the 45th president of the United States is probably the most important day of Donald Trump's life, and as such the sermon he listened to right before the big event could have been one of the most stirring messages he had ever heard. So where did Trump hear this sermon? America's new president went to St. John's Episcopal Church with his family before taking his oath, according to Faith Wire. The sermon, titled "When God Chooses A Leader," was delivered by First Baptist Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress. Jeffress talked about the story of Nehemiah, because he felt like Trump shares a similar journey as the biblical figure from the Old Testament. For those who are unfamiliar with his story, Nehemiah was a pivotal player in rebuilding Jerusalem during the Second Temple period. God also directed Nehemiah to build a wall around Jerusalem to protect Israel 2,500 years ago. As for Trump, he also has plans to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. "You see, God is not against building walls," said Jeffress. "Nehemiah kept plowing forward, and I see those qualities in Donald Trump. He's going to do what's best for this country." Just like Nehemiah, Trump is facing a lot of problems as well as detractors. Nehemiah battled an economic recession just to build the wall, not to mention enemy attacks and discouragement from citizens. "They continued to hound and heckle Nehemiah and spread false rumors while he and the Israelites were building the wall," said Jeffress. But in the end, he managed to complete the project in 52 days. Jeffress believes Trump will be successful in building his wall just like Nehemiah. "The true measure of a leader is what it takes to stop him," he said. "And knowing you, I believe it's going to take a lot to stop you." The U.S. Attorney's Office is turning heads with their most recent Twitter photo of the $20 million found in a mattress' box spring in Boston. The money, which was obtained by a massive TelexTree pyramid scheme, was tweeted by the U.S. Attorney's Office yesterday and it has since thrown the story into the viral world. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Jail or prison is supposed to be an uncomfortable experience with no way out until the authorities release an inmate. Inmates say the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan takes the concept to an extreme: cement beds, desks and floors; no plausible escape opportunities and wild temperature swings. That would be why the feds sent drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman there upon his arrival in the United States on Jan. 19, 2017. TIMELINE: Key dates in the capture, extradition of "El Chapo" The most hard-core wing of the 735-inmate jail has held a variety of thugs, high-profile felons, mobster and terrorists, including John Gotti, Bernie Madoff, and Omar Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Yousef. The rooms have been compared to "ice boxes" in the winter and "ovens" in the summer, according to Esquire. A New York attorney told the Los Angeles Times that "it is worse than Guantanamo. It is about as soul-negating existence as there is in this country in the federal system." Guzman, who pleaded not guilty last week to 17 charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy to murder and firearms violations, is just the latest to be a guest of the government at the facility. And, given his record of escapes - two from Mexican prisons - federal officials aren't taking any chances with the 59-year-old Mexican drug lord. SOUGHT: 8 women among Mexico's Most Wanted fugitives But, there are some creature comforts available. Guzman will have access, if he can pay, to coffee, books and even the odd pre-approved item of clothing from the prison commissary. It's a long, long way down from what Guzman was used to, but he might need to adjust to the surroundings. He could be there a while. >>>Click through the gallery to see who benefited from Guzman's capture and what his jail in Mexico looked like. Lynn Goode has been an arts dealer, entrepreneur and even a social worker specializing in post-traumatic stress disorder. But the newest incarnation of this Houston native is as a dealer in midcentury modern furniture and home decor. She opened her Lynn Goode Vintage store on West Alabama a few years ago and turned her modern home in Highland Village into a tribute to midcentury life. The Houston Zoo's retail services provider now will be the exclusive provider of culinary services at the attraction. Denver-based visitor services firm Service System Associates has assumed control of dining operations at the zoo, which receives about 2.4 million visitors per year. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A banner proclaiming "In Trump We Trust" was reportedly up for only two days, but it's still drawing comment. It was hung Friday at Roger's Frigate, a candy-and-ice-cream shop in Port Jefferson, N.Y., on northern Long Island. Roger Rutherford, the shop's general manager, told New York News the sign was intended to celebrate Trump's inauguration but came down Sunday night. THE SPEECH: Remarks from Pres. Trump's inaugural address "Inauguration Day is a very important time in our country, and that's entirely what we're trying to highlight - not to start a fight," Rutherford told the News. Nonetheless, opinion was inevitably divided about the banner, as seen on social media. Monday, a couple dozen residents called village offices to complain, the Port Jefferson village clerk told the paper. OFF LIMITS: Chelsea Clinton tells internet to leave Barron Trump alone According to Newsday.com, the building owner, George Wallis, was issued a summons Friday because the temporary banner violated village code. The violation could result in a fine of up to $2,000 per day, as determined by a judge, Newsday.com said. The owner, George Wallis, was also cited last fall for a banner that said simply "Trump." An effort to boycott the candy shop sprang up Sunday on Facebook, but that page, "Boycott the Port Jefferson Frigate," also was deleted Monday, Newsday said. Sara Jo Schneider and Hickle, along with fellow Girl Scouts Jayna Kelley and Autumn Helgeson, were killed when a pickup truck crashed into them as the scouts cleaned up debris on the west side of Highway P at about 11 a.m. Nov. 3, 2018. All four were killed at the scene. A fifth girl was injured but later recovered. The girls attended Southview Elementary and Halmstad Elementary in Chippewa Falls. On Wednesday, a 20-foot-tall memorial was dedicated at the crash site, honoring the three scouts and mother killed that day. Houston Police Department Houston police are reportedly investigating the shooting of a man and woman at 9900 Murray Brook Drive about 2:20 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 22. According to a Houston Police Department report, the male victim, Irvin Gonzales, 23, was transported to Ben Taub General Hospital in critical condition. The female victim, Reina Castellon, 23, was also transported to Ben Taub General Hospital in stable condition. A federal judge has ruled there will be no cap on damages owed by former Houston Independent School District Trustee Larry Marshall in a civil bribery and corruption case involving construction contracts. Marshall had argued, in a post-verdict pleading, that his liability should not exceed $100,000 according to the Texas Education Code. However, U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison said in a ruling last week, that Marshall was not acting within the scope of his position when he took bribes for contracts. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO A 19-year-old woman was killed Monday when a foreman crushed her with a backhoe bucket while she worked at a construction site in the far West Side. Bexar County deputies responded to an injured person call around 10:30 a.m. In the 13700 block of Potranco Road. When they arrived at the construction site, they discovered Destiny Rodriguez had been crushed to death. Sgt. Roger Pedraza of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office said Rodriguez was inside a dig site and the operator of the backhoe, later identified as a foreman at the site, didn't see her and dropped the bucket on top of her. RELATED: Officials identify 26-year-old killed in rollover crash on Loop 1604 She was pronounced dead at the scene, and the foreman was hospitalized, "probably for shock," according to Pedraza. He said it is unclear if the foreman was intoxicated at the time of the incident Rodriguez's family was notified shortly after she was found dead and about 2 dozen family members came to the scene, where many relatives wept in each other's arms and grieved for Rodriguez. Rosa, Rodriguez's 28-year-old sister, said she was a hard worker and she loved her family more than anything. "She would help anyone," Rosa said through tears. "If she were on her last five dollars, she would give it to you." RELATED: Pair of rollover wrecks overnight leaves 1 dead Rosa said this wasn't the first time Rodriguez had been injured at the construction site. She said last week Rodriguez came home with a grapefruit-sized bruise on the back of her leg. The same backhoe operator had allegedly knocked her leg with the backhoe. "He's always breaking pipes," said Edward Gonzales, 24, who's been working for the construction company, Step It Up, for about a month. "Always careless. If you asked everybody else that worked with us, they would say the same thing." Rosa said Rodriguez had complained in the past about how the company didn't follow any safety guidelines. RELATED: San Antonio PD: Escaped suspect in deadly attempted robbery caught in Converse Rodriguez's brother, 23-year-old Miguel, initially got her the job, according to Rosa. Both worked for Step It Up, until Monday. Rosa said Rodriguez's death is particularly painful for her family because she lost another sister, 29-year-old Anna, to cancer. Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com Twitter: @calebjdowns STANLEY Amanda Wright knows theres only so much time in a day. She carefully plans her schedule, not wanting to waste a second. After all, theres plenty of work to do. Wright is, in short, a doer. She isnt afraid to get her hands dirty if it means getting a project done. More often than not, those projects revolve around helping others. Whether it be with the Girls Scouts, National Honor Society, church groups or a project she starts on her own, Wright has made it a life goal to make as much of an impact as she can. She is off to a great start, having been involved in service projects and volunteer work since elementary school. That includes a campaign she started to send letters to Wisconsin soldiers overseas when she was in fifth grade. Radiating positivity and speaking with her actions, Wright is Stanley-Boyds recipient of Chippewa Valley Newspapers fourth annual Extra Effort Award. Good to give back As president of the schools National Honor Society, Wright has to earn service points just like the other members. Community service is a requirement, and though Wright needs the points, it isnt the requirement that puts her into action. Its always good to give back, she said. Thats been a part of me growing up and was kind of instilled in me. Wright has four older siblings and one younger, and all were taught the same. My parents made sure to tell us that its important that, when you can, you give back, she said. They led me in the direction of helping others and just being a good person. With her can-do attitude and her desire to help people, Wright tackles as much as she can. She has been a Girl Scout for 13 years, organizes all National Honor Society events and volunteer opportunities, has worked with Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, and volunteers any extra free time she has with various clubs and organizations. Not in any way does she ever need recognition, said Stanley-Boyd NHS advisor Polly Hoffman. She just does it behind the scenes to make sure its getting done. She helps a lot with church and community events outside of school that no one is even aware of unless you talk to her. The list can go on and on. Shes always doing something. Wright also finds time to take advanced placement classes and apply for college scholarships, and this past summer took Emergency Medical Technician training. Im a scheduler, she said with a laugh. I just try to balance my time and schedule it all out. Her own mission Wright was in the fifth grade when her older brother, Kane, was deployed with the Wisconsin National Guard in Iraq. She was old enough to understand that his mission was dangerous and that chances to communicate would be limited. Kane would call or write letters whenever he could, and each member of the Wright family took time to write individual letters to him. From that, Amanda learned of an opportunity that ultimately turned into her first major service project. One thing that he said that kind of stuck with me was, Thank you for the letters because not everybody over here gets them, she said. The idea of soldiers not communicating with anyone from home bothered young Amanda, so she took immediate action by founding the Red Arrow Letter campaign. She found out that there were 3,200 soldiers from Wisconsin stationed in Iraq at the time and set out to make sure that each of them got a letter from home. She and her family began writing letters. Soon, Amanda rallied her classmates to write letters. Eventually she travelled between schools and churches requesting letters, pictures and anything that could be sent as a reminder of what the soldiers are fighting for. By the end of the campaign, Amanda had sent more than 1,000 letters. I didnt quite meet the 3,200 goal but I got a lot, she said. Id get emails from people saying thank you from soldiers in Iraq. It was worth it. It taught me a lot. It was fun. I met a lot of people and made some peoples day. Eyeing the future Wright loves school and focuses hard on her studies each day. She plans to attend UW-Oshkosh to study either nursing or pre-law, looking to use her smarts to continue helping people from a more impactful position. The organizer in her likes the idea of pre-law and government. But the face-to-face interactions she enjoys has her thinking of working in the medical field. She has one more test to pass before she is a certified EMT, and began taking a Certified Nursing Assistant class on Monday. I guess Ill take some classes and see what I like more, she said. Who knows? I could surprise myself and change from those. Just because she is leaving Stanley-Boyd doesnt mean her time spent in service of others will stop. She plans to get involved with her new community and continue to make a daily impact. Im excited for whats going to come and where its going to take me, she said. Im sure Ill continue doing community service in college and throughout my life, but what kind? There are always new needs out there. My parents made sure to tell us that its important that, when you can, you give back. Amanda Wright A recently completed study by researchers at the University of Texas has brought forward new data on the extent of human trafficking across the state -- a notoriously difficult crime to quantify. In a news release sent Tuesday, researchers highlighted several findings in particular: around 313,000 people in Texas are currently human trafficking victims, of whom nearly 79,000 are minor and youth sex trafficking victims and 234,000 are adult labor trafficking victims. Three small boys were handed over to state child welfare officials after they were found alone late Monday night at an apartment complex in west Houston. The children, ages 6, 3, and 2 were found about 10:3o p.m at the complex at 1055 Lakeside Estates, according to the Houston Police Department., Police are asking the public to help investigators solve a hit-and-run crash that left a motorcyclist dead late last year in east Houston. The incident happened about 3:10 a.m. Nov. 20 in the 10300 block of the northbound North Loop East, according to the Houston Police Department. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Early last year Chron.com told you about a Lake Jackson stay-at-home mom with two kids who has an interesting side business. When she's not tending to her two small boys, she's making keepsake jewelry out of preserved breast milk. PREVIOUS: Texas mom makes custom breastmilk jewelry for fellow mothers Bridgette Boudreaux, 25, found a market for jewelry made out of preserved breast milk. The milk gets sent to her from customers all around the world who have found her online and would like her to make charms and necklaces from portions of their milk. This week Boudreaux appeared on the syndicated "Steve Harvey" talk show during the "Is it Weird?" segment to talk about her work. "I myself am strange and unusual so it fit," Boudreaux told Chron.com this week, echoing Lydia from "Beetlejuice". She said she was flown out to record the segment in mid-December. MOMS UNITED: Mothers show support for breastfeeding during Latch On at Kingwood Medical Center A clinical psychologist, Dr. John Duffy, weighed in on the Lake Jackson entrepreneur's work, saying that it was rather interesting and unique. "As odd as this clearly is, its hard not to honor that work that you do and you definitely get some points for ingenuity," Duffy said. Host Harvey was his usual funny self. Watch the clip below to see how the comedian and the crowd responded to Boudreaux's jewelry. "Steve Harvey" airs locally in Houston on KRIV-TV at 3 p.m. weekdays. After Chron.com's initial coverage of Boudreaux's business in Jan. 2016, she became a viral sensation with TV cameras coming by to see her work space. Lately, Boudreaux has been doing a series of Facebook Live videos on her official business page to show the folks at home how the process works. HOMESPUN: Houston shirt maker wishes that they would 'Finish 290' already She also uses umbilical cords and placenta to create jewelry. She's been sent cremated human remains to make jewelry for relatives and friends to wear a piece of a loved on them daily. Her husband gets a kick out of her work and telling his friends and co-workers what she works on. The inspiration for her company JoBri Milk Charms was born out of her desire to commemorate the bond that breastfeeding creates between mother and child. A Texas woman at the center of a viral video concerning her arrest got some unexpected armed visitors over the weekend. It was a situation that could have turned ugly, but didn't. A group of almost two dozen people converged on Jacqueline Craig's home in Fort Worth on Saturday. And three of the men were carrying guns. ORIGINAL INCIDENT: Texas mom calls police for help, gets wrestled to ground A neighbor filed a noise complaint with the police, KXAS-TV reported. Officers arrived and took the guns from the men. Police say no one fired any shots nor pointed a weapon at officers. A Craig family spokesman, Roderick Smith, told KDFW-TV that the men were there to provide protection the police won't. Craig came into the spotlight after a recorded confrontation between her and Officer William Martin. Martin wrestled Craig to the ground on Dec. 21 after she called police to complain that a neighbor choked her 7-year-old son because he littered. DISCIPLINED: Texas officer placed on restricted duty after videotape of arrest surfaces Martin replied to Craig's complaint by saying: "Why don't you teach your son not to litter?" From there, the moment devolved into Craig on the ground, someone recording the whole incident and Martin being suspended for 10 days. Both incidents ended without any serious damage to individuals or property, which is about the best anyone could hope for. >>>Click the above video to see the original arrest of Jacqueline Craig. Then scroll through the above gallery to see photos of police abuse videos that have gone viral. Don Bartletti/TNS A judge is recommending a Texas high school teacher should not face legal trouble for legally trying marijuana in Colorado. The New York Times reports Maryam Roland, a science teacher at Parkland High School in El Paso, told school district officials that she ingested edible marijuana during the 2014-15 Christmas break in Colorado. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After local leaders stood on the banks of Brays Bayou to celebrate a creative agreement that is expected to speed up work on a long-delayed effort to lessen the risk of flooding in southwest Houston, some angry Meyerland-area flood victims peppered them with questions. The press conference was called to tout a plan under which the city of Houston would borrow $46 million from the state, give the cash to the county to speed up work on Project Brays, then be reimbursed later with federal dollars. City officials hope to repeat that process for two other bayous - White Oak and Hunting- ultimately forwarding the county about $130 million. For more background on this effort, click here. For more information on another recent flooding initiative Mayor Sylvester Turner and his "flood czar," Steve Costello, announced, click here. And for more information about Project Brays, visit this county Flood Control District page. Meyerland resident Sheldon Weisfeld, who said his home has flooded five times since he bought it in 2003, was among the loudest voices at the gathering, saying local officials had failed to properly design the area's drainage. Tuesday's announcement was "a show," he said. "If the bayou rises, even if it doesn't come out of its banks, our homes -- the places we called home in the past -- are no longer habitable," Weisfeld said, as some neighbors clapped. "It's just frustrating, mayor, when you live in the heart of it and you wake up in the morning and your feet are wet." Turner -- who, like flood control officials -- was mobbed by residents after he stepped down from the podium, answered questions for several minutes before departing. "There's no question that there are frustrations and I understand the frustrations," the mayor said. "Nobody wants their homes flooded once, four times or seven times. And that's why the city, in an unprecedented move, took the lead and borrowed the $43 million. Now we have certainty that this project will be completed." Harris County Flood Control District Director Russ Poppe said his agency expects to complete channel widening through Meyerland to Fondren in the next two years. The city loan, which will be used chiefly for downstream bridge replacements, is important, he said, because bridges that are too low can create significant backups, heightening the flooding risk for those upstream. Not all local residents were upset. Art Pronin, civic leader who lives between Westbury and Meyerland, said his first childhood memory was seeing his grandmother crying in her ruined apartment along Brays Bayou after Hurricane Alicia in 1983. Then, and many times since, he said, politicians have promised to help Brays Bayou. Project Brays, he noted, would have the explicit impact of removing him and his neighbors from the 100-year floodplain, lessening their risk and reducing their flood insurance rates. "To get this money is something we've been promised and promised for a long time. It's hugely positive," Pronin said. "This is a big day for us in southwest Houston." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Civil servants are not usually the type to brag, but it's clear employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are having a hard time containing their giddiness. The weather-monitoring agency recently launched its newest satellite into space, the "GOES-16. Now, the first images of Earth are finally being received. DON'T PANIC: What to do when flooding damages your vehicle NOAA said the stunning pictures are the latest step in a new age of weather satellites, claiming it will be like "high-definition from the heavens." "This is such an exciting day for NOAA! One of our GOES-16 scientists compared this to seeing a newborn baby's first pictures it's that exciting for us," said NOAA's Satellite and Information Service director Stephen Volz in a news release. "These images come from the most sophisticated technology ever flown in space to predict severe weather on Earth. The fantastically rich images provide us with our first glimpse of the impact GOES-16 will have on developing life-saving forecasts." MELTING AWAY: 26 before and after images of climate change According to NOAA, the "GOES-16" will snap pictures of the Earth every fifteen minutes with four times more detail than previous weather satellites. Click through above to see crystal-clear images by the government's newest weather satellite. Check out the video above to learn more mind-blowing facts about the new weather satellite. Home sales increased by 6.3 percent in Chippewa County last year, according to statistics released Monday by the Wisconsin Realtors Association. Chippewa County saw an increase in home sales for 2016 from 748 in 2015 to 795 last year. The median price of homes sold in Chippewa County had a 6.2 percent increase, from $144,950 to $154,000. But sales of homes in the county during December fell compared to December 2015. Chippewa County saw a 21.2 percent decrease, from 52 to 41 home sales. The median price of homes sold during the month increased by 8.1 percent, from $153,500 to $166,000. It was a good year for home sales in neighboring Dunn County. Realtors said the groups home sales in Dunn County went from 569 in 2015 to 722 last year, an increase of 26.9 percent. The median prices of the houses sold in Dunn County rose from $140,000 in 2015 to $149,000 in 2016, and increase of 6.4 percent. Eau Claire County saw a 2.8 percent decrease in the yearly sales figures, falling from 1,504 in 2015 to 1,462 in 2016. The median price of the homes being sold increased by 4.2 percent, from $149,000 to $155,250. For the month of December, Eau Claire County had a decrease of 4.1 percent in home sales from 2015 to 2016. The number of sales fell from 97 to 93. The median price of homes decreased by 6.1 percent from $155,000 to $145,500. Throughout Wisconsin, sales of homes increased by 6.1 percent and the statewide median price was $165,000, an increase of 5.9 percent from the 2015 figure of $155,800. 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. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. When New York investigative reporting legend Wayne Barrett died last week at the age of 71, he may have been the only practicing journalist in America who never owned a cell phone. For that matter, he didnt become truly adept at using a computer until his last years at The Village Voice, where he logged a 37-year career, establishing himself as the citys foremost muckraker. Barrett graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism in 1968 and until the day he died he kept his contacts on a massive Rolodex wheel likely manufactured around the same time. He kept his files in 14-inch manila folders, their outside covers filled with the crisp, looping handwriting he was taught in the Catholic schools of Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was raised. Stacked atop each other, the piles of folders often grew into small mountains. Every now and again, theyd be stuffed into a bankers box and deposited in the basement of Barretts Brooklyn home. When Wayne and I both left the Voice at the end of 2010, I suggested to him he try scanning some of his voluminous files rather than packing them up and carting them away. You could search them easier, I said, and theyd weigh nothing. Nah, he responded, this works fine for me. Indeed it did. Despite his boycott of most of the tools now considered essential to the 21st century journalist, Barrett did pretty well for himself. He was the first reporter to spot Donald Trump as a worthy investigative target in the late 1970s, when the brash young developer was just starting out. After New Yorks entire press corps had thoroughly combed through the life of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it was Barrett who discovered that Giuliani, who had prosecuted the mob as a U.S. attorney, had his own Mafia skeletons hidden away in the family closet, including his fathers prison stretch for armed robbery. His 1988 book with Voice colleague Jack Newfield on the scandals of the Ed Koch administration, City for Sale, remains a classic of urban investigative reporting. For years he turned out a weekly column based on his diligent examination of city budgets, contracts, and campaign donations, resulting in scoops few could match. He did, however, have a few things working for him. One of the biggest was his rotating stable of interns, often a half dozen at a time. He dispatched them daily into streets, courts and government offices in search of records and interviews. Sometimes the order of the day was to simply keep watch outside an officials home or office, a stakeout where the goal was information rather than an embarrassing photo or ambush interview. It was a kind of boot camp for journalists-in-training, presided over by a drill sergeant who looked a little like Robert Duvall and often barked as fiercely as The Great Santini. Sign up for CJR 's daily email As several veterans of Barretts intern brigade recalled in reminiscences after his death, it was woe to those who fell down on the job. Matt Taibbi recounted in Rolling Stone how Barrett dispatched him three times in one day to the old federal records repository in Bayonne, New Jersey, in search of documents the boss needed. Being a Barrett intern was an all-inclusive post. The chief not only doled out orders, he inquired into their lives, attended the birthday parties, andto his greatest delighthelped arrange a few marriages. You never stopped being a Barrett intern. Even long after theyd moved on, the calls still came, asking for some bit of research he was sure they could easily acquire. Veterans of that tribe are today sprinkled throughout the galaxy of American journalism, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York magazine, Bloomberg View, ABC, NBC, Inc, NPR, The Washington Post, City Limits magazine, The Jewish Channel, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company. They founded TheSmokingGun.com and work in think tanks as government policy analysts and as public defenders. They have written books on Italian-Americans,food habits, atomic warfare, jazz musicians, the murders of nuns in El Salvador, nerds, and yes, Donald Trump. For a long stretch an English-language newspaper in Cambodia boasted an all-ex-Barrett intern staff. The interns often joked about how Waynes instructions were often relayed via conference calls. He spent much of his day working the phones at homea pair of land lines between which he constantly toggled back and forth. But he was a firm believer in witnessing the events where power brokers gathered and big decisions were made. Before the lung ailment that ultimately felled him made it hard for him to get around, he made it a point to attend big presentations by governors and mayors, campaign kickoffs and political fundraisers. He wanted to see the faces and watch the mingling. Thats what got him arrested in 1990 when he tried to sneak into a Trump celebration in Atlantic City. He was clapped in handcuffs again in 1996 when he and a fellow spirited reporter insisted on seeing which fat cats showed up to deliver checks for a governors campaign kitty. Likewise, his preferred interview mode was in person and up close. He would knock on the doors of those he was pursuing, often in the evening, asking if he could come in and talk. More often than not, he was ushered inside. He had once seriously considered becoming a priest, and in high school he was a national debating champion. Despite his well-earned reputation for having a lions roar, he was usually quietly persuasive behind closed doors. Barrett firmly believed that the business of journalism was best conducted collaboratively. There were too many stories for any one reporter, he reasoned, and if he couldnt tell them, then someone else should. For him, the competition was the political hacks, the grafters, and the fixers, not other journalists. A reporter with a good story in that days paper might well expect a Barrett call offering praise and suggesting an angle for a follow up. As many thousands of articles as he churned out over the years, there were thousands more that he farmed out as tips and advice to others. Many national journalists have cited Barretts remarkable generosity in allowing them unfettered access over the past year to the vast files he compiled while writing his 1992 biography of Trump. Reporters from around the country made the pilgrimage to Barretts basement to go through those old bankers boxes. But such open-door sharing had been his practice for years. When Giuliani mounted his own brief run for president in 2008, Barrett did the same thing, pointing visitors to ways the stories hed uncovered could be made fresh again. If he acquired an investigative treasure like a wired politicians telephone log or schedules, he passed it along to the next reporter who showed a similar passion for nailing the culprits. For him that sort of group effort just made sense: as he explained to his son Macs grade school class years ago, reporters were detectives for the people. If so, Wayne Barrett deserves his gold shield. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Tom Robbins is investigative reporter in residence at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. He worked with Barrett at the Voice from 1985-88 and 2000-2010. Bridgit Simmons and her family had heard storm warnings all day Sunday, but that afternoon it all happened so fast as storms that killed at least 18 over the weekend moved across the Deep South. She along with her parents, her daughter and her grandson were in their brick home in the southwest Georgia city of Albany when the sky got dark and the wind began to howl. I was in the den and I heard that loud roar and I grabbed the baby and I said, Lets go guys. This is it. We laid down and that was it. The wind was so loud, she added, you could hear it beating back and forth. Minutes later, their home was largely unscathed, save for a carport that collapsed atop two cars. But trees were down all around, police sirens wailed and authorities would add three more deaths for an overall count of at least 18. Authorities said at least 14 deaths occurred in south Georgia alone, seven from an apparent winter twister that tore through a trailer park some 60 miles from Simmons home before dawn Sunday. Elsewhere, shredded siding from mobile homes, a house stripped of exterior walls but left standing, even a piano blown outdoors, all bore evidence of the power of a vast storm system that began its two-day assault on the South with four deaths Saturday in Mississippi. Coroner Tim Purvis in south Georgias Cook County confirmed that seven people died at the mobile home park in the small community of Adel. Roughly half of the 40 homes were leveled. Debris of pulverized homes lay not far from a section of mobile homes largely untouched. The area was empty of survivors after police cordoned off the site. Weather experts say tornadoes can hit any time of year in the South including in the dead of winter. Even north Florida was under the weekend weather threat. While the central U.S. has a fairly defined tornado season the spring the risk of tornadoes never really goes to zero for most of the year in the Southeast, explained Patrick Marsh of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. He said 39 possible tornadoes were reported across the Southeast from early Saturday into Sunday evening none immediately confirmed. Of that, 30 were reported in Georgia, four in Mississippi, and one each in Louisiana and South Carolina. January tornado outbreaks are rare but not unprecedented, particularly in the South. Data from the Storm Prediction Center shows that, over the past decade, the nation has seen an average of 38 tornadoes in January, ranging from a high of 84 in 2008 to just four in 2014. Nineteen-year-old Jenny Bullard said she and her parents, Jeff and Carla, are glad to have escaped without major injury after an apparent tornado battered their home in Cook County. They are a farming family dating back generations, living not far from where the mobile homes were destroyed. The middle section of their brick house was blown off the slab, leaving nothing but the kitchen island standing. On one side, the parents bedroom remained intact. Jennys bedroom on the other side was smashed in _ and a piano was blown out of the house. She recalled awaking to the sound of hail before dawn. The hall wall came in on me and I fell down. And our backdoor came through and fell in on me. And I heard my dad calling my name There was a bunch of stuff on top of him and I just started throwing everything I could until I got to him, she said. Together, she and her father met up with their mother and got free. The young woman wore a sling on one arm hours afterward Sunday as she went back through the debris for belongings. Bricks lay scattered about, alongside their possessions and furniture. The first thing I wanted to do was get all the pictures, she said. Across the street, where the Bullards kept farm equipment in sheds, one shed was blown in amid twisted metal. Two grain silos were blown over. Its a horrible tragedy. But all this stuff can be replaced, she said. We cant replace each other. Were extremely lucky. My dad is lucky to be alive. (Reeves reported from Albany, Georgia, and Farrington from Adel, Georgia. Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Bill Cormier in Atlanta contributed to this report.) Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Uber Technologies Inc. is asking a California judge to confirm what it says is the first ruling by an arbitrator denying a drivers bid to be treated as an employee. The company is seeking a court stamp of approval on the decision rejecting the claim that the driver qualified as an employee rather than an independent contractor under California law. It could be the first of many such rulings after a federal appeals courts decision last year that most Uber drivers can be forced by the company to resolve disputes through binding arbitration. The arbitration win comes amid Ubers multi-front legal war in California and other states to defend its contractor-based business model and avoid at least some of the restrictions that apply to competitors. Uber isnt required to seek confirmation of an arbitration award by a state judge, especially if there isnt a financial component, said Candace Bertoldi, a labor and employment lawyer with Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Los Angeles. The ride-hailing company may have chosen to do so as a strategic move to influence other cases and deter future litigation, said Bertoldi, who isnt involved in the case. Its an important step that Uber is taking this public, she said. Although arbitration awards arent binding legal precedents, the great care taken to examine all the facts and analyze them appropriately under the law means others will take notice of the 48-page award by the arbitrator, retired judge Michael Marcus in Los Angeles, according to Bertoldi. Click here for more on the life of an Uber driver Uber hailed Marcuss decision as a defense of its business model. We are very pleased by Judge Marcuss decision, which was a well-reasoned decision based on an extensive review of facts of the case and analysis of the relevant case law, San Francisco-based Uber said in a statement. Its clear he understands the Uber model, and we have long argued that drivers using the Uber app are correctly classified as independent contractors. Last year the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Uber could require most drivers to go to arbitration instead of court. That gave the company the upper hand in a hard-fought lawsuit on behalf of 385,000 current and former drivers in California and Massachusetts over claims they should have the rights and benefits of employees rather than independent contractors. For more on Ubers legal battles over drivers, click here It also gave Uber leverage with drivers suing to upend its gig-economy workforce model in other states, where labor laws tend to give companies more leeway than in California. The company also faces lawsuits over its pricing and business practices, as well as efforts by local regulators to force it to comply with laws covering taxis. Arbitration awards in California generally get confirmed unless theres evidence of some egregious misconduct, said Nicholas Rozansky, a lawyer with Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber LLP in Woodland Hills, California. The state court judge considering the arbitration decision Monday likely wont second-guess the findings, Rozansky said. Any appeals court review wouldnt go beyond procedural challenges, he said. This is a highly regarded, fair and reasonable arbitrator, and Uber will likely hold up this decision in other cases, Rozansky said. The case is Uber Technologies Inc. v. Y.E., BS166561, Los Angeles County Superior Court. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Elk Grove Village, IL, January 24, 2017Lighthouse Consulting & Restoration Services, Inc. (Lighthouse) and Industrial Loss Consultants, LLC, experts who provide assessment and analysis of damaged machinery & equipment, announced that they merged earlier this month and officially changed their corporate name to Industrial Loss Consultants, Inc. (ILC). ILC has more than 20 years of Industry knowledge and experience. Combining our companies into one singular focus will allow us to better serve our customers said Scott Kiley, CEO of Industrial Loss Contsultants. We are excited about the rebranding, which allows us to collectively leverage our abilities within the insurance industry under one brand, says Wayne Taylor, Vice President & Senior Machinery Consultant of ILC. Founder Eugene Keith remains a vital part of the ILC team and will remain as the Vice President and Senior Machinery Consultant. Wayne Taylor will remain as Vice President & Senior Machinery Consultant. About Industrial Loss Consultants, Inc.Industrial Loss Consultants, Inc. is an industry leader specializing in providing expert assessment and analysis of damaged machinery and equipment in a wide variety of industries in the commercial property & casualty insurance industry. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Elk Grove Village, IL, a suburb of Chicago, IL with consultants located nationally. www.industrialloss.com Media Contact Jodi L. Brutto Senior Vice President Industrial Loss Consultants JBrutto@IndustrialLoss.com Downtown Akron Downtown Akron will gain new residential housing over the next several years, beginning with the Bowery project to redevelop the historic Landmark on South Main. (Shane Wynn) AKRON, Ohio - Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan wants to grow the city from its core downtown out to its residential neighborhoods. Let's talk about it at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. For the past year, Horrigan's administration has been taking a comprehensive look at ways to boost the city's residential housing. A plan due out next month will include a city-wide residential tax abatement, offering tax incentives for new homes and apartments, as well as substantial additions. Developers and homeowners building large additions will pay no property tax on that construction for years. And, in late 2016, the city and Downtown Akron Partnership unveiled phase 1 of the Downtown Vision and Redevelopment Plan to redevelop strategic areas of the city, beginning with downtown. Phase 1 focuses on Main Street, emphasizing that city-wide vitality starts with providing housing downtown. The city also wants to make public spaces more inviting and connect downtown to outer neighborhoods with bike paths and other features. The city could see up to 5,000 new residential units built downtown over the next 10 to 20 years, although demand isn't at that level yet, said city Director of Planning and Urban Development Jason Segedy. For demand to continue to grow, housing would need to be flexible. "There's a big swing toward people wanting less square footage," Segedy said. "Well-designed housing can meet the needs of Millennials, Gen X and Baby Boomers." Price and home size are main factors: Millennials are generally less encumbered by commitments than older generations, but usually have lower to moderate incomes. They typically seek less pricey apartments or lofts. Gen X residents usually have more money on paper but also more kids and greater financial obligations. They would primarily seek affordable single family homes. Baby Boomers normally have access to the highest income but are looking to downsize to larger condos or townhomes. The city owns several lots around downtown and welcomes developers who want to build there, Segedy said, citing one of the Horrigan administration's mottoes: "How can we help or how can we get out of the way?" Akron's downtown is smaller than those of many comparable cities, and it's long and narrow. But certain areas are ripe for residential housing, including: The Innerbelt - The city has been considering various uses for the 30-acre section at the north end of the Innerbelt, which will be demolished. Although no detailed plans are in place, ideally, the city would like to see multiple types of residences, as well as a central park, which the city has never had, and a water feature. Canal Place - Canal Place on South Main has plenty of old factory buildings from B.F. Goodrich operations, but most already house businesses. However, there are several flat lots that could be developed into apartment units. The section is also close to the Towpath Trail and Locks 3 & 4. Locks 3 & 4 - Downtown's lock areas were deemed critical for development in the vision and redevelopment plan, and are well on the way to offering residential housing. The Bowery project, which should be completed by late 2018, will develop the buildings running from the Akron Civic Theater to the Landmark building on Bowery Street. Residential housing is planned for the upper floors of a few of the smaller retail buildings, while the 12-story Landmark will provide housing for about 175 residents. Northside - Developers are increasingly interested in developing a section of Howard Street between the new Cascade Lofts on West North Street going north toward North Hill. Akron Soul Train, a residential artists' village, is being developed in that area, using refurbished shipping containers, rail cars and tiny houses. The area also features easy access to the Towpath Trail and the Summit Metro Parks and its Freedom Trail bike path. Another benefit to building housing downtown is that it would draw small business, such as grocery stores, dry cleaners, barbers and other retailers, Segedy said. That in turn enhances the area's walkability, another growing trend across the country. In February, the city's residential report will outline a proposal for making Akron's 22 neighborhoods more walkable and appealing, like Highland Square. "Downtown is a piece of the puzzle, but it's not the whole puzzle," Segedy said. Join us Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for a civil, constructive conversation in the comments section below about Akron's residential housing initiatives. Comments will be reviewed by a moderator before they are published. In our Talk it Out pre-curated conversation, comments are published after they are reviewed -- promptly -- to ensure they adhere to our community rules, which prohibit indecent, hateful, abusive or harassing comments, personal attacks, vulgar nicknames, personal information including telephone numbers and addresses, email addresses belonging to others, anything inciting criminal behavior and copyrighted material for which you do not own the rights. Comments that are not on the topic of this discussion will not be published. Criticism is fine, as long as it is respectful. We seek a robust and courteous discussion. Want more Akron news? Sign up for cleveland.com's Rubber City Daily newsletter, which delivers 10 top Akron stories to your email at 5:30 a.m. Monday through Friday. akron police car.png Shots were fired when an armed robber used the cellphone application OfferUp to lure a man into an armed robbery Monday in Akron, police said. (cleveland.com file photo) AKRON, Ohio -- No one was harmed when a sale arranged through the online marketplace OfferUp ended in gunfire Monday in Akron, police said. A Canton man, 23, arranged to sell a pair of shoes to an unidentified man on Dayton Street near Newton Place. But he fired a pair of shots at the buyer after the buyer pulled out his own gun, police said. The Canton man posted an advertisement for a pair of black, blue and white Jordan Retro 2 shoes on the smartphone application OfferUp. The buyer -- who identified himself as Lucky -- arranged to meet him just after 3 p.m. on Dayton Street, police said. The Canton man and his girlfriend drove to Akron to meet the buyer, who asked to try on the shoes before buying them. But the buyer pulled out a gun and pointed it at the Canton man and his girlfriend, police said. The Canton man pulled out his own gun and fired two shots at the buyer. The buyer ran through a parking lot and hopped a fence toward Woodrow Court, police said. The Canton man has a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon, police said. No arrests have been made but the robbery remains under investigation, police said. The robbery is similar to a Friday incident involving a sale arranged through Instagram. In that robbery, three teens took a 16-year-old's shoes, then intimated that they had guns in their pockets, police said. Other Northeast Ohio residents have also reported robberies involving people they met through online marketplaces such as OfferUp and Craigslist. In response, some area police departments have designated their stations as "transaction safe zones" where buyers can arrange to meet sellers. If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section. HealthLine helps jobs double Completion of the HealthLine, seen from the top of the Cleveland Clinic's Miller Pavilion, helped dramatically increase the number of good-paying jobs along Euclid Avenue, says a new Cleveland State University study, (Steven Litt, The Plain Dealer) CLEVELAND, Ohio - The number of jobs nearly doubled along Euclid Avenue following completion of the bus rapid transit HealthLine in 2008, according a new study released by the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University. The report offers the latest chunk of data showing that the city's Main Street has prospered since construction of the $200 million bus line, funded largely through the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts program during the administration of former President George W. Bush. Among other things, the report makes the case that it's smarter to make transit investments in urban areas with rising employment in growing industries, such as health care, rather than increasing service to low-paying manufacturing jobs in sprawling suburbs, where employment is falling due to automation. The HealthLine project included reconstruction of Euclid Avenue from building edge to building edge, from downtown to University Circle, with special rapid-boarding bus stops located in a new center median, priority timing for buses at intersections, and fresh landscaping and streetscapes. A map of job density in the HealthLine corridor, prepared by the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University. The line extends two miles further east into East Cleveland. Crunching new numbers Data in the CSU report, culled from the Census, show that employment dipped 10.6 percent in the four-mile corridor in Cleveland from 2002 to 2008, a period that coincided with two years of project construction. But the number of jobs in the same zone nearly doubled between 2008 and 2014, rising from 36,850 to 72,080, the report said. The new jobs also paid well. Of all jobs in the corridor in 2002, 13,250, or roughly a third, paid $40,000 or more a year. In 2014, 40,360 of the jobs in the same area, or 56 percent, paid $40,000 or more. Investing in the future The thrust of the CSU report is that investing in transit can encourage clustering of new economy jobs in health care and education - fields that constitute the majority of employment in the corridor. A graph compiled by the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University charts the growth of higher-paying jobs along the Euclid Avenue HealthLine. "This is a case of inducing job growth and job clustering with transit investment," said Richey Piiparinen of the Center for Population Dynamics, housed at CSU's Levin College of Urban Affairs. He co-authored the report with the center's Jim Russell. Growing evidence of success Critics derided the HealthLine as a boondoggle and unnecessary because the previous bus line operated by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on Euclid Avenue - the No. 6 - was the most heavily used in the region. Nearly a decade after the line was finished, studies have consistently shown that the HealthLine improved transit service and coincided with strong economic growth. A 2012 report to Congress by the FTA's Office of Planning and Environment, for example, showed that ridership on the HealthLine grew 31 percent in comparison to the old No. 6 bus and that run times for buses decreased 21 percent. The report also cited a 2009 report in The Plain Dealer that documented $3.3 billion in investment in the area around the HealthLine, a figure that has since grown. The Piiparinen-Russell study focused on employment trends in a 13-square-mile zone around the HealthLine, and it shows the highest job density exists around the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. Piiparinen also said that the HealthLine has contributed to the increase in downtown's residential population, which has reached 14,500. RTA General Manager Joe Calabrese said the CSU report came as no surprise. "It's consistent with major capital improvement projects in transit around the country," he said. "This was the hope and the goal, and it's great to see it's the reality as well." Correlation versus causation The report and others like it don't claim that job growth in transit corridors is attributable solely to transit improvements. But they say such improvements can be an important factor in spurring investment. "The biggest proponents on the HealthLine were not customers on the No. 6 bus," Calabrese said. "It was business owners along Euclid Avenue who thought it would increase their property values and rents. The jobs followed the investments they made to leverage the investments we made." Hunter Morrison, a former Cleveland planning director and a fellow in urban studies at CSU, said the HealthLine changed perceptions of the formerly crumbling Euclid Avenue and unified segments of the street that formerly felt walled off from one another. "A beat-up street does not encourage investment," he said. The Euclid Avenue analysis grew out of research by the Center for Population Dynamics on whether it would make sense to increase public transit service to manufacturing businesses in outlying portions of Cuyahoga and surrounding counties in order to attract urban workers who don't have access to cars. The study concluded that increasing such service would not make sense, Piiparinen said. Employment levels are falling in manufacturing because of rising automation, while higher-paying jobs closer to urban workers are increasing in health care and other growing industries, the report shows. Furthermore, research on job sprawl by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland shows that urban workers in economically distressed neighborhoods can't afford the time involved in long transit commutes to far-flung jobs in suburbs. "Simply, time is money, and the wages of a job in the suburbs must be significant enough to offset the time spent commuting," the CSU report states, citing the Fed's research. Piiparinen said it makes no sense to use precious transit dollars to bring urban people out to low-paying work at businesses located along interstate highways. "That's an investment to fix a problem of yesterday," he said. "We should be using transit to bring the jobs to the people." CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio-based Dewey's Pizza is opening its third Northeast Ohio pizzeria at Summit Mall, at 3265 W. Market St. in Fairlawn, on Feb. 13. The 90-seat, 3,500-square-foot restaurant, which will open inside what used to be a Coldwater Creek store and a Scott Trade office, will employ 40 people as cooks, servers and managers. Apply at: http://deweyspizza.com/jobs/job-applications/ "Being part of the greater Northeast Ohio community, with stores in Lakewood, Cleveland Heights, and now Fairlawn, has always been a priority for us, and we look forward to serving high-quality, delicious pizzas to our neighbors here," said David Igel, Dewey's Pizza's operating partner, in a written announcement. Related Plain Dealer story: Dewey's, known for hand-tossing its made-daily dough that diners can watch through the kitchen window, opened its first restaurant in southern Ohio in 1998 and now employs about 750 people in Ohio. Dewey's has 24 restaurants in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, St. Louis and Kansas City. Dewey's Pizza specializes in gourmet pizza and salads, made with fresh ingredients and in unique combinations. Its menu offers 13 specialty pizzas, including the Porky Fig - featuring a fig jam base, mozzarella, fontina, prosciutto, caramelized red onions, and gorgonzola - and the Green Lantern - made with red sauce, mozzarella, minced garlic, mushrooms, goat cheese, artichokes, and pesto. It features craft beers from local breweries including Great Lakes Brewing Company, Thirsty Dog Brewing Company, Sibling Revelry Brewing, and Fat Heads Brewery. In addition to the grand opening at 5 p.m. on Feb. 13, the Fairlawn location will open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10, during which all proceeds will benefit Stewart's Caring Place, a local nonprofit cancer wellness center that offers support services and programs for families coping with cancer. The Fairlawn Dewey's will be open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from noon - 9 p.m. Dewey's Pizza is at www.DeweysPizza.com, on Twitter at @DeweysPizza, Instagram at @DeweysPizza, and on Facebook at facebook.com/DeweysPizza. A display of U.K., Union Jack flags fly in front of The Houses of Parliament, in London, U.K., on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images The U.K. Supreme Court's ruling that parliament must vote on whether the British government can start the Brexit process marks the start of a tumultuous period of legal disputes for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. The Supreme Court ruled against the government with a majority of eight to three on Tuesday in a landmark case with potentially significant political ramifications. Cliff-edge Brexit deal Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday that May's pledge to trigger Article 50 of the European Union's (EU) Lisbon Treaty, the formal step required to begin the process of exiting the bloc, before the end of March would not be impacted by the Supreme Court ruling. The U.K. Prime Minister announced last week that parliament would get a say on the final Brexit deal too. This means that the Supreme Court ruling on Tuesday effectively bookends the U.K.'s Brexit negotiations with votes in parliament. "There is a serious question of how valid a (final Brexit deal vote in parliament) would be. Unfortunately for the U.K., the two-year deadline and Article 50 process is designed to give the much bigger EU more leverage than the exiting country," Kallum Pickering, senior U.K. economist at Berenberg Bank told CNBC in an email. "Once the U.K. triggers Article 50, likely in March, the two-year countdown begins. If the U.K. doesn't agree to the terms of the post-Brexit deal and likely transitional arrangements then it may suffer a cliff-edge Brexit and find itself trading with the EU on World Trade Organization terms. That would be the worst outcome for the economy," he added. More legal hurdles to clear watch now Jim Cramer attributed the dip in the stock market on Monday to investor surprise that President Donald Trump might actually carry out his "protectionist agenda". "If you have any doubts that protectionism is the message, you clearly didn't watch Trump's talk to a whole bunch of CEOs about the need to buy American and hire American or face the consequences of major taxes," the "Mad Money" host said. The one area investors can turn to right now are stocks in the Trump-free zone, Cramer said. Those are companies that do not need Trump, aren't on his bad side and can do well when the economy slows. Trump-free stocks include FANG, Cramer's acronym for Facebook , Amazon, Netflix and Google, and now Alphabet . Semiconductor companies such as Skyworks Solutions and semiconductor equipment stocks like Nvidia and Lam Research also work. The last group were the cloud plays, like Adobe and Salesforce . Ultimately, Cramer reminded investors to take Trump for his word and suggested that Trump-free stocks like technology or domestic stocks like Comcast could work in a portfolio. Marc Benioff, CEO of SalesForce. Adam Jeffery | CNBC Last month, Procter & Gamble was downgraded to a "sell" by two different firms, as the company is believed to be front in center in a host of challenges that will hit the market in 2017: The strong dollar, political turmoil, online disintermediation and scrutiny for its use of inorganic materials and preciously wasteful manufacturing processes. With this many difficulties, Cramer was surprised when the company guided up to 2 to 3 percent organic growth from 2 percent, which implied that market share gains and innovation were strong. Additionally, on its conference call, Procter management responded to all of these issues. "The total sum of the call was nothing short of a stinging rebuke to those who sold this stock to buy an industrial or go into cash to flee a feared Trump-led stock market Armageddon," Cramer said. Looking back at the dismal retail holiday numbers, Cramer boiled it all down to the erosion of Target . The problem wasn't Macy's , it wasn't Kohl's or even J.C. Penney . It was Target. "It is doing the best online of all the brick-and-mortar retailers. And this ugly quarter is what ultimately happens. That is a pretty grim fate for the group," he said. Target found itself in one of the worst possible situations, Cramer said. Its online offerings were so good it was stealing traffic from its own bricks-and-mortar stores. The self-cannibalization of Target was the sorriest event of the entire retail debacle this holiday season. A Target store is seen in Miami. Getty Images The U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal won't just leave the U.S. on the outside looking in, it will devastate American agriculture, a former U.S. Trade Representative told CNBC. "We're now going to be competing against other countries who are going to reduce over 18,000 tariffs. Those tariffs will now stay in place for the U.S.," Ron Kirk, who was the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) from 2009-2013, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "This is going to be devastating for American farmers and ranchers and businesses." Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday formally pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which would have created a 12-country free-trade bloc. The TPP, which was negotiated during President Barack Obama's term in office, hadn't yet been voted on or ratified by Congress. Kirk, who is currently senior of counsel at law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said it was difficult to understand the rationale of pulling out of TPP. "It's the equivalent of building the largest duty-free shopping zone in the world and then declaring we don't want to participate," he said, noting that the deal was "the most modern state-of-the-art trade agreement," including enhanced intellectual property and anti-counterfeiting protection. Frits van Paasschen has had a storied career as a seasoned business executive, including going head-to-head at the negotiating table with Donald Trump. "The key is to separate his antics from his actions and focus on what he is going to try to do, and what he wants to get," van Paasschen told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer on Monday. Van Paasschen is the former CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Coors Brewing Company . When he was running Starwood, he had the chance to see the results of disruptive innovation around the globe, which prompted him to write a new book entitled "The Disruptors' Feast". "My style isn't his [Trump's], but what he does is he makes it very clear what he is trying to get out of the negotiation," van Paasschen said. It isn't just Macy's and Sears that have too much real estate. After decades of opening stores as a means to fuel their growth, a new report has concluded that high-end retailers need to pump the brakes on their expansion plans. In some cities, they'll even need to close some of their existing locations. According to The Boston Consulting Group, a triple threat of headwinds has led to a slowdown in the personal luxury goods market. Namely, consumers are shifting their spending toward vacations and wine; the internet is grabbing a larger chunk of spending; and China's red-hot growth is settling in at a more moderate pace. Whereas sales of apparel and other personal luxury goods grew at a 9 percent compound annual rate from 1996 to 2001, they're expected to gain between 2 and 4 percent from 2015 to 2022, according to BCG's report. "We are living right now the first slowdown [in the luxury market]," Olivier Abtan, a partner at The Boston Consulting Group, told CNBC. One of the biggest changes in the way affluent consumers spend their money is their preference for fine dining and excursions. That shift started about 10 years ago, but has recently accelerated, Abtan said. From 2014 to 2015, revenues in the experiential luxury segment grew 4.2 percent, to 522 billion euros ($560 billion). Over that same period, the personal luxury goods market grew just 1.6 percent, to 323 billion euros. Spending on experiences is prevalent among both older luxury shoppers and millennials, Abtan said. Millennials are also changing the way luxury goods are sold by demanding these brands have a presence online, Abtan said. Meanwhile, the slowdown in Chinese luxury spending has pressured revenues. All of these factors have led to store closures at the high end, impacting brands from Burberry to Ralph Lauren . In November, Kenneth Cole announced that it would shutter all of its outlet stores. But further closures are likely, particularly in Asian cities, BCG concluded. Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing are among the international markets that have too many luxury stores, according to the report. "The growth is still there, but it's not [as much as] you expected, so you are saturated with luxury stores," Abtan said. That doesn't mean expansion is over. There are still opportunities for established and emerging luxury brands to grow their store footprints. That's true even in New York City, where vacancies have plagued Fifth Avenue. But the role of the store has to change, and channel these brands' storytelling and heritage, Abtan said. "They have to transform their stores," he said. President Donald Trump has resigned from his namesake company and more than 400 affiliated entities, a Trump Organization spokesperson told NBC News. In a statement, the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified, said Trump had transferred title, management and authority of the companies to a trust under the management of his sons Don and Eric and of Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization. More from NBC News: Inside Trump's Holdings: A Web of Potential Conflicts Experts Agree Trump's Ethics Plan Falls Short Trump to Lawmakers: 'Illegals' Cost Me the Popular Vote The spokesperson provided a resignation letter dated Jan. 19 and signed by Trump, along with a list of hundreds of companies that he had left. The news comes amid rising pressure on Trump to resolve his perceived conflicts of interest although the move will likely do little to persuade critics, including ethics lawyers for George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who have argued that he should liquidate his assets or place them in a blind trust. South Korea will stick to the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) on its territory even if China takes stronger retaliatory action against the perceived security threat, an analyst said Tuesday. "(Chinese retaliation) is happening and will further accelerate. It's not going to have an impact on South Korea's in a sense that they are not going to reconsider the decision to deploy Thaad," said North Asia director for the Economist Corporate Network, Florian Kohlbacher "It's not realistic for South Korea to stop going ahead with deployment in the end," he added to CNBC's The Rundown. China has already penalized South Korea for its decision to deploy the anti-ballistic missile system, including limiting Korean pop cultural imports and not offering certain subsidies to South Korean companies in China, he noted. Kohlbacher's comments come after acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn on Monday said despite Chinese hostility to the move, the deployment of the Thaad system cannot be delayed in the face of a growing North Korean nuclear missile threat. A day after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer vowed that the United States would stand up to China's military expansion in the South China Sea, officials here are firing back. "There might be a difference" of opinion regarding who has sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea, "but that's not for the United States" to get involved in, Lu Kang, a senior official with the Chinese foreign ministry, told NBC News in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. In other words, he was suggesting the U.S. should butt out of China's relationship with its neighbors. More from NBC News: Trump departs from U.S.-China policy, speaks with Taiwan's president Amid security questions, Yahoo says it's delaying merger with Verizon At least 19 dead after tornadoes, thunderstorms batter southeast But the new Trump administration has made it clear it has no intention of doing so. Rex Tillerson, Trump's pick for secretary of state who is widely expected to receive full Senate backing, said during his confirmation hearing that the U.S. would block China's access to the disputed Asian islands. "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed," Tillerson said. Chinese newspapers responded furiously. "China has enough determination and strength to make sure that his rabble rousing will not succeed. Unless Washington plans to wage a large-scale war in the South China Sea, any other approaches to prevent Chinese access to the islands will be foolish," wrote the state-run Global Times. The presidency of Donald Trump brings "the end of creeping socialism," billionaire investor Mario Gabelli told CNBC on Tuesday. Gabelli told "Squawk Box" he believes "fiscal stimulus" in the form of pro-growth policies from Trump will offset any drag from rising interest rates signaled by the Federal Reserve. "Inflation is coming back. So we like companies that have pricing power," Gabelli said. "Earnings are going to go up sharply over the next 12 months, pretax, even with higher costs for labor." Gabelli said tax cuts and rising wages will be more money in Americans' pocket, which should translate into increased consumer spending. "The real element of the Trump victory dealt with ... the end of creeping socialism and the notion that the American economy, even with all the flaws of capitalism, was the greatest place to keep capital on a global basis," the chairman and CEO of Gamco Investors said. Founded by Gabelli in 1976, Gamco has about $40 billion in assets under management. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned CEOs on Tuesday that the world's largest asset management firm will vote against incumbent directors if BlackRock clients' long-term interests are not protected. "These clients, the vast majority of whom are investing for long-term goals like retirement or a child's education, are the true owners of these companies," Fink said in his annual letter to S&P 500 CEOs. "As a fiduciary, I write on their behalf to advocate governance practices that BlackRock believes will maximize long-term value creation for their investments." When the long-term interests aren't considered, he added, "we do not hesitate to exercise our right to vote against incumbent directors or misaligned executive compensation." Fink said assumptions held only a year ago have been capsized by Brexit, trouble in the Middle East and by President Donald Trump. "At the root of many of these changes is a growing backlash against the impact globalization and technological change are having on many workers and communities," said Fink, a member of Trump's strategic and policy forum. Still, he said: "I remain a firm believer that the overall benefits of globalization have been significant and that global companies play a leading role in driving growth and prosperity for all." Now that Barack Obama is no longer the President of the United States, the "party game for horrible people" Cards Against Humanity figures he might be looking for a job. That works out well, since the Chicago-based company says it's in need of leadership. Cards Against Humanity has posted on Craigslist and, more notably, taken out a full-page ad in the Chicago Tribune for a CEO that lists very specific requirements. For example, "The ideal candidate will be excited to travel for work and be a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize." It also offers highly tailored perks, including an office with unlimited almonds. On his first full day in the Oval Office, President Trump gave face time to a group of major CEOs, and several had something in common: problems with China. The meeting Monday came after an early morning tweet from the President announcing it. Without any details, most of the press was left guessing as to the attendees. Before the meeting, a stream of 12 CEOs from manufacturing companies walked into the White House. @realDonaldTrump: Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security. Top executives coming in at 9:00 A.M. to talk manufacturing in America. Here's the final White House list of the CEOs that met Trump: "The scale of the challenge is pretty large," says Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, highlighting the technological and trade-related impediments to boosting manufacturing jobs in America. Five of the 12 CEOs lead companies that are facing serious headwinds from China: U.S. Steel, Arconic (formerly Alcoa), Whirlpool, Corning and Under Armour. "It's a great new dawn," Ed Rogers, chairman of the BGR group, a lobbying firm, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." U.S. Steel: The company has been hit by a China-driven steel glut, and last April it accused Chinese government hackers of stealing proprietary technology. For years, Sean Spicer waged a lonely war. Long before he sparred with reporters as White House press secretary for President Trump, Mr. Spicer turned his ire toward an unlikely foe: Dippin' Dots, a frozen treat described by their maker as "tiny beads of ice cream." In a series of posts on Twitter from 2010 and 2015, Mr. Spicer asserted that Dippin' Dots were not despite their slogan the ice cream of the future. More from New York Times: Trump is said to keep James Comey as F.B.I. director Trump revives Keystone Pipeline rejected by Obama Senate Democrats to unveil $1 trillion infrastructure plan One of the tweets was an article in The Wall Street Journal on the 2011 bankruptcy of the Dippin' Dots company that Mr. Spicer shared, as if to say, "See? I'm not alone. Other people think you're not the ice cream of the future, too." Sean Spicer tweet It seems likely, however, that Mr. Spicer eats the beaded ice cream at least on occasion: In 2015, he tweeted angrily at the company's corporate Twitter account to complain that a concession stand at Nationals Park in Washington had run out of vanilla-flavored Dippin' Dots. Sean Spicer tweet (2) Twitter users stumbled upon tweets from Mr. Spicer's private war against Dippin' Dots over the weekend after Mr. Spicer gathered reporters at the White House to complain about their reporting on the size of the crowd at Mr. Trump's inauguration. William Hughes, a writer for the website A.V. Club, wrote on Sunday that Saturday's news briefing was "a trial by fire" for Mr. Spicer. "Could he get through an entire five-minute speech to the press without slipping in an attack on his archenemy Dippin' Dots, The Ice Cream Of The Future?" Mr. Hughes asked. The answer was yes. But Dippin' Dots was not going to take any chances. On Monday, the company felt compelled to respond to Mr. Spicer's yearslong public dislike of its product, calling for a truce in an "Open Letter to Sean Spicer" on its website. "We've seen your tweets and would like to be friends rather than foes," wrote Scott Fischer, the company's chief executive. "After all, we believe in connecting the dots." Trump met Tuesday with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne to help convince them to open new auto plants built in the United States. "We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants many other plants," he told reporters at the start of the meeting with auto executives. "It's happening." Trump has vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. But he also has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico for shipment into the U.S. and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles. Trump got a polite reception from the auto executives Tuesday, though few details were provided on how he plans to follow through on his pledge. GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler have all announced recent new jobs and investments in the United States, but are also continuing to build cars in Mexico. Fields said automakers wanted to work with Trump to create a "renaissance in American manufacturing." "We're very encouraged by the president and the economic policies that he's forwarding," Fields told reporters, praising Trump's decision to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which Fields said did not address intervention in currency valuations by trading partners. "As an industry we're excited about working together with the president," he said. For more than a century the U.S. auto industry has been concentrated in the American Midwest, in part for historical reasons. Long before sophisticated global supply chains provided overnight delivery of parts and raw materials, American carmakers set up shop where their most important raw materials, steel and rubber were manufactured. Over the years, the assembly lines operated by major manufacturers spawned a network of smaller suppliers throughout the region, where many parts makers are still based. Does anyone become wiser when they are spending somebody else's money? Our current system of federal funding for transportation means that taxpayers in New York fund highways in Montana and drivers in Utah pay for New York's airports. If President Trump wants to seriously improve American infrastructure spending, he should champion a new federalism for transportation, in which infrastructure is funded by states, localities and especially the users themselves. Too often, public debates devolve into a simplistic argument of "more" infrastructure versus "less." In many ways, America's infrastructure is woefully deficient, but we have also wasted billions on bridges to nowhere and highways in the middle of nowhere. The right question is how to get better infrastructure. The best decisions are made when decision-makers bear the costs and reap the benefits. When companies invest, they agonize about whether future customers will pay enough to cover the production costs. Before Governor DeWitt Clinton built the Erie Canal, perhaps the most successful infrastructure investment in U.S. history, he had to convince a lot of skeptical New Yorkers. That's the kind of vetting that makes for good projects. Having lived through Boston's Big Dig, I am well aware of how the promise of federal funding skews local decision-making. Local leaders stop asking themselves whether the benefits cover the costs because it's somebody else's nickel. In 1987, the Boston Globe's Editorial Page wrote that "Massachusetts could celebrate congressional passage of the massive, multi-year highway program, over President Reagan's veto," which enabled the "Central Artery reconstruction that will bring relief to the worst traffic mess in New England." The federal government ultimately paid for only a small fraction of the Big Dig's $15 billion dollar plus price tag, but the project would have stalled without federal largesse. Similarly, Detroit would have never built its absurd People Mover Monorail without federal encouragement and funding. The push for People Movers came not from the people of Detroit, but from the Federal Urban Mass Transit Administration, which was eager in the 1970s to demonstrate the upsides of this Disneyesque innovation. Those upsides certainly never materialized in Detroit. The hyperloop is a concept many believe will challenge other forms of transportation, including airplanes, by moving people and cargo through tubes at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour. Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk came up with the idea for the hyperloop in 2013. Since then two firms, Hyperloop One and HTT have been racing to develop their own versions of the hyperloop. "This is where a huge part of our research will be done. The area is great because you have all the suppliers very close to you and talented people, it's a great opportunity," Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of HTT, told CNBC by phone. HTT says it will set up a research and development center in Toulouse, France which is home to aviation giant Airbus . Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) is looking to tap the expertise of aerospace experts as it works on developing the high speed transport system known as the hyperloop. While Hyperloop One says it will show a full-scale test run of its hyperloop system in the first half of this year, its competitor HTT told CNBC it is aiming to begin construction of the first full-scale passenger version this year, with development completed within three years. HTT has reached agreements with four government entities around the world to study developing a hyperloop, including in Slovakia and Abu Dhabi. It also plans to build a version of the hyperloop in central California, though no date has been set for contraction. The company is confident an R&D center in an aerospace hotbed will help it overcome the challenges of transporting people and goods in a tube at ultra-high speeds. Ahlborn told CNBC that it would employ 50 people in its new indoor and outdoor facility, as well as bringing on board individual experts and universities from the surrounding areas. HTT uses a "crowdsourcing business model. The project has over 10,000 people who have day jobs at places which include NASA and SpaceX. They all contribute ideas to the project in their free time in return for stock options in the company. The company recently raised over $100 million in equity and in-kind investment. This refers to companies who are physically making parts of the hyperloop in exchange for stock options, rather than investing via equity. Ahlborn would not comment on the exact valuation but said that the rising figure shows that people back the idea. "The valuation has reached a point where some people that joined the company and are working in exchange for stock options are millionaires on paper. It's validated the model," Ahlborn told CNBC. Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com. Common hacking cough outbreak cannot be treated with antibiotics Natural News has warned of the public health threat from antibiotic-resistant superbug bacteria, but drugs may be also ineffective against something more mundane such as a persistent or lingering cough, a.k.a. a hacking cough. In Wales and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, officials have evidently determined that trying to treat the virus that is apparently responsible for a hacking cough with antibiotics is a waste of time. Thousands of people in the U.K. currently are dealing with a nagging cough this winter, possibly even Queen Elizabeth. The Cardiff and Vale University Health Board contends that there is little a physician can do to alleviate the condition of a prolonged cough and recommends rest and drinking plenty of fluids. Antibiotics will be of no help for most normally healthy people, Dr. Anna Kuczynska remarked. Against this backdrop, the Board suggests that making a doctors appointment for a prolonged cough will just tie up waiting rooms unnecessarily. Adenovirus is believed to be the culprit in the hacking cough outbreak, according to an expert with whom the Independent of London consulted. John Oxford, professor of virology at the University of London, said the outbreak was likely to be caused by adenovirus the microbe behind conditions such as bronchitis, pneumonia and gastroenteritis. Adenovirus can survive at body temperature and can push down into the lungs, causing a chesty cough that can remain long after other symptoms have eased. Frequent hand washing and staying indoors as much as possible because cold air soon stirs up the cough reflux, can be beneficial, he noted. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that about one-third of all antibiotics prescribed for outpatients are unnecessary, much of it for what it describes as acute respiratory conditions such as colds, bronchitis, sore throats caused by viruses, and even some sinus and ear infections and that antibiotic resistance is a major problem across the world. The National Health Service, the government-run agency in the U.K., indicates that a hacking cough generally resolves itself within three weeks. Individuals should see a doctor if the condition continues beyond 21 days, according to the NHS, because it may be an indicator of a respiratory tract infection, allergies, or a more serious illness such as lung cancer or tuberculosis. Queen Elizabeth, 90, has been out of the public eye in the past few months, including passing on her attendance at the traditional Christmas Day church service, and some believe that she might be suffering from a hacking cough. A Buckingham Palace statement earlier this month announced that the Queen was recuperating from a heavy cold. Dr. Clare Gerada of the Royal College of General Practitioners told the London Telegraph that We are seeing an awful lot of people this winter with a virus that is more severe than a normal cold, almost a type of bronchitis. It is causing a hacking cough and if the Queen has got it, then she is probably exhausted from coughing. It may well be affecting her sleep as well, which would leave anyone feeling exhausted, never mind a 90-year-old. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton famously experienced several coughing fits on the campaign trail, and was later diagnosed with pneumonia after collapsing at the 9/11 ceremony, for which she received a course of antibiotics. Natural News has previously identified some home remedies that may help alleviate a cough, including a mixture of honey, lemon juice, coconut oil, ginger tea, black pepper and honey, thyme tea, and peppermint tea. Echinacea products and zinc supplements may also be helpful. Over-the-counter cough syrup is apparently minimally effective, however, and may be little more than a placebo, however, according to a recent study from the American Chemistry Society. Sources: NaturalNews.com Cardiffandvaleuhb.wales.nhs.uk Independent.co.uk CDC.gov Telegraph.co.uk Inquisitr.com Jack Bogle, founder and retired CEO of The Vanguard Group. Shannon Stapleton | Reuters With Donald Trump now in office as our nation's 45th president, CNBC asked legendary investor advocate Jack Bogle, the founder of the mutual fund giant Vanguard, what financial regulatory reforms he would like to see under the new administration. Known as the father of index investing, Bogle founded Vanguard Group in 1975. The investment management firm has more than $3.5 trillion in assets, according to its website. What defines his investor protection wish list? First of all, he said, "I'm not a real believer in government regulation, but the behavior of the financial industry generally has brought forth the proper governmental response," said Bogle, who has been a long-time critic of the industry's marketing practices, high fees and high executive compensation. Bogle's abstemious lifestyle is directly at odds with Trump's flamboyance, and he has talked about his worries about Trump's long-term impact on society and, therefore, markets. Nevertheless, here are the seven financial reforms he hopes the new administration will focus on in the months ahead. 1. Bring back Glass-Steagall. Bogle and President Donald Trump agree on this issue. Trump said during his campaign that he favored the law and in October said he favored a 21st-century version of the 1933 law that required separation of commercial and investment banking. Bogle said the upshot of allowing commercial banks to own investment banks is that underwriters the investment bankers doing deals from IPOs to high-leverage acquisitions can shift risk onto their parent companies' shareholders. "It's not a shock that people take a different view of risk when they are using other people's money," Bogle said. 2. Use principles-based regulation. Financial regulations, such as the Dodd-Frank Act, passed in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, tend to become more unwieldy over time. After a law is passed by Congress, federal regulators and industry lobbyists enter into years-long detailed negotiations that enable big companies to shift the laws long after the public's attention has moved on. It's been said that the rules implementing Dodd-Frank could fill 28 copies of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Democrats and Republicans are at odds over whether Dodd-Frank protects investors from another 2008 crisis. But Bogle favors a different approach altogether, known as principles-based regulation, which leaves the details vague and in effect means laws to be defined by the courts as they are challenged in different situations. Leaving financial regulation simple has its risks, too, of course: "We have a creative, lawyer-laden financial business," Bogle said. "Any mistakes, even a typo, they will drive a truck through it." But Bogle favors principles-based regulation on the whole. "In some areas there is too much detail. We should try to minimize the amount of small items that we regulate." watch now 3. Roll back the equity crowdfunding decision. The JOBS Act, passed in 2013, aimed at making capital more available to small businesses, and the SEC issued regulations to allow equity crowdfunding in 2015. The rules mean that companies can offer shares to small investors online. But Bogle said he worries the move will hurt small investors far more than it boosts the U.S. economy. "The possible harm to investors, who get caught in these schemes, is great," he said. "I don't like that trade-off. 4. Rewrite the 40 Act to embrace transparency and disclosure. The Investment Company Act of 1940, known as the 40 Act, is the backbone of U.S. financial regulation, governing mutual funds and closed-end funds. It clearly sets out the limits regarding filings, service charges, financial disclosure and the fiduciary duties of fund companies. Bogle said it should be rewritten to consider the now-immense size of the industry, which is dominated not by funds but by huge fund complexes and ETFs. It's easier for companies to market in misleading ways to consumers if they can shift their returns and expense ratios from one fund to another. A revision should also take into account the migration of the fund industry from a professional services business to primarily a marketing business. He acknowledged that regulating how funds market themselves is a "sensitive issue," but among the issues he has highlighted in the past are: Disclosing fees in terms of dollars instead of rates. Better disclosure about performance. "Consider risks, peers and appropriate market indexes. Look at cumulative returns over extended periods, and don't forget after-tax returns," he told a group of 40 Act lawyers. Disclosing fund turnover. 5. Embrace transparency and disclosure. Bogle has been beating an unpopular drum lately, raising questions about ETFs, an industry that has amassed about $3 trillion in assets. He said research he's done on the returns actually paid to investors in Vanguard's biggest funds, where mutual fund and ETF investors are invested in the same underlying fund, showed ETF investors' returns were 1.6 percent lower than mutual fund investors over the same time period. His explanation: turnover. The annual turnover of shares in a large ETF can be thousands of times its assets every year, compared with a mutual fund tracking the same index, where turnover is typically under 10 percent. Bogle said funds should have to disclose their turnover and the percent of a fund's income that goes to its expense ratio. "I think that disclosure is really important," Bogle said. "Most investors won't bother to read and understand, but the press will publicize it, and I think people will pay attention." 6. Fully implement the fiduciary standard across retirement and non-retirement accounts. Bogle has been a longtime advocate for the fiduciary standard, which simply says that brokers and advisors must act in the best interest of their clients. Many in the public-facing financial services industry, including financial advisors and stockbrokers, have been fighting the simple fiduciary standard for years. The Department of Labor and the SEC have both been issuing different sets of rulemaking to advance the standard on different kinds of accounts, with the DOL's rulings on retirement accounts currently set to go into effect this spring; it's unclear what would happen to either initiative in the Trump administration. The Department of Labor has estimated investors would save $17 billion if the standard were implemented on retirement advice alone, because brokers and advisors would not be allowed to sell overpriced funds. 7. Strengthen retirement via simple regulatory changes. Experts estimate the number of poor or near-poor retirees will triple to 25 million by 2050. There are three elements to the retirement system, Bogle pointed out, all that need some changes. Social Security can be fixed with relatively small changes, including increasing the wage base, fixing the cost of living adjustment, which is too generous, and probably raising the retirement age from its current low of 62. The pension system "is in tatters," he said. Companies have underfunded their pensions and states and municipalities have calculated future investment returns at too high a number, often as high as 7 percent or 8 percent. Another change favored by Bogle: limiting the fees on funds offered in 401(k)s. Surprisingly, however, Bogle said he's optimistic about the future. While he's long argued that financial services companies grow when they do well by investors, he has seen many companies take the opposite tack, seeking to make money off the backs of what he calls the "little guy." In that long fight, he said, investors eventually will gain the upper hand, no matter what regulations hold sway in Washington. "Investors are smarter and more informed all the time," he said. By Elizabeth MacBride, special to CNBC.com The LG G6 is expected to be launched on February 26 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. LG has sent out invites to journalists and industry professionals for the press conference. A source told CNBC, LG would release the phone in early March in key markets, but no firm date is in place yet. South Korean electronics giant LG is set to release its flagship LG G6 smartphone next month which will feature a display that takes up nearly 90 percent of the device's front surface area, according to a leaked image obtained by CNBC. An image showing the top half of the LG G6 set to be released on February 26 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The image was obtained by CNBC. CNBC understands that the LG G6 will be made with metal and glass and feature a 5.7-inch display, which takes up most of the smartphone reducing the size of the bezel. Smaller bezels appear to be an emerging trend. Last year, Xiaomi unveiled a concept phone called the Mi Mix which had a 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio, while numerous leaks around the upcoming Samsung S8 appear to show it having a very small bezels. LG declined to comment on the leak when contacted by CNBC. The South Korean firm will be hoping to fill the void left by its fiercest rival Samsung at the Mobile World Congress. Samsung usually unveils its flagship device at the trade show, but mobile chief Koh Dong-jin said earlier this week that the S8 would be delayed. Last year, LG took the wraps off a modular G5 smartphone which allowed users to change parts of the handset, but this didn't take off. LG will find it tough to take market share in what is becoming an increasingly tough smartphone market with Samsung, Huawei and Apple dominating the high-end of the space, and Chinese players like Oppo and Vivo grabbing share in the mid-tier. "Even if this is one of the best devices at MWC, I don't see it changing the fortunes for LG," Francisco Jeronimo, research director for European mobile devices at IDC, told CNBC by phone. "What's been difficult for LG is growing the brand awareness that drives the demand from consumers." Lockheed Martin is "very close to a deal" with the government for the 10th delivery lot of its F-35 stealth fighter, an aircraft that President Donald Trump has publicly criticized as being too expensive. CEO Marillyn Hewson spoke about the pending deal on the defense contractor's fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday, calling conversations she's had with the president "very productive." "President Trump recognizes that the F-35 is a very large program the largest program in the Department of Defense," Hewson said. "He wants to make the sure that the American taxpayer is getting the lowest possible cost on the program." Hewson maintained that these cost reductions would not be about "slashing our profit" or hurting the company's margins. Instead, she reiterated that Lockheed has been bringing down the cost of the F-35 aircraft, and is moving forward with a "sustainment cost reduction" that will reduce costs in the supply chain and manufacturing. Moreover, the company is working to take costs out of the materials used as the F-35 program moves along. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and founder of Facebook Inc., gestures as he speaks during a session at the Techonomy 2016 conference in Half Moon Bay, California, U.S., on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. Zuckerberg's response comes after weeks of speculation from the tech press and beyond, set off by a series of events that indicated a run might be in the cards, including a pledge to visit the approximately 30 US states he hadn't yet been to. "Will Mark Zuckerberg Be Our Next President?" Vanity Fair asked in January. "No," Zuckerberg wrote in response to a question about his intent to run. "I'm focused on building our community at Facebook and working on the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative," referring to the limited-liability corporation he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, founded in 2015 to advance human potential and promoting equality through major bets in education and science research. Zuckerberg did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about whether he'd explicitly ruled out a run. The clues were there. Zuckerberg, who had previously been described as an atheist, said over the holidays that he believes religion is important. He's touring the US asking "folks" about how they live. He hired a former White House photographer to take his Facebook pics. He included a clause about potentially serving for office into Facebook's stock restructuring deal, and he hired a former presidential campaign manager to help his quasi-charitable works. But as Zuckerberg indicated Tuesday, he's more interested in wielding influence from Menlo Park than Washington, DC. A source close to Zuckerberg told BuzzFeed News the 32-year-old CEO has privately denied it as well. "There's absolutely no truth to the idea that Mark is running for office and I've heard it directly from him," the source told BuzzFeed News. "Here's the thing: For Mark, Facebook is global community that already plays this huge part in the lives of billions of people around the world and plays an incredibly important role in shaping the base on the issues that matter." Zuckerberg is preparing for a political battle, the source was careful to emphasize, but as a private citizen focused on the goals he has already outlined through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. "There is absolutely a possibility that Mark may choose to play a stronger role in the political system and political debates," the source said. Zuckerberg has been "very transparent" in his advocacy for "greater equality and optimizing research that find cures for disease and solves the fundamental problems of our time, but I really don't see him stepping away from Facebook." Last week, Zuckerberg announced that he had poached Uber executive David Plouffe, a former campaign manager for Barack Obama, as CZI's president of policy and advocacy. He also tapped Ken Mehlman, George W. Bush's former campaign manager, in an advisory role. "You can make change, but in order for it to be sustainable, you need to build a movement to support it," Zuckerberg told The New York Times. Calling for a movement, backed by bipartisan political operatives, sounds awfully presidential, but Zuckerberg used the same language when he first launched CZI in December, 2015. The stock restructuring deal ties back to CZI as well. The changes were made after Zuckerberg and Chan donated 99 percent of their Facebook shares, then worth roughly $45 billion, to CZI. In order retain control while he gave away equity, Zuckerberg introduced a new class of stock and revised rules, including a concession that "serving in a government position or office," for two years would not constitute a voluntary resignation. Success in business doesn't necessarily guarantee success at the polls. . "First thing is these people should not be running for office," Bradley Tusk, an Uber advisor and investor, who also managed Michael Bloomberg's 2009 mayoral campaign, told BuzzFeed Newsduring a conversation about the increasingly political role played by Silicon Valley leaders. "It worked for Mike [Bloomberg] because of 9/11. If you look at the history of rich people from business or tech running for office, they almost always lose. That personality type is very different from running a company. The reality is if you're Mark, with your wealth and platform," you're better off as CEO of Facebook than President, he said. Tusk also pointed out that direct political engagement has not been as successful for Zuckerberg in the past. "Look at Fwd.us. How much money did those guys get taken for? And they accomplished nothing," he said, referring to Zuckerberg's ill-conceived immigration advocacy group. "They are better off using their strengths and their skills," than jumping directly into the political arena, Tusk said. The stage at the Dolby Theatre at the 2016 Oscars, using Swarovski crystals in a set designed by Derek McLane Nadja Swarovski, an executive board member of the Swarovski company, has spoken of how businesses must approach the digital age, its attitude to social responsibility and its involvement with the Academy Awards. Businesses must adapt quickly to the digital revolution, she told CNBC's Tania Bryer at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. "Swarovski has been part of the four industrial revolutions: water, electricity, electronics, digital. All of these have been challenges, but also fantastic opportunities, and I think the message to companies is that change is not necessarily negative but how quickly can you adapt and embrace that position," she said. Nadja Swarovski (left) with model Karlie Kloss at The Fashion Awards 2016 Mike Marsland | British Fashion Council She added that employees are a focus of the 121 year-old business, which makes crystals, optical equipment and tools. "We do see a discrepancy of labor costs in Asia versus Austria but we do feel very strongly about maintaining the labor in Austria, celebrating that craft the purity and integrity that is invested in the creation of that product. We absolutely believe that the spirit of these local Austrian factory workers that is entering the product that they are creating permeates out to the end consumer." Swarovski makes its crystals in Austria, India, Lichtenstein, Thailand, Vietnam, Serbia and the U.S., according to a 2016 online corporate factsheet. The company set up its Swarovski Foundation in 2013, supporting wellbeing, female empowerment, education and the environment, Nadja Swarovski said. "The foundation is not there to promote the business, the business is here to support the foundation, and the foundation gives and offers the cooperation and the possibility to reach other arenas beyond just commerce. "And we like to say money is not the only currency, we see benevolence as another currency, and certainly the benevolence one sees with service or with a deed or a meaningful, positive product, that's very powerful." The stage at the Dolby Theatre at the 2016 Oscars, using Swarovski crystals in a set designed by Derek McLane Scott Diussa | Courtesy of AMPAS Nadja Swarovski added that China and Europe are big markets for the company, and that there is potential in North America. "We still think there is an amazing potential in the North American market in particular, because we see such a tremendous change in the brand perception, North America has been quite different and that is something we want to embrace." Swarovski has worked on set design for the Academy Awards since 2007, and in 2016 decorated Hollywood's Dolby Theatre with more than 200,000 crystals. "Next month we will be once again adorning the Oscars stage with the Swarovski curtain and we will be launching a curated diamond collection for the red carpet So there are different areas of opportunities we see worldwide and it's really important for us to acknowledge and recognize the various different opportunities and react to them." The company's executive board is made up of five fifth-generation members of the Swarovski family and its 2015 revenue was 3.37 billion euros ($3.61 billion), according to a 2016 company factsheet on its website. watch now Is it a "lie" or an "alternative fact?" Rep. Tom Price, the man tapped by President Donald Trump to run the federal health department, refused to say Tuesday whether Trump lied about working with him on a replacement plan for Obamacare that will be introduced after he is confirmed for the new job. Price played coy about Trump's discussions with him or lack thereof when questioned at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee, which is reviewing his nomination as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. Trump has called for the Affordable Care Act to be repealed and quickly replaced with new health-care legislation. "President Trump said that he's working with you on a replacement plan for the ACA, which is nearly finished and will be revealed after your confirmation. Is that true?" asked Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. The most corrupt impostor of all time, George Soros, calls Trump a would-be dictator who is going to fail When talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh said in 2008, shortly after Barack Obama was elected president, that he hoped Obama failed, the perpetually angry Left exploded with rage. How dare Limbaugh say something like that about the president of the United States? Gasp! What a racist! What Limbaugh meant was that he hoped Obama failed to enact his far-Left political agenda, because the host believed that it was wrong for the country (and it turns out that most of it was). However, the hypocritical, angry Left is completely silent now that one of its icons, billionaire socialist George Soros, has made a similar statement about President Donald Trump, though his comment comes in a completely different context. More on that in a moment. (RELATED: Keep track of the Trump administration at WhiteHouse.news) Addressing globalists in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum recently, Soros spoke with Bloomberg correspondent Francine Lacqua. During the interview, he called Trump an imposter and con man and would-be dictator, Breitbart reported. Thats almost hysterical, considering that our recently-departed president was known to say that, as long as hes got a pen and a phone, he doesnt need Congress. That actually sounds dictatorial. But Soros wasnt done. Ive described him as an imposter [sic] and con man and would-be dictator, but he is only a would-be dictator. The Constitution and institutions of the United States are strong enough, the division of power is in operation. He would be a dictator if he could get away with it. But he wont be able to. Again, see comments on dictator above. As for Trump, he has surrounded himself with genuine constitutionalists as well as men who have actually put their lives on the line to protect and defend it. So theres that. When asked to assess how a Trump administration will affect global markets, Soros was uncertain though he himself has already lost $1 billion since Election Day. It is impossible to predict exactly how Trump is going to act because he hasnt actually thought it through, Soros opined. He didnt expect to win. Except that his son, Eric, had this talk with his father before the billionaire real estate mogul ever threw his hat into the ring; he said he knew that his father wouldnt get into the race to lose it. Soros continued: He was engaged in building his brand and improving it by his success in attracting crowds. It is really only when he got elected that he started seriously to think about what he is going to do. I personally am convinced that he is going to fail, not because of people like me who would like him to fail, but because the ideas that guide him are inherently self-contradictory. And the contradictions are actually already embodied by his advisors. First of all, crowds flocked to see Trump at his campaign events of their own free will; he didnt force anyone. In fact, at most of them, he had to turn people away something that never happened at a Clinton event. Secondly, Trumps brand was not what he was offering the American people; he was selling a political, social and economic vision that the vast majority of Americans outside of California agreed with. Lastly, if Trump fails, then our country fails and thats precisely what Soros wants. Through his various non-governmental organizations, Soros has been inciting riots and violence around the country, bankrolling groups and paying protesters to target cops, destroy private property and generally make the country as ungovernable as possible. (RELATED: What has the angry Left done lately to civil society? Find out at Collapse.news) So, suffice it to say that this is a man who ought not to be attending globalist economic events in Switzerland; he ought to be standing trial and fighting for his own freedom. And with any luck, maybe the incoming Trump administration will do what Soros own home country of Hungary is doing: put him out of business, politically speaking. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: Bugout.news Breitbart.com CBSNews.com TheNationalSentinel.com There is much chatter in Washington, D.C., about Social Security going "bankrupt" in the next decade. That's a dangerous myth that needs to be cleared up. While it's true that without remedial action the reserves in the Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted by 2034, the program could still pay beneficiaries 79 percent of their earned benefits out of ongoing payroll revenues an unacceptable reduction, but hardly bankruptcy. No doubt we need to take reasonable steps to improve the future solvency of Social Security. But Congress should not force those who can least afford it seniors and the disabled and their families to bear most of the burden. President Donald Trump named Ajit Pai as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Monday. Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, has told CNBC that he opposes net neutrality policies that reclassify broadband as a public utility. "I think why people are freaking out is because what we all hope for those of us that invest in technology is for the same opportunity for the next Google and the next Netflix ," Wheeler said. "So that in the next 20 years, all of those companies that are upstarts have the same access, and the same ability to reach the end users." If the new administration rolls back net neutrallity protections, technology investors worry that start-ups will not be treated equally, Ellie Wheeler, partner at venture capital firm Greycroft Partners, told CNBC's " Squawk Alley " on Tuesday. Net neutrality is the concept that Internet providers can't discriminate between, or charge more for, more intensive types of content, such as streaming. Proponents have argued that the government should protect consumers and content creators, like Netflix, by regulating the internet similarly to a utility. But opponents to the net neutrality standards have called the protections government overreach. Pai is widely expected to roll back regulations and let the companies decide what to charge. He did not expand on his ambitions to remove regulations on Monday. He's told CNBC that net neutrality "is going to make for slower broadband for Americans, will increase their internet bills, and ultimately will reduce competition and innovation in the broadband marketplace." "Ajit has been very anti-regulation, pro-free markets, particularly about net neutrality, Title II, a lot of the issues that are likely to be addressed under a new FCC and a Republican president, Republican Congress," Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei said in a "Squawk Box" interview on Tuesday. "I think those are all very bullish for cable." But in terms of innovation, Wheeler said the opposite it may make it harder for new companies, that can't afford to pay more for distribution, to compete. "The big concern, theoretically, is that taking this away, and taking these protections away, make it that much harder to for the next wave of innovation," Wheeler said. CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Jacob Pramuk and The Associated Press contributed to this report. watch now President Donald Trump is hitting the gas on his bid to have more vehicles built in the U.S. Ahead of Tuesday's meeting with the CEOs of General Motors , Ford and Fiat Chrysler , Trump tweeted that he wants "new plants to be built here for cars sold here!" He reiterated that determination during the morning's meeting, promising to make it more economical for automakers to build vehicles in the U.S. As the president puts pressure on automakers to bring jobs back to the U.S., here are two numbers that are likely gnawing at him. Auto imports are near a record high Last year, Americans bought 17.55 million new vehicles and 43 percent of them were imported. That's more than 7.5 million cars, trucks, SUVs and minivans coming in from around the world. The two biggest countries shipping vehicles to the U.S. were Mexico, at 11 percent, and Canada, at 10 percent. Detroit's Big Three automakers alone brought in 2.25 million vehicles that were eventually sold to Americans. Trump has repeatedly said that automakers can and should be building those vehicles in the U.S. On Tuesday, he told GM's Mary Barra, Ford's Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler's Sergio Marchionne that he would make operating in the U.S. more attractive for them, by cutting regulations and taxes. "We just had a great conversation with the president, and he is very focused on the policies that will grow investment, jobs, here in America and American industry and of course in the automotive industry," Fields said after the meeting. Ford factory in Michigan Getty Images Still, don't expect auto CEOs to immediately announce multibillion-dollar investments to bring production back from Mexico. That's because the cost of building a vehicle there is far cheaper. Take the Ford Fusion, a midsize sedan the automaker builds in Mexico. The Center for Automotive Research estimates Ford can manufacture that car for approximately $1,200 less in Mexico than in the U.S. Of course, the economics could change if Trump moves forward with plans to tax imports by 35 percent. Auto jobs are still below recession levels When the U.S. auto industry almost collapsed in 2009, the Big Three automakers cut hundreds of thousands of jobs and closed several assembly plants. By June 2009, U.S. auto manufacturing jobs bottomed out at 623,500, according the U.S. Department of Labor. Since then, as demand has rebounded, automakers and suppliers have hired more than 300,000 workers. That's welcome news in states like Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, where the auto industry supplies hundreds of thousands of jobs. Still, the number of people working in the industry is well below the 1.1 million it employed in January 2006. Trump has said more plants will lead to more blue-collar jobs. "We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants many other plants," Trump told reporters Tuesday. "It's happening." So far, the United Auto Workers has not commented on the president's push. But there's no doubt union leaders would love to see another GM, Ford or Fiat Chrysler plant where they could add hundreds of new members. Reuters contributed to this report. Investors looked at the U.K.'s Supreme Court this Tuesday morning waiting for clarity on how messy the start of Brexit negotiations could be. However, the focus should be targeted further south. Italian judges are to announce Tuesday or Wednesday their opinion on a proposal to update the country's electoral system. Their decision has a direct impact on how long the current political instability in Italy will drag on. "Although the main market focus today is on the United Kingdom as far as court decisions are concerned, an ongoing constitutional court hearing in Italy has the potential to have a much greater impact on the future wellbeing of the EU," Alastair Newton, co-founder and director of Alavan, said in a note. "Investors would therefore do well to keep a very careful eye on Italy and not allow themselves to be distracted totally by the ongoing election battles in France and The Netherlands, let alone Brexit," Newton added. The proposals to update the Italian electoral system aim mainly to make clearer the winner in general elections. President Sergio Mattarella wants the electoral law approved before he calls a snap election. Italy is currently being governed by an interim government after former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi resigned after losing a referendum vote last December. Analysts believe that if the court votes in favor of the changes, Italian voters could head to the polls as early as this summer. "With anti-establishment sentiment and euroscepticism currently strong, this could result in a government committed to hold a referendum on Italy's membership of the euro zone," Newton added. COLUMBUS Platte County may join a program that supports the livestock industry. The Platte County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday to hold a public hearing 10 a.m. March 7 to move forward with designating Platte as a Nebraska Livestock Friendly County. A public hearing is part of the process to receive the designation through the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. There are 41 counties in the state that currently have the designation. This is not the first time the proposal has been before the local board. It was also an item on a county board meeting agenda in June 2015, but the supervisors took no action at that time. It resurfaced at the request of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce. Chamber President K.C. Belitz said a member of the group's agribusiness committee questioned why the designation isn't in place since Platte County is seemingly very friendly to agricultural production, including livestock. Our committee felt the positive publicity that comes from the designation was worth the effort, and they did offer to assist Platte County with any necessary tasks to achieve the designation from the state, Belitz said. The benefits that come with the designation can vary. It depends on what your goals are here as a county in terms of economic growth, Steve Martin, promotion coordinator with the Department of Agriculture, told the board. Some counties are so small the designation is merely a tip of the cap to livestock producers who are already part of the local economy, he said. Heavily populated counties are motivated to be livestock friendly to draw in new businesses. Martin said the designation tells livestock producers and related companies a county is open for business. You could probably say that about every county in the state, that they are open for business, but its taking that extra step to make that statement that we are out there. We are saying we want more business, we are saying we are interested and want more in our community, he said. Some board members said Platte County is already welcoming to producers without the designation. Because we are one of the very few counties in Nebraska that does not have zoning, were probably one of the friendliest livestock friendly counties there are, said Supervisor Tom Martens. Supervisor Jerry Micek agreed, which is why he voted against the motion for the public hearing. He also questioned whether it could be a problem if the county implements zoning in the future. Micek, Martens and Supervisor Bob Lloyd, who also said he sees no need to pursue the designation, voted against scheduling a public hearing. The motion passed with the support of the other four board members, Jerry Engdahl, Jim Scow, Ron Pfeifer and Hollie Olk. This is all about economic growth and this is why the chamber is asking about it, Olk said, adding that the designation is another chip on the table that could bring a new business to the county. The board also scheduled a public hearing for the one- and six-year road plans for 10-11 a.m. Feb. 21. By easing the approval process for infrastructure programs, President Donald Trump may have resurrected a number of other oil and gas projects that were languishing. Trump signed executive orders Tuesday advancing both the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline, based on approvals. Trump separately signed an order requiring pipeline builders to use American steel. Additionally, he signed orders expediting environmental review and approval process for high-priority infrastructure projects. "There's other executive orders that speed up the environmental review process, and I believe that will open up the door to these other stalled projects going through," said Daniel Clifton, head of policy research at Strategas. President Donald Trump is betting on the wrong strategy to reduce the U.S. current account deficit when threatening foreign firms with a border tax, an analyst told CNBC on Tuesday. "My best advice to the U.S. administration is if you want to have a smaller current account deficit improve your products and your exports. That's the best way. It's not by punishing foreign exporters," Marcel Fratzscher, president at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), told CNBC on Tuesday. President Trump has threatened to impose a border tax as high as 35 percent on cars built outside the U.S. The German carmaker BMW was among the threatened companies. However, German officials said that its industry should not be worried. "We are a highly successful, technologically advanced export nation with many hard-working people and smart companies," Sigmar Gabriel, the German vice chancellor, told German press on Tuesday. He added that at the moment German exports to the U.S. total only 10 percent of their entire output, while 60 percent goes to other European countries, Reuters reported. watch now The U.K. government must win a vote in parliament before it can start the Brexit process, the country's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The Supreme Court ruled against government's prerogative powers with a majority of eight to three. Already sterling has slightly rebounded after trading lower this morning ahead of the result. watch now Lord Justice Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court who presented the ruling, said that the majority of Justices were agreed that, according to the 1972 Act, which legislated for Britain's access to the EU, government must seek the approval of parliament before altering independent EU law by triggering Article 50, the piece of European law that allows a country to leave the European Union. "When the U.K. withdraws from EU treaties, a source of UK law will be cut off. Further, certain rights enjoyed by UK citizens will be changed. Therefore, the government cannot trigger Article 50 without government authorizing that course," Neuberger said. Neuberger said the referendum was of "great political significance" but criticized the lack of planning by the government ahead of the shock outcome on June 24. "The act of parliament which established (the referendum) did not say what should happen as a result; so any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. constitution - namely, by an Act of Parliament. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries." watch now Today's ruling also saw the Supreme Court's eleven Justices unanimously rule that U.K. ministers are not legally compelled to consult devolved legislators before triggering Article 50, arguing that relations with the EU are a matter for the U.K. government. Lord Justice Neuberger said: "The devolution statutes were enacted on the assumption that the U.K would be a member of the EU, but they do not require it." The outcome brings an element of certainty to Britain's Brexit negotiations and resolves a legal battle that has hung heavy over Theresa May's government since the latter half of last year. The case was referred to the Supreme Court after the government appealed a High Court ruling in favor of a legal challenge led by investment manager Gina Miller. Miller's People's Challenge campaign argued that British government could not invoke Article 50 without first seeking approval from parliament. "This ruling today means that members of parliament we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations - negotiations that will frame our place in the world and all our destinies to come," said Miller. Lord Chancellor Elizabeth Truss added: "Our independent judiciary is the cornerstone of the rule of law and is vital to our constitution and our freedoms. The reputation of our judiciary is unrivaled the world over, and our Supreme Court justices are people of integrity and impartiality." The decision comes more than six weeks after the Supreme Court heard the case in December 2016. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. Further Brexit delays Britain's Brexit minister has revealed that the government will introduce legislation for exiting the E.U. within the "coming days." David Davis, the U.K.'s secretary of state for exiting the European Union, told the House of Commons that the government would set out a "straightforward bill to give effect to the decision of the (British) people." Britain voted to leave the E.U. on June 23, 2016. Davis' comments come hours after the U.K.'s Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, ruled that the government must seek approval from parliament before invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty triggering its exit from the E.U. Davis said the government today agreed with the U.K. Supreme Court that the government did not have the prerogative power to trigger Article 50 without the consent of the rest of parliament. However, he added that the timetable for invoking Article 50 by the end of March 2017 still stands. Keir Starmer, Labour MP and shadow Brexit secretary, responded to Davis by saying that today was a "good day for parliamentary sovereignty" and the Labour party would scrutinize the bill to ensure the best outcome for the U.K. Following this morning's result, Jeremy Wright, attorney general for England and Wales, said the government was "disappointed with the outcome." However, he praised the U.K.'s legal system, saying "we have the good fortune to live in a country where everyone even government is subject to the rule of law, so the government will comply with the judgment of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it." White House spokesman Sean Spicer could not offer specific evidence Tuesday to support President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated claim that he lost the popular vote because millions of people voted illegally. The president has repeatedly defended his popular vote loss since the November contest and did so again in a Monday meeting with congressional leaders, according to NBC News. Trump spent about 10 minutes of the bipartisan meeting talking about how 3 million to 5 million "illegals" voted, costing him the popular vote. Trump has presented no specific evidence to back that claim, and state election officials have said they did not see widespread voter fraud. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday that he has seen "no evidence" to back Trump's argument. Spicer said Tuesday that Trump has long held that belief "based on studies and information he has." When pressed more than once on Trump's evidence, he cited a 2008 Pew study that detailed millions of out-of-date voter registrations due to people dying or moving out of a state. However, the Pew study did not say that the registration errors led to illegal voting. Spicer said that the Trump administration will "maybe" consider an investigation into illegal voting allegations. Spicer added that Trump is "very comfortable with his win" despite his repeated justifications for his popular vote loss. Trump's unsubstantiated voter fraud arguments have led to concerns that he will use them to justify laws that restrict ballot access. Chinese electronics maker Xiaomi said it sold 250,000 of its Redmi Note 4 handsets in 10 minutes in India, it said on Tuesday, calling it the "biggest smartphone sale in the history" of the country. With your powers combined, #RedmiNote4 achieved an amazing feat in record time! Thank you for your love & support, hit RT NOW! The numbers will please the $45 billion start-up after it faced a tough year in 2016. It has seen growth slow in its domestic market and is gearing up to losing Hugo Barra, the executive they poached from Google in 2013, who heads up Xiaomi's international expansion. Xiaomi's Redmi Note 4 launched last week in India and has a 5.5-inch screen, metal body and a 13-megapixel camera. It's the follow on from the Redmi Note 3 which sold 3.6 million units in India last year, according to Barra. The figure of 250,000 unit sales of the Redmi Note 4 came during a flash sale on Xiaomi's own website and e-commerce platform Flipkart. The Chinese upstart is desperate to find growth in new markets like India because having once been the number one vendor in China, Xiaomi has seen its market share eaten away by the likes of Huawei in the high-end, and Oppo and Vivo in the mid-to-low-segment. Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun admitted recently that the company had grown "too fast". In India however, Xiaomi has been growing strong and has around 9 percent market share, according to Counterpoint Research. India is Xiaomi's biggest market outside of China and last year generated $1 billion in annual revenue. COLUMBUS A district court judge told a 25-year-old Ewing man where he can expect to find himself in the future if he doesn't change his criminal ways standing before the bench awaiting sentencing. The cross you carry is alcoholism, Platte County District Court Judge Robert Steinke told defendant Dustin Fox, and if you continue to drink youll be where you are today dressed in orange and facing sentencing for felonies. The judge then sentenced Fox to up to three years in prison for his convictions on burglary and theft charges in connection with a break-in at 5 Fers Xpress in Lindsay last July, as well as a stalking charge from an unrelated incident. A handful of the defendants family and friends got up and filed out of the courtroom after Steinke told Fox he had the tools to make some changes in his life. The judge gave the defendant credit for 11 days already served in the case. The father of one child with another on the way was convicted of stealing alcohol, cigarettes and food in the break-in. Steinke said the defendants lengthy criminal past made him a poor candidate for probation. Fox had previous convictions for theft-shoplifting, driving under the influence, third-degree assault, third-degree domestic abuse and child abuse, Steinke said. The defendant also has an outstanding arrest warrant from Madison County for a similar domestic assault charge, the judge said. Your life has spiraled out of control, Steinke said. If sentenced to probation, youre a substantial risk to commit more crimes. Detention Center The inmate count at the Platte County Detention Facility Monday was 77, with 47 from Platte County and 30 from out of county. Police Dec. 28 5:38 p.m. At 1559 39th Ave., Shawn Howell, 50, 20 Lakeshore Drive, No. 7, was cited for driving under suspension. Jan. 15 12:41 a.m. At the intersection of 23rd Street and 43rd Avenue, Eric Johnson, 41, 4418 15th St., was cited for failure to signal and jailed for driving under the influence. Jan. 18 4:33 p.m. In Columbus, Gerry Perzee, 32, 2621 Seventh St., was cited for a traffic signal violation. Jan. 19 12:39 a.m. At the intersection of 26th Avenue and 23rd Street, Santos Gomez, 54, Carriage House Estates, No. 144, was cited for no operators license. Jan. 20 1:12 a.m. Theft at Subway, 3019 23rd St., Suite A, miscellaneous items stolen from vehicle, no loss amount. Jan. 21 8:44 a.m. Criminal mischief at Southside Suds, 2503 11th St., window damaged, no loss amount. Sheriff Jan. 20 12:48 p.m. Wanted person at the Platte County Detention Facility, 1125 E. 17th St., Nicole Brewer of Columbus jailed on a Platte County warrant. 6:30 p.m. Wanted person at the county jail, Brooke Thege of David City, turned self in on a Plate County warrant. Jan. 21 2:33 p.m. Criminal mischief at 6311 S. 16th St., $25 loss. 10:30 p.m. Domestic dispute at 5245 SE 16th St., No. 1, Jennifer Wood of Columbus jailed for driving under suspension and cited for possession of marijuana-less than one ounce and possession of drug paraphernalia. Jan. 22 9:43 a.m. Wanted person at the county jail, Carlos Salgado jailed on a Platte County warrant. Fire Jan. 19 8:49 a.m. In the 2300 block of Ninth Street, medical. 9:45 a.m. In the 2800 block of 40th Avenue, medical. 12:39 p.m. In the 2600 block of East 30th Avenue, medical. 2:15 p.m. In the 3300 block of 20th Street, medical. 3:12 p.m. In the 100 block of North Road Heritage House, medical. 7 p.m. In the 200 block of 10th Avenue, medical. 9:45 p.m. In the 5200 block of Southeast 16th Street, medical. Jan. 21 9:17 a.m. In the 4100 block of Sunset Drive, medical. 10:15 a.m. In the 3000 block of 39th Avenue, medical. 12:26 p.m. In the 3800 block of East 21st Avenue, medical. 2:14 p.m. In the 4500 block of 63rd Street, medical. 3:08 p.m. Accident in the 2600 block of 17th Street. 3:47 p.m. In the 2800 block of 40th Avenue, medical. 4:37 p.m. In the 3700 block of Lakeview Lane, medical. Jan. 22 6:50 a.m. In the 1100 block of 15th Street, medical. 12:49 p.m. In the 100 block of Third Avenue, medical. 7:24 p.m. In the 500 block of 17th Avenue, medical. Jan. 23 7:10 a.m. In the 3400 block of 21st Avenue, medical. Types of obituaries The Missourian publishes two types of obituaries family obituaries and life stories. A family obituary is the version submitted by a funeral home or family. Please see the submission form for details on cost and deadlines. Family obituaries A life story is a closer look at a person's life and involves a reporter contacting family and friends. Life stories are based on newsworthiness and consent of the family. Life stories. Kwiecinski: Why Mizzou basketball should be fun to watch in 2022-23 WASHINGTON Karin Phillips had never felt moved enough to take part in a political protest. That changed on Saturday. The 70-year-old from Columbus found herself among the more than 1 million people who took part in the Womens March on Washington, held in the nations capital. Ive never been politically activated by anything, but some of the current issues with health care, Planned Parenthood and immigration, those issues inspired me. I want to get active, Phillips said Monday afternoon after returning home from the trip. The march in Washington, D.C., was one of many in America and across the globe the day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the countrys 45th president. Phillips, who is a hairstylist, said she attended the event to voice her concerns on issues she believes will be marginalized, not to protest Trump's presidency. She has a message for the nations leaders. It was displayed on a sign she carried at the march: Im watching you. Phillips attended the march with a group of friends, including Mickie Senften French, a 1983 Columbus High School graduate and former coordinator of the Columbus Downtown Business Association. Senften French, who lives in Chicago now, said the march was about being a positive voice for women worldwide. She said she was floored to see how many people showed up in D.C. and the number of rallies held elsewhere. Her 10-year-old daughter Claire attended a march in Chicago and her mother went to the event in Omaha. The march was a grassroots effort with a mission to send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that womens rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us," according to the events website. Senften French said the event was about many issues, including immigration and education, which are important to her. Also, it sent a message encouraging more women to get involved in politics. Melinda Velecela, who works at Educational Service Unit 7 in Columbus and previously taught English as a second language at Columbus High School, also went to the march. She drove to Washington, D.C., with her two daughters, ages 12 and 14. Velecela took her children to the march so they could be part of history and show them a demonstration of democratic rights. Though the Womens March was planned as a new administration took over the nations highest office, Velecela said protesting Trump wasnt the main purpose. I think a lot of people did show up because they didnt like how he ran his campaign or policies he wants to enact, but it started well before him. The campaign broke the camels back, she said. Velecela decided to attend the march to combat the hateful speech she heard throughout the presidential campaign. She has heard both positive and negative responses to the protest, and said the march is just the first step. Whether or not it makes a difference is what people do now, Velecela said, adding that the Civil Rights Movement wasnt just one march or boycott. It cant be a one-shot thing. She is motivated to be more politically active and plans to contact elected officials to let them know her thoughts. Senften French, who works in marketing and communications, said she has pledged to know more about local politicians, become educated on issues and encourage more women to run for elected office. She hopes the voices of those at the march were heard. What I would like to hear from our leaders is, I hear you. I understand there are areas where we dont connect, but Id like to hear more from you as your leader. I respect your right to peacefully protest. That is what I hope to hear, she said. Phillips described the march as empowering and invigorating. She hopes Americans can find common ground on issues. The most important thing I learned is everyone has different ideas, but we all want to see our country work. I suspect that being in the middle of America we might not be exposed to social issues that other parts of the country are exposed to, she said. "Emergency" Bill Would Reverse Ballot Measure Approved Last Fall South Dakota voters approved a comprehensive ballot measure last fall to make government more accountable. They agreed to create an independent ethics commission for the state legislature and a citizen-funded elections program, impose stronger campaign contribution limits, rein in the power of special interest lobbyists, and increase disclosure of political spending. Now, Republican legislators are trying to undo what the voters want done. On Monday, state lawmakers took the first steps to repeal the initiative. Theyre even considering declaring a legislative emergency to move the repeal bill through the legislature quickly, a maneuver which would effectively block any chance for voters to reinstate the law on the ballot. Paul Blumenthal at The Huffington Post explains why repealing the initiative under emergency rules would shut down any effort to revive the law: Normally in South Dakota, if the legislature repeals a citizen-backed initiative, the voters can propose a referendum to reverse the repeal. But if its eliminated under emergency rules, the citizens cant reverse that repeal. To adopt those emergency rules, the legislature needs a two-thirds majority, which Republicans provided. Make no mistake, this action is another example of lawmakers and politicians trying to hold onto to their own power by blocking efforts to open our democracy for everyone to participate. Its the exact type of business-as-usual and incumbent-protection behavior that has alienated millions of voters of both parties. South Dakota Republicans need to stop playing these games. Otherwise, voters should hold them accountable in the next election. Today, Common Cause activists in a dozen states are delivering petitions urging their U.S. Senators to vote against the nomination of Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Jeff Sessions III (R-AL) to serve as U.S. Attorney General. For decades, Sen. Sessions has been an outspoken critic of the Voting Rights Act, one of the nations most critical pieces of civil and voting rights legislation, which paved the way for an inclusive democracy. As Attorney General, Sessions would be charged with deciding how and when to enforce the Voting Rights Act, which he has repeatedly condemned as an intrusive piece of legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote today to send the nomination forward to a vote of the full Senate in the coming weeks. Senator Sessions represents a very serious threat to the Voting Rights Act and to the ability of millions of Americans to cast their ballots on Election Day, said Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn. The right to vote is a touchstone of our democracy and we want the Senators we are contacting today to be fully aware that their constituents are watching closely to see where they come down on this vote. Petitions are being delivered today to district offices of Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John McCain (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Tom Carper (D-DE), Chris Coons (D-DE), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Jon Tester (D-MT), Dean Heller (R-NV), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Joe Manchin (D-WV). Due to a winter storm, petitions will be delivered tomorrow in the Lewiston and Augusta offices of Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). The 596,327 signatures on the petitions were gathered by Common Cause, MoveOn.org, the NAACP, People Demanding Action, NARAL, People for the American Way and Daily Kos. On only a handful of occasions in its 46-year history has Common Cause opposed presidential nominees. Sen. Sessions nomination was added to that short list based on his record and his longtime criticism of many of the laws he would be charged with enforcing as Attorney General. Common Cause previously opposed the nominations of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court, John Tower as Secretary of Defense and Ed Meese as U.S. Attorney General. The nominations of Bork and Tower were rejected by the U.S. Senate. Meese was confirmed and served as Attorney General but resigned from office over his role in a defense contracting scandal. In 1986, Sessions nomination to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama was rejected by a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate. After listening to extensive testimony about controversial statements made and actions taken by Sessions, the Judiciary Committee was unable to muster enough votes to even pass the nomination on to the full Senate without recommendation. For his current nomination, Sen. Sessions attempted to create for himself a civil rights record that simply does not exist. As three former DOJ attorneys noted in a recent op-ed, Sen. Sessions completed no substantive work on at least three of the four cases he claimed in his recent questionnaire as representing his most significant civil rights cases. Tellingly, Sen. Sessions failed to include these same cases in his questionnaire for his unsuccessful 1986 nomination to a federal judgeship. For a full schedule of petition deliveries, click here. See photos and videos from the petition deliveries at the Common Cause Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/CommonCause Stratoscale is a small company with a very big ambition: to turn your data center into an Amazon Web Services (AWS) region. Forget OpenStack, forget VMware. Stratoscale aims to help IT shops get beyond device-level virtualization and deliver the same app-friendly building blocks AWS provides. In the process, the company promises to cut the cost of operating data centers by more than 80 percent. Founder and CEO Ariel Maislos, who cashed in big in selling an earlier flash memory startup to Apple, says CIOs dont want to build out bigger VMware-based data centers. Instead, they want to build Amazon-like data centers, and Stratoscale has the best solution for those hybrid public/private AWS ambitions. In this installment of the IDG CEO Interview Series, Maislos spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about why longtime VMware customers would gamble on his emerging company and exactly what it means to turn your data center into an AWS region using what is essentially Stratoscales data center operating system. Maislos also talked about why OpenStack which he dubbed a nightmare isnt the answer for the dynamic data center. IDGE: Why was Stratoscale founded? What problem did you set out to solve? Maislos: I founded the company because I was bored, and I needed something to do, and its the genesis of a good story. Im an entrepreneur. I had a few startups. I was very fortunate in my past life and [had] a very large, successful business. Before Stratoscale I founded a company called Anobit, which I ended up selling to Apple and setting up Apples flash storage development team. I headed that for a year before leaving Apple. At the time, Anobit was developing flash storage for enterprise, as well as flash for embedded technologies, the iPhone, and such. Obviously, at Apple we worked more closely on the device side and not on the enterprise side, but I was always curious about data center. The data center to me seemed like an amazing piece of technology: very complex, very large, a lot of moving parts, fascinating. Google Voice just got its first major update in five years -- and now my head hurts. Don't get me wrong: As an early adopter and long-time user of Google Voice, there's a part of me that's thrilled to see the abandoned-seeming service finally getting some fresh love. But then I step back and think about the bigger picture of Google's messaging situation -- and, well, I'm running out of Advil. The best way to illustrate my exasperation, I think, is to try to explain the current state of Google's messaging services as I would to a relatively "normal" Android user. For the purposes of this little roleplay, I'm going to pretend I'm explaining it to my brother -- someone who is tech-savvy enough to get by but doesn't care about tech news, someone who's tried and used a lot of Google services but gets frustrated with things being overly complicated, and someone who's on the brink of ordering himself a new Pixel phone. [To comment on this story, visit JR's Google+ page.] (If you need further visual, just picture me talking with a slightly less good-looking version of myself.) (S, if you're reading this: Sorry 'bout that.) (Okay -- not really.) Think how that conversation might go: So, yeah -- Google has a bunch of different messaging apps right now. Your phone probably came with two. Messenger is the easiest one to use if you just wanna do basic texting from your phone and don't care about syncing up with a computer or anything. Then there's Hangouts, which is like an IM service. That's what you use now, I think, right? You can send instant messages that don't count as texts, you know -- I mean, if the person you're chatting with also uses Hangouts -- and you can make video and voice calls from it, too, just using regular data. Well, you'll have to download a separate app for the voice call part of that to work, but no big deal. Oh, and it can handle all your normal SMS texting, too, and all your messages are always synced up everywhere, so you can send and receive texts or IM messages from a computer if you want. It's even built into Gmail on the web. For a long time, it was supposed to be the "one universal messaging app to rule them all," which makes a lot of sense. But Google is kinda trying to make Hangouts more for enterprises than regular consumers right now, so it's getting less attention than it used to. See, Google also has this newer IM app called Allo that it really wants regular users to use. It might come on your phone, too, actually. It has a bunch of features for chatting with other people who use the app -- like you can call up Google's Assistant from within it and get all sorts of info while you're in the middle of a chat, which is kinda neat, I guess. But it doesn't do regular texting, and you can only use it from that one phone and nowhere else. And, I mean, no one else really uses it, so it's kinda pointless. Oh, that reminds me: There's also this other new app called Duo for video calls. It'll probably be on your phone, too, come to think of it. I mean, it essentially does what Hangouts does as far as video calls go, but it's a totally separate thing and so it'll only work with people who are also on it. But if you want to make video calls and know anyone else who's actually on it, you could try it, I guess. You almost definitely don't know anyone else who's on it, though. The new stuff that came out this week? Oh, right. Okay, so that's all about Google Voice. It's a different messaging service that basically manages all of your calls and messages -- so you can make and take calls through it and send and receive text messages, and whatever number you use with it stays with you no matter what phone or carrier you move to down the road. It's really handy, actually, but it hadn't been updated in like five years up until now, so it was getting pretty clunky and out of date. But now it looks a lot nicer and has actual modern-day messaging features like group texting and multimedia texts, too. So, yeah, you could definitely just use that. Google Oh, you had Google Voice already? Right. I forgot. Okay, so then you're probably using Hangouts with Google Voice integration, since that's what Google told everyone to start doing a few years back. Well, yeah, that'll still work. But now you could go back to using the regular Google Voice app, if you want, because it's actively being developed and updated again and Hangouts isn't so much and so maybe it'll be the better option eventually -- you know, if they actually do keep making updates for it. Wait, you're thinking about switching over to Project Fi with the new phone? Okay, so with Fi, it's kinda like Google Voice but not exactly. I mean, you still keep the same number and a lot of the features, but it just works a little differently and you don't really use the Google Voice app or website with it. You'll probably just want to use Hangouts. That'll work fine. I mean, Messenger is a little nicer to use and it'll work with Fi, too, but it won't let you see or send messages from your computer like Hangouts will. And if you talk with anyone in a Hangout -- like the IM type of Hangout, I mean -- you'll have to have the Hangouts app for that, anyway. So you might as well just use it for everything. Gchat? No, no, that's not the same thing as Hangouts. I mean, okay, it kinda is. Gchat was never really a thing, but it's what pretty much everyone called Google's old IM service, and it was also the chat service that used to be in Gmail -- which was sort of the same thing but not exactly. Anyway, Hangouts basically replaced all of that at some point. So if someone says something about "Gchat," they're probably talking about Hangouts. Cool? Cool. Um, yeah, there's some Advil in the medicine cabinet. Help yourself. Now, this is an admittedly extreme example. Most people aren't going to get into all the nuances of Project Fi (even though they probably should), and some of the craziest bits of complexity come from the migraine-inducing relationship between it and Google Voice. But the point here is that Google's mobile messaging strategy is a convoluted mess -- and it just keeps getting worse. It feels like there are half a dozen different teams trying to solve the same issue within Google, and -- rather ironically, given that we're talking about tools for communication here -- they all seem to be working on separate islands with little to no interaction or coordination. So instead of having one really great, easy to use, and easy to understand messaging product that people love, we have -- at current count -- five separate and disjointed messaging apps, all of which come with some sort of asterisk and are damn-near impossible for normal users to sort out. (I'm going to be nice and avoid counting the "small group sharing" app Spaces or the YouTube messenger system as part of this ensemble.) Google has failed to create a single spectacular standard for one of its platform's most basic functions Say what you want about the iPhone -- and long-time readers know I'm certainly no fan -- but Apple users adore iMessage. They know it's the one app they go to for all their texting and messaging needs. It's simple. It makes sense. People get it. Google is generally considered the superior company when it comes to software and services -- but yet if someone asked me what Google's standard messaging app is for Android, I wouldn't have a good answer. By continually dividing its attention among an ever-evolving series of confusingly overlapping offerings, Google has failed to create a single spectacular standard for one of its platform's most basic functions. And that's especially disappointing, because unlike Apple, Google is in a perfect position to create something that could extend beyond its own platform and become truly universal. When I first saw signs of a pending Google Voice update, I hoped maybe Google was going to do something radical -- something that'd bring the power of Google Voice into one of its more modern messaging services and introduce some order into its chaotic messaging mess. Instead, it just further muddied the waters -- taking us from "Hangouts is the future of Google Voice" to "Google Voice is its own thing again, but it still kinda works with Hangouts, too (and P.S. have you tried Allo or Duo or Messenger?!)." Android does a lot of things right, but when it comes to messaging, we've seen an ongoing saga of indecision and missed opportunity. I'm glad Google Voice got updated, but with every new mobile messaging refresh and pivot, it's hard not to imagine what could be if Google would simply consolidate its efforts and create one spectacular app -- a singular, thoroughly supported messaging service that would be easy to understand and could become a standard like no other. If you are planning to apply for a federal IT job, President Donald Trump's federal hiring freeze makes it harder, but not impossible, to land a position with the U.S. government. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order preventing the filling of vacant positions or creating new jobs "except when necessary to meet national or public security responsibilities," said Trump Administration Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a briefing today. [To comment on this story, visit Computerworld's Facebook page.] Defense agencies are big users of IT and appear to be unaffected by the freeze. Cybersecurity hiring is a major impetus at civilian agencies and, depending on how broadly the government defines IT jobs related to "public security," there could still be quite a bit of hiring. Cybersecurity-related hiring was a top IT priority in the last year of President Barack Obama's administration. It follows high-profile government breaches, including some 20 million records from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Opportunities with federal IT contractors may open up as well. "The easiest way around this is to shift work to contractors," said Roger Baker, a former assistant secretary for information and technology and CIO at the Veterans Affairs office who now works as an independent consultant. He said it will be a "pretty straightforward" for agencies to shift spending. But the real problem for IT, said Baker, has been an "erosion of talent and morale caused by long-term salary freeze, bad press and congressional beatings." In the federal government, promotion tends to be from within, so when a good candidate leaves -- and the government can't attract a great candidate to replace him/her because of pay or other issues -- "the person who steps up is a step lower in skill," said Baker. "Since good people find other jobs a lot faster than the poorer skilled, the trend lines are obvious." "For areas outside of national security, there will be some slight shift to contractors -- if the agency mission is on the administration's list of priorities," said Ray Bjorklund, who heads federal market research firm BirchGrove. "Otherwise, the situation will probably remain status quo. Civilian positions that are currently unfilled will probably remain unfilled." Bjorklund isn't expecting many new government contracts outside of national security related-work. Federal hiring freezes have happened in the past. In 1982, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog, issued a report on hiring freezes and said that they had little effect on federal employment levels and it was unknown whether they saved the government money. Hiring freezes "disrupted agency operations, and in some cases, increased costs to government," the GAO wrote. The workarounds included hiring part-time and temporary employees, and using contractors or overtime. The hiring freeze also led to lost revenue and uncollected debts. The CEO of Vivaldi Technologies, the maker of a niche browser, today blasted Microsoft for forcing Edge, the default browser in Windows 10, onto users. "I understand that Microsoft is concerned with the low usage of Edge, but instead of building a better browser, Microsoft is forcing its product onto people in the most unapologetic manner," said Jon von Tetzchner, the co-founder and CEO of Norway-based Vivaldi. Vivaldi's same-named browser reached version 1.0 in April 2016, following more than a year of beta testing. The browser runs on Windows, OS X/macOS and Linux. Vivaldi's share of the browser market is impossible to measure, as it's below the minimum share reported by three measurement sources that Computerworld uses: The Net Applications and StatCounter analytics firms, and the Digital Analytics Program (DAP), a U.S. government project that mines traffic to thousands of sites by federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service and the National Weather Service. von Tetzchner implied that Microsoft is to blame for some of Vivaldi's struggles. "Every time Windows 10 upgrades, it changes the default browser to Edge," von Tetzchner contended. "Same thing tends to happen when a new browser is installed -- for some reason, it leads to restoring Edge as the default option. Not the new browser, and not even the browser that was there as a default one previously." He also took Microsoft to task for making the job of changing Windows 10's default browser so complicated that some users were unable to complete the task. "We should accept that some users prefer software created by other companies," von Tetzchner said as he called on Microsoft to halt the practice. "It is time to do the right thing. Stop stealing the default browser, accept user choice and compete on the merits." von Tetzchner was right on one count: Each time Microsoft issues a major update -- the only one in 2016 was August's "Anniversary Update" -- Windows 10 restores Edge as the default browser. This does not happen after monthly security updates; nor should it occur when manually changing to another browser. Even so, Edge has had a difficult time on Windows 10. Its share of the total Windows 10 browser market has slowly shrunk since the operating system's mid-2015 debut, according to metrics sources. Net Applications, for instance, pegged Edge's share of Windows 10 browsers at 22% last month, down from 28% the year before. Microsoft did not immediately reply to a request for comment on von Tetzchner's complaints. This was not unknown territory for von Tetzchner, who until 2011 led Opera Software, the Norwegian browser maker acquired by a Chinese private equity company in November. In 2007, Opera filed a complaint with European Union regulators, arguing that Microsoft stifled competition by bundling Internet Explorer (IE) with Windows. Two years later, the EU filed formal antitrust charges against Microsoft. Those charges eventually led to an agreement under which Microsoft inserted a "browser ballot" in Windows 7; the ballot asked EU customers to choose a default from several choices, including Opera. The browser ballot expired in 2014, and from all signs did not meaningfully change the browser market in the EU. An omission by Microsoft, however -- the firm said a "technical error" led to a failure to include the ballot in Windows 7 for over a year -- later cost the company $732 million in additional fines. The Go Code Colorado challenge is about to kick off in 2017. The state will announce the goal of this year's challenge on Feb. 1 at an event at the Golden Triangle Galvanize It's the fourth year for the challenge. The event that brings together entrepreneurs, business partners and developers to harness the wealth of public data to create apps aimed at solving problems.Secretary of State Wayne Williams will kick off the event which will include thought leaders from across Colorado who will talk about what's happening in the tech/innovation sector with their community. It will be the first of numerous events in Colorado Springs, Denver, Durango, Fort Collins and Grand Junction that will culminate in choosing winners at an event on May 24."Two teams from each challenge site will move on to a mentor weekend in Boulder to further flush out ideas with tech leaders, lawyers and entrepreneurs from across the state," says Go Code Colorado spokesperson Brandy Whalen. "Ultimately, 3 teams will take home $25,000 for the best app concept." The funds will help the teams make the concept a reality.The event is proving popular. "Last year we had around 200 people divided amongst 35 teams ," Whalen says.In 2016 the teams were asked to create an app and business concept that helps businesses build a competitive strategy. The winners were Foodcaster Regulation Explorer and Hively . "All three winning teams from last year are actively working on business and app development," Whalen explains. Foodcaster integrates foot traffic and cellular service data, food truck parking regulations, Google Maps, Twitter and Facebook to help food truck owners find optimal locations and times. Regulation Explorer aims to streamline the permitting process for oil and gas exploration. Hively is using employment data to help businesses make better hiring decisions.Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Chris Meehan with tips and leads for future stories at chris@confluence-denver.com Baroness Scott is the Leader of Wiltshire Council. Some may consider that a vision to have one public service that meets the needs of our changing nation is unattainable and surely driven by an idealist. Yet, as a visionary, who also believes in pragmatism and reality, I do believe in a vision where there is one public service which delivers the services to meet the needs of all residents. My belief is based on our experience in Wiltshire, where I have had the privilege of being leader since 2003. Our journey towards one public sector started more than eight years ago, and it continues to become reality today. In 2009, we combined five councils into one, to create one of the largest new shire unitary councils; Wiltshire Council. Wiltshire Council spends 900m each year to provide 354 services to the people of Wiltshire. Whilst this merger flew in the face of Conservative policy at that time and it was a risk both for me personally and the Conservative members in Wiltshire I knew that we had little choice other than to push the unitary option forward. Our choice was to either struggle to continue to deliver vital front line services and see these services reduce or stop or to seize the opportunity and push ahead and merge the Wiltshire local authorities to reap the benefits. I wont pretend that it wasnt a challenge there was a host of risks and blockages and some serious opposition, but I know it was the right decision and I can honestly say that in Wiltshire we havent looked back. Whats more, it provided the platform for us to realise and seize new opportunities. Merging five authorities delivered huge savings more than 125 million so far. As well as streamlining the obvious duplication our back office costs are less than six per cent of the total budget this compares to 19 per cent prior to the merger. Weve also rationalised more than 105 offices and premises including costly out of date buildings such as libraries, leisure centres, youth clubs and community centres to create brand new state of the art community campuses and hubs offering a wide range of public services. The net savings in running costs alone is more than 6m a year this is money that we are reinvesting into the key front line services. The council now has three main flexible workspaces in Salisbury, Chippenham and Trowbridge. These are the key hubs for delivering council services but are also enhanced by the presence of partners from a number of different agencies who share the same site, resources and facilities. Teams work creatively in partnership with the NHS, police, fire and rescue, and voluntary and community groups at these three sites. This sharing of facilities also means sharing of information, resources and ensuring more value for money for the taxpayer. Wiltshire Police share the councils offices in Salisbury and Chippenham delivering real value for money. Joint Systems Thinking, Programme Management teams were set up in 2013 and a joint IT solution was implemented, enabling access to services across both estates. Co-located neighbourhood police teams were also established in Corsham, Salisbury and Chippenham and the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub in Trowbridge (MASH). The MASH is based in Trowbridge bringing together police, health, education and early help to quickly and effectively respond to potential safeguarding incidents. This has led to closer working and more effective partnerships, which was praised in December 2016 by an Ofsted-led inspection of the support provided to vulnerable children. In our Chippenham offices, an entire floor is leased to a private company, Good Energy, generating revenue while also enabling and supporting jobs in the local area. The NHS Community Team, HMRC and the Swindon and Wiltshire Local Enterprise Partnership are also based at the hub. Reducing to three hubs with a staff of more than 5,000 has been made possible by harnessing new technology into the workplace. The council has a hot desk policy; based on a 3:1 occupancy, and the flexibility for people to work from any administrative or community hubs by setting up their laptop and connecting to the network. Our social workers work with tablets where they can log key information while on the move, cutting travel time and making administration quicker so they can concentrate on the needs of their clients. We are in no doubt that there are further savings to be realised and right from the start of our journey I have advocated that its not about being a unitary council its about unitary plus. Unitary plus are not just words its real its one public sector. The sharing of facilities with key partners is now prevalent throughout our new community campuses, which provide improved facilities and services to local communities across the county. The campus in Salisbury hosts the headquarters of the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service. Wiltshire Citizens Advice also moved into the premises in 2016. At Springfield Community Campus (in Corsham) people can visit the library and cafe and try out the gym but the centre is also a real community hub drawing in local groups to use the facilities. Wiltshire Police has a presence at the centre, which will also soon be a base for Virgin Care and Wiltshire Health and Care. Council staff are also able to use the facility to work from. Attendance at the campus has more than doubled in the past year and the fitness suite now has more than 1,600 members, generating additional income for the council. The Nadder Centre in Tisbury has a library, pre-school, fitness suite, childrens centre services and hosts the local Army cadets, police, History Society and a range of private businesses that lease space to generate revenue. The administrative hubs and campuses provide a safe place to do business, deliver customer services and to integrate with the community. We know that public sector resources are under pressure and that we have to focus our resource where it is most needed. Across the public sector we need to make sure we can continue to protect and support those who are most vulnerable in our local communities. We know that the demand is increasing with people living longer and unfortunately more children needing care. The public sector has to work together it makes sense our vision, priorities and demands are the same. The changes and challenges ahead will force further change integration, shared resources and facilities and prevention are all critical factors. The demands and expectations for public services; particularly older people services, means health and social care must integrate to deliver improvements and better outcomes. Early prevention focused on health and wellbeing needs to start from the youngest age to avoid additional and undeliverable demands in the future. Unitary plus is real in Wiltshire. We are continuing to learn and evolve. We promote and support one public sector and we are moving in this direction. Resource is a vital commodity for all of us and we realise that together we can achieve so much more. Public sector partners, businesses, service providers and communities need to work together. Through collaboration and sharing resources we can deliver what people need and what matters most to them. Our journey is gathering pace we have a distance to go but some have yet to get off the starting blocks. My message is get started dont hesitate and realise that the risks and challenges will be far outweighed with the success and rewards that can be reaped. We know this to be the case. In Wiltshire we have pushed our vision forward and collaboratively we are moving towards one public service. Christopher Howarth is a senior researcher working in the House of Commons. Prior to this he worked for Open Europe, as a Conservative Foreign Affairs Adviser and senior researcher to a Shadow Europe Minister. Our Supreme Court is a curious creation. It is supreme yet, unlike its US counterpart, has no written constitution to limit its powers. Nor a legislature to confirm its appointments. Like most of the constitutional innovations of the last 20 years its creation was ill-conceived. Its exalted and unchecked role in interpreting often wooly European and Human Rights legislation is destabilising the traditional relationship between Parliament and Court. Winston Churchill once observed that we shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us. In this case the removal of the Law Lords into a new grand building entirely separate from Parliament was instructive. As Lord Neuberger the President of the Supreme Court observed at the time: To changethe Law Lords into the Supreme Court as a result of what appears to have been a last-minute decision over a glass of whisky seems to me to verge on the frivolous. That is the court which will this morning hand down its decision as to whether the Government can exercise the Royal Prerogative of international relations to trigger Article 50, the EUs exit clause. While their role in dispensing EU law is coming to an end, at some future date a Government may still wish to revisit Tony Blairs frivolous constitutional vandalism, but it would be wrong to do so in reaction to one particular judgment however perverse. So what might the verdict be? Firstly, it is conceivable that the Supreme Court may rule in favour of the Government. They may revert to what was the traditional understanding of UK constitutional law, that the Government, using the Royal Prerogative is responsible for international treaties, as it was for countless EU treaties and indeed David Camerons renegotiation. If this were to happen it is clear that the Government will trigger Article 50 as soon as possible and in any event no later than the end of March. Secondly, the court may rule that legislation is required before issuing triggering Article 50. This would require a short, simple and already drafted Bill, which would swiftly gain the approval of the House of Commons. The Lords, which allows more scope for amendments may potentially send amendments back to the Commons to be humanely dispatched, but given the Labour Party has already voted in a motion to trigger Article 50, there is no threat to the Prime Ministers 31st March timetable. These are the two most likely judgments (either by unanimity or by a split decision), there are however a number of other possibilities. Lady Hale, one of the judges hearing the case, has suggested that the court could question whether it would be enough for a simple Act of Parliament to authorise the Government to give notice, or whether it would have to be a comprehensive replacement for the 1972 Act. This leads to the possibility that the court may argue that the issue of EU rights would need specific repeal or replacement. Given this is already the Governments express will, this would not in itself cause a difficulty, however this would require a more complex Bill and associated delay. It may also bring the relationship of the court and Parliament into play as Article IX of the 1689 Bill of Rights can be read as precluding courts from giving instructions to Parliament. There is also Scotland and Northern Ireland to consider. Northern Ireland has referred two cases to the Supreme Court to seek clarity as to whether Article 50 requires Northern Irish consent, Scotlands administration has also added itself citing the Sewel Convention. Given the unexpected nature of the High Court Ruling it is difficult to predict what arguments the Supreme Court might decide to take up, however it seems clear that given the referendum was a national decision it should be implemented by the national Government. However, if the Supreme Court does go down this route it need not detain Parliament for very long. Given that devolution was an act of the national Parliament, national legislation can clearly override any legal objections. The addition to the Article 50 Bill of the word notwithstanding a formula first devised by Sir Bill Cash MP in order to overrule UK judges implementing EU legislation could clear up any uncertainty regarding devolution. This goes for the next unlikely possibility as well. The last possibility, and a very slim one at that, is that the Supreme Court may, through ingrained habit, seeks to refer the whole business to the European Court of Justice. One conceivable pretext could be to ask for a treaty interpretation as to whether Article 50 is reversible only the ECJ can give definitive interpretations of the EU treaties. This gambit has already been latched onto by dwindling bank of Remoaner desperados, such as Jolyon Maugham QC, who has come up with an ingenious, pointless and ultimately doomed attempt to contrive an ECJ reference via the Courts in Ireland (See here for details). Everybody deserves their day in court, and diehard Remainers are no exception. However, we should not lose sight of the bigger truths exposed by these cases. The British Parliament voted to hold a referendum, the British people voted to leave. The British Parliament has since voted again to respect the referendum and trigger Article 50. In short, the UK is leaving the EU. This can either be with the benefit of a short Bill or not. Once Article 50 has been triggered the negotiations begin, the administrative mechanisms are put in place and we will then leave the EU a maximum of two years later. The Government was entirely right to appeal the High Courts decision on the use of the prerogative this is an important issue that needs clarifying. However, whatever the outcome later today, however perverse the Supreme Courts actions may look, this is but a minor irritant, Brexit is on track and nobody, not all the lawyers in London can prevent it. Inevitability is one of the strongest forces in politics, Brexit is inevitable. Three of our last five weekly Local Government by-election summaries have reported the Liberal Democrats gaining seats. These results are not an infallible guide to the current political mood, since much depends on where the elections are taking place, and their distribution is arbitrary. But there is none the less no doubt that Brexit has opened the door for a yellow revival. The Conservatives have become a party of Leave. Labour is divided. That leaves Tim Farrons party to mop up the proportion of the 48 per cent who are unwilling simply to go along with Brexit, and feel so strongly about it that they will protest at the ballot box as they did in the Richmond Park by-election. Research in the Daily Telegraph this morning suggests that this percentage is about 48 per cent of the 48 per cent. Theresa Mays national lead over Labour in the polls 16 per cent according to the most recent one is masking this local Liberal Democrat revival. The latter is likely to turn out to be one of the main stories of Mays local elections: the first real electoral test, remember, of her Governments popularity. They take place in exactly a hundred days time. There are three main obstacles to Farron transforming this protest vote into seats at the next election. The first is the change wrought on the seats it holds, and others it will target, by the boundary review. However, Parliament is yet to have its say on the matter, and an election could come before 2020 anyway. None the less, it is reasonable to assume that its date will be as planned, and that the review will pass. The second difficulty for the Liberal Democrats is the distribution of the Remain vote. It was concentrated in London and its commuter belt. But the yellow vote in most of the capital is weak, and the blue one just outside it is strong. The final problem is that anger over Brexit may have faded by 2020. If so, the Liberal Democrats wont make much of an advance on the eight seats they hold. However, if Britain leaves the EU in 2019 as planned but without a deal, and there are problems in the implementation of MFN, the Liberal Democrats will surely gain seats. And if Corbyn is still Labours leader, Farron will be able to suggest that the Conservatives will win nationally, so soft blue voters unhappy with the outcome of Brexit will have nothing to lose by voting yellow in their own seats. Under these circumstances, the Liberal Democrats would be most likely to gain constituencies that the Conservatives took from them in 2015 and where the Remain vote is very strong. Then throw in a few Labour seats where the last applies too, such as Cambridge. What are its Tory equivalents? There is Bath another university seat. There is Lewes. Above all, there are those seats in the south-east of Greater London near Richmond Park Twickeham and Kingston & Surbiton. But there is not a large number of blue-yellow marginals where the majority is very small and the Remain vote was very strong. Prime minister Theresa May yesterday unveiled proposals for a "modern Industrial Strategy," which includes new commitments on innovation and skills including: An additional 4.7billion to be invested in R&D by 2020-21. An exploration of how the government can best use this additional funding and the tax environment for R&D to drive up the level of private investment in science, research and innovation. The creation of a new Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund to help Britain capitalise on its strengths in research and innovation such as robotics, clean energy, digital transformation technologies and biotechnology. Launching a challenge prize programme, whereby the prize will help inform the states support to the everyday entrepreneurs operating in companies and at home such as through supporting enabling environments and incubators. 'More competitive place' Continuing the already announced review of the tax environment for R&D to examine whether there is more to do to stimulate private sector investment and make the UK a more competitive place to do R&D. Beginning a review to maximise the incentives created by the Intellectual Property system to stimulate collaborative innovation and licensing opportunities. Placing Intellectual Property Office representatives in key UK cities. Building a local capability to commercialise intellectual property in the North of England and in the Midlands. Setting out a UK Measurement Strategy, establishing a framework to capitalise on the existing National Measurement System which provides UK industry with "world-leading" measurement science and technology. Considering the case for a new research institution as a focal point for work on battery technology, energy storage and grid technology. 'New system of tech education' Discussing how to create a new system of technical education, including a radically simplified set of qualifications; an easy means of finding and applying for technical education courses. Investing 170m to create new Institutes of Technology to deliver the higher-level technical education in all regions. Making sure the technical education system benefits the half of young people who do not go to university and provide new, "better" options for those already in the workforce. Attracting more industry specialists to work in sectors with a view to raising the quality of higher skills training. Consulting on how to boost STEM skills at all levels, from further encouraging the uptake at university and expanding the number of specialist maths schools across the country, to new steps to ensure universal basic numeracy. Continuing with an independent review of the UKs Small Business Research Initiative to examine how the government can use strategic procurement to support businesses developing innovative new products and services. 'Impact on supply chains' A roll out of the balanced scorecard, designed to ensure the impact of procurement on the growth of small business and UK supply chains, skills and apprenticeships is taken into account when considering the value for money of different bids for government contracts. Developing and delivering a clear strategy from fundamental research through to business innovation at government body UK Research and Innovation. Exploring how to support further education colleges to be centres of excellence in teaching maths and English, and explore how to give technical education learners clear information. Proposing measures to improve take up of mathematics and close large regional imbalances in take up of advanced mathematics. Reflecting on the strategy, which the above measures are a part of, the PM said it would drive growth across the UK, creating more high-skilled, high paid jobs and opportunities. Mrs May also said: A truly modern British Industrial Strategy must make Britain a hive of new industries which will challenge the companies and industries of today. CORNWALL, Ontario Council heard that moving and building a new fire station could allow the fire department to be at a fire at 93 percent of the buildings in the city in under six minutes. Pierre Voisine presented a variety of options to the City on how to increase coverage and response time to fires. The options came down to two different models, one based on three fire stations and one based on two. Voisine said that right now with a fire station on Fourth Street West and Second Street East, the Fire Department could be at a fire at 69 percent of the buildings in the City in under six minutes. "We do a good job of protecting this part of the city, but not as good at protecting the outskirts," he said. "In the past the master plan has looked at geographical and historical factors. We dont do so great in the Western part of the city. " The first model suggests building a third station on the corner of Tollgate and Pitt Street. "This model leads to greater coverage in the North end and allows us to reach 93 percent of buildings in the City in under six minutes," he said. Voisine said however, that this would be the more costly option as it would involve building a new station and maintaining three going into the future. The second option would see the Fourth Street fire station close and moved to the corner of Thirteenth Street and Brookdale Avenue. The second model would be more cost effective, but will still allow for 93 percent coverage. Additionally a station in that part of town would be able to take advantage of a West end extension of Ninth Street, should that come in the future. Voisine had criticized the Fourth Street station earlier in the year for being on a one-way street. Councillor Rivette stated that he was in favour of the less costly two station model. "I think were better with two stations," he said. "Good luck getting money to build a third station and staff it. Its not going to happen in my life time." CORNWALL, Ontario The second Accommodation Review Committee (ARC) public meeting was held at the former General Vanier Intermediate School on Monday, Jan. 23 to discuss the proposed school closures. For the first time, statements from the audience were allowed. Ten delegations came forward to discuss issues such as busing, boundaries, and the importance of rural schools. If the proposals are passed, the consequences may also have a grave impact on students overall well being. It is desirable for medical and psychological reasons to minimize the length of school bus travel for young people their time is valuable, and the value of their time must be recognized and appreciated, said Dr. Anna Williams. The presentations focused heavily on the importance of community involvement, and how relocation could severely affect opportunities. Tagwi Secondary School students, Ayeisha Khan and Brooklyn Woodside discussed that while their school was not under threat of school closure, roughly a third of Tagwis students are slotted to be redirected in September. This would mean not only mean longer bus rides, but also limited ability to participate in extracurricular activities, and being at a disadvantage for scholarships and bursaries. Tagwi is part of the solution, not the problem, said Woodside. The Township of North Glengarrys Jeff Manley and Brian Cadell described a community headed in the direction of extreme growth, and how the proposed closures do not align with this vision. Our planning department has already received dozens of applications for new build projects in Alexandria, said Manley, who is a Councillor in North Glengarry. Growth in North Glengarry is going to happen. In my mind, there is only one piece of the puzzle missing, and that is the status of our North Glengarry public schools. In 2016, the township collected 1.5 million dollars in education taxes for the Upper Canada District School Board. Manley urged people to consider this number in respect to the proposed closures. We have to do better than that, said Manley. We need public schools in our two largest communities, and we need to work together. Growth in North Glengarry is growth for the Upper Canada District School Board. Brian Caddell described the proposal as a political excuse for a policy aimed directly at saving money for the province. Caddell described that his pursuit of a career in teaching stemmed from his innate desire to help others. I can hardly express how deeply saddened I am today that the organization which I joined to help young people get a good start in their lives in now the very organization that puts money first and people second, said Caddell. When you get to answers like were not going to have a high school for a whole municipality, or were going to close high-performing, full schools I cant politely figure out how that makes any sense, said Jason Crites of the Township of South Stormont. The ministry works for us, not the other way around. CORNWALL, Ontario The Student Transportation of Eastern Ontario has cancelled all of their transportation services for today, Tuesday, Jan. 24. Service was cancelled due to the heavy snow and ice pellets that were forecasted for the Cornwall and SD&G area by Environment Canada. Close Age is just a number. That is one of the popular pronouncements people make when they shy away from revealing their age. But in the latest news in women's health, a study was able to determine when mental health begins being affected by age. Researchers have found that the decline of cognitive functions starts in women on their 50's. The study, conducted by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, is a longitudinal study on midlife women on their cognitive functions. Unlike previous studies, anticipate for what is called as "practice effects" and was able to detect cognitive decline in two domains: processing speed and verbal memory. The researchers analyzed and collected data from more than 2,000 women enrolled in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nations or SWAN. The majority of the women in the study were postmenopausal with a median age of 54 years old. The study monitored the women for ten years with follow-ups conducted every two to three years. The study, which started in 1996, had women answer the same tests during their follow-ups to reduce what is called the practice effect. Symbol digit modalities test was used to assess for processing speed and the East Boston Memory test was used to assess verbal episodic memory. Working memory was evaluated through the use of the digit span backward test. Researchers found that working memory or the mental processing of women declined on an average of five percent over the ten-year long study. Processing speed declined on average by one percent every two years.Lastly, verbal memory also declined on average one percent every five years. More details regarding the study can be read in the journal, PLOS ONE. The findings of the study are applicable to all women but researchers emphasize that decline in cognitive functions does not necessarily mean the loss of control mental-wise. Practices and interventions can slow the decline in cognitive functions in women in their 50's. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Close Overworked employees are more stressed and prone to health problems. Starting February, the Japanese government will ask workers to chill out by designating every last Friday of the month as "Premium Friday." While the government initiative is not mandatory, employees are encouraged to sign out at 3 PM. The Japanese are known for being workaholics that they even have a word for it - karoshi, which means death by overwork. Japan's biggest business lobby, Keidanren, is encouraging its members to take part in the government's initiative. Ironically, officials of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) have not yet decided if they will participate. But METI chief Hiroshige Seko has already given his secretaries orders not to schedule appointments after 3 PM. Japan has more holidays compared to France and United States, however, these do not seem to take employees away from their work. A typical worker only uses half of his annual paid leaves, according to Japan Times. Working long hours is considered a virtue in the country. Around one in eight workers spend 80 hours or more in their work. There are numerous disadvantages to working too much, and in worst case scenarios, have caused the death of employees. For instance, an advertising agency employee committed suicide in 2015. She was found to have been working 100 extra hours a month. The incident has prompted the government to look into the country's working habits. There are also cases wherein working more than the typical 40 hours in a week is mandated and not voluntary. Mitsubishi was referred to the labor ministry on suspicion that management forced a 31-year0old male employee to do excessive overtime. Government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga believes that Japan needs to end their overworking habit so they can have time to live their lives, like raising a child or taking care of elders in the family. However, some are skeptical that the "Premium Friday" will give workers a time to chill out as they may find it necessary to do overtime on other days. Critics say that the government should instead focus on efficiency to avoid overworking. See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare Oxfam notes, More than 40% of the 400 million women who live in rural India are involved in agriculture and related activities. However, as women are not recognized as farmers and do not own land, they have limited access to government schemes and credit, restricting their agricultural productivity. A new report by top UK-based multinational NGO Oxfam on dangers of global inequality has estimated that over the next 20 years, 500 people world over will hand over $2.1 trillion to their heirs a sum larger than the GDP of India, a country of 1.3 billion people. Claiming that this calculation is based on new new and better data on the distribution of global wealth, particularly in India and China, Oxfam says, they indicate that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than had been previously thought.Had this new data been available last year, it would have shown that nine billionaires owned the same wealth as the poorest half of the planet, and not 62, as Oxfam calculated at the time, the international NGO regrets in its report.Titled An Economy for the 99%, the report doesnt just point towards international inequality. Within India, according to Oxfam, which operates in India as a major source of foreign funds to the countrys NGOs, While many chief executives, who are often paid in shares, have seen their incomes skyrocket, wages for ordinary workers and producers have barely increased, and in some cases have got worse.It says, The CEO of Indias top information firm earns 416 times the salary of a typical employee in his company, adding, if the world over, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) 21 million people are forced labourers, generating an estimated $150bn in profits each year, India has its own share.Thus, Oxfam states, The worlds largest garment companies have all been linked to cotton-spinning mills in India, which routinely use the forced labour of girls.Pointing out that across the world, corporations are relentlessly squeezing down the costs of labour and ensuring that workers and producers in their supply chains get less and less of the economic pie, Oxfam says, This increases inequality and suppresses demand. In many parts of the world, corporations are increasingly driven by a single goal: to maximize returns to their shareholders.In India, says Oxfam, As profits have been rising for the 100 largest listed corporations, the share of net profits going to dividends has also increased steadily over the last decade, reaching 34% in 2014/15, with around 12 private corporations paying more than 50% of their profits as dividends.Oxfam says, Over the last two decades the richest 10% of the population in China, Indonesia, Laos, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have seen their share of income increase by more than 15%, while the poorest 10% have seen their share of income fall by more than 15%.It adds, Due to a combination of discrimination and working in low-pay sectors, womens wages across Asia are between 70% and 90% of mens. Many women struggle to survive as the national minimum wage in many Asian countries where it is paid is on average a quarter of the amount required for a decent standard of living. More than most Americans, Nebraskans know the worth of water. Water sustains our lives and livelihoods: our families rely on clean water; our ag producers depend on it to raise the crops and livestock that feed a hungry world. Clean water doesnt just sustain our physical health; it also sustains our economic health. Agriculture is our states No. 1 economic engine. That engine runs on water. But for too long, faraway bureaucrats in Washington have believed, and behaved, as if they know better than Nebraskans when it comes to keeping water clean. In May 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers issued a final rule revising the definition of "waters of the United States," or WOTUS, for all Clean Water Act programs. Washingtons harmful rule greatly expands the scope of federally protected waters, far beyond the original intent of Congress. This heavy-handed regulation would affect all Nebraskans, our families, communities and small businesses. One of the more cumbersome provisions redefines navigable waterways to include run-off streams and ditches that are dry most of the year. Nebraskans know this definition would be laughable if it didnt also pose serious economic harm to so many Nebraska families. If your property has a low spot that fills up after a heavy rain, you could be subject to severe restrictions on the use of your own land as well as expensive fines. We all want clean air and clean water, but the WOTUS rule is gross federal overreach. It is completely unprecedented. I am confident that its days are numbered. In October 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a stay blocking the implementation of WOTUS nationwide. And with a new administration about to take office, Congress has an opportunity to roll back this harmful rule. With Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, I introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate to make this intention crystal clear. Our resolution expresses strong disapproval with the Obama administrations WOTUS rule and states that the rule must be withdrawn and vacated. By it, we put Washington regulators on notice. As a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I have backed measures to require the EPA to respect citizens constitutional rights. For years, I have worked to force the agency to operate within, not outside, the law. I am eager to work with new leadership at the EPA to bring the agency back to its core mission. Americans want an EPA that serves as a faithful custodian of our environment, not a regulatory bully that tells us how to use our own land or the water on it. For Nebraskans, true environmental stewardship means a close relationship with the land. We understand it nurtures not only our bodies, but also our souls. This comes from our daily encounter with those vast pastures and open skies. It comes from the wonder of a thunderstorm on the prairie and the silence after a snowfall. The bureaucrat in the Washington office building doesnt have this relationship. We do. Moving forward in 2017, I look forward to a new era at the EPA, one in which Nebraskans are trusted to look out for the land they love, and their economic livelihood isnt threatened from afar. LINCOLN Bill Kintner, who was fined last year for using his state-owned laptop for cybersex with a stranger, is now under fire for an offensive tweet aimed at Saturday's Women's March. Kintner, of Papillion, is a member of the state Legislature and eligible for re-election in 2018. Late Sunday, he retweeted a comment by a California radio host who mocked three women pictured with signs protesting Donald Trump's hot mic moment from 2005, in which the now president of the United States joked about grabbing women by the genitals. "Ladies, I think you're safe," the radio host, Larry Elder, commented. The women were among millions who took part in marches over the weekend to promote unity and equal rights for all regardless of gender, race or religion in the wake of Trump's Friday inauguration. Elder's tweet and Kintner's decision to share it with his Twitter followers drew quick reaction online and later in the legislative chamber. "(F)rom a victim in NE, sexual harassment and assault aren't a joke. I hope no women near you ever experiences either," one person responded to the tweet. Kintner replied, "I hope no women experiences harassment or assault either." By mid-morning Monday, he had shut down his Twitter account. Kintner blamed political opponents for the outrage the tweet inspired, replying to one critic before deleting his account: "Right out of the liberal playbook, take a joke & claim victimhood." Caught in a Capitol hallway by reporters, Kintner refused to respond to questions, repeatedly saying "Give me an hour," and "Go do research." An hour later he declined to comment. When a Journal Star reporter refused to talk to him about the situation off the record, he said, "Go look at who's doing it" a reference to those who criticized him for the tweet. Kintner later said the tweet was "misconstrued." "By retweeting a message, I was not implying support for putting women in fear of their personal safety," he said in an emailed statement from his office. Fellow senators who have opposed Kintner seized on the tweet during legislative debate on an unrelated bill, citing it as further reason he should be removed from office. "He has no integrity, no respect for women, including his family," said Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers. Chambers also lauded those who took part in the Women's March: "See that power that you had that was something unleashed like never before." Two other senators, Bob Krist of Omaha and Matt Hansen of Lincoln, joined in condemning Kintner. Krist, who led an effort to oust Kintner after the cybersex scandal erupted, said debate over his behavior has distracted the Legislature enough that an attempt to unseat Kintner should come within the next two weeks, if not sooner. Krist added that he would prefer to wait until lawmakers adopt permanent internal rules for debate. Kintner describes himself as a conservative Republican. However, Republican groups from his district joined Gov. Pete Ricketts and many Republican lawmakers in urging Kintner to resign from office in response to his cybersex scandal last year. Kintner, whose wife is Ricketts' chief policy adviser, was fined $1,000 last year by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission for using his state-owned laptop to have cybersex with a stranger, who then tried to extort money from him. Ricketts said Monday that he hadn't seen the recent retweet, but that he still believes Kintner should resign. A Facebook group launched by supporters of former Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders encouraged people to rally outside the state Capitol to "end rape culture" in response to Kintner's "comments that he retweeted implying these women are too ugly to rape." As of midday, more than 1,000 people had expressed interest in the Feb. 2 rally on Facebook. President Donald Trump signed executive actions Tuesday to revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Trump told reporters in Washington the moves on the pipelines will be subject to terms and conditions being renegotiated by the U.S. Bloomberg News reported the new president stopped short of green-lighting construction on either project, and reiterated an earlier campaign pledge to seek a "better deal" on TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL to transport Alberta oil sands crude into the U.S. On Tuesday, Trump called that "something that's been in dispute and subject to a renegotiation of terms by us." The Keystone XL would run from Canada to Steele City in Nebraska, where it would meet up with an existing pipeline network connected to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. Both pipelines proved to be flashpoints for climate activists who fought the projects with protests and lawsuits. In Nebraska, the Keystone XL was bogged down by court battles over the process of routing the underground pipeline and efforts by TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL, to get easements through use of eminent domain. Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL in late 2015, declaring it would undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. Pipeline builder TransCanada needed presidential approval because it was to cross the U.S.-Canadian border. Bold Alliance President Jane Kleeb said activists will continue to fight it and the Dakota Access project. Bold Alliance's predecessor, Bold Nebraska, made a name for itself fighting the Keystone XL and has now expanded to several other states. Kleeb also serves as chairwoman of the Nebraska Democratic Party. Nebraska farmers and ranchers need a president standing up for property rights and our clean water to produce American food," she said in a statement. "The president should focus on American energy independence rather than taking land away from farmers using eminent domain for private gain. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts cheered the move by Trump, saying the Keystone XL will create good-paying jobs for Nebraska workers and bring property tax relief to counties along the route. "Todays decision represents years of extensive environmental reviews that confirm Keystone XL complies with federal safety and environmental standards," he said. "With the federal approval process complete, state regulators must now work through the process in Nebraska to conduct their own thorough consideration of the project." Construction of the 1,179-mile Keystone XL could still be years off, and activists have pledged to fight it every inch of the way. Donald Trump is a con man and this is a con on a massive scale. Well fight it with everything weve got. Well fight it in the courts and well fight it in the streets, said Bill McKibben, co-founder of the national activist group 350.org. Permitting of cross-border oil pipelines goes through the U.S. State Department. It was unknown Tuesday afternoon whether TransCanada would have to go through the entire permitting process again, which includes a lengthy environmental impact review, or if Trump planned to green-light the project without additional review. In Nebraska, TransCanada still needs an approved route for the 195-mile segment that would pass through it, plus authorization to use eminent domain here. That would have to go through the Nebraska Public Service Commission and could take as long as a year. Public Service Commission spokeswoman Deb Collins said TransCanada has not filed a new application with the five-member elected board. Pipeline opponents allege TransCanada would have to wait until September to restart the process because state law requires the company to wait two years from when it previously abandoned eminent domain proceedings. Republican Rep. Adrian Smith of Gering said a majority of Nebraskans want to see the Keystone XL completed as a long-term solution for transporting affordable crude oil. The Obama administration put Keystone XL on hold for years for political reasons, despite bipartisan support for the project and its own State Department determining it to be safe, Smith said. As the need for reliable energy sources grows, I prefer moving more oil safely through dedicated pipelines rather than increasing surface transport demand on existing infrastructure." The U.S. Department of State referred a request for comment to the White House. In the case of the Dakota Access project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers declined late last year to allow construction beneath Lake Oahe in North Dakota, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, but Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. Trump has moved swiftly this week to make good on some core campaign pledges he says are aimed at creating jobs and growing the economy. On Monday, he signed a memorandum withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a proposed accord with 11 Pacific Rim countries and another of Obama's prized accomplishments. "Great thing for the American worker what we just did," Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. Bernie Ecclestone has been axed as Formula 1 boss upon the completion of Liberty Media's takeover of the commercial rights. The 86-year-old has been named a chairman emeritus and will have the role of advisor to the board, while new F1 Chairman Chase Carey has added the role of Chief Executive Officer. The F1 supremo's position as chief executive has been under threat since the sale of its commercial rights to Liberty Media was approved by the FIA last week. "I was dismissed today. This is official. I no longer run the company. My position has been taken by Chase Carey," Ecclestone has reported told Auto Motor und Sport. He confirmed he has been offered a role of honorary president but says 'I have this title without knowing what it means' and didn't say whether he will accept it or not. Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media, led the line of thanks to Ecclestone on the confirmation of the takeover and has put his faith in new boss Carey to 'grow the sport'. "We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of F1 and that Chase will lead this business as CEO," Maffei said. "There is an enormous opportunity to grow the sport, and we have every confidence that Chase, with his abilities and experience, is the right person to achieve this. "I'd like to thank Bernie Ecclestone, who becomes Chairman Emeritus, for his tremendous success in building this remarkable global sport." New Chairman and CEO of F1 Carey says he will work with all of F1's stakeholders to improve the sport and says the company's plans will be expressed in due course. "I am excited to be taking on the additional role of CEO. F1 has huge potential with multiple untapped opportunities. I have enjoyed hearing from the fans, teams, FIA, promoters and sponsors on their ideas and hopes for the sport. We will work with all of these partners to enhance the racing experience and add new dimensions to the sport and we look forward to sharing these plans overtime. "I would like to recognise and thank Bernie for his leadership over the decades. The sport is what it is today because of him and the talented team of executives he has led, and he will always be part of the F1 family. Bernie's role as Chairman Emeritus befits his tremendous contribution to the sport and I am grateful for his continued insight and guidance as we build F1 for long-term success and the enjoyment of all those involved." Cloud News HPE Acquires Cloud Cruiser In Stepped Up Flexible Capacity Hybrid Cloud Pay-As-You-Go Offensive Steven Burke Share this Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) stepped up its hybrid cloud offensive on Monday with the acquisition of Cloud Cruiser, the maker of a highly regarded cloud IT consumption, metering and analytics platform. HPE said the acquisition of the six-year-old, San Jose, Calif. software maker would be a significant boost to its Flexible Capacity services program. The Flexible Capacity services offering allows customers to buy HPE private cloud infrastructure as a service based on the same monthly, fixed-fee, pay-as-you-go model that has fueled public cloud adoption. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. [Related: Cloud Cruiser Moves Up The Stack With First SaaS Product For Cloud Monitoring] HPE is already Cloud Cruiser's largest customer. "This acquisition marks additional investment in HPE Flexible Capacity, to further differentiate and strengthen this high growth service," said HPE Vice President of Technology Services Support Scott Weller in a blog post. Bob Venero, CEO of Future Tech, a Holbrook, N.Y.-based HPE partner, said the deal would be a big boost to the hybrid cloud Flexible Capacity offering. "This is a necessary tool that we need to give companies flexible and on-demand private cloud," he said. "Flexible and on-demand offerings are much more prevalent in corporate America." For most corporations, putting mission-critical data at risk in the public cloud is not an option, said Venero. Those customers are looking for flexible, pay as you go usage models for private clouds. Kelly Ireland, founder and CEO of Orange, Calif.-based CB Technologies (CBT), an HPE enterprise software partner, said the deal complements CBT's private cloud solution, which has a built-in option for HPE Flexible Capacity. "This acquisition provides customers the ability to look at their cloud options with more data and intelligence," she said. When the transaction closes, Weller said, Cloud Cruiser will become an essential part of the Data Center Care portfolio within the Technology Services Support organization. Cloud Cruiser co-founder and CEO David Zabrowski, who served as VP and General Manager of HP's Enterprise Computer Organization from 1997-2002, will report to Weller. "Flexible Capacity, a strategic and high-growth component of HPE's Technology Services portfolio, offers customers on-premise IT infrastructure with cloud economics," said Weller. "It enables our customers to manage IT infrastructure in their own data center but pay for it as-a-service. This reduces the risk of organizations investing too much or too little in IT, eliminates unused capacity, and frees up valuable IT resources for new value-adding projects." Security News Partners: Reported SEC Investigation Of Yahoo Shows Importance Of Early Breach Reporting, Preparedness Sarah Kuranda Share this Partners say the reported investigations into Yahoo's multiple data breaches and the central issue of whether Yahoo moved too slowly to report them highlight the importance of early breach disclosure and preparedness. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing unnamed sources, that the Securities and Exchange Commission is in the early stages of an investigation into Yahoo to see if the company failed to report its data breaches as soon as they could affect investors, as is required under law. The reported investigation comes on the heels of two huge security breaches at Yahoo, the first occurring in late 2014 affecting 500 million users and the second occurring at the end of August 2013 and involving 1 billion user accounts. The breaches were announced in September and December 2016, respectively. The Wall Street Journal report said the SEC investigation likely concerns the 2014 breach. [Related: The 10 Biggest Data Breaches Of 2016] While clients often have serious hesitations about disclosing a data breach, partners spoken to by CRN said they usually advise customers to disclose a breach sooner rather than later. They said this reported investigation into Yahoo only serves to further underscore that approach. "We are actually proponents of early notifications, we know a lot of places will wait till the last possible moment and even balk at disclosing, but we consider it a duty to inform not only the public but the clients of any potential loss of private information," said Matt Johnson, CEO at Baltimore, Md.-based Phalanx Secure Solutions. Johnson said clients are often hesitant to disclose a breach because they are "afraid of losing face in the public, shareholder or regulatory eyes." He said he advises clients to "get out on top of it early" to counteract those effects, including working with reputational firms for guidance. "We advise if they are able to get in front of it, it helps save the reputation and lets them move forward in a positive way," Johnson said. Yahoo isn't just reportedly in hot water with the SEC over slow breach disclosure; the company's pending acquisition by Verizon could be on the rocks, as well. Media reports have said Verizon could also be looking for a discount on its pending $4.83 billion purchase price for the internet company. According to Yahoo's earnings report Monday, the acquisition is still expected to close in the second quarter, a quarter later than originally expected. To minimize effects like this, Tom Patterson, chief trust officer and vice president of global security at Blue Bell, Pa.-based Unisys, said companies need to be prepared. Before a breach even happens, Patterson said Unisys advises clients to develop a playbook, including writing most of a breach disclosure in advance, engaging lawyers, technical teams and communications professionals. He said this playbook should be actively practiced though a simulated event once a quarter by all parties are on the same page and actively prepared in the event of an incident. "If you plan that in advance, instead of in reaction mode, you have a much better way to respond and you can really limit the negative repercussions that can happen and get on with serving the best interests of the clients. It a real win up front," Patterson said. Patterson said Unisys's cybersecurity resilience business is growing strongly, as companies shift to recognize the inevitability of a breach and recognize the importance of being fully prepared. Patterson said customers are turning to trusted security partners, like Unisys, to help them develop, practice and execute these plans. "We see this happening to more and more companies around the world and it's something we've tied together in the concept of resilience ... It's really: let us help you figure out how to respond so that when things happen you're not ruined both professionally and as a company. A little bit of preparedness goes a long way," Patterson said. As 2017 continues to bring with it a stream of further revelations detailing Russian government involvement in the hack of the Democratic National Committee, a new facet has emerged. Russian army malware, dubbed X-Agent, has been linked to both the DNC hack as well as infected devices in the Ukrainian military. In other words, it appears that Russian intelligence tested its weaponized viruses in Ukraine before moving on to harder targets. This malware is significant for a number of reasons. Leaving aside the fact that it links Russia to the attack on the DNC, it also demonstrates an evolution of the ways that computer viruses are going to be used in war. Furthermore, it shows the evolving ways in which the war-torn country of Ukraine continues to be a test-bed for cyberweapons. Both governments and enterprises should take note. Tying DNC Malware to the GRU The malware known as X-Agent is an implant. Its designed to supplement phishing campaigns, such as the one that ensnared the ranking leadership of the DNC. Its dropped by infected sites, designed to look legitimate, and once installed it logs keystrokes, exfiltrates data, and executes commands remotely. According to Crowdstrike, this malware is exclusively used by Fancy Bear, a codename for an APT group thats been extensively linked to the Main Intelligence Agency of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federationusually abbreviated as the GRU. How do you turn an anodyne spying tool into a weapon of war? Thats a complicated answer, and it involves Ukrainian loyalists, smartphones, and outdated Cold War-era artillery. Weaponizing Malware: From Stealth to Lethality Heres what we know: Back in 2014, after Ukrainian protesters threw out their Russian-aligned president, Viktor Yanukovych, the Russian Federation struck back. They annexed Crimea, and began backing rebel forces in the north of the country. Loyalist Ukrainian forces have held the line, but theyve had to make do with outdated equipment, while the rebel forces always seem to mysteriously end up with top-of-the-line Russian military hardware. One of the mainstays of the Ukrainian armed forces is the D-30 howitzer, a towed artillery piece that was new in 1963. Due to its manual controls, the D-30 is slow to aim and fire, but a simple Android app allowed users to input targeting data and improve performance by several shots per minute. You can probably guess what happened next. Fancy Bear operatives cloned the app, implanted Russian Army malware, and then distributed it on Ukrainian military forums. (Readers will recognize some similarity to a malware variant that attacked Pokemon GO! users.) It was downloaded 9,000 times, and once installed on Ukrainian phones, it began to telegraph the locations of army units to Russian forces. Since the Ukrainian conflict began, over 80% of their D-30 artillery units have been destroyed. To See What Russian Army Malware Does Next, Keep a Close Watch on Ukraine It is becoming evident that any malware that Russia wants to use in the United States and Europe will be tested in Ukraine first. Fancy Bear tested X-Agent in Ukraine in 2014 before using it on the DNC. Ukraine was also the venue for the first known hack of another countrys electrical grid. More worryingly, a second hack was reported to have shut down the city of Kiev in late 2016. As the scale and efficacy of these attacks increase, it is likely that other countries will see their electrical grids become a target. Enterprises who wish to harden their defenses against Russian Army malware must do so with an eye towards the future. The Russians have been observed to constantly innovate and iterate their attacks, even as they move into actions on objectives. Any attack by the Russian intelligence services is also viewed as an opportunity for them to experiment with new techniques. For more information, check out our white paper on The Democratization of Nation-State Attacks, or contact SentinelOne today. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Growing up in Venezuela, Geraldine Rey was always in the kitchen learning new recipes from her mother, who works as a chef there. So when Rey came to the United States about a year ago, she and her husband, Angel Mora, decided they wanted to enter the restaurant industry in Connecticut. Having no experience running a business, the husband-and-wife team decided to start off by first acquiring and managing their own food truck. Mora, a personal banker at Peoples United Bank, took care of the business aspects, while Rey, who is still learning English, worked in the kitchen. But then, the Bridgeport couple learned through a friend that Val Fernandes, owner of two Funchal Cafe locations downtown, was selling his Lafayette Boulevard business. After they realized they could make the finances work, the couple took the leap. Everything happened super fast, said Rey, in Spanish. We had the chance, thank God, to start with an actual location. This month, Funchal Cafe at 881 Lafayette Blvd. across from Housatonic Community College became Bocados Deli & Cafe. The name, which means bites or bite-sized in Spanish, refers to Reys plans to sell small empanadas and arepas from the food truck. Rey said she still plans to someday soon incorporate Latino foods into the menu, with weekly specials like arroz con pollo (rice and chicken) and pernil y arroz con gandules (roasted pork and rice with pigeon peas). We want to have variety in the menu so people dont get bored with the same thing all the time, Rey said. She said she hopes to soon include the empanadas and arepas she had initially planned to sell on the menu. What wont be eliminated from the offerings at the Lafayette Boulevard location are the paninis that Funchal was known for, although the couple has added their own twists to the new menu. The expanded panini list will include a pesto chicken panini and a Philly cheesesteak panini. The couple has also added a new selection of salads, including a mango salad and a Mediterranean salad. Rey said they decided to keep the paninis because they knew the items were popular with the regular Funchal customers. Were going to add new things slowly, she said. The customer base is there. What we need is to retain them and add new customers. Rey said Fernandes has helped the couple and supported their plans. The Funchal owner said he sold the Lafayette Boulevard location because the Funchal on the Green cafe he opened last year has been doing well on State Street, and construction is underway on a second Funchal location at 100 Fairfield Ave. The new location, to be called Funchal Americana, will be three times the size of its present space. It will also be a full-service restaurant, not just a cafe and deli. The new eatery will have a buffet and serve Brazilian, Latino and American food. Rey and Mora also plan to eventually expand the offerings at Bocados. Mora said he would like to establish a partnership with a coffeehouse, such as Starbucks, to carry its brews. The couple also plans to make aesthetic improvements to their cafe. We are working on getting a wine and beer license as well, said Mora. For now, were on the right path, Rey added. Bocados is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and can be reached at 203-612-7100. ktorres@hearstmediact.com; 203-330-6227 The Monroe Volunteer Fire Department will add five new trucks to the fleet after the town approved to spend the $3.8 million at a town meeting Monday night by a vote of 44-2. The trucks are expected to be added some time in 2018. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate HARTFORD The budget-writing Appropriations Committee, after hours of soul searching on rising debt and the benefits of state workers, voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve restructuring Connecticuts pension obligations. If approved by the state House and Senate next week, the payments would be stretched out an additional 15 years, to 2047, but it would avoid a huge payment of up to $6 billion looming in 2032. Leaders of the House and Senate immediately announced they would vote on the package on Feb. 1. It was the result of prolonged negotiations between the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, representing 43,000 active state workers and 40,000 retirees, and Gov. Dannel P. Malloys staff. The deal was reached late last year. The fate of the legislation is uncertain, because of the 17-17 tie in the Senate and the small 78-72 Democratic majority in the House. A rejection in either the House or Senate would result in a collapse of the deal. Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, a member of the Appropriations Committee who voted in favor of the legislation, stressed that lawmakers have to drastically change the states pension plans to be more in line with the private sector. We should look at this holistically and restructure the manner in which we defined benefits, he said. Senators on the committee passed the agreement 10-2 and House members approved it 30-10. This year state government will pay $1.6 billion into the pension fund, which was underfunded for decades after it began in the late 1930s. Payments would flatten out under the plan, avoiding the 2032 problem, but spreading them out for another decade and a half. I feel were taking a responsible approach, said Rep. Chris Perone, D-Norwalk. This takes bold decision making and I strongly suggest we get this done, said Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport. But Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, R-Newtown, said he is concerned that no one was speaking for state taxpayers in the deal. Nobodys at the table sitting there for them, Bolinsky said. Many Republicans want to change the nature of the pension plans, from a defined benefit to a defined contribution plan for the next generation of employees to invest in plans more akin to 401(k) plans that the private sector offers employees. Dan Livingston, a labor lawyer who represents SEBACs 34 unionized groups, said public sector workers also pay for their salaries. I am proud of the fact that the people I represent are taxpayers and they are proud to work for the state, too, Livingston told the committee. kdixon@ctpost.com; Twitter: @KenDixonCT Researchers at Yale University have found a genetic variant that may make treatment of opioid addiction more effective. According to a news release from Yale, the variant helped identify African Americans who might need higher doses of methadone the most effective treatment for those dependent upon heroin or prescription painkillers. Patients receiving methadone treatment vary widely in their dose requirements. Individualized dosing is crucial to recovery: Too high of a dose can cause sedation and dangerous breathing difficulties; too low of a dose often leads to relapse. The authors said the discovery may allow doctors to more quickly identify patients who must receive higher doses of methadone. The same variant was also shown by the investigators to predict the morphine dose needed to achieve effective pain control in a population of African American children undergoing surgery. No such effect was found among subjects of European ancestry who underwent methadone treatment. We found specific gene effects in people with African ancestry, an understudied population, said Joel Gelernter, the Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry, professor of genetics and of neuroscience, and senior author of the paper. The genetic variant identified among African-Americans is adjacent to the gene OPRM1, which encodes the main cell receptor targeted by opioids in the brain. The variant could be used as a biomarker, helping tailor treatment for African-Americans with an opioid use disorder, note the investigators. As of September, there were projected to be 888 drug overdoses deaths in Connecticut, up from 729 in 2015. A large chunk of these involved opioids. The researchers stressed the need for future studies to confirm the effects they observed and to attain a biological understanding of the mechanism. Primary funding for the research was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Cuba and Uganda look for ways to cooperate Submitted by: Juana Africa Havana Business and Economy 01 / 23 / 2017 Ugandas Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fishing, Vincent Bamulangaki Ssempijja and Cubas ambassador to that African nation, Antonio Luis Pubillones analyzed on Tuesday the current state of bilateral relations in particular in agriculture. According to the official website of the Cuban Foreign Ministry, both sides coincided in the need to jointly work in strengthening and diversifying the historic friendship and cooperation ties between both nations. The Ugandan official thanked the Cuban ambassadors visit and characterized it as an excellent opportunity to begin to develop and broaden cooperation ties in the agricultural sector. The ambassador on his part referred to the damages inflicted by the US blockade to the Caribbean island which he stressed continued in effect and hurting the agricultural, cattle and tobacco sectors. He also thanked the Ugandan government and people for their sustained support to the Cuban Resolution at the UN against the unjust an illegal economic blockade against Cuba. Pubillones also said that despite the damages inflicted on Cuban agriculture and other sectors of the island economy, his government maintains the commitment to foment cooperation between both countries and contribute to the economic and social development of Uganda. The Republic of Uganda is located in the central eastern part of the African continent and agriculture is its main economic sector which coffee being its main exporting product. County-specific poll may foretell whether Pa. is going blue or red Did the Queen congratulate President Donald Trump on the occasion of his inauguration? No mention is made of her doing so on the official website, The Home Of The Royal Family. A spokesman says HM did congratulate Mr Trump, but adds: 'We have confirmed the fact of the message but haven't made the text of it public.' How curious. Questions are being asked whether the Queen congratulated Mr Trump on his inauguration The Prime Minister is expected to issue an invitation from the Queen to Mr Trump to make a state visit here, when she meets him on Friday. Theresa May is reported to have studied (a month before it was made public) the controversial dossier about The Donald's alleged antics with prostitutes in Moscow circa 2013. Did she pop a copy into the palace's red box for HM's perusal? Mrs May has yet to be invited to Clarence House for a one-to-one with the Prince of Wales although she's been Prime Minister for six months. While Mrs May has had discussions with Prince Charles on several occasions, including a meeting at Birkhall in Scotland last September, might environmentally -minded Charles be peeved she's abolished No 10's climate change department, established in 2008 by Gordon Brown and continued by David Cameron? Mrs May has yet to be invited to Clarence House for a one-to-one with the Prince of Wales although she's been Prime Minister for six months Top West End producer Sonia Friedman, 51, pictured, describes the BBC's new Saturday night talent show Let It Shine auditioning for a new boy band musical as 'massive free advertising'. She tells Radio Times: 'I do have a moral issue. I still find it difficult to understand how a public corporation can be funding a commercial operation.' Good point. Promoting her new BBC series, comedienne Tracey Ullman, 57, mentions veteran feminist Germaine Greer, 77, whom she impersonates. She calls her 'intellectually homeless', adding: 'So I play her at a bus stop looking homeless.' Self-exiled in California for 30 years, Ms Ullman might be displaying psychological projection displacing unwanted feelings onto another person. Asked by the Times Literary Supplement to name her favourite fictional character, US lady of letters Joyce Carol Oates, 78, replies, 'Our newly-elected US President', adding that he's a 'psychopath crudely plagiarised from absurdist French playwright Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi (King Ubu)'. Which you'll recall was a wild comic satire about power, overturning cultural rules and conventions, which opened (and closed) amid riotous scenes in Paris on December 10, 1896. West Yorkshire Playhouse says its new production of Romeo & Juliet 'captures the impact of raging inter-generational conflict and social unrest in a sharply resonant present-day setting'. Artistic director James Brining explains: 'Our staging of this 400-year-old play asks the audience to reflect on how we live together in the present moment; particularly as the UK goes about exiting the EU.' Might the Bard have been a Brexiteer? Melania Trump, 46, 'is simply the most beautiful first lady in American history', tweets thrice-married Republican bigwig Newt Gingrich, 73. The old tadpole then spoils it by typing: 'She'll bring a Sophia Lauren [sic] look to the White House.' Public figures and, indeed, Supreme Court judges are some- times accused of being 'remote from' and 'out of touch with' the electorate. Well, this time it is undeniable. Business tycoon Sir Richard Branson is pushing his snout back into the Brexit debate and is bankrolling a campaign for a second EU referendum. The alleged billionaire is doing so from 4,124 miles away: the as-the-crow-flies distance from Westminster to his palm-fringed island home in the Caribbean. Richard Branson is trying to derail Brexit by bankrolling calls for a second EU referendum He is making his calls from 4,100 miles away on his paradise island of Necker, pictured This morning, back home, London's Supreme Court will announce its verdict in a case brought against the Government by wealthy Remain campaigner Gina Miller and others. That finding will be followed closely by millions of British subjects who voted Leave in June's referendum. They will be hoping that our lofty judges permit the Government to proceed unimpeded with plans for Brexit, as voted for by a majority in last summer's unprecedentedly large plebiscite. In the Caribbean, emotions will be coursing in the other direction. Sir Richard and his sun-bleached coterie will be hoping that judges Neuberger, Hale, Mance and co those gold-robed poohbahs of the Europhiliac judiciary will toss a spanner into Theresa May's plans to obey the referendum vote and extract us swiftly from the claws of Brussels. Necker, the private island where Sir Richard rests his worrying head of a night, is said to be an idyllic place. For those whose taste runs to such things, you can sit on its Turtle Beach and let the warm waters nibble your naked toes. 'Would sir and his popsy enjoy some scuba diving before today's succulent barbecue lunch of lobster and fresh mahi-mahi?' we may imagine a grass-skirted batman asking. As the sun sets, Sir Richard can sip rum punch on verandas fringed by bougainvilleas and plumbago while he and his fellow Remainers rage and tut and moan and plot against the Euroscepticism of those voters back home in Britain. What fools the Little Englanders have been! If only they hadlistened to Sir Richard's pro-EU friends such as Lord Mandelson and Nick Clegg, not to mention celebrities such as Jamie Oliver, Gary Lineker and actress Kate Beckinsale. If Sir Richard and his ilk have their way, Brexit will never happen. To this end, as the Mail reported last week, the businessman has given office space and a donation of 25,000 (so far) to a campaign co-organised by former Blairite Cabinet minister Alan Milburn. This outfit, currently called UK-EU Open Policy Limited, hopes to persuade the British people to change their mind over the EU. They intend to make us see the goodness of the European Commission, to realise we have made a ghastly mistake in our referendum and they hope we will crawl back to Brussels pleading to be forgiven our rush of blood to the head. The group's backers include a notoriously Europhile journalist, Anatole Kaletsky, and insurance millionaire Sir Clive Cowdery, who founded the Centre-Left think-tank, the Resolution Foundation. Another backer is Stephen Peel, a former director of the controversial bank Goldman Sachs. Between them and others, they have raised funds reportedly not unadjacent to 1 million to push their agenda. This set-up has a strongly Blairite flavour. Its cheerleaders include (almost inevitably) Sir Bob Geldof, former Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Labour's MP Chuka Umunna and PR agent Matthew Freud, an egregious little greaser who was once married to one of Rupert Murdoch's daughters and was never far from Downing Street's door in the Blair years. Former New Labour ministers Lord (John) Hutton, Douglas Alexander, Lady (Sally) Morgan and a sometime No 10 speechwriter, Peter Hyman, have also been mentioned in connection with the Branson-backed front. This group is not to be confused with a separate enterprise being mounted by former prime minister Tony Blair, or with Open Britain, a group set up after the referendum to fight, it says, for the best deal for this country. Open Britain's chairman is the big cheese PR man Roland Rudd, who is very keen for the UK to remain part of the single market. Gina Miller, pictured, will discover today whether the Supreme Court have upheld the High Court's decision on her case to determine the limits of the Government's Article 50 powers 'No one voted to be poorer,' he said. 'It would be an act of calamitous self-harm if any second-best trade arrangement with the EU damaged British growth, jobs and prosperity.' What are we to make of these people? After all, to immerse yourself in political debate is, it could be argued, an honourable pursuit civic engagement by men and women who may simply be seeking to 'put something back into society'. Or is there something more selfish and sinister here? Are they genuinely doing their best for the British population? Are they are as detached from the true concerns of the British electorate as their champion and financial backer Sir Richard is, physically, from our island's fog-bound shores? If my suspicions incline to the latter, it is for two reasons. The first is the narrow one of the personal career and business interests of those involved. Sir Richard has already claimed that Brexit has cost his Virgin group dearly. Less than a week after the referendum, he went on breakfast television to say in a somewhat petulant, told-you-so sort of tone that Virgin was cancelling a deal which might have created 3,000 jobs. Since then there has been plenty of evidence the British economy is surging ahead, quite undented by looming Brexit, but we must take his word for it and accept that those alleged jobs were, indeed, lost. The effect of the Leave vote on the personal fortunes of men like Sir Clive Cowdery and former Goldman Sachs man Stephen Peel is hard to calculate, though given the stock market has risen to new heights and those millionaires are likely to have substantial share holdings, it would be a surprise if they had lost money. But the political careers of Sally Morgan, Alan Milburn and co have undoubtedly sagged as a result of the vote to quit Brussels. Their party, Labour, is at sixes and sevens and Mr Milburn's quango job as social mobility czar he was appointed by David Cameron's coalition government looks distinctly vulnerable. In the coming weeks we are going to see new pressures applied to Jeremy Corbyn (an instinctive Eurosceptic whom the Blairites loathe) and his leadership of the Labour party as it fights to retain its parliamentary seats in Stoke-on-Trent and the Cumbrian constituency of Copeland in two by-elections. When Lord Mandelson is in the shadows, as he is said to be here, we must not rule out the possibility of ulterior political motives namely, the destabilisation of Mr Corbyn's Labour, which at present does not intend to block Article 50 and the official triggering of Brexit. But the bigger reason for being dubious about these rich and powerful anti-Brexiteers indeed, to question their motives as they stamp their feet in opposition to the plain will of the majority in the biggest vote ever held in our history is that their case is built on Britain failing. Some wealthy anti-Brexit campaigners want to re-run last year's EU membership referendum To quote the Left-leaning Independent and its report on the group: 'Backers hope that public support for a rethink [on the referendum] will grow if the economy deteriorates and the EU negotiations point to a bad deal for Britain.' In other words, Branson and Co will get their way only if our rivals prosper at our expense, and if our economy goes belly-up. What sort of British person actively banks on such circumstances? There is a word for this sort of behaviour and it is not patriotism. The ostensibly hesitant Branson has for decades sold himself to the public as an easy-going, liberal sort of guy even as a totem of Britishness. Business journalists have watched with awe and some of them with a rising, sceptical distaste as Sir Richard has posed with pretty air stewardesses, wrapped himself in the Union flag, thrown himself into stunt adventures in balloons and so forth. He has sucked up remorselessly to impressionable politicians as he has promoted the Branson brand. His business record long suggested something infinitely more ruthless than the mild- mannered Leftist we were shown. He pocketed millions of pounds in subsidies from the taxpayer to run his heinously expensive railways, among other ventures. As the Supreme Court judges hand down their verdict today, we will be told severely that we must not question their motivations. But can the same be said of the hard-core Remainers, who are using the law to try to sow confusion and create inertia, thus defying the British people who surely have more right to see their political will enacted than a billionaire who chooses to live half a world away? Advertisement In the tender moments after giving birth, a new mother is pictured holding her baby for the first time. With her newborn swaddled in a towel she takes a moment to herself, her baby's tiny head resting peacefully on her chest. It is this perfect perfect moment that Melbourne photographer Lacey Barratt caught on camera. 'One of my favourite parts about birth is after the chaos of the labour and birth comes the quiet serenity and soaking in of your baby,' she said. Ms Barratt is a birth photographer and doula. Here she shares some of her favourite moments from the birthing suite in 2016. 'One of my favourite parts about birth is after the chaos of the labour and birth comes the quiet serenity and soaking in of your baby,' Melbourne birth photographer Lacey Barratt said. Here she shares some of her favourite birthing photos Ms Barratt described this birth to Kidspot, saying it was a 'healing' birth for the mother who welcomed her baby in to the world in the safety of her own home 'It isn't very often that I get eye contact from babies, but this sweet guy couldn't stop staring straight at my camera,' she said One of Ms Barratt's favourite moments from the past year is a black-and-white shot of a baby lying on their mother's chest. In a moment rarely caught on camera, the newborn opened their eyes to stare directly down the barrel of the lens. 'It isn't very often that I get eye contact from babies,' Ms Barratt said. 'But this sweet guy couldn't stop staring straight at my camera.' A new father 'catches' his baby as they are born, a smile on his face as his newborn keeps his tiny eyes scrunched shut 'This is a continuation of dad catching his sweet baby girl and passing her to mum. The teamwork from these two parents was incredible to watch unfold,' Ms Barratt said A new father holds his baby for the first time after they were 'born in a hurry', his tattooed arms wrapped gently around their tiny body Other tender moments show new fathers meeting their baby for the first time. One incredible photo shows a father working together with a midwife to 'catch' his baby as they are being born. He then tenderly passes his baby over to his wife, who is still hunched over from giving birth. 'The teamwork from these two parents was incredible to watch unfold,' Ms Barratt said. Another photo shows the tender moment a father first held his baby, his tattooed arms wrapped carefully around their tiny body. 'I am lucky enough to photograph repeat clients, this one I first photographed in an entirely different state yet ended up nearly next door to each other years later, just in enough time to capture the birth of her first daughter,' she said 'I adore this transitional moment of a halfway earth side babe and the intensity on mums face and body working hard to birth her baby,' Ms Barratt said This photo shows three generations, a new mother resting peacefully after birth as her own mother gently kisses her forehead 'I love this shot of the midwife showing off bub and his tiny little feet to the camera,' she said Another favourite photo shows a newborn being held up to the camera by the midwife. With their hands held over their chest the baby stares through tiny eyes at the world for the first time. 'I love this shot of the midwife showing off bub and his tiny little feet to the camera,' Ms Barratt said. Advertisement The Duchess of Cambridge was deeply moved today by a family who shared with her how they lost their five-year-old son to a brain tumour. Kate, 35, met parents Claire and Tristan Cork, from Hethersett, on a visit to the East Anglia's Children's Hospices in Quidenham, Norfolk when their daughter Nell, four, presented her with a posy. Her brother Finnbar, received care at the centre before he died in August last year from an inoperable brain tumour. And compassionate Kate hugged the family before telling them: 'I'm a mum and I can't imagine what you've been through.' Scroll down for video Kate was presented with a posy of flowers by four-year-old Nell Cork, whose brother, Finnbar, received care at the centre before he died in August last year 'Vital role': The charity praised the role the Duchess has played in helping to raise awareness of their work, such as opening a shop in Holt, Norfolk, in March last year The Duchess crouched down as she spoke to Nell before shaking the hand of her elder brother, Alfie, 13, and speaking to her parents, Claire and Tristan Kate chats to Nell's parents, Claire and Tristan. The family, from Hethersett, near Norwich, are among those who have been helped by the hospice charity of which Kate is patron Claire and Tristan, who also have son Alfie, 13, had a long meeting with Kate where they discussed the impact of the devastating diagnosis the care they received from EACH. Tristan, 34, said: 'She was very compassionate. She gave us a hug and said thank you for doing this. I think she was really trying to put herself in our situation. 'In the space of six months we had to watch [Finnbar] go from being a healthy five-year-old, going to school, to watch him become so unwell.' Claire, 32, added: 'She said to me, "I'm a mum and I can't imagine what you've been through". She had lots of questions.' Kate opted for a green suit from Hobbs with a lace collar as she arrived at the children's centre in the Norfolk village of Quidenham to meet youngsters with life-threatening conditions Duchess of style: Kate added a touch of glamour to her emerald green Hobbs suit with a lace collar and a pair of black pointed courts The Duchess of Cambridge was presented with a portrait of 'Princess Kate' along with a sweet handwritten note from a youngster named Lily who said it was an 'honour' to meet her Tristan said: 'She's obviously very in tune with what EACH does and palliative care in particular she seems to be interested in.' Claire said about first coming to the hospice as a family: 'We'd been in hospital for five weeks while Finnbar had palliative radiotherapy. 'As a parent with a child, even though you know they're very sick you never want to think that they're dying. The picture, drawn on a piece of yellow paper, was accompanied by a note which read: 'Princess Kate, it is an honour to meet you' and showed the Duchess in a floral dress 'In our mind coming to the hospice was, "What you think he's going to die", even though we knew that was going to happen. 'We came here and stayed here for a week in the end because they just looked after us so well. Finnbar responded so well. When we went home from here, EACH continued to support us. ' 'A nurse came in every day to see us. Without EACH our journey would have been very different.' Getting stuck in: Kate tales part in a craft session with Isabella Benton, left, and Amy Hewett, second right, in the art therapy room at EACH's Quidenham Centre on Tuesday The family has continued to receive support from EACH after Finnbar died on August 5 2016. Tristan and Claire have regular counselling sessions with them and Alfie and Nell attend siblings groups. Tristan added: 'At the end I said thank you to [the Duchess] for doing what she does and being a figurehead because it draws a lot of attention to the charity. 'She just said, "I do what little I can" kind of thing. 'We did have a few things we wanted to say to her about our experience.' The Duchess does some painting with Isabella Benton at the hospice which offers specialist nursing care, symptom management support, wellbeing activities, therapy and counselling Claire added: 'I would say the thing that struck her the most was when we said we've had little support from anywhere else. We haven't had any support via the NHS. It was always EACH that were there for us.' Tristan said: 'Until EACH came galloping to our rescue we felt so on our own.' The Duchess also spoke to four-year-old Daisy Benton during the visit who wanted to know what it feels like to be a 'real princess'. Guest of honour: In her role as royal patron, Kate helped to launch the charity's Nook Appeal in 2014, for a purpose-built hospice which will help to provide families with vital facilities Daisy's sister, Isabella, six, who has a number of neurological conditions including complex refractory epilepsy and global developmental delay, is a patient at the centre. Kate laughed uproariously as the youngster excitedly tipped an entire pot of pink glitter onto her picture during an art session. Play specialist Rachel Turner, who was running the sesson, said afterwards: 'I was worrying about not getting paint on her because Isabella, bless her, is very vigorous with the paint and the glitter.' The Duchess will meet families who use the hospice's services at Quidenham as they take part in an art therapy session and use equipment in the sensory room on Tuesday afternoon Isabella's mother Michala Benton, 42, said afterwards: 'My other little girl Daisy asked her what it was like to be a real princess and Kate said she's very well looked after by her husband. Daisy is four and absolutely loves princesses. 'Kate also said about her kids that Charlotte and George run in different directions all the time. She was very down to earth and was happy to sit with Isabella.' After the session Kate looked around at the toys in the room and, gesturing to some plastic dinosaurs, in what is thought to be a reference to her three-year-old son George, she said: 'I can see these going down very well with someone I might know.' After chatting with Nell's family, Kate took the bouquet of flowers and headed inside where she is touring the centre's facilities and learn about their vital fundraising work Kate also admitted she found making her first ever speech on behalf of the charity in Ipswich in 2012 'terrifying'. The Duchess was standing in front of a crowd of donors and volunteers at the end of her hour-long visit. The hospice, run by East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), offers specialist nursing care, symptom management support, wellbeing activities, therapy and counselling - all designed to meet the individual needs of the child or young person and their parents. The Duchess also met with families who use the hospice's services at Quidenham as they took part in an art therapy session and use equipment in the sensory room - where the royal narrowly avoided being buried underneath an avalanche of tinsel. EACH's Chief Executive Graham Butland spoke about Kate's 'journey' with the charity since she became patron in 2012 after first making behind-the-scenes visits. He continued: 'Then that journey developed into your first public speech.' Kate smiled and interjected - 'terrifying'. Mr Butland continued: 'Terrifying, well I can tell you my former chairman was equally terrified that day.' After Mr Butland's comments, Kate held her hands to her face as though she was blushing from his remarks. EACH has so far raised 5million towards a 10million new hospice which will be twice the size and contain an hydrotherapy pool, family accommodation, bereavement suite and much larger play and sensory room. Important cause: Since its opening in 1991, increasing numbers of children visiting Quidenham with complex healthcare needs means the hospice has outgrown its current site Kate chats to staff as she arrives at the centre in Quidenham on Tuesday morning. She has been a patron of EACH since January 2012 and helped to launch their Nook Appeal Kate receives a bunch of yellow tulips, left, before chatting to EACH staff, right, as she arrives at the hospice on Tuesday morning. EACH has praised her 'vital role' within the charity Time for change: The Duchess, who is believed to have travelled by car today from her nearby home at Anmer Hall, is set to move to Kensington Palace permanently in September Kate has been the royal patron of EACH since January 2012, and her first public speaking engagement was at the opening of the Treehouse in Ipswich, another children's hospice run by the charity, in March that year. She also helped to launch their Nook Appeal in 2014, for a new purpose-built hospice called The Nook, will help to provide more families with the same facilities as those offered by EACH hospices for Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk. Today, the Duchess was updated on the progress of efforts to raise 10million for the project by staff, supporters and families who she will meet at the hospice. Kate has been the royal patron of EACH since January 2012, and her first public speaking engagement was at the opening of the Treehouse, another hospice run by the charity The mother-of-two spent time with the staff and volunteers who work at Quidenham as they updated her on plans for the new site. Following her tour, the Duchess met local supporters of the Nook Appeal who continue raising vital funds for the new hospice. The Quidenham EACH centre supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions from across Norfolk. Support for Kate: The local youngsters braved chilly temperatures on Tuesday morning to catch a glimpse of the Duchess, waving purple and orange EACH flags Since its opening in 1991, increasing numbers of children with life-threatening conditions and complex healthcare needs visiting Quidenham means the hospice has outgrown its current site. EACH provides care and support for more than 750 children, young people and family members across the region, with 346 currently using its Quidenham hospice. Speaking ahead of Kate's visit on Tuesday, EACH's chief executive Graham Butland said: 'We are very much looking forward to greeting Her Royal Highness once again, on what will be her first visit to our site in Quidenham. 'The Duchess will meet our fantastic staff and volunteers at Quidenham who work tirelessly with children and their families needing our services. 'They'll explain the difficulties they face as Quidenham has outgrown its home, and the huge difference a purpose-built modern hospice will make to the care they can provide to so many families.' He added: 'We still have some way to go before the new hospice can be built, though, and we need continued help from individuals, trusts and events, and as much corporate and community support as possible.' In a blog post on its website, the charity praised the 'vital role' the Duchess has played in helping to raise awareness of their work, such as opening a shop in Holt, Norfolk, in March last year. She has also attended a gala dinner at Houghton Hall, and provided written messages of support for the charity in her role as royal patron. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are set to make a permanent move from Anmer Hall in Norfolk to Kensington Palace in September as Prince George, three, starts primary school in London. Many of us assume we know our correct bra size and have continued to invest in that size for many years. However, experts say that it is highly likely that the majority of us are wearing the wrong size but thankfully there is one simple way to find out. Nicole Kivitz, who works for French lingerie brand Chantelle has revealed her advice for buying the right bra every time. Nicole Kivitz, who works for French lingerie brand Chantelle, has revealed the simple trick that will reveal whether you are wearing the right bra size Speaking to Insider Nicole said that when buying a bra the first time that you wear it should be able to fit no more than two fingers between the band and the back. If any more than two fingers can fit between the gap then your bra is too big and you should seek a smaller size. To begin with you should wear your bra on the third hook but after several wears the bra will stretch and only then should you reduce it to the second and first hook. Nicole adds that too much emphasis is put on the cup she says 'Because 80% of your support is from your band, it should be tight.' She reveals that if you can fit more than two fingers between your back and the band it is time for a new bra and recommends being measured anually In addition she insists that bra fittings should be done annually in order to keep an accurate meseaurment of your bra size. Nicki Hall, Senior Designer at Royce argues that it should be even more frequent as breasts can alter in size due to hormonal changes, weight gain or loss or changes in the body due to exercise. 'We forget how much our boobs change and should always go and get professionally fitted often,' she says. Ultimo's head of design Sharon Bell, agrees saying: 'We recommend that you get refitted for a bra every six months'. Revolabs to Display Conferencing Solutions at Amsterdam Event Share Tweet By Alicia Young Web Editor By Alicia YoungWeb Editor The New Year is always an opportune time for companies to show their stuff and prove that they are on track for a successful coming 12 months. One company following this is Revolabs, a conferencing solutions provider. The wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha (News - Alert) Corporation announced recently that it will be displaying its portfolio of products at ISE 2017, which is being held Feb. 7-10 in Amsterdam. Revolabs (News - Alert) is taking the event as an opportunity to showcase its new conferencing products. One such product is the Executive Elite 2-Channel wireless microphone system. The wireless rackmount microphone system is meant for auditoriums and lecture halls, but can also be used as a part of a lecture capture system. The microphone offers natural sound quality, and improved functionality, including simple connectivity, remote monitoring and diagnostics, and network management alongside other network devices. Meanwhile, the HD Venue and HD Dual Channel wireless microphone systems will also be making an appearance at the Revolabs booth. The HD Venue rackmount system supports two microphones in conference rooms, training rooms, auditoriums for lecture capture, and video carts. According to Revolabs, The HD Dual Channel is a plug-and-play wireless offering for spaces that need only one or two microphones and require less range between the microphones and base unit. The company is also planning on introducing its latest technology partners, which include Google (News - Alert), Yamaha, Foundry, Zoom and BlueJeans. These are strategic partnerships on Revolabs part, because each company is a major technology provider. Now that Revolabs conferencing solutions are interoperable with all of these companies solutions, Revolabs is sure to see a boost in sales. Revolabs is excited for the opportunity to present its new products, and its grateful to Yamaha for helping to make it all possible. The company looks forward to sharing its conferencing solutions, with Russell Harpham, EMEA Director at Revolabs, saying, With the support of Yamaha, our parent company, we continue to push high-quality audio across every conferencing and UC applicationNo matter how our customers choose to communicate, our solutions are designed to deliver clear audio thats the cornerstone of effective communication. At ISE 2017, attendees will have an opportunity to see our superior audio solutions for these markets and how they can integrate with technology from our new partners. While most economics students dream of a career in banking or consultancy, Courtney Barnes has decided to turn her back on her training and make money by flaunting her 59 inch derriere online. Courtney, 32, from Miami, underwent three rounds of illegal butt shots six years ago at one of the thousands of illegal 'pumping parties' that take place across the States. The end product was much bigger than she expected - but now the 32-year-old cam-girl and model is using her super-sized posterior to her financial gain. Making the most of her assets: Courtney Barnes underwent illegal butt shots six years ago at one of the thousands of illegal 'pumping parties' that take place across the States Courtney said: 'One thing that I did learn in economics is that it's about having a product that people want - and my product is myself right now. 'I want to show men, women, and children that it is possible to be beautiful, smart, and have a big ass.' Courtney, also known as Miss Miami, initially decided to have the illegal silicone injections after working as a dancer whilst studying. She admired the curvaceous figures of other dancers and decided to enhance her own bottom using the dangerous black-market methods. Courtney pictured before her 'butt implants'. The economics graduate has decided to turn her back on her training and make money by flaunting her 59 inch derriere online Courtney said: 'It was a risk I was willing to take at the time and I was lucky not to have any complications. 'I was naive and I admit I didn't know what I was putting in my body, but at the time a lot of women in Florida were getting it done and I found a local women who could do it.' The injections regularly contain unknown substances as well as silicone, and are often administered by people with no medical expertise. And if the substance is accidentally injected into a vein, it can cause death within minutes as the solution travels to the lungs. Courtney compares her posterior to a friend's. She admits that the end product was much bigger than she expected; but now the 32-year-old model is using it to her financial gain Courtney said: 'Many people ask me "are these injections dangerous?" And the answer is yes. 'Even if it isn't fatal immediately you don't know how it is affecting your body. These are very dangerous products that are being injected. 'I don't know for sure what they injected me with. But when I got it, she said it was like some hydrogel, some kind of silicone that they normally put in gummy bear implants. 'You don't know how your body is going to react. It is still something foreign that's in your body. It's a gamble. 'A close friend of mine got it removed and she ended up having to have blood transfusions and she was in the hospital for months. It was a nightmare for her.' Courtney rides a bike on Miami's Ocean Drive. Courtney, also known as Miss Miami, initially decided to have the illegal silicone injections after working as a dancer whilst studying Courtney shows off her figure. She was inspired to get injections because she admired the curvaceous figures of other dancers and decided to enhance her own bottom Courtney, who was a regular on the Miami club scene, quickly became renowned for her sixty-inch bottom. And after pictures of her began to go viral, Courtney decided to monetize her online fame. Courtney said: 'I was working at a traditional office job at that time and so many pictures and videos of me were going viral just out shopping and dancing in the clubs. 'That's when I started to model and get myself out there. I knew how to best market myself and the success was almost overnight.' Now Courtney has 379,000 Instagram followers and is a successful model and cam-girl. Proud: Courtney, who was a regular on the Miami club scene, quickly became renowned for her sixty-inch bottom. And soon, pictures of her began to go viral Courtney shows off her derriere. She recalled: 'I was working at a traditional office job at that time and so many pictures and videos of me were going viral just out shopping and dancing' But despite her lucrative earnings, Courtney says her huge posterior means that people don't take her seriously and over-sexualise her. She said: 'My career is fun but at the same time it is really difficult for people to take you seriously when it comes to certain businesses. 'I feel like having a really big butt or having really big boobs, you are completely over sexualized. 'People only want to buy something sexual from you and only want to consider you in that way but I actually have a brain and I'm very business-minded. 'People stare at me everywhere I go and not every reaction is positive. I feel like women are intimidated by me and men view me as a piece of meat. Despite her lucrative earnings, Courtney says her huge posterior means that people often don't take her seriously and over-sexualise her Courtney said: 'My career is fun but at the same time it is really difficult for people to take you seriously when it comes to certain businesses' 'I'm actually quite a shy person and being looked at constantly can make me feel uncomfortable sometimes. 'Two times in my life I've had guys pumping gas at the gas station and they are watching me and they drive off with pump in their car. It's crazy, they just lose focus.' And as well as the negativity she feels due to endless stares and constant attention, Courtney admits her bum is starting to sag. She said: 'My butt does not sit up as much as it used to and I can see a little discoloration in the skin.' Despite this, Courtney insists she will not have any further injections and although she loves her curves, she is considering getting her bottom reduced in the future. Courtney has her posterior checked out by a doctor. As well as the negativity she feels due to endless stares and constant attention, Courtney admits her bum is starting to sag Courtney insists she will not have any further injections and although she loves her curves, she is considering getting her bottom reduced in the future She said: 'The body is complex and people are even getting limbs transplanted. So I am trusting that they can figure out what to do with the booty. 'I try not to live with the regrets - I just feel like that this is my story. I made a decision to do something that was a little risky. I wanted more and I didn't have all the information. 'I trusted people without knowing the full facts and I was lucky that nothing bad happened to me but I'm happy with my look and I love my body.' And although her path from scholar to cam-girl has been unconventional, Courtney credits her studies for equipping her with the knowledge to turn her bottom into a lucrative business. She said: 'What I do may be different, but my product is myself right now and my bottom is basically my bread and butter.' Residents of a small Irish town have been bombarded with phone calls meant for an X-rated TV station. Irish callers trying to reach women on adult TV channel Babestation have been accidentally dialling homes in Westport, Co Mayo. The channel's premium-rate chatline numbers start with 098 - the area code for Westport - and Irish viewers are forgetting to add the 0044 international dialling code that would redirect their calls to the UK-based station. Scroll down for video X-rated: Irish callers trying to reach adult TV channel Babestation have been accidentally dialling homes in Westport, Co Mayo, often in the middle of the night It means residents are being harassed by unwanted calls, often late at night, the Indpendent on Sunday reported. Regional Development Minister Michael Ring told the newspaper his constituents have been left 'aggravated and annoyed' by the mix-up. He said: 'They are getting these calls in the middle of night. 'One of those people has an elderly mother and family members all over the world and there could be a call at any time that they would have to take.' Mr Ring contacted local regulators and the police, asking them to intervene. Michael O'Keeffe, chief executive of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) said it is 'unfortunate that this issue is still continuing' but that the organisation had no responsibility over telephone numbers. He also said the BAI had contacted Babestation on behalf of one concerned resident and had spoken to a representative about the issue. Bombarded: Babestation's numbers start with 098 - the area code for Westport (pictured) - and Irish viewers are forgetting to add the 0044 international dialling code that would redirect their calls to the UK-based station. Residents are reportedly 'annoyed' by the mix-up A spokesman for ComReg, the Ireland's communications sector regulator, told MailOnline it had been in contact with its UK counterpart over the issue. He added: 'ComReg advises anyone calling UK from the Republic of Ireland should always use the prefix 00 44.' Mr Ring has also contacted the Phone-Paid Services Authority (PSA) in the UK. A spokesperson for the PSA told MailOnline: 'It appears that some Irish consumers have been dialling a UK service operating on a UK 09 number without using the +44 international dialling code, with the result that the calls go to the Irish 09 number, which is a residential number. 'We are aware of the issue. We have contacted the provider of the service who is working to remedy the matter.' A spokesman for Babestation told MailOnline: 'Babestation recognise this as an innocent misunderstanding and they are extremely aware that disappointed callers in Ireland, whose intention it was to speak to one of the Babestation girls, may have inadvertently reached homes on the west coast of Ireland. 'They also recognise the impact that this has had on those that may have received these calls, and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. 'Babestation are keen to stress, and will continue to do so publicly, that when dialling a UK number, the 0 should be replaced by 00 44.' Last year, an Arkansas woman lost her beloved KitchenAid electric stand mixer, a pricey small appliance she's been sad to do without. On New Year's Day, Heather Kohler took to Facebook to share her disappointment that the mixer was lost, and her hope that she'd find it in 2017. As it turns out, the 'thief' who whisked the mixer away saw that Facebook post and it gave him or her a devious idea to taunt Heather instead of returning it. Lost: Heather Kohler took to Facebook to bemoan the loss of her KitchenAid electric mixer Who took it? The Arkansas mom seemed to think the mixer was stolen Heh heh: The person who had her mixer saw her Facebook post and decided to have some fun New ink: The anonymous person created an Instagram account showing the mixer in unexpected places, like a tattoo parlor 'My hope for 2017 is that I find my kitchen aid mixer, which disappeared from my pantry... but left behind the bowl and attachments,' she wrote. 'Very bizarre. [sic]' No one came forward about having her mixer, but the secretive party clearly saw Heather's post. Eight days later, a new account launched on Instagram called @kohlers.kitchen.mixer. The poster shared images of the Kohlers' white KitchenAid electric mixer in a variety of places. Finding fans: Her daughter Evan found the account and tweeted about it; her tweet has since gone viral Jet-set: The mixer has been seen all over Arkansas and the person who has it said he or she wants to travel with it more before returning it Falsely accused? The anonymous person insists it wasn't stolen and that the Kohlers simply forgot they left the mixer with him or her Genius: The Facebook post gave him or her the idea to start her funny Instagram account First, the mixer popped up at Fort Smith in their home state. Next, it was off to a lake, before posing in front of street art. In the most recent image on the account, the worn-in mixer is pictured in a tattoo parlor, where where a tattoo artist appears to be giving it some new ink. Heather's daughter Evan was the first to stumble across the account, and she took grabs to post on Twitter and wrote: 'MY MOM LITERALLY LOST HER KITCHEN AID MIXER AND WHOEVER HAS IT MADE A SOCIAL MEDIA SITE AND IS TAKING IT AROUND TOWN TO TAUNT HER.' Hilarious: She also adds punny caption when she posts new photos Feedback: Fans have found the account through Evan's Twitter post Entertainment: Most people seem to find the pictures funny The tweet went viral, and people began following the Instagram account though no one has figured out who is behind it just yet. 'The Kohlers left it with me nearly five months ago, and I completely forgot I had it!' the perpetrator told BuzzFeed anonymously. 'Then Heather posted on Facebook that she was looking for it so I decided to have a little fun.' He or she added that she plans on traveling a bit more with the mixer before eventually returning it. We all know the secret to healthy teeth lies in brushing twice a day and minimising sugary snacks. But it seems we may have another option: sucking mints. Dr Heff's Remarkable Mints were developed by two British dentists who claim they can freshen breath, protect teeth from acid attack and repair tooth decay. The mints contain four key ingredients: calcium phosphate, to repair the damage of decay; xylitol, a natural sweetener, which helps neutralise acids that cause decay and reduces the formation of plaque; green tea, which is said to help block the enzymes that break down collagen, the scaffolding of the teeth; and peppermint oil, to freshen the breath. Dr Heff's Remarkable Mints were developed by two British dentists who claim they can freshen breath, protect teeth from acid attack and repair tooth decay When scientists at the University of Illinois tested the mints on extracted teeth by exposing them to a sugar solution to promote decay and then coating them with xylitol, fluoride or the mints they found the fluoride worked the best. But the mints fared better than using xylitol alone, according to Dr Michael Heffernan, who runs a dental practice in Eastbourne, East Sussex, and is one of the brains behind the mints. The idea is that they should be used to protect teeth between brushing. Dr Heffernan suggests having five of the sugar-free mints throughout the day is enough to protect the teeth and repair any damage that occurs during the day. Dr Heffernan and his fellow dentist Dr Toby Edwards-Lunn took four years to develop the mints, and say that they could especially benefit those who are at risk of the root decay that occurs when gums recede, exposing the root, which lacks a tough, protective covering. But will the mints work as well as the makers hope? In 2015, the respected Cochrane Oral Health Group looked at various studies involving xylitol and concluded: 'The evidence on the effects . . . is not clear.' Professor Robert Hill, director of research at the Institute of Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, is more positive. Dr Heffernan suggests having five of the sugar-free mints throughout the day is enough to protect the teeth and repair any damage that occurs during the day 'Tooth mineral is crudely calcium and phosphate, and acid attack does dissolve this,' he says. 'By having calcium phosphate in the mint, you could put back that lost mineral but these mints would only help with the very early stages of decay. 'And xylitol does inhibit bacteria from metabolising sugar and forming acid though trials have found it may not be as beneficial as brushing your teeth twice a day with fluoride toothpaste.' Professor Andrew Eder, of the UCL Eastman Dental Institute, says he welcomes any product that might reduce plaque and decay. However, he adds: 'There is little scientific evidence to support the efficacy of this particular product as yet.' Dr Heff's Remarkable Mints, 1.99 for a packet of 24, drheffs.com It is one of the most complex surgeries ever performed. In a press conference today, doctors said they successfully separated 11 month-old twin girls Ballenie and Bellanie Camacho after a 22-hour procedure. After more than three months of preparation, the girls, who were joined at the lower back, are recovering from their operation in the ICU. Conjoined twins occur in approximately one in 200,000 births, but twins joined at the hip called pygopagus are extremely rare. Doctors had to separate the girls' gastrointestinal tracts, bladders, reproductive areas and lower portion of the spinal cord, with a 23 percent chance of death. But the prognosis looks good and, should no complications emerge, the girls will be back home in just a few months. Twin girls Ballenie (left) and Bellanie Camacho, from the Dominican Republic, were born joined at the hip, known as pygopagus. Surgeons were able to separate them in a complex 22-hour procedure Ballenie and Bellanie's conjoined attachment - which occurs in the spine but leaves each twin which separate limbs - is extremely rare. The babies are recovering well in the ICU, doctors say The girls' parents, Marino Abel Camacho and Laurilin Celadilla Marte, did not know they were conjoined prior to birth. Conjoined twins occur in about one in 200,000 births. The six steps surgeons took to separate Ballenie and Bellanie are shown in this X-ray image of pygopagus conjoined twins At an emotional press conference, the twins' parents, Marino Abel Camacho and Laurilin Celadilla Marte, thanked Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, where the girls have been since the summer. Laurilin read from a statement: 'We are eternally grateful to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. Thank you for accepting the challenge which has changed our lives. 'Our family does not know how we can pay for what we've been given but we ak that God bless every one of you.' Once a feasibility conversation was had among the various surgeons that they would be able to separate the girls, doctors began to prepare for the complex surgery. The medical teams performed multiple practice sessions using 3-D models of the little girls' lower body constructed from CAT scans and MRIs. Ballenie and Bellanie were connected at the sacrum, a triangular bone at the base of the spine. They shared gastrointestinal connections and a branch of the hypogastric artery, which is the main supplier of blood to the pelvic region, hips, thighs and reproductive organs. The day of the surgery, which started on January 17 and went into the morning hours of January 18, involved numerous medical teams and nurses, including neurosurgeons, orthopedic, urological, gastrointestinal, pediatric, and plastic surgeons. 'It was an overwhelming sensation that I don't think any one of us is going to experience again,' pediatric surgeon Dr Samir Pandya told TODAY. 'There was pride, gratitude and just elation that we were able to achieve this for them. 'Ballenie and Bellanie are as strong as they are beautiful and this dynamic duo is doing very well after a very long and complex surgery.' The prognosis for the twins is good. They are moving out of the ICU on January 30, but will spend several weeks in recovery at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. At an emotional press conference, the twins' mother Laurilin (middle) read from a statement: 'We are eternally grateful to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. Thank you for accepting the challenge which has changed our lives' Ballenie and Bellanie (pictured shortly after birth) were connected at the sacrum, a triangular bone at the base of the spine. They shared gastrointestinal connections and a branch of the hypogastric artery, which is the main supplier of blood to the lower extremities The smaller of the girls, Ballenie (pictured left) was born with a congenital heart condition. Doctors in the Dominican Republic warned her parents that she might die Laurilin and Marino (pictured with their daughters on the morning of surgery) brought the girls to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York over the summer. Doctors then began preparing the procedure to separate the girls Surgeons position one of the girls before the operation. The medical team consisted of neurosurgeons, orthopedic, urological, gastrointestinal, pediatric, and plastic surgeons The identical twin girls born in Moca, Dominican Republic, in February 2016 were delivered via C-section. Laurilin knew she was expecting twins, but did not realize the babies were conjoined. Not long afterwards, the smaller of the twins, Ballenie, was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition. Doctors warned her parents that she might die. Over the summer, Laurilin and Marino brought the girls to Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in Valhalla, New York, where the family began preparing for a procedure to separate the twins. The separation surgery was the most significant in a series of procedures for Ballenie and Bellanie performed at the hospital. Earlier procedures, which included gastrointestinal and reconstructive surgery work, helped prepare the girls for their unique separation surgery. The reconstructive surgery involved the expansion of skin surface over the course of several weeks to be able to close the separation. THE SIGNS OF CONJOINED PYGOPAGUS TWINS... Pygopagus conjoined twins are where the two bodies are joined at the pelvis. Only 17 percent of all conjoined twins are pygopagus. Twins are connected at the sacrum, a triangular bone at the base of the spine, but have separate limbs. They often share bladders, gastrointestinal tracts, and can be partly fused at the spinal cord. Almost all pygopagus twins are female. Most male twins of this type are stillborn. The surgical mortality rate is lower than in most conjoined twins at 23 percent. IN IDENTICAL TWINS: Identical twins are formed when one single is egg is fertilized but splits into two embryos. Most conjoining occurs when the fertilized egg fails to separate completely. IN FRATERNAL TWINS: Fraternal twins are formed when two separate eggs are fertilized at the same time. In very rare cases, stem cells search for like-stem cells on the other twin and, when found, fuse the twins together. Advertisement ...AND HOW A TEAM OF 50 SEPARATED THEM Over the course of 22 hours, surgeons separated conjoined 11-month-old twins Ballenie and Bellanie Comacho. Doctors practiced on 3-D models of the little girls' lower body, constructed from CAT scans and MRIs. For several weeks before the operation, the twins underwent reconstructive surgery, which involved the expansion of skin surface to be able to close the separation. First, doctors unraveled spinal cord connections as the girls were attached at the lower portion of the spinal cord. Second, the structures at the sacrum - the bone where the girls were attached - were separated. Next, plastic surgeons created the skin tissue environment necessary to close up the twins once they were separated. Then, the soft tissue connecting the girls was separated. Surgeons next divided the hypogastric artery branch, enabling proper blood flow to the twins' legs. Lastly, the genitourinary tracts of the girls (intestines, bladder, reproductive parts) were separated. The twins will now spend several weeks recovering from surgery but questions remain about if they'll be able to walk. Advertisement Multiple operations were performed over the course of the 22 hours. Drs Whitney McBride and Pandya successfully separated the girls' gastrointestinal connections and divided the hypogastric artery branch, enabling proper blood flow to the twins' legs. Next was the unraveling of the spinal cord connections and separating the structures at the sacrum. Doctors then separated the soft tissue connecting the girls while plastic surgeons prepared skin to cover the open wounds. Lastly, the girl's genitourinary tracts - bladders and reproductive areas - were separated before they were closed up. This is the second time that minimally invasive surgery has been used in the diagnosis and treatment of conjoined twins, giving surgeons a clearer image of how the digestive tracts were joined ahead of the procedure. Dr Michael Gewitz, physician-in-chief, said: 'The separation of Ballenie and Bellanie was a significant undertaking that was successful due to the skill, dedication and tireless preparation of a multidisciplinary team of pediatric specialists here at Maria Fareri Children's Hospital. 'The team met regularly for months, utilized new technologies for diagnoses, commissioned personalized, three-dimensional models of the girls' anatomies and performed simulation procedures to ensure a successful outcome. 'Ballenie and Bellanie can now live independent lives and we couldn't happier to provide this 'freedom' to the girls and their parents, Laurilin and Abel.' Dr Samir Pandya shows models of the girls' anatomy. To prepare for the operation, the surgeons practiced multiple sessions using 3-D models of the little girls' lower body constructed from CAT scans and MRIs The girls' skin surface had to be expanded before surgery so doctors could close them up once they were separated. The team successfully separated their gastrointestinal tracts, bladders, reproductive areas and the lower portion of the spinal cord Laurilin and Marino share a hug after learning their daughters were successfully separated. The girls will be monitored for a few months in the ICU before being able to go home Laurilin (pictured with Marino and the twins after the surgery) said: 'I want to see my daughters healthy and independent. I want them to go to school, for them to play freely. Even if it's in a wheelchair, anything, but with their freedom and independence.' The girls will still be in the hospital when they celebrate their first birthday on February 4. But, should no complications emerge, they will be back home to join their sisters Lina Bel, two, and Sheily, 10. And although Marino joked that the first thing the family will do is go to the beach, Laurilin is looking even further ahead. She told TODAY: 'I want to see my daughters healthy and independent. 'I want them to go to school, for them to play freely. Even if it's in a wheelchair, anything, but with their freedom and independence.' A newborn has been diagnosed with an incurable disease that means even a cuddle could cause his skin to fall off. When Kahleel Clark-Smith was born on December 28, he already had some small blisters on his arm. Now at just three weeks old the little boy from Seattle, Washington, has lost 60 percent of his skin. Kahleel was diagnosed with epidermolyosis bullosa (EB), a rare genetic disorder that causes the skin to blister and burst, leaving raw sores that are susceptible to infections. His skin is so fragile even the slightest touch can cause his skin to rub and peel off. Tragic: Kahleel Clark-Smith was born with blisters on his arms on December 28. Now, three weeks later, those blisters have spread all over his body, incinerating 60 percent of his skin Disease: Kahleel (pictured) has epidermolyosis bullosa (EB), a rare genetic disorder that causes the skin to blister and burst, leaving raw sores that are susceptible to infections EPIDERMOLYSIS BULLOSA: EXPLAINED Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a general term used to describe a group of rare inherited skin disorders that cause the skin to become very fragile. Any trauma or friction to the skin can cause painful blisters. In most cases, the symptoms of EB are obvious from birth. It is caused by faulty genes inherited from one or both parents. There are many cases when both parents are carriers of the faulty gene without realising it. EB is rare. Just one in every 17,000 children has it. There is no cure for EB so the treatment aims at preventing blisters becoming infected. Advertisement Children with the condition are sometimes known as 'butterfly children' as they are very delicate to touch. Usually, the disease does not shorten life expectancy, and most patients can lead a close-to-normal life. However, the severity of the disorder increases with age due to scarring, fusion of fingers and wastage of skin tissue. Distraught parents Kadyem, 22, and Kyera, 20, are raising money to have him flown to a specialist EB centre on the other side of the country. Kahleel's aunt, Brandi Smith, said: 'This is their first child and they are so overwhelmed and broken. 'We found out the day he was born and didn't know anything about it. We had to do all the research at home. 'We found out this was the 'worst disease you've never heard of' and we were so heartbroken. 'Even a cuddle or a kiss can cause his skin to blister.' Kahleel was diagnosed the day he was born but at first doctors thought it was a mild case and sent him home. Brandi said: 'The doctors gave us false hope because he was eating and all his vital signs were fine. 'Then he had a bad breakout and he was admitted to NICU on January 4. 'We just got back the results from the biopsies and have been told it's the worst type of EB.' Kahleel took a turn for the worse last week and developed a staph infection that he currently recovering from. The new family have been unable to leave the hospital in Seattle, Washington for nearly two weeks. Adorable family: Kahleel (left) is the first child for Kadyem, 22, and Kyera, 20 (pictured) He was diagnosed when he was born but doctors thought it was a mild case and sent him home Brandi added: 'The hospital had never seen a case like it and there was a lack of understand on what to do and it seems to have gotten worse. 'We want to try and get them to an EB centre in Ohio, where all the family is, but insurance won't cover the transfer.' Brandi started a GoFundMe page to raise the $30,000 it costs for the medical flight to get the tot to EB experts. She added: 'The money will also cover the expensive special clothing and bandages for Kahleel, as well as medical supplies and room and board for the travel.' A man who was evicted from a hospital after he 'repeatedly refused to leave' for two years claims he was 'forced to stay'. Portugese-born Adriano Guedes, 63, was admitted to the James Paget Hospital in Norfolk following a stroke in August 2014. But he was removed after the hospital, which said he occupied a bed 'unnecessarily', obtained a court order on January 10 this year. However, the pair have come to a stalemate after Mr Guedes' fare of events differs to that of the hospital's. In fact, he says he asked to leave to be moved on multiple occasions, both to a 'wheelchair-friendly place' and a specialist clinic in London. Adriano Guedes was admitted to the James Paget Hospital following a stroke in August 2014. He was evicted after the hospital obtained a court order saying he was 'unnecessarily' using a bed, but he has hit back and said he was 'forced to stay' (pictured during his time in hospital) Mr Guedes said: 'I didn't want to stay, and they forced me to stay. 'It's very bad to occupy a place which should be used by someone in need, but I didn't cause the situation. On the contrary - I tried to get out of there. 'I wanted to leave but they always offered what they knew I would refuse.' But the hospital in Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth, says he was offered appropriate accommodation. He says he asked to leave to be moved on multiple occasions, both to a 'wheelchair-friendly place' and a specialist clinic in London (pictured yesterday in his council flat in Suffolk) Anna Hills, the hospital's director of governance, said: 'The gentleman repeatedly refused all offers of appropriate accommodation organised by our local authority and social care partners, despite being fit for discharge. 'As a last resort, the trust had to apply to the court to allow us to remove the gentleman from the hospital. It's very bad to occupy a place which should be used by someone in need, but I didn't cause the situation. On the contrary - I tried to get out of there Adriano Guedes, 63 'The decision to go to court was not taken lightly but our priority has to be considering the needs of all our patients.' The hospital said it had worked 'throughout in partnership with a range of agencies to achieve a safe discharge from the hospital'. It said 'detailed planning' had taken place which 'led to a successful discharge in this complex case'. The hospital applied to the court for a possession order to claim back the bed occupied by the man. It was granted on December 1 and Mr Guedes was evicted a month later. He is now living in a council flat in Suffolk. The patient arrived at the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk in August 2014 and remained there until this year Each day someone uses an NHS bed, it costs an average of 306, the Department of Health has previously estimated. HOSPITAL DANGER Nine in ten hospitals are so overcrowded they are deemed unsafe, NHS figures revealed in March. A third had ran out of beds at least once over the winter, including some where it had happened nearly every other day. Desperately ill patients needing to be admitted from A&E are having to languish for hours on trolleys waiting for the next bed to become available. Advertisement This means the patient's hospital stay would have racked up to around 223,000, MailOnline believes. This comes after figures in December revealed bedblocking is costing the NHS half a billion pounds each year. The rate at which patients are becoming trapped in hospital because of a lack of care at home has more than doubled since 2010. At the most recent count there were as many as 4,568 mostly elderly patients stuck on hospital wards. In 2015/16, bedblocking patients who were well enough to be discharged spent a total of 1,489,575 days in hospital. Figures analysed by Labour showed this money could have paid for 10,775 nurses at a cost of 42,300 a year, including salary and admin fees. Alternatively it could have funded 450,000 cataract operations, 41,000 hip replacements or 28,000 breast cancer treatments. The rate of cancer deaths plummeted 20 percent between 1980 and 2014 in the United States, a landmark report reveals. But the new statistics also reveal clusters of staggeringly high mortality rates in 160 counties across the country where fatalities are becoming more common, not less. While the overall rate of all cancers dropped from 240 deaths per 100,000 people to 192 per 100,000 in 35 years, some regions - particularly in the south - have seen no change. The drop in death rates is largely down to by gains made in Colorado, Utah and Texas, where deaths have dropped as low as 10 per 100,000 people in some counties. And yet some counties in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana still see rates closer to 200 deaths per 100,000 people. Experts warn the report by the University of Washington in Seattle - mapping 29 cancers nationwide over 35 years - offers a glimpse into the lopsided provision of healthcare across the country. Lung cancer - the cancer that kills most Americans each year - continues to kill staggering amounts in Kentucky and Florida despite great gains made in Texas and Colorado MOST DEATHS: LUNG CANCER 1. Union County, Florida (231 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Powell County, Kentucky (151 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Perry County, Kentucky (149 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Breathitt County, Kentucky (144 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. McCreary County, Kentucky (144 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement FEWEST DEATHS: LUNG CANCER 1. Summit County, Colorado (11 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Pitkin County, Colorado (13 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Cache County, Utah (14 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Presidio County, Texas (16 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. Eagle County, Colorado (16 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement CHANGING LUNG CANCER DEATH RATES: The percentage change in death rates since 1980 'Such significant disparities among US counties is unacceptable,' said Dr. Ali Mokdad, lead author on the study and Professor of Global Health at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in Seattle. 'Every person should have access to early screenings for cancer, as well as adequate treatment.' The report, published in JAMA today, is the most comprehensive account of county-level statistics, offering the most detailed insight into cancer death rates so far. It builds on a study by the same university published last month, which analyzed the most common causes of death county-by-county across the United States, and how it has changed since 1980. Breast cancer deaths are worst in Mississippi and Louisiana, unlike in Colorado and Alaska MOST DEATHS: BREAST CANCER 1. Madison County, Mississippi (52 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Holmes County, Mississippi (47 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Madison Parish, Louisiana (47 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Coahoma County, Mississippi (46 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. East Carroll Parish, Louisiana (43 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement FEWEST DEATHS: BREAST CANCER 1. Summit County, Colorado (11 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Pitkin County, Colorado (13 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Eagle County, Colorado (13 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Aleutians East Borough, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska (15 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. Presidio County, Texas (15 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement CHANGING BREAST CANCER DEATH RATES: The percentage change in death rates since 1980 This report focused on the cancer section, taking a closer look at each county and each of the 29 cancers in their study. In the 35 years examined, more than 19.5 million Americans died of cancer. This included 5.7 million to tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer; 2.5 million to colon and rectum cancer; 1.6 million to breast cancer; 1.2 million to pancreatic cancer; and 1.1 million to prostate cancer. The national mortality rate from all cancers combined fell by 20.1 percent. Despite this trend, 160 counties showed increases in all-cancer death rates over the same period, raising questions about access to care, prevention efforts, treatment, and other issues. 'As the US enters a new debate about access to health care, these findings on the wide differences in cancer mortality should inform the discussion,' explained researcher Laura Dwyer-Lindgren, a co-author of the study. 'What's causing cancer to be so much more fatal in one part of the country than in other parts demands further investigation.' Prostate cancer deaths are most common in Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi MOST DEATHS: PROSTATE CANCER 1. Madison County, Mississippi (64 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Macon County, Alabama (57 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Wilcox County, Alabama (55 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Phillips County, Arkansas (54 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. Perry County, Alabama (54 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement FEWEST DEATHS: PROSTATE CANCER 1. Summit County, Colorado (10 deaths per 100,000 people) 2. Aleutians East Borough, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska (11 deaths per 100,000 people) 3. Pitkin County, Colorado (13 deaths per 100,000 people) 4. Presidio County, Texas (14 deaths per 100,000 people) 5. Noble County, Ohio (14 deaths per 100,000 people) Advertisement CHANGING PROSTATE CANCER DEATH RATES: Percentage change in death rates since 1980 LIVER CANCER DEATHS CHANGING: ALCOHOL NOT ROOT CAUSE Liver cancer mortality increased in nearly every county. Clusters of counties with large increases were found in California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Texas. While alcohol is a well-known risk factor for liver cancer, the counties with high or increasing death rates differ from those known for high rates of alcohol consumption. LUNG CANCER DROPS - EXCEPT WHERE SMOKING RATES ARE HIGH Fewer Americans smoke today than in previous decades, but parts of the South and many rural areas still show high rates of this deadly habit. It is not surprising that these same areas show high rates of lung cancer, especially within states like Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, and rural Alaska. More aggressive efforts to discourage smoking in these areas are crucial to help address this problem. BREAST CANCER COMMON IN SOME AREAS - BUT NOT CLEAR WHY The majority of counties witnessed decreases in breast cancer death rates since 1980; however, there are clusters of high mortality rates in counties along the Mississippi River. The lowest rates appear in parts of the West, Midwest, and Northeast. THESE REGIONS HAVE MOST PROSTATE CANCER DEATHS There are high death rates from prostate cancer in groups of counties in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia. KIDNEY CANCER HIGH IN NATIVE AMERICAN AREAS AND SOUTH Counties with the highest death rates from kidney cancer also were identified along the Mississippi River, as well as in Oklahoma and Texas. In addition, certain areas in Alaska and the Dakotas with large Native American populations showed rates higher than the national average. Jackie Chan arrived in Mumbai on Monday for a whirlwind one-day tour to promote his new film Kung Fu Yoga. Fighting time constraints, Chan managed to shoot a special upcoming episode of The Kapil Sharma Show, attended a press conference in Mumbai and hosted a special dinner for select guests later in the night before flying home to Hong Kong. 'Oh my god... #jackiechanontkss, (sic)' posted Kapil on his official Twitter handle @Kapil- SharmaK9 on Monday morning, shortly before filming of the special episode started. Jackie Chan touched down in Mumbai on Monday to promote his new film, and entered the Kapil Sharma Show on the back of a jazzed-up bicycle pedalled by actor Sonu Sood Kung Fu Yoga is an Indo-Chinese collaboration starring Chan along with a smattering of Indian actors such as Sonu Sood, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur. Chinese actors Zhang Yixing and Zhang Guoli are also part of the ambitious action-adventure comedy directed by Stanley Tong, known for making global hits such as Rumble In The Bronx, Police Story 3 and Police Story 4 in the past. The atmosphere of bonhomie spread no sooner Chan landed on Kapil's set. Chan also obliged his special fan Raveena Tandons request for a few selfies He was accompanied by Sonu, and although the studio audience would have loved to see the film's heroines Disha and Amyra along with Chan, the duo could not make it owing to prior commitments. Chan entered the show riding a jazzed-up bicycle peddled by Sonu. Dressed in basic pale pink full sleeves, white trousers and sneakers, the 62-year-old superstar was reiterating a vintage style statement that has defined his image since the sixties. Chan's new film, Kung Fu Yoga, is an Indo-Chinese collaboration starring Chan and Indian actors such as Sonu Sood, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur As the show rolled, Chan was in his element sharing impromptu jokes with Kapil as he spoke. Despite not getting much rest since arriving from Hong Kong earlier, he was at his jovial best. Amid tackling fan questions and Kapil's posers, Chan also found a few minutes for a very special fan. Raveena Tandon was present at the show, and she requested a few selfies - with Chan happily obliging. Kung Fu Yoga is a multi-lingual entertainer shot in English, Hindi and Mandarin. The film will be released on February 3 with around 500 prints across India, which makes it one of Chan's biggest releases in this country. The film is the first of three Indo-Chinese co-productions being produced as part of a cultural agreement between the nations. The other two projects are a biopic of Xuan Zang, the seventh-century Chinese monk, and a comedy titled Buddies In India. Kung Fu Yoga, in true Jackie Chan style, promises to be a fullon mix of super action and hearty comedy. Political parties are making a mockery of democracy in Punjab by offering freebies like rations, jobs and loans to lure voters. The politics of ration was started by the Shiromani Akali Dal way back in 2007, when they offered wheat and pulses at subsidised rates. The scheme was a hit as the Akali Dal government covered more than one crore families under this scheme. Captain Amarinder Singh has promised free travel for students, police officials, ex servicemen, paramilitary force personnel and senior citizens in the state transport buses While wheat is being given at Rs 1 per kg, pulses cost Rs 20 per kg. Meanwhile, the Congress has added tea leaves, besides the subsidised ration, in its poll manifesto. The party has also promised to introduce subsidised food canteens for the poor which will provide a meal at Rs 5 throughout the state. Then, the BJP went a step ahead and added subsidised sugar and ghee to the menu. Besides the subsidised ration, all mainstream parties, including AAP, BJP, Congress and Akali Dal, have promised jobs to each household. Punjab has over 32,68,562 households and these parties will have to create over 32 lakh jobs to fulfil the poll promise. Sukhbir Singh Badal has promised vocational training to 20 lakh youths The Congress has registered over 40 lakh youths for 'Har Ghar Rojgar', under which every registered youth has been given a card which will also entitle them for a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500, if not provided with a job. Every political party has also promised a waiver of farmer debts, which has confused voters. On top of that, political parties have also started quarreling on the issue of rivals extending manifestoes. On Sunday, Akali Dal chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal promised vocational training to 20 lakh youths by opening 2,500 skill development centres across the state, besides providing houses to the five lakh homeless, while the Congress announced cheaper LPG and 10 per cent reduction in electricity duty if the party was voted to power. Captain Amarinder Singh also promised free travel for students, police officials, ex-servicemen, paramilitary force personal and senior citizens in the state transport buses. Amritsar: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Amarinder Singh (left) and Congress party candidate and former BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu AAP, which has released different poll manifestoes for different categories of voters, is fuming as Akali Dal and Congress extend their manifestoes and has termed the move 'misleading and meaningless'. AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said: 'Captain Amarinder Singh, during his five year rule, had even discontinued free power scheme for farmers and hiked the power tariff for other categories on the plea that previous SAD-BJP government had left the empty coffers. Rates of petrol, LPG and other commodities will be the same as in all the states after GST is implemented.' Waraich added that Singh was maintaining a conspicuous silence over the multi-billion scam in the purchase of power from private companies by the Badal family. He said Sukhbir Badal had forced PSPCL to sign infeasible agreements with private thermal plants to buy power from them at fixed minimum rates at the cost of the public exchequer. He said the government-owned thermal plants were shut to help private thermal plants. 'While drafting their manifesto, the Congress had paid no heed to the welfare of ex-servicemen, police and paramilitary personnel. Singh has woken up now, after personnel of armed forces decided not to support the Congress and SAD in the February 4 elections.' Wariach also said that many Congress leaders are running the transport business and it would be foolish to expect Singh to reduce the passenger transport tariff. He also accused Congress and SAD of being in agreement to rule by turn and loot the people. Page Content Throughout 2017, there will be events all over Europe to mark the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus+ Programme. These will include conferences, forums, dialogues, celebrations, debates, and exhibitions. Erasmus+ is the EUs overarching programme for education, training, youth and sport. The original Erasmus began in 1987 as an exchange programme that gave higher education students a taste of life and learning abroad. Over the past 30 years it has grown into something much bigger. Today, Erasmus+ offers a large number of additional opportunities to individuals and organisations to go abroad as volunteers or apprentices for example, and to cooperate on joint projects. Sport has also become an important part of Erasmus+. The programme now extends far beyond Europe. In fact, 2 million people from all walks of life have already taken the opportunity to study, train, volunteer and gain experience abroad since 2014 with the launch of Erasmus+, with 9 million in total taking part over the past 30 years. Between 2017 and 2020, Erasmus+ will provide opportunities for more than 2 million people from Europe and around the world. Chair of the CoR's SEDEC Commission Yoomi Renstrom (SE/PES) is encouraging CoR members to participate in the activities marking the anniversary. She said: "Erasmus is instrumental for improving the quality of learning and promoting the European dimension of education while strengthening European identity and encouraging teacher and learner mobility. Local and regional authorities have a role to play in these endeavours. Thanks to Erasmus, many cross-border local and regional partnerships, promoting different types of cooperation, have been developed amongst public authorities, youth organisations and regional higher education bodies and other education providers. Such partnerships can effectively align education programmes with the needs of society and the labour market, as well as the specific needs of regions facing similar challenges." The European Commission has developed an "Erasmus+ 30 years" toolkit put at the disposal of anyone who would like to promote the campaign. Materials including a campaign poster, roll-ups, videos, and additional language versions are available ready to use at the dedicated website. A presentation on the 30th Anniversary of the Erasmus will be included in the next meeting of the SEDEC Commission on 31 January 2017 with the participation of the European Commission/DG EAC. Preparing itself to defend against any future aggression on the Chinese border, the Indian Army is building a large number of new bunkers in Sikkim as part of its efforts to strengthen the defences and replace old bunkers. 'More than 1,000 new bunkers have been built in both the East and North Sikkim area in the last two years to protect against any aggression from across the LAC [Line of Actual Control],' sources in the Army told Mail Today. Sources said the new bunkers have been built to upgrade the defences in the Sikkim area as in recent years, there has been lot of Chinese activity happening near the trijunction brigade where the borders of India, China and Bhutan meet. Some 1,000 new bunkers have already been built in past two years in east and north Sikkim The new bunkers have been built by the Army using hollow block structures which are easy to transport and help in fast construction of buildings as they are assembled in plains and easily transported to hill areas, they said. Both, the 17 Mountain Division and the 27 Division in the state, have been working in this direction and have almost completed the tasks assigned to them, the sources said. India has been strengthening its long-neglected borders with China by reinforcing the posts on the border while creating new ones in areas which were left unattended for a long time after the 1962 war with China. The Army is preparing itself to defend against any future aggression on the Chinese border. Pictured here is Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim The bunkers built with hollow blocks also help in maintaining temperatures inside them in the harsh winter seasons. The new bunkers also help in doing away with the practice of building 'sangars' made from sand, stone and mud. The Army is also making a large number of bunkers along the eastern and northern borders as it is raising a new Mountain Strike Corps to tackle the threat perception from the Chinese side. The government had changed its policy of keeping the infrastructure along the Chinese border in poor condition in the last decade. Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen appealed for a Uniform Civil Code as a tool for empowerment - as her surprise session at the Jaipur Literature Festival saw protests by some Muslim organisations. The celebrated author has been living in exile since 1994, after she faced the ire of fundamentalists in her own country for her unorthodox views. She said: 'It is necessary for Islamic society to be tolerant and accept criticism without which they cannot progress. Exiled author Taslima Nasreen has not set foot in her native Bangladesh for 22 years Sajjad Hussain (AFP) 'Uniform Civil Code is urgently required for empowering people with human rights.' The writer, who was in conversation with Salil Tripathi, a former board member of English PEN, an organisation engaged in promoting literature, slammed religious fanatics, saying she did not believe in terms like nationalism or religious fundamentalism. It's 22-years since Nasreen last set foot in Bangladesh, having been forced to flee in fear of her life after tens-of-thousands of Islamists took to the streets to denounce her writing. Nasrin is living in exile in India after facing death threats from fundamentalists in Bangladesh for her book Lajja Her novels and essays had brought her no shortage of enemies and she upset the government by railing against rights abuses and the treatment of women. She infuriated Islamists with her fiercely pro-secular views. She was feted abroad, winning the European parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1994, but the government back home filed a case against her for hurting religious sentiment. Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen first fled to Europe then moved to India Sajjad Hussain (AFP) After three separate fatwas calling for her execution were issued, Nasreen fled first to Europe before moving to Bangladesh's neighbour, India. Her plight is all too familiar to a new generation of secular writers whose blogs criticising fundamentalism have been met with fury by Islamist groups. Dozens have either been murdered with machetes, gone into hiding or fled with their families to Europe and the United States. Taslima Nasreen (second from left) receives the Simone de Beauvoir prize for women's freedom in Paris, France on May 21st, 2008 No one has been convicted of any of the attacks although some suspects have been killed during raids by the security forces. Bangladesh, which gained its independence in 1971 after winning a war of secession against Pakistan, is an officially secular nation. But Nasreen says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has made the same mistake as her predecessors by failing to stand firm against hardliners who want the country to be defined by religion. Nasreen spoke about Islamic 'tolerance' during a surprise session at the Jaipur Literature Festival this week Since her first collection of poetry came out in 1982, Nasreen has had more than 40 books published. 'I am very worried. Bangladesh was born as a secular state but now it's a kind of fundamentalist state,' she said last year. Her book Lajja is widely regarded as her most famous work 'Islamic fundamentalists are very powerful, they can kill anyone if they want. 'And because those atheist bloggers criticise Islam - they criticise other religions too - but because they criticised Islam they were hacked to death and the government didn't take any action against those killers,' she added. As someone who lives round-the-clock with protection, Nasreen says it's important not to allow oneself to be overwhelmed by fear. 'I think I've got used to it, you have to,' she said inside her small apartment, armed guards stationed outside. 'Of course every time a fatwa is issued I get shocked, I get sad, I get scared and then you know you have to live your every day life. Islamist groups have targeted Bangladeshi writers and activists whose work has criticised fundamentalism 'You cannot think of death all the time, then it's not a living. If I think of death all the time then I would not have been able to write so many books.' Since her first collection of poetry came out in 1982, Nasreen has had more than 40 books published. Arguably her most famous work was the 1993 novel 'Lajja' (Bengali for Shame) which was about the persecution of a Hindu family living in Bangladesh, where more than 90 percent of the population is Muslim. Scamsters are more aggressively cashing in on the Digital India drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi post demonetisation, it has been claimed. Online fraudsters are creating fake mobile recharge and government websites carrying Modi's name and picture and then circulating the malicious links on social media platforms. These links are claiming to offer free recharge, increasing withdrawal and deposit bank limits after taking all of the banking and personal details. Online scamsters are operating more aggressively post demonetisation Security agencies claimed that an in-depth investigation revealed that the criminals are taking advantage of the transition to digital payment by giving lucrative offers. A senior police officer of cyber cell said: 'We have received complaints that a link of a website carrying name and picture of the prime minister was circulated which asked the user to recharge their mobile phone by Rs 500-1,000 and in return their telecom company will recharge it by double the amount. It also said this recharge offer is part of PM's latest scheme. 'Once the payment is made the website shows transaction failed but the money gets deducted. So the customer receives no bonus and ends up paying recharge amount to the fake portal.' Security agencies claimed that an in depth investigation revealed that the criminals are taking advantage of the transition to digital payment by giving lucrative offers He explained that the amount of recharge is so low that usually people don't turn up to register an FIR but the website successfully makes huge gains. Gullible customers also believe such links as they are look like government or popular recharge portals. People fall prey to the online offers as many online companies have started giving attractive deals as central government pushes digital transactions. Cyber experts claimed that on Google Playstore there are several applications which include gaming and photo apps which carry name of Modi. People fall prey to the online offers as many online companies have started giving attractive deals as central government pushes digital transactions These apps are under the scanner as these are not Fake NaMo apps in use for fraud owned by any government body or a political party but gains access to contacts and other important features of the phone making it more suspicious. Police explained that recently WhatsApp was flooded with a forwarded message, which read: 'Rs 500 balance for every Indian. Reforming India. Modiji giving free balance.' This message was followed by a link which took the user to a dodgy website. No balance got transferred to any account, and an user just ended up sharing personal details with spammers. The website asked for your details such as phone number, operator and state. The fake website can easily fool anyone with no knowledge of cybercrime as it features logos of all major telecom operators including Idea, Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Reliance and Aircel. The website also asks the user to share the link with other contacts. 'It is highly advised, that if any user receives such a message, they should immediately delete it so that even by mistake they don't end up tapping on this and forwarding it to their contacts. Such malicious links not only can affect your device, but may also seep into your phone and steal data,' said Kisalay Chaudhary, cyber crime expert. 'These bogus websites try to appear like an official Government of India website or related to telecom operators to trap gullible customers. 'Government website are .gov.in or .nic.in but fraud websites are gov.in or _nic.in which may appear real but do not belong to the government. 'So all people making online transaction should be very alert about the website they are browsing. WhatsApp has been a breeding ground for such activities and spreading malicious links,' he said. For over two weeks, a 22-year-old Delhi University student frantically pleaded with authorities for help removing pictures of her from a porn site that had been posted by a jilted ex-boyfriend. But instead of protecting her, India's law merely prolonged her suffering. The government's Department of Technology asked her to get a court order before taking any steps to remove the content under new guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court. For more than two weeks, a 22-year-old Delhi University student frantically pleaded with authorities for help removing pictures posted of her (picture for representation only) The new law has infuriated cyber experts who say that it actually does more damage to the emotional well-being of cyber-bullying victims. 'Getting a court order is such a lengthy and exhaustive process and it adds to the woes of the victims,' said cyber expert and advocate Prashant Mali. Swati Dwivedi (name changed), who was caught in the legal tangle, found her nude pictures circulating on porn websites, allegedly uploaded by an ex-boyfriend. She says that her decision to join the college's dance society angered the accused, resulting in a breakup. Three months later, she received a text message from a friend who informed her about the images surfacing online. The girl found out about the pictures after receiving a text message from a friend who informed her about the photographs (picture for representation only) 'My friend told me that they have been allegedly uploaded by my ex. However, it was not just my friends; I also received messages from strangers. 'The links went viral and made it difficult for me to go out of the house,' she said. Swati decided to approach the police and registered an FIR on January 7. The police lodged a case under the Information and Technology Act and also booked the accused for criminal intimidation. When the Department of Technology was approached to block the sites and pull down the content, it said a court order was required to take any action. The police finally obtained the order on January 23. The investigation officer in the case, inspector Kamini Gupta, said the content was removed immediately after that and a team was sent to Guwahati to look for the accused. Cops lodged a case under the Information and Technology Act and also booked the accused for criminal intimidation (picture for representation only) 'In the judgment Shreya Singhal V Union of India, the Supreme Court in 2015 laid down that the intermediary must receive a court order or a notification from a government agency for removing specific information and only then can be obligated to take down the content. 'Whereas before that, the intermediary would be required to block or remove access to illegal content upon receiving knowledge of any such illegality by either on its own or by an affected person,' said Mali. The advocate said India needs a Europe-style 'Right to be Forgotten', under which an individual can have certain data deleted so that others can no longer trace them. 'Sites like Facebook and Google should remove the content as and when they come across anything which is prima facie defamatory and cause damage to somebody's reputation,' he said. Damage caused in the cyber world is irreparable, claims cyber expert Pavan Duggal. 'Given the massive abuse of internet, the ministry of information technology needs to come up with fresh regulations that are victim-friendly,' he said. 'The courts may not direct immediate removal but at least order suspension of the content as an immediate relief. NCRB data show that there is a massive increase in cyber abuse after 2015. 'The amended IT Act of 2008 has made almost all cyber crimes bailable.' Mental health experts say the clumsy treatment of online abuse can leave deep emotional scars not to mention social stigmas. Doctor Rajeev Mehta said such rules can affect the mental condition of a victim to such an extent that it could lead to even schizophrenia. 'A person who is being bullied by the abuse of cyber space undergoes trauma and can develop serious mental illness. 'From feeling suicidal to killing somebody in a fit of rage are the consequences of prolonged depression,' he said. The most significant poll victories over the last couple of years have not been won in poll rallies, but were fashioned out in backdoor war rooms that prepare a tightly-knit strategy of how best to battle for every vote. This time, so is the case for the assembly election in Punjab, where the two major parties have usually stayed away from war rooms and have banked on their biggest faces to carry them to victory. But with the entry of the third contender, AAP, into the equation, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine and the Congress have been forced to go into huddles and come up with innovative campaign strategies to stay ahead in the number crunch. The Congress war room: The Captain meets his cadets With a large share (around 35-40%) of young voters in the state being internet users, the war rooms have come to a consensus that the next Sardar of Punjab will be chosen online and are devising blueprints to lure the youth vote. The war rooms are not only being used as a voter outreach tool but also to manage campaigns and media outreach. This is done through social media as well as conventional media like print, broadcast and television. Data mining and on ground activities such as organising rallies, streaming of events on social media and posting surveys are also handled here. The biggest poll victories over the last couple of years have not been won in poll rallies, but were fashioned out in backdoor war rooms that prepare a strategy to battle for every vote Congress, which was the first to set up its war room in the state with a force of 450 people in Mohali, has taken the lead in gauging the mood of the voters and launching campaigns to swing votes to its side. Days after setting up the Mohali office, it launched the digital campaign. Payal Kamat, a member of Indian Political Action Committee (IPAC), the agency which runs Captain's war room says: 'Punjab Da Captain' for Amarinder Singh to shed his 'Maharaja' image and give a better connect to voters. 'The campaign was effective online and to drive the point home, the party soon followed the digital campaign with poll rallies using the slogan. 'Other initiatives like 'Halke Vich Captain' (Captain in the constituency) and Coffee with Captain were also launched soon after. 'Party sources said the these initiatives helped reduce communication gap. He met girl students, farmers, employees, ex-servicemen, industrialists, dalits and people from the backward classes and even the religious sect heads. 'This does not mean that Captain never met people. He won Amritsar LS poll with a huge margin before we established a war room. 'But the strategies planned here worked and he was able to meet more people'. The Congress war room has been divided into four sections. One section, with a team of 60 people, monitors social media including Facebook pages, twitter handles and WhatsApp. Other sections including a data centre, conventional media centre and an outdoor unit. The SAD, which is considered a traditional party and had been solely dependent on direct contact with voters till 2014 has also set up a war room, after it realised how AAP punched holes into its vote bank using digital media campaigns. 'We decided to establish our war room when we came to know that rivals were misusing social media against us. 'We realised the power of a high-tech war room,' says Manjinder Singh Sirsa, spokesperson of Shiromani Akali Dal who was initially hesitant to give us access to the party's war room. Akali Dal has employed nearly 80 people to manage its war room. The social media outreach has paid some dividend for all parties. Congress' 'PunjabDaCaptain' page has been liked by over 9 lakh users, whereas deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's Facebook page has around 25 lakh 'likes'. AAP's Punjab Facebook page has 8.65 lakh 'likes'. The BJP once again brought up the contentious issue of Ram Temple before the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on February 11 - saying a grand temple will be built in Ayodhya if BJP secures an outright majority. 'Ram Mandir is a subject of faith. It is not going to be built in two months. The temple will be constructed after the elections. BJP will come to power with a full majority,' party's Uttar Pradesh Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters. He also hit out at Akhilesh Yadav, saying the UP CM doesn't support Backward Classes or Dalits, he merely betrays them. The BJP once again brought up the contentious issue of Ram Temple before the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on February 11 - saying a grand temple will be built in Ayodhya if BJP secures an outright majority A temple dedicated to the god Rama in Ayodhya Uttar Pradesh Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya His remark came after Allahabad high court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no fresh caste certificates are issued to those belonging to 17 Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups. Asked about the SP-Congress alliance, Maurya said: 'SP is a sinking ship and that of Congress had sunk long back. 'Even if BSP joins it, they will not be able to salvage it.' Alleging that the entire government machinery under Yadav was embroiled in corruption, he said that after coming to power, BJP will conduct a probe and if needed, send them to jail. He accused the Akhilesh of cheating people and claimed there were irregularities in admissions and women safety issues were not given enough attention. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during the election campaign for her mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi Priyanka Gandhi is being credited by the Congress for playing an active role in stitching an alliance with Samajwadi Party. Her name is also being projected as a star campaigner along with Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh and she also features in the list of 40 star campaigners submitted by the party to the Election Commission on Tuesday. Despite all the speculation around Priyanka's elevation, sources said that it is unlikely that she will take on a major role in the party or campaign outside the family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli for the UP assembly election. It is also almost certain that she will not contest the election, the source said. Priyanka has been playing an increasing-important backroom role and assisting her brother Rahul plan the party's UP strategy. She played a critical role in ensuring that the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance was sealed. However, sources have indicated to India Today that she has no intention of taking on any formal role or position in the party or going beyond what she had already been doing so far. There has, from time to time, been considerable speculation about her formal entry into politics and even into the electoral fray, but so far she has chosen to stay out of it. Priyanka Gandhi is being credited by the Congress for playing an active role in stitching an alliance with Samajwadi Party. In the autumn of 2016, there were reports of her agreeing to campaign throughout Uttar Pradesh in a bid to bolster the party's chances. Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are also among the star campaigners list for UP. Besides, AICC general secretary in-charge of UP affairs Ghulam Nabi Azad and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, who was earlier projected as the party's chief ministerial face in the state, are on the list. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, party general secretaries Janardan Dwivedi, Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath, Mukul Wasnik also figure in the campaign list submitted to the poll panel. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arrived on an official visit to India on Tuesday afternoon. The Crown Prince who will be the Chief Guest for India's 68th Republic Day celebrations was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the airport in a departure from protocol. PM Modi had also received the him during his India visit last year, reciprocating the warmth received during his debut landmark visit to UAE in 2015. BIG hug: Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomes Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan The two leaders exchanged warm handshakes and embraces at Delhi's VIP airport terminal. It is a rare occasion when a non-head of State will be the chief guest for Republic Day, whose invitations are sent out to world leaders with focus on current strategic importance of the invited country. In a historic first, an UAE army contingent will march down Rajpath along with Indian Troops on January 26, to the tunes of its own participating band. Accompanied by a high-level delegation of ministers, senior officials and business heads, the crown prince would be given the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday morning. He would then lay wreath at Gandhi Memorial before heading for official talks with Modi at Hyderabad House. Accompanied by a high-level delegation of ministers, senior officials and business heads, the crown prince would be given the ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhawan The bilateral relationship has been elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership. UAE is India's third largest trading partner and second largest export hub. India, the gateway to Asia for UAE is its largest trade partner. The balanced bilateral trade stood at 50 billion USD in 2015-2016 This is a decline though from 2013 when bilateral trade stood at 75 billion dollar (approximately Rs 5, 00,000 crore) UAE is among the top five crude oil suppliers to India, key to its energy security needs. Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath 2016 It is also building three sites for oil storage to provide India an energy safety net Trade, terror and diaspora issues will be the centre to the official talks. With a 2.6 million strong presence, the Indian community is the largest expatriate group in UAE. UAE's plan of investing its sovereign wealth fund into Indian projects are yet to be finalised. Pacts on the table will include comprehensive partnership, maritime training, defence and agricultural cooperation among others. Indian soldiers march during the Republic Day parade in New Delhi 2016 Talking about the challenges to expand India-UAE ties, a recent Ananta Centre report says, 'The Asian countries are constantly on the lookout for oil and gas to fulfil almost 90% of their needs and have become a huge market for the Gulf. 'India is looking for long term investment options but in order to attract huge investments, it has to guarantee security for their investments and ensure returns. 'The challenge is that the UAE only comes with capital and not expertise and hence the Indian government needs to ensure that they get returns.' The Post Office and major high street banks have agreed a deal which has been described at the 'biggest expansion in face-to-face banking access in a generation'. From today, 99 per cent of personal banking customers and more than three quarters of business customers can do their day-to-day banking at the Post Office as a new industry-wide agreement with banks comes into effect. It comes as major banks continue to axe branches all over the country, including more today from HSBC and some of these are the 'last bank in town'. Local banking? The Post Office has struck a deal with major banks to offer more services at its branch network More than 1,000 branches have closed in the last two years, with HSBC axing the most. It has shrunk its branch by nearly half network since 2013. Today, the banking giant announced a further cut of 67 on top of 57 already revealed, bringing the total closed in two years to 337 branches. It closed 218 branches last year, 109 in 2015, 95 in 2014 and 47 the year before. Today's announcement comes as bank branch usage shrinks thanks to the growth of digital banking and banks look to save costs and this Post Office move could result in further branches being axed. HSBC said branch visits had dropped 40 per cent in the past five years as an increasing number of customers bank online. The Post Office has 11,600 branches and says 99.7 per cent of the population live within three miles of one. Until now, some banks have offered limited access through the Post Office and only four in ten business customers could use it for their banking. Margot James, Business Minister, said: 'Millions of consumers and small businesses across the UK will now benefit from unrivalled access to banking services, including on Sundays, thanks to the Post Office. 'This is the biggest expansion in branch banking services in a generation and I am delighted the network is able to offer these services to so many customers.' HSBC: The global bank has axed roughly half of its branch network since the start of 2013 Last year the Post Office carried out 110million banking transactions across its network an average of over 200 a minute and a six per cent increase from the previous year. This is expected to increase even further, as the new service will offer access to day-to-day banking, cash withdrawals, cash and cheque deposits and balance enquiries. The Post Office says its branches offer longer opening hours, with more than 4,000 branches open on Sundays. The new agreement includes established high street banks but also newer names such as TSB and Virgin Money. This is Money asked for details of the financial agreement between the banks and the Post Office. It replied: 'The services we offer to our bank partner customers enable communities to thrive and grow, whilst the banks re-adjust the scale and focus of their own branch networks. 'The commercial arrangements around exactly how this can be continued in a sustainable and customer-focussed way are rightly confidential.' Nick Kennett, chief executive of Post Office Financial Services, said: 'When people can get cash locally, they spend it there too. 'Access to cash plays a vital role in many local communities, acting as the lifeblood to consumers and small businesses.' The Post Office says it has worked closely with all UK banks since March 2015 to assist them in fulfilling their 'continued access' commitment to Government. It argues that by making sure alternative counter-based banking services are accessible through its branches, the impact of local branch closures on communities can be minimised. Simon Kirby, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said: 'Ensuring people have access to the financial services they need is a vital part of our plan to build an economy that works for everyone. 'Now individuals and businesses can use their local Post Office branches to access even more high street bank services, making banking easier and more accessible.' Advertisement They are quiet. They are alert. They are engaging. And they are Hong Kong's most popular shop assistants. Cats are an ever-lasting symbol of the cramped and curious neighbourhood shops dotted around the international commercial city. These fluffy creatures stare at the customers when they walk in, pace around them when they shop and meow at them when they pay. Dau Ding (pictured), the pet of a traditional Chinese medicine store, is the first shop cat Marcel Heijnen has photographed Many traditional businesses in Hong Kong, such as dried seafood shops and family-owned grocery shops, keep cats Good companion: An adorable cat rests in a box as its owners weigh traditional Chinese medicine at a shop in Hong Kong Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen was impressed by the endearing bond between Hong Kong shop owners and their cats Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen is so drawn to the ubiquitous shop cats that he spent one year photographing the adorable pets and their owners in Hong Kong's traditional areas. Through Mr Heijnen's lens, the modern skyscraper-filled city transforms into a kaleidoscope of traditional retailers. Chinese medicine shops, family-owned grocery shops and dried seafood vendors, the colourful pockets of century-old trades form the playground of these naughty felines. Originally, shop cats appeared in Hong Kong because the owners wanted to use them to scare away mice. Mr Heijnen said: 'They don't necessarily need to catch mice. Just their presence and their smell are enough to ward off mice.' However, the 52-year-old Dutch man told MailOnline what struck him more was the bond between the shop owners and their moggies. Drawn to the ubiquitous cats, Mr Heijnen spent one year photographing the adorable pets and their owners in Hong Kong The shop cats tend to have similar expressions with their owners and strike near identical poses with them Originally, these alert animals appeared in Hong Kong because the owners wanted to use them to scare away mice Through Mr Heijnen's lens, the modern skyscraper-filled city transforms into a kaleidoscope of traditional retailers Mr Heijnen said: 'They don't necessarily need to catch mice. Just their presence and their smell are enough to ward off mice' Most of the owners have kept the animals for years. The cats accompany them day in day out, when there is business and when there is not. In Mr Heijnen's pictures, many of the cats seem to have formed an endearing rapport with their owners - they tend to have similar expressions with their owners and strike similar poses with them. They doze off when their owners doze off, and they eat when their owners eat. 'Sometimes, you feel they're the real owners of the shops because they don't do anything and they get fed,' said Mr Heijnen, who has lived in Asia for 25 years. 'Their owners rush in and out, but they just sit there. 'Occasionally, the shop is so messy you can't even find the cat.' The real bosses: Mr Heijnen joked that the cats are the real owners of these stores as 'they don't do anything and they get fed' Fortunate cats: The moggies are considered lucky by their owners as they could draw in customers and liven up the store 'Their owners rush in and out, but they just sit there. Occasionally, the shop is so messy you can't even find the cat' Left, Mr Heijnen was pictured with a cat as he tried to portrait the shop animal on a Hong Kong street. Right, a cat was pictured in front of coffins at a funeral store The cats are also believed to be fortunate by their owners. Some felines would play near the entrance of the shops, bringing in customers who find them cute and livening up the atmosphere for the often straightforward shopping experiences. Mr Heijnen, originally from Eindhoven, is a cat lover. He said he had always kept cats as pets, but when he moved from Singapore to Hong Kong at the end of 2015, he had to leave his three pet cats to a friend. After seeing the many shop cats in Sai Ying Pun, the area he lives in Hong Kong, he started taking pictures of the animals and sharing them on Facebook. The first cat Mr Heijnen photographed was Dau Ding, a lovely tabby guarding the traditional Chinese medicine shop he passes every day on his way to the Metro station and coffee shops. Dau Ding's pictures got so popular that Mr Heijnen decided to explore the nooks and crannies of Sheung Wan and Sai Ying Pun, where many traditional stores are, to find out more about these iconic lucky animals and their relationships with their owners. Most of the owners have kept the animals for years. The cats accompany them day in day out, when there is business and when there is not After seeing the shop cats in Sai Ying Pun, the area he lives in Hong Kong, Mr Heijnen started taking pictures of the animals When Mr Heijnen, a cat lover, moved from Singapore to Hong Kong at the end of 2015, he had to leave his three cats to a friend. The shop cats in Hong Kong sparked his great interests On his Instagram page Chinese Whiskers, Mr Heijnen keeps an ever-growing lists of his snaps of the Hong Kong shop cats and their owners. He has turned some of the pictures into a book, Hong Kong Shop Cats, which was published last November. Mr Heijnen said: 'It is not uncommon to see shop cats in other countries, but due to health and safety restrictions, they don't usually appear in food stores. 'But in Hong Kong, shop cats can be found in many places, including shops selling dried seafood and traditional medicine, which makes them so special.' Mr Heijnen's next project is to photograph the cats in the Hong Kong markets in areas such as Kowloon and Yau Ma Tei. The artist said: 'Hong Kong is a fast-changing city. One day a shop is here, the next day it could be gone.' Through photographing the adorable felines found at the city's shops and markets, the man hopes to capture a cute and lasting symbol of the buzzing cosmopolitan city. On his Instagram page Chinese Whiskers , Mr Heijnen keeps an ever-growing lists of his snaps of the Hong Kong shop cats He has turned some of the pictures into a book, Hong Kong Shop Cats, which was published last November Mr Heijnen's next project is to photograph the cats in Hong Kong markets in areas such as Kowloon and Yau Ma Tei Page Content Migration will be the principal topic of debate when regional and local leaders from the EU, North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans meet in Malta on 22-23 February for the annual meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM). The first day of the two-day gathering features a conference on migration, at which governors and mayors will be joined by national officials, representatives of the presidency of the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European External Action Service to discuss the root causes of migration from Africa, the reception of migrants, and the integration of migrants. The meeting will also result the adoption of recommendations for actions that ARLEM's members would like the EU and non-EU states to take to limit climate change, spur a shift to a low-carbon economy and to support trans-Mediterranean cooperation. The recommendations on energy and climate action have been drawn up by the mayor of Morocco's capital, Mohamed Sadiki of Rabat, while the President of Sardinia, Francesco Pigliaru, has led the way in pushing forward ideas on how the cooperation in the Mediterranean region could be developed. The meeting will pay particular attention to how regions and cities can help Libya's cities provide public services despite the on-going political crisis in the country. The last ARLEM plenary session, held in Nicosia in January 2015, led to an initiative funded by the EU to share knowledge and experience to Libya's local and regional authorities. In the past year, the initiative has focused on the management of water, waste, primary health care, and finances, as well as general administrative skills, with Libyan politicians and officials making study visits to Nicosia (Cyprus), Flanders (Belgium), Murcia (Spain), Vila Real (Portugal) and Malta. In Libya, the mayor of Tripoli, Abdelrauf Beitelmal, has been the driving force behind the cooperation, which Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign-policy chief, has described as an example of "city diplomacy at its best". ARLEM was established in 2010 by the European Committee of the Regions to encourage region-to-region and city-to-city cooperation in the Mediterranean region. The focus on migration reflects the priorities of Malta's six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, which began on 1 January, and develops on an issue that that has been central to many of the discussions at ARLEM since its creation. The alleged boss of a blackmail 'Sextortion' gang has revealed how she tricks 'stupid' men into stripping off via webcam - and revealed the vile secrets of her trade. 'Queen of Sextortion' Maria Caparas-Regalachuelo, who is accused of using girls as young as 13, boasted that it takes just 30 minutes to trick western men into getting naked then performing a sex act via Skype. Her gang is blamed for the suicide of 17-year-old Daniel Perry who leapt to his death in Scotland in August 2013 after being told by his online tormentors he would be 'better off dead'. Speaking in a squalid Philippines prison cell, Caparas revealed that her gang of 'chatters' trawl Facebook for victims, sending men flirtatious messages before asking them to go 'somewhere private'. They show the men a pre-recorded video of an Asian woman performing a striptease and then send them a stream of filthy text messages. 'Sextortion queen': Alleged blackmail gang boss Maria Caparas-Regalachuelo revealed the sordid secrets of online sex-traps as she revealed she worked as a 'chatter' convincing Western men to strip then perform a sex act Striptease: Caparas revealed vile details of the 'Sextortion' scam from her Philippines prison cell, boasting that her gang of 'chatters' trawl Facebook for victims, sending men flirtatious messages before asking them to go 'somewhere private' Sordid videocam: Maria Caparas-Regalachuelo has been jailed in the Philippines for her role in an international blackmail ring that convinces men to perform sex acts online. She has denied being the boss, despite boasting of her wealth by posting images such as the one of her son covered in banknotes, above right, to her Facebook page Caparas admitted that she worked as a 'chatter' herself, adding: 'Chatters' are mostly young girls, some as young as 13, and transgender men. They work to a prepared text to coax victims. 'We tease them to get them comfortable and we work to a prepared text.' The 'chatter' then captures the victim performing a sex act on camera and uploads the video to an unlisted YouTube page. The chatter's boss then gets in touch with the victim and threatens to send the link to the video to family and friends via Facebook if they do not pay blackmail demands. Victims of Caparas's gang in North Hills Village a poverty-racked village with a population of 1,500 are believed to include a millionaire Asian pop star and a tycoon's son who paid 150,000 in repeated blackmail demands before going to police. Former slum dweller Caparas, who was arrested for a second time in September, denies being the gang's ringleader, insisting that she was just a 'chatter' and not the syndicate boss. 'Chatters': Maria Caparas, pictured centre in red t-shirt, admitted that she worked as a 'chatter' herself, adding '[they]are mostly young girls and transgender men'. They work to a prepared text to coax victims Celebration: Maria Caparas has admitted being a 'chatter' and held a Christmas party in 2013 at which she apparently handed out flatscreen TVs as prizes Explaining how the scam worked, Caparas, who is awaiting trial for exploiting minors to work in the Sextortion gang, said: 'We tease them to get them comfortable and we work to a prepared text. 'Some of the chatters can barely speak English and many are young gay men but they only communicate by text and show pre-recorded video so the victim never knows. 'It only takes about 30 minutes of chat before they are persuaded to do things in front of camera. They nearly always pay up after we put the video on YouTube. 'I did feel sorry for some victims. In one case I told my victim 'Don't flirt on the internet again. Look what happens. I even blocked one victim on Skype to stop him getting any demands for more money from my boss.' Caparas, who is suspected to be continuing to run her syndicate from behind bars, told Mail Online: 'I am ashamed of what I did. I am so sorry for the victims,' she said. 'I was terribly shocked and sad when I hear what happened to the boy in Scotland. I don't know anything about him but I'm very sad for his family's loss. Squalid: Weeping tears of self-pity as she squatted on the floor of the overcrowded women's block in Bulacan Provincial Jail, mother-of-five Caparas she said: 'I have to sleep in the hallway at night' Overcrowded: Caparas, who is being held in Bulacan provincial jail in the Philippines, admitted she was a 'chatter' who was tasked with ensnaring men but insisted: 'How could an uneducated woman like me organise a criminal syndicate?' Weeping tears of self-pity as she squatted on the floor of the overcrowded women's block in Bulacan Provincial Jail, mother-of-five Caparas she said: 'I have to sleep in the hallway at night. I'm praying to Jesus to let me be with my kids again. I ask for forgiveness. 'Please have a heart for me. I love my children and I have put them to shame. I have promised them I will give up Cybercrime and stay at home and run my shop.' Caparas insisted: 'How could an uneducated woman like me organise a criminal syndicate?' But when asked what she thought of her victims falling for the scam, she replied cynically: 'They are stupid. 'When I talk to them after they have paid their first blackmail demand I would tell them: 'Don't do it again you have learnt a lesson from your mistakes.' Caparas insisted she had nothing to do with Daniel's death and implausibly claimed to have worked as a 'chatter' for only eight months, making 800,000 pesos (13,000), before giving up after her first arrest in 2014 following Daniel's death. But we found damning evidence of her role at the heart of the syndicate including pictures of her 13-year-old son covered in bank notes in an apparent taunt to villagers opposing her cybercrime activities. Another pictures shows a group of her 'chatters' celebrating their earnings at a Christmas party while wearing T-shirts in honour of their boss Caparas, calling themsevles the Ceecelle All Stars. Ceecelle is one of a number of aliases used by Caparas. Sextortion racket: North Hills Village - home of Marie Caparas - where much of the population is said to be involved in Sextortion Property empire: An 80,000 villa in the North Hills area of Manila, one of ten properties allegedly owned by Marie Caparas who insists she does not run the 'Sextortion' ring and is simply an employee Temptation: Marie Caparas's home has been converted into a honey trap for the teenagers she allegedly recruits for her syndicate, including a billiards room lined with 19 computer cubicles. The computers are believed to be where her workers seduce and blackmail foreign men online In a tasteless joke at the expense of their desperate victims, the back of the T-shirt features the symbol that pops up on Skype when a victim has blocked a 'chatter' with the words 'We hate this' beneath it. Cybercrime profits, Caparas said by neighbours to have bought a fleet of cars and up to 10 houses around the area with her Sextortion earnings handed out gifts of flat-screen TVs, iPhones, iPads and Samsung smart phones as raffle prizes at the party, one witness said. Another shows piles of notes in a billiards room full of computer terminals at her North Hills Village home where her team of 'chatters' are said to have operated. The gloating images were found on Facebook accounts operated by Caparas and her family when police seized computers from her home in a 2014 raid. Investigators also found dozens of fake ID cards used to collect blackmail payments from Western Union money transfer offices. T-shirts made by the 'chatters' carries a Ceecelle All Stars logo. Ceecelle is one of a number of aliases used by Caparas. Separately, in a tasteless joke at the expense of their desperate victims, the back of the T-shirt features the symbol that pops up on Skype when a victim has blocked a 'chatter' with the words 'We hate this' beneath it Police found that around 800,000 had been sent to a single Western Union money-transfer branch from hundreds of Sextortion victims worldwide in the space of just nine months before her 2014 arrest. Caparas's gang is believed to have blackmailed at least 500 victims, usually for sums ranging from 200 to 15,000 with demands continuing until terrified victims run out of money or go to police. Charges against Caparas were dropped amid suspicions that she bribed officials but she was rearrested in 2016 as the Sextortion activities continued and international pressure on the Philippines police mounted. Caparas who like many wealthier Filipino inmates is able to keep a smart phone in jail by bribing warders to turn a blind eye contacted Mail Online to deny being the ringleader after we reported her role at the heart of the syndicate in December. Headquarters: Caparas, 37, allegedly ran her crime gang extorting money from men from this two-storey home, pictured, in North Hills, north of the Philippines capital, Manila. There is no suggestion that these children pictured were involved in the scam Using the Facebook alias Marie Celle Caparas she invited us to see her in prison where she revealed chilling details of how the Sextortion scam works while protesting she was not the ringleader. However, residents in North Hills Village insisted Caparas was the mastermind and said she graduated to Sextortion after making money from live sex chats with foreigners soon after she relocated to the village 10 years ago. 'This is a poor village made up of people relocated from the Manila slums but look around and you'll see all the young kids have designer clothes,' one resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of fears of retribution from Caparas's gang. 'That's because 70 per cent of the households here make their money from Sextortion. The only difference is they do it from their own homes rather since Caparas was arrested. It's still going on because it's easy money and money means everything in a place like this.' The gang's activities are thought to have contributed to a surge in 'Sextortion' cases in Britain with four more suicides in 2016 and a doubling of reported cases compared to 2015. Gangs in Morocco and the Ivory Coast have also joined in the sinister crime wave. President Donald Trump has resigned from the Trump Organization and his sons Don Jr. and Eric are in charge of the business, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday. 'He has resigned from the company as he said he would before he took office. Don and Eric are fully in charge of the company,' Spicer told reporters at a news briefing. Donald Trump, Jr. posted a picture on his Instagram account showing him and his brother on Monday. The photo shows the two brothers standing side by side as they smile for the camera. Scroll down for video Donald Trump, Jr. (right) posted a picture on his Instagram account showing him and his brother, Eric (left), on Monday. 'A new era has begun,' Donald, Jr. wrote on his Instagram 'A new era has begun at The Trump Organization,' the caption on the Instagram read. Trump's departure from his business interests and his handing the reins to his sons doesn't appear likely to satisfy critics. Current and former government ethics officials have said that Trump's moves are not enough, according to NBC News. To steer clear of the appearance of impropriety, the president should either completely liquidate all of his assets or place them in a blind trust, they say. 'Stepping back from running his business is meaningless from a conflict-of-interest perspective,' said Walter Shaub, the head of the US Office of Government Ethics. 'The idea of setting up a trust to hold his operating businesses adds nothing to the equation. This is not a blind trust it's not even close.' The president was sued on Monday by an ethics charity which claims he has 'illegally received payments from foreign governments'. Current and former government ethics officials have said that Trump's (above) resignation from his companies are not enough Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claim Trump is in breach of the US Constitution because he has not divested himself of his business interests, including the hotel in the Old Post Office building in DC. The Trump Organization leased the building from the federal government before turning it into a hotel, and the lease expressly prohibits any elected official from benefiting from the property. CREW, which claims to be non-partisan, says Trump has broken an 'emoluments clause' in the Constitution which prevents the commander-in-chief from receiving payments from foreign governments. They argue that because guests staying at the hotel and other Trump-owned resorts include politicians and government officials from China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, where he has business interests, he is in breach of the Constitution. The lawsuit says: 'When Trump the President sits down to negotiate trade deals with these countries, the American people will have no way of knowing whether he will also be thinking about the profits of Trump the businessman.' Trump's lawyer Sheri Dillon recently insisted the President was not in violation of the emoluments clause. She said at a press conference: 'Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present, and has nothing to do with an office. It is not an emolument. The Constitution does not require President-elect Trump to do anything here.' The New York Times reported that Mr Trump's son Eric said of the CREW lawsuit: 'This is purely harassment for political gain, and, frankly, I find it very, very sad.' CREW filed the lawsuit at the Southern District of New York at 9am on Monday. The group's director, Noah Bookbinder, said: 'We did not want to get to this point. It was our hope that President Trump would take the necessary steps to avoid violating the Constitution before he took office. Patrick Keogh, a real estate investor in Austin, Texas, said: 'It's a simple matter of amending the lease.' He said Ivanka Trump, the President's daughter and chief negotiator on the hotel, should ask the GSA to exempt her father from that provision of the contract. But CREW and others say Trump must relinquish ownership of the hotel and sell off his company, putting the cash into a blind trust as previous presidents have done. He is not legally required to do so, but it has become common for presidents to separate themselves from their personal finances to avoid any possible conflicts with national policy. 'The Trump Organization has directed that no communications of the organization, including social media accounts, will reference or otherwise be tied to President-elect Trump's role as president of the United States or the office of the presidency,' a company attorney wrote in a briefing released earlier this month. Residents of a 'sustainable' Hawaiian island owned by billionaire Larry Ellison were without power for more than two days after a storm. The entire island of Lanai - 98 per cent of which was purchased by Ellison in 2012 - lost electrical service after strong winds snapped or damaged utility poles on Saturday. Crews restored power to most of the residents, including 1,575 Lanai City customers, just before 1am today, but people living in one small town remained without electricity. Ellison, 72, bought the island in 2012 with a vision of sustainability, including a future powered by solar energy, according to the website for Pulama Lanai, his management company on the island. The entire Hawaiian island of Lanai - 98 per cent of which is owned by billionaire Larry Ellison after he bought the land in 2012 - lost electrical service after strong winds hit the island on Saturday. Pictured above damage from a recent storm is shown in this photo provided by Maui Electric Company on the island of Lanai, Hawaii A spokeswoman referred questions to the Maui Electric Co. utility. As of Tuesday morning, 125 customers in the Manele area remained without power, but utility crews continued to work on repairs through the day. Maui Electric said crews worked to repair 19 utility poles on the 141-square-mile island where about 3,000 people live. The repairs involved replacing all of the 19 damaged 45-to-50 foot tall poles, resetting new ones and then restringing about a mile of lines along Kaumalapau Highway to Miki Basin and cross-country to Manele Bay, the company said. Windstorm damage across the state was the most extensive in years, knocking out power to thousands of people, said Hawaiian Electric, the parent company of Maui Electric. Lanai lost electricity and telephone service on Saturday night, said Maui County spokesman Rod Antone. Cellphone service was spotty, he said. Lanai High and elementary school were to be in session on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Hawaii's education department said. Donalyn Dela Cruz, however, said parents should 'feed their children breakfast as the school is unable to serve breakfast meals... The school will be serving a modified lunch'. Ellison bought 98 per cent of Lanai from billionaire David Murdock in June 2012 for an undisclosed price. He purchased the island with a vision of sustainability Ellison bought the island in 2012 with a vision of sustainability, including a future powered by solar energy, according to the website for Pulama Lanai, his management company on the island Ellison revamped the entire Four Seasons resort (pictured above) shortly after purchasing the island. It was up and operating on Tuesday following the power outage There are two large, luxury hotels on Lanai, formerly known for its pineapple crop. Four Seasons Resort Lanai was open and operating - but the main phone line was down - while The Lodge at Koele is closed for renovations, a Four Seasons spokeswoman said. Ellison revamped the entire Four Seasons resort shortly after purchasing the island. Rooms are available at the resort for a minimum of $800 a night. Ellison, who is the fifth richest man in the world and is worth an estimated $49.2billion, according to Forbes, purchased the island with a vision of sustainability. The Oracle founder bought 98 per cent of Lanai from billionaire David Murdock in June 2012 for an undisclosed price. The Maui News reported that Murdock, the CEO of Castle & Cooke Inc, was seeking $500million to $600million for his Lanai holdings. In October 2012, Ellison said he wanted to turn Lanai into a 'little laboratory' for experimenting with more environmentally sound ways to live. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's ambitions include converting sea water into fresh water on the 141-square-mile island of Lanai. He also wanted to see more electric cars on the island located near Maui, expand its airport, and hopes to increase its fruit exports to Japan and other markets. Ellison's multi-million dollar renovations to the Four Season resort finished this year, and renovations are now happening at the Lodge at Koele. Meanwhile, Ellison wants to add a zipline to the current lineup of resort activities, which include croquet, a putting course, horseback riding, archery, a shooting range, utility terrain vehicle riding, hiking, biking, lawn bowling and carriage rides, according to PBN. The mogul also re-opened a movie theater in town, stocked its main market with organic food, re-built the community swimming book and added football and soccer fields to the island. The former foster daughter of the self proclaimed 'virtuous pedophile' claims he raped her when she was a child. Jazzmyne Holden, now 20, was just ten years old when she and her sister went to live with her new foster parents Gary and Tabitha Gibson. At first all seemed fine. 'On the surface, it seemed really nice,' she said. 'They were vegetarian... went to church all the time. But underneath, he was molesting me.' Jazzmyne Holden, pictured on Dr Phil, claims she was sexually abused by her former foster father and 'virtuous pedophile' Gary and Tabitha Gibson fostered Holden when she was ten. Gary later admitted to his wife he was attracted to little girls Holden spent just three months with the Gibsons before she and her sibling were removed by Child Protection Services after reports that Gary had touched little girls in his care, according to Holden. Gary claims the children were removed because one of his foster kids made up a story that he left them in the woods alone. Holden says that it was more than a year later when she began to remember the repressed alleged abuse. She says she was making soup, aged 11 or 12, when she spilled the hot liquid all over her legs and crotch. The burning sensation brought back uncomfortable memories of her time with Gary Gibson. 'It sent me into a panic attack. I looked up at my mom and said I believe that Gary had raped me,' Jazzmyne said. 'I didn't recall specifically what happened. I just remembered pain where I shouldn't been having pain at 11 years old.' Holden (left) claims she was raped by Gary (right) who denies the allegations and blames them on her 'false memories' On Monday's episode of the Dr Phil Show, Holden got the chance to confront her former foster parents about the alleged abuse 'The next day, my mom took me to the doctor and the doctor was able to tell that I had been sexually abused at one point in time.' The incident was previously investigated by police and no criminal charges were filed. Gary, who denies all the allegations, has since come forward to admit that he is attracted to little children - particularly young girls - but claims he has never acted on his urges. Gary, of Oregon, recently came out as what he described as a 'virtuous pedophile', and has set up a non-profit organisation - the Association for Sexual Abuse Prevention - to help people like him who he says choose not to offend. But Holden, who says she was raped by Gary four to five times, says she was sickened by his claims he never touched children. On Monday's episode of the Dr Phil Show, Holden got the chance to confront her former foster parents about the alleged abuse. 'For him to claim that everything that I remember is off of false memories is ridiculous. I didn't make this up,' she said. Gary Gibson (right) is pictured marrying his current wife, British nurse Tabitha Abel, in 2005 'Gary speaking out about being a virtuous pedophile is disgusting. For him to claim he's virtuous and control it, it's just a slap to the face. 'I want people to know what he did to me, that he's not who he says he is. And I want people to listen because I'm trying to save somebody else. I don't want anybody else to go through what I went through, what I still go through. I'm proof he's lying.' The 20-year-old, who says she suffers from panic attacks and night terrors as a result of the abuse, added that Gary's wife Tabitha remains 'blissfully in the dark. 'She doesn't wanna see it. She doesn't wanna believe it so, she just goes about it and pretend it's not there. This is the man she lays in bed with every night. So, she ignores it.' Gary, a Christian ex-teacher, whose family has a history of incestual child abuse, openly admits he is a pedophile. But insists that he is a 'virtuous pedophile but I'm not a child molester.' Gary says he came out to his wife Tabitha after the brush with police following Holden's allegations He claims that Holden may have ' developed false memories because of pressure from a counselor or what'. He added that she had come to him as an adult where he had 'assured her that that had not happened.' 'She was glad to hear that.' Gary admits he has been sexually attracted to little girls fro the past sixty years 'but choose not to act on it.' His wife has been incredibly accepting of his attraction to young girls - and even lets him discuss when he sees a 'cute girl'. 'Sometimes when we see an attractive girl I'll mention it to her and she'll say 'yeah, she is a real cute girl.' But she means like you know cute and I mean like I'm sexually attracted to her,' he explained. His struggles intensified when his first marriage broke down in the nineties, and he decided to 'spend some time out in the South Pacific', where he said there were 'a lot of little girls running around naked'. After a couple of years he returned home, and met British nurse Tabitha Abel - woman who would become his wife - through a Christian singles dating site in 2004. They married in 2005. Eventually, they built a log cabin in Oregon, which included rooms for their grandchildren. Holden speaks with Dr Phil on tonight's show where she also confronts her former foster parents But he was still dogged by his desires. 'The first time I remember changing my daughters diaper I thought, "Am I going to touch her" or something, but I made the decision right there that was not going to happen,' he said in the video, before explaining how he and his wife chose to adopt foster children because their grandchildren did not visit enough. Gibson says the children eventually moved on for 'other reasons', however when Holden came forward with her allegations, three years after she left his foster care, his brush with the police forced him to 'come out' to his wife. WHAT IS THE ASSOCIATION FOR SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION? ASAP is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the primary prevention of child sexual abuse. It brings together mental health professionals and individuals who are sexually attracted to children. The organization provides public health education, while members provide support for non-offending pedophiles who want to avoid acting on their attraction to children. -- ASAPInternational.org Advertisement 'I told her I didn't do it, but this is where I'm at... I'm attracted to kids,' he said. During a recent interview, Gibson explained why he is attracted to young girls - but not young boys or teenagers. The 'comfortably out' pedophile, whose wife is a nurse, said he is normally not aroused by teenage girls and does not have any desire for young boys. 'When they pass 12 they tend to get into themselves, start to make themselves look older, and I like things natural - so there we are,' he told The Sun in the UK. 'When they start wearing lipstick and stuff like that I don't find it very appealing.' Despite his attractions, Gibson added he is 'a normal everyday person'. 'I don't go around in a white van giving candy to kids in the park,' he said. Gibson' wife then told the British newspaper she does not consider her husband to be a pedophile because: 'most people I consider a pedophile to be a child molester which he isn't.' The interview then went into some more graphic details about Gibson's sexual habits. He told the newspaper he does not seek out pornography involving children when he masturbates, but added he doesn't 'beat himself up' if he does watch scenes involving young people. 'I don't feel bad it about because it's not reality, I can differentiate between fantasy and reality,' he said. The 65-year-old also seemed to have come to terms with his life as a pedophile, despite understanding that it makes him unpopular with many. 'If people knew I was a pedophile they wouldn't like me,' he said. 'But overall my life has gone fairly well.' Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said. Last gesture: Obama's administration told Congress on Friday morning that it was ignoring a vote not to give the Palestinian Authority $221 million. Hours later he left office Ignoring Congress: John Kerry's State Department decided not to follow the vote to block the cash to the Palestinians. The aides and the State Department official weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers - Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee - had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress. The $1.25 million for U.N. agencies is to be used as voluntary contributions to the U.N. Peacebuilding Fund; the U.N. Special Coordinator on improving the U.N. response to sexual exploitation and abuse; the Montreal Protocol Secretariat, which oversees the protection of the ozone layer; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; and the U.N. System Staff College. The $4 million for climate programs includes assistance for clean energy, sustainable landscapes, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and creating a climate technology center. The last-minute allocation also contained $1.05 million in funding for the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan office and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Funded: The cash was a boost to Palestinian Mahmoud Abbasm who met King Abdullah II of Jordon on Sunday The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month. He has also pledged to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday a final decision on that had yet to be made. Despite speculation in Israel that an announcement of the move is imminent, Spicer said the decision-making process is only in its very early stages. Jordan Vogt-Roberts, director of the upcoming film 'Kong - Skull Island', claims he was blackmailed by his social media star ex-girlfriend, Brittany Furlan, after she reportedly went through his cell phone and leaked a nude photo of him to her Instagram fan account. The photo was picked up by website The Dirty and posted alongside a story from a woman who claimed to be inside the Detroit hotel room at the time the image was snapped. The unnamed woman claims Vogt-Roberts, 33, paid her and her 'girlfriends' to strip and 'do other things to him and his friend at the MGM Hotel in Detroit at the end of November. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts claims he was blackmailed by his social media star ex-girlfriend, Brittany Furlan, after she went through his cell phone and leaked a nude photo of him She told The Dirty: 'We drank tons of dom and smoked [marijuana] and all got naked. The photo was picked up by website The Dirty and posted alongside a story from a woman who claimed to be inside the Detroit hotel room at the time the image was snapped 'We rubbed whipped cream on each other and fruit and got trashed... amongst other stuff.' Shortly after the post went live, Vogt-Roberts' lawyers sent a letter to 30-year-old Furlan claiming she blackmailed the director, by 'threatening to reveal confidential information and naked photographs of him'. In the 'cease and desist' document obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, the director accuses Furlan of being behind the post. It says that she violated both state and federal criminal laws, as well as civil laws, and demands her to remove all content related to him from social media and the website. Vogt-Roberts' counsel claims that her actions are considered 'revenge porn', according to California's criminal code, and that he will seek an injunction and damages if she does not comply. Furlan's lawyers have since sent a letter to The Dirty claiming she owned the copyright to the photo, but made no mention of the unnamed woman's claims. Vogt-Roberts' counsel claims that her actions are considered 'revenge porn', according to California's criminal code, and that he will seek an injunction and damages if she does not comply. Shortly after the post went live, Vogt-Roberts' lawyers sent a letter to Furlan (above) claiming she blackmailed the director Furlan has 2.2 million Instagram followers and was the most followed female video star on Vine until November 2015. She turned to Vine after she struggled to break into traditional acting Vogt-Roberts (above with actress Brie Larson) is best known for his film The Kings of Summer, screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize Furlan's lawyers have since sent a letter to The Dirty claiming she owned the copyright to the photo, but made no mention of the unnamed woman's claims. The director and the social media star reportedly dated for a year and a half and ended their relationship around the time of this dispute. Vogt-Roberts, from Detroit, is best known for his film The Kings of Summer, screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Prior to The Kings of Summer, he wrote and directed a short film, Successful Alcoholics, which starred T.J. Miller and Lizzy Caplan. The film screened at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, the AFI Fest and 30 other film festivals. He also worked on Comedy Central's Mash Up, directed episodes of Funny or Die Presents as well as several episodes of MTV's Death Valley. Furlan, originally from Philadelphia, has 2.2 million Instagram followers and was the most followed female video star on Vine until November 2015. She turned to Vine after she struggled to break into traditional acting and quickly became known for her 'six second humor'. This led to a full-time job as a 'Vine personality', creating branded videos for sponsors like Pizza Hut and 7 Up. In 2015, she was named one of the most influential people on the internet by Time Magazine. A shooting in which a man wounded his wife, her sister and killed two other relatives before taking his own life was triggered by a marital dispute, authorities say. Muhammad Hasan Nawazkhan is alleged to have conducted the shooting on Sunday at the family's home in Brazoria County, Texas which ended when he shot himself. Alexy R. Garcia, 49, died at the scene along with her husband, 30-year-old Carlos Antonio Garcia-Cerna, according to Lt. Varon Snelgrove. The Brazoria County Sheriff's Office said they received a call early Sunday from a man allegedly admitting to shooting his wife. When they arrived at the home just after 1:30am they found two men and a woman fatally shot, one was suspected shooter Muhammad Hasan Nawazkhan Nawazkhan shot his wife Lesly Paredes, Garcia's sister, in the face and wounded her other sister Maria Paredes-Paz by shooting her in the abdomen. Paredes, 31, was airlifted to hospital and is said to be in a critical but stable condition. Paredes-Paz, 36, has since been released from hospital. Snelgrove says dispatchers received a call from 22-year-old Nawazkhan early Sunday saying he shot his wife in the face. Upon arrival deputies found Nawazkhan's body and the other victims at a home in Manvel. Nawazkhan lived in the house with his wife, two of her sisters and the husband of one of the sisters. The mobile home site is about 24 miles south of Houston. There's nothing more excruciating for viewers than to watch presenters stuck live on air but that's what happened on ABC News on Monday evening. In the program host Juanita Phillips and political reporter Brigid Glanville were left hanging live on air for nearly a minute after a technical hitch and unaware they were still going live to the nation. 'And that's all for this special edition of ABC News from State Parliament, stay with us now for 7:30 with Stan Grant,' Phillips told viewers as she brought the program to a close. But instead of going back to Stan Grant in the studio the cameras remained on Phillips and Glanville. What followed next was a presenter and viewer's nightmare as they were left stranded on air with no sign of cutting back to the studio. The two presenters could only look desperately off camera, neither of them sure if they were still on air or not. Time seemed to slow down and after 30 seconds, a relieved Phillips gave a thumbs up to the crew and started removing her earpiece, assuming she had been given the all-clear - the problem was she hadn't. ABC political reporter Brigid Glanville (left) can only stare at the camera as ABC News host Juanita Phillips (right) looks off camera The crew come in to pack up their gear only to be told by Glanville (left) that they're still live It was just wishful thinking on Phillips' behalf as the agony was far from over yet. As the crew moved in to pack up their equipment Glanville said: 'We're still on air guys. We're still on. It's 30 seconds until off air. Still 30 seconds.' A debate then began between Glanville and the crew as to whether they were live or not as Phillips looked on. Unfortunately for all involved they were, and there were another few excruciating seconds left before they were finally put out of their misery. The family of the 10-year-old girl killed in the Bourke Street massacre have released heartbreaking photos as they prepare for the little girl's funeral. Thalia Hakin died after Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, allegedly mowed down 37 people, killing five, after driving his car in the lunchtime crowds in Melbourne's city centre on Friday. Her little sister Maggie, nine, was also injured in the attack, suffering severe limb injuries and their mother Nathalie is fighting for life in hospital. On Sunday, the Jewish community held a memorial for Thalia to remember the 'smiling' Beth Rivkah College student and a private funeral service will take place in St Kilda East on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Thalia Hakin died after Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, allegedly mowed down 37 people, killing five, after driving his car in the lunchtime crowds Ahead of the funeral service, Thalia's family released photos of the sisters smiling as they posed in front of a Christmas tree Ahead of the funeral service, Thalia's family released photos of the sisters smiling as they posed in front of a Christmas tree. Other photos showed the beaming 10-year-old dressed as a princess at the family home and dressed as former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard. At the public service for the little girl on Sunday, Principal Rabbi Yehoshua Smukler said Thalia would 'check on her sister every day' and was a 'doting' sibling, according to the Herald Sun. 'She was always happy and knew how to make people smile,' a student told the 1000 people at the vigil. Thalia's father Tony has been rushing between two hospitals where his wife is in critical condition and his other daughter has been left with serious injuries. 'He's stoic, he's strong. I'm assuming he's probably in shock. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to put one foot in front of the other,' Rabbi Smukler said. Other photos showed the beaming 10-year-old dressed as a princess at the family home and dressed as former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard (pictured) Matthew Si, 33 (left), and Thalia, 10 (right) were killed in the Bourke Street rampage One of the five people who died after the tragedy on Friday , Jess Mudie, 22, from Sydney After being released from hospital on Monday, Gargasoulas was charged with the deaths of five people, including a three-month-old baby. As well as Thalia, Jess Mudie, 22, Matthew Si, 33, the three-month-old baby and a 25-year-old man died in the horrific attack. Fifteen people remain in hospital after Gargasoulas allegedly rammed a mid-1990s Holden Commodore through Bourke Street at 1.30pm on Friday. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews expressed his fears for two people who are fighting for their lives. 'We have grave fears for their health and wellbeing,' he said on Monday. 'What occurred on Friday is not only a cause of great sadness, but it is a cause of legitimate and, I think, profound anger. All of us feel it.' Gargasoulas is accused of running down 37 people with a maroon Holden Commodore on Friday last week, leaving five of those dead A public vigil was held for the victims in Melbourne's Federation Square on Monday Masses of flowers laid at a floral tribute on Bourke street in Melbourne on Sunday Thousands of Victorians and visitors laid flowers in Bourke St on Sunday as families paid tributes to their loved ones Thousands of Victorians and visitors laid flowers in Bourke St on Sunday as families paid tributes to their loved ones. The Jewish community in St Kilda East held prayers for Thalia and all the other victims, praying for a speedy recovery for the injured. Federal MP Michael Danby, who is Jewish, expressed his condolences. 'All Victorians can identify... with a girl who was going into grade five, her life all in front of her, robbed by some crazed person,' he said. A tax deductible fund has been set up to help the families of victims who died as a result of the attack, with the Victorian and federal governments putting in $100,000 each. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews (dark jacket) and Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle lay flowers A 70-year-old man who told investigators after robbing a Kansas bank that he'd rather be imprisoned than with his wife has admitted carrying out the holdup. Lawrence Ripple pleaded guilty Monday in Kansas City, Kansas, to a federal bank robbery count. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors and his defense attorney are free to argue what sentence they think is fair, reported the Kansas City Star. Ripple pleaded guilty without any plea deal. Court documents show that Ripple gave a Kansas City bank teller a note on September 2, 2016 demanding cash and warning he had a gun. Lawrence John Ripple (pictured above in his arrest booking photo), 70, is accused of robbing a bank in Kansas and told investigators he would rather be imprisoned than live with his wife After being arrested, Ripple told investigators that he had argued with his wife earlier in the day and that he 'no longer wanted to be in that situation.' He is pictured above with his wife in a photo he shared to Facebook about two weeks before he robbed the bank Ripple grabbed nearly $3,000, sat in the lobby of Bank of Labor at 756 Minnesota Ave and told a guard he was the 'guy he was looking for,' according to the police report. An FBI agent says Ripple had argued with his wife earlier and told her in writing he'd 'rather be in jail than at home.' Ripple's wife, Endayon, accompanied him to court Monday and the pair refused to comment, reports the Kansas City Star. The man was released on bond in September. Ripple (left) had argued with his wife (right) earlier and told her in writing he'd 'rather be in jail than at home' Surveillance video from the strange crime showed the elderly man approaching a bank teller and handing her a note which read 'I have a gun, give me money.' He was handed $2,924, but instead of fleeing the scene, he then went and sat in the lobby and awaited arrest. The politically-appointed head of the General Services Administration has vacated her post, allowing President Trump to name the person who now oversees the lease on his new luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., new correspondence reveals. The lease is under review to see whether the Trump Organization is in breach now that Trump has taken office as president. Denise Turner Roth had been head of the agency since she was confirmed on a voice vote by the Senate following her appointment by President Obama. Roth had been tweeting as recently as January 19th, when she lauded Vice President Mike Pence the day before he took office. President Trump is empowered to name her replacement to the post, which requires Senate confirmation. 'It has been a great honor to support a smooth Presidential Transition. Thank you for your kind words @mike_pence,' she wrote, thanking Vice President Mike Pence for some praise of the agency, and including a video clip containing his remarks. The clip showed Pence thanking Roth for her 'outstanding team' and the job that they've done. Scroll down for video Prestigious location: Trump International Hotel Washington, D.C. at the Old Post Office, which is a government building She also thanked the GSA transition team. 'You have done a tremendous job in providing a peaceful transition of power,' she wrote the day before Trump took office. House Oversight Committee Democrats on Monday released a letter to Timothy Horne, under the title of acting administrator of the agency. A committee aide told DailyMail.com the agency told the panel that was the person to to whom correspondence should now be addressed, although the agency has made no official announcement about its leadership. Roth's departure is in keeping with other political appointees who vacated the administration, although Trump could have asked her to remain at her post. She also thanked her team at the GSA, which overseas government real estate The relatively obscure post, which oversees a $24 billion budget and about 12,000 employees, has considerable authority when it comes to a business matter close to Trump's heart: the Trump International D.C. Hotel. House Oversight Democrats wrote the agency hoping to learn more information about the operation of the hotel in order to ascertain whether Trump is in violation of the lease and whether his hotel income has spiked. Revenue at President Donald Trump's luxury Washington D.C. hotel is off more than $2 million below estimates, according to documents obtained by House Oversight Committee. The lawmakers obtained the estimates from the GSA, the federal agency that overseas the lease of the hotel, which is located in the government's Old Post Office building. The lawmakers are seeking to establish a baseline to establish whether Trump's earnings shoot up now that he is the president as a way of asserting that he is profiting off of his election office. The lawmakers also say that the hotel saw negative income for two months, September and October, of $1.1 million. The lawmakers, led by ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland, seek monthly reports submitted to the government by the Trump organization describing revenue and expenses. Data Oversight Committee Democrats compiled from government responses reveals loses at the luxury Trump hotel in Washington in September and October, before Trump was elected An organizational chart drafted by committee Democrats shows ownership of the hotel in the government owned Old Post Office building 'The possibility that President Trump will profit from large increases in hotel revenues because he was elected President highlights the grave concerns we have raised for months about his conflicts of interest and potential violations of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution,' they write, in reference to a passage barring officials from taking foreign income. They also seek information on what steps GSA 'has taken, or plans to take' regarding what they call Trump's 'apparent breach of the lease.' Cummings on Friday told DailyMail.com GSA would be announcing its decision regarding a provision of the lease barring an elected official from being party to it. 'We'll know Monday, because that's when they go back to work,' he said. 'In other words, the moment he was sworn in, he breached the lease. Because you can't be an elected official. So GSA is supposed to make some kind of determination,' he said. The lawmakers also seek copies of correspondence between the agency and the Trump transition and the company, as well as documentation of any liens, citing media reports of liens totaling $5 million. The youngest victim of Melbourne's Bourke Street mall rampage will be laid to rest on Tuesday. Three-month-old Zachary Bryant was one of five people killed in the rampage on Friday. His two-year-old sister Zara was injured but is in stable condition. In a statement, their parents Matthew and Nawwar Bryant described Zachary was a 'beautiful, loving, happy and perfect little baby'. 'On 20th January a man drove through Melbourne city, killing and hurting people, including our two-year-old toddler Zara and our three-month-old son, Zachary,' they said in a statement. Scroll down for video The three-month-old baby who was killed after a man drove his car into a crowd at Melbourne's Bourke Street mall on Friday has been identified as Zachary Bryant Zachary was one of five people killed in the rampage (pictured) but his two-year-old sister Zara - who was injured - is in stable condition Pictured are crowds at a memorial held for victims of the Bourke Street Mall Attack 'Our beautiful Zara is in a stable condition, however Zachary, our son, did not survive,' they said. 'He was the most beautiful, loving, happy, and perfect little baby we were so lucky to be gifted with. 'He was the light of our lives constantly filling our days with smiles and laughs. 'He leaves us with the best three months and 14 days of wonderful memories spent in this world.' 'He was the most beautiful, loving, happy, and perfect little baby we were so lucky to be gifted with, Zachary's parents Matthew and Nawwar Bryant said Other victims include Matthew Siew Ping (left) and Jessica Mudie (right) Thalia Hakin (pictured), 10, also died in the attack on Friday The couple thanked everyone for the outpouring of support they received and asked people to keep Zara in their prayers. 'Zac, Mummy and Daddy love you very much, and always will,' they said. Members of the community have been invited to pray, or make dua, for the family. The service will be held at a Melbourne mosque. 'May Allah heal his sister and the broken hearts of their parents,' a local Islamic community announcement said. Other victims of the tragic incident include 10-year-old Thalia Hakin, Melbourne father Matthew Si, 33, and Sydney woman Jess Mudie, 22. A 25-year-old man was also killed and the Japanese Consulate told The Age a citizen in his 20s had died. Fifteen people remain in hospital after the attack and two people are still fighting for their lives. A 25-year-old man was also killed and the Japanese Consulate confirmed a citizen in his 20s had died and another Japanese man in his 20s was injured Thousands of flowers decorate Bourke St mall in honour of the victims A total of 37 people were injured in the tragic rampage on Friday 'We have grave fears for their health and wellbeing,' Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said on Monday. 'What occurred on Friday is not only a cause of great sadness, but it is a cause of legitimate and, I think, profound anger. All of us feel it,' Mr Andrews said. It comes as police charged Dimitrious 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, the man accused of the attack, with five counts of murder on Monday. Labour last night sparked another huge Brexit row by demanding Parliament should have the right to scupper any deal Theresa May secures from Brussels. The move dramatically raised tensions ahead of todays Supreme Court verdict on whether the Prime Minister can trigger the two-year process for leaving the EU without the approval of MPs and peers. Ministers are braced for defeat when the countrys 11 most senior judges deliver their ruling at 9.30am. Mrs May and Brexit Secretary David Davis are then expected to announce they will publish an Act of Parliament within days giving them the right to trigger Article 50, which will then have to be passed through the Commons and the Lords. Scroll down for video Labour is expected to lay down a challenge to any attempt by Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured, to launch an Act of Parliament to trigger Brexit Sources within the party led by Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, suggested Labour would demand a 'meaningful vote' on any Brexit deal But Labour sources said that, as soon as this happens, they will put down four amendments to the legislation that could hugely frustrate the Brexit process. Most controversially, one amendment demands that Parliament is given a meaningful vote on any deal. In effect, MPs would be able to rip up everything Mrs May has negotiated and send her back to the European Council to start again. The demand came after Mrs May said she would give MPs a vote on her final deal, but that if they voted no Brexit would go ahead anyway, without a deal. Jeremy Corbyns party will also seek to ensure that the PM secures tariff-free access to the EU single market. This risks undermining Mrs Mays stance that, if she cannot secure a good deal for Britain, she would be prepared to walk away. Labour sources insist the amendments are popular with other Opposition parties. Some Tory Remainers could also choose to vote with Mr Corbyn. Aides to the party leader said that, if the amendments failed, they would not block the triggering of Article 50 altogether. But, at the very least, it puts Mrs May on course for a bruising Parliamentary showdown. The strategy is also high risk for Mr Corbyn as he is facing two by-elections, including in Stoke-on-Trent, which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. Mrs May, pictured centre, has warned MPs if they voted against her deal, Brexit would 'go ahead anyway' Tory MP Dominic Raab, a leading member of the Leave campaign, said: These wrecking amendments will open up a split in the Labour party, but they wont stop the Government delivering on the will of the British people. A Conservative spokesman said: Labour supported the referendum and our timetable to trigger Article 50. 'We have set out a plan to get the right deal for Britain ... Other parties now need to back that plan. The Supreme Court verdict which comes after the Government appealed a High Court ruling that Mrs May cannot trigger Article 50 without consulting Parliament has been shrouded in secrecy, with the PM herself not due to be told until 9.15am. The lawyers involved will be given 90 minutes warning. Lord Neuberger, president of the court, is keen to obtain unanimity among the judges because of the huge ramifications. If a minority of judges dissent, this will be seen as a small success for the Government. Ministers are likely to say that it vindicates the decision to appeal. The PMs spokesman insisted Mrs May would not be blown off course from triggering Article 50 by the end of March. She said: The PM has been very clear that we will be sticking to the timetable. She pointed to the fact that, in a non-binding vote before Christmas, a majority of 372 MPs voted in favour of triggering Article 50 in that timeframe. The Supreme Court is due to give its verdict on the case of whether Parliamentary approval is needed for Brexit today, following last month's hearings In the Supreme Court hearing, James Eadie QC, representing the Government, told the judges not to ignore the highly significant vote. He declared: Parliament has indicated its view and has done so clearly. In the event of a defeat, Mrs May and Mr Davis expect to push their Article 50 act through the Commons in just five days. It would then take up to two months to go through the Lords. Last night Charlie Mullins, the Remain-backing founder of Pimlico Plumbers, predicted Mrs May will be forced from office within two years, arguing that she had isolated herself from core Conservative businessmen. He added: When she goes, the damage will have been done and its going to take a long, long time to get back to where we are today. We begin with the following warning: Reading this parliamentary sketch may imperil national security. If you mention its contents to anyone from Russia, you may be in jolly hot water. Yesterday the Commons discussed a Trident mis-fire from the Royal Navy nuclear submarine Vengeance. Not that it was a mis-fire. Everything was absolutely in order. Nothing to see here. Carry on, Chief Petty Officer. As you were. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon broke the parliamentary surface at 1530 hours to answer an Urgent Question from Kevan Jones (Lab, N Durham). Up sprang Jacob Rees-Mogg (Con, NE Somerset) to propose that the House sit in private. This would have entailed evicting all members of the public (including journalists). Mr Rees-Mogg thought careless talk might 'give succour to Her Majesty's enemies'. His suggestion was not carried. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, pictured, tried to assure MPs Trident was working well Fallon claimed reports in the press over the weekend were not wholly to be believed Fallon, who has been on a submarine, pictured, said there had been a routine 'demonstration' Mr Jones, like others, had spotted a story in the Sunday papers about a monocle-popping moment in the seas near Florida in the closing days of the Cameron era. If the story was correct WHICH IT IS NOT!! the matelots in Vengeance pressed their red button in a rare Trident test. The rocket zoomed into the air. So far, so good. Then the naval observers had to move their binoculars in an unexpected direction. The Trident, instead of heading east towards a harmless target zone in the mid-Atlantic, took a turn westwards. Eek! It was fizzing towards Disneyland, or something like that. If swift action had not been taken, Mickey Mouse might have received a nasty surprise up his backside. Mr Fallon, coating his larynx with creaky world-weariness, said 'reports in the weekend press' were not wholly to be believed. Trident's effectiveness was 'not in doubt'. There had been a 'routine' testing of the Trident system and sub-system, a 'demonstration and shake-down'. Vengeance had been 'successfully tested and certified as ready' for action. More than that, he would not say. Labour MPs demanded to know if Theresa May had known about the mis-fire/non-misfire when the Commons voted in July to renew Trident. Mr Fallon would not say. But he did assure us that health and safety was of paramount concern to the Ministry of Defence. Shades, here, of that line in the film Dr Strangelove: 'Gentlemen, you can't fight here, this is the war room'. Labour's defence spokesman, Nia Griffith, who has all the naval saltiness of Mary Poppins, said 'all we want is clarity and transparency'. Mr Fallon said he did not believe in transparency when it came to nuclear weapons. 'Not good enough!' cried Labour and Scots Nat voices (the SNP were out in force, not being as riven on nuclear weapons as Labour, which still has MPs who believe in the principle of deterrence). Mr Fallon steamed on regardless. He was amazingly bullet-proof. Julian Lewis, Tory chairman of the Commons defence select committee, said 'once stories get out there, isn't it better to be quite frank?' Michael Gove, right, claimed Labour's complaints about Trident's mis-fire were akin to eunuchs moaning about the cost of Viagra Mr Fallon gave a single blink of the eyes and disagreed. Time and again he dropped periscope and sent up a few bubbles about how Vengeance had been 'certified again to join the operational cycle'. George Osborne (Con, Tatton) watched all this with a smile. Michael Gove (Con, Surrey Heath) thought it absurd for Opposition unilateral disarmers to wail that the credibility of the nuclear deterrent might have been affected. It was 'like eunuchs complaining about the cost of Viagra'. Speaker Bercow, who for some reason dislikes Mr Gove and had initially summoned him with the patronising words 'ah, young Gove', commented sarcastically on this contribution. 'I'm sure it went down very well at the Oxford Union,' sneered Bercow. Mr Gove: 'I'm sorry you're jealous, Mr Speaker.' No question of a mis-fire there. Labour's Kevin Brennan (Cardiff W) said Mr Fallon was adopting a 'name, rank, serial number, don't-tell-'em-Pike' approach, while on the other side of the Atlantic, at that very moment, the US government was happily giving reporters much greater detail about the incident. Traitors! Doctor John Tholen Doctor John Tholen has a PhD and more than three decades' experience - but he can't get a job at TAFE because he doesn't have a high-school level qualification. Although Dr Tholen has a PhD in biochemistry from the University of New South Wales and has worked and taught in Australia and Asia, he was denied for a part-time role. He says he's not alone and that others have been rejected for the same reason. When Dr Tholen - who hasn't worked since a heart attack in 2016 - applied for the job teaching biomedical laboratory technology, he thought being hired was almost a certainty, The Daily Telegraph reported. He was denied because he doesn't have a Cert IV in training and assessment, TAE40110, a $2225, six-month course covering skills related to teaching required for roles at TAFE. The requirement was introduced in 2016 by the Australian Industry and Skills Committee and registered educational organisations can no longer take previous experience into account. To meet standards, Dr Tholen then enrolled for the course online and gave the provider his qualifications. 'When they looked at my qualifications, the first thing they said to me was, "What's a PhD?" I'm not beating up on the lady, she was very lovely, but I explained to her what my qualification meant, and she said, "But that's not a teaching qualification",' he told The Daily Telegraph. 'I said, "But it is for every university in the world".' The TAE40110 qualification was 'high-school level', The Daily Telegraph reported. Doctor John Tholen has a PhD and more than 30 years' experience - but he can't get a job at TAFE because he doesn't have a high-school level qualification (stock image) Dr Tholen said he was told by TAFE that other lecturers, including from the University of Sydney, had been rejected for the same reason. He called the situation 'ridiculous' and said his livelihood had been ruined by 'bureaucratic morons'. He said there weren't any university jobs available and despite being offered work in China, wanted to remain in Australia to care for his daughter, 13, and 80-year-old mother - without having to rely on Centrelink benefits. A woman has divided social media by pulling a silly face in a picture with Pauline Hanson. Courtney Griffin told a Facebook group her boss had made her stand in a picture with the One Nation leader as she campaigned at a Perth shopping mall. The 28-year-old woman's facial expression suggested she was unimpressed. Scroll down for video Courtney Griffin (right) was so incensed at having to pose with Pauline Hanson she pulled a face Courtney Griffin expressed his displeasure on social media about having to be pictured with the One Nation leader 'My whinge - I saw Pauline Hanson today and I wanted to throw an egg at her chin but my boss wouldn't let me,' she wrote on the Perth- Have A Whinge Facebook page. 'I had to improvise and this is the result.' Social media users were divided, with some Facebook posts condemning her 'boss' for making her pose with Senator Hanson while others said Ms Griffin had showed disrespect and deserved the sack. 'I don't feel anyone should be instructed by an employee to pose with a politician. Why would the boss do this to an employee?,' Joshua Prieto asked. Denis Kinang said it was illegal. 'I would have refused and threatened to take the boss to Fair Work Australia if there were any repercussions because of my refusal,' he said. However, others felt Ms Griffin deserved the sack for mocking the Queensland senator, who was in Perth campaigning for One Nation candidates running in the upcoming West Australian election. Joshua Prieto clearly thought it was inappropriate for this woman's boss to make her pose This man believes Courtney Griffin deserves to lose her job for mocking Pauline Hanson Chantelle Gray just thought the retail assistant simply showed bad manners Cate Baker posted a Facebook image of her cousin putting on a vomit face to protest against Pauline Hanson's stance against ethnic minorities 'I actually think it's rude to ask for a picture then pull a face like that regardless of who the person is,' Chantelle Gray said. Paddy Golden was even blunter. 'Hopefully, she got fired,' he said. But Cate Baker was proud of her male cousin for putting on a vomit face as he posed with Senator Hanson in the shopping mall and posted a Facebook image with a caption. 'Warning: Exposure to racism may induce vomiting,' she wrote. Simon Ashe posted this image on Facebook to show Pauline Hanson was popular in Perth During last year's federal election campaign, Senator Hanson called for a ban on Muslim migration to Australia. In 1996, she said Australia was in danger of being 'swamped by Asians' and a year later formed One Nation, which has a policy of abolishing multiculturalism. However, Simone Ashe said 'lots of people' had wanted to pose with Senator Hanson as she campaigned at Booragoon, in Perth's south, on Sunday. This woman slammed the shop assistant for mocking Pauline Hanson in a picture She posted an image of the One Nation leader posing with three woman all dressed in black. West Australians are heading to the polls on March 11. One Nation has 11 per cent primary vote support in the state, a Reach-TEL poll released this week found. One Facebook message said regardless of Senator Hanson's views, the shop assistant was 'rude and disrespectful'. 'Shame on this girl,' she said. This Facebook post questioned the legality of making someone pose in a photograph with a politician Ms Griffin later contacted Daily Mail Australia to say she was walking past the store at the time and 'saw a funny photo opportunity'. 'I'm just an average Australian girl having a laugh. I don't take politics too seriously,' she said. Hundreds of people have been fooled by her Facebook post, which she said was a joke. 'This is my sense of humour,' she said. 'I'm amazed that people are getting politically fired up over it.' The photograph was taken in the Lovisa women's fashion accessories store at Garden City in Booragoon. No employee was forced to pose in a photograph with Senator Hanson. Radio host Robin Bailey has made an emotional return to the airwaves following her sacking from 97.3FM. Bailey, who lost her job back in November, fought back tears during her first appearance on Brisbane's Triple M alongside her new co-hosts Greg Martin and Ed Kavalee on Monday. She said she was 'relieved' to be back in the studio and thanked her listeners for their support, especially those who switched their allegiance to her new station. Radio host Robin Bailey has made an emotional return to the airwaves following her sacking from 97.3FM Bailey (pictured in 2015) said she was 'relieved' to be back in the studio and thanked her listeners for their support 'I'm so happy to be here and I'm so relieved to have a job is the honest answer as a single mother of three teenage boys,' Bailey said after her first day on the job. 'These blokes [Martin and Kavalee] have genuinely just embraced me and what I can bring to their show and that is the greatest thing. 'The amount of tears that I have shed over the kindness of Brisbane,' she added as she welled up. Regaining her composure, Bailey said: 'Look, history will be made if a whole pile of people come over and we win the ratings. But that's not for me to worry about, and I mean that sincerely.' The usually chatty radio host refused to answer questions on whether she would take legal action against 97.3FM over her sacking. But when asked about the last few months, she said: 'It's been awful.' The Brisbane radio host was axed from 97.3FM's breakfast show in November 2016. She is pictured here with former co-hosts Terry Hansen and Bob Gallagher in 2014 Just hours before she was sacked in November, Robin Bailey was joined by her fellow co-hosts Terry Hansen (second from right) and Bob Gallagher (second from left) as they sang happy birthday to her 'Whatever they're doing at opposition stations is up to them and I sincerely wish them the best of luck because we will run our race and I won't look around at anyone,' Bailey said. 'All I care about is what comes out of these microphones and, ultimately, what makes great radio is when people respect each other. 'For me, I just want to move forward - I see my future as really bright and awesome.' The Brisbane radio host was axed from 97.3FM's breakfast show in November last year after 10 years of service, but had been 'in talks' with rival station Triple M and signed a contract to co-host the morning program. The mother-of-three had celebrated her 46th birthday with her co-hosts Terry Hansen and Bob Gallagher in the studio just 24 hours earlier. Just four days later, it was revealed Bianca Dye, whose Gold Coast radio career spans 20 years, was hired as Bailey's replacement and will start in January. Dye, who has been friends with Bailey for years, left her afternoon hosting gig at Southern Cross Austero after less than 12 months. About $20million in cash that was hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment has been seized as part of a wide-ranging investigation into an internet telecom company that was actually a massive international pyramid scheme. The cash was found Wednesday inside a Westborough apartment by investigators who had tailed a Brazilian man from New York. Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha, 28, was charged with conspiring to commit money laundering. He could spend up to 20 years in prison and be fined twice the gross gain or loss. He was held after an appearance in federal court Thursday pending a detention hearing scheduled for next week. His lawyer could not immediately be reached. Police discovered approximately $20million in cash stashed in a mattress The cash seizure was made in connection with an investigation into TelexFree, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company that purportedly sold VOIP telephone service. TelexFree had few customers and made most of its revenue from people buying into the company with a promise of payouts for posting online ads for it, prosecutors have said. They were paid with money from new recruits, often friends and family of earlier investors. TelexFree was a massive pyramid scheme and filed for bankruptcy in 2014 Although initially aimed at Brazilian immigrants to Massachusetts, authorities allege almost one million people worldwide were swindled out of nearly $1.8 billion. TelexFree filed for bankruptcy in 2014, its assets frozen, and its two principals were indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. One of them, former chief executive James Merrill, pleaded guilty in October and awaits sentencing on February 2. The other, Carlos Wanzeler, fled to his native Brazil where he remains, U.S. prosecutors said. Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars of hidden TelexFree assets to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong, prosecutors said. According to court documents, Rocha, acting as a courier for Wanzeler's nephew, flew from Brazil to New York City a few days ago. Rocha then met with a cooperating witness at a restaurant in Hudson, Massachusetts, and gave him a suitcase containing $2.2million. President Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corp CEO Rex Tillerson, narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday but is expected to win confirmation from the full Senate. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 to approve Tillerson, with every committee Republican backing Tillerson and every Democrat opposing his nomination. His backing by the committee had been in doubt until earlier on Monday, when Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a committee member, said he planned to back Tillerson. Decision time: Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO who attended President Trump's inauguration with his wife Renda, will receive a vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today The decision was in the hands of Marco Rubio. Rubio said this morning that he will vote yea The Republican senator voted despite what he said were significant reservations over the former oil baron's personal relationship with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. 'I believe the president is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet,' Rubio said. Rubio, whom Trump defeated for the GOP presidential nomination last year, clashed with Tillerson at a committee hearing earlier this month. The Florida senator bridled at Tillerson's refusal to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a 'war criminal' or condemn human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in strong enough terms. He chided Tillerson over the need for 'moral clarity.' 'Despite his extensive experience in Russia and his personal relationship with many of its leaders, he claimed he did not have sufficient information to determine whether Putin and his cronies were responsible for ordering the murder of countless dissidents, journalists, and political opponent,' the Republican senator said in a statement Monday. Rubio said he continues to have concerns about Tillerson's position on sanctions. The millionaire said at a hearing that he would only support punishing actions if they met the 'impossible condition that they not affect U.S. businesses operating in Russia. 'While he stated that the "status quo"should be maintained for now on sanctions put in place following Putins illegal taking of Crimea, he was unwilling to firmly commit to maintaining them,' Rubio said. The Republican senator said he was, however, 'encouraged' by Tillerson's assertion that Russia hacked the emails of Democrats as the intelligence community has claimed and his declaration that the Russian invasion of Crimea was illegitimate. Lukewarm backing: John McCain and Lindsey Graham both offered endorsements of Tillerson, suggesting he would be approved if Rubio allowed his nomination to come before the full Senate He was ultimately convinced to vote for Tillerson, who he described as qualified and patriotic, based on his belief that it 'would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy.' ' I remain concerned that in the years to come, our country will not give the defense of democracy and human rights the priority they deserve, and will pursue a foreign policy that too often sets aside our values and our historic alliances in pursuit of flawed geopolitical deals,' Rubio said in a lengthy Facebook post. 'But in making my decision on his nomination, I must balance these concerns with his extensive experience and success in international commerce, and my belief that the president is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet.' His vote was effectively the deciding one in the case of Tillerson's nomination. His confirmation vote in the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold a 52-seat majority, is not expected before next week. Decision time: The top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committe, Ben Cardin, led his party's members in opposing Tillerson There had been fears it could be an uphill struggle for the White House to gain a majority - and that it could even see Tillerson voted down on the floor of the Senate. The scenario became less likely on Sunday after The two most publicly skeptical Republicans in the wider Senate John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina offered tepid endorsements of the former Exxon Mobil chief. Democrats who voted against Tillerson said their concerns included fears that he might move to lift sanctions on Russia, where he did business for years as an Exxon executive, questions about his views on human rights and unhappiness that he would not promise to recuse himself from matters related to Exxon during his entire term as the top U.S. diplomat. Tillerson said during his hearing that he would recuse himself only for the one year required by law. Tillerson also angered some lawmakers during the hearing by saying he did not know that Exxon Mobil had lobbied against Russian sanctions while he was running the company. Ivanka Trump had custom-made outfits worth nearly $1700 designed for her three children to wear throughout her father's inaugural weekend. Eager to keep the rest of the family up to her sartorial standards, the 35-year-old helped design the clothes herself. She had designer Kate Bowen, the founder of Petit Peony, fly from Duxbury, Massachusetts, to New York to fit the children three times before the big weekend. Arabella, five, Joseph, three, and Theodore, aged ten months, wore the outfits to Arlington National Cemetery on January 19 and to the National Prayer Service at Washington Cathedral on January 21. Among items which are now being sold online as part of the 'inaugural collection' are two $250 coats worn by Arabella and a $98 velvet romper adorned by both boys. Speaking to DailyMail.com on Monday, designer Bowen revealed how Ivanka called her to put the wheels in motion a month before her father's swearing in ceremony. Ivanka Trump had entire outfits designed and made for her children to wear throughout her father's inauguration weekend. Her five-year-old daughter Arabella is pictured in her $250 Navy Wool Coat as she leaves her Manhattan home to board a plane to Washington DC Bowen designed the $185 Navy Tulip Dress for Arabella to wear beneath her coat. She is pictured left with her mother at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington as President Trump lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 'Ivanka reached out a couple of days after Christmas and asked if I would design clothes for the children. 'She sent me the color scheme and said she wanted a classic look,' said Bowen who lives in Duxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband and three children. Bowen, who launched the label just two years ago, sent her sketches the day after their first call. After some slight tweaks from the fashion-conscious mother-of-three, she set about making the garments and traveled to New York to fit the children at their Park Avenue home three times. During one visit, the oldest children tried to serenade her with their piano playing, she said. The five-year-old's coat at the National Prayer Service is the $250 Ivory Wool Coat Bowen also designed a $185 Ivory Velvet Dress (left) and the $105 Ivory Satin Blouse (right) for Arabella to wear with the coat 'They were so charming and such gracious little hosts. Arabella and Joseph both wanted to play the piano for me.' Theodore, who is not yet one, was also impeccably behaved throughout fittings, she added. 'It was so fun just to hold him. I have kids a similar age to hers so I loved visiting them.' Arabella wore two complete outfits from the designer. They included two $250 coats, a $105 satin blouse and two $185 dresses. The five-year-old wore the first of the two outfits to leave Manhattan for Washington and later to watch her grandfather and Vice President Mike Pence lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery. Three-year-old Joseph in his $250 Charcoal Wool Boy's Coat (left) at the National Prayer Service. The product is pictured (right) as it is sold on Petit Peony's website Ten-month-old Theodore wore the same coat as his brother to the service but also had the $98 Navy Velvet Romper (right) designed for him to wear beneath it She stayed in the outfit for a celebration concert held later that night at the Lincoln Memorial. Joseph and Theodore wore matching coats and rompers worth $250 and $98 respectively to the National Prayer Service at Washington Cathedral on Sunday. The total cost for all of the outfits is $1671. Bowen said while she hasn't gotten around to sending the family an invoice but that they were 'easy' to work with. The 34-year-old worked round the clock with her manufacturer, the Good Clothing Company, but was delighted to see her designs on television and in news coverage of the historic day. 'It was so surreal and amazing. My heart just dropped.' Petit Peony is now selling all of the outfits on its website as part of 'the Inaugural Collection' Designer Kate Bowen (pictured with her three children) said the family was 'charming' and 'easy to work with' All of the Kushner children wore Oscar de la Renta like their mother for President Trump's swearing in ceremony and for the inaugural parade. She switched between designs from the Dominican-American designer and those of Carolina Herrera throughout the weekend. First Lady Melania Trump dazzled in a powder blue dress and jacket by Ralph Lauren on Inauguration Day. She later stunned in an ivory custom made gown by Herve Pierre for the inaugural balls. Trigg (pictured) was charged with the Worthing murders of girlfriend Susan Nicholson, 52, and manslaughter of mother-of-four Caroline Devlin, 35 A furious judge has demanded answers after an alleged double killer's case was delayed because he was taken to the wrong court. Remand prisoner Robert Trigg, who is accused of killing two girlfriends five years' apart, was due to appear at crown court in Lewes, East Sussex. But in an embarrassing farce, private firm Serco was accused of blundering by taking the inmate to a magistrates court in Aldershot 75 miles away. The case - which was ready to proceed with barristers, solicitors and clerks - had to be adjourned for four hours on Friday. It is the latest in a string of cases which have exposed the Ministry of Justice's shambolic privatisation of judicial services. Serco has a Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) contract which involves transporting prisoners to and from 24 Crown Courts, 43 Magistrates' Courts, 24 prisons and 131 police stations. In withering criticism, Judge Shani Barnes said the mistake was 'simply unacceptable' and insisted she would make a formal complaint. She said: 'He [Trigg] is on his way to Aldershot. Serco are contracted to bring prisoners to court in a certain timeframe and being two-and-a-half hours late in simply not acceptable. 'I phoned them [Serco] up. I'm not going to repeat what I said to them.' Judge Barnes expressed incredulity at the organisational failure because not only was Trigg taken to the wrong town in the wrong county, he was also taken to a magistrates instead of a crown court. Trigg was charged with the Worthing murders of girlfriend Susan Nicholson, 52, in April 2011 and the manslaughter of mother-of-four Caroline Devlin, 35, who was found dead in bed in March 2006. He did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody by the judge. The latest blunder comes after the Mail revealed how an Afghan murderer who attacked two police officers with a hammer after arriving in Britain could not be punished earlier this month because his interpreter went to the wrong court. Around 10,000 of taxpayers' money was wasted on a judge, barristers, three police officers and court clerks for the sentencing of Jamshid Piruz. Remand prisoner Robert Trigg, who is accused of killing two girlfriends five years' apart, was due to appear at crown court (pictured) in Lewes, East Sussex An interpreter who could speak his Dari language was booked for the hearing because the 34-year-old, who beheaded a Dutch woman in 2007, has such poor English. But the language expert was sent to the wrong Crown Court in East Sussex: Lewes rather than Hove. According to Ministry of Justice statistics, the number of crown court trials delayed or axed because the defendant was absent or unfit to stand soared from 921 to 1264 in the two years to 2015. The category included 'Defendant not produced by Prisoner Escort and Custody Service'. In 2013, Serco agreed to return 2million in past profits to the MoJ after it was found staff claimed to have escort prisoners to courts when they had not. The company insisted the defendant had not been taken to the wrong court. Insiders said the firm's vehicle was scheduled to deliver two prisoners including Trigg from HMP Wandsworth. One was going to Aldershot and the second to Lewes as part of a round trip. But delays at the prison and then at the magistrates' court meant the vehicle arrived at its final destination more than two hours late. Kevin Hagan, Serco's prisoner escort contract director, said: 'We are very sorry that the defendant arrived late at Lewes Crown Court. This was down to a series of events beyond our control and we are in contact with judge and the court to explain what happened.' A South Dakota museum is now the legal owner of a guitar played by Elvis Presley Nashville is feeling the blues, as one of Elvis's guitars is officially given to a museum in South Dakota. The National Music Museum, which is in South Dakota, is now the legal owner of a guitar played by Elvis Presley, after a ruling by a federal judge. The Martin D-35 guitar has been on display at the National Music Museum in Vermillion since 2013. It was donated by collector and musician Robert Johnson, and not the legendary blues artist himself. But months later, Tennessee-based collector Larry Moss contacted the museum saying he was the rightful owner and the donor was not in a position to give away the guitar. Moss, who has a long history of litigation against Johnson, argued that Johnson agreed to sell the guitar to him before it was donated. The museum in court filings that even if Moss was the owner before Johnson donated it, his ownership ended when the museum acquired it. The complaint said that if Moss feels he was wronged, he should sue Johnson for charges. The National Music Museum (pictured), which is in South Dakota, is now the legal owner of a guitar played by Elvis Presley, after a ruling by a federal judge The lawsuit's exhibits include a payment agreement signed by both collectors in 2008, in which Moss agreed to pay Johnson $120,000 for various guitars including the one now on display at the museum. Those records also include an email Moss sent to the museum in December 2013 claiming ownership. 'Johnson did not have the right to transfer ownership of that guitar in any way, via sale, via donation, via trade, via loan, or any other method,' the email stated. '(I) will not yet claim that the guitar is stolen, but I paid him for that guitar 5 years ago, and have been trying to get possession ever since.' In an affidavit filed in the federal lawsuit in South Dakota, Moss claims that the value of the Elvis guitar is 'well in excess of $75,000.' Presley played the guitar during his 1977 tour and gave it to a fan in St Petersburg, Florida. Pictured is Presley on the tour in Wisconsin, presumably with the guitar in question The National Music Museum in South Dakota asked a judge in July 2014 to declare it the legal owner of the guitar. A judge ruled Monday that Moss never owned the title, never possessed the guitar and never paid for it, and didn't take legal action during his three-year wait for the instrument. The museum received the guitar's title in 2013 and is the legal owner, the court found. Presley played the guitar during his 1977 tour and gave it to a fan in St Petersburg, Florida, when it was damaged. Presley died six months later. 'We are elated to receive this judgment on the guitar,' National Music Museum Director Cleveland Johnson said in a statement. 'We're thrilled that our passionate commitment to it will ensure that it stays at the NMM for the enjoyment of our future visitors. We are the most suited to the guitar's safeguarding and physical preservation. It's in the best hands.' A woman has accused a GP of blocking her pensioner father's car for five hours to 'teach him a lesson' for parking in her space. Rebecca Hossain has complained to NHS England after she claimed her 80-year-old father Mohammed was left 'shivering in the cold' and very upset after the row at Chorlton Health Centre in Manchester. Police were eventually called to defuse the parking dispute, which allegedly involved GP Dr Gill Edmondson. Rebecca Hossain has complained to NHS England after she claimed her 80-year-old father Mohammed (pictured) was left 'shivering in the cold' after the row at Chorlton Health Centre in Manchester Mr Hossain apologised for parking in the space, after running late, but was told by surgery staff that the GP was teaching him a lesson (pictured, his hatchback blocked in) Mr Hossain, a grandfather-of-three who suffers from high blood pressure after a stroke, parked in a space in a 'staff only' area after running late for a 9.30am appointment. The pensioner claimed he was anxious after earlier misplacing his car keys and couldn't find a disabled space. But when Mr Hossain returned to his Toyota hatchback after his appointment, he found Dr Edmondson's Lexus parked behind him. The widower said he repeatedly apologised and asked if the GP would move her car, but the receptionist said he would have to wait until she finished at 2.30pm. He said he was told in the practice that Dr Edmondson 'wanted to teach him a lesson' and was 'furious'. Solicitor Ms Hossain, 37, has submitted a formal complaint over the incident, which took place on January 19. She said: 'He should not have parked where he did, obviously. He was rushing and anxious and apologetic afterwards. 'But it is just pettiness. Someone else could have moved her car and he wouldn't have been left shivering in the cold.' Elderly widower Mr Hossain was told he would have to wait several hours for Dr Edmondson to move her car (pictured) Mr Hossain's daughter Rebecca has now submitted a formal complaint to NHS England over the upsetting incident Ms Hossain added: 'The police called the surgery and within 10 minutes they called me back and told me that the car had been moved. 'It is wrong that a doctor should withhold someone's car for any amount of time.' Mr Hossain, who has run his accountancy business in Chorlton for more than 45 years, said he 'thought it would be okay' to park there and displayed his disabled blue badge. He said: 'I was told that the doctor was very annoyed. I was saying a little prayer because I was worried and didn't know what to do. I was apologising but do not think that a patient should be treated like this. 'It shocked and upset me. I was not rude. I could not be nasty to anyone, especially a doctor who I come to to extend my life.' Police confirmed they received a 'call for assistance required' concerning the parking dispute. Chorlton Health Centre have declined to comment. An estimated three million people participated in women's marches across the United States on Saturday, and all with a clear message - p***y is power. That message struck a negative chord with activists in the transgender community, who are upset that the march was not as inclusive as it was set out to be. Marie Solis, a reporter for Mic.com, wrote an article that criticized the Women's March, commenting that it presented a clear message that 'having a vagina is essential to womanhood'. Marie Solis, a reporter for Mic.com, wrote an article that criticized the Women's March, commenting that the march presented a clear message that 'having a vagina is essential to womanhood' A day after President Trump's inauguration, over half a million demonstrators walked through the streets of Washington as a part of the Women's March on Washington An estimated three million participated in women's marches across the United States on Saturday Saturday's event to oppose the newly inaugurated President Trump was largely a white, cisgender march, and had too many pink-clad women carrying signs with female reproductive organs, according to Solis. She said that a fight is brewing between TERFs - 'Trans-exclusionary radical feminists' and transgender women, or non-binary individuals. Solis wrote that 'the saturation of vagina-related messages and imagery set the tone for a march that would focus acutely on genitalia at the expense of the transgender community.' Many of the signs that were carried at the protest had messages that said 'P***y grabs back', 'Resistance is Fertile' and 'P***y power', sending a clear and oppressive message to trans women, that they do not count, she said. The signs, it seems, were largely in reference to President Trump's infamous comments made during an Access Hollywood taping in which he talks about women in derogatory terms, saying he 'grabs them by the p***y.' Solis wrote that 'the saturation of vagina-related messages and imagery set the tone for a march that would focus acutely on genitalia at the expense of the transgender community' Solis's article argued that TERF's equate womanhood with having female reproductive organs, and that this brand of feminists believe that 'trans women are actually men in disguise trying to infiltrate their spaces'. She also commented specifically on the prominence of the 'p***yhats', which were created by two women in Los Angeles and became the unofficial accessory of the Women's March on Washington. Solis said that the hats set a tone for the march that 'would focus acutely on genitalia at the expense of the transgender community.' She interviewed a variety of women who took issue with this. The signs, it seems, were largely in reference to President Trump's infamous comments made during an Access Hollywood taping in which he talks about women in derogatory terms, saying he 'grabs them by the p***y Solis's article on Mic.com commented that many of the signs that were carried at the protest had messages that said 'P***y grabs back', 'Resistance is Fertile' and 'P***y power', sending a clear and oppressive message to trans women, that they do not count One non-binary student from Ohio, Sam Forrey, and girlfriend Lillian McDaniel, a trans woman, commented that safety was a factor they had to take into account when deciding whether or not to attend the march. Forrey told Solis that because legally McDaniel is registered as male, she worried that if she were to be arrested she would be placed in a jail with other men. Though McDaniel initially intended to attend the march irregardless of these safety concerns, she said that she was turned off when she realized people were using that as an excuse to invoke 'genital based womanhood'. Solis said that the hats set a tone for the march that 'would focus acutely on genitalia at the expense of the transgender community' Solis also commented on the prominence of the 'p***yhats', which were created by two women in Los Angeles and became the unofficial accessory of the Women's March McDaniel said: 'I think it ended up being a white cis women march, there were other marginalized communities there, but it didn't seem like they were the focus.' However, Solis does credit the marches for their inclusion and feature of trans women, such as Laverne Cox in Los Angeles, and Janet Mock in Washington. Cox spoke at the Los Angeles march, commenting on North Carolina's House Bill 2, which requires state residents to use the bathroom that coincides with the sex listed on their birth certificate, reported Solis. Cox said: 'If you are a girl like me, a woman like me, a transgender person like me, you live in a country that shames you, that stigmatizes you, that discriminates against you and criminalizes you.' A major malfunction in the UK's Trident nuclear missile deterrent is said to have been covered up by Downing Street Theresa May last night faced fresh accusations of a cover-up over the Trident nuclear weapons system as American officials confirmed that a missile test ended in failure. Just as Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon was refusing to tell Parliament any details about the incident, a US official said the rocket had veered off course during a test-fire in June. The unnamed official confirmed that the missile's electronics had detected an 'anomaly' and self-destructed. The row deepened last night after it was claimed that the United States had asked David Camerons government to keep details of the alleged failed Trident missile test launch secret. A British military source told The Times: It was the Obama administration that asked the Cameron administration not to comment on this. The US administration may have been worried that there could be similar problems on other missiles. The British submarine successfully carried and launched the missile; the bit that went wrong was the US proprietary technology. Mr Camerons office told The Times that it would be inappropriate to comment for reasons of national security. The disclosure was hugely embarrassing for Mrs May, who was forced to admit for the first time yesterday that she had been briefed about the weapons test. Although it took place shortly before she came to power, she said had subsequently been made aware of what she described as a 'successful certification' of the submarine involved, HMS Vengeance. But she refused again to say whether she had been briefed about the alleged mis-fire, insisting only that she retained 'absolute faith' in Britain's nuclear deterrent. Sir Michael also tried to stonewall on the issue yesterday, insisting it was important not to reveal operational details of the test for reasons of national security. He even accused MPs for risking Britain's safety after they pushed him for answers in the Commons over the issue. But critics pointed out that previous successful tests of the Trident system had been mentioned in Government press releases and speeches by ministers. TRIDENT FAILURE: WHAT HAPPENED? Defence sources have told CNN that Britain's Trident missile test failed because of an 'anomaly' detected during launch. Under normal conditions, the Trident missile is fired from below the sea's surface before heading into a high sub-orbital flight to its target. In this case, a source with direct knowledge of the incident said, electronics on board the missile detected a problem. This triggered a self destruct mechanism that involved re-directing the rocket to a crash site off the Florida coast. Advertisement And just as Sir Michael was addressing Parliament, a US defence official told CNN how the dummy warhead, which could have killed millions if armed, had self-destructed and ditched in the ocean after the malfunction. The official, said to have direct knowledge of the incident, confirmed to CNN that the missile veered off and the test 'ended in failure'. He verified reports the missile had veered towards the US coast, but said 'this trajectory was part of an automatic self-destruct sequence'. 'The official said the missile diverted into the ocean an automatic procedure when missile electronics detect an anomaly,' the television network said. At around the same time, Mrs May confirmed that she had been told about the test when she entered Downing Street in July and just before a Commons vote on Trident's 40billion renewal. However, she insisted she had 'absolute faith' in the nuclear deterrent programme and said the trial off the coast of Florida on June 20 had been a success for the vessel and its crew. 'I'm regularly briefed on national security issues, I was briefed on successful certification of HMS Vengeance and her crew,' she said. 'We don't comment on operational details for national security reasons. I have absolute faith in our independent nuclear deterrent.' Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (pictured in the Commons today) refused to give more details to MPs, insisting he would not discuss the operational details of 'systems or sub systems' on Britain's nuclear submarines On Sunday, the Prime Minister had dodged the question of when she learnt about the test four times during an interview. It was not until yesterday morning that a Number 10 spokesman had admitted that Mrs May was aware of a 'successful' test in certifying the crew and submarine. Sir Michael was summoned to the Commons to give more details but repeatedly refused and restated the Government's trust in the 'capability and effectiveness' of the Trident system. 'The Government has absolute confidence in our deterrent and in the Royal Navy crews who protect us,' he told MPs, adding that ministers 'would not have asked this House to endorse the principle of the deterrent and our plans to build four new submarines if there had been any question about the capability and effectiveness of our deterrent'. Theresa May, pictured at a Cabinet meeting held in Runcorn, Cheshire, today, refused four times yesterday to say if she knew about a major malfunction in the UK's Trident nuclear missile deterrent Labour's former defence minister Kevan Jones, whose urgent question forced the Defence Secretary to come to the Commons, challenged Sir Michael to confirm the missile went off course. TORY MP LASHES OUT AT CAMERON OVER TRIDENT FIASCO A top Tory has lashed out at David Cameron over the Trident fiasco - blaming his spin doctors for covering up the apparent misfire. The chair of the Commons defence committee, Julian Lewis, said Theresa May had been dealt a 'rotten hand' by her predecessor. But Mr Cameron's former media team have hit back, saying the MP's claim is 'entirely false'. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Lewis said: 'In fairness to the present prime minister one has to accept that she has been dealt a rotten hand because this matter, the decision to cover it up, if there was such a decision, as appears to be the case, was taken in the dying days of the Cameron administrations when spin doctors were the rule in Number 10 Downing Street.' But a spokesman for the ex-PM's media aides said he was 'making claims with no evidence'. Advertisement But the Defence Secretary responded: 'There are very few things that we cannot discuss openly in Parliament, but the security of our nuclear deterrent is certainly one of them. 'It has never been the practice of governments to give Parliament details of the demonstration and shakedown operations.' Labour MP Kevin Brennan compared Sir Michael to the Dad's Army character Captain Mainwaring, asking: 'Doesn't the Secretary of State's characteristic name, rank and serial number, don't-tell-'em-Pike approach to this actually make no sense at all given that with the reports we have had? Our American counterparts in the Congress will certainly be given full details of what happened around this test and that his stonewalling here does nothing to strengthen our security and everything to undermine the credibility of this House.' Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith added: 'The British public deserve the facts on a matter as important as Britain's nuclear deterrent and they deserve to hear those facts from their Prime Minister, not in allegations sprawled across a Sunday paper.' She added: 'At the heart of this issue is a worrying lack of transparency and a Prime Minister who has chosen to cover up a serious incident.' Commons Speaker John Bercow was caught on microphone warning that Sir Michael would be 'stupid' to pick a fight with the chairman of the defence select committee, Julian Lewis, who had invited him to attend a closed session to discuss the matter. He muttered that to 'pick a fight with the chairman of the select committee is a rather stupid thing to do'. WE KNEW NOTHING, SAYS CAMERON'S SPIN DOCTOR BY JOHN STEVENS David Cameron's former spin doctor Sir Craig Oliver went on the warpath yesterday after he was accused of covering up the disastrous Trident missile test. The chairman of the Commons defence committee, Julian Lewis, blamed the former prime minister's team for keeping quiet about the failure of the trial that took place just days before the Brexit referendum, when Mr Cameron was Prime Minister. Dr Lewis told Radio 4 that Theresa May 'should probably have spoken up' about any malfunction during last July's debate on the renewal of the deterrent. But he added: 'This test went wrong in June when it was a question for David Cameron and his team at No 10. They evidently decided to cover this matter up.' Sir Craig Oliver, pictured, claimed he was unaware of the Trident debacle His claim was denied by Sir Craig, who reportedly called Dr Lewis in a fury. 'A very senior former Cameron spin doctor has rung up my office in a state of great anger, saying they never knew anything about it,' Dr Lewis later told the BBC. 'I have to say it was a great pleasure to convey the message to Sir Craig Oliver that he ought to issue a press release on the subject, and I hope he will do so in great detail and depth. But nevertheless, if he didn't know, did the [then] prime minister know? 'And if the prime minister knew, why didn't he make the matter public and why didn't he tell even his closest spin doctors?' There was anger in July when it was announced that Sir Craig would be knighted after masterminding the failed Remain referendum campaign. It came as the Ministry of Defence's claim that it was government policy never to comment on nuclear missile tests was shot down by its own press releases. They include one statement from June 2014, when Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: 'Last week I was off the coast of Florida embarked on USS West Virginia to witness a test-firing of a 2 Trident 2 D5 missiles. This successful test demonstrated once again that the Trident remains a credible and reliable deterrent.' Advertisement An Idaho man has been charged with a federal hate crime after prosecutors said he lured a gay man to a remote location and then beat him to death. Kelly Schneider, 23, was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month, but the case was kept under seal until he was taken into federal custody, US Attorney Wendy Olson said in a prepared statement. He has already pleaded not guilty in a first-degree murder charge in Idaho state court in connection with the April 2016 death of Steven Nelson, 49. Scroll down for video Kelly Schneider (left), 23, was indicted by a grand jury earlier this month, but the case was kept under seal until he was taken into federal custody, US Attorney Wendy Olson said in a prepared statement. He has already pleaded not guilty in a first-degree murder charge in Idaho state court in connection with the April 2016 death of Steven Nelson (pictured right), 49. Schneider is set to be arraigned on Tuesday, and he is only one of four suspects in custody. State prosecutors say Schneider posed as an escort on the website Backpage in order to rob those who responded to his ad. Three others have also been charged in state court in connection with the case. Schneider and Nelson are both from Nampa in southwestern Idaho. Nelson was found naked and badly beaten wandering a neighborhood near Lake Lowell, west of Nampa. They were able to find him following a 911 call, as Nelson was wandering around to houses in the area trying to get help. A woman, Trina George, told KTVB: 'I went to the window and peeked out and there was a naked man on my doorstep and he yelled "somebody help me" and it scared me and I got my cell phone and I called 911'. Police said the man was taken to a local hospital, then to a trauma center. He was not alone in the attack, and his alleged accomplices (pictured left to right) Kevin Tracy, Jayson Woods, and Daniel Henkel are all being charged with first degree murder and robbery He was able to give police information about the attack, but died later by cardiac arrest in a hospital. Nelson was able to tell officers that he believed he was meeting up with a man he met online, who he thought would be alone, according to KTVB. Sheriff Donahue said that this was 'A heinous crime and a senseless crime. They took a man's life for greed. To take advantage of this man and do what they do is unspeakable'. Nelson was found naked and badly beaten wandering a neighborhood near Lake Lowell, west of Nampa The police department are asking for victims of any crime like this to come forward in order to prevent this from happening to others in the future, reported KTVB. In the federal case, Schneider is charged with willful assault based on sexual orientation, resulting in death. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison. He is also facing charges of grand theft, and robbery. He was not alone in the attack, and his alleged accomplices Kevin Tracy, Jayson Woods, and Daniel Henkel are all being charged with first degree murder and robbery. They were able to find him following a 911 call, as Nelson was wandering around to houses in the area trying to get help The accountancy giant that signed off Rolls-Royce accounts while it bribed its way around the world is now facing its own investigation. KPMG was the auditor for Rolls-Royce during almost all of the 24-year period in which employees secretly paid off middlemen and officials in 11 developing countries to win lucrative business. Last week Rolls agreed to pay 671-million in total to UK, US and Brazilian authorities to settle the allegations of bribery, false accounting and corruption from 1989 to 2013 in countries including Russia, Iraq and China. Rolls Royce agreed to pay 671 million to UK, US and Brazilian authorities to settle allegations of bribery and false accounting concerning a period lasting 24 years from 1989 to 2013 KPMG, pictured, may face investigation over their auditing of Rolls Royce's accounts KPMG was auditor of Rolls-Royce accounts from 1990. But today the Mail can reveal that Rolls-Royce stopped using the firm just days before it reached the landmark settlement with the Serious Fraud Office. Now accounting watchdog the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is planning its own probe in to Rolls-Royce. A spokesman for the FRC told the Mail: 'We have been aware of the SFO investigation since 2013 and we will now consider if the outcome requires the FRC to investigate if the auditors and accountants at Rolls Royce did not fulfil their duties.' The scope of any FRC probe will be to investigate whether KPMG followed the rules when it signed off the accounts and whether it should have spotted the illegal payments that were being made to middle-men. Rolls-Royce is thought to have made around 250 million from the corrupt deals over which it has agreed to an 497.25-million settlement with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). That included bribing an agent in Indonesia with a Silver Spirit Rolls-Royce car and 1.8 million for help selling equipment to the national airline; bribing a Russian official through a middleman for his help in securing work on a national gas project; and bribing a China Eastern Airlines executive with a 4 million cash credits. Last week, the Mail revealed that a number of senior employees at Rolls-Royce, including former boss Sir John Rose, were now facing a further probe by the SFO. Paul George, executive director for corporate governance and reporting at the FRC, said the case raised questions for the auditors. He said: 'Clearly it does raise some questions if the audit did identify that payments were being made which were contravening the Bribery Act, then they have a responsibility to deal with that. 'The question is, were these payments of a sufficient magnitude that the audits ought to have spotted them and ought to have questioned them?' KPMG said it did not bid for the contract to audit Rolls' accounts when it was put out to tender in 2016. Changes to EU rules meant KPMG would have had to be replaced as Rolls auditor by 2020 given the length of time it had served. Rival PWC won the contract, worth a reported 5.9 million in 2015, and is due to take over in 2018. Both Rolls and KPMG said the decision to part ways was not connected to the SFO investigation. A spokesman said: 'We informed investors back in our 2014 Annual Report that we intended to change auditors at the end of the 2017 audit as a result of changes in EU rules. 'We ran a thorough selection process for new auditors last year, well before the conclusion of the SFO investigation, and the two issues are unrelated.' KPMG has defended its work, while Judge Sir Brian Leveson QC said auditors were 'not provided with a complete picture'. A spokesman for KPMG said it would review its audits as was routine, but stressed it had challenged the company. He said: 'This is clear evidence that as auditor to Rolls Royce we provided robust audits which provided rigorous challenge to the judgements and disclosures proposed by the company's management. 'The verdict clearly states where the fault lies and makes particular reference to the efforts made to conceal the misconduct from the auditor and the steps the company has taken to upgrade its own processes. 'From our own perspective, we routinely seek to learn from our reviews of individual audits, as we will do in this case. These reviews, together with our commitment to innovation in audit, contributes to our aspiration to achieve the highest audit quality audits.' 'It is a matter for the FRC to consider whether the report and accounts prepared by the company comply with the relevant requirements and whether those responsible for preparation (and audit) thereof have fulfilled their obligations in that regard. As always, we will co-operate with the FRC in re-lation to any questions that it may have.' GCSE maths revision guides and homework books have been pulped after researchers found they were riddled with mistakes. Some 1,000 copies of two guides produced by a top education publisher have been destroyed and refunds offered to those who bought them. Copies of a GCSE revision guide have had to be destroyed and refunds offered after it contained nearly a hundred mistakes Other publishers have apologised and said the mistakes in their books would be corrected in later editions. Errors included incorrect answers to multiplication questions, the wrong symbols and a missing bracket. The worst mistakes were found in Mastering Mathematics, published by Hodder Education, The Times reported. The book was aimed at teenagers who were studying towards maths GCSE with the Welsh exam board WJEC. An investigation by BBCs The One Show asked Cardiff University academics to check the book, costing 24.99, and they found 90 errors in questions and answers, which are published separately online. The Mastering Mathematics book, published by Hodder Education, contained errors such as incorrect answers to multiplication questions, the wrong symbols and a missing bracket The WJEC later said it had not endorsed the guide. Matthew Lettington, who led the research, said: That level of mistakes is unacceptable. Some errors we found very confusing ourselves and most students would find these particular errors highly confusing whatever their ability. Hodder Education apologised, blaming the pressure of deadlines. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (above) said Monday that CIA employees were the ones heard cheering Donald Trump during his appearance at the agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters US government sources are denying a claim made Monday by the chief White House spokesperson that CIA employees cheered President Donald Trump's overtly political remarks during his controversial appearance at the agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters on Saturday. Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Monday that the applause that was heard in the background during Trump's appearance at CIA headquarters on Saturday were not from 'Trump or White House folks.' 'There were no Trump or White House folks sitting down,' Spicer said. 'They were all CIA (unintelligible). So, not in rows one-through-anything, from what I'm told.' But an unnamed government official said that the audience members who were heard clapping for Trump were actually a group of 40 supporters of the president, Vice President Mike Pence, and House Rep. Mike Pompeo, according to CBS News. White House officials said that 400 CIA employees attended the event. Some of those in attendance were supporters of Pompeo, whom Trump had picked to be CIA director. Pompeo's nomination is still pending after Senate Democrats delayed confirmation. The front rows were also occupied by the agency's higher echelon leadership who did not cheer at all during the speech, a government source told CBS News. But a government source says that the people heard cheering during Trump's (left) appearance on Saturday were actually non-CIA supporters of the president and his pick for CIA director, Rep. Mike Pompeo (right) Spicer, however, refuted the claims made in the CBS News report, calling them 'not accurate at all,' according to Yahoo! News. When asked if the audience members seated in the front row were CIA employees, Spicer said: 'Honestly, I dont have a seating chart.' 'I think we had a very small footprint going over. I dont know exactly who went over. I dont know, maybe 10 people at most.' After Spicer consulted with a deputy, he said that 10 people traveled from the White House to Langley. 'Im not really sure why this matters. Ten people did not yell that loud,' he said. During Trump's appearance at CIA headquarters, he claimed that the feud between the president and the intelligence community was started by the media. When Spicer was asked if he believed Trump's statement to be true, he said there was no feud. CNN reporter Jim Sciutto refuted a claim by Spicer that Trump was given a standing ovation at CIA headquarters on Saturday The press secretary then said that Trump was greeted at the CIA with a 'five-minute standing ovation' of 'hooting and hollering.' But raw footage of Trump's appearance at the CIA does not corroborate Spicer's claims. A CNN reporter who was there also said that Spicer's assertion that there was a 'standing ovation' was simply not true. 'No one who was there described a "five-minute standing ovation" for Trump at CIA as [Spicer] just described,' tweeted the reporter, Jim Sciutto. The latest revelations are likely to once again call into question Spicer's credibility with the media. The White House press secretary was lambasted over the weekend for insisting that the crowd for Trump's inauguration in Washington, DC, was the 'largest ever'. Press reports citing photographic evidence and official transit data indicate that the audience was significantly smaller than that which turned out for Barack Obama's inaugurations in 2009 and 2013. Spicer offered some words of contrition to reporters during his first White House briefing but then repeated his claim that Trump's was the 'most watched inauguration ever.' After he got asked point blank about whether he would tell the truth, Spicer offered a few accommodating remarks. 'Our intention is never to lie to you,' he told ABC's Jonathan Karl. 'It's an honor to do this. And yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may we may not fully understand when we come out,' he explained. A government source said that Trump's appearance 'made relations worse' with the intelligence community, particularly because the president made an overtly political speech in front of the CIA's Memorial Wall which honors agents who died in the line of duty (above) On his first full day as president, Trump paid a visit to Langley in what was expected to be a fence-mending appearance aimed at patching up relations with the spy agency. While Trump did praise the agency and its spies, the president ignited criticism for devoting a large portion of his remarks to criticizing press coverage of his inauguration. The former head of the CIA, John Brennan, was incensed after Trump stood in front of the CIA's Memorial Wall - which is dedicated to those who died in the line of service - and took the opportunity to boast about his inauguration crowds and decry the 'lying media'. The cheering and applause that was heard for Trump's remarks raised eyebrows among Washington observers who say that the agency should not be endorsing such an overtly political speech. Sources also said that rather than improve relations with the intelligence community, Trump's 'uncomfortable' visit actually 'made relations worse'. In recent weeks, Trump took aim at the CIA and other intelligence officials, blaming them for leaking information about alleged ties to Russia and Moscow's purported attempts to hack into the email accounts of Trump's political opponents to help him win the presidency. Household energy bills are set to fall after ministers unveiled plans to slash green subsidies, it emerged yesterday. Billions of pounds are handed out by the Government to wind farm and solar energy firms every year, with families and manufacturers picking up the cost. These climate change subsidies add around 110 a year to a households average bill. Theresa May plans to slash green subsidies to wind farm and solar energy firms Theresa Mays industrial strategy, published yesterday, suggested that these levies should be dramatically reduced to help steel plants, which pay for emissions, compete overseas. This help for industry would have the knock-on effect of bringing down household bills, Government sources said. The move will be seen as another example of the Prime Minister rowing back on David Camerons green legacy. Even he got tired of the environmental agenda after a while, telling his ministers in private to get rid of the green crap. The document detailing the new industrial strategy said that while subsidies had originally been needed to ensure green energy firms could make a profit, that is now no longer the case. The transition to low-carbon and the securing of our energy supplies must be done in a way which minimises the cost to business and domestic consumers, it said. Subsidies and other forms of state support have played an important role in creating markets for new technologies and driving down their costs. The PM announced the slashing of the green subsidies as part of her new industrial strategy at a regional Cabinet meeting in Runcorn yesterday But it is important that we move steadily to an operating model in which competitive markets deliver the energy on which our country depends. At present, energy-intensive industries pay around 20 for every ton of carbon dioxide they emit. This money goes towards subsidies to green energy firms. But steel firms are among manufacturers saying the huge costs make them uncompetitive on world markets. The new strategy would cut these firms energy costs by cutting Government subsidies for offshore wind farms. This would also bring down household costs as families also contribute towards the subsidies on their bills. An official review will be held later this year, after which the subsidies could be slashed. The green paper on the new industrial strategy, published yesterday, said the Government was seeking to reduce the cost of achieving our decarbonisation goals in the power and industrial sectors. It added: The review will cover how best to support greater energy efficiency, the scope to use existing instruments to support further reductions in the cost of offshore wind once current commitments have been delivered, and how Government can best work with the regulator Ofgem to ensure markets and networks operate as efficiently as possible in a low-carbon system. The new deal could see the prices the Government pays for electricity generation from offshore windfarms slashed once contracts come to an end. For example the worlds biggest offshore wind farm, off the coast of Yorkshire, secured a contract three years ago under which it is paid four times the market price for every unit of electricity it generates. This costs an estimated 280million per year in subsidies. The Government could decide to cut this subsidy after the contract ends in 2029. The steel industry, in particular, has blamed green levies for making it harder to compete with foreign firms, especially Chinese ones. A spokesman for UK Steel said: The steel industry welcomes the Governments commitment to minimise business energy costs, cut back on renewable subsidies, and help industry become even more energy efficient and we look forward to helping Government turn this commitment into action to allow us to compete on a level playing field. An Asian woman has created a comical moment for Pauline Hanson by asking if she liked her. The One Nation leader was campaigning in Fremantle, south of Perth, when the Asian woman approached her. 'Hello Pauline Hanson. I hope you like us, we're Asian,' she said. 'Give me a hug.' This Asian woman with a sense of humour approached Pauline Hanson for a hug in Fremantle Seven News captured the funny moment as Senator Hanson walked along the main street of Fremantle on Sunday to drum up support for One Nation candidates running in the upcoming West Australian election. The Asian woman waved her hand then went in to hug the Queensland senator before smiling for the cameras. A male busker had earlier showed his disapproval of Senator Hanson's presence in the left-leaning city. 'Pauline, you must leave our state. Enough racists are here already. You can go, along with the rest of your cronies, out of this town,' he said, as an elderly woman told him to 'shut up'. Senator Hanson brushed off that heckler on the street. 'I never even heard what he had to say,' she said. 'I wasn't interested in that, I was too busy shaking people's hands.' Senator Hanson in 1996 said Australia was in danger of being 'swamped by Asians'. The heckler then approached Pauline Hanson for a hug during a shopping mall tour The Asian woman hugged Pauline Hanson who once said Australia was in danger of 'being swamped by Asians' The founder of One Nation opposes multiculturalism and has called for a ban on Muslim migration to Australia along with a prohibition on burqas in government buildings. Fremantle is a traditional state Labor seat which the Greens picked up for one term during a 2009 by-election. The area's former Greens member Adele Carles left the party after she was exposed having an affair with former Liberal leader Troy Buswell, who gained notoriety for sniffing a female colleague's chair. Police have launched a desperate plea for help to find a missing a three-month old girl and her father. The pair were last seen near Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney, at about 3pm on Sunday with grave fears held for his and the baby's safety. Kalais Reid was with her mother when they met with her father, Danny Wever who walked to a nearby shopping centre in Morisset with the child before they disappeared. New South Wales police have launched a desperate plea for help to find a missing three-month old girl Kalais Reid (pictured) and her father Mr Wever also known as Danny Reid, 26, is described as being of Caucasian in appearance with an olive complexion, 160cm to 170cm tall, of a thin build, with brown hair, and blue eyes He also has a small tattoo under his left eye. Police released photographs of the pair on Tuesday to help aid the investigation. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Donald Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claim that he would have won the popular vote if it weren't for millions of illegal votes at a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday night. The president invited Republican and Democrat leaders to the White House for an informal round-table discussion in his first full day in the role. Among talks about Obamacare and how he plans to boost the economy, he claimed three to five million votes cast in Clinton's favor were fraudulent, an anonymous White House aide later said. He also maintained that his inauguration crowd was huge, echoing Press Secretary Sean Spicer who earlier slapped down the media in his first full briefing for reporting that it had been smaller than Barack Obama's. Among those at the meeting was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi. Scroll down for video President Donald Trump told congressional leaders on Monday again he would have won the popular vote had it not been for millions of illegal immigrants who he believes fraudulently voted for Hillary Clinton. He is pictured at the meeting. L-R; Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuch Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence, Representative Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and White House Chieff of Staff Reince Priebus President Trump also used the meeting to touch on plans for Obamacare and the economy but made reference to the electoral college votes, an anonymous aide said Trump won 306 electoral college votes in the election over Hillary Clinton's 232. Only 270 are needed for a majority win. He lost the popular vote by nearly three million votes. In November, after widespread outcry that Clinton ought to have won because of the result, he claimed on Twitter that millions of ballots cast in her favor shouldn't count because they were cast by illegal immigrants. 'In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,' he said. He also alleged at the time that there had been "serious voter fraud" in California, New Hampshire and Virginia and complained that the media wasn't covering it. There has been no evidence of fraud or statistics relating to ballots cast by illegal immigrants. After the meeting on Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said they had discussed 'the different Electoral college, popular vote' but wouldn't be drawn on further details. Media was invited inside to photograph the group as they took their seats. Above from L-R: The president's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Steny Hoyer, Chuch Schumer, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Pence, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus The talks were informal, said those in attendance, and held in the White House dining room. Above, L-R: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Paul Ryan, Chuch Schumer, Mike Pence (L-R) Kevin McCarthy, Chuck Schumer, Whip John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell talk casually before the meeting Nancy Pelosi talks animatedly with Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell at the meeting Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law (right) speaks with Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi refused to comment. Democratic Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer told CNN the president maintained his position on the inauguration crowd size. 'He didn't change his point of view on the crowd size. 'It was from his perspective a very large crowd ... it was clear this was still on his mind.' Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told a packed briefing room their coverage of the president was unfairly negative. President Trump first made allegations of 'voter fraud' in November when he said he would have won the popular vote had it not been for 'millions of people who voted illegally' He pinned his argument to two grievances; a tweet wrongly claiming the president had removed a bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office and reports regarding the crowd size at President Trump's inauguration. Spicer last week said it had been the most watched inauguration in history and condemned the media for sharing comparative photographs from Obama's 2009 swearing-in when more attended in person. On Monday he repeated his claim but added the clarification that 'most watched ever' referred to viewers who saw it in person, online and on television. A record number of people fell victim to online dating scams last year giving nearly 40million to fraudsters. Ruthless overseas criminals posing as suitors targeted almost 4,000 wealthy Britons in so-called 'romance frauds'. The vast majority of victims were affluent and successful professional women looking for love. The vast majority of victims were affluent and successful professional women looking for love But surprisingly, two out of five victims are men, latest figures reveal. Action Fraud, the UK's cyber-crime reporting centre, said men now make up 39 per cent of those who come forward. But investigators fear the number is just the 'tip of the iceberg' as many are far too 'embarrassed' to even tell their own families. They said the average victim loses 10,000 as they are lured into a web of intrigue by mysterious strangers they meet on popular dating sites. They traced many scams to criminal networks based in West Africa and Eastern Europe but struggle to bring fraudsters to justice. According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, there were 3,889 victims of so-called romance fraud last year, who handed over a record 39million. This compared to 3,295 reports of dating scams in 2014, with reported losses of 32million. In 2015, the number of victims rose to 3,363, but losses fell to almost 26million. Action Fraud said it now receives more than 350 reports of such cons a month. One university professor lost 140,000 in a series of scams orchestrated by an individual she only knew as 'John Porter', who claimed to be based in London. Judith Lathlean, 68, of Hampshire, said she was attracted to a supposed Christian interior designer. But she started to hand over money when he claimed to be trapped in South Africa without a passport and needing help to save a valuable contract. 'The emails started getting a bit frantic, and the phone calls 'I'm really worried, I'll lose the contract and this is going to be awful because it's very valuable'. And I immediately, because I was so believing in him, said, 'Don't worry John, I can loan you some money'. 'HYPNOTISED' OUT OF 30K BY MY SUITOR Linda Hull, right, has vowed to take the total amount of money she lost to a romance fraudster to the grave but it is 'well over 30,000'. The dance teacher, 62, handed over her life savings after joining a dating site following a break-up. She was soon wooed by a man calling himself Jeffrey Chase claiming to be an oil firm engineer. 'He told me he was 49 and that his partner had gone off with his best friend,' said Linda. 'He was good looking.' But within a month, Chase made his first request for money, 10,000, supposedly to invest in oil. Over the following weeks he asked for more, including cash to pay for repairs to a leaking ship. But when Mrs Hull tried to arrange a meeting, she was met with a barrage of excuses. She said: 'I feel ridiculous now, but at the time it was as though he had hypnotised me.' Police told her 'Chase' was a 'tricky customer' who had never been caught. Advertisement 'There was a total eventually of 54,000 for that particular part of the scam,' she told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme. A second woman was left more than 300,000 out of pocket after falling for the profile of a handsome Italian supposedly based in Turkey. The North Yorkshire businesswoman, 47, fell for elaborate lies, sending cash to help keep his business afloat. She said she faces bankruptcy and feels 'brutalised emotionally'. The fraudsters trawl through profiles and use information to manipulate victims. Police investigate but it is difficult to trace culprits. 'Cyber-psychologist' Professor Monica Whitty insisted it is 'not the case that stupid people fall for romance scams they can be very clever'. And Steve Proffitt, of Action Fraud, warned: 'Never send money to people you meet online.' In the last week, Theresa May has set out in hugely significant detail two policies on which the success or failure of her administration will largely be judged. First, she outlined an impressive vision for Brexit: seeking to maintain free trade with our nearest neighbours while creating a 'Global Britain' with trade deals around the world. Then yesterday, the Prime Minister unveiled an equally radical set of proposals for reshaping the British economy post-Brexit with a 132-page blueprint for her industrial strategy. Theresa May has pledged to create a 'Global Britain' as part of her Brexit plan Mrs May is flying out later this week to hold talks with US President Donald Trump, pictured Upgrading road and rail... Boosting broadband... Slashing red tape... Investing in 'world-leading' technologies... Indeed, there is barely any area of domestic policy left untouched. On migration, ministers make clear their intention to wean British industry off its reliance on EU workers by transforming technical education. The Mail also welcomes the suggestion that disastrous green policies many of which originated in Brussels and which led to hugely inflated energy bills could be binned. At a stroke Mrs May would go a long way to restoring the competitiveness of high-energy industries such as steel. Perhaps now we will stop hearing the risible claim mostly from sour Remoaners that Mrs May doesn't know what she stands for. On Thursday, she travels to Washington to meet President Trump, with every hope of laying the foundations of a mutually beneficial trade deal one of many being lined up with non-EU countries. But in a sign it has learned no lessons from the Brexit vote, Brussels wants to try to prevent us even entering any formal trade talks before we leave. What spectacular delusion! Do these benighted Eurocrats really believe we will do nothing for two years? And doesn't such intransigence prove exactly what is wrong with their sclerotic thinking and why we are so right to quit? Meanwhile, today Mrs May will learn the result of a Supreme Court case which will have a profound impact on the path Brexit takes. It is possible the judges will see sense and accept that the 17.4million votes for Leave gave the PM all the authority she needs to trigger Article 50. In the event they do not, any ruling which forces the PM to secure the approval of Parliament for Brexit risks reducing the referendum to little more than an opinion poll. Last night, the dangers of such an outcome became abundantly clear, as we learned Labour is intent on sabotaging any Government Brexit bill with a string of wrecking amendments. Among its demands are guarantees about access to the single market and a veto for Parliament on trade arrangements, both of which would be likely to scupper any departure deal. To MPs from any party or members of the House of Lords tempted to back them, the Mail has a simple message: don't. Any who did so would be treating the electorate with contempt, and the referendum result with disdain... and defying the will of the people. A WELCOME BUFFER Yesterday this newspaper exposed a shocking loophole in Britain's border controls, where passengers boarding the Eurostar in Brussels the scene of a terror attack only last March can travel to London without document checks. Within hours, Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the House of Commons the revelations were 'very serious', and announced new security measures. The Mail welcomes her determination to close the so-called 'Lille loophole', but we reserve judgment on whether it will prove effective in the long run, or whether Britain's security will continue to be undermined by Europe's open borders. After a week of anxiety, a family was reunited with the dog who ran off from the car crash that killed his devoted owner. Crystal Duncan, 35, was driving with her two-year-old redbone coonhound, Copper, on January 14, when she got into a car crash at 966 W. International Speedway Blvd. in Daytona Beach, Florida. Duncan was bringing her beloved pooch to the veterinarian according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. Devoted dog lover Crystal Duncan was bringing her sick pooch to the vet when she veered off the road and was killed. Her pup, Copper, ran from the scene Redbone coonhound, Copper, above, survived the car crash that killed his owner, Crystal Duncan, and he ran off from the devastating scene After six days of combing Daytona Beach, Copper was found and returned to Duncan's longtime partner and their son Scottie, 14, was ecstatic to have his dog, a redbone coonhound, back in his life It's unclear what caused the accident that killed Crystal. The police report said that for unknown reasons she 'veered to the left, crossed the median, went across all three northbound lanes, jumped the curb, took out a palm tree,' according to the Daytona-Beach News Journal. A witness told police she had been driving normally until that moment. She died later at the hospital. Her dog was then seen running from the crash up Nova Road, wearing a red leash and harness. Her partner of 16 years, Scott Jackson, and their 14-year-old son, Scottie, began searching for the dog right away, desperate to find Duncan's fur baby. Longtime partner Scott Jackson, above, says that Copper will of course be brought to Duncan's memorial service on Saturday Jackson and family were especially eager that Scottie be reunited with their pet since he just lost his mother. Friends, neighbors and complete strangers joined the hunt for Copper. Six days later, he was finally located on Daytona State College campus, according to a Facebook post from a relative of Jackson. A woman saw him hiding in some bushes and called the number that was on flyers everywhere. The relative said that the pup was so happy to see Jackson pull up that he jumped right in his van. She also said the dog had lost about 15 pounds during his adventure and had a wound on his neck. He was immediately taken to a vet. 'I'm so glad I don't have to shout that name anymore,' joked Debbie Darino, who didn't know the family but who has her own redbone coonhound and felt compelled to help. 'I'm filled with joy,' Jackson told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. 'It's a big relief, he's home.' 'What they've done for us is why we have him back today. We can't thank them enough,' he said of all the people who joined in the search. Copper's first order of business would be to attend Duncan's memorial service, on Saturday. 'That's what she would want, so she's going to get what she wants,' he said. Other than that, Copper will have nothing to do but soak up the love of his grateful family. 'When we get home, we're going to hug him and love him and squeeze him,' Jackson said. 'He's going to get some good food in him and he's going to be able to lay in his spot.' Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage has weighed into the debate surrounding NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian's marital status. Within minutes of being appointed on Monday, Ms Berejiklian was asked by an unidentified female journalist whether being single and childless would affect her ability to do her job. On Tuesday morning Armytage threw her support behind the first female Liberal Premier in NSW, saying the question was 'bloody ridiculous'. Scroll down for video Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage has weighed in on the debate surrounding NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian not having children Within minutes of being appointed on Monday, Ms Berejiklian was asked by a female journalist whether being single and childless would affect her ability to do her job 'Well that question about Gladys Berejiklian being single and childless is a hot topic this morning and I made it so because I was outraged by it', Armytage said. Her comments come off the back of the new Premier's first press conference, where she was asked whether she was prepared to field questions about her marital status. 'The obvious question is do you think this is a disadvantage politically because people have kids and they have families and people identify with that like they did with Morris Iemma,' the female reporter asked. The comments have already drawn strong criticism from many, including females in the public eye who are in a similar situation to Ms Berejiklian. 'In 2017 did it have to happen at all? Does it need to be out of the way?,' Amrytage said on Sunrise on Tuesday. 'If Gladys Berejiklian was a 46-year-old man single man without children... would he have been asked if he was able to run the state because he didn't have kids and he wasn't in touch with families? 'I mean how bl***y ridiculous!,' Armytage said Ms Berejiklian also responded to the furore saying she was 'disappointed' 'I mean how bl***y ridiculous,' Armytage said. Her comments came as part of a discussion with guests Tory Shepherd and Ron Wilson to discuss whether the question should have been asked at all. 'I did notice you stamping your feet, I could hear it up here on the next floor when the subject came up,' Smooth FM newsreader Ron Wilson said. 'And I think it is relevant still and if it was a man similar questions would still be asked, in fact I know one of the stories you're covering this morning is Donald Trump's family background.' Journalist Tory Shepherd, who did not ask the question, said she was glad the question was 'out of the way' - despite Armytage pressing her on whether it should need to be asked at all. Ms Berejiklian also responded to the furore earlier in the segment when asked about it by co-host David Koch. 'I'm disappointed because I've been a senior minister for six years and I bring a lot of experience and expertise to the job, but that's the reality,' the Premier said. Police had been monitoring Melbourne rampage driver Dimitrious Gargasoulas for hours and had several opportunities to ram his car and stop him before he allegedly ploughed into 37 people killing five. Police reveal they had seven or eight opportunities to intercept the maroon Holden Commodore but were directed to call the pursuit off, the Police Association secretary said. Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles said police believed they could have safely intercepted and rammed the vehicle, but all attempts were called off because of risk to public safety. Wreckage of the Holden Commodore used in the rampage which killed five people in Melbourne on Friday Bourke Street in Melbourne is pictured from above as police fire shots at the maroon Holden Commodore shortly after the massacre Mr Iddles said the accused driver was stuck in congested traffic on Chapel Street between 10am and 11.30am, just two hours before he allegedly went on the crazed rampage. 'It couldn't move. That's the appropriate time to take a car out,' Senior Sergeant Iddles told The Age. The pursuit of accused driver Gargagoulas' car was called off hours before he reached Bourke Street, where he is accused of mowing down pedestrians, killing five and injuring 32 others. The vehicle was filmed doing 'donuts' in Melbourne's centre before mowing down pedestrians Melbourne man Dimitrious "Jimmy" Gargasoulas is accused of driving the car which was filmed ploughing through Bourke Street on Friday Dimitrious Gargasoulas (pictured) was charged with five counts of murder on Monday Chief commissioner Graham Ashton (pictured) Police armed with guns and tasters tried to intercept Gargagoulas about 11.30am on Friday after he allegedly stabbed his brother and took his girlfriend hostage, but called it off due to his dangerous driving. He was filmed allegedly ploughing through pedestrians just two hours later at 1.30pm. Gargagoulas was charged with five counts of murder on Monday. Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said police were so close to intercepting the car that at one point it was surrounded. But Mr Ashton said he supported decisions the police made on Friday. 'You're in a position where you have to make those calls and make them in your best judgement. And certainly these officers, everything tells me, they're making decisions at the time in what's best for the community,' he told radio station 3WA on Monday. A special operations group police officer is seen at the corner of Bourke and Elizabeth streets after the rogue car ploughed through pedestrians WHAT ARE THE POLICE PURSUIT LAWS? Victoria Police can only pursue drivers when there is an urgent need to stop the vehicle, a threat to public safety or if a serious offence has been committed The policy was reviewed in 2015 following a coronial inquest into deaths caused by high-speed pursuits in 2013 'The review focused on striking the right balance between protecting life and the need to arrest offenders' Victoria Police said at the time Decisions are made by both the officers in the vehicle and a pursuit controller about whether to instigate or continue a pursuit based on the behaviour of the driver Advertisement 'They're feeling this morning, along with the rest of the community, "Oh gee if I had made a different decision". 'But I absolutely back them 100 per cent.' Mr Ashton said police attempted to arrest the driver several times, but it was not police policy to ram cars. The contentious no-pursuit policy is now at the centre of a coronial investigation, with calls for a complete overhaul of the policy. The investigation will look at police response as a whole on Friday, and include a probe into the police pursuit in the lead up to the massacre. Victoria Police will also conduct an internal review of police efforts the day of the rampage. Police and emergency services at the scene after the car is believed to have hit pedestrians in Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne Citizens seen rushing to the aid of those injured during the rampage in Melbourne's Bourke Street Jon Sterkel and his wife Ashley illegally shot off an exploding target with a rifle A Nebraska couple is facing a Class I misdemeanor ticket after attempting to announce the gender of their first child with a bang. Jon Sterkel and his wife Ashley illegally shot off an exploding target with a rifle to reveal their baby's gender to friends and family on Facebook. The booming sound of blue powder erupting on Saturday afternoon concerned residents more than three miles away in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, who called police fearing a house had exploded or a car had blown an engine. The video, posted originally to Facebook, shows the explosion and loud boom, and soon-to-be father Jon shouting: 'It's a boy!' The Sterkels called police to apologize after hearing alarmed residents on the radio, but were still issued a ticket punishable by a $1,000 fee, one year in prison, or both. The two had no idea that their actions were illegal, and just were hoping to share the news of their baby's gender in an exciting way, according to theOmaha World-Herald. The Sterkels called police to apologize after hearing alarmed residents on the radio, but were still issued a ticket punishable by a $1,000 fee, one year in prison, or both Jon explained to friends on Facebook for the alarm, saying: 'I would like to apologize for all of the confusion. 'This was just our way of announcing what gender our baby was.' There is apparent confusion regarding the laws for these explosive targets in Nebraska. The two reportedly had no idea that their actions were illegal, and just were hoping to share the news of their baby's gender in an exciting way Though it is legal to purchase them, they require a permit by the State Patrol to be legally set off. Jon, the 26-year-old owner of a tree care service, said: 'We never knew, and we've shot these for years. If you can go to store and buy it, how in the world can you know its illegal?' The use of explosive targets for gender reveals is not uncommon in the area, according to an Omaha gun store owner. It's no secret Australians love a vacation, with consumers spending over $450million on travel in January alone. With Aussies set to spend $7.5billion before the year is out, travel expert Lorica Clarke has revealed the secrets you need to know to save on your next holiday. From booking tickets 12 months in advance to bypassing a travel agent, Ms Clarke knows how savvy consumers need to be to find a great deal on holidays. February is the best time to book tickets to Europe for the end of the year (Paris, France pictured) With Aussies set to spend $7.5billion before the year is out, travel expert Lorica Clarke has revealed the secrets you need to know to save on your next holiday (Bangkok, Thailand pictured) If you're planning a trip to the US, the cheapest time to go is November, so book your flights around April for the best price (Las Vegas, US pictured) Book at the right time for the right time February is the best time to book tickets to Europe for the end of the year, said Ms Clarke. However if you're planning a trip to the US, the cheapest time to go is November, so book your flights around April for the best price. Make sure your travel dates are flexible and avoid school holidays. Plan ahead For travel within Australia, book flights and accommodation six months in advance for the best deals. If you are heading overseas book 12 months beforehand. Airlines increase their prices closer to the departure date to catch the last minute flyers desperate to pay any price. Ms Clarke recommends avoiding this by booking flights and accommodation well in advance. It's no secret Australians love a vacation, with consumers spending over $450million on travel in January alone (stock image) For travel within Australia, book flights and accommodation six months in advance for the best deals. If you are heading overseas book 12 months beforehand (Vietnam pictured) South-East Asia or South America have a number of destinations perfect for Aussies on a budget (Thailand pictured) Buy online Cut out the middle-man and book online. Most travel agents take a commission from you when you book a holiday, Ms Clarke said. Choose the best value destination for your budget TIPS TO SAVE ON TRAVEL Book at the right time for the right time: February is the best time to book flights to Europe for the end of the year. April is the best time to book flights to the US for November. February is the best time to book flights to Europe for the end of the year. April is the best time to book flights to the US for November. Plan ahead: For domestic travel book six months in advance. For international travel book 12 months in advance. For domestic travel book six months in advance. For international travel book 12 months in advance. Buy online: Most travel agents take a commission from you when you book a holiday. Most travel agents take a commission from you when you book a holiday. Buy packaged deals: Book flights and accommodation together. Advertisement The Australian dollar has recently risen against currencies in the UK, Malaysia, China, Argentina, Philippines, India, Norway, Hungary, Denmark and Vietnam. It is the best time in 20 years for Australians to travel to Britain, with the Brexit vote working favourably with the AUD. South-East Asia or South America have a number of destinations perfect for Aussies on a budget. 'Not only is the exchange rate great but the cost of living is significantly lower than in Australia so your dollar will go much, much further,' Ms Clarke said. Package deals 'When purchasing flights and accommodation separately, it can become quite expensive,' Ms Clarke said. Try buying package deals that can save you a lot of money in the end. Most travel websites will offer this online. Cut out the middle-man and book online. Most travel agents take a commission from you when you book a holiday (stock image) Try buying package deals (hire car, hotels) that can save you a lot of money in the end. Most travel websites will offer this online (stock image) A woman has opened up about the offence she felt at hearing a mother's insulting comments about 'Asians wanting to become doctors'. Taking to social media, the Australian mother wrote a public Facebook message criticising those who insulted Asian health professionals and speaking out in support of them. 'I was very upset to overhear another mother's insulting remarks about Asians wanting to become doctors, and how 'they have no social lives, can hardly speak English, and do not know how to play sport, not to mention that they are terrible employees as they do not know how to take initiative',' the woman of Vietnamse background wrote. The woman's post on social media about insults being directed at Asian health professionals The woman said she was from a family of health professionals and found the comments insulting 'We are a family of health professionals and I found this so insulting, especially being said in a small public space with lots of children around. 'If you know of a doctor or a health professional who is Asian who you think is fantastic, please comment or press like. 'I am grateful for the vigorous training that doctors go through to get their qualifications and for the care that they provide no matter which ethnic background they have!' Her post elicited many responses - all in agreement with her. The woman received dozens of messages in support of Asians working in the health sector Some were Asians who family members working as health professionals or children studying to work as doctors. Others were people who had previously had an Asian doctor or nurse and valued them highly. One person wrote: 'A wonderful Asian doctor saved my brother's life. He was the first to realise my brother had a serious problem with his lung despite many other doctors seeing him beforehand. A wonderful Asian doctor saved my brother's life. He was the first to realise my brother had a serious problem with his lung despite many other doctors seeing him beforehand. 'That kind of talk is disgraceful.' Another added: 'I had MAJOR surgery at Hornsby hospital last November - my three surgeons were all young (ish) Asian guys and they were bl***y fantastic, great guys, great sense of humour and when the other staff that were dealing with me in the hospital and my endocrinologist kept telling me I had the best doctors around'. One woman agreed with the original post, writing: 'yep, my husband. Makes me so mad. So sorry you were subject to this'. Many people were disgusted by the comments that the woman had overheard Her post elicited many responses - all in support of Asian doctors working in Australia (stock image) Dozens of other comments were made in support of the woman. Australia has some well-known doctors of Asian heritage in the past and at present. One of those is Dr Charlie Teo, who was a nominee for Australian of the Year in 2016. Dr Teo was born in Sydney and studies medicine at the University of NSW and worked in the US for a decade before returning to Australia. Another is Dr Victor Chang, who was a heart surgeon who helped develop an artificial heart valve and an artificial heart before he was shot dead in 1991 during a failed extortion attempt. Dr Charlie Teo is a well-known Australian doctor with Asian heritage A five-year-old girl has died after a suspected methadone overdose while in the care of her grandfather. Emergency services were called to the family home on Quakers Road, Riverstone, in Sydney's north-west last week to reports of a suspected overdose. Police allege the little girl fell asleep watching television with a friend and when her grandfather tried to wake her, she was unresponsive, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. A five-year-old girl suspected to have ingested the drug methadone has died. Pictured is the Quakers Road property Police were called to the home in Quakers Hill, north-western Sydney, on Tuesday after a relative in charge of the girl found her unconscious and struggling to breathe She was taken by helicopter to the Children's Hospital in Westmead on Tuesday in a critical condition. On Wednesday, police confirmed they had found methadone in the child's urine and are now are investigating whether the overdose was accidental. 'One examination (at hospital) has revealed the child had methadone in her urine,' Hawkesbury duty officer Inspector Peter Jenkins said. Methadone is a powerful drug commonly given to heroin addicts to suppress withdrawal symptoms. The Child Abuse Squad is investigating. Ivanka Trump shared a photo of husband Jared Kushner and their three children at Blair House, the president's guest house on Monday. Trump simply captioned the photo of her family posing in the drawing room: 'Blair House, DC #latergram.' It is tradition for presidents to stay at the historic DC property the night before they are sworn into office. The house is owned by the State Department and is located across the street from the White House. It houses the president's guests and other foreign dignitaries. Ivanka Trump tweeted the photo of her family posing in the drawing room and captioned it: 'Blair House, DC #latergram' Presidents dating back to Jimmy Carter have stayed at the Blair House the night before their inauguration Ivanka Trump kicked off her new life by joining a few friends for lunch in Washington DC on Monday. She was photographed exiting her house and getting into a waiting SUV, with her head shielded from the cameras by a giant umbrella. She was joined by her Secret Service detail and son Joseph, who joined her for lunch at the Open City coffee shop in Woodley Park. Ivanka, 35, and her family moved to DC over the weekend, and on Monday her husband Jared Kushner began his unpaid job as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump in the White House. Where's Ivanka: Ivanka Trump hid behind an umbrella as she got into an SUV outside her $5.5million Washington DC home on Monday Outing: The 35-year-old mother was joined by Secret Service agents and her son Joseph Family time: On Sunday, Ivanka shared a photo of her and Jared Kushner posing with her father and their three children shortly after the inauguration (above) The Washington Post reported that Ivanka was joined at lunch by several female friends, and that the group ordered from the breakfast menu despite the time of day. Joseph had oatmeal, which was fed to him by his mother. There was no word on what Ivanka had to eat. The restaurants manager noted that the group enjoyed their meal undisturbed, with just a few well wishers approaching Ivanka. On Sunday, Ivanka posted a photo of the Trump family down in DC< with her and her husband posing with their three children and the new commander-in-chief. 'Family photo moments after my father @realdonaldtrump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States,' wrote Ivanka. Meanwhile, It was revealed on Monday that her brother Eric has been named president of Trump International Hotels Management LLC in papers that were filed in Florida. Meanwhile: Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner, seen far right on Monday, started his first full official day as Senior Advisor, and stood by while his father-in-law signed executive orders Last week, Ivanka finally broke her silence about rumors that she might fill the role of first lady when her father takes office on Friday in an interview with 20/20. 'Well, I think its an inappropriate observation. There's one first lady and she'll do remarkable things,' said Ivanka, referring to her father's wife Melania. She later told Deborah Roberts in the interview that she also found the comments 'sexist,' saying that they seemed to suggest that two women could not have a powerful role in her father's White House administration. Ivanka also revealed during the interview that she is still close to former first daughter Chelsea Clinton despite her father's victory over Hillary in the election, and said that she will likely go to her for advice. She spoke about how difficult it was to step down from her role as an EVP in the Trump Organization as well, while also backing away from her leadership role in her eponymous clothing and accessories line. 'It's emotional that I'm stepping away from my business,' said Ivanka, who then pointed out however that the reward was much greater in the end. 'My father will be president and hopefully I can be there to support him and to support those causes I have cared about my whole professional career.' Big day: Ivanka met several female friends for lunch at Open City coffee shop in Woodley Park (police set up barricades outside Ivanka's home above) New life: Monday marked Ivanka's husband Jared Kushner's first day at work as an unpaid senior advisor to President Trump (police work to create a perimeter around Ivanka's property) Ivanka spent her last day in her New York office on Wednesday, and uploaded a photo to her Instagram as she said goodbye to her job in the Big Apple to head on down to the nation's capital. 'My last day in the new @ivankatrumphq space. I'm a little jealous I won't be here to enjoy the beautiful new office with my talented team,' wrote Ivanka. Earlier this month, Ivanka attended a women's power dinner ahead of her big move, which was held at her good friend Wendi Deng's $34m penthouse apartment. Among the invitees who turned up to give Ivanka advice were Tory Burch, Mika Brzezinski, Tina Brown, Christy Turlington Burns, and former White House press secretary Dana Perino. Pattie Sellers, the executive director of Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit, was another guest at the dinner, and wrote about the evening for Fortune. 'Trump explained that she wanted to learn from the efforts of leaders in their fields,' said Sellers. 'We talked about entrepreneurship, equal pay, paid leave, and a lot about where the Donald Trump Administration may have the most opportunity: education.' Also on hand was Goldman Sachs executive Dina Powell, who the Trump team announced would be joining the administration in a senior role focused on entrepreneurship, economic growth and the empowerment of women. It is expected that Ivanka will now be working closely with Powell in DC. Powell put the dinner together on Thursday, and was in charge of coming up with the guest list for the event. Ivanka has yet to officially reveal what her plans are once her father takes office, but did say last Wednesday that her first priority once she moved would be to settle her family into their new residence. She has already busied herself working behind the scenes by phoning members of Congress in an attempt to rally support for childcare proposals. including tax-free childcare accounts and childcare deductions for families making under $500,000 a year. President Trump's oldest daughter also confirmed last Wednesday that she had stepped down from her senior position at the Trump Organization and put her eponymous fashion brand in the hands of the chief brand officer for the company, Abigail Klem. New digs: The family's $5.5million house (above) in the District's Kalorama neighborhood is just a few blocks away from the Obamasa Brother: Ivanka also posted a video on Monday of her brother Barron, 10, playing peek-a-boo with Theo (above), writing, 'My youngest brother proves he's a baby whispererwhile my father signs his first executive orders.' Ivanka will certainly be the most visible first daughter that has ever been in the White House, and a source close to the family tells DailyMail.com that she is taking that role 'very seriously' at this time. 'She want to be respectful,' added the source. There have been numerous indications over the past few weeks that Ivanka would be taking a role in the White House. The most notable of these was the news earlier this month that the family would be moving into the $5.5million house in the District's Kalorama neighborhood which they are now calling home. One week later, Trump announced that Kushner would be joining his staff as a senior advisor. It is unclear however if the couple bought the six-bedroom residence or will just be renting the home, which was sold just before the holidays to an unknown buyer. The Trump-Kushners will now be just two blocks away from the home of Barack and Michelle Obama, who are moving to the neighborhood after next week so that their younger daughter Sasha can finish high school in the city. A downcast Kelly Landry has flown back home to Australia after fleeing to Bali for a luxury holiday following her well-documented marriage breakdown. Ms Landry was seen at an Indonesian airport with her two kids, Thea and Charlize, on Monday. The former Getaway presenter has been lounging about the holiday isle with some of her closest mates - drinking in the paradise vibes of the Legian Hotel at Seminyak. On the move: Former Getaway host Kelly Landry is seen leaving Bali after about a week spent there on holiday with friends Ms Landry spent about a week lounging about the holiday isle with close friends It was welcome time out of the spotlight for the model and radio host since police slapped her husband Anthony Bell with an AVO this month. Ms Landry has apparently spent some of her spare time purging mentions and pictures of her husband from her Instagram account. That includes a photograph of the two of them at a Crowded House concert and a 'thanks' to her husband for helping her get to a health retreat in November. Ms Landry has spoken only briefly about the apprehended violence order and the circumstances around it. 'My primary concern is for the welfare of my girls and to shield them as best I can from all this,' she told Daily Mail Australia last week. An edited copy of Ms Landry's statement to police was published by a Sydney newspaper at the weekend. Ms Landry has spoken only briefly about her matter since Daily Mail Australia broke the story Ms Landry - seen checking her watch - told Daily Mail Australia last week her priority was her children But in a statement, Mr Bell's lawyer Chris Murphy claimed an offence had been committed under the Crimes Act in its publication. 'It is not legally appropriate for my client to respond to the publication that is the subject of the said offence,' he said. Her husband, the celebrity accountant Anthony Bell, has likewise kept out of the spotlight - returning to work at the Lime Street offices of his financial company. He denies uncomfirtmed reports he pushed her and embarrassed her in front of her friends. Their matter will return to Waverley Local Court once more on February 17. A businessman has told of the heartbreaking decision to ask for permission to kill three terminally ill family members after he was left 'broke' trying to pay for their treatment. Tofazzal Hossain, from Meherpur in Bangladesh, has spent years looking after his two sons and grandson, who all suffer from an incurable form of muscular dystrophy. He has now issued a plea for authorities to either help fund their care or to allow his loved-ones 'to be put to death with medicine'. But his desperate appeal has sparked controversy in the conservative society where mercy killings are considered an 'act of murder'. Fruit vendor Tofazzal Hossain (top right) has told of the heartbreaking decision to ask for permission to kill three terminally ill family members after he was left 'broke' trying to pay for their treatment 'I have taken care of them for years. I took them to hospitals in Bangladesh and India, I sold my shop to pay for their treatment but now I'm broke,' said Tofazzal Hossain as he describes his years-long struggle to cope with the costs of looking after his family. 'The government should decide what it wants to do with them. They are suffering and have no hope of recovery. I can't bear it any longer.' One of Asia's poorest countries, Bangladesh lacks any kind of free health care and medical treatment is often beyond the reach of the tens of millions of inhabitants who live below the poverty line. An estimated 600,000 Bangladeshis suffer from incurable diseases, yet the country has just one palliative care centre and no hospice services. This leaves few treatment options for Hossain's sons, aged 24 and 13, and eight-year-old grandson, who are afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This rare genetic disorder is characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and patients rarely live beyond 30 years of age. Hossain said his sons were aware of their condition but could do little for themselves, unable to move and confined to their beds. The grandson can still go to the washroom, but his condition is worsening. Tofazzal Hossain, from Meherpur in Bangladesh, has spent years looking after his two sons and grandson, who all suffer from an incurable form of muscular dystrophy 'I told them about the letter. I told them (about seeking permission for their deaths). They did not take it seriously. Perhaps they did not understand the severity of the situation,' he said. His eldest son, 24-year-old Mohammad Abdus Sabur, said he spent his days watching television and talking with their father. 'I tell father not to worry too much,' he told AFP. An AFP correspondent's attempt to ask the son about his father's desperate appeal was met with stern rebuke from Hossain, who said it would hurt them. Mahbubul Alam, a doctor who has treated the Hossain family, said there was no cure for their condition and they lived in extreme pain. 'It's a humanitarian case. Everyone should come forward (and help).' A government official who visited the family after Hossain's appeal grabbed national headlines said the request was 'the plea of a helpless father'. 'He asked for their medical assistance, or permission to kill them. But who will give the permission to kill?' he told AFP. Authorities were trying to find ways to help Hossain bear the cost of their care, the official added. Their plight has sparked a rarely-seen debate about euthanasia in Bangladesh, where even attempted suicide can land one in prison. Hossain issued a plea for authorities to either help fund their care or to allow his loved-ones 'to be put to death with medicine' So-called 'mercy killing' is forbidden both under the secular law of the land, and by religious code adhered to by the Muslim-majority population. 'Euthanasia is completely illegal in Islam. It is the government's duty to take responsibility for every citizen,' top Islamic cleric and scholar Fariduddin Masoud told AFP. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis not only disapprove of mercy killings but would oppose the mere discussion of it, said Nur Khan Liton, head of local rights group Ain O Salish Kendra. 'They consider it an act of murder. It's the duty of the government and society to look after these victims,' he told AFP. But sympathy for Hossain's family has run deep on social media, where many have offered thoughts and prayers amid calls for the government to improve its paltry health services. Nezamuddin Ahmed, the head of Bangladesh's sole palliative care centre in the capital Dhaka, said it was time for an 'honest discussion' about the issue and improving care for those suffering from incurable diseases. 'I think this will lead to healthy debate about assisted death,' he said. Monica Lewinsky has joined the conversation defending Barron Trump from internet bullies after he was ridiculed online during Friday's inauguration Monica Lewinsky has joined the conversation defending Barron Trump from internet bullies after he was ridiculed online during Friday's inauguration. Her proclamation follows the 'indefinite suspension' of SNL writer Katie Rich after she tweeted that Barron would become the nation's first homeschool shooter. Now an anti-bullying activist, Lewinsky tweeted on Saturday evening that 'all children need to be protected from bullying + mockery.' Lewinsky is best known for her internship at the White House from 1995 to 1996 where she and then-President Bill Clinton engaged in an 'inappropriate relationship' that led to his impeachment. Now an anti-bullying activist, Lewinsky tweeted on Saturday evening that 'all children need to be protected from bullying + mockery' Lewinsky is best known for her internship at the White House from 1995 to 1996 where she and then-President Bill Clinton engaged in an 'inappropriate relationship' that led to his impeachment Lewinsky attached to her tweet an article from Bustle, which discussed the inappropriateness of poking fun at a ten-year-old who has been forced to live a life he didn't choose. 'There is a longstanding public tradition of leaving children of presidents who are minors under the age of 18 out of the press,' it read. 'Children are rightfully given the benefit of privacy, even children of presidents.' SNL writer Katie rich released an apology on Twitter following her suspension, saying that she 'deeply regrets' her 'inexcusable actions'. SNL writer Katie rich released an apology on Twitter following her suspension, saying that she 'deeply regrets' her 'inexcusable actions' Lewinsky attached to her tweet an article from Bustle , which discussed the inappropriateness of poking fun at a ten-year-old who has been forced to live a life he didn't choose The article was in response to the many hateful tweets aimed at Barron's apparent disinterest in during the inauguration which prompted #BarronTrump to begin trending on twitter. Chelsea Clinton also came to Barron's defense yesterday, saying that he 'deserves the chance every child does - to be a kid.' Chelsea's statement towards Barron echoes her own bullying while living in the White House, suffering scrutiny from the media as she grew up in the public eye. Chelsea Clinton has come to the defense of the youngest Trump, Barron, as many criticized him for his apparent lack of engagement Chelsea spent most of her childhood in the White House while her father Bill Clinton presided from 1993 to 2001 One incident that Chelsea has spoken about is a time when Rush Limbaugh compared her to a dog when she was just 13 years old. 'Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is also a White House dog?' he had said, before showing an image of the young Chelsea. Limbaugh later apologized for his comment. 'Im grateful I dont remember the exact phrasing,' Clinton said during an event in 2012. 'Thankfully I had grown up in public life and knew that having thick skin was a survival skill.' A Sydney Uber driver accused of raping a woman who fell asleep in his car stopped at a service station to buy condoms before having what he says was 'consent sex'. Muhammad Naveed, 41, has pleaded not guilty to having sexual intercourse without consent with a heavily intoxicated woman on a Saturday night in October 2015, when he picked her up in Kings Cross. At the opening of the District Court trial on Tuesday, crown prosecutor James Trevallion said the woman had been drinking with friends at several venues and got into what she thought was a cab. Muhammad Naveed (pictured), 41, accused of raping a woman who fell asleep in his car He said that en route to the eastern suburbs where the woman lived, Naveed pulled into a service station and bought condoms and a bottle of water, saying to her: 'I've just got these.' 'She became confused...and did not really understand why the accused was showing her this packet of condoms,' Mr Trevallion said. Naveed then drove in the opposite direction to the woman's home, stopped in a side street and asked if she wanted to move to the back seat, the prosecutor said. 'The complainant will tell you at this point she could not keep her eyes open and she was falling asleep,' he told the jury. Naveed (pictured) stopped at a service station to buy condoms, the court heard The next thing the woman remembers is waking up to find Naveed on top of her. 'She did not have the strength to be able to push him off,' Mr Trevallion said. Afterwards Naveed drove her home and she fell asleep on the way. At home, the woman phoned a friend who called police. Mr Trevallion said when police arrested Naveed a few days later, he told them 'it was consent sex'. 'I asked her a few times and she said yes,' the court heard Naveed said. The Crown's case is the accused knew the woman was not consenting or at the very least did not care. Regardless NSW law says consent is not possible while a person is substantially intoxicated. The trial continues on Friday. Kellyanne Conway was hired by President Donald Trump because she pulls no punches literally. The special counselor to the president allegedly punched a rowdy tuxedo-clad man during the Liberty Ball in Washington on Friday after the inauguration, according to witnesses. Conway was apparently forced to intervene when two larger men were involved in an altercation at Washington Convention Center on Friday. When it became apparent that the two men were not going to stop fighting, Conway stepped in and punched one of them with a closed fist in the face at least three times, a witness told the News There was no word as to what precipitated the fight. The witness' account was corroborated by a Fox Business Channel reporter who said that Conway punched the man several times in the face with a closed fist. The Liberty Ball was one of the inaugural galas held in the capital to celebrate Trumps taking the oath of office just hours earlier at the US Capitol. Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway talks with former vice president Dan Quayle prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump on Friday Kellyanne Conway (seen above with President Trump during an inaugural dinner in Washington on Thursday) is said to have intervened in a fist fight between two members of her entourage As the fight began to escalate, Conway is said to have stepped in and supposedly threw mean punches at one of the combatants. Inside the ball we see a fight between two guys in tuxes and then suddenly out of nowhere came Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway who began throwing some mean punches at one of the guys, Fox Business Channels Charlie Gasparino wrote on his Facebook page. Whole thing lasted a few mins no one was hurt except maybe the dude she smacked. Now I know why Trump hired her. The fight was said to have started near a VIP section just after Trump and First Lady Melania Trump finished their first dance. Claim: Fox correspondent Charles Gasparino took to Facebook to post his account of the alleged incident The alleged incident took place just as Trump and First Lady Melania Trump (above) were finishing their first dance at the Liberty Ball The alleged Conway fisticuffs were one of just a number of notable events to take place at the Liberty Ball. Gasparino also wrote that he successfully thwarted an attempted attack against Charles in Charge star Scott Baio as the two men were walking toward the gala. The alleged incident was said to have been witnessed by Fox Business Channel reporter Charlie Gasparino (above) According to Gasparino, he 'stopped a thug from attacking' Baio. A protester reportedly called Baio a 'f**king fascist', and lunged at him. Another group of protesters approached Baio and his wife Renee as they attended the Freedom Ball the same evening, and had to be 'extracted by police'. It's not the first time Baio has been attacked for his support of the 45th President. The actor filed a police report in December over an alleged altercation with the wife of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's drummer Chad Smith at an elementary school function where both their children were in attendance. Smith's wife Nancy Mack reportedly began berating Baio and shouting 'grab em by the p***y', at at one point physically grabbed him, according to TMZ. The Ventura County District Attorney is still deciding whether to prosecute Mack for the incident. Baio was an ardent supporter of Trump very early on in the campaign. Gasparino also claims that TV actor Scott Baio (seen above at the Inaugural Ball next to a man wearing a yarmukle adorned with an American flag and 'Make America Great Again') with the caption: 'We are proud to support Israel' He told to the Hollywood Reporter when he arrived in Washington DC on Thursday: 'I'm looking forward to seeing the guy I backed take the oath of office,' he said. 'I'm looking to get the country back on track.' He stated simply that his goal is 'the resurgence of the United States of America and the resurgence of the American dream.' A radio advertisement featuring a man named 'Mr Ping Pong' offering to pay for labour with sushi in a fake Asian accent has been taken off the air. In the advertisement, Mr Ping Pong phoned Kingaroy, Queensland, based company TP Concreting, and offered sushi if the job was done right away. A woman appeared to be speaking 'gibberish' in the background as the man said: 'Mama has bog in the driveway.' A radio advertisement for TP Concreting (stock) featuring a man named 'Mr Ping Pong' offering to pay for labour with sushi in a fake Asian accent has been taken off the air 'She did what?!' the man from the concreting company replied with, apparently suggesting the mother had gone to the toilet on the driveway and this is something an Asian mother would do. A voiceover then said no job was 'too weird'. The Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) found the advertisement incited ridicule and breached discrimination and racial vilification rules. It had aired on Kingaroy Hot FM in November, and was banned in an ASB determination handed down last week, Mumbrella initially reported. A typical complaint to the board said: 'I feel this ad depicts a negative stereotype of the Asian community. I also feel that it is inappropriate for the radio.' TP Concreting denied the advertisement was degrading in any way. The Advertising Standards Bureau (logo stock) found the advertisement incited ridicule and breached discrimination and racial vilification rules TP Concreting denied the advertisement was degrading in any way 'The ad you are referring to is not racist or degrading in any way, not sexist, and the language is English with an accent,' the company responded. 'When it mentions food it is no different than saying a vegemite sandwich.' But the ASB said while imitating an accent is not discriminatory in itself, Ping Pong is an offensive word for a person of Asian descent. 'The Board noted that while Mr Ping Pong speaks English, albeit grammatically incorrect, in the background we can hear his mother speaking and considered that the words she speaks are not identifiable as any known language but rather it sounds like she is speaking gibberish,' ASB said. 'The majority of the Board considered that the advertisement normalises making fun of a person's English language skills.' The fake accent, made-up language, the name 'Mr Ping Pong', the reference to the 'weird' situation and the sushi (stock) offer cumulated to a racist advertisement, ASB found The board said the advertisement was racist and 'humiliating for people of Asian descent' when the advertisement was considered as a whole including the cumulative effects of the fake accent, made-up language, the name 'Mr Ping Pong', the reference to the 'weird' situation and the sushi offer. In response to the determination, the company said the ad had already been taken off air. 'As mentioned, we had already taken the ad off air. We didn't realise that it would in any way be inappropriate, we can see your point and are organising a new ad,' the response said. It comes after the ASB said seven of the 10 most complained about advertisements of 2016 were based on discrimination and vilification. 'Discrimination and vilification is consistently one of the most complained about issues, along with sex, sexuality and nudity,' ASB Chief Executive Officer, Ms Fiona Jolly said in a statement released last month. 'What we can see from this list is that the community is concerned about discrimination across a range of categories, including gender, race and lifestyle choices.' A powerful storm with pounding rains and high winds roared up the East Coast on Monday, threatening to snarl travel for millions, after tornadoes killed at least 20 people in the South over the weekend. Thousands of people reported power outages Monday night, particularly in Long Island, New Jersey, and Brooklyn. More than 600 flights were canceled by midday Monday, with Newark Liberty International Airport hardest hit U.S. airport, about 10 per cent of its total flights. A powerful storm with pounding rains and high winds roared up the East Coast on Monday, threatening to snarl travel for millions, after tornadoes killed at least 20 people in the South over the weekend New Jersey: This was the view around Stone Harbor on Monday night at high tide as the storm caused a tidal swell Stone Harbor under water: Thousands of people reported power outages Monday night, particularly in Long Island, New Jersey, and Brooklyn Flooding: The high tide caused Stone Harbor's streets to be inundated with water Cold rain and winds up to 70 mph are anticipated through Monday night In Manhattan, winds reached up to 60 mph and caused dangerous debris to fall from a number of buildings throughout the city The Air Train to the airport was also shut down indefinitely starting at 1pm. New Jersey appeared to take the brunt of the storm on Monday, with New Jersey Transit beginning to flood by Monday afternoon and major delays at Newark's Penn Station. Just before 4pm NJ Transit announced that service between New York's Penn Station and Trenton had been suspended due to a overhead wire problem. One twitter user reported taking more than three hours to journey home due to delays New Jersey appeared to take the brunt of the storm on Monday, with New Jersey Transit beginning to flood by Monday afternoon and major delays at Newark's Penn Station Just before 4pm NJ Transit announced that service between New York's Penn Station and Trenton had been suspended due to a overhead wire problem, causing heavy delays A powerful Nor'easter is set to hit the East Coast Monday evening. The above map shows the precipitation expected up the Northeast Since the weather is mild, the major East Coast cities will escape snow in favor of two inches of rain In Manhattan, winds reached up to 60 mph and caused dangerous debris to fall from a number of buildings throughout the city. The company responsible for maintaining one building on 199 Church Street was issued a violation by FDNY after part of a scaffold collapsed. Residents took to social media to document the Nor'easter's effect. The coastal areas up the East Coast are dealing with strong winds up to 60 mph Strong northeast winds drive waves onto the seawall along Hereford Inlet in the Anglesea section of North Wildwood, New Jersey on Monday A downed tree barely missed two parked cars in the parking lot of Cape Regional Medical Center in Cape May Court House, New Jersey on Monday New York City emergency management officials warned winds could top 70 mph through Monday night, with several inches of rain. Flood advisories and watches were issued for much of the city. The National Weather Service said that a high wing warning means 'damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Numerous power outages are expected.' 'Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles and on elevated roadway and bridges.' A woman walks the Boardwalk against the driving winds and rain in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Monday Ester Girshik, visiting from New York, braces against driving winds and rain as she walks from Caesars to Bally's Casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Monday A woman braces against wind and rain at the corner of Arkansas and Pacific Avenues in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Monday Strong winds drive sand on the beach at 21st Avenue in Longport New Jersey on Monday The torn sails of a sailboat flap in strong winds at the Seaview Harbor Marina in Longport, New Jersey on Monday Capt. Mike O'Neill, of Ocean City, attaches extra ropes to secure his charter boat against strong winds while docked at the Seaview Harbor Marina in Longport, New Jersey on Monday The high wind warning begins at 1am Monday morning and ends 1am Tuesday EST. The worst winds will blow Monday afternoon and evening. Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers in a statement: 'As this storm could cause power outages across downstate and flooding for communities near the coastline, I am directing all relevant state agencies to be on alert and ready to respond to whatever Mother Nature throws our way.' 'We will be closely monitoring storm conditions and deploying resources and equipment as necessary. I encourage all New Yorkers in these areas to plan ahead, avoid unnecessary travel, and above all else stay safe.' Greg and Megan Bissey of Wildwood, N.J., stop to look at the rough surf on 2nd Avenue and the beach in North Wildwood, New Jersey on Monday The nor'easter will bring some snow to parts of upstate New York and New Hampshire Much of Central New York is under a winter storm warning for Monday night including Syracuse Electricity provider Con Edison warned east coasters to be wary of fallen power lines. Joseph Esposito, New York City's Emergency Management Commissioner said: 'Were urging New Yorkers to use extra caution when outdoors Monday and allow for extra travel time during tomorrows commutes.' 'Coastal residents in vulnerable neighborhoods should take steps to protect their property ahead of this storm.' AccuWeather forecast up to 2 inches of rain drenching an area stretching from Pittsburgh to Washington north to Boston by late Tuesday. Northern Pennsylvania and parts of New England were expected to get more than 6 inches of wet snow, producing dangerously slick roads. Winds topping 50 miles per hour could whip the East Coast from Delaware to eastern Maine. People run against wind and rain to enter Caesars Boardwalk entrance in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Monday The Ben-Ami family, visiting from New York City, make their way on a windy Boardwalk, in Atlantic City, NJ, during a nor'easter storm on Monday A woman walks in the financial district during a cold and windy day in New York City on Monday Tourists take a photo in the financial district during a cold and windy day in New York City, on Monday 'The coastal flood threat will be greatest at times of high tide,' said AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Rathbun. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the front would reach the Middle Atlantic coast by Monday evening, and flash floods were possible near the southern Appalachian Mountains. Fifteen people died in weekend tornadoes and thunderstorms in Georgia. Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said four people were killed, adding there was a 'great possibility' the death count could rise. Mississippi reported four dead from a tornado on Saturday. One death was reported in northern Florida's Columbia County after a tree fell on a home on Sunday. As the storm makes it's way up into Maine and Canada, it will mix with freezing air to cause an ice storm that could cause widespread power outages and hazardous travel The NWS warned of flooding along the Chickasawhay and Leaf rivers in southeast Mississippi, with the Chickasawhay expected to crest on Wednesday afternoon. Flash flood watches were issued for southern California through late Monday, with hail and thunderstorms forecast after a Pacific storm system dropped 4 inches of rain on Los Angeles over three days, the NWS reported. The agency said the system would bring heavy snow to the state's Sierra Nevada mountains and then move into the Rocky Mountains. Her heartbroken voicemail to her favourite ice cream store after it closed early on New Year's Eve touched the hearts of many. Now Gelato Messina have tracked down the Melbourne woman and have given her own special dessert, after she supposedly suffered a meltdown over her 'ruined' plans on New Year's Eve. Cecilia, who is an actor by trade, was flown to Sydney and serenaded with a rendition of 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' by Kamahl who then gifted her with her own Messina concoction aptly named 'Voicemail'. Scroll down for video Messina Gelato shared a distressing voicemail from Cecilia (pictured), who called to complain after her favourite ice cream joint was shut early on New Year's Eve In the now infamous voicemail, Cecila questions the Fitzroy store whether they're 'really sorry' that they're close at 6pm of New Year's Eve. 'Are you? Because you should be. My New Year's Eve is now ruined. I had plans to buy at least a litre-and-a-half of Messina, as I do every week... 'And sit on my couch and eat it and then make new years resolutions to never eat it again. And you know what? 'Because you are closed, it's gonna make my new years resolution of not eating Messina so much easier... I am very, very upset right now.' Struggling to come to terms, Cecilia broke down in tears as she continued to express her love for the beloved ice-cream chain. 'I have a serious relationship with Messina,' she continued as she sobbed. 'Messina was there for me through the hardest times of my life. It was there when I was having the happiest times of my life.' Cecilia, who is an actor by trade, was flown to Sydney and serenaded with a rendition 'The Wind Beneath My Wings' by Kamahl before being given her own special dessert Gelato Messina 'biggest fan and one true love' go, revealed herself after the voicemail went viral The emotional Cecilia called the Gelato Messina store in Fitzroy to complain the dessert joint had 'ruined' her New Years resolution In an emotional rant, Cecilia said the ice cream helped her get through a whirlwind year Before parting ways, she offered Messina Gelato another chance at rekindling their relationship In an emotional rant, the distraught customer claimed she had a cart filled with four ice cream flavours for her guests at her wedding reception. She said the dessert helped her get through a whirlwind year and compared the store to a 'good friend' who has 'really let me down'. 'But you know what? I will move on, I will,' she continued. 'And I'm just sorry it had to end this way and I hope you are sorry, because when you say I am sorry, you should really mean it. And I hope you really mean it this time. 'I guess this is a goodbye. It was fun while it lasted.' But before hanging up her phone, she offered the chain a second chance at rekindling their relationship. 'If you want to come back, it's fine,' she said. 'If you really just wanna get back together again, I'm happy to do that. Just... I'm sorry for the way I acted. I just really don't know what to do without you. 'Okay. I love you. Bye.' Cecilia's very own Messina concoction aptly named 'Voicemail' after her heartbroken message to the Fitzroy store Friends again: Cecilia cried as Gelato Messina expressed their apologies after she missed out on her ice-cream on New Year's Eve And clearly the folks at Gelato Messina weren't willing to let their 'biggest fan and one true love' go, and say they managed to track down her after she came forward when the voicemail went viral. Since the audio was first post, many have cast doubts over the two minute message, with skeptics describing the lengthy audio as a hilarious 'publicity stunt', especially given Cecilia's profession. 'Such a surprise with someone holding a camera from inside the house,' one wrote 'Couldn't your marketing team at least find a girl who wasn't an actor to pretend to be the customer,' unconvinced customer Michael posted. 'It takes two seconds to find that Cecilia Zenca lists herself as an actor. Fake stuff can damage your brand.' Since the audio was first post, many have cast doubts over the two minute message and then again in the video revealing Cecilia's identity 'I would love to get work as an actor but I can assure you this is 100 per cent legitimate and real,' Cecilia told skeptics on social media 'Couldn't your marketing team at least find a girl who wasn't an actor to pretend to be the customer,' unconvinced customer Michael posted This was quickly met with a response from Cecilia herself. 'I sure am an actor Michael. Thank you for pointing that out,' she said. 'I would love to get work as an actor but I can assure you this is 100 per cent legitimate and real. My agents will be more than happy to clarify this for you.' Others seemed more concerned about ordering the sweet treat, which was on offer via food delivery service Deliveroo. 'Such a PR stunt. Wasn't even enough time to complete a checkout before it "closed". Only one tub at each location or something?' Another added: 'I'm going to leave a voice mail crying about how my app doesn't work'. Messina was selling half-litre tubs of the limited edition 'Voicemail for $1 for two hours via the service, but it quickly sold out. With Australia Day fast approaching airlines have jumped at the opportunity to offer great fares for holidays throughout the year. Jetstar is leading the way with juicy deals as low as $35 one way. If you are looking for a holiday in April or February Jetstar are offering flights from Sydney to Melbourne for just $35 and $39 respectively. Sydneysiders looking to go north of the border in February can fly to Brisbane for just $55 and the Sunshine Coast for $65. Jetstar is offering Australia Day deals as low as $35 from Sydney to Melbourne (Stock Image) Jetstar is offering Melburnians a $25 flight to Hobart in May and June (Stock Image) Virgin is also offering a huge deal to fly to Brisbane between March and November for just $99. For a relaxing holiday by the water at the end of summer you can fly from Sydney to Byron Bay for as little as $49. Virgin Australia is also offering $79 flights to Byron Bay during July to September. If you are looking to go south when it starts to cool down, travellers can fly to Launceston in March or April for as little as $49 one way. Melburnians looking for a deal can fly to Hobart for just $25 between May and June with Jetstar and fly to Adelaide between February and March for just $39. From Melbourne to Sydney is just $39 with Jetstar between late February and March. Virgin Australia are offering Sydney travellers an opportunity to fly to Brisbane for under $100 (Stock Image) If you are looking to indulge in the beautiful wine and food South Australia has to offer flights one way during February and April are $69. Virgin have offered those looking to extend the warm weather for as long as possible $79 flights to the Gold Coast at the end of April extending through to June. The sale for Jetstar ends on Monday, January, with most of Virgins sales ending midnight on January 31. Advertisement David Davis has delivered a stark warning to Remoaner MPs against exploiting the Supreme Court ruling to 'thwart' our departure from the EU. The Brexit Secretary issued the tough message as he defiantly vowed to push ahead with the timetable for leaving the bloc despite the government being dealt an humiliating legal blow. The top judges ruled by a margin of 8-3 that Theresa May cannot use executive powers to begin the formal process of cutting ties with Brussels. Minutes after the painful defeat for the government, a triumphant Gina Miller - the businesswoman who spearheaded the challenge - stood on the steps of the court to declare that she had scored a victory for 'parliamentary sovereignty'. But former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said the intervention of the court raised 'constitutional' issues - although the judges made clear they were not taking a view on Brexit. Ministers will take some comfort from the fact that three of the judges sided with them, and the court flatly dismissed demands from Nicola Sturgeon for the Scottish government to get a veto over the deal. In a statement to the Commons later, Mr Davis said he would bring forward a short Bill on the coming days, designed to provide minimal opportunities for pro-EU MPs and peers to table amendments. He said Britain was 'past the point of no return' on Brexit. Scroll down for video The legal challenge to the government has been spearheaded by businesswoman and former model Gina Miller (pictured at court today) David Davis said there was no question of delaying the timetable for triggering Article 50 Lord Neuberger delivered the ruling against the government at the Supreme Court today Mr Davis said: 'The purpose of this Bill is simply to give the Government the power to invoke Article 50 and begin the process of leaving the European Union. 'That's what the British people voted for and it's what they would expect. 'Parliament will rightly scrutinise and debate this legislation. 'But I trust no-one will seek to make it a vehicle for attempts to thwart the will of the people or frustrate or delay the process of exiting the European Union.' He added: 'There can be no turning back. 'The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year.' The warning was echoed in the Upper House by Brexit minister Lord Bridges, who pointed out that the chamber was 'unelected' and needed to 'tread with considerable care'. Labour's former Cabinet minister Lord Blunkett also appealed for peers to stay out of the row, saying the situation was 'extremely delicate' and it was 'unthinkable' to block the triggering of Article 50. However, Remain supporting MPs have already indicated they will fight a rearguard action against the government plans. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is demanding a 'meaningful' vote on the final deal that would in effect mean MPs could tear up whatever Mrs May negotiates and order her to start again. The SNP has also threatened to table 50 amendments in an effort to bog the Bill down. Delivering the ruling today, senior judge Lord Neuberger said: 'Today, by a majority of 8-3, the Supreme Court rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament.' Mrs Miller's High Court victory in November caused explosive political rows about the role of judges intervening in the wake of the EU referendum delivered a tough warning to Remainer MPs this afternoon that they must not exploit the Supreme Court ruling to 'thwart' Brexit Ukip MP Douglas Carswell said 'all the lawyers in London' could not 'subvert' the referendum. Green MP Caroline Lucas said it was a 'win for democracy'. Ukip donor Arron Banks said the court had given power to a 'Remain House of parliament' He said when the UK withdraws from the EU treaties 'a source of UK law will be cut off'. 'Further, certain rights enjoyed by UK citizens will be changed,' he added. 'Therefore, the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without Parliament authorising that course.' Attorney General Jeremy Wright thanked the Supreme Court for its work. Speaking outside court, the Government's top lawyer said: 'Of course the Government is disappointed. 'The Government will comply with the law and will do all that is necessary to implement it.' Ahead of a statement to MPs by Brexit Secretary David Davis later, a No10 spokeswoman said: 'The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that. Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger today handed down the ruling that the Prime Minister must pass legislation before triggering Brexit Attorney General Jeremy Wright QC (pictured arriving at the Supreme Court today) was personally involved in making the government's case Mrs Miller was mobbed by media as she gave her response to the court's decision today 'It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. 'We respect the Supreme Court's decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly.' JUDGES RAP DAVID CAMERON OVER POOR LEGISLATION The legislation passed by David Cameron in 2015 failed to make clear 'what should happen in response to the referendum result,' today's judgement said The Supreme Court judgement rapped David Cameron for producing unclear legislation on the effect of the EU referendum. The judges said the Government would not have faced legal challenges had the legislation made clear 'what should happen in response to the referendum result'. It said previous referendums - such as the 2011 vote on changing the electoral system and the 1998 devolution votes - had stipulated that an Act of Parliament would be passed if they were approved. But the failure of the European Union Referendum Act only made provision that the referendum should be held. The judgement suggested this was because ministers did not predict Leave would win the referendum. The lack of clarity led to ministers confusing the public during the referendum campaign as some described the outcome of the referendum as advisory while others said it was decisive, today's ruling said. Advertisement Speaking outside the court, a jubilant Mrs Miller said: 'Today eight of the 11 Supreme judges upheld the judgement handed down by the High Court in November in a case that went to the very heart of our constitution and how we are governed. 'Only parliament can grant rights to the British people and only Parliament can take them away. 'No Prime Minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged. Parliament alone is sovereign. 'This ruling today means that MPs we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the Government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations negotiations that will frame our place in the world and all our destinies to come.' But leading Brexiteer Mr Duncan Smith said the ruling underlined the problem of judges intruding on the role of parliament. He told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show: 'You've got to understand that, of course, there's the European issue but there's also the issue about who is Supreme Parliament or a self-appointed court. 'This is the issue here right now, so I was intrigued that it was a split judgment. 'I'm disappointed they've tried to tell Parliament how to run its business... 'They've stepped into new territory where they've actually told Parliament not just that they should do something but actually what they should do and I think that leads further down the road to real constitutional issues about who is supreme in this role.' In his ruling, one of the three judges who backed the government, Lord Reed, voiced similar concerns about intruding on the political sphere. 'Courts should not overlook the constitutional importance of ministerial accountability to Parliament,' Lord Reed wrote. 'Ministerial decisions in the exercise of prerogative powers, of greater importance than leaving the EU, have been taken without any possibility of judicial control: examples include the declarations of war in 1914 and 1939. 'It is important for courts to understand that the legalisation of political issues is not always constitutionally appropriate, and may be fraught with risk, not least for the judiciary.' Ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the 'establishment' was trying to 'frustrate' the Brexit process. He warned that people are 'getting angry about it'. The scope of the PM's powers under the royal prerogative were called into question by Mrs Miller's challenge - which caused explosive political rows about the role of judges intervening on the will of the people. The executive powers are also deployed for things like taking the country to war. The Government appealed and a landmark four day case was heard by all 11 of Britain's most senior judges for four days in December. Gina Miller was jubilant after the decision today, saying she had scored a victory for parliamentary sovereignty Pro-EU demonstrators had gathered outisde the Supreme Court building in central London for the decision to be announced Boris Johnson said the government would go 'forward' and trigger Article 50 by March. Ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the 'establishment' was trying to 'frustrate' the Brexit process, and warned that people are 'getting angry about it' The overwhelming majority of MPs have indicated they will not try to block the Article 50 legislation outright - after the Commons passed a symbolic vote for Brexit by a landslide last month. But up to 80 Labour MPs could join the Lib Dems in rebelling against Article 50. THE SUPREME COURT RULING: WHAT HAPPENS NOW? The Supreme Court has ruled against the Government and ordered the Prime Minister to consult MPs before she can start the process of leaving the EU. Judges agreed with the High Court decision that because invoking Article 50 was irreversible it meant citizens would lose rights currently provided by virtue of EU membership - even if the Government promised to match them. This meant ministers need to pass a law in Parliament to carry it out. The law is expected to very short and very simple - as little as one clause that is just three or four lines long. The Government could introduce a Bill as soon as tomorrow and push it through the Commons and Lords as quickly as possible. This is likely to take a couple of days but could be done over a couple of weeks. But attempts by opponents to amend the bill risks delaying the bill and if successful, could attach conditions that tie Theresa May's hands during negotiations. Advertisement There will also be attempts to water down Mrs May's negotiating position. Labour sources have said they will try to amend legislation in four areas - but said even if they were defeated the party would not try to block an Article 50 bill. The amendments will demand the Government produce a full plan for Brexit - going beyond Mrs May's speech last week. The party also wants priorities - including single market access - spelt out in the legislation, as well as regular, binding, checks on progress by MPs through the two-year negotiation. The final deal should also be presented to MPs in time for it to be rejected and sent back to the European Council for improvement before the expiry of the two years given by Article 50. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party will not seek to block Article 50 - which he said meant he would ask MPs to support it. 'Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50,' he said. 'However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. 'Labour will seek to build in the principles of full, tariff-free access to the single market and maintenance of workers' rights and social and environmental protections. 'Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given Parliamentary approval.' The case at the Supreme Court came weeks after Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, and two other leading judges at the High Court, ruled on November 3 that Mrs May lacked power to use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50. The subsequent Supreme Court hearing attracted media attention from around the globe. It was the most televised UK case ever. Nigel Farage, pictured appearing on ITV's GMB programme this morning, said the public were 'angry' about efforts to water down Brexit Mrs Miller, pictured leaving the Supreme Court, has been fighting to force the government to get parliamentary approval for Brexit One of the protesters at the Supreme Court today was carrying a picture of the PM seemingly adrift in a sea of Brexit POUND DIPS AFTER COURT RULES AGAINST THE PM The pound fell after a decision by the Supreme Court on Brexit. Judges voted eight to three that Parliament must vote on triggering Article 50. But crucially Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish assemblies will not get to veto the process. Sterling was trading 0.8 per cent down against the dollar at 1.24 and fell 0.46 per cent versus the euro at 1.16 euro. David Cheetham, XT market analyst, said: 'The pound has come under some selling pressure in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, largely due to the fact that the Government doesn't have to consult the Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish assemblies before triggering Article 50. 'The appeal itself was rejected, but it still remains likely that Mrs May will meet her self-imposed deadline of beginning the formal Brexit process by the end of March. 'Sterling has been volatile over the announcement.' Although MPs are expected to vote it through, the ruling adds a further complication to the Brexit process, adding to uncertainty. Jeremy Corbyn said Labour would not 'frustrate the process for invoking Article 50' but will seek to amend the Government's bill. Advertisement He said: 'When it comes to leaving the European Union, Parliament has had full capacity and multiple opportunities to restrict the executive's ordinary ability to begin the Article 50 process and it has not chosen to do so.' Government lawyers told the court that there was no 'affront to Parliamentary sovereignty' in giving Article 50 notice. At the heart of the legal battle were rights given to UK citizens by Parliament under the 1972 European Communities Act following the decision to join what is now the EU. James Eadie QC, for the Government, argued that the 1972 Act was the 'conduit' which allowed executive powers to be used by successive governments to give effect to EU treaty obligations under domestic law. But Lord Pannick, who represented Mrs Miller and won the ruling at the High Court, told the justices that her case 'is that the prerogative power to enter into and terminate treaties does not allow ministers to nullify statutory rights and duties'. He declared: 'Parliament is sovereign. What Parliament created only Parliament can take away.' When the case concluded Lord Neuberger announced: 'It bears repeating we are not being asked to overturn the result of the EU referendum. 'The ultimate question in this case concerns the process by which that result can lawfully be brought into effect. 'As we have heard, that question raises important constitutional issues and we will now take time to ensure the many arguments presented to us orally and in writing are given full and proper consideration.' The Government's top law officer, Attorney General Jeremy Wright, had argued that the High Court got it 'wrong'. He told the justices that the use of the prerogative in the circumstances would be lawful. It was for the Government to exercise prerogative powers in the conduct of the UK's affairs on the international plane. Former Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith (pictured today) said the intervention of the court raised 'constitutional' issues - although the judges made clear they were not taking a view on Brexit The landmark Supreme Court hearing in December was the most televised case in British legal history (pictured) Judges unanimously REJECT demands for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to get a veto on triggering Article 50 Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led arguments that the devolved administrations should be consulted before Theresa May triggers Article 50, which threatened to derail the PM's timetable for Brexit Supreme Court judges unanimously rejected claims that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should be given a veto on Brexit. Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led arguments that the devolved administrations should be consulted before Theresa May triggers Article 50 - the formal mechanism for leaving the EU - which threatened to derail the PM's timetable for Brexit. The case came alongside the main Supreme Court ruling that MPs must be consulted before the Government starts the process of leaving the EU. But unlike the ruling on devolved powers, it was not a unanimous decision, with three judges dissenting against the majority of eight judges who ruled that an Act of Parliament was necessary. Scottish nationalists said it will put forward 50 'serious and substantive' amendments to the legislation. Former first minister Alex Salmond, the SNP's international affairs spokesman, said: 'We welcome the Supreme Court's decision and hope that their ruling brings this Tory government back to the reality that they cannot simply bypass elected parliamentarians to fulfil their role in carrying out due and proper scrutiny of one of the biggest decisions facing the UK. 'The Prime Minister and her hard Brexit brigade must treat devolved administrations as equal partners - as indeed she promised to do. 'For over six months the concerns surrounding a hard Tory Brexit have been echoing throughout the land and yet the Prime Minister has not listened. 'If Theresa May is intent on being true to her word that Scotland and the other devolved administrations are equal partners in this process, then now is the time to show it. 'Now is the time to sit with the Joint Ministerial Committee and not just casually acknowledge, but constructively engage. Consultation must mean consultation. Mrs Sturgeon has demanded that the PM (pictured leaving No10 today) soften her approach to leaving the EU and allow Scotland special status 'Our amendments will address the very serious concerns facing the UK and the very real issues that the UK government has, thus far, avoided.' Explaining why they decided the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland Assemblies do not have to be consulted before triggering Article 50, the Supreme Court judges said: 'The devolution Acts were passed by Parliament on the assumption that the UK would be a member of the EU, but they do not require the UK to remain a member. 'Relations with the EU and other foreign affairs matters are reserved to UK Government and parliament, not to the devolved institutions. Withdrawal from the EU will alter the competence of the devolved institutions, and remove the responsibilities to comply with EU law. 'In view of the decision of the majority of the Justices that primary legislation is required for the UK to withdraw from the EU, it is not necessary for the court to decide if the NIA imposes a discrete requirement for such legislation 'The decision to withdraw from the EU is not a function carried out by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in relation to Northern Ireland within the meaning of section 75 NIA.' They added: 'Moreover, section 1 NIA, which gave the people of Northern Ireland the right to determine whether to remain part of the UK or to become part of a united Ireland, does not regulate any other change in the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. 'As to the application of the Sewel Convention to the decision to withdraw from the EU given the effect on the devolved competences, the Convention operates as a political constraint on the activity of the UK Parliament. It therefore plays an important role in the operation of the UK constitution. 'But the policing of its scope and operation is not within the constitutional remit of the courts. The devolved legislatures do not have a veto on the UK's decision to withdraw from the EU.' The Supremes: The 11 Justices who ruled on Article 50 today Alam Zeb Khan was jailed for laundering more than 180 million for drugs traffickers The family of a drug dealer jailed as part of a 180 million drugs money laundering scam have lost their homes because of his crimes. Alam Zeb Khan was one of 32 men in Birmingham jailed for a total of 140 years in 2014 for laundering more than 180 million for drugs traffickers. Now the High Court has ruled Khan's relatives must hand their properties over to the National Crime Agency, because they were bought with the proceeds from his criminal activities. The court heard how criminally tainted money was used to build a property portfolio in the names of Khan's brother Aurang Khan, sister-in-law Shakar Begum, and wife Jamila Shabnam. Two of the properties are in Birmingham, with two more in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. In 2014 Khan, 38, was sentenced to seven years for drugs offences and another five years concurrent for Proceeds Of Crime Act offences June 2013. Khan, of Birmingham, previously served sentences starting in 2000 for heroin smuggling, in 2012 for a cocaine supply plot and in 2013 for money laundering. Following his most recent conviction, the National Crime Agency (NCA) went after his family's assets. Scroll down for video The court heard how criminally tainted money was used to build a property portfolio in the names of Khan's brother Aurang Khan, sister-in-law Shakar Begum, and wife Jamila Shabnam One of the four properties which has been handed over to the National Crime Agency Two of the properties are in Birmingham, with two more in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland Khan's family protested the decision in court, saying the property transactions were part of the way business is conducted between members of an Anglo-Pakistani family The 180m scam was described in court in 2014 as 'one of the most significant money laundering networks seen in the UK.' According to the Birmingham Mail, Mrs Justice O'Farrell said his family's properties were 'recoverable' by the NCA. The judge added: 'The properties have been acquired, held and transferred by various family members without any identifiable source of income. 'The only plausible explanation for acquisition of the properties and the convoluted way in which the defendants have dealt with the properties, is that the funds used are proceeds of crime, namely drug dealing, money laundering, mortgage fraud and tax evasion.' However the family denied they were part of a wider criminal network associated with Khan. They also said the property transactions were part of the way business is conducted between members of an Anglo-Pakistani family. Members of the gang were filmed by undercover police officers handing over bags of cash The racket was smashed by National Crime Agency officers, who filmed bags of cash being exchanged in Birmingham Stanley Snellgrove, 87, from Colchester in Essex, racially abused Javier Rivera and his family and made their lives a misery during his campaign of harassment An army veteran racially 'terrorised' his Colombian neighbour and told police he used to 'shoot people of their types'. Stanley Snellgrove, 87, from Colchester in Essex, abused Javier Rivera and his family and made their lives a misery during his campaign of harassment. The pensioner took pictures of the shattered family, swore at them and made rude gestures as he hounded them relentlessly. Snellgrove often clasped his hands as if he was firing a gun at Mr Rivera and made a throat-cutting gesture with his finger. He also spied on the family with binoculars and ranted about 'you people coming over here'. David Wilson, prosecuting, told Ipswich Crown Court that during one week last February, Mr Rivera had been harassed almost every day. Snellgrove took down some trellis and part of a boundary fence after his victims moved into their house, which backs on to the vile OAP's home. As a result shocked Mr Rivera set up CCTV cameras in a bid to protect his family. When police went to quiz him in October 2015, Snellgrove referred to his 22-year army career and said he would 'shoot people of their types', said Mr Wilson. In a statement read out at court, Mr Rivera labelled Snellgrove 'a neighbour from hell'. The furious immigrant accused him of 'emotionally and mentally torturing' his family and making their lives a misery. Snellgrove admitted harassment and racially aggravated harassment. The former serviceman was handed an 18-month prison sentence suspended for two years and a 20-week curfew between 7pm and 6am. Snellgrove was also ordered to pay 750 to Mr Rivera and a 100 victim surcharge. And he was made the subject of a restraining order in respect of Mr Rivera and his family. Sentencing Snellgrove, Judge David Goodin branded his behaviour 'devastating, cruel and spiteful' Sentencing Snellgrove, Judge David Goodin branded his behaviour 'devastating, cruel and spiteful'. Judge Goodin said the offences crossed the custody threshold. But he felt able to suspend it because of his age and 22 years' service in the army. Frank O'Toole, defending, admitted Snellgrove's behaviour had been 'obnoxious'. Mr O'Toole said: 'He now fully accepts what he did was wrong and should never have happened. 'He felt he couldn't talk to his neighbour and things got worse and worse as time went on.' He said Snellgrove had been injured while in the army and received an army pension. Mr O'Toole said he now hoped to move to nearby Stanway to be near his daughter. Two people have been gored to death in a bull-wrestling festival in southern India, a day after a ban on the controversial sport was overturned. Several towns and villages in the southern state of Tamil Nadu celebrated the popular Jallikattu festival after week-long protests prompted authorities to approve an executive order lifting a Supreme Court ban on it. But rampaging bulls sprinting through the village of Rapoosal in Pudukottai district fatally gored the two victims and injured 28 others, the Press Trust of India cited local police as saying. Two people have been gored to death in a bull-wrestling festival in southern India. Pictured are bulls on the rampage during the festival The Supreme Court last year outlawed the Jallikattu festival after a plea by animal rights groups but have since lifted the ban The Supreme Court last year outlawed the Jallikattu festival after a plea by animal rights groups, which have long accused those taking part in the event - held annually across Tamil Nadu - of cruelty to the animals. The state's residents say Jallikattu is a crucial part of their culture and identity. Growing tensions over the past week in the state capital Chennai and other cities led Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday to issue an executive order that this year's event go ahead. But thousands have continued to protest and refused to celebrate the festival, saying they want a permanent lifting of the court ban and not just a temporary order. Protesters against the bull fighting festival form a human chain on the beach after police try to evict Thousands of people have continued to protest and refused to celebrate the festival after it was given the go ahead Police officers try to forcibly remove a group of women during a protest against a bull fighting festival in India Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam assured Tamils that the executive order would be made into a law during his state's next session of parliament starting Monday, according to PTI. Panneerselvam was scheduled to launch the Jallikattu festival in the town of Alanganallur in Madurai district, where the sport is most popular. But he was forced to cancel his appearance due to strong protests. It came after protesters hurled stones at a police station and set fire to dozens of police vehicles after they were forcibly evicted from a beach where they had been staying. Police officer Balakrishnan said police moved on the protest campsite early Monday after thousands of people refused to leave Marina beach in Chennai, the Tamil Nadu state capital. Protesters hurled stones at a police station and set fire to dozens of police vehicles during the protest S. George, the city police commissioner, said the police crackdown came as groups of trouble-makers tried to break the roadblocks set up by the police in different parts of the city Police cordoned off the roads leading to the beach and moved in large numbers to clear the area of nearly 7,000 protesters, said Balakrishnan, who uses one name. Gayatri, a protester, said police used tear gas and batons to clear the area. S. George, the city police commissioner, said the police crackdown came as groups of trouble-makers tried to break the roadblocks set up by the police in different parts of the city to prevent more people from joining protesters at the beach. They attacked policemen with rocks and set on fire and damaged 51 police vehicles, George told reporters in Chennai. He also said that 94 policemen sustained injuries, some of them serious, in clashes with the protesters. Police arrested 40 people for attacking them, he added. A diver fished an iPhone 7 Plus out of an ice hole where it had been lodged for 13 hours and told his friend: 'You've got a missed call!' The device survived underwater in subarctic Russia after an angler dropped it in an ice hole on the frozen Lena River in Siberia. The fisherman, from Yakutsk, the world's coldest city, had been angling all night in temperatures of -36C. It is so cold in the city that fish pulled out of the water freeze soon after being stuck in the ice. A diver went into the ice hole to retrieve the iPhone 7 Plus that was buried four feet deep After finding the phone and discovering that it was still working, he held it aloft to his friends His friend held up the iPhone that survived for 13 hours underwater and only lost 16% battery At some point the phone slipped into the ice hole inside a plywood hut which locals use to protect them from frostbite. The following day, he got his diver friend Fedor to retrieve the phone, which was at a depth of around four feet. When he surfaced, he told his friend: 'You've got a missed call!' According to the Siberian Times, he added: 'Not only was the device still working, but in the 13 hours underwater its battery had only gone down from 35 per cent to 19 per cent'. President Donald Trump privately told congressional leaders on Monday that Barack Obama gave him the go-ahead to repeal and replace Obamacare. Trump told the leaders that in the letter that Obama left for him, the former president said he could support a new bill if it improved upon his policy, the Affordable Care Act. Trump recalled the letter in front of the top eight House and Senate leaders with both parties, including Democratic Minority Whip Rep Steny Hoyer. Hoyer recalled the story, saying that Obama wrote to Trump saying he would support a new healthcare bill if it provided 'greater access, greater health care assurance to people, greater quality and bring costs down'. Trump even brought the letter to a White House senior staff swearing in ceremony in the East Room of the White House on Sunday Donald Trump privately told congressional leaders on Monday that Barack Obama made his statement in the letter he left for the incoming president Trump recalled the letter in front of the top eight House and Senate leaders with both parties who were at the meeting. Trump is pictured at the meeting. L-R; Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuch Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence, Representative Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer and White House Chieff of Staff Reince Priebus Democratic Minority Whip Rep Steny Hoyer (left, with S House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and senior adviser to Trump Jared Kushner) recalled the story, saying that Obama wrote to Trump saying he would support a new healthcare bill if it improved on his policy 'Yes, President Obama said that, and we agree with that. And we told Trump that we agreed with that. But the fact of the matter is, we haven't seen anything that does that,' Hoyer told CNN's Erin Burnett on OutFront shortly after the meeting. Republican Sen John Cornyn said that Trump told the group that his goal is to provide 'something that is better and more affordable' than the current healthcare policy. Democratic leaders, however, pushed back at Trump's comments, Cornyn added. Obama has previously said he would support a new healthcare plan if it built upon his policy. He said in his farewell speech earlier this month he would publicly support such plan. 'And if anyone can put together a plan that is demonstrably better than the improvements weve made to our health care system that covers as many people at less cost I will publicly support it,' he said. 'That, after all, is why we serve to make peoples lives better, not worse,' he added. Trump signed an executive order on Friday regarding Obamacare as Republican lawmakers work to find a replacement for the healthcare policy. The order Trump signed gives federal agencies broad leeway to chip away at the measure. The law requires individuals to carry health insurance or face fines, and provides subsidies to help people who can't otherwise afford insurance. Trump has said he wants to keep some of the measure's more popular provisions, including allowing young people to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26 and preventing insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-exiting conditions. After the meeting on Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (left ,US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and US Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn) with said they had discussed 'the different Electoral college, popular vote' but wouldn't be drawn on further details Republican Sen John Cornyn (right, with McCarthy, left, and Schumer, center) said that Trump told the group that his goal is to provide 'something that is better and more affordable' than the current healthcare policy Hoyer said that Trump told the group that Obama would support a policy that provided 'greater access, greater health care assurance to people, greater quality and bring costs down' But critics say Trump can't cherry-pick to keep popular portions of the law and get rid of the requirement for everyone to have insurance. Democrats say that requirement, called the individual mandate, is what pays for expanded coverage. Trump revealed at a swearing-in ceremony for his senior staff over the weekend that Obama had left him a letter in the Oval Officer, per presidential tradition. In an unusual presidential move, Trump brought the letter to the ceremony, but refused to reveal the details of what Obama wrote. 'I just went to the Oval Office and found this beautiful letter from President Obama,' Trump said of the note. 'It was really very nice of him to do that.' 'And we will cherish that,' the president added. Letters from former presidents to sitting commanders in chief are often kept private until the end of a presidential term, and sometimes longer. The handwritten letters President George W Bush wrote to Barack Obama and Bill Clinton wrote to Bush were revealed for the first time just before Trump's inauguration. The letters, which are kept by the National Archives and Records Administration, are part of the tradition followed by outgoing presidents as the new Commander-in-Chief transitions into office. Hoyer said that the Monday meeting was mostly social, however, and that the group didn't go into much detail about policy. Among those at the meeting was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi. On the day Obama left office, he left a letter for Trump for him to read when he first entered the presidency Trump has been keen to show the public the letter (pictured above), but has revealed few details about what Obama wrote After the meeting on Monday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, said they had discussed 'the different Electoral college, popular vote' but wouldn't be drawn on further details. House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi refused to comment. Hoyer told CNN the president maintained his position on the inauguration crowd size. 'He didn't change his point of view on the crowd size,' he said. 'It was from his perspective a very large crowd ... it was clear this was still on his mind.' Cornyn said that the group discussed getting Trump's nominees confirmed and ways to find 'common ground' on infrastructure spending. He added that McConnell made 'the important point' that it should be 'paid for because we got $20trillion in debt'. Earlier in the day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told a packed briefing room their coverage of the president was unfairly negative. He pinned his argument to two grievances; a tweet wrongly claiming the president had removed a bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office and reports regarding the crowd size at President Trump's inauguration. Spicer last week said it had been the most watched inauguration in history and condemned the media for sharing comparative photographs from Obama's 2009 swearing-in when more attended in person. On Monday he repeated his claim but added the clarification that 'most watched ever' referred to viewers who saw it in person, online and on television. The press conference lasted more than an hour during which he also heeded questions about Obamacare, President Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin and on his plans for Planned Parenthood. Nirmal Tanna was caught in Marbella after going on the run when he skipped bail A businessman dubbed 'The Indian Ronnie Biggs' travelled the world while taunting police with pictures telling them to 'catch me if you can'. Nirmal Tanna sent a string of emails mocking officers after he skipped bail and went on the run, including one with a photograph of himself in the Swiss Alps. The 39-year-old boasted he could order Russian criminals to murder officers and a barrister and even rang the court posing as a doctor - only to then admit it was really him and he was just wasting their time. But Tanna's months of fun on the run came to an abrupt end on New Year's Eve when he was arrested sunning himself in Marbella, southern Spain. He and his two accomplices have been sentenced to more than seven years in jail for their part in a bid to launder more than 500,000. Tanna was convicted of laundering money in 2012 by a jury at Leicester Crown Court last September. He did not attend the trial after skipping bail. The same court heard that he went on the run across Europe posting pictures on Facebook as he went. He also used old holiday snaps from across the world to keep his real whereabouts a mystery. His friends enjoyed his online bragging and one dubbed him 'The Indian Ronnie Biggs!'. He described himself as a 'sun worshiper and freedom fighter'. Tanna sent officer pictures from his travels, but also threw in some old holiday photos to keep officers guessing about his exact location Over several months he sent police emails with his pictures attached and as time went on he got more and more brazen. Others were more sinister saying he would pay Russian mafia to kill officers. In a phone call to the court he posed as a doctor who was treating Tanna in Switzerland. But when challenged by a member of staff, he admitted it was actually him on the phone and said he just 'enjoyed' wasting the court's time. On his Facebook page Tanna claims to have studied Astro Physics, Space engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge as well as attending a business management course at London's Brunel University. Tanna formerly of Oadby, Leicestershire - who also claimed on his profile that he was a resident of Switzerland - admitted jumping bail and breaching a suspended jail sentence. Tanna was convicted of money laundering offences, after sending fake instructions to a London business asking them to change their payment details Sentencing Tanna, Recorder David Herbert QC said Tanna was the principal offender in the laundering operation, 'having received a large sum of money in his bank account in 2012'. Recorder Herbert told him: 'You sent mocking and taunting messages to the prosecution and showed contempt for the court, the police, prosecution counsel and the proceedings in general, to disrupt the court process.' He said Tanna sent messages claiming he had met with 'Russians', and making death threats. Recorder Herbert said: 'You emailed the police threatening to get someone to kill the officer in the case and the prosecution counsel.' Tanna's barrister, Mike McKeown, said his client had been suffering mental health difficulties at the time. He said: 'He apologises for not being in the right frame of mind when the emails were sent. 'The money never left his bank account and can be returned. He's offered an apologetic stance.' Mr McKeown said Tanna went on the run to Switzerland, Portugal and Spain, where he intended to look after elderly relatives. His two co-accused, businessmen Kevin Hollyoake and Mark Percival, both attended the trial to protest their innocence, but were also found guilty. In one picture, emailed to the detectives in the case, Tanna told the officers: 'Catch me if you can' Recorder Herbert said the three men 'all told elaborate lies about a bogus scrap metal deal to account for the money'. The trial was told a genuine London business received fake instructions to change their regular payment details to another business's account, resulting in about 500,000 being stolen - of which 175,000 ended up in a bogus account called Tanna Land Investments. But the bank became suspicious and froze the account. Police discovered the money was stolen just as the defendants prepared to falsely convince a court to lift the bank's restraining order. Detecives discovered Hollyoake had used his business in an attempt to legitimise the transaction to Tanna. Percival, an employee of Hollyoake, was found guilty of his involvement in this deceit. Recorder Herbert said the men had 'assisted' Tanna in his attempts to persuade a court to authorise the release of the stolen cash and back into his control. David Nathan QC, mitigating for Hollyoake, said his client was a 'decent' and 'successful businessman' who had, on an isolated occasion, 'departed' from everything he had sought to achieve over the past 30 years by doing 'a favour' for a friend, Tanna. Tanna was initially found guilty in September last year. He was sentenced to seven years behind bars when he was finally caught in Marbella and appeared at crown court Sarah Wood, for Percival, who had no previous convictions, said her client was recruited by Hollyoake at a late stage. Hollyoake, 57, of Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire was jailed for 18 months. Percival, 51, of Barwell, Leics, who was the least involved in the 'lies', was given a 12 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 150 hours of unpaid work. Tanna was jailed for four years, 10 months for the money laundering offence and had nine weeks added to his sentence for the activation of a suspended sentence, meaning his total is more than five years. Afterwards, Detective Constable Matthew Swift, from Leicestershire Police's Economic Crime Unit, said: 'This was a lengthy and complex investigation where individuals have tried to hide and legitimise the receipt of the Proceeds of Crime. 'While we haven't been able to prove who committed the crime, we were in this case able to identify where the proceeds of this crime have ended up. 'I hope this sends out a clear message to those involved in criminality - specifically money laundering - that we can and will track down where possible criminal proceeds and those responsible. 'Other recipients of funds are still being sought and inquiries are ongoing to locate them although it is believed some are no longer in the UK.' Hillary Clinton is '50-50' on deciding whether or not she will run for New York mayor, a city political insider claims. Supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis said he's convinced that Clinton might challenge current Mayor Bill de Blasio with a campaign this year Catsimatidis, a billionaire who was a Clinton donor during the 2016 presidential campaign, said he will hold off his own decision to run for mayor until the former secretary of state decides what she will do. Supermarket mogul John Catsimatidis, a known Clinton donor, said Hillary Clinton might challenge current Mayor Bill de Blasio with a campaign this year 'I spoke to her about it, but she didn't indicate or signal to me [whether she would run]. She didn't say never, she didn't say no. In my personal opinion, it's 50-50,' he told The Real Deal real-estate blog on Monday. 'If Hillary runs, I won't.' The Red Apple Group CEO and Gristedes Foods owner ran his own mayoral campaign in the 2013 primary as a Republican, but he lost to Joe Lhota. While Clinton has given no indication she will run for office again she, she won 49 per cent of the hypothetical vote over de Blasio's 29 in a recent poll conducted by Quinnipiac University. The poll sparked calls among her fans to revive her political career. They started a 'Hillary for Mayor' hashtag on Twitter and told de Blasio to 'watch out'. The poll asked: 'If the election for Mayor were being held today, and the candidates were Bill de Blasio the Democrat, and Hillary Clinton running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?' Catsimatidis (pictured in 2015) said he will hold off his own decision to run for mayor until Clinon decides what she will do The next Mayoral election in New York will be held on November 7. De Blasio has already begun campaigning for reelection. While Clinton's camp has not directly denied the possibility she may run for mayor, advisers say it is unlikely. The poll nonetheless proves her overwhelming popularity in the city which, despite being Donald Trump's home city, voted largely against him in the Presidential election. It also indicates New Yorkers' lacking enthusiasm for de Blasio, said researchers. 'New Yorkers arent in love with Mayor Bill de Blasio, but they seem to like him better than other possible choices except Hillary Clinton, who probably is an impossible choice,' Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said. 'None of the possible contenders has made any real noise or spent any money, so this race still could get interesting.' The current mayor's job approval rating is down, with only 45 per cent of New Yorkers approving of his performance, while 46 per cent don't. A November poll showed a 47 per cent approval rating, according to the Wall Street Journal. De Blasio endorsed Clinton in the presidential race in October 2015, months after other prominent New York Democrats, including Governor Andrew Cuomo. She later had to distance herself from a 'racist' joke he made about the late endorsement in which he said he was on 'C.P. time' in a joint skit at an April 2016 charity event. Clinton jumped in and said that means 'cautious politician' time. 'C.P. time' is actually short for 'colored people' time. As video of the incident made the rounds in April, de Blasio was hit 'for making what some said was a 'racist' joke. Bill De Blasio endorsed Clinton in the presidential race in October 2015, months after other prominent New York Democrats, including Governor Andrew Cuomo. She later had to distance herself from a 'racist' joke he made about the late endorsement in which he said he was on 'C.P. time' in a joint skit at an April 2016 charity event (pictured above) It implies the negative stereotype that African Americans are habitually late, lazy and unreliable. Catsimatidis's mayoral race claim comes as reports say Clinton and her husband, Bill, are figuring out what to do next politically. Clinton is starting off by looking at a series of reports to examine what went wrong in her presidential campaign, while Bill has re-devoted himself to the family foundation. A number of Clinton allies spoke to Politico, saying that the former secretary of state is waiting out the Democratic National Committee chair election in February - as it's shaping up to be an ideological rematch of the Clinton versus Sen Bernie Sanders Democratic primary war. Their inner circle is also advocating a 'wait-and-see' approach before she steps into a more public-facing role - in part so they can see if President Donald Trump's poll numbers sink, which in turn means Hillary Clinton's could rise. 'I'm certain Trump will screw up enough that by the fall of '18, Hillary's numbers will be way up again,' predicted Clinton friend and former Pennsylvania Gov Ed Rendell to the online publication, referring to the timing of the congressional midterm elections, the party's next big test. Clinton's detractors can take comfort in knowing that the former secretary of state, senator and first lady - nor her ex-president husband - will likely ever appear on a ballot again. 'The Democratic Party does need new blood, new faces and I don't think Bill or Hillary Clinton would ever want to get back and run for anything,' said former Democratic Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor to Politico. 'I don't think a team of mules could drag them to do that,' Pryor added. For now, Clinton's former campaign manager Robby Mook and members of his team are putting together presentations that include where there were date and polling errors and where in the electorate she under-performed, a Democrat familiar with the project told Politico. Bill Clinton has also been involved, poring over the precinct-level data, while complaining to friends about the involvement of FBI Director James Comey - who received a warm embrace yesterday in the White House from Trump - and the Russians' involvement in the election. Clinton supporters were encouraged by the hypothetical poll and are calling for the Democrat to throw her hat into the 2017 race for Mayor of New York Meanwhile, Democratic party leaders and Clinton allies have said they believed the Clintons would be fundraising and campaigning again, perhaps even in the next several months. Some in the party have suggested deploying the political couple to red states, to help raise money for local election, which tend to be underfunded and ignored by those in the national scene. Politico pointed out that a number of groups that will help in the rebuilding of the Democratic party have Clinton ties at the top too. There's the Priorities USA super PAC, which is steered by Guy Cecil. The John Podesta-founded think tank, the Center for American Progress continued to be run by ally Neera Tanden. And David Brock, an ex-conservative who embraced the Clintons and now runs a number of liberal groups, will also continue to have the couple's back. 'I would be surprised [to see Bill Clinton step way from politics] only because he has so many friends who are still involved, who he's worked with for so many years,' Skip Rutherford, the dean of the University of Arkansas' Clinton School of Public Services told Politico. Rutherford noted that 'many of the people who are involved in the political world got their stars in the Clinton world, so there's a whole base of people who are connected to both Clintons.' 'Many Democratic politicians have been personally influenced or share direct ties to President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, or both,' McLarty echoed to Politico. He predicted they'd eventually both play roles in the party going forward. 'And despite the grave disappointment, resilience is in the Clintons' DNA,' McLarty said. 'So while I certainly don't expect to see them trying to assert their authority, I think there will be natural and welcome opportunities for them to engage.' A hate crime investigation has been launched in California after windows were smashed at a mosque and strips of bacon were draped over door handles. A woman smashed six windows and destroyed two bicycles at a mosque in Davis, near Sacramento. She then placed strips of uncooked bacon on the handle of a door at the Islamic Center of Davis. Scroll down for video The placing of bacon on the door was designed to be deliberately offensive to the mosque's attendees as pork products are forbidden to Muslims and pigs are considered unclean The Islamic Center of Davis (pictured) is in a quiet neighborhood in a community near the state capital, Sacramento Muslims are prohibited from eating pork, ham and bacon, which is 'haram' (forbidden) in the Koran. Surveillance video footage suggested the culprit was a woman who struck at around 4am on Sunday. The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Sacramento Valley chapter has called on the FBI to investigate the attack and has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator. The council said: 'Bigots often use pigs or pork to offend Muslim sensibilities.' The woman smashed six windows at the mosque, causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage (pictured) The chapter's executive director Basim Elkarra said: 'The swift apprehension and punishment of those responsible for this act of religious intimidation will send the message that the growing Islamophobia we are witnessing in our nation will not be tolerated or ignored.' The suspect was a white woman, aged between 25 and 35, medium height and weighing around 170 pounds. She had red or brown wavy hair and at the time was wearing beige high-top shoes, gray or blue pants, an off-white vest and shirt and a black hat which was probably deliberately worn to cover her face. The Los Angeles Times said US Department of Justice hate crime statistics suggest anti-Muslim crimes increased by 9.5 percent between 2010 and 2015. But of the 1,354 religious hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2015 around 22 per cent targeted Muslims, compared to 51 percent aimed at Jews. Dr Martin Peverley (pictured leaving his hearing) was more than four times the limit A family doctor caught drink driving was more than four times the legal limit and so intoxicated police had to carry him to their patrol car. Dr Martin Peverley could barely speak when officers tried to talk to him and was too drunk to get out of the driver's seat, a tribunal heard today. As officers attempted to extract the 51-year-old from his car, respected GP Peverley fell to the ground in a drunken stupor. He then had to be lifted into the police vehicle and taken to the police station where he was ordered to take a breath test. The incident occurred in April last year after the doctor, who ran a medical practise in Hartlepool in Co Durham, had been seen by another motorist driving erratically along the A19 and A689 roads in the town. Peverley, who was also director of Hartlepool and District Hospice before resigning in May last year, was seen braking, speeding and 'narrowly missing other vehicles'. The other driver followed him home due to concerns over the doctor's driving. The other driver called police whilst Peverley parked his car on his driveway of his 500,000 house in Nunthorpe near Middlesbrough - and even waited for officers to arrive at the scene, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was told. Peverley was later breathalysed at the police station where the lowest reading was 153 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg. Later that month he admitted drink driving at Teeside JPs court and was banned from driving for 36 months. Magistrates also gave him an eight-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered him to pay 115 charges and 85 costs. The GP voluntarily referred himself to the GMC for a disciplinary hearing. Peverley, who was also director of Hartlepool and District Hospice (pictured) was seen braking, speeding and 'narrowly missing other vehicles' Peverley was later breathalysed at the police station where the lowest reading was 153 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath Lawyer for the General Medical Council Kevin Slack told the Manchester hearing: 'The police report states that Dr Peverley's vehicle was braking and speeding up with no cause, narrowly missing other vehicles. 'He was followed to his home address and observed parking up and remaining in the drivers' seat. No other people were in the vehicle. 'He was observed until police arrived and they tried to speak with Dr Peverley but due to him being intoxicated they had to physically pull him out of the drivers' seat where he fell on the floor and had to be carried to the police vehicle. 'He was over four times the legal limit.' Peverley told the North East Medical Director for NHS England, Tim Butler, that his actions were contributed to by 'stresses at work'. He is now battling to escape being struck off. Dr Peverely is a GP at the Journee Medical Practice in Hartlepool (pictured), according to the NHS Choices website Mr Slack added: 'Dr Peverley is a general practitioner who had been one of two partners in a surgery in Hartlepool until his partner left in 2014. 'He referred himself to the GMC. An email was sent on April 19 last year when he informed the GMC he was charged with driving with excess alcohol on April 15. 'On April 28 last year Dr Peverley again contacted the GMC, this time to report he had been convicted and sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months. As well as being banned from driving for three years and fined 200. 'Dr Peverley has today formally admitted the fact of that conviction. 'There has also been a separate referral from Tim Butler the medical director. Under the heading 'background', Dr Butler states on April 19 Dr Peverley contacted him to declare his arrest about drink driving. 'Dr Peverley admitted to being four times over the legal limit and spoke about stresses of work which contributed to this.' The tribunal was told the rest of the hearing which continues would be held behind closed doors. This week it emerged there are more than 1,000 doctors who are registered and licensed who have criminal convictions. Jonathan Norbury attends the disciplinary hearing with his wife Katie in Swansea A deputy headteacher received a glowing reference and an 8,000 payout despite the fact he was sacked after having sex with teenage girls, a disciplinary hearing was told. Jonathan Norbury, 35, was cleared in court two years ago of historic sex offences including having sexual intercourse with two underage girls, after insisting it did not take place until they were 16. Education chiefs in Swansea launched their own investigation after Norbury faced accusations in court of sleeping with three girls under 16 and even sneaking into a classroom store cupboard for a snog. He was sacked from his primary school job for gross misconduct. During his trial, he admitted to having sexual relationships with two of the complainants, who were not former pupils, but said he did not sleep with them when they were underage. A disciplinary hearing at the Education Workforce Council was told the allegations did not stop Swansea Council giving Mr Norbury the glowing reference. The reference from the council said: 'Jonathan Norbury joined the primary school with good references and a clear CRB check. 'He was employed as a Year Six teacher with some management responsibilities and he was later appointed acting deputy head teacher. Norbury and his wife Katie. The former deputy headteacher was given an 8,000 payout after he was sacked following a probe into relationships he had with teenage girls Jonathan Norbury and his wife on their wedding day. Norbury says he does not want to return to teaching after he was sacked 'While employed at the school he was a valued and conscientious teacher who always put learning outcomes and the needs of pupils first.' A disciplinary hearing was told the sexual relationships with the two teenage girls - as well as with an alleged third girl - amounted to unacceptable professional conduct. Case presenter Cadi Dewi told the Education Workforce Council hearing in Cardiff that Norbury was accused of sexually touching the three girls when they were below the age of 16, and then having sexual intercourse with them after they turned 16. She said the three girls - referred to as Girl A, Girl B, and Girl C - all met Norbury when they were around 15, and began relationships with him between 2005 and 2010. The relationships allegedly involved the exchanging of flirty text messages, before eventually meeting up in person. Norbury was cleared of the historic sex offences at Swansea Crown Court in 2015, but a separate investigation was launched as he admitted sexual relationships with the girls when they were aged over 16. Above, Norbury and his wife at the crown court Ms Dewi told the hearing: 'Norbury and one girl would have sexual contact in a cupboard in his classroom. 'There was also sexual touching in an alleyway and his car when she was 15 years old.' All three girls - who are now adults - were said to have finished with Norbury and 'moved on with their lives', before being contacted by police in 2010 after an anonymous tip off to the NSPCC. Ms Dewi said 'A criminal prosecution concluded with him being acquitted for causing or inciting a person under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity with a child. 'But our allegations refer to girls above the age of 16.' David Harris, representing Norbury - who was said to not want to return to education - said his client admitted having an 'inappropriate relationship' with two of the girls after they turned 16, involving sexual touching and intercourse. Mr Harris said the reference was 'fundamentally at odds' with the council's decision to fire him. He said: 'That reference is fundamentally at odds with the employer's decision to dismiss Mr Norbury for gross misconduct. Norbury and his wife Katie on their wedding day. The former teacher faces a life time ban from the profession 'The local authority position prior to this reference was that Mr Norbury had committed gross misconduct requiring dismissal. 'They decided that these allegations needed to be referred to the Education Workforce Council to determine whether his fitness to practice was impaired - yet they provided him with a reference that he could use to seek further teaching employment.' Mr Harris told the hearing that Mr Norbury had sent the council the wording that he wanted on his reference, and the local authority agreed to the wording. He said: 'Mr Norbury sent them that reference saying that this is the reference he would like and they agreed. 'They were not compelled to write that reference. 'They could have said "we have dismissed you for gross misconduct, there's no way on earth we're giving you a reference", but that's not what happened.' He said Norbury had an 8,000 settlement from the Swansea council after medidation. Norbury, the former deputy head at Casllwchwr Primary School in Swansea, South Wales, denies having a relationship with a third girl, as well as having sex with any of the girls when they were underage. The EWC panel will decide if the allegations against Norbury, from Swansea, are found to be true, after which he faces being banned from teaching. In the chaos and confusion following the Melbourne rampage that has so far killed five people, there emerged everyday heroes who went to the aid of others around them. Cab driver Lou Bougias was one of these inspirational people, offering a level head, kind words and administering first-aid to scared and hurt bystanders on Bourke Street. 'He is everything great and courageous you have seen, heard or read, rolled into one authentically humble bloke,' witness Henry Dow wrote in a post dedicated to the 'genuine hero'. In the chaos and confusion following the Melbourne rampage that has so far killed five people, taxi driver Lou Bougias (pictured) emerged as a 'genuine hero' helping those around him 'He is everything great and courageous you have seen, heard or read, rolled into one authentically humble bloke,' witness Henry Dow wrote in a post (Both men pictured here under a tree administering first aid to a woman) Henry Dow, who helped victims with Lou Bougias, speaks at a memorial held for victims of the Bourke Street Mall Attack at Federation Square on Monday But it's a title Lou does not believe applies to himself. 'I'm just a bloke who did what they had to do,' he told The Age. 'If I had stopped the car, fine. But at no point was my life in danger, so I'm not a hero.' Mr Bougias was smoking a cigarette between jobs at a taxi rank when the maroon Holden Commodore sped past, missing him by metres. He was so close, Mr Bougias believes he could have reached into the driver's side window to stop the car. But a bike rack in front of him prevented that happening. Instead he used his military training from his younger years to assist those around him. 'I was basically just trying to keep people calm and stabilised until the ambos turned up,' he said. 'I was thinking very clearly, I was talking to the victims, the coppers and everyone else who was trying to help. It was basically just a big team effort. I think it was just a matter of adrenaline.' Mr Bougias doesn't call himself a hero but 'just a bloke who did what they had to do' Henry Dow (pictured) dedicated a heartfelt post to Lou Bougias Henry Dow's post about Lou's heroic actions has been shared more than 17,000 times Mr Dow (pictured) read his read his post about Mr Bougias out at the vigil for the victims in Federation Square on Monday night Mr Bougias was smoking a cigarette between jobs at a taxi rank when the maroon Holden Commodore sped past, missing him by metres The car was so close when it passed Mr Bougias he believes he could have reached into the driver's side window to stop the car - but a bike rack was in the way Mr Bougias, alongside Mr Dow, administered first-aid to an injured woman. 'Some basic Surf Life Saving training got me through the first stages of helping this poor woman: role her on her side, support her neck, we talked kindly and as calmly as we could to her,' Henry Dow posted. 'Holding her head, my hand was, for want of a better word, shaking. It was more like bouncing, moving several inches up and down as the fear and thoughts of what had happened, what could happen, raced through my head. 'Lou grabbed my hand and firmly told me to keep it together, that I was ok and that we needed to keep strong for this woman. 'In a level and loud voice, Lou barked orders at other pedestrians standing by, having not fled, but still too stunned to think or move.' The smashed up maroon Holden Commodore driven into pedestrians on Bourke Street, killing five people Three-month-old baby boy Zachary Bryant was the first victim of Bourke Street mall car rampage to be laid to rest, a private funeral for Thalia Hakin, 10, (pictured) will be held on Wednesday James 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, was charged with five counts of murder on Monday, and is likely to face more charges Mr Bougias' assertive manner and expertise led Mr Dow to believe he had an 'emergency services veteran' helping him, rather than a taxi driver. But he hopes he will 'never forget, just how brave and loving strangers can be' after witnessing Mr Bougias' actions. But the taxi driver says the real thanks should go to the three police officers, two nurses and an orthopedic surgeon, who helped stopped the injured woman's leg bleeding using travel catalogues, The Age reports. Nineteen people were still in hospital on Tuesday after a man allegedly deliberately drove into the lunchtime crowd, killing five people and injuring more than 30. Nineteen people were still in hospital on Tuesday after a man allegedly deliberately drove into the lunchtime crowd, killing five people and injuring more than 30 Floral tributes line BOurke street in the days following the fatal rampage Three-month-old baby boy Zachary Bryant was the first victim of Bourke Street mall car rampage to be laid to rest, a private funeral for Thalia Hakin, 10, will be held on Wednesday. Matthew Si, 33, Sydneysider Jess Mudie, 22, and a unnamed Japanese national, 25, also died in the attack. Two victims are still critical, including new mum Nethra Krishnamurthy. James 'Jimmy' Gargasoulas, 26, was charged with five counts of murder on Monday, and is likely to face more charges. Gargasoulas' case is due to return to court on August 1 for a special mention. The accused man was on bail at the time of his alleged offences. A team of Russian scientists have successfully tested their first railgun, which is fast enough to rip through any type of armour. The weapon relies on electromagnetic forces rather than explosives or propellant. According to experts at the Institute of High Temperatures' branch in Shatura, in Moscow, the railgun can fire shells at three kilometers per second. During the latest test, a 15 gram plastic cylinder fired by the railgun went through an aluminum plate several centimeters thick. Shatura Institute's director Alexei Shurpov told Zvezda TV: 'The railgun is a big boost to our study of high energy physics as we are now ready to build apparatuses working at speeds exceeding 4.5 kilometers a second.' The weapon relies on electromagnetic forces rather than explosives or propellant As well as Russia, the US is also working on its own version of the railgun. The futuristic weapon has long been a darling of the Navy's research wing, along with other game-changing technologies such as laser beams that can track a boat in choppy water and blast holes in its hull. Ultimately, scientists expect the railgun rounds to travel at speeds up to Mach 7.5, which at 5,700 mph (9,100 kph) is more than seven times the speed of sound, and cover a distance of about 100 miles (160 kilometers.) According to experts at the Institute of High Temperatures' branch in Shatura, in Moscow, the railgun can fire shells at three kilometers per second THE RAILGUN Instead of using gunpowder and explosive charges to shoot a shell from its barrel, the railgun employs vast amounts of electromagnetic energy to zoom a projectile along a set of copper-alloy rails. Thanks to four small fins on its rear, the hefty round can then be guided toward a moving object - such as an enemy ship, drone or incoming ballistic missile - relying purely on the kinetic energy from its vast momentum to destroy the target. Advertisement The Navy hopes to install a railgun on the USS Zumwalt, a brand new guided-missile destroyer that produces the large amounts of power needed to charge the weapon. However the railgun has also suffered from technical setbacks during its development. The enormous forces generated by the HVP leaving the gun caused early versions to fail after only a few shots, but scientists say they are now working toward a solution that could see the barrel last for thousands of rounds. It is hoped the gun - which has so far cost more than $500m - will ultimately end up being operationally deployed within a decade. The US is near to conducting Sea trials of a railgun in 2017 or 2018 There, they will attempt to fire a 20kg projectile at hypersonic speeds. By contrast, Russia's railgun projectile is a thousand times smaller and reached speeds of 7,200mph. Inmates at a notorious Brazilian jail that was the scene of murderous infighting between rival drug gangs last week have boasted of having a barbecue with human flesh in this disturbing footage. The prisoners gloated as they showed off pieces of meat on a skewer over a bonfire and claimed they were toasting the remains of a rival. The video was recorded at the Alcacuz prison which was the scene of gruesome violence between two rival gangs last weekend when 26 inmates were massacred, most of them beheaded. Military police were only able to restore some semblance of control at the prison, in the north-eastern city on Natal, on Saturday. They are now desperately trying to separate rival gangs by building a wall of shipping containers as Brazil's prisons descend into chaos. Footage has emerged purportedly showing drug gang members in a Brazilian jail roasting a rival on a human barbecue The prisoners filmed preparing the barbecue were said to belong to an Amazon drug cartel called the Family of the North and a Rio de Janeiro-based drugs gang called the Red Command. The man whose meat they claimed to be barbecuing was said to be a member of the First Capital Command (PCC) based in Sao Paulo which kept the peace for years with the Red Command before their loose alliance fell apart last year and resulted in the spate of prison killings. One of the bare-chested prisoners recorded on film, who made no attempt to hide his face, shouted repeatedly: 'Churrasco do PCC', meaning 'PCC Steak.' Another inmate, who was brandishing a machete-style knife and had several front teeth missing, said: 'And this is only the beginning.' Pointing towards the meat on a skewer, he chillingly added: 'Today it was us and they paid.' One of the men even made a 'V' for 'Victory' sign to the mobile phone that recorded the footage. A man brandishing a machete in the footage chillingly warned: 'This is only the beginning' The overcrowded prisons in Brazil are now the battleground in a quickly escalating war between the PCC and the Red Command, the nation's two biggest drug gangs. For two decades, the two factions maintained a working relationship, ensuring a steady flow of drugs and arms over Brazil's porous border. But about six months ago, the PCC began trying to muscle the Red Command out of key drug routes. The PCC has aggressively moved into new areas in the north and northeast of Brazil, where the deadly prison riots have taken place in recent weeks. In response, the Red Command allied itself with local gangs, enlisting them to take on the PCC. The overcrowded prisons in Brazil are now the battleground in a quickly escalating war between the nation's two biggest drug gangs, the PCC and the Red Command The prisoners filmed preparing the barbecue were said to belong to an Amazon drug gang called the Family of the North and a Rio de Janeiro-based drugs gang called the Red Command The killings began on New Year's Day, when the powerful North Family gang, an ally of the Red Command, killed 56 inmates at a prison in Amazonas state, mostly PCC members. The North Family controls a lucrative cocaine route along the Solimoes, a branch of the Amazon that flows from Colombia and Peru, the world's top two cocaine-producing nations. The PCC retaliated on January 6 by killing 33 inmates at the Monte Cristo prison in the neighboring state of Roraima. Then at Alcacuz, PCC members slaughtered rivals belonging to the 'Crime Union of RN' - a gang carrying the state's initials. PCC members attacked rivals with machetes and knives, beheading and quartering many of the 26 killed. Following that, Brazilian police said they had interrogated five inmates they believe were responsible for the killings. The series of riots and grisly killings in Latin America's largest country has also put a spotlight on overcrowding, underfunding and understaffing in the prison system in Brazil Of the 26 bodies previously sent to the medical examiner, 22 have so far been identified. Experts say the violence is part of a war between drug gangs battling for control of one of the world's most important cocaine markets and trafficking routes. Brazil shares borders with Colombia, Bolivia and Peru, the world's three biggest cocaine producers. It is a key route for trafficking the drug to Europe. The series of riots and grisly killings in Latin America's largest country has also put a spotlight on overcrowding, lack of funding and inadequate levels of staff in the prison system. For instance, Alcacuz is home to more than 1,000 inmates, though it was built for 620. Images on TV and in newspapers of prisoners wielding weapons and cellphones have embarrassed President Michel Temer and put pressure on his administration to reform the system. Brexiteers have urged Theresa May to table an immediate Bill so they can vote on starting talks on quitting the EU as soon as next week. The Government lost eight votes to three in an historic Supreme Court case - but the result was expected after the four day hearing in December. Despite the set back, Brexit supporters said the time was now to press on and deliver on the mandate of the British people to quit the EU. For Labour, Jeremy Corbyn also urged a swift Bill be produced - legislation he plans to try and amend in line with his priorities. Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg said the divided court showed the Government had been right to appeal the controversial High Court judgement (file picture) Tory Suella Fernandes said it was right that the Judges had their say and the Government should now get on with implementing Brexit (file picture) Jacob Rees-Mogg - a constitutional expert on the Tory benches - said: 'The Government was right to appeal as shown by the divided court but will now legislate quickly. 'This can be done by March 31 as the decision to leave has already been validated by the people. 'The clarity on devolution is very important because it stops further potentially vexatious delays.' Tory Will Quince said he expected the Bill on Article 50 to be published tomorrow with a vote next week on pushing ahead with Brexit Anna Soubry - a Tory MP who backed Remain - said the judges should be 'congratulated on their wise judgement' Heidi Allen said the result had been widely expected but that Parliament 'must' vote to get on with Brexit when the Bill comes to Parliament John Penrose, speaking for the Tory European Research Group, said a Bill should be tabled immediately. He said: 'The judges have spoken so Ministers should table a short and tightly worded Bill in Parliament immediately. 'MPs and Lords must not frustrate the democratic will of the people. We've had a referendum, the result must be respected and Article 50 should be triggered by the end of March, according to the Government's timetable.' Conservative John Penrose asked Mrs May for a 'short and tightly worded Bill' to be introduced as soon as possible (file picture) Tory Michael Tomlinson said the Government had been planning for a defeat for several weeks in expectation of the result (file picture) Tory Suella Fernandes told MailOnline: 'Brexit was about British judges ruling on British issues. The judges have spoken so Ministers should table a short and tightly worded Bill in Parliament immediately. 'MPs and Lords must not frustrate the democratic will of the people. We've had a referendum, the result must be respected and Article 50 should be triggered by the end of March, according to the Government's timetable. 'I'm looking forward to voting in favour of triggering Article 50, so that we can get on with the job of leaving the European Union.' Labour MP Paula Sherriff said the result was 'inevitable' and questioned why the Government spent money fighting a losing case Kerry McCarthy, a Labour backbencher, said she was glad to see the Supreme Court uphold the sovereignty of Parliament Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson told MailOnline: 'The result is not surprising and the Prime Minister has been planning for this for a number of weeks. 'It is now for the Government to put a Bill before the House as soon as possible and for Members of Parliament and the Lords to vote to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. 'As the Court has acknowledged, the Referendum was of great significance politically and it is now for the politicians to ensure that it happens by supporting the Government's Bill.' Will Quince tweeted that he expxected the Bill to be published tomorrow and said he expected 'a vote next week'. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also gave the result a thumbs up and called for a swift bill to be introduced to Parliament (file picture) Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: 'Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. 'However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. 'Labour will seek to build in the principles of full, tariff-free access to the single market and maintenance of workers' rights and social and environmental protections. 'Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given Parliamentary approval.' Ukip leader Paul Nuttall said the result was not a surprise and would make no real difference in the end (file picture) Paul Nuttall, the UKIP leader, said, 'This decision is hardly a surprise but in the end it will make no real difference. 'The will of the people will be heard, and woe betide those politicians or parties that attempt to block, delay, or in any other way subvert that will. 'Other than making clear that this is a decision of the whole United Kingdom, rather than its constituent parts, what we can clearly see is that it will embolden those who rail against the decision of the people. 'It may give heart to those in the EU, used as they are to ignoring their own people, to attempt to play hard ball in the negotiations. But in the end I am convinced that though this skirmish has been lost in the courts, the war will be won.' Meanwhile Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed to step up her threat of holding a second referendum on Scottish independence today after Supreme Court judges unanimously rejected demands for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be given a veto on Brexit. Judges said ministers are 'not legally compelled' to grant devolved administrations a vote on triggering Article 50, the formal mechanism for leaving the EU, in a claim accompanying the main case. Ms Sturgeon said the judgement raised 'fundamental issues' for Scotland and said it is now 'ever clearer' that Scotland should decide on its own future in a referendum. This bored student taught himself an impressive new skill - throwing objects backwards into a bin without looking. June Saito, from San Diego, starred in a jaw-dropping video showing him tossing plastic cups into other cups, hats onto hat racks and paper plates into the bin. But friends of the 23-year-old doubted his abilities, with some claiming the footage has been edited or faked. June Saito, from San Diego, starred in a jaw-dropping video showing him throwing plastic cups into other cups, hats onto hat racks and paper plates into the bin But friends of the 23-year-old doubted his abilities, with some claiming the footage has been edited or faked 'Everyone seems to believe that I rigged the trick shots somehow but everything is one hundred per cent real,' Mr Saito said. 'No magnets, strings, or video editing. It just takes patience, lots of attempts, and luck. 'It's a lot of fun and I want people to be able to watch it and have a laugh for the day.' The footage also showed him hitting a water bottle with his skateboard and still making it into the bin while he also kills a spider from long range. June made the videos when he got bored but thinks it should encourage everyone to take up unusual hobbies. 'Just have fun with life. It doesn't matter what you're doing when you're having fun. Everyone has different hobbies and that's what makes life interesting.' June made the videos when he got bored but thinks it should encourage everyone to take up unusual hobbies. Here he is throwing two cups into another pair of cups Rebecca Dale bit off her ex-partner's ear when he dropped their son off 25 minutes late on Christmas Day A mother of two bit off part of her ex-partner's ear in a brutal assault because he dropped their four-year-old son off 25 minutes late on Christmas Day. Rebecca Dale, 26, screamed 'are you taking the p***' as her former partner John Booth kissed his son on the cheek, then sank her teeth into the side of his head. Mr Booth, 31, managed to break free following a violent struggle with blood pouring from wound as their son watched on in horror. He didn't realise that part of his ear was missing until he got back to his car and looked in the rear view mirror, Manchester Crown Court heard. Mr Booth also had a broken lip after she punched him in the face and a torn T-shirt from the assault, which has left him permanently disfigured. He went to hospital where he needed stitches and doctors confirmed that the pinna of his ear had been chewed off. Dale, who has a 12-week-old baby with a new partner, admitted causing grievous bodily harm but escaped with 12 months jail suspended for two years. The judge, Martin Rudland, described how she 'viciously' attacked her partner but urged Dale, a florist, to maintain the 'fragile and precious relationship' with Mr Booth. 'You and he both for the benefit of your child have put your differences to one side, ' he said. The court heard Dale and Mr Booth had been in a relationship for seven years and had a son together in 2010 but they ended their relationship in Autumn 2015. The incident occurred on Christmas Day 2015 when Dale and her new boyfriend were entertaining relatives at her house in Burnage, Manchester. Dale, 26, screamed 'are you taking the p***' as her former partner John Booth (pictured) kissed his son on the cheek, then sank her teeth into the side of his head Dale (pictured) also punched him in the face, breaking his lip, and tore his t-shirt during the brutal assault on Christmas Day 2015 Mr Booth (left), 31, managed to break free following a violent struggle with Dale (right), with blood pouring from wound as their son watched on with horror Prosecutor Wayne Jackson said: 'Mr Booth picked up the boy from Rebecca's house at about midday and took his son home. 'The agreement was that he was to return the boy to mum at 3pm but it didn't quite work out like that and they got to mum's at about 3.25pm. Dale, pictured at Manchester Crown Court, admitted causing grievous bodily harm but was let off jail with a suspended sentence 'John Booth rang the defendant's mother to let her know that he was outside as he didn't want direct contact with her. But the defendant came to the door and as Mr Booth kissed his son goodbye, the defendant said, 'Are you taking the p***?' She was angry. 'Mr Booth asked her what she was on about and pointed out that he was only 25 minutes late. But no sooner had he said that the defendant attacked him, punching him to the head, grabbing his face and ripping his top. 'She burst his lip as he was saying to her that he had done nothing wrong, to get off him and asked her what she was doing. 'She then took hold of his hair and pulled his head down and then bit his left ear. He kept telling her to get off and eventually she did. 'Once she did this her mother and the defendant's boyfriend came out of the house and was saying to Mr Booth: "Why are you hitting my bird". 'This was a family gathering so all of the family were there, they all were involved. The court heard Dale (pictured) and Mr Booth had been in a relationship for seven years and had a son together in 2010 but they ended their relationship in Autumn 2015 'John Booth phoned for an ambulance and went to hospital where he was medically examined and was found to have had the pinna of his left ear bitten off. 'That piece of his body was missing and the injury is permanently disfiguring as a result of the missing piece.' Dale - who initially denied assault - was also ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and pay 100 statutory surcharge. Dale - who initially denied assault - was also ordered to complete 80 hours of unpaid work and pay 100 statutory surcharge It is thought Mr Booth refused to give evidence against her, despite the injuries he suffered in the attack. Dale's lawyer Rachel Shenton said: 'The two of them now have a sufficiently good relationship, where contact is agreed with their child seeing his father regularly. 'The child is also staying overnight with his father, and they have a contact relationship with the defendants agreement. She also has a 12-week-old baby by her new partner. 'Miss Dale is planning on going back to work at the florist, and they want her back as soon as possible before Valentines Day.' Passing sentence Judge Martin Rudland told Dale: 'This was an example of a happy time in the year where people should be rejoicing and happy and celebrating with each other. 'Christmas is a time for people to celebrate whatever they wish to celebrate at Christmas time together. It is also true that it is a difficult time with relationships, for people to overcome these conflicts and Christmas can highlight the difficulties in the relationships. The judge, Martin Rudland, described how she 'viciously' attacked her partner but urged Dale, a florist, to maintain the 'fragile and precious relationship' with Mr Booth 'So on this, what should have been a happy family day, the complainant in this case arrived back with the child, later than the previous arrangement. 'You had a scrap with him on the threshold of the house which others became involved in - you reacted rapidly but quite viciously in the way that you acted, by biting his ear. 'He did not support the prosecution case against you, and others would have tried to use that in their favour but you did not do so. 'You and he both for the benefit of your child have put your differences to one side. There is ongoing contact in the relationship with the elder of your two children. 'The fragile and precious relationship with the complainant and his son is intact.' Former soldier Gareth Crabb - who starred in a play about the challenges faced by ex-service personnel - took his own life after suffering PTSD, an inquest heard A soldier who turned West End actor to highlight the plight of war veterans took his own life after suffering PTSD, a coroner has ruled. Bombardier Gareth Crabbe was hailed in his stage performance as a battle-scarred soldier in the London play - and was applauded by actor Ray Winstone. But an inquest heard the father-of-one was haunted by his experiences in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq and killed himself after being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. The hearing was told Mr Crabbe, 38, died after a night out in Swansea, South Wales in June last year with his partner Danielle. She said his mood changed during the walk back to their home and she found him dead after she briefly left him alone. 'I went to the toilet - we're talking seconds,' she told the inquest. 'I thought he had hurt himself so I ran downstairs to see what happened.' Mr Crabbe, who served in the Royal Artillery since the age of 18, had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder in 2009. The condition related to the sights he had to endure whilst with the armed forces. He was also crushed under a two-tonne gun before he was due to go Helmand Province in Afghanistan. The inquest heard he also became addicted to his painkillers. Mr Crabbe had been praised by actors including Ray Winstone after appearing in the play Mr Crabbe's wife and the mother of his son, Tina Jamieson, who he split up with in 2006 and is originally from Germany, told of his depression. She told the inquest: 'A week before he died, he phoned me and was very distressed.' The inquest in Swansea Coroner's Court also heard that Mr Crabbe's flat had been burgled in May of last year, which also significantly contributed to his anxiety. 'He felt violated by this burglary,' said his ex-wife Tina Jamieson. He had suffered depression due to memories of what he witnessed on tours abroad 'He felt like he had lost the feeling of being a soldier or a man because somebody went into his flat and took some of his belongings.' Coroner Colin Philips recorded Mr Crabbe's death as suicide. After the hearing, Ms Jamieson said he had been 'neglected' after his 17 years in the Army. 'They just have nothing in place to look after their own people. It's not just an employee, it's a life,' she said after the inquest. 'When you're discharged from the army you do not just lose a job, you lose your home, your friends, everything. 'That's why we have homeless veterans, it's because of the lack of care - they don't learn to be civilians.' The inquest heard that whilst serving in the army Mr Crabbe had been a part of 'Operation Telic', which was the codename for the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq between 2003 and 2011. There he once tried to save the lives of people who had been involved in a train collision but he was unable to help them survive. He also attended the scene where a bus had come off a bridge - and had to endure the sight of multiple dead bodies. Mr Crabbe needed spinal disc replacement after an incident on training, the inquest heard He was medically discharged from the army in 2012 - but was delighted to win a place in the West End show with other injured vets in their stage unit called Bravo 22. Actor Winstone was the show's ambassador and Gareth was also praised by actresses Barbara Windsor and Caroline Quentin An Army spokesman said: 'The mental health of everyone who serves our country is of the utmost importance. 'Help is readily available for those with health issues due to service and we encourage those that need help to come forward and get the assistance they deserve.' For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. An honest Filipino taxi driver has been awarded a life-altering scholarship after handing valuable luggage left in his cab back to its lucky owner. Reggie Cabututan drove Australian businessman Trent Shields to an appointment in Baguio City on January 17, but Mr Shields left his luggage - containing his passports, gadgets, and cash - in the car. After Mr Cabututan returned his belongings to police, the president of an Australian coding training center granted him the $5800 scholarship starting later this year. Reggie Cabututan has been awarded a life-altering scholarship after handing valuable luggage back to its lucky owner Ace Estrada's Facebook post commending the honest deed has drawn more than 30,000 likes and 5,300 shares, with commenters hailing the driver a hero. 'Today, my Australian friend Trent, completely forgot about his luggage when he alighted at Calle Uno Coworking Space.' 'Just as we were leaving for the police station to file a report, Trent's taxi pulled in. Never was a sight more welcome than the smiling face of this driver. What an awesome win for humanity!' 'This story is not the first one about Filipino honesty, and certainly it will not be the last. Honesty is the best, the most noble, of all human values - and it is always deeply inspiring.' In the wake of his social media stardom, Mr Cabututan was invited to a ceremony at the local City Hall, where he was awarded a certificate of commendation. When Mr Shields got word of the ceremony, he decided to return from the airport, where he had checked in his luggage, to honour the Good Samaritan. Bristol Palin hit out at women's marches across the world in a new blog post, in which she says it's 'embarrassing' that feminists are 'always playing the victim'. In a post written on Monday, Palin claims that the women's marches, which saw millions gather worldwide to fight for equality and protesting President Donald Trump on Saturday, were 'setting women back decades'. Palin adds that she believes American men and women are already equal. 'If today's 'feminists' only knew what real feminism is, maybe they could relax a little,' she writes in the post, titled 3 Serious Questions For The Feminist Movement (Which Is Setting Us Back Decades). 'Maybe be less angry; find a bit of joy in life. 'Feminism was founded by independent, hard working, capable women that were making a way in the world without whining, relying on government or anyone else.' Bristol Palin, pictured with her husband Dakota Meyer, said in a blog post on Monday that it's 'embarrassing' that feminists are 'always playing the victim' and asked her readers to list rights American women don't already have The mother-of-two, who's expecting her third child, said that she's 'embarrassed' to be part of her generation of women, questioning why women dressed up like 'p*****s' for the march Palin claims that the women's marches were 'setting women back decades'. Women's marches millions gather worldwide to fight for equality and protesting President Donald Trump on Saturday Palin kicks off her post by asking what rights American women don't have. She says that women can vote, bear arms, go to school and work and have freedom of speech, adding that women have 'every single opportunity in this great country that anyone else has'. She suggests that instead, women should march in 'Islamic countries that murder women for showing more than their eyes in public'. The mother-of-two, who's expecting her third child, adds that she's 'embarrassed' to be part of her generation of women, questioning why women dressed up like 'p*****s' for the march. Calling herself a 'middle class working mom - wife - and independent woman', she said she believed the costumes and signs featuring vaginas were foolish. 'Dressing like a giant vagina and holding signs that say things like "Do my periods scare you?" is doing NOTHING to help women, and a LOT to hurt them,' she writes. Palin then asks what would happen if the tables were turned and instead of a women's march, it was a men's march filled with men 'dressed as giant d**ks' wearing 'penis hats'. She says feminists would 'freak out' and call it harassment. After saying she 'can't believe' the state of the current world, Palin says that she was raised to work hard and to treat people with respect. She says she's raising her own children the same way. Marchers at 600 different events worldwide championed a variety of causes, including gender equality, black rights, abortion rights and general disgust over Mr Trump's history of misogynistic remarks. Marchers carried signs advocating for 'equality' with slogans including 'We're Watching' and 'girl power' 'Our generation is screaming for "tolerance and equality" and "love for all" while still mocking our President for things like his hair - and igniting violence from uninformed - out of touch - celebrities like Madonna ("I've thought about blowing up the White House"), and screaming that someone else MUST provide them "free birth control",' she writes. Palin closes her blog post by saying 'normal Americans' aren't buying into the 'whiny brand of 'empowerment'.' 'If you don't want eight years of Trump, you might want to re-think your hysteria,' she writes. Women's marches drew millions of people across the world to more than 600 rallies on Saturday. Trump dismissed them with the scoffing tweet: 'We just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?' But hours later, amid evidence that the Washington DC demonstration alone drew more people than his inauguration ceremony - not to mention an army of stars including Emma Watson, Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore and Madonna - Trump backtracked on his remarks. Turning again to Twitter, Mr Trump wrote: 'Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognise the rights of people to express their views.' Meanwhile, a day after the marches Palin posted a photo on her Instagram with her husband, Marine Corps veteran Dakota Meyer, and her two children, eight-year-old Tripp and one-year-old Sailor Marchers championed a variety of causes, including gender equality, black rights, abortion rights and general disgust over Mr Trump's history of misogynistic remarks. Many on the marches sported home-made, pink and pointy eared 'pussy hats' to mock the US President's vilest language about women. The New York protest outside Mr Trump's skyscraper home was attended by Dame Helen Mirren and Whoopi Goldberg while the Los Angeles demo drew Jamie Lee Curtis, Barbra Streisand, Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Miley Cyrus and Jane Fonda. The biggest event was in Washington DC, where officials estimated it drew more than 500,000 protesters - possibly twice the figure for the Trump inauguration the previous day. There were protests in British cities including Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. Meanwhile, a day after the marches Palin posted a photo on her Instagram with her husband, Marine Corps veteran Dakota Meyer, and her two children, eight-year-old Tripp and one-year-old Sailor. She captioned the photo 'family' with a heart emoji. Palin, the daughter of the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, is pregnant with her third child - her second with Meyer - and is due in the spring. It's been a busy couple of weeks for the parents, who celebrated both Sailor's birthday and Bristol's son Tripp's birthday at the end of December. Tripp, Bristol's only child with her ex-fiance Levi Johnston, turned eight years old last month, and Dakota gifted his stepson with a snow mobile. This is the huge tank bomb ISIS fanatics tried to use in a murderous attack in Iraq - before the driver was killed and the vehicle torched. The homemade vehicle was stopped in its tracks by elite Iraqi troops in besieged Mosul before it could reach its target. A sign on the side of the burnt-out tank - which resembles a terrifying version of some of the miniature designs featured on the BBC show Robot Wars - read: 'Islamic State, Nineveh Province, Abi Laith Ansari Battalion. Pictures show how the crude weapon was fitted out with armour and metal cages over the windows. But the improvised explosive device was taken out by members of Iraq's Golden Division during the battle for the city's eastern suburbs. Terrifying pictures have emerged of the tank bomb ISIS fanatics tried to use in a murderous attack in Iraq - before the driver was killed and the vehicle torched Pictures show how the crude weapon was fitted out with armour and metal cages over the windows It comes as Iraqi forces started preparations for an offensive to capture the western side of Mosul from ISIS and as the UN warned 750,000 civilians living in the city are at 'extreme risk'. Popular Mobilisation 'is preparing an operation in the next two, three days, to back up the operation to retake the right bank' of the city, on the western side of the Tigris river campaign commander Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Rasheed Yarallah said. Popular Mobilisation is a coalition of predominantly Iranian-trained Shi'ite groups, formed in 2014 to take part in the war on ISIS. It became officially part of the Iraqi armed forces last year. Meanwhile, the United Nations warned today that three quarters of a million civilians living in west Mosul are at 'extreme risk'. A hundred days into a massive offensive to retake the last major stronghold of ISIS in Iraq, federal forces and jihadists took up positions on either side of the Tigris River that divides Mosul. The improvised explosive device was taken out by members of Iraq's Golden Division during the battle for the city's eastern suburbs The homemade device was stopped in its tracks by elite Iraqi troops in besieged Mosul before it could reach its target The three months it took to reconquer Mosul's east saw some tough fighting but even deadlier battles are expected on the city's west bank, which is home to the narrow streets of the Old City and some of IS's traditional redoubts. 'We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west,' the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande said in a statement. 'We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives.' Iraqi forces have retaken all central neighbourhoods in east Mosul and on Tuesday were clearing Rashidiyah, which lies on the northern edge of the city and is the east bank's last area still to be secured. Tens of thousands of other forces are deployed north, south and west of Mosul, meaning that the jihadists are trapped in the city where their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his 'caliphate' in 2014. A sign on the side of the burnt-out tank read: 'Islamic State, Nineveh Province, Abi Laith Ansari Battalion' ISIS engineers fitted metal cages and armour on the vehicle in the hope it could withstand gunfire on the way to its target Residents of west Mosul and civil activists told AFP on Monday that ISIS fighters had forced civilians along the river front to leave their shops and homes. 'The group forced us to leave our homes... without allowing us to take our belongings,' a resident of Al-Maidan said. 'It deployed gun positions and posted snipers on roofs and at windows.' Facing them across the river are some of Iraq's most seasoned elite forces, whose engineers some reports said were already working on assembling pontoon bridges for a cross-river assault. All bridges across the Tigris in Mosul were either bombed by ISIS or hit by airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition that has helped Iraq reclaim about two thirds of the territory it lost to ISIS in 2014. 'The Iraqi forces have over the course of their battle against Daesh (ISIS) in this country developed the capability to do bridging, including bridging while under fire,' coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said. THOUSANDS OF IRAQI CHILDREN RETURN TO SCHOOL IN MOSUL Thousands of Iraqi children are heading back to school in east Mosul after weeks of fighting and more than two years of jihadist rule, the UN children's fund UNICEF said today. Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to recapture Mosul from ISIS a hundred days ago and have ousted the jihadists from all the central neighbourhoods of east Mosul. But while returning to school is a good start, recovery will likely be a long process for Iraqi children exposed to bloody urban warfare that followed ISIS efforts to indoctrinate the next generation. Thousands of Iraqi children are heading back to school in east Mosul after weeks of fighting and more than two years of jihadist rule, the UN children's fund UNICEF said today Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to recapture Mosul from ISIS a hundred days ago and have ousted the jihadists from all the central neighbourhoods of east Mosul 'As fighting subsides in east Mosul, 30 schools reopened on Sunday with help from UNICEF, allowing over 16,000 children to resume their education,' it said in a statement. 'Some schools in the area were closed for up to two years, and girls were banned from getting an education,' it said. 'After the nightmare of the past two years, this is a pivotal moment for the children of Mosul to reclaim their education and their hope for a better future,' UNICEF's Iraq representative Peter Hawkins said. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured much of the territory they lost. During more than two and a half years of rule in Iraq, the jihadist group sought to indoctrinate children into its extremist ideology, using schools as part of its efforts to do so. It has also featured children in propaganda videos that showed them in IS 'training' and classroom indoctrination, as well as being used as executioners. Iraqi forces launched the Mosul operation on October 17 and have made rapid gains on the city's eastern side this month, but the west still remains under IS control. Advertisement The UN had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the Mosul offensive began on October 17 but while 180,000 people did flee their homes, the majority stayed. It now estimates that 750,000 people still live in Mosul's west bank, either because they did not want to leave their homes or were prevented from doing so by ISIS, which has routinely used civilians as human shields in this conflict. 'We don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus,' Grande said in the statement. 'To date, nearly half of all the casualties from Mosul are civilians. It's terrifying to think of the risks families are facing,' she said. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which assists some of the displaced families, also said the lack of access to west Mosul was a source of great concern, given the humanitarian crisis that fighting in the east had already caused. Iraqi forces have started preparations for an offensive to capture the western side of Mosul from ISIS and as the UN warned 750,000 civilians living in the city are at 'extreme risk' The UN estimates that 750,000 people still live in Mosul's west bank, either because they did not want to leave their homes or were prevented from doing so by ISIS, which has routinely used civilians as human shields in this conflict 'Those still trapped inside Mosul city are in even graver danger due to the fighting and shortages and, 100 days since the fighting started, we still have no way to reach them,' it said in a statement. The recapture of Mosul by Iraqi forces would deal a death blow to the Iraqi part of ISIS's caliphate, with the next major target the group's stronghold of Raqa in neighbouring Syria. In retaken areas of eastern Mosul, efforts to resume a normal life picked up in recent days, with many shops reopening and children starting to go back to school. The UN's Children Fund said 30 schools had reopened this week. 'After the nightmare of the past two years, this is a pivotal moment for the children of Mosul to reclaim their education and their hope for a better future,' UNICEF's Iraq representative Peter Hawkins said. The UN said more than 20,000 people displaced since the Mosul offensive started 100 days ago have already returned to their homes in areas retaken from ISIS. Advertisement US Marines and South Korean troops have been conducting joint exercises in temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius as the Pentagon sends out a warning to both North Korea and China. The 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force, usually based in Okinawa, Japan, flew over to Pyeongchang to join their local allies for a series of gruelling exercises in the freezing cold. Next year Pyeongchang will host the Winter Olympics but this year the area was the location of even more arduous activities. The endurance exercises included a scenario in which South Korea comes under attack from its communist foe beyond the 38th parallel. The men involved are among the best in both armies and the annual exercise is an opportunity to sharpen their winter skills Marines from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary force deployed from Okinawa, Japan, participate in the winter military training exercises with their South Korean allies South Korean marines participate in the winter military training exercise in the hills surrounding Pyeongchang It has happened before. At dawn on Sunday June 25, 1950 the North Korean army stormed across the border with Kim Il-sung - grandfather of current leader Kim Jong-un - promising to hang the 'bandit traitor Syngman Rhee (South Korea's president)'. Back then there were no US troops in Korea and the North Koreans captured the capital, Seoul, and almost conquered the entire peninsula before General Douglas MacArthur and his troops arrived to rescue the situation. The Korean War ended three years later with millions dead and the peninsula permanently divided between the democratic South and the communist North. The winter exercises took place only days after American, Japanese and South Korean warships conducted joint naval drills off the coast, designed to prepare for a missile attack by the North. But this year there was also a hidden agenda - showing off to the increasingly belligerent Chinese, that the US remains a powerful military adversary in Asia. The exercise tests the men's marksmanship, tracking and communication skills These guys are tough so stripping off to play in the snow in sub-zero temperatures is nothing to them Almost 70 years ago North Korean troops stormed across the border and the US rushed troops to the peninsula to turn the tide and drive back the communist army The Marines are usually based in tropical Okinawa so the exercise is their only opportunity to hone their skiing abilities Temperatures fall far below zero on the Korean peninsula during winter Ooh Rah! The US Marines strip off in sub-zero temperatures for a spot of male bonding in the snow Wrestlemania: Korean and US servicemen get to grips with each other in the snow, watched by an audience of comrades Hand-to-hand combat: Should they run out of bullets they will be ready to take on the enemy by grappling them While the South Koreans' priority is defending against North Korea, the US also has an eye on China Next year Pyeongchang will host the Winter Olympics but the cross-country skiers then won't be armed Marines and soldiers are silhouetted against the background of snow in the mountains near Pyeongchang, which pipped Munich and Annecy in France to be chosen as the venue for next year's Winter Olympics Brothers-in-arms: The annual exercise is also an opportunity to improve teamwork between the US and South Koreans Linda Hardan sent sexually explicit photos of herself to a 16-year-old student at a Haledon public school in November 2014 A high-school teacher who was jailed for performing sex acts on her underage pupils has blamed her strict religious upbringing for her crimes. Linda Hardan, from Prospect Park in New Jersey, was jailed to three years in prison yesterday after sending scores of sexually explicit text messages to pupils, aged 14 to 16 years-old in 2014, and then engaging in sex acts with them. Her defense lawyer, Alissa Hascup, said the Muslim woman was driven in part to commit the offences due to her strict religious upbringing, and suggested that she be treated by a therapist as oppose to serving time in prison. Hardan, 22, had pleaded guilty in a deal with the Prosecutor's Office that had called for a five-year prison sentence. However Passaic County Superior Court Judge Miguel de la Carrera found enough mitigating factors to depart from the plea deal and impose a three-year sentence on the substitute teacher acknowledging the impact of her formative years on her mental development. 'She had classmates and friends, but somehow, perhaps because of limitations on her dating life, she didn't find the proper outlet among males of her own age,' he said. 'She did not learn how to interact with guys her age,' the judge continued. The outside of Manchester Regional High School in New Jersey where Hardan was a teacher In one case Hardan, who taught at Manchester Regional High School, sent 40 selfies of herself 'in varying states of undress' to a 14-year-old then drove him to a waterfall and performed a sex act on him. The prosecutor said the boy was 'so upset, so disgusted that he got out of the car and walked home' two miles away. Another student, 16, was so traumatized by Hardan's actions that he dropped out of school and never returned, said prosecutor Gyselle Da Silva. Hardan, who also admitted sexting another 16-year-old, wept quietly yesterday as relatives said she was 'the foundation, the rock' of her family and pleaded for her to be spared jail. Former substitute teacher Linda Hardan from Prospect Park, New Jersey, wept in court as she admitted sexting and performing sex acts on former high school students She will be eligible for parole after a year but will be under strict supervisory probation for the rest of her life, the judge said. De la Carrera said his sentencing options were limited by statute. 'There might be a wish for the law to be more nuanced, a wish that the law might be different, but it's not,' he said. The judge dismissed Hardan's request that her sentence be delayed until she finishes her studies at Passaic County Community College in May. He said that she will be better positioned to resume her studies when the prison sentence is behind her. A clever dog was seen taking a 'puppuccino' straight from the hands of a Starbucks drive thru worker in the US. River Song, a rescued German Shepherd, sat patiently with her head poked out of the window of owner Victoria Stewart's car waiting for the creamy treat on January 8. With her ears pricked up and eyes wide, the dog mists up the freezing air in Eagle River, Alaska, as she salivates. River Song, a rescued German Shepherd, was filmed 'ordering' a puppuccino at a drive-thru Starbucks in Alaska As soon as the counter window slides open, River Song darts her head out to grab the cup between her teeth before disappearing back inside the vehicle. Ms Stewart said: 'River regularly accepts puppuccinos at Starbucks. 'The staff finds her to be gentle, sweet and darned feminine with those PetSmart earrings she's always sporting. 'She prefers to hold her own treat between her paws while mommy drives and runs errands.' River Song deserves the small treats in life as she was suffered a tough upbringing before being rescued by her current owner. Victoria Stewart, her owner, said: 'River regularly accepts puppuccinos at Starbucks' Ms Stewart said: 'River was rescued from a man who kept her chained up during her first winter here in Alaska, then became enraged with her when a neighbour dog raped her and got her pregnant. 'He proceeded to attempt to starve the puppies from her, and she didn't eat for quite some time. 'She was rescued by a local group here in Anchorage and fostered after her puppies were safely delivered in shelter. 'Our application was chosen to match her needs because I have young twins. 'River immediately became their nanny, and to this day, is 'on duty' when her boys are around. Controversial film director Roman Polanski has pulled out of his role as the honorary host of the French Oscars after furious protests over his child rape case. The 83-year-old, who made the hit movies Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby was accused of raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in Los Angeles in 1977. He later confessed to the crime but fled to France, where he has remained ever since. Controversial film director Roman Polanski has pulled out of his role as the honorary host of the French Oscars - the Cesars. He is pictured at the ceremony in 2014 Earlier this month, it was announced that he would give the opening speech at the Cesars, dubbed the French Oscars, which takes place in Paris next month. But after both women's rights groups and even the French government criticised the decision, it has now been announced he has pulled out of the ceremony. In a statement Polanski's lawyer Herve Termine said the controversy had 'deeply saddened Roman Polanski and affected is family'. Mr Termine added that decision to pull out had been made 'in order not to disturb the Cesars ceremonies, which should focus on the cinema and not on the appointment of the (event's) president.' The 83-year-old, who made the hit movies Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby was accused of raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in Los Angeles in 1977 He also added that Polanski himself had attended many festivals and ceremonies in the course of his life and had received top awards without criticism of his attendance. Polanski's decision to pull out of the awards show came after leading French feminist group Osez le feminisme ('Dare to be Feminist') had called the decision by the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques to invite Polanski 'shameful' and urged people to protest outside. Samantha Geimer, who Roman Polanski is accused of raping as a 13-year-old in Los Angeles in 1977 France's minister for women's rights, Laurence Rossignol, said Friday she found it 'surprising and shocking' that the controversial filmmaker had been chosen for the awards. A petition calling for the 83-year-old to be removed garnered nearly 62,000 signatures. However, while the choice of the Franco-Polish film-maker caused outrage for some, the director won backing from many French industry insiders. 'I spoke to him yesterday by phone and I think we shouldn't have added problems to the problems. He's deeply hurt,' said the director of the Cannes film festival, Thierry Fremaux, on Tuesday. 'It's a case you need to know well in order to speak about it. I know it well but I'm not going to add my own comments,' he told RTL radio. The French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques had praised Polanski as an 'insatiable aesthete' and former culture minister Aurelie Filippetti defended him last week as a 'great director... who should be allowed to preside over the ceremony'. His third wife, French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, posted a picture of a forest on Instagram on Tuesday where she said she had woken up 'far from human nastiness and stupidity ... and lies'. Polanski, who was 43 at the time of the rape, was accused of drugging Geimer before having sex with her. Film maker Polanski pictured in 1976, a year before the rape allegations. Last month he won his legal fight to end efforts by the United States to extradite him from his native Poland for unlawful sex with a minor He pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, or statutory rape, as part of a plea bargain under which he served 42 days in detention while undergoing psychiatric evaluation. But in 1978, convinced that a judge was going to scrap the deal and hand him a hefty prison sentence, Polanski fled to France. Last month he won his legal fight to end efforts by the United States to extradite him from his native Poland for unlawful sex with a minor. And Geimer has previously appealed for the US case to be dropped, saying she wanted to move on. A man was outraged when he saw a halal food store in China had been selling pig's trotters, as a recently emerged video shows. In the video, the customer, believed to be a Muslim, confronted the shopkeepers and demanded that they remove the braised pig's trotters at once. The three female shopkeepers first claimed the pig's trotters were beef, then they argued that they had not known that pork is not allowed at a halal food store. Shopkeepers at a halal food store in China first claimed the pig's trotters (left) were beef. Then one of them (right) said she had not known pork is not halal At the beginning of the video, the man can be heard telling the shopkeepers to close down their store. He said: 'The signboard says you're a halal store, but here you are selling pork.' The signboard inside the store suggested that the shop was called Yi Sai Beef, a halal food franchise in China. The man then pointed at a plate of what appeared to be pork and challenged the female shopkeepers: 'What are these?' The sign above the dish read 'braised pig's trotters'. One shopkeeper answered: 'It's beef.' However, her colleague then admitted to the customer: 'This is pork.' The man demanded that they remove the 'halal' sign from the shopfront and take away the pig's trotters. The shopkeeper who admitted to sell pork said 'we are selling them temporarily' before walking away. Another shopkeeper is seen receiving another customer. At the end of the video, one of the shopkeepers told the man to go and find their bosses because 'there is nothing we can do'. A customer was outraged after he found pig's trotters on sale at a halal food store in China The sign above the dish (left) read 'braised pig's trotters', but the shopkeepers said there was nothing they could do about it The video was reportedly filmed in June, 2016. The shop was said to be located in Jiaozuo city, central China's Henan Province, where around one million Muslims live. After the video became popular online, Yi Sai Beef released a statement in response to the incident. The brand claimed that they had carried out an investigation. The shop featured in the video was selling Yi Sai beef, however it was not an licensed franchise, according to the brand. Yi Sai said in the statement that they had removed their logo and the halal sign from that shop. The company apologised to the Chinese Muslims in the statement and said they would 'strengthen the management of franchises'. There are around 23 million Muslims living in China - less than 2 per cent of the country's population of 1.3 billion. Above, Chinese Muslims were pictured attending a morning prayer session to celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Beijing in July, 2016 According to Henan National Chamber of Commerce, it is not uncommon to see pork being sold at halal food counters or food stores in the province, which has the sixth largest Muslim population in China. In a statement on its website, The Chamber of Commerce called for attention from the Chinese authorities to 'step up their management and supervision into the halal food market'. There are around 23 million Muslims living in China - less than 2 per cent of the country's population of 1.3 billion. Most of the Chinese Muslims live in the north-western part of the country near Russia and Central Asia. Over the years, China has been troubled by a tension between the Muslims and the Hans, who are the dominant ethnicity group in China. A crooked travel agent used company credit cards to steal 22,000 to fund a string of exotic adventures. Rebecca Waterfall, 27, from Manchester, pocketed 5,350 for a family's dream holiday to Florida, and used her company's credit card to pay for the trip. She also illegally used her firm's cash to offer friends and family discounts on holidays to destinations including Cuba and Switzerland. Waterfall worked for Incentivise, a travel agent based in Manchester, between October 2015 and May last year. Pictures on Facebook showed blonde haired Waterfall on holidays kayaking, jungle trekking, meeting a koala bear, swimming with dolphins, enjoying a helicopter ride and being serenaded by musicians with Spanish guitars. Rebecca Waterfall, who worked for Incentivise, a travel agent based in Lymm, Cheshire, left her bosses more than 10,000 in the red - and the Conways more than 5,000 out of pocket after using her bosses' credit card to pay for vacations, and using her clients' money to pay off the bills Pictures on Facebook showed blonde haired Waterfall in Australia kayaking, jungle trekking, meeting a koala bear, swimming with dolphins, enjoying a helicopter ride and being serenaded by musicians with Spanish guitars Pictured is Rebecca Waterfall kayaking in Australia - a trip which was paid for using her firm's credit card She was unmasked after the Conway family who were pulled out of an airport check-in queue by detectives as they waited to fly to the US - only to be told no trip had been booked She was unmasked after the Conway family who were pulled out of an airport check-in queue by detectives as they waited to fly to the US - only to be told no trip had been booked. Phillip Conway, 65, wife Julie, 57, daughter Gemma, son-in-law Michael and four-year-old granddaughter Lola - who at the time were all wearing special Disney-style T-shirts - were only let onto the transatlantic aircraft when they paid again. It emerged Waterfall had looted 22,168.29 from bosses at Manchester-based Incentivise Ltd, a travel and events management company. The cash she stole from Conways was put towards her own trip to Australia which she enjoyed with her boyfriend. At Manchester Crown Court Waterfall, from Hulme, Manchester, sobbed as she admitted nine counts of fraud by abuse of position. She escaped with a 13-month jail term suspended for two years after it emerged she had paid the money back. But Mrs Conway from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, who had booked the trip after the death of her mother said: 'The whole experience has been absolutely hideous. 'This was a break we needed after losing my mum and to be told the holiday wasn't going ahead was just heartbreaking. 'You just don't expect that of people you know. The money side of it comes second to me - I just felt betrayed because we knew Rebecca as a family friend. 'The fact we trusted this person and they do something like this makes it all worse. It emerged Waterfall had looted 22,168.29 from bosses at Manchester-based Incentivise Ltd, a travel and events management company Earlier the court heard how Waterfall had worked for Incentivise from October 2015 until May 27 last year where she was described as 'an arranger of holidays' and had access to two company credit cards 'If it was a stranger who did this to us then I think I could comprehend it a lot more. 'She was well aware of the situation with my mum dying and this trip was something to look forward to. 'Dad also passed away not long before we flew and we were grieving. At the airport we had an over-excited four-year-old jumping around and she couldn't wait to get to Disney Land. 'I couldn't believe it when the police told us what had happened.' Earlier the court heard how Waterfall had worked for Incentivise from October 2015 until May 27 last year where she was described as 'an arranger of holidays' and had access to two company credit cards. Phillip Conway, 65, wife Julie, 57, daughter Gemma, son-in-law Michael and four-year-old granddaughter Lola during their US holiday Phillip Conway, 65, wife Julie, 57, daughter Gemma, son-in-law Michael and four-year-old granddaughter Lola - who at the time were all wearing special Disney-style T-shirts - were only let onto the transatlantic aircraft when they paid again Phillip Dobson, prosecuting said Mr Conway's daughter was friends with Waterfall and had he had paid for the holiday as a family treat. But Waterfall didn't make the relevant travel arrangements and the Conway family went to Manchester Airport unaware no seats had been booked for them. Mr Dobson added: 'One can begin to imagine when the police officer approached that group on the check in desk and asked them to come to one side because there was a problem. 'They did travel but only after considerable anxiety and paying out of their own funds at the airport. They spent the first day of their holiday unraveling and remaking all the arrangements. They were asked to consult with the police on their arrival. 'The defendant's actions have had a serious detrimental impact on that firm and the Conways.' Waterfall didn't make the relevant travel arrangements and the Conway family went to Manchester Airport unaware no seats had been booked for them The court heard Waterfall had also been using company credit cards to book various forms of travel and accommodation not approved by her employer Her lawyer David Pojur said his client had been previously able to give discounts to friends when she was working a different travel agent, but the perk stopped when she moved to Incentivise The court heard Waterfall had also been using company credit cards to book various forms of travel and accommodation not approved by her employer. Her lawyer David Pojur said his client had been previously able to give discounts to friends when she was working a different travel agent, but the perk stopped when she moved to Incentivise. He added: 'She had certain benefits and she wanted to continue to be popular and she didn't want to disappoint people. 'She accepted the role in her social circle and continued to make bookings for people although she couldn't pass on the discounts to her new employers. Unfortunately it all got on top of her and she was not able to keep up with the commitments she made. 'It was robbing Peter to pay Paul. 'She was not able to pay off the debt and she used the credit card in a very simple way. Having made the commitment she didn't want to let people down. She did benefit from the Australia trip and that's accepted. 'When it comes to the Conways she bitterly regrets what she did. She didn't realise there was a risk of them not going on holiday. 'It was explained to her about being pulled out of the queue and that genuinely shocked her and for the first time she was reduced to tears. She had been reduced to tears a number of times having thought about the responsibility placed up on her. 'This is a young woman who has made dreadful errors and ended up hurting people.' Waterfall was ordered to complete 240 hours unpaid work after she admitted the offences Judge Patrick Field QC told her: 'One can only imagine the shock and distress of a family about to go on what was going to be an enjoyable holiday to be taken out of the queue' Rebecca Waterfall, 27, from Manchester, pocketed 5,350 for a family's dream holiday to Florida, and used her company's credit card to pay for the trip Waterfall was also ordered to complete 240 hours unpaid work. Judge Patrick Field QC told her: 'One can only imagine the shock and distress of a family about to go on what was going to be an enjoyable holiday to be taken out of the queue. 'It's the embarrassment of it - in fact toe curling embarrassment and on top of that to find oneself 5,000 or more out of pocket.' He added: 'You were able you use the company credit card facilities - yet you used them to book holidays and flights for your friends and yourself. 'You wanted to be and remain popular and you wanted to demonstrate quite how generous the benefits were from your employer. This was a foolish and naive thing to do.' Manchester Crown Court heard the 27-year-old, of St Mary's Street, Hulme, fraudulently used her bosses' card to pay for holidays in Australia and Abersoch. She also promised pals cut-price holidays in order to be popular - and then passed on the losses to her employers Six people have been killed after a rescue helicopter crashed down in the central Italian mountains near a resort hit by Wednesday's deadly avalanche. A loud explosion was heard as the helicopter, which was carrying an injured skier and five more people, came down in thick fog close to the Campo Felice ski station in Italy's Abruzzo region. Images from the scene showed the helicopter smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact. Rescuers arrived on the scene to find six bodies lying in the snow. Scroll down for video Six people have been killed after a rescue helicopter crashed down in central Italian mountains near a resort hit by Wednesday's deadly avalanche A loud explosion was heard as the helicopter, which was carrying an injured skier and five more people, came down in thick fog close to the Campo Felice ski station in Italy's Abruzzo region Rescuers arrived on the scene to find six bodies lying in the snow. The bodies have since been removed from the scene Campo Felice, located at 2,330ft altitude but with pistes up to just over 6,000ft, is close to the epicentres of earthquakes that struck the region last week and were followed by the killer wall of snow. Police said there was no apparent link between the crash and the seismic activity or the avalanche. But it came as firefighters and mountain police grappled with their aftermath. A team of first responders who had been helping the rescue effort at the Hotel Rigopiano was dispatched to the helicopter crash site but would not have been able to get there before news of the deaths came. It is not yet known what caused the helicopter to come down. Images from the scene showed the helicopter smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact An emergency response helicopter has crashed in the mountains of central Italy close to the resort hit by a deadly avalanche, it has emerged. Emergency crews are pictured trying to reach the scene The accident happened on the other side of Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range. Italian media reported that the helicopter was heading back to a hospital in the provincial capital of L'Aquila after picking up the injured skier. It comes as another blow to Central Italy's Abruzzo region, which has been slammed by a series of powerful earthquakes and yards of snowfall that triggered the January 18 avalanche. The death toll from the avalanche climbed to 15 on Tuesday with the discovery of more bodies, leaving 14 people still unaccounted for. Israel has approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank it pledged to build if Donald Trump became US President. The plans, approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the largest recent announcement of settlement building by Israel. The defence ministry announced the plans in a statement, saying most of the homes would be located within large settlement blocks in the West Bank. Around 100 are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near Ramallah, it said. A Palestinian industrial zone near the West Bank city of Hebron was also approved. Israel has approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank it pledged to build if Donald Trump became US President. This file picture from March, 2011 shows a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit. The move makes good on promises to expand such building following Trump's election. Netanyahu spoke of the settlement approvals on Twitter. 'We are building and we will continue building,' he said. Trump has signalled strong support for Israel, and Israeli right-wing politicians have sought to take advantage, with hardliners calling for an end to the idea of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu has said he still supports a two-state solution, but reportedly told ministers Sunday that all restrictions on building settlements in annexed east Jerusalem were being lifted. He also said Sunday he plans to expand construction in large settlement blocks in the West Bank, Israeli media reported, and that he foresees eventually bringing all settlements under Israeli sovereignty. Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration, and has also vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Around 100 settler homes are to be located in the settlement of Beit El near Ramalla (file picture) Israel's nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval 'in response to housing needs.' He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement 'blocs,' areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. 'We are building and we will continue to build,' Netanyahu wrote in a brief Facebook post. Settlement construction was a contentious area of disagreement during the Obama years, when the White House sided with the Palestinians and the international community in condemning it as an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war for their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the latest settlement plans, saying they would hurt peace hopes and 'promote extremism and terrorism.' The plans, approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, marked the largest recent announcement of settlement building by Israel 'This decision is a challenge and provocation and disregard for the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world,' he said. Trump has signalled a softer approach to the settlements, and some of his top aides have close ties to the settler movement. Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement, has received donations from Trump's designated ambassador to Israel and from the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser. The approval came two days after Israel okayed nearly 600 settler homes in east Jerusalem, a move that would have elicited sharp censure under the Obama administration but which the Trump White House did not comment on. Trump has not outlined a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he has said he'd be keen to broker a peace deal. His election platform made no mention of a Palestinian state. His pledge to move the U.S. Embassy from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. But since taking office, the White House has been vague about its plans for the embassy. Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas rulers warned the U.S. not to move its embassy to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said such a move would 'open a new chapter of conflict' and 'add fuel to the fire.' A Massachusetts courtroom erupted into chaos on Monday, when the brother of a murder victim tried to attack the boyfriend who admitted to strangling her. Tony Ventura, 32, turned himself into police on Sunday, after his girlfriend, 32-year-old Maria Morton, was found murdered in the Lawrence apartment they shared with her sister and their two kids. Ventura had his first court appearance on Monday, and it was heavily attended by Morton's grieving family. At the beginning of the hearing, a woman yelled at Ventura - saying he was 'dead'. A Massachusetts court room erupted in chaos on Monday, when the brother of a murder victim tried to attack her alleged killer. The brother was arrested by police in the court Tony Ventura, 32, reportedly admitted to family members that he strangled his girlfriend of 10 years Maria Morton, who is the mother of his two kids Morton's brother Michael was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and disrupting court proceedings Then Morton's brother Michael jumped over the partition between the galley and the lawyers' tables and tried to run at Ventura - but was stopped by court police. The court room was evacuated after the incident, but the victim's mother remained behind while paramedics checked her blood pressure and relatives got her an asthma inhaler. Morton's sister, who lived with her and her boyfriend, said that the two had been arguing the morning before she was found dead When court resumed about an hour later, Ventura was charged with first-degree murder. Michael Morton was led out of the court in handcuffs and now faces charges of disorderly conduct and disrupting court proceedings. He was released on $250 bail, and has been barred from attending all future proceedings. Ventura was ordered held without bail, and is due back in court on February 23 for a probable cause hearing. Morton's body was found in the bedroom of the apartment they shared Sunday afternoon. Morton's sister, who lives with them, told police that she had heard the two arguing earlier that morning. Later that day, prosecutors say Ventura took to social media and reached out to family members, admitting that he had strangled his girlfriend of 10 years. That night, he turned himself into police. Outside of court on Monday, Morton's long-time friend Sandra Gutierrez said family and friends knew that the couple had a rocky relationship and had been concerned for years. 'She cared for this individual enough to keep trying to help him, and unfortunately it didn't work out in the end,' she said of Morton. At the time of his arrest, Ventura was already on probation for assault and battery. In addition to a five-pages-long criminal record, Ventura also had three restraining orders taken out on him by three women - two of them by Morton. The first was taken out in 2007, when Morton claimed that Ventura stabbed himself and threatened to harm her if she saw another man with their son. Then in October 2012, she got another one when she said she and Ventura broke up and he assaulted her. She said he was stalking her and she was afraid of him. Ventura's lawyer says he suffers from depression and heroin addiction, that may be connected to lead poisoning as a child. 'This is a man who is feeling a great deal of remorse,' attorney James Krasnoo said, according to the Boston Herald. 'He clearly has some psychological issues.' A husband announced his wife's pregnancy to friends and family while taking a photo and filmed their hilarious reactions. Taylor and Dan Collery, both 27, wanted to capture the instant emotions from their parents, cousins and acquaintances when they announced their impending arrival. Having gathered the respective groups in for photographs, behind the camera Mr Collery told everybody to say 'Taylor's pregnant!' instead of the traditional 'cheese'. Taylor and Dan Collery, both 27, wanted to capture the instant emotions from their parents, cousins and acquaintances when they announced their impending arrival Having gathered the respective groups in for photographs, behind the camera Mr Collery told everybody to say 'Taylor's pregnant!' instead of the traditional 'cheese' Initially people laugh, until they realise it isn't a joke and then there is a mixture of cheering and disbelief before everyone clambers to hug the new mother-to-be. Mrs Collery, from Tustin, California, USA, said: 'I was searching for ways to tell people you're pregnant and saw one idea to take a picture of everyone's reaction. 'I mentioned it to Dan and he said that was a stupid idea, and that we should take a video instead so we have their full emotion. 'My mum immediately started crying and had to sit down, while my dad is first making a funny pose but slowly turns to look at me and just stares in shock. The couple found out they were expecting their first child on December 1 2016, and decided to use the Christmas period to break their happy news 'I think everyone was still a little in shock, but very excited.' The couple have been together for eight years, having met on their first day at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, USA, and starting to date a few months later. They found out they were expecting their first child on December 1 2016, and decided to use the Christmas period to break their happy news. Mrs Collery said: 'We had kept it quiet from everyone, including our parents, so it worked out really well and we're so glad we went that route. 'We're still young so had told everyone we were waiting a year or two and weren't in any rush. 'Even when we did start trying we decided not to tell anyone. 'So, the video shows my mum and dad finding out for the first time and I find their reactions priceless.' Mrs Collery is now 11 weeks pregnant and as such, the couple do not know the baby's gender. Pictured: Family and friends told of the good news at the dinner table She said: 'As we're the first of our friends to get pregnant there are some nerves, but we are more eager than anything' Mrs Collery is now 11 weeks pregnant and as such, the couple do not know the baby's gender. She said: 'We are both extremely excited. 'As we're the first of our friends to get pregnant there are some nerves, but we are more eager than anything. 'We don't know whether it's a boy or girl yet, but we'll find out when we can.' Britain's national debt is rapidly rising toward 2trillion because clearing the deficit has been pushed into the next decade. The national debt in December 2016 was 1.69trillion having risen by 251million a day over the previous 12 months. Chancellor Philip Hammond is on course to meet his borrowing targets after the budget deficit fell in December and revised figures painted a brighter picture for the UK's public finances. But Mr Hammond's targets were heavily revised from his predecessor George Osborne's plans as austerity was eased in the face of Brexit uncertainty. The national debt in December 2016 was 1.69trillion having risen by 251million a day over the previous 12 months The Government still plans to clear the deficit and start paying down the national debt but has not set a timetable. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said public sector net borrowing dropped by 0.4 billion to 6.9 billion last month, above economists' expectations of 6.7 billion. However, borrowing in November was revised down to 11.3 billion from 12.6 billion, meaning the public finances finished 2016 in better shape than first thought. The downward revision helped Government borrowing for the financial year to date - April to December - record a 14.3 per cent drop to 63.8 billion, compared with the same nine months in 2015. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) - the Government's fiscal referee - said in November that it expected the Chancellor to overshoot the Government's previous borrowing targets, revising its outlook from 55.5 billion to 68.2 billion for 2016/17. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said: 'After six wasted years of Tory failure on the economy it seems that under Philip Hammond it is only going to get worse. 'It appears 2016 was yet another bad year for the national debt with the Tories adding an increase of 91.5 billion, or an average of 251 million each day over the last year: the equivalent of 1,400 per head in the last 12 months. 'Under Hammond's new fiscal rules, presented in the House today, there is insufficient scope for investment in our economy, which will hinder growth and therefore our ability to reduce the national debt. 'Only Labour has a real investment plan underpinned by our Fiscal Credibility Rule to tackle the national debt and to deal with the public finances, so we can transform and rebuild Britain in order that no one and no community is left behind.' Borrowing is still falling each year but the deficit will not be cleared before the end of the decade on the current plans Martin Beck, senior economic adviser for EY ITEM Club, said November's brighter performance would help the Chancellor achieve the OBR's revised target. 'This leaves the Government well placed to undershoot the OBR's full-year forecast of 68.2 billion by a comfortable margin,' he added. 'If the final three months of the fiscal year see the same improvement as the first nine, borrowing would come in just above 61 billion.' The OBR has predicted debt to rise from 84.2 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) last year to 87.3 per cent for 2016/17. The ONS said public sector net debt excluding banks climbed by 91.5 billion to 1,698.1 billion in December, equivalent to 86.2 per cent of GDP. Mr Hammond ditched his predecessor's target of balancing the books by 2020, vowing instead to put the public finances back in the black 'as early as possible' in the next Parliament, as part of a new draft Charter for Budget Responsibility outlined in the Autumn Statement. Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the public finances were getting worse after 'six wasted years' under the Tories The sharp drop in borrowing for the financial year to date came as central government tax receipts recorded a near 5 per cent rise to 476.8 billion in the nine months to December 2016. National Insurance contributions jumped 9.2 per cent to 90.9 billion over the period, while corporation tax takings climbed 9.9 per cent to 36.2 billion. VAT receipts also recorded a rise, lifting 3.2 per cent to 101.2 billion in contrast to the same nine-month period in 2015. Income tax receipts were up 2.6 per cent to 115.2 billion. John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC, said the stronger outlook for the public finances was in line with the better-than-expected performance of the UK economy since the Brexit vote. But he said the budget deficit was 'still uncomfortably high', leaving the Chancellor with little 'additional room for manoeuvre' in the March Budget. A spokesman for the Treasury said the Government had made 'significant progress in repairing the public finances' by driving down the deficit over the past six years from 10 per cent of GDP to 4 per cent. A hero police officer who was shot at seven times during a gangland gun attack on a pool hall has been awarded the George Medal for his bravery. Firearms officer Martin Finney, who was not wearing body armour, took on gangster Sedat Meric after watching him open fire in Tottenham, North London. He was walking back to his car after being stood down when Meric unloaded four shots into the building with about 30 people inside during an ongoing gang feud. Sedat Meric approaches a pool bar in Tottenham, North London, while reaching for his gun But despite being alone and not wearing body armour, Mr Finney leapt into action and ordered the hooded attacker to drop his weapon. Meric, 25, was jailed for 15 years for the attack at the Old Bailey in 2014 - and Mr Finney has now received Britain's second highest civilian decoration. He said: 'I wasn't going to cower behind a car. I wanted to arrest him. I just tried to make myself as small as possible and get a good shot back. 'He went around the corner and I moved for cover. I could see his eyes looking at me and the gun coming up. The NCA training is fantastic and kicks in. 'You can't really be prepared in that position but you train so much that your confidence is there. At the back of my mind I didn't know if he had already killed someone. Without warning, 25-year-old Meric, pictured, fired bullets into the pool hall in May 2014 'His firing was totally indiscriminate; he had no regard for life. I was terrified somebody might have been hit.' Meric ran at Mr Finney, who is in the Armed Operations Unit of the National Crime Agency, and opened fire - one bullet missing him by just inches. With no communication with his colleagues, Mr Finney returned fire and using parked vehicles as cover, pursued Meric into a dark residential street. He ran after the gang member, ducking behind cars for safety and returning fire. Believing Meric could have already killed someone, Mr Finney refused to give up until Meric was out of bullets and eventually put down his gun and raised his arms. Meric turned around when firearms officer Martin Finney (left, circled) shouted 'armed police' Mr Finney (circled) was shot at but continued his chase on foot until Meric ran out of bullets Mr Finney - who has been an armed officer for 12 years after an Army and policing career - detained Meric until he was arrested by his NCA colleagues in May 2014. Meric was sent to prison for 15 years for the attack in December 2014 along with his accomplice, 22-year-old Oktay Ayanoglu. The shoot-out was caught on CCTV and released publicly during Meric's trial. Mr Finney has now been awarded the George Medal - one of only 2,100 awarded since 1940 - after taking on the gunman who fired seven shots at him in all. The medal is the second level of civil decoration in the UK, and is the civilian version of the George Cross. The undercover officer returned fire because he thought his life was in immediate danger Meric (left) was jailed for 15 years in December 2014, while his accomplice Oktay Ayanoglu (right) received a 12-year jail term also for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life Speaking of his pride at receiving the medal, Mr Finney said: 'I feel incredibly honoured to receive this award. 'To be associated with previous recipients of the George Medal is truly humbling. 'Accepting this award I would like to thank members of the armed operations unit who on the night of the incident also carried out acts of bravery and showed great professionalism. I was gobsmacked finding out about the medal. 'I have colleagues who have received awards, some posthumous, and to be honest I really don't feel worthy to be in the same bracket as them. 'Receiving the George Medal is amazing, I can't express it. All my family are incredibly proud of me.' Meric attacked the pool bar in Tottenham (pictured with the orange frontage) over a turf war After running out of bullets, Meric dropped his gun, pictured, and surrendered to the officer Mr Finney has had to draw his weapon many times before on jobs but never had to fire it until he was forced to defend himself. Mr Finney dedicated his honour to his law enforcement colleagues, and added: 'I have always wanted to help keep people safe, we are trained to protect people and that's the NCA's ethos. 'That was very much in my mind on the night. You take the Queen's shilling and you give the job everything you've got.' Director General Lynne Owens applauded Mr Finney for his selflessness, adding: 'Martin displayed such bravery in the face of extreme danger and he thoroughly deserves this prestigious award. 'He protected the public, confronting a gunman who was firing his loaded weapon repeatedly. It was a truly heroic act and we are all so proud of him.' The FBI looked into conversations between Mike Flynn, national security adviser to Donald Trump, and Russia's ambassador to the United States in December and found no improper activity. U.S. officials told the Washington Post that the calls were monitored as part of routine surveillance on Russian officials that had nothing to do with Flynn. Flynn, a retired three-star general who once sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a dinner celebrating the Kremlin-operated RT news channel that he was paid to attend, was said to have been under investigation for the communications. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Michael Flynn has come under investigation as part of a counterintelligence examination of communications between Russian government members and Donald Trump's inner circle Inquiry findings and whether it was still underway remained unclear, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Flynn was among senior White House staff sworn in on Sunday. He spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak over the phone at least twice before Trump was inaugurated, the White House has admitted, to set up a call between that countrys leader and the incoming president. They also discussed a Russian-sponsored conference on the crisis in Syria and a plane crash that killed members of a Russian choir. The first call, which the White House press secretary says took place on Dec. 28 but multiple sources, including another Trump aide, say happened a day later on, Dec. 29, was initiated by a text message sharing holiday greetings. A follow-up call occurred a few days before Trump's inauguration, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday. He told the Journal that Flynn told him no other calls took place during the transition. Reuters had previously reported, based on three sources, that Flynn talked to Kislyak five times on Dec. 29 - the day Barack Obama's administration hit Russia with new sanctions in retaliation for a series of hacks it ordered in an effort to disrupt the U.S. presidential election. A Trump aide confirmed to Reuters that the call took place on Dec. 29, too, though Spicer said it was a day before. WSJ also said it took place on the day the sanctions were levied. Flynn, the Wall Street Journal said, was being probed by the FBI and intelligence agencies, as well as the Treasury Department, over his contact with the Russian ambassador and other figures. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a spokeswoman for the White House, told the Journal, 'We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation.' Flynn raised eyebrows for receiving payment from the Russian TV network RT to join a gala celebration in Moscow in 2015, where he sat at a banquet table with President Vladimir Putin It's not unusual for incoming administrations to have discussions with foreign governments before taking office. But repeated contacts between Flynn and Russia just as Obama imposed sanctions would raise questions about whether Trump's team discussed - or even helped shape - Russia's response. The national security adviser is not formally part of the cabinet but is usually one of the president's most influential counsels. More broadly, Flynn's contact with the Russian ambassador suggests the Trump administration has already begun to lay the groundwork for its promised closer relationship with Moscow. That effort appears to be moving ahead, even as many in Washington, including Republicans, have expressed outrage over intelligence officials' assessment that Putin launched a hacking operation aimed at meddling in the US election to benefit Trump. As national security adviser, Flynn will work in the West Wing close to the Oval Office and will have frequent access to Trump. Unlike Trump's nominees to lead the Pentagon, State Department and other national security agencies, Flynn's post does not require Senate confirmation. Flynn, a veteran of America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has courted controversy with extreme statements that critics say border on Islamophobia, but has taken a more flexible line on Russia and China. He's come under scrutiny for his interactions with the Kremlin, however, since leaving his position as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014. An African bride has come under fire after after a picture emerged of her marrying a 'wealthy' businessman more than 60 years her senior. Charity Mumba, 29, originally from Zambia, tied the knot with 92-year-old South African Peter Grooves. Mr Grooves, has been described as a 'very rich man' after making his fortune in stocks and shares but his total wealth is not clear. Charity Mumba, 29, originally from Zambia, who has tied the knot with 92-year-old South African Peter Grooves. The couple are pictured on their wedding day Their wedding follows a spate of marriages in South Africa, where there has been a reported trend of young Zambia women travelling to the country in search of wealthy, elderly husbands. And after a picture of the nuptials was shared online, it went viral in South Africa with people saying they were shocked by the age-gap. Writing on Facebook, Mtokolo Limpo said: 'Zambian women are a disgrace, you come all the way to dine with an old man. 'What special attention are you going to give him apart from sucking up his money.' Nice couple, I see nothing wrong if they love each other While Longlu Vlami added: 'It is sad that women nowadays don't know how to work hard but just find a life with a finished old man, very soon he is dying and she will inherit his riches.' And Mercy Nhlovu added: 'That girl must be taken back to Zambia. Rubbish!' But not everybody was against the match as Tulani Zulu' commented: 'Nice couple, I see nothing wrong if they love each other.' Zambia is one of the poorest countries in southern Africa with 68 per cent of people living below the poverty line. South Africa, in contrast, is comparatively rich with 20 per cent of people living in poverty. Villagers have spoken of their horror at finding lampposts and road signs plastered with disgusting Nazi stickers that say: 'Wake Up White People, Save The White Race'. Councillor Anthony Carr said residents in Aintree Village, Merseyside, were shocked by the appearance of the offensive material, adding that it was 'not the British way'. Other stickers proclaiming part of Liverpool to be a 'Nazi controlled zone' appeared in the south of the city close to Remembrance Sunday. Mr Carr, a Labour councillor, said: 'I don't want any discrimination in my ward atall. I really wouldn't expect it in my ward, I've never come across it before. Racist: Villagers have spoken of their horror at finding lampposts and road signs plastered with disgusting Nazi stickers that say: 'Wake Up White People, Save The White Race' 'I do not understand why anyone could want to put this up in my area. I just find it appalling. 'It's not the British way. The British way of doing things is about stamping out facism.' One of the stickers was found stuck to a signpost by Shelia Moubray. She said: 'I was just waiting for my brother when I spotted it. 'To be honest it's quite small on the signpost, you wouldn't just see it walking past.' The stickers have been popping up across the country since autumn last year and appear to be produced by a group called The Creativity Movement, which has the slogan 'white racial loyalty without compromise'. Disgraceful: Other stickers proclaiming part of Liverpool to be a 'Nazi controlled zone' appeared in the south of the city close to Remembrance Sunday The group says that the W emblem on the stickers stands for 'the White Race - which we regard as the most precious treasure on earth'. A description on the organisation's website reads: 'Professional, non-violent, progressive, pro-white religion. 'We promote White Civil Rights, Whiter Self Determination, and White Liberation by 100% legal activism.' The stickers have been placed on lampposts and road signs (pictured) in Aintree Village The HQ for the organisation is based in Brookings, South Dakota, US, but there are branches all over the world including Croatia, Iceland, Canada, Sweden and the UK. Other stickers proclaiming part of Liverpool to be a 'Nazi controlled zone' appeared in the south of the city close to Remembrance Sunday. The stickers were placed on lampposts, doors and crossings around the suburb of Aigburth. They referred to the far-right group National Action, which states its ultimate aim is a white Britain. Merseyside Police Community Inspector Ian Jones said: 'Officers have been sent to the area to locate them (the stickers). We will be making enquiries to trace those responsible for putting them up. 'We know that this does not reflect the community and we will be working with councillor Carr on this issue. 'These stickers are clearly unacceptable and offensive to our community and we will be conducting enquiries in the area to ensure this is investigated thoroughly. 'There is no place in our society for hate crime and we will fully investigate all reports of this nature.' A spokesman for Sefton Council said: 'We are aware of the offensive stickers and our cleansing department will be visiting the area to remove them.' A man has been arrested and is expected to be charged in the hit-and-run death of a Cleveland patrolman on an interstate, Cleveland police said Tuesday. Israel Alvarez, 44, was arrested in Lorain, about 30 miles west of Cleveland, hours after Patrolman David Fahey was struck around 6am Tuesday in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 in Cleveland. Fahey, 39, was setting down road flares at the time because of two previous accidents on the freeway. Scroll down for video A man has been arrested and is expected to be charged in the hit-and-run death of Paatrolman David Fahey (pictured left and right), Cleveland police said Tuesday Israel Alvarez, 44, was arrested in Lorain, about 30 miles west of Cleveland, hours after Fahey was struck around 6am Tuesday in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 in Cleveland Rocky River firefighters and police had responded to a single-car crash when a van drove into the back of a firetruck, killing the van's driver and hospitalizing a passenger. Cleveland p olice said in a release: 'Today at approximately 6am, Cleveland Police Officer David Fahey # 2453 was struck by a vehicle on I-90 westbound just west of Warren Road. 'Officer Fahey was conveyed to Metro Hospital where he was pronounced deceased. ' The vehicle that struck the officer did not stop and fled the area. 'Working with multiple law enforcement agencies in the area, the suspect vehicle was located on E. 31 in Lorain, Ohio.' Cleveland police said that authorities took Alvarez into custody for aggravated vehicular homicide and felony hit skip. Cleveland police said that authorities took Alvarez into custody for aggravated vehicular homicide and felony hit skip Police had asked the public for information in the case, releasing this photo of the driver's car A Cleveland police spokeswoman said prosecutors will be consulted about possible charges in the officer's death, including aggravated vehicular homicide. Fahey joined the Cleveland Police Department in July 2014. Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association President Steve Loomis said officers took Fahey's handcuffs from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office to use on Alvarez, who surrendered to police at gunpoint after a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agent spotted his car in the driveway of a home. Officers from several agencies had searched for the white Toyota Camry that struck Fahey. Fahey was setting down road flares at the time because of two previous accidents on the freeway. Rocky River firefighters and police had responded to a single-car crash when a van drove into the back of a firetruck, killing the van's driver and hospitalizing a passenger Fahey joined the Cleveland Police Department in July 2014. His step-father is a retired Cleveland police lieutenant, his brother is a Cleveland officer and his mother once worked for the department, Loomis said. Fahey was a Navy veteran who spent several years as Cleveland paramedic before joining the police department, Loomis said. Mayor Frank Jackson, Safety Director Michael McGrath and Police Chief Calvin D. Williams said in a joint statement: 'The City of Cleveland extends its deepest condolences to the family of Police Officer David Fahey. 'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Fahey family, who, this morning, lost their loved one in this tragic and senseless act. 'No words can express the sorrow and pain the Fahey are experiencing right now and no family should have to go through such a loss. The Fahey family has our full support and I urge all people of the City of Cleveland to keep the Fahey family in mind during this very difficult time.' Fahey is the first Cleveland police officer to die in the line of duty since Patrolman Derek Owens was shot and killed by a suspect he was chasing on foot in 2008. An Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper was struck and killed on I-90 last year near where Fahey was killed. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, right, speaks at a news conference Tuesday A jury has awarded more than $1.6million to a Pennsylvania woman who badly injured her right hand when a meat slicer fell and cut it. Tanya Fuller was working for Northeast Commercial Sharpening Service, a company that sharpens kitchen equipment when she was hurt in July 2013. She was picking up the slicer from Easton Health & Rehabilitation Center and helping an employee of Healthcare Services Group named Greg Pioirier load it into her van when it fell. It cut her right forearm and severed nine tendons, two nerves, and an artery, The Times-Tribune reported. A jury has awarded more than $1.6million to a Pennsylvania woman who badly injured her right hand when a meat slicer fell and cut it (file photo) Fuller sued the nursing home's owner Reliant Easton Holdings and the worker's employer, Healthcare Services Group. She said Piorier was playing with her pit bull when the slicer cut her. He said he'd been with the dog in the van's front seat and Fuller was loading the slicer by herself at the time it fell, the newspaper reported. Fuller had surgery and physical therapy and didn't get feeling back in her hand, The Times-Tribune reported. She underwent a second surgery, getting some feeling back and developing a bone infection, Fuller's attorney David Selingo told newspaper. She was picking up the slicer from Easton Health & Rehabilitation Center (pictured) and helping an employee of Healthcare Services Group named Greg Pioirier load it into her van when it fell Her index finger was amputated because the surgeon was afraid of it spreading, according to the news outlet. Fuller's thumb was fused so she can use her hand like a claw. Fuller had five hand surgeries in all. Selingo told The Times-Tribune the $1.85million award was dropped 13 per cent making up for Fuller's negligence. The verdict was reached Friday in Northampton County. A California mother has filed a class action lawsuit against the maker of Hatchimals. She alleges that Spin Master engaged in a 'bait-and-switch' marketing scheme following the failure of her daughter's toy to hatch. Hatchimals, from toy manufacturer Spin Master, are creatures that hatch from an egg that can then interact with children. But after a suspected 'mass fault,' many of the toys never hatched. Scroll down for video A California mother has filed a class action lawsuit against the maker of Hatchimals after her daughter's toy failed to hatch. Pictured: A six-year-old girl waiting for a Hatchimal to hatch She alleges that Spin Master engaged in a 'bait-and-switch' marketing scheme. After a suspected 'mass fault,' many of the toys failed to hatch The lawsuit states: 'Millions of children and families across the globe were sourly disappointed with coal in their stocking in the form of a bait-and-switch marketing scheme perpetrated by Spin Manster,' WRAL reported. Bait-and-switch means to falsely advertise goods, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods. While the company encouraged customers to contact its customer service representatives, many parents said they were on hold or even hung up on when they tried to air their grievances, WCNC reported. The lawsuit states: 'Millions of children and families across the globe were sourly disappointed with coal in their stocking in the form of a bait-and-switch marketing scheme' Celebrity fan: Chrissy Teigen purchased the must-have toy for her baby girl Luna Furious parents took to social media to complain after a suspected 'mass fault' led to many of the toys failing to 'hatch' on Christmas morning. Spin Master said it was 'communicating with as many customers as possible to troubleshoot, support and help anyone who is experiencing difficulty.' It added: 'With toys that incorporate a high level of technology, there are rare cases where the product may malfunction or become damaged during shipping. Furious parents took to social media to complain after a suspected 'mass fault' led to many of the toys failing to 'hatch' on Christmas morning They company said it was 'communicating with as many customers as possible to troubleshoot and help anyone who is experiencing difficulty' The toy was the latest holiday craze and millions of parents sought to buy the toy for their children all over the world. At Walmart, the furry toys went for between $59.99 and $118.99, depending on the level of customization. An Orlando couple awoke in the middle of the night to find their home trashed after a deer crashed through a window and ran around the family's home in a panic. Kym Peoples was jolted awake when she heard her front window shatter. She turned on the lights was stunned to find a grown deer on the loose inside her home on Sunday morning. The panicked deer tore through the Orlando, Florida, home 'smearing blood everywhere' before Peoples and her husband were able to set the doe free. A panicked deer 'smeared blood everywhere' when it tore through an Orlando home after it crashed through a window on Sunday morning The doe tore through Peoples' master bedroom and bathroom before it ran into her pool Peoples said to Click Orlando: 'It looked like a crime scene. It truly, truly did. It was just smearing blood everywhere.' The injured deer was bleeding from a wound it obtained when it crashed through the glass window. It made loud bleating noises as it ripped through the master bedroom, bathroom and the pool area. Peoples said it ran into the pool and couldn't get out, so her husband used a pool skimmer to guide the animal to the steps so it could get out of the pool. The deer finally made its way back into the wild after ripping through the pool screen. It is believed the animal didn't realize it was jumping through a window (pictured). The doe cut herself on the window's sharp glass and ran around the house trying to get out Homeowner Kym Peoples said the deer was bleating as it bled throughout the house. She said: 'It looked like a crime scene. It truly, truly did. It was just smearing blood everywhere' People and her husband live in a community called Hunter's Creek, which backs up to a conservation area, Click Orlando reported. The frightened animal had leaped through Peoples' front window and began to run around the house in a panic trying to escape the enclosed space. It is speculated that the deer didn't see the window or thought its reflection was another deer, but it is hard to know, according to Greg Workman, the Florida Fish and Wildlife spokesman. Peoples told the news outlet that she spent the rest of her Sunday cleaning up the mess and blood the injured doe left in its wake. Criticism: FedEx boss Fred Smith became the first major CEO to attack pulling out of TPP President Trump should reconsider his positions on international trade and work to embrace China and its vast market, FedEx Corp's chief executive officer said on Tuesday, one day after Trump made good on a campaign promise to pull out of a major trade deal with Asian allies. CEO Fred Smith, in separate media appearances on Tuesday, questioned Trump's decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The package and business services company employs thousands of people whose jobs depend on international trade. 'The United States being cut off from trade would be like trying to breathe without oxygen,' Smith said in an interview with Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiromo. Smith argued that some 40 million Americans have jobs as a result of trade, whose benefits are more 'diffuse' and harder to see than the 'pain' in areas like manufacturing. 'It's an essential part of our economy. I think the decision to pull out of TPP is unfortunate because the real beneficiary of that is China,' he said. 'And China has been very mercantilist, very protectionist ... We need to try to stop those things and get the Chinese to open up their 1.3 billion person market, not cut them off. We have the opportunity to sell huge amounts of goods into China.' On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to formally withdraw from the TPP as China's influence in the region grows. The Republican president has been critical of China. Trump also said he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement at an 'appropriate time,' following another campaign pledge to redo the NAFTA trade pact with Canada and Mexico. Boast: Trump signed the executive order ending TPP on Monday and said it was for American jobs Smith, who met with Trump in New York following his November election victory, urged the new president to reconsider his position toward the Asian powerhouse despite China's historic protectionism. In an earlier interview on CBS' 'This Morning' program, Smith said, 'I would urge him to rethink some of those positions.' 'To some degree, the administration's positions are a little bit out of date with reality of China today. They want to open their markets today,' Smith told CBS. He added that Trump's trade team - Commerce Secretary-designate Wilbur Ross, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and White House National Trade Council head Peter Navarro - should work to 'open up trade with China, not walk away from it.' Since well before November's election, Smith, 72, criticized the positions of both Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, saying he hoped cooler heads would prevail after the election. In June 2016, he told analysts on an earnings conference call, that anti-trade rhetoric and anti-business positions expressed on the campaign trail were 'very worrisome.' FedEx, with revenues topping $50 billion last year, employs more than 400,000 people globally, according to its website. Bad grandma: Brenda Fox, 51, of Indiana, has been charged with felony neglect of a dependent for allegedly leaving her 2-year-old grandson without supervision An Indiana grandmother has been arrested after police say her toddler grandson was discovered wandering alone around an indoor playground covered in feces while she was supposed to be looking after him. Brenda Fox, 51, of Columbus, has been charged with felony neglect of a dependent stemming from the incident that took place on Sunday afternoon. According to the Columbus Police Department, at around 4.40pm an officer was sent to the Commons Mall playground in response to a call from a Good Samaritan asking to perform a welfare check. The officer spoke to a woman who stated that she saw a two-year-old boy who had what appeared to be excrement on his hands and who was at the playground without supervision. The woman later picked up the toddler and went around the playground trying to find a parent or a guardian, but none could be located, which prompted her to contact the police. The toddler was found wandering around the Commons Mall playground in Columbus with feces on his hands Sunday afternoon While awaiting an officers arrival, the caller and another bystander cleaned up the toddler and changed his diaper. He was later transported to the Columbus Police Department, and caseworkers from the Department of Child Services arrived there a short time later. At around 5.30pm on Sunday, the boys grandmother, Brenda Fox, came by the police station inquiring after her grandson. The 51-year-old woman claimed that she never saw police officers at the Commons Mall playground and no one approached her about her grandson. A bystander at the playground came to the boy's aid, cleaned him up, changed his diaper and called the police after failing to locate his parents or a guardian According to the police, when officers interviewed the woman, they observed that she appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. She was ultimately taken into custody and transported to the Bartholomew County Jail. Fox was freed after posting $7,500 bond. Her grandson was later released to the custody of his parents. One Nation's newly-appointed Queensland leader Steve Dickson has taken aim at the burqa, child mutilators and polygamous men at his first official press conference. 'We welcome anybody from all over the world to come to Australia - that's an absolute fact,' he said on the Sunshine Coast. 'But if you want to come here and have two or three wives, if you want to treat women like dogs and if you want to mutilate young children there are many countries in world you can do that but none of them are called Australia.' Standing with Pauline Hanson, One Nation's new Queensland leader Steve Dickson took aim at the burqa, child mutilators and polygamous men at his first official press conference Standing beside Pauline Hanson, Mr Dickson also called for a medicinal cannabis amnesty and talked up plans for drought-proofing Queensland. The Liberal National Party (LNP) defector also echoed his party's stance on the burqa when he was formally announced as state party leader on Tuesday, less than two weeks after leaving the LNP party. Mr Dickson, who describes himself as of Irish, Scottish, German and French heritiage, also said the full burqa should not be worn in government facilities or banks. 'Try walking in with a motorcycle helmet on or a hoodie - you can't do it,' he said. 'If you go in and you've got a full burqa, you should not wear it into those institutions.' Mr Dickson also called for a medicinal cannabis amnesty and talked up plans for drought-proofing Queensland at the Sunshine Coast press conference A person stands in traditional Islamic clothing at the campaign launch of Rise Up Australia in 2013. Mr Dickson, says the full burqa should not be worn in government facilities or banks Mr Dickson's switch to One Nation after 11 years in his LNP seat blindsided his former party, leaving them with 41 seats to Labor's 42. The Buderim MP, based on the Sunshine Coast north of Brisbane, said he made the move for Queensland but it hadn't been an easy journey given the major parties could be nasty and vindictive. The former state government minister said One Nation would be looking to field candidates in all seats at the Queensland poll, which he said could be called at any minute. Senator Hanson dismissed any suggestion Mr Dickson may not hold onto Buderim, which has been an extremely safe seat for the LNP. 'He is going to win his seat - there is no question about it,' she said. Police in Slovakia could not believe it when they stopped a small van crammed from floor to ceiling with lambs. The red Seat Inca was spotted as the driver attempted to travel 150 miles from a hilltop farm in Liptovsky Mikulas to the town of Komarno in southern Slovakia. The car-sized van had been adapted to create two layers of shelving, which allowed the driver to squeeze in twice as many young lambs. The small red van was spotted as it drove at night from northern to southern Slovakia The police officers could not believe their eyes as they counted the number of animals: 'One, two, three....24, 25, 26....51, 52, 53....' Eventually they counted a total of 72 lambs packed into the tiny space. Some were standing on each others' heads and others were pressed tight against windows but miraculously all were still alive despite having barely enough oxygen. The lambs, only a few weeks old, were crammed in tightly and had no room to move The van was less than halfway through its journey and it is thought several of the lambs would have died before reaching their final destination, close to the Hungarian border. Terezia Palerova, the head of the Veterinary and Food Administration in the town of Ziar nad Hronom, told local media: 'This is against the law but also against sanity.' She said this kind of transportation could be considered animal torture. Terezia Palerova (pictured, right) said: 'This is against the law but also against sanity' The Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic said the farmers had broken several rules related to the safe and legal transportation of animals. They were missing some essential vets' documents and no person trained in animal transport was present. The case has been dealt with by police and by the Veterinary and Food Administration and the farmers may face a large fine. A terrifying video of a Ford Kuga exploding after bursting into flames on a road in South Africa has been published online. The car, which has recently been recalled by the American motor giant, had overheated while it was travelling through the coastal town of Hermanus. Devan Swanepoel and Gregg Whitehead, both 27, were coming back from a holiday when they spotted the burning vehicle and decided to film it. Black smoke was seen pouring out of the car after it pulled over on a hard shoulder in South Africa A video shot by Mr Whitehead shows the men approaching a traffic jam caused by a burning vehicle. They are shooed passed the cordoned off area by a woman before approaching the stricken car. The white SUV has black smoke pouring from it, and suddenly it explodes. Mr Whitehead is heard saying: 'Woah that's nuts!' as they pass by. The vehicle they were travelling in, a Mitsubishi Pajero, was not damaged Driver Devan said: 'We couldn't believe it, we were blown away, excuse the pun! Gregg Whitehead, who was driving past, decided to film it, and caught the moment the car exploded He added: 'We just went over a hill when we saw the smoke and then moments later as we went past them we heard the explosion. 'When we drove past the people, a man, a young woman and two children, it looked as though the woman was crying. I can only imagine how traumatic it must have been for them, for your car to go up in flames. 'They need to fix the problem. These are people's lives that are being out in danger. Somebody needs to take responsibility.' Ford announced it was recalling its 1.6 litre Kuga EcoBoost cars in South Africa after several cars were reported to have burst into flames following an overheating problem. A total of 46 Ford Kugas have been destroyed after engines overheated. The car giant says it has identified the problem as the coolant failing to circulate, causing the cylinder head to crack and release flammable oil into the engine compartment. Models sold in other countries are not thought to be affected by the problem. One man has died in a Ford Kuga fire but the company said that particular incident was not caused by the engine overheating, though his relatives plan to bring a class action lawsuit against Ford South Africa, according to reports. Ford South Africa released a statement that said it was recalling: '4556 1.6-litre EcoBoost models that were built between December 2012 and February 2014. 'Ford has started a safety recall for the Kuga 1.6 to address engine overheating. All vehicles, including those that have already been checked must be taken to a Ford dealership. 'We are committed to keeping you mobile, so arrangements will be made through your Ford dealer or Ford customer service to provide a courtesy car should you be inconvenienced. For further assistance call 0860 011 022 or email fordcrc2@ford.com.' The date for President Trump's first speech before a joint session of Congress has been written on the calendar. House Speaker Paul Ryan has invited the brand new president to appear on Capitol Hill on February 28. This isn't a State of the Union address, per say as new presidents typically don't give on in their first year of office but will likely feature similar pomp and circumstance. Scroll down for video President Donald Trump (left) will give his first speech before a joint session of Congress on February 28 at the invitation of Speaker Paul Ryan (right) President Donald Trump won't be giving a 'State of the Union' per say, as incoming president usually don't give that address until they've spent a full year in office The Constitution reads that the president 'shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.' But the founding document doesn't say that the State of the Union address is an annual affair. In February 2009, former President Barack Obama spoke before Congress a month into his presidency. He spoke about the economic stimulus package passed by Congress and the Troubled Assets Release Program, more commonly known as the bailout, as the Democrat came into office just months after the Great Recession hit. Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal delivered the GOP response. Democrats will likely put some forward to give a similar rebuttal after Trump's first speech. In 2001, President George W. Bush, having a better economy to work with, touted the country's blessings including a 'balanced budget, big surpluses, a military that is second to none, a country at peace with its neighbors, technology that is revolutionizing the world, and our greatest strength, concerned citizens who care for our country and care for each other.' Though he also pointed to warning signs on the horizon: 'increasing layoffs, rising energy prices, too many failing schools, persistent poverty and the stubborn vestiges of racism.' Eight years before that, on February 17, 1993, President Bill Clinton gave his first joint address before Congress. He started with a joke. 'It is nice to have a fresh excuse for giving a long speech,' Clinton said. Clinton focused his speech almost entirely on improving the economy, which had been central to his campaign message. In announcing President Trump's first trip to the podium, Ryan said he sent a letter to officially invite Trump to the Capitol. 'It is my honor to invite you to address a joint session of Congress on February 28, 2017 in the Hall of the House of Representatives,' it read. 'With this new unified Republican government, we have a unique opportunity to deliver results for the country,' Ryan added. 'This address will give the people and their representatives the chance to hear directly from you about your agenda to tackle the critical challenges we face at home and abroad.' 'We look forward to welcoming you to the Capitol on behalf of the people we serve,' the letter concluded. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that Trump would be speaking before Congress on that day during this afternoon's press briefing. 'I'm pleased to inform you that the president has accepted that invitation,' Spicer said. 'I have a feeling by the time we get to February 28, we'll have a lot to talk about,' Spicer added. Residents in an Argentinian town claim to have been visited by a 'holy power' after they found what appeared to be an image of Jesus Christ in a tree trunk. Locals in General Las Heras, in the eastern province of Buenos Aires, say the image of Jesus came to them as a 'blessing'. It appeared in a tree in the centre of the town this week. Residents in an Argentinian town claim to have seen an image of Jesus on a tree trunk The image of Jesus on a train appeared in a part of the town that was rarely visited One resident, named Pablo Jose Fredes, took pictures of the astonishing discovery and said: 'This is a strong image, you can see Jesus Christ in the tree and when you are standing in front of the tree you can feel something inside yourself.' Another local, named Ajv Velo photographed the rare image and said: 'So many people of faith have arrived in the area in order to see his face and to pray in front of the tree and offer themselves to God in front of it.' The images were posted online and quickly went viral. Residents claim the tree is an area that is rarely visited. Since the discovery, bus loads of tourists have apparently flocked to the area to pay their respects to the tree in the hope it will grant them a blessing. A 26-year-old Weston man has been charged over the fire that threatened to burn down multiple properties. For the third time in less than a week firefighters and police battled the elements trying to put out a deliberately lit fire in the Kurri Kurri bushland in the Hunter, New South Wales. It took two dozen fire crews and the help of aerial support from planes and helicopters to put out the thick smoke billowing out of the bushland. Scroll down for video The Kurri Kurri bushfire threatened multiple homes in the Hunter region Fire crews were up against strong winds when the fire was lit and were just able to contain the fire to about 33 hectares before it threatened homes. Resident in the area John Sams and a former firefighter said the blaze on Tuesday was one of the more intense bushfires he had witnessed. 'Flames were almost as tall as the trees,' Mr Sams told the Newcastle Herald. 'It was fast moving, high flames, it was right up there. Thank god for the water bombers. 'These people lighting these fires, it's ridiculous. Enough is enough, there's too much life and property.' Aerial support from planes and helicopters were called in to contain the fire The man arrested near the inferno was charged on Tuesday night with one count of intentionally causing a fire and was refused bail, according to the Newcastle Herald. Fairfax claim a resident followed the man accused of lighting the inferno and called police prompting the arrest from officers. It has been a busy time for the NSW rural fire service in the Hunter with bushfires in Kurri Kurri, Cessnock Racecourse, Abermain and Neath keeping crews on high alert. Two 'animal hoarders' have been arrested after more than 50 animals died in a Florida house fire earlier this month. Jacquelyn Traum, 67, and 55-year-old Daniel Brantley were taken into custody Monday. They face nearly 80 counts of animal cruelty charges after investigators in Merritt Island say they inhumanely housed a large amount of animals within a small space under 'deplorable' conditions. Jacquelyn Traum, 67, and 55-year-old Daniel Brantley were taken into custody Monday, two weeks after their home that was inhabited by the 57 animals that perished in a fire Brevard County sheriff's deputies say having so many animals led to overcrowding, which likely contributed to the 57 deaths of the pets that were unable to escape the January 11 fire. This photo shows a glimpse of the filth inside the home Brevard County sheriff's deputies say having so many animals led to overcrowding, which likely contributed to the 57 deaths of the pets that were unable to escape the January 11 fire. When deputies arrived at the scene of the fire around 3.45am, Traum and Brantley were attempting to remove dogs from the home, but it quickly filled with smoke. Firefighters attempted to save as many of the animals, which included a number of mixed-breeds and Australian shepherds, as possible using oxygen masks. Neighbors who witnessed the grim scene said some of the dogs were also given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, according to Florida Today. Brevard County Sheriff's Office Animal Service personnel discovered the condition of the house to be 'representative of animal hoarding'. The animals killed included 45 cats, a parrot and at least four dogs and a raccoon. Fifteen other pets, 14 dogs and one cat, were rescued and remain in the care of animal service workers. It's unclear if Traum and Brantley have attorneys. They are being held at the Brevard County Jail under $45,000 bonds. David Lyndon Cole travelled 116 miles from London to sexually assault a girl of 14 in her home in Worcester A homeless man who travelled more than 100 miles to sexually assault a 14-year-old girl after telling her he was 16 has been jailed for more than three years. Sierra Leone-born David Lyndon Cole, 22, met his young victim on social media before persuading to meet him for sex. He travelled 116 miles from where he was sleeping rough in London to Evesham, Worcestershire, where he sexually assaulted the girl. Cole pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults and one count of meeting a child after grooming and was jailed for 45 months at Worcester Crown Court on January 16. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting him from using the internet and engaging with anyone under the age of 16 for five years. The court heard Cole arrived in the UK from Sierra Leone in 2011 to be with his mother but their relationship deteriorated and he was left homeless. He groomed the girl after meeting her online and began sharing thousands of 'extremely graphic' sexual texts with the victim. After meeting the girl at her home last August, one of her friends tried to take a picture of him but he became violent. Prosecutor Daniel White said: 'He snatched the camera away for the obvious reason that he was too old to be with a girl that age.' Cole spent the night at the girl's home when her mother was away and they had unprotected sex on August 20. The court heard the girl feared she could be pregnant but a test came back negative. Cole travelled more than 100 miles from London, where he was sleeping rough, to Evesham, where he had sex with the girl while her parents were away The next day Cole returned to London with the girl and they slept rough for two nights, including one at Paddington railway station. They travelled back to Evesham on August 29 where they had sex again. Cole was arrested the next day. In a statement made to police, the girl said she was 'devastated' Cole had lied about his age and said she believed he was just 16. Judge Nicholas Cartwright said Cole could be deported back to Sierra Leone after his sentence. Speaking after the hearing, Detective Sergeant Jim Hopkins from West Mercia Police, said: 'A team of designated detectives in the CSE team worked very closely with the victim and her family to ensure they received all of the support their required throughout the investigation. Cole even took the girl back to London with him, sleeping rough with her two nights at Paddington station. Above, Worcester Crown Court, where he was sentenced 'This process has undoubtedly been traumatic for the young girl and I would like to take this opportunity to commend the courage she has shown and thank her for her support for this investigation. 'We are committed to protecting children from harm and there is a host of advice and information available to parents, carers and children about how to keep themselves safe online on the CSE page on our website. 'I urge everyone to take heed of this advice for themselves and their families. 'West Mercia Police and our partner agencies provide specialist support to those affected by child sexual exploitation and will continue to robustly target those who prey on the most vulnerable in our communities.' Of the nurse, Chris said: 'We've only known her 20 minutes, but we feel like we know her. She's family' The nurse who helped deliver a baby boy on a flight traveling from Philadelphia to Orlando last month had a surprise reunion with the 'growing' seven-week-old and his parents. Erica Walton was on board Southwest Airlines flight 556 on December 4th with her husband Chris when she felt back pain moments before her water broke. 'I was adjusting myself in the seat and I said, 'Oh, my God, my water broke,' and he (my husband) said, 'What?' Erica, who was cleared to fly by her doctor, said. 'You don't know what to do; (there's) nothing you can do. I just tried to get the attention of the flight attendant, and her eyes got so big,' added Chris. Scroll down for video Heartwarming: Erica Walton was on board Southwest Airlines flight 556 on December 4th with her husband Chris when she felt back pain moments before her water broke (pictured above together) At just 26 weeks, Erica went into labor with baby Jet (above). Luckily Dr. Bhasker Patel and nurse Loretta Bledsoe jumped into action to help deliver the baby boy Reunited: On Monday, Erica (pictured together) was able to have a surprise reunion with Bledsoe in Orlando, where she thanked the nurse again who helped to deliver baby Jet on the Southwest flight At just 26 weeks, Erica went into labor on the flight, and luckily Dr. Bhasker Patel and nurse Loretta Bledsoe jumped into action to help deliver the baby boy as the plane diverted to Charleston, South Carolina to make an emergency landing. 'I was just like, 'Oh, my God, please tell me my baby's alive.' And then he opened his eyes and I thought, 'Oh my gosh,'' Erica said. She added, 'Loretta was amazing. She got blankets and kept him nice and warm and held the oxygen to his face.' The baby boy named Jet and his parents were transported off the plane to the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Children's Hospital where he was in critical condition. The family was able to return home to Florida a few weeks later, where Jet is now thriving at Nemours Children's Hospital in Orlando. First meeting: Of the nurse, Erica (right) said: 'Loretta (left) was amazing. She got blankets and kept him nice and warm and held the oxygen to his face.' Baby Jet (above) is now hospitalized in Orlando where he is thriving at seven weeks old. His mother said: 'His lungs are getting stronger. He's gaining weight. He's a little over 4 pounds now' 'His lungs are getting stronger. He's gaining weight. He's a little over 4 pounds now,' the new mother shared. Dr. Bhasker Patel (pictured) was on board the plane and helped to deliver baby Jet On Monday, the couple had a surprise reunion with Bledsoe for the first time since the delivery. 'We've only known her 20 minutes, but we feel like we know her. She's family,' said Chris. The nurse was also able to see the baby boy she helped bring into this world on the Southwest plane. 'I always feel like God puts you where you need to be. Who would have thought? We got on that plane not knowing each other. Now we're lifelong friends,' Bledsoe said. Doctors at Nemours say Jet will stay hospitalized so that he continues to develop under their care, as he was due the first week of March. The couple, who was on the flight returning from a baby shower their family hosted in Pennsylvania, say they were considering the name Jet even before his birth. Timothy Castle, 35, may face a lesser charge after Debra Meadows had her death certificate amended to say she died of cancer A drunk driver may face a lesser charge after the woman he is accused of killing had her death certificate changed to say she died of cancer. Timothy Castle, 35, was arrested and charged for killing Debra Meadows in a drunk driving accident in Columbus, Ohio, in 2014. Last month Meadows' family received an amended death certificate claiming the 58-year-old died from cancer, not the accident, meaning Castle may get a lesser sentencing. Castle is accused of driving drunk when he hit Meadows' car in May of 2014. The trauma left the mother-of-two in the hospital unconscious for 11 days until she died. His initial charge was elevated to felony aggravated vehicular homicide after forensic pathologist Dr J. Scott Somerset listed blunt force trauma to the head from the accident on her death certificate, reported ABC 6. Debra Meadows (left) was left unconscious in the hospital for 11 days after she was involved in a car accident in 2014. Castle (right) is accused of killing her in a drunk driving accident However, Somerset abruptly left the coroner's office last year for unspecified reasons, causing this case to be reviewed again by the office. The new coroner disagreed with Somerset and in a 'very rare' occurrence changed the autopsy to cite melanoma as Meadows' cause of death, said Franklin County prosecutor Ron O'Brien. Due to the sudden change, Castle, an army recruiter from Central Ohio, may face a misdemeanor instead of a felony, according to ABC 6. Video courtesy of ABC 6 Last month Meadows' family received an amended death certificate claiming the 58-year-old died from cancer, not the accident, meaning Castle may get a lesser sentencing. Meadows (second to right) is pictured here with family members A coroner's initial report listed Meadows' cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head but after the coroner abruptly left the office, another autopsy was performed and cited the cause of death to melanoma Pictured: A car from the scene of the accident in Columbus, Ohio, in May 2014 Former Franklin County coroner Dr. Jan Gorniak, who signed the first death certificate, told the news outlet that he stands by the original cause of death. He said in a written statement: 'It was my opinion on August 7, 2014, and it is still my opinion today, that Ms Meadows died as a result of complications from the injuries she suffered in the motor vehicle accident that occurred on May 19, 2014 and not from cancer.' Castle had been drinking at a nearby bar when he hit Meadows' car straight on as he was trying to beat a red light, Columbus police said of the 2014 accident. Monks were given a gift from the heavens yesterday when an RAF helicopter delivered a new fire engine to their remote Welsh island. The 4x4 fire truck was airlifted three miles across choppy seas by an RAF Chinook onto the home of their monastery on Caldey Island off the Pembrokeshire coast. Caldey Island was given the vehicle by fire chiefs to serve its 40 inhabitants - 18 of which are an order of Cistercian monks. An RAF helicopter delivered a new fire engine to a remote Welsh island inhabited by monks The 4x4 fire truck was airlifted three miles across choppy seas by an RAF Chinook yesterday The fire engine was transported to the home of a monastery on Caldey Island in Wales The island off the Pembrokeshire coast was given the vehicle to serve its 40 inhabitants Some 18 of the 40 inhabitants of the remote island in Wales are an order of Cistercian monks The red engine was attached by metal hoists to the underside of the huge chopper, and dangled 70ft below as it was carried to the isolated isle. Wing Commander Phil Greville, the RAF regional liaison officer in Wales, said: 'Air-lifting this type of vehicle underneath a Chinook has not been done before. 'And we were very pleased that the flight trial went according to plan. 'The fire service needed to get a new fire appliance out to the island and we wanted to get this type of fire-vehicle approved for air-lift by Chinook. The red engine had been attached by metal hoists to the underside of the huge chopper The fire engine had been dangled 70ft below as it was carried to the isolated isle in Wales A Mercedes Sprinter style fire appliance next to an old fire tender on the island in Wales RAF personnel unwrap the fire appliance after it was slung underneath the RAF Chinook Caldey fire crews and RAF personnel stand by the new Mercedes Sprinter-style fire appliance Fire risks on the sleepy island include factories, farm buildings and the Grade II-listed abbey 'The rural response pump vehicle is in widespread use throughout the UK. Islanders experienced a serious fire in 1940 when the monastery suffered major damage 'And, in the future, we will be able to fly it to where it is needed when responding to major floods and other emergency situations.' The fire appliance will be manned by volunteers from the small fishing and farming community which share the island with the monks. The monks themselves were once responsible for running the fire service, but it has now been taken over by Mid and West Wales Fire Service. Fire risks on the sleepy island include factories, farm buildings, churches, the Grade II-listed abbey, and other monastic properties. Islanders experienced a serious fire in 1940 when the monastery suffered extensive damage. Rob Quin, assistant chief fire officer at Mid and West Wales, said: 'We are grateful to the RAF and would like to offer a sincere thank you for all their assistance. 'It has been very rewarding to be involved in the air-lift trial and we now have a new fire appliance on Caldey Island.' said his office was 'working with' the students involved in the posts so they could 'understand the consequences of their inappropriate Oklahoma State University students are protesting after two separate blackface incidents took place on campus within the same week. The first happened on Martin Luther King Jr Day, when a group of four white female students at the Stillwater campus posed in front of an OSU State flag. Two of the women appeared to be wearing beauty face masks in the picture, which was captioned: 'Celebrating our first MLK Day off of school!' Just days later, a second OSU student sent a Snapchat of herself in a similar face mask. The caption read: 'When he says he only likes black girls'. Oklahoma State University students are protesting after two blackface incidents took place on campus in one week - including this photo that was posted on Martin Luther King Jr Day Just six days later, a student named Kandice Burgess (pictured) shared a Snapchat that also featured her in a beauty face mask and a caption referring to the black community The posts quickly found their way on Twitter and went viral in the OSU community, with many students expressing outrage and dismay at their peers. 'What a shame that some Cowboys have exposed such an ugly side of themselves,' wrote the school's African-American Student Association alongside the Instagram picture. 'OSU, what are you going to do?' Following the Snapchat incident, the organization decided it needed to take a stand and peacefully protested in front of President Burns Hargis' office on Monday. About 50 members participated, some locking their arms together in a show of unity while others carried signs that read 'Being black is not a costume' and 'Blackface is never funny'. Terrance Williams, the group's vice president, said their 'immediate reaction' when they saw the Snapchat picture was 'Not again'. 'We're very disgusted and annoyed by the situation and the lack of care from some of our fellow students,' he said. Kandice Burgess, the student behind the Snapchat, has since publicly apologized for the image in three Facebook posts. Following both incidents, the school's African-American Student Association protested outside the office of President Burns Hargis (also pictured) on Monday Many held signs celebrating unity, while others wrote that 'Being black is not a costume' and 'Blackface is never funny' Burgess wrote that she was 'deeply sorry for those that I have offended' but claimed her intentions were 'not at all to be racist'. She also claimed that she had never 'heard of blackface' until the controversy. 'Clearly, that picture was a result of stupidity, but it is also clear that there was no harm intended,' she wrote. 'I did not say or imply anything about whites being superior to blacks. I did not say anything negative about blacks. I did not hear about the girls with their masks.' 'I made a mistake. I am owning up to it. I just want everyone to know that I did not intentionally try to offend. I did not intentionally try to put down blacks.' Burgess wrote that she was also 'absolutely devastated' that people now considered her to be a racist. 'Racism is a problem that I am strongly against,' she wrote. 'I've given speeches over it, wrote papers over it, and more'. 'I detest racism. I was hoping I was going to be a part of a movement against racism. Ironically, I guess I am.' The four women in the Instagram photo also apologized for causing 'emotional distress to many individuals'. 'While it was never our intention to cause harm, we take full responsibility for the impact of this situation,' they wrote in the statement. 'We understand and regret that this reflects poorly on the reputation of Oklahoma State University. Our actions were thoughtless and harmful.' Burgess wrote that she was deeply sorry for the posts but claimed her intentions were 'not at all to be racist'. She also claimed that she had never 'heard of blackface' until the controversy 'We also now see how easily social media can cause heartache and pain. We would like to extend our sincerest apologies to our entire OSU family and beyond as well as genuinely as for your forgiveness.' Hargis met briefly with the African-American Student Association before issuing an apology of his own on behalf of the school. 'These students are understandably frustrated and concerned, and so am I,' the statement began. 'On behalf of the OSU family, I apologize for the hurt these incidents have caused.' 'I want to be clear that intolerance or discrimination of any person or group is not acceptable on this campus or in our society.' Hargis commended the students for their peaceful protest outside his office. The four women in the Instagram photo also apologized for causing 'emotional distress to many individuals' 'Their reaction should be an example of how the campus can move forward in addressing the matters of inclusion, diversity, and equality.' Hargis wrote that his office was 'working with the students' involved in the Instagram and Snapchat posts to 'help them understand the consequences of their inappropriate actions'. The president did not mention any other disciplinary measures. 'We all must learn from these incidents and bring positive change to our campus,' he concluded in the statement. 'We had meaningful dialogue today and we will continue to improve OSUs efforts to be a more inclusive university.' But for some, the statement and the counseling for the students involved wasn't enough. 'We definitely want change from them,' Williams said. 'More than an apology needs to be done. It's offensive to us and the school.' A former grammar school boy with an obsession for Jack the Ripper strangled and stabbed a sex worker before scrawling the word 'jack' on her dead body. Casey Scott took a photograph of mother-of-two Lenuta Haidemac as 'a morbid trophy' after killing her at his flat in Skegness, Lincolnshire. He then looked up details of the notorious Victorian serial killer on the internet. Scott, 29, admitted murdering Ms Haidemac, 28, when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court via video link earlier this month. He was today jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 years behind bars. Casey Scott has been jailed for life for the gruesome murder of escort Lenuta Haidemac (right) Sarah Knight, prosecuting, told Lincoln Crown Court that the victim went to Scott's flat on the night of 20 July after he booked her via an online escort agency. Miss Knight said: 'Lenuta Haidemac was vulnerable due to the occupation she was in. 'She was lured to his home address by him. He had no intention to pay for the services he had booked her for. 'Once inside his flat, sexual activity having taken place between them, he strangled her and subjected her to a violent knife attack.' The prosecutor added: 'He then degraded her naked dead body still further by scrawling the word 'JACK' across her abdomen, a morbid reference to his internet search concerning Jack the Ripper. 'Knowing what he had done, he then went to ground, trying to escape justice before the police were able to track him down.' Lenuta was Romanian and lived 20 miles away in Boston with her partner Octavian Selistean and their two sons, then aged 3 and 13. She had only lived in the UK from late 2015. The judge said Scott's horrific crime had deprived two young children of their mother Miss Knight added: 'She earned her living as an escort. She advertised on a website called adult vivastreet. She would visit clients in their own homes. That is how she came in to contact with Scott. 'It is clear two days before her dead body was found that Scott contacted her by text message. 'He made arrangements for her to visit him at his home. He booked her for 10.30pm to perform sexual acts on him. She made it clear to him the booking would be 150 an hour.' Ms Haidemac failed to return to her partner's car and he was unsure of the exact address she had visited, the court heard. Her body was not found until two days later when police arrived at Scott's flat. Miss Knight said: 'On [a] pillow was found a blood-stained knife and in the shower room they found the body of Lenuta Haidemac on the floor. 'She was already dead and cold to touch, indicating she had been dead for some time. She was naked and partly covered by a duvet. She was lying on her back. 'The cause of death was strangulation and two stab wounds to the neck.' Ms Haidemac was last seen after being dropped off at Scott's home in Skegness last July The court heard a number of other stab wounds were found on her body and a blood-stained knife with a 10cm was on the bed. 'The word 'JACK' was written across her abdomen in pen ink. There was a further wound to her abdomen that was probably caused after death,' Miss Knight told the court. After the killing, Scott went on the run for three days across the East Midlands. He was arrested 20 miles from the murder scene and was found sheltering in a hedgerow in Boston. The court heard Scott had no previous convictions and only one caution for shoplifting in 2009, but following the murder police traced two other young women whom Scott had attempted to strangle. On the day of the murder Scott also sent a Facebook message to a friend before the killing. When the friend warned Scott he would not get away without paying, Scott messaged back: 'It doesn't matter. I'll sort it.' Police found the body two days after the killing. Scott went on the run and was found in Boston Sentencing Scott, Judge Michael Heath told him: 'Her life was brutally ended by you, by strangulation and a vicious knife attack, followed by the degradation of her body. 'Your evil act left Ms Haidemac dead and deprived two young children of their mother.' The judge added the killing was aggravated by Scott's behaviour afterwards. 'You took a photograph of her naked body as some kind of morbid keepsake or trophy of what you had done.' The court heard Ms Haidemac's partner and two children had returned to Romania after the murder. In a victim statement Mr Selistean said: 'She did not deserve this, she must have been so frightened at the end.' Speaking after the hearing Detective Chief Inspector Diane Coulson, who investigated the murder, said: 'Scott is clearly a dangerous individual and he is now off the streets for 19 years. 'But it will be very difficult for Lenuta's partner and her children to come to terms with. They have lost part of their family.' Just last week he announced he would be quitting his job as an air ambulance pilot to focus on becoming a 'full-time royal'. But today Prince William was spotted hard at work as he helped prepare a stretcher for an injured patient in Bedfordshire. The Duke of Cambridge has confirmed he will be leaving his role with the East Anglia Air Ambulance this summer, 18 months after taking up the post. Prince William was seen helping to prepare a stretcher for an injured patient in Bedfordshire The Duke of Cambridge (pictured in July 2016, left and right, in front of a Sea King helicopter at RAF Valley in Anglesey, Wales in 2013) joined the East Anglian Air Ambulance in July 2015 Instead, Prince William will concentrate on carrying out official duties on behalf of the Queen. The 34-year-old royal, who is second-in-line to the throne, will also base his family in London rather than their current home in Norfolk. Bedfordshire Police tweeted a photo of the Duke of Cambridge carrying out his life-saving piloting duties after his helicopter landed at their headquarters in Bedford. The tweet said: 'HRH #PrinceWilliam was @bedspolice in the #Airambulance helping the injured #Caring #Royal #Thank you #Emergency.' Last week Prince William paid tribute to his air ambulance colleagues, describing them as 'talented people that save lives every day'. Last week's announcement said that William and Kate wanted to increase both their official duties on behalf of the Queen In a statement, issued on his behalf by Kensington Palace, he said it was a 'privilege' to fly with the organisation. The announcement said that William and Kate wanted to increase both their official duties on behalf of the Queen and their charity work, meaning more time in London. Prince George, who is three, will begin school in London in September while sister Princess Charlotte, two in May, will start nursery in the capital and later go to school in the city. The Duke said in the statement: 'It has been a huge privilege to fly with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. 'Following on from my time in the military, I have had experiences in this job I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and that will add a valuable perspective to my royal work for decades to come. 'I would like to thank the people of East Anglia for being so supportive of my role and for letting me get on with the job when they have seen me in the community or at our region's hospitals. 'I would especially like to thank all of my colleagues at EAAA, Babcock and Cambridge airport for their friendship and support. 'I have loved being part of a team of professional, talented people that save lives every day. 'My admiration for our country's medical and emergency services community could not be any stronger.' Prince William said he would leave his role to spend more time in London with his young family It was announced that the Duke would become a full-time pilot for the East Anglian Air Ambulance service in 2014. He is on a roster of day and night shifts which last nine and a half hours. Since July 2015 he has been based out of Cambridge Airport. He flies an EC145 T2 aircraft and, in common with all other East Anglian Air Ambulance pilots, is formally employed by Bond Air Services. He draws a salary which he donates to charity. The Queen, who turned 90 last year, has slashed the number of official engagements she carries out and announced before Christmas that she would step down as patron of a number of organisations. Advertisement In the eighth month of her pregnancy, Bonnie Lavender did what most pregnant women would never dream of doing: she swam with sharks while wearing a fishtail that is a third of her 125lb body weight. Thirty-four-year-old mom Bonnie from Nashville, Tennessee, is a professional mermaid and her love for the ocean has led her to do the unthinkable. But she hasnt always had a love for swimming. I had a sister and unfortunately she passed away by drowningI was very scared of swimming because of that experience - very tragic experience. Bonnie never got to meet her sister. Her mom was pregnant with her when her three-year-old sibling drowned but the scars from her sisters death still followed Bonnie throughout her childhood. When I would pretend I was a mermaid, that was the only way I would actually go underwater because I was so scared she said, between sobs. I was so scared to drown like her. Because it happened in our backyard during a pool party....you would never think something like that could happen so being a mermaid, imagining a mermaid, is what brought me to swimming and gave me the courage to be a swimmer. Little Mermaids: Bonnie (blonde hair and gold tail, center) and her fellow mermaids get ready for a dip at Mermania in Greensboro, North Carolina Ready for a dip: Mermaids soak their silicone fins in the pool as they socialize Now Bonnie is ensuring her two-year-old daughter Esther has far more confidence in the water. This new mom put her child in a glimmering pink fishtail at five days old and the duo have traveled to Bahamas, Puerto Rico and other tropical vacation spots as mermaids. She and her daughter are among the growing community of men and women who have a profound connection to wearing a fish tail. Here, at the Mermania convention, where people who identify as Merfolk and are never happier than when they're wearing a silicone fish tail in water gather once a year to share their love of all things mer, Bonnie is not like a fish out of water - she fits right in. This group, which has been steadily growing and this year is made up of 300 people from across the world - some travelled to the three-day event at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina from other parts of America, others came from France and Switzerland. So what do these merfolk, who actually identify as part-human, part-fish, do when they all get together? Well, they try to outdo each other with their incredible costumes and spend hours in the pool while wearing colorful silicone tails than can weigh up to 50lbs and cost up to $6,000 for the most elaborate ones. Fins galore: Every mermaid wants to have the best costume. Here the incredible rainbow of colors of their fins are shown Splish splash: MerMania is a chance for people who identify as half human, half fish to meet in the flesh, often for the first time MerMania organizer Stephanie Brown (pictured with red hair and gold fin) talks to merfolk while they soak their fins in Greensboro Damp: Mermaids flip their fins on the pool's edge Merfolk united: Mer from across the United States and as far away as France and Switzerland gathered for this weekend's MerMania in Greensboro, North Carolina 15 minutes of hard, slippery work: Why getting in and out of a fish tail can be an ordeal (and needs plenty of lubricant) Some occasionally took breaks to engage in panels about the issues within their community. On the second day of the event, for example, a few of the attendees participated in a panel discussion about discrimination among merfolk. But most stayed in the pool because, quite frankly, its an ordeal to get in and out of ones fishtail. And from watching them, it can take up to about 10 to 15 minutes to slip on a silicone tail. To get into their tails easily, the merfolk lubricate their skin with coconut oil or some other kind of oil and then coax the silicone tails to line their lower bodies. And if they needed to be out of the pool and did not want to go through the trouble of getting out of their tails, they enlisted a friend - known in the community as a mertender (usually a spouse or a friend)- who carried them around in a wheelchair. Every good mermaid needs a mertender to help her into her tail at the poolside... such as this one being greased up to get into her tail (above) Getting into a silicone tail can take up to ten minutes: Here Bonnie is wheeled around the pool edge (left) so she doesn't have to take it off and squeeze it back on again Getting in and out of a tail is no mean feat, even in a fabric tail which Miss Mermaid USA Chelsi Wilkerson, 29 from North Carolina, is pictured putting on Some mermaids have to go it alone: Mermania co-organizer Venessa Lewis, who used oil to lubricate her skin before coaxing her sky blue silicon tail onto her lower body Lauren Chu, a Miss Mermaid USA, puts on her fabric tail and fins, while another woman is carried to the pool by her mertender It's all about the detail: MerMania mermaids take time to perfect their headbands and aim to make them elaborate A fishing net bustier and seaweed for hair: These mermaids have taken detail to a whole new level The burgeoning mer industry attracts small businesses to MerMania such as this woman who creates elaborate headpieces An eye for detail: Merfolk put as much time and effort as possible into their costumes such as this fin covered in shiny shell shapes Sequins and silicone: The mermaids of MerMania spend up to $6,000 on their silicone tails Ready for a dip? The merfolk use the annual convention to meet up, chat and socialize Several business - from larger companies to start-ups - had lined up across the Mermania pool selling fishtails, fish-themed bikini tops and accompanying mermaid-inspired jewelry. In the last four years the merfolk community has been growing and the organizers at Mermania say there are thousands around the world. They often buy silicone fish tailswhich can be bought or handmadefor as much as $6000. The tails bring in at least a million dollars a year for many businesses like Fins, a swimwear company that is catering to this new audience. Other mermaids in attendance were building their pageant careers by entering competitions such as Miss Mermaid international a pageant organised by German company Euromodel, where representatives from various parts of the world gather to compete to win the world title. When darkness descends... The Merfolk hit the bar for some relaxation - but their time on dry land if limited Donning elaborate wigs and skipping around tables to greet other merfolk, the mermen and mermaids socialized at a ball on Saturday night Many have only connected in their online community forum Mernetwork so they want to make an impression when they meet their fellow merfolk for the first time When darkness descends, they venture out of the pool to a nearby hotel for mixers and balls. The costumes may not include fish tails, but they are no less elaborate. Donning elaborate wigs and skipping around tables to greet other merfolk, the mermen and mermaids socialized and got to know each other better since many of them may have only met in their online community forum called the Mernetwork. But, as with Ariel the Little Mermaid, their time on land was only temporary and after a couple hours on the dance floor, they donned their fishtails again and spent a few more hours around a pool. A role model among merfolk: Bonnie Lavender makes $250 an hour as a professional mermaid and even put her daughter in a fin when she was five days old Many at the gathering saw Bonnie Lavender, who wore a light pink bedazzled fishtail and a 22-inch blonde wig at Mermania, as a role model because she was among the first mermaids to turn her love for wearing tails into a business. Now, there are thousands of professional mermaids around the world who perform at parties and charge hundreds of dollars an hour. The 34-year-old is primarily a stay-at-home mom but she occasionally travels to various countries - once as far as Australia to perform in her 40lb tail and charges $250 an hour. In the upper-middle-class home she also shares with her husband Eric (she's quick to point out that it's a coincidence that he shares a name with the prince that Ariel falls in love with in the Little Mermaid) in Nashville, Tennessee, Bonnie has a grotto - an artificial cave with a pool attached - where she practices swimming with her daughter. Now two, her daughter Esther already has plenty of experience in the water. She was put in a fin when she was just five days old and the duo have traveled to Bahamas, Puerto Rico and other tropical vacation spots as mermaids. When she is not with her child or performing around the world, Bonnie hosts parties with other mermaids in her all-American home and tends to the dozens of wigs she has arranged in her closet. But she says she would not be able to have this lifestyle without her husband of seven years. Part of your world: Bonnie and Esther dressed as Ariel from The Little Mermaid Making a splash! Esther is comfortable in the water and is accustomed to wearing fins, here she and her mom are dressed as characters from Splash! Back to real life: Bonnie, Esther and Eric are pictured together (left) and Bonnie and Esther together in the water (right) Mer-mom: Bonnie and Esther don their fins for a dip If you came to our all-American home, you would just think normal husband goes to work, housewife stays at home and does the cooking and the cleaning,' she said. But my husband has been a big supporter of my dream to be a mermaid. He is a very magical person himself in that he is not a merman and he will never wear a tail but he is a special educator and he really likes telling his students that he is married to a mermaid and it gets the kids really excited. Under the sea: Grandmother-of-one married in her tail and believes she will be reincarnated as a mermaid Like Bonnie, many of those who attended Mermania developed an interest in the mermaid lifestyle in their childhood. When Cookie, 54, was a nine-year-old living in Harlem she watched the 1940s fantasy film Mr Peabody and the Mermaid about a husband, played by William Powell, who catches a beautiful mermaid, performed by Ann Blyth, while fishing with his wife in a Caribbean resort. Now a grandmother, she fell in love with the mermaid character and has even purchased a gold silicone tail, similar to the one she saw in the movie. I fell in love with her, that she was pretty, Cookie said. It was so beautiful and magical and when she swam under the water she wore this big smile like a little girl with her little treasures and was happy. And I said I want to be happy like her too and free with all the little fishes swimming around. Happily ever after: Cookie Ramirez married Ralph DeJesus surrounded by their mer friends two years ago Cookie danced the night away in a flapper-style dress decorated with fish scale sequins But Cookie never imagined that a girl from Harlem could be a mermaid too. A condition, agoraphobia social disorder, which she developed 19 years ago would leave her homebound and unable to even think of swimming underwater in a fishtail. When she realized there were real-life mermaids and found a role model on the internet, her life changed. The mermaid she found online told her that no matter what she looked like, and no matter where she lived she could still put on a silicone tail and have the life of the mermaid. Quickly, her husband, Ralph DeJesus, got to work in creating Cookie a tail and she soon became immersed in the sea world. She said she no longer had to take her medication because her pain had gone away. I was like wow, no pain! I stopped taking my med, Cookie said. I don't feel any more pain in my physical body. Mentally, I was free of every hang up. Her love for the sea was out and proud as she had a mermaid-themed wedding two years ago at merfest a smaller convention held in August. Wearing a silver bikini top, a matching mermaid tail and a veil made by her husband, Cookie swam her way through large pool to her husband-to-be. The two were married by a minister who was also a mermaid and Cookie said since that moment, its been magic all round. Cookies connection to her fishtail is unlike the average mermaids because she believes her relationship with her tail will follow her in this life and beyond. 'I believe with all my heart and soul that I'm going to be reincarnated as a mermaid, she said. I've left instructions: I am to be cremated and my ashes are to be scattered in the sea so that way I can just form into a mermaid and come back. And I believe we do exist. The ocean is too big - too many underwater caves. I know that they exist. They just don't want to tell us. I mean it's been decades--centuries--mermaids have been spotted and envisioned. I believe there are beautiful and transient mermaids out there. I think they can come on land and transform. They take their skin off and they bury it under the grass under the sand, while they're on land. Who believed a man could be on the moon and it happened! We just like to be under the moon and deep in the ocean. Whether its a tragic event that sparks ones love for mermaiding or its the yearning to be free of pain, those in the community are bound by one thing: their love for the water and all the creatures in it. Perhaps most significant of all the reasons is the body confidence it has given to merfolk like Cookie who may not fit the model-esque looks often associated with mermaids. Remembering her thoughts that initially discouraged her from being a mermaid, Cookie said: I thought well, mermaid aren't fat. They're skinny with long blond hair. But you can be any size, shape, gender, coloronce youre a mermaid, you're just a mermaid period. She even advises others in the community who may be grasping with self-love. I tell them love your skin. God created youyou're beautiful but if you don't feel it and you don't love it, you're not going to show it. A Bollywood fan was trampled to death and several others were injured after a crowd stampeded a railway station in India in a bid to get a glimpse of superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Khan, 51, was visiting the city of Vadodara in Gujarat to promote his latest film, Raees (Wealthy) when the publicity stunt backfired. Thousands rushed to the station as Khan, known as the 'King of Bollywood', arrived on a train from Delhi. Television footage of the incident (pictured) showed swarms of people with smartphones trying to get onto the platform to take a photograph of Khan, who remained on the train Khan (pictured, left) has been promoting his new film Raees (Wealthy), which is roughly based on the life of Mumbai gangster Abdul Latif But the excitement turned to panic as fans were crushed trying to catch a glimpse of the Indian screen icon, who waved briefly from a door on the train. Farid Khan Pathan, 45, fell over and collapsed in the chaos, later dying in hospital. The film star offered his condolences: 'It is extremely unfortunate that someone has died...my prayers are with his family. 'I hope his soul rests in peace and his family remains well.' Thousands tried to get into the station and onto the station to see Khan, who arrived on a train from Delhi and eventually headed back to Delhi, without ever getting off Shah Rukh Khan (pictured, signing autographs) is known as the 'Badshah' or 'King' of Bollywood Television footage showed swarms of people running towards Khan's carriage, elbowing one another to take pictures with smartphones as policemen wielding lathis (batons) tried to control the swelling numbers. India's railway minister Suresh Prabhu said he had ordered the police to 'investigate the matter and take stern action against any lapse'. Sharad Singhal, a senior railway police officer, said two police officers were also injured in the melee. He said he was trying to establish whether the film's publicists had sought permission before the event. Khan (pictured) is a joint owner of Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders Mr Singhal told reporters: 'We will investigate whether police failed to do its part or the organisers did not comply with rules and regulations.' 'We will take action against all those who were responsible, even if it was Shah Rukh Khan,' he added. Khan, who is said to be worth 500million, stars in Raees, a crime-thriller set in the 1980s about the rise and fall of a clever bootlegger, hits cinemas in India and around the world this week. It is based on the life of Abdul Latif, a notorious criminal who was an associate of Mumbai mafia boss Dawood Ibrahim. He was shot dead in Ahmedabad in 1995, two years after taking part in the Mumbai bombings. The chairman of Standing Rock Sioux tribe told DailyMail.com that they have been given no opportunity to speak with the Trump administration about their concerns over the Dakota Access Pipeline and said it was 'unfortunate' that the President took action today to advance construction. Dave Archambault II told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview: 'It's unfortunate that he's taken a look at only one side. 'It's not just about energy economics or providing jobs for the masses but it's about looking at what's been here in this nation and who has been paying the cost for the economics. Chairman of Standing Rock Sioux tribe Dave Archambault II said that they have been given no opportunity to speak with the Trump administration about their concerns over the Dakota Access Pipeline President Trump signed an executive action on Tuesday to forge ahead with construction of the pipeline 'We are not opposed to economic development but we are opposed to paying the cost so that this nation can benefit. 'I was hoping I would be able to help him understand but I was never given the opportunity to share our concerns and to help him understand why there has been resistance to this pipeline.' Trump signed an executive action on Tuesday to forge ahead with construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Activists had spent months at the Oceti Sakowin camp on the land of the Standing Rock tribe in North Dakota protesting the $3.8 billion pipeline which they believe will endanger the tribe's water supply and lands. Barack Obama had halted the progress of the Dakota pipeline in early December. Obama also rejected Transcanada Corp's Keystone XL oil pipeline in 2015 after environmentalists campaigned against the project for more than seven years. Activists had spent months on the land protesting the $3.8 billion pipeline which they believe will endanger the tribe's water supply and lands Hundreds of tribe members, activists and military veterans marched in a show of solidarity against the Dakota Access in December, after Trump announced his support for the project Protesters braved the heavy blizzards at the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota Barack Obama 'caved' to protesters and halted the progress of the pipeline in early December Between 700 and 800 people remain at the protest camp in North Dakota despite the treacherous winter weather warnings Chairman Archambault said his tribe would not give up the fight against the pipeline and to protect their lands. Between 700-800 people remain at the protest camp in North Dakota despite the treacherous winter weather warnings. He said: 'That's what I don't think the Trump administration understands about the concerns that we have. 'We will continue to build awareness and to try to help this nation understand what is important to us. 'My mission has always been to provide the best future for children who have not yet been born and to do the best we can.' China has reportedly placed ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and are capable of reaching the United States on its border with Russia. The missiles, which can carry up to ten nuclear warheads up to 8,700 miles, are reportedly being moved to Heilongjiang province in north eastern China close to the frontier with Russia. The move comes after a leading English-language Chinese newspaper said that the country must strengthen its nuclear arsenal to 'force the US to respect it' in response to the stance of new US President Donald Trump. A ballistic missile being transported through Beijing in 2009. China has reportedly placed a similar missiles that can carry nuclear warheads and are capable of reaching the United States on its border with Russia It also comes amid Russia thought to be seeking closer ties with Trump after a period of heightened tensions with the US. In recent days, Chinese social media has carried pictures purporting to show an advanced intercontinental ballistic missile system, Dongfeng-41 in the northeast. And unconfirmed reports in Chinese media say the weapons have been put in place in the central Henan region and north-eastern Heilongjiang province. It is strategic as the province is the closest point in China to the United States and also sits on the eastern border with Russia. The decision to deploy them was reportedly taken last month, days after the United States, Japan and South Korea held a military exercsie counteringthe missile threat from North Korea. The news comes on the same day the Global Times, a popular subsidiary of the Communist Party, called on China to boost its nuclear arsenal. A map showing where the weapons have been placed and their proximity to Moscow and the United States The paper, which is known for its inflammatory rhetoric and hawkish views, plays to nationalist sentiment and is often believed to channel hardline views within the government. The Global Times said some media claimed the People's Liberation Army leaked the social media photos of the missiles as a warning to Trump. 'They think this is Beijing's response to Trump's provocative remarks on China,' it added. The US president, who took office on Friday, has rattled Beijing with tough talk on trade and national security. On Monday White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned China the US would 'defend' US and international interests in the disputed South China Sea, where China has built a series of artificial islands capable of military use. Trump, who took office on Friday, has rattled Beijing with tough talk on trade and national security 'If those islands are, in fact, in international waters and not part of China proper, yeah, we'll make sure we defend international interests from being taken over by one country,' he said. Trump's nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said last week China's access to the islands might be blocked - raising the prospect of a military confrontation. China lays claim to a vast stretch of the waterway within a so-called 'nine dash line', including waters claimed by several of its neighbors. The Global Times said Trump had called repeatedly for a US nuclear arms build-up. 'Even Washington feels that its naval forces and nuclear strength are lacking, so how can China be content with its current nuclear strength when it is viewed by the US as its biggest potential opponent?' it asked. The comments were in marked contrast to Chinese president Xi's speech at the United Nations days earlier, where he called for the eventual global elimination of atomic weapons The paper said China's nuclear forces 'must be so strong that no country would dare launch a military showdown' with it. 'China must procure a level of strategic military strength that will force the US to respect it,' it said. The comments were in marked contrast to Xi's speech at the United Nations days earlier. 'Nuclear weapons should be completely prohibited and destroyed over time to make the world free of nuclear weapons,' Xi said. China has been a nuclear power since 1964. Jasmine Gregory, 24, from Oxford, left her baby, Robyn Andrews-English, in the bath alone for at least 10 minutes A young mother, whose 14-month old baby died as she drank cider downstairs, has had her 'soft' sentenced increased by 18 months. Jasmine Gregory, 24, from Oxford, left her baby, Robyn Andrews-English, in the bath alone for at least 10 minutes. Little Robyn drowned at their home, while her mother was downstairs drinking cider. Gregory was jailed for three years in November after being convicted of manslaughter. Her case reached London's Appeal Court today as lawyers for the Attorney General, Jeremy Wright QC, urged three judges to increase her 'unduly lenient' sentence to four-and-a-half years. The court heard Gregory had tolerated a 'chaotic lifestyle' and was drinking cider when Robyn had her bath. Just before the infant's death, neighbours saw Gregory running down the street in panic - asking if anyone had seen Robyn. The judge who sentenced her described the case as 'tragic and wholly avoidable', but condemned her conduct as 'wholly wrong and atrocious'. Lady Justice Rafferty, sitting with Mrs Justice Elisabeth Laing and Mr Justice Fraser, accepted that Gregory's sentence was far too light. Upping her jail term to four and a half years, she said the original punishment 'failed to reflect the gravity of the offence'. While there was always 'room for compassion', Gregory's case simply deserved a stiffer sentence. The fact that Gregory ran down the road calling for Robyn 'makes plain that she forgot where her child was - that is in the bath', said the judge. 'Finally, she was in drink,' she added. 'This sentence was unduly lenient and we quash it. We substitute a term of four and a half years,' the judge concluded. Gregory forgot she had left 14-month-old Robyn Andrews-English in the adult-sized bath after drinking alcohol at their home Earlier this month, it was revealed that the authorities had taken Robyn into care at the age of just four months old but had later replaced the little girl back with Gregory. The mother was known to have an alcohol problem, different men in her home and was given intensive parenting help by agencies. However, the help could have masked the problems in the household, a review into the case revealed. In conclusion the report said that there was a series of missed opportunities in saving the baby girl when she lived in Wantage, Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board's (OSCB) review into the death of Robyn - named Child Q in the report -on August 7, 2014, found agencies could not have prevented her death but highlighted areas of improvement in the system. The report revealed the child was put into emergency foster care just a year before Gregory left her to drown in the bath after concerns over neglect. However, she was returned to her mother and several incidents were described in the report as 'missed opportunities' for a joint investigation between Child Social Care and Thames Valley Police. Ultimately the report showed the mother was given intensive support by children's services in the county but demonstrated little change in parenting behaviour with alcohol abuse and new men in the house putting her at risk. Elliot Stapleton-Giddins, 18, pictured with his mother Tracey, was found hanging in his home in Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire A teenage chef was found hanging in his bedroom hours after his mother had asked him to start paying rent, an inquest heard today. Elliot Stapleton-Giddins, 18, of Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, had about 2,500 in his bank account when he was found hanging by his mother Tracey. The previous afternoon he had received a text from her saying: 'You need to pay 200 a month. The other rooms are 500 so it seems like a fair deal.' The teenager, who was said to have been 'in a happy relationship' with his girlfriend Lily Avril, worked as a chef for renowned restaurateur Dan Cameron. He was working up to 50 hours a week at Cameron's Kitchen, the self-titled restaurant of the finalist on the first series of Masterchef: The Professionals. Elliot had about 2,500 in his account at the time of his death, which he had planned to spend on going travelling, the inquest in Milton Keynes heard. Ms Stapleton-Giddins told the coroner how her son's only outgoings were to pay for half of his phone bill each month. His stepfather, Tim Stapleton, footed the other half - and they had already spoken about paying rent in the past, she told the hearing. Elliot was said to have been 'in a happy relationship' with his girlfriend Lily Avril (pictured) 'I had not realised how much he was earning, but he was really working hard,' she said. 'It wasn't about the money though. 'It was about him being a bit more responsible. He had previously said he understood and that he had been waiting for the conversation to come up.' Elliott was found with eight cans of a Kronebourg lager and an empty can of Tyskie lager by police, although his blood-alcohol level of 74mg per 100ml was below the legal drink-drive limit of 80mg per 100ml. Mr Stapleton had noticed that both his stepson's lights and TV were on at 2am on the morning of his death on October 2 last year, although when he walked past his room at 5am, the TV had been switched off. When his mother tried to get into room at 8.30am she was prevented from opening the door by the loft ladder but was able to see her son hanging. 'I was totally shocked,' she said. 'I shouldn't have texted him, I should have spoken to him in person but I don't think that was the reason.' Couple: Lily had been in text contact with Eliott until 2am and said her boyfriend had been 'a bit upset about his mother's text' Detective Constables Amanda Banfield and Dave Brandon of Thames Valley Police attended the scene after being called. Eliott was pronounced dead on arrival by medics and in a written statement they explained that his mum's text had had some impact on him. In a joint statement they said: 'Lily had been in text contact with him until 2am. Lily said he had been a bit upset about his mother's text but she had managed to bring him around.' Although he had no diagnosed issues with mental health, the inquest heard Elliot had complained of feeling low at times in the months leading up to his death. A member of the combined cadet force, he had told his GP, Dr Shivantha Shunmugarutnam, of plans to join the Army during his last visit to the doctor, 15 months before his death. 'The last conversation I had with him I remember him talking about feeling low in the previous five or six months,' he said. 'I had the impression that something was going on at school. He told me about being in the combined cadet force and he talked about joining the Army.' Elliot's stepfather Mr Stapleton told the coroner that he had had problems with bullying at his school, St Paul's Catholic School, in the past. 'I think he was bullied and I remember him saying to me that the situation had changed and that he was now the bully to some people and he had felt very bad about that,' he said. He also went on to explain that Elliot fell out of love with education in his second year of sixth form. 'In his first year of sixth form he did really well, he was in a lot of engineering classes and he was getting merits and distinctions. 'In his second year I believe he had a clash with a teacher and as soon as that happened he would come home from school and I would say 'have you got any homework?' and he would always say 'no' and just switch on the TV. The medical cause of death given by pathologist Dr Angus Molyneux following a post-mortem examination was ligature around the neck, but Coroner Elizabeth Gray recorded an open verdict due to a lack of evidence for a suicide conclusion. 'It doesn't seem to me that there was anything of any significance from what you've told me,' she said, addressing the family. 'We all know about the text but there's nothing to suggest it was of any great significance. 'Because of all that evidence and nothing significant, in order for me to find that Elliot took his own life I would have to find he intended to do so beyond all reasonable doubt - but from what I have heard I don't have that evidence. 'We have a series of small incidents over time and a family reporting that generally Elliot was on an even keel. He was a sensitive person but nothing to suggest that this was intended on October 2. 'The conclusion that I will draw therefore is an open conclusion. We don't have evidence either way that Elliot intended to take his own life.' For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pleaded for Europe to stay together as he claimed British voters decision to quit the EU threatened his economy (file picture) Spain has warned Brexit is a 'serious threat' because of the number of UK citizens who live in and visit the country. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pleaded for Europe to stay together as he claimed British voters decision to quit the EU threatened his economy. The intervention came on the day the UK Supreme Court cleared up the Brexit process, confirming Theresa May must secure a new law to start the Brexit talks. The court defeat prompted a senior MEP to taunt Britain that the European Parliament would have the 'final say on Brexit. 'Brexit is a serious threat,' Rajoy told people in Madrid at an event organised by conservative newspaper ABC. 'Without wanting to go into other considerations, I will only tell you that one in five tourists who come to Spain are British, and close to 17 million Britons visited Spain last year.' The Brexit-related fall of the value of the pound in recent months has caused concern that fewer Britons may travel, and has British retirees in Spain worried about their declining purchasing power. Officially, over 300,000 Britons reside in Spain, but many do not bother to register, with estimates suggesting between 800,000 to a million live in the country. 'I will also tell you that the United Kingdom is the first destination for Spanish companies' investment and our third commercial partner,' Rajoy said. He added that post-Brexit, serious thought needed to be given to improving the EU so that it was 'more cohesive, more effective in its decision-making and with better political ambition.' As such, he said the results of elections in France and Germany later this year - where far-right, eurosceptic parties are on the rise - would be 'decisive'. 'Spain... hopes that its two biggest partners will maintain their pro-EU vocation and their determination to push forward a project which despite all its imperfections is the best political initiative the world has seen in centuries - the EU project.' In remarks that will infuriate campaigners in Britain, senior MEP Manfred Weber, the leader of the conservative European People's Party group of MEPs in the European Parliament, welcomed today's Supreme Court ruling that Parliament must start Brexit talks. And he claimed the controversial judgement showed the European Parliament would be responsible for finalising the process in two years. EPP Group chairman Manfred Weber has claimed the European Parliament 'will have the final say on Brexit' after the Supreme Court ruling Mr Weber's claim is apparently based on the the European Parliament's role in ratifying whatever is agreed by EU nation state leaders at the EU council. Mr Weber, who leads the influential EPP group in the Parliament, said: 'UK Supreme court ruling is clear: Parliaments must be respected. 'European Parliament will have the final say on Brexit.' Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg rejected Mr Weber's claim. He told MailOnline: 'The European Parliament will only have a say on the future relationship between the UK and the EU. 'It has no say on Brexit which is exclusively a decision of and for the British people.' Senior EU diplomats revealed today they have already received assurances from Britain the Brexit timetable will not slip as a result of today's judgement. Mr Weber's claim - made on Twitter after the Supreme Court ruling today - is apparently based on the the European Parliament's role in ratifying whatever is agreed by EU nation state leaders at the EU council The Supreme Court ruled by eight votes to three that Theresa May must secure an Act of Parliament to start her Brexit talks. The Government will introduce a Bill within days and has vowed its plan to trigger Article 50 - the divorce procedure in the EU treaties - before the end of March. Malta's Deputy Prime Minister and EU minister Louis Grech, whose country hold the EU's rotating presidency, said: 'The UK representative here made it very clear that he is going to prepare a short legislative bill to go to the parliament but he does not foresee any problems to stick to the deadline ... before the end of March.' Mr Grech was hosting a meeting on Tuesday of EU ministers and officials in Valletta, where Europe minister David Jones is representing Britain. Alec Wallbank, 31, is on trial for having sex with a patient with a mental disorder while working as a carer in Cardiff A hospital worker had sex with a female psychiatric patient who suffered a mental breakdown and had to be re-admitted when he ended it, a court heard. Carer Alec Wallbank, 31, 'developed feelings' for the patient and met her outside the hospital when she was given leave from the wards. He kissed her when he was on a day off and twice had sex with the woman in a hotel room after she had been discharged from Whitchurch Hospital in Cardiff. But after their relationship ended the woman suffered a breakdown and was re-admitted to the hospital. Prosecutor Eleri Wynn Morgan said: 'A relationship began between them. It was flirtatious and she felt he was someone she could trust and confide in. 'Eventually it became a romantic one, culminating in some form of sexual activity.' 'After being discharged, Wallbank visited her at the hotel, and they had consensual sex. The same then happened again the next day. 'Following sex in the hotel, there was some sort of breakdown in the relationship and she felt unwanted and became upset.' The court heard that the woman, who has a history of anxiety and depression, became 'upset and confused' after the breakdown and was readmitted. Giving evidence from behind a screen, the woman said that Wallbank had comforted her when she was distressed in hospital, and admitted she had feelings for him. Wallbank kissed her when he was on a day off and twice had sex with the woman in a hotel room after she had been discharged from Whitchurch Hospital in Cardiff, a court heard After their relationship ended, Wallbank blocked her telephone number and the woman suffered a breakdown and was re-admitted to the hospital The court heard that the woman, who has a history of anxiety and depression, became 'upset and confused' after the breakdown and was readmitted She told the jury: 'I really liked the fact that he knew everything about me - all the bad things about me and he still liked me.' But she said that after the breakdown in the relationship, Wallbank blocked her phone number and asked her not to contact him. She said: 'I felt like the only thing that was keeping me going was him, and I couldn't leave Cardiff after that and I needed an explanation. 'I am not angry anymore, I was for a long time but I'm not anymore. I feel like he took advantage of me.' Wallbank, from Pontypridd, South Wales, denies six counts of having sexual activity with a person with a mental disorder by a care worker. The trial continues. A person suspected of driving under the influence was involved in a police pursuit that ended inches away from a couple's bed in Los Angeles. Two people are in custody after a Dodge Charger crashed into a family's home in Willowbrook, California, on Monday night Los Angeles police said. The driver who was behind the wheel of the accident is suspected to have been under the influence when the car came dangerously close to hitting a sleeping couple. Scroll down for video Two people are in custody after a Dodge Charger crashed into a family's home in Willowbrook, California, on Monday night. Los Angeles police suspect the driver was under the influence while driving The car crashed into this South Los Angeles home, missing a sleeping couple's bed by a few inches Los Angeles police attempted to stop a 'reckless' suspected DUI driver when the vehicle took off and eventually lost control, reported KTLA 5. After the car slammed into the front of the house, homeowner Gwen Yancy said the suspects said they wouldn't hurt her, before police came into the house with guns drawn. At the scene, police took into custody two people and are searching for a suspected third person, who the homeowner said ran out the back of the house. All five people inside the residence in the Willowbrook neighborhood were uninjured. Police initially described the incident as a pursuit but said later they weren't chasing the vehicle when it crashed. They were at the scene shortly after the crash. A 58-year-old Oregon woman has admitted to hiring a hit man for $600 to kill her ex-husband as part of a scheme to collect on his $150,000 life insurance policy. Pamela Jean Gygi on Monday pleaded guilty to charges of using interstate commerce in a murder-for-hire plot and possession of a gun. The plot on the life of Gygi's former spouse, 66-year-old Dean Hamill, unraveled when investigators say the would-be assassin traveled to the targets home in Saratoga Springs, Utah, and told him everything. Murder-for-hire plea: Pamela Gygi, 58 (left), has pleaded guilty in connection to a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting her ex-husband, 66-year-old Dean Hamill (right) Gygi and Hamill split in December 2014. As part of their divorce settlement, the ex-husband was required to take out a $100,000 life insurance policy and name Gygi as the sole beneficiary. The couple were also ordered to sell and evenly divide their real estate property. A June 30, 2015, arbitration hearing was scheduled regarding their personal property, and that appeared to be a key date in the failed murder plot. According to court documents, in the spring of 2015, Pamela Gygi offered a convicted felon $600 in cash, a 2005 Dodge Stratus, an interest in Hamill's dog and cat breeding website called BreedersClub.net, and property in California in exchange for killing her ex. On May 30 of that year, the hit man, who was out on parole at the time, drove from Oregon to Saratoga Springs, Utah, where Dean Hamill lives and works as a hypno-therapist, but instead of carrying out the assassination, he warned the man that his ex-wife wanted him dead, according to a federal criminal complaint. The document went on to state that the ex-convict told Mr Hamill that he had no intention of killing him, and that he was at risk of violating the conditions of his parole by leaving Oregon, but he felt the need to warn him in person. Greed as motive: Gygi and Hamill split in December 2014, and as part of their divorce settlement, the ex-husband was required to take out a $100,000 life insurance policy and name Gygi as the sole beneficiary Equipped with an audio recorder, the would-be hit man met Pamela Gygi in Westlake, Oregon, on June 25 and the two discussed tampering with Dean Hamill's car to make the murder seem like an accident. About a week later, the two met again and decided that meddling with the vehicle might not be a good idea. The parolee said Hamill might only be injured; Gygi expressed concern that her son could be in the vehicle. Gygi later contacted the felon and informed him that she had purchased a rifle and a gun that were untraceable. Devious plan: The 58-year-old mother and grandmother initially told the hit man to temper with Hamill's car to make it look like an accident, then told him to shoot him and stage the murder like a home invasion Gygi was arrested by FBI agents in July 2015 after she met with the informant in a Springfield mall parking lot to hand him over the $600 in cash, a car and a Taurus 9mm semiautomatic pistol, reported OregonLive. During that final meeting, the ex-wife was recorded on video instructing the would-be assassin to make the hit look like a home invasion and steal Dean Hamill's rifle in the process. Prior to her guilty plea Monday, Gygi had a trial date set for this coming February. As part of the plea deal announced on Monday, prosecutors agreed to drop two additional charges against her. The Register Guard reported that Assistant US attorney Frank Papagani said in US District Court in Eugene, Oregon, that he plans to seek a 12-year prison term for Pamela Gygi when she is sentenced in April. The Daily Mail reached out to Dean Hamill on Tuesday to get his take on his ex-wife's guilty plea, but he replied by saying that he prefers not to comment until her sentencing. According to her Facebook page, Gygi got engaged to another man in the summer of 2015. Advertisement A Russian woman who moved to an unheated wooden hut in the mountains 20 years ago to hone her photography skills has finally released the images which are the culmination of her efforts - and they are stunning. Twenty years ago fearless Svetlana Kazina quit her day job, moved out of the city with her two children and set up home in the mountains to concentrate on her hobby of taking pictures. They moved to the mountain village of Uznezya in Russia's Altai Krai region, near the border with Kazakhstan, 20 years ago, into a wooden hut that was built almost seven decades ago and had no heating, no toilet or even running water. Ms Kazina, now 49, said she wanted to go 'back to basics' to fully embrace the beauty of a natural life. Her children have now grown up and returned to live in the city but she said she had no plans to follow them and enjoyed her solitary life with Mother Nature. Svetlana Kazina used a time delay mechanism to take this stunning self-portrait of her gazing at the ice-capped mountains This is the tiny wooden hut that Ms Kazina moved to 20 years ago. It is unheated but has become home sweet home for her and she has decorated it with her own peach tree mural This extraordinary image would have been almost impossible in the icy, where light pollution has dispelled the darkness and made photographing stars difficult Whereas in the city the seasons often pass you by, in the countryside summer, autumn, winter and spring (pictured) are vividly illustrated by nature's changing patterns There are two and a half million people in the Altai Krai region but most of them live in the city of Barnaul and the countryside is largely empty, of humans that is Ms Kazina (pictured, centre) moved to the countryside with her son (left) and daughter (right) but both have now returned to the city to pursue their careers But Ms Kazina has animals, like this wild horse, to keep her company in the mountains There are wolves in the mountains thereabouts but so far they have shown no interest in the eccentric lady with a camera This picture shows a traditional yurt. In the past the nomadic peoples of Central Asia all lived in yurts, which can be easily pulled down and moved as they follow herds of animals to new grazing pastures The Altai Krai region is thousands of miles east of Moscow but is still not technically Siberia Ms Kazina has taken these fabulous images of the beautiful colours of the Russian countryside Winter in Russia is proper winter. Lakes and rivers freeze over and snow falls and stays for months Ms Kazina moved to the countryside to improve her photography skills and it has certainly paid off Russia is an enormous country and its vastness includes areas of great natural beauty, such as the Altai Krai (pictured) This image shows a low mist creeping over the hills near her home The Altai Krai might look idyllic but life is tough, especially in winter President Donald Trump sent auto executives another stark warning before a breakfast Tuesday morning at the White House. 'I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!' he said over Twitter, using his personal handle. The message was then retweeted by the account of the President of the United States. Trump met today with the heads of Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, the VP of government affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the president of the American Automotive Policy Council. The president said it was a 'great meeting' in an afternoon tweet that was accompanied by a photo of him sitting at a table, a smile on his face, surrounded by the execs in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO President Donald Trump met today with the heads of Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, the VP of government affairs for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the president of the American Automotive Policy Council Trump sent auto executives another stark warning before a breakfast Tuesday morning at the White House. 'I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!' he said over Twitter In the lead up to his inauguration, Trump named and shamed car companies for manufacturing vehicles in Mexico that are sold in the U.S., including GM, and threatened them with a 'big border tax.' He went after Ford on the campaign trail more aggressively than others. Trump told GM CEO Mary Barra in today's meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, 'You're not being singled out.' 'But you have a lot of plants from a lot of different items built in the United States. And its happening, its happening big league,' he said. Thanking attendees of the meeting for being there, he said, 'We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants, many other plants.' Whirlpool was at the White House yesterday, he said, revealing that he talked to the appliance company during a breakfast with business leaders about its construction facilities. 'I want although that brings jobs. Its the long term jobs that were looking for,' he said. 'Were bringing manufacturing back to the United States big league, were reducing taxes very substantially and were reducing unnecessary regulations.' Ford CEO Mark Fields was at that meeting, as well as the one today. Trump said he and Fields, whose company abandoned plans this month to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and will invest $700 million in Michigan, had come to an understanding. 'Were going to make the process much more simple for the auto companies and for everybody else who wants to do business in the United States,' Trump said. Fields told reporters from the driveway of the White House Monday that business leaders had a 'very, very positive meeting' with Trump. I think a very positive meeting for the United States of America and manufacturing,' he said. 'I come out with a lot of confidence that the president is very, very serious on making sure that the United States economy is going be strong and have policies, tax regulatory or trade to drive that. And I think that encourages all of us as CEOs as we make decisions going forward.' Ford's stock was up $12.55 dollars as of Tuesday afternoon, at nearly two percent, and counting. GM and Fiat's stock were up, as well, by 1.34 and 6.42 percent, respectively. The market was up, too, but only by a half a percent. Trump told auto executives today at the beginning of his meeting, before reporters were ushered out, 'Youre going to find this to be from being very inhospitable to extremely hospitable. 'I think well go down as one of the most friendly countries and right now its not.' In the lead up to his inauguration, Trump named and shamed car companies for manufacturing vehicles in Mexico that are sold in the U.S., including GM, and threatened them with a 'big border tax' on Twitter Trump, greets Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council, as Vice President Mike Pence greets Craig Glidden, Executive Vice President, Legal and Public Policy and General Counsel of GM, at the meeting The former real estate mogul, who remains a billionaire, told them he has friends who want to build in the U.S. but have been unable to get the environmental permits they need 'over something that nobody ever heard of before. 'And its absolutely crazy,' he said. Trump declared himself 'an environmentalist' while arguing that regulations issued by the government's environmental watch dog are 'out of control.' 'Were going to make it a very short process. And were going to either give you your permits or were not going to give you your permits. But youre going to know very quickly,' he said. 'And it is an honor to be with you today.' The president began signing executive orders immediately after to strip away regulations that Republicans and businesses have identified as overly burdensome. 'This is about streamlining the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process and reducing regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturing,' he said of one. Referencing his meetings yesterday and today, Trump said, 'Sometimes it takes many, many years and we dont want that to happen. 'If its a no, well give them a quick no. And if its a yes, its like, lets start building. The regulatory process in this country has become a tangled up mess, very unfair to people.' Trump held up the order and declared, 'Thats a big one.' Thanking attendees of the meeting for being there, he said, 'We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants, many other plants' The president began the day with a roundtable and listening session with Craig Glidden and Barra of GM, Fields and Ziad Ojakli of Ford, Sergio Marchionne of Fiat, former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, now the president of the American Automotive Policy Council, and Shane Karr of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. Also attending was Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff, Steve Bannon, chief strategist and senior counselor to the president, Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to the president on policy, Jared Kushner, another senior adviser, and Josh Pitcock, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence. The vice president was also in the meeting. A representative for Toyota, a Japanese car company Trump has targeted on Twitter, was not on the list of attendees provided to journalists. Its stock was down by .77 percent as of Tuesday afternoon. Trump had called out GM in a tweet earlier this month for making a version of the Chevy Cruze across the border 'tax free.' The tweet told GM to make the sedan 'in U.S.A.or pay big border tax!' In the lead up to his inauguration, Trump named and shamed car companies for manufacturing vehicles in Mexico that are sold in the U.S., including GM, and threatened them with a 'big border tax.' Trump told GM CEO Mary Barra in today's meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, 'You're not being singled out.' Several days later he took aim at Toyota Motor over its pre-existing plans to build a plant in Baja, Mexico that will produce Corolla cars that will be sold in the U.S. 'NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax,' Trump told the car company. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican like Trump, suggested the same week that Trump's tough talk had no teeth, though. Congress has no intention of slapping new tariffs on companies that make their products in Mexico. Ryan said congressional Republicans believe that tax and regulatory reforms are the 'secret to making American businesses more competitive' - 'not raising prices or raising tariffs, but lowering the costs and leveling the playing field.' The historical inquiries into British soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan were blamed last night for triggering a recruitment crisis in the Army. Shock figures yesterday showed that only 6,910 cadets signed up in the past 12 months despite top brass setting a target of hiring 9,850. That represented a recruitment shortfall of nearly 3,000 troops or 30 per cent. The Army is now 4 per cent below its required strength of 82,000. New figures released to Parliament show 6,910 new regular troops joined the Army over the past 12 months, against a target of 9,580 - a shortfall of 28 per cent And Minister of State for Defence and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Earl Howe, said the MoD 'cannot take future recruitment for granted' A minister admitted the Ministry of Defence cannot take future recruitment for granted. Hundreds of British soldiers have been hounded by investigators as part of historical inquiries into the Iraq and Afghan wars, which have been described by critics as a witch-hunt. Soldiers have been put through an ordeal by investigators many years after the end of the conflicts often at the hands of legal-aid funded human rights lawyers. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who has led the charge against spurious legal claims being made against soldiers, has previously said the witch-hunt has been intimidating for veterans and serving soldiers who were worried about investigations. Last night politicians and even a serving soldier said that by allowing ambulance-chasing lawyers to terrorise UK troops, potential soldiers had been put off joining. They slammed the shortfall as scandalous. The biggest deficit was in the infantry, where 2,380 troops were recruited against a target of 3,480 The Army's 500million recruitment contract with Capita has been heavily criticised in the past, amid IT problems and repeated failures to hit targets The serving soldier, who is facing prosecution over the death of an Iraqi a decade ago, said last night: Soldiers are saying why would you join the Army when you could be investigated. The witch-hunt will have undoubtedly affected recruitment because people feel they wont be supported by the system. 'Morale is also pretty poor because of the uncertainty of it all. The new figures released to Parliament showed there was a shortfall in recruitment of 28 per cent last year. The biggest deficit was in the infantry, where 2,380 troops were recruited against a target of 3,480. The figures were released after a written parliamentary question by Labour MP and former defence minister Kevan Jones. The Army was cut from 102,000 to 82,000 regulars after the 2010 defence review, while the number of reservists was promised to increase from 19,000 to 30,000. Pictured is a recruitment advert He said: These figures show just how serious the Armys manning shortfall is and ministers need to clarify whether or not this is a deliberate attempt to balance the defence budget. 'No action on this issue will just lead to further overstretch for our armed forces and in turn even worse recruitment and retention. Baroness Judith Jolly, defence spokesman for the Lib Dems, said: We have a recruitment crisis and having a 30 per cent gap between recruits and what we need is utterly awful. This crisis is down, in part, to the constant claims our soldiers are facing. These cases are having a real effect on morale. If we cannot recruit the manpower we need how can we keep the nation safe and deliver on our objectives around the world. Its scandalous. Official statistics released by the MoD last week show that as of December the armed forces are 4.3 per cent down on the planned number of personnel needed, slightly worse than the same time last year British Army recruitment is in crisis as the Ministry of Defence admitted it missed its hiring target for last year by almost a third UK Veterans One Voice, a group campaigning to end the legal witch-hunt against troops, said: It is no surprise that recruitment is down considerably. 'Why would anyone want to join the forces when they have the possibility of years of hounding hanging over them? Official statistics released by the MoD last week show that as of December, the Armed Forces are 4.3 per cent down on the planned number of personnel needed, slightly worse than the same time last year. Excluding redundancies, 15,140 regular troops left the Armed Forces over the past 12 months, with 13,450 new troops coming in. A Utah mother-of-three has been sentenced to five years in prison for having sex with a teenage boy after she was found passed out in the gutter following a party. Amber Renee Bradley, 29, who only has one eye, was found unconscious in the street after inviting a group of teenage boys to her home in Layton where she had sex with one of them and played beer pong with the others. Second District Court Judge Glen R Dawson sentenced her last week to the Utah State Prison after Bradley admitted to four counts of attempted child endangerment, which are misdemeanors, FOX45 reported. Dawson gave Bradley a credit for the 50 days she has already served behind bars in the Davis County Jail, as the sentences related to the two cases will run concurrently. The mother-of-three, who claims she is in her second year of college for child development on her LinkedIn page, was originally charged with seven counts of child endangerment, third-degree felonies, as well as a misdemeanor of providing alcohol to a juvenile and a misdemeanor for possession of a controlled substance. Amber Renee Bradley (pictured in her mugshot from June), 29, of Layton, Utah, was found passed out in a gutter after inviting a group of teenage boys to her home to play beer pong. A judge sentenced the mother-of-three to up to five years in Utah State Prison (file above) last week. Bradley was given a credit for the 50 days she has already served behind bars in the Davis County Jail Bradley accepted a plea deal in that case in October and she was sentenced the same day in a separate case for unlawful sexual activity with a minor charge and dealing in materials harmful to a minor charge, which are both third-degree felonies. In a stunning mugshot destined for the hall of shame, Bradley was pictured with heavy eye makeup running down her left eye after being found passed out in the gutter by police on June 4th. The 29-year-old mother exhibited slurred speech and difficulty walking when she was found after 4am that Saturday, police said. She told officers that her three children, ages four, five, and eight, were being watched by a 15-year-old, but police found four unconscious teens next to alcohol and drugs in her apartment, according to a Davis County Jail booking report from the incident. Her children were asleep in a separate bedroom. Police found beer, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and Xanax in her apartment next to four unconscious teens. The 29-year-old invited the teenage boys, who ranged from ages 14 to 16, to play beer pong, according to court documents cited by KSL. One teen told detectives he traveled about 15 miles to the neighboring town of Ogden with Bradley to purchase Xanax, which she admitted she did not have a prescription for. In the separate case, Bradley (left in another mugshot and right in happier times) admitted to authorities that she had sex with a 15-year-old boy two different times and police found text messages between them where she called him 'daddy' Another teen said they had been drinking with Bradley, who supplied them with beer, KSL reported. In the separate case, Bradley admitted to authorities that she had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old boy two different times from April to June 2016 at the teen's home where he lives with his parents. The teen told police that she was the one both times to initiate the sexual contact, as he also said hewas hesitant to engage in sex with her. Court documents say that Bradley persuaded him to do it the first, as the boy was also hesitant during the second incident. Bradley then promised the boy that if they engaged in sex, she would buy him a dirt bike and take him anywhere that he wanted to go, court documents say. The boy's parents said that she had permission to be at the home and was allowed to stay with the family for an period of time. Bradley did end up buying the teen a dirt bike and also sent him explicit photos of her breasts and genitals. Police found text messages between Bradley and the teen where she called him 'daddy', as other messages said they both loved each other, court documents say. A besotted schoolgirl has vowed to wait for 24-year-old Facebook groomer David Tawse, who tried to father a child with her despite a judge banning contact until she turns 19 A besotted schoolgirl has vowed to wait for a 24-year-old Facebook groomer who tried to father a child with her despite a judge banning contact until she turns 19. The 14-year-old wants to be reunited with convicted robber David Tawse when a restraining order against him is lifted in five years' time, a court heard. Tawse secretly filmed himself having sex with the girl and, despite his victim's pleas, refused to wear a condom because he wanted her to bear his child. Teesside Crown Court was told the girl did become pregnant by Tawse but had an abortion. Her abuser has now been jailed for 46 months after admitting four charges of sexual activity with a child. Despite the sentence, Prosecutor Paul Newcombe revealed that in a victim impact statement the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she would 'soon be older and would wait for him'. But Judge Sean Morris ruled that 'young girls often had to be protected against themselves' and made a restraining order banning Tawse from contacting his victim for five years. The judge said it was persistent offending over a period of time, and Tawse had taken the photograph without his victim knowing. The judge added: 'It is a common thing that is happening between young people and it causes tremendous upset. 'She was still a child and needed protection from herself by the courts, and young men should stay away.' The judge was told Tawse had served a 12-month jail sentence for robbery and had a conviction for possession of drugs. Teesside Crown Court was told the girl became pregnant by Tawse but had an abortion. He has been jailed for 46 months after admitting four charges of sexual activity with a child TIMELINE OF HOW TAWSE GROOMED HIS VICTIM, 14 On an undisclosed date in 2016 - Tawse, 24, and the girl, 14, first started messaging each other July 2016 - The court was told that Tawse and the girl, 14, split up after she suspected he was cheating November 2016 - Tawse is arrested after police discovered a plan for them to run away together January 2017- The 24-year-old is jailed for 46 months after admitting four charges of sexual activity with a child Advertisement Tawse met his victim at her home in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, while her parents were away, the court heard, having spent time grooming her on Facebook. He first contacted the girl last year with flattering comments about her photograph. She told him she was 14 but he pleaded that he was lonely and made her feel sorry for him. Despite knowing her age, he repeatedly met up with her for sex, which he filmed and later used the footage to force the girl into continuing the relationship. The court heard Tawse had lied to his own parents about the girl's age, telling them she was 18. But Tawse's mother was still suspicious and warned the girl to stay away from her son, it was said. They split up in July last year because the girl suspected Tawse was cheating but was terrified her family and school friends would see the footage and sexting messages. The court heard that when police become involved the pair planned to run away together. Online abuser: Tawse met his victim at her home in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, while her parents were away, the court heard, having spent time grooming her on Facebook (file photo) Tawse was arrested in November after the officers intercepted a plan to travel north with the girl by train from Middlesbrough railway station. Tawse, formerly of Stokesley but now of Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was jailed for 46 months after admitting four charges of sexual activity with a child. He also admitted making an indecent image of a child and an abduction charge relating to the plot to run away with the girl. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said even though Tawse had been in custody the girl continued to show a degree of interest in him. He added: 'He should never have contacted her in the first place but she seems to have been a very willing if below the legal age participant.' The case sparked a police warning to parents today that many children groomed for sex refuse to believe they are victims. Detective Constable Neil Brodhurst, of North Yorkshire Police, said: 'This is a typical case of an older male grooming a young girl online for the purpose of sexual gratification. 'It reiterates why we should all be alert to the signs of sexual grooming. Often children in such a situation do not believe they are a victim. 'As adults, it is all our responsibility to reinforce safety messages to our children and be alert to the signs of online grooming, inappropriate relationships and child sexual exploitation.' A major malfunction in the UK's Trident nuclear missile deterrent is said to have been covered up by Downing Street No 10 is in 'cloud cuckoo land' to think it could keep last summer's botched Trident missile launch secret because Russia would have monitored it, an ex Navy chief said today. Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, told MPs that he could pick up the phone to Vladimir Putin now and 'I'm sure he will tell me' about the missile test failure. He launched a scathing attack on the Government as ministers faced fresh accusations of a cover-up today. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon today snubbed an emergency committee hearing on the major malfunction of a Trident II D5 missile, which veered off course during a test last June near the coast of Florida last June but was hushed up by ministers just weeks before a crucial Commons vote on the future of Britain's nuclear deterrent. Alarmingly a military expert warned today that the missile was heading towards land in Florida - home to 26million - before it was diverted into the ocean to self-destruct. Professor Michael Clarke, former head of the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said evidence suggested there was 'a fairly major telemetry failure, that the missile may have been not just uncertain in its flight but may have genuinely been going on the wrong track. 'Some sort of failure in guidance system seems now to be reasonably certain,' he said. The row deepened last night after an American official claimed the US had asked David Cameron's government to keep details of the failed Trident missile test launch secret. Lord West, who led the Navy between 2002-206, told MPs on the Defence Select Committee today: 'When you know it is being monitored by other people like the Russians it is silly thing to do to try and hide it. It is just a stupid thing to do.' Admiral Lord West, the former First Sea Lord, told MPs that he could pick up the phone to Vladimir Putin now and 'I'm sure he will tell me' about the missile test failure He added: 'Anyone who thought that could be done was being very stupid and foolhardy, that it would not emerge at some stage. 'This is a big bonanza occasion, we do this once every for years. It was inevitably going to come out. 'If anyone thought this wasn't going to come out then they are in cloud cuckoo land.' He slammed Downing Street for refusing to even confirming the date of the botched test - believed to be June 20. Explaining the scope of President Putin's influence, Lord West said: 'I could probably phone up Mr Putin - I did a favour for him once, rescuing his submariners who were drowning and ask him what it is and I'm sure he will tell me.' Senior MP Julian Lewis, who chairs the Defence Committee, hit out at Sir Michael's no-show, saying it was 'unfortunate' that he chose not to attend a hearing today, even though he had been offered to sit in private. 'It is unnecessary surreptiousness about something that could have been dealt with in a perfectly straightforward way,' Mr Lewis told the Commons. Sir Michael said he had no further information to add to what he told Parliament yesterday, when he refused to give any details about the incident. But as he was speaking in the Commons, a US official said the rocket had veered off course during a test-fire in June. The unnamed official confirmed that the missile's electronics had detected an 'anomaly' and self-destructed. Professor Michael Clarke, pictured, told MPs today that the missile was heading for Florida before it self-destructed Defence Committee chair Senior MP Julian Lewis, pictured in the Commons today, hit out at Sir Michael Fallon's refusal to appear before MPs today, saying it was 'unfortunate' that he chose not to attend even though he had been offered to sit in private The row deepened when a British military source told The Times: 'It was the Obama administration that asked the Cameron administration not to comment on this. 'The US administration may have been worried that there could be similar problems on other missiles. 'The British submarine successfully carried and launched the missile; the bit that went wrong was the US proprietary technology.' TRIDENT FAILURE: WHAT HAPPENED? Defence sources have told CNN that Britain's Trident missile test failed because of an 'anomaly' detected during launch. Under normal conditions, the Trident missile is fired from below the sea's surface before heading into a high sub-orbital flight to its target. In this case, a source with direct knowledge of the incident said, electronics on board the missile detected a problem. This triggered a self destruct mechanism that involved re-directing the rocket to a crash site off the Florida coast. Advertisement Mr Cameron's office told The Times that it would be inappropriate to comment for reasons of national security. The disclosure was hugely embarrassing for Mrs May, who was forced to admit for the first time yesterday that she had been briefed about the weapons test. Although it took place shortly before she came to power, she said had subsequently been made aware of what she described as a 'successful certification' of the submarine involved, HMS Vengeance. But she refused again to say whether she had been briefed about the alleged mis-fire, insisting only that she retained 'absolute faith' in Britain's nuclear deterrent. Sir Michael also tried to stonewall on the issue yesterday, insisting it was important not to reveal operational details of the test for reasons of national security. He even accused MPs for risking Britain's safety after they pushed him for answers in the Commons over the issue. But critics pointed out that previous successful tests of the Trident system had been mentioned in Government press releases and speeches by ministers. And just as Sir Michael was addressing Parliament, a US defence official told CNN how the dummy warhead, which could have killed millions if armed, had self-destructed and ditched in the ocean after the malfunction. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (pictured in the Commons yesterday) refused to give more details to MPs, insisting he would not discuss the operational details of 'systems or sub systems' on Britain's nuclear submarines The official, said to have direct knowledge of the incident, confirmed to CNN that the missile veered off and the test 'ended in failure'. He verified reports the missile had veered towards the US coast, but said 'this trajectory was part of an automatic self-destruct sequence'. 'The official said the missile diverted into the ocean an automatic procedure when missile electronics detect an anomaly,' the television network said. At around the same time, Mrs May confirmed that she had been told about the test when she entered Downing Street in July and just before a Commons vote on Trident's 40billion renewal. However, she insisted she had 'absolute faith' in the nuclear deterrent programme and said the trial off the coast of Florida on June 20 had been a success for the vessel and its crew. 'I'm regularly briefed on national security issues, I was briefed on successful certification of HMS Vengeance and her crew,' she said. 'We don't comment on operational details for national security reasons. I have absolute faith in our independent nuclear deterrent.' On Sunday, the Prime Minister had dodged the question of when she learnt about the test four times during an interview. It was not until yesterday morning that a Number 10 spokesman had admitted that Mrs May was aware of a 'successful' test in certifying the crew and submarine. Theresa May, pictured at a Cabinet meeting held in Runcorn, Cheshire, yesterday, refused four times yesterday to say if she knew about a major malfunction in the UK's Trident nuclear missile deterrent Sir Michael was summoned to the Commons to give more details but repeatedly refused and restated the Government's trust in the 'capability and effectiveness' of the Trident system. 'The Government has absolute confidence in our deterrent and in the Royal Navy crews who protect us,' he told MPs, adding that ministers 'would not have asked this House to endorse the principle of the deterrent and our plans to build four new submarines if there had been any question about the capability and effectiveness of our deterrent'. TORY MP LASHES OUT AT CAMERON OVER TRIDENT FIASCO A top Tory has lashed out at David Cameron over the Trident fiasco - blaming his spin doctors for covering up the apparent misfire. The chair of the Commons defence committee, Julian Lewis, said Theresa May had been dealt a 'rotten hand' by her predecessor. But Mr Cameron's former media team have hit back, saying the MP's claim is 'entirely false'. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Lewis said: 'In fairness to the present prime minister one has to accept that she has been dealt a rotten hand because this matter, the decision to cover it up, if there was such a decision, as appears to be the case, was taken in the dying days of the Cameron administrations when spin doctors were the rule in Number 10 Downing Street.' But a spokesman for the ex-PM's media aides said he was 'making claims with no evidence'. Advertisement Labour's former defence minister Kevan Jones, whose urgent question forced the Defence Secretary to come to the Commons, challenged Sir Michael to confirm the missile went off course. But the Defence Secretary responded: 'There are very few things that we cannot discuss openly in Parliament, but the security of our nuclear deterrent is certainly one of them. 'It has never been the practice of governments to give Parliament details of the demonstration and shakedown operations.' Labour MP Kevin Brennan compared Sir Michael to the Dad's Army character Captain Mainwaring, asking: 'Doesn't the Secretary of State's characteristic name, rank and serial number, don't-tell-'em-Pike approach to this actually make no sense at all given that with the reports we have had? Our American counterparts in the Congress will certainly be given full details of what happened around this test and that his stonewalling here does nothing to strengthen our security and everything to undermine the credibility of this House.' Shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith added: 'The British public deserve the facts on a matter as important as Britain's nuclear deterrent and they deserve to hear those facts from their Prime Minister, not in allegations sprawled across a Sunday paper.' She added: 'At the heart of this issue is a worrying lack of transparency and a Prime Minister who has chosen to cover up a serious incident.' Commons Speaker John Bercow was caught on microphone warning that Sir Michael would be 'stupid' to pick a fight with the chairman of the defence select committee, Julian Lewis, who had invited him to attend a closed session to discuss the matter. He muttered that to 'pick a fight with the chairman of the select committee is a rather stupid thing to do'. The number of migrants caught trying to sneak into trucks and boats crossing from the Netherlands to Britain is on the rise, according to the Dutch government. Dutch and British authorities caught 430 migrants and refugees illegally trying to cross in the last three months. This is almost twice as many as the previous quarter. The total number for 2016 was 1,280 people - more than double the 500 people caught in 2015. Immigration Minister James Brokenshire, pictured (centre) wearing a purple tie, made a low-key visit to the Hook of Holland and was pictured inspecting sniffer dogs at work The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice said that Albanians make up 56 per cent of all the migrants caught attempting to cross from the Netherlands to Britain. The reason for the increase in the number of people being found appears to be intensified Dutch surveillance and a step up in the checks of vehicles. Security measures have been particularly increased at ports such as the Hook of Holland. Boats leaving this port mainly sail to the British south east coast. In 2015, 55 per cent of the migrants trying to illegally cross to Britain were caught by authorities on the Dutch side. Last year, some 83 percent of migrants were caught by the Dutch before they left for Britain. Security measures have been particularly increased at ports such as the Hook of Holland (pictured) In 2015 Prime Minister Theresa May, then the Home Secretary, visited Calais to look at the ring of steel at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel - a fence that was built as part of a 7million effort to stop illegal migrants getting to Britain. While there she admitted a clampdown at the French port could move the refugee problem to ports in Belgium and Holland. The infamous Calais jungle camp was bulldozed in October. The vast shanty town was home to more than 10,000 migrants hoping to reach Britain. Theresa May (pictured, right, with her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve) went to France to look at a fence that has been built as part of a 7million effort to stop illegal migrants getting to Britain in 2015 While in France the then Home Secretary admitted a clampdown at the French port could move the problem to ports in Belgium and Holland Displaced refugees were temporarily housed at more than 160 Welcome and Orientation Centres (CAOs) across France until they were relocated. In November 2015 the UK signed an agreement with Belgium and the Netherlands on 12 November to strengthen port security and tackle organised immigration crime. A Home Office spokesman said the agreement allowed the Britain to, 'share intelligence, detect new routes and participate in a dedicated team tackling organised immigration crime'. A man whose drug-related prison sentence was commuted by Obama was fatally shot at a federal halfway house in Michigan, police said. Demarlon C. Thomas, whose sentence was commuted in November, was killed by two men with assault-style rifles who sought him out. Thomas, 31, was formerly a gang member of Sunny Side Gang in Saginaw, about 100 miles north of Detroit. Scroll down for video Demarlon C. Thomas, whose 19-year sentence was commuted by Obama in November, was killed by two masked gunman at Bannum Place halfway house in Michigan Thomas was shot several times by one of the men as some of the roughly two dozen people at the home were held at gunpoint Two men wearing masks went into Bannum Place, at 2209 Norman Street, at 9.40pm on Monday night with plans to kill him. Lieutenant David Kaiser said Thomas was shot several times by one of the men as some of the roughly two dozen people at the home were held at gunpoint. Kaiser told the Saginaw News: 'One person watched over a group of them while another subject located the victim and executed him.' He added: 'They were looking for this person.' Thomas was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured and no one was immediately taken into custody. It is unknown what security measures were in place at the house. Thomas had been sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2008 on a cocaine charge, but with the commutation the sentence was to expire on March 22, 2017. He had been charged with distributing five grams or more of cocaine. Thomas's sentence was commuted by President Obama on November 22, 2016. He was one of 79 individuals to have his sentence commuted that day He was arrested as part of 'Operation Sunset,' a federal investigation that effectively dismantled the Sunny Side Gang in Saginaw. He was one of 79 individuals whose sentences Obama commuted on November 22, 2016. He had been held at Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio, roughly 250 miles southeast of Saginaw. He was arrested as part of 'Operation Sunset,' a federal investigation that effectively dismantled the Sunny Side Gang in Saginaw. The Michigan State Police Major Crimes Unit is leading the investigation. A husband smashed his car into a marriage registration office in China. The man, surnamed Li, was angry that his wife had wanted to divorce him, police told Chinese media. Mr Li was seriously injured during the incident and has been detained by police on suspicion of dangerous driving. Irresponsible: A Chinese man smashed his car into a marriage registration office on January 5 Terrifying: The glass facade of the marriage bureau collapsed as Mr Li's car hit the building The incident took place in the afternoon of January 5 in Suzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu Province, reported Jiangsu Television Station. The man had agreed to meet his wife at the marriage registration office to file for divorce that day, said the report. However, when he met his wife, the man changed his mind and didn't want to end his marriage. The man allegedly lashed out at his wife before leaving her and heading towards his car. A police officer named Sun Cong said the suspect had felt angry at his wife for wanting a divorce. Officer Sun told Jiangsu Television Station: 'He said he could not control himself after getting into the car.' The police said Mr Li had been drunk when he arrived at the marriage registration office. He had a quarrel with his wife at the car park. Afterwards, he returned to his car and drove it into the building. Shocking: Police said the man had been angry at his wife for wanting to divorce him Lucky escape: The two officers in the lobby dodged the car in time and did not suffer injuries The man and his wife, surnamed Ji, had divorced once in the past, but the couple reconciled later, said the report by Jiangsu Television Station. However, Ms Ji wanted a divorce from Mr Li again this month. Surveillance footage released by the police shows the glass facade of the marriage registration office collapsed when Mr Li's car hit the building. Two officers who were working in the lobby at the time managed to escape the crash. After his car came to a halt, Mr Li fell out of his vehicle which was lodged at the building's entrance. He suffered from injuries on his spine and would need to undergo surgery. A sobriety test after the crash showed that Mr Li had 117 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, which is deemed serious drink driving, according to the police. The man has been detained on suspicion of dangerous driving as the police investigate into the case further. Secret footage has emerged of murdered Cambridge University student Giulio Regeni discussing finances with labour unions weeks before he was abducted and tortured to death. The video shows Mr Regeni, 28, speaking to Mohammed Abdullah, head of an unofficial street vendors union. The Italian national was in Egypt conducting postgraduate research into trade unions when he went missing on January 25, 2016. His tortured body was found in a ditch nine days later. He had all of his finger and toe nails pulled out as well as broken bones, smashed teeth and burns all over his body. The video shows Giulio Regeni, 28, speaking to Mohammed Abdullah, head of an unofficial street vendors union In the footage purportedly recorded in secret by Mr Abdullah, Mr Regeni explained in Arabic the applications process to obtain funding from a British institution he refers to as the 'Egyptian center.' The narrative revealed in the video seems to support a theory that has emerged in the investigation - that Mr Regeni was attempting to help union organizers apply for grants while researching the labour movement in Egypt. The foreign funding of civil society groups, including trade unions, is frowned upon by the government in Egypt, which suspects overseas NGOs helped to destabilise Egypt before an uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. In the video Mr Abdallah repeatedly requests payments from the Cambridge University PhD student. He said: 'My wife has a cancer operation, I will do anything as long as there is money in it'. Mr Regeni replied, in Arabic: 'Mohamed, I cannot use the money because it is not my money. I cannot use it like that because I am an academic. 'I cannot tell the institution in Britain in the application that I want to use the money for personal reasons.' The student explained he would help Mr Abdallah to apply for a grant or workshop worth '10,000 pounds' for union activities but not for personal use. Mr Abdallah said: 'Is there no other way? A way with personal use?' Mr Abdallah claimed he later reported Mr Regeni to the police, believing him to be a spy. He said the discussion had probably taken place on January 6 or 7 last year. A photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior shows Mr Regeni's personal belongings The video surfaced a day after Egypt said it had agreed to Italy's request to send experts to try and retrieve footage from security cameras at a Cairo metro station Mr Regeni used the day he disappeared. Italian and German experts will analyze the material in the hope of finding who is behind the disappearance. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has promised investigators would work 'night and day' to identify and prosecute those responsible for Mr Regeni's torture and killing. He also blames the local media for wrongfully pointing an accusing finger at his security forces, even though their abuses are regularly noted and criticised by human rights groups. Italy has repeatedly complained that Egyptian authorities have not cooperated to find those responsible for the 28-year-old student's death Egyptian officials have denied any involvement in the student's death. No-one has been arrested over Mr Regeni's death, although Egyptian authorities said in March they had found a criminal gang responsible for his kidnapping and murder. They later claimed all the members of the gang had been killed in a shoot-out. Police initially suggested Mr Regeni had been killed in a road accident, and have since offered little information on their investigation. Italy has repeatedly complained that Egyptian authorities have not cooperated to find those responsible for the 28-year-old student's death. It has withdrawn its ambassador to Cairo as a result. His brutally tortured body was found by the side of a suburban Cairo road nine days after he disappeared. A California high school abruptly banned a student performance of a critically-acclaimed Jean-Paul Sartre play from the 1940s 'because it featured a lesbian character'. Buchanan High School drew the curtain on school play No Exit after administrators said they received complaints about its sexual themes and adult content on Friday. But Jared Serpa, the director and a senior at the school in Clovis, California, said it was canceled purely because the play featured a lesbian character. Scroll down for video The school district said the play at Buchanan High School in Clovis, California (pictured), should never have been approved because of its mature content and sexual themes The play was abruptly banned after a performance on Thursday after there were complaints Pictured: Three Buchanan High School students involved in the play No Exit should have 'never been approved' in the first place due to its sexual themes and mature content, said chief communications director for Clovis Unified School District to the New York Daily News. However, the work of literature is included in the curriculum of an AP course at Buchanan High School and the actors even modified it to make it more appropriate. The play was written by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Sartre in the 1940s and features a lesbian postal clerk who turns a woman against her husband. After its first performance on Thursday, school officials said they received complaints about its adult nature, sparking the decision to draw the play's curtain for good. No Exit was written by Nobel Prize-winning playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (right) in the 1940s and features a lesbian postal clerk who turns a woman against her husband Serpa, the high school student director, disagreed and said the main reason was due to the lesbian character, he claimed in a two minute Twitter video. The senior said: 'That just shows how cowardice the parent is for not talking to their child about reality and telling them that the world that they live in isn't perfectly heterosexual like they want it to be. 'Talk with your children about reality. Don't put them in this bubble and darkness because you couldn't find the courage to talk to your own child about the fact that people are different.' Students have since launched a petition to bring the play back to the stage, accumulating in more than 3,500 supporters as of Tuesday afternoon. Buchanan High School student Jared Serpa claims that the school canceled the play he was directing because one of the characters was a lesbian, in a Twitter video he posted on Friday Students have launched a petition to bring it back to the stage, accumulating in more than 3,500 supporters as of Tuesday afternoon The EU's security chief has warned Europe faces a 'growing threat' of cyber attacks by criminals and the organisation's political enemies. EU security commissioner Julian King said Brussels must shore up its defences in the face of a mounting danger. He gave the example of the European Commission, the EU's powerful executive, which was hit by a 20-percent surge in cyber-attacks last year. Speaking ahead of a cyber security conference in Lille, he said cybercrime cost the European economy 'nearly 60billion euros (51billion) in 2016' and the bill will continue to rise. EU security commissioner Julian King, pictured, has warned the organisation is at risk against a 'growing threat' of cyber attacks Mr King, a former British Ambassador to France, added: 'An increasing number of hackers use cyber space to spread doubt about our political systems. 'The people who are trying to do that, with criminal or other objectives, would like to work in the dark.' 'So the first thing we can do is to shine a light to what is going on in order for people to realise what is going on,' said King, who will likely be Britain's last top EU official as the country prepares for Brexit. US spy chiefs have pointed to suspected Russian hacking in the American presidential election and say the Chinese government runs cyber espionage against the US government, allies and corporations. Russian officials have denied accusations of interference in the election, but the Obama White House has accused Putin of orchestrating a series of hacks that exposed embarrassing secrets of the Democratic national Committee and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. US intelligence officials say hacks have been traced to specific keyboards, which featured Cyrillic characters (Russia's alphabet), that were used to construct the malware code used in operation 'Grizzly Steppe', the name Homeland Security applied to a Russian campaign linked to the intrusions. But new President Donald Trump has insisted the alleged attacks had no effect on the results of the election. But earlier this month he said he 'thinks Russia' was behind 'hacks on Democrats', although he added 'we [the US] get hacked by other people'. It comes amid an investigation in the US into whether Russia was involved in 'cyber attacks' targeting the Presidential election, although President Trump, pictured, has insisted they had no effect on the results Experts in Europe have also warned of the risk of interference in upcoming French and German polls. Bolstering European 'resilience' to cyber-threats requires a response from all players, King said. Private citizens, he said, must follow bank security guidelines, while the public and business sector must ensure the security of their networks and member states reinforce cooperation. The EU Commission 'has just launched a new public-private partnership which we hope will generate 1.8 billion euros (1.5billion) in investment in research' in cybersecurity, he said. King highlighted for example initiatives involving the private sector and Europol, the EU police agency, to fight 'ransom on-line,' where criminals demand money from individuals or firms to unblock computers they have hacked. 'There is a whole range of software. We can provide the tools to unblock them without the user being forced to pay. 'More than 2,500 computers were decrypted this way for free in Europe last year,' he added. He said the Commission itself experienced a 20-percent increase in cyber attacks last year. 'We are targeted and sometimes they are rather serious attacks,' he said without elaborating on the nature of the incidents or any damage they caused. 'Our efforts are more effective if we avoid giving all the details,' he said. In his other work in fighting terrorism, King admitted that sharing information among member states 'runs up against issues of internal organisation or different traditions among member states,' but he said the mindset is changing. He said there are plans to improve the exchange of information that allow EU states to identify suspects. Russia and its President Vladimir Putin, pictured, have denied the accusations levelled by US intelligence agencies The EU this week wants to make progress in managing the information so that police officers, border guards and others can consult on one data base all the files they have access to. The EU will also work on setting up a 'unified system' for managing biometric and other information. 'In recent attacks, including the one in Berlin, we see that the suspects used aliases,' King said. 'With biometric information, we have the possibility of bolstering our defences against these abuses,' he said. Several European governments have been targeted in cyber attacks over the past decade, notably including Estonia in 2007 when bank, newspaper and government websites were all disrupted. Russia itself said it was the victim of a 'professional' cyber attack last July, claiming a 'spy virus' was found in networks of around 20 official organisations. A devoted couple have celebrated 70 years of marriage and revealed their secret as - 'a lot of bleeding patience.' Dolly, 89, and Stan Izatt, 91, whose relationship blossomed when they wrote to each other during the Second World War, marked their platinum wedding anniversary this week. The couple who were both born and raised in London where they lived opposite each other, tied the knot in 1947 when Dolly was 19 and Stan was 21. Dolly, 89, and Stan Izatt, 91 both from London marked their platinum anniversary this week But despite a life-time of happiness, it was far from love at first sight for Dolly who says she was eventually worn down by her future husband's persistence. And spending seven decades together, she revealed: 'In marriage you need love, you need trust - and you need a lot of bleeding patience'. She added: 'When I first met Stan, I fancied his friend - I didn't fancy him at all. Stan and Dolly Izatt who now live in Praa Sands, Cornwall, on their wedding day in 1947 'But within a couple of weeks he was telling everybody he was going to marry me, don't ask me why. 'I mean then I was fifteen, straight hair, never wore makeup - but everywhere I went he followed me, on his bike. 'I've gone in a shop and bought something to avoid him, but there we are - he persevered and wore me down I think.' Growing up the pair lived opposite each other and tied the knot in 1947 when Dolly was 19 and Stan was 21 Stan, a Second World War veteran, eventually made a break through and asked Dolly if she would write to him when he was away on service. The soldier, 'far from a scholar', said he would not write back but would like to receive the letters. When Dolly demanded replies or else she would not put pen to paper he gave in, and in some cases he had to have six books on his desk while writing as he struggled to find the words. Once back from the conflict they married and after leaving the Army Stan worked on the railways. But redundancy would lead to on a different path and in 1964 they moved Praa Sands in Cornwall where they both worked at Two Chimneys Caravan Park. When I first met Stan, I fancied his friend - I didn't fancy him at all. Dolly Izatt, 89 Stan said: 'We used to come down here on holiday and I came home all in a temper and said to Dolly, 'that's it I'm going to sell up house and home and move to Cornwall' and we did. I have no regrets. We're very lucky.' Dolly ended up being the manager and the couple clearly made an impression with staff and holidaymakers as they still receive Christmas cards and well wishes. The couple have three daughters, five grandchildren and eight great grandchildren who all lived in Cornwall until recent years and are their 'pride and joy'. To mark their achievement their daughters arranged a party at the Godolphin Arms, Marazion, where the happy couple were joined by family and friends. They were also 'proud' and 'delighted' to receive a card from Her Majesty the Queen, who congratulated them on their impressively long marriage. Dolly's favourite flowers are red carnations, which she had in her wedding bouquet, and each significant anniversary Stan makes sure she receives another bouquet with one carnation for every year - this year she almost struggled to hold her 70. Not love at first sight: 'When I first met Stan, I fancied his friend - I didn't fancy him,' said Dolly 'In marriage you need love, you need trust - and you need a lot of bleeding patience,' said Dolly Her husband also enjoyed his favourite meal of steak and chips, but Dolly had a very special surprise in store for the lifelong devoted West Ham United fan. She has arranged, with the help of her son-in-law, a special trip in March to the Hammers' new stadium for a tour. Stan added: 'Oh wonderful, the London Stadium. I've been saying for years that I would love to go up there and see what they've done.' The platinum pair described themselves as 'very lucky' and have some insightful advice for anyone searching for the key behind a long-lasting and successful marriage. Dolly added: 'When our grandson got married in May, Stan decided he would give him the benefit of his advice. 'He said to him in marriage you need love, you need trust and you need a lot of bleeding patience - and for once I agree with him and that doesn't happen very often.' James Mattis, the new US defense secretary, has reassured his British counterpart that Washington has an 'unshakeable commitment' to Nato, despite Donald Trump previously casting the military alliance as obsolete. During a phone call with Michael Fallon on his first full day in office, Mattis 'emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to Nato', Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said in a statement. Ahead of his inauguration, Trump told two European newspapers he had long warned that Nato had 'problems.' Talks: New Defense Secretary James 'Mad Dog' Mattis called Britain's Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon (right) to call the U.S. commitment to Nato 'unshakeable' Different view: Trump said before the election that he had problems with Nato, including: 'Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago.' 'Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago,' he said, referring to its Cold War, post-World War II origins. 'Number two, the countries aren't paying what they're supposed to pay.' Trump said in his inaugural address on Friday that the United States had 'subsidized the armies of other countries', highlighting a common cause of friction in the 28-nation alliance. In response to Trump's remarks, German chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe has to take responsibility for itself. During his phone call with Fallon, Mattis also 'emphasized the United States and the United Kingdom will always enjoy a uniquely close relationship, reflected in our defense ties which are a bedrock of US security', according to his spokesman. As Theresa May prepared to visit Washington on Friday, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the special relationship between Britain and the US 'can always be closer'. The Pentagon said that the first call made by Mattis on Monday, his first full day in the job, was to Canada's Defense Minister, Harjit Saijan. Next call: Mattis spoke to Jens Stoltenberg, Nato's secretary-general, who was at a meeting in Kuwait City, Kuwait, with members of the Islamic Cooperation Initiative 'The two reiterated the depth and breadth of the relationship shared between the United States and Canada as North American Aerospace Defense Command partners, NATO allies and North American neighbors,' the Pentagon spokesman said. They also spoke about the war against ISIS - and defense relations with Mexico. And the Pentagon said Matts had also spoken to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg 'to reconnect and discuss the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security'. Mattis 'wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance', the spokesman said.' The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe, Davis said. Both pledged to consult in the months to come and look forward to meeting in person during next months NATO defense ministerial. Dr Alec High, pictured, was found by the General Dental Council to have had noisy sex in his office on March 12, 2015 A dental lecturer who was overheard having sex in his office while a colleague was trying to console a grieving student was kicked out of the profession today. Dr Alec High regularly enjoyed lunchtime assignations in his office at the University of Leeds between January 2013 and March 2015. The mystery woman's visits to Dr High's room always 'coincided with the noises of sexual activity', the General Dental Council heard. Dr High claimed he was working at St James's University Hospital between 2pm and 3pm on March 12, 2015 when he was having sex with the woman. He even produced paper 'evidence' to prove he was not in the building but the panel found his cover up bid to be misleading and dishonest. His MacBook Pro and Samsung mobile phone showed he was logged in to the system at the Worsley Building where his office is based. A manager had confronted him about the rendezvous in the summer of 2014, and he replied 'point taken'. But on March 12 2015, an 'embarrassed' colleague said she 'began to hear loud noises of what she said was two people having sex'. Tom Coke-Smyth, for the General Dental Council said: 'This occasion was a particularly serious one as she was dealing with an upset student who had suddenly lost her grandmother, her family were abroad and she was unable to return home for the funeral.' Colleagues had reported hearing 'noises' coming from the office for several years but it only later clicked that they were coital. Witnesses were in 'no doubt' they were hearing 'noises of sexual activity'. Dr High claimed he was at St James's Hospital in Leeds and not in his office, pictured, at the time of the allegation on March 12, 2015, although his phone and computer records disagree A GDC committee today found his fitness to practice impaired by reason of his misconduct and ordered his name to be removed from the dental register. Panel chair Anthony Griffin said Dr High actions had been 'misleading and dishonest conduct that was premeditated and sustained'. They found his behaviour both 'inappropriate and unprofessional' and noted Dr High had never apologised for his actions at work. Mr Griffin said: 'In all the circumstances of this case the committee concluded that the findings against Dr High are so serious as to be incompatible with his remaining in the GDC register. 'The only proportionate sanction is that of erasure. 'This order is necessary to mark the importance of maintaining public confidence in the profession and to send to the public and the profession a clear message about the conduct required of a registered dental professional at all times.' Dr High is a consultant histopathologist and senior lecturer within the university's School of Dentistry, where he was worked since 1981. He is a specialist in cancers of the head and neck has most recently co-authored papers in The Journal of Pathology and International Journal of Cancer. All seven misconduct charges against Dr High, who was not present and unrepresented, were found proved. He failed to respond to the charges of engaging in sexual activity in his office and providing a false account of his whereabouts to the University of Leeds. He has never accepted he did anything wrong, called the investigation into him a 'witch hunt' and slammed phone down when contacted by the GDC. Today his GDC registration and his career were left in tatters as he was banned from dentistry. The committee imposed an immediate suspension barring Dr High from working in the 28 day appeal window until the ban takes effect. A vicious thug who smashed open a policeman's head when he pushed him over has been brought to justice because he was caught on a bodycamera. Footage shows squatter Robert Byles, 44, shove PC Steve Ozden when the officer tried to evict him from a bank in Lewisham, south east London. PC Ozden was sent flying to the ground and was rushed to hospital with injuries to his neck, back and head. A vicious thug who smashed open a policeman's head when he pushed him over has been brought to justice because he was caught on a bodycamera But his newly-issued bodycamera caught the incident meaning Byles had little choice but to plead guilty to bodily harm on a police officer. Byles was sentenced to 12 weeks' imprisonment - suspended for 12 months - and fined 115 in compensation at South East London Magistrates' Court last month. More than 7,000 Metropolitan Police officers now wear bodycameras and this week the kit will be issued to 600 more. In the next few months cameras will be issued to units including the Marine Policing Unit, Dog Support Unit, Mounted Branch and the Automated Number Place Recognition units. They will also be given to officers on front-line specialist roles, including overt firearms officers. Chief Superintendent Craig Haslam, the Met's Taskforce lead, said: 'The introduction of Body Worn Video for colleagues working in the Taskforce is great news. Trials show the footage helps us present clear evidence and secure convictions at court. 'Equipping Territorial Support Group officers with this technology will also show their outstanding professional conduct whilst operating in often dangerous and high intensity situations. Footage shows squatter Robert Byles, 44, shove PC Steve Ozden when the officer tried to evict him from a bank in Lewisham, south east London PC Ozden was sent flying to the ground and was rushed to hospital with injuries to his neck, back and head 'I believe this will be a positive step in enhancing public confidence in the Taskforce and wider Met. The police say the cameras have proved particularly successful in domestic abuse cases where there has been an increase in early guilty pleas from offenders who know their actions have been recorded. All recorded footage is automatically uploaded to secure servers but video not retained as evidence or for a policing purpose is automatically deleted within 31 days. Anyone filmed can request to see footage of themselves by writing within 31 days. Jared Kushner was spotted rushing out of his new Washington DC home on Tuesday morning ahead of a busy day at the office. The newly appointed senior advisor to President Donald Trump was outfitted in his standard uniform of a black suit and tie with a white button down as he made his way to a waiting SUV while speaking on his phone. He carried with him a small notebook as he prepared himself for his day at the White House. Soon after his wife Ivanka made a much more low key exit as she jumped into a car with the couple's three children, choosing to exit from the garage so she could not be seen by waiting photographers and the public. Scroll down for video On the go: Jared Kushner (above) was spotted rushing out of his Washington DC home on Tuesday on his way to work Sharp: He was outfitted in his typical uniform of a black suit and tie with a white button-down shirt Importnt call: Kushner was chatting on his phone and holding a small notebook as he hopped into a waiting SUV New gig: Tuesday marked Kushner's second day at his job working as an unpaid senior advisor to his father-in-law, President Donald Trump There had been reports that Kushner would be heading to Canada on Tuesday to speak with Prime Minister Trudeau, but it was revealed on Monday that those plans had been cancelled at this time. Instead, Kushner was on hand Tuesday while his father-in-law signed an executive order directing that the permitting process and regulatory burden for domestic manufacturers should be streamlined to reduce what he called 'the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible' process. 'Sometimes it takes many, many years and we dont want that to happen. If it's a "no," we'll get a quick "no." If it's a "yes," it's like, let's start building,' said Trump. Among a total of five actions signed by Trump in an Oval Office ceremony, he also signed orders to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects, to accelerate the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects and to decree that any pipelines intended for the United States should be built in the country. He said: 'We will build our own pipeline. We will build our own pipes, as we used to in the old days.' Meeting of the minds: Kushner left) and the head of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn (right) talk with Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne This guy: Presidnet Trump points to Ford Motors CEO Mark Fields while Kushner looks on Tuesday Dynamic duo: Kushner and Steve Bannon talk to auto industry CEOs on Tuesday Gang of five: Kushner and the rest of Trump's close staff (l to r: Reince Priebus, Kellyanne Conway, Hope Hicks, Kushner and Bannon) look on as he signs an executive order Trump also said on Tuesday he will be announcing his pick for the Supreme Court next week. 'We will pick a truly great Supreme Court justice,' said Trump. On Tuesday, Kushner also joined President Trump as he summoned the heads of the big three American automakers - General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler - for a breakfast meeting. He pledged to scrap regulations and reduce taxes on corporations that keep jobs in the U.S., though he did not specify his plans for either. His administration, he said, will 'go down as one of the most friendly countries' for business. Sneaky: Ivanka snuck out of the house soon after with the three kids, loading into a waiting SUV that pulled out of the garage (above) On the move: Ivanka went for lunch on Monday with some friends and son Joseph (her car above on Tuesday) Keeping the peace: The family seems to have settled nicely into their new $5.5million home (above) On Monday, Ivanka was photographed exiting her house and getting into a waiting SUV on Monday, with her head shielded from the cameras by a giant umbrella. She was joined by her Secret Service detail and son Joseph, who joined her for lunch at the Open City coffee shop in Woodley Park. Ivanka, 35, and her family moved to DC over the weekend, and on Monday Kushner began his unpaid job as a senior advisor to President Trump in the White House. Last week, Ivanka finally broke her silence about rumors that she might fill the role of first lady when her father takes office on Friday in an interview with 20/20. 'Well, I think its an inappropriate observation. There's one first lady and she'll do remarkable things,' said Ivanka, referring to her father's wife Melania. She later told Deborah Roberts in the interview that she also found the comments 'sexist,' saying that they seemed to suggest that two women could not have a powerful role in her father's White House administration. Ivanka also revealed during the interview that she is still close to former first daughter Chelsea Clinton despite her father's victory over Hillary in the election, and said that she will likely go to her for advice. Alaska has become the first state to give pets special consideration in divorce cases. A statue took effect in the state this week that allows judges to assign pet custody agreements to separating partners. In every other state, pets are considered property, and are divided between couples in the same way they would real estate or cars. The new statute in Alaska considers pets more like children, so judges are required to take 'into consideration the well-being of the animal' when determining which owner the pet will live with, or whether it will split time between both. Alaska has passed an amendment to its divorce laws that recognize pets as similar to children, allowing judges to assign joint custody agreements between separating partners. Above , a stock image of a couple with a dog It also allows pets to be included in domestic violence protective orders, and requires the owners of pets seized in cruelty or neglect cases to pay for the oast of their shelter. Kathy Hessler, the director of the Animal Law Clinic at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, told the Washington Post that the decision is a step forward, since dogs are now considered members of the family. There are special considerations to be made when determining where an animal goes. Hessler says that some argue that pets should stay with the children, if the couple has kids. Others say whoever bought the dog should get sole custody, while others say it was whoever was the primary caretaker. And when pets are purchased with shared funds, rarely does one party want to be 'bought out' of their share as they would when it comes to shared property like homes or cars. 'The relationship with the animal is what is important in the family law context, so the property law analysis tends to be a poor fit for resolving disputes, and in fact, many of the property settlement agreements are continuously disputed, making more work for the courts,' Hessler said. The amendment to Alaska's divorce laws was sponsored by former representative Liz Vazquez (R) and the late representative Max Gruenberg. 'Our pets are members of our families,' Vazquez, who lost her bid for reelection in November, said last year. 'We have to remember that were sent here to Juneau to represent people; real human beings, many of whom have pets they love as much as their friends and family.' A California man has filed a class action lawsuit against tech giant Apple for creating, patenting and not introducing thereafter a new technology that could stop drivers from texting. Julio Ceja said he was rear-ended and injured by a driver who was using her iPhone. Ceja, of Orange County, filed his case in Los Angeles. A lawsuit filed by Julio Ceja in a Los Angeles court accuses Apple of creating, patenting and not introducing thereafter a new technology that could stop drivers from texting The lawsuit alleges that Apple refuses to use technology that was patented in 2014 that would lock out people trying to use phones while driving. Pictured: A design listed in patent 8706143 His suit argues that Apple bears some responsibility for incidents like this in that it could provide a lock-out technology that would prevent drivers from using their phones, the New York Daily News reported. Such technology has existed since 2008 and was patented - patent 8706143 - in 2014, Fortune reported. The suit further states: 'Apple refuses to employ the technology, choosing instead to allow the massive carnage to occur.' The lawsuit asks for an injunction that would stop the sale of iPhones in California without the lock-out technology. The action follows numerous claims against Apple, including a Texas couple suing the company following their daughter's 2014 death. Moriah Modisette, five, was killed when Garrett Wilhelm smashed into the back of the parents' car while he was using FaceTime James and Bethany Modisette have sued Apple, alleging the company's product was 'a substantial factor' in the death of their daughter. Pictured: Garrett Wilhelm James and Bethany Modisette lost their daughter Moriah, five, when Garrett Wilhelm smashed into the back of their car. Wilhelm had been using FaceTime and the app was still active when officers arrived on the scene. He faces a manslaughter charge for the crash. But the Modisettes claim that Apple's product was also a 'substantial factor in causing the plaintiffs' injuries and decedent's death.' Texas is one of the last states which still allows motorists to use their cellphones while driving. However, local ordinances are in effect in both San Antonio and Austin which prevent it. Apple previously told the New York Times that it is the driver's responsibility to not use its phones while driving. It said: 'For those customers who do not wish to turn off their iPhones or switch into Airplane Mode while driving to avoid distractions, we recommend the easy-to-use Do Not Disturb and Silent Mode features.' Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi has said his troops have completely liberated eastern Mosul three months after the operation to retake the city had begun. Intense fighting over the weekend subsided after Iraqi troops, supported by US air power drove the remaining ISIS terrorists back across the River Tigris. However, 750,000 people are still believed to be under ISIS control in the western part of the city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said his troops, pictured, liberated eastern Mosul The city has been under ISIS control since the summer of 2014 after the Iraqi army fled The Iraqi army has been helped by US coalition airport in destroying ISIS targets in Mosul Haider al-Abadi, pictured, confirmed his troops will now march upon western Mosul Al-Abadi said the entire eastern side of the city had been 'fully liberated'. Aid groups have expressed concern about the safety of civilians stuck in the area still controlled by ISIS. Al-Abadi priased the 'unmatched heroism of all security force factions' involved in the liberation effort. Mosul is the last significant urban area in Iraq under ISIS control. The terror organisation seized the city in the summer of 2014 after Iraqi forces fled. Al-Abadi said the government aimed to drive ISIS out of the remaining areas of Mosul but could not provide a timetable for the liberation. So far the operation to retake Mosul has taken three months with the focus now moving west Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of the city in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. 'We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west,' Grande said in the statement. 'We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives.' ISIS still holds the western part of the city, the last major urban area it controls in Iraq The coalition has been pounding ISIS positions in Mosul for the past three months The statement called on warring parties 'to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance.' In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office said it had received 'reasonable corroboration' for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an airstrike in the al-Jadida neighborhood of ISIS-controlled western Mosul last week. 'Attributing responsibility for airstrikes is very difficult,' Ravina Shamdasani said, adding that 'it is clear that civilians are being killed in airstrikes.' A U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's own air force have been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Mosul operation. The U.N. human rights office also said ISIS fighters have taken over 'many hospitals' in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the extremist group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. In Baghdad, meanwhile, a car exploded inside a dealership in the eastern Nahda area. The Interior Ministry said a bomb had been planted on the vehicle and that the blast caused no casualties. A police official and a medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the blast killed at least two people and wounded seven. A Swedish politician who called on someone to 'shoot' President Trump has resigned. Roland Peterson was appalled by Donald Trump's position on climate change, which he infamously claimed to be a 'Chinese hoax'. The member of the local council in the southeastern city of Kalmar's reacted to Trump's first couple of days as president in a Facebook post. Roland Peterson was appalled by Donald Trump's position on climate change, which he infamously claimed to be a 'Chinese hoax' 'I believed that Donald Trump would calm down after he became the President,' he wrote. 'But how wrong I was! He exceeded my worst fears!' He later suggested that someone should 'shoot' the US leader. Trump's team has already deleted the White House website's page on climate change. And since his inauguration billionaire Trump has called environmentalism 'out of control' and suspended all Environmental Protection Agency grants. Peterson deleted the post within an hour, but later announced his resignation from both the council and the Swedish Social Democratic Party in a letter to party members. He himself has called his post 'idiotic' and has faced criticism from fellow politicians. Johan Persson, a councillor, said the comments were 'totally unacceptable', while Roger Holmberg, chairman of the Social Democrats in the city, called it 'idiotic' Mr Peterson told Ostra Smaland that Trump risks the 'entire future of the earth' with his climate change policies. Several businesses, restaurants and vehicles, including a limousine, suffered extensive damage when demonstrators took to DC streets protesting Donald Trump's presidency on Inauguration Day. One business that fell victim to rioters was the Virginia-based Nationwide Chauffeured Services. Muslim immigrant, Muhammad Ashraf, who is the president of the company, said his limo was set on fire by protesters in DC, and his insurance probably won't cover the damage, which may cost as much as $70,000. Scroll down for video The president of Nationwide Chauffeured Services, Muhammad Ashraf, said his limo (pictured) was set on fire by protesters in DC, and his insurance probably won't cover the damage Ashraf said on Monday that replacing the car could cost tens of thousands of dollars. Protesters scrolled 'We the People' on one side of the limo (pictured) Protesters (pictured) launched a violent rampage just blocks away from the White House. Windows were smashesd and bricks were thrown at police Ashraf, who says he's not a Trump supporter, told Red Alert Politics on Monday that he doesn't believe 'we need to take this [violent] route'. 'I did not agree with many of the things he said, but that still does not give me the right to go and affect someone's livelihood.' The small business owner said that replacing the car could cost tens of thousands of dollars. He says insurance would cover vandalism but may not cover his situation because the car was damaged in a riot. Ashraf said the limousine's driver, Luis Villarroel, 58, had taken a client to The Washington Post when the vehicle was attacked and set on fire, according to Red Alert. Villarroel ended up going to the hospital for cuts on his hands and arms from glass being shattered by thrown projectiles. Ashraf also explained his company is now in the hole for $70,000, if the insurance doesn't cover the damage costs, which doesn't include compensation for his driver and the driver's medical bills. Several people graffitied the limo, which is reportedly a part of a 7-car operation, before setting it ablaze. Ashraf said he can't imagine why people had to do it. A GoFundMe page was set up to help the company and has raised more than $8,000 toward its $20,000 goal. An update on the page posted yesterday, said the 'insurance company has not confirmed if they will cover this'. More than 230 people were arrested, most of which will be charged with felony rioting, federal prosecutors said on Saturday The protesters (pictured smashing in a car windshield) shouted 'F... Trump,' calling his new administration 'fascist' and 'illegitimate. Protesters launched a violent rampage just blocks away from the White House as more anti-Trump demonstrators smashed store windows, set fire to cars and threw bricks at police on Friday. More than 230 people were arrested, most of which will be charged with f elony rioting, federal prosecutors said on Saturday. The charge carries a punishment of up to ten years in jail and a $25,000 fine. Heated clashes broke out in McPherson Square and along K Street as hundreds of riot police fired tear gas and drew their nightsticks to contain the masked mob. As the rioting unfolded, Trump and his family were arriving at a review stand at the White House to see the end of the inaugural parade. Militant anti-Trump protesters gave a foretaste of what could follow during the violent outbreaks, in which at least six police officers were injured. They attacked shop windows, smashing glass panes at a Bank of America branch, a McDonald's outlet and a Starbucks shop. As Trump's motorcade wound its way up Pennsylvania Avenue in the parade to the White House, protesters also descended on Franklin Square Park. The protesters shouted 'F... Trump,' calling his new administration 'fascist' and 'illegitimate.' They brandished placards variously denouncing the new president as racist, homophobic and anti-women. Police blasted them with tear gas and stun grenades and several women claimed they had been maced as they struggled with tears seeping from their eyes. Riot police chased the group, some openly promoting anarchy, down 10th and E streets, about a mile from the Mall. Penelope Fillon, 60, is said to have earned almost half-a-million pounds from working as a parliamentary assistant to her husband, Republican presidential candidate Francois Fillon, 62 (both pictured) The British woman who hopes to become Frances First Lady has found herself at the centre of a financial sleaze scandal. Penelope Fillon, 60, is said to have earned almost half-a-million pounds from working as a parliamentary assistant to her husband, Republican Presidential candidate Francois Fillon, 62. Mrs Fillon is reported to have been paid the money over a ten year period from parliamentary funds in a family arrangement, that has remained unchallenged for more than a decade. She is also accused of receiving substantial payments for doing no work at all for a literary magazine owned by a friend of her husband. According to the Canard Enchaine, the French investigative newspaper, Mrs Fillon was not genuinely employed in her husbands parliamentary office at all. He is the longstanding MP for the central Sarthe region, but she famously steers clear of Paris and the world of politics. Instead, she spends most of her time in their 12th century rural home, where they brought up five children. The couple are fiercely protective of their privacy, and Mrs Fillon has often said she prefers country life with her family and horses to politicking in Paris. Hiring family members is not illegal in the National Assembly as long as the person is genuinely working, but the Canard said there were no witnesses to Mrs Fillon doing anything. Pay slips proved that she was definitely paid as a parliamentary assistant from 1992 to 2002. This was a time when Mrs Fillons children were still at school, and she would have been fully involved in all of their lives. From 2002, when Mr Fillon took up a cabinet post under the then president Jacques Chirac, she became an assistant to a civil servant who carried out Mr Fillon's parliamentary duties. Mrs Fillon is reported to have been paid the money over a ten year period from parliamentary funds in a family arrangement by her husband's office (pictured, Mr Fillon) For this she earned between 6,900 and 7,900 euros per month, the equivalent of between 6,000 and 6,800 pounds. The newspaper said that she was again paid for at least six months in 2012. This was after Mr Fillon stepped down as prime minister following the defeat of his boss, President Nicolas Sarkozy. The Canard also claims Mrs Fillon was paid the equivalent of around 4,200 pounds-a-month between May 2012 and December 2013 by La Revue des Deux Mondes (The Review of the Two Worlds) magazine, but again never did any work. The literary publication is owned by a friend of Mr Fillon, Marc Ladreit de Lacharriere. Canard Enchaine quoted Michel Crepu, the director of the monthly magazine, as saying: I have never met Penelope Fillon and I have never seen her in the offices of the review. In wake of the allegations against his wife, aides to Mr Fillon rushed to play down the scandal. Benoist Apparu said Mrs Fillon has always worked in the shadows because it is not her style to put herself forward. He added that this was neither illegal nor amoral. It is authorised by the National Assembly. Thierry Solere, who also works for Mr Fillon, said: It is common practice that the spouses of parliamentarians are their employees, on the left as well as on the right. Mr Fillon has always presented himself as an ethical politician devoted to public service (pictured, with former French President Nicolas Sarkozy) The Canard never alleged that politicians could not employ family members but the magazine did say there was no proof whatsoever of Mrs Fillon ever having done any work. Mrs Fillon is a solicitors daughter from Abergavenny in Wales. She went to the King Henry VIII Grammar School, and then took a degree in French and German at University College, London. She met Mr Fillon while working as a teaching assistant in Le Mans, west France, and they married in the village of Llanover, near Abergavenny, in 1980. Opinion polls currently forecast that Mr Fillon will win the presidential elections in May, succeeding France's Socialist leader Francois Hollande. However, such a scandal could prove disastrous, especially one involving the wife of a would-be president. Mr Fillon, who has been fiercely critical of the Brexit vote in Britain, has always presented himself as an ethical politician devoted to public service. Despite this, his former bosses, including Mr Sarkozy and Mr Chirac, often faced allegations of financial crime. Mr Chirac is a convicted criminal who received a suspended prison sentence for corruption on leaving office, while Mr Sarkozy still faces court action in a string of enquiries. The White House's press secretary found himself behind the 8-ball on Tuesday defending President Donald Trump repeated post-election claim that 'millions' of people voted illegally in November. As reporter after reporter challenged him for evidence, Sean Spicer blurted out that the Trump administration might launch an investigation into the possibility. 'Maybe we will,' he told one journalist during his daily press briefing. Pressed on what that could mean, a flustered Spicer insisted that he 'did not' leave the door open for a wide-ranging government probe but then allowed that 'anything is possible.' Scroll down for video White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Tuesday that 'maybe we will' investigate President Donald Trump's claim that millions voted illegally in November, allowing that 'anything is possible' Trump told congressional leaders Monday night that he would have won the popular vote if millions of illegal immigrants hadn't fraudulently voted for Hillary Clinton The president told a group of Republican and Democratic lawmakers Monday night that he would have won the popular vote if it weren't for between 3 and 5 million illegal votes, according to people who were present. 'He was having a discussion with some folks and mentioned something in passing,' Spicer told reporters on Tuesday. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton collected nearly 3 million more votes than Trump but lost decisively in the Electoral College because the largest part of her popular-vote advantage was concentrated in a small number of states with giant Democratic voter bases. As disenchanted Democrats argued against the merits of the Electoral College system in the wake of his victory, Trump tweeted that '[i] n addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.' He also claimed on Twitter that there was 'serious voter fraud in Virginia, New Hampshire and California,' and challenged the media to report on it. Spicer punted a question on Tuesday asking for specific evidence of voter fraud in November, rather than a statistical probability that it happened. Spicer faced round after round of hostile questions from journalists who smelled blood in the water after Trump revived his claims of voter fraud on a massive scale NPR reported in late November that the Trump transition team had provided it with a 45-page list of alleged instances of voter fraud. The public radio network did not publish the document, and a White House spokesperson did not respond on Tuesday to a request for a copy. Brian Fallon, a Clinton campaign official who likely stood to become her White House press secretary, vented Tuesday afternoon on Twitter. 'Here we go again,' Fallon wrote in a pair of tweets. '@PressSec backs up Trump on patently false statement this time that voter fraud prevented him from winning [the] popular vote.' 'This is why WH [White House] reporters should never boycott Spicer's briefings. Public needs to see this WH's bogus claims subjected to daily scrutiny.' Spicer reinforced on Monday that Trump's notion of millions of illegally cast votes is 'a longstanding belief that he's maintained.' But NPR correspondent Mara Liasson challenged him about why the president wouldn't want to get to the bottom of it. 'If 3 to 5 million people voted illegally, that is a scandal of astronomical proportions,' she declared in the White House press briefing room. 'Doesn't he want to restore Americans' faith in their ballot system? Wouldn't he want an investigation of this? This is a huge, huge scandal.' 'We'll see where we go from here,' Spicer replied. 'But right now the focus that the president has is on putting Americans back to work.' Trump warned repeatedly in October, including at this Cleveland, Ohio rally, that he faced 'a rigged election' because of illegally registered voters and dead people on voter rolls The president made allegations of 'voter fraud' in November, after he won the election, tweeting that he lost the popular vote because of 'millions of people who voted illegally' Spicer, who was the Republican National Committee's chief communicator before moving to the West Wing, also declined to say if he personally agrees with Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol that he has 'seen no evidence to that effect,' referring to Trump's claims. 'I've made that very, very clear.' The president often warned in the final month of the presidential campaign that voter fraud could cost him the election. During a late October rally in Cleveland, Ohio, he called it 'a rigged election.' Citing statistics from the Pew Research Center, Trump said that 'there are 24 million voter registrations in the United States that are either invalid or significantly inaccurate. A lot, right? 24 million. A lot.' 'There are 1.8 million dead people that are registered right now to vote,' he continued. 'And folks, folks: Some of them vote! I wonder why. I wonder how that happens. They woke up from the dead, and they went and voted!' 'There are 2.8 million people who are registered in more than one state,' he mused. So, "We'll vote here, let's ride down the road, let's vote next to it".' And then, reacting to a fan in the audience, he stopped cold. Brian Fallon, who would likely have had Spicer's job if she had won the White House, tweeted Tuesday that Trump's view is 'patently false' and slammed Spicer for repeating 'bogus claims' 'Maybe they'll vote for Trump. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this. I may be hurting myself!' 'You're right! You're right,' he responded to the unsolicited advice. 'Maybe they're gonna vote for Trump!' 'Alright,' he laughed, 'let's forget that. It's okay for them to do it!' In a late November conference call with reporters, Trump's senior policy adviser Stephen Miller declined to speculate about a Justice Department investigation, but called voter fraud allegations 'an issue of concern.' 'There's a concern that so many voted who were not legally supposed to,' he said. On Tuesday, Spicer defended his boss by citing the same Pew study then-candidate Trump crowed about three months ago, but confused its statistics with another piece of research. 'There was one that came out of Pew in 2008 that showed 14 per cent of people who've voted were non-citizens,' he claimed. That number came from a 2014 Washington Post article by a pair of Old Dominion University professors. It was later challenged by other researchers, who claimed the professors' findings stemmed from 'measurement error.' A sickening video has emerged of Iraqi forces torturing and executing three ISIS militants. The harrowing footage, which has deeply concerned the United Nations, shows uniformed men parading three suspected terrorists through the streets of Mosul, Iraq. One soldier holding a stick drags his victim across the ground by his foot as he desperately pleads for mercy while being kicked by another soldier. A sickening video has emerged of Iraqi forces torturing and executing three ISIS militants Another victim is kicked on the ground by a group of men as gunshots can be heard in the background. The original video then goes on to show the man being shot at point black range by a soldier who continues to fire and stamp on his head after he is dead. The two other ISIS fighters are also shot in a barrage of automatic fire. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Saturday urged the Iraqi government to launch investigations into the video report. The UN said: 'UNAMI calls on the government of Iraq to investigate a video report circulating on social media sites which purportedly shows the brutal mistreatment and murder of at least three captured ISIL members.' The video emerged shortly before Iraq's prime minister declared eastern Mosul 'fully liberated' from Islamic State. Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. The ISIS fighters pleaded for mercy from the Iraqi troops but none was granted In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the 'unmatched heroism of all security forces factions' and public support for the operation. 'Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse,' al-Abadi said, using the Arabia acronym of IS. 'The heroism of our security forces was behind Daesh's defeat.' Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the ISIS's last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi said: 'I can't tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so.' The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Saturday urged the Iraqi government to launch investigations into the video report Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. Meanwhile, Al-Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial. Richard Hansbury, 65, died after it took over an hour for paramedics from North West Ambulance Service to reach him A pensioner bled to death after it took paramedics more than two-and-a-half hours to get him to hospital following a fall. Richard Hansbury, 65, who had a serious gash on his head, was discovered in his flat by neighbours when they heard his cries for help. They alerted the careline firm that operated the emergency contact system at his sheltered accommodation in Wigan and an ambulance was called. Even though Mr Hansbury was bleeding heavily and the 999 was flagged as a serious red call meaning paramedics should have been there within eight minutes the North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) was so busy it was more than an hour until the crew arrived. They treated Mr Hansbury, who weighed 19 stone, but soon realised they would need help from another crew to lift him into the ambulance and get him to hospital just three-and-a-half miles away. However, when they called for back-up, operators said there was none available at the time. The father of two finally made it to hospital two hours and 42 minutes after the first 999 call. But by then it was too late. Mr Hansburys blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level due to severe blood loss. He suffered three heart attacks and died less than three hours later. Yesterday the Daily Mail revealed that the crisis-hit ambulance service is so short of paramedics that desperate NHS trusts across the country are offering new recruits a 10,000 starting bonus. It comes as the service faces unprecedented demand and the human costs soar as waiting times rise even for the most serious emergencies. On the day of Mr Hansbury's death, the service was extremely busy and as many as 15 ambulances were stuck in queues at hospitals across Greater Manchester A report into the death of Mr Hansbury by a senior ambulance boss, seen by the Daily Mail, reveals that on the day he died, October 3, the service was extremely busy and as many as 15 ambulances were stuck in queues at hospitals across Greater Manchester as paramedics waited to hand over their patients to A&E doctors. Last night Mr Hansburys sister, Rosaline Fox, 66, told the Daily Mail she was absolutely appalled by the way her brother was let down. The retired district nurse said: Its barbaric that Richard died that way. The bottom line is that if the ambulance service had arrived in any sort of reasonable time my brother would still be alive today. Its barbaric that Richard died that way. The bottom line is that if the ambulance service had arrived in any sort of reasonable time my brother would still be alive today. Rosaline Fox For the Government to say there is not a crisis, and we just have to put up with it, is wrong. Somebody at the top must lose their job. Mrs Fox, from St Annes in Lancashire, added: The report spells it out an ambulance should have been with him within eight minutes and at most he should have been at the hospital within 20 minutes. That would have given him a fighting chance. At the time there were ambulances backing up at hospitals waiting to hand over patients thats a complete waste of their resources. Im very upset about the lack of care Richard received. He would have been frightened. Nobody should suffer like this. Ive worked in the NHS, I know what goes on. Richard was desperately let down by the NHS when he needed it the most. How many more people need to die before something is done? Mr Hansbury, a retired long-distance lorry driver, fell and banged his head at his sheltered accommodation on the evening of October 3 last year. Father-of-two Mr Hansbury finally made it to hospital two hours and 42 minutes after the first 999 call was made A neighbour who heard his shouts for help climbed into his flat through the kitchen window and activated the alarm system, which called for an ambulance at 6.11pm. When there was still no sign of it by 6.30pm, a second call was made. By then Mr Hansbury who was on the blood-thinning drug warfarin for other health problems was becoming weak due to blood loss. A third, more desperate call was made by the careline provider at 7.04pm as neighbours tried to stem the blood flow from Mr Hansburys head wound. At 7.16pm the ambulance finally arrived and paramedics started treating Mr Hansbury, but realised they would need help lifting him in. A second crew was eventually allocated at 8.03pm and arrived nine minutes later. Mr Hansbury was taken to the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan, and arrived at 8.53pm a full two hours and 42 minutes after the initial 999 call. Doctors began treating him but he died at 11.48pm. A post-mortem examination concluded he died primarily of blood loss from the head wound. The report into Mr Hansburys death reveals that on that day the service responded to 801 emergency calls between 11am and 8pm. At 2pm that day the service initiated its high-demand script which means call handlers will advise all those dialling 999 that there is likely to be a delay in getting an ambulance because the service is overwhelmed. This was not rescinded until 1am. Mr Hansbury, who had five siblings, lived alone but had two grown-up daughters from two previous marriages. He had suffered heart problems and a stroke in the past. His family are now considering taking legal action against the ambulance service. PATIENT'S TIMELINE OF DESPAIR 6.11pm: First 999 call made by careline provider 6.31pm: Second call made 7.04pm: Third 999 made 7.13pm: Ambulance finally allocated by North West Ambulance Service control room 7.16pm: Ambulance arrives at Mr Hansburys home 7.47pm: Paramedics request a second crew to help get Mr Hansbury to hospital, but none available 8.03pm: Ambulance allocated by control room 8.12pm: Second crew arrives at Mr Hansburys home 8.53pm: Mr Hansbury arrives at hospital two hours and 42 minutes after the first 999 call 9.12pm: Mr Hansbury suffers first cardiac arrest 9.21pm: Medics manage to resuscitate him 9.43pm: Mr Hansbury suffers second cardiac arrest 9.55pm: Medics again manage to resuscitate him 11.48pm: Mr Hansbury suffers a third heart attack and dies Advertisement NWAS is the largest ambulance trust in the UK. In September it revealed it was struggling to meet Government response times which require 75 per cent of all red calls to be reached within eight minutes and blamed a 25 per cent increase in call-outs. It reached just 69 per cent of the most serious cases in eight minutes in 2015 the third-worst record nationwide. A spokesman for NWAS said an investigation had been launched. She added: We can confirm that at the time of the incident the Trust was experiencing a high demand and, unfortunately, a number of our resources were waiting with patients at nearby hospitals. An inquest into Mr Hansburys death is due to take place on Friday. She may be in the middle of her gap year, but Malia Obama appeared to be on internship duty at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday. After spending the weekend in Palm Springs with her family, Malia jetted off to Park City, Utah to catch screenings at one of the biggest film festivals. Malia just landed an internship with producer Harvey Weinstein, who was also at the festival. The 18-year-old was first spotted having dinner in Park City on Sunday. Malia Obama was spotted at the Sundance Film Festival (pictured) over the weekend, just days after it was revealed she landed an internship with producer Harvey Weinstein Work and play: Malia (above on Tuesday) is at the Sundance Film Festival this week Malia was pictured with a friend above on Tuesday. The pair smiled away despite the cold weather Malia left for Park City, Utah (pictured left) after spending a weekend in Palm Springs with her parents and younger sister Sasha (pictured right also leaving) She was then spotted at a screening for the film Beach Rats, a drama about a Brooklyn teen who begins exploring his sexuality with older men, on Tuesday. One source heard Malia tell a Sundance staffer 'it was interesting', but it remains unclear if she was talking about the film, according to The Wrap. Although she may no longer be a first daughter, Malia's presence at the festival definitely didn't go unnoticed. 'You know it's going to be a good screening when Malia Obama comes in,' wrote Hannah Hembree on Twitter Monday. Talent manager Scott Fisher first spotted the teen eating out on Sunday night. 'The only celeb spotting at Sundance that matters to me: Malia Obama having dinner a few tables down,' he tweeted. 'Weinstein internship paying off.' Director and writer Brett Wagner snuck a photo of Malia that he posted on Instagram with the caption: 'Best Sundance sighting ever'. The photo shows Malia, dressed in a brown jacket, looking down at her friend's phone screen. Malia skipped out on her parents Caribbean vacation for Park City, Utah. Barack and Michelle arrived in the British Virgin Islands on Monday after flying in on Sir Richard Branson's jet Weinstein was not seen at the Beach Rats screening. Before she made her way to Sundance, Malia spent the weekend with her parents and younger sister Sasha in Palm Springs. The former First Family jetted off to California after Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday afternoon, where they stayed at the mansion of Obama's Ambassador to Spain and his husband. On Sunday Malia took off for Utah, Sasha took off presumably for DC, where she ws back to school Monday, and their parents boarded Richard Branson's private jet Monday for a flight to the Caribbean island of Tortola and a boat to the billionaire's private island Necker. It remains unknown how long Malia's internship with Weinstein will last, but she is planning to attend Harvard University in the fall. Malia deferred her enrollment for a year, spending three months on a secret trip through South America. The trip coincided with the final weeks of the election, and Malia was reportedly out for pizza in the town of Tiquipaya the night that Donald Trump clinched the presidency. After seeing a new side of the globe, Malia is clearly ready to learn more about a different world - that of film and television. Malia was first spotted at a screening for the film Beach Rats (pictured), a drama about a Brooklyn teen who begins exploring his sexuality with older men Weinstein (pictured with actor Jeremy Renner at Sundance on Saturday) was not seen at the Beach Rats screening But this isn't Malia's first dive into Hollywood. The former first daughter worked on the set of Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls in 2015 as well as a production assistant on Halle Berry's CBS show Extant. And Malia is sure to learn plenty from Weinstein, who is behind Academy Award winners like Shakespeare in Love and The King's Speech, among plenty of others. The Obama's are friendly with Weinstein and his wife, Marchesa designer Georgina Chapman. Weinstein and Chapman have hosted multiple fundraisers for Obama and the Democratic party. The former president once thanked the couple for 'their friendship and support, and for the amazing movies they've made'. A Nigerian suicide bomber used a baby strapped to her back to mingle among shoppers unnoticed inside a busy market before detonating her vest killing six people and injuring 17. The attack, believed to have been carried out by Boko Haram, was carried out in the town of Madagali in the north east of the country. Local government officials confirmed they believe the suspected jihadi used the baby during the co-ordinated attack 11 days ago. The suicide attack happened in Madagali in north east Nigeria on the border with Chad Boko Haram is believed to have been behind the attack which killed six people and injured 17 UNICEF said this could be the first Boko Haram attack using a baby as cover, file photograph Chairman of the local government Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed said it was his understanding the woman with the baby and two girls all struck the market at the same time in a coordinated attack. Nigerian army spokesman Rabe Abubakar could not confirm that a baby had been used in the attack, and said the woman may have just been disguised to appear as if she was carrying an infant. The UN children's agency (UNICEF) said it was the first such incident involving a baby reported in northeast Nigeria. Doune Porter, UNICEF spokeswoman in the region said: 'We are extremely worried about the use of a baby in this callous way.' The suicide bombings, which bore the hallmark of jihadist group Boko Haram, are common in northeast Nigeria, the heart of the militants' seven-year campaign to create an Islamic state. Boko Haram used at least 19 children, mainly young girls, to carry out suicide attacks The Islamist group preys on displaced children or young girls it kidnaps and forces them to become bombers, with some unaware they are carrying explosives, aid agencies say. The use of children as suicide bombers by Boko Haram has surged almost five-fold since 2014, with 19 child bombings, most involving young girls, recorded by UNICEF last year. Prior to the Madagali bombings, the youngest child used in such an attack was a nine-year-old girl, the U.N. agency said. The attack in Madagali is one in a series of bombings in Nigeria northeast, mainly Borno state, in recent weeks as Boko Haram steps up attacks with the end of the rainy season facilitating movements in the bush. However, risk management consultancy Signal Risk's director Ryan Cummings said Nigeria's civilian joint task force (CJTF) had stepped up efforts to spot and search suspected bombers. "Several attempted attacks by females bombers have been thwarted (due to the CJTF), limiting casualties," he said. Army spokesman Abubakar said security forces would be extra vigilant and ready to respond to any new strategies used by Boko Haram. The jihadists' insurgency has killed about 15,000 people and forced more than two million to flee their homes. Jasmine Denise Allen, 25, is facing a child neglect charge after allegedly leaving her child locked in a hot car for nearly four hours A 25-year-old mother was arrested on Thursday for leaving her son locked in a hot car while she was at work for nearly four hours, police said. Jasmine Denise Allen, 25, is facing a child neglect charge after allegedly leaving her son in the car at a parking lot behind the building she works in, according to WFTS. St Petersburg Police said the child was found drenched in sweat and his mouth was white after Allen left him in the car with the windows rolled up, doors locked, and the engine off around noon Thursday. Allen was working at a call center for AGR Group Florida, while her son was outside and had no way of contacting her in case of an emergency. He was discovered by a security guard patrolling the parking lot around 3.46pm. The guard brought the child inside the building, but Allen grabbed him by the arm and reportedly dragged him out outside. The temperature reached 80 degrees and temperatures inside the vehicle could have been more than 130 degrees, according to the station. Police have not released the child's age. The child was examined and is expected to be okay, police said. A company manager told WTSP that Allen was fired from her position. Allen is being held at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office on $10,000 bail. Allen was working at a call center for AGR Group Florida (pictured), while her son was outside. He had no way of contacting her in case of an emergency Sara Connor says she's looking forward to seeing her children after her boyfriend gave evidence she claims reveals the truth about the night they allegedly killed a Balinese police officer. Connor's British boyfriend, David Taylor, 35, told Denpasar Court on Tuesday the officer had struck at him and they wrestled and Connor's involvement was an attempt to separate them. 'I can't wait for this (the case) to finish now,' the Australian woman said after Taylor gave evidence, adding that his testimony showed the 'truth' and that she hoped to go back to her two sons soon. Scroll down for video Australian Sara Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor after appearing in court at Denpasar on January 24 Connor being handcuff by attorney officer before facing her trial The couple, who are being held at Kerobokan prison, face charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death, with prosecutors alleging they attacked Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa on the night of August 16 and left his lifeless body on Kuta Beach. Taylor told the court he and the mother-of-two from Byron Bay, NSW, were friends before becoming an item in April last year. The night Connor, 46, arrived in Bali on August 16, they watched the sunset on Kuta Beach and went to dinner, he said. They later returned - beers in hand - and 'relaxed' near the water's edge for a number of hours before noticing Connor's bag was missing. Connor is escorted by the prosecutor for her trial in Denpasar Court Connor (second from left) listens to Taylor (right) while he testifies at trial Taylor told the court he had become 'suspicious' of Mr Sudarsa, who had been milling about, and questioned him about the bag. Mr Sudarsa told him he was a police officer and allegedly laughed when Taylor asked for help. Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa 'I thought, 'This man could've done something'. Then I searched him, his pocket, under his jacket and his trouser pocket,' Taylor said through an interpreter. Mr Sudarsa struck out at him, Taylor said. The pair 'wrestled' before Connor came over and tried to separate them. At one point, Taylor said Connor was 'screaming', while Mr Sudarsa was grabbing her hair. After his evidence finished, Connor told reporters the testimony confirmed the 'truth' - that her only involvement was 'separating them'. She said they didn't know Mr Sudarsa was seriously hurt when they left him. 'I tried to go to police to report him because I was upset that somebody attacked me.' 'After we (Taylor and I) had a shower (back at the hotel) I was calm and thought, 'It's okay, I don't have to report him. I don't have to give him any more trouble'.' Last week, security officer Suryana described seeing Mr Sudarsa's body on the sand later that morning, saying: 'He was without his left shoe and his left leg was scratched ... His face was covered with blood and sand.' Connor and Taylor will return to court next week. Taylor sits in a court room as a witness for his Australian girlfriend Sara Connor's trial Badlands national park in South Dakota sent out a series of tweets warning about the risks posed by global warming Tuesday in apparent defiance of new administration gag orders on agency communications only to have the tweets taken down. 'Today, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is higher than at any time in the last 650,000 years. #climate,' the park, known for its stunning rock formations tweeted late Tuesday morning. A follow-on tweet stated, 'Flipside of the atmosphere; ocean acidity has increased 30% since the Industrial Revolution. "Ocean Acidification" #climate #carboncycle.' President Trump has in the past called climate change a 'hoax' that was put forward by the Chinese, although since the election he also has acknowledged the possibility that human contributed to climate change. By Tuesday evening, the offending tweets had vanished with the top tweet instead featuring a lonely photo of a goat standing atop a rocky cliff. BAD FORM? The Twitter account of Badlands National Park sent out a series of tweets about climate change on Tuesday Several federal agencies have informed their workers not to communicate either with Congress or the press while the new administration takes shape, the Huffington Post reported. For example, Health and Human Services employees were told not to produce 'any correspondence to public officials,' and instead refer correspondence to agency higher ups. The Associated Press reviewed emails that were sent to Environmental Protection Agency staff on Friday ordering a suspension of press releases, blog updates or social media accounts. White House press secretary Sean Spicer got asked about reports of a gag order at the EPA at Tuesday afternoon's White House briefing. The Badlands social media account sent out statistics about climate change GOT HIS GOAT? Late Tuesday, the apparently offending tweets got taken down, with the park's Twitter page led by this tweet of a goat GAG: Several agencies have cited orders not to communicate with the public WE'LL LOOK INTO IT: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he was 'looking into' reports of a gag order covering agency communications FORECAST CLOUDY: Another tweet mention carbon dioxide levels THIS COULD BURN: The agency sent out information about ocean acidification, which affects marine life and coral COMBUSTIBLE: The Twitter account also urged conservation WHERE THE SKIES ARE NOT CLOUDY ALL DAY: A Bison is pictured Badlands National Park features a series of rock formations 'I dont know,' Spicer said. 'That story is literally breaking while we were entering the briefing room. Were looking into it.' The Democratic National Committee brought up the disappearing in a press release late Tuesday. 'Vladimir Putin would be proud,' the DNC wrote, referencing the Russian president. Over the weekend, the National Park Service for a period of time was ordered to cease using its Twitter account, after an employee retweet images that showed President Trump's inauguration crowd falling short of President Obama's. The Park Service did not immediately return a request for comment. It was not immediately clear if the tweets were authorized, or if they were intended to counter internal gag orders, which have not been publicly described by the administration. The AP reported that employees at the EPA, Interior (which oversees the Park Service), and HHS had gotten the directives, citing multiple sources. Five men who worked at a women's prison in New Jersey have been charged with sexually abusing female inmates for more than two years. Four corrections officers and a trade instructor at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Clinton have been charged on more than 26 counts linked to alleged abuse. The officers - Jason Mays, 43, Ahnwar Dixon, 38, Brian Ambroise, 33, and Thomas Seguine, 34 - have been indicted on charges stemming from alleged sexual abuse of eight female inmates, officials revealed on Monday. Four corrections officers from a women's prison have been charged with sexually abusing inmates. Two officers, Jason Mays (left), and Thomas Seguine (right) are pictured Ahnwar Dixon (left), 38, and Brian Ambroise (right), 33, are the other two officers who have been charged with abuse at the New Jersey prison Mays had been an officer since 2005, while Dixon had been at the prison since 2004. Ambroise and Seguine have been employed by the New Jersey Department of Corrections since 2013 and 2008, respectively. 'All have been indicted for official misconduct and charges related to sexual abuse. Mays and Dixon are additionally charged with committing a pattern of official misconduct based on their multiple victims,' a statement from the Hunterdon County Prosecutor's Office read. The indictments were handed down by the Hunterdon Grand Jury on January 19. The alleged abuse was uncovered after a joint investigation by the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Special Victims Unit and the New Jersey Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division. The men worked at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women (pictured) in Clinton, New Jersey Prosecutor Anthony Kearns said: 'The collaboration... was vital to the success of the investigation and I commend the Department of Corrections for their steadfast dedication to the pursuit of justice. The fifth man, 55-year-old Joel Herscap, worked at the prison until he was arrested last May. He had been a trade instructor at the facility since September 2003. A fifth man, 55-year-old Joel Herscap (pictured), worked at the prison until he was arrested last May. He had been a trade instructor at the facility since September 2003 He was arrested on October 31 and then pleaded guilty to having a sexual encounter with an inmate. He was sentenced to three years behind bars. 'The public trust is violated and everyone is betrayed when a sworn law enforcement officer violates the oath he or she has vowed to uphold,' Kearns said. 'Clearly, the women who were victimized by Mays, Dixon, Ambroise, Seguine and Herscap were betrayed.' The four officers have been released on bail since they were indicted. The New Jersey Department of Corrections described sexual abuse as, 'not a gender issue, but rather an abuse-of-power issue and a lack-of-professionalism issue', according to the New York Post. More than 600 inmates are kept at the women's prison, where 271 men and 191 women are employed, according to Department of Corrections statistics. A Florida woman is facing felony battery charges for pelting an ex-US Army police officer with her wet and used tampon. Tecora Fields, 28, was arrested in Saint Petersburg on Monday for 'assaulting' officer Andre Sousa with the feminine product. He had been trying to break up a brawl she was involved in when she screamed at him to 'suck her p***y' before threatening to throw it at him, an arrest report claims. Fields is then accused of undoing her pants to fish out the tampon and throw it at Sousa, also 28. It allegedly struck him on the shoulder causing 'bodily harm'. Tecora Fields (left) pinged a wet and used tampon at St Petersburg Police Department officer Andre Sousa (right on a separate occasion) as he tried to break up a brawl she was involved in Fields tried to run away in to a house but was caught and arrested. 'The defendant was a subject involved in a brawl involving several minutes, during the investigation, the defendant told the affiant to "suck her p***y' and stated: 'I'll hit you with my tampon b****', 'in your mouth". 'The defendant was then seen with both her hands in her genital area, with her pants open. 'The defendant was then observed throwing a wet white paper object at the affiant which struck the affiant on the left shoulder. 'The defendant then attempted to flee into a house but was apprehended following a successful taser depoyment (sic),' the arrest affidavit read. The charge is felony aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Fields was released on $5,000 bond, The Smoking Gun reports. It's not yet clear when she will next appear in court. Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured, is facing a 'white paper plot' to frustrate her plans for Brexit Pro-EU MPs last night launched a fresh bid to frustrate Brexit after judges gave Parliament a vote on starting talks with Brussels. They seized on yesterdays Supreme Court ruling to threaten the Government with a white paper plot. The cross-party alliance is demanding that Theresa May detail her plans for leaving the EU in a formal white paper. The MPs are threatening to defeat her in a vote if she fails to do so. Up to 20 Tory rebels are said to be prepared to side with SNP and Labour MPs against the Government. Brexiteers fear Remainers could use a white paper an official parliamentary document as a springboard for a legal challenge to keep the UK inside the single market. The Supreme Court ruled by 8-3 that Mrs May cannot trigger the formal two-year Article 50 process of quitting the Brussels club without a vote in Parliament. No 10 will now publish a Brexit bill tomorrow to try to keep to the Prime Ministers end of March timetable. Brexit Secretary David Davis said of the bill: I trust no one will seek to make it a vehicle for attempts to thwart the will of the people or frustrate or delay the process of exiting the European Union. 'There can be no turning back. The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year. MPs, including 20 'Tory rebels', are threatening to defeat the Government in a Parliamentary vote on the process unless Mrs May details her plans, despite a warning from Brexit Minister David Davis, pictured Senior MPs and peers warned that any obstruction in the House of Commons or Lords would lead to an enormous awakening of bitterness. One said a snap election could result. As the latest twist in the bitter Brexit saga was delivered by the Supreme Court at 9.30am yesterday: One of the judges who ruled for the Government warned against the judiciary intruding in politics; Nicola Sturgeon reacted with fury after the judge said Scotland should have no say on Article 50; Her SNP party threatened to table 50 amendments to the Brexit bill; Ministers refused to reveal the cost of the appeal in the multi-million pound case. The case was brought by investment manager Gina Miller, who claimed it was a victory for democracy. Government insiders reacted calmly to the result, saying it was the least worst loss the court could have delivered. The judges said Article 50 could be triggered with a simple act of parliament. Crucially, the court said there was no need to give the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies a vote. It comes after the Supreme Court voted that Mrs May cannot trigger the formal two-year Article 50 process of quitting the Brussels club without a vote in Parliament, following a campaign by investment manager Gina Miller, centre The 11 Supreme Court judges, pictured, voted 8-3 in favour of forcing a Parliamentary vote Insiders said they were confident a bill containing only a handful of lines would pass through the Commons in two weeks, before heading to the Lords. A Downing Street spokesman said: The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Todays ruling does nothing to change that. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, a leading Brexiteer, said: Supreme Court has spoken. 'Now Parliament must deliver the will of the people we will trigger A50 by end of March. Forward we go. But Remain MPs leapt on the need for Parliament to be involved to threaten a series of amendments that could frustrate the process of leaving the EU. Labour is to table an amendment demanding the publication of a white paper on Mrs Mays negotiating strategy. Up to 20 Tory rebels could back the vote potentially triggering Mrs Mays first significant parliamentary defeat. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has claimed that, whatever happens with the amendment, he will not seek to block Article 50 altogether. But up to 60 of his MPs are said to be ready to defy this instruction and will resign if placed under a three-line whip. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, has vowed not to block Article 50 altogether Downing Street has not categorically ruled out a white paper, but insists Mrs May has already set out her plan for Brexit with great clarity in last weeks speech at Lancaster House. White papers are usually deployed to set out government policy ideas in detail ahead of legislation allowing MPs and others to comment on ministerial thinking before it becomes law. In the past they have been used as the basis for court challenges over government policy on everything from airports to the NHS. Another court case could blow Mrs Mays March timetable badly off course. The PM has also argued that giving extra details of her negotiation strategy will not be in the national interest. The white paper proposal is expected to get heavyweight support in the House of Lords, where the Government does not have a majority. Tory MP Sir Bill Cash said ministers were facing a deliberate attempt to try to make the whole process as complicated as possible in order to delay as much as possible. It is completely disingenuous to say this is about scrutiny. Fellow Tory Sir Edward Leigh said an election should be called if opposition parties tried to constrain the Government. Two women who are Gold Star family members claim they were assaulted and spat on by angry protesters outside of the Veterans Inaugural Ball on Friday night. Amy Looney, who lost her husband Navy SEAL Lt. Brendan Looney, and Ryan Manion, who lost her brother Marine First Lt. Travis Manion, claim the incident happened while they were trying to enter the American Legion's tribute to Medal of Honor recipients at the Renaissance Washington DC Downtown Hotel. 'As soon as we started walking they all turned to us and converged on us and got in our faces were screaming really vile obscenities in our faces,' Manion told Fox29, as she claimed the group was about 75 people strong. Amy Looney (left) and Ryan Manion (rigth) are Gold Star family members who claim they were assaulted and spat on by angry protesters outside of the Veterans Inaugural Ball on Friday night Amy, who lost her husband Navy SEAL Lt. Brendan Looney (left), and Ryan, who lost her brother Marine First Lt. Travis Manion (right), claim the incident happened while they were trying to enter the American Legion's tribute to Medal of Honor recipients 'The thing we couldn't believe was the hate in these people's eyes,' she added. 'They were looking at us with such hatred and they had no idea who we were.' Manion started the Travis Manion Foundation 10 years ago after her brother was killed in Iraq in 2007. Looney, who lost her husband in Afghanistan in 2010, works with Manion for the foundation as the two are best friends. 'We were pushed by a man in a mask hiding his face,' Manion wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer of the incident. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump dance at the Veteran's Inaugural Ball Speaker Paul Ryan makes a speech at the Veteran's Inaugural Ball on Friday 'Our clothes were drawn on with permanent marker by other 'protesters.' And we were called the most vile names I have ever heard as we entered and exited the venue.' The two women were initially late to the ball because they couldn't get through 'an angry mob in the street that was burning trash cans and smashing windows,' Manion wrote on Facebook. Manion said that they didn't attend the ball for political reasons, however, they admitted to supporting President Donald Trump, 'just as they supported the previous administration.' Manion (right) said they were initially late to the ball because they couldn't get through 'an angry mob in the street that was burning trash cans and smashing windows.' Above the two women visit their loved ones grave-site together Manion took to Facebook on Saturday morning to share more details about what allegedly happened to her and Amy Looney. She wrote, 'America we MUST do better' 'Just like we will support every future administration that the American people elect,' Manion added. 'We understand more than most how fortunate we are to live in a country where we can demonstrate and share our different beliefs,' Manion wrote. 'But my question for those who chose to take this route Friday is this: Are you truly accomplishing anything by inciting hate?' 'I think it's a defining moment in our country. We are divided but I think it's our differences that make our country so great and if we can't unite in our differences we're in a really bad place.' The alleged incident involving the two women happened Friday night after demonstrators protested throughout the day against Trump's election win and inauguration ceremony. It's unclear if they reported the incident to police. DailyMail.com has contacted the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. for further information regarding the alleged incident. Japan has launched its first military communications satellite in a bid to fend off the growing threat from China and North Korea. The Kirameki-2 (kee-RAH-meh-kee 2) satellite was on an H-2A rocket that lifted off from the Tanegashima (tah-neh-GAH-shee-mah) Space Center in southern Japan. The satellite separated from the rocket and entered a designated orbit, the Defense Ministry said. Japans H-2A rocket lifts off carrying Defense Ministry's first communications satellite Kirameki-2 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane on Tanegashima Island, southern Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (Yu Nakajima/Kyodo News via AP) WHAT WILL IT DO? The new satellites will allow military units to communicate on a high-speed and high-capacity network. The satellites is one of three planned so-called X-band satellites, that will quadruple broadband capacity. Advertisement It is the first of three satellites that will replace three civilian ones currently used by Japan's military. The new satellites will allow military units to communicate on a high-speed and high-capacity network. The new satellites are also aimed at stepping up Japan's emergency response capability in case of natural disaster, China's maritime activity from southern Japanese waters to the South China Sea, as well as missile threats from North Korea. The satellites are also planned for use for Japanese troops operating overseas as part of international peacekeeping operations, including those in South Sudan and off the Somali coast, Kyodo News reported. The Kirameki-1 was supposed to be launched in July 2016, but was damaged during transport to a launch pad in French Guiana. It is undergoing repair and now is scheduled for launch in 2018. The satellites is one of three planned so-called X-band satellites, that will quadruple broadband capacity, unify a fractured and overburdened communications network and allow communications across more territory. Japan and China are locked in a territorial dispute in the East China Sea over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The two countries are also at odds over the exploitation of gas fields that straddle exclusive economic zones claimed by both. Japan's H-2A rocket carrying Defense Ministry's first communications satellite Kirameki-2 goes up goes up after its launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane on Tanegashima Island, southern Japan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Japan, the main U.S. ally in Asia, is concerned that a recent increase in Chinese military activity in the area is a sign it is looking to extend its military influence from the neighboring South China Sea as a challenge to U.S. maritime dominance. In the nine months from April to December, Japan scrambled fighter jets to counter Chinese aircraft approaching Japanese airspace 644 times, almost double the 373 times a year earlier, Japan's Ministry of Defence announced on Friday. In December, China's first aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Liaoning, accompanied by several warships, sailed through the passage between the Japanese Southwestern islands of Mikado and Okinawa and into the Pacific for what China described as routine exercises. We may all be aliens, according to one Columbia University scientists. Caleb Scharf says life may have begun on Mars, before coming to Earth on an asteroid. The radical theory, called Panspermia, was first proposed in 1871, and has since been gaining traction among the scientific community. Scroll down for video A theory suggests that life might have begun on Mars, before coming to Earth on an asteroid. The radical theory, called Panspermia, was first proposed in 1871, and as strange as it might sound, it has been accepted by many scientists THE PANSPERMIA HYPOTHESIS Panspermia is a theory that suggests life spreads across the known physical universe, hitchhiking on comets or meteorites. For example, life such as extremophiles, capable of surviving the inhospitable conditions of space, could become trapped in debris that is ejected into space after collisions between asteroids and planets that harbour life. These life-forms may travel dormant for an extended amount of time before colliding randomly with other planets. The idea of directed panspermia, however, suggests lifeforms are deliberately sent out through the universe by intelligent civilizations Professor Francis Crick, one of the biologists who discovered the structure of DNA, examined the possibility of this in a paper in 1973. However, Professor Crick and his colleagues concluded that the scientific evidence was 'inadequate at the present time to say anything about the probability'. Advertisement The Panspermia theory suggests that Mars once had the right conditions for life to form, including water and an atmosphere. But an asteroid collision caused by rocks in the solar system hitting each other may have caused a chunk of life from Mars to land on Earth. Astronomer and director of the multidisciplinary Columbia Astrobiology Centre at Columbia University, Caleb Scharf, told Business Insider: 'We can find pieces of Mars here on Earth and we suspect that there are pieces of Earth on Mars. 'If that material can carry living organisms on it, it's possible that we are Martian.' Panspermia is not a new thoery it was first proposed in 1871 - but it has more recently gathered fresh support as astronomers have discovered just how full the universe is with organic compounds. Although no evidence to prove this has yet been found, the idea of Panspermia, which remains on the fringe of mainstream science, is not considered as far-fetched as it once was. Speaking to New Scientist, Peter Ward, a biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle said: 'I think the case for Mars as the origin of Earth life is pretty good.' He added that should proof be found that life on Earth is extraterrestrial in origin, it would have some pretty major impacts on current scientific and religious thinking. He said: 'It's a big blow. For some religious fundamentalists, it is an axiom that there is but one life and it is here on Earth.' Many scientists have pointed at the apparent suddenness of life appearing on Earth around 3.8 billion years ago at the same time conditions to support life became perfect. An asteroid collision caused by rocks in the solar system hitting each other may have caused a chunk of life from Mars to land on Earth (artist's impression) Some scientists go further and say the entire Milky Way may be teeming with life. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, an astrobiologist at the University of Buckingham and long time supporter of panspermia, believes Earth is constantly exchanging organic and even living material with planets around neighbouring star systems. He was involved in the publication of several papers that found what he believes to be fossilised remains of organisms in meteorites and tiny algae-like organisms living high up in the Earth's atmosphere that have been carried here by passing comets. The Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (pictured) has found organic molecules on its surface and even led to claims that it may even be home to microbial life Speaking to New Scientist, Professor Wickramasinghe said: 'This was conjecture in the past, purely theoretical, but now we have evidence for it. It's changing slowly, but surely.' COULD WE SOON SPOT PLANT LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS? Forget little green men, the first alien life we spot could be green plants. The light coming from distant solar systems could reveal the existence of plants growing on other planets, according to astronomers. Scientists have found that the pigments in the leaves of plants and other photosynthetic organisms reflect coloured light in peculiar ways, producing a distinctive fingerprint. This means it may be possible to filter out other light coming from distant stars to reveal only light that has been reflected by living plants on a planet's surface. The findings could provide a new way of finding alien life beyond our solar system that does not rely upon detecting radio signals from other intelligent life forms. Instead, astrobiologists may be able to pinpoint planets orbiting other stars where photosynthetic organisms exist by looking for coloured visible light that has been polarised in specific ways. This could also help to identify planets which may be habitable by humans photosynthesis produces oxygen as a key by product. Advertisement In a paper published in 2015 in the Journal of Astrobiology, which Professor Wickramasinghe edits, he and his colleagues outlined how they think life may have arrived here on Earth. They wrote: 'Recent studies have led to detections of some 900 exoplanets in a nearby small sample volume of our galaxy. 'Extrapolations from this study give an estimate of 140 billion habitable planetary systems in our galaxy alone, most of these being associated with faint red dwarf stars. 'On such a basis the mean distance between life-friendly planetary systems is only a few light years. 'This relatively short interplanetary distance is easily bridged by escaping dust, debris, meteorites and comets. 'Material expelled at speeds greater than the escape speed from a planetary system like our own solar system will, in general, have hyperbolic orbits with respect to a nearby star, so the probability of direct capture will in general be very low. 'However, sub-micron dust including bacteria and viruses released by transiting cometary bolides, even if they are in hyperbolic orbits, will be easily be stopped by friction (gas drag) in the interplanetary disc of the recipient planetary system, and thus serve to infect habitable planets.' Put more simply, organisms and molecules on comets travelling past planets could be deposited on that planet. Professor Wickramasignhe and his colleague Dr Milton Wainwright point to the remains of apparent microorganisms collected 16 miles (26km) up in the stratosphere by a high altitude balloon during the Perseid meteor shower in 2013. Researchers have found several mysterious particles, like the 'ghost particle' above, in samples taken from high up in the Earth's atmosphere they controversially claim provides evidence that passing meteors shower the Earth with dust laden with biological material This sphere is another of the materials collected by Dr Wainwright and his colleagues, which they claim could be the remains of a colony of microorganisms Most recently, they found a strange tiny titanium metal orb about the same width of a human hair surrounded by an organic goo in their samples. They have also studied meteorite material that contains structures which have been interpreted by some as fossilised microorganisms. However, the idea is also gathering some supporters from the more mainstream side of science. Only a few decades ago scientists considered the idea of alien life unlikely, but now Nasa scientists believe it is only a matter of time before evidence of life is discovered elsewhere in our solar system. The US space agency is focusing on searching for signs of life on Mars while the European Space Agency is looking to the moon. In 1967, three brave astronauts were killed when a rocket burst into flames in a training run for the Apollo 1 mission. While the whole world watched on in shock, one man had the awful experience of listening to the astronauts as they took their final breaths. Chris Kraft, flight director of the training run has revealed the crew's chilling last moments as heard from the Mission Control centre in Houston. Scroll down for video In 1967, three brave astronauts were killed when a rocket burst into flames in a training run for the Apollo 1 mission. Pictured from left to right are Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee APOLLO 1 MISSION On January 27, 1967, tragedy struck on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy during a preflight test for Apollo 204 (AS-204). The mission was to be the first crewed flight of Apollo, and was scheduled to launch Febuary 21, 1967. Astronauts Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee lost their lives when a fire swept through the command module. The exhaustive investigation of the fire and extensive reworking of the Apollo command modules postponed crewed launches until Nasa officials cleared them for flight. Advertisement Apollo 1 was destined to be the first manned mission to the moon. But a fire famously broke out while the astronauts - Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - were sitting on the launchpad during a test run in Cape Canaveral. The pure oxygen atmosphere within the cockpit meant that a small spark created a blaze that burned hotter than 1,000F (537C). And with a minimum time of 90 seconds to open the emergency hatch, the astronauts became trapped in the inferno. Inside the Houston-based Mission Operations Control Room, Chris Kraft had the awful task of listening in to the astronauts, helpless to getting them out. Mr Kraft told Ars Technica: 'I heard their screaming voices in the cockpit of the spacecraft. 'I heard them scream that they were on fire. I heard them scream get me out of here. And then there was dead silence on the pad. 'Within minutes we knew they were dead, and we were in deep, serious trouble. 'Nobody really said anything for 15 minutes, until they got the hatch open. 'We were sitting there, waiting for them to say what we knew they were going to say.' The pure oxygen atmosphere within the cockpit meant that a small spark inside the capsule created a blaze that burned hotter than 1,000F (537C) Once the fire had been extinguished, Nasa was able to inspect the craft, and concluded that a fire had broken out under Gus Grissom's seat. Mr Grissom had then tried to depresssurise the cabin to put the fire out, but broke one of the valves in his haste. As materials inside the spacecraft were incinerated, they gave off toxic fumes, which probably killed the astronauts. Once the fire had been extinguished, Nasa was able to inspect the craft, and concluded that a fire had broken out under Gus Grissom's seat There was a 17 second gap from when the crew reported the fire to their death, analysts concluded. Despite the awful events, Mr Kraft added: 'Unless the fire had happened, I think it's very doubtful that we would have ever landed on the moon. 'And I know damned well we wouldn't have gotten there during the 1960s. There were just too many things wrong. 'Too many management problems, too many people problems, and too many hardware problems across the whole program.' NASA is developing artificial intelligence (AI) software that will navigate submarine-like drones through extraterrestrial water worlds. The technology would let these unmanned machines plot their own course based on what is detected in the water around them, looking for signs of microbial life. Scientists hope the system will be able to search in swarms in the icy oceans believed to exist on Jupiter's moon, Europa. Scroll down for video NASA is developing artificial intelligence (AI) to navigate submarine-like drones (pictured) through extraterrestrial water worlds. The technology would let these unmanned machines plot their own course, based on what is detected in the water around them AI SET TO FIND ALIENS NASA has developed an AI that will be used to power submarine-like drones through extraterrestrial water worlds - specifically Jupiter's moon Europa. The technology would let these unmanned machines plot their own course, based on what is detected in the water around them. During test, the fleet of drones showed it can seek out changes in temperature and salinity. To plot their routes, forecasts of these ocean features were sent to the drones from shore. The drones also sensed how the ocean actively changed around them. Experts believe the technology should be used to look for fissures in a planet's surface known as hydrothermal vents when it explores alien worlds. Because these are found on ocean basins, he believes it is our best changes of finding a planet that can support life. Advertisement NASA's Hubble satellite spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Europa in September 2016. Since this discovery, experts have been working towards a mission to Jupiter's moon in order to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice. Scientists also believe that there is water beneath the crust of other icy moons like Saturn's Dione and Ganymeme, reports Tomasz Nowakowski with Astrowatch.net. However, experts know that by sending drones to explore the oceans of Europa and other icy worlds could be challenging - communication issues could be interrupted between the technology and mission control on Earth. The answer, they say, are autonomous, submarine-like machines that can make their own decisions in real-time. 'Depending on the exact mission concept under consideration, autonomous underwater vehicles exploring ocean worlds will need to operate autonomously for days to months,' Steve Chien of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) told Astrowatch.net. 'Within this timeframe, they must manage their own resources, explore a largely unknown environment, including navigating to and from a single point of insertion which also serves as a communications link to the outside world.' Chien is in charge of the Artificial Intelligence Group at JLP and is working on these underwater drones. From August to September 2016, Chien and his team tested a fleet of six coordinated drones in Monterey Bay, California. Scientists believe autonomous, submarine-like machines that can make their own decides in real-time are key to finding life on Europa (right). The AI has taught drones to seek out changes in temperature and salinity so it can find its own course OCEANS ON EUROPA Hubble spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, raising hopes it could hold life in a vast underground ocean engulfing the moon, NASA revealed last week. The new images 'indicate a global saline liquid water ocean engulfs the moon at the present time hidden under miles of ice,' NASA said. It increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa's ocean without having to drill through miles of ice. Advertisement The fleet roved for miles seeking out changes in temperature and salinity. To plot their routes, forecasts of these ocean features were sent to the drones from shore. The drones also sensed how the ocean actively changed around them. A major goal for the research team is to develop artificial intelligence that seamlessly integrates both kinds of data. 'Autonomous drones are important for ocean research, but today's drones don't make decisions on the fly,' said Chien said following the tests. 'In order to study unpredictable ocean phenomena, we need to develop submersibles that can navigate and make decisions on their own, and in real-time. 'Doing so would help us understand our own oceans -- and maybe those on other planets.' The idea is to develop the technology in a fashion that would let the drones plot their own course as they go, based on what they detect in the water around them. 'Our goal is to remove the human effort from the day-to-day piloting of these robots and focus that time on analyzing the data collected,' said Andrew Thompson, assistant professor of environmental science and engineering at Caltech. NASA's Hubble satellite spotted giant plumes of water 125 miles high erupting from the surface of Europa in September 2016 (Pictured is an artist impression). Experts suggests technology should look for fissures in a planet's surface known as hydrothermal vents JUPITER'S ICY MOON EUROPA Jupiter's icy moon Europa is slightly smaller than Earth's moon. Europa orbits Jupiter every 3.5 days and is tidally locked - just like Earth's Moon - so that the same side of Europa faces Jupiter at all times. It is thought to have an iron core, a rocky mantle and a surface ocean of salty water, like Earth. Unlike on Earth, however, this ocean is deep enough to cover the whole surface of Europa, and being far from the sun, the ocean surface is globally frozen over. Many experts believe the hidden ocean surrounding Europa, warmed by powerful tidal forces caused by Jupiter's gravity, may have conditions favorable for life. Advertisement 'We want to give these submersibles the freedom and ability to collect useful information without putting a hand in to correct them.' Chien suggests the technology should be used to look for fissures in a planet's surface known as hydrothermal vents when it explores alien worlds. Because these are found on ocean basins, he believes it is our best changes of finding a planet that can support life. Chien and his team plan to conduct their next set of testing in spring 2017. A team of British and Czech scientists today said they had successfully tested a 'super laser' they claim is 10 times more powerful than any other of its kind on the planet. The so-called 'high peak power laser' has a 1,000-watt average power output, a benchmark of sustained, high-energy pulses. It has revolutionary potential in engineering, for hardening metal surfaces, processing semiconductors and micro-machining material. A team of British and Czech scientists today said they had successfully tested a 'super laser' they claim is 10 times more powerful than any other of its kind on the planet. The so-called 'high peak power laser' has a 1,000-watt average power output The device was developed by Britain's Central Laser Facility (CLF) and HiLASE (High average power pulsed laser), a Czech state research and development project. 'It is a world record which is important,' CLF director John Collier told AFP. 'It is good for putting things on the map, but the more important point is that the underlying technology that has been developed here is going to transform the application of these high power, high energy lasers,' Collier added. Named 'Bivoj' after a mythical Czech strongman, the laser is '10 times as powerful' as any other of its type currently in use, HiLASE physicist Martin Divoky told AFP at the testing facility in Dolni Brezany near Prague. HiLASE director Tomas Mocek told AFP that Bivoj broke the 'magical barrier' of 1,000 watts in output on December 16, setting a world record for lasers of its type. 'It's a huge step forward, like an Olympic victory,' he added. Weighing in at around 20 tonnes and costing 44 million euros ($48 million or 38 million), Bivoj will have applications in the aeronautics, automotive and power sectors, according to the CLF and HiLASE specialists. Named 'Bivoj' after a mythical Czech strongman, the laser is '10 times as powerful' as any other of its type currently in use, HiLASE physicist Martin Divoky told AFP at the testing facility in Dolni Brezany near Prague (stock image) The so-called 'high peak power laser' has a 1,000-watt average power output Weighing in at around 20 tonnes and costing 44 million euros ($48 million or 38 million), Bivoj will have applications in the aeronautics, automotive and power sectors Mocek told AFP that Bivoj was fundamentally different from so-called peak power lasers. There are two behemoths of this kind - the one-petawatt Texas Petawatt Laser in Austin and the two-petawatt Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments (LFEX) in Osaka, Japan. One petawatt equals one million billion watts Those lasers 'have a very high peak power, but they can only reach it several times a day,' Mocek said. 'They do not have so-called 'average power'. This is a combination of the repetition rate and the energy. 'Our laser has the highest average power, which is important. The repetition rate in Osaka and Austin is significantly lower.' Its creators say they hope to explore the laser's potential during tests planned at the Dolni Brezany facility later this month. Mocek told AFP that there are also plans to commercialise the laser in the second half of the year. An explosion of ocean life some 471 million years ago was not sparked by a meteorite bombardment of Earth, said a study Tuesday that challenges a leading theory. Without offering an alternative explanation for what is known as the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE), researchers from Sweden and Denmark said the creature expansion started some two million years before the space rock bombardment. This was based on fresh dating of crystals from meteorite-bearing sediments in Sweden. Without offering an explanation for the event , researchers from Sweden and Denmark said the creature expansion started two million years before the space rock bombardment. THE GOBE The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) vastly expanded marine life diversity. It kicked off about 70 million years after the first explosion of life on Earth during the preceding Cambrian period, some 540 million years ago. Some scientists contend that the Ordovician event was sparked by a collision of objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter raining debris down on our planet. Such a bombardment may have changed the environment just enough to stimulate diversification of existing life, the theory goes. Advertisement 'This study shows that the two phenomena were unrelated,' researchers wrote in the journal Nature Communications. For study co-author Anders Lindskog of Lund University in Sweden, the data showed 'there is no measurable 'extraterrestrial' influence on biodiversity' in Earth's oceans. The GOBE, which vastly expanded marine life diversity, kicked off about 70 million years after the first explosion of life on Earth during the preceding Cambrian period, some 540 million years ago. Some scientists contend that the Ordovician event was sparked by a collision of objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter raining debris down on our planet. Such a bombardment may have changed the environment just enough to stimulate diversification of existing life, the theory goes. The question of what caused it remains open, but Lindskog speculated it was likely a combination of events and processes. 'It is reasonable that the very high sea levels that prevailed during the Ordovician... simply gave more space for life to thrive,' he told AFP. 'Combined with the presence of many small continents (allowing for more endemic faunas, adding to the sum of different species) and beneficial climate change (cooling, most likely), we have a pretty nice 'recipe' for biodiversification,' he said by email. It comes as scientists reconstructed the ancient meteorites that fell to Earth after a cataclysmic collision in space 466 million years ago. The study has revealed a shift in the types of meteorites seen today versus those in the past, with many that are rare now found to be common millions of years ago. These findings shake up the conventional belief that the solar system has been stable over the last 500 million years. Scientists have reconstructed the ancient meteorites that fell to Earth after a cataclysmic collision in space 466 million years ago. The study has revealed a shift in the types of meteorites seen today versus those in the past HOW THEY DID IT To understand more about these ancient events, the researchers analyzed micrometeorites from more than 466 million years ago. These are tiny specks less than 2mm wide. The researchers gathered samples from a now-exposed ancient seafloor at Lynna River in Russia. Then, they dissolved the micrometeorite-containing rocks in acid, leaving behind just microscopic chromite crystals. The analysis revealed differences in the chemical makeup between the meteorites and micrometeorites that fell before 466 million years ago, and those that fell after. While just .45 percent of meteorites that fall to Earth today are in a class known as 'primitive achondrites,' the researchers found that these made up 34 percent of the pre-collision samples. Advertisement In the study, published to Nature Astronomy, researchers investigated the difference in meteorites before and after the massive collision 466 million years ago, when something slammed into an asteroid and broke it apart. 'We found that the meteorite flux, the variety of meteorites falling to Earth, was very, very different from what we see today,' said lead author Philipp Heck of The Field Museum in Chicago. 'Looking at the kinds of meteorites that have fallen to Earth in the last hundred million years doesn't give you a full picture. 'It would be like looking outside on a snowy winter day and concluding that every day is snowy, even though it's not snowy in the summer.' The collision sent chunks of rocks meteorites raining down on Earth. And, as this debris is formed from many types of collisions, including those between asteroids, moons, and even planets, they have different compositions, reflecting those of their parent bodies. Much of what is known about the meteorites that fell millions of years ago, however, has long remained a mystery. 'We knew almost nothing about the meteorite flux to Earth in geological deep time before this study,' says co-author Birger Schmitz of Lund University in Sweden. 'The conventional view is that the solar system has been very stable over the past 500 million years. So it is quite surprising that the meteorite flux at 467 million years ago as so different from the present.' To understand more about these ancient events, the researchers analyzed micrometeorites from more than 466 million years ago. These are tiny specks less than 2mm wide. The researchers gathered samples from a now-exposed ancient seafloor at Lynna River in Russia. Then, they dissolved the micrometeorite-containing rocks in acid, leaving behind just microscopic chromite crystals. 'Chrome-spinels, crystals that contain the mineral chromite, remain unchanged even after hundreds of millions of years,' explains Heck. 'Since they were unaltered by time, we could use these spinels to see what the original parent body that produced the micrometeorites was made of.' The researchers dissolved the micrometeorite-containing rocks in acid, leaving behind just microscopic chromite crystals. An electron microscope image of a polished cross section of chrome spinel from thought to be from the asteroid 4 Vesta is pictured The analysis revealed differences in the chemical makeup between the meteorites and micrometeorites that fell before 466 million years ago, and those that fell after. While just .45 percent of meteorites that fall to Earth today are in a class known as 'primitive achondrites,' the researchers found that these made up 34 percent of the pre-collision samples. They also discovered relics from Vesta the brightest asteroid visible from Earth. Vesta experienced a collision event more than a billion years ago, the researchers say. 'Meteorite delivery from the asteroid belt to the Earth is a little like observing landslides started at different times on a mountainside,' said William Bottke of the Southwest Research Institute. The researchers gathered samples from a now-exposed ancient seafloor at Lynna River in Russia. Co-author Fredrik Terfelt of Lund University is pictured 'Today, the rocks reaching the bottom of the mountain might be dominated by a few recent landslides. 'Going back in time, however, older landslides should be much more important. The same is true for asteroid breakup events; some younger ones dominate the current meteorite flux, while in the past older ones dominated.' The researchers say these findings can help to develop a better understanding on the formation and evolution of the basic components of the solar system. 'Knowing more about the different kinds of meteorites that have fallen over time gives us a better understanding of how the Asteroid Belt evolved and how different collisions happened,' said Heck. 'Ultimately, we want to study more windows in time, not just the area before and after this collision during the Ordovician period, to deepen our knowledge of how different bodies in Solar System formed and interact with each other.' NASA engineers have simulated what it will be like inside of the Orion spacecraft during launch when it takes off on its first manned mission as early as 2021. Subjects in the simulation were fitted with advanced crew escape suits as they carried out tests to determine how well they could see the display and controls as the craft vibrated atop the Space Launch System rocket. The first mission is set to launch in 2018, and while this will be uncrewed, the space agency has plans to send astronauts aboard Orion just four years from now. Scroll down for video Subjects in the simulation were fitted with advanced crew escape suits as they carried out tests to determine how well they could see the display and controls as the craft vibrated atop the Space Launch System rocket ORION'S NEXT TEST Nasa's Orion stacked atop a 70 metric ton Space Launch System rocket will launch from a newly refurbished Kennedy Space Center in November 2018. The uncrewed Orion will travel into Distant Retrograde Orbit, breaking the distance record reached by the most remote Apollo spacecraft, and then 30,000 miles farther out (275,000 total miles). The mission will last 22 days and will test system readiness for future crewed operations. Advertisement The researchers at NASA are working to understand how Orions launch vibrations will affect an astronauts ability to see the displays and operate controls. In the simulation, subjects sat in the latest design of the seat, atop the crew impact attenuation system. According to the space agency, the achievement marks the first time this hardware was brought together for this type of assessment. These efforts will help to ensure the spacecraft is ready for its first manned mission, which could come as soon as 2021. In November, Nasa and the US Navy revealed the success of a recent test in which the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego recovered the capsule from water. Orion will take crew farther in space than they've ever gone before and plays an essential role as part of NASA's preparation for the Journey to Mars Known as the Underway Recovery Test-5, it was part of a U.S. government interagency effort to safely retrieve the Orion crew module, which is capable of carrying humans into deep space. This marks the second time a URT has taken place aboard San Diego, and comes amid final preparations for the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) in 2018. 'For me it was a lot of fun being part of the testing because I was onboard this ship when we did the first URT and took the test capsule out to sea in February 2014,' said San Diego Commanding Officer Capt. Carl W. Meuser. Working with the US Navy, the test saw the amphibious transport dock USS San Diego successfully recover the capsule 'On that trip, these smart folks from NASA were able to collect data and understand the environment much better, and they designed systems accordingly. 'So it's been fun for me to see the progression of NASA's project from the first time we went to sea together, to this very successful testing that we just finished.' Divers attached lines from the small boats to steady and guide the capsule toward San Diego, where a NASA-designed winch hauled the capsule into the well deck With their main role of conducting amphibious operations, San Antonio-class ships have many unique capabilities that make them an ideal partner to support NASA. The most important capability was the ability to recover the test capsule using the ship's well deck, which was originally designed to launch and recover amphibious craft. San Diego also has the ability to carry and deploy multiple small boats which aid in the recovery process and contains an advanced medical facility for the returning astronauts. URT-5 testing consisted of launching the test capsule from the well deck, then carefully maneuvering the ship alongside the capsule at slow speed. Then, divers attached lines from the small boats to steady and guide the capsule toward San Diego, where a NASA-designed winch hauled the capsule into the well deck. The test allowed NASA and the Navy to continue to demonstrate and evaluate the recovery processes, procedures, hardware and personnel in real, open ocean environment before conducting actual recovery operations for EM-1 and with additional coordination, subsequent exploration missions. URT-5 testing consisted of launching the test capsule from the well deck, then carefully maneuvering the ship alongside the capsule at slow speed According to Jones, the next test will take place aboard another seasoned NASA recovery ship, USS Anchorage (LPD 23). Future tests will eventually get NASA and the Navy to arrive at a safe and more efficient way to recover the capsule for the 2021 mission involving a flying crew. The Orion spacecraft is designed to meet the evolving needs of our nation's deep space exploration program for decades to come. It will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. It has one of the most volatile weather systems in the universe - and now scientists have managed to recreate it in the lab. Astronomers have long been fascinated by Jupiter's weather, which includes vast storms and supersonic wind jets, and even features the great red spot, believed to be the biggest storm in the solar system. Now, in a groundbreaking experiment researchers recreated the winds and forces - inside a garbage can. Scroll down for video This is a view of Jupiter's south pole (upper left and lower right) and lab results from a new model of Jupiter's winds (upper right and lower left). One mystery has been whether the superfast jets above the planet exist only in the planet's upper atmosphere - much like the Earth's own jet streams - or whether they plunge into Jupiter's gaseous interior. UCLA geophysicist Jonathan Aurnou and collaborators in Marseille, France, have simulated Jupiter's jets in the laboratory for the first time, and found the winds likely extend thousands of miles below Jupiter's visible atmosphere. This research is published online today in Nature Physics. 'We can make these features in a computer, but we couldn't make them happen in a lab,' said Aurnou, a UCLA professor of earth, planetary and space sciences, who has spent the past decade studying computer models of swirling winds. 'If we have a theoretical understanding of a system, we should be able to create an analog model.' The challenge to re-creating swirling winds in the lab was building a model of a planet with three key attributes believed to be necessary for jets to form: rapid rotation, turbulence and a 'curvature effect' that mimics the spherical shape of a planet. Previous attempts to create jets in a lab often failed because researchers couldn't spin their models fast enough or create enough turbulence, Aurnou said. JUPITER IN THE LAB The researchers used a table built on air bearings that can spin at 120 revolutions per minute and support a load of up to 1,000 kilograms The researchers used a table built on air bearings that can spin at 120 revolutions per minute and support a load of up to 1,000 kilograms (about 2,200 pounds), meaning that it could spin a large tank of fluid at high speed in a way that mimics Jupiter's rapid rotation. The scientists filled an industrial-sized garbage can with 400 liters (about 105 gallons) of water and placed it on the table. When the container spun, water was thrown against its sides, forming a parabola that approximated the curved surface of Jupiter. While the can was spinning, scientists used a pump below its false floor to circulate water through a series of inlet and outlet holes, which created turbulence -- one of the three critical conditions for the experiment. That turbulent energy was channeled into making jets, and within minutes the water flow had changed to six concentric flows moving in alternating directions. Advertisement The breakthrough for Aurnou's team was a new piece of laboratory equipment. The researchers used a table built on air bearings that can spin at 120 revolutions per minute and support a load of up to 1,000 kilograms (about 2,200 pounds), meaning that it could spin a large tank of fluid at high speed in a way that mimics Jupiter's rapid rotation. Lab results from a new model of Jupiter's winds, showing the windflow patterns Within minutes the water flow had changed to six concentric flows moving in alternating directions The scientists filled an industrial-sized garbage with 400 liters (about 105 gallons) of water and placed it on the table. When the container spun, water was thrown against its sides, forming a parabola that approximated the curved surface of Jupiter. 'The faster it went, the better we mimicked the massively strong effects of rotation and curvature that exists on planets,' Aurnou said. But the team found that 75 revolutions per minute was a practical limit: fast enough to force the liquid into a strongly curved shape but slow enough to keep water from spilling out. While the can was spinning, scientists used a pump below its false floor to circulate water through a series of inlet and outlet holes, which created turbulence -- one of the three critical conditions for the experiment. That turbulent energy was channeled into making jets, and within minutes the water flow had changed to six concentric flows moving in alternating directions. 'This is the first time that anyone has demonstrated that strong jets that look like those on Jupiter can develop in a real fluid,' Aurnou said. The researchers inferred that the jets were deep because they could see them on the surface of the water, even though they had injected turbulence at the bottom. The stunning image reveals the iconic great red spot, alongside a series of storms shaped like white ovals, known informally as the 'string of pearls'. It was taken on Dec. 11, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST), as the Juno spacecraft performed its third close flyby of Jupiter. WHAT IS IT? The so-called 'Great Red Spot' is a violent storm, which in the late 1800s was estimated to be about 25,000 miles (about 40,000 km) in diameter wide enough for three Earths to fit side by side. The biggest in the solar system, it appears as a deep red orb surrounded by layers of pale yellow, orange and white. Winds inside the storm have been measured at several hundreds of miles per hour, NASA astronomers said. Advertisement The researchers are looking forward to testing their predictions with real data from Jupiter, and they won't have to wait long: NASA's Juno space probe is orbiting Jupiter right now, collecting data about its atmosphere, magnetic field and interior. Initial results from the Juno mission were presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December in San Francisco, and Aurnou was there. 'The Juno data from the very first flyby of Jupiter showed that structures of ammonia gas extended over 60 miles into Jupiter's interior, which was a big shock to the Juno science team,' Aurnou said. 'UCLA researchers will be playing an important role in explaining the data.' This year, Aurnou and his team will use supercomputers at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois, to simulate the dynamics of Jupiter's interior and atmosphere. They'll also continue their work at the laboratory in Marseilles to make the spinning table simulation more complex and more realistic. One goal is to add a thin, stable layer of fluid on top of the spinning water, which would function like the thin outer layer of Jupiter's atmosphere that's responsible for the planet's weather. The researchers believe this will help them simulate features like Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot. Earlier this year, NASA revealed an incredible new image of Jupiter created from data sent by its Juno probe. It reveals the iconic great red spot, alongside a series of storms shaped like white ovals, known informally as the 'string of pearls.' The image of a crescent Jupiter and the iconic Great Red Spot was created by a citizen scientist (Roman Tkachenko) using data from Juno's JunoCam instrument, NASA said. The image was taken on Dec. 11, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. PST (5:30 p.m. EST), as the Juno spacecraft performed its third close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was about 285,100 miles (458,800 kilometers) from the planet. Astronomers recently revealed that Jupiter's 'red spot' storm, the biggest in the solar system, is shrinking. The new images confirm that the Great Red Spot continues to shrink and become more circular, as it has been doing for years. The long axis of this characteristic storm is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) shorter now than it was in 2014. Recently, the storm had been shrinking at a faster-than-usual rate, but the latest change is consistent with the long-term trend. The Great Red Spot remains more orange than red these days, and its core, which typically has more intense color, is less distinct than it used to be. An unusual wispy filament is seen, spanning almost the entire width of the vortex. This filamentary streamer rotates and twists throughout the 10-hour span of the Great Red Spot image sequence, getting distorted by winds blowing at 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second) or even greater speeds. In Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt, the researchers found an elusive wave that had been spotted on the planet only once before, decades earlier, by Voyager 2. In those images, the wave is barely visible, and nothing like it was seen again, until the current wave was found traveling at about 16 degrees north latitude, in a region dotted with cyclones and anticyclones. Similar waves called baroclinic waves sometimes appear in Earth's atmosphere where cyclones are forming. 'Until now, we thought the wave seen by Voyager 2 might have been a fluke,' said co-author Glenn Orton of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. SATURN'S HEXAGONAL VORTEX T he mysterious six-sided hexagon on Saturn's North Pole has long captivated astronomers is thought to be is nearly 20,000 miles (32,190 km). The hexagon is made of a band of upper-atmospheric winds which creates its shape. A polar cyclone can be seen at its centre. First seen by Voyagers 1 and 2 more than 30 years ago, the hexagon it thought to be fixed with Saturn's rotation. Last year, the Cassini spacecraft provided scientists with the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling within the hexagon. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane were estimated to be travelling at around 330mph (150 metres per second). Advertisement Scientists now believe it is formed by winds, similar to our own arctic jet stream, racing eastwards around the pole at cloud level and being jostled into shape by other winds below it. The findings provide a 'simple' solution to the properties of the strangely shaped vortex, according to astronomers. Writing in journal Astrophysical Journal Letters, Professor Raul Morales-Juberias, a planetary scientist at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, and his colleagues said the key to the shape appeared to be the height of the jet stream. They constructed computer models of Saturn's dense atmosphere in the northern hemisphere to see how winds at different levels may behave. They said: 'Past numerical and laboratory modelling efforts have succeeded in reproducing some, but not all, of the hexagon's characteristics. 'We present numerical simulations showing that instabilities in shallow jets can equilibrate as meanders closely resembling the observed morphology and phase speed of Saturn's northern hexagon. 'We also find that the winds at the bottom of the model are as important as the winds at the cloud level in matching the observed Hexagon's characteristics, in particular its drift rate and its shape sharpness.' The hexagon on Saturn was first discovered in 1988 in images taken by Nasa's Voyager spacecraft as they flew past the planet in the early 1980s. Nasa's Cassini Spacecraft has since provided close-up colour images of the bizarre churning mass, which is twice the diameter of the Earth. Thermal images revealed that it reached up to 60 miles (97 km) down into Saturn's atmosphere. Other images revealed the points of the hexagon rotate at the same speed as Saturn's own rotation while a jet stream was found to follow its path eastwards at speeds of around 220mph (354 km/h). However, scientists were baffled about why the shaped formed because it did not appear to be influenced by seasons, and there were many explanations put forward. For instance water swirling on Earth can sometimes generate vortexes that have geometric shapes. Others have suggested they are manifestations of a 'Rossby Wave' rooted deep in the planet's atmosphere that propagates vertically as the jet stream makes its way around the pole. However, the new findings have suggested the winds beneath the jet stream are responsible for jostling this air current into its geometric shape. This helps to explain why the hexagon is not influenced by seasonal changes, said the researchers. It is hoped that by studying the movement of the hexagon it may be possible to understand more about the winds that are hidden beneath the stormy clouds in the gas giant's upper atmosphere. An asteroid roughly the size of a school bus will fly by Earth tonight, coming 30 percent closer to our planet than the moon and scientists have only just noticed it. Nicknamed Rerun, asteroid 2017 BX will approach just before midnight (ET) on Tuesday night, travelling 16,600 miles per hour (about 26,700 km/hr). Scientists discovered the object this past Friday, and they say it will be a close shave when the asteroid passes within 162,000 miles of Earth. Scroll down for video An asteroid roughly the size of a school bus will fly by Earth tonight, coming 30 percent closer to our planet than the moon and scientists only just noticed it. Nicknamed Rerun, asteroid 2017 BX will approach just before midnight (ET) on Tuesday night. Stock image THE 'NEW' ASTEROID The Rerun asteroid is roughly 13-46 feet wide. Its moving at a speed of more than 16,600 miles per hour (about 26,700 km/hr), or 4.6 miles per second. The object was just discovered on January 20, and will make its closest approach to Earth at 4:54 UTC on January 25th (11:54 EST, January 24th). It will pass between our planet and the moon, coming 30 percent closer than our lunar neighbour at 162,000 miles away from Earth. Advertisement While it may sound alarming, Rerun isnt likely to pose any threat to our planet. Measuring between 13 and 46 feet across, its relatively small, and is expected to safely pass between Earth and the moon late tonight. Slooh astronomers will be live broadcasting the event starting at 5:30 p.m. (EST), and they say Rerun will make the closest approach at 4:54 UTC on January 25th (11:54 EST, January 24th). The researchers will also be answering questions about the new near-Earth object (NEO), and explaining further details about its size, speed, and makeup. And, on Twitter, they revealed theyll be addressing a question that many are likely to be wondering: How could something this size have gone undiscovered for so long? The asteroid was only discovered on January 20, and is an example of just how little we know about the potentially deadly NEOs flying through space. Just weeks ago, an asteroid as big as a 10-story building passed by Earth at a distance half that of the Moon. While it may sound alarming, Rerun isnt likely to pose any threat to our planet. Measuring between 13 and 46 feet across, its relatively small, and is expected to safely pass between Earth and the moon late tonight The asteroid, dubbed 2017 AG13, was only spotted only days before by the University of Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey. It is between 50 and 111 feet (15 to 34 meters) long, and when it passed by Earth on January 9, 2017, AG3 was moving at 9.9 miles per second (16 kilometers per second). 'This is moving very quickly, very nearby to us,' Eric Feldman, an astronomer with Slooh, said during a live broadcast of the flyby at 7:47 a.m. ET on January 9. 'This one has a particularly elliptical orbit. Scientists discovered the object this past Friday, and they say it will be a close shave when the asteroid passes within 162,000 miles of Earth. In the simulation above, asteroid 2017 BX can be seen approaching Earth in its orbit late last year 'It actually crosses the orbits of two planets, Venus and Earth. Slooh's broadcast said 2017 AG3 was 'roughly the same size as the asteroid that struck Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013,' meaning had it hit, the effects would have been similar. Its next close approach to Earth is expected on December 28, 2017. 'It is not that uncommon of an event, which is one of the reasons it is interesting,' Mark Sykes, director and CEO of the Planetary Science Institute, told Business Insider in an email. About 38 more 'close approaches' like asteroid 2017 AG3's are expected within the month of January alone, according to NASA's Near Earth Object Program. A new mathematical tool has revealed the rhythm of electrical activity in the brain as it responds to external stimuli. While researchers know that this activity, known as neural oscillation, takes place in the hippocampus region in rats to encode information on the animals position, much of its function in the human brain still remains a mystery. In a series of colourful diagrams, researchers have now revealed how these responses fluctuate, and they say the breakthrough could help improve neuroscientists understanding of these processes. The researcher developed a mathematical tool based on the concept of a nonlinear oscillator, that could shed new light on the process .Linear oscillators respond to a stimulus by mirroring its rhythm but, nonlinear oscillators vary in their responses THE NEW TOOL Alonso used the Wilson-Cowan model, a widely-used model that describes average activity of populations of interconnected neurons. With this, the researcher was able to develop a mathematical tool based on the concept of a nonlinear oscillator, that could shed new light on the process. The concept of a nonlinear oscillator is not specific to neuroscience, the researcher explained. But, it integrated well with the Wilson-Cowan model. Linear oscillators respond to a stimulus by mirroring its rhythm or frequency but, nonlinear oscillators vary in their responses. Alonso says this new tool provides insight on the ways in which neurons connect to allow for a diverse range of oscillations. Advertisement Neural oscillations are critical in the transmission of information within the brains neural circuits, and the tissues involved are able to produce different types of oscillations in response to stimuli. These diverse responses underlie several important questions in neuroscience, explained Leandro Alonso, a computational neuroscientist and former postdoctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York City. How does the same neural tissue do different things at different times? How is information altered by the connections and intrinsic dynamics of the neural circuit? For the study, Alonso used the Wilson-Cowan model, a widely-used model that describes average activity of populations of interconnected neurons. With this, the researcher was able to develop a mathematical tool based on the concept of a nonlinear oscillator, that could shed new light on the process. Its useful in modelling concepts in neuroscience to have a system that will yield a diverse range of behaviours for small changes of a control parameter, as this may help offer some insights about how the same neural tissue displays different responses, Alonso said. The concept of a nonlinear oscillator is not specific to neuroscience, the researcher explained. But, it integrated well with the Wilson-Cowan model. Linear oscillators respond to a stimulus by mirroring its rhythm or frequency but, nonlinear oscillators vary in their responses. The researcher illustrates these responses using colourful locking diagrams, which show a range of possible responses if the parameters of the stimulus, like frequency or amplitude, are slightly altered Alonso says this new tool provides insight on the ways in which neurons connect to allow for a diverse range of oscillations. When you observe the complexity of oscillatory phenomena in the brain, it seems reasonable to assume that it can be explained by an equally complex system that underlies these oscillations, Alonso said. Whether this is the case or not, it is interesting that a simple circuit with just two populations of interconnected neurons can produce a similarly diverse repertoire of activity. A new mathematical tool has revealed the rhythm of electrical activity in the brain as it responds to external stimuli. In a series of colourful diagrams, the researcher has revealed how these responses fluctuate The researcher illustrates these responses using colourful locking diagrams, which show a range of possible responses if the parameters of the stimulus, like frequency or amplitude, are slightly altered. These oscillations are commonly studied in relation to epilepsy and sleep disorders, and the researcher says this new tool could help neuroscientists develop further models. I hope the procedure will be helpful for deriving the parameters of neural circuits such as their connectivities, so that an incoming oscillation will trigger several different types of responses, said Alonso. Its also possible that the broader discussion of nonlinear oscillations could be helpful to scientists examining other biological systems that have multiple neural circuits with these properties connected together. Advertisement A B&B near Dorset's Jurassic Coast has beaten establishments in Florida, Prague and Bruges to be named the very best in the world. Five-bedroomed Bindon Bottom claimed the top prize in the 2017 Travellers' Choice awards by travel review website TripAdvisor. Thousands of guests say that it's the best they've ever stayed in and pictures reveal that the interior is furnished to five-star hotel standards. Bindon Bottom is run by Clive and Lisa Orchard, who set it up in 2010 as a change of lifestyle and a break in their careers Top accolade: Bindon Bottom B&B in Lulworth Cove, Dorset, was named the world's best B&B Images reveal that the interior is furnished to the standard of a five-star hotel This image shows how the rooms at Bindon Bottom are spacious, beautifully presented and have great views Cooking up a storm: Mr Orchard carefully prepares a breakfast at his award-winning B&B The Orchards set the tables for breakfast at their lauded establisment, which is just minutes away from Dorset's Jurassic Coast Bindon Bottom is run by Clive and Lisa Orchard, who set it up in 2010 as a change of lifestyle and a break in their careers. Four other English guest houses made the top 10. South Lodge Guest House in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, claimed third place, Swallows Rest B&B in Brigstock, Northamptonshire, fifth place, Thornleigh Guest House in Keswick, Cumbria, ranked number eight and West by Five Guest House in St Ives, Cornwall, was given ninth place. The positions were based on the quality and quantity of traveller reviews. Meanwhile, a tiny resort town on the coast of Wales has beaten off stiff competition from the hospitality industry's biggest names in mega cities around the world, to scoop 2017 TripAdvisor awards for two of its hotels. Lawton Court in Llandudno took the title for the world's best hotel service this year, following its victory as the world's best-rated bargain hotel in 2015's awards. Nearby in the tiny town, The Elm Tree Hotel was crowned 2017's best-rated bargain hotel. Lawton Court in the tiny Welsh resort town of Llandudno took the title for the world's best hotel service The Elm Tree Hotel was crowned the world's best rated bargain hotel in the annual TripAdvisor awards America also had a strong showing in the B&B category with the Cedar House Inn, Saint Augustine, taking the number two spot and the Welsh Hills Inn, Glanville, snatching fourth place. The best hotel in the world was awarded to Aria Hotel Budapest - a five-star music-themed boutique hotel that is a three-minute walk from St. Stephen's Basilica. Winners were chosen in categories of Top Hotels Overall, Luxury, Bargain, Small, Service, B&Bs and Inns, Romance and Family. A 33-bedroom family-run hotel, Lawton Court has only been open since 2014 and costs 78 a night. TOP 10 TRAVELLERS' CHOICE HOTELS IN THE WORLD 1. Aria Hotel Budapest Budapest, Hungary 2. Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve Ubud, Indonesia 3. Turin Palace Hotel Turin, Italy 4. Hotel The Serras Barcelona, Spain 5. BoHo Prague Hotel Prague, Czech Republic 6. Portrait Firenze Florence, Italy 7. Shinta Mani Resort Siem Reap Province, Cambodia 8. Hanoi La Siesta Hotel & Spa Hanoi, Vietnam 9. Tulemar Bungalows & Villas, Puntarenas, Costa Rica 10. JA Manafaru Haa Alif Atoll, Maldives Source:TripAdvisor Advertisement But its sister property next door, Lauriston Court Hotel, run by other family members, was previously named the world's best for service in the 2013 TripAdvisor awards. Its success allowed the family to expand with the newly acclaimed address. Still setting service standards, Lauriston Court Hotel was named fifth best in the UK for service and third best for a bargain. Hannah and Scott Lawton-Jones, owners of Lawton Court Hotel, Llandudno, said: 'Since opening the doors to Lawton Court in April 2014, to say things have been busy is an understatement. Number one hotel in the world: The average room at luxury boutique Aria Hotel Budapest is 235 per night and its design aesthetic is inspired by music with different wings depicting different genres including classical, opera, contemporary and jazz Serenity in the rainforest: Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Ubub, Indonesia, scooped second prize TOP B&BS IN THE WORLD 1. Bindon Bottom B&B, Lulworth Cove, Dorset 2. The Cedar House Inn, Saint Augustine, Florida 3. South Lodge Guest House, Bridlington, Yorkshire 4. The Welsh Hills Inn, Granvill, Ohio 5. Swallows Rest B& B, Brigstock, Northamptonshire 6. Arcadia Residence, Prague, Czech Republic 7. B&B Mondello Resort, Mondello, Italy 8. Thornleigh Guest House, Keswick, the Lake District 9.West by Five Guest House, St Ives, Cornwall 10. Huis Koning, Bruges, Belgium Source:TripAdvisor Advertisement 'We are so grateful and lucky to have welcomed so many lovely guests to stay over the last three years and not forgetting the fantastic hardworking team we have that share the same principles as us... we are here to help and that's what we love to do.' If you'd like to stay in the world's best hotel it can be found in Budapest, according to holidaymakers on TripAdvisor. The average room at luxury boutique Aria Hotel Budapest is 235 per night and its design aesthetic is inspired by music with different wings depicting different genres including classical, opera, contemporary and jazz. Opulent surrounds secured Turin Palace Hotel in Turin a third place ranking in the awards for the Travellers' Choice hotels BEST SERVICE IN THE WORLD 1. Lawton Court Hotel, Llandudno, Wales 2. Hotel Pod Vezi, Prague, Czech Republic 3. Hotel Villa Steno, Monterosso al Mare, Italy 4. Hotel Residence Agnes, Prague, Czech Republic 5. Hanoi Charm Hotel, Hanoi, Vietnam 6. Oriental Suites Hotel & Spa, Hanoi, Vietnam 7. Riad Kniza, Marrakech, Morocco 8. Shinta Mani Resort, Siem Reap, Cambodia 9. Hotel Belvedere, Riccione, Italy 10. Villa Lara Hotel, Bayeux, France Source:TripAdvisor Advertisement Mandapa, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Ubud, Indonesia, scooped the number two prize followed by Turin Palace Hotel in Turin in third place of the Travellers' Choice Hotels in the world. Meanwhile in the UK, the top hotel award went to the capital's Hotel 41, which was also ranked seventh best in Europe and 20th in the world. TripAdvisor spokesperson Hayley Coleman said: 'Unlike other hospitality awards, these are based on feedback from actual guests over the past year, which is what makes them so prized within the industry. 'With rooms at winning hotels notorious for selling out shortly after our annual announcement, travellers wishing to experience these world class hotels for themselves will need to book quickly if they want to find out why they earned such rave reviews throughout the year from fellow travellers.' Friendly neighbours often pop round to say hello, and it seems that policy even extends to the Arctic - and its resident polar bears. An astonishing photograph has emerged that caught one of the huge animals visiting crew members on Lance, a Norwegian Polar Institute vessel, for a bite to eat. They were cooking up waffles to go with their afternoon coffee when they were greeted at the kitchen port hole by an adult bear. An astonishing photograph has emerged that caught a polar bear visiting crew memebers on Lance, a Norwegian Polar Institute vessel, for a bite to eat Instead of shooing the giant predator away, they decided to offer a show of goodwill by handing over a fillet of fish. They also managed to snap a picture of the moment. It was taken 17 years ago but was recently posted to Reddit by user Johnny_love, where it received thousands of comments. The Norwegian Polar Institute told MailOnline Travel: 'The photographer as well as the person on the photo are crew members, not scientists - actually they were not employed by the NPI but by the company running the ship. This would not be acceptable behaviour today.' Lance is a research and expedition vessel that is mainly used by the Norwegian Polar Institute for research purposes. It can also be privately hired for parties and cruises during the summer months, when there is 24 hours of daylight. During the summer season Lance boat docks at Longyearbyen in Svalbard (pictured), a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole that is one of the worlds northernmost inhabited areas The Norwegian boat docks at Troms, Norway, and usually tours the Arctic sea but it has also made several trips to the Antarctic. During the summer season the boat docks at Longyearbyen in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole that is one of the worlds northernmost inhabited areas. The area is home to plenty of wildlife, including polar bears, reindeer and Arctic foxes. She's the head of the world-famous Kardashian and Jenner clan and a successful business woman. And on Tuesday, Kris Jenner appeared on KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O when she congratulated new Premier Gladys Berejiklian. Speaking of the politician's Armenian heritage - with the Kardashians being of the same descent - Kris gushed: 'Armenian women are beautiful, smart, very savvy, and I think she'll make really good decisions, very quick.' Scroll down for video Nice words: On Tuesday, Kris Jenner (seen in New York in November) appeared on KIIS FM 's Kyle and Jackie O when she congratulated new Premier Gladys Berejiklian The 61-year-old then told the radio hosts to pass on her 'congratulations' and to 'say hello.' Gladys then appeared on the show and couldn't believe Kris had such kind words for her. At first, she thought it was a fake clip she heard and said she'd one day want to meet the Kardashians whenever they are in Australia. Gladys then revealed she loves reality TV and said of the Kardashians: 'I think what it shows is the modern day Brady Bunch. They're not perfect but they love each other.' 'Armenian women are beautiful, smart, very savvy': Kris noted Gladys Berejiklian's Armenian heritage She's a fan! Gladys then revealed she loves reality TV and said of the Kardashians: 'I think what it shows is the modern day Brady Bunch' Family: Kris is the head of the world-famous Kardashian and Jenner clan and a successful business woman (seen in February last year with (from L to R) daughters Khloe, Kendall, Kourtney, Kim, ex partner Caitlyn, daughter Kylie and granddaughter North West) Kris is currently dating Corey Gamble and on the show, she denied rumours that they were married, after she's been seen on multiple occasions wearing a diamond ring on her ring finger. 'I have not gotten married,' Kris said. Last year, Kris told Harper's Bazaar about claims she exploited her family for fame and fortune and said it wasn't the case. No wedding bells yet! Kris is currently dating Corey Gamble (seen) and on the show, she denied rumours that they were married 'Nooooo.' 'I made and created a show that my family was all on board with, and we were so excited because we got to work together.' She added her thoughts on being a woman and making her family successful, saying: 'I think there's definitely an attitude when a woman accomplishes anything.' 'But I also think people are very jealous.' She shocked fans on Sunday when she revealed she would not be joining her girlfriend Megan Marx in Bali, after they planned to move in together in the paradise. But on Tuesday, The Bachelor's Tiffany Scanlon revealed she will indeed be heading to Bali, as she flashed her rock-hard abs on Instagram. After overcoming a bout of sickness, Tiffany wrote online: 'Cannot wait to get back to this island paradise and to see me lady!' Scroll down for video She's got a spring in her step! On Tuesday, The Bachelor's Tiffany Scanlon revealed she will indeed be heading to Bali, as she flashed her rock-hard abs on Instagram Tiffany shared two shots online, one wearing a crop top and tiny pink shorts as she ran along the beach, and another throwback of herself in Bali from a previous trip, hanging upside down on a swing. Under the swing shot, she confirmed she's going back to Bali in a lengthy post. 'When life turns you upside down you must simply learn to adjust your view! Flight to Bali rescheduled for Wednesday morning yaaaayyyyy! Cannot wait to get back to this island paradise and to see me lady!' They'll be reunited! Tiffany is seen here with her girlfriend Megan Marx Adventures: Tiffany shared two shots online, one wearing a crop top and tiny pink shorts as she ran along the beach, and another throwback of herself in Bali from a previous trip, hanging upside down on a swing She added: 'Thank you to everyone for the well wishes x.' Tiffany posted a quote alongside the shot of her running on the beach, by author C.Joy Bell C. 'I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it,' it began. 'Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to.' She's feeling better! It comes after the blonde said she wasn't joining Megan - who she met on The Bachelor - in Bali, just yet 'But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you.' It comes after the blonde said she wasn't joining Megan - who she met on The Bachelor - in Bali, just yet. 'Sometimes things don't go to plan...unfortunately I will not be flying over to Bali today due to a health issue but I am doing ok and I will hopefully head over in the next few days x,' she wrote, underneath a shot of herself in a white one piece. Megan recently fired off an open letter, blasting men who constantly approach the couple for threesomes. Hitting back: Megan recently fired off an open letter, blasting men who constantly approach the couple for threesomes In the open letter, published by Popsugar, Megan said she finds it bizarre how men who are complete strangers think it is OK to solicit the couple for a threesome. She recalled that the last time she had been propositioned was at an event, the fifth time that night. 'I gave the fellow in question who was dressed neatly in linen boat pants and a pale blue Hilfiger shirt a good stare, and said, "That's a pretty rude question, don't you think?"' Megan wrote. 'Apparently I can't take a joke and am "uptight," but I've decided to continue to be totally unfunny and deny sexual advances from strangers. Sorry not sorry, a**hole.' The Western Australian beauty also label the constant quips from males who offer to 'turn her straight' offensive. 'What you're actually saying is that you could "turn me" from an all-sex-attracted woman into a cheater,' Megan said. She's never one to miss a fashion week. And Olivia Palermo pulled out all the stops for a party night during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week on Monday night. The Hills star, 30, looked sensational in a quirky parrot-print jacket after enjoying the Giambattista Valli and Dior shows earlier in the day. Always chic: Olivia Palermo pulled out all the stops for a party night during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week on Monday night Olivia made a statement with her colourful look, opting for a bold print jacket covered in birds and florals. She teamed the jazzy jacket with a pair of cropped leather PAIGE trousers and shoe boots. A black lace scarf added a chic touch, while the always-stylish star slicked on a bold red lippie shade, and styled her locks into an effortless up do. Wild! The Hills star, 30, looked sensational in a quirky parrot-print jacket after enjoying the Giambattista Valli and Dior shows earlier in the day Standing out from the crowd: She teamed the jazzy jacket with a pair of cropped leather trousers and shoe boots It was a busy day for the fashion lover who was earlier spotted at the star-studded Dior show, this time dressed in a super chic monochrome ensemble. Olivia appeared without her handsome husband, German male model Johannes Huebel, 39, for her day out in France. The genetically-blessed couple met through mutual friends nine years ago, before tying the knot in June 2014 in a low-key ceremony in Bedford, upstate New York. Finishing touches: A black lace scarf added a chic touch, while the always-stylish star slicked on a bold red lippie shade, and styled her locks into an effortless up do Discussing the secret to the couple's happy marriage, Olivia told Harper's Bazaar Australia: 'We try not to ever be separated more than seven days. Its just something we have always done.' But it doesn't look as though the couple will be hearing the pitter-patter of tiny feet any time soon, with the socialite admitting she is 'very focused on work' at present. She added in an interview with the Daily Mail's YOU magazine: 'Im really focused on work. I have my hands full and I have to prioritise.' She recently lost access to her Instagram account, after being targeted by an 'aggressive stalker'. But Chloe Khan has now set up a new profile and is campaigning to get her 978k followers back after enduring a terrifying few weeks at the hands of her pursuer. The 26-year-old, who endured a brief stint in hospital this week, took to her new page to reveal the details of her 'terrible stalker' - admitting they had prevented her feeling safe in her own home, her car and out in public places. Scroll down for video Fighting back: After her original account was hacked by a 'terrible stalker', Chloe Khan has now set up a new profile and is campaigning to get her 978k followers back Sharing a screenshot of her original page with fans, she explained of the terrifying situation: 'Guys, my Instagram went down because I have had a Terrible stalker trying to ruin my life.' 'There was very bad hate profile saying so much bad lies about my family and me and they posted screenshots of how they managed to get my account shut down. I have all the evidence and screen shots.' Expressing her concern for her career, which largely stems from her social media posts, she pleaded: 'I really need my Instagram for work. Please help me.' Reassured: Later posting one of her trademark busty selfies, the former Celebrity Big Brother star thanked fans for their support in her difficult situation so far She then went in to more detail about her terrifying attacker however - revealing to fans that they had hugely disrupted her life both online and off. She explained sadly: 'This stalker is not limited to online. I haven't felt safe in my own home, my car has been tampered with, and I try not to go out alone at the min.' While she did not explain the reasoning for her hospital trip, which sparked concern with followers last week following her claims of a stalker, she added: 'I've been in hospital and just got home today so I haven't had chance to work on getting my Instagram back, but I feel better today so please follow this profile.' Long way to go: As of Monday evening, the new account had gained back 11.6k of her original account's 978k followers Later posting one of her trademark busty selfies, the former Celebrity Big Brother star thanked fans for their support in her difficult situation so far. Showing off her famous surgically-enhanced cleavage in a plunging midi dress, the brunette beauty wrote: 'Thankyou so much for all the support. I'm overwhelmed. 'Please keep #reactivatechloekhan on @instagram last pic. So much love and hugs #chloekhan' She later shared screenshots of several emails, along with an extensive caption that detailed her claims of having endured several years 'mental and physical torture' from a male she met when she was just 12. Health fears: In light of her stalking claims, which she revealed last week, Chloe had sparked concern among fans on Sunday after she appeared to share a photo from a hospital bed She also spoke a man she befriended in later years, who she alleges turned out to be her stalker. As of Monday evening, the account had gained back 11,600 of her original account's 978k followers. In light of her stalking claims, which she first revealed last week, Chloe had sparked concern among fans on Sunday after she appeared to share a photo from a hospital bed. The Playboy model has kept unusually quiet on social media since the worrying shot, which apparently showed a drip attached to her hand. Oh dear: The 26-year-old Playboy model has kept unusually quiet on social media since the worrying shot, which apparently showed a drip attached to her hand Showing just her tattooed wrist in the shot captured in a dimly lit room, the Celebrity Big Brother star simply captioned it with a sad face emoji. MailOnline has contacted a representative for Chloe for comment. The mysterious shot comes just as Chloe had lost access to her Instagram account after it was hacked and the password changed. She revealed her stalking ordeal, admitting she had a harraser who tried to 'ruin' her life on a 'daily basis'. Ordeal: The mysterious shot comes just as Chloe has lost access to her Instagram account after it was hacked yet again and the password changed Chloe told The Daily Star the unknown person is 'constantly hacking my accounts' and spreading 'malicious lies' about her, as well as threatening 'mine and my family's safety'. She added that the cyber stalker has intruded into her real life, revealing: 'I have had my car tampered with. 'I make a lot of money on Instagram advertising so I always hate to see it get hacked.' Last August, Chloe was first hacked and tweeted to fans: 'My Instagram has been hacked and deleted at 852k #notleavingthiss***illbeback.' Harrassed: She revealed her stalking ordeal, admitting she had a harraser who tried to 'ruin' her life on a 'daily basis' (pictured, a tweet she posted after she was first hacked) Eye-popping: Chloe Khan certainly maintained her raunchy reputation in early January, as she documented a steamy sauna session during her girls' holiday to Ukraine on her Snapchat Getting steamy: Taking to her Instagram later on, Chloe appeared to eventually change into her bikini as she shared a holiday photo of the group relaxing in the steam Meanwhile the mother-of-one recently a wild time in Eastern Europe with her gal pals - leaving beloved boyfriend Ashley Cain at home. The couple have been inseparable ever since they got together in September - following her turbulent romance with Stephen Bear. Chloe and Stephen famously enjoyed several steamy romps on Celebrity Big Brother, before splitting after leaving the Borehamwood mansion due to his flirtatious ways. United front: The couple have been inseparable ever since they got together in September - following her turbulent romance with Stephen Bear She rarely puts a foot wrong with her fashion choices. And Naomie Harris certainly did not disappoint on Monday, as she stole the show at the screening of her new film Moonlight at London's Soho Hotel. The 40-year-old looked truly stunning in a one-shouldered top and loose fitting trousers as she posed for cameras at the swanky venue. Scroll down for video Gorgeous: Naomie Harris, 40, looked truly stunning at the screening of her new film Moonlight in London on Monday The 28 Days Later star looked as glamorous as ever in her trendy trouser and top ensemble. The white blouse, adorned with classic vertical black stripes, cut into a feminine frill across one shoulder to show off her decolletage and gorgeous, glowing skin. Perfectly achieving the mixed pattern trend, Naomie teamed the top with a pair of high-waisted trousers, which cut into cream and navy panels to elongate her already enviably statuesque frame. Showing her stripes: The white blouse, adorned with classic vertical black stripes, cut into a feminine frill across one shoulder to show off her decolletage and gorgeous, glowing skin Model material: Naomie teamed the top with a pair of high-waisted trousers, which cut into cream and navy panels to elongate her already enviably statuesque frame She swept her curled, brown tresses to one side and sported minimal make-up - to let her stunning natural beauty and clean complexion shine through. First posing alone, the Islington-born actress was then joined at the screening by her adorable co-star Alex Hibbert, 12. The youngster, who plays her son in the new film, looked a professional in front of the cameras despite his age as he posed confidently in a stylish black and white printed shirt and cool black jeans. Teaming up: First posing alone, the Islington-born actress was then joined at the screening by her adorable co-star Alex Hibbert, 12 Like a pro: The youngster, who plays her son in the new film, posed confidently despite his age in a stylish black and white printed shirt and cool black jeans The pair united at the event for a screening of their new movie Moonlight, followed by a Q&A with guests. The blockbuster chronicles the life of a young black man from childhood to adulthood, as he struggles to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami. Naomie plays Paula - a drug-fuelled single mother who struggles to raise her son Chrion in his youth during the early scenes of the flick. What a pair: The pair united at the event for a screening of their new movie Moonlight, followed by a Q&A with guests While she looks almost unrecognisable as her troubled character, the Skyfall actress revealed that she had just three days to play the role. For Naomie, who neither drinks nor smokes, she admitted she had to resort to Youtube to nail the characteristics in such a short space of time. Its an important aid for an actor, she told MailOnline. I watched videos of people addicted to drugs. Continuing that she had also had no time to rehearse with the other actors when she arrived on set, she added: I got there and the cameras started rolling. Over the course of three days I aged 15 years. Hard-hitting: The blockbuster chronicles the life of a black man from childhood to adulthood, as he struggles to find his place while growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami 'It was a combination of make-up, wigs and a change in physicality. We had to cram in so much that I probably felt 15 years older! However the hectic schedule has proved to have been worthwhile, as she has been inundated with award nominations for the role. Earlier this month she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, and has gone on to receive recognition in the same category at the BAFTAs and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The beauty will also no doubt be anticipating the prestigious Academy Award nominations, which are revealed on Tuesday. She's been working non-stop before and after the birth of her second child just six weeks ago. And Teresa Palmer was spotted touching down at Los Angeles with her husband Mark Webber and their two children following a short visit to Utah. The family-of-four had their hands full as they collected their luggage at LAX on Monday. Scroll down for video Touch down: Teresa Palmer and her husband Mark Webber, along with their two sons, were spotted as they landed back in Los Angeles on Monday following a trip to Utah Teresa, 30, cradled her newborn son Forest Sage in her arms, covering him under her jacket. Mark meanwhile, was seen pushing a stroller with the couple's firstborn son Bodhi Rain, two, on board. Teresa cut a comfortable figure in jeans and a pair of snow boots, as well as a knitted jumper and bomber jacket. Jet-setters: The genetically-blessed family returned from a short visit to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival The Hacksaw Ridge star kept her eyes shielded under a pair of reflective sunglasses. Her director husband meanwhile, wore a pair of indigo jeans with a cream jumper, adding a black beanie for warmth. Days earlier, the family were seen arriving into Utah to attend the Sundance Film Festival, where Teresa was premiering her film Berlin Syndrome. Working mum: The 30-year-old actress was in Salt Lake City to promote her film Berlin Syndrome The actress recently revealed on her website YourZenMama that she is hiring a 'mother's helper' a few hours a week. The health and wellbeing enthusiast also said she was inspired by her own mother not raise her children without the help of a nanny at first. 'My mum took care of me, she raised me on her own and... there's no such thing as a nanny. I wasn't in childcare, she just had me,' she explained. But Teresa admitted that caring for two-year-old Bodhi and one-month-old Forest meant putting chores on hold. New arrival: Teresa recently revealed she's come to accept that it's 'OK to say yes to help' from family and friends as she raises newborn son Forest and two-year-old Bodhi So she eventually agreed with her friends and hired somebody to help around the home, which has proven to be a great relief to her. Teresa explained that she plans to have a 'mother's helper' come around regularly for a few hours a week to help her. 'This week has been a really good reminder that it's OK to say yes to help,' she said in her blog. She added, 'Accepting that I'm just one woman, with only two arms, 24 hours in a day to work with and a bunch of little people who need me, means that I will take the help (Mum I'm looking at you!)' She's the Grammy-winning star whose career has spanned over 40 years. And Olivia Newton-John looked thrilled to perform on stage once again as she kicked off her live tour in Ireland on Monday. The 68-year-old beamed as she belted out hits from her collaborative album, LIV ON, with artists Amy Sky and Beth Nielsen Chapman. Scroll down for video She's back! Olivia Newton-John looked thrilled as she performed her first concert of the year alongside Amy Sky and Beth Nielsen Chapman Olivia wore all black as she took to the stage at The National Concert Hall in Dublin, sporting a full-length skirt with a tight long-sleeved top. The Grease star threw a sheer black shawl over the top to complete her look. Her band members Amy and Beth also wore dark hues to match. Radiant: The 68-year-old smiled from ear to ear as she took to the stage in Ireland Classic: The Grammy-winning star belted out her new hits at The National Concert Hall in Dublin The concert marks the start of the trio's many gigs to come, where they will perform hits from Olivia's latest album. The tour will take the Xanadu star across the UK as well as cities in the US in the coming weeks. Olivia looked much younger than her 68 years, showing off a glowing complexion and shiny blonde tresses. Matching: The trio all wore black as they harmonised on stage, performing songs from Olivia's new album LIV ON Plenty to laugh about: The mother-of-one was in high spirits throughout the performance, laughing on stage with her band members Despite her youthful appearance Olivia previously revealed that she could never go through with plastic surgery because she did not want to look like 'those women' in Hollywood. The Grease star admitted that she has been tempted in the past and even went to see plastic surgeons for consultations when she was 'down and depressed.' Speaking to Stellar last year, she said: 'I've had points in my life when I've gone to see plastic surgeons, when I was down and depressed or after a break-up. Global stars: The tour will take the music legends across the UK as well as the US in the coming weeks Glowing: The Grease star showed off her youthful complexion as she took to the stage, after revealing she has steered clear of plastic surgery 'I couldn't go through with it. I thought, 'I don't want to look like those women'. Some of them look great, it doesn't all look bad, but I couldn't do it.' She told the publication she has always wanted to grow old 'gracefully' rather than 'cut and slash.' She added, 'So far I have, and I hope I can continue to do that.' She's the ex-Bachelor contestant who's become known for flaunting her figure in scantily-clad snaps online. But Kiki Morris may have revealed more than her enviable figure on Tuesday, was she took to Instagram with a potentially cryptic message. The 28-year-old reality star flaunted a busty display in a jungle-print bikini as her caption may link her to the new season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 'Welcome to the jungle': The Bachelor's Kiki Morris potentially hints at joining I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! as 'blonde firecracker' reality star with busty display in jungle-print bikini on Instagram on Tuesday The series will begin filming over the next week, with hosts Chris Brown and Julia Morris arriving in South Africa this week in preparation for the celebrity arrivals. Kiki wrote alongside a seemingly old campaign image: 'Welcome to the jungle.' Her ample assets were pushed up in the tight off-the-shoulder swimsuit design, while also showcasing her taut stomach and lithe legs. Packing her bags? The series will begin filming over the next week, with hosts Chris Brown and Julia Morris arriving in South Africa this week in preparation for the celebrity arrivals The popular Channel Ten series has been providing clues in recent weeks for the potential contestant, which Kiki may indeed fit. One clue mentioned a 'blonde firecracker' reality star would be entering the jungle, who would be 'sure to fire up the camp.' While Kiki rose to fame from her stint on hit matchmaking series The Bachelor, fans had previously thought rival Keira Maguire might be the hinted 'firecracker'. Fit for the jungle life? The popular Channel Ten series previously provided a clues on a blonde reality star who would be 'sure to fire up the camp', which Kiki may indeed fit the title Taking a break? If it is revealed Kiki is leaving for the jungle this week, she will be farewelling her beau Jeremy Banks for a potential three-months apart Other teaser clips for the show have revealed a famous shock jock, Australian model, comedian, AFL legend, US sitcom star and world famous pop diva will be joining the mystery cast. Australian former competitive swimmer Lisa Curry has also been one celebrity said to enter the jungle, with a source telling Daily Mail Australia she applied for a South African visa recently. If Kiki leaves for the jungle this week, she will be farewelling her beau Jeremy Banks for a potential three-months apart. The third season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! will begin airing on Sunday January 29 from 7pm. She's segued from the catwalk to the big screen, and then back again. But it seems that Suki Waterhouse is determined to spread her dramatic wings as her latest role sees her starring in a steamy and out-there arthouse flick, Sound Of Sun. The sexually-charged short film sees Suki and fellow model Eva Dolezalova - also the film's director - indulging in some very steamy scenes, while Sean Penn also takes on a cameo. Scroll down for video Sexually-charged: It seems that Suki Waterhouse is determined to spread her dramatic wings as her latest role sees her starring in a steamy and out-there arthouse flick, Sound Of Sun Shot in a slick blockbuster manner and interspersed with visually striking and avant garde scenes, the two models are caught up in tense exploration of sexuality. While Eva takes on the role of Suki's guide, the London-born star cuts an almost angelic figure as she is drawn into a sensual world. Following a spoken word introduction mixed with shots from James Turrel's lgiht room, and black and white footage, the introduction to the film is a slow assault on the senses. Dangerous liason? The sexually-charged film sees Suki and model Eva Dolezalova - also the film's director - indulging in some very steamy scenes, while Sean Penn also takes on a cameo A loose narrative is established when the camera cuts to a lonely and vulenrable Suki stood in a hotel bar, with a vest-clad Eva casting an almost predatory-like glance at her. Wearing nothing but a white maxi dress and a lightweight cardigan, Suki is a virginal-like figure, however, she is soon enticed and coaxed up a set of stairs where she encounters a more sensual world. Greeted by a Eva stood at a door in nothing but a vest, the Czech model puffs on a cigarette as she examines Suki, before Sean appears from a side door. An exploration: Shot in a slick blockbuster manner and interspersed with visually striking and avant garde scenes, the two models are caught up in tense exploration of sexuality Is your name on the list? Stamping a dominant air on the film, Sean acts a a gatekeeper to Suki's new experience of touch, sensation and light Drawn together: The camera then focuses on the two models and their exploration of touch and sensations together in a vivid range of colour - a fusion of the two expressed visually Stamping a dominant air on the film, he examines Suki before she is allowed to enter Eva's room, wherein the camera is focused on the two models and their exploration of touch and sensations together - a fusion of the two expressed visually. The film, which appears to draw influence from Derek Jarman's work, is the latest project to come from Eva, who is currently developing her first feature project, while it is the first film project for Suki following her stint in the Jim Carey led, The Bad Batch (2016). The short feature is Eva's directorial debut, and was also written by the multi-talented model, while it is the first of a series of up-coming screen ventures for her British pal. Suki's next big screen outing will come opposite rising Hollywood heartthrob, Ansel Elgort, in sci-fi flick, Jonathan. She's been in New York for a few days, recording her voice for family friendly animation Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad. And on Monday, Heidi Klum jetted back into Los Angeles. The former model-turned-TV host and actress channelled her inner big cat in a leopard spot coat by Yves Salomon as she walked across the concourse. Wild thing: Heidi Klum wore a warm leopard spot coat when she jetted into LAX on Monday The 43-year-old teamed it with a Sundry light grey sweater, ripped jeans and black platform boots Heidi carried her large Louis Vuitton tote, accessorising with a pair of round shades that she wore even inside the terminal. The blonde beauty wore her hair in a half-up style, smoothing it back from her make-up free face. The German-American celebrity, who hosts America's Got Talent and Germany's Next Top Model, smiled as she left the terminal. Simply chic: The 43-year-old teamed it with a Sundry light grey sweater, ripped jeans and black boots Doing it herself: The German-American former model, who hosts America's Got Talent and Germany's Next Top Model, toted a large Louis Vuitton holdall Heidi posted some Instagram snaps from her New York trip for her 3.3 million followers. In one she shared four days ago, she and Jeremy Renner are sitting in a sound studio as they record their parts for Arctic Justice: Thunder Squad. The Oscar-nominated star plays Swifty, an Arctic fox who discovers a plot to melt the Arctic, while Heidi voices twin otters Jade and Bertha. She dares to bare: The blonde beauty wore her hair in a half-up style, smoothing it back from her make-up free face Work trip: Heidi captioned this Instagram snap, taken in New York, 'In the sound booth with the amazingly talented @renner4real for our upcoming animated film Arctic Justice. Cant wait for all of you to see it! #ArcticJustice' She captioned that snap: 'In the sound booth with the amazingly talented @renner4real for our upcoming animated film Arctic Justice. Cant wait for all of you to see it! #ArcticJustice' In the second shot, Jeremy cuddled up to a very smiley Heidi, which she captioned: 'An awesome day at work with my #ArcticJustice co-star @renner4real what a sweetie!' The starry cast of the family friendly movie, due out January 26, 2018, also includes the voice talents of James Franco, Alec Baldwin, John Cleese, Anjelica Huston and Michael Madsen among others. 'What a sweetie': In the second shot, Jeremy Runner cuddled up to Heidi, which she captioned: 'An awesome day at work with my #ArcticJustice co-star @renner4real' Furry fun: Jeremy lends his voice to Swifty, an Arctic fox who discovers a plot to melt the Arctic, while Heidi voices twin otters Jade and Bertha in the movie, due out January 26, 2018 Meanwhile Heidi also took in a Broadway musical, sharing a photo of herself backstage with former Spice Girl Mel Brown, who co-stars as Roxie in Chicago. Giving the British celebrity a big hug and a kiss, Heidi wrote: 'Loved watching you on Broadway @chicagomusical @officialmelb #respect #NYC #U' It appeared to be a solo trip as there was no sign of her four children Helene, 12, Henry, 11, Johan, 10, and Lou, seven, whom she shares with ex-husband Seal, or her 30-year-old beau. Vito Schnabel. A little rain wasn't going to stop this expectant mother from having a good time. Gal Gadot bundled up to fend off the rain as she headed out in Los Angeles with a female friend, in cozy clothes that concealed her growing baby bump. The Wonder Woman star, 31, was headed to Fred Segal's in West Hollywood. Scroll down for video All wrapped up: Gal Gadot bundled up to fend off the rain as she headed out in Los Angeles with a female friend The Israeli actor and model looked fresh-faced with her hair pulled back, smiling behind wide-framed black sunglasses as she walked through the parking lot to the iconic fashion destination. Dressed in a thick, black duster and bundled up in a comfy scarf, she was unbothered by the damp, dreary weather. On bottom she wore dark denim and black combat boots with a maroon strap across the top of the foot, latched in place with a large, gold buckle. Rainy shopping day: The Wonder Woman star, 31, was headed to Fred Segal's retail store The Fast & Furious series star was joined by a female friend, also dressed mostly in black. Gadot gave her a quick smooch on the cheek as the friend sheltered from the rain under her olive green jacket's hood. The Justice League hero will make history later this year with her portrayal of Wonder Woman in the character's first-ever feature film. Though several have tried and failed, this will be the first time the superhero, who has been around for 75 years, has ever had a movie based solely around her as the main player. Kiss kiss: Gadot gave her friend a quick smooch on the cheek as the friend sheltered from the rain under her olive green jacket's hood Not everyone thinks the fictitious renaissance woman should be quite so celebrated, though, according to a December article by Time. When the United Nations named Wonder Woman as an honorary ambassador in October 2016, backlash was so intense that they decided to strip her of the title in December, just two months later. Apparently a petition circulated signed by 600 UN staffers that were upset with a scantily clad cartoon that has been a suffragist, served in the military and held the office of President of the United States, but also constitutes 'the epitome of a 'pin-up' girl,' standing in to represent female power. Wonder Woman in real life: No one is more qualified to represent what society sees as the contradictions that make up Wonder Woman than Gadot, a woman who was crowned Miss Israel in 2004 and also served as a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces Ironically, no one is more qualified to represent what society sees as the contradictions that make up Wonder Woman than Gadot, a woman who was crowned Miss Israel in 2004 and also served as a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces. 'When people argue that Wonder Woman should cover up, I dont quite get it,' Gadot said according to Time. 'They say, If shes smart and strong, she cant also be sexy. Thats not fair. Why cant she be all of the above?' Fans can see Gadot's answer to that rhetorical question as the leading version of the hero in her first title-character film starting June 2, as director Patty Jenkins finally brings the project to life. Jenkins will also be making a bit of history as one of the first female directors to command a budget of over $100 million. Royal Recipes Rating: Great American Railroad Journeys Rating: Hows your breakfast? If youre in need of a pick-me-up, something more sustaining than the usual toast and marmalade, try a recipe with regal history. Take two pigeons and three beefsteaks, and wash them down with a pint of good German Mosel wine, a flute of champagne, two glasses of port and a generous slosh of brandy. Thats a royal breakfast. At least, its what George IV tucked into first thing, during an audience with his prime minister, the Duke of Wellington, in 1830. Michael Buerk (left) and Paul Ainsworth (right) rustle up some of George IV's favourite delicacies in the kitchen wing at the palatial Audley End House in Essex Paul's boozy triffle was made using sponge fingers soaked in orange jelly stacked around a bowl and plastered with kirsch and is sure to make you tipsy Fat George, who weighed 20 st, died a week later. At least we can say with confidence that he wasnt killed by starvation. Michael Buerk was intent on recreating this atmosphere of overindulgence on Royal Recipes (BBC1), with dishes so rich that the mere sight of them could block an artery. He and chef Paul Ainsworth took over the kitchen wing at the palatial Audley End House in Essex, armed with a notebook filled with jottings by royal kitchen maid Mildred Nicholls, who helped prepare dinners for Edward VII another of Britains greediest monarchs. Former newsreader Michaels nose and chin have a luminously rosy glow these days. Perhaps it was cold in the kitchen. A slightly lighter plate on the menu of BBC1's Royal Recipes was the rosettes of Scottish salmon, a traditional canape at coronation dinners The main course: a heaped platter of pheasant, stag, turkey, salmon, oysters and turbot, dressed in a lobster champagne sauce At any rate, he and Paul wisely decided to work up an appetite for the kitchen maids main course: a heaped platter of pheasant, stag, turkey, salmon, oysters and turbot, dressed in a lobster champagne sauce. They began with rosettes of Scottish salmon, a traditional canape at coronation dinners. Michael cut fat slices of fish and rolled them into pink tubes that were supposed to resemble rosebuds, but looked more like car tyres. Drenching the meat in honey and whisky, he ladled on horseradish sauce and dolloped the lot on an oatcake. Then he shoved the whole thing in his mouth. For the next minute, all he could say was: Mmmm! But this was restrained compared to the pudding Paul concocted a trifle so heavy with cream and booze that it didnt require merely a health warning, but an X certificate. This wasnt dessert, it was Bake Off porn. Sponge fingers soaked in orange jelly were stacked around a bowl and plastered with kirsch, using a 3 in paintbrush the kind youd use to whitewash the outside of the house. Then they made a custard, tipped in a fistful of glace orange peel and a bagful of sugar and spooned an entire bucket of whipped cream into the mix to fill the upside-down trifle bowl. A sponge base sodden with more kirsch sealed it, and they left their deadly creation to chill in the fridge. The result, sliced with a warm knife, looked like nougat and wobbled like rubber. But judging by the expression on Michaels face, it tasted like heaven. Michael Portillo takes a trip through the US but spends more time sipping drinks that on the tracks, writes Christopher Stevens Michael Portillo was less impressed with his Union Pacific cocktail, made from coffee and almond liquor and served at the glitzy bar of the railway station in St Louis, Missouri, at the start of his Great American Railroad Journeys (BBC2). The colour of Mississippi mud, it looked like the brandy Alexanders the nurses were sipping in their dorm on Call The Midwife the ones Patsy made with condensed milk. Poor Mr P spluttered like Ivor the Engine with a funnelful of vinegar. Choo! Choo! he gasped. He has refined taste buds, as he was eager to demonstrate at a filtration plant on the banks of the river. Given two glasses of water to compare one from a brand-name bottle, the other from the works he immediately identified the local brew. This one is softer on the palate, he declared, more interesting as a water. There was very little rail travel, apart from a ride on the city subway and a trip in a cable car inside the giant Gateway Arch monument. But the trains have long been incidental to Portillos shows, which are energetic travelogues in Technicolor clothing this time, an apple-green shirt and trousers the colour of rare beef. Easy to spot and determined to cram in as many sights as possible, he would make the ideal tour guide for cruise ship parties. Something to consider, if the telly work ever dries up. She's known for not mincing her words on MTV's Geordie Shore. Now, Marnie Simpson has caused chaos amongst the reality star world as she outlandishly claimed her Geordie co-star Scotty T could be the father of Stephanie Davis' newborn child. Writing in her Star magazine, the 25-year-old felt it was suitable to speculate that Scotty was the father of the Hollyoaks star's son, despite Stephanie declaring her former flame Jeremy McConnell is. Scroll down for video Shock: Marnie Simpson has caused chaos amongst the reality star world as she claimed her Geordie co-star Scotty T could be the father of Stephanie Davis' newborn child Reflecting on the Liverpudlian welcoming her little bundle of joy, Northern lass Marnie added that she's on tenderhooks until Jeremy takes a 'paternity test'. 'I'm glad Stephanie Davis has safely given birth and I can't wait for Jeremy McConnell to take a paternity testImagine if he isn't the father! 'I heard that Scotty T might be the dad! I reckon hes fathered a lot of babies he doesnt know about 'He probably has kids in every country. He's definitely not mature enough to be a dad, but hed probably be slightly better than Jeremy!' MailOnline have contacted Stephanie Davis' and Scotty T's reps for comment. Claims: The 25-year-old felt it was suitable to speculate that Scotty was the father of the Hollyoaks star's son, despite Stephanie declaring her former flame Jeremy McConnell is In contact? Stephanie gave birth late last week after a gruelling 48-hour labour The claims may come as a shock to many as MTV star Scotty formed a strong bond with Irish model Jeremy while appearing on the Channel 5 stalwart. Marnie's column comes after Stephanie had informed Twitter her baby boy's umbilical cord had dropped off on Friday - a week after giving birth. The 23-year-old penned: 'OFFICIALLY ONE WEEK OLD! Celebrated by his umbilical cord fallen off and a big wee on mummy. Tears of happiness! My world! My baby boy.' Welcome! Stephanie announced the birth of her baby with another image of her newborn's feet last week Showing that she was taking it easy after her gruelling 48-hour labour, the Celebrity Big Brother star added that she was enjoying watching films with her son. She posted on Twitter: 'Cuddles snuggles & lotsss & LOTS of kisses on the sofa with my baby boy watching the incredibles. Just....Perfect'. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend Jeremy, 26, has said that he will be happy to take on the role of father if a paternity test proves him wrong, another reality lothario, Joshua Ritchie has said he could also be the father. The former Love Island star, 21, has claimed he's been in contact with the actress following the birth. Dad? While her ex Jeremy, 26, has said that he will be happy to take on the role of father if a paternity test proves him wrong, another reality lothario has said he could also be the father In response to a Twitter troll, the Ex On The Beach star said: 'Steph isnt going favourite your tweet you beggy ugly f*****g mug! Ive spoke to Steph you ugly c**t. He posted the Tweet after the user claimed Joshua was trying to steal the spotlight and get publicity from Stephanie's pregnancy. After Stephanie gave birth, the Bolton-born model tweeted her to wish her congratulations. He wrote on Sunday: 'congrats on your new born babe.. Hope your all well and healthy take care'. She's the acclaimed Aussie actress, who's using her star power for good. And Cate Blanchett, 47, looked every inch the Hollywood star during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday. The Thor actress looked as youthful as ever as she exchanged laughs with the American TV host. Radiant: Cate Blanchett, 47, looked every inch the Hollywood star during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday Sporting a crisp white blazer atop an elegant black blouse, the mother-of-four looked effortlessly chic as she arrived on set. She paired the look with loose-fitting trousers and pointed-toe heels, which gave her an overall smart yet glamorous appearance. Cate's cropped blonde locks were worn loosely and neatly parted at the side and she opted for elegant makeup - consisting of foundation, smokey eyes and a nude lip. Glowing: The Melbourne-native, who is currently starring in Broadway's The Present, is often hailed for her natural good looks LOL: The Thor actress looked as youthful as ever as she exchanged laughs with the American TV host All natural! In 2012, the genetically-blessed star said she is 'too frightened' to undergo plastic surgery, despite the pressures in Hollywood The Melbourne-native, who is currently starring in Broadway's The Present, is often hailed for her natural good looks. In 2012, the genetically-blessed star said she is 'too frightened' to undergo plastic surgery, despite the pressures in Hollywood. 'I just know what works for me, I'd be too frightened about what it means long-term,' she told Fashion ETC. Natural beauty: 'I just know what works for me, I'd be too frightened about what it means long-term,' she told Fashion ETC. 'Looking at women in their 20s doing this stuff, in the end all you see is the work. It doesn't fill me with admiration; it fills me with pity' 'Looking at women in their 20s doing this stuff, in the end all you see is the work. It doesn't fill me with admiration; it fills me with pity.' The following year, she reportedly signed a $10 million beauty contract with Georgio Armani and was the face of Japanese skincare brand SK-II. Last week, Cate participated in New York's Ghostlight Project march, a movement dedicated to highlighting inclusion and compassion for everyone regardless of differences. Using her star for good: Cate joined The Ghostlight Project's protest march for equality in New York City last week Family affair: Cate was joined by her family including young daughter as she braved the cold conditions at the protest Having fun: The 47-year-old smiled and laughed with her young daughter who appeared in a cheeky mood, stealing her mother's beanie from off the top of her head It's not the first time that the Oscar-winning actress has lent herself to a cause. In May last year, Cate was named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, visiting Syrian refugee families in Jordan on behalf of the global organisation. The striking beauty told UNHCR she felt compelled to take on the role because she was a mother. Working for change: It's not the first time that the Oscar-winning actress has lent herself to a cause Helping refugees: In May last year, Cate was named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador On the ground: Cate visited Syrian refugee families in Jordan on behalf of the global organisation 'There has never been a more crucial time to stand with refugees and show solidarity,' Cate said. '... It feels like we're at a fork in the road, do we go down the compassionate path or do we go down the path of intolerance?' In Australia, Cate has also been an outspoken advocate for more action on climate change, boldly fronting a carbon tax media campaign in 2011. Closer to home: In Australia, Cate has also been an outspoken advocate for more action on climate change (Pictured in 2010 as work began installing solar panels on the Sydney Theatre Company building) She joined a Sydney march of 20,000 in 2006, calling on the Australian government to do more on climate change. While promoting her movie Blue Jasmine in 2013, the actress spoke of the importance of equality for women. 'I feel that all of the steps forward that we've made ... a lot of those have been rescinded,' she told Sky News. 'Conservatism is affecting the way women perceive who they are in the world.' Laura Prepon and fiance Ben Foster are said to be expecting their first child together. The couple - who went public with their engagement in October, after knowing each other for 18 years - will welcome a baby into the world later this year, according to People. The Orange is The New Black star, 31, and her soon-to-be husband, 36, made their last public appearance before the story broke at The Creative Coalition's Annual Spotlight Awards in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. Scroll down for video Baby makes three! Laura Prepon and fiance Ben Foster are expecting their first child together, according to People, seen here at The Creative Coalition's Annual Spotlight Awards in Park City, Utah during the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday 'Ben seemed really protective and kept very close to Laura the entire night,' a source told People, of the couple's interactions at the Kia Supper Suite event. 'He was holding on to her arm as they walked in and kept by her side during the dinner.' The couple have been known to keep their personal life quiet in the past, with even close friends not aware of their engagement until the rest of the world knew, as well. Newly engaged: Prepon, 31, and Foster, 36, went public with their engagement in October, seen here at The Hero premiere at Sundance FIlm Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday Their secrecy has prompted chiding remarks from Ashton Kutcher for not getting the head's up from his That '70s Show co-star. 'I get it. But private lives include friends!' Kutcher teased his long-time pal on the set of Live with Kelly in October, a few days after her engagement went public. 'Like, I shouldnt find out when I get off the plane!' Perhaps Prepon was just too busy to make the call, while working on Orange is The New Black, The Girl on The Train, and The Hero this past year. Too busy to call? The couple's secrecy has prompted chiding remarks from Ashton Kutcher for not getting the head's up on their engagement from his That '70s Show co-star, seen here in the Variety Studio at Sundance on Sunday Foster has also been busy acting, with three films in post-production and set to be released this year. Those titles include comedic musical Rock'n Roll out February 15, and criminal drama Galveston and the adventure western Hostiles, both with undisclosed release dates. As for the wedding date and due date, the couple has yet to confirm those details at this time. Sofia Richie always knows how dress for the occasion. On Monday, the 18-year-old star looked chic as can be showing up the Mauro's Cafe near Fred Segal in Los Angeles for a casual lunch. The bundled up star wore pinstriped pants and glittering jewelry while she met up with a friend at the Melrose eatery. Scroll down for video Lunch break: Sofia Richie looked cute and comfortable while meeting a friend for lunch at LA's Mauro's Cafe The young model kept warm in a blue grey overcoat paired with a cotton hoodie during her Monday lunch. A pair of dark pinstriped pants elongated the star's thin legs as she hit the pavement in sturdy boots. As the star headed through the parking lot, she carried her things in a darling Louis Vuitton mini backpack decorated with red insignia and silver hardware. Star in stripes: The teenage starlet's legs looked long and lean in her pair of pinstriped pants Louis, Louis: Sofia carried her things in a chic Louis Vuitton mini backpack with red logos Her blonde bob complimented the second-generation star's striking features and warm complexion. She accessorized with a pair of hooped earrings while deflecting the rays with little round sunglasses. A necklace glinted from underneath the star's layers as the celebuspawn flaunted more gold on her wrists before disappearing on her lunch date. Boots on the ground: The star walked into the restaurant in a pair of sturdy boots with chunky heels Sophia's back in LA after embarking on a weeks long European tour. Last week, the teenage star was spotted partying with Paris Hilton and designer Jeremy Scott following this season's Moschino show in Milan. After getting her fill of the Italian nightlife, the former fling of Justin Bieber then headed to France to attend the Balmain Menswear show in Paris. The Select Model repped talent should be busy in the coming month, with worldwide fashion weeks kicking off in New York February 9. Katie Holmes treated her daughter Suri to a sweet treat on Monday in Calabasas, California. The 38-year-old actress opted for the casual chic look in a loose white crew neck blouse, black leather motorcycle jacket and faded skinny jeans. Katie completed her outfit with black flats and accessorised with black sunglasses. Casual chic: Katie Holmes went with the casual chic look on Monday while out with her daughter Suri in Calabasas, California Suri, 10, donned a cute dark purple T-shirt, magenta skirt, black leggings and black rubber boots. She bundled up in a pink puffy jacket and accessorised with a pink bow in her hair. Suri brought along a friend who sported a similar blue bow in her hair. Katie treated Suri and her friend to a smoothie at an open-air shopping center in Calabasas. Mother and daughter: The actress walked alongside Suri at an outdoor mall The former Dawson's Creek star and ex-husband Tom Cruise, 54, welcomed Suri in April 2006. Katie and Tom divorced in July 2012 with Katie gaining custody of Suri. It was the third divorce for Tom and the first for Katie. Sweet treat: Katie treated Suri and her friend to smoothies at the mall Katie can be seen soon reprising her role of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the ReelzChannel TV miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot. The four-episode miniseries will begin airing on April 2. Katie also has four feature films due out in 2017 including Logan Lucky, Coup D'etat and Ocean's Eight. It is not often this blonde beauty skates on thin ice when it comes to fashion. But Margot Robbie was a woman transformed as she wore a teased mullet from the 1980s as she shot her latest film I, Tonya in Georgia at the weekend. The actress, who is playing disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding in the biopic, was spotted marching around the Atlanta set with her costar Sebastian Stan. Skating on thin ice: Margot Robbie wore a distinctly 80s haircut on the set of I, Tonya in Georgia at the weekend The 26-year-old, who wore a cut Pat Sharp himself would be proud of, completed her look with a red chequered shirt, identically hued high waisted jeans and pink trainers. But if anything her unfortunate on-set sidekick, who is playing her husband, looked even worse in a striped top, jeans and running shoes. The movie follows Tonya and husband Jeff Gillooly, played by Sebastian Stan, who secretly hired a thug to break rival Nancy Kerrigan's leg to force her to pull out of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer in Norway. The attack was botched and Nancy was badly bruised. But despite her injuries she went on to compete, winning a silver medal with Tonya coming eighth. Pat Sharp would be proud: The Funhouse legend will approve of Margot's questionable mullet What a waist: The slender starlet was wearing a pair of lurid red high-waisted jeans A hair-raising experience: Old pro Margot was grinning and bearing it Hardly identical: Silver screen beauty Margot does not look much like the real Tonya Harding When details of the crime - known as The Whack Heard Round The World because Nancy's knee was clubbed with a baton - came to light, Tonya received a lifetime ban from skating competition. Gillooly got a two-year prison sentence. Aside from her starring role, she and Tom are both co-producing I, Tonya. Margot told Glamour magazine about learning to skate last year, saying: 'I'm really excited because I love acquiring a new skill for a role, it's one of the biggest treats of acting. Making his point: Her on-screen husband Sebastian Stan was doubtlessly complaining that he looked even worse Bling it on: The newly married actress was wearing her enormous wedding ring Brolly dolly: A helpful lackey made sure the starlet was protected from sprinkles 'On the producing side of it - if I get an injury I'm scared I'm going to ruin everything so I'm nervous.' And there is even more exciting news about the forthcoming feature. For it has emerged 24-year-old starlet Caitlin Carver has joined the cast to play Tonya's great rival Nancy. The young beauty adds even more sauce to what is already an exciting mixture, and she will add some much needed athletic chops to the production, as she previously worked as a dancer for shows such as Nashville, Glee, Parks and Recreation. Girl in the hood: She protected herself further by covering her head Mama mia: Her costar Allison Janney was even more difficult to identify Big rival: Fine filly Caitlin Carver is to play Tonya Harding's great rival Nancy Kerrigan He's Tourism Australia's global ambassador. So it came as no surprise to see Chris Hemsworth lead a group of travel enthusiasts through a virtual tour of Australia, in New York on Monday. The 33-year-old, joined by fellow Australian Rachel Griffiths, 48, cut a suave figure in a tailored suit jacket and trousers. Well-suited! Chris Hemsworth, 33, cut a suave figure in a tailored ensemble, as he led guests through a virtual tour of Australia, in New York on Monday His charcoal tailored suit jacket and pants, was teamed with a white button-up shirt, with several buttons left undone at the top. Dress shoes, his wedding band and a statement watch worked as accessories. As Tourism Australia's global ambassador, the Thor star led tourist enthusiasts through 18 virtual reality experiences, showcasing the country's best qualities across food, wine and the natural environment. Chris shared his enthusiasm for the ambassadorship, telling the Gold Coast Bulletin: 'It's a great honour to play a role in promoting my country to the rest of the world. Suave: A charcoal tailored suit jacket and pants, was teamed with a white button-up shirt, with several buttons left undone at the top Company: Chris posed for photos alongside The Hon Steven Ciobo, Minister of Trade, Tourism and Investment 'My first year as an ambassador for Australia has been incredible, from experiencing the outback of Uluru and the Kimberley with my family, diving the Great Barrier Reef and exploring the islands and beaches of the Whitsundays,' he continued. MC for the event was fellow Australian Rachel Griffiths, 48. The Muriel's Wedding star looked chic in a semi-sheer burgundy lace frock, with a black shift underneath. Acting heavyweights: MC for the event was fellow Australian Rachel Griffiths, 48 Lovely in lace: The Muriel's Wedding star looked chic in a semi-sheer burgundy lace frock, with a black shift underneath Polished: Accessorising with statement drop earrings, Rachel swept her auburn tresses into an elegant up-do Accessorising with black opaque tights and statement drop earrings, Rachel swept her auburn tresses into an elegant up-do. A flawless complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a glossy lip finished off the look. Rachel has certainly been keeping busy. Earlier this month saw the Melbourne-born star attend the Los Angeles photo call for ABC gay rights mini-series, When We Rise. Beauty: A flawless complexion, defined brows, lashings of mascara and a glossy lip finished off the look New role: Rachel looked completely at ease as she presented on stage Familiar face: Also in attendance was renowned Australian chef Neil Perry, 59 The production also stars Guy Pearce, 49, and Mary-Louise Parker, 52. When We Rise centres around the history of the gay rights movement, looking back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Cutting an elegant figure for the photo call, Rachel covered her frame in an olive green sweater, trousers, an abstract overcoat and delicate jewllery. On the promotional trail: Earlier this month, saw the Melbourne-born star attend the Los Angeles photo call for ABC gay rights mini-series, When We Rise She's the former Home And Away star, who took two years off to raise her children. And one week after Christie Hayes returned to the workforce as a breakfast radio host, the mother-of-two revealed that she already misses being a stay-at-home mum. The 30-year-old actress shares two sons: Hendrix, two, and Harley, one, with her former wine broker husband Daniel White, and in an article penned for Mamamia on Tuesday, she described feeling heartbroken and 'guilty' about no longer being with them on a full-time basis. Working mum: One week after Christie Hayes returned to the workforce as a breakfast radio host, the mother-of-two revealed that she already misses being a stay-at-home mum 'It breaks my heart, my bones ache and I begin to question everything ... I cannot fathom that I will not be the first face my sons see of a morning,' she wrote in the piece titled: 'The four unexpected things I miss most about being a stay-at-home mum.' 'I want to be there for it all, the cuddles, the kisses, the fists and the its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-screams. She added: 'The guilt kicks in. They wont understand Mummy is at work, that I love them and I am coming home.' Working mum: One week after Christie Hayes returned to the workforce as a breakfast radio host, the mother-of-two revealed that she already misses being a stay-at-home mum The media personality, who wakes at 4am each morning for work, went on to add that while she is grateful for her new gig - she can't help but miss her precious family. 'I thank my lucky stars for my dream job, my family and my healthy boys, but its like Steven says: I miss you baby, and I dont wanna miss a thing,"' she said. Christie, best known for role as Kirsty Sutherland on Home And Away, made the big jump to breakfast radio on i98FM in the Illawara region, south of Sydney, with co-hosts Marty Haynes and Ryan 'Crammy' Cram last week. Wedded bliss! Christie is married to former wine broker husband Daniel White Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Christie, who was once married to actor Greg Hatton, said that she is an open person, except when it comes to discussing personal correspondence between her and husband Daniel. Apparently their mushy love-letters are off the table - which she joked might embarrass him. 'We'll see what happens, but hey, there's not too many skeletons in the closet. If there's something that comes up, which we prefer too keep private, then by all means [it will stay private].' Off-topic: Christie joked her husband's mushy love-letters are off the table for discussion on the radio show, saying it would embarrass him 'We haven't had that conversation, maybe it's something we'll have [because] obviously [I] will not shut up,' she joked. 'But at the end of the day I'm aware of the fact that people like to have honesty and authenticity,' she said. Christie credited Daniel for being supportive of her new career in radio. 'Daniel is very supportive with my own career it's nice to just be Christie - not the mother, not the wife, just Christie at work for a couple of hours a day.' Good old days: Christie (picture right) said, 'coming from a background in television, especially home and away, was something that I thought I might cope slack for, but I'm looking forward to proving myself' She added that he has given up his career as a wine broker and to take up stay-at-home dad duties for their two sons. 'At the moment he loves being a stay-at-home dad, which he does, [but] I think he might see how much work is actually involved. He'll come to learn that himself,' she said. With her foray into the radio world, the former Home And Away star said she is taking an honest and open approach to presenting. Husband's support: Christie credited her husband, Daniel, for being supportive with her new career in breakfast 'At the end of the day I'm a pretty open person and I think everybody wants to hear stories about what's going on and I think that's a nice relatable thing,' she said. The star, best known for her role as Kirsty Sutherland on Home And Away, is hoping to channel her acting prowess will her helping bring people together to have a great conversation. 'Being part of somebody's life in the morning that makes me happy because I'm such an open person,' she said. 'Coming from a background in television, especially Home And Away, was something that I thought I might cope slack for, but I'm looking forward to proving myself,' she added. Jax Taylor with his colorful history of cheating and arrests always knew getting roasted for his birthday would be an uncomfortable experience. The playboy barman however still squirmed uncomfortably on Monday's episode of Vanderpump Rules as his girlfriend's conservative Christian mom Sherri was on hand to hear the most lurid stories from his past. Jax earlier warned Brittany Cartwright's mother Sherri, visiting from Kentucky, that his past was 'a lot worse than some people's,' joking: 'I mean I didn't kill anybody, that's pretty much the only thing I didn't do.' Birthday roast: Jax Taylor was roasted by his friends on Monday's episode of Vanderpump Rules But he still went into the roast dreading what would be said, saying beforehand: 'If I had to pick one thing that I wouldn't want to be brought up, I wouldn't even know there's been so much. 'I'm hoping my friends are going to be a little lenient, or I'm not gonna lie to you I'm s****ing bricks. Most of the jokes were about his cheating, but he put his head in his hands when Ariana Madix quipped: 'The last time we celebrated your birthday you ended up getting arrested for shoplifting. But it's OK, the only thing you're better at than getting arrested is, well, getting people in Vegas pregnant.' His boss Lisa Vanderpump also sent a video message begging him to 'spend more time behind my bar than you do behind bars.' In the audience: Brittany Cartwright attended her boyfriend's roast along with her mother Sherri visiting frm Kentucky Video message: Lisa Vanderpump roasted Jax via video But it was Tom Schwartz who really hit hardest and caused the most upset for Jax, Brittany and her mom. He started by pointing out that of his fiancee Katie Maloney's seven bridesmaids 'four out of seven have had sex with Jax,' adding: 'If you're one of Katie's bridesmaids there's a 57 percent chance he's had his penis inside of you.' But the real shock came when he joked: 'He's slept with many, many women and a few men.' Too far: Tom Schwartz brought up rumors about Jax having a homosexual affair He referred to 'many rumors floating around about Jax having a homosexual affair' and even suggested he had been a rent boy, joking: 'It's OK if you like it listen, those bills, they're not going to pay themselves.' The joke clearly shocked the friends, and clearly upset Jax, but not as much as it did Sherri. 'Kissing the guy. That was the most offensive thing to me, the homosexual thing,' she complained to him later, with her daughter adding: 'That was a surprise to me too.' Not amused: Sherri was not amused by the rumors about Jax having a homosexual affair 'I lived with a gay guy for a while. He was my best friend,' Jax told them, clearly frustrated at their reaction. 'I know that Sherri's a very conservative Christian lady,' he said later in an on-camera confessional. 'But all the things I've done in my life the going to jail, the cheating, the stealing the thing that sticks out most is that I might have kissed a guy? Really?' Sticking out: Jax was amazed that of all the things he's done that Sherri was worried about him kissing a guy It was not the only homosexual allegation that shocked Sherri with Tom Sandoval also joking about rumors that her daughter Brittany had been caught having oral sex with Kristen Doute. When Brittany had warned her mom earlier that it might be brought up, Sherri looked shocked as she told her: 'That's not cool. That's not cool at all. 'I don't like it I don't like that at all. I don't want any rumors brought up about my daughter because I will pack her bags and take her back to Kentucky.' Another rumor: Kristen Doute and Brittany ahead of the roast brought up the rumor about their affair in front of Brittany's mother Kristen was also furious and confronted Tom Sandoval later about mentioning it. 'What's worse, me talking about you going down on Brittany or you going down on Brittany?' Tom asked. Tom Sandoval had had his own birthday party earlier in the episode, calling it a 'fund-rager' as he was raising money for Project Elev8, a non-profit that focuses on education in Haiti. Birthday boy: Tom Sandoval held a fundraiser for kids in Haiti for his birthday The camera caught Lisa Vanderpump casually donating $500 for the charity bash, with her bragging to Tom: 'I'm buying you a fifth grader's education.' At the party, Scheana Marie tried to humiliate James Kennedy by going up to him and his girlfriend Raquel Leviss and saying: 'Glad to see you guys are still together, considering.' When they looked confused, she said: 'Oh, you don't know? About Ali? Good effort: Scheana Marie tried to humiliate James Kenned at the party 'Ali said she had a picture of you in bed with her in March,' Scheana said. 'She took that because she's a DJ groupie,' James quickly claimed, having insisted he had told Raquel 'everything.' Seemingly upset that Raquel seemed loyal to James, Scheana sniped later: 'Kudos to James he found the one beautiful, dumb-as-f*** girl to believe all of his lies while he just goes around L.A. and sleeps with girls. Because how are you just that dumb?' Going strong: James said that he told his girlfriend Raquel Leviss everything James later complained about Scheana's meddling, telling friends: 'Go worry about your own f***ing marriage that nearly failed three times already.' Scheana about the same time was close to tears as she opened up to Ariana Madix about 'feeling really lonely lately' because of life with husband Shay who is never around. 'I can't talk to the girls about this because the next time they get drunk they'll throw it in my face,' she said. Friends again: Ariana Madix listened as Scheana talked about her marriage woes Scheana however was the one to cause trouble with the girls after she confessed to bride-to-be Katie about how she was being asked to pay $500 towards the bridal shower. Lisa Vanderpump joined the other girls in warning her to keep the money row away from the bride herself and Katie admitted she found it 'very tacky' when she did tell her. But the others were even angrier, with Stassi saying: 'I was annoyed with Scheana before. Now I'm enraged.' Party money: Scheana told Katie how she got stuck with a $500 bill for her bridal shower 'Was she raised by wolves in the hills of Azusa?,' Stassi wondered about local girl Scheana due to her breach of protocol. Tom Schwartz was shown having another fight with fiancee Katie, this time about the drunken fight they had the previous night and how he called her a 'f***ing alcoholic, drunk.' 'You're such a bitch,' he told her in the paint store they were shopping in, forcing her to walk away from him again. Totally annoyed: Stassi Schroeder was annoyed with Scheana and wondered if she was raised by wolves in Azusa Arguing again: Katie Maloney and Schwartz got into another argument at a paint store Later, he admitted: 'It's kind of f***ed up, but me and Katie, we've been in so many fights. 'I can call her a bitch and then six, seven hours later we can be at a party happy and in love. So relatively speaking me calling her a bitch and her storming out that's just casual Thursdays.' 'Guys, seriously, it's time to sort this nonsense out. You can't go through life fighting over nothing,' Lisa told them later. Bickering couple: The bride to be told Lisa Vanderpump about her constant fighting with Tom Scheana, meanwhile, warned Katie: 'I feel like you guys fight only when you drink. You too, not just him.' 'I also fight stone cold sober, too,' Katie insisted. But she seemed to take the advice to heart, and was shown later going to a medical marijuana store with Stassi, saying: 'Enough people have told me I'm angry when I drink, so I decided to do something about it. I got a marijuana card.' Weed shop: Katie went to a medical marijuana dispensary to help her calm down Saying she hoped it would help her get over the 'quick agitation and irritability' she gets while drinking, she joked: 'Rather than being tequila Katie maybe I can be toking Katie.' Jax's humiliation in front of Sherri was not only reserved for the roast. Earlier, his credit card had been declined when he tried to donate to Tom's charity party and then Brittany made him show her mother how he was wearing a cami top under his shirt. Blonde beauty: Stassi was intrigued by a sexual product at the pot shop 'I never thought I would be lending Jax clothes, and I never thought I would have a boyfriend who has had more boob jobs than me,' she joked later, referring to his surgeries. Vanderpump Rules will return next week on Bravo. A clip from an upcoming episode shows James and Jax going at it once again. She's a model and presenter for Channel Nine's Postcards. But Lauren Phillips took time out of her busy work schedule to enjoy the quarter finals matches at the Australian Open on Tuesday. Colour coordinated in khaki with her fiance Lachlan Sparks, the 28-year-old beamed as the couple arrived at Melbourne Park. Scroll down for video Stepping out! Lauren Phillips colour coordinated with her fiance Lachlan Sparks as they attended the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday Lauren wore a tight green mini skirt with a black oversized T-shirt, while her beau opted for a white top with his khaki jeans. Lauren's brunette locks were worn out and straight, with the stunner accessorising with a pair of dark sunglasses and a chic Saint Laurent bag. Lachlan wore black sneakers for the event, while Lauren opted for comfort in a pair of white Converse Chuck Taylor shoes. Loved-up: The 28-year-old was grinning from ear to ear as she walked arm in arm with her beau Stylish: The couple cut casual figures in khaki green bottoms as well as T-shirts and sneakers The lovebirds both looked upbeat as they strolled through the grounds, with Lauren gazing lovingly up at her man. The couple are set to marry after Lachlan popped the question last February. Lauren showed off her diamond ring at the Myer Autumn/Winter fashion launch in Sydney at the time, while gushing about her engagement news. 'I'm very excited - I've got my brand new engagement ring on so I am keen to show it off to everyone!' she told Daily Mail Australia as she flashed the sparkling new addition on her finger. Spectators: The engaged couple appeared captivated by the on court action on day nine of the Australian Open Engaged: The Channel Nine presenter is set to marry Lachlan after the pair got engaged at Rottnest Island last year She added: 'He did a really good job - I'm stoked with it actually!' as she pointed out that she had purposely decided not to wear any other jewellery.' The model also shared details of how her beau popped the question, revealing he took her away to Rottnest Island for the special moment. 'We were away with our best friends but I had no idea they were all in on,' she explained. 'They were hiding in the bushes taking photos, so we were really lucky to have those moments to show our families,' she said. The Morning Show co-host Larry Emdur has been enjoying an extended holiday in America and Cuba with his wife Sylvie. And after his DJ son Jye joined in on the action and jetted to Los Angeles, it seems the Emdur men decided to have some fun together on a boys road trip to Las Vegas. Larry, 52, and Jye have shared numerous posts to their respective Instagram accounts, with the pair enjoying pizza and beer for breakfast, cruising through the desert in a convertible and shopping for 'pimp' clothes - all with humorous caption commentary. Scroll down for video Road trip! The Morning Show co-host Larry Emdur (R) is enjoying time in Las Vegas with lookalike son Jye (L) In one hilarious post, Larry joked that he and his boy were shopping for some new 'pimp' threads in Vegas, because he lost his money gambling. Writing in a caption to his more than 92,000 followers, he joked about 'pimping out Jye' and aimed his post at Sylvie. 'PROBLEM: lost all my $$$ (sic) playing blackjack in Vegas ..SOLUTION: Pimp out Jye to make fast cash. PROBLEM: Ain't got no "pimp" clothes. SOLUTION: Get pimp clothes and get pimping. #superbaddad #vegasbaby #hangover4 #didcaesarreallylivehere #theresajunglecatinthebatheroom (Dear Sylvie, not everything I've said here is true, I didn't really lose all my money, the rest is true).' In the shot, Larry wears a fluffy black coat and holds a metallic silver T-shirt. Got to spend money to make money, ey? In one hilarious post, Larry joked that he and his boy were shopping for some new 'pimp' threads in Vegas, because he lost his money gambling Well, they are on holiday! He also called himself a 'superdad' in a recent post, when he and Jye tucked into pizza and beer Like stepping back in time: Larry and wife Sylvie are seen here in Cuba Larry also labeled himself a 'SUPERDAD' in a recent post, when he and Jye tucked into pizza and beer for breakfast, noting that he got a lime for Jye's beer because Sylvie had said to "make sure Jye eats fruit". They also cruised through the desert and the Valley of Fire in Nevada in a black drop top Mustang, singing the theme son of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith's hit 1995 film, Bad Boys. Jye appears to be loving the trip and spending quality time with his father, writing: 'Cruising down the 605, en route to Vegas, top down, snow to the left, desert to the right and the old man in the passenger seat.' His dad on the other hand has been far more critical, of himself, noting in another caption where he tried to ruin Jye's selfie: 'When Jye's trying to take a cool pic but Jye's dad's a d**k .. Absolutely incredible drive through Valley of Fire, Nevada.. Mind boggling terrain, I felt like Matt Damon in "The Martian". An old, ugly, bald Matt Damon in a cheap puffer vest (being a d**k) Family: The father and son duo are seen here at an event in Sydney in June 2015 In Florida, Larry visited his sister Martine Emdur's first international art show. Larry - who is based in Sydney with his family but hails from Melbourne - has been with Sylvie for more than two decades, with the pair tying the knot in 1995. They also have a daughter, Tia. Larry currently hosts Channel Seven's The Morning Show with Kylie Gillies, but has previously hosted shows including Channel Nine's The Price is Right and Seven's Wheel of Fortune. Even though it's below freezing in Park City, Utah the stars of Sundance are hitting the town in full force for the festival's 39th year. The week of premieres and parties brought out swarms of stars wearing their best snowy looks. On Monday, mother and daughter Zoey Deutch and mother Lea Thompson appeared close as can be at the premiere of the 22-year-old actress's film Rebel in the Rye. Red hot! Zoey Deutch looked hot enough to melt the Sundance snow in her red and black ensemble Family affair: Mother and daughter Lea Thompson and Zoey Deutch both looked wonderful in their winter attire at this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah Zoey looked stunning in a red set worn over a black turtleneck while mom Lea kept cozy in a black jacket and practical snow boots. The Back To The Future actress seemed overjoyed for her offspring's first Sundance appearance, seen beaming as she held her daughter closely. The young actress and mom also posed with Rebel In The Rye co-star Nicolas Hoult, who also there to promote the film about celebrated American author JD Salinger. Hoult up! Zoey Deutch and mom Lea Thompson kept close as they posed with actor Nicolas Hoult at the debut of Rebel In The Rye, a biopic about author JD Salinger Common mistake! Even though he was wearing a smile, rapper Common looked ready for some hot coco as he zipped up his dark camouflage jacket while snow fell down Not all the celebs were captured in the comfort of a studio or screening. Rapper Common looked to be in good spirits as he zipped up his camo jacket and protected himself from the falling snow while making his way to an event. Actress Geena Davis was also spotted in the snow looking elegant as ever. The 61-year-old talent showed off her youthful complexion and uncharacteristically light hair under a flowy hood trimmed in fur while leaving a Monday screening. Ice queen: Geena Davis wore a glamorous fur-lined hood while braving the Utah snow A Lannister always eats his popcorn: Peter Dinklage got to relax at the Variety Studio at Sundance with snacks and the company of his Rememory crewmates Game Of Thrones lead Peter Dinklage stole the show at the Variety Studio at Sundance Presented by TimTam. At the studio, he nibbled on popcorn and chatted with part of the cast and crew of his sci-fi thriller Rememory. The actor puckered up to film director Mark Palansky for a pic together before leaving the Variety studio and facing the Utah cold. Pucker up! The Game Of Thrones star and his Rememory director Mark Palansky smooched for the camera at the Variety sponsored talk Out west: Actresses Judy Greer and Laura Dern both like frontier folk, with Greer in overalls and Dern sporting a flannel dress straight out of Little Home On The Prarie Across town, Judy Greer and Laura Dern joined forces at Deadline Hollywood Studio presented by Applegate at Sundance to plug their project Wilson together. Judy dressed down in cute overalls and a brown turtleneck, complimenting the look with a floppy felt hat. Dern covered up in a leather patchwork poncho over a modest flannel dress with a mid length skirt and brown boots. Close cast: I Heart Dick stars Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon got close during the grand premiere of their Amazon show At another event, the stars of I Heart Dick Kathryn Hahn and Kevin Bacon cozied up together at the premiere of their highly anticipated Amazon show. Hahn looked sharp in a sexy burgundy suit worn with messy brown waves and glowing skin. The 58-year-old actor dressed practically, wearing a puffy down jacket on top of a sweater and collared shirt. Main Street: Michelle Monaghan looked sweet in the snow, seen on Park City's Main Street wearing red lipstick and a lovely fur-lined hood More celebs were seen braving the snow elsewhere. Gone Baby Gone actress Michelle Monaghan looked sweet as can be, posing for a photo on a snow covered Main street wearing red lipstick and a charming fur-lined hood. Emmy award winner John Lithgow was classic in a shearling coat and newsboy cap as he bundled up to avoid the chill while leaving the Deadline Studio. Caps off! John Lithgow held his head high as he left the Deadline Studio to face light snowfall in a newsboy cap Anne Heche and Shirley MacLaine looked their best wearing berry hues while teaming up to promote the drama The Last Word together. The Academy Award winning actress sported a fun pink hat with matching turltleneck and a striking purple pantsuit. Her The Last Word costar teamed a pink pussybow blouse with a raspberry colored cardigan belted on top for the film event. Berry good! Shirley MacLaine and Anne Heche teamed up in berry attire to promote their drama The Last Word together This Monday's events were just the tip of the iceberg for 2017's Sundance Film Festival. Over 113 feature-length films from over 32 countries will screen during the ten day festival. Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize selections will all screen on Sunday January 29. Chloe Sevigny lit up the arrivals carpet at the premiere for Beatriz at Dinner at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Monday. The showing for the comedy was held at the Eccles Center Theater. Covered in sequins and with golden locks to match, the 42-year-old star sparkled from head to toe. Sparkling star! Chloe Sevigny lit up the arrivals carpet at the premiere for Beatriz at Dinner at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Monday The actor, director and fashion designer made a statement in a mod-inspired dress with a hemline that high mid-thigh. She wore opaque tights with chunky, black ankle booties and a dainty wrist watch. Sevigny carried a boxy hand bag to complete the retro look. Blonde bombshell: Covered in sequins and with golden locks to match, the 42-year-old star sparkled from head to toe Modern mod: The actor, director and fashion designer made a statement in a mod-inspired dress with a hemline that high mid-thigh The Bloodline actor was joined at the Beatriz at Dinner event by her co-star in the film, Salma Hayek, who dressed in a simple pantsuit with silver embellishments on the top. Hayek, 50, plays the title character in the independent film, about a doctor of holistic medicine who joins a dinner party when her car breaks down at an affluent client's home. Earlier in the day, Sevigny accompanied Analeigh Tipton at the Indiewire in Conversation panel at Chase Sapphire on Main. Tipton appears with her in another indie flick, Golden Exits. Total package: She wore opaque tights with chunky, black ankle booties and a dainty wrist watch, while carrying a boxy hand bag to complete the retro look Sevigny has a lot to be happy about, as evidenced by her toothy grin at the happenings in Park City. The previous year saw her directorial debut for the short film, Kitty, where a little girl dreams of becoming a kitten, which was one of seven projects she undertook in 2016, according to IMDB. In 2017, the star will appear in at least eight projects, including Universal's The Snowman opposite Michael Fassbender and Oren Moverman's The Dinner starring Richard Gere and Charlie Plummer. Golden Exists and Beatriz at Dinner are included in that list of eight, as well. The films had their first showings at Sundance on Sunday and Monday, respectively. Silver and gold: The Bloodline actor was joined at the Beatriz at Dinner event by her co-star in the film, Salma Hayek, who wore shiny silver embellishments on her pantsuit Salem fatality on highway 60 Updated twice with additional details: Last 12:17pm There was a fatal automobile crash west of Salem on US 60 late last night, according to ... Get ready for streets of treats Today 3:30 to 5pm Downtown Marion Young seeks Crittenden Sheriff's post Click Image to Enlarge Don Young asks for your vote as Crittenden County Sheriff. Young has been a constable and worked with the sheriff'... Crittenden burn ban remains in effect Livingston County lifted its countywide burn ban early this week, but Crittenden Countys burn ban remains in effect. The state wildfire se... He's the My Kitchen Rules judge known for throwing contestants in the deep end when it comes to time-keeping. But on Tuesday it seemed that Manu Feildel was under a little pressure of his own as he rushed out of a Brisbane building. The celebrity chef had been attending a Channel Seven 2017 launch when he appeared to make an extremely speedy exit from the event. Scroll down for video Did he leave the oven on? My Kitchen Rules co-host Manu Feildel appeared to be in a hurry to leave the Channel Seven 2017 launch in Brisbane on Tuesday The French foodie cut a suave figure at the event, wearing a blue suit with a white button down shirt. His hair was slicked back for the formal event and Manu wore simple lace up brown leather shoes. The Channel Seven personality left the event with unusual speed, running as he glanced around smiling. Under pressure? The Channel Seven personality appeared to leave the event with unusual speed, running as he glanced around smiling Fashionable: The French foodie cut a suave figure at the event, wearing a blue suit with a white button down shirt Manu's appearance at the event comes amid reports he and MKR co-judge Pete Evans are feuding. According to Woman's Day, the friction is 'so bad' between Manu and Pete they take separate planes when travelling. 'In December they travelled to Perth and onto Broome, and on both the inbound and outbound flight they travelled separately,' the source allegedly told the magazine. Flying together: Earlier on Tuesday, Manu and MKR judge Colin Fassnidge caught a flight together to Brisbane for the Channel Seven event and made sure to document their travel The magazine claims that even last week they flew an hour apart from each other. The publication also allege the pair have 'nothing in common' and say that Pete thinks Manu is an 'attention seeker' while Manu thinks Pete is 'stranger than strange.' Earlier on Tuesday, Manu and MKR judge Colin Fassnidge caught a flight together to Brisbane for the Channel Seven event, making a point to share a selfie to Instagram. Daily Mail Australia contacted Channel Seven for comment. Laura Csortan has proudly shared her love for her daughter Layla Rose on social media since her birth. And now the new mum has posted a pic of her and her beloved baby poolside, showing off her enviable 'mum life' as well as her impressive post baby body. The blonde beauty uploaded a picture of herself and her two-month-old daughter, poolside at the QT hotel on the Gold Coast. Poolside: Laura Csortan poses for the camera in a black two-piece bikini while holding two-month-old Layla Rose close to her chest In the snap, the 40-year-old poses for the camera in a black two-piece bikini while holding her infant close to her chest. Accessorising with a pair of dark cat eye glasses, the model appears to be loving life near the water, doting over Layla in her arms. Laura captioned her post: 'Pool daze... she slept and fed, I wet my feet #mumlife @qtgoldcoast.' Beauties: She captioned her bikini post 'Pool daze... she slept and fed, I wet my feet #mumlife @qtgoldcoast' Hello sunshine: The mother and daughter duo appear to have been at the luxurious QT hotel on the Gold Coast for a few days Her cute post attracted likes and comments from her followers. Cheryl 'Chezzi' Denyer, the wife of Family Feud host Grant Denyer wrote: 'Gorgeous gorgeous pic! Congratulations on a special bundle of "pink" joy! Little girls are the best.' While another user complimented her figure, saying: 'Looking beautiful and sexy' Laura has posted a number of doting images of Layla over the last week, featuring captions such as 'I still can't believe you're my little girl' and 'You can have whatever you want'. Motherly love: Laura has posted a number of doting images of Layla over the last week, featuring captions such as 'I still can't believe you're my little girl' Apple of her eye: Laura captioned another image 'You can have whatever you want' According to her Instagram, the mother and daughter duo have been at the luxury hotel for the past few days. In another post she uploaded, the model shares a picture of her cheat day treats including donuts, a cinnamon swirl and danish, paired with healthy alternatives such as a pear and a glass of orange juice. Layla can be seen adorably looking up at her mum. Her witty caption read: 'Whoa seriously mum! A minute on the lips.... @qtgoldcoast.' He's the actor who was rumoured to be heading to the jungle for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! But on Tuesday Vince Colosimo was seemingly focused on getting his dirty clothes out of the house, as he emerged from his Melbourne home carrying what appeared to be a laundry bag. The 50-year-old paused to chat with a mate, only days after he was given a $1,000 fine without conviction and a good behaviour bond following an arrest in September in which after police allegedly found a small bag of methamphetamines in his car. Getting it off his chest: Bare chested Vince Colosimo was seen emerging from his Melbourne home on Monday, after he received a fine and good behaviour bond for drug charges The star of the Wog Boy movies carried a large white spotted bag in one hand, which appeared to be filled with clothes, as well as a smaller canvas tote bag. His short sleeved white patterned shirt was unbuttoned to his stomach revealing a hairless, toned chest. The legs emerging from his khaki knee-length shorts seemed equally bereft of hair. The Chopper star wore no watch, but had sunglasses propped on the top of his head, he also wore grey sneakers with the laces untied. Time to talk: The 50-year-old paused to chat with a mate on the sidewalk, as both held cloth bags Smooth individual: His short sleeved white patterned shirt was unbuttoned to his stomach revealing a hairless, toned chest Airing his dirty laundry? Vince was seen carrying what seemed to be a filled polka dot clothes bag as well as a smaller canvas tote bag The quiet suburban street provided a prime location for a good old natter as the two men conversed. Looking a little like a pair of mates heading to the laundrette for the end of week wash, the friend with whom Vince chatted also carried a large bag - in his case a blue Harvey Norman bag. The two men engaged in a lengthy chat on the pavement, watching and smiling at Vince's son Massimo as they conversed. Read for the sun: The Chopper star wore no watch, but had sunglasses propped on the top of his head, he wore grey sneakers with the laces untied Feel the serenity: The quiet suburban street provided a prime location for a good old natter as the two men conversed No rush: The two men engaged in a lengthy chat on the pavement, watching and smiling at Vince's son Massimo as they conversed Then despite their matching loads, the pair went their separate ways, with the Underbelly star helping his son into his black car before heading off. The actor had been strongly linked with an appearance on Network Ten's I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! which airs from Sunday. However it's now understood Vince Colosimo has been pulled from the cast of the reality TV series after being arrested for drug possession - a claim Network Ten has refused to comment on directly. Smooth as silk: The legs emerging from his khaki knee-length shorts seemed equally bereft of hair Her son turned one last Thursday. And it appears Cat Deeley was keen to bring him back to her birth country for the celebrations, as she was seen taking little Milo for a spin around London in his pushchair on Monday. The 40-year-old British presenter, who has resided in LA for a number of years, was seen wrapping up against the chill as she enjoyed a day out with the little fellow. Scroll down for video Birthday boy: Cat Deeley appeared keen to bring Milo back to her birth country following his 1st birthday, as she was see taking him for a spin around London in his pushchair on Monday Accustomed to LA's milder climate, Cat layered up in a khaki cargo jacket, huge scarf, a black beanie hat and gloves. Adding a touch of glamour accessorising with a Gucci bag, she let her long blonde tresses hang in loose waves and let her natural beauty shine through under minimal make-up. Little Milo looked adorable wrapped up in a faux-fur lined pushchair, taking in the sights with great interest. Wrapping up: Accustomed to LA's milder climate, Cat layered up in a khaki cargo jacket, huge scarf a black beanie hat and gloves as Milo took in the sights with great interest Cat shares Milo with husband Patrick Kielty, also a TV presenter. It was while presenting Fame Academy with Deeley back in 2002 that they first struck up a friendship - but it took a grand gesture to get make them a couple. Explaining how he won the blonde beauty's heart by flying from his homeland of Ireland to Los Angeles as a surprise birthday present, the comedian explained that Cat was so surprised 'she fell off her chair'. Cat and the comedian - who married in a secret ceremony in Rome, Italy, in 2012 - welcomed their child three years later. Celebrations! Cat's son Milo celebrated his first birthday last Thursday Speaking about being a older dad, Patrick quipped: 'It's a bit of a shock but it's the real world. 'Someone told me that at my age you get up in the night twice for a pee anyway so it's all good.' Last fall, Cat made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! where she revealed that she and her husband, Patrick Kielty, took a long time agreeing on the perfect name for their little boy. 'We weren't talking to each other,' the 40-year-old admitted. 'It was awful, it was just horrific. Because everyone says, 'Oh, when you see them you'll know.' We didn't know!' She's been open about being broke, unemployed and loosing her driver's license. And now it seems MAFS star Erin Bateman is doing the hard yards on her social media profiles to earn some money. The 26-year-old, who has been open about her personal struggles with her followers, has uploaded an Instagram post of herself promoting Bondi Sands Liquid Gold fake tan. Scroll down for video Working hard: MAFS star Erin Bateman appears to be doing the hard yards on her social media profiles promoting Bondi Sands Liquid Gold fake tan Erin kept her auburn locks up in a messy bun flaunted her slender figure in the post, wearing a black Calvin Klein bralette. On her blog she claims it is the best fake tan for pale skin. 'Fake tan is my Achilles heel and as a pale female of the world, Ive had my fair share of fake tan disasters,' she admitted. 'It can sometimes be a fine line between naturally sun kissed and jersey shore Ive been Snooki one too many times, trust me! Never again!' she added. Getting that tan on: The financially-challenged blogger took to her Instagram and YouTube to spread the word about the tan Glam: Erin recently admitted to her followers that she was unemployed and 'broke as' The financially-challenged blogger also took to her Instagram to spread the word about the tan, and created a video how-to guide for using the tan. She told her fans: 'Stock the f*** up, a gal can never have enough discounted tan!!' The former reality star has had an arduous start to 2017 after she revealed that she was 'broke as' and unemployed on her social media. Erin wrote: 'When I HAD a full time income, I was addicted to beauty enhancing activities, which came with a big price-tag.' On the road again! She also recently regained her licence after being banned for six-month after she was caught speeding 'However, being more or less unemployed, I've had to let my common sense take a bit of control over my spending habits,' she added. She also recently regained her licence after enduring a six-month ban for speeding. The beauty first came to fame when she joined reality show Married At First Sight and married Bryce Mohr. It's not clear whether they are still together, with the pair last snapped with each other in November. The next series of The Great British Bake Off could be aired in a matter of months on Channel 4. New reports claim the beloved baking show is able to start filming again, despite previous fears that it could be kept off screens until 2018. It was believed that BBC bosses intended to enforce their contract with showmakers Love Productions, which would have stopped Channel 4 doing any work on the programme - including making offers to potential new hosts. Scroll down for video Bake on our screens? The next series of The Great British Bake Off could be aired in a matter of months on Channel 4 as new reports claim the show can start filming again A source told The Sun: 'This has been a massive blockage which would have seen the show off air until 2018. 'That could have done real damage to the brand. But most importantly, the fans would have missed out. 'Its great news theyve agreed not to enforce the contract and the producers can get on with bringing it back to screens this year.' A spokesperson for Channel 4 told MailOnline: 'We have not announced scheduling plans for the next series of The Great British Bake Off yet.' MailOnline have contacted BBC for comment. Just what we knead: It was believed that BBC bosses intended to enforce their contract with showmakers Love Productions, which would have stopped Channel 4 doing any work Great British Bake Off ended its seven series run with the BBC in September after they were unable to match rival broadcaster's reported bid of 75m. Following Love Production's decision to move channels, Mary Berry, Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc quit the show, whilst Paul Hollywood decided to move to Channel 4. Speculation has been rife as to who will replace the trio, and names floated around have included the likes of Davina McCall, Richard Ayoade and French & Saunders as potential hosts, while Delia Smith and Nigella Lawson have both been slated to replace Mary. That takes the cake! Great British Bake Off ended its seven series run with the BBC in September after they were unable to match rival broadcaster's reported bid of 75m Despite Paul's shock decision to be the only star to remain with the series, Mel recently revealed that there are no hard feelings in the group. Speaking on ITV's Lorraine, the former presenter explained: 'Listen, I love the guy, genuinely. He's a pal and he's a friend. I just don't want any kind of bad feelings or bad vibes. 'We had seven years together, and they were seven really really fun, good years. So all good.' Mel remained coy on whether or not the other Bake Off personalities would move on to work on something together. She simply said: 'Who knows. Stranger things have happened.' It was reported this week that tensions between My Kitchen Rules stars Pete Evans, and Manu Feildel are so bad they are forced to travel separately. But on Tuesday, Pete, 43 appeared to do his best to put the rumours to rest by posting a friendly selfie to social media with his co-stars close. In the photo, posted to Instagram on Tuesday, Manu, 42, and Colin Fassnidge, 42, all smiled and put their arms around one another as the 'dear friends' posed with a female fan. What feud? Pete appears to be putting the rumours to bed with a friendly selfie with his fellow chefs Manu and Colin Fassnidge, 42, calling them his 'dear friends' 'Always fun promoting MKR around the country with dear friends @manufeildelofficial and @cfassnidge and meeting some cool crew along the way' he captioned the photo. Pete may have been trying to silence talk that he and his fellow chefs haven't been getting along on set, or off. According to Woman's Day, the friction is 'so bad' between Manu and Pete they take separate planes when travelling. 'In December they travelled to Perth and onto Broome, and on both the inbound and outbound flight they travelled separately,' the source allegedly told the magazine. Clearing up the rumours: According to Woman's Day , the friction is 'so bad' between Manu and Pete they take separate planes when travelling The magazine claims that even last week they flew an hour apart from each other. The publication also allege the pair have 'nothing in common' and say that Pete thinks Manu is an 'attention seeker' while Manu thinks Pete is 'stranger than strange.' Daily Mail Australia contacted Channel Seven for comment. Despite reported animosity between Pete and Manu, it seems Manu and judge Colin Fassnidge appear to be getting along fine. On Tuesday co-host Colin, 42, took to Instagram to share a plane selfie of himself and Manu travelling from Sydney to Brisbane together. At least they travel together! On Tuesday co-host Colin Fassnidge, 42, took to Instagram to share a plane selfie of himself and Manu travelling from Sydney to Brisbane together The pointed post was captioned: '6am flight to Brisbane' However Pete was nowhere in sight and seemingly turned up on his own to the event. MKR will return to screens in less than a week with a mystery fourth judge being added to the line up for season five. He's been sober for more than six years. And Osher Gunsberg saw in television's equivalent of New Year's Eve with a pint of water, as he attended the Channel 7 season launch at Lightspace in Brisbane on Tuesday. The breakfast radio host had plenty of ice in a glass stein full of water, which he used to toast the occasion with fellow guests. Toasting TV's new year: Osher Gunsberg saw in television's equivalent of New Year's Eve with a pint of water, as he attended the Channel 7 season launch in Brisbane on Tuesday The Bachelor and Bachelorette host shrugged off his Network Ten affiliation for the day as he attended the event with his Brisbane breakfast radio co-hosts Stav Davidson, Abby Coleman and Matty Acton. Looking healthy and focused, the newlywed walked the room with his wedding band clearly on display. He also sported a navy blue linen shirt with rolled up sleeves - a nod to the Brisbane temperature which peaked at 32 degrees. The media personality completed his summer outfit with what appeared to be beige bermuda shorts. Wearing his radio hat: The Bachelor and Bachelorette host shrugged off his Network Ten affiliation for the day as he attended the event with his Brisbane breakfast radio co-hosts Stav Davidson, Abby Coleman and Matty Acton Keeping cool: Looking healthy and focused, Osher walked the room in a navy blue linen shirt with rolled up sleeves - a nod to the Brisbane temperature which peaked at 32 degrees Osher tucked a pair of glasses into his shirt, unbuttoned sufficiently to reveal a scruff of salt and pepper chest hair. In September, to mark RUOK? Day, the former Australian Idol host read out a letter on his radio show that he had written to his 18-year-old self, outlining his troubles with drugs and alcohol, noting that he had been sober for six years. He said on his Hit 105 show 'You're going to start drinking more and more until one day you'll have a moment of clarity where you decide that facing life with the brain you've got is actually less frightening than your rapidly approaching yet inevitable demise.' Baring his chest: Osher tucked a pair of glasses into his shirt, unbuttoned sufficiently to reveal a scruff of salt and pepper chest hair Sober for six years: In September, to mark RUOK? Day, the former Australian Idol host read out a letter on his radio show that he had written to his 18-year-old self, outlining his troubles with drugs and alcohol, noting that he had been sober for six years As the morning turned to lunch, the event, a combined MKR Feast and launch for Channel 7 Queensland, provided the opportunity for the media and stars to sit down for a feed. He proudly shared his co-host Abby's photo of the team sitting either side of My Kitchen Rules co-host Manu Feildel, who was rocking out in reflective sunglasses prompting Abby to label him 'some other lovely guy' in her post. Osher confirmed this in his caption, noting: 'Met Manu today. 100% kinda guy.' The radio personality toasted the camera with a big smile and his stein in hand. He's returned to our screens as the infamous Francis Begbie, twenty-one years after first playing the role in 1996. And Robert Carlyle looked in good spirits as he arrived at the ITV studios to discuss the second installment of Trainspotting on Lorraine on Tuesday. The 55-year-old actor's appearance comes as his co-star Ewan McGregor refused to appear on the show, making a stand against the show's presenter Piers Morgan following his comments on the recent Women's March. Scroll down for video Thumbs up! Robert Carlyle, 55, looked in good spirits as he arrived at the ITV studios to discuss the second installment of Trainspotting Good Morning Britain on Tuesday Robert looked dapper in a denim shirt and coordinating jeans, adding a smart touch in a white blazer. Giving cameras the thumbs up as he left the studios, the British star looked in good spirits. Meanwhile Ewan, who plays heroin addict Mark Renton in the hit flick, cancelled his appearance in protest over comments made by Piers against the recent Women's March. Standing up! Ewan McGregor refused to appear on GMB, making a stand against the show's presenter Piers Morgan following his comments on the recent Women's March Piers made the comments following Madonna's passionate but controversial speech over the weekend. The star told crowds in Washington: 'Good did not win this election, but good will win in the end. And to our detractors that insist this March will never add up to anything, f**k you. 'Yes, I'm angry. Yes, I'm outraged. Yes, I have thought an awful lot of blowing up the White House'. Proving his principle: Ewan, who plays heroin addict Mark Renton in the hit flick, cancelled his appearance in protest over comments made by Piers against the recent Women's March 'You're just an actor after all': Piers appeared less than impressed with the move Slamming the star, Piers then said in a piece for MailOnline: 'This was nasty women being nasty, whipped into a man-hating frenzy by some very nasty women on a stage. Morgan had previously voiced his displeasure at the protests which took place around the world, saying: 'I'm planning a men's march to protest at the creeping global emasculation of my gender by rabid feminists. Who's with me?' And after following his comments Ewan showed his principled side, taking to Twitter to announce he was cancelling his appearance. 'This was nasty women being nasty, whipped into a man-hating frenzy by some very nasty women on a stage,' Piers said following Madonna's anti-Trump comments during the Women's March 'Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise @piersmorgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch', Ewan tweeted. And presenter Piers appeared less than impressed with the move, branding him 'just an actor. He tweeted: 'Sorry to hear that @mcgregor_ewan - you should be big enough to allow people different political opinions. You're just an actor after all'. Dapper: Robert looked suave in a denim shirt and coordinating jeans, adding a smart touch in a white blazer as he left the ITV studios on Tuesday 'There's probably room for one more kind of Trainspotting-themed film. We've been talking about that, I am up for doing it. So maybe we ain't seen the end of Begbie just yet': Robert hinted at another sequel 'A real man would have come on and debated it with me, not run away like a coward'. He added: 'He's an actor, not the Dalai bl**dy Lama'. Meanwhile Robert revealed he really got into character for his role, telling Lorraine he had a dental implant removed from his lower teeth before pulling another. 'I had a temporary crown in my bottom set of teeth. And because I needed a few months to get it replaced and healed so with filming commitments I didn't really have time to do that. Dapper: Robert looked worlds away from his Trainspotting self as he posed after his appearance on Lorraine Delving into the plot: Adapted from Scottish author Irvine Welsh's 2002 novel Porno the second installment is directed by the returning Boyle Smart: Robert opened up about his enjoyment filming the anticipated flick 'It had been sitting there for about a year and a half, so I thought 'well, this is the moment to do it, let's just take this out for Begbie'. 'But when I took that one out, the other tooth had been lying beside it and was weak, so I thought 'well, might as well take that one out as well!' 'When I saw that it gaveit gives it a little bit of colour, a little bit of detail, and you can imagine he's probably lost that in the prison somewhere.' Last week Robert sent fans into a tizzy after admitting there may be a third Trainspotting sequel. Speaking at the Edinburgh premiere, he said: 'There's probably room for one more kind of Trainspotting-themed film. We've been talking about that, I am up for doing it. So maybe we ain't seen the end of Begbie just yet.' 'That is the first time you see maybe there is another side to this guy. There is something quite emotional about that.' 'Then the tooth next to it comes loose, so I think 'F*** it, take that out too.' Suddenly I see him [Begbie] come to life!' he pulled out an extra tooth to get into character 'When we made the film, we thought it was going to be about time.' The original Trainspotting was a huge hit in 1996 Appearing on Tuesday morning's edition of This Morning, co-star Jonny Lee Miller admitted the two decades that separate Trainspotting and its sequel have not been kind to his character, Sick Boy. 'Hes been stuck in a pattern of behaviour, he told hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield. 'Hes become a bitter person... Rentons got himself in shape, but has a medical issue which triggers for him to look at his life and thats when he goes back to Edinburgh.' Reflecting on his reprisal of the role that made him famous, Jonny revealed he first heard about the film's development after Danny Boyle sent him a postcard. 'It was an original trainspotting postcard on the back it said, "Dear Johnny thinking about having a go at T2 script soon, speak soon, Danny." 'Hes the kind of guy where you can trust your judgement. Ten years ago there was a script in the works but he didnt bother sending it around as it wasnt worth it. I think the film is quite interesting in surprising ways.' But slipping back into Sick Boy's shoes wasn't easy, and he admits his first meeting with co-star Robert was memorable for the wrong reasons. 'I vomited during rehearsals,' he said. 'I hadnt seen Bobby Carlisle for about 10 years and I had food poisoning, sitting there and then I spent the next 20 minutes in the bathroom thinking how ironic that was.' 'We realised that it's about manhood and how disappointing men are, and how people can't rely on them,' Director Danny Boyle said of Trainspotting 2 'That is the first time you see maybe there is another side to this guy,' he said said at the premiere of his character experiencing fatherhood 'It had been sitting there for about a year and a half, so I thought 'well, this is the moment to do it, let's just take this out for Begbie' he said of the offending tooth Meanwhile Danny Boyle told the Independent: 'When we made the film, we thought it was going to be about time.' 'They were 25 then and now they're in their mid-forties. But when we first watched the film - me and the editor - we realised that it's about manhood and how disappointing men are, and how people can't rely on them. 'The other film is so boyish - it's a great celebration of young men and everyone loved it for that - now it's assessment time or judgment time.' She's the two-time Oscar winner known for her acting skills and ability to play a wide variety of roles. But during an interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Tuesday, Cate Blanchett showed off yet another talent - belching. The Australian movie star burped repeatedly during a segment of the show, causing host Jimmy to interject: 'Stop doing that!' Scroll down for video 'Stop doing that!' Cate Blanchett belched repeatedly during interview with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show on Tuesday, which the host wasn't too impressed with The belching began after Jimmy complimented Cate on an impressive burp in her new Broadway play The Present. 'You at one point do a decent belch!' he said to the actress. The 47-year-old beauty then decided to demonstrate with a series of repeated belches into the microphone while laughing. After a shocked Jimmy got Cate to stop, the actress explained: 'I thought everyone does that!' Showing off? The 47-year-old beauty then decided to demonstrate with a series of repeated belches into the microphone while laughing 'You at one point do a decent belch!' Jimmy remarked that Cate does an impressive burp in her new Broadway play The Present 'No-one does that,' the late night host responded, causing the movie star to joke: 'That's what they teach you at Australian acting school!' Despite the impromptu belching, Cate looked every inch the Hollywood star during the appearance. The Thor actress looked as youthful as ever as she exchanged laughs with the American TV host. Radiant: Cate looked every inch the Hollywood star during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday Glowing: The Melbourne-native, who is currently starring in Broadway's The Present, is often hailed for her natural good looks Sporting a crisp white blazer atop an elegant black blouse, the mother-of-four looked effortlessly chic as she arrived on set. She paired the look with loose-fitting trousers and pointed-toe heels, which gave her an overall smart yet glamorous appearance. Cate's cropped blonde locks were worn loosely and neatly parted at the side and she opted for elegant makeup - consisting of foundation, smokey eyes and a nude lip. LOL: The Thor actress looked as youthful as ever as she exchanged laughs with the American TV host All natural! In 2012, the genetically-blessed star said she is 'too frightened' to undergo plastic surgery, despite the pressures in Hollywood The Melbourne-native is often hailed for her natural good looks. In 2012, the genetically-blessed star said she is 'too frightened' to undergo plastic surgery, despite the pressures in Hollywood. 'I just know what works for me, I'd be too frightened about what it means long-term,' she told Fashion ETC. Natural beauty: 'I just know what works for me, I'd be too frightened about what it means long-term,' she told Fashion ETC 'Looking at women in their 20s doing this stuff, in the end all you see is the work. It doesn't fill me with admiration; it fills me with pity.' The following year, she reportedly signed a $10 million beauty contract with Georgio Armani and was the face of Japanese skincare brand SK-II. Last week, Cate participated in New York's Ghostlight Project march, a movement dedicated to highlighting inclusion and compassion for everyone regardless of differences. She's the former Big Brother housemate who has not been shy about her quest for physical perfection through surgical enhancements. And Skye Wheatley has once again taken to Instagram to show off her fit physique and tiny waist, with fans swift to envy her physics defying figure and compare her appearance to Khloe Kardashian. The 22-year-old, who relishes in share her risque pictures on social media, uploaded a scintillating selfie in front of her mirror. Goals: Skye Wheatley, 22, has taken to Instagram to flaunt her fit physique and tiny waist The Gold Coast-based beauty is posed sitting crossed legged on her bedroom floor and leaning back, with her hand on her bed supporting her petite and curvy frame. Wearing tiny underwear bottoms, she flaunts her very small waist while her ample bust spills from her small white bralette. 'Positive thoughts = a successful life,' she wrote including a crown emoji. 'P.s new YouTube video on the juice cleanse I did "about a week ago"', she tells her legions of followers at the same time referencing a formerly trendy rap song. Poolside: In the caption to her scintillating post, she wrote: 'Positive thoughts = a successful life' Fresh faced: She recently uploaded an Instagram selfie showing her fresh faced and with a plump pout after a facial peel session 'Also ANYONE know everything there is to know about YouTube and video editing DM me I want editing lessons bad,' she added with a heart and monkey emojis. Her raunchy post attracted plenty of likes and comments agreeing with her philosophical message. One wrote: 'Legit just thought you were Khloe Kardash for a split second.' Another said: 'Her bloody waist is legit goals.' She recently uploaded an Instagram selfie showing her fresh faced and with a plump pout after a facial peel session. Recovery: The YouTube sensation has been open about her enhancements including her rhinoplasty and botched breast surgery in Thailand In 2016, Skye had breast surgery to fix a botched boob job she had done in Bangkok, Thailand. The YouTube sensation has been open about her enhancements and in a previous interview to Daily Mail Australia about the ordeal, Skye warned young girls not to be lured by the promise of cheap plastic surgery: 'Don't, it's not worth it.' She later underwent rhinoplasty to thin out her nose by Dr Michael Zachariah in Sydney's ritzy Rose Bay, and shared her experience on her YouTube channel. 'By me getting my nose done doesn't necessarily mean I'm trying to spread the message that you need to have plastic surgery to feel good about yourself,' she said. She's enjoying a well-earned extended new year break in Australia after a dramatic 2016 on TOWIE. And Chloe Lewis treated her Instagram followers to yet another saucy picture as she shared an arty snapshot while soaking up the sun on Red Leaf Beach in Sydney on Sunday. The reality star, 26, left little to the imagination as flaunted her toned figure in a strappy swimsuit. Scroll down for video Bottoms up! Chloe Lewis flaunted her pert posterior in a barely-there swimsuit in yet another bikini-clad snapshot into her sun-soaked getaway in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday With her arms held aloft, the brunette beauty was clearly enjoying her time in the sun as she cooled off in the sea. Chloe made sure she flashed an eyeful of her killer curves, opting for a backless swimsuit, which cut high up at her rear to display her pert derriere to all. The reality star - who is set to return to filming TOWIE next month - seems to have developed a new mantra since her holiday Down Under. She captioned the black and white shot: 'I have found that if you love life, life will love you right back.' Smiling through the pain! The TOWIE star, 26, ensured she turned heads as she posed up a storm in a very sexy swimsuit last week during her break Down Under Chloe has been busy documenting her sun-soaked trip to Australia, posting another bikini-clad snap last week. Showcasing her slender waist with the strappy cut-out panels, she flashed a glimpse of cleavage in the halterneck piece. Tanned and toned, her lean legs were on full display as she knelt on the picturesque rocks surrounding Bondi Beach in Sydney. 'Always smiling... think my knees were hurting', she captioned the snap. Beach babe: Chloe has made the most of her break from filming TOWIE over the past few weeks With her brunette hair loose, she covered her face with shades, looking into the distance as she posed for the snap. The TOWIE beauty - who has been enjoying a much deserved break on the Southern Hemisphere - took to Instagram to share her endless swimwear collection with her 814,000 followers on the photosharing site. Showcasing her gym-honed physique, the ITVBe darling slipped into a nude Unique Avenue two-piece that featured eye-catching criss-cross detailing across her bust, teasing at her ample cleavage with its plunging neckline. Proving fashion comes first and not tan lines, Chloe ramped up the sex appeal as she worked a pair of high-waisted bikini bottoms that mimicked the criss-cross detailing of her racy top. The daring detail highlighted her slender hips and narrow waist whilst displaying her toned pins while she posed on a rock, with Milk Beach's idyllic coastline in the background. Equipped with a chic panama hat and oversized circular shades, she captioned the snap: 'No place I'd rather be'. Flaunt it! In another figure-flaunting shot from her trip, Chloe sported a tummy teasing bikini with crochet and pom pom detailing while she stopped for a steamy snap with a pal In another figure-flaunting shot from her trip, Chloe sported a tummy teasing bikini with crochet and pom pom detailing while she stopped for a steamy snap with a pal. The peach swimwear boasted high thigh cut bikini bottoms that paraded her perfect pins across the white sand. She accessorised her beachy look with a gold plate neckline and same retro sunnies as she let her glossy chestnut locks cascade into a soft wave down her shoulder. Chloe has been enjoying herself in Oz, documenting her every move on social media and even flaunting her figure in a fetching wetsuit. Breath-taking: Chloe has been enjoying herself in Oz, documenting her every move Suiting up! Chloe flaunted her figure in a fetching wetsuit as she snorkeled with friends in the picturesque Whitsunday Islands earlier this month Meanwhile, Chloe appeared ready to move on from her break-up with Jake Hall, after celebrating her birthday with 'someone special', shortly before jetting away to Australia for a blissful break. The reality star shared a stunning snap as she posed in a red swimsuit, which made the most of her incredible figure, in an image which no doubt thrilled her Instagram followers. Chloe suffered a tumultuous break-up from Jake after a whopping seven years as a couple when they first arrived on the ITVBe show in 2015. Yet after her ex-beau left the show, the brunette beauty became embroiled in many dramas yet never enjoyed a lengthy relationship. 'Oz life'! Chloe told her fans she had celebrated her birthday with 'someone special', shortly before jetting away to Australia for a blissful break Now, the stunner has hinted that she may have found love once more, after she shared a snap from her birthday meal while adding the caption: 'Special birthday dinner, with a special someone'. Chloe's birthday date came just days before she jetted to Australia and stole the moment to slip into swimwear almost instantly. As she posed at the helm of a boat, she held her hands in the air in a joyous pose while also showing off her incredible figure. The red swimsuit boasted a plethora of complicated straps extending across her taut abs while the plunging front gave a glimpse of her perky cleavage. Moving on up? The beauty suffered a painful and public break-up with her boyfriend of 10 years Jake Hall, who has since quit TOWIE Proving her impeccable attention to high fashion, she wore a funky fedora above her hair which was tied into a low chignon at the nape of her neck. Before jetting away on holiday, Chloe rang in her 26th birthday with a glamorous meal in which she dazzled in a Balmain-inspired black jacket. She added a caption on the snap reading: 'Special birthday dinner, with a special someone' - seemingly alluding to a date night. While Chloe appears to be moving on, Jake has firmly made the transition to his new relationship as he is loved up with Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Misse Beqiri, who looks strikingly similar to Chloe. She recently marked six months of dating Leonardo Di Caprio with a cuddle at Jimmy Fallon's Golden Globes party. And Nina Agdal, 24, showed just how she keeps the actor's attention with her latest modelling shoot for online retailer Shopbop. The Danish-born beauty displayed her slender, sun-kissed shape as she lounged by a swimming pool before taking a dip. Scroll down for video She's a keeper: Nina Agdal, 24, showed just how she keeps boyfriend Leonardo Di Caprio's attention with her latest modelling shoot for online retailer Shopbop She put on a busty display in a vibrant multi-coloured bikini, with droplets of water glistening on her bronzed skin as she gazed up towards the camera. Her wet locks were slicked back and fell over her shoulders into the water. She tilted her head slightly and wore a matte berry lipstick and minimal makeup to show off her natural beauty. In the same two-piece she laid back with a smile on her face and let the sun wash over her beside the pool. Vibrant: The Danish-born beauty displayed her slender, sun-kissed shape as she lounged by a swimming pool before taking a dip Stylish: The model slipped into two different one-piece items, each with cut-out sides to highlight Nina's svelte frame The model slipped into two different one-piece items, each with cut-out sides to highlight Nina's svelte frame. A one-strap white swimsuit followed the shape of Nina's curves, while an orange halter-neck number was almost separated into two except for a small piece of material above her navel. Her final look saw her wear a cleavage-baring black bikini with a sporty feel. Earlier this month, Nina and Leo, 42, were seen cuddling during Jimmy Fallon's post Golden Globes party at Delilah's in West Hollywood, according to People. 'Leo was in a booth next to the deejay and basically gazing longingly into Ninas eyes,' an eyewitness told the publication. 'At one point, she leaned into him for a cuddle. They were very relaxed together.' Just days before, the pair were seen holidaying in Mexico together with pals. Taraji P. Henson and Ryan Reynolds are two of the biggest names to land on Hollywood's least popular list after being snubbed for this year's Oscars. Reynolds was left off the lists announced on Tuesday, as was his film, Deadpool. But he seemed to take it in stride, tweeting: 'Regularly scheduled tickle-fight at Camp #Deadpool is still on. Congrats to all the nominees for these brilliant films.' It was in reference to a tweet he sent last year after the film was nominated for a number of Golden Globes. Scroll down for preview Taraji P. Henson (middle) was snubbed in the Best Leading Actress category by the Academy Ryan Reynolds' role as Deadpool (pictured) was also skipped over in the nominations announced on Tuesday morning Henson's absence was another notable one, with the star expected to get the nod in the Best Leading Actress category for Hidden Figures. But it wasn't all bad news for the film, with Octavia Spencer being nominated for Best Supporting Actress. The morning did not go the way many had expected for Tom Ford, with the designer turned director missing out for his acclaimed film, Nocturnal Animals. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who starred in Ford's film and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor, was left out of the same category entirely by the Academy. Ryan Reynolds and his movie, Deadpool, were on the unlucky list and missed out on any nominations Reynolds' tweet referenced on he sent last year when the film was nominated for a number of Golden Globes Many had expected Tom Ford (pictured at the Golden Globes with Julianne Moore) to receive a nomination in directing for his film, Nocturnal Animals Amy Adams was also a shocking omission in the Best Leading Actress category for her performance in the blockbuster hit, Arrival. The 42-year-old was tipped by some to be a potential winner. Arrival performed well overall, picking up nine nominations. Social media users pointed out a potential mix-up on the Academy's website, which initially listed Adams as a nominee in the category. Hanks missed out on a nomination for his starring role in Sully, where he portrayed Chesley Sullenberger - the hero pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson River in January 2009. Amy Adams is one of the biggest snubs ahead of this year's Academy Awards, with the 42-year-old actor missing out on a nomination for her role in Arrival Tom Hanks (left) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (right, with his Golden Globe) were two of the other shock snubs Amy Adams is seen in Arrival. The film picked up nine awards, but Adams did not receive one for Leading Actress Hanks missed out on a nomination for his starring role in Sully, where he portrayed Chesley Sullenberger - the hero pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson River in January 2009 AND THE WINNER ISN'T: BIGGEST SNUBS FOR THE 2017 OSCARS BEST ACTRESS: Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures BEST ACTOR: Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool BEST PICTURE: Deadpool BEST DIRECTOR: Tom Ford, Nocturnal Animals BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals BEST ACTRESS: Amy Adams, Arrival BEST ACTOR: Tom Hanks, Sully BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins BEST DIRECTOR: Denzel Washington, Fences BEST DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese, Silence BEST DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood, Sully BEST MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE): Pharrell Williams, Hidden Figures BEST SONG: Pharrell Williams, Surrender, Hidden Figures BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Annette Bening, 20th Century Women BEST ANIMATED FILM: Finding Dory BEST ACTRESS: Emily Blunt, The Girl On The Train BEST DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE): Weiner Advertisement Hugh Grant was also left off the supporting actor list for his role in Florence Foster Jenkins. Denzel Washington had a mixed morning, with the iconic star being nominated for Best Leading Actor in Fences, however he missed out on Best Director for the same film. Directors Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood were also unlucky to miss out on being put in the running to win Best Director for their films, Silence, and Sully, respectively. Directors Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood were also unlucky to miss out on being put in the running to win Best Director for their films, Silence, and Sully, respectively. They are pictured together at the Golden Globes in 2005 Pharrell Williams is another snub, with his work on Hidden Figures not receiving any nominations. It had been expected he could be in contention for Best Score and Original Song Pharrell Williams is another big name who could feel slightly aggrieved after he didn't hear his name called for his music during Tuesday's announcements, with some tipping he would be nominated for Best Score and Original Song for Hidden Figures. But Pharrell did have reason to be happy, as Hidden Figures was nominated for Best Picture, and he is a producer on the film. Annette Bening also found herself on the outside looking in, as the 58-year-old was not nominated for her performance in 20th Century Women. Pixar, which has been a staple of the Animated Film category, did not get nominated for Finding Dory. It was beaten out by Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, The Red Turtle, and My Life as a Zucchini. Hugh Grant (pictured with Meryl Street in Florence Foster Jenkins) did not receive a nomination La La Land picked up a record-tying 14 Oscars nominations when the lists were announced The smash-hit musical - led by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - picked up the most nods on Tuesday, and tied the record set by Titanic and All About Eve Pixar has now missed out on a Best Animation Film nomination just three times since the category was introduced in 2002. Over that span, it has won the award seven times. Cars 2 and Monsters University were the other two films passed over. The biggest winner of the nominations was La La Land, which looks set to dance its way to victory after picking up a record-tying 14 Oscars nominations for the 89th Academy Awards. The smash-hit musical - led by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - picked up the most nods on Tuesday, and tied the record set by Titanic and All About Eve. Casey Affleck was nominated for his powerful turn in Manchester By the Sea Denzel Washington picked up a nominated for Best Leading Actor in Fences, however he did not get nominated for Best Director for the same film Mahershala Ali was nominated for his supporting performance in Moonlight The picture now has a chance to beat the record 11 Oscars that have been won by Ben-Hur, Titanic and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. And one year after the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, seven of the 20 actors nominated for awards were non-white. There was not a single non-white acting nominee in 2016. Stars and films are not able to choose the category they would want to be nominated in. The ceremony will take place on February 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. Pixar did not receive a nomination in the Best Animated Film category this year for Finding Dory Annette Bening missed out on a nomination for her performance in 20th Century Women (pictured) The biggest snubs ahead of this year's Academy Awards have been revealed after the nominations were handed out on Tuesday morning He's the Australian actor known as much for his buff body as his demi God character Thor. And while actor Chris Hemsworth has won plenty of fans thanks to his chiselled phyisque, the movie star admitted he has a few risque images on his phone. During a G'Day USA event in New York on Monday, the 33-year-old teased about keeping nude photos of himself on his device while promoting Australian tourism. Scroll down for video 'There are a couple': Chris Hemsworth confessed to having NUDE photos of himself on his phone after it was 'hacked' during G'Day USA event in New York on Monday The titillating confession came when MC and actress Rachel Griffiths projected photos from Chris' phone onto a big screen for the audience, The Daily Telegraph reported. 'We hacked your phone,' she teased, adding: 'I hope there's no nudes.' 'There are a couple,' the Thor actor cheekily replied. 'I hope there's no nudes': MC Rachel Griffiths joked about intimate photos of Chris after connecting his phone to the screen at a G'Day USA event Revealing: The 33-year-old teased he kept nude photos of himself on his phone while promoting Australian tourism Chris cut a suave figure in a tailored suit jacket and trousers. His charcoal tailored suit jacket and pants was teamed with a white button-up shirt, with several buttons left undone at the top. Dress shoes, his wedding band and a statement watch worked as accessories. As Tourism Australia's global ambassador, the Thor star led tourist enthusiasts through 18 virtual reality experiences, showcasing the country's best qualities across food, wine and the natural environment. Suave: A charcoal tailored suit jacket and pants, was teamed with a white button-up shirt, with several buttons left undone at the top Acting heavyweights: MC for the event was fellow Australian Rachel, 48 Chris shared his enthusiasm for the ambassadorship, telling the Gold Coast Bulletin: 'It's a great honour to play a role in promoting my country to the rest of the world. 'My first year as an ambassador for Australia has been incredible, from experiencing the outback of Uluru and the Kimberley with my family, diving the Great Barrier Reef and exploring the islands and beaches of the Whitsundays,' he continued. MC for the event was fellow Australian Rachel, 48. The Muriel's Wedding star looked chic in a semi-sheer burgundy lace frock, with a black shift underneath. The Oscar nominations were named on Tuesday morning. And soon after stars reacted to being included in this year's 89th Academy Awards. Emma Stone of La La Land was one of the first to react. 'What a morning. I am so grateful for this honor and I'm so happy to share this feeling with my La La Land family,' the 28-year-old star gushed. Scroll down for video On top of the world: The Oscar nominations were named on Tuesday morning. And soon after stars reacted to being included in this year's Academy Awards. Emma Stone, 28, of La La Land was one of the first to react 'I am so grateful': The smash hit musical - with co-star Ryan Gosling - looks set to dance its way to victory at the biggest night in Hollywood after picking up a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations 'The greatest part of life is connecting with people, and I love the deeply talented, kind and passionate people I was lucky enough to work with on this movie. 'I'm also overjoyed that the movie has connected with audiences in the way it has, and that it's hopefully bringing a kick in their step to those who watch it. 'This is beyond any of our wildest imaginings and we can't wait to celebrate together,' she boasted over the smash-hit musical - led by herself and co-star Ryan Gosling. Gosling, 36, told E! News: 'I'm very grateful to the Academy for recognizing my work in La La Land. It was a true collaboration, so to see everyone else's wonderful work on the film acknowledged so generously makes it even more special.' Legend: Meryl Streep, 67, received her record 20th Oscar nomination as she got a nod for Best Actress for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins Iconic: The publicist for Paramount wrote in an email statement to entertainment journalists on Tuesday after nominations were announced that actress responded to her record-breaking honour with a hilarious response - a GIF of her dancing La La Land looks set to dance its way to victory at the biggest night in Hollywood after picking up a record-tying 14 Oscars nominations, set by Titanic and All About Eve. The smash-hit musical - led by Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling - picked up a record-tying 14 Oscars nominations, set by Titanic and All About Eve. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep, 67, received her record 20th Oscar nomination as she got a nod for Best Actress for her role in Florence Foster Jenkins, 37 years after she was first nominated for her supporting turn in The Deer Hunter. And the iconic actress responded to her record-breaking honour with a hilarious response - a GIF of her dancing. Powerful performance: Nicole Kidman, 49, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Sue Brierley in Lion Touching: Kidman said, 'I want to thank the Academy for all of the acknowledgements you have given this heartfelt film. But, most importantly, I want to thank the Brierley family for putting themselves in such a vulnerable place' 'Great performance': Reese Witherspoon took to Twitter and congratulated Kidman on her Oscar nomination 'Please find the following GIF as a statement on behalf of Meryl Streep,' wrote the publicist for Paramount wrote in an email statement to entertainment journalists on Tuesday after nominations were announced. The short clip of her dancing is from Paul McCartney's Queenie Eye music video which was released in 2013. Nicole Kidman said, 'I want to thank the Academy for all of the acknowledgements you have given this heartfelt film. But, most importantly, I want to thank the Brierley family for putting themselves in such a vulnerable place and sharing their story with the world.' 'Gratitude': Dev Patel - who portrays Saroo Brierley in Lion - picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, as he stars alongside Kidman In shock: The 26-year-old actor said: 'This will forever be one of the most memorable experiences of my life' Dev Patel - who portrays Saroo Brierley in Lion - picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, as he stars alongside Kidman. 'To be totally honest, the news hasn't made it's way into my brain yet, but I'm looking at these beautiful smiling faces around me... Faces of the ones I love. And I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude,' the 26-year-old Indian-American actor said. 'This will forever be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.' he concluded. 'Overwhelming': Andrew Garfield, 33, who received his first Oscar nomination, was elated over his nod for Best Actor his his portrayal of Desmond Doss in the biographical war drama film. Pictured January 8 Perfect portrayal: The British actor told Kathie Lee and Hoda Kotb on The Today Show, ''This being the first time I've been nominated and I can't believe it. I'm so so proud of the film' Andrew Garfield, 33, who received his first Oscar nomination, was elated over his nod for Best Actor his his portrayal of Desmond Doss in the biographical war drama film. 'It's all very overwhelming,' he told Kathie Lee and Hoda Kotb on The Today Show. 'This being the first time I've been nominated and I can't believe it. I'm so so proud of the film.' Viggo Mortensen - who was nominated for in 2008 for Best Actor in Eastern Promises and was recognized this year for his work in Captain Fantastic - also spoke up. 'It means the world': Viggo Mortensen was honoured to be nominated in the 2017 Academy Awards for Best Actor in Captain Fantastic 'One of the finest': The 58-year-old Danish-American actor gushed: 'I was hoping our movie would get lucky and Im really proud to be able to represent Captain Fantastic. The 58-year-old Danish-American actor gushed: 'I was hoping our movie would get lucky and Im really proud to be able to represent Captain Fantastic. 'It was the little movie that could,' he told Good Morning America. 'It was one of the finest Ive ever been part of... For a small movie like ours, it means the world to us.' He told E! News: 'I'm thrilled that Captain Fantastic has been included among this year's Academy nominees! Our movie has heart and brains. It entertains, inspires, and encourages honest communication in equal measures.' 'I wish my mother, who loved movies and taught me about them, was still here to enjoy this moment,' he added. 'Extraordinary': Viola Davis, 51, was honoured with a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her role as Rose Maxson in Fences 'Important film': The Golden Globe winner thanked the Academy and Denzel Washington, her co-star and the movie's director Viola Davis, 51, who got a Best Supporting Actress nod for Fences said, 'Thank you to the Academy for recognizing this extraordinary, important film and my work in it. Thank you Denzel for being at the helm!' Oscar winner for her role in 2011's The Help, Octavia Spencer, 44, received another nod this year for Best Supporting Actress in Hidden Figures. She took to Twitter and congratulated the other nominees as she wrote: 'congratulations to all oscar nominees esp @ava #EmmaStone @violadavis @theodoremelfi #teamHiddenFigures #barryJenkins #DevPatel #Denzel (sic)' Ava DuVernay, who was nominated for Best Documentary feature 13th, also tweeted: 'Thanx to @TheAcademy for amplifying injustices of mass criminalization in @13THFilm. Love to our fellow nominees. xo.' Recognised: Octavia Spencer, 44, received a nod this year for Best Supporting Actress in Hidden Figures Success! The Oscar winner stars alongside Taraji P. Henson (L) and Janelle Monae (R) 'Much deserved': The Oscar winner also congratulated Ava DuVernay, who was nominated for Best Documentary feature 13th Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is nominated for his song in Moana, also called in to GMA and said, 'I'm beyond, beyond beyond thrilled... The directors of this film changed my life when I was 9 years old and they directed A Little Mermaid. 'I think this movie is about an amazing young woman who changed the world.' The Oscar hopefuls are chosen by the 6028 voting members of the Academy. Actors wanting to be part of the coveted group must have credited roles in at least three films while directors must have more than two screen credits to their names. Happy: Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is nominated for his song in Moana, also called in to GMA and said, 'I'm beyond, beyond beyond thrilled.' Pictured November Paris Jackson has claimed her superstar father was murdered as she revealed she tried to commit suicide multiple times after being raped as a teenager. The 18-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson opened up on her belief that his death was a 'setup' in a candid interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. 'He would drop hints about people being out to get him. And at some point he was like, 'They're gonna kill me one day',' Paris said. Scroll down for video Paris Jackson, the 18-year-old daughter of Michael Jackson, has claimed her superstar father was murdered in 2009 in what she describes as a 'setup' 'It's obvious. All arrows point to that. It sounds like a total conspiracy theory and it sounds like bulls***, but all real fans and everybody in the family knows it. It was a setup. It was bulls***.' Paris was just 11 when Jackson died from cardiac arrest in 2009 caused by a lethal combination of prescription drugs. The pop star's personal physician Dr Conrad Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison over his death. Paris does blame Murray for her dad's death but believes something more sinister happened and she wants justice. 'I definitely do, but it's a chess game. And I am trying to play the chess game the right way. And that's all I can say about that right now,' she said. Paris said her father was exhausted at the time of his death because he was prepping for his This Is It comeback tour. Paris, pictured with her father Michael in 2005 in London, said he would often drop hints that people were out to get him Paris was just 11 when Jackson died from cardiac arrest in 2009 caused by a lethal combination of prescription drugs. She is pictured here at his funeral in Los Angeles Jackson's personal physician Dr Conrad Murray was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison over his death in 2011 Paris also revealed she was raped as a teen and opened up about her struggles with drug use and surviving 'multiple' suicide attempts. THE CHECKERED LIFE OF PARIS JACKSON: Early 2000s: Paris and her brothers Prince and Blanket were rarely seen in public without face coverings. 2005: Jackson's daughter was left solely in her father's care after her mother Debbie Rowe surrendered her visitation rights. 2009: Paris was 11 when Michael died. She cried as she spoke at his public memorial saying he was 'the best father you could ever imagine'. 2012: Her grandmother Katherine Jackson temporarily lost her guardian rights after she went missing for a short time. Katherine's rights were renewed the following month. Paris told Rolling Stone she was sexually assaulted by a complete stranger when she was 14 in 2012. April 2013: Paris reconnected with her estranged mother Debbie. June 2013: She was hospitalized for a suicide attempt. Paris said she had been self harming for years and had made several attempts to take her life before this one incident became public. She was also struggling with depression and drug addiction during this time until she went to a therapeutic school in Utah. 2015: She graduated high school and attempted community college before taking up a modeling career. Advertisement She said a 'much older complete stranger' sexually assaulted her when she was just 14. Paris spiraled into the depths of depression and drug addiction. The teen tried to commit suicide several times and managed to hide her self harm injuries from her family for years. Her self harm only became evident in 2013 when she was hospitalized over a suicide attempt and it became public. 'It was just self-hatred... low self-esteem, thinking that I couldn't do anything right, not thinking I was worthy of living anymore,' she said. She said she was prescribed the same depression medications her dad once took, but added she is no longer on any medication. Having been home-schooled when her father was alive, Paris said she didn't fit in to the private school she attended for the seventh grade. 'I was doing a lot of things that 13, 14, 15-year-olds shouldn't do,' she said. 'I tried to grow up too fast, and I wasn't really that kind of a person.' Paris said she went to a therapeutic school in Utah after her last suicide attempt for her sophomore and part of junior years. She said it changed her into a 'completely different person'. 'I was crazy. I was actually crazy. I was going through a lot of, like, teen angst. And I was also dealing with my depression and my anxiety without any help.' Paris said she is now sober but does still smoke menthol cigarettes. The teen, who is dating 26-year-old Michael Snoddy, says she now wants to make her own money despite being an heir to her father's fortune. She currently works as a model and has plans to get into acting. Candid confessions: Paris Jackson has opened up about being raped, her struggles with drug use and surviving 'multiple' suicide attempts in a very revealing interview with Rolling Stone released Tuesday Paris, pictured with her brother Prince Michael Jackson in 2012, said growing up on Neverland Ranch was a 'pretty normal life' The middle child of The King Of Pop also told of her surprisingly 'pretty normal life' growing up on Neverland Ranch and how she does not question that the late star is her biological father. 'He will always be my father. He never wasn't, and he never will not be,' she said. 'People that knew him really well say they see him in me, that it's almost scary.' Paris said growing up she didn't know she had a living mother but they reconnected when she was 13 and again at 16 when she was receiving treatment. But she maintains she never sought a maternal figure. 'I've had a lot of mother figures. But by the time my mom came into my life, it wasn't a 'mommy' thing. It's more of an adult relationship.' Paris and her siblings grew up on their dad's 2,700-acre California estate, which featured an amusement park, zoo and movie theater. But she insists her childhood was normal and they weren't allowed to go on the rides whenever they wanted to. 'We had school every single day, and we had to be good. And if we were good, every other weekend or so, we could choose whether we were gonna go to the movie theater or see the animals or whatever. But if you were on bad behavior, then you wouldn't get to go do all those things,' she said. For those seeking help, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255. He didn't last long in the Celebrity Big Brother house this time around. But Austin Armacost put his early eviction behind him, getting back into the swing of things as he headed out on Wednesday. The reality star, 28, threw caution to the wind by changing his trousers on the streets of Manchester in full view of passers-by. Scroll down for video Cheeky! Celebrity Big Brother was a distant memory for Austin Armacost as he strutted around in his underpants on the streets of Manchester on Wednesday Austin whipped his shirt off to reveal his muscular, gym-honed physique, which he had no trouble showing off. The cheeky chappie displayed a little more than onlookers bargained for in his tiny Y-fronts as he performed a quick change from out of the boot of his car. His state of undress offered a glimpse of two large floral tattoos, one of each thigh. American star Austin revealed his loyalty to the UK in a pair of Union Jack socks. Killer body: Austin whipped his shirt off to reveal his muscular, gym-honed physique, which he had no trouble showing off Austin is loved-up with NHS business architect Darren Banks, who he reportedly started dating last October. The star shared a loved-up selfie shortly after getting the boot from the CBB house. Posting it on Instagram, the ex-boyfriend of designer Marc Jacobs captioned it simply, 'Reunited', followed by a love heart. Quick change: The cheeky chappie displayed a little more than onlookers bargained for in his tiny Y-fronts as he performed a quick change from out of the boot of his car Despite their relatively new romance, a source told The Sun that Austin is 'totally smitten' with Darren. According to reports they have enjoyed a number of holidays to Iceland and Hong Kong together. As candid as ever, Austin has revealed that he's all but lost his desire for sex since breaking up with his personal trainer husband Jake Lees in July after eight years of marriage. She has been acting for three decades. But Salma Hayek still looks like a tall glass of water. The 50-year-old Mexican actress looked stunning in a black outfit when she hit the premiere for Beatriz at Dinner at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Monday. Elegant: Salma Hayek still looks like a tall glass of water. The 50-year-old Mexican actress looked stunning in a black outfit when she hit the premiere for Beatriz at Dinner at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Monday She nailed it: The mother-of-one also showed off her figure in tight slacks and a shirt buttoned low The showing for the comedy was held at the Eccles Center Theater. The Fools Rush In beauty let her hair down for the event and wore pretty red lipstick. The mother-of-one also showed off her figure in tight slacks and a shirt buttoned low. Covered in sequins and with golden locks to match, the 42-year-old star sparkled from head to toe. Silver and gold: The red carpet favorite was also seen with Chloe Sevigny Sparkling star! Sevigny lit up the arrivals carpet at the premiere The actor, director and fashion designer made a statement in a mod-inspired dress with a hemline that high mid-thigh. She wore opaque tights with chunky, black ankle booties and a dainty wrist watch. Sevigny carried a boxy hand bag to complete the retro look. Blonde bombshell: Covered in sequins and with golden locks to match, the 42-year-old star sparkled from head to toe Modern mod: The actor, director and fashion designer made a statement in a mod-inspired dress with a hemline that high mid-thigh The Bloodline actor was joined at the Beatriz at Dinner event by her co-star in the film, Salma Hayek, who dressed in a simple pantsuit with silver embellishments on the top. Hayek, 50, plays the title character in the independent film, about a doctor of holistic medicine who joins a dinner party when her car breaks down at an affluent client's home. Earlier in the day, Sevigny accompanied Analeigh Tipton at the Indiewire in Conversation panel at Chase Sapphire on Main. Tipton appears with her in another indie flick, Golden Exits. Total package: She wore opaque tights with chunky, black ankle booties and a dainty wrist watch, while carrying a boxy hand bag to complete the retro look Sevigny has a lot to be happy about, as evidenced by her toothy grin at the happenings in Park City. The previous year saw her directorial debut for the short film, Kitty, where a little girl dreams of becoming a kitten, which was one of seven projects she undertook in 2016, according to IMDB. In 2017, the star will appear in at least eight projects, including Universal's The Snowman opposite Michael Fassbender and Oren Moverman's The Dinner starring Richard Gere and Charlie Plummer. Golden Exists and Beatriz at Dinner are included in that list of eight, as well. The films had their first showings at Sundance on Sunday and Monday, respectively. He may be a world famous movie star, but he's also a man with a good heart. And Matt Damon showed his selfless side during the Sundance Film Festival while talking about Stella Artois' Buy A Lady A Drink campaign. The actor and the beer company have partnered up to raise money and help bring clean water to developing countries. Scroll down for video Heart of gold: Matt Damon showed his selfless side during the Sundance Film Festival while talking about Stella Artois' Buy A Lady A Drink campaign; seen on Saturday in Park City, UT The 46-year-old star, who sported a casual ensemble, grinned as he raised a glass during the panel on Saturday in Park City, Utah. Stella Artois has already donated $3 million to Water.org - which is an international nonprofit organization co-founded by Matt and Gary White. The charity aims at giving people access to clean water and sanitation - something that over 663 million individuals in the world still don't have. Stella Artois is selling Buy A Lady A Drink Limited Edition chalices to help benefit Water.org. Stella Artois has already donated $3 million to Water.org - which is an international nonprofit organization co-founded by Matt and Gary White (pictured) Beaming: The 46-year-old star, who sported a casual ensemble, grinned as he raised a glass during the panel last week in Park City, Utah Focused: The actor and the beer company have partnered up to raise money and help bring clean water to developing countries The purchase of one chalice provides five years of clean water for a person living in a developing world, according to the company's website. This is not the first time Stella Artois has worked with Matt's charity. The beer company has previously sold 225,000 limited edition chalices - which gave 800,000 individuals access to five years of clean water. Smiling ear to ear: The father of three beamed as he highlighted the charity during the panel; pictured with his Water.org founder Gary White Smiles all around: The purchase of one chalice provides five years of clean water for a person living in a developing world, according to the company's website; seen with Gary In 2006, Matt founded H2O Africa; he met Gary at the Clinton Global Initiative and came together to found Water.org together in 2009. He spoke to the Associated Press before the panel, where he was asked about President Trump. Matt said he hopes to pitch the clean water program to the president: 'Hopefully we'll get our turn.' Good guy: Water.org aims at giving people access to clean water and sanitation - something that over 663 million individuals in the world still don't have Strike a pose: He met Gary at the Clinton Global Initiative and came together to found Water.org together in 2009; (from l) Matt, chef Marcus Samuelsson and Gary 1 Classic Empire Mark Casse Pioneerof the NileSambuca Classica, by Cat Thief Any of the top four horses could have been a legitimate No. 1, but it was decided on the champ because of one of my favorite handicapping tools for a winning horse a huge gap between second and third in a large classy field, as was the case in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, where it was 7 1/2 lengths between the gifted, but ill-fated runner-up Not This Time and dual grade I winner Practical Joke in third. To demonstrate the strength of the race, Classic Empire earned a 102 Beyer speed figure, a 14-point jump from his impressive victory in the Breeders Futurity. No Dozing, fourth in the Breeders Futurity, beaten four lengths, came back to finish a solid second to Mo Town in the Remsen Stakes. Wild Shot, third in the Breeders Futurity, also beaten four lengths, came back to finish second to McCraken, in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, beaten 1 1/4 lengths. So the form of his races certainly has held up. What makes him so dangerous is his excellent tactical and high cruising speed, enabling him to be placed anywhere and handle any kind of pace. He looked to be in danger of becoming a problem child after wheeling and dumping his rider at the start of the Hopeful Stakes, but blinkers and maturity have turned him around, and hes been nothing but professional since. 2 McCraken Ian Wilkes GhostzapperIvory Empress, by by Seeking the Gold If youre looking for the ultimate horse for course for the Kentucky Derby, you cant do any better than this colt, who is 3-for-3 at Churchill Downs, winning at 6 1/2 furlongs, one mile, and 1 1/16 miles, all in the manner of a classic horse, complete with a devastating turn of foot. I have yet to find a flaw in him, and he does everything like the quintessential pro and doesnt require the whip, winning his races under a hand ride. He showed his class from the start, getting trapped behind a wall of horses before patiently easing out for running room. Once clear he took off with an impressive burst of speed and drew clear. In the Street Sense, he was steered 6-wide turning for home and again accelerated away from his foes to win in a sharp 1:35 2/5. In the Kentucky Jockey Club, he was 4-wide on the first turn and then displayed an electrifying turn of foot on the far turn before splitting horses, easing out 5-wide and beating the hard-nosed Wild Shot with authority, having him measured all the way. He possesses a smooth, fluid stride, and Ian Wilkes has been here before with Street Sense. There is absolutely nothing not to like about this colt. Unfortunately, theres a good chance he may meet Classic Empire in the Holy Bull, and we can only hope theyre both right there at the finish without gutting each other, and both remain the leading contenders. I would have loved to seen at least one of them return in a sprint to serve as a sharpener rather than continue their string of two-turn races. 3 Mo Town Tony Dutrow Uncle MoGrazi Mille, by Bernardini The top four horses are extremely difficult to separate; its splitting hairs. His maiden victory at a mile at Belmont stamped him as something special and raised expectations for the Remsen Stakes, and he came through brilliantly with an authoritative score, again demonstrating a smooth, efficient stride. Bred to run all day and trained by a terrific horseman in Dutrow, itll be hard for Pletcher to snatch John Velazquez away from this colt. Im not a huge fan of running 2-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles unless you come back at 3 with a sprint sharpener, but that would seem unlikely. A race like the Remsen indicates stamina, but it can also dull a young horse going that long in 1:14 and 1:38 4/5 and then coming back in more two-turn races at 3. Like Classic Empire, he has excellent tactical speed and can maintain it a long way. Right now, I would gladly take any of the top 3 as my future bet; they are that close. Classic Empire has faced better overall quality, but there is a good gauge in No Dozing, who was fourth in the Breeders Futurity, beaten four lengths by Classic Empire, and second, beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Mo Town in the Remsen. 4 Mastery Bob Baffert Candy RideSteady Course, by Old Trieste Baffert has been extremely high on this unbeaten colt since day one and his 3-for-3 record speaks for itself. He showed extraordinary speed in his debut, winning under a hand ride in 1:09 3/5 and earning a 93 Beyer. Two races later he dominated his foes in the Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity, going two turns for the first time, but against only four questionable opponents. He hasnt faced anything near the quality of the top eastern horses. Pedigree-wise, stamina is not a sure thing as it is the top three, but it wouldnt come as a surprise to see him stretch out effectively considering he has the look of stayer and tremendous extension to this stride, which is extremely smooth and efficient. His coat is rich in color and has a brilliant sheen to it. The best part of the Los Al Futurity was the visual aspect of it, and I love the way he was striding out in the stretch, as he did in the Bob Hope Stakes. He possesses sprint speed, but demonstrated his ability to rate just off the pace, even if it was briefly. Right now he is the most accomplished of Bafferts Derby contenders. 5 Practical Joke Chad Brown Into MischiefHalo Humor, by Distorted Humor The big question with him is how far he wants to go, as there are several speed influences in his pedigree and nothing that shouts stamina other than being inbred 5x5 to Halo. But I am ranking him this high because of his class and courage under fire, and having won the two most historic 2-year-old stakes in New York, the Hopeful and Champagne, both of which he won on sheer guts. But many feel he won the Hopeful only because Classic Empire self destructed at the break, throwing his rider. He did out-duel the speedy Syndergaard in the Champagne in one of the most exciting races of the year. Although Syndergaard was praised for his courage after battling through fast fractions, Practical Joke did not receive the recognition he deserved, rallying from nine lengths back and beating a brilliant horse after a testing stretch battle in the final furlong. And he ran the mile in a brilliant 1:34 3/5, two-fifths off Devils Bags stakes record. Although he failed to threaten Classic Empire and Not This Time in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, finishing a distant third, he had to alter course twice when horses drifted in front of him and finished well clear of the fourth horse. And there is no doubt the Champagne took a lot out of him, as it did Syndergaard, who was beaten 13 1/2 lengths in the Juvenile. He just started back working and bears watching, despite the distance question. He still hasnt won going two turns, and must show he can come home stronger than he did in the BC Juvenile. 6 Gormley John Shirreffs Malibu MoonRace to Urga, by Bernstein I admit I wasnt sure what to do with this colt. He did bounce back from his dismal effort in the Breeders Cup Juvenile with a game victory in the Sham Stakes in a sharp 1:35 4/5 over a sloppy sealed track that had been drenched with rain, But with a grade I victory around two turns at Santa Anita under his belt, should he have had as much trouble as he did with American Anthem, a horse with only one six-furlong maiden race under him, who battled head and a head with him on the lead through a testing half in :45 2/5 and nearly came back to beat him? American Anthem apparently is one of Bafferts best young horses, and Gormley did rate just off the pace early for the first time in his career before engaging American Anthem on the backstretch. And lets not forget that he did win the grade 1 Frontrunner Stakes by three lengths coming off a single maiden score at 6 1/2 furlongs. Shirreffs is a master at being patient with horses and he will manage him carefully. There is a good deal of grass in his pedigree, but plenty of class and stamina, tracing to the great mare Estrapade and one of the top stamina influences, Vaguely Noble. He still needs to learn to sit back a little longer and conserve his speed if he wants to carry it 10 furlongs. 7 American Anthem Bob Baffert BodemeisterIndys Windy, by A.P. Indy I didnt know what to expect from him in the Sham Stakes after winning his debut by a neck going six furlongs, in which he staged a strong rally in the final furlong, despite never changing leads. Breaking from the rail in the Sham, he charged to the lead and dug in gamely when challenged by Gormley, just missing by a head. This time he changed leads on cue and showed tremendous tenacity against a horse who had already been two turns twice, winning a grade 1 and competing in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. Both his grandsires are Belmont Stakes winners and his female family has plenty of stamina through Quack, T.V. Lark, and Cloudy Dawn, tracing to Aunt Tilt, a half-sister to Damascus, by English Derby, St. Leger, and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth winner Tulyar. Baffert already has Mastery, and if Beach Bum and some of the others progress, hell have to do his usual traveling to keep them separated. 8 Uncontested Wayne Catalano Tiz WonderfulGalileos Star, by by Lil E. Tee I normally would be reluctant to bunch three horses together who have yet to prove they are comfortable rating off the pace going two turns, but this colt has such a huge, bounding stride and was in such control of the Smarty Jones Stakes, I have no doubt he will rate behind horses when asked to. From a physical standpoint, he is as visually impressive as any 3-year-old Ive seen this year, and kind of reminds me of the brilliant Lost Code, with his imposing dark bay frame, braided mane, and free-running style. To see him loping along on the lead nearing the quarter pole of the Smarty Jones while a very talented colt in Petrov was under a full-out drive trying to catch him, but actually losing ground, was extremely impressive. There is nothing about him to suggest he wont carry his speed long distances -- his paternal grandsire, Tiznow, is a two-time Breeders Cup Classic winner, and his maternal grandsire, Lil E. Tee, is a Kentucky Derby winner. He demonstrated his raw speed in his career debut, winning by 6 lengths in a blazing 1:15 4/5 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. He was rushed into the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and had to break on the far outside from the 12-post. He tired late to finish a decent fourth behind McCraken. If he shows he can rate off the pace, even a little, in the Southwest Stakes, were talking serious Derby horse. But even as a speed horse I wouldnt want to mess with him on the lead or have to chase him. A huge bargain, selling as a yearling for only $20,000. 9 No Dozing Arnaud Delacour Union RagsStay Awake, by Pulpit One can only speculate where this colt would have finished had he not lost tons of ground in both the Breeders Futurity and Remsen Stakes, yet he still finished a solid fourth and second, respectively, putting in a strong move on the turn in both races. Prior to that he was impressive in two sprint victories at Delaware and Laurel. In the Breeders Futurity he was fanned seven-wide on the first turn before making a strong middle move and then making another run to reach contention. It was no surprise that he was unable to sustain his run, but still on to finish a respectable fourth. In the Remsen, he was pushed out five-wide on the first turn and was wide every step of the way. He again made a big run on the turn and ran on strongly in the stretch, but was unable to match strides with Mo Town, while finishing well clear of 4-5 favorite Takaful in third. Delacour is a rising force as a trainer and maintains a top-class operation at Fair Hill during most of the year. He is inbred to Triple Crown winners Secretariat and Seattle Slew and traces to English Derby, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and 2,000 Guineas winner Nashwan and also to the blue hen producer Toll Booth, Broodmare of the Year and dam of seven stakes winners. 10 Gunnevera Antonio Sano Dialed InUnbridled Rage, by Unbridled Versatile enough to win from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, winning stakes at Saratoga and Delta Downs and breaking his maiden at Gulfstream. His last to first explosion in the Delta Downs Jackpot was as powerful a move as youll see from a 2-year-old. When he was set down nearing the far turn, he quickly leveled off and blew by the entire field before drawing well clear to win by almost 6 lengths. In his Saratoga Special victory he crushed Sonic Mule by almost 19 lengths and Sonic Mule has come back to win three in a row, including the recent Mucho Macho Man Stakes. His pedigree is inundated with stamina top and bottom, and is loaded with champions and classic winners, so there is no question he will continue to stretch out effectively. So far, he looks to be the biggest bargain of the bunch, selling as a yearling at Keeneland for a mere $16,000. 11 Guest Suite Neil Howard Quality RoadGuest House, by Ghostzapper There would be no more popular trainer to win the Derby than Howard, especially for Will Farish, and hes on the right path with this consistent geldiing, who has won at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and most recently Fair Grounds, where he captured the LeComte Stakes in fine style, handling that long stretch very well after taking the lead nearing the eighth pole. Behind him were a pair of promising colts in Untrapped and Takeoff. We havent brought up the Derby gods penchant for rewarding owners and trainers who have paid their dues and put a great deal into the sport for many years. But with Howard and Farish, were looking at a Mack MillerPaul Mellon kind of result, as we saw with Sea Hero. Guest Suite certainly has the credentials, having won at Keeneland, Churchill Downs, and Fair Grounds. His only defeat in his last four starts came at the hands of McCraken in the Street Sense Stakes, where he finished a solid third, rallying from fifth in the final furlong. His second dam, Welcome Surprise, is a half-sister to A.P. Indy and Summer Squall, who Howard saddled to win the 1990 Preakness. 12 El Areeb Cathal Lynch Exchange RateFeathered Diamond, by A.P. Indy I was torn whether or not to include him in the Top 12. A son of Exchange Rate who debuted at 4 1/2 furlongs at Parx is not exactly the kind of horse Id put in the Dozen, but his two sprint victories at Laurel were brilliant and he followed that up by stretching out to two turns in the Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, romping by 11 1/4 lengths in the mud and doing it with style. So he has rattled off three consecutive dominating performances. What was striking about his Jerome victory was the ease with which he blew by the even-money favorite Takaful, who for whatever reason stopped to a walk on the muddy, sealed track. I also liked the fact that he crushed Win With Pride by more than a dozen lengths, and Win With Pride was coming off a decent fourth in the Remsen Stakes at odds of 40-1. Exchange Rate, however, as solid a sire as he was, never produced a horse who wanted any part of 1 1/4 miles, but some were effective up to 1 1/16 to 1 1/8 miles and he does have a strong female family, with a number of top-class Canadian horses present. So the jury is still out on him. KNOCKING ON THE DOOR Graham Motion has two colts to watch, and as of now it doesnt look as if he can separate the two. One of them, IRISH WAR CRY, is a horse I was all prepared to put in the Top 12 after being blown away by his sensational maiden victory. Taken back to ninth, 8 lengths off the pace, the son of Curlin put in a spectacular wide run on the turn, blowing by horses one by one before being carried 8-wide turning for home. Despite racing a bit greenly in the stretch, he drew off with ease to win by 4 1/2 lengths in 1:10 3/5, earning an excellent 83 Beyer. With his stamina-oriented pedigree, there was no telling what we were dealing with. Hes the only horse I actually tweeted about after his maiden win. But in his next start, the seven-furlong Marylander Stakes, it was a huge surprise to see him so rank early, charging to the front while fighting his rider and under hard restraint. Even Motion admitted he was surprised. To his credit, he did settle into stride once clear and dug in gamely when headed by the newly blinkered O Dionysus, out-dueling him to the wire to win in a sprightly 1:22 3/5, while coming home his final furlong in a hair under :12 flat. But then O Dionysus was defeated at 2-5 in the Frank Whitelely Stakes at the same distance, which complicated matters even more. So far, weve seen two totally different horses, and its time to move him up in company and see just who the real Irish War Cry is and whether he can revert back to his maiden race and look more like a classic-type horse. That will come in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay. One would think two turns will help and I expect to see a much more professional horse next time, and that likely will put him in the Dozen. The other colt Motion is high on is PAINTERS RAGS, a son of Union Rags who was impressive breaking his maiden at a mile in his career debut in the mud. Hes had one solid work at Palm Meadows and Motion will look for an allowance race at Gulfstream Park. One horse I was tempted to put in the first Dozen, but just didnt have the room, is the Smarty Jones runner-up PETROV. I was very impressed with his maiden victory at Churchill Downs in his career debut, when he launched a powerful move in the stretch to make up a 4 1/2-length deficit at the eighth pole. He rallied again in his next start, but ran like a horse who wanted two turns. In the Smarty Jones, he had the unenviable task of chasing Uncontested every step of the way, and did make a good move on the turn, pinning his ears and getting down and dirty. I love how hard he tried, and although he was no match for Uncontested, he finished 4 1/2 lengths ahead of the third horse. I believe this is a promising colt who youll be hearing from this winter and spring. Another horse to watch at Fair Grounds, who should love the long stretch, is the late-closing LOOKIN AT LEE, winner of the Ellis Park Juvenile and a fast-closing second in the Iroquois and Breeders Futurity, beaten by Not This Time and Classic Empire, respectively. He is another who came close to making the Top 12. He concluded his 2-year-old campaign with a fourth, beaten 12 lengths, in the Breeders Cup Juvenile. The son of Lookin at Lucky has a classic pedigree top and bottom. Well see if he can stay a bit closer in his races. Hes had four works at Fair Grounds, including a pair of solid 5-furlong breezes at Fair and should be a factor in the Risen Star Stakes. Still another right thee knocking on the door is Kentucky Jockey Club runner-up and Breeders Futurity third-place finisher WILD SHOT, who has been working steadily at Payson Park for trainer Rusty Arnold. The son of Trappe Shot, who broke his maiden sprinting at Churchill Downs, hung tough in both those stakes races against Classic Empire and McCraken. Im not quite sure how much farther he wants to go, but he is a hard-running colt who gives his all every race. Shug McGaughey got an early start on the Tampa Bay Derby path by sending out Stuart Janney IIIs PROFITEER to an allowance victory at Tampa Bay going 1 1/16 miles on January 4. The neck score marked the son of War Fronts second straight score. McGaughey is stabled at Payson Park. This time of year, the temptation is always strong to fall head over heels with some sensational maiden winner, especially trained by Todd Pletcher, whose horses always seem to run their butts off in January or thereabouts. But I have decided all these hot shot maiden winners, regardless of the trainer, are going to have to show me they can beat winners first, regardless of how spectacular they looked in January. These lightly raced horses are always playing catch-up, and like many others I fell for Pletcher horses such as Stradivari, who didnt make it past June; Zulu, who didnt make it past April (but is back now at 4), Outwork, who didnt make it past May; Materiality, who didnt make it past June; and Constitution, who didnt make it past March (but came back at 4). This year, Pletcher is back with several spectacular maiden winners, most notably BATTALION RUNNER, FAJA, and MALAGACY, who all look to have a bright future, but once again are behind and playing catch-up. Faja, a son of Bodemeister, broke his maiden by almost 9 lengths going a mile in December, so he is not playing catch-up as much as the others. That race should give him plenty of bottom and he definitely is one to watch. Pletcher also had an impressive maiden winner in ALUM, but he came back to finish ninth, beaten 11 lengths, in a seven-furlong allowance race. While Malagacys only start was a 15-length romp going 5 1/2 furlongs in a snappy 1:03 3/5 on Jan. 4, it was his career debut and he really has a lot of catching up to do. But Battalion Runner has two starts, both excellent performances, including an 8 3/4-length laugher in 1:22 4/5, under his belt, and there is nothing not to like about him. He also ran a big second in his career debut after having to check badly at the start, breaking well behind the field. He is an attractive son of Unbridleds Song, out of a full-sister (by Tapit) to Breeders Cup Mile winner Tapizar. The question with him is whether he wants to go 1 1/4 miles, but he has all the tools. Hes a very handsome colt with a great hind end, but we'll see if he continues to stretch out effectively. He intrigues me, because I think hes extremely gifted, and I loved his last work, but, again, I need to see him beat winners, which I believe he will do with no problem. Pletcher does have a live one in FACT FINDING, a son of The Factor who is undefeated in three starts for Coolmore and Stonestreet, and winner of the Smooth Air Stakes by 7 lengths in the slop back in December. Hes been working great, recently turning in a bullet 5-furong breeze in 1:01, fastest of 21 works at the distance. Another who is on a three-race winning streak for Pletcher is SONIC MULE, winner of the Mucho Macho Man Stakes by a head over the Mark Casse-trained STATE OF HONOR, who was making his dirt debut. MASTER PLAN, an $850,000 2-year-old purchase was impressive winning Tuesday's OBS Championship. He previously had only raced on grass or slop, so this was his fast track debut. As for the aforementioned SYNDERGAARD, he has not worked since the Breeders Cup. Speaking of impressive maiden winners, Bob Baffert has a runner in BEACH BUM, who looked great breaking his maiden by 5 1/4 lengths in November, but the son of Arch hasnt worked since December 27, so as of now he would be hard-pressed to make the Derby. Also hard-pressed to make the Derby is AQUAMARINE, who was very professional breaking his maiden going 5 1/2 furlongs, but he likely would have only three starts before the Derby and not even having raced farther than 5 1/2 furlongs in mid-January. It would be a huge rush to get him there. Former Baffert horse, ILIAD, threw in a clunker in career debut against American Anthem last December, but rebounded only 15 days later with an impressive maiden score at Los Alamitos. Another Kaleem Shah-owned 3-year-old with whom Baffert had to part is Del Mar Futurity winner KLIMT, who ran terribly in the Breeders Cup Juvenile and hasnt worked since December 28. He is now in the barn of Art Sherman. Baffert did have a recent winner in DABSTER, but that was a four-horse blanket finish in slow time over the deep Santa Anita surface, so there isnt much to say about him. The most recent brilliant maiden winner was BATTLE OF MIDWAY, a son of Smart Strike who won his career debut impressively this past Saturday for Jerry Hollendorfer and Rick Porter. But, with the colt on course to have only three career starts before the Derby, I would doubt they will rush him to make the race. If you haven't watched HENCE's amazing maiden victory at Oaklawn yet, deinitely check it out. More on this colt and that race next week. One horse I had hoped to put fairly high on the Top 12 since the Breeders Cup was the grass horse GOOD SAMARITAN, who not only has a strong dirt pedigree, he has a ton of class and is just a beautiful-looking colt. Although the eventual plan is to try him on dirt, he is getting a very late start and is nowhere near a work, so they are really behind the 8-ball with him and there is virtually no shot of making the Derby. I have no idea what happened to HEMSWORTH in the Mucho Macho Man, in which the Godolphin colt was eased. This followed a stunning 9 1/2-length romp in the Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct while still a maiden. The good news is that the son of Bernardini returned to the work tab January 19, breezing a half in :49 2/5 at Palm Meadows. Dallas Stewart was forced to scratch unbeaten Louisiana Juvenile Stakes winner SAINTS FAN from the LeComte after the colt drew post 12 on the far outside. Stewart also owns the son of Tale of Ekati, and feels the Louisiana-bred has a bight future. Remington Springboard Mile winner COOL ARROW returned to the work tab January 14, breezing a half in :50 1/5, after moving from Fair Grounds to the Evangeline Downs training center. , the Florida-bred sensation who swept the Florida Stallion Series with three dominating victories before faltering in the Breeders Cup Juvenile, has been tearing up the Gulfstream track in the mornings, breezing 5 furlongs in :58 4/5 on January 14 and then coming back with a :58 3/5 breeze on January 21. Before heading to Santa Anita, the son of Gone Astray won his five starts at Gulfstream by an average margin of 6 lengths, including a 10-length romp in the In Reality Stakes, the final race of the series. Victoria Beckham has taken a pop at reunited Spice Girls Mel B, Emma Bunton and Geri Horner in an Instagram post, according to some of her fans. The designer, 42, shared a snap of herself 'flicking the V' while sitting in a stylish ensemble on a luxurious cream settee. Along with Mel C, Victoria declined to reunite with the Spice Girls to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary, with the remaining trio deciding to continue without them. Scroll down for video Victoria Beckham, 42, has taken a pop at reunited Spice Girls Mel B, Emma Bunton and Geri Horner in an Instagram post, according to some of her fans One fan commented on the image - which Victoria captioned '2 become 1 X Kisses VB #girlpower' - 'Clearly a dig at her opposing that the spice girls perform their old hits at an aleadged (sic) reunion which VB will not be attending. Childish.' While another asked: 'Is that to the rest of the girls.' A third questioned: 'Anyone else think this is a bit shady?' The show must go on: Along with Mel C, Victoria declined to reunite with the Spice Girls to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary, with the remaining trio rebranding as GEM - an acronym of their first names A fourth sniped: '2 become 1 is a spice girl title.. I knew that you dont want to be linked with them, you DO NOT accept to take photos or anything related to the spice girls, so why do you write 2 become 1?' MailOnline has contacted a representative for Victoria and is awaiting comment. However, some thought it was a hint Victoria could be having second thoughts about her stance on the reunion. One said: 'We hope a #spicegirls reference. Dont forget your past. We love you like Posh.' Fashionista: Victoria has been in Paris with her family for the beginning of the city's Haute Couture Week Another posted: 'I hope this is a reference to the #spicegirls @victoriabeckham #reunion? Trying to decipher the post's true meaning, another said: 'ummmm omg I think this stands for spice girls reunion don't think it's shady but I do think there is a hidden message in there somewhere lol. her though' Victoria has been in Paris with her family for the beginning of the city's Haute Couture Week. She shared a cute snap of daughter Harper, five, dressed as a princess on Instagram as well a snap of her snuggling up to husband David. The youngster wore her hair in a chunky plait and dressed in a tiara, pink sash and lavish red cloak which she wore over a pale yellow dress. She peered through a window, her face covered in paint, while Victoria wrote on the image, 'Baby girl kisses x VB'. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical when she originated the role of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 2003 Broadway hit Wicked. But it wasn't Idina Menzels soothing pipes that impressed the musicals director when she auditioned for the part. No, it was her fiery response when her pitch-perfect voice gave out. I had to hit the high note at the end and I botched it. I totally cracked. Instead of giving up, I yelled fk at the top of my lungs,' the Grammy winner recalled on Monday on Late Night With Seth Meyers. I was so mad at myself. Scroll down for video Let It Go! Idina Menzel recalled on Late Night With Seth Meyer on Monday hurling an expletive during her audition for Broadway musical Wicked The Glee star explained that it wasnt eventually finding the right key that left the biggest impression during the evaluationit was how she inadvertently embodied the nature of the character. Thats supposedly why the director gave me the job, she quipped. I looked evil like I could totally be a witch. The wildly popular musical is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz and tells the origins of green-skinned witch Elphaba and her rival Glenda, the Good Witch, long before Dorothy arrives in Oz. For her appearance on the late-night program, she cut a chic figure in a pearl-colored blouse that featured embroidery and sparkling detail teamed with striking red trousers and matching cut-out pumps, and dangling diamond earrings. Busy schedule: The singer-actress' Lifetime remake of 1988's Beaches debuted over the weekend Not Frozen: The Grammy winner's career is on fire with a forthcoming world tour Solidarity: Idina was joined by her mother and friends at the Women's Solidarity March in Los Angeles The Let It Go hitmaker shared that the weekend was a whirlwind of activity. Her remake of Bette Midlers 1988 melodrama Beaches, opposite actress Nia Long, premiered Saturday on Lifetime, and she also participated in the Womens Solidarity March with her mother in Los Angeles, which saw scores of protesters across the country voicing concerns about womens rights under the Trump presidency. Some of the demonstrators included many famous faces such as Miley Cyrus, Madonna and Natalie Portman. Glamour gal: The entertainer looked chic in a pearl-colored blouse that featured sparkling detail teamed with striking red trousers and dangling diamond earrings Proud: Idina shared that her mother is a fan of her work and regularly watches her concerts I marched with 750,000 people, Idina shared. First of all, I got to meet Jane Fondaits not all about meeting celebrities, but we did have priorities. There were so many people, I dont think people were prepared for it. The whole street, where we were supposed to march was full, so we were just stuck. Asked if her mother has seen the TV movie, she responded that she was indeed a loyal fan of her work. Best friends forever: The film stars Idina and Nia Long as childhood best friends whose adult friendship is tested So Wicked! She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical when she originated the role of the Wicked Witch of the West opposite Kristin Chenoweth in the 2003 Broadway hit Of course, she has probably watched it 12 times in one day, she said. She and my sister, whenever Ive been in a play or Broadway show, their thing is during intermissiontheyll go to the bathroom and stand in line and listen to what everyone says. Of course, most of its nice, but if theres ever one, theyre ready to take that bh down. And there will be more opportunities for Idinas mother to silence any haters. The entertainer will hit the road on a world tour that launches in Japan on March 29, with stops in the U.S. and Canada through September 9. European dates will be announced later. His multi-million dollar settlement from Walmart for injuries he suffered in a July 2014 crash is being fiercely contested by the retail company's insurers. And on Monday, THR.com reported that a judge last week ordered SNL alum Tracy Morgan to abide by a subpoena and hand over to the insurance companies documents relating to his health, his earnings and his public appearances. The 48-year-old comic, however, appeared unfazed by the latest legal developments as he arrived at New York's JFK airport with wife Megan Wollover. Scroll down for video Carefree: Comic Tracy Morgan looked unfazed as he arrived at JFK Airport Monday with wife Megan after a judge ordered him last week to abide by a subpoena issued as part of a dispute between Walmart and two insurance companies over his crash settlement The funnyman shrugged his shoulders as he got his picture taken while walking into the terminal as if he didn't have a care int he world. Morgan was dressed in baggy jeans with lace-up brown boots and a long-sleeved light blue top. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan and fellow limo passenger Ardie Fuqua received a $90 million settlement from the retail giant after suffering extensive injuries when the town car they were riding in was hit by a Walmart truck driver late at night on the New Jersey Turnpike. Ohio Casualty Insurance Company and Liberty Insurance Underwriters have filed suit alleging the settlement was 'exorbitant' and accusing Walmart of not engaging in a thorough investigation into the extent of the 30 Rock actor's injuries and the impact of them on his future earnings potential. PDA: SNL alum Morgan, 48, looked relaxed as he strolled with his arm around wife Megan, the mother of his young daughter Maven, whom he wed in 2015 Casual: The funnyman was dressed in baggy jeans with lace-up brown boots and a long-sleeved light blue top. he also rocked a large silver medallion They accuse the retailer of not getting their approval of the amount of settlement paid to Morgan and his friends, and therefore they don't believe they are responsible for the settlement payments. The insurance companies demanded several months ago that Morgan hand over tax returns, independent medical exams and, THR.com noted after reviewing case filings, 'documents generated after the settlement that refer or relate to his appearing on national television shortly after the settlement, driving a Lamborghini in midtown Manhattan shortly after the settlement, Tracy's Morgan's ability to walk around midtown New York shortly after the settlement and his appearing at the Emmy Awards to make a presentation.' Walmart has vigorously defended its decision to make the enormous payouts stating they had a clear responsibility for the accident and wanted to settle claims rather than go to trial in what it described as a 'business decision.' Hurt: Morgan received a multi-million dollar settlement from Walmart after he suffered serious injuries when a Walmart truck driver crashed into the limo he was riding in in July 2014 Horror crash: Morgan's longtime friend James McNair was killed in the accident that occurred late at night on the New Jersey Turnpike The magistrate judge in New Jersey has given Morgan 20 days to produce the requested documents. Last October, Morgan returned to the stage at Dover Downs, where he performed to a packed-out audience on the exact same stage he was on before being involved in the fatal crash that killed his longtime friend James McNair. He shared a photo to Instagram of himself kneeling and bowing his head over an empty audience chair dedicated to McNair. Drake was enjoying the company of a pretty brunette while in a dimly lit restaurant in Amsterdam on Monday. And DailyMail.com has identified the woman as porn star Rosee Divine. The beauty became famous as a woman of cinema who has plugged her work heavily with sexy images on Instagram. But she is also an artist who goes by the name Sophie B. The temptress: Drake was enjoying the company of a pretty brunette while in a dimly lit restaurant in Amsterdam on Monday. And DailyMail.com has identified the woman as porn star Rosee Divine There she is: The film star beamed at the singer, who has been linked to Jennifer Lopez The star looked entranced with Drake, who has been linked to Jennifer Lopez since December. The adult film actress laughed alongside him as they nibbled on food with other pals. It is not known if they are romantic, but they seemed to be very happy during their alone time. Lusty: The beauty became famous as a woman of cinema who has plugged her work heavily with sexy images on Instagram. But she is also an artist Rosee has a habit of posing in skimpy lingerie for social media. In one image she wears only a skimpy pair of undies as she twerks. She also seems to not be shy when rubbing her backside. But the star calls herself 'retired' on Twitter. She also claims to be French. Lovely: Rosee has a habit of posing in skimpy lingerie for social media. In one image she wears only a skimpy pair of undies as she twerks These days she says she is an artist who goes by Sophie B. In a bio for her website it is written: 'Sophie B. is a 27-year-old artist, born and raised in France. 'Since her younger years shes been traveling and studying abroad, which greatly influenced her art. She exhibited in cities like NYC, Milan, and London. 'Her style is a mix of surrealism and symbolism with influences of pop art. A woman of many talents: She also seems to not be shy when rubbing her backside. But the star calls herself 'retired' on Twitter. She also claims to be French 'She uses various media such as oil paint, acrylic, or pastels and mixes them together to express strong emotions. 'She likes to paint about what women of her generation go through. In a digital era where social media and communication reign, where love and money are often at conflict, where opportunity corrupts morals and intentions it is not easy to be a woman! 'Above all, Sophies work reveals her deep concern for the human condition in society and how she feels something needs to change.' Sunny day for this one: In her bio it is said: 'She uses various media such as oil paint, acrylic, or pastels and mixes them together to express strong emotions' She likes attention: Here the Parisian is seen in a green catsuit that leaves little to the imagination She has something in common with J-Lo: The stunner shows off her generous backside here She loves her work: Here the lady is seen under one of her paintings Lopez and Drake have shared loving images on Instagram, suggesting they are an item. But at the TCA panel for her cop drama Shades Of Blue, Lopez merely said they were working together. She was last linked to Casper Smart and before that to Marc Anthony, the father of her twins Max and Emme. When it comes to men, this star has not always surrounded herself with the most dependable of the male species. But one exception to the not so reliable track record of Sandra Bullock is long time bodyguard Peter Weireter, who was once again by the star's side. The 52-year-old and her faithful helper arrived on the New York set of Ocean's Eight bearing gifts on Tuesday. Support system: Sandra Bullock was escorted onto the set of Ocean's Eight by bodyguard Peter Weireter on Tuesday Sandra also arrived with her head held high despite her former husband Jesse James suggesting on Sunday that she had also been unfaithful in their short-lived marriage. The Oscar winner no doubt thought she was finally rid of the alt-right leaning former television star since divorcing him back in 2010. But Jesse - who was caught cheating on his actress wife - decided to drag his ex back through the mud one more time on Sunday. While tweeting about his dislike of the Women's Marches protesting Donald Trump's election going on across the country, The Monster Garage star fired back at a Twitter user and implied Sandra was unfaithful. Don't let it get you down: Sandra arrived with her head held high despite her former husband Jesse James suggesting on Sunday that she had also been unfaithful in their marriage Gone but not forgotten: The Oscar winner no doubt thought she was finally rid of the alt-right leaning former television star since divorcing him back in 2010 (pictured that same year) On Sunday, James tweeted: 'Just Imagine if ALL these women cared as much about the homeless and Vets in this country as they do about Themselves.' Twitter user @tinybucci responded: 'Just imagine if people like you cared enough for your spouse not to cheat on her.... ' The reality star then tweeted back: 'Ahhh cheating goes both ways sweetie. Just because you got all teary eyed at some actress. Doesn't mean she won't cheat on her husband.' Not a big fan: While tweeting about his dislike of the Women's Marches protesting Donald Trump's election going on across the country, The Monster Garage star fired back at a Twitter user and implied Sandra was unfaithful This is despite Jesse previously admitting to cheating a number of times, and saying he only had himself to blame for their divorce. Despite this nastiness, Sandra seemed focused on the task at hand on Tuesday. She headed into the wardrobe trailer with bodyguard Peter, who carried some bagged gifts. The actress does have another important man in her life, beau Bryan Randall, however, they have not been seen together since October. She was honoured with an Oscar nomination for her role in Lion earlier that day. And Nicole Kidman certainly celebrated the news in style on Tuesday, as she made an elegant appearance at the Giorgio Armani Prive show for Haute Couture Fashion Week, in Paris. The actress, 49, looked truly stunning in a form-fitting black gown as she took her place on the FROW alongside her fellow Oscar nominee, Isabelle Huppert. Scroll down for video Honoured: Nicole Kidman celebrated her Oscar nomination in style on Tuesday, as she made an elegant appearance at the Giorgio Armani show at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris Proud: The actress, 49, looked truly stunning in a form-fitting black gown as she took her place on the FROW alongside her fellow Oscar nominee, Isabelle Huppert (right) The screen stars could not conceal their happiness and pride at their news as they greeted each other at the event - with Nicole giving the 63-year-old a tender squeeze on the arm in congratulations. The Moulin Rouge star looked as radiant as ever at the catwalk show in a sleek black gown complete with satin ribbon belt. The dress remained both sophisticated and stylish as it stretched into a ruched high neck and long sleeves, before skimming her enviably slender figure to its calf hem. Well done! The screen stars could not conceal their pride at their news at the event - with Nicole giving the 63-year-old a squeeze on the arm in congratulations So happy: Nicole then gave the French beauty a kiss on the hand in appreciation as they greted each other on the FROW Exciting: Nicole was no doubt more excited than usual for Isabelle - who has been nominated for her first ever Oscar after more than 40 years in the industry No bad blood: There is set to be no rivalry between the pair however as Nicole is nominated in the Supporting Actress category, while Isabelle is nominated for Best Actress All black everything: The Moulin Rouge star looked as radiant as ever at the catwalk show in a sleek black gown complete with satin ribbon belt Making the look more glamorous, the frock then featured a shining ribbon around the waist, to further enhance her petite frame and break up the matte black colour. She co-ordinated her look to perfect by adding a pair of barely-there black heels and a chic velvet clutch bag of matching hue. The blonde then jazzed up the stunning look with a matching bangle and drop earrings set, formed of dazzling pink, purple and green jewels. So chic: The dress remained both sophisticated and stylish as it stretched into a ruched high neck and long sleeves, before skimming her enviably slender figure to its calf hem Style star: The strawberry blonde beauty left the exclusive fashion event in style Ankle grazing: Nicole accepted some help down the steps in her sky-high heels Nicole confidently posed for cameras outside the glamorous event before heading inside to greet fellow actress Isabelle - who stood out from the crowd in a stunning blue trouser suit. She kept the look classic with a simple black roll neck underneath, and left her hair in soft curls to frame her face and enviably glowing complexion. The pair watched the designer's SS17 collection side-by-side before happily chatting together after the bash - no doubt discussing their exciting Oscar nominations, granted that morning. Dazzling: Nicole's statement earrings were sure to make heads turn All that glitters: The blonde then jazzed up the stunning look with a matching bangle and drop earrings set, formed of dazzling pink, purple and green jewels Nicole has been put forward in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Lion alongside Dev Patel, who also scored a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The film follows Dev as Saroo Brierley - a young man desperate to find his biological family 25 years after getting lost on the streets of Calcutta. The Australian beauty, who plays his adoptive mother in the emotional flick, said after receiving the nod: 'I want to thank the Academy for all of the acknowledgements you have given this heartfelt film.' Sealed with a kiss: Nicole confidently posed for cameras outside the event before heading inside to greet fellow actress Isabelle to discuss their exciting Oscar nominations 'But, most importantly, I want to thank the Brierley family for putting themselves in such a vulnerable place and sharing their story with the world.' Meanwhile Isabelle, 63, has been put forward for an award in the prestigious Best Actress category for her role in the French film Elle. The French beauty plays Michele Leblanc in the psychological thriller, which sees her character battle with the fallout of a terrifying rape she endured in her home. Honoured: Nicole has been put forward in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in new drama Lion alongside Dev Patel - who also scored a nomination for Best Supporting Actor VIP: Nicole posed and caught up with Roberta Armani, the iconic designer's niece, at the glamorous event Leading lady: Nicole plays the adoptive mother of Dev's character Saroo in the new flick - who embarks on a quest to find his biological family after 25 years Starring role: Meanwhile Isabelle, 63, has been put forward for an award in the prestigious Best Actress category for her role in the French film Elle Gorgeous: The striking duo happily posed alongside Roberta and the man himself, Giorgio Armani (second left) Her role has widely been lauded as one of the best of her career - with her winning the Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes for the film earlier this month. Isabelle goes up against La La Land star Emma Stone, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman and Irish actress Ruth Negga for the prize. Meanwhile in the Supporting category Nicole is set to battle it out with previous Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, as well as Viola Davis, Michelle Williams and Naomie Harris. Star-studded: Olga Kurylenko also made her way to the catwalk in a chic black velvet mini, adorned with floral embroidery on the chest Beautiful: The French star drew attention to her enviably glowing skin with glamorous matte make-up and a slick of hit pink lipstick She's a fan: Nicole cuddled up to Giorgio, who is one of her favourite designers - having worn an Armani Prive dress to the Lion premiere at London's BFI Festival back in October She is no stranger to showing off her sensational figure in an array of glamorous outfits. But Rita Ora chose to cover up in the cold London weather on Tuesday, as she arrived at Black Island Studios to film an advert for Tezenis. The 26-year-old looked casually cool as she arrived on set in a fleece-lined aviator jacket and with a fresh face, to flaunt off her enviably clear complexion. Scroll down for video Chilled out: Rita Ora covered up in the cold London weather on Tuesday, as she arrived at Black Island Studios to film an advert for Tezenis The Hot Right Now hitmaker prioritised comfort for the shoot as she arrived at the studios in a loose-fitting tracksuit. Not letting her style falter even in casual wear however, her black bottoms featured bold white stripes down the side - which were mirrored in her sporty Adidas trainers. The songstress teamed the bottoms with a thick red jumper, to add a splash of colour to the look as well as keep her warm in the chilly temperatures. Comfy cool: The Hot Right Now hitmaker prioritised her comfort for the shoot as she arrived at the studios in a loose-fitting tracksuit layered beneath a stylish Aviator jacket Still retaining a touch of glamour however, the Kosovo-born star layered a sleek leather Aviator jacket on top, lined with a cosy white fleece material. She swept her hair back into a loose bun in preparation for its styling at the shoot, and left her face completely bare barring a pair of dark sunglasses - leaving her naturally glowing complexion on show. Rita has been the face of the Italian lingerie company for the last year and recently even unveiled her own signature range. Natural beauty: She swept her hair into a loose bun and left her face completely bare barring a pair of dark sunglasses, leaving her naturally glowing complexion on show After signing an endorsement deal she revealed she had always been a fan of their bras, as they are the only ones that can cope with the changing size of her breasts. She previously said: 'I did this was because I always struggle to find bras that fit. I'm a 34DD when I'm at that time of the month and when I'm not, it's 34D. 'I used Tezenis products and I enjoyed them, and I'm not saying this because I endorse them, but because I wear them.' Rita's stint in London comes after a hectic few weeks jetting in and out of Italy - where she has been shooting her new film Wonderwell. Woman of the hour: Rita has been the face of the Italian lingerie company for the last year, and recently even unveiled her own signature range According to Deadline the role, which has largely been kept under wraps, is 'set against the commercially driven world of high fashion and modelling'. The story centres on 'a 12-year-old girl who travels through a magic portal and gets her wish to grow up.' Rita is rumoured to be playing a famous fashion designer in the movie, which was shot in both Rome and Tuscany. Wonderwell is her latest acting gig after appearing as Christian Grey's sister, Mia, in the film adaptation of the best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey. She'll also appear in sequel Fifty Shades Darker. Kendall Jenner is one of the world's top jet setter thanks to her lucrative modeling career. And on Monday the 21-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star bragged about it on her site kendallj.com. The leggy Vogue cover girl started her post by saying she had flown 162,602 miles in 2016 alone. Check me out! Kendall Jenner is one of the world's top jet setter thanks to her lucrative modeling career. And on Monday the 21-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star bragged about it on her site kendallj.com. Pictured last week in NYC At work: Here she is pictured Tuesday in Paris on the Alexandre Vauthier show The sister of Kylie, Kim, Kourtney and Khloe also said she has visited 14 cities. The cities she has dropped into include LA (where she owns a home), Paris, New York, Dubia, Rome, Barcelona, Miami and Cannes, but that is only to name a few, she notes. And she has flown 346 hours during the 365 days of the year. That breaks down to almost an hour a day on a plane. Going up: The leggy Vogue cover girl started her post by saying she had flown 162,602 miles in 2016 alone A drag? Jenner said she has taken a total of 55 flights. The I Am Cait vet said she takes at least two suitcases with her, but then she will ship some too Jenner said she has taken a total of 55 flights. The I Am Cait vet said she takes at least two suitcases with her, but then she will ship some too. Her longest flight was from Dubai to Los Angeles, which was 17 hours long. Hope she has a Kindle: Her longest flight was from Dubai to Los Angeles, which was 17 hours long. Pictured May at LAX airport And she went on a private jet eight times. The pal of Jordan Clarkson and A$AP Rocky said she has listened to thousands of songs in the air, but didn't name any. And she arrives to the airport two hours early before a flight. Jenner added she has flying 'down to a science.' Her beau? The pal of Jordan Clarkson and A$AP Rocky said she has listened to thousands of songs in the air, but didn't name any. Pictured Sunday with A$AP in Paris She visited six new places in 2016: Barcelona, Rome, Vail, Washington DC, Turks & Caicos and Salt Lake City. It must have been hard to tally her travel buddies, but Kendall said it was 45. And she said she is 'basically bi-coastal' as she had been to NYC 14 times in the past year. On it: She visited six new places in 2016: Barcelona, Rome, Vail, Washington DC, Turks & Caicos and Salt Lake City. Pictured Tuesday in Paris She dned her post by saying to had slept 'countless' hours on a plane. 'Sleeping on the plane is my number-one trick for fighting jet lag!' On Tuesday she added: I'm really practical, so the one thing I can't travel without is hand sanitzer or some kind of medicine, like an Emergen-C pack. It's so easy to get sick on a plane, so you'll never see me jet without these!' Nicole Kidman said that the first thing she did when she received news of her Oscar nomination for the classy tearjerker Lion was to check that husband Keith Urban would be able to accompany her to the awards show in Hollywood. Lion was named in a total of six categories including best picture. She laughed and explained that when she was nominated a couple of weeks ago for Lion by BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, she and Urban realised that the BAFTA ceremony in London, on February 12, was on the same night as the Grammy music awards in Los Angeles. 'Keith's up for three Grammy awards and he's got to go to that show,' Kidman said. Scroll down for video Got a date! Nicole Kidman said that the first thing she did after her Oscar nomination was to check that husband Keith Urban was free to accompany her to the awards show in Hollywood She added: 'Keith said ,'What a fantastic dilemma to have!' But he said that I must go to the BAFTAs in London. He's so proud of me in Lion that he didn't want me to miss going. 'It's crazy that the Grammy awards and the BAFTAs are on the same night. Keith kept saying,'You have to go to London .You have to go.','Nicole told the Daily Mail. 'I did say to him, 'Well, I'll stay and go to the Grammy awards with you,' but he was adamant that I go to London. 'I'll Face Time him from the red carpet and we'll have a little chat ,' Kidman said. 'What a fantastic dilemma!' She explained the question had come after the realisation that the BAFTAs in London, on February 12, was on the same night as the Grammys in Los Angeles - where Keith is also nominated 'But we'll both be at the Oscars. There's nothing else for him that night so he'll come and support me ,' Kidman said giggling. In Lion, Kidman plays Sue Brierley: a Tasmanian woman who, with her husband , adopted a five-year old boy from India. The youngster, Saroo, is played by amazing unknown Sunny Pawar, who almost steals the movie. Reassured: 'But we'll both be at the Oscars,' Kidman continued. 'There's nothing else for him that night so he'll come and support me!' Saroo gets lost when he and his older brother are out riding trains and soon finds himself on the streets of Calcutta, a thousand miles away from his family in Khandwa. Eventually, Saroo's adopted by Brierley. The grownup Saroo, played by Dev Patel who was also nominated for his performance, tries to learn about his background by using Google Earth. The actress said she has been 'deeply touched' by how audiences have treated the film . 'This was just a little Australian film but it has gone global. Leading lady: Kidman has been nominated at the Oscars for Lion, in which she plays Sue Brierley (above), a Tasmanian woman who adopted a five-year old boy from India 'I think people love the story about Saroo and how Sue scooped him up Sue and her family exposed themselves and put themselves in a very vulnerable position in letting this story be told. 'I've become very close to Sue as a result of portraying her. They're a simple family from Tasmania with the same values as every other family which is why I think it is connecting,' Kidman told the Daily Mail. Kidman said that she was happy to be associated with the #LionHeartCampaign, set up in relation to the film to help raise funds for children in India who are lost and misplaced. Touching: The actress said she has been 'deeply touched' by how audiences have treated the film, admitting: 'This was just a little Australian film but it has gone global' The Oscar nomination for Lion is her fourth, she won the best actress statuette in 2002 for her portrait of Virginia Woolf in The Hours. Her other Oscar nominations were for Moulin Rouge and Rabbit Hole. She said that once the awards season is over she plans to 'scale back the work'. Kidman added: ' I have a few projects coming out over the year but I've pulled back from taking on any new projects for a while. Stellar cast: Nicole has been nominated alongside her co-star Dev Patel (above) who has been nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as Saroo, her adopted son 'I want to be with my family more.' Her priority, she said, will be her mother Janelle who suffered a heart attack last year. 'I'll be visiting my mother regularly , commuting back and forth between the US and Australia. 'As much as I'm a wife and a mother I'm also a daughter, that's a huge part of my life still,' she said. Kidman added: 'I'm a good daughter and so is my sister Antonia . You give to the mother. That's what you do and that's what I'm doing.' When it comes to parties none are bigger than the Sundance Film Festival. And Jon Hamm faced the first weekend of the annual Hollywood migration to Park City, Utah, with dedication and enthusiasm. The 45-year-old was everywhere going from event to event, party to party, culminating with a very excited appearance at the premiere of his new film Marjorie Prime. Snow schmooze: Jon Hamm faced the first weekend of the annual Hollywood migration to Park City, Utah, with dedication and enthusiasm which culminated with a very excited appearance at the premiere of his new film Marjorie Prime on Sunday Despite a long weekend of schmoozing in the snow, Jon could not contain himself as he spoke ahead of his movie's screening. The actor literally jumped for joy as the film's director Michael Almereyda introduced the science fiction flick. Not done there, the Mad Men star then gave co-star Tim Robbins a big high five. Hooray: The actor literally jumped for joy as the film's director Michael Almereyda introduced the science fiction flick Very excited: Not done there, the Mad Men star then gave co-star Tim Robbins a big high five Hold still: Jon was a little calmer on the red carpet, managing to stand still long enough to pose for pictures For the premiere, the actor dressed in the Sundance got-to, comfy layers. Jon wore a pair of dark blue jeans with a grey cardigan over a darker shade shirt and added a black jacket and scarf to top it all off. Jon was a little calmer on the red carpet, managing to stand still long enough to pose for pictures. Team effort: The actor was joined by his co-stars (L-R) Tim, Lois Smith and Geena Davis Low key: For the premiere, the actor dressed in the Sundance got-to, comfy layers Layered up: Jon wore a pair of dark blue jeans with a grey cardigan over a darker shade shirt and added a black jacket and scarf to top it all off He was joined by his co-stars Tim, Lois Smith and Geena Davis as well as his director. It was a rather long day for the stars who also stopped in at the Variety Studio presented by Orville Redenbacher's to discuss the film. Jon also stopped by the IMDb Studio to promote the film, which is based on Jordan Harrison's Pulitzer Prize-nominated play of the same name. First stop: It was a rather long day for the stars who also stopped in at the Variety Studio to discuss the film Promo trail: Jon also stopped by the IMDb Studio to promote the film, which is based on Jordan Harrison's Pulitzer Prize-nominated play of the same name In an attempt to keep his energy up, he grabbed some doughy snacks at Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers pop up at Rock & Reilly's. Jon was not the only one grabbing some pizza, Jason Schawrtzman also was there and jokingly pretended to eat a pretend pizza slice. Jack Black was also spotted wearing some of the restaurant's lifestyle brand, House Of Shroom, clothing. Refuel: In an attempt to keep his energy up, he grabbed some doughy snacks at Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers pop up at Rock & Reilly's Nice hat: Jack Black was also spotted wearing some of the restaurant's lifestyle brand, House Of Shroom, clothing Nom Nom: Jon was not the only one grabbing some pizza, Jason Schawrtzman also was there and jokingly pretended to eat a pretend pizza slice Jon's long Sunday followed a day of back-to-back appearances the previous day. The actor, and his co-stars, were treated a private dinner hosted by Nobu. Geena also attended the dinner at The Lift, and gladly posed up with Jon. Up late: The actor, and his co-stars, were treated a private dinner hosted by Nobu He's currently in Sydney filming Pacific Rim: Maelstrom. And American actor Scott Eastwood simply can't get enough of the country. On Tuesday the 30-year-old shared a picture to Instagram of his silhouette striking a warrior pose at the edge of a boat as he sailed down calm waters at sunset. He loves Australia! On Tuesday the 30-year-old shared a picture to Instagram of his silhouette striking a warrior pose at the edge of a boat as he sailed down calm waters at sunset The son of Clint Eastwood simply captioned the snap: 'Days off' and hashtagged the post #loveasutralia #pacificrim #endlesssummer. He later posted a selfie looking happy and relaxed on Instagram stories, riding on the same vessel. It's not the first time he has raved about the country either. Just chillin': He later posted a selfie looking happy and relaxed on Instagram stories, riding on the same vessel Hell yeah! Scott is currently in Sydney filming Pacific Rim: Maelstrom here he is pictured with the crew Last week Scott gave a passionate speech from a stationary car's passenger seat, saying in part: 'The heatwave continues out here in Australia... and I love it.' 'Some people don't like the heat, I f***ing love it. I don't know what those people are thinking going to the snow,' he said. 'Some people don't like the heat, I f***ing love it!' Scott Eastwood raves about Australia's heatwave via Instagram story When temperatures remained in the 30s earlier last week, Scott took to New South Wales' Wattamolla rocks to cool off. He couldn't help but share footage of a daredevil leap he took off the rocks on Monday to Instagram, which has landed him in trouble. The actor may be facing a fine of $300 for his death-defying dive - one that plenty of tourists and locals have also conquered. According to The Daily Telegraph, the video posted to Instagram is being 'reviewed' by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) as it violates the ban put in place in the interest of public safety. Trouble in paradise? Actor Scott Eastwood faces a potential fine for his leap off Wattamolla rocks, which has been banned by authorities With a jump of around 9 metres high, diving off the rocks and into the water has been deemed unsafe by the authorities and there are plenty of signs to warn people of the dangers. 'Jumping off Wattamolla Falls is not safe and the NPWS has put a range of measures in place to manage public safety,' a spokesperson told the publication. They added: 'These include advising visitors of the risk through signage and safety barriers at the site. At risk? According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service, there are warning signs and barriers around the site to warn people against jumping Daredevil: The 30-year-old actor seemingly ignored the danger warnings and completed the 9metre high jump anyway 'Unfortunately some individuals put themselves at risk of injury by disregarding warning signs, jumping over barriers and not keeping to formed paths.' Daily Mail Australia has also reached out to the NPWS for further comment. The popular destination is also where a man lost his life on Christmas Day, after completing the jump. It is understood the man leaped off the rocks and into the water, but failed to emerge. Deadly: It's the same tourist hot spot where a man drowned and died on Christmas Day after completing the leap of faith Making the most of his day off: The Pacific Rim star also shared a snap from Figure 8 pools, where he enjoyed a dip with a group of friends Swimmers found him and pulled him back into shore where they attempted to resuscitate him and called 000, The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Despite emergency services personnel's efforts, he died on the scene. Scott's potentially costly adventure came during his day off from filming. Like father, like son: Scott is the son of legendary actor, Clint Eastwood The son of Hollywood director Clint Eastwood also made the most of his trip with a hike to the famous Figure 8 pools. Posing for a snap among a group of friends, Scott wrote: 'Great end to an amazing day. Hiked into Figure 8 Pools. These natural rock pools were incredible. The company was even better!!!' Since touching down in the country, he's been snapped fitness training in Bondi, and even took a trip to the famous 'Big Banana' in Coffs Harbour. He spent New Year's Eve on Sydney Harbour, later claiming the city put on the best end of year fireworks display in the world. Their feud has been well-documented ever since the actor was fired from his highly-paid sitcom role back in 2011. And six years on, Charlie Sheen still harbours intense feelings of distaste for the show's creator Chuck Lorre. The 51-year-old star went on an expletive-laden rant during an interview with KIIS FM's Kyle & Jackie 'O' Show on Wednesday, in which he urged the Hollywood producer to 'suck my f***ing b***' while calling him vulgar names. Scroll down for video Shots fired! Charlie Sheen (L) has launched into an expletive-filled rant about his former colleague and Two And A Half Men co-creator, Chuck Lorre (R) Charlie's tirade began when he was asked by Kyle Sandilands about the 2011 incident during which he planned to steal his old trailer from the Warner Bros. lot after he was fired. 'Keep in mind, I made four billion for that studio and got fired. If I'd made five they'd have killed me!' he said before name-checking his nemesis Chuck. 'And also the most ridiculous impostor this side of La Brea [a famous landmark in Los Angeles] is Chuck Lorre, and I hope you're listening. 'Hey Chuck, suck my f***ing b***': The 51-year-old actor clearly still harbours a grudge against the 64-year-old producer, who had him fired from Two And A Half Men in 2011 'Hey Chuck, suck my f***ing b***.' The former Spin City star went on to slam his former colleague further, saying: 'He's the most miserable f***ing d****bag, the most talentless f***ing sack of s*** of f***ing stupid this side of La Brea.' It's not the first time Charlie has launched a verbal attack on Chuck, having seemingly threatened the executive producer in a video obtained by TMZ in 2015. 'He's the most miserable f***ing d****bag, the most talentless f***ing sack of s*** of f***ing stupid this side of La Brea,' Charlie said during his interview with The Kyle & Jackie 'O' Show When asked by a paparazzo about his thoughts on being killed off in the series finale of the show, in which a lookalike of his character Charlie Harper had a piano dropped on his head, he said it was stupid, immature and unevolved, adding Lorre 'must feel safe where he lives' to diss him. And in an eight-minute video streamed online after he was fired from his US$1.8 million per episode job, Charlie branded the show's producer and co-creator a 'little worm' and an 'ugly w***e'. Charlie opened the eight-minute broadcast by saying: 'What happened yesterday was in fact entirely illegal, or as my lawyer put it really sh**y sh**y suck suck.' Flashback: Charlie's feud with Chuck and others at Warner Bros. erupted when he was fired from the sitcom that saw him pocket US$1.8 million per episode (Pictured with co-stars Angus T. Jones and John Cryer) He finished his rambling soliloquy by asserting: 'A high treason has occurred. The scales of justice are in a state of radical disarray,' adding: 'We must right this infantile wrong... see you all on the battlefield soon.' He then launched into a 'unwanted guestlist' where he slated several people, one of them being Chuck. 'Hi ya Chuckie cheeseball,' Sheen said. 'Where you hiding silly clown?' 'Where you hiding silly clown?' Charlie has namechecked Chuck in public on several occasions, most famously perhaps during his live stream in 2011 in which he called the producer a series of foul names He continued with the insults, referring to Lorre's 'b**chy smile' and 'desperate need to be liked'. 'Think of me often loser, during your most quiet moments,' he whispered. 'Can you smell your soul, can you smell the rotting dog s**t, can you smell the lies? Can you smell it chuck? It smells like malaria.' He then joked that Chuck's name rhymes with 'suck' and 'muck' after accusing the 64-year-old of having a hatred of himself 'and of women'. 'You picked a fight with a warlock you little worm,' Sheen continued, before proclaiming: 'You're no match for this warlock. My power will consume you ever day you loser ugly w***e.' The tragic bus crash aired on Monday night was slammed as 'insensitive' in light of recent terror attacks. But it was a different story for Tuesday's installment, as viewers flocked to Twitter to praise the soap's shock ending - which implied Whitney Carter was the first casualty. Fans took to the social media site in their hundreds to applaud the cliffhanger, which heard Whitney's ringtone play from the wreckage - with many deeming it better than the recent Christmas special. Although many were left bemused by the cast's ability to lift a double decker bus off Martin Fowler. Scroll down for video Emotional: EastEnders' Tuesday episode during its disaster week centered on the aftermath of the shocking bus crash from the night before Starting where the crash left off, the next installment in the BBC soap's 'Disaster Week' saw the community team up to try and save as many people as they could. In one emotional scene, Max Branning gathered the villagers together to help lift the bus away from a suffering Martin Fowler - allowing him to escape his trapping and saving his life. Many viewers questioned how realistic the scene was with one tweeting that a bus weighs around 12 tonnes: 'Just googled the weight of a double decker bus: 12.65 TONNES. Danny Dyer & a couple of old ladies just deadlifted that. #ok #eastenders.' At risk: In one emotional scene, Max Branning gathered the villagers together to help lift the bus away from a suffering Martin Fowler World's strongest cast: Many viewers questioned how realistic the scene was with one tweeting that a bus weighs around 12 tonnes Another added: 'See, I saw the world's strongest man pull a bus on telly once... I don't know if Max, Ben and Jay can lift one #Eastenders.' The scene mirrored the real-life incident in London's Walthamstow in 2015 when 100 heroic bystanders rushed to help life a 12-tonne double decker bus off trapped unicyclist Antony Shields. Fans were left wondering if a bloodied Martin would survive his injuries after he was seen declaring his love for Stacy after he was freed by his Albert Square neighbours. Real events: The scene mirrored the real-life incident in London's Walthamstow in 2015 when 100 heroic bystanders rushed to help life a 12-tonne double decker bus off a trapped unicyclist Help! Stacy (Lacey Turner) was distraught when she realised Martin was trapped Shock: Viewers flocked to Twitter to praise the soap's shock ending - which implied Whitney Carter was the first casualty Casualty: It was a different story for Tuesday's installment, as viewers flocked to Twitter to praise the soap's shock ending - which implied Whitney Carter was the first casualty Distraught: However it was the final scene which sent chills down the spines of viewers, as Whitney Carter's ringtone was then heard from underneath the bus - but the brunette nowhere to be seen Appearing to take a turn for the better, the episode then saw a distraught Denise Fox fight her way through the rubble alive and into the arms of Kim, weeping with relief. However it was the final scene which sent chills down the spines of viewers, as Whitney Carter's ringtone was then heard from underneath the bus - but the brunette nowhere to be seen. The episode ended on her father-in-law Mick, played by Danny Dyer, putting two and two together - with his face crumbling as the eerie music played out to the square. Fans were left in shock after the cliffhanger, and headed immediately to Twitter to vent their joy at the unexpected ending. Devastated: Mick's eyes filled with tears as he heard his daughter-in-law's phone go off Shocked: Fans were left in shock after the cliffhanger, and headed immediately to Twitter to vent their joy at the unexpected ending One particularly enthralled fan wrote: 'I can't breathe. This is what EastEnders has lacked recently. That cliffhanger, oh my god. #eastenders' before adding in frustration: 'I HAVE TO WAIT TILL THURSDAY?!' Another matched the excited reaction, writing: '#EastEnders was sooo good tonight, I hope Whitney's gonna be ok. I swear I cried like 3 times' (sic) Meanwhile others noted that the jaw-dropping episodes had exceeded all expectations of recent Specials - including the much-anticipated scenes aired on Christmas and New Year. One fan observed: 'I don't understand how EastEnders can make the best episode on a Tuesday night but will fail to make a good one on Christmas Day #eastenders' While another agreed, adding: 'That was better than Christmas, New Year and killing off the misery sisters! #eastenders' Thrilling: Meanwhile others noted that the jaw-dropping episodes had exceeded all expectations of recent Specials - including the much-anticipated scenes aired on Christmas and New Year Reeling: Fans were left reeling from Tuesday's event as they were left stunned by the chaos The positive reaction follows Monday night's more controversial episode - which fans slammed for being 'insensitive' in light of recent terrorist attacks. Ending on a dramatic bus crash scene in Albert Square, the cliffhanger could leave up to 11 characters fighting for their lives, in a dramatic plot twist. Viewers however were left disgruntled by the story - and went on to criticise show bosses for a lack of respect to victims murdered in the ISIS-orchestrated truck crashes in Nice and Berlin last year. The long list of characters at risk from the crash include Denise Fox, Keegan, Bex Fowler, Shakil Kazemi and Louise Micthell, who were on the bus. Stunned: The positive reaction follows Monday night's more controversial episode - which fans slammed for being 'insensitive' in light of recent terrorist attacks Too close to home: Viewers were left disgruntled by the story - and went on to criticise show bosses for a lack of respect to victims murdered in the ISIS-orchestrated truck crashes in Nice and Berlin last year While the collision send ratings through the roof, for some viewers it was an upsetting reminder of the terrorist atrocities of last year. In July 2016, a HGV driven by Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel crashed into crowds of people on the southern French resort of Nice, killing 86. While on December 19, a truck was driven into a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, leaving 12 dead. On Twitter, one fan fumed: 'Slightly insensitive storyline from #Eastenders. Glasgow bin lorry crash, the lorry in France & Berlin Christmas markets.' One EastEnders fan tweeted: 'Hmm not sure about this latest storyline considering recent terrorist activities. Seems a bit insensitive.' It was reported in Monday's Woman's Day, that tension is 'so bad' between Manu Feildel, 42, and Pete Evans, 43, they are forced to travel separately. But during a segment on Wednesday's Sunrise to promote the upcoming season of My Kitchen Rules, premiering next Monday, Pete slammed rumours of a rift. 'We do love each other,' the Paleo-enthusiast told presenter Edwina Bartholomew, adding that they have a 'deep relationship.' Scroll down for video 'We do love each other': My Kitchen Rules' Pete Evans [right] 43, slammed rumours of a feud with co-host Manu Feildel [left] 42, on Wednesday's Sunrise, insisting they have a 'deep relationship' 'We do love each other apart from what some people will write about us,' Pete insisted live on-air, wrapping one arm around Manu's shoulder. 'We have a very deep relationship with each other,' he continued. Allowing Pete to do the talking, French chef Manu simply replied: 'Yes.' Dismissing claims: 'We do love each other apart from what some people will write about us,' Pete insisted live on-air, wrapping one arm around Manu's shoulder Short and sweet: Allowing Pete to do the talking, French chef Manu simply replied: 'Yes' Rumours of tension on set were heightened by reports in Woman's Day on Monday. 'In December they travelled to Perth and onto Broome, and on both the inbound and outbound flight they travelled separately,' a source allegedly told the magazine. The magazine claims that even last week they flew an hour apart from each other. Alleging the pair have 'nothing in common,' Pete reportedly thinks Manu is an 'attention seeker' while Manu thinks Pete is 'stranger than strange.' No truth? In Monday's Woman's Day, it was reported that Pete thinks Manu is an 'attention seeker' Meanwhile, it was alleged Pete 'blacklisted' select journalists from covering the upcoming season of the show. Three journalists - two from Bauer Media and one from News Corp - were reportedly cut off from access to the show and it's launch party this Wednesday night. But over the weekend, a spokesperson for the network told The Sunday Telegraph that the allegations were simply 'not true.' More claims: Meanwhile, it was alleged in The Sunday Telegraph last weekend, that Pete 'blacklisted' select journalists from covering the upcoming season of the show 'Pete does not make any decisions in regards to who is given access to MKR,' Channel Seven told the publication. 'That is a decision made by the publicity department. 'And we would never refuse access to anyone because obviously we are grateful of all publicity,' they concluded. The reports suggested that MKR's co-host and judge Pete was on the offensive after several unflattering articles were written about him. Familiar face: The show's hosts Manu and Pete will be joined by Colin Fassnidge [pictured], but the network have also added an element of mystery with a fourth judge Not only would the blacklisted journalists be refused access to the show, they would also not be invited to the launch at Colin Fassnidge's Sydney restaurant, 4 Fourteen. It is less than a week until the program returns to screens. MKR will go head-to-head with Channel Nine's controversial dating show Married At First Sight, with both airing on 30 January. The show's hosts Manu and Pete will be joined by Colin Fassnidge, but the network have also added an element of mystery with a fourth judge. Producers have also tried to inject a sprinkle of romance into the show, with trailers suggesting 'love is in the air' between two rival contestants. A whole new batch of stars are readying themselves to enter the South African jungle for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. And with speculation over their identities rife among fans, the show's 'pop diva' gave a cryptic interview with Nova 96.9's Fitzy & Wippa on Tuesday. After muffling her voice for the phone interview, hosts Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli were left dumbfounded as they tried to work out who they were talking to -with listeners suggesting a host of Australian pop stars. Scroll down for video Mystery: I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here's 'pop diva' gave a cryptic interview with Nova 96.9's Ryan Fitzgerald (L) and Michael Wipfli (R) on Tuesday The mystery caller was careful not to reveal anything that might compromise her identity, even refusing to disclose her hair colour. However, the celebrity did reveal they were a fan of AFL side St Kilda and that they were feeling 'very nervous' about the prospect of moving into the camp at Kruger National Park. Fitzy and Wippa concluded that the Channel Ten show was probably not for the 'pop diva' after they found out what her biggest fears are. Almost time: A whole new batch of stars are readying themselves to enter the South African jungle for I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here Is it her? After muffling her voice for the phone interview, hosts Fitzy and Wippa were left dumbfounded as they tried to work out who they were talking to - with listeners suggesting a host of Australian pop stars, including Natalie Imbruglia She said: 'I don't like deep water or being close to the edge of cliffs - heights.' Celebrities are only allowed to take one personal item with them into the jungle, but the star said she would try and exploit the rules to her advantage. She said: 'I was thinking of taking a pillow and stashing it with all of the items that I love, like an eye mask, a family photo and some chocolates.' Listeners were quick to offer their guesses on Twitter after hearing the interview, with Natalie Imbruglia, Casey Donovan, Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Holly Valance all suggested. Speculation: Listeners were quick to offer their guesses on Twitter after hearing the interview, with Casey Donovan, Natalie Bassingthwaighte (pictured) and Holly Valance also suggested Identity: The mystery caller was careful not to reveal anything that might compromise her identity, even refusing to disclose her hair colour. Pictured: Casey Donovan Jungle bound: Ten's clues for the identity of the 'pop diva' have revealed she's 'one of the biggest names in Australian TV' and 'a pop and soap star who has had a number of top ten hits'. Pictured: Holly Valance Ten's clues for the identity of the 'pop diva' have revealed she's 'one of the biggest names in Australian TV' and 'a pop and soap star who has had a number of top ten hits'. Other celebrities rumoured to be heading into the jungle are former swimmer Lisa Curry, AFL star Dane Swan, The Bachelor's Keira Maguire, shockjock Kyle Sandilands and reality TV couple Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski. I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here returns at 7pm on Sunday on Channel Ten. Comedian Stephen Colbert to host Emmys Late night talk show host Stephen Colbert will host the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September, organizers announced on Monday. "Stephen is the ultimate master of ceremonies with award-winning creative talents," Jack Sussman -- a top executive at CBS television, whch also is home to Colbert's "Late Show" -- said in a statement. "We look forward to honoring television's best while entertaining audiences with the creative energy and sharp comedy of Stephen Colbert." Late Show host Stephen Colbert will host the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September JOHN MOORE (Getty/AFP/File) The comedian, who for years has kept America laughing with his biting humor, wasted no time in setting the tone for the September 17 awards. "This will be the largest audience to witness an Emmys, period. Both in person and around the globe," he said in the same statement -- a swipe at comments made by White House press secretary Sean Spicer about attendance at the inauguration of President Donald Trump. In September 2015, Colbert replaced late night legend David Letterman as host of "The Late Show." Before that, he had spent nine years on Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," where he played a conservative talking head. Last year's Emmys, which honor the best in US television, were hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, another late night host. The art of the press briefing in Trump White House Visibly tense, Sean Spicer took the podium in the White House briefing room Monday, made a joke about how unpopular he is, and then launched into the subjects of the day, from Syria to China to health care. It was Spicer's first official briefing as White House press secretary, and he clearly was trying to smooth things out with reporters -- two days after attacking them with a vengeance, calling their work "shameful." For about 90 minutes, Donald Trump's spokesman responded to questions on a wide range of topics, reinforcing the idea that the new administration's style is going to fluctuate, much like Trump's tweets -- from angry and vengeful to conciliatory and unifying. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the daily press briefing on January 23, 2017 at the White House in Washington, DC NICHOLAS KAMM (AFP) While the 49-seat briefing room in the West Wing is usually full to capacity when the president appears, it is often far less full for his spokesman's daily briefings. But with Trump's arrival in office on Friday, it was hard Monday to walk through the room -- made famous in films and television shows like "The West Wing" or "Veep." Spicer undoubtedly listened to the advice of one of his predecessors Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush's former spokesman, who suggested on CBS that he "cool the confrontation down a notch or three." Spicer told reporters: "I want to make sure we have a healthy relationship." "Is it your intention to always tell the truth from that podium?" asked one reporter. "Yes, I believe we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may not fully understand when we come out," Spicer replied. "Our intention is never to lie to you." - 'Alternative facts' - On Saturday, in a brief statement from the same podium, Spicer slammed the media, accusing reporters of knowingly minimizing the attendance at Friday's inauguration before offering a series of statements that were not true. "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration -- period -- both in person and around the globe," he said. Asked the following day about Spicer's statements, senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway said her colleague had simply offered "alternative facts" -- a phrase that quickly went viral, and left a large number of Americans speechless. Spicer returned to the issue on Monday. "It's not just about a crowd size," he said. "There is this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement he represents. It's frustrating... it's a little demoralizing." When pressed about whether tough criticism simply comes with the territory of being president, Spicer insisted Trump was not being treated as well as his predecessors. - 'Skype seats' - Spicer has said he wants to buck White House media traditions, and on Monday, he delivered on some of that. The Associated Press, one of the outlets with a coveted front-row seat, was not given the first question, as is customary. Instead, the first three reporters called on came from the New York Post, the Christian Broadcasting Network and Fox Business. The spokesman announced the creation of four "Skype seats" at the briefing, for those journalists living more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) outside Washington. As the briefing went on, Spicer looked more relaxed, smiled more and tried to build ties with his audience. "I am going to stay here as long as you want," he said. "I think you guys might want to leave before I do." In the coming days and months, Spicer's intentions about how he plans to handle the reporters covering Trump -- people described by the new president as "some of the most dishonest people on the planet" -- will become more clear. The epic animal river race behind the Chinese zodiac One of the most popular tales behind how the 12 zodiac animals of the Chinese calendar secured their spot depicts an epic river race in which each creature revealed its true colours. In Chinese culture, every year is represented by one of the 12 animals in a set consecutive order, starting with the rat and ending with the pig, with each bringing its own characteristics to the year it denominates. In 2017, it is the turn of the rooster, who comes third last in the 12-yearly cycle. In 2017 it's the year of the rooster -- the bird is the third last of the 12 zodiac animals in the Chinese calendar KENZO TRIBOUILLARD (AFP/File) According to a frequently told ancient folk tale to explain the rota of animals, it all began when mythical deity the Jade Emperor organised a race across a river. Frontrunners were the cat and the rat -- at that time close friends -- who had persuaded the ox to let them ride across the river on its back. But the cunning rat had plans of its own, pushing the cat into the water and jumping ahead of the ox as it neared the other side to claim the first spot in the Chinese zodiac. The ox came in second followed by the tiger, which also swam across. Close behind was the agile rabbit, which hopped from rock to rock before slipping into the water and clinging to a floating log. It was blown to the safety of the riverbank by the heroic dragon, who surprised the Jade Emperor by only managing fifth position despite its ability to fly. The dragon said it had not only helped the rabbit but also some villagers in distress along the way. After the snake and the horse made it over, the unlikely trio of sheep, monkey and rooster reached the bank by sharing a raft. Bringing up there rear was the dog -- delayed because it had become distracted and could not help playing in the water. And finally the pig, who ate too much and took a nap along the way. The cat failed to make it across in time to secure its place in the zodiac line-up. A victim of the rat's duplicity, from then on the two animals became mortal enemies. Bangladesh plants million trees to cut lightning toll Bangladesh has begun planting one million palm trees nationwide to help prevent hundreds of people being killed by lightning strikes every year, a top official said Tuesday. Authorities last year declared lightning a natural disaster as official tallies recorded more than 200 deaths in 2016, with 82 people dying on a single day in May. Experts say the real number was actually much higher, with one independent monitor saying 349 people were killed by lightning strikes in 2016. Many people living in rural areas do not report deaths to the police. Experts say the high death toll of people in Bangladesh being killed by lightning strikes stems in part from a lack of trees whose branches can absorb the impact TENGKU BAHAR (AFP/File) Disaster officials have spent several months looking at ways to reduce the toll and the tree planting programme is likely to be the first of several measures brought in by the government. "We've already started planting palm trees in rural areas in an effort to reduce the number of deaths due to lightning," Shah Kamal, the government's disaster management secretary, told AFP. "We'll plant one million palm trees by June this year." Experts say the high death toll stems in part from a lack of trees whose branches can absorb the impact of lightning. While the trees are damaged, it means the electric charge does not course through the earth. Kamal said a similar programme in Thailand had already yielded results, adding that a team of Bangladeshi officials had also travelled to Vietnam to study how authorities there protect farmers along the Mekong delta. A top meteorologist who has conducted some research on lightning said the tree planting should help ultimately help reduce the number of deaths, but the benefits would only be felt some way down the line. "Palm trees take years to grow. But definitely, this is a good move by the government. It will reduce deaths," Shah Alam, a former head of Bangladesh Meteorological Department, told AFP. UN warns west Mosul civilians at 'extreme risk' The estimated 750,000 people living in jihadist-controlled west Mosul are in grave danger, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, 100 days into a massive Iraqi operation to retake the city. "We are relieved that so many people in the eastern sections of Mosul have been able to stay in their homes," the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande said in a statement. "We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives," she said. Iraqi families flee an area near Mosul controlled by Islamic State group on January 22, 2017 AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (AFP) On October 17, tens of thousands of Iraqi forces launched an offensive -- Iraq's largest military operation in years -- to retake the country's second city from the Islamic State group. The going has been tough for federal forces as IS has defended its last remaining major stronghold in Iraq fiercely. All central neighbourhoods on the east bank of the Tigris River that divides the city have now been retaken and commanders are devising a strategy to tackle the western side of the city. The slightly smaller western side is even more densely populated than the east and is home to some of the jihadists' traditional bastions. All bridges over the Tigris in Mosul are unusable and the narrow streets of the Old City will make any military offensive into west Mosul a perilous operation both for Iraqi forces and civilians. In most other urban battles Iraq has waged against IS since the jihadists took over a third of the country in 2014, cities had been almost emptied of their population by the time federal forces moved in. But in Mosul, while around 180,000 people were displaced since the start of the operation, 550,000 residents of east Mosul also stayed in their homes. Malaysia migrant boat death toll rises to 12, some 25 missing Two more bodies washed ashore in Malaysia Tuesday after the sinking of a boat overloaded with illegal Indonesian immigrants, raising the death toll to 12 with about 25 still feared missing. The bodies were found on Tanjung Leman beach near the southeastern town of Mersing, said Saiful Lizan Ibrahim, local head of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. "Security forces found the two bodies -- both men -- believed to be Indonesians," he said, adding that a sea search has been suspended due to bad weather. Malaysian authorities have recoverd two more bodies after the capsizing of an Indoneisan boat overloaded with illegal immigrants Handout (MALAYSIAN MARITIME ENFORCEMENT AGENCY/AFP) The boat was believed to be carrying about 40 Indonesian illegal immigrants when it capsized in rough seas off Mersing. Two passengers were rescued and taken to hospital. The 27-foot (nine metre) boat, designed for only 15 people, was travelling from Indonesia's Batam Island to Malaysia, Saiful said. Some 45 officers were combing the shore in search of survivors. Indonesian illegal migrants often make the perilous journey in small rickety boats to Malaysia in search of work, mainly in construction and agriculture. UN Syria envoy says Astana talks 'not far from final declaration' The UN envoy for Syria said Tuesday that a final declaration was close to being achieved at indirect talks between Syrian rebels and Damascus in the Kazakh capital Astana. "We are not far from a final declaration," Staffan de Mistura said. "There are very intense discussions because this is not about a paper, this is about a cessation of hostilities which means Syrian lives." Rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi said earlier Tuesday that the group would not sign a declaration coming out of the talks, saying it would be issued by its sponsors, rebel backer Turkey, regime ally Russia and possibly Iran. UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura speaks to the media during the peace talks between the government and opposition at Astana's Rixos President Hotel on January 24, 2017 Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV (AFP) Aridi added that the final declaration was a "general statement" that is "not meant to be signed by the parties". The rebels on Monday backed out of face-to-face negotiations with Damascus over the regime's continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the capital Damascus. The armed opposition has said that the Astana talks should aim to bolster a frail truce brokered by Moscow and Ankara last month but the regime has called for a political solution to the conflict and for rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty. The first day of the talks yielded no apparent breakthrough. More than 310,000 people have been killed and more than half of Syria's population displaced since the conflict erupted in 2011. Syrian children walk down a damaged street in the old city of Aleppo on January 22, 2017, a month after government forces retook the city from rebel fighters LOUAI BESHARA (AFP) China jails key suspects in vaccine scandal China sentenced two key suspects in an out-of-date immunisations scandal, a local court said Tuesday, in a case which fuelled public concern about vaccine safety and sparked outrage about official delays in revealing details. The scandal, which came to light in March last year, involved the illegal and improper storage, transport and sale of tens of millions of dollars' worth of vaccines -- many of them expired. The Jinan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Pang Hongwei, one of the key players in the scheme, to 19 years in prison for illegal business practices, according to a statement posted Tuesday on its verified Weibo social media account. Vaccines for polio, hepatitis B and measles are mandatory for all children in China and supplied by the state, while parents can buy additional immunisations privately STR (AFP/File) Pang's daughter, Sun Qi, received six years for the same charge. Between June 2013 and April 2015, Pang bought and improperly stored rabies, flu, and hepatitis B vaccines and sold them around the country, sales of which amounted to nearly 75 million yuan ($11 million), according to the court. Sun helped in accounting, receiving and sending vaccines, and making bank transfers from September 2014 to April 2015, the court said. Although the two suspects were arrested in April 2015, the vaccine scandal was not publicised until nearly a year later, arousing public fury over authorities' delay. The sentence followed two cases in December and January where a former Chinese official and his wife were both jailed for taking bribes from vaccine manufacturers to gain approval for their drugs. Premier Li Keqiang acknowledged in an earlier statement that the vaccine incident had provoked "great concern and exposed the existence of many regulatory loopholes". Indian troops kill three militants in Kashmir Police and troops killed three militants in two separate gunbattles in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, one of them near the de facto border with Pakistan, officers said. Soldiers and members of the police's special operations group surrounded Hadoora, some 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the main city of Srinagar, after a tip-off about suspected rebels inside a house in the village. "In the ensuing gunfight two militants were killed. Both are foreigners" (a standard reference to rebels from Pakistan-administered Kashmir), police Superintendent Imtiyaz Ismael told AFP. Indian government forces look at masked Kashmiri protesters during clashes in Srinagar, on January 20, 2017 TAUSEEF MUSTAFA (AFP/File) In a separate incident a group of militants attempted to cross the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan in the Sundabani sector, but were intercepted by Indian soldiers. "One terrorist was eliminated in the operation while the balance group fled towards Pakistan Occupied Kashmir," said an army statement. Several rebel groups have spent decades fighting Indian soldiers deployed in the disputed territory, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan which also claims the Himalayan region in its entirety. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting. Dozens of local youths joined the militant ranks following the killing of a popular rebel leader by government forces in July last year. The incident sparked months of anti-India unrest which left more than 90 civilians dead. Swaziland orders schools to teach only Christianity Swaziland's schools opened for the new academic year on Tuesday under new government orders to teach only Christianity, a move criticised by opponents as fuelling intolerance of Muslims. Officials said that old text books were being replaced with new ones that mention only the Bible, and that schools were required to submit a list of qualified religious studies teachers ahead of the start of term. "Other religions will not be offered at primary and high school level," said Pat Muir, a top education ministry official, adding that the policy sought to avoid confusing pupils. Swaziland's schools opened for the new academic year on Tuesday under new government orders to teach only Christianity Johannes Myburgh (AFP/File) "At tertiary level they will be able to make a decision to learn about other religions," he said. Some surveys put Swaziland's Muslim population as high as 10 percent, but the US Department of State in 2015 put the figure at about two percent. Many Swazis combine Christianity with indigenous beliefs, and religious freedoms are written into the country's 2005 constitution. The education ministry last week instructed all head teachers to ensure that the syllabus would not mention any religion other than Christianity, including Islam and Judaism. Sahid Matsebula, a Swazi-born Muslim who works for a mosque near the capital Mbabane, said the government's policy could worsen religious friction in the southern African nation. "What plan does the government have in place for our children who are not Christian?" he told AFP. "They will be taught one thing at home and taught something else at school." - 'Discrimination' - The US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report said some schools have long sought to prevent Muslim pupils from leaving early for Friday prayers. It also said some Christian groups "discriminated against non-Christian religious groups, especially in rural areas where people generally held negative views on Islam." The new education policy comes after public complaints over Asian and Muslim migration into the country led parliament to set up a commission of enquiry last year. Some illegal migrants have since been deported, and Minister of Commerce and Trade Jabulani Mabuza told parliament that a law making it harder for foreigners to set up businesses in Swaziland was in the pipeline. Church leaders in Swaziland welcomed the Christianity-only syllabus. "Christianity is the bedrock religion on which this country was built," said Stephen Masilela, president of the Swaziland Conference of Churches. Swaziland, with a population of about 1.2 million, has been ruled by King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch, since 1986. Police probe of Israel's Netanyahu widens: report Israeli police have widened a probe into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already under investigation in a graft case that has shaken the country's politics, media reports said. Police are now looking into two other matters related to Netanyahu, Channel 10 television reported on Monday night. One of the matters appears to involve a deal for Israel to purchase German submarines, while the second affair remained unclear, according to the reports. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on January 22, 2017 Ronen Zvulun (POOL/AFP) It was unclear whether the new probes were preliminary enquiries or if they had been elevated to fully fledged investigations. Police declined to comment when contacted by AFP. Netanyahu's cousin, family lawyer and confidant David Shimron has reportedly been involved in the deal to purchase Dolphin submarines from Germany's ThyssenKrupp. Media reports have alleged a conflict of interest over the role played by Shimron, who has also represented ThyssenKrupp's Israeli agent. If confirmed, the reports would add to a list of legal troubles already facing Netanyahu. The premier is already under investigation over suspicions of unlawfully receiving gifts from wealthy supporters. A parallel investigation is examining whether the Israeli premier cut a secret deal with Arnon Moses, publisher of Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot, in which Netanyahu would get positive coverage in return for helping reduce Yediot's competition, the pro-Netanyahu freesheet Israel Hayom. Netanyahu has flatly denied any wrongdoing, accusing Israeli media of "pursuing an unprecedented campaign against me in order to bring down (my) Likud government" by publishing leaks from the investigations. "The campaign is aimed at putting pressure on the attorney general so that he would convict me," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu has been questioned by police twice in recent weeks in the gifts investigation. Children head back to school in east Mosul: UN Thousands of Iraqi children are heading back to school in east Mosul after weeks of fighting and more than two years of jihadist rule, the UN children's fund UNICEF said Tuesday. Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to recapture Mosul from the Islamic State group 100 days ago and have ousted the jihadists from all the central neighbourhoods of east Mosul. But while returning to school is a good start, recovery will likely be a long process for Iraqi children exposed to bloody urban warfare that followed IS efforts to indoctrinate the next generation. Iraqi students run in a school yard in Mosul's eastern Gogjali neighbourhood on January 23, 2017 Dimitar DILKOFF (AFP) "As fighting subsides in east Mosul, 30 schools reopened on Sunday with help from UNICEF, allowing over 16,000 children to resume their education," it said in a statement. "Some schools in the area were closed for up to two years, and girls were banned from getting an education," it said. "After the nightmare of the past two years, this is a pivotal moment for the children of Mosul to reclaim their education and their hope for a better future," UNICEF's Iraq representative Peter Hawkins said. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since recaptured much of the territory they lost. During more than two and a half years of rule in Iraq, the jihadist group sought to indoctrinate children into its extremist ideology, using schools as part of its efforts to do so. It has also featured children in propaganda videos that showed them in IS "training" and classroom indoctrination, as well as being used as executioners. Iraqi forces launched the Mosul operation on October 17 and have made rapid gains on the city's eastern side this month, but the west still remains under IS control. China urges boycott of Japan hotel group in massacre row China's tourism authority called Tuesday for a boycott of Tokyo-based hotel group APA in an escalating row over a book by the company's CEO denying a Japanese wartime massacre took place. Copies of the book asserting that the 1937 massacre by Japanese soldiers in the Chinese city of Nanjing did not occur have been placed in hundreds of rooms operated by the APA hotel group, angering Beijing. APA has so far refused to remove copies of the book, written under a pen name by its CEO Toshio Motoya, despite Chinese criticism. Japan's APA hotel group sparked an angry backlash from China after placing a book in guest rooms which claimed a wartime massacre committed by Japanese troops was a "fabrication" Behrouz MEHRI (AFP/File) "Seeing that Japans APA hotels is continuing with its erroneous ways, the China National Tourism Administration... demands that all businesses involved in overseas tourism and Internet travel-industry platforms stop all cooperation with these hotels," said the tourism authority's spokesman Zhang Lizhong. Zhang's comments were made in a press conference in Beijing and posted on the agency's website. China says 300,000 people died in Nanjing in a six-week orgy of killing, rape and destruction by the Japanese military, and accuses Tokyo of failing to fully atone for the episode. The revelation of the book's existence caused outrage on China's social media. Last week a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman lambasted Motoya and complained that the book underlined the refusal of some in Japan to "squarely face history." The book, written in Japanese and English, said the Nanjing incident was fabricated. Motoya said the killing of 300,000 people was impossible because the city's population at the time was only 200,000. The Japanese military invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937 until Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945. Nigeria suicide bomber 'had baby strapped to her back' A female suicide bomber who attacked a town in northeast Nigeria earlier this month was carrying a baby at the time, the country's main relief agency said on Tuesday. But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it was unclear whether this was a new tactic on the part of Boko Haram Islamists to allow would-be bombers to evade detection. "From the report we got after the Madagali attack (on January 13), one of the female suicide bombers had a baby strapped to her back," said the NEMA coordinator for Adamawa state, Saad Bello. Madagali has long been a hotspot for Boko Haram attacks, despite being liberated from militant control NIGERIAN ARMY PRESS SERVICE (AFP/File) "However it is not clear whether it was a coincidence or a strategy they employed to avoid detection by security personnel. "This was one isolated case and it will be premature to arrive at a definite conclusion that the use of babies in suicide attacks has become a trend." At least two people were killed and 15 others injured in the explosions in Madagali at a checkpoint manned by local hunters, at a military post and a bus station. Police said four female bombers were responsible while the state government blamed Boko Haram, which has frequently targeted Madagali, including in December, when some 45 people were killed. Boko Haram, which has been fighting to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009, began using suicide bombers in mid-2014. Women and girls, some reportedly aged 10 and younger, have been used to target checkpoints, bus stations, mosques, churches, schools and markets to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Last week, the group's leader Abubakar Shekau admitted for the first time they had used women in the conflict. Experts studying suicide bombings have said children are likely to be unaware they are being used as human bombs but that women using children and babies as cover for suicide attacks was rare. In 2008, US investigators suggested a blast blamed on Al-Qaeda which killed at least 35 at a wedding reception north of Baghdad may have been carried out by a bomber pretending to be pregnant. Philippines' Duterte blames CIA for botched terror raid Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday the US Central Intelligence Agency secretly orchestrated a botched raid targeting an alleged Islamic terrorist that left 44 Filipino policemen dead two years ago. Police commandos killed Zulkifli Abdhir, who was on the US government's list of "Most Wanted Terrorists", in the raid in remote farmland in the southern Philippines, where various Muslim separatist rebel groups and more hardline militants are based. However Muslim gunmen ambushed the attacking police commandos and killed 44 of them in a day-long battle, with a Philippine Senate investigation blaming poor planning and coordination for the deaths. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has during his seven months in office sought to loosen the country's longtime alliance with the United States NOEL CELIS (AFP/File) The raid was carried out during the term of Duterte's predecessor Benigno Aquino. It derailed Aquino's efforts to forge a peace pact with the nation's main Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), to end a decades-long rebellion. "It was an American adventure with the cooperation of some, and apparently with your blessing," Duterte said, referring to Aquino. "Why was it kept under wraps? It was actually an operation of the CIA." Duterte made the allegations in a speech to widows and other relatives of the 44 policemen killed in the raid, after receiving them at the Malacanang presidential palace. Duterte has during his seven months in office sought to loosen the Philippines' longtime alliance with the United States while forging closer ties with China and Russia. The controversial politician has branded former US president Barack Obama a "son of a whore", and made unsubstantiated accusations that the CIA is plotting to assassinate him. Aquino had justified the police raid, saying that Zulkifli had been training militants in the southern Philippines in how to make bombs. The United States had said Zulkifli was a top militant in the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah. A Philippine Senate report into the raid concluded the United States played a "substantial" role by providing training, equipment and intelligence to the Filipino forces. However it did not refer to the CIA. Responding to the Senate report in 2015, a US government official told AFP at the time: "This operation was planned and executed by Philippine authorities. We refer you to them for details of the operation." Spokesmen for the US embassy in Manila and Aquino did not immediately reply to requests for reaction to Duterte's latest comments. Duterte also alleged on Tuesday Aquino held back reinforcements and let the commandos die because the government did not want to risk a fresh war with the MILF, which had signed a peace agreement 10 months earlier. Father of Israel soldier convicted of manslaughter pleads for leniency The father of an Israeli soldier convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a prone Palestinian assailant pleaded for leniency for his son at a sentencing hearing Tuesday in a case that has divided the country. Charlie Azaria told a military court that he believed his son Elor and his family had suffered enough since the soldier was arrested some 10 months ago. "I want to tell you that this punishment of 10 months is enough," the longtime former police officer testified at the hearing in a court at Israel's defence headquarters in Tel Aviv. Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, who was convicted of manslaughter for shooting dead a prone Palestinian assailant, awaits his sentence hearing at the military court in Tel Aviv January 24, 2017 DEBBIE HILL (POOL/AFP) "It has been 10 months since we stopped living. We are suffering. After everything I've given to the country, this is physical and psychological abuse... We are out of energy," he added, breaking down in tears. Sergeant Azaria, 20, a dual French-Israeli national, was applauded by his family when he arrived for the hearing, with his mother taking him in her arms. Azaria was not sentenced in Tuesday's hearing, at which witnesses testified about his character. A hearing for prosecutors to submit their recommendations before sentencing was scheduled for January 31. His army counsellor, a former teacher and fellow soldiers were among those who testified Tuesday on Azaria's behalf. Azaria faces up to 20 years in prison, though there have been reports that prosecutors will recommend between three and five years. His case has sparked political tensions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads what is seen as the most right-wing government in Israeli history, has called for him to be pardoned. Right-wing ministers have defended Azaria despite top army brass condemning his actions in an extraordinary public rift between politicians and the military. - 'Deserved to die' - The March 24 shooting in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron was caught on video and spread widely online. It showed Abdul Fatah al-Sharif, 21, lying on the ground, shot along with another Palestinian after stabbing and wounding a soldier, according to the army. Azaria then shoots him again in the head without any apparent provocation. Convicting him of manslaughter on January 4 after a months-long trial, a three-judge panel ruled there was no reason for Azaria to open fire since the Palestinian was posing no threat. Judge Colonel Maya Heller called his testimony "evolving and evasive". "His motive for shooting was that he felt the terrorist deserved to die," she said. When the verdict was announced, dozens of Azaria supporters scuffled with police outside military headquarters in Tel Aviv. Arrests were also made in the days afterwards following threats against the judges, prosecution and the army chief of staff. As the hearing began on Tuesday, around 50 protesters gathered outside with a sign that read "The people support and salute the hero, soldier Elor Azaria." They were surrounded by around 60 police officers. Azaria's defence lawyers on Tuesday also sought to include in the hearing details of a meeting between the soldier's father and military officials who allegedly urged him not to appeal the verdict. Prosecutors said there was no relevance to the sentencing, and the judges ruled against the defence. Israeli soldier Elor Azaria faces up to 20 years in prison, though there have been reports that prosecutors will recommend between three and five years DEBBIE HILL (POOL/AFP) Firebrand Iraq cleric warns US on Israel embassy move Moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a declaration of war on Islam, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said Tuesday. "Transferring the US embassy to Jerusalem would be a public and more-explicit-than-ever declaration of war against Islam," he said in a statement. In a break with previous administrations, new US President Donald Trump has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's militia once fought US occupation forces Haidar HAMDANI (AFP/File) Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric whose militia once fought US occupation forces in Iraq, called for the "formation of a special division to liberate Jerusalem were the decision to be implemented." Sadr said the Cairo-based Arab League as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world's main pan-Islamic body, should take a decisive stand on the issue or dissolve themselves. The Najaf-based cleric also called "for the immediate closure of the US embassy in Iraq" should Washington go ahead with its promised embassy transfer in Israel. Sadr supporters protesting against the lack of services and widespread corruption in the Iraqi state stormed the so-called "Green Zone" in Baghdad twice last year. The protesters entered the parliament buildings and the prime minister's office but did not attempt anything against the US embassy there, which is Washington's largest foreign mission. The United States works with Iraq on a range of issues, notably with military backing for the Iraqi offensive to retake large parts of the country seized by the Islamic State group. The final status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel considers Jerusalem -- including the eastern Palestinian sector it annexed in 1980 -- as its indivisible capital. The Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state. Afghanistan orders arrest of vice-president's guards in abuse case Afghanistan's attorney general has ordered the arrest of nine bodyguards of Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum for sexually abusing and torturing a rival, an official said Tuesday. Dostum, a former warlord who has a catalogue of war crimes to his name, has been accused of abducting Ahmad Ishchi in November last year during a traditional game of Buzkashi, or polo using an animal carcass, in the northern province of Jowzjan. Dostum allegedly kept Ishchi hostage in his private compound for five days, where he was said to have been tortured and sodomised. Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former warlord has a catalogue of war crimes to his name EMMANUEL DUNAND (AFP/File) The country's attorney general launched an investigation into the allegations after local media said Ishchi underwent a medical examination at the US air base at Bagram north of Kabul to confirm the abuse. "The investigating team has issued an arrest warrant against nine of Mr Dostum's bodyguards who were involved in the case," Jamshid Rasuli, the spokesman for the attorney general's office, told AFP. "The team has also asked Mr Dostum to either respond to the queries himself or through his legal channels. But he has not responded yet," he said. Dostum was not immediately available for comment but has previously denied the allegations, proposing to resolve the matter by the traditional mediation of tribal elders rather than through conventional courts. The controversy has once again drawn attention to how Afghan warlords and strongmen operate with impunity, hobbling Western-backed efforts to restore peace and rebuild the nation after decades of conflict. Observers have been sceptical the government will sack or bring charges against Dostum, who has survived all previous allegations of abuse. At least 40 dead in battle for Yemen port Fighting for a key port city on Yemen's Red Sea coast has left at least 40 rebel and pro-government fighters dead, military officials said Tuesday. Loyalist forces said Monday they had captured the port of Mokha, almost three weeks into an offensive to oust Shiite Huthi insurgents and their allies from Yemen's southwestern coast. But they exchanged fire overnight with rebels still holed up in the port on Mokha's southwestern edge. Yemeni government forces' tanks and armoured vehicles on the road leading to the southwestern port of Mokha on January 23, 2017 SALEH AL-OBEIDI (AFP) Clashes continued Tuesday on the southern and eastern outskirts of the city. "Despite the significant human toll, the Huthis are still in the centre of Mokha," a military official told AFP. Rebel snipers were reported to have slowed the loyalist advance. At least 28 rebels and 12 pro-government fighters have been killed in fighting in the past 24 hours, military and medical sources said Tuesday. That brought to nearly 200 the number of deaths on both sides since the offensive began. Huthi forces had controlled Mokha since they overran the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and advanced on other regions aided by troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Forces supporting President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched a vast offensive on January 7 to retake the coastline overlooking the Bab al-Mandab strait. The strait is a strategically vital maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Military sources said fighter jets and Apache attack helicopters from the coalition have been pounding the Iran-backed rebels and their allies. But despite the coalition's superior firepower, rebels and their allies still control the capital Sanaa, much of the central and northern highlands, and most of the 450-kilometre (280-mile) Red Sea coast. Government forces say they want to oust rebel forces from the entire coastline, including the town of Midi near the Saudi border. A government official said the rebels had brought reinforcements to Mokha from neighbouring Ibb province, and that the fight for the town would take time. The World Health Organization says more than 7,400 people have been killed since the coalition intervention began in March 2015. But UN humanitarian coordinator Jamie McGoldrick said last week that as many as 10,000 civilians may have died. In-laws in Zimbabwe steal houses from grieving widows As Maliyaziwa Malunga mourns her dead husband, she also battles against his relatives who plot to seize her house in a custom that affects thousands of women in Zimbabwe each year. A Human Rights Watch report released on Tuesday details how in-laws in the country routinely expect to take property and money from bereaved widows soon after their husbands die. When Malunga's husband died in 2013, his relatives locked her in her home, forced her to open her cash box, and stole $4,000 and the title documents to her property. When Malunga's husband died in 2013, his relatives locked her in her home, forced her to open her cash box, and stole $4,000 and the title documents to her property Jekesai Njikizana (AFP) "I lock my doors always fearing some of those in-laws will come and harass me," Malunga, who is still in a legal tussle to fight off the relatives, told AFP. "It is so painful to go to courts and it is stressful. I lose sleep, my blood pressure is high and I have lost weight because of stress," the 53-year-old said. HRW said Zimbabwean widows who are thrown out of their homes by their in-laws often have little chance of justice because many marriages are under customary law and not registered. "My advice is for married women to go to court and have a wedding certificate and we will not have problems like this one," said Malunga. "Widows must fight for their rights, they should be strong and should not give up," she added, recalling that her husband's relatives engaged in fistfights over her house in Chitungwiza, outside Harare. - 'Happy to see us suffer' - The HRW report called for the government to protect vulnerable, often elderly widows. "The impact of property grabbing on widows is devastating," said its author Bethany Brown. "Women whose property was taken from them spoke of homelessness, destitution and loss of livelihoods." The report is based on interviews with 59 widows across Zimbabwe's 10 provinces last year. "(My brother-in-law) has taken all of my fields," Deborah, 58, from Mashonaland East, told researchers. "Now, he says that I cannot walk on 'his' fields... Maybe he is really happy to see us suffer." The Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), an organisation helping widows in Zimbabwe, said it alone had handled at least 1,700 cases in the last three years. "Women have to register their estates and they should do so immediately after the deaths of their husbands," Lucia Masuka-Zanhi, legal programmes director at LRF, told AFP. "Women can assert their rights through the courts and each case will be decided on its facts." The government said it supported better protection for widows and would act to enforce the law more widely. "This practice contravenes the law which entitles the surviving spouse to inherit property," Ivan Dumba, an official from the ministry of women affairs, told a press conference in Harare where the report was launched. "We will increase the volume to condemn such practices... It is critical we investigate this issue as we need to get to the bottom of it." HRW said that, according to Zimbabwe's 2012 census, there were about 590,000 widows in the country, and that most women over 60 were widowed. In Mozambique, Erdogan asks for action against Gulen Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on Mozambican leader Filipe Nyusi to take action against the exiled cleric he blames for last year's failed coup. Erdogan was echoing the call to arms that he made during a stop in the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam on Monday as part of his tour of three African countries. He told a reception in Maputo that "we are aware that Fethullahists have a presence here in Mozambique", referring to Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement which is linked to a network of schools across the world, including in Africa. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is in Mozambique as part of a tour of three African countries KAYHAN OZER (TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE/AFP) "They have a vast sector of schools and associations all around the world, and they have a wide network here in Mozambique as well," Erdogan said. Turkish officials accuse Gulen of using his private education network to build influence and of running a "parallel state" inside Turkey. "What they've tried to achieve in Turkey, they will try to achieve in Mozambique sooner or later," said Erdogan. "This is something that we request from you... A friend in need is a friend indeed." Since a failed coup on July 15 which tried to overthrow Erdogan, the government has launched wide-scale purges, detaining, sacking or suspending thousands of people in the public sector. Erdogan's five-day tour of Africa will also see him visit Madagascar before he returns home. Another key priority of the trip has been to promote Turkish influence on the continent and to stimulate trade between Africa and Turkey. Trump revives controversial oil pipeline projects US President Donald Trump revived two pipeline projects blocked by his predecessor on environmental grounds, signaling his determination to undo Barack Obama's legacy. Trump gave a conditional go-ahead to the Keystone XL pipeline -- which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands to US refineries on the Gulf Coast -- and an equally controversial pipeline crossing in North Dakota. Both had been put on hold by Obama's administration. Since being sworn in US President Donald Trump has begun rolling out an orthodox Republican agenda NICHOLAS KAMM (AFP) True to his claim to be a hard-charging dealmaker, Trump said both pipeline projects would only be built subject to renegotiated terms and conditions. "We are going to renegotiate some of the terms and, if they like, we'll see if we can get that pipeline built," he said. Since being sworn in on Friday, Trump has begun rolling out an orthodox Republican agenda. He has moved to curb funding for abortions, embraced Israel, frozen government hiring and sought to loosen environmental regulations. His administration has also sought to place a tighter grip on departments that may not be sympathetic to his politics. On day one, Trump's Interior Department ordered staff to report any correspondence from Congress, governors, environmental groups or industry organizations, according to an internal memo obtained by AFP. Certain meetings, regulations and environmental notices are also to be reported to the department's executive secretariat. "No correspondence should be cleared to go to Congress or to any Governor until it has been reviewed by the Acting Chief of Staff and/or Senior White House Advisor," the document states. Trump has sought to put his nationalist and populist print on policy, especially on the economy and trade. - Made in USA - The freshly minted president indicated that one possible focus of renegotiation for the revived pipeline projects could be who makes the actual piping. In a separate executive order issued Tuesday, Trump decreed that pipes should be American made -- echoing his "America First" doctrine. "I am very insistent that if we are going to build pipelines in the United States the pipes should be made in the United States," Trump said. "We want to build the pipe, put a lot of steel workers back to work." Most, although not all, oil pipelines are buried underground and made of carbon steel. Obama had rejected a permit from Calgary-based firm TransCanada to build the 1,179-mile (1,900 kilometer) Alberta-Nebraska section of the project. Environmentalists have assailed the project, arguing that the Alberta deposits produce some of the "dirtiest" crude in the world. Protesters massed outside the White House late Tuesday to vent their frustration. "What happened today is an attack on our communities. It's an attack on our home and so we're here," said protest organizer Jade Begay of the Indigenous Environmental Network. "We're showing up at his home, at Trump's home to say we're going to come, we're going to continue to show up at your space, in your spaces and share our message and demand that you see us, that you hear us." Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has helped lead the international charge against climate warming, but his government has firmly supported the pipeline, seeing it as a means of boosting business. Ahead of Trump's announcement, Canadian Resources Minister James Carr said the move would create 4,500 construction jobs. The project will also mean less oil being transported by rail. - Dakota chill - The Dakota Access Pipeline is more of a political hot potato in the United States. Native Americans and their supporters strongly protested against the project, prompting the US Army Corps of engineers -- which has approval authority -- to nix the plans under the Obama administration. Thousands of protesters had camped in freezing winter temperatures to block the pipeline's planned route which the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says creates a risk of water pollution and endangers areas with sacred historic artifacts. The standoff -- which included some 2,000 military veterans who joined the protest -- set off violent clashes with law enforcement as well as sympathetic demonstrations nationwide. But Trump has supported the 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) oil pipeline, which would snake through four US states. Environmental groups vowed to keep fighting the pipeline in court and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe accused Trump of violating treaty rights. "We are not opposed to energy independence. We are opposed to reckless and politically motivated development projects... that ignore our treaty rights and risk our water," said Dave Archambault, chairman of the group. The sheriff of Morton County, North Dakota, where the main protest camp is located, issued a statement urging protesters to remain "peaceful and lawful" in their actions, and saying he intended to ask the Trump administration for law enforcement backup. Opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines hold a rally as they protest US President Donald Trump's executive orders advancing their construction SAUL LOEB (AFP) The Keystone XL pipeline US actress and political activist Jane Fonda attends a rally with opponents of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines at Columbus Circle in New York JASON SZENES (AFP) Meryl Streep breaks own record with 20th Oscar nomination US actress Meryl Streep on Tuesday was nominated for her 20th Academy Award, making her the most-nominated performer in Oscars history and maintaining her reign as the queen of Hollywood. The 67-year-old actress was nominated for best actress for her role in comedy biopic "Florence Foster Jenkins," which tells the story of a singing socialite in New York. Streep broke her own record with Tuesday's nomination -- 16 for best actress and four for best supporting actress. Actors Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson tie for second with 12 nominations each. Actress Meryl Streep poses with The Cecil B. DeMille Award in the press room during the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017 Robyn BECK (AFP/File) Her nomination delighted social media users, who called it a fitting rebuke to President Donald Trump. Trump described Streep as "overrated" after she denounced him at the Golden Globes ceremony earlier this month, before he took office. The actress, who has also been nominated a record 30 times for the Golden Globes, reacted with a GIF on Tuesday featuring her dancing for joy in footage from a past film. Fans, meanwhile, took to social media to congratulate Streep. "This actress is so overrated that she broke her own record with a 20th #Oscar nom. Sad! #MerylStreep," said Annie Clark on Twitter. Stella Rouse quipped in another Twitter message that Tuesday's nomination was "yet further proof of #alternativefacts that she is overrated." Streep got her first nomination for an Oscar in 1979 for her performance in the Vietnam war drama "The Deer Hunter." She extended her lead as the most nominated actor ever with her 19th nod in 2015 for "Into the Woods." Trump to announce Supreme Court nominee next week President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will announce next week his nominee to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court -- a crucial decision that could shape US law on major issues like abortion for decades. One of the court's nine seats has been vacant since conservative justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016. In the interim, Senate Republicans refused to give President Barack Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, even a confirmation hearing, much less put the nomination to a vote. A Supreme Court seat has been open since justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016 KAREN BLEIER (AFP/File) So the court has been divided evenly between progressives and conservatives. That equality however runs the risk of the court deadlocking. "We'll pick a truly great Supreme Court justice and I'll be announcing it sometime next week," Trump said in the Oval Office. Trump said recently he had a list of 20 candidates for the empty seat. He invited Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer and the two leading members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to the White House later Tuesday to discuss filling the vacancy on the US high court. The Supreme Court has the final say on interpreting federal constitutional law. It takes on cases addressing important issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and gun rights. Nominees put forward by the president must be confirmed by the Senate for these lifetime positions. Supreme Court nominees require a 60-vote majority for confirmation in the 100-seat Senate. Republicans hold 52 seats, so any nominee would need support from at least eight Democrats. - Mocking Trump on Twitter - After winning the US election on November 8, Trump said he would name justices who are against abortion, and staunch defenders of Americans' right to own guns as enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. "I'm pro-life," he told CBS. "The judges will be pro-life." Trump said his nominees would be "very pro-Second Amendment." Trump may have other opportunities to nominate justices. Two of the current justices are in their 80s -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy. Stephen Breyer will turn 80 next year. Last May, Trump published a list of possible candidates for the vacant seat. They are all white conservatives. Three are women. They include Don Willett, a Republican who sits on the Supreme Court of Texas and whose Twitter profile notes he is a former rodeo bull rider. He is known to have a sense of humor. Willett has jokingly mocked Trump repeatedly on Twitter. In one tweet on Trump's plans to spend big on infrastructure, Willett posted a picture from "Star Wars" and wrote: "We'll rebuild the Death Star. It'll be amazing, believe me. And the rebels will pay for it. -- Darth Trump." Another candidate is William Pryor, a federal judge who is Catholic and has criticized the Supreme Court decision in 1973 legalizing abortion as the "worst abomination in the history of constitutional law." Yet another is Diane Sykes, who has raised eyebrows with a ruling that threw out a ban on minors at firing ranges within the city limits of crime-wracked Chicago. Key facts about Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday to revive two controversial pipeline projects, reversing the policy of his predecessor Barack Obama. The Keystone XL oil pipeline runs between Canada and the United States, and the Dakota Access pipeline would bring oil from fracking to market but has been blocked by months of protests by Native Americans concerned about water quality and destruction of sacred sites. Here are key facts about the projects. A key portion of the Dakota Access pipeline crosses land controlled by the federal government just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota Bill Wechter (AFP/File) WHAT ARE THEY? Keystone XL Keystone XL was an expansion of TransCanada's existing system to funnel oil from Alberta's tar sands to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. The portion blocked by the Obama administration was a $5.3 billion proposal to build a 1,179-mile (1,900 kilometer) pipeline from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska. Dakota The Dakota Access Pipeline project stretches over four US states and 1,172 miles. Once completed, the $3.8 billion, 30-inch pipeline would transport crude from the northwestern corners of North Dakota, one of the key centers of oil extracted by hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," to a distribution center in Illinois. The Army Corps of Engineers in December blocked the disputed portion of the route near Standing Rock Sioux land, that would have taken it under a river and a lake, and said it would seek an alternative. The pipeline's owners denounced the Army's move, calling it "purely political." WHY ARE THEY SO CONTROVERSIAL? Keystone XL Alberta's tar sands are considered to have the "dirtiest" oil on the planet. Unlike traditional crude which gushes from a well, tar sand oil must be dug up and essentially melted with steaming hot water before it can be refined. It results in huge lakes of polluted water and the strip-mining of millions of acres of once-pristine boreal forests. Environmentalists argue tar sand oil contains a harmful and corrosive component -- bitumen -- which makes pipeline ruptures or leaks more likely and carries greater health and safety risks. Dakota A protest movement involving hundreds of Native American tribes has garnered nationwide support and worldwide attention. Since last April, protesters have camped out in North Dakota to block the pipeline's route -- their numbers at times swelling into the thousands -- refusing to leave even when snowstorms covered the area. A key portion of the pipeline crosses land controlled by the federal government just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's reservation in North Dakota. The area includes land the tribe considers sacred, and that contains sacred objects and burial sites. The pipeline also would cross the Missouri River and man-made Lake Oahe, the tribe's source of drinking water. It has raised objections, saying the pipeline could leak and endanger the reservation's water supply. Environmentalists also oppose fracking saying it contaminates drinking water sources due to the chemicals injected at high pressure into the shale rock to extract oil and gas. They also say the technique is causing earthquakes. ECONOMIC IMPACT Keystone XL The State Department estimated the new, shorter route would have created 42,000 temporary jobs over the two-year construction period. Opponents noted that just 35 permanent jobs would be created for pipeline maintenance. Dakota An economic impact report commissioned by the pipeline's operator estimated the completed project would bring in $1.9 billion in new labor income, and $5 billion in additional business to the four-state region. ENERGY SECURITY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that bringing another 830,000 barrels of oil a day from friendly, neighboring Canada would reduce US dependence on the Middle East and Venezuela by up to 40 percent. Dakota The US Chamber of Commerce says fracking has helped the United States climb to the top five of the most energy-secure countries in its global index. However, the domestic industry has struggled after global oil prices plunged. Prices are expected to hover around the $53-per-barrel mark this year. SAFETY Keystone XL TransCanada argued that buried pipelines are far safer for transporting oil than ships or trains and claims to have "one of the best safety records in the industry." It also notes that there are more than 2.6 million miles of oil and gas pipelines in the United States "that deliver 99.9998 percent of their products safely and reliably every day." Critics note the existing Keystone pipeline developed a dozen leaks in its first year of operation. Dakota Syria strikes kill 11 fleeing IS town: monitor At least 11 people, including two children, were killed Tuesday in Syrian government air strikes as they fled a northern town held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters were killed in air strikes and shelling in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. The monitor said the group of 11 were fleeing the embattled IS-held town of Al-Bab, near the northern border with Turkey, when they were hit in a government air strike. A government air strike killed 11 people on January 24, 2017, as they fled Syria's northern town of Al-Bab, which is under Islamic State group control Nazeer al-Khatib (AFP/File) The dead included at least 10 civilians, among them two children, but the identity of the 11th person killed was unclear. The strike hit the group as they reached the nearby village of Qasr al-Bureij, also under IS control, the Observatory said. Al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo has come under heavy assault in recent weeks, with Turkish, Russian and Syrian warplanes carrying out strikes in or around the town. IS is also fighting fierce battles in Deir Ezzor city, which the jihadist group has besieged since early 2015. It already controlled half the city, but has made further advances in recent days, prompting fierce fighting and heavy air strikes by both Syria and its Russian ally. The Observatory said air strikes by Syrian and Russian warplanes killed 12 civilians and 15 IS fighters, but the toll could rise further. Deir Ezzor is the capital of the oil-rich province of the same name which borders Iraq. The fighting has forced the World Food Programme to suspend air drops of aid to besieged civilians in the city, and the UN has warned food supplies could run out within weeks. More than 310,00 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began with anti-government protests that were met with a regime crackdown. Two Trump cabinet picks advance, including Haley for UN Two more of President Donald Trump's cabinet picks advanced toward confirmation Tuesday including US ambassador-designate to the United Nations Nikki Haley, but Democrats delayed consideration of his nominee for attorney general. Haley, a Republican governor of South Carolina, was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a voice vote that advances her nomination to the Senate floor. Trump has just three cabinet members in place so far -- Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and CIA director Mike Pompeo, who was confirmed and sworn in late Tuesday. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley testifies during her confirmation hearing for US Ambassador to the United Nations on January 18, 2017 SAUL LOEB (AFP/File) A confirmation vote for Haley, 45, could come as early as Tuesday if Democrats do not put up an objection. Trump has signalled he would like to slash US funding for United Nations climate change programs, and he opposed a recent UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel that Barack Obama's adminstration had declined to veto. Haley won the backing of Democratic Senator Ben Cardin because, he said, "she does not support efforts to slash American funding to the UN and that she would consistently vocalize US values, including universal human rights, good governance, and press and religious freedom." Meanwhile another Senate panel, also by voice vote, advanced the nomination of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to be Trump's secretary of housing and urban development despite his lack of experience in the field. Carson, 65, was a Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination last year. If confirmed he would be the only African-American member of the cabinet. A committee vote on Senator Jeff Sessions, Trump's attorney general pick, was pushed back by one week, as Democrats expressed deep concerns about his record on civil rights and immigration. Sessions was the Senate's earliest public supporter of Trump after the billionaire real estate mogul launched his unorthodox campaign, and he was rewarded with a plum nomination to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer. Other nominees facing hearings Tuesday included congressman Tom Price, Trump's pick for health secretary and a strong advocate of repealing the Affordable Care Act; Linda McMahon, a wrestling tycoon tapped to head the Small Business Administration; and congressman Mick Mulvaney, Trump's choice for White House Budget Director. At least 8,000 Gambians return home since Jammeh's exit: UN At least 8,000 Gambians who fled the country have returned since strongman Yahya Jammeh went into exile after being threatened with regional military intervention, the UN refugee agency said Tuesday. Political outsider and businessman Adama Barrow won a December election, but for weeks Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the internationally backed Barrow take his oath of office in Senegal last week. Jammeh's defiance prompted more than 76,000 people to seek shelter in Senegal, the UN refugee agency said, citing Senegalese authorities. Gambians celebrate in front of an Economic Community of West African States armoured vehicle outside of the Statehouse in Banjul on January 23, 2017 CARL DE SOUZA (AFP/File) It said "more than an estimated 8,000 people, as of Monday, have returned to their native Gambia since the political crisis there ended" when Jammeh left the country on Saturday night. According to the last estimates by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees put out on Friday, about 45,000 people had streamed into Senegal from The Gambia while at least 800 went to nearby Guinea-Bissau since the start of the year. "Authorities in The Gambia are sending buses to border points to help the displaced return home," UNHCR said, adding that thousands of Senegalese had opened their homes to the fleeing Gambians. The NGO Enda Tiers-Monde in a statement also hailed "the spontaneous and brotherly mobilisation" in Senegal in the past weeks. Troops preparing for Barrow's return to Gambia: ECOWAS New Gambian President Adama Barrow is expected to receive a security report this week that could greenlight his return to the country, the head of the regional ECOWAS group said Tuesday. Barrow won a December election, but for weeks incumbent Yahya Jammeh refused to recognise the result, setting off a crisis that saw the new president take his oath of office in neighbouring Senegal last week. Worried for his safety, Barrow has yet to return from Senegal. Coalition military soldiers patrol the town of Soma on January 23, 2017 SEYLLOU (AFP/File) Speaking at a briefing in Nigeria's capital of Abuja Marcel Alain de Souza, head of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said the troops were working to secure Banjul and the surrounding area. "Today or tomorrow, we will be able to indicate that President Adama Barrow, if he's comfortable, can fly on," De Souza said. ECOWAS forces are investigating claims that armed mercenaries and weapons had seeped into the tiny West African nation during the weeks of turmoil when Jammeh refused to step down. "It was said that a lot of arms were imported into the country. There were heavy arms and there were mercenaries who spoke neither English nor (the local language) Wolof. That an entire hospital was evacuated and filled with weapons and people who were armed to the teeth," De Souza said. "President Adama Barrow has asked us two, three weeks so that we can evaluate whether there are stock piles of arms anywhere. Are there mercenaries hidden anywhere," he said. "The forces need to go in to secure the environment. Imagine President Adama Barrow goes in, he wanted to go in since Sunday, what if he goes in and he is assassinated, the entire process will be put to question." Barrow has requested the troops to stay in the West African country for "six months", said De Souza, adding that the decision to stay or leave is ultimately up to the ECOWAS defence chiefs. Jammeh initially conceded defeat after the December 1 election, but the mercurial strongman then announced he no longer recognised the result. Under the threat of a regional military intervention, Jammeh chose exile in Equatorial Guinea, which is not party to the International Criminal Court, and left The Gambia. Who's who in the Syria conflict Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to bolster a fragile truce in Syria after two days of talks in the Kazakh capital Astana aimed at ending the country's nearly six-year war. The three powers also agreed that armed rebel groups should take part in a new round of talks to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. Here is a breakdown of the forces involved in the complex civil war: Russian, Turkish, Kazakh, Syrian, Iranian and UN counterparts pose after the announcement of a final statement following Syria peace talks in Astana on January 24, 2017 Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV (AFP) - Regime and allies - The Syrian army's 300,000-strong pre-war force has been halved by deaths, defections and draft-dodging. It is bolstered by 150,000-200,000 irregulars and supported by 5,000-8,000 men from Lebanon's Shiite militia Hezbollah, as well as by Iranian, Iraqi and Afghan fighters. Key regime backer Russia began an air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015 and has helped Damascus recapture several key areas, including Aleppo city. Iran has also provided major financial and military support to Assad. The government controls 34 percent of Syria's territory, including key cities such as Damascus and second city Aleppo. Of the 16 million Syrians who remain in the country, 65.5 percent live in regime territory. - Rebels - Syria's opposition comprises a wide range of factions, including moderate rebels and Islamist groups. Estimates of its total number of forces range from tens of thousands up to around 100,000. Early on, rebels coalesced under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), but since then the opposition has splintered. The most powerful non-jihadist group is Ahrar al-Sham, with a commanding presence in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. It espouses a hardline Islamist ideology and is allied with the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front in Idlib where they lead the Army of Conquest alliance. Another key opposition group is the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam). One of its leading figures, Mohammad Alloush, headed the opposition delegation in Astana. Rebels now hold only around 13 percent of the country, including areas where they are allied with Fateh al-Sham, according to Syria expert Fabrice Balanche. Around 12.5 percent of Syria's remaining population lives in rebel-held territory. - Jihadists - There are two rival jihadist forces: the Islamic State group and former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front. IS emerged from the chaos of the war to seize large parts of Syria and Iraq in mid-2014, declaring an Islamic "caliphate", committing widespread atrocities and carrying out or inspiring deadly attacks abroad. Under pressure from an air war launched two years ago by a US-led coalition and fighting on multiple fronts, IS has suffered major losses but still controls significant territory in northern Syria, including its de facto capital Raqa. Fateh al-Sham Front split in July 2016 from Al-Qaeda in a move analysts said was aimed at easing pressure from both Moscow and the US-led coalition which have regularly targeted its forces. Many Syrian rebels have joined Fateh al-Sham, drawn by its financial means and organisational skills. But there have been occasional tensions including this week when clashes erupted in northern Syria, leaving Fateh al-Sham battling a range of rebels including close ally Ahrar al-Sham. The clashes prompted Ahrar al-Sham to warn the jihadists they should commit to the rebel cause or face being considered an enemy, like IS. - The Kurds - Syria's Kurds have largely stayed out of the conflict between the government and armed opposition, carving out a semi-autonomous region in north and northeastern Syria. Their People's Protection Units (YPG) have become a key partner of the US-led coalition fighting IS as part of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The YPG controls about 20 percent of Syrian territory but as much as three-quarters of the northern border with Turkey. Two million people, around 12.5 percent of Syria's remaining population, live in Kurdish-held territory. The SDF has launched a drawn-out offensive against IS's stronghold in Raqa. Turkey began an offensive into Syria in August 2016 against IS and the YPG, which Ankara regards as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a 32-year insurrection inside Turkey. - Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar - Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have provided military and financial support to rebels fighting Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite community linked to Shiite Islam. Ahead of the Astana talks, co-hosts Turkey and Russia took steps to coordinate their involvement in Syria. They brokered a fragile ceasefire between rebels and regime forces that took effect across Syria on December 30 but which excludes jihadists. Earlier this month, Ankara and Moscow struck a deal to prevent clashes between their warplanes over Syria and on January 18 they launched their first joint air strike against IS there. - International coalition - A US-led coalition has carried out air strikes against IS and other jihadists in Syria since 2014. The coalition's members include Australia, Bahrain, Britain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Syrian pro-government forces sit on a military vehicle driving past residents fleeing Aleppo in November 2016 George OURFALIAN (AFP/File) Fighters of the Free Syrian Army, a group which once regrouped Syria's rebel factions but has since broken up, fire an anti-aircraft weapon from a rebel-held area of Aleppo in December 2016 STRINGER (AFP/File) A member of the Syrian pro-government forces carries an Islamic State group flag as he stands on a street in the ancient city of Palmyra after troops recaptured the city from IS jihadists STR (AFP/File) The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) control about 20 percent of Syrian territory but as much as three-quarters of the northern border with Turkey DELIL SOULEIMAN (AFP/File) Syria conflict Thomas SAINT-CRICQ, Paz PIZARRO (AFP) Trump asks Comey to stay as FBI director: media US President Donald Trump has asked FBI director James Comey to stay in his post, despite criticism for his actions during the presidential election which many Democrats say damaged Hillary Clinton's candidacy, media reports said Tuesday. Comey informed senior agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation about Trump's decision during a conference call last week, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. The FBI director is a Republican who was appointed by former president Barack Obama in 2013. FBI Director James Comey is a Republican who was appointed by former president Barack Obama in 2013 Tasos Katopodis (AFP/File) An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about The New York Times report. The Washington Post also reported on Comey's decision to stay on, citing unnamed sources. Comey has faced tough criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his role during last year's election campaign in the investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while she was at the State Department. Relations between the current White House and the FBI are especially sensitive because the Bureau is currently investigating potential ties of several Trump associates to Russian officials. Trump told Comey during their first meeting at Trump Tower in New York earlier this month that he hoped he would remain in office, the Times reported, citing anonymous sources. "And Mr Trump's aides have made it clear to Mr Comey that the president does not plan to ask him to leave," the paper added at the time. Although the director is appointed for a period of 10 years, the president has the power to dismiss him. Comey first angered Republicans in July by recommending that Clinton not be prosecuted Clinton, though he called her actions "extremely careless." Eleven days before the November 8 election, he prompted more shock and dismay, this time among Democrats, by informing Congress that the FBI was reopening the inquiry into Clinton after some of her emails were discovered on the computer of an aide's estranged husband. Two days before the vote, the FBI said the emails contained no new relevant information. Clinton and many other Democrats blame Comey's 11th-hour revelation for her defeat. Trump invites India's Modi to US 'this year' President Donald Trump will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the United States later this year, the White House said after the pair spoke by phone Tuesday. During the call, Trump emphasized that the United States "considers India a true friend and partner in addressing challenges around the world," according to a readout of the call. "The two discussed opportunities to strengthen the partnership between the United States and India in broad areas such as the economy and defense. In a phone call between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, the two leaders discussed ways to strengthen ties in areas like economy and defense Money SHARMA (AFP/File) Trump overshadows young migrants' emotional trip to Mexico MOLCAXAC, Mexico (AP) Tamara Alcala Dominguez sobbed, barely able to speak, as she buried her face in the sweater of the woman who cared for her when she was a toddler. "My little girl, I hugged you so much," Petra Bello Suarez told her now 23-year-old granddaughter, tears dampening her own creased cheeks. "I have you in my arms, my girl. ... You found me still alive." Alcala's mother left her with Bello at age 2 when she went to seek a better life in the United States. A year later, the little girl joined her mother and for two decades Alcala's undocumented status prevented her from returning to Mexico to see her grandmother and other relatives. This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows Tamara Alcala Dominguez reuniting with her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez in their home town of Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico, during Alcala's first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. Alcala's mother left her with her grandmother at age 2 when she went to seek a better life in the U.S. A year later, the little girl joined her mother in the U.S., and for two decades Alcala's undocumented status prevented her from returning to Mexico to see her grandmother and other relatives. A special program allowed her to make her first journey back to Mexico, and return safely. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) Then she became one of the hundreds of thousands protected from deportation under an Obama administration program known as DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which gave work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S as children and living in the country illegally. Alcala burst out of the shadows. In her American home of Everett, Washington, she got an officially sanctioned job and pursued an education with dreams of becoming a doctor. And last year she enrolled in a special program that allowed her to make this, her first journey back to Mexico, and then return safely again to the United States. Grandmother and grandchild spent nearly two weeks catching up on 20 years, a reunion made bittersweet by the uncertainty ahead: They said their goodbyes just before Donald Trump took office amid vows to undo the protections his predecessor put in place, promises that leave immigrants worried about what comes next. For Alcala, the trip may have been either a last opportunity to see her grandmother, or a chance to reacquaint herself with her native land in case she winds up deported. "It brings a lot of peace of mind to know that I was able to interact with her at least once," she said, "before whatever happens in the future." ___ In the weeks just before Trump was sworn in, more than two dozen young immigrants made the same journey as Alcala back to Mexico under a provision of DACA that lets recipients apply to leave the U.S. for academic reasons or family emergencies and then legally return. The Associated Press traveled with them. More than 100 former child migrants have made five such trips sponsored by California State University, Long Beach emotional journeys to what is often a barely remembered homeland, to reunite with family seen only in photos or on Skype. The students on this trip scattered across Mexico to join long-lost relatives for Christmas, then gathered after the new year for an academic course in Cuernavaca before flying home to America. About 750,000 people in the United States have enrolled in DACA. Legislation that would have included similar protections, called the DREAM Act, failed to get through Congress, prompting President Barack Obama to create the program with an executive action in 2012, declaring at the time, "We are a better nation than one that expels innocent young kids." Trump has a different take. He made tough talk on immigration a cornerstone of his campaign for president and has vowed to end DACA, calling it illegal amnesty. At the same time, he's said he hopes to "work something out" for the immigrants. Moderate Republicans are keenly aware of the political dangers of deporting college students and future doctors and lawyers and breaking up families. At a town hall Jan. 12, House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans had been working with the Trump team on a solution and vowed there would be no "deportation force," as Trump once said, to round up people living in the country illegally. "I can see you love your daughter, you are a nice person who has a great future ahead of you, and I hope your future is here," Ryan told one DACA recipient and her daughter at the town hall. But the details of what that solution might look like have not been released, and immigrants have spent the opening days of Trump's presidency on edge. Asked about DACA, Trump's spokesman said Monday that the president would focus first on border security and those with criminal records who live illegally in the U.S. Still, Trump's rhetoric cast a shadow over those who traveled to Mexico. Alvaro Castillo Garcia, a 23-year-old master's student in creative writing at California State University, Northridge, recalled how, before DACA, he had to constantly hide his illegal status amid fears of deportation. "You can't drive, you can't even take a girl on a date because you're going to have to ask her for a ride, you know?" Castillo said. "For the most part we lie about where we were born. We make up stories of why we can't go see relatives. And DACA ... kind of granted us that liberty to feel part of society, because it allowed us to feel human." Ending the program would be like "giving candy to a baby and then taking it away," he said. "We're not babies. ... And I don't think it's going to be taken lightly. I don't think people will be quiet about it." Like Alcala, Castillo and the others who made the trip originally left Mexico as toddlers or teenagers. Their stories show how DACA has allowed immigrants to abandon poorly paid, off-the-books jobs to pursue lives that had been out of reach. Some are college students majoring in social services or theater. Others work with special-needs children, as a college counselor, in accounting, as a retail store manager. One aspires to be a police officer. They spoke of pride in representing their families, and guilt that their parents and siblings were unable to make the same trip. Some feared they'd be seen as haughty because of their lives in the U.S. or odd because of their imperfect Spanish. One man had heard that his grandmother wanted nothing to do with him. Weighing heavily on all their minds was the knowledge that they would be returning to the United States just five days before Trump's inauguration. "There's more concern, more fear because of the change in the political realities," said Armando Vazquez-Ramos, a lecturer in Chicano studies at CSU Long Beach who leads the cross-border course. "But ... they're driven by the fact that this could be the last opportunity." ___ Soft-spoken and shy, Alcala's demeanor reflects an upbringing living with fear of deportation. Growing up, her family mostly kept to themselves and a few friends. Alcala's mother encouraged her not to speak Spanish outside the home to avoid attracting attention. She wasn't to let on that she was Mexican, and never to tell people where her mother worked. "I always felt like I always had to hide everything," Alcala said. Through high school, Alcala was content with her under-the-table restaurant job. But as college neared, the limitations of her legal status became increasingly clear. Her job was never going to be enough to pay for tuition. She began to question why her mother brought her to the U.S. "What's the point of dreaming if you're not going to be able to follow through?" she said. Then one day, at age 19, her life changed. News popped up on her phone about Obama's executive action. Earlier in the day she had experienced the humiliation of being asked for a Social Security number while applying for a hospital position. She arrived at her restaurant job with puffy eyes, determined to immediately apply for DACA. Alcala was accepted, quit the restaurant job and pursued a student position in a lab at the University of Washington. She recently graduated, and is working while studying for medical school entry exams. Her grandmother and great-grandmother were curanderas, traditional healers in Mexico, and she doesn't think it's a coincidence that she was drawn to the medical profession. An end to DACA could scuttle her plans. Being a "normal" student, she said, "made me feel less alone." Last year, just before the November election, Alcala stumbled on a blog that talked about how some people with protection under DACA could travel, and that led her to Vazquez-Ramos' program. For the first time, Alcala had hopes of being with the grandmother she barely knew. And with Bello now 75 years old and suffering from hypertension, diabetes and other ailments, Alcala was determined not to repeat the anguish she felt when her grandfather died of prostate cancer before she could see him. "I said to myself, I'm gonna apply," Alcala said. "This is the year." ___ Molcaxac, where Alcala was born, is a dusty village about a 90-minute drive southeast of Puebla state's eponymous capital city. A colorful arch decorated with religious imagery welcomes visitors. It was put up with the help of donations from her grandmother's family. On a recent day, about a dozen people sat on plastic chairs on the edge of town gulping down orange soda and cola and eating goat slow-steamed in a covered fire pit with agave fronds for flavoring. Folks here say so many working-age residents have migrated to the U.S., the town is mostly populated by the elderly and the very young. Oswaldo Lorenzo Cabrera Medel, a family friend who is also something of a municipal historian, estimated that 95 percent of families in Molcaxac have relatives north of the border who send money to help pay for everything from home additions to startup capital for small businesses and a fireworks show at the annual town fair. The first wave of migration started in 1942 with the bracero program, which allowed Mexicans to temporarily and legally work in the United States. After the program ended in 1964, people continued to go north illegally. Alcala's grandfather was a bracero. With the money he made in California, he purchased a large lot across the street from the main square that has been subdivided among family members who live in a cluster of two-story homes around a common patio. On the drive from Mexico City, Alcala was re-introduced to her birthplace as an aunt sought to explain the unfamiliar: How in this part of the country, many people get around on bike or horseback. How in one neighboring town, everyone makes a living manufacturing and selling fireworks. At a toll plaza on the highway, vendors approached cars hawking sweets and beverages; one man held up two small fluffy dogs. "They're selling puppies!" Alcala squealed. Then she was back in her grandmother's arms. Once the crying stopped, Alcala dined on salty carne asada and the rich mole sauce for which Puebla state is famous. She leaned her head on Bello's shoulder while flipping through her smartphone photos. She skipped around the backyard checking out the peacocks the family raises for their ornamental feathers, and the two giant ostriches whose eggs they sell. She played hide-and-seek with cousins. Alcala followed Bello everywhere to the store, to meet neighbors and, clutching tightly to grandma, to the town holiday party, where a priest celebrated Mass. They said goodbye in Cuernavaca, with Alcala's grandmother promising to teach her even more the next time they are together. Alcala promised that would happen, even though she couldn't really be sure. "I told her this still wasn't the last goodbye," Alcala said. "I told her I'd find a way to go visit her." And once more, they clung to each other and cried. ___ On Inauguration Day, Alcala was back in Washington state as all eyes were on Trump and whatever new policies might come. At least 22,340 DACA recipients have received special permission to travel out of the country and return. For those, that trip back to the U.S. puts a legal entry on their records, which can help toward eventually gaining permanent legal status through sponsorship or marriage, said Jorge Baron of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. Alcala doesn't know what she'll do if her DACA protection ends under Trump; because her younger sister was born in the U.S., Alcala could apply for a family reunification visa. But sibling sponsorship is a long road, with a backlogged application process. For now, she's grateful for both her life in the United States and the time she had back in Mexico. During the class session in Cuernavaca, Alcala heard from other migrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but were not there during DACA and either got deported or left voluntarily. Their stories, and the days spent with her grandmother, provided the glimpse she needed into what life would be like if deported. She would still pursue her dreams; the pursuit would simply be harder. "I feel better, like 100 percent better. Before, I was just thinking the worst," she said. "If I get deported, I'd know nothing. I didn't know my family well. I had no clue what'd be awaiting me." Now, she said, "I'm not scared ... anymore." And as she settled back into life in the country she for now calls home, Alcala had a message for President Trump: "What's the worst you can do, send me back to Mexico? Now I know I can succeed (in Mexico) or in the States. It was a great burden off my shoulders ... to not fear Mexico." ___ Follow Valdes and Orsi on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ByManuelValdes and https://twitter.com/Peter_Orsi This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows an arch welcoming visitors to Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico. Folks here say so many working-age residents have migrated to the U.S., the town is mostly populated by the elderly and the very young. The first wave of migration started in 1942 with the bracero program, which allowed Mexicans to temporarily, and legally, work in the United States. After the program ended in 1964, people continued to go north illegally. (AP Photo/Peter Orsi) This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows Tamara Alcala Dominguez, right, wearing blue, at a holiday party in her home town of Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico, during her first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. In the weeks just before President Donald Trump was sworn in, more than two dozen young immigrants made the same journey as Alcala back to Mexico under a provision of DACA that allows recipients to leave the U.S. for academic reasons or family emergencies and then legally return _ emotional journeys to what is often a barely remembered homeland, to reunite with family seen only in photos or on Skype. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez walks with her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez in their home town of Molcaxac, Puebla, Mexico, during Alcala first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. The women spent nearly two weeks catching up on 20 years, a reunion made bittersweet by the uncertainty ahead: They said their goodbyes just before President-elect Donald Trump took office amid vows to undo the protections his predecessor put in place, promises that leave Alcala worried about what comes next. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, a statue of Christ stands in the home of Tamara Alcala Dominguez's mother in Molcaxac, Puebla, Mexico, during her first return home since she left Mexico as a toddler. Alcala's grandmother and great-grandmother were curanderas, traditional healers in Mexico, and she doesn't think it's a coincidence that she was drawn to the medical profession. Alcala is studying for medical school entry exams in the U.S. (AP Photo/Peter Orsi) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez and her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez attend a holiday party in their home town of Molcaxac, Puebla, Mexico, during Alcala's first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. The trip may have been either a last opportunity to see her grandmother, or a chance to reacquaint herself with her native land in case she winds up deported. "It brings a lot of peace of mind to know that I was able to interact with her at least once," she said, "before whatever happens in the future." (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows the inside of the church in Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico. An estimated 95 percent of families in Molcaxac have relatives north of the border who send money to help pay for everything from home additions to start-up capital for a small businesses and a fireworks show at the annual town fair, according to municipal historian Oswaldo Lorenzo Cabrera Medel. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez spends time with her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez in their home town of Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico, during her first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. With her grandmother now 75 years old and suffering from hypertension, diabetes and other ailments, Alcala was determined not to repeat the anguish she felt when her grandfather died of prostate cancer before she could see him. A special program allowed her to make her first journey back to Mexico, and return safely. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows women making tamales in Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico. Folks here say so many working-age residents have migrated to the U.S., the town is mostly populated by the elderly and the very young. The first wave of migration started in 1942 with the bracero program, which allowed Mexicans to temporarily, and legally, work in the United States. After the program ended in 1964, people continued to go north illegally. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez shares cell phone photos with her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez in their home town of Molcaxac, Puebla, Mexico. During her first return since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler, Alcala followed her grandmother everywhere, to the store, to meet neighbors and to the town holiday party. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) This Dec. 23, 2016 photo shows the main church in Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico. Molcaxac is a village about a 90-minute drive southeast of Puebla state's capital city. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez spends time with her grandmother Petra Bello Suarez in the kitchen in her grandmother's home of Molcaxac, Puebla, Mexico, during Alcala's first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. Once the crying stopped, Alcala dined on salty carne asada and the rich mole sauce for which Puebla state is famous. (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez, right, reunites with family and friends of the family in her home town of Molcaxac, Puebla state, Mexico, during her first return home since she left Mexico for the U.S. as a toddler. Alcala said goodbye to her grandmother, who stands behind her in this picture, with her grandmother promising to teach her even more the next time they are together. "I told her this still wasn't the last goodbye," Alcala said. "I told her I'd find a way to go visit her." (AP Photo/Pablo Spencer) In this Dec. 23, 2016 photo, Tamara Alcala Dominguez stands with her aunt Constantina Dominguez at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City, during Alcala's first return to Mexico since she left for the U.S. as a toddler. Alcala's mother encouraged her not to speak Spanish outside the home to avoid attracting attention, she wasn't to let on that she was Mexican, and never to tell people where her mother worked. "I always felt like I always had to hide everything," Alcala said. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, Mexican youth who migrated to the U.S. as children gather before starting a group therapy session, on their first day back to their native country, in Mexico City. In the weeks just before President-elect Donald Trump was sworn in, more than two dozen young immigrants made the journey back to Mexico under a provision of DACA that allows recipients to leave the U.S. for academic reasons or family emergencies and then legally return. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, Armando Vazquez-Ramos, lecturer in Chicano studies at California State University who leads a cross-border course, center, poses for a photo with his students in Mexico City, on their first day back to their native country, and following a group therapy session to help them cope with reentry. During a class session, Tamara Alcala Dominguez, who is at top left wearing glasses in this photo, heard from other migrants who were brought to the U.S. as children but were not there during DACA and either got deported or left voluntarily. Their stories, and the days spent reuniting with her grandmother, provided the glimpse she needed into what life would be like if deported. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, Mexican youth who migrated to the U.S. as children walk through downtown Mexico City, on their first night back in their native country. More than 100 former child migrants have visited the country of their birth on five such trips sponsored by California State University, Long Beach, emotional journeys to what is often a barely remembered homeland, to reunite with family seen only in photos or on Skype. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) If Trump ends America's world leadership, who will step up? WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump's pursuit of an "America first" foreign policy is raising questions about who, if anyone, will fill the void if the U.S. relinquishes its traditional global leadership role. China and Russia are among the aspirants for greater economic and military influence, while an ambivalent Germany could emerge as the West's moral compass. For generations, the U.S. has largely set the terms for the global economy, policed international security threats and spearheaded the response to crises like Ebola and Haiti's earthquake. But after sweeping into office with an isolationist-tinged message rooted in the idea the U.S. needs to refocus on itself, Trump has said and done little to dispel the notion that he wants the rest of the world solve its own problems. In his inaugural address, Trump said the U.S. for too long has been invested in other countries' industries, militaries, borders and infrastructure while letting its own fall into "disrepair and decay." Vice President Mike Pence, left, and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus watch as President Donald Trump shows off an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact agreed to under the Obama administration, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) "That is the past," Trump said. In one of his first acts, Trump on Monday formally withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a project launched under President George W. Bush and negotiated by President Barack Obama to set trade rules with Asia and counter China's economic influence Trump said he was doing a "great thing" for U.S. workers by tearing it up. But Sen. John McCain, a fellow Republican, said the withdrawal "abdicates U.S. leadership in Asia to China." China isn't the only country that could profit from U.S. retrenchment. In their own ways, Russia and Germany also could stake a claim to a greater global role. But no one can simultaneously match America's economic, military and moral might, and a more isolationist U.S. could mean a power vacuum. "There's no country or collection of countries that can do what the U.S. has done for the last half-century," said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's partly a question of resources and capacity, and it's partly a question of ambition." "A huge number of things will simply not be done," he said. While U.S. rivals like China and Russia would relish the opportunity to try to replace the United States, many countries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere are fretting the prospect of an American retreat. Even Germany is unsettled about being increasingly looked to as a moral example. China, which has been investing billions in Africa and Latin America to curry influence in the developing world, could become an increasingly dominant economic power. It already is aggressively pursuing a multicountry trade deal that would appear the likeliest alternative to TPP, a scenario Obama's administration had warned would let China "write the rules" and lead to worse labor and environmental standards. Beijing has used Trump's inauguration as an opportunity to ridicule America's democracy and tout its own communist system as superior. And many of China's neighbors share its fears about Trump's threats to trigger a "trade war" with the Asian powerhouse by taxing Chinese products. "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from," Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, laying out his plans for growth, overseas investments and expanded trade opportunities. It was the type of agenda the U.S. might have previously touted. America's military alliances are no sure thing, either. Trump has suggested a broad rethink, calling NATO "obsolete" and challenging U.S. allies to bear greater cost while beefs up its military in the Pacific and Russia exerts military power in Eastern Europe, which suffered for decades under Soviet domination. It's not the only place the Kremlin is flexing its muscles. In Syria, Russia has backed more than a year of successful Syrian government offensives against rebels and is currently directing peace talks between the two sides. The U.S. was but a bystander at the negotiations Monday, while the White House said it could partner Russia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria. Such an arrangement could significantly enhance Russia's reputation in the Middle East. "With the election of Donald Trump, the old world of the 20th century is finally over," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in the Bild newspaper, reflecting a broader European lament about confused international leadership and increased disorder. Trump's push has mirrored a broader global debate about globalization vs. isolation. British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Trump later this week, seeking cooperation from an American leader who cheered her country's vote to leave the European Union which Obama campaigned against. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who once cursed Obama for the American's criticism of his country's war on drugs, has embraced Trump's "America first" approach and expressed relief the U.S. will no longer lecture others on how to behave. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long accused of undemocratic tendencies, echoed that message, declaring "the end of multilateralism" in the age of Trump. While China's increased economic strength and Russia's military vigor may appeal to some, few Western-looking nations will turn to either for moral leadership. Germany has tried to fill that void, embracing hundreds of thousands of refugees and championing a dwindling multilateralism 70 years after being culpable for some of history's greatest ever atrocities in World War II. But Germany, Europe's economic motor, has a glaring shortcoming: An inability to match the hard power of aspiring leaders in Moscow and Beijing. And for all her efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a tough re-election later this year, where she will find out if her Germany is immune to the new populist surge. ___ Judging by reactions at Monday nights Cumberland Valley School Board meeting, no one on the school board appears to favor pending state legislation that would eliminate property tax funding for school districts. John Callahan, senior director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania School Board Association, presented district officials with information about the proposal that is under consideration by the state Senate for possible enactment by July 1, 2017. It is a significant concern. There are a lot of unanswered questions, Callahan told the school board. According to Callahan, state lawmakers propose to shift funding for school districts in Pennsylvania from personal and commercial real estate taxes to personal income tax and sales tax revenue. To make up for the lost revenue for school districts, the states personal income tax levy would rise from its current rate of 3.07 percent to around 4.95 percent, and the state sales tax would rise from 6 to 7 percent. The range of items and services eligible for state sales tax also would increase, Callahan said. Funds would be distributed to school districts from these sources on a quarterly basis using an annual cost-of-living adjustment formula, according to PSBA literature. According to Callahan, the proposal would take away much of school administrators current control on how to fund their districts. School Board member Robert Walker said he was concerned because 72 percent of Cumberland Valleys funding comes from residential and commercial real estate taxes. Also under proposed legislation, school districts with eligible debt levels still could tax property owners on top of increased rates for personal income tax and sales tax, Callahan said. However, districts needing additional funds for new buildings, building renovations or other expenditures beyond their means would have to acquire funds through public referendum. This is probably the most disastrous thing Ive ever had to deal with the entire time that Ive served on this board, school board member Barbara Guistwhite said. Im just dumbfounded. It doesnt really matter what we say here, it probably will eventually come to pass, school board member Bud R. Shaffner said. I just hope it doesnt come now. Im disappointed in my fellow Republicans, and I consider myself a very strong Republican. I feel that theyve taken a stance on education thats wrong. Callahan urged school board members to contact their local senators and representatives to express their concerns about proposed property tax repeal for school districts. Our first message is to get this message out to our school boards, then we will work with social media and other organizations and even some businesses, he said. Superintendent Frederick Withum III mentioned that January is School Board Appreciation Month and commended the board for how well managed the school district is during a period of unprecedented growth over the past 10 years. The Latest: California lawmakers confirm attorney general SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The Latest on the California Senate's consideration of attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra: 3:55 p.m. California lawmakers have confirmed Xavier Becerra (HAHV'-ee-ayr BUH'-cehr-uh) as the state's new attorney general. FILE- In this Jan. 10, 2017, file photo, U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., left, laughs as at comment by Gov. Jerry Brown during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General before the Assembly Special Committee on the Office of the Attorney General in Sacramento, Calif. In their first official action since Donald Trump became president, California lawmakers are poised vote Monday, Jan. 23, on confirming an attorney general nominee who has vowed to defend the states liberal policies against the Trump administration and the Republican Congress. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) The Democratic-controlled state Senate on Monday voted 26-9 along party lines to approve Becerra. It's the Legislature's first official action since Donald Trump became president. Becerra has vowed to defend the state's liberal policies against Trump and the Republican Congress. Democratic Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson says Becerra will fight against proposed mass deportations and repeal of health care and protect the rights of the gay and lesbian community, women and consumers. But Republican Sen. John Moorlach says he's worried Becerra will jeopardize federal funding by attacking the Trump administration. Becerra will be California's first Latino attorney general. The Los Angeles-area Democrat was the highest-ranking Latino in Congress. ___ 3:15 p.m. Democrats in the California Senate say Congressman Xavier Becerra (HAHV'-ee-ayr BUH'-cehr-uh) will defend California policies against intrusion from the federal government as the state's next attorney general. Senators took up Becerra's nomination Monday. The vote is the final hurdle the Democratic congressman must clear to become the state's top law enforcement officer. Becerra has vowed to stand up to the Trump administration and fight any federal law he believes infringes on the rights of Californians. Democrats are broadly supportive of Becerra's nomination and praised his career. Republican Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa says he's worried Becerra would jeopardize federal funds as attorney general by attacking the Trump administration, while Republican Sen. Joel Anderson of Alpine says he's not persuaded Becerra would be tough enough on crime. ___ 12 a.m. California lawmakers are set to give their final approval to Xavier Becerra (HAHV'-ee-ayr BUH'-cehr-uh) as the next attorney general. The Senate's vote Monday on Becerra's nomination will be the Legislature's first official action since Donald Trump became president. Becerra is the highest-ranking Latino in Congress, and he has vowed to defend the state's liberal policies against Trump. Becerra says he will fight any federal law he believes infringes on the rights of Californians. Many California policies face an uncertain future amid promises by Trump and Republican lawmakers to overhaul the nation's health care, immigration and climate change laws. Lawmakers admonish ethics official over tweets about Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Lawmakers from both parties on Monday admonished a federal ethics official who sent a series of tweets commenting on President Donald Trump's potential conflicts of interest. Members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the tweets by Walter Shaub Jr., director of the Office of Government Ethics, were inappropriate and could compromise the agency's objectivity. In tweets sent in November, Shaub congratulated Trump for agreeing to divest from his business an agreement Trump had not yet made. Shaub later issued a scathing review of Trump's plan to turn over control of his business to his sons. Walter M. Shaub Jr., director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, arrives for a scheduled meeting with the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah called Shaub's Jan. 11 comments "highly unethical" and summoned Shaub to a closed-door meeting. Chaffetz and committee Democrats met with Shaub for more than an hour Monday, an unusual meeting prompted by Republicans' frustration with the ethics office and its operations rather than Trump. The OGE is responsible for ensuring that members of the new administration are avoiding potential conflicts of interest. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the panel's senior Democrat, said lawmakers from both parties were troubled by Shaub's initial "bravo" tweets, sent soon after Trump was elected president. "When he did that, it didn't seem professional," Cummings said. Chaffetz said he and other lawmakers told Shaub they were frustrated by the tweets, calling them unproductive and distracting. "I don't think it solves the challenge. It's not their role," Chaffetz said, adding that he believes Shaub received the bipartisan message at Monday's meeting. Asked if he has confidence in Shaub, Chaffetz said: "I think we better understand each other." Shaub called the meeting productive and said lawmakers were "candid" in their remarks. "I think it was extremely useful," he said. Despite the bipartisan tone, Cummings said he remains concerned that Trump has not done enough to comply with ethics requirements. He noted that Shaub told lawmakers the ethics office has not yet received documents Trump brought to a Jan. 11 news conference announcing his plan to address possible conflict of interest. Cummings also said Shaub described comments by Trump's chief of staff, Reince Priebus, as "chilling." Priebus said in a TV interview that Shaub "ought to be careful" in his criticism of Trump. The comment by Priebus "is the very thing I'll fight against," Cumming said, adding that he assured Shaub the ethics office would be protected by the committee. Cummings and Chaffetz also said they would work together to reauthorize the ethics office in the new Congress. Monday's meeting came as a watchdog group filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump is violating the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments. The lawsuit claims that a constitutional clause prohibits Trump from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings. Venus Williams, Federer back in the thick of a Grand Slam MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) For all their Grand Slam successes, Venus Williams and Roger Federer still find themselves surprised to be in the semifinals at the Australian Open. Injuries, illness and advancing age can do that to the best of athletes, even 17-time major champion Federer and seven-time Grand Slam singles winner Williams, who has overcome an energy-sapping illness and is playing some of her best tennis since being diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome in 2011. "I have a lot to give, I have a lot to give to the game. I feel like I have a lot of great tennis in me," Williams said when asked why she didn't retire when diagnosed with the illness that also causes joint pain. United States' Venus Williams celebrates after defeating Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their quarterfinal at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) "So anytime you feel that way, you continue. It's just the excitement of having the opportunity to compete at my best level." The 36-year-old Williams beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Tuesday, becoming the oldest player to reach the semifinals at Melbourne Park in the Open era. She'll next play CoCo Vandeweghe, an American who beat French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-4, 6-0 in Tuesday's other quarterfinal match. It was a long time coming for Williams, who reached her 21st Grand Slam semifinal but her first at the Australian Open in 14 years. The 35-year-old Federer, meanwhile, is back from a six-month injury layoff due to left knee surgery. On Tuesday, he had a 6-1, 7-5, 6-2 win over Mischa Zverev, the player who eliminated top-seeded Andy Murray from the tournament two nights earlier. Federer's semifinal opponent will be Stan Wawrinka, who had his major breakthrough in Australia in 2014. Wawrinka beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-3. Federer won the first five games in 12 minutes, setting up a straightforward win to reach his 41st Grand Slam semifinal and his 13th at Melbourne Park. Only he didn't expect to be anywhere near the semifinals. "Winning back-to-back matches in best-of-five sets against quality, great players, that's been for me the big question mark, if I could do that so early in my comeback," Federer said. "I felt I was always going to be dangerous on any given day in a match situation. But obviously as the tournament would progress, maybe I would fade away with energy. "I think now that I'm in the semis, feeling as good as I am, playing as good as I am, that's a huge surprise to me." Another tournament surprise has been the No. 35-ranked Vandeweghe. She beat top-ranked Angelique Kerber, who won the Australian and U.S. Open titles last year, in the fourth round. Vandeweghe followed it up with an upset win over Muguruza. Vandeweghe saved the only break point she faced in the first set with an ace, and only conceded 10 points in the 28-minute second set. "Once I got rolling in the second, it was like a freight train," she said. "You couldn't stop it." Williams has advanced through the tournament without dropping a set, and isn't ready to stop in the semifinals in the latest installment of her career revival. "It's wonderful to start the year out with this appearance," said Williams, who hadn't reached the semifinals in Australia since 2003, the year she lost the final to sister Serena. "I want to go further." Williams didn't reach the quarterfinals at any of the Grand Slams from 2011 until the 2015 Australian Open. She lost in the first round in Melbourne last year. With her run to the Wimbledon semifinals last year, Williams became the oldest woman since Martina Navratilova (at 37 years, 258 days) in 1994 to advance so far at a major. On Wednesday, the men's semifinalists from the other side of the draw will be determined when 14-time major champion Rafael Nadal plays Milos Raonic and David Goffin takes on Grigor Dimitrov. With Murray and second-round loser Novak Djokovic gone, the "throwback" enthusiasts are hoping for a Federer-Nadal final, just for old time's sake. And maybe on the women's side as well. Serena Williams, aiming for a record 23rd Grand Slam title, plays Johanna Konta and Karolina Pliskova meets Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in the remaining women's quarterfinals on Wednesday. So there's also the possibility of another all-Williams final, a flashback to 2003 in Melbourne. But Venus isn't thinking about any opponent in particular, just the end result. "Should I look across the net and believe the person across the net deserves it more? This mentality is not how champions are made," Venus Williams said. "I'd like to be a champion, in particular this year. The mentality I walk on court with is: 'I deserve this.'" Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates after defeating Germany's Mischa Zverev during their quarterfinal at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka makes a forehand return to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their quarterfinal at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill) United States' Venus Williams makes a forehand return to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their quarterfinal at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill) United States' Venus Williams makes a backhand return to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova during their quarterfinal at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) A fan of United States' Venus Williams holds up a poster during her quarterfinal against Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova at the Australian Open tennis championships in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Trump in Asia: Region poised for change as new era dawns BEIJING (AP) People across Asia are poised for a potentially dramatic change in relations with Washington under President Donald Trump after decades with the United States as a major military and economic presence. The clues Trump has given about his foreign policy are a break with former President Barack Obama's "pivot to Asia," which re-emphasized American engagement in the region. In one of his first actions in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement negotiated by the Obama administration and 11 Pacific Rim countries. He has talked about requiring allies Japan and South Korea to pay more for U.S. troops stationed on their soil. In this Jan. 21, 2017 photo, Amol Sharma, 36, owner of a tech-based pet services startup, gestures as he speaks to Associated Press in New Delhi, India. Sharma said Trump's presidency "might be a boon for India." "It doesnt seem like Trumps going to have a great relationship with China. And if he is going to fall out with China, he would need a backup from a developing, emerging power, and I think India seems to be his best bet," said Sharma. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) Trump has threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 45 percent and upended four decades of diplomatic protocol by taking a phone call from President Tsai Ing-wen of self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory. "From this moment on, it's going to be America first," Trump said at his inauguration Friday. Here's how people across the Asia-Pacific region think his presidency could affect their lives: ___ INDIA Amol Sharma , owner of a pet services startup, said Trump's presidency "might be a boon for India." "It doesn't seem like Trump's going to have a great relationship with China. And if he is going to fall out with China, he would need a backup from a developing, emerging power, and I think India seems to be his best bet," said Sharma, 36, from Jaipur, in the state of Rajasthan. ___ JAPAN Nurse Hitoshi Shiraishi worries about what Trump's "America first" policy will mean for cooperation and agreements with Japan and other countries. With Trump abandoning the TPP, "the relations and other things that were built over time with (President Barack) Obama have all at once reversed course," he said in Tokyo. Add long-simmering opposition to the stationing of U.S. troops on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and "I'm worried things could get worse," said Shiraishi, 30. "It feels like what has been built over time until now could come crumbling down, so I'm afraid." ___ SOUTH KOREA "Trump wants to keep China in check and that would escalate conflict, which can also affect our country," said student Kim Eun-sol , 19. A demand for South Korea to pay more for U.S. forces in the country, or pressure to renegotiate a free-trade agreement "would cause a crack in the South Korea-U.S. alliance," said Kim, who is from the southern city of Jinju. "Trump also has mentioned using the military to deal with North Korea's development of nuclear weapons," which would add to tension on the Korean Peninsula, she said. ___ CHINA "Once he won the election, he tried to use Taiwan to suppress China. That was really despicable," said Ma Rui , a retired teacher in Beijing. "The key is how China will treat him. He is a double-dealer and he tries to boost the economy" by using "Taiwan as a tool to bargain with China," said Ma, 82. "I don't think he will succeed in this regard and China has its own ways to deal with him." Ma doesn't foresee any big changes in Sino-U.S. relations. "China will be able to handle him. The relationship won't go bad, because that is not good for the U.S., either," said Ma. ___ TAIWAN Given Trump's business background, some Taiwanese foresee a friendly relationship based on longstanding U.S. sales of military equipment to Taiwan and an upgrade in the self-governing island's military defense. "He will consider things with a business mindset," said Manhua Chen , 37, from Taipei. "For example, the phone call with President Tsai was just because there is a great amount of trade between us in military weapons." Yet Chen, a former Pfizer employee turned Spanish-language tour guide, said she was worried Trump would refuse to discuss "universal values, such as human rights, or climate change." "If he does not care enough about these universal values, I really don't know what will define the United States as a great country," said Chen. "Then each country could also close their doors and do their own thing." ___ INDONESIA Unggul Hermanto , 34, thinks Indonesian politicians will find Trump easier to work with than his predecessors. "They know that if they play to his ego and Indonesian politicians are very good at doing this they can get what they want from him," said Hermanto, publisher of a lifestyle magazine. If Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo meets Trump, "will Trump like Jokowi?" said Hermanto, from Lombok island. "Yeah, of course, he's one of the most polite persons in the world and Trump will come out and say 'I love him, he's great,' blah blah blah. But it's just Jokowi being nice, and that's how he's going to get things from Trump." ___ MALAYSIA Student Adib Iliya Azlan , 19, said Malaysians previously viewed the U.S. president as a "representative of democracy and fairness" who would "try to pressure our local political process into becoming slightly more transparent and open." "Unfortunately with Trump, I don't expect him to show up in Malaysia in a few years talking about open elections and transparency," said Adib. "I don't see him taking that much of an interest certainly in foreign policy in general and almost certainly not ASEAN" the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Adib said Trump's dealings with China, an important economic partner, could determine Malaysia's relations with the United States. "If Trump upsets the Chinese or vice versa, that may force Malaysia's hand in some way," said Adib, from Petaling Jaya town in central Selangor state. "My concern will be if Trump ends up going on a tirade against the Chinese and putting us in sticky situation, because I think it's always good as a developing country to sort of have the ear of both the East and the West." ___ NEW ZEALAND Wynton Moore , a data scientist who spent seven years in Chicago studying physics, said the only thing Trump has said that would directly affect New Zealand is his actions on dropping the TPP talks. "I think that the majority of people in New Zealand would probably be happy about that," said Moore, who lives in Wellington. "It seems like a lot of people here have got very strong reservations." Moore, 29, said he thought New Zealand would continue its "very strong cooperative relationship" with the U.S. because of "the history of New Zealand and U.S. leaders, for the most part, putting politics to one side when it comes to their bilateral relationship." ___ AP journalists Shonal Ganguly and Rishabh Jain in New Delhi; Yong Jun Chang in Seoul, South Korea; Peng Peng in Beijing; Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand; Emily Wang in Tokyo; Stephen Wright in Jakarta, Indonesia; Taijing Wu in Taipei, Taiwan; and Eileen Ng and Syawalludin Zain in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed. In this Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017 photo, Hitoshi Shiraishi, 30-year-old nurse, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. Shiraishi worries about what U.S. President Donald Trumps "America first" policy will mean for cooperation and agreements with Japan and other countries. With Trump against the Trans Pacific Partnership, "the relations and other things that was built over time with (President Barack) Obama have all at once reversed course," he said. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko) In this Jan. 21, 2017 photo, South Korean college student Kim Eun-sol, 19, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Seoul, South Korea. "Trump wants to keep China in check and that would escalate conflict, which can also affect our country," said Kim. A demand for South Korea to pay more for U.S. forces in the country, or pressure to renegotiate a free-trade agreement "would cause a crack in the South Korea-U.S. alliance," said Kim. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) In this Jan. 21, 2017 image made from video, Ma Rui, 82-year-old retired teacher, talks about U.S. President Donald Trump during an interview with The Associated Press in Beijing. "Once he won the election, he tried to use Taiwan to suppress China. That was really despicable," said Ma. "The key is how China will treat him. He is a double-dealer and he tries to boost the economy" by using "Taiwan as a tool to bargain with China," said Ma. "I dont think he will succeed in this regard and China has its own ways to deal with him." (AP Photo) In this Jan. 21, 2017, image made from video, Manhua Chen is interviewed by the Associated Press in Taipei, Taiwan. People across Asia are poised for a potentially dramatic change in relations with Washington under President Donald Trump after 60 years with the United States as a major military and economic presence. He will consider things with a business mindset, said Chen, 37. For example, the phone call with President Tsai was just because there is a great amount of trade between us in military weapons. Yet Chen, a former Pfizer employee turned Spanish-language tour guide, said she was worried Trump would refuse to discuss universal values, such as human rights, or climate change. (AP Photo) In this Jan. 21, 2017 photo, lifestyle magazine publisher and app developer Unggul Hermanto speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Jakarta, Indonesia. People across Asia are poised for a potentially dramatic change in relations with Washington under President Donald Trump after 60 years with the United States as a major military and economic presence. Hermanto, 34, thinks Indonesian politicians will find Trump easier to work with than his predecessors. "They know that if they play to his ego - and Indonesian politicians are very good at doing this - they can get what they want from him," said Hermanto. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana) In this Jan. 21, 2017 photo, Malaysian Muslim student Adib Iliya Azlan, 19, talks about U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration during an interview with The Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Adib said Malaysians previously viewed the U.S. president as a "representative of democracy and fairness who would "try to pressure our local political process into becoming slightly more transparent and open." "Unfortunately with Trump, I dont expect him to show up in Malaysia in a few years talking about open elections and transparency," said Adib. (AP Photo/Lim Huey Teng) Appeals court to decide future of California carbon auctions SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Businesses looking to invalidate California's fee for carbon pollution took their arguments to a state appeals court Tuesday in a case that could determine the future of one of California's signature efforts to combat climate change. With a central piece of Gov. Jerry Brown's legacy on the line, lawyers for the state and for environmental advocacy groups defended a program that has been closely watched around the world as a potential model for controlling carbon emissions. "This case represents a direct assault on that leadership," Matthew Zinn, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund told a panel of three appellate judges. Uncertainty surrounding the case has already been a major factor in upending the market for pollution permits, which consistently raised hundreds of millions of dollars a year until demand plummeted in 2016. The courtroom battle comes as California's climate initiatives, some of the most aggressive in the world, face their biggest threat yet from a new president, Donald Trump, who has vowed to loosen environmental regulations. California's "cap-and-trade" program is a central piece of a wide-ranging series of regulations meant to reduce the emissions of heat-trapping gases. The state places a limit on emissions and reduces the cap over time. Permits to pollute are auctioned quarterly to affected companies or to investors, who can hold onto them for future sale to polluting companies that exceed their emissions cap. Auction revenue is a key funding source for a high-speed rail project seeking to link Los Angeles and San Francisco by train. It also generates billions for transit construction, housing and energy conservation efforts. California and the Canadian province of Quebec, which have linked their cap-and-trade auctions, operate the world's only economy-wide limit on emissions, said Alex Jackson, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which is defending the program. "For a jurisdiction as large as California, that's not small potatoes," Jackson said. "This lawsuit strikes at the heart of how this program is operated." Cap-and-trade programs in other parts of the world, including the European Union and a group of northeastern U.S. states, don't cover as many industries as California's, he said. The California Chamber of Commerce and the Morning Star Packing Company, a tomato processing company required to buy carbon permits, filed separate lawsuits challenging the state's authority to levy the fee. Their lawyers argue that the 2006 law that underlies cap-and-trade never authorized the state to conduct an auction. Even if the legislation, AB32, did allow an auction, they argue, it amounts to a tax increase that would require approval of two-thirds of the Assembly and Senate under the state constitution. AB32 did not reach that threshold. If the auction is allowed to stand, there's nothing to prevent the California Air Resources Board from inventing new ways to raise revenue, James Parrinello, a lawyer representing the Chamber of Commerce, told the judges. "With CARB's logic, or illogic, it could raise myriad revenue limited only by its own creativity," Parrinello said. Lawyers challenging the auction say the state can give away pollution permits, known as allowances, but it can't sell them. "The lawsuit does not affect the integrity of the cap and trade program," Tony Francois, a lawyer from Pacific Legal Foundation, a conservative legal foundation that represents Morning Star, said in an interview. "This is just about the state's illegal add-on, this allowance auction." The Air Resources Board, which administers the program, says the auctions are similar to regulatory fees, which did not require a two-thirds supermajority in 2006, and are necessary to prevent polluters from getting windfall profits. Sacramento County Superior Court judge Timothy Frawley upheld the program in in a 2013 ruling. Judges from the 3rd District Court of Appeal have until late April to issue a decision. Lawyers for both sides said they will appeal to the California Supreme Court if they lose. Demand for pollution permits has plummeted amid uncertainty about the court's thinking, along with questions about whether AB32 authorized cap-and-trade to continue beyond 2020 a question not at issue in the current case. Romanian businessman jailed for bribing judges dies BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) Dan Adamescu, one of Romania's richest businessmen who was serving a prison sentence for bribery, has died. He was 68. Daughter-in-law Adriana Constantinescu told Romania TV that Adamescu died early Tuesday in a private hospital where he had been transferred from prison for treatment for an infection. The paper he owned, Romania Libera, said he had been in an induced coma since December 2016 and was suffering from septicemia. He had been in ill health for some time and was wheelchair-bound. His lawyers' requests for his early release on health grounds were not granted. His paper called that unjust, and called for a post-mortem inquiry. In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the paper said he was "one of the most important investors in the Romanian press" after the fall of communism in the country. It noted he had returned to Romania from Germany after 1989, where he emigrated to in the 1970s, and built up a series of successful businesses. In May, Adamescu was sentenced to four years and four months in prison for instructing his lawyer to pay bribes of 20,000 euros ($20,150) to judges in December 2013. The bribes were related to insolvency cases involving his companies. One judge got more than 12 years imprisonment, while three other judges got lesser prison sentences. Adamescu's lawyer reportedly threw himself in front of a subway train after one of the judges' 2014 arrest. In March 2016, Adamescu was also charged with causing 800 million lei ($191million) in damages from 2011 to 2013 to SC Astra Insurance company, where he was chairman of the board. The case was due to go to trial. Adamescu was reportedly worth 850 million lei ($20.3 million) in 2015. Apart from the Romania Libera newspaper, he had a majority stake in a shopping center and various upscale hotels. Indonesia probes alleged gun smuggling by peacekeeping unit JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) Authorities in Indonesia are investigating allegations of weapons smuggling by dozens of its peacekeepers who were arrested in Sudan, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. Sudanese media reported on Friday that the North Darfur state administration arrested Indonesian police officers who were suspected of trying to smuggle out 29 Kalashnikov rifles and about 70 guns in their luggage at El-Fasher airport. Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said the initial information they received was that the luggage did not belong to the Indonesian police unit and the U.N. is currently conducting an investigation. "There are a number of incongruities in the information we have received," Nasir said in a statement. He said an Indonesian police team will leave for Sudan's capital, Khartoum, to provide legal assistance and seek clarification of the incident. Indonesia deployed 140 officers last week to join a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Sudan to replace the outgoing group. National Police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said the Indonesian police officers are being held in a transit camp in Sudan. He insisted that the luggage that contained guns did not belong to the Indonesian group, citing the chief of the Indonesian police unit as saying it did not bear the identification stickers they use. Two containers of luggage belonging to the Indonesians ended up next to the luggage containing the guns after the Indonesian luggage had been scanned by U.N. security forces, Sitompul said. Kyrgyz court confirms life sentence for journalist BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) A court in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday upheld a life sentence for an ethnic Uzbek journalist in a case that has drawn international criticism. Azimzhan Askarov was convicted in 2010 for stirring up ethnic hatred, a charge related to ethnic unrest in the south of Kyrgyzstan in 2010 when more than 450 people, mostly ethnic Uzbeks, were killed and tens or even hundreds of thousands were displaced. The majority of those convicted for taking part in the deadly clashes have been ethnic Uzbeks. FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016 file photo, ethnic Uzbek journalist Azimzhan Askarov, who has been jailed for life for stirring up ethnic hatred in a case which has drawn international criticism, looks through a metal bars at a courtroom during hearings opened at the regional court in the capital Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The court in Kyrgyzstan upheld a life sentence for Askarov in a case that has drawn international criticism on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Vladimir Voronin, File) Askarov, who can appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court, shouted out after Tuesday's decision that he would go on hunger strike in protest. Askarov's case was sent for review last year after the U.N. Human Rights Committee in April urged Kyrgyzstan to release him, finding that he had been arbitrarily detained, tortured and denied his right to a fair trial. Askarov's lawyer, Tolekan Ismailov, told reporters that his client would appeal the ruling, which he dismissed as unlawful. Syria powerbrokers endorse cease-fire deal at talks ASTANA, Kazakhstan (AP) Russia, Iran and Turkey presented a united front at the conclusion of two days of talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and the armed opposition, pledging support for the country's shaky cease-fire and a joint mechanism to ensure compliance. They did not specify how that would work, and continued differences among the warring sides as well as rebel infighting back home threatened to quickly scuttle the deal. "It's going to be a challenge, it's not going to be easy," the U.N.'s Syria envoy, who mediated between the two sides in the Kazakh capital of Astana, told reporters later. U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura gestures as he arrives to attend the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan's capital is the latest in a long line of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the nearly 6-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Russia and Iran, President Bashar Assad's main supporters, and Turkey, the rebels' chief backer, said they will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, which has been in place since Dec. 30. Their joint efforts have raised hopes for a diplomatic end to the brutal six-year conflict. Previous efforts by the U.S. and Russia for a lasting cease-fire led nowhere. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Tuesday the U.S. welcomes actions that de-escalate violence in the country and called on Russia, Iran and Syria to press the Syrian sides to abide by the cease-fire in order to create an environment more conductive to political discussions. The U.S., busy with the presidential transition, had no significant role in the talks between the Syrian government and its armed opponents in Kazakhstan this week. Following Tuesday's declaration, read out by Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, Syria's delegates to the Astana meeting held competing press conferences that underlined the enormous differences between the two sides. "We don't accept any role for Iran in the future of Syria," said Mohammad Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, insisting that all Iranian-backed foreign militias fighting alongside the Syrian government withdraw from Syria. Syria's U.N. envoy Bashar Ja'afari, called it "pitiful" that the opposition was criticizing one of the three guarantors who facilitated the agreement. "The issue here is that finally we have a consensual paper called final communique or final declaration agreed upon by everybody ... this is what we care about," Ja'afari said. Ja'afari, however, said that military operations in an area near the Syrian capital would continue despite a pledge to enforce the cease-fire "as long as there are terrorists depriving seven million people in the capital Damascus from drinking water." The government says al-Qaida-linked militants are present in Ain al-Fijeh, which is located in the water-rich Barada Valley northeast of Damascus. Ja'afari accused insurgents of using the water as a weapon but the rebels deny an al-Qaida-linked group is in the area, and have negotiated to include it in the cease-fire agreement. The statement said the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting the extremist Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. They called on the opposition to separate themselves from the al-Qaida-affiliate, a sticky point that has previously been the reason for the failure of previous cease-fire. The rebel groups have formed close links with the group, known as Fatah al-Sham Front, on the ground. Tough fighters, Fatah al-Sham is excluded from the cease-fire according to the government, but the rebels say the truce should include all of Syria. On Tuesday, heavy fighting broke out in northwestern Syria between Fatah al-Sham and one of the rebel factions present at the Astana talks, the Jaysh al-Mujahedeen. The infighting threatened to expand into wider battles, as other rebel groups rallied around Jaysh al-Mujahedeen. The U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura, said Russia, Iran and Turkey would meet soon in Astana to lay the parameters for a mechanism to reinforce the truce. Russia and Turkey had negotiated the Dec. 30 cease-fire and Iran approved it. The cease-fire greatly reduced the violence in Syria, but violations continued and the Syrian opposition and the government and its allies exchanged blame. The meeting's final statement said the three countries "will seek through concrete steps and using the influence of the parties the consolidation the cease-fire" and agreed "to establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the cease fire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire." The statement also said the agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva as of Feb. 8, and welcomed the rebel groups' participation in the U.N. sponsored talks. Astana featured a brief face-to-face meeting between the government and rebel representatives their first since the Syrian war began in 2011 that was quickly followed by harsh exchanges. But the talks were largely indirect, mediated by de Mistura. After the final statement and in a briefing with journalists, Syria's opposition delegation said it is "too early to judge the outcome" of the Astana meeting, saying they are not party to the agreement and have many reservations. "There is no consequence to statements. Our Syrian people in besieged areas do not have internet or social media to read the statements. They only know actions," said Osama Abo Zayd, an opposition representative. He said any occupation of the Barada Valley by the government will render the cease-fire agreement void. According to both Alloush and Abo Zayd, the opposition provided a paper to Russia detailing ways to monitor and enforce the cease-fire, and Russia has promised to address it within a week, in coordination with Turkey. ___ Associated Press writers Zeina Karam and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, and Mathew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report. Syrian opposition delegation member Osama Abuzayd speaks to journalists as he arrives to attend the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan's capital is the latest in a long line of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the nearly 6-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Delegations of Russia, Iran and Turkey hold talks on Syrian peace at a hotel in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. The talks are the latest attempt to forge a political settlement to end a war that has by most estimates killed more than 400,000 people since March 2011 and displaced more than half the country's population. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura arrives to attend the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. The United Nations envoy to Syria calls on participants in the Russia, Turkey-backed talks in Kazakhstan to agree on mechanism to implement a nationwide truce. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura gestures while speaking to journalists as he arrives to attend the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan's capital is the latest in a long line of diplomatic initiatives aimed at ending the nearly 6-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Bashar Jaafari, Syrian Ambassador to the UN and head of the Syrian delegation, right, speaks to a member of Syrian delegation during the talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. Syria talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran aimed at bolstering a shaky cease-fire in place since last month opened on Monday in Kazakhstan, marking the first face-to-face meeting between the Damascus government representatives and rebel factions trying to overthrow it. The gathering is also the start of a new effort to end six years of carnage that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced half of Syrias population and sent millions of refugees to neighboring countries and Europe. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Mohammed Alloush, center, head of a Syrian opposition delegation, and other members attend talks on Syrian peace in Astana, Kazakhstan, Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. The talks are the latest attempt to forge a political settlement to end a war that has by most estimates killed more than 400,000 people since March 2011 and displaced more than half the country's population. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) A woman walks in Astana, Kazakhstan, on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, which is hosting Syria peace talks, is a relatively new name on the map. Founded in the early 19th century as a Russian empire outpost, Akmolinsk was a backwater in the wind-swept steppe. That changed in 1994 when Kazakhstan's first president decided to move the capital from the commercial center Almaty, and Akmolinsk was renamed Astana.(AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Germany deports 26 rejected Afghan asylum-seekers BERLIN (AP) Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the government's efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived Tuesday in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Upper Allen Township residents might think twice before soaping up their cars or draining swimming pools because new municipal regulations are in place to meet new regulations for storm sewer systems in the township. On Jan. 18, the Upper Allen Township Commissioners unanimously agreed to amend a section of an existing township code for storm sewers to meet new stipulations from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Upper Allen was notified in July 2016 by the DEP that our general permit is up for renewal in 2018 and will no longer allow discharges from de-chlorinated swimming pools and residential car washing can no longer discharge to municipal storm sewer systems, township manager Lou Fazekas said on Thursday. The townships amended code now stipulates that residential car wash runoff is permitted to enter municipal storm sewers only if vehicles are washed in plain water with no added chemicals. DEP officials urge Pennsylvanians to use commercial car washes or wash vehicles in locations where the wash water will not drain into storm sewers or surface waters, according to a township document. Fazekas suggested that an absorbent grassy area away from the pull of a storm sewer could serve this purpose. He said fines are in place. Fazekas said the violators of the amended code are subject to fines of up to $500 as determined by a district magistrate. He emphasized, however, that its not our intent to fine people. For the first six months to a year, our goal is to educate people. Our main goal moving forward will be to educate the public about the new requirements, Fazekas said. Clean Water Act According to the DEP website, the Clean Water Act prohibits anybody from discharging pollutants through a point source into a water of the United States unless they have a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Pennsylvania General-13 permit is intended to provide NPDES permit coverage to existing or proposed regulated small MS4s for the discharge of stormwaters in compliance with the (federal) Clean Water Act and Pennsylvania Clean Stream Law, according to the DEPs website. An MS4 is a municipal separate storm sewer, which is where Upper Allen comes into play. To renew its NPDES PAG-13 permit for 2018, Upper Allen must submit an application to the DEP by September. The township also must meet all new DEP regulations currently in place when reapplying, Fazekas said, which is why township commissioners took action on Wednesday night. Fazekas said that other area municipalities are subject to the same updated DEP regulations. Whether a particular municipality has enacted these regulations, however, depends on when it most recently applied for or received a current NPDES PAG-13 permit. Fazekas said that he believed most of the larger municipalities around here already have the new regulations in effect. Pool water The township also no longer allows the disposal of non-chlorinated pool water into municipal storm sewers. Previously, pool owners were allowed to dispose of pool water in storm sewers after neutralizing it by removing all levels of chlorine. This was done by shutting off a filled pools chlorinating system, if applicable, or to stop adding chlorine and then letting the neutralizing water sit for two weeks before draining it. The DEP now disallows the discharge of non-chlorinated pool water into storm sewers, stating that the neutralized water still contains a variety of pollutants, such as nitrate-nitrogen and phosphorus. The DEP encourages pool-owners to dispose of pool water into sanitary sewer systems with permission or draining pools for on-site irrigation and infiltration at a flow rate that wont cause stream or storm sewer infiltration. Indian army: 3 suspected rebels killed in Kashmir fighting SRINAGAR, India (AP) Three militants were killed Tuesday in two gunbattles with government forces in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, the Indian army said. Col. Rajesh Kalia said police and soldiers engaged two militants in a village near Ganderbal town after cordoning off the village following a tip. Kalia said soldiers recovered two rifles at the site of the clash. An Indian army statement said another person was killed when soldiers intercepted and battled a group of militants in Sunderbani sector near the highly militarized Line of Control that divides the disputed region between India and Pakistan. The statement said the group of militants had entered the Indian side of Kashmir from the Pakistani-controlled part, and fled back toward the Pakistan-administered portion after the gunbattle. There was no independent confirmation of the incidents. Czechs help secure release of Polish national in Syria PRAGUE (AP) Czech and Polish authorities said on Tuesday that a Polish national who went missing in Syria has been released. The Czech presidential office said that Leszek Panek, 54, was transferred from Syria to Beirut, Lebanon, and handed over to Polish authorities on Monday, after the Czechs secured his release from a Syrian jail on humanitarian reasons. Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski thanked the Czechs for "locating and obtaining the release of the Pole." "We are happy he is alive and free," Waszczykowski said. Waszczykowski's ministry said Panek will be returning to Poland in the coming days. The Czechs said Panek went missing on Dec. 10, 2015. Poland's Foreign Ministry said he was arrested by the Syrian army in Feb. 2016 during a documents' check, when he reached into his pocket, which the troops understood as imminent attack. Panek says he was reaching for his documents, according to the ministry communique. The Czech presidential office posted a photo of Panek, apparently after his release, in camouflage pants and leaning on crutches, surrounded by two smiling women and two men in formal suits. The Czech Republic is the only EU and NATO country with a still functioning embassy in Damascus and represents the West in Syria. The Czech statement said that Panek was in satisfactory physical and mental condition. In Damascus, a Syrian government official confirmed that Panek was released and handed over on Monday, saying that the Polish national had crossed the country illegally and was arrested for that reason. The conflicting claim about Panek's arrest could not immediately be reconciled with the Czech and Polish statements. The Syrian official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He gave no further details. ___ Scandinavian carrier SAS sells domestic airline to CityJet COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Scandinavian Airlines says it will sell Cimber, the Danish domestic airline it acquired in February 2015, to Irish regional airline CityJet. The airline said Tuesday that the divestment of Cimber, which includes the sale of 11 Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft, "is part of the simplification of the SAS production platform." It added that once the transaction is completed Jan. 31, CityJet will place an order for up to ten new CRJ900s, which will be wet leased to SAS. The Stockholm-based airline said "smaller traffic flows are managed by partners," describing CityJet as a "strategic partner" that already operates eight CRJ900s for Scandinavian Airlines. Polanski abandons plan to preside over French Oscars PARIS (AP) Filmmaker Roman Polanski has abandoned plans to preside over the French equivalent of the Oscars, after protests from France's women's rights minister and feminist groups prompted by decades-old U.S. sex charges against him. It's a surprising setback for the 83-year-old director, a Holocaust survivor who is widely respected in France and whose film career has continued to flourish since he settled in Paris after fleeing the U.S. in the late 1970s. "Deeply saddened" by the renewed criticism, Polanski decided not to lead the Feb. 24 Cesars Awards "so as not to disrupt the Cesars ceremony, which should be devoted to cinema and not to the designation of its president," according to a statement from Polanski's lawyer Herve Temime. FILE - In this Friday Feb. 28, 2014 file picture, Polish-French film director Roman Polanski holds his best director award during the 39th French Cesar Awards Ceremony in Paris, France. Filmmaker Roman Polanski has decided not to preside over the French equivalent of the Oscars, after protests from France's women's rights minister and feminist groups because of decades-old U.S. sex charges. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File) The arts academy holding the Cesars Awards is discussing alternative options after Polanski's decision, an academy official said Tuesday. Academy president Alain Terzian, in initially inviting Polanski, hailed him as an "insatiable esthete reinventing his art and works over the years." Women's minister Laurence Rossignol called the move "shocking." Activist groups called for protests outside the ceremony, with an online campaign accusing Polanski of being a "criminal who drugged and raped a 13-year-old child and escaped justice." Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl during a photo shoot in Los Angeles in 1977, but then fled the United States before final sentencing. He is still wanted by American judicial authorities, and is subject to an Interpol notice in 188 countries. Longtime Polanski friend Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, said on RTL radio Tuesday that the filmmaker is "devastated" by the criticism in France. It comes after recent allegations by a French radio presenter and other women that a prominent photographer sexually abused them as teens, a case that revived concerns in France about impunity for celebrity behavior. Polanski has won eight Cesars over his career, and won the 2003 best director Oscar for "The Pianist." However, he couldn't travel to Los Angeles to pick up that award. He travels only to three countries to avoid extradition: France and Switzerland, where he has homes, and Poland, where he was born and survived World War II. Polanski's lawyer noted that Poland and Switzerland have rebuffed U.S. efforts in recent years to extradite him, and that the woman he assaulted, Samantha Geimer, has called for the U.S. case against him to be dropped. "This scandal has surfaced in a totally unjustified way," the lawyer's statement said. Saudi Arabia warns destructive computer virus has returned DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Saudi Arabia is warning that a computer virus that destroyed systems of its state-run oil company in 2012 has returned to the kingdom, with at least one major petrochemical company apparently affected by its spread. Suspicion for the initial dispersal of the Shamoon virus in 2012 fell on Iran as it came after the Stuxnet cyberattack targeting Tehran's contested nuclear enrichment program. It wasn't immediately clear who could be responsible for the new infection, though the relations between regional rivals remain tense. A report Monday by Saudi state-run television included comments suggesting that 15 government agencies and private institutions had been hit by the Shamoon virus, including the Saudi Labor Ministry. The ministry said it was working with the Interior Ministry to contain the virus. Sadara, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., shut down its computer network Monday over a disruption. Company spokesman Sami Amin said its network remained down Tuesday, though it hadn't affected operations at the facility. He declined to comment further. Sadara is based in Jubail Industrial City, which sits about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the eastern Saudi city of Dammam in the heartland of the kingdom's oil industry. The $20 billion facility, inaugurated by Saudi King Salman in late November, includes 26 manufacturing units that will produce more than 3 million metric tons of plastics and chemical products. Another state-run TV report on Tuesday said the Saudi Technical and Vocational Training Corp. was affected, though a spokesman denied the virus did any damage to its network. Symantec Corp., a California-based security firm, warned in late November that Shamoon had been spotted again in Saudi Arabia. Computers affected had their hard drives erased and displayed a photograph of the body of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, who drowned fleeing his country's civil war, Symantec said. "Why Shamoon has suddenly returned again after four years is unknown," Symantec said . "However, with its highly destructive payload, it is clear that the attackers want their targets to sit up and take notice." The November attacks apparently involved previously stolen passwords. Symantec on Monday said the outbreak might be linked to a group it called Greenbug, which previously attacked targets in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey with emails carrying malicious attachments. Shamoon, named for a folder in its code, first emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In that attack, which hit Saudi Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas, the virus deleted hard drives and then displayed a picture of a burning American flag on computer screens. The attack forced Saudi Aramco to shut down its network and destroyed over 30,000 computers. "All told, the Shamoon virus was probably the most destructive attack that the private sector has seen to date," then-U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said at the time. Shortly before Panetta's speech, a former U.S. official told The Associated Press that American officials firmly believed Iranian hackers likely backed by Tehran were responsible for the attack. Iran denied being responsible for the 2012 Shamoon outbreak. Tehran had no immediate comment on the new outbreak. The first emergence of Shamoon came as Iran faced international sanctions over its contested nuclear program and after it saw thousands of centrifuges destroyed by the Stuxnet virus, widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation. Last year, a series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role. Hostilities persist between Shiite power Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. The countries support opposite sides in the wars gripping Syria and Yemen, while the kingdom has backed Bahrain's Sunni rulers amid a crackdown on dissent on the Shiite-majority island. Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran last year after protesters there angry about its execution of a Shiite cleric stormed two Saudi diplomatic posts. ___ Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed to this report. ___ Hopes fade for justice for dead, lost Sri Lankan journalists COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) Activists and relatives say hope is fading fast for the new Sri Lankan government to act against the perpetrators in the killings and disappearances of journalists during the long civil war or the country's previous administration. President Maithripala Siriena campaigned on a promise of ending a culture of impunity before he defeated the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in the January 2015 election. Rajapaksa's nine-year tenure saw dozens of journalists killed, abducted and tortured, forced to disappear or flee the country fearing for their lives. Scores more were killed or disappeared in the civil war that ended in 2009 with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels. Former German President Herzog commemorated in state funeral BERLIN (AP) Former German President Roman Herzog has been commemorated in a state funeral in Berlin for his services to the country during his tenure in the 1990s. Lutheran Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm said in his eulogy Tuesday that Herzog strengthened "a culture of remembrance" in Germany. Herzog, who as president pressed the country to embrace economic reform in the 1990s, also stressed the importance of remembering the Nazi Holocaust. Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, center right, stands in front of the coffin during the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) He served as chief justice of Germany's highest court before winning the presidency in 1994, four years after reunification. As president, he instituted an annual day of remembrance Holocaust victims, setting it on Jan. 27, the anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp's liberation. Chancellor Angela Merkel and German President Joachim Gauck were among those attending. Herzog died on Jan. 10, aged 82. ___ This version corrects the spelling of President Gauck's first name to Joachim. Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, delivers a eulogy during the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) German President Joachim Gauck, left, and Roman Herzog's wife Alexandra Freifrau von Berlichingen arrive for the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, center right, stands in front of the coffin during the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) German Chancellor Angela Merkel pays respect during the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) German President Joachim Gauck, right, accompanies Roman Herzog's wife Alexandra Freifrau von Berlichingen during the state funeral of late German President Roman Herzog in the Berlin Cathedral Church in Berlin, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Herzog, who was German President between 1994 and 1999, died Jan. 10, 2017. He was 82. (AP Photo/Ferdinand Ostrop, pool) Police release name of armed man shot by Delaware officer WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) A 60-year-old man confronted by police in Delaware appeared distraught and refused to drop a handgun before being fatally shot by an officer, authorities said Tuesday. Bruce Altenburger was shot Monday evening after officers were called to a Wilmington home regarding a distraught man possibly armed with a handgun. Authorities said officers tried to defuse the situation for several minutes using verbal commands and negotiation tactics, but that Altenburger refused to give up the weapon. Altenburger became increasingly distraught, placing the gun to his head, then directing it toward the officer, according to authorities. The veteran officer fired, striking Altenburger in the torso. Altenburger was pronounced dead at a hospital. The officer was placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of an investigation. The races of those involved weren't released. Altenburger was employed by the DuPont Co. as a safety, health and environmental manager. Military wants lawsuit over Mariana Islands proposal tossed HAGATNA, Guam (AP) The U.S. military is seeking to have a federal lawsuit challenging its plans to expand operations on the Mariana Islands dismissed. The Department of Defense claims the court does not have the authority to question the $8 billion international agreement that will move as many as 5,000 U.S. Marines from Japan to the Marianas in Dededo, Guam, The Pacific Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/2klOrpI) Monday. The military also plans to use some islands in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands for training. Earthjustice filed its lawsuit in July 2016 on behalf of several groups opposed to the military training. The lawsuit says the U.S. Navy failed to evaluate the environmental impacts of training on Tinian and Pagan islands and did not consider alternate locations outside the Mariana Islands "where the Marines could accomplish their mission with fewer adverse impacts." Earthjustice claims communities on Tinian would be subjected to high-decibel noise and have restricted access to fishing grounds, cultural sites and recreational beaches as a result of the military training. Pagan would be the target of ship-to-shore naval bombardment, which would destroy native forests and coral reefs, according to the lawsuit. The other groups involved in the lawsuit include the Tinian Women's Association, PaganWatch, the Center for Biological Diversity and Guardians of Gani, a nonprofit established to protect "Gani," which refers to the Mariana Islands north of Saipan. The military issued a response to the complaint Friday saying the court should dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction. "The decision to relocate the Marines from Okinawa to Guam is a 'political decision already made' by the United States Secretaries of State and Defense through a 2006 commitment to the Government of Japan, and a binding international agreement signed by the United States Secretary of State and Japan's Foreign Minister in 2009," the military's response states. "Plaintiffs point to no case in which a court has exercised jurisdiction to direct an Executive Branch agency to reconsider a course of Executive action that is the subject of a binding international agreement." New sheriff asks for ticket after getting caught speeding DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) A Florida sheriff asked to be ticketed after a deputy pulled him over for speeding in his unmarked car. Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood tells The Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/2jm2KJa ) he wanted "to set an example" for his agency. The new sheriff was clocked going 78 mph in a 55-mph zone on Friday. He was stopped a day after Volusia County settled a lawsuit for a deputy-related crash. The agency also is doing an internal investigation regarding a Dec. 20 crash involving another deputy who was speeding. Chitwood says the sergeant stopped him and they talked briefly before going their separate ways. But Chitwood says he later realized he was wrong, called the sergeant and asked him to write the ticket. He's already paid the $281 citation. ___ HARRISBURG Senate hearings are rarely standing-room-only events. But Monday morning in Harrisburg, Hearing Room 1 was at its 200-person capacity with a spillover crowd in a nearby room watching a television feed of the proceedings. Creating the angst, and the crowd, was a public hearing about possible prison closures in Pennsylvania. The Wolf administration announced two weeks ago that it will close two of the states 26 prisons. It will select exactly which two from SCI Frackville (Schuylkill County), SCI Pittsburgh (Allegheny County), SCI Mercer (Mercer County) SCI Retreat (Luzerne County) and SCI Waymart (Wayne County). The announcement is expected Thursday with the target date for closure of June 30. Cumberland County District Attorney Dave Freed represented the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, and he had questions. We have to ask how these proposed closures affect the safety of our communities, Freed said to lawmakers. Will the safety of our corrections officers be jeopardized? Freed wondered. Following the four-hour hearing, hundreds of those correctional officers rallied in the Capitol, insisting assaults by inmates are on the rise behind prison walls. They fear that crowding more prisoners into fewer spaces wont ease that problem. I believe people have forgotten about what happened in Camp Hill and were on the verge of another Camp Hill happening here, said Mark Truszkowski of the Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association. He was referring to riots at the Camp Hill prison in October 1989 when 138 staff and 70 inmates were injured. We have dangerous men incarcerated inside our walls and our fences, said Tabb Bickell, Regional Deputy Secretary of Corrections. So yes, safety is always a concern with staff. Bickell will never forget the Camp Hill riots. He was a correctional officer inside the prison when they erupted. He was taken prisoner and assaulted. But he worked his way through the system and is now one of the top officials at the Department of Corrections. He is confident procedures and security have changed dramatically as a result of the 1989 riots. More importantly, hes sure that two prisons can be safely shuttered. Im confident that we will do the right thing, Bickell said. Im confident. I dont think the public needs to be alarmed. But lawmakers arent so sure and expressed doubts during the hearing about the 2,500 prisoners that will be re-assigned to the remaining facilities. Camp Hill will get about a thousand of them. You are throwing a match on a situation thats already volatile, said Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon. But the budget is also volatile and driving the closure of two prisons. That fiscal reality prompted a final question from Freed. Like his first two, there really were no answers. If there were no budget problems would these closures be occurring? I hope so. However, I doubt it. Otherwise, it wouldve already happened. Man arrested after discovery of $20M cash held without bail BOSTON (AP) A Brazilian man arrested in connection with the discovery of about $20 million in cash hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment has been held without bail. A judge on Monday ruled that 28-year-old Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha is a flight risk and held him on a charge of conspiring to commit money laundering. Rocha was arrested this month when the money was discovered in a Westborough apartment. Prosecutors say Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong. The money was from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme. The Latest: France gives refugee status to 60 people BERLIN (AP) The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local): 9 p.m. France has given refugee status to 60 migrants who were among the thousands forced to leave the makeshift camp in Calais in late October. A statement from the prefecture of the northern region that includes Calais said a ceremony was held on Tuesday according the coveted status of refugee to the 60. The refugees were given asylum in less than three months a process that normally takes more than a year. They now have the right to live legally in France. It is a sharp contrast to the thousands of others waiting to learn their fate in special centers set up around France for the migrants expelled en masse from the filthy Calais camp known as the "jungle." More than 6,000 were estimated to have been in the camp at the time. The nationalities of the 60 weren't specified, but Afghans and Sudanese were the most numerous migrants in the now-closed camp, which also harbored Syrians, Eritreans and others, most driven from their homelands because of war, daily violence or grinding poverty. Most migrants in and around Calais were hoping to cross the English Channel to Britain. Migrant rights groups have long criticized France for dragging its heels in dealing with asylum demands. ___ 6:30 p.m. France's Marine Le Pen, the far-right candidate campaigning for president, has been refused entry when she tried to visit a migrant camp outside Dunkirk, in northern France. Le Pen tweeted after her failed bid on Tuesday to enter the Grande-Synthe camp, "This is democracy a la Francaise!" Her anti-immigration National Front party blames immigration in general and migrants in particular for a series of French woes. In a series of tweets from outside the camp, Le Pen, a leading candidate in France's spring elections, lambasted "the crazy immigration policy of our successive governments." She tweeted, "We have to send illegals home and control our national borders if not the camps will be rebuilt." A huge makeshift camp holding thousands of migrants in nearby Calais was shut down after a mass evacuation at the end of October. The official Grande-Synthe camp holds some 800 travelers. Most of those in northern France are trying to sneak across the English Channel to Britain, not stay in France. __ 3:10 p.m. The Dutch government says the number of migrants trying to sneak into trucks crossing from the Netherlands to Britain is on the rise. Dutch and British authorities caught 430 migrants in the last three months, almost twice as many as the previous quarter. The total for 2016 was 1,280 - well over double the 500 people caught in 2015. The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice said Tuesday that Albanians make up 56 percent of all the migrants caught attempting to cross from the Netherlands to Britain. Intensified Dutch surveillance and checks of vehicles leaving from ports like Hook of Holland appear to be bearing fruit. In 2015, 55 percent of the migrants trying to illegally cross to Britain were caught on the Dutch side. Last year, the Dutch caught 83 percent and British authorities the remainder. ___ 9:45 a.m. Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the government's efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived Tuesday in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Injured Ghana defender Rahman to be out for several months GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) German club Schalke says defender Baba Rahman will be sidelined for "several months" after undergoing surgery on a knee injury sustained at the African Cup of Nations. Schalke says Rahman's "injury to his left knee was found to be worse than was initially forecasted after his operation in Augsburg yesterday. It presented a picture of a complex rupture to his cruciate ligament along with tears to his internal and external cartilage." Rahman, on a season-long loan from Premier League leader Chelsea, was stretchered off in the first half of Ghana's game against Uganda last week. Confederate flag won't return to South Carolina courtroom YORK, S.C. (AP) A Confederate flag and portraits of Confederate generals will not return to a South Carolina courtroom when renovations are completed. Everyone should feel they are going to be treated fairly when they enter a courtroom, and that can't happen with the rebel flag and pictures of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson displayed, York County Clerk of Court David Hamilton said. "The history is very, very important, but obviously, the future is more important," Hamilton told The Herald of Rock Hill (http://bit.ly/2knGShV ). Hamilton tried to determine when and why the Confederate flag and portraits were placed in the courtroom at the 102-year-old courthouse, but found no answers. Other items inside the courtroom before the project started, such as portraits of judges and the United States and South Carolina flags, will be put back up. A South Carolina law called the Heritage Act protects Civil War and other historical statues, monuments, flags and other items from being moved or taken down. Hamilton said he researched the act and thinks what he is doing is legal as long as he displays the flag and portraits either somewhere else in the old courthouse or in a museum. The clerk said he hasn't decided exactly where the items will end up. The courthouse in York was closed for the $10 million renovation project in 2011. A ceremony to celebrate the end of the project is planned for Sunday. The chief prosecutor for York County applauded the decision, along with several defense attorneys. "There is no place in a court of law, a place of justice for all, for the Confederate flag," defense lawyer Tom McKinney said. York County is just south of Charlotte, North Carolina. ___ Lin-Manuel Miranda, Timberlake, Sting get Oscar music nods NEW YORK (AP) Lin-Manuel Miranda is getting closer to EGOT status, thanks to his Oscar nomination for best original song. The "Hamilton" creator picked up a nod Tuesday for composing "How Far I'll Go" from the animated film "Moana." "You know, I feel fine," Miranda said with a laugh in an interview with The Associated Press moments after he learned of the nomination. FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2016 file photo, Lin-Manuel Miranda arrives at the 2016 Governors Awards in Los Angeles. Miranda was nominated for an Oscar for best original song for "How Far I'll Go," from the film "Moana" on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, for the film. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) "I am thrilled to get to go to the Oscars, honestly," he added. "I won't even be a little modest about that. I've been a fan of the Oscars telecast since I was a kid I used to memorize Billy Crystal's musical monologues." For his work on "Hamilton" and "In the Heights," Miranda has won three Tonys and two Grammys. He won an Emmy with songwriter Tom Kitt for outstanding original music and lyrics for the 2013 Tony Awards. His competition at the Academy Awards includes another multi-award winning musician: Justin Timberlake. The former boy band leader, who has won nine Grammys and four Emmys, earned his first Oscar nomination Tuesday for his No.1 hit "Can't Stop the Feeling!" from the animated film "Trolls." Sting and J. Ralph also scored a nomination for the song "The Empty Chair," giving Sting his fourth nomination in the category and marking Ralph's third. The song is from the HBO documentary "Jim: The James Foley Story," about freelance journalist James Foley, who went to Syria in 2012 to cover the country's war and was beheaded by Islamic State militants in a video released in August 2014. "We're surprised and we're delighted, mainly for the movie," Sting said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "We believe more people should see this movie. It's very important. If it gets more attention, we're happy." "This was something that Sting and I really wanted to create a celebration of this incredible man's life. We didn't want to focus on the horrific tragedy that ultimately fell upon him," Ralph added. "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" and "City of Stars" from the hit "La La Land" both by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul round out the five nominees. "City of Stars" won the Golden Globe for best original song earlier this month, besting Miranda and Timberlake's songs. "Damien (Chazelle) inspires everybody around him, and this movie he has created is the best opportunity I could have asked for to express myself musically," said Hurwitz, also nominated for best original score. "While we might be the lyricists for LA LA LAND, we're having some real trouble finding words this morning!" Pasek and Paul said in a joint statement. Miranda, 37, is currently in London filming "Mary Poppins Returns." He said he didn't realize the Oscar nominations were happening today. "I'm so messed up with time zones," he said. Miranda said writing the music for Disney's "Moana" which also earned a nomination for best animated feature film was a dream job. "I wanted to write a Disney song since I was 9 years old when Sebastian the crab (in "The Little Mermaid") started singing calypso music it changed my life," he said. "This is a result of three years of work, two of which were concurrent with being in a Broadway show at the same time, so it's enormously joyous to get to celebrate that work. ... It's really thrilling." Timberlake shares his nomination with Karl Johan Schuster and Max Martin, the pop mastermind who was nominated for the original song Oscar last year for co-writing the Weeknd's "Earned It" from "Fifty Shades of Grey." Other nominees last year featured well-known acts like this year's group, including Lady Gaga and Sam Smith, who won the Oscar for "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre." The Feb. 26 Academy Awards will air live on ABC. _____ Online: Austrian official: suspected radical says he built test bomb VIENNA (AP) Austria's interior minister says suspected Islamic radical detained last week and suspected of planning a possible attack has told interrogators that he built a test bomb. State broadcaster ORF quoted Wolfgang Sobotka as saying the 17-year old told police that he did so while in Germany, where he met with another suspected radical who is now arrest in Germany. ORF also cited Sobotka's ministry as saying Tuesday that data found on the teenager's computer showed he had recently searched for instructions on how to build a bomb. The suspect was arrested in his Vienna apartment Friday after what police say was a tip from a foreign intelligence service. Ex-judge faces sentencing trying to bribe officer with beer RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A former judge in North Carolina faces sentencing in March for trying to bribe an officer with two cases of Bud Light. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported (http://bit.ly/2knB7AO) former Wayne County Superior Court Judge Arnold O. Jones II was convicted in October of charges including paying a bribe. Jones was to be sentenced this week, but a federal judge rescheduled it for March 27 in Wilmington. Prosecutors said Jones texted a sheriff's deputy, who also was a member of an FBI gang task force, to get copies of text messages between the judge's wife and another man. Prosecutors said Jones offered two cases of beer, but later paid the deputy $100 instead. Jones lost a bid for re-election in November. ___ With Trump's swearing-in, Israel pushes ahead on settlements JERUSALEM (AP) Israel announced plans Tuesday to build 2,500 more settler homes on the West Bank, moving to step up construction just days after the swearing-in of Donald Trump brought to power a U.S. administration seen as friendly to the settlement movement. "We are building and we will continue to build," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not answer directly when asked about Trump's reaction. FILE - This March 14, 2011 file photo, shows a general view of a construction site in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit. B'tselem. Israel says it has approved 2,500 homes in West Bank settlements In a statement from his office, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman says he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval in response to housing needs. He says the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement blocs, areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File) "Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer said. "He wants to grow closer with Israel to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East." While Trump has signaled that he will be far more tolerant of Israeli settlement construction than his predecessors, he also has expressed a desire to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, and siding closely with Israel on such a contentious matter could hurt U.S. credibility. Netanyahu repeatedly clashed with President Barack Obama over settlement construction. Obama, like the rest of the international community, considered the building of settlements on occupied lands claimed by the Palestinians to be an obstacle to peace. Those tensions boiled over last month when the Obama White House allowed the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the settlements as illegal. Trump harshly criticized Obama for going against Israel and promised a new approach after taking office, raising hopes inside Israel's nationalist government for a new era in relations. Trump has already invited Netanyahu to visit the White House next month, and both men, after speaking on the phone Sunday, promised close coordination on a range of sensitive matters, including settlements. Netanyahu's office would not say whether he had consulted with the White House before Tuesday's announcement, but just a day earlier, the prime minister told a meeting of his Likud Party that there should be no surprises for the new president. The construction plans were announced by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said in a statement that he and Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs." He said most of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs," densely populated areas where most settlers already live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. The approvals were for early stages of home development, meaning construction is not expected to begin anytime soon. "This decision destroys the two-state solution," said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official in the West Bank. "We call on the international community to hold Israel accountable immediately." He said the Israeli government had been encouraged by what it heard from Trump. The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war for their hoped-for state, a position that has wide international backing. In Brussels, the European Union condemned this week's Israeli settlement announcements, saying they "seriously undermine" the prospects for a peace deal. "It is regrettable that Israel is proceeding with this policy, despite the continuous serious international concern and objections, which have been constantly raised at all levels," a statement said. Trump has signaled a softer approach to the settlements. Earlier this week, he did not react to an Israeli announcement to build over 560 new homes in east Jerusalem. Both his designated ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a top aide and Mideast envoy, have deep ties to the settler movement. Friedman and Kushner's family foundation have both been generous contributors to Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement. A delegation of settler representatives was invited to Trump's inauguration last week. Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settlers' council, said he hopes Tuesday's announcement "is just the beginning of a wave of new building." Revivi led the delegation to the inauguration, the first time the movement has received such an invitation. Trump's ties to the settler movement are just one reason Israel's nationalist right is encouraged by the new administration. His campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, a cornerstone of two decades of international diplomacy in the region. Trump also has promised to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move long favored by Israel but vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. Since Trump took over, Netanyahu has been under heavy pressure from the pro-settler Jewish Home Party to move ahead on an explosive bill that would annex Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement near Jerusalem. A vote on the legislation, which threatens to unleash fresh violence and draw international condemnation, was put on hold this week, apparently so Netanyahu could coordinate his policy with the new U.S. administration. Despite the positive signs for Netanyahu, Trump remains something of a wild card. Since taking office, for instance, he has appeared to backpedal from his promise to move the embassy. The Palestinians have warned that moving the embassy would amount to American recognition of Israeli control over east Jerusalem, home to sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. They say this could trigger religious violence, and they have threatened to cancel their diplomatic recognition of Israel, the basis for past interim peace accords. Neighboring Jordan, which holds custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has said that moving the embassy would cross a "red line." Jordan is a key American and Israeli ally in the battle against Islamic militants. On Tuesday, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip warned the U.S. not to move the embassy, saying it could "open a new chapter of conflict" and "add fuel to the fire." ___ Associated Press writers Fares Akram in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report. Fugitive arrested in major credit card fraud case NEWARK, N.J. (AP) A New York man was arrested nearly four years after he was charged for his role in what federal prosecutors called one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever, costing businesses and banks more than $200 million in losses. Habib Chaudhry, 49, of Valley Stream, New York, surrendered to the FBI, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Tuesday. Officials did not immediately say where Chaudhry was taken into custody. Chaudhry was charged in February 2013 in a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Prosecutors said 19 people have since pleaded guilty in the scheme. Authorities said the defendants would create fraudulent identification documents and a phony credit profile and then spend or borrow as much as possible without repaying the debts. The suspects maintained a network of more than 1,800 addresses for the false identities, authorities said. Arsenal midfielder Xhaka questioned by police LONDON (AP) Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has been questioned by police after being accused of racially abusing an employee at Heathrow Airport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. The paper said that the Switzerland international was taken to a west London police station for questioning Monday evening. Arsenal says "this is a private matter in the hands of the police." Burnley's Steven Defour, below, is left injured on the ground after a challenge from Arsenal's Granit Xhaka, right, for which he received a red card, during their English Premier League soccer match at The Emirates Stadium, London, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017. (Mike Egerton/PA via AP) In his first White House press room briefing after two days in office, President Donald Trumps press secretary, Sean Spicer, laid out the Administrations approach to the media with all the subtlety of a Louisville slugger between the eyes:We dont like you, we dont want you, we dont need you, we intend to ignore you. Spicer denounced news organizations for what he said was a deliberate misrepresentation of the size of the crowd on hand to witness Trumps inauguration and then delivered this whopper: It was the largest crowd ever to witness an inauguration. Photographic evidence as well as news accounts of prior swearing in ceremonies show clearly and convincingly that Spicers comment was untrue. The entire episode, though, raised the question of why Spicer took on an embarrassing and totally pointless fight over the issue. Other high level White House staffers made the rounds of the Sunday morning television talk shows to defend Spicer, including advisor Kellyanne Conway who offered the astounding observation that the press secretary was merely offering alternative facts to the media narrative. Say what? Alternative facts? The world is flat is an alternative fact as well, but an official White House utterance to that effect doesnt make it so. Spicers initial appearance before the press corps was brief and he ended abruptly without taking any questions. Even his departure sent a message he turned his back on the assembled reporters and stalked off the platform like a royal personality dismissing the peasantry. Its been tried before, of course, by Trumps predecessors who were unhappy or upset over media coverage and decided some sort of punishment was in order; i.e., denying access to Administration officials, declining interview requests, withholding invitations to accompany the President on foreign travel, etc. Eventually, an uneasy truce descended and, while some ill will continued to exist, both the Administration and the media recognized an essential truth their jobs and their responsibilities took precedence over perceived personal slights. What sets the Trump Administration apart, though, is the genuine contempt in which it holds the media. As a candidate, Trump routinely pounded news organizations and individual reporters, calling them dishonest and driven by a partisan agenda whose principal goal was his defeat. There were times when the media was its own worst enemy rude, overly aggressive, and opinionated. The dispute over the size of the inaugural crowd was but a harbinger of what is to come, the first shot across the bow of the media from an Administration cannon. That the subject matter is of little consequence is irrelevant. The Trump Administration wanted to make its stand early on in a dramatic fashion, seizing on an issue, no matter how minor, to establish its predominance and to alert the media that any challenge will be met with a bloody playground brawl. The Trump Administration laid down its marker quickly and resoundingly for the next four years, its us versus them. Polish town that once made tiny Fiats offers Tom Hanks one WARSAW, Poland (AP) A Tom Hanks fan in southern Poland says her town that once produced small Fiat cars is offering one to the actor. Monika Jaskolska of Bielsko-Biala said Tuesday she was inspired last fall by photos Hanks posted of himself jokingly posing by Fiat 126p cars parked in Budapest, Hungary. The economy cars were made in Bielsko-Biala from 1973-2000 and the Poles still have warm feelings for them. Jaskolska organized a public collection for a Fiat 126p for Hanks and received a huge response. A pre-1975 turquoise car has been bought and is undergoing a thorough overhaul at a private garage, at no charge. After a paint job, it is to be flown to Los Angeles. In this photo taken Jan. 21, 2017 in Suwalki, Poland a Fiat 126p that fans have bought for actor Tom Hanks as a souvenir, sits on a trailer. Fans bought the car after they saw photos he posted of himself jokingly posing with such tiny cars parked in the streets of Budapest, Hungary. The cars were made in Bielsko-Biala, Poland from 1973-2000. A fan in Bielsko-Biala, Monika Jaskolska, organized a public collection for the car which, after an overhaul and a paint job is to be flown to Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ Michal Kosc) "I hope he will love the car as much as I do," Jaskolska told The Associated Press. She still needs to contact his agents to make the arrangements. Jaskolska said Hanks is a great actor and a "very nice person, who helps others and deserves a present himself." Polish ATV rider Rafal Sonik, winner of the 2015 Dakar Rally winner on quad, made a large donation to the collection, allowing much of the funds to go to a local children's hospital. ___ Virginia lawmaker indicted on 2 felony child cruelty charges SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) A grand jury has indicted Virginia Del. Rick Morris on four charges, including two felony counts of child cruelty. The Daily Press (http://bit.ly/2jNqeFD ) reports that an arrest warrant was issued for the Republican lawmaker Monday following the indictment. Morris is accused hitting his stepson with multiple objects, including a belt, a wooden spoon and a hose nozzle. In addition to the child cruelty charges, he is also facing two misdemeanor counts of assault and battery of a family member. FILE - In a Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 file photo, Del. Rick Morris, R-Suffolk, left, and Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, right, confer on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates before the daily session begins at the state Capitol, in Richmond, Va. A grand jury has indicted Virginia Del. Rick Morris on four charges, including two felony counts of child cruelty. The Daily Press reports that an arrest warrant was issued for the Suffolk lawmaker Monday, Jan. 23, 2017, following the indictment. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File) Those two misdemeanors and one of the felony charges had been dismissed by a judge last month, but the grand jury agreed to reinstate them. Morris' attorney, Nicole Belote, said she hadn't seen the indictments and that her client had not been arrested as of Monday evening. ___ School system that fired woman for tweet updates guidelines FREDERICK, Md. (AP) A Maryland school system has updated its social media guidelines after a school system employee was fired for a lighthearted quarrel she had with a student on Twitter over the student's spelling. The Frederick News-Post (http://bit.ly/2jt992P ) reports that all new Frederick County school system employees will receive a mandatory training session that addresses social media. On Jan. 5, a student tweeted to the school district's account, asking that schools be closed "tammarow." Katie Nash, who ran the account, responded, "But then how would you learn how to spell 'tomorrow?'" She was fired a week later. The system's guidelines now include a note that social media messages shouldn't be "mocking, disrespectful, rude, mean or dismissive." That phrase wasn't in an earlier copy of the guidelines that Nash said she was given. ___ French president meets with leftist rebels in Colombia LA VENTA, Colombia (AP) French President Francois Hollande met with leaders of Colombia's largest rebel movement Tuesday in an area where guerrillas will soon begin turning over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Hollande, accompanied by President Juan Manuel Santos, visited a rural camp in southern Colombia run by the United Nations. While there, Santos and top Colombian officials explained how some 7,000 guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are supposed to disarm over the coming months and begin their transition back to civilian life. The visit, the first to Colombia by a French head of state in 28 years, included a private meeting with representatives of the FARC, including a member of the group's ruling secretariat whose nom de guerre is Pablo Catatumbo. France's President Francois Hollande, right, and Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, wave during a visit to a camp of the monitoring and verification mechanism coordinated by the United Nations near where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, will turn over their weapons to U.N. observer in La Venta, a rural area of Caldono municipality, southern Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) Hollande expressed support for the peace deal, calling it a model for resolving conflicts around the world. "The disarming and demobilization is not reversible," Hollande told journalists. More than 350 United Nations observers from several Latin American nations are spread out at 26 locations across Colombia preparing for the FARC's demobilization. Hollande's visit to the rural camp has not been without controversy. Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the campaign that defeated the original accord in a nationwide referendum, accused Hollande of "supporting the impunity of terrorists" by meeting with the FARC. "Many of us feel rejection toward the successor of Napoleon and De Gaulle for his visit to the FARC," Uribe wrote in an open letter this week. ___ : Corrects spelling of Hollande's name in third to last paragraph. A Colombian army soldier stands guard the outside of a camp of the verification and monitoring mechanism coordinated by the United Nations prior to a visit of the presidents of France, Francois Hollande and Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, near an area where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia will turn over their weapons to U.N. observer in La Venta, southern Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) France's President Francois Hollande, left, and Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, right, listen to Jean Arnault, U.N. representative for the Colombian peace process during a visit to a camp of the verification and monitoring mechanism coordinated by the United Nations near an area where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, will turn over their weapons to U.N. observer in La Venta, southern Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) France's President Francois Hollande, left, speaks during a joint statement with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos, right, during a visit to a camp of the monitoring and verification mechanism coordinated by the United Nations near an area where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, will turn over their weapons to U.N. observer in La Venta, southern Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) France's President Francois Hollande, left, shakes hands with Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos during a visit to a camp of the monitoring and verification mechanism coordinated by the United Nations near an area where rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, will turn over their weapons to U.N. observer in La Venta, southern Colombia, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) Chief: Slain Dallas-area detective connected with people PLANO, Texas (AP) A suburban Dallas police chief told law enforcement officers from across Texas that a slain detective knew how to connect with people "when they were in their darkest hour." Little Elm police Chief Rodney Harrison said at the funeral Tuesday of Detective Jerry Walker that the father of four understood the compassion of policing. Harrison told mourners who gathered at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano that Walker epitomized the prized officer who can successfully resolve virtually any conflict or confrontation, no matter how volatile. Lewisville Honor Guard Sgt. Ken Naffziger arrives for the funeral service of Little Elm police detective Jerry Walker at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Walker, an 18-year veteran of the Little Elm department, was fatally shot Jan. 17 after responding to a report of a man outside a home armed with a long gun. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP) Walker, an 18-year veteran of the Little Elm department, was fatally shot Jan. 17 after responding to a report of a man outside a home armed with a long gun. A standoff ensued and the gunman later was found dead inside the home. Law enforcement officials embrace as they meet in the atrium for the funeral service for Little Elm Police Department Detective Jerry Walker, at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Walker, an 18-year veteran of the Little Elm department, was fatally shot Jan. 17 after responding to a report of a man outside a home armed with a long gun. (Louis DeLuca /The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool) Duchess of Cambridge meets families at children's hospice LONDON (AP) The Duchess of Cambridge has paid an emotional visit to a children's hospice in a village 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of London. The former Kate Middleton spent time Tuesday with a couple whose son died of a brain tumor last summer. She told them she could not imagine what they had been through, then gave the couple a hug. Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge meets local school children as she arrives to visit East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, near Norwich, eastern England, Tuesday Jan. 24, 2017. The Duchess toured the facilities of the hospice and met families who use the services at Quidenham. EACH offers support to families, and care for children and young people with life-threatening conditions in Norfolk. (Adrian Dennis/Pool via AP) A young girl, Daisy Benton, asked the duchess what it's like to be a real princess. Kate replied that she is well looked after by her husband, Prince William. The duchess wore an elegant emerald green suit on her visit to Quidenham, but this did not prevent her from getting involved in an art therapy class with the youngsters. Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge meets local school children as she arrives to visit East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, near Norwich, eastern England, Tuesday Jan. 24, 2017. The Duchess toured the facilities of the hospice and met families who use the services at Quidenham. EACH offers support to families, and care for children and young people with life-threatening conditions in Norfolk. (Adrian Dennis/Pool via AP) Water lead-level falls below federal limit in Flint LANSING, Mich. (AP) Flint's water system no longer has levels of lead exceeding the federal limit, a key finding that Michigan environmental officials said Tuesday was good news for a city whose 100,000 residents have been grappling with the man-made water crisis. The 90th percentile of lead concentrations in Flint was 12 parts per billion from July through December, below the "action level" of 15 ppb, according to a letter from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to Flint's mayor. It was 20 ppb in the prior six-month period. Based on the sample of 368 residential sites, Flint's lead levels are again comparable to other similarly sized U.S. cities with older infrastructure, state officials said. FILE - In this March 21, 2016 file photo, the Flint Water Plant water tower is seen in Flint, Mich. Michigan environmental officials announced Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, that Flint's water system no longer has levels of lead exceeding the federal limit. The finding by the Department of Environmental Quality is good news for a city whose 100,000 residents have grappled with the man-made water crisis since 2014. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File) "This is good news and the result of many partners on the local, county, state and federal levels working together to restore the water quality in the City of Flint," the department's director, Heidi Grether, said in a statement. "The Flint water system is one of the most monitored systems in the country for lead and copper, and that commitment will remain to ensure residents continue to have access to clean water." Residents, whose mistrust in government remains high nearly three years after a fateful switch of Flint's water source in April 2014 while the city was under state management, are being told to continue using faucet filters or bottled water because an ongoing mass replacement of pipes could spike lead levels in individual houses. The replacement of the lines is expected to take years. Tuesday's announcement drew immediate skepticism from some residents. Melissa Mays said it "means nothing. There's still lead in the system." "Especially with disruptions, main breaks pieces of lead scale will be breaking off until these pipes are replaced," Mays said. "You cannot tell me the water is safe because you have not tested every home." Flint's public health emergency began when lead from old pipes leached into the water supply because corrosion-reducing phosphates were not added due to an incorrect reading of federal regulations. Elevated levels of lead, a neurotoxin, were detected in children, and 12 people died in a Legionnaires' disease outbreak that experts suspect was linked to the improperly treated water. An ongoing investigation has led to charges against 13 current or former government officials, including two managers who Republican Gov. Rick Snyder appointed to run the city. Snyder has apologized for the crisis. "The remarkable improvement in water quality over the past year is a testament to all levels of government working together and the resilient people of Flint helping us help them through participation in the flushing programs," he said in a statement. "There is still more work to do in Flint, and I remain committed to helping the residents recover and restore their city." Armed with the new numbers, state attorneys asked a judge Tuesday to drop a Nov. 10 order that directs Michigan and Flint to inspect home filters and deliver bottled water if necessary. Assistant Attorney General Michael Murphy said thousands of homes have been visited, but he acknowledged that the state has not determined how to acquire, store and deliver water as the judge instructed. "They're treating the order as a suggestion," Dimple Chaudhary, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, urging U.S. District Judge David Lawson to keep the injunction in place. Lawson did not make an immediate decision, although he said the state appeared to be "slow-walking" compliance. While it is important for cities to be below the federal limit, experts say there is no safe level of lead and the crisis has exposed gaps in a monitoring system that can mislead individual homeowners and renters into thinking their tap water is safe when only some homes with lead pipes are sampled. Michigan's letter to Flint Mayor Karen Weaver was reviewed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it was sent. Weaver called the results "encouraging" but said, "We are not out of the woods yet." Because the city exceeded the federal limit in the first half of 2016, it must continue replacing at least 7 percent of its lead service lines by June 30. Though the requirement may be discontinued if the water supply is at or below the limit in the next monitoring period, the state said it would continue supporting Flint's plan to replace all of its lead-tainted pipes. The state set aside $27 million for the project as part of the nearly $300 million that has been allocated toward the crisis, including for bottled water, filters and legal bills. Tuesday's announcement means the state will soon stop providing a credit on customers' bills. It has been partially covering their bills dating to April 2014. Starting in March, the state also plans to no longer pay for Flint's water, which comes from a Detroit-area system for now. The state has been covering the costs since October 2015. ___ Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story. ___ Follow David Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert Lawmakers, governor ready for showdown in divided N Carolina RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) North Carolina legislators begin a new session Wednesday amid rancor with a new governor and deep skepticism about whether they will reach consensus on big issues or remain stuck in a quagmire of state officials' own making. Leaders of the Republican-controlled General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper have already filed dueling lawsuits within the last month. Even before Cooper took office Jan. 1, distrust killed an apparent deal during a pre-Christmas special session to repeal a law that limits LGBT rights and directs which public bathrooms transgender people must use. "We've never had the polarization, the division, the bitterness that we've got now," said Gary Pearce, a longtime Democratic consultant in North Carolina. "We're one of the most divided states in the country." Cooper, who defeated Republican Gov. Pat McCrory last fall by just 10,000 votes, must deal with GOP legislators who hold veto-proof majorities. They don't have to listen to him, let alone negotiate on important issues, if they remain unified. Nevertheless, key leaders have identified a few potential areas for consensus as lawmakers return to Raleigh two weeks after choosing their leaders. Cooper, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger have said deals could be reached on issues such as raising teacher pay, cutting taxes for low- and middle-class families, and addressing opioid addiction. It will be tougher to hammer out a $22 billion state budget without a Cooper veto or persuade enough Republicans to repeal the so-called bathroom bill, also known as House Bill 2, that Cooper wants eliminated. Berger criticized Cooper for urging Senate Democrats to vote down Berger's repeal bill last month that ultimately would have included a short moratorium on LGBT ordinances. Cooper responded that GOP leaders failed to carry out their repeal agreement. All bets are off if Republicans decide to support just a partial repeal of HB2, consider further abortion restrictions or revive a voter identification mandate thrown out by a federal appeals court last summer. Cooper and Democrats will fight them. Relations between lawmakers and Cooper started on a bad footing. GOP lawmakers called a special session in mid-December separate from the HB2 session and passed laws that reduce or check Cooper's powers. Dozens of anti-Republican protesters were arrested at the Legislative Building during the session. Cooper challenged the laws in court and already has blocked one that would shift oversight of elections from him to the legislature. Cooper didn't endear himself to Moore and Berger during his first week in office when he started trying to expand Medicaid through the federal health care overhaul without the legislature's OK, as state law requires. Cooper began doing so as Congress works toward repealing the overhaul altogether. Cooper's action "did not sit well with the General Assembly, and I don't think that's the right message to send right out of the gate," said Chris Sinclair, a Republican consultant who worked for McCrory's 2012 campaign. Legislative leaders sued and, for now, have blocked Cooper's expansion efforts. Sinclair said Cooper should extend first the handshake to GOP lawmakers in a state where the General Assembly historically has been the most powerful branch. Republicans also got welcome news two weeks ago when the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked a lower court order directing House and Senate boundaries be redrawn quickly and special elections be held this fall under the new lines. GOP majorities will remain through 2018 if the delay stays in place. But Democratic consultants say Cooper is in the position of strength. They say he ran a campaign based on countering the state's recent conservative shift, and his win should make GOP leaders think twice before passing more divisive laws. Cooper blamed the economic backlash over HB2 on McCrory, who signed the law. A revenue surplus North Carolina is currently $322 million ahead of projections could provide a fiscal salve to the rough environment by funding initiatives legislators and Cooper support, said Mac McCorkle, an adviser to two previous Democratic governors. North Carolina lawmakers usually adjourn in the early summer. If the session goes longer, the electorate could blame both Cooper and legislators for failing to get things done. Germany, Iran, Scandinavia, Australia get foreign Oscar nods A father-daughter comedy from Germany, a psychological thriller from Iran, a Danish film about German prisoners of war, a dark Swedish comedy about a grumpy man, and an Australian film about tribal love on a remote South Pacific island are this year's Oscar nominees for best foreign film. One of the best known of the nominees announced Tuesday is "Toni Erdmann," a generational-divide comedy from German writer-director Maren Ade that was a sensation at Cannes in May. The film, almost three hours long, also touches on themes of political and social conflict. "I cannot tell you how proud I am and how incredible this feels!" Ade said in a statement. "It was a very long journey to make this film we all never thought anything like this could happen. Thank you for making me such a fortunate filmmaker." This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Sandra Huller as Ines, left, and and Peter Simonischek as Winfried in a scene from the Komplizen Film, "Toni Erdmann." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Sony Pictures Classics via AP) Co-producer Jonas Dornbach, speaking from Berlin, said the film has been well received because almost everyone can find something that resonates with them personally. "This film speaks about the family and the father-daughter relationship, and everyone has a family, everyone has a certain role in the family, so everyone can really connect," he said. Also nominated in the category is a previous Oscar winner Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, with "The Salesman." Farhadi's much-admired "A Separation" won the category in 2012. "The Salesman" is a psychological thriller about a young couple in Tehran involved in a production of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman." They move into a new apartment, where a violent act connected to a former tenant changes their lives. "The greatest consequence of this event is that a greater number of people will see this film and as a result my world will grow," Farhadi said in a telephone interview from Tehran. And he added: "This is really a two-way phenomenon. Just as my world grows, so does that of the audience." He noted that it was a sad time in Tehran because of last week's deadly fire and collapse of a high-rise building. "But I hope this news will be a little bit uplifting for everyone," he said. The recent Golden Globe winner for foreign film, Paul Verhoeven's "Elle," was not nominated for an Oscar. But its luminous star, Isabelle Huppert, was nominated in the best actress category for her French-speaking role. Speaking in Paris, Huppert who also won the Globe for best actress in a drama noted how difficult it is to earn an Oscar acting nod in a foreign language. "You know that a film produced in a foreign language (has) additional difficulty to reach the heart of a public that does not speak the language," she said. "So for all these reasons, it's really extraordinary to have received all these distinctions." Martin Zandvliet, director of the Danish film "Land of Mine," at first planned to stay home on Tuesday, believing it would be bad karma to go out, but changed his mind and went to Nordisk Film studio in Copenhagen to wait for the nominations with others. When the movie was listed first, "we screamed," he said, calling the nomination "fantastic." The film, inspired by real events, tells the story of German prisoners of war sent to clear mines in Denmark after World War II. The Swedish film "A Man Called Ove" also earned a nod. Based on a novel of the same name, the dark comedy tells the story of a grumpy old man who seeks to end it all, when new acquaintances change his life. "It is absolutely amazing," actor Rolf Lassgard, who stars, told Swedish broadcaster SVT. "We had never in our wildest dreams ever imagined this." Rounding out the nominees was "Tanna," the first ever foreign-language nominee from Australia. A story of tribal love, the film was shot on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, in the Nauvhal language, with an amateur cast of villagers. Filmmakers Martin Butler and Bentley Dean lived on Tanna for months to tell the story. "It was just fabulous news and a little bit hard to believe," Dean said in a telephone interview. "Given how it all started, I think it makes it a bit more improbable." The fact that "Tanna" is the first Australian movie to be nominated in the foreign language film category makes it even more special, Dean said. "I think it's the most exciting category to have a film in," he said. "It's a real celebration of cinema, no matter who you are, where you come from." __ AP reporters Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, David Rising in Berlin, Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Sandy Cohen in Los Angeles contributed to this report. This image released by Cohen Media group shows Shahab Hosseini, left, and Taraneh Alidoosti in a scene from "The Salesman." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Cohen Media Group via AP) This image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Oskar Bokelmann, left, and Louis Hofmann in a scene from, "Land of Mine." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Sony Pictures Classics via AP) This image released by Music Box Films shows Rolf Lassgard in a scene from, "A Man Called Ove." The film was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The 89th Academy Awards will take place on Feb. 26. (Johan Bergmark/Music Box Films via AP) Trump narrows down Supreme Court nominee list to 3 WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days. A person familiar with the selection process said the three judges, all white men who sit on federal appeals courts, were on the list of 21 potential high court picks Trump announced during the presidential campaign. The leading contenders who all have met with Trump are William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, the person said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal decisions. President Donald Trump answers a question about the Supreme Court after signing a series of executive orders,Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) Pryor, 54, is an Alabama-based judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Gorsuch, 49, is on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Hardiman, 51, is based in Pittsburgh for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. All three were nominated by President George W. Bush for their current posts. Trump has promised to seek someone in the mold of conservative icon Antonin Scalia, who died nearly a year ago after serving on the Supreme Court for more than 29 years. Senate Republicans prevented President Barack Obama from filling the seat, a political gamble that paid off when Trump was elected. Trump met Tuesday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Dianne Feinstein to discuss the court vacancy. Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement that the meeting was productive and "a step in the right direction." Schumer, D-N.Y., said he told Trump "that Senate Democrats would fight any nominee that was outside of the mainstream." Trump said he plans to announce his choice next week. McConnell led the Senate in refusing to even to consider Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to take Scalia's seat, announcing on the night that Scalia died that the vacancy should be filled not by Obama, but by the next president. Daniel Goldberg, legal director of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said his group almost certainly would oppose anyone from Trump's list. "President Trump has made clear what kind of justice he intends to nominate. He said he intends to nominate a reactionary who doesn't share the constitutional values of the American people and who will undermine fundamental constitutional protections," Goldberg said. Conservatives said the contenders all share Scalia's commitment to the text and meaning of the Constitution. "These are not stealth candidates. Their records are there for everyone to see and to understand. Their judicial philosophy is well within the mainstream of American legal thought," said Leonard Leo, a conservative lawyer who has been advising Trump on the filling the vacancy. Of the three leading candidates, only Pryor faced significant opposition when nominated to the appeals court. Senate Democrats refused to allow a vote on his nomination, leading Bush initially to give Pryor a temporary recess appointment. In 2005, the Senate confirmed him 53-45, after senators reached an agreement to curtail delaying tactics for appellate judgeships. Gorsuch was approved by a voice vote in 2006. Schumer and Feinstein were among the 95 senators who voted for Hardiman's confirmation in 2007. Hardiman is a colleague of Trump's sister, Judge Maryanne Trump Barry. Pryor has a reputation as staunch conservative with a taste for academic rigor. He once called the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion the "worst abomination in the history of constitutional law." As Alabama attorney general, he also angered some conservatives for urging a judicial discipline panel to remove Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore from office after he refused to obey a court order take down a Ten Commandments monument from the lobby of the state judicial building. Some conservatives also have recently criticized Pryor for his vote in 2011 in favor of a transgender woman who sued for sex discrimination. Gorsuch is the closest on Trump's list to a Washington insider the son of former EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch, educated in the Ivy League and at Oxford, law clerk to Justice Anthony Kennedy and Bush-era Justice Department official. His opinions and outside writings, praised for their clear, colloquial style, include a call for courts to second-guess government regulations, defense of religious freedom and skepticism toward law enforcement. He has contended that courts give too much deference to government agencies' interpretations of statutes. He sided with groups that held religious objections to the Obama administration's requirements that employers provide health insurance that includes contraception. Hardiman has sided with jails seeking to strip-search inmates arrested for even minor offenses and has supported gun rights, dissenting in a 2013 case that upheld a New Jersey law to strengthen requirements for carrying a handgun in public. Last year, he joined two 3rd Circuit colleagues in affirming the $1 billion settlement of NFL concussion claims, rejecting complaints that men with depression and mood disorders were left out of the deal. A Massachusetts native, he settled in Pittsburgh, where his wife comes from a family of prominent Democrats. Trump praised the candidates on his roster after signing several executive actions Tuesday in the Oval Office. "We have outstanding candidates," the president said. "And we'll pick a truly great Supreme Court justice." He said he would be making a decision this week, and announcing it next week. ___ Associated Press writers Jonathan Lemire, Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report. FILE - In this Nov. 17, 2016 file photo, Judge William Pryor, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit speaks in Washington. President Donald Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days. The leading contenders, who all have met with Trump, are William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, the person said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal decisions. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) This photo provided by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shows Judge Neil Gorsuch. President Donald Trump has narrowed his choice to fill the Supreme Court vacancy to three judges and said he expects to make his decision in the coming days. The leading contenders, who all have met with Trump, are Gorsuch, William Pryor and Thomas Hardiman, the person said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly about internal decisions. (10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals via AP) India rejects attempts of EU, Canada for global investment agreement Published: January 24, 2017 India, along with Brazil, Argentina and some other nations rejected an informal attempt of European Union (EU) and Canada to work towards a global investment agreement at World Trade Organisation (WTO)-level. The EU and Canada proposed agreement incorporates a contentious Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. They wanted their investment pact to be the template for a similar multilateral agreement. What is Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism? The ISDS mechanism permits companies to drag governments to international arbitration without exhausting the local remedies. It also allows them to claim huge amounts as compensation citing losses they suffered due to reasons, including policy changes. The contentious ISDS mechanism already has been incorporated by investment pact by the EU and Canada. What is Indias position? India has rejected such mechanism. It clearly held that only after all local options have been exhausted for settling disputes between a corporate and a government, then the issues can be taken up in international arbitration tribunals. It also held that such provisions could be a part of bilateral agreements but they cant be allowed in a multilateral agreement. Month: Current Affairs - January, 2017 Topics: Business Canada Economy EU International Latest E-Books Murder trial opens in 2012 shooting death of Memphis officer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) A man charged with killing a Memphis officer during a chaotic raid on his home in December 2012 didn't know he was shooting at police, a defense lawyer said Tuesday as the man's trial opened. Treveno Campbell, 25, has pleaded not guilty to charges of killing Memphis Police Officer Martoiya Lang and attempting to kill five other officers. Lang, a 32-year-old mother of four, was one of four Memphis officers killed since July 2011 and Memphis' first female officer slain in the line of duty. Police said Organized Crime Unit officers armed with a warrant and wearing protective vests entered a home where drug trafficking was suspected on Dec. 14, 2012. According to police, Campbell opened fire with a 9mm pistol with a high-capacity magazine, striking Lang and another officer who survived, police said. Campbell was shot during the raid. Attorney Bill Massey, right, touches his client, Treveno Campbell, during the first day of his murder trial Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Memphis, Tenn. Campbell is charged with killing Memphis police officer Martoiya Lang in 2011. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal via AP) In Tuesday's opening statements, defense lawyer William Massey said Campbell was asleep in bed after coming home tired from his job the day of the raid. "All of a sudden, he heard a crashing noise. Boom!" Massey told a jury of 12 and two alternates. With his heart "beating out of his chest," Campbell began shooting wildly, thinking his home was being invaded by people who were not police, Massey added. Campbell fired shots in an attempt to scare off the intruders before he realized it was police who had bashed in the front door, according to Massey. He showed jurors a heavy police battering ram. Campbell stopped firing and put his hands up when he realized he was shooting at police, Massey said. That's when an officer shot Campbell three times, the lawyer said. "The issue is if Treveno Campbell knew they were police," Massey said. "He thought he was the victim of a home invasion." Massey alleged that officers were looking for a person who did not end up matching Campbell's description. In her opening statement, prosecutor Alanda Dwyer addressed jurors while wearing a black protective vest marked "police." Dwyer said officers knocked before entering the home and they loudly identified themselves as police. Campbell fired 11 shots at officers during the raid, "firing wildly down the hall where the officers were," Dwyer said. Dwyer described Campbell as someone who was obsessed with drugs and money. Campbell faces charges of possessing drugs with the intent to sell, in addition to charges of first-degree murder in Lang's death, attempted murder of the other five officers and using a firearm while committing a felony. Police said they found marijuana, a gun and cash in the house. Judge James Beasley has issued a gag order in the case. He ordered lawyers, witnesses and law enforcement officials to refrain from speaking to media representatives or making comments on social media about the case. Sharks trade F Tommy Wingels to Senators SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) The San Jose Sharks traded forward Tommy Wingels to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday for two minor league forwards and a 2017 seventh-round draft pick. Wingels had been a key contributor to the Sharks over the years but his role had diminished this season with the emergence of rookies like Kevin Labanc, Timo Meier and Ryan Carpenter, who have made the case for more consistent playing time. "These young players are knocking on the door and ready to play and ready to make a difference," general manager Doug Wilson said. "We're very fortunate to have those players that have already come up and there are some more of them who are also ready and will probably get an opportunity in the near future also." FILE - In this Nov. 1, 2016, file photo, Arizona Coyotes defenseman Luke Schenn (2) disrupts the shot attempt by San Jose Sharks center Tommy Wingels (57) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Glendale, Ariz. The Sharks have traded Wingels to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, for two minor league forwards and a 2017 seventh-round draft pick. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File) The Sharks also expect to get forward Tomas Hertl back from an injury very soon, leaving little opportunity for Wingels to crack the lineup. Wingels has five goals and three assists in 37 games this season, playing mostly on the fourth line. Wingels' most productive seasons came in 2013-14 and 2014-15. He had careers highs with 16 goals and 22 assists in 2013-14 and 15 goals and 21 assists the following season, before his production dropped off the past two seasons. Wilson said he had been working with Wingels' agent for a while to try to find a place where he would have a better chance to play. "When you have a player who has done everything that Tommy has done for this organization, if there's not going to be a fit you want to explore the opportunity that works for everybody," Wilson said. "That's how this really came together." The deal made Tuesday helps clear up salary cap room for the Sharks if they want to make an addition before the trade deadline. Wingels is in the final year of a contract that pays him $2.475 million this season. San Jose will retain 30 percent of Wingels' remaining salary. The Sharks entered the day with 62 points, one behind Pacific Division-leading Anaheim. San Jose has two games in hand on the Ducks. The Sharks acquired Buddy Robinson and Zack Stortini, who will report to the team's AHL affiliate. The 25-year-old Robinson had seven goals and five assists in 33 games for Binghamton of the AHL. He has one goal and one assist in seven career NHL games. Downtown LA's brilliant, Anthony Quinn mural gets a makeover LOS ANGELES (AP) He was a good-natured Greek, an angry Bedouin and numerous other unforgettable characters in a legendary film career, and now Anthony Quinn is once again the splendorous "Pope of Broadway, his colorful image welcoming visitors to downtown Los Angeles. Eloy Torrez's brilliant, 70-foot-tall acrylic mural, showing the actor sharply dressed and with arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture, was rededicated Tuesday, after the artist spent much of last fall restoring it to its former glory. "It was a fun adventure to relive it, it was kind of like time-traveling," he said of spending countless hours perched on a window-washing platform high above a downtown parking lot as he repaired the work he'd created in 1985 when he was just 30. Muralist Eloy Torrez poses for a photo in front of his renovated 70-foot-tall mural of Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn, titled "Pope of Broadway," downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. The prominent Chicano artist was among some 100 people to gather Tuesday under the work he spent nearly four months restoring last year. Torrez first put Quinn on a wall of downtown's venerable Victor Clothing Company building in 1985. City officials, actor Edward James Olmos, members of Quinn's family and others spent seven years raising funds and cutting through red tape to get Torrez the ok to repair it.(AP Photo/Nick Ut) "I'm not quite 30 anymore," the modest, soft-spoken Torrez said with a smile as he stood under the huge mural Tuesday. "But it did take me back to specific moments when I first did it." The painting of Quinn standing on a colorful tile walkway in front of a building resembling a church has greeted passers-by crossing Broadway and entering the city's Third Street tunnel through Bunker Hill for decades. But over the years it had begun to crumble, falling victim to the elements and graffiti vandals. A restoration campaign was launched in 2010 by Quinn's late son, Francesco, actor Edward James Olmos, City Councilman Jose Huizar and numerous others. "I can't tell you how incredible it is to drive by and see this," said an emotional Olmos, one of about 100 people who turned out for the rededication. "People who come to California, to Los Angeles, they stop here," he said. "They stop at this mural." One of the art world's most prominent Chicano painters, Torrez's works have been displayed not only on buildings in Los Angeles and France but on a smaller scale in galleries and museums in the United States, Mexico and Europe. He recalled Tuesday he'd recently completed a mural on a Hollywood building that featured 1950s film legends James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and others when the owner of downtown's old Victor Clothing Company asked for one of an equally prominent Latino actor for his downtown building. Most of his clientele, he told Torrez, was Latino. "So I proposed Anthony Quinn of course," Torrez said with a smile. "It was, as they say, a no-brainer." The Mexican-born actor who died in 2001 was twice nominated for leading actor Oscars and twice won as supporting actor for "Lust For Life" and "Viva Zapata." Noted for incredible diversity, he also famously portrayed an angry Bedouin tribal leader in "Lawrence of Arabia," a good-natured Greek in "Zorba the Greek," the impoverished fisherman Santiago in "The Old Man and the Sea" and numerous other ethnicities in countless films. "He had that ability to portray just about any person from the planet," Torrez said. "That to me was significant when I did it and I think it's maybe even more significant now. The city of Los Angeles is diversity, and to me he is a mirror of what Los Angeles is." FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2014, file photo, pedestrians walk by a fading mural of a 70-foot-tall depiction of two-time Oscar-winning actor Anthony Quinn off Broadway Blvd., downtown Los Angeles. "The Pope of Broadway," by artist Eloy Torrez's brilliant 70-foot-tall mural renovation was unveiled Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, after Torrez spent nearly four months restoring it. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File) Internationally known hairdresser killed in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES (AP) Police on Tuesday were investigating the killing of internationally known hairdresser and beauty company executive Fabio Sementilli, who was found beaten and stabbed at a Los Angeles home. Detectives did not immediately provide a possible motive. They said his black 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera was missing from the home. Paramedics found the 49-year-old Sementilli on Monday on the patio of a gated house in the upscale Woodland Hills neighborhood. He was bleeding profusely and died at the scene. An unknown visitor arrives at a gated house in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. Homicide detectives are investigating the death of Fabio Sementilli, an internationally known hairdresser and beauty company executive found beaten and stabbed outside his Los Angeles home. Police say paramedics found Sementilli bleeding profusely Monday afternoon at the gated house in the upscale Woodland Hills neighborhood. The 49-year-old suffered multiple stab wounds and died at the scene. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) The Canadian-born Sementilli worked for decades as a trendsetting hair stylist and served as vice president of education for beauty products giant Coty Inc. The company said in a statement that he was an icon in the industry. Sementilli had established himself as a "mentor and positive role model to so many," said Alison Alhamed, editor in chief of the journal Modern Salon. "He could barely walk a few feet on a trade show floor without someone stopping him to take a selfie with him and share how much he impacted their career," Alhamed said. On Friday, Sementilli posted a photograph on Facebook of his 1987 hairstylist certification and reminisced about how his 30-year career was aided by a strong work ethic and support from colleagues. "I'm optimistic, I'm driven and I don't accept the habit of negativity around me," he wrote. Former teacher gets prison sentence for student sex charges PATERSON, N.J. (AP) A former New Jersey substitute teacher who sent sexually explicit texts to underage students and engaged in sex acts with them has been sentenced to three years in prison. Linda Hardan had reached a plea deal with Passaic (puh-SAY'-ihk) County prosecutors that called for her to receive a five-year sentence. But the judge imposed a lesser term on Monday, citing mitigating factors. He also noted the 22-year-old Prospect Park resident appeared to have a sheltered and stunted emotional development due to her strict religious upbringing. Hardan worked as a substitute teacher in Haledon and at Manchester Regional High School in North Haledon. Authorities say the victims ranged in age from 14 to 16. Argentina condemns vandalism at war cemetery in Falklands BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) Argentina's government is condemning vandalism committed at the South American country's war cemetery in the disputed Falkland Islands. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it had sent a note to the British embassy in Buenos Aires, asking the British government to launch an investigation. The ministry also said in a statement that the vandalism is "particularly regrettable" given the recent decision by Argentina and Britain to identify the remains of more than 100 Argentine soldiers buried in the cemetery after their 1982 war. Washington, other states eye school bus seat belts OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) A bill that would require school buses to have seat belts is being considered by lawmakers in Washington, one of more than a dozen states where school seat belt measures are on the legislative agenda this year. The Senate Transportation Committee held a public hearing Tuesday for Senate Bill 5054. It would mandate that all public and private school buses purchased after the bill takes effect have a safety belt for each rider. California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York and Texas have existing variations of a seat belt law for school buses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. At least 17 states, including Washington, have introduced legislation regarding seat belts on school buses in the 2017 sessions. FILE -- In this Nov. 2, 2011 file photo, school buses pick up students at Jason Lee Middle School in Tacoma, Wash. A bill that would require school buses to have seat belts is being considered by lawmakers in Washington, one of more than a dozen states where school seat belt measures are on the legislative agenda this year. Senate Bill 5054 would mandate that all public and private school buses purchased after the bill takes effect have a safety belt for each rider. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File) According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approximately 23.5 million children use school buses to get to and from school and school-related activities. On average, six school-age children die each year in school bus crashes as passengers. Jane Terry of the National Safety Council said the organization supports the push for school bus safety restraints, citing a bus crash in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last year that killed six children. "It's really the safest way for occupants to ride and it comes down to the bottom line of seat belts save lives and we've known this for years," Terry said in an interview. "There's no reason, especially when people are looking at purchasing new buses, why they shouldn't try to get ones with this type of common sense safety equipment on board." Terry said from the time a child is born they are placed in a car seat and are taught to buckle up in a car, but for some reason a school bus is treated differently. "A school bus should not be a time where you say 'it's OK you don't need to buckle up this time,'" she said. Republican Sen. Michael Baumgartner, a member of the Transportation Committee, referenced a time when his son, a kindergartener, was surprised when he didn't have to wear a seat belt on a school bus to a field trip. "We shouldn't be having tragedies where kids are killed because they don't have the option of putting on a seat belt," Baumgartner said. A former school bus driver, Brian Lang, opposed the bill at the hearing. "The idea is a good one; however, as a driver it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that all of the passengers in the bus remain buckled up," Lang said. Lang said it can be challenging to keep 5-year-olds strapped in their seat belts, but the hardest part of all is, "You can't see them." "It's going to be difficult for one driver to control," he said. Baumgartner said the responsibility should be taken off the drivers in some way. The other states considering school seat belt legislation include: Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Virginia and Utah. Idaho man pleads not guilty to hate crime in gay man killing BOISE, Idaho (AP) An Idaho man charged with a federal hate crime in the beating death of a gay man pleaded not guilty in Boise's U.S. District Court on Tuesday. A March trial was set for 23-year-old Kelly Schneider, who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in state court Monday. He was indicted earlier this month on the hate crime charge that accused him of attacking Steven Nelson last year because he was gay. Few documents have been filed in the federal court case so far, but the details of the attack are outlined in the related state court case: Prosecutors say Schneider used an online personals ad on Backdoor.com to lure the 49-year-old Nelson to a remote recreation area near Lake Lowell in southwestern Idaho. There Nelson was robbed, stripped, beaten and left. Despite being critically injured, naked and barefoot, Nelson managed to walk to a home about a half-mile away for help. He was able to give police information before he died a few hours later. Schneider pleaded guilty Monday in state court to first degree murder. But Idaho's state hate crime law doesn't extend protections to people who are gay or lesbian, and so Schneider was transferred to federal custody to face the hate crime charge. Schneider was one of four men charged in connection with the attack in Idaho's state courts. On Monday, Schneider pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, saying that he intended to rob Nelson but not kill him. He also acknowledged that he kicked Nelson repeatedly and that his actions caused Nelson's death. In exchange for his guilty plea, state prosecutors agreed to drop robbery, theft and conspiracy charges. He now faces life in state prison, as well as a possible life sentence in federal prison if he is convicted on the federal hate crime charge. The other three men in the state case Jayson Woods, 28; Kevin R. Tracy, 21; and Daniel Henkel, 23 are still awaiting trial on first-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy charges. Schneider has a lengthy criminal history in Idaho, including marijuana-related charges while he was still a minor and a series of drug, burglary and theft charges over the last five years. But the only other violent crime on his record is an injury to an officer conviction that appears to stem from his time spent in the Canyon County jail in 2012. The Latest: LA police union agrees with DA on shooting probe LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on a district attorney's decision not to bring criminal charges against two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed a man in 2014 (all times local): 6:20 p.m. The union representing two Los Angeles police officers who fatally shot a mentally ill black man during a struggle in 2014 says it agrees with a district attorney's determination that the officers acted lawfully. FILE - In this July 6, 2015, file photo, a mural and memorial for the late Ezell Ford Jr., who was fatally shot by Los Angeles police officers is seen in South Los Angeles. Two Los Angeles police officers acted in self-defense when they fatally shot the 25-year-old black man during a struggle over an officer's gun and will not face criminal charges for the 2014 shooting that led to protests, prosecutors said Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) The Los Angeles Police Protective League says in a statement Tuesday that no officer wants to be in a struggle for their gun. The union says officers must be allowed to protect themselves and the public. Prosecutors announced Tuesday the two officers acted in self-defense when they fatally shot 25-year-old Ezell Ford in November 2014. Prosecutors said Ezell Ford had been struggling for an officer's holstered gun when he was killed. A police oversight board had found the officers had no reason to stop Ford, violating department policy. The LAPD says both officers are working in an "administrative capacity." ___ 3 p.m. The mother of a black, mentally ill man who was killed by Los Angeles police during a struggle over an officer's gun says "there will be no justice" after prosecutors declined to bring criminal charges against the officers who fatally shot him. Tritobia Ford told reporters Tuesday she can't understand why prosecutors didn't bring charges in the August 2014 shooting death of her son Ezell. She says Ezell, who had a history of mental illness, "was murdered" by the officers. She called the shooting "unjustified." Prosecutors said Ezell Ford had been struggling for an officer's holstered gun when he was killed. District Attorney Jackie Lacey said the officers acted in self-defense. The city Police Commission found the officers had no reason to question Ford, and that violated policy. Ford's shooting led to several Black Lives Matter protests. __ 1:40 p.m. The Los Angeles County District Attorney says she called the mother of a black man who was fatally shot by police in 2014 to tell her prosecutors will not be file criminal charges against the two officers who shot him. District Attorney Jackie Lacey says Tuesday that she called Ezell Ford's mother to explain the findings of her office's investigation. She says Ford's mother was upset and that it felt "like she was reliving it all over again." Ford was shot and killed in August 2014 by two Los Angeles Police Department officers during a struggle for an officer's gun. The shooting prompted Black Lives Matter protests. Lacey's office announced Tuesday the officers were legally justified in the shooting. She says physical evidence and DNA strongly supported the officers' account of what happened. ___ 11:35 a.m. Prosecutors will not file criminal charges against two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed a man in 2014 during a struggle over an officer's gun. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday that the officers acted lawfully and in self-defense when they shot 25-year-old Ezell Ford in August 2014. The killing of Ford, who was black, led to Black Lives Matter protests. Police say Ford knocked an officer to the ground and tried to grab his gun. A district attorney's report says Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas feared for their lives when they fired. The city Police Commission found the officers had no reason to stop and question Ford, and that policy violation led to an altercation that ended with Ford's death. Woman found guilty for role in kidnapping of DA's father RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) Federal prosecutors say a woman involved in the kidnapping of the father of a North Carolina assistant district attorney has been found guilty for her role in the case. The U.S. attorney's office said Tuesday 30-year-old Shamieka Goodall was found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and a substantive count of kidnapping. Goodall faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Kelvin Melton, who is serving a life sentence in the case, was accused of commanding gang members to abduct the prosecutor, but his underlings botched the plan and snatched the prosecutor's father instead. US President Donald Trump signs executive order to pull US out of TPP Published: January 24, 2017 US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to formally pull US out of the negotiating process of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega trade deal of 12 Pacific Rim countries. TPP was one of the major international trade initiatives of his predecessor Barack Obama aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century and bind US allies against growing Chinese economic clout. During the Presidential election campaign, Trump had vowed to withdraw the US from the TPP which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing. About Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) The TPP is a trade agreement under negotiation among 12 Pacific Rim nations accounting for 40% of the world economy. It was promoted by US and signed by 12 countries in 2015. 12 members are Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam. India was not part of TPP. The aimed to ease the flow of goods, services and investments among member countries and set trade rules for 21st century especially on labour standards, environmental issues, origin criteria and intellectual property. The mega trade deal was considered as counterweight to growing global economic clout of China, the largest economy in the Pacific Rim. TPPs Impact on India: It might have led to market share losses for certain categories of Indias exports due to preference erosion. It could have indirectly impacted exports in several industrial sectors such as textiles, leather, clothing, plastics, cotton and yarn. Even Indias pharmaceutical sector might had suffered due to higher standards compared WTO norms, including on IPR and ever-greening of patents. Month: Current Affairs - January, 2017 Topics: Current Affairs - 2017 Latest E-Books Advertisement Many people turned to exploring local nature paths for their daily exercise when lockdown closed gyms and group sports took a hiatus amid the pandemic. Amateur photographers who captured stunning images of animals in their natural habitat were quick to submit their snaps to Weekend magazine's annual Wildlife Photography Challenge in the hopes of winning a package worth over 1,000. The entrants were split into five categories - Birds; Mammals; Insects; Under-18s; and Reptiles, Fish, Amphibians & Molluscs. While each category winner received a Nikon mirrorless digital camera kit and a year's subscription to Nikon Owner magazine, the overall winner also received a trip to the Camargue with wildlife photographer Simon Stafford, courtesy of Create Away, for a four-night masterclass in photographing the region's wild horses, flamingos and bulls. Judges David Suchet, Clare Balding, Lucy Cooke, Steve Brown, Kelly Brook and Michael Eleftheriades were impressed with Lee O'dwyer, 67, a retired engineer from Lancashire, who was awarded the overall winner for his shot of a long-tailed tit. These runner-up snaps taken by talented amateur photographers prove choosing an overall winner was a tough decision... BIRDS PUFFIN: Taken by Joseph Bristow, 23, a retail supervisor from Llantwit Major. 'Arriving at 3am and queueing for the 6am ticket office to open. First in line I caught the boat over to Skomer Island. With only a few hours permitted on the island I had no time to waste. Surrounded by the Puffins was an amazing spectacle and allowed me to capture some amazing photos. I found this one puffin who seemed very tame and loved posing for the camera. As he stared down the barrel of my lens I took my shot and was pleased with the result. I found the black background really provides a provocative and striking image highlight the vibrant colour of the Puffins.' KESTREL CHICKS: Taken by Jayne Kirkby, 20, from Braintree, Essex. 'Beautiful pair of Kestrel chicks, taken at Wrabness on 20th June 2020.' KINGFISHER: Tim Clifton, a 59-year-old from, St Leonards on Sea, snapped this captivating photo of a kingfisher hunting for small fish MALLARD: William Watson, 64, a semi retired HGV driver from East Dunbartonshire. 'Taken on the Forth & Clyde canal (December '19') Bishopbriggs, As I went to take this photo of this female Mallard it stretched creating a nice reflection....' INSECTS BUTTERFLY: Adam Lane, a 27-year-old host at Legoland, from Slough, captured a butterfly perched on a purple flower in specular detail WASP: Shelia Moth took this captivating photo of a wasp on a thistle, capturing the insect and plant in immense detail SPIDER: Taken by Geoffrey Wells, 67, a maintenance caretaker from North Yorkshire. 'This picture was taken in my back garden during the recent lockdown.' REPTILES MATING FROGS: Taken by Steve Jellett, 64, from Essex, who is retired. 'Taken in small garden pond when 21 frogs descended to mate.' MAMMALS ROE DEER: Tim Cliffton, a 75-year-old from St Leonards on sea, took a photograph of two roe deer spotted in a field MOUSE: Taken by Cameron Parfitt, 20, a student at the University of Brighton, from Worthing. 'I would love to highlight that even in your back garden there are images to be had. This image is of a cheeky wood mouse that keeps stealing food from what we have now dubbed the mouse feeder. It's not unheard of for this little guy to be found inside the feeder without a care in the world stuffing himself with the bird seed.' JUNIORS FOX CUB: Billy Evans-Freke, 15, a secondary school student from East Sussex. 'It wasn't a long wait in the hide before the first fox cub woke up from its nap and came out into the open. It was soon followed by another cub. At first they stayed in the shadows of the bushes near the den. But once they gained their confidence they started coming closer. This cub in particular was very curious and came very close to the hide.' Drivers responsible for the most serious speeding offences are set to face harsher penalties under new sentencing guidelines for magistrates. Fines for motorists caught going well above the speed limit will start from 150% of their weekly income rather than the existing level of 100%. It means, for example, someone who is sentenced for driving at 101mph or faster in a 70mph zone will now be dealt with in a more severe bracket. (Rui Vieira/PA) The Sentencing Council said the move aims to ensure there is a clear increase in penalty as the seriousness of offending increases. It follows responses to a consultation arguing previous guidelines did not properly take into account the increase in potential harm that can result as speed above the limit rises. Speeding is one of a number of areas covered in new sentencing guidelines for magistrates courts in England and Wales being published on Tuesday. In another change conditional discharges will be included as a sentencing option in the least serious cases of TV licence payment evasion. Tens of thousands of people are prosecuted each year for dodging the 145.50 licence fee, with the vast majority handed a fine. (Steve Parsons/PA) Under a conditional discharge the individual is not punished unless they commit another offence within a set period of time. It is anticipated a conditional discharge could be appropriate in cases where the offender has been without a licence for a short period, or had made significant efforts to obtain one. The guidelines set out possible factors which could reduce the seriousness of TV licence evasion, including where the culprit was experiencing significant financial hardship at the time due to exceptional circumstances. Magistrates are also being given new advice on how to approach animal cruelty. A #spaniel who was rescued from neglect has seen his former owner punished - and he's got himself a job to boot! https://t.co/uZqGVxYGWy pic.twitter.com/zYL9d5zWRP RSPCA (England & Wales) (@RSPCA_official) January 21, 2017 For the first time additional aggravating factors of use of technology to publicise or promote cruelty and animal being used in public service or as an assistance dog are being included with the latter meaning police dogs or horses are specifically highlighted. Magistrates courts deal with more than one million offenders across England and Wales each year. The new guidelines, which also cover railway fare evasion, truancy and being drunk and disorderly, aim to reflect changes in the law since the they were last updated in 2008. RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams welcomed the change on speeding. (Andrew Matthews/PA) He said: Anyone who breaks the limit excessively is a danger to every other road user and is unnecessarily putting lives at risk. Hopefully, hitting these offenders harder in the pocket will make them think twice before doing it again in the future. Neil Greig, director of policy and research at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, cautiously backed the guidelines as being welcomed by the majority of law-abiding drivers. Donald Trump is excited about meeting Theresa May in Washington DC on Friday as she becomes the first foreign leader to hold talks with the new president. In the past, UK prime ministers have waited at least a month before meeting the incoming US president. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the visit, just a week after President Trumps inauguration, reflects the historic ties between the UK and the US. I think we have always had that special relationship with Britain and that reflects in the Prime Ministers first visit here, Mr Spicer said. Hes had a great conversation with her and he looks forward to having her here but we can always be closer. The Prime Minister will travel to the United States on Thursday when she will become the first foreign serving head of state or government to address the annual congressional Republican retreat, when it gathers for its 30th anniversary in Philadelphia. Peace talks in Kazakhstan between the Syrian government and rebel factions have concluded with Russia, Turkey and Iran striking a deal on a three-way mechanism to consolidate a ceasefire in the country. At the end of the two-day summit in Astana, Kazakhstans foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said the three countries will use their influence to strengthen the truce, without specifying how that would work. Syria: No sustainable solution to conflict can be attained via only military means, but through a political process. https://t.co/3331olVBct pic.twitter.com/CKd45fLA3M United Nations (@UN) January 23, 2017 His statement said the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. It also calls for Syrias rebels to separate from the al-Qaida-linked group, known as Fatah al-Sham. The statement added that agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva on February 8. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura speaks to journalists (Sergei Grits/AP) The Syrian government said the talks have succeeded in consolidating the month-long truce. Bashar al-Jaafari, Syrias UN ambassador, who headed the government delegation to the talks in Astana, said president Bashar Assads government has done all it can to remove obstacles facing the gathering. Rail passengers faced another day of travel misery today after a derailment and a person hit by a train, as London Underground passengers were warned of disruption because of a strike. The Southeastern network was hit after a freight train derailed at Lewisham in south London, while South West Trains services to and from London Waterloo were disrupted after a person died after being struck by a train at Woking in Surrey. #Lewisham Engineers continue to work to resolve the problem. Apologies if you are affected. Check @nationalrailenq for service info. pic.twitter.com/aQl6JlqD75 Network Rail (@networkrail) January 24, 2017 Disruption continued for most of the day at both operators, hitting hundreds of thousands of passengers. Southern services were due to return to normal after a series of strikes, but the company said there had been one or two cancellations involving the non-availability of train crew, arising from one case of sickness and a train planning error. A number of passengers said the disruption had been worse than Southern was admitting, reporting they had been told it was because of staff shortages. On first day of RMT drivers strike Southern forced to admit that they are cancelling services due to driver shortage https://t.co/CNKwbbiLTI pic.twitter.com/NKAxeg4PC9 RMT (@RMTunion) January 24, 2017 A small number of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at Southern went on strike today in a dispute about driver-only trains and will walk out again on Wednesday and Friday. The main drivers union, Aslef, has called off its strikes and ended an overtime ban and is continuing talks with the company at the TUC, without the RMT being invited. The Transport Select Committee is pressing the Transport Department to say whether Southerns owner, Govia Thameslink Railway, is in default of its contractual obligations. The committee said such options were not possible until the companys claims of so-called force majeure events beyond its control had been processed. Louise Ellman, who chairs the committee, said: GTRs claims for force majeure were made 10 months ago. While the Transport Committee appreciates the complexity of the situation, the department must state publicly whether the company is in default of its contractual obligations. RMT leader Mick Cash said: It is crystal clear that Southern/GTR are the architects of this dispute as is demonstrated by the fact RMT has secured deals over guards elsewhere on the network that have avoided industrial action. There is no doubt in our minds that the Government have rigged the terms of the Southern/GTR contract, paving the way for the Department for Transport to use the excuse of industrial action as a smokescreen to allow Britains worst performing railway company off scot-free. Strike action will affect @Centralline & @wlooandcityline late tomorrow eve and all day Thursday. More info: https://t.co/0nDIYjYtAP Transport for London (@TfL) January 24, 2017 RMT members on London Undergrounds Central Line will strike for 24 hours from 9pm on Wednesday in a row over the forced displacement of staff. Talks have resumed to try to resolve a separate row over jobs and ticket office closures on the Tube, which led to a strike earlier this month. Prime Minister Theresa May is to visit Turkey on Saturday for talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Downing Street has announced. A Number 10 spokesman said that Mrs May was likely to fly direct to Ankara from the US, where she is meeting President Donald Trump on Friday. It will be Mrs Mays first visit to Turkey as PM and comes in the wake of Mr Erdogans clampdown on opponents following the failed coup in July last year. David Cameron with Mr Erdogan at the G20 in 1015 (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Mr Erdogan declared a state of emergency following last summers coup attempt, which was followed by a wave of arrests, the closure of numerous media outlets and the removal of thousands of public officials including judges, teachers and university academics from their jobs. Asked whether Mrs May will raise concerns over the clampdown during her talks with Mr Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, the Number 10 spokesman said: We have been clear in our support for Turkeys democracy and institutions since the coup last summer. The PM will take this opportunity to reiterate our support for that, but weve also been clear that Turkeys response to that must be proportionate and of course we will continue to raise those issues. Pressed on whether the UK regarded the response so far as having been proportionate, the spokesman replied: We are a close friend of Turkey. Weve been very clear that we support Turkeys rights in support of its democracy and its institutions. Hull midfielder Ryan Mason is making excellent progress after fracturing his skull but will continue to be closely monitored in hospital, the Premier League club have announced. Mason, 25, had surgery in London on Sunday night after sustaining the injury during a clash of heads with Chelsea defender Gary Cahill in the Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge on the same day. A statement released by Hull read: The club can confirm that Ryan Mason continues to make excellent progress after sustaining a skull fracture in Sundays game against Chelsea. Hull City's Ryan Mason lies injured on the floor (Nick Potts/PA) He will continue to be closely monitored by staff at St Marys Hospital over the next few days, whilst also remaining in contact with our medical team to assess his progress. There will be no further updates from the club until there are any changes in Ryans condition. We also ask that people respect Ryan and his familys privacy whilst he remains in hospital. Hull confirmed on Monday that Mason was conscious and communicating having been visited by captain Michael Dawson and three club officials. Cahill, Chelsea club captain John Terry and assistant boss Steve Holland also went to St Marys Hospital on Sunday evening to check on Masons wellbeing. Nearly 400 jobs are at risk after HSBC revealed plans to slash its IT staff and make swingeing cuts to its branch network. The high street lender said it would shut a further 62 bank branches on top of the 55 closures announced last year, meaning a total of 117 HSBC branches will close in 2017. The move will put up to 180 jobs under threat and leave the banking giant with 625 branches across the UK. It came as the lender also confirmed that 204 IT jobs could be lost as part of plans to find significant cost savings by the end of this year. The bank will be left with 625 branches (PA) HSBC said it moved to cut the branch network after seeing a sharp rise in the number of customers using online banking as opposed to over-the-counter services. Francesca McDonagh, HSBC head of retail banking and wealth management for UK and Europe, said customers impacted by the cuts would be told about the alternative ways to bank with HSBC. More customers are using mobile and internet banking than ever before, innovation such as Touch and Voice ID has proved extremely popular, and fewer people are using branches. The decision to close these branches ensures a more sustainable branch network for the future as we continue to invest in our digital platforms and our people. The bank said the number of customers using HSBC branches has dropped by nearly 40% in the past five years. It said 97% of cash withdrawals were done through an ATM and 93% of customer contact was made via the telephone, internet or smartphone. More than 90% of its interactions with customers now came through digital an 80% rise on last year, HSBC added. Unite union national officer Dominic Hook has called on the banking industry to rethink such branch-culling exercises. Today is a dark day for hundreds of HSBC staff who will arrive at work to be told that they could lose their job as their branch closes or their IT role is cut. In November, HSBC saw third-quarter pre-tax profits tumble 86% as it stomached a hefty hit from the disposal of its Brazilian business. The banking giant said reported pre-tax profits hit 843 million US dollars (678 million) in the three months to the end of September, down from 6.097 billion US dollars (4.905 billion) over the period in 2015. Antonio Simoes, chief executive of HSBC Bank, said the branch cuts would draw a line under the banks branch restructuring programme, saying: We now feel we have the right branch network that complements the other ways in which customers now choose to interact with us. The Post Office also announced on Tuesday that more people and businesses will be able to do their everyday banking with the organisation under a new agreement. Formula Ones new ruler Chase Carey has resurrected hopes of staging a spectacular grand prix on the streets of London. Bernie Ecclestone, who last night was forced to concede his four-decade reign of the sport had ended, wanted to host a race in the capital. But despite throwing his weight behind a number of projects which would have seen Formula One cars roar past significant landmarks such as Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the Houses of Parliament he failed to turn his dreams into reality. Bernie Ecclestone is no longer running Formula One (PA) The new faces of Formula One. pic.twitter.com/n2mQA0diyc Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) January 23, 2017 But Carey, the sports new chairman and chief executive officer following Liberty Medias 6.4billion acquisition of the sport, wants to see races staged in a number of major cities across the world. And the American, who has recently moved from his homeland to the capital, revealed that London would have to be considered as a possible destination. London is a great city, and there is no question [you think of it] when you think where are the cities you want to be in, Carey, 62, told Press Association Sport. We have Silverstone in the UK, but I recognise it is not in London. A new chapter begins for #F1 Ross Brawn, new Motor Sports Managing Director, lays out his vision Full story https://t.co/BD2O6Iiyf0 pic.twitter.com/sE88C9com6 Formula 1 (@F1) January 24, 2017 I dont want to get too far into speculation on any particular city at this point, but London is obviously a great city. The future of the British Grand Prix was recently cast in doubt after Silverstones owners suggested they may activate a break clause to cease racing there beyond 2019. Bernie Ecclestone tells @amsonline that he has been deposed as #F1 CEO. pic.twitter.com/MiGEGJS0b8 Philip Duncan (@PhilDuncanF1) January 23, 2017 Silverstone agreed a 17-year deal to stage the event from 2010, but are struggling to afford the race fee which increases on a year-by-year basis. Unlike several other circuits on the Formula One calendar, Silverstone receive no government backing. But Carey added: Having a race in the UK is clearly important to us. We look forward to engaging with Silverstone and talking about how we make sure that race can, and is, everything it should be. We think there are real opportunities to grow Silverstone beyond what it is today. Carey also spoke of his desire to add at least one more race to that already staged in America. He said New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Miami were all possible candidates. The 62-year-old wants to introduce a Superbowl feel to each race with greater publicity and promotion afforded to every event. Chase Carey: Ross Brawn has brought his magic touch to every team with which he has worked ICYMI >> https://t.co/BD2O6Iiyf0#F1 pic.twitter.com/t9ck2KBGRC Formula 1 (@F1) January 24, 2017 Carey has hired Ross Brawn the British technical mastermind behind Michael Schumachers record seven titles to look after the sporting and technical side of F1 with Sean Bratches, formerly of ESPN, heading up the sports commercial division. And while the American paid tribute to his predecessor, he believes Ecclestones iron-fisted rule and political in-fighting among the teams has stunted the sports growth. The Concorde Agreement, which binds the teams, its governing body, the FIA, and the Formula One Group is up for renewal in 2020 and will be among Careys more challenging assignments. Munster have confirmed the signing of Irish trio JJ Hanrahan, Chris Farrell and James Hart for next season. Fly-half Hanrahan will return to home province Munster after two years with Northampton Saints, while Grenoble centre Farrell and Racing 92 scrum-half Hart will further boost the Thomond Park provinces resources. Dave Kilcoyne has signed a three-year contract extension, while brothers Niall and Rory Scannell, Tyler Bleyendaal, Duncan Williams and Darren Sweetnam have all agreed new terms until 2019. JJ Hanrahan Contract Update: Farrell, Hanrahan & Hart to join and new deals for 6 further players | https://t.co/xRpzgtCBWy pic.twitter.com/lWHY1PaYs0 Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) January 24, 2017 Ive always indicated our intention to recruit Irish qualified players where and when possible so to secure the young trio of Farrell, Hanrahan and Hart is great for the province and Irish rugby in general, said Munsters rugby director Rassie Erasmus. In addition to being hugely talented they bring a wealth of knowledge with their combined experiences from playing abroad and this will help with our overall squad development. Hanrahan left Munster in 2015 to chase regular first-team action with Northampton but will return to compete with the likes of Bleyendaal for the provinces number 10 shirt. Ireland Under-20s graduate Farrell has made 70 appearances for Grenoble in three seasons, while half-back Hart has earned 12 bows at Racing 92 this term. New Zealand Under-20s cap Bleyendaal spent the early part of his Munster career battling a serious neck injury but has now hit prime form in Limerick. The 26-year-old will qualify for Ireland on residency in early 2018, with Munster viewing his retention as another important boost. Thanking this guy for many wonderful days in red After 145 caps, @Tomas_OLeary has completed his time with Munster pic.twitter.com/ehnRmDz3OQ Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) January 24, 2017 Retaining players such as Killer (Dave Kilcoyne), Niall, Rory, Tyler, Duncan and Sweets (Darren Sweetnam) is key to our long-term plans and they have all played an integral role in our success so far this season, said Erasmus. Developing home-grown players is at the core of everything we do and its rewarding to see five players who have advanced from the Munster pathway commit their future to the club, while also recognising the efforts of Tyler who has overcome long-term injury to make his mark in the squad this season. CET : ; A man who was evicted from his hospital bed by court order said he did not want to stay and had made efforts to leave. Adriano Guedes, 63, arrived at the James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk in August 2014 and remained there until this year, despite being deemed fit for discharge. However Mr Guedes, in an interview with BBC Look East, said: I didnt want to stay, and they forced me to stay. The James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk (Chris Radburn/PA) Its very bad to occupy a place which should be used by someone in need, but I didnt cause the situation. On the contrary - I tried to get out of there. The hospital in Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth, said it launched legal action against the patient as a last resort. A court of possession granted the order on December 1 and he was removed on January 10 and placed in accommodation in the community. Mr Guedes had been admitted to the hospital after having a stroke in 2014. He said he asked to be moved from hospital into a wheelchair-friendly place and to see a spinal specialist in London for his injuries. Outside The James Paget University Hospital (Chris Radburn/PA) I wanted to leave, but they always offered what they knew I would refuse, he said. He said that at points he had felt suicidal and went on hunger strike. The hospital insisted he had been offered appropriate accommodation. Mr Guedes is now living in a one-bedroom, ground floor council flat in Suffolk. Anna Hills, the hospitals director of governance, said: As a compassionate organisation, the James Paget worked throughout in partnership with a range of agencies to achieve a safe discharge from the hospital. These included the local authority and social care and, as far as possible, Mr Guedes, his family and friends. Detailed planning took place which led to a successful discharge in this complex case. We were then able to discharge Mr Guedes into the care of the local authority and this completed our duty of care. US president Donald Trump has signed executive orders to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Both projects had been blocked by the Obama administration, partly due to environmental concerns. The orders are subject to renegotiations of the terms and conditions involved. Mr Trump also signed a notice requiring the materials for the pipelines to be constructed in the United States. President Donald Trump talks with reporters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington (Evan Vucci/AP) President Trump, in Oval Office, signs executive orders on Dakota & Keystone pipelines. Says SCOTUS pick next week pic.twitter.com/Vo21CD8qPv Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) January 24, 2017 The new US president also announced that he plans to nominate a justice for the Supreme Court next week, moving swiftly to try to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Mr Trump is summoning top senators to the White House later to discuss his upcoming nomination. President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet. https://t.co/veEc0AJeeH Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 24, 2017 He has sought to focus his first full week in office on jobs and the economy. Republicans, as well as some unions, have cited the pipeline projects as prime opportunities for job growth. Former president Barack Obama had halted the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut US efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centrepiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing lines running to US refineries on the Gulf Coast. The US government needs to approve the pipeline because it would cross the nations northern border. Separately, late last year, the US Army corps of engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites. Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes these claims and says the pipeline will be safe. The Prince of Wales has said he is enormously grateful to the Peoples Postcode Lottery for the support it has given to his charities. Charles was speaking at the Peoples Postcode Lottery (PPL) charity gala, which celebrates the work funded in Britain and internationally by the charity lottery. Other guests at the event at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh included Sir David Attenborough, who met the Prince briefly before the gala dinner. Prince Charles The event brought together representatives from charities Charles is patron of including WaterAid, the British Red Cross, National Trust for Scotland and WWF UK which have all benefited from PPL support. Over three years it has also donated 1.95 million to The Princes Charities, including the 2017 award of 850,000 which was confirmed last October. Charles, known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, said: My own charities have benefited enormously from PPL support for which Im enormously grateful. Your support has already enabled 4000 homeless people to gain life changing employment through the ready for work initiative and it has also supported my Princes Trust get into programme which helps young people who have had a very difficult start in life. In addition, I was thrilled when it became apparent that support was being given to the work being done by the Dumfries House Trust towards the regeneration of New Cumnock in Ayrshire. This year, PPL will also be supporting my countryside fund assisting those in rural and often isolated communities. It is not just my core charities that have benefited, several of which I am patron have also been supported. Country Director @Annamiek "@PostcodeLottery players have raised 168 mil for charities that help people over the world" #PPLCharityGala pic.twitter.com/7eVQJwd9BO Postcode Lottery (@PostcodeLottery) January 24, 2017 The subscription lottery started in 2008 and offers players the chance to win a variety of prizes every day by entering their postcode into a prize draw. It is owned by Dutch organisation Novamedia, said to be the worlds third largest private charity donor. Sir David Attenborough collected a cheque for 250,000 for environmental charity Fauna & Flora International, of which he has been vice-president for 37 years and a member for almost six decades. Sir David Attenborough has voiced concerns over conservation and climate change with Donald Trump taking office. The veteran broadcaster, who spent time with former president Barack Obama for a special BBC programme on the environment in 2015, hopes more than I can say that Mr Trump does not take the US out of the Paris Agreement. The new president has previously described climate change as a hoax invented by the Chinese to undermine US manufacturing and pledged to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the worlds first comprehensive treaty to tackle greenhouse gases. He has also pledged to back coal power and abandon President Obamas efforts to tackle US climate emissions through the clean power plan. Sir David, 90, has previously warned Britain will struggle to get its voice heard in conservation debates if the country completely breaks away from the EU in the wake of the Brexit vote. Speaking in Edinburgh, where he collected a 250,000 donation from the Peoples Postcode Lottery for conservation charity Fauna and Flora International, he said: We will have to see what happens in the United States. The Prince of Wales, left, talks to Sir David Attenborough at the People's Postcode Lottery charity gala One of the great causes for congratulations and optimism was in Paris where there were agreements signed about what to do about climate change and America was very, very important in that. As was China, as was this country and many others, and for those of us who have been working for world conservation it was a very important occasion. Well have to see what President Trump thinks hes going to do about that. I personally hope, more than I can say, that America will not withdraw from those commitments. Sir David with Itsi the armadillo (Jane Barlow/PA) Sir David Attenborough also recreated a classic Radio Times cover almost 60 years on from the original shoot. He first appeared on the front of the magazine holding an armadillo to promote his BBC nature series in 1959. The iconic image was recreated in 2013 by professor Brian Cox to celebrate the magazines 90th anniversary but Sir David has now updated the image. Fingerprint Cards says former CEO arrested in market abuse probe STOCKHOLM, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Fingerprint Cards said on Monday its former chief executive and a board member had been arrested on suspicion of insider trading ahead of a profit warning by the biometric technology group in December. The Swedish Economic Crime Authority said it had carried out house searches and arrested two people on suspicion of aggravated insider trading after a substantial amount of shares were sold before Fingerprint Cards' profit warning. It did not name the people. The company said former CEO Johan Carlstrom and board member Lars Soderfjell had been taken into custody. "We take very seriously these events and the information that now has come to our attention. We are of course cooperating with the Swedish Economic Crime Authority," Fingerprint Cards Chairman Jan Wareby said in a statement. Fingerprint Cards' shares were down 7.5 percent by 1558 GMT. Carlstrom's lawyer Per Samuelsson said Carlstrom refuted the allegations against him. Soderfjell did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Joel Westerstrom, analyst at broker Redeye said: "I don't want to judge before we know more. But it is crystal clear that already this news dents the market's confidence in the company." "While this isn't about the daily operations, a former CEO and a board member ending up in custody is never good." Fingerprint Cards, a global market leader in biometrics for smartphones, in December cut its revenue forecast for 2016 after overestimating demand for its smartphone touch sensors. Carlstrom was replaced as chief executive in 2014 after police began an investigation into insider trading. The company's then chairman said Carlstrom denied the allegations. He stepped down formally as CEO in 2015. AB InBev says starts voluntary severance programme in South Africa JOHANNESBURG, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world's largest brewer, has started a voluntary severance programme in South Africa, but the company said a newspaper report that it had offered redundancy to over 1,000 managers was incorrect. Citing an internal memo, Business Day newspaper said the brewer had offered more than 1,000 managers in South Africa voluntary severance following its merger with SABMiller. AB InBev's spokeswoman Robyn Chalmers said the company had started the programme but denied that 1,000 managerial jobs would go. "It is too early in the process to say how many people may opt for the voluntary offer. It is thus completely incorrect to say that about 1 000 managerial roles will be reduced, as has been reported," she said. "It is important to note that no employee will be forcibly retrenched as a result of the merger," Chalmers said. AB InBev bought nearest rival SABMiller for 79 billion pounds ($98.38 billion) last year in one of the largest corporate mergers in history and taking the company into Africa for the first time. As part of the merger conditions, AB InBev was required to maintain the number of employees in SABMiller's South African operations for five years after the date of the merger and not implement forced retrenchments. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), South Africa's biggest labour federation said: "COSATU has been warning that while investment in South Africa through mergers and acquisitions has increased, these investments have resulted in the loss of jobs over time in the acquired companies." The AB Inbev merger has resulted in retrenchments by a company that has been solidly growing and that has not undertaken any retrenchment exercise in decades, the union said in a statement. Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Jan 24 PRAGUE, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 1 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================== Real-time economic data releases.................... Summary of economic data and forecasts........... Recently released economic data.................. Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview ==========================NEWS================================== SYRIA: A Polish man was released and handed to the Polish ambassador in Lebanon on Monday after being held by Syrian authorities since late 2015, the Czech presidential office said. Story: Related stories: OKD: Czech Industry Minister Jan Mladek said on Monday he would propose to the cabinet that state miner Diamo buy hard coal mining group OKD, the insolvent unit of New World Resources (NWR), for the nominal price of 1 crown ($0.0397). Story: Related stories: BONDS: The Czech Finance Ministry will offer up to 27 billion crowns ($1.07 billion)worth of domestic government bonds in six primary auctions taking place in February, the ministry said on Monday. Story: Related stories: BANKS: Czech banks expect to tighten conditions for mortgage lending in the first quarter of 2017, continuing a trend seen at the end of 2016 when new rules on home loans took effect, the central bank said in a regular lending survey on Monday. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: Czech government bonds lagged their central European counterparts on Monday while forward rates on the crown hit a two-week low, pointing to lowered expectations of a surge in the currency once its cap against the euro is lifted. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2017 vs Euro 27.016 27.007 -0.03 -0.03 vs Dollar 25.142 25.169 0.11 1.97 Czech Equities 926.79 926.79 -0.19 0.56 U.S. Equities 19,799.85 19,827.25 -0.14 0.19 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1600 GMT ==========================PRESS DIGEST======================== SMOG: Some businesses have had to alter production to limit emissions due to the smog situation in the country amid a sub-zero cold snap. They include Spolana, ArcelorMittal Ostrava, CEZ Detmarovice plant, OKK Koksovny and steelworks Trinecke Zelezarny. Pravo, page 2 (Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy.) For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX For updates on CEE currencies TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) Russia, Turkey, Iran deliberate over Syria ceasefire efforts By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and John Irish ASTANA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Russia, Turkey and Iran on Tuesday were working on a statement to reaffirm a fragile ceasefire between Syrian warring parties that could agree to establishing a mechanism to observe its compliance and pave the way for a U.N.-led peace settlement. Delegations from the Syrian government and opposition were holding indirect talks for a second day in the Kazakh capital at a time when Turkey, which backs the rebels, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, each want to disentangle themselves from the fighting. That has led them into an ad-hoc alliance that some believe represents the best chance for progress towards a peace deal, especially with the United States distracted by domestic issues. However, after two days of deliberations an initial draft communique suggests the powers have agreed little beyond reaffirming the need for a political resolution and to reaffirm a Dec. 30 ceasefire that each side accuses the other of violating. Delegates from all three sides were wrangling over the terms of the final communique. "If the guarantors want the success of this meeting they have to do something more on the ground," senior opposition negotiator Osama Abu Zaid told reporters. "There are pledges from the Russian side to reinforce the ceasefire in areas where there are continued violations, but we're waiting for more than just statements." A rebel source said they were now discussing a draft of the final text with their Turkish backers. A Syrian government source said consultations were ongoing to break obstacles made by Turkey, which he said was trying to introduce elements beyond the Astana framework. The draft statement from Monday includes a paragraph suggesting the powers would either consider or establish "a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire, prevent any provocation and determine all modalities." However, diplomats said there were still differences among the powers especially on the wording, including on how to resume peace talks under the umbrella of a United Nations resolution which calls for a transition of power. It was also unclear whether Russia would be able to put pressure on Iran to force its militias on the front lines to abide by the terms of any ceasefire mechanism in areas on the outskirts of Damascus, where heavy fighting is ongoing. "We'd like to think that the Russians are putting pressure on the Iranians, who are not very warm to the idea of a ceasefire or a political transition," said a senior Western diplomat. In a sign of perhaps some pressure on the Syrian government, a senior Russian official was quoted by Ria-Novosti news agency on Monday as saying he was concerned by recent violations of the ceasefire. In a rare reprimand, the source said that some Syrian government commanders had been "strongly reminded" of the necessity to abide by the ceasefire. The head of the Russian delegation, Alexander Lavrentyev, told reporters late on Monday that talks had been heated because of the mistrust between the parties, but he remained optimistic that Tuesday could yield results. Some observers said the meeting, sponsored by Moscow and Ankara with the support of Tehran, could jump-start U.N.-led negotiations that were suspended in April. U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, attending the Astana talks, said it was crucial to get a mechanism to oversee and implement a nationwide ceasefire. Etihad Airways says veteran CEO James Hogan to step down this year By Stanley Carvalho and Victoria Bryan ABU DHABI/FRANKFURT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The veteran chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Aviation Group will leave this year, the company announced on Tuesday, but said it remained committed to his strategy of extending the airline's reach through stakes in foreign airlines. Australian James Hogan, 60, who over the past 10 years has developed Etihad Airways into an aggressive rival to Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways, will step down as president and CEO of the group in the second half of 2017. Etihad's Australian chief financial officer, James Rigney, will also leave this year, the company said. Chairman Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel al-Mazrouei said Etihad was continuing with a "company-wide strategic review" which could include adjustments to the network of equity partnerships with other carriers that Hogan used to engineer Etihad's rapid growth. Two of the major airlines in which Etihad invested, Air Berlin and Alitalia, are losing money, adding to pressure on Etihad's earnings caused by slowing growth in the Middle East's aviation market. However, Mazrouei said state-owned Etihad was not abandoning the equity partnership model, which along with code-sharing tie-ups had delivered 5.5 million passengers onto its flights in 2016. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy," he said. An Etihad spokesman told Reuters there was no link between the strategic review and Hogan's departure, which had been planned for many months. Etihad said it had started a global search for a new group CEO and a new CFO. It said it was grateful to Hogan and that he and Rigney, 49, would join a European-based investment company, which it did not name. "Along with the board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the company's substantial contribution to the United Arab Emirates and to the development of Abu Dhabi," Hogan said in a statement. "The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad." INVESTMENTS Etihad owns stakes in seven airlines around the world: Air Berlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional in Switzerland, India's Jet Airways and Virgin Australia. In 10 years Etihad grew from being a 22-plane regional carrier into a global operation with 120 aircraft. Its growth helped attract visitors to Abu Dhabi as the wealthy emirate, seeking to diversify its oil-based economy, developed a tourism industry. But in recent months a slowing regional economy, overcapacity in the airline industry and a strong U.S. dollar have hurt Etihad. In December, the group said it was cutting jobs in some parts of its business, but did not give a number. An industry source familiar with matter told Reuters that Hogan's departure was unlikely to mean any change to the current restructuring plan for Air Berlin, which had already obtained board approval. "However if future injections of cash are needed, it may look very different," the source said. Alitalia, in which Etihad has a 49 percent stake, said on Monday that it planned to cut non-labour related costs by at least 160 million euros ($172 million) this year as it tried to become profitable. Industry sources told Reuters that the Italian carrier's restructuring might include up to 2,000 job cuts and the grounding of planes. Etihad reported a consolidated net profit of $103 million for 2015. Abu Dhabi could easily finance any earnings slump at the airline but the emirate has been seeking to make many of its businesses more efficient in an era of low oil prices. Etihad's two main regional rivals, also state-owned, have adopted different expansion strategies. Emirates has not emphasised equity alliances, while Qatar Airways has made some investments but focused on financially stronger partners. For example, it holds a stake of just over 20 percent in International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. Jihadists in Syria launch assault on rebels attending peace talks By Tom Perry BEIRUT, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A jihadist group launched a major assault on Free Syrian Army factions in Syria as they attended peace talks in Kazakhstan, rebel officials said on Tuesday, igniting a new conflict among insurgents that could further strengthen the government's hand. The attack by jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham targeted FSA groups in northwestern Syria in an area representing the rebellion's main territorial foothold after the opposition's defeat in Aleppo last month. Fateh al-Sham could not immediately be reached for comment. The group was previously known as the Nusra Front, and changed its name after announcing it was cutting ties with al Qaeda last year. Tensions have been building between Fateh al-Sham and more moderate rebels since government forces backed by Russian air power and Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias drove the rebels out of Aleppo, a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad. Fateh al-Sham is not covered by a shaky truce between the government and rebels brokered by Russia and Turkey, one of the main backers of the FSA groups. The aim of the meeting in Astana, organised by Russia, Turkey and Iran, is to shore up the ceasefire that came into effect on Dec. 30. The commander of one of the FSA groups, Jaish al-Mujahideen, told Reuters the "extremely fierce" Fateh al-Sham attack aimed to "eliminate the revolution and turn it black", a reference to the black flag flown by the jihadists in Syria. He said the group had seized "some positions", though these were far from its headquarters. "A comprehensive war has now started against the Golani gang," he added, a reference to Abu Mohamad al-Golani, the leader of Fateh al-Sham. In a statement, Jaish al-Mujahideen called for other factions to "stand as if they are one man" against the group. DEFEATING "THE FSA IN THE NORTH" Fateh al-Sham has a history of crushing FSA groups in the conflict that began in 2011. One of the single biggest groups in the insurgency, Fateh al-Sham has been targeted in a spate of U.S. air strikes in the northwest since the new year. One of these killed dozens of its fighters at a training camp in Idlib last week. The Pentagon said that attack was carried out by a B-52 bomber and killed more than 100 al Qaeda fighters. The Fateh al-Sham assault was focused in rebel-held areas to the west of Aleppo, and adjoining areas of Idlib province, which is almost entirely in insurgent hands. Tensions have also flared in that area between Fateh al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham, a large Islamist group widely believed to be backed by Turkey. An official in a second FSA group, Jabha Shamiya, told Reuters the attack began overnight, describing it as a large assault in several areas. The official said it was the first time Fateh al-Sham had attacked the FSA groups in that area. "What they are doing serves Iran and the regime - so there is no FSA left in the north - particularly with the factions' delegation now in Astana where the regime offered nothing with regards to the ceasefire," said the Jabha Shamiya official. Germany's AfD may expel state leader over Holocaust Memorial comment BERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) has not yet decided whether to expel one of its state leaders for criticising Berlin's Holocaust Memorial, the party's co-head said on Tuesday. Bjoern Hoecke, AfD head in the eastern state of Thuringia, described the memorial as a "monument of shame" in a speech in Dresden last week. The comment stirred anger across Germany but was cheered by some far-right AfD supporters. Parliament is due on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of putting some AfD members under observation by domestic intelligence agency BfV, said Green party lawmaker Volker Beck. Government officials have said they do not currently see a need to monitor the AfD, but keep a close eye on individuals with extremist views. Hoecke said on Monday the party had dropped plans to throw him out, but its national co-leader Frauke Petry told German broadcaster MDR on Tuesday that was not the case, adding the comment had damaged the party's reputation. The AfD's anti-immigrant rhetoric has won support among Germans worried about the influx of more than a million migrants in the past two years, though other major parties have rejected it as a potential coalition partner. It is expected to win seats in national elections on Sept. 24, and a poll released Tuesday by Insa for the Bild newspaper gave it 14.5 percent support, up one percentage point from a survey conducted last week. Petry told MDR the party's executive committee viewed disciplinary action against Hoecke as necessary, but officials were still assessing his speech and how it compared to the party's views. "We are simply taking the time to do a thorough assessment in such a serious case," Petry said. Petry said that, while the AfD wanted to see a more "differentiated approach to history", nothing in its programme called for a radical change in Germany's approach to commemorating the genocide of Jews and others during the Nazi era. Hoecke said the party's debate about his remarks reflected a power struggle. Critics say Hoecke and his backers are seeking to wrest control of the party from more moderate members. In the Insa poll, Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats dropped one percentage point to 32.5 percent while the Social Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, remained unchanged at 21 percent. UK's May to meet Turkish President, PM on Saturday LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara on Saturday, her spokesman said. The visit would "reflect the fact that Turkey is an indispensable partner and a close ally for the UK on many issues of global importance including trade, security and defence," the spokesman added. Since last July's failed coup, Turkey has jailed about 40,000 people pending trial and has suspended or dismissed more than 100,000 from the military, judiciary and public services. Asked if May would raise human rights with the Turkish leaders, the spokesman told reporters: "We have been clear in our support for Turkey's democracy and institutions." Microsoft victory in overseas email seizure case is upheld By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) - An equally divided federal appeals court refused to reconsider its landmark decision forbidding the U.S. government from forcing Microsoft Corp and other companies to turn over customer emails stored on servers outside the United States. Tuesday's 4-4 vote by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan let stand a July 14 decision that was seen as a victory for privacy advocates, and for technology companies offering cloud computing and other services worldwide. But the dissenting judges said that decision by a three-judge panel could hamstring law enforcement, and called on the U.S. Supreme Court or Congress to reverse it. "The panel majority's decision does not serve any serious, legitimate, or substantial privacy interest," Circuit Judge Jose Cabranes wrote in dissent. Peter Carr, a U.S. Department of Justice spokesman, said: "We are reviewing the decision and its multiple dissenting opinions and considering our options." The case attracted significant attention from technology and media companies concerned that a ruling for the government could jeopardize the privacy of customers, and make them less likely to use cloud services if they thought data could be seized. In the July decision, Circuit Judge Susan Carney said Microsoft could not be forced to turn over emails sought for a narcotics case, but stored on a server in Dublin, Ireland. Though Microsoft is based Washington state, Carney said the emails were beyond the reach of domestic search warrants under the Stored Communications Act, a 1986 federal law viewed by many technology companies and privacy rights supporters as outdated. Microsoft was thought to be the first U.S. company to challenge a domestic search warrant seeking data held outside the country. Its position was supported by dozens of technology and media companies including Amazon.com, Apple, CNN, Fox News Network, National Public Radio and Verizon Communications, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Chamber of Commerce. But Tuesday's dissenters said it should not matter where the emails were stored because Microsoft was a U.S. company. They also said the panel decision did not properly address the challenges that electronic data storage poses for law enforcement. "It has substantially burdened the government's legitimate law enforcement efforts; created a roadmap for the facilitation of criminal activity; and impeded programs to protect the national security of the United States and its allies," Cabranes wrote. He expressed hope that the panel's view of the 1986 law "can be rectified as soon as possible by a higher judicial authority or by the Congress." Brad Smith, Microsoft's chief legal officer, welcomed Tuesday's vote. In a statement, he also urged Congress to modernize the law "to keep people safe and ensure that governments everywhere respect each other's borders." The 2nd Circuit almost never rehears cases "en banc," where all active judges participate. Three of its 11 active judges recused themselves on Tuesday. U.N. "racing" to prepare aid for civilians ahead of battle for west Mosul By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Tuesday it is "racing against the clock" to prepare emergency aid for hundreds of thousands of endangered civilians in Mosul with an Iraqi army offensive looming to oust Islamic State from the western half of the city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed on Tuesday that government forces had taken complete control of eastern Mosul, 100 days after the start of the U.S.-backed campaign to retake Iraq's second largest city from Islamic State (IS) insurgents who seized it in 2014. U.N. officials estimate 750,000 people remain in Mosul west of the Tigris River that flows through the last remaining major urban centre held by Islamic State in Iraq, after a series of government counter-offensives in the country's north and west. The west side could prove more complicated to take than the east as it is crisscrossed by streets too narrow for armoured vehicles, allowing militants to hide among civilians. The Sunni Muslim jihadists are expected to put up a fierce fight as they are cornered in a shrinking area of Mosul. "We are racing against the clock to prepare for this," U.N. humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande told Reuters. Humanitarian agencies were setting up displaced people camps accessible from western Mosul and pre-positioning supplies in them, she said. "The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing," she said in a separate statement. "Prices of basic food and supplies are soaring...Many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm." Government forces on Tuesday finished clearing the last eastern pocket held by militants - the northern suburb of Rashidiya, Major General Najm al-Jubbouri, commander of the northern front, told the local Mosuliya TV channel. "I now call on these (armed forces) heroes to move quickly to free what remains of Mosul, especially the right (western) side," Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad. He also said new U.S. President Donald Trump has sent messages offering to increase the level of assistance to Iraq. Trump has made the fight against IS a foreign policy priority. ISLAMIC STATE LAUNCHED "CALIPHATE" FROM MOSUL IN 2014 It was from Mosul's Grand Mosque, on the western side, that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a "caliphate" under his rule in 2014, spanning large tracts of Iraq and Syria. Mosul has been the largest city under IS control in either country, with a pre-war population of about two million. A U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to Iraqi forces in the battle that began on Oct. 17, the biggest in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. More than 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of regional Kurdish security forces and Shi'ite Muslim paramilitaries known as Popular Mobilisation are participating in the offensive. Iraqi forces estimated the number of militants inside Mosul at 5,000-6,000 at the start of operations three months ago, and say 3,300 have been killed in the fighting since. Military preparations to recapture western Mosul have begun, with Popular Mobilisation militia preparing an operation in "the next two-three days" to pave the way for the main offensive on the western bank of the Tigris, the overall campaign commander, Lieutenant General Abdul Ameer Yarallah, told Mosuliya TV. Popular Mobilisation is a coalition of predominantly Iranian-trained Shi'ite groups formed in 2014 to join the offensive against Islamic State. It became an official wing of the Iraqi armed forces last year. More than 160,000 civilians have been displaced since the start of the offensive, U.N. officials say. Medical and humanitarian agencies estimate the total number of dead and wounded - both civilian and military - at several thousand. Islamic State has "continued to attack those fleeing or attempting to flee areas that are controlled by it", U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva on Tuesday, and was also shelling districts retaken by the army. She added that air strikes targeting Islamic State insurgents in Mosul had also killed civilians, although facts and casualty figures were hard to verify. The militants blew up a landmark hotel in western Mosul on Friday in an apparent attempt to prevent advancing Iraqi forces from using it as a base or a sniper position once fighting shifts west of the Tigris. The Mosul Hotel, shaped like a stepped pyramid, stands close to the river. State television said the army had set up temporary bridges across the Tigris south of the city limits to allow troops to cross in preparation for the offensive on western districts. Colombia's ELN rebels willing to call ceasefire amid peace talks By Luis Jaime Acosta BOGOTA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Colombia's second largest rebel group, the ELN, is ready to call a bilateral ceasefire with the government while they negotiate an end to five decades of war, a guerrilla negotiator said on Tuesday. The government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) will begin formal peace talks in Ecuador on Feb. 7, once the insurgent group frees a kidnapped politician and authorities pardon two jailed rebels. The sit down will end three years of back and forth between the two sides and hopefully stop a conflict that pit leftist rebels against right-wing paramilitaries and the military, killing over 220,000. President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts after negotiating peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the nation's biggest rebel group. "We are willing to have a bilateral ceasefire from the beginning," ELN negotiator Aureliano Carbonell told Reuters in a telephone interview from Ecuador. "That would help create another climate to the peace process; send the nation a positive message." Carbonell is not a well-known ELN commander and he declined to provide personal details. Juan Camilo Restrepo, chief government negotiator, has said he will seek a "de-escalation" of the conflict. An early bilateral ceasefire would contrast with the FARC talks, which stretched for four years in Cuba and were conducted mostly amid fighting and bomb attacks. A bilateral ceasefire was called in the final stages of talks. Carbonell said the ELN, which has battled a dozen governments since it was founded in 1964 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, would allow former President Alvaro Uribe's participation in the talks. "We agree that Uribe, or a representative, participates at the negotiating table. Peace is made with adversaries and Uribe leads the biggest war mongering sector." Uribe is the strongest opponent of the FARC accord and demands that rebel commanders are jailed for their crimes. Both the ELN and the FARC funded their operations from drug trafficking, extortion and kidnapping. The ELN has engaged in repeated attacks against oil installations, as well as combat. Inspired by the Cuban revolution and established by radical Catholic priests, the ELN has about 2,000 fighters. PM Abadi says Iraq's oil is for Iraqis, in reaction to Trump BAGHDAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Iraq's oil is the property of Iraqis, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday, in reaction to U.S. President Donald Trump who argued that the United States should have taken possession of the nation's crude reserves. In a speech to CIA officials on Saturday, Trump suggested the United States should have taken Iraq's oil in reimbursement for the 2003 invasion that put an end to Saddam Hussein's rule. Trump also suggested that taking Iraq's oil would have prevented Islamic State from rising up, by removing a source of the group's funding, according to a Huffington Post report of the encounter. "It wasn't clear what he meant," Abadi told a news conference when asked about Trump's comments. "Did he mean in 2003 or to prevent the terrorists from seizing Iraq's oil?" "Iraq's oil is constitutionally the property of the Iraqis," he said. The new U.S. president has also sent messages offering to increase the level of assistance to Iraq, Abadi said, without giving details on the nature of the assistance. "I've got assurances from President Trump that the assistance to Iraqi will continue and that it will also increase," Abadi told a news conference in Baghdad. Trump has made the fight against Islamic State, the hardline group that declared a self-styled "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, a priority for his administration. Talks expose limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in Syria By John Irish and Andrew Osborn ASTANA/MOSCOW, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan were a coup for their international sponsors, but exposed the limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in their efforts to resolve the six-year-old war. It was the first time in nine months the two sides had come together, albeit briefly and unhappily, and the first time that Moscow, Ankara and Tehran had presided over such talks, with the United States only present as an observer. The fact that the talks happened at all was a diplomatic coup that underlined the three countries' growing Middle East clout and Washington's diminished influence at a time when Donald Trump is settling into the presidency. The head of the Russian delegation, Alexander Lavrentyev, hailed the talks, held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, as the "birth" of a new negotiating format, and there were hopes they might make it more likely that U.N.-brokered talks could take place in Geneva next month. At the end of two chaotic days, Moscow, Ankara and Tehran backed a shaky Dec. 30 truce between Syria's warring parties and agreed to monitor its compliance. Yet negotiations did not go to plan, showing that the three would-be Syria conflict brokers, in their different ways, all have credibility problems. This suggests they may have to involve Washington and the Gulf States more fully if they are to have any chance of brokering a final deal. That could be difficult as the talks spotlighted sharp differences between Moscow and Tehran over the possible future participation of the United States, in particular. State media in Iran cited Iranian officials as saying any future U.S. involvement was unacceptable, while Lavrentyev, the main Russian negotiator, said Moscow would welcome Washington joining the process. "They (the Russians) can now see how difficult their partners are," said one Western diplomat. In previous rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva, Moscow had not been able to call the shots in the way it could in Kazakhstan, the diplomat said, because the United States and the West had succeeded in diluting its role. This time, Moscow had its first taste of what it is like to be in the hot seat. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had previously lamented the failure of U.N.-backed talks in Geneva, calling them "fruitless sitting around". Lavrentyev, Russia's chief negotiator in Astana, put a positive gloss on the Kazakh talks but did not hide the diplomatic difficulties either, complaining at different times about how tough the discussions were. Western envoys, who turned up informally to observe developments from the corridors of the hotel, mingled with reporters to try to ascertain what the purpose of the meeting was. There was much speculation about whether Russia wanted a follow-up meeting that would go into the details of what was in the end a vague final communique. "Frankly, were baffled. Why is Russia doing this now? What has changed for them that they want to disengage militarily and engage politically?" said one diplomat. Western envoys congregated in the lobby of the Rixos, the talks venue, as snow fell outside and could be heard debating whether to try the local horsemeat specialities in the hotels Irish pub, where clouds of cigarette smoked filled the air. At one point, on Monday evening, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry began searching for guides willing to show the rebels around local shopping malls after apparently being told that the opposition wanted to pick up some bargains. LEGITIMACY PROBLEMS Back at the talks, rebels and Western diplomats questioned the role of Iran and its allies. "The Russians have moved from a stage of being a party in the fighting and are now exerting efforts to become a guarantor. They are finding a lot of obstacles from (Lebanon's Shi'ite) Hezbollah forces, Iran and the regime," said Mohammed Alloush, the head of the Syrian opposition delegation. Western diplomats said they too saw Iran as one of the main obstacles to progress with one saying Tehran's commitment to the ceasefire and a political transition was uncertain. Moscow said it had given the rebels the draft of a new constitution, drawn up by Russian specialists, to speed agreement on a political transition. It was unclear however what the document said or what the rebels thought of it. The talks yielded a joint communique from Russia, Turkey and Iran which pledged to create a monitoring mechanism to police Syria's patchy ceasefire, but the rebels did not endorse it. Instead, they submitted a separate proposal on the ceasefire and questioned Iran's legitimacy as a broker at a time when they said Iranian militias were breaching the ceasefire. The communique legitimised Iran's "bloodletting" in Syria, complained Alloush, and did not address the role of Shi'ite militias fighting the rebels. Nor did the rebels, who for the first time were represented by military rather than just political figures, show any signs of watering down their demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down as soon as possible, something Damascus won't accept. For some of them, Russia's broker status sat awkwardly. "We are not opposed to Russia because it is Russia but we had a problem when its jets were participating with the regime in killing our people," said Osama Abu Zaid, an opposition spokesman. "If this role ends then we'll have no problem." The Syrian government delegation had its own issues with the talks' sponsors, questioning Turkey's legitimacy as a broker at a time when it said Ankara was violating its sovereignty via an extended armed incursion into northern Syria. NO FACE-TO-FACE TALKS Neither delegation included senior figures and Washington was only represented in an observer capacity by its local ambassador. Apart from one official from the United Arab Emirates present informally, Arab envoys were absent. And in a major setback, Moscow failed to get the two sides to negotiate face-to-face despite Lavrentyev, the Russian negotiator, saying beforehand that face-to-face talks were "the main goal". The rebels baulked at that, saying they could not sit down with people responsible for so much bloodshed. Instead, Moscow had to make do with indirect talks with the two delegations relaying messages via intermediaries. Some diplomats said it was the opposition that had refused, but others said there were fears that Bashar Ja'afari, the head of the government delegation, who has a reputation for being curt, would add "vinegar to the water", giving indirect talks a better chance of success. There was quarrelling about the format and the agenda from the outset. The opposition demanded talks focus solely on a ceasefire that should require Iranian-backed militias to quit Syria. But the government, emboldened by the fact the talks were being held under the co-sponsorship of Russia, a staunch ally, and with the balance of power turning in its favour on the ground, said there was a chance to push for reconciliation with Assad remaining in power, a red line for the rebels. Opening statements laid bare those divisions. Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, called the Syrian government "a bloody despotic regime", while Ja'afari, head of the government delegation, accused opposition negotiators of defending "war crimes" and of being rude and unprofessional. Ja'afari made clear too that a government offensive against Wadi Barada, which supplies most of the water for Damascus, would continue even though rebels see it as a truce violation. "As long as 7 million people in Damascus remain deprived of water, it will continue," said Ja'afari. Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think-tank close to the Foreign Ministry, told Reuters the talks had been "better than nothing." With baby strapped to back, woman suicide bomber strikes Nigerian market - govt official By Kieran Guilbert MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, Jan 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A woman suicide bomber in Boko Haram-hit northeast Nigeria strapped a baby to her back to go unnoticed as she walked into a busy market to detonate her explosives in a recent attack, a local government official said on Tuesday. The woman with a baby, and two girls, all carrying explosives, struck a crowded market in the town of Madagali 11 days ago, killing six people and injuring 17, according to the chairman of Madagali local government, Alhaji Yusuf Mohammed. Nigerian army spokesman Rabe Abubakar could not confirm that a baby had been used in the attack, and said the woman may have just been disguised to appear as if she was carrying an infant. The U.N. children's agency (UNICEF) said it was the first such incident involving a baby reported in northeast Nigeria. "We are extremely worried about the use of a baby in this callous way," UNICEF spokeswoman Doune Porter told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The suicide bombings, which bore the hallmark of jihadist group Boko Haram, are common in northeast Nigeria, the heart of the militants' seven-year campaign to create an Islamic state. The Islamist group preys on displaced children or young girls it kidnaps and forces them to become bombers, with some unaware they are carrying explosives, aid agencies say. The use of children as suicide bombers by Boko Haram has surged almost five-fold since 2014, with 19 child bombings, most involving young girls, recorded by UNICEF last year. Prior to the Madagali bombings, the youngest child used in such an attack was a nine-year-old girl, the U.N. agency said. The attack in Madagali is one in a series of bombings in Nigeria northeast, mainly Borno state, in recent weeks as Boko Haram steps up attacks with the end of the rainy season facilitating movements in the bush. However, risk management consultancy Signal Risk's director Ryan Cummings said Nigeria's civilian joint task force (CJTF) had stepped up efforts to spot and search suspected bombers. "Several attempted attacks by females bombers have been thwarted (due to the CJTF), limiting casualties," he said. Army spokesman Abubakar said security forces would be extra vigilant and ready to respond to any new strategies used by Boko Haram. The jihadists' insurgency has killed about 15,000 people and forced more than two million to flee their homes. Illinois man sentenced to nine months in celebrity hacking case By Timothy Mclaughlin CHICAGO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - An Illinois man was sentenced to nine months in federal prison on Tuesday for breaking into the email and online storage of celebrities to obtain their private photos and videos, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Edward Majerczyk, 29, who pleaded guilty to felony computer hacking charges last year, will begin serving his sentence on Feb. 27, said Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for Zach Fardon, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Majerczyk's attorney, Thomas Needham, could not immediately be reached for comment. While no victims were named in court documents, the investigation began after Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and other celebrities, including actresses Kirsten Dunst and Gabrielle Union and model Kate Upton, complained in interviews about having their private photos end up publicly disseminated online. "At the time of the offense, Mr. Majerczyk was suffering from depression and looked to pornography websites and Internet chat rooms in an attempt to fill some of the voids and disappointment he was feeling in his life," Needham wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed on Jan. 19. Needham added that Majerczyk had "consistently expressed remorse," for the hacking. Majerczyk pleaded guilty in September to federal computer hacking charges but, the Justice Department and Needham said investigators had not uncovered any evidence linking Majerczyk to the actual leaks. The hacked material was for Majerczyk's personal use and his viewing, Needham said in the memorandum. According to a plea agreement signed by Majerczyk, he illegally accessed accounts on Apple Inc's iCloud and Alphabet Inc's Google Gmail accounts belonging to more than 300 people, using an email "phishing" ploy to obtain their user names and passwords. Through this scheme, Majerczyk was able to access full iCloud backups belonging to numerous victims, including at least 30 celebrities, many of whom reside in the Los Angeles area, the plea agreement stated. Israel advises citizens in Egypt's Sinai to leave, cites attack risk JERUSALEM, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday advised its citizens in Egypt's insurgency-hit Sinai peninsula to leave the region, warning of the threat of an imminent attack. Israeli holidaymakers are often warned of the risks they face in Sinai, which borders Israel, but the "Level 1" alert issued by the anti-terrorism directorate is its most severe warning. It described the threat as "very high and concrete". "The directorate warns of the possibility of attacks against tourist sites in the Sinai area in the immediate term," a statement said. An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai has gained pace since the military toppled President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in mid-2013 following mass protests against his rule. Militants have launched a number of deadly cross-border attacks on Israel in the past few years and have occasionally fired rockets across the border into the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat. The anti-terrorism directorate said that while there was a "constant high threat" in Sinai, Jan. 25, the anniversary of the 2011 revolution in Egypt, was a day that had witnessed attacks in previous years. Brazil's Petrobras says investors are suing its subsidiaries in Netherlands SAO PAULO, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Brazil's state-run oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, said on Tuesday in a securities filing that a group of investors is suing two of its subsidiaries in a court in the Netherlands. The Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation, a Netherlands-based claim foundation, alleges investors had losses with shares in Petrobras, as the company is known, due to the largest-ever corruption investigation in Brazil involving the company. Brazil prosecutor says Temer labor reforms illegal BRASILIA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Brazil's top labor prosecutor said President Michel Temer's proposals to modernize the country's labor laws were illegal in a report published on Tuesday that provided ammunition to workers' unions fighting the reforms. Updating outdated labor laws to allow outsourcing and more flexibility in contracts and work hours is part of Temer's plan to reduce business costs and pull Brazil from its worst recession on record. But his proposal has come under fire even before it was discussed in Congress. "In times of crisis, workers need more protection not less," Prosecutor-General for Labor Ronaldo Fleury, whose office in responsible for chasing labor law violations from slavery to child labor, said at a news conference. Fleury said the government's proposal to do away with the eight-hour workday limit to allow more temporary employment and two other proposals already in Congress to expand outsourcing and allow workers to be paid per hour worked were unconstitutional and broke international labor conventions. The bill sent by Temer to Congress would double the limit on temporary work contracts from three to six months. It would also allow longer workdays though keep the 44-hour week. Presenting his report to labor leaders, Fleury said this would mean lower salaries, less benefits and precarious work conditions, and he rejected the government's claim it would create more jobs and reduce Brazil's record 12 percent unemployment. Temer is struggling to restore fiscal discipline and revive Latin America's largest economy, and his unpopular belt-tightening measure face increasing resistance. Congress enacted a public spending ceiling in December, but lawmakers are expected to water down a key bill to reform the costly pensions system, main contributor to a growing fiscal deficit. Brazil's biggest labor confederation with 7.4 million union workers, the CUT, said it plans to start nationwide protests against the pension and labor law reforms once Brazil gets back from its summer holidays and Carnival, kicking off with a national teachers strike on March 15. Iran returns to Oscar race with 'The Salesman' By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Iran returned to the Oscar race on Tuesday with domestic drama "The Salesman" in a foreign language film category that included a Danish war drama, a quirky German comedy, Australian entry about a remote Pacific tribe, and the tale of a grumpy Swede. Director Asghar Farhadi, who in 2012 gave Iran its first ever Academy Award with domestic drama "A Separation," was nominated on Tuesday for his latest Farsi-language movie "The Salesman." In "The Salesman," an Iranian couple's relationship is strained as they perform the American stage classic "Death of a Salesman." Iranian censors can impose strictures on filmmakers in the name of Islamic morality and national morale, although Farhadi, who lives and works in Iran, said his 2012 film was not subjected to such censorship. On Tuesday, Farhadi said artistic restrictions in Iran remain about the same. "In terms of making my film, I don't face any difficulty. But when the film is released, notwithstanding its great reception by the public, there is a minority, a very small minority, who attempt to create obstacles. Those kinds of people would even perceive this nomination as some kind of conspiracy," the director told Reuters. Australia this year had its first ever nomination in the foreign language film race with "Tanna." It depicts a man and woman whose forbidden love affair threatens a peace deal between two Yakhel tribes on the South Pacific island of Tanna and is shot in their native language. Sweden's "A Man Called Ove" is about a widower whose bleak outlook is improved when he befriends an immigrant neighbor, while Germany got a nod for father-daughter comedy "Toni Erdmann." Denmark's World War Two drama "Land of Mine" tells the story of German prisoners of war forced to remove landmines from a Danish beach. "It makes a huge difference to be part of that (Academy Award) club," said director Martin Zandvliet. Notably absent from the short-list this year was French-language "Elle," which won the foreign language Golden Globe earlier in January. Even so, its star Isabelle Huppert was Oscar-nominated in the best actress race for her role as a business woman on the trail of the man who raped her. From Left to Right - Lakmini Senadheera (Manager - Sustainability Assurance & Advisory Services, SFG) ; Kanishka Jayasinghe (CCC); Sanith De S Wijeyeratne (CEO - CCC); Dinesh De Silva (Chief Executive Officer - Bodyline); Surath Chandrasena ( Director - Finance & Sustainability, Bodyline); Prasad Narayan Rege (Director - Strategic Projects, Bodyline); Sanjaya Jayawardana (Executive - Finance & Sustainability, Bodyline) Marking its fifth year as a CarbonConscious company, Bodyline - Sri Lankas leading apparel group - renewed its certification making it the first sustainability milestone under its new leadership. The Company recently appointed Dinesh de Silva as CEO to spearhead Bodylines operations, and joining him on the directorial board is SurathChandrasena, who has been appointed as Director Finance & Sustainability of Bodyline. The new appointments reaffirm the companys vision to consistently maintain and uphold the highest standards in their continuous efforts to not only remain CarbonConscious, but to also redefine standards of environmental sustainability within the business sphere. Bodyline, comprising four factories, was the first Sri Lankan apparel manufacturer to be certified as CarbonConscious, with the companys third plant located in Pimbura setting a new benchmark by being the first in the group of factories to be certified CarbonNeutral. The CarbonConscious certification requires clients to join a programme of measurement, management and mitigation of a business entitys Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions through regular monitoring and reassessments, adhering to international standards and guidelines. To this effect, Bodyline has been collaborating with The Carbon Consulting Company (CCC) to obtain comprehensive annual GHG Inventories for its operations, as well as to monitor and update their Carbon Management Plan set up by the same. The certification was awarded by The Sustainable Future Group (SFG) - one of Asias first verification, validation and certification bodies to be accredited for ISO 14064 GHG Quantification and Reporting.The Conscious range is part of a proprietary, diverse range of certifications developed by SFG following internationally accepted standards and protocols to measure, manage and mitigate/enhance key environmental impact areas such as carbon, water, waste and biodiversity. Stepping into a leadership role in a companywhich continues to demonstrate its commitment towards protecting earths life and compensating for its impact on the planet is a privilege explains new CEO Dinesh de Silva. Bodyline has already set such a high benchmark in its environmental practices and through this initiative, we hope to set an example and encourage other corporates to collectively work towards becoming a part of the solution for a greener future. He further added, As I believe, if we each take responsibility in shifting our own behavior, we can trigger the type of change that is necessary to achieve sustainability for all life on this planet. We change our planet, our environment, our humanity every day, every minute, through our work and we must take responsibility to make sure we change it for the greater good of Mother Nature. Commenting on the progress over the past years, Sanith De S. Wijeyeratne, CEO - Carbon Consulting Company stated, We are immensely proud and encouraged by the fact that Bodyline continues to exceed expectations. Since we began this ambitious project, the emissions produced by Bodylines factories have significantly and steadily declined in comparison with its production levels, with a notable increase in performance and productivity. This is a testament to the Bodyline Teams hard work, commitment and steadfast pledge to uphold the ethos of being not only a leading business in Sri Lanka and an apparel sector trendsetter, but also one that sets an example as an entity that holds itself accountable for its environmental sustainability. From left: DOK Assistant Manager Operations Eranda Perera, DOK Head of Quality Assurance Januka Karunaratne, Bureau Veritas Marketing Manager Gayan Balachandra, Bureau Veritas General Manager Shan Nanayakkara, Director Nath Perera, Director Pradeep Kannangara and DOK Head of Operations Prabodhanie Wanigasundara DOK Solutions Lanka (Pvt.) Limited, one of the leading record management and document archiving companies in Sri Lanka, achieved ISO 9001 Quality Management System Certification and OHSAS 18001 for the management of occupational health and safety in provision of record management services and its convergence including physical and digital archiving of documents. DOK Solutions Lanka is the first record management service provider to obtain both ISO and OHSAS certifications together, which is a clear indication of the companys commitment towards improving the overall quality of service and enhancing stakeholder interest. Being a member of the Abans group, DOK Solutions Lanka commenced its operations in 2010 and currently provides record management solutions to many leading banks, financial companies, government organisations, NGOs and other corporates. The company operates three modern document warehouses with state-of-the-art technology, located in three different strategic locations and provides islandwide services with the instant document retrieval facility to its customers. DOK Solutions Lanka digital archiving team offers digital capturing of physical documents of organisations including pre-scan document preparation process and post-scanning document re-filing in to the original positions. Scanned images are uploaded to the in-house server, cloud or any agreed repository, after check and verification of image quality. DOK Solutions Lanka has ventured into business process outsourcing as well by handling the none-core operations of its elite customers such as front-line data entry, mail managing services, record room management (onsite - within clients premises), etc. The expertise and operational excellence gained by DOK Solutions in outsourcing of business activities are helping its customers to bring down their operational cost whilst focusing on the core business areas. DOK Solutions Team comprises of well-trained, friendly, knowledgeable professionals who are experts in the document management field coupled with advance document management data bases and systems. Absolute care, safety, speed and precision are the key promises of the DOK team to its valuable customers. DOK Solutions Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd Head of Operations Prabodhanie Wanigasundara stated, We are very proud to obtain these prestigious certificates of ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001 and this will definitely strengthen our competitor position in the market. We believe that these certifications will help us to set high service standards in our operations, differentiate us from other providers in the market and establish DOK Solutions Lanka as a leading professional record management service provider in Sri Lanka. The Finance Ministry today denied reports that former Central Bank governor Arjun Mahendran currently acts as an advisor to the Finance Ministry on the Central bank. The ministry of Finance wishes to inform that Mr Arjun Mahendran, the former governor of the Central Bank is not working in any capacity in the Ministry of Finance. The ministry denies the media reports that Mr. Mahendran currently acts as an advisor to the Ministry of Finance on the Central bank, it said in a statement. State Minister Piyankara Jayaratne who resigned from his post recently sat in the Opposition in Parliament today. MP. Jayaratne was seen walking into the chambers flanked by some joint opposition MPs including Mahindananda Aluthgamage. (Yohan Perera) Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday, informed sources said yesterday. Sources close to the prime minister said he met the president soon after his return from his official visit to Davos. The two had discussed the economic development plan of the government and the current political situation. The talks took place after the joint opposition ruled out the possibility of patching up with President Sirisena and a meeting between the provincial chief ministers and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. (Yohan Perera) Prof. Ricardo Hausmann of Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, who visited Sri Lanka to follow-up on a programme to build capacity among senior officials at the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, the Export Development Board and Tourism Authority, held a lecture at the BMICH recently. The lecture sought to examine ways in which countries such as Sri Lanka could achieve higher development by identifying bottlenecks and creating a timeline to achieve high economic growth. Prof. Hausmann began by stating that Sri Lanka does have strengths, for example in the Human Development Index, having achieved a massive reduction of poverty levels. However, the country has suffered in the last 4 years from slow economic growth rates which are below 4 percent. This is in contrast to many of our Asian neighbours whose economies have grown at rates of about 7 percent or even more. Hence there was a need to reaccelerate the Sri Lankan economy. Sri Lankan exports One explanation that can be provided for the shortcoming was that Sri Lankas exports have not really experienced growth when compared to the growth of exports of many Asian countries. One of the main reasons for this, according to Prof. Hausmann, was that other Asian countries have diligently developed new types of businesses and have therefore successfully diversified their export base. For example in recent years China has added 70 new products for exports while Sri Lanka has only achieved 7 products. The importance of the new products to the economy is that they contribute towards boosting the GDP of the country. In the case of China the economy has also become technologically more advanced with a planned move from the production of garments to that of electronics and from there on, to producing machinery. Hence the addition of these new products has boosted Chinas exports and contributed to enriching the population. In the case of Thailand there is also a movement to go into the production of machinery. Tunisia on the other hand has not achieved this transformation and Sri Lanka is still largely depended on the export of apparel. Not a competitor Where Sri Lanka has achieved some successes in diversifying her exports, is in areas such as logistics, finances and tourism. Sri Lanka is also not a competitor of some of the low end countries in the area of manufacture. Hence this middle position does place the island nation in an ambiguous situation where it imperative that it moves to a higher levels of production of exportable goods. Prof. Hausman also addressed the question of how countries become wealthier. Drawing on Adam Smiths classic work the wealth of nations, Hausmann stated that in the 18th Century the Netherlands was considered the richest country in the world and others were more or less equivalent. However, in todays global economy there are enormous disparities between states with Malawi being considered the world poorest country. In the Western atmosphere that position is held by Haiti. Furthermore there are enormous discrepancies that exist even within individual countries, with an enormous diversity between regions. In Mexico for example the poorest state Guerrero has a GDP of US$ 5,000 while the state of Nuevo Leon, the GDP is at US$ 42,000, which is comparable to that of the Republic of Korea. Hence there is a factor of 8 just between regions of Mexico and this divergence exists in many countries in the world. Technology factor The assimilation of technology has undoubtedly an important part to play in these differences and the Prof. Hausmann elaborated as to what really does constitute technology. Technology is in fact a successful assimilation achieved by having the right tools, the right codes or procedures, but more importantly the necessary know how to make development possible. In order to acquire successfully the necessary technology, a country should have heterogeneous teams that work together to achieve the necessary requirements needed for technology to exist. Hausman also examined the case of two individuals, the former being an Inuit living by catching fish, building his own igloo and travelling by dog sleigh and then comparing him to a modern office worker using a computer. He added that whilst the latter may seem technologically more advanced, he would be totally incapable of surviving in a hostile environment like the Arctic. Hence the question of what really does constitute technology remains a highly debatable subject. The technological complexity of many products manufactured today such as a Boeing airliner is often more than what a single country can hope to produce. Hence in todays globalized economy, technology is not confined within the borders of a single country but often scattered in many parts of the world. Successful production is therefore based on the ability to work together to build complex products, such as commercial aircraft. Hausmann said that a country like India endowed with advanced technology and therefore has what it takes to be a rich country. However, that is not a case. By the same token Greece which has relatively little technology and knowhow does in fact enjoy comparative wealth. Scrabble theory First for Sri Lanka to achieve greater wealth she would need to add more letters to her portfolio under so called scrabble theory. Sri Lanka would need to achieve greater complexity in production capability and achieve a higher quantum of knowhow. What is also needed is a clear understanding of industries and particularly acquire the ability to moving to clusters of industries. A country is in fact a collection of technologies and these determine the extent to which development takes place. Hausman cities the case of examples of Ghana and Thailand to show how development can take shape. Some decades back Vietnam and Sri Lanka were in fact comparable in economic terms. Sri Lanka exports today apparel, tea and rubber. But the country faces the challenge of finding a way to diversify its basket of exports. Vietnam on the other hand has succeeded in considerably widening the number of exports having initially started at a similar level to Sri Lanka. In the future Sri Lanka will produce products such as medical equipment particularly those where textile and rubber (both leading exports at present) can be combined to manufacture specific medical products. Harvard University is currently working with the BOI and the Ministry of Development Strategy and International Trade to develop a new products space for the country. Sri Lankas success in the long term will be determined by the extent to which the country can develop a great diversity of skills which in term will be the catalysts for manufacturing a wide range of advanced products. Hausmann also raised the issue of how knowhow is a highly mobile force in the global economy. This mobility can take place between firms, through immigration, by the existence of a large overseas diaspora, through business travel and finally Foreign Direct Investment. Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa and an ex- DGM who were arrested by the FCID on charges of misusing 40 state vehicles belonging to the National Engineering Corporation (NEC) and causing Rs. 90 million financial loss to the state during 2011-2014, were ordered to be re-remanded till February 7 by Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne today.(Shehan Chamika Silva) Video by Courts Prasanna Sandwiched between the Yamuna and Sutlej rivers and bordering Haryana and Rajasthan, Punjab's Malwa region is the state's power centre because of its size, population and political clout. Home to half of the state's 22 districts, it sends as many as 68 MLAs to the 117-seat Assembly. Two of Punjab's most expensive cities, Mohali and Ludhiana, are located in Malwa. And a large number of diasporic Sikhs also have their roots in the same division. Akali veteran and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, his son and deputy Sukhbir Singh Badal, Capt Amarinder Singh of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party's Bhagwant Mann and Jarnail Singh have their electoral fate locked in Malwa. This belt, Punjab's biggest, dominates state politics. Since the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, almost all chief ministers have come from Malwa, which accounts for 58 per cent of the total strength of Punjab's legislature. The remainder is divided between Doaba - the area between the Sutlej and Beas rivers - and Majha up in the north. In 2012, as many as 34 of the 56 boroughs, that Badals' Shiromani Akali Dal won, were located in Malwa alone. In 2007, the SAD managed 19 and the Congress 37 from the region. Clearly, Malwa has been the hot-bed of Punjab's bipolar politics till the Aam Aadmi Party's arrival disrupted the status quo. Since the reorganization of Punjab in 1966, almost all chief ministers have come from Malwa. [Photo: Indiatoday.in] What explains AAP's deep inroads into Malwa is, therefore, a reflection of its residents' disaffection with the both Akalis and the Congress. Arvind Kejriwal's party appears to have caught the imagination of this key part of the state, which figuratively is the road to power in Punjab. With its highest concentration of voting and general population, Malwa is ready to experiment with the fresh breed of politics more than Doaba and Majha. In Punjab, the Badal dynasty, now at the end of its second successive term, faces more than a general anti-incumbent mood. Some observers say voters are rather frustrated and angry with the ruling family. Kejriwal's AAP appears to have tapped successfully into stong anti-Akali sentiments, especially in Malwa, which at present is the SAD's stronghold. Political parties are making a mockery of democracy in Punjab by offering freebies like ration, jobs and loans to lure voters. The politics of ration was started by the Shiromani Akali Dal way back in 2007, when they offered wheat and pulses at subsidised rates. The scheme was a hit as the Akali Dal government covered more than one crore families under this scheme. While wheat is being given at Rs 1 per kg, pulses cost Rs 20 per kg. Meanwhile, the Congress has added tea leaves, besides the subsidised ration, in its poll manifesto. The party has also promised to introduce subsidised food canteens for the poor which will provide a meal at Rs 5 throughout the state. Then, the BJP went a step ahead and added subsidised sugar and ghee to the menu. Besides the subsidised ration, all mainstream parties, including AAP, BJP, Congress and Akali Dal, have promised jobs to each household. Punjab has over 32,68,562 households and these parties will have to create over 32 lakh jobs to fulfil the poll promise. The Congress has registered over 40 lakh youths for "Har Ghar Rojgar", under which every registered youth has been given a card which will also entitle them for a monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500, if not provided with a job. Every political party has also promised a waiver of farmer debts, which has confused voters. On top of that, political parties have also started quarrelling on the issue of rivals extending manifestoes. On Sunday, Akali Dal chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal promised vocational training to 20 lakh youths by opening 2,500 skill development centres across the state, besides providing houses to the five lakh homeless, while the Congress announced cheaper LPG and ten per cent reduction in electricity duty if the party was voted to power. Captain Amarinder Singh promised free travel for students, police officials, exservicemen, paramilitary force personnel and senior citizens in the state transport buses. Captain Amarinder Singh also promised free travel for students, police officials, exservicemen, paramilitary force personnel and senior citizens in the state transport buses. AAP, which has released different poll manifestoes for different categories of voters, is fuming as Akali Dal and Congress extend their manifestoes and has termed the move "misleading and meaningless". AAP state convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich said, Captain Amarinder Singh, during his five-year rule, had even discontinued free power scheme for farmers and hiked the power tariff for other categories on the plea that previous SAD-BJP government had left the empty coffers. Rates of petrol, LPG and other commodities will be the same as in all the states after GST is implemented, Waraich added that Singh was maintaining a conspicuous silence over the multi-billion scam in the purchase of power from private companies by the Badal family. He said Sukhbir Badal had forced PSPCL to sign infeasible agreements with private thermal plants to buy power from them at fixed minimum rates at the cost of public exchequer. He said the government-owned thermal plants were shut to help private thermal plants. While drafting their manifesto, the Congress had paid no heed to the welfare of ex-servicemen, police and paramilitary personnel. Singh has woken up now, after personnel of armed forces decided not to support the Congress and SAD in the February 4 elections. Wariach also said that many Congress leaders are running the transport business and it would be foolish to expect Singh to reduce the passenger transport tariff. He also accused Congress and SAD of being in agreement to rule by turn and loot the people. Whenever there is a clash of two mega-star Bollywood movies, in terms of release dates, fans (read fanatics) go all out on social media with their hate campaigns against each other that should put most political parties to shame. But sometimes all existing universes collide and we get to see a whole different kind of campaigning for films on social media. Enter: Kailash Vijayvargiya, the national general secretary of BJP, who tweeted on January 21: Jo Raees desh ka nahi, wo kisi kaam ka nahi. Aur ekj Kaabil deshbhakt ka saath, toh hum sabhi ko dena hi chahiye (The rich who dont belong to the country are of no use. The able patriot is the one we should all support). This was a rather unsubtle reference to two upcoming Bollywood movies, Raees and Kaabil, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan respectively. While neither movie looks promising - the former appearing as of now like an Emraan Hashmi redux and the latter a ripoff of Marvels Daredevil the BJP leaders stance seems to be motivated not by the quality of the movies, but rather the actors who play protagonists. Photo: Screengrab Hindu hardliners have, in the past, deliberately targeted Muslim actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, because of their religion. The BJP general secretary himself had attacked Aamir Khans recent hit Dangal. Kailash Vijayvargiya had asked his supporters to boycott the movie, because Aamir Khan had spoken about Kiran Raos fears of growing religious intolerance in India. When anybody says that intolerance is rising in our society, then it makes me a little angry. Then he has to be treated. His treatment is very necessary. One (Shah Rukh Khan) has been treated while other (Aamir) still needs treatment, Vijayvargiya had said. The BJP leaders tweet was not taken too kindly by the social media and he was criticised, as was the party, for trying to incite communal violence and spreading thinly-veiled Islamophobia. Gen Sec of the Ruling Party of 'World's largest democracy' is openly campaigning against a Bollywood Star.Why?Coz his name is Khan. https://t.co/c7RcEefR7w Om (@timesn0w) January 21, 2017 'Jo raees desh ka nahi, woh kisi kaam ka nahi ' says @KailashOnline . There is nothing to read between the lines Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) January 24, 2017 Rakesh Roshan hacking profiles of innocent politicians. https://t.co/kVAiuLYOU1 Sagar (@sagarcasm) January 21, 2017 The only positive of this idiocy is free promotion for both films. https://t.co/SBn2fukUpV Debayan Sen (@debayansen) January 24, 2017 Wah Kailashji kya angle nikala hai https://t.co/ZT6gslBWVf Sreenivasan Jain (@SreenivasanJain) January 24, 2017 Dear @narendramodi , Jitna Chahe Vikas Kar Lo par is Tarah ki Ideology waale Log 2019 me aapka patta saaf karwa ke Rahenge #BJP__ https://t.co/DKCwMXpROK Vikram Raees (@HiiSRK) January 24, 2017 BJP National Gen Secy, Kailash Vijayvargiya proves that such BJP leaders are not 'Kaabil' to be part of India's democratic setup. #Raees https://t.co/6lPAtF0k6t Randeep S Surjewala (@rssurjewala) January 24, 2017 This attack on Shah Rukh Khan comes only weeks after investigative journalist Swati Chaturvedi, in her book I am a Troll, discussed at length about a covert social media cell run by the BJP that manufactures outrage to suit their agenda and narrative. This open attack brings those allegations back on the table. And if it is not an organised machinery, then perhaps the BJP does not exercise enough control over their rogue cadre. The Daily Journal/Farmington Press/Democrat News was honored by Lee Enterprises with a company-wide Outstanding Performance award for 2016. The award names the publication group as among the very top out of the companys 49 markets. The announcement was made to the staff on Friday. We are a Tier-3 paper, which is one of the smaller papers in Lee, Publisher Eugene Jackson said. To get this recognition is a great honor for our news and advertising staff. It honors not only our great journalism, but our commitment to the community and also our commitment to Lee Enterprises. In order to be considered for the recognition, a publication must reach a number of performance-based criteria. Final selection for the award is then made from those publications reaching those goals. We are winning awards with the company based on the work we are doing in our communities, Jackson said. Lee Enterprises is a leading provider of local news and information, and a major platform for advertising, with daily newspapers, rapidly growing digital products and nearly 300 weekly and specialty publications serving 49 markets in 21 states. Lee's newspapers are estimated to reach more than three million readers in print alone. Lee's markets include St. Louis, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; Madison, Wisconsin; Davenport, Iowa; Billings, Montana; Bloomington, Illinois; and Tucson, Arizona as well as dozens of smaller markets. For more information about Lee visit www.lee.net. POTOSI - Baby John Andrew Michael Newell, went to be with the heavenly angels January 22, 2017. He is survived by Father, Andrew Newell; Mother, Danielle Rodriguez; Sister, Dawn Sue Rodriguez. A graveside service will be held 1 p.m. Thursday, January 26, 2017, at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements by Moore Funeral Homes in Potosi, Missouri. Nabors Industries Ltd. provides drilling and drilling-related services for land-based and offshore oil and natural gas wells. The company operates through five segments: U.S. Drilling, Canada Drilling, International Drilling, Drilling Solutions, and Rig Technologies. It provides tubular running, wellbore placement, directional drilling, measurement-while-drilling (MWD), equipment manufacturing, and rig instrumentation services; and logging-while-drilling systems and services, as well as drilling optimization software. The company also offers REVit, an automated real time stick-slip mitigation system; ROCKit, a directional steering control system; SmartNAV, a collaborative guidance and advisory platform; SmartSLIDE, an advanced directional steering control system; and RigCLOUD, which provides the tools and infrastructure to integrate applications to deliver real-time insight into operations across the rig fleet. In addition, it manufactures and sells top drives, catwalks, wrenches, drawworks, and other drilling related equipment, such as robotic systems and downhole tools; and provides aftermarket sales and services for the installed base of its equipment. As of December 31, 2021, the company marketed approximately 301 rigs for land-based drilling operations in the United States, Canada, and in 20 other countries worldwide; and 29 rigs for offshore platform drilling operations in the United States and internationally. Nabors Industries Ltd. was founded in 1952 and is based in Hamilton, Bermuda. Its almost that time of year again to test your knowledge of all things love and romance at the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerces annual Sweetheart Trivia Night. The chamber will be hosting its popular pre-Valentines Day event on Feb. 11 at Elizabeth Hall located at 210 E. Woodlawn Dr. in Leadington. We're inviting all the sweethearts, lovers and couples to plan a Valentine date night with us, said Tammi Coleman, the chambers executive director. But the event is not just for couples its also popular with groups of friends and family members. The evening will begin with dinner at 6 p.m. followed by trivia from 7 to 10 p.m., with KREI/KTJJ radio networks Chad Speakar serving as emcee of the event again this year. Trivia players will test their knowledge on topics of love, marriage, romance and a little extra stuff, too in 10 rounds of 10 questions each. With $1,000 in cash prizes up for grabs, winners of each round will receive a $100 prize thanks to the events sponsors which are Belgrade State Bank; First State Community Bank; American Family Insurance; Bates Insurance; Julie Pratte, financial advisor at Belgrade Financial Services; C.Z. Boyer & Son Funeral Homes; First Bank; Mineral Area Office Supply and Southeast Missouri Behavioral Health. To win a round, all questions must be answered correctly. If we have two teams that get all the questions right in the same round, said Coleman, then it rolls over to the next round. The points are added together and the team with the most overall points wins the money. And sometimes it rolls over a couple of times. Teams can include up to eight people. Ticket prices are $20 per person and include trivia, a pasta bar featuring a variety of noodles, sauces and toppings, non-alcoholic beverages and a ticket for a door prize. A cash bar will also be available. Besides the pasta bar, we are also bringing back the dessert auction, Coleman said, with all kinds of delectable, delicious desserts to drool over. Chamber members are currently seeking donations for the dessert auction and also door prizes to award to event participants. Door prizes usually include gift baskets, gift certificates and all kinds of things, said Coleman. A portion of the evenings proceeds will be used to benefit the Chamber's Scholarship Fund, which will provide one deserving Central High School Student with a $2,000 scholarship to either Mineral Area College, Central Methodist University or Missouri Baptist University. Anyone interested in participating can register and pay online at business.phlcoc.net/events/details/sweetheart-trivia-night-7861 or at the chamber office located at 12 Municipal Dr. in Park Hills. The deadline for registration is Feb. 10. For more information, call 573-431-1051 or email Coleman at info@phlcoc.net. The door prizes and dessert auction are two of the things that make the Sweetheart Trivia Night one of the most popular among all area trivia nights. The chambers goal is to ensure that everyone who participates leaves with something nice. With that in mind, businesses and organizations donating door prizes and/or desserts will receive the following benefits: -Their business or organization name announced by the emcee. -A reserved spot in each team packet for business cards and pamphlets. -Businesses donating a prize(s) or dessert valued at $100 or more will receive a two inch by two inch full color promotional spot on the table placemat. (A limited number of spots are available.) -Businesses donating a prize(s) or dessert valued at $50 or more will receive a full color promotional logo spot on the table placemat. (A limited number of spots are available.) -Businesses donating a prize(s) or dessert valued at less than $50 will have their business name listed on the table placemat. -Recognition in the chamber's e-newsletter and on the chamber's Facebook page. Anyone interested in making a donation to the event should contact Coleman at 573-431-1051 or info@phlcoc.net. The following companies are subsidiares of Accenture: 2nd Road, ?What If!, ?What If! China Holdings Limited, ?What If! Holdings Limited, ?What If! Limited, ACN Consulting Co Ltd, AD.Dialeto (Digital Agency acquired by Accenture), AFD.TECH, AGS Business and Technology Services Limited, AIG Shared Services Business Processing Inc, ASM Research Inc., ASM Research LLC, ATAN, Accenture (Botswana) (Proprietary) Limited, Accenture (China) Co. Ltd., Accenture (Shenzhen) Technology Co. Ltd., Accenture (South Africa) Pty Ltd, Accenture (UK) Limited, Accenture 2 Business Process Services S.A., Accenture 2 LLC, Accenture A/S, Accenture AB, Accenture AG, Accenture AS, Accenture Africa Pty Ltd, Accenture Agencia Interativa Ltda, Accenture Australia Holding B.V., Accenture Australia Holdings Pty Ltd, Accenture Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture B.V., Accenture BPM Operations Support Services S.A., Accenture BPM S.C.R.L., Accenture BPS Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Branch Holdings B.V., Accenture Bulgaria EOOD, Accenture Business Services for Utilities Inc, Accenture Business Services of British Columbia Limited Partnership, Accenture Business and Technology Services LLC, Accenture C.A., Accenture Canada Holdings Inc, Accenture Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Capital Inc, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Accenture Chile Asesorias y Servicios Ltda, Accenture Cloud Services GmbH, Accenture Cloud Software Solutions Limited, Accenture Cloud Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Accenture Cloud Solutions LLC, Accenture Cloud Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Co Ltd, Accenture Co. Ltd, Accenture Communications Infrastructure Solutions Ltd, Accenture Company Ltd, Accenture Consulting Pty Ltd, Accenture Consulting Services Ltd Tanzania, Accenture Consultores de Gestao S.A., Accenture Consultoria de Industria e Consumo Ltda, Accenture Consultoria de Recursos Naturais Ltda, Accenture Credit Services LLC, Accenture Customer Services Distribution SASU, Accenture Customer Services Ltd, Accenture Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, Accenture Defined Benefit Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Defined Contribution Pension Plan Trustees Limited, Accenture Delivery Poland S.p. z o.o., Accenture Dienstleistungen GmbH, Accenture Digital Holdings GmbH, Accenture East Africa Limited, Accenture Ecuador S.A., Accenture Egypt LLC, Accenture Enterprise Development (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Accenture Federal Services LLC, Accenture Finance II Limited, Accenture Finance Limited, Accenture Finance and Accounting BPO Services S.p.A., Accenture Finance and Accounting Services S.r.l., Accenture Financial Advanced Solution & Technology S.r.l., Accenture Flex LLC, Accenture GP LLC, Accenture Global Capital Designated Activity Company, Accenture Global Engagements Limited, Accenture Global Holdings Limited, Accenture Global Services Limited, Accenture Global Solutions Limited, Accenture GmbH, Accenture HR Services S.p.A., Accenture Healthcare Processing Inc, Accenture Holding Brasil Ltda, Accenture Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Accenture Holdings (Iberia) S.L., Accenture Holdings B.V., Accenture Holdings France SASU, Accenture Hungary Holdings Kft, Accenture Inc, Accenture Industrial Software Limited Liability Company, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions Kft, Accenture Industrial Software Solutions SA, Accenture Insurance Services B.V., Accenture Insurance Services LLC, Accenture International B.V., Accenture International LLC, Accenture International Limited, Accenture Japan Ltd, Accenture Korea B.V., Accenture LLC, Accenture LLP, Accenture Lanka (Private) Ltd, Accenture Limited, Accenture Lithuania UAB, Accenture Ltd, Accenture Ltda, Accenture Maghreb S.a.r.l., Accenture Managed Services SRL, Accenture Management GmbH, Accenture Marketing Services LLC, Accenture Marketing Services Limited, Accenture Middle East B.V., Accenture Minority I B.V., Accenture Mozambique Limitada, Accenture Mzansi Pty Ltd, Accenture NV/SA, Accenture NZ Limited, Accenture Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Co., Accenture OOO, Accenture Operations GmbH, Accenture Operations S.p. z o.o., Accenture Operations Services Private Limited, Accenture Operations Services Sdn Bhd, Accenture Outsourcing S.r.l., Accenture Outsourcing Services S.A., Accenture Oy, Accenture Panama Inc, Accenture Participations B.V., Accenture Participations II Limited, Accenture Peru SRL, Accenture Post Trade Processing SASU, Accenture Post-Trade Processing Limited, Accenture Process (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Pte Ltd, Accenture Puerto Rico LLC, Accenture Qiyun Technology (Hangzhou) Co. Ltd, Accenture S.C., Accenture S.L., Accenture S.R.L., Accenture S.p. z o.o., Accenture S.p.A., Accenture SASU, Accenture SG Services Pte Ltd, Accenture SRL, Accenture Saudi Arabia Limited, Accenture Sdn Bhd, Accenture Service Center SRL, Accenture Services (Mauritius) Ltd, Accenture Services AB, Accenture Services AG, Accenture Services AS, Accenture Services GmbH, Accenture Services Morocco SA, Accenture Services Oy, Accenture Services Pty Ltd, Accenture Services S.p. z o.o., Accenture Services SRL, Accenture Services and Technology S.r.l., Accenture Services s.r.o., Accenture Single Member S.A. Organization Information Technology & Business Development, Accenture Solutions Co. Ltd, Accenture Solutions Private Limited, Accenture Solutions Pte Ltd, Accenture Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Solutions S.p. z o.o, Accenture Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture State Healthcare Services LLC, Accenture Sub II Inc, Accenture Sub III Inc, Accenture Sub LLC, Accenture Systems Integration Limited, Accenture Sarl, Accenture Tanacsado Kolatolt Felelossegu Tarsasag, Accenture Technology Solutions (Dalian) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (HK) Co. Ltd., Accenture Technology Solutions (Thailand) Co. Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions - Solucoes Informaticas Integradas S.A., Accenture Technology Solutions GmbH, Accenture Technology Solutions Oy, Accenture Technology Solutions Pty Ltd, Accenture Technology Solutions S.A. de C.V., Accenture Technology Solutions S.r.l., Accenture Technology Solutions SASU, Accenture Technology Solutions SRL, Accenture Technology Solutions Sdn Bhd, Accenture Technology Solutions Slovakia s.r.o., Accenture Technology Ventures B.V., Accenture Technology Ventures SPRL, Accenture Tecnologia Consultoria y Outsourcing S.A., Accenture Uruguay SRL, Accenture Vietnam Co. Limited, Accenture Zambia Limited, Accenture do Brasil Ltda, Accenture plc, Accenture s.r.o., Acceria, Acquity Group, Adaptly LLC, Adaptly UK Limited, AddVal Technology, Adqptly, Advantium Inc., Advoco, Agilex Technologies Inc., Alfa Consulting, Allen International, AlphaBeta Advisors, Altevie Technologies S.r.l., Altima, Altima (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Altima Asia Ltd, Altitude, Altitude LLC, Altius Consulting Limited, Altius Data Solutions Private Limited, Analytics 8 LP, Analytics 8 Pty Ltd, Analytics8, Aorui Advertising (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Apis, Apis Group Pty Ltd, Appaloosa Technology SASU, AppsPro, AppsPro, Arca, Arca Ingenieros y Consultoria S.L., Arca Telecom S.L., Ariba - BPO, Arismore, Artio People (Payroll) Pty Ltd, Artio People Pty Ltd, Aspiro Solutions (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Automation Partners Pty Ltd, Avanade (Guangzhou) Computer Technology Development Co. Ltd., Avanade Asia Pte Ltd, Avanade Australia Pty Ltd, Avanade Belgium SPRL, Avanade Canada Inc, Avanade Consulting Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Denmark A/S, Avanade Deutschland GmbH, Avanade Europe Holdings Limited, Avanade Europe Services Limited, Avanade Finland Oy, Avanade France SASU, Avanade Holdings LLC, Avanade Hong Kong Ltd, Avanade Inc, Avanade International Corporation, Avanade Ireland Limited, Avanade Italy S.r.l., Avanade Japan KK, Avanade Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Avanade Middle East Limited, Avanade Netherlands B.V., Avanade Norway AS, Avanade Poland S.p. z o.o., Avanade Schweiz GmbH, Avanade South Africa Pty Ltd, Avanade Spain S.L., Avanade Sweden AB, Avanade UK Limited, Avanade do Brasil Ltda , Avanade Osterreich GmbH, Avenai, Avieco, Axia Ltd., BABCN LLC, BCS Consulting, BCT Solutions, BCT Solutions Pty Ltd, BENEXT, BPO Servicos Administrativos Ltda, BRIDGE Energy Group, BRIDGEi2i, Beacon Consulting Group Inc., Beijing Genesis Interactive Technology Co. Ltd., Beijing Zhidao Future Consulting Co. Ltd, Benext, Berico Technologies LLC, Bionic, Bionic Solution LLC, Blue Horseshoe, Boomerang Pharmaceutical Communications, Bow & Arrow, Bow & Arrow Limited, Brand Learning, Brand Learning Group Limited, Brightstep AB, Byte Prophecy, Byte Prophecy Private Limited, CAS, CRMWaypoint, CS Technology (Australia) Pty Ltd, CS Technology (UK) Limited, CS Technology Group LLC, CS Technology LLC, CadenceQuest Inc., Callisto Integration Europe B.V., Callisto Integration Europe Limited, Callisto Integration LLC, Callisto Integration Ltd, Capgemini - North American health practice, Capital Consultancy Services Inc, Certus Solutions Consulting Services Limited, Certus Solutions Ltd, ChangeTrack Research Pty Ltd., Chaotic Moon Studios, Chengdu Mensa Advertising Co. Ltd., Cimation, Cirrus Connect Australia Pty Ltd, Cirrus Connect Limited, Cirruseo, Clarity Insights, ClearEdge Partners, Clearhead, Clearhead Group LLC, ClientHouse GmbH, Cloud Sherpas, Cloud Sherpas (GA) LLC, Cloud Sherpas Japan G.K., Cloud Sherpas New Zealand Limited, Cloudeasier SAS, Cloudpoint Limited, Cloudsherpas Inc, Cloudworks, Cloudworks Consulting Services Inc, Cloudworks Technology LLC, Computer Research and Telecommunications LLC, Concrete Desenvolvimento de Sistemas Ltda, Concrete Solutions, Concrete Solutions Ltda, Context Information Security, Context Information Security LLC, Context Information Security Limited, CoreCompete LLC, CoreCompete Limited, CoreCompete Private Limited, Corliant Inc., Creative Drive LLC, Creative Drive US LLC, CreativeDrive, CreativeDrive Digital Content Services (Shenzhen) Co Ltd., CreativeDrive EMEA Limited, CreativeDrive Singapore Pte Ltd, CreativeDrive UK Group Limited, Cutting Edge Solutions Limited, Cygni AB, Cygni Norrsken AB, Cygni Stockholm AB, Cygni Syd AB, Cygni Vast AB, Cygni Ost AB, Cygni Ostersund AB, DAZ Systems Inc, DAZ Systems LLC, DAZSI Systems (India) Pvt. Limited, DI Futures Corporation, Data Essential SARL, Davies Consulting, DayNine Consulting, DayNine Consulting (New Zealand) Limited, DayNine Consulting LLC, Declarative Holdings LLC, Decora Marketplace LLC, Decorado Marketplace Ltda-EPP, Defense Point Security, Deja vu Security, Design Strategy and Research de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Designaffairs LLC, Digiplug S.A.S., Digital Results Group LLC, Double Digit Limitada, Double Digit Pty SA, Droga5, Droga5 LLC, Droga5 Studios LLC, Droga5 UK Limited, Duck Creek Technologies, ESR Labs, ESR Labs AG, EdenOne Solutions Limited, Edenhouse ERP Holdings Limited, Edenhouse Solutions Limited, Enaxis Consulting, Enaxis Consulting LP, End to End Analytics LLC, End-to-End Analytics, Endorphin Medici (M) Sdn Bhd, Energuia Web S.A., Energy Management Brokers Limited, EnergyQuote JHA, Enimbos, Enimbos Global Services S.L., Enkitec, Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions LLC, Enterprise System Partners, Enterprise System Partners B.V., Enterprise System Partners Bilisim Danismanlik Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Enterprise System Partners Global Corporation, Enterprise System Partners Limited, Enthusian Pty Ltd, Entropia, Entropia (M) Sdn Bhd, Entropia Holdings Pte Ltd, Entropia Intercraft Sdn Bhd, Epylon, Ergo, Espedia S.r.l., Ethica Consulting Group, Ethica Consulting S.p.A., Evopro Group, Exactside Limited, Experity, Exton Consulting, Exton Consulting Spain Strategy&Management S.L., Exton Germany GmbH, Exton International SAS, Exton Italia S.r.l., Exton SAS, FGM LLC, Fairway Technologies Inc, Farah BidCo Limited, Farah MidCo Limited, Farah Topco Limited, Filmproduction ApS, First Annapolis Consulting Inc., First Annapolis Consulting LLC, Fjord, Focus Group Europe, Formicary, Founders Intelligence, Fruendo S.r.l., FusionX, Future State Consulting LLC, FutureMove (Beijing) Automotive Technology Co. Ltd., FutureMove Automotive, FutureMove Automotive Co. Ltd., GRA Supply Chain Pty Ltd, Gagel Group S de R.L. de C.V., Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda, Gapso Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Genfour, George Group Consulting L.P., Gestalt LLC, Gevity, Gren utvikling AS, H.B. Maynard and Co. Inc., HRC Retail Advisory, Hagberg Consulting Group, Hahntel Ltda, Halo Partners LLC, Hamilton Holding Company S.A, Hangzhou Aiyunzhe Technology Co. Ltd., Happen, Happen GP Limited, Happen Limited, Headspring, Hjaltelin Stahl, Hjaltelin Stahl A/S, Hjaltelin Stahl K/S, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting AS, Hytracc Consulting Malaysia Sdn Bhd, IBB Consulting, ICM.S S.r.l., IMJ Corp, IMJ Corporation, INSITUM, IQSP Consulting LLC, IT One Company Limited, ITBS Servicios Bancarios de Tecnologia de la Informacion SL, Icon Integration, Icon Integration (NZ) Limited, Icon Integration Pty Ltd, Imagine Broadband (USA) Limited, Imagine Broadband USA LLC, Imaginea Inc, Imaginea Technologies LLC, Industrie IT (Hong Kong) Ltd, Industrie IT (Singapore) Pte Ltd, Industrie IT Group Pty Ltd, Industrie IT Pty Ltd, Industrie&Co, Infinity Works Consulting Limited, Infinity Works Holdings Limited, Infinity Works Management Limited, Infinity Works Midco Limited, Informatica de Euskadi S.L., Innotec International EAD, Innotec International S.p. z.o.o., Innotec Marketing GmbH, Innotec Marketing International Ireland Limited, Innotec- Marketing Spain S.L, Insitum Consultoria Argentina SRL, Insitum Consultoria S.A. de C.V., International Biometric Group LLC, International Biometric Group UK Limited, Intrepid, Intrepid Futureworks Sdn Bhd, Intrigo Systems Inc, Intrigo Systems India Pvt. Limited, Intrigo Systems LLC, Inventor Technology Ltd, InvestTech, Investtech Systems Consulting LLC, ItSafer Continuity Services S.L., JKD Consulting LLC, Javelin Group, K Comms Group Limited, KSC Studio LLC, Kaper Communications Limited, Karma Communications Debtco Limited, Karma Communications Group Limited, Karma Communications Holdings Limited, Karmarama, Karmarama Comms Limited, Karmarama Limited, King James Group, Knowledge Rules Inc., Knowledgent, Knowledgent Group LLC, Kogentix, Kogentix LLC, Kogentix Limited, Kogentix Singapore Pte Ltd, Kogentix Technologies Private Limited, Kolle Rebbe, Kolle Rebbe GmbH, Kream Comms Limited, Kunstmaan, Kurt Salmon, Kurt Salmon Canada LTD, Kurt Salmon US LLC, LEXTA, LINKBYNET, LINKBYNET Indian Ocean (L.I.O) Ltd, LabAnswer, Lexta GmbH, Lexta UK Limited, Lien par le reseau Inc, Lien par le reseau infrastructures Inc, Lin Bo (Shanghai) Network Technology Co. Ltd., Link By Net SAS, Link By Net SRL, Link By Net Vietnam Company Limited, Linkbynet East Asia Ltd, Linkbynet Singapore Pte Ltd., Loud & Clear Creative Pty Ltd, Lumenup S.A., MAXIM Systems Inc., MCG US Holdings LLC, Mackevision CG Technology and Service (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mackevision Japan Co. Ltd., Mackevision Korea Ltd, Mackevision LLC, Mackevision Medien Design, Mackevision Medien Design GmbH, Mackevision Singapore Pte Ltd, Mackevision UK Limited, Maglan, Maglan Information Defense Technologies Research Ltd, Maihiro, Matter, Maud Corp Pty Ltd, Maxamine International, Measuretek LLC, Media Audits Ltd., Media Hive, Mediasenz Pty Ltd., Meredith Specialty LLC, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, Meredith Xcelerated Marketing LLC, Meridian Informed Purchasing Ltd., Mindtribe, Mistral Wind Operations Servicos Empresariais Unipessoal Lda., MobGen, Mortgage Cadence LLC, Mortgage Cadence an Accenture Company, Most Champion Ltd, Mudano, Mudano Limited, Myrtle Consulting Group LLC, N3, N3 (Dalian) Business Consulting Co. Ltd., N3 Brazil Consultoria em Marketing Ltda, N3 Germany GmbH, N3 LLC, N3 North America LLC, N3 Results Australia Pty Ltd, N3 Results Ireland Limited, N3 Results Japan G.K., N3 Results Limited, N3 Results Malaysia Sdn Bhd, N3 Results Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., N3 Results S.A.S., N3 Results Singapore Pte Ltd, N3 Results Unipessoal Lda, NYTEC, Nanjing Demeng Advertising Co. Ltd., Nashco Consulting, NaviSys Inc., Nell'Armonia Israel Ltd, Nell'Armonia SAS, Nell'Participation SAS, NellArmonia, Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., Neo Metrics Chile S.A., New Content, New Content Editora e Produtora Ltda, New Energy Group, News Imaging LLC, NewsPage, NewsPage (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, NewsPage Pte Ltd, Northstream, Novetta Holdings LLC, Novetta LLC, Novetta Solutions LLC, Novetta Topco LLC, OCTO Technology, OPS Rules Management Consultants, Octagon Research Solutions Inc., Octo Technology Pty Ltd, Octo Technology SA, Odgaard ApS, Olikka, Olikka Pty Ltd, Olympus Systems Corporation, Openmind, Openmind S.r..l., Openminded, Openminded SAS, Operaciones Accenture S.A. de C.V., OpusLine, Orbium, Orbium AG, Orbium Consulting Limited, Orbium Inc., Orbium Ltd, Orbium Pte Ltd, Orbium Pty Ltd, Origin Digital, PCO Innovation, PLM Systems S.r.l, PRION GmbH, PT Accenture, PT Asta Catur Indra, PT Kogentix Teknologi Indonesia, PacificLink Group, Paja Finanssipalvelut Oy, Parker Fitzgerald Inc, Parker Fitzgerald International Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Limited, Parker Fitzgerald PTY Ltd, Parker Fitzgerald Services Limited, Parker Fitzgerald Solutions Limited, Pecaso Ltd., Pegasus Production A/S, Pegasus Production K/S, Phase One Consulting Group, Pillar Technology, Pollux, Pollux Automation Mexico S.A. de C.V., Pollux Canada Inc, Pollux S.A.S., Pollux USA LLC, Pragsis Bidoop, Pragsis Bidoop UK Limited, Pramati Technologies Europe Limited, Pramati Technologies Private Limited, Presence of IT Workforce Management North America LLC, PrimeQ, PrimeQ Australia Pty Ltd, PrimeQ Ltd, PrimeQ NZ Pty Limited, Procurian Inc., Prof. Homburg GmbH, Proquire LLC, PureApps Ltd., Qi Jie Beijing Information Technologies Co. Ltd., RBCP Fund 1-A Vapor Blocker LLC, RBCP Platform Vapor Blocker I LLC, REPL Consulting LLC, REPL Consulting Limited, REPL Digital Limited, REPL Group K.K., REPL Group Pty Ltd, REPL Group Worldwide Limited, REPL Pte Ltd, REPL Software Limited, REPL Technology Limited, Radiant Services LLC, Random Walk Computing Inc., Reactive Media Pty Ltd., Real Protect, Realworld OO Systems Ltd., Redcore, Redcore (New Zealand) Limited, Redcore Group Holdings Pty Ltd, Redcore Pty Ltd, Revolutionary Security, RiskControl, Root LLC, Rothco, Rothco Limited, S3 TV Technology Ltd., SALT Solutions GmbH, SEC Servizi, SOPIA Corp., Sagacious Consultants, Salt Solutions, Sandbox Studio LLC, Sapling Bidco Limited, Sapling Midco Limited, Sapling Topco Limited, Schlumberger Business Consulting, Seabury Aviation & Aerospace (UK) Limited, Seabury Consulting, Seabury Corporate Advisors LLC, Seabury Malaysia Sdn Bhd, Search Technologies BPO Inc, Search Technologies International LLC, Search Technologies LLC, Search Technologies Limited, Securiview SAS, Sentelis, Sentor Managed Secuirty Services AB, Servicios Tecnicos de Programacion Accenture S.C., Seven Seas Business Ventures LLC, Shackleton, Shackleton Chile S.A., Shackleton S.L.U., Shanghai Baiyue Advertising Co. Ltd., Shun Zhe Technology Development Co. Ltd., SigInt Technologies LLC, Silveo, Silveo Consulting India Private Limited, Simian Pty Ltd, SinnerSchrader, SinnerSchrader AG, SinnerSchrader Content GmbH, SinnerSchrader Deutschland GmbH, SinnerSchrader Praha s.r.o., Sirvart S.A., Sistemes Consulting S.L., Skylink SAS, Soltians Limited, Solutions IQ LLC, SolutionsIQ, SolutionsIQ India Consulting Services Private Limited, Somers Ventures Ireland Limited, Somers Ventures LLC, Spacelink SAS, Storm Digital, Structure Consulting Group LLC, Sutter Mills, Synership LLC, Systor AG, T.A. Cook, TXF LLC, Tambourine, TargetST8, Tech - Avanade Portugal Unipessoal Lda, Tecnilogica Ecosistemas S.A., Tecnilogica, The Brand Learning Partners Limited, The Callisto Integration Corporation, The Monkeys, The Monkeys Pty Ltd, The Myrtle Group, Total Logistics, Tquila, Trivadis, Trivadis AG, Trivadis Austria GmbH, Trivadis Denmark AS, Trivadis Germany GmbH, Trivadis Holding AG, Trivadis Partner AG, Trivadis Services AG, Trivadis Services SRL, Troop Studios Pty Ltd, VanBerlo, Vector Acquisition Company LLC, Vector Topco LLC, Verax Solutions, Vertical Retail Consulting (Shanghai) Ltd, Vertical Retail Consulting Ltd, Vivere Brasil Servicos e Solucoes SA, Vivere Brasil Solucoes De Credito Ltda., Wabion GmbH, WaveStrike LLC, White Cliffs Consulting LLC, Wire Stone, Wire Stone LLC, Wise Partners SAS, Wolox, Wolox Colombia S.A.S, Wolox LLC, Wolox Mexico S.R.L de C.V., Wolox S.A., Wolox SpA, Workforce Insight, Workforce Insight LLC, Yesler, Yesler LLC, Yesler Limited, Yesler Singapore Pte Ltd, Zag, Zag Australia Pty Ltd, Zag Limited, Zag USA LLC, Zebra Worldwide Australia Pty Ltd, Zebra Worldwide Group Limited, Zebra Worldwide Media Pty Ltd, Zenta, Zenta Global Philippines Inc, Zenta Mortgage Services LLC, Zenta Recoveries Inc, Zenta US Holdings Inc, Zestgroup, Zielpuls, Zielpuls (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Zielpuls GmbH, avVenta, designaffairs, designaffairs Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., designaffairs GmbH, designaffairs group China Co. Ltd., dgroup, i4C Analytics, iDefense, solid-serVision.com GmbH, and umlaut. Read More The following companies are subsidiares of Thermo Fisher Scientific: 236 Perinton Parkway LLC, 27 Forge Parkway LLC, ABR--Affinity BioReagents, ACI Holdings Inc., ARG Services LLC, ASPEX Corporation, Abgene Inc., Abgene Limited, Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc., AcroMetrix LLC, Acros Organics B.V.B.A., Advanced Biotechnologies Limited, Advanced Scientifics (ASI), Advanced Scientifics Inc., Advanced Scientifics International Inc., Affymetrix Biotech Participacoes Ltda., Affymetrix Biotech Shanghai Ltd, Affymetrix Inc, Affymetrix Japan K.K., Affymetrix Pte Ltd, Affymetrix UK Ltd, Afora S.A.U., Ahura Scientific, Alchematrix Inc., Alchematrix LLC, Alfa Aesar, Alfa Aesar (China) Chemical Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar (Hong Kong) Limited, Allergon AB, Alphine Mountain Limited, Ambion Inc., Apogent Denmark ApS, Apogent Finance Company, Apogent Holding Company, Apogent Technologies Inc., Apogent Transition Corp., Apogent U.K. Limited, App-Tek International Pty Ltd, Applied Biosystems B.V., Applied Biosystems Finance B.V., Applied Biosystems International Inc., Applied Biosystems LLC, Applied Biosystems Taiwan LLC, Applied Biosystems Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Applied Biosystems de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Applied Scientific Corporation, Avances Cientificos de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Avocado Research Chemicals Limited, B.R.A.H.M.S. Biotech GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. UK Ltd, BAC BV, BAC IP BV, Barnstead Thermolyne LLC, Beijing Phadia Diagnostics Co Ltd, Bender MedSystems GmbH, BioTrove Corporation, BioTrove International Inc., Bioanalysis Labsystems S.A., Biochemical Sciences LLC, Biolab, BmT GmbH Laborprodukte, Bonsai Tecnologies - Sistemas para Biotecnologia e Industria Unipessoal Lda, Brammer Bio, Bumi-Sans Sendirian Berhad, CAC Limited, CB Diagnostics AB, CB Diagnostics Holding AB, CEPH International Corporation, CHK Holdings Inc., CRS Robotics, CTPS LLC, Capitol Scientific Products Inc., Capitol Vial Inc., Cellomics Inc., CellzDirect Inc., Cenduit GmbH, Cenduit LLC, Cezanne S.A.S., Chase Scientific Glass Inc., Chromacol Limited, Clintrak, Clintrak Clinical Labeling Services LLC, Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services LLC, Cohesive Technologies (UK) Limited, Cohesive Technologies Inc., Columbia Diagnostics Inc., Compendia Bioscience Inc., Comtest Limited, Consolidated Technologies Inc., Consultores Fisher Scientific Chile Ltd, Core Informatics, Core Informatics LLC, Core Informatics UK Ltd., D-finitive Technologies Inc., DCG Systems B.V., DCG Systems C.V., DCG Systems G.K., DCG Systems GmbH, DCG Systems Korea Ltd., DCG Systems LLC, DPI Newco LLC, DSM Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Dharmacon, Diagnostix Ltd., Dionex (China) Analytical Ltd, Dionex (Switzerland) AG, Dionex (UK) Limited, Dionex Austria GmbH, Dionex Benelux B.V., Dionex Brasil Instrumentos Cientificos Ltda, Dionex Canada Ltd., Dionex China Limited, Dionex Corporation, Dionex Denmark A/S, Dionex Holding GmbH, Dionex I LLC, Dionex Pty Ltd., Dionex S.A., Dionex S.p.A., Dionex Singapore Pte Ltd., Dionex Softron GmbH, Dionex Sweden AB, Distribution Solutions International Inc., Doe & Ingalls Investors Inc., Doe & Ingalls Limited, Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties II LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties LLC, Doe & Ingalls of California Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Florida Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Maryland Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Massachusetts Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina Operating LLC, Doublecape Holding Limited, Doublecape Limited, Drakeside Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Duke Scientific Corporation, Dynal Biotech Beijing Limited, EGS Gauging Ltd., EGS Gauging Technical Services Company, EP Scientific Products LLC, Ecochem N.V., EnviroEquip Pty Ltd, Epsom Glass Industries Limited, Equibio Limited, Erie Electroverre S.A., Erie Finance Limited, Erie LP Holding LLC, Erie Scientific Company of Puerto Rico, Erie Scientific Hungary Kft, Erie Scientific LLC, Erie U.K. Limited, Erie UK 1 Limited, Erie UK 2 Limited, Erie UK Holding Company, Erie UK Senior Holding Limited, European Laboratory Holdings Limited, Eutech Instruments Europe B.V., Eutech Instruments Pte Ltd., Eutech Instruments Sdn Bhd, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., FEI Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., FEI Australia Pty Ltd, FEI CPD B.V., FEI Company, FEI Company Japan Ltd., FEI Company of USA (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., FEI Deutschland GmbH, FEI EFA Inc., FEI EFA International Pte. Ltd., FEI Electron Optics B.V., FEI Electron Optics International B.V., FEI Europe B.V., FEI France SAS, FEI Global Holdings C.V., FEI Hong Kong Company Limited, FEI Houston Inc., FEI Italia Srl, FEI Korea Ltd., FEI Melbourne Pty Ltd., FEI Microscopy Solutions Ltd, FEI Munich GmbH, FEI Norway Holding AS, FEI SAS, FEI Saudi Arabia LLC, FEI Servicos de Nanotecnologia Ltda., FEI Technologies Inc., FEI Technology de Mexico S.A. de C.V., FEI Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., FEI Trondheim AS, FEI UK Ltd., FHP LLC, FRC Holding Inc. V, FS (Barbados) Capital Holdings Ltd., FS Casa Rocas Holdings LLC, FS Mexicana Holdings LLC, FSI Receivables Company LLC, FSII Sweden Holdings AB, FSII Sweden Holdings I AB, FSIR Holdings (UK) Limited, FSIR Holdings (US) Inc., FSUK Holdings Limited, FSWH Company LLC, FSWH II C.V., FSWH International Holdings LLC, Fermentas China Co. Ltd, Fermentas Inc., Fermentas International, Fermentas Sweden AB, Fermentas UK Limited, Fiberlite Centrifuge LLC, Finesse Scientific Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Finesse Solutions AG, Finesse Solutions Inc., Finnzymes Oy, Fisher Alder S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Asia Manufacturing Ventures Inc., Fisher Bermuda Holdings Limited, Fisher BioImage ApS, Fisher BioPharma Services (India) Private Limited, Fisher BioSciences Japan G.K., Fisher BioServices Inc., Fisher Bioblock Holding II SNC, Fisher CLP Holding Limited Partnership, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 1, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 2, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 3, Fisher Canada Limited Partnership, Fisher Chimica BVBA, Fisher Clinical Logistics LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services (Bristol) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Colombia) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Korea) Co. Ltd, Fisher Clinical Services (Mexico) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Peru) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services Colombia S.A.S., Fisher Clinical Services GmbH, Fisher Clinical Services Inc., Fisher Clinical Services Japan K.K., Fisher Clinical Services Latin America S.R.L., Fisher Clinical Services Limited Liability Company, Fisher Clinical Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Clinical Services Peru S.R.L, Fisher Clinical Services Pte Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services U.K. Limited, Fisher Emergo B.V., Fisher Germany Holdings GmbH, Fisher Hamilton China Inc., Fisher Hamilton Mexico LLC, Fisher Holdings ApS, Fisher Internet Minority Holdings L.L.C., Fisher Laboratory Products Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Fisher Luxembourg Danish Holdings SARL, Fisher Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Maybridge Holdings Limited, Fisher Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific (Austria) GmbH, Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Fisher Scientific (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific (SEA) Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific A/S, Fisher Scientific AG, Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Limited, Fisher Scientific Biotech Line ApS, Fisher Scientific Brazil Inc., Fisher Scientific Central America Inc., Fisher Scientific Chile Inc., Fisher Scientific Colombia Inc., Fisher Scientific Company, Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., Fisher Scientific Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Fisher Scientific Europe Holdings B.V., Fisher Scientific GTF AB, Fisher Scientific Germany Beteiligungs GmbH, Fisher Scientific GmbH, Fisher Scientific Holding Company LLC, Fisher Scientific Holding HK Limited, Fisher Scientific Holding U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific Holdings (S) Pte Ltd, Fisher Scientific International LLC, Fisher Scientific Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Fisher Scientific Ireland Investments Unlimited, Fisher Scientific Ireland Limited, Fisher Scientific Japan Ltd., Fisher Scientific Jersey Island Limited, Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd, Fisher Scientific Latin America Inc., Fisher Scientific Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Fisher Scientific Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific Mexico Inc., Fisher Scientific Middle East and Africa Inc., Fisher Scientific Norway AS, Fisher Scientific Operating Company, Fisher Scientific Oxoid Holdings Ltd., Fisher Scientific Oy, Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific S.A.S., Fisher Scientific S.L., Fisher Scientific SPRL, Fisher Scientific The Hague I B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague II B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague III B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague IV B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague V B.V., Fisher Scientific U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company 2, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company Limited, Fisher Scientific Unipessoal Lda., Fisher Scientific Venezuela Inc., Fisher Scientific Worldwide (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Holdings I C.V., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Inc., Fisher Scientific de Mexico S.A., Fisher Scientific of the Netherlands B.V., Fisher Scientific spol. S.r.o, Fisher Servicios Clinicos (Chile) LLC, Fisher Servicios Clinicos Chile Ltda, Fisher WWD Holding L.L.C., Fisher Worldwide Distribution SPV, Fisher Worldwide Gene Distribution SPV, Flux Instruments, Fuji Partnership, G & M Procter Limited, G V Instruments Limited, GV Instruments Canada Ltd., GV Instruments Inc, Gatan Inc, General Scientific Company Sdn Bhd (M), Genomed molekularbiologische und diagnostische Produkte GmbH, Gerhard Menzel B.V. & Co. KG, Gold Cattle Standard Testing Labs Inc., Golden West Indemnity Company Limited, Goring Kerr Detection Limited, Greenville Service Company Inc., HENO GmbH i.L., Hangar 215 Inc., Helmet Securities Limited, Henogen, HighChem, HyClone International Trade (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Hybaid Limited, I.Q. (BIO) Limited, IDnostics AG, ILS Laboratories Scandinavia AB, Inel Inc., Inel SAS, InnaPhase Inc., InnaPhase Limited, IntegenX, Intrinsic BioProbes Inc., Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc., Invitrogen (Shanghai) Investment Co. Ltd., Invitrogen Argentina SA, Invitrogen BioServices India Private Limited, Invitrogen Europe Limited, Invitrogen Finance Corp., Invitrogen Holdings LLC, Invitrogen Holdings Ltd., Invitrogen Hong Kong Limited, Invitrogen IP Holdings Inc., Invitrogen Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ion Torrent Systems Inc., Ionalytics Corporation, JSC Thermo Fisher Scientific, Jouan LLC, Jouan Limited, Jouan SA, Kendro Containment & Services Limited, Kendro Laboratory Products Ltd, Kettlebrook Insurance Co. ltd., Keystone Scientific, KonTEM GmbH, Kyle Jordan Investments LLC, LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, LTC Tech South Africa PTY Ltd., La-Pha-Pack GmbH, Lab Vision (UK) Limited, Lab Vision Corporation, Lab-Chrom-Pack LLC, Lab-Line Instruments Inc., Labomex MBP S. de R. L. De C.V., Laboratoire Service International - L.S.I, Laboratory Management Systems Inc., Laboratory Specialties Proprietary Ltd., LambTrack Limited, Laser Analytical Systems Inc., Liberty Lane Investment LLC, Liberty Lane Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Life Sciences International (Poland) SP z O.O, Life Sciences International Holdings BV, Life Sciences International LLC, Life Sciences International Limited, Life Technologies AS, Life Technologies Australia PTY Ltd., Life Technologies BPD AB, Life Technologies BPD UK Limited, Life Technologies Brasil Comercio e Industria de Produtos para Biotecnologia Ltda, Life Technologies Chile SpA, Life Technologies Clinical Services Lab Inc., Life Technologies Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Czech Republic s.r.o., Life Technologies DaAn Diagnostic (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Europe B.V., Life Technologies Finance Ltd., Life Technologies Finland Oy, Life Technologies GmbH, Life Technologies Holdings PTE Ltd., Life Technologies Inc., Life Technologies International B.V., Life Technologies Japan Ltd., Life Technologies Korea LLC, Life Technologies Limited, Life Technologies Magyarorszag Kft, Life Technologies New Zealand Ltd., Life Technologies Norway Investments US LLC, Life Technologies Polska Sp z.o.o., Life Technologies SA, Life Technologies SAS, Life Technologies s.r.o, Linkage Biosciences Inc., Linkage Biosciences S.a.r.l., Loftus Furnace Company, Lomb Scientific, Lomb Scientific (Aust) Pty Limited, MTI-GlobalStem, Marketbase International Limited, Matrix MicroScience Inc., Matrix MicroScience Ltd., Matrix Technologies Corporation Limited, Matrix Technologies LLC, Maybridge Chemical Company Limited, Maybridge Chemical Holdings Limited, Maybridge Limited, Medical Analysis Systems Inc., Medical Analysis Systems International Inc., Medical Diagnostics Systems Inc., Metavac LLC, Microgenics Corporation, Microgenics Diagnostics Pty Limited, Microgenics GmbH, Microm International GmbH, Microm Laborgerate S.L.U, Molecular BioProducts Inc., Molecular Probes Inc., Molecular Transfer Inc., NAPCO Inc., NERL Diagnostics LLC, NOVODIRECT GmbH Labor- und Industrie- Megerate, Nalge (Europe) Limited, Nalge Nunc International (Monterrey) LLC, Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Nanjing WeiKangLe Trading Industrial Co Ltd, NanoDrop Technologies LLC, National Scientific Company, Navaho Acquisition Corp., Neomarkers Inc., New FS Holdings Inc., NewcoGen PE LLC, Nihon Dynal K.K., Niton Asia Limited, NovaWave Technologies Inc., Nunc A/S, ONIX Systems Inc., OXOID CZ s.r.o., Odyssey Holdings Corporation, Odyssey Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 1 S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 2 S.a r.l., Odyssey Venture Corporation, Omega Data Systems, One Lambda Inc, Onix Holdings Limited, Orme Scientific Limited, Owl Separation Systems LLC, Oxoid (ELY) Limited, Oxoid 2000 Limited, Oxoid AS, Oxoid Australia Pty. Limited, Oxoid Company, Oxoid Deutschland GmbH, Oxoid Holding SAS, Oxoid Holdings Limited, Oxoid Inc., Oxoid International Limited, Oxoid Investments GmbH, Oxoid Limited, Oxoid N.V., Oxoid New Zealand Limited, Oxoid Pension Trustees Limited, Oxoid Senior Holdings Limited, Oxoid UKH LLC, PAX - DSI Acquisition LLC, PE AG, Pacific Rim Far East Industries LLC, Pacific Rim Investment LLC, Panomics L.L.C., Panomics S.R.L., Patheon, Patheon API Inc., Patheon API Manufacturing Inc., Patheon API Services Inc., Patheon Austria GmbH & Co KG, Patheon B.V., Patheon Banner U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon Biologics (NJ) LLC, Patheon Biologics Australia Pty Ltd, Patheon Biologics B.V., Patheon Biologics LLC, Patheon Calculus Merger LLC, Patheon Cooperatief U.A., Patheon Development Services Inc., Patheon Finance LLC, Patheon France SAS, Patheon Holdings B.V., Patheon Holdings I B.V., Patheon Holdings II B.V., Patheon Holdings SAS, Patheon I B.V., Patheon I Holding GmbH, Patheon Inc., Patheon International AG, Patheon Italia S.p.A., Patheon KK, Patheon Life Science Products International GmbH, Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC, Patheon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Patheon Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., Patheon Puerto Rico Acquisitions Corporation, Patheon Puerto Rico Inc., Patheon Regensburg GmbH, Patheon Softgels B.V., Patheon Softgels Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings LLC, Patheon UK Limited, Patheon UK Pension Trustees Limited, Pelican Acquisition Corporation, Perbio Science (Canada) Company, Perbio Science AB, Perbio Science BVBA, Perbio Science France SAS, Perbio Science Inc., Perbio Science International Netherlands B.V., Perbio Science Invest AB, Perbio Science Nederland B.V., Perbio Science Projekt AB, Perbio Science Sweden Holdings AB, Perbio Science Switzerland SA, Perbio Science UK Limited, Phadia AB, Phadia Diagnosticos Ltda, Phadia GmbH, Phadia Holding AB, Phadia International Holdings C.V., Phadia Korea Co. Ltd, Phadia Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Phadia Malta Holdings Limited, Phadia Oy, Phadia Real Property AB, Phadia Sweden AB, Phadia Taiwan Inc., Phadia US Inc., Phadia s.r.o., Pharmacaps Mexicana SA de CV, Phenom-World B.V., Phenom-World Holding B.V, Phenom-World Innovations B.V., Phinotex, Pierce Biotechnology Inc., Pierce Milwaukee Holding Corp., Pierce Milwaukee Inc., Polychromix, Power Sweden Holdings I AB, Power Sweden Holdings II AB, Power Sweden Holdings III Aktiebolag, Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments LLC, Princeton Security Technologies, Prionics AG, Prionics Asia Ltd., Prionics Deutschland GmbH, Prionics France SAS, Prionics Italia S.r.l., Prionics Lelystad B.V., Prionics USA Inc., Priority Air Express LLC, Priority Air Express Pte. Ltd., Priority Air Express UK Limited, Priority Air Holdings Corp, Priority Solutions International, Promedica Pty Limited, Proxeon, Proxeon Biosystems ApS, Qiagen, REP GBP I-B Blocker Inc., Raymond A Lamb Limited, Remel Europe Limited, Remel Inc., Richard-Allan Scientific Company, Robbins Scientific LLC, Robocon Labor- und Industrieroboter Gesellschaft m.b.H, Rupprecht and Patashnick, Rupprecht and Patashnick (R&P), Russell pH Limited, S.C.I. du 10 rue Dugay Trouin, SCI Inno 92, STC Bio Manufacturing Inc., Samco Scientific (Monterrey) LLC, Samco Scientific LLC, Saroph Sweden AB, Schantz Road LLC, Seradyn Inc., Shanghai Life Technologies Biotechnology Co. Limited, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (C-I) Trading Co. Ltd, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (S) Trading Co. Ltd, Southern Trials (Pty) Ltd., Specialty (SMI) Inc., Spectra-Physics AB, Spectra-Physics Holdings Limited, Spectra-Physics Holdings USA LLC, Spectronex, Staten Island Cogeneration Corporation, Sterilin Limited, Stokes Bio Ltd., Sweden DIA (Sweden) AB, SwissAnalytic Group GmbH, Systems Manufacturing Corporation, TFLP LLC, TFS Breda B.V., TFS LLC, TFS Singapore HK Limited, TFSL Financing GP LLC, TFSL Senior GP Holdings 2 LLC, TK Partnership, TKA Wasseraufbereitungssysteme, TMOI Inc., TPI Real Estate Holdings LLC, TSP Holdings I LLC, TWX LLC, Technology Design Solutions Pty Ltd, Thermedics Detection de Argentina S.R.L, Thermo Allen Coding Limited, Thermo Asset Management Services Inc., Thermo BioAnalysis LLC, Thermo BioAnalysis Limited, Thermo BioSciences Holdings LLC, Thermo CIDTEC, Thermo CRS Holdings Ltd., Thermo CRS Ltd., Thermo Cambridge Limited, Thermo Cayman Holdings Ltd., Thermo Corporation, Thermo DMA Inc., Thermo Detection de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Dutch Holdings Limited Partnership, Thermo EGS Gauging LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings I LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings II LLC, Thermo Eberline LLC, Thermo Electron (Calgary) Limited, Thermo Electron (Chile) S.p.A., Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH, Thermo Electron (Management Services) Limited, Thermo Electron (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Electron A/S, Thermo Electron Australia Pty Limited, Thermo Electron Export Inc., Thermo Electron Holdings SAS, Thermo Electron Industries, Thermo Electron LED GmbH, Thermo Electron LED S.A.S., Thermo Electron Limited, Thermo Electron Manufacturing Limited, Thermo Electron Metallurgical Services Inc., Thermo Electron North America LLC, Thermo Electron Pension Trust GmbH, Thermo Electron Puerto Rico Inc., Thermo Electron SAS, Thermo Electron Scientific Instruments LLC, Thermo Electron Sweden AB, Thermo Electron Sweden Forvaltning AB, Thermo Electron Weighing & Inspection Limited, Thermo Elemental Limited, Thermo Environmental Instruments LLC, Thermo Fast U.K. Limited, Thermo Finland Holdings LLC, Thermo Finland Holdings MT1 B.V., Thermo Finland Holdings MT2 B.V., Thermo Finnigan LLC, Thermo Finnigan Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Malta Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN-I) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (CN-II) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings I Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings II Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings 2) LLC, Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) II Limited, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Heysham) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Kandel) GmbH, Thermo Fisher CHK Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust II, Thermo Fisher Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Thermo Fisher Cyprus Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Detection Mexico LLC, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AB, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AG, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Aps, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Austria GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics B.V., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics K.K., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics NV, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.L.U., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.p.A. , Thermo Fisher Diagnostics SAS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Thermo Fisher Eurobonds Ltd., Thermo Fisher Financial Services Inc., Thermo Fisher GP LLC, Thermo Fisher German Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Germany B.V., Thermo Fisher India Divestco Private Limited, Thermo Fisher India Holding B.V., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Thermo Fisher Israel Ltd., Thermo Fisher Production et Services SAS, Thermo Fisher Project Cyprus LLC, Thermo Fisher Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Asheville) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Australia) C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Barbados) Holdings Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Breda) Holding BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (CN) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China-HK) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (DE) Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Ecublens) SARL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance II) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fuji) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Holding II) B.V. & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Johannesburg) (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mexico City) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milwaukee) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Monterrey) S. De R.L. De C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (NK) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) Austria Holding GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-I) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-II) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN1) UK Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) Dutch LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Praha) s.r.o., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Schweiz) AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Instruments Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Suzhou) Instruments Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific AL-1 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific AU II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific AU Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Aquasensors LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific B.V.B.A., Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (I) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific BHK (II) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics UAB, Thermo Fisher Scientific Beteiligungsverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Biosciences Corp., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brahms LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Instrumentos de Processo Ltda., Thermo Fisher Scientific Brasil Servicos de Logistica Ltda, Thermo Fisher Scientific C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cayman Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chemicals Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific China (C-I) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China (S) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific China Holdings IV B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings Aps, Thermo Fisher Scientific Chromatography Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus I Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus II Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus III Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus IV C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Cyprus V C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Denmark Senior Holdings ApS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie 1 Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Erie Financing S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Europe GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC Finance C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific FLC LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSIR Financing S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific FSUKHCO Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Falcon Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Finance Company BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific GENEART GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Germany BV & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific HR Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) I, Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings (Cayman) II , Thermo Fisher Scientific Holdings Europe Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific IT Services GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific India Pvt Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Malta) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments (Sweden) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Investments Malta (Sweden Financing) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Invitrogen Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings I B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings II B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Japan Holdings III B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific K.K., Thermo Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific LSI Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life CV GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Enterprises GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Financing Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings III C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings I C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life International Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments III S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments IV S.a.r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta Holding II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments Malta II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Investments US Financing II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life NL Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Netherlands Holding C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior GP Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings II C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Senior Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Switzerland Holdings GP LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Tech Korea Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Enterprise Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment I LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment II LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investment UK II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Investments Holding LP, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment I Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Israel Investment II Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Life Technologies Luxembourg Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Enterprise Holdings S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg German Holdings S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Life Technologies UK Holding S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings I S.a r.l, Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Sweden Holdings II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings I S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Luxembourg Venture Holdings II S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Malta Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Messtechnik GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Mexico City S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific Middle East Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Milano Srl, Thermo Fisher Scientific NHK Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Holdings, Thermo Fisher Scientific New Zealand Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway Holdings AS, Thermo Fisher Scientific Norway US Investments LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Financing (Barbados) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Odyssey Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Operating Company LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Oy, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 C.V, Thermo Fisher Scientific PN2 LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific PRB S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Panama I Cayman Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific Peru S.R.L., Thermo Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific SL, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Financing LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Senior Holdings Australia LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific South Africa Proprietary Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific SpA, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg I S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Holdings Luxembourg II S.a r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific Spectra-Physics Investments Malta Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Switzerland Holdings C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific TR Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific Taiwan Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific Vermogensverwaltungs GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific West Palm Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific Wissenschaftliche Gerate GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific Worldwide Investments (Cayman), Thermo Fisher Scientific eCommerce Solutions LLC , Thermo Fisher Senior Canada Holdings LLC, Thermo Foundation Inc., Thermo Gamma-Metrics Holdings Pty Ltd., Thermo Gamma-Metrics LLC, Thermo Gamma-Metrics Pty Ltd, Thermo Holding European Operations LLC, Thermo Hypersil Ltd, Thermo Hypersil-Keystone LLC, Thermo Informatics Asia Pacific Pty Ltd., Thermo Instrument Controls de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Thermo Kevex X-Ray LLC, Thermo Keytek LLC, Thermo LabSystems Inc., Thermo LabSystems S.A., Thermo Life Science International Trading (Tianjin) Co. Ltd., Thermo Life Sciences AB, Thermo Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo MF Physics LLC, Thermo Measurement Ltd, Thermo Measuretech Canada Inc., Thermo Neslab LLC, Thermo Nicolet Limited, Thermo Onix Limited, Thermo Optek (Australia) Pty Ltd., Thermo Optek Limited, Thermo Optek S.A., Thermo Orion Inc., Thermo Portable Holdings LLC, Thermo Power Corporation, Thermo Process Instruments GP LLC, Thermo Process Instruments L.P., Thermo Projects Limited, Thermo Quest S.A., Thermo Radiometrie Limited, Thermo Ramsey Italia S.r.l., Thermo Ramsey LLC, Thermo Ramsey S.A., Thermo Re Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Pte Ltd., Thermo Scientific Microbiology Sdn Bhd, Thermo Scientific Portable Analytical Instruments Inc., Thermo Scientific Services Inc., Thermo Securities Corporation, Thermo Sentron Canada Inc., Thermo Sentron Limited, Thermo Shandon Inc., Thermo Shandon Limited, Thermo Suomi Holding B.V., Thermo TLH (UK) Limited, Thermo TLH L.P., Thermo Trace Pty Ltd., Thermo-Fisher Biochemical Product (Beijing) Co. Ltd., ThermoLase LLC, ThermoSpectra Limited, Trek Diagnostic Systems LLC, Trek Diagnostic Systems Ltd., Trek Holding Company II Ltd., Trek Holding Company Ltd., Trex Medical Corporation, USB Corporation, Union Lab Supplies Limited, United Diagnostics Inc., VG Systems Limited, Westover Scientific Inc., ZAO PE Biosystems, eBioscience GmbH, eBioscience Ltd, eBioscience SAS, and picoSpin LLC. Read More AutoZone, Inc. retails and distributes automotive replacement parts and accessories. The company offers various products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products. Its products include A/C compressors, batteries and accessories, bearings, belts and hoses, calipers, chassis, clutches, CV axles, engines, fuel pumps, fuses, ignition and lighting products, mufflers, radiators, starters and alternators, thermostats, and water pumps, as well as tire repairs. In addition, the company offers maintenance products, such as antifreeze and windshield washer fluids; brake drums, rotors, shoes, and pads; brake and power steering fluids, and oil and fuel additives; oil and transmission fluids; oil, cabin, air, fuel, and transmission filters; oxygen sensors; paints and accessories; refrigerants and accessories; shock absorbers and struts; spark plugs and wires; and windshield wipers. Further, it provides air fresheners, cell phone accessories, drinks and snacks, floor mats and seat covers, interior and exterior accessories, mirrors, performance products, protectants and cleaners, sealants and adhesives, steering wheel covers, stereos and radios, tools, and wash and wax products, as well as towing services. Additionally, the company provides a sales program that offers commercial credit and delivery of parts and other products; sells automotive diagnostic and repair software under the ALLDATA brand through alldata.com; and automotive hard parts, maintenance items, accessories, and non-automotive products through autozone.com. As of August 27, 2022, it operated 6,168 stores in the United States; 703 stores in Mexico; and 72 stores in Brazil. The company was founded in 1979 and is based in Memphis, Tennessee. SunTrust Banks, Inc. operates as the holding company for SunTrust Bank that provides various financial services for consumers, businesses, corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit entities in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer and Wholesale. The Consumer segment provides deposits and payments; home equity and personal credit lines; auto, student, and other lending products; credit cards; discount/online and full-service brokerage products; professional investment advisory products and services; and trust services, as well as family office solutions. This segment also offers residential mortgage products in the secondary market. The Wholesale segment provides capital markets solutions, including advisory, capital raising, and financial risk management; asset-based financing solutions, such as securitizations, asset-based lending, equipment financing, and structured real estate arrangements; cash management services and auto dealer financing solutions; investment banking solutions; and credit and deposit, fee-based product offering, multi-family agency lending, advisory, commercial mortgage brokerage, and tailored financing and equity investment solutions. This segment also offers treasury and payment solutions, such as operating various electronic and paper payment types, which comprise card, wire transfer, automated clearing house, check, and cash; and provides services clients to manage their accounts online. The company offers its products and services through a network of traditional and in-store branches, automated teller machines, Internet, mobile, and telephone banking channels. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 1,218 full-service banking offices located in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia. SunTrust Banks, Inc. was founded in 1891 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Canada Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cuba, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Dominican Republic Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Haiti, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Jamaica Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Mexico, United Mexican States Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, and sells aerospace and defense products and systems in the United States. It operates in two segments, Aerospace and Defense, and Real Estate. The Aerospace and Defense segment offers aerospace and defense products and systems for the United States government, including the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and aerospace and defense prime contractors. This segment provides liquid and solid rocket propulsion systems, air-breathing hypersonic engines, and electric power and propulsion systems for space, defense, civil, and commercial applications; and armament systems. The Real Estate segment engages in the re-zoning, entitlement, sale, and leasing of the company's excess real estate assets. It owns 11,277 acres of land adjacent to the United States Highway 50 between Rancho Cordova and Folsom, California east of Sacramento. The company was formerly known as GenCorp Inc. and changed its name to Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. in April 2015. Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings, Inc. was incorporated in 1915 and is headquartered in El Segundo, California. Emergent BioSolutions Inc., a life sciences company, focuses on the provision of preparedness and response solutions that address accidental, deliberate, and naturally occurring public health threats (PHTs) in the United States. The company's products address PHTs, which include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives; emerging infectious diseases; travel health; and emerging health crises and acute/emergency care. It offers BioThrax, an anthrax vaccine; ACAM2000, a smallpox vaccine; Botulism Antitoxin Heptavalent to treat botulinum disease; vaccinia immune globulin intravenous that addresses complications from smallpox vaccine; raxibacumab for the treatment and prophylaxis of inhalational anthrax; Anthrasil to for inhalational anthrax; reactive skin decontamination lotion kits; and Trobigard, a combination drug-device auto injector product candidate; and Trobigard, a combination drug-device auto injector product candidate. The company also provides NARCAN, a nasal spray for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose; Vivotif, an oral vaccine for typhoid fever; and Vaxchora, a single-dose oral vaccine to treat cholera. In addition, it is developing AP003, a Naloxone multidose nasal spray; AP007, a sustained release Nalmefene injection for treatment of opioid use disorder; AV7909, an anthrax vaccine; CGRD-001, a pralidoxime chloride/atropine auto-injector; CHIKV VLP, a chikungunya virus VLP vaccine; COVID-HIG for the treatment of SARS-CoV2; EGRD-001, a diazepam auto-injector; SIAN, an antidote for the initial treatment of acute poisoning of cyanide; and UniFlu, a universal influenza vaccine. Further, the company provides contract development and manufacturing services comprising drug substance and product manufacturing, and packaging, as well as technology transfer, process, and analytical development services. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland. GSK plc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the creation, discovery, development, manufacture, and marketing of pharmaceutical products, vaccines, over-the-counter medicines, and health-related consumer products in the United Kingdom, the United States, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceuticals R&D, Vaccines, and Consumer Healthcare. The company offers pharmaceutical products comprising medicines in the therapeutic areas, such as respiratory, HIV, immuno-inflammation, oncology, anti-viral, central nervous system, cardiovascular and urogenital, metabolic, anti-bacterial, and dermatology. It also provides consumer healthcare products in wellness, oral health, nutrition, and skin health categories. The company offers its consumer healthcare products in the form of nasal sprays, tablets, syrups, lozenges, gum and trans-dermal patches, caplets, infant syrup drops, liquid filled suspension, wipes, gels, effervescents, toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouthwashes, denture adhesives and cleansers, topical creams and non-medicated patches, lip balm, gummies, and soft chews. It has collaboration agreements with 23andMe; Lyell Immunopharma, Inc.; Novartis; Sanofi SA; Surface Oncology; Progentec Diagnostics, Inc.; Alector, Inc.; and CureVac AG., as well as strategic partnership with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc. and Vir Biotechnology, Inc. The company was formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline plc and changed its name to GSK plc in May 2022. GSK plc was founded in 1715 and is headquartered in Brentford, the United Kingdom. Oxford Industries, Inc., an apparel company, designs, sources, markets, and distributes products of lifestyle and other brands worldwide. The company offers men's and women's sportswear and related products under the Tommy Bahama brand; women's and girl's dresses and sportswear, scarves, bags, jewelry, and belts, as well as footwear and children's apparel and swimwear under the Lilly Pulitzer brand; and men's shirts, pants, shorts, outerwear, ties, swimwear, footwear, and accessories, as well as women and youth products under the Southern Tide brand. It also designs, sources, markets, and distributes premium childrenswear, including bonnets, hats, apparel, swimwear, and accessories through thebeaufortbonnetcompany.com and wholesale specialty retailers; men's apparel, which include pants, shorts, and tops through duckhead.com and wholesale specialty retailers. In addition, the company licenses Tommy Bahama brand for various products, such as indoor and outdoor furniture, beach chairs, bedding and bath linens, fabrics, leather goods and gifts, headwear, hosiery, sleepwear, shampoo, toiletries, fragrances, cigar accessories, distilled spirits, and other products; Lilly Pulitzer for stationery and gift products, home furnishing products, and eyewear; and Southern Tide trademark for bed and bath product. Oxford Industries, Inc. offers products through its retail stores, department stores, specialty stores, multi-branded e-commerce retailers, off-price retailers, and other retailers, as well as e-commerce sites. As of January 29, 2022, it operated 186 brand-specific full-price retail stores; 21 Tommy Bahama food and beverage locations; and 35 Tommy Bahama outlet stores. Oxford Industries, Inc. was founded in 1942 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. operates as a diversified financial services company in the United States. The company's Retail Banking segment offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, auto loans, credit cards, education loans, and personal and small business loans and lines of credit; and brokerage, insurance, and investment and cash management services. This segment serves consumer and small business customers through a network of branches, ATMs, call centers, and online and mobile banking channels. Its Corporate & Institutional Banking segment provides secured and unsecured loans, letters of credit, and equipment leases; cash and investment management services, receivables and disbursement management services, funds transfer services, international payment services, and access to online/mobile information management and reporting; foreign exchange, derivatives, fixed income, securities underwriting, loan syndications, and mergers and acquisitions and equity capital markets advisory related services; and commercial loan servicing and technology solutions. It serves mid-sized and large corporations, and government and not-for-profit entities. The company's Asset Management Group segment offers investment and retirement planning, customized investment management, credit and cash management solutions, and trust management and administration services for high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals, and their families; and multi-generational family planning services for ultra high net worth individuals and their families. It also provides outsourced chief investment officer, custody, private real estate, cash and fixed income client solutions, and fiduciary retirement advisory services for institutional clients. The company has 2,591 branches and 9,502 ATMs. The company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wells Fargo & Company, a diversified financial services company, provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: Consumer Banking and Lending; Commercial Banking; Corporate and Investment Banking; and Wealth and Investment Management. The Consumer Banking and Lending segment offers diversified financial products and services for consumers and small businesses. Its financial products and services include checking and savings accounts, and credit and debit cards, as well as home, auto, personal, and small business lending services. The Commercial Banking segment provides financial solutions to private, family owned, and certain public companies. Its products and services include banking and credit products across various industry sectors and municipalities, secured lending and lease products, and treasury management services. The Corporate and Investment Banking segment offers a suite of capital markets, banking, and financial products and services to corporate, commercial real estate, government, and institutional clients. Its products and services comprise corporate banking, investment banking, treasury management, commercial real estate lending and servicing, equity, and fixed income solutions, as well as sales, trading, and research capabilities services. The Wealth and Investment Management segment provides personalized wealth management, brokerage, financial planning, lending, private banking, and trust and fiduciary products and services to affluent, high-net worth, and ultra-high-net worth clients. It also operates through financial advisors. Wells Fargo & Company was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells containment and delivery systems for injectable drugs and healthcare products in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates in two segments, Proprietary Products and Contract-Manufactured Products. The Proprietary Products segment offers stoppers and seals for injectable packaging systems; syringe and cartridge components, including custom solutions for the needs of injectable drug applications, as well as administration systems that enhance the safe delivery of drugs through advanced reconstitution, mixing, and transfer technologies; and films, coatings, washing, and vision inspection and sterilization processes and services to enhance the quality of packaging components. It also provides drug containment solutions, including Crystal Zenith, a cyclic olefin polymer in the form of vials, syringes, and cartridges; and self-injection devices, as well as a range of integrated solutions, including analytical lab services, pre-approval primary packaging support and engineering development, regulatory expertise, and after-sales technical support. This segment serves biologic, generic, and pharmaceutical drug companies. The Contract-Manufactured Products segment is involved in the design, manufacture, and automated assembly of devices used in surgical, diagnostic, ophthalmic, injectable, and other drug delivery systems, as well as consumer products. It serves pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and medical device companies. The company distributes its products through its sales force and distribution network, as well as contract sales agents and regional distributors. West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. was incorporated in 1923 and is headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania. Thank you for reading! To read this article and more, subscribe now for as little as $1.99. 125 Years of Progress takes you inside The Daily Progress' archives every day in celebration of our 125 years serving Charlottesville and the rest of Central Virginia. Sponsored by Hanckel-Citizens Insurance Charlottesville What follows is a bonus 125 Years of Progress post - the content comes from the Richmond Times-Dispatch not The Daily Progress. Beer fans, did you know that Richmond was the first city to sell canned beer? This May 1934 photograph shows workers from G. Krueger Brewing Company transporting twenty-four barrels of beer on West Broad Street in a horse-drawn wagon. The brewing company, which was founded in Newark, New Jersey, joined the American Can Company in 1934 to experiment with canning beer. Instead of taking the risk and losing money with the new product in New Jersey, Krueger chose to use Richmond as test market for the canned beer product. They produced two of their beers in cans, Kruegers Finest Beer and Kruegers Cream Ale. How were the first beer cans opened? American Can Co. sold a specialized beer can opener that was designed to punch a hole in the lid. For many years, the can labels featured an instructional drawing of the opener. In 1935, Krueger sold the first can of beer and over 30 breweries followed suit. The product, as we all know, was a huge success! A national organization has named Albemarle County Public Schools as the fifth-best school district in Virginia and among the top 5 percent nationally. Charlottesville City Schools also made an appearance in the 2017 Best School Districts in Virginia list by Niche, which bases its rankings on school statistics, test scores and opinions from parents and students, at 17th in the state and within the top 10 percent nationally. In addition to public school districts, Niche also ranks private schools and colleges and universities. Niche gave Albemarle County an A grade overall, down from A+ in the 2016 rankings. In individual categories, Albemarle received an A+ for college readiness; an A for academics, teachers, administration and sports; and an A- for clubs and activities, resources and facilities, health and safety, and diversity. It received a B for food. In Virginia, Niche named the county school division as No. 3 in districts with the best teachers and No. 4 as best school districts for athletes. These very high-competitive evaluations are a tribute to the skill and dedication of our teachers, Matt Haas, deputy superintendent of Albemarle schools, said in a news release. Charlottesville, which was ranked sixth in Virginia in last years rankings, earned an A overall from Niche, the same grade as the previous year. In individual categories, Charlottesville received an A+ for college readiness and diversity, an A for teachers and an A- in academics. The district received a B+ in health and safety, a B in clubs and activities, as well as resources and facilities, and a B- in food and administration. The city schools received a C+ in sports. Niches rankings have Charlottesville as the fourth-most diverse school district in Virginia, as well as the No. 10 best place to teach in the state and No. 11 for districts with the best teachers. In surrounding county school divisions, Louisa is ranked No. 33, Fluvanna is No. 42, Nelson is No. 64, Greene is No. 72, Madison is No. 90, Orange is No. 93 and Buckingham is No. 94. There are 132 public school districts in Virginia. More information about the rankings and methodology can be found at k12.niche.com. Charlottesville community members responded Monday evening to several concepts for a memorial to commemorate the enslaved laborers who built the University of Virginia about 200 years ago. After a recently formed design team briefed the audience of about 75 students, faculty and other community members on the designs it created in response to input it received last year, groups huddled around more than a dozen tables, talking about what they would like to see built. These are merely ideas, said Mabel Wilson, a UVa graduate and architectural historian who is part of the design team. The concepts are designed with several locations around Grounds in mind the Lawn and green space along University Avenue or McCormick Road. With a few ideas wedded to those specific areas in mind, they could explore one of several themes that resonate with the complex and sobering slave narrative, such as freedom, memory and personhood. The concepts feature representations of those themes with architectural features such as ponds, stones, pillars, canopies and footpaths that would incorporate the names of the enslaved laborers and other symbols. We are putting them out there to get feedback, Wilson said. We want to hear from you so we can go through this process again. Its been very critical in figuring out what this memorial means and what it will do. Formed in 2013, the Presidents Commission on Slavery and The University has been exploring how to memorialize the enslaved laborers who built Thomas Jeffersons university two centuries ago. Since its inception, the commission has provided guidance on a number of small projects that have added new interpretive signage around grounds. The memorial, however, remains its flagship project. I think theres actually a surprising amount of energy and support for this at all levels, said commission co-chairman and UVa history professor Kirt Von Daacke. Its about time to do this. We might have to do some fundraising down the road, but I think theres an understanding that this is real important, he said. Institutions are doing this all around the world now, examining their connection to slavery. Were trying to position ourselves as a real leader in this. Although a small memorial plaque to the free and enslaved laborers who built the university can be found by the Rotunda today, critics have said its fairly unnoticeable and fails to appropriately call attention to the memory of those who laid the foundation of the university and toiled to build it. Our goal is to create a memorial that can have both emotion and empathy but also provide knowledge and education, said Meejin Yoon, an architect with the firm Howeler+Yoon. Last year, the universitys Board of Visitors chose her firm to take on the project. We didnt want to impose a design. We want the design to emerge from what we were hearing. We were amazed by the thoughtfulness. Some of it was really profound, she said about the teams commitment to engaging the public. That is very unusual. Were usually given a site, a program and a budget and told, Go, she said. Even the scale of the memorial and its primary function, its bigger than that. Its a project about bringing people together, healing and truth-telling. According to Van Daacke, the planning process for the project will proceed quickly through the next few months, as the commission is expected to present a design before the Board of Visitors this summer. The goal of the commission is to really include the community and make permanent changes to the lived landscape at the university so that this story is much more visible, he said, adding that the commission is aiming to have the project complete before the universitys bicentennial in 2019. The design team will hold its next public forum Feb. 27. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday clearing the way for the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL oil pipelines to move forward. He also signed an executive order to expedite environmental reviews of other infrastructure projects, lamenting the existing "incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process." "The regulatory process in this country has become a tangled up mess," he said. It remained unclear how Trump's order would restart the pipeline projects or expedite environmental reviews. Many of those reviews are statutory and the legislation that created them cannot be swept aside by an executive order. The White House did not immediately release texts of the orders. Trump said that both pipeline projects would be subject to renegotiation. In an Oval Office signing before reporters, the president said he would want any new projects to make use of American steel. "I am very insistent that if we're going to build pipelines in the United States, the pipe should be made in the United States," he said. The orders will have an immediate impact in North Dakota, where the pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners wants to complete the final 1,100-foot piece of the 1,172-mile pipeline route that runs under Lake Oahe. The pipeline would carry oil from the booming shale oil reserves in North Dakota to refineries and pipeline networks in Illinois. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other Native American groups have been protesting the project, which they say would imperil their water supplies and disturb sacred burial and archaeological sites. The Army Corp of Engineers called a halt to the project in December to consider alternative routes. The executive order from Trump on the Keystone XL pipeline threatens to undo a major decision by President Barack Obama, who said that the project would contribute to climate change because it would carry tar sands crude which is especially greenhouse gas intensive because of the energy it takes to extract the thick crude. TransCanada, the Calgary-based project owner, has said it would be interested in reviving the pipeline. But it was unclear what Trump's caution about renegotiation would mean for TransCanada's plans. Originally, TransCanada had planned to get about 65 percent of the steel pipe from U.S. manufacturers but other supplies from Canada. On Tuesday, Trump said: "From now on we're going to be making pipeline in the United States. We build the pipelines, we want to build the pipe. We're going to put a lot of workers, a lot of skilled workers, back to work. We will build our own pipeline, we will build our own pipes, like we used to in the old days." Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president supported energy projects "like Dakota and the Keystone Pipeline, areas that we can increase jobs, increase economic growth, and tap into America's energy supply more, that's something that he has been very clear about." Referring to comments Trump has made during the campaign and after the election, "He was talking about that being a big priority. That's one of those ones where I think that the energy sector and our natural resources are an area where I think the president is very, very keen on making sure that we maximize our use of natural resources to America's benefit." "It's good for economic growth, it's good for jobs, and it's good for American energy," Spicer added. As news of the move surfaced Tuesday morning, oil industry officials hailed it as overdue. "Making American energy great again starts with infrastructure projects like these that move resources safely and efficiently," said Stephen Brown, vice president of federal government affairs at Tesoro Companies. "We are pleased to see the new direction being taken by this administration to recognize the importance of our nation's energy infrastructure by restoring the rule of law in the permitting process that's critical to pipelines and other infrastructure projects," Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said. Environmentalists, by contrast, vowed to continue to fight the two pipelines. Greenpeace Executive Director Annie Leonard noted in a statement that a broad coalition of opponents-"Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists" -managed to block the projects in the past and would not give up now. "We all saw the incredible strength and courage of the water protectors at Standing Rock, and the people around the world who stood with them in solidarity," she said. "We'll stand with them again if Trump tries to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline, or any other fossil fuel infrastructure project, back to life." "We will resist this with all of our power and we will continue to build the future the world wants to see," she added. Bill McKibben, founder of the activist group 350.org, which has fought both the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, said the decision to allow the projects to move forward ignores the massive opposition expressed both through public protests and in comments to government agencies. "The world's climate scientists and its Nobel laureates explained over and over why it was unwise and immoral," McKibben said in a statement. "In one of his first actions as president, Donald Trump ignores all that in his eagerness to serve the oil industry. It's a dark day for a reason, but we will continue to fight." Where to find non-partisan ballot information Thank you for your non-biased bullet points explaining the three state ballot proposals in "A look at the three state... Kautman-Jones endorses Davis Please support Meredith Davis in her re-election to the Genesee County Board of Commissioners - 8th District. I have had... WASHINGTON Mike Pompeo was confirmed as CIA director by the Senate on Monday, putting the conservative Kansas congressman in charge of an agency that is bracing for its most contentious relationship with the White House in decades. As CIA director, Pompeo will be responsible for managing a global spying network at a time of escalating security problems, including renewed aggression from Russia, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and the splintering terror threat posed by the Islamic State. But, at least initially, Pompeo's most vexing task may involve finding a way to establish a functional relationship between the CIA and President Trump. The new commander in chief traveled to CIA headquarters Saturday, in a trip that was an effort to create a fresh start with an agency he has frequently treated with contempt. Instead, what Trump delivered Saturday was largely a stream-of-consciousness airing of grievances, attacking Democrats and journalists. Trump skipped most of the daily intelligence briefings offered him after his surprise election victory. He has dismissed the agency's conclusions on critical issues, particularly its determination that Russia interfered in last year's election to help him win. Most recently, Trump accused intelligence officials of orchestrating a Nazi-like campaign to smear him. Trump has expressed confidence in Pompeo, a businessman who served as a tank commander in the Army and graduated at the top of his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. "Intelligence agencies are vital and very, very important," Trump said at his news conference this month. He singled out Pompeo, saying that his administration was "putting in some outstanding people." His comments signaled that his hostility toward the agency might subside when his designated director is in charge. But CIA veterans say that Pompeo may face more fundamental challenges, including whether he will be listened to at the White House and able to insert hard information into debates presided over by a president who has suggested he sees information on WikiLeaks as more reliable than the contents of intelligence briefs. Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA and a supporter of Hillary Clinton during the campaign, said that he has "come to admire" Pompeo after the two engaged in a series of conversations since Pompeo was tapped for the job. Morell said he expects Pompeo to arrive at the CIA without any preconceived notions, putting off any decisions until he has had a chance to survey its work. "Pompeo has two key challenges: winning over a workforce a bit skeptical of him ... and making the CIA's voice heard at the Trump White House," Morell said. "I know Pompeo, and he will succeed at the first challenge. The second will be the defining issue of his tenure as director." During his confirmation hearing, Pompeo vowed that he would defy Trump if ordered to direct the agency to resume brutal interrogation measures on terrorism suspects. He described the consensus view of U.S. spy agencies that Russia hacked the election in part to help Trump as a "sound" judgment. He also said that he would "speak truth to power" once installed in the CIA director's office on the agency's 7th floor. Pompeo, 53, was a prominent member of the tea party in Congress, known for strident political views. He was a fierce critic of Clinton, a determined opponent of the Obama administration's nuclear accord with Iran, and said at one point that he regarded the U.S. government's conduct in the attacks on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, a political scandal that was "worse in some ways" than Watergate. But Pompeo has spent the post-election period seeking to reassure CIA officials and members of Congress that he is prepared to put aside that partisan persona and be an honest broker as director of the CIA. "My job," Pompeo said during his confirmation hearing, "if confirmed, will be to change roles." TUESDAY Mens group Meets for breakfast, prayer, study and service at 7 a.m. every Tuesday at St. Stephens Episcopal Church, 115 N. East St. in Culpeper as part of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. 540/825-8786 or ststephensculpeper.net. Blue Ridge Art League Meets every Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Stephens Episcopal Church on East St. in Culpeper offering Plein Air painting and other art related classes, demos, field trips to galleries and more. 540/321-4245 or blueridgeartleague@gmail.com. Culpeper Town Council committee meetings The personnel & ordinance committee meets at 9:30 a.m. followed at 10 a.m. by the public safety, public works and planning committee on Jan. 24 in the Economic Development Center, 803 S. Main St. Tuesday Morning Story Times At the Culpeper County Library for Pre-School (ages 3-5) at 10:30 a.m. and Toddlers (age 2) at 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. Stories, songs, rhymes, puppets, activities, and tips for helping children develop pre-literacy skills are shared. Pre-registration required. 540/825-8691. Families Overcoming Drug Addiction meets Every fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room at Novant Health UVa Health System Culpeper Medical Center. Call or just show up for the inclusive support group. myfodafamily.org or 540/316-9221. Pajama Story Time At 6:30 p.m. at the Culpeper County Library. Join Miss Walda for stories, rocking music, and other activities. Children in pajamas who are able to remain seated for stories and their caregivers are invited. No registration required. WEDNESDAY Culpeper Town Council committee meetings The utility committee meets at 8:30 a.m. followed at 9 a.m. by finance, technology & tourism committee on Jan. 25 in the Economic Development Center, 803 S. Main St. Culpeper County Personnel Committee Will meet at 10 a.m. Jan. 25 in closed session in the county boardroom to consider and discuss prospective candidates for the position of economic development director. Silver Citizens Club Meet 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesdays at the Culpeper County Library. 540/645-7189. Manna Ministry Offers free lunch for anyone 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays in the Culpeper Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, 215 S. Main St. 540/825-8616. Centering Prayer Group At St. Stephens Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. every Wednesday, offering an hour of reflection and prayer followed by Healing and Holy Communion service at noon. Customer Service Workshop At noon on Jan. 25 at the Culpeper County Library for business owners and employees interested in understanding the customer experience and practicing positive behaviors. Contact Jenny Knox at 571/359-3897 or jknox@peopleinc.net. Culpeper Disability Services Board Meets at 3 p.m. Jan. 25 in the county administration building, 302 N. Main St. Culpeper County Planning Commission Will meet for a work session at 6 p.m. Jan. 25 in the county administration building, 302 N. Main St. for a review of the draft 2018-2022 Capital Improvements Plan. Culpeper Chess Club Meets Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Culpeper County Library. 540/825-8691. All ages and skill levels welcome. Call-In Bible Study Every Wednesday from 7 to 7:30 p.m. with Pastor Kenneth Pitts of Beulah Baptist Church in Rixeyville. Call-in number 302/202-1118;access code 862090. THURSDAY Culpeper Renaissance, Inc. Board Meets at 8 a.m. Jan. 26 in its offices at 127 W. Davis St. Culpeper County Agricultural & Forestal Advisory Committee Meets at 9 a.m. Jan. 26 in the county boardroom, 302 N. Main St. No Excuse Mom Workout At 10 a.m. Jan. 26 in the Culpeper Library meeting room is a motivational hub for women in Culpeper who want to be healthy. It is a 30-45 minute routine using weights and resistance bands. Kids welcome. 571/212-7923. Free gentle yoga classes Are held each Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at St. Lukes Lutheran Church in Culpeper. All ages and abilities are welcome. Town of Culpeper Public Transportation Board Meets at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Virginia Regional Transit facility, 1099 Brandy Knoll Court. Book talk Local author Mark OConnell will discuss his books, Inside the Criminal Mind and Justice Denied, at 6 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Culpeper County Library. Books will be available for purchase and autographing. 540/825-8691. Ball of Fire The Library of Congress Packard Theater screens this 1941 screwball comedy starring Gary Cooper at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 26. Free. No reservations required. 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. 202/707-9994. FRIDAY Coffee with Cops From the Culpeper Police Dept. 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Jan. 27 at Ravens Nest Coffee House, 215 E. Davis St. The event is an opportunity to ask questions, voice concerns and get to know local officers. Proceeds from all sales will benefit Service to Abused Families. VFW Friday Night Bingo At the Culpeper Post on Sperryville Pike. Doors open at 5 p.m., play starts at 6:45 p.m. Guaranteed $1,000 jackpot, regular games pay $100 if more than 90 players. Only upstairs seating available in non-smoking facility. Cabaret The Library of Congress Packard Theater screens this 1972 film based on the Broadway musical at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 27. Free. No reservations required. 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. 202/707-9994. Manna Ministry Offers free lunch for anyone 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fridays in the Culpeper Presbyterian Fellowship Hall, 215 S. Main St. 540/825-8616. SATURDAY Engaging the senior population conference Aging Together & Reformation Lutheran Church present a morning with Dr. Charles Arn at 9 a.m. Jan. 28 in the church at 509 S. Main St. in Culpeper. Light refreshments will be served 540/829-6405 or email Dbanks@agingtogether.org Essential oils & sleep Class from 11 a.m. to noon Jan. 28 at the Pranapiloga wellness studios, upstairs at 162 E. Davis St. 540/317-5518 or pranapiloga@gmail.com Read to the Dogs At 10:30 a.m. Jan. 28 at the Culpeper County Library featuring Welcome Wagger Therapy Dogs specially trained to listen as children read to them. Children of all ages are welcome. Pinocchio The Library of Congress Packard Theatre screens this 1940 animated Disney classic at 2 p.m. on Jan. 28. Free. No reservations required. 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. 202/707-9994. Dinner & dancing fund-raiser From 7 to 10 p.m. Jan. 28 at Verdun Adventure Bound, 17044 Adventure Bound Trail in Rixeyville, featuring deep cuts and roots music from Petes Unnamed Band and a chicken with pork dinner. $15 per person, $25 per couple with tickets sold at the door only. 540/937-4920. Voices of the Lake of the Woods Church concert At 7 p.m. Jan. 28 featuring the New Lakers, former Air Force Band soloist Charles Mincey, National Christian Choir soloist Gail Smith, theater and cabaret stars Sherri Lasover and Tom Northam, gospel and church music recording artists and composers Faith Quiroga and Stephanie Austin, and Lindsay Latham. A Cookie Concerto Reception will follow the performance for meeting and greeting our performers. 540/972-9060. FREE. The Terminator The Library of Congress Packard Theatre screens this 1984, R-rated action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 28. Free. No reservations required. 19053 Mt. Pony Road in Culpeper. 202/707-9994. SUNDAY Installation of church leaders At 10 a.m. Jan. 29 at Beulah Baptist in Rixeyville with message by the Rev. Lawrence Hutcherson. All are welcome. 540/937-5563. Orange County African American Historical Society Will host its annual meeting at 2 p.m. on Jan. 29 at the Orange Historical Society Building, 130 Caroline St. in the town of Orange featuring guest speaker Charles C. Jameson, of Culpeper, Chairman of the George Washington Carver Regional High School Alumni Association and Board Member of the George Washington Carver Agricultural Research Center. All are welcome and encouraged to attend. Light refreshments will be served. Beekeeper course Meet-and-greet from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 29 at Verdun Adventure Bound, off of Rixeyville Road in Culpeper. The Northern Piedmont Beekeepers Association will host a seven-week for those interested in becoming beekeepers beginning Jan. 31 with classes held from 7 to 9 p.m. at Verdun Adventure Bound. Pre-registration is required. kahu9@juno.com or 540/937-4792. Mid-Day Lions Bingo Held at Peppers Grill every Sunday, doors open at 6:30 p.m. Three progressives each night, $1,000 jackpot. 540/937-1730. GET LISTED: Send your calendar items and community news briefs to events@starexponent.com Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Germanna Community Colleges dental hygiene students will provide free care during their annual Give Kids a Smile Day on Saturday, Feb. 4. The students provide free dental cleanings, x-rays, sealants and fluoride to children ages 17-and-younger from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to Germanna spokesman Mike Zitz. The program takes place at the Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic at 1301 Sam Perry Blvd. in Fredericksburg. No appointment is needed as patients will be seen on a first come, first served basis. This free clinic will serve 50 children and provide an estimated $14,000 in services. Each year, about 40,000 children benefit from the Give Kids a Smile program, according to the American Dental Association. For more information, contact Marlana Thomas, Germanna assistant dental programs coordinator and instructor at 540/423-9833 or mthomas@germanna.edu. A new cardiology clinic opened inside Novant Health UVa Health System Culpeper Medical Center on Monday, providing continuous cardiology services in the area. The 6,000-square-foot newly-renovated clinic space includes seven exam rooms and four diagnostic rooms for echocardiography, exercise stress tests, nuclear stress tests and vascular ultrasound, according to hospital spokeswoman Ashton Miller. Dr. Kwame Akosah and Dr. J. Cullen Hardy, both board-certified and fellowship-trained cardiologists, will provide cardiology services as part of the new clinic. Greg Napps, CEO of Culpeper Medical Center, informed a group of retired hospital employees last September that the new clinic was being built in the area of the hospitals former administrative offices near the main entrance. We are glad to now offer additional cardiology access through our partnership with UVa Health System, Napps said. We have known for some time that there is a local need for cardiology services and the new suite will allow us to better serve our community and our patients. Renovations to enhance the lobby of the hospital began during the summer of 2016. I am excited to see patients in our new clinic and to work alongside a dedicated team that cares for patients with a variety of cardiovascular conditions from coronary artery disease to heart failure, Akosah said. And because of our unique relationship with UVa Health System, we are able to offer the same level of care provided at an academic medical center right here in the Culpeper community. Napps added that the new cardiology physicians will be available 24/7. Meanwhile, the administrative staff that used to be inside the hospital was relocated to the Ruby Beck house across the street from the hospital to make room for the cardiology clinic. After receiving his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine in 1985, Akosah completed his internship in 1986 and his residency in 1989 from St. Vincents Hospital Medical Center of New York. He completed his fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia School of Medicine in 1992. Hardy received his primary degree from Tulane University, completed his residency at the University of Virginia and completed his fellowship at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. To make an appointment with Culpeper Medical Center cardiology services, call 540/829-4400. Rhonda Simmons can be reached at rsimmons@starexponent.com or 540/825-6397. The Virginia State Police is starting the New Year with new leadership in its Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The promotions result from the Feb. 1, 2017, retirement of current BCI Director, Lt. Colonel Rick A. Jenkins. Colonel W. Steven Flaherty appointed Major Gary T. Settle, the BCI deputy director since July 2015, as the new bureau director effective Wednesday. Before being appointed to the executive staff, Settle served as the BCI Commander for the Culpeper Field Office. Settle began his law enforcement career in 1984 as a deputy with the Rappahannock County Sheriffs Office. He joined the state police in 1986 and was assigned to Frederick and Clarke counties as a new trooper. In 1996, he was elected sheriff in Rappahannock County and in 2000 returned to state police. During his tenure with state police, Settle has served as a special agent, sergeant, first sergeant, field lieutenant, DES lieutenant and captain, while assigned to the state police Culpeper and Wytheville divisions. He was appointed to BCI captain of the Culpeper Field Office July 25, 2010. Settle earned a Masters in Homeland Security and Defense from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., and holds a bachelors degree in criminal justice administration. The Rappahannock County native also completed the University of Virginia National Criminal Justice Command College and the National Sheriffs Institute Executive Management Program in Colorado. BCI is the investigative branch of the Virginia State Police and consists of seven field offices across the commonwealth. Within each field office is a General Investigative Section and a Drug Enforcement Section. The bureau also consists of the High-Tech Crimes Division, Criminal Intelligence Division, Help Eliminate Auto Theft Unit, Insurance Fraud Unit and Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Interdiction Unit. Effective Feb. 10, 2017, Capt. Timothy D. Lyon will step into the BCI deputy director position vacated by Settle. Lyon is currently the BCI commander for the Salem Field Office. Lyon began his career with the State Police upon graduation from the Academy in February 1986. His first three years as trooper were spent patrolling Pulaski and Giles County in the Wytheville Divisions Area 24. In 1989, he was appointed to special agent and transferred to the BCI Chesapeake Field Office. During his tenure with State Police, Lyon has progressed through the BCI ranks at the Salem Field Office as a special agent, narcotics task force coordinator, first sergeant and lieutenant in both the General Investigations and Drug Enforcement sections. In 2011, he was appointed captain and served as the commander of the BCI Appomattox Field Office. The Carroll County native then transferred in November 2013 to his current position as commander of the BCI Salem Field Office. Lyon graduated Eastern Kentucky University with a bachelors degree in police administration. He is also a 2004 graduate of the FBI National Academy and completed a six-month fellowship with the FBIs Police Executive Fellowship Program, where he served on the National Joint Terrorism Task Force. Lyon is a founding member of the Eastern Kentucky Universitys Association of Security/Loss Prevention. He earned the Virginia State Police Superintendents Award of Merit for his superior response and leadership during the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre and criminal investigation. Retiring after a distinguished 38-year career with the state police, Lt. Col. Jenkins has served as BCI director since his appointment July 10, 2015. A native of Fauquier County, Jenkins began his state police career in 1978 as a dispatcher in the Culpeper Division. He graduated from the state police Academy in 1981 with his first patrol assignment as a trooper in Spotsylvania County. During the next 23 years, the highly-skilled investigator and supervisor moved through the state police ranks as a special agent, special agent accountant and supervisor in the Culpeper Field Office. In 2004, he was promoted to the rank of BCI captain and oversaw that offices GIS and DES personnel. Jenkins earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of Mary Washington and a Post-baccalaureate Certificate in Criminal Justice Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is also a graduate of the Administrative Officers Management Program from North Carolina State University. During his tenure with the Department, Jenkins also has earned numerous awards and recognitions for his investigative expertise and dedication to public service. WASHINGTON Transportation officials in Washington say the more than a million trips taken on the city's rail system Saturday make the day the second highest ridership day in the system's history. Metro tweeted Sunday that 1,001,616 trips were taken on the rail system on Saturday, the day of the Women's March on Washington. Metro said Monday that the day ranks second in ridership behind Jan. 20, 2009, the day of President Barack Obama's first inauguration. Metro says 1,120,000 trips were taken that day. The days are the only ones where more than a million trips were taken on the system. Metro spokesman Dan Stessel had said that on Friday, the day of Donald Trump's inauguration, just over 570,000 trips were taken on the rail system. LONDON - England - As treachery and treason comes, having a citizen of Guyana win a court case thwarting the will of the British people simply because she paid europhile judges lots of money is a definite pitiful note in Britain's democracy. Before the EU Referendum, both parliament and politicians vowed the referendum was the final word of the people and the result would be honoured. This is probably because they never thought that Brexit would be the answer. Only when the answer was not what they wanted to hear did they go back on their word. To socialists and leftists, there is no such thing as a democracy, and we have seen that with the treacherous court case brought by the infantile Gina Miller and her sewage politics of corrupt money. By paying off eurocentric judges bags of money this is not democracy. This is law committed by treachery, dishonesty and corruption. Where a legitimate EU referendum can be overturned by unelected judges who are clearly under the control of Brussels, is a nail in the coffin of justice, and legal authority. Their judgement does not mean anything apart from proclaiming the British judicial system a tool for rich people to buy. With this nail in British justices coffin comes the crown of excrement, freshly laid on Gina Millers head for all to see. Let her wear her crown till her dying day, let her every day smell the putrid rotting shit on her head, her crown of glorious corruption, of defilement of British democracy, of thwarting the will of millions of British citizens and for those who fought and died in World War II for our freedom. May the millions who died in WW2 shout in your ears for the rest of your sorry life, Gina Miller, you and your treasonous scum friends who made every effort to commit treason and succeed in your ardent fervour. You will wear the turd crown on your head forever. We understand Ms. Miller is under armed guard 24 hours a day and cannot go outside. Maybe you should go back to Guyana where you can at least walk about unhindered, as you cannot do the same in Britain as you are hated so much. The notion of a technological singularity brought about by advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has entertained academics, inventors, futurists, and journalists since the concept was first coined around the middle of the last century. The singularity posits that, at some point in the near or distant future, we humans will create AI that outsmarts us, leading to all sorts of unhappy results for our kind. Depending on whether you prefer utopian or dystopian science fiction, the singularity will either be absolutely fabulous or downright horrifying. Mathemetician and science-fiction writer Vernor Vinge is thought to have coined the term the singularity. Vinges view in this 1993 essay is decidedly dystopian: Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. While Vinges timeline may be a little off (we assure you this was written by a human, not a robot), the ideas he espoused have taken root and caused consternation for great minds such as Stephen Hawking, Ray Kurzweil, and Elon Musk, among many others. Meanwhile, AI marvels such as IBMs Watson and Googles AlphaGo have performed a variety of amazing tasks. Watson famously beat a human in Jeopardy! in 2011, and AlphaGo defeated a human in the ancient and complex game of Go. But AI is not all fun and games. IBM is applying Watson AI to solve major medical challenges. In a presentation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 17, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty spoke about AI advancements. For example, she said Watson can now spot some forms of cancer better than a panel of human experts. One of the first new machine-learning products from Google, according to Re/Code, is a jobs API designed to help companies looking to hire hundreds of workers at a time. Re/Code reports that Career Builder, Dice, and FedEx are planning to use the new service. Anyone buying into the singularity might find it ironic (or scary) that one of the first big AI products is designed to help companies hire humans en masse. Anyone currently looking for a job, who has already run up against the brick wall of resume bots, is probably filled with dread at this idea. After all, AI is only as smart as the humans creating it (for now). Were certainly getting better at it, technological advancements are accelerating to help us along, and competition in the AI space is heating up. MITs Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson tackle the technological, business, and ethical advances and challenges presented by the singularity in the July/August 2016 edition of Foreign Affairs. They write: The costs of processing, memory, bandwidth, sensors, and storage continue to fall exponentially. Cloud computing will make all these resources available on demand across the world. Digital data will become only more pervasive, letting us run experiments, test theories, and learn at an ever-greater scale. And the billions of humans around the world are growing increasingly connected; theyre not only tapping into the worlds knowledge (much of which is available for free) but also expanding and remixing it. This means that the global population of innovators, entrepreneurs, and geeks is growing quickly and, with it, the potential for breakthroughs. Where AI excels, according to McAfee and Brynjolfsson, is in jobs that involve pattern recognition. These can be tasks such as recognizing street signs, parsing human speech, identifying credit fraud, and modeling how materials will behave under different conditions, they write, predicting [J]obs that involve matching patterns, in particular, from customer service to medical diagnosis, will increasingly be performed by machines. Back To The Real World While its fun to ponder how AI and the singularity might transform our future, its far more meaningful for most of us working in IT to consider whats happening right now as the AI rubber meets the corporate road. Infosys attempts to provide some answers in its January 2017 research report, Amplifying Human Potential: Towards Purposeful Artificial Intelligence, which is based on a survey of 1,600 business and IT decision makers worldwide conducted in November 2016 by Vanson Bourne. According to the report, AI is perceived as a long-term strategic priority for innovation, with 76% of survey respondents citing AI as fundamental to the success of their organizations strategy, and 64% believing their organizations future growth is dependent on large-scale AI adoption. The IT department is the leading adopter of AI in the enterprise, according to 69% of respondents, followed by operations (34%), business development (33%), marketing (29%) and commercial, sales and customer services (28%). How are organizations preparing for AI deployment and use? Heres how it breaks down (multiple responses were allowed): Investing in supporting IT infrastructure (60% of respondents) Developing knowledge/skills (53%) Using external support to assist with planning (46%) Building AI into company ethos (43%) Using external support for knowledge gathering (40%) Gathering feedback from customers (32%) Assessing customer / industry approach (25%) The Infosys report offers a fairly rosy outlook for employees. In 80% of cases where companies are replacing roles with AI, the study finds, organizations are redeploying or retraining staff to retain them in the business. Furthermore, 53% are specifically investing in skills development. Organizations with fewer AI-related skills are more likely to re-deploy workers impacted by AI adoption, whereas those with more AI-related skills are more likely to re-train employees, according to the study. The leading industries that plan to retain and retrain their workers are: fast-moving consumer goods (94% of respondents); aerospace and automotive (87%); energy, oil and gas (80%); and pharmaceutical and life sciences (78%). Respondents say their organizations have deployed, or are planning to deploy, AI in the following technology areas (multiple responses were allowed): Big data automation (65% of respondents) Predictive/prescriptive analytics (54%) Machine learning (51%) Expert systems software that leverages databases and repositories to assist decision-making (44%) Deep learning neural networks (31%) On average, the companies surveyed by Vanson Bourne for the Infosys report have invested $6.7 million in AI in the last year, and have been actively using AI for an average of two years. Respondents in pharmaceuticals/life sciences are most likely to say their organizations have fully and successfully deployed AI technology (40%) with respondents in the public sector most likely to say their organizations have no plans to use it (27%). The Infosys report also explores which skills organizations will seek from future generations in the workforce. More than half of respondents (58%) cite active learning and 53% cite complex problem-solving and as key skills. Other important skills are critical thinking (46% of respondents) creativity (46%), and logical reasoning (43%). The most important academic subjects respondents see as focus areas for future generations are computer sciences (72%), business and management (47%), and mathematics (45%). When asked about which skills their current employees offer to implement and use AI, its clear most organizations have room for improvement. Roughly half of all respondents say their current workforce has the following necessary skills (multiple responses were allowed): Development skills (58% of respondents) Security skills (58%) Implementation skills (57%) Training skills (47%) Customer-facing skills (37%) No AI skills (10%) Does this mean AI will usher in a period of sustained job growth and economic advancement? Accenture researchers analyzed 12 developed economies and found that AI has the potential to double their annual economic growth rates by 2035. In their report Why AI Is The Future Of Growth, Accenture analysts Mark Purdy and Paul Daugherty write: With AI as the new factor of production, it can drive growth in at least three important ways. First, it can create a new virtual workforcewhat we call intelligent automation. Second, AI can complement and enhance the skills and ability of existing workforces and physical capital. Third, like other previous technologies, AI can drive innovations in the economy. Over time, this becomes a catalyst for broad structural transformation as economies using AI not only do things differently, they will also do different things. McAfee and Brynjolfsson also suggest positive changes through AI, as long as we humans can avoid standing in our own way. In times of rapid change, when the world is even less predictable than usual, people and organizations need to be given greater freedom to experiment and innovate, they write in their Foreign Affairs article. In other words, when one aspect of the capitalist dynamic of creative destruction is speeding upin this case, the substitution of digital technologies for cognitive workthe right response is to encourage the other elements of the system to also move faster. Everything from individual tasks to entire industries is being disrupted, so its foolish to try to lock in place select elements of the existing order. Yet often, the temptation to try to preserve the status quo has proved irresistible. Perhaps if we could be more like AI, we wouldnt have to overcome what the Infosys report identifies as the top five barriers to adoption: employee fear of change; lack of in-house skills to implement and manage AI; lack of knowledge about where AI can exist; concerns about handing over control; and cultural acceptance. Still, as this New York Times article notes, creating AI that can play a game like Go better than a human requires the work of thousands of humans. The article is likely to allay many fears because, as author George Johson writes, Computer scientists are experimenting with programs that can generalize far more efficiently. But the squishy neural nets in our heads shaped by half a billion years of evolution and given a training set as big as the world can still hold their own against ultra-high-speed computers designed by teams of humans, programmed for a single purpose and given an enormous head start. Suzuki Motorcycles India-made motorcycle, the Gixxer 155, will be exported to the Japanese market. This is the first India-made Suzuki motorcycle to be sold in Suzuki's home country. Suzuki has already shipped the first consignment of the made-in-India Gixxer motorcycles to Japan. The Gixxer is powered by a 155cc, single-cylinder, air-cooled engine mated to a five-speed gearbox. The engine produces maximum power of 14.8PS @8000rpm and peak torque of 14Nm @ 6000rpm. The motorcycle is available in two variants: naked Gixxer and faired Gixxer SF. Both the bikes also get fuel injection and rear disc brake as an option. Commenting on the accomplishment Satoshi Uchida, Managing Director, SMIPL, said, It is a very proud moment for all of us as we send off our Indian flagship motorcycle Gixxer to Japan. We are already exporting Gixxer to other countries like Latin America and some surrounding countries. The export of made in India vehicles to Japan denotes the high quality benchmarks established by SMIPL and its expanding global role. Exporting the Gixxer to Japan would also mean showcasing the advanced technology and superior quality standards within the competitive price range that have been developed by SMIPL in India. We are confident that the Gixxer will be well accepted by Japanese consumer as well. Source: Bikedekho.com The much-awaited Yamaha FZ25 is launched in India at a price of Rs 1,19,500 (ex-showroom Delhi). The FZ25 is an all-new bike and joins the FZ line of Yamahas existing street nakeds. Its also the most powerful Yamaha to be manufactured in India, which shows that the Indian market is embracing powerful bikes with open arms. Taking design cues from the existing FZ version 2.0 series, the Yamaha FZ25 gets an aggressive appearance. A few bits have also been taken from the bigger MT-03, making it look meaner than its siblings. Bolted on a diamond-type, double downtube frame, the bike has a robust built along with a masculine appeal reflected on the chiselled fuel tank, muscular tank shrouds and a low-slung, sharp headlamp. Also, it will be the second made-in-India bike to get an LED headlamp unit after the recently-launched Bajaj Dominar 400. The bike will also get Auto Headlamp on (AHO) feature and an LCD instrument cluster. Powering the Yamaha FZ25 is a 249cc single-cylinder, air/oil-cooled, 2-valve engine that has been taken from the Brazillian model of the Fazer 250. The fuel-injected motor makes 20.9PS of power and 20Nm of torque, and comes mated to a five-speed gearbox that works quite well like any other Yamaha motorcycle. The bike also receives an FZ series signature midship muffler that goes well with the styling as well. The new bike shares beefy 43mm telescopic forks at the front and a monocross suspension at the rear with its 150cc siblings, while the wheels, tyres and brakes are new. The FZ25 gets new split-spoke alloys with slightly wider tyres as compared to the smaller FZs. It also features a disc brake on both the front and the rear end; the front disc being larger. The bike misses on ABS even as an optional extra, which might turn out to be the biggest disadvantage of this new model in the highly competitive segment. If we talk about the rivals, there is a wide range of competition, starting from the low-cost TVS Apache RTR 200 4V and the Bajaj Pulsar 200 range to the similarly priced Bajaj Dominar 400 and Mahindra Mojo in a slightly higher range. Source: Gaadi.com Before parting, Mr Srivatsa also teased about a new sub-4 meter SUV being launched later this year but refused to divulge further details. Hyderabad: Having sealed a top-three slot in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Tata Motors on Tuesday reaffirmed its ambition to seal the top-three slot across India. Speaking at the Hyderabad launch for Tata Hexa, senior general manager, marketing, Tata Motors, Vivek Srivatsa said, The passenger vehicle segment in India is enjoying a boom and with Tata Motors performing better than the average has led to capturing of market shares. He added, Tata Motors has already confirmed its top spot in AP and Telangana. We will now aim to replicate it across the nation and seal the third spot in the nation. When asked about which vehicle has performed the best, he said: Tata Tiago is definitely performing well but Tata Motors isnt a one-vehicle company and every vehicle has contributed in its own manner. Before parting, Mr Srivatsa also teased about a new sub-4 meter SUV being launched later this year but refused to divulge further details. In due time, we will host another similar event for that. We can talk about that then. Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said today its chief executive officer James Hogan will step down in the second half of 2017 after leading the fast-growing Gulf carrier for more than 10 years. The government-owned carrier said the move is part of a "transition process" initiated by its board and Hogan last year. HCL Technologies, however, did not provide guidance on the possible impact in case any adverse regulations are introduced. New Delhi: HCL Technologies today said it has"stepped up" efforts in the US for campus and entry-level hires to support growth in coming quarters even though a "very high percentage of employees" is already local hires. There are concerns that the new government in the US, under Donald Trump, is likely to push for a stricter visa regime to curb "abuse" of H1-B and L1 visas used by foreign workers. Such a move will have a significant impact on Indian IT firms, which get about 60 per cent of their revenues from the US. "We have really looked at our current base of employees and looked at which part of those could be replaced by local hiring... We are stepping up our campus and entry-level hiring in the US to support some of the growth that we will see in coming quarters," HCL Technologies President and CEO C Vijayakumar told reporters here. He added that the company has been applying for "less than 1,000 visas a year" on an average over the past 3-4 years. "It has been coming down. Our strategy has been in all IT outsourcing deals, we re-badge a lot of people from our clients and we hire people from local geographies. So, that's why we have a very high percentage of our employees in the US who are local hires," he added. While Vijayakumar did not disclose specific number of local hires, he said the company currently recruits over 55 per cent local employees in the US. Local hiring may result in lower operating margins as this increases operating costs. HCL Technologies, however, did not provide guidance on the possible impact in case any adverse regulations are introduced. It has maintained its outlook of 19.5-20.5 per cent operating margin for 2016-17. In terms of revenue, it expects growth to be between 12-14 per cent in constant dollar for the fiscal, based on 2015-16 currency rates. About demand environment in the US, Vijayakumar said there is no reduction in spending or outsourcing that the company has seen yet. "Intuitively, you will feel that they are cautious. But if you really see, no one has done anything different. They continue to do the same programmes, similar RFPs (request for proposals). Of course, there is a little more conversation on how much visa dependent are you, will you have an impact?" he said. Vijayakumar said while there may be pros and cons of some of the decisions taken in the US, largely there will be a "business friendly" environment. About the impact of new technologies like automation and artificial intelligence on future hiring, Vijayakumar said the headcount may grow only 5-6 per cent. "There is going to be some optimisation due to automation... Last 4 years, our revenues have grown at about 12 per cent CAGR, but headcount has grown only 6-7 per cent, which means it's non-linear. This year, we are growing at 12-14 per cent, but headcount may grow only 5-6 per cent," he said. He maintained that hiring will be across categories, including laterals and freshers. HCL Technologies reported broad-based growth across all revenue segments with the Americas and Europe growing by 13.6 per cent and 17.6 per cent, respectively, year-on-year. For the quarter to December, HCL Technologies had cash and cash equivalents of Rs 2,214.5 crore. It signed nine transformational deals this quarter across service lines, industry verticals and geographies. "HCL Tech has a significant focus on utilities, healthcare, manufacturing and life sciences, among other verticals, that are witnessing a higher need for digital transformation and hence, higher margins," Greyhound Research V-P and Principal Analyst Anshoo Nandwaan said. Public services grew at 24.1 per cent, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) at 22.7 per cent, lifesciences and healthcare at 14 per cent and financial services at 5.4 per cent on LTM y-o-y in terms of constant currency. Mumbai: Indian firms in December 2016 raised USD 2.8 billion in overseas borrowings, including that from rupee denominated bonds (RDB), according to RBI data. In the same month a year ago (December 2015), the foreign borrowings by Indian firms were at USD 3.03 billion. However, the data can not be compared year-on-year basis, as the Indian companies were allowed to raise money through newly introduced RDB instruments in 2016. The Reserve Bank started publishing data on these rupee denominated bonds from September last year. Of the total fund raised during the month, money through external commercial borrowings (ECB), both from automatic and approval route, were at USD 2.49 billion. The rest of USD 315.50 million were generated by floating rupee denominated bonds in December by a total of seven companies. Those raising money via RDB included: Sembcorp Gayatri Power USD 116.26 million for power project, while Ikea India Pvt Ltd and Zuari Cement Ltd raised USD 73.64 million each for general corporate purpose and refinancing of earlier rupee loans, respectively. Using ECB channel, the companies who borrowed funds from overseas by approval route included Reliance Industries USD 1.75 billion for refinancing of earlier ECB and TSMT Technology India Ltd USD 14 million for starting new project. From automatic route: Intas Pharmaceuticals borrowed USD 274.16 million for overseas acquisition, IL&FS Transportation Networks USD 50 million for on lending, Novozymes South Asia Ltd USD 47.13 million for rupee expenditure and Lulu Convention and Exhibition Centre USD 48.03 million for new project. The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its post-facto approval for launching of Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017), an official statement said. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave its post-facto approval to a pension scheme for senior citizens under which insurance behemoth LIC will provide a guaranteed return of 8 per cent for 10 years, as part of the Centre's social security and financial inclusion programme. The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its post-facto approval for launching of Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana 2017 (VPBY 2017), an official statement said. The scheme will provide an assured pension based on a guaranteed rate of return of 8 per cent per annum for ten years, with an option to opt for pension on a monthly/quarterly/half yearly and annual basis,it informed. The scheme will be implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) in the current financial year to provide social security during old age and protect elderly persons aged 60 years and above against a future fall in their interest income due to uncertain market conditions. The differential return the difference between the return generated by state-owned LIC and the assured return of 8 per cent per annum would be borne by the government as subsidy on an annual basis. VPBY-2017 is proposed to be open for subscription for a period of one year from the date of launch, the statement said. The pension scheme, the release said is a part of the governments commitment for financial inclusion and social security. Ind-Ra has also flagged off concerns regarding mutual funds exposure to these highly sensitive corporates. Mumbai: India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) on Tuesday said that a depreciating rupee remains a significant risk for corporate balance sheets with significant exposure to foreign debt as it could impact their credit profiles. What is worrying more is that a significant portion of the foreign debt is unhedged leaving companies with weak financials more vulnerable to fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate. According to Ind-Ra, about hundred forex borrowers had 64 per cent of their gross foreign exposure unhedged. The agency believes that sectors which are dependent on imports such as oil and gas, metal and mining, airlines, chemical and fertiliser, paper and paper products, which are highly sensitive to forex movements, could witness a sharp deterioration in their credit profile, if rupee was to depreciate. These sectors together have 63 per cent of Rs 13.5 lakh crore of gross exposure unhedged. There are 29 sub investment grade outstanding corporate borrowers who had hedged only 26 per cent of their foreign exchange exposure. These companies according to the rating agency could be highly vulnerable given their existing weak financial strength. However, the impact on the remaining 71 investment grade corporates where 38 per cent of their foreign exchange exposure has been hedged could be cushioned given their strong business model and financial strength. The agency analysis indicates that 54 entities with Rs 10.1 lakh crore in total foreign currency debt are highly sensitive to forex movements while 46 entities with Rs 11.2 lakh crore debts remain low to moderately exposed. For the Oil & Gas sector, the concern could potentially compound as an uptick in the crude oil prices coupled with rupee depreciation spells double whammy for the corporates with merely 12.6 per cent and 43 per cent of foreign currency debt and trade exposure hedged respectively. However, according to Ind-Ra, sectors such as gems and jewellers, IT and pharma could experience an improvement in their financial profile owing to their advantage of being exporters and hedging practices calibrated to benefit from rupee depreciation. Similarly sectors namely auto and automotive suppliers and cement are likely to benefit as they have nearly 70-100 per cent of their forex exposure hedged. Ind-Ra has also flagged off concerns regarding mutual funds exposure to these highly sensitive corporates. Of the top 100 corporates, MF debt portfolio is restricted to only 31 firms corporates with majority enjoying high investment grade rating. New Delhi: US President Donald Trump's first executive orders to come out of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) should favour India. TPP a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) of 12 pacific rim nations was feared in India as it might have hit the countrys export to its member nations. It was proposed by the United States to bypass the WTO where India has stood its ground to protect its interests. TPP would have hit not the only export of finished products but also the export of much intermediary or raw material to the 12 member nations. Definitely it is a good development for India. It was an issue not only of export of Indian products to the US but in TPP you have issues like yarn forward rules which may have affected exports of many of Indias intermediaries to these member countries also. So it is not only the issue of India getting better access to the US, it is also overall good for exports of Indias intermediaries to members of TPP, said Ajay Sahai, director general and CEO, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). Indias export to the 12 TPP countries stood at around $79.5 billion in the fiscal year 2014-15. Centre for Policy Research in a paper had said that the TPP is expected to make around 11,000 tariff lines duty-free for its members. The paper also said that this extensive tariff elimination will definitely result in a loss of competitiveness of Indian exports in these markets. Another study has said India will lose $2.7 billion in exports, with additional billions being lost as more countries join TPP, the paper had said. Japan has already indicated that if the US comes out then there is no reason for TPP to exist. This even as Australia said on Tuesday that it was working to recast the TPP and opened the door for China to sign up. There is also the opportunity for the TPP to proceed without the US. Certainly, there is the potential for China to join the TPP, said Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Mumbai: Pulkit Samrat, has a stagnated career at his disposal and he is well aware. The actor, whos had a couple of forgettable releases in Sanam Re, Junooniyat, and Bangistan, only has Fukrey 2- which has him reprise his relatively more popular role, for the second time -to look forward to. Pulkit was rumoured to have been in a steady relationship with Yami Gautam, which cost him his marriage. Shweta Rohira, his wife, recently filed for divorce, and a frustrated Pulkit had even been spotted manhandling a media photographer. All this is in the wake of his separation from Yami, with whom, he even did two films, Sanam Re, and Junooniyat, both of which were commercial debacles. Yami, it has to be noted, has become an A-list actress now, having bagged the prestigious Kaabil, opposite Hrithik Roshan, which doesnt just use her as a visual prop. All of this seems to be making Pulkit rue his separation from Shweta, whom he married in 2014. Pulkit, who had even been under the safe wings of Salman Khan, no more has the support of the superstar either. It remains to be seen if Pulkit would actively try to reconcile with Shweta, now that hes regretting the impending divorce, every bit. Mumbai: Sanam Re star Pulkit Samrat got himself into a fight with a photographer on Monday. The actor arrived at a Family Court in Bandra, with his estranged wife, Shweta Rohira where they filed for divorce. According to a report in mid-day, a photographer instigated the actor by questioning him on his personal affairs when he was walking out of the court. The questions irked Pulkit and he got into a physical altercation with the photographer. The photographer, Santosh Nagarkar says, "Pulkit and Shweta arrived together at around 1 pm. They were inside the court for over three hours. When they left, Pulkit attempted to make a run to avoid the cameras. When we chased him, he threatened us and grabbed me by my collar. He was accompanied by his security guards and lawyer, who also punched us, Nagarkar told the daily. However, Pulkit has a different story to tell. He said, The photographer pushed my uncle and me and was recording it. I requested him to let me pass, but he refused to give way." Every story has two sides and we are clueless which is the right one. Alec Baldwin's impersonation of Trump on the show has been loved by the audiences. New York: At the dawn of the Donald Trump administration, 'Saturday Night Live's' own Trump - Alec Baldwin - will be back as the show's guest host for the 17th time. The NBC show said Monday that Baldwin will host the Feb. 11 show. Baldwin, who has been portraying Trump on a semi-regular basis this season, has hosted the venerable comedy show more times than any other person. SNL said that actress Kristen Stewart will debut as a host on the Feb. 4 show. Alessia Cara will be the musical guest on Stewart's show, with Ed Sheeran performing on Baldwin's show. Chennai: A day after police forcibly evicted pro-Jallikattu protesters, actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday questioned the action and said he was shocked that women and children were also reportedly caught in the melee. The popular actor said he wanted "reasonable explanation" for the police action. On videos which have gone viral purportedly showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, Haasan said he hoped they were not 'real cops.' "Hope cops seen in videos are not real". Referring to the protests, he said it was a symbol of discontent. The uprising is "absolutely legitimate", the top star said, adding he was very touched by the protests. On the ban on Jallikattu, he said more people die in accidents than in Jallikattu. On demands for banning animal rights group PETA, he said he did not support banning PETA. "Can correct them, if they are wrong." The 62-year-old actor, reacting to the police crackdown on protesters, had yesterday tweeted, "aggressive police action on students' passive resistance will not bear good results." He had also urged protesters not to resort to violence. Haasan, a known Jallikattu supporter, had earlier lauded students for conducting a peaceful stir on the bull taming sport, saying he had become a fan of these students. Police had on Monday evicted scores of pro-Jallikattu protesters from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially Marina beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and baton charge at a few places in the city. It has been a long while since Sanjjanaa Galrani was seen in Malayalam films. She had noticeable roles in the Mohanlal-starrer Casanova and Mammooty-starrer King and the Commissioner. While she had been getting offers from the Malayalam industry, she turned them down for one single reason they all had newcomers at the helm of affairs. But through the upcoming Mollywood film, Jannat she broke that rule too she worked with a relatively new director and scriptwriter. All those who have seen her in the song Ya Moula from Jannat would find it difficult to equate the westernised Sanjjanaa playing a traditional Malabari Muslim girl. The actress who is active in Kannada, Telugu and Tamil films explains, I mostly work with established actors and directors and I am very choosy about my projects, but I found the script of Jannat very interesting and exciting. Throwing light on her role, she says, I play a Malabari Muslim girl in this love story. For someone who is very westernised in her way of dressing, it was a novelty to wear such traditional attires. Since I know Tamil, it was relatively easy to grasp the Malabar accent and dialogues. But I had a lot of mugging to do. Tamil and Malayalam are difficult to grasp. Though Sanjjanaa says that Malayalam was challenging, she proceeds to speak in admirably good Malayalam. While complimenting her, she says impishly, I know enough Malayalam now that if someone scolds me and calls me patti, I say same to you. Now, I am not at sea when people around me speak in Malayalam; I can understand and speak back as well. Incidentally, Sanjjanaa is fluent in Telugu, Kannada and mentions that she wants to learn Punjabi. While Kannada and Telugu films keep her busy, Sanjjanaa has also got her hand in a lot of pies with regard to business interests. She ticks them on her fingers, I run an Interior decoration firm in Bengaluru which works on premium projects, especially hotels. In addition to this, I also have a Yoga Centre Akshara Power Yoga in Bengaluru. This is why I have to be choosy about the projects I do because these two firms keep me on my toes! . Washington: Yoga and aerobic exercise interventions may not significantly reduce sleep disturbances among midlife women experiencing hot flashes, according to a new study. Researchers at University of Washington in the US said although the women had no difficulty falling asleep, disturbed sleep was common at baseline and remained after each intervention, with women in all groups waking during the night for an average of more than 50 minutes. Previously published analyses of the same trial had found that the yoga and aerobic exercise interventions were associated with small but statistically significant improvements in subjective, self-reported sleep quality and insomnia severity. "Our primary findings were that the two study interventions had no significant effects on objective sleep outcomes in midlife women with hot flashes," said Diana Taibi Buchanan, associate professor at the University of Washington. "The main implication of this finding is that other behaviour treatments with the potential for effectively improving sleep in this population should be examined," said Buchanan. The study involved 186 late transition and postmenopausal women with hot flashes who were between 40 and 62 years of age. Study subjects had an average of 7.3 to 8 hot flashes per day. Participants were randomised to 12 weeks of yoga, supervised aerobic exercise, or usual activity. Sleep measures were evaluated using wrist actigraphy, and bedtimes and rise times were determined primarily from the participants' sleep diaries. Mean sleep duration at baseline and after each intervention was less than the seven or more hours of nightly sleep that is recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for optimal health in adults. According to researchers, future study should explore other approaches for improving sleep quality in midlife women, such as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Jon Sterkel and his wife, Ashley, thought an explosive rifle target would be a fun way to announce they are expecting a boy in June. (Photo: Pixabay) Omaha, Neb.: A western Nebraska man is in trouble after using an explosive rifle target to announce the gender of his baby. The Omaha World-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2jqp0PD ) that Jon Sterkel and his wife, Ashley, thought the target would be a fun way to announce they are expecting a boy in June. When Sterkel shot the target Saturday on rural land outside Scottsbluff, blue chalk powder packed around the rifle target erupted. Several people called police with concerns about the explosion. Sterkel called the Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's Office to explain after he heard a news report on the explosion. In return, Sterkel received a misdemeanor ticket for using the exploding target without a permit. On January 20th at their campus in Begumpet, The Department of Chemistry at St. Francis Degree College for Women organised an Inter college fest called Graphene 2K17. Hundreds of students from colleges across the city participated in this one of its kind event. The best was a competition titled Chemistry Idol. The auditions for this bizarre contest were held a few days ahead of the main event. Excited science students performed on songs, karaoke using concepts and words related to chemistry. One of them was The Chemistry Song, by Bejugam Venkatesh: Today I feel like learning some chemistry. I just wanna study bonding. Dont show me solubility or periodic properties, because today I feel like learning about bonding. Gonna take my textbook and turn to chapter eight, see a picture of potassium dichromate (sic). Student Samar Vinjamuri sang: My heart stays as strong as platinum but my mouth stays as weak as mercury. When Im beside your shadow helium, argon, krypton, xenon and radon all these noble gasses, they dont stay as noble as I am (sic). Students cheered on while the participants sang. Graphene was the first chemistry event to be hosted in our college. The success of this fest proved that our hard work of two months was worth it. The best part about this fest was that it brought out the hidden abilities of science students. Otherwise we are generally judged to be no-fun introverts! Careful planning was done to ensure that everything was fun-based and not just another boring, studious event, said Mariya Nageen, a student at the fest. V. Chinmaiy, another student, added, Graphene was much more successful than what we expected. And the presence of scientists was the highlight of the fest. So we surely had a lot of fun and also got to learn so much. It was super fun to participate in the competition. Often when you talk about chemistry, people say its boring... But this was a twist to regular chemistry, said N. Sai Amrutha, a participant. Sci-fi tambola was the most innovative and exciting event conducted and around 140 students from different colleges participated in this event. We enjoyed a lot, said student Pratibha. The chief guest for the event was Dr Sunil Jai Kumar, Head, National Centre for Compositional Characterisation of Materials (NCCCM), Baba Atomic Research Centre in Hyderabad. New Delhi: In yet another hit-and run-case, a 30-year-old Uber cab driver was killed after a speeding BMW luxury rammed into his vehicle in South Delhi's Munirka late last night. The deceased has been identified as Nazrul Islam, a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal, who was the only earning member of a family of five -- his two children, wife and his grandmother. 24-year-old MNC employee Shoaib Kohli, who was driving the speeding BMW X5 bearing a Chandigarh registration number, works at an MNC in Gurgaon. He had managed to flee after the incident which took place at 11:30 pm last night but was arrested on Tuesday. Police said the owner of the BMW is Kohli's mother Shehnaz Kohli, who is a member of the Delhi Gymkhana Club, and the family resides at the posh Panchsheel Enclave in South Delhi. During, interrogation, Kohli denied driving in an intoxicated state. Nazrul was rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre where he was declared brought dead, police said. He was living in Gurgaon and it was his first day at Uber on Monday night, said police. Kohli was on his way to Vasant Vihar when he lost control of the car and rammed it into the WagonR cab, police said. Scores of cab drivers protested outside the Vasant Vihar police station, demanding harsh punishment for the BMW driver and compensation for the victim's family. During questioning, Kohli told police that Nazrul had suddenly applied brakes due to which his BMW rammed into the WagonR. He had ran away fearing that he may be lynched by the mob, the police said. A case under sections 279( Rash driving or riding on a public way) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC has been registered against the accused at the Vasant Vihar police station. Police said both the cars were moving from Kalkaji to Vasant Vihar. The police have accessed CCTV footage near the accident site. The impact of the collision was such that the rear portion of the WagonR was completely destroyed. The Wagon R was dragged for a few metres and was completely mangled. An eyewitness said he heard a sound "like a bomb blast" and made a call to police. Nazrul was working as a driver for a private company but when he had gone to his village, he lost that job, said his distant relative Minazul. After Nazrul returned, he joined Uber and it was his first day in the job, his relative said. One of his children is studying in class II in a government school while the other is in playschool. Nazrul's wife works as a domestic help. Police said they are also probing the role of the Vodafone management in supplying huge quantities of SIM cards to suspects. Hyderabad: In what seems to be a major threat to pre-paid mobile phone users, Rachakonda police busted a major digital marketing racket, and seized around 4,000 Vodafone SIM cards. Police arrested three engineering graduates, two Vodafone distributors and their three associates who were involved in the racket. Police said the suspects procured SIM cards by using forged ID proofs and photographs and used it for cheating major companies through marketing campaigns. Police said they are also probing the role of the Vodafone management in supplying huge quantities of SIM cards to suspects. The suspects are engineering graduates M. Sandeep, 26, B. Manoj Kumar Goud, 24, and A. Surender Reddy, 26, and Vodafone distributors B. Murali Krishna, 28, K. Ravikanth, 32, and J. Srinivas, 33, M. Venu Madhav, 38 and K. Srisailam 28. Rachakonda police commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat said the racket did not cause losses to the public but only to the companies paying the suspects. The SIM cards which they procured by using forged documents and photographs is a concern. If these SIM cards fall into the hands of criminals they can put the card owner at great risk. They can be used by crooks for crimes and harassing women, the commissioner said. The digital marketing process has four channels starting from the firm owner, ad agency, the affiliated network (agents) and publishers. The firm appoints an ad agency to promote its products digitally and the ad agencies appoint a network operator through whom the publishers work. The networks share client data to the ad agencies who sell data or mobile numbers and email IDs to the networks, which they share to the publisher. The publishers also collect data from other agents and mobile operators. This data is uploaded in the customer database by publishers. For each call (successful campaign) the publisher gets an amount of up to Rs 50 and in some cases it is up to Rs 100. But as the publisher gives the number of the SIM card in the portal, they themselves answer the call posing as customers and automatically the money is credited to the publisher, Mahesh Bhagawat said. He said they are writing to the Vodafone management to strengthen their vigilance. There are chances of booking the management for abetting the offence if their role is proved. The arrested persons were remanded to custody. A senior police official said all job seekers must check out offers with the company concerned especially if asked to pay money. (Representational image) Hyderabad: Online job scammers are ahead of the police and are neutralising the cops awareness drive on job frauds. In a series of online job frauds reported in the city in the last seven months, criminals cheated candidates by making them agree to the clause, Do not try to communicate with the HR department of the firm as it is a backdoor entry. The cyber crime police had been warning job seekers to always cross check job offers directly with the HR departments of the companies concerned. But criminals tell the victims that it is a backdoor entry and that if they contact the HR department, their chances of getting the job would end. Police said that in 22 cases people fell into this trap. Police data says that around 80 per cent of the victims of online job frauds are graduates and B.Tech degree holders. The rest are diploma holders. The shocking factor in online job frauds is that most victims are educated. The scammers know where to hit the victims, said a senior police official. As the victims are educated the crooks now insert a clause in their first email to stop candidates from checking out the offer. In the email I received, there was a sentence marked important. It said that if we contact company officials or any other employees to inquire about the offer, I will never get the job as backdoor entries are not legal. I agreed and lost Rs 50,000, said P. Krishna Kumar, an online job fraud victim. Cyber crime officials say that online job frauds are the most consistently reported crime in the city. The crooks spoof emails and make it look like an email from MNCs and offer jobs. The scammer will conduct fake interviews on the phone and send fake offer letters. Meanwhile, the victims will be asked to pay thousands, said cyber crime inspector Md. Riyazuddin. He said that all candidates must check out job offers with the company especially when they are asked to pay money. Another Day In Paradise: "The interest has been so strong that staff have to order two reprints of the exhibition program." CLOSE to 4000 people have visited the Myuran Sukumaran: Another Day in Paradise exhibition in its first week of opening at Campbelltown Arts Centre. CLOSE to 4000 people have visited the Myuran Sukumaran:exhibition in its first week of opening at Campbelltown Arts Centre. The interest has been so strong that staff have had to order two reprints of the exhibition program and the show will also open on Australia Day so more people have the chance to visit. Campbelltown Arts Centre director Michael Dagostino, who co-curated the exhibition with Sukumarans mentor Ben Quilty, said he was humbled by the attention and the show had attracted high interest from interstate and overseas. The exhibition features dramatic self portraits painted by Bali Nine member Sukumaran, who was executed in Indonesia in 2015. Sukumaran found a passion for art and painted the portraits, including a series featuring each Bali Nine member, while incarcerated in Balis Kerobokan Jail and from his final incarceration on Nusa Kambangan Island. The exhibition is part of the Sydney Festival and will be on show at the arts centre until March 26. Sukumarans paintings break the heart If Campbelltown Arts Centre director Michael Dagostino wanted a thought-provoking exhibition to challenge perceptions and beliefs, he has succeeded a hundred-fold with Another Day in Paradise, featuring the works of executed Bali Nine drug smuggler Myuran Sukumaran. Curated by Dagastino and artist Ben Quilty for the Sydney Festival, the first major exhibition of works by Sukumaran commands attention and provokes a reaction from the first glance. Sukumaran was 34 when he was executed by firing squad on the prison island of Nusa Kambangan with fellow drug smuggler Andrew Chan, 32, ten years after his arrest in 2005. But he speaks from the grave through the exhibition at the arts centre and it is an unsettling and emotional experience. My sympathy for the plight of Sukumaran and Chan was tempered with the fact that the young men were caught peddling heroin, the cause of so much death and destruction locally and globally. But through his series of striking self-portraits, Sukumaran offers an insight into his long incarceration, his efforts to change and grow up, his sorrow, his guilt, and his redemption. The Bali Nine, young, naive Australians probably thinking about fast cash with little or no thought to the consequences of their actions, have paid dearly for their crimes. It is hard to view the self-portraits, particularly the pieces Sukumaran painted in the final 72 hours of his life, without tears. This rehabilitated young man, who in the most horrible of conditions in the Indonesian penal system somehow managed to turn his life around and help his fellow inmates, was deprived of his second chance. He wasnt asking for forgiveness, just to live. Sukumarans story is harsh, raw and devastating. His earlier work reflects hope and optimism, his later pieces are darker, stark and desperate as time runs out. The exhibition reflects the futility of his death, the power of art to provoke change and a strong anti-death penalty and anti-drug message. To anyone who may be attracted to the idea of quick money through smuggling drugs, think again. Here the consequences are laid bare. To Dagostino, Sukumarans friend and mentor Quilty, and Campbelltown Council, congratulations on this excellent world-first exhibition. Human rights and rehabilitation are indeed at its core, highlighting how art can heal even in the most harshest of circumstances. But dont take my word for it. Go and see it for yourself. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: Daily Telegraph , January 23-24, 2017 The victims body was found by the police in a decomposed state with her hands tied behind her on January 14. Ariyalur (Tamil Nadu): Four people were arrested by police for gangraping and killing a 17-year-old Dalit girl, and dumping her body in a well in Ariyalur this month. The arrested have been remanded in judicial custody. According to a report, the victims body was found by the police in a decomposed state with her hands tied behind her on January 14. The victim was in a relationship with the prime accused in the case, Manikandan, for the past one year. The couple met each other when they worked together. The victim was a daily wage labourer while Manikandan worked as a mason. Manikandan, belonging to the Vanniyar caste, was also the union secretary of right-wing Hindu Munnani party. The victim was kidnapped on December 26, and was gang-raped after three days by Manikandan and three of his friends. Her body was dumped in a well at keezha Maligai village. The victim was a month-and-half pregnant. According to police, the girls pregnancy was the cause of altercation between the couple. While the victim wanted to get married to Manikandan, he wanted her to abort the child. Manikandans friends were identified as Thirumurgan, Manivannan, and Vetichelvan. While Manikandan confessed to the crime and was arrested on January 14, his friends were arrested the next day. Hyderabad: The GHMC mobile courts that were reactivated after 15 years and the enforcement of Public Defacement Act lasted to prevent urinating in the open, dumping of garbage and advertisements lasted only a few days. The initiatives did not last long enough to make an impact. Open urination at major locations like Secunderabad and Nampally railway station, MJ Market, Imblibun bus stop, still go unchecked while the lanes of Ameerpet are still lined with paper waste from several educational institutions at Matrivanam. The mobile courts that were proposed to be formed in every circle office have fined only a handful of violators since November last year. One of the hundreds of complainants who approached the GHMC, Mr P. Venkata Reddy, a resident of Sriram Nagar Colony in Kondapur, said, Garbage is dumped every day on the other side of the wall which causes a bad odour. Residents here do not know of the mobile courts. We have not seen any sanitary inspector visiting the place despite complaints. Speaking to this newspaper GHMC commissioner B. Janardhan Reddy said, Courts have been proposed in each of the 30 GHMC circles. Due to staff constraints, circles in the core city have formed teams and are booking cases daily. Only if a large number of cases are booked, it is reported to the GHMC head office. Once the staff are in place, the enforcement will increase. The Gandhigiri initiative, to garland people found urinating in the open, was conducted on January 9 and 13. A total of nine persons were caught. The GHMC has been known to start initiatives like demolition of nala encroachments in a blaze of publicity, but the effort peters out. After deciding to conduct jallikattu on February 1, the members of the village festival committee at Alanganallur thanked the students for supporting them to save Tamil culture. Madurai: After deciding to conduct jallikattu on February 1, the members of the village festival committee at Alanganallur thanked the students for supporting them to save Tamil culture. V Sundararagavan, secretary of festival committee said that that students and youngsters from various parts of the state have protested along with the villagers to save jallikattu. "We wholeheartedly thank them for standing with us," he said. The committee members decided to allot the gallery normally used by foreign tourists, for the students to view the sport. We invite students to participate in our celebration, said Sundararagavan. New Delhi: The much-anticipated visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India is likely to be delayed further, top Bangladeshi officials indicated in New Delhi. "Both the prime ministers (Narendra Modi and Hasina) have been busy and she herself had been very busy with meetings and (WEF at) Davos. So, we have not finalised any date as of now," a source said. Asked if the visit would be happening sometime in February as expected, he said, "We are still not sure about it. Maybe, we will having a meeting next week and work out on the dates." During Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar's visit to Dhaka last month, Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim had said she (Hasina) has plans to visit India and officials of the two countries would work out the schedule. Hasina was earlier expected to leave for New Delhi on December 18 to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues with Modi, but the plan got postponed. The postponement had come amid speculation in the media in Dhaka that it was not a suitable time to discuss Teesta water sharing issue given the preoccupation of the government post-demonetisation. A source in the Prime Minister's Office in Dhaka and three Awami League policymakers had in December said the Teesta issue requires the consent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is protesting the NDA's government's demonetisation move. Since Mamata has overtly expressed her dissatisfaction, the Bangladesh administration, keeping everything in mind, realised that it was not a suitable time to discuss the Teesta issue, the Dhaka Tribune reported last month. Hasina, early December had told reporters in Dhaka, "I am going to India, I am not going with any conditions... discussion is on for Teesta river water sharing and we are hopeful". In October, Modi had met Hasina on the sidelines of BRICS-BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa. At the invitation of Hasina, Modi visited Bangladesh in June 2015. "We are at fortunate phase of our history and we hope there will be no obstacles to future solution... The horizon of bilateral relations has become a sunrise horizon," Akbar said at an event in Delhi on Monday. A senior Bangladeshi official said, "We (India and Bangladesh) have to take note of each other's sensitivities and vulnerabilities and sustain dialogues with an open mind." New Delhi: The Election Commission on Tuesday directed political parties to desist from seeking votes in the name of religion and caste saying it amounts to violation of the model code even as it reminded them of a recent Supreme Court order which said such appeals amount to corrupt practice. In a separate letter to chief electoral officers of all states, the Commission said any activity of seeking votes in the name of religion and caste by or on behalf of any candidate or political party would now amount to violation of the provisions of the Mode Code of Conduct. The CEOs have been asked to inform the grassroots level election officials and ensure the compliance of the SC orders during elections. On January 2, the apex court had held that any appeal to vote or to refrain from voting for a candidate on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language of the candidate, election agent, any person making the appeal with the consent of the candidate or on the ground of the religion, caste of the electors would amount to corrupt practice. Detailing the broad points of the judgement delivered by a Constitution Bench, the Commission has now asked the parties to ensure "strict compliance" of the judgement. "The political parties may also suitably brief and inform their lower formations and party cadres and all their candidates about the ruling of the Supreme Court and ask them to desist from any activities that would amount to soliciting votes in the name of religion, caste, etc in any manner, in their own interest and in the interest of the party. "Such appeals may also fall within the ambit of... Model Code of Conduct," the letter addressed to top brass of all recognised national and state political parties said. Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet in a Mumbai court on Tuesday against business tycoon Vijay Mallya in the Rs 900 crore loan default case, reports said. The loan was given by the IDBI bank in 2009-10, bending the rules of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the agency said in the chargesheet. IDBI Bank gave Mallya a loan in 2009-10, bending the rules of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said the chargesheet. A huge chunk of money was sanctioned by the bank in a single day. Subsequently, Rs 250 crore, meant to buy Kingfisher aircraft parts, were diverted outside the country by the airline. The chargesheet also names the ex-IDBI chief Yogesh Aggarwal and 8 others in the case, said reports. All accused in the case who are currently in the country, have been sent to judicial custody. Mallya has been accused of conspiracy and cheating in the case. Wanted in a series of loan default cases, Mallya, who fled to the UK last year, has also been named as an absconder in the 1000-page charge-sheet. Police lathicharge to disperse protesters near the railway track at Sellur in Chennai. (Photo: PTI) Chennai: Chennai limped back to normalcy on Tuesday, a day after the city witnessed widespread violence in the form of riots and clashes after for Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses returned to the streets and Southern Railways also restored Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) services, even while some cancellations and reschedules are being experienced. Read: Tamils see Jallikattu Bill as final solution, protests called off Our entire Chennai suburban trains network including MRTS is now running normal and as per timetable, tweeted the divisional railway manager on Tuesday morning. However, rail commuters admit a delay in the services. Sundar Kumar, a commuter, tweeted, Fast Local from Chengalpet which reaches Urapakkam at 8.14am, did not reach till 8.35am. Also read: Jallikattu is legal in Tamil Nadu According to MTC spokesperson, 89 percent of the services are back to normal. A collaborative count from all the depots puts the damaged buses count to 107. Buses in the terminus were not spared too, said the official. Schools, colleges and business establishments opened on Tuesday. K. Easwar, a parent from Choolai said, Seems the situation in the city is back to normal. Both my kids could go to school without any hassle in commuting. Also read: Ill-equipped Chennai cops face rioters wrath A large contingent of police personnel were witnessed in vulnerable localities including Marina beach and Ice house, to keep law and order situation in check. There is no panic in the city. Even Ice House, where a police station was set ablaze yesterday, is calm, said Sanjay Kumar, a local. But the transformation of the city to a battleground on Monday had panicked the residents who were unwilling to step out. I had to travel for three hours to reach Saidapet from Greams Road. I didn't want to risk it today, so I called in sick, said Gowthami Krishnan, a bank employee. Also read: Jallikattu protests: Video shows cop setting auto on fire, fuels anger online Earlier when the police requested the youth to disperse from the track, they started pelting stones on them leaving one police injured. Madurai: The police have evicted the youth who have been blocking the railway track at Thathaneri Railway Bridge for nearly five days in Madurai city on Monday. As train service in the southern districts remained cancelled ever since the youth blocked the railway track from 19th January evening. After the police cleared the protesters from the place, the southern railway announced that all the south bound trains would run as per the schedule in the normal route with immediate effect. Earlier when the police requested the youth to disperse from the track, they started pelting stones on them leaving one police injured. The police then resorted to lathi-charge and dispersed them from the track. In Tamukkam, after the senior police officials hold talks with the protesters, nearly 3400 people have dispersed from the protest site. However 300 protesters including 50 women are refusing to leave the place demanding for permanent solution on this issue. The senior police officer has been holding talks with explaining them about the ordinance still late evening. In Theni town, the police conducted mild lathi-charge to disperse the protesters. The situation returned to normalcy at Dindigul, Sivaganga and Dindigul. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday night gave its nod to the Centre to present the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly polls, but said no schemes related to these poll-bound states can be announced and the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the government's achievements in these states. Also read: Budget as declared, Supreme Court refuses to hear plea on postponing it It also reminded the government of a 2009 advisory which said vote-on-account instead of a full-fledged budget is presented ahead of elections as per convention. "The Commission hereby directs that in the interest of free and fair elections and in order to maintain level playing field... no state-specific schemes shall be announced which may have the effect of influencing the electors of the five poll going states in favour of the ruling parties," the EC told Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha. Also read: Budget 2017: Lok Sabha Speaker convenes all-party meeting on Jan 30 It also said in the Finance Minister's speech, the government's achievements in respect of the five states "will not be highlighted in any manner." Polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa will be held between February 4 and March 8. Also read: Cash-ban distress leaves scant room for Budget giveaways Referring to the 2009 advisory, the poll panel said it "expects that the advice given by the Commission in that (letter) will also be duly kept in view by the government at the time of the presentation of the Budget for the financial year 2017-18". In 2009, the EC had said that it would not like to lay down a precept or prescribe a course of action regarding budgets during poll time. "However, it would advise in case of states that are going for Assembly polls that a vote-on-account should be taken," the poll panel had said. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking postponement of Union Budget presentation ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in five states, saying there was no illustration that it would influence voters. The one-page EC letter did not specifically say that the Centre is free to present the Union Budget as per its plan on February one. The government has maintained that advancing of Budget presentation was necessary as it would ensure that all budgetary provisions are allocated to different sectors from April 1, the beginning of the new fiscal. The Budget is usually presented around last week of February and, as a result, the approval of the Budget spills over to the next financial year, delaying the start of new programmes. When the opposition had objected to the Budget presentation in 2012 during the Assembly polls to Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, the then UPA government had accepted their stand and postponed presentation of the Union Budget from February 28 to March 16. The Commission had asked the Cabinet Secretariat earlier this month to respond to a representation by opposition parties urging the poll panel to make the government postpone the Budget till the Assembly polls are over. The Budget session has already been convened from January 31 when the President will address the joint sitting of the two Houses. The Union Budget and the Economic Survey are slated to be presented the next day. The opposition parties had written to the President and the Commission objecting to the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly elections and demanded that the government be asked to defer it. The British government is using a multi-million pound aid programme to fund Bahrain's parliament while the Gulf country bans opposition parties, reverses human rights reforms and carries out executions, Middle East Eye can reveal. Funding for the parliament, which critics say is a "rubber-stamping" body for the kingdom's ruling family, was revealed in a breakdown provided under the Freedom of Information Act. The funding, which is part of the Foreign Office's 2m pounds "technical assistance" programme in the county, supports officials in the Council of Representatives despite internal concerns from advisers that it could be used as PR "fig leaf" over human rights concerns. The revelation that the UK is funding the parliament comes as the Gulf state reverses key rights reforms and carries out executions in the face of international condemnation. The British government says it opposes the death penalty, but it is working with Bahrain's parliament where politicians are encouraging the King to execute prisoners - Human rights group Repreive Bahrain has been rocked by unrest since March 2011 when security forces brutally crushed an Arab Spring-inspired uprising. The largest opposition group in the country, al-Wefaq, boycotted the parliament in 2014 before it was banned last summer, while the party's secretary general Sheikh Ali Salman is languishing in prison after he was sentenced to 9 years for giving speeches against the government. MPs have also backed the use of the death penalty for critics of the government, and last week Bahrain executed three men charged with killing members of the security forces. The 3 Shia men were convicted of killing an Emirati police officer and two Bahrain police officers in a 2014 bomb attack, but human rights campaigners say that confessions were extracted from Abbas al-Samea, 27, Sami Mushaima, 42, and Ali al-Singace, 21, under torture, including beatings, electric shocks and deprivation of food and water. Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, told MEE: "The British government says it opposes the death penalty, but it is working with Bahrain's parliament where politicians are encouraging the King to execute prisoners like Mohammed Ramadhan, who has always insisted on his innocence and was tortured into making a false confession. "Just weeks after Bahrain's parliament made alarming calls for death sentences like his to be implemented without delay, a firing squad executed three men who were also tortured into falsely confessing. The UK Foreign Office should urgently tell Bahrain's authorities that the executions following such deeply unfair trials are unconscionable." In Westminster, political pressure has been building over the FCO's response to the executions and ongoing British support for Bahrain, and the Liberal Democrats have called for funding to Bahrain to be "stopped immediately". Tom Brake MP, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, told MEE: "The FCO must undertake a root and branch review to determine whether any of the UK funds invested in prisons or parliament in Bahrain are leading to greater respect for human rights. "After the recent extrajudicial executions carried out in Bahrain, it's looking more and more apparent that they are not and funding must be stopped immediately." The FCO must determine whether any of the UK funds invested in prisons or parliament in Bahrain are leading to greater respect for human rights - Tom Break, Liberal Democrat MP MEE can also reveal details of 11 projects in Bahrain that the British government is funding through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, a controversial pot of aid money that is currently focus of an investigation by British MPs over transparency concerns. These projects range from implementing a Criminal Justice Board and creating a social inclusion unit to a contract with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons to build the capacity of Bahrain's National Preventive Mechanism against torture. The CSSF, which operates in more than 40 countries, is overseen by the National Security Council, a secretive cabinet committee including senior ministers, military chiefs and secret service heads. Last year MPs probing the fund, which is worth more than 1bn pounds a year, expressed frustration that Mark Lyall, the national security advisor to the prime minister, was providing scant details of how the money is spent. During an evidence session Lyall refused to rule out granted funds from the CSSF fund to countries that use torture. Bahrain consistently denies it uses torture and says it adheres to international norms for death penalty cases. Unlike the majority of the aid projects in Bahrain, the funding for the Bahraini parliament comes from the FCO's Bilateral Programme Fund. Few details are known about the project, which MEE understands is still active and has received regular funding since it was first established in 2015. Secretive aid fund The Foreign Office has refused to disclose which organisation is running the programme and the contractors name was redacted from the Freedom of Information Act data, but MEE can reveal the project is run by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), which lists senior MPs including Conservative Andrew Rosindell, former SNP leader Alex Salmond and Labour's Margaret Hodge on its board. According to WFD documents, staff at the organisation, an executive non-departmental body funded by the Foreign Office, noted "significant public concerns" about Bahrain's human rights record and expressed concerns that the programme risked "being used as a fig leaf for the Bahraini authorities". A source close to the discussions, told MEE: "It is of the nature of WFD's work that there will sometimes be political risks involved; the point is to support democracy in countries where democratic accountability is weak." The WFD is understood to be helping Bahrain's parliamentarians understand how to draft laws and is also assisting in the creation of a parliamentary calendar. A spokesperson for WFD said it works to support democratic institutions and law and order worldwide. They said that the on-going project in Bahrain is "focusing on building technical skills for parliamentary staff." The cost of the project is not known. Campaigners at London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, which obtained the data on Britain's aid to Bahrain, sayministers are still refusing to give a breakdown of how taxpayers money is being spent in Bahrain. The group is planning to take the case to the Information Commissioner. Sayed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at BIRD, told MEE: "UK involvement goes beyond technical assistance, forming a spider's web across Bahrain's prisons, police, judiciary and now parliament, despite the majority of opposition leaders languishing behind bars, an unprecedented crackdown on civil society and a sharp deterioration in human rights. The UK is managing repression in an authoritarian regime, paid by the taxpayer." The UK has already provided over 5.1m pounds of technical and human rights assistance to Bahrain since 2012, and last week the Guardian reported that is due to spend a further 2m pounds in Bahrain this year. Despite this dedicated support, the Bahraini government continues to curtail freedoms of expression, association and assembly and crackdown on dissent, according to Amnesty International. A spokesperson for the FCO said: "We believe that UK support to Bahrain's reform programme is the most constructive way to assist in achieving long-lasting and sustainable reform in Bahrain. While it will take time to see the full results, we believe UK support is having a direct, positive impact on areas of concern." | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: Middle East Eye, January 24, 2017 Madurai: The district police used force on Monday to disperse a group of protesters who refused to accept the villagers decision to hold jallikattu with government participation on February 1 at Alanganallur, leaving at least 38 persons including 10 cops injured in the melee. High drama was seen all day when the police had tough time clearing a group of around 350 protesters who sat on the main road of the town demanding a permanent solution to the jallikattu issue. After the protesters refused to hold talks with the police and the village jallikattu festival committee, who spoke using the public addressing system, the committee members along with village elders sat down in front of Kali Amman temple, located 600-m away from the protest site and took a unanimous decision to conduct the sport on February 1. When the message was conveyed to the protesters, who raised slogan against the village committee refusing to accept the decision, the police then lathi-charged the protesters majority of whom were outsiders. When police began the lathi-charge, the protesters pelted stones at them, and police were forced to retort in self-defense and continued the caning till the crowd dispersed from the place. The assembly was declared unlawful by executive magistrate. Enough time was given to disperse. While effecting the arrests, miscreants resorted to stone pelting on police, said SP, Vijendra S Bidari, adding that only minimum force was used to disperse the gathering. The SP said that no one sustained serious injuries in the incident. The police also seized around 50 two-wheelers parked in the locality. It may be recalled that Alanganallur was where protests this Pongal season started with many political parties and social organisations holding agitations every day to express solidarity with the villagers for the conduct of jallkattu, much before the Pongal festival. On the day of Maattu Pongal, January 16, thousands of youth from Chennai and other parts of the state converged at Alanganallur to try and ensure the conduct of jallikattu at its largest and most traditional venue in the state. Police then surrounded the youth who camped overnight at the venue and detained them. It was the demand to release the youth that kick-started the protests in Marina bench in Chennai. The protesters in Chennai were also chased away today. Back in Alanganallur, though the village committee decided to conduct the event with government participation, many women are not happy with the police action against the protesters. However, some villagers told this correspondent that outsiders, referring to 200-odd protesters, who have been camping for eight days in the town, were behind the trouble. Shri. Bidari, the district SP, added that police have been deployed at all locations and the situation in Alanganallur was peaceful. Bengaluru: Bengaluru city is likely to get a lion's share of the state Budget allocations for 2017-18 to promote infrastructure development and to complete ongoing projects in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections. With a whopping 28 Assembly constituencies, Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts are important for all political parties to improve their tally in the Assembly. In the 2013 Assembly polls, the BJP had bagged 17 seats while the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) had won six and five seats respectively despite the anti-incumbency of the then BJP government headed by Jagadish Shettar. This time, the ruling Congress wants to reverse the trend and bag the maximum seats. As a prelude, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah seems to have decided to focus more on Bengaluru in the budget he will present shortly. Though consultations with legislators in the state capital are yet to start, the CM has reportedly sought a list of ongoing projects and new projects that would provide a permanent solution to traffic woes. Big money is likely to be allocated for improving basic infrastructure in the city and ensure the projects are completed before the polls. Sources close to the CM told Deccan Chronicle that improvement of roads, providing drinking water to 110 villages which were brought under BBMP, underground drainage, stormwater drains, solid waste management and garbage crisis were likely to get more funds. One of the major complaints of citizens is crumbling infrastructure which is likely to be addressed by the incumbent government. Besides, ongoing projects like Namma Metro, the controversial steel bridge, elevated ring road, skywalks, flyovers and signal-free traffic corridors would be given sufficient funds to ensure their completion by next year. The government is aware of the fact that Bengalureans are looking forward to good motorable roads, drinking water and freedom from traffic chaos. Most people spend one or two hours travelling to reach office and to return home which needs to be reduced by improving metro connectivity and by improving the public transport system. With people likely to prefer a party which will address these problems, Mr Siddaramaiah has reportedly asked Bengaluru City Development Minister K.J. George to regularly review the progress of ongoing work and submit details of funds required to complete them. Sources said the CM has been holding meeting with officials regularly to take stock of the situation. After the budget, Mr Siddaramaiah has plans to go on city rounds to personally monitor the progress of work and take decisions on the spot. There is pressure from Congress legislators in Bengaluru to put all ongoing projects on the fast track to complete them before the polls. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said city Congress legislators will give their suggestions when the CM calls a meeting to know the requirements of Bengaluru. New Delhi: The Delhi Police is examining documents linked to Surender Kumar Bansal, the husband of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals sister-in-law, over allegations of corruption. According to a report in NDTV, the Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation has alleged that Bansal secured civic contacts from the Public Works Department in 2015, but he did not start the projects and still received payments for the same. It added that Bansal submitted fake invoices and bills to secure the payment for the projects that he never delivered. The NGO claims Kejriwals involvement in the alleged fraud. However, the AAP government has denied the allegations against both Kejriwal and Bansal. The NGO took the matter to court on Saturday after taking note of the several complaints regarding deteriorating conditions of roads and sewage from the public over the past two years. The court had forwarded the matter to the police. The police are examining documents to decide whether or not a complaint can be filed in the connection. Jaipur: In a first of its kind move, three girls from Rajasthan were appointed as ministers for a single day, on Tuesday, on the occasion of National Girl Child Day. Conferring the girls with Garima Balika Sanrakshan Samman, minister of state for women and child development Anita Bhadel gave charge of her post to Jashoda Gameti of Rajsmand, Sona Bairwa of Tonk and Preeti Kanwar Rajawat for a day. The girls after taking charge approved the scheme of distributing 10,500 mobile phones to Aanganwadi workers and iPads to 282 women supervisors. Bhadel also apprised the one-day child ministers about the functioning of the ministry. All three girls had raised their voice against child marriage. "We wanted to give a message that girls are no less than boys. If they are given freedom then they can fly high. Society should provide them equal opportunity to grow. It will develop their self-confidence to prove themselves," Bhadel said. Prior to it, Bhadel had addressed a state-level gathering at BM Birla Auditorium urging them to bring about change in societys mentality towards girl child. She said that state government through its various schemes is trying to uplift girls. On the occasion, secretary for women and child development department Kuldeep Ranka, director of integrated child development services Samit Sharma and representatives from non-profit organisations were present. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi received Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who will be the chief guest on Republic Day, on his arrival in New Delhi on Tuesday. The Crown Prince, who arrived on a three-day official visit, will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow, following which he will lay wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at the Raj Ghat. The Crown Prince will in the afternoon meet Prime Minister Modi at the Hyderabad House here following there will be exchange of agreements between both sides. Later in the evening, he will meet Vice President Hamid Ansari at hotel Leela Palace here and then call on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will emplane for Abu Dhabi after witnessing the Republic Day parade on January 26. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday raked up again the contentious issue of Ram Temple before the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections on February 11, saying a "grand" temple will be built in Ayodhya if BJP secures an outright majority. "Ram Mandir is a subject of faith. It is not going to be built in two months. The temple will be constructed after the elections. BJP will come to power with a full majority," party's Uttar Pradesh chief Keshav Prasad Maurya told reporters in New Delhi. He also hit out at Akhilesh Yadav, saying the UP chief minister is neither with Backward Classes nor Dalits, "he only betrays". His remark came after Allahabad High Court directed the Uttar Pradesh government to ensure that no fresh caste certificates are issued to those belonging to 17 Other Backward Classes (OBC) groups. Asked about the SP-Congress alliance, Maurya said: "SP is a sinking ship and that of Congress had sunk long back. Even if BSP joins it, they will not be able to salvage it." Alleging that the entire government machinery under Yadav was embroiled in corruption, he said that after coming to power, BJP will conduct a probe and if needed, "send them to jail". He accused the UP chief minister of cheating people and claimed there were irregularities in admissions, women safety issues were not accorded priority and dial 100, launched to improve police services, was nowhere to be found. New Delhi: Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan is the latest to be caught red-handed by the vigilantes on Twitter. The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had recently tweeted a picture of himself and the Kerala Chief Minister. All good, except for calling Pinarayi Vijayan as O Panneerselvam, who is the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, in the tweet. The Union Minister did realise his mistake but not before the trolling began. As always, Twitterati brought out the party hats, telling the minister not to call Donald Trump the President of India and also asking how the minister had a conversation with Vijayan if he didnt know who he was. Paswan later deleted the tweet and posted the correct version. New Delhi: The HRD ministry on Monday made it clear that the Justice (retd.) A K Roopanwal Commission report on the death of Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad Central University has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament and hence it is a public document that can be accessed through RTI. The ministry was responding to reports that it had rejected an RTI appeal for making public the commission's report on the death of Vemula. Replying to an RTI query, the ministry had said that the file concerned was "under submission" and a copy of the report cannot be provided. In a statement today, the ministry said, "The fact of the matter is the said response to an RTI query was given at a time when the report of the Commission of Inquiry constituted by the government had not been laid in Parliament." It is a statutory requirement under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 to lay the report of the Commission on the Inquiry together with a memorandum of the action taken thereon, before each House of Parliament within six months of submission of the report by the Commission to the government, it said. "The said report has since been laid in both the Houses of Parliament on December 15, 2016. Therefore, it is a public document and anyone applying now under RTI Act can be provided with a copy of the same," the HRD ministry said. New Delhi: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, whose tenure was to end on January 28, today got a one-year extension. The nod for the extension of his tenure till January 28, 2018 was given by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, official sources said. A 1977-IFS batch officer, Jaishankar was appointed Foreign Secretary on January 29, 2015 just few days before his retirement replacing Sujata Singh, whose term was abruptly curtailed by the government. With Jaishankar getting the extension, many senior diplomats including India's ambassador to Italy Anil Wadhwa (1979-batch) and Secretary (West) Sujata Mehta (1980-batch) will retire without getting a shot at the top position. India's ambassador to China, Vijay Gokhale, seen as one of the main contenders to replace Jaishankar, is retiring in the end of January 2019. And with Jaishankar getting a one-year term, it leaves Gokhale in the race for the top diplomatic position in the External Affairs Ministry. The coming month will also see a number of key appointments in the External Affairs Ministry with Vikas Swarup, Additional Secretary and Spokesperson in the Ministry, on his way to Canada as High Commissioner. He is waiting for his official agreement to come from Ottawa which is likely by the month end. The post is lying vacant after Vishnu Prakash retired in October. Swarup is expected to be replaced by Gopal Baglay, currently looking after (Pakistan-Iran-Afghanistan) in the ministry. Baglay has earlier also had a stint in the XP division of the MEA as Director from 2008 to 2010. In first half of 2017, ambassadorial positions will also open up in several key countries including Germany and Nepal. Chennai: Close on the heels of Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam tabling jallikattu legislation in the Assembly, prime organisers of the jallikattu protests reiterated that with the Assembly now passing the law and getting the Presidential assent, jallikattu bulls would run unhindered from now on. Jallikattu Peravai president Rajasekaran, musician hip-hop Tamizha Adhi and Veera Vilayatu Peravai organiser Rajesh welcomed the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing the jallikattu law and asserted this was the permanent solution to the issue. They also asked the students and youngsters to call off their protest. The sober voices, who maintained that the Bill was unlikely to be challenged in a court of law, termed the jallikattu movement success and gave the entire credit to the students and youth who camped at Marina beach and elsewhere in the state for the past one week. We thank the ruling party and opposition parties for unanimously passing the jallikattu bill in such a short time. This is a historic day for us since jallikattu would be held unhindered from now. We salute the spirit of the students and youngsters who made this happen, a beaming Rajasekaran told reporters inside the secretariat complex. Rajasekaran was among the first to appeal to the students to call of their agitation on Sunday as he addressed a press conference along with Adhi and Karthikeyan Sivasenapathy by asserting that the ordinance, which has now been replaced with a law, was the permanent solution that they have been demanding. He and Adhi had also disapproved anti-national slogans at the protest sites across the state. The election of Donald Trump as president and the tumultuous transition of power have dominated headlines for the last few weeks. One issue, however, has not received much coverage: What is going to happen to the death penalty? Before the election, some observers predicted that the end was near for capital punishment in this country. A Pew Research Center poll released in September suggested that public support for the death penalty has declined in recent years. According to Pew, which has measured public opinion on this issue since 1936, only 49 % of Americans now say they support execution as the punishment for murder - down from a high of 80 % in 1995. While there are still more supporters of the death penalty than opponents, this is the lowest level of support since 1971. But in November, voters in three states chose to keep or strengthen the death penalty. In California, opponents rejected a referendum that would have abolished it entirely. In Nebraska, where the legislature recently ended capital punishment, voters chose to reinstate it. In Oklahoma - where controversy followed the 2014 "botched" execution of Clayton Lockett, who was not fully sedated during his lethal injection procedure - voters rejected criticism of the process by adding new language in the state constitution that the death penalty is not "cruel and unusual." Not only did voters in these 3 states keep or strengthen the death penalty, the results were also not as close as predicted. In California, 54 % of voters rejected the anti-death penalty measure. In Nebraska, 61.2 % voted to reinstate the death penalty. In Oklahoma, 66.4 % voted in favor of adding the pro-death penalty language to the state constitution. In fact, in California, voters did more than reject an attempt to abolish capital punishment. They simultaneously approved - by a slimmer margin - a different referendum, sponsored by supporters of the death penalty, providing that appeals in these cases be subject to strict time limits and restrictions on repetitive litigation. The idea is to end the decades of delay afflicting capital cases. But these results, all pointing in one direction, are only a part of the story. The more fundamental change may occur in the Supreme Court of the United States. After the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the court has been split 4-4 between conservatives and liberals on many issues of criminal justice, including capital punishment. 2 justices - Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, both Democratic appointees - have declared their belief that the death penalty violates the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause of the Eighth Amendment. That phrase is subject to changing interpretation based on our nation's evolving standards of decency and justice; Ginsburg and Breyer have written that mounting concerns about executing the innocent, along with longstanding problems with racism and poor lawyering in capital cases, among other things, have made the death penalty intolerable. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan (both Obama appointees) have not yet gone this far, but each has suggested that they, too, harbor concerns about the viability of capital punishment. Hillary Clinton If Hillary Clinton had won the election, it is easy to imagine the American death penalty having been squeezed out of existence in the next decade or so. A President Clinton would have been able to appoint a progressive replacement for Justice Scalia. A possible replacement for older conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, now 80, would have further tilted the court's ideological balance toward the left. While this may not have resulted in any immediate change, these new Clinton appointees would presumably have been at least sympathetic to the argument that our society no longer tolerates the death penalty. Eventually, that may have been the end of the capital punishment in the United States. A Trump presidency promises very different results. It is now Trump who will appoint Scalia's replacement, along with any other vacancies that might occur in the next 4 years. (Possible retirements include Ginsburg herself, who is now 83 and has health problems). The list of possible Supreme Court appointments issued by Trump during the election campaign is filled with pro-death penalty jurists who will be likely to reject any interpretation of the Constitution that prohibits executions. The election of Trump has ended any chance that the Supreme Court will declare capital punishment unconstitutional in the foreseeable future. That means that opponents of the death penalty must redouble their political efforts; as the results in California, Nebraska and Oklahoma show, that will be an uphill battle. Those who oppose the death penalty have a lot of work to do. Donald Trump has a strong stance on capital punishment Trump is undeniably in favor of the death penalty and has made it clear whenever he can that he supports the state using death as a punishment. Trump has a long history of death penalty support Evidence of Trump's zeal for the death penalty goes back to the late 1980s. In 1989, 5 young men, all black or Hispanic, were arrested for the rape of a woman in Central Park. This case, known as the The 5 young men were eventually convicted but later released when DNA evidence pointed to another suspect committing the crime. Still, during his campaign, Trump reiterated his belief that they were guilty. Trump wants people executed who didn't commit homicide Then there's the case of Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl was the army private captured in Afghanistan after allegedly deserting his unit. Obama traded a number of Taliban prisoners for the release of Bergdahl. At a rally during the campaign Trump commented that he "should have been executed." In 2012, Trump called for the death penalty for child molesters. In 2010, he said the death penalty should be on the table for Wikileaks members in connection to the materials leaked by Chelsea Manning. Wikileaks, of course, would go on to being perceived as helping Trump in 2016 by releasing Democratic Party emails. A big part of Trump's campaign appeal was his hardline stance on law and order issues - his support for cops, his opposition to groups like Black Lives Matter and his stance that America had turned into "medieval times." His strong support for the death penalty only underscores that stance. Source: mic.com, Ben Geier, January 24, 2017 Source: Morning Call, Tom Dolgenos, January 23, 2016. Mr. Dolgenos, who lives in Philadelphia, is a former assistant city district attorney and is a lecturer in the Department of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania and an adjunct professor at Delaware Law School.On many issues, President Donald Trump's opinions are murky at best. He's offered a number of different positions on issues like abortion rights, foreign policy and even his favorite issue, immigration. There's 1 issue, though, where Trump has remained unambiguous throughout his campaign, even dating back to his days as a real estate mogul: capital punishment.Trump is undeniably in favor of the death penalty and has made it clear whenever he can that he supports the state using death as a punishment.Evidence of Trump's zeal for the death penalty goes back to the late 1980s. In 1989, 5 young men, all black or Hispanic, were arrested for the rape of a woman in Central Park. This case, known as the "Central Park 5" case, made national news . Trump decided to spend upwards of $85,000 on a full-page ad in the New York Times with a call to "Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!"The 5 young men were eventually convicted but later released when DNA evidence pointed to another suspect committing the crime. Still, during his campaign, Trump reiterated his belief that they were guilty.Then there's the case of Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl was the army private captured in Afghanistan after allegedly deserting his unit. Obama traded a number of Taliban prisoners for the release of Bergdahl. At a rally during the campaign Trump commented that he "should have been executed."In 2012, Trump called for the death penalty for child molesters. In 2010, he said the death penalty should be on the table for Wikileaks members in connection to the materials leaked by Chelsea Manning. Wikileaks, of course, would go on to being perceived as helping Trump in 2016 by releasing Democratic Party emails.A big part of Trump's campaign appeal was his hardline stance on law and order issues - his support for cops, his opposition to groups like Black Lives Matter and his stance that America had turned into "medieval times." His strong support for the death penalty only underscores that stance.Source: mic.com, Ben Geier, January 24, 2017 | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! In a detailed statement, Jet Airways also said the crew of the flight has been placed off roster in order to assist with the investigation as a standard practice. (Photo: File) New Delhi: As many 168 people on board a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai had a narrow escape after the tail of the aircraft hit the runway on landing at the Dhaka International airport last week, prompting the airline to take the pilots concerned off duty. The B737-800 aircraft has been grounded and a team from Boeing company is expected to visit Dhaka to assess the extent of damage to the plane while engineers from Jet Airways has already started the assessment, sources said. The incident, which happened on January 22, has been reported to aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). DGCA sources said Bangladesh's aviation authorities are expected to investigate the incident since it happened in Dhaka. According to them, if the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Bangladesh, which is the country's aviation regulatory body, decides not to probe the incident, then AAIB may take up the investigation. When contacted, Jet Airways confirmed the "tail strike" incident. The flight 9W-276 from Mumbai to Dhaka had 160 guests and eight crew members when it had a "tail strike" on landing at Dhaka airport on January 22. There were no injuries to guests or crew, all of whom deplaned safely, the airline said. In a detailed statement, Jet Airways also said the crew of the flight has been placed off roster in order to assist with the investigation as a standard practice. The aircraft, B737-800, is currently being inspected by the Jet Airways' engineering team at Dhaka before it is brought back for routine operations. Aircraft Accident investigation Bureau (AAIB), which comes under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is the apex body for probing accidents, serious incidents involving Indian aircraft. Further, Jet Airways said it continues to offer all cooperation to support the investigation in its aircraft incident. Lucknow: The bitter power game within the Mulayam clan appeared to be festering again on Tuesday with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, in his new role as Samajwadi Party chief, leaving out his warring uncle Shivpal Yadav from the list of party's star campaigners for the UP Assembly polls. The ruling party on Tuesday gave a list of its 40 star campaigners to the Election Commission, but it had no mention of Shivpal, who was engaged in a bitter war with his nephew. The list, which was sent to the poll panel in Delhi by SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav, contains names of party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh and 38 other leaders, keeping Shivpal out. Mulayam Singh had earlier this month called on Akhilesh and demanded that Shivpal's name be included in the list of names he presented to Akhilesh. This was shortly after the Election Commission declared that the Akhilesh faction was the 'real' Samajwadi Party and would get to keep the symbol 'cycle'. Incidentally, Shivpal was not present at the press conference where Akhilesh released the party's manifesto on January 22. Even SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav was conspicuous by his absence though he turned up at the SP headquarters long after the event was over, blaming his delay on traffic chaos. The other leaders who would champion the party's cause include Kironmay Nanda, Azam Khan, Ramgopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal, Jaya Bachchan and Rajendra Chowdhury, besides state presidents of SP Yuvjan Sabha, Mulayam Singh Yadav Youth Brigade and Samajwadi Party leader from Maharashtra Abu Asim Azmi. Samajwadi Party has fielded Shivpal, Mulayam's younger brother, from Jaswant Nagar seat in Etawah district, the home turf of the Yadav clan. UP will go for polls in seven phases beginning February 11. Hyderabad: An under-construction wall on the Phase-2 of T-Hub building in Rai-durgam, collapsed on Monday night, killing two construction workers and injuring two others. The incident came to light after one of the in-jured workers succumbed to his injuries in the early hours of Tuesday. Police said the mishap occurred when a crane carrying centering rods was reversing and accidentally hit the wall besides which the workers were working. A case was booked against the construction company, KPC Constructions Limited, for not taking safety measures at the construction site. The victims were identified as Dilip Kumar Yadav, 40, and Ziyaul Ansari, 22, both hailing from Bihar. According to police, around 50 labourers were deployed at the T Hub II phase construction site located in Survey no 33 in Raidurgam. On Monday night, nearly 10 workers were working near the retaining wall. Around 7.30 pm, a crane carrying a bundle of centering rods, each measuring 40mm in width, was shifting them from the stock place to the centering spot. Meanwhile, the workers were bending the rods to assemble the centering rod. Chandra Mohan, the site supervisor, was monitoring the works which were going on in the cellar area around 15 metres from ground level. In this process, the crane hit the retaining wall which was constructed a few days ago, due to which it collapsed and fell on the workers working next to it, trapping two workers in the debris, probe officials said. They were rushed to the hospital, where An-sari was declared brought dead and Dileep succumbed in the early hours of Tuesday, while the other two sustained minor bruises. Manoj Yadav, who was also at the same spot, said they heard a sudden noise and jumped away from the wall. Based on a complaint by Manoj Yadav, police registered a case against KPC Constructions management and the contractor. They were working very close to the wall and got trapped under it. We missed it by a fraction, he said. Meanwhile, Ziyauls cousin Zakir, who was also working at the site, said they were fortunate to escape without any injury in such a major mishap. The prestigious government project contract was awarded to KPC Projects Private Limited, who in turn gave the contract to one Narayana Reddy. Sources said that while the crane was carrying the bundle of rods, the cable holding the bundle got loosened and as a result the rods fell on the wall and they all fell on the workers. Based on a complaint by Manoj Yadav, police registered a case against KPC Constructions management and the contractor under charges of causing death due to negligence (IPC 304-a) and causing injuries (IPC 337). The bodies were handed over to the relatives after a post-mortem. The case is under investigation. Chennai: A day after the pro-jallikattu protests ended on a violent note, Tamil film icon Kamal Haasan on Tuesday termed the agitation a symbol of festering discontent while lauding the protesters for their cohesiveness and maintaining discipline during the week-long agitation. The youth protest that rocked Tamil Nadu was absolutely legitimate, said the Virumandi star. Slamming the police action on Monday, he said the students won all-round praise for holding their agitation in peaceful manner but they ended up experiencing bloodshed on their last protest day. Why did they pick up women and children? It has never happened before, Haasan told a press conference here. He wanted reasonable explanation from police for their action affecting innocents. To a question on videos which had gone viral in social media showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, he said, Hope cops seen in the videos are not real. There were bad elements in all sections, in police too, he said, adding he hoped their numbers would be small among the police. Pointing out that women and children sat for days at Marina, Haasan said, You saw healthy happy Nirbhayas (fearless) sitting there amidst my brothers. If it is possible here, it is possible even in Delhi. I believe in people. "You make a fun of this movement by calling it as a leaderless movement. But look into the cohesion of it. When you go to picnic you go with joy and willingness. In office, you are working for the money. You are looking at the watch to go back home. But (during the protests in Marina) nobody was looking to go back home. Marina was their home temporarily. I am very touched by it, Haasan said. Recalling that his parents had not allowed him to take part in the anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s, he said, In this (jallikattu) case, parents came along with their children because they felt there was some kind of logic. Answering a question, he said, If you ask me if I had made any inflammatory statement (twitter on jallikattu), I did not. If I had, it is time for me to apologise. I have been very careful (in my comments). Because, the uprising was legitimate for so many people. Something was right about it. The iconic star declared he was against bans but would like regulations where needed. Petas cry for ban of jallikattu was unjustified, he said, pointing out that more people died in accidents than during jallikattu. The same way, it was not right to seek ban of Peta, he said. Referring to comments made by his friends that he hates Pakistan, he said, I dont want to hate. I want to rub down the borders. We created the bordersIf I had been born in 1924 instead of 1954, I would have been sitting in front of Gandhi and asked him for more unity between Pakistan and India and not give them a separate State. That is my feeling even now. On the issue of corruption, Haasan said that over the last several years People including you (media) in the society have become scientifically corrupted people. Politicians do not come from Mars (planet). They come from amongst us. And we allowed it... We are the people who started corruption by paying 10 bucks to the TTE (Travelling Ticket Examiner) when we dont have a reservation. So your leader will do it 100 times more of what you are doing, he quipped. On compulsory voting, he said, I do not think compulsory voting is a great idea. It goes against the actual tenets of democracy. You cannot force anyone. It is a choice. Not voting is also a statement. But voting is important. However, he said giving incentives for voting would only legitimise doling out money for votes. Referring to his interaction with the Chief Minister on the jallikattu issue, he said Mr O. Panneerselvam thanked him for trying to maintain peace among the students. Prime Minister Narendra Modi (left) gestures as he receives Abu Dhabis crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the airport in New Delhi on Tuesday. The crown prince will be Indias chief guest at Thursdays Republic Day celebrations. (Photo: AP) New Delhi: In a special gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening received Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the airport. The visiting Arab dignitary, who will be the chief guest at this years Republic Day parade, is also the deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. He is on a three-day visit to India and will hold comprehensive talks with Mr Modi on Wednesday. The two sides are expected to sign nearly 16 pacts on Wednesday, including a Strategic Cooperation Agreement. Welcome to India, H.H. Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We are honoured to host you & delighted that you will join our Republic Day celebrations. India & UAE share strong bonds of friendship & extensive cooperation. Looking forward to building on this & further cementing ties, PM Modi tweeted after receiving the UAE leader. The two leaders will first meet for one-on-one talks at Mr Modis official residence before holding delegation- level talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Wednesday. Apart from providing a boost to trade and investments ties, enhancement of cooperation in strategic areas of energy, defence and security issues are expected to dominate the talks. A Strategic Cooperation Agreement, along with more than a dozen pacts, including one pertaining to the $75 billion investment fund, committed by the UAE, are expected be signed on Wednesday after the talks between Mr Modi and the Crown Prince. Meanwhile, at a briefing earlier in the day, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) refused to comment on whether terrorist Dawood Ibrahims properties would be frozen by the UAE, saying some things are best left unsaid till something happens. The UAE has already invested $4 billion in India but this is not part of the planned $75-billion investment. Briefing reporters on the visit, the MEAs secretary Amar Sinha said a substantial outcome is expected in the area of defence and security where they will solidify their cooperation given shared views on common threat. New Delhi is also eyeing the UAE as a defence market for Indian armaments. Raipur: Activist Bela Bhatia was on Monday allegedly asked to vacate her house in Pandripani village in Bastar district by the villagers who held a protest outside it accusing her of being a 'Maoist sympathiser', police said. Bhatia claimed that she was allegedly threatened by a group of men who asked her to vacate immediately, failing which they will set the house ablaze. The incident occurred in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits. "After getting the information of demonstration by local villagers in front of Bhatia's house in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits, a police team was rushed to the spot," Bastar SP RN Dash said. He said the villagers left the spot after police pacified them. "Enough security has been provided to Bhatia to prevent any untoward incident," Dash added. In a complaint to police, villagers alleged Bhatia had named herself as "Somari Naag or Bela Somari" (to use tribal identity) which they feel is an insult to tribal masses, the SP said. Besides, the villagers have also complained that Bhatia encourages their children to support Maoists and tries to mislead them by saying that ultras are fighting for the country and not the police, he said. Bhatia, who has been working in the region for several years, claimed that her house was gheraoed by a group of unidentified people this morning, who asked her to vacate her rented accommodation. "A group of 30 or so men came on motorbikes and a SUV and threatened their way inside the house. They said I would have to vacate this place immediately or they will set the house ablaze. I went inside the house and called the collector who then sent the police," Bhatia told mediapersons. She said the mob was agitated even after the police reached the spot. "I have assured them to vacate the house by tomorrow. I will leave this house only since my landlord had been pressurised, but I will not leave Bastar. I have requested the collector to provide a safe place for me," Bhatia added. Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh police said in a statement that 15 police personnel, including four women, led by sub-inspector Kripal Singh Gautam have been deputed for Bhatia's security. Notably, Bhatia was among a group of people who had accompanied a National Human Rights Commission team to villages of Bijapur two days ago to record the statements of alleged rape victims. Early this month, the NHRC had sent a notice to the state government over alleged rape, sexual and physical assault of 16 women by the state police personnel in Bastar division (in October 2015 and January 2016), observing that the government is "vicariously liable" for it. The state PSC has been following the rotation pattern of 33:66:99 despite repeated court orders that the pattern 1:34:64 should be followed. THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: An IIT alumnus has secured a favourable verdict from Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on reservation for physically handicapped in government jobs. Tribunal chairman Justice T.R. Ramachandran Nair, while issuing an order on January 19 on a petition filed by K. Madhu, has directed the Social Justice principal secretary to issue an order revising the reservation roster followed by the PSC for physically handicapped candidates while issuing advise memos for government jobs. The state PSC has been following the rotation pattern of 33:66:99 despite repeated court orders that the pattern 1:34:64 should be followed. If the 1:34:64 pattern is followed, the first advice memo should go to the highest ranked handicapped person in the rank list when vacancies are reported in a department, unlike in the existing scenario where the highest ranked handicapped candidate gets a call only for the 33rd vacancy. The applicant, K Madhu, is a differently-abled person who obtained his M.Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT, Kharagpur. He had successfully written the preliminary and final examinations for the post of deputy collector. However, in the rank list published by the PSC no person was included in the physically handicapped category. Madhu had challenged this in 2015, and KAT had directed the PSC to include the applicant in the rank list. But when the applicant asked the PSC to send him an advice, he was told that the reservation for the physically handicapped category was fixed as 33:66: 99 and that only 16 persons have been advised since January 1, 2008. However, the KAT order pointed out that 33 candidates had been advised since 1996, none among them are physically handicapped. The urgency of the KAT order was dictated by the fact that the extended period of the rank list will expire on June 30, 2017. In this context, the Tribunal asked the state to "expedite" decision on fixing the physically handicapped roster along the 1:34:67 pattern. Mumbai: On the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, a real estate company ran an advertisement with the slogan 'Homes that don't discriminate', calling for an end to prejudice in India's housing market based on gender, religion or caste. While the ad was unusual, the sentiment was familiar to millions of Indians who have tried to rent or buy city homes only to be denied because they were single, ate meat, were of a certain caste or from a certain region. Informal rules and discrimination by landlords to keep out religious minorities and single people are eroding the multi-cultural nature of cities and dividing communities into ghettos, analysts say. "It's 2017 - and we're still encountering discrimination," said Rishi Dogra of NestAway Technologies that ran the ad. "People should be able to move freely and find a living space anywhere in the country," said Dogra, marketing head for the company founded by four young male graduates after they had trouble finding a home in Bengaluru. Such discrimination has forced many people to the suburbs, making Indian city centres less diverse and cosmopolitan, with high rents already making them unaffordable to poorer workers. Mumbai has traditionally had enclaves for Catholics, Parsis, Bohri Muslims and others. They set up housing societies, or co-operatives, to help other community members. As the city grew and drew more migrants, powerful housing societies have often denied homes on the basis of religion, caste, food preferences and even professions. The divide grew after bloody Hindu-Muslim riots in 1992-93 and still persists, said Zakia Soman, a co-founder at Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a non-profit organisation for Muslim women. A Facebook group called 'Indians Against Discrimination' was set up in 2015 after a young Muslim woman was asked to leave her flat a week after she moved in, because of her religion. "When it comes to living spaces, we have become very insular," Soman said. "The city is getting increasingly ghettoised as a result, weakening our social fabric and polarising us further. That doesn't bode well," she said. Local courts have ruled against discrimination by housing associations in several cases, but there have also been contradictory rulings. Discrimination In a 2005 case, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of a Parsi housing society in Ahmedabad, saying it could limit its membership to Parsis and not admit others. "The constitution guarantees our right to equality, but housing societies can still frame their own guidelines which may be discriminatory," said Vinod Sampat, a real estate lawyer. A draft housing policy for Maharashtra has dropped a clause that prevents discrimination in housing. This may leave those looking to rent or buy property with fewer protections, Sampat said. Government officials have said non-discrimination is already protected by the constitution, so there is no need for the clause. That has not reassured people like Shikha Makan, who made a film called 'Bachelor Girls' on housing bias against single women - including Bollywood actors - in Mumbai. "Not being able to find a home in a big city like Mumbai is a shame," she said. "It is marginalising single women and other minorities." Hyderabad: The Survey of India (SoI) is taking up a big challenge to re-measure the height of Mount Everest marking 250 years of its formation. The height of the highest mountain on Earth is 29,029 feet or 8,848 metres. According to Surveyor General of India, Dr. Swarna Subba Rao, the height was measured by their organisation in the year 1850 and it is still considered the official figure throughout the world. He said that their effort was to assess claims of experts that height of highest peak in the mountain had decreased due to climatic changes and the most recent earthquake that shook the Himalayan region. Subba Rao stated that they will take up scientific studies with the assistance of their survey counterparts in Nepal. He will be holding discussions with Nepal Surveyor General soon. This exercise will be completed in two months time. He said this expedition was planned on the eve of SOI completing 250 years of its existence. The East India Company started it and then the British government took care of it and finally SOI was brought under the Centre, he said. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday transferred Ganga cleaning and sewage treatment case to the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The apex court earlier on January 17 had sought a fresh status report from the Centre on its plans to revive the Ganges. The report was sought on a 32-year-old pending public interest litigation (PIL) filed by famous environmentalist MC Mehta. In 2014, the apex court had said National Green Tribunal (NGT) was its "last hope" and referred the task of monitoring industrial units that are along the Ganges River to it. The National Green Tribunal on December 7, 2016, sternly criticised the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam on attitude and approach to the Ganga Action Plan, saying that the institution is one of the best examples of uselessness, as it has done nothing since its inception in 1975. "The Centre is spending around Rs. 20000 crore to clean the Ganga, but a useless institution like yours (UP Jal Nigam) and other agencies are effectively blocking progress and preventing the plan's implementation," the tribunal said. This is not the first time that the Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam has been pulled up by the NGT. In August 2016, the NGT had sent notices to the Uttar Pradesh and to the UP Jal Nigam asking both to explain as to why the western parts of Uttar Pradesh were not being provided with sufficient potable, clean and drinking water. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it won't review the cases of 3 Alabama death row inmates. It was a decision that Alabama's attorney general said reaffirms that the state's death penalty sentencing law is constitutional. The court denied certiorari, or review, to appeals of death row inmates Tommy Arthur, Jerry Bohannon and Aubrey Shaw. Arthur, whose Nov. 3 execution was stayed so the U.S. Supreme Court could consider his appeals, still has one appeal pending before the high court based on a different challenge - one regarding Alabama's lethal injection method. Arthur has had 7 executions stayed in the past 15 years. The U.S. Supreme Court in its order Thursday stated its stay of execution will remain in place pending Arthur's request for the court to review his appeals. If the court refuses to review his appeals, the stay would automatically go away. In their appeals denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday all three had included challenges to the Alabama law that allows judges to override jury sentencing recommendations in capital murder cases. Their appeals noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2016 had ruled unconstitutional Florida's death penalty sentencing scheme, which also included judicial override. Alabama now stands alone as the only state with judicial override. Delaware's supreme court ruled in August had ruled that state's law allowing judicial override was unconstitutional. While the override law was rarely used in Florida or Delaware, Alabama judges in dozens of cases have overridden juries' life without parole recommendations and imposed death instead over the past 2 decades. Alabama prosecutors have said that Alabama's judicial override law is crafted differently than the other two states. In Alabama, when a jury unanimously convicts a defendant of capital murder, it is based on one of a number of aggravating factors such as murder during the course of a robbery, burglary, or kidnapping. Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange said the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday not to hear petitions by Arthur, Shaw and Bohannon "is another victory for the rule of law." "The U.S. Supreme Court's denial of certiorari petitions from Thomas Arthur, Jerry Bohannon, and Aubrey Shaw, challenging Alabama's death penalty system in light of the 2016 Hurst v. Florida case, is a reaffirmation that Alabama's death sentencing law is constitutional," Strange stated in prepared comments issued by his office. "Convicted murders have repeatedly challenged Alabama's death penalty sentencing system because it allows for judicial override similar to Florida's law. However, Alabama law also holds that a jury must unanimously find an aggravating factor at either the guilt or sentencing phase--such as when the murder was committed during a robbery, a rape, or a kidnapping - before determining a death sentence. This is a significant distinction between Alabama law and Florida's law which was ruled unconstitutional last year by the Supreme Court." "Alabama's death penalty law was specifically upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Harris v. Alabama in 1995, and, as we witnessed again today, the High Court has consistently declined to take challenges to Alabama's law based on the same grounds in which Florida's law was contested," Strange stated. "It should, therefore, be clear to all that Alabama's death penalty sentencing system is constitutional." The U.S. Supreme Court had vacated the sentences of Alabama death row inmates Ronnie Kirksey, Corey Wimbley, and Ryan Gerald Russell, this year and sent them back to the state appeals court to review in light of its Florida ruling. Arthur was convicted in the 1982 murder for hire of Troy Wicker of Muscle Shoals. Bohannon was convicted in the Dec. 11, 2010 shooting deaths of Anthony Harvey and Jerry DuBoise outside the Paradise Lounge, a nightclub in Mobile. Shaw was convicted in the stabbing deaths of his great aunt and great uncle in 2007. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Sept. 30 that the state's death penalty sentencing law is constitutional in Bohannon's case in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Hurst case. Supreme Court lets Alabama judges impose death penalty The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider challenges to Alabama's death penalty system, the only one in the country that lets judges overrule juries and impose death sentences. The court's denial of several lower court appeals came a year after the justices ruled 8-1 against a similar capital punishment protocol in Florida. Since that decision, state supreme courts there and in Delaware have struck down those systems. Many opponents of the Alabama system had expected the justices to take up a challenge. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in particular, has criticized the state for allowing elected judges to impose executions even when juries recommend life sentences. A recent study by the Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative, one of the groups challenging the state's death penalty system, found that judges overrode jury verdicts 107 times in the four decades since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty. In nearly all those cases, judges imposed death sentences. The study said 21% of 199 people on the state's death row were sentenced through such judicial overrides. The state executed 2 prisoners last year, more than any other state except Georgia and Texas. It ranks 7th in total executions since 1976, behind Texas, Oklahoma, Virginia, Florida, Missouri and Georgia. Last November, 5 justices agreed to block the execution of Alabama's Tommy Arthur, who had raised objections both about judicial override and the state's lethal injection protocol. Chief Justice John Roberts added his vote to those of the 4 liberal justices "as a courtesy" so that the case could be considered for review. It was 1 of 3 cases denied Monday. The following month, the justices green-lighted the execution of Alabama's Ronald Smith for a 1994 murder in which a judge overrode a jury verdict and sentenced him to death. In last year's Florida case, Sotomayor ruled that "the 6th Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death. A jury's mere recommendation is not enough." Alabama officials had pointed out differences between their system and Florida's. They argued that in Alabama, juries must find at least 1 aggravating circumstance that make defendants eligible for the death penalty. Florida and Delaware courts demand more stringent findings. The differences did not impress Sotomayor in 2013, when she dissented from the high court's refusal to hear a challenge similar to those denied Monday. Alabama's elected judges, she said at the time, "appear to have succumbed to electoral pressures." The skirmish over Alabama's system is part of the continuing Supreme Court battle over the nation's ultimate penalty - 1 imposed and carried out less often each year, but which voters in California, Nebraska and Oklahoma decided to retain in November. Does the death penalty serve a purpose? Supreme Court hasn't decided either The justices are increasingly divided over when it is applied, how it is administered and whether it serves any purpose. Since the turn of the century, they have ended executions for the intellectually disabled, those whose crimes were committed as juveniles, and those who do not commit murder or treason. Last year, Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it was time to decide whether capital punishment itself should be abolished. Time, however, is not on their side. President Trump soon will nominate the late Justice Antonin Scalia's successor, someone who is virtually certain to support the death penalty. Before his term is over, Trump could get the chance to replace 1 or more of the 5 justices who have limited its scope. 3 of them - Ginsburg, Breyer and Justice Anthony Kennedy - are long past traditional retirement age. | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE! Source: al.com, January 23, 2017Source: USA Today, January 24, 2017 Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, on Tuesday, launched his partys campaign from Sultanpur by accusing the Centre of trying to emulate his policies in the upcoming Union Budget. Interestingly, Mr Yadav chose to start his campaign from a constituency where polling is scheduled to be held in the fifth phase on February 27. The Chief Minister, in his campaign, will not be using his much-publicised Mercedes bus due to paucity of time. He will travel on a helicopter and address two to three meetings in a day. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, will soon launch his campaign from western Uttar Pradesh where polling is to be held in the first phase on February 11. According to Congress sources, Mr Gandhi will be addressing about six rallies in this region including Mathura, Saharanpur, Ghaziabad, Shamli, Bulandshahr and Aligarh. Three rallies are likely to be held in constituencies where Congress candidates are contesting and three in SP constituencies. The idea is to send a clear message to workers in both parties as well as the voters that the alliance is for keeps, said a source. After the alliance, both leaders are reworking their strategy, and sources say that they could address about six joint rallies across the state. However, it is believed that during their joint rallies, both the leaders will focus on the failures of the Modi government, the lack of development in the BSP regimes and the need to keep divisive forces at bay. The people of Tamil Nadu deserve praise over the way in which they protested against the ban on Jallikattu. It was not mass hysteria, as dubbed by a few. Going by the size and spectrum of participation, from Viswanathan Anand, the chess champion, to music maestro A.R. Rahman and Rajinikanth, it was truly a mass movement irrespective of caste, religion or political affiliations. The people finally succeeded in persuading the Centre to urge the President to give his assent to an ordinance which takes years in some cases, but was achieved within days here. The ordinance reportedly amended several clauses of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960, a law passed by Parliament. Prevention of cruelty to animals being in the Concurrent List, the Tamil Nadu legislature can pass a law amending the Central law such amendments that require presidential assent will apply only to the limits of Tamil Nadu state. Therefore, the governor can promulgate an ordinance on the same subject that will be valid for a limited period. The Tamil Nadu government would have taken care to ensure the ordinance is within the legally permissible limits, as it should not in any way overrule the law declared by the Supreme Court on Jallikattu. The ordinance reportedly carved out exceptions to provisions of the PCA Act interpreted by the SC earlier, making it clear Jallikattu done in a humane way would not amount to cruelty. Jallikattu was practised in the area that forms the state of Tamil Nadu for centuries not the whole of the erstwhile Madras Presidency, that included the present state of Andhra Pradesh, Malabar of Kerala and South Canara district in Karnataka; so much so there it has acquired the status of a religious practice. The PCA Act was enacted in 1960 to replace an 1890 law enacted by British legislators. However, the new law also remained dormant many years without affecting Jallikattu. The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the Tamil Nadu Regulation of Jallikattu Act 2009, that set conditions under which Jallikattu could be held, possibly to pre-empt questioning by animal rights activists. The validity of this law was challenged before the Madras high court, which on March 9, 2007 rejected the writ petition, upholding the practice of Jallikattu, subject to the conditions laid down in the Tamil Nadu Act. In July 2011, the Centre published a notification under Section 22 PCA Act, where bulls were notified as one among performing animals along with bears, monkeys, tigers, panthers and lions. Bulls thus couldnt be exhibited or trained except as prescribed. Once an animal is deemed a performing animal, the statute comes into play and it makes it virtually impossible to hold Jallikattu, which was essentially a rural sport. The Centres 2011 notification and the Madras high court ruling came up for consideration in the Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A. Nagaraja in 2014. A two-judge bench took up the issue of seminal importance (on) the rights of animals under our Constitution. It may be noted that Article 145(3) mandates that the minimum number of judges on the bench to decide any case involving a substantial question of law on the interpretation of the Constitution shall be five. Despite this, the two-judge bench in Nagarajas case took upon itself to decide the seminal question and also to interpret Article 51A dealing with fundamental duties. It is worth recalling that Article 51A was added as a cosmetic item by the notorious Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act passed during the 1975-77 Emergency that made obnoxious distortions to the Constitution, almost all of which were reversed by the 44th Amendment Act soon after the Emergency ended. Article 51A was a notable survivor. The court pressed in to service clauses of Article 51A that recommends compassion for living creatures and humanism in support of the view that our Constitution guarantees right to life with dignity to all species of living beings. There is no precedent to support this proposition precedents say Article 51-A is not enforceable. Consequently, Jallikattu was banned. The court also declared the 2009 Tamil Nadu law allowing Jallikattu as repugnant to the PCA Act, and hence bad. A review petition against this decision was also rejected in November 2016. On January 7, 2016, the Centre passed an order under the PCA Act permitting Jallikattu subject to certain conditions, the validity of which was also challenged, and on January 12, 2016 a two-judge bench following Nagarajas case (2014) stayed the operation of the government order. Jallikattu therefore couldnt be held. While a decision on the validity of the 2016 government order was still pending, the Centre withdrew the order on January 24, thus aborting the issue. The popular agitation in Tamil Nadu, which was peaceful, would have turned ugly if allowed to continue for long. The state government therefore decided on the ordinance route, obviously with the Centres concurrence. It is often asked whether it is lawful to promulgate an ordinance on a subject that is pending before the courts. The answer is yes. The exercise of a legislative power, under which an ordinance is promulgated, cant be pre-empted over the sub judice factor. Since the parameters of passing a law on something on which the court had pronounced have all been settled, one presumes enough care was taken in drafting a non-offensive but effective ordinance. The example of banning Sati is often cited in the context of the Jallikattu ban. Sati was banned in 1861 by royal edict, not by a court interpreting a law. The order by the Crown (in British-ruled India) was widely welcomed as Sati was regarded as repulsive in many quarters. If at any time Jallikattu is seen as loathsome by society, the legislature will have to act. An Act has been passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to replace the ordinance the needed presidential assent will follow. The validity of this is certain to be questioned, and that may be the occasion for a competent bench of five or more judges to decide the seminal issues involved. In any case, the agitators who threatened to remain on Chennais Marina Beach till a permanent solution is found had better rush back homes with their heads high, before the politicians on the prowl hijack the movement. Fortunately, quiet descended on the streets of Chennai and elsewhere in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday after violent protests the previous day. But the transformation of a fairly peaceful protest over several days in support of the traditional Jallikattu bull-taming sport into its diabolical opposite must be seriously investigated. If this is not done, and appropriate action not taken to address grievances or track down motivated troublemakers, the recurrence of untoward developments cant be ruled out. That about a hundred policemen and many protesters were injured in day-long ding-dong street warfare speaks of the mood of mindless violence that gripped the southern metropolis. Petrol bombs were hurled at the police. At the Ice House police station in central Chennai, sections of the mob locked up 15 policemen inside and set the place on fire in a conscious attempt to murder the keepers of law and order. Another police station was ransacked. These are the kinds of incidents that are generally seen in terrorism-prone states across the country. Fortunately, firearms are not ordinarily stocked in police stations in an ordinarily peaceful city like Chennai. Else, it isnt unlikely that troublemakers could have tried to storm the armoury. It is noteworthy events took a regrettable turn even as the state Assembly was giving shape to a new law to allow Jallikattu. It is hard to see why pro-Jallikattu people would do that. That leads to the question if the protest was infiltrated by extremists with a violent agenda. It is said that violence erupted following the circulation of videos on the social media showing policemen burning vehicles. If true, this is a very serious matter. The police called these videos fake. But to carry conviction an independent inquiry by responsible and respected citizens is called for on an urgent basis. Exemplary punishment must be meted out if any policemen are found guilty. At the same time, the lessons learnt from this protest should make the authorities inquire if Tamil Nadu is being sought to be made a base by extremist elements of one kind or another and take immediate action to check the tendency. This should be of an administrative as well as political nature. The sudden change in tempo of the Jallikattu movement also speaks of subterranean resentments across the state possibly prompted by a long-term denial of riparian flows from neighbouring states, which has led to a drought situation in some parts, and the unresolved issue of the arrest of Tamil fishermen by Sri Lanka. The Centre needs to pitch in and take the initiative to restore a genuine federal spirit in dealing with inter-state resources such as water, to check extremism, and should at the same time deal with Colombo. An assortment of heavily armed rebels ambushed a foot patrol of the paramilitary Assam Rifles in eastern Assams Tinsukia district bordering Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday, killing two soldiers in an unusual close-quarters combat. In a swift counter-attack launched by the Assam Rifles troopers, at least two of the rebels were gunned down and a few sophisticated weapons, including a G-3 rifle, were seized. The rebels triggered an improvised explosive device and attacked the troopers with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons as the Assam Rifles patrol reached Wari Basti, near Jairampur, Tinsukia district, less than 10 km from the border with Arunachal Pradesh. It was actually a road opening party, a posse of troops who patrol a stretch in order to sanitise it ahead of major troop movements. On the surface, this may look like a routine insurgent activity in the woods of the Northeast, a region plagued by separatist rebellions for seven decades now. But the January 22 attack came in quick succession after three similar raids on the security forces in the same area starting November 16, 2016. In the four ambushes since November 16, six soldiers and a civilian were killed, and at least 13 other soldiers were injured. All the incidents took place in the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border region, on almost the route taken by the insurgents to access their bases in adjoining Myanmar across the Patkai ranges. More significantly, the raids were jointly carried out by the recalcitrant faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom called Ulfa (Independent), headed by its military chief Paresh Barua, and four Meitei insurgent groups from Manipur. The recent attacks on the security forces signify the consolidation of the new rebel umbrella that goes by the name of the United Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWSEA). Formed two years ago at the initiative of Ulfa (I) supremo Paresh Barua and the chairman of the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K), the umbrella had in its fold two smaller outfits active in Assam the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit). The Meitei insurgents groups from Manipur had then supported the new terror grouping from outside but had not joined it formally. But the January 22 joint statement issued by M.M. Ngouba of CorCom, the coordination committee representing four Manipuri insurgent groups, and Paresh Asom alias Paresh Barua, Ulfa (I)s military chief and vice-chairman, stating Sundays ambush was carried out jointly by five rebel groups confirmed the coming of Manipurs valley-based rebel groups under the UNLFWSEA ambit. The four Manipuri outfits are the Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak, Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Progressive), Revolutionary Peoples Front and the United National Liberation Front. A similar joint statement was issued on November 20 after the ambush the previous day in Tinsukia district in which three Army soldiers were killed and four others wounded. On both occasions, the rebels had codenamed their offensive as Operation Barak. The following question now arises if five or more major insurgent groups from the Northeast have come together under a new rebel platform and have managed to launch coordinated strikes, rather successfully, against the Indian security establishment, and, thereby, the Indian state itself, what has been the impact of all the peace processes launched over the years by the Indian government? An answer to this may be difficult to find but not impossible to attempt: first, New Delhis peace exercises have been seen to be mere attempts at achieving a temporary lull in insurgent activities rather than an exercise at finding lasting long-term solutions. This is largely because the government has failed, almost on all occasions, to come up with inclusive peace dialogues involving different insurgent groups active in a particular state or an area. Take the case of the Naga insurgency where New Delhi has been engaged in peace talks with the Isak-Muivah faction of the NSCN (NSCN-IM) since 1997. According to credible information accessed by this writer, the Centre is ready to let the Nagas have a separate flag, in addition to the tricolour, and also mention Indian (Naga) in passports issued to Nagas. Besides, New Delhi is also agreeable to the setting up and funding of a pan-Naga body to look after issues related to culture and tradition of Nagas residing in India. In lieu of its main demand of sovereignty, the NSCN-IM has been talking of a shared sovereignty with a view to lay claim to the distinct identity or the distinctiveness of the Nagas. The general desire to allow the Nagas a separate flag or to mention Naga next to India in passports is perhaps the governments way of agreeing to the idea of a shared sovereignty. Besides, the Constitution itself provides clear autonomy to the states in matters of recruitment of personnel in government departments and so on. Despite such concessions, why is it that groups like the NSCN-K and other smaller NSCN factions are outside the purview of peace talks? The same is the case with the Ulfa the faction headed by Arabinda Rajkhowa and Anup Chetia are in talks but Mr Barua and his Ulfa (I) is engaged in battling the security forces. There may be vast economic benefits from extortion, arms smuggling and other activities that could be keeping certain factions out of the peace process, but local politics too cannot be ruled out as a possible factor. The Naga deal apparently is not making headway because the Congress government in Manipur is said to be against the Naga-dominated hill areas in the state getting autonomy under the Sixth Schedule. It apparently has no objection if autonomy is granted to the Naga areas in Manipur under a state provision. A lot of things need to be ironed out if a semblance of order can be restored in this region. Google released a teaser of the updated version of Voice just a couple of weeks ago. Now the search giant has finally announced the availability of the same for Android, iOS and on the web. The service comes with a major visual overhaul. The first thing youll notice about the updated Google Voice apps is a cleaner, more intuitive design that keeps everything organised, Googles blogpost read. Your inbox now has separate tabs for text messages, calls and voicemails. Conversations stay in one continuous thread, so you can easily see all your messages from each of your contacts in one place, the company added. The upgraded app also comes along with features that were only available for users who switched to Hangouts before. Apart from that, group texting and voicemail transcriptions have also been added to the main Voice app. Other notifications include in-notification replies on Android, 3D Touch support for iPhone and an improved user experience. The new and updated version of Google Voice is available on Android with release on iOS to follow soon. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Ride-hailing app is expanding its horizons into a different market. The company recently announced that it will launching its restaurant food delivery service UberEATS in India soon. The company is accumulating feedback from consumers at the moment and plans on opening the floor to restaurant and other delivery partners. I am incredibly excited about bringing UberEATS to India . This is a significant investment, it spans multiple cities and regions, and it has the potential to change the food industry with the push of a button in one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world, said Allen Penn, Asia Pacifics Head of UberEATS in a statement. The company hasnt given any information on which cities in India will be getting this service but Uber is considering Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Samsung is reported to bring the Galaxy Note 8 in the second-half of the year. Samsung Galaxy Note 7, in its release days, was seen as a big launch to hit the smartphone market against its rival Apple iPhone 7. However, the trail of incidents reporting overheating issues and the handsets catching fire, made Samsung to recall over 96 per cent of the sold units, and finally scrap the smartphone altogether. In the course of incidents the Note 7 was carrying the tag of being a vulnerable device which can explode when subjected to charge. Under the emergency order, regulators banned the smartphone from aircraft. The smartphone became the butt of jokes online, giving a huge blow to Note brands reputation. (Photo: Facebook) On Monday, Samsung disclosed the results of months-long investigation that blamed faulty design in the phones battery Battery A and Battery B. In the investigation, Battery A referred to the battery tested from the first recall of Galaxy Note 7s. In the first instance, there was an electrode deflection and incorrect positioning of the negative electrode tip in the upper-right corner of the battery, an abnormality in the design," Samsung revealed. In a normal battery the negative electrode is not deflected, but are separated by enough space to prevent making contact with the positive electrode. After its first recall, Samsung replaced the recalled units with different batteryBattery B, provided by another battery supplier. Samsung said, In other occurrence, an abnormal high welding burrs on the positive electrode resulted in the penetration of the insulation tape and separator which then caused direct contact between the positive tab with the negative electrode. In normal case, the positive tab is approximately attached to the positive electrode. Additional contribution factor was a number of batteries were missing insulation tape. However, another hardware firm Instrumental revealed that the battery flaw may itself not the only reason, but other factors may have favoured the explosions. In its investigation, found the Note 7 explosion occurred due to an aggressive phone design. According to the firm, the phone design compressed the Note 7 battery, even during normal operations. Looking at the design, Samsung engineers were clearly trying to balance the risk of a super-aggressive manufacturing process to maximise capacity, while attempting to protect it internally, Instrumental said on its blog. Following what Samsung discovered during their investigation, the company pledged to enhance product safety and developed an 8-Point Battery Safety Check to avoid Note 7-like incidents. Despite the death of Galaxy Note 7, Samsung smartphones under the Note brand will continue to launch. Samsung is not yet ready to give upon the Note brand. I will bring back a better, safer and very innovative Note 8. Samsungs mobile chief. D.J. Koh said in an interview to CNET on Monday. We found through the investigative process, we knew there are lots and lots of loyal Note customers, he added. In a separate statement to Business Korea, Samsung confirmed to stick to its Galaxy Note series. An official from the electronic industry said, 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. Samsung has already announced to not unveil the Galaxy S8 smartphone at the Mobile World Conference (MWC) in Barcelona. However, the firm is rumoured to hold a public event in New York this year where it could launch the S8 model. Also, after the release of the S8 smartphone, Samsung is reported to bring the Galaxy Note 8 in the second-half of the year. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. In the aftermath of Note 7 debacle, the top smartphone maker Samsung is not rushing into the next big launch, the Galaxy S8. After revealing faulty batteries were responsible for Galaxy Note 7 incidents, Samsung confirmed to delay its next flagship Galaxy S smartphone. In a statement, Samsung President Kim Dong-jin said, The Galaxy S8 is expected to be released after MWC 2017 although the Galaxy S Series were unveiled at the MWC in Barcelona of Spain in February over the past three years. The Galaxy S8 was already speculated to be unveiled through a separate event in New York in March and to hit shelves around mid-April. And now a new report by Forbes is claiming Samsung S8 will make its debut on April 14 in South Korea. Samsung has not yet officially confirmed the release date for its latest flagship Galaxy S8 smartphone. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Banjul: Gambias exiled strongman Yahya Jammeh plundered millions of dollars in his final weeks in power leaving state coffers empty, an aide to new President Adama Barrow said as West African troops prepared to secure his arrival. Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday, ending 22 years at the helm of the small west African nation. But amid growing controversy over the assurances offered to Jammeh to guarantee his departure, Barrow aide Mai Fatty said the new administration had discovered that some $11 million had recently been stolen. The coffers are largely empty, he said. Police said four female bombers were responsible while the state government blamed Boko Haram, which has frequently targeted Madagali, including in December, when some 45 people were killed. (Photo: Representational Image/AP) Kano: A female suicide bomber who attacked a town in northeast Nigeria earlier this month was carrying a baby at the time, the country's main relief agency said on Tuesday. But the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it was unclear whether this was a new tactic on the part of Boko Haram Islamists to allow would-be bombers to evade detection. "From the report we got after the Madagali attack (on January 13), one of the female suicide bombers had a baby strapped to her back," said the NEMA coordinator for Adamawa state, Saad Bello. "However it is not clear whether it was a coincidence or a strategy they employed to avoid detection by security personnel. This was one isolated case and it will be premature to arrive at a definite conclusion that the use of babies in suicide attacks has become a trend," Bello said. At least two people were killed and 15 others injured in the explosions in Madagali at a checkpoint manned by local hunters, at a military post and a bus station. Police said four female bombers were responsible while the state government blamed Boko Haram, which has frequently targeted Madagali, including in December, when some 45 people were killed. Boko Haram, which has been fighting to create a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria since 2009, began using suicide bombers in mid-2014. Women and girls, some reportedly aged 10 and younger, have been used to target checkpoints, bus stations, mosques, churches, schools and markets to inflict maximum civilian casualties. Blog Hinangai While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity. The decision to ban foreign aid to groups that lobby in support of abortion rights is certain to deepen concern among already apprehensive US family planning and women's rights organisations. (Photo: AP) Washington: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a decree barring US federal funding for foreign NGOs that support abortion, relaunching a battle that has long divided Americans. It comes just two days after women led a massive protest march in Washington to defend their rights, including to abortion. The decision to ban foreign aid to groups that lobby in support of abortion rights is certain to deepen concern among already apprehensive US family planning and women's rights organisations. Stenny Hoyer, a Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, sharply criticized Trump for using his first week in office "to attack women's health." "It should be no surprise to the millions of women and men who gathered in protest this weekend across the country -- and around the world -- that Republicans are focused more on making it harder for women to access health care than on the serious economic and security challenges we face." The restrictions imposed today prohibit foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive US family planning assistance from using non-US funding to provide abortion services, information, counseling or referrals and from engaging in advocacy to promote abortion. They were first put in place in 1984 by Republican president Ronald Reagan. Later eliminated by Democratic president Bill Clinton, they were reinstalled by his Republican successor George W. Bush, and annulled again after Barack Obama took office. Galvanised by Trump's November 8 election, abortion opponents in states where Republicans hold power moved swiftly last month to adopt draconian anti-abortion measures that in some cases pose challenges to constitutional liberties. The new president, meanwhile, has pledged to nominate an anti-abortion justice to the Supreme Court, which could lead to overturning Roe v. Wade, the emblematic ruling that legalised abortion in the United States in 1973. Former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara pose for a photo at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston. (Photo: AP) Chicago: Former US President George H W Bush has been transferred from intensive care and could be released from the hospital Friday or over the weekend, doctors said on Tuesday. His wife and former first lady Barbara Bush was discharged from the hospital, Bush physicians Amy Mynderse and Clint Doerr said. The former first couple was admitted to Houston Methodist hospital on Wednesday. The 41st president, who is 92, was suffering from bacterial pneumonia, while Barbara Bush, 91, had viral bronchitis, doctors said. The former president was intubated for 48 hours to aid with his breathing. He is now breathing on his own. "He is sitting up, watching TV and is waiting anxiously for his favourite oyster stew for lunch," Doerr said. "He's on minimal oxygen, joking and laughing with the nurses and doctors." Full recovery for the couple will take another week or two, according to the physicians. "X-rays continue to improve, so no obvious re-accumulation of material in his airways that would then again put him behind the eight-ball," Doerr said, adding that the former president will need a "fairly aggressive combination of breathing medications. We'll finish off a full course of antibiotics as well." Parkinson's disease, which has left the former president in a wheelchair, played a minimal role in his illness, doctors said, because it is a less common form of the disease that has affected only his lower body. However, his advanced age is of great concern, they added. Barbara Bush, admitted to the hospital as a precaution, was to return later in the day to remain by her husband's bedside. Mrs Bush stayed mostly by her husband's side while she was hospitalized, doctors said, even though the two slept in separate hospital rooms. "They really, truly are therapy for each other," Mynderse said. "When she's not there, he's looking for her." The former president and first lady have received many messages of support, the doctors said, including from a family that hand-delivered a get-well card. The card hangs in the former president's hospital room, the doctors added. The couple has been surprised by the public concern. Mynderse said that before he headed to the Monday news conference, Bush had reacted by asking him, "People want to know about me?" The elder Bushes were the only former White House residents who did not attend Friday's inauguration of Donald Trump because of their declining health. The couple watched the ceremony from the hospital. Another former president, their son George W. Bush, was on the stand on Friday in Washington. Mexico City: Mexico could pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement if a renegotiation of its terms does not benefit Latin America's second largest economy, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Tuesday. "There could be no other option. Go for something that is less than what we already have? It would not make sense to stay," Guajardo said when asked on local television if Mexico could pull out of the trade deal with Canada and the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to withdraw from NAFTA, which took effect in 1994, if he cannot renegotiate it to benefit American interests. Trump formally withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday and said he would renegotiate NAFTA "at the appropriate time." Senior U.S. and Mexican officials will meet this week in Washington to discuss trade, security and immigration. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Trump will meet at the end of January. Pena Nieto said on Monday he will aim to preserve tariff-free commerce under NAFTA in talks with the new U.S. government. NAFTA and other trade deals became lightning rods for American voter anger in the industrial heartland states that swept Trump to victory in the Nov. 8 election. Trump claimed that 3 to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally voted in the election, costing him the popular vote, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Washington: Charting a new American course abroad, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, using one of his first actions in office to reject a centerpiece of Barack Obama's attempts to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia. Trump's move on trade aimed to fulfill a central campaign promise even as he appeared to be fixated on re-litigating the 2016 election. In a meeting with congressional leaders on Monday night, Trump claimed that 3 to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally voted in the election, costing him the popular vote, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. There has been no evidence to back up that claim. Trump's assertions came in a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders. They were similar to claims he made on Twitter in late November that he had won the electoral college in a "landslide" and "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes despite losing the electoral college. Trump aimed to make jobs and the economy the focal point of his first few days in office. He has repeatedly cast the 12-nation trade pact - which was eagerly sought by U.S. allies in Asia - as detrimental to American businesses. "Great thing for the American worker that we just did," Trump said in brief remarks as he signed a notice in the Oval Office. The Obama administration spent years negotiating the Pacific Rim pact, though the mood in Washington on trade soured over time. Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification, making Trump's actions Monday largely symbolic. For Trump, the start of his first full week in office amounted to a reset after a tumultuous weekend dominated by his and his spokesman's false statements about inauguration crowds and their vigorous complaints about media coverage of the celebrations. While Trump's advisers have long accepted his tendency to become preoccupied by seemingly insignificant issues, some privately conceded that his focus on inauguration crowds was unhelpful on the opening weekend of his presidency. On Monday, the new president tried to regroup. He spent the day bounding from one ornate room of the White House to another for meetings, often ordering aides to summon journalists from their West Wing workspace at a moment's notice for unscheduled statements and photo opportunities. In addition to his executive action on TPP, Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring - though he noted an exception for the military - and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. The regulation, known as the "Mexico City Policy," has been a political volleyball, instituted by Republican administrations and rescinded by Democratic ones since 1984. The actions were among the long list of steps candidate Trump pledged to take on his opening day as president. But other "Day One" promises were going unfulfilled Monday, including plans to propose a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress and terminating Obama's executive actions deferring deportations for some people living in the U.S. illegally. Spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday that Trump intended to follow through on his proposals, though on a more extended timeframe to ensure maximum attention for each move. Yet he appeared to suggest that Trump would not move quickly - or perhaps at all - to reinstate deportations for young immigrants protected from deportation under the Obama administration. Spicer said Trump's focus would be on people in the U.S. illegally who have criminal records or who pose a threat. "That's where the priority's going to be, and then we're going to continue to work through the entire number of folks that are here illegally," he said. Spicer - making his first appearance at the briefing room podium since his angry tirade against the press on Saturday - also appeared to back away from Trump's assertion that he could move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. While presidential candidates have long made similar pledges, all have abandoned the idea over concerns that following through would further inflame tensions in the volatile region. "We are at the early stages in this decision-making process," Spicer said of the possible embassy relocation. "If it was already a decision, then we wouldn't be going through a process." Spicer struck a far more conciliatory tone with reporters in Monday's briefing and attempted to make light of his weekend appearance, which included multiple inaccurate statements about the inauguration. He conceded that he was relying on incomplete information when he used public transportation figures to boast about the crowd size, but stood by his unverifiable claim that Trump's swearing-in was the most watched in history, counting internet views as well as TV. The crowd actually in attendance was clearly smaller than for Obama's 2009 inauguration, though Trump denied that fact. Monday was mostly a business day for Trump. The new president, who prefers to solicit opinions from numerous people before making decisions, huddled with corporate leaders, including Tesla's Elon Musk and Marillyn Hewson, and union heads. Eager to show off his new digs, Trump ended both meetings by bringing his guests in to see the Oval Office. In his discussions with executives, Trump warned that he would impose a "substantial border tax" on companies that move their manufacturing out of the United States. He reiterated his campaign pledge to lower taxes for companies that stay in the U.S., as well as for the middle class, "anywhere from 15 to 25 percent," although he has not been clear on how he intends to make up for lost tax revenue. He said of his incentives for businesses, "All you have to do is stay." In the evening, Trump hosted a White House reception for lawmakers from both parties and a separate private meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan to discuss Republicans' legislative priorities. His choice for CIA director, Mike Pompeo, was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on Monday night. As Trump pressed forward with executive actions, a legal watchdog group filed a lawsuit alleging he is violating the so-called emoluments clause in the Constitution by allowing his business to accept payments from foreign governments. The liberal-funded watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics says the clause prohibits Trump from receiving money from diplomats for stays at his hotels or from foreign governments for leases of office space in his buildings. Asked about the suit, Trump said it was "totally without merit." Later Monday, spokesman Spicer said Trump has left his businesses as promised, handing over control to his two adult sons. First lady Melania Trump watches as President Donald J. Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, are helped by Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Babot, center, as they cut a cake at The Salute To Our Armed Services Inaugural Ball. (Photo: AP) Washington: A patriotic cake cut by President Donald Trump at one of his inaugural balls Friday night was a replica of one served at an inaugural ball in 2013 for former President Barack Obama. Baltimore pastry chef Duff Goldman made the Obama cake and highlighted its similarities with Trump's on Twitter early on Saturday , noting that he didn't make the one for Trump. Washington cake maker Tiffany MacIsaac tells The Washington Post that she was asked to recreate the one used at Obama's ball. She says she wasn't trying to upset Goldman. Goldman, former star of the Food Network's "Ace of Cakes," claimed no hard feelings in a tweet later Saturday, writing that it was "awesome" that his cake was remembered and the chef who recreated it "did a fantastic job." Washington: US President Donald Trump's choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corp Chairman Rex Tillerson, narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday, but is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 to approve Tillerson, with every Republican backing the former oil executive and every Democrat opposing him. His approval by the panel, a victory for Trump, had been in doubt until earlier on Monday, when Senator Marco Rubio, a committee member who had been Tillerson's most vocal Republican critic, said he would back the nominee. Tillerson's confirmation by the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats, is not expected before next week. Democrats want more time to debate and the chamber may not be in session all this week. Rubio's backing had been in doubt after his tough questioning during Tillerson's confirmation hearing, focusing on issues including concerns about Tillerson's support for human rights. Rubio ultimately decided he would approve the nominee in deference to Trump, as well as to fill a critical top job. Democrats said they voted against Tillerson over fears he might lift sanctions on Russia, where he did business for years, questions about his views on human rights and his refusal to recuse himself from matters related to his former employer during his entire term as the top US diplomat. Tillerson pledged to recuse himself only for the year required by law. Amid Democratic anger over allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Tillerson also raised committee hackles by saying he did not know Exxon Mobil lobbied against sanctions on Russia while he was running the company. Senator Ben Cardin, the committee's top Democrat, said Tillerson's "business orientation" and responses at his hearing "could compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined our country and our leading role in the world for more than 200 years." The Senate confirmed only two of Trump's Cabinet nominees on Friday, his Inauguration Day, a relatively low number among recent presidencies. Democrats have been unable to block any of his choices because they changed Senate rules in 2013 to allow nominees to be confirmed with just a majority, not 60 votes. Instead, they have used Senate rules to slow the confirmation of nominees they say hold extreme views, are unqualified or have not completed ethics disclosures. Trump advisors have mulled declaring China a "currency manipulator," or levying tariffs on Chinese products in a bid offset in the import gap. (Photo: AP) Washington: The White House warned China it will "defend" US and international "interests" in the South China Sea and that trade must be a "two-way street." Signaling Donald Trump's tough stance against Beijing on Monday, spokesman Sean Spicer said "the US is going to make sure we protect our interests" in the South China Sea. "If those islands are, in fact, in international waters and not part of China proper, yeah, we'll make sure we defend international interests from being taken over by one country." China lays claim to a vast extent of the South China Sea within a so-called "nine dash line," including waters claimed by several of its neighbors. Under president Barack Obama's administration that preceded Trump's, Washington insisted it was neutral on the legal question of sovereignty over the islets, reefs and shoals. But, while calling for the dispute to be resolved under international law, the US supported freedom of navigation by sending naval patrols through Chinese-claimed turf. Last week, former ExxonMobil chief executive and secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson suggested a hardening of this stance, calling China's building of bases on the disputed islands illegal. "We're going to have to send China a clear signal that, first the island building stops, and second, your access to those islands is also not going to be allowed," he said. Tillerson's remarks raised the prospect of a confrontation between the world's two greatest powers, and Spicer did nothing from the White House podium to walk them back. He also took a tough line on trade, returning to Trump's campaign theme that existing rules favor Chinese exports to the United States and cost American jobs. 'Not a two-way street' Spicer said that Trump is aware that US firms need access to China's large domestic market, but that he is not prepared to accept that current arrangements continue. "In many cases, it's not a two-way street," he argued. "There's so many Chinese businesses and individuals frankly, who can have ease of access in the United States to sell their goods or services." Spicer cited limits on the penetration of US financial and banking services in China, and noted the difficulties of US firms protecting their intellectual property rights. Trump "understands the market that China has and our desire to further penetrate that market," Spicer argued. "But he also recognizes there are a lot of concerns with how we are treated entering into China's market and we need to review that." Trump advisors have mulled declaring China a "currency manipulator," or levying tariffs on Chinese products in a bid offset in the import gap. Even before taking office, Trump infuriated Beijing accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. The move upended decades of diplomatic precedent in which the US president avoided direct public communication with the island's leader. 2,021 Taliban militants were arrested in the past 10 months and 365 Taliban commanders were killed. (Photo: Representational Image/AFP) Kabul: An Afghan Defence Ministry official says the Taliban have launched nearly 19,000 attacks throughout the country in the last 10 months. By comparison the Afghan National Security Forces carried out roughly 700 counter-insurgency operations during the same period. Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said on Tuesday he didn't have a comparative figure from the previous year, "but this year it was much worse for the number of attacks by the Taliban." While fighting traditionally eases during the winter months, observers say the attacks this year have continued at a steady pace. Waziri told reporters at a briefing in the capital, Kabul, that 2,021 Taliban militants were arrested in the past 10 months and 365 Taliban commanders were killed. There was no way to independently confirm Waziri's figures. The radar-evading Ababeel surface-to-surface ballistic missile is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead up to 2,200 kms, bringing many Indian cities within its range. Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday tested fired surface to surface missile (SSM) Ababeel having the range of 2,200 kilometres. Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) Zubair Mahmood Hayat and services chiefs congratulated the scientists and all stakeholders. The missile is capable of delivering multiple warheads using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology. The test flight was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system, a military statement said. Ababeel is capable of engaging multiple targets with high precision while defeating enemys radars. Ababeel Weapon System aims at survivability of Pakistans ballistic missiles in the growing Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) environment. President Mamnoon Hussain congratulated the nation on the successful test and described the missile test as important to maintain balance of power in the region. President Donald Trump signs an executive order to withdraw the US from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact agreed to under the Obama administration in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (Photo: AP) Sydney: US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, as promised, is prompting other member countries to seek ways to salvage the trade pact. Leaders of some of the 11 other nations involved in the initiative said they hope to push ahead with the agreement in some form, with or without the US. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Tuesday he had discussed the pact's future recently with the prime ministers of Japan, Singapore and New Zealand, all TPP members, and believed the pact could survive without the U.S. "Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that," Turnbull told reporters. "But we are not about to walk away from our commitment to Australian jobs." Trump says he favours one-on-one agreements with other nations rather than multinational pacts like the TPP, which would have included markets comprising 40 percent of world GDP and was eventually meant to be the foundation for a wider pan-Pacific trading bloc. As expected, on Monday the new president officially abandoned the trade deal in one of his first acts after taking office. Advocates of the TPP said it would set a "gold standard" for modern trade rules, with stringent requirements for intellectual property, labour and environmental protections. A key goal was to lead in shaping trade rules for this century, and also to counter the growing influence of China, which is not part of the pact. Critics said the TPP would put corporate interests ahead of public and national sovereign interests. The U.S. about-face on the deal is a setback for leaders of other TPP countries who invested political capital in fighting to get it ratified. That includes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who told lawmakers during parliamentary debate that he hoped to gain Trump's "understanding" on the TPP's importance. Abe has said he hopes to meet with Trump as soon as possible. Japan completed the TPP ratification process last week, well aware Trump planned to drop out. Abe said its goals were still important for Japan and the TPP could be a model for trade deals with other nations, including those in Europe. The remaining 11 TPP members will meet to discuss the next steps, said Malaysian Second Trade Minister Ong Ka Chuan. "Twelve countries signed the (TPP), but now one wants out. The other 11 can continue by making change to the clauses. There are many possibilities that these 11 countries can still proceed with," the Bernama news agency quoted him as saying. He didn't elaborate. Other TPP members are Canada, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Vietnam and Brunei. Turnbull said that in theory China could join the pact following the U.S. departure. But that would require a revamp of the deal. In its current form, the TPP can only take effect after it is ratified by six countries that account for 85 percent of its members' combined gross domestic product. The U.S. made up 60 percent of the TPP's combined GDP, so it could not be implemented as it stands now. Though he didn't suggest Trump himself would reverse his position, Turnbull did say the U.S. eventually might. "You have to recognize that his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, has been a longtime advocate for it," Turnbull said, referring to Trump's nominee. "The Republican Party in the Congress have been strong supporters of the TPP. It is possible that U.S. policy could change over time on this, as it has done on other trade deals." Whatever the deal's fate, the region shows no sign of retreating from the market-opening trend that helped transform its many developing nations into a relatively stable zone of affluent, middle-income economies. New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said he agrees with his predecessor John Key's view that the U.S. risks ceding some influence to China in the Pacific without the TPP. English showed little enthusiasm for the sort of "one-on-one" bilateral trade deal with the U.S. that Trump said he prefers. "If you ask me today, I'd say there's a pretty low chance of that happening in a form that we'd find satisfactory," English told reporters in Wellington. "But we wouldn't want to rule it out, any more than we'd want to rule out other versions of progress on free trade, with TPP or not." Although losing the U.S. as part of the TPP means losing nearly two-thirds of its market, English said the initiative was still advantageous for New Zealand and therefore worth pursuing. Vietnam was expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of the TPP, and the collapse of the pact could be a blow to the economy of the Communist country, which is heavily driven by exports and foreign direct investment. Le Dang Doanh, a senior Vietnamese economist and former government economic adviser, said the US could also be hurt by its decision to drop out. "Vietnam's main export items to the US include catfish, shrimp, garments, shoes and wooden products," Doanh said. "Without TPP, American consumers will have to pay more for these products." Trump's threats to impose tariffs of up to 45 percent on some imports are a big worry for most Asian countries, given the region's heavy reliance on exports. The U.S. is the largest single market for China and Japan, and indirectly a huge source of demand for many of the commodities and goods produced across the region. "All of us are working to see how we can ensure we maintain this momentum toward open markets and free trade," Turnbull said. "Believe me, protectionism is not a ladder to get you out of the low growth trap. It is a shovel to dig it deeper." The unnamed child was told by staff at St Clare's School in Handsworth, Birmingham, that she should not wear her hijab to lessons. (Photo: Representational Image) London: A 4-year-old Muslim girl in the UK has been banned from wearing a hijab by a Roman Catholic school under a strict uniform policy, sparking a massive row on social media. The unnamed child was told by staff at St Clare's School in Handsworth, Birmingham, that she should not wear her hijab to lessons. The school has a strict uniform policy, including no headwear or scarf and asked parents of the girl to respect it. The girl's father called on Birmingham City Council's Labour cabinet member for equalities Waseem Zaffar to intervene causing the row to erupt. The row has now divided senior councillors and women's rights activists who have been locked in a feud over Facebook and Twitter, the Birmingham Mail reported. Zaffar wrote that he had met with the head teacher and told her the ban on the scarf was against the equalities act. "I'm insisting this matter is addressed asap with a change of policy," he said. However, his cabinet colleague Majid Mahmood countered that as a faith school St Clare's is "maybe within its rights to insist upon a particular dress code," just as a Muslim faith school "may require girls to wear headscarves". Mashuq Ally, a former head of equalities for Birmingham City Council, agreed saying there is no religious requirement for girls of infant school age to wear the hijab. He also pointed out that a faith school is allowed to set its own uniform policy and exempt from discrimination legislation. Where there are demographic changes which lead to a significant number of Muslim children attending a Christian school, then the parents should ask the school governors to consider changing the uniform policy, he said. Campaigner Gina Khan attacked Zaffar on Twitter, accusing him of backing parents who enforce the hijab on little girls as a means of control. Councillor Brigid Jones, cabinet member for children, families and schools, was quoted as saying, "Each school's governing body is responsible for the creation and implementation of its own uniform policy. However, the local authority is supporting the school to ensure its policy is appropriate, in line with legal requirements, and we are engaging with all schools to remind them of their responsibilities when it comes to setting school uniform policies." A picture taken on March 22, 2016 shows the shattered glass facade of the departure hall of Brussels Airport in Zaventem following twin blasts. (Photo: AFP) Brussels: The Islamic State suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport last year targeted passengers travelling to the United States and also Jewish people, several sources told AFP. The Belgian-led investigation believes a check-in counter for an American carrier was one of the targets in the March 22, 2016 attacks, the sources said on condition of anonymity. They also suspect that travellers to Israel may have been in the crosshairs, and that airport security camera footage shows one bomber apparently pursuing Hasidic Jews seconds before one of the blasts. Islamic State (IS) bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui killed 16 people at Zaventem airport. Around an hour later Bakraouis brother Khalid attacked a metro station near EU headquarters, killing another 16. One source close to the investigation told AFP, which contacted investigators in several countries, that one of the airport bombers attacked the Delta Airlines check-in. We know they wanted to target Americans, said the source, who asked not to be named. Its clear they had quite specific targets. Asked if these targets included the check-in counter for a flight to Israel, he replied: We know they were obsessed with the Israelis too. The possibility that they targeted Russian travellers was an option that had to be clarified, he said. Wanted to kill a Jew There were casualties from at least 40 nationalities in the Brussels attacks, but investigators and sources believe the Zaventem bombers had specific targets. Even early on (in the investigation) there were indications that they targeted US, Russian and Israeli check-in counters, a US law enforcement source told AFP on condition of anonymity. That understanding has held up with later investigations, including with Abrinis alleged confession, the source said. Mohamed Abrini is the so-called man in the hat who fled the airport without detonating his suitcase bomb after his accomplices set off theirs. He was captured a month later. Four Americans were killed at the airport and several injured, while two Israelis aged 23 and 28 were treated in Jerusalem after the attacks. Israeli media identified the pair as members of the Belz Hassid ultra-Orthodox religious sect, who had been scheduled to fly from Brussels airport to Ben Gurion. Sources close to the investigation added that camera footage never released to the public showed that Laachraoui had been standing among some 60 high school students before deciding to pursue two Orthodox Jews. The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews, one of the sources said. He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew. A US government source said separately that Lachraoui was targeting a Hasidic Jew. Hasidic men are easily recognisable because they wear dark suits over white shirts, have long beards, hats and curly sidelocks. Investigators are very confident they (bombers) were targeting US, Russia and Israel, the US government source said. Israeli security measures have dramatically increased since the attacks, an airport source added. Cornered and hunted A Belgian press report said investigators had found an electronic message from Khalid El Bakraoui saying flights departed every Tuesday from Brussels to the United States, Russia and Israel, but investigators would not confirm that. However the attack did occur around 8:00 am on a Tuesday, shortly before scheduled flights to all three countries by United, American, Delta, El Al, Brussels Airlines and Russias Aeroflot, according to airport and other sources. An airport source who asked not to be named said the bomb that did not explode was left near the United and El Al counters, which were facing each other. Abrini appeared in unreleased airport CCTV footage as lagging behind the other bombers before hiding behind a pillar covering his ears, two independent sources said. Every indication was that Abrini changed his mind, the US law enforcement source said. Investigators have said the bombers were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the November 2015 Paris attacks. They believe they were spurred into action in Brussels by the March 18 arrest of key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. Completely cornered and hunted, they clearly improvised, a source close to the Belgian investigation said, adding that one of the bombers left a message on an abandoned computer apologising for not having launched a new attack on France. Belgium had also suffered an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 which left four people dead. The alleged attacker, Mehdi Nemmouche, has been linked to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Israel does not comment publicly on security-related issues when asked about the March 2016 attacks. The FBI, which is taking part in the investigation, did not respond to a request for comment. Russias investigation committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, said it is not investigating the Brussels attacks. Sherborne: A 13-year-old bisexual girl committed suicide by hanging herself in a woodland after she split up with her girlfriend at Sherborne in Dorset, United Kingdom. According to a report in Daily Mail, the girl told her father that she is going for a walk and never returned. After a few hours, the father filed a missing person complaint with the police. Subsequently, a passer-by found the girls corpse hanging in a woodland that was near her house the following morning. The teen Sophie Clark, who was already suffering from mental heath issues, was extremely affected by the split which pushed her to commit suicide. The investigation also revealed that Clark had already tried to take her life once in March last year by overdosing herself with paracetamol and ibuprofen. Also facing body-image issues, Clarks psychiatrist was quoted as saying that the girl was prone to cutting herself as that helped her calm down. "She said she felt it difficult to concentrate and that her school grades were dropping. She also described feeling insecure about her body image," the psychiatrist was quoted as saying. The investigation also revealed that Clark who described herself as bisexual or pansexual, previously had a boyfriend and the couple eventually broke-up. Few hours before she went missing, the teen had also talked to a friend over Facebook, telling the friend about her intentions to harm herself. The friend had seen Clark at school but had not noticed anything unusual. A post-mortem examination of Clarks body detected drugs in her blood stream and also said the death was caused due to pressure on her neck. London: The UK government on Tuesday lost a landmark legal challenge after the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot unilaterally trigger the process of Britains exit from the EU and must seek Parliaments nod, dealing a huge blow to her Brexit plans. The judgement means the British Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to officially begin Brexit negotiations with the 28-member European Union (EU) until Britains MPs and peers give their backing. It has now confirmed that a new bill will be tabled in Parliament within days for this purpose. The government had argued that it already had the executive powers to trigger Article 50 but Supreme Court judges rejected the case by a majority of eight to three. Reading out the ruling, Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger said: By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court rules that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so. The government had lost a High Court case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners last November, leading to the landmark appeal in the Supreme Court heard by all 11 justices of Britains highest court. Downing Street had been preparing for the result for weeks and revealed that it had drafted a straightforward bill to seek parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. The new Bill to be tabled in the UK Parliament will give the government the power to trigger Article 50. Reacting to the verdict, UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis told the House of Commons, The judgement does not change the fact the UK is leaving the EU. Iraqi Army soldiers stand guard as civilians return to their liberated neighborhoods, in the eastern side of Mosul. (Photo: AP) Mosul: Fierce fighting erupted in Mosul on Tuesday as Iraqi forces tried to drive Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, as aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. Iraqi forces have seized nearly all of Mosul east of the Tigris river, which runs through the heart of the northern city, since the U.S.-backed offensive began in October. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of the city in a statement consigned by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. "We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west," Grande said in a statement. "We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives." The statement called on warring parties "to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance." Mosul is the IS group's last major urban bastion in Iraq. The extremists still control large areas in neighboring Syria. This file photo shows a view of the illegal Israeli settlement of Efrat, near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (Photo: AFP) Jerusalem: Israel said on Tuesday it approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank, signalling a major ramp-up of construction just days after the swearing-in of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose election has emboldened the settlement movement. Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration, and has also vowed to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Israel's nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs." He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs," areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. "We are building and we will continue to build," Netanyahu wrote in a brief Facebook post. Settlement construction was a contentious area of disagreement during the Obama years, when the White House sided with the Palestinians and the international community in condemning it as an obstacle to peace. The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem areas captured by Israel in the 1967 war for their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the latest settlement plans, saying they would hurt peace hopes and "promote extremism and terrorism." "This decision is a challenge and provocation and disregard for the Arab world and the international community and requires a real and serious position from the entire world," he said. Trump has signaled a softer approach to the settlements, and some of his top aides have close ties to the settler movement. Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement, has received donations from Trump's designated ambassador to Israel and from the family of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a White House adviser. The approval came two days after Israel okayed nearly 600 settler homes in east Jerusalem, a move that would have elicited sharp censure under the Obama administration but which the Trump White House did not comment on. Trump has not outlined a vision for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he has said he'd be keen to broker a peace deal. His election platform made no mention of a Palestinian state. His pledge to move the US Embassy from coastal Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. But since taking office, the White House has been vague about its plans for the embassy. Earlier Tuesday, Gaza's Hamas rulers warned the US not to move its embassy to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said such a move would "open a new chapter of conflict" and "add fuel to the fire." The rival Palestinian Authority has also urged Trump not to follow through on his campaign promise to move the embassy. Beijing: Warning US President Donald Trump to desist from initiating "trade wars" or acting on his poll pledges of hiking tariffs against Chinese goods and declaring Beijing as currency manipulator, China on Tuesday said that both counties will suffer from such moves. "People are following US policies closely. We hope US policies are good for domestic stability and prosperity," Chinese Foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying told a media briefing here responding to questions on whether Beijing is worried about Trump's rhetoric on acting against its burgeoning trade with the US. "We have made our position very clear in the past few days. Economic ties are win win in nature. Trade war have no winners and harms the interests of both sides. "We have been calling upon both sides to work with mutual respect and equality, mutual benefit, and properly address trade disagreements," she said in response to a question on whether China was worried. China's comments came even as Trump today pulled US out of the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which his predecessor Barack Obama had vigorously pursued leaving China out of it. Beijing is now concerned whether Trump would also act on his poll promise of rising 45 per cent tariffs against Chinese goods and declaring Beijing as currency manipulator, accusing it of trying to reap more benefits of over USD 400 billion exports to US. The US exports around USD 100 billion worth of goods to China whereas Beijing exports goods worth over USD 400 billion to the US. Chinese official media has been projecting that Trump may resort to trade and currency wars against China to prop up American economy. Hua denied that China is manipulating currency. "In principle, I say that China has no intention to raise trade competitiveness thorough RMB depreciation even as to launch a currency war. We will firmly push forward market based reform of exchange rate, maintain basic stability of RMB exchange at equilibrium level," she said. RMB or yuan, as Chinese currency is known, has depreciated by eight per cent in recent months. Speculation is rife that it may depreciate by another five per cent as Chinese exports continue to slowdown. "We are ready to enhance communication and coordination with the US to uphold normal bilateral trading environment," she said, quoting MOFCOM report stating that trade and investment between the two countries were on the rise and China is one of the most open economy in the world. Beijing: Senior Chinese officials, Beijing-based diplomatic corps, defence attaches and foreign media professionals on Tuesday attended a reception hosted by the Indian Embassy in Beijing ahead of the 68th Republic Day. China's Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was the Chief Guest at the reception. Addressing the gathering, Indian Ambassador to China Vijay Gokhale said 2016 was an important year in India-China relations as a number of bilateral visits took place. From the Indian side, last year was marked by the visits of the president, the ministers of defence and finance, the National Security Advisor, while China's Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, State Councillor, Foreign Minister and Chairman of National Development and Reforms Commission visited India, he said. On the state of relations between the two countries, Gokhale quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments made in New Delhi on January 17 in which he said, "I see the development of India and China as unprecedented opportunity for our two countries and the whole world". "At the same time it is not unnatural for two large neighbouring powers to have some differences. In the management of our relationship and for peace and progress in the region, both our countries need to show sensitivity and respect for each others core concerns and interests," Modi said. "Building on this momentum, we look forward to work with our Chinese friends to continue our engagement in 2017 and making further progress in our relationship," Gokhale said. For decades now, the drumbeat of dinosaur news has been their similarity to birds. They were warm-blooded! They had feathers! And they are still around, because birds are actually dinosaurs. All true, but those that were non-avian dinosaurs, as they are now called, were not all beak and tweet. They were closely related to other living reptiles like crocodiles, and new findings about how long their eggs took to hatch bring that point home. Scientists reported recently that by using a new technique on exceedingly rare fossils of unhatched dinosaur embryos, they determined that those embryos took twice as long to hatch as bird eggs of a similar size. The embryo of a large duck-billed dinosaur took at least six months to hatch, and the eggs of larger dinosaurs may have taken even longer. The long incubation times complicate thinking about dinosaur behaviour. While some kinds of dinosaurs may have tended their eggs and young, for others the difficulty of hanging around for most of a year to watch buried eggs would have been too much. And long incubation times mean slow reproduction, a definite disadvantage when a comet or asteroid slams into the planet, as happened 65 million years ago. But not birds. Gregory M Erickson of Florida State University, USA, the lead author of the study, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the study was undertaken because fossil dinosaurs in the egg are so rare that virtually nothing is known about their embryology. David J Varricchio at Montana State University, USA, who has studied fossilised dinosaur eggs and was one of the scientists who reviewed the paper for the journal, said the research took a new line of evidence embryonic tooth age and the technique could prove valuable in future studies. Scientific opinions have varied on incubation times. David and other scientists had studied how porous fossilised eggshells were, which led them to conclude that the vast majority of dinosaur eggs were buried. And that behaviour, similar to living reptiles, suggested long incubation times, he said. But, Gregory said, most researchers thought that since dinosaurs were closely related to modern birds their incubation rates were birdlike. Gregory used teeth from rare fossil embryos found in fossilised eggs that were about to hatch. He and his colleagues counted daily growth markers in the teeth, calculating that tooth growth accounted for about 40% of incubation time. He worked with Mark A Norell, the head of paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, USA, a co-author of the paper, to study a sample of teeth from 71- to 75-million-year-old embryos of Protoceratops, a sheep-sized dinosaur found in Mongolia. They came up with an incubation time of at least 83 days. Gregory said the information from embryo teeth was the first direct evidence of how many days non-avian dinosaurs took to hatch. Such long incubation periods raise all sorts of questions, Gregory said. How could dinosaurs have migrated, as some have suggested, if they spent most of a year with their eggs? The very long incubation times would have meant dinosaur parents staying in one place for a whole year defending eggs and young. Long incubation periods also meant that the dinosaurs had to pick nesting sites that would be protected for many months from floods, drought and predation. They were also not reproducing as fast as other animals at the time of the mass extinction 65 million years ago, which may have contributed to their disappearance. Birds, for example, had already appeared, and their incubation times were probably shorter. The incubation times would have been only one strike against the dinosaurs surviving a planetwide catastrophe, however. Gregory said they had other disadvantages. These animals were profligate wasters of energy, he said. They were big and warm-blooded and even the smallest dinosaurs took over a year to mature, including time after hatching. The dinosaurs found themselves holding some bad cards, he said. They had a dead mans hand. Spain voiced alarm as the US White House's Spanish-language website vanished after Donald Trump came to power, saying removing it was "not a good idea" in a country with millions of Hispanics. But White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer later eased concerns, saying the website was merely being updated. "We are continuing to build out the website both in the issue areas and in that area," he told reporters yesterday in response to a question over when the Spanish version of the site would be running again. "We have got the IT folks working overtime right now to continue to get all of that up to speed and trust me, it's going to take a little more time but we are working piece by piece to get that done." Earlier, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis had expressed concern over the sudden disappearance of the website. "We believe it is not a good idea to give up on such a communication tool, given that this is a country with 52 million Spanish speakers," he said. Spain's government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo added to his concern, saying that Spanish had "helped bring together the multicultural North American society for centuries." According to the US Census Bureau, the Hispanic population has now reached close to 57 million -- the largest minority living in the 320-million-strong country. Many are from Latin America, and around 13 million are thought to have voted in the November election -- a majority for Trump's Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton. Trump has offended many Latinos with his harsh rhetoric and tough stance on immigration. Part of his electoral platform had proposals widely considered anti-Latino, including proposing to deport millions of undocumented migrants in the country, the bulk of whom are from Latin America, and building a wall on the US border with Mexico. And for the first time since 1989, the president's cabinet will include no Hispanics under Trump. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said today its chief executive officer James Hogan will step down in the second half of 2017 after leading the fast-growing Gulf carrier for more than 10 years. The government-owned carrier said the move is part of a "transition process" initiated by its board and Hogan last year. Australian Hogan became head of Etihad in 2006. "I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the company's substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi," Hogan said in the Etihad statement. The carrier that was launched in 2003 now has a fleet of 120 planes with 178 others on order. It serves 112 destinations. Etihad has expanded rapidly and bought minority stakes in carriers around the world as it increased its share of global travel along with larger Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways. Etihad owns 49 per cent of Alitalia, 29 per cent of Air Berlin, 40 per cent of Air Seychelles, 19.9 per cent of Virgin Australia and 3 per cent of Irish carrier Aer Lingus. It also has a 24-per cent stake in India's Jet Airways. The Centre today gave its nod to ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol that commits countries to contain the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to ratify the second commitment period of the international treaty which was adopted by nations in 2012 and till now, 65 countries have ratified the second commitment period. "In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines India's leadership in the comity of nations committed to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice. "Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise," an official statement said. Implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under this commitment period in accordance with sustainable development priorities will attract some investments in India as well. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seeks to stabilise GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would minimise interference with the climate system. Recognising that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of GHGs, the Kyoto Protocol places commitments on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets and to provide financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing nations. "Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol," it said. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the first commitment period was from 2008-2012. At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the second commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for the period 2013-2020. Developed countries have already started implementing their commitments under the 'opt-in' provisions of the Doha Amendment. "India has always emphasised the importance of climate actions by developed country parties in the pre-2020 period. "Besides, it has advocated climate actions based on the principles and provisions of the Convention, such as the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR & RC)," it added. The UK government today lost a landmark legal challenge after the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May must seek Parliament's consent to take Britain out of the European Union (EU). The judgement means the British Prime Minister cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to officially begin Brexit negotiations with the EU until Britains MPs and peers give their backing. The government had argued that it already had the executive powers to trigger Article 50 but Supreme Court judges rejected the case by a majority of eight to three. UK Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but would "comply" and do "all that is necessary" to implement the court's judgement. UK Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons within hours after the government lost its appeal. Downing Street has been preparing for the result for weeks and is understood to have drafted a short Bill to seek parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50. May has insisted that she will keep to her plan to trigger Brexit by the end of March. The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit. Following a referendum held on June 23, the UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union by the end of March 2017. Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released USD 221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A State Department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated January 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. In addition to the USD 221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another USD 6 million in foreign affairs spending, including USD 4 million for climate change programs and USD 1.25 million for UN organisations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the State Department official weren't authorised to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers - Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee - had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organisations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the US Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress. The last-minute allocation also contained USD 1.05 million in funding for the State Department's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan office and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month. He has also pledged to move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesman Sean Spicer yeterday said a final decision on that had yet to be made. President Donald Trump will sign orders today to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Trump is to sign the orders today, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The move is expected to be cheered by Republicans and some union groups who backed the projects. Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut US efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to US refineries in the Gulf Coast. The US government needed to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. Separately, late last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, though Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes that and says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The person with knowledge of Trump's decisions insisted on anonymity because that person was not authorised to confirm the moves ahead of a formal announcement. Trump has moved swiftly this week to make good on some of his core campaign pledges he says are aimed at creating jobs and growing the economy. On Monday, he signed a memorandum withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a proposed accord with 11 Pacific Rim countries and another of Obama's prized accomplishments. "Great thing for the American worker what we just did," Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. Yet even as Trump moves to implement his agenda, he is still making false claims. Six former employees of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's third-largest smartphone maker, have been arrested by Chinese police for allegedly leaking commercial secrets to rivals. News portal sina.com reported that an internal letter issued by Huawei's consumer unit, which includes its smartphone business, said that the six, chiefly engineers and smartphone designers, had been arrested. The incident came as the Shenzhen-based company is engaged in a fierce battle for market dominance with players such as Oppo Electronics Corp and Coolpad Group Ltd, state-run China Daily reported. According to the report, the six were suspected of leaking commercial secrets to Coolpad and its largest shareholder LeEco after some of them left Huawei to join the two companies. Huawei confirmed to China Daily that six of its former employees were arrested, but said the case has nothing to do with LeEco and CoolPad. LeEco also denied the report. Xiang Ligang, a smartphone expert and CEO of the telecoms industry website cctime.com, said the dispute underlines once again that China is the world's most competitive smartphone market, with the largest number of handset vendors. "For any new player which wants to scale up rapidly, such as LeEco, it has no other choice but to poach experienced talent from established companies," Xiang added. In 2016, Huawei shipped 139 million handsets, up 29 per cent year-on-year, International Data Corp said. Huawei's stellar growth has lured rivals to vie for its talent with handsome salary packages, the Daily report said. Last year, a string of ex-Huawei senior executives joined LeEco and CoolPad. Liu Jiangfeng, the former president of Huawei's smartphone sub-brand Honor, took the helm of CoolPad's smartphone business in August. Last month, Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei, said at an internal meeting that the company would step up staff management and crack down on corruption and bribery. Two residents of the city today approached railway police and demanded that actor Shah Rukh Khan be booked for murder and culpable homicide in connection with the death of a person at Vadodara railway station, where a huge crowd had gathered to catch a glimpse of the superstar, who was travelling via train to promote "Raees". Tragedy hit Shah Rukh's train promotion campaign for his upcoming film "Raees", when Farid Khan Pathan, a local politician from Vadodara, died of cardiac arrest during a massive rush to have a glimpse of the superstar at the railway station, in which two policemen were also injured. Rajesh Goyal and Waris Ali Saiyed submitted an application to Western Railways Superintendent of Police (Vadodara Division), Sharad Singhal, requesting him to register a complaint against the actor under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). An estimated 15,000-strong crowd went berserk in the rush to have a look at the 51-year-old superstar when the Mumbai-Delhi August Kranti Rajdhani Express train made its scheduled halt in Vadodara at 10.30 pm last night. "We gave this application to Raiway Police in our individual capacity, seeking that a case against Shah Rukh Khan under sections 302 and 304 of the IPC," said Goyal. Singhal confirmed the receipt of the application and said, "Police would look into it." Meanwhile, a local corporator said the victim had gone to meet one of his relative at the railway station when the incident took place. Farid Yusuf Lakhajivala, Congress corporator in Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) claimed that Farid Khan Pathan had gone to the station to meet his sister-in-law, who was travelling in the same train as the actor. "Due to the huge rush, Pathan fell down at the platform. Almost thirty minutes were lost at the station before he was finally taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead. He would have been alive had he been taken to hospital immediately after he collapsed at the platform," Lakhajivala told PTI. The mortal remains of the deceased were laid to rest in a Karelibag locality of the city here today. When Obama took office in early 2009, he declared his intention of mending relations with the estranged Arab and Muslim worlds. He failed miserably and has left a legacy of war, anger, and alienation from the US and the West. Although Trump seeks to eliminate radical Muslim terrorism, he has no intention of trying to achieve reconciliation with Arabs and Muslims which could lessen tension. Instead, he has vowed to strengthen Israel, although this policy fuels jihadism. Trump also plans to exclude Muslims from the US, adding insult to injury. The senior Trump administration members who could moderate West Asia policy are Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, an oil industry mogul who has close ties with Russia, and Defence Secretary James Mattis, a retired general, who adopts a tough stand on Russia, supports the Iran nuclear agreement, and gives priority to the fight against Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda. On Syria: During the presidential race, Trump indicated that he wanted to join forces with Russia in the war against radical jihadis. Since Russia has become the main power on the ground in Syria and is coordinating policy with the Iraqi government in this campaign, the Trump administration could eschew former President Barack Obamas policy of regime change in Syria and cooperate with Moscow. This would be a welcome change at a time when there is the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria and negotiations on a political settlement. On Iraq: The Trump administration could soon claim partial credit for the victory of US-backed Iraqi forces in the offensive to drive IS from Mosul. Once the cult has been defeated there, Mattis, who served as the head of US Central Command based in West Asia, could advise Trump that US airpower should be fully deployed to the battle in Syria. Unless IS is defeated in both Iraq and Syria, the terrorist group will continue to plague the region. On Iran: Trump has said he could scrap the Iran nuclear deal. In response, Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened to light a fire if the deal is abrogated while moderate Iranian President Hassan Rouhani argues that Trump cannot revoke the nuclear deal because the US is just one of six signatories and the rest will not go along. Tillerson and Mattis could be expected to urge Trump to preserve it and, with lucrative business deals to be made with Tehran, they could suggest the easing of sanctions. Congressional Republicans, who are strongly swayed by Israel, could oppose such a line, but Trump, who considers himself in charge, could reject their stand claiming what is good for business is good for America. On Saudi Arabia and Gulf Trump has not indicated how he will approach the oil-producing states which have large investments in the US but, as a businessman, he could be expected to court them and encourage Saudi efforts to diversify their economy. Trump could continue to support the Saudi war on Yemen as US defence industries have made billions of dollars in export sales due to this conflict. On Egypt: Since the Trump administration has vowed to do its utmost to combat IS and al-Qaeda, Egypts increasingly authoritarian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi can bank on support for his clamp-down on all opposition as well as regular arms aid valued at $1.5 billion a year for the Egyptian army. Relations between Washington and Cairo, strained due to the Obama administrations emphasis on human rights, could improve because Trump is not a rights campaigner. On Turkey: Trump favours rapprochement with Turkey despite the suppression of all dissent by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who is a key player in the region, especially Syria. On Palestine and Israel: Trump is fully supportive of Israel. He seeks to make his Orthodox Jewish son-in-law Jared Kushner his West Asia strategist although he has no experience in the region or in diplomacy. Trump has nominated ambassador to Israel his bankruptcy lawyer, David Friedman. He is a strong supporter of Israeli colonisation of occupied Palestinian territory and of the shift of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This move could infuriate the peoples of West Asia and the Muslim world even if their governments try to play down its importance. If Trump goes ahead with this, the US would be the only country out of 86 having diplomatic relations with Israel to set up in Jerusalem, claimed by both Palestinians and Israelis as their capital. Such a policy would boost radical jihadis seeking to inflict harm on the West and could drive young Palestinians to escalate the Intifada of the Knife which began in October 2015. West Asia could have a conflicted four years during the Trump administration. West Asia expects major changes in US policy following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the countrys 45th president. He personally has a different approach to the region than his predecessor Barack Obama but has appointed a diverse and divided collection of ministers and advisers who could render decision-making difficult. At first, the police knocked. Then they tried to kick the door down. Protests over low wages had erupted at dozens of garment factories in Bangladesh, one of the top suppliers of clothing for global brands like H&M and Gap, and the officers had come to question Jahangir Alam, president of a local trade union in Ashulia, a suburb of the capital, Dhaka. They told his wife he would be back within a few hours. That was a month ago. Instead, his wife said, Alam has sat in a jail cell so dark he could not see his own hands. She said they had spoken briefly when she finally tracked him down to a Dhaka court. Alam is one of at least 14 labour activists and workers who have been detained since the unrest began in December, according to arrest records. The demonstrations disrupted work at factories that supply clothing to global fashion companies like Inditex of Spain, owner of the Zara brand, and PVH, which owns the Tommy Hilfiger brand. The police say the unrest has led to the suspension or firing of roughly 1,500 workers, many of whom took part in the protests. The police have accused the activists of inciting vandalism and other crimes, and several factories have pressed charges against many of their workers. But labour rights groups say the government is trying to scare workers into silence by detaining innocent people. They say the detentions, and the looming risk of more arrests, are the biggest setback for workers since the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building that housed garment factories, where more than 1,100 people died in 2013. That tragedy, one of the worst industrial disasters in history, exposed major safety hazards at factories in Bangladesh, which churns out a steady stream of low-cost goods. And it prompted some of the worlds biggest brands to push for better conditions for the workers who make their clothes. By some measures, conditions have improved. But the brands now say the arrests and firings could undermine the progress they have made. In letters to Bangladeshs prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and other officials, retailers urged the government to take action to protect workers, including addressing wage issues that had led to the protests. The minimum wage in Bangladesh is about Rs 22 an hour. They stopped short, though, of threatening further action. Such situations damage the industrys reputation and confidence levels, which we, together with the government and social partners, are all working so hard to bolster, wrote Rob Wayss, executive director of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The accord, a coalition of retailers, is dedicated to improving safety for the countrys garment workers. Gap, in a separate letter, said it was troubled by the recent events, and urged officials to ensure that no one was targeted solely because of any association with a trade union or other group. The prime ministers office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Bangladesh exports billions of dollars worth of clothes each year, making it the worlds second-largest exporter of ready-made garments after China. But its factories are efficient for some of the same reasons that they have been deadly: overcrowded buildings, limited oversight and a government that has historically repressed workers efforts to organise and fight for better conditions. In the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, retailers formed two coalitions dedicated to improving the lives of workers: the accord, led by H&M, and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which includes Gap and Wal-Mart. Both groups have created safety standards and mechanisms to enforce them, although the accord, with a legally binding arbitration provision, is largely seen as the stronger of the two. The alliance has no such clause, but it can impose financial penalties and expel members that violate its terms. Both groups point to progress, like the installation of fire doors and regular safety inspections. But as international attention has waned in the years since Rana Plaza, worker rights groups have expressed concern that the gains could be lost. Now the spotlight is off Bangladesh, said Richard Appelbaum, a labour and worker rights expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The government is responding more typically as it would have responded several years ago, if it could have. The police came for Alam at night, said his wife, Jhorna Begum. When he did not return after several days, Begum scraped together about $12 to pay a lawyer who helped track him down to a local jail. The couple saw each other briefly when Alam appeared in court, just long enough for them to shout at each other across a crowded room. With two children at home, Begum said she could not afford to fight his case. She recently returned to work as a machine operator for the Palmal Group, another garment-maker. We live hand to mouth, waiting for the paycheck at the end of the month, Begum said, tears in her eyes. I dont know when hell get out how am I supposed to run my family without him? Living in fear While Begum was willing to give her name to a reporter, many garment industry workers are afraid to speak out for fear of reprisals by the government. Labour rights workers suspect that agents of the government or factory owners ransacked a number of union offices after the protests. And the death of Aminul Islam, a labour activist who was found tortured and killed in 2012, is still fresh in many minds. Siddiqur Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, a trade association that represents factory owners, said factories, too, had come under pressure: Costs have risen 17.5% annually for the past two years, he said, even as global clothing prices have decreased. Rahman added that while global retail brands had called on Bangladeshi factories to improve safety standards and wages, they had resisted paying higher prices to help compensate for the increased costs. He also said that fewer than 1,500 employees had been fired, and that some had returned to work. Both Gap and H&M said that they supported a regular wage review mechanism to ensure stability in the future, and that they were monitoring the situation closely. Labour advocates, though, say the global companies should be doing more, since billion-dollar brands like H&M have a lot of leverage with local factories and the government. A spokesman for H&M, Patrick Shaner, said in an email that the company had no plans to change its sourcing arrangements. Other companies that buy clothes from the factories that are pressing charges, including Abercrombie & Fitch, PVH and American Eagle Outfitters, did not respond to requests for comment. At a certain point in time you have to wonder just how much the brands and retailers will tolerate, said Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a labour rights group based in Washington that is among the most active nonprofits working in Bangladeshs garment industry. They can tell the factories to drop these charges. JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday broke protocol to receive Abu Dhabis crown prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the airport. Sheikh Mohamed the Deputy Supreme Commander of the armed forces of UAE will be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day ceremony on Thursday. This is his second visit to New Delhi in less than a year. The first state visit was in February last year. Modi and Sheikh Mohammed will meet on Wednesday and issue a document, outlining the vision for India-UAE comprehensive strategic partnership, which both sides agreed upon during the prime ministers visit to Abu Dhabi in August 2015. The visit is likely to see New Delhi and Abu Dhabi expanding cooperation in diverse fields like defence, security, counter-terrorism, space technology and nuclear energy. The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund will also sign a MoU with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority to provide a framework for $ 75 billion investment flow from UAE to India. Both the countries will also sign several new pacts, including one to step up cooperation in maritime and road transport, agriculture and small and medium enterprises and innovation, Amar Sinha, Secretary (Economic Relations) at the Ministry of External Affairs, said. Sheikh Mohamed will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee. New Delhi is also working with Abu Dhabi to ring fence some investments made by UAE companies, which landed in legal problems in India, said Sinha. The proposed MoU on institutional cooperation in maritime transport will enable shipping companies in both countries to enter into bilateral and multi-lateral arrangements for sustainable trading activities. DH News Service The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday unveiled its election manifesto that promised 5 kg sugar at Rs 10 per kg and 2 kg of ghee at Rs 25 per kg to the poor. The manifesto also promised free gas connections to all blue card holders. Medical treatment cover to blue card holders, small farmers, petty traders and construction workers would be raised to Rs 1 lakh per annum. SAD president Sukhbir Badal said all Class X pass women would be eligible to get sewing machines, adding that the SAD-BJP alliance would facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. The vision document said the alliance was committed to waiving off farm debts of all small farmers. Badal said all small farmers would also be eligible for a Rs 2 lakh interest free agriculture crop loan. After taking full control of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday kicked off his election campaign with a scathing attack on the BJP-led Centre and the BSP. Akhilesh appealed to the people to support the SP-Congress alliance candidates in the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh, who addressed two meetings at Sultanpur, about 125 km from here, said his father and SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav was among the tallest leaders in the country. He accused the BJP of not fulfilling any of the promises it had made during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, while highlighting the works undertaken by his government. Akhilesh also raked up demonetisation and said that many people had lost their lives due to the note ban. Even the hard-earned money was termed black money, he said, adding that his government had given Rs 2 lakh as compensation to the kin of the victims of demonetisation. Akhilesh said that his government had fulfilled all the promises made in its manifesto during the 2012 Assembly polls. The alliance has increased our strength...We would have attained majority on our own, but now with the Congress we can cross 300 mark, Akhilesh added. DH News Service Shivpal not in campaigners list Samajwadi Party (SP) patron Mulayam Singh Yadavs younger brother and former state unit president Shivpal Singh Yadavs name was missing in the list of star campaigners of the party, indicating that the family feud was far from being resolved, DHNS reports from Lucknow. The list, which was submitted to the Election Commission (EC) by SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, had the names of Mulayam, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his wife Dimple among others. Known for his rancid remarks, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya waded into a fresh controversy on Tuesday when he questioned actor Shah Rukh Khans popularity, saying people will flock to see even underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. There is a new tradition of promoting films. The promoters should at least take care of public convenience. If they promote films in railways, the common people will suffer. Even if Dawood appears in public, crowd will come out. So we cannot gauge the popularity (of people), at least on the basis of crowd, he said. Vijayvargiya was referring to the Vadodara incident where one person was killed in the melee during the promotion of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees. Vijayvargiya also slammed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, while heaping praise on Prime Minster Narendra Modi. The BJP leader called Rahul Raees and Modi Kaabil, both titles of Bollywood movies slated for release around Republic Day. Actor Hrithik Roshan plays the lead role in Kaabil. Claiming that he was targeting those who are against demonetisation, Vijayvargiya tweeted: Those Raees (rich) who are not loyal to the country are of no use. We should all support a Kaabil (able) patriot. Raees also features Pakistani actor Mahira Khan. In the run-up to the release of the film, Khan had met Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray in an attempt to prevent the revival of huge protests last year against Pakistani actors being allowed to work in India. The BJP said Vijayvargiya has expressed his own views and there is no controversy attached to the party. BJP spokesperson Shaina N C said the tweet attacked dishonest people and promoted the able and pointed out that it does not mention Khan or Roshan. In a significant development in the bunch of cases against the founder of the now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines and liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed its charge sheet against nine people, including a former chairman of IDBI Bank, for suspected involvement in a loan fraud. Once known as the King of Good Times, Mallya who had been declared a proclaimed offender by the court with process to get him back from the UK underway has been shown as a wanted accused. The charge sheet that runs over 1,000 pages was filed before Additional Sessions Judge H S Mahajan, who presides over a special CBI court. The suspects were charged with 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal code and section 13(1)(D) of Prevention of Corruption Act. The CBI on Monday night arrested former IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Aggarwal along with four former executives of Kingfisher Airlines, including former CFO A Raghunathan. The CBI court also remanded all the suspects in judicial custody till February 7. According to the CBI, Aggarwal approved the loans and also instructed to expedite the ratings while finalising the loans to Kingfisher Airlines of over Rs 900 crore. Ahead of the arrests, 11 places including Mallyas residence in New Delhi, three floors of UB towers in Bengaluru and residences of Aggarwal and Raghunathan were searched. Senior counsel Amit Desai and counsel Rajiv Chavan representing the suspects, sought interim bail. However, CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami asked time till Monday to file the agencys reply to the bail application. DH News Service Life was back to normal in several parts of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, a day after Jallikattu supporters clashed with the police who tried to disperse them from protest venues. The week-long peaceful protest organised by the youth and students from across the state was called off after the Tamil Nadu government passed a bill to lift the ban on Jallikattu. Heavy security was clamped on sensitive areas near Marina Beach in Chennai, Alanganallur in Madurai, and in Coimbatore and Salem districts to stop any untoward incident. However, some students who had assembled near the Marina Beach refused to move out and demanded a copy of the ordinance that helped the state to conduct Jallikattu. They later dispersed after holding talks with the police. Police sources in the headquarters here said that more than 70 people have been arrested in connection with Mondays violence where police vehicles and two-wheelers were burnt by some miscreants. NHRC seeks report on police excesses The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday came down heavily on the Tamil Nadu Police for their action against Jallikattu agitators, reports DHNS from Chennai. The commission said after the passage of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2017, in the Assembly, the police, without prior warning, resorted to caning, arresting and damaging private property in order to disperse the large number of people gathered across Chennai in support of Jallikattu. The NHRC said that it has taken a serious view of the unprovoked police excesses and issued notices to the chief secretary, the director general of police, the government of Tamil Nadu and the Chennai police commissioner calling for reports in the matter within two weeks. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday received a call from US President Donald Trump the first between the two leaders after the change of leadership in Washington DC. Modi invited Trump and his wife Melania to visit India at an early date. Modi was the fifth among the Heads of Governments who received a call from the new US president after his inauguration last Friday. Trump called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican premier Pena Nieto on Saturday. He spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Monday. Modi conveyed to Trump that the India-US strategic partnership was based on shared values and driven by common interests. The phone conversation between the two leaders took place at a time when Trumps inaugural speech sent out a signal that the new American administration might indeed start an era of fierce protectionism. Trumps strong views on immigration during the campaign had created a perception that he would take a tough stand on migrants, not only the ones who get in illegally, but also the professionals who migrate to the US legally. His America First inaugural speech on Friday and his call to buy American and hire American indicated that he would by and large go by the policies he espoused during his campaign. New Delhi is likely to argue that Indian companies, including the IT majors, not only contributed to the economy, but had also created jobs in America. India will also put forward its view that protectionism could pose serious threats to the global economy. *Modi tells Trump relations based on shared values and driven by common interests *Phone call gives New Delhi opportunity to assess new administrations approach *India to put forward its view that protectionism could pose serious threats to global economy *New Delhi likely to argue that Indian companies, including IT majors, created jobs in America The state government will launch a measles-rubella vaccination campaign from February 7 to 28 to vaccinate children between nine months and 15 years. Primary Education Minister Tanveer Sait, at a joint press conference with Health and Family Welfare Minister K R Ramesh Kumar, said that as many as 1.65 crore children across the state would be vaccinated during the campaign. The booths for vaccination would be set up in schools, anganwadi centres and health centres. The state government has partnered with WHO, Unicef, Indian Association of Paediatrics, Rotary, Lions, Red Cross Society and other NGOs for the campaign. Even as the government has clarified that repeating the vaccine for children who have already been vaccinated would not cause any side effects, several parents and school managements are apprehensive. D Shashi Kumar, organising secretary of the Karnataka State Private School Managements Federation said that several private schools are not willing to vaccinate children. Most of them claim that the child is vaccinated already. They are also worried whether the second dose would have an adverse effect on the childs health, he added. Meanwhile Geetha Patil, president, Bangalore Paediatric Society said that there was evidence to prove that a second dose would not lead to any adverse effects. Sait said that children who are vaccinated could have symptoms such as fever and dizziness. He said that an advisory would be given to parents to accompany these children to school and back when vaccinated. The left thumb of the children who are vaccinated would be inked. Vaccines are being offered by the government free of cost. The state government is yet to decide on exempting small apartment complexes from installing sewage treatment plants (STP) with dual pipelines. In a notification on January 19, 2016, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had asked residential apartment complexes with a built-up area of 2,000 square metres and having more than 20 flats, commercial buildings with 2,000 square metres and educational institutions with 5,000 square metres and above to instal STPs and use the treated water for flush and other purposes. October 31, 2016, was the deadline for installation. Violators had to pay an additional 25% of the water and sanitary charges in the first three months and 50% subsequently. Once the deadline passed, the BWSSB served notices and imposed penalty on thousands of apartments. On January 21, 2017, residents of some small-sized apartments met Additional Chief Secretary (Urban Development Department) Mahendra Jain, seeking exemption for residential complexes with up to 50 flats from the rule and prospective enforcement. They also pointed out that the BWSSB was arbitrarily fixing penalty for violating the STP rule. This month, most apartments were fined 50% while some others just 25%. Among those who made the representation were residents of RR Nagar Association Federation, Sanskruthi Residency, Kengeri Satellite Township, Nakshatra Lake View, Kengeri, and Elegance Lalbagh View Apartments. Speaking to DH, Jain said the government was sympathetic to smaller apartments and was considering a proposal to exempt apartments with up to 50 flats. The proposal is being discussed with all stakeholders, including the BWSSB, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the Department of Ecology and Environment. But he made it clear that all new and upcoming apartments must have STPs with the dual piping system. Until the government takes a decision, the penalty and water charges levied by the BWSSB will continue, he added. Jain reiterated that large-sized apartments must have their own STPs as they are letting sewage into lakes and polluting them. The city generates a staggering 1,40,000 trillion litres per day of sewage water and the BWSSBs plants simply do not have the capacity to treat it. The only concession for large apartments would be on the dual pipeline system. If they cant instal dual pipelines, they should set up STPs, treat the sewage water and let it into the BWSSB drains, he added. The BWSSB, however, has refused to relax the rules. In a press release on Monday, it said apartment complexes and commercial spaces with 20 homes and above and having built-up area of 2,000 square metres and above must instal STPs and submit a reuse plan while obtaining permission. It, however, has set December 31, 2017, deadline for existing residential buildings with 50 and above houses and measuring 5,000 square metres and above, educational institutions measuring 10,000 square metres and above and commercial buildings measuring 2,000 square metres and above to instal STPs or else face penalty as per 4A of the Bangalore Sewerage Regulation. Bengaluru Development Minister K J George on Tuesday said he is confident that the Karnataka High Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will give a favourable judgement on the steel bridge project, as it is being taken up in public interest. Speaking after the inauguration of a skywalk at Nagawara junction, George said work on the project will commence soon after the court gives a green signal. The Minister said: People who are opposing it do not understand the problems faced by the people of Hebbal, Nagawara, Race Course Road and surrounding areas. Without taking the name of Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekhar he said: The MP is the vice chairman of Kerala NDA led by the BJP. The earlier government could not execute the project though it proposed it. Now, because we are doing it, protests are being held. We are fighting the case in court and are cooperating by handing over all the required documents pertaining to the proposed project. The newly built skywalk with an escalator on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) at Nagawara junction opposite Embassy Manyata Business Park was inaugurated on Tuesday. The skywalk, built by Embassy Group in partnership with Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), has been constructed at a cost of Rs 7 crore. Designed by BDA and Nagesh Consultants, the skywalk will benefit 15,000 citizens including a large number of employees working at the software technology park who cross the busy junction every day. The escalators are provided at both ends of the skywalk for the benefit of people with disabilities and senior citizens. Minister for Agriculture and Byatarayanapura MLA Krishna Byre Gowda said: "With vehicles increasing at this junction of the ORR, it had become a problem for pedestrians to cross the road safely. The skywalk provides easy access from and to the bus stop on the south of the ORR, benefitting tech park users and residents of surrounding areas." Gowda urged the public, specially the working people, to opt for car pooling to reduce traffic congestion at Nagawara junction. He added: "About 15,000-20,000 vehicles, mostly four-wheelers enter Manyata Tech Park of which, about 76% are single-passenger vehicles. The owners do not want to share their vehicles with others. No infrastructure would be enough if people do not cooperate." Embassy to build flyover Chief Executive Officer of Embassy Office Parks, Mike Holland told DH that they plan to construct a flyover outside the Business Park, connecting two points along the ORR-Thanisandra Road from Nagawara junction and Nagawara lake. He added that the total cost of the project is Rs 70 crore and would be funded by his company. "Similarly, we plan to build a skywalk at Embassy Tech Village Marathahalli, ORR," Holland said. Tension prevailed for a while after a suspicious-looking object was found at the under-construction Lalbagh West gate Metro station, late on Monday night. Two home guards on duty at the site found the object wrapped in a newspaper, tied with a thread. They immediately alerted their seniors, who in turn called the police. The Siddapura police and personnel from the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad arrived at the spot. Sniffer dogs and anti-sabotage check squad also searched the whole area. Upon inspection, the object was found to be a fire cracker. Siddapura police have registered a case and are on the look out for the persons who played the mischief. The police are verifying the CCTV footage in nearby areas for clues about the miscreants. City police commissioner Praveen Sood visited the spot on Tuesday afternoon and spoke to officials of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) about beefing up security at Metro stations. We have told the BMRCL to deploy security personnel round the clock at all its stations - whether functional, non-functional or under construction. We have also told them to verify the antecedents of their employees, said Dr Sharanappa S D, Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Division. He said that the police have held meetings with representatives of shopping malls, hotels and other places where there is high footfall on security measures they have to put in place. Hand-held metal detectors and frame metal detectors are mandatory at such places. They should also monitor CCTV footage to keep an eye on unclaimed material and suspicious persons, Sharanappa said. DH News Service LEBANON Medical students from across the country recently tackled a project that had nothing to do with surgery or a medical diagnosis, as they helped clean up McDowell Creek County Park between Lebanon and Sweet Home. Students from 38 osteopathic medical colleges across the United States were attending the Council of Osteopathic Government Presidents conference at COMP-Northwest in Lebanon. The annual conference always includes a student service project. According to county parks director Brian Carroll, the old adage many hands make light work was certainly true as the medical crew in one hour completed work that would have taken staff at least a day. The volunteers removed debris from trails that had been damaged in recent winter storms, helped repair a staircase at the top of the falls and spread five yards of gravel at a picnic table area. I know for them it doesnt seem like much, but for us it really helps out, he said. Carroll said he appreciated the work of the medical students, and the project also gave them a chance to see the scenic falls area while they were in Oregon. Carroll added that so far, the parks have not experienced as much damage as in some other winters. We lost a really large cottonwood at Waterloo County Park, Carroll said. Knock on wood, weve actually fared better than in some recent winters when ice storms and high winds have done much more damage. Carroll speculated that perhaps those storms thinned out weaker trees. Last winter we had major damage to our boat ramps from flooding, especially on the North Santiam, Carroll said. So far, we havent had any reports of anything really severe. We do remind visitors to our parks that they should look up now and then, just in case there might be a widow-maker hanging in a tree, Carroll said. Carroll said that water is turned off in the county parks that arent open in the winter, so he probably wont know about any broken pipes until water is turned back on in the spring. Weve had a lot of snow at Clear Lake, so weve been shoveling it off the roofs, Carroll said. Its probably the most snow weve had since the really bad winter of 2006-07. Clear Lake remains open for boat and cabin rentals, Carroll said, although the lodge and restaurant are closed. We encourage anyone headed to Clear Lake to take chains, no matter what the other road conditions are, Carroll said. Were not on the main road and we get a lot of snow, even when other places dont. We plow and sand, but sometimes, even with studded tires, you need chains. The conference for the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents touched on a variety of topics, including mental health awareness, women in leadership, and political advocacy. The service project is a requirement for a school to host the annual conference. Dylan Rodgers, president of the COMP-Northwest Class of 2019, applied in September to have WesternU COMP-Northwest host. The Lebanon campus welcomed 72 student government presidents and vice presidents, as well as an additional 12 students who had previously served as student government leaders. I knew that the family-centered culture of the students, staff, and faculty of COMP-Northwest would provide for an awesome atmosphere for the COSGP to conduct their winter meeting, Rodgers said. I have an enormous amount of pride for our college, the people who create such a welcoming culture, and the beautiful area that we live in. I also wanted to give our students the opportunity to network and meet other osteopathic medical students from across the nation. Update Jan. 26, 11:15 a.m.: Wildlife managers caught and killed the cougar they were looking for this morning in La Pine. Update Jan. 25, 4:19 p.m.: Wildlife managers did not find the cougar today and there have been no confirmed sightings in the area. They will continue to monitor the La Pine area for the cougar. Update 4 p.m. Jan. 24: The cougar was not located today but wildlife managers will continue looking for it tomorrow. La Pine residents should keep feeding their pets indoors and keeping pets inside at night. More tips at our Living with Cougars page Wildlife managers searching for cougar in La Pine area: Several pets recently attacked by multiple cougars Tweet Jan. 24, 2017 SALEM, Ore.OSP and ODFW are asking La Pine area residents to be aware of cougars causing public safety issues in and around town. USDA Wildlife Services and ODFW are currently tracking at least one cougar after its sighting at Corner Store in La Pine this morning. Two pets (one dog and one cat) and 12 chickens have been killed by cougars in the area recently. ;On Saturday, an additional pet dog was attacked by a cougar. The Deschutes County Sheriff shot and killed that cougar under a deck. On Monday, ODFW/Wildlife Services killed three cougars (one adult female and two yearlings). A third yearling cougar escaped and may be the one seen at the La Pine Corner Store this morning. In the last week, ODFW had also received several complaints about cougars attacking and killing pets and being seen during daytime in the La Pine area. USDA Wildlife Services and ODFW are finding cougar tracks on house decks and in backyards. By law, cougars are considered human safety risks when they attack pets, act aggressively, or are seen repeatedly during daylight hours in residential areas. Wildlife managers will not relocate these cougars because they simply cause problems in new areas or return to where the original problem occurred. Cougars considered human safety risks are killed to stop future conflicts. The deep snow central Oregon is experiencing is likely playing a role in this situation. The cougars are having trouble hunting their traditional prey so are coming to residential areas for an easier meal, said Corey Heath, ODFW wildlife district biologist. Unfortunately at this point we consider them a significant human safety risk, so they need to be removed for the safety of La Pine residents. In addition, ODFW asks residents not to feed deer and elk by putting out hay, wheat, alfalfa or other food. Artificial feeding concentrates deer and elk unnaturally and may also attract cougars that prey on deer and elk near feed sites. It can also make deer and elk sick, as their digestive systems have already adjusted to lower quality forage available during winter and they cannot digest this higher-protein food. Area residents are encouraged to take steps to protect their pets. Please feed your pets indoors and walk your dog on a leash. Be aware of your surroundings, especially at dawn and dusk. More tips available at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/wildlife/living_with/cougars.asp There has never been an attack by a wild cougar on a person in Oregon, though it has occurred in other states and Canadian provinces. Oregon wildlife managers respond to human safety issues like the one that is happening in La Pine to keep cougar conflicts minimized. Oregon is home to approximately 6,300 cougars. ### Google Voice update not only offers cleaner design but also brings in feature updates Google has made the redesigned Google Voice public after teasing it few weeks ago. The redesigned Google Voice is now available in the form of an update for Android and iOS starting today along with an all new interface on the web. The biggest change is coming in the design department with the service now looking similar to other Google services. Google Voice update not only offers a cleaner design but it also brings in separate tabs for text messages, calls and voicemails. Google describes the change in its blog post as "Conversations stay in one continuous thread, so you can easily see all your messages from each of your contacts in one place." The feature update brings support for group and photo MMS as well as support for replies directly from notifications. Voicemail transcriptions has been one of the key feature for Google Voice and with the update, Google is adding support for Spanish. Google has failed to nail the social communication platform with multiple services available including hangouts, google+ and recently introduced duo and allo. Google is yet to unify the best of all its services into one great service but the company notes that it will continue updating Voice with new features and updates. In an update for the 2016 calendar year, adjusted pre-tax profit before tax grew 23% year-on-year, a record profit level for the company. Net fee income increased 20% and diluted adjusted earnings per share rose 12%, compared to the prior year. As part of the companys invest and develop' strategy, it invested in two international brands last year, Rishworth Aviation, the second largest recruitment company in the Aviation sector which operates in the UK, continental Europe and Asia Pacific regions, and ConSol Partners, an IT recruiter with a focus on communications and mobile, cloud technologies and digital supply chain sectors, with operations in the UK, Continental Europe and the US. Chief executive Joost Kreulen, said: Alongside the strong growth in a number of regions, we are particularly pleased with the performance of the two international investments made during the year: Rishworth Aviation and ConSol Partners, with both performing well. These, alongside the successful integration of Pharmaceutical Strategies, are all important illustrations of the success of the group's invest and develop strategy and we look forward to the growth opportunity that these businesses have as part of the wider group. Overall, we are pleased with the record profit the group has delivered, once again showing the strength of the diversified business model and the strategy the group is delivering on. As such, we continue to see exciting growth opportunities for the group in 2017." There was growth across the company, with Headway in Germany, Skillhouse in Japan and Monroe in South East Asia all delivering solid growth year-on-year, while the companys businesses in Finland, Australia, China, India, Chile and the Technical & Industrial brands in the UK performed well. The UK business has seen profitability fall year-on-year in the wake of the Brexit vote last June, however the company has reduced costs and is encouraged by the increased business activity as it moves into 2017. Weak economic conditions persisted in the second half for the Middle East as expected improvements did not materialise. The business has been restructured and the company expects an improved result this year. Empersarias US business, Pharmaceutical Strategies, won a number of new clients while there was a short term impact on profits as it invested in the management team. Shares in Empresaria were up 2.06% to 124p to 1223 GMT. In a landmark legal case, the Supreme Court has ruled that Parliamentary consent is needed before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which starts a two year clock on formal negotiations with the European Union, in a blow to the government. The Supreme Court has upheld the ruling by the High Court, which said last November that MPs should get a vote on activating the formal Brexit process. The justices voted with a majority of eight to three. The court also ruled that the government does not have to consult devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before triggering Article 50. Lord Neuberger, the president of the Supreme Court, said that the judgement is not about leaving the EU but is about the right of the government to trigger Article 50, and whether the devolved legislatures must be consulted. Of the 11 justices, Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption and Lord Hodge were in the majority with Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hughes dissenting. The summary of the ruling said: In a joint judgement of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give Notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union. Each of the dissenting justices gives a separate judgement. On the devolution issues, the court unanimously concludes that neither section 1 nor section 75 of the NIA [Northern Ireland Act] is of assistance in this case, and that the Sewel Convention does not give rise to a legally enforceable obligation. Neuberger, said that the Sewel Convention - that Scotland can vote on actions by Westminster on issues that are devolved - is a convention, not law, and is not within the jurisdiction of the court. Jeremy Wright QC, the attorney general, said the government was disappointed by the ruling but will comply with the judgement. Prime Minister Theresa May was told the outcome of the ruling earlier. Gina Miller, the fund manager, who along with hairdresser Deir Dos Santos initiated the case, said that MPs would now have the chance to frame the Brexit decision as the case was about process, not politics. However, despite the ruling there is no appetite among MPs to vote against activating the clause. Almost all conservative and Labour MPs are backing triggering Article 50 by the end of March. In December, May conceded to calls for greater clarity over Brexit and MPs backed a Labour motion to scrutinise the governments Brexit plan before she triggers Article 50. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party would frustrate the process, but will set a series of amendments to the eventual act of Parliament including assurances for tariff free access to the single market, guarantee workers rights and a meaningful vote - a vote before the country actually leaves the EU. Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats has said that there should be a second referendum on the final deal reached with the EU. He said: The Liberal Democrats are clear, we demand a vote of the people on the final deal and without that we will not vote for Article 50. Earlier, Ken Clarke a former Chancellor and Europhile, said that he might be the only Conservative MP who will vote against triggering Article 50, as denying Parliament a vote would be undemocratic. He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The idea that because the public voted to leave the European Union, the cabinet can now argue with each other about what they do instead, and parliament can be told Youre not allowed to vote on this, were not going to ask for a parliamentary majority, strikes me as totally undemocratic. It is not exactly mob rule but it is the tyranny of the majority to silence peoples opinions on complicated issues of due importance to the future. According to a recent poll by YouGov, 54% of people think that the Prime Minister, not parliament, should have the final say on activating Article 50. Some 85% of the Leave voters agree and think May should have the final say, but 61% of Remain voters think Parliament should. Meanwhile, another legal challenge to leaving the European single market will be heard in February. British Influence, a think tank which brought the case to the High Court, argues that Britain should remain part of the European Economic Area, which includes the remaining 27 members of the EU, along with Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, three of the four members of the European Free Trade Area, after Brexit. It said that for the government to take Britain out of the single market, it would need to activate Article 127 of the EEA agreement. Former boss of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson has received approval of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be Secretary of State in US President Donald Trump's administration. He gained narrow approval at 11 votes to 10 from the Foreign Relations Committee, with all members of the committee voting along party lines. Tillerson will take up the post if approved by an final confirmation vote by the full Republican-controlled Senate, which is expected next week. The former oil executive was grilled by Republicans and Democrats on the committee two weeks ago and his confirmation was far from certain, until he received the support of prominent Florida Senator Marco Rubio on Monday. Rubio said that while he had reservations about Tillerson's potential relationship with Russia, he added that Trump should have a degree of autonomy in choosing his cabinet. "Despite my reservations, I will support Mr Tillerson's nomination in committee and in the full Senate," said Rubio. While Tillerson has pledged to divest all of his previous business interest and shares in Exxon, opponents maintained that it would be almost impossible to shed all conflicts of interest while in office. The top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin, cited various issues that would "compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined" the US. His relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin has particularly been in the spotlight, after the Texas businessman having been pictured at several events together with the leader of the superpower. EnQuest , oil and gas development and production company, has agreed to acquire an initial 25% interest in Magnus oil field from British Petroleum (BP) for $85m. In addition to this, a 3% interest in the Sullom Voe oil terminal and supply facility, 9% of the Northern Leg Gas Pipeline and 3.8% of the Ninian Pipeline System will be included in the agreement. The sale price is expected to be met from the companys share of future cash flows from the assets and will not include an upfront payment to BP. Around 100 BP staff that are linked to Magnus and 240 at Sullom Voe are expected to transfer to Enquest as well. The company has the option to take full ownership of Magnus and have a larger stake in Sullom Voe in the future. Located 160km north east of the Shetland islands, Magnus is the UKs most northerly field. BP said EnQuests record of extending the life of mature assets was the reason it was chosen as the natural operator for the interests. "Sullom Voe and Magnus have been great businesses for BP, but to maximise the economic life of these important assets, we believe this deal will offer them a better long-term future," said BP North Sea regional president Mark Thomas. Chief executive Deirdre Michie of industry body Oil and Gas UK welcomed the deal. "This is an innovative deal which will open a new chapter in the life of Sullom Voe and the productive life of Magnus, an iconic North Sea oil field. "It also sends a very positive signal on the opportunities available in the North Sea and is an indication of confidence that, even after producing oil for more than 30 years, this mature field still has more to give," said Michie. EnQuest trading update During 2016 the group has achieved its highest annual production since the company started in 2010 despite being adversely affected by maintenance and weather issues. Production averaged at 39,751 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2016, up by 8.7% compared to 2015 with production in the UK North Sea up 11.3%. The company made cost savings during the period with both final reported unit operational expenditure (opex) and cash capital expenditure (capex) expected to be around the lower end of the latest full year guidance range at $25 per barrel to $27/bbl and $620m to $670m respectively. The Kraken FPSO vessel has arrived in the North Sea on schedule and is continuing under budget and on track for delivery of first oil in the second quarter of 2017. The companys production is expected to average in the range of 45,000 boepd to 51,000 boepd for the full year 2017 and will be dependent on the timing of Krakens first oil. It is also on track to further reduce capex in 2017 with savings expected to be in the range of $375m to $425m, the majority of which is being invested in the Kraken development. Hedging of 6m barrels is in place for 2017 at an average of around $51/bbl. Chief executive Amjad Bseisu said: "EnQuest is delivering reductions in operating and capital expenditure and we continue to streamline our operations. Our low cost operating structure and our low cost approach to operatorship are integral parts of our way of doing business - whilst always retaining safe operations as our number one priority. The share price rose 0.43% to 49.46p at 1450 GMT on Tuesday. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview What does Trump mean for wind, solar? Officials, experts and advocates of wind and solar power said the new president could slow the expansion, but won't stop it. By CATHY BUSSEWITZ and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press AP Photo/Matthew Brown [enlarge] A dumper truck hauls coal at Spring Creek strip mine near Decker, Mont. Renewable energy developers say theyre hopeful about the future despite President Trumps promise to bring coal mining jobs back. HONOLULU President Donald Trump has disputed climate change, pledged a revival of coal and disparaged wind power, and his nominee to head the Energy Department was once highly skeptical of the agency's value. What this means for states' efforts to promote renewable energy is an open question. . . . login or purchase a To read this story in fullor purchase a subscription. LaSalle sells U District Hotel Deca for $44.6M Journal staff reporter By BRIAN MILLER Journal staff reporter Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons [enlarge] The 158-room Hotel Deca is joining Graduate Hotels, which is a chain of college-town hotels. The University District's iconic Hotel Deca at 4507 Brooklyn Ave. N.E. has sold for $44.6 million, according to King County records. The seller was LHO Badlands LLC, an entity of LaSalle Hotel Properties, which acquired the property in 2005 for $25.8 million. The buyer was Graduate Seattle Owner LLC, which is associated with Graduate Hotels, a division of Chicago-based AJ Capital Partners. According to its website, the three-year-old Graduate Hotels is a chain with six hotels in college towns, and five hotel acquisitions in the pipeline. AJ Capital specializes in hotel and resort development. LaSalle's website says the Deca has 158 rooms and 5,500 square feet of meeting space. It was renovated in 2013 and is managed by Noble House Hotels and Resorts. The hotel is at the corner of Brooklyn and Northeast 45th Street. It has a bar and restaurant called The District Lounge, as well as a ground-floor coffee shop and a roof deck. It opened in 1931 as the Edmond Meany Hotel. The 16-story art deco structure is one of the tallest and most recognizable buildings in the U District. It is also just north across 45th from the light-rail station scheduled to open in 2021. The sale also includes two small parking lots near the main 34,000-square-foot site, which also has ample surface parking. Brokers weren't announced. Brian Miller can be reached by email at brian.miller@djc.com or by phone at (206) 219-6517. Subscriber content preview Photo from HFO Investment Real Estate [enlarge] The per unit price is $112,500. New Standard Equities of California bought the 120-unit Village Fair Apartment Homes in Bremerton for $13.5 million, according to a press release from HFO Investment Real Estate. . . . A Las Vegas window changed everything for Gray Malin. One day in 2011, while staying with friends in the Nevada city, Malin snapped a photo from his hotel room overlooking the pool. The image became his desktop background, then inspired a helicopter flight over Miami Beach, then became the basis of his most famous works to date. Malin followed up his Miami adventure with trips to Australia, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, and more. In the last five years, he has photographed beaches on six continents for his series A La Plage. Today the images grace iPhone cases and gift wrap, water bottles and walls, beach towels and swim shorts. They can also be found in his best-selling 2016 book, Beaches. To capture his famous birds eye views, Malin photographs from doorless helicopters. He must navigate complex legalities and weather conditions, and find the right camera settings with limited time, all while precariously leaning out the door of the chopper. Its worth the effort, the photographer says, because his seaside subjects never cease to amaze. RELATED: Artist Gray Malin Showcases The Realities Of A Modern Day Vacation Every beach has its own unique qualities, he told Slate, but overall I believe the beach is universal, whether it be a rocky beach in Italy or the white sands St. Barths, the one thing that is constant is that the beach makes everyone feel relaxed and happy. Indeed, its hard to look at Malins photographs without feeling both joy and a pang of jealousy. His aerial angles reveal scenes that are almost impossibly vibrant and playful. These beaches are lively and luxurious, full of bright colours and dynamic patterns and interesting shapes. Its no wonder the name Gray Malin is practically synonymous with paradise. Camps Bay 1/15 Cape Town, South Africa Ipanema Beach 2/15 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Bora Bora 3/15 French Polynesia Da Luigi ai Faraglioni Beach Club 4/15 Capri, Italy Pink Beach Club 5/15 Miami, Florida, USA Coogee Beach 6/15 Sydney, Australia Kings Bath 7/15 Cape Town, South Africa Albatross Beach 8/15 Cascals, Portugal Aquinnah 9/15 Marthas Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA Cascals 10/15 Near Lisbon, Portugal Bora Bora 11/15 French Polynesia Tamarama Beach 12/15 Sydney, Australia Surfside Beach 13/15 Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA Joatinga Beach 14/15 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Oak Street Beach 15/15 Chicago, Illinois, USA Fuel your lust for summer with the gallery above, and see more of Malins work on his website and Instagram 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 For some fortunate Sheephaven divers the cold Donegal weather has been left far behind, when they jetted off to Lanzarote to enjoy a week of shore-based diving in the sun. Over the week they can expect air temperature up to 18 degrees Celsius, while in the water the temperature is much the same, just that bit warmer than the best summer temperature they could expect in Ireland. For two of the travelling party the trip to Lanzarote is a well-deserved reward, as they have recently passed their Instructor Mon 1 written exams and then started into their pool pre-exam training on Thursday evening. Coincidentally, the trip to Lanzarote was also a chance meeting of past and present Sheephaven club members, when the travelling party met Creeslough man Willie Wilkin. Willie was the first club treasurer when Sheephaven SAC was formed in 1977, a time when generating funds involved collecting weekly subscriptions and there was little or no gear. Two current club members bridge the gap between then and today, namely Willie Sheridan and Noel Brennan, who were the first club chairman and secretary, respectively. On Sunday morning, as always, these founding fathers were in the water in Portnablagh, where the Sunday morning snorkel party swam across the bay to Killyhoey in temperature conditions radically different to what is being experienced in Lanzarote. For the snorkelers on Sunday morning, air temperature was just one degree Celsius, while water temperature was probably no greater than 8 degrees Celsius. However the Saturday morning dive party had even colder conditions at Massmount, where the water temperature was a very chilly 6 degrees Celsius. The dive commenced with an extended snorkel to the nearest island and its subsequent circumnavigation, after which the divers descended 20 metres to the seabed and from there, followed a compass bearing back to their original departure point, completing a dive time of 50 minutes. Considering the water temperature it is not surprising that fish life was quiet, but sponges, anemones and hydroids on this site are present throughout the year and they were on show for the divers to observe as they made their way back to the shore. All in all not a bad week of diving activities for Sheephaven SAC club members, considering how early it is the year, which bodes well for the year ahead. Management at Letterkenny University Hospital has confirmed that the hospital has suspended chemotherapy services for new patients until March due to a staff shortage. The hospital is not starting new patients on chemotherapy treatments due to a shortage of consultant oncologists and patients are being sent to other hospitals for treatment. In a statement the hospital said a locum medical oncologist who was contracted to fill one of two such posts at the hospital until the end of March 2017 has resigned to take up a post abroad. Deputy Pearse Doherty raised concerns about the suspension of services after reports from families of cancer patients who said there loved ones were being sent to Galway for therapy. The hospital said a new locum consultant medical oncologist will be joining on March 6th. In the meantime the hospital only has a second consultant medical oncologist available to cover three of the six weeks before the new locum starts. In this context it is not clinically appropriate to start new patients on chemotherapy regimes when we would not have the consultant medical cover to ensure it could be provided without interruption to the regime, the Saolta University Health Care Group said in a statement. In the interest of patient safety we are therefore making arrangements with our consultant medical oncologist colleagues in Saolta University Health Care Group to have new patients who are referred to LUH both seen and treated outside of Letterkenny. A Donegal man who sexually exploited a 15-year-old girl he met on a youth mental health website will be sentenced next month. A court heard the accused watched the victim's favourite film, Frozen, with her before trying to have sex with her. The 36-year-old Donegal man, described by the defence as a vulnerable person with few social skills, viewed the teenager as his girlfriend, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard today. The man pleaded guilty to one count of sexually exploiting a child in a Dublin apartment between January 3 and 4, 2015. Another count of meeting a child for the purpose of child exploitation was taken into account. This is a child grooming offence, the court heard. The man will be sentenced on February 17. Garda Maria Cox told Eilis Brennan BL, prosecuting, that the then 34-year-old man was living in Dublin in late 2014 when he got chatting to the teenager on Talklife, a messaging app for young people struggling with mental health issues. Told each other their real ages The pair told each other their real ages and continued messaging, before meeting in a park in Kildare. They met a few more times in the park and once in the cinema, occasionally kissing and cuddling, the court heard. The man also sent a photograph of his erect penis to the girl. In January 2015, he invited the girl to come to his friend's apartment in Dublin, as his friend was away. The pair met at 9am on January 3, went to the apartment, drank tea and watched the film, Frozen. It was her favourite film at that stage, Ms Brennan said. They then went into the bedroom, where the man tried to have sex with her but she was too tense and afraid, the court heard. He told her he didn't want to cause her pain, Ms Brennan said. The pair then got up and got dressed. The pair later fell asleep in the apartment and when the girl woke up the next morning and turned on her phone, she discovered her family and friends were looking for her. Gardai had also been informed. The girl's parents picked her up at a bus stop close to the apartment and she told them what had happened. All contact between the pair ceased and the man was later arrested and charged. Victim impact statement In a victim impact statement read out in court by Ms Brennan, the girl, who was in court for the sentence hearing, said she found it hard to cope after the incident. In some way, I feel I lost part of my childhood, she said. I never had any dealings with the gardai before and I was overwhelmed and anxious...I don't trust people as easily as I used to. The man, who has no previous convictions, told gardai that he had bonded with the girl as they both suffered from depression. Defence barrister, Tara Burns SC, said the man wished to apologise to the victim, whom he viewed as his girlfriend. She submitted that he felt it was a serious relationship. Ms Burns said the man was a vulnerable person with few social skills, who was isolated at the time of the incident. He suffered from a depressive illness and anxiety. A psychological report was handed up in court along with a number of testimonials. Several family members were in court to support him. She urged Judge Melanie Greally to impose as lenient a sentence as possible. Secretary of State John Merrill said during a Tuesday visit to Dothan that he does not plan to push for an early voting period in Alabama because he does not believe early voting increases voter turnout. We have early voting. It is called absentee voting, Merrill said while speaking to the Dothan-Houston County Rotary Club. Merrill also said he would not oppose excuse free absentee voting. I am not aware of a single instance where early voting has increased voter turnout. It just increases costs. You have to pay extra money for people to work the polls and we want to be careful with your money, Merrill said. Merrill also said that if absentee voting turned into de facto early voting, he would push for a photo ID requirement in order to receive an absentee ballot application. Youve already seen examples of voter fraud right here in your own county, Merrill said, referring to four convictions connected to the 2013 re-election campaign of Dothan District 2 Commissioner Amos Newsome. The four convictions indicated at least 42 absentee ballots were fraudulently cast in the election. Merrill also said he would not push for electronic voting. Anything that can be done electronically, I think, can be hacked, Merrill said. Merrill said he supports instances that allow soldiers overseas better access to voting. He said Alabama is the only state that allows electronic ballot delivery and electronic ballot return over a secure server. Merrill scoffed at the notion that Alabama is not voter friendly, citing multiple visits to all counties in Alabama with mobile voter registration tools. When somebody says something about us not being receptive, they are ill informed, Merrill said. Weve been to peoples homes to help people get IDs. I want people to identify just one person not registered, or that is registered and does not have a photo ID and wants one. We will go to their house. Just call me. Subaru has teased its next-generation XV high-riding hatch in the lead up to its official unveiling at the 2017 Geneva motor show in March. The Japanese brand has released one silhouette profile image at this stage. However, as with the outgoing generation the new XV appears to cling tightly to the Impreza hatch it is based upon. Official details of the new model are still under wraps, but the second generation XV is expected to utilise the Subaru Global Platform. This platform currently underpins the Impreza small car and is set to expand across the entire future Subaru range. Raised ride height, roof rails, unique alloy wheel designs and more rugged matte-plastic body cladding will help set the new XV apart from the more road-focused Impreza, with the full extent of design changes to be more clearly revealed at Geneva. Interior changes, compared to the Impreza hatch, will likely be limited to colour and trim differences. The XV is expected to adopt the Impreza's 6.5-inch or 8.0-inch Apple CarPlay and Android compatible touchscreen infotainment systems. Beneath the surface the XV should sport the Japanese brand's 115kW/196Nm 2.0-litre horizontally-opposed four-cylinder petrol engine and all-wheel drive system and should be paired with either a CVT auto or six-speed manual transmission. Australian specifications and pricing will be made available closer to the local launch date, which Subaru Australia advises is to be expected about mid-2017. Louth Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick has confirmed Government funding of 5,184,174 for roads in county Louth. Louth County Council is to receive 5,184,174 in roads funding this year. This is part of a 324 million national investment programme for regional and local roads in 2017. Fine Gael in Government is determined to use our strong economy to benefit all areas of the country, and roads funding is just one example of this. The funding announced by the Government today constitutes a 9% increase on last years allocation, which is only possible as our economy continues to grow. This funding is for the local authority to maintain and strengthen our roads here in Louth. It will also help to stimulate local job creation which is really important to local communities here. The total figure of 5,184,174 for Louth includes the significant amount of 120,000 in Safety Improvement Grants for various projects including 55,000 for the L3161-19 road between Blackrock and the M1 Motorway. There is also funding of 120,000 for bridge rehabilitation works including 15,000 for Kilcurly Bridge. Road safety is an important part of this announcement also. Nationally, funding of over 1.3 million will be allocated to local authorities to continue with the implementation of 30km/h speed limits in housing estates across Ireland. This funding for roads in Louth will make a big difference to people and businesses locally. This announcement comes in the same week as the Government launched its Action Plan for Rural Ireland which, with its 270 targeted actions, will help to deliver benefits to people and communities all across Louth. Seven in ten small businesses want the $20,000 instant asset tax write-off to continue past 30 June, this year, when it is due to expire, according to accounting software provider MYOB. The latest MYOB Business monitor, a bi-annual survey of more than 1,000 small businesses, asked operators what policies they would and wouldnt vote. MYOB CEO Tim Reed provided Dynamic Business with insight into the key findings. The write-off has been a huge boon for SMEs Making the temporary write-off a permanent fixture for businesses with annual turnover of less than $2 million topped the SME wishlist, with support from 68% of respondents. The write-off has been a huge boon for growing businesses, enabling them to better match their cashflow with the need to invest in new assets, Reed said. While the total tax paid overtime does not change, the write-off brings forward the deductions from investing in new assets, enabling SMEs to claim their expense in one lump sum rather than depreciate it over several years. This shows the government understands the aspirations of, and challenges faced by, growing businesses, and empathises with them. Within the first six months of the write-off being introduced, over one quarter of SMEs had already taken advantage of this measure with franchisors being the front runner at 51%. So, we know its welcomed by SMEs and is a great initiative in the right direction, and we encourage the government to make this policy a permanent fixture to help SMEs kick-start their growth. GST compliance costing SMEs $13.7b per year Simpler GST and BAS compliance also had strong support from respondents, with 66% indicating they would vote for this change. Small businesses are often resource and time poor, and can find it difficult to comply with GST and BAS, reed explained. By simplifying account set-up, GST record-keeping and BAS preparation, businesses will be able to more easily classify transactions and prepare and lodge their BAS. The ATO have listened to the concerns of small businesses and are working towards reducing GST compliance costs for small businesses. Specifically they are looking to reduce the amount of information needed on the BAS form around the G-codes, which make record keeping very complex. This is great news, and we encourage the government to continue simplifying this process as it will ultimately provide SMEs with more time and money to focus on their business. MYOB has commissioned research with Australian and New Zealand small businesses to find out the cost of administering GST. The results show GST compliance costs Australian SMEs more than $13.7 billion a year, which is $6,778 a year for each of Australias two million SMEs. This cost could be halved if the GST was revamped to reflect a simpler model, like that in New Zealand. The Business Monitor also revealed strong support for the following policies: Government assigning a proportion oftheir procurement contracts to small business (61%) Reducing the company tax rate from 30% to 28.5% (60%) The establishment of an incentive bonus for business employing people over 50 (59%) Increased Federal Government funding for skills, training and apprenticeship programs (57%) More Federal Government investment in transport infrastructure in our major States and cities (56%) Increased Government funding for innovation, research and development by Australian businesses (55%) Offering a wage subsidy for employing young Australians (51%) Government dissatisfaction driven by uncertainty, fear The Business Monitor also looked at whether respondents were satisfied about the federal and state-level governments. Just 22% were satisfied with the federal governments performance while 33% were dissatisfied and 44% were on the fence. Meanwhile, Queensland operators were the most dissatisfied with their state government (51%), followed by South Australia and Western Australia (50%. Each). This was in sharp contrast to Victoria and New South Wales, with 29% and 37% respectively. From a small business perspective, higher levels of government dissatisfaction can often be linked to uncertainty and fears of instability, Reed said. We know that South Australia is currently experiencing higher unemployment rates compared to the national average, a decline in manufacturing as well as stagnating wages. These factors create an environment of volatility for SMEs where they second-guess their decisions for their businesses. With the WA state election just six weeks away, its a critical time for state government to tap into SME mindset and understand how to improve those ratings. Grab a great deal this New Year at Taylor Wimpey's Kings Copse Property-seekers in Gloucestershire are being offered even more opportunities to step on or up the property ladder this New Year with some unmissable deals available at Taylor Wimpeys Kings Copse development in Quedgeley. House hunters who reserve one of the stunning two, three and four-bedroom homes currently available at this popular development can benefit from incredible offers to kick start 2017, as well as a variety of incentives for buyers in a range of circumstances. Amazing deals for purchasers securing selected plots at Kings Copse include stamp duty paid which could save buyers thousands on the cost of moving upgraded kitchens with integrated appliances or flooring throughout included in the price tag! Whats more, with the Help to Buy scheme available at the development, eligible first-time buyers and those with a property to sell can access a Government loan for up to 20% of the full price of their new home so they can secure the two-bedroom Plot 778 The Dovedale priced at 175,000 at Kings Copse with a 75% loan-to-value mortgage of 131,250 and a 5% deposit of 8,750. This means that with mortgage rates remaining at an all-time low, purchasers whove previously been renting may find their monthly outgoings are considerably reduced. Danielle Heard, Sales and Marketing Director for Taylor Wimpey Bristol, says: Many people use the New Year as an opportunity to make positive changes in their lives and for buyers who think a brand new home is out of their reach, this is the ideal chance to make it a reality. Prospective purchasers who have had enough of throwing their money away on rent will find that the Help to Buy scheme is making stepping on or up the property ladder much easier and more affordable than they had thought. In fact, they may well find their monthly mortgage repayments are less than the amount theyve been paying in rent! Help to Buy is available on new-build properties up to the value of 600,000 and there is no salary cap for customers taking advantage of the scheme. The development also features a superb selection of alternative two bedroom properties priced from 190,000, three bedroom homes from 210,000 and four bedroom designs from 262,000. Kings Copse is located in Kingsway Village, near the Cotswolds on the banks of the River Severn, just three miles south of the centre of Gloucester. The local area features a shopping parade including a Tesco Express, while Quedgeley, two miles away, boasts a wide range of convenience stores and Gloucester city centre has an extensive selection of shops, pubs and restaurants. Parents will appreciate that there is a choice of primary schools close to the new homes, including Kingsway Primary School and Waterwells Primary Academy, both rated good by Ofsted, while secondary schools can also be found nearby. The development is conveniently positioned just off the A38 while junction 12 of the M5 is only 10 minutes away. Gloucester railway station is five miles from home for direct services to Cardiff and London Paddington. To find out more about the fantastic New Year offers available at Kings Copse, property-seekers should visit the Sales and Information Centre, located off Boulmer Avenue Kingsway, Quedgeley, Gloucester, GL2 2FX, and open daily from 11am to 5.30pm. Alternatively, visit taylorwimpey.co.uk. The Cypriot Minister of Finance, Harris Georgiades, and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Secretary General Enzo Quattrociocche today signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the organisation of the Bank's 26th Annual Meeting, which will be held in Nicosia from 9 to 11 May 2017. The theme of the conference is Targeting Green and Inclusive Growth: Meeting Regional and Global Challenges and it will provide an opportunity to discuss global challenges as well as the state of the transition process. Cyprus, a founding member of the EBRD in 1991, became a recipient country of investments by the Bank on a temporary basis in 2014. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr Georgiades said the Annual Meeting of the EBRD will be a high level event, in fact, the first ever such meeting of an international financial institution to take place in Cyprus. For Cyprus, the EBRDs Annual Meeting is a unique opportunity to present itself as an attractive, safe and stable jurisdiction to an international audience, as a country which has achieved a remarkable economic recovery and which now offers excellent business and investment opportunities across the sectors, Mr Georgiades pointed out. He added that more than anything, it will be an opportunity for us to express our appreciation and gratitude to the EBRD for its significant contribution in the reform and recovery of our economy, noting that since 2014, and responding immediately to Cyprus request, the EBRD has set up a local office in Cyprus and has invested so far 220 million, including a much-needed equity participation in two banks, a successful trade-finance facility, financing of shipping companies and also financing of five photovoltaic renewable energy projects. In addition, the Minister conveyed Cyprus gratitude for the EBRDs readiness to offer support in the case of a comprehensive political settlement in Cyprus and to assist in the effort for the reconstruction and smooth re-integration of the economy. Lastly, Mr Georgiades expressed hope that, through its Annual Meeting, the EBRD will be able to determine its next steps and way forward, in a manner which will enable the Bank to continue playing such a constructive and pivotal role in the direction of supporting economic growth and development. Cyprus, as a founding shareholder and member of the Bank, is particularly keen to see a further broadening of EBRD operations in the eastern Mediterranean region. For his part, EBRD Secretary General Mr Quattrociocche said the Annual Meeting will offer the opportunity to demonstrate to representatives of 67 shareholder countries and up to 2,000 participants from governments, businesses, civil society and media the attractiveness of the island as a place for business, commerce and trade. Praising the Cypriot authorities hard work and courage in pursuing painful yet necessary economic reforms, Mr Quattrociocche noted that holding our Annual Meeting will be recognition of the achievements by the government and the people of the island. It will also be a demonstration of the added value the EBRD and its commitment to Cyprus can bring. The Annual Meeting, he added, will provide an opportunity to promote the role of Cyprus in the region, where it is an active participant of intensifying regional cooperation and where it also contributes to regional stability and reconciliation. Moreover, conveying a message of encouragement for the ongoing process to find a comprehensive political settlement in Cyprus the EBRD Secretary General said the reunification of the island is expected to offer a much-needed boost to growth and development as political reconciliation will create attractive opportunities for investors. He also said the Banks presence on the island is an affirmation of our commitment to Cyprus and our readiness to support efforts to bolster its economic development for the benefit of all communities of the island. Almost four years after being poached from a critical post at Google to join Chinese upstart Xiaomi, Hugo Barra on Monday announced he will return to Silicon Valley in February. Barra, who led the Xiaomis overseas expansion as vice president, international, explained the move largely as a desire to reconnect with his family and restore a sense of normalcy to his life. However, it also coincides with a widespread perception that Xiaomis international growth has run into a great wall. The last few years of living in such a singular environment have taken a huge toll on my life and started affecting my health, Barra wrote in a Facebook post. My friends, what I consider to be my home, and my life are back in Silicon Valley, which is also much closer to my family. Senior Vice President Xiang Wang reportedly will take over Barras post at Xiaomi. Barra thanked company CEO Lei Jun, calling him a mentor and friend, and noted that the executive has asked him to stay on indefinitely as an advisor to the firm. US Launch, Chinese Market Barras move comes just weeks after the firm made its long-awaited debut at CES in Las Vegas, where it introduced Mi TV 4 and a white version of the Mi MIX smartphone for the Chinese market, along with a range of products for the Mi Ecosystem. His decision is certain to have far reaching implications for the company, which was considered one of the fastest-growing smartphone makers in the world. Barra, who was vice president of product management at Google before leaving in 2013, is widely credited with helping Xiaomi reach a global valuation of US$45 billion, introducing its products into key international markets across Asia and Europe. However, Xiaomi recently has stumbled. The has lost market share to competing firms, including Vivo and Oppo, in its core Chinese market. Oppo became the leading smartphone maker in China, growing mainly due to increased offline sales that were less dependent on operator subsidies, according to an IDC report released last fall. During his tenure, India became Xiaomis largest international market, with $1 billion in annual revenue, faster than any company in the countrys history, Barra noted. The company also expanded into Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia on his watch, and recently added 20 other new markets including Russia, Poland and Mexico. Xiaomi also worked with Google to launch its first-ever official product in the U.S. at CES 2017. Mixed Legacy Its an interesting move, especially as he was the lead spokesman for Xiaomi internationally, said Ryan Reith, program vice president for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC. Barra has been a key figure in the companys patent acquisition strategy and was the point person in the companys relationships with foreign telco firms, Reith told the E-Commerce Times. Despite those successes, Xiaomis decision to hire Barra was problematic, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, who described it as a bad skill match. Xiaomi stumbled in a couple of key areas during Barras tenure there, and it is still feeling the ramifications of those mistakes, Enderle told the E-Commerce Times. It is a far different thing to convince OEMs to use [Android], a free OS that was modeled after one they couldnt license, iOS, than it is to sell phones to end users, Enderle said, referring to Barras prior tenure as part of Googles Android expansion team. On the one hand, you are giving people something they want for free, and on the other hand you are competing with a bunch of folks for a limited set of far less sophisticated buyers, Enderle observed. Xiaomi wasted resources on the international expansion, he maintained, while failing to pay enough attention to domestic sales and product development in its own home market, which caused the company to bleed market share. Apple and the government of Ireland are fighting what some view as a European Union tax grab. The two recently filed a formal appeal of the ECs decision ordering Apple to pay nearly US$14 billion in back taxes, based on its finding that Ireland had given Apple several illegal tax breaks. The commission this summer found that Ireland had allowed Apple to determine its tax based on the activities of its subsidiary firms, Apple Sales International and Apple Sales Europe, which are incorporated in Ireland. That tax approach allowed Apple to pay a much lower tax rate than other firms doing business in Europe, according to the EC. Irish Eyes The Irish government profoundly disagrees with the commissions analysis, and had no alternative than to file an appeal to have the entire decision overturned, according to David Byrne, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance in Ireland. Ireland did not give favorable tax treatment to Apple, he told the E-Commerce Times. Ireland does not do deals with taxpayers. No fine or penalty has been levied against the Irish state, Byrne said, noting that the EC explicitly stated that the decision does not call into question Irelands general tax system or its corporate tax rate. The commission will defend its decision in court, EC spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso told the E-Commerce Times. The U.S. Treasury Department disagreed with the ECs findings, suggesting that the commission retroactively applied a new State Aid theory opposing established legal principles, challenging individual countries tax rules, and threatening to undermine the European business climate. The ruling threatens to erode Americas tax base, according to the DoJ. The department considers tax avoidance a serious problem around the world, and it will continue to work with the commission and other international partners, such as the OECD, toward the shared goal of preventing the erosion of corporate tax bases. Apple Bites Apples Irish presence dates back to 1980, when it opened its first factory in Cork, Ireland, with 60 employees, noted CEO Tim Cook in an open letter to the Apple community written this summer, after the EC handed down its decision. The company eventually expanded to a nationwide presence of 6,000 people across Ireland, the vast majority of them still working in Cork. Apples presence in Cork has helped sustain more than 1.5 million jobs across Europe, Cook pointed out, held by Apple employees, app developers, smaller manufacturers and suppliers. Apple has never asked for or received any special deals from Ireland, he insisted. The ECs claim that Apple paid an effective tax rate of .005 percent is extremely misleading and deceptive, Apple said in a note sent to investors this summer. Apple paid $400 million in corporate income taxes to Ireland in 2014, making it one of the largest corporate taxpayers in the country, according to the note to investors. Apple paid $400 million of its current U.S. taxes on those profits, bringing the companys total taxes paid to $800 million. Apples total global corporate income tax rate that year was 26.1 percent, the company claimed. The EC in 2013 began investigating the tax treatment of multiple companies, and early this year ruled that 35 multinational firms had received selective tax treatment that it considered illegal. Investigations into the tax treatment of McDonalds and Amazon are pending. Theres a folk-story that all Japanese schoolchildren learn about a man called Gohei Hamaguchi (sometimes called just grandfather) who saves his village. In brief, theres an old man who lives in a village by the sea, and one day, an earthquake hits. Hes the only person in the village to realize that a tsunami will soon follow. He hurries to the nearby mountainside where the rice for the village is grown and sets the entire harvest aflame. All of the villagers race to the mountainside to deal with the conflagration their rice is their most precious resource. Thats where they are angry, but safely on higher ground when the tsunami destroys the village. The old man is seen as a hero once it becomes clear that he set the fire to save the villagers. This story is simple on the surface, but I call it to your attention because it offers several valuable lessons to apply to technology security. The story presupposes a balance of understanding human nature, the will to take decisive action, and adequate preparation that those responsible for security should take to heart. Each of these elements plays a role in keeping our environments and data secure and, frankly, they are areas that most security practitioners struggle to get right. However, understanding the lessons of the story can lead to significant improvements. Understanding Communication The first lesson of this story and maybe the most subtle one is that grandfather understood how to communicate to his audience in the most effective way, and he used that knowledge to act in their best interests. Envision a scenario in which instead of setting the fire, he tried to convince the villagers verbally to seek higher ground. Its possible that it might have worked. However, its much more likely that other things would have happened instead: There might have been debate about the best plan; disbelievers might have demanded proof; or there might have been complicated logistics, like tracking down stragglers or children. Some might have been saved in this scenario but ultimately the delay probably would have cost lives. However, grandfather knew how the villagers would react and used that information for maximum benefit. There are two lessons here: We must understand our audience, and strike to communicate to get the results we need. This may seem easy, but it is harder than you might think. It first means that we must understand whats important to our organization: what drives it and what the motivations are for folks within it. That means we must understand the business in a deep way. In the tale, it grandfather understood his people to such a degree that he could predict the villagers actions. Can we get there with our business teams? Yes, but it takes work. It might involve structured exercises like business impact analysis, tabletop exercises, red team exercises, or any number of data-related techniques. This level of understanding also means that we must communicate effectively not only with words, but also with actions. Communication skills arent necessarily the ones technologists most actively seek to develop. However, as security pushes its way up the organizational stack to higher-level visibility, its important to excel in this area. Drastic Action The next lesson is the willingness to take bold action or at least to take action commensurate with a high stakes situation. The outcome of the burning rice fields obviously undesirable was nothing compared to the complete loss of life of the whole village. Implicit in making a tradeoff like that one is understanding two things: the impact and risks associated with not taking action, and countermeasures that potentially would address the concern in short, risk management. For many practitioners, structured risk management is like eating vegetables: We know we should do it, but we probably dont do it as much as we should. That is, its maybe lower on the priority list than is optimal. However, a thorough, systematic and workmanlike analysis of the threats and impacts in our environments not only lets practitioners better address the situation on the ground today, but also paves the way for the potential drastic action scenario that might be required in the event of our organizations infosec equivalent of a tsunami. So, if youve been giving risk management the back burner treatment, it might be useful to bring it to the forefront. The Right Data The last, and maybe most important aspect of the tsunami story is that grandfather was right. That goes unsaid, but it would have been a whole different ending for all involved if he werent. Had he been wrong, hed have been remembered as the villain who burned the harvest instead of the hero who saved the village. This is an important bit to get right. What does that mean to us? It means that our effectiveness is part and parcel of our ability to accurately not to mention quickly ascertain the situation at hand. That means data: data about ourselves (that is, operational metrics), the situation around us (situational awareness), and data about threat actors and their tradecraft (threat intelligence). Its easy to fall into the trap of letting metrics slip; after all, sometimes it can seem like its an exercise in authoring dashboards nobody reads. However, a living metrics program that is tied to actual outcomes can give us increasing confidence in the accuracy of what we think we know. The point is, if youre in a situation where your companys collection of security-relevant metrics is anemic or where the analysis you are able to perform isnt up to par, this might be a useful area to invest time and energy. This humble lesson about an old man and a rice fire is a very appropriate analogy for information security in business. By focusing on our ability to understand and communicate with our business partners, bolstering our risk management capability, and harnessing internal and external information, we can make strides toward building more robust security programs. Blog Archive June 2021 (1) May 2021 (77) April 2021 (77) March 2021 (82) February 2021 (68) January 2021 (64) December 2020 (67) November 2020 (66) October 2020 (66) September 2020 (67) August 2020 (74) July 2020 (83) June 2020 (92) May 2020 (86) April 2020 (104) March 2020 (105) February 2020 (74) January 2020 (75) December 2019 (75) November 2019 (70) October 2019 (89) September 2019 (69) August 2019 (81) July 2019 (77) June 2019 (73) May 2019 (110) April 2019 (110) March 2019 (102) February 2019 (85) January 2019 (123) December 2018 (116) November 2018 (112) October 2018 (121) September 2018 (107) August 2018 (150) July 2018 (163) June 2018 (190) May 2018 (145) April 2018 (112) March 2018 (124) February 2018 (113) January 2018 (164) December 2017 (150) November 2017 (144) October 2017 (169) September 2017 (171) August 2017 (135) July 2017 (131) June 2017 (147) May 2017 (160) April 2017 (138) March 2017 (156) February 2017 (143) January 2017 (203) December 2016 (208) November 2016 (185) October 2016 (173) September 2016 (194) August 2016 (232) July 2016 (225) June 2016 (238) May 2016 (231) April 2016 (215) March 2016 (246) February 2016 (226) January 2016 (252) December 2015 (230) November 2015 (250) October 2015 (234) September 2015 (222) August 2015 (253) July 2015 (275) June 2015 (279) May 2015 (223) April 2015 (226) March 2015 (243) February 2015 (258) January 2015 (281) December 2014 (292) November 2014 (296) October 2014 (413) September 2014 (472) August 2014 (506) July 2014 (483) June 2014 (488) May 2014 (512) April 2014 (497) March 2014 (531) February 2014 (482) January 2014 (535) December 2013 (482) November 2013 (441) October 2013 (416) September 2013 (491) August 2013 (521) July 2013 (491) June 2013 (470) May 2013 (457) April 2013 (426) March 2013 (420) February 2013 (414) January 2013 (489) December 2012 (433) November 2012 (504) October 2012 (469) September 2012 (430) August 2012 (427) July 2012 (360) June 2012 (336) May 2012 (362) April 2012 (322) March 2012 (263) February 2012 (224) January 2012 (291) December 2011 (295) November 2011 (325) October 2011 (330) September 2011 (319) August 2011 (333) July 2011 (318) June 2011 (387) May 2011 (373) April 2011 (389) March 2011 (375) February 2011 (335) January 2011 (400) December 2010 (445) November 2010 (395) October 2010 (312) September 2010 (262) August 2010 (277) July 2010 (323) June 2010 (386) May 2010 (360) April 2010 (333) March 2010 (351) February 2010 (336) January 2010 (384) December 2009 (353) November 2009 (300) October 2009 (308) September 2009 (350) August 2009 (298) July 2009 (255) June 2009 (203) May 2009 (193) April 2009 (186) March 2009 (197) February 2009 (173) January 2009 (148) December 2008 (181) November 2008 (197) October 2008 (236) September 2008 (304) August 2008 (314) July 2008 (273) June 2008 (27) May 2008 (1) April 2008 (6) October 2007 (1) May 2007 (1) April 2007 (6) March 2007 (2) February 2007 (1) October 2006 (1) September 2006 (1) August 2006 (4) July 2006 (4) June 2006 (1) July 2005 (1) May 2005 (2) March 2005 (1) June 2004 (2) May 2004 (1) April 2004 (4) March 2004 (2) February 2004 (2) July 2003 (2) June 2003 (5) An oil pipeline has leaked about 200,000 liters, or 52,834 gallons, of crude onto an aboriginal community in the oil-rich province of Saskatchewan, Canada. This is the provinces largest pipeline breach since Julys disastrous 225,000 liter (59,438 gallon) Husky Energy Inc spill, in which some oil entered the North Saskatchewan River and cut off drinking water supply for two cities. 200K litres of oil spills onto First Nations land near Stoughton https://t.co/gWQtNR4NBa pic.twitter.com/aymhMLTmWb CBC News (@CBCNews) January 24, 2017 The latest spill happened on reserve lands of the Ocean Man First Nation. Ocean Man Chief Connie Big Eagle told Reuters that a local resident smelled the scent of oil for a week, located the spill and brought it to her attention on Friday. While no homes were affected, the spill is about 400 meters (1,320 feet) from the local cemetery, Big Eagle said. The Saskatchewan government was informed of the spill on late Friday afternoon, but the public was only notified of the spill on Monday. Doug MacKnight, assistant deputy minister of the petroleum and natural gas division in the Economy Ministry, told reporters that the delayed announcement was due to the government not knowing the spill volume until Monday morning. At that point we felt it was prudent to let everyone know what we were up to, MacKnight said. The pipeline was shut down after the breach was discovered. It is currently unclear how the leak happened or which company operates the underground pipeline that breached, as multiple pipelines operate around the site of the leak. There are a number of pipes in the area, McKnight said. Until we excavate it, we wont know with 100-percent certainty which pipe. Excavation of the affected line is planned for Wednesday and will be sent for testing. Tundra Energy Marketing Inc, which owns a pipeline near the spill, has been handling cleanup efforts since Saturday. As of Monday, 170,000 liters (44909 gallons) have been recovered. According to the Regina Leader Post, the Ministry of Environment was notified of the spill on Friday afternoon, with the government saying it came from a Tundra-owned line. Chief Big Eagle also told Retuers, We have got to make sure that Tundra has done everything that they can to get our land back to the way it was. That can take years. They have assured me that they follow up and they dont leave until we are satisfied, she added. MacKnight said that the oil spilled onto low-lying agricultural land that contains a frozen slough and did not enter any water sources such as creeks or streams. At this time, the spill has reportedly not affected air quality or wildlife. Within 100 hours of Donald Trumps inauguration, in the first and largest youth-led mobilization of 2017, thousands of students across the country walked-out of class in protest of Trump and his corrupt fossil fuel billionaire cabinet. This comes just two days after nearly 3 million people mobilized in Womens Marches around the world. Students on dozens of campuses across the country are demanding administrations resist and reject Trumps climate denial cabinet by divesting from fossil fuels and reinvesting in solutions to the climate crisis. Today students will walk out of class to stand against Trump's climate denial. Live updates here https://t.co/SScikP3qtS #ResistRejectDenial pic.twitter.com/HTerxLQkMx 350 dot org (@350) January 23, 2017 In the face of Trumps dangerous climate denial, youth are rising up, said Greta Neubauer, director of the Divestment Student Network. For any chance at curbing the worst impacts of climate change, our universities must stand on the right side of history with students and take action now against Trumps climate denial. We wont allow Trump and his fossil fuel billionaire cabinet to foreclose on our future. Mondays day of action, dubbed #ResistRejectDenial, is also the largest youth-led mobilization in the history of the fossil fuel divestment movement. Students and youth have been a driving force leading the fossil fuel divestment movement to be the mainstream global movement it is today, with more than 600 institutions across 76 countries representing more than $5.2 trillion in assets committing to some level of divestment. The same day as Trumps inauguration, the Oregon State University board unanimously voted to divest from all fossil fuels. Other key commitments from colleges and universities in the U.S. include the University of Massachusetts Foundation, the University of Maryland, as well as Georgetown University and the University of California school system that have committed to partial fossil fuel divestment. Divestment has taken hold on campuses around the world, including in the United Kingdom where a quarter of universities have committed to divest. I need my university to stand up for our futures under Trumps dangerous and corrupt climate denial, said Samantha Smyth, sophomore at Appalachian State University. We must disavow the blatant disregard for our well-being and future by climate deniers in office. We must stand up for the millions of people who are dying at the hands of powerful, morally corrupt individuals who deny climate change. Prior to election day, young people proved themselves a force to be reckoned with. This was demonstrated in unprecedented political engagement throughout the election, challenging candidates to take stronger stances on climate, as well as in youth organized sit-ins at senate offices, engagement in mass mobilizations such as Womens Marches and the #DayAgainstDenial and rallying to oppose Trumps corrupt climate-denying appointees. Young people have been a driving factor in pushing our institutions to stand on the right side of history, with two consecutive years of on-campus escalation from 100 campuses, resulting in more than 30 arrests, with victory at the University of Massachusetts, University of California and University of Oregon. Since 2014, thousands of students across the country have participated in national escalation for fossil fuel divestment. Beyond fossil fuel divestment, young people are taking action to ensure elected officials take necessary action on climate and against Big Oil. In an ongoing lawsuit, 21 young people from across the U.S. filed a landmark lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to address the effects of climate change. Feds Respond to Allegations in Historic Lawsuit: Fossil Fuel Emissions Put Humans on 'Dangerous Path' https://t.co/TcJ7bHmK6H @CeresNews EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) January 19, 2017 This is a wake up call to Donald Trump; there are almost 75 million people in this country under the age of 18, said Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, youth director of Earth Guardians and a plaintiff in the federal climate change lawsuit. We didnt have an opportunity to vote in the past election, but we will suffer the consequences of climate inaction to a greater degree than any living generation. Our right to a just and livable future is nonnegotiable. Just last week, the World Meteorological Organization confirmed that 2016 was the hottest year on record and the second hottest year in U.S. history surpassing records of 2015 and 2014. Extreme weather, including storms, floods and droughts, are impacting communities at a pace and magnitude far exceeding previous predictions, making it even more crucial that institutions divest and take meaningful action on climate. Hope is something we must create. In this moment, the best way to do that is by taking action and showing that we will rise to this moment, said Neubauer. When it comes to climate change, time is not on our side. This is just the beginning of the opposition that the Trumps Administration should expect from young people For decades, scientists have warned that were on a dangerous path. It stems from our delusion that endless growth in population, consumption and the economy is possible and is the very purpose of society. But endless growth is not feasible in a finite biosphere. Growth is not an end but a means. Humans are one species among countless others to which we are connected and on which we depend. Viewed that way, everything we do has repercussions and carries responsibilities. That we are part of a vast web is a biocentric way of seeing that weve followed for most of our existence. But in assuming the mantle of dominant species, weve shifted to thinking were at the center of everything. This anthropocentric perspective leads us to imagine our needs and demands supersede those of the rest of nature. https://twitter.com/7BillionAndYou/status/780629574551949312 The failure to see our interconnectedness and interdependence is most striking in the way we manage government affairs. Forestry, environment and fisheries and oceans ministers priorities are not to protect forests, the environment or fish and oceans, but to rationalize our actions and ensure that whatever we do benefits us. In an anthropocentric world, we attempt to manage important factors through separated silos, shattering the sense of interconnection. We draw arbitrary lines or borders around property, cities, provinces and countries and try to manage resources within those boundaries. But salmon may hatch in BC rivers and migrate through the Alaskan panhandle along the coasts of Russia, China, Korea and Japan before returning to their natal streams. To whom do they belong? How do we manage monarch butterflies born in Ontario that travel through numerous U.S. states into Mexico? Grizzly bears are protected as an endangered species in the U.S. but can be shot if they cross into Canada. This absurd disconnection was illustrated when provincial first ministers and the federal government met to discuss climate change and health in December. It was an opportunity to recognize the enormous health implications and costs of climate change. Instead, talks proceeded as if the two subjects were unrelated. The repercussions of a mere 1 C rise in global average temperature over the past century have been enormous. In 2015, climate negotiations in Paris were meant to signal a shift away from fossil fuels to prevent an increase of more than 2 C this century. Though the Paris commitment dictates that most known deposits must be left in the ground, governments like Canadas continue to support new pipelines and continued exploitation of fossil fuel reserves. Efforts by Canada, the U.S. and other major greenhouse gas emitters have been so minimal that scientists now openly discuss global temperature rises of 4 to 6 C this century. Because we cant seem to curb our emissions, many suggest we must geoengineer the planet! As top predator, our species remains dependent on clean air, water and soil and biodiversity, making our ability to survive catastrophic planetary disruption questionable. Surely that should be a top line in discussions about health. At the December meeting, having ignored the effects of climate change on health, our political representatives simply assumed health-care costs will rise steadily (they have) without attempting to understand the cause. Instead, they focused on provincial demands for and federal resistance to annual payment increases. But health costs cant continue to rise indefinitely. We are accelerating degradation of the very source of our lives and well-beingair, water and soilthrough massive use of pesticides, artificial fertilizers and literally tens of thousands of different molecules synthesized by chemists. Scientists suggest up to 90 percent of cancer is caused by environmental factors. Its lunacy to ignore widespread and pervasive pollution as a primary health hazard. What we put into the biosphere, we put into ourselves. If we want to keep health costs from rising, we should focus on keeping people healthy rather than dealing with them after theyre sick. The highest priorities must be to stop polluting the biosphere and clean up what weve already dumped into it. Most importantly, we have to rid ourselves of anthropocentric hubris and return to the biocentric view that we are biological beings, as dependent on the rest of nature for our survival and well-being as any other. (Facebook/GameofThrones)Production for "Game of Thrones" season 7 is currently underway. Iceland, a thinly populated country, is getting more crowded as "Game of Thrones" continues filming in the wintry location. More actors have been spotted in the area, confirming certain plot points that will take place in season 7. It was previously reported that Iain Glen had been sighted in Iceland, joining Kit Harington and Joe Dempsie for filming. Glen's Jorah Mormont was last seen traveling to look for a cure for his greyscale. It can be assumed that he meets with Harington's Jon Snow and Dempsie's Gendry (who hasn't been seen since season 3) along the way, and joins the King in the North on his quest to retrieve a wight. Now, Liam Cunningham and Kristofer Hivju, who respectively play Davos Seaworth and Tormund Giantsbane, have also been spotted in Iceland. A fan managed to take pictures with Cunningham and Dempsie in the country. Rory McCann is also reportedly in Iceland, according to a fan who was staying at the same hotel as The Hound. Harington, on the other hand, apparently left Iceland briefly, but is back in the country presumably to film a scene at Black Sand Beach. Filming at the famous beach is speculated to involve a scene that depicts two boats on shore. Judging by the looks of it, Black Sand Beach may be the location for Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, a place beyond the Wall. This is where Jon and his allies travel to where they encounter the terrifying White Walkers and their horde of undead wights. Since "Game of Thrones" is slowly nearing its end, storylines are colliding and characters who have never met are joining forces. And while Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) continues on her quest for the Iron Throne, which is currently occupied by Cersei (Lena Headey), Jon knows that the real war is against the White Walkers. It is expected that he will retrieve a wight in order to prove to the others that the White Walker threat is real and imminent. "Game of Thrones" season 7 is expected to premiere in the summer. (Photo: REUTERS / Aung Pyae)Buddhist monks walk during a prayer ceremony for the victims of unrest in Mandalay, at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon July 4, 2014. Hundreds of Buddhists threatened to kill Muslims as they rode on motorcycles through Myanmar's second-largest city of Mandalay on Friday, raising the prospect of further communal violence after two people died in unrest earlier in the week. Hardline Buddhist nationalists have marched in the streets of Yangon in an attempt to rationalize the treatment of persecuted Rohingyas, saying the international community ought to stop interfering with Myanmar's affairs. About 500 Buddhist monks and their followers protested in the capital after the international community called for the Myanmar government to provide aid and assistance to the increasing number of boat people stranded at sea. One of the rally organizers on May 27 told the crowd that saving minority Rohingyas, who are Muslims, and whom he referred to as "Bengalis," was "not a good idea." U Pamaukkha, also a Buddhist monk activist, asked the government not to succumb to international pressure. "We absolutely turn down the pressure from foreign countries to accept Bengalis as they are not the citizens of our country," Pamaukkha said in an interview with ucanews.com. "So we call on the international community not to interfere the sovereignty in the name of human rights," he continued. "The Bengalis are trying to influence our Buddhist community in the country so we must defend from it." Both the government and many of Myanmar's citizens call Rohingyas "Bengali" because they consider them immigrants hailing from Bangladesh. But Rohingyas, whose population is estimated to be over one million, have lived in Myanmar for centuries. Protesters marched in the capital wearing shirts bearing messages having an anti-Rohingya sentiment, while some of their placards appealed to the United Nations to "stop making a story of Rohingya, Boat people are not Myanmar." The worsening plight of the Rohingya captured international attention in 2012 when violence erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine state, alarmed U.N. agencies after a number of Southeast Asian countries initially turned away refugees who left Myanmar on boats. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia later relented and decided to accept refugees on the condition that the international community provides funding for the needs of the Rohingyas. Minority Catholics in Myanmar led by the country's first cardinal urged the country's leaders to exercise compassion among the persecuted people. "Our brothers and sisters in Myanmar never [flinched] from their commitment to compassion in the moments of human brokenness. "Sadly, democracy has brought in hatred, denial of rights to sections of the people. People of Myanmar [must] reset their moral compasses and return to fellowship," Cardinal Charles Maung Bo said in a statement issued May 25. "Names cannot dilute humanity," Bo added, pointing out that Myanmar citizens must promote human dignity and not tarnish it by persecuting minorities. "A community cannot be demonized and denied its basic rights to name, citizenship and right to community." (Photo: REUTERS / Soe Zeya Tun)Ashin Wirathu (C), Buddhist monk and leader of the 969 Movement, takes part in protest against visiting United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, in Yangon January 16, 2015. Rakhine activists and hundreds of Buddhist monks demonstrated against the United Nations for urging Myanmar's government to give Rohingyas citizenship, local media reported The plight of those from religious minorities in Myanmar has long been dire for Rohingya Muslims, but this week Human Rights Watch has spoken out on the detention of two ethnic Kachin Baptist leaders. "Burmese authorities should immediately release or appropriately charge two ethnic Kachin Baptist leaders arbitrarily detained by the military since Dec. 24, 2016, Human Rights Watch and Fortify Rights have said. They said Jan. 23 that the military in Northern Shan State should urgently transfer Langjaw Gam Seng, 35, and Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 65, to police custody so that they are no longer at risk of abuse by military personnel. After the report on the Christians, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, warned about possible reprisals against people she met during her recent official visit to the country (Jan. 9 to 21), also in Kachin state. "There is one word that has hung heavily on my mind during this visit reprisals," the expert said. In its release HR Watch said the Baptist leaders went missing after being called to a military base, apparently linked to their assisting journalists investigating an unlawful military airstrike. On Jan. 19, the military published a statement on Facebook acknowledging their arrest and detention, and alleging that the two had been providing various forms of support to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). NO CHARGES FILED BY THE MILITARY In the month since their arrest, the military had not filed charges, turned them over to civilian authorities, or provided them access to lawyers or family members, as required by Burmese and international law. "The arrest of the two Kachin Baptist leaders appears to be retaliation for their help in exposing wartime abuses," said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer of Fortify Rights. "The military came clean about their detention only after local and international outcry, but they're are still at grave risk." The military in its statement alleged that Langjaw Gam Seng, a youth leader with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), and his cousin Dumdaw Nawng Lat, an assistant KBC pastor, acted as the "financial supporter, informer, recruiter, rumor monger" for the Kachin Independence Army. The statement said that Dumdaw Nawng Lat "gave information about movements of Tatmadaw [Burmese Army] columns and financial support to the insurgents and spread slanderous news and propaganda by having links with outside media in order to mislead the local and international communities." Langjaw Gam Seng allegedly "gave information about the Tatmadaw to KIA insurgents, recruited new members, and transported fuel for smooth transport of insurgents during the battles." Government leaders are responsible for the safety and security of these two men and should ensure lawyers and family have immediate access, said HR Watch. "The government needs to act now to ensure that these men are urgently transferred out of the darkness of military detention where they're highly vulnerable to abuse," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Government leaders are responsible for the safety and security of these two men and should ensure lawyers and family have immediate access." In Geneva Yanghee Lee, said, "I am deeply concerned about those with whom I met and spoke, those critical of the Government, those defending and advocating for the rights of others, and those who expressed their thoughts and opinions which did not conform to the narrative of those in the position of power." She noted the use of section 66 (d) of the Telecommunications Law against many, "merely for speaking their minds." "It is particularly alarming to learn that the security forces' counter operations in the villages of Maungdaw north in Rakhine State has reportedly been resumed following a brief lull, with raids conducted in several villages including nearby the villages I visited," Lee stressed. There are further allegations of arbitrary arrests and detention in relation to these latest reported raids. The expert was especially dismayed to note during this visit the feelings of optimism and hope appearing to slowly fade among the ordinary people of Myanmar just after one year when the whole country was elated with the outcome of the last general elections. The Special Rapporteur expressed regret at only being allowed to go to Myitkyina, and not Laiza and Hpakant in Kachin State due to security reasons and met interlocutors who travelled to Myitkyina instead. "It is evident that the situation in Kachin and at the northern borders is deteriorating, she stated. "Those in Kachin State tell me that the situation is now worse than at any point in the past few years. "Whilst I was not able to travel to the areas most severely affected, the situation is now such that even in Myitkyina, the capital of the state and home to over 300,000 people, residents are afraid and now stay home after dark." On Dec. 31, an 18-year-old man with a mental disability met up with a former classmate in suburban Chicago for what his family thought would be a sleepover. Instead, police say, the man was driven around in a stolen van, then tied up, taunted, and abused for hours, with a portion of the attack streamed on the internet. Four African-Americans have been arrested and face felony criminal charges of aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, and aggravated battery, among others, in connection with the attack on the victim, who is white. A spokesman for the Chicago police department said that the hate crimes charges were based on the suspects use of racial slurs, as well as references to his disability. Neither the man nor the exact nature of his disability has been identified. But the attackan example of both criminal assault and bullyingis a reminder that children and youth with mental, physical, or emotional disabilities are uniquely vulnerable, something federal education officials have aimed to address through repeated guidance. Defining bullying as repeated exposure to aggressive acts over time intended to cause physical harm, psychological distress, or humiliation, a 2012 study in School Psychology Quarterly found that the bullying rates among children with disabilities ranged from about 24 percent in elementary school to 34 percent for high school students. Thats as much as 1.5 times the rate of bullying experienced by students without disabilities. The rate of bully victimization was highest for students with emotional disturbance, across grade levels. Elementary and middle school students with autism and high school students with orthopedic impairments were at the greatest risk of experiencing repeated victimization. The study also found that students with disabilities who were bullied once were found to be at high risk of being bullied repeatedly, suggesting the importance of antibullying efforts to stop the cycle. The U.S. Department of Education has made it clear in guidance letters that bullying of students with disabilities could be considered a violation of that students right to a free, appropriate public education. Federal Guidance In 2013, the Education Department noted that addressing bullying is critical, not just because of the potential civil rights violations but because even less severe bullying can undermine a students ability to meet his or her full potential. The 2013 letter was aimed at students covered under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In 2014, an additional letter clarified that the civil rights protections also extend to students covered under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 . This act covers students with disabilities such as diabetes, mental health disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or orthopedic impairments. If a school is aware a student with disabilities is being bullied, one of its first steps should be to convene a meeting of the parents and the educators that make up that students individualized education program team, or Section 504 team. There are no hard-and-fast rules as to how much bullying should trigger this response. But school officials should look to see if the students grades have suddenly dropped, if the bullied student is experiencing emotional outbursts or behavioral interruptions, or if the student is missing more classes. But one challenge faced by students with disabilities is that they may not always recognize bullying for what it is. In 2014, a Maryland teen was captured in cellphone videos being kicked in the groin, dragged by his hair, and coerced onto a frozen lake where he fell through the ice several times. In an interview with the Washington Post, the teen, who has autism, said that he wanted to resume his relationship with the classmates, one of whom he called his girlfriend. Teaching Life Skills Chad A. Rose, an assistant professor of special education at the University of Missouri, specializes in studying bullying among students with disabilities and prevention efforts. Roses work points to the importance of explicit instruction in social-emotional skills for all students, not just students with disabilities, he said. But students with disabilities might need targeted instruction in social and communication skills, such as learning to express themselves effectively with their peers. Social and emotional learning often takes a back seat to academic learning, Rose said. And adults often believe that students should learn naturally how to respond to certain situations, but that type of learning needs to be reinforced over time, he said. What were talking about is teaching students life skills, Rose said. He notes, however, that many anti-bullying mandates are unfunded. Schools may end up following the letter of the law, without creating a strong ethos that states that bullying is unacceptable. All schools should make sure that students are given tools to recognize bullying, to respond to it themselves, and to know who to tell about it, he said. All kids have the right to go to school in a bully-free environment, he said. Julie Hertzog, the director of PACERs National Bullying Prevention Center in Minneapolis, has personal experience with building a school environment that rejects bullying. (PACER, short for Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights, receives funds from the federal office of special education programs to support its work.) Hertzogs son David, now 20, has Down syndrome and is nonverbal. Hertzog knew that it would be difficult to know if he was being bullied at school. So she enlisted the support of his friends. That eventually evolved into a club for students with and without disabilities. Just taking that first small step can be really successful, Hertzog said. Last month, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel attempted to signal a difference in education policy between his administration and the incoming Donald Trump administration in a Washington Post opinion essay. With Betsy DeVos as Trumps pick for U.S. secretary of education, Emanuel wanted to demonstrate his opposition to her pro-privatization agenda through his support for both public education and charter schools. The problem, however, is that there is very little daylight separating Emanuels agenda from that of DeVos, and his model for the Chicago public school system has denied hundreds of thousands of students adequate public education through budget cuts, school closings, and other actions. In a city with nearly 800 homicides and more than 4,000 shootings last year, Emanuel refuses to fund wraparound services for students living with this trauma. His Chicago Housing Authority is hoarding a $379 million surplus while we have more than 18,000 homeless students in the citys school district, according to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. Special education cuts in the public schools have left our most vulnerable students without the services and resources they so desperately need. Seventy-five percent of public schools in Chicago do not have libraries, according to the Chicago Teachers Union (which I serve as president). Emanuel led the largest mass public school closing ever in one U.S. citymostly in African-American and Latino communitiesand has been accused of fostering educational apartheid by the Rev. Jesse Jackson . He also is known for his Rolodex full of prominent businessmen and wealthy entrepreneurs who have funded charter school privatization, which set the stage for the aforementioned closures. Not surprisingly, the only schools Emanuel celebrates in his opinion piece are charter schools. One of them is part of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, which named one of its campuses Rauner College Prep after Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner. The multimillionaire governor, who supports Trumps nomination of DeVos as secretary of education, is also on record saying that half of Chicagos public school teachers are virtually illiterate and that half of the citys principals are incompetent. A recent lawsuit forced Emanuel to release more than 2,000 personal emails, which revealed that Raunerprior to being elected governor in 2014was included in education discussions, as were billionaires Ken Griffin (the main donor to both Emanuels and Rauners election campaigns) and Penny Pritzker (who was a handpicked member of Emanuels Chicago school board before serving as the U.S. secretary of commerce under President Barack Obama). The very people driving education policy ... are blocking the most effective education reform available: equitable funding." Both DeVos and the billionaires backing the mayors education policies apparently believe that because of their wealth, they have the right to impose radical disruption upon low-income students of color and their public school classrooms. Though most of DeVos charter and voucher school reforms have had mediocre results at best, she has now been nominated for the highest education policymaking position in the land. Similarly, Emanuel extols the virtues of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, which has an atrocious record of expelling African-American students at a rate 7.6 times higher than the Chicago school systems average for noncharter public schools, according to the group Voices of Youth in Chicago Education. The network also forced teachers to impose draconian rules demanding students pay exorbitant fines or serve detention for innocuous behavior. The very people driving education policyEmanuel, DeVos, and the phalanx of wealthy philanthropists subsidizing their ideas through the campaign-finance systemare blocking the most effective education reform available: equitable funding. A new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that when looking at the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the one test taken by representative samples of all schoolchildren in the country, the states that invested the most money in their lowest-income school districts saw the greatest academic improvement. The Chicago Teachers Union supports efforts in the Illinois legislature to secure revenue to fund education, and we demand that Mayor Emanuel act immediately to invest in our schools by releasing additional surplus funds from tax-increment financing, reinstituting the corporate head tax on large corporations, closing carried-interest loopholes, supporting a millionaires tax, and other means. Our vision for the schools Chicagos students deserve includes high-quality, well-resourced facilities with enforceable class-size limits, funding for special education, libraries, wraparound services, and the arts. And these schools must work in partnership with parents, who are an integral part of their childrens education and upon whom our members rely. Sadly, those upon whom Rahm Emanuel relies for his education policy efforts are uber-rich individuals like Betsy DeVos, who never saw a private school they didnt prefer over a public one. As Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested in her Senate confirmation hearing, DeVos nomination as the education secretary is likely connected to her familys estimated $200 million in donations to the Republican Party, not a reflection of her commitment to high quality education for all. When billionaires and educational entrepreneurs can assume the highest office for schools in the land only to dismantle our school systems, the most vulnerable students will suffer the most. Until the time comes when the mayor and the secretary-designate eschew their ties to big money and demand that their wealthy backers pay their fair share in taxes, the school privatization agenda will remain the central pillar in a litany of failed school reform efforts. Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trumps choice to be the U.S. secretary of education, was on the hot seat last week during a confirmation hearing that grew contentious at several points. Afterwards, her remarks on everything from school choice to special education and civil rights drew both sharp condemnation and praise. During the Jan. 17 hearing, which lasted nearly four hours, DeVos told the 12 Republican and 11 Democratic senators on the committee that she would be a strong advocate for public schools. But, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a childperhaps they have a special need that is going unmetwe should support a parents right to enroll their child in a high-quality alternative, DeVos told the committee. She made those comments in the face of criticisms that her record as an advocate for vouchers and other forms of school choice as the former chairman of the American Federation for Children indicate that she wouldnt adequately support traditional public schools if she were to lead the department. DeVos also cast herself as an outsider looking to shake up established practices, telling senators, Human tendency is to protect and guard what is, because change is difficult. When questioned by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on whether she would agree to not cut a penny from public education or try to privatize schools, DeVos responded that she would try to help provide parents with the best educational options possible. (Congress and the president are ultimately responsible for the amount of federal spending on public schools, not the department.) DeVos declined to directly answer or provide key details on several education policy issues, such as implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and her view of several civil rights issues on which the Education Department has a say. DeVos told committee members several times, I support accountability, but did not provide more details. When asked about what protections lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students deserved in schools, DeVos said, I fully embrace equality, and told the committee she had never supported conversion therapy for gays, but did not elaborate on how that position would inform her approach. Divided Reaction The tone of the hearing was a major departure from past confirmation proceedings for education secretary, which often have featured praise for nominees from senators of both parties. A committee vote on DeVos nomination was slated for Jan. 24, but was postponed. During exchanges with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., the nominee initially seemed not to be aware of basic requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which governs special education law. After first stating that meeting the requirements of the IDEA should be left up to states and that federal mandates were worth discussion, DeVos back tracked and said that federal law must be followed, adding that she may have confused the issue. In a separate exchange, DeVos floated the idea that federal special education funding could be made portable and follow students to the schools of their choice. She cited special education voucher programs in Florida and Ohio. Students with disabilities who get vouchers to go to private schools generally in many states must waive IDEA protections they would otherwise receive. And creating a voucher system for federal special education money would be a major change in how federal funding for special education currently works. Its pretty clear ... that she is not and never has been an advocate for students with disabilities, said Denise Marshall, the executive director of the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, which supports legal and civil rights for students with disabilities. The fact that she didnt understand the difference between state and federal statute is pretty appalling. Liz King, the education policy director for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said DeVos testimony in general opened up new questions about her ability and commitment to enforing civil rights and education laws. School choice supporters, however, praised DeVos remarks to the Senate education committee, arguing that she made it clear that she would back parents and students over established education systems, and would bring a fresh set of eyes to federal policy. I thought she was complete grace under fire, said Jeanne Allen, the founder and CEO of the Center for Education Reform, which advocates for school choice. She also said DeVos showed shes committed to disrupting arcane forms of education. And Republican senators also praised her past record and advocacy in states. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the committee chairman, noted that DeVos support for charter schools was consistent with that of many Democrats, including former President Barack Obama. I believe she is [in] the mainstream of public opinion and her critics are not, Alexander said.DeVos defended the performance of and accountability for charter schools in Michigan, her home state, where she has done much of her lobbying and advocacy work to promote choice, and which some critics say is too lax in its oversight of charters. But she said she would not try to mandate that states offer school choice programs. That comment pleased Neal McCluskey, the director of the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, a free-market think tank, although it seemed to put her in conflict with Trump. What I dont see is how that would be consistent with the promise candidate Trump made, McCluskey said, referring to Trumps plan to create a $20 billion federal voucher program. Unresolved Issues Discussing ESSA at her hearing, DeVos did provide some certainty. She indicated to the committee thatshe supported the accountability timeline from the Obama administration that would require states to turn in their ESSA plans in either April or September of this year. However, when being questioned by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., she did not say whether she supported other elements of those accountability rules, or spell out her thoughts on accountability in general. In the past, DeVos has backed school accountability using A-F grades. But Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., also said earlier this month that DeVos supported a legislative proposal to let states opt out of federal accountability mandates, and receive funding from Washington in the form of block grants. Murphy also pressed DeVos about her stance on guns in schools. DeVos responded that schools in some circumstances may decide they may need firearms. For example, she suggested, a Wyoming school brought up earlier in the hearing by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., might decide it needs guns to fend off grizzly bears, DeVos said. (PolitiFact later reported that Wyoming and the district overseeing the school in question ban firearms.) The comment set off a wave of criticism and was widely lampooned on social media. Murphy said in an interview with CNN that the commentwas both laughable and tragic. One of the sharpest exchanges occurred when Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., asked DeVos about her views on measuring students growth versus their proficiency. DeVos appeared to conflate the two concepts, and when she sought further clarity from Franken, the senator cut her off and expressed surprise that she did not seem to know about the debate. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked her about how to improve career and technical education programs and give them more leeway. DeVos stressed the importance of such programs, but did not share her views on CTE. DeVos took a similar approach to the issue of early education, but did say that distance learning and course choice could improve rural education, an issue raised by Enzi. Scott is one of five GOP senators on the committee to receive campaign donations directly from DeVos. Ten senators on the committee have received donations from the DeVos family, whose net worth is estimated to be $5.2 billion by Forbes magazine. Democrats on the committee also were critical of the hearing being held before DeVos ethics letter and financial disclosure documents were completed. Both were posted by the Office of Government Ethics subsequent to the hearing. Academics and activists alike hope the results of ongoing federally funded research on school police, school climate, and student safety will help inform both policy changes and the broader public debate over the role of law enforcement in schools. A lack of rigorous research and statistical data on school police has made it difficult to track their effectiveness and to determine what factors affect their contributions to school climate, researchers say. While advocacy groups point to unfavorable outcomeslike higher rates of arrest and referrals to law enforcement for black studentstheres little consistent national data on factors that may account for variations between different schools. That includes information on the various types of agreements between school districts and the law enforcement agencies they contract with to provide school police. Details on the training, backgrounds, and race of school-based officers might also help explain some of the dynamics of their interactions with students. Also missing is a critical mass of broad, large-scale studies on whether or not school police programs meet one of their core goals in many districts: reducing crime and keeping students safe from outside threats, like school shooters, a 2013 report by the Congressional Research Service concluded. The body of research on the effectiveness of [school resource officer] programs is limited, both in terms of the number of studies published and the methodological rigor of the studies conducted, that report said. The research that is available draws conflicting conclusions about whether [school resource officer] programs are effective at reducing school violence. More research of all kinds could inform improvements to school police programs and student discipline policies and help flag systemic issues that may lead to unnecessarily harsh discipline in some situations, said Phillip Goff, the president of the Center for Policing Equity at the University of California, Los Angeles. In some ways, were nowhere on police in schools. Weve just begun to understand that when you place police in schools, arrests are more likely, he said, referring to findings disputed by some police groups, But there are some modifiers for that. The lack of information on school police mirrors a larger lack of data on law enforcement in general, Goff said. For example, there was no national dataset of officer-involved shootings until news organizations began collecting such information independently, he said. Studies on School Police Underway Complicating the quest for research and data: school police are employed through a variety of channels. Some work directly for districts with their own police departments, while many are placed in schools through cooperative agreements with local police and sheriffs departments. Some officers work in schools part time, and some rotate among schools, making it hard to track their interactions with students. Most research on school police is based on a sample of schools or an analysis of previously collected data from a single district, which may not allow researchers to glean insights that are transferrable across rural, suburban, and urban areas, said the Congressional Research Service report. And many studies lack control groups to test their findings, said the report, which was compiled following the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Like Columbine and other mass shootings, Sandy Hook was met with calls for more police and armed staff in school by lawmakers on the state and local levels. In addition to federal grants for school resource officers and calls for stricter gun laws, the Obama administration responded to those shootings by calling for more research about all areas of school safety, including bullying, discipline, the use of data in threat assessment, and training for school police. In 2014, the National Institute of Justice launched its Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, awarding $75 million in grants to fund research in these areas. The agency awarded additional waves of grants in 2015 and 2016. It may be a few more years before researchers begin publishing the first of their findings, as many of the funded studies and pilot-projects have a multi-year time frame. In Connecticut, for example, researchers are tracking four years of data from a pilot group of 12 schools to determine if training school staff members about the role of school-based police can lead to more consistent discipline across different groups of students and reduce discriminatory impact. There has not been a clearly articulated role for the police in schools, said Ronald Sabatelli, a human development professor at the University of Connecticut who is leading evaluation of the project. And there needs to be a reinforcement of best practices in terms of how to respond to disciplinary issues with students. Teachers, administrators, and officers at participating schools completed a one-day training program to ensure that they are all on the same page about police responsibilities and the limits of their involvement in routine discipline issues. Another group of demographically similar control schools, where staff did not receive training, will also be monitored to track differences in disciplinary incidents and referrals to law enforcement. In Arizona, a statewide project funded through the federal grants may help meet the demand for large, scaleable data on the effectiveness of school resource officers. Officials at the Arizona education department are working with researchers at the University of Arizona to test enhanced school resource officer training in 15 schools throughout the state. Theres almost no empirical quality research that examines the effects of school resource officers on school climate, said Sheri Bauman, a professor of counseling at the University of Arizona who is helping lead the project. That training for police and student support personnel in participating schools includes information on working in a school environment, student discipline, and childhood trauma. Participating schools have working groups of administrators, school counselors, and police officers who examine data and seek to solve problems in their schools. For example, one schools team realized bullying reports were clustered in one area of the school and worked to move more adults there during transition times, said Kris Bosworth, a professor of education at the University of Arizona who is also working on the project. In another school, an officer noticed that many tardy reports were coming from students whose parents were getting stuck in a slow-moving school drop-off lane and worked with administrators to reroute it. Sometimes school police help to see a problem with a different set of eyes, Bauman said. And sometimes they can relate to kids who wouldnt relate to a mental health professional. Researchers plan to compare those schools to two groups of control schools16 where officers received only basic police training mandated by the state and 15 schools that applied for state-funded police officers but did not receive them. They are collecting a broad variety of data points, including more traditional data on discipline incidents and law enforcement referrals and new information, like how and when officers interact with students and information from surveys of officers, school staff, and students about their perceptions of the school environment. Researchers are also collecting information about the officers, including their training, background in law enforcement, and perception of their responsibilities at school. We need some data, Bauman said. We need to know whats working and not working and to be able to make decisions based on some kind of factual basis instead of hunches, or stories weve heard, or our beliefs about what makes a safe school. In his first speech to the nation as president, the newly inaugurated Donald Trump painted a dark picture of an America that has left struggling middle-class families behind, including a public school system that spends big while getting poor results for students. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves, Trump said in his Jan. 20 address from the rostrum on the west side of the U.S. Capitol. But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists. ... An education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge. Trumpa real estate developer, reality-TV star, and political novice who has pledged to drain the swamp of special interests in Washingtonalso promised to make Washington a place where the needs of people, not politicians, are paramount. While they celebrated in our nations capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land, Trump said. The president made no mention of school choice in his speech. But during the 2016 campaign, he pitched a $20 billion school voucher program. His choice for U.S. secretary of education, Betsy DeVosa prominent advocate and financial benefactor for school choice from Michiganshows hes serious about expanding school choice now that hes in the White House. And the tough language in his inaugural address suggests hell sell the proposal by making the case that public schools are failing. Anne McCandless, an Advanced Placement government teacher at Providence High School in Charlotte, N.C., who brought her class to Washington to see the inauguration, said she felt stung by Trumps remarks. Im offended because Im a 25-year veteran teacher, and so he is telling me that I havent done anything, she said. Theres always room for improvement. Theres always room to change, but thats insulting. Bobby Howard, a social studies teacher at Gainesville Middle School in Georgia, who also attended the inauguration with his students, said the reality at his charter school doesnt match the presidents rhetoric. I know he said the system is a disaster. I dont think its a disaster, Howard said. But he added that resources for education could be better distributed. But Tom Macluskie, who retired in May after 26 years of teaching social studies at Gainesville Middle and joined his former colleagues and students on the National Mall, is hopeful that Trump can be a change agent. I think hes going to do a very, very good job, said Macluskie. Hes definitely not politically correct, but that may work to his advantage. ... This is almost an experiment. Complex Picture Though Trump took sharp aim at the failings of American education, the national picture on student outcomes is a complex one. Graduation rates are at an all-time high of 83.2 percent, and graduation gaps between minority and white students are closing. But in 2015, scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the nations report card, fell in math and reading for the first time in more than two decades. On the funding side, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which focuses on reducing poverty and inequality, found that 35 states provided less overall state funding for education in 2014 than in 2008, before the Great Recession hit housing prices, sending down waves of state and local budget cuts to school districts. In 27 states, per-pupil funding fell over the same period. The federal government, which Trump will now lead, hasnt made up for those cuts. Since 2011, spending on major K-12 programssuch as Title I grants for disadvantaged students and aid for special educationhas been relatively flat. Trumps populist message of bringing change to Washington was a staple of his campaign speeches. But Jack Jennings, who served for decades as a top aide to Democrats on the House education committee, said he found it hard to square the new presidents promises with his choice of DeVos, who Jennings said had stumbled in showing her knowledge of basic education polices, such as federal education laws, in her confirmation hearing. Im incredulous that he says hes going to bring about better schools with a small group of billionaires as his advisers, Jennings said. He says he is going to change schools with a woman who has no idea how schools operate. But Jay Greene, a professor of education reform at the University of Arkansas, said that while Trump used an obvious overstatement to describe the state of Americas schools, his views are pretty common. It does seem to signal that he thinks the challenges in our education are not solved by increased spending, Greene said. And that is not an extreme view. Thats a common view, even if not the majority view. The inauguration itself wasnt the only big event happening in Washington last week. Thousands of peopleincluding at least 1,000 teachers union membersheaded to Washington for a protest event the next day, billed as the Womens March. Holly Daniels, a 1st grade teacher at Riddle Elementary in Lansing, Mich., planned to hop on a bus for a 10-hour trip to the capital. We have a businessman as a governor in Michigan, and it has not been good, Daniels said. Im concerned that were going to see things that have happened in Michigan at a national level, including an explosion of charter schools, cuts to education, and public-health problems like the contaminated-water crisis in Flint. A year later, these people still dont have clean water, Daniels said. Im concerned about Donald Trumps [rhetoric] about women, sentiments about minorities. Participating in the march makes me feel like Im doing something other than sitting at home and complaining, she said. Im looking forward. National Treasury Management Office Record ever EIB lending for education investment across Ireland First support in Europe for primary health care centres Strengthened backing for private sector innovation under the Investment Plan for Europe The European Investment Bank provided more than EUR 825 million for long-term public and private sector investment across Ireland during 2016. Backing for 12 different initiatives to improve crucial services, enhance key infrastructure and unlock economic opportunities represented the largest number of schemes supported in 24 years. I would like to welcome the involvement that the European Investment Bank has had in Ireland in recent years and in particular during 2016 which saw the EIB provide continued financial support to key projects at a very high level. This strengthened EIB engagement reflects the many opportunities for responsible investment in the Irish economy. The consistent growth in Irelands economy and elevated levels of business confidence provide a compelling basis for investment in our evolving economic and social infrastructure. highlighted Michael Noonan T.D., Minister for Finance. Strengthened support for crucial investment across Ireland by the European Investment Bank during 2016 reflects the importance of unlocking investment essential for sustainable economic recovery and represented one to the strongest ever years of EIB engagement in the country. Last year the EIB supported priority capital investment by the State, innovation by world class Irish companies and transformation of schools and universities. Significant new support for social housing and agriculture was confirmed alongside equally important steps to ensure an increase of European Investment bank engagement in the years ahead. This includes opening our first permanent office in Dublin, a clear framework for greater cooperation across all government departments and first-time financing backed by the Investment Plan for Europe. confirmed Andrew McDowell, European Investment Bank Vice President. Hundreds of schools across the country as well as academic and student facilities at leading Irish universities will be transformed as a result of record European Investment Bank support for education lending in Ireland in 2016. Last year a total of EUR 350 million was provided to upgrade outdated buildings and build state of the art new education and research facilities, at primary and secondary schools as well as University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons. This represented the largest per capita support for education by the European Investment Bank in any European country. Ireland was also the first country in Europe to benefit from European Investment Bank backing of primary healthcare that will support the shift from hospital based healthcare to community based care closer to patient homes. Fourteen new Primary Care Centres are currently being built in Sligo, Roscommon, Mayo and Galway, as well as Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary, Wexford, Kildare and Dublin. This was the European Investment Banks first long-term loan in Ireland to be backed by a guarantee under the Investment Plan for Europe initiative, intended to support EUR 315 billion of new investment across Europe. During 2016 the European Investment Bank significantly increased support for private sector innovation investment in Ireland with new financing backed by the Investment Plan for Europe. New EIB financing made possible by the Investment Plan for Europe supported investment by Irish healthcare company Malin and pharmaceutical firm Amryt that will help the companies to build on world class skills and cutting edge skills. New EIB support for construction of the N25 New Ross bypass, that will cut traffic delays between Cork and Waterford, represented the first project in Ireland to be financed under the Project Bond Credit Enhancement initiative intended to stimulate capital market financing for large scale infrastructure projects. In the coming weeks the EIB will announce details of significant new support for social housing investment in Dublin and communities across Ireland and confirm the first support for forest investment in the country for 20 years. Since 1973 the European Investment Bank has provided more than EUR 15 billion for investment to improve public services, key infrastructure and unlock new opportunities for Irish companies across the country. EIB Group signed operations worth 83.8 billion euros supporting total investments in the order of 280 billion euros in 2016 Record financing for SMEs of more than EUR 33bn EIB Group well on track under Investment Plan for Europe President Hoyer: No more business as usual, political and regulatory reform vital in 2017 EU Bank President Werner Hoyer has laid out the EIB Groups contribution to creating jobs and growth in Europe by supporting projects and investment in SMEs, key infrastructure, innovation and the environment. Speaking today in Brussels he said: At a time of uncertainty the EIB Group has shown that a truly European approach to investment is bearing fruit. But he warned, Recovery is still slow. 2017 must see a real stepping-up of reform. We need to ensure that investment is not being held back by unnecessary regulatory bottlenecks. There can be no business as usual. Overall, the EIB and EIF signed operations worth 83.8 billion euros supporting total investments in the order of 280 billion euros in 2016. Increased support for smaller companies President Hoyer was delivering the latest results for the EIB Group, consisting of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund (EIF). He announced record financing in 2016 of more than 33 billion euros for Europes small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), driven by the EIFs increased support for businesses. In 2016, the EIB Group supported some 300,000 companies, which employ more than 4.4 million people. President Hoyer said: In many parts of Europe SMEs still lack access to finance. SMEs are the true backbone of the European economy. They are the ones that create jobs; their capacity for innovation and flexibility makes them crucial for Europes competitiveness and for the well-being of its citizens. 2016 has also seen a significant shift in the kind of financing the EIB Group provides with an increase of smaller loans, which go mostly to innovative smaller businesses. Innovation is key the EIB Group is looking to make 2017 a year of innovation. Financing competitiveness and growth The sectors supported by the EIB Group are critical in terms of their long-term impact on competitiveness and growth. In 2016 close to 20 billion euros went to infrastructure. Some 17 billion euros went to environmental projects. More than 13 billion euros were provided for innovation and for high-speed broadband connections. On climate action, the EIB has for the seventh year running exceeded its target, providing over 19 billion euros to help mitigate climate change and adapt to its impact. This represents 26% of total EIB lending in 2016. Raising money on the capital markets The EIB is self-financed: lending activities are mainly funded via bond issuance in the international capital markets. Despite periods of market uncertainty last year, the Bank successfully raised 66.4 billion euros from investors around the world. Ten years after pioneering the first Green Bonds, we remain the largest issuer, with over 15 billion euros raised for climate projects since 2007. Investment Plan for Europe on track; reforms needed EIB Group operations backed by the European Fund of Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is at the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, are well on track. In the first one and a half years, the EIB Group has approved more than 420 financing transactions which are expected to support investment of 164 billion euros. President Hoyer said: The Investment Plan for Europe has been a true game-changer for the Bank. We have created new products, we have reached out to new clients 3 out of 4 are new to the Bank and we have built new partnerships, in particular with the national promotional banks. Extending the European Fund for Strategic Investments will help Europe meet the challenges of a changing world economy. The President warned against complacency. According to EIB research, only one in three companies in Europe expect to increase investment in the coming year. The companies surveyed say that political and regulatory uncertainty are the main barriers to investment. EFSI cannot do the job alone. We need to create the right conditions for investment, at EU level by stepping up work to complete the single market, at Member State level by accelerating regulatory reform. Jobs for young people President Hoyer called for continued efforts in the fight against youth unemployment. Since its launch in 2013, the EIBs Skills and Jobs Investing for Youth programme has provided more than 37 billion euros toward projects for jobs and improved skills for young people. Tackling the migration challenge The EIB is making a tangible contribution to the Unions external policy goals. 2016 saw the delivery of the 3 billion euros committed by the EIB as part of a three-year 11 billion euro EU assistance package for Ukraine. This supports competitiveness, resilience, energy security and quality of life for citizens in Ukraine. Regarding the current migration challenge President Hoyer called for a stronger European commitment outside the EU and an adjustment of development policies: We need to reinforce economic resilience and stability in countries most severely impacted by the current refugee and migration crisis, and tackle root causes of migration. He also underlined: Through its Economic Resilience Initiative, the EIB stands ready to complement the EU External Investment Plan by rapidly mobilising additional financing in support of sustainable growth, vital infrastructure and social cohesion. We want to boost employment opportunities in both host and refugee communities. Under the Economic Resilience Initiative, the EIB will increase its support to the Southern Neighbourhood and the Western Balkans by 6 billion euros, taking total EIB-supported investment in the regions from 20 billion euros to some 35 billion euros by 2020. Note to the editor: All figures are unaudited and provisional. The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europes micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment. Presentation and speech Speech of President Hoyer Presentation slide EIB Factsheets Highlights 2016 [EN] EIB Group in figures: countries overview 2016 [EN] EFSI in 2016 [EN] Samsung Galaxy S8 is officially happening. The confirmation has just been made by no other than Samsung itself. With this, a February 2017 Samsung Galaxy S8 release date may really be true, after all. With the Galaxy Note 7 fiasco last year, the South Korean tech company is expected to recover with the Samsung Galaxy S8 release date alongside with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. That is if the batteries of these new smartphone and phablet will not explode like what happened before. As reported by Forbes, Samsung has already filed for patent for the release of a new smartphone under the name of Galaxy S8. This is the first hint that a Samsung Galaxy S8 release date is happening soon. Samsung is said to be hands-on and meticulous in the development of Samsung Galaxy S8 specs. From the design to everything under the hood, Apple's iPhone 8 will surely have a problem with the Galaxy S8. The greatest change in the Galaxy S8 will happen in the design. Based on the released leaks reported by the same news outlet, it is true that the Galaxy S8 will almost have an edge to edge display. The released images were from reputable case makers including MobileFun and Ghostek and also Slashleaks. The images of the Galaxy S8 cases were consistent with the Samsung Galaxy S8 specs that have been surfacing online. These Samsung Galaxy S8 specs include the slimmer top and bottom bezels (edge to edge display), elimination of the home button, repositioning of the flash on top of the rear camera and shift to USB Type-C port. The front camera and fingerprint sensor will likely be incorporated on the glass display. Meanwhile, the 3.5 mm headphone jack has apparently remained, which is contrary to previous rumors that Samsung will follow Apple's trend. Other exciting Samsung Galaxy S8 specs include a 4K resolution screen with 3840 x 2160 pixel (Virtual Reality capable), Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 and Exynos 8895 chipsets, 6GB RAM, 64 GB and 128 GB internal memory storage and dual-lens camera. However, these Samsung Galaxy S8 specs remain to be rumors as the leaked cases images cannot tell whether these are true or not. Samsung Galaxy S8 release date is on February 26, 2017 pegged at a price of $900. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone may have parted way for more than a year but their love for each other is still very much evident in their actions. The past lovers met and fell in love in the set of "The Amazing Spider-man" in 2012. They inspired and made everyone around them fall in love during the time that they were together. However, real-life Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy have officially parted ways since October 2015. Since then, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have been spotted still seeing each other from time to time. From strolls in London to getaways with friends, the ex-lovers still seem to be present in each other's lives. And frankly speaking, no one is complaining. Their fans still want to see them together until now since they have remained in good terms ever since they broke up. Even those close to both actors are saying that they always only have good words for each other. Just recently, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone have been seen in the17th annual AFI Awards luncheon in Beverly Hills. According to US Magazine, the past sweethearts seem very at ease with each other, casually chatting and introducing each other to those with them. The "La La Land" actress even received a standing ovation from the "Hacksaw Ridge" actor during the recently concluded Golden Globes Awards Night. The "Easy A" actress won the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Andrew Garfield even chose Emma Stone as the actress he wants to be with if ever he's trapped on a desert island. The 33-year-old actor even said that he loves the "Easy A" actress. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone are evidently still very much in love with each other. It will not be a surprise if one of these days, a reunion will be announced. Angelina Jolie has been offered a new job since her split from soon-to-be ex-husband Brad Pitt and this has something to do with her endorsement projects. Moreover, report is escalating that her divorce case with Brad can cost up to $6 million. Jolie seems to have moved on already as she just accepted anew endorsement from a perfume brand. Guerlain Parfumeur announced on Monday that the actress will be their latest endorser. With this, Jolie will be the new face of its new fragrance, Mon Guerlain. As reported by Vanity Fair, this will be Angelina Jolie's first public-facing job since she split from Brad when she filed for divorce last September. It has been reported that her contract has been already signed last December of 2015 when Jolie was still directing a film in Cambodia. Angelina will be busy for her new work and reports are telling that all that she will be earning from this will be directly given to her chosen charity which is still unnamed. Her partnership with this company will also be her first beauty ambassador contract in 10 years and after signing for Shiseido last 2007. Meanwhile, as per Hollywood Life, Brad Pitt and Jolie's divorce might cost $6 million and this will take for one year. It can be recalled that the ex-couple have signed an agreement to keep their divorce case in private so they hired a private judge. Brad and Angelina will work with retired Judge John Ouderkirk until December of 2017 and this will cost them a large sum of money. Their private judge will be paid $450 per hour and their lawyers will get $1, 250 each per hour. Since these people will not be negotiating a flat rate or anything as such, the ex-couple's expenses could really be dramatically high. This will make them to spend $500, 000 a month and will give them a total of $6 million. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt might have moved on from their bitter separation as they finally decided to stop trashing each other throughout the proceedings. I should add a question mark to the end of that post title. From the NY Times: Last fall, five turbines in the waters of Rhode Island the countrys first offshore farm began delivering power to the grid. European energy developers like Statoil and Dong Energy are making big investments to bring projects to American waters. Last year in Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, signed into law a mandate that is pushing development forward. And in New York, after years of stymied progress, the Long Island Power Authority has reached an agreement with Deepwater Wind, which built the Rhode Island turbine array, to drop a much larger farm 15 turbines capable of running 50,000 average homes into the ocean about 35 miles from Montauk. If approved by the utility board on Wednesday, the $1 billion installation could become the first of several in a 256-square-mile parcel, with room for as many as 200 turbines, that Deepwater is leasing from the federal government. ... These projects could also become an important test case in establishing just how far states can go to to pursue their clean energy agendas under the Trump administration. Before putting steel in the water, the project would need federal approvals and policies that are in doubt amid Washingtons changing of the guard. Wind power has finally become viable for a number of delicately interlaced reasons. It has taken favorable state policies and technological and economic advances to spur the current level of activity, as well as interest among developers and investors, including foreign oil and gas companies that see offshore wind as an important part of their corporate strategies. In Europe, where the offshore wind industry is far ahead of the United States, costs have plummeted to roughly half of what they were five years ago, said Thomas Brostrom, who runs United States operations for Dong Energy, the Danish oil and gas giant and a leading offshore wind developer. As the industry has grown, manufacturers have been able to take advantage of economies of scale and cut their prices. At the same time, turbines have grown ever larger, allowing them to capture and produce more energy on the same site. ... Statoil, the Norwegian fossil-fuel giant, has been aiming to get into the offshore business in the United States for years, and proposed in 2011 to build a farm off the Maine coast using floating platforms it had designed. The company withdrew the project two years later amid uncertainty over changing state policies, eventually deciding to build off the Scottish coast. Now it is back, having won a 33-round auction to secure a 79,000-acre site south of Jones Beach on Long Island. Statoil beat out several other bidders, including the states energy agency, Dong and a subsidiary of Iberdrola, a leading energy company based in Spain. Statoil pledged $42.5 million for the lease, which still awaits final signoffs, far more than the $16 million generated by all earlier offshore wind auctions combined. ... Officials at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which approved the Cape Wind site in 2010, have spent years clarifying rules and identifying marine parcels suitable for wind power development in an effort to balance several often-competing concerns. Those include the needs of marine life and of industry, along with those of coastal communities. They also include the demand for economic development and clean energy sources, from states concerned about both job losses and climate change. Since 2013, the agency has conducted six competitive auctions of long-term leases for parcels from New England to Virginia, and in the past week it announced a seventh, for North Carolina, scheduled to take place in March. ... That momentum may be difficult to slow, even if new federal policies put a stop to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Managements leasing activities for wind energy, its proponents say. The active leases alone, if developed, are enough to create an industry, they say. And the commitments of states like New York and Massachusetts, and experienced multinational developers, show that the struggle to harness Atlantic breezes is no longer the same as tilting at windmills. It is a sign of something thats inevitable, which is the addition of offshore wind into the energy mix, said Erik Gordon, a clinical assistant professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Its just going to be too appealing. In the end, the economics trump Trump. According to a new report from the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC) and CyberScout, 2016 saw an all-time high of 1,093 reported data breaches, a 40 percent increase over the previous years total of 780. ITRC president and CEO Eva Velasquez said its not clear whether the increase is due an actual surge in breaches or simply due to more states making the information available. For the 10 years, the ITRC has been aware of the under-reporting of data breach incidents on the national level and the need for more state or federal agencies to make breach notifications more publicly available, Velasquez said in a statement. This year we have seen a number of states take this step by making data breach notifications public on their websites. The business sector saw the most data breach incidents (494) in 2016, followed by the healthcare industry (377 incidents), the education sector (98), the government/military (72), and the banking/credit/financial sector (52). Hacking/skimming/phishing attacks accounted for 55.5 percent of breaches in 2016, an increase of 17.7 percent over 2015. Accident exposures of information by email or online came in second at 9.2 percent, followed by employee error at 8.7 percent. For businesses of all sizes, data breaches hit close to home, thanks to a significant rise in CEO spear phishing and ransomware attacks, CyberScout CEO Matt Cullina said in a statement. With the click of a mouse by a naive employee, companies lose control over their customer, employee and business data. In an age of an unprecedented threat, business leaders need to mitigate risk by developing C-suite strategies and plans for data breach prevention, protection and resolution, Cullina added. Fifty-two percent of all reported breaches exposed Social Security numbers, and 13.1 percent exposed credit or debit card information. The database compromises of 2016 confirmed yet again that breaches are the third certainty in life and we are all living in a constant state of cyber insecurity, CyberScout chairman and founder Adam Levin said in a statement. Hackers and identity thieves continue to evolve. They are very sophisticated, extremely creative and dogged in their pursuit of what is ours. Separately, 10Fold recently published a list of the 10 largest breaches of 2016, including Yahoo, FriendFinder, Myspace, LinkedIn, VK Russia, Dailymotion, Tumblr, Dropbox, the Phillippines Commission on Elections, and the Turkish citizenship database. The 10 breaches together exposed more than 2.8 billion personal records. If 2015 was the year of the healthcare data breach breaches impacted nearly 40 million people then 2016 was the year of the social media breach, Angela Griffo, vice president of 10Folds cyber security practice, said in a statement. Four of the top 10 breaches were social media related and impacted more than 640 million people. But the biggest surprise of the year was Yahoo revealing that the information of more than 1.5 billion people had been stolen by attackers, Griffo added. Regardless of an attackers motive, any compromised information leaves users susceptible to identity theft and fraud. Yesterday (23 January) was the first day of the international meeting on Syrian settlement that, however, ended without reaching agreement on how to monitor cease-fire. Still, both sides the Syrian regime and the rebel opposition continued in their effort to hammer out details of a potential agreement. The negotiations that are taking place in Kazakhstans capital, Astana, are expected to continue today, although the prospect of a deal is unclear. Russia and Turkey two major players in the conflict initially had high hopes for the conference as they believed that the meeting would start mapping out a solution to the six-year old conflict. Russias special envoy to the talks, Alexander Lavrentyev, nevertheless said that the first day was quite successful and added that there were meetings with the armed Syrian opposition. The delegation members were somewhat tense at the start, but then the level of mistrust that we saw in them at first evaporated. The opposition to the regime of President Assad confirmed that they had met with the Russian, Turkish and United Nations delegations to discuss monitoring for a cease-fire. The conference is sponsored by Turkey and Russia and the talks are also being facilitated by Iran. The United States and the United Nations have their representatives monitoring the conference but the European Union has not been invited at all. Their main objective is mostly targeted at bolstering a cease-fire agreement reached in December and at making progress with the conflict-resolution process that has been proceeding in Geneva under UN auspices. The next session of the Geneva talks is scheduled for 8 February. In February 2014, Ukraine went through the revolution known as Euromaidan, which created a unique chance to transform the state. There was a hope that the country would emerge from the vicious circle of corruption, the influence of the oligarchs and irresponsible governance. Conditions for the implementation of the necessary reforms were favorable not only due to the fact that citizens were hungry for change but also because the ruling coalition won a constitutional majority in the Parliament, Ukraine was enjoying financial support from abroad, and the pro-Russian opposition had been weakened. However, three years after the outbreak of Euromaidan, people are becoming impatient, the original five-member ruling coalition now consists of two members and the anti-reformist party is coming back to power. What is the current situation regarding the reforms in the key areas such as corruption, politics, economy or judicial system? One of the government priorities was the anti-corruption reform, whose results are not yet conclusive. According to Transparency Internationals 2015 Corruption Index, Ukraine got 27 points out of 100, which was an improvement by one point only. As a positive step in this area can be seen the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. Regarding the reform of the judicial system, President Petro Poroshenko promised that he would launch a thorough overhaul of the judiciary in September 2016. The basic aim of the reform is to ensure full political independence of the judiciary, increase the accountability of judges and eliminate corrupt members of the judicial corps. Preliminary findings, however, unfortunately highlight the fact that the government is not yet willing to translate this plan into reality. Within the political system, no tangible progress has been made in particular, no change in the financing of political parties is in sight, Ukraine does not show any signs of de-oligarchization of politics and the decentralization process significantly slowed down in 2016. But in the economic area, there has been a significant shift. In 2015, when the banking system was on the brink of collapse, the Ukrainian government introduced the biggest economic reform in the countrys history in order to stabilize the economy. Although Ukraine must also focus on a number of economic problems, such as large-scale tax evasion or enormous debt of the National Bank, the country expects a moderate economic growth in the coming years. It turns out that the reform efforts are painful and they require tremendous levels of effort and perseverance. Their overall success is conditional upon cooperation among the reformist forces within the country and the international actors led by the EU, which should not be reluctant to impose certain conditions. Provided the conditions are complied with, the Union should definitely be ready to deliver on its promises. Three Years after Euromaidan: Is Ukraine Still on the Reform Track? a Briefing Paper by Ryhor Nizhnikau and Arkady Moshes Finnish Institute of International Affairs. (The study can be downloaded here) Written by ACM *Strasbourg/CoE/Angelo Marcopolo/- Cyprus had wished an active Presence of several other Important Global Powers at the UN sponsored International Conference of Geneva for the ReUnification of that Strategic Island, and particularly of all UN Security Council's Permanent Members, but there wasnt' a positive response yet from the Other side on this point, revealed in substance to "Eurofora" the Experienced, Long-Time Foreign Minister of the Country, (which currently holds the rotating Chairmanship of the CoE), and former Mainstream MEP at EU Parliament, (in charge of Foreign Policy at its Biggest Group, that of ChristianDemocrats/EPP), Ioanis Kasulides. UN SC PMs are USA, Russia, China, the UK, and France. Among them, it's only Great Britain which has already fully participated at the Beginning of UNO's Multilateral Political Conference on Cyprus, as one among the 3 former Guarantors (Together with Greece and Turkey) since 1960, when Cyprus became an Independent Country, before becoming also a UNO and CoE, as well as OSCE and EU Member Country. The Chinese President, Xi Jiping, was, by a coincidence, visiting officialy Switzerland from 15 January 2017, to meet also with the Swiss President before addressing Davos' World Economic Forum, i.e. at the Date which had been initialy scheduled for the Conclusion of UNO's Cyprus Political Conference in Geneva, but the Earlier Suspension of its Work (reportedly because of some obligations of the Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglou) didn't give a chance to eventualy try to associate, in one way or another, these two quasi-Parallel events, facilitated by the Experienced and HyperActive Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter (Comp. his Statements to "Eurofora", as former OSCE President, both in Strasbourg and in Bale, at ... + ..., etc). However, that Postponement may also give a Chance to the New US President, Don Trump's Administration, and his prefered New Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, (an Experienced in International affairs, former EXXON CEO, who has just Ensured officialy his Confirmation by the US Senate), as well as USA's New Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley (former US Congesswoman and Governor of South Carolina), and their Teams, to have some Time to start examining also the Cyprus issue,(which has notoriously an important impact on EU - Turkey matters). UN-Experienced Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavriv has reportedly stressed the Importance of the role that UN Security Council's Permanent Members can play, particularly on Security aspects in Cyprus. France has already expressed (including by its Ambassador to Cyprus) its Will to participate, at an adequate stage. Meanwhlle, EU Economic Powerhouse Germany, the Richest and most Populated EU Country, has, reportedly, also indicated an Interest to attend, (etc). The potential input of such Important and relevant Countries, with various Global Responsibilities, to a possible ReUnification of Cyprus, can be obviously Valuable, after more than 42 Years of a GeoPolitical, International Law, and Human Rights' Problem, since the 1974 Turkish Military Invasion and Occupation of the Northern Part of the Island, exploiting a provoked Blockade of a Dysfunctional Constitution inherited from Post-Colonial Times, and a failed Coup Attempt, Reversed with Delay. Particularly it seems that Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots have recently managed to make some notable way ahead Together, even if some serious points wait still to be clarified, and/or settled with a functional compromise, while, at this stage, what remains still an Open Question, is Turkey's stance vis a vis its Military still camping inside an Independent EU Member Country. ------------------------------- Kasulides was Today at the CoE in Strasbourg in order to Address its PanEuropean Parliamentary Assembly's Winter Session this Week (22-27 January 2017, on behalf of CoE's Committee of Ministers, that Cyprus chairs from November 2016 up to May 2017 incl., replying also to MEPs' Questions on several European/International Issues related to CoE's competences, according to the rules. But Tomorrow, it's the President of the Republic of Cyprus himself, Nicos Anastassiades, who has been invited as Keynote Speaker of CoE's 47 Member States strong PanEuropean gathering in Strasbourg, (also in quality of CoE Chairman in office), where a Long List of MEPs from various Countries has already been registered in order to raise various Topical Questions, be it on Human Rights, Economy and/or Politics, etc., while also meeting with CoE's Secretary General, Thornbjorn Jagland, CoE Assembly's President, Pedro Agramunto, ECHR President, Guido Raimondi, and other CoE's Top Officials, before leaving for Cyprus, to hold Important Bi-Communal and UN-related Contacts, etc. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn, in charge of EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood policy, is also due to make a Speech in CoE's Assembly and Reply to MEPs' Questions on matters of his competence, earlier that same day. President Anastassiades is also due to Participate, Tomorrow in Strasbourg, to the Annual Ceremony to Mark the International Day of Commemoration, in Memory the Victims of the Holocaust, Together with the President of Romania, Klaus Johhanes, (who will address the PanEuropean Assembly on Wednesday), CoE's Leaders, and various other Officials. (../..) ------------------------------------- *** ("DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora" Subscribers/Donors, earlier. A more accurate, full Final Version might be published asap). *** Xaxis, one of the worlds largest programmatic media and technology platforms, today announced the promotion of Arshan Saha to President, Asia Pacific (APAC). Saha was previously Vice President, South and Southeast Asia. As one of the founding members of Xaxis APAC, Saha helped established offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and India. Arshan has played an integral role in establishing Xaxis as the programmatic advertising platform of choice in Asia Pacific, said Nicolas Bidon, Global President, Xaxis. He has done an incredible job of expanding Xaxis programmatic footprint and building the regions business with great management skills, passion for our clients success and knowledge of the industry. I look forward to his continued leadership as APAC President. The tremendous success and growth of Xaxis has culminated in the creation of [m]PLATFORM which we are looking forward to roll out across APAC. Arshan has played a significant role in this success with his ability to understand and navigate clients and publishers in the region. I cannot think of a better candidate to take Xaxis APAC to the next level, said Michel De Rijk, APAC President, [m]PLATFORM. Over the last 4.5 years at Xaxis, Sahas leadership included full charge of all seven markets P&Ls, as well as growing the businesses 20-fold within a short span of three years. Prior to joining Xaxis in 2012, Saha served as Regional Director for Southeast Asia at Innity Corp. where he played a critical role in establishing the company as the leading media network in the region. His portfolio included over 300 clients across multiple industries, an array of large to mid-sized publishers, as well as technology vendors across APAC, driving best-in-class -advertising technology and innovation. He was also most recently voted as Campaign Asias 40 under 40 most talented individuals in Asia. I am incredibly honoured to lead our team of committed programmatic experts here in APAC. As leaders, we will continue to set standards and drive the industry forward with our proprietary technology and unique data so the entire ecosystem is able to benefit from measurable value, said Saha. Its a very exciting time as clients are demanding empowerment and guarantees to be able to navigate through the programmatic landscape whilst at the other end of the spectrum we have a consumer who is seeking relevance and personalisation, he added. Read more news about (internet advertising India, internet advertising, advertising India, digital advertising India, media advertising India) While investors were initially encouraged by the fact that UK GDP had held steady in the fourth quarter this boost was short-lived, thanks to continued imbalance of the domestic economy and future vulnerability. Despite Sterlings strength, GBP/CAD trended flatly on Wednesday (25/01/17) as US trade hopes bolstered Loonie appeal. The British currency had recovered from its weekly lows by Wednesday afternoon after UK Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that the UK government would publish a Brexit white paper plan. As crude oil prices remained under pressure the pound was encouraged to strengthen, trading at 1.6516. Hopes surrounding the possibility of greater parliamentary involvement in the matter of Brexit have helped to buoy the Pound, which could extend its gains against the Loonie if US oil inventories rise this afternoon. The Canadian Dollar surged on Tuesday afternoon as fears that Trump would sever US-Canada trade ties eased and prices of oil (Canadas biggest commodity export) firmed. However, if the US continues to increase oil production the Loonie could be limited. GBP CAD Exchange Rate Slump Follows Supreme Court Blocking Article 50 Appeal Today has seen an unexpected drop in the pound Canadian dollar (GBP CAD) exchange rate following the UK Supreme Court ruling that Parliament should be able to trigger Article 50, not the Government. This outcome had been forecast to trigger a GBP rally, but although a brief uptick was recorded, Sterling promptly crashed due to consternation that devolved nations had been snubbed in the Courts judgement. In particular, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon objected strongly to the apparent disrespect and hinted at further pressure being placed on Westminster via a possibly revived independence referendum. UK domestic data also failed to boost the Pounds performance against the Canadian Dollar, with a sizable drop in the Government borrowing deficit coming alongside a dangerously large expansion in the public finances figure. In the latter case, this points towards further money needing to be pumped in before any spending can take place. Pound Sterling may Struggle if CBI Confidence Fades The next UK news to watch out for is due on Wednesday morning, consisting of Decembers Confederation of British Industry (CBI) optimism index for Q1. This previously posted -8, so a significant worsening is likely to only further lower confidence in Sterling. Additional input may come over the afternoon, when Bank of England (BoE) Governor Mark Carney gives a speech. Canadian Dollar Rises along with Crude Oil Costs The Canadian Dollar has managed to climb against the Pound today thanks to commodity news, which has seen the price of crude oil uptick to over $53 per barrel. Domestic data hasnt been quite as inspiring, with a major slowdown in wholesale sales during November limiting the extent of CADs gains. Will CAD Fall if Trump Rewrites NAFTA against Canadian Interests The next Canadian domestic data this week will come on Wednesday afternoon, consisting of the November budget balance; this previously posted a deficit of -1.5bn. Outside of this news, the next major influencer on the Canadian Dollar could be US President Donald Trump, who has started his administration off by focusing on trade deals. Having already cancelled US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), predictions are that Trump will next look to modify the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), of which Canada, Mexico and the US are members. Trump has been vocal in his dislike of US businesses operating in Mexico, but has been less outright about opposing Canadian-US interactions. Should Trump decide that the deal should be scrapped entirely, however, then the Canadian Dollar could well crash due to a key trade link being severed. GBP CAD Data Releases 25/01/2017: 11:00 GBP CBI Business Optimism Index (Q1) 16:00 CAD Budget Balance (NOV) 16:30 GBP Bank of England (BoE) Carney Speech JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Hi Everyone, I am trying to apply for a visitor visa for my brother, who is 47 years. He is not working at the moment, but I am worried that putting his status as unemployed might affect his visa chances. What do you guys think? Is this going to affect his chances of getting a visitor visa in any way? I want him to come an visit me and my family here in Melbourne as part of a family get together. I am happy to sponsor him completely, inclusive of airfare, accomodation, medical insurance and all other costs that may be incurred. Any inputs greatly appreciated. Thank you. Transcription 1 TRIP DETAILS 3 days Cambodia Activity Level: Easy HIGHLIGHTS See Angkor Wat at sunrise or sunset, when soft light bathes the ruins with an otherworldly, haunting radiance. Visit Angkor Thom, inlcuding the temple of Bayon and its 54 intricately carved towers Explore dramatically overgrown Preah Khan and Preah Neak Pean OVERVIEW One of the most overwhelming cultural and architectural sites in the world is the Angkor temple complex. Nothing prepares you for the experience of seeing Angkor Wat for the first time, especially at sunrise or sunset, when soft light bathes the ruins with an otherworldly, haunting radiance. No less spectacular is Angkor Thom, once a city of a million inhabitants. In the center is the temple of Bayon with its 54 towers, each with multiple images of Avolokiteshvara serenely smiling in what is surely one of the most mystical archaeological sites in the world. We ll 1 2 explore the surrounding terraces, parade grounds, and temples with their exquisite bas-reliefs. We'll also visit dramatically overgrown Preah Khan, currently under renovation by the World Monument Fund, and the royal baths of Preah Neak Pean, with its intertwining naga temple surrounded by four bathing ponds. You can combine this trip with other journeys in Southeast Asia to create the ultimate dream vacation. TRIP DATES Private departures are available on the dates of your choice, pending availability. Call us for details. AWARDS & ACCOLADES 2 3 Day 1: Siem Reap After arrival and check in, visit Prasat Kravan, with its unique brick scuptures. Continue to visit overgrown Preah Khan, currently under renovation by the World Monuments Fund. This, the site of the filming of Lord Jim, possesses an overgrown ambiance of tropical trees wrapping their roots in a protective stranglehold around the temples and across corridors. One can get a feeling for how Angkor must have looked when it was rediscovered by French entomologist Henri Mouhot in We will also visit the royal baths at Preah Neak Pean in the Eastern Baray (a manmade rectangular lake). The Khmer kings would bathe in religious rituals under spouts where water flows through the mouths of various animal figures. There are four bathing ponds, each in the cardinal directions, with a central pool of which the temple of the intertwining nagas (cobras) is placed. Dinner / Borei Angkor Resort & Spa - Siem Reap Day 1: Siem Reap Day 2: Angkor Wat This morning, we ll visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. The 12th-century masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. From here, continue to visit the ancient city of Angkor Thom, once home to nearly one million residents. We'll cross the moat-bridge with its largerthan-life depictions of the Hindu story of the Churning Sea of Milk, the Day 2: Angkor Wat classic struggle of good and evil typified by a tug of war between giants and demons. We pass under the serene face of Avolokiteshvara, the Boddhisattva of compassion, into the city. We ll visit Bayon, situated in the center of the ancient town. This Buddhist shrine boasts 54 towers and huge portraits of the Buddha facing each of the cardinal directions. We ll also visit Baphuon, The Royal Enclosure, Terrace of the Leper King, and the Terrace of Elephants. 3 4 In the late afternoon we ll visit Ta Prohm. This temple is unique in that it has been left largely as it was found: overgrown by jungle trees and vines, with many parts of the temple crumbling to the ground. This makes the Tomb Raider Temple one of the most picturesque and memorable of the Angkor temples. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner / Borei Angkor Resort & Spa - Siem Reap Day 3: Angkor Wat Get up early for one of the highlights of your tour through Cambodia: visit Banteay Srei by sunrise. Enjoy a breakfast box from the hotel. Banteay Srei, the Citadel of the Women was built between the 11th and 13th century and remains the best preserved temple in Cambodia. It displays some of the finest examples of classical Khmer art as this small temple is noted for its truly remarkable fine bas-reliefs depicting Hindu god Shiva. Banteay Srey is unique in that it is constructed of pink sandstone, which is seen nowhere else in Angkor. On the way back, you will have the possibility to stop at a local village and your guide will introduce you to the local people to learn about the way of life here. Seize the opportunity to see how rice is produced and taste palm wine and palm sugar, which are a popular local produce (seasonal). Transfer to Siem Reap Airport for the return flight to Bangkok or elsewhere. Breakfast LAND COSTS 2017 Prices $1,050 per person (2 or more members) $1,450 for a solo traveler $300 single supplement Payment & Cancellation Policy Payment At time of reservation $800 or 25% of Land Cost, whichever is greater 4 5 120 days prior to departure 25% of Land Cost 90 days prior to departure Balance of Land Cost Cancellation If written cancellation is received: Cancellation fee will be: 90 days or more prior to departure $800 or 25% of Land Cost, whichever is greater 89 to 60 days prior to departure 50% of Land Cost 59 days or fewer prior to departure 100% of Land Cost What s Included expert leadership accommodations as noted in itinerary (or similar) meals as noted in the itinerary airport transfers sightseeing as noted in the itinerary ground transportation tips for local guide, lodge and hotel staff entrance fees and permits, unless noted separately in costs basic medical and evacuation insurance What s Not International airfare; meals not noted on itinerary; insurance other than basic medical and evacuation insurance noted above (we strongly recommend you purchase the supplementary trip insurance offered by Mountain Travel Sobek, which includes trip cancellation insurance); excess baggage charges; airport taxes (international varies by location); cost of medical immunizations; and items of a personal nature (sodas, alcoholic beverages, laundry, etc.). Air Travel Airfare is not included in the land cost of our trips. For air reservations, we recommend you contact the airlines directly, either by phone or the Internet. In addition, many travelers elect to use their frequent flyer miles when traveling with us. But please check with our staff before purchasing or obtaining your tickets. We need to verify your arrival and departure schedule. 5 6 Ready to go? Signing up is easy! THE NEXT STEP Just call us at MTSOBEK ( ) and reserve your spot! If you prefer to use a travel agent, he or she can book your trip at no extra cost and provide other helpful assistance. Then Leave the Rest to Us Before you go, we provide you with extensive pre-departure information, including clothing recommendations, suggested reading lists, up-to-date health advice prepared by our consulting physician (an expert in wilderness medicine), and other details. Why Mountain Travel Sobek is Your First Choice for Adventure Mountain Travel Sobek is the pioneer in active adventure travel. No other adventure travel company can lay claim to that title. We were the first to take Americans trekking in Nepal, raft the wild rivers of Africa, and open up many previously inaccessible corners of the world to curious travelers. We set the standard for adventure travel and have a strong reputation for excellence that we do everything we can to maintain. Since we are the leading adventure company, we have a lot to live up to, so we make sure we provide safe, quality trips and the best customer service to our passengers. References Don t take our word for how great our trips are. We ll be happy to provide you with references of satisfied past travelers. Questions? Feel free to call us at MTSOBEK ( ) if you still have any questions or concerns. We re here to help you. You can also check out our website at Note on Itinerary Although we will do our best to adhere to the itinerary schedule as listed, it is subject to change. Please read the Limitation of Liability and Booking Conditions in the four-page Participant Information Form. You can find all this information on our website at and the form itself at participant_info.pdf. Terms & Conditions Once you have made a deposit for a trip, you agree to be bound by all our terms and conditions including the Limitation of Liability Clause. The full Terms and Conditions can be found at or call MTSOBEK ( ) for a copy. These are partial conditions. Your participation is contingent on your 6 7 signature on the full list of terms specified in the four-page Participant Information Form ( participant_info.pdf). Any dispute concerning, relating or referring to the Terms and Conditions, to any literature concerning this trip, or the trip itself, shall be resolved exclusively by binding arbitration in San Francisco, California, according to the then existing commercial rules of the American Arbitration Association. Such proceedings will be governed by substantive California law (but not procedural law) without regard to the California Arbitration Act. 2010, Mountain Travel Sobek CST Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California. 7 Trigger warning: This column contains a scary idea about money, called universal basic income. Careful readers of this space will notice that last weeks column on a poverty eradication experiment in Africa of giving no-strings-attached cash was a bit of a Trojan horse for opening minds to this weeks radical idea: UBI is the idea of granting all adults a small amount of income, for life. UBI is having a moment right now. Finland launched an experiment in 2017 to address joblessness with basic income, and the Netherlands is also attempting small-scale trials. Swiss voters rejected it in a referendum in 2016, but Swiss UBI supporters rejoice that it at least came up for a vote. A Silicon Valley startup, Y-Combinator, plans to launch a basic income experiment in Oakland, California, this year. Futurists see UBI as the solution to the automation problem, when robots eliminate all of the human jobs. (Except finance columnists, obviously, who can never be automated.) The best advocate in the United States for UBI that Ive read is Charles Murray, in his 2016 version of his book In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State, in which he calls for a universal basic income of $13,000 for every adult in the United States. Somewhat to my surprise, I found his book, and the ideas, very compelling. Is Charles Murray a fellow traveler of Bernie Sanders, attempting to socialize America with his plan for free money? No. Actually, hes just the opposite. He is a hard-core Libertarian, opposed to big government. In his version, UBI is meant to replace the welfare state built by President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s and President Lyndon B. Johnsons Great Society programs of the 1960s. Murrays unexpected advocacy is what got me intrigued enough to read his book. Charles Murray first came to wide academic prominence in the 1990s with his controversial book The Bell Curve, which placed him somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun on the political spectrum. Why, I wondered, would a right-wing guy propose UBI? Murrays idea, briefly, is this: Every American 21 years or older would receive a $13,000 annual stipend, of which the first $3,000 must be dedicated to catastrophic health insurance. As a Libertarian, Murray believes that giving recipients a choice of how to spend their money, rather than relying on a massive federal bureaucracy to control choices and incentives over housing, nutrition and work, will improve the lives of people in poverty. Although the UBI would cost $2.58 trillion per year (in 2014 dollars), Murray points out that our welfare infrastructure, as currently constituted, costs $2.77 trillion per year (also in 2014 dollars), offering the federal government and therefore, U.S. taxpayers savings from UBI from the start. Murray makes the interesting point that for people in poverty in particular, unwed mothers or unemployed young men of working age a guaranteed income suddenly changes certain incentives. Those incentives, he argues, could address the roots of endemic poverty. Murray speculates that UBI could directly benefit single mothers, for example, by providing a guaranteed source of income even if they cannot join the workforce while caring for a child. In addition, the fact that a childs father receives a guaranteed income easily tracked through a known bank account would greatly aid collection of mandatory alimony payments. Murray further speculates that unemployed working-age men who might have previously lived for free with a relative or girlfriend may suddenly find themselves forced to pay rent, as they have known sources of cash. A UBI could increase labor mobility for people who would like to move to where jobs are more plentiful but do not have enough financial cushion to take the risk of relocation. Although $10,000 in available annual income is not very much money for any individual, when pooled by cooperative adults it could also serve as a boost to solve collective housing needs. The long-term benefits of UBI remain speculative because only short-term and small-scale experiments have ever been tried in the United States the largest being a 1970-1980 experiment in Seattle and Denver, with 4,800 participants. It produced data and policy directions that researchers found inconclusive. Look, I know that its incredibly easy to criticize UBI. Just 20 seconds of thought gets me the following word salad: 1. Politically untenable 2. Disincentive to work hard, or work at all 3. You might snort money-for-nothing straight up your nose 4. Without necessity, where is the invention? 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. 5. Higher taxes 6. Now well REALLY need a wall 7. Replacing some or all our social safety net programs at once sounds scary 8. Is $13,000 the right amount? Im sure you will be able to come up with additional objections in another 20 seconds, and wed probably agree on those as well. Interestingly, in the United States, UBI receives the harshest criticism from the left. Robert Greenstein, an advocate for traditional Democratic Party-sponsored programs to reduce poverty, came out strongly against UBI last year, calling it both politically unrealistic and a distraction from programs such as subsidized housing and minimum wage increases. Roosevelt Institute fellow Mike Konczal has argued that Libertarian claims of a bloated welfare state obscure the important work that social programs accomplish. Bernie Sanders has been asked repeatedly about UBI but always expresses a preference for basic standard of living policies rather than basic income. Personally, I find the idea that people in poverty could be trusted with no-strings cash highly compelling, when compared with the complex alphabet soup of federal programs, including SNAP, Section 8, TANF and EITC. As I wrote last week, we should pay attention to poverty-relief experiments with direct cash payments in Africa, as they may do better than targeted programs that attempt to control the behavior of people in poverty. In the face of financial dysfunction and the persistence of poverty despite our great national wealth we ought to be able to have a conversation about speculative and interesting ideas to address poverty. Michael Taylor is a former Goldman Sachs bond salesman and writes the Bankers- Anonymous.com finance blog. michael@michaelthesmartmoney.com @Michael_Taylor This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate When four Houston men robbed Jaime Goodwins jewelry store in 1996, one shoved a gun in his managers mouth and told him he would never see his family again. They just came in and they had a little hand-held sledgehammer and pointed guns at my people, Goodwin recalled. They didnt open the display cases. They just started smashing them and putting everything they could in duffel bags. Luckily for Goodwin and his employees, at least five people had placed calls to the San Antonio Police Department to report the robbery in progress, Goodwin said. And a mechanic at the nearby Exxon gas station had pulled the ignition coil wire from the robbers getaway car, preventing their escape. Police arrived at the store then near Loop 410 and Vance Jackson Road on the North Side and arrested all four suspects. Two of them were accused of robbing a Harris County pawn shop. One was also suspected in a Dallas pawn shop robbery that left one employee with a gunshot wound to the back. Goodwin moved San Antonio Jewelry in 2009 to 1874 N. Loop 1604, partly to take advantage of a wealthier clientele. But, he said, the 1996 incident has left psychological wounds. Goodwin said he doesnt believe he will see anything as violent again happen in his store, but he also doesnt rule out robberies altogether. I think the possibility of somebody coming, pointing a gun at us and saying theyre going to take a ring or something, I think that could happen, he said. The threat of physical violence that jewelers face came back to the forefront Sunday when a robbery at Kay Jewelers in Rolling Oaks Mall on the Northeast Side went south. One man who intervened was shot and killed, while another who had a concealed carry license wounded one of the two robbery suspects. The other suspect fired a gun as he fled through the mall, police said. At least two other people were hit by gunfire. On average, U.S. jewelers lose about $100 million each year from robberies, according to the most recent FBI statistics. Jewelry businesses crime-related losses totaled $69.3 million in 2015, down 11 percent from $77.8 million in 2014, according to the latest available data from the New York-based Jewelers Security Alliance. The total number of crimes committed against jewelry businesses in the U.S. fell 15 percent, from 1,381 in 2014 to 1,177 in 2015, according to the alliances 2015 report. Two jeweler employees were killed during robberies in 2015, compared with three in 2014, the report shows. Three employees suffered nonlethal gunshot wounds in 2015, down from 15 in 2014. While the violence is down, jewelers still have to remain on high alert, should criminals seek to steal their valuable inventory. Shops typically have protocols to alert law enforcement and mall security while keeping employees safe, store owners say. Officials with Kay Jewelers and Rolling Oaks Mall wouldnt say whether theyve implemented additional security measures since the shooting or whether employees correctly followed security protocol. Our top priority is the safety of our shoppers, retailers and employees, Dustin Christensen, general manager at Rolling Oaks Mall, said in a statement. We work closely with and applaud the San Antonio Police Department for their efforts to keep our community safe. Christensen said the malls collaboration with local police, is crucial as we strive to provide the best possible shopping experience. David A. Bouffard, a spokesman for the parent company of Kay Jewelers, Signet Jewelers, said the retailer was cooperating with local law enforcement and doing everything possible to support those impacted by this tragic situation. We are shocked and saddened by the tragic events at the Rolling Oaks Mall, Bouffard said in a statement. We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone affected. Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and team members and their ability to shop and work in a safe environment. Some jewelry store employees have faced violent robberies multiple times over their career. Leslie Anderson, chief financial officer at Gurinskys Fine Jewelry at North Star Mall, said that since the mid-1990s, she has been robbed at least three times while working. Anderson was 21 when she was first robbed while working at Friedmans Fine Jewelry at the now-defunct Windsor Park Mall in the mid-1990s. A man asked her for the most expensive ring in the store, Anderson said. When she pulled the ring from the display case, the man grabbed her hand, twisted it and her finger, took the ring and bolted, she said. Anderson hopped the counter and chased after the suspect. It wasnt the best decision, Anderson said. I just wanted to get him. I was mad. Security guards tackled the suspect outside and pegged him to the asphalt. Anderson said she later had to identify him in the lineup, but doesnt know what his fate was. She now regrets chasing after the man, who had stolen a $6,000 ring. 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. Thats not worth my child losing his mother, Anderson said. The danger of the jewelry business reared its head again in February 2016 when a man with sunglasses and gloves handed a Gurinskys employee, who was five months pregnant, a note saying, Pull out all of your Rolexes. I have a gun. Anderson, who was at the store during the robbery, said the employee then began removing watches from the display case. When another employee noticed the situation, the robber pulled out his weapon, Anderson said. He waved the gun around, we all backed off and he just took off, Anderson said, adding that the watches were worth about $30,000 in total. A police report detailing the incident was not immediately available. Getting robbed, unfortunately, is a risk for people who work in the industry, employees say. They are told to remain on high alert. Many stores employ plainclothes security officers and use security cameras. No one should risk their lives or anything for some jewelry, Anderson said. Security measures remain tight at San Antonio Jewelry. Goodwin said employees must open a locked door to let customers into the store, where they will be watched by multiple security cameras. But Goodwin tells his employees not to put their lives in danger to save the stock. I tell my people that if somebody comes in and pulls a gun, let it go, Goodwin said. That goes for bystanders who visit the store, too. As much as I would appreciate somebody trying to stop somebody thats leaving my store, if theyre not a policeman, Id rather that they just didnt, Goodwin said. MEXICO CITY Mexicos secretary of the economy said Tuesday his country could leave the North American Free Trade Agreement if talks on renegotiating it are unsatisfactory. Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal told the Televisa network that his country will be in a weak position at talks with U.S. President Donald Trump unless Mexico makes it clear it wont accept just anything in order to preserve the three-nation trade pact. Guajardo Villarreal said it would be impossible to sell something here at home unless it has clear benefits for Mexico. If we are going to go for something that is less than what we have, it makes no sense to stay, Guajardo Villarreal said. Trump has pledged to renegotiate the pact between the U.S., Mexico and Canada and slap tariffs on imports. While Mexico runs a trade surplus with the United States, many sectors in the country also want greater restrictions on U.S. imports, particularly farm products that many say have helped impoverish subsistence-level Mexican farmers. Guajardo Villarreal also repeated Mexican insistence that it will not pay for a border wall that Trump has promised to build and said it would not accept any tax or restrictions on the money sent home by Mexican migrants. He also said that in the case that there are deportations (of Mexican migrants), as there have been, they have to be orderly and clearly defined. Trump suggested during his campaign that he would step up deportations of migrants living illegally in the United States. Remittances amount to about $25 billion annually and have become a major source of foreign revenue for the country. Trump has suggested that the U.S. might retain some of that money to help pay for a wall between the countries. 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. Trump announced Monday that hes set up meetings with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, saying, Were going to start some negotiations having to do with NAFTA. Pena Nieto said he is ready to negotiate at a planned Jan. 31 meeting with Trump, and sought to chart a middle course. Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution, Pena Nieto said. A government watchdog group sued President Donald Trump in federal court Monday, alleging that his business dealings violate the U.S. Constitutions ban on federal officials receiving payments from foreign governments. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in a complaint filed in federal court in New York that Trump, who has retained his ownership stake in his businesses, violated the provision, known as the emoluments clause, in several ways. These include a lease with the state-owned Industrial & Commercial Bank of China in Trump Tower, bookings by foreign diplomats at Trumps Washington hotel and payments from broadcasters owned by foreign governments for airing his television show The Apprentice. CREW is asking a judge to halt the transactions. As the Framers were aware, private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders, and entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious threat to the Republic, according to the complaint. Trump said the lawsuit was without merit during remarks in the Oval Office while he was signing executive orders. The lawsuit centers on a section of the U.S. Constitution that hasnt received much scholarly attention and has given rise to little or no case law, raising questions about how any litigation will proceed. U.S. law requires parties in a lawsuit be closely connected to the injury they allege, not just unhappy about it. CREW, which has worked with prominent Hillary Clinton fundraisers, claims it can sue because Trumps alleged violations have caused significant diversion and depletion of its time, resources, and efforts focused on other government transparency initiatives. Its complaint cites a 1982 Supreme Court decision in which a housing-access group was said to have standing to sue under the Fair Housing Act because its investigations of violations drained resources from counseling activities. That 1982 case doesnt help the group because theres no statute to contend with, only a constitutional provision, according to Josh Blackman, a constitutional law professor at South Texas College of Law Houston. CREWs injury is self-inflicted, said Blackman, who noted recent Supreme Court decisions that have backed off the 1982 holding. It chose, on its own accord, to investigate Trumps business interests. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams, an Obama appointee who has been on the federal bench in Manhattan since March 2012. Abrams, a Yale Law School graduate, is the daughter of prominent First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams. She has overseen cases including securities-industry procedures, insider trading and whistle-blowers. CREW also lodged an administrative complaint with the government within minutes of Trump becoming president on a separate issue related to the Washington hotel. That letter said Trump was violating his lease with the government on a former post office that houses the hotel, because that contract bars elected officials from taking part. Trump and his lawyers say that lease provision doesnt apply because when he signed it, he was a private citizen. In the lawsuit filed Monday, Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe and others are joining CREW board members Norman Eisen and Richard Painter, who served as top ethics officials to Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush, respectively. The emoluments clause declares that no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust in the U.S. shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. Trump announced Jan. 11 that he will maintain ownership in more than 500 companies with $3.6 billion in assets while leaving day-to-day operations to two of his sons and a trustee. Although ethicists criticized the arrangement as falling short of the blind trusts set up by recent former presidents, Trump said he was doing more than he needed to do and noted that an ethics law that applies to most executive branch officials exempts the president. By law the president has no conflicts, Spicer, the press secretary, said in an email to Bloomberg. The emoluments clause has emerged as a focal point in the discussion of Trumps potential conflicts of interest, largely because of the assertions of Painter and Eisen that Trump would be in violation when he took the oath of office as president on Jan. 20. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. The Supreme Court has never issued any rulings on the previously little-referenced provision, however, and questions remain about its applicability. Congress, which is controlled by Republicans, has the clearest claim on enforcing the law, largely by employing its usual levers, several legal experts have said. Lawmakers could enact legislation that clarifies penalties, investigate alleged violations or even impeach Trump if they found wrongdoing -- although such moves would almost certainly disrupt the ambitious agenda Republicans want to pursue under the newly unified government. The emoluments clause, like so much of the Constitution, is best enforced through the political process -- which, in this case, seems unlikely, Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas at Austins law school, wrote in an email. Lawyers are also currently debating the exact meaning of emoluments, which had various definitions at the time the Constitution was written. Possible definitions are as diverse as gifts, salaries, transactions, generalized benefits, bribes and official offices. Some scholars have even suggested the clause doesnt apply to the president, but rather to the officers such as ambassadors, who most often received gifts from foreign governments in the founding era. When anyone tells you what this clause means in concrete terms, its not true, said Seth Barrett Tillman, a law professor at Maynooth University in Ireland, one of the few scholars to have studied the clause before Trumps election. Were all scrambling in the dark. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON President Donald Trump told leaders of the countrys largest automakers Tuesday that he will curtail unnecessary environmental regulations and make it easier to build plants in the U.S., changes that he expects will shore up the manufacturing jobs he repeatedly promised to voters on the campaign trail. After weeks of taunting the automotive industry over Twitter, Trump made it a point to meet with the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler just days into his term. He has pressured the companies to build more vehicles in the U.S. and hire more Americans for manufacturing jobs. We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants, many other plants, youre not being singled out to have a lot of plants from a lot of different items built in the United States, Trump told executives Tuesday. Its happening. Its happening, bigly. But Trumps efforts to increase U.S. auto manufacturing may require more than changes to environmental regulations or permits, said Kristin Dziczek, director of the industry, labor and economics group at the Center for Automotive Research. Economics still favor building plants and hiring workers in Mexico, where labor is less expensive and there are fewer trade barriers. Whats more, Dziczek said, the big automakers make investments knowing they will outlive any single president, regardless of what policies or regulations are put in place. This industry has been around for 100 years, and plants last for 40 or 50 years or more, Dziczek said. They cant be swerving left and right every time there is a political change. Chief executives Mary Barra of General Motors, Mark Fields of Ford and Sergio Marchionne of Fiat Chrysler attended the meeting, along with other top executives from their companies. Foreign automakers such as Toyota and Honda were not invited, although factories owned by European and Asian companies account for about 40 percent of the vehicles assembled in the United States. President Trump told the chief executives that environmental regulations are out of control and his administration will focus on real regulations that mean something while eliminating those that he finds inhospitable to business. I am, to a large extent, an environmentalist. I believe in it, but its out of control, Trump said. Executives declined to answer questions after the meeting, including whether the president cited any specific regulations he would cut. Only a portion of Tuesdays gathering was open to the media. The industry contends that complying with increasingly stringent fuel economy standards increases the cost of making cars, which must be passed on to buyers or compensated for with job cuts. Those regulations were introduced after the Obama administration rescued GM and Chrysler during the financial downturn and were upheld by the Environmental Protection Agency two weeks ago. Analysts have speculated that Trump could ease those regulations or others that affect the industry as a reward for companies creating more jobs in the U.S. Trump has also pledged to reduce corporate taxes, a move that would please executives. There is a huge opportunity working together as an industry with government that we can improve the environment, improve safety, and improve jobs creation and the competitiveness of manufacturing, Barra told reports after the meeting. Fields told reporters that Trumps decision Monday to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a largely symbolic move since the deal was unlikely to pass Congress, was a sign of his desire to implement policies that improve competitiveness and create a renaissance in American manufacturing. We have been very vocal both as an industry and as a company, and we have repeatedly said that the mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation, Fields said. TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the presidents courage to walk away from a bad trade deal. Though Trump spoke often on the campaign trail about the need to revive manufacturing across the economy, he narrowed in on the automotive industry, particularly in the weeks following his election. He separately criticized Ford, GM and Toyota for plans to build certain cars in Mexico and sell them in the U.S. 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. Trump threatened automotive companies that build abroad with a 35 percent tariff on goods imported to the U.S. for sale. Whether he has the power to impose such a tax on select companies has been questioned. Conversely, Trump has also praised automakers who pledged to invest in the U.S. and add jobs here often taking credit for those decisions even when companies said they had been in the works for months or years. This month alone, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, GM, Toyota and Hyundai pledged to spend billions of dollars in the U.S. over the next several years on new factories, expanded production and hiring. On Tuesday, Toyota said it would invest $600 million and add 400 jobs at an assembly plant in Princeton, Indiana. The investment is part of a $10 billion spending plan over the next five years that the carmaker announced earlier this month to expand and modernize its U.S. factories, according to a company statement. The expansion in Indiana will boost production of the Highlander, Toyotas second-best-selling sport utility vehicle in the U.S., by 40,000 units a year. The plant currently employs 5,100 workers. Trump met Monday with business leaders from a smattering of industries, including Fields and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk. The president reportedly told executives that he intends to eliminate a majority regulations and massively cut corporate taxes, but that in return those companies must keep production in the U.S. and preserve American jobs. The CEOs were told to devise a series of actions that will boost U.S. manufacturing and submit those plans to Trump within the next 30 days. The New York Times and Bloomberg News contributed to this report. WASHINGTON In the opening hours of his first formal day in the White House on Monday, President Trump welcomed leaders from several of the countrys largest corporations and promised to wipe out at least 75 percent of government regulations that hinder their businesses, fast-track their plans to open factories, and cut taxes massively. And he again threatened to impose a substantial border tax on companies that move production out of the country. Were going to be cutting regulation massively, Trump told a large group of business chief executives over breakfast, which was briefly open to the news media. Now, were going to have regulation, and itll be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now. The problem with the regulation that we have right now is that you cant do anything. ... I have people that tell me that they have more people working on regulations than they have doing product. Trump has promised to take a series of actions on his first formal day in office, including beginning to pull the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and to renegotiate the long-standing NAFTA trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. His visitors Monday included leaders of companies that Trump has singled out on Twitter and in his speeches, including Marillyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin and Mark Fields of Ford Motor Co. Also in attendance: Michael Dell of Dell Technologies, Jeff Fettig of Whirlpool, Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson, Klaus Kleinfeld of Arconic, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical, Mario Longhi of U.S. Steel, Elon Musk of SpaceX, Kevin Plank of Under Armour, Mark Sutton of International Paper and Wendell Weeks of Corning. Trump said that he hopes to convene this group at least four times a year to hear directly from the business community, saying they are great people who have done an amazing job. His message to them and other CEOs on Monday: Keep your production within the United States, and you will be rewarded. For those looking to grow or start new factories, Trump promised to expedite their requests and provide incentives to build. Those who do not heed this advice, Trump said, could face new tariffs that he described as substantial and major. This threat is one that many Republicans disagree with, worried that it could increase prices for consumers and unfairly punish some companies. International trade experts said Trump may not have the authority to punish individual companies, while broad-based tariffs would violate existing treaties. Trump defended this proposed tax on Monday as fair. Somebody would said: Oh, Trump is going to tax. Im not going to tax. There is no tax, none whatsoever, Trump said. And I just want to tell you: All you have to do is stay. Dont leave. Dont fire your people in the United States. We have the greatest people. In his brief comments, Trump stayed tightly focused on his promises to the business community, rather than veering off to talk about the media or his inauguration crowd count, as he did during a speech at CIA headquarters this weekend. Trump repeatedly pledged on the campaign trail to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and start to renegotiate the North American Free Trade. Monday, he signed an order to abandon the TPP. 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. . TPP has been politically toxic since the presidential election, and the deal which requires congressional approval was already effectively dead before Trump took the oath of office. Still, officially ending American involvement in the agreement could send an important symbolic message to U.S. trading partners around the globe. TPP withdrawal will slow US (economic) growth, cost American jobs, & weaken US standing in Asia/world, said Richard Haas, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a tweet early Monday. China could well be principal beneficiary. Renegotiating NAFTA, which governs trade with Canada and Mexico, could potentially be more disruptive, experts said. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump recently spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the administration is working to set up a meeting. Trump is also slated to meet with Mexico Prime Minister Pena Nieto, though no date has been set, Spicer said. It is unclear exactly what changes Trump would make to the existing agreement. Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the White House would generally need to provide a notice of six months before withdrawing from NAFTA, potentially clearing the way for new duties on Mexican imports. He cautioned that higher prices on goods from Mexico could also cause prices to rise for U.S. consumers. About 12 percent of U.S. imports come from Mexico. Tariffs might hurt Mexico more, but it would hurt the United States as well, Bown said. Trump has tapped vocal skeptics of globalization to take top posts overseeing trade policy in his administration. His pick for U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, is a veteran lawyer who has represented steel companies in anti-dumping suits against China. Peter Navarro, the head of the newly formed National Manufacturing Council, has written a book entitled Death By China. And Wilbur Ross, the nominee to lead the Commerce Department, said during his confirmation hearing last week that his top priority will be renegotiating NAFTA. I think all aspects of NAFTA will be put on the table, Ross said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Seated just a few feet away from some of San Antonios most cherished jazz musicians as they paid musical homage to her late husband, jazz violinist Sebastian Campesi, Ida Campesi beamed, leaving no doubt her husband wouldve loved it. He would be very happy, Campesi said Monday afternoon inside the fellowship hall at Redeemer Presbyterian Church, the cavernous room that once housed the basement swimming pool at the old downtown YMCA. I think he would have wished he were in (the band). Indeed, the musical memorial featured guitarists Joe Gonzales, Polly Harrison and Richard Diaz de Leon, Jim Cullum Jr. on cornet, drummer Moses Olivo, Hank Harrison on mandolin and bassist Chuck Moses, who cut loose on swinging Campesi favorites such as I Want to Be Happy, Dont Get Around Much Anymore, Imagination and Im Confessin. Sebastian Campesi, a Jamestown, New York-born musician who counted pioneering jazz legend Joe Venuti as a friend and mentor, died Jan. 13. He was 95. Friends and family heard about Campesis storied musical history at the memorial. For instance: Venuti, the father of the jazz violin, gave him an early gig at New Yorks famed Oak Room Supper Club at the Algonquin Hotel. They also learned he was a member of the Greatest Generation, a Bronze Star recipient for meritorious service in World War II. On Monday, he was remembered simply as Campi. Some stories were nearly lost to history. Few knew that the jazz violinist, a longtime member of the San Antonio Symphony and once a fixture at The Landing and Boardwalk Bistro, once had played with Barry Whites Love Unlimited Orchestra and even the prog-rock act Jethro Tull. All but forgotten, too, was that the frail musician of later years, who succumbed to complications of emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, once possessed the brooding good looks of a movie star. Remembrances began at a funeral Mass at Porter Loring Mortuary presided over by the Rev. Isak Keyman-Ige. So did the tears. For Ernie Durawa, drummer for the Texas Tornados, it happened when he knelt at the small altar where a wooden box containing Campesis ashes was on display, flanked by roses and photos. I hadnt cried until today, Durawa said afterward. Hed studied music under Campesi in the late 1950s, when the jazz violinist was musical director at Edgewood High School. For years, his former teacher would call him on his birthday. But when I got on my knees in front of his ashes, it hit me hard, he said, tapping his chest with his right hand. Tommy Dukes befriended Campesi some two decades ago and visited him almost daily for the last few years. Inevitably, Dukes said, the conversations apart from the corny jokes and glasses of Italian red wine centered on music and Campesis lifelong quest for the purest of violin tones to break your heart. He personified music, he said. Campesis stepson James Aulds, voice trembling and barely holding back tears, thanked his stepfathers caregivers and hospice care personnel. Campesi, who died at his near-North Side home, often struggled to speak because of his breathing difficulty. Until the very end, the musician was comforted by music. Gonzales recounted how on his last visit to Campesis home in the week before he died, he had brought along a guitar to sing the novelty song The Ballad of Pancho Claus. (He sang it on Monday afternoon, too, a special request from Ida Campesi). That last time, Campesi, hooked up to an oxygen machine, sat up in his bed and listened intently. Ida was so surprised, Gonzalez recalled, that she just stared at her husband. The little gift of music perked him up, he said. For those missing Campesi, that magic worked again on Monday. hsaldana@express-news.net Transcription 1 SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC IN 2007 JAN ZEDNIK 1 AND JANA PAZDIRKOVA 2 1 Institute of Geophysics, Acad. Sci. Czech Republic, Bocni II/1401, Praha 4, Czech Republic 2 Institute of Physics of the Earth, Masaryk University, Tvrdeho 12, Brno, Czech Republic 1. INTRODUCTION The Czech Regional Seismological Network (CRSN), consisting of thirteen permanent digital broadband stations and two data centres, recorded and detected 9309 seismic events from all epicentral distances in Most of these events were located by the Czech Seismological Service, and many of them were analyzed in detail. This paper provides basic information on the configuration of the CRSN, routine data processing, seismicity in the Czech Republic in 2007 as well as macroseismic observations collected on the territory of the Czech Republic in The seismic activity in the territory of the Czech Republic and surrounding regions has been traditionally reported in annual bulletins published on the www pages of the Institute of Geophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague ( and in reports issued by the Institute of Physics of the Earth of Masaryk University, Brno ( The bulletins however include events from local to teleseismic distances which makes the search for regional information rather complicated. The aim of this paper is to provide quick overview of earthquakes and mining-induced seismic events originated in the Czech Republic in 2007 as they were recorded by permanent stations of the Czech Regional Seismological Network. Macroseismic observations in the Czech Republic in 2007 are also shortly discussed. We intend to publish an overview of the yearly seismicity regularly in the future. Earthquakes and mining-induced events in Bohemian Massif in were discussed by Zednik et al. (2001). 2. SEISMIC STATIONS OPERATING IN 2007 AND DATA PROCESSING The Czech Regional Seismological Network (CRSN) consists of thirteen permanent seismic observatories: Pruhonice (PRU), Kasperske Hory (KHC), Dobruska/Polom (DPC), Novy Kostel (NKC), Panska Ves (PVCC), Upice (UPC), Trest (TREC), Praha (PRA), Vranov (VRAC), Moravsky Beroun (MORC), Moravsky Krumlov (KRUC), Velka Javorina (JAVC), and Ostrava/Krasne Pole (OKC). Stations PRU, KHC, DPC, NKC, PVCC, TREC, and UPC are operated by the Institute of Geophysics Prague (IG), station PRA by Charles University Prague (CU), VRAC, MORC, KRUC, and JAVC by the Institute of Physics of the Earth Brno (IPE), and OKC jointly by Technical University Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009), Inst. Geophys. AS CR, Prague 2 NON-REVIEWED CONTRIBUTION (TU) and the Institute of Geonics (IGN), Ostrava. The positions of the CRSN stations as well as the data centers of the IG in Prague and IPE in Brno are shown in Fig. 1. All stations except UPC are equipped with broadband digital recording systems, stations PRU, KHC, NKC, OKC, TREC, and UPC have also short-period seismometers. Basic information about the CRSN stations and their instrumentation is summarized at Digital data from all CRSN stations are transferred continuously to the data centres at IG Prague and IPE Brno either by VHF radio telemetry or by the Internet. For regional locations and detailed studies of selected earthquakes, digital data from seismic networks of Slovakia, Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland were used. Software packages Antelope (Boulder Real Time Technologies, and SeisComP (Hanka et al., 2000) are used for data acquisition and exchange at both IG and IPE. Routine analysis of the digital recordings at the IG has been performed by the Unix package Seismic Handler (Stammler, 1993) which allows interactive location of seismic events by program LocSat. For the estimation of local magnitudes from recordings of the IG stations of the CRSN, Karnik s (1968) calibrating curve has been employed. To ensure Fig. 1. Seismological stations operational in the Czech Republic and surrounding countries and epicentres of seismic events in 2007 (green triangles - seismological stations of the CRSN; green squares - neighbouring stations, stars - IG and IPE data centres; red circles - epicentres of regional tectonic events, blue circles - epicentres of mining-induced events). Diameters of the circles are proportional to local magnitude. 270 Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009) 3 historical continuity, only short-period (bandpass ~ Hz) vertical channels were used for measuring amplitudes of Sg/Lg waves. At the IPE the collected digital observational material has been analyzed by means of the graphical program Geotool (Henson and Coyne, 1993). This software contains also the LocSat program which performs routine epicentre location with IASP91 travel-time curves. Local magnitudes were determined from maximum vertical trace amplitudes of Sg waves, using formula of Scherbaum and Stoll (1983) for local events at distances up to SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN 2007 In the year 2007, about 9300 local, regional and teleseismic events were recorded and most of them located by the CRSN. A large number of seismic events identified as quarry blasts was excluded from further processing and has not been included in the event statistics. Results of data processing at both the IG Prague and IPE Brno were jointly evaluated to eliminate mislocations and industrial events (quarry blasts). All events recorded by the CRSN and analysed at data centers were published on the web pages of the IG in section Bulletins of seismic events ( Regional events were published in Catalogs of regional seismic events ( Altogether 1489 seismic events originated on the territory of the Czech Republic in of them reached magnitude 1.0 or more on the Richter scale. Seismic events with local magnitude M L 2.0 and greater are listed in Table 1. Vast majority of seismic Table 1. Seismic events in the Czech Republic in 2007 with magnitude M L 2.0 and greater. Type: M - mining induced event, T - tectonic event, X - explosion. Date Origin Time (UTC) Lat. [ N] Long. [ E] Depth [km] M L I 0 Type Region :52: M Ostrava :30: T Orlik :03: M Ostrava :03: M Ostrava :46: M Ostrava :16: M Ostrava :04: M Ostrava :48: M Ostrava :41: M Ostrava :42: M Ostrava :27: M Ostrava :58: M Ostrava :30: M Ostrava :01: X Lovosice :07: M Ostrava :53: T West Bohemia :55: M Ostrava Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009) 271 4 events from the Czech territory are represented by induced seismic events from the Ostrava-Karvina Coal Basin. The strongest induced event from Ostrava region was recorded on June 7, 2007 at 11:41 UTC and reached local magnitude 2.8. The strongest tectonic event of local magnitude 2.3 occurred near the Orlik reservoir on January 13, 2007 at 08:30 UTC. This earthquake was recorded by a number of seismic stations in central Europe. Despite its relatively low magnitude it was macroseismically observed in several villages near the Orlik dam with a striking maximum intensity 5 of EMS-98 macroseismic scale (Hanzlova et al., 2008). Another event from this epicentral area was recorded on January 24, 2007 (M L 1.1). About 200 earthquakes from the West Bohemia seismic region were recorded by the CRSN in Microearthquake swarms occurred on February 9 10, June 20, August 8, and November 3 4, Two single events from December 24 reached local magnitude 2.0 and 1.9, respectively. Post 2000-swarm microearthquake activity in the West Bohemia/Vogtland region including year 2007 is discussed in Fischer and Michalek (2008). Five events from the southwestern part of the Czech Republic were detected in 2007: three events near Pobezovice on January 14 (maximum M L 1.5), Kasejovice near Blatna on April 6 (M L 1.1), and in the Sumava Mts. near Boubin on June 25 (M L 1.9). Two events with magnitude 1.0 and greater were recorded by the CRSN from the northeastern Bohemian Massif - on January 31 near Sumperk (M L 1.4) and on July 15 near Kralicky Sneznik (M L 1.6). Dozens of other events occurred near Hanusovice, Sternberk, Litovel, Prostejov, Mala Moravka, and Moravska Trebova. None of them reached local magnitude 1.0. Very weak sequence of 14 events occurred in the Hronov epicentral area on August 4 with maximum magnitude MACROSEISMIC OBSERVATIONS 28 seismic events were felt on the territory of the Czech Republic during Intensities were estimated by the European Macroseismic Scale 1998 (EMS-98) introduced in 1998 (Grunthal, 1998). Most of the macroseismically observed events are individually confirmed observations of rockbursts in the copper mine region of Lubin (Poland) of intensity 2 reported by a sensitive observer in Harrachov in NE Bohemia. Two explosions in quarries were felt in near villages with maximum intensity 2.0. The only macroseismically observed earthquake in 2007 was the Orlik event of magnitude 2.3 on January 13. It was observed by inhabitants of several villages around the Orlik reservoir, with maximum intensity 5 EMS-98 in Vystrkov. The exceptionally high intensity was likely caused by a very shallow depth of the event. List of all macroseismically observed events since 1991 is published on the web page of the Institute of Geophysics ( 272 Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009) 5 5. CONCLUDING REMARKS The Czech Regional Seismological Network is jointly operated by the Institute of Geophysics AS CR Prague, Institute of Physics of the Earth MU Brno, Charles University Prague, Institute of Geonics AS CR Ostrava, and Technical University Ostrava. Data from all stations are transferred in real-time to the data centres at the Institute of Geophysics in Prague and the Institute of Physics of the Earth in Brno. Data processing and routine analysis are done digitally by interactive seismological software packages. Digital data are publicly accessible both on-line and off-line in standard data formats. Bulletins of seismic events recorded by the CRSN and regional catalogues are published on the web pages of the Institute of Geophysics ( Epicentres and local magnitudes were determined for 5080 earthquakes and mining induced events in the Czech Republic and surrounding regions in Seismicity in the Czech Republic in 2007 was very weak. Only 17 seismic events with local magnitude 2.0 and greater occurred on the territory of the Czech Republic, 14 of them were mining induced shocks from the Ostrava-Karvina Coal Basin. The strongest tectonic event occurred near the Orlik reservoir on January 13 and reached local magnitude 2.3. About 200 earthquakes from the West Bohemia seismic region were recorded by CRSN with maximum local magnitude 2.0. Weak seismic activity was also recorded from the northeastern Bohemian Massif and from the southwestern part of the Czech Republic. 27 mining induced shocks and explosions and one earthquake were felt on the territory of the Czech Republic in References Fischer T. and Michalek J., Post 2000-swarm microearthquake activity in the principal focal zone of West Bohemia/Vogtland: Space-time distribution and waveform similarity analysis. Stud. Geophys. Geod., 52, Grunthal G. (Ed.), European Macroseismic Scale Cahiers du Centre Europeen de Geodynamique et de Seismologie, 15, pp. 99, Luxembourg. Hanka W., Heinloo A. and Jaeckel K.-H., Network seismographs: GEOFON Real-Time Data Distribution. ORFEUS Newsletter, 2, No.3. Hanzlova R., Hudova Z., Malek J., Novotny O., Pazdirkova J. and Zednik J. (2007). Recent earthquakes in the Orlik reservoir region. Transactions of the VSB Technical University of Ostrava, Civil Engineering Series, No. 2, Vol. VII, , Ostrava, Czech Republic. Henson I. and Coyne J., The Geotool seismic analysis system. In: J. Lewkowicz and J. McPhetres (Eds.), Proceedings of the 15 th Annual Seismic Research Symposium. Boulder, CO, USA, Phillips Laboratory report PL-TR Karnik V., Magnitude calibrating curves for near earthquakes. Stud. Geophys. Geod., 12, Scherbaum F. and Stoll D., Source parameters and scaling laws of the 1978 Swabian Jura (southwest Germany) aftershock. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 73, Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009) 273 6 Stammler K., Seismic-Handler - Programmable multichannel data handler for interactive and automatic processing of seismological analyses. Comput. Geosci., 19(2), Zednik J., Pospisil J., Ruzek B., Horalek J., Bouskova A., Jedlicka P., Skacelova Z., Nehybka V., Holub K. and Rusajova J., Earthquakes in Bohemian Massif and surrounding regions in Stud. Geophys. Geod., 45, Stud. Geophys. Geod., 53 (2009) Ron White is a lot like the Bill Murray character in the original Ghostbusters he never studied. But boy did he learn. The drawling stand-up comedian, a breakout star from the original Blue Collar Comedy days with Jeff Foxworthy, Bill Engvall and Larry the Cable Guy, makes it all look so effortless. Of course, its not. But fans wouldnt know that as White spins his languid, long-form tales of everyday life, adds seriously dark twists to his day-to-day aggravations, takes it to DEFCON edgy and then stands there grinning with cigar and Scotch on the rocks in hand and just lets it all sink in. That he doesnt suffer jammering fools just makes him that much more hard-core. White returns to town to play two shows Saturday at the Majestic Theatre, with Alex Reymundo opening. The 60-year-old comic, whose history performing in San Antonio goes back decades, said its one of his favorite venues. One of his last times in town, White wasnt onstage but sitting in the back of the room at Bruce and Colleen Barshops Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club egging on his friend, comic Dave Attell. More Information Ron White When: 7 and 10 p.m. Saturday Where: Majestic Theatre, 224 E. Houston St. Tickets: $47.75-$57.75 Phone: 210-226-5700 On the web: majesticempire.com For openers Alex Reymundo: Acapulco, Mexico-born stand-up comic and actor is well-known to San Antonio comedy club audiences. His mildly bilingual act plays off his redneck Kentucky childhood and Mexican American stereotypes. He's toured with George Lopez and Paul Rodriguez and appeared in "The Original Latin Kings of Comedy." He also is family; Ron White is married to his sister, Margo Rey. Hector Saldana See More Collapse Dave Attell is my favorite comic, or maybe in my top three, and has been forever, and also is a good friend of mine, he said. I have a lot of friends that I wouldnt go see to do stand-up, who do stand-up. But Dave Attell is one of the few exceptions to the rule. I will go see him any chance I get. Texas-born White, who is gearing up for a new comedy special, lives in Los Angeles minutes away from that citys top comedy nightclub, The Comedy Store. Its his home base, and hes there almost every night working out material. His influences range from Bill Hicks to Foxworthy. That lineup is strong. I mean, everybody is killin. So you better go up there with your big-boy pants on, he said. Whites visits to San Antonio are always extra special to him. For one, he gets to visit with his mother, who lives here. Then theres the music and the food, he said. He grew up in the small town of Fritch, north of Amarillo in the Panhandle near Lake Meredith. It all suits me perfect, he said. Even though I dont live in Texas, at my core Im a Texan. I like to listen to music Ive never heard and drink longneck beers. Ill probably never change. The Express-News caught up with White on the telephone last week. Q. Can you pinpoint the Ron White formula? A. I dont even know how I do exactly what I do. Its the only way I can do it. Sometimes I think my way is not the best way, but its my way, which makes it original. I cant sit down with a piece of paper. I dont even own a notebook. I never have. Ive never written any of this down because my brain is just weird. It just does what it does. Q. How did you hit on that? A. I probably learned it watching my uncle preach. I dont know why I turned out to be this kind of comic. You have to be true to your nature. I watched my first special the other day, which I hadnt watched in 15 years, and I tell you what, I could hear so much Foxworthy in it. And I never admitted that. I never even noticed it. Maybe thats why I wouldnt listen to it. Blatant stealing, but that wasnt my intention. I didnt notice it for years. I sent him a text saying, Hey, I just found I was rippin off your style, dude. Q. When does it click for a comic to let that material sink in and not rush? A. Part of it is I just have a bad memory. It just takes me longer. Chris Rock told me the other day, You work slower than anybody in this business. I told him, Im working as fast as I can, Chris. What I learned about stand-up is if youre onstage and youre doing good, or youre if doing bad, slow down. Some peoples style doesnt lend itself to that, but mine certainly does. Q. How do you know when to goose it? A. Some of the pieces are just more fiery than others. The part of knowing when to do it is 30 years and thousands of shows. I learned how to do it watching my uncle preach, and I loved to go to church when I was a kid. I used to live with him in the summer. Id go to church just to listen to my uncle preach, and I know thats where I get this pace. Any of my relatives will tell you that they can hear Uncle Charlie in my voice. Q. One of your hilarious recent riffs about jammering (audience members carrying on loud, mundane conversations during a concert) rings so true. Whats going on with them? A. Yeah, like, why the (expletive) did you even show up? God, it happens everywhere. I think its a lack of social skills. Most people know that if youre in a theater, you need to shut up and listen. Theyre just jammering. If somebody is talking during my show, and Ill ask them to not talk during the show because Im performing for 2,000 people, and one more word out of their mouth and they are gone. If they start talking agin, Ill tell them, Ive just implemented my (expletive) removal system. I will not sacrifice the quality of the show for one person or two or 10. Q. How did you handle the hyper-political atmosphere last year? A. I was faced with that for the last year and half, two years, of having audiences very passionate and dead split on who they wanted the president to be. I opted out of it. My opinions are strong but they are my opinions on politics. I can make it funny-ish. But at some point Im just ranting about something. I dont really agree exactly with the shut up and sing thing, but shut up and sing. Ive made a commitment to my crowd that I was just going to make them laugh. Theyre coming out to see me do stand-up. hsaldana@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Archdiocese of San Antonio has its first auxiliary bishop in four years a former Kerrville pastor with long-standing ties to the area. In his new role, Monsignor Michael Joseph Boulette will assist Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller in leading the archdiocese and administering the sacrament of confirmation at its more than 150 parishes in 19 counties. Boulette, 66, is the founding director of a retreat center called St. Peter Upon the Water, located on 170 acres in the Hill Country just outside Ingram. He has been a priest for more than 40 years. Pope Francis named Boulette to his new position. A Mass of episcopal ordination is set for March 20 at a church yet to be determined. Boulette expressed great surprise at the appointment announced Monday. Its absolutely something I never thought was going to happen to me, nor have I looked for it, he said by phone from Ingram. Im approaching what could have been retirement age so I was happily ensconced here, ready to live out my time, when the call came. My profound love for Archbishop Gustavo and my deep affection for our Holy Father and the direction in which they are leading the church gave me the conviction and confidence that indeed it was God calling me to do something different, even though it wasnt what my plan was. So Im delighted to serve Archbishop Gustavo. The archdiocese said Boulette is well-known here as a retreat presenter and parish mission speaker. As a boy, he moved with his family from New York state to Fredericksburg in 1959, and in 1964 moved to San Antonio to attend St. John Seminary High School, graduating in 1968. He received a bachelors degree from St. Marys University in 1971, a masters degree from Trinity University in 1972 and a master of divinity degree for ministry from the University of Notre Dame in 1975. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1976. Boulette served as parochial vicar at St. James Church in Gonzales from 1976 to 1980, then at St. Ann Church in San Antonio from 1980 to 1983. He was the director of spiritual formation and liturgy at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio for nine years, then pastor of Notre Dame Church in Kerrville from 1993 until 2004, returning there in 2010 as administrator pro tem. He founded the nearby St. Peter Upon the Water retreat center in 2004. The archdiocese encompasses Bexar, Val Verde, Edwards, Kinney, Real, Uvalde, Gillespie, Kerr, Bandera, Medina, Frio, Kendall, Atascosa, McMullen, Comal, Guadalupe, Wilson, Gonzales and Karnes counties. It has been without an auxiliary bishop since the last person to serve in that role, Oscar Cantu, became bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico in February 2013. This four-year period without an auxiliary is very unique in our history, archdiocese spokesman Jordan McMorrough said. pohare@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO A 42- year-old Good Samaritan who was shot and killed in Sundays deadly Rolling Oaks Mall shooting has been identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiners Office. The medical examiners office confirmed Jonathan Murphy died Sunday, but did not have a cause and manner of death available. SAPD Chief William McManus told mySA.com Sunday that a fatality occurred at the Kay Jewelers at the Rolling Oaks Mall after two men entered the store with guns and tried to rob the store. "There was a fatality," McManus said. "One of the citizens who tried to intervene and stop the robbery, the robbers from escaping, was shot by one of the suspects." RELATED: San Antonio PD: Escaped suspect in deadly attempted robbery caught in Converse McManus and SAPD spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said that two citizens intervened in the robbery and one of the suspects was shot by one of those citizens, a man with a concealed carry license. Police have yet to identify whether Murphy was one of those citizens, but they were called good Samaritans. According to a GoFundMe page set up to rally funds for Murphys family, Murphy and his wife Aimee went to the store to get their wedding rings cleaned. While there, the shooting occurred and threaten the safety of Jons wife and everyone else. Jon, the protector, lost his life making sure nobody else did, the GoFundMe page said. Murphy loved Harley Davidson motorcycles, the Marine Corps, and being a good man. RELATED: Area teen recounts tale of fear during fatal shooting at Northeast Side mall Three other people were injured from gunshot wounds during the attempted robbery, according to previous reports. Those gunshot victims, along with one of the alleged armed robbers, were transported to San Antonio Military Medical Center for treatment. The alleged shooter was taken to the hospital in critical condition, according to a previous report. A second alleged armed robber was caught by Converse Police late Sunday. He has been identified as 35-year-old Jason Matthew Prieto. The man faces charges of capital murder and aggravated robbery, and is being held on a $1.7 million bond, police said. RELATED: SAPD: 3 armed men dressed in black rob diamond store at South Park Mall Police have yet to release more details on the incident but this story will be updated as soon as more information is available. Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It took a while for strangers to get to know Jonathan Murphy, a large, quiet man who communicated with a few words and small gestures. But in the final moments of his life, Murphy proved that even a simple, deliberate step to his wifes left side a small movement could mean more than anything else ever had for Aimee Murphy. He saved her life. I wasnt surprised he tried to help somebody, but it sure did surprise me that some idiot would kill him for it, said Robert Murphy, his father. Aimee and Jonathan Murphy went to Kay Jewelers on a bright Sunday afternoon looking for batteries for Jonathans watch and to get their wedding rings cleaned. She leaned over the case, skimming the items beyond the glass, just after 3 p.m. Then came the sound of smashing glass. She saw two men, one in a mask, inside the store. One pulled out a gun. People yelled and screamed. Aimee Murphy froze, panic in the air around her. In a second, her husband moved to her left side. He didnt say anything, he just moved to my other side, Aimee Murphy said between sobs Monday. The next thing I know, he was falling to the ground. More Information Sequence of events 1. Two suspects enter the Kay Jewelers inside the Rolling Oaks Mall about 3:20 p.m., according to police. 2. One suspect is seen smashing the glass to a jewelry case, while another is pointing a gun sideways at another person, according to a witness. 3. Police receive a call for the shooting about 3:25 p.m. after Jonathan Murphy is fatally shot. His wife, Aimee Murphy, said he was attempting to shield her from harm. 4. A man whom police are calling a witness approaches the two suspects with a gun and opens fire, critically wounding one of them. 5. A second suspect, whom investigators identified as Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, is running from the jewelry store, shooting bystanders in his way, according to police. 6. Prieto wrecks a vehicle at 3:48 p.m. near Loop 1604 and Copper Gate, police say. He runs but is apprehended by Converse police shortly after. See More Collapse And now she wonders: How could a man who had brought her so much life die? A day after the 42-year-old was shot and killed in the botched robbery, the two men accused of robbing the Kay Jewelers inside the Rolling Oaks Mall on Sunday were in custody, one fighting for his life in a local hospital, San Antonio police said. Two other people were shot during the melee, suffering non-life-threatening wounds. One man was also hospitalized for chest pains because of the incident, and a pregnant woman was treated at the scene. Detectives are investigating whether there were any other people involved. Officer Douglas Greene, a San Antonio Police Department spokesman, said the first suspect was critically wounded after he was shot by a bystander at the scene before police arrived just after 3:25 p.m. EMS took him to San Antonio Military Medical Center, where he was reportedly still in critical condition Monday. Police confirmed that he would be booked by proxy and charged with one count of capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Greene said that suspect, whose name was not released Monday, was likely Murphys killer and that it appeared that both suspects fired their weapons at some point. Meanwhile, the second suspect, Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, ran from the mall and crashed a stolen silver vehicle into a stop sign minutes later near Loop 1604 and Copper Gate, Greene said. Prieto ran from the crash but was later apprehended by Converse police. We dont know exactly why he wrecked. He may have been in a hurry, Greene said, noting that Prieto was not injured and was taken into custody without incident. Two weapons were recovered from the vehicle and were still being processed Monday, he said. After being interrogated by multiple detectives, Prieto was booked early Monday on a count of capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault, Greene said. Meanwhile, the effect of the violent incident continues to shock Murphys family. Aimee Murphy sobbed uncontrollably Monday, consumed with grief while frantically trying to plan his funeral a date that has yet to be set. I love him and I admire him for what he did, but I also hate him for what he did, too, she said Monday. As she processed his death, questions on how she would deal with his loss filled her mind. Who would she cuddle with on the sofa while she watches NCIS? Will she keep Jonathans Harley-Davidson motorcycle? Will she hold on to his prized watch collection? When he would joke, he would tell me I was the female version of him, and Id say he was the male version of me, because we were just so in sync, Aimee Murphy recalled. Wed finish each others sentences. He would say something that I was thinking in my head and vice versa. And then wed have this thing where hed say Get out of my head and Id tell him No, you get out of my head. After more than nine years of marriage and memories, the last time she saw him, the tall teddy bear of a man was crumpling to the cold floor beside her feet. Taking it minute by minute Jonathan Murphy had a rough-and-tumble start to life. He was a rowdy kid, Robert Murphy said, always getting into something. He had a mind of his own, thats for sure. If his brothers got in trouble, hed be there to back them up, Robert Murphy said. About 6 feet tall, Jonathan had dark hair and a round face often with a little facial hair, too. Robert Murphy said he looked a little bit like him, which I dont know if thats good or bad or what. In the 1990s, Murphys behavior escalated from rowdy to criminal. After graduating from Taft High School, he was charged with burglary and assault on a public servant in Bexar County and several years later with marijuana possession in Kendall County, records show. Robert Murphy said his son had been incarcerated for five years. Robert Murphy questioned his parenting a lot during those years, his mind peppered with the what ifs of what he could have done differently. But it seemed that prison was just what Jonathan Murphy needed to set his life straight. He got his life back together, turned himself around, was making something of himself, said Robert Murphy, his voice cracking from grief. After all that, I mean what more could a father or mother ask for? More reserved than his two boisterous brothers, Jonathan was known for his signature smirk. He was more serious, but every once in a while, hed crack a silly little grin. Well, more of a little smile in the mouth, the tips of his mouth curved up, said Robert Murphy. He said it was his sons time in prison that made him that way an act of self-preservation. Aimee Murphy, giggling through her tears, said: Jon really had a poker face. A lot of people found him intimidating because he wouldnt smile he always had the same face expression. He grunted at you a lot, like if you say something hed be like hmph. A handyman, he built a 15-foot-long bridge over the steps to Robert Murphys house when Jonathans mother became ill. Last Saturday had been exactly three years since her death. In light of his sons death, Robert Murphy is taking four days off from his work at the Heritage post office. Im just taking it minute by minute as it is right now. Saving her When Aimee met Jonathan, she was still grieving the loss of her first husband a man who had died of heart complications just six months before. At the time, she and Jon started chatting through an online dating site. She wasnt working and was so depressed she had trouble leaving the house. When Aimee Murphy first met Jonathan in person, she was so resistant to going out that she wore her pajamas and slippers. Slowly, with him, she crawled out of her despair. I met Jon and he brought me back, you know? I never thought my heart would feel filled again, and then I met him and he filled it, he more than filled it, she said. Every Christmas, Jonathan Murphy would hang her late husbands stocking up. And every Thanksgiving, he had his stepchildren make their father a plate. That was just Jon, she said. He was so, so loving, so caring, so understanding. If there was one thing he was real adamant about, it was keeping their fathers memory alive. They used to sing the lyrics to Nickelbacks Savin Me together. She said that was their song, because thats what they each said the other had done for them. When we got together, so many times Id tell him he saved me, he saved me. Because he brought me back from this real dark place I was in, Aimee Murphy said. And he said no, that I saved him. He jump-started her life, and she changed his he drank a lot before he met her, she said, and he was always hopping from job to job. She embraced this new life with him, one with shopping for nice watches and watching good movies and raising her children from her first marriage, together. We were so, just, perfect, Aimee Murphy said. We understood each other. He was my rock, he was my strength. And now hes gone. sfosterfrau@express-news.net Staff Writers Jacob Beltran, Caleb Downs and Tyler White contributed to this report. Not a spade of dirt would be turned until 2020, but a regional planning authority took a significant step Monday toward the construction of toll lanes on a 23-mile stretch of Loop 1604, voting to prioritize its funding with 11 other projects. The Metropolitan Planning Organization also released an estimate that drivers would pay about $4.10 for each one-way trip over the entire proposed stretch between Bandera Road and Interstate 35. There is absolutely dread when you have to say the word toll in this region, said Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff after his vote in favor of the MPO funding resolution, which passed on a voice vote. Only a handful of the boards 21 members dissented. I have to oppose this, Selma City Councilman and MPO board member Kevin Hadas said. I cant go back to my constituency and say I supported this. Ditto, said Guadalupe County Judge Kyle Kutscher: If I support this, I will catch you-know-what when I go home. I have an internal battle here. The toll or managed lanes, in Texas Department of Transportation parlance, were among 12 traffic projects costing an estimated total of $1.59 billion approved on the MPO resolution, which delineated how the region would use federal funds raised through the gasoline tax that drivers pay at the pump. The 1604 project would take about $882 million of that, but the revenue from the expected tolls would reduce the funding requirement to about $326 million, officials said. We know we will take some political shots, but I would remind people that things can change, said Wolff, noting that Interstate 10 and U.S. 281 were always thought of as eventual toll roads, and theyre still free. Wolff said the funding approval also was critical to make the Loop 1604 project shovel ready in the eyes of a new Congress, which might be called upon to approve hundreds of billions of dollars in highway infrastructure projects promised by President Donald Trump. Various proponents of the measure told the MPO board that regional traffic planning has not kept up with the areas enormous growth and that a projected increase of 1.5 million people in the next 20 years required immediate action to relieve congestion. Some said Mondays vote should surprise few taxpayers. This is nothing new, said Renee Green, director of public works for Bexar County. Loop 1604 has been targeted for tolls at least 15 years. TxDOT officials say Loop 1604 carries about 145,000 vehicles daily, some 60 percent over its planned capacity, and that without improvements it would be forced to carry some 242,000 vehicles daily by 2045. Doing nothing is unacceptable, said Duane Wilson, president of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. We support all 12 of the projects. Some of them have been held back for years or decades. A construction company owner, Charles Poole, who spoke in favor of the proposal, said he moved to the North 1604 area in 2011 thinking it would be a prime location for growth. It was, he said. But it was a horrible decision (because of the traffic). Ive now moved to the West Side. The first phase of the 1604 project would cover a section from Bandera Road to Redland Road, take about three years to complete and would not be put out for bidding until 2020 at the earliest. The second stretch would extend it to I-35 and would not begin construction until 2027, according to TxDOT documents. The funding package also includes improvements and expansions for I-10, U.S. 281, Wurzbach Parkway, Texas 46, FM 2252, FM 3351, FM 471, and three nontoll projects on Loop 1604. The MPOs wish list awaits approval from the Texas Transportation Commission, which is expected to vote on the funding for all 12 projects in March. bselcraig@express-news.net AUSTIN The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive Texas voter ID law, dashing for now the hopes of the states Republican leaders to overturn a lower-court decision that the rule discriminated against black and Hispanic residents. The decision could mean that the Legislature, which is in session for five months, could try to fix the legal issues with the law on its own. But officials who were reviewing the ruling said the most likely course will be to let pending appeals continue in lower courts. Without dissent, the top court let stand a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in July that found that the Texas law ran afoul of a federal statute that bars discriminatory practices in elections. The justices sent the issue back to a lower court to decide how to fix the law. In a statement explaining the courts decision not to take the case at this time, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that litigation on the law is continuing in lower courts. Although there was no barrier to our review, he stated, all the legal issues can be raised on appeal at a later time. In a 9-6 decision, a special 15-judge panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court ruled that the Texas law violated the federal Voting Rights Act. That court directed a lower court to review claims by the plaintiffs that the law was intended to be discriminatory, rather than just having a discriminatory effect. A hearing on that part of the case by a federal judge in Corpus Christi had been scheduled for today but was delayed until Feb. 28 after the Justice Department late Friday sought time for the Trump administration to review whether to continue challenging the Texas requirements. When that case is decided, appeals are expected. The job of the courts is to protect our fundamental rights, said Myrna Perez, director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center, which represents the Texas NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus in the case. When the case comes before it, the Supreme Court has an important opportunity to affirm and uphold this countrys promise that Americans will be free from racial discrimination when they step into the voting booth. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was disappointed but optimistic. Chief Justice Roberts made it very clear that the case will be an even stronger posture for Supreme Court review after further proceedings in lower courts, he said. Texas enacted a common-sense voter ID law to safeguard the integrity of our elections, and we will continue to fight for the law in the district court, the 5th Circuit, and, if necessary, the Supreme Court again. Texas voter ID law has been the subject of litigation for years. In 2012, a federal appeals court in Washington first blocked the implementation of the law requiring voters to show a photo ID before they could cast a ballot. That court ruled that the law had a disproportionately negative effect on minority residents in Texas. In 2013, the Supreme Court, ruling in a separate case, allowed Texas to implement its law, which it quickly did. The Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House challenged the law in federal court, and a trial in 2014 showed that the states ID requirement would create discriminatory barriers to voting. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled the Texas law unconstitutional, but the Supreme Court allowed it to remain in effect for the 2014 election. Other reaction was supportive of Mondays decision. It has been an incredible waste of taxpayer monies and state resources to challenge what any reasonably objective person knows that the law is plainly and simply discriminatory against racial and ethnic minorities, said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP. Judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have so held repeatedly. There is no more fundamental American right than the right to vote, and the Supreme Court protected it by declining to hear this case, said Jose Garza, legal counsel for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. Multiple courts, including the 5th Circuit, have reviewed this bill and seen it for what it is a tool to silence the voices of Latinos, African Americans and elderly or poor voters. There was no basis for questioning their conclusions, and the Supreme Court affirmed that today. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A shooting during a robbery at the Rolling Oaks Mall on Sunday has drawn attention to concealed and open carry handgun laws in Texas while highlighting a gray area about what bystanders should do in similar situations. Some people assert that a licensed gun owner should, as a last resort, intervene to stop a crime, while others caution against anyone playing the role of a law enforcement officer. The question of whether to act arose Sunday after a bystander with a handgun license shot and critically wounded a suspect during the botched robbery of a jewelry store at the mall. Seconds earlier, Jonathan Murphy, while trying to protect his wife, Aimee, from the chaos, was shot and killed by the suspect, police said. You know, thats a hard call, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said. In Mr. Murphys case, I dont know if he knew if the suspect had a gun or not, but he made the decision to do the right thing, what he believed was the right thing, as a citizen to try to help someone out, to try to stop someone who may rob again. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the wrong decision. That was what Mr. Murphy chose. That was what was in his heart, and God bless him and his family for trying to help. It was absolutely heroic, McManus added. That man could have turned his head and pretended it didnt happen, or walk away, or run away, but he didnt. He tried to make a difference. During the shooting, a second suspect, later identified as Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, ran through the mall, also firing a gun and injuring two other people, according to a preliminary report from police. The investigation into the events is ongoing. The difficult choice of whether to act or not act during a crime came up last year when a 39-year-old man was shot and killed in a Walmart parking lot while he intervened as a Good Samaritan to defend a woman he didnt know who was allegedly being assaulted by her boyfriend. The boyfriend was later charged with murder. In the case of the mall robbery, police are unlikely to press charges against the man who shot the suspect, police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said. Under Texas law, people can defend themselves in specific circumstances where their lives could be in danger. The man was carrying a gun even though the mall owner prohibits any weapons on the property, a ban thats permitted under Texas law. For gun rights and gun control advocates, its too soon to say if the bystanders at the mall, especially the man with the handgun permit, made the right choice to intervene. Perhaps some good did come from that, because the suspect could have shot other people, said Andrea Brauer, executive director of Texas Gun Sense, a nonprofit organization that advocates for what it considers common-sense gun control measures. But theres a lot of uncertainty. Brauer said Texas Gun Sense supports the ability for law-abiding citizens to have a concealed handgun permit, but the organization also warns of the risks associated with guns. Theres risk to it, she said. I think theres real danger, anyone calling upon real citizens, or empowering them, or encouraging them, to take the law into their own hands when they arent law enforcement officers. Thats the role of law enforcement officers. In many cases, she added, the officers may not know who the suspect is and who the intervenor is, causing confusion and the potential for mistakes when they arrive. Larry Arnold, a spokesman for the Texas Concealed Handgun Association, touted the ability of bystanders to protect themselves and others, as long as it is a last resort. In general, we believe citizens who are good citizens should be able to carry concealed handguns for protection, Arnold said. In accordance with our state constitution, part of that right extends to protection of the state. Whats the law? In Bexar County, about 59,800 people have a license to carry a gun openly in many public places. Bexar County has the fourth-most licenses in Texas, behind Harris, Tarrant and Dallas counties. The license law passed the Legislature in 1995 and was signed into law by then-Gov. George W. Bush. Individuals who are 21 or older, or are active-duty members of the military, are eligible to obtain a license. Individuals are ineligible if they have a felony conviction or certain misdemeanor convictions; are diagnosed with certain psychological disorders; have drug or alcohol dependencies; have a protective or restraining order filed against them; or are delinquent on child support obligations. First-time applicants have to complete four to six hours of classroom training on handgun use and safety, nonviolent dispute resolution techniques and proper weapon storage practices. They also must pass a written exam and a shooting demonstration with an instructor. Once licensed, the individual can carry as many handguns as he or she likes and must renew the license every four to five years. In Texas, license holders are prohibited from carrying handguns and other weapons at bars, jails, K-12 schools, polling places, government court offices, racetracks or in the secure area of an airport. Last year, under a new law, license holders also became eligible to openly carry handguns in public places, although businesses and property owners can still prohibit them. Carrying long guns openly, including rifles and shotguns, was already legal. It also became legal to carry a concealed handgun on college campuses, although those institutions can designate portions of the campuses as off limits. It is still illegal to openly carry a handgun on college campuses. A bill introduced last month by Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster, would allow license holders to carry guns in K-12 schools, polling places, government court offices, racetracks, airports and bars (although state law would still prohibit an individual from drinking alcohol while armed.) If passed, businesses and property owners could still ban them. WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Will Hurd on Tuesday took over a coveted seat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence at a time when cybersecurity and Russias intrusion into American politics present vexing questions in Washington. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas., joined the Senate Intelligence Committee this month, rounding out a bolstered Texas presence on matters of spying as demand grows for publicly released evidence about Russias hacking during the 2016 presidential election, and those involved. Texas Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and Mike Conaway, R-Midland also sit on the House Intelligence panel. But veteran Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. warned Tuesday that what the GOP-run committees learn if it even sees the light of day will be so heavily redacted it could be useless. Durbin wants an independent investigation by panelists including well-known figures like Colin Powell and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day OConnor. Hurds new position became official following Kansas Republican Mike Pompeos confirmation Monday as director of the CIA. Hurd replaces Pompeo on the committee, which oversees intelligence operations in the CIA, National Security Agency and 15 other federal agencies. Susan Biddle Hurd, R-San Antonio, who was re-elected to a second term in November, also sits on the Homeland Security Committee and chairs an influential House Oversight subcommittee on information technology. These things are perfectly connected, Hurd said. These are three elements where not too many people have insights and activities in such a broad spectrum across the federal government. Hurds office said that 62 House members applied for 4 seats that opened on the intelligence committee, which conducts much of its business behind closed doors. His status as the only former CIA officer in Congress loomed large when committee slots were filled. His GOP colleagues have looked increasingly to Hurd as a spokesman in cybersecurity matters. Last spring, he was the only freshman chosen to travel to the Middle East in a delegation led by House Speaker Paul Ryan. Hurd, 39, said he believed that his connections with the CIA, where he worked for nine years, have been helpful in Congresss role overseeing the spy agency. Hurd also worked at two companies involved with cybersecurity before entering Congress in 2015. Ryan, R-Wisc., said in a release that Hurd had been an obvious choice for the assignment. During his first term in Congress, he was a leader on national security and cybersecurity issues, drawing from his personal experience to help educate his colleagues and shape policy. In an interview, Hurd recalled his dismay as a CIA operative when members of Congress seemed ill-prepared to deal with security matters. He recalled an episode in 2007 when, as manager of CIA undercover operations in Kabul, Afghanistan, he had the task of briefing House Intelligence Committee members arriving for a visit. One of them remarked that he hoped the briefing could be cut short so the visitors could find a market to buy rugs. Hurd said he thought at first that one of the congressmen, an intelligence committee member for at least four years, was making a joke when he asked, what is the difference between a Sunni and a Shia? Sunni Islam and Shia Islam are the two major denominations of Islam; their divide is the oldest in the Muslim world. I was annoyed, Hurd said. That is an example of why I decided to leave a career that I love, leave an organization that I love, because I felt like I could help in a different way. Eight years later, its come full circle. Being able to help directly on intelligence in the United States is pretty exciting at a time like this. George Tenet, a CIA director under both the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, said in a statement that Hurds background makes him uniquely qualified for his new post. Having served both in congressional oversight staff and the CIA myself, I know his exemplary service and experience will be invaluable, Tenet said. Hurd also received congratulations from Maj. Gen. Christopher Weggeman, commander of the 24th Air Force at Joint Base San Antonio, who released a statement calling him a vocal advocate and ally for the Air Force and cyberspace operations. Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, has coined a new phrase for the dystopian age. We are now living in the Era of Alternative Facts. Arguing that Trumps inauguration crowd was larger than what the news media had reported, Conway on Sundays Meet the Press said the White House was offering alternative facts an alternative to objective reality. Conway uttered this phrase without shame because she knew the truth no longer matters. Consider: Among Trump voters, 40 percent insist he won the national popular vote; 67 percent say unemployment increased during the Obama administration; and 73 percent think liberal donor George Soros is paying protesters against Trump. None of these assertions is true. They are falsehoods, otherwise known as alternative facts. The percentages are based on a recent national poll that detected a cult like aspect to Trumps support, where any idea he put forth a substantial share of his supporters would go along with. This is why Trump claimed his inauguration crowd went all the way back to the Washington monument, even as aerial photographs showed that it did not. Its why Trump said the rain stopped immediately when he took the stage, allowing the sun to shine down on him as he spoke, and then poured again after he left, even though anyone in the crowd could attest that a light rain persisted throughout his speech. Trump can lie about anything, even the weather. His supporters will believe him. And they will reject irrefutable evidence to the contrary. This is called cognitive dissonance the clashing of conflicting thoughts and its not a new phenomenon. Cult leaders have been exploiting it for decades. Social psychologist Leon Festinger carried out a classic study on cognitive dissonance in 1954 when he infiltrated a cult called the Seekers. Its leader, Dorothy Martin, believed aliens were communicating with her through automatic writing to warn of an apocalyptic flood. Martin told her followers that only true believers would be spared. The aliens would arrive in a flying saucer to whisk them away at a predetermined time: at midnight on December 20, 1954. The Seekers abandoned their jobs and their savings to await deliverance alongside their leader. Midnight came and went, though, with no sign of aliens or the apocalypse. To ease her followers confusion, Martin uttered a line at 4:45 a.m. that now sounds positively Trumpian: Not since the beginning of time upon this Earth has there been such a force of Good and Light as now floods this room! The entire world, she explained, had been saved by the faith of the true believers, who then rushed out to proselytize their delusion with even more conviction. Festinger concluded that when confronted by two dissonant beliefs, the mind simply eliminates the more inconvenient of the two. If aliens were scheduled to rescue us from the apocalypse, but no aliens appeared and the apocalypse did not occur, then our belief in the aliens must have prevented the apocalypse. If it rained, but our beloved leader said that it did not rain, then it did not rain. I imagine this could happen to someone grappling with a cheating spouse. Faced with a painful truth, the person prefers a more comfortable lie. Those of us who do not support Trump and anyone who believes that the truth still matters must now try to understand how the president of the United States has managed to achieve the influence of a cult leader whose words are preferable to reality. I am a retired newspaperman. I am 69 and live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 45 years, Lou Ann. We grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather. More on who I am is here. Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com A new study by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy organization, says that more than two-thirds of 2,000 teachers surveyed reported students mainly immigrants, children of immigrants and Muslims expressing concerns or fears about what might happen to them or their families during a Trump presidency. Since the election, more than half of teachers have seen an increase in uncivil political discourse in their schools or classrooms, and more than one-third report having observed an increase in anti-Muslim or anti-immigrant sentiment. The study, titled The Trump Effect: The impact of the presidential campaign on our nations schools, cites a Virginia elementary school teacher who said that students are crying in the classroom and having melt-downs at home. An Oregon primary-school teacher said her black students are concerned for their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies. These are not outlier incidents cherry-picked for effect. Both in the school building where I teach and in neighboring districts, not only were the kids keyed up on Nov. 9, a lot of teachers were in near hysterics. In my building, there were teachers who refused to even talk about the election and others who cried in front of students. At a nearby district, racist language was scrawled on a bathroom door and minority students staged a protest that went viral on social media, prompting my schools students to plan their own walkout. As the drama unfolded, it occurred to me that the students may not have been as likely to give in to hysteria if the adults in their school buildings had acted less like hyperpartisans and more like grown-ups who could keep their cool. Instead, some of those in charge were making an unpredictable situation even scarier with their emotionality. I wasnt completely off-base the next day our administration sent out guidance from the National Association of School Psychologists, or NASP, on how to reinforce safe, supportive and positive postelection school environments. Some tips from the psychologists continue to resonate and should be taken to heart by anyone with kids who are confronted with politically motivated malice or bigotry: Reinforce a sense of positive (school) community. We function as a nation only when we have that shared sense of relationship; helping children identify and develop those relationships is vital. In other words, dont reinforce us vs. them mentalities. Model and teach desired behaviors. Adults can help children and youth manage their reactions to events in the news and their communities by understanding their feelings, modeling healthy coping strategies, and closely monitoring their own emotional states and that of those in their care. Reassure children that they are and will be OK. This one is tough when children are actively facing bullying from other students or community members who are talking about building walls, deportations or making assertions about suspected terrorists. But as adults, it is our responsibility to provide comfort and a sense of stability instead of feeding fear in an attempt to empathize. Encourage children to channel their views and feelings into positive action. After the school where the racist graffiti had appeared went through its cycle of anger and protest, a group of students uplifted the campus by posting 2,500 sticky notes with inspirational and positive messages. This is but a small selection of the tips NASP provided for dealing with a transition of presidential power that is frightening so many, and its guidance deserves a thorough reading by anyone who interacts with kids. We are all entering a time of uncertainty and anxiety, but it is especially challenging for school-age kids who, as a cohort, are the most diverse portion of our population. Let us acknowledge that this uneasiness is real and do all we can to help our kids through it. estherjcepeda@washpost.com Dairy farmers have protested depressed milk prices by spraying a tonne of milk powder onto the European Council building in Brussels. The farmers said a planned sale of milk powder stocks would depress prices in Europe and abroad. The European Union has bought large quantities of skimmed milk powder to stabilize the market but said in November it would start disposing of some of it after prices had improved. Protesters used farm machinery to cover the building and nearby police officers in a thick coat of the sticky, white powder. The European Commission said only a small amount of the total milk powder stock of 354,000 tonnes was for sale and sales would be made without affecting prices or market stability. The EU Commissioner for agriculture Phil Hogan said yesterday (23 January) he had difficulty understanding why dairy farmers were protesting in Brussels, given the recovery of milk prices in the last six months. Hogan spoke at a press conference following the first EU Council ministerial of the year, with agriculture ministers from the EU's national governments. It's difficult to understand the basis for which protests have been organised outside the council today, said Hogan. The market situation of dairy farmers has become a regular feature on the agenda of the agriculture ministerial in the past 18 months, he noted. Dairy farmers have launched the 'Enjoy Milk' campaign to deliver a free range future for British dairy cows that consumers can trust. The Free Range Milk Marketing Board (FRMMB), representing a group of more than 700 dairy farmers, launched the new campaign this week. Campaigners behind the Enjoy Milk cause believe they have a new future for British Dairy cows. The Enjoy Milk campaign aims to provide consumers with the opportunity to choose milk from guaranteed grazing based farms whilst offering farmers a fair deal. The integrity of the Enjoy Milk campaign is based upon multiple principles, including the assertion that dairy cows should be allowed to graze grass as often as possible. Enjoy Milk describes this as 'free ranging' or 'free range', as has long been the case with eggs. Grazing on pasture There is a perception from consumers that this is how they would prefer cows to live their lives, with 86% of those surveyed in a 2015 YouGov poll agreeing that UK dairy cows should be able to graze on pasture and should not be permanently housed indoors. The campaign asserts that the definition of free range dairy farming is crucial in calling for legal clarity over the use of the term. In the meantime, the Free Range Milk Marketing Board has developed an application process and compliance procedure to ensure 100% integrity of the milk from Enjoy Milk dairy farms. Enjoy Milk dairy farms have to commit to the achieving maximum milk yield from grazing based forage, meaning that their cows have the most days possible for grazing outside. Whilst no dairy farm is the same, it is possible to objectively and simply determine whether an individual farm is committed to grazing or not. Routine housing of the dairy stock at times of the year when its reasonable to expect cows to be grazing in fields is not permitted. Exceptions will be made for adverse events requiring temporary housing, such as flooding or biosecurity issues. 'Clear evidence' of free ranging All applicants must provide evidence in support of the application to supply free ranging milk. In order to be robust but without causing an additional red tape burden on already hard pressed farmers, this evidence will rely on existing farm data. All Enjoy Milk producers will be asked to submit annual management plans showing clear evidence of the grazing period achieved. The Enjoy Milk team are also investigating an interactive package of software to make the process of compliance and monitoring easier and real time related. In the absence of a legal definition of free ranging for dairy cows, the purpose of these requirements is that there is complete clarity as to what the free range Enjoy Milk promise means, so every dairy farmer and consumers can buy in confidence. European Union leaders are being asked to take action to prevent free range egg producers from losing their free range status if they are forced to continue housing their birds against the threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza. In early December the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), along with the devolved governments of the United Kingdom, ordered that poultry should be housed to protect against the threat of H5N8. At that time there were no cases in the United Kingdom but there were numerous reports of cases across other European countries. The housing order was for 30 days. Since then, cases of H5N8 have been found in United Kingdom - on two turkey farms in Lincolnshire and in backyard flocks in Wales and North Yorkshire, as well as in a number of wild birds around the country. Chief veterinary officer Nigel Gibbens subsequently extended the housing order until the end of February. Concern is now growing amongst free range producers because this extension will take the housing order to the end of the 12-week period - imposed by the European Union - beyond which free range birds will lose their free range status unless they are allowed outdoors. Mark Williams, chief executive of the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) is calling for the 12-week cut-off to be extended. Farmers' leaders in other EU countries are pressing for the same extension, and the issue was raised by both Dutch and Belgian representatives at a meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council in January. Some 1.6 million poultry have been destroyed due to AI 'No easy solution' EU Agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan said he would work to find a solution but said there was no easy solution. He said: I appreciate that this is a difficult issue, particularly in member states in which the 12-week confinement period is coming to an end, after which eggs cannot be classified as free range. There is no easy solution to this matter, given the need to maintain the integrity of labelling and information for consumers who are prepared to pay a premium of up to 20 or 30 per cent for these free range products in the confident knowledge that they paying for what they are getting. So it's an issue that requires further reflection. That reflection needs to consider all the possibilities available. We will be working with member states over the next couple of weeks to see if we can get a resolution to this important matter." Mark Williams said the position of the BEIC was clear: BEIC is requesting that a derogation is provided to Commission Regulation (EC) No 589/2008, Annex II, point 1.a., to allow free range flocks that remain housed after March 1 in Great Britain under veterinary order to be able to maintain their free range marketing status. This would remain in place until such time as veterinary authorities determine that the disease situation allows for any housing restriction to be lifted - possibly in a further one to two months." He said: It is our view that we are in exceptional circumstances across the EU and this calls for exceptional measures to be put in place. The simple solution is for the EU Commission to allow the 12 weeks to be extended for a further one to two months to get past this time of heightened disease challenge." 761 outbreaks of AI Between October and January there were a total of 761 outbreaks of H5N8 in Europe - 51 per cent in poultry and the rest in wild birds. Supermarkets will be left with no source of supplies at a time when free range eggs are more popular than ever Some 1.6 million poultry were destroyed. As well as affecting 18 countries in Europe, H5N8 has also been found in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The BEIC chief also said that, in this country, Defra should look at lifting the housing order at the end of February whilst at the same time maintaining strict bio-security controls. Whilst we would be guided by veterinary advice, in the face of potentially losing free range egg marketing status - which we cannot allow to happen - we believe that the AIPZ (avian influenza protection zone) must be lifted on February 28 across Great Britain, but with the maintenance of high levels of enhanced bio-security." Based on figures produced by The Ranger magazine, losses for the UK free range egg industry could run into millions of pounds if its eggs have to be downgraded to barn eggs. Costings show that producers are already losing as much as 4.08 per bird on an average egg price of 88 pence per dozen. If the eggs had to be sold as barn and the price was consequently cut to 70 pence per dozen, the loss per bird would be 8.58. On a national free range flock of 18 million birds, the additional loss to the free range egg sector could amount to as much as 81 million. 'Extremely worried' Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA), said the association's members were extremely worried about the prospect of birds losing their free range status. The cost to free range producers of having their eggs downgraded to barn doesn't bear thinking about," he said. There will need to be many discussions over the next few weeks. I know how busy Defra will be but we will need to have an answer before the end of February." FarmingUK understands that farmers' leaders in the Netherlands are also raising the issue. The Dutch industry was likely to press its Government to ask the European Union for some sort of derogation, given the severity of the H5N8 outbreaks currently affecting Europe. Mark Williams said he was working through EUWEP, the egg industry's representative body in Europe and with other EU organisations and member states to press for an extension to the 12 weeks. Defra would not indicate to FarmingUK what was likely to happen beyond February 28. A spokesman said: There is no impact on the free range status of birds or eggs as result of the prevention zone currently in place across the UK. Protecting against the threat of avian flu is a priority and it is essential all bird keepers maintain high bio-security standards. Appropriate measures have been put in place to reduce the risk of domestic birds becoming infected and they are kept under review following the best scientific evidence. FarmingUK pressed Defra on whether it was possible that the Government could ask the EU to extend the 12-week period to enable producers to maintain their free range status. The spokesman said: "We are keeping all measures under review and following the best scientific evidence." Supermarkets' concern Leading retailers are also concerned about the looming crisis in free range eggs. If the whole of the UK flock has its status downgraded after February 28, supermarkets will be left with no source of supplies at a time when free range eggs are more popular than ever with consumers. Individual retailers did not want to comment at the moment, although they made it clear that they were in discussions with the BEIC, the British Poultry Council, the National Farmers Union and Defra. The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents the British retail industry, is also involved in talks. A BRC spokesman told FarmingUK: As producers are required by law to bring the birds indoors to prevent the spread of the virus, the free range status of eggs is maintained and they will be marketed and labelled as free range. We are working with Defra to find a pragmatic solution that mitigates any negative impact on free range farmers should the enforced housing period extend beyond the 28 February, when the derogation from free range regulation ends. 2017 heralds 'significant change' in the British energy market, and farmers are being urged to protect against higher power costs. This past winter has shaken the energy markets with some of the highest wholesale power costs on record, reaching over 1,000/MWh in November. Market volatility is nothing new to those in the agriculture sector, but ahead of Brexit and potential loss of income support, British farmers need to concentrate on improving business efficiencies and reducing risk, says Richard Palmer, head of energy and estate business management. Farmers will add most value to their businesses by focussing not just on how much energy is used but also when and where it comes from. So what changes are rural businesses likely to see in the year ahead? The constraints of the UK energy system mean the Government is encouraging customers to think differently, leading to the introduction of a Capacity Market Levy and the roll out of smart meters, explains Mr Palmer. By 2020, every home in Britain will have a smart meter, but some farmers will have to upgrade to this system by April 2017, depending on the classification of their energy use. Rethink management strategies These changes will increase meter operating costs and mean prices at winter peak times between 4pm and 7pm a busy time for many dairy farmers - will be more than double compared with other periods, he warns. To avoid peak rates as seasonal time of day tariffs (STODs) become more common, farmers will need to rethink their management strategies. Opportunities to reduce costs include introducing demand management techniques and battery storage, as well as generating renewable energy on site. More than a third of UK farmers are already using the sun, wind and energy crops to produce low-carbon energy, says Joanne Ragdale managing director at The Energy Manager. And as big businesses increasingly buy from renewable energy sources, there are opportunities for farmers to promote their low carbon production, potentially using online tools which allow consumers to identify exactly where their energy comes from. 'Economically worthwhile' Despite a drop in government subsidies, generating renewable energy is still economically worthwhile, she explains. In the coming year, government levies and taxes, distribution costs, and network charges will make up over 60% of your electricity bill. Generating renewable energy on site and using battery storage could be the logical move to avoid these peak and indirect charges. Encouragingly, the Government is still committed to the decarbonisation of heat following its consultation on the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), says Mr Palmer. Three approaches stand out; electrifying heat with heat pumps, replacing methane with green gases such as biomethane from Anaerobic Digestion (AD) plants, and developing heat networks or district heating schemes. Many rural businesses also generate income from residential and commercial rental properties, and should be aware of the minimum efficiency standards coming into place on 1 April 2018, he adds. Now is therefore an ideal time to implement benchmarking, think strategically, and deliver innovation and efficiency gains through better energy management. Rural businesses and farmers are urging Government that they must play a full part in the delivery of the new Industrial Strategy to ensure the promise of opportunity and growth spread evenly across the country is met. The new Industrial Strategy aims to address the uneven distribution of opportunity and growth across the country. The Strategy pledges new investment in digital, energy and transport infrastructure, a new system of technical education and a proposal for new sector deals to support businesses to lead and transform. Rural organisation the CLA published Rural Business 2030 in December 2016 which showed how rural landowning businesses have a key role to play in delivering the Industrial Strategy. The report set out a series of ways in which the Strategy can kick start a new wave of investment and growth. Countryside matters CLA President Ross Murray said it is 'vital' the Industrial Strategy includes the countryside and not just towns and cities. He said: Our role is to ensure that nationally, regionally and locally the Government is held to this commitment and that the voice of the rural economy is not drowned out by the focus on our towns and cities. It will be by bringing rural businesses into the decision making process that the most can be achieved. There is no doubt that the commitment to upgrade infrastructure is fundamental to the success of the Strategy. It promises big improvements in digital connectivity felt most keenly in rural areas. The future of broadband and mobile technology must end the situation where rural areas are always at the back of the queue for innovation and access to the latest technology. Providing solutions to problems like managing flood risk and generating new greener energy are potentially big opportunities for rural businesses. Mr Murray concluded: Some key preconditions to unlocking investment from the thousands of businesses across the countryside are vital to achieving the aim of the Strategy in rural areas. The first is to ensure the costly and complex planning regime is simplified and secondly is to guarantee universal connectivity. Five dogs that attacked and killed sheep and unborn lambs have been shot dead by farmers over two days. The two separate incidents, which took place last Thursday and Friday (19 and 20 January), has prompted the police to issue a plea warning dog owners to keep their pets under control during lambing season. PC Mike Barnett, dog legislation officer for Warwickshire Police and West Mercia Police, said: We are at the very beginning of lambing season and we are already starting to have problems with dogs. Farmers are within their rights to shoot dogs worrying sheep on their land. To lose sheep and unborn lambs has a big effect on farmers livelihoods. To lose a loved pet causes huge upset for dog owners too. All is takes to avoid this distress is to keep dogs on leads and make sure they cannot get out and run loose. Farmers are within their rights to shoot dogs worrying sheep on their land, Warwickshire Police said. Government officials and senior police officers have been presented findings indicating that around 15,000 sheep were killed by loose dogs in 2016, more than ten times higher than the number previously thought. The future of Fauquier Times now depends on community support. Your donation will help us continue to improve our journalism through in-depth local news coverage and expanded reader engagement. Support Saturday, as millions of women and their allies, not just in the U.S., but around the world, marched against Trump, one DC wag asked "where was all that energy during the election?" My response-- "at Bernie Sanders rallies-- drew hysterical anger from thin-skinned Clinton die-hards. It took some cheating, but Clinton managed to win the Iowa caucuses against the then largely unknown Democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders, 49.9% to 49.6%. Most counties were pretty 50/50 but the biggest disapritiy between them came in Jefferson County where Bernie won 72.7% of the votes to her 27.3%. The biggest county in the state, Polk, was closer. Hillary won with 12,122 votes to Bernie's 10,525. Yesterday, women from Fairfield in Jefferson County carpooled and bused up to Des Moines to march against Trumpism. In 2016 Hillary's biggest rally in Iowa was about 3,000 people. Saturday's march in Des Moines drew 26,000-- Hillary supporters, Bernie supporters... as well as independents and perhaps even Republicans who had elected Iowa delegates for Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz... even Jeb Bush. In the general, Trump kicked Clinton's ass. He beat her in the classic swing state 798,923 (51.8%) to 650,790 (42.2%)-- turning Obama's 2012 52-46% win on it's head. In 2012 two of the state's four congressional districts elected Democrats and two elected Republicans. These were the results for the Democratic candidates in each: IA-01- 57% IA-02- 55% IA-03- 44% IA-04- 45% With Hillary on the top of the ticket in 2016, Iowa Democrats fell apart at every level. These were the congressional candidates' results: IA-01- 46.1% IA-02- 53.7% IA-03- 39.8% IA-04- 38.6% The only Democrat Iowa has left it it's 6 person delegation to Washington is Dave Loebsack. The district's PVIs, by the way, don't favor Republicans: IA-01 D+5 IA-02 D+4 IA03- even IA-04- R+5 You can't fully blame Hillary for the Democrats loss in "safely" blue IA-01 though. The DCCC (and the toxic, deadly EMILY's List) insisted on "former" Republican conservative Monica Vernon, who was backed by the New Dems as well. A weak, garbage candidate, she lost to an unimpressive Republican extremist, Rod Blum, 206,273 (53.9%) to 176,447 (46.1%)-- in Iowa's most Democratic district. IA-01 has 20 counties. Vernon won only 2, Linn (Cedar Rapids) and Black Hawk (Waterloo)-- and each just barely. In 2012, Obama won Linn with 68,028 votes and won Black Hawk with 39,338 votes, almost 60% in each county. Hillary limped to sad 1 point wins over Trump in each county. Democratic Congressman Bruce Braley (who won 17 of the 20 counties) took 66,682 votes in Linn and 40,268 votes in Black Hawk. Vernon beat Blum 58,269 to 55,140 in Linn and 31,724 to 30,749 in Black Hawk. The DCCC and their allies wasted $2 million in the primary against a progressve, Pat Murphy, who could have won. In the general, Vernon outspent Blum by a million dollars-- $2,856,502 to $1,853,837. She was a truly bottom-of-the-barrel candidate who couldn't even commit to a $10 minimum wage, making a Republican argument that a "big" minimum wage increase would hurt small businesses. None of this augers well for the Democrats in 2018, does it? That depends. There's another former Republican in the hunt, Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson, formerly everybody's favorite Republican but now a Democrat everyone is trying to figure out. He was a Bernie backer; he's a total environmental guy. He voted to raise the county minimum wage to $10/hour... but they proposed putting it on hold until they could see what the very right-wing GOP-dominated state legislature would do. Someone complained that he wrote a paean to Fidel Castro on his Facebook page when the former Cuban president died but that isn't something I would hold against anyone. The big hope was that former state Rep. Nate Willems, a true and tested progressive, would run but I spoke with him today and he had reasons that were easy to understand for why he couldn't in 2018. And then there's a very young and very progressive state Rep., Abby Finkenauer (Dubuque), a strong advocate for a living wage and someone who several people are trying to draft. After spending some time on the phone with her today, I'd say she's leaning in that direction. Hopefully we'll be hearing more from her soon. Obviously that's the district where the Democrats have to start. If they can't win back IA-01, they can't win any other Iowa districts and they can't win back control of the House. Pat Rynard, writing for IowaStartingLine , is optimistic. Many Democrats in Iowa are concerned that 2016 wasnt simply an aberration, but the start of a shift in voting trends. Pointing out that Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote by three million is cold comfort to Iowans who saw their state go from Obama +6 in 2012 to Trump +10 in 2016. Will Iowa snap back that fast if Trump is an unpopular president? Thats what many potential candidates are asking themselves right now. Running for office is a big personal commitment, in time, money and the scrutiny it brings down upon you. People should run because they feel its the right thing to do and/or they have a cause to champion, but its tough to fault some from passing on a race that seems unwinnable. Fortunately, though were only into the third day of the Trump presidency, many encouraging signs are already emerging. For one, that enthusiasm gap between the parties that folks liked to talk about during the general election? It sure seems like its flipped to the Democrats and progressives favors considering the dueling crowd sizes of the inauguration and Womens March. The D.C. rally was estimated at twice the size of the crowd for Trumps swearing-in. More important was the turnout in cities across the country. Des Moines saw 26,000 show up to the local Womens March outside the Statehouse, while crowds of hundreds popped up around the state. That should give Iowa Democrats reassurance that the backlash against Trump wont skip Iowa. Comparisons to the energy of the Tea Party were apt-- theres now clearly an energized grassroots base ready to fight. Some might question if its mostly made up of the people who voted for Clinton, as in its not an expansion of the partys base. Even if that was the case, the biggest turnout for a rally Clinton ever got in Des Moines was about 3,000. With a 26,000 turnout yesterday, its clear Democrats will be much more united and enthusiastic when theyre fighting against Trump alone. Trumps first few days also havent really impressed. His inauguration speech didnt do much to reach out to Americans beyond his core base of support. Its still important to be cognizant of why he remains so popular among a slice of America, but hes shown a complete inability to grow into the job so far. And press secretary Sean Spicers press conference yesterday in which he just yelled at reporters was borderline unhinged. Now that hes in the Oval Office, Trump needs to start producing results. It seems obvious hes still fixated on petty appearances and grudges. That doesnt bode well for a successful presidency. On the state level, yesterdays Iowa Democrats chair election produced a result that should unify activists. In the hours immediately after Derek Eadons victory, the vast majority of the SCC members from both Sanders and Clinton sides seemed happy and enthusiastic about moving forward and getting to work. So while its obviously much too early to make any sort of prediction about the 2018 elections, Democrats have to feel good about what theyre starting to see. Assumptions that midterms would automatically be good for the party out of power isnt a sure bet in Iowa now, but things appear to be moving in the right direction. Theres real reason for optimism, something many Democrats havent felt since election night. UNRELATED To Iowa... But Noteworthy This evening all the Senate Republicans except Rand Paul , who said he was worried that Pompeo's "desire for security will trump his defense of liberty," voted to confirm Trump's nominee for CIA Director. The Democrats who will own whatever unconstitutional crap Pompeo, a big torture enthusiast, pulls are: Joe Manchin (WV) Heidi Heitkamp (ND) Joe Donnelly (IN) Tim Kaine (VA) Claire McCaskill (MO) Dianne Feinstein (CA) Jeanne Shaheen (NH) Maggie Hassan (NH) Mark Warner (VA) Chuck Schumer (NY) Jack Reed (RI) Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) Amy Klobuchar (MN) Brian Schatz (HI) Angus King (I-ME) As long as we're talking about the U.S. Senate, the names above that have been bolded are all incumbent senators who will face reelection in 2018 (except Feinstein who will be retiring, although she hasn't announced that yet). Blue America has endorsed just 5 incumbents so far. You can find them all by tapping on the thermometer below (spoiler: no one who voted to confirm Pompeo). 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 Pitts: Before voting, take a look at your sample ballot in Cumberland County and NC Investing in EU bonds is investing in the future. We are sowing the seeds today, so we can harvest growth, jobs, and prosperity tomorrow. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is reportedly not allowed to attend the BAFTA Awards as senior staff worry she'll "totally distract" audiences from the film stars. Prince William and Duchess Catherine The 35-year-old Duchess is set to attend the star studded awards bash next month with her husband Prince William, who is the President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), but the pair have reportedly been told by staff that the brunette beauty isn't wanted over concerns she'll outshine the A-List actresses. A source said: "William has faced serious criticism from the film industry for missing the BAFTAs the last two years, despite being our president. "As a result of that feedback, he made it clear he wants to go this year and even bring Kate. "It would be a real show of his commitment towards BAFTA and create headlines around the world. "But it was then expressed by senior staff within BAFTA that Kate's attendance will totally distract from all the film stars there." And whilst sources suggest the 34-year-old royal - who shares three-year-old Prince George and 20-month-old Princess Charlotte with his wife whom he married in 2011 - will just bring the Duchess with him anyway, the confrontation has caused "awkwardness" between the two parties. A second source told The Sun newspaper: "Most people think William will end up getting his way by bringing Kate but it's created awkwardness because her attendance shouldn't have been in question." However, despite these claims it was reported that BAFTA "would be delighted" to welcome both Prince William and Duchess Catherine to their award ceremony. They said in a statement on Monday night (23.01.17): "It is completely untrue that Bafta has suggested that our president attend on his own. "We would be delighted to welcome Their Royal Highnesses any year they are able to attend." The BAFTAs will take place on February 12. Actress Scarlett Johansson took the podium during the Women's March in Washington DC, to speak about females health issues. Declaring that it was time for even a private person like herself to get personal, the 32-year-old star delivered a passionate speech about the role Planned Parenthood has played in her life from her first visit at the age of 15. "'Have you been to the gynecologist yet?' That was the question my mom asked me at 15 when I informed her about a change that I noticed in my body. I'm not the type to divulge facts about my personal life, but I feel that in the face of this current political climate, it is vital that we all make it our mission to get really personal." "So, yes, at 15, I had been to a gynecologist. I was living in New York City and had visited a Planned Parenthood there. It provided a safe place where I could be treated with gentle guidance," the 'Lucy' star said. Johannson then made a public plea to the new US President Donald Trump, saying she would support him if he would support her, her daughter, her family and all American women. "President Trump, I did not vote for you. That said, I respect that you are our President-elect and I want to be able to support you." "First, I ask that you support me, support my sister, support my mother, support my best friend and all of our girlfriends, support the men and women here today that are anxiously awaiting to see how your next moves may drastically affect their lives," she said. The actress went on saying, "Support my daughter who may actually as a result of the appointments you have made grow up in a country that is moving backwards, not forwards, and who potentially may not have the right to make choices for her body and her future that your daughter Ivanka has been privileged to have." 47012909 Substantial regions of Africas Lake Chad Basin, particularly north eastern Nigeria, are at risk of facing famine at least two locations likely already experienced famine last year. Lake Chads shrinking, years of poor harvests and a limping economy have contributed to the crisis, but the primary reason is the violence and destruction caused by the terror group Boko Haram, its attacks on the civilian population, the armed conflict with the Nigerian and regional militaries, and the resulting destruction of civilian infrastructure. In Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgency has caused the deaths of some 20,000 people over the past seven years, abducted thousands from their schools and homes, and practically stopped all agricultural production. It is responsible for the current displacement of 1.63 million people from their homes within Nigeria, where hundreds of thousands are cut off from assistance. The conditions are worst in Nigerias states of Adamawa, Yobe and Borno, areas where Boko Haram is most active. According to a recent United Nations analysis, some 8.5 million people there are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. In Borno state alone, 3.2 million people out of a population of 5.5 million, are facing severe food insecurity. The UN estimated that 55,000 people faced famine in 2016 and that number could climb to 120,000 by the summer. Around 400,000 children under the age of five are severely malnourished and UNICEF fears that number will also rise to 450,000. To help mitigate this crisis of food insecurity, the United Nations has put out a call for international donations to meet the humanitarian needs of the people of north-eastern Nigeria. The 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan appeal for Nigeria, a fundraising effort coordinated by the United Nations, is for $1.05 billion dollars. However, if these urgent needs are not addressed quickly, the required budget will grow. Considering that the 2016 Nigeria appeal for 484 million dollars is less than half funded, the prospects for raising a sum of one billion dollars will be very challenging. The United States has already committed 92 million dollars in the first quarter of the 2017 Fiscal Year- bringing the total amount for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 to $291 million. This has become one of the worlds greatest overlooked crises. We call on other donors to move quickly in providing humanitarian funding for the millions of people in the region whose lives have been affected by Boko Haram violence and to avert likely famine. Conference and course provider IMI Europe Ltd has announced that technical conference programmes, the Inkjet Engineering and Inkjet Ink Development Conferences, will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland from March 14-16, 2017. The Inkjet Ink Development Conference will be held for the second time, with the addition of a new one-day Inkjet Engineering Conference. IMI Europe held its first Inkjet Ink Development Conference in April 2016, with technical talks aimed at an audience of developers. Building on last years successful new technical event, the conference returns with a fully curated programme of twenty high quality invited talks from industry and academia designed for inkjet ink development chemists. The conference with theme Materials, equipment and techniques for digital printing ink development and manufacturing will be held on March 15-16. Topics include a focus on inks for decorative and functional applications, as well as raw materials, analytical equipment and techniques. Presenting companies and institutions include Alchemie Technology, Amazon Filters, Armor Industrial Inks, ImageXpert, Malvern Instruments, Mexar, Promethean Particles, Ricoh Europe, SPG Prints, Technische Universitat Chemnitz, Tiger Coatings, University of Cambridge, University of Leeds, University of Manchester Graphene Centre and X-rite. Conference and course provider IMI Europe Ltd has announced that technical conference programmes, the Inkjet Engineering and Inkjet Ink Development Conferences, will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland from March 14-16, 2017. The Inkjet Ink Development Conference will be held for the second time, with the addition of a new one-day Inkjet Engineering Conference.# IMI Europe Inkjet Engineering Conference, the new one-day event with theme Components and techniques for digital printing system development and production will be held on March 14. The event comprises ten technical presentations by invited experts from industry and academia, aimed at inkjet system developers and integrators. The topics range from practical overviews of the challenges of inkjet integration to theoretical modelling of printhead behaviour and inkjet processes, as well as overviews of key inkjet system components and introductions to new technology. The presenters will be from Ebeam Technologies, Edale, Exergen, Global Graphics Software, Global Inkjet Systems, Inca Digital Printers, Meteor Inkjet, Pall Filters, Reden and University of Twente. We had excellent attendance and feedback from our first technical conference event last year in Lausanne, with conference attendees enjoying the mix of technical talks from industry and academia, comments Dr Tim Phillips, managing director IMI Europe. This year we aim to build on this success with the addition of the Inkjet Engineering Conference, continuing our mission to enable collaboration and learning within the inkjet industry. (RKS) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The Kappahl sustainable design contest, hosted by Kappahl, a leading fashion chain in the Nordic region, has kicked off. The design competition is being organised for the design students in fashion and textiles in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Poland. Sustainable design is a field with great potential for experimentation and generation of creative ideas. The contest winner will get an opportunity to put his/her idea into practice with Kappahls designers, and will also have the chance to go on a trip to one of Kappahls countries of production on the theme of sustainable production or participate in a month-long internship at Kappahls head office. The competition is scheduled to conclude on April 2, 2017. The competition is part of Kappahls work to develop new ways of working that encourage sustainable design and production, explained Maria Segergren, vice president of Assortment and Design and member of the Kappahl Group executive management. The jury for the contest includes fashion journalist Emilia de Poret; Kate Goldsworthy, senior research fellow at Textile Futures Research Centre, University of the Arts, London; Maria Segergren, Kappahls vice president of assortment and design; Karin Verdoes, KappAhls designer; Lina Nyqvist, KappAhls sustainability manager for assortment; and Eva Kindgren de Boer, sustainability manager for production. Two dresses designed by last years winner Lovisa Malmberg Gomis will be available in the Kappahls stores from week 16 as part of this years Celebrate collection. Gomis has designed these dresses with Kappahls design team on the theme of multifunctionality. Kappahl aims to create high-quality, environment-friendly and value-for-money fashion for people. Nearly 38 per cent of the companys products are sustainability-labelled, and it aspires to use only sustainably produced cotton by 2020. (RR) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India The upcoming Union Budget 2017-18 should focus on relaxing certain laws, providing improved infrastructure and training the skill inventory of the industry in order to continue the growth trajectory of the booming textile industry, said a top official from a leading textile company. Reduction in income tax is another thing that the sector demands. To sustain the growth trajectory of the booming textile industry, the budget should focus upon better infrastructure, education and skill-set training; along with a further relaxation of laws to give a boost to the textile industry. The future for the Indian textile industry looks promising, buoyed by both strong domestic consumption and demands from export, Lubeina Shahpurwala, partner, Mustang Socks told Fibre2Fashion. Shahpurwala also said that the already booming textile industry will get an extra push with a favourable budget. The upcoming Union Budget 2017-18 should focus on relaxing certain laws, providing improved infrastructure and training the skill inventory of the industry in order to continue the growth trajectory of the booming textile industry, said a top official from a leading textile company. Reduction in income tax is another thing that the sector demands.# With consumerism and disposable income on the rise, the retail sector has experienced a rapid growth in the past decade with the entry of several international players like Marks & Spencer, Guess and Next into the Indian market. This industry will continue to explode, and a favourable budget will give the industry an extra push, she added. From the textile and allied industries point of view, the government needs to boost domestic demand- reduction in income taxes would definitely help, MS Mohan, managing director of Resil Chemicals, exclusively told F2F via email. He has also urged the government to provide more incentives to upgrade machinery as well as preferential power rates for the industry in the upcoming Budget. The government also needs to give much better incentives to the textiles industry especially for machinery upgradation and preferential industrial power rates. Indian textile exports are facing increasing competition from Bangladesh and Vietnam, which have robust government policies supporting the local textile industry, added Mohan. Talking about last years budget, Shahpurwala said, The 2016 budget did address a few gaps of the textile industry through revision of taxation, infrastructure improvement and relaxation of relevant policies directly affecting the industry. The budget also saw the import duty on elastane printed fabrics, cotton and metallic yarn dyed blended fabrics, cotton and spandex, metallic blended fabrics, cotton and silk lining fabric reduced to zero provided these articles are imported to manufacture garments for exports. The industry, second only after agriculture, provides employment to more than 100 million people directly and indirectly out of which most of them are uneducated and work on a daily wage basis. Contributing to more than 11 per cent of the total exports from the country, the textile industry is estimated to reach $223 billion in the year 2021. The textile industry also contributes to 5 per cent of Indias GDP and is expected to contribute even more in the near future, she noted. (KD) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India What was the last gift you received? What was the last gift you received? If youre stuck in the elevator and forced to listen to a song, which one would it be? If you could insure a body part which one would it be? An Oscar-winning film you wish you were part of... Ah! First Id buy a Bentley coupe and maybe a beautiful house in the south of France. After buying the house, the $10 million would run out... so back to work! If you win a lottery ticket that brings you $10 million what would you do? Whats that one fashion trend you wouldnt be caught dead in? My family to remain happy and safe forever. That cruelty to animals be abolished. The ability to eat as much pizza and ice-cream as I want to, without getting fat. If a genie grants you three wishes, what would you ask for? A knife, a lighter, a jacket, a generator run on solar power and my iPad. (Laughs) Oh, and my husband... does that count? Hes my most precious thing. My husband, my brother, my dogs, my phone and my skin care regime. Flying! Id like to fly off wherever I want. If you could possess one superpower, which one would it be? If you could possess one superpower, which one would it be? Cake Wars or Cupcake Wars (Food Network). It would be nice to be in a show that involves cupcakes and then I can eat them too. I love cakes. Im a good cook. I love baking. Which reality show you believe you would definitely win? People who turn up late and my feet being dirty. Which are the three top songs in your current playlist? Which are the three top songs in your current playlist? Los Angeles in the 50s because of the clothes, cars and etiquette. If you could time travel, which era and city would you like to visit? The moment I decided to come to India to be on Bigg Boss Season 5. What would you dub as the turning point in your life? Which Hindi film actor did you have a crush on? Which Hindi film actor did you have a crush on? My best friend was Sheila. She was the closest to me while growing up. It was a typical Punjabi household where we ate desi khana every day of the week. We used to visit the Gurdwara every Sunday. Ours was a closely-knit and loving family. I was born in Canada. I was a tomboy and used to play a lot of sports. Talk a little about your childhood. How were you as a kid? Im sipping tea in Sunny Leone s swanky office in Juhu. Shes buzzing around finishing her many commitments. Her husband Daniel Weber, who doubles up as her manager, tells her that its time for our interview. She waltzes in like sunshine and instantly warms up the room with her bright smile. Its been five days since weve shifted to this office and I havent even turned the television on, she complains about being so consumed in setting up her new zone. A big hug later, she settles on the chair facing me. Shes wearing a simple pink shirt over a blue top paired with denims. With minimal make-up, she looks way younger than her years. I tell her that and she smiles a bit more... As we chat I discover her other self, the lesser known Karenjit Kaur Vohra... What does unconditional love mean to you? Respect and being there for each other unconditionally through good times and bad. Does media scrutiny makes it difficult for relationships to sustain in the industry? Not if youre in a secure relationship. If youre a star, you get a lot of attention. The person youre with needs to be secure. (Laughs) Its cute when Daniel gets hit upon by girls. I find it awesome. Arent there moments of insecurity ever? Theres a difference between healthy jealousy and insecurity. Guys of all ages hit on you. How does Daniel handle it? Im sure he has had moments when he felt insecure. Even if he did feel like that Id be like are you serious? What are you thinking? It turns into one of those conversations. Were best friends. We talk all day long. Jealousy is never an issue between us. Even if it is, we voice it out and get it out there. More than anything, its about respect. I respect him. and he respects me. Id never do anything to hurt him. Above all, my husband is so good-looking. Its hard to find someone better than him. Do you remember the first time you met Daniel? Yes, I do. It was in 2008 in Las Vegas through one of Daniels band mates. It was a simple exchange of hellos. He didnt talk much. I thought wow this guy doesnt talk much. I left that night and he showed up the next day. (Smiles) Daniel tells me that for him it was love at first sight. And for you? He lived in New York and I in Los Angeles. So I thought our relationship wouldnt go anywhere. He had to work hard for it. Id be sitting with people and a random person would give me a dozen roses or a box of chocolates. Id go home and see a bouquet of flowers waiting for me. He courted me like that for six weeks! So you finally relented? We had mutual friends who convinced me to go on a date with him. I thought Id go for dinner and forget about it. But then the complete opposite happened. We found that we were similar in our family values, in the way weve been raised. His mother is from Israel and father from Romania. The Jewish culture is similar to our Indian culture. Their family units are also as close and loving. I found the similar attitudes beautiful. We spent three hours in that restaurant talking. The restaurant just disappeared around us. We didnt order food; we just ended up drinking wine and talking. Whats your equation with Daniels family? Im so lucky to have such in-laws. Theyre the nicest and sweetest people. Ive lost my parents so Daniels parents fill that void. Theyre so caring. When did you guys finally decide to get married? He made me wait for three years thats a long time in a girls world, when you both know that you want to get married to each other. How did he propose? I was looking for a jewellery box. By the way, no man had ever bought me jewellery before. Daniel was the first one. He got me this lovely mahogany jewellery box. But the ring was in his pocket. We were at home. It was nice and quiet with just our dogs and us. Thats when he proposed. It was cute. Did he go down on his knees? (Bursts out laughing) No, we were in bed. With husband Daniel Weber Whats your idea of a perfect evening? Dinner good food, good wine and good conversation. Should men always foot the bill during a date? No, they shouldnt. But after being with Daniel I learnt what it feels for a woman to be pampered by her man. Before that, I didnt have anyone like that in my life. It was always like, okay Ill pay half, you pay half. I had no issues doing it but Daniel has till date never let me pay the bill ever. He feels insulted if I pay. His father is like that and he has learnt that from him. His father worships his wife. Daniel too has learnt to be a perfect gentleman. Im lucky to have these two men in my life who know how to treat a woman. What is that one thing that you find special about Daniel? Hes supportive, loving and caring. It was the first time someone wanted to take care of me. Im not talking financially. I mean emotionally. When my mother died in 2008, he didnt run away. He was there when I was crying and upset. He was the one who was there with me at probably the worst time of my life. I lost my father soon after that. Daniel is strong-willed, generous I could go on... Whats a deal breaker for you in a relationship? Someone who doesnt love his family. You get so much attention from men. How do you deal with it? It has been a long time since Ive been hit on. Usually, I cant tell if someone is hitting on me. Even when I was single my reaction used to depend on the guy on how cute he was. I remember once a teenager hit on me in the US. It was sweet. Ive never been mean to anyone. I told him its charming but Im not interested. Five things we dont know about Sunny Leone... I love my family, my dogs. Im very sensitive. I feel emotionally responsible for other peoples happiness. Id do anything for a friend. If you were to write your autobiography, what would you name it? Karenjit. Whats the biggest lesson life has taught you? Family comes first. Whats your mantra for success? Just keep working. Be professional and always have a smile on your face. Whats your biggest regret in life? Not getting home fast enough when my mother was sick and dying. If heaven exists what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly gates? What are you standing there for? Your parents are waiting for you. Hurry up and go see them. What song would you wish to be played at your funeral? Shake it off by Taylor Swift. BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday slammed Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan, even comparing him to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, after the death of a person at the Vadodara railway station during the promotional tour of the actor's movie Raees. One man - social activist Farid Khan Pathan of Hatikhana area of Vadodara - died, and two others got injured as the crowd went berserk to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh at the railway station. The actor was en route from Mumbai to Delhi on board the August Kranti Rajdhani Express. Commenting on the incident, Vijayvargiya on Tuesday told reporters: "If Dawood Ibrahim comes on street, there would be a crowd to see him ... You can't gauge the popularity on the basis of crowd. I will not comment further... People have understood what it means." Not Responsible For Problem Between Aishwarya & Jaya: Amar Singh Vijayvargiya also gave the incident a political twist when on Tuesday, he tweeted an image reading: "If one is 'Kaabil', even a 'chaiwalah' can become a Prime Minister. Otherwise even a 'Raees' born with a silver spoon wears torn clothes." On January 21, Vijayvargiya tweeted: "Now it's the turn of the country's 'Kaabil' citizens. No 'Raees' can take away merit from the 'Kaabil'." "The Raees that couldn't be of its own country is of no good, and we should all support a 'Kaabil' patriot." Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States and the very next day, millions of women across the American cities took to the streets protesting against Donald Trump for his comments against women which was leaked (in October) through an audio tape from 2005, in which he boasts about grabbing women by their private parts without their consent. Donald Trump Will Be The Greatest US President Ever! Says Ram Gopal Varma Though majority of American women voted for Trump during the election, the ones who didn't vote for him, feel that the country is in the wrong hands and took to the streets sending a warning to the President-that he needs to tone down his voice against women and must maintain equality throughout his tenure. Many Hollywood celebrities were also present at the march and our very own Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra had to be there, but due to the shoot of Quantico she missed out on being a part of the Women's March. However, she took to Twitter and showed her support to the march by saying, "So proud of all my sisters and the men that are at the #WomensMarch I'm so upset I couldn't go. #girllove #womensrightsarehumanrights." Check out the tweets here! Celebrated Hollywood actor of Indian origin, Dev Patel states that he doesn't feel like a hero and particularly a Bollywood hero after he finished filming his upcoming film titled Lion. The actor said that he had to travel to a lot of places in India, which helped him reconnect with his roots. He also understood the value of human emotions and culture here. And this made him feel more like an ordinary human and not a hero. "I wrote a piece in my diary about the word hero, because you know the Bollywood stars when they are in public in India people call them hero, so they would call out hero to me, and I'm like, I wrote this thing in my diary about feeling less like a hero than ever before," Said Dev in a statement. Dev stated that sometimes he also felt odd and out of place when people in India addressed him as a hero while shooting for the film. The actor who also had to visit numerous orphanages in India, while preparing for the role of Saroo Brierley, the Indian boy who gets lost at a train station and later gets adopted by an Australian family He also praised the child actor Sunny Pawar who has featured in most of the part in the movie. "Most of the screen time is Sunny. He leads for over an hour. I guess for marketing purposes I'm on the posters. But that's no detriment to him because he is amazing. An impossible act to follow actually." Stated Dev. The film is scheduled for release on February 24 in India. Iraqi forces have announced significant progress in liberating eastern Mosul from the terrorists of the Islamic State. Brett McGurk, U.S. Special Envoy to the global coalition fighting ISIL congratulated the Iraqis. He noted there is still fighting ahead in Mosul, but the terrorists are being routed as the Iraqi forces have the people on their side. One important step in that rout was the liberation of Mosul University -- once one of the largest institutions of higher learning in the Middle East -- captured by ISIL in 2014. Speaking from Baghdad, U.S. Airforce Colonel John Dorrian, spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said freeing the university from the Islamic state was key for a variety of reasons: as a landmark educational institution, it is of great cultural consequence to the citizens of Mosul; and its recapture from Islamic State fighters who fought hard to retain it, denied the terrorists a significant base for operations and research. As the Iraqi Security Forces combed the university buildings, they found laboratories and workshops the enemy is suspected to have used to manufacture machine-grade weapons and facilities, indicating the university was a significant command and control node, said Colonel Dorrian. There is evidence the enemy also trained their fighters in the university. He added that Daesh left behind booby traps and set fire to several facilities, in a continuation of the despicable tactics we've seen from these terrorists throughout the campaign. Now, however, the Iraqi flag flies over the campus, a potent symbol of a Daesh defeat, as Iraqi forces, with continuing help from the U.S.-led coalition, start operations to liberate west Mosul, the last densely populated urban area under Islamic State control. Colonel Dorrian emphasized the work of liberating west Mosul will be slow, tedious and dangerous for the Iraqi forces. They have to clear buildingsfrom rooftop level all the way through every room, every closet, every area around there all the way down into basements and into tunnelsBut this is something that now the Iraqis are certainly developing plenty of tactics to deal with. Colonel Dorrian said, We absolutely expect our partners, the Iraqis, to be successful in liberating [west Mosul]. We're going to hammer the enemy with our air and artillery strikes to help facilitate their advance and our advisers will be there to support them. Renowned Chinese producer, action choreographer, and director, Stanley Tong, who also helmed the much anticipated Indo-China film venture titled Kung Fu Yoga, stated that working with iconic movie star Jackie Chan was quite a difficult task. Apart from Jackie Chan the film also stars prominent Indian actors like Sonu Sood and Disha Patani in major roles. "It is not easy to work with Jackie Chan as he always wants to do something different in each of his films. At times, you go run out of ideas," Tong said during a press conference. "In last 25 years, every time I had to come with a new action sequence and that quite tough. Since there are many car chasing scenes had happened in past, we wanted to try something new and different; there came the idea of shooting with a lion inside the car," said the director. The story of the movie trails back to the historical significance regarding India's lost Magadha treasure in Tibet. According to the director, he loved and enjoyed working on this project due to its significant historical references. The film has been shot in some many exotic locations in India and China. It was also shot in some parts of Iceland and Dubai. Shooting in India, Tong said: "I love India, I came to India for the first time in 1993. That time, I was shooting in Hampi Karnataka and this time during the shoot of Kung Fu Yoga I explored various parts of Rajasthan." "I loved the culture and its beautiful architectures and history. In fact, the film is based on a historical story so I had to do some research work on that," Tong added. The film is all set to release in China on 28th January ahead of India release, which is February 3. Copenhagen, 2017-01-23 16:30 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carlsberg Group today announces that Philip A. Hodges will join Carlsberg Group as EVP Supply Chain and member of the Group's Executive Committee (ExCom) from 1 February 2017, replacing Peter Ernsting who left the company at the end of last year.Phil brings extensive experience in supply chain and finance from various international positions. He last served as Senior Vice President for Integrated Supply Chain Europe at the global food and beverage company, Mondelez. Previously, Phil has held numerous senior executive and management roles in supply chain, general management, finance and strategy in various countries, amongst them the US, UK, Italy and Singapore. Carlsberg Group CEO, Cees 't Hart says:"Philip A. Hodges brings a wealth of international experience from very senior supply chain roles at reputable, global companies, and I am sure he will add significant value and new insights to the Group."Philip A. Hodges says: "Carlsberg is a fantastic company with a rich heritage, iconic brands and strong potential. The Carlsberg people have been great and very welcoming. They have embarked on an important journey of integrating all Supply Chain functions into a truly End to End approach aimed at optimising performance. I look forward to joining the team and together taking that process to the next level."Phil holds a BSc in Management Science and Geology from Keele University (UK), and he started his professional career at Citigroup Investment Banking in 1987. He will be based in Ziegelbrucke, Switzerland.ContactsMedia Relations: Kasper Elbjrn +45 4179 12 16Investor Relations: Peter Kondrup +45 3327 1221Iben Steiness +45 3327 1232For more news sign up on www.carlsberggroup.com or follow @CarlsbergGroup on Twitter.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=611867 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. Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S.: WHAT: 2016 was a judicial, legislative and regulatory roller coaster for labor and employment issues. What implications will these regulations have moving forward especially under the new administration? Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. has issued a white paper discussing important labor and employment developments in 2016 at the White House, the Supreme Court, the federal agencies, and in federal and state legislatures. Led by attorney and legal analyst Pamela Wolf, the Employment Law Daily's team of experts highlights the previous year's most noteworthy developments in the labor and employment industry, including: In November, the Department of Labor's controversial overtime rule was blocked by a federal court in Texas. The DOL has appealed the ruling, which will be reviewed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on an expedited basis. The Seventh Circuit may become the first federal appeals court to declare that Title VII protects against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. The battle over whether Title VII's prohibition on discrimination based on sex includes sexual orientation has been raging for years, and has been more recently extended to whether it also includes gender identity. Legislative gridlock on the federal level again prompted states to take the lead on worker protections such minimum wage increases, paid leave, fair workplace scheduling, and medical and recreational marijuana laws. Wolf will also discuss the implications of 2016's significant federal and state labor and employment developments on January 25th at 2:00pm EST during the Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. What Are the Experts Saying (WATES) webinar. To register for the webinar, visit: https://lrus.wolterskluwer.com/events/webinars/wates. WHO: Pamela Wolf, J.D., Senior Labor and Employment Law Analyst, Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. Employment Law Daily from Wolters Kluwer delivers authoritative content from attorney experts on breaking court decisions and legislative developments each and every day. Employment Law Daily covers the most current federal and state court decisions with links to full text from Supreme Courts, Appellate Courts and District Courts. For more information, visit: www.employmentlawdaily.com. CONTACT: To arrange interviews with Pamela Wolf or other labor and employment experts from Employment Law Daily on this or any other legal topics, please contact: Media Linda Gharib Director, Communications Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. Tel: +1 (646) 887-7962 Email: linda.gharib@wolterskluwer.com About Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. is a part of Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX:WKL), a global leader in professional information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2015 annual revenues of 4.2 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. For more information about Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S., visit www.WoltersKluwerLR.com, follow us onFacebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006044/en/ Contacts: Wolters Kluwer Legal Regulatory U.S. Linda Gharib, +1-646-887-7962 Director, Communications linda.gharib@wolterskluwer.com Regulatory News: United Company RUSAL Plc (Paris:RUSAL) (Paris:RUAL): Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. UNITED COMPANY RUSAL PLC (Incorporated under the laws of Jersey with limited liability) (Stock Code: 486) CONTINUING CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS REPAIR SERVICES Reference is made to the announcement of the Company dated 2 July 2015 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts. The Company announces that members of the Group entered into contracts additional agreements with associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to the members of the Group. THE REPAIR SERVICES CONTRACTS Reference is made to the announcement of the Company dated 2 July 2015 in relation to the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts. The Company announces that members of the Group entered into contracts additional agreements with associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to the members of the Group (the "Repair Services Contracts"), details of which are set out below. No. Date of contract/ additional agreement Customer (member of the Group) Contractor (associate of En+) Term of contract/ additional agreement Repair services Estimated consideration payable for the year ending 31 December 2017 excluding VAT (USD) Payment terms 1. Contract dated 23 January 2017 JSC RUSAL Achinsk Bratskenergoremont Up to 31 December 2017, may be extended by an addendum Maintenance services of CHP equipment 5,795,899 (Note 1) A prepayment of 50% of the consideration shall be paid according to the monthly financial schedule set out in the contract until the 5th day of the month, the remaining 50% to be paid within 10 calendar days after receiving of the original invoice 2. Additional agreement dated 28 December 2016, which is an additional agreement to the contract dated 4 July 2016 JSC RUSAL Achinsk Bratskenergoremont Up to 30 June 2017 Capital repair of boiler 536,421 A prepayment of 50% of the consideration shall be paid according to the monthly financial schedule set out in the contract until the 5th day of the month, the remaining 50% to be paid within 10 calendar days after receiving of the original invoice 3. Contract dated 28 December 2016 JSC RUSAL Achinsk Bratskenergoremont Up to 31 December 2017 Technological cleaning of boiler 150,539 Within 15 calendar days after receipt of the original invoice 4. Contract dated 23 January 2017 JSC RUSAL Achinsk Bratskenergoremont Up to 30 June 2017 Extra work during the overhaul of boiler 660,044 A prepayment of 50% of the consideration shall be paid according to the monthly financial schedule set out in the contract until the 5th day of the month, the remaining 50% to be paid within 10 calendar days after receiving of the original invoice 5. Contract dated 10 January 2017 Open Joint-Stock Company "RUSAL Bratsk Aluminium Smelter" Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" Up to 31 December 2017 Production equipment maintenance and repair works 1,303,891 (Note 2) Within 40 calendar days after the signing of the Performed Works Certificate based n the invoice 6. Contract dated 10 January 2017 Limited Liability Company "Russian Engineering Company Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" Up to 31 December 2017 Production equipment maintenance and repair works 627,638 (Note 3) Within 40 Calendar days after the signing of the Performed Works Certificate based on the invoice Total estimated consideration payable for the year 2017 9,074,432 Notes: 1. The estimated consideration payable is calculated on the basis of labour cost which is estimated at USD8.48 per hour (excluding VAT). 2. The estimated consideration payable is calculated on the basis of labour cost which ranges from USD3.38 to USD3.99 per hour (excluding VAT). 3. The estimated consideration payable is calculated on the basis of labour cost which ranges from USD3.38 to USD3.99 per hour (excluding VAT). The consideration under the Repair Services Contracts is to be paid in cash via wire transfer or set-off. THE ANNUAL AGGREGATE TRANSACTION AMOUNT The contract price payable under the Repair Services Contracts has been determined with reference to the market price and on terms no less favourable than those prevailing in the Russian market for repair services of the same type and quality and those offered by the associates of En+ to independent third parties. The basis of calculation of payments under the Repair Services Contracts is the price of contract offered by the associates of En+ which is based on the estimated costs (including labour costs and the necessary materials) for the relevant repair works. The Company invited several organizations to take part in the tender in relation to the required repair services and chose the contractor offering the best terms and conditions (taking into account the price, quality offered by the contractor and availability of professionals with the required skill and experience) and then entered into the contract/additional agreement with the chosen contractor. Based on the terms of the Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts, the annual aggregate transaction amount that is payable by the Group to the associates of En+ for the financial year ending 31 December 2017 is estimated to be approximately USD9.088 million. The annual aggregate transaction amount is estimated by the Directors based on the amount of repair services to be received and the contract price. THE AGGREGATION APPROACH Pursuant to Rule 14A.81 of the Listing Rules, the continuing connected transactions contemplated under the Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts should be aggregated, as they were entered into by the Group with the associates of the same group of connected persons who are parties connected or otherwise associated with one another, and the subject matter of each of the contracts relates to the receipt of repair and maintenance services by members of the Group. REASONS FOR AND BENEFITS OF THE TRANSACTIONS The Directors consider that the Repair Services Contracts are for the benefit of the Company, as the contractor offered a competitive price. The Directors (including the independent non-executive Directors) consider that the Repair Services Contracts have been negotiated on an arm's length basis and on normal commercial terms which are fair and reasonable and the transactions contemplated under the Repair Services Contracts are in the ordinary and usual course of business of the Group and in the interests of the Company and its shareholders as a whole. None of the Directors has a material interest in the transactions contemplated under the Repair Services Contracts, save for Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, who are directors of En+, being the holding company of each of Bratskenergoremont and Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont". Mr. Deripaska is also indirectly interested in more than 50% of the issued share capital of En+. Accordingly, Mr. Deripaska, Mr. Maxim Sokov, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya and Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova did not vote on the Board resolution approving the Repair Services Contracts. LISTING RULES IMPLICATIONS Each of Bratskenergoremont and Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" is directly or indirectly held by En+ as to more than 30% of the issued share capital and is therefore an associate of En+ which is a substantial shareholder of the Company and thus is a connected person of the Company under the Listing Rules. The estimated annual aggregate transaction amount of the continuing connected transactions under the Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts for the financial year ending 31 December 2017 is more than 0.1% but less than 5% under the applicable percentage ratios. Accordingly, pursuant to Rule 14A.76 of the Listing Rules, the transactions contemplated under these contracts are only subject to the announcement requirements set out in Rules 14A.35 and 14A.68, the annual review requirements set out in Rules 14A.49, 14A.55 to 14A.59, 14A.71 and 14A.72 and the requirements set out in Rules 14A.34 and 14A.50 to 14A.54 of the Listing Rules. These transactions are exempt from the circular and the independent shareholders' approval requirements under Chapter 14A of the Listing Rules. Details of the Repair Services Contracts and the Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts will be included in the next annual report and accounts of the Company in accordance with Rule 14A.71 of the Listing Rules where appropriate. PRINCIPAL BUSINESS ACTIVITIES The Company is principally engaged in the production and sale of aluminium, including alloys and value-added products, and alumina. Bratskenergoremont is principally engaged in activities for supporting of operability of the equipment, production of electric installation, all-construction works and others. Joint-Stock Company "Irkutskenergoremont" is principally engaged in activities for supporting of operability of thermal power plants. DEFINITIONS In this announcement, the following expressions have the following meanings, unless the context otherwise requires: "associate(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Board" the board of Directors. "Company" United Company RUSAL Plc, a limited liability company incorporated in Jersey, the shares of which are listed on the main board of the Stock Exchange. "connected person(s)" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "continuing connected transactions" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "Director(s)" the director(s) of the Company. "En+" En+ Group Limited, a company incorporated in Jersey, a substantial shareholder of the Company. "Group" the Company and its subsidiaries. "Listing Rules" the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange. "Mr. Deripaska" Mr. Oleg Deripaska, an executive Director. "percentage ratios" the percentage ratios under Rule 14.07 of the Listing Rules. "Previously Disclosed Repair Services Contracts" the repair services contracts between members of the Group and associates of En+, pursuant to which the associates of En+ agreed to provide repair services to members of the Group during the year 2017, as disclosed in the announcement of the Company dated 2 July 2015. "Stock Exchange" The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited. "substantial shareholder" has the same meaning ascribed thereto under the Listing Rules. "USD" United States dollars, the lawful currency of the United States of America. "VAT" value added tax. By Order of the Board of Directors of United Company RUSAL Plc Aby Wong Po Ying Company Secretary 24 January 2017 As at the date of this announcement, the executive Directors are Mr. Oleg Deripaska, Mr. Vladislav Soloviev and Mr. Siegfried Wolf, the non-executive Directors are Mr. Maxim Sokov, Mr. Dmitry Afanasiev, Mr. Ivan Glasenberg, Mr. Maksim Goldman, Ms. Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Mr. Daniel Lesin Wolfe, Ms. Olga Mashkovskaya, Ms. Ekaterina Nikitina and Mr. Marco Musetti, and the independent non-executive Directors are Mr. Matthias Warnig (Chairman), Mr. Philip Lader, Dr. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Mr. Mark Garber, Mr. Dmitry Vasiliev and Mr. Bernard Zonneveld. All announcements and press releases published by the Company are available on its website under the links http://www.rusal.ru/en/investors/hkse/http://rusal.ru/investors/info/moex/ and http://www.rusal.ru/en/press-center/press-releases.aspx , respectively. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123005691/en/ Contacts: United Company RUSAL Plc An International coalition announced today that a lawsuit was filed in Dutch Court yesterday on behalf of institutional investors who suffered billions of dollars in losses in their investments in Petroleo Brasiliero SA ("Petrobras"). Seeking declaratory relief as a result of the alleged corruption of the company and its executives, the coalition represents investors who purchased Petrobras securities on the BM&FBOVESPA exchange in Brazil and other securities purchased via transactions outside of, and not covered by, litigation in the United States. The damaged investor group believes the Netherlands is the optimal jurisdiction for pursuing legal action, as this is where Petrobras Global Finance B.V. and several other Petrobras entities and divisions are domiciled. In addition, the Dutch legal system has an established global settlement precedent for international investors who seek compensation pursuant to damages caused by fraud and violations of international securities laws. The 172-page Writ alleges that when years of complex fraud and bribery schemes orchestrated by management and officials of Petrobras were finally revealed to the public in 2014, investors lost billions of dollars, euros and Brazilian reals, resulting from significant asset write-downs and precipitous declines in Petrobras share prices. The Writ has been filed by the Dutch based Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation ("Foundation") represented by a coalition of Dutch, US, Brazilian and UK law firms and supported by a large group of international investors and International Securities Associations and Foundations Management Company Ltd. ("ISAF"). The Foundation is a not for profit entity acting on behalf of a class of damaged Petrobras investors. The Foundation is led by highly experienced and independent board members, including: Mr. H. Th. Bouma (Chairman), a former law partner at Pels Rijcken Droogleever Fortuijn and former deputy judge at the Court of Appeal in The Hague; Mr. A.H. Korthals, former Defense Secretary of the Dutch government and former Justice Secretary of the Dutch government; Mr. C.J. Vriesman, former acting Mayor of the municipality of Den Helder and former Director General for the National Forest Service and the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. More information about the Foundation's board and Supervisory Board can be found on the Foundation website (http://www.pbcompensation.com/). Goals of the Legal Action How to Recover Losses The litigation in the Netherlands is supported and financed by ISAF and provides a vehicle for damaged investors to litigate for compensation and to establish a binding settlement for the securities involved in the litigation. Eligible Petrobras investors are participating on a "success fee only" basis, with no risk or upfront cost. The Foundation invited Petrobras et al to discuss an equitable resolution for the damage caused to investors represented by the Foundation. To date, that invitation has not been accepted, hence litigation has now commenced. Jurisdiction The Netherlands is the Optimal Jurisdiction for suing Petrobras in this case Via the Foundation, Dutch and International investors are pursuing legal action in The Netherlands, where Petrobras Global Finance B.V. and several other Petrobras entities and divisions are domiciled. Furthermore, the effects of the alleged Fraud extended into The Netherlands. The Foundation litigation and settlement efforts cover the principal Petrobras equity securities traded on the BM&FBOVESPA in Sao Paolo and via linked markets such as Latibex on Bolsa De Madrid, together with certain Euro, Sterling and USD denominated bonds issued via Petrobras Global Finance B.V. The coalition's decision to pursue litigation in The Netherlands, also considers the fact that if the parties decide to settle during the litigation, the Dutch legal system has an established global settlement precedent for international investors who seek compensation caused by fraud and violations of international securities laws. United States Securities Lawsuits The lawsuits filed in the US on behalf of investors cover losses in American Depository Shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange and certain US dollar denominated bonds. That means investor losses stemming from shares that traded on the BM&FBOVESPA and certain bonds, including Euro denominated bonds, are not included in the US class action and opt-out lawsuits. Brazil Arbitration ISAF, in conjunction with a coalition of international and cross-jurisdictional law firms, has extensively researched the prospect of initiating arbitration between damaged investors and Petrobras before the Market Arbitration Chamber of the BM&FBOVESPA exchange in Brazil. This analysis, coupled with analysis executed by institutional investors independent of ISAF, leads to the conclusion that the Dutch litigation strategy organized by the Foundation and ISAF is the optimal and most likely route to a meaningful recovery for damaged investors. About the Shareholder Foundation Foundation Organizers. Stichting Petrobras Compensation Foundation, a Netherlands-based foundation that acts on behalf of damaged Petrobras investors, has appointed ISAF to interact with investors, law firms, service providers, and media and to undertake all administrative tasks, including the collection of client trading data, loss calculations, loss certification, and all aspects of documentation handling. In addition, ISAF will finance all litigation costs, including legal fees, experts' fees, processing, data collection, administration, and claims administration, including potential payout administration. Law Firms. Lemstra Van der Korst N.V., a leading Dutch litigation and class action law firm acts on behalf of the Foundation and is consulting with securities litigation firms, Motley Rice and Lowey Dannenberg Cohen Hart and Withers LLP and Brazilian law firms. Claims Analysis and Processing. Battea Class Action Services, LLC, an international leader in the class action securities claims filing space, has been retained to collect client data and process and validate investor loss calculations. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170123006220/en/ Contacts: ISAF Adam Foulke, +1 203-252-3378 media@isafpetrobras.com ASCHHEIM, Germany and LONDON, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Money Operators with over 400 million users in the emerging markets can now launch mobile-to-mobile remittance services in Europe under their brand. TransferTo, leading cross-border B2B mobile payments network, and Wirecard, Europe's leading specialist for payment processing and issuing services have teamed up to offer a white-label mobile-to-mobile remittance service. By leveraging Wirecard and TransferTo expertise, Mobile Money Operators can offer a remittance service under their trusted and recognized brand. This solution allows the migrant diaspora in Europe to send money home that is as simple as sending a text message, and provides them the convenience of an immediate mobile-to-mobile transaction. Received funds are secured in the Mobile Money Account of the beneficiaries and can then be cashed out at any agent or used on the same phone to pay bills and merchants. The end-to-end solution from Wirecard and TransferTo will allow Mobile Money Operators to brand the service and deploy it quickly, without needing to setup business operations in Europe. Operators also gain a competitive advantage by expanding their brand and services to attract new customers. By tapping Wirecard and TransferTo, Mobile Money Operators from developing countries can focus on creating a frictionless experience for migrant workers to send money home. Customer stickiness will also improve as migrant workers trust a familiar brand from home and families receiving money will use their mobile wallets more actively. Mobile Money plays a key role in financial inclusion for 2 billion people in developing countries who lack bank accounts and credit cards . By using their mobile phones to send money home, migrant workers avoid the hassle of travelling to a shop or a bank and filling in paperwork. The mobile transfers are immediate and secure. Eric Barbier, CEO of TransferTo, says, "This is the quickest way for our Mobile Money partners to launch their brands into Europe and serve both the migrant workers sending money home and their families receiving it. We're extremely pleased to be helping Mobile Money Operators harness new avenues to reach customers across borders and deliver a fully branded experience to grow their business." Markus Braun, CEO at Wirecard says, "We partnered with TransferTo for their extensive network reach across hundreds of Mobile Money Operators and their expertise in the emerging markets. Operators choosing to launch their own branded solution in Europe will have the ease of Wirecard providing the end-to-end payment solution with all requisite licenses in Europe, magnified with the strength of TransferTo's cross-border mobile payments network. About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on twitter @wirecard. About TransferTo: TransferTo is a cross-border mobile payments network, interconnecting financial institutions and mobile operators globally. Thousands of leading companies, including Vodafone's M-Pesa, Tigo Money, Orange, Western Union, PayPal and Xoom rely on TransferTo's Mobile Money and Airtime Hub. TransferTo provides its partners with a global compliance framework for all relevant regulatory requirements, enabling thousands of businesses in more than 100 countries to offer real-time Mobile Money and Airtime transfer services to their customers. In 2016 alone, TransferTo Mobile Money and Airtime Hub processed more than 60 million transactions. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, TransferTo links more than 4.5 billion mobile users, through partnerships with more than 500 mobile operators. Its investors include Ingenico. For more information, please visit: https://www.transfer-to.com/ Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49(0)89-4424-1363 E-Mail: jana.tilz@wirecard.com SOLNA, Sweden, Jan 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In cooperation with the Municipality of Vasteras, NCC has planned and designed the new Logarang swim center in Vasteras and has now signed an agreement to also execute the construction contract for the swimming complex. The total order value is SEK 340 million. "We are pleased to be carrying out this project in partnership with NCC, which is a leader in Sweden in the construction of swim and leisure centers," says Thomas Pennanen, representative at the City of Vasteras. The project is being carried out in partnering form, meaning that NCC and the City of Vasteras have jointly produced system documents, the project budget and detail design plans for the new center. The actual construction phase will commence shortly. The new Logarang swim center will include a 50 x 25-meter swimming pool with competition and practice lanes as well as a 25 x 12.5-meter diving pool with a depth of four meters. The facility will also house a swimming pool for teaching purposes, a children's pool and a gym. In addition, the center will feature a cafeteria/restaurant and function rooms. "NCC has solid experience of this type of partnering project. The swim center project is characterized by a high degree of complexity involving many players and in this context, a partnering model is by far the best way to proceed," says Henrik Landelius, head of NCC Building Sweden. The new center is expected to be ready for inauguration in spring 2019. The order will be registered during the first quarter of 2017 in the Building business area. For further information, please contact: Johan Karlsson, Business Manager, NCC Building, Tel: +46-70-514-74-36 Anna Trane, Head of Corporate Media Relations, NCC, Tel: +46-70-884-74-69 NCC's media line Tel: +46-8-585-519-00 E-mail: press@ncc.se This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/ncc/r/ncc-signs-agreement-for-the-construction-of-logarang-swim-center-in-vasteras--sweden,c2170663 The following files are available for download: STOCKHOLM, Jan 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SAS has signed an agreement for the sale of Cimber A/S to CityJet and sale of 11 CRJ900 aircraft. The divestment is part of SAS's strategy to use strategic partners, so-called wet lease, in smaller traffic flows and regional traffic. When the transaction is completed as planned on January 31, 2017, CityJet will place an order for up to ten completely new CRJ900s, which will be used in wet lease production for SAS. Cimber is a wholly owned Danish regional airline that SAS acquired in February 2015 with the aim of achieving more focused and flexible regional production. Cimber has operated regional flights on behalf of SAS from the base in Copenhagen using SAS-owned CRJ900s. The divestment of Cimber is part of the simplification of the SAS production platform that is aimed at larger traffic flows with a more uniform aircraft fleet, while smaller traffic flows are managed by partners. CityJet is one of SAS's strategic partners and already operates eight CRJ900s for SAS through wet lease cooperation. "The divestment of Cimber is in line with our strategy to simplify and focus on SAS's own production platform. Thanks to synergies between CityJet and Cimber, the production cost for Cimber production will be further reduced, creating the conditions to maintain and develop regional routes for the benefit of SAS customers," says Rickard Gustafson, SAS's President and CEO. SAS has signed a new six-year wet lease agreement and will extend the current wet lease agreement by a further three years. In total, SAS will have contracted 22 CRJ900 aircraft from CityJet with this transaction. "This new SAS contract and growth delivered by the acquisition of Cimber Airways advances CityJet's stated strategy of building its role as a provider of regional jet capacity to airlines across Europe and follows our successful inauguration of services on behalf of SAS in March 2016. We welcome the new staff members of Cimber Airways into the CityJet family, joining the 870 current employees, which already include almost 200 based in the Nordic region," says Pat Byrne, CityJet's Executive Chairman. SAS' eleven CRJ900 will be sold during the period from February 2017 till the middle of 2017. In conjunction with the sale, an assessment of the maintenance status of the aircraft will be made, which will be recognized as a capital gain or loss of the aircraft. CityJet will take delivery of the ten new CRJ900s from the second half of 2017 through the beginning of 2018, which will replace the previous SAS CRJ900. The divestment of Cimber and the aircraft will have a negative nonrecurring effect on earnings of MSEK 20 during the first quarter of 2016/2017. For further information: SAS Press Office, Tel: +46-8-797-29-44 Bjorn Tibell, Head of Investor Relations, Tel: +46-70-997-1437 This information is information that SAS AB is obliged to disclose pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 09.00 a.m. CET on January 24, 2017. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/sas/r/sas-enters-agreement-to-sell-cimber-and-11-crj900s,c2160920 The following files are available for download: LONDON, 2017-01-24 09:07 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IMImobile, a cloud communications software and solutions provider that helps companies use mobile and digital technologies to engage with customers, today announces that it has added new digital customer engagement capabilities to IMIdigital; its content management and service delivery platform.This comes on the back of its recently renewed multi-year contract with MTN; the leading mobile telecommunications company in Africa, to support its digital lifestyle services. Under the agreement IMImobile is providing its cloud digital customer engagement software suite to help MTN take advantage of new digital technology trends, to optimise the customer experience for rich digital content services.New product capabilities added to IMIdigital include the addition of social channels such as Facebook Messenger, push notifications and IMImobile's chatbot solution, to enhance and automate the mobile content service discovery experience for consumers.Herman Singh, Chief Digital Officer of MTN Group commented, "MTN is pleased to renew the contract with IMImobile and looks forward to accelerating the growth of its already successful Digital Lifestyle Services portfolio with new capabilities, products and services delivered under this agreement."Jay Patel, Chief Executive Officer of IMImobile added, "We are pleased to continue helping MTN to grow its digital services and look forward to developing the next generation of digital services for the African consumer."IMImobile has been a partner to MTN Group since 2009, supporting the mobile operator to run over 4,000 digital lifestyle services across 20 countries. Other leading mobile operator groups worldwide are also using IMImobile's digital customer engagement solutions to enhance their customer experience strategy.Notes to EditorsIMImobile is a cloud communications software and solutions provider that enables companies to use mobile and digital technologies to communicate and engage with their customers.Organisations that trust us to deliver smarter digital customer engagement solutions include Vodafone Group, O2, Telefonica, Aircel, Airtel, EE, AT&T, MTN, Orange Group, Centrica, Universal Music, Tata, AA, BBC and major financial institutions.IMImobile is headquartered in London with offices in Hyderabad, Atlanta, Dubai and Johannesburg and has over 800 employees worldwide. IMImobile is quoted on the London Stock Exchange's AIM market with the TIDM code IMO.www.imimobile.comMedia ContactsIMImobileMatthew Hooper / Alex Klose via RedleafRedleaf CommunicationsCharlie Geller / Helena Shadbolt 020 7382 4730 IMImobile@redleafpr.com Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Over the last six years, Syrian President Bashar al-Asad and his regime are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Syrians. Perhaps one of the most horrific means of slaughter employed by the regime has been its repeated use of chemical weapons. In a recent blog post, Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas Countryman called for the Syrian regime to be held to account. The United Nations Security Council, he said, needs to vote soon on a resolution to hold accountable individuals involved in the Syrian chemical weapons program. Following the brutal sarin gas attack of August 21, 2013, the United States worked with the international community to broker the framework for the Elimination of the Syrian Chemical Weapons Program. Under this framework, Syria committed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and to fully eliminate its chemical weapons program. All told, the international community removed and destroyed over 1,200 metric tons of Syrias declared chemical weapon stockpile. An independent international panel established by the UN Security Council in 2015, concluded at the end of 2016 that Syrian Arab Armed Forces used chlorine barrel bombs on civilians in three separate attacks in Syria in 2014 and 2015. The panel also determined that the Islamic State used mustard gas in Marea in August 2015. As President Obama said, there are those who are trying to obfuscate the truth about what is happening in Syria. But the evidence that the Assad Regime and Islamic State used chemical weapons is overwhelming. No person, group, or nation, said Under Secretary Countryman, should ever be allowed to use chemical weapons with impunity. Now it is time for the UN Security Council to act. The United States will defend the principles, laws, and norms laid out in the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Treasury Department recently announced sanctions designations for 18 senior Syrian regime officials, in response to the international panels findings. Announcing the sanctions, the White House condemned in the strongest possible terms the Syrian regimes use of chemical weapons. We have also been making concrete progress towards the goal of degrading and ultimately destroying the Islamic State and its chemical weapons capability, in partnership with the global counter-ISIL coalition. The U.S. is prepared to take further action to pursue accountability and promote the norm against chemical weapons and we call on other members of the international community to do the same. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 3:30 am ET Tuesday, IHS Markit releases German preliminary manufacturing PMI for January. The index is expected to rise to 55.4, compared to a reading of 55.6 registered in December. Ahead of the data, the euro traded mixed against its major rivals. While the euro declined against the greenback, it rose against the rest of major rivals. The euro was trading at 1.0749 against the greenback, 121.77 against the yen, 1.0733 against the Swiss franc and 0.8612 against the pound as of 3:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TAIPEI (dpa-AFX) - Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (CHT) on Tuesday said it expects fiscal 2017 net income attributable to stockholders of the parent to be NT$36.89 billion, representing a decrease of 7.8 percent from last year. Net earnings per share for 2017 would be NT$4.75, lower than last year's NT$5.16. Income from operations is expected to decrease by 7.1% year- over- year to NT$44.66 billion. For 2017, the company expects total revenue to increase 0.5%, to NT$231.16 billion, mainly driven by the expansion of mobile value added service, smart device sales, and enterprise ICT business. Yu Cheng, Chairman and CEO of Chunghwa Telecom stated, 'We continued to experience stable financial and operating results for the full year of 2016. Looking at 2017, although we expect to continue facing intense competition, we are confident in maintaining our market leadership in all major business lines and further foster innovative service offerings for both retail and enterprise customers.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Rio Tinto Plc (RTPPF.PK, RIO.L, RIO, RTNTF.PK) Tuesday said it signed a binding agreement for the sale of its Australian subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries Ltd. to Yancoal Australia Ltd. for up to $2.45 billion. As per the agreement, an initial $1.95 billion cash will be payable at completion; and $500 million in aggregate deferred cash payments, payable as annual installments of $100 million over five years following completion. After the sale is completed, Rio Tinto will also be entitled to potential royalties. Further, Rio Tinto will continue to benefit from earnings and cash flow generated by Coal & Allied until completion of the transaction. The Coal & Allied operations will also continue to use Rio Tinto Marine freight services following completion of the transaction. The transaction is expected to be complete in the second half of 2017. After completion of the sale, Rio Tinto will become entitled to a quarterly coal price linked royalty calculated as $2 per tonne of attributable saleable production. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At 4:30 am ET Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics is set to release U.K. public sector finance data. The public sector borrowing is seen at GBP 6.8 billion in December compared to GBP 12.2 billion in November. Ahead of the data, the pound rebounded from early lows against its major rivals. The pound was valued at 1.2510 against the greenback, 141.79 against the yen, 1.2501 against the franc and 0.8584 against the euro as of 4:25 am ET. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. 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. VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - The British government has lost a crucial appeal in the U.K. Supreme Court to trigger Article 50 for exiting the European Union without consulting the Parliament. The U.K. Supreme Court dismissed the government's appeal by a majority of 8 to 3. 'In a joint judgment of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorize ministers to give Notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union,' the UKSC said in a statement on its website. The UKSC also ruled that the devolved legislatures of Scotland, Wales and the Northern Ireland, do not have a veto on the UK's decision to exit the EU. 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. HONG KONG, CHINA and CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- The Board of Directors (the "Board") of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. (the "Corporation" or "Sunshine") (HKEX: 2012) is pleased to announce the following: The Board is pleased to announce that all conditions of the Placing Agreement have been fulfilled and the Completion took place on January 24, 2017. An aggregate of 60,000,000 Placing Shares were allotted and issued to not less than six Placees at the Placing Price of HK$0.262 per Placing Share pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Placing Agreement. Reference is made to the announcement of the Corporation dated 17 January 2017 (the "Announcement") in relation to the placing of new Shares under the General Mandate. Unless otherwise specified, terms used herein shall have the same meanings as defined in the Announcement. COMPLETION OF THE PLACING The Board is pleased to announce that all conditions of the Placing have been fulfilled and the completion of the Placing took place on 24 January 2017. A total of 60,000,000 Placing Shares have been successfully placed by the Placing Agent to not less than six Placees at the Placing Price of HK$0.262 per Placing Share pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Placing Agreement. To the best of the Director's knowledge, information and belief, having made all reasonable enquiries, the Placees and their ultimate beneficial owners are third parties residing in Hong Kong independent of, not acting in concert (as defined in the Takeovers Code) with and not connected with the Corporation and its connected persons (as defined under Listing Rules). None of the Placees becomes a substantial shareholder (as defined under the Listing Rules) of the Corporation upon completion of the Placing. The net proceeds from the Placing, after deducting relevant expenses incurred in relation to the Placing, amount to approximately HK$ 15,602,100 (approximately CDN$ 2,673,123.6 at the current exchange rate) which will be used as general working capital of the Corporation and as funds for future development of the existing business of the Corporation, including funding the operation costs of the West Ells project. EFFECT ON SHAREHOLDING STRUCTURE The 60,000,000 Placing Shares represent (i) approximately 1.20% of the issued share capital of the Corporation immediately before completion of the Placing and (ii) approximately 1.19% of the issued share capital of the Corporation as enlarged by the allotment and issue of the Placing Shares. Set out below is the shareholding structure of the Corporation immediately before and after completion of the Placing: As at the date of this Immediately after Announcement Completion of the Placing ------------------------------------------------------- Number of Approx. % of Number of Approx. % of Name of Shareholder Shares Shares Shares Shares ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Kwok Ping 1,312,881,500 26.24% 1,312,881,500 25.93% Bright Hope Global Investment Limited(1) 267,353,088 5.34% 267,353,088 5.28% China Life Insurance (Overseas) Co., Ltd 201,941,600 4.04% 201,941,600 3.99% Tseung Hok Ming 295,893,656 5.91% 295,893,656 5.84% Sinopec Century Bright Capital Investment Limited 239,197,500 4.78% 239,197,500 4.72% Placees - - 60,000,000 1.19% Other public shareholders (excluding Placees) 2,685,334,014 53.68% 2,685,334,014 53.04% ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Total 5,002,601,358 100 5,062,601,358 100 ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- Notes: 1. Bright Hope Global Investments Limited is a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. The company is 100% held by Mr. Zhang Yi. On March 15, 2016 in Hong Kong (March 15, 2016 in Calgary), the Corporation entered into a subscription agreement (the "Subscription Agreement") with Bright Hope Global Investments Limited ("Bright Hope Global") under which Bright Hope Global agreed to subscribe for a total of 558,823,500 Class "A" Common Voting Shares of the Corporation ("Common Shares") at a price of HK$ 0.34 per Common Share. The Corporation and Bright Hope Global Investments Limited mutually terminated the Subscription Agreement on 21 November 2016 (Hong Kong time). Up to the date of the termination of the Subscription Agreement, a total of 308,575,588 Common Shares were allotted and issued to Bright Hope Global Investments Limited under the Subscription Agreement. 2. As at the date of the announcement, the private placement of 150,000,000 Shares with Zhengwei International Investment and Management Co. Ltd as disclosed in the announcement dated December 29, 2016 (Hong Kong time)/December 28, 2016 (Calgary time) is yet to be completed. ABOUT SUNSHINE OILSANDS LTD. The Corporation is a Calgary based public corporation listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange since March 1, 2012. The Corporation is focused on the development of its significant holdings of oil sands leases in the Athabasca oil sands region. The Corporation owns interests in approximately one million acres of oil sands and petroleum and natural gas leases in the Athabasca region. The Corporation is currently focused on executing milestone undertakings in the West Ells project area. West Ells has an initial production target rate of 5,000 barrels per day. THE PLACING AGENT The Placing Agent has been appointed to place, on a best efforts basis, the Placing shares at the Placing Price. The Placing Agent is a licensed corporation to carry out business in type 1 regulated activity (dealing in securities) and type 6 regulated activity (advising on corporate finance) under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong). To the best of the Directors' knowledge, information and belief, having made all reasonable enquiries, the Placing Agent and its ultimate beneficial owners are independent of and not connected with the Corporation and its connected persons (as defined under the Listing Rules). Notwithstanding that the Placing Shares shall only be placed to Placees residing in Hong Kong, the Placing Agent and the Corporation agree that the Placing and the Placees must qualify with the applicable securities laws of Alberta, Canada (the "Applicable Securities Laws") as the Corporation is a "reporting issuer" under such law. The Placing Agent agrees, inter alia, that it will offer the Placing Shares for sale on behalf of the Corporation only to Placees who are eligible to purchase such Placing Shares under the private placement exemptions available under the Applicable Securities Laws and conduct its activities in connection with the Placing in compliance with all Applicable Securities Laws. The Placing Agent will be entitled to receive a commission of 0.75% of the amount equal to the Placing Price multiplied by the actual number of the Placing Shares successfully placed by the Placing Agent. The commission for the Placing was arrived at after arm's length negotiation between the Corporation and the Placing Agent with reference to the prevailing market practice. FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This announcement contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the plans and expectations of the Corporation. Such forward-looking information is subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors. All statements other than statements and information of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The use of words such as "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "project", "plan", "target", "vision", "goal", "outlook", "may", "will", "should", "believe", "intend", "anticipate", "potential", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Corporation's experience, current beliefs, assumptions, information and perception of historical trends available to the Corporation, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to those associated with resource definition and expected reserves and contingent and prospective resources estimates, unanticipated costs and expenses, regulatory approval, fluctuating oil and gas prices, expected future production, the ability to access sufficient capital to finance future development and credit risks, changes in Alberta's regulatory framework, including changes to regulatory approval process and land-use designations, royalty, tax, environmental, greenhouse gas, carbon and other laws or regulations and the impact thereof and the costs associated with compliance. Although the Corporation believes that the expectations represented by such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that the assumptions and factors discussed in this announcement are not exhaustive and readers are not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as the Corporation's actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, subsequent to the date of this announcement, except as required under applicable securities legislation. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this announcement and are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing lists are not exhaustive and are made as at the date hereof. For a full discussion of the Corporation's material risk factors, see the Corporation's annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2015 and risk factors described in other documents we file from time to time with securities regulatory authorities, all of which are available on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at www.hkexnews.hk, on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com or on the Corporation's website at www.sunshineoilsands.com. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement. This announcement appears for information purpose only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to acquire, purchase or subscribe for securities of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. SUNSHINE OILSANDS LTD. (a corporation incorporated under the Business Corporations Act of the Province of Alberta, Canada with limited liability) (HKEX: 2012) By Order of the Board of Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. Sun Kwok Ping, Executive Chairman Hong Kong, January 24, 2017 Calgary, January 23, 2017 As at the date of this announcement, the Board consists of Mr. Kwok Ping Sun, Mr. Hong Luo, Dr. Qi Jiang and Mr. Qiping Men as executive directors; Mr. Michael John Hibberd, Mr. Jianzhong Chen and Ms. Xijuan Jiang as non-executive directors; and Mr. Raymond Shengti Fong, Mr. Gerald Franklin Stevenson, Ms. Joanne Yan and Mr. Yi He as independent non-executive directors. (i)For identification purposes only Contacts: Sunshine Oilsands Ltd. Mr. Hong Luo Chief Executive Officer (1) 403-984-1450 investorrelations@sunshineoilsands.com www.sunshineoilsands.com Online print shop 100% self-financing since the start of the year The online print shop UNITEDPRINT SE, whose renowned brands include print24, Easyprint and DDK PRINT BIG, posted its highest ever earnings in 2016. These bumper revenues allowed the company to pay off all of its loans early, with the final payments made on December 31, 2016. Owner-controlled UNITEDPRINT SE, one of the world's leading online print shops, thus started 2017 completely self-financing, debt-free, and with considerable capital resources amounting to the tens of millions. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005704/en/ Unitedprint mit bestem Ergebnis aller Zeiten (Photo: Business Wire) While many players in the Web-to-Print market rely heavily on borrowed funds from capital investors driven by short-term developments on financial markets and relinquish their entrepreneurial skills to outside managers who bring limited success, Unitedprint is much more independent. The entrepreneurial spirit the company had at the very beginning remains very much at its core, producing successful, profitable and sustainable growth based on its inherent, organic operational strength. Unitedprint will invest these newly released funds in its around 700 employees, with a view to further increasing productivity and efficiency and continuously improving its range and performance. The company anticipates much lower prices and faster delivery times as a result, and will soon embark upon a major expansion to its product portfolio, both for its customers and the market in general. Holm Winkler, Managing Director for Finance/HR/Legal, had this to say: "We are thrilled and of course extremely proud that we have been able to pay off all our loans early through our own hard work, and are now 100% debt-free. It's an incredible achievement and development when we reflect on when we were starting from scratch 25 years ago, and it's not often that you see such an extraordinary turnaround." UNITEDPRINT SE is a global e-commerce company for print and media. As one of Europe's leading online print shops, UNITEDPRINT SE employs a staff of around 700 people and operates the renowned brands print24, Easyprint, Unitedprint, getprint, printwhat, FIRSTPRINT, DDK PRINT BIG, infowerk, and Unitedprint Shop Services (USS) in 26 locations worldwide (in Germany, 21 other European countries, and in Brazil, China, Canada, and the US). In addition to the standard print products, Unitedprint provides its customers with high-quality products and services ranging from textile printing, photo printing, large-format printing, advertising material, advertising equipment and the hospitality/gastronomy sectors. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005704/en/ Contacts: unitedprint.com SE Maria Lehmann 0049 (0)351 27225388 presse@unitedprint.com PUNE, India, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Concrete Fiber Market by Type (Synthetic Fiber, Steel Fiber, Glass Fiber, Natural Fiber, Basalt Fiber), End-Use Industry (Transport Infrastructure, Building & Construction, Mining & Tunnel, Industrial Flooring), and Region - Global Forecast to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is projected to reach USD 3.09 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 8.2%, from 2016 to 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 88 market data Tables and 36 Figures spread through 135 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Concrete Fiber Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/concrete-fibers-market-122792577.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. Upward penetration in end-use industries, increasing urbanization, and upsurge in demand of non-corrosive materials are fueling the demand of concrete fiber market. Ask for PDF of the Report at http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownload.asp?id=122792577 Transport Infrastructure: The largest end-use industry segment of the concrete fiber market The transport infrastructure is the largest-segment of the global concrete fiber market. The growth of this segment is attributed to the increasing demand of concrete fiber in the road industry. Properties such as high durability, strong impact resistance, mechanical, chemical, and thermal resistance make concrete fiber preferable in industries where strength and stability is imperative. The transport infrastructure industry comprises of roadways, highways, bridges, railways, and ports & airports. Concrete fibers are used to manufacture conventional concrete paving, barrier rails, roads in the logistics center, and sound attenuation barriers. North America: The largest market for concrete fiber Globally, North America is the largest Region for Concrete Fiber Market. The U.S. concrete fiber market is witnessing growth in demand due to the increasing usage of synthetic and steel concrete fiber across various end-use industries. There are many concrete fiber manufacturing companies like ABC Polymer Industries (U.S.), Nycon Corporation (U.S.), and Owens Corning (U.S.). Major manufacturers based in this region are experiencing various challenges such as, competition from new & existing players, pressure from environmental agencies, demand for substitute and eco-friendly products, and calculating the cost efficiency of the final product. Make an Inquiry @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Enquiry_Before_Buying.asp?id=122792577 Some of the major players in the global concrete fiber market are, Bekaert SA (Belgium), Sika AG (Switzerland), Propex Operating Company LLC (U.S.), ABC Polymer Industries (U.S.) and Cemex (Mexico). Major players in this market are focusing on organic growth strategies for a greater market share in emerging economies such as India, Nigeria, and Brazil. Also, several companies have strengthened their distribution networks in these countries. Browse Related Reports: Concrete Admixtures Market by Type (Superplasticizers, Normal Plasticizers, Accelerating Agents, Air-Entraining Agents, Retarding Agents, Waterproofing Agents, & Others), & by Application (Residential, Non-Residential, & Infrastructure) - Global Forecasts to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/concrete-admixtures-additives-market-768.html Subscribe Reports from Chemicals & Materials Domain: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Knowledgestore.asp About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the largest market research firm worldwide in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr.Rohan MarketsandMarkets 701 Pike Street Suite 2175, Seattle, WA 98101, United States Tel: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/chemical Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Eurasian Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EMX) (NYSE MKT: EMX) (the "Company" or "EMX") is pleased to announce initial results from the fall-winter drill program at the Malmyzh copper-gold porphyry project, including the longest mineralized intercept drilled to date on the property. Drill hole AMM-213 intersected 747.4 meters (108.7-856.1 m) averaging 0.49% copper equivalent (0.41% copper and 0.17 g/t gold) principally hosted in phreatomagmatic breccias and diorite porphyries at the Freedom Northwest prospect. The hole doubled the drilled vertical extent of the Freedom Northwest system, while bottoming in mineralization. In addition, reconnaissance drilling at the Sleeper West prospect intersected a shallow zone of 109 meters averaging 0.58% copper equivalent (0.53% copper and 0.09 g/t gold) starting at 13.5 meters in hole AMM-210. Freedom Northwest and Sleeper West are not included in the current Malmyzh resource estimate, which underscores the project's additional exploration upside (see EMX news release dated May 26, 2015). The Malmyzh exploration and mining licenses are held by IG Copper LLC ("IGC") (51%) and Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation (49%) (the "Joint Venture"), with IGC operating and managing the project. EMX is IGC's largest shareholder with 39% of the issued and outstanding shares. Please see the attached map (http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/Eurasian%20Metals%20Map.pdf) and www.eurasianminerals.com for more information. Exploration Results. IGC resumed exploration work, including diamond drilling, after receiving government "Project Plan" approvals in October, 2016. A priority target for follow-up drilling was the Freedom Northwest prospect, which is adjacent to the Freedom Southeast inferred resource deposit. Freedom Northwest and Freedom Southeast encompass a large area (i.e., greater than 4 square kilometers), and are defined as two sub-parallel, northeast trending zones of alteration and mineralization hosted in a complex assemblage of diorite porphyries, multi-stage breccias, and hornfels that are coincident with two prominent magnetic high anomalies. Earlier drilling at the Freedom Northwest prospect was conducted on a 200 by 400 meter grid pattern, and AMM-213 was the first hole drilled to in-fill at the 200 by 200 meter pattern used to delineate the project's inferred resource deposits. AMM-213 was drilled vertically to 856.1 meters, and intersected copper-gold mineralization dominantly hosted in phreatomagmatic and magmatic breccias, as well as diorite porphyries and lesser hornfels. Previously, the deepest hole at Freedom Northwest was drilled to a maximum vertical depth of approx. 411 meters. Mineralized intercepts from AMM-213 are summarized in the table below (true widths unknown). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) CuEq % Cu % Au g/t ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMM-213 108.7 856.1 747.4 0.49 0.41 0.17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 114.7 124.7 10.0 0.91 0.86 0.10 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 289.5 325.5 36.0 0.79 0.66 0.26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 391.5 405.5 14.0 0.66 0.57 0.17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 435.5 446.6 11.1 0.65 0.56 0.17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 504.5 537.5 33.0 0.61 0.52 0.19 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 629.4 643.4 14.0 0.63 0.49 0.26 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 723.4 733.4 10.0 0.69 0.52 0.34 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 743.4 769.4 26.0 0.66 0.49 0.34 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CuEq% = Cu% + (Au g/t x 0.5). See footnote (1) for more information. AMM-213's 747.4 meter intercept is the longest mineralized interval drilled at Malmyzh to date. The mineralization exhibits increasing gold to copper ratios with depth, which may be a zoning pattern related to a higher grade core of the porphyry system. The hole was terminated due to drill rig and equipment limitations, and bottomed in mineralization (1.4 m interval from 854.7-856.1 m of 0.46% copper equivalent from 0.32% copper and 0.29 g/t gold). The orientations and dimensions of the multi-phase mineralized breccias, which often occur as pipe-like bodies, are currently unknown, but have been intercepted by drilling over an area of approximately one square kilometer. IGC also conducted reconnaissance drilling at Sleeper, Sleeper West and North. At the Sleeper target, three vertical and two angle holes were drilled along a 1,600 meter northwest-southeast trend adjacent and sub-parallel to a broad area of magnetic highs to the west. The holes intersected a combination of phyllically altered diorite porphyry and hornfels units that were weakly to anomalously copper mineralized (i.e., less than 0.1-0.3% Cu). At Sleeper West, holes AMM-209 and AMM-210 were drilled to test a broad area covered by a copper-in-soil anomaly (100 to greater than 500 ppm) and magnetic anomalies, with both holes intersecting significant mineralization in altered hornfels and diorite porphyries. In particular, AMM-210 intersected a shallow zone of 109 meters averaging 0.58% copper equivalent (0.53% copper and 0.09 g/t gold) starting at 13.5 meters. AMM-210 was collared near historic Freeport vertical drill hole FMXC-05 (70 meters (14-84 m) @ 0.38% copper & 0.14 g/t gold, interpreted as true width), and was angled to extend mineralization to the southwest. At the North prospect, holes AMM-211 and AMM-212 were drilled to follow-up on mineralized holes from the 2011 campaign (AMM-30, -31, and -32), and intersected additional copper-gold mineralization. Notably, the Sleeper West and North drill holes are at prospects over two kilometers away from the nearest resource deposits, further highlighting Malmyzh's upside exploration potential. A summary table of drill intercepts for Sleeper West and North is given in the table below (reported intercepts are interpreted as true widths). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Length (m) CuEq % Cu % Au g/t Comments ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMM-209 Sleeper West - Az 230, Incln -70, 14.4 28.4 14.0 0.42 0.42 0.01 TD 391.1m. ---------------------------------------------------------- 172.0 240.2 68.2 0.38 0.34 0.08 ---------------------------------------------------------- 318.2 359.5 41.3 0.40 0.34 0.12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMM-210 Sleeper West - Az 230, Incln -70, 13.5 122.5 109.0 0.58 0.53 0.09 TD 309.5m. ---------------------------------------------------------- including 66.8 122.5 55.7 0.70 0.64 0.12 ---------------------------------------------------------- 172.8 260.6 87.8 0.42 0.38 0.08 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMM-211 North - Az 0, Incln -60, 1.9 53.9 52.0 0.40 0.39 0.04 TD 349m. ---------------------------------------------------------- 113.9 127.9 14.0 0.39 0.30 0.18 ---------------------------------------------------------- 145.9 313.9 168.0 0.32 0.29 0.07 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMM-212 North - Az 180, Incln -60. TD 2.0 109.0 107.0 0.44 0.42 0.04 247m. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CuEq% = Cu% + (Au g/t x 0.5). See footnote (1) for more information. Project Status. The Joint Venture, through its Russian subsidiary Amur Minerals LLC, received approval in July, 2016 to maintain 100% control of the Malmyzh exploration and mining licenses, including production rights, and to proceed with the exploration and development of Malmyzh as a "strategically significant" deposit according to Russian law (i.e., the Law on Foreign Investments in Strategic Industries, also termed the Strategic Industries Law or "SIL") (see EMX news release dated July 25, 2016). SIL approval was a significant measure of government support for the project, and IGC looks forward to advancing Malmyzh and contributing to the future economic development of the Russian Far East. Following SIL approval, the required Project Plan was submitted by the Joint Venture and approved by the appropriate government agencies. A priority of the Project Plan is the current winter exploration campaign that will include follow-up on the encouraging 2016 drill results. Of note, a key to rapid and cost efficient drilling at Malmyzh results from the Joint Venture owning drill rigs and support equipment. Historically, the Joint Venture's drilling costs have been between one-half to one-third of typical industry costs. Project Overview. Malmyzh is located approximately 220 kilometers northeast of the city of Khabarovsk and the nearby border with China. The project has excellent physiographic, infrastructure and logistical characteristics, and is situated in the low relief hills of the Amur River valley, which is the major shipping river in the region. There are multiple options for transportation besides the Amur that include an adjacent paved Federal highway and regional rail facilities. As well, Malmyzh has nearby and readily available power and water sources. The Malmyzh porphyry district occurs within a 16 by 5 kilometer intrusive corridor concealed beneath a thin veneer of soil cover. Copper-gold mineralization extends from shallow subcrop (approx. 1 to 50 meters) to depths of more than 400 to 850 meters. The porphyry centers occur as Cretaceous-age dioritic stocks that intruded and hornfels-altered siltstone and sandstone sedimentary sequences. Four resource deposits (i.e., Valley, Central, Freedom Southeast, and Flats) have been the focus of previous work. The Malmyzh open pit constrained inferred resources at a 0.30% copper equivalent cut-off are 1,661 million tonnes at average grades of 0.34% copper and 0.17 g/t gold, or 0.42% copper equivalent, containing 5.65 million tonnes (12.45 billion pounds) copper and 9.11 million ounces gold, or 7.06 million tonnes (15.56 billion pounds) copper equivalent(1). There are at least ten additional porphyry prospects, including Freedom Northwest, Sleeper West, and North that have undergone various degrees of reconnaissance drilling. (1)Phil Newall, PhD, BSc, CEng, FIMMM, a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 and managing director of Wardell Armstrong International, an independent UK based consulting company, provided the statement of Malmyzh inferred resources under NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and CIM definition standards. Copper equivalent was calculated as CuEq% = Cu% + (Au g/t x 0.5), and assumed prices of $3.25/lb Cu and $1400/oz Au, with recoveries of 90% for Cu and 70% for Au. See May 26, 2015 EMX news release and SEDAR filed technical report titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Initial Mineral Resource Estimate for the Malmyzh Copper-Gold Project, Khabarovsk Krai, Russian Federation" with an effective date of May 1, 2015 and dated July 10, 2015 for more information on the CuEq calculation, exploration results, QA/QC procedures, & methodology used to estimate the Malmyzh inferred resources. Drilling, Sampling, Assaying, and QA/QC. The Malmyzh drill samples were collected in accordance with CIM Best Practice standards and guidelines. The samples were submitted to Irgiredmet Laboratories in Irkutsk, Russia (GOST ISO/MEK 17025 accredited) for assay and geochemical analysis. Gold was analyzed by fire assay with an AAS finish, and copper analyses were determined with aqua regia digestion and ICP AES techniques. IGC conducts routine QA/QC analysis on all assay results, including the systematic utilization of certified reference materials, blanks and duplicates. Mr. Dean D. Turner, CPG, is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 and consultant to the Company. Mr. Turner has reviewed, verified and approved disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release. About EMX. Eurasian Minerals leverages asset ownership and exploration insight into partnerships that advance our mineral properties, with EMX retaining royalty interests. EMX complements its generative business with strategic investment and third party royalty acquisition. EMX's strategic investment in IGC exemplifies the Company's recognition of an early-stage opportunity with excellent growth potential. IGC has steadily built value at Malmyzh and added quality exploration properties to its portfolio. EMX is IGC's largest shareholder with 39% of the issued and outstanding shares (36% on a fully diluted basis) resulting from investments totaling US $9 million. About IGC. IGC, a privately held company, is led by President and CEO Thomas E. Bowens, and includes key personnel with a track record of exploration discovery and project development in the Russian Federation. 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. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain "forward looking statements" that reflect the Company's current expectations and projections about its future results. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties, exploration results and budgets, mineral reserves and resource estimates, work programs, capital expenditures, timelines, strategic plans, market prices for precious and base metal, or other statements that are not statements of fact. When used in this news release, words such as "estimate," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "will", "believe", "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which, by their very nature, are not guarantees of the Company's future operational or financial performance, and are subject to risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause Eurasian's actual results, performance, prospects or opportunities to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and factors may include, but are not limited to: unavailability of financing, failure to identify commercially viable mineral reserves, fluctuations in the market valuation for commodities, difficulties in obtaining required approvals for the development of a mineral project, increased regulatory compliance costs, expectations of project funding by joint venture partners and other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release or as of the date otherwise specifically indicated herein. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified in this news release, and other risk factors and forward-looking statements listed in the Company's MD&A for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 (the "MD&A"), and the most recently filed Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2015, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. More information about the Company, including the MD&A, the 20-F and financial statements of the Company, is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the SEC's EDGAR website at www.sec.gov. Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Concerning Estimates of Inferred Resources This news release uses the term "Inferred Resources". We advise U.S. investors that while this term is defined in, and permitted by, Canadian regulations, this term is not a defined term under SEC Industry Guide 7 and not normally permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. "Inferred Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic feasibility. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not be converted to Mineral Reserves or form the basis of feasibility or prefeasibility studies. The SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant "reserves", as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in this category will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of an Inferred Resource exists or is economically mineable. Contacts: David M. Cole President and Chief Executive Officer (303) 979-6666 Dave@EurasianMinerals.com Scott Close Director of Investor Relations (303) 973-8585 SClose@EurasianMinerals.com www.EurasianMinerals.com ELKO As a new semester kicks off at Great Basin College, students, staff and the public will have the opportunity to download a new safety app provided by campus security. GBC Campus Safety is a free mobile safety app that makes receiving and reporting emergency related information easy as texting, sharing and commenting. Patricia Anderson, GBC Director of Environmental Health, Safety and Security, said the app gives students and staff swifter access to security and additional emergency resources. Contacts include GBC Security and various non-emergency resources on campus as well as 911, said Anderson. In the case that a student or staff member could not call us, there is a feature that allows users to send a text messages directly to security. Anderson expects the app to be a public resource for those who frequent the area of College Parkway, which neighbors the Elko County Fairgrounds, Elko County School District offices and Elko high School. If the surrounding community notices something suspicious going on, there are features to send a photo to security and report suspicious activity, said Anderson. Parents of preschoolers who attend the GBC Child Care Center are also applicable users, as are high school students and their parents. Given the proximity of local schools, those institutions would be affected by an active intruder which would call for a lock down of the schools in the area. Anderson noted the new app would not be replacing the colleges already existing emergency alert system, E2 Campus. Students who are already signed-up to receive e-mail and text message alerts will continue to receive those messages. Emergency alerts will be sent through both systems, she said. Students located at GBC branch locations will also have the same benefits from the app as those located at the Elko campus. The contact tabs are designated to each service area representative in those areas. In the case of an emergency at any GBC locations, alerts will be sent to those you have the app. Of all the features available in the app, Anderson said one of her favorites is the Friend Walk feature. You can send your location in real-time to a friend as they watch you walk to your destination. The app uses Google Maps of all GBC branches and centers located across the state. The app also provides its users with emergency tips and scenarios as to what to do in situations such as a bomb threat, active shooters, earthquakes and more. GBC Campus Safety is now available in the App Store and Google Play, and can be found by searching keywords Great Basin College Campus Safety. The app is completely free, paid for by the GBC security office. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: TXR)(FRANKFURT: TX0)(OTC PINK: TRXXF) is pleased to announce that it has received a Land Use Permit for its wholly-owned Southbelt property at Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Drilling at Southbelt should commence around the end of February once access routes into the target areas have been completed. Joseph Campbell, the CEO of TerraX, stated, "The prompt issuance of the Land Use Permit is supportive of the stated mandate of the Northwest Territories government to facilitate responsible exploration on its lands. The permit allows TerraX to begin drilling on the highly prospective Southbelt property targets which represent the continuation of gold structures south of the former Con Mine where TerraX has received surface assay results up to 94.9 g/t gold." Mr. Campbell further stated, "The Southbelt target contains multiple high-grade gold occurrences with very high potential for discovery." The Southbelt property is a low cost exploration project as a result of its location 3 kilometers from the city of Yellowknife with excellent access to infrastructure, services and supplies. From a geological perspective, the Southbelt property is adjacent to the past-producing Con mine property, where over six million ounces of gold were mined at an average grade of 16.1 grams per tonne gold over a 60-year mine life. Terrax has identified extensions of several mineralized trends mapped from the Con mine onto the Southbelt property including the namesake Con shear, which appears to continue on to TerraX's property for up to 5 kilometres, and the New Vein shear which contains values up to 94.9 g/t Au (news release dated Sept. 23, 2015). Terrax received further high grade values in 2016 exploration work with up to 33.6 g/t Au and 52 g/t Au in grab samples (news release dated December 21, 2016). A map of the sampling at Southbelt can be accessed here and is available on the company's website under "2016 Field Exploration" under the Southbelt project section. Terrax is planning to undertake 10,000 meters of drilling on the impressive surface exposures of gold bearing structures at Southbelt that are the strike extensions from the Con mine. Terrax has budgeted for 17,000 meters of drilling at Yellowknife in 2017, with the remaining drilling to be carried out on our Northbelt property, which covers 15 km of strike immediately north of the past producing Giant Mine where 8.1 million ounces of gold were mined at an average grade of 16.1 g/t Au. The technical information contained in this news release has been approved by Joseph Campbell, the Chief Executive Officer of TerraX, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects." About the Yellowknife City Gold Project Yellowknife City Gold ("YCG") encompasses 129 sq km of contiguous land immediately north and south of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, TerraX now controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 15 km of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power and skilled tradespeople. The YCG lies on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering 23 km of strike length on the southern and northern extensions of the shear system that hosted the high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The project area contains multiple shears that are the recognized hosts for gold deposits in the Yellowknife gold district, with innumerable gold showings and recent high grade drill results that serve to indicate the project's potential as a world-class gold district. For more information on the YCG project, please visit our web site at www.terraxminerals.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors - Joe Campbell, CEO 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 contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially from current expectation. Important factors - including the availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, the completion of due diligence and the results of exploration activities - that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts: Samuel Vella Manager of Corporate Communications Toll-Free: 1- 800-481-1876 svella@terraxminerals.com Paradox Public Relations Inc. 514-341-0408 Toll-Free: 1-866-460-0408 info@paradox-pr.ca H.I.G. Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm with 20 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce the appointment of Kenneth Borton as Managing Director of WhiteHorse Capital, the direct lending affiliate of H.I.G. Capital. He will be based in London. Kenneth has over 17 years of experience in direct lending, structured finance and special situations. Prior to joining H.I.G. WhiteHorse, he was a Managing Director at Citi with responsibility for the Credit Opportunities business in EMEA, managing over $500 million of direct lending transactions across sectors and throughout the region. Kenneth received a BSc in Economics and Politics from the University of Bristol, after which he spent 6 years as an infantry officer in the British Army. In commenting on the appointment, John Bolduc, Executive Managing Director, noted, "I am delighted to welcome Kenneth to the firm. He is a very experienced, international direct lending investor who augments the capabilities of our team. I am confident he will play an instrumental role in continuing to grow H.I.G.'s direct lending activities in Europe." About H.I.G. Capital H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with 20 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogota, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach: 1. H.I.G. Capital's equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalisations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses. 2. H.I.G. Capital's debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance. 3. H.I.G.'s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 200 companies worldwide. The firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of 22 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com. Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005760/en/ Contacts: H.I.G. Capital John Bolduc, +44 (0) 207 318 5700 Executive Managing Director jbolduc@higcapital.com or Appu Mundassery, +44 (0) 207 318 5700 Managing Director amundassery@higcapital.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- First Mining Finance Corp. ("First Mining" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: FF)(OTCQX: FFMGF)(FRANKFURT: FMG) is pleased to announce that a 27,000 metre drilling campaign has commenced at the Company's wholly-owned Goldlund Gold Project ("Goldlund" or the "Project") in northwestern Ontario. The program will focus on infill and resource expansion of Zone Seven, which currently hosts a significant portion of the mineralized material at the project. Drilling has started with two rigs and we expect to progress to three rigs as the campaign ramps up. Earlier this month the Company released an initial resource estimate for Goldlund (see the Company's press release dated January 9, 2017 for full details). The goal of the current drilling campaign is to further enhance the existing resources at Goldlund, and to assist the Company in advancing Goldlund to a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) level. The timing of any PEA at Goldlund has not yet been determined. First Mining is also pleased to announce that it has entered into definitive asset purchase agreements to purchase certain mineral claims located in Ontario and Quebec. The first agreement is with GoldON Resources Ltd. ("GoldON") and pursuant to this agreement, First Mining has agreed to acquire GoldON's five unpatented mining claims (the "GoldON Transaction") located near Pickle Lake, Ontario in exchange for 200,000 common shares of First Mining (the "GoldON Transaction Shares"). The second agreement is with a private individual (the "Duparquet Vendor"), and pursuant to this agreement, First Mining has agreed to acquire eighteen mining claims located in the Township of Duparquet, Quebec (the "Central Duparquet Transaction") in exchange for $250,000 and 2,500,000 common shares of First Mining (the "Central Duparquet Transaction Shares"). Keith Neumeyer, Chairman of First Mining, stated "We are excited about the drilling campaign that we have launched at our Goldlund project, and the prospects that it holds for resource expansion. We believe our Goldlund project has the potential to be one of our core projects. This initial drill campaign is expected to be a phase one of several campaigns in the coming years to further advance this project to a PEA level. We are also very pleased to have acquired the additional Pickle Lake and Central Duparquet claims as we believe the consolidation of regions we are active in should be a continued process that benefits each of our projects." The parties to the GoldON Transaction and the Central Duparquet Transaction are at arm's length, and pricing for each transaction was based on the 5-day VWAP of First Mining's shares as of today's date, being $0.84. The deemed value of the GoldON Transaction is approximately $168,000, and the deemed value of the Central Duparquet Transaction is approximately $2,350,000. The GoldON Transaction Shares and the Central Duparquet Transaction Shares will be subject to a statutory resale restriction in Canada for a four-month period from completion of the GoldON Transaction and the Central Duparquet Transaction, respectively. In addition, the Duparquet Vendor has agreed to further provisions limiting the number of shares he may sell per month after the statutory resale restriction period has passed, unless the sale is in a single block to a purchaser acceptable to First Mining. Both transactions are subject to the receipt of applicable regulatory and stock exchange approvals and the satisfaction of certain other closing conditions customary in transactions of this nature. First Mining expects to complete both transactions by January 31st. ABOUT FIRST MINING FINANCE CORP. First Mining is a mineral property holding company whose principal business activity is to acquire high quality mineral assets with a focus in the Americas. The Company currently holds a portfolio of 25 mineral assets in Canada, Mexico and the United States with a focus on gold. Ultimately, the goal is to continue to increase its portfolio of mineral assets through acquisitions that are expected to be comprised of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and nickel. ON BEHALF OF FIRST MINING FINANCE CORP. Keith Neumeyer, Chairman Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements"(collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, without limitation, statements relating the future operating or financial performance of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things: commencement of expansion drilling at the Goldlund project and the potential results of such drilling; any upgrade to, or expansion of, the resources on the Goldlund project; the exploration potential and upside of the Goldlund project; the advancement of the Goldlund project to a PEA level; and completion of the GoldON Transaction and the Central Duparquet Transaction. Actual future results may differ materially. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made and are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the respective parties, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and the parties have made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation, the receipt of stock exchange or regulatory approval for the GoldON Transaction and the Central Duparquet Transaction and satisfaction of the closing conditions for each transaction; the results of future exploration efforts at the Goldlund project; management's discretion to refocus its exploration efforts; fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in the currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar); changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; and title to properties. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these times. Except as required by law, First Mining does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, 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: First Mining Finance Corp. Patrick Donnelly President 604-639-8854 First Mining Finance Corp. Derek Iwanaka Vice President, Investor Relations 604-639-8824 www.firstminingfinance.com SAN JOSE, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Anatomage Inc., makers of the world's first andonly life-sized digital dissection table, announces the launchof its new Table 5 system at theInternational Meeting onSimulation in Healthcare (IMSH) held from January 29to February 1, 2017 in Orlando, Florida. Anatomage Table 5 features the highest-qualityimaging software to examine real human anatomy. New ultra-high quality(UHQ)visualization is available for all clinical cases and loadedscans while the touchscreen display provides instant access to photorealistic humananatomy. The Table now includes 3 fullbody cadavers that are completely annotated and fully dissectable.The image library has been expanded to 1,400 entries and offers a newcategory for microscopic histology scans for a variety of celltypes. High-resolutionregional anatomy allows for the viewing of small structuressuch as nerves or blood vessels that are difficult to see by any other means. "The high-resolution scans are one of the table's most useful features and I incorporate them frequently in my teaching," said Anne Gilroy, Associate Professor of Clinical Anatomy at the Department of Radiology, UMass Medical School. "I was delighted to find that not only does this new version have increased content, but the library includes small, more focused anatomic regions like the pancreas, the middle ear, and the male and female pelvic viscera. They're now viewable as fully interactive, isolated 3D structures that can be easily customized to include muscle, bone, vessels etc. Any structure can be added and then identified by clicking on it, which highlights its name in the dropdown menu of the selections window. My students love this feature!" The advanced technology of the Anatomage Table has proven to be highly-beneficial for education as it enhances the learning experience and improves student performance. Studieshave shown bothqualitative and quantitative improvements in student testscores in anatomy courses. "Table 5 is by far the best digital dissectiontable we've ever made," said Jack Choi, President and Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Anatomage."We are confident that instructors and students willbe very impressed with the quality and accuracy of real human anatomy. Webelievethe Anatomage Table is the must-have tool inthe cadaver lab and every anatomy department." AboutAnatomage AnatomageInc.isa privately held companyheadquarteredinSan Jose,CAthat designs, manufactures,andmarketsmedicalandeducational tools for anatomists. Anatomageproducts are used in tens of thousands of clinics and hospitals bothin the US and internationally. These include image guided surgicaldevices, surgical instruments, radiology software, imaging equipment,and display equipment. Anatomagehas established partnerships withleading radiology equipment companies that use Anatomage software astheir exclusive imaging software. Contact: Michael Brandt Vice President, Marketing Anatomage, Inc. Phone: +1 408-368-2244 Email: info@anatomage.com www.anatomage.com Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/460414/Anatomage_Logo.jpg The European Investment Trust plc (the "Company") Further to the announcement made on 30 November 2016, the Board confirms that Mr Douglas McDougall has retired as a non-executive Director of the Company at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting held today. Following Mr McDougall's retirement, Mr Michael MacPhee, a non-executive Director of the Company, has succeeded Mr McDougall as Chairman of the Company with immediate effect. 24 January 2017 Enquiries: Kenneth Greig Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited Tel: 0131 270 3800 The Company's registered office address is: Beaufort House 51 New North Road Exeter EX4 4EP The European Investment Trust plc ("the Company") Share Repurchase Authority The Company announces that, as a result of the passing of resolution 12 at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 24 January 2017, it has authority to repurchase up to a maximum of 6,296,814 of its ordinary shares. Such authority lasts until the Company's next Annual General Meeting in 2018, unless it has been fully exercised, or renewed or expressly revoked by shareholders before then. The maximum price (exclusive of expenses) which may be paid by the Company for an ordinary share shall be no more than the higher of (a) 105% of the average of the closing market value of such shares (as derived from the Daily Official List of the London Stock Exchange) for the five business days prior to the date of purchase, and (b) the amount stipulated by Article 5(6) of the Market Abuse Regulation. In addition, it is the Company's policy that repurchases of shares will only be made at prices below the prevailing net asset value of the Company's shares and where the Company's Directors consider it to be in the best interests of shareholders and the Company to do so. It is expected that similar announcements will be made each time the share repurchase authority is renewed. 24 January 2017 Enquiries: Kenneth J Greig Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited Tel: 0131 270 3800 The Company's registered office address is: Beaufort House 51 New North Road Exeter EX4 4EP NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Terrestrial Energy USA Ltd. ("TEUSA" or the "Company") announces that the Company has informed the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission ("USNRC") of its plans to license a small modular, advanced nuclear reactor in the United States. TEUSA intends to commence pre-application interactions with the USNRC in 2017, a progess which will lead to an IMSR400 Design Certification application in accordance with 10 CFR Part 52, or a Construction Permit in accordance with 10 CFR Part 50. TEUSA intends to make its licensing application to the agency in late 2019. TEUSA included in its letter to the USNRC, the status of the design, analyses, testing, licensing, and project planning for the TEUSA Integral Molten Salt Reactor ("IMSR"), a liquid-fueled, high-temperature, 400 Megawatt-thermal ("MWth"), Advanced Reactor power plant design. TEUSA recognizes that the USNRC is developing a specific licensing framework for Advanced Reactor designs. The Company has confidence in the capability of the USNRC to review and reach safety, security, and environmental findings on the IMSR design, in a timely manner. Simon Irish, CEO of TEUSA commented, "This is a very exciting time for the nuclear power industry. We are moving forward with the design and regulatory actions needed to allow the Company to bring the IMSR to market in the 2020s. The IMSR's design choices will result in an Advanced Reactor that delivers clean, cost-competitive and high-grade industrial heat. This capability can serve the many and varied heat requirements of industry, and as well as those of the electric power sector where the IMSR's dispatchablity will be greatly prized." The Company is currently examining four sites for its first commercial plant. These sites include the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), near Idaho Falls, ID, as well as additional sites east of the Mississippi River. In all cases, TEUSA has begun to investigate the commercial prospects for an IMSR power plant for both electric-power and industrial heat co-generation. Exhibit 1: TEUSA letter to the USNRC About Terrestrial Energy USA Terrestrial Energy USA is developing the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) for US market deployment. The IMSR is an Advanced Reactor and represents true innovation in cost and functionality. It will provide clean, convenient and cost-competitive heat for many industrial applications, including electric power provision and heat for industrial processes, such as chemical synthesis and desalination. The IMSR extends the applicability of nuclear energy far beyond its current footprint in on-grid electric power markets. It promises to increase industrial competitiveness and energy security while concurrently driving deep and rapid decarbonization by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad industrial front. Using an innovative design based on proven Molten Salt Reactor technology, the IMSR can be brought to market in the 2020s. Contacts: Bruce Carlisle (415) 637-4037 bcarlisle@terrestrialusa.com info@terrestrialusa.com NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Troymet Exploration Corp. (TSX VENTURE: TYE) ("Troymet" or the Company") is pleased to review its plans for advancing the Redhill project in British Columbia. Troymet's 2016 diamond drilling program on the Alpha prospect intersected two zones of significant copper, volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") mineralization in hole RH16-04, drilled in Horizon 2: - Upper Zone: 0.72% copper and 6.5 g/t silver over 6.5 metres, starting at a depth of 5.1 metres- Lower Zone: 0.64% copper and 1.5% zinc over 2.0 metres from 206.3-208.3 metres downhole Lower Zone Figure 1 shows the limited extent of drilling in the Lower Zone mineralization. Figure 2, a vertical longitudinal section, shows the distribution of the various mineralized drill intercepts in the Lower Zone. The geometry of the mineralization indicates the better mineralization lies below the levels drill tested to date. High-grade copper mineralization was intersected in the deepest holes (RH16-04 and RH-06-25) and this mineralization is open along strike and at depth. As well, the mineralized zone has not been drill tested to the northwest or southeast. A transient EM conductor is associated with the mineralization. With the exception of one shallow test (hole 85-2) this conductor is untested/undrilled to the southeast, and remains a significant target. The mineralization is crudely bedded and dips/plunges steeply west. The topography also drops off to the west into a prominent valley with the result that the mineralization is expected to remain or come close to surface. Troymet has identified a characteristic blue quartz eye pyroclastic porphyry that is associated with the VMS mineralization. The recognition of this important unit will guide future exploration. Upper Zone Hole RH16-04 collared in the Upper Zone which grades 0.72% copper and 6.5 g/t silver over 6.5 metres, starting at a depth of 5.1 metres (Figure 3). The mineralization extends upwards an additional 3.8 metres to the base of the casing; however, because of poor recovery in this interval, a reportable mineralized interval cannot be calculated. Secondary copper mineralization is present in the wall of the drill platform (Figure 4). The total downhole width of the mineralized zone is estimated to be in excess of 11.5 metres. This significant new discovery of VMS mineralization carries strong copper mineralization over a significant interval with samples up to 1.5% copper over 0.5 metres (Table 1). The Upper Zone copper mineralization occurs on or just within the lower boundary of Horizon 3 (Figure 1). Horizon 3 is unexplored. The mineralization is open along strike and to depth and there are no nearby drill holes. As previously reported (News Release of July 25, 2016) breccia boulders, several of which contain massive sulphide blocks, have been found within Horizon 3 in a locale that is approximately 200 metres northwest of where hole RH16-04 was collared. The newly discovered Upper Zone together with the breccia boulders indicate significant discovery potential in Horizon 3. Historically, three stacked prospective volcanic sequences are recognized (Horizons 1, 2 and 3), dipping steeply to the west. Stacked mineralized horizons are a common feature in VMS mining camps world-wide. Within a camp, deposits may occur laterally at a discrete time - stratigraphic interval or vertically stacked through hundreds of metres of volcanic stratigraphy. The distribution of TEM conductors in the Alpha prospect indicates there are additional prospective sequences that have not yet been mapped/recognized. 2017 Plans Troymet's exploration has resolved the form and configuration of the VMS mineralization in the Lower Zone, and identified high potential drill targets. As well, the Company discovered a new copper VMS zone (Upper Zone) in a prospective volcanic sequence that has not been explored. The Upper Zone is shallow and amenable to inexpensive follow up exploration. Troymet plans to strip, map, trench and sample the Upper Zone mineralization prior to further drilling. As well, Troymet plans borehole electromagnetic surveys ("EM") of holes drilled in 2016 to identify off-hole conductors and conductors too deep to have been detected by surface EM and shallow penetrating airborne EM surveys. Troymet plans to test the Beta target, when drilling resumes. As previously reported (News Release of October 25, 2016), the Company has identified a new, large chargeability anomaly associated with the 40 mho Beta target which is located on a 550 metre long EM conductor. The Beta target Is located 200 metres south of borehole S83-4 (2.54% copper, 2.78% zinc, 77.0 g/t Ag, and 0.37 g/t Au over 7.75 metres). The gold-in-soil anomaly is aligned along the northeast edge of a resistivity high, in a magnetic low, in a diorite intrusive. Troymet plans overburden trenching of the better anomalies prior to drilling. Table 1. Copper intercepts in the Upper Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole From (m) To (m) Width (m) Cu (ppm) Ag (ppm) Notes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Incomplete RH16-04 1.3 2.1 0.8 850 2.58 recovery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Incomplete RH16-04 2.1 3.1 1 862 5.54 recovery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Incomplete RH16-04 3.1 4.1 1 363 10.55 recovery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Incomplete RH16-04 4.1 5.1 1 1995 8.38 recovery ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 5.1 5.6 0.5 15000 14.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 5.6 6.1 0.5 3390 3.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 6.1 6.6 0.5 5750 5.05 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 6.6 7.1 0.5 8900 6.29 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 7.1 7.6 0.5 4860 4.70 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 7.6 8.1 0.5 10000 10.35 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 8.1 8.6 0.5 5470 4.28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 8.6 9.1 0.5 9060 9.44 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 9.1 9.6 0.5 10900 7.16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 9.6 10.1 0.5 7230 6.97 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 10.1 10.6 0.5 4330 4.16 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 10.6 11.1 0.5 6610 5.61 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- RH16-04 11.1 11.6 0.5 2480 2.63 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Widths presented in Table 1 are downhole core lengths; true widths cannot be reliably estimated at this time. Core samples were analysed at ALS Global, Vancouver. Qualified Persons All technical data, as disclosed in this press release, has been verified by Kieran Downes, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Troymet Exploration Corp. Troymet Exploration Corp. is a junior exploration company with a solid treasury and with projects in British Columbia (Redhill and Golden Eagle), Manitoba (McClarty Lake) and Utah (Wildcat). Troymet operates the Wildcat, Redhill and Golden Eagle projects. Hudbay Minerals Inc. is the operator of the McClarty Lake joint venture and must contribute $1,151,052 in joint venture expenditures before Troymet is required to fund its participating interest. Troymet retains a 2% net smelter returns royalty (NSR) on the Key property, British Columbia, which was sold to New Gold Inc. in 2013. TROYMET EXPLORATION CORP. Kieran Downes, Ph.D., P.Geo., President, CEO & Director 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 news release. This news release contains certain forward-looking information. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information in respect of: the Redhill Project, including the possible exploration and development of the Redhill Project; the exploration potential and analogous deposit potential of the Redhill Project; future data analysis, sampling plans and exploration plans on the Redhill Project, including potential stripping, mapping, trenching and sampling, potential EM surveys, and the resumption of exploration on identified targets; the timing for exploration and drilling on the Redhill Project; exploration targets and the potential of such exploration targets; and the ability and the timeframe within which the Redhill Project can be advanced. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. This forward-looking information reflects Troymet's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Troymet and on assumptions Troymet believes are reasonable. These assumptions include, but are not limited to: the current share price of Troymet's common shares and the ability to raise future equity financing, if needed, at prices acceptable to Troymet; Troymet's current and initial understanding and analysis of the Redhill Project; the ability of Troymet to discover viable exploration targets and the results of exploration on the Redhill Project; the cost of exploration, including stripping, mapping, trenching, sampling, EM surveys and drilling, on the Redhill Project; Troymet's general and administrative costs remaining constant; and the market acceptance of Troymet's business strategy. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Troymet to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such risks and other factors may include, but are not limited to: the early stage development of Troymet and its projects, and in particular, the Redhill Project; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; capital market conditions and market prices for securities, junior market securities and mining exploration company securities; commodity prices; the actual results of current exploration and development or operational activities; competition; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents and other risks inherent in the mining industry; lack of insurance; delay or failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting Troymet; timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; conclusions of economic evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key individuals. A description of other assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of other risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in Troymet's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Troymet does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Troymet Exploration Corp. Investor Relations 250-729-0453 info@troymet.com www.troymet.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Columbus Gold Corp. (TSX: CGT)(OTCQX: CBGDF) ("Columbus") is pleased to announce that a drill rig has arrived at Columbus' 100% owned Montagne d'Or Gold deposit in French Guiana, in preparation for an exploration drilling program scheduled to commence in early February. Montagne d'Or hosts Indicated mineral resources of 3.9 million ounces (contained within 83.2 million tonnes grading 1.45 g/t gold) and Inferred mineral resources of 1.1 million ounces (contained within 22.4 million tonnes grading 1.55 g/t gold) using a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t gold (refer to News Release dated April 21, 2015).(i) In anticipation of the forthcoming completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study on the Montagne d'Or gold deposit, an exploration focused drilling program will be carried-out, with the objective of assessing expansion potential. Drilling equipment is now on site and road and drill pad construction is underway. The program will consist of 36 core holes, for a total 5,520 meters, designed as a first pass investigation of exploration targets on strike of, and in very close proximity of the currently defined mineral resources that form the deposit. Three separate targets will be tested outside of the deposit envelope: -- the west extension of the Montagne d'Or deposit (holes 2 to 24); -- the Gustave geochemical anomaly 750 meters east of the Montagne d'Or deposit (holes 25 to 33); and -- mesothermal quartz-gold vein systems (holes 34 to 36). In addition, within the Montagne d'Or deposit envelope one hole (hole 01) will test the depth extension of the gold mineralization. To date the vertical depth of drilling has averaged only about 250 meters. Please refer to the following map for the locations of the target areas and planned drill holes: www.columbusgoldcorp.com/i/nr/2017-01-24-map.pdf Depth extension of the Montagne d'Or deposit One deep drill hole (hole 01), 740 meters in length will test the down-dip extent of the principal UFZ and secondary LFZ mineralized zones on drill section 2890mE, within the west-central segment of the deposit. This segment displays the best continuity and average grade of the gold mineralized envelopes within the drilled-out area. The UFZ is projected to be intersected at -350 meters of vertical depth from surface (-100m ASL elevation), 100 meters below the intersection of 2.88 g/t gold over 67.0 meters obtained in hole MO-12-72, on drill section 3010mE at 250 meters of vertical depth (0m ASL elevation). A cross section is available at the following link: www.columbusgoldcorp.com/i/nr/2017-01-24-xsection.pdf West extension of the Montagne d'Or deposit Magnetic, electromagnetic and radiometric airborne geophysical survey data has traced the prospective volcano-sedimentary sequence hosting the Montagne d'Or gold deposit for up to 5 km to the west. Twenty-two (22) holes on four drill fences, located on sections 2200mE, 2000mE, 1600mE and 1150mE, are planned to test the soil-gold anomaly and rock chip gold values obtained along the western projection of the drill-defined mineral resources. The planned drill fences represent 200, 400, 800 and 1,250 meter step-outs from the western limit of the Montagne d'Or mineral resources at 2400mE. Drill hole fences 1600mE and 1150mE are located on an exclusive exploration permit granted to Columbus recently in July 2016 (refer to news release dated July 27th, 2016). Drill hole fences 2200mE and 2000mE (holes 02 to 13) will test the principal UFZ and secondary LFZ zones at 200-meter spacing along strike from drill section 2400mE. The holes will also test the WSW extent of an ENE-trending gold mineralized structure intersected in historical hole MO-97-29 and MO-97-30, which returned intercepts of 10.96 g/t gold over 3.0 meters and 11.58 g/t gold over 4.5 meters, respectively. Drill hole fence 1600mE (holes 14 to 19) was designed to traverse the entire thickness of the prospective volcano-sedimentary sequence, 800 meters on strike from the Montagne d'Or mineral resources. The area geology is masked by a layer of displaced material (landslide) originating from the upper elevations of a massif to the south. Note that the truncation of the soil-gold anomaly over this area is a result of the landslide cover. Drill hole fence 1150mE (holes 20 to 24) will the test the soil-gold anomaly and rock chip gold values obtained from sulphide mineralized volcanics exposed in drainages. The mineralized material type is comparable to the mineralized type at the Montagne d'Or deposit. Gustave geochemical anomaly Drill hole fence 25 to 30 will traverse a broad northwesterly-aligned soil-gold anomaly. The geochemical anomaly, located 500 meters to the east of the eastern limit of the Montagne d'Or mineral resources, straddles the boundary between mining concession C02/46 and an exclusive exploration permits granted to Columbus in July 2016. Holes 31 to 33, on the same fence as holes 25 to 30, will investigate a cross-cutting WNW-ESE aligned soil-gold anomaly. The highest values within the Gustave soil-gold anomaly are centered on a quartz vein uncovered at the southwest limit of the trend, referred to as the "Gustave" vein. The Gustave vein, oriented N40 degrees W and dipping 60 degrees to the NE, was tested with two core holes in historical drilling in 1997 (MO-97-47 and -48). An intersection of 31.94 g/t gold over 3.5 meters was returned in hole MO-97-48 within the immediate wall of the vein. Mesothermal quartz-gold vein systems Drill holes 34, 35 and 36 will investigate soil-gold anomalies obtained on prominent linear N-S, NNE and NNW-aligned topographic highs, where quartz vein debris is exposed along the flanks. The ridges are interpreted to be cored by resistant quartz veins. Within Columbus' claim block, these structural orientations are known to host quartz-gold veins and stockworks, such as at the Elysee prospect, located 10 km to the west-northwest of the Montagne d'Or deposit. A Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA")(ii) for the Montagne d'Or deposit was completed by SRK Consulting (U.S.) Inc. in July 2015 (refer to News Releases dated July 8, 2015 and August 4, 2015). The PEA estimates approximately 273,000 ounces of gold produced per year in the first 10 years of production at an All-In Sustaining Capital Cost per ounce of US$711, and a mined head-grade of 2.0 g/t gold. A Bankable Feasibility Study is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. The study is being funded by Nord Gold S.E. pursuant to which they can earn a 55.01% interest in the Montagne d'Or deposit. Rock Lefrancois, Chief Operating Officer for Columbus and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein. (i) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. (ii) The PEA is preliminary in nature; it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. The PEA estimates economic results using a US$1,200/oz gold price, and an NPV 8%. Initial Capital Costs are estimated at US$366 million for a 13-year mine life. For the first 11 years, the annual recovered gold production is approximately 265,000 oz/year. The NPV 8% changes by approximately US$1.1 million per dollar change in gold price; and makes taxation assumptions on the French tax code. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, Robert F. Giustra, Chairman & CEO This release contains forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward-looking statements"), respecting Columbus: the expected completion of a feasibility study; the expected exploration potential provided by the new exploration permits; the extent of and anticipated timeline to commence a first phase exploration program under the new permits; expected drill targets, depths and testing to be conducted; the estimation of mineral resources; the realization of mineral resource estimates; the realization of the expected economics of the Montagne d'Or deposit; and general exploration plans. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: the actual results of current and future exploration activities; changes in project parameters and/or economic assessments as plans continue to be refined; future prices of metals; possible variations of mineral grade or rates of recovery; ability to acquire necessary permits and other authorizations; environmental compliance; cost increases; availability of qualified workers and drill equipment; competition for mining properties; risks associated with exploration projects including, without limitation, the accuracy of interpretations; mineral reserve and resource estimates (including the risk of assumption and methodology errors and ability to complete a new resource estimate by the proposed target date or at all); the ability to meet proposed schedules for the completion of metallurgical tests; the ability to complete the feasibility study by the stated deadline or at all; dependence on third parties for services; non-performance by contractual counterparties; title risks; risks associated with Nord Gold S.E. electing not to exercise its option and make the related option payments; and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about the following: that the proposed drilling program will be completed in full and to plan; the assumptions contained in Columbus' Preliminary Economic Assessment are accurate and complete; that the mineral resource update is positive; that the results of the Feasibility Study will be positive; general business and economic conditions; the timing and receipt of required approvals and permits; the availability of financing; power prices; the ability to procure equipment and supplies including, without limitation, drill rigs; and ongoing relations with employees, partners, optionees and joint venturers. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and Columbus undertakes no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law. Contacts: Columbus Gold Corp. Investor Relations (604) 634-0970 or 1-888-818-1364 (604) 634-0971 (FAX) info@columbusgold.com www.columbusgold.com CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) At Blake Waldrops south Iowa factory, quality control involves ear protection, safety glasses and a high-powered rifle. For every 100 products made by his company, RMA Armament, Waldrop sets aside one to take to his indoor shooting range and pump full of lead. The Des Moines Register reports Waldrop is working to build a superior version of body armor that will save the lives of law enforcement officers and soldiers. And if he needs to shoot up a few dozen samples to make sure it can do the job, so be it. Its meant to save peoples lives, said Waldrop, who became a manufacturer after careers in the U.S. Marines and local policing. If you eat bad cereal, you might be sick for a day or two. But if this is bad, somebodys going to die. Waldrops interest stems from personal experience: A comrade in his company died wearing Marine-issued body armor during a 2005 IED attack in Iraq. Waldrop doesnt know whether better body armor would have saved his friend, but hes certain he would have had a better chance wearing RMAs new armor. In fact, his companys website boasts it sells the worlds best body armor. Thats factual, Waldrop said. Weve got the data to back it up. One of his designs has been tested to withstand six rounds of armor-piercing rifle ammunition a feat he says is unmatched by competitors. RMA sells various armor models to police forces across the country, with plans for future expansion into the military market. Worn around the center chest, each piece of armor weighs 3 to 7 pounds. In the wake of high-profile shootings of law enforcement officers in Iowa and across the country, Waldrop says demand for hard armor has skyrocketed. Now, departments that once used body armor solely for special tactical units such as SWAT teams are considering it for patrol officers. The need spiked through the roof, as far as individual officers needing hard armor and departments recognizing, Hey, we actually need to have an active budget for this, he said. So weve seen a lot of departments putting budgets aside. After serving in the Marines for five years, Waldrop returned to his native Michigan and worked for a trucking company. But the 2008 shakeup that decimated the American auto market left him laid off. Waldrop entered the police academy and served as an officer in Wyoming and Dysart, Iowa. He launched his armor business in his garage in 2011, seeking expert help to rethink the materials, adhesives and ceramics that go into the shielding worn around the chest. The business, which started making products at the Rock Island Arsenal in the Quad Cities and then through a third-party manufacturer in northern Iowa, was set to go to Texas because of Waldrops friendship with Gov. Rick Perry. But a chance encounter with state and local officials at Iowa Gov. Terry Branstads annual hunt changed his mind. He found out that the 20,000-square-foot former armory building in Centerville was empty and available. Now, RMA leases that building from the city, and has plans to buy it outright. In February 2016, the Iowa Economic Development Authority awarded RMA a $34,000 forgivable loan and $34,550 in tax credits. The plant also received financial incentives from Centerville and Appanoose County. Waldrop, who owns 60 percent of RMA, said the business was financed with his personal savings and a $1 million investment from a friend. He wants eventually to sell armor plates to the U.S. military, which he says is still using basically the same style of body armor that his Marine comrade was outfitted with in 2005. But for now, hes focused on increasing production through sales to law enforcement agencies. A wall in the plant displays badges from customers ranging from Waterloo and Ames in Iowa to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and the Baltimore Police Department. His list price for body armor plates ranges from $140 to $330 each, but Waldrop said he works with cash-strapped police departments on more affordable prices. We didnt get into this business to make millions of dollars, he said. We got into this business to protect other peoples lives. Even so, RMA is making millions. From July to December 2016, the company racked up more than $2 million in sales, Waldrop said. On average, RMAs 20 employees now pump out 1,000 to 1,200 pieces of body armor per week. The business reached profitability during the final quarter of 2016. RMA has filed for patent protection, which would keep competitors from creating a similar product for at least 20 years. Waldrop said RMAs unique ceramic grid differentiates it from competitors. Just as engineers might design a piece of concrete to crack in a certain way, so too has RMA designed its ceramic to crack just the right way to absorb a bullets impact. When a bullet is shot at the plate, the ceramic breaks the round, instantly disintegrating the slug. A polyethylene backing absorbs the kinetic energy of the fired shot. I always tell people I didnt invent armor any more than Steve Jobs invented the computer, Waldrop said. I just found a better way to do it, just like he did. The U.S. Department of Justices National Institute of Justice, which regulates the production of body armor, does not rank or classify various products. But two of RMAs models are shown as meeting federal standards on the institutes online database (Waldrop expects more models to be certified soon). While he regularly takes aim at his plates at the shooting range, they so far havent come under fire on the job. But if an officer ever is shot, RMA promises a replacement plate for free. Waldrop often offers live-fire demonstrations in the plants shooting range, offering cops cash for armor plates in their inventory and then having them shoot at it. Then, they shoot at his plates. Talk is pretty cheap. Anybody can throw together some PowerPoint slides and polish up a sales pitch, he said. But for me, Id rather do less talk and more action. With an available $650 stipend every five years, every Des Moines police officer can choose to purchase a soft bullet-proof vest to protect against handgun fire. But those vests do not protect against rifle fire the same way hard armor can, Des Moines Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Parizek said. Rifle rounds will cut through them like a knife through butter, Parizek said. So thats definitely a consideration because weve seen more and more rifle assaults on police officers, including our recent experience here in Des Moines. In November, two metro-area police officers were shot and killed in what police described as ambush style attacks. But even before then, Parizek said department officials were discussing whether patrol officers ought to be issued heavier armor. Currently, only the 40 or so members of the special response SWAT team are issued armor plates. Its a trending threat to us and obviously a deadly threat to us, Parizek said. So there are things we have to consider now that we didnt consider 10 years ago. Its not that it wasnt an option 10 years ago, but people werent ambushing cops. Still, he said its unlikely the everyday police officer would wear the heavy hard armor regularly. Instead, they more likely would have it on hand in case a threatening situation arises. We cant interact well with the community if we look like an occupying army, if we are armored up and helmeted up, Parizek said. Its just not accessible, and its not functional for the duties we perform. SBB improves rail user experience, brings new applications to market faster and reduces costs with Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that the Schweizerische Bundesbahnen (SBB, Swiss Federal Railways), Switzerland's national railways company, has deployed Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform as the cornerstone of its IT modernization program. With Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, SBB has created a scalable and more agile platform for its application development, and is delivering new services, including an updated mobile application, to better serve the millions of passengers who travel via SBB each year. Founded in 1902, SBB is not only the largest travel and transport company in Switzerland, but it is also among the biggest employers in the country. SBB's operations span four divisions passenger traffic, freight, infrastructure, and real estate. In 2015, SBB's network of nearly 10,500 trains carried more than 50 million tons of freight and more than 440 million passengers between 794 stations. SBB prides itself on offering not only modern trains and amenities, but also other services and IT systems that can meet evolving customer expectations. However, its traditional IT systems were struggling to cope with the pace of innovation happening across the sector, and limited SBB's ability to quickly launch new provisions and modifications based on customer needs. SBB recognized the potential of digital services and mobility, and customer expectations among its passengers for applications, leading it to embark on a project to improve application development with a modern and agile platform that would not compromise system stability, speed, flexibility, performance, cost-effectiveness and innovativeness all of which are central factors for SBB. As SBB undertook its IT modernization program, it wanted to deploy a modern and flexible IT platform that could place it in a strong position to take advantage of the opportunities presented by digitization and help it better meet growing customer expectations in these areas. SBB had prior experience using enterprise-grade open source solutions, leading them to the decision that an open source, container-based architecture would be capable of complying with its requirements. Container-based architectures provide flexibility over traditional monolithic infrastructure, as applications are packaged into a container with only the required operating system components. This increases flexibility and portability across architectures and also allows for increased scalability as business demands evolve. Recognizing the benefits it offered, SBB selected Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform as the basis of its modern IT platform. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform is the first and only container-centric, hybrid cloud solution built from the Docker, Kubernetes, Project Atomic and OpenShift Origin upstream projects and based on the trusted backbone of the world's leading enterprise Linux platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform provides a more secure, stable platform for container-based deployments without sacrificing current IT investments, allowing for mission-critical, traditional applications to coexist alongside new, cloud-native and container-based applications. After selecting Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform in autumn 2015, SBB began a pilot involving 15 projects in January 2016. Once the pilots kicked off, Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform's popularity among developers and project managers led the scope of the pilot to more than triple in a short period of time. Today, 300 users at SBB use Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, with more than 900 containers in service and approximately 400 deployments every day. The SBB Mobile app has been downloaded more than 7.5 million times since its launch in 2008, and the latest version, launched in 2016, has attracted more than three million regular users. The app, built on Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, enables customers to buy tickets and access a touch timetable, receive real-time information on arrival and departure times, and receive push notifications and reminders from SBB's travel companion. For SBB, key benefits of its new solution include its stability and fault tolerance. The new container-based platform has not only given SBB the modern IT platform it sought to create new digital offerings, but it has also resulted in tangible benefits for how SBB's developers work. SBB's developers and operations teams are able to act independently, helping SBB to achieve more agility and speed in its application development. With Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, they can make modifications to individual elements on the live system without impairing the stability and functionality of the overall system. Supporting Quotes Baltisar Oswald, software architect, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB "We recognized that the rapid pace of innovation across the rail sector could no longer be managed with a traditional IT structure and required a flexible, scalable platform which offered us fast development options without disrupting our live systems. Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, with its container-based architecture, provided us with the innovation potential we required, in addition to operational stability and efficiency improvements across our infrastructure. Thanks to the deployment of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform, we have reduced our running costs by approximately 50 percent." Ashesh Badani, vice president and general manager, OpenShift, Red Hat "The work at SBB is an impressive testament to the high-performance of Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform when it comes to replacing old IT platforms which can no longer meet modern requirements. With the incredible pace of innovation intrinsic to open source technology, deploying Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform offers users added confidence that their solutions can meet their needs not only today, but also well into the future. We are thrilled to accompany SBB on its path through the new application economy." Additional information: Learn more about Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform Read more Red Hat customer success stories Connect with Red Hat Learn more about Red Hat Get more news in the Red Hat newsroom Read the Red Hat blog Follow Red Hat on Twitter Join Red Hat on Facebook Watch Red Hat videos on YouTube Join Red Hat on Google+ Follow Red Hat on LinkedIn About Red Hat, Inc. Red Hat is the world's leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to provide reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As the connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at http://www.redhat.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; delays or reductions in information technology spending; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; fluctuations in exchange rates; the effects of industry consolidation; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; the ability to meet financial and operational challenges encountered in our international operations; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005348/en/ Contacts: Red Hat, Inc. John Terrill, +1 571-421-8132 jterrill@redhat.com QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Junex Inc. (TSX VENTURE: JNX) ("Junex" or the "Company") is pleased to announce it has been selected in the 2017 TSX Venture 50, a ranking of strong performers which have shown superior results in key measures of market performance. This is the second time that Junex has been selected for this award and it is the second year in a row that Junex has received this recognition. "We are quite proud to be recognized as a strong performer on the TSX Venture Exchange. This achievement not only reflects Junex's positive results but also our abilities in leadership, decision-making, technical expertise, sound financial management, and efforts at all levels of our company, from hands-on labour in the field right up to the senior management level of our company. The ongoing support of our shareholders has also been important to our success" said Mr. Peter Dorrins, President and Chief Executive Officer of Junex. The TSX Venture 50 is a ranking of the top ten performing companies from each of five industry sectors including Clean Technology and Life Sciences, Diversified Industries, Mining, Oil & Gas, and Technology. The award recipients were selected based on three equally weighted criteria: market capitalization growth, share price appreciation, trading volume and analyst coverage. Shares for Debt Transaction Junex also announces that, as provided for under the debentures issued in July 2015 to Sodemex Developpement s.e.c. and Sidex s.e.c., it is settling a total interest payment of $76,027.40 by issuing a total of 104,147 shares at a price of $0.73 each. This transaction is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. These shares will be subject to a four month hold period. About Junex Junex is a junior oil and gas exploration company that holds exploration rights on approximately 5.2 million acres of land in the Appalachian basin in the Province of Quebec, including the Galt Oil Property on the Gaspe Peninsula in eastern Quebec, landholdings on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and landholdings in the St. Lawrence Lowlands between Montreal and Quebec City. In parallel to its exploration efforts in Quebec and expansion of its exploration activities elsewhere, the company operates a drilling services division. Forward-Looking Statements and Disclaimer Certain statements in this press release may be forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are based on the best estimates available to Junex at the time and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Junex's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. A description of the risks affecting Junex's business and activities appears under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" on pages 7 to 10 of Junex's 2014 annual management's discussion and analysis, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information in this press release will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits that Junex will derive therefrom. In particular, no assurance can be given as to the future financial performance of Junex. Junex disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in order to account for any new information or any other event. The reader is warned against undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. 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: Junex Inc. Mr. Peter Dorrins President & Chief Executive Officer 418-654-9661 Junex Inc. Mr. Dave Pepin Vice President - Corporate Affairs 418-654-9661 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2017) - Pistol Bay Mining Inc. (TSXV: PST) (FSE: OQS2) ("Pistol Bay" or the "Company') is pleased to report that Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc. ("RTECI" or "Rio Tinto") has informed Pistol Bay that is continuing with its exploration program on the 2,500-acre (1016 hectares) C5 uranium property in the Athabasca Basin, northern Saskatchewan. Rio Tinto intends to drill between 4 and 6 diamond drill holes for a program total of approximately 2,600 metres, targeting uranium mineralization at the unconformity between the Athabasca Basin sediments and the older basement rocks, and in the basement itself. The C5 property adjoins the Wheeler River property, controlled by Denison Mines Corp. It lies 4.5 kilometres north of the Phoenix uranium deposit, 5 kilometres northeast of the Gryphon uranium deposit, and 2.6 kilometres northeast of the 489 Uranium Zone. The C5 property, together with the C4 and C6 claims, is under option to Rio Tinto, which has earned a 75% interest, and has previously announced its intention to exercise the further option to acquire 100% interest by paying Pistol Bay C$5,000,000 within 5 years of December 31st 2014 and granting Pistol Bay a 5% net profits interest (see Pistol Bay news release of February 16th, 2015). Rio Tinto has, to date, completed 12 diamond drill holes totalling 6,104 metres on the C5 property and carried out a gravity survey and a DC resistivity. The 2017 diamond drilling program is scheduled to commence on January 20th. Uranium mineralization in the Athabasca Basin is spatially associated with the unconformity where the Athabasca sandstones rest on top of older basement rocks. The unconformity is approximately 400 metres below surface in the area of the C4, C5 and C6 properties. The highlight of Rio Tinto's previous program's on C5 is diamond drill hole 14CBK003 which intersected 0.054% U3O8 over a core length of 1.5 metres, including 1. 0.071% U3O8 over 0.5 metre. Core recovery was approximately 50%, indicating that the assay does not accurately reflect the uranium content of the rock. In addition, diamond drill hole 14CBK0005, 50 metres to the northeast of 14CBK003, intersected 0.041% U3O8 across a core length of 0.32 metres just below the unconformity, and 0.022% U3O8 across a core length of 1.00 metre, 5 metres below the unconformity. These results were previously disclosed in a Pistol Bay news release on June 4th, 2014. The C4, C5 and C6 properties adjoin the 11,720 hectare Wheeler River property of Denison Mines Corp. (60%), Cameco Corp. (30%) and JCU (Canada) Exploration Co. (10%). Wheeler River includes the newly (2008) discovered Phoenix Zone, with an indicated mineral resource of 70,200,000 pounds of U3O8 grading 19.13% plus an inferred mineral resource of 1,100,000 pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 5.80%. The Gryphon Zone contains an inferred resource of 43 million pounds of U3O8 at a grade of 2.3%. The 489 Zone is at an early stage of exploration. It has reported drill intercepts of 0.13% U3O8 over 5.5 metres and 0.46% e U3O8 (radiometric estimate) over 1.5 metres. The C4, C5 and C6 properties are situated approximately mid-way between the former producing Key Lake mine and the currently producing McArthur River Mine of Cameco Corp. (70%) and AREVA (30%). McArthur River has produced, to the end of 2015, a total of 287.6 million pounds of U3O8. It has reserves of 336.5 million pounds at 116.89% U3O8, measured plus indicated mineral resources of 5.6 million pounds at 3.80% U3O8 and an inferred mineral resource of 58.6 million pounds at 7.72% U3O8. With a total endowment of over 688 million pounds, McArthur River is the largest high grade uranium mine in the world (Cameco Corp. annual and quarterly reports). The C4, C5 and C6 properties are road-accessible, an important feature that allows exploration funds to be used much more effectively than more remote, fly-in projects. The 75-kilometre all-weather haul road from the McArthur River mine to Cameco's Key Lake mine/mill passes approximately 5 kilometres from the properties, and there is a network of bush roads or trails that can be used by 4-wheel drive vehicles. Technical material in this news release has been prepared and/or reviewed and approved by Colin Bowdidge, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. Uranium analyses quoted in this news release were performed for Rio Tinto by SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, using ICP-mass spectrometry. The geometry of the mineralized intervals quoted here is not known, and no estimate of true widths has been made. About Pistol Bay Mining Inc. Pistol Bay Mining Inc. is a diversified Junior Canadian Mineral Exploration Company with a focus on precious and base metal properties in North America. For additional information please contact Charles Desjardins - pistolbaymining@gmail.com - at Pistol Bay Mining Inc. On Behalf of the Board of Directors PISTOL BAY MINING INC. "Charles Desjardins" Charles Desjardins, President and Director 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. Cautionary note: This report contains forward looking statements. Resource estimates, unless specifically noted, are considered speculative. Any and all other resource or reserve estimates are historical in nature, and should not be relied upon. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on factors that will or may occur in the future. Actual results may vary depending upon exploration activities, industry production, commodity demand and pricing, currency exchange rates, and, but not limited to, general economic factors. Cautionary Note to US investors: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission specifically prohibits the use of certain terms, such as "reserves" unless such figures are based upon actual production or formation tests and can be shown to be economically and legally producible under existing economic and operating conditions. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 24, 2017) - Wamco Technology Group Ltd. (the "Company") announces that it has filed articles of amendment giving effect to the consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares on a one (1) for five (5) basis (the "Consolidation"), resulting in its previously outstanding 5,131,340 common shares of the Company being consolidated into approximately 1,026,245 common shares. No fractional common shares will be issued pursuant to the Consolidation and any fractional shares that would have otherwise been issued have been rounded down to the nearest whole number. The Consolidation was approved by shareholders at an annual and special meeting held on August 20, 2015. Letters of transmittal with respect to the Consolidation are being mailed to the Company's registered shareholders. All registered shareholders will be required to send their share certificates representing pre-Consolidation common shares, along with a properly executed letter of transmittal, to the Company's registrar and transfer agent, Computershare Investor Services Inc., in accordance with the instructions provided in the letter of transmittal. Shareholders who hold their common shares through a broker, investment dealer, bank or trust company should contact that nominee or intermediary for assistance in depositing their common shares in connection with the Consolidation. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Lisa McCormack President Tel: (416) 361-2515 Fax: (416) 361-2519 This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "would", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is provided, and is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For a description of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and its business and affairs, readers should refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change, unless required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Aton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAN) ("Aton" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a resource estimate for Hamama West, one of three contiguous zones that comprise the Hamama Project ("Hamama" or the "Project"), located within the Company's 100% owned Abu Marawat Concession ("Abu Marawat") in Egypt. Hamama West hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 341,000 ounces gold equivalent ("AuEq") (see Table 1) and an Indicated Mineral Resource of 137,000 ounces AuEq (see Table 2). Highlights: -- Excellent potential to grow resources along strike and at depth: Hamama West resource represents only 750 metres of the 3,000-metre-long mineralized horizon at Hamama and the entire area remains open at depth (see Figure 1). -- Attractive open pit characteristics: Broad zones of gold mineralization starting at surface with oxide and transitional Inferred resources grading 1.28 g/t AuEq (see Table 1). In addition, Hamama is close to major infrastructure and is located in a low-cost operating environment. -- Opportunity to improve grade, increase resources and upgrade the resource category in the oxide cap: Aton believes that it will be able to increase the grade and the resources in the oxide cap with a short reverse circulation ("RC") drill program. Further, the Company believes that it will be able to upgrade the oxide and transitional resource from the Inferred to Indicated category. -- Continued resource growth at Abu Marawat: Focus of the Company's exploration program in 2017 will be expanding resources at both Hamama and the Abu Marawat gold deposit. "I'm very pleased with the maiden resource estimate for Hamama West," said Mark Campbell, President and CEO of Aton. "We set out to demonstrate Hamama's overall potential with this resource estimate and I believe that we have done that. In addition to providing us with a blueprint for continued resource growth at Hamama, the resource estimate materially expands upon our existing resource base. As a Company, we are fortunate to have two gold deposits, Hamama and the Abu Marawat gold deposit, that have such great potential for resource growth along strike and at depth. Furthermore, we have more than a dozen exploration targets along the 40-km-long gold trend between the Hamama and Abu Marawat gold deposits." Rick Cavaney, Vice President of Exploration of Aton, noted that "In the near term, Aton will commence a multi-pronged exploration program that will look to accomplish several goals. We will look to increase the grade and resources from Hamama West's oxide cap with a short reverse circulation program and will to seek to identify potential massive sulphide targets at Hamama with a geophysics program, which will include ground magnetics and ground and downhole electromagnetics. The Company will then focus on expanding resources at both Hamama and the Abu Marawat gold deposit. 2017 marks an exciting new phase for the Company, one of resource growth with an eye towards a Preliminary Economic Assessment and converting our exploration permit to an exploitation permit in 2018." Table 1: Inferred Mineral Resources at Hamama West ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au Ag AuEq Au Ag AuEq Weathering type Tonnes (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (koz) (koz) (koz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oxide & Transitional 2,580,000 0.87 28.1 1.28 72 2,334 106 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sulphide 5,630,000 0.87 30.4 1.30 157 5,503 235 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 8,210,000 0.87 29.7 1.29 230 7,836 341 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table 2: Indicated Mineral Resources at Hamama West ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Au Ag AuEq Au Ag AuEq Weathering type Tonnes (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (koz) (koz) (koz) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sulphide 3,805,000 0.72 27.6 1.12 88 3,376 137 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not demonstrate economic viability. 2. All tonnage, grade and ounces have been rounded and minor discrepancies in additive totals may occur. 3. Weathering classification is based on visual assessment of drill core by geologists and does not represent a definitive geo-metallurgical classification. 4. The mineral resource are quoted at a minimum cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t Au equivalent, where the silver contribution has been based on a silver:gold ratio of 70:1. 5. Reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction have been determined using assumptions based upon some African open pit projects of similar scale, and have included a gold price of US$1250/oz, generic open pit mining and processing costs and generic metallurgical recoveries for gold and silver. At this stage of the property's development, no detailed economic, mining or metallurgical studies have been completed. The classification does not infer that mineral resources demonstrate economic viability. To view Figure 1: Hamama West Resource Boundary, please visit: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083670_ATON_FIGURE-1.pdf The independent mineral resource estimate for Hamama West was completed in accordance with National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 and was undertaken by Cube Consulting Pty Ltd (Perth). Notes regarding the interpretation and estimation methodology can be found in the Appendix at the end of the news release. The Company will prepare and file a Technical Report under NI 43-101 within 45 days of the date of this news release. Upcoming milestones: -- 240km2 WorldView-3 multispectral survey over the Hamama and Abu Marawat gold deposit areas; -- Ground magnetic, ground EM and downhole EM geophysical surveys at Hamama, with the primary goal of identifying potential massive sulphide targets; -- RC drilling with the aim of increasing the grade and resources from Hamama West's oxide cap, and upgrading the oxide and transitional resource from the Inferred to Indicated category; -- Geophysical survey over an 8-km long hydrothermally altered and mineralized zone between the Abu Marawat gold deposit and Miranda; -- Drill testing potential targets generated by the geophysical survey at Hamama, the Abu Marawat gold deposit and Miranda (see Figure 2 for Abu Marawat Concession map); -- Metallurgical test work; -- Resource expansion at both Hamama and the Abu Marawat gold deposit. To view Figure 2: Abu Marawat Concession map, please visit: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083670_ATON_FIGURE-2.pdf Table 3: Mineral Resources at Abu Marawat ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deposit Class Tonnes Grade ---------------------------- Cu Zn Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) (%) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abu Marawat Inferred (open pit & u/g) 2,879,000 1.75 29.3 0.77 1.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamama West Inferred (oxide & transitional) 2,580,000 0.87 28.1 - - ------------------------------------------------------------- Inferred (sulphide) 5,630,000 0.87 30.4 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL Inferred 11,089,000 1.10 29.6 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deposit Contained Metal ------------------------------------------------------------- Au (koz) Ag (koz) AuEq (koz) Cu (m lbs) Zn (m lbs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Abu Marawat 162 2,713 - 49 73 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamama West 72 2,334 106 - - ------------------------------------------------------------- 157 5,503 235 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 391 10,550 341 49 73 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deposit Class Tonnes Grade ---------------------------- Zn Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamama West Indicated (sulphide) 3,805,000 0.72 27.6 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL Indicated 3,805,000 0.72 27.6 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCES ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deposit Contained Metal ------------------------------------------------------------- Au (koz) Ag (koz) AuEq (koz) Cu (m lbs) Zn (m lbs) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hamama West 88 3,376 137 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOTAL 88 3,376 137 - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Hamama West mineral resource estimate is estimated using a 0.5 g/t AuEq cut-off grade 2. Hamama AuEq is based on an Au price of US$1250/oz (average Au price since May 2013), and a Au/Ag price ratio of 70:1 (indicating an Ag price of US$17.86/oz) 3. Abu Marawat mineral resource estimate is based upon NSR cut-offs of US$20 per tonne and US$50 per tonne for open-pit and underground, respectively. 4. No AuEq value is presented for Abu Marawat as it was not included in the Abu Marawat NI 43-101 technical report. See the independent technical report titled "Technical Report on the Abu Marawat Concession, Egypt" dated April, 2012 by Wayne W. Valliant, P.Geo., and Bernard Salmon, ing. of Roscoe Postle Associates Inc., available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com About the Hamama project The Hamama project ("Hamama") is located at the western end of the 40-km long gold trend at the Abu Marawat concession and is comprised of three zones, Hamama West, Hamama Central and Hamama East. The mineralized horizon at Hamama has a strike length of approximately 3-km and remains open to the west and the east. Mapping indicates that the horizon may extend another 1.8-kms to the east. Further exploration work will be conducted to confirm this. Other potentially mineralized horizons, separate from the main mineralized horizon, have also been mapped in the general Hamama area. About Aton Resources Inc. Aton Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: AAN) is focused on its 100% owned Abu Marawat concession, located in Egypt's Arabian-Nubian Shield, approximately 200-km north of Centamin's Sukari gold mine. Aton has identified a 40-km long gold trend at Abu Marawat, anchored by the Hamama project in the west and the Abu Marawat gold deposit in the east. In addition to the Hamama project and the Abu Marawat gold deposit, the trend contains numerous gold exploration targets, including two historic gold mines. Abu Marawat is over 738km2 in size and is located in an area of excellent infrastructure, a four-lane highway, a 220kV power line and a water pipeline are in close proximity. Qualified Persons' statement Scientific or technical information in this news release that relates to the preparation of the Company's mineral resource estimate is based on information compiled or approved by Matt Bampton, BSc (Hons. Geology), MSc (Env. Science), who is an employee of Cube Consulting Pty Ltd. and is considered to be independent of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Bampton is a Member in good standing of the Australian Institute of Geosciences and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the commodity, style of mineralization under consideration and activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Bampton consents to the inclusion in this news release of the information, in the form and context in which it appears. Qualified Person The technical information contained in this News Release was prepared by Roderick Cavaney BSc, MSc (hons), MSc (Mining & Exploration Geology), FAusIMM, SEG, GSA, SME, Vice President, Exploration, of Aton Resources Inc. Mr. Cavaney is a qualified person (QP) under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. For further information regarding Aton Resources Inc., please visit us at www.atonresources.com. Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements. Since forward- looking statements address future events and conditions; by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Appendix The following notes outline the interpretation and estimation methodology for the Hamama West Mineral Resource estimate: 1. The mineral resource estimate was undertaken by Cube Consulting Pty Ltd., a minerals industry consultancy based in Perth, Western Australia, which is independent of Aton Resources. 2. The validated mineral resource drilling database contained the following drill hole data that was used directly in the mineral resource estimate: 74 mostly HQ-gauge diamond drill holes (6,597m). 3. The mineral resource estimate used only diamond drilling data, but interpretation of geological boundaries with respect to surface outcrops were also informed by information from a number of trenches throughout the deposit. 4. The drilling was completed in several phases by Aton Resources between December 2011 and August 2016. 5. Drilling was generally oriented on north-south lines, with a range of drill-line spacings varying from approximately 30m to 50m depending on surface access and the intent of the drill programs. 6. Collars for drill holes used in the mineral resource estimate have been surveyed by local survey contractors, Arab Nubia Group, using a Leica Viva GS10 DGPS unit. 7. Downhole surveys have been conducted on the large majority of all diamond holes using a Reflex EZ-Trac multifunctional magnetic downhole survey tool. Surveying was undertaken by the drilling contractors. 8. Geological logging of drill holes includes state of weathering, lithology, alteration, mineralogy, structural defects and geotechnical parameters. All drill hole logging data was compiled into a master drilling database. 9. Diamond holes were logged and sampled over varying intervals according to geological observations, but generally were 1m length away from geological contacts. Samples submitted for assay were half-core. 10. Diamond drilling from the older drilling campaigns had variable and often poor core recoveries near surface within the oxide mineralization domain. Approximately 20% of mineralized samples had core recoveries of less than 60%. These holes and these intervals were assessed collectively to determine the suitability for inclusion in the mineral resource estimation, and the confidence associated with this is reflected in the resource classification. 11. Diamond core sawing and sample crushing (to nominally less than 4mm) was undertaken at Hamama's on-site sample preparation facility. Samples were securely transported to Cairo, inspected at the Egyptian Geological Museum, and transport by commercial courier to an ALS Laboratory in Romania. 12. Sampling and sample submission was conducted in accordance with a quality assurance/quality control program which includes the use of certified reference materials for diamond drill holes. 13. At the ALS Laboratory, 500g sub-samples are pulverized to a standard of +85% passing 75um. Gold content is determined by fire assay methods using a 30g charge, lead collection and an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish, with a lower detection limit of 0.01 ppm Au. Silver content is determined after an Aqua Regia digest, an atomic absorption spectroscopy finish, and with a lower detection limit of 0.2 ppm Ag. 14. Structure, lithology, mineralization, weathering and surface topography surfaces were interpreted in 3D using GEOVIA Surpac software. 15. Lithological, structural and alteration information from drill hole logging was primarily used to develop interpretations of the mineralized domains and gold assays were used as a secondary determinant. 16. Mineralized interpretations were not done at a specific lower grade cut- off, and the grade estimation method (ordinary kriging, followed by localized uniform conditioning) was considered acceptable to estimate the grade distribution and reflect its variability. 17. No additional dilution beyond the major geological domain boundaries was included in the estimation. 18. The mineralization interpretation consists of 8 individual domains, defined by lithological, weathering and spatial characteristics. All the material that was considered for classification as a resource was from 2 domains, being the fresh component and the combined oxide and transitional component, of the main interpreted mineralized horizon. 19. For the purposes of density measurement, a total of 1,612 samples were collected from drill holes within the deposit, covering all weathering types and representative lithologies. A density value was then assigned for each of the weathering types and representative lithologies in the mineral resource estimate. 20. Two metre downhole composites were extracted from the assay database based on the mineralized wireframes and form the basis for statistical analysis, variography and grade interpolation. 21. Gold and silver assays were reviewed on an individual domain basis to determine appropriate top-cuts for each domain to reduce the influence of grade outliers. A top-cut of 150g/t was applied for silver in the main mineralized domains, with the exception of a poorly-defined high grade zone in the central part of the deposit, where a top-cut of 400g/t was applied for silver in two drill holes. No top-cuts for gold were considered to be warranted. In general, the grade domains represent distinct geological and statistical populations and provide a robust basis for mineral resource estimation. 22. Variography was completed to analyze the spatial continuity of the grade within the major mineralized domains using ISATISr software. The two main domains were selected for analysis to characterize the grade continuity for grade interpolation. Resultant variogram models were used to determine the appropriate estimation parameters for grade interpolation into the block model. 23. A Quantitative Kriging Neighbourhood Analysis (QKNA) was performed on both the fresh and oxide material to help inform decisions on the minimum and maximum number of composites used to estimate a block. 24. For the main domains, Ordinary Kriging using ISATISr software was used to undertake the grade estimation, with block estimates based on grade interpolation into parent cells with dimensions of 20m x 20m x 10m (XYZ). This was followed by localized uniform conditioning to provide a better estimate for what was considered to be a reasonably diffuse grade distribution within the mineralized domain, and where with the current drill density ordinary kriging may result in an over-smoothed estimate. 25. For some minor mineralized domains (none of which has been classified as a resource), Ordinary Kriging using GEOVIA SurpacTM software was used for the grade estimation. All block estimates were based on grade interpolation into parent cells with dimensions of 20m x 20m x 10m (XYZ) for each individual mineralized domain. 26. Upon completion of the block model, swath plots were generated for the major mineralized domains to compare the gold and silver grades estimated in the blocks against composited raw grades on 40m cross- sections, and in 10m RL increments. The block model was further validated by conducting an 'inverse-distance-squared' estimate for comparison as a check on the potential for global systematic bias in the mineral resource estimate. 27. The block model was classified according to geological and estimate confidence. Consideration was given to data density, geological and grade continuity, drill spacing, drill quality and core recovery, material type, suitability of estimation methodology and local estimation bias. 28. The block model was assessed for the likelihood of the mineralization having reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction. The assessment included factors such as commodity pricing, potential processing methods, potential mining methods, preliminary metallurgical test work results, and level of geological knowledge of the project. As a result of this assessment process, estimated blocks that did not meet the criteria remained as unclassified and are not included in mineral resource reporting. The final cut-off grade of 0.5 g/t gold equivalent was based on criteria including a $1,250/oz. gold price and a silver: gold ratio of 70:1, to produce a final mineral resource classification of Indicated and Inferred as defined by the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards as required for NI 43-101 compliance. 29. The final block model included the estimated mineralized domains with attributes for weathering, lithology, density, estimation domain code, material type, elements estimated, and mineral resource classification. 30. Tonnage-grade curves were generated for a range of reporting cut-off grades for the main mineralized domains. Contacts: Mark Campbell President and Chief Executive Officer +1-936-689-2589 mcampbell@atonresources.com Blaine Monaghan Vice President, Investor Relations +1 (604) 331-5092 ir@atonresources.com BROSSARD, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Diagnos Inc. ("DIAGNOS" or "the Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: ADK), a leader in applying Artificial Intelligence in healthcare technical services including screening, software and algorithm development, data analysis, and image processing is pleased to announce, further to the November 14th, 2016 news release, the successful completion of the pilot project for the Mexican Social Security Institute (Spanish: Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, "IMSS"). IMSS provides social security to over 71 million people nationwide in Mexico. The pilot project helped demonstrate that a well-planned wellness program can have a positive impact on the diabetes epidemic. DIAGNOS' Artificial Intelligence tools (CARA) contributed at accurately identifying related diseases linked to diabetes in 98% of tests conducted. In order to prevent potential blindness caused by diabetes, the Corporation believes that governments must implement new solutions to enable doctors to be part of the identification process. Based on our analysis of the situation, it is estimated that the burden of diabetes today surpasses $ 96 million Mexican pesos per day (approx. US $ 5 million dollars). "We continue our efforts to provide an integrated solution through IMSS' flagship diabetes programs "DiabetIMSS" and "PrevenIMSS". The successful outcome from this pilot represents an important step towards implementing soon a multi-annual national screening project and that would benefit IMSS in taking control of the high costs associated with diabetes", said Andre Larente, President of DIAGNOS. About CARA CARA is a tele-ophthalmology platform that integrates with existing equipment (hardware and software) and processes at the point of care (POC) and comprises: image upload, image enhancement automated pre- screening, grading by a specialist, and referral to a specialist. CARA's image enhancement algorithms mak e standard retinal images sharper, clearer, and easier to read. CARA is accessible securely over the internet, and is compatible with all recognized image formats and brands of fundus cameras, and is EMR compatible. CARA is a cost-effective tool for screening large numbers of patients, in real-time and has been approved by regulatory authorities including Health Canada, US Food and Drug Administration, European Union (CE) and COFEPRIS for Mexico. About DIAGNOS Founded in 1998, DIAGNOS is a publicly traded Canadian corporation with a mission to commercialize technologies combining contextual imaging and traditional data mining thereby improving decision making processes. DIAGNOS offers products, services, and solutions to clients in a variety of fields including healthcare and natural resources. Forward-looking information This document contains forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. For further information, please contact DIAGNOS, visit our website at www.diagnos.com, or visit the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Contacts: Andre Larente President (450) 678-8882, ext.: 224 OAKVILLE, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Editors Note: There are four photos associated with this press release. The City of Grand Prairie, Texas is reaching a milestone on the construction of a community center that lives up to its name: The Epic Grand Central. On January 24, OpenAire will install the final rafters on The Epic's massive 62,000 square-foot indoor waterpark, Epic Waters, bringing the park much closer to completion. Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen and city officials will attend this exciting occasion. The Epic's spectacular 172-acre complex was planned with input from Grand Prairie residents from all walks of life and is meant to be a legacy project for future generations. To make The Epic Grand Central a truly epic success, the City of Grand Prairie chose to include many spectacular attractions for the whole community, including a fitness center, the fully accessible PlayGrand outdoor playground, and Epic Waters, the largest indoor waterpark under a single custom curved retractable roof in the USA, housed in an enormous 62,000 square-foot retractable enclosure designed and built by OpenAire. The graceful arched roof will span 160 ft. wide and be 384 ft. long. This record-breaking waterpark will offer Grand Prairie the perfect sunlit aquatic experience year-round, while also connecting seamlessly with the rest of the Epic's incredible attractions. OpenAire began installing its custom-built enclosure for Epic Waters in December 2016, creating an amazing sight right from the start. Thanks to OpenAire's efficient pre-fabrication processes, Epic Waters' strong yet lightweight aluminum alloy frame was rising high into the air within days. Epic Waters will be home to the largest indoor aqua loop, the first "boomerango" and constrictor combination waterslide, and the first two-person aqua sphere attraction in the United States, all designed by Ramaker and Associates and OpenAire with the attractions coming from Whitewater West. Guests will be able to plunge down these rides from one of the tallest slide towers in the USA, a 69.5-foot high cupola built by OpenAire. All around the tower, the rest of the park will also be truly remarkable. "Our expansive enclosure for Epic Waters will blend the security of an indoor waterpark with the vibrant, sunlit atmosphere of an outdoor park," says OpenAire President and CEO Mark Albertine, "the space itself is going to be as awe-inspiring as the park's attractions." Epic Wates will be a dynamic facility that can adapt quickly to the conditions outside. The enclosure's 36 customized retractable roof panels will let in abundant sunshine and fresh air on warm days, yet will be able to close securely at the first sign of precipitation or poor weather, letting everyone of all ages enjoy the park year-round. Epic Waters and The Epic Grand Central are set to open in the Fall of 2017. With their unique attractions and innovative architecture, they are sure to be a landmark throughout Texas for years to come. About OpenAire OpenAire has been designing and manufacturing beautiful, high-quality, environmentally conscious retractable roof structures and skylights for over 25 years. We bring unique visions to life from initial design to installation, transforming buildings into sunlit spaces customers love. Headquartered in Oakville, Ontario, OpenAire is approaching 1,000 projects throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Some of our projects include four cruise liners in Royal Caribbean's new Quantum series of ships; the Rooftop Bar at the Refinery Hotel in New York NY; Restoration Hardware's "RH Gallery" in Chicago IL; Fort Lewis College Observatory for the Geosciences, Physics and Engineering Hall in Durango, CO; Aqua Sferra Water Park (the biggest aluminum dome in the world) in Donetsk, Ukraine; Kalahari in Pocono Mountains PA (the largest waterpark under one roof in the USA); Tropicana Water Park in Stadthagen, Germany; Jay Peak Ski Resort's Pump House Indoor Waterpark in Jay, VT; the Palms Casino & Resort in Las Vegas NV; and a pool enclosure at the Hilton Toronto Airport Hotel in Toronto, ON. To learn more about OpenAire Inc.'s projects and capabilities, visit http://www.openaire.com/ and follow us on Twitter. For more details on this project, please e-mail sales@openaire.com To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following links: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/EpicWaters-vertical-Dec2016_OpenAire.jpg http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/EpicWaters-vertical2.JPG http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/EpicWaters-vertical-3-Dec2016_OpenAire.JPG http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/EpicWaters-vertical-4-Dec2016_OpenAire.JPG Contacts: Angela Goldrup, Marketing Manager OpenAire T: 905-901-8535 Ext. 110 M: 905-465-5586 TF: 1-800-267-4877 E: agoldrup@openaire.com VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - In a setback to the UK government's hopes to bypass the parliament and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to kick-start the process of exiting the European Union, the UK Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that lawmakers must have a say on the matter before formal talks can begin. The UK Supreme Court dismissed the government's appeal by a majority of 8 to 3. 'The Supreme Court today rules that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of parliament authorizing it to do so,' Supreme Court President David Neuberger said. The UKSC also ruled that the devolved legislatures of Scotland, Wales and the Northern Ireland do not have a veto on the UK's decision to exit the EU. The pound sterling rose as the news of the ruling came, but gave up the gains shortly afterwards. The British government had proposed to use its prerogative powers, known as the 'royal prerogative', to withdraw from the EU by serving a notice of withdrawing the UK from the EU Treaties. UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced last week that her country would exit the EU completely, dubbed a 'hard Brexit', and set March 31 date to start formal talks that must be concluded in two years. She had also confirmed that the parliament will get a vote on the final 'Brexit' deal. 'The British people voted to leave the EU, and the government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March,' a government spokesman said after the court ruling. 'Today's ruling does nothing to change that.' Gina Miller, one of main challengers to the government in the court, said her win was 'about the legal process, not politics'. The latest court ruling opens up the 'Brexit' process for a vote in the parliament, where a majority of lawmakers wanted to remain in the EU. Speaking in the parliament on Tuesday after the ruling, Brexit secretary David Davis said the Article 50 legislation will be ready 'within days' and lawmakers will get to vote on both the Article 50 process and the final deal. He also said that one of the reasons for deciding to trigger Article 50 before the end of March was to complete it before the next European parliamentary elections and ahead of polls in France and Germany this year. Some media reports suggested that the Article 50 process could be put to vote in the parliament as early as next week. Labour Party Chief Jeremy Corbyn said the latest ruling meant the government was forced to accept the sovereignty of the parliament. 'Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50,' he said. His party will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using 'Brexit' to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven, he added. 'Labour demands a plan from the government, accountability to Parliament throughout negotiations and a meaningful vote on the final deal,' Corbyn said. Meanwhile, Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron said his party will not vote for Article 50 unless there is a vote of the people are guaranteed a referendum on the final deal. Some reasons for the judgement presented by the Supreme Court was that under the European Communities Act of 1972, through which the UK became a EU member, the EU law becomes a source of UK law. And as long as the ECA remains in force its effect is to constitute EU law as an independent and overriding source of domestic law, unless the Parliament decides otherwise. The court also pointed out that 'Brexit' makes a fundamental change to the UK's constitutional arrangements, by cutting off the source of EU law. Such a fundamental change will be the inevitable effect of a notice being served and the UK constitution requires such changes to be effected by Parliamentary legislation. The fact that withdrawal from the EU would remove some existing domestic rights of UK residents also renders it impermissible for the Government to withdraw from the EU Treaties without prior Parliamentary authority, the court said. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved by a slender party line vote the nomination of Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. In the voting held late Monday, all 11 Republicans voted in favor of oil giant Exxon Mobil's chief executive while all 10 Democrats voted against him. The Foreign Relations Committee's endorsement is subject to a full vote in the Republican-run Senate. Tillerson's confirmation was not expected to be easy as his close ties to Russia, and its president Vladimir Putin alarmed both Democrats and some Republicans. Tillerson's approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was doubtful until three Senate GOP Russia hawks, including leading Republican Senator Marco Rubio, dropped their opposition 48 hours before the vote. The Secretary of State is in effect the most senior US diplomat, and the President's key man in charge of Washington's relations with other governments. It is rare in American politics that a non-politician with no formal government experience heading the State Department. Joining the rank of an engineer in Exxon Mobil more than 40 years ago, Tillerson, 64, spent several years as a globetrotter running the company's extensive international operations. 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. The new speech-to-text solution is perfectly compatible with the new Philips dictation devices and accessories Speech Processing Solutions, the world's number one in professional dictation solutions, has just launched a brand new version of their SpeechExec Enterprise workflow solution. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005867/en/ Philips SpeechExec Enterprise 5.0 software is ideal for larger organisations, which wish to streamline their dictation workflow. The software connects authors, transcriptionists, managers and IT administrators, facilitating an easier and more efficient speech to text process. Efficient system configuration Individual settings and forwarding rules can be created and dictations automatically sent to the corresponding transcriptionists. The software allows managers to centrally administrate user profiles, licences and system settings. As a result, companies can be more flexible and effective. SpeechExec Enterprise allows on-demand application delivery; it is certified as Citrix-ready and supports Terminal Server. A leading Scandinavian hospital group who recently adopted Philips SpeechExec Enterprise explains: "The big advantage of the new system is that both software and dictation files are located on a central Citrix server. It is almost instantly updatable, and it doesn't matter where our doctors or secretaries are. They can always access it," Jesper Pedersen, Head of IT, Aleris-Hamlet Hospitals. New advantages for users and IT administrators IT administrators' lives are made easier through new innovative tools. The new "Health Scanner Service Tool" for instance monitors the Workflow Manager and Mobile Server and sends an email notification directly to the IT administrator if a problem is identified. The new version also offers improved central configuration for its smartphone users. The new configuration interfaces between SpeechExec Enterprise, the Mobile Server as well as the Remote Device Manager have been optimized and allow for a more harmonized central configuration. Works with the latest speech recognition software The new SpeechExec Enterprise 5.0 supports all versions of Nuance's speech recognition solution Dragon NaturallySpeaking, including their latest release v14. Professional industry-specific vocabulary is available from Nuance, including Legal, Medical and general business. Supports all new Philips voice recording devices Users can now pair up the software with their newest Philips voice input devices such as the Philips SpeechAir and SpeechMike Premium Touch to take full advantage of Philips's latest voice recording technology. It also works seamlessly with the new Philips foot control ACC2300 series, allowing transcriptionists to get work done even quicker and more comfortably. Secure configuration data exchange As security is extremely important to consumers, especially in the legal and medical branches, a secure configuration data exchange between the server and the clients has been implemented into Philips SpeechExec Enterprise 5.0. Optional automatic backups and new security options for the configuration files are now also available, guaranteeing only authorized users have the ability to make changes. Lasse Dalberg, co-owner of Grove Partners a Scandinavian legal practice explains: "For us it is important that a dictation solution provides security, freedom and flexibility in our everyday lives. For example we can work from home or one of our transcriptionists can sit miles away from our office location without it making a difference for our way of working" About Speech Processing Solutions Speech Processing Solutions is the global leader in professional dictation solutions. The company was founded in 1954 in Austria as a Philips subsidiary, and has been a driving force for innovative speech-to-text solutions for 60 years. The company developed ground-breaking products such as the mobile Philips SpeechAir, the Philips Pocket Memo voice recorder, the Philips SpeechMike Premium USB dictation microphone and the Philips Dictation Recorder app for smartphones, thus meeting its demands for excellence and superior quality. Thanks to the newest innovation, Philips SpeechLive, dictations and recordings will become faster and easier than ever before with cloud-based workflow services. Speech Processing Solution's perfectly tailored offers and products help professionals save time and resources and maximize efficiency. Connect with Speech Processing Solutions on: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/philipsvoicetracer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/philips_dictation/ Twitter @speech_com:http://www.twitter.com/speech_com YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/philipsdictation LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/speech-processing-solutions View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005867/en/ Contacts: Speech Processing Solutions Lea Pachta lea.pachta@speech.com Tel: +43 1605 291 744 www.philips.com/dictation WELLS A Spring Creek man was killed Sunday after he attempted to pass multiple vehicles on U.S. Highway 93 about 28 miles south of Wells. At 1:45 p.m., Bryan Nichols, 54, was driving a gold Dodge SUV south on 93, according to the Nevada Highway Patrol. After he crossed over the centerline to pass, the front of his vehicle struck the front of a white tractor trailer that was driving north on the highway. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Sabina Gold & Silver Corp (TSX: SBB), ("Sabina" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Nunavut Impact Review Board ("NIRB") has provided guidance to all parties on the scope and process of further review of the Back River Gold Project ("Back River" or the "Project"). On June 15, 2016, the NIRB recommended to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada ("INAC") that the Back River Project should not proceed to the next phase of permitting. On January 12, 2017, the Minister of INAC advised the NIRB that their report was deficient in several areas and referred the report back to NIRB for further consideration. A link to a copy of the Minister's letter can be found here: http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com/assets/docs/media/Minister-Ltr-to-NIRB-Re-Final-Hearing-Report.pdf Under NIRB's expeditiously received guidance, NIRB has requested that Sabina file a Final Environmental Impact Statement ("FEIS") or addendum "as soon as practicable". Sabina has been working diligently in anticipation of additional information requests and plans to file the addendum with NIRB within several weeks. The addendum would focus on the deficiencies noted in the five areas of the Minister's decision and would provide relevant new and updated information. Following Sabina's submission, NIRB will issue timelines and undertake a technical review and public hearings. Sabina anticipates that the NIRB could issue its new recommendation to the Minister in mid-2017, subject to the NIRB's ultimate issued timelines. A copy of the NIRB letter can be found here: http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com/assets/docs/170123-12MN036-NIRB_Ltr_to_Sabina_Re_Next_Steps_for_the_Review_Process-OT8E.pdf "We look forward to working through the next steps in the NIRB's process with all parties," stated Bruce McLeod, President and CEO. "We understand and support the NIRB's desire for a high level of confidence in the mitigation and management proposed. We have worked hard to prepare to address NIRB's concerns in this next review and anticipate a thorough and expeditious process. We continue to receive broad based Inuit support for the Project and will continue to engage and consult with all stakeholders. We believe Back River is a world class project with a large high grade reserve/resource in a mining friendly jurisdiction." Sabina Gold & Silver Corp Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is a well-financed, emerging precious metals company with district scale, world class undeveloped assets in one of the world's newest, politically stable mining jurisdictions: Nunavut, Canada. Sabina recently released a Feasibility Study on its 100% owned Back River Gold Project which presents a project that has been designed on a fit-for purpose basis, with the potential to produce approx. 200,000 ounces a year for approx. 11 years with a rapid payback of 2.9 years. At a US$1,150 gold price and a 0.80 exchange rate, the Study delivers a potential after tax internal rate of return of approximately 24.2% with an initial CAPEX of $415 million. In addition to Back River, Sabina also owns a significant silver royalty on Glencore's Hackett River Project. The silver royalty on Hackett River's silver production is comprised of 22.5% of the first 190 million ounces produced and 12.5% of all silver produced thereafter. The Company had approximately C$41.5 million in its treasury (September 30, 2016) and had approximately C$40 million at December 31, 2016. Forward Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (the "forward-looking statements"), including our belief as to the extent, results and timing of and various studies relating to permitting and environmental assessment outcomes. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the future circumstances, outcomes or results anticipated in or implied by such forward-looking statements will occur or that plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. While we have based these forward-looking statements on our expectations about future events as at the date that such statements were prepared, the statements are not a guarantee that such future events will occur and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause events or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and assumptions include, among others, the effects of general economic conditions, commodity prices, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government and regulatory authorities and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Known risk factors include risks associated with exploration and project development; the need for additional financing; the calculation of mineral resources and reserves; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in metal prices; title matters; government regulation; obtaining and renewing necessary licences and permits; environmental liability and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain of our officers or directors; the absence of dividends; currency fluctuations; labour disputes; competition; dilution; the volatility of the our common share price and volume; future sales of shares by existing shareholders; and other risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the Back River Project and general risks associated with the mineral exploration and development industry described in our Annual Information Form, financial statements and MD&A for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2015 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at www.sedar.com. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We are under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. This news release has been authorized by the undersigned on behalf of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. Bruce McLeod, President & CEO Suite 375 - Two Bentall Centre 555 Burrard Street Vancouver, BC V7X 1M7 Tel 604 998-4175 Fax 604 998-1051 http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com Contacts: Sabina Gold & Silver Corp Nicole Hoeller Vice-President, Communications 1 888 648-4218 nhoeller@sabinagoldsilver.com www.sabinagoldsilver.com DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Parks Associates announced new IoT research today showing that 15% of U.S. broadband households plan to purchase solar panels in 2017. 360 View Update: Energy Management, Smart Home, & Utility Programs notes 8% of U.S. broadband households currently own solar panels. Parks Associates and other industry leaders will address the market for solar energy during Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, February 20-22, 2017, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas. The event, which includes more than 300 executives in an intimate networking environment, focuses on the convergence of smart energy and IoT with the smart home. "Residential solar has already proven its ability to cross the chasm into the early majority in various regions of the world," said Tom Kerber, Director of IoT Strategy, Parks Associates. "The primary motivation for installing residential PV systems is to save money on energy bills, a purchase driver that resonates with all technology adoption segments. At Smart Energy Summit, we will address opportunities for a more comprehensive smart home/energy management solution and examine trends driving partnerships between residential solar and smart home solution providers." The Smart Energy Summit session "Solar Industry: Integration and Competition" on Wednesday, February 22, at 8:45 a.m., will examine the residential rooftop solar market and opportunities for partnerships with storage vendors and smart home and energy providers. Speakers for the session, which will be moderated by Stuart Sikes, President of Parks Associates, include: Bryan Christiansen, Chief Operating Officer, Vivint Solar Jordan Fruge, Chief Marketing Officer, Sunnova Jason Sears, Senior Lead, Solar Strategy and Development, Green Mountain Energy, an NRG company Ilen Zazueta-Hall, Director of Product Management, Enphase "The energy sector is rapidly evolving thanks in large part to pressure placed on the system by solar and other distributed technologies," said Jordan Fruge, Chief Marketing Officer, Sunnova. "Consumers now have more efficient and affordable options for meeting their energy needs. It's an exciting time to be a part of this industry." "In order for the solar energy industry to continue to grow, it needs to move beyond the roof and provide complete home energy solutions. This means that all elements of the home energy ecosystem have to work together safely, reliably, and seamlessly, both for homeowners and utilities," said Ilen Zazueta-Hall, Director of Product Management for Energy Management at Enphase Energy, Inc. "At Enphase we are realizing the vision of advanced energy management by integrating solar, energy storage, bi-directional communications, and advanced analytics." Parks Associates will also host the research workshop "Utilities and Consumer Engagement Strategies" prior to Smart Energy Summit. The workshop, which will be held on Monday, February 20, from 1:00 - 5:00 p.m., includes detailed findings from the firm's consumer and industry studies on the smart home, IoT, and energy management markets. Parks Associates analysts will present new consumer data during the workshop, which will also feature the following industry speakers: Amena Ali, Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs Derek Okada, Senior Manager, Policy & Planning, Southern California Edison (SCE) Dr. Kenneth Wacks, President, Home, Building & Utility Systems Topics for the workshop include: The Value of Data Making Data Meaningful Energy Management in the Smart Home Smart Home Service Providers and Energy Management Interoperability Failures The Role of Energy Providers in the Smart Home Solar Power and the Smart Home Solar Industry Perspective Incentivizing the Smart Home Utility Perspectives on Incentives "Unlocking the full potential of the connected home will in many ways come down to providing consumers with energy data that is made accessible and meaningful -- not just for emerging smart home devices, but also for the legacy 'unconnected' appliances that hundreds of millions of homes rely on," said Amena Ali, Chief Revenue Officer, Whisker Labs. "The Smart Energy Summit workshop will examine proven and emerging utility and consumer engagement strategies for engaging the consumer with meaningful data." Industry expert Ken Wacks will share his insights on interoperability (making everything work together): "For too long, interoperability has been a stated goal but in reality rarely crosses application domains. I have personally wrestled with interoperability failures because manufacturers focused on products rather than systems. This must change in order to achieve a mass market for integrated home systems." Conference sponsors include People Power Company, Austin Energy, Bidgely, Carrier, ecobee, EnergyHub, Hampton Products International, The Manchester Group, Powerley, The Weather Company, Whisker Labs, Grid4C, ipCapital Group, MivaTek, and State Farm. Conference supporters include Advanced Energy Economy, Internet of Things Consortium, AltEnergyMag.com, Antenna, B2 Group, CIOReview, Conference Guru, Engerati, Green Button Alliance, HomeGrid Forum, Hometoys, IoT Today, ISE Magazine, Israeli Smart Energy Association, KNXtoday, Mission Data, NEEP, oneM2M, OpenADR Alliance, Open Connectivity Foundation, POWERGRID International, Smart Energy Journal, Smart Grid Spain, Smart Grid Today, TD The Market Publishers, TelcoProfessionals, USNAP Alliance, Utility Dive, Utility Post, Wi-Fi Alliance, and WSNBuzz.com. More information about the Smart Energy Summit is available at www.SES2017.com. To register for the pre-show research workshop, go to http://bit.ly/SESregistration. To speak with an analyst or request specific research data, contact Holly Sprague at hsprague@gmail.com or 720-987-6614. About Smart Energy Summit Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer examines new cross-industry opportunities in the expanding market for energy solutions, including connected devices, energy management, utility services, and home control platforms and services, as they evolve within the smart home and consumer-based Internet of Things. Smart Energy Summit focuses particularly on the challenge of engaging consumers with energy-related solutions. Research analysts, thought leaders, and industry executives present and discuss business strategies, case studies, partnership opportunities, and consumer research that utilities, service providers, retailers, and manufacturers can use to expand and monetize their energy offerings. The eighth-annual Smart Energy Summit will take place February 20-22, 2017, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas. The summit agenda features leaders from utilities, state and national regulators, telecom and security companies, retailers, and OEMs. Follow the event on Twitter at @SmartEnergySmt and SmartEnergy17 and on the Smart Energy Insights Blog. For information on speaking, sponsoring, or attending Smart Energy Summit, visit www.ses2017.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3101919 Holly Sprague Parks Associates 720.987.6614 hsprague@gmail.com DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Construction can be full of surprises and smart builders understand the importance of taking the time to assess each situation and develop practical solutions to solve challenges, while maintaining schedules and budgets. When a residential contractor building a new mountain home in Teton Village, Wyoming began excavating the hillside construction site, water quickly began to seep out of the soil indicating a potentially serious long-term danger to the future home. Water coming into the excavated hole indicated that there would be significant lateral pressure from the hillside above once the house was built and the site was restored. With some of the custom home's walls being as tall as 30' high, these pressures would build and eventually damage the structure over time. To protect the home from future structural damage, the contractor knew that either the home's foundation walls needed to be built much thicker than anticipated or an earth stabilization strategy needed to be developed. Calculations on the cost of developing a concrete foundation thick enough to support the home while also acting as a retaining wall against the hillside pressure revealed cost overruns that would push the already contracted project substantially over budget. As an alternative, the structural engineer suggested the use of ACH Foam Technologies' Foam-Control EPS Geofoam. Lightweight and versatile, ACH Foam Technologies' Foam-Control EPS 29 Geofoam to create a pressure-diminishing barrier around the foundation walls. The Geofoam blocks were stacked against the side of the foundation in an inverted pyramid pattern with the layers increasing in thickness from the base to the top. This allows the Geofoam to reduce the lateral pressure of the hillside against the foundation without adding tremendous cost to the project. This solution was quickly and easily assembled using only hand labor and no specialized tools or heavy equipment. ACH Foam Technologies worked with the project engineers to test and verify the configuration's loading capacity and provided onsite support during installation to ensure everything went smoothly. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3101958 NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Diagram, a new venture launchpad for Canada's most exciting startups in financial, insurance and healthcare technology, announced today that it has successfully closed a $25 million fund and has deployed its first two investments. "The Diagram model is the first of its kind. We combine the competitive advantage of large incumbents -- access to distribution and expertise -- with a strong support infrastructure and large venture capital investment. We truly believe this focused approach will derisk our ventures and allow them to build much faster," said Francois Lafortune, Founder & CEO of Diagram. "The response from the investor community has been very strong and the fund was oversubscribed. They believe we're onto something with this model." Diagram recently made its first two investments in Dialogue, a Montreal-based virtual health and wellness platform for choice employers, and Collage, a Toronto-based cloud platform that automates HR and benefits for Canadian businesses. Led by Founder & CEO Francois Lafortune and Chairman Paul Desmarais III, Diagram aims to be a different kind of launchpad for Canada, focusing on a hands-on approach making a few large, concentrated investments. Diagram provides advice, capital and expertise with the support of Power Financial Corporation via Portag3 Ventures LP. They also have support from a group of 50 angel investors, who will act as mentors and accompany founders. Diagram's limited partners include: Adam D'Angelo, CEO of Quora and former CTO of Facebook; Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite; Joe Lonsdale, founder of Palantir, Addepar, and 8VC; Anthony Lacavera, founder and former CEO of WIND Mobile; Nadir Mohammed, former CEO of Rogers; Andrew Chisholm, former Global Head Financial Institutions at Goldman Sachs; and Henri de Castries, former Chairman and CEO of AXA. "Canada's FinTech community experienced a boom last year with the market reaching $200 million, despite the decline in U.S. markets, which presents a great opportunity for us," said Paul Desmarais III, Vice President, Power Financial Corporation. "We have incredible depth and talent here but do not always provide the means and resources necessary to build large businesses. Diagram's purpose is to fix that by bringing not just capital but the right infrastructure and people together to create the next Canadian-based global leaders of the future in the FinTech sector." Based in Montreal and Toronto, Diagram is looking to attract the most talented Canadian entrepreneurs to build great global companies. For more information about Diagram, please visit: www.diagram.ca. About Diagram Diagram is a launchpad for the most exciting ventures in insurance, financial services and healthcare. By making much deeper commitments of resources and energy, focused on a smaller number of companies, Diagram gives brilliant Canadian ideas a platform to become global players. Key investors include Portag3 Ventures LP, a corporate partnership exclusively sponsored by Power Financial Corporation, Great-West Lifeco Inc. and IGM Financial Inc., and a group of more than 50 individual investors who provide Diagram's projects with an unmatched wealth of perspective, mentorship and connections. For more information, please visit http://diagram.ca. SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Although every surgery comes with some degree of risk, there are unique risks associated with breast augmentation. Dr. Scott Miller educates his patients about these risks as they consider the procedure. Dr. Miller highlights that factors such as the breast implant type, the position of the implant, as well as the choice of surgeon may all impact the quality of the results. Consequently, the San Diego plastic surgeon uses the consultation process as a time to review the risks of breast augmentation and explain the latest techniques and technology he utilizes to maximize patient safety. Although the use of silicone implants was restricted in 1992 by the FDA, studies proved no causation between these implants and health risks. As a result, silicone implants were once again approved in 2006, and have since then become very popular for their natural look and feel. Dr. Miller cautions patients considering augmentation that although both silicone and saline breast implants are considered safe, both types could potentially rupture. While a saline implant rupture is quickly detectable as the saline implant deflates, a silicone implant rupture may go unnoticed due to the implant's cohesive material. Dr. Miller encourages his patients who choose silicone implants to schedule an MRI once every three to five years to help monitor the integrity of the implants. Should a rupture occur, the implants will need to be replaced. In addition to the possibility of a rupture, "Capsular contracture is a common worry among breast augmentation candidates," says Dr. Miller. Characterized by hardened scar or breast tissue around the implant, capsular contracture can change the overall shape of the breasts as well as cause pain or discomfort. Dr. Miller takes special care during breast surgery to minimize the chance of capsular contracture. He also advises his patients that certain implant types and implant placement can help prevent capsular contracture. For example, form-stable implants have a lower rate of associated capsular contracture and rippling than other implant types. Additionally, when the implant is placed beneath the breast tissue and chest muscle rather than over the chest muscle, the likelihood of capsular contracture can be reduced. By teaching the facts about breast implants and the associated risks, Dr. Miller hopes breast augmentation candidates may confidently choose implant options that can meet their expectations. He encourages anyone considering augmentation to seek a board-certified plastic surgeon who is experienced at placing both saline and silicone implants. About Scott R. Miller, MD Board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Miller earned his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine. He then attended the University of California, San Diego where he completed a plastic and reconstructive surgery residency and fellowship training in aesthetic cosmetic surgery. At his private La Jolla practice, he offers a wide range of cosmetic procedures for the face, breast, and body. Dr. Miller currently serves as voluntary faculty at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, has authored several plastic surgery textbook chapters, and frequently speaks at regional and national specialty meetings. He is an active member of the American Society of Plastic Surgery and the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Miller is available for interview upon request. The practice can be reached online at millercosmeticsurgery.com and facebook.com/millercosmeticsurgery. To view the original source of this press release, click here: https://www.millercosmeticsurgery.com/news-room/san-diego-plastic-surgeon-reveals-breast-augmentation-safety-tips Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3101572 Dr. Scott R. Miller Scripps Medical Office Building 9834 Genesee Avenue Suite 210 La Jolla, CA 92037 (858) 453-3133 Rosemont Media (858) 200-0044 www.rosemontmedia.com SAGUENAY, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Department of Canadian Heritage The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, today announced $16,300 in funding for the 33rd edition of the Saguenay en Neige festival, which will run from February 2 to 12, 2017, in Saguenay's Jonquiere borough. This funding, provided by the Government of Canada through the Local Festivals component of the Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage program, will allow the organization to offer support to its team of volunteers and include activities that promote Saguenay artists. Quotes "Once again this year, Saguenay en Neige will wow children and adults with its festive programming and impressive snow sculptures. Our government is proud to support accessible artistic events that bring people together, like this popular winter festival." - The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage "The Saguenay en Neige team is proud to present the 33rd edition of this festival with free programming for the whole family! We have the community to thank for making Saguenay en Neige a leading snow sculpture event. We would like to thank the Department of Canadian Heritage for their support." - Kate Savard, General Manager of Saguenay en Neige Quick Facts -- For the 33rd year, Saguenay en Neige is offering outdoor family events, including activities for children, a variety of shows, an evening dance and an extensive snow sculpture exhibit. -- The organization is expecting 100,000 visitors over 11 days. Approximately 175 volunteers will help out with the festivities. -- Over 1,000 sculptors and artists will astound visitors with over 250 temporary works on display in Parc de la Riviere-aux-sables. Associated Links Saguenay en Neige Building Communities Through Arts and Heritage Local Festivals component Stay Connected Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Flickr. Contacts: Pierre-Olivier Herbert Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage 819-997-7788 Media Relations Canadian Heritage 819-994-9101 1-866-569-6155 pch.media-media.pch@canada.ca TORONTO and NEW YORK, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Enhanced User Interface and Platform Engine Improvements Deliver on Marketers' Needs for Ease-of-Use, Transparency, Speed and Scalability AcuityAdsHoldings Inc. (TSXV:AT) (OTCQB:ACUIF) ("AcuityAds"), a technology leader that enables advertisers to connect intelligently with audiences across video, mobile, social and online display advertising campaigns, today announced that its new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform is now readily available. The highly anticipated launch of the new platform was conceived with input from AcuityAds' platform partners, which now exceeds 150+, to ensure it delivered on their requirements for ease-of-use, transparency, speed and scalability. In addition to an accompanyingDocumentation Center, that provides educational resources and step-by-step platform guides, the enhanced platform features a brand new "ultra-intuitive" user interface that puts campaign control in the marketers' hands more than ever before. User alerts and notifications push data to marketers so they don't have to search for the information they need. The new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform gives digital brand marketers, media buyers, and agencies alike real-time access to the most important information they need to execute intelligent campaigns successfully to deliver positive returns on advertising spend. "An intuitive system, the new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform makes digital marketing easy, and allows me to visualize the data that's important to my campaigns' success," said Marc Brasset, Director, Digital Operations and Strategy, Western Media Group. "Everything is within sight on the screen, so I don't have to search for controls. The AcuityAds Documentation Center also provides information that I can share with clients to help them understand more about programmatic. This saves my team time, and allows for a more fluid relationship with my clients." Users will benefit immediately from new features like inventory forecasting as well as a customizable dashboard which will be released in the coming weeks. These new features build on AcuityAds' signature and industry leading 60 second refresh rate of data, and the ability to create built-in, customizable revenue streams. Further, the platform engine itself has been completely redesigned & re-architected to facilitate faster processing and increased scalability. New platform elements will enable marketers to create a more seamless customer experience and deliver on their transparency needs. "At AcuityAds, we're building the most innovative solutions in the industry to empower marketers to take control of their programmatic advertising campaigns," said Tal Hayek, founder and CEO, AcuityAds. "We're proud to introduce our new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform at a time whenindustry leaders are callingfor marketers to have unmatched transparency into media costs and inventory. Our enhanced platform, along with the accompanying AcuityAds Documentation Center, provides not only a more user-friendly interface, but also 24/7 access to information for all programmatic platform users - from novice to advanced, to be successful." To learn more about AcuityAds' cutting-edge platform,view the demo video, or visitAcuityAds' Programmatic Marketing Platformwebsite. About AcuityAds AcuityAds is a technology company that enables marketers to connect intelligently with their most meaningful audiences through digital media. A Self-Serve programmatic marketing platform, powered by proprietary machine learning technology, is at the core of its business, accompanied by a patented solution for mobile targeting that leverages social data. AcuityAds empowers marketers by offering transparency on costs and brand safety, and real-time reporting and analytics, bringing accountability to programmatic advertising to deliver business results. AcuityAds is headquartered inToronto, Canadawith sales offices inNew York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,San Francisco,San Diego, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. For more information, visitAcuityAds.com. Disclaimer in regards to Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, AcuityAds does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. 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. Babak Pedram, Investor Relations, Virtus Advisory Group Inc., +1-416-644-5081, bpedram@virtusadvisory.com; Tal Hayek, Chief Executive Officer, AcuityAds Holdings Inc., +1-416-218-9888, tal.hayek@acuityads.com; Media contact: Alex Jafarzadeh, March Communications, +1-617-960-9900, acuity@marchcomms.com CALGARY, AB--(Marketwired - January 24, 2017) - Alliance Pipeline's new Community Safety and Emergency Responder Funding initiatives provide funds to promote greater safety in the communities along its pipeline system. The two new community investment programs support community organizations and first responders in obtaining critical safety equipment, training and resources. Reflecting the company's focus on safety, the Alliance Community Safety Initiative provides grants of up to $5,000 to non-profit organizations in communities along the Alliance system for safety related initiatives. Examples of how the grants may be used include first aid training for a local community group or rescue equipment for a local pool. Alliance wants applicants to get creative with how the company can help make the community safer. The second new component, the Emergency Responder Funding Initiative, provides up to $5,000 (per organization) every three years toward equipment and other high-priority needs for emergency responders serving communities along the Alliance Pipeline. This initiative is designed to help emergency responder organizations obtain the safety equipment they need but don't have the resources for. "We've chosen to focus our charitable efforts in a way that reinforces our commitment to safety," said Terrance Kutryk, Alliance's President and CEO. "This reflects Alliance's commitment to safe operations, local community safety and the safety of those living and working near our pipeline. We believe we can have a greater local impact by concentrating this funding on one important cause -- safety." To mark the launch of the new program, Alliance recently awarded its first Emergency Responder grant to the Grand Coulee Fire Department in southern Saskatchewan. The funds will be put toward the purchase of "Jaws of Life" equipment. "The Grand Coulee donation aligned with our desire to help organizations that demonstrate the greatest need, or the best ability to address an important community safety issue," said Rob Gray, Alliance Community Investment lead. "That's really the essence of the program. We want to support safety in ways that will benefit as many people as possible." For more information on these initiatives, and to apply, visit www.alliancepipeline.com/communityinvestment. About the Alliance Pipeline system: The Alliance Pipeline system consists of an approximately 3,848-kilometer (2,391-mile) integrated Canadian and U.S. natural gas transmission pipeline system, delivering rich natural gas from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin and the Williston Basin to the Chicago market hub. The United States portion of the system consists of approximately 1,557 kilometers (967 miles) of infrastructure including the 128-kilometer (80-mile) Tioga Lateral in North Dakota. The Alliance system delivers, on average, about 45.3 million standard cubic metres (or 1.6 billion standard cubic feet) of natural gas per day. More information about the company is available at www.alliancepipeline.com. Alliance Pipeline Limited Partnership ("Alliance Canada") owns the Canadian portion of the Alliance Pipeline system. Alliance Pipeline L.P. ("Alliance U.S.A.") owns the U.S. portion of the Alliance Pipeline system. Both Alliance Canada and Alliance U.S.A. are owned 50 percent each by affiliates of Enbridge Income Fund Holdings Inc. (TSX: ENF) and Veresen Inc. (TSX: VSN). Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/1/23/11G128104/Images/GrandeCouleeFire-081fce91d07591deb1517a7e665e9c14.JPG FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: Rob Gray Corporate Communications & Community Investment (403) 517-7783 rob.gray@alliancepipeline.com Ascom, a leading provider of wireless Healthcare ICT solutions, will introduce a new version of its widely installed 'Telligence' nurse call solution at the 2017 Arab Health Congress. "The Ascom Telligence system has already transformed people's ideas of what a nurse call system can deliver," says David Foth, Ascom's Global Product Manager for Patient Systems. "The latest version adds even more enhancements to improve workflow efficiency and streamline communication and collaboration between care teams and patients. For example, the new Telligence makes it easier for the care team to communicate about patient service requests, which means response times to patients can be improved. The new capabilities provide much more visibility to the most common types of requests that are received from patients. These can be utilized to aid the hospital in making workflow improvements and coordinating the proper staffing levels." Ascom will also use the Arab Health Congress to promote new handsets, as well as its Ascom Myco mobile device an Android-based handset specifically designed for Healthcare and other professional environments. "These are all definite highlights," adds Foth. "But I think what will most impress visitors is the broad range of capabilities that can be achieved when they leverage Ascom's entire portfolio of nurse call, alert management and messaging software, and wireless handsets. And just as important, Ascom's open and scalable solutions meet modern Healthcare's need for interoperability." The Arab Health Congress is the largest event of its kind in the region. Held annually, the event is being hosted at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre January 30 to February 2, 2017. The Ascom stand is S3.D70. About Ascom Ascom is a global solutions provider focused on healthcare ICT and mobile workflow solutions. The vision of Ascom is to close digital information gaps allowing for the best possible decisions anytime and anywhere. Ascom's mission is to provide mission-critical, real-time solutions for highly mobile, ad hoc, and time-sensitive environments. Ascom uses its unique product and solutions portfolio and software architecture capabilities to devise integration and mobilization solutions that provide truly smooth, complete and efficient workflows for healthcare as well as for industry and retail sectors. Ascom is headquartered in Baar (Switzerland), has subsidiaries in 15 countries and employs around 1,300 people worldwide. Ascom registered shares (ASCN) are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich. This document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell any securities. This document is not being issued in the United States of America or the United Kingdom and should not be distributed in any jurisdiction in a manner where such distribution would not comply with regulatory requirements. In particular, this document may not be distributed into the United States, to United States persons or to publications with a general circulation in the United States. In addition, the securities of Ascom have not been and will not be registered in any jurisdiction outside Switzerland. The securities of Ascom may not be offered, sold or delivered and no solicitation to purchase such securities may be made within the United States or to U.S. persons absent an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the United States securities laws or within any other jurisdiction and in a manner where such offer, sale, delivery or solicitation might not be in compliance with regulatory requirements (including the United Kingdom). View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006096/en/ Contacts: Ascom Adam Jaffe Marketing Manager Growth Markets Phone: +61 411 830 568 Email: adam.jaffe@ascom.com In a recent essay, I addressed federal agencies denying renewable energy in Elko County. Their destruction of fossil energy and mineral potential far exceeds that renewable energy shutdown. Local energy exploration using hydraulic fracturing made hopeful steps in 2012 with plans submitted, approved, and soon followed by successful drilling. Then the BLM released Instruction Memorandum 2012-043 which essentially was adapted, as predicted, as the non-listing guidelines for the sage grouse. The effective impact on energy development was that all activity became subject to the discretion of the regulating authority, whether that discretion contradicted existing permits and agreements. Essentially, investments of $1-5 million per hole would not be controlled by explorationists, but subject to the extremist environmental leanings of unaccountable federal bureaucrats. Thus, energy potential in Elko County was forsaken by the agencies. Though the $17 billion-a-year income of North Dakotas Williston Basin may not be in store, even ten or five percent of that would be remarkable and welcome. Even one percent would overwhelm the income projected from the China Mountain wind project. Yet, with the agency overreach, Noble Energy left Elko, instead investing billion dollar platforms off the coast of Israel five of them. Evidently, dealing with federal land management agencies is a less stable business model than wildcatting a jihad zip code. Hopefully, the anti-fracking hysteria abetted by the compliant bureaucrats at the EPA now may get a cold shower of scientific reality. The hype over groundwater contamination in Pavillion, Wyoming should have been directed at those who actually contaminated the groundwater. That would be the EPA investigators with their badly done monitoring wells. The fracking investigators were a philosophical match with their agency counterparts at the Gold King mine in Colorado. That 2015 spill, literally engineered by the EPA, impacted Cement Creek, the Animas River, the San Juan River and Lake Powell, coursing through Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah essentially with no consequence to the agency though farms and communities were negatively impacted. Effects of these agency blunders are substantial. The poor science at Pavillion jeopardized a $45 million sale, from which ensuing production certainly could have led to local jobs. The Gold King fiasco has placed the U.S. taxpayer on the hook for more than $31 million in cleanup and remediation, with recent damage claims exceeding $1.2 billion. The agency response sovereign immunity. Were a private sector entity to engineer that catastrophe, fines and loss of licenses would be the likely result. The federal bureaucrats claim costs, especially opportunity costs, are not their responsibility that good intentions and agency status render them immune from liability. But harm they inflict on their neighbors and countrymen is very real lost opportunities, lost jobs, disrupted communities, lives and dreams. Benefits appear only political, principally resulting in agency expansion. Their policies protect sage grouse no more than restricted forest development protects spotted owls. In both cases predation is the primary culprit, not human activity. Federal agencies dont effectively protect wildlife environments, but devastate human environments. Essentially persecuting producers, they reduce human potential. About Theradiag Capitalizing on its expertise in the distribution, development and manufacturing of in vitro diagnostic tests, Theradiag innovates and develops theranostics tests (combining treatment and diagnosis) that measure the efficiency of biotherapies in the treatment of autoimmune diseases, cancer and AIDS. Theradiag notably markets the Lisa Tracker range (CE marked), which is a comprehensive multiparameter theranostic solution for patients with autoimmune diseases treated with biotherapies. With its subsidiary Prestizia, Theradiag is developing new biomarkers based on microRNAs for the diagnosis and monitoring of rectal cancer, auto-immune and inflammatory diseases and HIV/AIDS. Theradiag is thus participating in the development of customized treatment, which favors the individualization of treatments, the evaluation of their efficacy and the prevention of drug resistance. The Company is based in Marne-la-Vallee, near Paris, and in Montpellier, and has over 75 employees. 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. PARSIPPANY, NJ -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Sun Chemical has entered into a partnership with Document Security Systems, Inc. (NYSE MKT: DSS) (DSS) to cross market and sell one another's anti-counterfeiting products. The strategic partnership allows Sun Chemical to market and sell DSS' suite of anti-counterfeiting technologies that include smartphone authentication, hidden images and copy protection. DSS will also market and sell Sun Chemical's wide range of anti-counterfeiting solutions, including multiple covert taggant-reader systems, special effect inks and smart sensor technology. "As leaders in anti-counterfeiting, we are always looking for cutting edge solutions that our customers can use to protect themselves," said Jim Reiman, Director of Brand Protection for Sun Chemical. "This partnership with DSS offers even more anti-counterfeiting options for our customers to choose from. We're particularly excited by DSS' advanced smartphone authentication capabilities and how they complement our own product portfolio." DSS' brand protection solutions include a portfolio of products which help businesses and governments protect against fraud and counterfeiting. The company's innovative anti-counterfeiting solution, AuthentiGuard, enables consumers or supply chain personnel to validate product authenticity with a smartphone. "We're pleased to have the Sun Chemical name associated with Document Security Systems," said Mike Tobin, Vice President of Marketing at DSS. "We have made significant investments in brand protection solutions like AuthentiGuard and this partnership with Sun Chemical, one of the most respected companies in the market, helps to validate our strategy." Sun Chemical's anti-counterfeiting portfolio is extensive and consists of multiple taggant-reader systems, special effect security inks, and other unique proprietary technologies. To learn more about Sun Chemical's brand protection offerings, visit www.sunchemical.com/anticounterfeiting to download the company's white paper, "Anti-counterfeiting Technologies for Packaging." About Document Security Systems, Inc. Document Security Systems, Inc.'s (NYSE MKT: DSS) products and solutions are used by governments, corporations and financial institutions to defeat fraud and to protect brands and digital information from the expanding world-wide counterfeiting problem. DSS technologies help ensure the authenticity of both digital and physical financial instruments, identification documents, sensitive publications, brand packaging and websites. DSS continually invests in research and development to meet the ever-changing security needs of its clients and offers licensing of its patented technologies. For more information on the AuthentiGuard Suite, please visit www.authentiguard.com. For more information on DSS and its subsidiaries, please visit www.dsssecure.com. About Sun Chemical A leading producer of printing inks, coatings and supplies, pigments, polymers, liquid compounds, solid compounds, and application materials, Sun Chemical and its parent company, the DIC Corporation, recognize industry trends and listen to brand/consumer insights in order to tailor individualized solutions to customer needs and bring new ideas and the latest technology to market. Together with DIC, Sun Chemical has annual sales of more than $7.5 billion, 17 research and development centers, and over 20,000 employees. Sun Chemical Corporation is a subsidiary of Sun Chemical Group Cooperatief U.A., the Netherlands, and is headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, U.S.A. For more information, please visit www.sunchemical.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3102021 PR Contacts: Lynn Campbell Sun Chemical +1 973 404 6159 lynn.campbell@sunchemical.com Matt Parry Eric Mower + Associates +1 315 413 4318 mparry@mower.com Mike Tobin DSS +1 703 328 1801 mtobin@dsssecure.com DUBLIN, Jan 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Specialty Pressure-sensitive Tapes Market 2017-2021" report to their offering. The global specialty pressure-sensitive tapes market to grow at a CAGR of 5.36% during the period 2017-2021. Global Specialty Pressure-Sensitive Tapes Market 2017-2021, 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 a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. The demand for sustainable and environment-friendly pressure-sensitive tapes has increased in the past few years because of environmental regulations and consumer preference toward environment-friendly products. These specialty pressure-sensitive tapes are capable of undergoing decomposition into water, carbon dioxide, or biomass. In comparison to ordinary pressure-sensitive tapes, these tapes occupy less landfill space. These sustainable tapes are made of biodegradable polymer, which is obtained by polymerization of bio-based raw material and is a good alternative to the petroleum-based raw material. With fluctuating oil prices, the biodegradable polymer is the best alternative, which poses a major challenge to the global pressure-sensitive tapes market. According to the report, pressure-sensitive adhesives are used to manufacture medical tapes, patches or dressings, and other fabrication components. They are broadly classified into synthetic and natural adhesives. The growth in the medical devices sector has increased the demand for these adhesives. Manufacturers of medical devices in the US and Europe are expanding their production capacities to meet the rising global demand. The rising demand for lightweight and advanced medical devices will increase the consumption of adhesives during the forecast period. Further, the report states that an increase in the cost of raw materials and adhesives used in the production of specialty pressure-sensitive tapes is a major challenge for the growth of the global specialty pressure-sensitive tapes market. Owing to an increase in the demand for high-performance adhesives, vendors must introduce new products to remain competitive in the market. The price of specialty pressure-sensitive tapes correlates with adhesive prices, as adhesives account for the bulk of the manufacturing costs of these tapes. Manufacturers have been facing challenges in areas such as the supply of raw material, fluctuation in demand, and pricing volatility. Key Vendors: 3M Company Avery Dennison Nitto Denko Tesa Other Prominent Vendors: Adhesives Research Advance Tapes International Bostik Dow Corning Essentra Specialty Tapes Evans Adhesive Franklin International H.B. Fuller Hexion Intertape Polymer Group Lintec Lohmann LORD MACtac Nova Films and Foils Powerband Royal Adhesives & Sealants RPM International Scapa Group Shurtape Technologies For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/pt3kss/global_specialty Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- To mark its 200th year, BMO Financial Group today announced it would fulfill a number of wishes both big and small to thank the communities where the bank does business. Throughout 2017, BMO will be granting wishes across a number of categories, such as Green, Togetherness, Legacy, and Community. As part of the celebration, the bank is calling on individuals and organizations to wish it forward by visiting www.BMO200.com or by visiting one of the interactive BMO200 fountains, unveiled today at First Canadian Place in Toronto. Cameron Fowler, Group Head, Canadian Personal & Commercial Banking, and other members of the Executive Committee, were on hand for the initiative's official kickoff. "We could think of no better way to celebrate and say thank you than to give back in a way that speaks directly to who we are as a company, and that reinforces the promise we've made since we opened for business: we're here to help," said Mr. Fowler. "We're proud to be Canada's first bank. This initiative is a modern build on what we've always known to be true: that we are only as strong as the customers and communities we serve." Making a Wish BMO200 wishing fountains will be visiting several cities throughout 2017 and are open for the public to make and share wishes. Wishes can also be made and shared anytime from anywhere through the digital experience at www.BMO200.com. Whether in person by visiting a BMO200 fountain or through the website, visitors simply choose their category, write their wish, and toss their digital coin on the screen towards the fountain. Both the fountain and the digital experience are interactive and come to life when the wish is made. Participants will also have the opportunity to share their wish with friends. The first BMO200 fountain, which stands 17 feet tall, will be open to the community to wish it forward and share their wishes at First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto until early March. Afterward, the fountain will travel to Chicago for the spring, then to Montreal for the summer, before heading back to Toronto to celebrate the date of the bank's bicentennial on November 3rd, 2017. Smaller, mobile versions of the fountain will be visiting a number of locations as well as BMO sponsored events and activations throughout the year. "We're expecting to see a variety of wishes made through the BMO200 fountain in the coming months - everything from greening public spaces to recognizing people who have gone above and beyond for their community," added Mr. Fowler. "BMO's wish is that, in any small way, the wishes that we're able to fulfill may cause a ripple effect that can be long lasting." The BMO200 Fountain A first of its kind, the BMO200 fountain was designed to merge old technology with progressive digital components. It was developed through a collaboration of BMO's experiential marketing agency Mosaic, a team of highly skilled technology and infrastructure experts at Globacore, the web development and digital experience team at Secret Location, and the creative talents of Canadian multidisciplinary artists Jennifer Marman and Daniel Borins. The design pays homage to the past by opting to use over 50,000 flip dots - an early technology used for train station destination boards - along with digital technologies that animate as the fountain is interacted with. It's a larger than life kinetic structure that also stays true to the bank's commitment to innovation and reaching customers in new ways. "We intrinsically saw a link between coins, making a wish, and creating legacy. We wanted the movement and flow to represent the action of a coin hitting water through a ripple effect created on the surface," said Mr. Borins. "Much like BMO's rich history, the fountain design bridges the past with the future through the use of flip dots and the flow of complex technological sequencing used to make the installation interactive." Marking 200 Years A celebratory volume of BMO's history is now available to commemorate its bicentennial. "A Vision Greater than Themselves: The Making of Bank of Montreal, 1817-2017" written by Dr. Laurence B. Mussio, a McMaster University business historian, is available here. To make a wish, please visit www.BMO200.com. For more stories from BMO and the impact it's making in communities, visit https://history.bmo.com. About BMO Financial Group Established in 1817, and currently marking its 200th year of operations, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America. With total assets of $688 billion as of October 31, 2016, and more than 45,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of personal and commercial banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets. Contacts: Media Contacts: Matthew Duffin, Toronto (416) 867-3996 matthew.duffin@bmo.com Frederic Tremblay, Montreal (514) 877-8224 frederic1.trembley@bmo.com Web: www.bmo.com Twitter: @BMOmedia AMSTERDAM and MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hippo, a BloomReach company, today announced its entrance into The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management Systems, Q1 2017. The analyst firm invited a select group of vendors to participate in its 2017 Forrester Wave evaluation for Web Content Management and has named Hippo as a Strong Performer, stating that "Hippo DX's API and cloud-first strategy outshines startup status." Forrester evaluated Hippo and 14 other vendors across 25 core criteria in 3 main categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. Hippo earned the highest score possible in five criteria, including responsive & adaptive design, back-end extensibility, and cloud. Concerning Hippo onDemand, our PaaS cloud solution, Forrester stated that the offering accelerates administration and maintenance and that "the onDemand flavor only broadens digital architect appeal." "Hippo recognized early that the transition to data-driven, omnichannel experiences required an open architecture and design, and we believe our rating as a Strong Performer in the 2017 Forrester Wave is a reflection of our growth, innovation and commitment to providing a platform that continually drives success for our customers," said Jeroen Verberg, GM of the Hippo business unit. "Being recognized for Hippo onDemand, our cloud platform, is a testament to our development team's extraordinary vision, and as we continue to integrate with BloomReach, we look forward to a monumental year for our combined platform." Hippo's position as a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave comes after a year of rapid growth for the company. In 2016, Hippo released its PaaS cloud platform, was recognized for its visionary approach for Web Content Management, and was acquired by BloomReach, a pioneer in data-driven personalization powering digital innovation and revenue acceleration at more than 150 global leaders including Staples, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. On the recent acquisition, Forrester noted in the report, "In the near future, BloomReach's data and machine learning may shape a new course with increasingly bleeding-edge marketing scenarios." "Hippo's distinction as a strong performer in the Forrester Wave for Web CMS underscores exactly why BloomReach acquired its technology and team," said Raj De Datta, co-founder and CEO of BloomReach. "In today's omnichannel world, driving superior digital experiences across web content requires a flexible, open and intelligent platform, and we couldn't be more proud of Hippo's achievement." A complimentary copy of the Forrester Wave: Web CMS, Q1 2017 is available from Hippo. Join our guest speaker Forrester Analyst Mark Grannan for a webinar discussion of the changing DX landscape on February 2nd, 2017: The Future of Digital Experience Platforms. About Hippo (BloomReach) Hippo, a BloomReach company, is a visionary in the content management software space. BloomReach is a leader in big-data commerce technology. Together, we are redefining digital experience by engineering the first open and intelligent DX platform, designed to help businesses deliver personalized content that their visitors value in any context and on any device. With our global network of Certified Partners, we serve a growing number of enterprise customers, such as Neiman Marcus, Bell Aliant, Staples, 1&1 Internet, Williams-Sonoma, Provinzial, Wayfair, REI, the University of Maryland and FC Bayern Munchen. BloomReach is backed by investment firms Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, NEA, Salesforce Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures. Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/327274/bloomreach_logo.jpg PLEASANTON, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Sensiba San Filippo LLP (SSF), a leading Northern California-based accounting and business consulting firm, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Slater Moffat Associates, LLP, a Fresno-based CPA firm. The acquisition will include the onboarding of Slater Moffat Partners, John Slater and John Moffat, to the SSF Partner Group, as well as their staff of approximately eighteen individuals. Located in Fresno, CA, Slater Moffat is a full service accounting firm offering tax, accounting and consulting assistance to both individuals and closely-held businesses. Slater Moffat's specialization in agribusiness, real estate, closely-held businesses, forensic accounting and business valuation will strengthen SSF's existing practice and serve to expand those services in both Fresno and the Bay Area. "This acquisition is a very exciting move for both firms," said John Sensiba, Managing Partner of Sensiba San Filippo. "SSF is thrilled to expand our geographical presence into the Fresno area and add an incredibly talented and specialized group of individuals to our team. The values and work ethic at Slater Moffat mirror our core values at SSF, and we look forward to a strong partnership and the opportunity to provide both our client bases with increased specialization and robust service." "Joining SSF is a tremendous step for Slater Moffat," said John Slater, Founding Partner of Slater Moffat Associates. "We strive to provide our clients with strongly personalized service, and by joining SSF, we are granted the opportunity to continue that same service while simultaneously offering the increased benefits and services of a larger firm. Slater Moffat's culture and strong work ethic have been paramount to our success, and we could not be more pleased to join a firm that perfectly fits our founding principles and ideals." "We are very excited to embark on this next chapter for our firm," said John Moffat, Founding Partner of Slater Moffat Associates. "We feel blessed to not only have the opportunity to increase the career opportunities for our staff, but to provide our clients with enhanced services and expertise to help them further their personal and business objectives. Our firms share many of the same values and both exhibit a strong commitment to our clients, employees and our communities. We have already shown terrific synergy and we truly look forward to sharing this next chapter with SSF." About Sensiba San Filippo With 40 years of experience, Sensiba San Filippo LLP (SSF) ranks among the region's top 10 public accounting firms. Offering comprehensive assurance, tax and consulting services, the Firm has global expertise with a regional focus. As a member of Morison KSI, SSF is a part of an international association of affiliated accounting firms that supports their clients' global business needs in over 88 countries. Headquartered in Pleasanton, the Firm has offices in Oakland, San Mateo, San Jose, Morgan Hill, San Francisco and now Fresno. For more information, visit www.ssfllp.com. Contact: Jennifer Cantero Sensiba San Filippo LLP 925.271.8700 jcantero@ssfllp.com SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Online retailing giant Amazon.com (AMZN) has offered to change clauses to its e-book contracts with publishers in order to settle an European Union antitrust probe. Amazon is willing to change clauses that requires publishers to inform the company about more favorable or alternative offer it terms as good or better than those they sign with other e-book distributors. Amazon's offer if accepted by the EU will last five years and would allow publishers end contracts that link e-book discounts on Amazon to e-book prices on other online stores. In June 2015, the European Commission opened an investigation into certain clauses included by Amazon in its contracts with publishers. These clauses require publishers to inform Amazon about more favorable or alternative terms offered to Amazon's competitors and/or offer Amazon similar terms and conditions than to its competitors. The clauses want to ensure through other means that Amazon is offered terms at least as good as those for its competitors. The Commission started the probe due to concerns that such clauses may make it more difficult for other e-book distributors to compete with Amazon by developing new and innovative products and services. 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. A unique approach that works at the point of greatest impact: facilitating access to companies looking for exceptionally qualified biotech executives to serve on their boardNEW YORK, 2017-01-24 21:00 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Women In Bio (WIB), an organization of professionals committed to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences, today announced that it is accepting applications for its 2017 Boardroom Ready Program to WIB members. To apply, candidates must submit the Boardroom Ready Application, a current biography, and CV to: boardroomready@womeninbio.org. Applications must be received by March 15, 2017."In 2016, the Boardroom Ready program was incredibly powerful," said Dawn Hocevar, Women In Bio's National President. "Women In Bio is absolutely thrilled to be offering another certification training course in 2017 to further enrich gender representation at the board level."In May 2016, WIB launched its inaugural executive-level board certification training program designed to prepare women in the Life Sciences to become members of Boards of Directors. Boardroom Ready is exposing women to the duties, responsibilities and commitments of serving on both public and private boards. As part of the program value proposition, graduates also have access to multiple events and a network designed to facilitate board appointments. From the first graduating class in October 2016, there have already been four board placements, including:-- Cynthia Smith to Nivalis Therapeutics' board of directors; -- Faith Charles to Agilvax Inc.'s board of directors; -- Terri Matkovits to BioSurplus' board of directors; and -- Marianne De Backer to EcoHealth Alliance's board of directors.Women In Bio, along with LifeSci Advisors, a founding and ongoing partner of the program, Biogen, Acorda, MassBio and other supporters are actively engaging their networks to find companies looking for exceptionally qualified biotech executives to serve on their board.Hocevar adds, "With only 10% of women in board roles, the life sciences gap is one of the widest of any industry. It is clear that we need a robust and diverse leadership pipeline in order to sustain growth and success well into the future.""LifeSci Advisors is proud to continue our support of Women In Bio's Boardroom Ready after a very successful inaugural program last year," said Michael Rice, Founding Partner of LifeSci Advisors. "We look forward to helping current and future graduates take the next step in their careers by helping them find placements on life sciences boards, and believe WIB's work is integral to improving gender diversity in our industry as a whole."The 2017 course will again be held at George Washington University and the curriculum will cover topics including financial literacy and strategy, corporate governance, investor relations, and crisis management. Throughout the program and following completion, WIB and its sponsors will host events around the country to facilitate the matching of program graduates, who are accomplished executives and advisors in the life sciences industry, to companies seeking new board members.For more information about the program and instructions for applying, please visit http://www.womeninbio.org/executives/board-ready.Women In Bio (www.womeninbio.org) is an organization of professionals committed to promoting careers, leadership, and entrepreneurship of women in the life sciences. Each local chapter hosts numerous events throughout the year, that vary from networking events to career development, to professional education, to executive level-focused events. In addition to events, WIB hosts a mentorship program which offers women the chance to mentor or be mentored, a Young Women In Bio program, which offers events and encouragement to middle-school aged girls, webinars, and the support of a large national organization with 13 chapters and growing. As a volunteer organization, WIB offers leadership opportunities at every stage of your career, and a chance to expand your network in a supportive and professional environment.LifeSci Advisors, LLC (www.lifesciadvisors.com) is a unique investor relations consultancy founded to provide companies in the life sciences a comprehensive solution to investor communications and outreach. With local presence in New York, Boston, Chicago, London, Geneva and Tel-Aviv, the firm provides the highest quality service for its clients through its deep sector specialization. Our roster of Ph.D.s enables us to better understand our clients' R&D, regulatory, and commercial strategy, and our team of financial services, investor relations, and public relations specialists help our clients effectively communicate their strategies to the marketplace. This combination of life sciences, financial services, and investor relations expertise allows us to provide a valuable and unique service offering to our clients.Contact: Stacie D. Byars, Women In Bio National Marketing Director 206-660-2588 or sdbyars@comcast.net TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Mukuba Resources Limited ("Mukuba" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: MKU) announces that it has completed the debt settlement described in its press release of November 17, 2016. Mukuba settled an aggregate of $117,011.74 of debt owed to arm's length parties in consideration for the issuance of 1,560,156 common shares of the Company at a deemed price of $0.075 per share. The securities issued are legended and restricted from trading until May 25, 2017. About Mukuba Resources Mukuba does not currently have any undertaking or operating assets. Mukuba is seeking interests in viable projects in any sector which could create shareholder value. Any transaction Mukuba seeks to complete is subject to regulatory approval. Future announcements will be made on the progress of Mukuba. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release. Forward-Looking Information CAUTIONARY STATEMENT: This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are the risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators including the following: (i) there is no assurance that the debt settlement can be completed on the terms as announced or at all; (ii) Mukuba has stopped commercial operations and has no history of profit; (iii) investment in the common shares of Mukuba is highly speculative given the unknown nature of Mukuba's business and its present stage of development; (iv) there is no assurance that Mukuba will find a profitable undertaking or that it can successfully conclude a purchase of such an undertaking at all or on terms which are commercially acceptable; (v) the directors and officers of Mukuba will only devote a portion of their time to the business and affairs of Mukuba and some of them are or will be engaged in other projects or businesses such that conflicts of interest may arise from time to time; and (vi) there can be no assurance that an active and liquid market for Mukuba's common shares will develop and an investor may find it difficult to resell its common shares. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of Mukuba's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on Mukuba's forward-looking statements. Although Mukuba believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Mukuba disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. Contacts: Daniel Crandall President and Chief Executive Officer +1 (416) 848-9407 info@mukubaresources.com By requiring public records to be made available in a timely fashion, Nevadas public records law aims to make government agencies accountable and transparent to the public, according to the state manual. As vital as these protections are to a healthy democracy, they are rendered useless if a government agency can simply choose to avoid compliance. Unfortunately, that is precisely what the Public Employees Retirement System of Nevada (PERS) has done, employing a multi-faceted scheme to conceal public records for years on end. The agencys plan is simple: Refuse a lawful request, wait to be sued, stonewall multiple Court rulings, and then start the entire process all over again! This well, sue us then approach is underway yet again which is why the Nevada Policy Research Institute is doing exactly that. In 2011, the Reno Gazette Journal sued PERS after the System refused to provide information documenting retiree names and their pension payouts information that is considered public both under the Nevada Public Records Act and in the vast majority of states nationwide. This information is critical for the public to assess whether or not the System is adhering to its Legislative purpose (its not), uncover potential cases of abuse and simply provide an accurate depiction of the Systems true value. PERS, however, claimed that doing so would jeopardize the safety of its members. Three separate Court rulings including a Nevada Supreme Court order disagreed with the agency, and ordered PERS to release the information. Regardless of whether or not one agrees with making PERS payout data public, everyone should be able to agree that government agencies follow the law. PERS has already had multiple opportunities to make its case before impartial Courts. Now, it must respect the outcome of that process. Instead, PERS has chosen to try and circumvent the Courts ruling and its not the first time. When NPRI requested an updated version of the pension payout report in 2015, PERS stated that it was unable to provide one with names. PERS stated that shortly after the Supreme Court ordering them to release that record, it had changed their internal processes so that names were replaced with Social Security Numbers and, thus, redacted (as required by law), when those records are made public under the Nevada Public Records Act. PERS further claims that reattaching names to their pension records would require them to create a new record, something it alleges is not required under public records law. But PERS is demonstrably wrong on both accounts. No new records defined as information stored on a computer, per NRS 239.080 are being sought. PERS clearly already possesses this information. Further, the extracting of information stored in a computer database is required by the law, and further indicated in a 1989 Nevada Attorney General official opinion. Unfortunately, such blatant disregard for the law has been a recurring theme at PERS. In April 2014, not only did Carson City District Court Judge James Russell reportedly chastise PERS for intentionally stonewalling the Supreme Court order, but he also revealed that PERS had submitted false testimony in an attempt to keep this information secret. Then, after having lost at every level of the judiciary, PERS concocted a new scheme: lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill that would expressly make their records secret which a USA Today editorial properly condemned as an example of why people dislike and distrust government. After that effort failed, PERS returned to the current well, sue us then approach. Which means, for the updated records to be disclosed, this matter will now have to be re-litigated yet again, with the Nevada Policy Research Institute having filed suit this time. Disturbingly, the same misrepresentation of facts which led Judge Russell to question the truthfulness of PERS testimony in the RGJ case reappeared at last weeks evidentiary hearing. When pressed under cross-examination, PERS official Cheryl Price acknowledged that the requested information existed in multiple locations and not just in one allegedly confidential location as was previously asserted. Beyond the wasted taxpayer dollars and added strain on the courts, this behavior should anger all Nevadans who, after all, have entrusted the agency with providing over $50 billion in promised retirement benefits. From submitting false testimony to a Court, to conspiring to circumvent a Nevada Supreme Court order, PERS has repeatedly thumbed its nose at state law and the democratic principles of a transparent and accountable government. With multiple Board vacancies opening up later this year, Governor Sandoval has an excellent opportunity to appoint incoming leadership that will demand PERS adhere to these principles and provide maximum transparency to all Nevadans who, after all, currently send over $1.5 billion annually to keep the System afloat, and are the ones responsible for paying down the Systems $13.5 billion shortfall. Nevadans long ago demanded accountability and transparency from their government. Its high time for PERS to honor that commitment. CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/24/17 -- Today's executive order advancing the Keystone XL (KXL) Pipeline Project is a major economic step forward for Canada, the United States and for North American energy security. Now more than ever, Canada needs access to new customers to the east, south and west. The Canadian oil and natural gas industry has been facing challenges to maintain competiveness at home and abroad and pipeline approvals advance opportunities to make Canada an attractive place for investment. All but one per cent of Canada's oil goes to the United States. It is important that we continue to serve our number one customer while we continue to look to add more global customers. CAPP and its members are committed to continue their work with the U.S. government to ensure we achieve mutual energy, economic and environmental success. By accessing new customers in new markets Canadian oil producers can get a better world-price for their products. Global demand for energy is expected to increase by 30 per cent through 2040, almost a quarter of that total energy demand is expected to come from oil. Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers quotes: Tim McMillan - president and CEO, CAPP -- "This executive order for Keystone XL represents another major milestone for Canada as we look for market opportunities for our resources." -- "Canadian resources have faced the disadvantage of being landlocked for too long, but that is starting to change." -- "We need to be able to access markets in all direction, east, south and west, for Canada to be the responsible global-supplier of choice." -- "Today's announcement means responsibly-produced Canadian oil will have access to more markets, which means Canadians will be getting better value for their resources." -- "As our largest trading partner, the relationship that Canadian producers share with the U.S. is a critical one." -- "When given the option between granting access for Canadian oil to international markets and continuing to meet demand with Saudi Arabian, Venezuelan, Iraqi, and Nigerian oil, the choice is obvious." Supporting Information: -- Over the past six years, KXL has undergone extensive regulatory and environmental review; the review process makes it clear the project will cause no undue environmental impacts, including no substantive change in GHG emissions. -- Oil sands crude will replace declining U.S. Gulf Coast heavy oil imports from Saudi Arabian, Venezuelan, Iraqi or Mexican. -- In June 2016, the CAPP crude oil forecast showed supply closely matched pipeline capacity at 4 million barrels per day; supply is expected to increase to 5.5 million barrels per day by 2030 - meaning all pipelines in all directions are needed. -- Canada exported 3.2 million barrels of oil per day to the U.S. in October 2016, accounting for 42 per cent of all U.S. crude imports. -- To date in 2016, approximately 11 per cent of U.S. natural gas consumption came from Canada. -- U.S. imports of Canadian crude oil and refined products combined account for 19 per cent of U.S. demand for refined petroleum products. -- In 2015, energy, including crude oil and natural gas, exports accounted for 15 per cent of all merchandise exports. -- 1,939 U.S. companies directly supplied the oil sands between 2012 and 2013. -- Canada and the U.S. have one of the world's largest trade relationships. -- Of the 50 U.S. states, 35 count on Canada as their number one export market. -- Nearly 9 million jobs depend on trade and investment with Canada. -- Canada and the U.S. are the world's largest trading partners with C$782 billion in goods and services traded annually. -- During the Obama years, 2008-2016, U.S. oil production grew by 4.4 million barrels per day and natural gas production grew by 20.9 BCF per day. That per-day growth is more than Canada produces daily. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) represents companies, large and small, that explore for, develop and produce natural gas and crude oil throughout Canada. CAPP's member companies produce about 85 per cent of Canada's natural gas and crude oil. CAPP's associate members provide a wide range of services that support the upstream crude oil and natural gas industry. Together CAPP's members and associate members are an important part of a national industry with revenues from crude oil and natural gas production of about $120 billion a year. CAPP's mission, on behalf of the Canadian upstream crude oil and natural gas industry, is to advocate for and enable economic competitiveness and safe, environmentally and socially responsible performance. Contacts: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers Chelsie Klassen 403-267-1151 chelsie.klassen@capp.ca www.capp.ca Vedanta Resources plc (the "Company") (LSE:VED) today announced the expiration and results of its previously announced tender offers to purchase for cash (the "Tender Offers") any and all of its outstanding US$ 750,000,000 9.50% Bonds due 2018 (the "2018 Bonds") and US$ 1,200,000,000 6.00% Bonds due 2019 (the "2019 Bonds" and, together with the 2018 Bonds, the "Bonds"). The Tender Offers expired at 8:00 a.m. New York time, on 24 January 2017 (the "Expiration Time"). At the Expiration Time, valid tenders had been received with respect to approximately US$ 370,868,000 of the 2018 Bonds and US$ $425,028,000 of the 2019 Bonds. Additionally, US$ 227,000 of the 2018 Bonds and US$ 200,000 of the 2019 Bonds were tendered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Tender Offer Memorandum dated 16 January 2017. The Company has accepted for payment all of the Bonds validly tendered prior to the Expiration Time pursuant to the Tender Offers. In addition, the Company will accept any additional Bonds properly tendered by means of the guaranteed delivery procedures provided. On 30 January 2017, such tendering bondholders will receive the purchase price in the amount of US$ 1,081.25 per US$ 1,000 principal amount of 2018 Bonds tendered and accepted for purchase and US$ 1,025.00 per US$ 1,000 principal amount of 2019 Bonds tendered and accepted for purchase, plus accrued and unpaid interest to, but not including, the payment date. The Company will arrange for cancellation of all Bonds validly tendered and accepted for purchase following purchase by the Company, and any Bonds not validly tendered will remain outstanding and accrue interest in accordance with their terms Following the cancellation of validly tendered Bonds, including Bonds validly tendered pursuant to guaranteed delivery procedures, US$ $378,905,000 of the 2018 Bonds and US$ $774,772,000 of the 2019 Bonds will remain outstanding. About Vedanta Resources plc: Vedanta Resources plc (LSE: VED) is a globally diversified oil and gas, metals and mining and commercial power generation company. Vedanta Resources plc's businesses are principally located in India with additional operations in Zambia, Australia, South Africa, Liberia and Namibia and over 70,000 employees worldwide. To learn more about Vedanta Resources plc, please visit its website at www.vedantaresources.com. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements: Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. Actual results may differ materially from these statements. The words "expect," "anticipate," "project," "believe" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, estimates of future operating results are based on the Company's current complement of businesses, which is subject to change. For the Company, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause the Company's actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and the Company disclaims any responsibility to update or revise such statements. DISCLAIMER United Kingdom The communication of this announcement, the tender offer memorandum dated 16 January 2017 relating to the Tender Offers (the "Tender Offer Memorandum") and any other documents or materials relating to the Tender Offers are not being made, and such documents and/or materials have not been approved, by an authorised person for the purposes of section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, such documents and/or materials are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of such documents and/or materials is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is only directed at and may be communicated to (i) persons who have professional experience in matters relating to investments, being investment professionals as defined in Article 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (the "Order"); (ii) persons who fall within Article 49 of the Order ("high net worth companies, unincorporated associations etc."); or (iii) any other persons to whom these documents and/or materials may lawfully be communicated. Any investment or investment activity to which this announcement or the Tender Offer Memorandum relate is available only to such persons or will be engaged only with such persons and other persons should not rely on it. General This announcement, the Tender Offer Memorandum and any related documents do not constitute an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell securities in any circumstances or jurisdictions in which such offer or solicitation is unlawful. This announcement should not be considered as an advertisement, invitation, offer, sale or solicitation of an offer to subscribe for or purchase any securities, whether by way of private placement or to the public in India. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006485/en/ Contacts: Vedanta Resources plc Communications Roma Balwani, +91 22 6646 1000 President Group Communications, Sustainability and CSR gc@vedanta.co.in or Finsbury Daniela Fleischmann, +44 20 7251 3801 vedanta@finsbury.com or Investors Ashwin Bajaj Director Investor Relations or Radhika Arora Associate General Manager Investor Relations or Ravindra Bhandari Manager - Investor Relations Tel: +91 22 6646 1531 ir@vedanta.co.in www.vedantaresources.com Summit Partners, an alternative investment firm currently investing more than $7.2 billion into growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities, has announced four promotions. In details, Jay Pauley and Thomas Tarnowski were promoted to Managing Director and Antony Clavel and Peter Francis were promoted to Principal. Jay Pauley, who has been promoted to Managing Director, joined Summits Boston office as a Vice President in 2010, moved to the Menlo Park office in 2013, and has served as a Principal since 2014. Pauley is a member of Summits growth products & services team, where he focuses primarily on the technology-enabled business services, industrial technology, distribution and consumer sectors. His board and investment experience includes Central Security Group, FineLine Technologies, Grand Design RV (acquired by Winnebago Industries, NYSE: WGO), Parts Town, Vivint and Vivint Solar (NYSE: VSLR). Prior to Summit, he worked for GTCR, Apax Partners and GE Capital. Pauley holds a BS, magna cum laude, from the Honors Business Program at The Ohio State University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas Tarnowski, who has been promoted to Managing Director, joined Summits London office as a Principal in 2013 and leads Summits healthcare and life sciences team in Europe. His board and investment experience includes DentalPro and Independent Vetcare. Prior to Summit, Tarnowski worked for Triton, where he led the Nordic healthcare team with a focus on healthcare services and medical technology investments. Before that, Tarnowski worked for Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup. Antony Clavel, who has been promoted to Principal, joined Summits London office as a Vice President in 2013 focusing primarily on the technology sector. Clavels board and investment experience includes Calypso Technology, Darktrace, Masternaut, Siteimprove and RELEX Solutions. Prior to Summit, Antony worked for Allen & Company where he advised US and European technology entrepreneurs on M&A and raising capital. Antony is a Swiss national, and he holds a BA in mathematics from Oxford University with First Class Honors and an SM in computer science from Harvard University. Peter Francis, who has been promoted to Principal, joined Summits Boston office as a Senior Associate in 2011, moved to the firms Menlo Park office in 2012 and has served as a Vice President since 2015. Focusing primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector, Francis board and investment experience includes BluePearl Veterinary Services (acquired by Mars Petcare), Healthline Media, HealthSun and Solutionreach. Prior to Summit, he worked for Jefferies & Company and UBS Investment Bank on the global healthcare team. He holds a BA in economics from Cornell University. FinSMEs 23/01/2017 Amplify Partners, a Menlo Park, CA-based early-stage venture capital firm focused on the next generation of IT infrastructure and data-driven technology, announced changes to its team. In details, David Beyer was promoted to Partner, Lenny Pruss joined as Partner and Ted Stinson and Dr. Evan Sparks joined as EIRs. David Beyer, who joined the firm in 2013, has made contributions to Amplify and its portfolio companies. Prior to joining Amplify Partners, Pruss was a Principal with Redpoint Ventures. He began his career with RRE Ventures in New York. Pruss has led investments in, and worked with companies including, HashiCorp, Cockroach Labs, Datadog and Whiptail (acquired by Cisco). Ted Stinson as Executive in Residence will be working closely with the Amplifys founders to develop sales and go-to-market expertise. Prior to joining Amplify, he was responsible for all business operations at tCell. Previously, Stinson served as the VP of Worldwide Sales at PernixData and held leadership positions at Symantec and VERITAS. Evan Sparks as Entrepreneur in Residence is an accomplished technologist with deep expertise in machine learning. He has contributed to the design and implementation of much of the large scale machine learning ecosystem around Apache Spark, including MLlib and KeystoneML, and is the author of numerous scientific publications. Prior to Berkeley, Sparks worked as a Quantitative Analyst at MDT Advisers and on the analytics team at Recorded Future. FinSMEs 24/01/2017 New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday gave its nod to the centre to present the Union Budget 2017 on 1 February ahead of the assembly elections, but said no schemes related to these poll-bound states can be announced. Also, Finance Minister Arun Jaitleys budget speech should not refer to the governments achievements in these states. The government had pitched for an earlier budget date, instead of the traditional 28 February, to complete the legislative part of financial business before 1 April, the start of a financial year. It also reminded the government of a 2009 advisory which said vote-on-account instead of a full-fledged budget is presented ahead of elections as per convention. The Commission hereby directs that in the interest of free and fair elections and in order to maintain level playing field...no state-specific schemes shall be announced which may have the effect of influencing the electors of the five poll going states in favour of the ruling parties, the election commission told cabinet secretary P.K.Sinha. It also said in the finance ministers speech, the governments achievements in respect of the five states will not be highlighted in any manner Elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Goa will be held between 4 February and 8 March. The results will be announced on 11 March. Jobs needed desperately. That was the writing on the wall even in 2014. That was when Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to sweep most Indian voters off their feet, and made his party the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sweep the hustings. Many of the voters are believed to have voted for him because he promised them jobs and not merely doles. He had then appealed to their sense of pride and self respect. The smoke signals could be read quite easily even in 2013. The data that was available for 2012 showed that India needs huge investments and technology support to create new jobs. When the government came to power, it had an emploGikven Indias population, it needs to create at least 12-14 million jobs each year just to deal with the fresh crop of youngsters who come knocking at the doors of the job market. . The government was aware, even in 2014, that the percentage of the workforce employed on farms will decline in the coming decade more rapidly than ever before. If the last 15 years have seen an 11 percent decline in farm labour, expect the coming decade to see this drop by at least another 15-20 percent. However, instead of reducing unemployment, the latest employment statistics from the government show that the unemployment rate is rising. At least 50-100 million people are likely to migrate from farms to cities within the next decade in search of jobs, or glamour, or both. The smart cities could ease the housing crunch, and also create immediate employment. Moreover, of the total workforce of 473 million, only 29 million (barely 6 percent) belong to the organised sector. This is because the government has pampered the organised sector, making it far too expensive for small entrepreneurs. What has worsened the employment scene is demonetisation. It has hurt the MSME (micro small and medium enterprises) sector very badly. Instead of creating jobs, the government has actually killed jobs. And the sector which provided India over 90 percent of the jobs has been hit this time. This comes on the heels of a year of jobless growth as well. That is why the provisions of Budget 2017 become crucially important. If this budget does not kickstart the economy and create jobs, then the political consequences for the party in power could be extremely painful. So will the economic and social consequences for the entire country. So, this is what the Budget could do: 1. New businesses: The Budget could offer incentives for the creation of new businesses that are employment oriented. Since this will require some tweaking of labour laws, expect such labour law flexibilities to be introduced for SEZs and the recently announced coastal economic zones (CEZs) that these colums talked about. 2. Agriculture: Expect the government to push the envelope further to ensure that farm incomes are actually doubled as promised in last years budget. The government has already made the first major move in this direction. It has pushed Indias largest milk-producing state Uttar Pradesh into encouraging milk cooperatives. The government did this by nudging NDDB (National Dairy Development Corporation) to encourage Gujarats milk cooperatives to set up milk procurement and milk processing capacities just outside Delhi. This was aimed at procuring milk from Up. Farmers could now get Rs.25-28 per litre of milk. Without the cooperatives, farmers got only Rs.14-18 per litre. The encouragement of milk cooperatives will increase farm incomes in UP. Expect sops for milk and vegetable processing capacities so that farmers can get a higher value added for their produce. Since 50 percent of Indias population lives on farms, this will reduce the crisis of unemployment and urbanisation. Moreover, since rural votes formed a good chunk of votes that the BJP got in 2014, getting farmers more money means more votes as well. 3. Rehabilitation: Expect some sops (for rehabilitation???) for weaver communities because this is one sector that has been very badly hit in UP, Bhiwandi, Surat and Tirpur . 4. Infrastructure: Nothing creates jobs overnight the way infrastructure does. This means encouragement for building railways, roadways, waterways. The government has already notched up plans for giving these areas a major push. The trouble is that foreign investments are not forthcoming. This means that the government will try tap Indian investors. Will this mean big sops for infrastructure generation? 5. Tax on cash: In keeping with Modis plan to promote cashless transactions expect several measures. First, expect NPCI to announce a further whittling down on merchant discount rates. That will make digital payment a little less painful. Also expect a reversal of the old Chidambaram prescription of levying tax on credit card transactions (P Chidambaram was a former finance minister who had advocated such a tax). It is quite possible that the government will put a tax on cash transactions. That will drive businesses towards digital transactions. 6. Transparency and fair play: It is quite possible that the government will also ask all businesses not to transfer merchant discount rates (MDRs to customers the way private airlines, some municipal corporations and the IRCTC have been doing. Businesses must learn to be transparent. They should learn to put the actual final cost upfront. It is a bad practice to levy charges surreptitiously the way private airlines line Indigo have been doing. 7. Real estate and affordable housing: One sector that has been badly hit by demonetisation is construction and real estate. A thrust on affordable housing could be the solution. There is only one problem. Most state governments and municipalities are greedy and charge exorbitant rates (both official and unofficial for construction permits. Affordable housing will not succeed unless such costs are eliminated. Moreover, affordable housing works when the numbers of houses built each year crosses a million. The shortage in India is around 20 million. Any number that is smaller will lead to black-marketing (because of little supply in the face of a huge demand). That will defeat the objective of affordable housing. It remains to be seen if the government will do this. Lastly, in order to create very large numbers of jobs very quickly, the government will need investments. Foreign funds are running away because they believe India is trying to take away some of the protection they once enjoyed for their investments. Will the government be able to re-instill confidence in foreign investors? Will it be able to patch up with the judiciary and do the right things that in turn offer quick effective redressal avenues for both resident Indians and foreigners alike? Or will that be asking for too much? For full coverage of Union Budget 2017 click here. In a bid to draw the attention of the government to the condition of farmers in the country and to bring about some improvement in the agricultural sector, Yogendra Yadav and his Jai Kisan Andolan a part of Swaraj Abhiyan will present an alternative budget called Kisan Budget on 30 January, two days ahead of the Union Budget, which is on 1 February. The Kisan Budget or Agriculture Budget, a first-of-its-kind effort will be announced at the Kisan Sansad a public platform in the presence of farmers from various states in an attempt to act as a pressure group on issues like agricultural policy, farmers income, minimum support price, and to mitigate the effects of demonetisation. On the day of the Union budget while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley delivers his speech in Parliament, the Kisan Sansad will simultaneously analyse the announcements made on farm and allied sectors by gathering at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. A concept note based on the group's recommendations will be submitted to the government. "If industry bodies like CII can discuss and analyse a budget, while the finance minister makes his presentation, why cant farmers sit together and do the same? Well be doing the same on Budget day analysing the Union Budget with agricultural experts and farmers, and simultaneously respond to it, Yogendra Yadav, president of newly-formed political party Swaraj India told Firstpost. The Kisan Budget, which was taken up for the first time in 2016 as a pilot by Jai Kisan Andolan, is expected to push issues like minimum income guarantee for the farmers, rationalisation of minimum support price (MSP), compensation to famers against natural calamities and nonetheless mitigating the impact of demonetisation on the farm sector. Government surveys show that average family income of a farmer is Rs 2,400 per month, which is incredible. How can a family survive on such a low income? Its the lowest one can even imagine. The government must legislate a minimum income guarantee act. A farmer should be guaranteed a minimum income of Rs 18,000 per month, Avik Saha, co-convener, Jai Kisan Andolan told Firstpost. Jai Kisan Andolan is a public movement for farmers rights in India, undertaken by the Yadav and Prashant Bhushan-led Swaraj Abhiyan. It aims at highlighting the plight of farmers due to lapses in public policies related to agriculture. We dont advocate loan waivers, but want the government to give sufficient weightage to MSP, so that farmers can benefit. Another issue is related to compensation to farmers, who are the victims of natural calamities. The government has to ensure implementation of a proper calamity support policy, so that a farmer can come out of an adverse situation successfully, added Saha, who is also the national vice-president of Swaraj Abhiyan. Undoubtedly, the issue of demonestisation will be an overpowering factor in the upcoming Budget and virtually no sector can remain insulated from it. Same is with the Kisan budget, where effects of demonetization will be a talking point. We wholeheartedly supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the demonetisation issue, but its execution has been very poor. Farmers and vendors dealing with vegetables, fruit and perishable items bore the brunt of it. After two years, the farmers had a good harvest but due to the cash-crunch, they were unable to reap the benefits. The Kisan Budget will discuss these issues, added Yadav, also a noted psephologist, alongside being a political analyst and convener of Jai Kisan Andolan. Through this alternative farmers budget, Yadav and his team have planned to build public opinion and pressure as a probable remedy for farmers woes. The Budget is a proposal that is debated in Parliament before its passage. Well send our observations and reactions to the government, so that they can bring necessary amendments post-Budget, a Swaraj Abhiyan member said. Mumbai: The dometic gems and jewellery industry, which went through a lot of turmoil in 2016, has urged the government to increase the mandatory PAN card limit to Rs 5 lakh and above and reduce the import duty on gold to atleast 5 percent in the Union Budget 2017-18. All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation (GJF), the apex body for domestic gems and jewellery industry, has recomended the Finance Minister to increase the mandatory PAN card limit to Rs 5 lakh and above. "With the implementation of the PAN card limit of Rs 2 lakh, the industry has been facing serious challenges. Organised sector, which is growing by at least 2 percent every year since past decade is directly hit due to this. We request the government to bring the PAN card limit to the earlier level of Rs 5 lakh and above," GJF Chairman Nitin Khandelwal told PTI here. He said they should also reduce the import duty on gold from the current 10 percent to at least 5 percent. "The high import duty on gold bullion at 10 percent has been adversely affecting the industry. This has built a parallel economy, leading to wide scale gold smuggling. It is also affecting domestic retail and manufacturing industry adversely. Bringing down duty to at least 5 percent will eliminate the grey market," he added. Further, GJF has also recommended Goods and Services Tax (GST) at 1.25 percent for the gems and jewellery sector, so that it help the industry become compliant and organised. "Soon the entire nation will come under the single taxation regime of GST. We recommend GST at 1.25 percent for the gems and jewellery sector, as this will help the industry become compliant and organised," he said. Khandelwal also said the jewellers should be enabled sell the Ashoka Chakra Gold coins launched by the prime minister through their retail stores. "This will increase the reach and generate more sales of the coins," he said. GJF has recommended the need for the formation of domestic council for the sector to address various issues pertaining to the industry, including generation of reliable database and regulation of fair trade practices and to help the government in forming industry friendly policies for trading and manufacturing, he said. It has also recommended to keep the dore import under tight observation to avoid malpractices. The gold import presently has been confined to banks and nominated agencies, however, over time more and more agencies should be given opportunity to be enlisted to allow good competition and easy availability of gold across the country, Khandelwal opined. Further, welcoming the government's decision of mandatory Hallmarking, he said, there is a need for new and upgradated Hallmarking centers across the country. "This is an important aspect to consider, since increasing the number of hallmarking centres with proper implementation of the Hallmarking process for gold will streamline the industry," he added. GJF is an apex and responsible body for the domestic gems and jewellery industry representing over 3,00,000 players comprising manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, distributors, laboratories, gemologists, designers and allied services to the industry. For full coverage of Union Budget 2017 click here. Editor: Befuddled liberals, in the form of a trio of Nevada Representatives, have written to Governor Sandoval suggesting that the statue of Senator Patrick McCarran be removed from the Statuary Hall at the nations Capitol. Their letter states: Senator McCarran leaves behind a legacy of racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. He led anti-Communist crusades, advocated severe immigration laws believing that unassimilable immigrants were a threat to the American way of life Would it be incorrect of me to say that President Trump expressed similar views during his Presidential campaign? The early 1950s were the height of the Cold War and the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act of 1952 expressed concern that the United States could face infiltration through immigration from communist eastern Europe which would destroy America. This Immigration Act also abolished racial restrictions found in U.S. Immigration and Naturalization statutes going back to the Naturalization Act of 1790. Therefore, to refer to Senator McCarran as racist only magnifies the ignorance of these Representatives. It is ironic that one of the signatories to the Governors letter is an immigrant and a former aide to Senator Harry Reid. He is to be commended though for being able to rise to a high political office in spite of Senator McCarrans severe immigration laws." Im sure everyone wishes this man the best. The trios letter concludes: While we cannot and should not erase our past, we should strive to honor leaders who have emulated Americas values of compassion, inclusiveness, and diversity Here we see liberalism on steroids. This from a mindset that never ceases to sanctimoniously preach non-judgmentalism, compassion, inclusiveness and diversity. They have been hoisted by their own petard but do not have the courage to acknowledge it. Who was it who wrote: scratch a Liberal and you will find a Fascist? Kathy Mosses Montello Digital India Mission was unveiled by PM Narendra Modi on 3 July 2015. Over the last two years, considerable efforts have been made by the government in this direction. This years budget promises to look at several key facets of digitisation in India. Before going into the details of the future steps, it is important to look at the performance and highlights of the digital push in the last two years. Following are the three key themes that were highlighted in the last two budgets Rural connectivity and broadband highways: In the 2015-16 budget, the government announced the execution of National Optical Fibre Network Programme (NOFNP) covering 7.5 lakh km and networking 2.5 lakh villages by 2019. This initiative achieved optical fibre layout of 82,500 km during 2015-16 and got a boost during 2016-17 budget, which allowed willing states to undertake its execution. However, at the current rate of implementation, broad calculations reflect that NOFNP might take additional 3-4 years from the initial stipulated time-frame of 5 years. Digital inclusion by enabling access and literacy: Around 70 percent (12 crore) of the rural households lack access to computers as per the 2016-17 budget document. The government has announced two schemes to tackle this challenge National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) and new NDLM. Regarding NDLM, the target of providing IT training to 5.25 million individuals has been achieved as per the NDLM website. The new NDLM launched in mid-2016 had set up an ambitious target of training 60 million rural households by 2019. The work on this is underway and will have a considerable bearing on how digital inclusion happens in the country. Digitisation of processes to build transparency and efficiency in the system: These relate to distinct aspects of overall governance like land rights, taxation and education records. In 2016 budget with respect to land rights, the government allocated a budget of Rs 150 crore for setting up Integrated Land Information System. Regarding taxation issues, the government announced issuance of notices and documents by Income Tax department in electronic form. This is in continuation to the efforts like e-filing of tax returns. The government announced setting up the digital repository of education records by 2017 for ensuring the authenticity, safe storage and easy retrieval of education and professional credentials of the individuals. All these initiatives are taken in a positive spirit and seems to be in the right direction. However, the overall transformation of government machinery will happen only when similar steps are taken for other government processes especially at the sub-urban and rural levels. Looking at the desired future steps related to digitisation, three things are necessary. These include faster implementation, quality of basic digital infrastructure, and impact of technology on future of jobs. For one, the government needs to ensure faster implementation especially in areas related to rural connectivity and broadband highways, new digital literacy mission, and digitisation of processes. Often, technology becomes obsolete at a rapid pace, and therefore speed and quality of execution plays a critical role for yielding the desired benefits. The lags in this can severely impact the progress being made in Digital India Mission. The upcoming budget should detail the strategy for quick implementation in these critical areas. Second, the basic infrastructure for digital economy requires much wider coverage and consistent quality for internet penetration, and smartphones compared to what it is today. Many people in India still lack access to the internet (roughly one in four people have internet access) and smartphone (roughly one in five people have smartphone access). Then there are other issues related to call drops and poor internet bandwidth across cities and villages. India has the lowest penetration of Point of Sale devices as compared to other developed and BRICS economies. Moreover, there are challenges like the need to protect online frauds by enhancing the security for the online transactions. The budget should reflect on and suggest measures to address these challenges related to digital infrastructure and online security. Third, there is a pervasive influence of newer ideas and technologies like the Internet of Things, Big Data, Smart Cities, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Digital Payments which have a bearing on other sectors of the economy. Already automation of manual jobs is having a significant impact on the plans of companies to expand operations and do newer hiring. There are fears that too much digitization can lead to job losses which can be problematic for populous countries like India. The government needs to realize the criticality of these changes which are underway and formulate a concrete action plan to make India ready for the future of work. Also needed is a focus on increasing the number of digital users. How the government plans this changeover will require the careful attention in the budget and beyond. (Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness, India and can be contacted at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and he tweets @kautiliya. Sandeep Goyal is CEO for Shared Value Initiative India and can be contacted at sandeep.goyal@sharedvalue.in.) For full coverage of Union Budget, click here Washington: US President Donald Trump today warned business leaders that a "substantial border tax" will be imposed on companies that set up manufacturing units abroad as he promised to "massively" cut down regulations and taxes to encourage firms to produce products domestically. During a meeting with 12 top business leaders of the country at the White House, Trump said a "wave" of manufacturing is now headed back to the US and warned them of consequences if they shift jobs abroad. "There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here. So we've seen it. It's gonna be wave. You watch, it's gonna be a wave. I've always said, by the time you put them in these massive ships or airplanes and fly them I think it's gonna be cheaper," Trump said at his breakfast meeting with the top CEOs. He promised that he would cut taxes "massively" and slash regulations by 75 percent or more. "What we're doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, and that's massively. We're trying to get it down to anywhere from 15 to 20 percent, and it's now 35 percent but it's probably more 38 percent than it is 35, wouldn't you say? That's a big thing," he said. "A bigger thing, and that surprised me, is the fact that we're gonna be cutting regulation massively. Now, we're gonna have regulation and it'll be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now," he added. Trump said the problem with the regulation is that it puts a lot of hurdles for companies and businesses. "When somebody wants to put up a factory, it's gonna be expedited," Trump said. "You have to go through the process, but it's gonna be expedited and we're gonna take care of the environment, we're gonna take care of safety and all of the other things we have to take care of, but you're gonna get such great service," he said. "There will be no country that's going to be faster, better, more fair and at the same time protecting the people of the country, whether it's safety or so many other...," he said. MGNREGS recently completed ten years of implementation and this article seeks to explore a specific outcome of the programme: womens empowerment. The findings of this study will be presented at a policy workshop commemorating 10 years of MGNREGS in Chennai on 28 January, 2017. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is one of the largest welfare programmes of its kind in the world. It has some unique features: (a) It offers equal wages for men and women for manual labour; (b) wage payments are made to individual bank accounts of workers, and (c) participants are self-selected into the programme and benefits are conditional on completing assigned work. There are two broad outcomes that the government envisioned for this program: Asset creation (mostly agricultural, but also sanitation, schools, among others), and employment generation. However, MGNREGS has also been shown to provide opportunities to women and other socially-excluded groups to take part in meaningful labour and participate in the labour market. Gender parity in India (in terms of wages, labour market opportunities, and social norms) still has a long way to go; for example, India is ranked 130th out of nearly 200 countries in the Gender Inequality Index put out by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). As per the MGNREGS Act, both, women and Scheduled Caste/Tribes (SC/STs) must each make up at least 33% of the total beneficiaries within the Panchayat. As per latest available data, the share of women in total labour days under MGNREGS is well above that figure at 56.3%. However, womens participation varied widely by states as seen in the chart below while states like Tamil Nadu had 85.4% participation, other states like Assam had just 33.59% (the minimum required). Thus, if MGNREGS has implications for gender inequality and thereby empowering women, then it becomes important to understand the pathways through which this takes place. One such pathway considered in recent research among MGNREGS workers in Tamil Nadu was the extent of say wives and husbands share when deciding expenditure for household commodities, like rice, salt, or medicines. Allocation of resources within the household can be a jointly undertaken activity by spouses and can have consequences for economic and human development. For instance, deciding to allocate more resources toward food rather than recreation yields positive benefits toward overall health. The manner in which husbands and wives arrive at such allocation decisions is therefore of interest to researchers as well as policymakers. Findings indicate that in households where only the female participates in MGNREGS, the female tends to have a lower say in decision-making. This indicates that her husband may exercise greater power over household expenses due to his participation in other higher-paid labour activities. Other studies have suggested that when females participate in MGNREGS, there is an indirect impact on the education and health outcomes of her children and on her likelihood of taking part in other labour market activities. Given the lack of quality household data related to the programme, there is still ambiguity about the magnitude and direction of these impacts. In addition to the general benefits of MGNREGS, appending womens empowerment as an advantage of the programme can act as an incentive for future policies. For instance, identifying whether women participants in MGNREGS have superior bargaining positions in comparison to non-participants can enable targeted interventions toward future MGNREGS workers. Similarly, ensuring that policies permit women to receive work and wages via MGNREGS during agricultural off-seasons can supplement their income from agricultural activities and ensure an independent source of income for women when it is most needed. If MGNREGS is implemented in sync with the agricultural seasons, it will ensure greater benefits targeted toward women. Furthermore, it may also result in an improvement in the intra-household resource allocation of women, and subsequently, an improvement in household outcomes where the preferences of women are expressed. It is important to recognise that policy may be constrained in influencing intra-household dynamics, particularly in the case of rural India, where such dynamics have come to persist over centuries. Even wholesale changes in legislation (such as the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act that gave women equal rights as men over inheriting property) have had limited impact in altering such dynamics. However, research suggests that better targeting and implementation can result in greater autonomy in decision-making for women, therefore improving their bargaining position within the household. (Anirudh Tagat and Hansika Kapoor are Research Authors, at the Departments of Economics and Psychology, respectively, at Monk Prayogshala, Mumbai. Monk Prayogshala is a not-for-profit academic research organisation based in Mumbai that works in the social sciences.) Mumbai: The design of new banknotes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denominations was approved at the May 19, 2016 meeting of the Central Board of RBI, an RTI query has revealed. The apex bank, however, refused to disclose the name of the Governor who approved the design citing section 8(1)(a) of the transparency law. In his application, city-based activist Jeetendra Ghadge had sought the exact date of the approval of the design of new bills. "The new design of the bank notes was approved by the Central Board of Reserve Bank of India in its meeting held on May 19, 2016," the Central Public Information Officer of RBI stated in the response. As per the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, general superintendence and direction of the Bank's affairs are taken care of by the central board of directors, a body headed by the governor of the RBI. Raghuram Rajan was governor of the apex bank during September 2013-September 2016. RBI cited section 8(1)(a) of RTI Act to refuse information to Ghadge who had sought to know exact date of the first meeting held at the apex bank with the agenda to print new currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 denominations, and the exact date for the order allowing their printing. Ghadge today said the RBI and its Governor need to come clean on the entire processes of demonetisation "so that responsibility could be fixed and the common people's trust is maintained." Demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 bills was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year. RBI Governor Urjit Patel had recently appeared before the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and the Standing Committee on Finance headed by former union minister and senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily, to clarify on demonetisation. New Delhi: CBI on Monday arrested a former chairman and four other ex-officials of IDBI Bank along with four former executives of Kingfisher Airlines in connection with the Vijay Mallya loan default case. CBI sources said the purported mastermind ex-Deputy Managing Director B K Batra was arrested late in the night and will be produced before designated court in Mumbai today. Those arrested include the then Chairman of IDBI Bank Yogesh Aggarwal, former CFO of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines A Raghunathan, they said. Sources said three more former executives of the airlines and three more former officials of IDBI Bank were also taken into custody. Other former IDBI executives arrested by CBI include O V Bundellu, S K V Srinivasan, R S Sridhar, they said. The sources said besides former CFO of Kingfisher Airlines, three more former executives Shailesh Borke, A C Shah and Amit Nadkarni were also arrested. The arrests were followed by searches at 11 places including Vijay Mallyas residence here, three floors of UB towers in Bengaluru, residences of Aggarwal and Raghunathan among others. The arrests have been made from multiple cities. While Raghunathan was arrested in Mumbai, Aggarwal was taken into custody from Gurgaon, the sources said. CBI had registered a case against Mallya, Director of defunct Kingfisher Airlines; the company; A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the Airlines; and unknown officials of IDBI Bank. The loan was allegedly sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits. The sources said there was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium. "It was first exposure to the bank. There was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium when already other loans were getting stressed," a senior CBI official, probing the matter, had earlier said. Actor Pulkit Samrat, last seen in Junooniyat opposite Yami Gautam, got into a scuffle with photographers stationed outside the Bandra Family Court on Monday, 23 January. Samrat was at the court in connection with his ongoing divorce proceedings from wife Shweta Rohira. Rohira and Samrat had tied the knot in 2014, but had separated by 2015. There are two versions of what took place outside the court premises on Monday: According to Samrat's version, he and his uncle were making their way from the court to their car when they were pushed by a paparazzo who was pursuing them. When the latter continued to record them despite requests from Samrat to desist, the actor says he pushed back. The photographer, a Santosh Nagarkar, however has said that it was while he was chasing Samrat for a photo that the enraged actor grabbed his collar, and threatened him. Samrat's estranged wife Rohira had made her way out of the court premises by this time. Pulkit Samrat will next be seen in Fukrey 2. Only thirteen years ago, we were drooling over a suave Shah Rukh Khan emerging from smog, sporting cozy winter wear, with a jet black steam engine besides him in Farah Khan's Main Hoon Na. Flash forward to 2017, the actor has created hysteria with his train journey from Mumbai to Delhi in order to promote his upcoming film, Rahul Dholakia's Raees. Khan's presence caused a minor stampede at the Vadodara railway station leading to a casualty. This unfortunate incident enraged the activists who lashed out at the actor for boarding the August Kranti Express as a mere tool of promotion. However, this is not the first time actors have promoted their films on-board a train. Multiple actors like Vidya Balan, Siddharth Malhotra, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and Akshay Kumar have promoted their films by breaking the fourth wall and mingling with the poeple inside a train. While it can be argued that Khan's popularity exceeds that of any of the actors mentioned above, his long association with trains in his films cannot be contested. Whether it is the iconic shot from Main Hoon Na or his 'Chhaiya Chhaiya' act from Mani Ratnam's Dil Se, trains have always been a leitmotif in several of his most successful films. It is not difficult to recall when his journey with the train began. Aditya Chopra proved that Raj and Simran's bond was strong enough to outpace the speed of a train, a rather slow-moving train that is, in his debut film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge. Khan holding on to a train door and extending his hand to Kajol became not only the face of all the posters of the film but also one of the most recreated scenes on the silver screen. Karan Johar, who was an Assistant Director on Dilwale Dulhania Le Jaayenge took a page out of his mentor Chopra's book by using a train station as the setting of the pre-interval juncture of his directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. The tables turned this time as it was Kajol who was on-board the train as Khan ran towards her. A dejected Anjali did not reach out to a hopeful Rahul, a rather appropriate way to establish an incomplete love angle. After being inside the train and on the platform, Khan's third memorable tryst with trains was when he was atop one of them, which snaked through the scenic valleys of north India. Choreographer Farah Khan took dance direction several notches higher when she showcased a dance number on the top of the train in 'Chhaiya Chhaiya'. Not only was the song a visually stunning experience but also the term 'Chhaiya Chhaiya' became synonymous to a joy train ride for years to come. The most recent example of the perennial relationship of Khan and trains on celluloid was Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express. A significant portion of the film was shot inside the train unlike Khan's previous train adventures. Also, unlike the previous episodes, Khan was projected as a common man in this train journey. He was at his comical best in his attempts to escape a train compartment hijacked by a group of hefty goons. Another instance of Shah Rukh and a rather sophisticated intra-city train experience was there in Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Missing a train was often used as a metaphor to a lost opportunity. In this romantic drama, Khan's character did not mind missing his train in order to spend some more time with his love interest, played by Rani Mukerji. The train played a crucial role in the climax as well when Mukerji's character convinces Khan's character to disembark from the train, through a rather desperate shaking of head from across the window pane. In yet another moment he created on a railway platform was in Yash Chopra's Veer Zara. Train was beautifully used as a metaphor of a journey coming to an end as Khan and Preity Zinta's characters walk away from each other on the platform with Lata Mangeshkar and Roop Kumar Rathod's 'Tere Liye' serenading the background. The symbol of trains proved to be such an integral part of Khan's rise to stardom that he could not help but subconsciously include a train action sequence in his ambitious project, Anubhav Sinha's Ra.One. One of the highlights of the film was its climax when a Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)-bound local train pierces through the UNESCO World Heritage Site as Khan battles Kareena Kapoor all over the train. Now, if Khan decided to promote Raees through a train journey, it is obvious to create quite a stir, owing to not only his popularity that cuts across borders but also his well-documented history inside, besides and even atop the train. Also, the train journey is almost like a homecoming moment for Khan as he travels from his karmabhoomi (Mumbai) to his janmabhoomi (Delhi). Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel has earned the nomination to the Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category for his critically applauded role in Lion, according to NDTV. The 26-year-old actor played the lead role of Saroo Brierley, a man in search of his roots, in the film based on a true story. The film is based on a non-fiction book, A Long Way Home, written by Saroo Brierley and Larry Buttrose. Patel shot to fame in 2009, with his Oscar-winning critically acclaimed film Slumdog Millionaire, following which he was also appreciated for his roles in films such as The Last Airbender, Chappie, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. However, Patel's portrayal of Brierley's abject journey as a lost child through childhood to a man who is obsessed with following his roots to India garnered him much applause within the creative circles. The film charts the journey of a young kid, played by another actor of Indian origin, Sunny Pawar, who gets lost at a train station, and wakes up to find himself in a moving train. He then must learn to survive on his own in the bustling Indian town of Kolkata, while bracing many challenges in life until an Australian couple adopts him. An adult Brierley, played by Patel, then becomes obsessed with finding his roots and the film traces his homecoming. The movie earned a lot of praise for its light artistic touch in creating an emotional melo-drama. Patel's portrayal of Brierley also got him nominated in the best suporting Actor's category in the prestigious Golden Globe Awards, but he lost the award to Aaron Taylor-Johnson of Nocturnal Animals. His co-star Nicole Kidman, who plays his adoptive Australian mother in the movie, too could not score a win in the best-supporting actress category at the Golden Globe, with the trophy going to Viola Davis for Fences. In an interview to PTI ahead of the awards, Patel had said that more than winning, he was looking forward to celebrate the film at the Globes and was happy to be mentioned alongside great actors. Ila Ananya A few weeks ago, days after news of the mass molestation of women in Bangalore at Brigade Road on New Years Eve broke, I went for a walk organised by Hidden Pockets, a mapping project on sexuality and spaces. We were trying to map out pleasure points in the city near Christ University; places where women felt comfortable and safe, and thought they could have fun, even at night. There were many conversations women talked about how much they liked walking down roads at night but wouldnt because there were no streetlights, arguments about whether kissing should or should not be allowed in public places, and men who decided for women that CCTV cameras on roads would make them feel safer. The arguments were mostly calm, but this was until a CCTV-camera-supporting man who said he partied at the Taj on New Years Eve, argued vehemently that the molestation in Bangalore happened because of men from Shivajinagar and those kinds of areas. That is, areas where lower-middle class (and Muslim, was the implication) families lived, and were much less posh than the upper-middle class streets of Indiranagar or Lavelle Road and the Taj he (presumably) partied at. By this point, women in the group were furious and told him he knew nothing. I was reminded of this pedestrian Jon Snow when I heard about Javed Akhtar holding forth on sexual violence at a session called After the Angry Young Man, the Traditional Woman' (even we werent sure what this meant) at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Sunday, 22 January. The session was supposed to be about the depiction of women and men in Bollywood until Akhtar decided to go off in a completely tangential direction when he was asked a harmless, chotu question about Hollywood, Bollywood, and the pointless flak Pakistani actors have been getting in India. In an average Indian city, by the time a boy becomes 20 or 21, he has not spoken to a girl who is not his sister for more than five minutes in his whole life. How would he know that she is a human being? How would he know that she has any other thing beside her body? he asked the audience. In almost the same passionately angry breath he continued, Men who come from towns to the city have no place to live. They are treated like animals. They see affluence and people doing well around him, and he gets angry about why he is so deprived. Then his anger comes out where it can come out [against women]. Akhtars statements are amazingly self-assured. He is so confident about what he is saying repeating again and again that there is anger and venom in men who have come to cities from towns and that segregation and economic divisions cause men to rape women. Either he has not looked at the news recently, or like the venomous men he mentions he hasnt spoken to any women lately. Or ever. Certain, Akhtar has not taken the trouble to talk to women about sexual assault that they experience, before making grand statements about it himself. Or both. Whatever the scenario, hes very conveniently, and almost obliviously, excused men of his own class of sexual violence, and gone on to say that all men from towns and villages engage in sexual violence prompted by lust and class war. The one thing that Akhtar and the dude from the walk are right about in all of this is that sexual violence is indeed a class issue. The problem, however, is that theyve got the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps they havent heard about women who work as domestic help in houses being sexually harassed or raped. Towards the end of December last year, a woman who worked as a domestic worker in Mumbai was raped by four lawyers over six months (the woman installed cameras in her house and theres a recording of one of the lawyers raping her at knife-point) the lawyers reportedly told her that if she complained, they could get away with the assaults because they knew the law. And speaking of men in that business called show, Shiney Ahuja was also convicted to seven years for raping the woman who worked as domestic help in his house. In October last year, a letter from six women working in a spinning mill in Tamil Nadu that described sexual harassment they faced became public He forces himself on us, constantly hugging us and squeezing our breasts, the women wrote about a male supervisor. The letter reminded us of the horrible case of a migrant garment factory worker who committed suicide in Bangalore in 2007 after being harassed by her male supervisors. A few months later, another garment factory worker in Bangalore also committed suicide. And if were talking about cases where women have been raped by authorities in power, the news of the horrific sexual abuse of 16 women by the police in Chhattisgarh has recently come to light. In Bangalore, a sub-inspector was arrested a week ago for raping a woman who had a mental disability. It is evident that sexual violence is indeed a class issue. As it is a caste issue, and a gender issue and a power issue. Considering also, that Akhtar made no reference to any men of his own class as having perpetrated sexual violence, perhaps we should also remind him that historian and filmmaker Mahmood Farooqui was convicted for raping a woman in July 2016. Actor Rekhas biography (as in the case of Maria Schneider and Bernardo Bertolucci in Last Tango in Paris) also has a disturbing description of her never being told about a physically intimate scene she was supposed to be a part of. While it was shot, unit members were hooting and cheering, she says. In offices that dont have a functioning sexual harassment cell (if at all), people like RK Pachauri, formerly from TERI and chairman of the Nobel prize-winning IPCC, sexually harassed several women junior to him. Even though the mandated sexual harassment cell was present, due procedure was flouted at every turn. Because culture doesnt stop men from rape and neither does scientific temper. Akhtar seems to think that if your place of birth indicates that you are from a major Indian metro then you dont rape. Rape is location agnostic. In another case, in November last year, a 52-year-old man molested a woman who worked as a bus conductor in Pune. Its even gravity-agnostic. Didnt he read last week about Air India coming up with its so-genius idea of a reserving a row of seats for women? Because a man travelling by business class had decided he wanted to sit next to a woman in economy class, and groped her when she fell asleep. Just before Akhtar launched into this sociological explanation, he was asked an odd question about whether feminism could be related to womens empowerment. Obviously, he said, it is like asking if we can relate Eskimos to igloos. Perhaps Akhtar should have stuck to this brief randomness rather than the protracted randomness that followed. The Ladies Finger (TLF) is a leading online womens magazine Suits actress Megha Markle quietly jetted out of India after an over week-long visit here. Markle, who has been in the news for her romantic relationship with the UK's Prince Harry, visited Delhi in her capacity as an ambassador for the humanitarian organisation World Vision Canada. Incidentally, Princess Diana Prince Harry's mother was also a World Vision ambassador during her lifetime. Markle landed in New Delhi on 17 January and spent the next few days meeting with those working in the field of women's health and sanitation, reported The Daily Mail. Her visit here came amid rumours that the trip would have to be cut short or cancelled owing to security concerns. US Weekly said that Markle had spent several months preparing for the trip, which was in line with World Vision Canada's "Rise Up! Daughters of India" initiative. In Delhi, she met with former member of the National Commission for Women, Shamina Shafiq, as well as several acitivists to understand the issues faced by girls from underprivileged backgrounds in the city. She later flew down to Mumbai, where she spent time with women from slum areas, along with activist Suhani Jalota of the Myna Mahila Foundation and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr Jockin Arputham, founder of the National Slum Dwellers Federation. While Markle accomplished her visit with a minimum of fuss accompanied only by one bodyguard and without alerting the Indian press to her presence she was spotted at the Mumbai International Airport, with henna on her hands, E! News said. She previously worked with the charity to help bring clean water to communities in Africa and traveled to Rwanda to meet local schoolchildren last year, stated Daily Express, UK. In recent weeks, speculation over whether or not Markle will tie the knot with Prince Harry has been on the rise. Her friend, actress Priyanka Chopra, was also quizzed about it at the People's Choice Awards. An interviewer asked Chopra is she would "soon be a royal bridesmaid", reported Hello! magazine. Chopra replied: "No. I'm just happy for Meg. And I hope whatever she does, wherever she goes in life, she's always happy." "But you would be happy being a royal bridesmaid... who wouldn't be happy to be a royal bridesmaid?" the interviewer countered. Priyanka responded with a laugh: "Well let's not jump the gun, let's give them their space!" NEW DELHI India has retained its sugar output forecast for 2016/17 season at 22.5 million tonnes, a top government official said, after a meeting of representatives from India's leading sugar-producing states."We will meet again after two weeks to re-assess these production numbers," said the official, who requested anonymity. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Katya Golubkova, Dmitry Zhdannikov and Stephen Jewkes | MOSCOW/LONDON/MILAN MOSCOW/LONDON/MILAN More than a month after Russia announced one of its biggest privatisations since the 1990s, selling a 19.5 percent stake in its giant oil company Rosneft, it still isn't possible to determine from public records the full identities of those who bought it.The stake was sold for 10.2 billion euros to a Singapore investment vehicle that Rosneft said was a 50/50 joint venture between Qatar and the Swiss oil trading firm Glencore.Unveiling the deal at a televised meeting with Rosneft's boss Igor Sechin on Dec. 7, President Vladimir Putin called it a sign of international faith in Russia, despite U.S. and EU financial sanctions on Russian firms including Rosneft."It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016," Putin said.It was also one of the biggest transfers of state property into private hands since the early post-Soviet years, when allies of President Boris Yeltsin took control of state firms and became billionaires overnight.But important facts about the deal either have not been disclosed, cannot be determined solely from public records, or appear to contradict the straightforward official account of the stake being split 50/50 by Glencore and the Qataris.For one: Glencore contributed only 300 million euros of equity to the deal, less than 3 percent of the purchase price, which it said in a statement on Dec. 10 had bought it an "indirect equity interest" limited to just 0.54 percent of Rosneft.In addition, public records show the ownership structure of the stake ultimately includes a Cayman Islands company whose beneficial owners cannot be traced.And while Italian bank Intesa SanPaolo leant the Singapore vehicle 5.2 billion euros to fund the deal, and Qatar put in 2.5 billion, the sources of funding for nearly a quarter of the purchase price have not been disclosed by any of the parties."The main question in relation to this transaction, as ever, still sounds like this: Who is the real buyer of a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft?" Sergey Aleksashenko, a former deputy head of Russia's central bank, wrote in a blog last week.Glencore would not comment on the identity of the Cayman Islands firm or give a further explanation of how ownership of the 19.5 percent stake was divided.The Qatari Investment Authority said it would not comment on the deal, beyond confirming that it has participated in it.Rosneft declined to respond to questions posed by Reuters, including a request for comment on how ownership of the 19.5 percent stake was divided, information about the identity of the Cayman Islands buyer, or details of the source of any undisclosed sources of funds.The Kremlin did not respond to a list of questions about the deal sent by Reuters.MATRYOSHKA DOLL Like many large deals, the Rosneft privatisation uses a structure of shell companies owning shell companies, commonly referred to in Russia as a "matryoshka", after the wooden nesting dolls that open to reveal a smaller doll inside. Following the trail of ownership leads to a Glencore UK subsidiary and a company that shares addresses with the Qatari Investment Authority, but also to a firm registered in the Cayman Islands, which does not require companies to record publicly who owns them. The Singapore-registered investment vehicle that holds the newly privatised 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft is called QHG Shares. It is owned by a London-registered limited liability partnership, QHG Investments, which in turn lists as one of its two owners another London-registered limited liability partnership, QHG Holding, created on Dec. 5.One of the partners in QHG Holding is QHG Cayman Limited, registered at an address of the Cayman Islands office of Walkers, an international law firm.Jack Boldarin, Walkers managing partner in London, told Reuters the law firm would not be able to confirm whether any company was its client, or comment further.The use of an offshore company is by itself no indication of wrongdoing, but it can make it impossible to determine the true owner of an asset from public records.The Singapore vehicle is also the borrower for Intesa's 5.2 billion euro loan, and QHG Holdings, the London partnership that includes the Cayman Islands firm, is a guarantor of that debt.Banking experts say Intesa would be required by "know your customer" rules to verify the borrowers' identities. Regulators would exercise heightened scrutiny because of the size of the deal and the need to comply with sanctions on Russia.Reuters asked Intesa whether it knew who the beneficial owners of the Cayman company were. The bank replied with a statement: "Intesa Sanpaolo does not comment on the details of its client operations. But we wish to reiterate that the financing was completed with strict adherence to the regulations applicable to embargoes. Italian authorities found nothing that would prohibit such an operation." The Italian central bank, which serves as Italy's banking regulator, declined to comment.(For a graphic showing the ownership of the privatised stake, click on: tmsnrt.rs/2jJvBpk )MYSTERY FINANCING If the full identity of the new owners of the Rosneft stake is a mystery, so too is the complete source of the funds with which they bought it.Although Qatar has never publicly confirmed how much it has contributed to the deal or the size of the stake that it bought, Glencore and Rosneft say it contributed 2.5 billion euros. Along with the 300 million from Glencore and the 5.2 billion loaned by Intesa, that still leaves a shortfall of 2.2 billion euros.Glencore has said this additional money came from other, undisclosed banks, including Russian banks, but has given no further details. The Qataris and Rosneft have declined to comment on the source of this funding.The purpose of Russia's privatisation programme is to attract overseas money to cover a budgetary shortfall caused by low oil prices and Western sanctions. Putin has therefore banned Russian state-owned banks from participating in the financing of privatisation deals, which would defeat the aim of bringing in foreign capital.But public records in Singapore show that Russia's second-largest bank, state-controlled VTB, loaned the Singapore vehicle QHG Shares the full 10.2 billion euros that it paid to the Russian state last month to buy the stake. VTB held the 19.5 percent Rosneft stake as collateral for that loan for part of December, before relinquishing it back to Rosneft's state-owned parent company Rosneftegaz, which in turn relinquished it back to the Singapore vehicle when Intesa's loan arrived in January.VTB and Rosneft say VTB's role in the deal was solely to reduce market turbulence which would have arisen if the 10.2 billion euros had arrived abruptly from abroad to be converted to roubles on the open market.Apart from saying that its role was to reduce market volatility, VTB declined to comment further, including when asked if the full 10.2 billion euros was paid back, or by whom.FINDING A BUYER Rosneft is the world's biggest listed oil company by output and, along with natural gas export monopoly Gazprom, one of two crown jewels of the Russian state.Even at the best of times without the added risk of Western sanctions, there would only be a few foreign investors with deep enough pockets to buy a big stake.Glencore, one of the main buyers of Rosneft's crude, has Qatar's $335 billion sovereign wealth fund, the QIA, as its largest shareholder.Russia and Qatar have backed opposite sides for years in the war in Syria, but as the world's two leading natural gas exporters they have good reason to cooperate on energy issues and bury some of their differences over Middle East policy. "The idea looked appealing to Qatar. They like investing in energy. They saw upside in Rosneft. They saw upside in building relations with Russia, whose role in the Middle East politics is only set to rise," said one source involved in talks among members of the Qatar/Glencore consortium about the purchase. According to a source close to Rosneft's management board, the deal came as a surprise to Rosneft's shareholders, including Britain's BP (BP.L), which itself owns 19.75 percent of Rosneft and is represented on its board.The Rosneft board learned about the sale from Sechin himself only on Dec. 7, several hours after Sechin recorded his televised meeting with Putin announcing it, the source said.In response to questions from Reuters, BP said: "Matters of the board of directors are confidential."Two sources in the Russian government said the deal was also a surprise there: it had been agreed between Sechin and Putin's Kremlin, above the cabinet. "Sechin did it all on his own - the government did not take part in this," one of the sources said. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's spokeswoman Natalia Timakova said: "All documents and procedures needed for privatisation were prepared and executed on time."($1 = 59.2518 roubles) (Additional reporting by Peter Graff in LONDON, Valentina Za in MILAN, Tom Finn in DOHA, Vladimir Soldatkin, Oksana Kobzeva, Darya Korsunskaya, Polina Nikolskaya, Andrey Ostroukh and Vladimir Abramov in MOSCOW; Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Peter Graff) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By David Shepardson and Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump urged the chief executives of the Big Three U.S. automakers on Tuesday to build more cars in the country, pressing his pledge to bring jobs to America and discourage the car industry from investing in Mexico.Trump, who has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles, opened a White House meeting with General Motors Co (GM.N) CEO Mary Barra, Ford Motor Co (F.N) CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCHA.MI) CEO Sergio Marchionne saying he wants to see more auto plants in the United States.In return, the new Republican president has vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. He promised frequently during his election campaign to be a job-creating president and stressed that message in his inaugural speech last Friday."We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants - many other plants," he told reporters at the start of the meeting. "It's happening. Its happening big league."The auto executives raised the issue of fuel efficiency rules, trade policy and other regulatory issues, a person briefed on the meeting said. Marchionne told reporters after the meeting that Trump did not give them specifics on what regulations he would cut.The hour-long meeting was the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American."With flattening U.S. auto sales and some excess capacity, U.S. automakers have been reluctant to open new U.S. auto plants in recent years. GM and Ford last built new U.S. assembly plants in 2004, while Fiat Chrysler opened a new transmission plant in Indiana in 2014.But they have expanded operations at existing U.S. plants to meet rising demand for trucks and SUVs. GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler as well as foreign automakers have announced a string of new U.S. jobs and investments in recent weeks. Coinciding with Tuesday's meeting, Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it would add 400 jobs and invest $600 million in an Indiana plant, aiming to boost production of a popular SUV by 10 percent.Ford's Fields said automakers wanted to work with Trump to create a "renaissance in American manufacturing", and said Trump's economic priorities were encouraging, including his move on Monday to formally bow out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact that was championed by his predecessor in the White House, Democrat Barack Obama. "The mother of all trade barriers is currency manipulation. And TPP failed in meaningfully dealing with that, and we appreciate the president's courage to walk away from a bad trade deal," Fields told reporters after the meeting.Barra said there was a "huge opportunity" to work together with the government to "improve the environment, improve safety and improve the jobs creation."U.S. automakers have collectively added more than 78,000 jobs since 2009, the year when GM and Chrysler, now a unit of Fiat Chrysler, filed for bankruptcy as part of government bailouts during the U.S. recession. They have invested more than $40 billion in U.S. facilities during that period. BUSINESS CASE Despite the vocal pressure from Trump, the companies are unlikely to truly change their existing business plans for now, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting with AutoForecast Solutions."We need to have more concrete policies from the president," he said. "Automakers will make decisions on whether there is a solid business case, said Fiorini. "Does it make more sense to build outside the U.S. or to build in the U.S.?" GM said in 2014 it would invest $5 billion in Mexico through 2018, a move that would allow it to double its production capacity, and Barra has said the automaker is not reconsidering the plan.While automakers are adding U.S. jobs, they are also cutting U.S. production of small cars. On Monday, GM ended two shifts of production of small cars in Ohio and Michigan, cutting about 2,000 jobs.Tuesday's gathering was the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers have met jointly with a U.S. president since a 2011 session with Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025. Automakers have urged the Trump administration to rethink those aggressive fuel efficiency mandates.Barclays auto analyst Brian Johnson said in a note Tuesday that he thinks "automakers will be willing to make a deal that would bring back jobs to the U.S. in return for a slower ramp of (fuel efficiency) targets and related state-level mandates." Auto stocks rose on Tuesday morning. U.S.-listed shares of Fiat Chrysler rose 6.3 percent to $10.93, while Ford was up 1.6 percent and GM rose 1.3 percent.Tuesday's meeting included the former Republican governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt, who heads a U.S. automaker trade association. Vice President Mike Pence, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and other senior administration officials also attended the meeting. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Bernie Woodall Editing by Soyoung Kim and Frances Kerry) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In 2014, the case of 25-year-old Agnelo Valdaris brought the Mumbai Police under immense scrutiny, when officers handling Valdaris and the three others in a case of theft were accused of brutally torturing Valdaris, and subsequently (allegedly) causing his death while in custody. Witnesses in the case have now made their statements to CBI about the alleged torture by the police and how Valdaris was killed. In December, the CBI charged three policemen from the Wadala Government Railway Police under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, but The Indian Express reported that murder charges were not brought on. The report said that CBI's chargesheet in the custodial death case claims that the torture inflicted on Valdaris led to his subsequent death. The police, however, maintains that he was run over by a train during his attempt to flee. According to the statements made to CBI by the witnesses, on 16 and 17 April, Valadaris and three others (including a minor) were picked up by the Wadala GRP in connection with a case of theft of gold ornament a gold chain worth Rs 60,000 that was allegedly stolen from a senior citizen. In their initial complaints, reported by Mid-Day, the witnesses said that constables Mane and Kamble stripped them and assaulted them with a belt and a baton. One of the witnesses was asked to perform oral sex on Valdaris and the minor, threatened by the cops and the witness did as asked. One of the witnesses also said that a lathi (police baton) was inserted in his anus, they were tied to an 'iron rod', tortured and beaten brutally. The officer had also threatened to pour petrol in his anus. The Times of India also reported that Valdaris repeatedly sought medical help but he didn't receive any and a woman officer told him: "Tu tadap tadap kar mar...(You will suffer and die)." A witness stated that Valdaris couldn't have run because he was badly beaten and that he was unable to even walk. Washington: US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday over phone, the has White House said. "The President speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for today. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 pm Washington DC time, which is 11.30 pm IST. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US President on 20 January. On 21 January, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and yesterday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the 8 November general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on 15 October, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. The following article is an initiative of State of Andhra Pradesh and is intended to create awareness amongst the readers. We are (in) interesting times, said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu as he kicked off the 20th National Conference on e-Governance held on 9th January 2017 at Visakhapatnam. Talking about Indias recent demonetisation and shift to digital payments, the CM said that no country had witnessed such a massive shift in a short amount of time. Joining him at the inauguration were several state ministers and Union ministers including M. Venkaiah Naidu. There was also a host of high profile speakers from both private and public sectors talking on a range of issues like Internet of Things (IoT), Data analytics, Cyber Security, etc. The choice for hosting the conference in Andhra Pradesh was obvious. As a state, Andhra Pradesh has been at the forefront of e-governance providing nearly 725 e-governance service to rural areas. The state tops in energy efficiency and internet connectivity all of which enabled Andhra Pradesh to top the Ease of Doing Business ranking in India. Naidu went on to say that the government will R&D and try to get all technologies available to the general populace, such that real-time governance (RTG) becomes a reality. The foundation for e-governance in Andhra Pradesh, however, was set more than two years ago with the e-office project. The mission was to render every government file in a digital form. While the work still continues, the AP government has provided a link with real-time updates to view the progress so far. Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, said cashless transactions are playing a crucial role post demonetisation and e-governance will also curb leakages in the system and make governments more accessible to the common man. Andhra Pradesh is one of the states that has commanded a leadership position in e-governance in the country. And for this reason, the 20th national conference on e-governance was held in Visakhapatnam recently. Once of the highlights of this event was an address by Venkaiah Naidu the minister for Information and Technology,Urban Development Housing, Urban Poverty and Alleviation. You can watch the Mr. Venkaiah Naidu's address at the e-governance below - The 20th national e-governance conference held in Visakhapatnam was held on the premise minimum government maximum governance. The topic of the first plenary session was on how internet of things and data analytics are transforming various government processes. You can watch the discussion below - The 20th edition of the national e-governance conference offered an opportunity for the public and the private sector to discuss best practices and exploring new areas of partnership in areas of e-governance by leveraging new technologies. You can watch the plenary session on technology led monetary transaction below - To know more about the e-governance initiative click here. This is a partnered post. Jammu: After months of violent protests subsided in Kashmir, security forces have intensified counterinsurgency operations in recent weeks, which have left scores of militants, both local and foreigners, dead. On Tuesday, the Army and Kashmir police launched a joint operation after receiving a tip-off about the presence of militants in Hadoora area of district Ganderbal, around 18 kms from Srinagar, after which an encounter broke out in which two militants were killed. Both the bodies and two AK-47 rifles have been recovered from the site of the gunfight. The gunfight came two days ahead of 26 January celebration which is being held amid tight security every year in valley. The security has been beefed up across Jammu and Kashmir with forces checking vehicles on the national highways and carrying night patrols throughout the valley. Close to a dozen militants have been killed by security forces in the last 24 days, after the unrest in valley started fizzling out, officials said. On 19 January, security forces managed to kill Abu Musaib, an operational commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba in Bandipora district, and nephew of 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. He was active, according to police, in north Kashmirs Bandipora district and Ganderbal since August 2015 and was involved in many militancy-related activities including an attack on a CRPF camp on Independence Day in downtown Srinagar last year, police said. This was followed by an attack on a police party by militants on the outskirts of Srinagar in Narbal crossing on Srinagar-Baramulla highway on 20 January. On 16 January, an encounter in Awoora village in Pahalgam district left three militants dead. All three were locals and, after their death, clashes between security forces and protesters were reported from all the districts of south Kashmir. The three were affiliated with Hizbul Mujahideen, police said. On 10 January another militant was killed in a gunfight in Hajin area of Bandipora district. The militant was hiding in a residential house and had opened fire on a search party of Armys 13 RR and SOG in Hajin early Tuesday, a police official said. On 6 January, police killed Muzaffar Ahmad Naikoo, a militant of Al-Badr outfit, in a mid-night shoot out near Machwa in north Kashmir. On 3 January another Pakistani national, Umar Khataab, a district commander of Lashkar in north Kashmir who was active for last four years, was killed in a brief encounter in north Kashmirs town of Sopore in an ambush. This fresh counterinsurgency campaign to flush out militants has yielded tremendous results for forces in valley, as the efforts and resources by forces have, in recent weeks, multiplied in anti militancy operations. The J-K government recently said that militancy related incidents have increased in comparison to 2015 and a number of measures were being taken to challenge the militancy, which included close coordination between different agencies, strengthening counter-insurgency grid and sharing of intelligence between intelligence agencies on real time basis and holding review meetings. The government said that 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 killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani along with his two colleagues on 8 July, last year, triggered massive protests across the Valley. Many youngsters started to snatch weapons from the police officials to manage a quick entry into militant ranks. As many as 66 weapons, including 17 AK rifles, and over 7,000 rounds of ammunition have been looted by militants and mobs in Kashmir valley after the killing of Hizb-ul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on 8 July last year which had triggered protests. Since July, 59 locals have joined militant ranks and more than 66 weapons have been snatched. The counter militancy operations had completed stopped during five months of street protests, but resumed and are continuing at fast pace, once the protests subsided since November last year. Official figures from police and different agencies put the number of active militants in the state around 275 to 300 including foreigners. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti urged the police to persuade local militants for surrender probably to calm the seething population following a massive crackdown. Till Sunday, everyone was raving about the Mr Nice Guys of Chennai who were protesting peacefully at the Marina beach. No one was drunk, no one was teasing the women who had turned up in large numbers, there were no cases of molestation or chain snatching reported either. Anuvairam, a B Tech student told me her mother felt no worry sending her to this sea of humanity. "This is Chennai, all the men here have behaved impeccably," she told me, to loud cheers from the assembled male crowd. So were the men of Chennai wolves in sheep's clothing? How did the nice guys suddenly transform into stone-pelters and arsonists overnight? They did not as you would have realised if you were on the ground in Chennai or saw the videos that have surfaced from different parts of Chennai. Looking at the body language of those who indulged in stone-pelting or vandalism or road blockade, it was pretty obvious these were not the students who formed the bulk of the crowds at the Marina until Sunday. These are anti-social elements, paid by someone out to create mischief. A majority of them were drunk, probably high on easy money that had been provided. "We want Jallikattu'' slogans were raised to lend credibility. The students on the contrary, shocked by the manner in which they were pushed out of the Marina Beach area, were even scared to talk to the media. Engineering students were more worried about disciplinary action they might face if they spoke against the police. There was no such fear among those who indulged in arson. It was obvious there was a clear attempt to foment trouble through anti-social elements. Sources indicate that the task of organising these road blockades and arson was outsourced ward-wise, to local political heavyweights. It was micromanaged to ensure maximum impact and they knew exactly how to bring a city to a standstill. Chennai saw the fear-doctors at work. I was present when the first signs of trouble broke out on Ice House Road when an argument over locals being denied entry turned ugly. The crowd went back and start pelting stones at the cops. One of the stones hit R Ananth Kumar, a head constable and he started bleeding. This area which is also called Ayodhyakuppam has a reputation for being a troubled spot where miscreants are according to the police, available for a price. It is surprising that the police knew this and yet did not prepare for an eventuality of this kind. They did not even have helmets for protection and relied on blankets to protect themselves. After the first rain of stones, the mood in the khaki camp turned aggressive and they went after the miscreants with a vengeance, resorting to lathi charges and teargas shelling. The miscreants were prepared to indulge in arson. Vehicles parked outside the Ice House Police Station were set ablaze the attempt clearly to show a red rag to the cops. The men in uniform rushing in more forces, caned anyone who came in sight. Dustbins and tyres were burnt by arsonists. Chennai was in panic, with schools closing early only to realise that troublemakers had blocked most roads, leading to traffic jams all over the city. In the Teynampet area, one of the central parts of Chennai, traffic was blocked for over three hours, with the police looking the other way. Miscreants climbed on top of buses, shouting slogans. It was only much later that the cops decided to give those blocking the roads the treatment. The locals hit back showering the building where some of the cops were hiding, with stones and glass bottles. But the anti-social elements were not the only ones who charred Chennai. The police too, surprisingly, indulged in pretty much the same. Videos of policemen breaking car window panes, setting vehicles on fire have surfaced. The Chennai police commissioner doubts the authenticity of these videos, calling them morphed but the pictures taken at face value, tell the story. Why would the police want to create trouble, one would wonder. One possible theory could be that it has been done to blame it on the students, to discredit the protest. So that there is no more attempt made to hold the political class and a city to ransom with an uprising of this kind. Politicians, irrespective of the party to which they belong, resented the fact that the youth had emerged as an X-factor where by sheer power of numbers and connect, they could force the executive to bring the ordinance and convert it into an Act. If not nipped in the bud, this would threaten to threaten the very existence of the traditional parties in Tamil Nadu. Many of the activists in the protest group had already cut their teeth in social service by helping out people during the December 2015 floods when the government was found wanting. For six days, the top cop was complimenting the manner in which the protesters behaved themselves at the Marina. But on Day Seven, the crackdown was justified saying anti-nationals had taken over. It was seen as the usual ploy to justify the police treatment. Indeed there were placards heralding LTTE's Prabhakaran and also calls for celebrating Republic Day as a Black Day. But was evidence at hand sufficient to say anti-national elements had infiltrated the protest? The jury is still out on that. Chennai: The Chennai Police on Monday said anti-social elements had "crept" into the pro-jallikattu protests in Chennai, which turned violent and also asserted that it will not allow such persons to exploit the situation. Police Commissioner S George said even in the morning, most protesters had said they were satisfied with the jallikattu ordinance and also a bill to replace it. Only "certain groups were resisting," he told reporters in Chennai on Monday night. "There were anti-social elements and miscreants who crept into the protesting crowd and diverted the demands, which we got to know from our intelligence wing. Based on it, we decided to disperse the crowd." he added. Police used force only after stones were pelted at them, he claimed, adding, the police personnel had no intention to attack or harm people. As many as 94 cops sustained injuries while 51 police vehicles were damaged in Monday's violence, he said. "There are sporadic incidents taking place in different parts even now. We are controlling them. We are dealing with it. We will deal with it firmly and more police personnel are coming and they will be deployed." "Wherever anti-social elements are trying to exploit the situation, the city police will not allow (it), the Tamil Nadu police will not allow (it)," he asserted. George said, even a police station was attacked, women cops not spared, and 'disruptions' had happened at over 90 locations in the city, he said. The police have detained about 40 persons for interrogation in connection with today's violence, he said, adding, the situation was now under control. On a video showing a police personnel purportedly setting a vehicle on fire, the city police commissioner said the matter would be probed. With the decks getting cleared for the bull taming festival of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, there is a growing chorus for organising Kambala, a traditional annual buffalo race in marshy fields, held in the coastal districts of Karnataka. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Monday that his government was in favour of holding it and asked the Centre to take a favourable stand as it did for jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. "We are in favour of Kambala, we are for Kambala. We pressurise (sic) the Union government to take a stand in favour of this (Kambala), similar to the way in which it favoured jallikattu in Tamil Nadu," he told reporters. Spurred by the jallikattu stir in Tamil Nadu, Kambala Committees had met in Mangaluru on Sunday to strategise their agitation, where it was decided to hold a massive protest on 28 January in Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada district. Symbolic Kambala, a traditional annual buffalo race in the marshy fields in coastal districts of the state, is also likely to be held as a mark of protest. Karnataka High Court's division bench, headed by Chief Justice S K Mukherjee, in an interim order in November 2016 had stayed holding of Kambala on a petition by Peta challenging it in view of orders passed by the Supreme Court on jallikattu. The matter came up on Friday before the division bench of the High Court, which adjourned the case to 30 January. Support for the folk sport has gained momentum in the social media. What is Kambala festival? Kambala the rural sporting festival of Karnataka was once a pastime for the royal family. According to one belief, the festival was started by the Hoysala Kings to see if the buffaloes could be trained and used during wartime. The Hoysala Kings were surprised to see the speed of the buffaloes and started racing them against one another. This then developed into a sport for the royals. The tradition was kept alive till it was passed on to the common men, by the feudal lords of Tulu region. Another belief states that the festival originated in the farming community of Karnataka and is dedicated to Lord Kadri Manjunatha, an incarnation of Lord Shiva. It was celebrated to please the Gods for a good harvest. In the earlier days of the festival, it was called Karaga celebrations. Later it came to be known as Kambala celebrations. There are two types of Kambala: Pookere Kambala and Bale Kambala. However Bale Kambala was discontinued 900 years ago, so only the former kind of Pookere Kambala gets celebrated. The festival is famous for the buffalo race that is held during the celebrations. The two-day celebration starts with an exhibition of the participating buffaloes with their respective farmers. During the festival, when the fields are wet, the buffaloes are made to race on the tracks, led by the farmer. Each team comprises of two buffaloes and a farmer who controls the buffaloes. Two teams are made to race down two slushy tracks to determine the fastest team. The winner of the buffalo race gets rewarded with a coconut among other things. The buffalo race in Karnataka takes place between November and March every year. The places where it takes place are Baradi Beedu, Bolantur, Kolatta, Majalu, Puttur, Kamalakettu and Uppinagadi. The festival gets celebrated with much cheer in Mangalore at the Kadri Kambala fields. Hence, it is also popularly referred to as the Kadri Kambala or Mangaluru Hobali Kambala. Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development, has often voiced strong opinion against this festival. Writing for Firstpost, she recently condemned the festival, saying, "In Karnataka, till the animal activists stopped it, there used to be a ritual in which foxes were hunted, imprisoned, beaten and burnt alive. Now that has been replaced by Kambala, where cows are whipped and made to race through flowing water. Many of these animals die due to broken limbs which are too weak to withstand the force of the water and some die due to the intense beatings." In this festival, due to the high speed at which the farmers and buffaloes run, they may suffer serious injuries, including fractures of the bones. With inputs from agencies Srinagar: Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Ganderbal district of central Kashmir on Tuesday, officials said in Srinagar. Security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in Hadoora area of Ganderbal district, 25 km from Srinagar, following information about presence of militants in the area, an army official said. He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, they opened fire which was retaliated to by the troops. "In the ensuing gunbattle, two militants were killed," he said. The official said two AK assault rifles were recovered from the possession of the slain militants, whose identity and group affiliation was being ascertained. The adage 'justice delayed is justice denied' is especially true in the case of Bhaiyalal Bhotmange, who died before his case reached a conclusion at the Supreme Court. The situation could have been different if the government had taken seriously the formation of dedicated special courts under the Prevention of Atrocities Act (SC and ST), 1989. Bhaiyalal Bhotmange of the Mahar caste who converted to Buddhism and the lone survivor, and a witness in the Khairlanji massacre, passed away due to a heart attack on 20 January, 2017. He kept fighting for justice even after 10 years of the massacre from the sessions court to the Supreme Court. Four members of the Bhotmange family were lynched to death at Khairlanji in Maharashtra's Bhandara district by a frenzied mob on 26 September, 2006. Enraged by a police complaint lodged the previous day by Bhaiyalal's daughter Surekha, over a land dispute, the accused allegedly dragged Surekha, her brothers and mother out of their homes and hacked them to death. Surekha and her mother were also sexually assaulted. But their bodies were never examined during the postmortem. This incident unleashed a wave of fury in Maharashtra. It was announced by the then chief minister that a fast track court would be set up. Trial was completed in an ad hoc sessions court and the six of the accused were sentenced to death, while two were given life imprisonment. The entire process took two years. Moreover, the court did not think that this case merited the application of the Prevention of Atrocities Act. The death sentence was challenged in the high court and it was commuted to life sentence of 25 years for all the six accused. The high courts decision was challenged in the Supreme Court. Bhaiyalal had hoped for justice from the Supreme Court. The fight for justice is on for a triple murder case in Sonai, Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. Rahul Kandhare, Sachin Gharu and Sandip Thanwar of the Mehatar caste had never imagined that the new year morning of 2013 would be their last day. The trio, all in their late 2os, were allegedly murdered by the members of Darandale family. They were called by the members of the Darandale family to clean the septic tank. But the day took a horrific turn all three were killed and later their decapitated bodies were dumped in the septic tank and a well. The murders came to light when the tattoo on Sachin's body was identified after their body parts were found. Action was only taken upon the insistence of an Army jawan and Sandip's brother Pankaj Thanwar. Like Khairlanji, proceedings in the fast track court were announced by the minsters. The hearing started in November 2014 in the sessions court. The last hearing for this case is expected on 6 February, almost three and half years after the murders. The case of Nitin Aage is no different. On 28 April, 2014, Aage left home for his extra classes in school. He was brutally tortured, killed and his body was hung on a tree by three members of the Maratha community. They claimed that Aage was in a relationship with one of the accuseds sister. When Aage did not return home, his father started searching for him, only to find his dead body hanging from a tree outside the village. Even in this case, the ministers announced the setting up of a fast track court. Its been more than two and half years since the incident, and the trial has just begun. The process of examining the witnesses and evidences is currently going on in the sessions court. "Calling it a fast track court will be a joke. Does a fast track court mean that it will take three to four years to complete trial?" asks Pankaj Thanwar. "If this is the condition of a fast track court, I can't image the plight of people contesting their cases in regular courts," adds Dr Nitish Navasagrey, a Dalit rights activist and a professor at a law college in Pune. The reason for delay: Non-implementation of a clause in the Prevention of Atrocities (SC and St) Act that clearly directs the setting up of special designated courts for hearing cases registered under the Act. The chapter four in the Act states: "For the purpose of providing for speedy trial, the state government shall, with the concurrence of the Chief Justice of the High Court, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify for each district a court of session to be a special court to try the offences under this Act... For every special court, the state government shall, by notification in Official Gazette, specify a public prosecutor or appoint an advocate who has been in practice as an advocate for not less than seven years, as a special public prosecutor for the purpose of conducting cases in that court." But a fast track court was all that was promised in each of these cases. Setting up of the special court was completely ignored until it was demanded by a few organisations. It was only in 2011 that the then chief minister Prithviraj Chavan announced the setting up of special courts citing low conviction rate. Six courts were supposed to be set up in various districts of Maharashtra. Six courts for 36 districts are hardly enough, however, the process of setting up of such courts has just begun. Three courts have been set up in Nagpur, Thane and Aurangabad. While the courts in Pune, Amravati and Nashik are still in the pipeline. "When any serious crime comes to light, the court issues a notification designating a special court for hearing the matter and the proceeding takes place along with the other cases pending before the court. This leads to the delay," explains Asim Sarode, a Pune-based human rights lawyer. As the part B of the Act states that the government is also supposed to appoint special prosecutors, a panel of such lawyers is expected to be formed at a district-level, which can lend their expertise to the case. "But can this be expected from a government that doesn't even take setting up of the courts seriously?" asks Navasagrey."Delay in the hearing sometimes also leads to the witnesses turning hostile. At times, even finding the witnesses and requesting them to appear before the court becomes difficult. This is what is happening in the Sonai case," he adds. A state vigilance committee, chaired by the chief minister of the state, is supposed to take a review of the atrocity cases. The last time a committee meeting was held was in March 2015 after the Devendra Fadnavis government came to power. Formation of district and taluka level committees were announced by the Fadnavis government. "When the state-level committee is not functioning properly, how can we expect it to function at the district and taluka level" asks Priyadarshi Telang, an activist who leads an organisation called Manuski, which advocates for Dalit rights. "These committees normally only reviews the figures of the crimes registered, they never take cognizance of the cases pending before the court," he adds. Thanwar has started losing hope. "Bhaiyalal Bhotmange was hoping that the judgment would be pronounced in a year or two because the case was fast tracked. But he passed away before the case reached a conclusive end. Sometimes I believe, I will meet a similar fate," he says. "If the government sets special designated courts, the proceedings can be faster. We also need strong punishment that would set an example and prevent such crimes taking place in the future," he adds. In 2015, there was 2.71 percent increase in crimes against SC and 9.03 percent rise in crimes against ST in Maharashtra, according to the annual crime report published by the CID. The rate of conviction has also reduced by almost three percent in 2015 for crimes against SC and ST. Mumbai: On the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, an Indian real estate company ran an advertisement with the slogan 'Homes that don't discriminate', calling for an end to prejudice in India's housing market based on gender, religion or caste. While the ad was unusual, the sentiment was familiar to millions of Indians who have tried to rent or buy city homes only to be denied because they were single, ate meat, were of a certain caste or from a certain region. Informal rules and discrimination by Indian landlords to keep out religious minorities and single people are eroding the multi-cultural nature of India's cities and dividing communities into ghettos, analysts say. "It's 2017 - and we're still encountering discrimination," said Rishi Dogra of NestAway Technologies that ran the ad. "People should be able to move freely and find a living space anywhere in the country," said Dogra, marketing head for the company founded by four young male graduates after they had trouble finding a home in Bengaluru. Such discrimination has forced many people to the suburbs, making Indian city centres less diverse and cosmopolitan, with high rents already making them unaffordable to poorer workers. Mumbai, India's financial hub and a magnet for migrants from across the country, has traditionally had enclaves for Catholics, Parsis, Bohri Muslims and others. They set up housing societies, or co-operatives, to help other community members. As the city grew and drew more migrants, powerful housing societies have often denied homes on the basis of religion, caste, food preferences and even professions. The divide grew after bloody Hindu-Muslim riots in 1992-93 and still persists, said Zakia Soman, a co-founder at Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a non-profit organisation for Muslim women. A Facebook group called 'Indians Against Discrimination' was set up in 2015 after a young Muslim woman was asked to leave her flat a week after she moved in, because of her religion. "When it comes to living spaces, we have become very insular," Soman said. "The city is getting increasingly ghettoised as a result, weakening our social fabric and polarising us further. That doesn't bode well," she said. Local courts have ruled against discrimination by housing associations in several cases, but there have also been contradictory rulings. Discrimination In a 2005 case, India's top court ruled in favour of a Parsi housing society in Ahmedabad, saying it could limit its membership to Parsis and not admit others. "The constitution guarantees our right to equality, but housing societies can still frame their own guidelines which may be discriminatory," said Vinod Sampat, a real estate lawyer. A draft housing policy for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, has dropped a clause that prevents discrimination in housing. This may leave those looking to rent or buy property with fewer protections, Sampat said. Government officials have said non-discrimination is already protected by the constitution, so there is no need for the clause. That has not reassured people like Shikha Makan, who made a film called 'Bachelor Girls' on housing bias against single women - including Bollywood actors - in Mumbai. "Not being able to find a home in a big city like Mumbai is a shame," she said. "It is marginalising single women and other minorities." The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has many records to set straight, especially from its past. The Hindu nationalist organisation, perhaps in order to appeal to the younger generation, seems to be on a record-straightening mission denouncing everything it once said or did whether it's the organisation's "debated" contribution to India's struggle for Independence, its supposed love for British rule, its hatred for Mahatma Gandhi or Dr BR Ambedkar a Dalit icon, whose policies and call for a uniform Hindu Code that the RSS once "vehemently opposed". In the latest of the many "correct the past" assertions, the RSS recently stated that contrary to what is believed, Ambedkar was never opposed to the Vedic religion and didn't represent any caste, an article in The Times of India said. According to Krishna Gopal, general secretary, RSS, Ambedkar "...had immense faith in Vedic religion but was opposed to the discrepancies that occurred later..." Gopal also called Ambedkar a "patriot" and as someone who "...could not envisage the society without religion." Even though Ambedkar has become a symbol of Dalits, according to Gopal, "Ambedkar never represented any caste". This comes as a huge surprise since Ambedkar, very clearly, in his essay, Annihilation of Caste (as a similar report points out) says that to bring a change, you have to apply "dynamite to the Vedas and the Shastras, which deny any part to reason; to the Vedas and Shastras, which deny any part to morality. You must destroy the religion of the Shrutis and the Smritis. Nothing else will avail. This is my considered view of the matter. (sic)" The Shrutis (that which is heard) here refers to the Vedas and a handful of other early texts whereas Smritis (that which is remembered) refer to texts such as such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. That's not all, according to The Economic Times, offered similar indictment of the earliest Hindu text in at least three other of his works Riddles in Hinduism-Caste in India (1916), Annihilation of Caste (1936), Who were the Shudras (1946) and The Untouchables (1948). In fact, he adopted Buddhism because of his anti-Veda stand. But this is not the first and only aspect of Ambedkar's personality or life that the RSS has tried to clarify. The RSS lately has been putting a lot of effort in finding similarities between its core ideologies and that of Ambedkar. In a 2015 opinion piece published in The Hindu, RSS ideologue MG Vaidya, who was recently at the centre of controversy for calling an end all reservations in India, denounced author Ramchandra Guha for claiming that RSS and its associated bodies opposed Ambedkar between 1949-51 and the Hindu Code Bill. "How can the RSS be held responsible for all those opposing the Hindu Code Bill. Are shankaracharyas members of the RSS? Those who are associated with Hindu religious activities can testify to how difficult it is to bring all shankaracharyas, mahantas and mathadhipatis on one platform," Vaidya wrote. In fact, Vaidya went on to say that it was because of the RSS that in 1964, all the shankaracharyas, mahantas and mathadipatis came on one platform declared that untouchability is not sanctioned by Hinduism. The RSS recently went on to say that the Dalit caste was, in fact, a creation of foreign rulers who invaded India right from Muslims to the British. Ambedkar however, denounced a similar version of the idea in his unpublished speech Annihilation of Caste. If the recent incidents are any indications, there have been an increasing resentment among Dalits against RSS and its associated parties including its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party especially keeping in mind two latest incidents like the suicide of Rohith Vemulla and the lynching of seven members of a Dalit family for skinning a dead cow in Una. RSS' attempts to connect with Ambedkar, is believed to be politically motivated especially with state Assembly elections right around the corner in five states in order to polarise Dalit voters in favour of BJP. The party and organisation's strategy, says a DNA report, is to remove the "Dalit" tag from the community and prevent "Dalits from breaking away from the mainstream Hindu society". Srinagar: On Tuesday, security forces gunned down two foreign militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit in Kashmir and claimed to have achieved a major success, saying the slain terrorists had been directed by their Pakistan-based mentors to carry out attacks on the eve of the Republic Day. Security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in the wee hours in Hadoora area of Ganderbal district, 25 km from Srinagar, following information about presence of militants in the area, an army official said. He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, the latter opened fire on the troops who retaliated. "In the ensuing gunbattle, two militants were killed," he said, adding they were identified as Abu Anas and Abu Ali, both foreigners associated with the Lashkar outfit. The official said two AK assault rifles, ammunition and hand grenade were recovered from the possession of the slain militants. "It (killing of militants) is a good success for the security forces especially as it comes ahead of the 26 January (Republic Day)," he said. This is the second major encounter in Kashmir this year. Earlier on 16 January, security forces killed three local militants in an encounter in Pahalgam area of south Kashmir. A police spokesman said the slain duo were active in Srinagar-Ganderbal area for the past three years and had been recently directed by their mentors in Pakistan to carry out attacks on security forces and civilians on the eve of Republic Day. "These slain militants were transporting newly infiltrated groups from one place to another and were managing safe places and hideouts for them," the spokesman said. "They were recently directed by mentors in Pakistan to carry out attack on security forces/civilians on the eve of forthcoming Republic Day celebration 2017 in district Ganderbal and Srinagar," he added. Giving further details, the spokesman, "They (slain militants) were operating in District Srinagar and Ganderbal areas since 22 January,2013 and had recently started coordinating with Hizbul Mujhaideen." They were involved in the killing of a civilian Abdul Ahad Dar in Gusoo area of Zakoora on 5 May, 2015. "They were involved in Fidayeen attack on 15 August, 2016 at Nowhatta in which a commandant of CRPF Pramod Kumar and a police constable of J-K police Rouf Ahmad were martyred. "They were also involved in the attack on SSB convoy at Zakoora Srinagar on 14 October, 2016 in which one SSB Jawan was martyred and seven SSB personnel and a police constable were injured," he added. A lot of thought goes into choosing the chief guest at the Republic Day parade. Prime Minister Narendra Modi got off to a flying start by inviting former US president Barack Obama for his first Republic Day as Prime Minister of India. The message was clear: India wanted the best possible ties with the US, and the second NDA government was willing to go much further than any previous Indian administration to forge closer ties with the world's sole superpower. Last years guest was French president Francois Hollande another leader of the western world. But this year, in keeping with Modis new approach to Indias extended neighbourhood, particularly the Gulf region this year, the guest of honour is Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates. Mohamed bin Zayed to attend India's Republic Day celebrations as chief guest (@MBZNews) January 21, 2017 Significantly the crown prince is also the deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, and had visited India last year. Mohamed bin Zayed inspects the guard of honour during a reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan pic.twitter.com/QiUedJaZhg (@MBZNews) February 11, 2016 Modi went to the UAE in 2015, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so in 34 years and set the stage for elevating relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. With HH Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan & HE Dr. Anwar Gargash at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. #Selfie pic.twitter.com/rk33ZOlOuS Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 16, 2015 Talks on this issue began during that meeting and it is believed that the partnership will be signed this time. It is most likely that the Comprehensive Stategic Partnership will be fleshed out in detail now. There are murmurs of a strong defence thrust, with officials speaking privately of joint defence production. There has also been speculation about the UAE buying some of Indias defence equipment, but this is still at a nascent stage. "The UAE has the funds to access military hardware from advanced industrialised nations, so why should it buy from India?" asked KC Singh, former Indian Ambassador to the UAE, "If it does (go ahead with the purchase), it will be, at best, low-end equipment. I dont see much in the strategic relations at the moment. The UAE is busy with developments in its region Syria, Yemen and Iran, while Indias strategic interests lie elsewhere." The Gulf Cooperation Council countries view Iran as a major threat and much of the politics there hinge around the Shia-Sunni rivalry. "So far, India has been balancing its growing relations with the Arab nations with its traditional ties with Iran," added Singh. For most Gulf states, including UAE and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan has been an important ally in South Asia. But in the past couple of years, the region is also looking to forge closer ties with India. Since the attacks of 11 September, 2001 and the Arab Spring, terrorism has been a major focus of nations in the region. Counter-terrorism has become a key element in talks with Gulf nations. Saudi Arabia for one, has cooperated and helped to send back wanted terror suspects back to India to stand trial. In the past, this would have been unthinkable. The recent blast in the guesthouse of the Kandahar governor led to the death of five visiting senior UAE officials, starkly bringing home to the UAE government the unstable situation in Afghanistan. The instability in Afghanistan will naturally come up in the discussions the crown prince will have with Modi on Wednesday, after he arrives in Delhi at around 4.30 pm on Tuesday. The formal welcome will take place on Wednesday morning in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The crown prince will then visit Raj Ghat and hold talks with the prime minister in Hyderabad House. He will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee. The vice-president Hamid Ansari will pay the crown prince a courtesy call at his hotel before Thursday, which will be spent watching the parade. A contingent from UAE will march down Raj Path, in keeping with the new tradition set by the Modi government. Last year, it was a contingent from the French Army that added distinct colour to the military parade. Sheikh Zayed will then meet the president for tea, before leaving for home. For India, the Gulf States a crucial part of Indias extended neighbourhood are pivotal to its economy. Historical and trade links have been in place for centuries. But in modern times, after the oil boom, the GCC countries began attracting Indian workers in hoards. There were at least six million Indians working in the region earlier. Now, with oil prices tumbling and the economy slowing down, some jobs have also been lost and a number of workers have returned home in the past two years. Even so, there are around 2.6 million Indians sending home around $15 billion in remittances every year. The UAE also has large sums to invest. With oil prices falling, the government in Abu Dhabi is looking to invest its funds away from the energy sector . This opens an opportunity for India. In fact during Modis visit to the UAE, the two countries agreed to have a $75 billion fund for infrastructure. At a time when investments into India are slowing down and heading to Europe and the US, this would be a welcome change. New Delhi: Signifying the high importance India attaches to its ties with the UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday personally went to Delhi airport to receive Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who arrived in New Delhi to attend the Republic Day celebrations as chief guest. "Special gesture for special guest! PM @narendramodi receives HH Mohammad Bin Zayed The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders. Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed after he alighted from the aircraft with a warm hug. This is Sheikh Mohamed's second visit to India after his visit in February 2016. Ties between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on the upswing ever since Modi made a historical visit to the Gulf nation in August 2015. It was the first prime ministerial visit from India to the UAE in 34 years after the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1981. On Wednesday, Modi and Sheikh Mohamed will head bilateral delegation-level talks following which a number of agreements, including one on creation of an investment fund, are expected to be signed. The visiting dignitary will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and have a meeting with Vice President Hamid Ansari. On Thursday, Sheikh Mohamed will attend the Republic Day parade as the chief guest. A contingent of the UAE armed forces will also march along with the Indian armed forces during the parade. The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians. By William James | LONDON LONDON Britain's government on Monday unveiled a new interventionist approach to rebalance its heavily services-based economy for the post-Brexit era, in a break with traditional Conservative laissez-faire economic policy.Prime Minister Theresa May's "Modern Industrial Strategy"demands closer collaboration in key industries in exchange for government support, aiming to increase productivity, reinvigorate industrial production and stimulate investment in technology and R&D. The focus on industry and the shift to a governmental hands-on approach challenges the laissez-faire ideology championed by former prime minister Margaret Thatcher."Underpinning this strategy is a new approach to government, not just stepping back and leaving business to get on with the job, but stepping up to a new, active role that backs business," May wrote in a consultation document on the policy.May asked businesses to work together to tackle industry-specific challenges, citing examples of successful collaboration that have helped attract overseas investment from the likes of carmaker Nissan (7201.T), and enabled aerospace firms such as BAE Systems (BAES.L) to develop a competitive edge.In return she pledged to reciprocate with "Sector Deals" that address regulatory barriers, look at how trade and investment deals can be used to increase exports, and support the creation of new institutions to provide leadership, drive innovation or boost skills.The government said early work had been done on deals for a number of industries: life sciences, ultra-low emission vehicles, nuclear and creative industries. But it said it would work with any sector that could "organize behind strong leadership to address shared challenges and opportunities". PRODUCTIVITY PUZZLE The plan aspires to distribute wealth more evenly, following decades of industrial decay in parts of Britain. The economy's narrow base has been blamed for a mood of disenfranchisement that drove many voters to back Brexit.It aims to boost Britain's productivity, which has long lagged European rivals Germany and France. It cited the success of targeted government intervention in countries including the United States and South Korea. The outline of was set out in a "Green Paper" inviting views from industry on the government's objectives. The government listed 10 strategic pillars behind its strategy such as skills development and improved procurement. The publication drew positive responses from businesses looking to push their industries to the top of the government's agenda, ranging from waste management firms to builders of new nuclear plants.But not all sectors felt they would benefit.A consumer goods industry executive, who declined to be named, said consumer goods were very far down the priority list. "The high-skilled and high-paid, thats what drives economic spending and growth. Pharmaceuticals, heavy industry, IT all those sectors are always going to be the ones that are more favored," the executive said. BACK IN FASHION Since coming to office weeks after Britain's vote to leave the EU last year, May has pushed the once-unfashionable concept of industrial strategy to the top of her agenda, creating a new government department to lead the project, and chairing a top-level cabinet committee on the subject.Britain's impending exit from the EU threatens to undermine the financial services sector, with several banks planning to shift thousands of jobs abroad because they fear they will lose access to the EU market.May said last week that Britain would be withdrawing from the single market, and seeking a free trade agreement with the EU instead - a path critics have described as a "Hard Brexit" that would undermine the industrial strategy."Its like the manager tying their teams bootlaces together while telling them they have a plan to win the match," said Don Foster, business spokesman for the rival and pro-EU Liberal Democrat party.May presented the full proposals, including plans to boost the teaching of technical skills and mathematics, and a 556-million pound boost for infrastructure projects, at a specially convened cabinet meeting in northwest England. (Additional reporting by Costas Pitas, Sarah Young, Martinne Geller, Lina Saigol and Karolin Schaps; Editing by Andrew Roche) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to make India Congress-mukt wasn't just campaign rhetoric. He was presenting the electorate with an alternative. What was it? Modi was offering the voters a different set of ideas than the one to which they have been accustomed for 55 of 70 years since Independence. Broadly speaking, the BJP proposed the beginning of new politics rooted firmly in an ideology. You could agree or disagree with it. But this was a departure from Congress's 'big-tent' policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hound. For the better part of its domination over Indian polity, the Congress saw India as a conglomerate of pressure points and aimed to satisfy each cluster in its own language. While that made for a "secular" ideology, it also meant that the stronger pressure group would always hold sway over the looser or weaker one. The party presided over riots and still claimed to be "secular". It pandered to minority sentiments and yet sided with the majority when profitable. It opened the economy and still boxed itself into a socialist corner. In short, the Congress could effortlessly flip between the sheep and wolf's clothing. The only thing constant about Congress was The Family on top and its brand of dynastic politics. During the brief interventions in history where there wasn't a Gandhi to rally around, the Congress became splintered and faced extinction. Therefore, dynastic politics became the raison d'etre of the Congress power structure. In the Gandhi fiefdom, a Scindia was always succeeded by a Scindia, a Gogoi handed over his capital to another Gogoi and Pilot Jr replaced the senior Pilot. The talented were shown the door. Just ask Himanta Biswa Sarma. Apart from many other things, it is this that the BJP proposed to replace. The message was powerful. In 2014, the party had Modi a subaltern identity from a forgotten caste who sold tea for a living as the prime ministerial candidate. While Congress was still rooted in dynasticism, the BJP offered meritocracy as an alternative and captured the imagination of the electorate. However, as the BJP inches closer to its stated goal of eradicating the Gandhi-led Congress, it seems as if the Lotus is metamorphosing into the Hand. The following of the dynastic principle is the most blatant example. This is a model conceived by the Congress and now zealously copied by India's many regional outfits where ideological mooring has been sacrificed at the altar of nepotism. It is hard to accept the justification proffered by BJP spokespersons who have sought to differentiate between the dynasticism of Congress and the saffron unit. There may not be a dynast on top, yet, but the candidates' list in for both Uttarakhand and UP Assembly polls show BJP has started the long march for one. In both cases, this policy has given rise to resentment and barely concealed dissent. The prime minister had warned against nepotism during his BJP national executive address this year. "Please don't put pressure for securing tickets for your family members, whether a brother, a sister or children. Party will do justice to all. We have to work unitedly to win all the five states," he was quoted as saying by News18. Has the party ignored Modi's advice? In Uttar Pradesh, where BJP has so far announced nominees for 304 out of 403 seats, the list includes a generous splattering of dynasts and family members. According to the News18 report, while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj who replaced Noida's sitting MLA Vimla Batham is the most high-profile name in fray, there is Gopal Tandon, son of BJP veteran Lalji Tandon; Sunil Dutt Dwivedi, son of Brahm Dutt Dwivedi; Prateek Sharan Singh, son of Brij Bhusan Sharan Singh; Nilima Katiyar, daughter of Prem Lata Katiyar; Sandeep Singh, grandson of former chief minister Kalyan Singh and Mriganka Singh, daughter of Kairana MP Hukum Singh. Inevitably, this has resulted in a backlash. Party functionary Sanjay Bali who had hoped for a ticket has resigned from his post accusing BJP of going the Congress way and political greenhorn Mriganka's ascension has caused the exit of a senior BJP leader. In Uttarakhand, it is the BJP that is following the principles of dynasticism instead of the Congress. According to The Times of India, as soon as Yashpal Arya, the former Cabinet minister, and his son Sanjeev joined the BJP, they were 'rewarded' with tickets. There were tickets for former chief minister Vijay Bahugunas son Saurabh, former chief minister BC Khanduris daughter Ritu. State spokesperson Munna Singh Chauhan and his wife Madhu had also been included in the list of nominees along with Narayan Singh Rana, who is related to Rajnath Singh. By refusing to dismantle loss-making PSUs and keeping open a steady supply of taxpayer funds to sustain failed behemoths like Air India or Hindustan Photo Films, Modi has shown that he, too, is not untouched by Congressism. But the adoption of pariwar-vaad as a policy is the most damning deviation that completely robs BJP of the moral right to target other parties for pursuing dynasty politics. It should shut up for good. Fernando Lerdo de Tejada Martinez, a fugitive from justice since 1979 when he fled Spain to avoid standing trial over the killing of labor lawyers in Atocha (Madrid) is a free man. The last arrest warrant issued by the Audiencia Nacional, Spains High Court, expired in 2015, according to police sources consulted by EL PAIS. The funeral of the lawyers killed in the massacre (Inset: fugitive Fernado Lerdo). Antonio Gabriel The member of the now defunct far-right party Fuerza Nueva (New Force) can return to Spain without fear of going to prison for his role in the assassination of four lawyers and a worker at a Madrid law firm with ties to the labor union Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and to the Spanish Communist Party. Gun in hand, Lerdo de Tejada was tasked with watching the front door while the attack took place within, on January 24, 1977. Five people were killed, while four others narrowly survived the point-blank shootings. He vanished into thin air. I dont know anything about what happened to him Brother of Fernando Lerdo de Tejada The far-right murders were a critical moment for Spains fragile new democracy, given they took place just over a year after the death of long-time dictator Francisco Franco. In its wake, the government of Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, along with much of the population, feared that the countrys nascent transition from dictatorship to democracy had been wrecked. Instead, there were massive and peaceful street protests against the killings, and just as importantly, the authorities response was measured all of which helped consolidate Spains new political system. After the attack, four extremists were convicted to a collective prison term of 464 years. But unlike the others, Lerdo de Tejada, while prosecuted, never stood trial. He fled in 1979, during Easter leave granted by the Ciudad Real penitentiary, where he was in pre-trial custody. Nobody knows whether the most famous fugitive of Spains transition to democracy is still alive. If so, he would be 63. Police records do not show him ever returning to Spain. Nor is there any evidence that he ever renewed his national ID card or passport, either inside or outside the country. And his police record shows no home address. The fact that there is no address or issue date for his ID card is due to a potential error when the data was transferred to the new system, says a high-ranking police official, who ruled out a deliberate attempt by unknown persons to hide Lerdo de Tejadas tracks. But the far-right fugitive could have returned to Spain using a false identity. Police and ambulance staff outside the building in Madrid's Atocha street where five lawyers were killed on January 24, 1977. Fernando Moreno We never did find out where he went, confesses the man who was head of Spanish espionage during the transition years, Lieutenant General Andres Casinello. A police source familiar with counter-terrorism added that it is particularly difficult to investigate fugitives because judges balk at the idea of allowing wiretaps of their relatives phone conversations. He vanished into thin air. I dont know anything about what happened to him. But if he is still alive, he will be protecting himself. We are as surprised as anyone else about his situation, and I dont think its going to change, claims one of his brothers, speaking on condition of anonymity. But this version of events clashes with a source who is very close to the family clan: Martina, who worked for two decades as a housekeeper at the White House, to use the term popularly employed to describe the three-house estate that the Lerdo de Tejada family owns in El Toboso in Spains Toledo province. Fernando Lerdo de Tejadas mother told me five years ago that her son was fine, that he had put on some weight and that he never married. He lives abroad, but I dont know where, says Martina, who has since retired. During the Transition years, the Lerdo de Tejada matriarch, now in her nineties, collaborated with the founder of Fuerza Nueva, the since-deceased notary Blas Pinar. In January 1977, the far-right leader acted as a legal witness at the wedding of one of the clans 10 siblings, held at the family estate. Guests included military officials and three police inspectors. In this village of 2,200 residents, people still remember Blas Pinars constant presence at this wealthy familys home during the final years of the regime of Franco, who died in 1975. His mother told me five years ago her son was fine, that he had put on some weight and he never married Martina, former Lerdo de Tejada family housekeeper Theories regarding the whereabouts of the Atocha fugitive immediately pointed to Latin America, where Spains extreme right extended its tentacles in the 1980s under orders from Blas Pinar and with help from accommodating dictators. Juan Leon Cordon, who from 1983 to 1989 headed the Paraguay division of Frente Nacional (National Front) a group born out of Fuerza Nuevas ashes admits that he has heard talk about Lerdo de Tejadas presence in that South American republic. I was told that he was around here. But I didnt see him, says this native of Malaga who is now in his sixties and introduces himself as a friend of former Paraguayan justice minister Eugenio Jacquet the ideologue for the dictator Alfredo Stroessner. When comrades from Spain showed up, we would wonder what theyd done, recalls Cordon. Under Stroessner, who fell in 1989, Paraguay protected a hundred or so far-right Spanish activists, according to Cordon. The list includes fugitives such as Emilio Hellin, who assassinated the 19-year-old student and left-wing activist Yolanda Gonzalez in 1980. Antonio Pedrol Rius, President of the Professional College of Lawyers of Madrid leans over the coffins of the lawyers killed in the 1977 massacre. MARISA FLOREZ In 2016, this newspaper located Jose de las Heras Hurtado, the brains behind a far-right group named Frente de la Juventud (Youth Front). De la Heras is a fugitive who was hiding out in a suburb of the Brazilian city of Guaruja and who, like the others, claims he is unaware of Lerdo de Tejadas whereabouts. Go ask his mother or his brothers and sisters. They were very close to Blas Pinar. Ive never seen him in Brazil, said De las Heras, 72, who is a lawyer by trade. De las Heras group was responsible for several killings and attacks, including a letter bomb mailed in 1978 to the EL PAIS newsroom, resulting in the death of the doorman, Andres Fraguas, and injuries to several other workers. Fernando Lerdo de Tejada fled Spain thanks to prison leave issued by Rafael Gomez-Chaparro, then a judge at the High Court. A former member of the Franco regimes Public Order Tribunal, he dropped the investigation amid great controversy when it emerged that Lerdo de Tejada had skipped the country. Gomez-Chaparro had extended the prison leave without first informing the prosecutors office or the victims attorneys. Before that, Gomez-Chaparro had also allowed the instigator of the Atocha killings, Francisco Albadalejo, to attend a wedding; he had additionally issued four prison leaves to Jose Fernandez Cerra, who physically pulled the trigger in Atocha. Now 96, Gomez-Chaparro has memory lapses. One of his five children, a lawyer named Fernando Gomez-Chaparro, quickly reacts when asked whether his father belonged to the extreme right, or whether he worked to conceal the ties between the Atocha gunmen and the Francoist bunker during the investigation. The attack just over a year after the death of Francisco Franco threatened to derail Spains fragile democracy My father was not part of the extreme right. He never wore the blue shirt. He simply enforced the law. The administration of Suarez approved weekend leave for prisoners. And my father observed the law. Otherwise, he would have been knowingly committing an unlawful act, he says, adding that he he does not know whether Blas Pinar personally asked his father to issue a leave to Lerdo de Tejada, as the chroniclers of the day reported. Lerdo de Tejadas escape was viewed as treason among far-right circles at the time. So says Juan Antonio Larrea, a former member of the Frente Nacional de la Juventud (National Youth Front), a neo-fascist legion of 150 individuals who carried out assassinations, attacks and kidnappings during those violence-heavy years of lead. Lerdo de Tejadas escape condemned his comrades to serving out their full sentences. The individuals involved in the [Atocha] killings had been left out of the government pardons for other prisoners with blood crimes on their hands, including members of GRAPO, ETA, and FRAP, notes Larrea. The judge felt that such a pardon was unfair, and he reached a tacit deal by which the justice system would grant them the leave that the government had denied them. The first one to come out of prison was Lerdo de Tejada, he adds. His family had the most clout, they were part of the high-class bourgeoisie. The others came from lower-class backgrounds. But his escape left the judge in such a difficult situation that he eliminated all future leave. I have heard this from several convicts: Lerdo de Tejada betrayed his comrades. English version by Susana Urra. BJP president Amit Shah's words spoken in appreciation of Manohar Parrikar is indicative of the fact that the party couldn't manage Goa without him. The party does not have any other leader in its benches to match his persona both as a leader and also as an administrator in a state which has country's smallest 40-member legislative assembly and whose politics is marked more by corruption and turbulence than by transparency and stability. It seems that defence minister's services in Goa is not just required as a prime campaigner, as an organiser, as the party's supreme leader there but also as the designated person who would be back at the helm if the BJP returns to power in this coastal state. Five years ago Parrikar had led BJP to victory, first ever clear majority in a state where fractured mandate had become some sort of norm. That victory was even sweeter for the BJP because Goa has a substantive population of minority Christians and yet he was able to integrate the community, with a favourable intervention from the church to the party. For the first time BJP gave tickets to as many as eight Christians candidates, which was roughly proportionate to the percentage of Christian population in the state. That gamble had paid off, all of them emerged victorious. Parrikar's importance and political sharpness of mind, as also his connect with the RSS-BJP leadership can be assessed from the fact that even as IITian turned BJP politician belonged to tiny state of Goa, he was once in contention for the post of BJP's national president and in November 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought him to the centre to become defence minister of the country, be part of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) and give a clear signal that henceforth Parrikar was part of pecking order at the top. Apart from administrative efficiency what had gone in his favour was his clean image, for Modi wanted someone at the helm in defence ministry whose personal integrity is unquestioned. Parrikar was not inclined to leave Goa chief minister's post, come to centre and be part of national government and politics but his wishes were overruled by Modi. Unfortunately for the BJP, Parrikar successor, Laxmikant Parsekar though picked and pushed by his predecessor proved to be "quite a mediocre". The BJP and its supporters in the state face a crisis of confidence. Shah's words spoken at a rally in Vasco in Goa on Monday is thus of significant import: Goa has given a big asset to the country in Parrikar. He is a jewel in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet. There is a huge demand for Parrikar in Delhi and also here in Goa. The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to Goa. Whether he returns to Goa or continues to remain at the Centre will be decided only after the elections. But I want to say one thing, wherever Parrikar may be, the government in Goa will be under his leadership. Goans should be assured of that." Former BJP president and Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari who is also in-charge of Goa had earlier set off speculations on Parrikar by saying next Goa chief minister could be sent from the centre. A BJP leader told Firstpost that it is clear that if the BJP returns to power, Parrikar would relinquish defence minister's charge and assume chief minister's post. His possible replacement at the centre is not being discussed for now, for there are too many ifs and buts. What made BJP turn to Parrikar is not the leader's sustained desire to return to Goa but is guided by the prevailing circumstances. The language issue, which had brought RSS and ruling BJP in the state on the war path is one of them. Some churches going on the offensive against the BJP on demonetisation and some other issues too is also a matter of concern. The RSS's former state unit chief Subhash Veligkar who continues to be part of the saffron fountainhead and Bharatiya Basha Suraksha Manch, untiring resolve to teach BJP a lesson in these elections is an issue with the BJP brass. Modi-Shah named Gadkari as in-charge for Goa elections because of the fact that minister's connect with RSS brass is excellent and is known for resolving issues with certain forthrightness. Though Velingkar is not in a position to cause much damage to the BJP's prospects but the fact that he and Goa Suraksha Manch (GSM) mentored by him is supporting MGP could upset calculations in some closely contested constituencies. Parrikar's love for Goa has been unflinching so much so that his disappearances from New Delhi to Goa on every weekend raised eyebrows in the power corridors. Incidentally, Pathankot and Uri terror attacks on the Indian Army bases took place on weekends and on both instances the defence minister was seen in action. The simple reason for him missing in action on day was that he was away in Goa, taking care of organisational matters. Bengaluru: The Income Tax department has detected undisclosed assets worth over Rs 162 crore and seized Rs 41 lakh cash, besides over a dozen kg in gold and jewellery during searches on the premises of a Karnataka minister and state Mahila Congress chief. Meanwhile, the Karnataka BJP on Tuesday hit back at the Congress, daring it to drop the minister, Ramesh Jarkiholi, from the cabinet. Officials said the department has also got inputs about a number of "benami" assets and "unexplained investments" during the searches at the premises of Small Scale Industries Minister Jarkiholi and Mahila Congress president Laxmi R Hebbalkar in Gokak, Belagavi and in Bengaluru last week. The searches followed allegations of tax evasion. In his reaction, Jarkiholi asserted that he had not committed anything wrong and alleged that there was a "political conspiracy" behind the Income Tax raids on his premises. "I have not committed any wrong and I believe there is political conspiracy behind the I-T raids. "The I-T officials had visited us in Belagavi and we have cooperated with them. Even in future, we would cooperate with IT officials," Jarkiholi told PTI. Hebbalkar was not available for her comments. "The searches led to the admission of undisclosed income of Rs 162.06 crore and unexplained cash amounting to Rs 41 lakh, besides 12.8 kg gold and jewellery. Many people who had large incomes and investments were found not to be filing I-T returns and the probe in the case is going on," they said. The searches, they said, were launched on 19 January to probe allegations of tax evasion in the sugar business apparently run by groups associated with the duo. The investigators, sources said, found "huge unexplained cash deposits" had been made in the bank accounts of their family members and associates, and in benami names in primary cooperative societies which were transferred to business entities engaged in sugar manufacturing. "It was also detected that non-existent persons have been made share holders and investors in one of the sugar companies. Evidences of creation of bogus assets and syphoning off money from the company through various concerns engaged in turn-key projects for setting up sugar factories have also been gathered," they said. The IT department sources said, entry operators, people who facilitate in hawala-like transactions, were involved in making huge deposits in banks which were routed through various intermediaries to escape the tax net. The department has also issued summonses to a number of people allegedly involved in the case to take the probe forward, they said. The Election Commission is likely to face obstacle in holding Urban Local Bodies election in Nagaland as a number of civil society organisations in the state declared indefinite bandh from 27th January, if the state government does not postpone polls as demanded. After Manipur, Nagaland is the second state in the north eastern region of the country where the Election Commission is facing trouble in holding election. A public meeting held in Dimapur by the civil society groups on Monday passed the resolution that indefinite bandh in the state would be followed from 27th of January if the state government does not decide to defer the polls until the Municipal Act is reviewed, as per their demand, reported Eastern Mirror Nagaland. "The public rally called by the Joint Coordination Committee formed by several apex tribal organisations demanding the government to postpone the civic polls witnessed a mammoth turnout at the State Stadium on Monday and resolved to give the government four more days till 26 January to postpone or else face indefinite closure in the entire state," stated the report. The civil society groups in Nagaland have been demanding postponement of the polls since the ULB election was declared on 21st December. The polls are slated for 1st of February. Civil society organisations in Nagaland view the newly implemented Municipal Act which provides 33% reservation of seats for women, as opposed to the customary laws of the Naga tribes. Hokiye Sema, the President of Central Naga Tribal Council, which also demands abolishing of the provision of reservation for women in the civic polls, told Firstpost, In Naga society a woman is not considered to be equal to men. She is not even allowed to speak in Panchayat until and unless she is summoned by it. Providing 33% reservation to women amounts to giving her the same status as men and it gives men inferiority complex. He also said that the Naga society has been following the customary laws for more than thousand years and those cannot be just wiped out. He added that it is the governments responsibility to protect the rights of the Naga People as provided for in the Constitution of India in the Article 371(A). The Article 371(A) in the constitution says, Notwithsatanding anything in this Constitution, (a) no Act of Parliament in respect of (1) religious or social practices of Nagas,(2) Naga customary law and procedure,(3) and administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law,(4) ownership and transfer of land and its resources, shall apply to the state of Nagaland unless the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland by a resolution so decides." The bandh, if implemented, would be another stumbling block for the state trying to hold civic elections to put in place a proper democratic structure. The bandh could be directly seen as an attempt to avert the implementation of a constitutional mandate to hold elections in a state. The 74th amendment of the Indian Constitution mandates that every Urban Local Body has to have elected representatives in the lines of Panchayati Raj in the rural areas. Moreover, it could also stall the implementation of the smart city project in Kohima, which is one of the major developmental projects planned in the state. According to the guidelines of the smart city project, a city has to have an elected urban local body to implement the project. The guideline mandates that a Special Purpose Vehicle is to be formed in participation with the Urban Local Bodies. "The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board," reads the project guidelines. Then comes the threat of detoriarating the law and order situation in an a state where public order implementation is already difficult. The insurgent groups who still are not into the Naga Peace Talks process may also take advantage of the hostile situation in the state the Centre has been engaging in peace talks with NSCN(IM), another major banned outfit NSCN(Khaplang) continues to be out of the peace process. The bandh also does not bodes well for Manipur that is already reeling under financial crisis induced by constant blockades placed by local Naga groups, that are protesting against the state government's policies. The centre recently sent 4,000 paramilitary force to Manipur to contain law and order situation erupted by the economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council. The economic blockade has resulted in acute shortage in fuel and essential commodities. And the Nagaland bandh will further cripple the supply chain as the declared bandh may further obstruct the highways connecting to the state. 16 December 2016 went down in the history of India as one of the landmarks in the disability rights movement. The Persons with Disability Act (1995) was finally replaced with the Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, and was passed by the Lok Sabha. This legislation, which came into being after years of activism, debates and discussions, will impact at least 80 million persons with disabilities living in India, a figure suggested by the World Bank. The bill has been brought to comply with the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to which India has been a signatory since 2007. The bill provides for imprisonment of at least six months up to two years, along with a fine ranging between Rs 10,000 and Rs 5 lakh for discriminating against persons with disabilities. Fast forward to a month, the Union home ministry issued guidelines on how people with disabilities can show respect when the national anthem is being played in movie halls or public functions, saying they should not move and position themselves "maintaining the maximum possible alertness physically". In October 2016, Salil Chaturvedi, a writer with a disability was assaulted by a couple at a movie theatre in Goa for not being able to stand up for the national anthem. This incident created an uproar and started discussions around how enforcing "standing up" for the national anthem can work against people with disabilities who may not be able to do so because of the nature of the disability. Post this, the Supreme Court had exempted persons with disabilities from standing up for the national anthem. "After the SC had exempted persons with disabilities to stand up for the national anthem, what was the necessity for the Government to make these guidelines? questions Jayna Kothari, an eminent lawyer and author of the book, The Future of Disability Law in India. Jayna also goes on to say, The language of these guidelines is completely offensive and shows disrespect and disregard for so many different conditions/disabilities that people may have. Having a government guideline like this will instil fear and stress in people with disabilities and their families alike who want to go out and enjoy a movie, whether or not any action is taken. In response to the guidelines statement of "maintaining of maximum possible alertness", Mansi Mehta, mother of 20-year-old Yash Mehta who is living with Down Syndrome in Mumbai, shared with Firstpost that these guidelines are redundant on many levels. Persons living with certain disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Autism may be characterised by involuntary movements which are very much a part of their anatomy. Mansi also shared that she has not encountered apathy when she and Yash visit cinemas in the country and that he stands up for the national anthem not only because his disability permits him to do so but also because he wants to. "I dont instil or bind it on Yash to stand up for the national anthem. I have made him aware of the protocol but it is ultimately his choice. Bu how does this depict patriotism?" she says, adding, "The Special Olympics made India proud this year. Isnt that a real measure of service to the nation? In India, basic infrastructure and public spaces are inaccessible to persons with disabilities thereby leading to severe restrictions on a persons movement in and out of their homes. This has led to many people across different disabilities to remain invisible and directly impacts their right to full and effective participation and inclusion in the society, which is one out of the eight guiding principles that underlie the UNCRPD. In the light of the fact that the basic rights of the people are not being fulfilled, the government is preventing people with disabilities from claiming their equal right to public spaces by instilling fear in them through these guidelines and making standing up for the national anthem a mandate. The disability rights movement in India has been fighting for decades now to shift the perspective from a medical model of disability that expects the person with disability to "adjust" and "fit in" to existing structures to a more human rights-based approach that acknowledges that people with disabilities are rights holders and that the onus is on social structures and policies to become accessible and inclusive. These guidelines are a clear example of how there has been no consultation or involvement of people with disabilities themselves in the process of drafting guidelines. They do not make logical sense, are discriminatory, and go against the work done by the disability movement. They give out regressive messages and violate the most basic human right of individual autonomy. There is no question of accepting such a guideline and the larger movement in India has to call for its withdrawal. Releasing a list of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers, who were allegedly attacked and killed by the CPM cadre in Kerala, RSS on Tuesday demanded that the Centre should dismiss the Kerala government and impose Presidents rule in the state. The RSS alleged that BJP and RSS cadre Pramod (Thrissur), CK Ramachandran (Kannur), M Vinesh (Kannur), Vishnu (Thiruvananthapuram), Remith Uthaman (Pinarayi), Anil Kumar (Thiruvananthapuram), Radhakrishnan and his wife Vimala (Palakkad) were allegedly killed by the CPM cadre somewhere between May and December 2016. The RSS and other right-wing bodies have also given a memorandum to the Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir demanding President's rule in Kerala. Alleging decline in law and order situation and growing assault on right wing activists by the CPM cadre, the Sah-Sarakaryavah (joint general secretary) of RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale said that brutal attacks on the RSS and BJP workers have increased manifold ever since the CPM-led government has assumed office in Kerala in May 2016. "Atrocities against the RSS and BJP workers by the state-sponsored CPM cadre have been rising. The CPM is based on the principle of hatred. If the Kerala government fails to control the situation and political killings, the Centre should impose Presidents rule in the state. The people of this country and Kerala as well should also demand Presidents rule," emphatically said Hosabale. The RSS, along with a few BJP MPs and right-wing bodies, under the umbrella organisation called Janadhikar Samiti, staged a massive protest demonstration at Jantar Mantar against the alleged state-sponsored in New Delhi on Tuesday. After the demonstration, Hosabale, along with akhil bhartiya sah-prachar pramukh Nand Kumar and other Sangh and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) functionaries submitted a memorandum on the decaying law and order situation in Kerala to Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Ahir and demanded imposition of Presidents rule. Vimala died after battling burn injuries as a result of her house being set on fire on 28 December, 2016 by CPM workers. Her tragic death is yet another entry to a growing list of atrocities that are being perpetuated by the CPM cadre, emboldened by the return of their party to political power in the 2016 Kerala assembly elections. In the absence of any decisive action by the state government and law enforcement agencies, the political violence has intensified and been emboldened, by the dual strategies of strategic silence and open encouragement (reported in media reports) by party leaders, Nand Kumar said in his statement. VHP secretary general (International) Surendra Jain said, In the last 50 years, CPM killed 300 RSS, BJP and ABVP workers, of which half of them are Dalits. The chief minister's constituency itself has turned into an epicentre of killing, where 90 have been murdered. In JNU, this Left talks about freedom of speech, whereas in Kerala no one is spared who disagree with the CPM. They should remember, if this situation continues, the party will be wiped out from Kerala like in Russia, Bengal and other parts." CPM talks about the rights of Dalits and women, but the reality is different. They are not sparing Dalits and women, and killing them in the most barbaric manner. In 2016, 400 FIRs have been registered against the CPM for unleashing violence against the Dalits, BJP MP (Delhi South) Meenakshi Lekhi told Firstpost. During the protests, several people from Kerala also shared their individual experiences in the state. "The law and order situation in Kerala has reached its nadir. People who dont belong to CPM are virtually in panic. The CPM goons are randomly picking up people, who dont have any political affiliation but may just be a sympathizer and killing them in broad daylight. Surprisingly, the government is silent over this. In January itself four people died after being attacked by CPM cadre. The Centre must take action, a resident of Kerala, who participated in the demonstration told Firstpost. RSS said that the brutal suppression of the principles of democracy, constitutional and human rights as well as free expression, has no place in democratic India, and this is the true picture of Kerala state at present. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds Home department portfolio, took charge and sacked the state police chief apparently sending out a clear message to the law and order machinery that its the party (CPM) which will be really in charge henceforth. Its a state-sponsored violence against RSS workers, alleged Alok Kumar, secretary, Janadhikar Samiti, the organisation that released the list during demonstration. By David Shepardson and Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump pushed the chief executives of General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV on Tuesday to increase production in the United States and boost American employment.Trump opened a meeting with GM CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne at the White House, saying he wants to see new auto plants built in the United States."We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants -- many other plants," he told reporters. "It's happening."The new Republican president, who took office Friday, vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. He vowed frequently during the campaign to be a job-creating president.GM, Ford and Fiat Chrysler have all announced recent new jobs and investments in the United States, but are still investing in Mexico.GM in 2014 said it would invest $5 billion in Mexico through 2018, a move that would allow it to double its production capacity -- and Barra has said the automaker is not reconsidering the plan. Last week, Ford scrapped plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and instead invest $700 million in a factory in Michigan. Ford will still move production of Focus small cars to Mexico from Michigan, but will cut total production of the cars by consolidating their assembly in an existing Mexican plant.U.S. automakers have been reluctant to open new U.S. auto plants in recent years, but they have expanded operations at existing U.S. plants.Tuesday's meeting included the former Republican governor of Missouri, Matt Blunt, who heads a U.S. automaker trade association. Trump has criticized automakers for building cars in Mexico and elsewhere and has threatened to impose 35 percent tariffs on imported vehicles.TRUMP PRESSURE The meeting is the latest sign of Trump's uncommon degree of intervention for a U.S. president into corporate affairs as he has repeatedly pressured automakers and other manufacturers to "buy American and hire American."Tuesday's gathering was the first time the CEOs of the big three automakers have met jointly with a U.S. president since a 2011 session with Barack Obama to tout a deal to nearly double fuel efficiency standards by 2025. Fiat Chrysler is the Italian-American parent of the former Michigan-based Chrysler.U.S. and foreign automakers have been touting plans to boost American jobs and investments in the face of Trump's comments. Trump, a New York businessman, often singled out Ford's Mexico investments for criticism during his election campaign.While automakers are adding U.S. jobs they are also cutting U.S. small car production. On Monday, GM ended two shifts of production of small cars in Ohio and Michigan, cutting about 2,000 jobs. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Frances Kerry and Alistair Bell) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's press secretary promised reporters on Monday that he would never lie after a weekend briefing in which he made statements about the crowd size for Trump's inauguration that were debunked.In comments to reporters on Saturday that became known as the "alternative facts" briefing, White House spokesman Sean Spicer declared that Trump's crowd was "the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period."Photographs showed the crowds at Trump's swearing-in on Friday were smaller than Barack Obama's first presidential inauguration in 2009.Spicer's statement drew further criticism after Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said on Sunday the White House had wanted to "put alternative facts out there" to counter what she said was a biased media. At his first formal White House briefing on Monday, Spicer was asked by a reporter if he intended to always tell the truth from the lectern. "Our intention is never to lie to you," he replied.Spicer defended his right to give the administration's point of view.He said he had been including television and online viewers in his remarks on Saturday about the size of the inauguration crowd. He told reporters that Trump and his advisers had been frustrated by "demoralizing" coverage that he called a "constant attempt to undermine his credibility." "I want to have a healthy relationship with the press," Spicer said.Spicer answered questions on a wide range of policy issues, with a focus on trade policy. He did not take questions from reporters on Saturday. "That moves it away from the acrimonious session on Saturday," said Martha Kumar, a political scientist and emeritus professor at Towson University in Maryland who studies the relationship between the White House and its press corps.Spicer took questions from 43 reporters - more than twice the average, Kumar said in an interview.He also said he would start taking questions from four "Skype seats" later this week to allow news organizations outside of Washington to participate. (Additional reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In one of his internal meetings on the election strategy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have advised his party's campaign managers to focus on a binary theme that should run as " BJP versus SCAM". "What does SCAM stand for?," someone asked. The prime minister explained the abbreviation as "Samajwadi, Congress, Ajit and Mayawati". Behind the casual nature of this conversation lies a profound political reality in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP has gained the position of principal pole. And the BJP's strategy is focused on not ceding this ground which they have regained after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In fact, since 1989 the country's most populous state has a chequered political history which is not always consistent with the national trend. Of late the regional satraps like Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav have effectively marginalised the national parties like the BJP and the Congress and occupied a substantial political space. But this political jinx was broken by the Modi phenomenon in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. For the first time, the state has witnessed socially and historically incompatible political forces like Congress and SP joining hands to defeat the BJP. Obviously there is a lot more than what meets the eye in the SP-Congress coalition. The prime motivating factor for Rahul Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to bury the hatchet was to attract Muslim votes. The cry for "secularism" is a contrived facade to cover up their patently opportunistic strategy What is particularly curious is the political conduct of the Congress. Perhaps for Rahul Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh is the only state where he has been working hard for over one decade to establish himself as a leader worthy of political inheritance of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls when the Congress won 21-odd seats, the party seemed to have partially recovered its lost position. But that assumption ran aground in successive polls of 2012 assembly elections and 2014 Lok Sabha polls and the Congress was reduced to be a fringe player. In 2017 elections, the Congress has given up the pretense of being a national party and will be trying to ride piggyback on the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. However, given the decades of anti-congressism nursed by Mulayam Singh Yadav among his trained cadres and the history of hostility between the two parties, it would be naive to assume that the coalition would be a seamless union of disparate social forces. Take for example the dominance of Yadavs in local bodies elections in the state and one would realize the brazen misuse of the state power by Akhilesh Yadav to favour Yadav leaders. Similarly the dominance of recruitments of Yadavs in all state posts, including provincial civil services, is an open secret which already strained Akhilesh govrnment's ties with non-Yadav social groups. Moreover, all over the state, a significant number of crucial police stations are also manned by policemen belonging to Yadav caste. Unlike Mulayam Singh Yadav who was quite deft in managing social equations by propping up leaders from powerful castes like Kumri, Mallah and Koeri, Akhilesh tried to build his image among largely middle-class upper castes which are traditionally committed to either the BJP or the Congress. There is little doubt that despite the attempt for image make over, this class is intrinsically averse to Akhilesh's politics that promoted lawlessness in its worst form during the last five years. Apparently, the anti-incumbency against Akhilesh government can not easily be wished away. This is the precise reason why Akhilesh ultimately surrendered a large political space to the Congress. But there is no denying the fact that the alliance would attract and repel some social groups in equal measure . What is rather intriguing is the silence of BSP which has the capacity for powerful political mobilization. As of now the BSP is also targeting only the BJP as its main adversary for obvious reasons. Given a series of communal conflicts in the state and underlying communal tension, the BSP is quite worried over the possibility of a section of Dalit votes drifting towards the BJP as happened in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. At the same time, the BSP is optimistic about winning over a section of Muslims who do not repose faith in Akhilesh's SP. The largest contingent of Muslim candidates in UP election belongs to the BSP. As of now almost all non-BJP parties have been pinning their hopes on forging a coalition of social forces against the BJP. This is an enviable position for a political party which has been playing a marginal role in the state for over a decade except for Lok Sabha election in 2014. Modi's coinage of BJP versus SCAM is clearly intended to emphasise the pre-eminent political positioning of the party in the ensuing campaign. Needless to say that UP politics is immensely capable of throwing up many optical illusions that may get dispelled only after the result. New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday released its third list of 67 candidates for Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, which includes the name of former BSP leader Swamy Prasad Maurya, who had recently defected to the saffron party. With this, the party has so far announced the names of 370 candidates with no Muslim nominee among them. The election to the 403-member Assembly will take place in seven phases, starting 11 February. While for remaining 30 seats, the party is in talks with its allies Apna Dal and Bhartiya Samaj Party, BJP's National General Secretary Arun Singh told reporters in New Dwlhi while releasing the list of its candidates. Besides Maurya, the party has also given tickets to RK Chaudhary and Dara Singh Chouhan, both of who have joined the BJP from BSP. Maurya will be BJP's candidate from Padrona seat, while RK Chaudhary and Dara Singh Chauhan have been nominated from Mohanlalganj and Madhuban seats respectively. All three are influential faces of their respective castes, which plays major role in deciding the fortune of various candidates in Uttar Pradesh. BJP has also nominated its former state party President Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva. Most of these candidates whose names were announced today are from the seats which will go to polls in sixth and seventh phase. The seven-phase polls in the state will take place on 11, 15, 19, 23, 27 February and 4 and 8 March. The party has been pulling out all stops to capture power in Uttar Pradesh, which in terms of political implications is more important than all other four poll-bound states. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, unsurprisingly, is the heart and soul of the Congress' list of star campaigners chosen for Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017. As much as the move was expected, there is a departure from trend within the grand old party, in the way this announcement was made. The usual pomp and show around poll campaigns, and speculations about Rahul Gandhi's coming of age for a change of reins of the grand old party are stale news. And so is the news about Priyanka Gandhi campaigning in the Congress borough, a part she has been playing since 1999 when her mother (Congress President Sonia Gandhi) first contested elections from the Amethi seat. However, this time poll pundits are sensing a change of wind in the way Congress has finally acknowledged Priyanka and ceded her credit for some major pre-poll maneuvers that the Congress successfully managed to stage. The first of this was the successful alliance the Congress cinched with the Samajwadi Party, and on its own conditions, despite it being the pillion rider in the coallition. Even as many leaders in the SP believed that the Congress did not deserve the massive seat share it demanded, it was because of Priyanka's intervention that the party could get 105 seats in the 403 seat assembly after much haggling. It was she who pulled through the alliance that was hovering on the brink of collapse, as several news reports suggest. The second strategic move that was credited to Priyanka was bringing BJP star campaigner in Punjab, Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife on-board the Congress train. The Sidhus were quite evidently vocal about their grievances with the saffron party and after choosing, negotiating, out maneuvering various political parties in the state, Sidhus finally joined BJP's oldest enemy - Congress, after briefly flirting with the Aam Aadmi Party. Moreover, this will be for the first time that Priyanka would be campaigning in the state, beyond the family fiefdoms of Amethi and Rae Bareli, where she has canvassed for her mother and brother Rahul Gandhi in the past too. She may or may not have contributed to major decisions within the party in the past, but the Congress had at best remained coy in acknowledging her active role within the party politics. While the Gandhi heiress herself has turned down requests from party cadres to join active politics in the past, the official party line has always been that 'she is free to do so whenever she feels the need'. However, according to The Times of India, Priyanka could finally be entering active politics in light of her mother's failing health. The candour around Priyanka's increasing political footprint in the party coincides with the speculations within party circles about whether Sonia Gandhi will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. While Sonia's failing health has restricted her role in the party, Priyanka has emerged as a supporter of her brother Rahul Gandhi. The Times of India article further states that party sources feel that Rae Bareli will be the ideal launch pad for Priyanka in 2019, as it was previously represented by Indira Gandhi, and currently by her mother. It is said that Priyanka is taking over many roles that were previously discharged by the Congress president. However, Priyanka taking control over the Congress party is unlikely to have a change in the scheme of succession plans within the party. Most of all, it is unlikely to raise a power struggle between the two siblings for Priyanka has always maintained that Rahul will succeed the virtual throne. As Akshaya Mishra argues in this Firstpost article, Congress will never replace Rahul with Priyanka as it will show the Gandhi scion in bad light who has dedicated a large chunk of his life to the party. Priyanka could be a more astute politician and a clever negotiator but her role is likely to remain on the sidelines, taking over control of the organisational responsibilities in the party. Death has returned to the Spanish seas. Last week served as a reminder of the cruelty of the migrant crisis after seven people perished in the Mediterranean. Six of the bodies washed up on a beach in Cadiz province, and the seventh was found inside a migrant vessel 35 nautical miles from the Spanish city of Ceuta, located on the northern coast of Africa. A Red Cross worker with a rescued baby in Tarifa. A. Carrasco (EFE) They were undocumented migrants who braved the rough seas, the winter weather and the political efforts to dissuade them from coming to Europe, risking everything in search of a better life. They were following the same migration route as the 8,162 others who landed on the shores of the Iberian Peninsula last year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In 2016, the number of migrants who made this dangerous journey doubled compared to 2015, according to the IOM. Even with the closure of the Balkan and Aegean routes, the flow of Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis has not moved west Despite this increase, we are talking about numbers that are absolutely minor compared to other migratory routes, such as the Sicily Canal or the Greece-Turkey border, where hundreds of thousands of people pass, said Carlos Arce, coordinator of migration for the Andalusia Association for Human Rights (APDHA). Eight years ago, an agreement of cooperation between Spain and Morocco reduced the migratory pressure around the Strait of Gibraltar. However, the number of migrants in 2016 returned to pre-2009 levels, when the number of people using this route was still recovering from the cayuco crisis of 2006 and 2007, so named after the makeshift migrant boats that arrived by the thousands at that time. According to the UN, in 2006 alone approximately 10,000 migrants arrived to Spain by boat. Without Moroccan collaboration in monitoring the seas, and without them impeding sub-Saharan Africans from taking to the sea, the arrivals would be much more frequent, suggests a report by the Spanish think-tank Real Instituto Elcano. Spanish rescue workers bring 34 migrants found at sea back to Almeria, on January 16. Carlos Barba (EFE) We saw it in 2014, when nearly 1,200 people reached Tarifa [Cadiz] by boat in just two days, right after the Moroccan king had an incident with Spanish patrol boats, said Arce, of APDHA. For several days, beach surveillance had been dysfunctional, Moroccan authorities confirmed. Economic Migrants The migration route that runs through the Strait of Gibraltar was reactivated in 2016, according to IOMs numbers. Along with Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, Spain is one of the main countries where migrants first land. According to EU law, migrants must seek asylum in the first country of arrival. Yet the majority of migrants to Spain do not meet the EU criteria for refugee status, meaning they are considered economic migrants and the government is allowed to deport them to their countries of origin. Last year 23.1% of migrants who arrived by sea to peninsular Spain came from the Ivory Coast, 17% came from Algeria and 13% came from Guinea, according to data from the European Union borders agency Frontex. But these figures do not include Ceuta, Melilla or the Canary Islands, where many arrivals take place. Sources from Frontex, which operates in the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea alongside Spains Civil Guard and rescue coordinators, said that even with the closure of the Balkan route and the Aegean Sea Route, the flow of Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis has not moved west. However, they said they have been monitoring a large group of migrants on the move in northern Africa. English version by Alyssa McMurtry. By Tsvetelia Tsolova | SOFIA SOFIA Bulgaria's president on Tuesday called an early national election for March 26 and appointed former parliament speaker Ognyan Gerdzhikov as caretaker prime minister until then.Gerdzhikov, 70, currently a professor of law and head of an arbitration court, served as speaker of parliament in a centrist government from 2001 to 2005.Kiril Ananiev, 61, currently a deputy finance minister in charge of budgets, will take over as finance minister, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Ananiev is seen as a safe pair of hands, having served as deputy finance minister in five different governments.The appointments show that President Rumen Radev, who took office this month after winning an election with the backing of the opposition Socialists, is seeking continuity and balance, analysts said.Radev had to call an early election after Bulgaria's centre-right government resigned late last year following the defeat of its candidate in the presidential election. Radev will dissolve the parliament on Friday."The head of state sets March 26 as the date for the general election. With another decree, the president appoints Ognyan Gerdzhikov as interim prime minister," the president's office said in a statement. Russia-friendly Radev is also expected to appoint diplomat Radi Naidenov, currently Bulgaria's ambassador to Germany, as interim foreign minister as he seeks to reaffirm Sofia's commitment to its allies in the European Union and NATO. SEEKING BALANCE The main task of Gerdzhikov's interim government will be to ensure that the Balkan country holds a fair election and maintains fiscal stability to protect the Bulgarian currency's peg against the euro. "Radev won his post with the support of the Socialists, but the interim government does not look like a Socialist one," said Parvan Simeonov, an analyst at Sofia-based Gallup International. "We see a centrist line and with the finance minister - a continuity of policies. Radev wants balance and this is what the interim government shows," he said. The previous centre-right government of Boiko Borisov secured economic growth and cut unemployment to an eight-year low while cutting the fiscal deficit, but its failure to tackle endemic graft in the EU's poorest country has frustrated voters. Political analysts say the parliamentary election, Bulgaria's third since 2013, is again unlikely to produce a strong majority government able to implement the judicial, economic and other reforms the country needs. Borisov's GERB party has a narrow lead over its main Socialist rival, latest opinion polls show. "None of the parties is expected to win an outright majority, which will result in a fragmented parliament and another fragile coalition government," Teneo Intelligence analyst Andrius Tursa said in a note. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. It is no secret that ties between US president Donald Trump and the American media are tense. At a press briefing on Saturday, for instance, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "This kind of dishonesty in the media, the challenging that bringing about our nation together is making it more difficult. There's been a lot of talk in the media about the responsibility to hold Donald Trump accountable. And I'm here to tell you that it goes two ways. We're going to hold the press accountable, as well. The American people deserve better." Spicer also stressed on the claim that the media's reports on the turnout during Trump's inauguration were incorrect. The media, on the other hand, refuses to budge, and this could lead to even more friction between the media and the US government. There were various American news groups which reported on the first few days of Trump's presidency in a way which is bound to annoy the government. The American media has been reporting extensively on the controversial claims made by Trump. For instance, an article titled 'Trump repeats lie about popular vote in meeting with lawmakers' in The New York Times stressed on how Trump "falsely" claimed that it was because of millions of unauthorised immigrants that he did not get the popular vote majority. The article also said that several fact-checkers had concluded that this claim was false. "The new presidents willingness to bring it up at a White House reception in the State Dining Room is an indication that he continues to dwell on the implications of his popular vote loss even after assuming power," said the article. Another article in The New York Times pointed out that Trump's Cabinet was on the way to have a smaller percentage of women and non-whites than the first cabinets of Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton. "If (Trumps) nominees are confirmed, women and non-whites will hold five of 22 Cabinet or Cabinet-level positions," said the article, adding that those five members will also be in some of the lowest-ranking positions in the Cabinet. The Atlantic also seems to be tired of the false claims of the new US government. In an article titled 'The White House can't easily repair its relationship with the media', The Atlantic pointed out that Spicer had incorrectly said that Trump's ceremony had 'the largest audience' there has ever been for an inauguration. It said that fact-checking website PolitiFact had said that this claim was "flat-out wrong". Apart from the fact that side-by-side photographs of the National Mall at Trump's inauguration and Obama's inauguration in 2009 indicated that last week's event drew smaller crowds, Obama's inauguration had commanded a US television audience of 37.8 million viewers, more than 30.6 million viewers for Trump's inauguration, according to the article. In another article in The Atlantic, Andrew Exum former US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy wrote that Trump had cheapened a sacred space by "going before the worlds most powerful intelligence service and declaring war on the media". "The broader power struggles within the Trump operation have touched everything from the new administrations communications shop to the expansive role of the presidents son-in-law to the formation of Trumps political organisation. At the centre, as always, is Trump himself, whose ascent to the White House seems to have only heightened his acute sensitivity to criticism," said another article in The Washington Post. Yet another CNN article titled 'Dear team Trump,'alternative facts' are lies' went as far as to say that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway coined a new term on Sunday morning when she said that Spicer's claims about the turnout for Trump's inauguration were "alternative facts". Perhaps what the Donald Trump government urgently needs to learn was best described in this line in an article in The Washington Post: "If Trump believes journalists can be so easily cowed, hes in for a long four years." Washington: The Trump administration has opened the door to cooperating with Russia "or anyone else" to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, suggesting it could reverse a previous refusal to coordinate military action with Moscow as long as it backs the Syrian government. "I think if there's a way that we can combat Islamic State with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Asked if the openness extended to working with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been condemned internationally for killing civilians, Spicer said, "We're not going to get together with people under the guise of defeating ISIS if that's not truly their guise." He added, "So let's not take that too far." Spicer also suggested that Trump already has told Defense Secretary James Mattis to review how he might change the US approach to fighting the Islamic State. "I think he has ordered it," Spicer said, adding that Trump would discuss the matter with Mattis during a visit to the Pentagon on Friday. "At that time, he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs," he added, referring to the military service chiefs. During the more than two years that President Barack Obama directed US military action against Islamic State in Syria, he resisted Russian overtures to coordinate military action. Obama believed Moscow was acting counter to US interests by propping up Assad, whose government Obama called illegitimate. The Pentagon has maintained a hotline with the Russian military to deal with the narrower issue of avoiding air accidents in Syria. With Trump in the White House, Moscow seems eager to draw the new administration into closer military cooperation, perhaps reflecting Trump's frequent statements during the presidential campaign that he welcomed opportunities to improve relations with Moscow. On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the U.S. had provided targeting information for a joint airstrike against Islamic State fighters in Syria. But Pentagon officials flatly denied the Russian assertion. US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, chief spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, called the Russian statement "rubbish." At the Pentagon, a spokesman, Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, said the U.S. military is not providing targeting information to the Russians or coordinating air operations with them. By Michael Georgy | MOSUL MOSUL The teenage Islamic State militants who took over Mohamed Abdel Wahab's house and terrorised his family for three months are gone. But an Iraqi army victory in his east Mosul district hasn't made life easier, at least not yet.Like hundreds of other anxious Iraqis, he and his family walked for several kilometers past demolished buildings on Tuesday to return to homes that were taken over by Islamic State."These gunmen were between 12 and 15 years old. They just appeared, pointed their weapons and said 'get out'," he said. "They placed snipers in our houses. They ran our neighbourhoods."Walking in the other direction were families who had managed to hold on to their homes but were now fleeing fresh fighting in a few parts of Mosul that have not been retaken by the government forces from pockets of Islamic State resistance.Many neighbourhoods were destroyed, first by Islamic State and then by the Mosul offensive designed to retake the militants' last stronghold in Iraq.Just four days ago, families were hiding in their homes here in the Al Araby district as soldiers fought the militants on nearby streets, with rows of buildings pockmarked by shooting or damaged by rocket fire. Along the main road, displaced Iraqis walked by a huge crater left by a U.S.-led coalition airstrike. Plumes of white smoke rose after the latest strike.The elderly were pushed in rickety wheelchairs or crude metal wheelbarrows towards an Islamic State flag that was half torn down. Women in black veils walked beside their husbands, families exhausted by the reign of terror, fierce fighting and a lack of basic services. DESPERATE YOUNG BOY There was no signs of shops or badly needed supplies, aside from the occasional bag of rice carried by women on their heads.A young boy who was pleading for help for his grandfather asked whether his neighbourhood had been liberated. He was ignored.Many may be traumatised for some time by the rule of the jihadists, who swept into Mosul in 2014 virtually unopposed by the Iraqi army and started dictating all aspects of life, even beard and trouser length.Memories of beheadings and executions are still fresh. "They just lined people up and shot them in the head," said resident Mahmoud Selim. These days, the militants are on the defensive. If they lose Mosul, the self-described caliphate which once straddled parts of Iraq and Syria is widely expected to collapse. But the militants are likely to wage an insurgency in Iraq and inspire attacks in the West.Having captured almost all of east Mosul, Iraqi forces are preparing to enter the west, where the battle is likely to be far more complex. Army officers who were touring Al Araby and nearby districts seemed confident that the remaining militants holed up in homes seized from residents will be cleared out soon.Their convoy snaked through streets and stopped at a large house overlooking a wooded area.As a helicopter fired a machinegun at militant hideouts, a sniper fired in the officers' direction.Omar al-Obaidi, one of the soldiers guarding the main street, said he made a lucky escape when Islamic State first arrived in 2014 and started killing members of the Iraqi security forces."They were driving me to be executed and they got distracted so I kicked open the window of the vehicle and escaped," he said.It is easy for him to smile now when recalling the close call. But like others, he wonders how life got so bad for residents here, turning to conspiracy theories to make sense of it all."This was a big game by Americans and Iran to ruin Iraq," he said. "When Islamic State arrived with a small force the politicians and army ran away. Someone had to be behind them." (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, whose tenure was scheduled to end on 28 January, has been given a second extension of his term by one year, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said in a notification on Monday. According to the notification, Jaishankar's term has been extended from 29 January 2017 until 28 January 2018. Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer and who is widely known to have the ear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was appointed Foreign Secretary on 29 January 2015, a couple of days before his retirement, replacing Sujatha Singh, who resigned in protest seven months before her date of superannuation. Jaishankar is known for his proximity to both Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his experience of having served as Ambassador in China and the US stands him in good stead. With Donald Trump taking over as the US president, Jaishankar's experience will be invaluable in dealing with the new administration. He has already been to Washington and met key members of the Trump transition team prior to the US presidential inauguration on January 20. Jaishankar, a known workaholic who, according to insiders, often sleeps in night on his office couch, has been an astute articulator of the Modi foreign policy vision. Kabul: Germany deported a second batch of would-be Afghan refugees to Kabul on Tuesday under a disputed Afghan-EU deal signed last October and aimed at curbing the influx of migrants. The 26 men, escorted by 80 German police officers, landed shortly after 7.30 am in Kabul, airport police spokesman Mohammad Adjmal Fawzi told AFP. He said at least one of the 26 was "suffering" and showing signs of psychological distress, adding: "He could be brought back to Germany." Several of the refugees told AFP they had been arrested Monday morning at dawn and sent to Kabul with just a small piece of luggage or a backpack containing their belongings. The men were the second batch of would-be refugees denied asylum by German authorities and deported, despite growing insecurity in Afghanistan. The conflict caused some 9,000 deaths or injuries among civilians in the first nine months of 2016, according to the United Nations, which is to publish its annual report by the end of the month. In 2015 the number of civilians killed or wounded was more than 11,000, the highest recorded since 2009, with children paying a particularly heavy price, according to UN figures. Some 250 people staged a protest against the deportations at Frankfurt airport on Monday night, Sarmina Stuman of the Afghan Refugees Movement told AFP. "Afghanistan is simply at war, which is why we are protesting against expulsions to a country like Afghanistan," she said. In December, German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere justified the expulsion of Afghans in order to preserve the "right" of asylum in the country, the only one in Europe to open its doors wide to refugees. De Maiziere argued that Taliban attacks largely targeted "representatives of the international community" in Afghanistan and not the civilian population. A first flight carrying 34 men arrived in Kabul in December, a third of whom were convicted of crimes ranging from theft to homicide, according to the German authorities. That did not appear to be the case on Tuesday, when the passengers were able to leave the airport freely. They will be sheltered by the government for at least two weeks after which they face an uncertain future, with Afghanistan already so overwhelmed by people fleeing fighting that officials have warned of a humanitarian crisis. By Anshuman Daga | SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Hong Kong said on Tuesday it would release the nine Singaporean armoured vehicles it seized in November on their way home from military exercises in Taiwan, easing tensions between China and Singapore.After the troop carriers had been seized, Beijing, which regained sovereignty over the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997, warned countries against maintaining military ties with Taiwan, which it views as a wayward province.Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote to Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying requesting the return of the carriers, and Hong Kong said it would handle the matter in accordance with its laws.The seizure came amid signs of tension between China and Singapore, which has deepened its security relationship with the United States over the last year and remains concerned over China's assertive territorial stance in the South China Sea.Since then, Beijing has been unsettled by U.S. President Donald Trump's statement, made in December before his inauguration, that the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of "one China".Singapore's foreign affairs ministry said Hong Kong authorities would release the Singapore Armed Forces' (SAF) troop carriers and other equipment to the Singapore government, but it did not give details such as a time frame."This is a positive outcome," it said, adding that Lee had thanked Leung for Hong Kong's cooperation. "STATE OF FLUX" Analysts said the impounding of the troop carriers and China's subsequent comments on Taiwan showed Singapore had to adjust to the region's changing geopolitical climate."This whole incident is a reminder that things are in a state of flux," said Gillian Koh, deputy director for research at the Institute of Policy Studies in Singapore."We didn't know that we would be influenced or infected by this state of flux, but this is now brought home very acutely and explicitly." Singapore has a long-established, if low-key, military relationship with self-ruled Taiwan, using the proudly democratic mountainous island for infantry training.Beijing has grudgingly tolerated this agreement since re-establishing diplomatic ties in the 1990s with Singapore, which recognises Beijing's "one China" policy that says Taiwan is part of its territory.But China has repeatedly warned Singapore to stay out of the South China Sea dispute, where China's claims overlap with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.Singapore has no claims in the South China Sea, but the open economy of Southeast Asia's biggest port depends on free navigation in the area. In a post on his Facebook page, Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said: "SAF Terrexes are coming home to Singapore. Looking forward to this happy reunion with all Singaporeans in the Year of the Rooster."Hong Kong's commissioner of Customs and Excise, Roy Tang, said in a statement the vehicles were seized because of "a suspected breach of the Hong Kong law."Hong Kong Customs has completed its investigation of the suspected breach. The investigation might lead to criminal prosecution," Tang was quoted as saying."The military vehicles and the associated equipment will be returned to Singapore through the carrier."Singapore has said the vehicles were being shipped commercially as with previous exercises. (Additional reporting by Venus Wu in HONG KONG; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel and Mike Collett-White) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By John Irish and Andrew Osborn | ASTANA/MOSCOW ASTANA/MOSCOW Peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in Kazakhstan were a coup for their international sponsors, but exposed the limits of what Russia, Turkey and Iran can achieve in their efforts to resolve the six-year-old war.It was the first time in nine months the two sides had come together, albeit briefly and unhappily, and the first time that Moscow, Ankara and Tehran had presided over such talks, with the United States only present as an observer.The fact that the talks happened at all was a diplomatic coup that underlined the three countries' growing Middle East clout and Washington's diminished influence at a time when Donald Trump is settling into the presidency.The head of the Russian delegation, Alexander Lavrentyev, hailed the talks, held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, as the "birth" of a new negotiating format, and there were hopes they might make it more likely that U.N.-brokered talks could take place in Geneva next month.At the end of two chaotic days, Moscow, Ankara and Tehran backed a shaky Dec. 30 truce between Syria's warring parties and agreed to monitor its compliance. Yet negotiations did not go to plan, showing that the three would-be Syria conflict brokers, in their different ways, all have credibility problems. This suggests they may have to involve Washington and the Gulf States more fully if they are to have any chance of brokering a final deal.That could be difficult as the talks spotlighted sharp differences between Moscow and Tehran over the possible future participation of the United States, in particular. State media in Iran cited Iranian officials as saying any future U.S. involvement was unacceptable, while Lavrentyev, the main Russian negotiator, said Moscow would welcome Washington joining the process."They (the Russians) can now see how difficult their partners are," said one Western diplomat.In previous rounds of U.N. talks in Geneva, Moscow had not been able to call the shots in the way it could in Kazakhstan, the diplomat said, because the United States and the West had succeeded in diluting its role. This time, Moscow had its first taste of what it is like to be in the hot seat.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had previously lamented the failure of U.N.-backed talks in Geneva, calling them "fruitless sitting around". Lavrentyev, Russia's chief negotiator in Astana, put a positive gloss on the Kazakh talks but did not hide the diplomatic difficulties either, complaining at different times about how tough the discussions were. Western envoys, who turned up informally to observe developments from the corridors of the hotel, mingled with reporters to try to ascertain what the purpose of the meeting was. There was much speculation about whether Russia wanted a follow-up meeting that would go into the details of what was in the end a vague final communique. "Frankly, were baffled. Why is Russia doing this now? What has changed for them that they want to disengage militarily and engage politically?" said one diplomat. Western envoys congregated in the lobby of the Rixos, the talks venue, as snow fell outside and could be heard debating whether to try the local horsemeat specialities in the hotels Irish pub, where clouds of cigarette smoked filled the air. At one point, on Monday evening, the Kazakh Foreign Ministry began searching for guides willing to show the rebels around local shopping malls after apparently being told that the opposition wanted to pick up some bargains. LEGITIMACY PROBLEMS Back at the talks, rebels and Western diplomats questioned the role of Iran and its allies."The Russians have moved from a stage of being a party in the fighting and are now exerting efforts to become a guarantor. They are finding a lot of obstacles from (Lebanon's Shi'ite) Hezbollah forces, Iran and the regime," said Mohammed Alloush, the head of the Syrian opposition delegation.Western diplomats said they too saw Iran as one of the main obstacles to progress with one saying Tehran's commitment to the ceasefire and a political transition was uncertain. Moscow said it had given the rebels the draft of a new constitution, drawn up by Russian specialists, to speed agreement on a political transition. It was unclear however what the document said or what the rebels thought of it. The talks yielded a joint communique from Russia, Turkey and Iran which pledged to create a monitoring mechanism to police Syria's patchy ceasefire, but the rebels did not endorse it.Instead, they submitted a separate proposal on the ceasefire and questioned Iran's legitimacy as a broker at a time when they said Iranian militias were breaching the ceasefire. The communique legitimised Iran's "bloodletting" in Syria, complained Alloush, and did not address the role of Shi'ite militias fighting the rebels. Nor did the rebels, who for the first time were represented by military rather than just political figures, show any signs of watering down their demand that President Bashar al-Assad step down as soon as possible, something Damascus won't accept. For some of them, Russia's broker status sat awkwardly."We are not opposed to Russia because it is Russia but we had a problem when its jets were participating with the regime in killing our people," said Osama Abu Zaid, an opposition spokesman. "If this role ends then we'll have no problem."The Syrian government delegation had its own issues with the talks' sponsors, questioning Turkey's legitimacy as a broker at a time when it said Ankara was violating its sovereignty via an extended armed incursion into northern Syria.NO FACE-TO-FACE TALKS Neither delegation included senior figures and Washington was only represented in an observer capacity by its local ambassador. Apart from one official from the United Arab Emirates present informally, Arab envoys were absent.And in a major setback, Moscow failed to get the two sides to negotiate face-to-face despite Lavrentyev, the Russian negotiator, saying beforehand that face-to-face talks were "the main goal". The rebels baulked at that, saying they could not sit down with people responsible for so much bloodshed. Instead, Moscow had to make do with indirect talks with the two delegations relaying messages via intermediaries.Some diplomats said it was the opposition that had refused, but others said there were fears that Bashar Ja'afari, the head of the government delegation, who has a reputation for being curt, would add "vinegar to the water", giving indirect talks a better chance of success. There was quarrelling about the format and the agenda from the outset. The opposition demanded talks focus solely on a ceasefire that should require Iranian-backed militias to quit Syria. But the government, emboldened by the fact the talks were being held under the co-sponsorship of Russia, a staunch ally, and with the balance of power turning in its favour on the ground, said there was a chance to push for reconciliation with Assad remaining in power, a red line for the rebels. Opening statements laid bare those divisions. Alloush, the head of the rebel delegation, called the Syrian government "a bloody despotic regime", while Ja'afari, head of the government delegation, accused opposition negotiators of defending "war crimes" and of being rude and unprofessional.Ja'afari made clear too that a government offensive against Wadi Barada, which supplies most of the water for Damascus, would continue even though rebels see it as a truce violation."As long as 7 million people in Damascus remain deprived of water, it will continue," said Ja'afari.Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a Moscow-based foreign policy think-tank close to the Foreign Ministry, told Reuters the talks had been "better than nothing.""But there is no silver bullet," he said. (Additional reporting by Kinda Makieh, Olzhas Auyezov, Suleiman al-Khalidi and Denis Dyomkin in Astana, Bozorgmehr Sharafedin in Dubai; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New York: President Donald Trump has appointed Ajit Pai to head the powerful US communications regulatory agency, becoming the third Indian American picked for key positions in his administration. Pai, 44, will be the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the federal authority regulating cellphone spectrum and services, radio, television, phone, internet and satellite and cable. Pai announced his appointment on Twitter, saying he was told of it on Monday and that "it is a deeply humbling honour". He added that he would work to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans. The FCC also has a major role in controlling the content of television and radio, a sensitive issue given Trump's contentious relations with the media. This afternoon, I was informed that @POTUS @realDonaldTrump designated me the 34th Chairman of the @FCC. It is a deeply humbling honor. pic.twitter.com/Joza18aP33 Ajit Pai (@AjitPaiFCC) January 23, 2017 The agency sets and enforces certain norms on content like obscenity in TV and conditions like having a certain amount of local news content for stations to keep their licences. Underscoring its importance, Representative Frank Pallone said: "By some measures, the FCC oversees approximately one sixth of the US economy." Nikki Haley, Trump's nominee for the cabinet-level post of US ambassador to the UN, is scheduled to be recommended on Tuesday by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for approval by the entire Senate for the job. Another Trump nominee is Seema Verma, who is to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency for government health insurance programmes. Already a member of the FCC, Pai will succeed Tom Wheeler, a Democrat, who quit recently. A free enterprise advocate, Pai has been a critic of the functioning of the FCC and clashed with its Democratic Party leadership. Recently he took issue with an FCC report that questioned the legality of offerings given free of charge for people to access online music, videos and other content. He has said he wants to end net neutrality, which prevents internet service providers from giving special preferences to certain web sites or accept payment from a web service to give it priority or better access. Democrats expressed their concern about Pai's role in a letter to him. The senior Democrat on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that deals with communications wrote to him saying his success would depend on being responsive to members of Congress from both parties and working for consensus on major decisions. Before his appointment to the FCC in 2012, Pai had worked as a lawyer for the telephone and communications giant Verizon, the Senate Judicial Committee and the Justice Department. Pai's parents, both doctors, immigrated from India. Trump has also appointed an expert on strategic communications and political research, Raj Shah, as deputy assistant and research director on the White House staff. Another Indian American, Balaji Srinivasan, is under consideration to head the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), according to Sean Spicer, Trump's spokesperson. Srinivasan is a biotechnology entrepreneur who has been critical of the connections between large pharmaceutical companies and FDA. He now heads a start-up that deals with bitcoin, the internet-based currency. By Luke Baker and Matt Spetalnick | JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's team spoke often about moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But since taking office, the contentious issue has become more nuanced and may already be moving to the backburner.In a statement issued before a first post-inauguration phone call between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and later reinforced at a White House news briefing, Trump's press secretary, Sean Spicer, lowered expectations of an imminent announcement of a move that could anger the Arab world."We are at the very beginning stages of even discussing this subject," Spicer wrote in an email on Sunday. "There's no decisions," he then told reporters on Monday.Some Israeli news outlets and Israeli pro-settlement groups have taken it as a positive sign, interpreting the words of the new Trump White House as an indication that talks have begun on a move they long for, even if it could have profound repercussions for regional stability.But Israeli officials said the issue was barely discussed on the 30-minute call, and diplomats said their understanding was that it was being pushed down the agenda, at least for now."Sounds more like walking it backwards," one Israeli official said in a text message after Spicer's statement.Another said that during the call Netanyahu had not sought a commitment from Trump on the relocation or a timeframe for it.The former spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry suggested Spicer's line was age-old diplomatic code for "not now". "This really means: 'Don't call us, we'll call you'" Yigal Palmor said on Twitter.Netanyahu's spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.NO EMBASSY IN JERUSALEM While the Israeli prime minister cannot be seen to oppose the United States moving its embassy to Jerusalem - Israel considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all countries to base their embassies there - there is an awareness that such a move could be destabilising.Currently, no country has its embassy in Jerusalem, the Israeli foreign ministry said. Costa Rica and El Salvador did until a few years ago, but they are now in Tel Aviv.The reason is that the final status of Jerusalem is supposed to be determined via direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, who want to have the capital of an independent Palestinian state in the east of the city.If the United States were to relocate its embassy, it would be an explicit recognition of Jerusalem belonging to Israel, pre-determining the outcome of negotiations and taking a side in a process in which the United States is a critical actor.Trump has suggested that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could take on the job of mediating peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. To do that, Kushner and the United States would have to be seen as scrupulously independent. For the Palestinians, moving the embassy would cross a red line.Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab countries with peace treaties with Israel, have warned against the move, as have former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry, saying it could be explosive for the region. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held discussions on the issue with King Abdullah of Jordan in Amman on Sunday. Palestinian officials said the king, who oversees the Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, expressed concerns about any relocation. Abbas and the king agreed a list of steps they would take if the embassy move is made, one official said.It is not clear what steps Jordan would take, but withdrawing its ambassador to Israel, halting security cooperation or suspending its 1994 peace treaty are all possible, analysts say. It also wants to ensure the large Palestinian population in Jordan does not react angrily.Egypt, which signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 and cooperates with it on security, also has reservations about any move, calling it a "very inflammable issue"."I don't want to indulge in speculation about what might or might not happen, but I think everyone recognises the importance of this issue," Foreign Minister Samed Shoukry told members of the foreign media at a briefing on Jan. 4."This is one of the final status issues that has to be addressed between the two sides ... it is our interest that all issues are resolved through negotiations." WIDER CONCERNS Another consideration for Israel is the stronger relations it has quietly been building with the Sunni Muslim world. Netanyahu speaks frequently about the "new horizon" Israel has with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Gulf states. If the United States were to shift its embassy, it could rock those ties.Israeli officials say they don't want any move to be rushed. They believe the U.S. embassy should be in Jerusalem, and Trump has said he will live up to his promise, but the decision has to be carefully thought through.Spicer said on Monday that Trump had the power to make the embassy move by executive order. But he said: "His team's going to continue to consult with stakeholders as we get there."Still, the practicalities alone are difficult. While the U.S. government has several buildings in Jerusalem, including a consulate-general dealing with the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, it cannot create an embassy overnight.The incoming U.S. ambassador, David Friedman, has told Israeli media he intends to live in Jerusalem, where he has an apartment. But shifting the entire embassy with all its security arrangements and commercial, trade, cultural and economic units from Tel Aviv to a new site in Jerusalem will take time.In the interim, Netanyahu has other political considerations. He is under investigation in two criminal cases and he faces a growing challenge from the far-right, pro-settlement Jewish Home party in his coalition.The announcement on Sunday that Israel will build more settlements in East Jerusalem was in part a move by Netanyahu to satisfy voters on the far-right pushing for more rapid settlement expansion now Trump is in office. (Additional reporting by Lin Noueihed and Ahmed Aboulenein in Cairo; writing by Luke Baker; editing by Giles Elgood and Howard Goller) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Somebody has laid flowers at the foot of the oak of the hanged. This impressive, but long-dead tree has been left exposed as the waters have receded at the Portodemouros reservoir in Agolada, a tiny community in Pontevedra province in the northwestern region of Galicia. Some in the area say that the oak, which has been submerged since the surrounding valley was flooded in 1967 under a policy of hydro-electric generation initiated by General Francisco Franco, was once the site of a number of grim events. Today, it stands alone on the edge of the once-prosperous village of Marquesado, if its sturdy walls, pillars and stone lintels now visible due to the lengthy drought in Galicia are anything to go by. This summer has been the driest since 1981 The regions two hydrographic demarcations, Galicia Costa and Mino-Sil, are on pre-alert, with reservoirs at around 45% capacity. The regional water authority, Augas de Galicia, has issued warnings to businesses and households to use water responsibly. Meanwhile, villages that were left submerged during the Franco years are enjoying a brief new lease of life as tourists visit them at the weekends. Dozens of hamlets, roads, bridges, vineyards and even prehistoric ruins and Celtic hillforts are basking in the sun while other areas of Spain are being inundated with torrential rain. The Fervenza reservoir, close to the communities of Mazaricos, Vimianzo, Dumbria and Zas, in neighboring A Coruna province to the north, is at 20% capacity. Seven months of scant rainfall has uncovered a megalithic burial mound in Bainas, which, despite being submerged for the best part of half a century, still conserves some of the dolmens that once crowned it. Marquesado, in Agolada. OSCAR CORRAL At the Belesar reservoir, in Lugo province, the biggest along the Mino river, terraced vineyards have been exposed in the Ribeira Sacra wine-producing area. Wine has been made here since Roman times, and was exported in elaborate amphorae of a design still used today, and that can be found at the town of Sober. The residents of a community that probably started out as a hill fort, Castro Candaz, on the outskirts of Chandada, which flourished in the Middle Ages, also probably made wine. The hillside could be seen in the summer months above the waters but could not be reached. But the drought has revealed an isthmus, allowing visitors to climb along its ancient walls, prompting fears among local people they could be damaged by the influx of recent months. Last summer was the driest since 1981, followed by an autumn that Spains meteorological office says has produced 40% less rain than the historical average, and with a winter that so far is showing little sign of making up for things. At the other end of the Belesar reservoir, which is at 25% capacity, is the village of Portomarin, which was submerged in 1963 to feed a hydroelectric power plant. Its bridge, lanes and cemetery have emerged from the waters unscathed. Remains at Portomarin, submerged to create the Belesar reservoir. OSCAR CORRAL Some locals close to Aceredo, in Lobios, Ourense province, still remember having to move their church and disinter relatives as the waters rose following the decision by Portugals EDP electricity company to flood the area in 1992 as part of an agreement signed decades earlier, burying five villages under water. Meanwhile, the reservoir at Lindoso has been reduced to 20% capacity, allowing visitors to wander through its narrow lanes. There are even a few lampposts standing. But the valley is not as fertile as it once was. English version by Nick Lyne. The US governments recent decision to eliminate Spanish-language content from the White House website has created a rift between the new administration and the countrys 57 million Hispanics, some of whom do not speak English. A pro-migrant rally in Washington DC. EFE More information La Casa Blanca ya no habla espanol During Barack Obamas eight years in office, the website had offered translations of English-language information and original Spanish content on topics of interest to the Hispanic community. On Monday, a White House spokesman said that the move is temporary but that it will take a while before Spanish is back. We are continuing to build out the website, both in the issue areas and then that area, said Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a press briefing. Trust me, it's just going to take a little bit more time, but were working piece by piece to get that done. But not everyone is convinced. Lets speak Spanish on the streets and at school, at the mall, in public transportation, in the squares Cristina Rivera Garza, writer Nobody should be surprised at the fact that [Donald Trump] has eliminated the Spanish-language site, says Ana Navarro, a Republican political commentator with family roots in Nicaragua and a vocal critic of the new president. As a candidate, save for making promises to the Cuban community, verbally attacking immigrants and promising to build a wall along the border paid for by Mexico, he paid no attention to the Spanish-speaking community in the US, she notes. And as a president he has failed to appoint a single Hispanic to his Cabinet, which is a first in decades, adds Navarro. During the campaign, Trumps sole references to Spanish were his depictions of Hispanic criminals as bad hombres and his recommendations to Republican hopeful Jeb Bush whose wife Columba was born in Mexico to lead by example and speak English. President Donald Trump signing an executive order. EFE The fact that weve been deleted from the website does not mean weve been deleted as Americans, says Nannete Diaz Barragan, a Democratic congresswoman born to Mexican parents who secured her seat as a representative of the state of California at the last election. In Orlando, Florida, the Puerto Rican activist Jimmy Torres sees the move as another step by Trump to win over the most reactionary sector among American racists. This man keeps feeding meat to the wolves. It is yet another show of contempt for the Latino community. In California, the state with the strongest economy and the largest Spanish-speaking community, it is practically unthinkable not to have an institutional communication channel in Spanish. From the LA subways public address system to election information, there is a Spanish version for nearly everything. LA Mayor Eric Garcettis press conferences are offered in English and Spanish. And in Florida, the population of Miami-Dade County is 65% Hispanic. In the city of Hialeah, the rate is upwards of 90%. Steve Zimmer, head of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education, emphasizes the relevance of Spanish. The fact that weve been deleted from the website does not mean weve been deleted as Americans Nannette Diaz Barragan, Congresswoman It is of fundamental importance for our parents to have access to information about their childrens education in their own language, he says in an email exchange. As a matter of fact, his office is preparing to offer translations into several languages. Zimmer, whose school district is the second largest in the country, adds that the fact that the White House has dropped the Obama administrations commitment to providing adequate service to all communities is part of a fundamental attack against our democracy, which is something that we should all be alarmed at. The situation is similar across the American southwest. In Arizona, between Tucson and the Mexican border, the road signs are in kilometers rather than in miles. In Texas, 48% of students are Hispanic, according to the Pew Research Center. Government agencies in any big US city automatically offer information in Spanish. But not so at the White House, not since last Friday. I hope this is something they hadnt prepared for, and is just temporary, says Ben Monterroso, director of Mi Familia Vota (My Family Votes), an organization that works to encourage Latino participation in politics. If it is permanent, it is more serious. Still, it is an indication of how much of a priority we are to them. You dont need to speak English to be an American. You are American by the way you contribute to this country. David Huerta is the LA president of the Services Employee International Union (SEIU), the largest services union in the US. Many members are Latino immigrants, and some of them do not speak English. This is discrimination, says Huerta. How does a person who cannot speak English communicate with the government? Not just Hispanics, but Chinese, Arab people. English is not the only language in the US. Its obvious that this is a message that when this president says America First, he is not including Hispanics, who are the first minority in this country and a majority group in many parts of the southwest. This is the new reality: the president does not see us as part of this country. Cristina Rivera Garza, a Mexican writer who teaches Hispanic studies and creative writing at Houston University, suggests a non-violent form of rebellion. The demographic changes that made Spanish a necessary, living language will not be reverted overnight. Lets speak Spanish on the streets and at school, at the mall, in public transportation, in the squares. Lets continue to write in Spanish from the United States. That will also be our own resistance against Trump. English version by Susana Urra. A 38-year-old Mexican woman born in the city of Monterrey has been arrested in the Madrid municipality of Pinto for allegedly calling on jihadists to participate in terrorist attacks. The woman, whose husband is currently in prison after being arrested in May 2016 for suspected participation in a jihadist recruitment ring, is a strict Muslim and always wears a niqab, and only moves in very limited Islamic social circles, according to Spains Civil Guard. A Civil Guard officer during an anti-terrorist operation in the Canary Islands on January 17. E. U. (EFE) More information Una mexicana, detenida en Madrid por enaltecer el terrorismo yihadista Spanish authorities have accused the woman of glorifying terrorism and believe she was a part of a stable structure dedicated to the diffusion of extremely violent jihadist propaganda using a range of online platforms and instant-messaging services, Spains Interior Ministry said in a statement. The detainee had already converted to Islam in 2010 before moving move to Spain, according to the Civil Guard. On her arrival in this country, she married a Muslim and began to spread radical messages. She managed to become one of the most important figures among women in the Islamic community in the country of her birth, sources say, promoting female jihadism and sharing propaganda material with a wide range of contacts. In its statement, the Civil Guard once again underlined the growing importance of women in the propaganda apparatus of jihadist groups, especially so-called Islamic State (ISIS). They have gone beyond just being the wives and mothers of combatants to taking on an active role in the spreading of the jihadist message and the recruitment of new followers, the force said. Spain is currently on terror alert level four, the highest since the 11-M train bombings at Atocha station in 2004. The alert was raised in June 2015 in the wake of attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait, and means increased monitoring of critical infrastructure such as airports, nuclear power plants and travel hubs. In addition, all security forces dedicated to terrorism prevention, investigation and information collection have been put on alert. English version by George Mills. Apple has picked Wistron as the primary iPhone manufacturer for India, according to a latest report from Digitimes. Wistron will be the lead supplier for 2017 iPhones which are expected to be dubbed as iPhone 8. The report further states Foxconn Electronics and other makers will become second OEMs if demand increases. Wistron will be expanding its smartphone production factories in China and India. Last month a report said that Apple was looking to build an iPhone manufacturing plant in Bangalore, India with Wistron as a partner. Apple team will meet a group of senior officials from IT and finance ministries on January 25 to discuss its demands for setting up a manufacturing unit in the country. The company has offered to manufacture iPhones in the country both for the domestic market as well as exports to boost Make in India. Apple has sent a list of demands to the Indian government, seeking tax concessions and several other policy exemptions, as necessary pre-requisites before it starts production of its iPhones in India. Last year, there was a report that said that Foxconn is close to signing a deal with Indian government to set up a manufacturing plant for iPhones in the country. In October last year, during investor callfor FYQ4 2016 earning report, CEO Tim Cook said that iPhone sales in India are up 50% in fiscal 2016 compared to the prior year. Source Xiaomi launched its most expected Redmi Note 4 smartphone in India last week. It went on open sale at 12PM yesterday. Yesterday it did not announce the number of units it sold. Today it has revealed that it sold over 2,50,000 units of Redmi Note 4 units in just 10 minutes on both Flipkart and Mi.com. Xiaomi said that the first sale of Redmi Note 4 witnessed more than 3x and 5x quantity of the first sale of Redmi 3S and Redmi Note 3 respectively. [HTML1] The second sale in scheduled for next Monday, January 30th on Flipkart and February 3rd on Mi.com. According to Flipkart listing, only the 3GB RAM with 32GB storage variant and 4GB RAM with 64GB storage variant in Gold and Dark Gray colors will go on sale next week. Xiaomi said that the Matte Black color version will be available sometime in the third week on February. The 2GB RAM version is expected to go on sale on Mi.com next Friday. To remind you, the Redmi Note 4 packs a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, similar to the Redmi Note 3, but this is powered by a an Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 SoC, instead of Hexa-Core Snapdragon 650 processor on the Redmi Note 3. It runs on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with MIUI 8 top, has a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash and phase-detection auto-focus (PDAF) and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It has brushed metal body with chamfered edges, hybrid dual SIM support, fingerprint sensor on the back, 4G LTE connectivity along with support for VoLTE (Voice Over LTE) and packs a 4100mAh battery. Commenting on the new milestone, Manu Jain, India Head Xiaomi India said: We are really thankful to everyone for making the first sale of Redmi Note 4 a great success. We are extremely ambitious about this product and it gives me immense joy to start the year with such acceptance and love for Redmi Note 4. This love motivates us to work harder to make more quantities available for our Mi Fans and build a beautiful Redmi Note 4 story in India. We are excited as we take the first step in 2017 and look forward to achieving many more milestones this year. The LG G6 will not be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and instead will come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, according to a latest report from Forbes. The reason LG G6 will have Snapdragon 821 is because Samsung called dibs on the initial quantities of Snapdragon 835. The Snapdragon 835 wont be available in large quantities until after the Galaxy S8 launches, one of the industry insiders told publication. It must be noted that Qualcomms latest processor Snapdragon 835 is made using Samsungs 10nm process. The report goes on saying that Samsungs Galaxy S8 may hit markets on April 14 in at least South Korea. The Snapdragon 821 processor was present on Google Pixel smartphones that were launched last year. This year, Xiaomi Mi 6 and Nokia with a flagship phone are said to sport the Snapdragon 835 processor. Source Spanish short film Timecode , directed by Juanjo Gimenez, is one of the five nominees for the Best Live Action Short category at the 89th edition of the Academy Awards. The full list of nominations for the upcoming Oscars , which will be held on February 26, were announced on Tuesday. Timecode arrived for consideration at the Academy hot off the back of its success at the Cannes Festival, where it won the Palme dOr for the Best Short Film. Its 15 minutes of action focus on the peculiar relationship between two security guards in a parking garage. According to the director, speaking while at Cannes, it is a story of secrets and discoveries between a male and a female employee who cover different shifts at the lot. The two protagonists are dancers with long careers, Lali Ayguade and Nicolas Ricchimi, and through them I explain that beauty can be found in the most unexpected places and with two security guards, Gimenez explained at the festival. Spanish short Timecode nominated for 2017 Oscars nominado a los Oscar 2017 The trailer for Timecode. Although the director has already made three full-length features one fiction, Tilt (2001), and two documentaries, Esquivar y pegar (2010) and Contact Proof (2014) the director, scriptwriter and producer of Timecode says that short films are in his heart, and are not just a springboard to making a full-length movie. His debut came in 1994 with Hora de cerrar, and that same year he created a production company called Salto de Eje, which later became Nadir Films. His second short film, Especial con luz (1995) was chosen by a number of festivals and was acquired by Spains state broadcaster Television Espanola. As well as Timecode, another Spanish short was among the 10 finalists being considered by the Academy for this years Oscars: Graffiti, from director Lluis Quilez, which did not make it through to the final nominations. A total of 5,000 shorts were submitted to the Academy for consideration, which were later whittled down to a longlist of 150 entries, then 10 and finally the five definitive nominations announced on Tuesday. English version by Simon Hunter. The UK governments pesticide residue testing program has revealed that the proportion of bread with two or more pesticides has doubled in the past year. One of... Read More This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices. Italian banking and insurance group Intesa SanPaolo confirmed on Tuesday it was examining a possible tie-up with insurer Assicurazioni Generali . In a statement, the lender said that its management "carefully examines and will examine any possible opportunities to strengthen its positioning and performance... including possible industrial combinations with Assicurazioni Generali." It was the first comment made by the bank since reports emerged at the weekend that the lender was interested in building a stake in Generali, Italy's biggest insurer. (Reporting by Giulia Segreti) Actor Shia LaBeouf (SHY'-uh luh-BUF') has spent the first few days of Donald Trump's presidency swaying, dancing and chanting, "He will not divide us," in front of a live camera outside a New York City museum. The livestream from outside the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is for a participatory public art project LaBeouf and two collaborators intend to have running 24 hours per day for the next four years. The scene in front of the livecam has ranged from lively, with scores of young people dancing and clapping, to lonely late at night. On Inauguration Day, actor Jaden Smith was in the crowd. LaBeouf says everyone's invited to join in. People have shown up periodically to flash "Make America Great Again" signs. Cadillac marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus with the brand's new XT5 crossover -- one of five models included in a new service that adds a luxury twist to the idea of car-sharing. Image source: General Motors. Earlier this month, General Motors' (NYSE: GM) Cadillac brand rolled out a new service aimed at affluent urban customers who might not want to own a car. It's inspired by car-sharing, and -- like ride-hailing and car-sharing services -- the idea behind it could turn out to be quite disruptive. Cadillac's BOOK is a subscription service -- with a twist BOOK is essentially a subscription service with an intriguing twist. For a flat monthly fee, members get access to any of several top-of-the-line Cadillacs, delivered right to their homes. Insurance and other costs are included, there's no mileage limit, and -- here's the twist -- BOOK members can swap the Cadillac they have for another model any time they want, up to 18 times a year. There's no long-term commitment: Membership is month-to-month. Details (including those car swaps) are handled via a cellphone app. The vehicles included are top-of-the-line Platinum-trim versions of the Escalade SUV, XT5 crossover, and big CT6 sedan, as well as the high-performance CTS-V and ATS-V models. The range opens up some obvious possibilities: For instance, one could drive a high-performance CTS-V in the summer, and then swap it for an SUV during the winter months. Or when traveling (as the service expands), one could arrange for a familiar Cadillac instead of a rental car. At $1,500 a month, BOOK isn't cheap -- but it's not outrageous, either: That fee is roughy comparable to a loan payment on a top-tier Cadillac. "We are targeting luxury buyers who are probably under more time pressure than short of money," Cadillac marketing chief Uwe (pronounced OOH-vuh) Ellinghaus told me in a recent interview. Such buyers, he said, might be happy to pay the high fee "for simply a hassle-free experience," he said. An upscale alternative to low-cost mobility services "Throughout the industry, we all talk about the big megatopics: connectivity, electro-mobility, autonomous driving, and of course car- and ride-sharing," Ellinghaus said. "These are all things that we have to handle or deal with one way or another. But I also think that within these huge areas, like for example car- and ride-sharing, we need to acknowledge that we need to differentiate our brands." When it comes to car-sharing, including GM's own Maven car-sharing service, the current trends are toward "affordable ways to get from A to B," he said. That's a good thing for many, of course. But Ellinghaus and other Cadillac executives had to confront this question in internal GM discussions last year: Is Maven the right thing for Cadillac and for the affluent customers that the brand is working hard to reach? They felt that it wasn't. "Premium customers tend to have high expectations toward every touch point with a brand," Ellinghaus said. Current car-sharing and ride-hailing services that use mainstream vehicles work for many, but they don't meet premium expectations. Cadillac saw an opportunity. "We said, let's create something for the other bookend of the car-sharing spectrum. This is where the quality of the car does make a difference. People want a top-notch luxury experience more than anything else when they subscribe to such a service." BOOK is a way to introduce the fast-improving Cadillac brand to new customers Ellinghaus said this isn't just a way to bring in some incremental profit or dabble with yet another "mobility" idea. BOOK will also play a part in the ongoing project to elevate the prestige of the Cadillac brand and help to introduce it to new customers, he said. "We might be able to conquer people that are not aware just how much Cadillac has changed -- and all for the better, how capable our cars are -- and who are simply not yet ready to go to a dealer and do a test drive. But if they can get this great experience and they don't have to go anywhere -- we deliver at home -- they [can] test the water [and find out] if Cadillac is the right brand." The hot-handling 640-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V isn't a practical daily driver for many. But what if you could get one for aweekend whenever you wanted?Image source:General Motors. "I am wholeheartedly convinced that it will win many additional buyers" for Cadillac, he said. That should reassure Cadillac's dealers, who might rightly be concerned about a GM-sponsored effort to "disrupt" the idea of luxury-car ownership. The service will refer BOOK members who want to "keep" their vehicles to a local dealer, of course. But there are also ways in which BOOK can complement a dealer's sales effort, Ellinghaus said. Are you a German-luxury-car loyalist intrigued by the latest Cadillacs, but wary of the brand's checkered history? Want a monthlong test-drive before buying? Most brands can't easily make that happen, but now Cadillac can. BOOK is another idea that could change our model of car ownership Cadillac's BOOK is an idea that almost seems obvious in retrospect -- and those are the kinds of ideas that can turn out to be disruptive. As a Foolish colleague asked when I first described BOOK to her, "Why don't all luxury-car brands already have something like this?" That seems like an excellent question, and it seems likely that they will if BOOK catches on -- which also seems likely. One could imagine it catching on with non-luxury brands, too. To take another GM example, imagine a Chevrolet subscription: A well-appointed sedan or crossover for everyday family-car use, a pickup truck when you need one for a special job, and maybe a Corvette or a four-wheel-drive Colorado for the occasional weekend getaway -- all for a flat monthly fee comparable to a loan payment on a loaded Chevy. Substitute your favorite automotive brand and try that thought experiment yourself. For the price of a monthly loan payment on one of your preferred brand's premium models, would you consider a BOOK-like subscription? Let me know. 10 stocks we like better than General Motors When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and General Motors wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017 John Rosevear owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Search All categories Advertising General Aerospace General Agriculture General Airlines General America - Post 9/11 General Apparel General Apple Products General Architectural General Architecture Architecture Art & Entertainments Books Celebrities Country Music Dance Magazines Movies Museums Music Music Downloads News & Talk Shows Performing Arts Photography Television Web Sites Arts/Culture General Auction General Automotive Aftermarket Classic Autos Consumer Publications General Motorcycle & Bike Racing Recreational Vehicle Repair & Service Trade Publications Blogging & Social Media Blogging & Social Media Business Advertising / Marketing Books Consumer Research Direct Marketing e-Commerce Entrepreneurs Finance Franchise Human Resources Insurance Investment Management Markets Network Marketing Online Marketing / SEO Payday Loans Public Relations Publications Real Estate Retail Stocks Supermarkets Women in Business Careers/HR General Chemical General Coaching / Mentoring Coaching / Mentoring Computers Apple Products Databases Games & Entertainment General Hosting Instruction Linux / GNU "Open Source" Macintosh Microsoft Windows PC Operating Systems Programming Security Software Tablet PCs Utilities Construction General Consumer Gifts and Collectibles Hobbies Web sites / Internet Design Graphic Design Industrial Web E-Cigarette General eCommerce General Economy General Education College / University General Home Schooling K-12 Post Graduate Technical Electronics General Email Marketing General EmailWire Press Releases Press Release Tips Employment/Careers General Engineering General Entertainment General Environment General Events / Trade Shows General Finance General Food General Franchise General Fraud / Identity Theft General Gaming General Government General Judicial Law Enforcement Legislative Local National Public Services Security State Transportation Healthcare General Home and Family Banking / Personal Finance Bereavement / Loss Home Furnishings / Interiors Landscaping & Gardening Marriage / Relationships Money Parenting Payday Loans Pets Taxes Wedding / Bridal Home Schooling General Hotels/Resorts General Household General Industry Aerospace / Defense Agriculture Apparel / Textiles Broadcast Construction / Building Electrical Food Funeral Healthcare Leisure / Hospitality Logistics / Shipping Manufacturing / Production Mining / Metals Oil / Energy Paper / Forest Products Plumbing, Heating & AC Print Media Printing Publishing Radio Restaurants Tobacco Toy Insurance General Internet/Online General Legal General Leisure General Lifestyle Beauty Dating / Singles Diet / Weight Loss Fashion Food / Beverage Health & Fitness Hotel / Resorts Pastimes Restaurants Retirement Travel & Tourism Machinery General Maritime General Medical Addiction Allergies Alternative Medicine Asthma Cancer Cardiology Chiropractic Dental Dermatology Diabetes Emergency Family Medicine General General Geriatrics Hospitals Infectious Diseases Internal Medicine Managed Care / HMO Medical Products Mental Health Neurology Nursing Nutrition OB / GYN Pediatrics Pharmaceuticals Physical Therapy Plastic Surgery Psychology Radiology / Imaging Research Sports Medicine Surgery Vision Military General Mining/Metals General Miscellaneous General Nanotechnology Nanotechnology Non-profit General Occupational Safety Occupational Safety Oil/Energy General Opinion / Editorial Opinion / Editorial Paper Products General Paper/Forest General Pharmaceuticals General Podcasting Announce Tools and Services Politics Politics Print Media General Public Utilities Public Utilities Publishing General Radio General Real Estate General Religion Christian General Islam Jewish Other Restaurants General Retail General RSS & Content Syndication RSS & Content Syndication Science and Research Science and Research Self-Help / Personal Growth Self-Help / Personal Growth Shipbuilding General Society African American Interests Asian Interests Childrens Issues Disabled Issues / Disabilities Gay / Lesbian Hispanic Mens Interests Native American Senior Citizens Social Services Teen Issues/Interests Womens Interest Software General Sports Baseball Basketball Bicycling Boating / Maritime Bowling Boxing Fishing Football Golf Hockey Hunting Martial Arts Outdoors Rugby Soccer Tennis Water Winter/Snow Sports/Fitness General Stocks General Supermarkets General Technology Biotechnology Computer Electronics Enterprise Software Games Graphics/Printing/CAD Hardware / Peripherals Industrial Information Internet Multimedia Networking Public Sector/Government Robotics Semiconductor Software Telecommunications Webmasters Telecom General Wireless Television General Tobacco General Trade General Transportation General Travel General Utilities General Volunteer Volunteer Weather Weather Image source: Getty Images. What happened Shares of exploration-stage and mining company Uranium Energy Corp. (NYSEMKT: UEC) gained nearly 14% as of 3:01 p.m. EST today, after President Trump made several moves that indicated his protectionist policy ideas on the campaign trail weren't empty promises. In fact, most stocks connected to uranium mining performed well today, as did several other mining companies that have had ambitious resource-extraction plans stalled or thwarted by regulators in recent years. So what President Trump signed an executive order that supported the development of two controversial pipelines, the Keystone XL and Dakota Access. Although previous judicial decisions cannot be overturned by a simple executive order, it signals that the new administration may be serious about making the most of American energy resources. More specific to mining companies, Northern Dynasty Minerals (NYSEMKT: NAK) announced today that the Trump Administration "has the desire to permit" its Pebble Project in Alaska, which is one of the world's largest undeveloped deposits of copper and gold. Development was sidelined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2014 due to the project's proximity to the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. Investors are taking that as a sign of good things to come for Uranium Energy Corp., which has mineral rights to numerous projects in several states. However, while the company has had certain projects delayed due to environmental studies in the past, the current headwind is not the EPA (which sided with the company previously), but weak uranium prices. Challenging market conditions have forced the company to reduce operations since September 2013. That has resulted in just $3 million in total revenue in the last 39 months. Now what Even if regulations become weaker and more favorable to domestic resource extraction -- a process that will take years -- they shouldn't really help Uranium Energy Corp. in a significant way. The company's current predicament is due to market conditions, not overbearing regulations. 10 stocks we like better than Uranium Energy When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Uranium Energy wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017 Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. "Excited" -- but with a "lot of uncertainty." Those words were used by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) CEO Alex Gorsky in describing his take on the healthcare industry going into 2017. President Donald Trump could deliver both excitement and uncertainty for the giant healthcare company that Gorsky leads. What impact might four to eight years of a Trump presidency have on J&J? Image source: Disney ABC Television Group via Flickr. Obamacare repeal On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order taking a swing at Obamacare. The executive order allows federal agencies to waive or delay enforcement of provisions in the health reform legislation that"impose a fiscal burden on any state or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications." President Trump promised in his campaign that he would repeal and replace Obamacare.Republicans in Congress have already taken the first steps to repeal the legislation, although details aren't available yet on what will replace it. How might a repeal of Obamacare impact Johnson & Johnson? A permanent removal of the medical device tax included in the legislation would help the company. But anyone thinking that a loss of Obamacare could mean bad news for J&J with lower hospital utilization of its products might be surprised. Alex Gorsky stated at the J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan. 9 that his company hasn't seen a significant increase in hospital volumes under Obamacare. It's possible that J&J won't feel much of an effect from repeal of the healthcare reform law. Trade policies President Trump's trade policies, however, could make a big difference for Johnson & Johnson. Nearly half of the company's revenue stems from international markets. Perhaps the most important effect on J&J could be what happens between the U.S. and China. President Trump took a hard stance against China's trade policies during his campaign. His nominee for commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, referred to China as "the most protectionist country of very large countries" in his confirmation hearing. Ross also said that the U.S. "should not put up with" unfair trading policies. A trade skirmish with China would hurt Johnson & Johnson. Although the company doesn't detail how much of its revenue comes from the country, J&J has specifically cited growth in China as a big driver for the success of several of its products, including Dabao cosmetics and prostate cancer drug Zytiga. Drug pricing President Trump wants to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. Should he succeed in making this a reality, it could cause heartburn for many drugmakers. How could this change impact J&J? Medicare spent over $5.7 billion in 2015 on seven of J&J's drugs: Imbruvica, Invega Sustena,Prezista,Remicade, Velcade, Xarelto, and Zytiga. That represented 35% of the company's combined revenue from the drugs and over 18% of J&J's total pharmaceutical sales in 2015. The financial effect on Johnson & Johnson from negotiating with Medicare will depend on how significant any price concessions are. It's fair to say, though, that the company's top and bottom lines could be negatively impacted from the proposed change. Tax reform So far, we've only looked at potential negative effects on J&J from potential actions by President Trump. However, there are a couple of the president's proposals that could help Johnson & Johnson tremendously. First, President Trump has proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. We can relatively easily calculate the potential effect of such a reduction on J&J. The company expects to make around $72 billion for 2016. Assuming that roughly 52% of that total will be generated in the U.S., J&J would pay federal taxes of $13.1 billion under the current rate. With President Trump's proposed rate, the company would pay $5.6 billion. That's an additional $7.5 billion per year for Johnson & Johnson based on its 2016 performance. Second, the president has also floated the idea of a one-time repatriation of corporate cash parked overseas at a lower tax rate of 10%. Johnson & Johnson reported $38.2 billion incash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities held by its foreign subsidiaries at the beginning of 2016. Using that amount as a guide, the company could potentially free up around $3.4 billion after taxes for use in the U.S. under President Trump's proposed repatriation plan. Overall impact What's the overall impact of President Trump's policies on Johnson & Johnson? The potential positives from the corporate tax reform proposals should outweigh any negatives from allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Repeal of Obamacare probably won't be a huge factor for the company.The big wild card, though, is the prospect of retaliatory trade policies with China. Overall, it seems likely that Johnson & Johnson will do well under the Trump Administration. After all, the company has managed to perform well under the previous 22 presidencies. I think that J&J CEO Alex Gorsky is right, though: There's a lot of uncertainty. 10 stocks we like better than Johnson and Johnson When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Johnson and Johnson wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017 Keith Speights has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Johnson and Johnson. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Now that Donald Trump is the president of the United States, investors might be wondering how the outlook for uranium miner Cameco Corp (NYSE: CCJ) has changed. The answer is more complicated than you might think. For starters, the global trends in nuclear power suggest that the forecast for Cameco is bright, but the United States' new commander and chief won't make much of a difference. Here's why. Cameco employee checking core samples at the Millennium mine. Image source: Cameco Corp. Embracing the old One of the hallmarks of President Trump's run for office was his embracing of older power options like coal and nuclear. Although he didn't exactly say he was against emerging, cleaner alternatives like solar and wind, one way he could support uranium is to scale back environmental regulations that help "clean power" compete. Another way to aid nuclear power would be to trim government incentives supporting wind and solar. Aimed specifically at nuclear power or not, these types of changes would be helpful for the uranium industry. But they won't be enough to materially alter the direction of the U.S. nuclear power industry. For example, when nuclear power giant Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) announced it was closing the iconic Indian Point power plant in New York, Bill Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, explained: That's pretty much the case across the U.S. power industry. But here's the linchpin; Mohl added: No mention of solar or wind...just the economics of competing with cheap natural gas. Trump has voiced support for natural gas and the fracking revolution that has made it so cheap and abundant. Reactor growth, the global view. Image source: Cameco Corp. The uranium future is still bright However, none of this should be a huge problem for the future of uranium or Cameco. In fact, even if Trump does nothing to support uranium, Cameco should be just fine. That's because nuclear reactor growth is expected to more than offset reactor closures between now and 2025. And the vast majority of the new reactors are expected to come from Asia, where demand for power is still increasing rapidly. To put that in perspective, through November of last year, there were nine new nuclear reactors brought online. Seven of them hailed from Asia; China alone accounted for five. Right now there are around 57 reactors in some state of construction. China, India, and Korea account for roughly half that total. Basically, nuclear power growth is happening in Asia, and that's what's going to drive long-term demand for uranium. President Trump will have little to no impact on that. Cameco is changing with the times. Image source: Cameco Corp. This trend helps explain the changes in Cameco's business, too. For example, in 2007, Asia accounted for just 7% of the company's business. Today, that's up to around 41% and is easily the largest piece of the puzzle. As new reactors open in the region, it's reasonable to expect this shift to continue. No Trump effect There are things President Trump can do to support nuclear power, like softening environmental regulations and pulling back government incentives for alternatives like wind and solar. But the fact is, a bigger part of nuclear's problem in the states is low natural gas prices that have, in turn, led to low power prices. Fixing that doesn't appear to be on President Trump's agenda. Luckily for Cameco, though, the United States is only a small part of the still-bright growth forecast for nuclear power and the uranium that feeds reactors. The real growth is coming from Asia. And that's an increasingly important region for Cameco. So, in the end, President Trump and the United States aren't likely to be a big part of Cameco's future growth, and that's OK. 10 stocks we like better than Cameco When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.* David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now...and Cameco wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys. Click here to learn about these picks! *Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017. Reuben Brewer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Senate Democrats say they plan to offer a proposal Tuesday to spend $1 trillion on transportation and other infrastructure projects over 10 years in an attempt to engage President Donald Trump on an issue where they hope to find common ground. Details of the plan provided to The Associated Press include a $200 million for a "vital infrastructure fund" to pay for projects of national significance. An example of the types of projects that could be eligible for financing from the fund is the Gateway Program to repair and replace aging rail lines and tunnels between New York and New Jersey, some of which are over 100 years old and were damaged in Hurricane Sandy. The project, which would double the number of trains per hour using the tunnels and help enable high-speed Amtrak service, is estimated to cost about $20 billion. Republican leaders, who have said previously that they're waiting for Trump to offer his own proposal, are unlikely to embrace the Democratic plan. It's not clear where Democrats would to get the money to pay for their proposal. Infrastructure was raised at a meeting Monday between Trump and Republicans. "They thought that was an area maybe to find common ground, and then Sen McConnell made the important point it needs to be paid for because we've got $20 trillion in debt," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he doesn't want another infrastructure plan that is effectively an economic stimulus program like the one Congress passed in 2009 at former President Barack Obama's behest. Trump bemoaned the state of the nation's roads, bridges, airports and railways during the presidential campaign and promised to generate $1 trillion in infrastructure investment, putting people to work in the process. But Trump has offered few specifics. Administration officials have indicated they expect Trump to offer a detailed plan this spring. "Senate Democrats are walking the walk on repairing and rebuilding our nation's crumbling infrastructure," Senate Minority leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said. "We ask President Trump to support this common sense, comprehensive approach." Democrats estimate their plan would create 15 million jobs. A proposal by two of Trump's financial advisers circulated just after the election calls for using $137 billion in tax credits to generate $1 trillion in private investment in infrastructure projects over 10 years. But private investors are typically interested only in projects like tolls that have a revenue stream to produce a profit. Tolling roads and bridges is often unpopular. A recent Washington Post poll found that 66 percent of the public opposes granting tax credits to investors who put their money into transportation projects in exchange for the right to toll. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and transportation industry lobbying groups are campaigning for a hike in direct federal spending instead of tax credits. What is needed most, they say, is money to address the growing backlog of maintenance and repair projects, most of which are unsuitable for tolling. ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Erica Werner contributed to this report. ___ Follow Joan Lowy at http://twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joan-lowy President Donald Trump hosted a meeting with the leaders of Detroitas Big Three automakers Tuesday, keeping the focus on the car industry amid a push to create American jobs. General Motors (NYSE:GM) CEO Mary Barra, Ford (NYSE:F) CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE:FCAU) CEO Sergio Marchionne joined Trump at the White House, where regulatory reform, corporate taxes and trade were topics of discussion. Also on Tuesday, Toyota made a separate announcement that its factory in Princeton, Ind., will add 400 jobs under a $600 million investment. The money will be used to modernize the facility and meet growing demand for the Highlander SUV, according to Toyota. The project will begin in the fall of 2019. aWe have a very big push going to have auto plants and many other plantsabuilt in the United States,a Trump said, adding that reducing taxes and unnecessary regulations are priorities. Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Trump, who also met with CEOs of manufacturing heavyweights on Monday, has pressured automakers to invest in U.S. factories. General Motors, Ford and Toyota (NYSE:TM) have faced Trumpas ire for expanding production in Mexico. Automakers have sought to smooth relations with the new president, headlined by Fordas decision to cancel the construction of a Mexican factory. Mark Fields, the CEO of Ford, said the industry is encouraged by Trumpas economic proposals. aWe just had a great conversation with the president, and he is very focused on policies that will grow investment and jobs here in America and American industry and, of course, the automotive industry,a Fields said as he left the White House. aI think as an industry, weare excited about working together with the president and his administration on tax policies, on regulation and on trade to really create a renaissance in American manufacturing.a Barra echoed those sentiments. aThereas a huge opportunity working together as an industry with governmentato improve the environment, improve safety and improve jobs creation and the competitiveness of manufacturing,a Barra added. Ticker Security Last Change Change % GM GENERAL MOTORS CO. 39.00 +0.49 +1.27% F FORD MOTOR CO. 13.51 +0.25 +1.89% FCAU n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. TM TOYOTA MOTOR CORP. 137.35 +2.10 +1.55% In a statement released after Tuesdayas meeting, Marchionne said Fiat Chrysler shares President Trumpas desire to build a strong manufacturing base in the U.S. aI appreciate the President's focus on making the U.S. a great place to do business,a he said. Fields also applauded Trumpas move on Monday to officially withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal that Trump often criticized on the campaign trail. The deal didnat meaningfully deal with currency manipulation, which Fields called athe mother of all trade barriers.a Will be meeting at 9:00 with top automobile executives concerning jobs in America. I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 24, 2017 Updated at 4:12 p.m. ET President Donald Trump signed executive orders Tuesday giving the green light for construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, two projects that stalled under the Obama administration. TransCanada (NYSE:TRP) first sought approval for its Keystone XL pipeline in 2008, but President Obama rejected its permit application in November 2015. Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE:ETP) Dakota Access Pipeline is already under construction. However, the Obama administration halted the project in late 2016 amid protests by environmental and Native American groups. The executive order on Keystone XL invited TransCanada to resubmit its proposal and directed agencies to expedite the approval process. TransCanada later released a statement saying it has begun preparing the application. KXL creates thousands of well-paying construction jobs and would generate tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes to counties along the route as well as more than $3 billion to the U.S. GDP, the company said. Another executive order signed on Tuesday says the U.S. Commerce Department will seek to maximize the use of U.S. steel in building the pipelines. Trump also moved to expedite the permitting process for related infrastructure projects. Ticker Security Last Change Change % TRP TC ENERGY CORP. 44.56 +0.87 +1.99% ETP n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. Both pipelines can move forward subject to a renegotiation of terms, according to Trump. During a briefing with reporters, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump wants to get the best deal for American taxpayers and allow anyone with concerns to come back to the table. The Keystone XL pipeline would connect the Canadian oil-sands region to Steele City, Neb., the meeting point of TransCanadas existing Keystone and Cushing Extension pipelines. As a cross-border project, Keystone XL also requires approval from the State Department. During the campaign, then-GOP candidate Trump said, if elected, he would ask TransCanada to reapply for a construction permit. In December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the disputed segment of the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota would need to be rerouted. Political observers expected the move to be challenged by President Trump once he took office. Energy Transfer Partners has pursued its own challenge in court, hoping to resume construction. The company has completed roughly 87% of the 1,172-mile pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline would bring crude oil from North Dakotas oil-rich Bakken shale play to southern Illinois, where oil can then be transported to Gulf Coast refineries using an existing pipeline. The Presidents decision is a major victory for workers and American families who will benefit from the jobs and economic growth that will surely follow the new North American oil that the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines are expected to deliver to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries, said Nicholas K. Akins, CEO of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP) and chair of the Business Roundtables committee on energy and environment. Energy Transfer Partners didnt immediately respond to FOX Business request for comment. A former Navy SEAL wants his coffee in the hands of America's new Commander in Chief. But he wants civilians to love his brew, too. You cant send the troops to war without coffee unless you want to lose, founder of Victory Coffees and Navy SEAL, Cade Courtley told Fox & Friends Monday. Courtley recently brought his company to ABCs "Shark Tank" but none of the sharks wanted to bite. Surprisingly, the coffee entrepeneur says not landing a deal was one of the best things to happen o him. Courtley now wants to prove the Sharks wrong-- and show fans that patriotism never fails. Victory Coffees, founded 18 months ago, is a veteran owned and veteran operated business on a mission to deliver "organically grown/fairly traded international coffee blends" right to your door. The coffee is available as whole beans, ground or even K-Cups, known as solider cups in Victory lingo. For just $1 a cup, Victory Coffees will deliver straight to your door with a monthly subscription. The company offers several varieties of bold roasted coffee: the Leatherneck is a bold, toasted, dark chocolate, full-bodied dark roast; the Sailor is a cocoa butter, maple, medium roast; the Trooper is a smooth and buttery light roast. Victory Coffees also offers the Admiral Espresso. FOR THE LATEST FOOD FEATURES FOLLOW FOX ON FACEBOOK Saw @VICTORY_coffees on @foxandfriends. Coffee delivered each month= finally found the perfect gift for my Veteren Dad. anna (@Anna_Warrington) January 23, 2017 Courtley says he's not just serving up the worlds strongest coffee he's making it a priority to employ veterans. Shark Tank tanks. Says no to veteran owned operated Victory Coffee. Will President Trump say yes? #mondaymotivation #MondayMorning Ronnie Spangler (@Mar4L) January 23, 2017 Were taking it two steps further, number one we are going to create an all veteran sales force, the victory army, theyre going to get out there, were going to deploy them, and theyre going to sell amazing coffee, says Courtley. Victory coffee will also be available for free in every VA hospital in the U.S. On Fox & Friends, Courtley even delivered a message just for President Trump. Mr. President, I challenge you to allow Victory coffee to be the exclusive coffee of the White House. BLT Steak in Japan is making a yuuuge statement with an Inauguration Day themed burger in honor of the 45th president of the United States. Behold the Trump Burger"-- a gourmet extravaganza featuring a five-ounce filet mignon patty, Gruyere cheese, caramelized apple compote and shaved truffles. The burger is made complete with a sauce made from port, balsamic vinegar, and ginger. The burger which has a slightly orange hue is made to look like "the president himself," reports Rocket News 24, with the angles of the apples placed to bear a striking resemblance to the presidents iconic hairstyle. The meaty meal can be found at two of BLT Steaks locations in Tokyos Ginza and Roppong. BLT Steak has over 30 restaurants worldwide, including a BLT Prime by David Burke located inside the new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. FOR THE LATEST FOOD FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK Though the new president is rumored to enjoy quick fast food, his eponymous sky-high burger doesn't come cheap. It's listed at $51. Those looking to get their hands on this fancy burger will have to make a reservation at least one day in advance as the restaurant only makes three Trump Burgers a day. When Dana Chianese noticed a musty smell coming from her son's Sophie the Giraffe teether, she decided to cut it open. Inside the popular baby toy, she discovered a "science experiment": The latex figurine was lined with "smelly, ugly" mold, Chianese, a pediatric dentist, recently told GoodHousekeeping.comeven though she had always cleaned it according to the instructions (with hot, soapy water and a damp sponge) and never submerged it. She's not the only mom to make that disconcerting discovery: Last February an Amazon customer posted a photo of the inside of her childs Sophie, also covered in mold. Yikes. But allergist Janna Tuck, MD, a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, isn't surprised by these reports: "Teething infants drool a lot and I think it would be impossible to keep the inside of a well-loved Sophie completely dry," she told Health via email. Mold can grow on almost any surface if there is enough moisture." RELATED: 20 Allergy-Control Products to Sneeze-Proof Your Life The good news is that a moldy chew toy isn't as risky as it sounds: "While disgusting, the amount of mold in a toy would not likely cause significant harm unless the child has an immune deficiency or a mold allergy," says Dr. Tuck, who runs a private practice in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The not-so-good news? Toys aren't the only unexpected objects that can harbor fungi (mold is a type of fungus). Mold may be lurking in your washing machine, dishwasher, blender, or refrigerator, says Dr. Tuck. It can be found in the soil of potted plants, on ceiling fans, and in window AC units. In your bathroom, it might be growing in your toilet, sinkeven in the bristles of your toothbrush, or inside your electric toothbrush. When mold grows in hidden places, it can cause real problems for people who are allergic. "They can suffer with allergic rhinitis symptoms," Dr. Tuck says, such as itchy eyes, congestion, runny nose, and sneezing. Or the mold may worsen their asthma symptoms. RELATED: 31 Everyday Things You Didn't Know You Could Be Allergic To So what can you do to keep your home fungi-free? To reduce the growth of mold in your washing machine and dishwasher, you can regularly run the "clean cycle" with diluted bleach. Most manufacturers recommend monthly cleanings, or whenever the machine begins to smell musty, says Dr. Tuck. Check the owner's manuals to see exactly how much to dilute the bleach before using. "Vinegar is a very good substitute," she adds. "I personally run vinegar in my dishwasher." When you're taking a bath or shower, always use the vent in the bathroom. Also be sure to turn on the vent in the kitchen whenever you're cooking and washing dishes, says Dr. Tuck, "to reduce spikes in ambient humidity." After you use any food prep vessel (like your blender), clean it promptly and dry it fully, so no moisture is left sitting inside. And replace your toothbrush every three months, says Dr. Tuck. Another place mold likes to hide: "cold" spots in your home. If you have rooms or closets that seem cooler than the rest of the house, leave the doors open to improve air circulation, and help prevent condensation. Leaving the fan in your central heating/cooling unit on at all times can help as well. "Mold needs water to grow. Anything you can do in your home to reduce humidity, condensation, or pooling of water goes a long way in reducing mold growth," says Dr. Tuck. This article originally appeared on Health.com. A Nebraska man received a misdemeanor ticket on Monday after using an explosive rifle to announce the gender of his baby. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Jon Sterkel and his wife Ashley thought the target would be a fun and creative way to announce they are expecting a boy in June. Sterkel shot the target Saturday on his part of rural land outside Scottsbluff and when he hit it, blue chalk powder packed around the rifle target erupted. However, Sterkel got into some hot water when worried neighbors called authorities over a possible explosion in town. Sterkel said he heard the news report and immediately called the Scotts Bluff County Sherriffs Office to explain what was going on. However, authorities issued Sterkel the ticket for using the exploding target without a permit. He told the paper he had never had any problems with the police before last weekends event. Sterkel could face up to a year in jail and a fine of $1,000. People need to follow the proper protocol, he told the paper. We never knew, and weve shot these for years. If you can go to a store and buy it, how in the world can you know its illegal? Nebraska State Patrol bomb squad leader Lt. Jim DeFreece told the World-Herald that its common for people to misinterpret the law over exploding targets. He said its legal to buy and possess exploding targets and also legal to explode them, but once the components mix and become explosive thats when it becomes a legal issue. DeFreece added that several permits are handed out each year. The Associated Press contributed to this report. President Donald Trumps inaugural address may not have risen to the rhetorical level of John F. Kennedy (The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans and Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country), or Ronald Reagans critique of government (Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem), or even Barack Obamas in 2009 (On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord), but the speech set out large goals, many details of which are yet to be revealed. Thats okay, though, because in the words of President Obama in his first inaugural address: What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them, that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long, no longer apply. The ground has not only shifted again, it may have opened up to receive the failed policies that have caused the problems Trump addressed in his speech. The new president reflected the views of his supporters when he said, We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people. He added, For too long, a small group in our nations capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. That should have made members of the establishment and politicians in attendance nervous. Perhaps they were thinking, We survived Reagans attempts to shrink government, we can survive Trump, too. Mr. Trump said his new vision would place America first and that decisions will be made based on whether they benefit the U.S. more than other countries. Perhaps his most grandiose pledge was to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism from the face of the Earth. Thats easier said than done, given that radical Islam is a philosophy tied to an apocalyptic religion with no headquarters and no single leader. He could start by following through on his promise of extreme vetting for people wanting to enter the country from nations that promote and export the terrorist ideology. Another grandiose promise reiterated one he made during the campaign: to fix the inner cities, which have been run for decades by Democrats. He said that crime, drugs and gangs have stolen many lives. This American carnage, he called it. Similar promises have been made over several administrations, but the problem seems to have only gotten worse. How does government put fathers back in homes or create families where none existed? School choice, which Trump favors, will help some, but gangs and drugs are a deeper and more complicated problem. Trump is unlike any president we have had, perhaps a bigger populist than Andrew Jackson or Theodore Roosevelt. While many of his goals lack specifics, at least he has goals and appears to care less about the journey than the destination. This could keep the depleted Democrat opposition in Congress off balance. If he continually focuses on the problem, rather than the process, the process might be simply a matter of negotiation, which Trump has long claimed is his strong suit. Every president starts his administration with a blank slate. Trump needs to keep problems front and center, moving quickly toward solutions. If the left denies these problems even exist, they lose. Trump seems to believe, as Ronald Reagan did, that the people, properly inspired, motivated and confident, are the ones who make America great and not himself, or any other politician. As that old 60s chant goes, The people united can never be defeated. Trumps best chance at uniting will come when problems begin to get resolved. If the Left wants to oppose success, let them. If youre in the mood for a good chuckle, try reading the first lawsuit filed against the new president since he was sworn in. The man hasnt even unpacked his collection of red silk ties and already he stands accused of corruption while in office. Predictably, the plaintiffs are a clique of law professors serving as arm candy for a liberal group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (an oxymoron, to be sure). Their pleadings read like a dime novel. Or a comic book. On the first page, we are warned of a secret and grave threat. The next sentence escalates it to a creeping, insidious threat. Get it? Theres a threat out there. Stephen King may write a book. But if you can wade through the melodramatic style and tortured syntax, youll find the legal arguments oozing with the conceit of pseudo-intellectuals. In other words, they make little sense. The plaintiffs claim President Donald Trump began violating the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution the moment he took office because the businesses that bear his name are surely receiving some money from foreign governments, even though he has relinquished management control and elected to donate foreign profits at Trump-owned hotels to the U.S. Treasury. Forget that the revenue derives directly from his businesses, not his high office. The lawsuit is pure legal folly because the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that these kinds of circumstances do not violate the Constitutional emoluments prohibition. The plaintiffs, for all their academic prowess, manage to define emoluments incorrectly. What The Hell Is An Emolument? And that is precisely the question: what constitutes an emolument? Never heard of it? I encourage you to read the excellent legal and historical analysis of Andy S. Grewal at the University of Iowa College of Law who published a recent study entitled, The Foreign Emoluments Clause And The Chief Executive. His review of the issues is smart, insightful and comprehensive. But if you have neither the time nor inclination to wade through 43 pages and 187 annotations, here is the abridged version. Article I, section 9, clause 8 of the Constitution states: no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under (the United States) shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The Framers were concerned that U.S. officials might be seduced by greed to use their office for personal profit, conferring benefits to foreign governments in a quid pro quo scheme for money. So they crafted the emoluments clause to prevent other countries from essentially bribing American officials, including the president. But our Founders did not define what is or is not an emolument. In search of a definition, a basic and prominent legal source, "Blacks Law Dictionary," is useful. It defines the term emolument as, Any advantage, profit, or gain received as a result of ones holding of office. The original Websters Dictionary defines it as, profit arising from office. The Oxford English Dictionary offers a near identical definition. None of these interpretations apply to President Donald Trump nor the many businesses that pre-date his presidency. Any payments to his Trump Organization do not arise from his holding the office he just assumed days ago. To the contrary, any realized profit emanates from his businesses, not his presidency. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has visited this very subject not once, but three times. In each case, the high court has consistently adopted the same definition of emoluments. That is, ordinary business transactions are not emoluments. There must be a nexus between the payment and the office. An emolument arises when a pecuniary profit is derived from a discharge of the duties of the office. (Hoyt v. United States, 51 U.S. 109) Only when a president uses his office to confer a benefit in exchange for foreign money is he in violation of the Constitution. President Trump has done no such thing. The plaintiffs accuse him of no such conduct. What is astonishing is how the plaintiffs ignore history in the context of the Framers intent. The first five presidents were farmers and plantation owners who maintained their businesses while in office. Some of their crops, especially tobacco, were sold abroad to companies and foreign governments. These sales were never regarded, even by their political opponents, as emoluments because they were unrelated to the holding of office. So, how they can these learned professors, in good conscience, sue the President for something which the Supreme Court has said is perfectly constitutional? Well, I tend to think that professors view the law through the prism of an alternative reality. Or their political beliefs corrupt their legal judgments. Two of the plaintiff professors published a column shortly before the presidential election demanding that Trump release his tax returns. This lawsuit appears to be nothing more than a pretext to force him to do so. If true, this is egregious misconduct. The federal court system should never be used and abused for political purposes. The Plaintiffs Have No Standing To Sue In order to maintain a legitimate lawsuit in federal court, the plaintiffs must demonstrate they have or will sustain a direct harm that that the court can remedy or rectify. It is called standing. Being displeased with a president does not constitute standing to sue. So how are the plaintiffs harmed? The simple and obvious answer is they are not. And their own, rather laughable arguments prove it. Beginning on page 23 of their civil action, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asserts that it has been harmed because it has received hundreds of requests from the media about the emoluments clause and has been forced to divert its time and resources from its public-education activities to respond to these questions. OK, you can laugh now. That sentence makes no sense. By taking the time to educate the public through the media, it has been unable to fulfill its public-education activities. A genius argument. The plaintiffs also claim their attorneys have spent so much time researching the new president and exploring potential legal actions against him that their costs have increased. Really? Isnt that their own fault? If they had bothered to read the Supreme Court decisions on the emoluments clause, they could have dispensed with the entire matter in a leisurely afternoon. Frivolous = Sanctions & Contempt This case is not just lacking any legal merit, it is manifestly absurd. Under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, someone who brings a frivolous lawsuit can be sanctioned by the court, or even held in contempt. In my experience, some law professors live in a land of make-believe. There is something about the seclusion of an ivory towers academic existence that twists and distorts reality. Perhaps it is time a federal judge slap these profs with some meaningful sanctions. Maybe that will wake them up from their pedantic slumber. And give them pause the next time they consider misusing our system of justice for purely political purposes. The headline on the front page of the Washington Post sure sounded impressive: More than 1,100 law school professors nationwide oppose Sessionss nomination as attorney general. Since then, the total has increased to 1,424 faculty members from 180 law schools in 49 different states. With Senate Judiciary committee getting ready to vote on Senator Jeff Sessions confirmation today, the letter is being used as Exhibit A for many liberals arguing that experts view Sessions as unqualified and outside the mainstream. But with 17,080 faculty members nationwide, perhaps the real question is why there were so few signers. Only 8.3 percent of faculty members signed the letter. Given that 82 percent of law professors identified themselves as Democrats in 2010, one can infer that only about 10 percent of Democrat professors signed the letter. From 1991 to 2002, over 23 percent of law professors at the top 20 law schools contributed at least $200 exclusively or mostly to Democrats. By contrast, just 4 percent of law professors were active Republican donors. Assuming that over 23 percent figure has held true today (and given the inordinate hatred for Trump, this might be an underestimate), just a third of active donors to Democrats signed the letter. The letter itself is written vaguely to maximize signatures. There is a regurgitation of charges made in 1986 that Sessions was prejudice[d] against African Americans. It continues: Some of us have concerns about his consistent promotion of the myth of voter-impersonation fraud ... his support for building a wall along our countrys southern border his robust support for regressive drug policies that have fueled mass incarceration his repeated opposition to legislative efforts to promote the rights of women and the members of the LGBTQ community. The faculty members could disagree with all of these points and still be able to sign the letter. Indeed, it is hard to find any other letter signed by academics (and there are a lot of them) that offers so many escape clauses for signers. But the goal was to get signatures, not to provide a coherent argument against Sessions. The charges themselves are absurd. Take their first claim. Only liberal academics would believe that voter-impersonation fraud is a myth. A recent study in the peer-reviewed journal Electoral Studies estimated that illegal aliens cast about 1.4 million votes in the 2008 and 2010 elections, and that their votes likely gave Senate Democrats the pivotal 60th vote needed to overcome filibusters in order to pass health care reform and other Obama administration priorities in the 111th Congress. Here are some cases of suspected impersonation fraud discovered during just the month-and-a-half prior to the November election: San Pedro, Calif.: 83 absentee ballots were sent to different registered voters who all supposedly lived in the same small, two-bedroom apartment. If not for an observant neighbor, this case would never have been discovered. Pennsylvania: Democrat organization FieldWorks LLC was raided by Pennsylvania State Police on allegations that it fraudulently filled out registration forms for thousands of voters. Indiana: State police believe there could be hundreds of fraudulent voter registration records with different combinations of made up names and addresses with peoples real information. Chicago: An investigation by CBS-2 found that 119 dead people have voted a total of 229 times in Chicago in the last decade. Virginia: After examining just eight of the states 133 counties, 1,046 illegal aliens were discovered to already be registered voters. New York City: In an undercover video, Democrats themselves were caught complaining about the amount of voter fraud created by Mayor Bill de Blasios decision to give out ID cards without checking recipients identities. The law professors second claim doesnt cite any specific concerns about the wall along the Mexican border. So there is nothing to respond to. Their third claim blames drug crimes for mass incarceration. But in 2012, only 20 percent of inmates at state and federal prisons were incarcerated for possessing or trafficking any type of illegal drugs and those sentences were primarily for trafficking hard drugs. Data from Arizona indicate that as few as 0.3 percent of inmates were incarcerated for marijuana possession, and these are rare individuals who have been arrested multiple times. In California, only 1 percent of state prisoners are incarcerated for any type of marijuana-related offense. The fourth claim doesnt mention any specific things that Sessions has done to harm women or others. But presumably it focuses what was raised during the hearings, Sessions vote against the Violence Against Women Act. But neither law professors nor his opponents during the hearings over the last two days have seriously addressed Sessions explanation for his vote. Sessions had previously supported the Act, but opposed its renewal in 2012 over concerns that it was unconstitutional when changes were made expanding Indian tribes jurisdiction over non-tribal members. Tribal courts also have a history of failing to provide adequate legal protections to defendants. No evidence was ever provided that prosecuting non-tribal members in US courts posed any problems to protecting Indians. Academics keep making fools of themselves with letters like this, which have everything to do with not wanting a Republican attorney general who supports policies they disagree with. Their letter has nothing to do with Sessions ability to uphold the law in good faith. It is only day five of the Trump administration, and the commander-in-chief is already launching a shock and awe campaign against the Washington establishment. President Trump is not wasting any time enacting his agenda. He is following through on the pledge he made on the campaign trail and in his inaugural address: The days of all talk and no action are over. In fact, just hours after his swearing-in on Friday as the 45th president of the United States, Trump immediately took action to undo the damage left behind by President Obama. Trump on Friday signed an executive order that could go a long way toward dismantling the disastrous health care law known as ObamaCare. On Day 2, President Trump took action to freeze all new and pending federal government regulations. On Monday, he pulled the U.S. out of the job-killing Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal. And he has already spoken with the leaders of Canada and Mexico in what is likely the opening talks to begin to renegotiate the issue of NAFTA. TRUMP'S TASK: CLEANING UP AFTER OBAMA The administration also announced that the British Prime Minister Theresa May, will visit the White House Friday in what could be the beginning of a post-Brexit trade deal with one of our oldest and most important allies. President Trump also visited the CIA, where he promised to unleash the capabilities of the agency to defeat radical Islamic terrorism, a phrase his administration is not afraid to use to describe our real enemies. Finally, on Monday, which Trump described as his first real day in office, Trump met with business leaders and promised to drastically cut tax rates and take an axe to business regulations. What we're doing is we are going to be cutting taxes massively for both the middle class and for companies, he said. And that's massively. We're trying to get it down to anywhere from 15 to 20 percent. We think we can cut regulations by 75 percent -- maybe more -- but by 75 percent, he added. Trump didn't stop there. He also sat down with labor union leaders to focus on bringing jobs back to American soil. He also signed three executive orders, including one that begins the process of withdrawing from the TPP trade agreement, another that places a hiring freeze on all non-military federal workers, and he used his pen to ban federal funding for foreign non-government organizations that use the money to either promote or pay for abortions. Trump finished his very busy Monday by meeting with the House Speaker Paul Ryan, where it's reported that they discussed repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Make no mistake about it: President Trump is doing exactly what he said he would do. Thats unheard of and maybe even frightening, in Washington. But outside the beltway, it is refreshing. Adapted from Sean Hannity's opening monologue on "Hannity," Jan. 23, 2017 The Dominican Republic will vote for a president on Sunday in a decision likely to come down to whether Dominicans are more frustrated with the current government, or more fearful of what might happen under a former president whose single term ended with the deepest economic crisis in the modern history of the country. After eight years under President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Liberation Party, or PLD, Dominicans will decide whether they are ready to give former President Hipolito Mejia, a gaffe-prone populist, another chance in office. Mejia's four-year presidential term ended in disaster, with a banking crisis that sunk the economy and caused so much misery and scarcity that tens of thousands of people fled the country and voters cast him out of office. The question is whether they are more tired of the current government or more fearful of what might happen under Mejia. Rosario Espinal, director of the Latin American Studies Center at Temple University The alternative for Dominicans is Danilo Medina, an old rival who last faced Mejia in 2000 and lost decidedly to him. The pair face off again in Sunday's election and several polls show ruling party-candidate Medina could win with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote, thus avoiding a runoff. The question now is whether enough time has gone by for crucial swing voters to give Mejia another chance, said Rosario Espinal, director of the Latin American Studies Center at Temple University in Philadelphia. "The country is not in a crisis like it was in 2003 and 2004. It's a very different situation," said Espinal. "But there is a lot of disenchantment with the government, especially with the high cost of living." Espinal, a leading political analyst of the country, said the election will turn on the narrow slice of the electorate who are not affiliated with either the PLD or Mejia's opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party. "The question is whether they are more tired of the current government or more fearful of what might happen under Mejia," she said. Fernandez is not running for a third consecutive term. Medina, 60, is a party stalwart who has promised to improve upon but not make any major changes to the policies of the outgoing president, who has embarked on a massive public works campaign that included a subway system modeled after the one in New York. Ramona Hernandez, director of the Dominican Studies Institute of the City University of New York, said it will be in part a generational struggle between those who remember the crisis, which was set off by the failure of three banks and resulted in a nearly 20 percent drop in GDP, and those who never lived through it. "People between 40 and 60 years old, they haven't forgotten. He has a history," Hernandez said of Mejia. "But he has a chance with younger people." In addition to president, Dominicans are electing a vice president from a field that includes the heavily favored First Lady, Margarita Cedeno de Fernandez, and seven members of the Chamber of Deputies who will represent people who have settled overseas. Tens of thousands are expected to cast ballots in places with large numbers of Dominicans, including New York, New Jersey, Florida and Puerto Rico. Politics in the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, largely revolves around the PLD and Mejia's Dominican Revolutionary Party, or PRD. Both were founded as Marxist parties by Juan Bosch, president for a year in 1963 until he was ousted in a coup. The two have come to embrace free trade, generally pro-business policies and close ties to the U.S. The PLD is considered "center right," largely because it's in power, and the PRD is said to be center-left but the differences largely turn on personality, loyalty and patronage. The presence of the first lady is something of a wild card. Martha Jimenez, a 29-year-old who sells lottery tickets, said she has always supported the PRD but this year she will support the Dominican Liberation Party of Cedeno because the first lady helped her sister, who was badly burned in an accident, get a skin transplant. "I don't know how to thank her. She has given us so much," Jimenez said. Both presidential candidates have proposed to increase spending on education and to do what they can to create jobs in a country of 10 million people that is largely dependent on tourism and where unemployment is officially about 14 percent, though the vast majority of workers are in the poorly paid informal sector. The typical salary for those who do have regular jobs is around $260 per month. The Dominican Republic has also become an important route for drug smugglers seeking to reach the U.S. through nearby Puerto Rico and there are widespread concerns about the influence of drug trafficking. They have also traded accusations of incompetence and corruption. Medina is a technocrat who has spent much of his life in politics. "I'm no fan of Danilo (Medina). He's kind of dull," said Miguel Pichardo, a 27-year-old taxi driver. "But I'm going to vote for him because I don't want Hipolito to come back." Mejia, a 71-year-old who refers to himself as "Papa" and styles himself as a man of the people, has also enlivened the campaign with some of the verbal missteps for which he has long been famous. Most recently, he joked that house maids are prone to steal meat from the houses where they work so they can give it to their boyfriends, not a wise comment in a country where more than half the population works in the informal section, many of them as maids. Mejia "talks a lot of nonsense," said Maria Altagracia Ramirez, a 26-year-old maid. "How could I vote for him? That man is crazy." Reporting by the Associated Press. Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino Like us at facebook.com/foxnewslatino The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's choice to head the Central Intelligence Agency Monday evening, while Trump's pick for secretary of state cleared his first hurdle en route to becoming America's top diplomat. Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo was confirmed as CIA Director by a 66-32 vote, the closest of three Senate votes on Trump appointments. Thirty Democrats, along with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., opposed Pompeo, variously citing his positions on key issues like surveillance, torture and Russia's meddling in the 2016 election campaign. The libertarian-leaning Paul told Fox News that he voted against Pompeo because of worries that Pompeo's "desire for security will trump his defense of liberty." Pompeo, who was sworn in Monday evening by Vice President Mike Pence, will lead the CIA at a critical time for U.S. national security, when intelligence -- traditionally a nonpartisan issue -- has been thrust into the political arena. Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies' findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign with the goal of electing him over Hillary Clinton. Earlier Monday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted along party lines to approve former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as President Trumps secretary of state, setting up a full Senate vote as early as next week. Tillerson was assured of enough votes to avoid an embarrassing defeat in committee after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., decided to vote "yes" on Tillerson's nomination. Rubio voted for Tillerson despite his concerns, and those of others on the committee, about Tillerson's past business ties with Russia. He has a proven record of running a large, complex company, Rubio said before voting yes. For me, this wasnt simply a concern about Russia. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. the top Democrat on the committee, voted against Tillersons nomination. I believe Mr. Tillersons demonstrated business orientation and his responses to questions during the confirmation hearing could compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined our country and our leading role in the world for more than 200 years, he said before the vote. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had expressed concerns about Tillerson similar to those raised by Rubio. However, the senators said Sunday that they would support Tillerson in the final floor vote. "Though we still have concerns about his past dealings with the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin, we believe that Mr. Tillerson can be an effective advocate for U.S. interests," they said in a joint statement. Tillerson's nomination is expected to be approved by the full Senate since the Republicans have 52 senators in the chamber and 51 of them, a simple majority, are needed to vote yes." As CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson spoke out against U.S. sanctions levied on Moscow following its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The penalties cost the energy giant hundreds of millions of dollars. Fox News' Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report. A group of airline pilots will rally Tuesday outside the White House in hopes of getting President Trump to intervene on a ruling by the former Obama administration that they say could eliminate tens of thousands of U.S. airline jobs. The group of roughly 100 Southwest Airlines and NetJets pilots will voice their opposition to a December 2 decision by the Transportation Department to allow Norwegian Air International to service the United States, arguing the airline can undercut labor costs because its headquarters is in Ireland. Critics of that strategy call the business tactic a flag of convenience scheme. Norwegian Air International is a subsidiary of low-cost European carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle, based in Norway. Even before President Trump was in office, we supported his pro-worker mantra, Chip Hancock, a Southwest Airlines Pilots Association official, said Monday. Hes looking out for American workers. He and Coley George, of NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots, said they were hearted by Trump on Monday -- the start of his first full week in office -- for getting the United States out the Obama-backed international trade deal known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Another bad trade deal approved by Obama, George said. The pilots and their unions have until January 29 to get Trump to stop the change. Norwegian started asking to provide air service to the U.S. as far back as 2013, amid objections from airline carriers, unions and others that the change could undercut labor costs, safety regulations and domestic-airline ticket prices. However, the agency gave final approval last month, saying it found no legal reason to reject Norwegians application. A group of labor unions has also reportedly filed a lawsuit in a federal appeals court, in an attempt to stop the change. The legal argument about the Obama administrations decision is that it violates a part of so-called Open Skies agreements that state unrestricted flights among countries are not intended to undermine labor standards. This decision is just another failed trade deal by the Obama administration, giving foreign companies an unfair advantage over U.S. companies, said Captain Jon Weaks, SWAPA president. Only President Trump has the power to reverse the reckless approval. For nearly an hour and a half yesterday, Sean Spicer stood in the White House briefing room and answered reporters questions. There were no fireworks, no raised voices. Both sides behaved. There were lots of questions and answers about trade, health care, immigration, Russia, Gitmo and on and on. If the new administration is at war with the media, as President Trump put it, this was a brief truce. And it was in marked contrast to the events of Saturday, when Spicer delivered a harsh scolding to the press on the subject of inaugural crowd size and the erroneous report on the MLK bust being removed from the Oval Office. That, in turn, sparked 48 hours of intense coverage, with news organizations either accusing Trump and Spicer of lying or of picking a petty fight that stepped on the new presidents own message. But brushing back the press was the message, one that candidate Trump delivered constantly throughout the campaign. I dont believe this was about crowd size at all, though we learned at all those rallies that Trump cares about such things. It was a proxy war over the way the new administration is being covered, and a warning shot that he and his team will loudly challenge the press over what they see as unfair coverage. Perhaps the White House press corps, having saved their real estate in the briefing room, didnt want to be seen as overbearing during the televised event. Virtually all the reporters asked serious and substantive questions. ABCs Jonathan Karl brought up Saturdays lecture and asked if Spicer would lie to the press corps. The press secretary, of course, said he would never intentionally lie, but noted that the media make mistakes all the time and that doesnt mean they are intentionally trying to deceive. His side should be accorded the same presumption, said Spicer, who corrected a mistake about Metro subway ridership having been higher last Friday than for Barack Obamas first inauguration. When CNNs Jim Acostawho Spicer admonished after he interrupted the president-elect at Trump Towerasked why the White House had made such a big deal of the crowd-size matter, the new spokesman went on a riff. He said there was a constant media narrative that Trump was about to fail, such as the scoffing that he could win Michigan or Pennsylvania or the election itself, and that this has become frustrating and demoralizing. Spicer didnt go as far as Reince Priebus, who told Chris Wallace the press was trying to delegitimize the Trump presidency. But he was basically insisting that their team cant catch an even break. Every president has testy relations with the press at times, but I havent seen anything remotely resembling this level of hostility, at least not since the Nixon days. Can both sides dial it down and forge a working relationship? Yesterdays briefing was a good sign. But as I said on Special Report, Trump has a Twitter account and hes not afraid to use it, so Im expecting a rocky ride. Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh The British government Monday refused to confirm a published report that said its military suffered a major failure when an unarmed ballistic missile was test-fired off the coast of Florida last year. Sir Michael Fallon, the countrys defense secretary, refused to go into operational details about the Trident test last year, but said he has absolute confidence in the system, according to the BBC. The prime minister was asked about the missile test after the Sunday Times reported that an unarmed missile launched from a submarine off Florida's coast in June veered off course and may have headed toward the U.S. The newspaper said top government officials decided to keep the failure of a Trident II D5 ballistic missile out of the public eye because of an upcoming debate the next month in Parliament over whether to spend 40 billion pounds to refurbish the aging Trident, the cornerstone of Britain's nuclear deterrent system. The government triumphed in that debate, winning overwhelming support for the Trident overhaul in July, but some opposition figures in the British government now seek an inquiry into the reported missile failure and a possible cover-up. Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, who opposes having the Trident submarine fleet based in Scotland, said reports of a failure and cover-up are a "hugely serious issue." Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, also a Trident opponent, called it "a pretty catastrophic error." The Associated Press contributed to this report Disgraced former anchor Dan Rather knows a thing or two about alternative facts. So, in a sense, Rather, 85, was the perfect guest for Chris Matthews Hardball on Monday. But in an ironic twist worthy of an Alanis Morissette lyric, the veteran newsman who once used forged documents as the basis for a politically damning report about former President George W. Bush took President Trumps counselor Kellyanne Conway to task for her language defending Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Conway dubbed Spicers interpretation of events surrounding Trumps inauguration as alternative facts. For the ex-anchor who steadfastly refused to apologize or fully acknowledge the counterfeit Bush documents even after CBS retracted the story this phrase was a step too far. MEDIA, LATE NIGHT PILE ON KELLYANNE CONWAY To say it was unfortunate is to put it mildly, Rather said at the beginning of a lengthy monologue. This is a big mistake. Listen, we cannotnone of us can go into this world of alternative facts. Listen, two plus two equals four, thats a fact, theres no alternative to it. Water runs downhill. Thats a fact. It snows in Alaska. Theres sand dunes in Saudi Arabia. These are facts. This idea of alternative facts this is a propaganda tool. And, look, you and I know Miss Conway is a very smart lady, and she didnt just offhandedly say this. They made this point before. I dont think that even most of the...Trump supporters who really believe in him, want us to deal in a world of alternative facts. Facts and the truth, or as close as it is humanly possible to get to the truth, are at the very foundation of our democracy and dealing with an informed citizenry. Rathers retirement from the "CBS Evening News" in 2005 was likely sped up after the Bush incident. Rathers report used phony documents in a Sept. 8, 2004, segment alleging Bush went AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard in the 1960s and 1970s. But typography experts quickly found issues with the documents, which were soon exposed as forgeries. Rather initially refused to retract the story, instead on Sept. 20 apologizing but only conceding that he couldnt vouch for the documents authenticity. CBS, however, retracted the story and fired several people involved in its production but not Rather. In a story about the Rather scandal, The New York Times used a headline terming the report fake but accurate, which may even go beyond alternative facts. A new poll suggests one in three California residents would support a possible secession from the U.S. because of their opposition to President Donald Trump. "There's such hostility towards Trump that many citizens believe it would be smarter to leave than fight," Democratic political strategist Steve Maviglio told Reuters. Maviglio ran a campaign in 2016 against an initiative to break California into six separate states. A Reuters survey revealed Monday that 32 percent support the so-called Calexit, an increase of 12 percent since the last poll was conducted in 2014 during the same time Scotland held its independence referendum and chose to stay in the United Kingdom. National poll results revealed 22 percent favored secession, down from 24 percent in 2014. According to Reuters, the poll questioned 500 Californians among more than 14,000 others nationwide from Dec. 9 to Jan. 19. The polls margin of error in California was 5 percentage points and 1 percentage point among nationwide adults. Yes California, a group promoting the idea of a peaceful secession from the union, submitted a measure in November to the state attorney generals office in hopes a referendum could reach the 2018 election. The Los Angeles Times reported the group says that Californians are culturally different from the rest of the U.S. and that the media and other organizations hammer Californians for being out of touch. We always thought that if we just connected with the people who thought about this, but didnt tell their friends and family because they would be seen as kooky and weird, that the quiet population would become vocal, Marcus Evans, vice president of Yes California, told the Sacramento Bee. He added that if California would to successfully secede, it would be the sixth largest economy in the world. A senior U.S. Secret Service agent posted social-media condemnations of President Trump during the past seven months, including one in which she said she wouldn't want to "take a bullet" for him. She explained herself saying she viewed his presidential candidacy as a "disaster" for the country, and especially for women and minorities. Kerry O'Grady, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service's Denver district, oversees coordination with Washington-based advance teams for all presidential candidate and presidential trips to the area, including all upcoming or future trips by the president, vice president or Trump administration officials. Despite her senior security role, she has made her disdain for Trump and his incoming administration clear to her Facebook followers, who included current and former Secret Service agents and other people who were employees at the time of the posts. O'Grady's posts triggered at least one complaint to the office that oversees investigations into Secret Service misbehavior, two knowledgeable sources told the Washington Examiner. Click for more from The Washington Examiner. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has not backed down from his vow to eradicate sanctuary city policies from the Lone Star State, officially offering a stark warning to Austins sheriff on Monday. Abbott warned Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez that her jail would become the first in the state to lose taxpayer money over sanctuary city policies unless she reverses her plans to curtail working with federal immigration authorities by February. "This is not a pronouncement of sound public policy; it is a dangerous game of political Russian roulette with the lives of Texans at stake," Abbott wrote in a letter, according to the Texas Tribune. The newly-elected sheriff said in a statement Friday that starting Feb. 1 she would end the policy of honoring all jail detainers sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hernandez, a Democrat, ran on promises to change how detainers were going to be handled. Abbott responded to Hernandez in a tweet on Friday, warning strict penalties for adopting sanctuary policies. "Your unilateral decision will cost the people of Travis County money that was meant to protect them," Abbott wrote. He said funding would be lost by Feb. 1 unless the county changes course. Abbott, who attended President Donald Trumps inauguration on Friday, is now effectively threatening to carry out Trumps promise to stop all federal dollars to places where local officials rebuff federal agents and don't arrest or detain immigrants living in the country illegally on the state level. He has previously warned local officials against adopting sanctuary policies but has not delivered such a direct ultimatum before now. Travis County could lose up to $1.8 million in grants because the governor's office requires compliance in order to receive grants. The Travis County sheriff's office has a $169 million budget, according to the county's budget website. The $1.8 million would represent 1 percent of that budget. A spokeswoman for Hernandez said she had no immediate comment on Abbott's letter, but in a video posted to YouTube last week, the sheriff said honoring all federal immigration detainers ties up her deputies and sows distrust between officers and county residents. Detainers are requested when federal immigration authorities, while reviewing jail records, raise concerns about whether a suspect is in the country legally and asks for them to remain jailed so their status can be investigated. Hernandez said the sheriffs office would still hold people only when a suspect is booked into the Travis County Jail on charges of capital murder, aggravated sexual assault and continuous smuggling of persons. Critics contend that the system results in suspects making long stays in jails or being deported over minor crimes. Under Travis County's new policy, the jail will now only comply with detainers on murder, aggravated sexual assault and human trafficking charges. For other crimes, Hernandez said she would keep suspects jailed when there is a court order or judicial warrant issued. "We cannot afford to make our community less safe by driving people in to the shadows," Hernandez said. Abbott similarly threatened Dallas County in 2015 over how the local jail worked with federal immigration authorities. But he never gave a deadline then and ultimately never withheld any funding to Dallas jails. Houston law enforcement officials could also ultimately test Abbott. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, who until last year was Austin's police chief, said this weekend he supports working with federal immigration agents over "hardened criminals" but not what he called "peaceful, law-abiding" residents. "We don't have time to deal with economic immigrants," Acevedo said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Environmental Protection Agency officials were reportedly told to freeze all grants and contracts within hours of President Donald Trumps inauguration ceremony. The Washington Post reported that an email was sent Friday to employees of the Office of Acquisition Management from the incoming EPA administration to temporarily suspend all contract and grant awards. The move isnt unprecedented, according to Competitive Enterprise Institute director Myron Ebell, who oversaw the EPA transition for the Trump administration. Theyre trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they dont want to have happen, so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first, Ebell told ProPublica on Monday. This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but its very similar to what others have done. However, one employee told the publication that he couldnt recall a similar event happening in 10 years with the agency. The EPA awards more than $4 billion in funding for government grants and contracts each year. Click for more from The Washington Post. Between his vows to replace ObamaCare, build a border wall and renegotiate trade pacts, President Trumps inbox is mighty full his first week in office. But one of the biggest challenges will be the Department of Veterans Affairs, where massive problems persist many in the same hospital that was the epicenter of the waiting-list scandal that rocked the agency, and shocked the public, in 2014. Until Congress passes strong accountability measures, VA employees from top to bottom will have little incentive to change this toxic culture, said Mark Lucas, executive director of Concerned Veterans for America, a veterans advocacy group. A recent survey of employees at the Phoenix facility reported employees have little confidence in the integrity of their supervisors -- findings Lucas called unsurprising. Two government audits also found little improvement and costly inefficiencies in the agency as a whole. Trump, who vowed during the campaign to overhaul the scandal-scarred department, has nominated Dr. David Shulkin, a VA undersecretary in the Obama administration, to take over. If confirmed, Shulkin and Trump together will confront problems that extend well beyond morale issues. The Government Accountability Office for the third year reportedly will place the VA health system on its high risk list when its released in February, because of continued problems of waste, fraud or mismanagement. The forthcoming report will say the VA has showed only limited progress since the scandal erupted. The VA Office of Inspector General also reported earlier this month that in 2015, the VA awarded more than $177 million in improper relocation or retention bonuses based on inaccurate information to 238 different employees, many of them executives. The report blamed the VA for ineffective oversight processes to ensure compliance, and ineffective procedures to recoup funds from individuals with outstanding recruitment and relocation incentive service obligations. And the January survey of employees at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center in Phoenix which has had seven directors since 2014 revelations about VA officials falsifying patient wait times as some died waiting for care found fewer than one-third of employees feel their supervisors have integrity or that whistleblowers would be protected. Trumps 10-point plan to reform the VA included firing bad employees; creating a special commission to investigate cover-ups; and ensuring veterans have the option of VA vouchers for private health care. The department clearly is still high risk. Yet some of Trumps goals already are in the process of being realized, said Joe Chenille, executive director for the veterans advocacy group AmVets. We have gone from 19 percent getting care from outside sources, paid for by the VA, to 31 percent, Chenelly told Fox News. My prediction is a surge of people will want care outside the system. Shulkin, who has experience as a hospital CEO, came to the agency with now-former VA Secretary Bob McDonald to make reforms after the scandal, and has the confidence right now of the Trump administration. Dr. Shulkin is a nationally-recognized turnaround artist, health care leader, and passionate veterans advocate who is eager to transform the VA and will be able to do so in the Trump administration, Trump spokesman David White said. If confirmed, Dr. Shulkin will be ready on day one to enact President Trumps 10-point plan to end mismanagement and incompetence at the VA, and ensure our veterans get the timely, quality care and support they deserve. A VA spokeswoman declined to comment and deferred to the Trump team. A new VA secretary isnt enough, though, said Lucas of the CVA. These are problems that arose as a result of a system that is set up to fail, a system no one leader can change without meaningful reforms from Congress, Lucas said. The VA needs to be transparent with veterans and taxpayers about its performance and how money is being spent. But most importantly, veterans deserve to be empowered with choice over where and when to see a doctor. In September, RimaAnn Nelson, became the seventh director of the Phoenix veterans health system since the 2014 scandal. Nelson is no stranger to other VA controversies. She previously was director of the St. Louis system, where an inspector general report determined 1,812 patients were potentially exposed to hepatitis and HIV infections because of breaches in cleaning and sterilization of medical equipment. President Trump signed executive orders on Tuesday effectively reviving the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, as a major builder said it will reapply to build one of the projects which had been stalled by the Obama administration under pressure from environmental and other groups. The president said the projects would be subject to a renegotiation of the terms. But he made clear the government was resuming consideration for both pipelines, describing them as a potential boon to construction workers. Were going to put a lot of steel workers back to work, Trump said. Well build our own pipelines, we will build our own pipes. Builder TransCanada said Tuesday afternoon it was "preparing the application" for the Keystone XL pipeline. "We appreciate the President of the United States inviting us to re-apply for KXL," TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said in a statement. "KXL creates thousands of well-paying construction jobs and would generate tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes to counties along the route as well as more than $3 billion to the U.S. GDP," Cunha added. According to White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Trump directed agencies to approve it without delay -- and told agencies to expedite reviews and approvals for the remaining parts of the Dakota project. Theres an energy revolution thats going to happen in this country, he said. The president also signed three other orders related to pipeline construction, including one expediting the environmental permitting process for infrastructure projects and one directing the Commerce Department to maximize the use of U.S. steel. Looking ahead, Trump also announced he planned to nominate a justice for the Supreme Court next week, moving swiftly to try to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The president was summoning top senators to the White House later Tuesday to discuss his upcoming nomination. The moves on the pipelines had been widely expected, as Trump last year blasted his predecessor for effectively blocking the projects. Republican allies hailed Tuesdays orders, with House Speaker Paul Ryan saying in a statement, Its about time. North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer said: Todays executive orders affirm President Trumps respect for the rule of law and his support for responsible infrastructure development, energy production and job creation. Former President Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing lines running to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needs to approve the pipeline because it would cross the nation's northern border. Separately, late last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, though Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes that and says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The project had been the subject of fierce protests until the Army Corps of Engineers stepped in. The moves are likely to spark a new fight with environmentalists. Even before Trumps orders were official, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune put out a statement blasting what he called the dangerous decision. The Keystone pipeline was rejected because it was not in the countrys interest, and the environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline was ordered because of the threats it poses to the Standing Rock Sioux. Nothing has changed. These pipelines were a bad idea then and theyre a bad idea now, he said. The moves come as Trump makes the economy and jobs the centerpiece of his administrations first week in office. He met Tuesday morning with representatives from the auto industry including GM and Ford, after meeting a day earlier, separately, with business and union leaders. The pipelines were among the few issues that put the Obama administration at odds with labor unions, some of whom have voiced hope the Trump administration can work with them to promote job creation. Trump said Tuesday during his meeting with auto industry bosses that he considers himself an environmentalist, but called current regulations "out of control." The pipeline orders follow earlier executive actions covering everything from trade to ObamaCare. Trump on Monday signed measures withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and instituting a hiring freeze for most of the federal government. He also ordered federal agencies on his first day in office to ease the regulatory burden of the Affordable Care Act. Fox News John Roberts and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Officials said Monday that the Obama administration-- in its waning hours-- defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian Authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A State Department official and several congressional aides told The Associated Press that the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former Secretary of State John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the State Department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated Jan. 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for U.N. organizations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the State Department official weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress. The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month. Some of Trumps incoming administration has been split on whether to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. The Washington Post noted that most of the world doesnt recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital. East Jerusalem is also considered occupied territory, which Palestinians hope to call their capital if a two-state solution is ever reached. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Trumps U.N. ambassador, said Wednesday that she would back the embassy move, while Trumps Defense Secretary nominee retired Marine Gen. James Mattis said he would stick to U.S. policy regarding Jerusalem. Trumps next ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, supports Israeli settlements and other changes to U.S. policies in the region. Friedman said he looked forward to carrying out his duties from "the U.S. embassy in Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem," even though the embassy is in Tel Aviv. Trump advisers have said that the president-elect will follow through on his call for moving the embassy. The Associated Press contributed to this report A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists say they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru's north-central coast. Carbon dating of material from the site revealed it was built between 3500 B.C. and 3000 B.C., Peter Fuchs, a German archaeologist who headed the excavation team, told The Associated Press by telephone Monday. The discovery is further evidence that civilization thrived in Peru at the same time as it did in what is now the Middle East and South Asia, said Ruth Shady, a prominent Peruvian archaeologist who led the team that discovered the ancient city of Caral in 2001. Click here to visit FOXNews.com's Archaeology Center. Shady serves as a senior adviser to Peru's National Culture Institute and was not involved in the project. The find also raises questions about what prompted "civilizations to form throughout the planet at more or less the same time," Shady said. The circular, sunken plaza, built of stones and adobe, is part of the Sechin Bajo archaeological complex in Andes foothills, 206 miles northwest of Lima, where Fuchs and fellow German archaeologist Renate Patzschke have been working since 1992. It predates similar monuments and plazas found in Caral, which nonetheless remains the oldest known city in the Americas dating back to 2627 B.C. The plaza served as a social and ritual space where ancient peoples celebrated their "thoughts about the world, their place within it, and images of their world and themselves," Fuchs said. In an adjacent structure, built around 1800 B.C., Fuchs' team uncovered a 3,600-year-old adobe frieze six feet tall depicting the iconic image of a human sacrificer "standing with open arms, holding a ritual knife in one hand and a human head in the other," Fuchs said. The mythic image was also found in the celebrated Moche Lords of Sipan tombs, discovered on Peru's northern coast in the late 1980s. Walter Alva, the Peruvian archaeologist who uncovered the Lords of Sipan tombs, said the plaza found in Fuchs' dig was probably utilized by an advanced civilization with economic stability, a necessary condition to construct such a ceremonial site. The excavation was the fourth in a series of digs at the Sechin Bajo complex that Fuchs and Patzschke began on behalf of the University of Berlin in 1992. Deutsche Forschung Gemeinschaft, a German state agency created to sponsor scientific investigations, has financed the most recent three digs. The find "shows the world that in America too, human beings of the New World had the same capacity to create civilization as those in the Old World," Shady said. Her discovery, Caral, made headlines in 2001 when researchers carbon-dated material from the city back to 2627 B.C., proving that a complex urban center in the Americas thrived as a contemporary to ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt 1,500 years earlier than previously believed. Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders Google Ad PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT Google Ad The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh A judge has dismissed claims against Snapchat that blamed the social media company's "speed filter" for a highway crash. The judge said the Communications Decency Act provides the social media company with immunity. Snapchat attorney Mark Trigg told The Associated Press Monday in an emailed statement that the "the judge's ruling in this case is precedent setting for the entire mobile app and product industry." "A loss for Snapchat would have been dangerous, opening a floodgate of lawsuits for everyone from cell phone manufacturers to billboard advertisers to makeup brands virtually anyone that can potentially cause a distraction from driving. Snapchat's win instead diverts blame from these companies and requires responsible use of these technologies by the driver," Trigg wrote. Wentworth and Karen Maynard sued Snapchat and the driver, Christal McGee, in April, saying McGee was trying to reach 100 mph on a highway south of Atlanta when her car hit theirs, sending it across the left lane and into an embankment. The collision in September 2015 left Wentworth Maynard with brain damage. The dismissal by Spalding County State Court Judge Josh Thacker on Friday leaves pending the claims against McGee, who allegedly hit them while using a Snapchat filter that puts the rate at which a vehicle is traveling over an image. "We disagree with the Judge's ruling that the Communications Decency Act provides Snapchat with complete immunity for its negligent actions," Naveen Ramachandrappa, a lawyer for the Maynards, wrote in an email. He added that they are considering an appeal. The judge found that the claims against Snapchat were barred by the immunity clause of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which says, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." A key question is whether Snapchat had a legal duty because Wentworth's injury was predictable, given that other users are alleged to have had wrecks while using the speed filter, and therefore should have removed or restricted access to the filter once it found out about those crashes, the judge wrote. That duty would stem from Snapchat's status as a publisher, and the law grants immunity on those grounds, the judge wrote. The Dallas 6-year-old who accidentally ordered a high-end dollhouse via Amazon's Alexa has received a gift from the dollhouse maker. As first reported by Fox News earlier this month, 6-year-old Brooke Neitzel accidentally ordered cookies and a $170 dollhouse using the device. The family decided to donate the dollhouse, Brooke's mom Megan Neitzel told Fox News. However, That was far from the end of this story. FAMILY'S AMAZON ALEXA MISHAP INSPIRES CHARITABLE DONATION A few days later, San Diego's local station CW6 reported on the story. The segment caused Alexa units overhearing the story to start up and attempt to order dollhouses. KidKraft, the maker of the dollhouse, told Fox News it got a kick out of the story. The company reached out to the Neitzel family to schedule a tour of its nearby facility, in addition to the donation of two kitchens and a dollhouse to charities of the familys choice. Neitzel said the family hoped to donate items to the Scottish Rite Hospital of Texas, to a shelter for women and children, and to an underprivileged school that their local school partners with. 6-YEAR-OLD ACCIDENTALLY ORDERS HIGH-END TREATS WITH AMAZON'S ALEXA The Neitzel family got their tour of the KidKraft factory on Thursday. Brooke Neitzel said her daughter received a suitcase, a backpack and a lunch box with KidKraft goodies. It went great, she wrote, in an email to Fox News. [It was an] amazing experience for our whole family. Elite Iraqi units clearing Mosul from Islamic State occupation face aerial bombardment from modified ISIS drones every day. I just returned from two weeks on the ground inside Mosul with Iraqs Emergency Response Division and the Counter Terrorism Service. These two units are Iraqs best, and are taking the fight to ISIS daily. ISIS is using snipers, suicide car bombs and drones to attack Iraqi forces. HISTORY OF REMOTE WEAPONS IN PICTURES ISIS modifies commercial drones to drop 40mm rifle grenades. They are flown by the operator over Iraqi troops and the grenade is dropped by electronic command. Iraqi forces call the drones tieyara, (Arabic shorthand for UAV, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and open fire with rifles and machine guns when they are spotted. Nearly half the time, they are successful in bringing the drones down. The threat from these aerial robot snipers is expected to continue as Iraqi forces cross the Tigris River and clear the west side of Mosul from ISIS. VIDEO SHOWS FIGHTER JETS LAUNCH SWARM OF TINY DRONES Earlier this month a U.S. Commander said that American and Iraqi forces were enjoying increasing success in taking down ISIS drones in the fight for Mosul. Citing U.S. Army Col. Brett Sylvia, Military.com reported that, while ISIS had previously relied on winged drones, it was now harnessing small quadcopters to drop munitions. Sylvia declined to describe how U.S. forces are taking down the ISIS drones, but said that Iraqi forces are using direct small arms fire. Reports also indicate that ISIS has been using the drones as a diversion to attract the fire of Iraqi forces, according to Military.com. Rome's ancient attractions have been plagued by vandals in recent years but one tourist reportedly felt so bad about disturbing a piece of history that he (or she) felt the need to write a note about their misdeed. After visiting Rome in 2016, an anonymous tourist reportedly took a piece of the street (a "sampietrini cobblestone) from the famed Piazza del Popolo home. Recently, however, the tourist had second thoughts and decided to send the stolen souvenir back to Italy. The traveler reportedly sent the stone and a note to the only address they likely had: a restaurant in Romes center near the piazza. They probably still had our business card from their visit, a member of the restaurants staff told The Telegraph. Not knowing who else to send it to, they remembered us. ROME BANS GLADIATORS FROM TOURIST HOT SPOTS Please find enclosed a cobble from one of your cobbled roads, the sightseer wrote in their note. I stole this from Rome last year whilst on holiday as a souvenir. I am really sorry for doing this and I would like to return it to Rome. In the message, the tourist noted that the item was snatched on a road leading from Piazza del Popolo leading to Villa Borghese, a large park close by. Please would you mind returning it there, the tourist wrote. The sampietrini cobblestones often come loose as a result of sinking land or road work, making them an easy steal for those looking for a real historical artifact. FOR THE LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK Although this cobblestone had a happy ending, vandalism at tourist sites is becoming a growing problem in the Eternal City. Following several incidents of poor behavior, local officials in Rome are considering implementing a "no-go zone" around the Colosseum. That comes just weeks after the most-visited monument in the country completed an almost three year restoration. According to Conde Nast Traveler, Francesco Prosperetti, a special superintendent for the Colosseum, is considering the establishment of an area that would cover an approximate 49 foot radius and would be separated not by physical barriers but rather by chains defining the zone where video surveillance would be installed. The plan is still in preliminary stages, however, but if you want to get up close and personal to the Colosseum, don't delay your next trip to Italy. Few fliers opt for the middle seat when booking airfare. But when all the windows and aisles are taken, there's no choice but to grin and bear the increasingly cramped conditions. Now, an interior airplane cabin design recently approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) may take some of the misery out of the dreaded middle seat-- and speed up the boarding process for all passengers. WILL AIRPLANE BUILDERS EVER MAKE WIDER SEATS? Molon Labe Seating, a Colorado-based design firm, says its come up with a way to offer middle-seat passengers more room, and give all passengers in the same row a bit more wiggle room. Its all part of the companys Side-Slip model, which increases the width of the aisle from the usual 20 inches to 42. The aisle seat can be slid across the middle seat in order to make the aisle wider for boarding, before being readjusted prior to takeoff. The middle seat in the new design is 21 inches a full three inches wider than the window and aisle seats. It will also sit a little lower and further back, thus reducing the likelihood of shoulder-to-shoulder contact between passengers seated in the same row. Plus, there are staggered armrests made to share. Every time someone sees the design they get this ah-ha moment, Molon Labe Designs CEO Hank Scott told Travel + Leisure. Sometimes its the wider aisle, sometimes it the extra lateral space they feel when they sit in the staggered design. Of course, every time we fly we also get reminded how necessary this design is ourselves. FOR THE LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK Molon Labe first announced the seating concept in 2015 but the company has been working on improving the design in the past two years. The company recently concluded a series of safety standards tests required for approval by the FAA. That includes passing 16G and 14G force as well as Head Impact Criteria (HIC) tests. Now Molon Labe just has to convince an airline manufacturer to purchase the seats. A travel website has come under fire for posting survey results that rank the attractiveness" of female flight attendants by airline, with critics arguing the poll objectifies women and undermines their role in safe air travel. Trippy.com, which Forbes rated one of its best new travel websites in 2012, asked 2,000 people to rate flight attendants physical appearances on a 1-to-10 scale. For each airline, the website showed survey respondents a composite photo generated from 50 faces of women listed as the airlines' employees on LinkedIn. Based on the survey, respondents deemed female attendants with Emirates, an airline based in the United Arab Emirates, as the most attractive. American Airlines and Canada's WestJet Airlines came in second and third, respectively, for flight attendants perceived attractiveness. In December, Maxim reported on the survey, and Mashable was among the first to bash what its own writer described as an outdated, sexist approach to a poll. The survey is making its rounds again this month after Cosmopolitan U.K. covered the weird beauty competition. Now, the largest union of flight attendants has publicly condemned the poll. Taylor Garland, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. which represents 50,000 people over 18 airlines told Fox News in an email that flight attendants are onboard to ensure the safety, health and security of passengers on board. Training and experience is what matters when an emergency occurs at 30,000 feet, Garland said. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has fought for over 70 years to stop these discriminatory and sexist practices in the aviation industry and across the world. FOR THE LATEST TRAVEL FEATURES, FOLLOW FOX LIFESTYLE ON FACEBOOK Being good looking isn't bad or anything these women should flaunt what they got if they want, Mashable writer Sasha Lekach wrote in December. But we need to acknowledge that flight attendants are way more than their looks. Did anyone care what the courageous 20 women (and five men) aboard the planes on 9/11 looked like, or how well their uniforms hugged their curves during those tense three minutes while Capt. Chesley Sullenberger navigated the Miracle on the Hudson? In a report of its survey results, Trippy stated that the ratings dont reflect the airlines service and ability to provide a great in-flight experience. If that was the case, Southwest Airlines whose female flight attendants were ranked second-to-last, with an average score of 5.76 would have been at the top of the list, Trippy reported in its poll. Trippy isn't the first travel service to come under fire for objectifying female airline workers. In 2014, Vietnam's budget carrier VietJet faced controversy after a lingerie model posted pictures of herself with other women wearing skimpy bikinis in the carrier's colors. The airline later disputed that the racy photos were part of an official campaign. A spokeswoman from Trippy told Fox News in an email that the websites decision to involve only women for its attractiveness survey was intentional. For the purposes of collecting the most accurate data for our survey, we saw it best to do a separate analysis rather than combining men and women, due to the larger availability of female photos on LinkedIn, the source for our study, said the spokeswoman. But will male attendants aboard the world's top airlines be subjected to the same survey? Says Trippy, We'll be following up with a men-only version of the campaign in the future. Trippy values the importance and duty of flight attendants in keeping passengers safe. A former analyst for a private investment fund has been arrested after he failed to show up for his insider trading trial. John Afriyie was arrested at an East Windsor, New Jersey, hotel Monday and brought to Manhattan federal court. An arrest warrant was issued after the former analyst for Michael Dell's personal investment firm, MSD Capital, failed to show up for trial on securities and wire fraud charges. He has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of using inside information to earn $1.5 million illegally. Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer revoked his bail, saying he was "overwhelmingly, by any standard, a risk of flight." Afriyie was brought to court in shackles. One of his lawyers said he stayed away from court in a misguided attempt to fire his attorney. Georgia ramped up its state of emergency Monday as crews organizing the cleanup from the weekend's deadly storms begged for additional aid. Gov. Nathan Deal expanded his emergency declaration to include nine additional counties in southern Georgia. The declaration frees up state resources to assist storm victims. The storms killed at least 20 people, most of them in Georgia. SLIDESHOW: DEADLY TORNADOES SLAM SOUTHEAST Dozens of homes demolished in Albany after tornado barrels through #fox5storm #fox5atl pic.twitter.com/tjnCdGUxfo denisedillon (@DillonFox5) January 23, 2017 The governor promised to visit the storm-ravaged areas later this week, offering his "thoughts and prayers" to victims there. North Georgia was under a wind advisory for most of the day Monday, as forecasters warned wind gusts could top 40 mph, Fox 5 reported. The National Weather Service issued a flood warning for much of Charlotte, N.C., as well as for several streams in Cabarrus County just east of Charlotte. Emergency officials in Georgia confirmed a 20th death in connection with the storms. Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said a fourth person died in his county Sunday, without elaborating. Many families in the area had "no homes, no food, no warmth, no hope," County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said during a news conference Monday, apparently choking back tears. Pleading for aid, he said, "we've exhausted everything we have." At least 15 people were killed in south Georgia alone, including seven from an apparent winter twister that tore through a trailer park before dawn Sunday. Officials reported four deaths Saturday in Mississippi as the storm system ramped up. In addition, a tree knocked over by strong winds split a home in half, killing one person in Columbia County, Fla., emergency officials said. In southwest Georgia, Bridget Simmons along with her parents, her daughter and her grandson were in their brick home in the city of Albany when the sky got dark Sunday afternoon and the wind began to howl. "I was in the den and I heard that loud roar and I grabbed the baby and I said, `Let's go guys. This is it.' We laid down and that was it." The wind was so loud, she added, "you could hear it beating back and forth." Minutes later, their home was largely unscathed, save for a carport that collapsed atop two cars. But trees were down all around, police sirens wailed and authorities would add four more deaths for an overall count of at least 19. The National Weather Service said a survey team concluded Monday that a tornado left a path of destruction a half-mile wide in parts of Albany. The agency said it was an EF-2 tornado or stronger, meaning it packed winds of at least 111 to 135 mph. Some 60 miles away from Simmons' home, Coroner Tim Purvis in south Georgia's Cook County confirmed seven people died at the mobile home park in the rural community of Adel, where about half of the 40 homes were leveled. Debris lay about not far from mobile homes largely untouched but emptied of survivors and cordoned off by police. Elsewhere, shredded siding from mobile homes, a house stripped of exterior walls but left standing, even a piano blown outdoors, all bore evidence of the power of the powerful storms system that tore across the Deep South. The 15 killed in south Georgia included two deaths each in the counties of Berrien and Brooks. In South Carolina, the National Weather Service has confirmed that two tornadoes struck over the weekend, injuring one woman who was trapped in a mobile home that was damaged near Blackville. The weather service says a tornado touched down about 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Barnwell County and moved into Bamberg County. The other occurred in Orangeburg County a few minutes later. Weather experts say tornadoes can hit any time of year in the South -- including in the dead of winter. Even north Florida was under the weekend weather threat. While the central U.S. has a fairly defined tornado season -- the spring -- the risk of tornadoes "never really goes to zero" for most of the year in the Southeast, explained Patrick Marsh of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. He said 39 possible tornadoes were reported across the Southeast from early Saturday into Sunday evening -- none immediately confirmed. Of that, 30 were reported in Georgia, four in Mississippi, and one each in Louisiana and South Carolina. January tornado outbreaks are rare but not unprecedented, particularly in the South. Data from the Storm Prediction Center shows that, over the past decade, the nation has seen an average of 38 tornadoes in January, ranging from a high of 84 in 2008 to just four in 2014. Nineteen-year-old Jenny Bullard said she and her parents, Jeff and Carla, are glad to have escaped without major injury after an apparent tornado battered their home in Cook County. They are a farming family dating back generations, living not far from where the mobile homes were destroyed. The middle section of their brick house was blown off the slab, leaving nothing but the kitchen island standing. On one side, the parents' bedroom remained intact. Jenny's bedroom on the other side was smashed in -- and a piano was blown out of the house. She recalled awaking to the sound of hail before dawn. "The hall wall came in on me and I fell down. And our backdoor came through and fell in on me. And I heard my dad calling my name ...There was a bunch of stuff on top of him and I just started throwing everything I could until I got to him," she said. Together, she and her father met up with their mother and got free. The young woman wore a sling on one arm hours afterward Sunday as she went back through the debris for belongings. Bricks lay scattered about, alongside their possessions and furniture. "The first thing I wanted to do was get all the pictures," she said. Across the street, where the Bullards kept farm equipment in sheds, one shed was blown in amid twisted metal. Two grain silos were blown over. "It's a horrible tragedy. But all this stuff can be replaced," she said. "We can't replace each other. We're extremely lucky. My dad is lucky to be alive." Click for more from Fox 5. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The entire Hawaiian island of Lanai remained without electrical service Monday after strong winds snapped or damaged utility poles over the weekend. Maui Electric Co. said crews were working to repair 19 utility poles on the 141-square-mile island where about 3,000 people live. Billionaire Larry Ellison purchased 98 percent of Lanai in 2012. Crews hoped to restore power to Lanai City, where most of the island's residents live, by Monday evening, the utility said. Windstorm damage across the state was the most extensive in years, knocking out power to thousands of people, said Hawaiian Electric, the parent company of Maui Electric. Lanai lost electricity and telephone service Saturday night, said Maui County spokesman Rod Antone. Cellphone service was spotty, he said. The county was working on getting information to Lanai's residents, he said. "We're pretty much in the dark here. We're getting limited information," said Lanai resident Matt Kawasaki. "Everything that we hear is pretty much by word of mouth right now." The island's three main stores were open thanks to generator power and served as gathering places for residents, Kawasaki said, speaking from a cellphone he's been charging through his car. Lanai High and Elementary School will be in session on Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Hawaii's education department said. Donalyn Dela Cruz, however, said parents should "feed their children breakfast as the school is unable to serve breakfast meals tomorrow. The school will be serving a modified lunch." Kawasaki said residents were bracing for a third night without power. "A lot of people have been barbecuing," taking advantage of plentiful kiawe wood, he said. But they're worried about perishable food spoiling. "We have a tight community," he said. "We're doing OK. We're just worried that it will go for an extended time." There are two large, luxury hotels on Lanai, formerly known for its pineapple crop. Four Seasons Resort Lanai was open and operating -- but the main phone line was down -- while The Lodge at Koele is closed for renovations, a Four Seasons spokeswoman said. Ellison purchased the island with a vision of sustainability. Part of that vision involves a future powered by solar energy, according to the website for Pulama Lanai, his management company on the island. A spokeswoman referred questions to the Maui Electric utility. The Latest on the shooting at a shopping mall in San Antonio (all times local): 2 p.m. Authorities say two men who tried to stop two suspects after a robbery at a San Antonio mall likely felt they needed to intervene in what they believed was a dangerous situation where others might get hurt. One of the men was killed. San Antonio police spokesman Officer Doug Greene said Monday that authorities advise people to use their best judgment in such situations. The robbery happened Sunday afternoon at a jewelry store inside Rolling Oaks Mall. Green said one man who was unarmed tried to intervene and was shot. He did not provide details on what the good Samaritan tried to do. Greene said another man then shot one of the robbers. Greene says that man was within his rights to use his licensed concealed handgun. The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man who was killed as 42-year-old Jonathan Murphy. The suspects are in custody. ___ 1:50 a.m. San Antonio police say two suspects are in custody after a robbery inside a shopping mall ended in a shooting that left one man dead and several injured. In a statement early Monday, police say both suspects face preliminary charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The robbery happened Sunday afternoon at a jewelry store inside Rolling Oaks Mall. Police Chief William McManus said Sunday that one of the suspects fatally shot a "good Samaritan" who tried to stop them as they fled the store. Authorities say two other people were shot and two women suffered non-shooting injuries. One suspect was shot by an individual who had a licensed concealed handgun. Police say that suspect is hospitalized in critical condition. Officials say the second suspect was later arrested in nearby Converse. EU, Armenia getting closer to new deal (video) 2016 was a good year for Armenia and the European Union, a senior EU diplomat said on Tuesday. Piotr Switalski, the head of the EU Delegation in Armenia, told journalists today that the two sides had intense political dialogue in 2016. We held six rounds of discussions on a new framework agreement between the EU and Armenia. The framework deal primarily concerned the political sector. In addition to it, we held negotiations to deepen economic and commercial ties. We hope that the framework agreement will become a reality, the prospect is quite optimistic. The sides are very close to the signing of the new deal, Mr Switalski stressed. The EU representative said 2016 was exceptional. We set a new record in terms of money transfers from Brussels: Armenia received around 62 million euros in financial aid, EUR 7 million of which was allocated to the preparation of the next elections. The European Union will keep the April 2 parliamentary elections in Armenia in the centre of its attention. Speaking about the installation of cameras to be installed at polling stations under an agreement reached during the 4+4+4 format meetings between the Armenian opposition and pro-government forces, Mr Switalski said the hard work is to be carried out in a short period of time. At the same time, he called for a reasonable compromise. The EU diplomat added that the applicant [participating in the tender] has proposed price for the demanding parameters, whereas the parameters are too high, given the funds available. I am moderately optimistic and I believe that a solution will be found which would be acceptable to all. We call for a reasonable compromise. We already know that the best solution cannot be found but we believe that everything has been done and there are no loopholes, he said. Although there had been no talk about any applicant, Mr Switalski today spoke about the applicant's claims and requirements. When asked about the key parameters set by the applicant, the EU official said, Intense discussions have been held on the issue in the past days. Three of the parliamentary committees worked until late at night, discussing all possible options. A decision is to be taken in the coming days and hours, considering the shortage of time. A man has been shot dead in Vermont's capital in what police are calling the first murder there in almost 100 years. State police say an arrest warrant has been issued for a man on a murder charge in a fatal shooting in Montpelier (mont-PEEL'-yer) early Sunday. Police are seeking Jayveon Caballero in the death of Markus Austin, whose body was found in the parking lot of his Montpelier apartment complex. They say Caballero and Austin had been involved in an altercation outside a bar. Caballero is from Barre (BAYR'-ree) and is believed to have boarded a bus headed to New York City. Montpelier has about 7,500 residents and calls itself the nation's smallest capital city. Police say the shooting death of Austin is the first murder there since the 1920s, when a woman shot her husband. A man has been shot dead outside an apartment complex in what police say is the first murder in the nation's smallest capital city in almost a century. An arrest warrant was issued for Jayveon Caballero on a murder charge following the Sunday morning shooting in Montpelier, police said. Police were seeking Caballero in the killing of Markus Austin, whose body was found in the apartment complex's parking lot. Caballero is believed to have boarded a bus on Sunday in White River Junction. Police said the bus was headed to New York City but had several intermediate stops where he could have gotten off. Caballero and Austin had been involved in an altercation outside Gustos bar in Barre earlier Sunday morning, police said. During the altercation Austin assaulted Caballero's girlfriend, witnesses said. Caballero later confronted Austin outside Austin's apartment and shot him, police said. Caballero's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was arrested Sunday evening in Barre, where Caballero lives. She appeared in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to drug charges and was released. Montpelier has about 7,500 residents, making it the nation's least populous capital. Police Chief Anthony Facos said the shooting death of Austin was the first murder in the city since the 1920s, when a woman shot her husband. He did not have additional details of that case. George Chmiel set off on a 3,000-mile run on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in an effort to pay homage to U.S. veterans. His four-month, 14-state journey which included a stop at a Veterans Affairs hospital will come to an end Tuesday in New York City. His grueling, cross-country trek began in San Diego, Calif., last September. The extreme athlete, known for his punishing races in places like Antarctica and the rugged terrain of Australia, said with his latest pursuit he hopes to bring attention to mental health issues facing military veterans, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Chmiel is raising money for two veterans organizations, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Guardian for Heroes, for his run. He ran for 92 days, averaging about 32 miles a day. On Tuesday, Chmiel will cross the George Washington Bridge into New York City and will wrap up his run with a unity walk. He will then meet up with Jeff Kyle, brother of "American Sniper" Chris Kyle, at Ground Zero to finish his run across America. When I first heard that some crazy guy George [Chmiel] wanted to run 3,000 miles across America to raise money and awareness for veterans, I was a little set back, Jeff Kyle, co-founder of Guardian for Heroes, told Fox News. I couldnt believe that a civilian with zero military background would put themselves through that much pain, physically and mentally, just for us. Kyle said Chmiel was a true patriot. We as veterans need to lean on our civilian population and vice versa we have to understand and believe in each other to truly help, he said. The run across America embodies the spirit of what I call citizen service. VETERANS MAY FACE HIGHER RISK OF SUICIDE DURING FIRST YEAR HOME Chmiel describes himself as a hard-charging East Coaster living in San Diego with a [penchant] for pushing the envelope and breaking barriers. A month after he started his run, he stopped at a VA hospital in Dallas. He flew back to the hospital two months later, in December, to be part of a presentation there on mental health issues involving U.S. Veterans. The run across America embodies the spirit of what I call citizen service, Paralyzed Veterans of America National President Al Kovach Jr. said in a statement. Though he began his journey in an election year when politics dominated the headlines, he and the run across America team and partners focused on the needs of veterans. Chmiel will cross the Hudson River by way of the George Washington Bridge bike path before running through Central Park and Times Square toward Ground Zero. There, veterans and civilians are invited to join him along the Hudson River Greenway for the final leg of his long journey, a 2-mile unity walk. Admission is free of charge, but all unity walkers have been asked to carry an American flag. The event begins at 3 p.m. The defense team for the operator of the Ghost Ship warehouse released a report Monday that alleges that the fire that gutted an Oakland, Calif., warehouse last month and killed 36 people started at a building next door. 'GET UP. WE'VE GOT TO GET OUT': STORMS KILL 20 IN THE SOUTH Lawyers for Derick Ion Almena released a press release Monday afternoon saying they have received a "reliable scientific report" which indicates the origin of the blaze was at an adjacent structure and not inside the Fruitvale District warehouse. "Such should reasonably foreclose any criminal negligence charges against Mr. Almena," the statement said. "Recall that the ATF could not conclude where the fire originated. The reasonable doubt here is overwhelming." Almena, 46, was the master tenant at the Ghost Ship warehouse when the blaze occurred. His attorneys, Tony Serra, Jeffrey Krasnoff and Kyndra Miller, have previously said that Almena did not engage in criminal misconduct and blamed the fire on government agencies. The Dec. 2, 2016 fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse killed 36 people and injured several others and now ranks as one of the state's most deadly fires. The blaze broke out at the two-story warehouse around 11:30 p.m. during an underground party. Several people were using the building as a live/work space. "The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Oakland Fire Department are collaborating on a comprehensive investigation of the 31st Avenue warehouse fire," wrote Karen Boyd, a spokeswoman for the city of Oakland, Monday evening. "The investigation will yield a report that addresses the cause and origin of the fire. That report will be forwarded to the Alameda County District Attorneys Office as part of the ongoing criminal investigation. Its premature to speculate about the origin of the fire until all investigations are complete." No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the fire at the warehouse and investigators still have not publicly identified the cause of the blaze. At least one civil lawsuit has been filed against the city and some event organizers over alleged negligence that led to the blaze. Click for more from Fox 2. Move over dogs and amateur snake hunters in Florida let a pair of singing, bushwhacking tribesmen from India get the job done. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has tapped two adept hunters from India armed with tire irons to find and get rid of Burmese pythons, which are wiping out small mammal populations in the Everglades. FLORIDA DECLARES OPEN SEASON ON PYTHONS IN ANNUAL CHALLENGE I pointed out that part of the year, the swamp is quite dry and thats the time when they would be able to find the things like back home, the tracks of snake, Romulus Whitaker, a conservationist in India, told the Miami Herald. This is very big and probably the biggest invasive reptile problem that has ever existed on the planet, so lets do something. In two weeks this month, Masi Sadaiyan and Vadivel Gopal, both in their 50s and hailing from the famed Irula snake hunting tribe, have caught 14 of the elusive pythons, including a 16-footer hiding at a former missile base on Key Largo. 6-FOOT LONG PYTHON FOUND ON OFFSHORE PLATFORM IN FLORIDA For comparison, 1,000 hunters, mostly amateurs, in the states annual Python Challenge contest caught 106 snakes over the course of a month last year and 68 the year before, the Miami Herald reports. If we fall anywhere in that range, Im going to be really happy, University of Florida biologist Frank Mazzotti told the newspaper. The two men live with South Florida herpetologist Joe Wasilewski. They go after the snakes around boulders and in the thick brush instead of focusing on roads and levees where they may be basking. They look for clues such as ripples in the sand or a tunnel through grass. And when things get slow, they stop to sing a prayer or smoke a cigarette. UF biologist Ed Metzger said half the snakes captured so far would not have been found without Sadaiyan and Gopals tracking expertise. Pythons that are captured are killed or kept for education. Since the Irula have been so successful in their homeland at removing pythons, we are hoping they can teach people in Florida some of these skills, said Kristen Sommers, chief of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commissions Wildlife Impact Management Section. Back in India, the tribes ancestors have hunted pythons to the point of extinction in their home state in the southern part of the country, the Miami Herald reports. The modern-day tribe now targets cobras to collect an anti-serum used in the fight against Indias snake bite problem which claims around 50,000 lives each year. Coming to America is really fun and interesting, but catching all those snakes, thats why [were] here, Sadaiyan said. Click for more from the Miami Herald. A New York man was arrested nearly four years after he was charged for his role in what federal prosecutors called one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever, costing businesses and banks more than $200 million in losses. Habib Chaudhry, 49, of Valley Stream, New York, surrendered to the FBI, federal prosecutors in New Jersey said Tuesday. Officials did not immediately say where Chaudhry was taken into custody. Chaudhry was charged in February 2013 in a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Prosecutors said 19 people have since pleaded guilty in the scheme. Authorities said the defendants would create fraudulent identification documents and a phony credit profile and then spend or borrow as much as possible without repaying the debts. The suspects maintained a network of more than 1,800 addresses for the false identities, authorities said. Chaudhry was due to face arraignment in federal court in Trenton on Wednesday. A massive group of violent demonstrators spat on, assaulted and screamed obscenities at a Gold Star widow and sister Friday outside an inaugural ball honoring the military, one of the women told Fox & Friends on Tuesday. Amy Looney, who lost her husband Navy SEAL Lt. Brendan Looney in 2010, and Ryan Manion, whose brother Marine First Lt. Travis Manion died in 2007, said they were attacked as they tried to enter the American Legions tribute to Medal of Honor recipients at the Veterans Inaugural Ball. Unfortunately, as we got there we found ourselves separated from the rest of the group walking to the galas that night and were caught in between the entrance to the event and about 75 protesters that got very angry with us and really converged on us, Manion said on Fox & Friends. FATHER OF FALLEN SOLDIER SAYS PLANE PASSENGERS BOOED FAMILY Thats when events quickly escalated. We were pushed by a man in a mask hiding his face, Manion wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Our clothes were drawn on with permanent marker by other protesters. And we were called the most vile names I have ever heard as we entered and exited the venue. Manion said that she and Looney who operate the Travis Manion Foundation did not attend the ball for political reasons and that the pair support President Donald Trump just as they supported the previous administration and just like we will support every future administration that the American people elect. Looney and Manion were initially late to the ball because they couldnt get through an angry mob in the street that was burning trash cans and smashing windows, Manion wrote on Facebook. When they eventually got near the entrance a group of around 75 people tried separating them from the ball. It was as the two women walked through the crowd that people began pushing them and yelling insults. We understand more than most how fortunate we are to live in a country where we can demonstrate and share our different beliefs, Manion wrote. But my question for those who chose to take this route Friday is this: Are you truly accomplishing anything by inciting hate? The alleged events Friday night followed rioting and destruction earlier in the day by so-called protesters upset by Trumps election. Trash cans were set ablaze, merchants' windows were smashed and a limousine was even torched during the mayhem. Said Looney: To witness this act, and to see I hate to even refer to it as protesting, because it was an accelerated version of that to say the least was really hard when we try to instill unity versus creating more division. Family members scouring for any sign of a Missouri woman missing for months made a surprising discovery over the weekend: the body of a missing man. The relatives were searching through a creek bed in Kansas City for 21-year-old Jessica Runions, who vanished last September, the Kansas City Star reported. CLEVELAND POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN HIT-AND-RUN Her father, John Michael Runions, told the newspaper he spotted human remains on Saturday -- but I knew right off the bat when I saw the person that it wasnt her. Instead, police said the group found the body of 21-year-old Brandon Herring of Raytown, who had disappeared last November, according to Fox 4. CHARGES FILED IN FIRE THAT KILLED 45 CATS, 5 DOGS, 2 RACCOONS, MACAW "Somebody else's family is going to get some answers," Runions' father added. Investigators called it a homicide and said they were working to determine how long Herring's body had been there. A man linked to the Runions case was questioned in connection with the 2007 disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Both women remain missing. Jessica Runions' family reported her disappearance on September 9. She was last seen leaving a house party in south Kansas City with 28-year-old Kylr Yust, Fox 4 reported. Her burned-out 2012 Chevrolet Equinox turned up two days later in a wooded area. Yust was charged with torching the SUV. A judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf. He was also a person of interest after his ex, 17-year-old Kara Kopetsky, vanished in 2007, but has not been charged in either disappearance, police said. As for the missing man, his mother, Rhonda Herring, told Fox 4 everything seemed fine during their final phone conversation last year. 'What you doing?' 'Mom, I'm cool. Just out.' I said, 'alright, just checking to see what you're doing. I love you,' and he said 'I love you too, mama.' That was it. The Associated Press contributed to this report. A man charged with killing a Memphis officer during a chaotic raid on his home in December 2012 didn't know he was shooting at police, a defense lawyer said Tuesday as the man's trial opened. Treveno Campbell, 25, has pleaded not guilty to charges of killing Memphis Police Officer Martoiya Lang and attempting to kill five other officers. Lang, a 32-year-old mother of four, was one of four Memphis officers killed since July 2011 and Memphis' first female officer slain in the line of duty. Police said Organized Crime Unit officers armed with a warrant and wearing protective vests entered a home where drug trafficking was suspected on Dec. 14, 2012. According to police, Campbell opened fire with a 9mm pistol with a high-capacity magazine, striking Lang and another officer who survived, police said. Campbell was shot during the raid. In Tuesday's opening statements, defense lawyer William Massey said Campbell was asleep in bed after coming home tired from his job the day of the raid. "All of a sudden, he heard a crashing noise. Boom!" Massey told a jury of 12 and two alternates. With his heart "beating out of his chest," Campbell began shooting wildly, thinking his home was being invaded by people who were not police, Massey added. Campbell fired shots in an attempt to scare off the intruders before he realized it was police who had bashed in the front door, according to Massey. He showed jurors a heavy police battering ram. Campbell stopped firing and put his hands up when he realized he was shooting at police, Massey said. That's when an officer shot Campbell in the back, the lawyer said. "The issue is if Treveno Campbell knew they were police," Massey said. "He thought he was the victim of a home invasion." Massey alleged that officers were looking for a person who did not end up matching Campbell's description. In her opening statement, prosecutor Alanda Dwyer addressed jurors while wearing a black protective vest marked "police." Dwyer said officers knocked before entering the home and they loudly identified themselves as police. Campbell fired 11 shots at officers during the raid, "firing wildly down the hall where the officers were," Dwyer said. Dwyer described Campbell as someone who was obsessed with drugs and money. Campbell faces charges of possessing drugs with the intent to sell, in addition to charges of first-degree murder in Lang's death, attempted murder of the other five officers and using a firearm while committing a felony. Police said they found marijuana, a gun and cash in the house. Judge James Beasley has issued a gag order in the case. He ordered lawyers, witnesses and law enforcement officials to refrain from speaking to media representatives or making comments on social media about the case. Memphis police have said two officers involved in the investigation of Lang's shooting were relieved of duty as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation looked into their conduct. A former Navy sailor imprisoned for taking photos inside a submarine has sought a pardon from President Donald Trump, who, as a candidate, often cited his case as unjust. Supporters of Kristian Saucier, 29, say the one-year sentence he drew last summer was overly harsh in light of treatment afforded former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over her illegal private email server, and former President Obamas granting of clemency to Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning, who leaked classified information. Saucier's attorney, Ronald Daigle, told Fox News that he met with Trump's national security adviser, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, about Petty Officer First Class Sauciers case, and at Flynns request submitted a formal pardon request. Daigle said the punishment didnt fit the crime. It was a hyper-charged political atmosphere, Daigle said, politics played a role in it. Saucier, who served as a machinist's mate aboard the USS Alexandria from 2007 to 2012, used his cellphone to photograph parts of the submarine's nuclear propulsion system while it was docked at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn. Saucier, who is married and has a 2-year-old daughter, began his 12-month sentence in October at the Federal Medical Center at Fort Devens, Mass. He was convicted of unauthorized retention of national defense information, which is a felony, and received an "other-than-honorable" discharge from the Navy. He faced a possible 10 years in jail, his lawyers said. His problems began when a worker at the naval base found Sauciers cellphone near a Dumpster and, while going through it, found the photographs. The worker brought the cellphone to a retired Navy petty officer, who then notified federal agencies about the sensitive submarine pictures. When you look at how many years ago this occurred, coupled with his military service, and other individuals such as Hillary Clinton and [Clinton aide] Huma Abedin, who clearly mishandled classified information, its unfair, said Greg Rinkey, one of the attorneys who represented Saucier. It smacks of two types of justice systems in the United States. Abedin was a Clinton adviser whose estranged husband and former congressman Anthony Weiner was found to have some of the former secretary of states emails on his computer when it was seized by federal investigators in connection to another case. Daigle said that when he served as a military police officer in Iraq from 2005 to 2006, he saw hundreds, or thousands of photos that service personnel had taken that could be considered sensitive. The norm was to handle them in-house, Daigle said. Sauciers family has said that he took the photos to show his future children what he did aboard the submarine. Tom Carson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Connecticut, declined to comment on Saucier's attorneys' criticisms that prosecutors were overzealous. Carson said in an email to Fox News: "For any pardon application, when the Office of the Pardon Attorney requests our office's position on a pardon, we will review the application and provide our position." At the time of the court proceedings on the charges, prosecutors balked at attempts to compare the petty officers actions to those of other officers or even that of Clinton. Noting that intent is crucial when determining punishment, some experts noted that Clinton maintained that she did not know that she was doing anything wrong, whereas Saucier conceded that he believed he should not have been taking the photographs. Acting on behalf of the Navy, Rear Adm. Charles Richard submitted a victim impact statement that described Sauciers photographs as having had far-reaching consequences for the United States and the Officers, Sailors and families who serve it." "Therefore, the Navy respectfully requests that the court consider a sentence of confinement, and a fine, at the high end of the applicable range under the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines," Richard said, according to Military.com Daigle says that the photos he saw while in Iraq, where he had customs duty and had to go through belongings, were far worse than Sauciers photos. He said that Saucier had an outstanding career, and had wanted to be in the service for the long haul. Kris was an absolute great performer who made rank quickly because he did so well, Daigle said. Daigle hopes that Saucier receives a pardon that would erase the conviction from his record, and commutation of his sentence. Armenian Ombudsman, Commissioner for Human Rights discuss armed attacks in Chinari On 23 January the Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) had a meeting with Nils Muiznieks, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe. A number of issues related to the protection of the human rights were discussed during the Strasbourg-hosted meeting. Particularly, the mechanisms of the implementation of the new Law on the Human Rights Defender have been discussed. The Commissioner stressed the importance of the regulations in the new Law regarding the cooperation with civil society. The issues related to the protection of the rights of persons deprived of liberty, military servicemen, and persons with disabilities, as well as other issues have been discussed. The Defender presented to the Commissioner the details of the armed attacks in Chinari village by Azerbaijani military forces in the end of December 2016 and in the beginning of January 2017, the results of the fact-finding mission, conducted by the Defenders Office, as well as the report, with the obtained evidences. Moreover, during the meeting the Defender presented in details the case of the extradition of Alexander Lapshin and its unacceptable and negative impact. Specifically, according to the Defender, it deeply endangers the freedom of expression as a prevention of the violations by the Azerbaijani armed forces, the Press Service of the Armenian Ombudsman reports. Philadelphia became the first city in the nation to bar employers from asking potential hires to provide their salary history Monday, a move supporters say is a vital step toward closing the wage gap between men and women. Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, signed the measure and said hes confident the bill can withstand legal challenges he faces from companies such as cable giant Comcast. "I know that Comcast and the business community are committed to ending wage discrimination, and I'm hopeful that moving forward we can have a better partnership on this and other issues of concern to business owners and their employees," he said. "This doesn't need to be an either/or argument what is good for the people of Philadelphia is good for business, too." Comcast and the citys Chamber of Commerce agreed the law goes too far in dictating how employers can interact with possible new hires. Philadelphia has a reputation around the country and world for having a high cost of doing business, Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Rob Wonderling said, according to Philly.com. With this bill, we have reinforced our unfortunate anti-business reputation of having a city government that tells companies how to run their business. The City Council unanimously passed the ordinance in December. Supporters contend that since women have historically been paid less than men, the practice of asking for a salary history can help perpetuate a cycle of lower salaries for women, continuing throughout their careers. Women in Pennsylvania are paid 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, according to a 2015 Census Bureau report. For black and Hispanic women, the pay gap is even wider. The bill will officially become law May 23. Democratic City Councilman Bill Greenlee, who sponsored Philadelphia's bill, said he was inspired by a Massachusetts pay equity bill signed into law last summer that included a ban on asking for salary history. "It's reasonable to think if you take this question out of the equation it could help lessen wage inequality, and it's worth a chance," Greenlee said. "We're trying to ensure fairness." Comcast, which sees the bill as another hassle, had urged Kenney to veto the bill or face legal challenges, according to a memo obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The memo said the law would violate employers' First Amendment rights to ask potential hires about their salary history. David Cohen, a senior Comcast vice president, told the newspaper on Jan. 10 the bill was stoking frustrations in the city's business community about increased regulations coming from City Hall. He said the policy doesn't make sense in "corporate America" and pondered how companies would know what to pay top executives without past salary knowledge. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Cleveland police say the car that struck and killed an officer on an interstate has been found west of the city and a man is being questioned by authorities. Police say the vehicle has been found in Lorain, about 30 miles west of Cleveland. Police had been searching for the older-model Toyota Camry and the driver suspected of fleeing after striking 39-year-old Patrolman David Fahey on Tuesday morning in the westbound lanes of Interstate 90. Fahey was struck while setting up flares to help close the interstate after a van crashed into the back of a Rocky River firetruck. The firetruck was on the interstate after responding to an earlier one-car crash. Rocky River police say the van's driver was killed and a passenger hospitalized. Fahey joined the Cleveland police department in July 2014. Police in Delaware say an officer fatally shot a male armed with a handgun. Wilmington police said in a statement that officers were called to a home Monday evening for a report of a distraught male possibly armed with a handgun. When officers arrived, police say they found the male armed with a handgun and at some point an officer fired, fatally wounding him. Police did not identify the officer or the male who was shot or release their races. The police department and the state Department of Justice are investigating. Police in a New Orleans suburb say officers fatally shot a man who was armed with two knives as he exited a house and advanced on them following a standoff that lasted more than four hours. Kenner police say in a news release that 25-year-old Armond Brown died after he was shot Monday afternoon, shortly after 4 p.m. Police said they were called to the house at 11:37 a.m. The police statement said officers were called after Brown prevented his brother from entering the house. It said Brown had a history of mental illness and had not been taking prescribed medications. The identities of the officers and the races of all involved have not been released. Police are searching for suspects accused of threatening to kill two women in the parking lot of Ingram Park Mall in San Antonio. Police received a call for "shots fired" at around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. CLEVELAND POLICE DETAIN SUSPECTED DRIVER IN HIT-AND-RUN THAT KILLED OFFICER A spokesperson for the San Antonio Police Department said a woman and her mother were approached by two Hispanic males in a green SUV who were wearing handkerchiefs over their faces. The women told police the males jumped out of the SUV, pointed guns at them, and said "we're going to kill you." Police said the women took off running towards the entrance to the store, and witnesses reported hearing gunshots. Investigators said there were no demands made during the encounter. The woman and her mother were both shaken up but were not injured. The suspects fled in a green SUV, possibly a Tahoe. There was also a burgundy sedan seen fleeing right behind the green SUV. Click for more from Fox 29. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 An American-born Muslim convert convicted of supporting the Islamic State group and helping to plot a 2015 attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas was scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, an Arizona moving company owner, provided the guns that two friends used to open fire outside the anti-Islam event in suburban Dallas and hosted the two Islamic State followers at his home to discuss the upcoming attack, authorities have said. Prosecutors are seeking a life sentence, while Kareem's lawyer has asked for less than six years of prison time. Kareem, 45, grew up in a Baptist household, but converted to Islam as an adult. He abandoned his birth name of Decarus Lowell Thomas and legally became Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013. Kareem watched videos depicting violence by jihadists with the two friends, encouraged them to launch violent attack to support the terrorist group and researched travel to the Middle East to join Islamic State fighters, prosecutors have said. Kareem also inquired about explosives to blow up the Arizona stadium where the 2015 Super Bowl was held, but later set his sights on the cartoon contest after the stadium plan fell through, the prosecutors said. The verdicts against Kareem 10 months ago marked the second conviction of someone within the United States on charges of supporting the Islamic State. Kareem was convicted of conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, interstate transportation of firearms and other charges. His brother has said Kareem was a Muslim throughout his adulthood, but that his faith deepened over the last five years after he was jailed on a drunken driving conviction. His friends, Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi, were killed in the May 2015 police shootout outside the cartoon contest in Garland, Texas. A security guard was wounded, but no one else was injured. The contest featured cartoons that are offensive to Muslims. It is unknown whether the Texas attack was inspired by the Islamic State or carried out in response to an order from the group. Kareem testified at his trial that he did not know his friends were going to attack the contest and did not find out about the attack until after Simpson and Soofi were killed. Kareem told jurors that he evicted Simpson from his home because he believed Simpson was putting tracking devices in his car. He also said he strongly disapproved of Simpson using Kareem's laptop to watch al-Qaida promotional materials. Prosecutors said Kareem tried to carry out an insurance scam to fund a conspiracy to support the Islamic State group and attempted to indoctrinate two teenage boys in his neighborhood on radical jihadism. ___ Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/jacques%20billeaud. Investigators have issued a missing and endangered alert for a young mother and her two children who disappeared after she went on a blind date, according to relatives. BIRTH MOM SNATCHED HER 4-YEAR-OLD FROM ADOPTIVE MOTHER IN GEORGIA, POLICE SAY Monica Lamping, 29, was last heard from around midnight Sunday and was traveling in a 2002 Jeep Cherokee with her two children, 9-month-old Oria and Kai, 7. Investigators from the Virginia Beach Police Department issued the alert due to the suspicious circumstances surrounding the extended period of time since Lamping has been seen by friends and family and the fire that destroyed her home over the weekend. Obviously, its been quite some time since anyones been in contact with her, Virginia Beach Police Officer Linda Kuehn told The Post. Theres been nothing confirmed whether or not the fire is even relevant to this, but thats all part of the investigation. MISSING WOMAN'S RELATIVES FIND MISSING MAN'S BODY IN MISSOURI Lampings mother, Sheila Bogart, said she received a call from the Virginia Beach Fire Department early Sunday informing her that her daughters home was destroyed by a fire that investigators said was caused by a space heater, according to WVEC.com. No one was home at the time, but two pets were killed in the blaze. Bogart said she initially thought her daughter and her two children had stayed at a friends house Saturday, but the friend confirmed that Lamping had picked them up and was heading home. Lamping and the friend traded text messages until 10:30 p.m. Saturday. And then at that point, we dont know what happened after that, Bogart told WVEC.com. Moira Lamping, Kai Lampings stepmother, told WVEC.com that Monicas friend watched her children so she could go on a blind date with a man named Chad. She picked the kids back up around 5:30 [Saturday], Moira Lamping said. She said something about car trouble and Chad could fix it. Moira Lamping said Monica later canceled a babysitting job and has not been heard from since. Click for more from The New York Post. Authorities in Kuwait on Tuesday hanged a 33-year-old Egyptian man dubbed a "monster" for the abduction and rape of 17 children under the age of 10, the public prosecution said. Hajjaj Saadi, who was handed five death sentences, complained shortly before his execution that had not been given any assistance from the Egyptian government, a witness said. Saadi strongly denied in court that he had committed any of the crimes, which shocked the Kuwaiti public, and insisted his confessions were extracted under duress. Arrested in July 2007 as he prepared to board a flight to Luxor in Egypt, he became known as "the Hawalli monster" for the district near Kuwait City where the crimes took place. The authorities said Saadi had confessed to raping 17 boys and girls after luring them onto rooftops in Hawalli, an area mainly inhabited by foreigners 12 kilometres (seven miles) south of the capital. Another Egyptian man was executed at the same time after he was found guilty of killing an Asian couple by setting their home ablaze and attempting to murder another couple from Egypt the same way, said the prosecution. Ahmad Abdulsalam al-Baili poured an inflammable material in the apartment of the Asian pair and set it on fire in April 2008, causing their deaths, it said in a statement. Later he tried to kill an Egyptian couple the same way. They survived despite suffering injuries. The hangings were the second set of executions in Kuwait since it reintroduced the death penalty following a six-year moratorium. In April, the authorities in the oil-rich Gulf state executed a Saudi, a Pakistani and a stateless Arab who were convicted of murder. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 Their new uniforms clean and crisp, the Haitian officers chat with street vendors and school kids as they stroll through a neighborhood of the dense capital, a practice in the sort of community policing the national force is embracing as it works to reinvent itself. The patrolmen on this morning walked with a pair of veteran officers on loan from New York City, Haitian-Americans who are helping the national police prepare to take on greater responsibility as the United Nations reduces the number of peacekeeping troops in this long-troubled country. Disdained by many as abusive or inept, officers of Haiti's force now say their new approach is beginning to pay off. "People are starting to give us the kinds of useful statements we didn't get in the past," rookie officer Gama Jameson said as he patrolled the district of Petionville with the New Yorkers. "I think the people are feeling more comfortable with us." New York City Police Sgt. Rochener Gilot, who worked as a Haitian officer in the 1990s before moving to the U.S., closely watched the rookies work on building trust with local residents. "The population's comfort level with police is not going to change overnight, but we're removing the myth that police are not friendly or approachable. People here are starting to see that they can talk to the cops," he said. Haitians will soon rely more on their police to maintain security as the United Nations downsizes the peacekeeping force it has kept in Haiti since 2004, when a violent rebellion swept the country. While the U.N. will maintain a police contingent of 2,601, it will cut its multinational troop size from 5,021 to 2,370 in June. Many people wonder if the Haitian officers will be ready. "There is little question that the (national police force) has been strengthened and professionalized over recent years, but it began at such a weak and dysfunctional level that it is still not at the professional level everyone wants," said Mark Schneider of International Crisis Group, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C. The Haitian National Police was founded in 1995 after then-President Jean-Bertrand Aristide disbanded the army due to its long history of abuse. An uprising in 2004 ousted Aristide and insurgents targeted police officers, killing and mutilating scores. Many abandoned their posts. When U.N. peacekeepers arrived, they found a force left demoralized and outgunned. In more recent years, the foreign peacekeepers have done much of the heavy lifting as they helped police battle gangs in urban slums. As the force is built up, some Haitians still accuse officers of being incompetent and heavy-handed agents for the elite. "In Haitian culture, if you have a gun and a uniform, you're one of the rough boys. If the U.N. leaves and all we have is Haitian police, I think there will be no human rights here," 25-year-old Etienne Bergerald said in the cinderblock slum of Delmas 32 as he transformed a rusty car with spray paint. As the nation of 10 million rebuilds from a ravaging 2010 earthquake, it lately has enjoyed a period of relative stability and growing foreign investment. Perhaps no Haitian institution has seen more focused international assistance than the police. The U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has provided between $15 million and $29 million annually toward security programs in Haiti in recent years. Canada, Brazil and other nations also have made significant contributions. Haitian officers have received continuous professional training, more vehicles and other equipment. Pay for rookies has increased by 30 percent, rising to about $400 a month. Police are vetted. Now, there's only a 2 percent annual rate of attrition. "There's been a lot of solidarity from the international community in investing in the police force. We're grateful for that and making the best of it," Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told The Associated Press. Haiti's force currently has some 11,200 officers and another 1,400 or so will be added next month. But that still falls short of the recommended minimal level. Lamothe said Haiti needs to have at least 15,000 officers by 2016, and he's confident they will get there. The first major test for Haiti's upgraded force will come in 2015 when the country is due to hold elections. Observers will be eager to see whether the force is ready to maintain order at polling stations, handle street protests and prevent the sort of violence and instability that has marred past votes. Security in Haiti remains fragile. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted in August that the 416 homicides reported in the first half of 2014 marked a 24 percent jump over the same period last year. Political leaders, however, say Haiti's reputation as a dangerous place is undeserved. They point out that its homicide rate is less than that of neighboring Dominican Republic and far below the rates of other countries in the hemisphere. Joseph Tassy, a former New York City officer who now is based in Haiti's U.S. Embassy, said changes such as the community policing effort are a step in the right direction. "By gaining the trust of the population you can better fight crime," Tassy said. "The police leadership here understands that. The mentality here is completely different from what it used to be." ____ David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd Russia, Iran and Turkey -- sponsors of talks in Kazakhstan between Syria and rebel factions -- pledged Tuesday to consolidate the country's nearly month-old cease-fire and set up a three-way mechanism to ensure compliance of all sides. PENTAGON DEPLOYS AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO FILL VOID IN MIDDLE EAST At the conclusion of the two-day conference on Syria's nearly six-year war in Astana, the three countries said they will use their "influence" to strengthen the truce, without specifying how that would work. The statement signed by the three sponsors also says the agreement in Astana paves the way for political talks to be held in Geneva on Feb. 8, and welcomed the rebel groups' participation in the U.N. sponsored talks. BOY, 12, QUESTIONED IN HUNT FOR ISIS SUSPECT IN AUSTRIA Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, and Turkey, a supporter of the opposition, had negotiated the shaky Dec. 30 cease-fire. Iran, supporter of the government, had approved it. The cease-fire greatly reduced the violence in Syria. But violations continued and the Syrian opposition and the government and its allies exchanged blame. Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, read out the final statement at the end of the meeting, which briefly brought the warring parties together in a face-to-face meeting. But the talks were largely indirect, mediated by the United Nations envoy. The meeting's final statement said the three countries "will seek through concrete steps and using the influence of the parties the consolidation the cease-fire" and agreed "to establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the cease fire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire." The statement said the three nations will continue their joint efforts in fighting the extremist Islamic State group and the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria. They called on the opposition to separate themselves from an al-Qaida-affiliate in Syria, a sticky point that has previously been the reason for the failure of previous cease-fire. The rebel groups have formed close links with the group, known as Fatah al-Sham Front, on the ground. Tough fighters, Fatah al-Sham is excluded from the cease-fire according to the government, but the rebels say the truce should include all of Syria. Astana featured a brief face-to-face meeting between the government and rebel representatives -- their first since the Syrian war began in 2011 -- that was quickly followed by harsh exchanges. After the final statement and in a briefing with journalists, the Syrian government delegate to the talks said the conference succeeded in consolidating the cease-fire in the war ravaged country. Bashar al-Ja'afari, Syria's U.N. ambassador who is leading the government delegation to the talks in Astana, said his government did all it could to "remove obstacles" facing the talks in Astana. Shortly before him, an opposition representative Osama Abo Zayd said the rebels had reservations about the final statement because Iran, which fights alongside the government, should not be considered a sponsor of the talks, but a party to the conflict. Armenian, Russian Prime Ministers Meet in Moscow (video) At the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan is paying a two-day official visit to Russia. As part of the visit, the Russian PM received his Armenian counterpart at Gorki residence of the Head of Russian Government. The two heads of government held a private meeting, which was followed by an expanded one featuring official delegations in the format of a working breakfast, reports the Press Service of the Armenian Government. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in his greeting remarks: Dear Karen Wilhelmovich, I heartily welcome you. This is your first official visit to our country. We have special allied relations with Armenia, and there are always issues to discuss. It is important that a number of documents have been prepared in anticipation of your visit, aimed at developing our cooperation. I hope they may help build up closer economic ties and human contacts. We will discuss an economic agenda. I want to emphasize that bilateral trade turnover has been stable despite the international situation and despite changes in energy prices. If we speak of our countrys imports and supply of products from Armenia, we stated a 70% growth last year which, to my mind, is the result of Armenias accession to the Eurasian Economic Union and strengthened economic ties. But there are also a number of other issues investment and humanitarian. Let us talk about all this. I cordially welcome you and wish you a successful visit to the Russian Federation. Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan stated in his remarks: Dear Dmitry Anatolevich, first of all, I would like to thank you for the invitation to visit Moscow and the reception of our delegation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to congratulate you on your election as Chairman of the United Russia party, wish you every success and express confidence that everything will be fine. Todays meeting is a good opportunity to discuss topical directions of the Armenian-Russian cooperation, and I want to assure you that my delegation has come over with a very positive and practical mindset. We have been traditionally boasting quite a hectic agenda of bilateral relations. As you noted, our governments have been able to move on amid a complicated international situation faced in recent years. You may know that the Russian capital is widely represented Armenias economy. However, I believe that we should not relax, and today we can explore and outline new directions of cooperation. A series of reforms are underway in Armenia aimed at creating a favorable environment for investors. In this respect, we would highly appreciate the commitment of the Russian capital. We have come along with a number of new proposals, which will allow us to diversify and expand the vectors of cooperation. I am confident, too, that we are in for a constructive conversation. Once again, I thank you for the invitation. On the sidelines of the working breakfast, the official delegations of the two countries will discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest and sign a number of documents. China urged the U.S. to speak and act cautiously on the South China Sea on Tuesday after the new U.S. administrations first public comment on the issue echoed the hard-line tone struck by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his confirmation hearing. 'MILITARY CLASH' LOOMS OVER TILLERSON'S TOUGH TALK, CHINA WARNS White House spokesman Sean Spicer was asked at a briefing on Monday whether President Donald Trump agreed with Mr. Tillersons suggestion that the U.S. should try to prevent China from accessing the artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea. Mr. Spicer didnt repeat Mr. Tillersons exact remarks but he told the briefing the U.S. was going to protect its interests in international waters in the area. PENTAGON DEPLOYS AIRCRAFT CARRIER TO FILL VOID IN MIDDLE EAST So its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, he said. Chinas state media, and many Chinese and Western experts on defense and maritime security, have warned that any blockade of the islands could trigger a dangerous military confrontation between Beijing and Washington. Chinas island-building in the past three years has raised concern in the U.S. and among its Asian allies and partners that Beijing plans to use the facilities to enforce its claims to almost all the South China Sea, one of the worlds busiest shipping routes. At a regular news briefing Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying repeated Beijings longstanding position that it has irrefutable sovereignty over the islands and is ready to protect its maritime rights and interests. We urge the United States to respect facts and to speak and act with caution to avoid damaging the peace and stability of the South China Sea region, she said. Chinas Defense Ministry didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. The Czech presidential office says a Polish national who went missing in Syria has been released. It says Leszek Panek was handed over to Polish authorities in Beirut on Monday after the Czechs secured his release from a Syrian jail on humanitarian reasons. The 54-year-old went missing on Dec. 10, 2015. It wasn't known if he was arrested by Syrian authorities or how he ended up in jail. The Czech Republic is the only EU and NATO country with a still functioning embassy in Damascus and represents the West in Syria. The office says that after successful talks in Prague and Damascus, a deal was struck on Panek's release. Panek was then taken from Syria to Lebanon. Tuesday's statement says that Panek is in satisfactory physical and mental condition. Swedish authorities are getting closer to either indicting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on rape charges stemming from an incident in August 2010 or letting it drop, Fox News has learned. A decision could come in a matter of a few months, an eyeblink in the context of an international saga that has dragged on for 6 years. The latest development follows a November interview a Swedish prosecutor conducted with Assange at his self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, an interrogation many say was long overdue. If I was in charge, I would have tried very hard to have him interviewed in a very, very early possible period, former Swedish prosecutor Sven-ErikAlhem told Fox News. While no one knows exactly what evidence Swedish prosecutors have, experts told Fox News the third-degree rape case against Assange, which included consensual sex at the time, could be a difficult charge to make You need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused did it, legal expert Marten Schultz said. This is difficult to prove. ASSANGE SAYS HE STANDS BY PLEDGE TO COME TO US Within Sweden, where people are highly sensitive to sexual-assault cases, there is concern that even if Assange is charged, he might try to wait out the statute of limitations. Under Swedish law, he would have to avoid prosecution for another three years. I think people will be upset if the person can stay away so long and then not be charged, womens rights lawyer Elina Lindner said. The sexual-assault case is separate from Assanges controversial work with WikiLeaks, which has included publishing millions of sensitive documents that the Pentagon claims put American service members and intelligence operatives in danger and emails that rocked the 2016 presidential campaign. Assanges supporters have claimed the sexual assault case was brought to silence him. Assange himself has claimed that Washington has manipulated the case to get him to the U.S. to face alleged espionage charges. The 45-year-old native Australian founded WikiLeaks in 2006 as an online publisher of leaked documents obtained from whistle-blowers. The rape and sexual-assault allegations stem from an August 2010 appearance in Sweden during which he had sex with two women. The sex charges were made by prosecutors based on the women's testimony. The case was dropped, then picked up again. Assange was questioned regarding some of the charges and was permitted to leave the country. In June 2012, Assange applied for and was granted asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. At the time, he said he was not motivated by the pending charge in Sweden, but by concern that extradition there would lead to his being sent to the U.S. Swedish officials told Fox News there is no extradition order on file to send Assange to the U.S. if he is brought to Sweden. Such an extradition maneuver would be difficult under Swedish law, experts said. Assange previously said he would willingly come to the U.S. and face possible espionage charges if Chelsea Manning, the former Army private who supplied WikiLeaks with highly classified documents, was pardoned. Although President Obama did in fact pardon Manning last week, it appears unlikely that Assange will make good on his pledge. In a social media press conference Thursday, Assange said if he goes it would happen only after Mannings scheduled May release and he would only come to the U.S. to discuss the case with Justice Department officials if his rights were protected. For now, the most likely venue for Assange to face justice remains Sweden, where there is an extradition order and a charge being investigated. He should look at a map, Thomas Mattsson, editor-in-chief of the Stockholm daily newspaper Expressen told Fox News. He should go in the opposite direction. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 French President Francois Hollande is meeting with leaders of Colombia's largest rebel movement in an area where they will soon begin turning over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Hollande arrived Tuesday at a rural camp in southern Colombia run by the United Nations. He was accompanied by President Juan Manuel Santos and top Colombian officials who explained how some 7,000 guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are supposed to disarm over the coming months and begin their transition back to civilian life. Hollande is expected to meet with a rebel leader during the short visit. He has expressed support for the peace deal, calling it a model for resolving conflicts around the world. German authorities have arrested two German-Moroccan brothers suspected of being members of the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front extremist groups. Federal prosecutors said the two men, who were only identified as 25-year-old Rachid B. and 24-year-old Khalid B. in line with German privacy laws, were arrested Tuesday near the western city of Bonn. Prosecutors alleged both men traveled to Syria in 2013, where they trained in military camps. Rachid B. initially joined al-Nusra and is accused of kidnapping and holding an alleged spy. He later joined IS and participated in several battles. The younger brother, Khalid B., joined IS right away, went to a military training camp and also participated in IS battles. The statement didn't say when or why the two men returned to Germany. Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the government's efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived Tuesday in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Dpa reported around 100 people had protested against the deportations Monday night at Frankfurt airport, saying Afghanistan wasn't a safe country. Israel announced plans Tuesday to build 2,500 more settler homes on the West Bank, moving to step up construction just days after the swearing-in of Donald Trump brought to power a U.S. administration seen as friendly to the settlement movement. "We are building and we will continue to build," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not answer directly when asked about Trump's reaction. "Israel continues to be a huge ally of the United States," Spicer said. "He wants to grow closer with Israel to make sure that it gets the full respect that it deserves in the Middle East." While Trump has signaled that he will be far more tolerant of Israeli settlement construction than his predecessors, he also has expressed a desire to broker a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians, and siding closely with Israel on such a contentious matter could hurt U.S. credibility. Netanyahu repeatedly clashed with former President Barack Obama over settlement construction. Obama, like the rest of the international community, considered the building of settlements on occupied lands claimed by the Palestinians to be an obstacle to peace. Those tensions boiled over last month when the Obama White House allowed the U.N. Security Council to pass a resolution condemning the settlements as illegal. Trump harshly criticized Obama for going against Israel and promised a new approach after taking office, raising hopes inside Israel's nationalist government for a new era in relations. Trump has already invited Netanyahu to visit the White House next month, and both men, after speaking on the phone Sunday, promised close coordination on a range of sensitive matters, including settlements. Netanyahu's office would not say whether he had consulted with the White House before Tuesday's announcement, but just a day earlier, the prime minister told a meeting of his Likud Party that there should be no surprises for the new president. The construction plans were announced by Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who said in a statement that he and Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs." He said most of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs," densely populated areas where most settlers already live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. The approvals were for early stages of home development, meaning construction is not expected to begin anytime soon. "This decision destroys the two-state solution," said Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official in the West Bank. "We call on the international community to hold Israel accountable immediately." He said the Israeli government had been encouraged by what it heard from Trump. The Palestinians want the West Bank and east Jerusalem areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war for their hoped-for state, a position that has wide international backing. In Brussels, the European Union condemned this week's Israeli settlement announcements, saying they "seriously undermine" the prospects for a peace deal. "It is regrettable that Israel is proceeding with this policy, despite the continuous serious international concern and objections, which have been constantly raised at all levels," a statement said. Trump has signaled a softer approach to the settlements. Earlier this week, he did not react to an Israeli announcement to build over 560 new homes in east Jerusalem. Both his designated ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, now a top aide and Mideast envoy, have deep ties to the settler movement. Friedman and Kushner's family foundation have both been generous contributors to Beit El, one of the settlements mentioned in Tuesday's announcement. A delegation of settler representatives was invited to Trump's inauguration last week. Oded Revivi, the chief foreign envoy of the Yesha settlers' council, said he hopes Tuesday's announcement "is just the beginning of a wave of new building." Revivi led the delegation to the inauguration, the first time the movement has received such an invitation. Trump's ties to the settler movement are just one reason Israel's nationalist right is encouraged by the new administration. His campaign platform made no mention of a Palestinian state, a cornerstone of two decades of international diplomacy in the region. Trump also has promised to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move long favored by Israel but vehemently opposed by the Palestinians. Since Trump took over, Netanyahu has been under heavy pressure from the pro-settler Jewish Home Party to move ahead on an explosive bill that would annex Maaleh Adumim, a major settlement near Jerusalem. A vote on the legislation, which threatens to unleash fresh violence and draw international condemnation, was put on hold this week, apparently so Netanyahu could coordinate his policy with the new U.S. administration. Despite the positive signs for Netanyahu, Trump remains something of a wild card. Since taking office, for instance, he has appeared to backpedal from his promise to move the embassy. The Palestinians have warned that moving the embassy would amount to American recognition of Israeli control over east Jerusalem, home to sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites. They say this could trigger religious violence, and they have threatened to cancel their diplomatic recognition of Israel, the basis for past interim peace accords. Neighboring Jordan, which holds custodial rights over Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, has said that moving the embassy would cross a "red line." Jordan is a key American and Israeli ally in the battle against Islamic militants. On Tuesday, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip warned the U.S. not to move the embassy, saying it could "open a new chapter of conflict" and "add fuel to the fire." The Latest on the influx of migrants into Europe (all times local): 3:10 p.m. The Dutch government says the number of migrants trying to sneak into trucks crossing from the Netherlands to Britain is on the rise. Dutch and British authorities caught 430 migrants in the last three months, almost twice as many as the previous quarter. The total for 2016 was 1,280 - well over double the 500 people caught in 2015. The Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice said Tuesday that Albanians make up 56 percent of all the migrants caught attempting to cross from the Netherlands to Britain. Intensified Dutch surveillance and checks of vehicles leaving from ports like Hook of Holland appear to be bearing fruit. In 2015, 55 percent of the migrants trying to illegally cross to Britain were caught on the Dutch side. Last year, the Dutch caught 83 percent and British authorities the remainder. ___ 9:45 a.m. Germany has deported 26 Afghan migrants as part of the government's efforts to increase the number of rejected asylum-seekers leaving the country after an influx of more than 1 million migrants in the last two years. The German news agency dpa reported that the Afghans arrived Tuesday in Kabul where members of the German Embassy and Afghan authorities arranged accommodation before the deportees will be taken to their home provinces. Most of the arrivals were young men. Some had lived in Germany for several years. The German and Afghan governments signed a memorandum of understanding on deportations last year, paving the way for further deportations this year. Dpa reported around 100 people had protested against the deportations Monday night at Frankfurt airport, saying Afghanistan wasn't a safe country. Panama's chief prosecutor says 17 people have been charged with money-laundering in connection with a bribery scheme involving Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht. Kenia Porcell said Tuesday those charged included 8 Panamanian businessmen, five foreigners, three former Panamanian officials and a former private bank official. As part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, Odebrecht acknowledged paying almost $800 million in bribes to win business in 12 countries. Odebrecht became the Panamanian government's biggest private contractor, winning $9 billion in contracts over the last 12 years. Colombia has made two arrests as part of the region-wide probe. And Argentina said Tuesday it was launching an investigation into the country's spy chief after a news report linked him to the corruption scandal. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 As talks between Syrian factions and the government concluded in Kazakhstan, U.N. agencies and non-governmental groups at an aid conference in Finland appealed Tuesday for more than $8 billion in funding to help millions of displaced people inside Syria and those who have fled the conflict to neighboring countries. The U.N. refugee agency is seeking $4.63 billion in new funding to help at least 4.8 million people who have escaped the war by going abroad, mainly to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey, and an estimated $3.4 billion to help an estimated 13.5 million internally displaced people. Opening the conference, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila made a strong global appeal for more global help to those affected by the "devastating" war, warning that it has caused "population movements of great magnitude not seen since" World War II. He said that after six years of the conflict, the humanitarian crisis in Syria "is worse than ever before," with large groups of people in extreme poverty and struggling to survive. "Women have been subject to sexual and gender-based violence and young girls have been forced into child marriage," Sipila said. "More than half of the Syrian children are out of school across the region. Hospitals and schools have been destroyed and crucial public services have broken down." Speaking to reporters, Stephen O'Brien, the head of the Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs, said that while Syria's war is already longer than World War II, "We fear that it will get worse." "We are at the critical juncture. We cannot let an erroneous perception that the crisis in Syria is somehow over," he said. "Even if the lasting peace is to break out today, this is the crisis that continues to test out shared humanity." The one-day meetings and panel discussions in the Finnish capital are aimed at charting humanitarian priorities for Syria in 2017 and to launch a regional refugee plan. They coincide with peace talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana, where the host country announced that Russia, Turkey and Iran had struck a deal on a mechanism to consolidate the country's nearly month-old cease-fire. In addition to U.N. and aid agencies, the Helsinki conference is being attended by government members from Syria's neighboring countries, where most of the refugees have fled. Donors from civil society and the private sector also discussed new assistance in the wake of last year's pledge of $12 billion made at a Syria aid conference in London. A follow-up to the Feb. 2016 London meeting is scheduled to be held in Brussels in April. ___ Associated Press writer Aleksandar Ljubojevic contributed to this report. Armenian Ombudsman meets Council of Europe official Armenias Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Arman Tatoyan had a meeting with Snezana Markovic, Director General of the Directorate General of Democracy of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg. During the meeting, the parties discussed the projects related to the protection of womens and childrens rights. In particular, the events and activities conducted in the framework of the joint project of the Human Rights Defender and the Council of Europe on the protection of rights of women and children were presented, stressing the importance of the continuation of such projects. In addition, the importance of the Defenders active role in protection of childrens rights defined in the new Law on the Human Rights Defender, as well as the legal possibility of monitoring the protection of children's rights were emphasized. Considering the effective mutual cooperation, S. Markovic suggested to expand it in other areas as well. At the end of the meeting, the parties agreed to develop the bilateral cooperation between the Defenders Institution and the Council of Europe, enhancing the areas of cooperation and make it continuous, reports the Press Service of the Ombudsman's Office. Dan Adamescu, one of Romania's richest and controversial businessmen serving a prison sentence for bribery, has died. He was 68. Daughter-in-law Adriana Constantinescu told Romania TV that Adamescu died Tuesday in a private hospital where he had been transferred from prison for treatment for an infection. In May, Adamescu was sentenced to four years and four months in prison for instructing his lawyer to pay bribes of 20,000 euros ($20,150) to judges in December 2013. The bribes were related to insolvency cases involving his companies. A judge got more than 12 years imprisonment. Adamescu's lawyer reportedly threw himself in front of a subway train after the judge's 2014 arrest. Adamescu was reportedly worth 850 million lei ($20.3 million) in 2015. He owns the Romania Libera newspaper and an insurance company. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has sharply changed course on a policy that critics say would clamp down on U.N. employees who blow the whistle on wrongdoing, and the U.N. is touting the result as reaching the highest possible standards of protection for those who expose misdeeds. Whether U.N. staffers, who frequently express fear of retaliation for speaking out against wrongdoing, agree with that judgment remains to be seen. Independent organizations that support whistleblowers applauded the new policy, but remained skeptical that it went far enough to prevent reprisals in a world organization that is literally a law unto itself. Still to be convinced is a Trump administration that already looks askance at the United Nations, and under a 2015 law can withhold 15 percent of its U.N. contributions if the secretary of state doesnt attest that the world body is implementing and enforcing best practices to protect such whistleblowerswhich likely prompted Guterres sudden spate of changes. Best practices is the term that the U.N. is using itself to herald the newly revised policy, which it announced Monday, and which the organization says will help the U.N. function in a more open, transparent and fair manner. A previous draft update of the policy, which was left in Guterres inbox by the outgoing administration of former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was sharply criticized both inside and outside the U.N. as doing the opposite. According to those critics, the supposedly updated whistleblower protection actually increased the possibility of retaliation against anyone making less than the most serious accusations of wrongdoing, and forced staffers to rely even more on internal institutions they consider to be weak or compromised, especially in lower level cases. Few would argue that more fairness and transparency are badly needed, especially when it comes to U.N. employees who try to spotlight illegal actions in the secretive and inefficient organization. For years if not decades, the U.N. has been wracked by scandals ranging from sex crimes among U.N. and non-U.N. peacekeeping forces to corruption in procurement deals, where staffers who drew attention to the wrongdoing claim they were forced out of their jobs, passed over for promotion, shipped off to the ends of the Earth, or other forms of alleged retaliation. In one of the most dramatic recent cases, a Swedish diplomat working at the U.N.s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Anders Kompass, charged in 2015 that he was squeezed out of his position for bringing evidence of child sexual abuse by French and other non-U.N. peacekeepers to French authorities without going through his U.N. chain of command. (The peacekeepers were operating under a U.N. Security Council mandate.) Kompass was vindicated by an independent panel that investigated the issue for nearly a year, and a number of high-level U.N. officials were accused of abuse of authority and cover-up in the panels report. Nonetheless, Kompass resigned from the U.N. five months later, charging that lack of accountability is entrenched in the United Nations. Granting whistleblower protections to people in Kompass position, who bypass the U.N. chain of command entirely to point out crimes, is one of the major changes that Guterres has made in the new version of U.N. best practices that was handed over to Fox News. Among other things, the new policy says staffers will be protected when they report misconduct to an entity or individual outside of the established internal mechanisms, if it involves a significant threat to public health and safety, substantive damage to U.N. operations, or violations of national or international law. It also says the same outside appeals are justified when the staffer has grounds to believe retaliation will follow, or evidence of misconduct will be concealed or destroyedan accusation that has come up time and again in whistleblower cases. Staffers also have been highly skeptical of the actions of the U.N.s Ethics Office, created a decade ago, which is supposed to declare whether a prima facie case of retaliation has taken place, as a trigger to protective measures. The office hardly ever has done sowhich the U.N. has cited as evidence that retaliation against whistleblowing is rare. In former Secretary General Bans revised version of the protection policy, in all but the most serious cases, the Ethics Office would have gotten to decide whether to engage with the whistleblowers own bosses on mitigation efforts with a view to preventing any retaliatory action. To many staffers, that sounded as if the Ethics Office would get to blow the whistle on the whistleblowers who bring allegations to the office in confidence. In Guterres version, there is no formal division between serious and less-serious infractions, and the Ethics Office needs permission from the whistleblower in order to raise the retaliation issue with bosses. At the same time, the office can act when it sees a risk of retaliation, rather than waiting until there is an allegation of a specific retaliatory act. The Guterres version also says that staffers can ask for an alternative investigating mechanism beyond the U.N.s own Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to look into the complaint. (In the Kompass case, the ostensibly independent head of OIOS was revealed to be involved in discussions with some of Ban Ki-moons senior officials over what to do about the whistleblower, who was himself investigated by OIOS.) Where whistleblowers are passed over for promotion or otherwise find their careers crimped or cut short, the Guterres version of the policy states that the burden of proof will lie with the bureaucracy to prove with clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the same action otherwise -- a still nebulous standard at the moment, but better than not having it. In view of staff skepticism about the Ethics Office itself, the new version of the policy provides that where it decides that no retaliation has taken place, the decision can be referred to the Alternate Chairperson of the Ethics Panels of the United Nations. That refers to the rotating head of an internal U.N. committee of top ethics officials from a variety of U.N. agencies. A senior U.N. official told Fox News that U.N. staffers at U.N. agencies beyond the sprawling, New York-based Secretariat, have always had this right. When Fox News asked for additional details about the Alternative Chairperson, a U.N. spokesperson said that, Well have further details as this proceeds. Among other things, the U.N. has said it is willing to consider that the Ethics Office, which currently reports back to the Secretary General, could report to the U.N. General Assembly instead, which would bolster its formal independence. But that would require a lengthy legislative process. Beyond that, any decision by the U.N. secretary general about the fate of the whistleblower will be subject to appeal to a U.N. judicial tribunal. A senior U.N. official also emphasized to Fox News that there were extensive meetings with staff over many months on this and they were happy with the revised policy. His reference was to U.N. staff associations that are the officially recognized contact points for the bureaucracy; they have been occasionally criticized by staffers as failing to stand up strongly enough to the U.N.s administrators. A staff association official told Fox News that the new policy was a huge improvement. He added, This hopefully means the end of colleagues being fired or harassed out of office for doing whats right. The catch is that the U.S. law that waves a financial stick at the U.N. if it fails to comply with best practices explicitly states that aggrieved staffers should have access to independent adjudicative bodies including external arbitration in cases of retaliation, say critics. Given this remaining deficit in the new policy, the U.S. Congress, under the law, must withhold a portion of the annual U.S. contribution, argued the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a Washington-based private organization that supports whistleblowers, in a press release that also recognizes the significance of the new measure. GAP added that the new policy does nothing to help previous whistleblowers who have already run afoul of U.N. retaliation for exposing wrongdoing, and who still suffer as a result. The U.S. law calls for best practices to include results that eliminate the effects of proven retaliation, which would cover such cases. I welcome the secretary generals recognition that the current system failed whistleblowers, said Miranda Brown, a former U.N. official who helped draw attention to efforts by a U.N. agency to ship sensitive computer equipment to the nuclear-ambitious dictatorship of North Korea. But it doesnt go far enough, adds Brown, who is still unemployed and seeking reinstatement at the U.N. The policy is forward-looking, and we had not anticipated revisiting the cases of previous whistleblowers, a senior U.N. official told Fox News. That's not to say that this would be totally off the table, we just had not considered it. The Trump administration, however, is looking at a law that says they need to. George Russell is Editor-at-Large of Fox News. He is reachable via Twitter at @GeorgeRussell and on Facebook at Facebook.com/George.Russell. Blue Moon Estate Sales Ends 2016 on a High Note Nations first estate sales franchise continues to be established industry leader. January 24, 2017 // Franchising.com // RALEIGH, NC - Blue Moon Estate Sales, the nations first estate sales franchise, continued to establish itself as an industry leader in 2016 with the opening of six franchise locations and the expansion of its corporate team. In addition to furthering expansion into North and South Carolina, Blue Moon also opened locations in brand new markets which included Washington DC, Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and Pensacola. Blue Moon expects to open 20-30 new franchise locations in 2017, specifically targeting areas in California, Illinois, and Virginia. To support this rapid growth, Blue Moon has also grown its corporate team from two employees to six with the hiring of Andrew Lasky as the Director of Franchise Sales, Sarah Puma as companys Digital Platform Manager, Zena Jones as the Operations Manager, and Michael Bruesewitz as the Creative Content Manager. Additionally, Blue Moon joined the exclusive ranks of the annual Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing privately held U.S. companies. As a first year honoree, the North Carolina-based estate sales franchise ranked #539 with a three-year growth rate of 716%. INC. also named Blue Moon Estate Sales as the sixth fastest growing franchise in 2016. Growth was our main objective for 2016 and I think we more than accomplished that, said Debra Blue, co-founder and CEO of Blue Moon Estate Sales. As more and more people are looking to downsize, declutter, or minimalize their possessions and lives, estate sales have been rising in popularity. Our goal for 2017 is to bring the trusted Blue Moon name to customers across the nation by expanding west. This growth helped Blue Moon host 450 sales system wide, a milestone that is equal to roughly ten sales per weekend. Throughout the year, Blue Moon Estate Sales has helped families overcome the complicated and overwhelming burden of selling a personal estate. Another way Blue Moon plans to help families ease the burden of liquidating an estate is by introducing multiple projects in the coming months that will digitalize and enhance consumer interaction. Blue Moon Estate Sales offers an extensive list of services provided during the liquidation process: from determining a convenient time line to sweeping up after the sale, Blue Moon also offers a complimentary and extensive evaluation of the home, appropriate pricing from antiques to everyday items, categorization and staging of the home, marketing, hosting and staffing of the sale. As an added bonus, Blue Moon brings a loyal fan base to every sale, which includes customers who will line up hours before the sale to be the first ones to enter the home. The growing popularity of estate sales has presented our brand with the opportunity to expand, so of course we are going to jump on that the chance to grow, said Blue. We are more excited than ever about Blue Moons future and we plan on raising the bar even further to help even more people ease the burden during the stressful time of liquidation. About Blue Moon Estate Sales Launched in 2009 and franchising since 2013, Blue Moon Estate Sales is the leading estate sales franchise in the country. The companys estate sales specialists help clients through every step of the estate sale process to ease the stress and workload of an event few people ever plan for. With 16 locations currently open and operating in 21 territories, Blue Moon Estate Sales has already helped hundreds of families with its residential, commercial, and moving liquidation services. For more information, please visit www.bluemoonestatesalesusa.com. SOURCE Blue Moon Estate Sales Media Contact: Marybeth St. Peters MStPeters@franchiseelevator.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Kinderdance Expands Into Alabama US Franchise Organization brings dance and movement education To young children Worldwide. January 24, 2017 // Franchising.com // Roanoke, VA - Kinderdance International Inc, a leader in developmental dance, gymnastics and fitness programs for young children, continues to prove that dance and movement programs receive high marks as a popular childrens franchise in the Hot S.T.E.A.M childrens dance/movement education franchise market by awarding a Bronze level franchise to Mary Avans. Mary will be teaching Kinderdance programs to children in central Alabama. Ms. Avans worked for twenty years in the automobile industry, teaching various classes on automobile manufacturing related subjects. Here is where Marys love for teaching began. However, deep inside her heart she always wanted to teach children. Her passion for dance and children found her way to Kinderdance. The solid corporate support, increasing demand for quality dance and movement programs really stood out to me. With a passion for dance, movement programs and love for working with children, Mary will enjoy enriching the lives of children in central Alabama! Mary is ready to turn her dream, of being a business owner into a rewarding career with Kinderdance. We are excited about Mary joining our franchise family and look forward to seeing her business grow in the central Alabama says Kinderdance Vice President of Franchise Development, Karen Maltese. About Kinderdance Kinderdance, established in 1979 is a worldwide recognized dance, gymnastics and fitness program for children ages two to twelve. Their 142 Franchisees currently teach over 12,000 children weekly at over 800 various locations in 31 states including DC and 12 countries. Kinderdance places emphasis on building self-confidence and self-esteem in children through learning to share, lead, interact and respond to others needs as well as their own. The programs incorporate the arts, movement, education, music, fitness and the fun of learning into a young childs life while helping in the worldwide fight against childhood obesity. The company offers their educational movement programs on site to child-care centers, recreational centers, churches, fitness centers, corporate child care, community centers, military bases, public and private schools and many other viable locations. For more information on Kinderdance please contact Richard Maltese at 1-800-554-2334 or visit their website at www.kinderdance.com. SOURCE Kinderdance Contact: Richard Maltese President / CEO Kinderdance International 1-800-554-2334 ### Add to Request List Added Request Information Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Snap Fitness Continues Global Growth With Expansion Into Ireland Master Franchise Agreement has been signed with Ireland January 24, 2017 // Franchising.com // CHANHASSEN, Minn. - Snap Fitness, continues their upward trajectory and world-wide growth with the announcement of a master franchise agreement for Ireland. In the last five years, the fitness provider has signed 18 master franchise agreements, developing a strong foothold in each of these markets. The brand is currently in negotiations to sign master franchise agreements for other countries in 2017. Bringing our global brand to Ireland is an opportunity weve been exploring for years. With Scott Jones and Isaac Buchanans strong commerce and strategic experience, and most importantly their success in the United Kingdom, weve found the perfect partnership and are excited to have them on our team, said Steele Smiley, Lift Brands Chief Development Officer. Jones and Buchanan bring a combined 25 plus years of brand management experience. Their expertise in the health and fitness industry has led to successful franchises in the UK and Australia. "Snap Fitness offers so many options and value to our members from 24/7 access, industry best equipment and a brand that is dedicated to bringing the latest technology and trends into each club. We couldnt be more excited to be part of this growing brand, Jones said. I want to add, the supportive culture and community is going to be a big draw in this market. There isnt a better club in the world for people who are just getting started and continuing their fitness journey, Buchanan added. About Snap Fitness With 2,000 clubs open or in development in 18 countries, Snap Fitness is the worlds premier 24/7 fitness franchise. Founded in 2003 by Peter Taunton, Snap Fitness provides entrepreneurs an exciting business opportunity with turnkey systems, financing options with low investments, and world-class support. SOURCE Snap Fitness ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus 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. I was playing the Bob Dylan song Like a Rolling Stone on my guitar the other day and I realized that I always have trouble remembering the last two verses. The first two verses are firmly imbedded in my brain and I could sing them in my sleep. But the last two, well, I almost always have to look at the cheat sheet before I pick up my guitar. The reason for this is simple. The whole song is just over six minutes long and in 1965, when the record was released, getting airplay for a six-minute song was virtually impossible, especially on AM radio, which ruled the airwaves in those days. So, Columbia Records split Like a Rolling Stone in half, putting the first two verses on the A-side of the record and the last two verses on the B-side. Consequently, the B-side seldom if ever got played. Disc jockeys cued the A-side (the first two verses) and that was that. Unless you had the album cut and played it at home, you never heard the B-side and the final two verses. In fact, the length of the A-side was pushing the limits of the day. In the 1960s stations seldom played any record that was longer than three minutes and Like a Rolling Stone Part I was 3:02. The reason was commercials. In those days, AM radio stations, especially in small and medium-size markets, bounced an inordinate amount of commercials off the ionosphere. If you think shows are cluttered with commercials today, you dont know anything. While working as a disc jockey in a small-town station I once, as amazing as it sounds, did twenty-five 30-second and one-minute commercials during one 25-minute show. At small stations, there was little production and most of the commercials were simply read without any background music or effects. On busy days, I might do four commercials in a row and then break the monotony with a two-minute record. Then I did four more commercials back to back. Needless to say, there was no way I could have played a records with a five-minute guitar solo somewhere in the song. Thats why the single cut of Light My Fire is 2:52, while the album cut is 7:07. Why so many commercials? Well, except for soft drink manufacturers, there were very few national brands that advertised on local radio stations. The big 50,000-watt boys, whose signal covered half the country, could draw in the big advertisers with the big money, but small-town radio depended on local businesses to pay the bills. A small downtown restaurant didnt have much of an advertising budget, so about all it could afford was $5 for a minute commercial or $3 for a half-minute spot. Consequently, small stations needed a lot of commercials to pay the bills and stay on the air. So, records had to be short so the DJs could get in all the commercials and still play some music. It was simple economics and record producers knew it. Yes, there were few commercials on FM radio stations, but no one listened to FM radio in the 1960s. In those days, FM played mostly what was commonly referred to as elevator music, soft string sections and nothing brassier than a French horn. Back then, FM stations were often part of an AM setup and did not really need to be profitable. The AM station made the money and the FM side went along for the ride. Some AM stations sought the FM franchise from the Federal Communications Commission just to protect themselves from possible competition. The station I worked for did. Of course, having FM capability paid off tremendously in the 1970s and 80s, when FM switched from elevator music to rock and country formats and took control of the airways. But that was when the suburbs began to build up and line-of-sight FM signals could reach many more households and car radios. In the 1950s and 60s, when the country was still mostly rural, an AM signal was the best way to reach the isolated areas. AM radio needed short songs, so writers and record producers obliged. If you wanted your cut played, you kept it under three minutes (many records were under two minutes). Some flexibility came into play in the late 1960s, mostly due to the popularity of the Beatles. Some of their psychedelic-era songs were longer than three minutes and fans clamored to hear them. Other exceptional songs also demanded air time even if they exceeded three minutes. By then both radio stations and advertisers were beginning to realize the influence and buying power of the baby boomers. By this time, too the country was becoming more affluent and advertiserseven at the local levelcould afford to pay more for radio spots. Now stations could bring in the same amount of revenue with fewer commercials which gave longer records a chance. So why do I have a hard time with the final two verses of Like a Rolling Stone? It boils down to the space-time continuum. In 1965, if the record times were longer than three minutes, radio stations didnt have the space to fit them into their commercial-filled shows. It is as simple as that. Einstein understood and after I did 25 commercials in 25 minutes, I did, too. Fredericksburg resident Robert Miller recently enjoyed a day at the movies, where he watched Hidden Figuresa hit film based on the true story of three black women who made significant contributions to the space program in the early 1960s. The film reminded him of his late aunt, Edna Nordin, who worked for NASA at its Public Affairs Office in Washington during that era. Every couple of months, Nordin would send her young nephew an official publicity photograph of the astronauts involved with Project Mercury. Everybody wanted to be an astronaut, Miller said. [The space program] was a huge deal, something that brought the whole country together. Project Mercury was the countrys first man-in-space program and introduced the world to Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the rest of the nations first astronauts. Millers aunt, who worked as a secretary, would greet the men when they came in and sometimes joke around with them, he said. I thought [the photos] were awesome. It was just the fact that I had an aunt who had such access and first-hand knowledge and friendships with these astronauts, Miller said. At that age, I thought it was unbelievable that I had that kind of connection. Miller remembers carefully pinning each of his prized NASA photographs in a display case at Fredericksburgs Maury Elementary School, so he could share and talk about the images with his classmates. Newer images would replace the older ones as his aunt continued to gift them, sometimes via mail and sometimes in person. Many of the photos are now carefully arranged in a special photo album Nordin gave her nephew when he was a teenager. The albums cover is emblazoned with NASAs official seal, as well as his aunts name, in gold, serif all-caps. Inspired by the film, Miller decided to share the photos with The Free LanceStar. Some of the images were published in Town & County in 1998, during Miller's tenure in advertising management at the newspaper. Miller highly recommends Hidden Figures, which is still playing at Regal and Paragon theaters in Fredericksburg, Marquee Cinemas in Spotsylvania County and Regal in Culpeper. The critically acclaimed film is directed by Theodore Melfii and stars Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and Kevin Costner. It's an awesome movie. I think that it gives all of us an opportunity to really get the truth behind what the AfricanAmerican community contributed to the space program, Miller said. "It really grabs you from the very beginning and takes you all the way through. ... These women were superior. Black women could do what the white man could not: let these people go to space and come back alive. "Its a slice of history that makes you sit and think." Capt. William E. Bill Bailey, the Stafford County man recently inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame, will be one of seven AfricanAmericans honored in Richmond next month. On Feb. 1, Dominion and the Library of Virginia will host the fifth annual Strong Men & Women in Virginia History program, which celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding AfricanAmericans. The program will be held at 7 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the downtown Richmond Marriott Hotel. Gov. Terry McAuliffe will provide welcoming remarks and Cheryl Miller, anchor/host at WTVR-CBS6, will be the mistress of ceremonies. Born in Accomack County, Bailey spent 20 years in the U.S. Army, where he earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Purple Hearts in Vietnam, then left the military and spent another 20 years flying jumbo jets for commercial airlines. Not bad for a man who was told, the third time he was turned down for flight school, that he didnt have the mental dexterity to be a pilot. Bailey shared that story in December, when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, saying that was a good one for the archives. At the beginning of his Army career, he knew the color of his skin kept him out of the cockpit, but once he got the chance to learn how to fly, he said his complexion didnt matter. During his years in the service and with Continental Airlines, he trained more than a thousand pilots, including about 200 AfricanAmericans. Bailey contributed to shattering forever the myth that AfricanAmericans were not capable of acquiring technical flying skills, Herman Jones, a retired Army colonel and friend and fellow church member to Bailey, wrote in his nomination letter to the Hall of Fame. Others being honored on Feb. 1 in Richmond include the late Charles Spurgeon Johnson, a sociologist, author and educator from Bristol; the late Benjamin J. Lambert III, an optometrist and Virginia senator from Richmond; Mary Bennett Malveaux, a Virginia Court of Appeals judge from Richmond; Leonard Doc Muse, a pharmacist and community leader from Arlington; the late Stephanie T. RochonMoten, news anchor and cancer awareness advocate from Richmond; and Margaret Ellen Mayo Tolbert, a scientist, educator and author from Suffolk. Four high school students also will attend to accept their regional awards and read their winning essays. ALEXANDRIA The real Mercy Street depicted in the PBS Civil War drama ran down Fairfax Street in Old Town Alexandria, from the Mansion House Hospital to the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary. It was an easy walk for James Green and his family, whose life in occupied Alexandria inspired the drama thats returning for a second season starting Sunday, Jan. 22, on WCVE-TV. Its still an easy walk for anyone who wants to explore the real stories behind the popular series. As soon as Virginia seceded from the United States, federal troops crossed the Potomac River and took control of Alexandria. Southern sympathizers had to get out or go undercover in a place that was profoundly changed. Beyond the influx of soldiers, the city attracted hundreds of African-American contrabands seeking freedom from slavery. Their stories have attracted a huge increase in visitors to sites associated with Mercy Street. Fans of the TV series will find 35 Mercy Street-inspired experiences available in Alexandria this year, including exhibits, walking tours, lectures and galas that recognize the historical authenticity of the program. Just dont expect to find settings youd recognize from the TV screen, because the show actually was filmed on location in Richmond and Petersburg. The Carlyle House, where the Green family lived at the start of the Civil War, had visitation increase by 110 percent in January and February last year, when the series was running. About 75 to 80 percent of visitors said the PBS series influenced their decision to visit. Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum had visitation increase by 115 percent in January and February. New visibility also has come to a new site, the Contrabands and Freedmen Cemetery Memorial that opened in 2014 after years of work to reclaim the site from development. On a recent visit, the soaring statue by artist Mario Chiodo, The Path of Thorns and Roses, held remnants of flowers left earlier to commemorate the struggle for freedom. Bas-relief sculptures by Joanna Blake depict contrabands escaping from slavery to seek sanctuary in Alexandria and barefoot children learning to read at a freedmens school. Etched into the bronze walls are the names of some of the 1,800 African-Americans buried there between 1864 and 1869. Next to some of the names are buttons that signify a descendant has been found. At Carlyle House, the focus had previously been entirely on its Colonial history. The imposing stone house was built between 1751 and 1753 by John Carlyle, a British immigrant who made a fortune in his new land and married into the fortunes of the Fairfax family. His homes early renown came from a meeting of five Colonial governors called together in 1755 by British General Edward Braddock to seek local financial support for the French and Indian War. The friction that ensued was one of the early indications of a coming Revolutionary War. By the time Green bought the house in 1848, it was ready for a renovation. Because of the Braddock connection, he didnt touch the dining room or parlor where the meeting took place. Walk on those floors and you will tread on layers of American history. Upstairs, where rooms have been returned to their Colonial configuration, the Civil War story is told in an exhibit, Who These Wounded Are: The Extraordinary Stories of the Mansion House Hospital. Some bedrooms are set up as if soldiers were recuperating there. At the end of a hallway, a pile of rumpled bedding and clothing indicated that a nurse might have claimed that corner. To establish his hotel, Green had bought a former bank building at the edge of the Carlyle Houses large front lawn. When Mansion House Hotel became a roaring success, he decided to expand the only place he could in front of his house to connect with the next street-front property. The expansion is long gone, but reminders of its existence remain in view where it was attached to the adjacent building. The bank building is now an office. During the Civil War, Green was evicted from his house, said Susan Hellman, historic site manager, so the family interaction with the hospital wasnt quite as intense as it is on the series. Green had several other properties where he could live and a furniture factory where his other business interests were centered. A block and a half down the street from the Carlyle House, the apothecary shop found its location advantageous, because the hospital commissary needed medical supplies and other necessities. Callie Stapp, the curator, said the apothecary carried everything from quinine to lamp oil to window glass, judging by the entries in an 1861 account book that shows James Green buying all of those things. The commissary also had an account there. In the new season of Mercy Street, said Audrey Davis, director of the Alexandria Black History Museum and a consultant on the show, the storyline will broaden to tell more about the lives of its black characters. One of the scenes will depict a contraband camp where former slaves tried to make a life in their new city. There wasnt just one camp. There were really just places all over the city, Davis said to explain the scene. There were shanty towns, places where people were just trying to survive and get shelter wherever they could. It really was a refugee crisis in Alexandria. You read the diaries of Julia Wilbur or the letters of Harriet Jacobs (who came as aid workers). Youre walking down the street and youre essentially coming across contrabands who may be sick or dying. ... All the energy youre needing to escape, and youre coming to an occupied city where resources are scarce anyway. Youre not living long. Thats why the military established this cemetery. (Contrabands) were dying in such numbers. They had to do something. Initially black soldiers also were buried in the Freedmen Cemetery, but the soldiers protested with an 1864 petition saying that they had the right to a military burial, too. And they won. Thats really one of the first organized actions for African-American civil rights in this country, Davis said. Its literally a Black Lives Matter moment 150 years before that term ever was coined. Theyre saying, Our lives do matter. Our dead patriots lives do matter. They need to be honored. Richmond police have seized stolen construction material and other items from a vacant, overgrown lot parallel to Interstate 64/95 that authorities believe some participants protesting the inauguration of President Donald Trump probably planned to use to block the interstate during their march Friday night. Five days before the inauguration, Richmond plainclothes officers observed a number of people at the site in the 900 block of Axtell Street conducting demonstration training in preparation for their march, according to an affidavit used to obtain a search warrant for the property. The site is about two blocks west of Belvidere Street and just north of West Leigh Street. During this training session, it appeared the attendees were role-playing as protesters and police officers, the affidavit says. Officers seized all the property, much of it stolen, beginning about 1:30 p.m. Friday, well before the protesters began their march about 7 p.m. Police also noticed that barrier fencing between the lot where the items were discovered and the southbound interstate lanes had been pried open to allow pedestrian access to the highway, according to the affidavit and search warrant. In the affidavit, police said their search was in relation to the felony theft of property and obstructing the passage of others on private or public property or roads. On Monday, Richmond police declined to elaborate on their search or ongoing investigation. Richmond police learned of the stolen property after a contractor called them about 9:40 a.m. Friday. He told police that he was driving south on I-95 when he noticed one of his construction signs on the Axtell Street lot. The man said the sign had been stolen in early December from a construction site on Clay Street, and he filed a report at that time, the affidavit says. After driving to the site, the man further advised that he saw a Road Work Ahead sign, a barrel and traffic cones all of which his company owned and said he would like to have them back. A Richmond police detective was dispatched to the location. A contractor from a separate construction company then arrived and told police he could see three plastic construction barrels on the lot and that they had been stolen from the same construction site on Clay Street, the affidavit says. Based on the interstates immediate proximity to the Axtell Street lot, the opening found in the fence, the protest training session held there on Jan. 15 and the fact that protesters had twice before blocked nearby sections of interstate in downtown Richmond it is probable that the stolen construction material, as well as other construction materials on this lot, will be used to obstruct I-95, police said in the affidavit. According to the search warrant inventory filed in Richmond Circuit Court, the items seized include: six orange traffic barrels; one Road Work Ahead sign; four black barrel weights; five orange traffic cones; two white plastic barricades; four car tires and two truck tires; miscellaneous piles of wood; miscellaneous brick and stone products; miscellaneous paper and plastic materials; and miscellaneous aluminum cans and trash. Contacted Monday, Mallory OShea, who helped organize Fridays march as part of an ad hoc coalition of local activists, said she is not familiar with the Axtell Street lot and that she did she know about, or participate in, a pre-protest training session on the property. Thats the full extent of any information I can give you, OShea said. I dont know anything about this. There were no plans to create a blockade with equipment over 95. Under a heavy police escort, the march began just before 7 p.m. and ended about 10 p.m. Roughly 200 people marched peacefully, chanting against newly inaugurated Trump. The protest was largely free of drama, apart from a few tense shouting matches. The protesters chanted slogans in support of black lives, Muslims, refugees, women, and gay and transgender people, while shouting fury against Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, the police, white silence and the Ku Klux Klan. MEXICAN President Enrique Pena Nieto told an assembly of top diplomats recently that Mexico of course will not pay for Donald Trumps wall. His predecessor, former President Vicente Fox, put it more bluntly in a tweet storm, declaring: TRUMP, when will you understand that I am not paying for that [bleep-ing] wall. They are both wrong. President Trump absolutely can make Mexico pay. And the answer lies in a provision of the corporate tax-reform plan House Republicans are planning to take up after Trumps inaugurationthe so-called border adjustment. Trump has criticized the border adjustment, telling the Wall Street Journal, Anytime I hear border adjustment, I dont love it. Here is why he should: It would force Mexico to give us every penny we need to pay for the wall, and then some. The House Republicans plan would lower the corporate tax from 35 percent to 20 percent and apply the tax based on the location of consumption rather than the location of production. It would do this through a border adjustment that exempts exports while taxing imports. Under the plan, all imports coming into the United States would be subject to the 20 percent tax, but exports would have the tax refundedmaking them tax-free. Supporters see it as a way for Trump to follow through on his campaign pledge to tax imports and support exports without resorting to tariffs that would provoke a massive global trade fight. Right now, more than 160 countries around the world have a border adjusted value-added tax (VAT). So unlike tariffs, a border adjustment should be able to pass muster with the World Trade Organization. Here is where the wall comes in: As economist Martin Feldstein explains, the border adjustment would raise hundreds of billions in tax revenuenot from U.S. consumers or corporations, but from our foreign trading partners. Under the border adjustment, the United States would refund the tax on exports and charge it on importsso the net revenue would be negative if we had a trade surplus, and positive if we had a trade deficit. Because the United States has a trade deficit, Feldstein calculates the border adjustment would bring in about $120 billion a year, or $1 trillion over a decade. One of the countries with whom we have a large trade deficit is Mexico. The U.S. trade deficit in goods with Mexico was $60.7 billion in 2015 and is expected to be around $65 billion in 2016. So if Mexican imports are taxed at a rate of 20 percent, the United States would raise about $13 billion a year in revenue from Mexico via the border adjustment. How much will the wall cost? Trump has put the price at between $8 billion and $12 billion. Others have suggested it could be higher, between $15 billion and $25 billion. Either way, the full cost would be more than covered in one or two years by the $13 billion in annual revenues we would collect from Mexico. Indeed, over several years, the border adjustment could force Mexico to pay not only for the wall, but for the costs of a lot of Trumps other border-security measuresfrom expediting the deportation of criminal aliens to hiring more screeners to conduct extreme vetting. In other words, the border adjustment would allow Trump to keep two major campaign promises at oncehe could tax imports and subsidize exports, while forcing Mexico to pay for the wall. And here is the really brilliant part: There is nothing Mexico could do about it. Mexico might find ways to retaliate over specific measures targeting itsuch as increased fees for visas or taxing remittances. But with the border adjustment, Mexico would have no recourse to complain, because such a measure is global in nature and would affect all U.S. trading partners equally. Plus, how could Mexico object when it is one of the 160 countries around that world that has a border adjusted VAT of its own? So yes, thanks to the border adjustment, Donald Trump can indeed make Mexico pay for the bleeping wall. And Mexico would be powerless to stop him. Mr. President, whats not to love? Mark Thiessen is a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute and former chief speechwriter to President George W. Bush. He wrote this for The Washington Post. Fracking bill creates dangerous secrets Thank you for alerting readers that bills prohibiting disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing are making their way through the General Assembly [Fracking bill alarms Virginia open-government advocates, Jan. 18]. The proposed legislation would prevent the public and emergency-response personnel from knowing what chemicals were injected into the ground until after contamination occurred. No matter how stringent the safeguards, equipment can malfunction, operators can err, and a chemical spill or leak can occur. The proposed legislation would place Virginians at increased and unnecessary risk in the event of a fracking incident. Those who drink well water and those who serve on the front lines of emergency response deserve to know in advance which chemicals are involved in this extraction process so that they can make informed decisions about how to protect themselves. I wonder if the state legislators who support these bills would be willing to drink to the success of their good friends at Shore Exploration and Production Corporation with a glass of fracking fluid? Elizabeth Spragins Stafford Exploring the whys of health disparities Public health research has shown there are four big reasons why people are more likely to die from cancer, Mokdad said, and none of them have to do with the devious nature of the disease or lack of available treatment. The first two, not surprisingly, have to do with socioeconomic status and access to care. We know that people who are more educated are more likely to seek medical advice when they see a danger sign and to adhere to advice because of their education, he said. But money and good insurance coverage play a key part, too. People who are uninsured or underinsured (their policies dont cover prevention, for instance) dont have the same access to care. Some may go without regular physicals or preventive screenings because they cant afford the doctors visit or the tests. Some may have to choose between buying food for their kids and paying for a mammogram. If you catch it early, your survival will increase, Mokdad said. Not a lot of men die of testicular cancer because if its detectable, its curable. So when you see people dying of it, its about access to quality medical care. Case in point: Mokdad and colleagues found that testicular cancer mortality decreased nationally by nearly 40 percent during the 35-year period. But not everyone benefited. In Nantucket County, Massachusetts, where the per capita income is $53,410, death rates for this very treatable cancer dropped 72 percent. In Union County, Florida, where there are two prisons and the per capita income is a little over $12,000, the death rate rose about 40 percent. Quality of medical care is another big factor that influences survival, said Mokdad, pointing to prompt treatment, proper follow-up and regular monitoring of patients as very important. It makes a big difference when you have good doctors paying attention, devoting time and doing the research, he said. Finally, there are all those behaviors that drive cancer from smoking and obesity to lack of exercise and excessive use of alcohol, among other culprits. These preventable risk factors are often curbed by prevention messages (as long as everyone can read and understand them) and/or effective public policy (think sin taxes and smoking bans). But prevention strategies and public health policies vary from county to county. A call to action Thompson and her health disparities colleagues at Fred Hutch have created a number of strategies designed to better reach these underserved populations. In the Yakima Valley, we tailor messages to reach the Latino population by asking participants what messages resonate with them and then tailoring our messages to meet their needs, she said. Through doing this we have been able to increase screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer and colorectal cancer among Latinos. We have found that people respond very well to tailored messages. But while researchers have strategies, she said, policies to implement such practices on a national level are lacking. Over 30 years ago, Margaret Heckler, then secretary of Health and Human Services, published The Heckler Report in which she deplored the disparities of death and illness in the U.S. minority populations. Unfortunately, the disparity remains and we in public health should make every effort to erase [them], Thompson said. This gap between the health haves and the have nots is even more disconcerting, she said, in an era when the Affordable Care Act will be repealed, leaving the vulnerable even more uncertain about their access to screening and treatment. Mokdad, who is the vice-chair of UWs new Population Health Initiative, said breaking down cancer death rates county by county will help public health officials in a number of ways. Public health is local, he said. It occurs at the county level. But many times counties dont have the means to gather these types of metrics, which are necessary to justify funding. By providing counties with this data were empowering people to come to leadership and say, Hey, we have a problem. We need to deal with it. The metrics also provide a road map to address the health issues in these communities, he said. Counties can compare their performance with that of others, figure out whats worked well elsewhere then implement policies that will bump up survival rates and quality of life for the underserved and everyone else. Were hoping that people will look at this and say, What did this county do? What did this state do?" he said. Lessons can be shared. Overall, the study is much more than just metrics, he said. Its a call to action. Its more than just counting the bodies, how many have died, he said. Its the first step in dealing with this problem. Its very important for us, as we debate health care, not to forget people who are disadvantaged in rural or remote areas, in big cities, in poor neighborhoods, in places where there is more smoking or more obesity. We cant work in silos anymore. This is how we deal with health problems so everybody can improve. Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. European milk producers have urged EU officials to stop selling stocks of skimmed milk powder (SMP), for fear it will destabilise a recovering market. To emphasise the point, members of producer lobby group, the European Milk Board, assembled in Brussels on Monday (23 January) and sprayed SMP at the Justus Lipsius building, where EU farm ministers were holding their monthly farm council. Milk producers all over Europe are still in the throes of the crisis, said EMB vice-president Sieta van Keimpema. Milk prices are currently at around 30 euro cents/litre (26p/litre), but with production costs of 45c/litre (38p/litre), we are still suffering daily losses. To increase the pressure at this juncture and offer milk powder from intervention on to the market is highly problematic. See also: Milk market recovery reflected by EU SMP stock release There are some 354,000t of SMP held in intervention stores taken off the market in 2015 and 2016 to try and shore up falling prices. The commission has held a series of tenders in recent weeks to start the process of offloading this surplus, though only a small amount has actually left public storage as the tender prices have come in too low. Despite this, the EMB is also calling for the introduction of a permanent Market Responsibility Programme (MRP), to supplement intervention. This would include a voluntary reduction programme, as was used successfully last year, and a cap of production to avoid future surpluses. This would be better than straight intervention buying, it says, which simply creates new stocks of powder, which then weigh down on the market. The British Cattle Veterinary Association has called on vets and farmers to cut their use of antibiotics, particularly those deemed to be important for human health. The association has issued new recommendations on the use of critically important antibiotics (CIAs) when treating cattle and called for the preventative use of antimicrobials to be avoided where possible. Dr Elizabeth Berry of the BCVA said while the responsible use of antibiotics had been promoted for many years, there was still the potential to reduce use in some areas. See also: Tesco milk suppliers to cut use of critical antibiotics So we are recommending reducing both the overall amount of antibiotics used in cattle practice and minimising the use of the high priority CIAs namely third and fourth generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and colistin, she said. These drugs should only be used where they have been demonstrated by sensitivity testing to be the only suitable choice to avoid unnecessary suffering. Teat sealants Dr Berry said the BCVA was also recommending the use of antibiotics as a preventative treatment was avoided wherever possible, as long as animal welfare was not compromised. Where preventative treatment or prophylaxis is used it should be regarded as an interim measure whilst alternative management or vaccination strategies are implemented, she said. For example, all cows which comply with recommendations for using an internal teat sealant should be considered for non-antibiotic treatments at drying off. John FitzGerald, secretary general of the Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (Ruma) alliance, said the UK remained among the lower users of antibiotics in farming in Europe, but more could be done. Action clear The BCVAs position is clear and leaves no doubt that action needs to be taken, said Mr FitzGerald. It is underpinned by science, recognising that banning preventative use outright or access to critically important antibiotics is not an answer. Both are important tools in fighting disease and preventing suffering so we still need them but we need to use them more strategically and only when no other options exist. The recommendations are in line with the stance taken by Tesco which has recently told its milk suppliers that they should only use CIAs they can prove through culture and sensitivity tests that it is justified. WHATS UP The Cherokee County Literacy Association is having a hot dog sale fundraiser on November 12 at 11:00 a.m.2:00 p.m. in the office parking lot at 409 Buford Street. Plates for... Blacksburg town employees to get bonus of $175 Blacksburg town employees were rewarded for their work Tuesday with a little extra in their holiday bonuses. Blacksburg Town Council unanimously agreed to give most full-time and part-time employees an... In this region, no one fights alone Traditional rivals Landrum and Liberty presented a $4,700 check at Fridays Blacksburg game from a competitive fundraiser to celebrate Pink Out Week. Students competed to see which school could raise... Pet Obituary Cameo CamiWard 7/27/2004 10/29/2022 Cameo chose her forever family by walking into their yard June 2006. She loved her cat proof backyard, window and screen porch. Cameo for many years played hide and go... EA and DICE have outlined some of the details surrounding Battlefield 1's upcoming They Shall Not Pass DLC, which focuses the fight over on France. The March expansion includes four new maps including the Battle of Verdun as well as the introduction of the French army, a new mode, and more. They Shall Not Pass includes four new maps set in France. Verdun Heights is an uphill battle toward Verdun's fortresses, surrounded by a boiling forest fire. Players must contend with Fort Vaux's comparatively tight spaces, deep inside the massive fort. In Soissons, planes, tanks, and infantry clash over what would otherwise be an idyllic scene of a French village in the summer. Finally, Rupture recreates a battle where the French fought in poppy-lined trenches and around the carcasses of abandoned tanks. A Frontlines mode is also being added, in which players fight for control of a single flag. When captured, the flag position shifts ahead, toward the enemy team's control point. Once that area is activated, teams fight to either attack or defend telegraph posts. Players can play as members of the French army for the first time in Battlefield 1, as well as command several new vehicles: the Char 2C tank and the St. Chamond assault tank gun. There's also a new Trench Raider elite class, which uses grenades and a club to dominate the opposition. [Source: Battlefield 1] Readers, we need your help to prove a merry Christmas for victims of domestic violence. 4:50 p.m. update: The crash has been cleared and both lanes are open. Albany police are on scene as well as members of the Fire Department. One lane of traffic is currently moving across the bridge while crews work to clear the site. This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise. Corvallis Police Department SUNDAY, JAN. 22 BURGLARY: 2:13 a.m., 1200 block Southwest 26th Street. An officer responding to a burglary call reportedly found Sean William Donaldson, 34, of Corvallis, stuffing $270 in cash into his pants in the residence. The officer arrested Donaldson for charges of second degree theft and first degree burglary. DUII: 12:24 a.m., 746 N.W. Kings Blvd. An officer arrested Herman Ray Blade Jr., 40, of Corvallis, for a charge of DUII. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent. Benton County Sheriffs Office SUNDAY, JAN. 22 METH: 4:42 p.m., 6060 N.W. Vineyard Drive. During a welfare check, deputies arrested Cynthia Michelle Thomson, 33, of Corvallis, for an outstanding warrant and unlawful possession of methamphetamine. IMPROPER USE OF 911: 5:27 a.m., 628 Commercial Street, Monroe. Muriel Joann Hubbard, 50, of Monroe, reportedly called 911 and said she had been abducted and assaulted. After a deputy investigated and concluded the report was not true, the deputy tried to arrest Hubbard, who allegedly resisted. She was charged with improper use of 911, making a false report, resisting arrest, second degree disorderly conduct and interfering with a peace officer. SUNDAY, JAN. 15 DUII: 9:30 a.m., 560 S. Fifth Street, Monroe. A deputy cited Mark James Frystak, 45, of Monroe, for a charge of DUII. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.17 percent. SATURDAY, JAN. 14 DUII: 1:25 a.m., Northeast Laurel Drive and Northeast Willamette, Adair. A deputy arrested Jeffrey McCulloch, 41, of Albany, for a charge of DUII. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.16 percent. Perhaps it was inevitable that Kelvin Koong pursued a career in education. The retired Oregon State University animal science professor can trace his ancestry back to one of the most distinguished teachers in history: the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. Koongs surname is a variant of Kong, the family name under which Confucius was born in 551 B.C. Confucius is a Westernized version of Kong Fuzi, or Grand Master Kong, the title by which he was widely known in China. Confucius is revered as the founder of Confucianism, a school of thought that espouses high ethical standards, just government, strong family relationships and proper behavior. One of its principles, a version of the Golden Rule, advises: What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others. Records of the great mans descendants have been scrupulously maintained and are believed to constitute the worlds longest unbroken family tree, running to 83 generations with roughly 2 million registered descendants and an estimated 3 million total, according to the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee. Koongs family, who moved from mainland China to Taiwan after the communist revolution of 1949, belongs to an unregistered branch of the Confucian lineage, but they follow an ancient naming tradition reserved by imperial decree for direct descendants of Confucius. While he goes by the adopted Western name Kelvin, Koongs given name is Koong Ling-jung. Chinese people, our family name comes first, Koong said. The middle one, the Ling, thats the significant part. When you see that with Koong, the character will tell you the generation. Koongs name identifies him as a member of the 76th generation, a pedigree that dates back more than 2,500 years. He tends to shrug off the family connection, pointing out that Confucius has many other descendants in the world today including, he believes, at least one other in Corvallis (OSU chemistry professor Wei Kong). Still, Koongs heritage sometimes crops up in unexpected ways. In the late 1990s, for instance, he traveled to the site of the massive Three Gorges Dam project in China with a delegation of American grass seed producers hoping to land big sales contracts. As they were having dinner, they were approached by the manager of their hotel, who introduced himself to Koong with great ceremony. We shake hands, and hes very polite. He bought a case of beer and wine (for us), just because my name was Koong, he recalled with a laugh. My friends were very impressed. His own three sons? Not so much. The first time I mentioned to them that we are descendants of Confucius, they just laughed out loud, Koong admitted. They didnt believe me at the beginning. If he ever needs an additional reminder of the value of humility, he likes to recall a traditional story told about some of his relatives from long ago Confucius son and grandson. Unlike his famous father, the son was an indifferent scholar, but the grandson grew up to become a learned man in his own right. Yet the younger man never forgot to show and teach proper respect. He said to his father, My son is better than your son, Koong recounted. Then he talked to his own son: My father is better than your father. For his own part, Koong doesnt believe there is any particular virtue conferred by having a famous ancestor. He built his own career on a firm educational foundation, earning advanced degrees in animal science and biomathematics before taking a series of research and teaching jobs. Over time he moved into positions of greater responsibility, becoming associate dean of the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and interim director of the OSU Extension Service. You have to earn the pride, he said. Its not because of your name. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Terror suspects in Bad Munstereifel : Alleged ISIS members arrested Bonn On Tuesday, the federal prosecutor's office arrested two brothers. The men are suspected of being members of the "Islamic State" (ISIS) and "Jabhat al-Nusra" (JaN). Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken On Tuesday afternoon, the federal prosecutors office reported two arrests as well as apartment searches in Bonn and Bad Munstereifel. According to the NRW Interior Ministry, brothers Rachid B. (25) and Khalid B. (24) were arrested in Bad Munstereifel. Both of them have the German and Moroccan nationalities. Rachid B. is said to have travelled across Egypt and Turkey to Syria in February of 2013, where he joined the Jabhat al-Nusra organization. In addition to a four-week combat training course in the province of Idlib, he is said to have received shooting and weapons training. He was also taught how to use a grenade. In April of 2013, he is alleged to have been part of a group who held a suspected spy for over a week. At the beginning of May, 2013, the 25-year-old apparently changed from the al-Nusra group to ISIS but kept his assault rifle. Rachid B. is said to have received renewed target training, then fighting for ISIS. During his time at al-Nusra, Rachid B. apparently had contact with his younger brother, Khalid B. who also wanted to join the group. Hid older brother allegedly advised him on which route to take into Syria. At the beginning of July, 2013, Khalid B. allegedly left Germany for Syria and joined ISIS. After training, he is believed to have participated in fighting for ISIS. The Interior Ministry reports that both brothers returned to Germany in 2016. They were expected to appear in court on Tuesday. Controlled substance use : More drugs in schools MUNICH/BONN Whether cannabis or crystal meth, the number of controlled substances found at schools in Germany has climbed drastically in the past years. In NRW, the numbers have nearly doubled since 2011. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken Numbers released by the Interior Ministry and the State Office of Criminal Investigations shows an increase in drug use at schools. In North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), the number of cases doubled from 443 in 2011 to 897 cases in 2015. In 2014, the number had even climbed to 957. Most of the violations in NRW were related to cannabis (261). There was one narcotics violation in 2015 involving heroin; in both 2011 and 2014, there were three cases involving heroin. In Rhineland-Palatinate schools, there were 87 cases of controlled substance use at schools in 2011, 161 cases in 2014 and 147 in 2015. Cannabis was also the main drug involved in these instances. In Baden-Wurttemberg, the number of drug cases at schools nearly tripled - from 348 cases in 2011 to 939 cases four years later, despite drug prevention programs. In most of the cases, the charges were related to possession or acquisition of marijuana. Marlene Mortier, the federal drug commissioner sees the downplaying of marijuana use in society as an important aspect contributing to the developments. Especially for young people, prevention and information are important, she said. Whether or not Bonn schools had been experiencing more dealing or whether Bonn schools in general saw more illegal drugs could not be answered by Bonn police on Monday. Criminal statistics for Bonn, Bad Honnef, Konigswinter and Rhine-Sieg County on the left side of the Rhine were recorded, but not the exact locations where the drug offenses took place. However, a spokesperson did comment that from the information and data they have collected, there was the feeling the numbers had gone up a fair amount. "International is normal" : UN Jobs are hard to get BONN Its not easy to obtain a job at the UN. The system is highly competitive and applicants come from all over the world. An interview with employment agency staff outlines some of the ins and outs. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken A career with an international organization sounds very enticing but is not so easy to come by. GA Reporter Moritz Rosenkranz spoke with Federal Employment Agency (BFIO) staff members Ditmar Konigsdorf and Ralf Czadzeck. Here are some excerpts from the interview. Mr. Czadzeck, you are working in a program for young professionals. What do I have to do to get a job with the United Nations? Ralf Czadzeck: Firstly, its not a beginner job for people who have just finished university and are looking to gain some experience. Its more geared towards young professionals who have a Masters degree and at least two years of relevant job experience. Ditmar Konigsfeld: There is a wide spectrum of fields offered at the United Nations but they all have specific requirements or preferences. They have a high need for economic and social scientists, lawyers and those working in environmental sciences. But there is hardly an area of study which would rule out a person from having an international career. We go around to universities throughout Germany to inform students, with around 30 appointments. Besides a degree, what else does one need to have? Konigsfeld: Formally, one needs good IT knowledge, and normally two foreign languages which are seen as tools of the trade. One has to meet challenging criteria because the system is very competitive. The competition is international. If you are applying for an internship in the Climate Secretariat in Bonn, you are competing with other students from Puerto Rico or Cambodia and top performers worldwide. How would you characterize the young people who are successful with their applications? Czadzeck: Many of them are open-minded about the world, and they are mobile. Some have already specialized in a certain branch, for example meteorology. All of them have had much international experience already in their younger years. Konigsfeld: International is normal. No applicants distinguish themselves with just a nationally oriented resume. Many have completed a double Masters degree. They are highly qualified world citizens with an authentic life resume, which is also reflected in their engagement. Where does one apply? Article Protecting the worlds oceans an important goal of Germanys climate diplomacy The worlds oceans are vital to our survival. They regulate the global climate and are a source of food and income for billions of people. Only a very small part of the seas enjoys legal protection, however. Our diplomats are working in New York right now to change this state of affairs. bayonel3 at 24-01-2017 10:14 AM (5 years ago) (m) Rich Zimbabwe businessman Wicknell Chivayo seems to have found love three weeks after he released an outrageous list of requirements for a future wife. The flamboyant businessman, who is close to the First Family, took to Facebook on December 31, to announce that he has decided to get married in 2017. All applicants had to have sent in their 'applications' before 1st January 2017. Rich Zimbabwe businessman Wicknell Chivayo seems to have found love three weeks after he released an outrageous list of requirements for a future wife. The flamboyant businessman, who is close to the First Family, took to Facebook on December 31, to announce that he has decided to get married in 2017.All applicants had to have sent in their 'applications' before 1st January 2017. Read the requirements he listed after the cut.. Read the requirements he listed after the cut.. Quote "LOOKING FOR A WIFE....I have finally decided i am getting married in 2017. Applicants with the following requirements should apply; 1. Should have natural hair 2. Minimum of a University Degree preferably in finance or business related. Masters degree is an added advantage. 3. Satisfactory income source backed by a bank statement. 4. A great cook (able to cook sadza reziyo , mubora , zvinyenze, mangai , mutetenerwa, derere etc) 5. No tattoos or unusual body piercings 6. Should be light in complexion and have white teeth. 7. Able to sustain an intellectual conversation as well as an awesome sense of humour 8. Attach written recommendations from at least 2 former boyfriends 9. Extensive knowledge of Public relations. 10. Fluent in shona or ndebele and at least 2 international languages. 11. Well-trained in home management and hospitality 12. Must have NO CHILDREN and a great character 13. No previous record of cheating 14. Demonstrated ability to make a man successful 15. Your Mother's CV with attached reference from your father. 16. Grandmother's aged 30 years and above do not qualify. All applicants are advised to send their applications by 1st January 2017. Attach birth and health certificates (HIV/AIDS recent results ). Only selected candidates will be contacted. Please don't comment if you don't meet the above criteria.... I THANK YOU" Then on Tuesday, January 17th, Chivayo posted a photo of himself with an unnamed woman rocking unnatural hair, with the caption: Sir is chilling at home with the successful candidate". But he has since taken the photo down." Then on Tuesday, January 17th, Chivayo posted a photo of himself with an unnamed woman rocking unnatural hair, with the caption: But he has since taken the photo down." Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. +2348055557203 Posted: at 24-01-2017 10:14 AM (5 years ago) | Hero Early last year, It Was reported about the painful death of a young Kenyan woman, Sharon Muthoni, who was battered by her boyfriend, Salim Kipruto Serem.Postmortem report indicates she suffered multiple internal injuries - her heart, brain, liver and spinal cord had blood clots and discharge from the violence. Kipruto disappeared the moment Sharon passed away, and has since been on the run. Reports say he is hiding in Uganda. On the first anniversary of Sharon's death, January 14th, her mother, Mrs Connie Muuru, a businesswoman based in Nairobi held a memorial service for her. Connie, who has started a project that would empower victims of domestic violence, says her daughters experience has made her cognizant of the macabre experiences people in violent relationships go through. She narrated to eDaily what transpired until her daughter died. Quote "My daughter was not married. She was living in Belgium, where she pursued her first and second degree alongside international languages; she could speak French, German, Dutch and many more. She got a baby in 2014. When I visited her in Belgium, I did not like the place. "I asked her to relocate to Kenya when the baby turned one because according to me , Belgium was not conducive to both of them. Sharon returned to Kenya in September, 2014. She stayed in my house up to April, 2015 when she moved out. She went to live in Syokimau, and that is where she met her partner, who ended up killing her. Their relationship had not even lasted one year. The guy was putting up with a friend of his at the time before moving in with my daughter, M s Muuru told eDaily amid pains. Quote The man was not working, so my daughter was the one who was providing for him. She left some voice recording, which she sent to friends complaining how the man was brutally beating her. It reached a point where my daughter asked him to leave her alone and she was very firm. It seems this man was in denial and decided if he would have to leave, then he would kill her. I was with Sharon on December 29, 2015 and on January 14, 2016 she was dead; just within two weeks, she had been beaten to death. I dont know what that man did to her exactly, as you can see in the photos, the torture was horrific. When we received postmortem results from Kenyatta University Hospital mortuary (seen by eDaily), it revealed that nearly all her vital organs had blood clots and other parts had pus. It seems he was hitting body parts that he was sure when wounded, would result into my daughters death. Two days before her death, I told her to come home. I could see she was stressed. She was undergoing through so much that I did not know. Her house help told me that Sharon used to be beaten and blood would splash everywhere in the room. Maybe my daughter was hopeful that Serem was going to change and become a good man. She did not want to spoil his name to me, said Ms Muuru.The businesswoman says Serem had lied to Muthoni few days into their relationship that he had a project that had a potential to generate millions in revenue, only that he did not have sufficient capital to fund it. Quote The man told Sharon he had a big project in Uganda and that he needed a half-a-million-shilling funding. My daughter came to me and told me: Mum, if you do this for us, well be okay. I took a KSh500, 000 bank loan and gave the money to her. Surprisingly, within two months, they could not even afford food. The man had squandered all the money and even took my daughters ATM card when he realised there was no money left in her savings account. It later emerged that Serem was previously married to another woman. I think they divorced, but my daughter did not know about that, and I too did not know about that until she died. All I know is he has an 18-year-old daughter whom hed walk around with, saying her mother disappeared. So, who knows? If the girls mother disappeared the way my daughter disappeared, who knows? This other family, we did not know about it. Serem had told my daughter that he was living in the United Kingdom before relocating to Nairobi, Kenya. I dont how true that statement was. There was a time he sold everything in Sharons house, drained her financially until she could no longer pay her monthly house rent. Sharon had to return to my house, and he followed her because he did not have another place to go to. They stayed in my house for about one month. I thereafter put up a business for them so that they could earn an income of their own, said Ms Muuru. Their relationship lasted a short time and we did a lot because we were expecting good things out of it. I reported my daughters murder to authorities automatically because her body was dumped at the Lucy Kibaki Hospital in Kayole after succumbing to her injuries. Guards at the hospital noted the wounds on my daughters body and told the taxi driver who had brought her not to leave the facility until the womans family was informed. That is how the driver looked for us; and when he found us, they left my daughters body there and drove off. Police at Kayole post, who are still handling the case, took my daughters body to Kenyatta University Hospital mortuary. I followed up on the case for a while, and was later informed that the suspect had fled to Uganda on the same night after killing my daughter. Reports say he is still hiding in Uganda. It hurts me I have to move on. But the police have to continue looking for him, Connie Muuru said, adding: My daughter was a very responsible person, very mature, very kind, a person of action. Actually I lost, and the world has lost someone. I want to put my strength and focus on a project that would provide a platform for people in violent relationships to come out, people living with depression to have a friend who they can confide in. I want to launch the project as soon as possible because people are suffering in silence; and my daughters experience hurts me, and it exposed how dire the situation is. I want the project to run in my daughters memory. I use a social media platform her friends had opened to listen to peoples problems that are similar to what my daughter went through. People have been sending me horrific photos of themselves beaten to a pulp. Others send me photos of them with gash wounds into the head due to domestic violence. Others send me graphic videos while being assaulted. If someone shows you little elements of violence, walk out. Dont wait to be beaten to death this applies to members of both genders. Let the wrangling couple, whose relationship is marred by violence, to separate and solve their differences when not living under the same roof. They can come back together later after their problems are solved amicably. For instance, my daughter knew her partner Serem was not a good person because she was beaten severally. She shouldnt have waited until she was killed. I am not against families, I am not against marriages. But when it comes to death, nothing can be compared. My daughter thought since she was the one providing and paying the rent, then the man was the one to leave. But that shouldnt be the case. If you are the one providing and your partner becomes violent, please leave him or her. You can get another house and other properties, but not another life. I would also like the government to give attention to depression as a condition that needs serious address, and even a kitty should be put in place to tackle the problem. Personally, I went through depression and I was taking medicine and I restored my health. Many people are increasingly finding themselves depressed consciously or subconsciously due to lifestyle change. They urgently need help before it gets out of hand. Upcoming Android Nougat smartphones: Nokia 6, Lenovo ZUK Edge, LG Stylus 3 and more Features oi -Harish Kumar These phones are already running Android Nougat. Nearly two years ago, it was a distinct dream for the Android fans to get a smartphone with the latest iteration of Android running on it. There was a single choice for all the users who wants to enjoy the newest Android OS: Go for the Google branded Nexus phones as the search giant will be directly seeding the OS updates. However, this scenario has changed now. Every manufacturer these days are concentrating heavily on the software side to retain the customers, and the credit heavily goes to Motorola here as it was the quickest vendor to release software update under both Google and Lenovo ownership. List of Smartphones updated with Android Nougat in India Google announced the Android Nougat back in August 2016, and till now, the market share is paltry for the latest OS, but almost every smartphone releasing these days is booting Nougat. Here are the smartphones that will be launched with Android Nougat in the near future. Nokia 6 Complete Specs of Nokia 6 Key Specs 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430, 64-bit processor with Adreno 505 GPU 4GB LPDDR3 RAM 64GB internal memory expandable memory up to 128GB with microSD Android 7.0 (Nougat) Dual SIM 16MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash 8MP front-facing camera 4G LTE WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, USB OTG 3000mAh built-in battery Lenovo ZUK Edge Complete Specs of Lenovo ZUK Edge Key Specs 5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) Full HD 2.5D curved glass display 2.35 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 821 processor with Adreno 530 GPU 4GB/6GB RAM with 64GB (UFS 2.0) internal storage Android 7.0 (Nougat) with ZUI 2.5 13MP rear camera with LED Flash 8MP front-facing camera Dual nano SIMs Fingerprint sensor, Heart rate sensor, UV sensor, Altimeter 4G VoLTE 3100mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 LG Stylus 3 Complete Specs of LG Stylus 3 Key Specs 5.7 Inch HD IPS In-Cell Touch Display 1.5 GHz MT6750 Octa-Core Processor 3GB RAM With 16GB ROM Dual Micro SIM 13 MP Primary Camera With LED Flash 8 MP Front Camera With LED Flash 4G/WiFi Bluetooth 4.2 Fingerprint Sensor 3200mAh Battery Asus Zenfone Pegasus 3s Complete Specs of Asus Zenfone Pegasus 3s Key Specs 5.2-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) 2.5D curved glass display 1.3 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6737 64-bit processor with Mali-T720 GPU 2GB RAM with 16GB storage / 3GB RAM with 32GB storage expandable memory with microSD Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with ZenUI 3.0 Hybrid Dual SIM (Micro + nano/microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED flash 5MP front-facing camera Fingerprint sensor 4G VoLTE 4100mAh battery HTC 10 evo Complete Specs of HTC 10 evo Key Specs 5.5-inch (1440 x 2560 pixels) Quad HD Super LCD 3 display with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection 2GHz Octa-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 with Adreno 430 GPU 3GB RAM, 32GB / 64GB internal storage expandable memory with microSD Android 7.0 (Nougat) with HTC Sense UI 16MP rear camera with dual LED flash, f/2.0 aperture, OIS 8MP front-facing camera Water resistant (IP57) Fingerprint sensor USB-C audio, BoomSound Adaptive Audio, Hi-Res audio 4G LTE 3200 mAh battery with Quick Charge 2.0 Best Mobiles in India Flattening sales in the US and China Apple has been one of the most successful companies of all times. It has been the industry leader for the past decade. But, of late, things seems to have changed and changed drastically. In fact, Apple had witnessed a drop in iPhone sales for the first time last year. While the global sales dropped including the US and China, iPhone sales in India grew by 50% in fiscal 2016 in comparison to 2015. "Our iPhone sales in India were up over 50% in fiscal 2016 compared to the prior year, and we believe we're just beginning to scratch the surface of this large and growing market opportunity," Tim Cook said. Despite such growth in India, Apple still holds only a meager 2.2% of market share according to Counterpoint research. That's largely thanks to the high price tags that come along with the iPhones. Speaking of which.... Manufacturing iPhones in India could be the key to strengthening its presence in the country One of the primary reasons for such low market share for the company in India is the price. Currently, for every iPhone that's shipped into the country, 12.5% of import tax is levied, which takes the final price of the iPhone to something not many Indians would want to shell out especially, when Chinese companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Huawei are offering flagship-like phones at half the price. With this in mind, Apple had earlier tried to sell refurbished smartphones in India which could bring the iPhone prices down. The Indian government, though, didn't approve the idea. With that option gone now, setting up a manufacturing unit in the country to lower price by avoiding the import taxes is the company's best bet. Surging assembling costs in China As cited in a report by TOI, Apple has around 766 suppliers spread across 28 countries out of which, 346 are based out of China. Also, no matter where some of the sub-parts of iPhone are flocked together, the final assembling process happens only in China (sometimes Brazil). But, of late the assembling costs in China have surged, and Apple has been in search of a new hub for the assembling process. Now, with India growing to be the biggest market for smartphones (expected to be the second biggest market), it will obviously be the first choice for any company. Moreover, the labor costs in India are quite low comparatively which is nothing but a cherry on the cake for Apple (pun intended). Manufacturing iPhones in India is a free ticket for Apple to set up its own stores Like mentioned earlier, Tim Cook met Narendra Modi to get approval from the government to set up its own stores in the country instead of depending on third parties. But, the Indian government had insisted Apple to "source 30% of its components locally." Manufacturing iPhones in India would meet this requirement and is certainly a free ticket for the tech giant to set up its own stores in India. SIM taken against fake documents, TRAI send suggestions to government News oi -GizBot Bureau DoT may work with the telecom service providers, to evolve a framework to verify the existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based e-KYC. Aiming to reduce instances of SIM cards being issued against fake documents, the Indian telecom regulator has submitted its recommendations to the Department of Telecom (DoT), an official said on Monday. "DoT may work with the TSPs (telecom service providers), to evolve a framework to verify the existing mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based e-KYC (know your customer) services in a phased manner and within a defined timeframe. However, this process should be optional to the service providers as well as mobile subscribers," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said in a statement here. SEE ALSO: Vodafone's new plan offers free 4G/3G, unlimited voice calling at just Rs. 499 for postpaid users "The subscribers may have to be given some sops in terms of free talk-time or data to encourage them to undergo the e-KYC process," it added. The TRAI has received several cases from state police (crime branch) wherein it has been found that hundreds of SIM cards have been obtained on fake documents. The existence of such SIM cards poses a real security challenge, the TRAI said, adding that it is essential that not only the new subscribers are enrolled through e-KYC process. Further it also recommended the DoT that: "Aadhaar based e-KYC should be permitted for outstation customers also at any place within the service area." IANS Click Here for New Smartphones Best Online Deals Best Mobiles in India Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications Overall, dont let the bhoot mislead you, nothing bhootiya about this story. Had the makers tried to push the envelope, the idea could have been outstanding for a bhootiya comedy. US Spy Agencies Probe Trump's National Security Adviser's Ties to Russia Sputnik News 06:39 23.01.2017 US counterintelligence agents have looked into the communications between President Donald Trump's national security adviser Gen. Michael Flynn and Russian officials, US media reported. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency and Treasury Department have investigated the communications of Flynn, but it is unclear when the probe began, if it finished and what results it produced, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported on Sunday, citing undisclosed sources. According to the newspaper, the investigation's goal was to discover the nature of Flynn's contacts with Russian officials and the degree of their compliance with law. The inquiry reportedly focused on the telephone call Flynn made to Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak on December 29, 2016, when the latter invited Flynn to participate in the peace talks on Syria in Astana. The White House reportedly denied any knowledge of a probe or even any grounds for an investigation. Flynn would not be the only member in Trump's administration whose links to Russia have faced intense scrutiny. Trump's pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had to report in detail on his prospective policy regarding Russia at his confirmation hearing amid media questioning his ties to Moscow. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hill AFB fighter wings bring first F-35A to Red Flag 388th Fighter Wing / Published January 23, 2017 HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah (AFNS) -- Pilots and maintainers from the 388th and 419th Fighter Wings deployed the F-35A Lightning II to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, Jan. 20, 2017 for exercise Red Flag. This is the first deployment to Red Flag for the F-35A and the first large movement since the Air Force declared the jet combat ready in August 2016. Red Flag is the Air Force's premier air-to-air combat training exercise. Participants include both U.S. and allied nations' combat air forces. The exercise provides aircrews the experience of multiple, intensive air combat sorties in the safety of a training environment. "Our Airmen are excited to bring the F-35 to a full-spectrum combat exercise," said Col. David Lyons, the 388th FW commander. "This battle space is going to be a great place to leverage our stealth and interoperability. It's a lethal platform and I'm confident we will prove to be an invaluable asset to the commander." The jets will be at Red Flag through Feb. 10. While deployed, the F-35 will fly alongside fourth-and-fifth generation platforms and provide offensive and defensive counter air, suppression of enemy air defenses, and limited close air support. "Red Flag is hands-down the best training in the world to ensure our Airmen are fully mission ready," said Col. David Smith, the 419th FW commander. "It's as close to combat operations as you can get. Our Reserve pilots and maintainers are looking forward to putting the F-35A weapon system to the test alongside our active duty partners to bring an unprecedented combat capability." The F-35A is a fifth-generation, multi-role stealth fighter designed to gather, fuse and distribute more information than any other fighter in history. The first operational F-35As arrived at Hill AFB in October 2015. The base will eventually be home to three operational F-35 fighter squadrons with a total of 78 aircraft by the end of 2019. The active duty 388th FW and Air Force Reserve 419th FW will fly and maintain the Air Force's newest fighter aircraft in a Total Force partnership, which capitalizes on the strength of both components. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Counter-ISIL Strikes Target Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Jan. 23, 2017 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 34 strikes consisting of 49 engagements in Syria: -- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed an oil wellhead. -- Near Bab, five strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units and destroyed three tactical vehicles, a mortar and an ISIL-held building. -- Near Raqqah, 14 strikes engaged four ISIL tactical units and destroyed four artillery pieces, a decoy artillery piece, an unmanned aerial vehicle tower, two tactical vehicles, a command-and-control node, 20 oil storage barrels, two tunnels and a decoy armored vehicle. -- Near Dayr Az Zawr, 14 strikes destroyed 21 oil pump jacks, an oil tanker truck, an oil storage tank and two oil storage barrels. Strikes in Iraq Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted eight strikes consisting of 22 engagements in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Kisik, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit, destroyed a logistics node, and damaged a tunnel. -- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit; destroyed two vehicle bombs, a fuel truck, a vehicle, a front-end loader, 10 boats, nine oil tanker trucks, three tanker trailers; and damaged a guard tower and a supply route. -- Near Tal Afar, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicle bombs and an explosives factory. -- Near Tuz, a strike destroyed an ISIL bulldozer. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ISIL on Run in Eastern Mosul, Pentagon Spokesman Says By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2017 Iraqi security forces are finishing clearing operations in eastern Mosul while Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters have ceased fighting and are on the run, Pentagon Press Operations Director Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said today. Speaking with reporters, Davis said ISIL fighters are moving to Mosul's north bank of the Tigris River to cross the waterway by boat to reach western Mosul. "I can tell you it's a great day not to be a member of the ISIL navy," the spokesman said. "We destroyed another 10 boats on the Tigris River today for 143 boats total. Our message to ISIL is: 'We will not allow you to get away to the other side of the river and set up shop there.'" Operation Desert Leopard Another significant Iraqi security force operation underway in the region is Operation Desert Leopard, Davis said, where the Iraqis are working very methodically by starting in Ramadi and going up the Euphrates River Valley to Haditha, while clearing the area. "It's been a good operation that's driving ISIL back," he said. In Yemen, the United States conducted airstrikes from Jan. 20 to 22 in al-Bayda against al-Qa-da in the Arabian Peninsula operatives, killing five al-Qaida members in three days, Davis said. "AQAP remains a significant threat to the region and the United States," he said. "Al-Qaida's presence has a destabilizing effect on Yemen [in addition to] its using the unrest there to provide a haven from which to plan future attacks against the United States and other interests," the spokesman said. "We will continue to degrade, disrupt and destroy al-Qaida and its remnants, and we remain committed to defeating AQAP and denying it safe havens regardless of its locations," Davis said. The strikes conducted by the United States continue to diminish AQAP's presence in the region, the spokesman said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Defense Secretary Speaks With NATO Chief, British, Canadian Counterparts DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2017 In separate calls today, Defense Secretary James Mattis spoke with his counterparts from the United Kingdom and Canada and with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, according to readouts of the calls provided by Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis. Mattis' first call to a defense counterpart since his confirmation Friday was made this morning to Canadian Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan. The defense secretary thanked Sajjan for his leadership and the deep and enduring defense partnership between the United States and Canada, Davis said. The two reiterated the depth and breadth of the relationship shared between the United States and Canada as North American Aerospace Defense Command partners, NATO allies and North American neighbors, he said. The two leaders "reinforced the vital importance of U.S. and Canadian commitment to North American defense and NORAD," the captain said. Mattis emphasized the "indispensable partnership with Canada across the spectrum of bilateral and multilateral security issues." such as Iraq, NATO Enhanced Forward Presence and the effort to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, he said. The two leaders also addressed the importance of North American defense relations among the United States, Canada and Mexico, Davis said. Mattis thanked Sajjan for Canada's strong support for the alliance and expressed his personal appreciation for the professionalism of the Canadian armed forces, he said. The two committed to stay in close communication and noted they looked forward to meeting one another, the captain said. United Kingdom In his conversation with U.K. Defense Secretary Michael Fallon, Mattis emphasized that the uniquely close relationship between the U.S. and U.K. will continue and is reflected in defense ties that are a bedrock of U.S. security, Davis said. Mattis also emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO and thanked Fallon for his country's commitment to contribute two percent of gross domestic product to defense and for the U.K.'s contributions to international security, the captain said. The two leaders pledged to work together in the coming months, agreeing to maintain focus on defeating ISIL, Davis said, and they pledged to continue to work closely together. The leaders noted they looked forward to meeting at the NATO defense ministerial in February, he added. NATO The defense secretary, who previously served as NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation, spoke with Stoltenberg to reconnect and discuss the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security, Davis said. Mattis "wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance," the captain said. The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe, Davis said. Both pledged to consult in the months to come and look forward to meeting in person during next month's NATO defense ministerial. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-022-17 January 23, 2017 Readout from Secretary James Mattis' Call with Canada Minister of National Defense Harjit Sajjan Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke this morning via telephone with Canadian Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan. This was Secretary Mattis' first telephone conversation with a defense counterpart since being confirmed as secretary of defense on Jan. 20. Secretary Mattis thanked Minister Sajjan for his leadership and the deep and enduring defense partnership between the United States and Canada. The two reiterated the depth and breadth of the relationship shared between the United States and Canada as NORAD partners, NATO allies, and North American neighbors. Secretary Mattis and Minister Sajjan reinforced the vital importance of U.S. and Canadian commitment to North American defense and NORAD. Secretary Mattis emphasized the indispensable partnership with Canada across the spectrum of bilateral and multilateral security issues such as Iraq, NATO Enhanced Forward Presence and C-ISIL. The two leaders also addressed the importance of North American defense relations among the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Secretary Mattis thanked Minister Sajjan for Canada's strong support for our alliance, and expressed his personal appreciation for the professionalism of the Canadian Armed Forces. The two committed to stay in close communication and noted they looked forward to meeting one another. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1057416/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-023-17 January 23, 2017 Readout of Secretary of Defense James Mattis' Call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Pentagon Spokesperson Capt. Jeff Davis provided the following readout: Secretary Mattis spoke today by telephone with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to reconnect and discuss the key role NATO plays in transatlantic security. The secretary, who previously served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Transformation, wanted to place the call on his first full day in office to reinforce the importance he places on the alliance. The two leaders discussed the importance of our shared values, and the secretary emphasized that when looking for allies to help defend these values, the United States always starts with Europe. Both pledged to consult in the months to come and look forward to meeting in person during the NATO Defense Ministerial in February. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1057421/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-024-17 January 23, 2017 Readout from Secretary James Mattis' Call with UK State Secretary for Defense Michael Fallon Pentagon Spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense James Mattis spoke today by telephone with his counterpart from the United Kingdom, State Secretary for Defense Michael Fallon. Secretary Mattis emphasized the United States and the United Kingdom will always enjoy a uniquely close relationship, reflected in our defense ties which are a bedrock of U.S. security. He also emphasized the United States' unshakeable commitment to NATO and he thanked Secretary Fallon for his country's commitment of two percent of GDP to defense and contributions to international security. The two leaders pledged to work together in the coming months, agreeing to maintain focus on defeating ISIL. They pledged to work closely and noted they looked forward to meeting at the upcoming NATO defense ministerial. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1057424/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group Departs for Third Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170123-17 Release Date: 1/23/2017 9:51:00 AM From USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Public Affairs NORFOLK (NNS) -- George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group (GHWBCSG) departed for its third deployment, Jan. 21. The strike group, led by aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), and its nearly 6,000 Sailors will conduct operations in the U.S. Navy's 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility. The deployment is part of an ongoing rotation of U.S. forces supporting maritime security operations in international waters around the world. Working with allied and partner maritime forces, GHWBCSG units will focus heavily on maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts which help establish conditions for regional security. "The flexibility of our maritime force is second to none," said Rear Adm. Kenneth R. Whitesell, commander, CSG 2. "We've trained and we're ready to operate and fight decisively, and we embody the core attributes of the Navy of integrity, accountability, initiative, and toughness. We are ready, and I am proud to lead this force." GHWBCSG includes embarked squadrons Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 22. GHWB spent the last five months conducting intensive training and certification exercises to establish a safe, cohesive organization capable of performing a wide variety of missions across the globe, ranging from counter-piracy and ground support operations to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. This is the third deployment for the Navy's last Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which recently became combat-ready after the successful completion of Composite Unit Training Exercise (COMPTUEX). "We are absolutely ready to go," said Capt. Will Pennington, CVN 77's commanding officer. "In addition to the local Navy infrastructure, there is a tremendous amount of support that's required to get this done; a lot of DoD (Department of Defense) civilians and other entities, and we have gotten fabulous support from them. Our readiness to go today is a testament to them, as well as our Sailors that are on board." GHWB was commissioned Jan. 10, 2009, as the 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier. Named after the 41st U.S. President, George H.W. Bush is the only aircraft carrier in the fleet with a living namesake. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USNS Spearhead Set to Deploy, Continuing Promise 2017 Begins Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170123-08 Release Date: 1/23/2017 8:53:00 AM From U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet Public Affairs MAYPORT, Fla. (NNS) -- Continuing Promise 2017 (CP-17) will begin early next week with the deployment a Military Sealift Command-operated expeditionary fast transport vessel, USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1), to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility from January to April. CP-17 is a USSOUTHCOM-sponsored, and U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet (USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT) conducted deployment, focused on civil-military operations including humanitarian-civil assistance activities comprised of medical, dental, and veterinary support, as well as disaster response training to show U.S. commitment to Central and South American partner nations. Spearhead, with embarked command element led by Commander, Destroyer Squadron (CDS) 40 and various supporting detachments, will visit Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia. Spearhead is a unique, highly-flexible platform which can provide expeditious movement of personnel and equipment ashore to conduct humanitarian civic assistance operations quickly and efficiently. This is the first year Spearhead will be the deploying platform for Continuing Promise. As part of CP-17, U.S. military personnel will work closely with their host nation counterparts and health professionals to respond to the day-to-day needs of the citizens and provide medical, dental, and veterinary support at a medical site in each nation. An estimated 15,000 people will be provided a variety of medical services including preventative medical treatments, dental screenings and treatment, optometry screenings, eyewear distribution and women's health services. CP-17 is a demonstration of the strong U.S. commitment to partners in Central and South America, fostering goodwill and enhancing collective ability to respond to natural disasters and humanitarian crises. CP-17 will conclude in April. USNAVSO/FOURTHFLT supports USSOUTHCOM's joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability, and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central, and South American regions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address USS Makin Island Provides Medical Assistance to Pakistani Sailor Navy News Service Story Number: NNS170123-02 Release Date: 1/23/2017 8:37:00 AM From USS Makin Island (LHD 8) Public Affairs GULF OF ADEN (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines aboard amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8) rendered medical assistance to a Pakistani sailor while operating in the Gulf of Aden, Jan. 20. Pakistani naval vessel PNS Tariq (1973) requested assistance from Naval Amphibious Forces, Task Force 51 and 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade for a sailor experiencing abdominal pain. The sailor was transferred to Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE 6) and flown to Makin Island in the evening by the embarked "Blackjacks" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21. Makin Island's medical team, along with embarked members of Fleet Surgical Team (FST) 5, began assessment and treatment after receiving the patient. Makin Island has the largest afloat medical facility in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, and houses medical and dental facilities to support surgery, military and civilian casualty receiving, stabilization for complex trauma injured patients, and general health care for members of the amphibious ready group and marine expeditionary unit. "The capabilities our medical professionals bring to the theater greatly increase the chances of patient survivability by mitigating the risk of loss of limb, life, or eyesight of our Sailors, Marines, partners, and allies," said Makin Island Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Melson. "We are thankful to have been in the right place at the right time to help a fellow mariner." The crew on Tariq expressed gratitude to the surgical team aboard Makin Island for the rapid medical response. Makin Island, flagship of the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) with the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), is operating in the Gulf of Aden in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. The Makin Island ARG is comprised of Makin Island, the command ship for Amphibious Squadron 5 and the 11th MEU, as well as amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD 25), which is embarking on its maiden deployment, and amphibious dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD 45). Embarked units, which extend the ARG's capabilities, include HSC-21, FST-5, Tactical Air Control Squadron 11 and Assault Craft Unit 5. The 11th MEU is a sea-based Marine Air-Ground Task Force comprised of a ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 4th Marines; an aviation combat element, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 163 (Reinforced); a combat logistics element, Combat Logistics Battalion 11; and a command element with a commanding officer who leads the entire MEU. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants still holding 25 hostages in southern Philippines: Official Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 6:22PM The Philippine defense chief has confirmed that more than two dozen hostages are still being held by Daesh-linked terrorists on an island in southern Philippines. Delfin Lorenzana told a security forum in Singapore on Monday that 25 kidnapped victims are still being kept in the southern island of Jolo, which is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf militant group. Lorenzana stressed that the government's strategy against militants was a "holistic approach." The government is trying to "convince the companies and the families not to pay ransom because every time they pay ransom they make the kidnappers stronger," the defense minister noted. "They have more money to distribute to the communities and they have more money to procure all the gadgets that they need - cellphones, firearms and even materials to manufacture improvised explosive devices." Lorenzana stated that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been under pressure to declare martial law in at least three southern islands. Many Filipinos want the president to declare martial law over South Tawi Tawi, Jolo and Basilan islands where militants operate. Elsewhere in his remarks, the defense minister also said that the companies which employed two recently freed Indonesians had paid a ransom. The Philippine military earlier said two Indonesian hostages were freed last month by militants from the Abu Sayyaf group, which is known to behead its victims if ransoms are not paid. The two were among seven Indonesian crewmen who had been kidnapped from a tugboat sailing in waters off the southern Philippines in June 2016. The ultra-violent terrorist group Abu Sayyaf , which pledged alliance to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the summer of 2014, have also been involved in other criminal activities, including rape and drug trafficking, in what they describe as their battle for an independent province in the Philippines. The group mainly relies on kidnapping for its finances and many say its ideological and religious claims are meant to hide its focus on the lucrative business. The militants have been in constant clashes with Philippine forces across the troubled region in the past 25 years. Since August last year, thousands of troops have been deployed to southern territories after President Duterte ordered a massive military operation against Abu Sayyaf. However, fierce resistance by the militants has made it difficult for the military to make any tangible breakthrough. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN, Ansarullah reach consensus on holding fresh Yemen talks Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 5:57PM The United Nations and Yemeni Houthi Ansarullah movement have reached an agreement to restart a new round of peace talks with negotiators from the resigned government of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to end the nearly two-year-old conflict in the Arab country. The United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said on Monday that he had recently met with Ansarullah and the General People's Congress leaders, and the two sides had agreed on talks in the Jordanian capital city of Amman on the formation of a ceasefire committee before the UN-sponsored peace talks later this year, Lebanon-based Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network reported. Yemeni sources say the talks on the ceasefire committee will last a week, and UN experts in addition to representatives from the Ansarullah movement and the Saudi-backed former Yemeni regime will head to Saudi Arabia once a truce agreement has been struck in Amman. The UN envoy said earlier that the talks in Jordan would deal with the technical aspects of the ceasefire committee, and political issues are excluded from the forthcoming negotiations. On October 29, 2016, Hadi rejected a peace proposal by the UN envoy, saying the plan "rewards" the Houthi Ansarullah movement. Details of the road map, which includes security and political arrangements, have not been made public, but according to informed sources, the proposed peace roadmap gives the Houthis, who are in control of large swathes of the country, including the capital of Sana'a, a share of the future government. The plan also shrinks the president's powers in exchange for the Houthis' withdrawal from several major cities, including the capital, and the handover of their heavy weapons to a third party. The president must also transfer power to the vice president, who in return appoints a new premier to form a new government, in which the Houthi-controlled north and the pro-Hadi south would have equal representation. Strategic Red Sea port of Mukha not taken by Hadi loyalists Meanwhile, the Yemeni Defense Ministry has roundly dismissed reports that Hadi loyalists have captured the port city of Mukha, situated 346 kilometers south of Sana'a. A source in the ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Yemeni soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees had engaged in fierce skirmishes with the Saudi-sponsored militiamen in Dhubab district overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb strait, killing scores of the armed men. The source added that Saudi military aircraft were supporting the pro-Saudi gunmen during the firefight, noting that there were dozens of African nationals among the Saudi mercenaries. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, Jamie McGoldrick, says the Yemeni conflict has claimed the lives of 10,000 people and left 40,000 others wounded. McGoldrick told reporters in Sana'a on January 16 that the figure is based on lists of victims gathered by health facilities and the actual number might be higher. The Saudi war on Yemen, which local sources say has killed at least 11,400 people, was launched in an unsuccessful attempt to bring back the former government to power. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools and factories. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi airstrikes claim eight lives in Yemen Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:50AM At least eight civilians, including two women, have lost their lives as Saudi fighter jets bombed the Yemeni provinces of Sa'ada and Hudaydah. According to Yemen's al-Masirah television, two Saudi air raids hit two cars in the district of Maran in Sa'ada on Monday, killing seven people, including a woman. Initial reports had put the death toll at three people. Also on Monday, Saudi warplanes pounded a residential building in the area of al-Sayaliyah in eastern Hudaydah, leaving a woman dead. Local media reported that the Saudi jets bombed the Hudaydah international airport and a salt manufacturing plant among other sites in the province. Saudi Arabia has been engaged in the deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back Yemen's former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, to power and undermine the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement. The Saudi war has so far claimed the lives of at least 11,400 Yemenis, and taken a heavy toll on the country's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gambia's Jammeh 'emptied coffers' before leaving Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 6:13AM The Gambia's former president Yahya Jammeh, who caused a political crisis in the African country before finally going into exile, has emptied the government's treasury, plundering millions of dollars in his final weeks in power, says an aide to the country's new president. "Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi (11 million dollars) were withdrawn" by Jammeh, Mai Fatty, an aide to President Adama Barrow, said in the Sengalese capital Dakar on Monday. "As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress The coffers are largely empty," he told reporters. Long-time ruler Jammeh flew out of The Gambia on Saturday and headed for Equatorial Guinea, where he is expected to settle with his family. Before deciding to leave, he pushed the country to the brink of war by refusing to concede defeat in the presidential election held in December last year. The subsequent political crisis drew in mediators from regional countries, some of which were coping with crises of their own. Those regional mediating countries also formed up a military force to force Jammeh out of power if he did not step down voluntarily. Jammeh clung to power even for some two days after his mandate expired despite the threat of the use of force but ultimately decided to go into exile. He had been in power since a coup in 1994. The West African military force entered The Gambia on Sunday to provide security and allow Barrow, who has been staying in neighboring Senegal, to return to The Gambia, whose own military had sided with Jammeh. Barrow is eager to return "as soon as possible," said his aide, warning that "the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile." According to Fatty, President Barrow wants the deployed West African military force to remain in The Gambia for the time being. "We want their mandate to be extended," Fatty said, explaining that Barrow was waiting for personal assurances of loyalty from national security forces. He said that after the full transfer of power, the new administration's first priority will be to ensure the safe return of tens of thousands of people who have fled the country in recent weeks fearing a violent escalation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Denies Russian Claims About Coordinated Strikes In Syria Carl Schreck January 23, 2017 The Pentagon has denied Russian state-media reports that it provided coordinates for Russian air strikes targeting Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria and that the bombing was a joint mission with U.S.-led coalition forces. Several Russian government media outlets on January 23 quoted a Defense Ministry statement as saying that Washington used a "direct line" to relay coordinates to Russia's Khmeimim air base for strikes the previous day on targets near the town of Al-Bab in the Aleppo region. "After conducting reconnaissance...two Russian Air Force planes and two planes from the forces of the international coalition delivered air strikes on terrorist targets," the state-run RIA Novosti agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying. The ministry did not post the statement on its website or its Facebook page, though state-owned news outlets RT and TASS reported on the statement using identical language in places. The Pentagon, however, quickly denied the reports. "The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria," Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon told RFE/RL in an e-mailed statement. "[The] DoD maintains a channel of communication with the Russian military focused solely on ensuring the safety of aircrews and de-confliction of Coalition and Russian operations in Syria." Another Pentagon spokesman, Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway, told RFE/RL, "There was no U.S. provision of targets to the Russian military and no joint coalition-Russian air strikes." Russia and the United States have been on opposite sides of the six-year war in Syria, with Moscow backing President Bashar al-Assad, while Washington and its allies have supported some of the rebel groups he is battling. Both Russia and the U.S.-led coalition have hit IS targets in Syria, though Washington has accused Moscow of using its operation primarily to prop up Assad. The conflicting accounts come just days after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn into office as Barack Obama's successor. Trump has said repeatedly he wants to repair ties with Moscow that were badly strained over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. During the election campaign he said it would be "great" if the two sides could get along and "knock the hell" out of IS forces. After Trump was sworn in, the White House said that defeating "radical Islamic terror groups" will be the top U.S. foreign-policy priority and that the United States will "pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations when necessary" to achieve that goal. Asked by reporters about the reported Russian announcement, White House spokesman Sean Spicer deferred questions to the Pentagon. But, he said, "I think the president has been very clear he will work with any country who shares our interest in defeating" IS. The Kremlin has expressed optimism about the prospects for improved bilateral relations under Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on January 23 that Moscow was working to arrange a call between the two leaders. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Budapest on January 23 that the two countries' interests "obviously coincide" and that Moscow was ready to consider concrete proposals from the Trump administration. The beginning of Trump's presidency comes amid the ongoing fallout over what U.S. intelligence calls a hacking and public-opinion influence campaign directed by Putin that aimed to help Trump defeat his rival, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, in the November 8 election. Trump has conceded that he believes Russia was likely behind the hacking targeting Clinton's campaign but says it had no impact on the outcome. The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations. With reporting by Interfax, Reuters, and TASS Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/syria-us-denies-russia- coordinated-strikes/28253313.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kosovar President Urges Serbia To Normalize Relations RFE/RL's Balkan Service January 23, 2017 Kosovar President Hashim Thaci has called on neighboring Serbia to recognize his country's independence and complete a process of normalizing relations "based on the values of the European perspective of the two countries." Thaci spoke to RFE/RL's Balkan Service on January 23, the day before a new round of talks between Kosovo and Serbia is scheduled to open in Brussels. The presidents of both countries are expected to attend the opening of the Brussels meeting. The last round of the talks was held more than one year ago. "It is time to open the last chapter in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, the chapter of the normalization of bilateral relations, including normalization in the fields of politics, security, economics, and regional and Euro-Atlantic integration," Thaci said. Speaking to RFE/RL in Brussels, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, called for "increased commitment and engagement" by both sides in the upcoming talks. "Progress in the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia is of paramount importance," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. "We have said that very clearly -- that goes for both sides, for the region, and for the European Union as such." Kosovo, supported by the United States and other Western countries, declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade still considers it part of its territory. While 114 countries recognize Kosovo's independence, Serbia and Russia do not. Tensions between the two countries were aggravated earlier this month after Belgrade sent a train toward an ethnic-Serbian-dominated enclave in northern Kosovo with the slogan "Kosovo is Serbia" emblazoned on the side. The train did not cross into Kosovo, but Thaci accused Belgrade of plotting to take control of the enclave using the "Crimea model," a reference to Russia's 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region. Both Serbia and Kosovo are actively pursuing membership in the European Union. With reporting by RFE/RL Brussels correspondent Rikard Jozwiak Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-president -thaci-urges-serbia-normalize- relations/28251685.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Moldovan President Says 'Strategic Partnership' With Russia Essential RFE/RL's Moldovan Service January 23, 2017 Moldovan President Igor Dodon has said he does not believe his country will ever be part of the European Union and that in order to be fully unified, it is necessary "to find common ground with Russia." Speaking to Russia's state-run RT television on January 23, Dodon said that people in Moldova's Transdniester and Gagauzia regions overwhelmingly opposed European integration. He said that for that reason "we will not succeed in uniting the country if we do not build a strategic partnership with Russia." Transdniester is a mostly Slavic sliver of land that has been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since a war in 1992. The autonomous region of Gagauzia is populated largely by ethnic Turkish Gagauz who speak Russian and have adopted Russian Orthodox Christianity. Failing to do so, he said, would mean "the risk of losing our statehood" since "we have Romania right next door, willing to absorb us at any moment." Dodon added that if a new parliament due to be elected in 2018 decided to terminate Moldova's 2014 Association Agreement with the European Union, he would "certainly" support that policy. In the meantime, he said he will work to "restore friendly relations and a strategic partnership with Russia." Dodon said that Moldova had not benefited "in the slightest" from its European-integration policies of recent years and that a majority of Moldovans now supported integration into the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. Dodon said he will work to secure for Moldova observer status in the economic union, which currently includes five former Soviet republics, a topic that he discussed during a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the European Commission, Moldovan exports to the EU grew by 21 percent between 2013 and 2015. Economy Minister Octavian Calmic told RFE/RL that trade with Russia had declined because "Moldovan economic actors have found alternatives, primarily in European markets." Dodon said he will go to Brussels in February, where he plans to propose the creation of a "trilateral platform" comprising Moldova, Russia, and the EU in order to discuss expanding Moldovan trade with Russia in the context of EU sanctions against Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The Moldovan president also said he opposed an agreement signed in December with NATO to open a NATO liaison office in Chisinau. Dodon said that when he meets with NATO officials he will ask if the transatlantic alliance is willing to sign a statement acknowledging Moldova's neutrality. Andian Candu, chairman of the Moldovan parliament, said on January 23 that the proposed NATO liaison office, which is expected to begin operation in March, "is a technical, communications structure" that will not affect Moldova's neutrality in any way. Moldova participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace program and contributes troops to the alliance's policing mission in Kosovo. Dodon won the presidency after running a strongly pro-Russian campaign and took office in December. Previously, he was the leader of the Socialist Party, which controls the single largest faction in Moldova's parliament. The Moldovan presidency is largely a symbolic position, and the government is controlled by a coalition of pro-European-integration parties. With reporting by RT, Interfax, and TASS Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/moldova- dodon-strategic-partnership- russia-/28251575.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Steinmeier Says Germany Must Prepare For 'Turbulent' Times Under Trump January 23, 2017 German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says his country must be ready for "turbulent" times during the term of U.S. President Donald Trump. Steinmeier wrote in the daily Bild newspaper on January 22 that although Germany should prepare for "unpredictability and uncertainty" with the Trump administration, he is convinced that Berlin will find "attentive listeners" in Washington who know that "even big countries need partners in this world." Chancellor Angela Merkel -- who has been criticized by Trump for allowing more than 1 million refugees to enter Germany since 2015 -- has said she would look to compromise with Trump on issues like trade and military spending. Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said on January 20 that Germany should prepare for a "rough ride" with the Trump administration and that Europe might have to create a new economic policy if Trump pursues protectionist trade practices. Trump has also worried German officials with his comments about NATO being "obsolete" and criticized it for not doing enough to fight terrorism. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper published on January 23 that "NATO is not a [business] deal. You can't buy trust." Germany has responded to Trump criticism of some NATO members not paying their fair share for security by saying last week that it would increase defense spending and that Berlin would meet NATO's goal of spending 2 percent of national output on defense. Based on reporting by Reuters and bild.de Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/germany- trump-turbulent-times-nato /28250799.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Beijing Not Backing Down: South China Sea War Games the New Normal Sputnik News 23:35 23.01.2017(updated 00:59 24.01.2017) Foreign interests should expect Chinese military exercises in the South China Sea to become the new normal, according to a recent article in The People's Daily, a Chinese state-run media outlet. Foreign provocations and pressure, according to the news outlet, will not impact what Beijing considers to be basic territory defense drills. "Henceforth, the Chinese military's exercises far out at sea will become a kind of normal, extremely normal drills," the state-run Global Times op-ed said. China has sent its lone aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, through the Taiwan Strait in recent months. US President Donald Trump has courted the conversational companionship of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, drawing ire from Beijing for violating its "One China" policy, refusing to acknowledge Taiwan as a sovereign state. In response to China's recent demonstrations of force, Taipei vowed "enhanced training 365 days a year." Last Monday, the Taiwanese foreign ministry announced that Taipei simulated military mobilization procedures in the event of an attack from China where the Liaoning crossed the dividing line of the Taiwan Strait. "Meddling and disruption of countries from outside the region can only run counter to the consensus of common interests that accords with this region and the world," the news outlet stated. Probable future US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued multiple statements during his confirmation hearing before the US Senate that have drawn flak from Beijing. Previous US policies on the South China Sea have allowed Beijing "to keep pushing the envelope" in the disputed region, Tillerson said. The former ExxonMobil executive proposed blockading the South China Sea with the full support of US Navy and Air Force, including aircraft carriers and submarines. Construction of the Spratly islands is "illegal," Tillerson opined. Tillerson's confirmation hearings featured poignant criticisms from long-time US Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona. The two Republicans initially appeared skeptical of their support for Tillerson's nomination but as of Monday said they will give Trump's pick a shot as Washington's top diplomat. Florida Senator, and former Republican presidential candidate, Marco Rubio blasted Tillerson's ties with Russia, as well as a failure to condemn "well documented" human-rights violations, published in the most recent US State Department report, on practices in China, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia. After the hearing, Rubio stated that he was "prepared to do what's right" instead of "analyzing it from a partisan standpoint." On Monday, the Senator posted to Facebook that he will support Tillerson's nomination since it "would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghanistan: UN-backed $550 million aid plan aims to reach 5.7 million people 23 January 2017 A newly-launched United Nations-backed humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan is seeking $550 million in 2017 to support the most vulnerable and marginalized population of the conflict-torn country. Strategic, life-saving interventions related to shelter, food, health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation are expected to reach an estimated 5.7 million people under the Afghanistan 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan, released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). According to the Plan, the continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict has prompted a 13 per cent increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance to 9.3 million in 2017. OCHA notes that Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous, and most violent, crisis-ridden countries in the world. The 8,397 civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2016 marked the highest record since 2009, and included a 15 per cent increase in child casualties from 2015. The Plan dedicates $240 million to interventions to assist refugees and returnees. In 2016, the conflict has led to unprecedented levels of displacement, reaching half a million in November the highest number recorded to date. On average, every day sees another 1,500 people forced to leave their homes, escaping violence. Last year also saw the unprecedented return of some 600,000 registered refugees and undocumented Afghans from Pakistan. With no obvious prospects for an improved state of affairs, 2017 is likely to see at least 450,000 new internally displaced persons and potentially as many as a million more Afghan returns from Pakistan and Iran. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CAR Becomes Most Dangerous Spot for Aid Workers By Zack Baddorf January 23, 2017 Last year, humanitarian aid workers in the Central African Republic were involved in more than 365 security incidents more than Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. The security challenges in the C.A.R. make it difficult for aid workers to stay safe and to deliver much needed aid. About 2.2 million people here nearly half of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance. In Bambari, a flashpoint in the country, fighting involving rival armed groups has displaced about 10,000 people in the past month alone. The volatile security situation has also disrupted the ability of aid workers to provide medical care. In late December, the Doctors Without Borders compound in Bambari was robbed twice. Mathieu Bataben, the town's mayor, said "unidentified individuals" committed the robberies not the armed rebel groups that control the town. "We deplore all that," he told VOA in his office. "I think the cause of all that break in all that is the misery. The poverty. That could perhaps explain it. But it's also the mentality, the education. If you're not well educated, one can do this kind of behavior." The country's flag was on the Bambari mayor's desk; but, the central government has no control over the town and provides limited social services. Militias with AK-47's stand guard on the side of the road as an initial force to fend off attacks from rival armed groups. The courthouse in town is deserted. The World Food Program provides food to about 115,000 people about half the population of the whole prefecture. The attacks on humanitarians in places like Bambari limit the ability to provide aid. In Bambari, Doctors Without Borders reduced the size of its team and its activities. The effects are not just short-term. "Small children are not being immunized, so they are more vulnerable to those kinds of transmittable diseases or other activities in terms of prevention like diarrheal diseases," Emmanuel Lampaert, Doctors Without Borders representative in C.A.R., said in Bangui. The rate of mortality for children has increased over the past few years as a result of children not being immunized during the crisis. Across the country, the International NGO Safety Organization recorded 27 injuries in attacks against aid workers in the C.A.R. last year ahead of Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. Five humanitarians died as well. According to Barbara Batista of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the C.A.R., aid organizations rely on the government and MINUSCA the U.N.'s forces in the C.A.R. to protect them and the civilian population. "It's challenging because none of the two has the means to implement full coverage," she told VOA in Bangui. "The forces of MINUSCA are limited. They can't cover the whole country." While the U.N. has about 12,000 soldiers throughout the country with heavy machine guns and armored vehicles, the government's army and police are under an arms embargo, have little training and maintain little presence outside the capital. "There have been some better conditions in Bangui, or what sometimes is called the Republic of Bangui," Lampaert said. "But it's clear that in the rest of the Central African territory we might say the situation has been in a full stagnation or even has deteriorated." The militias controlling most of the country get weapons from neighboring countries like Sudan and Chad. Lampaert said the worsening security situation is a result of fighting over natural resources, making access for humanitarians increasingly difficult. For its part, OCHA officials coordinate with the U.N. forces to try to get appropriate protection. "Considering that the means and capacity are limited, at least we can prioritize and say, 'Listen, this we believe is a hot spot and should be taken care of in the coming months and weeks,'" OCHA's Batista said, "and I have to say that so far they are reactive, they are considering what the humanitarians are saying." Batista added that the U.N. also pursues dialogue, mediation and negotiation with armed groups. "Even though sometimes it's a little difficult and, well, [an] ethical compromise, everything is considered in a case by case scenario," she said. International NGO Safety Organization reports that there is no sign of improvement and the security situation is likely to continue to deteriorate. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Gambian Leader Wants Truth Commission on Jammeh Years By James Butty, Sainey Marenah January 23, 2017 New Gambian President Adama Barrow says he will establish a truth and reconciliation commission to examine allegations of misrule during former president Yahya Jammeh's 22 years in power. "Twenty-two years is a long time," said Barrow in an interview Sunday with VOA. "People need to know the truth." An adviser to Barrow told reporters Monday that before leaving the country on Saturday, Jammeh stole $11 million from state coffers and had luxury cars shipped out by plane. Rights groups previously accused him of human rights abuses during his long reign, including the imprisonment of political opponents and journalists. Jammeh left Gambia on Saturday under threat of military action by from the West African bloc ECOWAS. The former president had refused to accept Barrow's victory in the December 1 presidential election. Journalist Sainey Marenah spoke to Barrow in Dakar, where he was sworn in Friday at the Gambian embassy. The new president said he turned down a request from Jammeh to remain in Gambia, on the grounds that he could not guarantee Jammeh's security. Barrow, 51, said his government will push for comprehensive electoral reforms to ensure future presidents face term limits. "We want to bring in a very good foundation for democracy and also strong pillars of democracy where terms are limited," he said. "Presidents will always be very careful. We will avoid what has happened with Yahya Jammeh being here for 22 years and never wanted to leave power." Barrow said his administration will work to professionalize the Gambian security forces and the army. "We want to get a very disciplined force that is organized; a force that has training. We want [to] separate the forces. Internal security is police. We want to get the police to do internal security. The military is our defense. There will be serious reform to get that done," he said. Barrow said he does not intend to retain Jammeh's Cabinet ministers, but he will reassess the security forces to see where they fit because they are all Gambians. To foreign investors, Barrow said Gambia, often referred to as the "smiling coast," is back. "What we are going to tell them is the door is open," he said. "Investment people cannot invest if the environment is not there. The environment is good governance, security, rule of law. These are the things that can encourage business people. And that will be first class in the Gambia. We will make sure people are secure so they can invest. With that investment, we can create jobs, we can develop this country." He refused to say how many terms he would like to serve, saying that decision will be left to Gambians. "We are here, giving this responsibility, based on trust. We want execute that to the fullest. Now it's up to the Gambian people to decide." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Special Envoy to Yemen Discusses Peace Process Renewal With Houthi Rebels Sputnik News 00:22 24.01.2017 UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed held on Monday talks with Houthi rebels seizing control over country's capital Sanaa on the possibility of restarting the peace process, local media reported. DUBAI (Sputnik) According to Saba news agency, Ahmed arrived in Sanaa on Saturday and held a meeting with Yemeni Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf and members of General People's Congress (GPC) party formed by former country's president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Ahmed and Sharaf reportedly discussed measures to achieve peace, boost negotiations, as well as possibilities of reaching a peace treaty that would satisfy all sides of the conflict. Last week, the UN envoy met with internationally recognized President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi to discuss cease of fighting and resuming efforts to reach a political settlement. Since 2014, Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war between the Hadi government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels loyal to the former president. A military campaign, carried out by a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, has led to many civilian casualties. Last year, Ahmed presented a conflict settlement plan to the warring sides that was later rejected. So far, the UN envoy has failed to make the sides of the Yemeni conflict sit at the negotiating table. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Report: U.S. Counterintelligence Probes Flynn's Russian Contacts RFE/RL January 23, 2017 The Wall Street Journal reports on January 22 that U.S. counterintelligence agents have investigated communications that President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had with Russian officials. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said it is unclear whether the counterintelligence probe produced any incriminating evidence or whether it is ongoing. Flynn, a retired three-star general, was sworn in as national security adviser on January 22. In his position, he will play a key role in helping to set the president's policies toward Russia. The inquiry was aimed at determining the nature of Flynn's contacts with Russian officials and whether they may have violated laws, The Wall Street Journal says. A series of December 29 telephone calls Flynn made to Sergei Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, is under scrutiny, The Wall Street Journal says. That was the day the Obama administration announced sanctions against Russia in retaliation for its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through cyberattacks and other means. Earlier contacts by Flynn with Russian officials were also probed, the report says. In response, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, "We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for such an investigation." With reporting by The Wall Street Journal Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/counterintelligence -trump-flynn-russian-contacts- investigation/28250663.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Korea says can't delay THAAD deployment, cites 'imminent' threat from North Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:3AM South Korea says it cannot delay the deployment of an American missile system in the face of the "imminent" threat posed by North Korea's advancing nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Pyongyang "has been expanding its nuclear capabilities... as well as repeating test-launching of its rockets. Now, it is an imminent threat," Acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn said on Monday. South Korea and its ally the United States have agreed to have the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system deployed on Korean soil soon. They claim that the purpose for deployment is to protect the two countries from North Korean missile threats. North Korea and its ally China, meanwhile, believe the THAAD deployment is meant to expand US hegemony. They also believe that the deployment of the US missile system on the Korean Peninsula would destabilize the region's security by upsetting the military status quo. "If the United States and South Korea harm the strategic security interests of countries in the region, including China, then they are destined to pay the price for this and receive a proper counter attack," a top Chinese paper warned last year. The THAAD system has been designed to intercept missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final phase of flight. The decision to have the system installed in South Korea has also sparked opposition both among South Korean citizens and lawmakers. North Korea, which is under international sanctions for its nuclear and ballistic missiles activities, has repeatedly announced that it will stop its nuclear and missile programs when Washington ends its hostile posture toward Pyongyang. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea Threatens to 'Pour Further Misery' on US and Trump Administration Sputnik News 22:13 23.01.2017(updated 00:59 24.01.2017) On Monday North Korea threatened to "pour further misery" on Washington. The announcement came on the 49th anniversary of Pyongyang's 1968 capture of the USS Pueblo intelligence ship. According to North Korea's Central TV network, "The US will face a position more miserable than that in the Pueblo case if it forgets that lesson and frantically pursues new ways to provoke war against the north." This intimidation comes after a Friday White House statement announcing that a "state of the art" missile defense system was being developed specifically to stave off threats from Pyongyang and Iran. This, along with an increased focus on cyber warfare and benefits for veterans are part President Donald Trump's plan for "Making Our Military Strong Again." South Korean Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn also spoke of beefing up defence against the DPRK, telling local reporters on Monday, "[North Korean] nuclear and missile capabilities are developing at an unprecedented rateThey are a real and obvious threat. They are also miniaturizing nuclear weapons." Seoul has called for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense system to be deployed immediately. The project has been on hold, even after being approved by Washington last year. Yonhap News quoted Hwang saying, "I think the government has to do everything to protect the nation and citizens' lives, and THAAD is a necessary defense measure (whose deployment) can no longer be deferred," as "North Korea's nuclear and missile threats are no longer (just) potential." Hwang added that the South Korean government is in discussions with the White House about how THAAD can be installed in the country "as soon as possible." Despite sanctions from the United Nations and international calls for denuclearization, the administration of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has continued developing nuclear weapons in the communist country, firing two unarmed ballistic missiles every month in 2016. South Korea's Ministry of National Defense recently released a report indicating that Pyongyang possessed enough power for 10 nuclear warheads, due to Pyongyang allegedly increasing its plutonium supply over the last two years. In what has become a common occurrence, Kim brought in the new year touting the progress of a DPRK intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a televised New Year's Day address he was quoted as saying, "Research and development of the cutting-edge tech weapons are actively progressing and strengthening our defense capabilities, including last stage preparation of tests for Intercontinental Ballistic rocket launch have been continuously succeeding." The Korean Central News Agency also cited remarks by him, "unless the US and its vassal forces stop nuclear threat and blackmail and unless they stop the war exercises which they stage right at our noses under the pretext of annual exercises, the DPRK would keep increasing the military capabilities for self-defense and preemptive striking capacity with a main emphasis on nuclear force." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India May Fit German Torpedoes in French Submarines Sputnik News 16:56 23.01.2017 India is rolling out its French submarines without their main deterrents because the supplier's parent company has been blacklisted on charges of corruption. New Delhi is now being forced to look at German torpedoes as an alternative. New Delhi (Sputnik) Indecisiveness by India's Ministry of Defense over fitting torpedoes in its six Scorpene class submarines has left the Navy with only an interim solution. Five years after the purchase plan was finalized, Indian Navy may have to use torpedoes which being used in its older submarines as an interim solution for the two French-origin submarines Kalvari and Khanderi. Both submarines may be operationalized this year without its primary weapon. "There will be some alternate torpedoes as an interim solution. The heavyweight torpedoes will take some time. Those which are already in use in other platform will be used in these (Kalvari class) submarines," said a senior Navy official. German SUT torpedo is currently used in Indian Navy's HDW Shishumar-class diesel-electric submarines. French F-21 is also in the contest for supplying torpedoes to Scorpene class submarines. Sources told Sputnik that the selection of new heavyweight torpedoes will take another four to five years. India's Defense Ministry had put on hold a $200 Million deal of 98 Black Shark heavyweight torpedoes from Italian firm WASS for its Scorpene class submarines. The deal was scrapped in the wake of corruption charges involving AgustaWestland and an Indian political party. WASS and AgustaWestland are subsidiaries of Italian firm Leonardo. Black Shark Torpedoes was to be an essential part and primary weapon of India's six new Scorpene submarines. India is building six Scorpene class submarines at cost of $ 3.5 billion under Project 75 which is already delayed by four years. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC Ground Forces launch massive drills in west Iran Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 4:38PM The ground forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) kick off massive military maneuvers in the western parts of Iran. The drills, code-named Imam Ali, started on Monday and would last for four days, Commander of the IRGC Ground Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour said. He added the military exercises are aimed at improving the Ground Forces' combat preparedness and devising new tactics and methods of warfare. He noted that the Ground Forces would display their capabilities during various stages of the exercises. The commander said enhancing capabilities in planning and commanding at different levels and improving the units' intelligence and operational preparedness to establish security under different conditions are among the other objectives of the maneuvers. The IRGC Ground Forces staged three-day large-scale security drills, code-named the Great Prophet in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan in April 2016. The IRGC successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles on March 9, 2016 as part of the military drills to assess its capabilities. The missiles dubbed Qadr-H and Qadr-F were fired during large-scale drills, code-named Eqtedar-e-Velayat. On March 8, Iran fired another ballistic missile called Qiam from silo-based launchers in different locations across the country. In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and reached self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems. The Islamic Republic has conducted several military drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured other countries, especially the regional neighbors, that its military might poses no threat to anyone. Iran says its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syria peace process in Astana great success: Iran Foreign Ministry Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:54AM Iran has praised as a diplomatic "success" the peace talks underway between Damascus and opposition groups in the Kazakh capital, Astana, expressing hope that the process will work to consolidate the ceasefire holding across Syria. "The issue of ceasefire is the most important point that will be discussed today and tomorrow," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Monday. "I do not think that the talks can enter other subjects during this limited time," said Qassemi, expressing hope, however, that the meeting "can take some steps forward concerning the stabilization of the ceasefire." He called the meeting a "great success," which can pave the way for humanitarian aid delivery to conflict-stricken areas of Syria. The two-day negotiations, which opened in Astana earlier on Monday, aim to end the six-year conflict gripping Syria. Delegates from Iran, Russia and Turkey are mediating the UN-backed negotiations. OIC Rohingya committee Elsewhere in his comments, Qassemi outlined some the achievements made at a recent meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Malaysia over the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, adding that a committee had been set up to address the sufferings of the persecuted community. He said Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who also joined the conference, had written to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, communicating Iran's concern over the situation of Muslim minorities in Myanmar. Through the OIC, the UN and other international bodies, Iran seeks to urge the Myanmarese government to change its attitude towards the Rohingya, the spokesman noted. "Such a change would be in the interest of the entire Myanmarese nation," added the Iranian official. 'JCPOA case closed' Touching on Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, Qassemi said Tehran would not renegotiate the accord, which he described as a "done deal." He was addressing concerns that the new US administration may demand changes to the accord. The agreement, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in July 2015 between Tehran on the one side and the US, the UK, France, Russia, and China plus Germany, on the other. The deal, which took effect in January 2016, was later enshrined in a legally-binding UN Security Council resolution. However, on his campaign trail, new US President Donald Trump had threatened to rip up the deal or try to renegotiate it. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Talk Persists Of Hard-Line Woman To Challenge Rohani In Iran Vote Golnaz Esfandiari January 23, 2017 Four months ahead of Iran's presidential election, the absence of a clear challenger to face incumbent Hassan Rohani has led to talk that the gray-bearded clerics who dominate Iran's opaque system might bet on a woman. The political and religious leadership that emerged from the 1979 revolution has so far excluded women from the running for a handful of the most senior posts, including the presidency. With independent polling nearly nonexistent in Iran, it's unclear whether a conservative establishment that gives a woman half the legal standing of a man might actually rally behind a female candidate for president in the May vote. But the tactic could signal an effort to fracture the power base that swept the reformist Rohani to power nearly four years ago in part on pledges to chip away at legally based gender discrimination. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi was the first postrevolutionary female minister and one of fewer than a dozen women to serve in an Iranian cabinet, running the Health Ministry from 2009-13 under hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. The 58-year-old Vahid Dastjerdi was recently appointed as an adviser to Iran's fiercely reactionary judiciary. She has been quoted as saying talk of her imminent candidacy are "untrue." But it is arguably a tantalizing political prospect. "[Vahid Dastjerdi] lacks charisma, but she could be a good rival for Rohani," Parvaneh Salahshuri, a relative moderate who heads the women's faction in the Iranian parliament, was quoted by the semiofficial news agency ISNA as saying. "For me as a woman, there's no difference between a hard-liner or a reformist. I welcome whoever promotes the status of women." "It doesn't make any difference to us if the candidate is a woman or a man," hard-line lawmaker Hossein Naghavi was quoted as saying earlier this month, "the main issue for the hard-liners is to enter the race with a single candidate." Naghavi, a member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, noted that election supervisors at Iran's Guardians Council would need to issue the green light for women to be able to run in the presidential race. But "if those issues are resolved, then there's nothing wrong with a woman being the candidate," he said. Could A Woman Even Run? A spokesman for the Guardians Council set rumor mills abuzz in December by suggesting that women could apply as candidates but that the council might disqualify them over a clause in the Iranian Constitution that limits eligibility to religious and political "rejal." The word comes from Arabic and roughly translates as "distinguished men" or, under some interpretations, "personalities." Some argue that "rejal" includes women, but the Guardians Council has ruled in the past for a masculine interpretation. Some domestic media outlets, including the reformist daily Arman and the moderately conservative KhabarOnline, have suggested that Vahid Dastjerdi could become the hard-liners' choice. The conservative Tabnak responded with an unsigned commentary asking "what aims are behind the spread of rumors" by reformists seemingly aimed at "introducing candidates on behalf of the principlists" -- a reference to an ideologically rigid camp of Iranian conservatives. Women who have sought to run in the past, including conservatives, have been disqualified by the Guardians Council based on the "rejal" clause. Berlin-based Iranian journalist Ehsan Mehrabi tells RFE/RL that he doubts the councilors will change their tune. "The presence of women in important political posts has always been a red line for conservative clerics," he says. "[I] doubt that the Guardians Council would be willing to cross one of its red lines, even with the goal of splitting Rohani's votes." Islamic law as applied in Iran since the revolution denies women equal rights in divorce, child custody, inheritance, and other areas. Women need the permission of their father or husband to travel. A woman's testimony in court is considered to be half the value of a man's. And women's divorce rights are significantly weaker than those of men. Women are also banned from attending major men's sporting events. Many Opinions On Vahid Dastjerdi Vahid Dastjerdi is a trained gynecologist and two-term parliament deputy who has in the past backed conservative causes including the gender segregation of health facilities and diminished rights for women in the event of divorce. She was dismissed as health minister following a public disagreement with then-President Ahmadinejad in 2013. Last month, she became the spokeswoman of a new conservative political group called the Popular Front of the Forces of the Islamic Revolution. Speaking at a January 15 press conference, Vahid Dastjerdi said the group's main aim was to create "unity" among "revolutionary forces" -- a code word for conservatives -- and then produce a candidate who would preserve such unity. She cited economic problems, unemployment, and "astronomical salaries" among the country's most pressing problems. Talk of a Vahid Dastjerdi candidacy has led to debate in Iranian social media, with some welcoming it as a move that could shatter a glass ceiling. "Dastjerdi's most important plus is in that Ahmadinejad is among the people by whom she was fired and that's considered an honor and a plus in Iranian society," one Twitter user said. Others warned against her hard-line stances. "Marzeh Datsjerdi is among those who proposed a bill to segregate men and women at hospitals and she's been against Iran joining the [Convention] on The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women," another user tweeted. Another user dismissed the rumors about Vahid Dastverdi as a ploy by the Islamic establishment to encourage citizens to vote in May. "In order to push people to vote, authorities [could] even bring Jennifer Lopez to fool people," the user said. Rohani's 2013 presidential victory was followed by a return to parliament for his reformist and independent allies in early 2016, although Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all political and religious matters in Iran. Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/iran-presidential -election-female-conservative -candidate/28253270.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraqi forces take full control of eastern Mosul Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 6:54PM Iraqi forces have liberated all of eastern Mosul, pushing Daesh terrorists out of the last district they held east of the Tigris River. "The armed forces succeeded in liberating the left bank of the city of Mosul completely, after inflicting heavy losses in lives and equipment on the enemy," the Iraqi Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website on Monday. The ministry said that security forces were now clearing the area from explosives. The Iraqi forces will now gear up to recapture the western side of Mosul to wrest full control over the strategic city. On October 17, 2017, Iraqi forces launched a massive operation to retake Mosul from Daesh terrorists, who captured the city in 2014. Daesh expels residents along Tigris River Meanwhile, residents said on Monday that Daesh had expelled civilians from their homes along the Tigris River on Mosul's west bank as they fear the Iraqi Army's advance to the western side of the city. "The group forced us to leave our homes... without allowing us to take our belongings," a resident of Al-Maidan, a neighborhood on Mosul's militant-held west bank, told AFP. "It deployed gun positions and posted snipers on roofs and at windows," the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The full liberation of Mosul will mark another big victory for the Iraqi forces who managed to recapture the central city of Fallujah from Daesh in June 2016. The Iraqi military also made a significant victory in December 2015, when it took control of the central city of Ramadi, Anbar's provincial capital. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli Nuclear Spy Vanunu Convicted Again for Violating Parole Sputnik News 00:58 24.01.2017(updated 00:59 24.01.2017) Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed in the 1980s that Israel had nuclear weapons, has been convicted again, this time of violating the terms of his release, and now faces additional jail time. The former nuclear technician had completed an 18-year jail term for treason and espionage in 2004. Upon his release from Shikma Prison in southern Israel, he was slapped with a long and stringent list of restrictions. In 2016 Vanunu was arrested and charged with violating three counts of his release conditions. The Jerusalem Magistrate Court announced on Monday that Vanunu was cleared of two of those counts, one of which is related to an interview he gave to an Israeli television channel in 2015. However, the whistleblower was found guilty of meeting with two US nationals in east Jerusalem, without first receiving approval from Israeli authorities. Vanunu is barred from meeting foreigners or leaving the country, as Israel fears he will disclose more classified information. Vanunu denied that he posed a security risk and said that he only wanted to be free and join his wife, a Norwegian theology professor who lives in Oslo. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for mid-March, according to a court statement. The conviction decision dates to mid-January, but was kept under wraps until Monday, an Israeli court spokesman said. Vanunu began working at a secret Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona, a city in the Negev desert, in the 1970s. In the mid-1980s he leaked the inner workings of the Dimona plant to the Sunday Times newspaper, which published the photographs he had taken and exposed Israel's nuclear weapons program to the world. The whistleblower, who converted from Judaism to Christianity in the 1980s, claims that Israel is particularly harsh on him due to his beliefs. Vanunu spent over 10 years of his original sentence in solitary confinement. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address S-500 to Strengthen Russia's 'Air Defense System of the 21 Century' Sputnik News 15:31 23.01.2017 Russia is in the process of creating an integrated national air defense system, which is expected to become fully operational once the cutting-edge S-500 Prometey surface-to-air missile system, also known as the 55R6M Triumfator-M, enters service, Major General Andrei Cheburin said. Cheburin, commander of the missile defense division of the 1st Air and Anti-Ballistic Missile Defense Army of the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, told the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda that activities aimed at creating "an integrated national defense system of the 21st century are in full swing." "This system will be finalized when [the Russian] Armed Forces receive the brand new long-range S-500 surface-to-air missile system and advanced radars," he explained. The S-500 is currently in development. Russian defense officials have not specified when the next-generation air defense system will begin tests. The S-500, designed by Almaz Antey, is said to have a range of 600 kilometers (more than 370 miles). The system can simultaneously intercept up to ten ballistic and hypersonic missiles traveling at a speed of 7 kilometers per second. The Prometey is capable of engaging targets at an altitude of up to 200 kilometers (more than 120 miles). The system is capable of intercepting aircraft and UAVs, as well as destroying low-earth-orbit satellites, space destruction devices and orbital weaponry. The S-500 will be a major upgrade to the state-of-the-art S-400 complex that is already in service with the Russian Armed Forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Spokesman: Astana meeting vital to maintain truce in Syria IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, Jan 23, IRNA -- Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi expressed hope that Astana meeting would help maintain truce and pave the way to find a political solution for Syria crisis. Qasemi made the remarks in his weekly press conference in Tehran. He reiterated that reinforcing truce is considered as the main issue which would be discussed during the two-day meeting in the Kazakh capital, Astana. Describing Astana meeting as a huge success, he added the gathering would be considered as an introduction to launch humanitarian aids in this Arab country. He underlined that a limited number of countries are attending the meeting which is regarded as an important characteristics of the gathering. Commenting on the presence of Iran, Russia and Turkey in the Astana meeting, he added the three countries, as the initiators of the gathering, could possibly facilitate the assembly work aimed at stabilizing the ceasefire in a precise manner. The 2-day negotiations will be held with the attendance of Syrian delegations, opposition groups, UN envoy on Syria and US ambassador to Kazakhstan today and tomorrow in Astana. The event aims at reinforcing and sustaining the truce which has been established in Syria since December 30 and to find political solutions for the Syria crisis. Iranian, Russian and Turkish delegations holding several bilateral and trilateral talks in Astana on Sunday and Monday consulted on establishing more coordination aiming at increasing success chance in negotiations. Participants also prepared the plan of armed Syrian opposition groups' presence in Astana talks and unarmed oppositions in the upcoming meeting. Astana meeting has been planned to remove obstacles on the way of resuming Syrian peace talks in Geneva which has been stopped by sabotage of armed Syrian opposition groups. Iranian delegation arrived in Astana Saturday morning to take part in the talks attended by the representatives of Russia, Turkey, and the Syrian government, non-terrorist opposition groups and the United Nations. 9060**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Troika agrees on talks with Syrian opposition groups IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, Jan 23, IRNA -- Members of Iranian, Russian, and Turkish delegations in Astana, Kazakhstan, have agreed on talks with the Syrian armed and unarmed opposition groups. The troika held several meetings in the Kazakh capital throughout Saturday and Sunday to coordinate the Monday Syria talks. They agreed that Syrian armed opposition groups woud participate in Astana talks and unarmed groups will take part in the future talks. Along with seven delegations including those of troika, United Nations special envoy for the Syria crisis Staffan de Mistura will attend the Astana talks on Syria to be held on January 23-24. Astana talks aim to achieve truce in Syria, effectively fight against terrorism and hold intra-Syria dialogue between the government of that country and the opposition groups in order to prepare the ground for a political solution to the crisis there. 1483**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Int'l negotiations on Syria crisis kicks off in Astana IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, Jan 23, IRNA -- The negotiations between Syrian government and the opposition groups started with the attendance of 7 delegations including Iran, Russia and Turkey on Monday in Astana, Kazakhstan. The President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered a speech in the general session of the event. Nazarbayev pointed to participants' valuable efforts, expressing hope for Astana talks to pave the way for peace and to present political solution for Syria crisis. According to the agenda, heads of Iranian, Syrian and Turkish delegations are to expound on three countries' stances and convergence to find a political solution. The 2-day negotiations is being held behind the closed doors, but some non-confidential parts will be displayed for reporters through video conference. On the sidelines of the event, Syrian delegation headed by Syria permanent ambassador to UN Bashar Jafari and in partnership with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is scheduled to hold talks with Syrian armed opposition groups. The event aims at reinforcing and sustaining the truce which has been established in Syria since December 30 and to find political solutions for the Syria crisis. Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Deputy Undersecretary for the Middle East and Africa at the Foreign Ministry of Turkey Sedat Onal, Russia Foreign Minister's Special Representative on the Middle East Settlement and Director of the Ministry's Middle East and North Africa Department Sergey Vershinin participated in the event. Iranian, Russian and Turkish delegations holding several bilateral and trilateral talks in Astana on Sunday and Monday consulted on establishing more coordination aiming at increasing success chance in negotiations. Astana meeting has been planned to remove obstacles on the way of resuming Syrian peace talks in Geneva which has been stopped by sabotage of armed Syrian opposition groups. Iranian delegation arrived in Astana Saturday morning to take part in the talks also attended by the representatives of Russia, Turkey, and the Syrian government, non-terrorist opposition groups and the United Nations. 9376**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Full text of Iranian envoy speech in Astana meeting ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Mon / 23 January 2017 / 15:37 Tehran (ISNA) All the participants in Astana meeting should leave the violence acts and help the Syrian national reconciliation process by maintain the cease-fire and put aside the hostilities, Iranian deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in the opening session of intra-Syrian talks in Astana. Here is the full context of his speech: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful Your Excellency, KairatAbdrakhmanov, the honorable Foreign Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan Distinguished heads and members of participating delegations Ladies and Gentlemen At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to the great nation and state of Kazakhstan and to appreciate their warm hospitality towards the participating delegations. Once in Kazakhstan, the homeland of Al-Farabi, we feel at home and we regard the decision of Kazakh brotherly government and nation to host this conference in line with Islamic teachings to help our brothers. As we are sitting here in comfort; men, women and children in Syria are struggling with difficulties, agony and ravages of war, terrorism and displacement within or out of their homeland. In some parts, including Damascus, they are even deprived of drinking water. As an Iranian, I can feel their misery. It was not long ago when Iran fell victim of an imposed war that left hundreds of thousands of martyrs, wounded and displaced people and led to destruction of vast areas of the country. Everybody in my accompanying delegation has lived those days. In the human world, the divergence of beliefs and interests are natural, but war is the ugliest manifestation of such disagreement. The utmost goal of our joint efforts to end the Syrian conflict must be an irreversible cessation of hostilities that enables the people of Syria to get back to the normal life they deserve, like any other nation. Syrians shall enjoy a sovereign state in an integrated territory within safe borders. All nations shall enjoy the inherent right of self-determination and no external powers should or can interfere with the right of people. Syrian nation is no exception and shall exercise this right of theirs, free from any external pressure. Those who seek the prolongation of the Syrian crisis for their own interests hinder the fulfillment of people's right. Dear colleagues Today, we have assembled in Astana to re-orient our endeavor towards peace and to remedy the shortcomings of past processes, in order to help a dialog between the Syrian government and the Syrian armed opposition groups who have joined the process of current talks, in framework of tripartite initiative consisting of Russia, Turkey and Iran, to win an agreement on the eventual political solution. To this end, we need to have a clear roadmap. Specifically, all participating parties to these talks need to denounce acts of violence and respect not only the ceasefire but cessation of all kind of hostilities. We shall welcome the adherence of non-participating groups to this process, once they abide by the principle of non-violence. The international community should join efforts to curb the illegal transfer of arms, financial aids and fighters into Syria that enables the terrorist groups to continue suppressing the local population and commencing chains of armed confrontations anywhere in the country. An effective mechanism of ceasefire should be in place, ensured by the Astana tripartite initiative to guarantee the irreversibility of ceasefire and cessation of hostilities. Meanwhile, a joined effort to confront Daesh/ISIS, Al-Nusra and their associated terrorist groups should be on the agenda. Dear friends; The Syrian government and the Syrian opposition, helped by the tripartite initiative, can start a dialog to reach a political solution that ends in free, inclusive and transparent elections based on national unity and territorial integrity. Upon successful completion of this process, we hope to see the end of the Syrian crisis. At the same time, all friends of Syria should join hands to remove sanctions and blockage, to help the reconstruction, to facilitate the free return of the displaced population in urgent response to the dire human situation in Syria. Changes begin in people's minds. The vicious cycle of violence and terrorism can be stopped only if extremist ideologies that justify barbarism, more than often in the false name of religion, are denounced and renounced. This may begin with introducing the true merciful and blessing face of divine religions and an intercultural dialog among regional neighbors and in the world at large. "Cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And keep your duty to Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in punishment." (Quoted from the Holy Quran) Dear colleagues Time is short and as the history shows, next coming generations will hold us responsible for our deeds. Let us opt for peace and construction. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Islamic State Is Collapsing -- So Why Is It Suddenly So Successful Against Assad? James Miller January 23, 2017 There are at least four separate coalitions that claim to be battling the extremist group Islamic State (IS). Three of those coalitions are reporting great success, and the failures of the fourth coalition tell us many things about the state of regional and geopolitical affairs. The physical "dawla," or "state," that was solidified by IS in 2014 at one point stretched from northwestern Syria to the outskirts of Baghdad in Iraq. Now it is attacked on all sides and is rapidly shrinking. On the eastern front, the Iraqi government, the Kurdish peshmerga, Turkish military units, Iraqi militias, U.S. Special Forces, and a broad coalition of international air support led by the United States has liberated Ramadi and Fallujah from IS control and is now rapidly retaking IS's western Iraqi stronghold, Mosul. It has been a tough fight, but progress in Mosul is now daily, or even hourly, news. On the western front, in Syria, the Turkish military and Syrian rebels have dealt major blows to IS. Azaz, Jarabulus, Mari, and (most importantly) Dabiq have all been liberated from IS since August. The Turkish coalition has met heavy resistance in the IS stronghold of Al-Bab, but they are making progress in cleaving IS's territory in two pieces. IS's defeat is only a matter of time -- and lives. At IS's center, the U.S. backed Syrian Defense Force (SDF), made up largely of Kurdish fighters, has eaten a giant crater in the northern part of IS's territory. The SDF is now threatening the IS capital, Raqqa, which is now regularly targeted by U.S. and coalition air strikes. Together these three coalitions are besieging all of IS's most important cities. They are threatening to capture IS's most important oil and gas resources as well. Perhaps most importantly, the United States believes that it has trapped many of the extremist group's most important leaders in this area. It's hard to imagine, then, that a fourth coalition, fighting for far less important outposts, would be losing ground to IS's offensives. This fourth group is the coalition supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is made up of Russian soldiers, special forces, and private mercenaries (many of whom cut their teeth during Russia's invasion of Ukraine), as well as commandos from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Lebanese Hizballah extremists, and Shi'ite militiamen from Iraq. The purported mission of this coalition is to fight terrorists. And yet they have often let extremist groups like IS expand their territory while they concentrated on defeating U.S.-backed rebel groups, some of which were specifically organized to fight IS. During the pro-Assad coalition's campaign to capture Aleppo from anti-Assad rebels, IS launched a surprise operation to recapture the historic city of Palmyra. IS easily won a victory there because so few military units were left to guard the city. Even though the battle for Aleppo has ended in an Assad victory, IS been allowed to expand its territory west of Palmyra. Though heavy battles are being waged near this city today, nothing like a full-scale operation has been launched to halt the IS advance. Though Russia announced it was withdrawing from Syria, evidence suggests that the opposite is true, and the focus of Russia's military might in particular has been moderate rebel groups north of Damascus -- not Al-Qaeda-linked groups in the north, and not IS near Palmyra. All of this seems to confirm what evidence has told us all along -- that the Russian-led victory in Palmyra nearly one year ago had little to do with fighting terrorism, but was simply an opportunity to spread the propaganda that Russia and Assad were standing up to IS. Last week, new evidence emerged that Russia and Assad may have had a mutually beneficial relationship with IS rather than an adversarial one, though that relationship dynamic appears to be changing. The Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour has been largely controlled by IS since 2015, but an oddly shaped part of the city and its surrounding areas have remained under the control of the Syrian military. Most importantly, the military airport has never fallen to IS, allowing the Syrian regime to continue to move troops, ammunition, and supplies into and out of the city. In the last week or so, IS has launched a concerted effort to drive the Syrian military from those positions. Russia is now scrambling to bomb IS as the extremist group has cut Assad's position there in two. It is a tale told in two maps -- last week, as IS was collapsing in Mosul, it was advancing in Deir ez-Zour. But Deir ez-Zour is more than 250 kilometers away from the nearest Assad-held position in Syria, in the heart of IS's caliphate. If IS could have seriously threatened those positions, why did this only happen now when it is in such a weakened state? Russian propaganda networks and pro-Assad journalists would have us believe that the United States is allowing large numbers of IS fighters to withdraw west to Deir ez-Zour. We have not seen any evidence to support this conclusion. Furthermore, any IS extremists who escape Mosul could threaten U.S. Special Forces who are operating in Syria, so this strategy would make little sense. Even if it were true, why would IS wait until it was so weak to launch a new offensive, rather than send those forces to any of its more important positions that are in need of reinforcement? The obvious answer is that IS has allowed the Syrian military to hold those positions, and the Syrian military has given little cause for IS to change its mind. Though battles have certainly been fought between these two groups before in Syria, the situation there has been mutually beneficial for Assad and IS. By keeping its positions there, the Syrian government has been able to maintain that it is locked in a desperate struggle against IS extremists. IS's proximity to Syrian military positions has discouraged U.S. coalition air strikes against the extremist group. Instead, when the U.S. had intelligence on potential high-value targets within Deir ez-Zour earlier in the month it launched a risky special-forces raid on the outskirts of the city. IS is collapsing. It needs victories. And so it is attacking Syrian positions, in Palmyra and Deir ez-Zour, because it knows that it can probably win. Experts have repeatedly warned us from the start of this conflict that the Syrian government played a role in the creation of IS. We should not be surprised that the pro-Assad coalition and IS have at best taken advantage of a mutually beneficial relationship and at worst have openly colluded to create the mess in Syria and Iraq that we see today. If the West is to take the fight against IS seriously, it should do so with eyes open as to the motives of both the Assad government and the foreign powers, particularly Russia, that support it. The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect the views of RFE/RL Source: http://www.rferl.org/a/tracking-islamic-state- success-vs-assad/28253388.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Head of Russian Delegation Says First Day of Astana Talks on Syria Successful Sputnik News 21:04 23.01.2017(updated 21:07 23.01.2017) The first day of Syrian peace talks in Astana was successful, head of the Russian delegation in Astana Alexander Lavrentiev said Monday, adding that the presence of the UN special envoy for Syria, the US ambassador to Kazakhstan and representatives of Syrian government and opposition groups was especially important for the meeting's outcome. ASTANA (Sputnik) The final document of the Astana talks on Syria is under discussion and it will be presented to talks participants on Tuesday after a final agreement is reached, Lavrentiev said Monday. He refused to comment on its content as the work on the document is underway. "We keep up the work. The negotiation of the final text of the statement is underway, it will be presented to the participants for their consideration and will be finally agreed upon in the course of tomorrow's session," Lavrentiev told reporters. The talks between the representatives of the Syrian government and opposition groups in Astana will resume early on Tuesday with the participation of Russia, Iran and Turkey, which are countries-guarantors of the Syrian truce, opposition delegation member Yahya Aridi said earlier. The intra-Syrian talks in Kazakhstan's capital brokered by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran, are expected to last through Tuesday. The talks on crisis settlement bring together the delegation of the Syrian government and representatives of armed opposition groups for the first time since the beginning of the state's civil war. "We believe it was rather successful We were able to hold an international meeting on Syria in Astana. I think this event is quite significant because it was opened not only in presence of the three countries-guarantors of the agreement, signed on December 29 last year, but also in presence of representative of the UN Secretary-General [Staffan] de Mistura and US Ambassador to Kazakhstan, as well as in the presence of the delegations of Syrian government and Syrian armed opposition," Lavrentiev told reporters. "The Russian delegation held a meeting with the Syrian government delegation. The meeting was fruitful. The Syrian side shows understanding," Lavrentiev told reporters. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian, Turkish Warplanes Conduct Joint Op Against Daesh in Syria's Al-Bab Sputnik News 19:52 23.01.2017(updated 21:24 23.01.2017) Russian and Turkish warplanes conducted a joint operation against Daesh in Al-Bab in Syria's Aleppo province on January 21, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday. "On January 21, the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Turkish Air Force conducted a new joint operation striking Daesh group near Al-Bab in the province of Aleppo," the ministry said. Three Russian attack aircraft: two Su-24Ms and a Su-34 bomber, as well as two Turkey's F-16 and two F-4 participated in the aerial campaign. A total of 22 Daesh targets have been struck. A day later, Russia received Daesh's coordinates in the area from the United States and struck them jointly with the US-led coalition aircraft, the ministry said. This was the second joint operation by Russian and Turkish aviation in Syria. On Wednesday, the first joint airstrikes have been launched against Daesh in Al-Bab. The news comes amid a nationwide ceasefire in Syria backed by Russia and Turkey which came into effect on December 30 and was later supported by a UN Security Council resolution. Turkey is currently conducting an operation in Syria dubbed Euphrates Shield. On August 24, Turkish forces, supported by Free Syrian Army rebels and US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed the Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area from Daesh terrorist group. As Jarabulus was retaken, the joint forces of Ankara, the coalition and Syrian rebels continued the operation to gain control over Al-Bab in the Aleppo province. Al-Bab is one of Daesh's last remaining strongholds near the Turkish border. Capturing the city is of strategic importance to Turkey in order to prevent the Syrian Kurds taking it and unifying their own territories. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Receives Daesh Coordinates in Al-Bab From US Sputnik News 19:50 23.01.2017(updated 23:39 23.01.2017) Russia has received coordinates of Daesh targets in Al-Bab, Aleppo Province, from the US via the 'direct line,' the Russian Defense Minsitry said Monday. The United States has provided coordinates of the terrorists' targets in the city of Al-Bab in Aleppo province for Russian airstrikes. After the reconaissance check, Russia and two coalition jets have conducted joint airstrikes on the Daesh targets in the region. "On January 22, the Russian command center at the Hmeymim airbase has received coordinates of Daesh targets in Al-Bab, Aleppo province, via the 'direct line' from the US-led coalition headquarters. After further data verification with the assistance of unmanned aircraft and space reconaissance, the Russian Aerospace Forces and two jets of the international coalition have conducted airstrikes on the terrorists' targets," the statement said. As a result, several ammunition depots, military hardware and fuel products were destroyed. Later on Monday, US Department of Defense spokesperson Adrian Rankine-Galloway told Sputnik that the the United States has not coordinated counterterrorism strikes in Syria with Russia. "The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria," Rankine-Galloway said. Earlier, Russian and Turkish combat planes have carried out a new series of joint airstrikes against Daesh targets in war-torn Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday. "The Russian and Turkish planes carried out joint airstrikes against Islamic State terrorists in the outskirts of the town of al-Bab in Aleppo province on January 21," the ministry said in a statement. According to the statement, the missions involved three Russian planes, including two Su-24M and a Su-34 aircraft, and four Turkish planes, including two F-16 and two F-4 fighter-bombers. The news comes amid a nationwide ceasefire in Syria backed by Russia and Turkey which came into effect on December 30 and was later supported by a UN Security Council resolution. Turkey is currently conducting an operation in Syria dubbed Euphrates Shield. On August 24, Turkish forces, supported by Free Syrian Army rebels and US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed the Euphrates Shield to clear the Syrian border town of Jarabulus and the surrounding area from Daesh terrorist group. As Jarabulus was retaken, the joint forces of Ankara, the coalition and Syrian rebels continued the operation to gain control over Al-Bab in the Aleppo province. Al-Bab is one of Daesh's last remaining strongholds near the Turkish border. Capturing the city is of strategic importance to Turkey in order to prevent the Syrian Kurds taking it and unifying their own territories. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey to Rebuild Infrastructure in Syrian Cities Liberated From Daesh Sputnik News 19:50 23.01.2017(updated 19:55 23.01.2017) Turkey is set to begin rebuilding infrastructure in northern Syrian cities, which have been cleared of Daesh militants, Turkish media reported on Monday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkey will send police and gendarmerie officers, as well as teachers, doctors, nurses, highway workers and rescue teams from its Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), to the area between Jarablus and al-Rai, the Hurriyet newspaper reported, citing Turkish sources. Police and civilian officials, who are to be sent to the region, are currently receiving training and are expected to depart for Syria in the near future. Turkey reportedly intends to provide fresh water and education, and repair key infrastructure and buildings, including schools, hospitals and bakeries. According to a state of emergency decree, which was released on January 6, Turkish officials and workers can be temporarily sent to countries where the Turkish army is stationed. The area, which was cleared as part of Turkey's ongoing Operation Euphrates Shield, is currently overseen by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Turkish forces. On August 24, 2016, the Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield against Daesh militants. Turkish forces, with assistance from Syrian opposition fighters, occupied the city of Jarabulus in northern Syria and are currently conducting its offensive on al-Bab. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the aim of the operation is to clear the region from terrorists and make it a safety zone for refugees. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Military 'Concerned' Over Syrian Army's Sporadic Truce Violations Sputnik News 17:11 23.01.2017(updated 17:12 23.01.2017) The Hmeymim-based Russian center for Syrian reconciliation expressed concern on Monday over sporadic violations of the Syrian ceasefire by government forces and demanded that the Syrian military leadership took appropriate measures to ensure compliance with fragile truce. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) The nationwide ceasefire in Syria backed by Russia and Turkey came into effect on December 30 and was later supported by a UN Security Council resolution. Russia and Turkey are monitoring and registering violations of the truce on a daily basis. "The center is particularly concerned about sporadic violations of truce by the Syrian government forces," a high-ranking official from the center told Sputnik. "The Russian side has recently asked the Syrian military leadership to take appropriate steps to ensure strict compliance with the reached agreements by some field commanders," he said. According to the official, the Russian-Turkish ceasefire monitoring commission registers on average six truce violations by all conflicting sides per day. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Successful Outcome of Astana Talks May Pave Way for Syria's Political Settlement Sputnik News 15:35 23.01.2017(updated 15:49 23.01.2017) According to a representative of the Free Syrian Army, successful negotiations in Astana may pave the way for the process of political settlement in Syria. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Successful talks in Astana may pave the way for the process of political settlement in Syria and establishment of peace in the country, Abdulrahman Mustafa, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) political representative, told Sputnik Monday. "We stand for a continuous political settlement of the Syrian conflict In case the talks in Astana have a positive result, and Russia will be able to extend the truce for whole territory of Syria, having put influence on the Syrian regime and Iran, it will be possible to move to the political settlement process," Mustafa said. Russia's initiative to invite representatives of the Syrian opposition to the talks in Astana is very important for the crisis settlement, Abdulrahman Mustafa added. "Russia is currently trying to transform a military success achieved in Syria into a political success. In this regard, the fact that Russia officially invited representatives of the Syrian opposition to participate in the talks, appearing in the role of the country-guarantor and mediator in the negotiation process, is particularly important. Russia is an important player in Syria, which has influence on the ground," Mustafa said. The Syrian government's and opposition factions' representatives are currently meeting in Astana for peace talks brokered by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Six Russian Tu-22 Long-Range Bombers Strike Daesh Targets in Syrian Deir ez-Zor Sputnik News 14:43 23.01.2017(updated 14:57 23.01.2017) Six Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bombers have launched airstrikes on Daesh targets in Syria's city of Deir ez-Zor, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Tu-22M3 long-range bombers took off from an airfield in Russia and flew over the territory of Iraq and Iran. "On January 23, 2017, six long-range Tu-22M3 bombers that took off from a Russian airfield and flew over Iraq and Iran carried out airstrikes on Daesh's command posts, arms and ammunition depots near Deir Ez-Zor populated area." The ministry added that all targets have been destroyed. "Su-30SM and Su-35S provided air cover to the Russian bombers from the Hmeymim airbase." After successfully completing their combat mission in Syria, the Russian jets returned to Russia. On Saturday, Russian strategic bombers also targeted Daesh positions in Deir ez-Zor. Last week, Daesh terrorists surrounded the Deir ez-Zor military airfield in Syria's northeast. Deir ez-Zor airbase remains the last line of defense of the Syrian army on the way to the city. Despite numerous terrorist attacks involving suicide bombers and military equipment, the Syrian Air Force managed not only to successfully defend the airfield, but also counterattacked terrorists fighting in nearby territories. Commenting on the development of the situation in the area, the Russian General Staff said on Wednesday that if terrorists capture Deir ez-Zor, civilians will be subjected to genocide and the population may be completely exterminated. The city of Deir ez-Zor, which is still held by Syrian government forces, has been under Daesh's siege since July 2014. The residents of Deir ez-Zor and the servicemen receive food only via planes delivering humanitarian aid. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At talks in Astana, UN envoy on Syria urges mechanism to oversee ceasefire 23 January 2017 International talks to extend the ceasefire in Syria started today in the Kazakh capital of Astana, with the United Nations Special Envoy said the ceasefire can be solidified if a mechanism to oversee and implement it is created. "The chances of success will be greater if the parties here are able to agree on a mechanism to oversee and implement nationwide ceasefire. A mechanism to oversee and implement a nationwide ceasefire," said Staffan de Mistura. "We didn't have it in the past, that's the reason why often we failed." He encouraged the guarantors of the ceasefire to create a mechanism to implement the consolidation and de-confliction ceasefire measures, and "to see what else can be done to build confidence." Sitting alongside representatives of the Government of Syria and the Syrian opposition, Mr. de Mistura reiterated that the only way to end the conflict and secure a political solution is through negotiation among the Syrians. The closed-door meeting convened by Iran, Russia and Turkey, with a representative from the United States attending as an observer is meant to end tomorrow. The Special Envoy said that he hoped by strengthening the ceasefire at the Astana meeting "we could see in Geneva genuine intra-Syrian negotiations," referring to the 8 February negotiations to be held under the auspices of the UN. "I would hope direct negotiations between empowered and inclusive delegations of the Government and the opposition to take place," Mr. de Mistura said, which include issues of "governance, constitution , elections" in the context of Security Council, resolution 2254 (2015), which endorsed a road map for a peace process in Syria. He praised the parties for the ceasefire announced by President Vladimir Putin and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with support of Iran, in December for saving lives, and encouraged others to join. "All other armed opposition groups not affiliated to terror organisations designated as such by the Security Council, in addition to groups allied with the Government, should also listen to the call to abide by the ceasefire," Mr. de Mistura said. Protection of civilians must be a crucial priority, he underscored, calling for the protection of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, water and electricity networks, and areas such as markets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address No Breakthrough in Day One of Syria Peace Talks in Kazakhstan By Daniel Schearf January 23, 2017 Officials at peace talks between the Syrian government and rebel groups say there was no major breakthrough in Monday's first day of meetings, but negotiations will continue Tuesday. The officials said the talks in Kazakhstan's capital, backed by Russia and Turkey, did not feature direct negotiations, but rather the two sides communicated indirectly through mediators. The negotiations in Astana are focusing on cementing a nationwide cease-fire mediated by Russia, Iran and Turkey in December a truce that has largely held. Prior Syrian peace talks, including the last negotiations a year ago, made little progress in bringing an end to the conflict that began in March 2011. "It is our most sincere desire that these talks will bring light at the end of the tunnel for the Syrian crisis," said Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov as he opened the talks. "It is now upon each of us to make the real breakthrough that Syrian people rightfully deserve." After the first of several rounds of Monday's meetings, Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Jaafari accused the opposition of "not acting responsibly." He criticized allegations that Syrian military operations in the Wadi Barada area outside of Damascus were in violation of the cease-fire. Syria has said Islamist militants from the group formerly known as the Nusra Front are involved in the fighting, which has affected the water supply in the Syrian capital. Jaafari said because the Islamist group is not covered by the cease-fire, anyone who defends the group is "on the wrong side." Fate of Idlib Other parts of Syria have been quiet since the truce, among them the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib. Istanbul Kultur University professor Bora Bayraktar told VOA's Turkish service that the fate of Idlib is a key issue for the peace talks. "So far, Assad's government has fought to gain control of Syrian regions like Aleppo, Homs and Hama that border Turkey and Lebanon, and it has achieved some success with the help of Iran and Russia," he said. "If Assad and his allies try to do the same thing in Idlib, which borders Turkey, this would create a new roadblock to solidifying the cease-fire." Cease-fire key Syria's main rebel groups suspended their participation in the peace process earlier this month, in protest at what they said were frequent violations of the cease-fire. The chief rebel negotiator participating in the talks, Mohammad Alloush, said the rebels "are men of peace," and negotiations on a political resolution to the conflict can only happen when the cease-fire is a "reality on the ground." Syrian opposition divided Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Syria's government delegation, led by Syrian U.N. ambassador Jaafari, was ready for direct talks with the Syrian opposition in Astana. But some Syrian opposition figures have said they believe Damascus is looking to negotiate only with the Turkey-backed opposition factions attending the Astana talks. Those factions include Syria's Kurdish National Council (KNC). Two opposition groups based in Syrian Kurdish controlled northern Syria and opposed by Turkey were not invited to the meetings. One is the Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition that battles the Islamic State militant group in Syria. In an interview Monday with VOA's Kurdish service, its spokesman Talal Silo said, "We will not commit to any decision that comes out of this [Astana] conference." Silo was speaking in the Syrian Kurdish controlled northern region of Hasakah. The second Syrian Kurdish opposition group excluded from the talks is the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the main Kurdish political group in northern Syria. In a separate interview with VOA in Hasakah, its leader Salih Muslim said, "This conference doesn't have any chance of success if effective opposition groups such as Syrian Democratic Forces are not involved." The main Syrian rebel umbrella group in the previous negotiations, the High Negotiations Committee, also was not invited to Astana, but said it hopes the meeting will be a step forward to U.N.-mediated peace talks in Geneva on February 8. U.N. Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura is among the participants in the Astana talks, which were due to end Tuesday. Yildiz Yazicioglu with VOA's Turkish service and Zana Omer with VOA's Kurdish service contributed to this report. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dozens of Turkey coup plot suspects on trial in Istanbul Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:37PM Turkey has put on trial dozens of military staff, including officers and soldiers, over their alleged involvement in the last July failed military coup. The hearing for a total of 62 suspects opened at a court in Silivri District on the outskirts of Istanbul on Monday. Among the suspects were 28 security officers and 34 army privates. Prosecutors said the defendants attempted to seize control of Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen International Airport on the night of the coup, when a faction of rogue elements in the Turkish army had sought to topple the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported that the suspects were accused of crimes against the country and were facing life imprisonment. The news agency went on to say that the charges also included use of force to try to destroy constitutional order, and incapacitate the Turkish parliament and government. Some of the suspects, if convicted, are facing up to a 15-year jail term for "voluntarily or deliberately aiding the group although they are not members of the armed terror organization", it added. Earlier this month, a court in the city of Erzurum in eastern Turkey issued the first final verdict on the suspects allegedly involved in the failed coup, sentencing two army officers to life in jail. The government in Ankara has launched a sweeping crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the attempted putsch. It has arrested over 35,000 people and sacked over 100,000 others over suspected links to Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Turkish cleric that Ankara accuses of having masterminded the coup attempt. Gulen rejects the charge. Meanwhile, the Turkish government has established a seven-person committee to review objections in cases relating to the mass dismissals and closures across the country's institutions in the wake of the abortive coup. "If some wrong decisions were taken, it is an effective internal judicial procedure, and we believe that it will be run objectively," Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said. Turkey is currently under a state of emergency. Turkish officials say over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 others injured in the coup attempt. Tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, judges and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown. International rights groups argue that Ankara's crackdown has gone far beyond the so-called Gulenists and targeted Kurds as well as government critics in general. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey sacks deputy head of TMSF state fund in post-coup purge Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 9:16AM Turkey has sacked a deputy head of the TMSF state fund and sealed off two local television stations as Ankara intensifies a crackdown following a failed coup attempt last year. Reuters cited the Official Gazette, the Turkish government's official journal, as saying that the dismissal of Zulfukar Sukru Kanberoglu, of the TMSF fund, which runs seized firms, came after a decree issued on Monday. Three other decrees also ordered the dismissal of some 366 other people from state institutions while reinstated 124 civil servants. According to the report, they were sacked for being part of or connected to "terrorist" groups or groups that worked against national security. Ankara often uses the term terrorist group or organization to refer to the group of individuals who support US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. The report did not clarify who or what government institution had issued the decrees. On Saturday, Turkish prosecutors issued arrest warrants for more than 400 people, including soldiers and security officers, over alleged affiliation to the network of Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of having orchestrated the failed military coup. Turkish-language Haberturk television news network reported that the suspects were being sought for using the ByLock mobile application, which the Turkish government claims to be the top communication tool among members of the Gulen movement. Gulen has strongly condemned the coup attempt and denied any involvement in it. Turkish officials say over 240 people were killed and more than 2,100 others injured in the coup attempt. Tens of thousands of people, including military personnel, judges, and teachers, have been suspended, dismissed, or detained as part of the post-coup crackdown. According to figures by the Anadolu news agency, a total of 40,832 suspects have been arrested since the coup attempt. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkish Forces Kill 65 Daesh Militants in Northern Syria - General Staff Sputnik News 11:27 23.01.2017 The Turkish armed forces have eliminated 65 Daesh militants over the past 24 hours as part of the Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria, the Turkish General Staff said Monday. ANKARA (Sputnik) On August 24, the Turkish army launched Operation Euphrates Shield against militants of the Daesh terror group, which is outlawed in Russia and many other countries. Turkish forces, with assistance from Syrian opposition fighters, occupied the city of Jarabulus in northern Syria and are currently conducting its offensive on al-Bab. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the aim of the operation is to clear the region from terrorists and make it a safety zone for refugees. The operation has been widely criticized both by the Syrian Kurds and Damascus, who have accused Ankara of violating Syria's territorial integrity. "Our Air Force destroyed 14 IS [Daesh] targets during airstrikes near the Al Bab and Bza'a towns, including seven shelters, six terrorist headquarters and a vehicle equipped with weapons. A total of 65 IS militants were killed," a statement of the General Staff received by RIA Novosti said. According to the General Staff, the US-led anti-terrorist coalition carried out three air operations in nearby districts and destroyed a number of vehicles, a tank and an Daesh mortar position. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address High Expectations in Ankara for Trump Presidency By Dorian Jones January 23, 2017 Turkey's pro-government media, usually critical of the United States, welcomed the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin spoke warmly of the new American president, saying the Trump administration "has a perspective that will guard Turkey's sensitive position in the region." "I hear from U.S. sources, Trump is going to be more amenable toward the Erdogan government than many people assume. I think this is what Ankara is relying on," said Semih Idiz, a Turkish political columnist for the Al-Monitor website. Idiz suggests that while bilateral ties were severely strained under the Barack Obama presidency, there is hope Trump can put relations back on track. "They have common enemies, I think they will try and concentrate on that. So yes, the government is expecting more from the Trump administration than it got from the Obama administration." Prime Minister Binali Yildirim last week spelled out what the Trump administration needs to do to reset relations. On the list was speeding up the extradition of U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey's government accuses of being behind a failed coup last July. Yildirim also has demanded Washington end its military support for the Syrian Kurdish PYD group and its militia, the YPG, which is fighting to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State group's self-declared capital. Ankara accuses the PYD of links with Kurdish insurgents in Turkey. But many experts are advising caution. "The extradition of Gulen is a judicial matter on which Trump has very little control," said Atilla Yesilada, a consultant with Global Source Partners, adding: "The PYD is doing a good job marching on Raqqa. I do not see Trump immediately interfering with this relationship." According to Yesilada, last week's U.S. Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson is instructive. "Rex Tillerson, the new secretary of state, he also defended the Kurds as valiant allies and he said the United States will be fighting the Muslim Brotherhood, which is an ally of Erdogan," said Yesilada. Idiz called for a lowering of expectations, but said there is still reason to be cautiously optimistic about bilateral relations: "Obama was seen as a panacea to everything and it did not work out. This is an endemic situation, and so you are going to be disappointed no matter what. But I think you will see a change of tone under the Trump administration in relations between Turkey and the United States. So that it is what a lot of people are looking for, rather than any panacea or magic wand that will fix everything overnight." Analysts warn relations could be strained further over the Trump administration's deliberations to move the U.S. Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump's strong backing of Israel's settlement building program on the West Bank and in Jerusalem is also likely to cause Ankara concern. A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement slammed Israel's approval for new Jerusalem settlements, describing it "as another indication of disregard for international law, Israel's latest." "We keep hearing words [from Trump] about the Middle East that are actually disturbing," said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday before leaving on a visit to three African countries. "I think Turkey has built up this picture of Trump as anti-Obama and therefore pro-Turkish, which is foolish and it's not going to happen," said consultant Yesilada. Concern is growing over how Erdogan will react if expectations of a reset with Washington are dashed. "I think they [Turkey] will side closer to Russia," predicted Yesilada. Bilateral relations with Moscow have recently been improving, as relations plummeted with Washington. The Turkish airbase at Incirlik, which is used by U.S. forces, will likely again be on the agenda. "Their [U.S.] presence [in Incirlik] is being questioned by our people and nation, and this issue is on the agenda of the government," said Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak earlier this month. However, a question increasingly being asked is how a Trump administration would react to any hardball tactics by Ankara,. A senior European diplomat, speaking anonymously, warned of unpredictable consequences given the volatile nature of the two countries' leaders. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fallon rejects missile misfire towards US, says nuke deterrent is fine Iran Press TV Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:29PM Britain rejects reports that a missile was misfired, possibly towards the United States, during a test of its nuclear weapons last year. On Monday, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon hit back a Sunday Times article, making the allegation, yet he refused to get into the details. "Contrary to reports in the weekend press, HMS Vengeance and her crew were successfully tested," he told lawmakers at the House of Commons. "We do not comment on the detail of submarine operations." He further asserted that "the capability and effectiveness of the UK's independent nuclear deterrent is not in doubt." In June 2015, a British submarine off the coast of Florida launched the Trident II D5 missile towards a target in West Africa, but it apparently veered off in the wrong direction towards the US. After Fallon's remarks, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND ) accused him of covering up the crisis. "The cover-up continues. Michael Fallon has refused today to answer why Parliament wasn't told about the Trident Missile Crisis and he has rebuffed calls for greater transparency, ignoring an invitation to appear at the Defense Committee," said Kate Hudson, the CND general secretary. "It's clear the government cannot be trusted to tell MPs and public the truth about the crisis. That's why CND is calling for a Trident inquiry." Prime Minister Theresa May has been briefed about the matter, according to a Downing Street spokeswoman, but she dodged questions about her knowledge of the malfunction at the time during a BBC interview. Not a premier at the time, May played a key role in getting MPs to approve a project to replace the ageing submarines, carrying the country's nuclear arsenal. "This debacle also calls into question the legitimacy of the parliamentary vote on Trident replacement that took place in July 2016. MPs should have been told about the safety and reliability issues with the Trident system before they committed to spending 205 billion on a new version of the same technology," Hudson said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Theresa May Knew About Trident Test Failure in June Ahead of Program Renewal Sputnik News 15:40 23.01.2017(updated 19:08 23.01.2017) UK Prime Minister Theresa May was briefed on June's failed Trident nuclear missile system test after assuming office, a Downing Street spokesperson said Monday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Sunday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, during her appearance on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, refused to say whether she was aware about the misfire which occurred weeks before a House of Commons vote on the future of Trident. "The Defense Secretary and the Prime Minister are routinely informed when one of these specific demonstration and shakedown operations are planned, and on the outcome of them. In this instance it was obviously in June so it was under the then-Prime Minister. On taking office the current PM was briefed on a range of nuclear issues including this," the spokesperson said, as quoted by the Mirror newspaper. The prime minister, who assumed office on July 13, was therefore aware of the test in advance of the July 19 House of Commons vote to approve the renewal of the nuclear weapons system. The HMS Vengeance test was, however, aimed more at testing the submarine and its crew, the representative added, noting that the submarine passed the test and was back in active service. The submarine suffered a propulsion malfunction in 2011 and only resumed trials in January last year. The UK Defense Ministry later stated the problem was not nuclear-related. UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon will appear before the parliament to answer questions about a Trident submarine-launched fleet ballistic missile veering off course in June last year, UK media reported earlier. May also backed Trident, describing it "the ultimate insurance" and called on lawmakers not to compromise the country's security. Trident is a nuclear missile system which is used by UK submarines since 1990s. In June 2016, one of the missiles went in a wrong direction towards the United States a few weeks before the UK parliament voted in favor of a long-debated modernization of Trident system. The system has been criticized over its cost. The total estimated cost is 167 billion pounds ($244 billion) over the 32-year lifespan of the system, between 2028 and 2060, according to the International Monetary Fund. Conservative supporters of the Trident renewal point out that over 30,000 jobs are dependent on the Trident fleet. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ababeel 1 Pakistan successfully test-fired indigenously-developed surface to surface nuclear-capable missile Ababeel, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said 24 January 2017. Pakistan successfully conducted first flight test of SSM Ababeel, Range 2,200 kilometres, DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor stated. According to the militarys media wing, the missile "is capable of delivering multiple warheads, using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology." The statement said The test flight was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system. Ababeel is capable of carrying nuclear warheads and has the capability to engage multiple targets with high precision, defeating the enemys hostile radars, it added. The ISPR said, development of Ababeel Weapon System is aimed at ensuring survivability of Pakistans ballistic missiles in the growing regional Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) environment. This will further reinforce deterrence. Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah congratulated the nation and the missile launch team on the achievement. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Mamnoon Hussain also conveyed their appreciation to the team engaged and armed forces of Pakistan on this landmark achievement. Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Darhas congratulated the scientists, engineers and the nation on successful conduct of test of surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ababeel. In his message, the Minister warmly appreciated the launch while congratulating the strategic forces and the rest of the team on their outstanding achievement. The Shaheen III surface-to-surface ballistic missile, tested on 09 March 2015, was said to be able to carry nuclear and conventional warheads within a range of 2,750 kilometers. While Pakistan maintained that the Shaheen-III was indigenously developed, some speculated that the missile could be a derivative of the Chinese DF-26. This seems improbable, since the DF-26 is a rather larger missile. In fact, the Shaheen III appears to be a Shaheen II first stage with a longer version of the Shaheen II second stage. The Shaheen II appears to be derived from the Chinese M-18 and DF-21 missiles, of similar design. The much smaller Shaheen I is unrelated. Now the Ababeel [Ababil] appears to be a further development of this family, with constant diameter first and second stages. The first stage appears to be about the same dimensions as the Shaheen II first stage. The Ababeel second stage seems to be even longer than the Shaheen III second stage. What is most noteworthy about the Ababeel is the payload shroud, which is bulbous, with a larger diameter than the first and second stage motors. Previously, the nose cones of the Shaheen family were connical, suggesting a heavy unitary warhead of not overly impressive yield to weight ratio. The new payload shroud on the Ababeel is consistent with the claim of multiple warheads, which would be of rather superior yield to weight ratio relative to the earlier weapons. Of course, the enlarged payload shroud could be a deception, but if so, it is a plausible deception. The Ababeel's reported 2,200 km range is shorter than the 2,700 km range claimed for the smaller Shaheen III, which is consistent with a larger throw-weight and multiple warheads. The 2,200 km range would enable Ababil to cover all of India, when launched from anywhere in Pakistan. The story of the owners of the elephant is given in Sura Al-Fil (105:1-5). It is a story illustrating the fate of those who trie1d to attack the Kaaba. The incident is supposed to have taken place just before the birth of Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.S). The ruler of Abyssinia, Abraha Al-Ashram, built a place of worship and asked all Arabs to worship there. But the Arabs refused to bow down. Their loyalty lay with the Kaaba, built by Ibrahim (alaihis salam). Abraha Al-Ashram swore to destroy the Kaaba. The Abyssnians had tame elephants that they used in wars. Abraha gathered his army of men and elephants and marched towards Makkah. Allah the Almighty then sent birds from the seaside that resembled hawks. Each bird held three stones: one in its beak and one in its each leg. The birds dropped these stones on the Abyssinians killing them. Have you (O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)) not seen how your Lord dealt with the owners of the Elephant? [The Elephant army which came from Yemen under the command of Abraha Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Kabah at Makkah]. Did He not make their plot go astray? And He sent against them birds, (Ababil) in flocks. Striking them with stones of Sijjil (baked clay). And He made them like (an empty field of) stalks (of which the corn has been eaten up by cattle) (Al Fil, 105:1-5). India is home to between 50 and 60% of all of Asias wild elephants and about 20% of the domesticated elephants. The Indian elephant is a sub-species of Asian elephant which includes the Indian elephant, the Sumatran elephant, the Sri-Lanka elephant and the Borneo elephant. The Indian elephant is the most widely distributed of the four Asian elephant sub-species. The Indian elephant has smaller ears than the African elephant and the Indian elephant also has a more curved spine than the African elephant. Due to their large size, Indian elephants have very few predators within their natural environment. An India without elephants is simply unimaginable. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Edge data centres will account for most of the telecom server market growth and is projected to reach US$14 billion by 2026 according to a new report from DellOro Group. GE Power and Water on St. Paul Avenue in Waukesha will cease production of engines after a new plant is built in Canada. Freeman file photo The Community Foundation of the Dan River Region is now accepting applications for two education funds, one benefiting gifted student programs and another for programs for autism education. The Keokee Funds purpose is to support the education of academically gifted students. The grants will be used to provide support for organizations, schools, classrooms and students who are academically gifted in the surrounding area. Grants totaling up to $1,200 are available from the Keokee Fund The Autism Education Funds purpose is to support autism education-related programs or organizations benefiting individuals, families, educators and the community. The grants will be used to provide support for educators, supplement costs of educational services and promote autism awareness in the surrounding area. Grants totaling up to $25,750 are available. Applications are available from the Community Foundations website, www.cfdrr.org, or by calling (434) 793-0884. The deadline for Autism and Keokee applications to be received is Feb. 20. The Community Foundation is a fully tax-exempt organization. Individuals, businesses or organizations may establish their own fund or may contribute any amount to existing funds. Were Game for Education! the Virginia Lottery proclaims at its display booth in the General Assembly Building. Lottery profits may be the game for Virginia lawmakers working on a revised state budget that helps local schools without necessarily providing money for teacher pay raises that most school divisions already have given. The budget already includes an additional $157.2 million in per-student funding for local school divisions in the next fiscal year all lottery money that would not require local matching funds and more could be coming. I would see us adding to what they currently have, House Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, said in an interview Monday. Earlier in the day, teachers from across Virginia held a boisterous rally outside a House committee room to demand that the state pay its share of the 2 percent raise that was promised and withdrawn last year in the face of a revenue shortfall now projected at $1.26 billion. Its time to bridge the gap in state funding! shouted Jim Livingston, president of the Virginia Education Association, to a thick crowd of teachers who were gathered early Monday morning just around the corner from the lottery display. Livingston, a middle school teacher from Prince William County, delivered a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, to demand that the state do your part, hold up your end of the bargain, and provide state support for a teacher salary increase. The localities have done more than their fair share, he said. Norment, co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, declined to respond to the letter Monday, as the assembly money committees work to address the dominant issue of the General Assembly session compensation for public employees. Were hoping to work out a resolution, said Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Norment. While legislators have made it a priority to restore a 3 percent raise to state employees that also was eliminated last year, only one, Sen. Frank M. Ruff Jr., R-Mecklenburg, has proposed to amend the budget to provide a raise for teachers. Ruffs proposed amendments would give a 3 percent raise to teachers instead of the 1.5 percent one-time bonus Gov. Terry McAuliffe proposed. The proposal would cost about $127 million, or roughly $72 million more than the governors proposed bonus. Teachers werent part of the amendment proposed in the House of Delegates by Del. Charles D. Poindexter, R-Franklin County, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on compensation and retirement. It would restore raises that had been planned last year for state employees and state-supported local employees, such as sheriffs deputies and other constitutional officers. His amendment would include about $91 million, on top of the money proposed by the governor for one-time bonuses. Jones noted that all but a dozen or so local school divisions still gave teachers a 2 percent raise after the state suspended its $346.3 million compensation package for public employees, which had been tied to revenue performance in the fiscal year that ended June 30. They chose to proceed, he said. Tom Smith, lobbyist for the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, said most school divisions gave the raise because they were already obligated under teacher contracts before the state confirmed the shortfall and canceled the raises. Once we start raises at the beginning of the (fiscal) year, either you give it the rest of the year or you have to change the contract to take it away, Smith said. One of the localities that did not give the raise was Dickenson County, in far Southwest Virginia. The school division did not pay the raise after the state canceled its share, said Larry Barton, finance director for the Dickenson school system. If the state had not done that, we would have given the raise, Barton said. The state decision brought Phyllis Mullins, a seventh-grade civics teacher in Dickenson, more than 350 miles to Richmond early on Monday to advocate for the states share of a teacher pay increase. With the economic situation the way it is in the coalfields, were desperate, said Mullins, who has been a teacher for 27 years. But the House, at least, is not likely to provide money in the budget to pay the states share of raises that already have been given. That would set a terrible precedent we shouldnt do that, said Jones, who added that schools will get much of the money back when the state updates costs under the Standards of Quality in the next budget. Instead, the committee is looking to build on a new approach that it pushed last year to increase per-student funding for school divisions through the lottery, without requiring them to match with local funds as they do under the Standards of Quality. We want to help our schools, but we dont want to put a burden on them, said Robert P. Vaughn, staff director of the Appropriations Committee. In Dickenson, the lottery money is welcome, Barton said. It really helps as far as the match. Our locality is really strapped for cash. To the editor: Donald Trump has been president for less than a week, and so far has made no effort to reach out to the majority of Americans who did not vote for him and are apprehensive about his intentions. Instead, he and his minions have attacked the media and offered blatant lies about statements he made in the recent past. The Trump spokesperson, Kellyanne Conway, used the term alternative facts to describe Press Secretary Sean Spicers inaccurate comment on the attendance at the inauguration. Even though as president-elect, Trump blasted the intelligence agency for releasing information about the Russian involvement in the campaign and election, he visited the CIA headquarters and denied this outright, blaming the media for the gaffe. Trump continues to use the media as a scapegoat, just as he did with Hillary Clinton, making false accusations that please his supporters. I believe Trump is a man with a questionable moral compass. Not only does he lie with no shame, he does it deliberately to attract media attention. He has little respect for women, bragging in one of his books about the number of famous women he has slept with. He even boasted of grabbing women by their genitals and having his way with them. He has twice divorced wives for other women, and during the campaign regularly maligned Rosie ODonnell, Megan Kelly, Carly Fiorina and others. Trump acts like the classic bully, with a record of vile counter punching with anyone who criticizes him. His shameful treatment of the Gold Star Khan family is similar to the ordeal he forced on the elderly Atlantic City widow, Vera Coking, who refused to sell her three-story house to make way for his casino. Trump is remarkably narcissistic and has an almost infantile hunger for approval. He advocates using violence against those who irritate him at rallies, as when reacting to a heckler Id like to punch him in the face, and on another occasion telling his audience that a Black Lives Matter heckler maybe he should be roughed up. Even more serious is President Trumps lack of respect for our political system and traditions. During the campaign, he threatened to ignore the convention results and later the November election unless he won. From the beginning of his candidacy to the present, he has refused to honor the tradition to disclose his tax returns and place his business holdings in a blind trust. He mocks and ridicules our system of checks and balances and compromise dictated by the Constitution. Instead he appears to be enamored with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his authoritarian style of leadership. During the campaign he even publicly appealed to Putin to leak more of Clintons emails. So far he has leveled stinging criticisms of President Obama and the other political leaders he will have to work with, but not a negative word has he uttered about Putin. He continues to criticize NATO as an outdated alliance whose member states renege on their dues; and like his European nationalists counterparts, Trump was pleased with the outcome of Brexit and a weakened European Union. We should be concerned about Trumps unorthodox approach to the presidency, and the possibility that he may do serious damage to the office, to our political system, and our national security in a rapidly changing world. We depend on our presidents knowledge, judgment, respect for the office and the other branches of government and, above all the people; but sadly, it appears President Trump is lacking in these virtues. God helps all. GERALD N. DAVIS Chatham The Southern Virginia Higher Education Center celebrated the newest members of the regions information technology workforce with a completion ceremony for the participants in the IT Academys third cohort. Nineteen individuals were recognized for completing the ITAs Computer and Server Foundations curriculum, and for earning industry recognized CompTIA certifications in A+ and Server+. The completers earned a total of 21 credentials. Without a skilled workforce ready to step into high demand jobs like IT, our region will be unable to sustain existing industry or attract new ones, said Dr. Betty Adams, SVHEC Executive Director. With credentials hand-picked by the regions IT employers, IT Academy completers are well-positioned to secure available jobs and bring immediate value to Southern Virginia employers, she continued. The ceremonys guest speaker was Jason Kirkhart, founder and CEO of Beetoobi IT Solutions, an IT firm based in Halifax County. In sharing insights about Southern Virginias need for an IT workforce, he pointed out pioneer private sector companies like GCR Company and Pure.net, and investments by Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative and the Halifax County Industrial Development Authority for setting the stage for a boom in IT workers in the region. All those efforts are showing signs of paying off. In recent years this region has become the newest home to a large call center, a data center and an operations center for Homeland Security, just to name a few. Kirkhart also provided words of advice to the completers saying, Spend time every day becoming better problem solvers. Break down problems with intention, develop a process for it and constantly refine it. Those skills will remain invaluable no matter where you go. IT Academy trainer and program coordinator Kelly Shotwell beamed with pride as program completers were called up to receive their credentials. This class was determined, studious, and success-oriented. I believe they have a great deal to offer in the workplace, and I wish them every success, she said. ITA completer Matthew Rulli said, I chose the IT Academy to open doors and jump-start a new career. I now have a new set of tools to work with. Classmate Reid Roller echoed Rullis statements and added Learning to work through problems and seeing how others troubleshoot issues were great aspects of the class for me. For Juanita Carden, the programs job placement assistance was the most valuable. After all the studying and hard work to earn the certifications, the job fair was undoubtedly the most valuable aspect of the program because it put us in the same room with employers ready to fill IT positions, she said. The IT Academy was literally an answer to a prayer and step of faith. I had been looking for a CompTIA specific course for a while and I moved back home to Halifax County just in time to sign up for the course, Carden continued. The SVHEC IT Academy offers short-term, non-credit training leading to CompTIA credentials in A+ and Server+. ITA training pairs classroom instruction with hands-on activities in a fully equipped repair center and data center. Training participants complete the entire core curriculum within four months. For more information, visit www.svhec.org/ita, call 434-572-5660, or email kellyshotwell@svhec.org. Company to proceed with Orocobre transaction to acquire the Cauchari project, which hosts an inferred lithium brine resource and large defined exploration target VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 24, 2017) - NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES Advantage Lithium Corp. (the "Company" or "Advantage Lithium") (TSX VENTURE:AAL) announces, further to its news release of November 23rd 2016, the final terms of its private placement financing of $20,000,000. In addition the Company has agreed with Orocobre that the transaction terms in the definitive agreement will be 54,500,000 common shares and a warrant to purchase an additional 3,000,000 common shares. The warrant will have same terms as warrants issued in conjunction with the financing. The Company and Orocobre expect that the definitive agreement will be completed by the end of February 2017. News Highlights Funds raised to be used to develop the advanced Cauchari asset, including its large defined exploration target, five other wholly owned (100%) Argentine assets comprising ~85,543 hectares and general corporate purposes. Large exploration target defined with a range of 0.25 to 5.6 mt of lithium carbonate and 0.9 mt to 19 mt of potash (KCl). 1 Cauchari hosts an inferred resource containing an estimated 230 million cubic metres of brine at ~380 mg/l Li and 3,700 mg/l K. This is equivalent to 470,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate (~88,000 tonnes lithium metal) and 1.62 million tonnes of potash (KCl - equivalent to ~840,000 tonnes of potassium). The project is adjacent to Lithium America's Cauchari project. Lithium Americas recently proposed a combined equity and debt financing of USD $286M investment by Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Ltd. and GFL International Ltd. to put its project into production. Advantage Lithium/Orocobre's Cauchari project lies close to Orocobre's lithium production facility and has the potential for fast-tracked, low cost production. David Sidoo, CEO and President, of Advantage Lithium, commented, "As evidenced by the significant $286M combined equity and debt investment in Lithium Americas, proposed by two Asian based companies, to put their Cauchari project, adjacent to the Advantage Lithium/Orocobre property, into production, the Cauchari salar is seen as a high-priority source of future lithium production and we are excited to have the funding and partnership to aggressively develop our presence there. We look forward to working with the Orocobre team, including Richard Seville, Managing Director, CEO and Rick Anthon, General Counsel, Joint Company Secretary, both of whom are expected to be joining the board of Advantage Lithium upon completion of the acquisition." Sidoo continued: "As soon as possible, we plan to implement agreed upon work programs at Cauchari. This year is going to be extremely productive and busy for Advantage Lithium: we are already following up the successful phase one drilling at Clayton NE with 3 additional holes and 5 permitted holes at Cauchari in Argentina, to begin delineating the large exploration target in Q1 this year. Cauchari hosts a shallow, lithium brine resource and large exploration target is located close to Orocobre's lithium production facility and we have several fast-track development options open to us." Richard Seville, CEO of Orocobre, commented, "We are pleased to be working with Advantage Lithium to advance the properties. The success to date of the capital raise demonstrates the market's strong belief in the high quality of the Cauchari development property as well as the other assets." FINANCING Led by Dundee Capital Partners ("Dundee") and Canaccord Genuity Corp. (together known as the "Agents") under which the Agents have agreed to offer for sale subscription receipts of the Company (the "Subscription Receipts"), subject to all required regulatory approvals, at a price per Subscription Receipt of $0.75 (the "Offering Price"), for total gross proceeds of $20,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Subscription Receipt will entitle the holder thereof to receive one Unit of the Company without payment of additional consideration or further action, provided that the Escrow Release Conditions have been satisfied prior to the Escrow Deadline (as defined below), upon the date (the "Qualification Date") which is the earlier of: (i) four months and a day after the closing of the Offering; and (ii) the third business day following the issuance of a receipt (the "Final Receipt") for a final prospectus qualifying the Units underlying the Subscription Receipts. Each unit will comprises a share and half a warrant, each whole warrant exercisable for one additional share for 24 months after closing at $1.00 a share. The Subscription Receipts will be issued pursuant to a subscription receipt agreement (the "Subscription Receipt Agreement") to be entered into among the Company, the Agents and the subscription receipt agent. Pursuant to the Subscription Receipt Agreement, the gross proceeds from the Offering (less 50% of the Agent's cash commission and all of the Agent's expenses) (the "Net Escrowed Funds") will be held in escrow pending satisfaction of the escrow release conditions (the "Escrow Release Conditions"), including (i) completion of the Acquisition as contemplated by the definitive agreement to be entered into with Orocobre, including receipt of all regulatory approvals, shall have been completed or waived on terms previously disclosed to or otherwise reasonably acceptable to the Agents; (ii) the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals (including if necessary, shareholder approval) with respect to the Offering including conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange with respect to the listing of the Units underlying the Subscription Receipts; (iii) the Company having delivered a certificate to the Agents that the conditions set forth in (i) and (ii) have been satisfied; and (iv) the Company and the Agents having delivered the completion notice and direction pursuant to the Subscription Receipt Agreement to the subscription receipt agent. Upon satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions, the remaining 50% of the cash commission will be released to the Agents plus any additional expenses of the Agents, if any, and the balance of the Net Escrowed Funds, together with any interest earned thereon, will be released to the Company. The Subscription Receipts will not convert into Units until the later of (i) the Qualification Date and (ii) the satisfaction of the Escrow Release Conditions, as described above. In the event that the closing sale price of the Shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $1.50 per Share for a period of 20 consecutive trading days at any time after the Subscription Receipts are exchanged for Units, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by issuing a press release and in such case the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such press release is issued. The Agents have the option to offer for sale up to an additional 15% of the Subscription Receipts sold under and on the same terms as the Offering at any time until 48 hours prior to the closing date of the Offering. In consideration for their services, the Agents will be paid a cash commission of approximately 6% of the proceeds from the sale of the Subscription Receipts, and will be issued a compensation warrant entitling them to subscribe for Units equal in number to approximately 6% of the number of Subscription Receipts sold in the Offering, exercisable at a price of $0.75 per Unit for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering. If the Escrow Release Conditions are not satisfied on or before March 31, 2017 the Subscription Receipts will be deemed to be cancelled and holders of Subscription Receipts will receive a cash amount equal to the Offering Price of the Subscription Receipts and any interest that was earned on the Net Escrowed Funds less any applicable withholding taxes. The Company will be responsible for any shortfall in the amount returnable to holders of Subscription Receipts in this event. The closing of the Offering is expected to occur February 13, 2017 and is subject to the completion of formal transaction documentation and the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities offered have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The technical information in this news release has reviewed and approved on behalf of the company by Ross McElroy, P.Geo. Technical Advisor and Director for Advantage Lithium Corp., and a "Qualified Person" as defined in NI 43-101. (1) An exploration target is not a mineral resource. The potential quantity and grade of the exploration target is conceptual in nature, and there has been insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource in the volume where the Exploration Target is outlined. It is uncertain if further exploration drilling will result in the determination of a Mineral Resource in this volume. Further information about the Company can be found at www.advantagelithium.com. About Advantage Lithium Corp. Advantage Lithium Corp. is a resource company specializing in the strategic acquisition, exploration and development of lithium properties and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The common shares of the company are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "AAL". The company has signed an LOI, subject to definitive agreement, with lithium producer, Orocobre, to acquire 100% interest in five projects in Argentina and a 75% interest in a sixth, called Cauchari. Cauchari is host to a near-surface resource of 470,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 1.62 million tonnes of potash (KCL), and a large exploration target of 5.6mt to 0.25mt of LCE and 19mt to 0.9 of KCL. Cauchari is located just 20 km south Orocobre's flagship Olaroz Lithium Facility. The Company is also earning an interest from Nevada Sunrise Gold Corp., in a portfolio of five lithium brine projects in the Clayton and Lida Valley regions of Nevada, USA, including 70% in Clayton NE. In addition, the Company has acquired 100% of the Stella Marys lithium brine project, immediately adjacent to Orocobre's Salinas Grandes project that hosts an inferred, near-surface resource, in Argentina's Lithium Triangle. ADVANTAGE LITHIUM CORP. David Sidoo, President Cautionary Statement: Certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information", within the meaning of Canadian legislation. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur", "be achieved" or "has the potential to". Forward looking statements contained in this press release may include statements regarding the future operating or financial performance of Advantage that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may not prove to be accurate. Actual results and outcomes may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in these forward-looking statements. Such statements are qualified in their entirety by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations. Among those factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are the following: market conditions and other risk factors listed from time to time in our reports filed with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. 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. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan 24, 2017) - Sabina Gold & Silver Corp (TSX:SBB), ("Sabina" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that Nunavut Impact Review Board ("NIRB") has provided guidance to all parties on the scope and process of further review of the Back River Gold Project ("Back River" or the "Project"). On June 15, 2016, the NIRB recommended to the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada ("INAC") that the Back River Project should not proceed to the next phase of permitting. On January 12, 2017, the Minister of INAC advised the NIRB that their report was deficient in several areas and referred the report back to NIRB for further consideration. A link to a copy of the Minister's letter can be found here: http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com/assets/docs/media/Minister-Ltr-to-NIRB-Re-Final-Hearing-Report.pdf Under NIRB's expeditiously received guidance, NIRB has requested that Sabina file a Final Environmental Impact Statement ("FEIS") or addendum "as soon as practicable". Sabina has been working diligently in anticipation of additional information requests and plans to file the addendum with NIRB within several weeks. The addendum would focus on the deficiencies noted in the five areas of the Minister's decision and would provide relevant new and updated information. Following Sabina's submission, NIRB will issue timelines and undertake a technical review and public hearings. Sabina anticipates that the NIRB could issue its new recommendation to the Minister in mid-2017, subject to the NIRB's ultimate issued timelines. A copy of the NIRB letter can be found here: http://www.sabinagoldsilver.com/assets/docs/170123-12MN036-NIRB_Ltr_to_Sabina_Re_Next_Steps_for_the_Review_Process-OT8E.pdf "We look forward to working through the next steps in the NIRB's process with all parties," stated Bruce McLeod, President and CEO. "We understand and support the NIRB's desire for a high level of confidence in the mitigation and management proposed. We have worked hard to prepare to address NIRB's concerns in this next review and anticipate a thorough and expeditious process. We continue to receive broad based Inuit support for the Project and will continue to engage and consult with all stakeholders. We believe Back River is a world class project with a large high grade reserve/resource in a mining friendly jurisdiction." Sabina Gold & Silver Corp Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is a well-financed, emerging precious metals company with district scale, world class undeveloped assets in one of the world's newest, politically stable mining jurisdictions: Nunavut, Canada. Sabina recently released a Feasibility Study on its 100% owned Back River Gold Project which presents a project that has been designed on a fit-for purpose basis, with the potential to produce ~200,000 ounces a year for ~11 years with a rapid payback of 2.9 years. At a US$1,150 gold price and a 0.80 exchange rate, the Study delivers a potential after tax internal rate of return of approximately 24.2% with an initial CAPEX of $415 million. In addition to Back River, Sabina also owns a significant silver royalty on Glencore's Hackett River Project. The silver royalty on Hackett River's silver production is comprised of 22.5% of the first 190 million ounces produced and 12.5% of all silver produced thereafter. The Company had approximately C$41.5 million in its treasury (September 30, 2016) and had approximately C$40 million at December 31, 2016. Forward Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (the "forward-looking statements"), including our belief as to the extent, results and timing of and various studies relating to permitting and environmental assessment outcomes. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the future circumstances, outcomes or results anticipated in or implied by such forward-looking statements will occur or that plans, intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking statements are based will occur. While we have based these forward-looking statements on our expectations about future events as at the date that such statements were prepared, the statements are not a guarantee that such future events will occur and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause events or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and assumptions include, among others, the effects of general economic conditions, commodity prices, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by government and regulatory authorities and misjudgments in the course of preparing forward-looking statements. In addition, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Known risk factors include risks associated with exploration and project development; the need for additional financing; the calculation of mineral resources and reserves; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in metal prices; title matters; government regulation; obtaining and renewing necessary licences and permits; environmental liability and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain of our officers or directors; the absence of dividends; currency fluctuations; labour disputes; competition; dilution; the volatility of the our common share price and volume; future sales of shares by existing shareholders; and other risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the Back River Project and general risks associated with the mineral exploration and development industry described in our Annual Information Form, financial statements and MD&A for the fiscal period ended December 31, 2015 filed with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at www.sedar.com. Although we have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We are under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. This news release has been authorized by the undersigned on behalf of Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. Toronto, Ontario (FSCwire) - PJX Resources Inc. (PJX or the Company) is pleased to announce that the company has signed an agreement to retain the investor relations services of John Walter Communications Inc. (JWCI) for an initial period of six months. JWCI will assist the Company with its investor relations and market awareness programs by reaching out to its network of investors, brokers, analysts, media contacts, and industry professionals to create a greater awareness of PJX. JWCI will receive a fee of $5,000 per month. The term of the agreement may be renewed in six month increments by mutual consent and may be cancelled by either party on 30 days notice. Mr. John Walter, B.A.Sc. M. Eng, is the Founder and President of John Walter Communications Inc., an independent consulting firm dedicated to assisting junior and intermediate mining companies grow to their full potential. Mr. Walter spent more than two decades in Institutional Equity Sales, including 17 years at UBS and its predecessor companies, providing coverage to Institutional clients in North America, the Middle East, Asia and Australia. Prior to this, Mr. Walter worked in Engineering departments for a number of Canadian Iron Ore producers assisting in all aspects of the mining cycle, from exploration, development and production. Additionally, Mr. Walter worked at numerous international mining locations supervising the construction of large scale open pit mining equipment and providing training to the personnel responsible for the operation and maintenance of the equipment. Mr. Walter graduated from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in 1979 with a degree in Mining Engineering. Working alongside John Walter is Mike OBrien. Mr. OBrien has more than 30 years of experience in Sales, Marketing, Investor Relations, General Management and Corporate communications in the Mining and Telecommunications sectors. He was the Director of Communications and Investor Relations for Carpathian Gold and Sage Gold from February 2006 to February 2014 and was instrumental in procuring over $100 million dollars in project financing for mining projects in Canada, Eastern Europe and South America. Previously, Mr. OBrien was VP of Business Development for Litewave Communications and Central Canadian Sales Manager for EXFO Engineering. Company President and CEO, John Keating, comments, John Walter and Mike OBriens collective experience in investor relations and the mineral industry will greatly help to improve Company visibility in the capital markets. We look forward to working with JWCI to help communicate the potential of PJX and our Cranbrook properties. Drilling will continue this winter to explore for Sullivan deposit style zinc and other base metals on our Vine Property, and new gold targets have been discovered on our Dewdney Trail and Zinger Properties (see press releases dated August 25, 2016 and January 17, 2017). About PJX Resources Inc. PJX is a mineral exploration company focused on building shareholder value and community opportunity through the exploration and development of mineral resources with a focus on gold and base metals. PJXs primary properties are located in the historical mining area of Cranbrook and Kimberley, British Columbia. Please refer to our web site http://www.pjxresources.com for additional information. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Linda Brennan, Chief Financial Officer (416) 799-9205 info@pjxresources.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Information This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements which relate to future events. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to exploration results, the success of exploration activities, mine development prospects, completion of economic assessments, and future gold production. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", appears to, "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking-statements. Although PJX has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/pjxresources01242017.pdfSource: PJX Resources Inc. (TSX Venture:PJX) To follow PJX Resources Inc. on your favorite social media platform or financial websites, please click on the icons below. Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 Filing Services Canada Inc. On his first day as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin the process for repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In the weeks before that, the Republican-controlled Congress made several moves toward dismantling the law. But you likely wouldn't know all that by looking at most states' proposed budgets.If Trump makes good on his campaign promise to repeal Barack Obama's landmark health-care law this year, states could take a major financial hit and don't appear to be preparing for that.Hardest-hit would likely be the 31 states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA. The law provided 100 percentof the funding for states to make more low-income people eligible for free or cheap health care. If that funding provision isn't included in the Republicans' replacement plan, expansion states would be on the hook for billions of dollars if they want to keep millions of people insured.Despite that, several health policy experts toldthat it's unlikely that any state budget offices have drawn up contingency plans for a full repeal yet.People are thinking about what will happen, but its just really hard to put a fiscal note on the possibility of that, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association for Medicaid Directors.Keep in mind," he said, "that rolling back a Medicaid program has only happened twice before, and that was at the state level. This would be the feds walking away.It's anyone's guess how far the new administration and Congress will go to get rid of the ACA. But both Trump and Congressional Republicans favor converting Medicaid into block grants, which give states more flexibility to decide who would be eligible for subsidized care and what services would be covered. Either way, Democratic and Republican governors in expansion states are worried that Congress will rush to repeal the law without an immediate plan in place.California Gov. Jerry Brown's proposed budget addresses the uncertainty but only to explain why it doesn't account for a potential repeal.The incoming presidential administration and leaders in Congress have suggested major changes to the program," the budget reads. "At this point, it is not clear what those changes will be or when they will take effect. As such, the Budget continues to reflect existing state and federal law.New York's budget, proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, strikes a similar sentiment:It is not possible at this time to assess the potential fiscal impact of policies that may be proposed and adopted by the new administration and Congress.Most expansion states that have released their proposed budgets do allocate more money for Medicaid. But that was expected since federal funding to subsidize states' Medicaid expansion drops to a 95 percent match this year.If Obamacare is repealed and replaced with something different, lawmakers would have to go back and rewrite a good portion of the budget because I think there are bits of Medicaid in every aspect of state government, said John Corlett, a former Medicaid director for Ohio.It's not just Medicaid that a repeal could impact. The ACA also offers financial incentives to implement electronic health records and to help providers update their IT systems. Many are worried such funding would not be included in a replacement plan.Those IT systems impact more than just our Medicaid program -- and thats true even for states that didnt expand," said Loren Anthes, a Medicaid fellow at the Center for Community Solutions. "Trust me, states do not want to go through another IT procurement process.Theres a lot of detail in policy, and politics doesnt always recognize that, said Anthes.Efforts to address the opioid epidemic could also fall victim to an Obamacare repeal. Expanding Medicaid helped many addicts afford treatment.In Ohio, for example, Corlett estimates that out of the 700,000 residents who received coverage once the state expanded Medicaid, 200,000 struggle with substance abuse.The amount of money in our Medicaid program that goes towards substance abuse help, its incomparable. To rip out the financing arrangements for that would be devastating, said Corlett.One thing is for certain: If a full repeal happens, it will be disastrous for most states' budgets -- at least in the short-term.Theres a saying in Ohio that when the rest of the country gets a cold, we get pneumonia," said Corlett. "Thats what it would be like if Medicaid expansion is rolled back." Gov. David Ige touted his achievements during his first two years as governor in his State-of-the-State speech to lawmakers today, but warned the state economy has slowed, and "adjustments" will be required in his proposed two-year $28.5 billion budget.Ige noted that tax collections were expected to grow by 5.5 percent this fiscal year, but actual tax revenue has grown by just six-tenths of 1 percent in the first six months of the year."The economic assumptions on which the budget was based have changed, and we will have to make adjustments," Ige said.Ige did not specifically describe those adjustments, but said he will propose an increase in state payments into the public employees pension fund. The Employees Retirement System, which provides benefits to more than 120,000 employees and retirees, earlier this month announced that its unfunded pension liability for state and county employees and retirees was a whopping $3.67 billion more than had been previously calculated.To help cope with that extra cost, Ige said he will phase in a series of increased payments "to ensure that we keep our promises to our retirees in a responsible way."Ige said he intends to expand the Early College Program that helps high school students to obtain college credits, saying that "studies show that this may be one of the most powerful tools to advance college enrollment and success among our public high school graduates -- especially for lower-income and first-generation college students," Ige said.Ige also said he will purchase more electric cars for the state using money from up to $10 million in payments to the state under a legal settlement with Volkswagen for alleged emissions fraud.Ige did not specifically mention his plans to increase the state's gasoline tax, weight tax and registration fees, but said he wants to work with lawmakers to "find the funding to make significant upgrades to increase safety and reliability" in the state's highway network.Lawmakers last year rejected Ige's plan to increase those taxes to fund highway improvements, but Ige promised to re-introduce those tax increase proposals again this year.The city plans to ask lawmakers this year to extend the half-percent excise tax surcharge for Oahu to provide more money for the city's rail project, and Ige said he plans to work with the city and the Legislature to find enough money to complete the rail system."This will give us a more comprehensive approach to traffic congestion on Oahu for the long term," he said.Ige's speech mostly steered clear of dramatic new initiatives such as "Cool the Schools," which he unveiled in his speech last year. That plan to install air conditioning or other equipment to cool 1,000 classrooms by the end of last 2016 turned out to be a disappointment for the administration.Ige convinced lawmakers last year to appropriate $100 million for the plan, but unexpectedly costly bids by contractors contributed to delays, and shortly before New Years Day Ige reported that work had been completed in only 164 classrooms with bids have been awarded for another 207.However, Ige said his new budget includes $61.7 million to continue the "Cool the Schools" effort, adding that "we haven't lowered our sights."Ige also said he will propose a new "invasive species authority" to oversee efforts to protect the Hawaii environment from invasive species, but provided few details. He said his budget includes $18.4 million to protect watersheds, forests and oceans from invasive species.Ige said his administration helped to reduce homelessness in Kakaako by two-thirds, and said his new budget proposes to spend $20.9 million per year for rent subsidies, supportive services, outreach services and enforcement to cope with homelessness.State funding for homeless prevention allowed 4,200 to stay in their homes and avoid homelessness, and helped to spur a 25 percent reduction in evictions, Ige said.Ige also praised his administration's efforts to speed renovations in public housing units so they can become available for occupancy more quickly. He said his proposed budget includes $59 million for additional public housing improvements, and said his budget proposes to invest $123.4 million in new housing starts.Ige also pitched his administration's efforts to steer Hawaii into the "innovation" sector.The governor has included $5 million per year for each of the next two years to support the work of the Cancer Center of Hawaii, and praised the state's HI Growth program to encourage high-tech entrepreneurs. He said that program has helped to fuel 145 start-ups with $10 million in state funds, and those start-ups attracted $250 million total investment."Together, we must pursue our own self-made opportunities through education, innovation and entrepreneurship," Ige said. "We must tap our greatest resource, our people, to find our way to the next great economic transformation: the development of an innovation sector." On Monday, in the evening, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey returned to Queensland and the Honourable Justice John Byrne AO, RFD ceased duty as Acting Governor of Queensland. Description GIS 24 January 2017: A workshop to discuss the setting up of a National Biotechnology Institute, an initiative of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security, kicked off this morning at the Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Port Louis. Present at the opening ceremony, the Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mr Mahen Seeruttun, stated that the country is now ready to transform itself into a high-income economy and innovation has been recognized, as the key driver of economic growth in terms of wealth generation and job creation. Biotechnology is one of the vehicles of innovation that could contribute positively towards this vision, he added. According to him, Mauritius has so far been timidly involved in biotechnology and very few institutions are engaged in this sector. The Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute under the aegis of the Mauritius Cane Industry Authority, Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute and the University of Mauritius are the few institutions that address biotechnology in their research and development programme, recalled Mr Seeruttun. Consequently we have not been able to tap the full extent of this technology, he stressed, adding that his Ministry is committed to redress this situation. In this context, the National Biosafety Committee was reconstituted in March 2015. This committee is an advisory committee set up to advise on all aspects concerning the importation, exportation, transit, development, research, production, use, application, marketing, sale and the release of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) or on any other matter concerning GMOs. Actions to review the GMO Act 2004, which was only partially proclaimed in 2004, have been initiated stated the Minister and a revised draft of the GMO Act is already available. Moreover, t he associated regulations to accompany this law are being finalised, he added. For Mr Seeruttun, all these initiatives will assist to protect human, animal and environmental health, protect consumers in making their choice regarding GMOs, and maintain an international quality and safety standards that facilitate trade. Furthermore, the Minister announced that provision is being made for the setting of the National Biosafety Office in his Ministry to deal with administrative matters pertaining to Biosafety, GMOs and to cater for the enforcement of the law. Application of biotechnology will be critical to help Mauritius meet the new challenges facing us such as climate change, new pests and diseases outbreaks and growing demands for food, feed, fibre and biofuels in the years to come, he said. Government Information Service, Prime Ministers Office, Level 6, New Government Centre, Port Louis, Mauritius. Email: Website: ://gis.govmu.org GIS 24 January 2017: Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius yesterday afternoon at Sir Harilal Vaghjee Memorial Hall, Government House in Port Louis. The Swearing-In Ceremony of the Prime Minister and Ministers was held in the presence of the President of the Republic of Mauritius, Mrs Ameena Gurib-Fakim, and other eminent personalities. Earlier in the morning, Sir Anerood Jugnauth tendered his resignation letter as Prime Minister to the President of the Republic at the State House, Reduit. Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth received his letter of appointment as the Prime Minister, Minister of Home Affairs, External Communications and National Development Unit and Minister of Finance and Economic Development from the hands of the President of the Republic of Mauritius yesterday morning. After the Swearing-In Ceremony, the new Prime Minister inspected the Guard of Honour of the Mauritius Police Force in front of the Government House. The new Cabinet comprises three newly appointed ministers. They are Mr Eddy Boissezon, Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms; Mr Purmanund Jhugroo, Minister of Local Government and Outer Islands; and Mr Stephan Toussaint, Minister of Youth and Sports. Sir Anerood Jugnauth has been appointed Minister Mentor, Minister of Defence and Minister for Rodrigues. Narendra Modi congratulates the new Prime Minister The Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Shri Narendra Modi, during a telephone conversation yesterday conveyed his congratulations to Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth following his appointment to the post of Prime Minister. Mr Modi rejoiced that Mauritius is blessed to have a young and dynamic leader as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Jugnauth reassured his Indian counterpart that he will strive to further strengthen the ties between Mauritius and India. Mr Modi officially invited the Prime Minister to visit India. Description GIS - 24 January, 2017: The newly appointed Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, defined his priorities for the country in a message to the Nation broadcast last night following the swearing-in ceremony at the Sir Harilal Vaghjee Memorial Hall in Port Louis. The newly appointed Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, defined his priorities for the country in a message to the Nation broadcast last night following the swearing-in ceremony at the Sir Harilal Vaghjee Memorial Hall in Port Louis. Prime Minister Jugnauth called for unity and solidarity among the citizens and reassured the population that he will fulfill the responsibility conferred upon him with humility and dignity. He said he will serve the population at his best so as to make of Mauritius a place where security prevails recalling that dynamism, prosperity, modernity are high on his agenda. These, he said will help consolidate and build a modern country for the future generation. Mr Pravind Jugnauth gave an overview of the broad perspectives for the coming years under his term as Prime Minister outlining that law and order remains his focus. On this score, he pointed out that he will mobilise all resources as well as use modern technology to make sure that law and order prevails in the country. He expressed his non tolerance against drug scourge which is a nuisance to the society and reiterated his ambition of making Mauritius the safest place in the world with the establishment of the Safe City project this year. On the economic front the Prime Minister was upbeat about transforming the country into a high income economy which he said is achievable owing to the good performance of the economy in various sectors with a forecast growth rate between 3.8% and 4% for 2017 and a Foreign Direct Investment of Rs 17 billion along with a booming construction sector. Focus, he said, will be on an accelerated pace for the economy in line with the Vision 2030 in view of creating the proper climate for business and investment and job creation so as to raise Mauritius to the next level of development. The Prime Minister also elaborated on his future endeavours regarding other sectors of the economy namely, public infrastructure recalling the Metro Express project for which construction work will start in March this year. He also listed out the major road infrastructure projects that will necessitate an investment of some Rs 30 billion for the next three years together with Rs 25 billion for renewable energy projects; Rs 13 billion for port development; Rs 20 billion for the water sector; and Rs 20 billion for the education, health and housing sector, among others. Other priorities evoked pertained to the tourism sector, digital economy, youth and sports, and education. He reiterated his commitment to fight absolute poverty and social exclusion which he said are unacceptable at a time where Mauritius is aspiring to become a high income country. The new presidential administration has signaled a strong desire to rebuild our infrastructure, especially in our cities. This is sparking a renewed and welcome national conversation on how to make it happen. But along with roads, rails, bridges and water systems, let's remember the profound role that city parks play as a necessary ingredient in those plans. Urban parks are not luxuries; they are essential infrastructure for 21st century cities.Nearly 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. Increasingly, many of our cities are challenged by aging water and transportation systems that are nearing or exceeding their designed capacity. Complicating the picture, a new focus on environmental resilience to flooding and other natural disasters is driving city planners to more strongly consider "mixed-use" infrastructure. Urban parks are the very definition of mixed use.So strong is the case for urban parks in America's future that the bipartisan Mayors for Parks coalition wrote a letter to the Trump transition team calling for parks to be prioritized among its infrastructure plans. These mayors, and other leaders at the municipal, state and federal levels, know that community parks can grow local economies and attract businesses, workers and investment. And numerous studies have shown that the presence of a nearby park adds 15 to 20 percent to residential and commercial property values.That's not all. Investment in mixed-use infrastructure projects -- those that include both parks and green space -- is building a strong track record of leveraging public funds with private capital to address many of our most vexing urban challenges, including those relating to transportation, stormwater management and access to recreation. Beyond the economic and environmental benefits of mixed-use infrastructure, there are the well documented human health benefits of proximity to nature. Studies show that people exercise more if they have access to parks, and including nature in the built environment improves quality of life and sense of community.The outcome of this renewed emphasis on city parks is remarkable. The Historic Fourth Ward Park and Reservoir in Atlanta is a prime example of what is possible. Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management saved $16 million by constructing a water-retention pond to mitigate flooding, rather than tunneling and installing a single-use network of pipes to deal with the problem.The park is one of many that are linked to the Atlanta BeltLine, which has been described as the most comprehensive transportation and economic-development effort ever undertaken by the city. This visionary project includes a 22-mile network of parks and trails connecting 45 neighborhoods and providing new transportation options. The park and the nearby Ponce City Market have attracted an additional $600 million in commercial investment and residential construction. Quality of life has surged and community services have improved dramatically.Atlanta is not alone. Over the next quarter-century, Philadelphia's Green City, Clean Waters program will invest $2 billion in parks and green infrastructure to capture 85 percent of the city's stormwater runoff. The program not only will lead to green jobs but also will save billions that would otherwise be spent on underground pipes and tunnels. And Philadelphians will enjoy beautiful parks for decades to come.While city parks are a clear win for everyone, they are not a new cause. For three years running, the U.S. Conference of Mayors has had the foresight to adopt resolutions calling for permanent and full funding of the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, whose goal is to conserve land and improve outdoor recreation opportunities nationwide, and to emphasize parks in comprehensive urban policy and community development.Americans are taking note. In poll after poll, voters agree that fixing our aging transportation and water infrastructure is a priority. As the new Trump administration promises to deliver infrastructure investment, parks deserve a prominent place in the mix of options to help revitalize our urban communities. (TNS) WATERLOO Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate stepped right into the middle of a heated debate over voting rights at a time when it is burning brightest.Former President Barack Obama called voter fraud a fake news story in his final press conference, while the term hacking gets thrown around with abandon after the 2016 election. The debate is happening as some states have ramped up efforts to limit the franchise after parts of the Voting Rights Act were struck down in 2013, and yet others have worked to expand participation.But Pate, a Republican, is hoping probably in vain, if the early indications are correct some of the political nonsense will die down once people get a good look at his Voter Integrity Act proposal.Once everybody has a chance to take a deep breath and kind of try to take some of the political stuff out of the debate, it is, I think, going to be a great place to start out and work this from, Pate said in an editorial board meeting with The Courier.Pate stressed repeatedly the legislation, which has yet to be introduced, will not be like the so-called voter ID bills in other states and is focused on technology upgrades that will secure integrity without limiting the franchise.Its about reassuring people that were giving them the best product, Pate said. I cant speak for every individual what they think is the number before we should have this major response based on fraud alone. I think perception is a bigger problem actually than the hard fraud numbers.While prosecutions of voter fraud are rare in the state and across the nation, Pate said there is a potential for problems he hopes to address through the legislation. He pointed to instances where auditors are ultimately unable to track down someone after the election who had registered and voted on the same day as one area of concern.An overview he provided to lawmakers last week notes the legislation has three priorities: voter verification; shoring up voter confidence related to absentee voting and voter registration; and improved transparency in election administration.The bill would require an ID. But Pate said his office has already identified the about 85,000 people in the state who are registered to vote but lack the necessary identification card. For those voters, his office plans to automatically send a voter ID, if the bill is enacted.Anyone else who has yet to register, Pate said, the process does not change.Every step of the way, we put the burden on us as the administrators. We really do, Pate said. The only responsibility the voter has is bring your card, and make sure you put your ID number down on your absentee ballot.Pates proposal is fairly consistent with what hes been suggesting since he was elected again to the position of secretary of state. He has expressed concern about the growing number of people who use absentee ballots and working to make them more secure.But Pate said he has no intention in his legislation to change the absentee ballot process, other than shortening up the period for requesting them to 120 days, or plans to change the registration process, including for same-day registration.There are other things Id like to see us do to keep moving participation, but if I dont have some of this other technology brought in, Im not comfortable doing that, Pate said.He acknowledged some cost burdens the counties may face in upgrading their equipment though the legislation would create a revolving loan fund to help but he said many are already investing in electronic pollbooks.The legislation has met with much criticism from auditors and election officials across the state and from college students, among others, but Pate said much of their critique is based on myths. He expects the full proposal to be unveiled in the next couple weeks.Thats my goal at least is to keep the Legislature from turning this into a Christmas tree bill of all the things they want to talk about in elections, Pate said. I want to keep this focused. (TNS) RICHMOND Legislation meant to open up court records that the Daily Press has tried to pry loose with a lawsuit went down at the Virginia legislature Monday.A separate bill, which would make much of the same information part of a publicly searchable statewide database, remains alive. But legislators say there's little chance the state will cover a nearly $1.3 million price tag that the court system's Office of the Executive Secretary has said it would need to implement that bill.Even as legislators acknowledged that they won't force change this year, they had strong words for the office Monday, questioning how much money the system has built up from fine collections and why technological improvements take so long."What exactly's being done with that money?" asked Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City. "I never see any progress. ... Every year it's the same story."Kristi S. Wright, head of legislative and public relations for the state's judicial system, said she'd get Kilgore a report on system funding. She also said there are a number of behind-the-scenes projects, some required by state statute, that pull money and attention from more visible upgradesKilgore and Del. Greg Habeeb expressed frustrations that attorneys feel over the system's online court records. Most of the data that would make up a statewide database is publicly available online, but only through a time-consuming circuit-by-circuit, and district-by-district, look up."I've talked to a bunch of lawyers and a bunch of members of the General Assembly who think it's crazy how behind the times we are," said Habeeb, who chairs the Courts of Justice Civil Law Subcommittee that heard these issues Monday.Del. Margaret Ransone's House Bill 1844, which would require the Executive Secretary to the Supreme Court to build a statewide lookup for criminal cases, passed the full Courts of Justice Committee last week. It's held up in Appropriations while legislators decide whether to fund the change, which OES said would require a major hardware upgrade and cost nearly $1.3 million.Habeeb said he's spoken to Appropriations Chairman S. Chris Jones and has been "been given every indication" that won't happen this year. An attempt to reach Jones, R-Suffolk, Monday evening was not immediately successful.Monday's discussion centered primarily on Del. Marcus Simon's House bill 1794, which is broader than Ransone's bill. It calls for a statewide searchable website for criminal and civil cases, not just criminal cases. It also would require OES to release the database behind that search system.The estimated cost for Simon's bill is nearly $1.7 million."My guess is they thought that was a big enough number to kill your bill," Habeeb told Simon Monday.This bulk data is what the Daily Press has been seeking for more than two years, first through Freedom of Information Act requests and now via a lawsuit due for a hearing before the Virginia Supreme Court after the current legislative session wraps.Partial data compiled from the existing online lookups, which the Daily Press pulled with help from Code for Hampton Roads, pointed to racial disparities in the courts system.In the end Monday, Habeeb, Kilgore and three other Republicans on the subcommittee voted against Simon's bill in a confusing turn of events that the Daily Press had to clarify after the meeting. Liberty Media Corporation and Delta Topco, the parent company of Formula 1 announced today that Liberty Media has completed its previously announced acquisition of F1, the iconic global motorsports business, from a consortium of sellers. F1 has appointed Chase Carey as Chief Executive Officer of F1, in addition to his existing role as Chairman, and Bernie Ecclestone as Chairman Emeritus of F1. Bernie Ecclestone, who has given valuable service to F1 over many years, will be available as a source of advice for the board of F1. Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media Corporation, said, "We are delighted to have completed the acquisition of F1 and that Chase will lead this business as CEO. There is an enormous opportunity to grow the sport, and we have every confidence that Chase, with his abilities and experience, is the right person to achieve this. I'd like to thank Bernie Ecclestone, who becomes Chairman Emeritus, for his tremendous success in building this remarkable global sport." Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of F1, said, "I am excited to be taking on the additional role of CEO. F1 has huge potential with multiple untapped opportunities. I have enjoyed hearing from the fans, teams, FIA, promoters and sponsors on their ideas and hopes for the sport. We will work with all of these partners to enhance the racing experience and add new dimensions to the sport and we look forward to sharing these plans overtime." "I would like to recognise and thank Bernie for his leadership over the decades. The sport is what it is today because of him and the talented team of executives he has led, and he will always be part of the F1 family. Bernie's role as Chairman Emeritus befits his tremendous contribution to the sport and I am grateful for his continued insight and guidance as we build F1 for long-term success and the enjoyment of all those involved." Bernie Ecclestone, Chairman Emeritus of F1, said, "I'm proud of the business that I built over the last 40 years and all that I have achieved with Formula 1, and would like to thank all of the promoters, teams, sponsors and television companies that I have worked with. I'm very pleased that the business has been acquired by Liberty and that it intends to invest in the future of F1. I am sure that Chase will execute his role in a way that will benefit the sport." With the completion of the acquisition, the Liberty Media Group will shortly be renamed the Formula One Group and the ticker symbols for the Series A, Series B and Series C Liberty Media Group tracking stocks will be changed from LMC (A/B/K), respectively, to FWON (A/B/K), respectively, soon after the group name change has become effective. Liberty Media expects the group name change and the symbol change to occur later this week. F1 will remain based in London and Greg Maffei will be Deputy Chair of the board of F1. The Selling Shareholders received a mix of consideration comprising: $3.05 billion in cash, approximately 56 million newly issued shares of LMCK and a $351 million exchangeable debt instrument to be issued by F1 and exchangeable into shares of LMCK. The cash component of the acquisition was funded from cash on hand at the Liberty Media Group. The newly issued LMCK shares are subject to market co-ordination and lock-up agreements. F1, along with $4.1 billion of existing F1 debt (which is non-recourse to Liberty Media) and $0.7 billion in F1 cash(3), is attributed to the Liberty Media Group tracking stock. Concurrently with the consummation of the acquisition, certain third party investors subscribed for $1.55 billion of newly issued shares of LMCK at a price of $25.00 per share. The proceeds from this investment were used to increase the cash portion of the aggregate consideration payable to the Selling Shareholders. The third parties are Coatue Management, L.L.C., D. E. Shaw Group, JANA Partners LLC, Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc., Soroban Capital Partners LP, SPO Advisory Corp., and Viking Global Investors LP (collectively the "Third Party Investors"). Also concurrently with the completion of the acquisition, Liberty Media used the net proceeds of its previously announced cash convertible senior notes offering to increase the cash consideration payable to the Selling Shareholders by approximately $400 million for total cash consideration of $3.05 billion and retain in treasury the approximately 19 million shares that would otherwise have been issuable to the Selling Shareholders based on the per share purchase price of $21.26. These LMCK shares will be reserved by Liberty for possible sale to the F1 teams. To the extent such shares are not sold to F1 teams within six months following the closing of the F1 acquisition, the shares will be retired. The aggregate number of LMCK shares issued at the F1 closing was allocated as follows: approximately 56 million to the Selling Shareholders, 62 million to the third party investors and approximately 19 million into treasury. Following the completion of the acquisition, there are approximately 217 million shares of LMCK common stock outstanding (pro-forma for the dilutive impact of the $351 million LMCK exchangeable security and excluding the aforementioned approximate 19 million shares retained in treasury). Following the completion of the F1 acquisition and the issuance of shares to the Third Party Investors (excluding the potential issuance of those shares retained in treasury), the Third Party Investors in the aggregate own approximately 29% of the Liberty Media Group's outstanding equity and the Selling Shareholders own approximately 33% of the Liberty Media Group's outstanding equity and have board representation at F1 to support Liberty Media in continuing to develop the full potential of the sport. F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has been officially ousted. The news came as the sport's new owner Liberty Media announced it has completed its F1 takeover, installing Chase Carey as Ecclestone's successor. Long-time F1 'supremo' Ecclestone, 86, confirmed the news via Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "I was dismissed today," he said. "I'm going away. This is official. I do not run the company anymore." In a statement, Liberty said Ecclestone's new role is 'chairman emeritus' and advisor. "My new position is an American expression," said the diminutive Briton. "A kind of honorary president. I'm getting this title without knowing what it means." Auto Motor und Sport said the correspondent who spoke to Ecclestone detected "great sadness in his voice". Ecclestone said: "My days will now be calmer. Maybe I'll come to a grand prix. I still have many friends in formula one and enough money to visit a race." As for whether he will retain his role on the FIA's influential World Motor Sport Council, he answered: "I doubt it. I'll have to talk about it with Jean Todt." Ecclestone's successor, Carey, said Ecclestone will "always be part of the F1 family". Liberty also appointed former technical director and team boss Ross Brawn as managing director sport. (GMM) WASHINGTON A spokesman says President Donald Trump's belief that there were millions of illegal votes cast in the November election is based Members of the Supreme Courts conservative majority are questioning the continued use of affirmative action in higher education. In lengthy arguments Monday, the justices wrestled with persistent, difficult questions of race. The justices heard from six different lawyers in challenges to policies at the University of North Carolina and Harvard. Those policies consider race among many factors in evaluating applications for admission. One conservative justice likened affirmative action to giving some college applicants a head start in a footrace. But a liberal justice said universities are the pipelines to leadership in our society and suggested that without affirmative action minority enrollment will drop. WASHINGTON A spokesman says President Donald Trump's belief that there were millions of illegal votes cast in the November election is based on "studies and evidence." But spokesman Sean Spicer did not provide examples of that evidence. Trump first made the false claim during the transition. He reiterated the statement in a meeting Monday night with lawmakers, blaming illegal ballots for his loss of the popular vote. Spicer says Trump "continues to maintain that belief." There has been no evidence to support the claims that there was widespread voter fraud in the election. Spicer's only attempt to support Trump's assertion was to point a 2008 Pew Research survey that showed a need to update voter registration systems. Speaker Ryan breaks with Trump's claim on illegal immigrant vote (Video) WASHINGTON Breaking with President Donald Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan says he has seen no evi __ 1:55 p.m. An Agriculture Department research agency has banned the release of news releases, photos and other material to the public. In a memo to employees at USDA's Agricultural Research Service, chief of staff Sharon Drumm said the agency would immediately cease releasing any "public-facing" documents. "This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content," read the email memo obtained by The Associated Press. A statement released by ARS spokesman Christopher Bentley said the agency "values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public as we strive to find solutions to agricultural problems affecting America." The statement said some material would still be available on the agency's website. Buzzfeed News first reported the memo. __ 1:50 p.m. The White House says President Donald Trump has accepted House Speaker Paul Ryan's invitation to address a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28. Ryan announced the invitation on Tuesday and informed reporters after a meeting with House Republicans. Ryan had met with Trump Monday night at the White House. Trump also met with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on Monday. Trump was meeting Tuesday at the White House with top Senate leaders. The speech will be Trump's first to Congress. He was sworn in to office on Friday. __ 12:45 p.m. The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered a "temporary suspension" of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment Monday or Tuesday. ___ 12:25 p.m. President Donald Trump is hanging up some new art in the White House press area and it's none too subtle. The panoramic photo shows the crowds gathered near the U.S. Capitol for Trump's inauguration on Friday. It's a nod to the ongoing interest the president has in making it clear that his event was well-attended. Trump tweeted: "A photo delivered yesterday that will be displayed in the upper/lower press hall. Thank you Abbas!" For emphasis, the official Twitter account of the president retweeted the @realDonaldTrump message. The photo was taken by Washington-area photographer Abbas Shirmohammadi, and it notes the wrong date Jan. 21, although it does appear to depict the correct event. Trump and press secretary Sean Spicer have taken pains to play up the crowd size, sometimes exaggerating the number in attendance. They've excoriated the media for what they said is an effort to downplay enthusiasm for Trump's inauguration. __ 11:50 a.m. President Donald Trump has taken steps to streamline the permitting process for manufacturing. He also wants pipelines to be made in the U.S., and an expedited process for environmental reviews and approvals. The steps came as Trump signed executive actions to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Former President Barack Obama blocked construction in late 2015 of the Keystone line from Canada to the U.S. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers is studying alternative routes for the Dakota Access pipeline. Trump describes the regulatory process as a "tangled up mess." He says if the answer is no, it should be a quick no. If the answer is yes, Trump says "let's start building." ___ 11:35 a.m. President Donald Trump says he will announce his pick to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat sometime next week. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he'll be "making my decision this week" and "we'll be announcing it next week." "We have some outstanding candidates," the president said. "And we'll pick a truly great Supreme Court justice." The Supreme Court has only had eight justices since Justice Antonin Scalia died last year. President Barack Obama nominated a replacement but Republicans in the Senate refused to bring the choice up for a vote. During his campaign, Trump publicly identified nearly two dozen candidates for the vacancy. __ 11:25 a.m. President Donald Trump has signed executive actions to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that the moves on the pipelines will be subject to the terms and conditions being renegotiated by the U.S. President Barack Obama killed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, saying it would hurt American efforts to reach a global climate change deal. The pipeline would run from Canada to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needs to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. The Army decided last year to explore alternate routes for the Dakota pipeline after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the pipeline threatened1 drinking water and Native American cultural sites. __ 10:50 a.m. FBI Director James Comey is staying in his job. A Justice Department memo lists him among officials remaining in their positions. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms intended to carry across presidential administrations, even when a new party takes over the White House. President Donald Trump criticized the FBI during the campaign for its decision not to recommend charges against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. But he also appeared to warmly greet Comey at a law enforcement gathering over the weekend. Comey is in his fourth year in the job. The New York Times first reported that Comey would stay on. The director's job has been a 10-year term since 1976. Since then, only one has been removed prematurely Reagan appointee William Sessions by Bill Clinton in 1993. __ 9:48 a.m. President Donald Trump is expected to take executive action Tuesday to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. That's according to a person with knowledge of the action. The president is scheduled to sign orders at the White House late Tuesday morning. Former President Barack Obama killed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needed to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. The Army decided last year to explore alternate routes for the Dakota pipeline after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the pipeline threatened drinking water and Native American cultural sites. The person with knowledge of the decisions insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to confirm the moves ahead of a formal announcement. -By Julie Pace ___ 9:45 a.m. President Donald Trump says he's an environmentalist. The president made the comments Tuesday at a breakfast with auto industry executives. He didn't elaborate on why he sees himself as an environmentalist, but the comments came after urging companies from the auto industry and beyond to bring jobs back to the U.S. On Monday, he made similar comments at a business breakfast, stating, again without elaborating, "I'm a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment." ___ 9:30 a.m. President Donald Trump is spending the morning meeting with auto executives as part of his push to bring jobs back to the U.S. Trump told his guests Tuesday at the White House that he's looking to ease regulations to help auto companies and any other businesses wishing to do business in the U.S. Among the attendees of the breakfast are Ford Motor Co. chief executive Mark Fields, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and General Motors chief executive Mary Barra. ___ 3:30 a.m. President Donald Trump's efforts to build bridges and push through his agenda have been overshadowed once again with his continued fixation on the election and more false claims. During a bipartisan reception with lawmakers at the White House late Monday, Trump claimed the reason he'd lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival was that 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. That's according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. There is no evidence to support Trump's claim. Trump on Tuesday will continue his outreach efforts as he meets with executives from the auto industry and speaks by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mostly overlooked amid President Trump's blathering at the CIA Saturday was his riff about taking Iraq's oil. Overlooked, that is, until White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's briefing yesterday. "The old expression: 'to the victor belong the spoils' - you remember? You always used to say 'keep the oil.' I wasnt a fan of Iraq. I didnt want to go into Iraq. But I will tell you. When we were in, we got out wrong. "And I always said: 'In addition to that, keep the oil.' "Now I said it for economic reasons, but if you think about, Mike, if we kept the oil we would probably wouldnt have ISIS, because thats where they made their money in the first place. So we should have kept the oil. "But okay. Maybe well have another chance." Trump said this often during the campaign, and no one paid much attention. It wasn't a serious statement. But now he's president, and everything a president says is serious. Especially when the statement is not just what should have been done, but what might be done. Take the oil. Iraq's oil. Well, it's ridiculous. The idea ought to be dismissed out of hand. "To the victor belong the spoils" is not American foreign policy. It isn't why we fought in Europe and the Pacific and Korea and Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. We didn't go in to "take the oil" or whatever natural resources were available. If we had, the people we were fighting for rightly might have wondered whether we were friends or enemies. So Trump can't possible mean it. Or understand the consequences of what he's saying. After all, we have American troops fighting with the Iraqi armed forces right now against ISIS. When the Iraqi government hears the president of the United States tell the CIA that maybe we'll have another chance to take Iraq's oil, how is it supposed to view those American troops fighting on its soil? As allies, or potentially as plunderers? If the Iraqi government sees those American troops potentially as a threat, is it as concerned about protecting their safety in battle? And, in this context, what is the Iraqi government to make of the fact that Trump has chosen an oil executive to serve as secretary of state? Just a coincidence? Well, all this could easily have been put to rest yesterday when reporters dutifully asked Spicer during yesterday's press briefing if the president was serious about his interest in taking Iraq's oil. Spicer should have said the president misspoke and that taking Iraq's oil, or for that matter plundering the resources of any sovereign nation, is not going to happen under this administration. Unfortunately, he didn't say that. "I think what the president has been very clear about in foreign policy is too often the United States is going in with a lot of money, a lot of manpower, and in many cases losing both loss of life. And we want to make sure that our interests are protected if we are going into a country for a cause," Spicer said. "I think he wants to make sure that America is getting something out of it for the commitment and the sacrifice that we're making. Hes been very clear throughout the campaign that he is committed to making sure that America, the American people, the American taxpayer see some benefit, and ensure that our interests overseas arent just sending blank checks that were doing something that either protects America or is in our economic interest. At another point on the same topic, Spicer added: Im not going to talk about what we may or may not do. I think the presidents been very clear that he doesnt telegraph taking options off the table. Thats not a good negotiation skill. Thats not how he works. Theres a reason hes been successful at negotiating, is because he does it in a way that doesnt telegraph to people what hes going to take on or off the table. For the record, "pillage" is illegal under international law. And that's exactly what "taking the oil" would be. Conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer says it could be a war crime. Yet the Trump administration apparently considers pillage to be an option on the table, or a negotiating point. This was not stream-of-consciousness babble coming from candidate Trump on the campaign trail. This was the White House press secretary addressing serious questions about a startling statement made two days earlier by the president. We must assume that Spicer was prepared for the questions and was instructed as to how he should answer. He did not rule out a policy of plunder by the United States. Astonishing. But not inconsistent with Trump's thinking that there should be compensation for every overseas action by the United States. After all, our policy is America First. Only America First, as Trump said so clearly in his Inaugural Address. So if we take military action against terrorists in Libya or the Persian Gulf, maybe we'll grab some oil as payment. Or if we send medical assistance to West Africa the next time there's an Ebola outbreak, maybe we'll take away some natural resource to cover our expenses. Maybe all our international relations will boil down to deals. We give, we take. But our overriding goal, as Trump also said, is to win. So we take a little more than we give. That's how we make America great again. But no longer good. There were two things I didnt get into in Mondays post about Western Carolina University. One was geography. The other was tuition. First: geography. You would think a state school three hours from Charlotte and four-and-a-half hours from Raleigh might have a tough time drawing students. But you (meaning I) would be wrong. Like most UNC schools, Western does well in its backyard. Check out the map in blue at the top of the blog post. The dark blue counties (Jackson WCUs home county Macon, Swain and Graham) are where at least 45 percent of the UNC-bound high school grads in 2015 picked Western. The medium blue (35 percent plus) and light blue (10 percent plus) counties are all relatively close to campus, too. The problem for Western: With the exception of the Asheville area, most of those counties are pretty sparsely populated. Jackson, for instance, had only 54 grads go to a UNC school. Theres just that not much up that way except mountains, trees and the university. The second map atop this blog post shows the counties (in green) where large proportions of Westerns incoming freshman class in 2015 came from. WCU was the most popular college choice in Buncombe County (i.e. Asheville); 7.4 percent of Westerns freshman class came from there. About 20 percent of the class came from the Charlotte area (Mecklenburg and three other counties). About 14 percent came from the Triad (Guilford, Forsyth and its neighbors). Another 6 percent came from the Triangle (mostly Wake). Theres no greater point here about the geography. I just thought it was interesting. (If you want to dive deeper into the topic, Id suggest you visit the terrific blog of the Carolina Population Center at UNC-Chapel Hill. The maps and some of the data I used for this post came from this CPC blog post. (You can use the map to figure out the numbers for UNCG, N.C. A&T and all the other UNC schools; fair warning I am not responsible for the hours you fritter away clicking and mousing over those maps.) I pulled some other data from here, the same place CPC retrieved its numbers.) Now for tuition. The point of Mondays blog post was that Western is both popular and selective, which was news to me because I apparently wasnt paying attention. In last years budget bill, meanwhile, the General Assembly drastically cut tuition at three UNC schools including Western Carolina. Starting in the fall of 2018, the legislature dropped undergraduate tuition at Elizabeth City State, UNC-Pembroke and WCU to $500 per semester for in-state students and $2,500 per semester for out-of-state students. (For context, Westerns proposed tuition for fall 2017 will be $1,985 per semester in-state and $7,182 out-of-state. As you can see, the reduction will be significant.) The intent of the NC Promise Tuition Plan, as this FAQ from WCU points out, was to create a reduced tuition option that was geographically convenient for each N.C. citizen. Additionally, all the schools are relatively close to border states (Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia) that offer competitive tuition rates to attract and recruit N.C. students. It makes sense to try something to draw students to the troubled Elizabeth City State (which I wrote about here last week). Pembrokes enrollment is down nearly 5 percent from its peak in 2010 (though its gone up in each of the past three years). But Western? Western needs absolutely no help attracting students these days. Western points out in its FAQ that the bargain tuition means it will have to grow and raise admission standards. Those are existential issues for a university that will be challenged to find additional room on campus for an influx of new students. (I suspect Western has already built on pretty much every flat piece of ground in town.) Western's other challenge will be to continue to serve students from the rural western tip of the state while being pressured to admit bargain-hunting students from North Carolina's cities and suburbs. Being popular is a good problem for a college to have, I guess. But the promise of a tuition break isnt much good if your usual students cant take advantage of it. Want to make sure you see these blog posts? Like me on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter. Have something to say? Email me at john.newsom@greensboro.com. YANCEYVILLE Two home invasions occurred almost two hours apart in Caswell County on Sunday morning. The incidents involved the victims being injured in their own homes. The first home invasion happened around 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the area of Arch Cook Road, according to a Caswell County Sheriffs Office news release. The homeowner was awakened by the sound of the front door being broken in, a news release stated. He was found by sheriffs deputies with a gunshot wound to his leg. He said the suspects demanded money, shot him and fled with an undisclosed amount of money and cellphones, the release stated. The suspects were last seen on Holland Road in an unidentified vehicle. Deputies are still searching for them. The second home invasion on Sunday occurred at 5:10 a.m. on Nunnally Road South. Misty Peek Parrish, 51, and Joshua Brandon Lovelace, 30, were arrested Monday morning as the suspects in the incident. They both are being held under $1 million bond. Their first court appearance is Wednesday in Caswell County District Court. Parrish is charged with burglary, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault, damage to real property, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Lovelace is charged with burglary, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, assault and damage to real property. When deputies arrived, the homeowner said she and her young daughter heard the front door being broken in, the release stated. The suspect, wearing all black with a stocking cover his face and holding a crow bar type tool, assaulted one of the people who lived there. Whether it was the homeowner or her daughter who was struck was not disclosed by deputies. The victim was taken to Annie Penn Hospital for treatment. Both suspects are charged with kidnapping because they detained or held someone against their will during the incident, Capt. Frank Rose with the Caswell County Sheriffs Office told the Register & Bee. North Carolina general statutes defines kidnapping as a person who shall unlawfully confine, restrain, or remove from one place to another, any other person 16 years of age or over without the consent of such person. The specifics of the case are still being withheld by deputies. The Caswell County Sheriffs Office is asking anyone with information on the Arch Cook Road home invasion to contact the Caswell County Sheriffs Office at (336) 694-9311 or Caswell County Crime Stoppers at (336) 694-5199. GREENSBORO The ability to solve a homicide becomes more difficult when the crime scene is missing. Thats what Greensboro Police Department Det. M.D. Matthews said he faced when he served as lead investigator in the shooting death of 21-year-old Derrick Rogers. On July 2, 2013, Rogers was shot once in the chest while sitting in the backseat of a white Cadillac DeVille. The cars owner admittedly removed the backseat of the vehicle after Rogers died in an attempt to get rid of the bullet hole. He then sold the car to a man in Richmond, Va. Matthews testified Monday during a trial in Guilford County Superior Court about how the vehicles sale sent him from Wake Forest to Richmond, until he finally could connect 35-year-old Bertie McQueen to Rogers death. McQueen faces charges of first-degree murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. His case has been before a jury since Jan. 17. If convicted he will be sentenced to life in prison. If convicted only of the robbery, he could face 12 years in prison. McQueens attorney, Robert McClellan, asked the judge to dismiss both charges Monday, but his motions were denied. Matthews testified that Rogers friends told officers the night of the homicide that he had stopped in the parking lot of the Northwind Apartments to buy a half-pound of marijuana from an individual he had been texting with until pulling into the parking lot. Matthews said that through cell-phone numbers he noticed Rogers repeatedly had sent and received calls and messages to and from an unregistered cell-phone number immediately before the homicide. The detective testified that he had Guilford County 911 Communications run the phone number through its system. It came back with a 911 call placed by McQueen for a medical emergency. Matthews said he had considered McQueen a suspect but he said he did not want to interview him until he found the car. Within nine days of the shooting, McQueens co-defendant, Damon Bell, changed the seats in his vehicle to get rid of the bullet hole and later sold his car to a man in Richmond. Through interviews, Matthews learned about Bell and began to drive by his house until he realized the vehicle was no longer there. A witness told Matthews that Bell had sold the vehicle. Matthews said he traced the vehicle to Richmond through records obtained from the Department of Motor Vehicles. Deputies in Virginia confirmed for Matthews that a car matching the right description was parked at an address listed in those records. Matthews said he traveled to Virginia and searched the vehicle. After pulling out the backseat of the car, he located a code written on the bottom that sent him back to a business in Durham. There employees confirmed they had changed Bells seats. Matthews then paid Bell a visit. Bell is charged with accessory after the fact in Rogers murder. He testified Thursday that he was sitting next to McQueen when the shooting happened. He said McQueen pulled out his gun without warning and without giving anyone time to react. Matthews was asked by McClellan why during the trial no one had been able to provide a reason for McQueen to shoot Rogers. Violence never makes sense in my job, Matthews said. Matthews testified that what Bell told jurors Thursday matched Bells statements to him before McQueens arrest. Both Matthews and Bell testified that Bell initially denied his involvement in Rogers death. But 10 minutes after saying that Bell changed his story and said McQueen held him at gunpoint and forced him to drive Rogers body to a parking lot on Craven Street. Bell and Matthews testified that Bell originally denied his involvement because he was scared for his family and that McQueen had threatened him. Bells case is pending in Superior Court. He did not testify as part of a plea arrangement. After interviewing Bell, Matthews went to the Neuse Correctional Institution, where McQueen was serving time for a unrelated crime. McQueen denied his involvement to Matthews, who charged him in Rogers death. McQueen chose not to testify during the trial. The state rested its case Monday afternoon, and the defense declined to offer any evidence. The jury is expected to begin deliberations today. WINSTON-SALEM A Citgo was robbed at gunpoint by two men Monday night. The men robbed the 3 Brothers Quick Market at 3719 Indiana Ave. about 10:20 p.m., police said. They walked into the store, walked up to the clerk at the counter and one of the men jumped over the counter and ordered the clerk to open the register at gunpoint, police said. The second robber stayed on the other side of the counter, pointing his gun at the clerk. After opening the register the clerk was ordered to get down on the floor, police said. While the clerk was getting down on the floor one of the robbers hit him on the back of the head. After taking an undisclosed amount of cash from the register the suspect fled the area north on foot. Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at (336) 727-2800. GREENSBORO The Greensboro Urban Ministry on Monday called out to the community to help increase its supply of emergency food. We have less than one weeks supply of food on our pantry shelves, Rev. Myron W. Wilkins, the organizations executive director, said in a news release. We dont want to suspend emergency food assistance, but that may be GUMs only choice. Our ability to help those in need is directly related to the communitys support. The organization distributed nearly 50,000 pounds of food in the first business days in January, compared with about 59,000 pounds for all of January 2016. The program serves an average of 102 households a day with food assistance, according to the release. In 2016, Greensboro Urban Ministry gave 1,058,152 pounds of food to the community through the food pantry and the Potters House Community Kitchen, which serves lunch daily to anyone in need. The most common foods needed include tuna or salmon, beef stew or Spam, peanut butter, greens, peas, corn, green beans, canned fruit, soups, dry milk, macaroni and cheese, bags of dry beans, rice, oatmeal, diapers, formula, baby food and Ensure. Weve seen increases for emergency food assistance, as individuals and families are making tough decisions about how to make the little they have go as far as possible, said Tyra Clymer, Emergency Assistance Program director in the news release. Greensboro Urban Ministry cites the Brookings Institution in stating that Greensboro was among the fastest-growing metropolitan areas of urban poverty in the nation in 2014 and 2016. Last year, the area is also ranked ninth-highest in the country in food insecurity issues, according to Food Research and Action Center. Donated food is accepted from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, at Greensboro Urban Ministry, 305 W. Gate City Blvd. Donations can also be made at the organizations food donation boxes in local grocery stores, and financial donations can be made through the organizations website. Greensboro Urban Ministry partners with the Boy Scouts and postal workers for food drives, as well as schools, businesses and civic groups. GREENSBORO Officers ruled out foul play after a body was found Saturday in the parking lot of a Home Depot. A Greensboro Police Department news release stated that the woman died of a drug overdose. Officers said they would not release the name of the victim because her death was not related to a homicide. The woman's family has been notified. Police said the woman has a history of drug use, which includes a reversal of a drug overdose through the administration of NARCAN. Officers ordered a toxicology report to be performed on the victim but does not expect results for 90 days. North Carolina health-care systems have much riding on the outcome of the initiative by President Donald Trump and other Republican leaders to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But the only thing most health-care leaders know for sure about the ACAs demise is that Republicans hope to repeal the 7-year-old law as quickly as possible, abolishing its mandate for all to buy health insurance and supplanting it with something that presumably would drain less from federal coffers. They say they worry that thousands of modest-income North Carolinians face the prospect of losing health insurance they only obtained in recent years with the help of an ACA subsidy that averages about $400 per month. Since the implementation of the ACA in 2010, North Carolina has seen a 33 percent reduction 552,000 people in the number of uninsured residents, said Julie Henry, North Carolina Hospital Association vice president. In addition, she noted that the ACA partly was responsible for swelling the ranks of state residents covered by the federal Medicaid program that provides health care to low-income residents, even though North Carolina did not raise that programs income limits to spur enrollment as many states did in putting the ACA into effect. These are important coverage gains that must be sustained under any replacement plan, Henry said of the two groups of newly insured residents. She said hospital executives across the state also are concerned that any plan to replace the ACA must be adopted and ready to implement before actual elimination of the ACA, so that the transition is as seamless as possible. And they want to make sure that North Carolinas earlier decision not to expand aggressively Medicaid eligibility rules under the ACA doesnt boomerang on hospitals statewide by giving them a lower baseline for future federal funding in any replacement plan, Henry said. Meanwhile, the lack of specifics so far from GOP leaders about how they plan to replace the Affordable Care Act four senators introduced plans on Monday leaves local health-care officials with little to say about their concerns. Leaders at Cone Health declined last week to discuss the road ahead for the network with more than 11,000 employees spanning parts of five counties. At this stage in the process, anything we say would be speculation, Cone spokesman Doug Allred said. UNC Health Care, which runs the High Point Regional Health system, also declined comment and referred questions to Henrys statewide group. Theoretically, the ACA was supposed to help hospital systems in such ways as increasing the number of people with health insurance, which among other things cut the number of uninsured people who didnt have doctors and relied more heavily on emergency rooms for treatment that wasnt always paid for in full. But on the other side of the ledger, in order to help the government pay for insurance subsidies and other costs, the ACA made substantial cuts in Medicare payment rates to medical providers. Those cuts were expected to cost North Carolina hospitals alone $7 billion by 2026, Henry said. One way area health systems could suffer in the repeal and replacement is if the GOPs new scenario leaves those cuts in place while creating a system that results in many people losing health insurance that is no longer subsidized. To the extent Republicans replacement plans might disrupt the financial stability of medical networks that rank among the states largest employers, they risk disrupting the economies of entire regions, said Jonathan Oberlander, an ACA expert and professor of social medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill. If people lose coverage and there isnt a replacement, it will hurt hospitals, and that is going to hurt the economy, Oberlander said. Republicans assert that as many people as the ACA has helped, it also resulted in higher premiums and other negative consequences for many who already had coverage. Those people also deserve consideration, Republican leaders say. Meanwhile, Trump has promised a replacement that will provide insurance for everybody, a plan that he said earlier this month was nearing completion but which has not yet been made public. As one of his first acts in office, Trump signed an executive order late Friday to ease the burden imposed by the ACA, authorizing federal agencies to delay implementing any aspect of the law that puts financial strains on states, healthcare providers, families or individuals. He depicted this action as a prelude to the new administrations effort to seek the ACAs prompt repeal. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) praised Trump for so quickly beginning the process of lifting Obamacares costly burden on hardworking Americans. Tillis, a first-term senator from Cornelius, presented a vision of what Republicans hope to accomplish but gave few details: I look forward to working with the administration and my colleagues to implement patient-centered health care reform that will better control costs and give individuals, families and employees more choices. But the devil lurks in details of the planned ACA replacement, suggested Oberlander of UNC-Chapel Hill. Its relatively easy for them to agree to repeal major provisions of the law, he said. After that its not easy to decide anything at all. Part of the difficulty stems from the laws sweeping nature and its many details that consumers like but do not attribute to the ACA, said Jay Poole, an assistant professor in UNC-Greensboros department of social work who also serves on the board of directors for the Greensboro area Partnership for Community Care. A lot of people dont think that the Affordable Care Act and Obamacare are the same thing, said Poole, whose board oversees a nonprofit program that aims to connect low-income people and other vulnerable populations with cost-effective health care. People typically will say to researchers, I like the Affordable Care Act, but I hate Obamacare. Oft-overlooked ACA benefits include rules that prevent health insurers from denying people coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition and from placing certain caps on how much health care a policy will cover, Poole said. They also include a requirement that treatment for mental health issues be put on equal footing with that for physical ailments, Poole said. That regulation has allowed people who need behavioral health care to get it, where in many cases they were denied prior to the ACA. Oberlander said any ACA replacement plan that stands a chance of working for both patients and the health-care industry needs features such as subsidies to make coverage affordable for more people and incentives to persuade younger, healthier people to sign up for plans they use less frequently than older residents or those suffering from a chronic disease. If the new administration joins allies in the House and Senate to repeal the ACA without an effective replacement plan, hundreds of thousands of current recipients of the subsidies are going to lose their access to health care, Oberlander said. The question is, Will they be willing to adopt something that is ambitious and that goes beyond what Republicans have previously supported? Two years after states around the country passed an unprecedented number of police reforms after the killing of George Floyd, some are struggling to make the new policies stick. The momentum for change has slowed from its earlier frenetic pace. Some of the reforms have been rolled back or at least tweaked after police complained that the new policies were hindering their ability to catch criminals. Legal experts say police killings of Black people over the last decade epitomized by Floyds killing have altered the trajectory of policing. But change has come about unevenly in thousands of police departments across the U.S. GREENSBORO N.C. A&T will commemorate the life of late astronaut Ronald McNair on Friday. The 31st annual Ronald E. McNair Commemorative Celebration will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Alumni-Foundation Event Center on campus. Robin Coger, dean of the university's College of Engineering, will deliver the keynote address. The event is free and open to the public. A South Carolina native, McNair graduated from N.C. A&T in 1971 and went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he earned his Ph.D. in physics. McNair was selected in 1978 to become a NASA astronaut. He was the second African American to go into space when he flew aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. McNair and six other crew members were killed Jan. 28, 1986, when Challenger exploded above Kennedy Space Center in Florida during takeoff. McNair Hall, the home of the A&T's engineering college, is named for the late astronaut. For more about McNair, read "30 things you should know about astronaut Ronald McNair" written in 2016 on the 30th anniversary of his death. Inauguration Day is a great American tradition, which continued Friday as it has since George Washington took the oath of office in 1789. Saturday was a day like no other. In Washington, D.C., and in cities across the country, large and small, Americans led by women in pink, knit caps flooded into streets and parks to express their views. They totaled more than 3.3 million, according to data collected by two university researchers from news reports and social media. They used the low range of crowd estimates such as 3,000 for Greensboro, where reports indicated the Triad N.C. Womens March for Human Rights, Justice and Equality drew 3,000 to 6,000 people. Other numbers included 7,000 in Asheville, 10,000 in Charlotte, 3,000 in Wilmington, 17,000 in Raleigh, 300 in New Bern, 500 in Morganton, 400 in Black Mountain and 108 in Okracoke. The outpourings of people were hastily organized, loosely coordinated and peaceful. They represented many of the Americans who dont feel valued by their new president, Donald Trump. Indeed, Trumps first Twitter response was to dismiss them: Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didnt these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly, he tweeted Sunday. The large number of celebrities mixing with ordinary Americans Saturday certainly did not hurt the cause. Nor does the fact that any Americans favored candidate lost an election mean she has to shut up for four years. Trump apparently forgot that, only Friday in his Inaugural Address, he promised to listen to the voices of all Americans. Many people remain skeptical. He changed his tone in a second tweet: Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I dont always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. He not only must recognize that right, he can expect to see it exercised frequently. He wasnt elected with a majority of the vote, and he promises actions that many and in some cases most Americans will oppose. The opposition has decided to become more vocal and demonstrative. To their credit, Saturdays marchers didnt choose the deplorable methods of the looters and vandals who made trouble in Washington Friday. Many of those were properly arrested and charged with crimes. Saturdays events were positive in the sense that people were affirming their rights to be heard by those in power. They were refusing to be ignored. Indeed, the president noticed. We hope that members of Congress noticed, too. Few congressional districts across the country could have been without a demonstration. Greensboros event was as important as any. It was spirited and, given its late arrangement, nearly spontaneous. People were reacting, not just to the election 11 weeks ago, but to Trumps speech the day before. The challenge for participants is to channel a days exhilaration into years of political action. But it seems likely that, if dissent is silenced in the halls of power, it will pour into the streets. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH Steady rain on Monday and Tuesday will help recharge Greenwichs depleted reservoirs but not nearly enough to get the town anywhere close to being out of drought restrictions. Without a wetter-than-average winter, residents may find themselves banned from watering their lawns this spring. At this point the reservoirs have not yet recovered, said Peter Fazekas, director of public relations for Aquarion Water Co. Were normally at a much higher level than we are at this point. Aquarion measures the local reservoirs each Monday. Information released Tuesday that did not include this weeks rain showed Greenwichs reservoirs were at 53.1 percent, an upswing from the previous weeks level at 46.6 percent. The 20-year average for the reservoirs is 84 percent full by late January. Town Conservation Director Denise Savageau said Greenwich got close to 1.5 inches of rainfall between mid-day Monday and mid-day Tuesday, according to the gauge in the Byram River. So far this month, Greenwich has received 3.7 inches of rain. The towns January rainfall average is usually between 4 and 4.5 inches, she said. At this rate, were not at our average. And since we put these (water use) restrictions in place in September, the only month weve had average rainfall is November. Were not where we should be. We need to be getting above-average rain. We need to be getting more, Savageau said. More Information By the numbers 84% 20-year average 53.1% Monday's level 46.6% Previous Monday See More Collapse According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the drought is projected to last another three months. Fazekas said what will really help is a lot more rain. Were going to keep watching closely, Fazekas said. In September, Greenwich banned most outdoor water use, a ban that remains in place. Greenwich residents have also been asked to curb their indoor usage by 20 percent in order to allow reservoirs to fill up. Now that were in the winter and we see snow and we see rain, people might not think its a problem anymore, but it remains a serious issue, First Selectman Peter Tesei said at the selectmens Jan. 12 meeting. The drought, which is affecting much of Connecticut, has been on-going for two years, Savageau said. Tesei said the town, along with other municipalities served by Aquarion, has weekly conversations with the company on the status of the drought and local reservoirs. They also look at what other areas have done to curb water use. Texas, for instance, restricts outdoor water use to two days a week. Tesei did not endorse any specific ideas for Greenwich at the meeting. However, he said people need to learn about water use and change their behavior. There is a real focus now on beginning to educate consumers to reduce water use come this spring, Tesei said. The sheer volume of use is driving the depletion of water. During the winter, Savageau said, the average use in Greenwich is eight to 10 million gallons of water a day; in the summer, that number shoots up to 30 million. Usage generally starts to rise in April. Usually as soon as its warm, people tend to turn those sprinklers on and start watering their lawns, so were going to get a lot of water use, Savageau said. Thats something were going to have to educate the public on. She stressed that water use was not just an issue for those using private wells. Ground water recharge allows the reservoirs to hold steady during summer months of heavy use and little rain. People need to realize that surface water and ground water are connected, she said. kborsuk@scni.com Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to the Grimsby Live newsletter for daily updates and breaking news Grimsby is one of those places that truly has community at its heart. We rally together in good times and bad times and most importantly, are immensely proud of our roots. Great Grimsby IS Great, and today we celebrate that fact with the launch of our new campaign for 2017 #IAMGRIMSBY because we ARE Grimsby, and there are some amazing people in this town doing amazing things. We kick off this year-long campaign today with four people who are doing just that four ambassadors for the town who know how truly great it really is. Each month we will be focusing on different champions of the town not necessarily those you already know, but many that you probably don't which just goes to prove the point of our campaign. Today, we bring you some great offers to celebrate the launch from Grimsby Town Tickets to sausages for your tea, artisan sandwiches to speciality coffees, and there will be plenty more to come over the following weeks, including ways for you to get involved. And to get involved now we want you to tell us why you love Grimsby so much fill out our form below. Raise a glass to Grimsby's longest-serving landlord Derrick Howard, 52, owner of The Barge, Riverhead is celebrating 25 years at the bar. His family has been in the licensing trade for around 50 years. He said: "We are socially responsible people and I hope all my staff are forward thinking." He twisted President Kennedy's famous quote: " Think not what Grimsby can do for you, but what you can do for Grimsby. "Isn't it about time people took more pride in themselves, rather than hanging about in grey jogging bottoms blaming everyone else for their problems? "Sort yourself out and stop aspiring to be on Jeremy Kyle. There are opportunities here. We have got better skilled people and engineers than in Hull. They go all over the world because they are the best. We have a quality workforce." "You only have to look at the superb development on Grimsby docks. There are international companies coming to Grimsby because of our skills base. That is massively positive for the town. Everything is here, all the engineering, all the skills. "That then has a positive effect on the whole town. People come into town and that will build the confidence of the town and its people. That is where we are seeing lots of great things for the future." In his own industry, Derrick is optimistic about the future of the pub trade as Grimsby offers one of the cheapest pints in the country. You can easily get a pint for under 3 in the town and sometimes there are special offers meaning punters can sup a pint for just over 2. In contrast visitors to London are taken aback when they are clobbered with bills of 5 for a pint or a glass of wine. Derrick said: "We are back to how we were before the smoking ban came in 2007. It hit us badly and we wee very thin for a long time. But we are back to where we were before it came in and we have a much nicer environment. It has all been about keep up standards." 'What makes Grimsby special is there are lots of opportunities for young people like myself' One of the Grimsby area's newest entrepreneurs has brought a taste of success with her unique blend of the cosmopolitan and culture. Nic Till, 36, owner of Riverhead Coffee in Victoria Street, Grimsby has a large map of the world drawn on one of her walls and invites customers to mark where they have visited recently. She travelled the world for ten years and settled for a while in New Zealand. "Then I realised I missed Grimsby. There are plenty of things to do and I have grown to appreciate it more. "I love being close to the sea and there are plenty of opportunities for people, like myself, who have been away and got the inspiration to bring influences from away to our home town." She added: "I am part of a nice network of entrepreneurs, including jewellers, artists, illustrators, boutique owners people who have been away and came home to try to make this area come alive." "What makes Grimsby special is there are lots of opportunities for young people like myself, who have perhaps been away and visited other countries or other places in Britain and have got inspiration. They can come back and try to regenerate the town with new business ideas and bring a little bit of culture to Grimsby." Successful town cafe owner urges people to shop local A Grimsby cafe owner is courting with success after showing he has First Class service for his customers. Mathew Stevens, 28, owner of The Courtyard Cafe at Freeman Street Market started his venture on November 11, 2011 and served four or five meals. Five years on he and the seven staff he employs serve up 450 meals per day on special occasions. He is up all hours working to make his business a success and said the tide is turning with more people responding to the campaign to buy local and support your local traders. Mathew, a former Cordeaux School student, said: "It shows people are there and will support you. Things have been getting better over the past five years." The attraction of Freeman Street Market is it is supported by customers who know good service when they get it. "It would be good if Freeman Street was back to how it was and on a par with Top Town," said Mathew. He urged people to shop local. The owner said: "We don't have 50 minute queues as people had in the big stores over Christmas, waiting at checkouts and then long delays in the car parks getting in and getting out. "Here you have plenty of parking and service with a smile." He said he hoped Shoreline get on with the demolition of the flats in Albion Street so that people will start coming back to the area. That is due to take place later this year and could lead to more housing being built on the large site next to The Freeman Street Market. The estate once housed up to 2,000 people. Traders are hoping many will return and continue their link with the thriving Grimsby market. 'There's nothing that I don't like about helping people' A dedicated volunteer who is "passionate about helping the people of Grimsby" has pledged hundreds of hours over two decades to put smiles on the faces of poverty-stricken children in Europe. For more than 20 years every November and December, 54-year-old Grimsby woman Jenny Follan has valiantly given up as many as ten hours a week packaging Christmas shoeboxes to be shipped off to deprived children in countries like Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Jenny, who lives in Scartho with her husband of 31 years, has each year joined droves of other volunteers at the Ice House, in Grimsby, the home and heartbeat of the area's Operation Christmas Child production line. The scheme launched by Christian group Samaritan's Purse in 1990, is run all over the country and delivers shoeboxes full of toys, sweets and essentials to some of the most disadvantaged children around the world. This year a record-breaking 30,000 Christmas shoeboxes filled with festive cheer have been packaged up in Grimsby. The incredible haul was all thanks to a team of almost 200 volunteers, thousands of hours worth of packing and tens of thousands worth of donated gifts. It makes the 2016 campaign officially the most successful ever. That astonishing total tops last year's, now out of date recording-breaking total of 29,372 festive shoeboxes. Jenny, who is the community champion at Tesco's Cleethorpes superstore, says that she "loves everything" about Grimsby and gets a "buzz" out of helping people. She said: "I love everything about it. There's nothing that I don't like about helping people. "The Shoebox appeal is a wonderful thing to be a part of. It's like going back to the old way of living where we are doing more and more to help others. "There is a fantastic community spirit in Grimsby and I'm finding more and more people need help but more and more people are giving it. "I'm passionate about helping the people of Grimsby. I love my job and I'm very lucky to be doing it." In her community champion role at Tesco, a job she has held for 11 years now, Jenny has volunteered a countless number of hours helping the people of North East Lincolnshire with whatever project comes knocking. Lets make a deal. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images One of President Trumps first executive actions yesterday was to withdraw America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership Obamas pet project that Trump once likened to rape. Choice of analogies aside, lots of Americans agreed the trade deal was weak (Bernie included), but todays Wall Street Journal points out that farmers, a majority of whom voted for Trump, are now express[ing] dismay because they need TPP to help them sell their products in those 11 member countries markets. Trade groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation say TPP would have meant another $4.4 billion of agribusiness each year nothing to sneeze at, especially when its during a multiyear slump in crop prices and farm profits. Per USDA data, farmers actually just had their worst year income-wise since 2009, and they apparently had hoped their red-tape-cutting populist-in-chief would replace TPP with something a little more proU.S. farmer, or at least renegotiate the unfriendly portions of the agreement. Now, they blame Trump for causing another setback to an already struggling economy. (Ironically, Clinton was the most in favor of TPP of any 2016 candidate not named Gary Johnson.) The hacked-off groups concluded by giving the Journal a message to pass on to Trump that they expect a plan ASAP to capture the value that we lose with the withdrawal. He and his USDA secretary pick are surely all ears. Weve just heard a rumor from the same person who had something to say surrounding the announcement and launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8. On January 16, Twitter user @Ricciolo1 claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S8 was ready to present for MWC, though it would only be shown to partners and investors, not the press or public. Alleged render of the Galaxy S8 He also said it would be announced on March 29, and to be available in week 17 of this year starting at $849. Today, he adds that Samsung plans to hold multiple-city launch events in the US and somewhere in the EU. Theres also mention of a record breaking marketing campaign. MULTIPLE CITY event " USA - EU " record breaking marketing campaign , et voila' ;) https://t.co/492jEyVvDu 3/29 #samsung #galaxyS8 FIX IT Ricciolo (@Ricciolo1) January 23, 2017 This tweet comes just a few hours before he tweeted about Huaweis most expensive device ever, referring to the Huawei P10 launch, to take place at MWC this year. Given how Samsung has handled the launch of its previous flagships, we should expect to see the Galaxy S8 launched in New York, and its counterpart launch event could be in the UK. Theres also the chance that it could hold satellite events where those invited can watch a livestream to be followed by hands-on time at each event. Source These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Haiti - News : Zapping politics... The CEP closely follows the file of Guy Philippe Uder Antoine announces the forthcoming publication of the conclusions of the administrative inquiry into the elected Senator Wilfrid Gelin (Central Plateau), accused of having been convicted in the United States. Moreover, with regard to the case of Senator Elect Guy Philippe (Grand'Anse), who was arrested and extradited to the United States on 5 January, he also indicated that the CEP was closely following his case https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19796-haiti-flash-guy-philippe-pleads-not-guilty.html https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19721-haiti-flash-senator-guy-philippe-extradited-to-the-usa.html New session of interpellation After the failure of the last session of interpellation of the Ministers Camille Junior Edouard (Justice) and Daphnee Benoit Delsoin (Health) last Thursday https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19852-haiti-politics-ministers-of-justice-and-health-defies-senate.html a new interpellation session was scheduled for Tuesday, January 31, 2017. Senator Jean Renel Senatus recalled that once a quorum is established in the Senate, the law and case law confer on the Senate Assembly the right to censure a minister even in its absence. To be continued... The EU and the OAS visit the Senate Monday, EU Ambassador Vincent Degert and Frederic Bolduc, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Haiti, paid a courtesy visit to the Senate. During the visit, they exchanged views with the senators on issues relating to the January 29 elections, the election of elected President Jovenel Moise, the political situation in Haiti and cooperation between the European Parliament and the EU and the OAS. Bolduc hopes that good relations will be established between the Haitian Parliament and the next Administration in view of the development of Haiti, stressing that the OAS is awaiting the establishment of the next Government to define the new priorities of its cooperation with Haiti. Cancellation of the visit of the President of Chile Veronica Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of the Republic of Chile, due to pay a visit to Haiti Thursday 26 January to participate in the inauguration of the National School Republic of Chile https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-19869-haiti-news-zapping-politics.html canceled her visit and her participation in the Fifth CELAC Summit https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-19885-icihaiti-politics-privert-at-the-5th-celac-summit.html because the violent forest fires that ravaged several regions of Chile, official sources in Chile said on Monday. Publication of the decree creating the IGAENF The Order creating at the Ministry of National Education, a General Inspectorate of the Administration of National Education and Vocational Training (IGAENF) was published in the official journal "Le Moniteur" N12 dated Monday 23 January 2017. The CEP calls on voters to vote Uder Antoine, Executive Director of the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), calls on voters to vote on Sunday 29 January to elect the Boards of Directors of the Communal Sections (CASEC), the Administration of the Communal Sections (ASEC), the city delegates as well as the senators, recalling that this election will make it possible to fill posts that have not been elected for too long. HL/ HaitiLibre Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 12:22, 4 NOV 2022 The Fair Work Commission Vice President Graeme Watson has resigned due to what he believes is a biased system that doesnt promote economic prosperity or social inclusion. It was reported in The Australian Financial Review that Watson wrote to the Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and said he was formally stepping down as Vice President of the FWC. Watson had also written a letter to Minister for Employment Michaelia Cash explaining his concerns with the way workplace relations is regulated and administered in Australia. "I have made this decision because it is increasingly clear to me that the operation of the workplace relations system is actually undermining the objects of the Fair Work legislation," Watson said in his letter to Minister Cash. "I do not consider that the system provides a framework for co-operative and productive workplace relations and I do not consider that it promotes economic prosperity or social inclusion. Nor do I consider it can be described as balanced. Watson plans to work as a private industrial relations consultant to boards and executives, which he said in an attempt to make a greater contribution to "productive workplace relations and national prosperity". The Australian Mines and Metals Association chief executive Steve Knott said Watson is well respected by all users of Australias workplace system and, in almost 10 years service to the employment tribunal, has proven to be fair, objective and pragmatic in his application of Australias workplace relations laws. While VP Watsons resignation is a real loss to the Fair Work Commission, of even greater concern is the dysfunction in the tribunal and our workplace laws that has prompted the early resignation of one of its most senior and widely respected members, said Knott. This is the second senior FWC member to have recently left the tribunal well before their statutory retirement date. Senior Deputy President Peter Richards, a Howard Government appointee like VP Watson, left in September 2016. Knott added that the issues raised in the Vice Presidents resignation letter add further weight to previous calls from the business community for the government to conduct an urgent review of the Fair Work Commission, its structures, powers and decision making. The serious problems identified by VP Watson also reaffirm the importance of the government acting on the Productivity Commissions 2015 review of Australias workplace relations framework, and implementing the majority of its recommendations for reform during 2017, Knott said. The AMMA said that many of the concerns outlined by Watson to Minister Cash echo those detailed by AMMA in a letter to the Minister last October. These include: Increasing evidence that the FWC is dysfunctional, not serving users well and appearing to pursue political agendas rather than assisting constructive workplace relations outcomes. The growing need for an independent appeals tribunal to ensure greater rigour and consistency in the decisions of the FWC, including that its members respect established Full Bench principles. The application of the Fair Work Acts unfair dismissal and adverse action provisions seeing employees rewarded for making speculative claims against their employers, even where their actions clearly justify dismissal from their workplaces. The failure of enterprise bargaining to support productivity and industrial harmony in Australian workplaces, and instead rewarding unions for threatening and taking strike action. Increasing instances where the FWC is not approving agreements based on technicalities such as minor typos in forms or documents incorrectly stapled together. BY MICHAEL GEBELEIN / Carolina Public Press The federal governments plan to transport weapons-grade liquid nuclear waste through Western North Carolina may be on hold once a Washington, D.C., judge rules on a lawsuit from several regional environmental groups. The parties to the lawsuit argued that the Department of Energy violated the National Environmental Policy Act by planning to transport nuclear waste in relative secrecy. The plaintiffs also accuse the government of justifying its proposal with a cursory and insufficient environmental impact study, based on outdated research. Opponents of the shipments said this would be the first time that weapons-grade highly enriched uranium in a liquid form has been transported in this way. They warn that the governments containers for the waste are untested and dangerous. The containers have only previously transported solid nuclear waste. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit wrote that, in the worst-case circumstances like a breach of one of the containers because of an accident during the journey, the waste could become agitated and fission might occur, leading to extremely high temperatures that could rupture the tanks, spilling nuclear waste onto the ground or into a water system. The lawsuit said the Canadian government will pay the Department of Energy $60 million as part of the proposal, to help maintain U.S. nuclear storage facilities. The Chalk River Laboratories power plant in Ottawa, Canada, created the waste during its production of medical isotopes for use in diagnostic tests. The shipments would be bound for the Department of Energys Savannah River Site nuclear facility near Aiken, South Carolina a journey of more than 1,000 miles. Questionable science The Department of Energy published a report in 2015 claiming that the potential environmental impacts of transporting the nuclear waste would be very low and that no radiological or non-radiological fatalities would be expected should trucks carry the nuclear waste travel from Chalk River to the Savannah River Site. But the report relied on citations from articles that are nearly 20 years old to make its case, activists have complained. The government also argued that the change in the state of the nuclear waste, from a solid to a liquid, makes little impact on the safety issues associated with transporting it. Based upon those determinations, the Department of Energy argued, the law doesnt require an environmental impact study. However, activists said flaws in the governments studies and the lack of public input violate federal regulations. A federal judge heard oral arguments in the case in Washington on Wednesday, though he made no ruling at that time. Canadian nuclear expert Dr. Gordon Edwards testified that less than two ounces of this material would be enough to render 510 million liters of water undrinkable under current EPA regulations, according to the Nuclear Information and Resource Services Asheville office, which opposes the plan. That would represent a tiny fraction of the 242 liters in each of the 100-150 truckloads from Chalk River to the Savannah River Site, Edwards said. Uncertain route Despite the litigation, theres already a chance that the shipments could bypass Asheville entirely. The most direct route from Chalk River to Aiken is south on Interstate 81 through Syracuse, New York, to Fort Chiswell, Virginia, and south on Interstate 77 through Charlotte to Columbia, South Carolina, and west on Interstate 20 to Aiken. The trucks could also take Interstate 95 through Washington to Interstate 20 in Florence, South Carolina, or Interstate 79 through Pittsburgh to Interstate 77 in Virginia. Local activists say federal regulations will prohibit the shipments from passing through a large population center like Charlotte, meaning the nuclear waste might have to pass through Asheville on Interstate 26. Federal officials dont make the routes of trucks carrying nuclear waste public knowledge. Nuclear options If the federal courts do side with the plaintiffs and order a new impact study, the victory for environmental advocates could be hollow. The result might be only a delay in the project while the study is performed, if the study finds that the risk associated with transporting this type of nuclear waste is minimal. However, the groups opposing the plan hope that a new study will instead find that the nuclear waste is too dangerous to move, according to Sierra Club Wenoca chapter president Maryanne Rackoff. The shipments, of which there could be more than 150, would each be carrying almost 60 gallons of liquid isotopes of iodine, plutonium, cesium and strontium, and other dangerous products that must be kept from becoming airborne or waterborne, according to a letter several WNC environmental advocacy groups sent to Gov. Roy Cooper. Those materials also include small amounts of the highly enriched uranium used in nuclear weapons, the letter noted. The Energy Department would ship the waste in four 15-gallon containers inside a larger steel crate. Political support The groups that contacted Coopers office on Jan. 11 to request that he also demand a new environmental impact study from the federal government, included the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Clean Water for NC and Mountain True. The signatories to the letter argued that a spill or accident would devastate both the environment and the regions economy. As you know, the WNC economy is heavily tied to our local food and beverage production, and the status of the mountains as a place for health, the letter said. A nuclear accident in this area could decimate the economy based on health and visitors seeking outdoor recreation. Nonetheless, the release of even a tiny portion of the waste on one of these hundred-plus shipments could mean a very expensive, likely disruptive statewide outcome for North Carolina, let alone personal harm to health or property of individuals. As of Friday, Coopers office had not responded to the letter. Having a newly elected governors input could help convince the judge that the situation requires a new environmental study, Rackoff said in an interview for this article. Cooper could intervene as a party plaintiff and oppose the shipments based on their unprecedented format of transportation, she said. Those would be heavy boots that would jump into the litigation Tourism is our central commodity. Its a beautiful area and we all want to protect North Carolina and the mountains. The Asheville City Council also plans to pass a resolution against the transport of nuclear waste through the city, Rackoff said. Julie Mayfield, an Asheville councilwoman and the co-director of Mountain True, will introduce the councils resolution, according to Rackoff. The activists are also approaching Buncombe County commissioners, asking them to take a similar public stance. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket By Jesse Wood The Watauga County Board of Commissioners is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, Feb. 21 to hear from citizens regarding a proposed resolution that requests the ban of Sunday hunting in Watauga County. The commissioners looked at the draft resolution at its meeting last week. See the draft resolution, which hasnt been voted on yet, below. The N.C. General Assembly did away with the ban in North Carolina, which had been in place for 144 years, with the Outdoor Heritage Act. Gov. Pat McCrory signed the bill into law in the summer of 2015. While hunting isnt allowed on Sunday on public land, except for military installations, the current bill allows hunting on a landowners property on Sunday with a few exceptions. Hunting is prohibited on Sundays: between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., the typical times for religious services for the hunting of migratory birds with the use of firearm to take deer that are run or chased by dogs within 500 yards of a place of worship, accessory structure in a county having a population of greater than 700,000 Permitted archery season is allowed seven days a week. In 2010 and 2013, Mark Hagaman presented the Watauga County Board of Commissioners with 753 names opposing the lifting of the ban on Sunday hunting. The resolution cited this petition. A memo in last weeks packet from Watauga County Manager Deron Geouque to the commissioners stated, Per Commissioner request, a draft resolution has been prepared for consideration by the North Carolina General Assembly to ban hunting on Sundays in Watauga County. The county was previously unsuccessful in requesting that the ban on Sunday hunting not be lifted or otherwise exempt Watauga County from allowing hunting on Sundays. The draft resolution cites a 2006 study, requested by former Gov. Mike Easley and conducted by the firm Responsive Management, that states a majority of state residents oppose Sunday hunting. The study showed that 81 percent of general population favored hunting but 65 percent opposed hunting on Sundays. 53 percent of hunters opposed Sunday hunting compared to 38 percent of hunters favoring Sunday hunting. Watauga County is predominately rural and Sunday hunting has the potential to threaten the serenity and safety of churches and its members throughout the county, the resolution reads. Michael Testerman spoke during public comment at the end of last weeks meeting. Testerman said he heard about the resolution potentially banning Sunday hunting in Watauga County on the radio and rushed over to the meeting after work. I am kind of surprised that this was even brought it. I didnt think this had been a problem in the county or really in any of the counties, Testerman said. I am against the restrictions. Private property is always under assault as we get more and more numerous and more and more people and development. Personal rights are always bumping up against each other. To restrict someone the right to hunt on their own property, whether its been in their family a long time or they bought it two weeks ago, I think is denying them a right they should expect to have when buying that property. The Feb. 21 meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. in the Watauga County Administration Building and the public hearing will be held shortly thereafter. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket Illegal immigrants were disguised as Aer Lingus workers so they could be smuggled through Dublin Airport in a global people smuggling scam that netted gangsters up to 12m. Photo: Colin ORiordan Illegal immigrants were disguised as Aer Lingus workers so they could be smuggled through Dublin Airport in a global people smuggling scam that netted gangsters up to 12m. Two male Aer Lingus employees, aged 61 and 56, and a Chinese national (28) were being quizzed by gardai last night following a major sting operation on Sunday, when an Aer Lingus flight landed in Dublin from Madrid. More arrests are expected in the investigation, which is said to involve a number of dangerous international gangs. A massive garda investigation has found that up to 600 people may have been smuggled into the country at an estimated cost of around 20,000 per person as part of the scam. The Herald has learned the extent of the smuggling operation recently came to light after a man who entered Ireland illegally attempted to leave on a flight to another EU country. Authorities noticed there was no official record of the individual entering the country, and a criminal probe was launched into the smuggling of people taking place at Ireland's main airport. "This raised a red flag and the Garda National Immigration Bureau launched a major surveillance operation at the airport," a senior source said. Diverted Gardai have discovered the illegal immigrants arrived on Aer Lingus flights from European destinations and then left the plane with other passengers. While walking with other passengers in the airport, they would be diverted away by criminals involved in the scam before they reached immigration and customs checks at the airport. The operation would see them taken to a secure area of the airport and they would be given uniforms and high-visibility jackets to disguise them as Aer Lingus employees. The non-nationals were then driven from airside to landside in Aer Lingus vehicles such as catering vans and trucks. Gardai have established that the immigrants were then dropped at a location north of the airport, where they were picked up by associates. Sources say gardai believe that about 100 illegal immigrants a year came into the country this way and that the scam had been in operation for around six years. It is understood that most of the people smuggled into the country came from Asian countries, particularly China, and many left here for other EU countries shortly after arriving. Gardai believe a network of international crime gangs are involved in the scam and these include Italian gangs, Eastern European mobs and even Chinese crime groupings. iItelligence "While there are two gentlemen arrested after Sunday night's sting operation, gardai are in no doubt that there were many other people involved in this criminal operation both in Ireland and abroad," a senior source said. "Expect more arrests to follow," the source added. Sunday's arrests stemmed from an intelligence-led operation, which a senior garda said is possible as a result of civilian staff being placed at passport control. Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Driscoll said yesterday: "In recent times there has been a reconfiguration of personnel working the immigration control at Dublin Airport, which has involved an input of civilian staff attached to Irish Naturalisation and Immigration control booths. "We have arrested three people, two of whom are employees of a carrier of passengers. One person is a potential illegal immigrant, who illegally entered the state, who was facilitated by our two suspects." A woman who let her male Doberman dog starve, leaving it emaciated, has been banned from having any pets for one year after she was convicted of animal cruelty. Megan Russell (22) was fined 300 and also ordered to surrender a Springer Spaniel she currently owns after she admitted neglecting the Doberman. On viewing photos of the starving dog, Judge Dermot Dempsey said at Balbriggan District Court that he had "never seen the likes of it in a civilised society" and told Russ-ell to "consider yourself lucky you are not facing a custodial sentence". "How does anyone leave a dog like this? It beggars belief in this day and age," he said. The court heard evidence from DSPCA officer Liam Kinsella that he received a call from DSPCA dispatch regarding a very underweight Doberman dog. "I was shocked at the condition of this dog, it was very thin," said Mr Kinsella. He said he phoned Russell, who was in Belfast, and told her he was seizing the dog. He said that as the dog approached him it was falling over. Bowls "There was no food or water in any of the dog bowls and the kennel wasn't waterproofed," said Mr Kinsella. He said the dog weighed 15kg when it should have been in the range of 30 to 40kg. It was diagnosed as suffering from starvation by a vet. Blood samples were taken by the DSPCA veterinary team that showed there was no underlying medical condition that would explain the serious weight loss. Russell, of Bath Road, Balbriggan, pleaded guilty to five charges of failing to take all the necessary steps to ensure the dog was kept and treated in a manner that safeguarded its health and welfare on March 16 last year. Patrick Jackson, defending, said Russell, who lost both her parents several years ago, is "trying to look after herself" as she has had her own difficulties. He added that the defendant didn't have any money to take the Doberman to a vet but she did phone one, who told her the dog may have stomach problems. He said Russell has "suffered as a result". Afterwards, Mr Kinsella said: "We are delighted with the outcome of the case. The dog has been re-homed and is doing very well in his new home." President Tran Dai Quang shakes hands with officers of the Military Zone 7 (Photo: VNA) President Tran Dai Quang made the request while talking to officers and soldiers of the Military Zone 7, which covers the southeastern region of Vietnam and is based in Ho Chi Minh city, in a visit ahead of the Lunar New Year on January 23rd. He asked armed forces of the Military Zone 7 to thoroughly grasp the situation, especially in border and island areas, while early detecting and promptly responding to emergencies. This is a critical task of the Zone. The Zone High Command must build comprehensively strong armed forces, strengthen the army - people solidarity, and simultaneously promote defence-security and socio-economic development. It also has to continue doing a good job of diplomatic activities in line with the Party and States guidelines and policies and the tasks assigned by the Defence Ministry, he added, telling the High Command to pay more attention to the Party building. The High Command reported in 2016, they precisely assessed and forecast the situation while giving timely advice to the Central Military Commission and the Defence Ministry on many issues. They also responded well to emergencies, helping to keep political security and social order and safety. Defence-related external activities, especially relations with Cambodias armed forces, have been intensified and become fruitful, the Command said, adding that the strength of the Zones armed forces has increased and mass mobilisation work has well done. Also on January 23rd, President Quang visited police of HCM city, applauding their efforts in crime fight and security and social safety protection. He asked them to continually launch crime crackdowns on robbery, corruption, drug and hi-tech crimes while better coordinating with relevant forces to ensure traffic safety and minimise congestion. They should also work harder to call for peoples participation in protecting the national security./. Washington County elections workers get ahead of the game Washington County works ahead to count mail-in ballots before Election Day. About half of the state's 24 jurisdictions are also counting early. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and diplomats from ASEAN countries (Photo: VNA) The diplomats, from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei and Myanmar, expressed their delight to take office in Vietnam on the threshold of Tet, the largest traditional festival of the country. They affirmed their determination to contribute to fostering the friendship and cooperation between their countries and Vietnam as well as other ASEAN members for the sustainable development of the ASEAN Community and for peace, stability and development in the region and the world. Party General Secretary Nguyen PhuTrong thanked the diplomats for the New Year wishes, noting that 2017 is a year full of important events, including the 50th founding anniversary of ASEAN and the second year of the ASEAN Community. Since Vietnam joined the association, Vietnam has always worked hard to affirm its active role and contributions to ASEANs growth, he said, highlighting the Party and States constant policy of attaching importance to developing multi-faceted ties with member countries of the ASEAN Community. The Party leader also expressed hope that ASEAN members will support Vietnam in hosting the APEC Year 2017, contributing to enhancing the prestige and position of ASEAN in the international arena. On the occasion, he also extended New Year wishes to leaders and people of ASEAN countries./. OM Nguyen Xuan Phuc geets Kamal Malhotra, new UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative to Vietnam, on January 23rd (Photo: VNA) Welcoming Malhotra to Vietnam, PM Phuc said his country attaches special importance to relations with the UN and will remain an active and responsible member of the UN and the international community, thereby contributing to peace, security and development in the region and the world. He described the current period as important to bilateral ties, especially 2017 which marks 40 years of Vietnams UN membership. Vietnam hopes the UN will continue bringing into play its role in keeping global peace and security, promoting respect to international law, and assisting countries to implement cooperation and development programmes, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, he added. For his part, Malhotra expressed his honour to be assigned to Vietnam, noting that the UN highly valued Vietnams role and stature in this organisation and the global arena. He congratulated the country on socio-economic achievements after more than three decades of Doi moi (reforms). It is also one of the leading countries in fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals ahead of schedule. He also welcomed Vietnams proactive, active and effective participation in UN activities such as peacekeeping operations, the Human Rights Council and the Economic and Social Council. As the UN Resident Coordinator and the UNDP Resident Representative, Malhotra pledged to work closely with Vietnamese and UN agencies to foster ties between the UN and Vietnam, successfully carry out cooperation and development activities, and fulfill Sustainable Development Goals./. These Awards are central to Australias people-to-people links with Vietnam by encouraging innovation and supporting the development of a highly-skilled workforce. Local government and central agency officials, staff from NGOs, Vietnamese enterprises, university lecturers and researchers are encouraged to apply. Australia Awards Scholarships are prestigious international awards offered by the Australian Government to the next generation of global leaders for development. The awardees will study at a university of their choice, at Masters level, in priority areas for Vietnams development: governance and economic growth, transport, water and sanitation, education, gender equality, agriculture and rural development, regional stability and human rights, disability and climate change. Australia Awards recipients are required to return to Vietnam after completing their course to contribute Vietnams development. Australia Awards are building invaluable connections between people, trust between nations, and an understanding of one anothers cultures. In Vietnam, the Scholarships are part of a broader investment by the Australian Government in human resource development, which includes short courses and informal training opportunities to address gaps in skills and knowledge needed to support Vietnams development. Applicants with a disability and applicants from disadvantaged rural areas are given priority. Out of 80 awards offered in last years round, five awards were given to applicants with disabilities and 15 to applicants from disadvantaged rural areas. Australia is a leading provider of government scholarships to Vietnam. There are currently over 5,800 Australia Awards alumni from Vietnam who graduated from Australian universities dating back to the 1970s. Applications are open online from February 1st until March 31st. Awardees are expected to begin their studies in Australia in 2018./. NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan presents gift to a cancer patient treated at hospital K (Source: VNA) She wished staff of the hospital a happy Tet, expressing her hope that the hospital will continue to be a reliable healthcare establishment of the people. While praising the hospitals efforts in improving the quality of examination and treatment, and easing patient overload, Ngan affirmed the Party and States polices of mobilising all resources for medial development. The health sector needs to care about both prevention and treatment, she stressed. Besides, she urged the hospital to pay heed to promoting scientific research, training and international cooperation, towards bettering treatment work and the training quality in the field. NA Chairwoman Ngan and representatives from the Ngay Mai Tuoi Sang (Bright Future) foundation presented two cancer patients, who meet difficulties in paying for treatment, including Nang Bua Thong, a 57-year-old woman from Laos, and Tran Thi Tuyet, 40, with VND10 million (USD443.5) each. On the occasion, a total of 100 other cancer patients treated at the hospital also received VND1 million (USD44.3) each from the fund./. This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ As S Jaishankar gets ready for another year as the foreign secretary, it is time to understand what makes him so indispensable to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was brought in two years ago under unusual circumstances, a day before his retirement and after the dismissal of then foreign secretary Sujatha Singh. This is not to say that Modi and his foreign secretary have always been right. There is adequate room to critique them on the shift towards US, on the escalating tensions with China, on the seeming contradictions with Pakistan, on the timing and sequence of policy moves towards neighbours like Nepal. But also, this is not about the merits of the policy. It is about the fact that a Prime Minister has found a foreign secretary in tune with his vision and worldview, and his risk-taking appetite. While foreign policy is dynamic, if one was to distill the FS first principles, based on his policy approach of the past two years, it would include the following elements. For one, greater confidence in dealing with bigger powers -- particularly the US -- and moving out of the non-aligned mindset. Modi and the FS appear to believe that for too long, India has been held back in its engagement with US in particular because of ideological categories which are no longer relevant, because of fears which are no longer well-founded, and because of past mistrust which is now overwhelmed by strategic imperatives. In itself, this is not a rupture. After 1991, India adapted itself to the post-Cold War world; it began a process of rapprochement that got a push under Vajpayee and Clinton; Manmohan Singh staked his government on the nuclear deal -- which represented a strategic breakthrough with the United States. But in the final years of the UPA, there was a drift in ties with Washington; the nuclear deal was left hanging; mistrust grew and both sides felt let down for a variety of reasons. Modi -- despite the shadow of the visa controversy -- wanted to set this right. This resulted in his first visit in September 2014 that set the stage for President Barack Obamas visit to India as the chief guest on Republic Day. The US dynamic has entered a new phase with the election of Donald Trump. There are serious questions about whether the strategic logic that underpinned the relationship would hold. One assumes the PM felt that there could be no one more suited than Jaishankar who had earlier served as the Indian envoy in Washington. And given Jaishankars expertise on Russia, Modi may have felt that India should have someone who understands both countries. The second broad principle of the Modi-Jaishankar school of thought is dropping what they consider has been Indias inferiority complex vis-a-vis China. They subscribe to the view that India and China have a relationship that encapsulates both cooperative and competitive elements, which explains the PMs frequent meetings with the Chinese leadership and a push on the economic agenda as well as creating room for greater Chinese investment. But they also seem to believe the tensions with China have been underplayed -- be it on the border question or the issue of global governance structures or the competing interests in the neighbourhood. This was most visible in the debate over Indias proposed entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. There remains a well argued case in Indian strategic circles that investing so much diplomatic capital in entering the NSG -- when India already has a waiver -- was unnecessary. It showed India to be a failure; it also sharpened the rift with China, which took a public stance opposing Indias entry. Many believed that since the FS had driven the initiative, he would have to pay a price. The extension shows that was a poor reading of the decision making processes and motives. Irrespective of whether the battle was worth it, what the incident reflected was that the PM is comfortable with taking risks and backed his top diplomat in this regard. The third broad principle of the government is with regard to the country that takes up the most public attention -- Pakistan. And on this, both the political and diplomatic leadership have shifted. One strong impulse -- of both the PM and FS -- has been not to be obsessed with Pakistan. The broad thinking is that India is in a different league; that this unhealthy obsession only holds it back; that the best approach is to ignore Pakistan, while laying out the redlines; and one should find ways to work within the region, without Pakistan, if necessary. This was most clearly reflected in Indias embrace of sub-regional mechanisms like BBIN and alternative regional organisations like BIMSTEC. At the same time, we have also seen -- at the end of last year -- a policy focused almost exclusively on Pakistan when redlines have been crossed. After the Uri attacks, India used every platform possible to highlight Pakistans role in sponsoring terror and supporting radicalism in Kashmir -- from the UN to BRICS. It was also willing to push ahead with surgical strikes. This was a political call; the National Security Advisor has a key role in Pakistan policy. But the FS was on the same page, driven by the conviction that India had changed, that Indian responses had to change accordingly. These shifts indicate a common understanding that all three -- PM, NSA and FS -- have on Pakistan. For the PM, it is good news that that his two key advisors are broadly on the same page. Under UPA, we had a situation where either the two were at loggerheads or where the FS was entirely subservient to the NSA. The dynamic is different now. Doval and Jaishankar have their share of differences on issues, but they have found a way to manage it without it becoming a public spectacle. Modi insists on coherence in government and something like the UPA drama -- where principal stakeholders ran different Pakistan policies -- would be anathema to him. And finally, the governments flagship policy -- Neighbourhood First -- comes from the PMs strong conviction that these are Indias most important relationships. This was most visible in the Nepal experience. The PM invested enormous political energy in the relationship; his visits to Kathmandu were successful. But when there was a clear divergence in views on the Constitution -- the Nepali elite pushed through an exclusionary and discriminatory statute -- Delhi did not hesitate from expressing its views strongly. As a hostile government led by KP Oli stepped up the offensive against India, and China offered it support, India worked quietly and stitched an alternative alliance to oust Oli. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON If anyone remained this Friday who still hoped that Donald Trump would not govern as he campaigned, who believed that the awesome weight of office, or the containing force of American institutions would bend him to some domesticated crouch, he has left them no further room for doubt. His inaugural speech was a blood-and-soil rallying cry straight out of the 1930s, a promise that total allegiance to the United States of America would act as a balm for the carnage of de-industrialisation, and a universal solvent for ingrained racism. Read | Man bites ear off another man during argument over President Donald Trump We will be protected, he declared, by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement. And most importantly, we will be protected by God... Its time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. This is the language of hard nationalism. In the America first vision advanced by Trump and his chief strategist, Stephen K Bannon, it isnt our mutual recognition of shared humanity that protects us against hatred, it isnt the laws and rights that enshrine and protect our dignity, but submission to a narrow ideal of the nation, secured by soldiers, policemen and God. This is not a worldview that will be unfamiliar to anyone in India, where similar sentiments are captured in the nation first advice offered with such tiresome regularity to dissenters: Go to Pakistan. Read | President Donald Trump to speak to PM Narendra Modi as India hopes to build on US ties Similarly, it will surprise very few in India that President Trumps long war on the press only intensified, once the bully pulpit was his. All modern political leaders seek control of the narrative, but for populists who promise sweeping change from below, spin will not suffice. They must shape not just the story, but the basic facts, in order to defang the truth-based accountability system that is built around them. For them, the press is easy foil, a stand-in for the corrupt system in Lutyens Delhi, or inside the Beltway, but it is also a threat. Attacking its legitimacy helps to cement your own, both politically and structurally. On Saturday, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, took his first turn at the podium. What he chose to do there, was instructive. First, he launched a sweeping attack on the assembled journalists claiming that reporting on crowd sizes at the inauguration was deliberately false. Read | Will Donald Trump listen to Ashley Tellis advice on India and China Spicer then launched into a series of whoppers of his own, all them easily given the lie within minutes: He overstated the number of people to the festivities on the DC Metro, made false claims about the use of grass-protecting tiles which highlighted empty areas along the national mall, and about the use of access control systems, all en route to insisting that This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration period both in person and around the globe. Spicer took his cue from President Trump, who had told assembled CIA staff a few hours earlier that the media are some of the most dishonest people on the planet before insisting, among other false statements, that the sun had come out as he finished speaking. It hadnt. When you cannot believe the president himself on a subject as basic as cloud cover, it is time to accept that the phrase post-truth is already worn out. Helpfully, Kellyanne Conway, Trumps most emollient and reliable representative appeared on Meet the Press the next morning to baptise lies with a new name, alternative facts. Read | White House ready to join hands with Russia or anyone else to fight IS in Syria Trump needs alternative facts because nominal allegiance to the truth is a condition of democratic systems. To lie baldly from the White House is to insist that you own the truth by virtue of your authority as a representative of the popular will. Popular support bends the facts to your requirements, and inoculates you against the kind of secrets presidents used to lie about: Watergate, Monica Lewinsky, Weapons of Mass Destruction, tax returns, Russia. It is no accident, then, that the weekends tussle over facts centred on crowd size as a proxy for popularity. Donald Trumps crowds have to be the biggest ever. His ratings too. And his favourability numbers, digital audience metrics, retweets. Anything else feeds what Spicer, and Conway describe as a narrative of de-legitimization of his presidency. Of course they are wrong. Very few people argue that Trump is not legitimately president. But the narrow legitimacy of an electoral college victory, popular vote defeat, and presidential authority hemmed in by democratic constraints is not a sweeping mandate for revolution. Read | First days of Donald Trump era signal Americas deepening political divide Just outside the briefing room, and across America, as Spicer spoke, more than three million people were marching in support of womens rights. Their bodies on the streets were an incontrovertible challenge a fact to which the administration could offer no alternative. Americans who love their democracy will need more of those in the years to come. Nic Dawes heads Media at Human Rights Watch, and was chief content officer, Hindustan Times (2013 to 2016) The views expressed are personal UP is indeed heading for a thriller as for the first time Indias politically heavyweight state will witness an exciting battle between a battery of young leaders and Narendra Modi, who at the age 63 had emerged as a youth icon in 2014. The key to power will be in the hands of the youth like the 2014 general election when half of Indias 814 million voters under 35 years of age had come out to make or mar the fortunes of political parties. They had contributed to the historic win of the Bhartiya Janata Party and its leader Narendra Modi, an experienced chief minister who broadcast the Gujarat development model to harness their support. Again, they are itching to display their political might and they indeed have a choice - a youth icon, who is now 66 and a young leadership- both armed with their models of development. Almost half of UPs 140 million electorate is also under 35 years of age. Of them, 25 lakh are new voters (18 to 19 years) and another 38 million in the age group of 20 to 29 years. Underestimating their power or ability to vote independent of their seniors would be a blunder. Read:UP election: For Muslims, Akhilesh the first choice, Mayawati a tactical option The first-ever electoral alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress is not merely limited to the coming together of two political parties but also of young leadership that of Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, supported by Priyanka Gandhi and Dimple Yadav. They are not just figureheads but are going to lead aggressive campaigns in coming days, both jointly and individually. The young leaders have virtually inherited their respective parties Akhilesh fought a six-month long family battle to wrest control over the SP, Rahul Gandhis coronation is a matter of time. If Akhileshs challenge is to convert his popularity into votes, the Congress wants to be in power. It has not won assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh for 27 years. Individually, the poll partners may not be healthy as compared to resurgent BJP (SP has to battle the anti- incumbency) but put together they form a formidable combination. Arithmetically, taking 2012 poll results as a base, their vote share adds to 40 % as against 15 % of the BJP and 25.91 % of the BSP. BJP polled 42 % vote polled in 2014. The alliance in UP cant be compared with the Grand Alliance of Bihar where two strong leaders, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, had sunk their differences to stop Narendra Modi led BJPs victory march that conquered major states like Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand after occupying the North Block. The UP alliance, however, is more about the youth power in young India. Read: Assembly polls 2017 will be a mini referendum on Modis demonetisation Factoring in their strengths and weaknesses, Modi magic continues to prevail but his public appearances will be limited. Others in his party may not have his charisma or mass appeal. Confusion also remains on their chief ministerial face. Would it be someone young as Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra or a veteran like Manohar Lal Khattar, rooted in the RSS? In the absence of BJPs CM face, the party will have to heavily bank on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and election management skills of BJP president Amit Shah. At stake will be their personal prestige more than that of the party. Interestingly, home grown Akhilesh Yadav has also created a niche for himself in the last few years. Rahul is steadily becoming a rallying point for anti-BJP forces at the national level despite a string of electoral losses and ridicules from opponents. There is no ambiguity on their face in the arena. All surveys that had put BJP in number one position have also rated Akhilesh as the most popular chief ministerial face in 2017. Armed with his please all manifesto, Akhilesh is also ready to launch a high voltage campaign along with Rahul and Jayant Choudhury promising vikas, a promise that 73 BJP MPs had made but not delivered. And he is fully geared up to fight the battle, both on the street as well as on the social media. In a triangular contest, its the firebrand leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati who will have to pull up the socks to remain in the fight as her mathematical calculations may go awry. The Dalit-Muslim combination already stands fractured. The 18 % Muslims desperate to dislodge the BJP government from the Centre in 2019 will be actually building its base in 2017. They were waiting for the family feud to get over and alliance to take off. However the challenge before the alliance would be to keep the election development oriented and not divisive as youth is not always guided by past performances of the political parties and their caste allegiances. All castes had lapped up Modis development model in 2014. With an eye on 2019, anti-BJP forces will rally around UP alliance to checkmate the BJP from winning the largest state in the country as it would be a harbinger of their 2019 success. The chief ministers of Bihar and West Bengal Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee were at loggerheads with Mulayam Singh Yadav but have no qualms in supporting his son. Mamata Banerjee has on many occasions displayed her fondness for Akhilesh. So the spirit of let the bygones be bygones. Read: SP-Congress alliance to cover up their weaknesses, says Owaisi Like the grand alliance of Bihar had proved to be a game-changer, 2017 polls could be the beginning of another era the youth era. This reminds one of what an old Muslim gentleman had said in Bahraich in 2012 much before Narendra Modis juggernaut had hit the roads. There is only one formula to stop the BJP: Akhilesh Yadav in UP, Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. Everybody had derisively dismissed his prophecy as preposterous as none could have then visualised any understanding between the SP and the Congress under the leadership of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sonia Gandhi. The trust deficit between them was so acute that their talks for electoral alliance or government formation never fructified. Rahul and Akhilesh are starting on a clean slate. The days will tell if the chemistry between the two will convert into trust. Alleging that Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Captain Amarinder Singh had insulted non-resident Indians (NRIs) by complaining to the Election Commission against outsiders campaigning in the state elections, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann on Monday sought an apology from the former chief minister. Interacting with the media along with scores of NRIs who came to Amritsar on Monday to campaign for AAP candidates here, Mann said, It is shameful that Captain has demanded a ban on the NRIs campaign in support of AAP in Punjab. It reflects that he is nervous over his defeat. He added, Thanks to the corrupt system which exists here due to politicians like Captain Amarinder Singh, these NRIs went abroad for their livelihood, and now have come here to save our home state. He also condemned deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badals statement that terrorists from foreign countries are funding AAP. Mann asked, Were freedom fighters also terrorists or radicals who came from Canada to India during Ghadar movement? Senior AAP leader from Canada, Jaskirat Kaur Mann, said to campaign in Punjab is our constitutional right and nobody can refrain us from doing that. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking on the Assam experiment of depending on turncoats in Manipur in its bid to end the Congress 15-year rule in the frontier north-eastern state. The BJPs first list of candidates for 31 of the 60 assembly seats announced on Monday figures six former Congress leaders, three of them having been ministers in chief minister Okram Ibobi Singhs Congress government. Also in the list are an import each from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the regional Manipur Peoples Party (MPP). But the BJP has left out women, who outnumber male voters by 42,891 in Manipur, from this list. Muslims too have been given the short shrift, though Md. Anwar Hussain has been fielded from the Lilong assembly seat. Lilong is one of four assembly seats where Manipuri Muslims, also called Pangals and comprising 6% of the states 2.72 million people, are the deciding factor. Three of these seats figured in the first list. Mondays list expectedly angered genuine BJP leaders who had been aspiring for tickets. By favouring borrowed candidates, the party has undermined the efforts of dedicated members in strengthening the base, a sulking BJP leader said. Wary of old-timers, the party has refrained from projecting a chief ministerial candidate in Manipur keeping in mind the face-off between the supporters of two leaders in December. But it had no qualms about accommodating the bankable leaders from Congress and the other parties. It was the formula that helped the BJP to form its first government in Assam with support from the regional Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland Peoples Front. A third of the 60 seats the BJP won in Assam in May 2016 are represented by those who had left the Congress and AGP. The six former Congress leaders who have been given BJP tickets are former minister Y Erabot Singh from Wangkhei seat, N Biren Singh from Heingang and Francis Ngajokpa from Tadubi, former MLAs Kh Loken Singh from Sagolband and Z Kijhonbou Newmai from Tamei, and former Pradesh Congress Committee functionary S Ranjan from Konthoujam. Likewise, former CPI leader N Mangi has been fielded from Kumbi and former MPP leader O Joy Singh from Langthabal. Among the few familiar candidates who have put in years with the BJP is former union minister Th Chaoba Singh, who will be contesting the Nambol seat. The BJP, it appears, is not done with turncoats yet. Two MLAs Nemcha Kipgen and Vungzagin Valte who resigned from the Congress on Monday are set to figure in the partys second list to be declared by January 27. Kipgen and Valte would be joining the BJP on Wednesday (January 25) in the presence of (general secretary) Ram Madhav and (Assam minister) Himanta Biswa Sarma, Biren Singh told Hindustan Times. The BJP is expected to field Kipgen from Kangpokpi and Valte from Thanlon, the very seats they had won in 2012. But the chances of Pradesh Congress Committee vice-president S Achouba, who also resigned on Monday, of being given a berth are bleak. Kipgen, though, could end up as the BJPs sole woman candidate. The BJPs first list of 31 candidates covers 20 seats where polls are scheduled in the first phase on March 4. The rest are in the second phase on March 8. The Election Commission (EC) has planned curfew-like security arrangements on February 3 and 4, the day Punjab goes to polls. We will step up security and it will be curfew-like situation, Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) VK Singh told HT. He said only candidates contesting the polls and voters would be allowed free movement in their constituency and outsiders would not be allowed. Candidates cannot have more than three vehicles in their convoy, he said. He said special police nakas would be set up to check vehicles so as to restrict movement of antisocial elements. Presently, three flying squad teams have been deputed in each constituency and on February 3 and 4, 15 such teams would be deployed, the CEO said. EC sources revealed that 280 companies of paramilitary forces have already arrived in the state and about 280 more would be in the state 72 hours before the polls. Punjab director general of police Suresh Arora on Monday held a meeting with police officials of neighbouring states Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Chandigarh and asked them to make special arrangements on their border nakas to check movement of trouble-mongers and flow of drugs, liquor and cash into Punjab. Also, the sale of liquor and its consumption at all the public places would not be allowed from 5pm on February 2 till the polling ends on February 4. CANT WITHDRAW KEJRIWALS SECURITY, SAY PUNJAB POLICE Days after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal demanded withdrawal of his security cover, Punjab Police on Monday said it was duty-bound to provide security to the Delhi CM whenever he visits Punjab. Police is duty-bound to provide security to all the threatened persons who have been categorised by the state government or government of India, Punjab additional director general of police (ADGP) VK Bhawrasaid. Bhawra was responding to a query, referring to Kejriwals letter to Punjab chief electoral officer VK Singh, in which he had sought from the Election Commission of India for withdrawal of police security provided to him. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON All returning officers (ROs) in three assembly constituencies of SAS Nagar district are women. Not only this, the nodal officer for disposing of poll-related complaints is also a woman. Ironically, there is only one female candidate from different political parties in the district. While 2014-batch IAS officer Ruhi Dugg is sub-divisional magistrate (SDM)-cum- returning officer, Dera Bassi, Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officers Anuprita Johal and Amninder Kaur Brar are holding the posts of retuning officers in SAS Nagar and Kharar assembly segments. Nayan Bhullar, a 2012-batch PCS officer, is ADC (grievances) is nodal officer of Sveep (Systematic voters education and electoral participation) and complaint cell of the election commission in the district. The biggest challenge is to be taken seriously by the staff, officers and the public. A female officer has to put in double effort, said Nayan Bhullar. She has been monitoring complaints filed through the election commissions online portal Samadhan. Till date, 146 complaints have been lodged in the district with of them being regarding the voters list. Of these, 145 complaints have been disposed of. For Ruhi Dugg, it is her first election as a returning officer. It is more of an advantage than a challenge. Being a female officer is an advantage as people hesitate in approaching us for undue favours, said Dugg. It was she who directed to withdraw the escort security of Dera Bassi MLA NK Sharma since he was using the same for public rallies. For Anuprita Johal, SAS Nagar returning officer-cumSDM, this would be her fourth election, including the 2014 parliamentary poll. The election commission guidelines are selfexplanatory. All we have to do is to implement them. We are just following the ECI directives and hence I am not facing any diffimost culty, she says. She made it sure that the political parties and their candidates take prior permission before hosting any kind of meeting with voters. She had issued notices to the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for hosting dinners without permission. For Amninder Kaur Brar, a 2012-batch PCS officer and Kharar returning officer-cumSDM, transition from a housewife to an officer was easy. It is our responsibility to ensure that the election code is not violated. It is the call of duty that we rise to the occasion. But for this, family support is a must and my family stands by me, said Brar, mother of a three-year-old.. Brar has ensured no vehicle is used for electioneering without prior permission. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Congress on Monday released its manifesto for the Goa elections in which it has assured banning all the casinos in the coastal state, including the floating vessels mounted with gambling dens. Floating casinos in Goas river will be closed permanently, reads the manifesto of Congress that was released by Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia in Panaji. Those on the shore too will be closed at a later stage, Goa Congress chief Luizinho Faleiro told reporters here in the presence of Scindia. He said in the first phase, offshore casinos which are currently in river Mandovi would be shut and in the second phase, onshore casinos would be banned. Responding to a question, Faleiro ruled out that such an action would affect employment prospects in the state. I dont think that there are much Goans working at these casinos, he said. Goa has six offshore casino vessels besides around a dozen of onshore casinos operating in five star resorts. The party in its manifesto also opposed holding of Defence Expo in Goa. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee strongly opposes holding defence expo in Goa or give permanent rights to the defence ministry to hold the land on lease or on ownership basis anywhere in the state, it reads. It has also assured investigations into all the permissions granted by Investment Promotion Board to set up industry here. All permissions granted under Investment Promotion Act would be inquired as soon as the party comes to the power after elections, the manifesto reads. We will declare an all out war on drugs and drug peddling in the state. The anti-narcotic cell will be upgraded and strengthened to take the fight to beaches and every corner of Goa, the Congress manifesto has said. In one of the prominent promise, Congress has assured free five litres of petrol per month for every college student having valid driving licence. The Congress has also assured to restore mining immediately incorporating the entire recommendation of the Supreme Court. The loan of one truck or tanker per family would be waived off, he said. With assembly elections scheduled for February 11 in the district and nominations out of the way, candidates are now gearing up to reach out to voters in their election campaign. Instead of relying heavily on social media, a majority of them will engage in traditional door-to-door campaigning to woo voters. We will start a chulha sampark (kitchen connect) in which our workers will gather and get in touch with women heads of the families in different localities. The door-to-door campaigning will be very effective and will be carried out extensively. We have also roped in bike riders for different segments who will carry out publicity campaigns, said Dr Manju Shivach, BJP candidate from Modi Nagar assembly seat. Other candidates are also relying on door-to-door campaigning to connect with voters. I have a strong team of young men who will visit different areas to campaign door to door. People will get a chance to personally meet the candidates they will be voting for, said Sultan Singh Khari, Rashtriya Lok Dal candidate from Ghaziabad City. Independent candidate Soma Desai said while she will be using the social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp, the personal touch is more effective. I will certainly be meeting voters personally. Candidates without any party backing or money have no access to SUVs to hold road shows. In such a case, my team members and I will conduct hectic door-to-door campaigning. Social media will also be used, but I think it cannot fetch you votes because there is no personal touch there between voters and candidates, she said. The candidates are also wary of strict screening of their campaign expenditure by the Election Commission (EC). The EC has set a limit of Rs28 lakh for candidates contesting the UP assembly elections. The district administration will also be monitoring social media this time and the campaigns carried out by the candidates. The expenditure estimated this way will be added to the limit set for candidates. Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Rashid Malik, who was recently booked for violating prohibitory orders and violation of election code of conduct in Loni, said he will now move to personal campaigning. In areas such as Loni, a majority of population is not tech savvy and lives in distant villages. I am now planning a change of strategy and will use door-to-door campaigning. This will also reduce expenditure, he said. However, former MLA KK Sharma from Congress said he will make equal use of social media and traditional methods. He added that the idea was to reduce expenditure against the limit set by the EC. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Union home minister Rajnath Singhs elder son Pankaj Singh on Tuesday filed his nomination for the Noida assembly constituency on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. For now it seems Gautam Budh Nagar MP Dr Mahesh Sharma , who accompanied Singh, has managed to settle the discord among the partys district unit where many were resenting the selection of a perceived outsider for the Noida seat and allotment of tickets for Jewar and Dadri to turncoats. All groups of the party were present during Singhs filing of nomination. On Tuesday, Singh offered prayers at the Sanatan Dharam Mandir in Noida and then proceeded to the collectorate in Greater Noida where he told mediapersons that all is well in the party. My plank is development and I will make efforts to meet the expectations of the voters together with our party workers. We all are united and there is no issue. I will take all workers with me and respect their views. Dr Sharma said, Pankaj Singh has a background of over 20 years in politics. He has been serving the party for a long time. Now, the partys Central and state committees have cleared his name for the Noida seat. We all welcome the decision and will try that he wins by an even bigger margin than we got in the past. When asked about the resentment among party workers, he said, All workers have the freedom to express their views. Once the party decides on the nomination, we all work unitedly. Speaking on Singhs candidature from Noida, Vimla Batham, who is the sitting BJP MLA from Noida, said, I am happy with the partys decision. I will support him wholeheartedly and ensure his win. Singh entered the collectorate to file his nomination papers around 11.20 am and stepped out around 12.30 pm. The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress, which announced an alliance on January 22 after finally coming to a consensus on seat sharing, on Tuesday made last minute changes to their candidates for Ghaziabads assembly seats. The Congress will finally be contesting from three seats in the district, and the SP from the remaining two. On Tuesday, two SP candidates Rashid Malik from Loni and Ram Asre Sharma from Modi Nagar filed their nominations at the district election office. The Congress had earlier declared the names of former MP Surendra Prakash Goel from Murad Nagar, Sher Nabi Chaman from Loni, former BSP MLA and now Congressman Amarpal Sharma from Sahibabad and former MLA KK Sharma from Ghaziabad City seats. With Malik filing his nomination, Chaman is out of contention for Loni. SPs Ram Asre Sharma, a former chairman of the Modi Nagar municipal corporation, filed his nomination papers and replaced SPs Ram Kishore Agarwal as candidate. We will now be going with two seats of Loni and Modi Nagar. Instead of Agarwal, we have decided to field Ram Asre Sharma as candidate, said Sajid Hussian, district SP president. In a show of support, Agarwal accompanied Ram Asre for filing the nomination papers. Whatever has happened has happened for the best. I have got full support from Agarwal ji, Sharma said. With the Congress-SP alliance taking shape, the stormy relationship between two former Congress heavyweights Surendra Prakash Goel and Surendra Kumar Munni took another rocky turn. Goel filed his nomination as Congress candidate from the Murad Nagar seat. Munni, a long-time Congressman, had recently switched sides to the SP to get a ticket. While his name had figured in one of the previous three lists issued by the SP, the nomination from the seat has now gone to Goel. I will still want him (Munni) to support me. People know me all over and in and around the district. For the past several decades, I have shared a deep bond with them. I will continue to work for development, he said. With Goel contesting, the hopes of another SP candidate, Dishant Tyagi, have also been dashed. His name had figured as Murad Nagar candidate in one of SPs earlier lists. He is considered close to the Shivpal Yadav camp in SP. On Tuesday, Tyagi arrived with his supporters and filed his nomination as an independent candidate. They dropped my name, but it would not be fair for me to join any other party. I am contesting as an independent from the same seat and will prove my support in Murad Nagar. I was denied the ticket for which I had worked hard on the ground, he said. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Amarpal Sharma filed his nomination from Sahibabad on Monday. Sharma is a sitting MLA who was recently expelled by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), after which he joined the Congress. From the Ghaziabad City seat, former MLA KK Sharma, a veteran leader, filed his nomination. From the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), last-minute nominee Sultan Singh Khari reached the collectorate on Tuesday and filed his nomination from the Ghaziabad City seat. With a candidate declared for this seat as well, the RLD will now contest all five seats in Ghaziabad district. The party was expected to form an alliance with Congress and SP, but that tripartite alliance didnt come through. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Upset over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) giving party tickets to turncoats, party functionary from Jewar, Pankaj Kaushik, resigned from the party on Tuesday. Kaushik, who spent 17 years with the BJP, said he has resigned as the party is doing nothing for Jewar assembly constituencys development. He also said that Gautam Budh Nagar MP Dr Mahesh Sharma, who is also Union minister of state for tourism and culture, is ignoring party workers and helped turncoats get tickets from Jewar and Dadri seats. I was very upset when the BJP fielded long-time Congressman Dhirendra Singh from Jewar. He had quit the Congress and joined the BJP on January 8. Suddenly, the BJP gave him a ticket, making a mockery of party workers who had put their blood and sweat for strengthening the organisation. In Dadri too, the party fielded Tejpal Nagar who was earlier in the BSP and the Congress, said Kaushik. The 47-year-old has worked as general secretary in Gautam Budh Nagars BJP unit and president of Greater Noidas Dankaur BJP unit. Dr Sharma had also appointed him as his representative in Jewar after becoming Gautam Budh Nagar MP. I thought the BJP would field a party worker from Noida seat as they already made mistakes in Dadri and Jewar. But now I realise that the BJP is not a worker-based party anymore. It is following the Congress model of dynasty politics. If you are close to a minister or the son of a home minister, you are eligible to get a ticket. You cannot get a ticket merely on the basis of hard work, dedication or loyalty to ideology, said Kaushik. He also claimed over 1,000 BJP workers are on their way to resign from the party along with him. Dr Sharma, however, denied Kaushiks claims. All his allegations are false and completely baseless. I have devoted enough time to workers and to my constituency. No other leader gives as much time to workers as I do. His leaving will not affect our party at all. As far as the issue of tickets is concerned, the Central leadership has chosen all three candidates. I had removed Kaushik as my representative a year ago as he was not working seriously, he said. On Sunday, BJPs district general secretary Sanjay Bali had resigned from his post in the BJP in protest against the party giving the ticket from Noida to Pankaj Singh, son of Union home minister Rajnath Singh. However, Bali was seen at Pankajs press conference on Monday and was also present on Tuesday when Pankaj filed his nomination papers at the collectorate in Greater Noida. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The venue for the January 29 rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been shifted from Ludhiana to Kotkapura. BJPs Ludhiana district president Ravinder Arora said the PM was supposed to address two rallies in Punjab, one each in Jalandhar and Ludhiana. The Jalandhar rally is being organised by the BJP while the Ludhiana rally was to be managed by the Akali Dal, which later changed the venue to Kotkapura, said Arora. Former PM Manmohan Singh will also visit the Atam Nagar constituency in Ludhiana on January 29 to address a political rally. RAJNATHS PUNJAB TOUR FROM JANUARY 24 Union home minister Rajnath Singh will canvass for BJP candidates in Punjab ahead of the February 4 assembly polls. During his two-day visit starting Tuesday, the senior party leader will campaign in Abohar, Fazilka, Ferozepur, Pathankot, Mukerian and Rajpura assembly constituencies. State BJP secretary Vineet Joshi said: Rajnath will address a public meeting in Abohar for partys candidate Arun Narang on Tuesday. The BJP is trying to win Punjabi voters hearts through the stomach with dollops of ghee. The party sweetened its atta-dal sop with a promise of highly subsidised desi ghee and sugar for the states 14 million below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries earlier this week. Now, they can look forward to getting two kilos of desi ghee at a mere Rs 25 a kg, and five kilos of sugar at a discounted rate of Rs 10 a kg. Wheat flour will continue to cost Re 1 a kilo. The BJPs ghee treat comes close on the heels of subsidised tea promised by state Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh. The BJP stuck to ghee packaged in saffron containers despite Sukhbir Singh Badal, president of BJPs poll partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), trying to push edible oil as a more cost-effective alternative to clarified butter. Unwilling to be trumped even by its own ally, the Akalis have now promised gaushalas in every district to keep the ghee flowing. The dole was probably inspired by Amritsar, a place known for its high consumption of ghee. The Punjabi love for Indian clarified butter is evident from the manner in which Verka desi ghee, the main export of the Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited, has become a worldwide success. The states passion for desi ghee laddoos forms the foundation for one of its most modern private universities. The owners of Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar had started off as traders specialising in this very variety of sweetmeat. The recall value of Lovely laddoos was so great that they decided to retain it in the universitys title. Experts are not amused by the BJPs offer. Economist Sucha Singh Gill, who is yet to receive his pension amount for the month from the Patiala-based Punjabi University, termed it competitive populism at its worst. This state is reeling under a Rs 1.25 lakh-crore debt. It has to borrow to pay the interest on its debt. Who, then, will pay for this desi ghee? Dr SS Johl, chancellor of the Central University of Punjab at Bathinda, called it one of the most absurd promises made in state politics. Why dont they promise mirch-masala and milk as well? he remarked. Devinder Sharma, founder of Kisan Ekta, a union of 65 farmers organisations, found the BJP poll promise funny. The saying, aapke munh mein ghee shakkar rings true now. The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) unveiled a raft of doles to woo farmers and the youth in its manifesto for the February 4 Punjab assembly polls, released here on Tuesday. It promises to acquire 1 lakh acres of land abroad including the US and Canada to settle Punjabi farmers, and also to financially assist students eager to study abroad. Closer home, it promises waiver of loans for small farmers. It says that if the party again forms the government, it will give Rs 100 per quintal on wheat and paddy as fertiliser input incentive in addition to the minimum support price (MSP). This, if implemented, will put an additional burden of Rs 2,700 crore on the state exchequer, calculated as per the most recent procurement 106 lakh tonnes of wheat and 165 lakh tonnes of paddy. The manifesto adds to the free-power dole too, promising 10-hour supply during the day. Already, the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government is giving a Rs 6,000 crore annual power subsidy to farmers. From two-wheelers to girl students and Rs 10 per kg sugar, to 35 lakh beneficiaries of the subsidised atta-dal scheme, to bringing general-category poor, marginal farmers and farm labour also under the ambit of a Rs 51,000 shagun scheme, the SAD has showered freebies on all key sectors. The 52-page manifesto that deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal released, comes after the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have already released theirs. It promises to help 50,000 young persons buy taxis at zero down payment, besides incentives to industrialists, women, the elderly, small and medium enterprises, traders, and ex-servicemen. As there are 29 lakh voters 17.44 lakh male and 11.56 lakh females in the 18-25 age bracket, the SAD has promised 20 lakh jobs in the government and private sectors by training 10 lakh youth in 2,500 skill centres. Further, the manifesto having pictures of the SAD symbol scales and Sukhbir behind his father and chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, reiterates that Badal has declared that as long as he is alive, he will not allow SYL (Sutlej-Yamuna Link) canal to be built. As for the land abroad, Sukhbir said, This will enable Punjabis to secure permanent resident status in those countries. With a group of NRIs from Canada already campaigning for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the run-up to the Punjab assembly elections, another group of non-resident Indians from the United Kingdom arrived here amid fanfare on Tuesday morning with the Flame of Hope. AAP in-charge of Punjab affairs Sanjay Singh, state unit convener Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi and Majitha party candidate Himmat Singh Shergill welcomed the NRIs at Sri Guru Ram Das Jee International Airport with a traditional musical troupe that beat dhols, singing Jituga bhi jituga ---jharu wala jituga (The party with the broom symbol will win). The NRIs, attired in T-shirts that read Chalo Punjab and Flame of Hope, joined the bhangra. The torch, called the Flame of Hope, was handed over to Sanjay Singh. The NRIs are here with high hopes. They want to create history by making Punjab free of drugs, corruption, mafia rule and want to revive its prosperity, he said. Ghuggi said, Around 100 years ago, Kartar Singh Sarabha, a member of the Ghadar movement who sacrificed his life in the freedom struggle, came to Punjab to free it of slavery. Today, thousands of Sarabhas are here for the second freedom struggle. Tejpal Singh, a resident of Lamington, claimed the group comprised more than 100 NRIs and more will follow. It is for the first time that NRIs have come to Punjab to campaign for a party. I have never been part of any political party but the situation in Punjab, contributed by politicians of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Congress, forced me to campaign for the AAP. I have no personal interest in this party and will return in a few days, said Jagjit Singh, an elderly resident of Birmingham. Another NRI, Lakhwinder Singh, said, The ideology of (AAP leader) Arvind Kejriwal appealed to us so were here to support his party. The NRIs headed for the Golden Temple before leaving for Majitha constituency where they held a roadshow in support of Shergill. Shergill is fighting Akali minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a high-profile contest. Actor Akshay Kumar has time and again emphasised on the importance of supporting families of martyred soldiers. A day before the eve of 68th Republic Day, the actor has sent out a heartfelt message for the Indian Armed Forces, through a video that he shared on Twitter that has gone viral on social media. Known for his philanthropic acts, the actor, through the video, has proposed the idea of developing a website or a mobile application, which will allow people to directly contribute and donate money in the bank accounts of the martyrs family. He said in his video message, This idea is directly from my heart. May be it is useless or can be a big hit. We should have a mobile app or a website, which connects the family members of a martyr soldier with someone who want to donate money. If a soldier of the Indian Armed forces dies on duty, then a verified account number of his family member would reflect on that site the very next day. It will also show the financial status of the soldiers family. Here I am standing up AGAIN for something I truly believe in coz THEIR well-being MATTERS to ME.I'd love to know if it does to YOU as well? pic.twitter.com/3Y5NPmTJhg Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) January 24, 2017 As proposed by Kumar, the account will close the moment it touches the amount of Rs 15 lakh. In his ever modest demeanour, the actor has also asked for suggestions from fans. You guys can tell me what you think about this idea. If you guys are with me, then with the permission of the Indian Armed Forces, I myself will anchor this mobile application and website, he said. In the same video, the actor thanked his fans for supporting him in his previous video, where he talked about respecting women. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON He may be called the King of Romance but superstar Shah Rukh Khan says he is now too old to do larger than life love stories. The 51-year-old actor has often been hailed for ushering in modern day romance with films like Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayege and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai among others and when asked if romantic films do not interest the audience anymore, Shah Rukh said the language of romance is different now. I think the times have changed a lot in terms of the language. Romance hasnt changed. I think people have less time. I also find this whole rightly-so pushed for equality I think creates more buddy-feel between men and women, Shah Rukh said in an interview. When you are buddies, you cant romance. There is a whole wave which I notice with youngsters, because I have kids and some young actors and actresses talk to each other very differently, he added. Bollywood Actor Shah Rukh Khan photographed inside the August Kranti Express from Mumbai Central. The actor was speaking en route Delhi in August Kranti Rajdhani train, last night. He is visiting the capital to promote his latest crime-thriller Raees. Shah Rukh feels there has to be some tenderness and chivalry in romance which is classic old school. Romance has to have a little formality. Whether its tehzeeb, going down on your knees, whether it is saying couplets in praise of a girl. I am from that school, I still believe in it. I think romance has to be formal. Aur phir kya kar rahi hai? It cant work like that, even if there is equality. The Fan actor says his forthcoming film with Imtiaz Ali will have a mix of both the old-world romance and the new language. I think I am too old for a romantic film now, of that genre. May be the youngsters will have to find language which has formality but still of today. May be in Imtiazs film it might be there because I am playing kind of my age, 40s, the lady of course Anushka is younger than me. There is this formality because he (Ali) belongs to that world, but the language is very Imtiaz. He is very modern thinking, has a different take on romance. While the actor may say it is the buddy-feeling between youngsters today which is opposite to the old-world romance, his film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai popularised pyaar dosti hai to the generation of 90s. When asked about the same, he said, It must be, I am sure, for some it works. I dont believe in everything that I do. My daughter calls me bro. I want to ask her, and everyone, do they say it to other boys also? I am not saying its wrong, its really cool. But romance requires a little bit of formality, space, enjoyment. From the days of walking on the beach holding hands, to under starlit night to full moon night. All the connotation of romance need time and formality. Directed by Rahul Dholakia, Raees is set to release on January 25. Follow @htshowbiz for more Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan arrived with a sullen heart at the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station in New Delhi from Mumbai on Tuesday to promote his upcoming film Raees. A relative of one of his colleagues died at Gujarats Vadodara station, which left the 51-year-old actor deeply saddened. When asked about the stampede at Vadodara, where fans were trying to catch a glimpse of the actor, SRK sounded sad and said the incident has saddened him. Its extremely unfortunate that someone has died, he said. One of our colleagues was travelling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Baroda. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate, he said. Shah Rukh Khan arriving at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station on January 24 to promote his upcoming movie Raees in New Delhi. (Waseem Gashroo/HT Photo) We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour, he said. Adding, We have some of our people with the family members there. Hopefully God will bless her soon. Shah Rukh Khan fans gather at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station to get a glimpse on January 24, who is to promote his upcoming movie Raees. (Waseem Gashroo/HT Photo) Even in Delhi, platforms 2 and 3 were choc-a-bloc with his fans. Since morning many have been enquiring about his arrival. I guess we have sold more platform tickets today than usual, shared Rita Chopra, the official at the enquiry desk of the railway station. Brothers Monu Kumar Yadav and Nirala Kumar Yadav, owners of a snack corner also sounded excited. The train was first supposed to arrive at platform number 4 but we got lucky that it would now come at platform number 3, smiled Monu Kumar Yadav. Even coolies, Phool Singh and Arjun Singh voiced the same excitement and were planning to click the star with their phones. The otherwise not-always-so-busy Nizamuddin station got cleaned and security checking was all prepped up. Areas were marked in white chalk dust, iron barricades were in place, Police personnel were holding ropes and bouncers formed human chains to make sure that Shah Rukh Khan enjoys a smooth departure. Just before getting their briefs, Mohammed Farooque and Sandip Sharma, bouncers on duty, shared their eagerness to make sure that Shah Rukh Khan gets proper security. We are ready to take care of SRK, they spoke in unison. Shah Rukh Khan fans gather at Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station to get a glimpse. (Waseem Gashroo/HT Photo) Some of SRK lovers shared that they had spent sleepless nights since the day it was announced that he is going to take the rail route to visit his hometown to promote the movie. Some of them also had gifts for the actor, while others flaunted posters and T-shirts having SRKs pictures on them. 21-year-old Hitesh Kumar was there for just a glimpse of the actor. I couldnt sleep last night as there was no way I could miss the opportunity, he shouted adding that even the news of stampede in Vadodara that claimed one life and injured many couldnt mellow his excitement as he was hopeful that such things wont happen in Delhi. The moment the train arrived, the crowd went crazy. Even a stream of bouncers couldnt hold back the mob. Shah Rukh accompanied by actor Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber finally got off the train amid much fanfare. Fans went into a frenzy as he waved and smiled. Mahinder Kumar Sharma, the pantry car manager said that in his career he had never experienced such a day. About what special was there on the menu he shared with HT, Chicken masala, Tandoori chicken, fish fry, aloo-gobi ki sabzi, aloo fry, fish fry, garlic chicken, rice, roti, juice, tea, coffee etc were there for everyone. We made sure to serve things hot and fresh. Many co-passengers were stopped and made to wait at the station till Shah Rukh Khan left. Among them were foreigners too. Katia Kheyfibs from Russia, who were travelling by the same train along with friends were happy to see fans of the actor going insane. I have never been witness to such insanity in my life. Im loving every moment of it. I saw the Indian actor (read Shah Rukh Khan) waving at people with this beautiful young girl (Sunny Leone). We really liked his handsome husband (Daniel Weber), she laughed. Producer Ritesh Sidhwani was also spotted with the team. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bill Gates, the co-founder of technology behemoth Microsoft, is on track to become the worlds first trillionaire, according to a report by Oxfam, the England-headquartered confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. To put things in perspective, the total gross domestic product of Indonesia is less than a trillion dollar. That means Gates as a trillionaire would have more wealth than what Indonesia produces in goods and services in one year. India, too, has a skewed proportion of wealthy people. The report quoted that Swiss global financial services company, UBS estimates that in the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over $2.1 trillion to their heirs, a tad less than the GDP of India, a country where 1.3 billion people live. Gates fortunes has risen by 50%, or $25 billion since he left Microsoft in 2006, despite his efforts to donate much of its in charity, the report said. Gates runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which works to improve education, world health and population, and around community giving. In the 10 years after Gates took up social work, his net worth has grown to $75 billion. The Forbes magazine calculates his net worth at $84 billion. If billionaires continue to secure these returns, we could see the worlds first trillionaire in 25 years. In such an environment, if you are already rich you have to try hard not to keep getting a lot richer, the report elaborated. The flipside: the huge fortunes in the hand of few is a clear evidence of inequality crisis, and is hindering the fight to end extreme poverty. India, too, has a skewed proportion of wealthy people. The report quoted that Swiss global financial services company, UBS estimates that in the next 20 years, 500 people will hand over $2.1 trillion to their heirs, a tad less than the GDP of India, a country where 1.3 billion people live. To keep the inequality under check, French economist Thomas Piketty has recommended a wealth tax. At 1.5%, Oxfam calculated that if all billionaires paid it, collections would be in the tune of $70 billion a year. The wealth tax can be further ploughed back into improving livelihood. Such revenues would be sufficient to get every child into school and provide the nurses, medicines and other health services to save the lives of six million children, the report added. Gates, however, has agreed to give away a proportion of his wealth for charitable purposes. A number of billionaires have agreed to join Bill Gates and give a proportion of their wealth away. While this is welcome, it does not substitute for adequate and fair taxation, a fact that Bill Gates himself has noted. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Tata Sons ousted Chairman Cyrus Mistry on Monday replied to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on the counter-allegations made by the holding company of the industrial conglomerate. The replies came through an affidavit which was filed by Mistrys investment companies to the NCLTs Mumbai bench. The rejoinder comes after Tata Sons had filed an over 200-page affidavit with the NCLT earlier in January, rebutting charges levelled against it by the investment companies of Mistry. Currently, the NCLT in Mumbai is hearing the petition filed by Mistrys investment companies. The Tata Sons affidavit, among other things, alleged that Mistry had under-performed as the Chairman of Tata Sons, which led to a decline in dividend payments to Tata Trusts. Further, the affidavit pointed out that the Board of Tata Sons had lost confidence in Mistry. Earlier, Tata Sons had been served with a petition filed before the NCLT by Mistrys investment companies under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act. On its part, Tata Sons has also served legal notice to Mistry, alleging breach of confidentiality and passing on sensitive information to his family-controlled companies. In another development on January 18, the top corporate tribunal had dismissed a petition filed against Tata Sons by Mistry for calling a shareholders meet to remove him as a Director on the companys Board. The NCLTs Mumbai bench had dismissed the petition filed by Mistrys investment company -- Cyrus Investment Private Limited. Tata Sons Board ousted Mistry on October 24, 2016 as its Chairman and appointed Ratan Tata as Interim Chairman. However, Mistry still remains a Director on the board of the holding arm of the $100 billion-plus group. Tata Trusts hold 66 per cent stake in the holding company of the Tata Group, with Mistrys family holding over 18 per cent interest. The petition had also sought an injunction against the proposed extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) which is said to have been called on February 6, 2017. The petition alleged that the company had violated NCLTs order dated December 22, 2016, as it called for an EGM by issuing a special notice on January 3, 2017. In response to the petition, Tata Sons that time had said: There is no contempt. We will make our submissions to the NCLT. Read| All you need to know about Cyrus Mistrys sacking as Tata Sons chief, aftermath Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Tuesday its president James Hogan will step down in the second half of 2017 after leading the fast-growing Gulf carrier for more than 10 years. The government-owned carrier said the move is part of a transition process initiated by the board of Etihad Aviation Group and Hogan last year. Australian Hogan became head of Etihad in 2006. Last year he was named president and chief executive officer of Etihad Aviation Group in a restructuring process. I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi, Hogan said in the Etihad statement. Hogan will join an investment company along with chief financial officer James Rigney, who will also leave the company later this year, the statement said. We look forward to (Hogans) continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways, Etihad Aviation Group chairman Mohamed al-Mazrouei said in the statement. The search for a new CEO and CFO of the group is already underway, the statement said. Under last years restructuring, the group named Peter Baumgartner as CEO of the carrier itself. In addition to Etihad Airways, the group has a range of businesses including Etihad Cargo, and airport services. The carrier that was launched in 2003 now has a fleet of 120 planes with 178 others on order. It serves 112 destinations. It said last month that it has began cutting jobs in a restructuring process to reduce cost amid tough competition and a weakened global economy. The company spoke then of a measured reduction of headcount in some parts of the business. Oil-exporting Gulf countries have felt the economic pinch as their revenues nosedived after crude price tumbled from above $100 a barrel in early 2014. Etihad has expanded rapidly and bought minority stakes in carriers around the world as it increased its share of global travel along with larger Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways. Etihad owns 49 percent of Alitalia, 29 percent of Air Berlin, 40 percent of Air Seychelles, 19.9 percent of Virgin Australia and three percent of Irish carrier Aer Lingus. It also has a 24-percent stake in Indias Jet Airways. President Donald Trump today formally pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as he signed an executive action to withdraw from the negotiating process of the 12-nation trade deal, one of the major international trade initiatives of his predecessor Barack Obama. Weve been talking about this for a long time...It is a great thing for the American worker, Trump said as he signed the decree to withdraw the US from the TPP, which aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century and bind US allies against growing Chinese economic clout. Trump had vowed during the campaign to withdraw the US from the Pacific trade deal which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing. Trump had said the free trade agreements were lopsided against the US and vowed to implement more protectionist trade policies as president, rallying voters to the polls with his America First slogan. The TPP was negotiated under former President Barack Obama, but never ratified by Congress, so withdrawing from it will not have an immediate, real effect on US economic policies, although it does signal a new and very different US outlook on trade under Trump. Its signatories -- Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Brunei -- together represent 40 per cent of the world economy. Fast tracking implementation of his campaign promises, Trump also signed two other orders including freezing the hiring of federal workers and hitting foreign organisations that provide abortions. The Wall Street Journal said the move was largely symbolic, because congressional leaders and the Obama administration had signaled in November that no near-term vote would be held on the TPP. Top Republican Senator John McCain described Trumps decision as a mistake. President Trumps decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. This decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets, and protect American invention and innovation, he argued. It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it, he noted. Abandoning TPP is the wrong decision. Moving forward, it is imperative that America advances a positive trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific that will keep American workers and companies competitive in one of the most economically vibrant and fastest-growing regions in the world, McCain said. However, Democratic Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown described this move as one that would reboot the manufacturing sector. Throwing out TPP is the first necessary step in overhauling our trade policy to put American workers first, said Brown. As an old West Asia hand, I could hardly have missed the significance of Chinese President Xi Jinpings trip to the region a year ago, which included stops in Riyadh, Tehran and, perhaps most significantly, at the Arab League summit in Cairo. With American influence in West Asia fading under US President Barack Obama, and Russia taking on a larger role in regional affairs, the Chinese leader seemed to be signalling that Beijing, too, wanted a seat at the table. At the summit, he surprised (and delighted) the assembled delegates by announcing Chinas support for a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. China firmly supports the Middle East peace process and supports the establishment of a State of Palestine enjoying full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders, Xi said. We understand the legitimate aspirations of Palestine to integrate into the international community as a state. Read | Chinas economy grows at 6.7% in 2016, its slowest in 26 years Xis speech, a sharp departure from Chinas long-standing foreign policy practice of eschewing intervention on political matters, set off much speculative discussion among those of my ilk. Could it be that Beijing was finally ready to earn its place among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and actually play a useful role in solving a major international problem? It was just conceivable that China could use its growing economic clout in West Asia to start a new, meaningful process of negotiations between Israel and Palestine, with the approval of Saudi Arabia and Iran the two other stops on Xis trip. Why should China bother? After all, it had been very well served by its business-only foreign policy. Since a sudden attack of altruism could be ruled out, some West Asia experts speculated at the time that there were compelling economic reasons for Beijings venturing into the international political arena. The argument went thus: China depends heavily on West Asian oil and gas, the steady supplies of which depend heavily on the political stability of the region, which in turn depends heavily on American policing; with Washington no longer willing to perform that function, Beijing might reasonably conclude that economic interests required it to shake off its political inertia. Read | US President Donald Trump to speak to PM Modi as India hopes to build on US ties There were other signs that China was taking on greater responsibility on the world stage. Its contribution of troops to UN peacekeeping missions had more than doubled, to 2,800 and Xi had committed to increasing the number to 8,000 troops, or one-fifth of the total. (Indias contribution, in case youre wondering, comprised 6,750 troops, 900 police, and 60 military experts.) The Chinese president had also pledged $1 billion to create a UN Peace and Development Trust Fund. I was reminded of the heightened expectations of Chinese leadership last week, when Xi visited the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It was the first time a Chinese president has attended, and the timing was propitious. The audience of global grandees was, much like the gathering at the Arab League, anxious by the American retreat from responsibility for world affairs. And as he did in Cairo, Xi gave the appearance of a man with a plan. China, he said, would champion the cause of globalisation, in the face of strong nationalist, isolationist political movements throughout the West. Beijing would lead the effort to maintain trade and economic stability, and would do its upmost to prevent a trade war with Donald Trumps US. Read | Post-truth and alternative facts: Welcome to Donald Trumps la-la land The gathering of capitalists was reassured by Xis assurance that they could do business as usual in his country, as much as they were charmed by his quoting Charles Dickens he described the current state of world affairs as the best of times, the worst of times, an allusion to A Tale of Two Cities. Many were apparently willing to overlook some of the more egregious contradictions in his speech; you have to wonder, for instance, what the representatives of Google and Facebook made of his claims to Chinas openness. Most of the audience for Xis speech have by now returned home to their daily routines, and many will have left their heady optimism at the high altitude of Davos. They will also have abandoned any hope that the new occupant of the White House might temper his language and attitudes upon swearing in: Trump has made it clear that he intends to follow through on his America First and anti-globalisation agenda. As the jet-lag from the long trip fades away, the Davos set is left with the realisation that China cannot be a substitute for the US during the worst of times. Read | India ranks low as global influencer while US, UK, Japan remain on top: Report Thats not to say these wont be the best of times for Beijing. There are plenty of scenarios in which Beijing benefits from Washingtons withdrawal from international alliances, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was designed to restrain Chinese ambitions. Trumps isolationism will also allow China to bully its smaller neighbours. But beyond Xis rhetoric, Beijing has not yet demonstrated any interest or ability in being a solver of prickly international problems. Which bring me back to that speech in Cairo. In the year since, Chinas trade with Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran has continued to grow. But Beijing has done nothing to move the needle on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beijing has its seat at the table, but as ever, it is content to sup while others suffer. Bobby Ghosh is editor-in-chief of Hindustan Times Twitter: @ghoshworld SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chairperson of state council for other backward class, Santosh Kashyap, along with three other senior Congress leaders joined the opposition BJP on Tuesday. Other three Congress leaders who switched allegiance to BJP are former state Congress general secretary Ram Kothari, its OBC cell chairman Chandra Shekhar Kashyap and Uttarakhand Congress committee secretary Haji Dilshad Ahmad Qureshi. The defections come at a time when the assembly election is less than a month away. Kashyap, the Congress OBC face from Haridwar, is the 15th prominent Congress leader to join the opposition party. Former minister and prominent Dalit leader Yashpal Arya and his son Sanjiv had joined BJP recently. All the four Congress leaders joined BJP in the presence of the partys national vice-president Sham Jaju at the party state headquarters here. Former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, a new entrant in the saffron party, was also present on the occasion. Later at a press conference, Kashyap questioned chief minister Harish Rawats decision to contest the assembly election from Haridwar (Rural). The party (Congress) should have given ticket to some of its local OBC leaders from that assembly constituency, Kashyap said. Instead, the chief minister himself grabbed that seat betraying the members of the entire other backward class. Kashyap warned Congress that the OBC community will teach Rawat a lesson by sealing his defeat from Haridwar-Rural constituency. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Created in 2008, Bhimtal assembly constituency has till now witnessed only one election in 2012. While BJP won the seat, the election process saw the emergence of BSP as a player in the hill politics. Bhimtal was created by adding up some portions of the now-abolished Dhari and Mukteshwar assembly constituencies and the existing Nainital constituency following delimitation in 2008. The creation of this new assembly segment led to a shift in the political dynamics too. While Congress former MLA from Dhari, Harish Chandra Durgapal relocated his politics to Lalkuwa (SC) seat, then sitting MLA from the same seat, Govind Singh Bisht of BJP, shifted his activities to Bhimtal. However, in 2012 polls, the saffron party gave the ticket to Daan Singh Bhandari instead of Bisht, who was also education minister in the BJP government. Bhandari defeated the nearest rival, BSPs Mohan Pal, by nearly 6,400 votes even as Congresss Ram Singh Kera stood third. However, Bhandari shifted his loyalty to Congress in May 2016 his move coming at a time when Harish Rawat government was jolted by the rebellion of its nine MLAs who defected to the BJP leading to a political turmoil in the state. For 2017 polls, BJP has placed the bet on Bisht while Congress has nominated Bhandari. Although BSP is still in fray, but, analysts say that this time battle for Bhimtal seat is mainly between Congress and the BJP. Bisht will be reaching out to the people with a campaign questioning Bhandari over his defection to the Congress. The party will also ask Bhandari to explain why he failed to top do any development works in the area. BJP is also banking on anti-incumbency against the Harish Rawat government. Bhandari, meanwhile, claims he left BJP after seeing how the party-led central government was trying to dethrone an elected government in the state. Besides my shift to the Congress party on moral grounds, I will tell people how Rawat government has given a sound network of roads to the constituency. Four hospitals and community health centres (CHCs) have been created in the constituency. Apart from this, Rawat government has resolved to develop the hill constituency into important tourism area, said Bhandari. Dalits are a prized segment of voters in Uttarakhand, where especially BJP has gone the extra mile to woo the community which accounts for 18.8% of electorate. Uttarakhand has 13 reserved seats. In 2012 assembly elections, Congress won six seats, BJP five and BSP two. Out of the five reserved constituencies in Kumaon, Congress won three and two went to BJP. More than 20 seats have a sizeable population of Dalits where their votes can be very crucial in deciding fate of candidates. Not surprising, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made Almora Lok Sabha MP Ajay Tamta a union minister of state in the second expansion of Cabinet in July 2016. On Modis birthday, BJP held a series of social welfare programmes for the poor including Dalits to celebrate Sewa Diwas. Dalit sammelans (conferences) were held in all 70 assembly constituencies. To cap it, the opposition party weaned away former revenue and irrigation minister Yashpal Arya from Congress and gave tickets to him and his son Sanjeev. BJP spokesperson Bindesh Gupta said the party was following the ideals set by Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. We will bag most of the reserved seats and get a major chunk of votes from the community as the people have realized our commitment to the welfare of Dalits, he asserted. But it is not BJP alone that is trying to win over the community. BSP supremo Mayawati will address two rallies in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts in February. Dalit and Muslims, the BSPs traditional vote banks, form a sizeable population in these two districts. BSP state president Bhrigurashan Rao said his party alone can give wings to aspirations of Dalits. There will be very surprising results this time. Dalits have understood that those pretending to be their friends are foes and they will vote tactically to elect candidates of their choice, he said. Congress too is not fart behind in its attempt to consolidate its voter base among Dalits. Pradeep Tamta of Congress became the first Dalit leader friom Uttarakhand to be elected to Rajya Sabha in June last year. In fact, Tamta is the only prominent Dali face left with Congress after Aryas exit. Congress spokesperson Hukum Singh Kunwar conceded that the value of Dalit votes is well known in Uttarakhand. Congress is a true friend and well-wisher of Dalits. We have got a major chunk of their votes in the past, he said, hoping Dalits would vote for the party as it remained committed to its promise of their development. Three members of a family were injured when a bus carrying them from a wedding party was hit by a truck in southwest Delhis Cantonment area early on Tuesday, police said. The 19 occupants of the bus were returning to their homes in south Delhi after attending a wedding in west Delhis Mayapuri on Monday. The injured include two women and a man, all relatives of the groom who lives with his family in Lajpat Nagar. The impact of the collision was such that both the vehicles overturned at the traffic intersection. The driver abandoned his vehicle after the accident and fled. Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Surender Kumar said the injured were rushed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and are out of danger. The officer said they are still ascertaining the exact sequence of events that resulted in the collision. Though the truck driver appears to be at fault, it is not a case of jumping the traffic signal, Kumar said. He said fog could also have caused the accident. Delhi Police has said that Shoaib Kohli was allegedly driving his BMW car at a speed of at least 100 kph when he crashed into an Uber cab killing its driver in south Delhi on Sunday. Kohli, a 24-year-old analyst with a multinational food firm based in Gurgaon, was arrested on Monday afternoon from his home in Panchsheel Park. He was released on bail late in the night. Ishwar Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South), told HT on Tuesday that Kohli has said that he lost control of his car that night because of the speed. The accused was driving at a speed of 100-125 kph while the WagonR was barely moving at 40-50 kph. That stretch of the road is not such that you can drive at a high speed, said the DCP. WagonR driver, Nazrul Islam (32), was found dead after the crash near Munirka flyover around 11.30pm on Sunday. Even as the locals gathered to revive Islam, Kohli managed to flee from the spot in an auto-rickshaw, leaving behind his mangled car. Police said he was booked for causing death due to negligence and rash driving at Vasant Vihar police station. Both offences are bailable. Investigators revealed that immediately after the crash, Kohli had emerged from his car to check Islams condition. But with people gathering at the spot, he got scared and escaped in an auto after mingling with the crowd, said a senior investigator. Kohli has told his interrogators that he allegedly intended to visit the police station on Monday morning to confess about his involvement in the accident. However, he told the police was identified and nabbed before he could surrender. Armed with the registration number of the BMW, the police had approached the Chandigarh transport department as the vehicle was registered there. Even as efforts were on to trace the owner of the vehicle, a policeman found a few fuel bills inside the badly-damaged BMW. One of the bills had his fathers phone number. When his father was summoned by the police, he was found unaware of the accident. He immediately identified the damaged BMW and said his son was driving it the previous night. He said his son would be found at home, said the officer. It turned out Kohli had not told his parents about the accident until his father was called to the police station. In a rare situation, if the WagonR, which was hit by a BMW X5 on Sunday night had an airbag, the driver might still be alive, or would have escaped with some injuries. Uber cab driver, Nazrul Islam, was in front of the BMW, which was being driven by 24-year-old Shoaib Kohli. At some point near Munirka, in South Delhi, when Kohli lost control over his 2,204-kg German luxury SUV, it went and hit Islams 825-kg WagonR. It was Islams first day as an Uber driver. Like most taxis in India, Islams cab did not have any airbag. On collision, the WagonR flung in the air and dragged for 50 metres before it hit the ground. Even in an accident like this, a research and engineering head of one of the automobile companies said, the driver would have in all probabilities survived, if the car had an airbag. The engineering head added that at the time of the collision, when the airbag opens up, it also fixes the driver in a particular position, restricts his movement, and also protects the head, chest and the shoulders. Kohli survived, as the airbags opened up. Islam died on the spot. So what is the price of saving a life. The starting price of an airbag is 35,000, but most Indians go for a middle variant in small cars, which doesnt have an airbag. Almost 100,000 car accidents happen in India every year. The government is looking at overhauling car safety norms, but it is not known if that would include mandating airbags in cars. Its high time that the government mandates airbags. It will increase life expectancy during an accident by 70%, said Abdul Majeed, partner with London-headquartered PwC consultancy firm. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON This gang of cheats shuttled between Delhi and Hyderabad and travelled regularly by flight. They trapped people with lucrative phone exchange offers online and duped them by handing over fake phones in exchange of old ones. On Monday, the Delhi police, busted the gang and arrested the 32-year-old kingpin, identified as Ashraf, a resident of Mustafabad in Delhi. Police said Ashrafs network operated in Delhi and Telangana. He travelled back and forth between Delhi and Hyderabad via air for this. They suspect it helped him throw the cops off scent and entrap prospective customers. With Ashrafs arrest, the police claim they have solved two cheating cases registered in Delhi and 10 in Telangana. Vijay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police, west district, said that the gang members used to advertise at a popular online marketplace. Their advertisements read: For sale or exchange of mobile phones. They were active in Delhi and Telangana, said the DCP. The kingpin of the gang, Ashraf, was arrested by Delhi police on Monday. Kumar said that the arrest came after head constable Vikas was tipped off that Ashraf, who had been evading arrest, would be at Subhash Nagar Mor in West Delhi. A team was formed and it laid a trap near Woodland Park in Subhash Nagar Mor. Ashraf was caught as he arrived on a scooter. He was carrying a mobile phone which he had stolen from Delhis Bhajanpura area, said Kumar. During the questioning, Ashraf disclosed that he used to deceive people by luring them at an online marketplace. He, along with his associates, fled with the original mobile phone or cash after handing over dummy mobile phones to the unsuspecting victims. In 2015, he was arrested along with his relative Gulzar while they were trying to cheat a customer. His other associates were arrested by the Telangana Police whereas Ashraf was on the run. Telengana Police have been informed about Ashrafs arrest, said the DCP. At least 19 members of a family, including four women and a child, were injured when a bus carrying them back from a wedding celebration allegedly rammed a truck in southwest Delhis Cantonment area early on Tuesday, police said. Seven people received severe injuries in the accident. Lakshmi Devi (54), Lakshmi (45), Upasna (34) and Moksha (eight months) were admitted in AIIMS Trauma Centre. Meena (50), Radheshyam (55) and Sajid (30) were rushed to Ganga Ram Hospital, the family said. Also Read | BMW accident: Five other infamous luxury car mishaps on Delhi roads The accident took place around 1.50 am at the intersection point of Thimayya Marg and Cariappa Marg, when over 30 occupants in the bus were returning to groom Manish Guptas house in Lajpat Nagar from west Delhis Mayapuri. The impact of the collision was such that the bus overturned at the traffic intersection. The drivers abandoned their vehicles and fled. Locals brought the victims out of the bus and called the police. Those who were trapped inside the bus recall that when the vehicle overturned, every item and every person fell on one side. It was so sudden that at first I didnt understand what had happened. The collision had numbed my senses. Then the screaming began, said Shweta Agarwal, Manishs distant relative. She was sitting in the second row inside the bus and escaped unhurt. Agarwal added that there were at least 20 women and 10 children in the bus. The marriage ceremony was going to last all night and children were half asleep already. As our work was over, we decided to go home with the kids and boarded the bus around 1am, Agarwal said. Deputy commissioner of police (southwest), Surender Kumar, said the injured are out of danger and efforts are on to nab the drivers. Both vehicles were speeding. The truck was behind the bus and the accident occurred when the bus driver turned left and hit the truck. Both vehicles have been taken into possession and a case has been registered at Delhi Cantt police station. The drivers of the truck and the bus are absconding. They will be nabbed soon, Kumar said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Delhi Universitys Hansraj College will hoist a monumental flag on its campus, almost a year after central university vice-chancellors decided to fly the Tricolour atop a 207-feet mast in all their premises to evoke nationalistic sentiments on campuses. Hansraj College will become the first DU college to hoist a monumental flag on Wednesday, principal Rama Sharma said. According to the Flag Foundation of India, DU is the first public university in India to get a monumental flagpole, said Shahnawaz Khan, CEO of Flag Foundation of India. Read: Largest tricolour atop tallest mast to be hoisted in Raipur Last year in February, HRD Minister Smriti Irani chaired a meeting of around 39 vice-chancellors of central universities and decided that all universities will hoist national flag atop a 207-feet mast. The meeting was called in the wake of the suicide of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad, which had triggered a nationwide outcry over alleged social discrimination on campus. The decision came against the backdrop of a controversy over an event in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. The flagpole has been installed at Delhi Universitys Hansraj college. It is similar to the one installed in Connaught Places Central Park, Khan said. The flag will be hoisted by Naveen Jindal, Member of Parliament and President, Flag Foundation of India. Hopes for revival of trams in the Walled City has renewed with the high court-appointed nodal officer of Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Project directing Shahjahanad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) to prepare a comparative study of plying of trams and electric-buses (e-buses). Earlier, the Delhi government had planned to reintroduce trams as public transport in Chandni Chowk area. However, the idea was dumped citing high infrastructure cost and the government had instead decided to ply e-buses. Read: Dilli-6 | When trams ruled Purani Dilli There is a need to evolve environment friendly transport system operating on electricity/battery. The options between battery-operated buses and the tram-like system as recommended by the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) will be discussed in the next meeting. The SRDC should prepare a comparative statement touching on the cost, capacity to handle traffic and bring it in the next meeting, said the minutes of the meeting which held pursuant to the Delhi high court order. The directions came during the SRDC board meeting held last week. Both proposals are likely to be deliberated in the next meeting to be held in first week of February, said a source. Union science and technology minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the money is not an issue and he will arrange funds from the Central government for the project. The tourism and culture ministry has its own funds which it gives for various projects to promote culture and tourism. I will request the minister in-charge to allocate funds for the tram project. I will not leave this project. I have been following this for long, said Vardhan, who is also MP from the area. Read: After 50 years, trams likely to make a comeback in Chandni Chowk In 2015, the DMRC was assigned the job to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for bringing back trams in Chandni Chowk and its vicinity. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia also visited the area to check the feasibility of the proposal. In its report, the DMRC had found the running of trams in streets of Chandni Chowk possible. It proposed 4.3 km of tramline in the area, including 1.6 km elevated track. Around Rs 60 lakh were spent on the study, however the proposal was scrapped in September 2015 citing high cost which was estimated at Rs 800 crore, a senior Delhi government official. He said, the PWD minister suggested electric buses as an alternative, which was accepted by the board despite resistance by others. A few of members were of the opinion that to revive lost glory of old Delhi, trams should be restored. Finance department also opined before scrapping the idea of trams, a comparative study should be made. And, the decision to ply e-buses was taken. Nevertheless, no development has taken place in this regard, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Suspended JNU student Dileep Yadav who has been on hunger strike for the past three days was rushed to hospital by police on Monday even as students alleged that he has been abducted. Yadav is among the nine students who were suspended by the university last month for allegedly disrupting an academic council meeting. He has been on hunger strike demanding that the suspension of these students be revoked. Students alleged that Kumar was today abducted by police and JNU administration, a charge denied by both. A student who has been on a hunger strike for the last three days has been literally abducted from campus by the police and JNU admin. Repression is real. Where a fellow student, Najeeb disappears after being beaten up by ABVP activists, teachers are threatened, student activists punished and even democratic means of protest like hunger strikes are trampled upon, the JNU student union said. According to a senior police official, The student was not taken forcefully. Seeing his critical health conditions, he was shifted to hospital in the universitys ambulance for emergency medical attention with local police assistance. A bill aimed at granting statutory powers to IIMs, enabling them to give full-fledged degrees, received the Union cabinets approval on Tuesday. Until now, the 20 premier management institutes in the country had been awarding post-graduate diplomas to their students. The human resource development (HRD) ministry may table the proposed draft of the Indian Institutes of Management Bill 2017 in the budget session of Parliament. The bill provides for complete autonomy to the IIMs, combined with adequate accountability. Currently, all IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act. Being societies. IIMs are not authorised to award degrees and, hence, they have been giving postgraduate diploma and fellow programme in management. Though these diplomas are treated as equivalent to MBAs and PhD, they are not universally acceptable. Shortly after the Cabinet decision was announced, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted that it was a historic decision to give IIMs real autonomy and grant degrees. Historic decision to give IIMs real autonomy&grant degrees.We trust excellence&quality.This reflects vision of ModiGovt for higher education Prakash Javadekar (@PrakashJavdekar) January 24, 2017 Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted: The IIM Bill, which was approved by the Cabinet has been prepared with the aim of furthering excellence in these premier institutions. According to sources, the draft bill will also grant the board of governors the power to order a probe against an IIM director if his institute was not performing as per the provisions of the proposed Act. The investigation will be conducted by a person not below the rank of a high court judge. The proposed draft said the board must evaluate the performance of a new institute within the first three years of its establishment, and every few years after that. The institutes will be managed by a board, and each will have a chairperson and director who will be selected by the board. The President of India will not be the visitor in IIMs, as is the case with centrally-funded institutions such as the IITs and central universities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Will the United States and United Kingdom continue to attract international students? Donald Trumps attitude to outsiders and immigrants and the Theresa May-led UK governments recent visa policies indicate that the going might get tough for young Indians firming up their study abroad plans. According to Phil Baty, editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, a surge in populist feeling against foreigners and immigrants in the US and the UK, and dramatic changes to the political landscape at the back of such sentiment, is likely to harm both countries as destinations for all international students. After Donald Trumps election was confirmed, Times Higher Education witnessed increased website traffic to pages featuring Australian and Canadian universities. We have already seen that restrictive visa policies and hostile rhetoric in the UK has led to a serious and alarming drop in the number of Indian students coming to study in the UK. Such moves could be seriously harmful to both American and British higher education. One of the things that makes both countries thrive in global rankings and which makes their universities the envy of the world is that the universities themselves are committed to being truly open and truly international, welcoming talented people from all over the world, Baty says. Fewer foreign students would hit Western universities not just financially, but intellectually and culturally, to the detriment of both nations, says Baty. In this scenario, it is however, very important to stress that university leaders and universities remain absolutely committed to welcoming international students. Students who ignore the rhetoric from politicians would still be made very welcome in UK and US institutions. Only last week, in Davos, I was talking to Subra Suresh, the India-born president of Carnegie Mellon University in the US, one of the very best in the world. He was determined to stress that the US and UK, both opportunities available to him when he first came to the US as a postgraduate student must remain open to todays students and future students, adds Baty. Universities in the two countries have been running social media campaigns seeking to reassure international students that they very much welcome. These include #weareinternational and #youarewelcomehere. US and UK have witnessed contrasting trends with at least four places of origin India, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Hong Kong. Ten times as many Indian students are studying in the US as in the UK. American higher education institutions are more dependent on China and India as compared to British institutions. Rahul Choudaha, co-founder of DrEducation, a US-based research and consulting firm specialising in international student mobility trends and enrolment strategies, says while the UK has an advantage over the US in attracting international students from Nigeria, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, it cannot underestimate the Indian market because of its scale and growth potential. UK faces stiff competition for Indian students against the US, which experienced a dramatic increase in the number of Indian students primarily in engineering and computer science fields. With Brexit, the post-graduation employment and immigration opportunities will become more restricted. It is likely to hurt the enrolment for the masters programmes for non-EU international students and undergraduate programmes for EU students, he adds. Despite high quality and reliable reputation of the British higher education system, unwelcoming immigration policies are very likely to hurt the attractiveness of the UK as a study abroad destination. UK universities rely heavily on international students for meeting its enrolment goals. The competing destinations like Australia and Canada with more welcoming immigration policies may benefit from this turbulence, says Choudaha. Experts also say that the US and the UK, for somewhat the same reasons, will become less attractive to international students in the near future. There will be a variety of implications of the Brexit mentality in the UK and Trumpism in the US, likely making visas somewhat more difficult to obtain. According to Prof Philip Altbach, founding director, Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, although no one knows the details yet, The rhetoric relating to internationalism in both countries is already changing. On the other hand, both countries will remain among the largest host countries or international students the quality of universities, the use of English, among other factors, will continue to attract students. Other English-speaking host countries, such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, are likely to be more attractive. Some European countries may also benefit by a decline of the US and UK. And some potential international students may decide to stay home, says Prof Altbach. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With Paris Mens Fashion Week coming to an end on the night of January 22, we pick out five of the big trends in the autumn-winter collections. The young ones Youth may be wasted on the young, as Oscar Wilde once quipped, but style isnt, insisted the Paris shows, which went all-out to capture the hearts of millennials. Rarely have the catwalks been so focused on teens and twenty-somethings. The hoodie conquered all and skate kid chic was everywhere, with Japanese brand Facetasm going so far as to send its models out with what appeared to be fake acne. The slogans that ran through The Etudes, Lanvin and Chinese brand Sankuanz shows were pure teen spirit, Never mind, Nothing and Destroy. Diors Kris Van Assche, whose show was a rallying call for a new tailoring aimed at the young, summed up the adolescent fascination. I have always been drawn to the moment when boys become men and they are still clinging onto to dreams, desires and freedoms and havent yet slipped into the straitjacket, he told AFP. Logos A model presents a creation by Dries Van Noten during mens Fashion Week for the Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection. (AFP) Not since the 1980s heydey of bling branding has fashion had such a fascination with logos. Dior, Loewe, Balenciaga, Andrea Crews, Louis Vuitton, Icosae and even tastemaker in chief Dries Van Noten went logo a go-go. Like much else these days you can blame/credit Georgian trendsetter Demna Gvasalia and his Vetements collective, who name-checked no less than 54 big brands in its last show. Gvasalia was up to his old logo banditry tricks in his show for Balenciaga, appropriating Bernie Sanders campaign logo, much to the US Democratic Party senators amusement. There was less to smile about at Vuitton, where its collaboration with the super hip US street label Supreme had decidedly mixed reviews, with the New York Times calling it the fashion version of a murder-suicide. Women everywhere Women models present a creation by Givenchy during Mens Fashion Week for the Fall/Winter 2017/2018 collection in Paris on January 20. (AFP) This was supposed to be mens fashion week, but with so many women also on the catwalk you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. Mixed and gender-fluid shows have been a thing for a while, but now it has almost become the rule to have a few women models in mens shows, much to the chagrin of some like Diors Van Assche who claims mens clothes are losing definition. Once he builds that wall, maybe President Donald Trump could come over and help restore some male pride. He does after all have his own Trump mens clothing line. Vive the Establishment A model presents a creation by Paul Smith. (AFP) The establishment may be a dirty word politically right now yet fashion cant get enough of its stuffy symbolism. The in colours of burnt gold, rust brown and red are nothing if not upper class, and aristocratic Prince of Wales overcheck tartan turned up in all sorts of unlikely places. You would think you were at a grouse shoot looking at some of the fabric Paul Smith, Agnes b, Officine Generale, Alexandre Mattiussi, Kolor, Loewe, Berluti and Haider Ackermann put out. Upper crust dandies abounded, most memorably at Ann Demeulemeester, with pinstripes also figuring strongly even among such cutting edge labels as Christian Dada and Henrik Vibskov. Trainers with everything Overall, however, informality was king Paris being far too cool to be casual about anything. There was almost no formal wear at all apart from a handful of red-carpet two pieces at Agnes b and the odd outfit that might do at a stretch at Berluti, Ann Demeulemeester and Wooyoungmi. Dress suits and evening wear appear to be over, trodden into the ground by the onward march of trainers, which were matched with everything from the couture heights of Dior to Balenciagas Frankenstein office suits to Vuitton, no longer a synonym for well-heeled where footwear is concerned anyway. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more As a young ambitious woman, how often does it happen that you are at a family wedding and pop comes the question: when are you getting married? If you happen to be married, then the obvious question becomes: when are you having a baby? Alas, that baby question can completely off-balance anyone. Is it not? And sadly, thats the time in your life (in your 20s leading up to 30s) when you are going for the kill in your career. Thats the time when you are most productive and growth is the fastest. But, it is also the best time to have babies. Working women in their 20s and 30s invariably are faced with a tricky issue of the biological clock. So what exactly is it? Is there a clock in us that is ticking? Typically, biological clock has to do with a womans reproductive years time when she can have babies. The accepted age is up to 35 (though science can make even a 50-year-old Janet Jackson a mom). But that, many would say, is the upper limit. Anything above that is generally considered dangerous. And the sad reality is that your biological clock and career clock work in totally opposite direction. The 20s and 30s is the time when growth in your career is the fastest. (Shutterstock ) Dr Charanjit Kaur, senior consultant, obstetrician and gynaecologist, Sukhda Hospital in South Delhi believes biological clock is a reality and procrastinating (delay in having babies) is definitely not a good idea. The best time to have babies is of course between 20s and 30s. A woman is young and has the vigour to have babies. Sadly, the scary trend I have been noticing is that women are opting for their first pregnancy at around 32-33 years. Having a baby after 35 is wrought with problems fertility count goes down, lifestyle diseases like diabetes and blood pressure have to be factored in and the risk of abnormal births is high. So, what does one do? Pick one over the other and make peace? Not really. Women are choosing to go the middle path. Khyati Nayyar Chauhan, assistant manager, American Express India Pvt Ltd, Gurgaon says despite knowing about the issue, she is not bogged down by it. She believes she will have a baby when she has to. However, she agrees that the best age to have a baby is between 28 to 30 years. I agree that the biological clock and career clock are diametrically opposite to each other. But I dont worry too much. At the moment, I have put off pregnancy for career as I want to go one level up and then plan on having a baby when I am more settled. The good thing is my husband is very supportive. Many aver that women often have an urge to have babies. Its called hormonal urge, even baby fever, sometimes. Khyati does believe that there is an urge. At a certain age, hormones do act up in a way that women show an eagerness and willingness to have babies. Some are of the opinion that women at a certain age have a strong urge to have babies. Its sometimes called baby fever. (Shutterstock) Not all agree though. Sunanda K Malik, AVP - Talent Marketing & Communication, Genpact certainly doesnt think so. I dont believe in hormonal urges to have babies. Its driven by society and age-old wisdom and I dont see anything wrong with that. There is a time to have kids -- when you are fit and able to run around after them. It takes energy especially after a hard day at the office. And also when you feel you are ready to take the responsibility of an additional person (or twins as in my case). Thats it. And wisdom tells you that this period is typically a few years after you have been married. However, not everybody is willing to buy this argument especially about the right age. Aashi Rastogi, creative consultant, television shows & digital media, Mumbai feels there is no right age really. I think the right age is when you are ready. Women are having babies at 40 also. More than hormonal urge the pressure comes from family, friends planning their families and the confidence to shoulder an additional responsibility. These are the principle considerations for having a baby. The pressure is insane but then that has not affected my husband or me. That brings one to the question as how well can women manage biological work vis-a-vis career. Aashi is clearly optimistic. She says, Nowadays the organisations have become empathetic towards woman. They allow you a 2-6 months break post delivery. Women are multi-taskers; so they can handle anything. The concept of father-leave post the 6th month of childbirth should also be incorporated. Men will then have equal share and like women they will also share equal responsibility. Late pregnancy comes with a whole host of problems. (Shutterstock) Sadly, Dr Kaurs experience has been different. In her various interactions with patients, she finds that women getting into the role of a provider (as against the nourishing role), nuclear families and dual income households is coming at a very big cost. Sunanda, on the other hand, believes that while they can be an overlap, it could work in ones favour. I think it can be to ones advantage. Your earning power goes up so you can provide better for your kids. You have been working long enough to build credibility in the company or industry and therefore can afford to take time off or follow a more flexible schedule without anyone questioning your commitment. You have learnt the ropes of managing teams and other stakeholders and running things efficiently at work and that experience certainly helps manage the additional responsibilities that come with having kids. There is also a growing tribe of women, single or married, for whom the issue is irrelevant. Freelance writer Rohini Singhal (name changed) says since her husband and she are open to adoption, talk of biological clock is actually a non-issue. She also believes that much of this is actually who you are and what you believe in. As a woman, I have never felt that I would be incomplete without a child. It is also a fact that science has come to the aid of society with many new discoveries and inventions. IVF and egg freezing (Oocyte Cryopreservation) are two options available to women opting for a late pregnancy. This writer tweets at @mniveditatweets Follow @htlifeandstyle for more It is real good news for smokers who often look for obscure health benefits of nicotine to validate their addiction. Now you have science backing you. Turns out nicotine may help restore the brain activity of people suffering from schizophrenia, a psychiatric disorder that affects 51 million people worldwide. The findings of a new study showed that when mice with schizophrenic characteristics were given nicotine daily, their sluggish brain activity increased within two days and within a week it was normalised. Since the repeated administration of nicotine restores normal activity to the prefrontal cortex, it could pave the way for a possible therapeutic target for the treatment of schizophrenia, said lead author Uwe Maskos from Integrative Neurobiology of Cholinergic Systems Unit or Institut Pasteur a French non-profit private foundation. The chemical combinations responsible for our emotions. (Shutterstock) It has been observed that schizophrenic patients often use smoking as a form of self-medication to alleviate the deficit symptoms caused by their disorder or to combat the serious side effects of their treatment lethargy, lack of motivation, etc. Patients with schizophrenia 80 to 90 per cent of whom are often heavy smokers have impairments in the prefrontal cortex the brain region associated with cognition, decision-making and working memory. Recently, the genetic mutation CHRNA5, which encodes a nicotinic receptor subunit, was identified as being associated with the cognitive impairments in schizophrenic patients and with nicotine dependence. In the new study, scientists introduced the human CHRNA5 gene into mice with the aim of reproducing the cerebral deficits that characterise schizophrenia, namely behavioural deficits in situations of social interaction and while performing sensorimotor tasks. The results showed that mice with the CHRNA5 mutation had reduced activity in their prefrontal cortex. The drop in activity measured in this model is similar to that observed in patients with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and addiction, the researchers said. The study was published online in the journal Nature Medicine. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more Actor Mel Gibson, 60, and his girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 26, have welcomed a baby boy (his ninth child) in Los Angeles on Saturday. Gibsons representative said the baby had been named Lars Gerard. Director Mel Gibson and Rosalind Ross arrive at the 22nd Annual Critics' Choice Awards in Santa Monica, California. (REUTERS) Theyre thrilled and Lars is adorable. Their family is all around them and Mel is over the moon. Theyre home and everybody is healthy and happy, the representative said. Rosalind Ross, left, and Mel Gibson arrive at the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. (AP) Gibson shares seven children with ex-wife Robyn Moore, to whom he was married for 26 years. The Hacksaw Ridge director has one daughter from his relationship with Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva. Follow @htshowbiz for more Ukraine expects that Finland will stick to the principled position regarding the implementation of the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline by the Russian Federation, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said. "Talking about energy cooperation, we look forward to a Finland's principled position on the Nord Stream 2 project. The so-called commercial attractiveness of the project carries a number of political risks," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki on Tuesday. British Indian actor Dev Patel, who received an Oscar nomination in the supporting actor category for Lion on Tuesday, said he is feeling overwhelmingly grateful. The London-born actor, who shot to fame with Danny Boyles 2009 Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, plays an Australian-Indian who tries to find his lost family in India through the help of Google maps. Im sitting here with my mouth wide open figuring out how this happened. Im feeling overwhelmingly grateful right now, Patel told BBC following the nomination. Lion is based on the real life memoir of Saroo Brierley titled A Long Way Home and he took six months to prepare for the role which he believes is a career-defining part for him. Talking about his role in the Garth Davis-directed drama, Patel had told PTI that it felt really good to be recognised. The film has opened people to my potential. After Slumdog Millionaire, it was really hard for me to get quality work. You think it would be easy but it is actually quite a struggle. I felt pigeon-holed. But I kept working hard and have been patient for many years now. So, when a role like this came, I gave everything that I had to do justice to it. It feels really good when it is recognised, Patel said in a recent interview. Lion, which co-stars Nicole Kidman, is also nominated in the Best Picture category alongside awards favourite romantic musical La La Land, Arrival, family drama Manchester by Sea, Moonlight, war movie Hacksaw Ridge, Hidden Figures, African-American drama Fences and Hell or High Water. The 2017 Academy Awards ceremony will take place in Hollywood on February 26. Follow @htshowbiz for more A youth aspiring to be a jawan in the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) died of cardiac arrest after a long distance physical endurance test. Harekrushna Sahoo (23) of Dhenkanal district ran the 1,600 meters race at the 6th OSAP ground on Monday. The race was part of his physical test for recruitment into the 9th IRB, the police said. Soon after completing the race in requisite time, the aspirant while taking rest under a tree, complained of chest pain. He was immediately rushed to the nearby SCB Hospital from where he was shifted to a private hospital under the guidance of his relatives. But, the youth died, said an official of the recruitment Battalion. Relatives of the deceased, however, alleged that Sahoo was not given proper first aid and was not taken to the hospital on time. Actor Rimi Sen joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya in New Delhi on Tuesday. Soon after joining the BJP, Sen showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not only me but the entire nation is inspired by Prime Minister Modi. I will go wherever the party needs me. The government has given us a responsibility and we will fulfill it, Sen told ANI. Bhojpuri actress and model Kashish Khan has also joined the party. The Allahabad high court on Tuesday directed the principal secretary, social welfare, not to issue Scheduled Caste certificates to candidates belonging to 17 OBC sub-categories, as recommended by the Uttar Pradesh government in December. The court asked the principal secretary to circulate the order among officers in all districts to ensure compliance. The bench comprising Chief Justice DB Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by the Dr BR Ambedkar Granthalaya Jan Kalyan Society. The petition challenged the inclusion of candidates from 17 Other Backward Classes (OBCs) sub-categories in the SC list. The petitioner said that if the state government issues SC certificates to such candidates, they would be able to contest assembly election on seats reserved for SC category. Advocate general VB Singh said the state government had neither issued nor it would issue SC certificate to 17 OBC candidates who were recommended by state government for inclusion in SC list during pendency of the petition. The petitioners counsel said the Constitution empowered the central government to make such amendments and include a category in the SC list. Such a decision taken by the state government is violative of Article 341 of the Constitution. The state government cannot initiate the process of inclusion of a caste in the list of Schedule Caste on its own, he said. The state government issued a government order on December 22, 2016 for inclusion of 17 castes under OBC category in the list of Scheduled Castes. Thereafter, the personnel department of the state government issued a notification on December 31 to this effect and ordered to provide all facilities of SC to the 17 OBC category candidates, the petitioner said. The state cabinet had recommended inclusion of Kahar, Kashyap, Kewat, Nishad, Bind, Bhar, Prajapati, Rajbhar, Batham, Gaur, Tura, Majhi, Mallah, Kumhar, Dheemar and Machua sub-castes in the SC category. The court fixed February 9 as the next date of hearing. Suspected armed militants on Tuesday ambushed a convoy of trucks and oil tankers along a national highway which connects Assam with the Manipur capital Imphal, a police officer said. There were no casualties despite fierce exchange of fire between the security forces and the tribal militants near Khongkhang around noon, the officer said. About 300 trucks and oil tankers proceeding from Jiribam, adjacent to Assam, under armed escort of Central Reserve Police Force and Seema Suraksha Bal personnel were attacked along NH-37, the officer said. The militants chose a difficult section of the highway with numerous hairpin bends to launch the stealth attack on the commercial vehicles. One loaded oil tanker was punctured by bullets but did not explode. A driver present on the scene said: It took over 30 minutes to plug the bullet holes, as petrol was gushing out of the tanker. The vehicles were halted during this time. As the security personnel, escorting the vehicles, retaliated, the militants fled. Additional forces were rushed to launch a combing operation. The militants are believed to have fled to the mountains, a security personnel added. Some weeks ago, two drivers were injured in a similar attack while some vehicles were also damaged as the militants fired from automatic rifles. However, no arrests were made. There have been ambushes of police personnel in the Imphal-Moreh sector of the Trans Asian Highway-1, claiming lives of some personnel and injuring several others. Recently, tribal militants also opened fire killing a civilian and injuring three others in Noney district along NH-37. The police said a similar ambush was carried out by NSCN(IM) militants also. The Manipur government has said despite its request for 60 companies of central paramilitary forces, only 29 companies were sent to Manipur to escort vehicles along NH-37. As there is no security cover along NH-2 that passes through Nagaland, the route has remained impassable. Kolkata Police on Tuesday once again summoned Union minister Babul Supriyo in a case filed against him by Trinamool Congress MLA Mahua Maitra, after Supriyo, during a debate on a television channel, asked Maitra whether she was drunk. Supriyo, the Union minister of state for heavy industries, was asked to be present at the Alipore police station, but he informed Kolkata Police that he would not able to do so on Tuesday due to his ministerial preoccupations. The incident is being seen as the result of escalating tension between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in West Bengal. Following Mitras complaint, police slapped a case against the Lok Sabha member from Asansol under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code that relates to use of obscene words or gestures against a woman. The police action comes against the backdrop of the BJPs state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar being arrested by Bidhannagar police for allegedly taking money from examinees in a teachers eligibility test. Majumdars arrest was seen as a tit-for-tat in response to the arrest of two TMC MPs, Tapas Paul and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In recent public meetings, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had referred to such moves against BJP leaders in the state. Incidentally, this was the second time that Kolkata Police summoned Supriyo. Summons was also issued for Supriyo to be present on January 12, but the Union minister had refused to comply citing preoccupations with Sansad Mela in his constituency Asansol. The entire controversy started after Supriyo, during a debate on a television channel, in which Maitra was also participating, asked whether she was drunk. The topic of the debate was the arrest of Trinamool MPs, Sudip Bandopadhyay (on January 3) and Tapas Pal (on December 30, 2016) by the CBI in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam. Maitra took offense at Supriyos comment and filed a complaint against the Union minister, alleging that he insulted her on a media platform. After the complaint was filed, Supriyo said the Trinamool legislator was behaving in a childish manner. Incidentally, Supriyo has too filed defamation cases in New Delhi against Trinamool MPs Saugata Roy and Tapas Pal, after his house at Kolkata was attacked by alleged Trinamool activists protesting against the arrests of the two party MPs. Leaders of two other opposition parties in West Bengal, Left Front and Congress, took the issue lightly. Every day, BJP and Trinamool leaders are getting involved in fights. We are watching the theatrics every day, said state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Twentyfive years after the Bara massacre in Tekari block of Bihars Gaya district, the scars of the ghastly incident are still fresh. They are too deep to be healed and will forever remain etched in our memory. President Pranab Mukherjees recent order commuting the death sentence of four persons convicted of killing 35 upper caste men on February 13, 1992 has only opened up fresh wounds, said survivors of the horrific carnage that followed a series of caste-related violence in the state. It has reminded us of the ghastly incident. We respect the Presidents decision, but justice has eluded us for 25 years. Relatives of 11 victims are yet to be employed on compassionate ground, as promised by the then government, said former sarpanch Madan Sharma, who lost his uncle in the carnage. Yogendra Sharma, who sustained injuries in the incident, said the decision had revived the memories of the dreadful night. Nearly a thousand Maoists arrived at Bara village and asked all male members to assemble at a temple for meeting at around 9 pm. What happened after that was heart-rending. They tried to slit my throat also, but by the Gods grace, I survived, he recalled. Two of the seven others, who survived with him, later succumbed to their injuries. Some other villagers said most of the promises made following the massacre had remained unfulfilled. We will never get justice. The delay has denied justice to us, said one of them. In a rare gesture, the President recently set aside the Union home ministrys recommendation and commuted the death sentence of four Bara massacre convicts. READ: Prez commutes death sentence of four Bihar massacre convicts READ: Govt lost mercy petition of 4 Maoist convicts on death row The Gaya district and sessions court had awarded death sentence to Krishna Mochi, Nanhe Lal Mochi, Bir Kuer Paswan and Dharmendra Singh alias Dharu Singh on June 8, 2001 in connection with the massacre allegedly by the Maoist Communist Centre, now CPI (Maoist). The Supreme Court endorsed the death sentence in April 2002. The Union home ministry, based on recommendations of the Bihar government, had recommended on August 8, 2016 that the mercy petitions of all the four be rejected. The President, however, commuted their death sentence. Officials at Bhagalpur Central Jail, where they are currently lodged, said the mercy petitions of the death row convicts were dispatched to the President on March 3, 2003. Meanwhile, Krishna Mochis wife Chandramani Devi and Paswans brother Karu expressed happiness at the Presidents decision. The Bara massacre is believed to be the fallout of six previous killings in 1990-91 in which 59 Scheduled Caste men and agricultural labourers were killed. In 1997, the upper castes allegedly carried out a revenge attack for the Bara massacre, leaving 58 Dalits dead in Lakshmanpur-Bathe. In the Lakshmanpur-Bathe case, incidentally, all the 26 upper caste accused convicted by a lower court were acquitted by the Patna high court on grounds of inadequate evidence. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three BJP leaders, including the district chief, were booked after they violated the Model Code of Conduct in Khatoli town here ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls next month. Cases against the partys district chief Rupendra Saini, city president Prashant Deshval and trade union leader Ankur Singhal were lodged after they held a meeting near a polling centre without the administrations permission, station house officer KP Singh said. In another incident, the police lodged a case against BJP candidate from Budhana assembly constituency Umesh Malichand for using a loudspeaker and possessing lathis during a procession before filing his nomination papers in Muzaffarnagar, the police said. They said the procession was taken out without permission. Vijay Mallya, the liquor and aviation tycoon, was charged on Tuesday with conspiracy and fraud connected to a Rs 9 billion loan granted by a government-owned bank, a Central Bureau of Investigation spokesperson said. The head of the Force India Formula One team and a former owner of Indian Premier League cricket team Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mallya moved to Britain last March after being pursued in courts by banks seeking to recover about $1.4 billion the authorities claim is owed by his Kingfisher airline. The CBI, in its chargesheet, accused Mallya of diverting from India Rs 2.54 billion intended for the now-defunct airline. In total, charges were brought against Mallya and nine other people, as well as the airline itself. A former chairman and managing director of the government bank, IDBI Bank Ltd , was arrested along with another four bank executives on Monday. The CBI also arrested the airlines chief financial officer and three senior officials. The CBI spokesperson said the officials would be held in judicial custody until Monday, pending a bail hearing. A spokesperson for Mallya coud not immediately be reached for comment despite calls and a text message. The arrests made were the first since 2014, when the CBI initiated an enquiry into loans provided by the bank to the already debt-ridden airline. The Mallya case has emerged against the backdrop of regulatory scrutiny over bank loans to over-extended companies. Read | Mallya to appeal against tribunals recovery order: Kingfisher official The diplomatic passport Mallya was issued after his Rajya Sabha membership was revoked in April 2016 following a non-bailable warrant for his arrest. Authorities had sought ways to have Mallya, who has said he is living in forced exile, deported by Britain. In an interview with Reuters in 2016, Mallya said that he owed half of what was being reported. He also said he would return to India on the condition that he was assured of a fair trial... if at all there needs to be a trial. The CBI action against Mallya may open the doors for India to begin work on a formal extradition process, after Britain rebuffed Indias deportation request last year. The CBI refused to comment on possible extradition proceedings when contacted by Reuters on Tuesday. Read | Mallya questions partiality of investigating agencies under corruption-free PM Accusing the Modi government of luring voters ahead of polls, Congress on Monday urged the Election Commission to take appropriate steps to ensure a free and fair election by fulfilling its constitutional duties so that no allurements are announced by it in the budget. Congress also welcomed the constitution of SIT by Supreme Court for probing the charges against former CBI director Ranjit Sinha in the coal block allocation scam. Modi government had a stellar record of politicising every issue for announcement of huge doles of money before elections. Mr Modi and his government are being guilty of continuously vitiating electoral process. We hope and we clearly say that it is the responsibility of the Election Commission and they must abide by their constitutional duty to ensure that polls are free and fair, that no kind of inducements which will impress upon the voter in the election in the five states would happen, Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar told reporters. Noting that the fundamental requirement for a healthy democracy is that any kind of inducements or action that vitiates free and fair poll should be avoided at all costs, he said, We would request and believe and hope the Election Commission will live up to its constitutional responsibility. The Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking postponement of the Union budget from February 1 on grounds of upcoming Assembly elections in five states. On the constitution of SIT, the Congress spokesperson said strict action should be taken against the guilty in the case and welcomed the action taken by the Supreme Court. Congress has always welcomed any action taken in pursuit of justice and to find the wrong doers is a step in the right direction but if you remember the coal scam and investigations during our time were court-monitored. It was being conducted by the CBI. So, it is critical that whatever instructions are given by the Supreme Court should be followed in letter and spirit, he said, hoping that strict action against the guilty is taken. In fresh trouble for Sinha, the Supreme Court constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the allegations of abuse of authority prima facie committed by him to scuttle investigation and enquiries in coal block allocation cases. A Supreme Court bench observed that a prima facie case has definitely been made out for probe into the abuse of authority by Sinha. The European Union will issue EUR 800,000 for the repair and equipment of administrative services centers, Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Martin Hagstrom has said. "If the services are provided on time, qualitatively and comply with the regulations, this will raise the level of public confidence in the centers and will confirm the best relations between citizens and the state," Hagstrom said during the signing of memoranda of cooperation between the representatives of 14 communities and SKL International, implementing the initial phase of the U-LEAD project "Establishment of administrative services centers and increasing public awareness of local self-governance" in part of development of administrative services centers, funded by the EU and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The ambassador also noted the funds allocated would be spent on repairs of premises, technical equipment for the centers, as well as training staff and informing the public about the activities of the centers. Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli, in turn, expressed hope that as many communities as possible will join the decentralization reform in 2017. The U-LEAD project provides for improvement of administrative services at the local level and strengthening the capacity of implementing reform policies by the key subjects at the national, regional and local levels. Your weekly cash withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 is likely to continue for another three weeks to a month before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finally decides to relax the cap. The central bank, however, could double the daily withdrawal limit at the ATMs after a detailed analysis of transaction patterns and payment modes, sources said. The RBI has increased the withdrawal limit at the ATMs thrice since the announcement of the demonetisation of bank notes of Rs 500 and 1000 denominations on November 8. But the weekly limit has been maintained at Rs 24,000. The cash situation is near normal and in the next one month, the restrictions would be eased considerably, a senior government official told Hindustan Times seeking anonymity. Read | Deposited over Rs 2 lakh after demonetisation? You may get multiple tax notices Sources said that the central bank may increase the withdrawal limit from the ATMs to align it with the weekly cap of Rs 24,000. The move aimed at taking pressure off the banks. Cash withdrawal caps would depend on the cash supply. Going by the status at present, it looks that the limit could be eased around middle to end February, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser of the State Bank of India. Between November 9 and December 30, Rs 15.4 lakh crore was sucked out of the system while the Reserve Bank of India pumped in Rs 9.2 lakh crore. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is likely to ask RBI governor Urjit Patel to come up with a time frame for the removal of restrictions on cash withdrawals. The panel, which quizzed Patel last week, is expected to call him again along with the top finance ministry officials and bankers after the presentation of the Union Budget to further brief it on demonetisation. Though Patel has said the restrictions are temporary, pressure is building on him to provide clarity on the supply of new currency notes and cash withdrawal restrictions. According to a SBI study, 75% of the total value of the scrapped currency notes was likely to be pumped back into the system. By end February, over 80% would be back, the study added. Read | Demonetisation: Banks, ATMs in need of cash after RBI raises withdrawal limits SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ahead of Republic Day, Indian army personnel deployed along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri districts Sunderbani sector shot down an alleged militant and foiled an infiltration attempt early on Tuesday. "The troops deployed along the LoC detected movement of terrorists along the border. The alert troops engaged the infiltrating terrorists with effective automatic fire while drawing heavy retaliatory fire," said an army officer. One militant was killed in the operation while the rest in the group fled across the border to Pakistan, he said. The body of the militant has been recovered from the border with his weapon, said the officer, adding that the army response assumes significance in light of the fact that there have been a large number of intelligence reports coming in regarding possible attacks around Republic Day on January 26. The officer added that the army is keeping constant vigil across the LoC. The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to Tamil Nadu government and the state police over reports of unprovoked excesses committed by the forces in quelling the pro-Jallikattu protests in Chennai. The NHRC said on Tuesday it has issued the notices to the chief secretary, Chennai Police Commissioner and Director General of Police of the state, and sought reports in the matter in two weeks. The Commission in a statement said that it has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports that after the passage of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill,2017 in the state Assembly, police, without any prior caution, resorted to beating, arresting and damaging private property in order to disperse a large number of people gathered at landmark places in Chennai in support of Jallikattu. Violence had broken out in the capital and other parts of Tamil Nadu as police cracked down on protesters, even as the six-day long Marina uprising was called off on Monday after the state Assembly passed a bill to replace the ordinance, thus allowing the banned bull taming spot of Jallikattu. The Commission observed that unprovoked police action amounts to violation of human rights. The people of Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai, had been conducting protests over a week demanding conducting of the bull-taming sport, associated with Pongal festival reflecting Tamil culture. All through, the protest was peaceful... The visuals on television news channels showed that police set on fire the huts, autos, motorcycles, vegetable shops on streets and other properties in interior streets in Chennai, the NHRC statement said. Bleeding students ran for their lives. Police even entered into the houses and started beating people indiscriminately. The police blocked major routes leading to Marina Beach as well as Chennai city, it added. A week-long agitation in support of Jallikattu appeared to have ended across Tamil Nadu on Tuesday as protesters moved out of Chennais iconic Marina beach and other places a day after the government legalised the bull-taming sport despite a Supreme Court ban. The relative peace came a day after violence rocked Chennai and other parts of the state when police evicted protesters shortly before the assembly hurriedly passed a new bill, amending a 57-year-old law to bypass the court ban on Jallikattu. The government move is seen as a step to pacify Tamils, many of whom consider Jallikattu rituals as an integral part of the communitys history and culture and had agitated for lifting of the court ban. Police said only a handful of protesters, described as members of pro-Tamil and pro-Left organisations, remained at the seafront which had seen the congregation of lakhs of people over the past few days. Reports from around the city said traffic movement was normal during the morning rush hour and schools and colleges some of which were closed for the agitation witnessing near full attendance. Attendance in offices was also normal. Read More| Ravichandran Ashwin, scared of Jallikattu row, takes metro from Chennai airport Police said they were going through CCTV footage to identify people involved in Mondays violence when nearly 100 vehicles were allegedly set ablaze by stone-pelting protesters. 90 policemen were also injured in the incident. There were allegations of police highhandedness and use of excessive force against peaceful protesters. Police also face charges of dragging out people from houses located near the beach. Chennai police commissioner S George has denied the allegations and said there were some miscreants in the congregation of youth and students at Marina beach and police had only targeted them. We could see some anti-social elements enter through the sea route to foment trouble at Marina beach. From early morning, we made appeals to the students to disperse, but to no avail. It was only after that the police began evicting them. Minimum force was used to evict the protesters, he said at a media briefing late on Monday evening. Read More| Jallikattu reflects poorly on India: PETA India CEO after bullying The top court ruled the sport illegal in 2014 and refused to hear a challenge to that decision last week, leading to the protests which began peacefully. However, the new bill remains open to judicial scrutiny as animal rights experts are most likely to challenge it, experts said. Since Jallikattu events resumed on Sunday, at least three men were gored to death and dozens injured across the state. Animal rights activists say the sport is also cruel and unsafe to the animals, who often have chili powder rubbed into their eyes and have their tails broken as crowds try to grab them. The Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the case again later this week. (With agency inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Actor and filmmaker Kamal Haasan, who has been supportive of the protests over the Tamil sport of bull taming, said the stir was a collective expression of discontent and anger. This is not a sudden outburst. It happened because we found a reason. We have always been looking for reasons, Haasan said on Tuesday, a day after Jallikattu protests were withdrawn. The actor, who took on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for opposing the protests, further said the agitation, by no stretch of imagination, be called anti-national. Citing the historical stir for a separate Tamil land, Haasan said, Were they anti-national? Haasan was critical of Mondays police action by which the largely peaceful protests turned violent following a crackdown. Referring to the Tamil land protest again, he said women and children were absolutely safe then, unlike the Jallikattu agitation. In fact, police action against the peaceful protests was unwarranted, Haasan said. He felt that the government ought to have communicated the intricacies of the legislation to the students. I was invited to come for the stir, but I did not visit the venue as it would amount to taking away their limelight, he added. In fact, it was his tweet on this that was taken as guidance by most of the film fraternity that maintained a distance from the protests. Poorva Joshipura, the CEO of PETA India, responded to Haasans criticism of first attempting to stop bull riding rodeos before focusing on Jallikattu, saying her organisation helps animals only in India as the name suggests. In a statement issued on Tuesday, she said, PETA US has been working to stop animal abuse in the US since 1980s. Bullfighting and activities associated with Rodeo, which Haasan refers to, are also against law in many states. PETA Europe has made bullfights in many areas of Spain illegal. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON As many 168 people onboard a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai had a narrow escape after the tail of the aircraft hit the runway on landing at the Dhaka International airport last week, prompting the airline to take the pilots concerned off duty. The B737-800 aircraft has been grounded and a team from Boeing company is expected to visit Dhaka to assess the extent of damage to the plane while engineers from Jet Airways has already started the assessment, sources said. The incident, which happened on January 22, has been reported to aviation regulator DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). DGCA sources said Bangladeshs aviation authorities are expected to investigate the incident since it happened in Dhaka. According to them, if the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Bangladesh, which is the countrys aviation regulatory body, decides not to probe the incident, then AAIB may take up the investigation. When contacted, Jet Airways confirmed the tail strike incident. The flight 9W-276 from Mumbai to Dhaka had 160 guests and eight crew members when it had a tail strike on landing at Dhaka airport on January 22. There were no injuries to guests or crew, all of whom deplaned safely, the airline said. In a detailed statement, Jet Airways also said the crew of the flight has been placed off roster in order to assist with the investigation as a standard practice. The aircraft, B737-800, is currently being inspected by the Jet Airways engineering team at Dhaka before it is brought back for routine operations. Aircraft Accident investigation Bureau (AAIB), which comes under the Civil Aviation Ministry, is the apex body for probing accidents, serious incidents involving Indian aircraft. Further, Jet Airways said it continues to offer all cooperation to support the investigation in its aircraft incident. After Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasreens impromptu session at the Jaipur Literature Festival drew a minor protest here, festival organisers said they will consider the protestors request of not reinviting her, a statement said. They expressed their anger... I heard them out. Explained we supported minorities in every way. Underscored that we are a platform for all points of view. Agreed that we should consider their request not to reinvite them, Sanjoy K Roy, producer of JLF, said. Protesting organisations including Rajasthan Muslim Forum, All India Milli Council, Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim Personal Law Board, had said yesterday that the writer, who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, was a disputed personality. They demanded that no invitation must be extended to the writer again. Nasreen is a disputed personality. JLF organisers did not name her in the schedule in JLF booklet. Organisers played hide and seek game and police administration too supported her and allowed her in a session. So we had gone to protest. We had a meeting with organisers where producer Sanjoy Roy promised that they will not provide platform to Salman Rushdie and Nasreen from next year, Mehrunnisa Khan, state president of Women India Movement, had told PTI. Taslima participated in a surprise session titled, Exile at the festival yesterday, the speakers for which were not revealed until the morning of the concluding day, presumably to avoid the sort of protests that rocked the pink city 10 years ago, when the writer was refused shelter in the city after being driven out of Kolkata by the West Bengal government. The festivals co-director William Dalrymple had appeared unwilling to disclose much. I vaguely knew that she was coming, was the most he would offer when asked by the media about Nasreens unscheduled appearance. During her session, Nasreen batted for a Uniform Civil Code as a tool for empowerment and said the Islamic society needed to be more tolerant towards criticism to make progress. It is necessary for Islamic society to be tolerant and accept criticism without which they cannot progress. Uniform Civil Code is urgently required for empowering people with human rights, she had said. Upholding the freedom of writers around the world, she slammed religious fanatics, saying she did not believe in terms like nationalism or religious fundamentalism. I dont believe in nationalism, religious fundamentalism. I believe in one world. I believe in rights, freedom, humanism and rationalism. Until Islam accepts criticism, no Islamic country can be considered secular. Whenever I criticise, people want to kill me, she had said. Nasreen, an award-winning writer, is best known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion. Follow @htlifeandstyle for more. Sangeet Som has injured his left hand. Wrapped in plaster, he is sitting on a charpoy in the Thakur-dominated Kapsad village of his constituency, Sardhana, as elderly men gather around him. Som has been implicated in the Muzaffanagar riots of 2013. He was accused of stoking communal tensions in Dadris Bisada village after the killing of Mohammed Akhlaq. And last week, he was hauled up for distributing campaign CDs with provocative statements. But the injury has not deterred his aggression. When asked why he always gets associated with issues of communal polarisation, he replies, If there is exploitation of a community, and I stand up with them, is it being communal? Som then goes on the offensive. If SP (Samajwadi Party), to be in power, is with only one group and oppresses another group, should we not stand and protect them? The group SP is alleged to stand for are the Muslims; and the group Som is protecting are the Hindus. If there were any doubts, a campaign van outside Soms house in Sardhana puts it to rest. A poster, with an image of PM Narendra Modi, proclaims loudly, Hindu ki pehchan, Sangeet Som. Away from the discourse of vikas, here in west Uttar Pradesh, it is raw politics of religion that is dictating elections 2017. The narrative of appeasement Asked for tangible proof that SP stands only for one community, Som says, Why does Mulayam Singh have to say that SP has become anti-Muslim? Does it mean you only worked for Muslims? That is why there have been 430 riots in UP. Som then lists out instances, which have have become a part of the BJPs political messaging on the ground. SP has made boundary walls for graveyards; why have they not made it for crematoriums and Ram-Leela grounds? He adds, SP has spent thousands of crores to make Haj-houses for Muslims in Ghaziabad. One, why do you need it in UP? Those who have to go for Haj can take a plane and go. But even if they have to make it, why have they not made Kavad-houses for our pilgrims? He also highlights a decision to give Rs 30,000 to girls who have passed high school, and alleges that girls from only one community get it. Hindu girls dont receive it. Do a survey. And then he accuses (SP leader) Azam Khan of not reciting the Vande Mataram and calling Bharat Mata a witch. BJP MLA Sangeet Som says he speaks for Hindus and is not against any community. (Prashant Jha/ HT Photo) Court and religion Som then levels a similar accusation at BSP. Why did Mayawati and Naseemuddin Siddiqui say they are giving so many tickets to Muslims? Why are they using the Muslim word repeatedly, when the Supreme Court has said you cannot ask for votes on religion. The irony, of having his own campaign posters directly associated with a religious identity, was perhaps lost on Som. Hindustan Times asked him if it was the case that other parties were pursuing Muslim politics, wasnt he pursuing Hindu politics? No, they divide and we unite. But if the charge is the other parties do not speak of Hindus, isnt it true that leaders like Som never speak of Muslims? I was born in Hindu religion and this is a matter of pride for me. And if I do not talk about the religion I was born in, what will I do? Beef politics When asked about his position on Dadri killing, where Akhlaq was lynched for allegedly having beef, Som says that one person was killed, and he deserves justice. But he is quick to add, But there should be no appeasement. A government lab has shown it was cow meat. You have to see the matter behind the killing. When cow slaughter and beef consumption is a crime in UP, why are you supporting criminals? But how was a killing justified? Som responded, It is not justified. Punish those who killed. But should those who killed the cow not be punished? What punishment has the government given them? Instead, he charged the government of aiding them. Outside Soms house in Sardana, donning a BJP symbol, Raj Kumar Saini, a young supporter, told HT that this election was about justice. Hindu boys are in jail. Hindu girls have been raped. BJP and Sangeet Som will win and end Muslim rule. Sangeet Som charged over screening documentary polarising voters in UP BJP MLA Sangeet Som purchased land for meat processing unit in UP On the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, an Indian real estate company ran an advertisement with the slogan Homes that dont discriminate, calling for an end to prejudice in Indias housing market based on gender, religion or caste. While the ad was unusual, the sentiment was familiar to millions of Indians who have tried to rent or buy city homes only to be denied because they were single, ate meat, were of a certain caste or from a certain region. Informal rules and discrimination by Indian landlords to keep out religious minorities and single people are eroding the multi-cultural nature of Indias cities and dividing communities into ghettos, analysts say. Its 2017 - and were still encountering discrimination, said Rishi Dogra of NestAway Technologies that ran the ad. People should be able to move freely and find a living space anywhere in the country, said Dogra, marketing head for the company founded by four young male graduates after they had trouble finding a home in Bengaluru. Such discrimination has forced many people to the suburbs, making Indian city centres less diverse and cosmopolitan, with high rents already making them unaffordable to poorer workers. Mumbai, Indias financial hub and a magnet for migrants from across the country, has traditionally had enclaves for Catholics, Parsis, Bohri Muslims and others. They set up housing societies, or co-operatives, to help other community members. Read | Muslim man denied flat in Vasai society: 11 members booked As the city grew and drew more migrants, powerful housing societies have often denied homes on the basis of religion, caste, food preferences and even professions. The divide grew after bloody Hindu-Muslim riots in 1992-93 and still persists, said Zakia Soman, a co-founder at Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, a non-profit organisation for Muslim women. A Facebook group called Indians Against Discrimination was set up in 2015 after a young Muslim woman was asked to leave her flat a week after she moved in, because of her religion. When it comes to living spaces, we have become very insular, Soman said. The city is getting increasingly ghettoised as a result, weakening our social fabric and polarising us further. That doesnt bode well, she said. Local courts have ruled against discrimination by housing associations in several cases, but there have also been contradictory rulings. DISCRIMINATION In a 2005 case, Indias top court ruled in favour of a Parsi housing society in Ahmedabad, saying it could limit its membership to Parsis and not admit others. The constitution guarantees our right to equality, but housing societies can still frame their own guidelines which may be discriminatory, said Vinod Sampat, a real estate lawyer. Read | Muslim woman alleges she was asked to vacate Mumbai flat because of her religion A draft housing policy for Maharashtra state, where Mumbai is located, has dropped a clause that prevents discrimination in housing. This may leave those looking to rent or buy property with fewer protections, Sampat said. Government officials have said non-discrimination is already protected by the constitution, so there is no need for the clause. That has not reassured people like Shikha Makan, who made a film called Bachelor Girls on housing bias against single women - including Bollywood actors - in Mumbai. Not being able to find a home in a big city like Mumbai is a shame, she said. It is marginalising single women and other minorities. Dont watch movies or music videos on mobile phones, restrict tea to two cups a day and reduce consumption of oily food. If you think these are parental guidelines to early teenagers, think again. These are instructions issued through circulars by the Communist Party of India (Maoist) eastern regional bureau, headed by the partys senior-most leader, Prashanta Bose alias Kishan-da, in a bid to rejuvenate its organisation in eastern India. Under the present circumstances, the force is advised to stay away from tea. Heavy drinkers should be content with milk tea in the morning and red tea in the evening, said a circular. The habit of watching movies and taking photos on mobile phones is rapidly increasing, another circular noted and said that the trend had to stop with immediate effect. Dos and donts for CPI(M) cadres Quit tea drinking. Heavy drinkers should be content with two cups a day Cut down on oily food No watching movies on mobile phones Use video players only to watch films suggested by the party Gadgets can only be used by units, not individuals Leaders must stop using bodyguards for daily errands Leaders should have food with cadres at common kitchen Mobiles to be used only for media interactions and important organisational coordination Ban on cosmetics and beauty products Members of all party committees to be in military fatigues These circulars reached the lower ranks of the party in Bengal-bordering areas of Jharkhand at the end of 2016. The eastern regional bureau (ERB) has under its command party organisations in Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal and parts of Odisha and Chhattisgarh. While deliberating on how the misuse of electronic gadgets has led the party to heavy losses, the top leadership instructed that electronic gadgets be purchased only after obtaining permission from higher committees, and even then, can only be used by units and not individuals. Through sources, Hindustan Times found out that the partys top leadership, including general secretary Ganapathy, entrusted Bose with the task of leading a rectification campaign. Bose, who hails from Bengal, was a first-batch organiser of the erstwhile Maoist Communist Centre founded in 1969. The top leadership warned the middle and lower-rung leaders of catastrophe in the face of intensified police operations if the party failed to rectify non-proletarian trends. Statistics released by the ministry of home affairs at the end of 2016 reveal a decrease in Maoist-related incidents in Chhattisgarh and Odisha compared to 2015, while Bihar and Jharkhand witnessed a slight increase. Across states, the number of Maoists killed by the security forces reached an all time high of 218 in 2016. The number of security personnel and civilians killed by Maoists was also higher than in 2015. Read | 50 new police stations to be set up in Maoist areas of Chhattisgarh: Rajnath SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Ukrainian government expects the increase in the net inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2017 to reach $4.5 billion, according to First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Maksym Nefyodov. "The net inflow of direct investment we expect will grow from about $3.8 billion last year to $4.5 billion in 2017," he said at a round table to discuss the draft medium-term plan of the government's priority actions until 2020 in Kyiv. According to Nefyodov, the government expects the net FDI inflow of $8 billion in 2020. An unnamed taxpayer owed the government Rs 21,870 crore for the assessment year 2014-15, which was 11% of income tax to be paid by all Indians, according to 2016 data, the latest available, from the income tax department. While three individual taxpayers declared business income of over Rs 500 crore, two individual taxpayers declared long-term capital gains of over Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 (for the year 2013-14). The names of these taxpayers are not made public. The richest 1% Indians own 58% of Indias wealth, and 57 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom 70% of India, according to data published by Oxfam India, a think tank. In comparison, the top 1% in the USA accounted for 19% of income and 38% of taxes paid, US government data show. It is not possible to say what proportion of income and taxes are similarly paid by Indians because the government does not release such data. The wealth of 388 people equalled that of the poorest half of the worlds population in 2010, and this has narrowed to only 62 in 2015, according to recent data from Oxfam, a global confederation of non-government organisations fighting poverty. Source: Oxfam India had 36.5 million individual taxpayers who declared taxable income of Rs 16.5 lakh crore and were liable to pay Rs 1.91 lakh crore as income taxan increase of 23% and 37%, respectively, over assessment year 2013-14. Source: Income Tax Department; *Provisional; #including securities transaction tax In 2014-15, over 36 million Indians declared a salary income of nearly Rs 9.8 lakh crore ($144 billion), the equivalent of 7% of gross national income of Rs 134.2 lakh crore in 2015-16, followed by business income of Rs 5.6 lakh crore ($82 billion) and income from other sources at Rs 2.4 lakh crore ($35 billion). The maximum tax payable (Rs 43,964 crore) was in relation to income below Rs 150,000 annually, followed by a tax payable of Rs 17,926 crore in the tax slab of Rs 550,000-950,000. The tax liability of individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUF), companies and other entities in assessment year 2014-15 was Rs 446,719 crore, an increase of 13% from the previous year. There were 64 taxpayers with a tax liability of over Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 with a total tax payable of Rs 113,068 crore, which was 25% of the total tax payable of Rs 446,719 crore. The collection of income tax (including securities transaction tax) increased nine times to Rs 2.9 lakh crore in 2015-16 from Rs 31,764 crore in 2000-01, income tax department data show. Source: Income Tax Department; *Provisional; #including securities transaction tax Just two statesMaharashtra and Delhiaccounted for 53% of all direct taxes collected in 2015-16, IndiaSpend reported in May 2016. Indiaspend.org is a data-driven, public-interest journalism non-profit/FactChecker.in is fact-checking initiative, scrutinising for veracity and context statements made by individuals and organisations in public life. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said an ordinance can be brought, if necessary, to allow the conduct of traditional buffalo race Kambala in coastal areas after seeking legal opinion. Kambala is a rural sport that is especially organised in the coastal region. We do not have any opposition to it. It is in court now... It is coming up for hearing. We will see what will happen and if there is a necessity, an ordinance can be brought, he said. Lets see. Anyway, the assembly (session) will start from February 6. After talking to the legal department, we will take a decision. But we are in favour of Kambala, he said. Asked whether the ordinance would be on Tamil Nadus model, Siddaramaiah said, Tamil Nadus is different. Jallikattu is different from Kambala. They cannot be compared. A Karnataka high court division bench, headed by chief justice SK Mukherjee, in November, 2016 stayed holding of Kambala on a PETA petition challenging it in view of orders passed by the Supreme Court on Jallikattu. The chief minister on Monday asked the Centre to take a favourable stand on the matter as it did for Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. The clamour for Kambala has been spurred by the success of the stir in Tamil Nadu. Kambala committees have decided to hold a massive protest on January 28 in Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada district. Symbolic Kambala, a buffalo race in the marshy fields, is also likely to be held as a mark of protest. They have also filed an interim application, seeking vacating of the stay. The matter came up on Friday last before the division bench of the High Court, which adjourned the case to January 30. In a special gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday received at the airport Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who will be the chief guest at this years Republic Day parade. Welcome to India, HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We are honoured to host you & delighted that you will join our Republic Day celebrations. Welcome to India, HH Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. We are honoured to host you & delighted that you will join our Republic Day celebrations. pic.twitter.com/fabv7oji1p Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 24, 2017 India & UAE share strong bonds of friendship & extensive cooperation. Looking forward to building on this & further cementing ties, Modi tweeted after receiving the UAE leader. India & UAE share strong bonds of friendship & extensive cooperation. Looking forward to building on this & further cementing ties. @MBZNews Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 24, 2017 Al Nahyan, also the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces, who is on a three-day visit, will hold comprehensive talks with Modi tomorrow after which the two sides are expected to sign nearly 16 pacts including Strategic Cooperation Agreement. The two leaders will first meet for one-on-one talks with Modi at his official residence before holding delegation-level meeting at Hyderabad House. Apart from providing boost to trade and investments ties, enhancement of cooperation in strategic areas of energy, defence and security will dominate the talks tomorrow. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday came out in support of activist Bela Bhatia and others like her, fighting for justice for tribals in Chhattisgarh and said that violence cannot silence the truth. Violence has never silenced the truth. I stand with Bela Bhatia and all those fighting for justice for the tribals of Chhattisgarh, he tweeted. Violence has never silenced the truth. I stand with Bela Bhatia & all those fighting for justice for the tribals of Chhattisgarh Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 24, 2017 Bhatia was allegedly asked to vacate her house in Pandripani village in Bastar district on Monday by the villagers who held a protest outside it accusing her of being a Maoist sympathiser, the police had said. Bhatia claimed that she was allegedly threatened by a group of men who asked her to vacate immediately, failing which they will set the house ablaze. The incident occurred in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits. After getting the information of demonstration by local villagers in front of Bhatias house in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits, a police team was rushed to the spot, Bastar SP RN Dash had said, adding that enough security has been provided for her protection. Notably, Bhatia was among a group of people who had accompanied a National Human Rights Commission team to villages of Bijapur two days ago to record the statements of alleged rape victims. In one of the warmest tales of compassion to emerge from freezing Rajasthan, Class 2 students of a private school in Sri Ganganagar district last week pooled their pocket money to buy a wheelchair for a differently abled girl they met purely by chance. It all began when Khyati, a class 2 student of Stepping Stone English Modern School at Ridmalsar in Sri Ganganagar district, saw a physically challenged woman riding a scooter with a side wheel. A girl visited our school, and she was walking with great difficulty, she asked her grandfather. Why cant she have something like this? Her grandfather a retired ayurveda doctor took the opportunity to inform her about the economic divisions in society, and how some people are too poor to afford such facilities. However, he had a suggestion. Even you have a lot of money in your piggy bank, he said. Why dont you buy her a wheelchair? Khyati agreed immediately. Encouraged by her family members and the school administration, she asked 25-30 of her classmates if they would like to invest some of their money in a good cause. They contributed anywhere between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 each, and soon enough, there was enough money to buy the wheelchair. They gifted it to the differently abled girl Usha about four to five days ago, said Khyatis uncle, Vijay Kumar Maharshi. Usha, the 10-year-old daughter of an agricultural labourer, is also deaf and mute. She studies at a government school in Harkewala village, a couple of kilometres from Ridmalsar. A person from our village teaches at Stepping Stone. He had taken Usha with him to a function at the school, says Rajender Singh, Ushas father. The school administration was impressed to see its students take up such an initiative, said director Vikas Sharma. We were happy to see the kids pooling their pocket money for a noble cause. So we made a small contribution too, he added. Also read | Muslims in Rajasthan village donate abandoned graveyard land for temple SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Income Tax department has detected undisclosed assets worth over Rs 162 crore and seized Rs 41 lakh cash, besides over a dozen kg in gold and jewellery during searches on the premises of a Karnataka minister and state Mahila Congress chief. Officials said the department has also got inputs about a number of benami assets and unexplained investments during the searches at the premises of Small Scale Industries Minister Ramesh L Jarkiholi and Mahila Congress president Laxmi R Hebbalkar in Gokak, Belgaum and here last week. The searches followed allegations of tax evasion. Both Jarkiholi and Hebbalkar were not available for comments. The searches led to the admission of undisclosed income of Rs 162.06 crore and unexplained cash amounting to Rs 41 lakh, besides 12.8 kg gold and jewellery. Many people who had large incomes and investments were found not to be filing I-T returns and the probe in the case is going on, they said. The searches, they said, were launched on January 19 to probe allegations of tax evasion in the sugar business apparently run by groups associated with the duo. The investigators, sources said, found huge unexplained cash deposits had been made in the bank accounts of their family members and associates, and in benami names in primary cooperative socities which were transferred to business entities engaged in sugar manufacturing. It was also detected that non-existent persons have been made share holders and investors in one of the sugar companies. Evidences of creation of bogus assets and siphoning off money from the company through various concerns engaged in turn-key projects for setting up sugar factories have also been gathered, they said. The IT department sources said, entry operators, people who facilitate in hawala-like transactions, were involved in making huge deposits in banks which were routed through various intermidiaries to escape the tax net. The department has also issued summonses to a number of people allegedly involved in the case to take the probe forward, they said. Shah Rukh Khan followed norms when he used a train journey to promote his movie Raees, said a railway official after the death of a man at the Vadodara railway station where thousands of fans had gathered to see the actor. Khans train travel among with approximately 60 crew members of the yet to be released film Raees was in accordance with the procedural norms, said Ravinder Bhakar, the chief public relations officer (CPRO) of Western Railways. Permission had been given to the film crew after the team deposited a promo fee of Rs 1.80 lakh. Security control rooms across different zones had also been immediately intimated about the details of the travel, Bhakar said. Film shoots are permitted in trains, stations and railway properties for a special fee, while a smaller amount is charged for hiring trains to promote their movies. Some railway officials feel that the policy must be revisited, given risk of stampedes at overcrowded railway stations. While it is everybodys democratic right to travel on a valid ticket in a train, the case of film stars must be treated separately. The norms need to be made more stringent, said a railway official. The victim, Farid Khan Pathan, suffered a cardiac arrest at the Vadodara station amidst a massive crowd of about 15,000 people who had gathered to catch a glimpse of the superstar. He was a resident of Vadodara and a member of the Gujarat unit of the Samajwadi Party. He was earlier the state president of the partys minority cell, but resigned in 2012, said Kiran Kansara, the partys spokesperson in Gujarat. Railways minister Suresh Prabhu asked the director general of the Railway Protection Force to launch an inquiry and take stern action in case of a lapse, as did the Gujarat Police order an inquiry. Also read | Death in fan frenzy: Why SRK must not use public spaces to promote Raees SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump discussed India-US ties in a phone call late on Tuesday that was their first conversation after the new US head of state took office. They first spoke in November just after Trumps election win. Though details were awaited, an official described the call as a great conversation. It was earlier expected that trade in services, read H-1B visas, would figure prominently in the talks between the two leaders who head the worlds largest and oldest democracies. The fate of the temporary US visa programme for high-skilled foreign workers is Indias most significant concern from the Trump administration, given Trumps reservations about it, and those of leading members of his team. They believe the H-1B programme is being abused by US companies to outsource American jobs to temporary foreign workers, a large number of them from India, and they have been considering ways to make it harder for that to happen. There is no other area of potential dispute or differences with the US under President Trump, said an Indian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added, H-1B is the only problem for us as of now. The programme is at the heart of Indias burgeoning IT exports to the US, and New Delhi, which views H-1B as a free-trade issue, believes any attempt to curtail it would amount to initiating protectionist measures. In response to a question about India-US relations, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said on Monday that, as with other countries, the Trump administration is focussed on access to markets in manufacturing and services. Since being sworn-in last Friday, Trump has begun engaging with world leaders and has spoken to leaders of neighboring Canada and Mexico first with whom he plans to renegotiate the NAFTA trade deal. He has also talked with Egypts Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Israels Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he invited to a meeting in early February. And he will meet Theresa May, prime minister of Americas closest ally the United Kingdom, on Friday. Modi was among the first world leaders to call on November 9 to congratulate Trump, demonstrating, according to sources, a willingness to engage with the new president with as much enthusiasm as with his predecessor. The call on Tuesday, the second day of Trumps first week in office, is being taken as a sign of the priority he is attaching to the relationship, after an unprecedented outreach to the Indian American community during the election. And at the suggestion of Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalli Kumar, Trump recorded a campaign call modelled on Modis own election slogan aab ki baar Modi sarkar. The Trump slogan went: aab ki baar Trump sarkar. Also, Modi appears to have an admirer in Steve Bannon, chief strategist and senior counselor to Trump, who had in 2014 called Modis win a great victoryvery much based onReaganesque principles. Bannon was then CEO of Breitbart News, a stridently conservative news publication. He would become a leading and early supporter of Trump, and would go on to head his campaign in August. Congress president Sonia Gandhis son-in-law Robert Vadra on Tuesday congratulated the Congress and Samajwadi Party for forging a grand alliance and said that Uttar Pradesh will shine under the leadership of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and SP President Akhilesh Yadav. The alliance between Congress and SP (Samajwadi Party) is not only an alliance between two parties, its an alliance between two young and dynamic leaders - Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, Vadra wrote on Facebook. My best wishes to them for the upcoming UP Elections, Vadra said. Congress and Samajwadi Party have forged an alliance ahead of the assembly elections in Indias most populous state. Vadra, who is married to the Congress Presidents daughter Priyanka Gandhi, also said, I am sure that under their dynamic leadership, UP will shine and become extremely progressive. Both youth icons will bring forth immense energy, brilliant ideas and implementation to transform UP into a world class state. Congratulations on the grand alliance!! he added. As per alliance, Congress will contest on 105 seats while Samajwadi Party would contest on 298 seats in the 403 seats assembly. US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone late on Tuesday, the White House has said. The two leaders are likely to have a conversation at 1pm Washington DC time, which is 11:30pm IST, as India hopes the two nations will build on the bedrock of strong Indo-US ties. A phone call this early is seen as a measure of the importance the Trump administration gives to India. Modi would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken to over phone after being sworn in as the US President on January 20. After Trumps victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the world leaders who congratulated the real estate tycoon-turned-politician. Trump had beaten seasoned politician Hillary Clinton in the knife-edge polls, defying the odds to become the 45th US President. A day after his inauguration, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the next day. During his gruelling election campaign, India was among the few countries --- in addition to Israel --- with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. With Trump at the helm, New Delhi is bracing for a bigly world order to use Trumps trademark adjective for huge. The call comes soon after the US pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. By abolishing 98% of the tariffs among TPP members, there will be significant goods trade diversion replacement of Indian exports by those of TPP members. It was estimated India was to lose 2$.7 billion in exports immediately. Concerns remain The US President has generally spoken positively about India. But he has also consistently denounced job outsourcing to India, even making fun of the accents of Indian call centre workers. Nirupama Rao, a former Indian envoy to Washington, said: India should not waste time in reaching out to Mr Trump and his team in order to establish a durable understanding that will take the relationship forwards in all sectors of relevance. But officials admit they have yet to figure out what direction the policies of the new President will take. The overriding view of Trump is uncertainty: he has said little of substance on foreign policy. What he said in his inaugural address, buy American, hire American is not great news for India. If there was one leitmotif of Trumps campaign, it was his constant barrage against immigrants. It has been pointed out Trump wants a freeze on new green cards and a restructuring of the H-1B visa programme to make it harder for US firms to hire skilled workers from abroad. Indians are the primary recipients of H-1B visa. Strategic ally At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised Indias fast growth rate and Modis bureaucratic and economic reforms. Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend, Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi, Trump had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. India is key and a key strategic ally, he had said. (With PTI inputs) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Kyiv expects Canada to ratify the free trade area (FTA) agreement with Ukraine in March, while the Verkhovna Rada might ratify this agreement in February 2017, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska has stated. "Canada plans [to ratify the document] in March," she told journalists in Kyiv, when asked about the timing of ratification of the FTA agreement. According to her, the Ukrainian parliament intends to consider the ratification of the agreement in February. She stressed ratification of the agreement in both countries depends on the two countries' parliaments, and it is difficult to predict exactly when these issues will be addressed. As reported, the FTA agreement between Ukraine and Canada was signed during the visit of Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau to Ukraine on July 11, 2016. A woman allegedly chopped off the genitals of her 20-year-old lover in Madhya Pradeshs Sidhi district when she came to know of his plans to marry another woman. Police on Tuesday said the incident took place in Sidhi district, about 600 km north-east of Bhopal. The woman was apparently upset as the man, a resident of Navganwa village, was going to marry another girl. According to police, when the woman came to know about the marriage plans, she called the man to her residence on Sunday night. She took him into confidence to blindfold him and then started talking to him about his proposed marriage. The man, however, lied to her and said his marriage had not been fixed yet. This was when the woman castrated the man with a sharp-edged weapon, taking him by surprise. As the man cried and bled profusely, the woman fled with the mans genitals in her hands, police said. The man, crying and writhing in pain, managed to reach home and inform his family members who admitted him to Sanjay Gandhi Hospital. Sidhi superintendent of police Abid Khan said a complaint has been registered against the woman under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with attempt to murder. However, the woman was yet to be arrested. This was the second such incident in Sidhi in less than a year. In February 2016, a 30-year-old woman bobbitised her 22-year-old brother-in-law when he allegedly attempted to forced sex. Mortified at the bobbitisation, the man named Sanju Kol allegedly hanged himself from the branch of a tree. Jaipur: One of them got married at the age of six and another at the age of 15. Parents of the third had fixed her marriage soon after she turned 16. This, however, is not the only factor that unites them. The trio --Jasoda Gameti (18) of Rajsamand district, and Sona Bairwa (23) and Preeti Kanwar (21) of Tonk district took on their parents and in-laws and obtained freedom. To honour them, the girls were made a minister for a day on Tuesday. They even signed a note sheet ordering to distribute smart phones among the anganwari workers and android tablets to woman supervisors of anganwari centres. Woman and child development minister Anita Bhadel, at a state level function on National Girl Child Day, also felicitated Gameti, Bairwa and Kanwar. Bhadel said the objective of making them minister for a day was to send out the message that daughters were no less than boys. The gesture would also inspire other girls to study and pursue their dreams with passion. The girls should be allowed to study, as childhood is for education and nutrition, and not marriage, Bhadel added. She said, the girls were told how the government departments function. They were also briefed about the process involved in issuing an order. Bhadel said the three girls have signed a note sheet and an order will be issued to distribute 10,500 smart phones to anganwari workers and 282 android tablets to 282 anganwari supervisors. Gameti told the media that she was married off at the age of 15 and her in-laws used to beat and harass her. She said, her in laws used to send her to her parents house who in turn would send her back after some time. I got fed up with this routine and decided to walk out of marriage. The caste panchs wanted me to go back to my in-laws. I threatened to file a case under child marriage law after which the caste panchs agreed to a compromise and I was allowed to walk out of the marriage, Gameti said. Now she stays with her mother and works as labourer. She has decided not to allow any child marriage in her village. Similarly, Bairwa was married off when she was six-years-old. She saw the condition of other girls who were married at young age and decided to pursue higher education. When her in-laws asked her to move in with them, Bairwa refused stating that she would first complete her studies and get a job before joining her husband. She even told her in-laws that can either wait for her or go for a divorce. Last year, her husband opted for divorce and matter is in the court. She has completed her BEd and is now preparing for Grade-II teachers exam. Kanwars parents had fixed her marriage when she was 16. She, however, refused to get married decided to complete her studies. Today she has completed her graduation and works as teacher. She has stopped many child marriages in her village. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The West Bengal government on Monday sounded an alert against mischief-makers who have been spreading rumours on social network that dacoits, child lifters, and aliens from outer space were roaming Hooghly, Burdwan, North 24 Parganas and Nadia districts. The rumours led to hysteria in rural and semi-urban pockets, resulting in assault on more than a dozen people and two lynchings over the past two weeks. On Saturday, Ranjubala Ghosh, 72, a US citizen, and her daughter, a resident of the North 24 Parganas, were assaulted by locals at Balagarh in Hooghly where the duo had gone to visit an acquaintance. At least a dozen similar incidents had taken place in the districts earlier. Not all the victims, however, were lucky enough to survive. On Friday, a 22-year-old youth was beaten to death by a mob while on Saturday a vagabond in his 60s met with the same fate in the North 24 Parganas. Several police stations in the affected areas issued the notice and announced over public address systems that citizens should not to fall prey to these rumours. We appeal to the people not to pay heed to the messages being spread by a group of mischief-makers. We have identified some of them and 25 arrests have been made so far. We are going to take strong action against those who are playing mischief with ill intention as well as those attacking innocent people, said Surajit Kar Purakayastha, director general of police, at a press conference. All police stations in Bengal and Kolkata have been put on alert, he added. Some people have been putting up messages on Facebook and WhatsApp, claiming dacoits, child lifters and aliens were spotted in the districts of south Bengal. Carried away, people have started assaulting beggars, vagabonds and eunuchs . Rashibul Mollah, 16, is a class ten student of Champagachi Higher Secondary School in Bhangar. Since January 17, he is too scared to leave his village Majhidanga . Now after sundown, he picks up a stick and, with many like him, walk around the village as a night guard keeping a watch for police and miscreants. Md Mumtazuddin Mollah is a class 8 student of Polarhat Senior Madrasa. He, too, has been away from his class since the trouble on Tuesday. But he stands guard with his friends and elders at the village crossing from evening till 9 pm, when another group takes over. Rashibul and Mumtazuddin are not exceptions. A few thousand school students of Bhangar have been forced to shun classes following land agitation and clash with police. Many of the children now are a part the land agitation, and they take turns to act a night guards to fend off police and outsiders. Many of us will sit for secondary (10 level) and higher secondary (plus two) examinations which are just a month away. We cannot go to school since police attacked our villages and there was a clash. We are too scared to leave the area. After sundown, we join the elders for night patrolling. We will not allow police or ruling party miscreants to enter the village, said Rashibul, who refused to be videoed. Barricades are still intact at many junctions in the area that is out of bounds for police and administration. Charred police vehicles that the angry villagers pushed into local ponds still stand as reminder of the clash. A section of the crowd in Bhangar during the January 11 blockade. (HT Photo) The situation is has an eerie similarity with Nandigram and Singur agitations in 2007, where school children became a part of the agitation. Interestingly, in agitations in Kashmir and Maoist-dominated areas too, teenagers often form part of the agitators. My family is scared. We are part of the agitation. But I dont stay out after 9 pm. Someone else takes my place. We also help in fitting electric bulbs in hundreds of poles in the villages so that outsiders cannot sneak in under the cover of darkness, said Mumtazuddin. Over 1,500 students of different villages of Bhangar including Khamer Ait, Majhidanga, Padmapukur, Tona Gajipur, study in the two local high schools. There are over two dozen government-run and private primary schools enrolling thousands of students. More than 100 college students are also affected. Some of the students who agitated and clashed with police were injured. Students, teenagers helped in setting by road blockades, and even lobbing bricks at policemen, who fired tear gas shells and wielded lathis on January 17. How will I pass in the board exam? I cannot go to school in this situation. Our full syllabus hasnt been taught. Moreover, my tutor in the village who was part of the agitation fled the area, said Sheikh Sahil Hussain, class X student of Champagachi high school. Parents are concerned and scared. They are not sending their children anymore to school. What will happen if the police try to re-enter this area? We are all scared, said Suraiya Begum, head teacher at Anandadhara KG School in Majhidanga village. About 100 children study in the school that is now deserted. Agitators, part of Jomi, Jibika, Poribesh O Bastutantra Raksha Committee (Committee to Protect Land Livelihood, Environment and Ecosystem) have been holding regular meetings in the villages. The agitators demanded the release of 11 villagers arrested by police. Everyone is affected by police brutality and everyone is fighting, even children. We demand that the government give us in writing, remove the power grid and return land to farmers. We also demand immediate release of those arrested and withdrawal of cases. Police have lodged case against 120 villagers and written that 400 others were involved, said Abul Hussain, a protesting villager. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Keralite Naxal leader K N Ramachandran, who went missing in Kolkata on Sunday, reached New Delhi on Tuesday morning after a group of unidentified people allegedly intelligence officers took him to an undisclosed location where he was detained overnight and put him on a Delhi-bound train on Monday evening and packed off to the national capital. Octogenarian Ramachandran came to Kolkata to attend at rally at Bhangar, where his outfit, CPI(ML)(Red Star), is spearheading a movement against a power grid. The movement has become a major embarrassment and headache for the Mamata Banerjee government. In a statement issued shortly after his arrival in New Delhi, Ramachandran alleged that he was overpowered by a group of men soon after his arrival at Kolkata station on Sunday evening. He was gagged, blindfolded and forced into a vehicle. Later he found himself at place that he thought was located in the outskirts of Kolkata. His mobile phone was taken away and, following thorough grilling by officers who knew Malayalam Ramachandrans mother tongue he was again forced into a car on Monday afternoon, blindfolded, and taken to Durgapur station, about 150 kilometres from Kolkata. The ruling party in Bengal is worried that Maoists may be behind the land agitation in Bhangar that did not allow Trinamool leaders and the police to enter for a few days. (HT Photo) (They) gave me back my suitcase. They took away Rs 3,000 from the bag and did not give me the mobile, ensuring that I cannot return to Kolkata for the scheduled January 24 visit to Bhangar and the press conference at Kolkata, Ramachandran said in the statement. I have no comment on this incident. I have no idea at all, DGP Surajit Kar Purakayastha told HT. While according to Ramachandrans statement, those who picked him up claimed to the officers of central intelligence agencies, CPI(ML)(Red Star) leaders told HT it is more likely that state agencies were involved and deliberately gave false information. They also pointed out that while, the outfits leaders were busy in finding out Ramachandrans whereabouts, Trinamool Congress led a peace rally in Bhangar, their first since trouble broke out on January 16. Ramachandran alleged that he was grilled particularly over his outfits relations with the Maoists and whether Maoists were involved in the agitation at Bhangar. According to Ramachandran, he told the intelligence officers that they were trying to build the movement keeping both the Maoists and the CPI(M) away. The whole episode of kidnapping and detention of the general secretary of a party which is working openly at all India level is a naked repetition of what the central and state governments are doing at Bhangar in South 24 Parganas It was a naked fascist act to gag me, to prevent me from going to the villages to declare solidarity with the affected people and families of the two martyrs, and to address the media at Kolkata explaining the details of the Bhangar movement, the octogenarian said. Incidentally, CPI(ML)(Red Star) is known in the Left circles as a Naxalite faction that is strongly opposed to the Maoists. They have been stern critics of the policy of armed struggle. The party takes part in elections at all levels -- municipal, Assembly and Lok Sabha. The developments in Bhangar show that Mamata Banerjee, who came in power using the Singur and Nandigram movements, is doing a worse act in Bhangar and the people will not allow her to get away with it, the octogenarian said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Having won a long battle for control of the party, chief minister and Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday once again referred to expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh as uncle, a term he had vowed not to use again for the Rajya Sabha member at the height of the SP feud three months ago. Akhilesh Yadav was speaking at a conclave organised by a Hindi television channel. He refused to accept that Amar Singh had said on Sunday he was a stray bull and free to graze anywhere as he had been expelled from the Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh said: "No. He cannot say this. He had been good. I know him well. He cannot say such a thing. You will see that he will love us all." It was Akhilesh Yadavs first public speaking engagement since he took over as the national president of the party. Replying to a series of questions with his inimitable humour, he said if such questions (uncomfortable ones) were asked, "I will start reading the party manifesto that I have brought with me." Asked whether Mulayam Singh Yadav's anger was real, Akhilesh Yadav said: Netaji is a Samajwadi. He expresses his anger in public and private alike. He is the leader of us all. Those he trusts have a responsibility to tell him the truth. Read more | UP polls: With SP-Cong alliance set, Akhilesh and Rahul might campaign together On what he thought about his father Mulayam's anger with him, he said: "I have been wondering, will I ever get this angry with my son." Asked whether he would consider re-connecting Shivpal Yadav to the party again, Yadav said: "So far, as my relationship with him as Chacha-Bhatija is concerned, it will never break. But when it comes to politics, I must say that I too have principles. Now, I have put it (feud) behind and am looking only towards polls and the campaign. I have to get the support of even those who have been denied tickets." Asked whether talking about development will make him win the elections: "Yes, it will. It is time for aspirational politics. Those who sell dreams, but don't fulfil them will be losers. Why will people not vote for life changing promises that we are making? Why will a woman not vote for us if we make her life easy by giving her a pressure cooker? Anyone who travels on the Agra-Lucknow expressway will vote for us. All those who got laptops, or those whose life is saved because of 108 ambulances, or those who will soon travel on the Metro train, will vote for us." On the exodus from the party, he said: "Those who are leaving will have to come back." Asked what he thought about fighting and defeating his father and uncle: "Since childhood, I never fought. I have been a sportsperson. Whichever game I play, I play well." On taking over the party that his father Mulayam made and nurtured for 25 years: "The party is his. It has the same principle that netaji had founded it on. I only tweaked and upgraded his socialism with the changing times. Socialism means bridging the gaps. Bridging the digital divide between urban and rural, rich and poor is socialism." On why he was bringing the election manifesto again and again: "I have crammed it. After all, I have to speak this daily for one month." On the SP-Congress alliance, he said: I am reiterating we will get a full majority on our own and, with the Congress, we will cross 300 seats. Read more | Akhilesh will be PM candidate of non-BJP front in 2019 polls: SP general secy SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On Republic Day tomorrow, as the country revels in the spirit of patriotism, restaurants in the Capital gear up to serve guests with gusto. From discounts on total bill, to tricolour themed dishes, these places are going all out to woo customers. If anyone dress up in all three colours of our National Flag, we will be giving away a complimentary tricolour meal to them, says Bhuvnesh Bhalla, director, Aanch. We have specials like trio mania mocktail, tirang-e-paneer, tirang-e-murgh tikka and trilicious pasta, he adds. A tricolour pasta has all three variants: red sauce, white sauce and pesto. Those born in the year 1950 are in for a special treat as they can treat themselves to a complimentary meal with dishes like kebabs and tricolor panacottas. At Ssence-A Culinary Showcase, we are offering complimentary buffet to people born in the year 1950, the date of Indias very first Republic Day, says Dhananjay Kumar, general manager, The Suryaa. If that was not enough, guests can enjoy a lavish meal at handsome discounts. We are celebrating Republic Day with tricolour mocktails and dishes. Since its our 68th Republic Day, we are giving customers discount of 68% on their bill at Level 2 restaurant, says chef Vikas Pant, Radisson Blu Paschim Vihar. Golgappa shots with a variety of flavoured water. The day is all about celebrating the country, and what better way than to sample cuisines from various states? We have got flavours from across the nation together under one roof. Guests can enjoy dishes like Lucknowi Murg, Dum Aloo Banarasi, Dakshini Saag, Paneer Jalfarezi, Mahi Tawa Masala and more. We also have a special dessert counter with traditional Indian desserts, says chef Saroj Muduli, Courtyard by Marriott. The grub doesnt just stop there. If you love biryanis, then you are going to love this offer. We are giving complimentary Tiranga Biryani as an appetiser to guests who order regular biryanis. This is a tribute to India and is served in the shape of the Indian Flag, says chef Vikram Rawat of Ardor 2.1. More offers on the platter Tricolour Grilled Affair at The Pirates of Grill, Noida Republic Day Specials at Molecule, Gurgaon Tricolour Specials at Cafe OMG Oh My God, Connaught Place Tricolour Roti and Curry Treat, Garam Dharam, Connaught Place SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Azad Maidan police has registered six cases of credit/debit card frauds this year. All six victims received telephone calls from people posing as bank officials and tricking them into revealing their card details. According to the police, this modus operandi vishing was used to withdraw Rs1.06 lakh from their bank accounts. According to statistics made from the Mumbai police, 15 cases of credit/debit card frauds have been registered across the city in the first week and none have been detected. Last year in the first week, 12 were registered across the city and none was detected. A source from Azad Maidan police said, Prevention is the best way to curb this crime as it is difficult to recover the money. The amount withdrawn is small and it is difficult to recover it. To find these criminals is difficult as they operate from remote areas in other states. In one of the six cases, the accused used the details to make PayTM transactions worth Rs19,990. In three cases, the criminals telephoned posing as Rajesh Sharma or Rakesh Sharma manager of the State Bank of India (SBI) and sought details of their credit/debit card. One of the victims HT spoke to, on condition of anonymity, said, I am using a debit card of SBI. He called me saying he is a manager at SBI. He said my card was going to be blocked. He then asked me for my card details if I wanted to stop my card from getting blocked. He asked for a number on my card and the one-time password which I gave. Within hours, I got messages that money was withdrawn from my account. A total of Rs17,700 was withdrawn. The Mumbai Polices Twitter handle too has been receiving several tweets since last year on vishing cases. Citizens have also tweeted the phone numbers from which they have received calls from fraudsters posing as bank officials asking for bank details. The Twitter team forwards all the numbers to the cyber police station at the BKC. READ Man-in-the-middle case: Mumbai firm loses Rs10.89 lakh to online fraudster With elections for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) around the corner, political parties are making all kinds of big promises -- free WiFi, 24-hour water supply, property tax waiver for small-size flats and many more -- to woo voters. Should citizens be happy with all these offers? Not really. Reason: traffic congestion, cleanliness, encroachments and crumbling infrastructure, the issues which make life difficult for every Mumbaiite, find no mention in any partys manifesto or agenda. The BMC, the richest civic body in the country with an annual budget of around Rs37,000 crore, is going to polls on February 21. For the past 22 years, it has been dominated by the Shiv Sena, with the BJP as its junior partner. However, this time, the Sena is facing tough competition from its oldest partner, as well as the Congress. In a bid to woo voters in this three-cornered contest, parties have come up with several freebies, which most feel are not new. For instance, the Sena has declared it would exempt houses up to 500 sqft from property tax and give concession to houses up to 700 sqft. Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has announced revamp of open spaces, solutions to pothole problem and 24x7 water supply for voters. Its ally BJP too is not far behind. The party is preparing a list of promises that will be published soon. The BJP-led state government is also spending Rs120 crore of taxpayers money every year to provide over 500 free WiFi hotspots in Mumbai. The third contender, Congress, too, has promised free water, reduction in property tax, 90 litres of water for every person daily, pothole-free roads and a waste-free city, among others. The NCP, meanwhile, is ready with plans such as a medical insurance scheme for just Rs101, reduction in fares of BEST buses, free drinking water, 24x7 water supply and empowering BMC schools to impart education up to Class 10. After all this too, there are no solutions on offer for Mumbaiites. The commute in the city is nightmarish, but the BMC, which is responsible for most roads and related infrastructure, has not implemented any major plan to make it better. Thats not all. No efforts are being taken to make Mumbai, which most politicians refer to as an international city, clean. The encroachments and illegal hawkers/peddlers have taken over all public spaces -- roads, footpaths, open spaces -- but none of the parties plan to offer any respite. Mumbai needs a vision for development and not just promises, said Milind Mhaske, project director of non-government organisation Praja, which keeps a tab on the performance of elected representatives. If political parties link their plans to the actual budget of the corporation, promises will certainly become feasible to implement. Unless they start this practice, things will remain unchanged, Mhaske told HT. Praja is also contemplating to track poll promises of the parties on annual basis from this elections. Read more: Mumbai civic polls: Freebies by political parties will cost you Rs1,000 crore annually Battle for BMC turns into a freebie war SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the additional director general of Maharashtras anti-corruption bureau (ACB) to supervise an inquiry into charges of corruption in the traffic police department levelled by a head traffic constable on January 6. A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi was hearing a petition filed by head constable Sunil Toke, who alleged that corruption was rampant in the state traffic department and sought that a case be lodged and a departmental inquiry initiated against certain allegedly corrupt officials. Additional Public Prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik told the court that Toke had already been referred to the ACB which, in turn, had begun its inquiry under the supervision of the additional commissioner of police, Mumbai. The court, however, noted that since the allegations were of a serious nature and not restricted to Mumbai, it would be better if the additional director general, ACB, supervised the inquiry. We direct the additional DG to submit a progress report within six weeks. We want a high-ranking officer to look into the allegations as the petition has set out cognisable offences against specific traffic police officials, the bench said. Toke, who is currently posted with the Armed Police Force, Worli division, joined the service in 1985. Between 2013 and 2016 he was with the Goregaon traffic police and the Wadala traffic police. He said in the high court on Monday, When nakabandis (roadblocks) are set up for drink-driving, out of every 50 cases only five to 10 are shown officially and prosecuted. In the other cases the police collect between Rs 10,000 to Rs50,000 depending on who the offender is. In his plea, filed through his counsel Pradeep Havnur, Toke said that during his tenure in the traffic department, he was shocked to see there was rampant corruption there. He listed several instances in which his colleagues, including seniors, extorted money from people. The traffic police take money from trucks that transport sand illegally, trucks that evade octroi, trucks that carry construction material, and also in cases of illegal parking, drink-driving and so on, he stated in his plea. The traffic police department collects Rs 40,000 to Rs50,000 from four-star and five-star hotels to allow illegal parking outside their premises. There are thousands of illegal taxis and autorickshaws plying in the city without the requisite permission. The traffic police collect Rs 1,000 to Rs2,000 from every such vehicle every month and allow them to ply, it went on to say. READ MORE Can police station diary be made public under RTI: Bombay HC asks state police SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON International audit company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) continues communicating with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) about the unfair appraisal of assets used as collateral at PrivatBank (Dnipro). However the company does not comment on the situation. "We continue communications with the NBU about PrivatBank. We do not comment our relations with clients, including the concrete situation with PrivatBank," the press service of the head office of PwC told Interfax-Ukraine. The press service said that the Ukrainian office of PwC continues servicing clients in Ukraine. A source of Interfax-Ukraine said that the NBU top managers met representatives of the head office of PwC on the issue at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Another source told Interfax-Ukraine that the Ukrainian office of PwC is operating under a franchise agreement. The source believes that the situation with unfair appraisal in Ukraine would slightly affect the head office. The source said that if the head office of PwC terminates relations with the Ukrainian offices, the latter with the client database could be bought by another audit company as it happened with some offices of Arthur Andersen after a scandal with Enron. There is a pattern to political controversies parties differ over issues, it makes headlines, people are outraged, and the issues stay unresolved. Ever wondered how much you, the voter, are losing ? In the past five years, constant rows between the parties that led the civic body has cost you access to open spaces, parking spaces, rooftop restaurants, a nightlife and a 20-year development plan for the city just to name a few. The highlight was the allegations in two multi-crore scams that have rocked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation the Rs352-crore roads scam and the Rs38 crore desilting scam. The BJP is taking credit for unearthing the scam, its senior leaders harping on how the party is freeing the civic body of corruption and mafia raj. The Sena pointed out the BJP has been its partner in power and blamed the administration for drawbacks in how drains were desilted and roads laid. In the years since the scams came to light, the parties have fought, but have not tried to improve roads or to put in place a mechanism to prevent flooding . Similar fighting over the open spaces policy has cost you access to more than 200 parks and grounds. The issue? A controversial clause in the policy, released in 2015, that would have given some groups power to maintain open spaces. The Sena did not oppose the clause, the BJP has been going back-and-forth. Finally, CM Devendra Fadnavis stepped in, ordering BMC to take back 216 plots given to various groups. But, the BJP-controlled improvements committee passed an interim policy even before plots from bigwigs were taken back. This allows private groups to maintain plots. Now, the code of conduct is in place and the proposal cannot be passed. And then, the problem of parking. Mumbai could make space for its vehicles if not for the in-fighting. The BMC framed a policy to regulate illegal street parking and higher parking rates depending on the area and demand. But citizen groups in the A ward, where the policy was to be tested, objected to the increased fares. Although the policy was passed in the Sena-BJP-controlled BMC, the BJPs own MLA, Raj Purohit, got it stayed by the state. There has been no decision since 2015. For the citys bluprint, the allies took two months to name three corporators for a planning panel to hear citizens objections to the 20-year DP. Sources said the squabble this time was over the number of corporators from each party. The plan looks at how tall buildings can go and development of open spaces, schools and hospitals over the next two decades. The plan was to be released in 2014, but with little attention and constant extensions, it is now expected only in March 2017. When the BJP-led state proposed that Mumbai enters the Centre-run Smart Cities competition, it was the Senas turn to show its clout. It placed 14 conditions that made it impossible for Mumbai to get selected. There is a competition between the allies, which has resulted in the neglect of civic issues. The BJP is trying to show it has the upper hand, as the party has started believing it enjoys a popular mandate in Mumbai also so far Senas domain, said political analyst Surendra Jondhale. This attempt to assert its dominance reflected in BJP not showing interest in two of Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackerays pet projects proposals to boost nightlife and allow rooftop restaurants. Dilip Patel, senior BJP corporator said, When two parties are together, there are bound to be differences. We have to look at a way out. Read more: Sena-BJP talks: Uddhav hints at January 26 deadline The upcoming civic polls will clash with the orals and practical papers of the SSC and HSC board exams. Teachers groups, worried about the exam schedule being delayed, on Tuesday met education minister Vinod Tawde asking him to exempt teachers from election duties and limit the use of schools as polling stations. The higher secondary certificate (HSC) internal assessments or orals and practical exams are scheduled between February 8 and 24; the secondary school certificate (SSC) from February 15 to March 4, according to the timetable released by the board. Thousands of schools, however, will be forced to remain shut between February 21 and 24, so they can be used as polling stations for the civic body elections. Teachers, too, will be occupied in conducting the elections and counting ballots. The teachers groups said this leaves them with little time to conduct the exams. Every school has hundreds of students taking the boards, said Rajesh Pandya, a teacher at the Fatimadevi English High School, Malad, and member of the Teachers Democratic Front. With the new aptitude tests for Class 10 students, schools will need more teachers, Pandya said. If our teachers and premises are unavailable for three to four days, we will be unable to meet the deadline. The department must either relieve us of poll duties or give us more time to take tests. Under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, teachers are allowed three assignments census, disasters and elections. But, teachers said poll duties end up wasting several days of teaching time, as they are also called for training a few days ahead of the elections. Some teachers are even assigned as polling officers, which requires them to stay back late on the polling and counting days. The government needs to look into this issue, said Anil Bornare, a teacher at the Swami Muktananda High School in Chembur, and spokesperson of the Maharashtra Teachers Association. Board officials, however, said they cannot change the exam timetable. There is no room for adjustment, we cannot extend the time for internal exams, because written exams begin in March, said Siddheshwar Chandekar, secretary of the Mumbai division of the board. Schools have two weeks to conduct the assessments. Teachers want exemption from duty during municipal elections SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The University of Mumbai will be co-hosting the 8th annual Indian Youth Science (IYS) event along with M S Swaminathan Research Foundation, from February 16 to 18. Young collegians and research students from across the country have been invited to share their research papers, and the various panel discussions will particularly cover the topic of climate change. The focus will be to see how the youth of the country can be involved in safe-guarding the environment and also to ensure that they know the side-effects of a degrading climate. We expect over 5,000 students from across the country to join us for this event, said Sanjay Deshmukh, vice chancellor, MU. He said the conference will be open to all studentsunder-graduates to PhDsand that at least 350 research projects have already been registered with them till date. MU plans to conduct parallel discussions through the day and for this purpose, utilise four of the seven digital auditoriums that MUs Kalina campus boasts of. While a series of lectures and panel discussions are spread over three days, 25 films on climate change will also be broadcast at IYS this year. We will also be conferring MS Swaminathan with the honorary doctorate and we hope to bring some of the top dignitaries, including the President of India for this function, added Deshmukh. Also read: Soon, Mumbai University examiners will access answer sheets on computers SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A state transport bus went off the Mumbai-Pune expressway on Tuesday morning, injuring eight passengers. According to the police, the bus was going to Satara from Thane with 40 passengers on board. As it was crossing Ravit village, around 35km from Pune city, under Dehu Nagar police station, the tyre of the bus burst. The bus rammed into the railings, went off the highway and reached a service road, almost 15ft below. Local residents of the area rushed the injured to different hospitals. So far, no one has come to us to register any complaint, said an officer from Dehu Nagar police station. According to the experts, tyre bursts and human errors cause most of the accidents on the highway. Four people died and six others were injured in another accident caused by tyre burst on the expressway on December 27. Read more: Car collides with divider on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, four injured WiFi on Mumbai-Pune e-way dangerous, say experts SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The girl from Govandi is resistant to 12 of the 13 anti-TB drugs that are available, which according to doctors, makes her a public hazard. Despite contracting TB, she lives at home and frequently uses public transport. She travels in buses and local trains, just like most of us. Knowing that she possibly harbours a bacterial strain that is resistant to all other drugs, including Bedaquiline, she could be spreading the infection, said Dr Oswal who is of the opinion that she could be placed in quarantine so that chances of her spreading the infection is diminished. However, nowhere in the national TB policy is it stated that severe drug-resistant patients need to be isolated. Doctors have to be cautious and make patients aware about spreading the infection in the community. We cant stop patients from travelling, said Dr Sunil Khaparde, deputy director general of the TB control programme Delamanid, the drug that works in the girls case, may not help.Delamanid is a highly advanced anti-TB drug, but its efficiency is questionable in her case as it has to be given in combination with other drugs, which she has already developed a resistance to, said Dr Oswal. He added, If she doesnt respond to it, there is nothing else that we can try. Her case, according to doctors, is a big public health concern as she could be spreading the infection to other people. Her aunt, who takes care of her, has never been screened for the infection. The aunt works as a helper in a local school that requires her to take care of children as young as four years old. Doctors have asked me to get tested but I never seem to find the time, she said, adding that her parents had contracted TB and succumbed to it. She lost her mother to TB when she was nine and her father eight years later. Her case comes in the backdrop of the recent case of an 18-year old from Patna, who was refused Bedaquline at Lala Ram Sarup TB Hospital in Delhi, on the grounds that she was not a resident of Delhi. While hearing her case, the Delhi high court court stated that the domicile of the patient is not a criterion for eligibility to Bedaquiline. While this decision could mean that more TB patients could take Bedaquiline, the screening of these patients will have to be done very carefully, doctors said. Doctors have also expressed concerns about calling Bedaquiline a miracle drug. When treating TB, there cannot be a single miracle drug. Any drug has to be given in combination with other drugs that are known to work, said Dr Yatin Dholakia, technical advisor to Maharashtra State Anti-TB Association. What is Bedaquiline? Bedaquiline is an anti-TB drug used specifically to treat TB patients who are resistant to most powerful anti-TB drugs- rifampicin, isoniazid, any other core anti-TB drug and have developed multidrug-resistant tuberculosis -It was the first anti-TB drug to be rolled out in the last 40 years -It is an expensive anti-TB drug, manufactured by the Belgian company Janssen. - While private doctors in India used it for patients on compassionate-use-basis, its access is now restricted. Bedaquiline in Mumbai - 56 patients in Mumbai are on the on-going Bedaquiline clinical trial, out of which, two patients had to be put off the treatment as they have developed side effects. At our centre, the patients who are on Bedaquiline are tolerating the drug very well, said a senior doctor from the Group Of T B Hospital, Sewri, Mumbai, one of the six government run centres in India to provide the drug. According to the World Health Organisation, What is Multi Drug Resistance? TB cases in which bacteria that cause tuberculosis develop resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful anti-TB drugs. Why does drug resistance emerge? - Incomplete treatment - Incorrect doses of the medicines - Getting infected by a bacterial strain which is already resistant many drugs Drug resistant TB cases are difficult to treat as medicines to treat them are limited. Severe forms of drug resistance result in increased mortalities. READ MORE Miracle TB drug has no effect on Mumbai teenager: Doctors SC asks government to provide daily drug doses to TB patients Rushing in to the Crossword bookstore straight from the Jaipur Literature Festival, William Dalrymple and Anita Anand waste no time in starting to talk about glittery things and their dark histories. In their book, Koh-i-noor: The Story of the Worlds Most Infamous Diamond, the authors tackle a subject that Dalrymple says everyone thought they knew, revealing that weve known almost nothing of its troubled history. You may have read about how it was discovered in a Golconda mine, was part of a temple, was gouged out and passed on from Khilji to Lodi, Tughlaq and Babur. Thats just so much urban legend, Dalrymple suggested on Tuesday. Most Deccan diamonds werent even mined; they were found on riverbeds; and much of what weve considered history is what Dalrymple referred to as bazaar gossip and speculation. The truth is more colourful and more bloody than a season of Game of Thrones. Its a hard substance to analyse or date, Dalrymple admits. But the earliest mention of the Kohinoor is in a Persian source from 1750, describing Mughal emperor Shah Jehans Peacock Throne. The unnatural octahedral wasnt among the worlds 10 biggest diamonds even then. Our fascination with the rockstar of diamonds comes largely from the fact that it ultimately went to Queen Victoria. The authors have drawn on previously untranslated texts in Sanskrit, Persian and Urdu to map the history of the stone. Its brought violence to dynasty after dynasty, says Anand. Kings were poisoned. Princes had their heads bashed in. Exiled queens were betrayed. Some had molten lead poured over their heads. Wars broke out. On the Peacock Throne, it fascinated foreigners. As kings rose and fell, the gem ended up as capital for Ahmed Shah Abdali to create what is now Afghanistan. It went eventually to Lahores Ranjit Singh, whose grandson Duleep became a favourite of Queen Victoria. She became the last monarch to ever wear it, albeit cut down to half, and reshaped to glitter like the European gems. It was fascinating to hear about the original blood diamond, says Pallavi Chandra, a travel entrepreneur and history buff who attended the launch. Dalrymple reckons the Kohinoor now ranks 90 among the worlds top gems. But India, Pakistan and Afghanistan are all vying to claim it. Of course, its Indias, argues Praveen Choksey, a jeweller who attended the talk. It didnt even occur to me that the crown jewel is not in our uncut style. But it represents India and the looting of the whole nation. And it should be returned. The authors preferred not to take a stand on its ownership, preferring to focus on what happened then, instead of what happens next. Also read JLF 2017: Dalrymple welcomes all to the Ibiza of world literature once again JLF organisers to not invite Taslima Nasreen from next year SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The mood was celebratory at the district election office in Ghaziabad on Tuesday, the last day of filing nominations for the state assembly elections, as candidates arrived with a large number of supporters to file nominations. A total of 88 candidates from various parties have filed their nominations from the five assembly seats of Ghaziabad district for this election. These include 11 from Loni, 28 from Sahibabad, 17 from Murad Nagar, 20 from Ghaziabad City and 12 from Modi Nagar. Former Ghaziabad MP, Surendra Prakash Goel, filed his nomination from Murad Nagar seat on a Congress ticket. When Goel arrived at the main entrance of the district election office, Sultan Singh Khari, a former Congressman, touched his feet to take his blessings and wish him luck. Khari, a councillor, got a last-minute ticket from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for the Ghaziabad City seat. The Congress kicked me out and didnt offer a ticket. It seems that only the rich and musclemen get tickets. I will take up the areas issues and try to bring Ganga water and a degree college to the area, apart from getting old sewer lines replaced and ensuring better connectivity between the city and Vijay Nagar areas, he said. Later, Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Rashid Malik, who was in election office to file his nomination, also hugged Goel and requested his support. Malik is contesting his first election as an MLA and has been offered a ticket from Loni. In SPs two previous lists, his name had figured from Sahibabad and Loni, but he opted for Loni instead. SP has worked for development under Akhilesh Yadav. I will go to the people and tell them about the governments developmental works. I will also try for to bring in Metro rail, better roads and a hospital for Loni, he said. Dr Manju Shivach from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the only woman candidate fielded by any major political party, also filed her nomination papers on Tuesday. She said she will concentrate on womens security and development issues in the Modi Nagar assembly constituency. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. People in my segment want better roads, electricity, road connectivity to villages and schools for children. My party has given me the responsibility and I will work hard to achieve success, she added. Former MLA Sunil Sharma from BJP also filed his nomination papers for the Sahibabad seat that he had lost in the last elections to Amarpal Sharma. Another former MLA and veteran Congress leader KK Sharma was also present to file his nomination papers from Ghaziabad City. He won the 1985 elections from Ghaziabad and was recently selected by the Congress to once again contest from the seat. I have seen the city since the time it consisted of only a few settlements. Now it has grown, but people still want a better and responsive system for their problems. We have problems of ration cards, degree colleges for women, and better road infrastructure. I will work in a better manner for undeveloped areas, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In a bid to encourage all citizens to come out and vote, a city-based NGO has announced that it will provide meals to voters if they vote on the polling day on February 11. This is done as people, especially women, get involved in preparing food at home and dont come to vote. We spoke to some officials who advised that free food could invite objection during the model code of conduct. So, we are now offering food for a nominal charge of Rs5, VK Agarwal, chairman of the NGO, said. The NGO Parmarth Samiti has offered two vegetables, puri, pulao, salad and a sweet dish to voters if they come and show the ink-mark on their finger. The food camp will be set up at Sector 23, Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad on February 11. The NGO has gained the support of residents to procure vegetables, rice and other items. According to estimates, the items offered on the plate may cost nearly Rs50 in the market. The amount of Rs5 is just a token amount that we are seeking. The food will be offered only to those who have voted. Further, we have also started a signature campaign where we are offering pulao and getting signatures of people after encouraging them to vote on the polling day, Devendra Hitkari, another member of the NGO, said. The organisation members said they have also procured a bulk SMS package of nearly one lakh and will send text messages to voters on the night of February 10. Those who are arriving for the signature campaign are also asked to give us their mobile numbers. An SMS will be sent to their mobile phone on the night before the polling day, Agarwal said. During the last assembly elections in 2012, Uttar Pradesh had 12,74,92,836 voters of whom only 7,57,25,793 turned up at the polling booths. The overall state polling percentage was 59.40%. In Ghaziabad, the polling percentage was 62.34% at Murad Nagar, 60.19% at Loni and 62.61% at Modi Nagar assembly segments that have a major rural voters base. The other segment of Ghaziabad City recorded 54.08% and Sahibabad segment recorded only 49.31% as per state election commission records. This time, the district administration has also launched major programmes to encourage voters to come out and vote. An event, in which 15,000 students will participate, is scheduled at Kavi Nagar Ramlila Ground on Wednesday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Twelve schoolgirls were injured when people engaged in illegal liquor allegedly attacked them at Beda village in Sasaram Mufassil police station area of Bihars Rohtas district, 158 km from state capital Patna, on Monday afternoon. The girls from Banarasia village were passing though Beda while returning home from their school when they were beaten up mercilessly. The attack is seen as a retaliatory action after villagers of Banarasia cordoned off Beda and destroyed illegal liquor manufacturing units as well as thousands of litres of alcoholic brew on Sunday. Manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Bihar since April 5, 2015. Superintendent of police, Rohtas, Manavjeet Singh Dhillon said villagers had lodged a named FIR against 40 persons for the attack on girls. While three of the accused had been arrested, raids were on to nab the absconders, he said. Elaborating on the chain of events, police said villagers of Banarasia, while returning home after participating in Saturdays human chain event in support of Bihar governments de-addiction drive, had threatened to teach the traders a lesson if they did not stop their illegal business. On Sunday, after lodging a complaint with Mufassil police at Sasaram, many people from Banarasia reached Beda and attacked the houses where liquor was being brewed illegally. A police team also joined them in destroying the spiced alcohol as well as the illegal manufacturing units. Angry over the complaint, the people whose liquor was destroyed targeted the schoolgirls on Monday, injuring Rani, Pinki, Rukmani, Mania, Chanda, Kanchan, Sapana, Raushani and some others. A few villagers from Banarasia, who reached Beda to rescue the girls, were also assaulted. Protesting against the incident, the people from Banarasia blocked the national highway (NH)-2 along which Beda is situated and demanded arrest of liquor traders. They also raised slogans against police, alleging that they were hand in glove with the liquor mafia. The blockade was lifted after three hours following assurance of suitable action by sub-divisional police officer Alok Ranjan. Meanwhile, the Rohtas SP said police had sent a proposal to the district magistrate for imposing collective fine on villagers of Beda and Banarasia for continuing the illegal business despite frequent raids. The people of Banarasia had approached police, requested them not to impose fine and offered help in conducting raids of liquor manufacturers. Police, on Sunday raided the illegal units with the people of Banarasia. This apparently angered the traders who assaulted the girls in an act of revenge, Dhillon said. The average assets of 94 re-contesting MLAs in Punjab have jumped by about Rs 3 crore in the last five years. These re-contesting legislators, mainly from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had average assets of Rs 10.81 crore in 2012, while they stand at Rs 13.80 crore now, showing an increase of 28%, according to an analysis of affidavits filed by the contesting candidates conducted by the Association for Democratic Rights (ADR). However, contrary to popular perception, legislators of the opposition Congress have fared far better than those from the ruling SAD-BJP alliance in asset growth in the past five years. Both the Congress and SAD have 41 outgoing MLAs each who are re-contesting the February 4 elections. The Congress MLAs have average assets of Rs 18.88 crore as against Rs 13.92 crore in 2012 an average increase of 35.64%. Also read | In Punjab polls, 21% of the candidates havent studied beyond Class 10 In comparison, the average percentage increase in assets of re-contesting SAD legislators is 17.26%, up from Rs 9.70 crore in 2012 to Rs 11.38 crore now. The nine outgoing MLAs of the BJP, who are in the fray again, have shown a meagre growth of 0.44% in their assets. They have declared average assets of Rs 2.73 crore against Rs 2.72 crore in the previous assembly polls. Also, four of the five re-contesting candidates with highest growth in assets in actual terms are from the Congress, with Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjit Singh topping the list. A sugar baron, Rana Gurjits assets have jumped to Rs 170 crore from Rs 68 crore in 2012. Hoshiarpur MLA Sunder Sham Arora, Abohar MLA Sunil Jakhar, Ludhiana Central MLA Surinder Kumar Dawar (Congress) and Majitha MLA Bikram Singh Majithia (SAD) are the other four whose assets have increased in the last five years. Of the 94 re-contesting legislators, 55 are crorepatis. While 75 MLAs have shown increase in assets, the value of assets of 19 has dropped. The average assets of 13 of them have more than doubled between 2012 and 2017. They include chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, Ajnala MLA Amarpal Singh, Khemkaran MLA Virsa Singh Valtoha, Bhadaur MLA Mohammad Sadique, Nihal Singh Wala MLA Rajwinder Kaur and Malout MLA Harpreet Singh. Ukraine plans to supplement the motion it has filed with the UN International Court of Justice with new facts of "human rights violations by Russia," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said. "We are passing them [reports on violations] to the European side, but what counts most is that they will be used in court as part of our case. After all, we are building up the assembly of facts in addition to what we have already submitted, and we will be enlarging it. We can submit new facts before the hearings," Klimkin told Interfax in Tallinn on Monday. Among other things, this work is aimed at having the sanctions against Russia toughened, he said. Ukraine filed a motion with the UN International Court of Justice on January 16, 2017 to hold Russia accountable for violating the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal sided with Sikh extremists against the state government in the strife-torn days in the 1980s, according to the Central Intelligence Agencys declassified documents released last week. The report is a part of Indias most important Sikhs filed under India and the Sikh Challenge, a research paper submitted by the US spy agencys directorate of intelligence. It is among 930,000 documents made accessible on CREST, the CIAs records archive. The trove contains 12 million pages of dispatches, memoranda and records of briefings documenting the agencys spycraft dating as far back as the 1940s. He (Badal) is working to advance his personal fortunes by heading his own Akali Dal dissident party and siding with Sikh extremists against the state government. Twice chief minister of Punjab (1970-71 and 1977), Badal continues to try to position himself as a future candidate for that post, it says. The documents show the CIA closely monitored the terrorism period in the state as it tracked important events and personalities in India over a period of more than five decades beginning in the late 1940s. Indira, Rajiv The CIA report also talks about how it thought the then prime minister Indira Gandhi justified her decision to send the army inside the Golden Temple in 1984. Operation Blue Star that took place between June 1 and 6 June 6, 1984, was ordered by her in order to establish control over the Golden Temple, Sikhs holiest shrine in Amritsar, and flush out militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his armed followers. Bhindrawale and his associates were killed in the operation. Indira Gandhis decision to send in the army against Sikh militants in Punjab last May was an admission that her political strategy to defuse the crisis had failed. The paramilitary troops she had sent earlier had failed to bring the well-armed extremists to heel. The unrest in Punjab in our view also provided Gandhi with a justification for augmenting her military forces in a critical border state, it says. We estimate that between mid-May and Mid-June the army deployed 20,000-25,000 troops to Punjab from adjoining regional commands to reinforce the more than 100,000 army personnel already there. Indira was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh on October 31, 1984. The document also talks about Indiras son and the next prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying he would renew efforts to address moderate Sikh demands after the 1987 elections. He might also choose to release Sikh detainees and offer agricultural subsidies to supplement the accord provisions. Concessions on autonomy would be unlikely. Even under the best scenario the likelihood of Gandhi eventually falling victim to a Sikh assassin would be about even, it adds. It calls Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) which is in charge of controlling the gurdwaras, a political opportunist who probably hopes to become Punjab CM. Tohra held the position of the head of the SGPC for 27 years and was said to be one of the most influential and controversial Sikh leaders of the 20th century. He died of a heart attack in New Delhi in April 2004 at the age of 79. Read more: CIA files: Despite keeping tabs, US was unaware of Indira Gandhis Emergency plans US wanted nuclear emissary to reduce India-Pakistan tensions, CIA papers reveal CIA files: Alleged miracle worker Sathya Sai Baba could start world religion CIA believed as far back as 1948 that Subhas Chandra Bose was dead Revealed: How CIA tried to gather intel before 1971 India-Pakistan war From Subhas Chandra Bose to Sai Baba, how the CIA tracked India SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Their stories are heart-wrenching, but the authorities remain negligent. As crime against women rises, safe spaces for them continue to decline. Many of us find shelter at home, but what about those who dont have a roof over their heads? Social activist Satinder Kaur Sachdeva set out on a mission to evaluate the Short Stay Home Scheme for destitute women and girls in Punjab and Chandigarh, visiting shelter homes in Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Faridkot and Dhariwal. After interviewing 62 women, the results were discouraging. Most women in shelter homes are stark targets of patriarchy, whether its domestic violence or sexual assault. The stories stemmed from violence and how no one spoke out for them. You see, a culture of silence leads to a cycle of violence, said the 49-year-old, who is the first to conduct such a study. Number of inmates low There are 10 inmates at Nari Niketan in Chandigarh, 20 in Jalandhar, 11 in Amritsar. There were three in Faridkot and 18 in Dhariwal, but these homes were shut in 2015. I got into this research because the numbers didnt match up. I wanted to know why this happened since crime against women is on the rise, said Satinder, adding that this scheme was started in 1969. Not much has changed Under this scheme, women cannot stay at a home for more than three years. The government provides for doctors, case workers, counsellors and vocational training to make women self-sufficient. However, the author said the reality was different from what was on papers. The conditions in these homes violated basic provisions listed under the scheme. She added from male superintendents and roofless toilets to inadequate nutrition and outdated skill training, these shelter homes did nothing to provide a secure environment for women. I met so many educated women in these homes ranging from postgraduates to graduates and diploma holders. But the trauma theyve faced is so strong, they are incapable of earning their own living. The homes do not have competitive counsellors who can cater to specific cases. Many women dont have bank accounts. Most of the employees work on an ad hoc basis and theres no record of personal details of inmates. I couldnt trace a single beneficiary from these homes, she said. Not a writer, but researcher She added that her aim was to recommend policy changes for a more effective impact. I have recommended modern methods of skill training, public utilities and collaboration with education centres and libraries. I was deeply affected by their stories, but my passion to know more carried me through. I am not a writer, but a researcher and this is not a novel. So, I hope that enough people are interested to know the stories of these abandoned women and understand their place in society, said Satinder. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The first elected Sikh councillor of France and the deputy mayor of Normandy, Vivek Pal Singh, has joined the campaign for his father, Akali candidate Gen JJ Singh (retd), against erstwhile royal Capt Amarinder Singh of the Congress for Patiala Urban seat in the Punjab assembly polls to be held on February 4. Already, members of the royal family led by the sitting MLA, Amarinders wife Preneet Kaur, are firing on all cylinders in the quest for victory to state Congress president Amarinder. Their daughter Jai Inder Kaur and granddaughter Seherinder Kaur have also joined the campaign in the nooks and crannies of the Old City area. Landing from France with his students, Vivek Pal, who is a professor of management and also runs an import-export business, has started connecting with the young voters in particular to bolster the appeal of his father, a former chief of the Indian Army. While he is campaigning, his students are keenly watching the differences between politics of France and that of India, apart from studying small-business models of phulkari, paranda and other traditional crafts. Talking to HT, Vivek Pal said, As my father decided to contest polls, it is my moral duty to stand by him. I am convincing voters that the my father has already enjoyed maximum power as a General and then as governor of Arunachal Pradesh, and that he is in Patiala to serve, not to gain power. Vivek is also spreading awareness about the turban in France, where it is banned for being an article of faith on public display. Several times I had to remove my turban, as the law doesnt permit it. But I am spreading awareness that it is an integral part of Sikhism. People are starting to acknowledge it. I am hopeful that I will effect a change in the law through my convincing power. About the tough contest, he said, Nothing is impossible. I am a Sikh in Normandy and convinced voters to pick me over a French native. Not only he, but his sister Urvashi Kaur, a fashion designer from Delhi, and mother Anupama Singh, are already campaigning for Gen Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ranchi: Taking cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modis Smart City project, Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand has proposed WiFi enabled Smart Colony scheme for cities. The government has planned to develop smart colonies in five cities-Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad, Bokaro and Deoghar-in first phase during next financial year. Chief minister Raghubar Das has proposed the scheme in the 2017-18 budget on Monday. Objective of the scheme is to upgrade and improve quality of residential colonies, said Das. Affordable houses with ultra-modern technology, school, shopping complex, playground, park, hospital, bank and community hall are some of the prime features planned for the colonies. The colony will also have smart facility like WiFi for various reasons like promoting local business, cashless transaction, education and other activities, said Ashish Singhmar, managing director of Jharkhand State Housing Board (JSHB). The board has been made implementing authority of the smart colony project. The government has estimated Rs 200 crore to build a smart colony, which will come up on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. Government will offer land while private parties will build the colonies. The housing board has identified 10 acres of land in Ranchis Bariatu area and Kulupatnga area of Jamshedpur respectively. The board will soon float expression of interest for the two colonies. Singhmar said that 10 acres of land in Bokaro and 12 acres of land in Deoghar have also been identified. Land for the proposed colony in Dhanbad will soon be identified in Jharkhand. The project is expected to give a boost to real estate business, which is facing trouble after demonetization. Jharkhand president of Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI), Kumud Jha said schemes like smart colonies would benefit both consumers as well as builders. Since its a government scheme, houses would be affordable. There will be no dearth of buyers. This will encourage real estate business in Jharkhand, Jha said. Experts said Das smart colony concept is a replica of Modis smart city project. The Centre had picked Ranchi last year under its Smart City project, which is likely to take shape on ground from next financial year. The state has constituted a special purpose vehicle (SPV) named as Smart City Corporation (SCC), Ranchi and urban development department has sent a requisition of Rs 200 crore to Central government for starting the work. State has proposed to build smart city on 375 acres of land of Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC). SCC member Vidyanand Sharma, also the additional municipal commissioner, Ranchi, said that HEC would soon hand over the proposed land. We hope to start the work of smart city from next financial year, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A day after police forcibly evicted pro-Jallikattu protesters, actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday questioned the action and said he was shocked that women and children were also reportedly caught in the melee. The popular actor said he wanted reasonable explanation for the police action. I hope there is an explanation on the clips of cops committing arson. No law or legal system is infallible, Haasan said. He said women and children were also reportedly affected by the crackdown. On videos which have gone viral purportedly showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, Haasan said he hoped they were not real cops. Hope cops seen in videos are not real. What is this. Please explain some one pic.twitter.com/MMpFXHSOVk Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 Referring to the protests, he said it was a symbol of discontent. The uprising is absolutely legitimate, the top star said, adding, he was very touched by the protests. On the ban on Jallikattu, he said more people die in accidents than Jallikattu. On demands for banning animal rights group PETA, he said he did not support banning PETA. Can correct them, if they are wrong. The 62-year-old actor, reacting to the police crackdown on protesters, had on Monday tweeted aggressive police action on students passive resistance will not bear good results. My request to the police minister.Stop harrassing peacful protesters of TN and Marina.Let the CM offer solutions arrived upon @ the assembly Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 He had also urged protesters not to resort to violence. Haasan, a known Jallikattu supporter, had earlier lauded students for conducting a peaceful stir on the bull-taming sport, saying he had become a fan of these students. Police had on Monday evicted scores of pro-Jallikattu protesters from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially Marina Beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and lathicharge at a few places in the city. Follow @htshowbiz for more ott:10:ht-entertainment_listing-desktop Indias military spending has averaged an annual increase of around 10% during the last three years and the trend of a marginal growth in allocation is likely to reflect in the Union budget this year for the defence sector. The countrys defence planners and experts believe the spending has not been balanced and falls short of expectations of a military laden with obsolete weapons and equipment ranging from fighter planes, submarines, air defence systems to helicopters. The military expenditure, excluding defence pensions, went up from Rs 2.29 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2.58 lakh crore in 2016-17. However, the outlay for modernisation dropped from Rs 94,587.95 crore to Rs 87,209.63 crore during the same period, much to the disappointment of the military that is struggling to scale up its capabilities. From basic gear such as bulletproof vests, night-vision equipment and assault rifles to hi-tech platforms like warplanes and next-generation submarines, several of Indias defence modernisation programmes are making slow progress and facing funding challenge. The budget has to cater for making payments for defence deals already signed as well as big-ticket contracts likely to be finalised in the short to medium term, experts said. The government has placed orders worth billions of dollars for new fighter jets, attack helicopters, heavy-lift choppers and ultra lightweight howitzers for which staggered payments have to be made. Indias defence spending is poor measured against the countrys gross domestic product. The budget for 2016-17, excluding pensions, accounts for 1.72% of the GDP, though experts argue it should be in the region of 3% to counter Chinas growing military might. Speaking at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in December, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said he would like India to earmark 3% of its GDP for military spending but added that the target could not be achieved overnight. Strategic affairs expert Brigadier (retd) Gurmeet Kanwal said at 1.72% of the GDP, the defence budget has been the lowest since the 1962 war with China. This is grossly inadequate to upgrade the militarys capabilities to deal with the threats and challenges India faces, Kanwal said. He said the government must institute a rolling modernisation fund of Rs 1 lakh crore and the defence allocation should be at least 2% of the GDP in the upcoming budget. It should be gradually raised to 3% if we are to avoid another military debacle. Kanwal also flagged concerns about the defence ministry surrendering unspent money almost every year, despite low budgetary allocation. The ministry failed to spend Rs 11,595 crore of its capital budget earmarked for buying new weapons and systems last year, besides over Rs 6,700 crore of the expenditure budget for meeting the militarys day-to-day expenses remained unutilised. Lieutenant General DB Shekatkar (retd), chairperson of the Shekatkar committee that has submitted its recommendations to the government to sharpen Indias combat edge and dealt with budgetary issues too, said the gradual decline in military spending over the years would impact Indias combat potential and endurance. This fact is not hidden from China and Pakistan, Shekatkar said. Ideally, the budget should be 3% of the GDP. But if there are financial constraints, it still needs to be around 2.2% in the upcoming budget considering Indias security challenges and the threat of a two-front war, he said. Lieutenant General (retd) AS Lamba, a former army vice chief, said the government had cleared the decks for buying a wide range of military equipment and the budget would have to cater for the backlog in modernisation. After the difficulties thrown up by demonetisation, the Indian middle class is looking forward to Budget 2017, hoping for a personal tax bonanza from Arun Jaitley. As the finance minister prepares to present his third union budget, heres a look at what Jaitley can do to make the middle class smile: Increase exemption limit This one ranks very high on every Indian citizens budget wish list; increasing the exemption limit by at least Rs 50,000 to Rs 300,000. Increase deduction limit under 80C Currently, the deduction limit is Rs 150,000 and the demand is to increase it by Rs 100,000. This will boost household savings and in turn will provide funds to the government for long term investments. Raise exemption limit for senior citizens The existing exemption limit for senior citizens is Rs 300,000 and Rs 500,000 for super senior citizens (80 years and above). The wish list is that this should be raised to Rs 400,000 and Rs 650,000 respectively. Allow higher deduction on home loans The current tax deduction allowed is Rs 200,000 on home loans on repayment of the principal. The long-standing demand is to increase this limit. Bring back standard deduction Bringing back the standard deduction provision that existed in 2005-2006 would bring cheer to the salaried citizens of India. This provision allows a certain percentage of the gross salary to be deducted, the tax is computed on the remaining salary. Caveat Government records show that only 24 lakh Indians file taxes with income over Rs 10 lakh per year, so will Arun Jaitley have the fiscal space to include the wish list on personal tax? SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Narendra Modi-led government may miss its deficit goal in 2017-18, say research reports, indicating higher borrowing and spending than what was indicated during the last budget. Fiscal deficit is the gap between the governments revenues and its expenditure. To bridge the deficit, governments borrow from various sources from financial institutions and the central bank through the debt market, from multilateral donor agencies through loans and from the public through savings schemes such postal deposits or provident funds. The Budget for the financial year 2017-18 will be presented on February 1. We think that the government will have to tread very carefully between the need for stimulating demand in a weak economic environment after demonetization and continuing on the path of fiscal consolidation. We expect the government to Budget for a fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP, 30 basis points higher than planned in the governments medium-term fiscal consolidation program, Goldman Sachs said in its research report. An SBI internal research report, Ecowrap, has pegged in a fiscal deficit target of Rs 5.75 lakh crores for the financial year 2017-18, at 3.4% of GDP. Fiscal deficit for the financial year 2016-17 is budgeted at 3.5%. According to credit rating agency ICRA, the government is unlikely to budget a fiscal deficit that is higher than 3.5% or lower than 3%. The new deficit estimated would mean the net borrowing would go up from Rs 4,10,000 crore to Rs 4.3-5 lakh crore in the coming fiscal year.To put things in perspective, the higher limit of the difference in borrowing could allow the government spend three times money it spent on its flagship rural job plan MNREGA last year. The idea of controlling the deficit was former finance minister Yashwant Sinhas, in 2001. In 2003, the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM Act) was implemented, which aimed at keeping the deficit under 3%. It remained until 2008, and hit a 30-years low in 2007-08. Then came the global financial crisis, and the deficit surged to 6%, and since then the government has not been able to bring it below 3%. Budget 2017 is expected to be a feel-good one. The income tax slab restructuring and increasing the exemption limit are on the cards. Social sector spending, such as NREGA, food subsidy, insurance schemes, and welfare pensions, is expected to go up. The ICRA report said, Meaningful recovery in private sector investments is unlikely in the next one to two quarters. Therefore, we expect the government to significantly expand its budgetary allocation. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Government may announce a new cess in the forthcoming Union Budget 2017-18 to cover around 20,000 railway coolies under social security schemes run by the retirement fund body EPFO. There is a proposal from the labour ministry to levy a cess of 10 paisa per railway ticket to cover 20,000 railway coolies under the ambit of social security net through the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), a source said. The proposal makes a lot sense because 10 paisa cess per ticket will not burn of a hole into travellers pockets. Besides it would help railways to mop up funds to provide social security to coolies, said the source. This proposal is a one of the initiatives of governments overall efforts to bring over 40 crore informal sector workers under the social security net of the EPFO and others like ESIC. According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation, levying of this 10 paisa cess will help in collecting about Rs 4.38 crore every year, which will be enough to provide basic minimum facilities like PF, pension and group insurance to coolies. Indian Railways issues 10-12 lakh rail travel tickets everyday, including 58% reserved tickets. Thus, the move can help mop up about Rs 1.2 lakh every day for the purpose. Chairman of the Central Board of Trustees, EPFOs apex decision-making body, labour minister Bandaru Dattatreya had already assured the members to look into the proposal mooted by employee representative Ashok Singh. Singh, the vice-president of Indian National Trade Union Congress, had floated the proposal at the EPFOs trustees meeting in Bengaluru on December 19, 2016. The forthcoming general budget is likely to be tabled in Parliament on February 1, 2017. The proposed cess of 10 paise is on every ticket sold by Indian Railways. It will not be levied per passenger. One ticket sold by Indian Railways can have multiple passengers. Estonia to assist Ukraine in implementing e-governance, decentralization projects with almost EUR 6 mln Estonia intends to assist Ukraine in the implementation of the project "Support for e-governance decentralization in Ukraine" (EGOV4UKRAINE) with EUR 5.7 million, the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Services has said. "Through the EGOV4UKRAINE project we strengthen the Ukrainian-European U-LEAD program for implementation of decentralization, which was launched in Ukraine in September 2016. EGOV4UKRAINE is aimed at improving the process of providing administrative services in local communities through e-governance instruments," the press service of the ministry said. In particular, it is planned to develop and implement universal and effective IT architecture, information systems and technical solutions for the centers of administrative services primarily in the united territorial communities. The memorandum on the implementation of the project will be signed between the State e-Governance Agency of Ukraine and the Estonian e-Governance Academy. According to the report, the total cost of the project amounts to EUR 5.7 million. Schools in the east of the Iraqi city of Mosul are seeking to return to a semblance of normality after two years under Islamic State rule when they were either shuttered or forced to teach a martial curriculum that included lessons in bomb-making. Around 40,000 students - most of whom have been kept at home by their parents since the militants captured Mosul in 2014 - will attend around 70 schools in the coming weeks after the buildings have been checked for unexploded bombs. US-backed Iraqi forces have retaken most eastern districts of the city and are preparing to push into the western part of Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State across its self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq and Syria. Teachers and parents told Reuters about the jihadists brand of education received by those children who have attended school over the past two years, including many children of militants. This included chemistry lessons on bomb-making and maths classes devoted to tallying up weapons caches, they said. In math, my six-year-old son was counting rifles. In other classes, he was being taught about suicide bombing, said Mishwan Yunis, a 41-year-old water ministry worker whose son attends Kufa Boys School. He lost two very important years of his life. He should have been in the third grade; now he goes back to first. The northern city is coming back to life with markets and shops reopening and people selling once-prohibited goods such as cigarettes openly on the streets yet the damage of battle is everywhere - and fighting rages just a few kilometres away. Parents of schoolchildren walk to register their children in school in Mosul, Iraq. (Reuters Photo) At Kufa Boys School, children run around the concrete yard wearing new bright blue school bags provided by Unicef, in the shadow of neighbouring buildings reduced to rubble. Read | Iraqi forces eye tougher fight against IS in Mosuls west One schoolyard in the area has been turned into a cemetery covered with dozens of freshly dug graves. Yet a return to normality will not be easy for children, who bear the scars of living in the Islamic States de facto capital in Iraq and the bitter battle for the city since late last year when Iraqi forces launched the biggest ground operation in the country since the US-led invasion of 2003. They could face psychological hurdles, as might their teachers, many of who told Reuters they had been threatened with being hung from their schools walls if they did not continue teaching under Islamic State. Our role is bigger now than it was two or three years ago because you need to deal with the childrens psychological state before you can teach them, said Omar Khudor Ali, headteacher of nearby Badayel Boys School. For us to do this, we need better coordination between the teachers themselves and the entire education system. I need to make them forget Islamic State and be free again, said a teacher at the adjacent Badayel Girls School who asked that her name not be revealed for fear of retaliation by Islamic State, fighting Iraqi forces across a nearby river. Read | Iraqis who escaped Islamic State grapple with trauma A chef in a restaurant serving Indian cuisine in Wales threw a bowl of chilli powder in the face of a customer who complained the meat in his dish was tough and rubbery, temporarily blinding and hospitalising the victim. The incident occurred at the Prince of Bengal restaurant in Tonypandy, Rhondda, south Wales, when customers David Evans and his wife Michelle were dining on Saturday night. Police arrested the Bangladesh-born chef on suspicion of common assault and bailed him until January 31. When a waiter casually enquired if they were enjoying the meal, the Evans said the meat was tough and rubbery, a comment that was passed on to the chef, Kamrul Islam, in the kitchen. Islam then reportedly went to the Evans' table in an aggressive manner and spoke to them rudely. Asked to apologise by David, the chef went back to the kitchen and was followed by the customer. It was there that Islam threw a large bowl of chilli powder at Davids face. Michelle told the media: "What was meant to be a quick meal out with David turned out to be one of the most frightening times we've had. We had our starter which wasn't very good but we ate it and didn't tell the waiter. "When our mains came and the meat was like what I can only describe as rubber, we told the young waiter when he came and asked us 'how is your food?' that the meat was very tough and rubbery. "To cut a long story short, the chef came to our table, he was extremely rude and aggressive and accused us of not wanting to pay for our food. We said we would eat the rest of our food but the meat was really not eatable. Michelle said the chief began swearing at me, so David said 'there's no need to swear at my wife'. The chef caused quite a scene and was shouting and swearing so David walked back to the kitchen door with him asking for an apology, she added. In the hospital, David had several eye washes through a drip into his eyes, and the chilli also reportedly burnt the skin on his hands and chest. Islam said: "I ran into the kitchen to get away from him but he followed me. I was frightened and grabbed a handful of chilli just in case I needed to defend myself. I was frightened and threw it at him. Chilli will burn but it is not life-threatening. I've been running this restaurant here for 18 years and I've never had to do anything like this. I'm very upset by it all." SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Australia and New Zealand on Tuesday said they hoped to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after US President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former US President Barack Obamas policy to pivot to Asia. Read: Trump withdraws US from TPP trade deal Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China, which is not a TPP member. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday pulling the United States out of the 2015 TPP agreement and distancing the United States from its Asian allies. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had held discussions with Abe, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong overnight about the possibility of proceeding without the United States. Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that, Turnbull said in Canberra on Tuesday. But we are not about to walk away ... certainly there is potential for China to join the TPP. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but that at a time of economic uncertainly the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness. US President Barack Obama (C) takes part in the Trans-Pacific Partnership meeting at the APEC summit in Japan in 2010. (AP file photo) We think that in the present situation, no matter what happens, all should keep going down the path of open, inclusive, continuous development, seeking cooperation and win-win, Hua told a daily news briefing. Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asias trade rules before Beijing could, establishing US economic leadership in the region as part of his pivot to Asia. China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Hua said efforts on FTAAP should be stepped up, adding China hoped talks on RCEP could be concluded at an early date. MEETINGS PLANNED New Zealands English said the United States was ceding influence to China and the regions focus could switch to alternative trade deals. We have got this RCEP agreement with Southeast Asia, which up until now has been on a bit of a slow burn, but we might find the political will for that to pick up if TPP isnt going to proceed, English said. Malaysias trade minister said negotiators from the remaining TPP countries would be in constant communication to decide the best way forward. Notwithstanding the current position of the new US administration on (TPP), we will continue to engage with our American colleagues to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relations, given the USs importance as our third-largest trading partner and a major source of investment, Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement. The TTP, which has been five years in the making, requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the combined gross domestic product of the member nations. Australia held open the possibility of China, the worlds top exporter, joining a revised deal. The original architecture was to enable other countries to join, Australian trade minister Steven Ciobo said on Tuesday. Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed interest and there would be scope for China if we are able to reformulate it. Japan has led the push for the partnership, which includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (AP file photo) There is no change to our view that free trade is the source of economic growth, Japanese economy minister Nobuteru Ishihara said. When asked whether Japan would be open to negotiating a bilateral trade pact with the United States, Ishihara said it was uncertain whether US trade officials would start such negotiations. Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary Koichi Hagiuda said separately that Japan was not considering moves with other TPP members based on a lack of US involvement. As Prime Minister Abe has made clear, TPP without the United States is meaningless and the balance of interests would crumble, he told a news conference, adding Japan would keep explaining the benefits of the pact for America. Read: Japan PM says TPP trade pact meaningless without the US Abe had made TPP a core of his economic growth policies and along with the Obama administration, viewed it as strategically vital in the face of a rising China Trump took office on Friday and pledged to end what he called an American carnage of rusted factories and crime. He vowed to bring jobs back by renegotiating what he called bad multilateral trade deals in favour of bilateral ones. New Zealand trade minister Todd McClay said he had talked with a number of TPP-member ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week and he expected they would meet in coming months. The agreement still has value as a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the other countries involved, McClay said. An Australian zookeeper on Tuesday urged people to catch and donate deadly funnel-web spiders, to help replenish stocks of antidote running low after a spate of spider bites. The Australian Reptile Park, the countrys sole supplier of funnel-web venom to antidote producers since 1981, relies on the public to hand in spiders that are milked for the venom used to produce an antidote. The anti-venom program was now at risk after too few spiders were donated last year and a recent heatwave encouraged more spider activity and bites, the parks general manager, Tim Faulkner, said on Tuesday. We rely on community support to keep this program alive, Faulkner said in a telephone interview. We have tried to catch enough spiders ourselves and we just cant. Funnel-web spiders live throughout southeastern Australia, but the only known killer is the Sydney funnel-web spider, found in the Sydney region and as far north as Newcastle and south to Illawarra, the park says on its website. The large fangs and acidic venom make the bite very painful, it said, noting that a major bite can cause death within an hour if left untreated. After milking the spiders, the park delivers the venom to a division of the blood plasma and vaccine maker CSL Ltd, which converts it into the life-saving antidote. Australia has had two funnel-web spider attacks in two weeks, media have said, one of them involving a woman bitten by a spider while she was asleep. Despite the terrifying reputation of Australian wildlife, nobody has died from the bite of a funnel-web spider since the anti-venom program began in 1981. Catching venomous spiders is safe, as long precautions are followed, Faulkner said. With an appropriate jar and a wooden spoon, you can flick the spider into the jar so easily, he said. Weve been doing this for 35 years and no ones been hurt. Desperate to end their suffering, an impoverished Bangladeshi father has begged permission to kill three terminally ill members of his family, sparking a rare debate about euthanasia in a deeply conservative society. I have taken care of them for years. I took them to hospitals in Bangladesh and India, I sold my shop to pay for their treatment but now Im broke, said Tofazzal Hossain as he describes his years-long struggle to cope with the costs of looking after his two sons and grandson. The government should decide what it wants to do with them. They are suffering and have no hope of recovery. I cant bear it any longer. Hossain, a fruit vendor from the rural west of the country, wrote to his local district administration pleading for them to either help care for his loved ones -- who suffer from an incurable form of muscular dystrophy -- or allow them to be put to death with medicine, he told AFP. One of Asias poorest countries, Bangladesh lacks any kind of free health care and medical treatment is often beyond the reach of the tens of millions of inhabitants who live below the poverty line. An estimated 600,000 Bangladeshis suffer from incurable diseases, yet the country has just one palliative care centre and no hospice services. This leaves few treatment options for Hossains sons, aged 24 and 13, and eight-year-old grandson, who are afflicted with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This rare genetic disorder is characterised by progressive muscle degeneration and patients rarely live beyond 30 years of age. Hossain said his sons were aware of their condition but could do little for themselves, unable to move and confined to their beds. The grandson can still go to the washroom, but his condition is worsening. I told them about the letter. I told them (about seeking permission for their deaths). They did not take it seriously. Perhaps they did not understand the severity of the situation, he said. His eldest son, 24-year-old Mohammad Abdus Sabur, said he spent his days watching television and talking with their father. I tell father not to worry too much, he told AFP. An AFP correspondents attempt to ask the son about his fathers desperate appeal was met with stern rebuke from Hossain, who said it would hurt them. Mahbubul Alam, a doctor who has treated the Hossain family, said there was no cure for their condition and they lived in extreme pain. Its a humanitarian case. Everyone should come forward (and help). - An act of murder - A government official who visited the family after Hossains appeal grabbed national headlines said the request was the plea of a helpless father. He asked for their medical assistance, or permission to kill them. But who will give the permission to kill? he told AFP. Authorities were trying to find ways to help Hossain bear the cost of their care, the official added. Their plight has sparked a rarely-seen debate about euthanasia in Bangladesh, where even attempted suicide can land one in prison. So-called mercy killing is forbidden both under the secular law of the land, and by religious code adhered to by the Muslim-majority population. Euthanasia is completely illegal in Islam. It is the governments duty to take responsibility for every citizen, top Islamic cleric and scholar Fariduddin Masoud told AFP. The overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis not only disapprove of mercy killings but would oppose the mere discussion of it, said Nur Khan Liton, head of local rights group Ain O Salish Kendra. They consider it an act of murder. Its the duty of the government and society to look after these victims, he told AFP. But sympathy for Hossains family has run deep on social media, where many have offered thoughts and prayers amid calls for the government to improve its paltry health services. Nezamuddin Ahmed, the head of Bangladeshs sole palliative care centre in the capital Dhaka, said it was time for an honest discussion about the issue and improving care for those suffering from incurable diseases. I think this will lead to healthy debate about assisted death, he said. But before launching into this, the government should strengthen palliative care services here. There has to be something we can all do to ease the suffering of these helpless people. The Islamic State suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport last year targeted passengers travelling to the United States and also Jewish people, several sources told AFP. The Belgian-led investigation believes a check-in counter for an American carrier was one of the targets in the March 22, 2016 attacks, the sources said on condition of anonymity. They also suspect that travellers to Israel may have been in the crosshairs, and that airport security camera footage shows one bomber apparently pursuing Hasidic Jews seconds before one of the blasts. Islamic State (IS) bombers Najim Laachraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui killed 16 people at Zaventem airport. Around an hour later Bakraouis brother Khalid attacked a metro station near EU headquarters, killing another 16. One source close to the investigation told AFP, which contacted investigators in several countries, that one of the airport bombers attacked the Delta Airlines check-in. We know they wanted to target Americans, said the source, who asked not to be named. Its clear they had quite specific targets. Asked if these targets included the check-in counter for a flight to Israel, he replied: We know they were obsessed with the Israelis too. The possibility that they targeted Russian travellers was an option that had to be clarified, he said. - Wanted to kill a Jew - There were casualties from at least 40 nationalities in the Brussels attacks, but investigators and sources believe the Zaventem bombers had specific targets. Even early on (in the investigation) there were indications that they targeted US, Russian and Israeli check-in counters, a US law enforcement source told AFP on condition of anonymity. That understanding has held up with later investigations, including with Abrinis alleged confession, the source said. Mohamed Abrini is the so-called man in the hat who fled the airport without detonating his suitcase bomb after his accomplices set off theirs. He was captured a month later. Four Americans were killed at the airport and several injured, while two Israelis aged 23 and 28 were treated in Jerusalem after the attacks. Israeli media identified the pair as members of the Belz Hassid ultra-Orthodox religious sect, who had been scheduled to fly from Brussels airport to Ben Gurion. Sources close to the investigation added that camera footage never released to the public showed that Laachraoui had been standing among some 60 high school students before deciding to pursue two Orthodox Jews. The attacker seemed to rush towards two Orthodox Jews, one of the sources said. He really, clearly wanted to kill a Jew. A US government source said separately that Lachraoui was targeting a Hasidic Jew. Hasidic men are easily recognisable because they wear dark suits over white shirts, have long beards, hats and curly sidelocks. Investigators are very confident they (bombers) were targeting US, Russia and Israel, the US government source said. Israeli security measures have dramatically increased since the attacks, an airport source added. - Cornered and hunted - A Belgian press report said investigators had found an electronic message from Khalid El Bakraoui saying flights departed every Tuesday from Brussels to the United States, Russia and Israel, but investigators would not confirm that. However the attack did occur around 8:00 am on a Tuesday, shortly before scheduled flights to all three countries by United, American, Delta, El Al, Brussels Airlines and Russias Aeroflot, according to airport and other sources. An airport source who asked not to be named said the bomb that did not explode was left near the United and El Al counters, which were facing each other. Abrini appeared in unreleased airport CCTV footage as lagging behind the other bombers before hiding behind a pillar covering his ears, two independent sources said. Every indication was that Abrini changed his mind, the US law enforcement source said. In pics | Panic grips Brussels after string of explosions Investigators have said the bombers were part of the same Brussels-based cell that orchestrated the November 2015 Paris attacks. They believe they were spurred into action in Brussels by the March 18 arrest of key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam. Completely cornered and hunted, they clearly improvised, a source close to the Belgian investigation said, adding that one of the bombers left a message on an abandoned computer apologising for not having launched a new attack on France. Belgium had also suffered an attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 which left four people dead. The alleged attacker, Mehdi Nemmouche, has been linked to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris attacks. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said Israel does not comment publicly on security-related issues when asked about the March 2016 attacks. The FBI, which is taking part in the investigation, did not respond to a request for comment. Russias investigation committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, said it is not investigating the Brussels attacks. A car bomb exploded on Tuesday in an area for car dealerships in the Iraqi capital, killing at least three people and wounding 14, police said. The morning blast happened in the al Nahda neighbourhood in the centre of Baghdad, which has already been hit by several deadly bombings this year, a police colonel said. These cars were exploding one after the other because of the fuel tanks, Jihad Karim, an eyewitness, told AFP on the scene. He said that the man who brought the explosives-laden car did not arouse suspicion when he left it among the vehicles because he had come to the same dealership for several days running. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing. Most such attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State group, which is fighting to defend Mosul, Iraqs large northern city and the jihadists last major stronghold in the country. Ziad al Ajili, head of the Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, said that two reporters for the local NRT channel were beaten by the security forces on the scene. Ajili said men from the armys 11th division physically assaulted the pair with rifle butts and confiscated their equipment. Both reporters were hospitalised. The death toll in Italys avalanche disaster rose to 14 on Tuesday as rescuers extracted the bodies of two women from a devastated hotel and continued their search for 15 people still missing, local authorities said. Six other bodies were found between Monday afternoon and the early hours of Tuesday, the sixth day of what increasingly appears to be a forlorn search through the snow-covered wreckage of the Hotel Rigopiano. Eleven staff and guests survived the disaster, two men who were outside when the avalanche struck on January 18 and nine people, including four children, who were found on Friday morning. Rescuers have refused to give up hope of finding more people alive with morale amongst the exhausted firefighters and mountain police having been boosted on Monday when three live puppies were retrieved from under the rubble. Italian authorities are meanwhile investigating the chain of events leading to the avalanche to see if the tragedy could or should have been avoided. A preliminary manslaughter investigation has been opened with the prosecutor in charge looking into whether environmental risks were properly taken into account during the construction and subsequent renovation of the hotel. Events on the day of the disaster itself, when guests were unable to leave because of snow-blocked access roads, are also in the spotlight. Tunnelling into wreckage The local council had only one functioning road-clearance vehicle and had deployed it to reach isolated hamlets with elderly residents rather than clearing the road to the hotel. A second snow plough had broken down earlier in the month and staff were awaiting authorisation to get a 25,000-euro ($26,845) repair done. The hotel, a four-star spa facility where George Clooney once stayed, was built into a hillside at 1,200 metres altitude on the eastern slopes of Monte Gran Sasso, a near 3,000-metre peak that dominates Central Italy. The survivors pulled from the ruins described spending between 42 and 60 hours trapped in the darkness and freezing cold of the wreckage, eating snow to stave off thirst. They were all treated for mild hypothermia, suggesting anyone still alive more than three days later will have had to have found some way of keeping warm. Rescuers have not ruled that out because they believe some rooms they are trying to reach by tunnelling through thick stone walls may be almost intact. New routes have been dug into the rubble but progress remained painfully slow with the first responders often digging with their bare hands because of fears of masonry or snow slides. The avalanche followed exceptionally heavy snowfalls in the mountains of central Italy and occurred three hours after the last of four powerful earthquakes which shook the region on Wednesday. Police have calculated the force of the impact on the three-storey stone and wood structure as being equivalent to it being as being hit by 4,000 fully-loaded trucks hurtling down the mountainside. A large section of the building was moved over ten metres (30 feet) off its foundations. Funerals for two of the victims were to take place Tuesday. Among the dead who have been identified were the parents of one of the boys who survived. Another couple whose son survived were among those unaccounted for. The parents of the two other child survivors, a brother and sister, both survived. All of the survivors are being supported by trauma experts. Dubai remains home to the worlds busiest international airport after seeing 83.6 million passengers in 2016. However, the figures released on Tuesday by Dubai International Airport fall short of an estimate of 85 million passengers authorities had hoped to have. Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, says in a statement that authorities hope to have 89 million passengers in 2017. Griffiths says that figure would show Dubai is closing the gap on Atlanta and Beijing for the top spot in overall traffic. Dubai International Airport first surpassed London Heathrow as the worlds busiest airport for international traffic in 2014. The airport is home to the long-haul carrier Emirates. Read| Rated third worst airline in the world, Air India hits back Five Sikhs have been granted approval to serve in the US army with their religious insignia intact, days after the army issued a new regulation under which servicemen who wear turbans, hijabs or beards can be enrolled in the military. This is the largest induction of Sikhs into the US armed forces after the Department of Defense banned visible articles of faith in 1981. The new rules made public on January 4, eliminate bureaucratic hurdles that had previously discriminated against Sikhs. The new set of rules, issued by Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning, allows religious accommodations to be approved at the brigade-level. Previously it was at the level of Secretary. After a 35-year presumptive ban on observant Sikhs, our nations largest employer has taken a vital step in embracing policies that reflect the rich diversity of our nation, said Sikh Coalition Legal Director, Harsimran Kaur. We look forward to permanent policy change across all branches of the military so that all religious minorities can freely serve without exception, she said. Private Shabaddeep Singh Jammu, an Infantry Recruit who was born and raised in Elk Grove, California, vowed to follow a path of service after tragically losing his brother in 2013. The ability to serve my country and faith has been a lifelong goal. Im now honoring my brother while pursuing a career that serves our nation without compromising my beliefs, he said. According to Sikh Coalition, the religious accommodations bring the new total to at least 14 Sikh American soldiers now serving with their religious articles of faith in the US Army. Under the previous policy, these accommodations involved a burdensome case-by-case process, were brought up the chain of command to the secretary-level, and were subject to annual review and revocation. Now, they can be granted at the brigade-level and can only be revoked if the Army identifies a specific, concrete hazard. This policy does not apply to the other branches of the US military. The Sikh Coalition and McDermott Will & Emery have led advocacy efforts to end religious discrimination in the US military since 2009. In 2014, Becket Law joined these efforts and served as co-counsel. In the last year, the Truman National Security Project has also been an instrumental partner on this campaign, adding critical government connections and policy expertise, a media release said. As of today, nearly 3,100 people have been found and freed from captivity, 110 people are kept hostages and 490 people are still missing, advisor to the SBU chief Yuriy Tandit has said. "The publication of lists does not give us the opportunity to accelerate the process of release or search for the missing people [...] There are formal structures that are directly involved in this process. Almost 3,100 people have already been found and released. Some 110 hostages and 490 missing people have remained," Tandit said in the air of 112.ua Ukraina TV channel. Tandit noted that those, having the opportunity to assist in the hostages' release, should do it, but should not interfere with the security services. The SBU chief advisor called the activity of MP Savchenko as destructive. "Every day we check the information and hold a special meeting. Following the publication of the lists in the Facebook by the people's deputy we held a daily briefing since the very morning. I personally spoke with the head of the department, Colonel Kachanov. We were considering these lists." At the same time, Tandit said that the SBU didn't hand over any lists to Savchenko and suggested that the list could be passed to Savchenko by the militants. When US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak later on Tuesday, they could as leaders of the worlds largest and oldest democracies discuss anything under the sun, but trade in services, read H-1B visas, could figure prominently. The fate of the temporary US visa programme for high-skilled foreign workers is Indias most significant concern from the Trump administration, given Trumps reservations about it, and those of leading members of his team. They believe the H-1B programme is being abused by US companies to outsource American jobs to temporary foreign workers, a large number of them from India, and have been considering ways to make it harder for the firms to do so. The visa programme is at the heart of Indias burgeoning IT exports to the US, and New Delhi, which views H-1B as a trade issue, believes any attempt to curtail it would amount to initiating protectionist measures. There is no other area of potential dispute or difference with the US under President Trump, said an Indian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He added, H-1B is the only problem for us as of now. In response to a question about India-US relations, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had said on Monday that, as with other countries, the Trump administration is focussed on access to markets for manufacturing and services. Since being sworn-in last Friday, Trump has begun engaging with world leaders and has spoken to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will meet UK Prime Minister Teresa May on Friday. Modi was among the first world leaders to call Trump on the morning of November 9, just hours after his victory. And the call on Tuesday, the second day of his first week in office, is being taken as a sign of the priority Trump attaches to the relationship. At the suggestion of his Indian-American supporters, Trump had recorded a campaign call modelled on Modis election slogan aab ki baar Modi sarkar. The Trump slogan went: aab ki baar Trump sarkar. Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed on Tuesday that all of eastern Mosul has been captured from Islamic State, state TV said. The three months it took the army to reconquer Mosuls east saw some tough fighting but even deadlier battles are expected on the citys west bank, which is home to the narrow streets of the Old City and some of ISs traditional redoubts. Facing the force across the Tigris river are some of Iraqs most seasoned elite forces, whose engineers some reports said were already working on assembling pontoon bridges for a cross-river assault. All bridges across the Tigris in Mosul were either bombed by IS or hit by airstrikes carried out by the US- The UN estimates that 750,000 people still live in Mosuls west bank, either because they did not want to leave their homes or were prevented from doing so by IS, which has routinely used civilians as human shields in this conflict. The recapture of Mosul by Iraqi forces would deal a death blow to the Iraqi part of ISs caliphate, with the next major target the groups stronghold of Raqa in neighbouring Syria. Iraqi officials said on Monday government forces had taken complete control of eastern Mosul, 100 days after the start of their U.S.-backed campaign to dislodge Islamic State militants from the city. The deputy parliament speaker announced the capture of the east of the city, Islamic States last major stronghold in Iraq, after a meeting with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. We completed the total liberation of the left bank of Mosul and this is a gift to the Iraqi people, said Sheikh Humam Hamoudi in a statement, quoting Abadi at the meeting. The army on Sunday entered Rashidiya, the last district under the control of the militants on the east bank of the Tigris, said military spokesman Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool. Mopping-up operations were still under way on Monday to flush out remaining militants in a pocket in this northeastern district, he said in a statement. A resident of Rashidiya said the army had stormed the area after air strikes destroyed a tank and car bomb the militants had been preparing to attack the advancing forces. A resident of Zanjali, a district on the west side of Mosul, said Islamic State fighters have arrived from the left bank and are trying to find houses on the right bank, fleeing from the government forces advance. The resident asked not to identified as the militants kill those caught speaking with the outside world. Read | Iraqi forces eye tougher fight against IS in Mosuls west Iraqi forces launched a campaign on Oct. 17 to retake Mosul from the hardline Sunni group, which captured the city in 2014, declaring from its Grand Mosque a caliphate that also spanned parts of Syria, ruled by its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. MILITANTS CORNERED The defence ministry had earlier on Monday issued a statement announcing the complete takeover of eastern Mosul, adding that Abadi would be making a formal announcement later. The statement was later removed from the ministrys website. A U.S.-led coalition is providing air and ground support to the Iraqi forces. The west side of Mosul could prove more complicated to take than the east as it is crisscrossed by streets too narrow for armoured vehicles. The militants are expected to put up a tough fight as they are cornered in a shrinking area of the northern Iraqi city. Mosul had a pre-war population of nearly 2 million, and about 750,000 people are estimated to live in western Mosul. More than 160,000 have been displaced since the start of the offensive, according to the United Nations. The UN expressed deep concern for the fate of civilians in western Mosul ahead of the looming battle. The reports from inside western Mosul are distressing, Lise Grande, humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a statement. The prices of basic food and supplies are soaring ... many families without income are eating only once a day. Others are being forced to burn furniture to stay warm. The battle for Mosul, involving 100,000 Iraqi troops, members of the Kurdish security forces and Shia militiamen, is the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003. Iraqi forces estimated the number of militants inside the city at 5,000 to 6,000 at the start of operations three months ago, and says 3,300 have been killed in the fighting since. Read | Islamic State blows up Mosul hotel to prevent Iraqi forces from using it The militants blew up a landmark hotel in western Mosul on Friday in an apparent attempt to prevent advancing Iraqi forces from using it as a base or a sniper position when fighting moves west of the Tigris. The Mosul Hotel, shaped as a stepped pyramid, stands close to the river. State TV said the army had set up temporary bridges across the Tigris south of Mosul to allow troops to cross in preparation for the offensive on the western bank. The citys five permanent bridges across the Tigris have been damaged by U.S.-led air strikes and Islamic State blew up two. A helicopter ferrying an injured skier off the slopes crashed Tuesday into a mountainside in central Italy, killing all six people aboard in the latest tragedy to hit a region slammed by recent earthquakes, heavy snowfall and an avalanche, officials said. Television footage and photographs from the scene showed the helicopter was smashed to pieces in the snow, with only the tail propellers and rear section still intact. Rescue crews brought the bodies down in sleds to waiting vehicles. Poor visibility had slowed the arrival of rescue crews, and eyewitnesses said heavy clouds blanketed the area at the time of the crash. An official with the carabinieri forestry police in the regional capital of LAquila said all six people were killed. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to release the information. Italys civil protection agency spokesman Luigi DAngelo said those on board included the skier, medical personnel and flight crew. The helicopter was taking the injured skier from the Campo Felice ski area to LAquila, he added. The mayor of nearby Lucoli, Gianluca Marrocchi, said he had seen the helicopter and wondered why it was flying so low. After that it disappeared in the fog, he told RAI state TV. The area is in Abruzzo, the same mountainous region where emergency crews have been working around the clock to recover victims of the powerful Jan. 18 avalanche that crushed a hotel Pakistan on Tuesday conducted the first test of a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,200 km that the military said is capable of carrying multiple warheads. The military said in a brief statement that the test of the missile called Ababeel was successful. The test flight was aimed at validating various design and technical parameters of the weapon system, it said. The missile is capable of delivering multiple warheads using Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV) technology, according to the statement. It is also capable of carrying nuclear warheads and has the capability to engage multiple targets with high precision, defeating the enemys hostile radars, it added. #ABABEEL. CJCSC Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat, CAS ACM Sohail Aman and CNS Adm Muhammad Zaka Ullah Congratulate team and Pakistan Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/Bdz1LQxpJh Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) January 24, 2017 The Ababeel weapon system was developed to ensure the survivability of Pakistans ballistic missiles in the growing regional Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) environment, the statement said. It will also further reinforce deterrence. The Ababeels range places it between the Shaheen-II and Shaheen-III missiles but it is the first Pakistani missile capable of carrying multiple warheads. #ABABEEL. CJCSC Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat, CAS ACM Sohail Aman and CNS Adm Muhammad Zaka Ullah Congratulate team and Pakistan Armed Forces. pic.twitter.com/Bdz1LQxpJh Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor (@OfficialDGISPR) January 24, 2017 Tuesdays test came close on the heels of a test of the submarine-launched Babur-III cruise missile. After that test, the military said the country had attained second strike capability as part of a strategy for a measured response to nuclear strategies and postures being adopted in Pakistans neighborhood. Babur-III is a sea-based variant of the ground-launched Babur-II cruise missile. Two more bodies washed ashore in Malaysia on Tuesday after a boat overloaded with illegal Indonesian immigrants capsized, raising the death toll to 12 with about 25 still feared missing. The bodies were found on Tanjung Leman beach near the southeastern town of Mersing, said Saiful Lizan Ibrahim, local head of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. Security forces found the two bodies -- both men -- believed to be Indonesians, he said, adding that a sea search has been suspended due to bad weather. Read: 10 dead, 30 missing after boat carrying illegal immigrants capsizes off Malaysia The boat was believed to be carrying about 40 Indonesian illegal immigrants when it capsized in rough seas off Mersing. Two passengers were rescued and taken to a hospital. The 27-foot boat, designed for only 15 people, was travelling from Indonesias Batam Island to Malaysia, Saiful said. Some 45 officers were combing the shore in search of survivors. Indonesian illegal migrants often make the perilous journey in small rickety boats to Malaysia in search of work, mainly in construction and agriculture. Last November a speedboat believed to be carrying illegal Indonesian migrant workers returning from Malaysia sank near Batam. More than 40 people were missing. The US Senate on Monday confirmed Mike Pompeo as CIA director and advanced the nomination of Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state, taking key steps toward filling President Donald Trumps cabinet. Pompeo, a Republican congressman on the House Intelligence Committee, becomes only the third member of Trumps cabinet to take his post, as the presidents Republican Party has pushed hard to speed up confirmation of his nominees. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were sworn in Friday, Inauguration Day. The Republican-led Senate confirmed Pompeo, a 53-year-old US Army veteran, by a vote of 66 to 32, with significant support from Democrats. He will be an excellent CIA director, said House Speaker Paul Ryan, who tweeted his congratulations to his House colleague. While Pompeo faced some Democratic pushback, many in the opposition party acknowledged his keen understanding of intelligence issues, especially the cyber threat facing the nation. Pompeo has committed to following the law regarding torture (and) promised to provide objective analysis of Irans compliance with the nuclear agreement, said veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein. Republicans had hoped to confirm Pompeo on Friday but Democrats balked, arguing that a CIA director has never been put in place on Inauguration Day. The delay drew criticism from Trumps spokesman Sean Spicer, who charged that Democrats, led by Senator Chuck Schumer, were playing politics with national security. Schumer voted in favor of Pompeo on Monday. - Demonstrated business orientation - Meanwhile, a Senate panel greenlighted Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil chief whose nomination has been a source of controversy in large part because of his lack of government or diplomatic experience. The move cleared the way for a confirmation vote by the full chamber. The vote in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was 11 to 10, along strict party lines, setting up a period of debate and subsequent vote on an as-yet-undetermined day in the Republican-controlled Senate. Tillerson received a major boost when Senator Marco Rubio, one of three Republicans who had expressed doubts about him, announced he will support Tillerson for the post despite serious reservations. Rubio said he still had concerns about Tillersons positions on human rights. But he stressed that given the uncertainty about the direction of US foreign policy, it would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, the other Republicans who had expressed reservations about Tillersons past dealings with Russia, gave their blessing on Sunday. Republicans hold 52 seats in the 100-seat Senate. A simple majority is required for confirmation of cabinet positions. The committees Democrats voted in unison against Tillerson. I believe Mr Tillersons demonstrated business orientation... could compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined our country and our leading role in the world for more than 200 years, Senator Ben Cardin said in a statement. Democrats have also blocked nomination votes by arguing that ethics reviews and other vetting of key nominees had been insufficient. Former president Barack Obama had seven nominees approved on his first day as president in 2009. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News Sunday that despite the delays by Democrats, we will be able to confirm the entire cabinet. Republicans were also hoping to get Trumps pick for US attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, installed swiftly. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Sessions on Tuesday, the same day that the Foreign Relations Committee votes on South Carolina Governor Nikki Haleys nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations. Moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be a declaration of war on Islam, influential Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Tuesday. In a break with previous administrations, new US President Donald Trump has pledged to recognise Jerusalem as Israels capital and relocate the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. Sadr, a firebrand Shiite cleric whose militia once fought US occupation forces in Iraq, called for the formation of a special division to liberate Jerusalem were the decision to be implemented. Read: Trump spokesperson says of possibility of US Embassy in Jerusalem: Stay tuned Sadr said the Cairo-based Arab League as well as the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the worlds main pan-Islamic body, should take a decisive stand on the issue or dissolve themselves. The Najaf-based cleric also called for the immediate closure of the US embassy in Iraq should Washington go ahead with its promised embassy transfer in Israel. Sadr supporters protesting against the lack of services and widespread corruption in the Iraqi state stormed the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad twice last year. The protesters entered the parliament buildings and the prime ministers office but did not attempt anything against the US embassy there, which is Washingtons largest foreign mission. The United States works with Iraq on a range of issues, notably with military backing for the Iraqi offensive to retake large parts of the country seized by the Islamic State group. Nearly 9 million second children were born in China in 2016, estimates said almost a year after the Communist Party of China eased the decades-old one-child policy that punished couples for having a second child since the late 1970s. The number of births went up by about 7.9%, the highest annual number since 2000. The strictly implemented one-child policy is said to have kept Chinas population down by about 400 million to 500 million, but it resulted in an ageing populace and reduced the number of people in the working age by millions. New data on newborn children for 2016 showed a slow turnaround. A total of 18.46 million new babies were born in Chinese hospitals last year, an increase of 11.5% from 2015, health authorities were quoted as saying by official Xinhua news agency. A document released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) said more than 45% of the newborns were not the first child in their families. This was also a 10% increase from 2013, when an easing of the one-child policy allowed couples to have a second child if either parent was an only child. It demonstrates that the universal second-child policy came in time and worked effectively, Yang Wenzhuang of NHFPC was quoted as saying. He added the proportion was around 30% before 2013. Some regions, mostly large cities in eastern areas, began recording second children as comprising more than half of local newborns, he said. But not everyone was satisfied with the rate of new births. Demographer Huang Wenzheng, according to Xinhua, believed the rise in newborns after China's shift to the two-child policy was not satisfactory. People's interest in expanding their family has waned, Huang said. The NHFPC survey revealed the majority of families expressed no desire to have a second child due to financial and childcare concerns. Lu Jiehua, a sociologist with Peking University, suggested that to increase Chinas fertility rate, the government should roll out measures to ensure that people can afford to raise more children. The long-term effect of the universal second-child policy is very helpful to China's sustainable development, said Yuan Xin from Nankai University in Tianjin. By 2050, the policy is expected to add an extra 30 million working-age people and reduce the nation's ageing rate by 2%, Xinhua reported. Former Pakistan Army chief Raheel Sharif was at the centre of a controversy on Tuesday after official documents leaked to the media purportedly showed he had been allocated a large tract of land in Lahore. According to the documents, which were circulated on social media and published by some newspapers, Sharif was gifted about 90 acres on Bedian Road in the capital of Punjab province through the army-controlled Border Area Committee. This was reportedly done by the army without consulting the civilian government. The total value of the land has been estimated at Rs 1.35 billion. Sharif was reportedly allotted 50 acres in line with his rank as a four-star general, and another 40 acres as the chief of army staff. The land is in Mauza Rukh Bathant, located on the western side of the BRB Canal and adjacent to Mauza Heear, close to the Indian border. Media reports noted the allotment was done almost at the same time that Sharif had given the go-ahead for initiating proceedings against the brother of his predecessor, Gen Ashfaq Kayani, for alleged involvement in a multi-billion rupee land scam. Experts said the allotment of land and distribution of other facilities to senior army officers is done directly by the armys General Headquarters through the adjutant general, an officer of the rank of lieutenant general. All Border Area Committees across Pakistan have the records of all the land along the frontier and these lands are given only to army officials. The land given to Sharif was allotted by the Border Area Committee of Lahore. Its chairman, Col Tabish Sajid, refused to comment when contacted by the local media but did not contradict the report. The scandal emerged at a time when there is renewed focus on revelations in the Panama Papers leaks about the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif owning offshore assets worth millions of dollars. Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine calls ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych on January 27 for questioning as a suspect as well as to participate in the opening of the criminal proceedings into a high treason. According to the two warrants, which were published on the official website of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych is called at 15:00 p.m. on January 27, 2017 to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General's Office at the address: 8 Moskovska Street, room 127, Kyiv for the delivery of the notice on the suspicion change and interrogation as a suspect in a criminal proceeding dated June 14, 2016 on the grounds of criminal offenses under Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110; part 1 of Article 111; Part 5 of Article 27; Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. According to another warrant, Viktor Yanukovych is summoned at 15:00 p.m. on January 30, 2017 to the Main Military Prosecutor's Office to take part as a suspect in the opening of the prosecution of criminal proceedings materials dated June 6, 2016 on the grounds of criminal offenses under Part 5 of Article 27; Part 3 of Article 110; Part 1 of Article 111; Part 2 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. As reported, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that since November 28, 2016 Viktor Yanukovych is considered a suspect in the criminal proceedings under Part 1 of Article 111 (high treason), Part 5 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 110 (aiding in the deliberate acts committed with the aim of changing the borders and the territory of the state border of Ukraine in violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine), and Part 5 of Article 27, Part 2 of Article 437 (aiding in the conduct of an aggressive war) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. US President Donald Trumps choice for secretary of state, former Exxon Mobil Corporation chairman Rex Tillerson, narrowly won approval from a Senate committee on Monday, but is expected to be confirmed by the full Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 to approve Tillerson, with every Republican backing the former oil executive and every Democrat opposing him. His approval by the panel, a victory for Trump, had been in doubt until earlier on Monday, when Senator Marco Rubio, a committee member who had been Tillersons most vocal Republican critic, said he would back the nominee. Tillersons confirmation by the 100-member Senate, where Republicans hold 52 seats, is not expected before next week. Democrats want more time to debate and the chamber may not be in session all this week. Rubios backing had been in doubt after his tough questioning during Tillersons confirmation hearing, focusing on issues including concerns about Tillersons support for human rights. Rubio ultimately decided he would approve the nominee in deference to Trump, as well as to fill a critical top job. Read| US secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson at odds with Trump on key issues Democrats said they voted against Tillerson over fears he might lift sanctions on Russia, where he did business for years, questions about his views on human rights and his refusal to recuse himself from matters related to his former employer during his entire term as the top US diplomat. Tillerson pledged to recuse himself only for the year required by law. Amid Democratic anger over allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, Tillerson also raised committee hackles by saying he did not know Exxon Mobil lobbied against sanctions on Russia while he was running the company. Senator Ben Cardin, the committees top Democrat, said Tillersons business orientation and responses at his hearing could compromise his ability as secretary of state to forcefully promote the values and ideals that have defined our country and our leading role in the world for more than 200 years. The Senate confirmed only two of Trumps Cabinet nominees on Friday, his Inauguration Day, a relatively low number among recent presidencies. Democrats have been unable to block any of his choices because they changed Senate rules in 2013 to allow nominees to be confirmed with just a majority, not 60 votes. Instead, they have used Senate rules to slow the confirmation of nominees they say hold extreme views, are unqualified or have not completed ethics disclosures. Read| Critics ask if Rex Tillerson can turn from corporate to national interest Pope Francis on Tuesday called on the worlds media to offer people more good news and quell anxiety, growing fear and pessimism fuelled by an obsession with bad news. Let us offer the men and women of our time stories marked by the logic of good news, Francis tweeted on the Catholic Churchs 50th World Communications Day. Let us offer the men and women of our time stories marked by the logic of the "good news". https://t.co/FGXW62wtcr Pope Francis (@Pontifex) January 24, 2017 I am convinced that we have to break the vicious circle of anxiety and stem the spiral of fear resulting from a constant focus on bad news (wars, terrorism, scandals and all sorts of human failure), he said earlier in an address to mark World Communications Day. Francis urged all those who were grinding out information each day in their jobs or personal lives to strive for constructive forms of communication that reject prejudice towards others. This has nothing to do with spreading misinformation that would ignore the tragedy of human suffering, nor is it about a naive optimism blind to the scandal of evil, the Pope said. Rather, I propose that all of us work at overcoming that feeling of growing discontent and resignation that can at times generate apathy, fear or the idea that evil has no limits, he said. Russia, Iran and Turkey on Tuesday agreed to shore up a shaky truce in war-torn Syria, but rebels and Damascus made no breakthrough towards a political settlement of the conflict after indirect talks. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, the sponsors of the negotiations in the capital of Kazakhstan, announced they would establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire in place since late December. The three powers also backed the participation of the armed rebel groups at a new round of peace talks set to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and... it can only be solved through a political process, the final statement by Russia, Iran and Turkey, read out by Kazakh foreign minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said. The two days of meetings in Astana -- which have left the West sidelined -- were mainly a Kremlin initiative and come as Russia has made itself the main power-broker in Syria with its game changing military support for leader Bashar al Assad. The meeting was expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syrias conflict erupted in 2011, but the rebels backed out and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria that has cost 310,000 lives comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the countrys second city Aleppo. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and rebel-backer Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels -- who insisted they would use the Astana talks to push Damascus to respect the truce -- refused direct talks with the regime on Monday because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. One goal Regime negotiator Bashar al Jafaari said after the end of the talks that the meeting succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians. Astana has only one goal: consolidating the regime of the cessation of hostilities, he said. There were, however, no concrete details given immediately on the three-way mechanism agreed by Russia, Iran and Turkey to strengthen the ceasefire and how it would resolve the thorniest hotspots. The rebels have called for a halt to regime attacks on Wadi Barada, an area 15 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Damascus, but Jafaari insisted operations would continue there. There was profound rancour and mud-slinging between the delegations from Damascus and the rebels. It also remained to be seen how the sides could patch up differences on the role of the talks three organisers, Russia, Turkey and Iran. A member of the rebel delegation told AFP on Monday that the group would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, which controls troops on the ground fighting for Assad. The Syrian regime, meanwhile, said it would refuse to hold government-level talks with Turkey and sign any document bearing the signature of a Turkish official. In a pre-emptive operation, Saudi security forces killed two terrorists and arrested two others, including a Pakistani woman, in the coastal city of Jeddah, taking the number of Pakistanis detained on terror charges in the kingdom to 69. Two terrorists in Al-Harazat District, in south east Jeddah, were killed after they blew themselves up after refusing to surrender to police calls on Saturday, Arab News reported, quoting the Interior Ministry spokesperson. He said the authorities arrested another two, a husband and his Pakistani wife, from an apartment after a tip-off. With the arrest of the Pakistani woman, identified as 19-year-old Fatima Ramadan Balochi Murad, the number of Pakistanis arrested on terror charges has gone up to 69. Citing security sources, the paper said the authorities got information on the presence of a group of terrorists at a house in Al-Harazat District. After an investigation, the residents of the house turned out to have a link to another terrorist living in Naseem District, who used to come to the house together with his wife. The person also turned out to be a former terrorist who was imprisoned for eight years but released after less than two years. He was the one who rented the house in Al-Harazat at least two months ago, to be used as a hideout for the terrorist cell; he used his wife in an attempt to avoid the landlord and neighbours becoming suspicious, the paper said. The security forces cordoned off the two hideouts and arrested the first person, Saudi citizen Husam bin Salic bin Samran Al-Juhani with his Pakistani wife in their apartment in Naseem district. After searching the house, the security forces found a ready-to-use explosive belt, a locally-made bomb, together with a machine gun with live ammunition. The forces also cordoned off a house in Al-Harazat before dawn prayer on Saturday. The forces asked the terrorists to surrender but they started firing. When the security forces tried to storm the house, the terrorists detonated the explosive belts they were wearing, killing themselves and causing extensive damage to the house. Quoting the spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj Gen Mansour Al-Turki, the paper said the hideout at Al-Harazat was used as a lab for making explosive belts and bombs. He said the man arrested at the second hideout, in Naseem district, was linked to those in the Al-Harazat property. Security authorities are still collecting evidence from the two locations and conducting investigations with the arrested persons. All details and identities of the terrorists will be announced later, Al-Turki said. Last July, Pakistani terrorist Abdullah Qalzar Khan blew himself up near Solaiman Fakeih Hospital in Jeddah. The security authorities arrested 49 Pakistani residents and put them under interrogation since the bombing in July, Saudi Gazette reported. A terror plot - involving two Pakistanis Solaiman Arab Deen and Farman Naqshaband Khan, was foiled last October here. In a recent statement, the Interior Ministry said that 5,085 terror suspects from 40 countries are in detention. Two more of President Donald Trumps cabinet picks advanced toward confirmation Tuesday including US ambassador-designate to the United Nations Nikki Haley, but Democrats delayed consideration of his nominee for attorney general. Haley, a Republican governor of South Carolina, was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a voice vote that advances her nomination to the Senate floor. Trump has just three cabinet members in place so far -- secretary of defense James Mattis, homeland security secretary John Kelly and CIA director Mike Pompeo, who was confirmed and sworn in late Tuesday. A confirmation vote for Haley, 45, could come as early as Tuesday if Democrats do not put up an objection. Trump has signalled he would like to slash US funding for United Nations climate change programs, and he opposed a recent UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel that Barack Obamas adminstration had declined to veto. Haley won the backing of Democratic Senator Ben Cardin because, he said, she does not support efforts to slash American funding to the UN and that she would consistently vocalise US values, including universal human rights, good governance, and press and religious freedom. Meanwhile another Senate panel, also by voice vote, advanced the nomination of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to be Trumps secretary of housing and urban development despite his lack of experience in the field. Carson, 65, was a Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination last year. If confirmed he would be the only African-American member of the cabinet. A committee vote on Senator Jeff Sessions, Trumps attorney general pick, was pushed back by one week, as Democrats expressed deep concerns about his record on civil rights and immigration. Sessions was the Senates earliest public supporter of Trump after the billionaire real estate mogul launched his unorthodox campaign, and he was rewarded with a plum nomination to be the nations chief law enforcement officer. Other nominees facing hearings Tuesday included congressman Tom Price, Trumps pick for health secretary and a strong advocate of repealing the Affordable Care Act; Linda McMahon, a wrestling tycoon tapped to head the Small Business Administration; and congressman Mick Mulvaney, Trumps choice for White House Budget Director. Cabinet nominees require a simple majority for confirmation in the 100-seat Senate, where Republicans control 52 seats. Saudi Arabia warned that a computer virus that destroyed systems of its state-run oil company in 2012 has returned to the kingdom, with at least one major petrochemical company apparently affected by its spread. Suspicion for the initial dispersal of the Shamoon virus in 2012 fell on Iran as it came after the Stuxnet cyberattack targeting Tehrans contested nuclear enrichment program. It wasnt immediately clear who could be responsible for the new infection, though the relations between regional rivals remain tense. A report Monday by Saudi state-run television included comments suggesting that 15 government agencies and private institutions had been hit by the Shamoon virus, including the Saudi labour ministry. The ministry said it was working with the interior ministry to contain the virus. Sadara, a joint venture between the Saudi Arabian Oil Co. and Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., shut down its computer network Monday over a disruption. Company spokesperson Sami Amin said its network remained down Tuesday, though it hadnt affected operations at the facility. He declined to comment further. Sadara is based in Jubail Industrial City, which sits about 100 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of the eastern Saudi city of Dammam in the heartland of the kingdoms oil industry. The $20 billion facility, inaugurated by Saudi King Salman in late November, includes 26 manufacturing units that will produce more than 3 million metric tons of plastics and chemical products. Another state-run TV report on Tuesday said the Saudi Technical and Vocational Training Corp. was affected, though a spokesperson denied the virus did any damage to its network. Symantec Corp, a California-based security firm, warned in late November that Shamoon had been spotted again in Saudi Arabia. Computers affected had their hard drives erased and displayed a photograph of the body of 3-year-old Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, who drowned fleeing his countrys civil war, Symantec said. Why Shamoon has suddenly returned again after four years is unknown, Symantec said . However, with its highly destructive payload, it is clear that the attackers want their targets to sit up and take notice. Read | Chinese hackers can disrupt Indian Armys communication network: Report The November attacks apparently involved previously stolen passwords. Symantec on Monday said the outbreak might be linked to a group it called Greenbug, which previously attacked targets in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey with emails carrying malicious attachments. Shamoon, named for a folder in its code, first emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. In that attack, which hit Saudi Aramco and Qatari natural gas producer RasGas, the virus deleted hard drives and then displayed a picture of a burning American flag on computer screens. The attack forced Saudi Aramco to shut down its network and destroyed over 30,000 computers. All told, the Shamoon virus was probably the most destructive attack that the private sector has seen to date, then-US defence secretary Leon Panetta said at the time. Shortly before Panettas speech, a former US official told The Associated Press that American officials firmly believed Iranian hackers likely backed by Tehran were responsible for the attack. Iran denied being responsible for the 2012 Shamoon outbreak. Tehran had no immediate comment on the new outbreak. The first emergence of Shamoon came as Iran faced international sanctions over its contested nuclear program and after it saw thousands of centrifuges destroyed by the Stuxnet virus, widely believed to be an American and Israeli creation. Last year, a series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants and facilities have raised suspicions about hacking potentially playing a role. Hostilities persist between Shiite power Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia. Read | German nuclear plant infected with computer viruses, operator says The countries support opposite sides in the wars gripping Syria and Yemen, while the kingdom has backed Bahrains Sunni rulers amid a crackdown on dissent on the Shia-majority island. Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran last year after protesters there angry about its execution of a Shiite cleric stormed two Saudi diplomatic posts. Around 100 Dusky and Sandbar sharks have been spotted near the coast in northern Israel, drawing enthusiasts, divers and photographers to the eastern Mediterranean shore to try to spot them. The sharks can grow to a length of three metres (10 feet) and may be drawn by the warm water discharged from the turbines of the Orot Rabin power station near the coastal town of Hadera, said Adi Barash, a marine scientist at Haifa University. You can actually stand on the shore and watch the sharks in the water, Barash said. We dont know any other place like this, definitely not in the Mediterranean. We dont yet know why they are coming there, she said. It might be just because of the warm water, it might be because there is more food there, it might be for the gestation period, for the pregnancy, but we dont know yet. Using drones fitted with cameras and underwater photography equipment, shark enthusiasts have captured images of the species in an area where Barash said they are particularly vulnerable. Sharks are disappearing all over the world, and the worst place to be a shark is in the Mediterranean, Barash said. Their numbers are decreasing very fast and the fact that you can see big sharks close to shore is amazing. As word of the sharks presence has spread, divers and swimmers have also tried to take a closer look. Authorities have cautioned that although the species are not considered a threat to humans, they might attack if they feel vulnerable. The Trump administration wants to have a healthy relationship with the media, the White House has said, a day after the presidents aides said his government will rethink its ties with the press if it tries to delegetimise his presidency. I want to make sure that we have a healthy relationship, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first news conference. Spicer was responding to a volley of questions from correspondents on the kind of relationship he wants to have with the media. Youre talking about integrity and youre talking about telling the truth and facts. I dont know that it wasnt malicious at all, and Im not saying. But there is a point at which we have a right to go out there and correct the record, Spice said. Over and over again, there is this attempt to go after this president and say, well, that cant be true and thats not right and the numbers werent there. Theres a rush to judgement every time, he said. Read| Donald Trump warns journalists, calls them most dishonest human beings Spicer said- It is a two-way street. He said the new President wants to have a healthy and open dialogue with the press corps and with the American people about what hes doing to help this country and to unite it. But in a time when hes trying to unite this and he keeps talking about uniting this nation, bringing this nation together, and then a Tweet goes out in a pool report to a few thousand people saying that he removed the bust of Martin Luther King, how do you think that goes over? he said. The reporter had apologised. Spicer said that despite backlash from the media, Trump has defied the odds over and over again. He keeps getting told what he cant do by this narrative thats out there. He exceeds it every single time. I think theres an overall frustration when you turn on the television over and over again and get told that theres this narrative that you didnt win. You werent going to run. You cant pick up this state, he said. Thats a fools errand to go to Pennsylvania. Why is he in Michigan? How silly, theyll never vote for a him. A Republican hasnt won that state since 88. And then he goes and he does it and then whats the next narrative? Well, it must have been because of this. He didnt win that. And then people arent attending anything or John Lewis is the first person to skip his inauguration. Not true, he said. The pool report that Trump has removed a bust of Martin Luther King junior, he noted, is part of the same pattern. I think over and over again theres this constant attempt to undermine his credibility and the movement that he represents, Spicer said. We want to have a healthy dialogue, not just with you but the American people because hes fighting for jobs, hes fighting to make this country safer, he said. But when youre constantly getting told that cant be true, we doubt that you can do this, this wont happen, and thats the narrative when you turn on television every single day, its a little frustrating, he said. On Sunday, White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said the Trump administration will rethink its ties with the media if the obsessed press tries to delegetimise Donald Trumps presidency by false reporting, asserting they will fight such coverage tooth and nail every day. President Donald Trump asserted in a private meeting with congressional leaders Monday night that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 election if 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally hadnt voted. Trump made the debunked claim, without offering any evidence, at a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-California, alluded to it, telling reporters that Trump and the lawmakers talked about the different Electoral College, popular vote. Asked if anything surprised her about the meeting, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, I wont even go into that. There has been no evidence of widespread tampering or hacking that would change the results of the presidential contest. Trump won the Electoral College by a comfortable margin but Democratic rival Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes. Throughout the campaign, Trump pushed false claims about the propensity of voter fraud, telling his supporters the election had been rigged against him. Trump has made the unverified claims before, tweeting in late November that he would have won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally. He also alleged at the time that there had been serious voter fraud in California, New Hampshire and Virginia and complained that the media wasnt covering it. Read| Donald Trump lauds Electoral College as Clinton wins popular vote US President Donald Trump has spoken with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and expressed support for the countrys fight against terrorism, besides discussing ways to deepen the bilateral relationship. They discussed ways to deepen the bilateral relationship and support Egypts fight against terrorists and bolster Egypts home-grown historic economic reform program, the White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first official news conference on Monday. El-Sisi is the fourth foreign leader with whom Trump has communicated after those from his two neighbouring countries-- Mexico and Canada, and recently with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President Trump underscored the United States remains strongly committed to the bilateral relationship, which has helped both countries overcome challenges in the region for decades, he said. Trump is committed to continue military aid to Egypt and work towards ensuring that the assistance most effectively supports the Egyptian militarys fight against terrorism, he added. Spicer said Trump also commended el-Sisi for his courageous steps to address Egypts economic challenges and offered to discuss ways the US could support Egypts economic reform program. Finally, the two leaders discussed a visit to the United States in the future, Spicer said. Read more: Trump admin wants to have healthy, open dialogue with media, says White House Over the past day the militants opened fire 51 times on the positions of servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) zone injuring two servicemen, the press service of the ATO staff said. In particular, in the Mariupol sector the militants shelled Krasnohorivka, Maryinka and Shyrokyne with 120 mm and 82 mm caliber mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms were used to fire on Pavlopil, Hnutove, Talakivka, Novotroyitske, Shyrokyne, Vodiane, Lebedynske. Snipers fired Novotroyitske and Shyrokyne. In the Luhansk sector the militants fired Troyitske applying 122 mm caliber artillery and mortar shells of 120 mm and 82 mm caliber. Novozvanivka and Popasna were fired by mortars, Krymske, Troyitske, Novozvanivka, Novo-Oleksandrivka and Stanytsia Luhanska by propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and small arms. In the Donetsk sector the enemy used mortars of 120 mm caliber in Luhanske, grenade launchers and small arms - in Avdiyivka, Zaitseve and Opytne, infantry combat vehicles - in Luhanske. The enemy sniper was shooting on Pisky. The war of words with China is well and truly underway, with the Trump administration asserting on Monday that the US will protect our interests in the disputed South China Sea, most of which is claimed by Beijing. Beijing was quick to respond, warning Washington on Tuesday that it would not back down over its claims in the sea. The US is going to make sure that we protect our interests thereIts a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, said. Hua Chunying, a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, said at a press briefing in Beijing that China had irrefutable sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea and that the US was not a party to the dispute. Spicers remarks came in response to a question about comments from secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, who had said during his confirmation hearing: Were going to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed. He had gone on to say that China was taking territory or control, or declaring control of territories that are not rightfully Chinas and that the failure of adequate US response has allowed them just to keep pushing the envelope on this. China has claimed most parts of the South China Sea, while the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have claimed parts of it. Though not a party, the US has sent air and water patrols through the area claiming freedom of navigation. These remarks by Donald Trump officials the president himself has talked about China building massive fortresses on the disputed islands could lead to escalation of tensions and a military confrontation with a country that is already watching the new administration with some concern. Trump upended decades old One-China policy of the United States to take a congratulatory call from the Taiwanese president, and defended it saying everything is on the table, including One China. Amendments and debate in parliament threatened to disrupt Prime Minister Theresa Mays timetable to leave the European Union after the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Britains exit process from the European Union cannot be initiated without approval from parliament. There is little appetite in Westminster to overturn the Brexit vote in parliament, but the opposition Labour announced it would seek amendments to the governments motion seeking parliamentary approval to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which provides for an EU member-state leaving the group. The Supreme Court upheld the high courts previous ruling on the issue, and resolves the key constitutional matter over who has the power to decide on issues that affect changes to British laws: the executive or parliament. The ruling makes it imperative for the May government to bring a bill in parliament, which will need to be passed in both houses of parliament if it is to keep to her deadline to trigger the article by the end of March. The government is reported to have drafted the appropriate bill authorising it to trigger Article 50, and will table it in parliament shortly, but is likely to have a rough ride in parliament. As Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: The Government has today been forced by the Supreme Court to accept the sovereignty of Parliament. Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given Parliamentary approval, he added. The statement raises the prospect of tabling potentially delaying amendments not only at the first stage the bill authorising the government to trigger Article 50 but also at the end of the two-year exit process, when the terms of the exit deal will also be put to parliament. While the Scottish National Party is expected to vote against the motion, Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron wants another referendum on the final deal to leave the EU: I welcome todays judgement. But this court case was never about legal arguments, it was about giving the people a voice, a say, in what happens next. This Tory Brexit government are keen to laud the democratic process when it suits them, but will not give the people a voice over the final deal. They seem happy to start with democracy and end in a stitch up. The Liberal Democrats are clear, we demand a vote of the people on the final deal and without that we will not vote for article 50, he said. The judgement, reached by a majority of eight to three in the 11-bench court, said: In a joint judgment of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give Notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union. The Prime Ministers spokesperson said: The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Todays ruling does nothing to change that. Its important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. We respect the Supreme Courts decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly. Welcoming the ruling, senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma told Hindustan Times: It is only right and proper that Parliament should be given proper scrutiny of the Governments Brexit strategy. Last year when the public voted to leave the EU, they did not necessarily vote to leave the single market, the European Medicines Agency or the European Aviation Safety Agency, which certifies aircraft before they are allowed to fly. I dont support risking the UKs prosperity by an ideological leap out of the single market. Parliament needs to be part of the discussion about securing a stronger future for Britain and that is why I welcome todays judgement, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The US can learn many lessons from Indias move towards a cashless economy, a top Silicon valley expert has said while underlining that India may have leapfrogged American technology industry with simple and practical innovations. India may have leapfrogged the US technology industry with simple and practical innovations and massive grunt work. It has built a digital infrastructure that will soon process billions more transactions than bitcoin ever has, Vivek Wadhwa wrote in an op-ed in The Washington Post. With this, India will skip two generations of financial technologies and build something as monumental as Chinas Great Wall and Americas interstate highways, Wadhwa said in his op-ed titled What the US can learn from Indias move toward a cashless society. Wadhwa argued that the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) launched by India has eliminated billing processor and transaction costs are zero unlike credit card payments. There is no technology barrier to prevent a UPI from working in the US. Transfers would happen within seconds, even faster than the 10 minutes that a bitcoin transaction takes, he said. The top Indian-American expert also praised another Indian innovation India Stack, which is a series of secured and connected systems that allow people to store and share personal data such as addresses, bank statements, medical records, employment records and tax filings, and it enables the digital signing of documents. It will also transform how lending is done. Prime Minister Narendra Modis demonetisation policy announced on November 8, he wrote was a bold move that will surely produce long-term benefit, because it will accelerate the push to digital currency and the modernisation of the Indian economy. We are not ready to become a cashless society, but there are many lessons that Silicon Valley and the US can learn from the developing world, said Wadhwa who is Distinguished Fellow and professor at Carnegie Mellon University Engineering at Silicon Valley and a director of research at Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke. President Donald Trump has picked a fierce critic of the Obama-era net neutrality rules to be chief regulator of the nations airwaves and internet connections. In a statement Monday, Ajit Pai said he was grateful to the president for choosing him as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Several reports last week had said he was the pick. Pai had been one of the two Republican commissioners on a five-member panel that regulates the countrys communications infrastructure, including TV, phone and internet service. There are currently just three members on the panel. The Republicans new majority at the FCC, along with their control of Congress and the White House, is expected to help them roll back policies applauded by consumer advocates that upset many phone and cable industry groups, including net neutrality rules that bar internet service providers from favoring some websites and apps over others. Pai, an active Twitter user, posted Monday that there is so much we can do together to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans and to promote innovation and investment. AN INDUSTRY-FRIENDLY FCC Pai has long maintained that the FCC under former Chairman Thomas Wheeler had overstepped its bounds, suggesting that he would steer the agency in a direction more favorable to big phone and cable companies. In a December speech, he expressed confidence that the 2015 net neutrality rules would be undone and said the FCC needed to take a weed whacker to what he considered unnecessary regulations that hold back investment and innovation. Consumer advocates have been concerned that a deregulation-minded FCC could potentially allow more huge mergers, overturn new protections for internet users and lead to higher costs for media and technology companies that rely on the internet to reach consumers. Pai opposed online privacy regulations that force broadband providers to ask consumers for permission before using their data, saying they are more onerous than the requirements for internet companies like Google and Facebook. He voted against approving Charter Communications $67 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable and a smaller company, Bright House not because he opposed the merger, but because he thought some of the conditions required by the FCC, like barring data caps on home internet service, amounted to government meddling in business. The cable industrys trade group, the NCTA, supported Pai in a statement Monday that said he has a common-sense philosophy that consumers are best served by a robust marketplace that encourages investment, innovation and competition. Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, said Pai had a history of attacking consumer protections and urged him to keep the FCCs recent initiatives intact. The Internet Association, a trade group that represents tech and video companies like Amazon, Facebook, Google and Netflix, had said last week that while Pai doesnt always side with the internet industry, he is both thoughtful and willing to listen. TO COME: PAI VS. THE ZERO RATING, MORE MERGERS? Pai also criticized an FCC report on zero rating earlier this month, characterizing it as a meaningless document that wont influence the FCC under Trump. The report, issued in the last days of the Obama administration, took issue with the way companies like AT&T and Verizon exempted their own video services from wireless data caps, effectively making them cheaper to stream on phones and tablets than rival services such as Netflix. Future big media and telecom mergers may get a friendlier review under a Pai-led FCC. Pai voted to approve AT&Ts 2015 acquisition of DirecTV. And while he told The Wall Street Journal in December 2013 that the Obama administration was likely to oppose Comcasts failed effort to acquire Time Warner Cable he was right he added that a Republican administration would be more likely to approve it. The FCC currently has a 2-1 Republican majority and two empty seats, which will be filled by one Republican and one Democrat. Pai, an Indian-American from Kansas, has been an FCC commissioner since 2012. During his roughly 15 years in government, hes been a Senate staffer and worked at the FCC and the Justice Department. He was also a lawyer for Verizon and an attorney at the law firm Jenner & Block. Ohio police say an erratic, speeding driver who led an officer on a brief pursuit turned out to be a 10-year-old boy who took his parents car without permission and drove 11 miles to a nearby city to shop at a convenience store. WTOL-TV reports an officer tried to stop a driver who wasnt using headlights and kept braking Sunday morning, and the vehicle took off at 70mph. Police in Fostoria, roughly 40 miles south of Toledo, say the vehicle eventually struck a curb and stopped. No one was hurt. The boy, from the nearby town of Kansas, was taken into custody and charged with fleeing from police. His parents havent been charged. The Review Times reports juvenile court and childrens services are reviewing the case. US President Donald Trump signed two orders on Tuesday to move forward with construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, rolling back key Obama administration environmental policies in favor of expanding energy infrastructure. Trump campaigned on promises to increase domestic energy industry production and before taking office indicated he supported completion of the Dakota pipeline and revival of the Keystone XL project. But a restart of the projects would mark a defeat for Native American tribes affected by the $3.8 billion Dakota Access pipeline. Protesters had rallied for months against plans to route the $3.8 billion pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it threatened water resources and sacred Native American sites. Environmental activists broadly opposed the Keystone XL pipeline and campaigned against it for more than seven years. The US Army Corps of Engineers in January said it would begin an environmental assessment that could delay the Dakota project further. It was not clear if Trumps order supersedes that move. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won a key victory when the US Army Corps of Engineers in early December turned down Energy Transfer Partners request for an easement to tunnel under the nearby Missouri River. Standing Rock officials were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday. Shares of ETP, the company building the 450,000 barrel-a-day Dakota line, rose 3.5% in US trading. Oil producers in North Dakotas Bakken region would likely benefit from the ability to move oil more quickly to the US Gulf Coast by way of the 1,172-mile (1,885 km) pipeline. US President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order to advance construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in Washington. (Reuters File Photo) The North Dakota Petroleum Council, the trade group for the states oil producers who are relying on Dakota Access to expand their crude transport options, cheered Trumps order. We think this is a great step forward for energy security in America, said Ron Ness, the councils president. Most of the Dakota pipeline was completed by the summer of 2016, except for a small section under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that forms part of the river. Trump on Monday met with leaders of labour unions, including the Building and Construction trades group and the Laborers International Union of North America, who have been vocal supporters of both pipeline projects. Both groups had endorsed Trump rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US election, but disagreed with her opposition to the Keystone pipeline. Trump owned ETP stock through at least mid-2016, according to financial disclosure forms, and ETPs chief executive, Kelcy Warren, donated $100,000 to his campaign. US Energy Secretary nominee Rick Perry was until recently on ETPs board. Former president Barack Obama rejected Transcanada Corps Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would bring Canadian crude from Alberta into the US Gulf, in 2015 after environmentalists campaigned against the project for more than seven years. Transcanada did not immediate respond to a request for comment. Transcanada shares last traded up 2.4% on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Officials say the Obama administration in its waning hours defied Republican opposition and quietly released $221 million to the Palestinian authority that GOP members of Congress had been blocking. A state department official and several congressional aides said the outgoing administration formally notified Congress it would spend the money Friday morning. The official said former secretary of state John Kerry had informed some lawmakers of the move shortly before he left the state department for the last time Thursday. The aides said written notification dated January 20 was sent to Congress just hours before Donald Trump took the oath of office. In addition to the $221 million for the Palestinians, the Obama administration also told Congress on Friday it was going ahead with the release of another $6 million in foreign affairs spending, including $4 million for climate change programs and $1.25 million for UN organisations, the congressional aides said. The aides and the state department official werent authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Congress had initially approved the Palestinian funding in budget years 2015 and 2016, but at least two GOP lawmakers Ed Royce of California, the chairman of the house foreign affairs committee, and Kay Granger of Texas, who sits on the house appropriations committee had placed holds on it over moves the Palestinian Authority had taken to seek membership in international organizations. Congressional holds are generally respected by the executive branch but are not legally binding after funds have been allocated. The Obama administration had for some time been pressing for the release of the money for the Palestinian Authority, which comes from the US Agency for International Development and is to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, to support political and security reforms as well as help prepare for good governance and the rule of law in a future Palestinian state, according to the notification sent to Congress. The $1.25 million for UN agencies is to be used as voluntary contributions to the UN Peacebuilding Fund; the UN special coordinator on improving the UN response to sexual exploitation and abuse; the Montreal Protocol Secretariat, which oversees the protection of the ozone layer; the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; and the UN System Staff College. The $4 million for climate programs includes assistance for clean energy, sustainable landscapes, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and creating a climate technology center. The last-minute allocation also contained $1.05 million in funding for the state departments special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan office and the bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. The Palestinian funding is likely to draw anger from some in Congress as well as the Trump White House. Trump has vowed to be a strong supporter of Israel and has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Washington next month. He has also pledged to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, although White House spokesperson Sean Spicer said Monday a final decision on that had yet to be made. Despite speculation in Israel that an announcement of the move is imminent, Spicer said the decision-making process is only in its very early stages. If it was already a decision, then we wouldnt be going through a process, Spicer told reporters. The Trump administration on Monday opened the door to cooperating with Russia or anyone else to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, suggesting it could reverse a previous refusal to coordinate military action with Moscow as long as it backs the Syrian government. I think if theres a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether its Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, well take it, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Asked if the openness extended to working with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been condemned internationally for killing civilians, Spicer said, Were not going to get together with people under the guise of defeating ISIS if thats not truly their guise. He added, So lets not take that too far. Spicer also suggested that Trump already has told US defence Secretary James Mattis to review how he might change the US approach to fighting the Islamic State. I think he has ordered it, Spicer said, adding that Trump would discuss the matter with Mattis during a visit to the Pentagon Friday. At that time, he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs, he added, referring to the military service chiefs. During the more than two years that President Barack Obama directed US military action against IS in Syria, he resisted Russian overtures to coordinate military action. Obama believed Moscow was acting counter to US interests by propping up Assad, whose government Obama called illegitimate. The Pentagon has maintained a hotline with the Russian military to deal with the narrower issue of avoiding air accidents in Syria. With Trump in the White House, Moscow seems eager to draw the new administration into closer military cooperation, perhaps reflecting Trumps frequent statements during the presidential campaign that he welcomed opportunities to improve relations with Moscow. On Monday, the Russian ministry of defence announced that the US had provided targeting information for a joint airstrike against Islamic State fighters in Syria. But Pentagon officials flatly denied the Russian assertion. US Air Force Col. John Dorrian, chief spokesperson for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, called the Russian statement rubbish. At the Pentagon, a spokesperson, Maj. Adrian J Rankine-Galloway, said the US military is not providing targeting information to the Russians or coordinating air operations with them. Trump has not yet spelled out how he will change the US approach in Syria or Iraq. During the campaign he said that as president he would ensure the Islamic States quick defeat. At CIA headquarters over the weekend, he repeated his campaign assertion that the US had erred in not taking control of Iraqs oil as compensation for having ousted President Saddam Hussein in 2003. If we kept the oil you probably wouldnt have ISIS because thats where they made their money in the first place, Trump said. So we should have kept the oil. But, OK, maybe youll have another chance. Asked what Trump meant, Spicer said, We want to be sure our interests are protected. Were going into a country for a cause. He wants to be sure America is getting something out of it for the commitment and sacrifice it is making. With the signing of the Treaty of London on April 26, 1915, Italy entered World War I on the Allied side. The Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) publicly welcomed Italy but privately besmirched it for the grasping territorial terms it demanded upon victory; Britains First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill disparaged it as the harlot of Europe. To Austria-Hungarywhich with Germany and Italy had till then formed the Triple Alliancethere was only one suitable epithet for its former ally: the traitor. A sticking point in Italian/Austro-Hungarian negotiationsheld concurrently while Italy sketched out the Treaty of London with the Alliesconcerned Trentino. Amid a swath of mountainous terrain shared by northern Italy and western Austria-Hungary, the region is a blend of nationalities and cultures, where pasta shares a plate with sausage and sauerkraut. When Austria-Hungary demurred on Italys insistence for the immediate return of Trentino, rather than postwar as offered, the regional spat gave Italians the added impetus to turn on their northern rivals. The Eastern Front meandered across the soaring peaks and lush Alpine valleys of the disputed territory. While both sides employed the standard trench warfare and frontal attack strategies, the high altitude and harsh weather conditions imposed limitations to which both armies had to adapt. On the Italian Frontpopularly known as the White Warspecialist soldiers trained in mountain warfare (the Italian Alpini vs. the Austro-Hungarian Kaiserschutzen) clashed at altitudes approaching 13,000 feet. The winter of 1916 was one of the harshest on record, the temperature dipping to 22 below zero. That November alone Austro-Hungarian regiments stationed in the mountains reported nearly 500 cases of frostbite. Avalanches and landslides were also a constant threat; in mid-December a series of avalanches claimed the lives of some 10,000 Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops. When the weather cleared and trigger fingers thawed, the fighting was as intense there as anywhere else along the front. Mount Pasubio in particular was witness to the kind of attritional slaughter typical of the conflict. In May 1915 the Italians occupied the Pasubio massifthe last defensible position before the Veneto plain. A year later, during a sweeping enemy offensive, they lost the northern peak, which came to be known as the Dente Austriaco (Austrian Tooth). The Italians held the line at Dente Italiano, only a stones throw south of Dente Austriaco and separated by an all-too-short saddle. Launching operations to regain the Dente Austriaco in September and October, the Italians ground to a halt in the face of severe snowstorms that heralded the onset of winter. Faced with the daunting task of overcoming reinforced positions on mountain peaks, each army instead tried to tunnel beneath its enemy and detonate explosives. This tactic characterized the fighting on Pasubio, and the peak hosted one of the longest running conflicts of its kind during World War I. Over a two-year stretch the combatants dug mines and counter-mines through the rock, and 10 massive explosions reshaped the massifthe deadliest being a 55-ton Austro-Hungarian device that exploded on March 13, 1918, killing or wounding more than 60 Italian soldiers. The Austro-Hungarians held the Dente Austriaco until Nov. 1, 1918, when ordered to retreat from the mountain that had ultimately claimed tens of thousands of lives. Nearly a century later the sloughing ice at altitude continues to surrender battered, uniformed bodies. In remembrance, officials in Trentino have designated their mountains a vast memorial park [www.museostorico .tn.it]. The Path of Peace allows hikers to trace more than 300 miles of the former front line, from the Passo del Tonale to Marmolada peak. Along the trail theyll find abandoned artillery, restored forts and the worlds largest tolling bell, cast from melted down World War I artillery piecesa memorial that overlooks the provinces second city of Rovereto. Pasubio, designated a sacred area, is reachable via the Road of 52 Tunnels, a supply route carved out by Italian civil engineers over 10 months in 1917. The road stretches some 5 miles, and for nearly half that length it runs beneath the craggy, dripping ceilings of the impressively excavated tunnels. After the war the terms of victory changed, and Italy ended up with less territory than promised in the Treaty of London. A toxic blend of nationalism and victim-hood bubbled up, helping to propel Europes first fascist dictatorship into powera tragedy that, post-1945, would force yet another territorial retreat upon the Italians. But they kept the Trentino. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. During World War II the war- ring air arms generally used women in auxiliary roles, in their most active roles serving as test or ferry pilots. A notable exception was the Soviet air force, which fielded three all-female combat regiments: one of fighters, one of dive-bombers and, perhaps best known, one of night bombers, 23 members of which received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Less publicized until recent years were several Romanian volunteers who flew in and out of combat zones to evacuate wounded troops. It took the fall of Romanias communist government and the longevity of one of the countrys wartime pilots for the deeds of the White Squadron to come to light. Marie Ana Aurelia Dragescu was born on Sept. 7, 1912, in the southern Romanian town of Craiova, the daughter of an army officer and a music teacher. Mariana, as she was known, chose an avocation entirely her own. In 1935 she was among the first Romanian women to graduate from aviation school, and in 1938 she joined the Royal Aero Club. Later that year aviatrix Marina Stirbey convinced the Romanian military to form an all female aeromedical evacuation unit. Stirbey, Dragescu and fellow pioneers Nadia Russo, Virginia Thomas, Virginia Dutescu and Irina Burnaia performed well in military maneuvers, and in 1940 they formed a squadron equipped with Polish-built RWD-13S high-wing monoplanes, painted white with red crosses. The unit came to be known as the Escadrila Alba (White Squadron). When Romania joined Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germanys 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, 2nd Lt. Dragescu and her colleagues accompanied the Romanian army. From August through November 1941 they transported wounded during operations at Odessa, for which Dragescu received the Romanian Order of Aeronautical Virtue. Moving up to airfields inside Russia in 1942, the White Squadron flew intensive sorties from August through October during the pivotal Stalingrad campaign. For their work Dragescu, Russo and Thomas received the Order of the German EagleGermanys highest decoration for foreign combatants. The following summer the unit, re-designated the 108th Light Transport Squadron, flew rescue missions out of Simferopol, Crimea, to and from the collapsing front. With the war going badly for the Axis, Romanian officials staged a coup in August 1944, signed an armistice and went over to the Allies. Through May 8, 1945wars end in Europe Dragescu continued to support the Romanian army as a liaison pilot. By then she had personally flown more than 1,500 wounded men from battlefronts to medical facilities. Dragescu worked as a civil aviator and flight instructor in Romania until 1955, when she was suddenly fired ostensibly a victim of postwar repression by communist dictator Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, whose puppet Romanian government was a Warsaw Pact ally of the Soviet Union. Dragescus crime? Her service initially, anywaywith the Axis (the wrong side) in World War II. Grounded, Dragescu worked in obscurity as a secretary until her retirement in 1967, though she lived to see the overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescus communist regime in 1989. Since then Romania has been rediscovering its history and honoring those who served in its armed forces during the war. In 2003 Dragescu was made a knight of the Order of the Star of Romania and promoted to the rank of air commander (retired). She also served as a consultant for a 2004 film about the White Squadron. Pioneering aviatrix Mariana Dragescu died in Bucharest on March 24, 2013, at the age of 100. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. No Ukrainian serviceman has been killed in the Anti-Terrorist operation (ATO) zone in Donbas over the past day, two soldiers wounded, though, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzianyk has said. "No Ukrainian soldier has been killed as a result of hostilities, two received injuries, though, over the past day," he said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday. The War That Wasnt There are a few things I would add to the article The War That Wasnt [by Robert M. Citino, January]. When I was a captain in 198182, I was assigned the G3 section of the 8th Infantry Division in West Germany. The NCO in charge of the vault containing the general defense plans was SFC Clyde Conrad. In 1990 retired SFC Conrad was convicted in German court of being a spy for Hungary. V Corps war plans ultimately went to the Soviet Union. Hopefully we had spies collecting war plans of the Soviets. In 1991 at Fort Benning I escorted a German brigadier general. He commented that with the unification of West and East Germany the German army had to take in East German officers. His assessment was they were not very competent. His inspection of East German armored vehicles concluded they were in very poor shape. As an infantry company commander in 1980 I knew I would have to fight outnumbered. I felt my M113s with .50-caliber machine guns would be outmatched by a larger infantry force with BMPs. Hopefully, given what the BG said of the quality of East German forces, we would have had a chance. The U.S. Army did not always have a forward defense, however. My brigade was in V Corps reserve west of Fulda. Brig. Gen. Frederic Brown, 8th ID commander, said that where I was defending had been the zone of the corps covering force in 1958. Major Scott Adams U.S. Army (Ret.) Mount Vernon, Wash. Desert Storm [Re. From the Highway of Death, What We Learned, January:] Stephan Wilkinson is either confused or naive. I was the senior G3 OPS NCOIC of one of the XVIII Airborne Corps command posts during Desert Storm and made many of the briefings at CENTCOM/ARCENT HQ. We were told numerous times that Arab forces would only free Kuwait and advance no farther. The French told us numerous times they would not go north of the Euphrates River. Coalition forces faced some 45 divisionsbombed and starved, but numbers do count. The Saudi royal family indicated that going north of the Euphrates could shut off our supply lines, and there was a possibility the Syrian or even Egyptian divisions who advanced into Kuwait and stopped could attack our rear echelons or seize our supplies. Meanwhile Saddam Hussein had 50-plus divisions (many Republican Guard) along his borders with Turkey/Jordan/Iran, while we had around 17 divisions total (only nine U.S./U.K.). Just how in blazes were we supposed to topple Saddam in 1991 without starting a Muslim/Christian war? SFC William J. Frazer U.S. Army (Ret.) Knoxville, Tenn. Empire vs. Tribe [Re. Empire vs. Tribe, by OBrien Browne, January:] Browne should go back and reread ancient history. To imply that the Celtic tribes and culture were on a par with Rome is attempting to rewrite history. Nowhere in my readings have I come across Romans wanting to become Celtic citizens (if at all possible), compared to Celts wanting to become Roman citizens. May I respectively remind Browne that the Roman empire stretched from Hadrians Wall to North Africa to the Middle East as far as Armenia? I dont recall reading about Celtic engineering feats, architectural skills, judicial foundations or social customs that have come down to Western civilization over the millennia. Joseph S. Placa Rosenelle, N.J. Funston Facts [Re. Funston of the Philip pines, by Chuck Lyons, January:] This is the first time your magazine has taken up the subject of Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston since the August 1995 issue. Though I am pleased to see Funston featured in another article, I was disappointed to find errors. In the second paragraph Funstons birthday is incorrectly given as Sept. 11, 1865, when in fact he was born on Nov. 9, 1865. Within the same paragraph the author also states Funston failed the West Point entrance exam in 1884. In actuality, he merely did not place in the rankings that year. Interestingly, within a few years Funston outranked the candidate who had received the slot ahead of him. Later in the article, in the second-to-last paragraph, when referring to Funstons participation in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, the author writes Funston was commander of the Presidio of San Francisco and also declared martial law, infamously ordering all looters to be shot on sight. Funston was not the direct commander of the Presidio but commander of the larger Pacific Division. Though it is often said Funston declared martial law, this was not the case. Funston operated in cooperation with civilian authorities. It was the mayor who authorized the looter policy. Funstons quick action to assist local authorities was instrumental but not a breach of his legal authority. Finally, I would suggest readers follow the authors advice on the recommended readings as far as Memories of Two Wars, but the chapter in Susan Wares book, Forgotten Heroes, is not worth your time. Professor Mark Carnes, who wrote the chapter, relied on sources like Stuart C. Millers book, Benevolent Assimilation, which is laced with errors. General Funston, as a subject, deserves much better. For accuracy and reliability the reader should seek out Brian M. Linns books. Jarrett Robinson Thompsons Station, Tenn. Editor responds: The primary sourcebooks on Funstons life are, indeed, laced with errors, something we failed to recognize prior to publication. Thank you for holding us accountable. King Philips War In Blood and Betrayal (January) Anthony Brandt states King Philips War saw the largest European-style army of 1,000 colonists and allied Indians ever formed in North America, in 1675 (P. 32). Should not this honor be given to Sir Francis Drakes capture of St. Augustine, Fla., from the Spanish with about 1,000 men almost a century earlier, in May 1586? George R. Muller Lambertville, N.J. Editor responds: Drakes expeditionary force did number about the same, but it hadnt been assembled in North America, nor was it a combined force of colonists and Indians. Worth noting, though. History Repeats The article [Allenby Captures Jerusalem, by Michael S. Neiberg] in the November issue of Military History about [General Edmund] Allenbys expedition to conquer the Turks in Palestine is so ironic. In 1917 Allenby set up his headquarters in Rafah, south of Gaza, from which to direct his surprise campaign against Beersheba rather than attack the Turks at Gaza. One of the biggest [recent] battles in Gaza took place at Rafah, [pitting] the Israeli army against Hamas. In the first you have Christian Europeans fighting Muslim Turks, in the second you have Christian-backed Israelis fighting Arab Muslims. This has been the case for 1,000 years in the Middle East and in the world. Justin M. Ruhge Lompoc, Calif. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. When a large explosion rocked the Quai de la Seine in northeast Paris at 7:18 on the morning of March 23, 1918, no one at first knew what had caused it. No German air- craft were visible, and although Germany had initiated its great Spring Offensive of 1918 just two days earlier, enemy ground forces remained well over 60 miles north of the French capital. No known artillery piece could fire a projectile even half that distance. The preliminary conclusion was that some sort of new high-altitude airship had dropped a large bomb. But then, about 15 minutes after the first explosion, there followed a second one, then another 15 minutes after that. By days end Parisians had counted 21 similar explosions. Within hours ordnance experts had recovered enough ballistic evidence from the various impact sites to determine that Paris was in fact being shelled by a gun or guns firing approximately 8-inch rounds. But that seemed impossible. One working hypothesis surmised the Germans had somehow infiltrated a gun far behind French lines, perhaps into the forests just outside Paris. By the next day, however, the French had gathered enough additional evidence to prove conclusively the shells had come from behind German lines, specifically from somewhere in the Forest of Saint-Gobain near Crepy, just northwest of Laon. But that was nearly 80 miles away. The only logical conclusion was the Germans had secretly developed and fielded a supergun. In fact, they had fielded three. The Germans had two names for the long-range artillery pieces bombarding Paris: (Wilhelm Guns), in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Pariskanonen World War I the British and American press, and even (Paris Guns). But for many years after Wilhelmgeschutzen many historians, mistakenly called them Big Berthas. The Dicke Bertha, however, was a completely different guna siege howitzer that fired 420mm concrete-piercing shells the Germans used to demolish Belgian fortresses in 1914. The Paris Guns are among the most remarkable artillery pieces in military history. Their estimated maximum range of 82 miles far exceeded that of any operational gun built up to that time or since. Even today the Russian 203mm 2S7 Pion can achieve its maximum range of 34.5 miles only when employing a rocket-assisted projectile. In 1918 the Germans used conventional ammunition. The ordnance engineer who designed the Paris Guns was the brilliant Fritz Rausenberger, a director of the German arms-manufacturing giant Krupp AG. He had also designed the Big Bertha. Krupp had a long tradition of ordnance research and development. Rausenberger for some time had worked through the problems of achieving ranges in excess of 60 miles. In 1916 he approached Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL), the German army High Command, seeking official support for a gun specifically designed to bombard Paris. Colonel Max Bauer, one of the more influential General Staff officers at OHL, convinced both Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburgchief of the General Staffand his able deputy General Erich Ludendorff to support the project. By late 1917 Krupp had a working prototype, and it successfully fired the first gun on November 20 at the Altenwalde test range near Cuxhaven on the North Sea coast. After additional experimentation with propellant and projectile combinations, the Krupp engineers achieved a range of just over 78 miles on Jan. 30, 1918. Krupp immediately started manufacturing additional carriages and at least seven barrels. Krupp assembled the barrel of each Paris Gun by inserting a 210mm liner tube into a bored-out 56-foot 380mm SK L/45 Long Max naval gun barrel. The liner extended 36 feet beyond the muzzle of the main barrel. A 20- to 30-foot smooth-bore extension was then attached to the front of the protruding liner, resulting in a composite barrel with an overall length exceeding 110 feet. An external truss system clamped atop the barrel reduced the droop of the tube caused by gravity. Krupp engineers had to mount a massive counterweight on the breech in order to elevate the gun for firing and depress it for loading. The carriage was a steel box assembly, with a pivot in the front and wheels in the rear that ran on a circular track. The gun could only be moved to its firing position by rail, assembled in place and fired from a prepared concrete firing platform. The barrel alone weighed some 140 tons, the carriage 250 tons, and the turntable-type firing platform 300 tons. As might be expected, a Paris Gun was not easy to operate. Weighing either side of 400 pounds, the propellant charge could produce a chamber pressure of 69,600 pounds per square inch and a bore temperature in excess of 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit. The corrosive propellant composition eroded several centimeters of steel from the barrel with each shot fired, thus increasing the volume of the firing chamber. After loading the next round, the gun crew had to measure the firing chamber volume and then increase the subsequent propellant charge accordingly. In early test firings the extreme temperatures and pressures tore the traditional copper rotating bands right off the projectile body, preventing the round from spinning properly in flight. The solution was to machine rifling grooves with a 1-in-35 twist into the steel body of the projectile. Thus, the crew literally screwed each round into the chamber on loading. That solution worked, but it also drastically increased the wear on the bore, expanding its internal diameter with each shot. That, in turn, meant each succeeding round had to be slightly larger than the last. Each barrel, therefore, came with its own dedicated set of projectiles, numbered sequentially in exact firing order. Such attention to detail did not eliminate error, however; a mistake in the firing sequence on March 25 caused a tube detonation on the No. 3 gun, killing or wounding 17 men. Each tube had an estimated service life of 60 rounds, with round No. 60 having a diameter of 222mm. After that the crew replaced the barrel and sent back the old tube to the Krupp factory in Essen, where it was re-bored to 224mm and then reissued with a new set of shells. After the second set of 60 rounds the tubes were re-bored a second time, to 238mm. The Paris Guns achieved their startling maximum range by seeming to defy the normal laws of ballistics. All artillery pieces, before and since, fire at their maximum range when the barrel is elevated to an angle of 45 degrees, or 800 mils. Anything over 45 degrees is classified as high-angle fire. As the elevation increases beyond that point, the shell goes higher, but the range decreases. The Paris Guns, however, achieved their maximum range at an elevation of 50 degrees, or 889 mils. Two factors contributed to this phenomenon. The first was the Coriolis effect with regard to the rotation of the earth. The rounds time of flight from the firing point in Crepy to Paris was 177 seconds, almost three minutes. With the gun firing southwest and the earth rotating from west to east, that three minutes of flight added more than 600 meters to the achieved rangeand also pushed the shell somewhat to the right. The more important range factor, however, was what gunners call the maximum ordinatethe height the shell reaches in its trajectory. At 50 degrees elevation the shells from the Paris Guns reached an altitude of 138,800 feet. Reduced air density at higher altitudes causes far less drag on the body of the projectile, which resulted in the greatly increased horizontal range. The shells fired from the Paris Guns were the first man-made objects to reach the stratosphere, an altitude record they held for nearly a quarter century, until the Germans test-fired the first V-2 missiles in late 1942. Despite the Paris Guns incredible range, the tactical effect at the target end was less than impressive. The average projectile weighed 234 pounds, but much of that mass was in the body of the shell, which required reinforcement to withstand the massive firing pressures. The explosive charge itself was a mere 33 pounds, only a quarter of the total shell weight. The combination of the low explosive change and the thick shell body produced a small explosion with relatively few, though large, fragments. One shell that landed in Paris famed Jardin des Tuileries left a crater just 10 to 12 feet across and 4 feet deep. Nor were the guns accurate. What gunners call the range probable error was plus or minus 1.49 miles at maximum range. The deflection probable error (lateral dispersion) was plus or minus a half-mile. Paris in 1918, with its main administrative districts, was about 7.5 miles across. That meant that while the guns had a fair chance of hitting the city, just where in the city was anybodys guess. Between March and August the three Paris Guns fired approximately 367 rounds (French records claim 303), but only 183 landed within the city limits. The shells killed 256 Parisians and wounded another 620. The largest casualty count from a single shot happened on the afternoon of Good Friday, March 29, when a round hit the Church of Saint-Gervaiset-Saint-Protais. The explosion and subsequent collapse of the vault killed 88 worshipers and wounded 68. Since the Paris Guns were essentially modified naval weapons, the Imperial German Navy supplied the crews. About 60 to 80 naval gunners and a support team of civilian engineers manned each gun. The three-gun battery initially operated under the direct command of Vice Adm. Maximilian Rogge, chief of the Imperial German Navys Ordnance Department. An army infantry battalion provided ground security for the battery, and 10 squadrons of aircraft were assigned the air cover mission. By 1918 both Allied and German sound-ranging systems were technologically sophisticated enough to pinpoint an enemy battery to within 65 feet, under ideal conditions. Thus the Germans positioned 30 army heavy artillery batteries around the Paris Guns, timing their own firing to mask the firing of the main battery. Kaiser Wilhelm II personally visited the firing positions on the first day of operations. Despite the initial French confusion and German efforts to keep the guns hidden, by March 24 the French had a general idea where they were. About noon that day the Paris Guns battery started receiving random French counter-fire. Although it was generally inaccurate, one shell hit a tree close to the No. 1 gun, and the resulting air burst wounded a half-dozen crewmen. The following day the No. 3 gun suffered its tube detonation. The battery displaced forward twice during the war. Its second firing position was near Beaumont-en-Beine, the third near Bruyeres-sur-Fere, less than 60 miles from Paris. The re-bored tubes, with reduced ranges due to their larger firing chambers, could only be used in these advance positions. Despite the impressive tactical gains the Germans made during their 1918 offensives, they were forced to fall back in the face of the Allied counteroffensive that started on July 18. A German crew fired the last round from a Paris Gun on the afternoon of Aug. 9, 1918, after which the weapons were disassembled and taken back to Germany. As wars end approached, the Germans destroyed the Paris Guns, and Krupp incinerated most of the research and development records. The only remaining evidence of the guns are the concrete firing emplacements in the woods near Crepy. Though the Paris Guns were an awesome technological achievement they had no impact on the outcome of World War I. But they could have. The Germans chose to use an advanced technology as a psychological terror weapon, when they could have directed its power against far more militarily significant targets. One of the Allies greatest vulnerabilities in 1918 was the fragile and over-stressed logistics system of the British Expeditionary Force. The BEFs communications lifeline to France ran from just a few key ports in Britain to only six main ports in France. Those ports were vital choke points the Germans, inexplicably, never sought to attack. Had they put the Paris Guns into battery in Flanders instead of Picardy, they easily could have bombarded Dover, England, and Boulogne or Calais, France. As early as 1914 Rausenberger himself told OHL he could build a gun capable of hitting Dover. Any degree of pressure on the BEFs ports would have caused far greater disruption than any sense of terror among the civilian population in the French capital. The Germans made the same sort of strategic mistake again in World War II. This time the wonder weapons were the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 rocket. But again the Germans targeted the population centers of London and Paris versus, say, critical Allied airfields on the continent. Only during the very last days of the war did the Germans start targeting the key Allied port of Antwerp. By 1944 the Germans should have had enough experience from both world wars to know that long-range terror attacks on civilian population centers not only dont work but also often produce the opposite of the intended effecta lesson lost on many present-day military and political leaders. Major General David T. Zabecki, U.S. Army (Ret.), is Weider History Groups chief military historian. He holds a doctorate in military history from Britains Royal Military College of Science, and he is an honorary senior research fellow in war studies at Britains University of Birmingham. He is the editor of the recently published four-volume encyclopedia Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. For further reading Zabecki recommends The Paris Gun, by Henry W. Miller, and Paris Kanonen: The Paris Guns (Wilhelmgeschutze) and Project HARP, by Gerald V. Bull and Charles H. Murphy. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. The first air raid on the German capital was carried out at night by an antiquated French bomber. As the French auxiliary bomber Jules Verne approached Berlin at midnight on June 7, 1940, the crew was amazed to see the capital of the Third Reich fully illuminated. The aircraft commander, naval Captain Henri Dailliere, instructed pilot Henri Yonnet to act as though they were landing at Berlins Tempelhof Airport, but then to overfly the field and head at low altitude in the direction of Tegel. Dailliere called out Attention! as they drew near the target, the Siemens factory. Dropping bombs at low altitude was dangerous because the plane could be caught in the blasts, but when the bombs were released their luck held. Meanwhile, Corneillet, the flight mechanic, and Deschamps, the bombardier, were busy dropping incendiary bombs. Jules Verne had racks for the demolition bombs but none for the small incendiaries, so they simply opened the passenger door and tossed them out by hand. The explosions finally brought the German air defenses to life. Sirens screamed, and searchlight beams suddenly stabbed the night sky. Several anti-aircraft guns began uncoordinated firing. Still flying low and at top speed, the bomber headed west toward home. But could Jules Vernes crew avoid the German air defenses and reach safety in France? This first air raid on Berlin is a little-known event, even to most Berliners. The German Propaganda Ministry stated the next day that an air raid drill had been held. News of the raid was no doubt suppressed because an air attack on the capital would have embarrassed Adolf Hitler and especially Hermann Goring, the air minister, who had bragged before the war, If any bombs fall on the Reich I will change my name to Maier. (Contrary to popular belief, this was not an anti-Semitic slur: Maier is a common German name, especially in Bavaria, and Goring was implying that he would just be a nobody.) In France, the news of this dangerous raid may have satisfied the leaders desire for revenge, even though symbolic, but it was obscured by the general chaos and confusion resulting from the massive German blitzkrieg that was rapidly overrunning France and the Low Countries. The first real bombing raid on Berlin would not occur until August 25, 1940, during the Battle of Britain. Hitler had placed London off-limits for bombing, and the Luftwaffe was concentrating on defeating the Royal Air Force in preparation for a cross-Channel invasion. But on the night of August 24, a German plane dropped bombs on London, probably by accident, on its way home from a raid. Prime Minister Winston Churchill immediately ordered the RAF to retaliate with a raid on Berlin. That same night, a force of 81 Vickers Wellingtons and Handley Page Hampdens headed for Berlin. Only about half of them reached the capital, which was obscured by dense clouds. Little damage was done, but one bomb killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo. An incensed Hitler ordered Goring to change their air war strategy. Instead of concentrating on neutralizing the RAF, the Luftwaffe now focused on reprisal raids on English cities, especially London. Conducted mainly at night, the Blitz failed to break British morale, and in September Hitler was forced to cancel plans for the invasion. The French air raid on Berlin on June 7 stands as a significant accomplishment that would have been impossible had the French navy not possessed an airplane with remarkably long range. In 1936 the Farman and Hanriot aircraft companies had begun work on a long-range bomber, the F.223. This was a further development of the F.222 bomber, 24 of which were produced for the French air force. The F.223 appeared to be an antiquated design while still on the drawing board, but the Air Ministry ordered a prototype for possible use by Air France, on a planned regular route from Paris to New York, by way of the Azores. The Farman bomber design, with some changes, could fill the requirement for a long-range commercial transport. The civilian transport, F.223.1, with the registration F-APUZ, began test flights on June 12, 1937. It was an awkward-looking design that remained basically unchanged during the production of nine aircraft. A high-wing monoplane with a long, tapered fuselage, it had a twin-fin tail with external bracing. Two large nacelles mounted below the externally braced wing each housed a pair of tandem-mounted 720-hp Hispano-Suiza 12-cylinder inline engines. The fuel tanks in the fuselage had a capacity of 3,091 gallons, giving the plane an amazing range of almost 5,000 miles. In September 1937, the 10-ton transport participated in the Istres-Damascus-Paris air race, with well-known French pilot Paul Codos at the controls. With a top speed of only about 233 mph, F-APUZ came in last. But in following weeks it set a payload capacity record for a transport of its type. F.223.1 was named Laurent Guerrero, and Codos and his crew began a new ad venture on November 20, 1937: a flight from Istres to Santiago, Chile. The trip was completed with great fanfare in two days, 10 hours and 41 minutes. Having proved its ability as a long-range transport, the Farman was approved for use by Air France on mail runs across the North Atlantic. Three planes, with minor modifications, were ordered. Laurent Guerrero served until September 1938 for testing and training. When World War II began in September 1939, F-APUZ was transferred to the French navy for use as a long-range reconnaissance plane. Modifications included the installation of special radio and navigation equipment. On December 10, 1939, still bearing civil markings, it was flown to Dakar in West Africa for use in patrolling the South Atlantic. On its first mission, however, the Farman was damaged in an accident and permanently grounded. A prototype of a military variant, F.223.01, first flew on January 18, 1938. Though similar to the previous versions, it was powered by four Hispano-Suiza 14 AA 1,100-hp radials. When those power plants proved unsatisfactory, they were replaced with Hispano-Suiza 12Y-29 910-hp inline engines. The plane was given the designation NC.2233 on October 15, 1938. In addition to engine-cooling problems, a landing accident delayed completion of testing until the end of March 1939. France contracted for 15 aircraft of this type, but by May 1940 only nine were delivered, and none saw combat in Europe. On June 16, seven were flown to North Africa for use against the Italians; however, the armistice between France, Germany and Italy on June 22 brought combat to a halt. The Luftwaffe took over the prototype NC.2233, but the other planes were placed in service with the German-controlled Vichy regime. Five were assigned to a new transport squadron at the beginning of 1941, flying supply missions to French North Africa and the Mideast. By July 1941, two of the Farmans were grounded, and on November 8, 1942, another was destroyed at Rabat, Morocco, in Allied action during the invasion of North Africa. Air France had added four NC.2233s to its fleet after the armistice and used them to carry mail to North Africa. On July 15, 1941, one fell into the hands of the Free French air force, which flew it until the end of the war. When the Germans occupied Vichy France in November 1942, the Luftwaffe took over the remaining three planes from Air France. One was lost in an accident at Toulouse in January 1943, and the others were last known to be at ParisLe Bourget Airport. Meanwhile the three F.2230 (later NC.2230) transports ordered for Air Frances transatlantic service were under construction. The first to be completed, registered as F-AQJM, made its maiden flight on April 28, 1938. It was similar to the bomber version, but had been modified for freight hauling by extending and widening the fuselage. Early in 1939, F-AQJM was re-equipped with four Hispano-Suiza 12Y-38/39 920-hp engines. Re-designated NC.2234 no. 01, the modified plane first took to the air on March 15, 1939. The other two aircraft of the same type were completed during that year. The three were given the following names: NC.2234 no. 01, Camille Flammarion; no. 02, Jules Verne; and no. 03, Le Verrier. The three transports were finishing their testing when World War II began. Camille Flammarion was immediately transferred to the French navy for use in long-range reconnaissance, with Captain Dailliere as its commander and technical adviser. On October 10, 1939, it departed Bordeaux for Dakar, then continued on a reconnaissance flight over the South Atlantic. The flights official purpose was to establish the commercial air route to South America, but the crew was actually searching for the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and an auxiliary cruiser, known to be preying on Allied shipping in the area. After refueling at Rio de Janeiro in mid-October, the Farman had an accident on takeoff, but it was repaired and made the return flight to ParisOrly Airport on November 13. Camille Flammarion, along with the other two NC.2234s, was then assigned to Naval Squadron B5, with Dailliere as commander. All three NC.2234s required modifications for long-range reconnaissance and bombing. New bomb racks accommodated eight 551-pound demolition bombs. Defensive armament consisted of just one 8mm machine gun on a flexible mount in a dorsal turret behind the wing. The planes were also painted in a camouflage pattern. On May 10, 1940, the German offensive in the west began with the invasion of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Jules Verne saw its first action in early April, flying convoy escort duty. Between May 13 and 31, operating from the naval base at Lanveoc-Poulmic near Brest, it carried out night bombing raids on German targets, mostly in Holland, and one raid on the German city of Aachen. Each flight lasted from eight to 10 hours owing to evasive action. On June 3, Jules Verne accompanied the passenger ship Pasteur, which was carrying part of the French gold reserve to safety, probably in Africa. That same day, the Luftwaffe bombed Paris for the first time. The French were enraged and demanded revenge. But most of the aircraft in the French air force were obsolete and had already been destroyed by the Luftwaffe. The Germans were flying superior machines, and had honed their skills in combat over Poland and during the Spanish Civil War. The French Air Ministry sent orders to Captain Dailliere, who was then at an airfield in Bordeaux with the Farmans, directing him to carry out a bombing raid on Berlin as soon as possible. Although it appeared to be a suicide mission, Dailliere quickly developed a plan for a surprise attack that would take advantage of Jules Vernes only real strength: its exceptional range. On June 7, the Farman was fueled to capacity and loaded with eight 551-pound bombs and a case of 22-pound incendiaries. Dailliere and his crew took off at 15:30 hours, heading north along the Atlantic coast. They turned east, flying along the English Channel and just off the coast of Belgium, Holland and northern Germany. Jules Verne, flying low to avoid detection, then crossed a stretch of the North Sea and flew over southern Denmark, occupied by Germany since April. The bomber cruised over the Baltic Sea and turned south across a lonely stretch of the German coast. Jules Verne cruised low over the countryside of Mecklenburg as the crew prepared for the navigation challenge of finding their target at night. But as they headed south, they sighted a glow on the horizon: Berlin. Dailliere and his crew had expected the capital to have a wartime blackout in force, but much to their surprise it was as brightly lit as in peacetime. The Germans were obviously not expecting an air raid, and certainly not one coming from the direction of the Baltic. Arriving over the eastern suburbs around midnight, Jules Verne simulated a landing approach at Tempelhof Airport in the south ern suburbs, then headed north to Te gel. They reached the Siemens-Werke within minutes, and while Yonnet dropped the bombload on the factory, Corneillet and Des champs heaved a dozen incendiary bombs out the passenger door. Yonnet banked sharply, dodging uncoordinated flak bursts and searchlight beams. Instead of heading back to the north, they turned south west, flying an irregular course to confuse the air defenses. Jules Verne crossed the French border and passed through the battle zone, landing at Paris Orly at 13:30 on June 8. Dailliere and his gallant crew, exhausted but happy, were congratulated by their superiors. They barely had time to service the airplane and get some sleep before new orders arrived. On the night of June 10-11, they followed practically the same route along the coast, again crossed over southern Den mark and flew out over the Baltic. The target this time was near the coast: the Heinkel factory at Rostock. Again Jules Verne vanished into the night and returned safely. Two days later it bombed an industrial com plex south of Venice, and the next night an oil refinery near Livor no. During both of those missions, the crew dropped propaganda leaflets on Rome. In the meantime, the British Expeditionary Force managed to evacuate most of its troops from Dunkirk, while the Wehrmacht completed the defeat of the French army. After the armistice on June 22, all three NC.2234s were flown to unoccupied eastern France, and on July 16 they were turned over to Air France. Camille Flammarion was grounded in Bei rut on January 19, 1941, after an accident destroyed its landing gear. Despite the addition of neutral markings, Le Verrier was shot down off Sardinia by Italian fighters on November 27, 1940, on its way to Syria. With the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, the Germans occupied the remainder of France. Jules Verne met its end on November 8, when French Resistance fighters set it afire to keep it from falling into German hands. The last Farman airplanes of this type ended up in Vichy-controlled Oran, Algeria, and were destroyed during the Anglo-American invasion, bringing an end to this unusual chapter of WWII history. U.S. Air Force veteran Glen Sweeting is a former curator for the National Air and Space Museum. Further reading: Berlin, by David Clay Large; and French Bombers of World War II in Action, by Alain Pelletier. Originally published in the January 2015 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here. Hermann Ehrhardt fought for his country in World War I, fought to save it from communists in the interwar years, fought to save it from Nazis, then left it for keeps after World War II. Once upon a time in Germany a disgruntled World War I veteran organized his own private army, waged a successful war against homegrown communists and Russian-born Bolsheviks, and then was arrested and imprisoned after he staged a putsch against his own government. No, not Adolf Hitler. The mans name was Hermann Ehrhardt, and after saving the Weimar Republic from communist revolutionaries, he backed or led several attempts to wrest Germany from Hitler, all of which included attempted assassinations. The most implausible aspect of Ehrhardts career was neither his lifelong fondness for gun-play nor his impartial hatred for second-rate demagogues but his near indestructibility. After escaping a Nazi purge in 1934 and withstanding a years imprisonment following the July 20, 1944, Hitler bomb plot, Ehrhardt made it safely home to second wife Princess Margarethe of Hohenlohe-Oehringen. And perhaps for that reason, at least in the English-speaking world Ehrhardt remains the unknown soldier of the German right. Georg Hermann Ehrhardt was born on Nov. 29, 1881, in Diersburg, Baden, the son of a sixth-generation Lutheran clergyman. Father and Mother couldnt foresee that I would not stand in the pulpit, but the dear Lord God gave me the sensibilities of a Lausbub, Ehrhardt wrote in 1924 in his precocious autobiography, Adventure and Fate. I bought my first worthless pistol with my school lunch money. The whole point of being a Lausbub, or rascal, is to annoy people and then evade capture. Soon after Pastor Ehrhardt sent his son to study French in a school in Switzerland, young Hermann, to vex one of his loathed teachers, snuck up behind the old grouch and fired his pistol into the air. The bullet ricocheted off a stone building and struck a passing young girl in the ribs. Horrified, Ehrhardt rushed over to examine the girl and found that her steel corset stay had stopped the bullet without bloodshed. To cheer up the poor creature, he took her photograph and invited her into his portable darkroom to see what developed. The girl soon tattled, however, and young Hermann was asked to leave school. He never learned his lesson though; back in school in Baden a teacher announced before Ehrhardts classmates a muffed Latin translation hed made, and in retaliation Hermann boxed the teachers ears and broke his spectacles. Ehrhardt ultimately left school without an Abitura recommendation for university or professional schooland his father realized his only son was not cut out for the pastorate. In 1899 the Imperial German Navy began accepting new cadets, and Ehrhardt saw an opportunity. As the son of a clergyman he was exempt from all class distinctions and qualified easily for the navy. In 1904, as a naval lieutenant, he volunteered to fight the Herero wars in German South-West Africa (present-day Namibia). During one memorable clash he engaged in a sniper duel with a warrior concealed in a treetop. Ehrhardt noted with approval that the rifle fell from the tree first, then the man, and he claimed the Hereros decorated Mauser as a trophy. He was appalled when the proud and brave Herero warriors later fled into the Kalahari Desert with their wives and children. Many of the tribesmen were infected with typhus, and Ehrhardt caught the disease himself. But with the help of his Russian orderly and an African porter he recovered and was sent home on convalescent leave. Ehrhardt impressed Wilhelm II, who awarded him command of his first torpedo boata light destroyer much like the ones Japan had used to sink several Russian warships during the 190405 Russo-Japanese War. The young captain looked almost Eurasian, with slanted dark blue eyes, a big head and chest and rather short legs, a stocky physique he usually concealed beneath a single-breasted greatcoat. He kept his beard and mustache neatly trimmed to accentuate his intimidating Hunnic impression. While patrolling the North Sea during World War I, Ehrhardt sank three British destroyers, a submarine and an empty troopship, with the loss of one of his own light destroyers. He penetrated farther up Britains Thames River than any hostile mariner since the Anglo-Dutch wars of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He also lured a Russian cruiser into a U-boat ambush in the Baltic Sea. Ehrhardt was devastated when in November 1918 a mutiny among German battleship crews in Kiel and Wilhelmshaven prompted a broader revolt that led to Wilhelms abdication and the Armistice. By then a Korvettenkapitanequivalent in rank to an Allied naval lieutenant commander or army majorEhrhardt was ordered to surrender his flotilla at the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The commander of the captured German fleet later ordered the ships scuttled. While sailing home with other German officers and sailors on a chartered South American freighter, Ehrhardt sank into deep depression, locking himself in his cabin. En route the lubberly crew of communist sailors in charge of the freighter refused to take orders and steered into the outer reaches of a minefield, choosing that exact moment to go on strike and demand extra pay. Ehrhardt, in all his fury, soon charged up on deck, piped his own crew and seized command of the vessel. Ignoring both the striking sailors and their apathetic senior officers, he slipped past the minefield and returned the ship safely to Wilhelmshaven. Hundreds of junior officers who still had some fight left in them soon pledged their allegiance to a new heroEhrhardt. Back in Wilhelmshaven the take-charge captain was relieved to learn that his wife, the respectable heiress and widow of a nobleman from the venerable Gilsa family of officers at Waterloo and of the American Civil War, had taken her daughter and their two young sons to her mothers home in Hamburg for safety. He was incensed, however, to find that the Reds had looted his wine cellar. The next war began almost immediately. Every sparrow on the roof knew that on January 27, the Kaisers birthday, the communists were planning to seize power and set up a Soviet of Wilhelmshaven, Ehrhardt wrote. Now the Social Democrats came to us to see what we could do. The clueless question came to me. I told them that it would be better to smash [the communists] first. One bigmouthed deck officer asked, Whos going to be responsible if blood flows? I will, if Im placed in command, Ehrhardt told him. With 300 of his own naval troops and another 300 professional soldiers from the army Ehrhardt surrounded the Thousand-Man Barracksheadquarters of the communist revolutionary committee. The Reds fired first before naval gunfire from loyalists in the fleet rained down on and around the barracks. The whole night was a joke, Ehrhardt wrote. Rifles and machine guns cracked from all sides, and the communists lost seven dead, and we lost three, I think from our own gunfire.Next morning the communists gave themselves up. The vengeful army troops beat some of the communists half to death, while Ehrhardt himself rescued their leader out of a sense of duty and discipline. He calmly proposed the rightists form a unit under his leadership. Thank you, sir, but we have the matter in hand, and we can handle it on our own, one of the civic leaders replied. Then you can kiss my ass goodbye, Ehrhardt shot back. Three days later Gustav Noske, the new German defense minister, called Ehrhardt by phone and authorized him to form his own Freikorps paramilitary unit. When World War I ended, the civilian professionals, young men and married men had returned home, leaving behind an undependable regular army. The Social Democrats were thus compelled to fall back on right-wing monarchists who despised them but were eager to fight communists. Ehrhardts first challenge was to convince some of his officers to lend any support to the Social Democrats. His second task was to weed out the shirkers who joined up for a new greatcoat and a few meals and then vanished. The assault company formed by Ehrhardts deputy commander, Leutnant Eberhard Kautter, comprised 80 men, but in the first year 320 men went through the company, an indication that 75 percent of the human material we signed up was no good. Forming the backbone of Ehrhardts 2nd Marine Brigade were 300 junior officers or petty officers who had witnessed or heard about his rescue of the rust-bucket freighter and his subsequent exploits in Wilhelmshaven. Among the recruits from the army was Rudolf Mann, who left an account of his service. Early in the revolt Mann had seen a fellow officer cashiered for refusing to cut up an imperial flag to make communist armbands. Planning to resign in protest, Mann checked into the marine brigade. An officerhe later learned it was Ehrhardt himselfgreeted him and asked him to write out the oath of allegiance to the Social Democrats in longhand, possibly to check his facial expression as well as his penmanship. Combat experience? Ehrhardt asked. Two years on the Western Front. Good, we can use you. Mann became the brigade quartermaster and a strong admirer of Ehrhardt. The 2nd Marine Brigade marched through the cities of northern Germany, crushing the slapdash communist governments in turn. When the unit arrived outside Braunschweig in April 1919, the two senior communist leaders abandoned their men, the Red troops surrendered, and the middle-class residents of Braunschweig showered Ehrhardts men with chocolates and invited them to dances. On April 30 the brigade was on its way to Munich to confront the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Weeks earlier Russian Bolsheviks had seized control of the city after homegrown communists lost their nerve following the assassination of their premier, Kurt Eisner, a Prussian Jewish immigrant from Berlin, by Anton Arco-Valley, an Austrian war veteran who was a quarter Jewish. As the train carrying the brigade approached Munich, the locomotive suddenly screeched to a halt before a barrier of railroad ties. A Bavarian voice came out of the night. Why are you Saupreussen [Prussian sows] coming to Bavaria? The barricades cost the brigade time but failed to stop it. Ehrhardt and his men were part of an army of some 40,000 Freikorps and Reichswehr (regular army) soldiers that descended on Munich just after Bolsheviks at the Luitpold secondary school had murdered a group of hostagesseven members of the Aryan occultist and anti-communist Thule Society (including Countess Hella von Westarp and Prince Gustav of Thurn and Taxis), two nationalist hussars suspected of spying and a popular Jewish professor who had spontaneously ripped down a Bolshevik poster he found distasteful. In the battle that followed, the Freikorps routed the Reds. Ehrhardts brigade lost four dead and six wounded but captured two howitzers, 43 heavy machine guns, 80 light machine guns, 4,000 rifles and 12,000 hand grenades. They also captured the communist playwright and front-line veteran Ernst Tollerwhom Ehrhardts men found in hiding wearing a nightshirt and a red wigand Eugen Levine, a Russian Jewish immigrant and noncombat veteran of the Kaisers army. Levine had earlier removed Toller as military commander for refusing to execute prisoners. Toller was sentenced to eight years in prison, while Levine got the firing squad. Munich was the 2nd Marine Brigades high point. Its downfall came with the March 1920 Kapp Putsch, in which Ehrhardt, under orders, led his men into Berlin to demand thatdespite the Treaty of Versaillesthe German armed forces not be reduced to 100,000, which would call for disbandment of the Freikorps. Within a week a general strike and political blunders prompted Ehrhardts withdrawal. As the 2nd Marine Brigade marched out of Berlin, leftist street types heckled the enlisted men, who fired into the crowd and killed a dozen protesters before Ehrhardt brusquely ordered them to cease firing. In the wake of the June 1922 murder of Foreign Minister Walther Rathenau, a Jewish industrialist and German nationalist who supported the postwar treaty terms, Ehrhardt was arrested on suspicion and spent eight months in a Leipzig prison. Three young officers broke him out in a bizarre July 1923 plot after seeking help from a medium and obtaining skeleton keys from a grizzled Hungarian safe-cracker the psychic saw in a dream. They broke into the prison during Ehrhardts weekly bath, and he escaped wearing a towel. Decades later, in the 1960s, surviving members of the Rathenau assassination squad reported that Ehrhardt had had nothing to do with the foreign ministers murder, though the Freikorps leader had supported a number of other political murders against communists or informers. Back in Munich, Hermann Ehrhardt met Adolf Hitler and immediately disliked him, referring to him as that idiot and, obliquely, a psychopath. Ehrhardt and his deputy, Eberhard Kautter, bluntly refused to back Hitlers Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923 and rallied their own forces in Nuremberg to finish off Hitler if the power grab succeeded. The putsch flopped in a burst of gunfire, and Hitler went to prison. But the fledgling Fuhrers comeback surprised Ehrhardt, by then divorced from his terrified first wife and married to Princess Margarethe. Ehrhardt had joined the Nazis newly organized Schutzstaffel (SS) as a precaution, and the paramilitary force welcomed him for publicity purposes, but his true purpose was to infiltrate the nascent organization. Ehrhardt loyalists soon had 160 gunmen in the SS, but the Gestapo learned of their intentions, and on June 30, 1934at the outset of a purge since dubbed the Night of the Long Knivesthe real SS knocked on Ehrhardts front door. Grabbing two shotguns, he melted into the woods behind the house. Ehrhardt hid out in Switzerland and France until Hitler invited him home. Incredibly, he did return, only to become a conspirator in the July 20, 1944, plot to assassinate the Fuhrer. When it failed, Ehrhardt was again arrested and transferred among various prisons until the Nazi defeat. On his release Ehrhardt quietly managed his wifes estates in Austria, steadfastly refusing all interview requests. He died on Sept. 27, 1971, two months shy of his 90th birthday and, as a Christian in belief if not always in practice, was buried in the shadow of a tall stone cross. Loyalty is the mark of honor, Ehrhardt wrote in 1924. Loyalty is the last sense of morality. Once it disappears, it is no longer possible to renew a people or to establish a new government. People who recall him may argue whether Hermann Ehrhardt was loyal to his religion, to the Hohenzollern monarchy or to his own best interests. One thing is certain he was never loyal to Hitler. John Koster is the author of Operation Snow (2012) and Custer Survivor (2010). For further reading he suggests Ehrhardts 1924 autobiography, Captain Ehrhardt: Adventure and Fate, and Rudolf Manns With Ehrhardt Through Germany. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. Napoleons beloved Marshal Michel Ney went down swinging a broken sword for Franceonly to face a firing squad of his countrymen. Napoleon Bonaparte called him a lion and amid an army of heroes singled him out as the bravest of the brave. One of his fellow French marshals perhaps said it best: We are soldiers, but Ney is a knight. Marshal Michel Ney exemplified all these characteristics, and so it was in 1815 he abandoned titles, lands and family to fight once more at the side of Napoleon in defense of France in the final campaign of the Napoleonic wars. Ney joined the French army as a 19-year-old private. He displayed such daring and skill during the wars of the French Revolution that he rose meteorically in rank, becoming a general at age 27 and a marshal of France at 35. Tall, muscular and possessed of great courage, Ney always gravitated to the hottest part of the battlefield, often fighting more like a captain than a marshal. He had only to give an order for you to feel brave, an aide recalled. Neys genius only awakened in the face of the enemy and at the great voice of the guns. Even under grapeshot his laughter and pleasantries seemed to defy the death all around him. The troops idolized Ney and nicknamed him le Rougeaud (the Ruddy), because his complexion turned deep red in the heat of battle. Ney became one of Napoleons best marshals, and he played a critical role in nearly all of the emperors greatest victories. Yet it was in defeat Ney achieved immortality, during his command of the rear guard during the agonizing French retreat from Moscow in 1812. Napoleon relied heavily on Ney during the final campaigns of the Napoleonic wars, but when Paris fell in April 1814, Ney joined the other marshals in forcing Napoleon to abdicate and accept exile in order to secure peace. But it was a peace that would not last. With Napoleon gone calm returned to France, and with it the deposed Bourbon dynasty. King Louis XVIII sought to win Neys support by retaining him as a marshal of France and recognizing his imperial titles of prince and duke. Yet while Ney retained his noble status, he was the son of a cooper, and his wife, Aglae, a former washerwoman. The haughty emigre aristocrats scarcely concealed their contempt for Ney, and the women at court routinely insulted his wife. The Bourbons also mistreated Neys beloved army, purging the veteran officer corps and placing aristocratic fops in senior command positions. They discharged enlisted men on half-pay, outlawed their medals and cancelled the stipends they were due from those decorations. Still more galling to Ney was how the Bourbons cavorted with the enemies of France whose bayonets had placed the dynasty back on the throne over the corpses of his soldiers. Ney began to doubt his decision to force Napoleons abdication, and he was not alone, as discontent grew rapidly throughout France. Then on March 1, 1815, came the electrifying news that Napoleon had escaped from exile and landed in France to reclaim the throne. Napoleons return shocked all of Europe, while the people and army of France began to rally to the emperors standard in large numbers. As Napoleon marched toward Paris, entire regiments defected en masse to his cause, and his invasion took on the air of a triumphal procession. In desperation Louis XVIII ordered Ney to gather troops and intercept Napoleon before he reached the capital. Ney feared the emperors return would provoke civil war and declared he would bring Napoleon back to Paris in an iron cage if necessary. Yet within days of this bombastic statement Neys doubts returned. He detested the aristocrats and remarked, By comparison with [Napoleon] these Bourbons are pygmies! No wonder I nearly died for him so many times in battle. He knew that to support Napoleon would mean risking all he had, but it was the emperor who had given him the titles and lands, and the bonds of loyalty forged in the flames of battle were strong. As Neys force drew close to Napoleons, he received a message from the emperor, urging Ney to join him once more. Napoleon declared, I shall receive you as I did after the Battle of the Moskowa. The reference was to an action during the 1812 Battle of Borodino, in which Ney had led the great attacks that captured the Russian defensive works and for which Napoleon awarded Ney the title Prince de la Moskowa. For the teetering marshal the remark was a tipping point. The following morning Ney addressed his command: Officers, sub-officers and soldiers, the cause of the Bourbons is lost forever! The legitimate dynasty that the French nation has adopted is about to remount the throne. It is the Emperor Napoleon, our sovereign, who alone has the right to rule over our beautiful country! The troops exploded with excitement, crying out Vive lEmpereur! as they tore from their uniforms the white cockades symbolizing loyalty to the Bourbons and hurled them into the dust. Ney raised his sword and shouted, Soldiers! I have often led you to victory. Now I lead you to join that immortal phalanx with which Emperor Napoleon approaches Paris! Chaos ensued as the soldiers broke ranks and surged towards Ney, rending the air with shouts of joy. Ney embraced them, laughing, crying and joining in the wild jubilation. On March 18, 1815, Ney met with Napoleon for the first time since the abdication. The marshal attempted to explain his previous actions, but the emperor interrupted, saying there was no need. Napoleon later recalled, I threw my arms round his neck, calling him the bravest of the brave, and from that moment all was as it used to be. Neys declaration for Napoleon unleashed a tidal wave of support for the returned emperor, and just two days later Napoleon entered Paris without firing a shot. The United Kingdom, Prussia, Austria and Russia were aghast at Napoleons return and mobilized their armies for an invasion of France. As Napoleon worked feverishly to prepare for war, he kept Ney, whose talents lay on the battlefield, in the background. Outnumbered and facing invasion from multiple directions, Napoleon decided to seize the initiative and hit the Allies first by striking into Belgium (then part of the Netherlands) against the Anglo-allied army led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and the Prussian Army of the Lower Rhine under Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher. Napoleon concentrated his main army on the Belgian frontier and then, with the winds of war blowing strong and the eagles on the march, summoned Ney to battle. The charismatic marshal was ecstatic to finally receive his orders and rushed to join the emperor. He made his way to Napoleons headquarters along roads filled with immense columns of French troops. The soldiers recognized him and broke out in raucous cheers as he passed. One veteran pointed out Ney to his comrades and shouted, There is le Rougeaudthings will pick up now! At 5 p.m. on June 15 Napoleon assigned Ney to command the left wing of the army, which comprised General Honore Reilles II Corps, General Jean-Baptiste Drouet, compte dErlons I Corps and General Francois Etienne de Kellermanns III Cavalry Corps, which was scheduled to arrive the following day. The emperor placed Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy in command of the right wing, while Napoleon retained overall command and handled the reserve. Neys orders were to push the enemy up the main Brussels road and take the village of Quatre Bras, whose road junction connected the Anglo-allied and Prussian armies. It was vital Napoleon keep those armies separated, as combined they would overwhelm him. Ney at last had his command, but his aide-de-camp dourly noted, There is nothing worse for a general than to take command of an army on the eve of a battle. On arrival at his new headquarters Ney found that Reilles II Corps had just captured the village of Gosselies from a Prussian rear guard. Ney sent one of Reilles divisions in pursuit of the Prussians and then resumed the advance north, only to run into a Dutch detachment from Wellingtons Anglo-allied army. The Dutch withdrew after a sharp skirmish, but with only a few hours of daylight remaining, Ney hesitated to continue the advance. He did not have his full command available for action, and the units on hand had been marching and skirmishing since 2 oclock that morning. He therefore ordered a halt for the night. The next morning, June 16, Ney was slow to advance. French scouts reported Wellington had only 10 battalions in front of him, but Ney remained cautious. He had faced the Iron Duke during the 180714 Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal and knew Wellingtons tactic of concentrating his main force out of view. Ney therefore preferred to delay his advance until he had his whole command with him. In fact, Wellington had only a small contingent of troops at Quatre Bras that morning, putting up a bold front while awaiting the arrival of his own forces. Meanwhile, 4 miles to the east of Neys position Napoleon and Grouchy, with the bulk of the French army, found Bluchers Prussians deployed near the village of Ligny. Napoleon informed Ney he was going to attack Blucher that afternoon and directed Ney to immediately take Quatre Bras in order to isolate the Prussians from Wellington. Although he only had 18,000 of his 48,000 infantrymen on hand, Ney believed he could wait no longer and at 2 in the afternoon attacked with two divisions of Reilles II Corps. The French skirmishers easily pushed back the forward elements of Wellingtons army and steadily advanced on Quatre Bras. However, Ney allowed the attack to develop slowly, wary of Wellingtons strength and still hoping for more of his own forces to arrive before making a full-scale assault. By 3 p.m. the Anglo-allied forces had suffered heavy casualties and lost ground, but at this critical moment Wellington received reinforcements, and the battle intensified dramatically. At that point Ney abandoned his cautious approach. He formed the infantry battalions of Reilles divisions into attack columns and then drew his sword and galloped along their front shouting, The Emperor rewards those who advance! The French soldiers roared back Vive lEmpereur! and surged forward. Neys attack made excellent progress at first, but the British doggedly held their ground. The fighting was vicious and at close quarters. By sheer force of will the French managed to dent Wellingtons line, but failed to break it. Ney still remained confident of success, for he expected the imminent arrival of dErlons I Corps, and he would use it to deliver the coup de grace to Wellington. Then a messenger arrived informing the marshal that Napoleon had ordered dErlons I Corps to reinforce him at Ligny instead of Ney at Quatre Bras. Almost simultaneously another messenger arrived with an order from Napoleon telling Ney to wrap up things at Quatre Bras and also assist at Ligny. In a rage Ney sent a messenger to dErlon, ordering him to immediately turn back toward Quatre Bras. Unfortunately, the contradictory orders soon had dErlon marching in circles between his two commanders without assisting either one. Increasingly desperate to break the impasse at Quatre Bras, Ney ordered Kellermann, who had arrived with a brigade of mounted cuirassiers, to charge and break through the British center. Kellermann protested, reminding Ney he had only a single brigade and not his whole corps. The fate of France is in your hands! Ney replied in a broken voice. Crush them. Ride over their bodies. Kellermann launched a desperate charge with his cuirassiers and, amazingly, tore through the mass of British and Dutch troops in front of them, wreaking havoc on the ill-formed infantry and penetrating all the way to Quatre Brasbefore close-range artillery and musket fire drove them back with heavy losses. British reinforcements continued to arrive at Quatre Bras, and by early evening the numerical balance had turned irrevocably against Ney. Wellington went over to the attack, but Ney rose to the occasion, riding into the hottest sectors of the fight to rally his battalions and lead a stubborn defense that bled the British for every step they advanced. As darkness fell over the battlefield, the lines stood essentially where they had when the fight began. The Anglo-allied army had lost some 4,800 men, and Ney 4,100. Though the French marshal had not captured Quatre Bras, he had accomplished his mission of preventing Wellington from joining up with Blucher. Napoleon was thus able to use his main army to fight the Prussians in isolation and win the Battle of Ligny. Early on June 17 Napoleon dispatched Grouchy with 33,000 men to pursue the beaten Prussians while he moved his remaining 40,000 men toward Quatre Bras to link up with Ney and strike the Anglo-allied army a decisive blow. Ney remained outnumbered in front of Quatre Bras and decided to stay on the defensive until Napoleon arrived. Wellington saw the blow coming, however, and deftly broke contact with Ney, retreating north toward Brussels. Ney and Napoleon joined forces and pursued but were slowed by torrential rains and did not catch up with Wellington until he had once more reformed his army for battle near a small town in what was then the Kingdom of the NetherlandsWaterloo. On the morning of June 18 Napoleon awoke to find Wellington deployed on a low ridge and willing to give battle. The emperor ordered an immediate assault, and Ney enthusiastically approved. Napoleons chief of artillery suggested the attack be delayed so the ground could dry, however, allowing his guns to be moved and sited more effectively. Napoleon reluctantly agreed and delayed the opening of the battle until 11:30 a.m. The assault began with a diversionary attack against the British right. Then at 1 p.m. the French artillery opened a thunderous bombardment against Wellingtons center in preparation for a powerful attack by the whole of dErlons I Corps. But just before the attack began Napoleon received information that Prussian troops, who had apparently eluded Grouchys pursuit, were closing on the French right flank. The emperor believed he still had time to defeat the British before the Prussians arrived and deployed reserves to meet the new threat while also ordering his lion to launch the main assault. Ney was eager to attack and swung dErlons corps like a sledgehammer against the British center, anchored on the ridge and the fortified farmhouse of La Haye Sainte in front of it. The assault made solid gains and appeared to be breaking through the outer crust of Wellingtons defenses, though the farmhouse remained in British hands. Then Wellington halted the French advance with a ferocious counterattack and followed up with a cavalry charge. The British horsemen wreaked havoc for a time, but they overextended themselves and fell victim to a counter-charge by French cavalry. Nevertheless, they had stopped the main French thrust, allowing more time for the Prussians to arrive and tip the balance. Ney, true to form, galloped about the battlefield, rallying his infantry and regrouping them for a fresh attack. The new assault hit the same area as the first, and some of Wellingtons allied troops broke under the impact of the French onslaught, while his British regiments took a heavy pounding. Under heavy pressure Wellington decided to execute a tactical withdrawal to preserve his troops from the devastating French artillery fire. At the forward edge of the battle Ney saw British troops falling back, some apparently in disarray. He knew his two attacks had done considerable damage to the enemy and believed that what he was seeing indicated a general retreat, or at the very least a sign the British were on the verge of breaking. Ney returned to the main French position and swiftly organized a powerful cavalry charge to break through the weakened British forces. Ney took position at the head of more than 9,000 cavalrymen and led them in a thunderous charge against Wellingtons battered center. The French horsemen swept up and over the ridge, overrunning several British artillery batteries. But as they galloped onto the reverse slope they encountered not a broken army but British infantry battalions in square formation, prepared to repel their attack. The French cavalry surged against these sturdy blocks of men but could not break them. Ney himself fought with saber against the outstretched bayonets, slashing and taking down several of the enemy. The French cavalry fell back, but Ney regrouped them at the foot of the ridge and again led them forward. Napoleon, engrossed in meeting the oncoming Prussian threat, learned of Neys charge and shook his head, saying it was an hour too soon for such a move. Yet seeing through his telescope that Neys attack had pierced the British gun line, the emperor ordered more cavalry poured into the fight to support him. Ney led these reinforcements forward as well, but the British would not break. During the fight the marshals horse was shot from beneath himone of five mounts that died beneath him this dayand when Ney regained his feet amid the British guns, he swore profusely as he watched his cavalry once more falling back. Ney leapt atop a rider-less horse and led the remnants of the French cavalry back to their original position. There Napoleon informed him the Prussians had arrived in force and had engaged the French reserves. The emperor told Ney to take La Haye Sainte at all costs so the French formations could turn their full strength against the onrushing Prussians. Ney immediately launched a well-coordinated attack against the weakened British lines and captured the farmhouse. At that point the British truly began to waver, and Ney felt he had them. He sent his aide-de-camp to ask Napoleon to commit the Imperial Guard, the last remaining reserves, to finish off Wellington. Napoleon initially refused, not wanting to risk the last of his fresh troops, but as the Prussians steadily pushed in his flank and threatened to get behind him, he realized his only hope was to finish off the British so his army could focus on Blucher. More than an hour had passed since Neys request, however, and Napoleons hesitation had allowed Wellington to once more close up his lines and restore order. Even at this late hour Napoleon committed just four battalions of Imperial Guard grenadiers, rather than the entire reserve. Ney led them forward as the spearhead of some 15,000 attacking troops, but it was a futile gesture. They were met by more than 20,000 British infantrymen concealed in the wheat fields; on command these men rose and unleashed disciplined close-range volleys of musketry into the French. The vaunted Imperial Guard faltered and then fell back in disorder. By that time Bluchers Prussians had turned Napoleons right flank and fallen on the rear of the French army, which began to rapidly fall apart. Napoleon fled the battlefield in his carriage, but Ney remained in the fight, his face blackened by powder smoke, his sword broken and an epaulet from his bullet-riddled uniform hanging loose from an enemy saber stroke. He rallied individual battalions and small groups of men, calling out to them, Come and see how a marshal of France dies! as he led them into hopeless attacks. He sought death but could not find it even as men fell all around him. As night fell, he abandoned his suicidal ambition, and an Imperial Guard battalion escorted him to safety. It was to be his final campaign. After the debacle at Waterloo, Napoleon abdicated yet again and went into exile. Ney remained in France, but Louis XVIII charged him with treason. The accusation infuriated Ney, who believed everything he had done in his life had been for France. Refusing to flee, he instead stood trial. A military tribunal found him innocent, but the Bourbons retried him, declared him guilty and sentenced him to death. When the day for his execution arrived, Ney told the firing squad, I have fought a hundred battles for France and not one against her, and then gave them the command to fire. Robert B. Bruce is a former professor of military history at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. A noted authority on the French army, he is a fellow of the International Napoleonic Society. His numerous books include A Fraternity of Arms: America & France in the Great War (2003) and Petain: Verdun to Vichy (2008). For further reading Bruce recommends Raymond Horricks Marshal Ney: The Romance and the Real, A.H. Atteridges Marshal Ney: The Bravest of the Brave and Andrew W. Fields Prelude to Waterloo: Quatre Bras, the French Perspective. Originally published in the May 2015 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here. US investigators are scrutinizing late December calls between Mike Flynn, Donald Trump's national security adviser, and the Russian ambassador to the US as part of a counterintelligence investigation of Russian activities in the United States. The calls were captured by US eavesdropping targeting the Russian diplomats. US officials declared some of the content of the conversation raised concerns about Russian intelligence-gathering activities in United States.The officials stressed that so far there has been no determination of any wrongdoing. FBI and intelligence officials briefed members of the Obama team before President Obama left office about the Flynn calls to the Russian ambassador. Calls were related with four subjects At a press briefing Monday, Trump press secretary Sean Spicer stated he had discussed this issue with Flynn on Sunday. Spicer said that there had been two calls between Flynn and the Russian ambassador and they covered four subjects: Setting up a call between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin; exchanging holiday greetings; offering condolences for lives lost in a Russian plane accident; and a Syria conference on ISIS. The calls were heard in the course of monitoring of communications of Russian diplomats. US intelligence agencies routinely capture communications of senior foreign officials, including those based in the US. The Wall Street Journal was first to report that investigators had looked at the calls. Among the communications being scrutinized are calls between Flynn ans Russia's ambassador, Sergey Kislyak on December 29. US sanctions against Russia The calls came on the same day that United States announced more sanctions against Russia and expelled a group of 35 Russian diplomats. A Trump official told CNN on January 16th that Kislyak and Flynn did not discuss the Russian sanctions. On the same day, multiple Trump officials declared the call focused on the logistics of connecting Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin after the inauguration for a phone conversation. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The USA has performed first drone strikes in Yemen for a period of three days. It has been reported that the drone strikes has been performed on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of last week. According to te US officials, the drone strike is responsible for killing a good amount of Al Queda militants in Yemen. Such drone strikes are performed for the very first time under the newly elected president of the USA Donald Trump. However, this is the very first drone strike under Donald Trump but Trump did not authorize for this operation. According to the U.S Central Command Joseph Votel, the mission was authorized by the ex-president of United States Barack Obama. When the drone strike took place in the town Al Bayda it killed five Al Queda operatives. This report has been confirmed by the US officials in Pentagon. According to United States officials, AL Queda still counted has a threat to the Arabian Peninsula area. Yemen is currently conflicted with civil wars at the same time major terror groups likes AL Queda is the major threats to the country. Therefore, it can be said that the current condition of this country is not very good and it is not a safe place to many citizens as well. The Houthi Rebels also causing a fair bit of trouble in the northern region of the country. Though the government is trying its best fight through the rebels. In Recent past, AL Queda was responsible for several terror attacks in Yemen and it was considered as one of the safest places for Al Queda from where they can perform all of their activities. But after the United States has stepped into the proceedings the things have started to get difficult for the terrorist group. Hopefully, this interruption of the United States will help to bring peace in Yemen. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Not only Ukraine, but also European countries and the U.S. are the targets of cyber attacks from Russia, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said. Ukraine's head of state said the tactic is used by Russia to wage hybrid war against its adversaries. "Russia is making cyber attacks not only against Ukraine, which has been confirmed. We have a very strong cyber subdivision, so Ukraine is able to counterattack. But Ukraine is not the only goal of cyber attacks. European countries and the U.S. are targets as well. This is an element of hybrid war," Poroshenko said at a joint press conference with President of Finland Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki on Tuesday, answering the question of how Ukraine opposes to cyber attacks. Ukrainian president said: "We must be prepared for such challenges, because the global security has changed after the illegal annexation of Crimea. Global security used to be based on the UN Charter, but a UN member state [Russia] has violated this. That is why we should invent a new structure, new principles for global security." Poroshenko said he discussed the issue at a meeting with Niinisto. E ssex homes close to the soon-to-launch Crossrail service have seen impressive price growth of up to 54 per cent in just three years. Thanks to the promise of an Elizabeth line station, the average price of a three-bedroom semi-detached family home in Brentwood is 500,000, compared to 325,000 in 2013. In the last year alone, prices have risen by 11 per cent, while other areas in the East of England only grew by 6.4 per cent, according to Rightmove's House Price Index. Research by Beresfords estate agents shows that prices in the popular town of Shenfield have also rocketed, with one-bedroom apartments enjoying the most growth, of 37.5 per cent on average. Flat buyers will be set back 275,000, whereas the national average house price is 216,674. Prices have leapt in Gidea Park, near Romford, rising by 34 per cent. Four-bedroom detached town houses cost an average of 825,000, compared to 620,000 in 2013. Despite the substantial price rises, Terry Holmes, director at Beresfords estates agents, still considers Essex a smart choice for buyers. "There is huge demand for housing in Essex from commuters," he says. "It is still a very affordable option compared to other home country locations. The arrival of Crossrail will offer commuters faster connections to London Liverpool Street and, when the line is fully opened, offer quick and very accessible links to central London, Canary Wharf, Heathrow and further afield." Crossrail officially opens its services from Shenfield to London Liverpool Street this May, with the full line following in December 2019. Click through the gallery for homes with average asking prices on offer in Brentwood, Gidea Park and Shenfield In ski resort towns across the U.S. and Canada, a large and growing number of people are hitting the slopes. In the 2015/16 ski season alone, total skier visits approached 64 million, an increase of about 1.9 million skiers from the previous season. The most recent performance is still about 3.6 million skier visits lower than the peak season of 2010/11, showing that the industry has room for even more growth. Yet despite the climbing numbers and the continued potential for growth, few ski resorts have realized an increase in their bed base. The limited supply increases have come in the form of fractions or timeshares, not traditional hotels. HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS There are many reasons why, but most revolve around the dynamics of the for-sale residential vacation/second-home and shared-ownership markets, where investments are often seen as offering higher returns and/or being less risky than traditional hotels. These segments, however, have been relatively inactive since the recession. U.S. hotel growth has been charging forward for the past five years. Moreover, hotels in ski towns have been outperforming the average over the same period, with continued growth in occupancy and average rate. Despite these strong performance indicators, hotel development activity in ski resort towns is nowhere close to the pipelines of development in other U.S. markets. Are such hotel developments too costly? Do limited land sites and government regulations diminish interest from developers? We examine some of the factors behind the shortage of ski resort hotel development and ways developers can overcome them. Why Build? Hotel stakeholders tend to consider two criteria to gauge the potential for new development: supply and demand. Right now, proposed hotel supply in most North American ski markets registers in the range of little to none. At the same time, demand, as evidenced by skier visits and the performance of existing hotels, is gaining strength. Again, these dynamics point to the potential for additional growth, with skier visits rising but still below the historical peak achieved in 2010/11. Hence, lodging demand should also be on the rise. Nevertheless, new hotel development in ski resort markets lags behind the trends. Ski Visits In 2010/11, ski visits totaled an estimated 67.5 million in the U.S.1 HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS Ski Market Hotel Performance Many hotel developers and operators see ski markets as predominantly seasonal, with only a few months of the year in which to reap revenues. However, while the markets do have seasonal patterns, the degree of seasonality has softened in past years. A review of Vail Resorts' (MTN) 2015/16 report on lodging revenue shows that quarterly revenue levels fall within a relatively close range. HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS As seasonality becomes less of a burden, hotel operators are better able to control costs and maximize net incomes, which should make the prospects of hotel development in these markets more attractive. It's possible that the lack of interest in hotel development in ski mountain communities stems from a perceived notion that the hotels located in these markets have not seen the strong growth in performance exhibited in many markets around the United States. But this view is inaccurate. The following table summarizes supply, demand, and revenue in 20 ski resort markets in North America, spanning more than 11,000 daily room nights. HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS Occupancy has been trending upwardnearly ten points over the past five yearsas ski resorts offer more activities in the non-winter season, including adventure parks and mountain bike trails. Average rate among the above composite of ski resort hotels has also increased at a moderate pace, resulting in overall annual RevPAR growth on the verge of 7.5% since the 2011/12 season. Many of the hotels located in ski markets are considered upper-midscale or higher. As of October 2016, the upper-midscale and upscale segments composed about 65% of total hotel development in the U.S.2 ; however, few of the proposed hotels belonging to these segments are planned for resort markets. It is more fitting to compare the performance of the 20 ski markets analyzed above against that of the overall upper-upscale hotel segment. HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS The upper-upscale segment includes hotel brands such as Renaissance, Hyatt, Marriott's Autograph Collection, and Ace Hotels. This level of hotel is comparable to the condo-hotels found throughout most U.S. ski markets. The difference comes in potential revenues. When a developer builds an upper-upscale hotel in an urban market, it does not sell off the units and split the revenues, which is the norm model for real estate investment and operation in ski resort markets. However, the vacation/second-home market remains depressed, resulting in a lack of new construction of this asset type and thereby competition with the upper-upscale hotel segment. Moreover, existing ski hotels' average RevPAR performance is outpacing the upper-upscale segment nationwide, making the development of new, traditional hotels (versus condos) a viable option. Why Not Build? Despite the positive trends and figures, certain barriers to hotel development in ski resort markets continue to keep developers at a distance. These include lack of suitable land, seasonality, government regulations, and higher construction costs. Land Availability The high cost and the limited availability of land are typically seen as the first barriers for development in ski resort markets. Land costs start at around $25 per square foot and shoot up astronomically in high-demand markets like Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge. Full-service, resort-type, slope-side hotels realize the highest development costs. Developers of select-service, upper-midscale hotels can choose a site farther from the slope, thus achieving far lower development costs. Furthermore, several recent ski-market hotel projects completed by HVS have included the redevelopment of older commercial buildings or the conversion of aging motels. Redevelopment can require a change in zoning for higher density; however, for this additional expense, developers may be able to secure a site closer to town or the slopes. Additionally, several smaller, partially developed parcels can be purchased, rezoned, and platted to become one parcel, presenting another opportunity for a developer to acquire the land needed for hotel development. While this may sound daunting, many mountain communities with ski resorts are looking for new development opportunities as a way to increase the tax basis; they therefore have incentives to work with developers with a track record of successful hotel projects. Hence, when it comes to hotel development in ski markets, there are several ways over or around the land hurdle. Government Regulations Many ski resort towns lack an adequate amount of affordable housing, which has led local governments to impose some requirements for low-income or employee housing on proposed developments. The number of units required in a given building ranges significantly based on local regulations and building size. Parking regulations are another potential hurdle. Parking is scarce in most ski towns, and new developments must account for parking for employees and guests. Often, due to site constraints, this results in the need for structural parking, which can significantly increase the cost of a project. Fortunately, developers can achieve greater efficiency in the implementation of these regulations by negotiating with local government agencies. Furthermore, developers can use these requirements as potential income streams. Certain rooms of a hotel, for instance, can be designated as employee housing and rented to workers, and parking structures can be funded through public/private development and paid parking services. Construction Costs Overall, developers tend to view construction costs as the most significant barrier to entry in ski resort markets. Without question, these locales go hand-in-hand with high premiums for development. But a closer look at the numbers shows how the construction cost hurdle can be overcome. A review of construction budget figures for proposed ski-market hotels, derived from HVS market studies, feasibility studies, and appraisals, shows that costs range from around 23% to 45% higher than the published prototype for hotels from various brands. The highest premiums correspond to select-service properties; the premium range grows less imposing for hotels higher up the segment ladder. The following is a sample construction budget, including land, for select-service, upper-upscale, and luxury hotel products in resort towns. For the purpose of this analysis, we assumed a land cost of $35 per square foot and a construction premium of 35% over the published costs of similar hotels from Marriott and Hilton. HVS Market Pulse: Why Arent Hotels Being Built in Ski Towns? | By Brett E. Russell Photo by HVS Sales of hotels in ski resort markets are relatively infrequent; as such, there is a limited amount of data on these transactions. However, sales in Vail, Colorado in 2016 included the former Holiday Inn for a price per key of $222,000 and the Four Seasons (which includes fractional condo units) for $903,000 per key. At the least, these sales suggest new hotel development could be feasible, despite the higher construction costs. Conclusion New hotels offer another, less tangible advantage: appeal. A vast portion of any ski market's lodging landscape is composed of condo-hotels built decades ago; thus, any new hotel is a standout for a wide range of guests. Also, the range of hotel brands available in these markets should appeal to developers. Newer lifestyle brands like Marriott's Autograph Collection and Canopy by Hilton present potentially ideal fits in ski towns, where the incorporation of local flair and a solid brand-loyalty program proves very attractive. While new supply pipelines amass hotel projects in non-resort markets, developers should at least investigate the potential for projects in ski markets, which may provide an untapped opportunity. 1 Derived from data provided by the National Ski Areas Association's (NSAA) Kottke National End of Season Survey, in addition to data from Vail Resorts, which does not report to NSAA. 2 STR 3 Examples based on hypothetical properties. View source Frankfurt The Nordic C Hotel in Stockholm has announced plans to change its name to Hotel C Stockholm. For the past six months, the hotel has been working on a new brand stamp. "From January 1st, 2017 we will affiliate to Worldhotels and the name change is part of our rebranding process", says Per Keller, General Manager of Hotel C Stockholm. "Anyone can offer a fresh, clean and up-to-date hotel. So what makes us different? Two words: Stockholm & Service. We think that travelers not only want to spend time in the hotel, but also want to discover the city they are staying in and not just the classic tourist sights. That is why we want to provide expertise knowledge on how to discover the hidden gems and thrills of Stockholm. For us true service is making sure our guests leave Stockholm with the intention of coming back soon to discover more", explains Keller. "We are delighted, that Hotel C Stockholm shares its trust in Worldhotels' distinctive business model. We will offer them the exposure and commercial strength of an international chain, whilst leaving them full operational freedom", says Geoff Andrew, Chief Executive Officer at Worldhotels. Travel agents can find the Hotel C Stockholm under the newly created UU chain code. All other Worldhotels' partner hotels can be found under the WW chain code. Hotel C Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden Hotel C Stockholm is located in the heart of the city. Staffs' encyclopedic knowledge coupled with insider tips of personal city favorites offer unique experiences to guests looking for the real Stockholm. All 367 rooms display photographic art showing the city's most striking locations in different seasons. Hotel C Stockholm even offers the world's first permanent bar made of ice, the ICEBAR. About WorldHotels Collection WorldHotels Collection is a privately held hotel soft brand within the BWH Hotel Group global network. Founded by independent hoteliers dedicated to the art of hospitality, and celebrating its 50th year anniversary in 2021, WorldHotels offers one of the finest portfolios of independent hotels and resorts around the globe, expertly curated to inspire unique, life enriching experiences that connect people and places. WorldHotels is comprised of four unique collections, each with its own personality and style to appeal to the needs of today's traveler. The collections include: WorldHotels Luxury, WorldHotels Elite, WorldHotels Distinctive and WorldHotels Crafted. For more information visit WorldHotels.com. Sophie Neubauer Manager PR and Communications - Worldhotels +49 69 660 56 252 WorldHotels Collection It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine Alexander Hug has discussed in Donetsk with head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Oleksandr Zakharchenko the issues of freedom of movement of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine, the cease-fire regime and carrying out of repairs. "On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine Alexander Hug met with Mr. Zakharchenko, head of the armed formations in Donetsk. During the meeting, Mr. Hug underlined the need for the so called DPR commitment to work with the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) in a coordinated manner to ensure access and freedom of movement for the SMM to allow the Mission to provide effective monitoring and verification," the official report of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine says, the mission's press service provided. He also stressed the need for so called DPR to ensure localized adherence to the ceasefire to enable civilian workers to conduct repair works. The self-proclaimed leader of DPR expressed his readiness to follow up with armed formations on the specific requests by the SMM on its freedom of movement and repair works. While the All Eyez On Me biopic about Tupac Shakurs life is gearing up for its release date on Tupacs birthday, director Benny Boom is already preparing for his next move. He isnt straying far though, as hes reportedly signed on to tell the story of another figure in Tupacs life New York-based manager and club promoter Jacques Haitian Jack Agnant. Jacques Agnant was an immigrant who traveled from (you guessed it) Haiti to the United States and soon found himself in the cutthroat music business during the most controversial period in hip-hop history. Haitian Jack was called out by Tupac on his posthumous diss record Against All Odds. Pac called him a snitch in the song and accused him of working with the feds, but before their beef they were like brothers, according to a 2015 interview with Agnant. The production will be a miniseries that has yet to be picked up by a network, but it is already generating interest. Haitian Jack himself is already on board as a technical advisor to make sure the movie stays true to reality. Also joining Jack is Alan Wenkus, who was part of the screenwriting team for Straight Outta Compton. Director Benny Boom leaves us with this quote about the miniseries: Haitian Jacks story is extraordinary and the opportunity to explore his life through a television series is incredible. Crime, drugs, violence and music as told through his experiences will be a groundbreaking moment for television. [via THR] haitianjack Last week, Drake landed in Europe and launched his Boy Meets World tour. Rumored to be dating Jennifer Lopez, the Toronto emcee had his hands full in Amsterdam dining with reportedly retired French porn star Rosee Divine. The Daily Mail reports that Drake and his curvy date were chatty and all smiles at a Japanese restaurant Monday. Other guests joined Drake and Divine at their table. One friend even pulled out what looked like a set of DJ decks. Paparazzi spotted the Hotline Bling rapper on his cellphone several times during the outing. Last week, Lopez revealed that she and Drake were working on a track together. We are well, we did! We did one song together! She told Extra, I dont know if we will do more we will see! Do you think Drake has a free pass in Europe or is he and Lopez just not a real thing? Drake, Jennifer Lopez & Rosee Divine At the age of 54, Roberto Esquivel Cabrera of Saltillo, Mexico has been advised to get a penis reduction, something the man has no intention of doing. According to the Daily Mail, Cabrera has been growing the size of his penis since he was a teenager, achieving a size of 18-inches. It is a great source of pride for Cabrera, who feels that his achievement has not been adequately recognized by the world at large: I would like to be in the Guinness Book of Records but they dont recognize this record I am famous because I have the biggest penis in the world. I am happy with my penis, I know nobody has the size I have. According to Cabreras doctor, Cabreras massive penis size actually prevents him from having sex, but still, Cabrera would rather have a penis larger than every other man on earth, than reap the sexual benefits of the cock itself. In addition, Cabreras penis size had caused him health problems such as frequent urinary tract infections. According to Cabrera, his penis size is a disability, one that has prevented him from working. He depends on food banks for his survival. What do you guys think? Should Cabrera get his dick size reduced, or is a massive dong too important to lose? Mexico Following the massive success of Bad & Boujee, which is currently back to being the #1 song in America right now, ATL trio Migos are taking their rain drops & drop tops to the classroom this weekend. Over the weekend, Migos announced that they will be leading a Culture class at NYUs Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center this Saturday (Jan 28) at 12:30 PM. According to the schools website, the ATL trio will have an intimate discussion talking about their impact on fashion, music, pop culture, and more. Unfortunately tickets have already been sold out, but that probably still wont stop fans in NYC from invading the campus anyways to see them. Peep the announcement (below), and revisit the trios latest single, What The Price, to hold over until the album arrives later this week. [Via] Migos A NATO delegation has started its visit to Ukraine as part of measures to fulfill the tasks of Kyiv's participation in process of forces' planning and assessment, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Dmytro Gutsuliak has said. "The goal of the visit is to hold Ukraine-NATO bilateral expert consultations to discuss a draft assessment of Ukraine's participation in these events," he was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service. The process of forces' planning and assessment is an effective mechanism of reaching mutual compatibility between units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and NATO member countries that helps reach the criteria of membership in NATO, he said. Meet Callum Stewart. Raised on the north coast of Ireland, the teenage tunesmiths name has been on the lips of taste-makers for a while now and rightly so. After all, its not every day a relatively unknown indie artist breaks the internet in half with a new single, without a big bucks record company behind them. A pensive pop song with a huge, glossy hook, the June 2016 released Parachute has so far helped Stewart amass a staggering 100,000-plus views on You Tube, as well as 96,000-plus streams on Spotify. 2016 was a great year for me, says Stewart modestly. One of the highlights was releasing Parachute it went much better than expected. I was hoping for 10,000 views on You Tube and maybe a thousand streams on Spotify, but its gotten over 100,000 views on YouTube so far, which is just mental. The opportunities I got from only one song are unbelievable. Its really encouraging and exciting, because I have even better ones to come out. Mentored by American born producer Tre Sheppard from the age of 12, the soft spoken Stewart also spent the year writing for other artists. He tells us hes relishing the collaborations, which have taken him to places such as Nashville. Neil Diamond has today announced a 50th anniversary European tour, with dates in Dublin and Belfast this October. Making the announcement on his birthday, Neil Diamond confirmed that his 50th Anniversary European Tour would extend to Ireland, the UK & Europe. In addition to his upcoming tour, UME and Capitol Music Group have announced the March 31st release of Neil Diamond: The 50th Anniversary Collection a celebratory music package that includes 50 songs that range 50 years in Diamonds career. Under the supervision of Diamond, the anniversary set includes his own handpicked songs and a carefully curated 50 page booklet with new liner notes. The European leg of the tour will begin in Zurich on September 13 before coming to SSE Arena, Belfast on 8 October and 3Arena, Dublin on 10 October, 2017. Tickets go on general sale 10.00am this Friday 27th January from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide. See full tour listings below: Advertisement SEPTEMBER 2017 WEDNESDAY 13th HALLENSTADION ZURICH SATURDAY 16TH SAP ARENA MANNHEIM TUESDAY 19TH STADTHALLE VIENNA THURSDAY 21ST OLYMPIAHALLE MUNICH SATURDAY 23RD ZIGGO DOME AMSTERDAM TUESDAY 26TH BARCLAYCARD ARENA HAMBURG Advertisement THURSDAY 28TH SPORTPALEIS ANTWERP OCTOBER 2017 SUNDAY 1ST ARENA MANCHESTER TUESDAY 3RD SSE HYDRO GLASGOW THURSDAY 5TH FIRST DIRECT ARENA LEEDS SUNDAY 8TH SSE ARENA BELFAST TUESDAY 10TH 3ARENA DUBLIN Advertisement FRIDAY 13TH BARCLAYCARD ARENA BIRMINGHAM TUESDAY 17TH O2 ARENA LONDON The next Star Wars film, Episode 8, will be titled.... wait for it... The wait for VIII begins... pic.twitter.com/2X6AXnz9yx Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) January 23, 2017 Advertisement Here's what we know: the new film will have Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong'o, John Boyega and Daisy Ridley, reprising their roles. The dearly departed Carrie Fisher will also appear in the film, though the studio wanted to make it clear that any footage of Fisher was of herself, and was not digitally re-created. ''We want to assure our fans that Lucasfilm has no plans to digitally recreate Carrie Fisher's performance as Princess or General Leia Organa," Lucasfilm said in a statement. The Last Jedi has been written and directed by Rian Johnson, with The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams acting as executive producer, along with Jason McGatlin and Tom Karnowski. The film will be released this December. WASHINGTON The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on a party line vote Monday, recommended that Rex Tillerson be confirmed as secretary the state, clearing the way for the former Exxon Mobil CEO to make an unprecedented leap from the corporate world to the nation's highest diplomatic post. The 11-10 vote came after the last of the Republican opposition to Tillerson melted away, making it all but certain that the Texas will be confirmed by the full Senate, where the GOP holds 52 of the 100 seats. A Senate vote is expected next week. On Monday, Senator Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said he would vote for Tillerson, following two other GOP critics, Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, who disclosed Sunday that they would support Tillerson. All three, however, continued to express misgivings about Tiilerson's past business dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his refusal to publicly chastise Putin and other leaders accused of human rights abuses. "I remain concerned that in the years to come, our country will not give the defense of democracy and human rights the priority they deserve," Rubio wrote in a Facebook post. "Given the uncertainty that exists both at home and abroad about the direction of our foreign policy, it would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy." Tillerson appears set to become secretary of state at time of increasing anxiety about America's place in the world following the election of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a more isolationist, protectionist foreign policy. He would take over the State Department with no government experience something many scholars believe has never been tried in American history. Joe Barnes, a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute, said the closest in experience to Tillerson is former Secretary of State George Shultz, who was serving in upper management of an engineering firm when selected by former President Ronald Reagan. Shultz, however, had served as Labor Secretary and Treasury Secretary under former President Richard Nixon. "He's not a foreign policy wonk," said Joe Barnes, a fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. "He is an unusual, but not necessarily bad choice for secretary of state. As far as I can tell, they've all had some sort foreign policy or government experience, in some shape of form." But at Exxon, Tillerson ran a company often likened to a country in terms of the size and scope of its global oil and gas business. That business experience found a receptive ear with Trump, who promised a U.S. foreign policy tougher on trade deals and "based on American interests." From Russian cyber attacks to economic competition with China to strained relations with Mexico, Tillerson will have a full docket when he takes office. How will he handle it? In his confirmation hearing, he was vague on specifics. But in an exchange with Rubio over human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia, he offered a view of the world that more pragmatic than ideological. "There seems to be some misunderstanding that somehow I see the world through a different lens. And I do not," he told Rubio. "I share all of the same values that you share and want the same things for people the world over in terms of freedoms. But I'm also clear-eyed and realistic about dealing in cultures. These are centuries-long cultures." Such language is in line with American foreign policy going back decades, experts say, a wish to spread democracy and cull human right abuses while understanding that compromise with autocratic regimes is often necessary. In an interview earlier this month, John Hamre, president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank for which Tillerson is a board member, said the Exxon CEO's negotiating energy development deals in Russia and Yemen had prepared him for his new role. "He falls squarely in the classic American realpolitik model of foreign policy," Hamre said. "What are our interests and what are the interests of the other guy?" Tillerson struggled to convince those wary of his political naivete at a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month, as senators from both parties grilled him over his lack of government experience. Tillerson's clear headed, engineer's language - as opposed to the polished tone of the politician - also rattled some lawmakers. As the Foreign Relations Committee prepared to vote Monday evening, some Democratic senators commented that they found Tillerson's response to questions about human rights abuses lacking in passion. When asked about global crises, such as the brutal civil war in Syria, Tillerson again and answered he would need access to classified documents before being able to answer. "You need to have a view that when you're going to be secretary of state, the world is going to be looking to you on these issues," said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., ranking Democrat on the committee. Every Democrat refused to support Tillerson, though the vote became a formality after Rubio gave the Trump administration all the committee votes it needed. Local media in Washington is already buzzing that Tillerson is buying a home near where former President Barack Obama and his family will live. But given the attention that Tillerson's -- and Trump's -- dealings with Putin have received, most of the focus is likely to be on Russia and the sanctions imposed by Obama over the Ukraine conflict and cyber attacks on the Democratic Party during the presidential campaign. Trump has expressed a desire to have better relations with the former Cold War antagonist and spoken favorably of Putin as a leader. But it might be easier said than done, Barnes said. Both Obama and George W. Bush tried to improve Russian relations, only to watch them quickly deteriorate. "A reset is going to be very tricky. What are we prepared to give the Russians?" Barnes said. "In their heart of hearts, they want a lifting or reduction of sanctions for Ukraine. Then the question is what do we get in return. They're working on that." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate United Airlines and OTG will continue multimillion-dollar upgrades at Bush Intercontinental Airport by rolling out locally inspired restaurants and iPads for public use at Terminal C South and Terminal E, the companies are announcing Tuesday. The goal is to give travelers a taste of the city's culture and food - even if they can't leave the airport. "They're going to want to connect through Houston," said Rick Blatstein, chief executive of OTG. "It's going to be a culinary paradise." OTG, which will oversee the food, beverage and retail operations, is investing more than $120 million to upgrade Terminals C, E and B South. These improvements were announced in May and began with Terminal C North, which United is working on and expects to open in March. Terminal C South and Terminal E should be completed in the second half of 2017. Their new restaurants include Agave, a taqueria developed by Sharon Haynes of Tacos A Go Go, and "Q," a barbecue restaurant developed by Greg Gatlin of Gatlin's BBQ. iPads in the restaurants and at gate-side seats will allow travelers to order food and drinks or purchase gifts. In total, nearly 8,000 iPads will be available in Terminals C, E and B South. More Information New restaurants United Airlines and OTG are bringing locally inspired restaurants to Terminal C South and Terminal E. Magnolia Meatball Shop by chef Christopher Williams, Terminal C South: A fresh twist on classic comfort food. Williams and his brother, Ben, co-founded Lucille's restaurant using many of their great-grandmother's recipes. Agave by restaurateur Sharon Haynes, Terminal C South: A taqueria that will focus on high-quality, minimally seasoned steak, chicken and mixed veggie fajitas. Haynes opened Tacos A Go Go in Houston in 2006. H-Burger by chef Antoine Ware, Terminal C South: A "ranch-to-table" restaurant offering local, fresh and natural dishes with a Houston spin. Ware's culinary roots come from growing up in New Orleans. "Q" by chef Greg Gatlin, Terminal E: Will provide traditional Southern barbecue staples developed by Gatlin of Gatlin's BBQ. Fresh smoked meats will be crafted with a custom-built smoker and complemented with signature rubs. Gavi by chef Ryan Pera, Terminal E: House-made pizza, pasta and antipasti will be served, paired with wine and craft cocktails. Pera is co-owner of Agricole Hospitality, the parent company of Coltivare Pizza & Garden, Revival Market and Eight Row Flint. Yume by chefs Chris Kinjo and Mike Tran, Terminal E: A sushi kitchen and ramen bar with an Asian Biergarten with rotating selections of international beers and imported sake. Kinjo has been in the hospitality business for more than 25 years, and Tran has a Houston restaurant called Tiger Den. Tanglewood Grille by chefs Seth Siegel-Gardner and Terrence Gallivan, Terminal E: Dishes will include hand-cut steaks, build-your-own burgers, fresh seafood and farm-to-table greens. Served with classic cocktails and a variety of craft brews. Beerhive, Terminal E: focused on locally sourced small and large batch brews, Beerhive's menu will consist of bar-favorite foods to pair with its assortment of beers. Sources: United Airlines and OTG See More Collapse There isn't a timeline yet for B South. "It's an operational environment, so we can't just turn everything on at once," said Gavin Molloy, United's vice president of corporate real estate. Houston-based airline consultant Pete Garcia said public-use iPads can take some of the anxiety out of flying. Instead of rushing to grab food, travelers can stay at the gate and have food brought to them. "It's just more convenient, and it gives people more options," Garcia said. And United MileagePlus members can use their award miles for purchases at CIBO Express Gourmet Markets and restaurants with iPads in them. At Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, where this concept was first implemented in 2014, travelers have redeemed 400 million miles for food and drinks. "We're finding that our customers are looking to redeem their miles in new ways," Molloy said. Kathleen Boyd, head of marketing for the Houston Airport System, said United and OTG's push for local restaurants and a digital experience aligns with the Airport System's initiatives. Other terminals at Bush Intercontinental Airport have recently added local restaurants, including The Breakfast Klub in Terminal A, Hubcap Grill & Beer Yard in Terminal A and Hugo's Cocina in Terminal D. "We're thrilled that they're helping us with the further transformation of IAH into a passenger-focused, passenger-friendly airport with style and substance," Boyd said. She also praised United and OTG's work in providing more power outlets. Every seat in the restaurants created by United and OTG will have an iPad and power outlet with plug-ins for USB and the standard 110-volt plug. About 80 percent of the seats at the gates will have this, too. Currently, Boyd said Bush Intercontinental has charging stations, chair outlets or wall outlets available for 20 percent of its seating capacity. The airport would like all of its seats to have access to an outlet. The terminals, designed by Rockwell Group, also include several so-called "social media moments" that are supposed to inspire Tweets, Instagram photos and Snapchats. The "Q" restaurant in Terminal E, for instance, will have a blast-etched graphic in the shape of Texas. Tanglewood Grille in Terminal E will have a selfie-prone mirror with the text "Food is always an option." "From a United perspective, we love when our customers are interacting directly with us," Molloy said. "And to see people having a great time while they're waiting for their flights is always fantastic." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump revived the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects through executive orders Tuesday, signaling a dramatic shift in energy policy that will be far friendlier to the oil and gas industry. With a few strokes of the pen before flashing cameras, Trump ordered government agencies to approve the Dakota Access and quickly complete their reviews on a new application for the long moribund Keystone. The moves represented the first steps for Trump to make good on campaign promises to remove regulations and other measures that impede oil and gas development and made a sharp break with his predecessor, Barack Obama. Obama blocked both projects as he increasingly focused on reducing the nation's dependence on fossil fuels in an effort to slow the pace of climate change. "It is a positive signal to both the companies and to the people in the industry as a whole, we're back in business," said Karen Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's energy division. More Information Keystone XLThe 1,179-mile oil sands pipeline would stretch from Alberta to Nebraska, connecting to a leg that treks to Texas refineries. Dakota Access The 1,172-mile oil pipeline, 90 percent completed, treks from North Dakota to Illinois, from where existing pipeline infrastructure can carry oil to Texas refineries. See More Collapse Trump's moves, just four days after he took office, appear good news for the oil and gas industry that drives the Houston and Texas economy, and particularly pipeline companies besieged by litigation from environmental groups designed to slow the construction of new lines. Houston is home to several of the nation's biggest pipeline companies, including Kinder Morgan and Enterprise Products Partners. TransCanada, the Calgary, Alberta-based developer of Keystone XL, is expanding its presence here with its recent $10.2 billion acquisition of Houston-based Columbia Pipeline Group. The developer of Dakota Access, Energy Transfer Partners, is headquartered in Dallas; the Houston refiner Phillips 66 owns a 25 percent share. Energy stocks moved broadly higher Tuesday, with Energy Transfer Partners shares climbing more than 3 percent. "Say what you want about Trump," said Ethan Bellamy, an energy analyst at the investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co. "but he does not appear to be moving slowly or delicately on matters of import." New application Within hours of Trump signing the orders, TransCanada announced it would submit new applications for Keystone, which could carry crude from Canada's oil sands. The project was rejected by the Obama administration in 2015 after a six-year review and strong opposition by environmentalists and Midwest landowners. The $3.8 billion Dakota Access, developed to transport crude from North Dakota's Bakken Shale, was nearing completion last summer when the Standing Rock Sioux tribe launched protests to block the project, drawing international attention and environmental activists from around the country. In December, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to approve the final leg of the project and said it would explore alternative routes. But, with Trump now ordering the agency to reverse that order, construction is likely to resume "within 60 seconds" of the permit being granted, Harbert said. Energy Transfer Partners did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Both pipelines would feed into networks that carry crude to Gulf Coast refineries near Houston, drawing cheers from Republicans and Democrats alike in Texas. "It's going to benefit us here in east Harris County," said Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston. "Our refineries can use that heavy crude (from Canada)." Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, blasted the Obama administration for pursuing policies that focused too much on renewable sources such as wind and ultimately cost the nation thousands of energy industry jobs. "An 'all of the above' energy strategy includes moving these projects forward," Cornyn said. "This decision is long overdue." But Trump's actions were not without a catch. One of the executive orders he signed Tuesday orders the secretary of commerce to develop a plan within six months so all new and retrofitted pipelines are built with pipe made in the United States "to the maximum extent possible." "Companies are going to have to sort of gear up. Much pipeline is made in other countries," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. "We're going to put a lot of steel workers back to work." That could be good news for pipe plants like the Lone Star plant outside Longview, where owner U.S. Steel cut back shifts last year citing market conditions, and the $1.8 billion plant Tenaris is building southwest of Houston in Bay City. 'Call to action' But the order appeared to catch pipeline companies by surprise. Officials with the trade group Interstate Natural Gas Association of America were trying Tuesday to determine whether such a demand was even feasible. "A critical fact in making this determination will be an assessment of the ability of mills and pipe manufacturing facilities in the United States to produce sufficient pipeline-quality steel and manufactured pipe,"said Catherine Landry, a spokesman for the pipeline group. Trump's orders seemed certain to further inflame environmentalists driving the "keep it in the ground" movement. Pipeline projects, while long controversial, have moved to the center of the debate over climate change and the future of fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas, and coal, which the broad consensus of scientists say have accelerated global warming. Environmentalists have targeted and protested pipelines across the country, including West Texas, where Energy Transfer Partners is building the Trans-Pecos pipeline to carry natural gas from the Permian Basin to Mexico. Dallas Goldtooth, of the Indigenous Environmental Network, said Native Americans and environmentalists would coordinate acts of civil disobedience on a larger scale than seen in North Dakota "There is going to be a unified call to action," said Goldtooth. "Standing Rock has united a fire in all of us." But pipelines are an area in which Trump might find common ground with many Democrats. Oil and gas development remains a divisive issue within the party, with some like Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont pushing for carbon reductions while politicians from fossil fuel rich states like Texas worry about refinery and oil field jobs. "There's a lot of different viewpoints on this," said Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif, a member of the party's environmental wing. Bloomberg News contributed to this report. For proof that Americans are taking way too many opioid pain killers, watch a major broadcast network during prime time for the commercial promoting Movantik. Last night I saw the ad during one of America's favorite programs, which means buying that time slot was expensive. But so many Americans are taking drugs like Oxycontin, that a drug relieving the constipation caused by these opioids is so profitable that the marketing is worthwhile. Think about that for a minute. To make a return on investment for the commercial, hundreds of thousands of Americans would need to be taking opioids and experiencing constipation. For an explanation of why opioids cause constipation, AstraZeneca has this YouTube cartoon also promoting Movantik. It's called "Opioid Baggage." I would roll my eyes at the double-entendre, if it weren't tied to a refined form of heroin that is wreaking havoc across the country. Yes, there are some people with chronic pain who need opioids, and they need help with constipation. However, television commercials tell us a lot about our society, and this ad proves what doctors are telling us: Too many people are taking opioids and becoming addicted. In September, I wrote about how opioid drug makers had misled doctors and the public about the addiction risk. In November, I wrote about how 2.1 million Americans are struggling with opioid addiction. U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported last year that 20.8 million Americans misuse or abuse drugs costing the nation $193 billion in lost productivity and medical costs. The American Medical Association recognized the problem in June and has authorized a new sub-specialty in addiction medicine. One of their key goals is to develop ways to wean people off opioids and offer alternative methods of pain relief. Medical marijuana offers one such pathway to getting off the hard stuff. You can tell a lot about a nation by deconstructing advertisements. Companies look at our society and try to figure out what problem they can solve with a profitable product. Marketers study anthropology to know how to sell the product. An ad reveals both what a society needs, and how it buys things. Whether it's teenage girls playing with Barbies to make them look cool to younger girls, or the virile 40-year-olds in commercials for erectile dysfunction drugs, commercials tell us what we want, who we want to be and how a product will help us achieve those things. I'm sure people on opioids want to return to work and avoid constipation. But I'd rather they not need the addictive drugs at all. We need to take the addiction epidemic seriously. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate THE CONCEPT After opening five Agu Ramen restaurants in Hawaii, chef/owner Hisashi Uehara decided his next big expansion would be in Houston, even though business advisers suggested both Austin and Dallas over the Bayou City. Uehara thinks big: He's opened three stores in Houston in a matter of months and has three more on the way in Sugar Land, Nassau Bay and Katy. And he's looking for spots in the Med Center and The Woodlands. His concept is simple: ramen bowls, a few appetizers and donburi and poke bowls, and a smattering of Hawaiian specialties served in a casual setting. THE SPACE Exposed brick and rough-hewn wood decorate the spare, minimalist restaurants. His newest store on Washington promises to be an interesting redo of the former Christian's Tailgate roadhouse. Once Uehara's initial quick expansion in Houston is completed, he wants to open the city's first "stand-up ramen bar" - a stall-like concept at which ramen is consumed in a matter of minutes while standing up. THE FOOD The star of the show is his tonkotsu pork ramen. The broth is a 24-hour process; pork bones are boiled until they release their creamy marrow. In some ramen bowls he achieves extra creaminess by adding a handful of snowlike Parmesan cheese. It's unusual but delicious, he said. Uehara is proud that he sources many ingredients - seaweed, sausage, pickled cabbage, soy sauce, and even salt and pepper - directly from Japan. He even installed special water softeners in his central commissary that change the texture of the water used to make his ramen broths. THE DRINKS Beer and wine only at the Eldridge store; a full bar, with selections of Japanese beer and whiskey, is coming to the Westheimer and Washington locations. THE WORD "At first, they thought it was a joke," Uehara said of the reaction from his staff and friends when he said he wanted to expand his business to Houston. "Then I said, 'Adios.' " Uehara said he has now permanently moved to H-town and is looking forward to being an in-the-know Houstonian. ONE MORE THING Because Uehara refuses to do takeout - ramen must be eaten immediately and does not travel well, he says - he said he's earned the name "ramen Nazi," as in the strict, unyielding Soup Nazi from "Seinfeld." THE DETAILS 1809 Eldridge Parkway, Suite 108 (open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.); 9301 Westheimer (open daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.); 7340 Washington (open daily from 11 a.m. to midnight); aguramen.com Secret services of the Russian Federation are spreading anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine, Verkhovna Rada deputy Anton Gerashchenko has said, speaking during a live interview broadcast by the Kyiv-based 112.ua TV channel in Kyiv on Monday evening. "You probably remember the news in November that a pig's head was left on the tombstone of Tsadik, who is revered by Jews, in Uman. There was also the news that anti-Semitic graffiti appeared in Chernovtsi during the visit of Israel's Knesset speaker. Anti-Semitic books were also distributed in November and December of last year. I can say that these incidents are not coincidental. They are part of a concerted effort by Russian special forces to sow anti-Semitic sentiments in Ukraine," Gerashchenko said. Head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) Yuriy Lutsenko has taken under his personal control another incident involving arson at a Jewish cemetery in Uman. Ukraine's Culture Ministry has characterized the crime as an act of xenophobia and does not rule out "other destruction acts and the influence of foreign actors trying to destabilize the situation in Ukraine on religious grounds." Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine Kostiantyn Bushuyev has said the police are taking all measures to identify those responsible for the arson, as well as their motives. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate No one will ever accuse Bailey McCarthy of being afraid of color. Her home isn't filled with pale neutrals or anything that could be considered muted - instead, it's a happy riot of bold hues, patterns and designs. There's the peacock-blue bar, a master bedroom with walls covered in olive-green silk Donghia, glitzy gold-leaf tile in the master bathroom and a dining room transformed into a magical jungle. "I appreciate more restrained and neutral palettes, but it's not how I roll," McCarthy said. "As much as I love bright colors, my signature color is olive or hunter green, so that's definitely throughout the house. There are also powder blues and orangy reds and light pinks."She and her husband, Pete McCarthy, bought their Colonial Revival home in River Oaks and spent two years renovating before moving in a year ago. McCarthy, a Houston native and University of Texas graduate, had renovated the home she and her husband shared in Chicago while he was in law school and she was working as an interior designer. When they returned to Houston, McCarthy saw a hole in the local retail market and in 2012 opened Biscuit Home on Westheimer, featuring her own line of luxury bedding. She designs 100 percent cotton sateen bedding, in sizes from cribs through king-size, as well as a linen accent line. She also maintained a design blog and quickly was spotted by House Beautiful editors. A smaller feature as a "Next Wave" up-and-comer eventually led to a major feature on her home in the magazine's current issue. "It's definitely traditional, with a twist. I like the tension between the styles," she said. "It makes it interesting." Some might think that having your home taken over for a two-day magazine photo shoot would be disruptive - not McCarthy. "I've been collecting the magazine for years," she said. "It was a pinch-me moment." While McCarthy was confident in her interior-design skills, the couple knew they needed architects to guide them through structural renovations. They hired Curtis & Windham Architects, who specialize in classic design, hoping they'd help her make the home less traditional and more modern, she said. "They taught me so much," she said with the slightest giggle. "I wanted something more modern, and they taught me why the traditional design was cool in a different way. They were so patient and gracious about what they knew and giving me information about that they thought and working with my ideas." While the home was built in the 1930s, a more modern addition on the back came in the 1960s. Curtis & Windham helped strip out the modern side so it would blend with the home's true traditional nature. Plumbing and wiring were updated, and on the first floor, the layout was kept intact. The couple had collected quite a bit of furniture in their seven-year marriage, so the home wasn't too hard to fill. The living room is a playful mix: a light-blue sofa flanked by bold yellow armchairs. Bright floral-print draperies and a bright-pinkish rug pull in all of MCarthy's favorite colors. Green washes over the master bedroom, with those silk-covered walls, green-print bedding and a green rug. A Damien Hirst print hangs above the bed and armchairs, and accent pillows go wild in leopard print. The master bathroom is elegant and sleek in Italian marble, with eye-popping accents of Davlin gold-leaf glass tiles. McCarthy gets a bit sentimental talking about the rooms of her children, 5-year-old Grace and 3-year-old Harry. "My daughter's bedroom is so special and princess-y, delightful," she said of the space bathed in pink and blue with a canopy bed draped in a blue floral print. McCarthy had some advice for anyone entering a big home renovation: Make sure you really like your architect or contractor because you're going to spend a lot of time with them. Another thing: If you tire in the middle of your project, take a break and return to it when your energy is back. "Our guest bedroom was the last room I thought about, and I was tired and thought I just have to go for it," she said. "It was so ugly, and I ended up redoing it a few months later. I wish I'd just painted it white until I had a new surge of creativity. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Thousands rallied Tuesday at the state capitol in support policies for "school choice." That's a cause that's garnered support of Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Supports say legislation is forthcoming to advance school choice in Texas. So what is school choice? Don't we already choose our schools? Advocates of school choice want public funds to cover educational options beyond public schools. "Basically, the money follows the child," said Emily Sass, a policy analyst with the conservative Public Policy Foundation, as she took part in the rally Tuesday. "It allows the parent to decide how their child's education is best administered." Currently, property taxes fund public schools, but if parents prefer to home school their children, they continue paying property taxes then pick up the tab for in-home education in addition. School choice advocates propose something called an Educational Savings Accounta personal fund, tied to a child and managed by the parents. Families can use this fund to cover costs associated with education however they choose to pursue it. Funds would be diverted from public schools to fill those accounts. Currently, a portion of Texas school funding is allocated on a per-student basis. If a student chooses to withdraw from public school, that student's portion of funding would be redirected from the district and into their personal savings account. They could then use that money to pay a portion of tuition in a private school, to buy books and curriculum for home schooling, to subscribe to online classes for virtual education, to hire a tutor or get therapy services for a special needs student. Limited oversight would ensure the accounts were spent on education-related costs. "We are expecting legislation to be filed and announced soon," Sass said. "There are talks in the legislature in both houses on opportunities that would move this forward." Opponents of school choice programs worry that public schools would lose funding, that the resultant drop in quality would prompt more students to leave, and that a further decrease in funding would follow. When $90,000 worth of bee colonies were stolen recently in Manvel, it raised one question among those outside the industry: Why? Why steal bees? The answer is complicated. It involves the economics of beekeeping, the precarious lives of honeybees, the beekeeping community, the vagaries of agriculture and, of course, California. Randy Verhoek, who lives in Danbury, had 300 of his beehives in Manvel stolen in mid-December. They haven't been found. "They could be anywhere," Verhoek said. "Once they get on a truck, they could be 50 miles from here, or in another state." Many beekeepers say bee thievery, especially in Texas, is more of a nagging problem than a growing one, but it does happen. Some in the community don't even want to discuss it for fear of encouraging the crime. If it's going to happen, it will probably be this time of year. The reason is almonds. Some 80 percent of the world's almonds are grown in California's Central Valley on one million acres. Almond trees have to be pollinated by bees, and each acre of almond grove requires two hives. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that commercial beekeepers own about three million colonies, so the math is clear: At least two-thirds of the commercial hives in the U.S. have to be trucked to California every February, to be rented out for a few weeks at rates up to $200 a colony. "If you own a big truck and a forklift, it's easy to get 10 pallets and then take off," says Kim Flossum, the editor of Bee Culture magazine and a 45-year beekeeper. A pallet holds four hives. Bee theft isn't for the uninitiated. "To steal bees, you've got to know bees," Flossum says. "It's people familiar with the bee business I'm not going to say beekeepers." Al Ford sells insurance to beekeepers through Texas Insurance & Financial Services, out of the Georgetown office. He can sell a policy that will cover the physical hives, but not the bees or the honey, if it hasn't been extracted yet. "With disease and colony collapse disorder and cold weather, it's hard to put a value on the bees throughout the year," he says. That means that someone like Verhoek can't recoup the loss from a theft, even with insurance. (Verhoek says he had no insurance.) This is especially rough on beekeepers. "Think of it as like killing a pregnant cow," says Flossum. "You lose the cow, the calf and the milk." Bee thieves take advantage of a gamble some almond growers take, says Chris Moore, a beekeeper from Kountze and president of the Texas Beekeepers Association. Many growers will sign contracts in advance with bee providers, but some bet that they can get bees at a lower price if they don't. This, Moore says, plays into the thieves' hands. In California, they can pick up a batch of ill-gotten hives, drive down the road and rent them at a cut rate to another grower. Once they get the money, they may simply leave the hives and never return. Chris Hiatt, a beekeeper from Washington state who has been the victim of rustling, says law enforcement has a hard time handling such cases owing to lack of experience. In his case, the thief an older beekeeper, he says was caught, but also got only "a slap on the wrist" as punishment. (Flossum says the California Beekeepers Association is "very vigilant.") Theft is only one of the problems facing commercial beekeepers today, Moore says. Thirty years ago, a keeper could expect to lose 10 percent of bees each year. By 1999, it was 20 percent. Now it's more like 40 to 45 percent, he says. When Moore started his business, he made his money by selling honey. But the influx of cheap imported honey it's a global product threw off the economics, he says. Starting in 2011, Moore has made more money from renting out his bees for pollinating. "The dynamics have changed," he says. "Every year you have to do more pollinating to make a living, and you have to make multiple incomes off the same hives." He sends hives to the almond groves in February, then brings them back to produce honey until mid-June, when Texas flowers dry up. They then go to West Texas to pollinate watermelons and Wisconsin for the cranberries. "The bees are on a truck crossing state lines a half-dozen times a year," Moore says. Bee colonies have been moved for thousands of years, but not to this extent. In every new venue, the bees may be exposed to fungicides or pesticides, not to mention other bees who may be diseased. This leads to sick, stressed, exhausted bees who are more likely to die. Moore, who calls himself his own bee veterinarian, now has to feed his bees protein through the winter so the queen will continue to make eggs and replenish the colony. (Not all beekeepers use this model: Moore said he sees growing interest in bees from non-commercial, small-batch honey producers. Texas alone has 40 local clubs. "These small-scale beekeepers are not stressing out their bees," he says.) In addition, those weakened bees find themselves subject to the same issue as other species: loss of habitat. Sprawl, Moore said, has shrunk wild spaces and made competition for acreage more intense. Hives must be placed in out-of-the-way spots, which makes bee theft nightmarishly difficult to prevent. You can't, after all, brand a bee. Some, like Verhoek, brand the hives. Flossum says others paint their hives odd colors or put special markers inside. Others put expensive GPS trackers on the pallets. Some almond growers hire guards. Security cameras are a possibility, but Moore knows of a case where the rustler cut down the tree where the camera was placed and stole the camera. Verhoek remains mystified by his loss. He'd like to tell the rustler what's on his mind. "My question is: Why? Why did you feel the need to steal from me and my family?" Bookmark Gray Matters. The reason is almonds. Peter arrived in America when he was 17 years old. He didn't speak a word of English, didn't have a penny in his pocket when he got here. He traveled with some buddies, farm boys looking to escape the hopelessness and poverty of their flyspeck village, hoping for something better. There was work here, people said. There was opportunity. Peter found work. It was dirty and it was miserable and the pay was an insult, but it was work. Not speaking English didn't matter much: He shared a beat-down apartment with some countrymen, and everybody at the factory spoke the same language he did, had the same features he did, had the same story to tell. It was just like home, except it wasn't home, not even a little. He worked as many hours as the foreman would let him. He was going to make something of himself. Peter married. His bride was young, with a round, open face and guileless eyes. She was an immigrant, too, a homegirl. Like Peter, Rose had crossed the border without money and without English. She only wanted to build a better life for herself. Children came. Peter supplemented his wages with some shadow work, selling illegal substances on the side, first to coworkers, then, as his reputation spread, to others in the little ghetto where he and Rose lived. Eventually, he bought a restaurant, a little corner place, where tired shift workers would go to get some hot food at the end of the night. On weekends, he'd book bands. They'd play the old music, the back home music. There's something about the songs from your childhood, the music from your old life, your other life, that stirs the soul. People would laugh and talk and sing along, couples in mended pants and fading cotton dresses swaying in time, all soft smiles and entwined fingers. Mostly, they remembered. Mostly, they hoped that all they had done the leaving, the landing in this strange new place, the long hours and the backbreaking work meant their children would have a better life, that their children would have a home that they would never have to leave. The city where Peter and Rose lived was small, but their restaurant, their neighborhood, the church where they worshiped and the factory where most of their neighbors worked was unknown to the rest of the town. Respectable people didn't associate with the likes of Peter. He was just another stranger, just another mystery, just another threat. He and his wife, their friends and their neighbors, even their children, who were born here, were, in the words of one prominent politician, "of the lowest classes" with "neither skill nor energy nor...intelligence." The canny leaders of their homelands were dumping them here, weak and shiftless and imbecilic, "disburdening themselves" of the "more hapless elements of their population." The politician eventually apologized, sort of, admitting that some of Peter's countrymen "had strong backs and a willingness to work hard, menial jobs." The politician ended up being elected president of the United States. Peter and his people weren't eligible to vote. Peter isn't Mexican, or Guatemalan, or Colombian. Peter is Polish, from a tiny village called Wola Ociecka, near the southern city of Rzeszow. All of this happened a hundred years ago. Peter is my great-grandfather. Courtesy Cort McMurray BACK BEFORE most of us can remember, back before the descendants of European immigrants began intermarrying and the old social and cultural and religious barriers started floating off like dandelion seeds, back when neighborhoods were delineated not by income level but by where your people came from, before the corner stores stopped selling newspapers in Hungarian and Polish and Italian, before all the descendants of the far-flung tribes of Europe had been boiled down into a thin bland gruel called "White People," identity meant more than skin color. In my hometown, a sooty collection of frame houses and dying factories along the Niagara River, there was an Italian neighborhood, and a German neighborhood, and an Irish neighborhood. On the northeast side, bordered by a bolt factory, a paper mill, and the river, sat The Avenues, Third Ward, the Polish part of town. That city was mostly shadows when I was growing up, the factories closed, once pristine little houses slowing going to seed. The cultural divisions died long before my time when my dad proposed to my mother, the impending Irish-Polish union that would have been a minor scandal a generation earlier just prompted jokes from his future father-in-law that Dad needed to change his name to "McMurski" but in Peter's time, being Polish or Italian or Hungarian or Greek meant no one trusted you, no one wanted you around, except your own kind. You stayed with your own people. Outside of your ethnic group, you were the enemy. In May 1889, a poorly engineered dam, commissioned by a group of millionaire businessmen who wanted to create an artificial lake for yachting excursions, burst and sent 20 million tons of water down the Little Conemugh River, wiping out the city of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Twenty-two hundred people died. The millionaire businessmen, Reeds and Knoxes and Carnegies, were never held accountable for their negligence, never served a day in jail or paid a dime in compensation. Within hours of the disaster, newspapers across the country published reports that crazed Hungarian immigrants were on a spree in Johnstown, ravaging defenseless women and cutting the fingers off corpses to harvest wedding rings. It was a complete fabrication, a canard cooked up to sell newspapers, but people believed it, because it seemed like the sort of thing those shifty Hungarians would do. A decade later, when Woodrow Wilson denounced eastern and southern European immigrants as "sordid and hapless" in his History of the American People, the consensus was that United States was at the mercy of multitudes of "hyphenated Americans," each of them carrying "a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready." In 1913, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated President of the United States. In the midst of this hatred and mistrust, Peter was determined to be an American. Within weeks of passing through Ellis Island, he abandoned his old name, Piotr, and adopted the Americanized spelling and pronunciation. There is a remarkable entry in the 1920 U.S. census. The residents of The Avenues are all recorded in the same careful script, pages of consonant-laden surnames, an endless column of "Polish" noted under the heading "Mother Tongue." On the page where Peter's family is entered, a less careful hand has drawn a large "X" through "Polish" on his children's entries: Peter's children spoke English. Peter's children were American, perfectly American. And if in the middle of Prohibition, Peter had to sell a few cases of bootleg beer to help his dreams along, well, there's something perfectly American about that, too. Peter died in 1937. He was 52. I don't know if he ever mastered English. I don't know if he ever felt fully accepted by his new homeland. What I do know is that his children and his grandchildren and his great- and great-great-grandchildren have lived the American Dream. They are attorneys and school teachers, businessmen and nurses, actors and academics. One of them is a nationally recognized poet, one a professor of music composition at a large Midwestern university. Another writes essays for the Houston Chronicle. None of us would be here, none of us would have made any contribution to American culture, to American communities, if a 17-year-old farmboy from an obscure village in southern Poland hadn't decided to come here, to endure hardships and prejudice and lousy jobs and that strange limbo of being in America, but not of America. Peter Litwin gave me my country. Peter Litwin gave me my life. I THINK often about Peter. Lately, I think about him all of the time. I think about him when I hear Americans in their thousands, many of them the descendants of Peter Litwins of their own, chant "Build A Wall! Build A Wall!" I think about him when a presidential candidate casually dismisses 10 million men and women as "killers and rapists...bringing drugs...bringing crime." I think about Peter's children when I visit my neighborhood elementary school, the classrooms filled with immigrant kids, the children of Mexicans and Nigerians and Hondurans and Vietnamese, all of them learning, many of them bursting with big dreams and big potential, and I wonder how Peter would have responded if his children had been dismissed as "the bad ones," if billionaire dilettantes and dissembling lieutenant governors had used their political influence to let public schools wither on the vine. We are a city of Peter Litwins, a city of hardworking immigrants, a city of dreamers and strivers, a city of strangers who yearn to be known, to be accepted. They love their homelands, and they love America, too. Their children are the next generation of American poets and composers and essayists, of doctors and nurses, attorneys and academics, teachers and technicians. We deny them opportunity, we deny them hope, we deny them the American Dream that fueled our own ancestors, at our peril. This has always been a nation of Peter Litwins. It always will be. They will come from different continents and different cultures. They will be distrusted and mistreated, and they will weather it. And their children will take us places we never imagined, places that will make us stronger and better than we have ever been. We must not let the madness of nativism, the nonsense of knuckle-headed populism, jeopardize that promise. Cort McMurray is a Houston-area businessman and a frequent contributor to Gray Matters. Bookmark Gray Matters. It's just like home, except it isn't home, not even a little. A handful of Texas authors have publicly declined to be honored by the Texas legislature because they're outraged about some of the bills that are on the table this session - including Senate Bill 6, known as the "bathroom bill" and bills that will impact women's health care and abortion regulations. Authors received invitations recently to the state legislature's celebration of Texas authors in March. Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series of young adult books, was the first to say no. He tweeted last week: "Just turned down an invite to be honored by TX state legislature as a Texas author. If they want to honor me, they could stop this nonsense." Riordan ended the tweet with a link to a news story about Senate Bill 6, which would require transgender people to use bathrooms in public schools, public universities and government buildings according to their "biological sex." AUSTIN - Gov. Greg Abbott threatened Monday to cut law enforcement funding from the Travis County Sheriff's Office after its sheriff said she would no longer detain all immigrants who are otherwise free to go simply so that federal authorities can deport them. The showdown is likely to spur action by the Republican-controlled Legislature to pass a tougher state law to prohibit, even harshly penalize, so-called sanctuary cities in Texas, an issue that was already a priority in the state Senate. A similar battle is expected to play out across the nation in the coming months, as President Donald Trump made it a campaign promise to strip federal funding from sanctuary jurisdictions in the first 100 days of his presidency. Experts say it's certain to spark legal challenges over states' rights and the federal government's responsibility for immigration. In a video released Friday, newly-elected Sheriff Sally Hernandez, a Democrat, said that beginning Feb. 1, her office will only honor federal requests to hold suspects booked into jail on charges of capital murder, aggravated sexual assault or human smuggling. It's the first jurisdiction in Texas to refuse to comply with certain detainers. Though Dallas also has modified its policy, it's never declined such a request. "The public must be confident that local law enforcement is focused on local public safety, not on federal immigration enforcement," Hernandez said in the online video, adding that she won't set "unwise public safety priorities simply to ease the burden of the federal government." Abbott, in a letter to Hernandez on Monday, called her policy "reckless," noting that Travis County received nearly $1.8 million in federal grants through his office last year. "The ICE detainer program plays an integral role in ensuring that dangerous criminal aliens do not end up back on our streets," he wrote. "Unless you reverse your policy prior to its effective date, your unilateral decision will cost the people of Travis County money that was meant to be used to protect them." Though Travis County could be the first jurisdiction in Texas to lose funding over its immigration detainer policy, it's not the first time Abbott has threatened to cut money over the issue. After Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez made minor changes to her county's policy last year, he also promised to slash funding. It ultimately stayed in place because the county never declined an immigration detainer. Harris County Sheriff-elect Ed Gonzalez has said that he is also concerned about holding inmates without pending charges for immigration enforcement, but will continue working with the federal government while he studies the issue. Political fighting over so-called sanctuary cities has waged for years. Though it is strictly the federal government who enforces immigration law, Washington and local entities began cooperating on the issue in 2008. The program matches the fingerprints of every person booked into jail against a sweeping law enforcement database, including immigration information from the Department of Homeland Security. After they determined someone was here illegally, federal officials could request that local authorities detain those immigrants even if they were otherwise eligible for release, say by posting bond or having their criminal charges dropped. Roughly one-sixth of the record 2.5 million immigrants President Barack Obama deported between 2008 and 2015 were removed through this program, many of them after being booked into jail on misdemeanor crimes. Critics said it encouraged racial profiling and deported immigrants accused of minor crimes such as traffic offenses rather than focusing the government's limited resources on violent immigrants. Several federal courts, none in Texas, also found that it could violate the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure. Five states and more than 500 counties have scaled back on cooperating with the federal government on the issue, according to a tally by the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group in Los Angeles. Though the Obama administration overhauled the program in 2015 to try to address constitutional concerns, they remain. Last summer, the Bexar County Sheriff's Office was sued for holding a man for more than two months after officials dismissed the misdemeanor assault charge that had him flagged by immigration officials to begin with. Lena Graber, an attorney for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a national immigrant advocacy group in San Francisco, said federal detainer requests are civil orders, not arrest warrants meeting Fourth Amendment requirements. Trump has said he would expand the federal-local partnership and punish jurisdictions that don't fully comply. But that's likely to take longer to sort out at the federal level, said Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs at the Migration Policy Institute, a research group in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court has ruled that cutting more than 20 percent of funding for states' budgets is overly coercive and a "gun to the head" and that any money Washington holds as punishment must also be germane to the issue at hand. "I expect this to be drawn out and take a while to resolve," Capps said. "So whatever the Legislature does in Texas will have a big impact on other states in the South that might follow Texas' lead on this." State Sen. Dawn Buckingham, an Austin Republican, called Hernandez's decision disappointing and said it would have "significant consequences." She promised to join Abbott and other state leaders to outlaw sanctuary cities. "We will not stand idly by while the safety of our constituents is endangered," she said in a Facebook post. Former President George H.W. Bush was transferred from a Houston Methodist Hospital intensive care unit to a regular room Monday, still fighting some symptoms of pneumonia but "doing really well," according to his doctors. The former president, who was on a ventilator for 48 hours last week because of trouble breathing, is still "coughing a fair amount," said Dr. Clint Doerr, his pulmonologist. But he could be discharged from the hospital by Friday or over the weekend if he continues improving at his current rate, added Doerr. "He's sitting up, watching TV and waiting anxiously for his favorite oyster stew for lunch," Dr. Amy Mynderse, Bush's hospitalist, said at a morning news conference at Methodist. "He's on minimal oxygen, joking and laughing with the nurses and doctors." Bush's wife Barbara, 91, was discharged from Methodist on Monday. She'd been admitted to the hospital Wednesday, mostly as a precaution, with what turned out to be viral bronchitis. She went home Wednesday to take care of some matters - Mynderse said she's "back to her normal self" - and returned to Methodist later in the day as a visitor. The former president was admitted Jan. 14. He initially thought he'd be out quickly, but last Wednesday his health took a turn for the worse and he was transferred to the ICU, where doctors put in a tube through his windpipe that connects to a ventilator and helps the lungs breathe. They used another tube to suction secretions from the lungs. The breathing tube was removed Friday. Mynderse acknowledged that the use of a breathing tube in a 92-year-old patient with pneumonia is "a very serious situation." She said the fact that he's doing so well is a testament to not just the team taking care of him but "also to him. He's not your average 92-year-old." Doerr described Bush as "recovering from pneumonia." He said Bush still has some inflammation in his lungs that's causing the coughing and requiring some oxygen through the nose. He's also getting a fairly aggressive combination of breathing medications and a full course of antibiotics, Doerr said. Bush watched Friday's inauguration of President Donald Trump from the ICU, but Doerr and Mynderse told reporters that he offered no commentary. He'd note when he saw his son, former President George W. Bush, said Mynderse, but "he hasn't made any big political statements or anything like that." Days after scores of Houstonians sacrificed their vehicles to yet another flood and a few homes took on water - some along Brays Bayou in the southwest - local leaders on Tuesday will announce an innovative deal to hasten improvements in that channel and two other local bayous after that. The effort is intended to have a simple outcome - speeding up flood control work - but has resulted from complex negotiations spanning months and involving four levels of government. In short, the city of Houston would ask the state for a $46 million loan, which it then would give to the Harris County Flood Control District to speed up work on long-delayed Project Brays. The federal Army Corps of Engineers would reimburse the county after the work was done, ending the city's commitment. City officials hope to repeat that process for two other bayous - White Oak and Hunting, likely in that order - ultimately forwarding the county about $130 million, city "flood czar" Steve Costello told council staffers at a Monday briefing. City Council will consider the loan application Wednesday. Costello, who first approached county officials last June to offer city assistance, said those talks wound up aligning with the state Water Development Board's decision to, for the first time, fund flood control projects from a fund typically restricted to water and sewer work. "The whole idea is to collapse the schedule - whether it's a year, whether it's 18 months, we're not quite sure," Costello said. "Yes, the city is going to be taking the risk because we're going to be waiting for the money, but we're confident that this is the start of a long-term relationship and we think it's going to work very well." Action over 'rhetoric' Even if federal reimbursement does not come quickly, the cash-strapped city's exposure is minimal, according to a document provided to council offices. The first debt payment - a flat $1.6 million per year - would not be due until late 2018. The mayor's office did not make Turner or Costello available for an interview ahead of a formal Tuesday announcement, and Flood Control District director Russ Poppe deferred to Turner in also declining to comment. Turner did speak about the effort, however, at a recent civic club gathering. "People have made it very clear: You don't want to hear the rhetoric from us anymore; you don't want the verbiage. I got that," Turner said. "The city will assume the responsibility of the loan that we're getting from the Texas Water Development Board, because it's important for us to move forward on this project. As soon as the feds just give us the indication that the other two will be reimbursed, then we'll move forward." Sluggish federal reimbursement has been a key factor in dragging Project Brays out for two decades - and the work, originally slated to finish in 2014, could take yet another 20 years to finish, Flood Control District documents state, unless sufficient funding becomes available. The county and the Corps split the costs 50-50, though the county typically pays up front and awaits reimbursement. County Commissioner Steve Radack, whose precinct includes many of the 700,000 residents in the Brays Bayou watershed, said Flood Control initially expected to get $25 million in federal reimbursements each year for the roughly $450 million project. County records show the annual average over the last 18 years has been less than $11 million, however. Flood Control will not hit its target completion date of 2021, Radack added, without city help. "If this works, the 2021 date that was being thrown around, it's possible we could actually beat that. But frankly, without this money, it's safe to say there's no way to make 2021," Radack said. "As far as I'm concerned, if the city wants to go out and help the county be able to do more projects, we'd love to have their assistance." The city's duty is to carry stormwater from residents' rooftops to the bayous, and the county's role is to take that water from the bayous to Galveston Bay. Out of the floodplain The city proposal would fund the replacement of eight bridges over the bayou, all east of Buffalo Speedway, Costello said, to accommodate the new channel. The county had rebuilt 10 bridges as of November, with a total of 30 requiring replacement. Work has already finished on four upstream detention basins capable of holding 3.5 billion gallons of stormwater, and ongoing work to widen about two-thirds of the bayou - which starts west of Highway 6 and ends 31 miles to the east, where it flows into Buffalo Bayou - is also 60 percent finished. Project Brays is expected to remove 15,000 homes and businesses from the 100-year floodplain, including 3,500 homes at a high risk of flooding. County officials estimate the work already done on the project prevented 2,000 homes or businesses from flooding during the 2015 Memorial Day flood and saved another 100 during that year's Halloween flood. "Meyerland was really hit so badly in the last few years. We're inundated with phone calls, and the mayor is too," said Councilwoman Ellen Cohen, whose district includes Meyerland and other neighborhoods in the Brays watershed. "I'm particularly pleased that we are where we are." Among those residents is Marla Cooper, who has lived one block off the bayou for 33 years. Her home did not flood until the Memorial Day 2015, and then again on Tax Day 2016, one day after she had moved her belongings back in. A storm last Wednesday led some nervous neighbors with chest pains to call for an ambulance, Cooper said, only to have the vehicles stymied by flooded streets. "If they can expedite that, that would be a great thing," Cooper said. "Everybody in my neighborhood was out watching, scared to death. It got about 4 feet from the front doors again, lots of messed up cars and all that. I was thinking to myself, 'I can't do this again.'" Editor's note: A prior version of this story misstated the amount county officials originally expected to received in annual federal reimbursements. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Under the banners promoting the biggest event Houston will host this year, crews are steadily transforming downtown's Discovery Green into a venue visitors can celebrate Super Bowl LI while simultaneously highlighting other notable Houston backdrops. One key attraction is NASA's Space Exploration Vehicle, or SEV. The vehicle, once known as Chariot, will be on display at Discovery Green from Jan. 27 to Feb. 5 in conjunction with Super Bowl Week. "We got engaged fairly quickly because we knew right away we wanted NASA to be a part of the events leading up to the super bowl," said Deborah Conder, Johnson Space Center external relations deputy director. Conder said the entire exhibit is a thoroughly constructed narrative that explains the steps the agency is taking to put a person on Mars. The SEV made the trip, slowly, on Monday - navigating its way through Houston's morning rush - following a period on display at Space Center Houston. Christopher Jimenez and his 4-year-old son Seth went exploring along downtown Monday afternoon to see the changes taking place. Jimenez said he's looking forward to returning once the changes are completed by this weekend. "It's going to be a nightmare navigating the area with everyone in the region flocking here," he said. "But it's the Super Bowl. This won't happen again for a few years." When they return, Jimenez, along with other visitors, will have the chance to climb in the rover and get a close-up look at what astronauts will possibly use on Mars, NASA spokeswoman Nicole Cloutier. It's the vehicle of the future, but the concept isn't new. Rovers have been a key part of NASA's technological arsenal for decades. The "moon buggy" was used by Apollo astronauts for excursions on three missions, and of course all three are still there. Miniature versions of the SEV have long been roaming the Martian surface, snapping photos and testing rocks and soil. Today's rover is a little more durable than the buggy used more than 40 years ago. In its ground configuration - it also has a version for use in space - and is designed to work over the most rugged terrain and climb slopes up to 40 degrees. The chassis can turn on a dime and even move sideways in a "crabbing" motion. The chassis that carries the somewhat awkward looking cockpit and cabin was designed by an off-road racing team. It's been tested in a variety of harsh environments, including the Black Point Lava Flow in Arizona. The SEV exhibit will be only one of several from NASA. Visitors will also see a full-size model of the rover Curiosity, a mock-up of the spacecraft Orion, the Mark III spacesuit. NASA also will debut its virtual reality ride - The Future Flight. Wearing virtual reality goggles, riders will journey to the Red Planet, lifting off into Earth's orbit and then soaring through space. The virtual ride concludes with an accelerating 90-foot drop that will transport guests from Mars back to Earth through an open roof of NRG Stadium onto the 50-yard line. AUSTIN - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive Texas' controversial voter identification law, dashing for now the hopes of the state's Republican leaders to overturn a lower-court decision that the rule discriminated against black and Hispanic citizens. The decision could mean that the Texas Legislature, which is now in session for five months, could try to fix the legal issues with the law on its own. But officials who were reviewing the ruling said the most likely course will be to let pending appeals continue in lower courts. Without dissent, the high court let stand a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision last July that found the Texas law ran afoul of a federal statute that bars discriminatory practices in elections. The justices sent the issue back to a lower court to decide how to fix the law. In a statement explaining the court's decision not to hear an appeal in the case at this time, Chief Justice John Roberts noted that litigation on the law is continuing in lower courts. Although there was "no barrier to our review," he stated, all the legal issues can be raised on appeal at a later time. In a 9-6 decision, a special 15-judge panel of the New Orleans-based appeals court ruled that the Texas law violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act. That court directed a lower court to review claims by the plaintiffs that the law was intended to be discriminatory, rather than just having a discriminatory effect. A hearing on that part of the case by a Corpus Christi federal judge had been scheduled for Tuesday, but was delayed until Feb. 28 after the U.S. Department of Justice late Friday sought time for the Trump administration to review whether to continue challenging the Texas requirements. When that case is decided, appeals are expected. 'Continue to fight' State officials said they were reviewing the decision and would comment later in the day. "The job of the courts is to protect our fundamental rights," said Myrna Perez, director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center that represents the Texas NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus in the case. "When the case comes before it, the Supreme Court has an important opportunity to affirm and uphold this country's promise that Americans will be free from racial discrimination when they step into the voting booth." Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he was disappointed but optimistic. "Chief Justice Roberts made it very clear that the case will be an even stronger posture for Supreme Court review after further proceedings in lower courts," he said. "Texas enacted a common sense voter ID law to safeguard the integrity of our elections, and we will continue to fight for the law in the district court, the Fifth Circuit, and if necessary, the Supreme Court again." Texas' voter ID law has been the subject of litigation for years. In 2012, a federal appeals court in Washington first blocked the implementation of the law requiring voters to show a photo identification before they could cast a ballot. That court ruled that the law had a disproportionately negative effect on minority citizens in Texas. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in a separate case, allowed Texas to implement its law, which it quickly did. The Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House challenged the law in federal court, and a trial in 2014 showed that the state's ID requirement would create discriminatory barriers to voting. U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos ruled the Texas law unconstitutional, but the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to remain in effect for the 2014 election. 'Tool to silence voices' Other reactions were supportive of Monday's decision. "It has been an incredible waste of taxpayer monies and state resources to challenge what any reasonably objective person knows - that the law is plainly and simply discriminatory against racial and ethnic minorities," said Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP. "Judges appointed by presidents of both political parties have so held repeatedly." "There is no more fundamental American right than the right to vote, and the Supreme Court protected it by declining to hear this case," said Jose Garza, legal counsel for the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. "Multiple courts, including the Fifth Circuit, have reviewed this bill and seen it for what it is - a tool to silence the voices of Latinos, African Americans, and elderly or poor voters. There was no basis for questioning their conclusions, and the Supreme Court affirmed that today." A concept of the operation of the OSCE special monitoring mission (SMM) in Donbas will be changed this year, head of the mission Ertugrul Apakan has said. At a meeting with Ukraine's Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, Apakan said they plan to expand the geography of their monitors' work, increase their presence in conflict zones and diversify their activities, the Defense Ministry reported on its website on Tuesday. AUSTIN - In a surprise move sure to intensify the debate over public education in Texas, Senate budget-writers on Monday took the first step toward making sweeping reforms in the way the state funds its local schools. With an official mandate to "start with a clean slate," seven members of the Senate Finance Committee were tasked with coming up with recommendations by early May for an entirely new funding system. They are seeking to address a situation that has spurred decades of court fights over equity between rich and poor school districts and growing taxpayer howls over rising local school taxes, as the state cut its share. "The opportunity is huge for us to get it right," said Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the Senate Finance Committee. "We need a whole new method of school finance. No more Band-Aids. Start over." The House is expected to follow suit. In its initial budget made public last week, the House proposed an additional $1.5 billion in school funding tied to reform of the school finance system. Texas consistently ranks in the bottom tier in per-pupil spending on education nationally. And amid a state budget crunch fueled in part by a downturn in the oil and gas sector, state officials have warned that an end to the cap placed by Texas on special-education funding districts could potentially cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars more to provide services for all eligible children. The state's school finance system, which has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and court orders since the 1980s, is generally regarded as a complex tangle of funding formulas, apportionment ratios and thick policies that have been adjusted many times since the system was established during the 1940s. Few legislators fully understand it. Last year, when the Texas Supreme Court turned back the latest attempt to have the system declared unconstitutional, Justice Don Willett called it a "Byzantine" system that "is undeniably imperfect, with immense room for improvement." But through the years, proposed changes have provoked nasty fights in Austin. Districts that benefit from the system are loathe to change it, and those that don't benefit from it fight to get more money under the complex formulas. Including all funds, public education costs make up about $55 billion of the state's two-year, $209.4 billion budget. Senate Education Committee Chairman Larry Taylor, the Friendswood Republican who Nelson selected on Monday to lead the Senate study, said the timing is right for a top-to-bottom review. All aspects of school funding are expected to be on the table for discussion, thanks to the Supreme Court's ruling that did not throw out the old system but instead gave the Legislature time to come up with a new funding method. "They've actually cleared the air for us to come and do a meaningful reform," he said. Taylor compared the current system to building a small lake cabin that is added onto over the years, time and again, and eventually becomes a complex hodgepodge of rooms. 'It makes no sense' Across Texas, news of the special study drew questions. In Houston, where voters last November overwhelmingly rejected having local taxpayers pay the state for $162 million in so-called "recapture" of school funds, HISD Trustee Jolanda Jones said the creation of the Senate group signaled that the message from the ballot initiative had been heard in Austin. "They've done more with HISD pushing back than they have in 24 years of hearing school districts complain about it," Jones, a vocal opponent of "recapture," said Monday. "Recapture is based on the premise of Robin Hood, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, but that's never what it did. It took from the poor and reallocated to the poor. Help me understand why 75 percent of our kids are poor, really poor, receiving free and reduced-priced meals, and you're taking money from us? It makes no sense; we need more money, not less." Because the district will refuse to pay the recapture fee, the Texas Education Agency has threatened to remove commercial buildings from HISD's taxing district this July so it can give the money to other "property poor" districts. HISD Trustee Anna Eastman said she hopes lawmakers will act before the TEA takes the property tax revenue from local commercial properties, though she is not sure overhauling the school finance system can be done in one session. But she was heartened to see the Senate look at the funding system. "School finance can't be based on some kind of cryptic formula that makes it so kids in a certain pocket are getting lots of money and others are getting little," Eastman said. "Areas such as ours shouldn't be picking up all the slack for areas that can't generate revenue off property growth. It shouldn't be that big of a gap." In Pearland, where local schools receive $9,358 per student, the lowest share in the Houston area, Superintendent John Kelly said that if the state does not increase its share, his district may have to dip into reserve funds to provide any kind of an increase to employees or to meet rising costs. He said lawmakers have been disingenuous in saying they want to lower taxes while requiring districts to raise more local taxes. "They talk out of one side of their mouth 'tax cuts' for people, but on the other side they're confiscating the increase in tax values across the state," Kelly said of the Legislature. Already, Kelly said the district's student-teacher ratio is above the state average. They try to keep the ratios low in K-4 grades to comply with state statute, but at the middle school level, Pearland ISD usually has about five more students per classroom teacher than the state average. Existing method Nelson said any recommendations from the special panel will be included in the Senate version of the budget, if they can be focused into a workable policy in time. As the special panel looks at reforms, the finance committee will begin work on Tuesday to fund the existing school-financing method, starting with the TEA. Nelson called school-finance reform one of the two main issues facing the Legislature, as it attempts to craft a new two-year budget with at least $3 billion less to spend than is provided in the current budget. The other is the skyrocketing cost of health care, for which she named a second study committee to come up with a plan to contain costs while maintaining necessary services through possible collaboration between agencies and programs. Included will be the Medicaid program where costs are spiraling; retirement programs for state employees and teachers, where costs also are increasing; and prison health care, where costs have mushroomed in recent years as the population of older convicts with expensive illnesses grows each year. The state spends about $60 billion in all funds on Medicaid every two years. "There have to be ways we can control this, and that may include some changes that I think we will see in Washington on this issue," she said. "I think there are innovations that we can bring to our system in Texas that will help us cut these costs. We've got to get this under control." Shelby Webb in Houston contributed to this report. Manuel Balce Ceneta/STF WASHINGTON - Mike Pompeo was confirmed as CIA director by the Senate on Monday, putting the conservative Kansas congressman in charge of an agency that is bracing for its most contentious relationship with the White House in decades. As CIA director, Pompeo will be responsible for managing a global spying network at a time of escalating security problems, including renewed aggression from Russia, the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and the splintering terror threat posed by the Islamic State. WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump delivered on more campaign promises Monday by implementing a hiring freeze for most federal agencies, withdrawing from a major trade agreement and urging corporate executives to keep jobs in the country. But his aides also signaled the new administration will not move as quickly as Trump had promised earlier on other top priorities, including renegotiating the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and undoing President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration, including a policy that allows some undocumented immigrants who came here as children to stay lawfully. Trump's clearest shot at what he has derided as Washington's broken system of governing came in the form of the hiring freeze. The president has portrayed federal agencies as bloated and wasting money. But even the hiring freeze may promise more than it can deliver. It provided exemptions for those working in the military, which could include civilian employees, potentially leaving a large part of the federal workforce untouched. Trump kicked off his first full workweek with a whirlwind of activity - a breakfast with corporate leaders followed by a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi and meetings with union workers and congressional leaders. Throughout the day, Trump maintained a heavy focus on trade, which was at the heart of his presidential campaign and one of the few areas where he did not shift among positions. And he often seemed comfortably at home in the White House as he entertained, signed orders, posed for photos and promised to disrupt Washington, just as he had electoral politics. Monday opened with a "listening session" with leaders of some of the country's largest corporations - who stayed longer than planned to continue talking with Trump in the Oval Office. The president promised the group he would cut taxes, fast-track their plans to open factories and wipe out at least 75 percent of government regulations. "We're going to be cutting regulation massively," Trump said during a brief portion of the meeting that was open to the press. "Now, we're going to have regulation, and it'll be just as strong and just as good and just as protective of the people as the regulation we have right now." In exchange, Trump said companies must stay in the country and continue employing Americans. He again threatened to impose a "substantial border tax" on companies that move production out of the country. International-trade analysts said Trump may not have the authority to punish individual companies, while broad-based tariffs would violate existing treaties. Trump defended his idea as "fair." "Don't leave," Trump said. "Don't fire your people in the United States. We have the greatest people." After the meeting, Andrew Liveris of Dow Chemical told reporters that Trump and the chief executives discussed the border-tax proposal and the industries it would help or hurt. But Liveris added that Trump "is not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. He's going to actually make us all more competitive, recognizing there's a transition here. You can't get things done overnight." Later in the morning, reporters witnessed Trump signing three pieces of paper that were briefly described aloud by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus as he handed them to the president. These documents, labeled executive orders by aides, were not released to the media or the public until late in the day, leaving many to wonder for hours what exactly the president was implementing. First Trump signed a memorandum ordering the formal end of the United States' participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a long-standing campaign promise, although the move at this point is considered largely symbolic because the trade deal had little chance of being approved by Congress. Trump had also promised to take steps on his first formal day in office to begin renegotiating NAFTA, but that deal went unmentioned Monday. Trump earlier said he will meet soon with the Canadian prime minister and the Mexican president to discuss renegotiating the agreement. Then came an order that would implement a hiring freeze for many jobs in the federal government, another promise Trump made on the campaign trail. "Except for the military," the president said as he signed the order. "Except for the military." Finally, Trump signed an order resurrecting an abortion-related rule known as the Mexico City policy. The policy forbids foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive federal funding from performing or promoting abortion services through their work in other countries. The policy takes its name from the location of a conference at which President Ronald Reagan instituted the restriction in 1984. Since that time, the rule has been in place under Republican presidents while being repealed by Democratic residents of the Oval Office. As reporters left the Oval Office, one asked the president about the lawsuit filed by a liberal watchdog group that alle ges Trump is in violation of a little-known constitutional provision that bars him from taking gifts or payments from foreign governments. "Without merit," Trump said. "Totally without merit." AUSTIN -- Thousands of students, parents, teachers and school leaders from the state's non-traditional schools gathered outside the Texas Capitol to dance and cheer at the prospect of parents having more choice over where their children go to school. Organizers estimate some 4,000 people attended the rally, which was one of more than 20,000 events scheduled around the nation this week in recognition of National School Choice Week. The rally comes as state lawmakers brace for a fight over whether to allow parents to use public school dollars toward tuition at private schools. "This is a civil rights issue," proclaimed Gov. Greg Abbott from the stage of the rally after winning recognition from the group as a school choice champion. "We know when it comes to education, one size does not fit all." The last proposed voucher-like program died in the 2015 session because legislation did not reach a vote in the House. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an outspoken advocate for voucher-like programs, rallied the crowd by calling for an up-or-down vote, putting his House colleagues on the spot. "If you block a bill from a vote on school choice, you are blocking the future of that child, of that family, of that American dream," he said to cheers on the south lawn of the Capitol complex. Opponents say Patrick's plans to allow parents to pay for private school with public funds will drain money from already struggling public schools. "Democrats and Republicans in Texas have come together to defeat vouchers in every legislative session since 1995. It's time state leaders drop their pursuit of vouchers and instead focus on giving our public schools and the children of Texas the resources they need to succeed," said Kathy Miller, president of the left-leaning watchdog group Texas Freedom Network. Kathryn Dormady, 35, sends two of her children to Great Hearts' Northern Oaks campus outside of San Antonio, and the other two to a private Episcopal school. "I'm a home owner and I pay property taxes and none of my children go to my local school. I don't feel I should be funding them and not benefiting," she said, adding she acknowledges a voucher program probably would not cover full private school tuition. Donna Ray brought her four grandchildren from Buda to the rally. They are all home-schooled. "I know that a lot of my friends struggle to keep their kids in private school because of the cost," she said. "We're here to support the choices for our friends who don't have the option of homeschooling because they have to work." Rally attendees, donning signature yellow scarves in support of school choice, included groups from charter schools, private schools, religious schools and those in home school. Reporter Nicole Cobler contributed to this story. The Port of Houston is accustomed to doing things backwards. Original dredging of the Ship Channel was celebrated by a reverse-themed "No-Tsu-Oh" (spell it backward) Deep-Water Jubilee, complete with a King Retaw I. The occasion even attracted the attention of President Woodrow Wilson, who formally opened the channel by firing a cannon via telegram from Washington. Now, more than a century later, Houston boosters must again feel the dizzying sensation of a world running in reverse. On Monday, President Donald Trump formally withdrew our nation from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This decision is a radical departure from decades of bipartisan policy - not to mention utterly contrary to the Republican Party's mantra of free markets. Houston business leaders can be excused for feeling queasy. That 12-nation, free-trade treaty sat at the core of our city's long-term economic agenda. The Houston metropolitan area stands as the top exporter in the nation. Exports support roughly 1 million jobs across the state, according to the U.S. Trade Representative's office. If the TPP had passed, 40 percent of the world's economy would have dropped its barriers to the Texas cattle and crops, and oil and gas, that flow through our port. The treaty would have strengthened Houston's ties with a rising Asian market and solidified our position at the global economic center. Cattle ranchers were particularly excited about selling beef to Japan. Sorry, cowboys. Instead, Trump has decided to undermine Houston's future as part of some vague promise to help the Rust Belt. He might as well fire that presidential cannon at a container ship or two. Protectionism will only weaken U.S. industry, shielding our goods from competition and allowing manufacturers to get away with mediocrity. Consumers will face higher prices, less money will churn through the economy, growth will turn stagnant. And no tariff can protect workers from robotic replacements. Policies that actually help workers, such as infrastructure investments and labor protections, should not go ignored at the White House. Consider this part of Trump's retreat. The United States spent the bulk of the 20th century building a global network of trade and rules-based institutions - with our dual-shored nation conveniently at the center. Now we have a president who willingly runs from that powerful responsibility. But nature abhors a vacuum, and China has already started to fill the gaps that Trump is opening in the global order. Chinese President Xi Jinping even spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in defense of free trade and international stability. That's usually the U.S. role. Things really are backward. On May 1 of last year, Houston City Councilman Mike Knox participated in a picket outside a local Target. The demonstration was in protest of the department store's inclusive policies regarding the transgender community, as well as other pro-LGBT policies. The most controversial policy in question pertained to bathrooms. Patrons were allowed to use the bathroom matching their gender identity. Knox and company would rather Target prohibit transgender people from using their preferred bathroom, although they were light on specifics about how that should be enforced. Enter Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. Flanked by state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, Patrick earlier this month announced the filing of a bill, Senate Bill 6, which aims to crack down on "predator" men using women's restrooms, ostensibly under the cover of nondiscrimination ordinances that protect the transgender community. There is no evidence of predators abusing nondiscrimination ordinances. The data simply is not there. This point repeatedly has been espoused, particularly in the lead-up to Houston's shameful 2015 referendum on equal rights for LGBT people. The bathroom myth led to the nondiscrimination ordinance's downfall and the election of conservatives such as Knox to the City Council. The handwringing and complacency I have seen since Patrick's legislative proposal was unveiled is unnerving for many reasons. Far too many otherwise reasonable people have assured me that SB 6 - a mean-spirited bill - will not survive Joe Straus' House. This is wrong. The complacency reminds me of similar assurances in the lead-up to the nondiscrimination ordinance debacle in Houston. And this time, the stakes are much greater, as numerous studies have shown that a bill such as this one will have the express effect, if not the insidious intention, of killing transgender teens because of the stigma they'll face and the hate the legislation will foster. Potty politics is a strong force. The people swept up in its furor are sometimes not limited to a single political party. In 2014, Houston City Council Member Dwight Boykins, a Democrat on the nominally nonpartisan body, voted against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance as he callously pandered to his constituents' will and against justice. Some Democrats in the state Legislature, more concerned with their re-election than their legacy, could easily do the same. Knox's office refused comment. And I had similar trouble in nailing down Republican positions on Patrick's bill. My hometown legislators, state Sen. Joan Huffman and state Rep. Sarah Davis, both Republicans of Harris County, provided no clarity. Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, tweeted at me that he was skeptical of such skirmishes in the "culture wars," but did not state his position. Hatred is often surreptitious. It hides but is ever ubiquitous in plain sight if one simply looks hard enough. SB 6 has a good chance of passing, no matter what a complacent and often incorrect establishment has to say. The underlying hatred is being espoused by so many, including our leaders. Much attention will be placed on Washington, D.C., with Donald Trump's new presidency. But state and local affairs matter a great deal, as well. People could die if this bill becomes law. We need to remember what our representatives do, specifically keeping it in mind during the next election. Horwitz (@NmHorwitz), of Houston, is a first-year law student at the University of Texas School of Law. This commentary first appeared in The Daily Texan. Donald Paul Becker, 88, passed away Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, at Texas County Memorial Hospital. He was born Nov. 3, 1928, in Chicago, Ill., son of Paul and Elizabeth Garth Becker. He grew up in Chicago, Ill., and attended school there. He worked as a Realtor for many years and later went into security. His hobbies included rebuilding cars and motorcycles, carpentry and target shooting. His greatest passion was his family. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, John; his children, Larry Becker, John Becker, Elizabeth Partlow and Rebecca Stegbauer; a grandson; a granddaughter; and a great-grandson. Survivors include his wife of nearly 70 years, Jacqueline of the home in Houston; his children, Steve George Becker of Florida, Terri C. Hulbert of Houston and JoAnna L. Anderson, Donna Paulette Martoramo and Mark Adams of Chicago, Ill.; 17 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and other extended family members. Services are 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 28, at Evans Funeral Home with Father Matt Rehrauer officiating. Visitation is 10 a.m. until service time at the funeral home. Burial will be in Pine Lawn Cemetery. Ukraine's Justice Ministry has proposed to create a working group to draw up the procedure for inspecting e-declarations at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko has said. "I have applied to the Ukrainian prime minister, as he personally supervises the anti-corruption policy, with a proposal: the Justice Ministry does not want to take part in the show [sabotage by National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP)]. We have proposed that an independent working group that would carry out work of NACP will be created at the Cabinet of Ministers," the minister said on Channel 5 TV late on Monday. Petrenko said that the working group intended to draw up the draft e-declaration inspecting rules meeting Ukrainian legislation would consist of experts approved by civil society, scientists, representatives of the Justice Ministry and NACP representative if desired. "These specialist are to draw up proper draft rules to inspect [e-declarations] within several days, up to one week," the minister said. Petrenko said that the necessity of creating the working group is linked to NACP sabotage of drawing up the document. As a human resource professional, you probably see 2017 as a year of great change, especially when it comes to employee health coverage. A political shift as significant as the one we are witnessing today can bring on some legitimate anxiety. Before he even took office, President Trump pivoted from a stance of repeal-and-replace vowing to keep certain elements of the ACA like guaranteed issue intact. Though many consider this a good thing, it further underlines the uncertainty of the times. None of us knows for certain what the future holds, but when it comes to employee plan enrollment, it is vital that you stay vigilant, know your options, and plan accordingly. With that in mind, here are a few relevant trends that were watching in 2017: The Steady Rise of Healthcare Enrollments Health and Human Services (HHS) is anticipating that 13.8 million people will sign up for healthcare coverage by the end of open enrollment for 2017 - a 9.9 percent increase from last year - according to data released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. These gains are expected to grow as individuals continue to enroll in coverage through the health insurance marketplaces and more states expand their Medicaid programs. Health Reimbursement Arrangements are on the Rise The Small Business Healthcare Relief Act (SBHRA) is a huge win for small employers (with less than 50 employees), reinstating their ability to of... Today's employees - especially younger people - expect to be able to strike a reasonable balance between the needs of their personal lives and their professional obligations. They believe in working hard, but they also understand that investing time in their health, hobbies, friends and family is important to leading a fulfilled and productive life. According to the Sage Walk with Me report, 41% of the young workforce believes that technology will make the concept of "your desk" outdated, that the workplace will have more virtual staff in the next 10 years. Progressive HR departments are embracing this shift in the workplace as a positive trend - and are looking at ways that they can use work-life balance as a means to attract and retain the best talent. They understand that work-life balance isn't just good for the employee - it is also good for business because it can lead to lower costs and enhanced productivity. The indirect costs of an exhausted workforce include absenteeism, health costs, reduced company morale, poor employee retention, lower productivity and lapses in quality of employees' work. The costs of constantly recruiting and training new employees to replace those who burn out or leave can be substantial. By contrast, where the workforce works sensible hours, the people are often more creative, motivated, productive and engaged. HR has an important role to play here - by means of helping to facilitate a c... Embedded analyticsdefined by Gartner as analytic capabilities that are easily accessible from inside the application, without forcing users to switch between systemsare one tactic that has been heralded as an effective approach for facilitating data-driven decisions. For HR leaders, the promise of embedded analytics is especially appealing, due to several apparent benefits: Because embedded analytics are integrated directly into the HR systems that people useinstead of a separate business intelligence (BI) system thats complicated to learn and usethey provide the right context and are more likely to be used, leading to better decisions Embedded analytics are often available straight out of the box when theyre included with an HR systemno lengthy BI implementation or arduous maintenance required Vendors of HR systems that include embedded analytics often bundle their cost into the cost of the system, meaning that the analytics appear to be free Given the prospect of free, in-context analytics that are immediately available, its not hard to understand their allure for HR. Unfortunately, as with many promises that are appealing on the surface, theres a catchand its a big one: HR leaders quickly find out that the answers to the strategic business questions they have dont live in their transactional HR systems. If the embedded analytics onl... The world of work is undergoing radical change. Business has become a real-time experience, we deal with a relentless stream of messages and communications, and we operate in a network of teams. The traditional top-down hierarchy is rapidly going away as young professionals demand more opportunity, leadership, and responsibility. Technology has become an every-day part of our lives, and we often feel a bit overwhelmed by it all. (Should I check my email? Facebook? Twitter feed? Instagram? Or LinkedIn? Where should I post that great picture I just took? Who are all these friends who want to connect with me? How does Snapchat work anyway?) For investors and executives, we see business models being disrupted everywhere. Automobile companies think they may need to become transportation service providers; hotel and hospitality companies compete with home sharing and food delivery services; companies that sell commodities like electric light bulbs and thermostats want to sell home services; and companies that used to sell software and technology products want to move to subscription models. Our digital business research with MIT showed that 70% of CEOs believe their core business model is under attack, and 90% of them also believe they do not yet have the right leadership team or technical skills to adapt. I just met with the CEO of one of the largest providers of job market analytics and he told me that the ... HR has come a long way in the past 20 years. Back then it was more detached and less integral to the business. It focused more or less on essential compliance, training, pay, benefits and people administration. Not so today. Gone are the days of HR being purely an administrative and transactional function. Today, HR is being recognized as a value-added part of an organization, one that enables growth and success. And HR continues to change. To be sure, the last five years have witnessed HR begin possibly one of its greatest transformations. Simply put, the HR we know today will not be the HR practiced tomorrow. So as we head into 2017, here are my top five predictions for how HR will change in 2017: The Future of HR is Insight through Data and Analytics The greatest change impacting HR today is undoubtedly technology. The traditional way of practicing HR is now a thing of the past; technology is now empowering HR professionals with greater access to insight, and with it more ways to efficiently do their jobs. Real time access to workforce data is a must to drive informed decisions with the level of speed, agility and credibility that the C- suite demands. Increasingly, the ability to extract important insights from aggregate data sets, i.e. Big Data and the use of analytics to predict, plan and measure organizational effectiveness, will impact every aspect of the employee life cycle. Continued advances in data anonymization will also be key ... Ukraine's armed forces are ready to help the work of observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Donbas, Ukraine's Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak has said. "Ukraine fully supports the position on the free movement of the mission personnel and their unimpeded access to the facilities. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to provide support and assistance to the observers," he said during a meeting with Head of OSCE SMM Ertugrul Apakan, the Defense Ministry reported on its website on Tuesday. Poltorak said the activity of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is aimed at strict observance of the requirements of the Minsk agreements and the fulfillment of Ukraine's commitments to settle the situation solely through political and diplomatic means. In turn, Apakan noted the Ukrainian army's assistance in ensuring the security of the mission, as well as efficient cooperation with representatives of the Ukrainian side in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC). The premise for peace is a ceasefire. The main goal of the SMM is to establish peace in Donbas, he stressed. Apakan also said that the well-established communications with the Ukrainian military are of great importance for the observers' work in Donbas. The United States is called the "land of opportunity." But economists say the American dream is actually much easier to achieve in Canada. When U.S. President Donald Trump announced his election bid, he claimed "the American dream is dead," The Washington Post reported. Advertisement On the latest episode of the "Freakonomics" podcast, economist Raj Chetty explained that Trump's claim might be true but that opportunity might have simply moved north. "Youre twice as likely to realize the American Dream if youre growing up in Canada rather than the U.S.," Chetty said. Chetty explains intergenerational income mobility. Article continues below. When it comes to intergenerational income mobility when a generation makes more money than the one before it Canada is near the top of the chart. Advertisement According to The Conference Board of Canada, the U.S. is ranked 11th of 13 peer countries, while Canada is ranked fourth. "If there were no intergenerational mobility at all ... all poor children would become poor adults and all rich children would become rich adults," the study explains. Mobility is measured by calculating the difference in earnings between a parent and their children. The more elastic that ratio is, the easier for a person to move outside of the class they were born in. "There is less relationship between a familys background in Canada and the adult incomes of that familys children. Only 19 per cent of a familys disadvantage is passed on to their children. This means, for example, that if a family earns $10,000 less income than the average, the children will earn $1,900 less than the average." In contrast, a family in the U.S. earning $10,000 less income than average would have children that earn $4,700 less meaning a child from a poor family will have twice the success in Canada than she or he would in the U.S. Advertisement "Many Americans may hold the belief that hard work is what it takes to get ahead, but in actual fact the playing field is a good deal stickier than it appears," writes University of Ottawa economics professor Miles Corak, in a paper on income mobility in the U.S. One of the reasons Canada has such higher income mobility than the U.S. might be racial integration, Chetty suggests. Segregation seems to correlate strongly with differences in opportunity, the economist told Wired magazine, noting that infrastructure and education also play major roles. The U.S. isn't the lowest on the list. The U.K. had the worst class mobility out of all countries studied by the conference board, and while the U.S. opportunity gap has plateaued, the one in the U.K. is actually getting worse. Advertisement OTTAWA Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Lemieux is lashing out at what he calls chronic political correctness, saying Canadians shouldnt be forced to refer to transgender individuals with gender-neutral pronouns or face fines and other penalties. Freedom of speech in Canada is under attack, Lemieux said in a news release Monday. Protection from discrimination is entirely different from not wanting to be offended. Chronic political correctness is strangling free and respectful debate in Canada and it has to stop. Advertisement The former Ontario MP, who was defeated in the 2015 federal election, pledged to scrap Bill C-16 if he is elected Tory leader and forms government. The Liberal legislation, currently in front of the Senate, extends protection to the transgender community through the Criminal Code and the Canadian Human Rights Act by recognizing gender identity and gender expression as grounds for discrimination. Lemieux refused to say why he is opposed to using alternative pronouns such as they in the singular form to refer to a trans person if they request it. This isnt about me, he told The Huffington Post Canada. But Jack Fonseca, a senior political strategist with the social conservative Campaign Life Coalition, said he believes Bill C-16 will bring raw persecution of Christians and people of other faiths. Advertisement It is a draconian law that requires people to say certain words that they don't believe in that even contradicts their conscience, he told HuffPost. If you believe that there are only two sexes, male and female, and you are required to affirm the philosophical idea that there are multiple genders you are being required to violate your conscience and, in some cases, your moral beliefs and religious beliefs. Freedom of speech in Canada is under attack." The Liberal party, the NDP and a majority of the Conservative caucus in the House voted in favour of C-16. Of the 40 Tories who stood opposed, only two have become leadership candidates: Saskatchewan MPs Brad Trost and Andrew Scheer. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said the bill aims to ensure equal protection to trans and gender-diverse Canadians under both human rights law and criminal law. This bill is not about limiting freedoms, but expanding them for all Canadians, she told HuffPost in an email. Discrimination undermines an individuals freedom to build a stable and successful future and deprives us all of their participation in our society. Advertisement In the Commons last October, the minister noted that with this bill, the government was saying loudly and clearly that it is time to move beyond mere tolerance of trans people. It is time for their full acceptance and inclusion in Canadian society. 'A sword for militant radical activists' Fonseca, however, insisted that the bill, rather than being a shield for those who identify as transgender, will instead become a sword for militant radical activists to go after Christians and make them pay for opposing this ideology. If this dangerous bill is passed, we will see Christians lives ruined, he said. We will see them lose their jobs, their homes. Their reputations will be destroyed. We will see Christians be buried under ruinous financial debt as a means to silence them and send an example to others. We will see people being jailed. While Lemieux believes the laws goal is to intimidate Canadians, he told HuffPost he doesnt think it will lead to incarceration. In his news release, however, he quoted University of Toronto Professor Jordan Peterson saying just that: It is wrong to jail someone for holding different attitudes or beliefs, or for simply refusing to use specific words on demand in a free society. Advertisement Peterson garnered national headlines last fall when he spoke out against the use of alternative pronouns such as they, ze or zir for trans individuals. Peterson told HuffPost he believes the legislation could land someone in jail if they refuse to pay a fine or penalties such as legal costs and are subsequently held in contempt of the court. He and Lemieux both pointed to a comment by Ontario Chief Human Rights Commissioner Renu Mandhane that refusing to address a trans person by their chosen name and a personal pronoun that matches their gender identity would be discriminatory if it occurred in a public area covered by the code, such as a university setting. This is as true today for non-binary gender pronouns like 'they' as it was for the evolution of the feminist movement..." On its website, the commission states that using right terms can be used to affirm identities and challenge discriminatory attitudes, while wrong ones can disempower, demean and reinforce exclusion. This is as true today for non-binary gender pronouns like 'they' as it was for the evolution of the feminist movement and the use of the term Ms or a married womans maiden name. While the Ontario Human Rights Code, like Bill C-16, does not specify the use of any particular pronoun or other terminology, the Ontario Commission specifically states that provincial law recognizes misgendering as a form of discrimination. The federal legislation speaks only about gender identity and expression, although Wilson-Raybould noted that courts across the country have been interpreting "gender identity" and "gender expression" for many years and in hundreds of cases. We will look at all Canadian jurisdictions, including Ontario, for guidance on how to interpret these terms, she wrote. Advertisement The governments news release defines gender identity as a persons sense of being a woman, a man, both, neither, or anywhere along the gender spectrum, while gender expression is how a person publicly presents their gender, such as through their dress, hair, makeup, body language and voice. Lemieux calls it 'forced speech' As prime minister, Lemieux said, he would strike a new legislative committee and ask Peterson to review all laws governing speech. My message is quite clear: In Canada, we celebrate free speech not forced speech, he said. Egale Canada, a charity that promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) human rights, did not return requests for comment. Also on HuffPost Millions of protesters around the world marched to promote women's rights this weekend in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday. Now, activists are looking to their next target Trump's tax returns. Trump promised during the campaign he would release his tax returns after he was done being audited. But now, his advisor Kellyanne Conway says the president has no plans to release anything, according to The Washington Post. Advertisement Trump is the only major party nominee to not release his tax returns since 1976. Protesters, looking to galvanize momentum after a successful weekend, called for anti-Trump demonstrations on April 15 a day which is usually the filing deadline for U.S. tax returns (since it falls on a Saturday this year, taxes are actually due on April 18). Trump claims no one cares about his taxes. The next mass protest should be on Tax Day to prove him wrong. Frank Lesser (@sadmonsters) January 22, 2017 I ENDORSE THIS 100%. This is the next march. This is the next demonstration. Please RT, everyone. Every city. https://t.co/lgVLknPnnG Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) January 23, 2017 Pssst. April 15 is a Saturday, and someone hasn't released his taxes yet. What do you think about marching again? #TrumpTaxesMarch Tim Eldred (@TimJEldred) January 23, 2017 Advertisement I totally support this: Next mass protest day is Tax Day. Now known as Show Us Your Taxes Day. Ali Davis (@Ali_Davis) January 23, 2017 Beau Willimon, showrunner of the dystopian Washington drama "House of Cards," weighed in, offering tips on exactly how to ensure the protests happen. "The demand is clear-cut: hard- working, tax-paying Americans want Trump to release his tax returns. We want transparency," Willimon wrote. 2. Team up with a local organization in your area that will sponsor. Work with them to get proper permits to ensure a smooth, peaceful event Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) January 23, 2017 Saturday's Women's Marches likely drew over three million participants in the U.S. alone, according to the statisticians at FiveThirtyEight. Advertisement Trump responded to the protests on Twitter, first calling out celebrity protesters, before acknowledging the role of peaceful protest in democracy. Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote? Celebs hurt cause badly. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017 Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy. Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2017 Follow The Huffington Post Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also on HuffPost An Alberta couple have been fined nearly half a million dollars after they admitted to tax evasion. Robert Dale Steinkey, 60, and his wife Terry Lynn Steinkey, 63, from Grande Prairie, said they believed taxes are a form of slavery, according to CBC News. The "tax protesters" pleaded guilty in December 2015 to evading $486,000 in federal income tax in 2007 and 2008. Along with the fine, theyll have to pay the full amount of tax they owe which is the same amount. Advertisement Robert and Terry were fined around $322,000 and more than $164,000, respectively, according to the Edmonton Sun. They also received conditional jail sentences of 22 and 18 months. Evidence provided by the Canada Revenue Agency showed that the couple belonged to the Paradigm Education Group, an organization that showed people how to structure their affairs to avoid paying taxes, according to the Sun. Paradigm taught its followers that if they declared themselves natural persons, that they dont have to pay, according to My Grande Prairie Now. Advertisement Its founder, Russell Porisky, was sentenced in July 2016 to five-and-a-half years in jail, less credit for time served after a previous conviction, for one count of counselling others to evade taxes and two counts of doing it himself, according to a CRA press release. He was also fined nearly $260,000. As of last summer, 31 people had been convicted and fined for tax evasion connected to their involvement with Paradigm. The agency warned in the press release to be wary of people who try to convince you that you don't have pay income tax. "These individuals, also known as tax protesters, not only fail to report their own earnings, but they also conspire, counsel, and promote these tax schemes." Advertisement You can all sleep easy, Newfoundland. Your "mystery dildo bandit" has been caught. A man has been identified since St. Johns sex shop Our Pleasure posted a surveillance video on its Facebook page Monday. It showed the suspected dildo thief stuffing merchandise into his jacket. The store asked anyone with information to send them a private message. Advertisement "Our Pleasure is seeking your help with the case of the mystery dildo bandit," it said. Less than 24 hours after posting the initial call for help, the store said the man had been identified and police had been contacted. Poroshenko refuses to talk to Russian journalists in Helsinki Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has refused to give an interview to Russian journalists in Helsinki. During a visit to the Finnish parliament, Poroshenko was approached by journalists of a Russian TV channel, who asked him to answer their questions, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported. In response, the Ukrainian president said: "Stop killing Ukrainians and leave our territory!" Poroshenko said that in January alone seven Ukrainians were killed in Donbas. In response to another journalist's attempt to ask a question, the president said he will not give any interviews to the Russian media until Russia stops invading Ukrainian territory. When it comes to feminism moving forward, it has to be intersectional. 'Why?' you may ask. Simple: the world is filled with far too many women of colour, with various sexual orientations and different beliefs for it to be any other way, Kelly Jensen, editor of Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World, recently told Teen Vogue. "The only way you can be truly feminist is by embracing that's how our world looks and behaves." today, my finished books arrived. this project has been a dream from start to finish. pick it up in 15 (!!!) days. #feminism #bookstagram #book #feminist #hereweare. A photo posted by kelly jensen (@veronikellymars) on Jan 9, 2017 at 11:17am PST Advertisement The book, which includes 44 contributors, features essays from actress Amandla Stenberg, author Roxane Gay, as well as transgender writer Constance Augusta Zaber, all of whom have been vocal about their feminist views. Topics covered range from makeup, to female genital mutilation, male feminism and everything in between, all from diverse perspectives. The anthology can truly come at no better time, seeing as on Saturday, Jan. 21, more than three million women protested across the U.S. in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington, with many other rallies taking place around the world. Advertisement But while some saw the movement as progressive, other activists begged to differ. Sex educator Ericka Hart took to the stage at the Philadelphia march to call out the lack of intersectionality at the protest, and many Twitter users seemed to agree as well. Proving that while the feminist movement could now be considered mainstream, it's not totally inclusive of all women just yet. If you're itching to get your hands on this new book, the good news is you don't have to wait. Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World was released today. Also on HuffPost Just a week after meeting the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry's girlfriend and "Suits" star Meghan Markle made an emotional visit to the slum communities of India as an ambassador for World Vision Canada. The 35-year-old actress and philanthropist headed to Delhi to learn about how women and young girls in the area are impacted by education and health care policies. Advertisement Markle initially planned a two week trip to the South Asian country to learn about key issues facing girls living in poverty, but cut the trip short amid security fears, Express UK reports. These children love learning and playing games at a Child Friendly Space in India! A photo posted by World Vision Canada (@worldvisioncan) on Jan 23, 2017 at 7:45am PST The actress is believed to have spent months researching and organizing the trip on her own. "She didn't want to be given notes by someone else and just show up. These are important areas of interest for Meghan and cover issues she feels extremely passionate about," a source told US Weekly. During her trip Markle met with many NGOs and even spoke with a former member of the National Commission for Women. According to Vogue India, Markle also got a henna tattoo on the trip while meeting with local girls. Advertisement Dance time. @worldvisioncan (: @gaborjurina ) #Rwanda A video posted by Meghan Markle (@meghanmarkle) on Jan 29, 2016 at 6:55am PST This isn't the first time The Tig founder has made a charity trip with World Vision. In 2016 Markle went to Rwanda to see the impact of clean water on the lives of children in Africa. Also on HuffPost Earth is getting warmer, and it's happening faster by the decade. A new NASA video visualizes the planet's surface temperatures since 1880 to show just how quickly our planet is warming. Last year was the hottest year ever recorded, breaking previous records set in 2015 and 2014. Advertisement We dont expect record years every year, but the ongoing long-term warming trend is clear, said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in an article on NASAs website. Earths average surface temperature has risen about 1.1 degrees C since the 19th century, the agency said. Most of that warming has happened in the last 35 years. The ongoing long-term warming trend is clear." El Nino, a phenomenon that can change weather patterns in the short-term, contributed to warmer weather in 2015 and the first few months of 2016. But researchers estimate that El Nino only raised the planets average temperature by 0.12 degrees C last year. Climate change is already taking a significant toll on the planet, and Canada is one of the worlds most vulnerable countries, according to the David Suzuki Foundation. Advertisement While climate change is expected to make Canadian winters milder, it will also bring extreme storms, flooding, drought, destroyed animal habitats and intense summer heat. Follow The Huffington Post Canada on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Also on HuffPost This story originally ran on Jan. 24, 2017. "If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal," the White House website declared last Friday, "then the President will give notice of the United States' intent to withdraw from NAFTA." It's that sort of brimstone rhetoric that has many in Canada (and Mexico, and around the world) worried about the Trump administration's declaration that it means to move forward with an overhaul of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Advertisement But trade isn't a one-way street, and though Canada relies more heavily on foreign trade than the U.S. does, many parts of the U.S. rely on Canada as well. Just as that nation is Canada's largest export market, so too is Canada the largest export market for 35 U.S. states, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. "The strong trade linkage with the traditionally manufacturing-focused northern U.S. states reinforces how trade with Canada supports American jobs, both directly and through supply chain employment," TD Bank senior economist Brian DePratto wrote in a report Tuesday. That's the sort of economic reality many experts are saying Canada should bring to the NAFTA table, when the time comes to renegotiate. Advertisement Here's another: There's nothing dysfunctional about the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S. Until the financial crisis of 2008-09, Canada ran a strong trade surplus with their southern neighbour (more money flowing to Canada than to the U.S.) but since that time, trade has been just about evenly balanced. And that "includes significant oil and gas exports which, even with the shale oil revolution, the U.S. could never replace with its own domestic production," wrote Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics. He noted that "Canada actually runs a deficit with the U.S. in machinery and transport equipment goods" meaning U.S. manufacturers in those sectors are more dependent on Canada than vice versa. But while Canada can bring a strong hand to the table, it can't avoid the reality that the Great White North is more dependent, overall, on foreign trade than the U.S. Advertisement Still, reopening NAFTA "should be considered an opportunity for Canada," DePratto wrote. "There are many elements of the agreement (and the overall trading relationship) that could be strengthened, and which could result in economic benefits for both nations. Jeff Chiu/AP A crowd listens to speakers a rally before a women's march during the first full day of Donald Trump's presidency in San Francisco, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) What happened on the 21st of January? Something rather special. Women all over the world organized to let the new President of the U.S.A. and his government know that women's rights are human rights. Not only did women march, they were joined by their families, friends and colleagues. Every race, gender and age could be seen peacefully walking side by side, carrying truly clever signs and posters. Humour as well as anger were in evidence. And so was truth. Advertisement Among the groups that I saw at the Toronto march was a contingent of elementary school teachers. As most people know, the great majority of elementary school teachers everywhere are women. As women, they have experienced more than their fair share of discrimination, pay inequity, and even violence in the workplace. Do teachers deserve better? Without question. But should teachers have the right to protest and then to bring their views and opinions into their classrooms? It might depend on the views and how they are expressed. Kids around the world have either participated in or have seen news about the protest marches that followed the inauguration of President of the U.S., Donald J. Trump. With any luck, they will be asking questions. How should teachers respond to such questions as, "Where you at the march?" and "Why or why not?" Advertisement Teachers, please tell your students the truth. If you attended the march, you can use this as a wonderful opportunity to tell your students about democracy. Wherever you were, someone was calling out "THIS is what democracy looks like." Why? Because democracy depends upon free expression and dissent. It is a patriotic act to stand up to authority and speak the truth. Teachers who have the courage of their convictions are at the forefront of those who can now act. They can find out what their students think, and they can encourage their students to organize and act in creative and lawful ways to get their ideas across to others. And no, students do not need to agree with their teacher's views to learn this. If a teacher was not a participant, she should be free to tell her students her reasons, or to keep those reasons to herself. She may have had personal reasons that she does not wish to share. That is not a problem. She has the right to privacy. However, to say that she disagrees with a political position is also a way of letting students know about freedom of expression and democracy. If she disagrees with the dissent, if she agrees with the positions taken by the U.S. President and his administration, she should be free to tell her students her views. However, she should not be free to demand that they agree with her views nor to disseminate "alternative facts." It is a teacher's responsibility to teach their students to be literate. This includes language, numeric, media, and citizenship literacy. Today, perhaps more than ever before, our teachers must be free to engage their students in examining what they think, what they know and how they know it. We need the next generation to challenge inequities and iniquities wherever they find them. How else will democracy survive? Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook I've been thinking a lot about what I hope to accomplish over the course of my career. My practice is unconventional, with a special focus on demographic groups lacking consistent primary care (ex; HIV+, new moms and babies, young children and families, sex-workers).. What I knew before, but now understand in a different, more profound way, it is that our experiences in childhood shape the rest of our lives. When a child's needs are not met, when they are not loved, are neglected or abused, they develop insecure attachment - early life events cause physical and physiological changes in the brain, damage that is difficult to undo. Trauma is much more common than we think, or maybe than we want to believe. Diagnoses of depression, bipolar disorder, substance use disorder, personality disorders, etc.... are prevalent, but what I've noticed, is that, if you care to ask the question, the true cause is trauma, and the symptoms are manifestations of PTSD, and other diseases (fibroyalgia, IBS, etc...) profoundly interconnected with mental health. A quick story from my own experiences. For those of you that know me, "Type A" is probably an understatement. I like to be in control. But life happens, and no matter how much you try to control it, sometimes things don't work out the way you planned. My husband and I had trouble conceiving, and once we finally did thanks to modern medicine - I thought we'd made it through the hard part. We found out that we were having twins, and figured we could plan for that. Hah. I was hospitalized at 24 weeks. We discussed with NICU about whether to resuscitate before 25 weeks. We decided to delay putting up the cribs, because I didn't think I could take them down. Suddenly, all of your priorities change. I've never cried as much as I did during those weeks. Luckily, they stayed put until 30 weeks, were born by emergency C-section, and were doing well... but there was still so much uncertainty. Becoming a mother changed me in ways I can't explain, but I never knew how deeply I could love until then. With so much then out of my control, I was told that breastmilk was one thing I could do for them, and so I was on a mission. Anyone who has struggled with breastfeeding will understand - it can be really hard. As an underproducer, I read everything and tried every supplement to boost my supply - and we exclusively breastfed. This was the hardest thing I've ever done, but also one of the things I am most proud of. The more I learned about breastfeeding, the more I learned about attachment. The older my kids got, the more I learned about the importance of secure attachment, and just how difficult it was to be a parent. The guilt, judgment, race to "have it all". I lost myself in that for a while. After coming out the other side, I realized that if I, a smart and resourceful woman, with an incredible support system struggled - how was everyone else without those supports doing it? Breastfeeding is not right or possible for everyone. Secure attachment is absolutely possible without breastfeeding. Women should feel empowered to feed their children in the way that is best for their family - without judgment or guilt. But there is absolutely nothing that compares to the feeling of nourishing your child. The hormonal, chemical, physical interplay between a breastfeeding mother and baby are so complex, and so valuable. In Canada, our breastfeeding rates to 6 months are low. Early supplementation, delays in connecting with health care practitioners, inadequate/incorrect information, and many other factors can lead mom to feel that she is not able to breastfeed. Once the child is supplemented, the need for mom to be present all the time is somewhat lessened - other people can feed baby. It might be easier for bonding to suffer. No one will care for and love your children the way you do. No one will protect them like you will. They don't need anyone else like they need you. Our clinic has a strong focus on preventative health. Encouraging healthy lifestyles to prevent and treat chronic diseases is our, and many other clinics' mission. But something is missing. We, as a society, need to do a better job of supporting parents and families. We need to break the cycle. Parents develop mental illness, and/or abuse substances to forget their own traumas, children are left with broken adults perpetuating the cycle of abuse, and they themselves eventually seek out ways to numb their pain. I think secure attachment is the ultimate preventative health strategy. I want to practice this kind of prevention - where we build community by acknowledging our own struggles and helping others with theirs. If we can improve the connection between parent and child, my hope is that the next generation will understand and practice kindness, acceptance, gratitude, and inclusivity better than we have done in the past - this will be our blueprint. The summer of 2016 saw unprecedented anger and hostility in medicine amongst physicians, politics for our Southern neighbours, and across the world. There is an ugly side of society - abuse, neglect, disrespect, hatred, and discrimination. We have been disrespectful to each other, we have been political, we have been ambitious. The outcome of the US election and events afterwards have shaken me to my core. Acts of violence, overt racism, disrespect, and the number of people who seem to think this is ok makes me feel physically ill. We are kidding ourselves if we don't think this exists in Canada. In family medicine we have a responsibility, a unique and critical role in helping shape the next generation. We are facing a crisis in primary care, and in medicine, especially in Ontario. Our system is not sustainable, wait times are increasing, patients are sicker but trust their doctors less, physicians are unhappy, burned out, and disenfranchised. The Murray Stalker Award is about leadership and advocacy, both of which we as a world need more of. I encourage each and every one of you to remember why you became a doctor, to remember those patients whose lives you have touched, and those that have touched you, to feel the responsibility that we all share for not just treating the sick, but doing all we can to help prevent suffering and keep people well. To be a leader, showing the world that in Canada, we care for, but also care about our patients and eachother. To be an advocate for tolerance, inclusivity, respect for our colleagues and our patients, but also to support those ideals in our patients right from the start. The intense battle for east Aleppo in December 2016 shed such civilian blood that it was described as a stain on the conscious of humanity. The carnage was so visceral that it whipped a storm of international condemnation and public outrage, briefly riveting the world's attention on Syria. Citizens from countries across the world demanded a political solution and clamored for the humanitarian evacuation of citizens trapped within the besieged city. Finally, after much political deadlock and finger-pointing at the UN Security Council, Russia and Turkey announced that they had jointly brokered a ceasefire deal to evacuate all remaining civilians in Aleppo. By the end of the month, Moscow and Ankara said a nationwide ceasefire deal in Syria had been reached. Advertisement Civilians have become an increasingly abused tactical chip in the Syrian conflict. But right now, more than 100,000 civilians are trapped in Wadi Barada and crying desperately for help from the international community. In a flagrant violation of the agreed-upon ceasefire, the Syrian government launched a heavy offensive on rebel-held Wadi Barada valley in the final days of December. Residents have been deprived of running water and electricity and are being bombarded by hundreds of missiles and barrel bombs. The intense campaign of airstrikes has been relentless and brutal, leaving hundreds of civilians -- including scores of children -- dead or wounded, and forcing thousands more to flee their homes. In addition to civilian deaths, the airstrikes have caused significant damage to the critical Ain al-Fijah spring and water infrastructure in the valley. The damage has left more than 5.5 million citizens in Damascus and its surrounding neighbourhoods facing severe water shortages and crippling black market jackups of more than twice the usual prices. Advertisement Civilians have become an increasingly abused tactical chip in the Syrian conflict. Both Aleppo and now Wadi Barada have demonstrated what many experts call Assad's surrender-or-starve policy: the regime blocks access in and out of rebel-held cities, prevents humanitarian corridors for evacuation or medical aid, cuts the city's power and electricity, and subjects civilian residents to heavy aerial bombings, forcing rebels to surrender the territory. Specifically targeting innocent civilians and using them for tactical leverage is a war crime. Under international law, the deliberate starvation of civilian populations as a method of warfare is a prosecutable war crime under Protocols I and II of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Blocking humanitarian access to besieged cities and failing to allow the right of safe passage through battle lines for civilians is similarly a war crime under Article 23. The United Nations has further warned that sabotaging or denying water supplies to civilians also constitutes a criminal offense under international law. Dropping incendiary munitions on civilian areas is a violation of international law, as is the use of chemical weapons like chlorine and sarin gas. International laws have been violated so repeatedly in Syria, and with such a dangerous lack of accountability, that we risk normalizing war crimes and enabling regimes who commit them. The issue is that these laws apply to international conflicts between two or more state actors, and do not extend to a conflict between a government and its people. Regardless, the international community cannot retain any shred of credibility if we abandon Syrian civilians to suffer the brunt of such brutal human rights violations. Advertisement The first priority of the international community should be the immediate protection of civilians in high risk conflict zones. International negotiations in Astana and Geneva focused on establishing peace and security in Syria in the long-term must be complemented by stronger and more concrete civilian-focused actions in the short-term. Political deadlock led to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of civilians in east Aleppo, and it is critical that this failure not be repeated in Wadi Barada. Significant public pressure can play a vital role in resolving political stalemates and expediting international action: together, the global community must demand a ceasefire to safely evacuate trapped civilians out of Wadi Barada and a humanitarian corridor to provide urgent medical aid to the wounded. But how? How do we, as civilians ourselves, move to protect civilians trapped and crying out for help in besieged areas like Wadi Barada? Widespread public pressure is a powerful tool, and should not be underestimated. In 2016, there were several examples of grassroots pressure successfully altering the course of high-level political decisions. In the United States, protests led by the Native American Standing Rock tribe and hundreds of their supporters successfully halted construction of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. In November, the Turkish government withdrew a proposed bill regarding underage marriage after it sparked widespread protests throughout the country. Advertisement Pleading ignorance to their suffering is no longer an option. In December, Poland abandoned a new law restricting media access in federal parliament after it triggered mass protests, and in November withdrew a planned abortion ban after thousands of women across the nation demonstrated against it. And in Venezuela, President Maduro postponed a currency bill after nationwide protests in December. Protests and public pressure can have remarkable results. Social media has changed the face of war. The pleas for help we witnessed coming out of Aleppo in real time had a tangible effect: civilians are no longer mass numbers of nameless, faceless people. Now, civilians have the ability to publish photos and information directly on global social media networks, documenting abuses and diarizing daily lives punctuated by exploding chlorine bombs. Now, victims of war can look us directly in the eye as they ask for help. Pleading ignorance to their suffering is no longer an option. It is our essential and profound duty to respond to civilian calls for help, to amplify and direct their demands for safety. As the beneficiaries of urgent messages and information transmitted through social media, we have the great responsibility not to allow these calls to be made in vain. It is our responsibility, as we sit safely and comfortably at home, to spread the calls for help we receive from besieged cities, and to bring these voices to the immediate attention of our elected leaders. Today, we the people must demand more from our international leaders. We must forcefully condemn inaction. We must insist on the enforcement of international laws. We must demand the protection of our fellow civilians in Wadi Barada. Together, we must demand that Syria's children are not mercilessly and brutally slaughtered in a war that is not theirs to die for. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this blog misstated that more than 10,000 civilians are trapped in Wadi Barada. The correct number is over 100,000 civilians. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Nikolaevich via Getty Images Late last month, I noticed a tabloid magazine cover that outraged me. It showed photographs of an angry-looking Kanye West and a distressed Kim Kardashian, with the blazing headline "Trapped With A Madman: Inside Kim's Twisted World With Kanye." This was shortly after Kanye had checked into hospital for a psychological evaluation. A few of weeks ago, I watched a television show in which one scene depicted the parents of the teenaged protagonist (who had been having a serious emotional breakdown) getting into a heated argument. While the mother wanted their daughter to talk to a psychotherapist, the father's said something like "our daughter doesn't need to whine about her problems to a stranger; she just needs to suck it up and move on." Advertisement I was horrified by the reckless representation of mental illness. And then last week, I came across a music video that graphically depicts the heart-wrenching aftermath of a romantic breakup, the protagonist's subsequent descent into clinical depression and his ultimate death by suicide. In the final scene, his ex-girlfriend lays down beside the corpse, appearing to contemplate a similar fate for herself as a final gesture of a grand romance. To say that I was horrified by the video's reckless representation of mental illness and romanticized notion of suicide would be an understatement. I was livid. While the well-meaning artists associated with this video wanted to use their public platform to call attention to depression and suicide, how could they have missed the glaring fact that their graphic and romanticized depiction of the topic could possibly encourage copycat suicides? Did they stop to think how somebody with a history of suicidal ideation would feel watching this? Also, had they considered how triggering the video might be for fans who may be coming to terms with the suicide loss of a loved one? One of the reasons I write about mental health (other than the fact that I am a mental health counsellor and survivor myself) is because of how mental illness continues to be depicted in the media we all consume. The media that we all absorb, and that seeps into our consciousness. Advertisement We continue to be bombarded with graphically depicted messages that either romanticize suicide in terms of simplistic Romeo and Juliet dreck, or unfairly portray those in the midst of a mental illness crisis as "mad." It gets so ingrained into our consciousness that we start believing falsehoods that keep perpetuating negative stereotypes and stigma. Can we please get back to talking about actual facts? Can we please focus on talking about mental illness in a more responsible, honest and empathic way? Can we each play our part to help end the stigma? Can we each play our part to help end the stigma? FACT People with mental illness are no more likely than the general population to commit violent acts. FACT Every day worldwide, someone ends their life by suicide every 40 seconds. In eight out of those 10 suicides, the person will have hinted it to family and friends beforehand. FACT In Canada, 90 per cent of those people who are depressed never seek treatment, despite the fact that a whopping 80 per cent of those who do respond well to it. Treatment works. Advertisement FACT Twenty per cent of all Canadians will likely develop a mental illness in their lifetime. It might be you. It might be your spouse, sibling, parent, child, friend or colleague. We can each play a part in changing how mental illness is portrayed by the media we consume. Choose not to buy those offensive tabloids with salacious headlines; for that matter, don't succumb to the clickbait online, either. Share your concerns on social media with publishers, producers and other media companies. We can choose our words carefully in our everyday conversations. We can stop using the words "crazy" or "mental" in a derogatory way. We can stop referring to people by their mental illness. Instead of saying "she is so OCD," try "she has OCD." Instead of "schizo," try "person with schizophrenia." Telling someone who has clinical depression that he can "get over it" if he would just "suck it up and get through it" is minimizing how he feels. Try offering a listening ear instead, and open with "I'm sorry you're going through such a difficult time; how can I help?" Advertisement I want nothing more than to live in a stigma-free world that has empathy and understanding for people battling mental illness. But until that happens, I will keep speaking out loud and proud on the subject of mental health. What's one thing you're going to do to keep the conversation going? If you are are in the midst of a serious emotional crisis and are feeling suicidal: Understand that depression is a serious disturbance in thoughts, feelings and perceptions that is severe enough to affect your day-to-day functioning. It requires immediate professional treatment. Depression is not something that you can just will away with a stiff upper lip or a pithy mantra. If you can't think of an alternative besides suicide, it's not that solutions aren't available, it's that you just haven't yet found the right treatment for you. Make an appointment with your family doctor and follow your prescribed treatment plan. Get support from your social circle; tell a loved one you trust how bad things are for you. Caring friends and family can be the lifeline you need to lift you up. They love you and want to help you. If you're in Canada and are feeling suicidal, contact your local suicide prevention crisis centre for immediate support. You are not alone, even if your suicidal thoughts may lead you to believe otherwise. Advertisement You are not alone, even if your suicidal thoughts may lead you to believe otherwise. If you know someone who is depressed and/or suicidal: Suicides can be prevented if each of us became familiar with the clinical warning signs of distress. Has your loved one's mood or behaviour changed recently (withdrawal, anger, restlessness, hopelessness, helplessness)? Has s/he been having work or school performance issues? Is s/he using drugs or alcohol to cope with the distress? Has s/he talked about having suicidal thoughts? Talk to your loved one openly, and listen non-judgmentally and empathically. Ask if they are suicidal and if so, whether they have a plan. Ask them what you can do to help. If they are in the midst of an acute suicidal crisis, do not leave them alone. Call 911 and/or your local suicide prevention crisis centre for direction, and escort your loved one to an emergency room immediately. Once the crisis has passed, help them find follow-up professional help in the form of medical and psychological attention. A trained counsellor will help your loved one improve their mental health by teaching them to develop a balance in all aspects of life, including physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This January 25, Let's Talk to raise awareness and help end the stigma around mental health. On Bell Let's Talk Day, Bell will donate 5 more towards mental health initiatives in Canada, by counting every text, call, tweet, Instagram post, Facebook video view and Snapchat geofilter. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: Advertisement OcusFocus via Getty Images young desperate and depressed freelance worker or student woman working with computer laptop alone late at night in stress suffering internet bullying victim of social network Indigenous people are subject to racism, whether they are professors, authors, award winners, self-made or struggling. Our voices won't be silenced. Indigenous women have been subject to a gross amount of pushback online from white people within our communities. I say: name your culprits and give them the exposure they desire. Enter Ken Chapelle, a commenter on Huffington Post from British Columbia, Canada. He responded to an article of mine articulating how racism and stigma follow indigenous women, no matter their sobrieties, jobs, identity or humanity. Advertisement He stated that natives need to see themselves as they were when white men showed up. He gave a history lesson full of useful alternative facts, like "North American natives were centuries behind Europeans" and that we were basically a primitive culture, standing around with spears in our hands. He said we should be grateful white people came into power. A misguided statement, unfamiliar with residential schools, the scalping of indigenous people, and forced sterilization, sexual abuse and relocation. The thing is, I don't care to redeem indigenous people to Ken. Ken wants our devotion to his superior race, and he'd appreciate if we'd go back to being primitive. But I'm not sure he's aware that we had confederacies and leaders who directly influenced American politics. We were healers with the capacity to treat hemorrhages; we made surgical instruments, and that list is endless. But it's important to also note that without our knowledge of the land, housing, irrigation systems and plant life, the first colonies would have starved to death. The thing is, I don't care to redeem indigenous people to Ken. Because it's not important to me to prove indigenous people are smarter or more morally righteous. I honestly prefer us to have a truthful history that acknowledges we were not the wise, mythical, noble or romantic Indians that people like to see. It's more important for me to simply say that all humanity deserves consideration and study. Learning is a gift. Your Canadian school system has failed you. Enter Marylou Hildebrandt, a Huffington Post commenter from Saskatchewan. In an article on indigenous women and forced sterilization, Marylou stated she knew a few indigenous women who are alcoholics and have children with fetal alcohol syndrome, and those women keep having babies who were put into foster care. Advertisement That's awful and inconceivably unethical. It's the Canadian government that has perpetuated the racist ideology that forced sterilization is a charity to indigenous women. The government's paternalism and inability to deal with generational trauma and generations of injustice and murder proves they deserve our mistrust. As citizens, we have the obligation to be better than our institutions, and promote human rights. It's our duty as community members. Forced sterilization is unethical, and women need to acknowledge that truth. There were honestly too many women who encouraged the forced sterilization of indigenous women to name. So, I think it's important to see their words as propaganda, as the rhetoric of genocide. The most disturbing comments I've seen came after the Women's March in DC. Women discussed their experiences at marches where white feminists yelled in their faces, asked them to be quiet, and disrespected their cultures, practices and voices. When indigenous women spoke out, white women took to harassing them on Twitter, explaining it wasn't their fault, that it's being divisive to be critical, that indigenous women should put their complaints aside for the greater good of all women. Advertisement A woman has the right to give testimony and her narrative to the world, and nobody has the right to negate her pain and experiences with racism. White feminists, especially, could benefit from listening to these stories and trying to empathize with an indigenous woman to make their community stronger, more impactful and respectful. She was told to love others, that it's not always about colour, that the people insulting her were "at least trying." White supremacy is a white woman chiding indigenous women for not being the "right type" of token Indian. We should be soft instructors, guiding racist women into the light. The onus falls on us every time. But I can't teach you humanity, empathy or compassion, because those things are developed from childhood on, and I'm not your mother or your father. And you don't pay me to teach you anything. White feminists have been on the defence. When a Twitter user named @penny_bernath stated indigenous women should not assume white people need an education on empathy and how to be an ally, I stated that all of us are working to become better allies. It's true. We constantly have to stay in tune with our allies and the conversations happening day-to-day to better serve people. She actually shushed me, and said I was vindictive, in response to the kindest statement I've made on the topic. Essentially, some of these white feminists are gaslighting and trying to facilitate conversations that they should be sitting in for. Advertisement @HuffPostCanada@TereseMarieM put down the bottle stop having babies early and get a job Nova (@Nova80157112) January 11, 2017 The worst of all was a man who read my work on violence against indigenous women and said we should put down the bottle, get a job and stop having babies. I asked @Nova80157112 for his name, because integrity is putting your name next to your beliefs, and he asked for my home phone. When I provided it, he didn't call or harass me again. That's the thing with anonymous racism, when it becomes real they're shook to their cores, unable to even confront a small woman like me, unable to even give a name or have a conversation. Indigenous women should rise up, tell our stories and name our culprits. We must continuously remind them that their rhetoric is flawed and we can only continue to dismiss them until their words are based in things like facts, empathy, gratitude and community. It will take me a lifetime to name every one of my culprits, but it's worth it to take a load off, even for a moment. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook Also on HuffPost: The men's grooming revolution is something which has enjoyed quite a lot of air time over the past couple of years, with more men than ever before becoming a dab hand in the world of concealer, cutting it like David Beckham himself in the skin care stakes, or creating true beard envy with a perfectly formed facial forest. If however, you're a guy who feels as though he's missed the last train ride to modern 'man-ville', let me tell you that the skin care circus is still in town and gentlemen, it's well worth sticking around for. The not so ugly truth is that more men than ever before are learning how to tighten up their grooming game, whilst loosening the purse strings in the process, with the average UK man expected to spend 60-65 a month on keeping up his appearance in 2017. Whether it's blending it like Beckham in the cosmetic stakes, or focusing on anti-ageing products to restore a bit of order in the bathroom, this spending figure is sure to further explode, as men further fine tune their needs. Whilst the men's skin care market becomes ever more saturated with half-hearted brands, keen to make a quick buck, there still remains a treasure chest of true stalwarts, that well and truly deserve their place amongst the industry's elite. If you're a guy trying to get a grooming grip, or simply wish to enhance your current complexion's performance, there are certainly a few golden rules you should follow, as you develop a very particular set of skills, in the bathroom at least! Advertisement Like some men, you may feel emasculated by the intensity of your new grooming routine, but with the results of a few strategic points in the right direction , yielding triumphant success, it won't be long until you're cutting it with the best and feeling in tip top shape. So grab a beer, not a protein shake and come with me... Visit a Men's Grooming Salon One of the keys to confidence boosting results and unbelievable progression in the bathroom and beyond, is simple and effective skin and hair maintenance. Maintain your brand new grooming standards by scheduling a visit to your local male orientated salon, no longer than every fortnight. Men's salons, such as Peter Joannou Male Grooming Brighton and Ted's Grooming Room London, provide a tranquil setting for men in need of ultimate restoration and there are plenty of places alike dotted around the UK. Helping to maintain a clean cut hairstyle, tidy facial hair and good looking brows are just some of the advantages of taking out a little insurance policy at the hands of these grooming gods. Men's facials are something that are also well worth adding to your agenda, as you fight for a younger and healthier looking complexion, on a day to day basis and salons such as these come well equipped. Don't be Afraid to Fake Bake In fear of looking like an extra out of TOWIE, even the most modern man airs on the side of caution when it comes to fake tanning. However, there has been a huge rise in the number of gents seeking out professional tanning services, in a bid to look fresh off the beach bronzed. If you have an event coming up, a big night out on the town, an interview, or even a date, calling upon the power of a tanning professional will leave you looking healthy, toned and naturally sculpted. Advertisement Invest in a Good Quality Daily Moisturiser One product that every gentleman's wash bag or bathroom cabinet should contain is a high quality men's daily moisturiser. Leaving the skin soft, supple and well nourished, the benefits of twice daily moisturising will be one of your biggest confidence boosters on a day to day basis. For younger guys, Jack Black's Double Duty Moisturiser is a frontrunner in this men's skin care category and for the mature man MMUK MAN's Anti-Ageing Moisturiser guarantees to tackle fine lines and wrinkles, whilst super-charging your skin's recovery and rolling back the years. Never Neglect the Forest A price can never be put on simple and effective beard care. It's important to learn your way around what beard products out there work for you, with beard Wash, conditioner and oil, all proving very popular for men trying to master the perfect facial masterpiece. One product in particular that has won several accolades, including GQ's Beard Product Of The Year for 2016 is Billy Jealousy's Beard Envy Kit, which contains three superior male grooming products to help it look its best. Conceal and Reveal A little touch up goes a long way and this is never more true than with concealer for men. These versatile little wingmen cover up a wide variety of common men's facial imperfections, including spots, blemishes, acne scaring and wrinkles. If you find yourself constantly battling with these confidence crippling blighters, then investing in a good quality male concealer may just prove to be your best ever move. Conceal and reveal a flawless complexion with the assistance of one of these and with it, bring your other positive grooming steps together, in one almighty makeover! Around a decade and a half ago, a handful of countries realised that policy relating to the sex trade was not working. While most people agree that those selling sex should be fully decriminalised, two trains of thought have emerged on how to tackle pimping, brothel-keeping and buying sex. The first approach proposed legalising or decriminalising all aspects of the sex trade including brothel-keeping and pimping. In practice, this has meant that no support is provided to those wishing to exit. This also creates a disincentive for police to address the abuse of women and girls in regulated areas. The other, the Nordic or Equality Model, is supported by sex trade survivors and activists around the world. It is based on the simple concept that all human beings are equal and proposes criminalising brothel-keeping, pimping and buying sex the fuel which sustains the global sex trafficking industry. It recognises the huge scale violence within the sex trade and, vitally, mandates financial and other support for those wishing to exit. Advertisement Those countries which have attempted to decriminalise or legalise pimping, brothel-keeping and buying sex have been disastrous experiments. The Netherlands and Germany have both seen huge increases in the scale of the trade and in trafficking, since both countries did this around 15 years ago. In recent years, much of this is from Eastern European countries such as Latvia, where Donor Direct Actions Latvian partner, MARTA, which provides critical services to victims of sex trafficking. The sex trade is highly violent whenever it exists and is a clear reflection of the patriarchal dynamic of those with power and privilege using it against those who dont. In this way, it is no different from any other form of violence against women and girls. A study carried out in 2007 by the Federal Ministry in Germany found that 92% of women in prostitution who were interviewed for the survey had suffered sexual harassment, 87% had experienced physical violence and 59%, sexual violence. Of the sample, around half of the interviewees showed symptoms of depression and a quarter had contemplated suicide. Those in favour of decriminalising pimping and brothel-keeping talk a lot about agency and supposed choice, but a womans lack of choice a coercive force in itself is much more dominant. In her extraordinary book, Paid For: My Journey Through Prostitution, Rachel Moran, Irish sex trade survivor and founder of SPACE International, writes that prostitution produces an environment which prohibits even the possibility of true consent. We talk far too little about those who do have full choice and privilege those who benefit from the exploitation of others. Advertisement Around the world, a global movement is gathering pace too, led by survivors and their allies, which advocates for the Equality Model. Embrace Dignity has just launched Arise, a new initiative with sex trade survivors, which aims to support women who have exited prostitution. It now wants South Africa to take this approach further and be the first country on the African continent to adopt it as government policy. There is no human rights argument for decriminalising pimping, brothel-keeping and buying sex the exploitative elements in the sex trade, which perpetuate and reinforce violence and discrimination against (mostly) women and girls. In a world where true equality exists, the exploitation of one group of people over another is not something which anyone advocating for equality should be able to accept. Lauren Hurley/PA Archive The Supreme Court today decided that only Parliament, not Theresa May, can withdraw from the treaty that makes the UK a member of the European Union of Parliament. This is a reminder of a really simple constitutional point: governments don't both implement laws and make laws; they run the country but a Parliament, with representatives from every community, sets the rules. Given that our Parliament is sovereign and derives its powers from the people - the Government must respect its ability, right and duty to make laws independently. This fundamental principle was cited again and again by Leave campaigners as a reason to leave the European Union, it is bitterly ironic to hear them now decry it as they attempt to dictate the detailed terms of a Brexit deal. Advertisement So how will I vote when a bill to leave the EU reaches Parliament for debate and decision? It is no secret that I campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union. Indeed, I took part in the televised three versus three debate against Boris Johnson, and forcefully put the case that many of the Leave side's claims were either misleading or outright fabrications, like the 350million a week for the NHS. And the Wirral, part of which I represent, voted narrowly in favour of remaining in the European Union. However, the electoral system by which we administer our democracy is one I both respect and value. It is the means by which I was elected an MP in 1992 and every General Election subsequently. It is the means by which the UK opted to remain in the Common Market in the 1975 referendum. And it is in this knowledge that I accept the result of the referendum and think it would be damaging to the most fundamental values of our democracy if politicians sought to overrule the referendum result. But a 'yes or no' referendum question has not signalled the kind of Brexit which should be pursued by the Government and it is perfectly legitimate for Parliament to have a decisive say on the kind of deal which we believe will be in our country's best interests. I remain a passionate believer in the virtues of cooperation and solidarity, both domestically and internationally. In a changing and complex world our alliances are a source of strength, succour and power, not a hindrance. It is the most isolated countries that have most to fear from developments such as the election of a protectionist, nationalist US president or a hostile nation's sabre-rattling on the borders of Europe. Another central tenet of our democracy is that a representative must always act in the best interests of their constituents. That is why my overriding priority over the coming months and years will be to help secure the best withdrawal deal for my constituents in Wallasey and the UK as a whole. One that safeguards our prosperity, civil and human rights, and Britain's role in the global order. Advertisement But in order to allow me to act as a Labour politician in the best interests of Wallasey, the Government must themselves abide by the fundamental democratic values of transparency, consultation and compromise; something that Theresa May has so far failed to do. She has shown a worrying tendency to prefer secrecy over transparency and to divide rather than build trust. The Government must now submit itself to meaningful Parliamentary scrutiny of their plans for leaving the EU so that Parliament can set out its hopes and concerns and come to a view on the best way forward for our country. I am disappointed that the Government still refuses to publish a White Paper, setting out its negotiating position, before triggering Article 50. The vote on 23 June last year did not define the precise terms of Brexit, on issues such as membership of the single market and customs union, workers' rights and environmental protections. Indeed, the terms of Brexit were ferociously debated throughout the campaign and, despite the best efforts of the Remain side, the Leave side never fully articulated what the terms for withdrawal from the EU might be. These are important matters to everyone in this country, and I believe the Government must be able to provide clear answers to our questions. If the Government does not agree to publish a White Paper then I will seek to ensure the Bill is amended to do so. Our withdrawal from the EU will, in some respects, define at least the next decade in Britain's future. It will have an effect on businesses, schools, our ability to attract talent to our universities, our wealth, productivity and international relations. It is crucial that Britain secures the right outcome for the many, not just for a few corporate mates of the Tory government. I hope the Government will respect the role of Parliament and provide for proper scrutiny and challenge. I and my Labour colleagues will continue to press the Government to ensure that we get the best deal possible. Angela Eagle is the Labour MP for Wallasey Evan Vucci/AP President Trump's rush to reinstate of the Mexico City Policy (aka the Global Gag rule), which directs the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to withhold USAID funds from NGOs that engage in a wide range of abortion related activity should not be a shock. It's hardly a surprise that Trump is no progressive, and in re-applying the gag he is simply following a tradition whereby Republican administrations adopt the policy and Democratic administrations rescind it. The Global Gag rule was enacted by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1984, although the policy has it's roots in the period immediately post Roe v Wade, when overseas organisations were banned from "promoting abortion as a method of family planning". Democratic President Bill Clinton untied the Gag in January 1993. It was reinstated in January 2001 as Republican President George W. Bush took office, and rescinded on January 23, 2009, three days after Democratic President Barack Obama took office. Advertisement It's a political game, played by administrations, that has severe consequences for women's lives. USAID is a massive sponsor of international family planning programmes, including International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International, and millions of women rely on these NGOs and on organisations like them, for far more than family planning methods. In some areas of the Global South, they are the only health care structure that exists. The last time the Global Gag was applied other donors were mobilised to help fill the funding gap. This time it's doubtful that many of them can scale up in the same way. Many European governments are already under pressure to cut overseas aid. The action shows the extent to which abortion is seen, not as a fundamental healthcare necessity for women, but as a plaything for politicians who want to posture and demonstrate their traditional, conservative commitments. Those of us who believe that women should be able to decide for themselves how to plan their families; those of us who see abortion as a legitimate and necessary part of healthcare; and, who believe that the morals and values of women throughout the world should be decided by them individually and not dictated by funders, need to raise our voices now. It's not just Trump who is the problem. Every donor who refuses to accept that abortion IS a necessary part of health care, and cannot be set apart from other methods of birth control, must be challenged. Abortion is integral to family planning because, although it is not always possible to prevent pregnancy, with the right skills and equipment, it is almost always possible to end pregnancy safely. Creating an expectation that women should plan families but denying them safe ways to do it, is simply, immoral. Abortion is a necessary back-up to contraception for a woman to have confidence that sex will not result in a baby. It's simple to understand, and just as simple to provide - when politics doesn't get in the way. Advertisement So when we are condemning Trump for denying funding for abortion, let's bear in mind that his approach is not novel. The Melinda Gates Foundation is just one of many donors that one might expect to be sympathetic to women's needs - but also refuses to fund abortion-related projects around the world. To be fair to Mrs Gates, unlike Reagan, Bush and Trump, she doesn't deny her funded NGOs the right to accept abortion-funding from elsewhere - but she does give credence to their idea that abortion is unnecessary and wrong. As did President Obama when he dropped abortion from his healthcare reform. Politicians will only stop treating abortion as a separate and negotiable part of healthcare when we stop allowing them to do it. Robert Daly via Getty Images With impeccable timing, just one day before the inauguration of Donald Trump, the Scottish Government published their Draft Climate Change Plan. No government is perfect, but in this imperfect world Scotland's willingness to set the world's most ambitious climate change targets is to be applauded. The Scottish Government is aiming to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by 66% when compared to 1990 levels over the next 15 years. The Government knows that it cannot meet these targets through a set of top-down directives, or behind people's backs without them being aware of what is being done. Instead, the Government recognises 'Public understanding, engagement and action are critical to the social and economic transformations required to achieve a low carbon society.' Advertisement That means finding a process and vocabulary that makes the global targets and science of climate change mean something to people in terms of their lives, hopes, fears and values. This is the central aim of the Climate Conversations approach. It works by providing an alternative to fact-based education (which has dominated government led public engagement initiatives until now). It is about allowing people to discuss what climate change means to them, how it will impact on the issues they care about, and what actions need to be taken from their perspective. At a time when media coverage of climate change is declining and political leaders are avoiding discussion of the issue the Scottish Government is building a national conversation about climate change. They are doing this because they realise there is no way of making the urgent and far-reaching changes needed without a broad social consensus. In the past year the number of people talking about climate change in Scotland has been growing (link to report). In this post-fact world, where technocratic debates about carbon budgets, carbon pricing and parts per million of carbon dioxide leave the public marginalised and disinterested, the values based approach to public engagement advocated by Climate Outreach is proving an effective model for breaking the climate silence. In her foreword to the Draft Climate Change Plan, Scotland's Climate Change Minister Roseanna Cunningham highlights the role the Climate Conversations model is playing in building Scotland's low carbon future, and notes that she is determined to see the Climate Conversations project continue. In making that commitment to the Climate Conversations model, Cunningham is demonstrating her understanding of the need to act on the basis of evidence-based best practice in climate change communications. Meaningful action on climate change is going to involve everybody, and all aspects of life in Scotland; 'changing the ways we get around; the ways we insulate and heat our homes; and the ways we purchase products and services to support the circular economy.' Delivering these changes in behaviours will require 'cultural shifts and major infrastructural and technological advances over the coming years.' Advertisement We developed the model through a series of workshops and pilot groups in Scotland in early 2016. The workshops and pilot groups were designed following an extensive review of existing approaches, combined with our own experience and expertise delivering climate conversations with groups from across the social and political spectrum. This is the first time our narrative approach has been adopted at a national scale, and the Climate Change Plan reports that the model is a success: 'by participating in Climate Conversations, people who do not generally talk about climate change are able to engage in the issues in a way that matters to them and are enjoying the process.' We have now begun trialling the Climate Conversations principles in India, with equally promising results. The dust has begun to settle on Theresa May's highly anticipated Brexit speech. If you read the newspapers, you'd think the UK and Theresa May are riding high, and that May's words were pitch perfect. But is that really the case? Are we really any closer to knowing what Brexit looks like, reaching a deal that will provide answers to the difficult questions many of our businesses are facing - or giving the thousands of talented people from Europe living in the UK answers about their future, and vice versa? When did Theresa May become a Brexiteer? No doubt the coverage of May's speech was positive on the whole. After dithering for a couple of months, and leaving the newspapers and the public guessing about her views, at least she came off the fence and told us exactly what kind of Brexit we are going to have. But, quite how she could morph from a supporter of the Remain camp during the referendum campaign to the Prime Minister who will lead the country out of Europe - and totally sever our commercial links with the EU - is a mystery to me. How did it happen? Was there a moment when the light shone down and told her that hard Brexit was the way to the promised land? Or did she always believe that? And if so, why didn't she tell the country at the same time Johnson, Gove, and the rest of the Brexiteers did? Or does she think as the new custodian of our government that it's her duty to deliver the wishes of the people, or at least the 51.9% who voted for it, regardless of what she personally believes in? Advertisement It's the Daily Mail wot won it I think that the Damascene conversion, if there indeed was one, has more to do with the need to cater to Brexit voters, Conservative Party members, and the right-wing media. The speech was clearly heavily targeted to appeal to that constituency, much the same way as May's speech to the Tory faithful at Conference was. I have for some time thought that the country - with due respect to newspaper proprietors Murdoch, Desmond, the Barclay brothers, and even Lord Rothermere - is actually run by Paul Dacre, Editor of the Daily Mail. As a politician, as long as you do what the Mail says you will get an easy ride, especially with the demographic that leans heavily towards the Conservative Party, and conservative views in general. The Daily Mail, and the right-wing media that surrounds it, has the ability to control and manipulate the public's opinion. If you want to appear like you're doing the right thing, get them on your side... and they will tell the public that you are. That would explain why her speech was so well-received. She did exactly what Paul Dacre wanted. She said everything that the Daily Mail, and its readers, love to hear: Britain is a great trading country. We still have an Empire on which the sun never sets. We can go it alone in this new world - just like we did in the past! We have been held back by those pesky European countries. There are countries around the world, like the US and New Zealand, that will run into our arms, and offer us trade deals. We have a bright future! Advertisement The Government even managed to speak via a backdoor in the form of Michael Gove to President-elect Donald Trump through an interview in The Telegraph. Trump almost promised we could have a trade deal, unlike that awful Obama who told us we couldn't - something which I'm sure badly backfired during the referendum campaign. This added to the feeling that everything seems to be working out. The stars have aligned, and the Government was making Brexit work. I sense there is a growing acceptance of Brexit among the public. In fact, I suspect that if there were a rerun of the referendum today, the Leave margin would be reasonably higher. After all, this time it's official policy, unlike last time when the Government was visibly split down the middle, so there was no official position, only the position of Cameron and Osborne. And whatever purported to be the official opposition is in even more disarray than last time. In fact, apart from Tim Farron, the Government has no opposition whatsoever, certainly not on the issue of Europe. Should things stay as they are, there would be no solace for Remainers were there to be a second referendum. Trumped up trade deal But how much of this should we actually believe, and how much of it is shaky PR propped up by desperate Brexiteers who are trying to give the appearance that everything is working out - helped along by a supportive Paul Dacre? Let's start with the Trump trade deal promise. It's hard to believe much of what Trump says. He is committed to delivering an isolationist policy, probably the one thing we can believe in, so rushing to knock off a trade deal with the UK could well disappear as quickly as it appeared. I would certainly not hold my breath. Do we have the experience to make this work? Secondly, the process of charming our European neighbours has hardly got off to a great start. Boris Johnson, our charming Foreign Secretary, has put his very big foot in it again, harking back to the Second World War in discussions with France and Germany. Advertisement Over the years I have spent a great deal of time in very healthy and happy business relationships with European companies and partners. You don't mention the war. It's not funny, especially to Germans. It's just downright insensitive and insulting. What the negotiation will need is subtlety, and that is exactly what is missing right now. A successful negotiation will demand that the Foreign Secretary has the command of the cultural nuances of 27 countries. Thirdly, the Government needs an expert team which has the capacity, depth of experience, and knowledge to negotiate with the EU. While the Government might currently command the support of both the public and the right-wing media, the same level of support doesn't seem to exist amongst our top EU officials and negotiators. The most high-profile evidence of this was the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's then-Ambassador to the EU, at the start of this year. We know it's hard Brexit, but there's still no strategy Finally, while it is now clear what the Government and Theresa May want, it is not clear how they are going to achieve it. They want a so-called hard Brexit with a free trade deal with Europe. But what's the strategy? Tit-for-tat won't work. It won't work to hold Europe to ransom. It won't work to tell France that if it wants to continue to sell its cheese to the UK or the Italians its Prosecco, the UK will also need market access to Europe. Why won't it? First, Germany and Merkel cannot allow the partner walking out on the marriage to have a better settlement than the other countries like Switzerland and Norway who want to sleep in the same house. And they will certainly will not want to encourage any other departures. And secondly, any deal will need the support of the other 27 members, most of whom don't sell us wine, cheese, or cars! By Claire Stead, Online Safety Ambassador at Smoothwall Mental health is a sensitive issue, and is not so openly talked about and acknowledged as it ought to be. It is quite shocking therefore, that one in four people in the UK has a mental disorder at some point in their life; that's an incredible quarter of the population, yet it is still seen by some as a 'taboo' subject. The issue has been recently raised, however, by Prime Minister Theresa May, with her first major speech of the year centred on raising the profile of mental health. In her speech, May set out plans to drive awareness and transform attitudes in the UK towards mental health issues, focusing on children and young people at the forefront. Figures have revealed young people are the most vulnerable to mental health problems, with over half of mental health issues starting by the age of 14 and 75% by 18. It is clear therefore that more needs to be done to safeguard and address the welfare of the younger generations, protecting their wellbeing in the future. Advertisement Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the care for children and young people was a "black spot" and that urgent attention was needed as the pressures of social media, cyberbullying and a big increase in self-harming was a "massive worry for parents". Schools can and should have a large role to play in this, as young people spend such a vast amount of time within their walls - it shouldn't just be left to the parents at home. It's not only a moral requirement for adults to protect their children on the web, but thanks to the changes in government guidelines last year by the Department for Education, it's now a legal one for schools to take the necessary precautions to keep pupils safe online. But crucially, they need to have the tools to do so. Youngsters today are usually one step ahead of the digital game. Often seeing web restrictions and online protection as an irritant, they try to find a way to bypass it. To combat the digital deviants in an effort to safeguard them, schools need to ensure that teachers have the skills and tools to protect children fully, digitally enabling them without risking their safety. There are tools and technologies that can work for, and not against, you. Having a context aware web filter will empower schools to prevent access to specific pages based on its content, but still permit access to particular search terms that could aid a child's development. For instance, if a student is looking for advice on depression, searching for a term like 'self-harm' could help. Advertisement Moreover, by being able to intelligently monitor keystroke activity, both online and offline, allowing visibility of conversations or content being created in chatrooms, documents and messaging apps, schools can create smart and safe profiles of its pupils. This allows accurate moderation between a one-off incident or a chain of events so schools know when to escalate an issue, catching incidents of cyberbullying or the mental state of a pupil early on. (Global Times) 08:44, January 24, 2017 Millions of Chinese netizens are cheering on a gay couple as they broadcast their journey home to tell their parents about the relationship during Spring Festival. The couple, who identify themselves as Jason and Da Chuan, began their live broadcast, named "Bring him back home: this time, he and he decided to be braver," on Monday, hosted by news site 163.com. The website broadcast six couples bringing partners home to visit their parents. Jason and Da Chuan are the only gay pair. Neither has confessed their sexual preferences to their parents, so they are facing a lot of pressure currently, said the website, adding that Da Chuan said that he cares most about his parents' opinion, and will suffer a lot if they are disappointed. Monday's show ended before they met their parents. The special couple's broadcast attracted more than 1.1 million online viewers with the majority congratulating them. "Everyone has the right to love. You have my blessings," a netizen codenamed "AbingDMNB" wrote on the live streaming page. Bringing a boyfriend or girlfriend back home to the family during Chinese Spring Festival is a tradition to indicate a commitment to this relationship, said 163.com. Coming out to parents is the most difficult step for gay people, Christina, an employee from a Beijing-based NGO, told the Global Times on Monday, explaining that many parents are still taking homosexuality as a disease and do "terrible things" to "cure" their kids. In December 2014, a Beijing court heard China's first case against a clinic offering so-called gay conversion therapy saying in its verdict that "homosexuality is not a mental illness and does not need to be cured." However, similar treatments are still available in China. Many hospitals have been found providing gay conversion treatment including electroconvulsive therapy, and another which involved injecting collagen into various parts of the body. "I appreciate their way of 'coming out of the closet', and broadcasting gay couples' difficult situation in China," a gay man surnamed Peng from Southwest China's Sichuan Province told the Global Times. "I probably will never bring any partner back home. My parents would kick us out, or something worse," said Peng. I'm just back from the small, and in truth not particularly charming, Swiss ski resort of Davos. All week it has played host to the Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, where the global elite, experts, pundits and their entourages gather to discuss the state of the world. The week started with Oxfam reminding us of the great wealth divide that exists today between rich and poor. And it ended with the inauguration of 'The Donald', a fully signed up member of the one-percent, ironically positioned as a great populist move to return the US to greatness. A bizarre week by anyone's standards. The narrative played out by the world's media, at least the dominant right wing element, has been focussed around the idea that power has returned to the people. But (spoiler alert), it has not. It has simply moved from left to right, quite far right admittedly. We are witnessing a spectacular shift from populism to nationalism. Advertisement Today the US and the UK are divided nations - the elite is still running the show, as evidenced by Goldman's spectacular return to influence in the US and Farage's fat cat banker roots. The king is dead. Long live the king! Yet despite all this and the fact that according to (competitor alert) Edelman's Trust Barometer, we have just seen the largest ever drop in trust across the institutions of government, business, media and NGOs (and in the UK, according to pollsters, apparently hairdressers are more trusted than economists), I do not despair. From my vantage point I can see a 'thousand points of light' shining out all over the world. Echoing the famous 1989 inauguration speech of George H. W. Bush, I am given heart by the thousands of activists working in global NGOs, businesses, governments and media that are driven by purpose and a relentless desire to change and improve the state of the world. It's in places like Davos, whatever you think about the gathering, that many of these experts and activists(granted... not all of them, and WEF must strive to be more inclusive) assemble. On the clear, crisp alpine nights that characterise the Alps, they shine brightly. Advertisement But unfortunately they are feint from other vantage places around the world and we must help them to shine brighter. For too long those people working for the common good have been speaking the wrong language. The time has come for them to jettison the narrative and messaging that works so well with their dinner party guests in metropolitan cities, and adopt the language of the people. That does not necessitate compromising on the subject. Experts must talk about health and wellbeing, climate change, water scarcity, economic exclusion, digital exclusion, pandemics and international development. The Global Goals is a good place to start. Adopted by 193 world leaders at the UN's annual General Assembly last year, they set out 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030. Tackle these goals head on, fight for them, and we can redefine populism. But to do that experts must find a way to make those subjects more interesting and relevant to people who have little time, understandably have more pressing problems of their own at home and are bombarded by other more entertaining things. It is often not easy to read President Trump, not necessarily because he is so smart as he often reminds us, but because he is quite unpredictable. In my opinion, one of the challenges of a Trump presidency in the next four years will be to decide whether he means what he says, or whether his narcissism will change its mind overnight. A recurrent theme of candidate Trump, also reiterated when he became President-Elect Trump, was that he would move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And unlike President Barack Obama eight years ago when his first presidential call was to Mahmoud Abbas, this new president tellingly phoned Benyamin Netanyahu instead. He also appointed as ambassador to Israel David Friedman who is an ultra-orthodox Jew planning to live in Jerusalem regardless of the decision by the US Administration. Moreover, he supports settlement activities, and will probably be as comfortable a diplomat for Israel as he would be for the USA. So what is the likelihood that there will be an attempt - not unlikely - to relocate the embassy to Jerusalem after May 2017? This is when the latest presidential waiver flowing from the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 that President Obama signed again in December 2016 citing "national security interests" expires anew. Advertisement Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and its acolytes have busily been trying to alert the Arab World and other Western leaders to the dangers of such a move by the Trump Administration. But the problem is that President Trump does not conform to orthodox politics and might well choose to tweet to the world one day after May 2017 that the embassy will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And the moves that Mahmoud Abbas and others in the Palestinian political leadership are adopting to checkmate such a move could well prove fruitless. So what will happen if such a move is indeed put into gear? I keep hearing that there will be hell to pay on the Palestinian streets. I also hear that there will also be huge demonstrations and expostulations in the Arab World. Whereas others suggest that the EU - chief funder for Palestinians - will robustly oppose this decision. There is even loose talk about the Palestinian Authority seising the ICC. I suspect that Palestinians are far too tired and much too divided to launch a third Intifada. I also do not believe that the Arab World will inevitably rise up against such a decision as many Arab leaders will quash those protests anyway. And the EU is far too enmeshed in its own flagellations to challenge a US decision. Besides, the ICC approach is long-term and that is not an available commodity for a fast-disappearing two-state solution. But even assuming that there are street demonstrations, will they make a radical difference? I don't think so. However, I believe that it is high time that the Palestinians realise they are in a difficult corner and start thinking more strategically. And the only way to do that is for them to prove that the relocation of the embassy will be even more painful for Israel than for the Palestinians. This requires a more focused decision. What could it be though? If I were advising the Palestinians, I would argue that they dissolve the Palestinian Authority in case of such a relocation of the US embassy. In other words, they should dismantle its structures and return the key for the territories to the occupying and colonising Israel. This would trigger the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and revert the burden of the occupation and its concomitant administrative and financial responsibilities to Israel. Critically, this would mean that the security coordination between Israeli and Palestinian forces would cease too. Is this not what many Israeli military officers have strongly admonished the Israeli government against? Advertisement The big question though is whether the Palestinians are willing to bite the bullet and assume the pain of such an initiative? Will they to forsake their vested interests and go for the political jugular as a non-violent option, and in the process make Israel re-consider its wholesale subjugation of another people? meme noun plural: memes an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means. an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations. The concept of the meme--credited to evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins as a term describing the spread of cultural ideas, symbols or practice--has now come to mean any unit of content that begs to be shared online. The memes we recognise on the internet are perhaps best defined as "self-replicating units of culture" spread through communities online. Most memes invoke popular TV and film media. The recogniseable 'One does not simply...' design derives from a memorable quote from the Lord of the Rings franchise. Variants usually feature the character of Boromir, with text relaying some sort of mundane realisation. Some exist in the form of hashtags--the #aintnobodygottimeforthat hashtag that appeared frequently across sites like Instagram and Twitter emerged following a news interview with a member of the US public. 'Success Kid' is another notable example. The image of young Sammy Griner was so popular that Virgin Media purchased rights to use it in a UK marketing campaign. Advertisement Others make a humorous nod to contemporary culture: one popular format depicts an 18th Century dandy alongside rap lyrics translated into Swiftian prose. "Thy bosom--put it at peace," reads one. A raft of internet celebrities, such as Josh "The Fat Jew" Ostrovsky, have built careers on finding and sharing the best. Ultimately, memes are a form of satire, and they're becoming ever more political. Just look to the recent slew of Joe Biden memes for evidence of that. But when examined more closely actually a great number of these funny memes are humorous at the expense of some position of behaviour of which they disapprove. Ever more frequently, sociologists and anthropologists have come to consider the internet meme as some sort of moral police, creating and highlighting the normative discourse. To explain this we need to understand the mechanisms that keep people in line. Memes: the internet's moral police? The notion of moral policing amounts to more than simply the declaration of values. It is also about establishing which values are, and are not, acceptable for online posts. This might range from the support of gay rights, to accusing males of hypocrisy in their relationships with women, or even asserting freedom of religion. Often these 'policing' memes report a piece of rhetoric highlighting an individual's hypocrisy with a follow-up evidence to the contrary. Condescending memes featuring Gene Wilder in character as Willy Wonka are frequently used to challenge stereotypical behaviours, while anti feminism memes are common among those that seek to highlight double standards in society groups. The rapidity with which online users spread information enhances what is referred to as contagion: when a meme goes viral. Advertisement A 2013 study indicates that persons reporting strong, effective responses to a meme showed greater intent to spread it. Anger producing memes were more likely to be spread but only when its source was an out-of-group member. They also favour extreme perspectives: a recent study from Texas University found that individuals who are socially isolated and more likely to be characterised as "on the fringe" have a greater chance at creating a successful meme. Alternatively, memes can be a way of allowing licence for behaviour of which sharers do approve of, but might not otherwise be accepted. In the instance of "body shaming" memes that make light of stereotypes, caricatures often harbour an undercurrent that makes anyone who identifies with that characterisation the but of the joke. "Tag a mate" memes are a common form. This is as much about creating a platform for sharing unconventional values as for suppressing unacceptable ones. So there are memes that are just as criminal as the cultures others seek to reprimand. One recent case is a meme featuring an image of motivational speaker Lizzie Velasquez, who was born with a rare condition in which her body is unable to store body fat. Anti-bullying activists have denounced the meme as cyberbullying, and Lizzie herself has spoken out. And political memes have always existed, though in various forms, from Barack Obama's Yes We Can to the Tories' "We can't go on like this" poster, spoofed as 'Airbrushed for Change'. Former Labour leader Ed Miliband became an unfortunate meme after he was snapped eating a bacon sandwich. Most are humorous, but there are also growing concerns that meme culture has become a dangerous form of political propaganda, narrowing the field for intelligent political debate. Policing memes themselves Mostly, meme culture, like most user-generated content on the internet, is one that is self-policing. But, on occasion, the policing of memes is more than a social concern. Advertisement Socially Awkward Penguin is arguably one of the most recognisable memes on the Internet. The blue-backgrounded image of an off-balance penguin, superimposed with text describing socially-awkward scenarios has been plastered across every social network going. It's also the intellectual property of National Geographic, who have claimed copyright infringement against those who have used their photo. In the past year, the company's licensing agency has "pursued and settled" multiple infringement cases involving the meme, it was confirmed by the Washington Post. It's not, incidentally, the first time that the copyright card has been played against a well-known meme: The viral catalogue Know Your Meme keeps a public log of its copyright takedown requests, which included everything from 'Good Girl Gina' to 'Haters Gonna Hate'. "The ensuing outrage has sparked a wide-ranging debate about what Internet creativity, ownership and culture should look like", the Post article concluded. Another warning poses if memes are to survive "we need to find a way to allow ideas, jokes and pictures to evolve and spread, without users risking a retrospective bill thanks to copyright controls." In the past few years, several agencies have sprung up to license viral videos. The creator of one hit, Duck Army, sold exclusive rights to the video to Viral Hog. The agency then brokered deals with websites and social media accounts with big followings, while unauthorised users were issued with takedown requests. Advertisement I recently met someone special and we got to know each other deeply very quickly. Probably it was because our friendship began on a different plane, free from this world of social posturing, empty chitchats and sexual overtones. It was simply a case of two souls meeting each other by grand design: we also happened to be reading the same book (Sapiens: A History of Being Human by Yuval Noah Harari) at the same time, albeit in two different languages. But right from the start, we spoke the same language, laughing about the same silly things and understanding the deeper things without the need for words. He did not have a good time in his childhood. And like many wounded souls who were wounded by a parent, he did all the 'bad' things in his youth. It is the obvious course of action. As the Franciscan friar, Richard Rohr said, "If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it". Pain is like a monster that cannot be contained. Advertisement Photograph (author's own): Flight to light, London to Phuket flight Few of us are fortunate enough to escape childhood unscathed, as childhood is the time we are most vulnerable to hurts, especially the hurt inflicted by primary caregivers (often parents). This is one of the reasons why my children's father and I are absolutely committed to making our children's childhood as safe, beautiful and magical as possible - despite the harshness of the world we live in - because we have seen enough people who are outwardly successful, yet these 'accomplished' folks are walking wounded on the inside, their lives blighted by their inability to walk away from past damage. They go on, passing their pain to others, because that is the nature of the beast. In his late 30s, this special person I write about is self-aware, reflective, gentle and deeply in touch with himself. I find that he has shown tremendous courage to face his past and evolve from it, rather than deny, run away, build walls. Totally not in keeping with the rest of his appearance, he has a prominent tattoo on his forearm to remind him always of his path towards transformation. Once we own something, we can begin to transform the beast within us into what we want it to be. Running away does not help. It could easily have gone another way with this special person - as I have seen in several others - if he had not been brave enough to transform his pain. He could have gone on destroying everything in his path, and in the process, destroy himself. Rather, he makes the flowers in his path bloom just by being the way he is. But what I find most amazing is the depth of love in him for his family. Today, he is flying home to be with a sick relative. This is something I resonate deeply with: he is not stingy with the things that matter most in life, namely giving of oneself freely still, despite past injustices that had been done to him. Of course, when you give generously, you leave yourself open to potential hurt down the line. But really, it is the only way to be, to find our own salvation in the good things we do for others in the name of love. Advertisement Photograph (author's own): Views over Patong, Phuket. Its beauty escape many people. The modern history of Russo-Turkish relations can rightly be considered extraordinary. Many historians would argue that the extent of fluctuations in the mood of the two countries' leaderships could not be compared to any Russo-Turkish war seen in history starting from 1568. Given that the two former empires have fought nearly twelve wars altogether, with the last major one having finished in 1918, it is probably not that difficult to imagine that the modern day geopolitical confrontation between Russia and Turkey would be quite logically inevitable - unless Mr. Putin ceases to be Mr. Putin or Mr. Erdogan ceases to be Mr. Erdogan. Today it is fair to assume that the major obstacles in the bilateral relations of the two states are not ideological but rather civilizational and, as it has probably always been in the history of this rather important relationship for much of Eurasia, are of clearly geopolitical shade. Modern day Russia positions itself as the cradle of Christianity and, in fact, the world's guarantor against growing Islamic fundamentalism. Turkey is, in its turn, becoming more and more "Islamized" at its own risk and peril, slowly but gradually abandoning Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's legacy. Nevertheless, it is impossible to imagine the existence of a common Eurasian economic area without the smooth participation of both Moscow and Ankara and it should definitely be without any doubt that the regional security is dependent on this important relationship. Whether it was about the Turkish attempt to control the right-bank Ukraine, numerous raids of Crimean Tatars against the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Soviets in Afghanistan or the U.S. strategic defense initiatives, Russians and Turks have always been involved with each other through the prism of their imperial interests. Advertisement If Russia could be viewed today as a returning superpower, Turkey is, on the contrary, losing its global authority due to its inability to protect itself from an unprecedented level of terror attacks which can be directly attributed to the country's involvement in Syria and its obviously weakened security services responsible for protection and safety not only of the President himself but also the rest of the nation. This leaves Erdogan rather vulnerable to internal discontent, as well as to the deteriorating global security and economic indicators. Indeed, the Turkish President has paid a lot of attention to what seems to be the greatest cleansing in state institutions in decades as a result of a military coup attempt in July last year. Apparently, the country needs a little more than a couple of months to be able to fully recreate its security structures. In 2016 alone, Erdogan's Turkey was subjected to twenty-three terror attacks on its soil, including more recently the assassination of the Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov. Given that this is already the second diplomatic incident in a row between Moscow and Ankara involving Russian victims (downing of the Russian plane near the Syrian border has not been forgiven as easily), one may wonder as to what extent a fear of terrorism could actually be a uniting factor forcing cooperation between the two parties. If one remembers the Russian media reporting about "Erdogan having used ISIS to advance his Middle East policy and suppress the Kurds" and "the Turkish elite vibrant economic ties with the terror group", the prospects for peace and cooperation in Syria between the two powers seem difficult to reach per se if not impossible. And then there are nearby Azerbaijan, Iran, Israel, Ukraine, and others who, at some point, have displayed interest in regional economic integration, but where the attitude to geopolitical ambitions of either Moscow or Ankara is not straightforward at all. As Moscow is now clearly in a better position to determine the course of events in the region, it is unlikely that it will share its trophies with anyone, certainly not with troubled Ankara. At the same time, it is not the Kurdish issue or the rights of Syrian Turkmens that, in the end of the day, constitute the actual priority for both Moscow and Ankara; and it is not about Crimean Tatars who had been continuously migrating from Crimea to Turkey during the Russo-Turkish wars and may again at some point view Ankara as protector. It is rather a question of who is going to lead Big Eurasia and rule over its massive resources, including in the Middle East. During the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2016, Putin announced the intention of Russia to create a single energy market of hydrocarbons by 2025 where Turkey could ideally play its role too. But what, exactly, should this role be? Turkey has strived to secure a status of a principal hub for East-West energy transit so presumably it could continue to deliver Russian gas to Europe. But if Erdogan chooses to compete with Putin's agenda in the Middle East, where the former reportedly wants to see a new gas pipeline stretching from Qatar via Syria to Turkey (and not from Iran for example), it is difficult to imagine how the two are going to agree on energy cooperation elsewhere. Is Erdogan going to accept the fact that the Russian henchman and Iranian ally in the region, President Bashar Assad, could stay around for probably a little longer than he imagined or will he continue pushing for Assad's removal? By supporting Assad, Russia, in its turn, hints to act as a guarantor for Middle Eastern regimes without asking for large concessions in their human rights and democracy record. On the other hand, Russia too is occasionally flirting with Kurds, and more openly with Armenians. Will Erdogan ever agree on opening borders with Armenia, which is a party to Putin's Eurasian project is another vexing question. Advertisement According to numerous reports, Russia is also willing to deploy elite Chechen battalions to Syria to defend its air base in Latakia and to fight the Islamic State. This should apparently be viewed as a message to everybody in the region that Russians are in solidarity with the terror torn Muslim world. However, the Russian act of good will constitutes a direct contrast to Erdogan's imperial ambitions and security potential in the region, since it was Erdogan who was trying on the role of all-powerful military commander in the Middle East. What his role will be in the region now remains an open question. This is especially true since the Turkish President has recently taken a more critical stance toward NATO pushing the allies to return hundreds of officers and soldiers who fled Turkey following the coup attempt in July. It is unclear how far Erdogan is going to take his criticism of Western allies, but as a NATO member Turkey has political responsibilities within the organization and has presumably been in contact with its members through security consultations. The party political broadcast has come a long way since its birth in 1924 - though perhaps the political and media landscape hasn't changed that much. The first ever PPB in the UK were made on radio for the first general election of that year. The rules were, each party had up to 20 minutes and each broadcast would be entirely unedited. The three major party leaders, Herbert Asquith of the Liberal Party, Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party and Ramsey MacDonald of the Labour Party each made a speech over the airwaves to the exact time allowed. Baldwin won the election and formed the first ever Labour government, but his victory was shortlived and he lost a vote of no confidence. Another election was called for the November - and 'fake news' is thought to have influenced the outcome. In another echo of our times, the Russians were believed to be behind it too... Advertisement The Conservatives then had a landslide victory over Labour and the result was said in part to be because of the 'Zinoviev letter' which was published in the Daily Mail in the week running up to the election. Supposedly written by Soviet official Grigory Zinoviev, it claimed to be a directive from the Communist International in Moscow to the Communist Party of Great Britain and said that the election of a Labour government would lead to the radicalisation of the working class. It was a forgery - but the damage was already done. Sound familiar? PPB were made by the BBC themselves for the first few decades under its public service remit and because, well, it was the country's sole broadcaster for quite some time. Being live, politicians were often cut off half way through a sentence, or else they piled through their points short of the allocated time, leaving flustered interviewers struggling to fill until the broadcast ended. Now of course, all the parties commission people outside of the main broadcasters to make their highly-professional broadcasts for them - with some hilarious and downright weird examples that are a million miles from a 20 minute rambling speech. Advertisement Here are some of the weirdest - and downright funny - PPBs of all time... 1. The Green Party's bizarre 'boy band'. Less the X Factor, more the 'but why?' factor... 2. Here's the Greens again with their 'Grown Up' politics PPB from last year. No irony there with them slinging playground insults: 3. This John Major one from 1992 is just downright bonkers. It's like Major: The Movie! But just sees him driving around London streets seemingly surprised that not all old houses have been razed to the ground as per Tory inner city policy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=xp94BNovs0o 4. PPBs go comedy noir in this rather funny Labour one from 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Fwf28ppns 5. The late, great Pete Postlethwaite in this decidedly odd and rather terrifying one from 1997: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyaoRXAsGGo 6. Or how about this Not The Nine O'Clock News spoof from 1980? You could argue that it's not too far removed from some of the ones made in all seriousness these days... Advertisement It's just a shame I can't find footage of the 1955 Tory party PPB, one of the first on television, in which Harold Macmillan was trying to show how personal saving had increased 30 fold under the Conservatives by comparing two money boxes. However, the props designer didn't realise dimensions were cubed. Instead, he made a money box that was 27,000 times bigger than the other that could barely fit in the TV studio... Babies are a blessing but their timing isn't always ideal. Over the last year I have been heavily involved not just in my own pregnancy - which ended earlier this month with the birth of a beautiful baby boy - but also in following the birth of a new trade deal between the EU and Canada. As a concerned new mother I'm worried that little Natan's first word might be 'CETA', so much has the acronym been uttered around him while he was still in the womb. But as a politician, I can only be frustrated that my recent motherhood means I will miss the all-important CETA vote in the European Parliament's trade committee on Tuesday. This should not however prevent me from making my position known. I would vote against CETA if I could. Advertisement Before going into the reasons that motivate my position, I cannot avoid acknowledging the elephant in the room. I represent the North East of England in the European Parliament, and Brexit certainly adds a layer of complexity to an already complex deal. But if anything, Brexit only adds to the importance of the CETA vote for the UK. Labour wants to keep the closest possible relationship with the EU, and this means in particular remaining part of existing EU trade deals. But if we end up out of the EU's common trade policy as Theresa May wants, CETA could very well become the model for a future EU-UK trade deal as it is the most advanced EU trade deal ever negotiated to date. In such circumstances, we would need to be extremely clear on what we can and cannot accept. In both cases, CETA remains extremely relevant to the UK. Trade agreements are supposed to be about jobs and growth, but CETA isn't. No one, not even CETA's advocates, is arguing that it will bring significant gains in this respect. The European Commission, which has been negotiating the deal under a mandate from all EU trade ministers including the UK's, has found that CETA would generate only very modest gains: between 0.03 to 0.08% of extra GDP for the EU as a whole over the next ten years. This figure does not take into account the distribution of these diminutive gains. We know from experience that trade deals can have a negative impact on some sectors or sections of the population even when the overall outcome is positive for the economy as a whole. With CETA, the gains would be concentrated on specific industries where trade barriers remain high: e.g. cheese, spirits, machinery. In this zero-sum game, expect other sectors to lose out. Advertisement The real motivation behind CETA is not about increasing trade to boost the economy. It is about setting global standards. Labour MEPs, who I have led on these negotiations, have focused on three key areas: public services, labour and environmental standards and investment protection. CETA is the first EU agreement negotiated according to a negative list for services. This means that everything not explicitly excluded is deemed to be included (as opposed to a positive list, where only the committed services need to be mentioned and everything else is excluded). This is a delicate method, one that has long been opposed by European social democrats because it is extremely risky: if public services are not all excluded in an absolutely watertight way, then all sorts of unintended consequences can ensue - including not being able to renationalise specific services that may have been privatised. In CETA, there is a broad exemption for public services but it is subject to specific national reservations. The UK government has left thin wedges on the table, such as ambulances, private hospitals and care homes. Other EU member states are better protected. For example, free trade supporting countries, like the Finnish, German or Czech governments, all have broad exemptions that cover all public and private health, social services and education. Following years of campaigning by public services users, providers and employees, the CETA negotiators finally recognised that this was an issue and adopted adeclaration to be annexed to the agreement. This declaration adds some clarity but there are still broad concerns on how public procurement would be covered by CETA's investment protection chapter and how certain quality criteria such as minimum staffing levels could still be enforced under the agreement. NHS campaigners and others across our public services, therefore remain opposed to CETA. I think they are making an absolutely valid point: we cannot afford to take any risk, however small it may be, when it comes to our public services. Turning to labour and the environment, I can only regret that CETA is a massive lost opportunity. Relevant provisions in the agreement are all aspirational, when trade deals should be used to enforce concrete progress. The only recourse for workers and their unions or NGOs in case of violation of international labour of environmental commitments are virtually powerless consultative committees, with no possibility for sanction. Again, this shortfall has also been recognised by the negotiators in the declaration mentioned earlier. They have committed to improving the enforcement of these measures but without any detail. We are being asked to accept something that hasn't been negotiated yet. Advertisement There has been however some progress made. Under pressure from the labour movement both in Europe and in Canada, and thanks to the outcome of the latest Canadian general elections, the new Canadian government has ratified important international conventions on labour rights that it had not subscribed to before. This is good, but is it enough? If CETA is about setting global standards, then we would be settling for pretty weak ones. I am not sure this would be terribly useful in trying to convince emerging economies such as China that they need to adopt stronger protections for workers or the environment. Last but not least, investment protection is by far the most politically sensitive issue in CETA. A first version of the deal was subjected to a public consultation organised by the European Commission on ISDS, or 'Investor-State Dispute Settlement'. I50,000 people responded - setting a historic precedent for EU public consultations- of which 97% of respondents rejected the CETA proposal to set up a parallel, arbitration-based judicial system for multinationals. In subsequent negotiations the text was amended to make proceedings more transparent, to set some rules on how arbitrators would be selected and to commit to creating an appeal mechanism. This was renamed ICS, for 'Investment Court System'. In essence, it is still separate justice for multinationals. It continues to provide extra rights to foreign investors over their domestic counterparts. Controversial rights granted to foreign investors under the old ISDS system remain in the new proposal, such as fair and equitable treatment and protection against loosely defined 'indirect' expropriation. ICS even introduces new potential problems such as the notion of an investor's 'legitimate expectations'. The Belgian, Slovene and Polish governments have all conditioned their support for CETA on further changes to the ICS. Belgium actually explicitly stated that it will veto the deal if ICS is not amended. In 2015, the European Parliament adopted a resolution laying out its vision for a reform of investment protection. It went already too far for Labour MEPs, who voted against the resolution out of complete opposition to giving any greater rights to foreign over domestic investors. But ICS in CETA does not even match the criteria set by the European Parliament. And the concern does not stop with CETA, as the Commission sees ICS as the model text for all future EU trade deals - including, in all likelihood, a possible EU-UK trade deal. Advertisement Confronted with all these serious concerns, some proponents of CETA have turned to geopolitical arguments. Stuck between an aggressive Chinese government and a Trump-led America threatening to turn the clock back on transatlantic cooperation, the EU would have no other choice than to seek new alliances. Some even argue that failing to ratify CETA could be the last nail in the EU's trade policy coffin, following the collapse of the TTIP talks. I don't think there is much of a risk in this respect. There are plenty of other EU trade deals currently on the table. Besides, the relationship between the EU and Canada is already strong and does not need a new trade deal to thrive. The vote in the UK referendum was primarily a reaction against the unfair impact of globalisation, and our answer cannot be yet another unfair trade deal. Andrew Bret Wallis via Getty Images This is the speech I gave at the Stop Trump rally in Manchester on Friday, January 20th, 2017, joining with local activists and people around the world standing up for women's rights, diversity and peace: "I stood as a Labour candidate in the 2014 European elections to oppose the racist BNP leader Nick Griffin and with the help of organisations like Stand Up To Racism, Unite Against Fascism and Hope Not Hate, I won that election, sending a strong message that Manchester and the North West of England is a region that celebrates diversity. By working together we made sure that the BNP was discredited and a spent force in politics. Now I work with grassroots anti-racist campaigners not just in the North West, but across Europe and the world, opposing the politics of hate and division and promoting a culture of peace, tolerance and mutual respect. Advertisement Like Nigel Farage, Trump is a con-man and it is no surprise that Nigel and Donald are best-mates. Both these men are anti-women, brushing off their past history of sexist remarks and misogynistic behaviour as light-hearted locker room fun. But the truth is that these are men who would roll back women's rights and limit our participation in society. We must stand up against them for the sake of all women who went before us and for all those who will come after us, for all women everywhere not just those in the USA, UK and Europe, but for all our sisters. Farage and Trump are also openly racist and Islamophobic, scapegoating migrants and urging supporters to turn their backs on the humanitarian crises playing out on our borders and across large parts of Africa. They are no friend to the women and children under attack in Syria, or the refugees risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean. They spurn the dispossessed families freezing to death in the Balkans, they are contemptuous of the Latino children who risk their lives jumping on trains trying to reach a better life in the USA. The alt-right's solution to mass migration is simply to construct fences, walls and borders, ignoring our own part in the factors that drive global inequality and create wars. Farage and Trump pose as anti-establishment figures but they are no such thing. They have both made their fortunes by exploiting markets (or inherited it, in Trump's case), using unscrupulous practices to line their pockets whilst others suffer from market failure, losing their jobs, businesses and homes. Their relationship with dodgy right-wing media moguls and the scurrilous populist platform Breitbart, (which has links with the Klu Klux Klan) demonstrates their true allegiances and it is most definitely NOT to the ordinary working man or woman in the street. UKIP are the BNP in suits and Trump is the enemy of the people and the planet, as demonstrated by the appointment of White House advisors such as Stephen Bannon, a founder of Breitbart News and mastermind of Trump's election campaign. Advertisement Whilst many countries in the world are coming together to fight huge global challenges such as climate change, the Trump and Farage camp openly refute that the Arctic is shrinking and that sea levels are rising. They oppose measures that would mitigate environmental damage to the health and wellbeing of our communities and support instead the interests of big business who pollute the earth and dispossess indigenous people. It is time to expose these men and their friends for what they truly are - a danger to civilised and sustainable society. Most worryingly Trump will now have his finger on the nuclear button. His record of erratic behaviour, his misunderstanding and mishandling of international diplomacy, his threats to the UN regarding Israeli settlements, all prove that the business of making America great again might be at the expense of more conflict, more war, possibly at the expense of an apocalyptic annihilation of life on Earth. Meanwhile, 127 nations have signed the Austrian Pledge that recognises that any nuclear detonation - either by accident or design - could unleash a humanitarian disaster of unthinkable proportions, and we in the European Parliament have passed a resolution to support the imminent UN process that will make nuclear weapons illegal. Under Trump the USA is out of step with the rest of the world, and we can say the same about the UK under Theresa May, Israel under Netananyahu, Russia under Putin, and a host of other world leaders from nuclear-armed states who jostle for position as top dog, belligerent and posturing, playing into the hands of the wealthy arms manufacturers rather than investing in education, health, social care, youth, the future. Newsletter sign-up HuffPost UK Daily Brief Sign up and we will email you daily with the best of our political and news coverage while also giving you a taste of our most-popular lifestyle, opinion and personal blogs. epicurean via Getty Images No, no, no! Let me make it clear; I have not had sex with Simon Hoare, Conservative MP for North Dorset. I shall leave that to Mrs Hoare. I want to talk about why Simon Hoare MP voted against an amendment which would make Sex and Relationships Education in schools mandatory. It seems that behind Mr Hoare's resistance was a fear that the amendment did not afford enough protection for faith schools who oppose homosexuality. His view is that a new clause is required: Advertisement "To provide a legislative comfort blanket, for want of a better phrase, the new clause needs to include a clear statement that we are talking not about promotion, but about education, and where sex education is delivered in a faith school environment, those providing the education should not feel inhibited about answering questions such as "What is the thinking of our faith on this particular aspect of sexuality?" I was educated in a faith school. A boarding convent school in the wilds of Essex. At fifteen, I had no idea what a clitoris was (though I'd seen it on a diagram), couldn't tell you what virginity meant, (but knew that it must be really, really important because we never prayed to Mary without identifying her as a virgin first) but had been shown the anti-abortion film, 'The Silent Scream' and knew that terminating a pregnancy was wrong and damnable. The onset of periods meant I had to ask my mother about what was going on 'down there'. She shut the door to the sitting room and closed the lid of the piano (to save it from the distressing news about my body) before whispering an explanation. My English teacher told us that all pornography was filthy and exploitative and used by disgusting and inadequate men. Advertisement In this faith world that I was inhabiting, there was no mention of homosexuality whatsoever. Let's be clear about what a faith school does. It indoctrinates children. I left that school with a profound and damaging sense of shame about my body and a message that sex, of any description, was sinful. Later, I trained as a teacher. I visited schools in the Midlands where there would be many empty seats in the classrooms. These were the seats belonging to girls of Pakistani or African origin who would be spirited abroad for weeks on end, back to the lands of their parents. For reasons of 'cultural sensitivity' their absences were not chased up. Things have thankfully changed now and we do challenge absence, but Mr Hoare would do well to remember that, thanks to that 'cultural sensitivity', so very similar to the religious sensitivity he now propounds, British girls were married off as teenagers to strangers in lands far away. Other British girls suffered genital mutilation. Mr Hoare is concerned that Priests, Rabbis, Imams and the religious will feel their ideologies threatened by the imposition of sex education, that homosexuality will be 'promoted'. Thus, he has chosen to deny the thousands of children in those schools access to information which will safeguard them, reassure and educate them in this most confusing of areas. This amounts to discrimination. It is anti-democratic. I doubt Mr Hoare has ever had to help a teenage girl get the morning-after pill following a disastrous first sexual experience. Advertisement I doubt he's ever had to listen to a twelve year old try to explain how she has been abused by her mother's boyfriend, but not having the language to do so. I doubt he's had to comfort a young gay man self-harming because he is ashamed of his sexuality. Teachers and youth workers confront this damage day in, day out. Little wonder our children's mental health services are overwhelmed. The messages we send about sex and sexuality are essential if our children and young people are to develop healthy relationships with themselves and others. We cannot have a situation where our boys are hearing 'Grab 'em by the Pussy' from the leader of the free world and nothing from their educators. We all need to talk about pussies, Mr Hoare. Shame is a terrible and unnecessary concept. I have women friends whose children have never seen them naked. I have girlfriends who think female masturbation is dirty. I know a headmaster who refused to use the word 'vagina' in front of his eight year old daughter for fear of 'destroying her innocence'. Adults continue to write damaging code for our children. Advertisement As a survivor of a faith school education, I implore Mr Hoare to think not about God or the powerful religious agencies overseeing faith schools but to consider the children. They are the most vulnerable and least powerful. Their world is ever more complicated, ever more sexualised. Mandatory sex education is the only way to help them understand the messages they are receiving. Sex is a wonderful part of our humanity. Who we do it with is a matter of personal choice. Our bodies are to be respected, loved, enjoyed and celebrated. (Global Times) 08:46, January 24, 2017 President Donald Trump meets with business leaders on Monday in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. Photo: AP As the US is reeling from the schism deepened by Donald Trump's rise to power, the Chinese public on both ends of the leftist-rightist political spectrum have found their own ways to read into the new US president. As the Chinese try to understand the unprecedented US president, the populist tone in his inauguration speech that claims to "give the power back to the American people" has resonated with the revolutionary catchphrases of late Chairman Mao Zedongamong the conservatives. On the other hand, Trump's pragmatism seen in the statement that he does not seek to impose Western ideology on other countries and his prioritizing development of the domestic economy, has led some people to liken him to reformist Chinese statesman Deng Xiaoping, who transformed China by putting aside ideological struggles and pushing forward with reform and opening up. "Every man sees this world according to his own experience. And Chinese people's political experience is largely based on his or her interpretation of Mao and Deng's legacies," said Jin Canrong, associate dean of the Department of International Studies at the Renmin University of China. "Trump's dissatisfaction toward bureaucrats and interest groups and his direct call [on Twitter] for the public to rebel against the establishment does remind Chinese people of Mao. But his focus on economic development, his lack of interest in ideology, and his drawing back from global input bear some similarities to Deng," Jin said. Ever since Trump's inauguration, the Chinese public has been picking up familiar tones that remind them of Mao Zedong Thought. However, Mao's divisive legacy in today's China has landed Trump with both praise and criticism. "The best parts of Trump's speech are imbued with Chairman Mao's thoughts The historic significance of Trump's speech is no less than the Declaration of Independence," said an article on WeChat public account Canghaishibei, with an apparent leftist inclination. The article said Trump's address has "class struggle" at its soul, although the words were not explicitly stated. The speech is thrilling for many in China, it claims. Mao critics in China have criticized the speech, with some saying they were deeply disappointed as Trump's populist rhetoric reminded them of the Cultural Revolution(1966-76). Over the weekend, memes began to circulate on Sina Weibo. Trump was photoshopped into Cultural Revolution-themed posters, dressed in a Mao-style suit and standing against a background full of red flag-waving proletarian workers, peasants and soldiers. The cover of the little red book in the posters was changed to read The Art of the Deal, authored by entrepreneur Trump. Chinese audiences were also surprised to find Chairman Mao's shadow on both camps in the US. A picture went viral on Weibo showing American protesters holding signs that read "Women hold up half the sky," a famous Mao quote, in the Women's Marches across the US. During an anti-Trump protest in Chicago last year, demonstrators were captured in a photo carrying a red flag with prints that read "Dare to struggle, dare to win," another Mao slogan. "Maybe Mao thoughts are part of our soft power and, like it or not, his quotations have been successfully exported," an online user commented. 'Student of Deng' Meanwhile, other online posts have also been searching for Trump's inner connections with Deng. "If we look at Trump without pre-established impressions, we can see that a theme of Trump's beliefs is to focus on the US' own affairs From this perspective, Trump is truly a student of Deng Xiaoping," reads a paper released by the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies under the Renmin University of China in November. It called on people to transcend discussions of populism or other questions set by the West and analyze Trump from a new perspective. "Both Trump and Deng are at a historic crossroads where they want to bring about major changes in domestic and foreign affairs for their countries," reads the article. No matter what rhetoric Trump makes, his true colors must be for the US interest, some Chinese netizens say, cautioning that China should be vigilant about his policies. For China, "the US was a hypocrite in the past, but now it is a true rogue," commented an online user on news portal guancha.cn. Bloomberg via Getty Images What's the most worrying thing about the Trump Presidency so far? Not so long ago I assumed it would be watching the inauguration of a man that had publicly championed a ban on all Muslims entering the USA. Then I thought it might be that a man who bragged about sexual assault would soon be the most powerful man on earth. But this week something happened that blew all of my other worries out of the water. This week Sean Spicer, White House Press Secretary, informed the worlds media that Donald Trump's inauguration was the most attended inauguration ever. And that is about the most terrifying public statement that I have ever witnessed, ever. Really? You may be asking. That concerns you more than the President denying climate change? That's a bigger worry that watching a former government minister refer to a 'dignified African American servant' in a bid to suck up to a racist? This frightens you more than watching a generation of politicians - all of whom will have studied appeasement in high school history class and agreed it was both dangerous and immoral - doing just that? Advertisement Yes. Because as soon as the White House Press Secretary starts telling the media, and the world, a lie that better favours the president, it means America has a propaganda machine. That puts America, and by extension the world, into a different game entirely. There is literally no difference between what Spicer did and what North Korea does, what China has done, what Soviet Russia did. Part of what makes this whole thing so worrying is that this comparison isn't the first line of every news report on the debacle. So far the statement has been reported as a bit of an 'and finally...', an amusing anecdote, fodder for an SNL Sketch. No one seems to appreciate the importance of knowing, seeing, that an elected representative and his entire team will tell the press a version of events that favours them - even when it is a provable lie. Perhaps it's easier to laugh it off when it's just an old man trying to big up a speech he made. But what happens when Trump is telling the world that 'the war is going well'? When he tells the world 'Unemployment has fallen again this year'? When he's assuring us 'the Press are lying about the number of Muslims killed in custody this year'? Is anyone able to assure me he wouldn't lie to the world to protect his image just 48 hours after he did literally just that? What about when we don't have a wealth of first-hand experience, video footage and official data to refute the next false claim? What about when we're having to ask ourselves whether his lies seem likely? As hundreds of thousands of people march against Trump's election, one of the first rebuttals from Trump supporters is that the president was democratically elected, and there is no basis for protesting a democratic result. There's no point in debating that point anymore, if the president is no longer going to be democratically accountable - and you can't be, if you're dispensing false information. The cornerstone of a true democracy is a free press; a people can't be asked to make a true democratic choice on the basis of false news. Advertisement Over the past ten years we've seen an explosion of Japanese culture and cuisine in the UK. Whether that's ramen becoming a lunchtime favourite, or exhibitions from Japanese designers popping up in London - the UK's appetite for exports from the land of the rising sun has now gone way beyond just sushi. The popularity of Japanese cuisine is down to the 'theatre' of its food. It's never boring. Japan has an abundance of flavours, ranging from sweet miso, salty tamari or the ubiquitous umami. It's not just our tastebuds that are tingling, Japan has encouraged us to enjoy the different textures of food that exist as well. Chewy udon, silky fresh fish, soft mochi, there are so many textures out there we've had to come up with new terms for them. We've also seen a trend towards smaller portion sizes and seasonal food in the UK, which is perfectly suited to Japanese cuisine. During my latest trip to Japan, I ended up speaking to a sushi chef who takes seasonal eating to another level. He only serves octopus in specific months as it tastes sweeter during different times of the year. It's attention to detail like this that means you've got to savour the moment with every bite when it comes to Japanese food. Advertisement It's not only a 'London bubble' thing. Japanese ingredients are easier to source than ever, which makes it more accessible for people across the UK to create beautiful Japanese dishes at home. It's also a global trend; Peru has a burgeoning Japanese foodie scene, Rue Sainte-Anne is the ramen capital of Paris and Dusseldorf's growing Japanese community is changing the way locals eat and perceive Japanese cuisine. The growth in the popularity of mochi has also played a big part. It's already the most popular sweet treat in Japan, and it's starting to make its mark in the UK. Mochi ice cream is beautiful gelato ice cream wrapped in a sweet, soft dough. It is a true innovative offering in the dessert space, providing consumers with a taste and texture that they have never encountered before. Aside from Little Moons, Nobu and Zuma have to be credited with revolutionising Japanese cuisine. They made Japanese restaurants iconic venues to eat at, much like Hakkasan for Chinese food. Prior to this, Japanese restaurants in Britain were usually small traditional family run places that were a little intimidating unless you know exactly what you were ordering. They were trying to recreate Japan whereas places like Roka, Nobu and Zuma highlighted the playfulness of Japanese food. In the fast casual end of the market Yo Sushi were trailblazers in their day as they made sushi very accessible. Picking sushi off a conveyor belt made it far easier to order unfamiliar dishes and they democratised sushi. Finally, the rise of social media has had a part to play. You eat with your eyes first and Japanese food is very 'instagrammable'. It's pretty on the eye and the presentation is usually spot on. People see what their friends are eating globally and they want to try it. On my recent trip to Japan I discovered mochi waffle and of course I uploaded a photo of it straight away onto my personal Instagram. We plan on bringing this beautiful offering to the UK for Londoners to try in the summer this year. Advertisement There are some holdovers from the Obama Administration on the White House website, including the ability to petition the Administration. With the above in mind, climate returned to the White House website with the following petition: U.S. trade partners and economic competitors are finding clean energy (solar, wind) and energy efficiency to be strongly boosting their economies and increasing competitiveness while leading to cleaner air and water for their people. China has recently announced plans to invest $350 billion (BILLION) in clean energy while creating 13 million jobs by 2020. Advertisement With each passing day, clean energy options are becoming less expensive and increasingly (far) lower cost than traditional, polluting fossil-fuel energy options. The Trump Administration can fulfill its pledge to protect air/water, create jobs, and boost the economy through serious climate action. Trump White House petitions have already made, four days into the Administration, the news cycle. The first petition to exceed 100,000 signatures called on Trump to release his taxes leading to a spokesperson to renounce his campaign pledge to release them. By Heather Taylor When the clock strikes Half past six, babe Time to head for golden lights. Hey, its a good time For the great taste dinner! At McDonalds Its Mac Tonight! Cmon, make it Mac Tonight! With a crescent moon-shaped head, snazzy suit, and crooners vocals reminiscent of Bobby Darin with a sprinkling of Michael Buble, theres no doubt that Mac Tonight was quite a character in the McDonalds brand mascot universe. Back in the 1980s, the fast food landscape was incredibly competitive, better known by its nickname the burger wars. Global chains McDonalds and Burger King duked it out to be number one, among many other burger restaurants, with the kind of ad spending that immediately separated giants from small fry joints. Advertisement LA-based ad agency Davis, Johnson, Mogul & Colombatto Inc. had one of the biggest clients in the burger biz McDonalds. The goal for their next ad campaign was to increase dinnertime business while giving McDonalds an edge from its competitors. In 1986, the key to getting there would be thanks to the song then-President Brad Ball had stuck in his head: Mack the Knife. Inspired by the catchy tune, the team at D.J.M.C. added new lyrics and a fresh musical arrangement. The jingle was ready, but what about the mascot? Peter Coutroulis, former Creative Director at D.J.M.C., was intent on making Mac Tonight an original creation. His head would be in the shape of a crescent moon with a real mans body. (Portrayed by a real actor too Doug Jones would play him in 27 commercial spots.) He wore all black with hip 1950s dark glasses and was seated at a white baby grand piano, voiced by Roger Behr. Mac Tonight was featured floating in the sky, sometimes with a cloud beneath the piano, sometimes not, tickling the ivories in commercials with the McDonalds Golden Arches close by. It was an unusual campaign for a brand so infamous for embracing clowns, kids, and lunchtime, but Mac Tonight paid off. The ads were just the right amount of sophisticated, edgy, and offbeat to get the conversation going with consumers. Dinner at McDonalds, along with its whimsical mascot, had serious buzz and business which is exactly what the brand needed to stand out during the burger wars. Advertisement After the campaign ended its run in 1997, Mac Tonight would make a triumphant return to televisions in 2007. This commercial spot highlights McDonalds 24-hour locations in Singapore. Mac Tonight has traded the baby grand for a sax and floating in the sky for tap dance moves atop the McDonalds roof, but hes still got the same sense of style we remember him for in the 1980s and a swingin new jingle! All day and all night Step out for a bite For treats that delight 24 hours a day By Jonathan Mark, Group Director, Media and Marketing Services, Blue Fountain Media Theres a misconception among B2B brands that social media only works for naturally fun, consumer-facing brands like beauty companies and fashion retailers. While its true that social media is a very effective tool for ecommerce companies, it can also be leveraged to produce powerful results for B2B brands. As of 2016, over 50% of the U.S. population uses Facebook. YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter all also have large, engaged user bases. Somewhere on social media there is bound to be an audience thats interested in what you do. Tapping into them can be a boon for your business. Below Ive laid out a few ways you can use social media to the benefit of your B2B brand. Amplify content As a B2B company, youre probably already investing in content marketing. Content marketing has the potential to establish your company as a resource for users searching for information on topics that pertain to your industry. But content marketing will only help you do those things if your audience is able to find your content. Thats where social media comes in. Social channels are a major component of the content amplification process because they act as natural discovery mechanisms. B2B product and service buyers turn to social media as part of the research process. You want your content to be there when they do. You can use social media to make your content work a lot harder for you. Instead of simply producing a whitepaper and having it available on your website for download, you can tease key sections on your social channels and encourage more people to discover it. Instead of just giving a presentation at a seminar or event, you can transform your presentation materials into an infographic or presentation deck and publish on Slideshare. Advertisement Below, Square amplifies the reach of a blog post about technology that businesses should be investing in. Define your voice As B2B brands, sometimes we tend to think were required to speak in a voice that is formal, intellectual, and often filled with jargon. The truth, though, is that no one really wants to be communicated with that way. Social media is a great place to give yourself some leeway to create a brand voice that can exist in a more casual environment. On social media you can speak in a way that is more down-to-earth than the way you would usually communicate via your website or other marketing materials. In fact, its imperative that you do define an approachable voice on social media -- thats what social media users expect. Theyll be turned off or bored by brands that approach social media marketing with a voice thats too corporate or stiff. Social media allows you to speak with a voice that is engaging and approachable, while still professional, and thats a great way to get people to like you. It might sound trivial to focus on being liked (and being liked is only one part of the bigger picture) but people who like your brand and have positive associations with your company are much more likely to want to work with you. In the example below, GE uses Instagram to hero employees and highlight technology. They do it with an engaging, approachable voice. Advertisement Establish authority A major benefit of amplifying content via your social channels is that doing so will help establish your brands authority in whatever industry youre part of. Theres tremendous value in becoming known as a thought leader: You will become an invaluable part of the conversation, someone others turn to for information or advice. You will be indicating to users that your brand is a serious and committed member of the industry who keeps pace with changes, innovations, and advancements in your area of business. Prospective clients who research your company via social media will see you as an active and authoritative voice -- someone, in other words, who they will feel more comfortable considering working with. When it comes down to it, establishing authority is part of building trust. The simple reason is that people trust brands that are experts at what they do. By sharing content on social media channels that demonstrates your thought leadership youll be positioning your brand as a company of industry experts -- a position that will appeal to your customers and prospects. Advertisement Salesforce makes their Twitter page an indispensable resource for business advice and productivity tips. Let leads find you The last time you researched a new service or product, how did you go about it? These days its becoming more natural to turn to social media as part of the research process when looking for a new product or service. Whatever tools or platforms people use to learn about the services or products your brand sells, you want to be there too. You probably already know that users turn to search engines when theyre doing research, and thats why youve invested in search engine optimization and paid search. So if people are searching for information using social media, it makes sense to have a strong presence there too. The takeaway Social media is not just for lifestyle brands. Its a powerful tool for B2B brands as well -- even ones who arent in industries that most people think of as exciting. Its all about finding your niche audience and defining yourself as part of a thought leader in that community. Social media lets you amplify the content you create, establish your brand as both likable and trustworthy, and increase your visibility among potential customers. About the Author Jonathan Mark, Group Director, Media and Marketing Services at Blue Fountain Media There's been a lot of talk in the much-maligned media about truthiness, alternative truths, and warring narratives. It won't do simply to insist that the assertion of "alternative truths" is simply a fancy name for "falsehoods". It's a bit more complicated. The maddening thing is that people can summon lots of little truths in the service of a great lie. For example, you can claim that people cheat when it comes to entitlements and, because some do cheat, use that claim to discredit all social welfare legislation as part of a movement of creeping Socialism. They can even feel smug about it because, after all, helping people is bad for their character. Then there are climate change skeptics who have taken the errors in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth to discredit -- wholesale -- the notion that human beings are involved in harming the planet. Yes, there are facts -- but facts don't stand alone. They have to be organized into some kind of narrative. The fact is that we can say true things falsely. We intuitively know this when we hear a politician, a preacher, an ideologue. All the words are true and yet we smell a rat. All the "facts" appear straightforward but there's something that doesn't quite gel. Strangely the opposite can be true - we hear a politician speak and we're deeply moved. The words don't come out right but the pitch and the tone touch something deep within us. "This guy is speaking from the heart and reaching mine. I don't care if his words are out of whack, his message is reaching me where it matters. I'm angry and hurting and now I know why." So truth-telling involves two skills: the marshaling of facts and putting them together in the form of a story. We often call it "connecting the dots." And the dots can be connected to form very different pictures of the truth. Advertisement The early Church had a similar problem. One theologian complained that it was as if the orthodox had gathered all the colored stones to make a true likeness (a mosaic) of the head of Christ. Then the heretics came along, took all the same stones and made the head of a fox. History teaches us that human beings are masters at telling stories using the "facts" to suit their purpose. History is, in part, the story of the fight for power. which often involved denying others their humanity. Women, slaves, children weren't considered fully human, neither were indigenous peoples. This lack of full humanity was considered an obvious "fact." Think of "The Declaration of the Rights of Toiling and Exploited People" promulgated in January 1918 by Lenin, the master manipulator of facts. The text identified "former people" - they were not quite human. Since they were "former people" they could be disposed of, slaughtered. They were people of the old regime and, therefore, were deficient in humanity and this lack became an excuse for terror. Lenin and his followers believed that some human groups had to be destroyed in order to realize the potential of humanity. Many found themselves bearing the stigma of being a former person! Imagine being looked at as someone who represented a humanity that had had its day! In recent history, the fact that one presidential candidate called some people "deplorables" gave the other candidate a chance to be their champion - someone who could set the story straight and win their hearts. We all have our own peculiar ignorances and blindnesses. There were those who admired Hitler and Mussolini in the 1930s. Mussolini was spoken well of by Will Rogers, Thomas Edison and Andrew Mellon. "If ever this country needed a Mussolini, it needs one now," said a senator for Pennsylvania. Walter Lippmann thought we needed a mild dictatorship in 1933 and told FDR so. What's interesting is not so much what people believe as to the way their beliefs function in the psyche as if they were objective "facts". The Civil War and the abolitionist movement were a seething mess of "beliefs/facts". On the one side was the romantic acceptance of the bloody violence of a John Brown whose soul, no doubt, goes marching on. Many saw the war on slavery as a cosmic event, connected with the Second Coming. Louisiana preacher Benjamin Morgan Palmer saw the abolitionists' "hate" as a world-rending event, a continuation of the rage against authority loosed on the world by the French Revolution. Palmer wrote:"In this great struggle, we defend the cause of God and religion. The abolitionist spirit is undeniably atheistic. The demons which erected its throne upon the guillotine in the days Robespierre and Marat, which abolished the Sabbath and worshiped reason in the person of a harlot... Among a people so generally religious as the Americans, a disguise must be worn; but it is the old threadbare disguise of the advocacy of human rights... Under this specious cry of reform, it demands that every evil shall be corrected or society become a wreck... [But] it pleases God to allow evils which check others that are greater... To the South the high position is assigned of defending before all nations, the cause of all religion and of all truth." Advertisement Some of this sounds eerily familiar. The irony is that the Civil War was not an Apocalypse. It didn't cleanse us - it ushered in the Gilded Age, an age of luxurious excesses and political corruption. We must struggle to tell the truth but the truth is deeper than a collection of facts which we can manipulate. Truth is related to trust. In one version of the human story, the world is a wedding. To be human is to be betrothed - betrothed to each other in covenant. There's no private trip. We're all in this together "for better for worse." In the old Prayer Book of 1662 the groom said to the bride, "and thereto, I plight thee my troth." I give you myself, my truth. Politicians take note of the story you're pushing in the name of truth. Be sure you're not only a master of the facts but also betrothed to the truth. Remember Emily Dickinson's poem: Co-authored with Jay Pang, Software Engineer at Amazon, and Co-Founder of Programming Interview Prep, a programming interview coaching startup. From Brexit to Trump's victory in the U.S presidential elections, the second decade of the century that began under the hallmark of globalization has been ironically marked with a rise of nationalistic fervor. What is truly shocking is that nowhere is the stink of fascism as pungent as it is in the largest democracy. In May 2014, Narendra Modi, who rose through the ranks of alt right Hindu nationalist organization, Rashtriya SwayamSevak Sangh (R.S.S) won the world's largest election in a landslide, becoming the Prime Minister of India. Advertisement To the Prime Minister's credit, he has been pursuing economic reforms at a rate unheard of in Indian politics, including the unprecedentedly audacious move of delegitimizing two large rupee bills in an effort to fight corruption and underground economy. Modi's dream of India as a developed country by 2020 has captured the dreams and imaginations of millions of Indians. Indians must however understand that a vibrant and secular democracy is essential for economic progress. In that regard, Modi has fallen short. Since Modi's rise to power, emboldened right-wingers have made their presence felt in dangerous ways. Just months after Modi's election as Prime Minister, Sadhvi Prachi, a Minister in Modi's administration, suggested that Hindu women should have at least four children to protect the religion. Advertisement The social media is quick to silence the slightest hint of dissent. Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was called an 'anti national' for voicing his apprehension of the rising intolerance. Students of Jawaharlal Nehru University, who were charged with sedition for protesting the death sentence of Afzal Guru, a convict in a terrorist attack on the Indian parliament, were shamed on social media and told to "go to Pakistan", the Indian social media slang for 'go to hell'. The social media that is so quick to shove patriotism down the throat of others is lackadaisical when it comes to helping fellow citizens in distress, such as the families of 6 year old Mohit and 3 year old Grishmitha, who are unable to afford the lifesaving treatment that their children urgently need. Jingoism just got an official stamp: The Ministry of external affairs threatened to cancel the visas issued to employees of online retailer Amazon, and bullied the e-commerce giant into withdrawing Indian flag styled doormats from its Canadian portal. Selling flag styled doormats is however business as usual for Amazon. The online retailer sells American and British flag styled doormats in its portals in USA, UK and India. Thankfully, Americans and British are not so insecure about their flags. The American response to hyper nationalism stands in sharp contrast to that of Indians: When then President elect Donald Trump proposed a constitutional amendment to criminalize burning of the American flag, Americans, opposed the proposal tooth and nail to protect free speech. The twitter threats of Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External affairs, to Amazon, however, received widespread public support and social media calls to boycott Amazon. Advertisement B.R. Ambedkar, the main framer of India's constitution, warned in the 1950s that democracy in India was "only a top dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic." Now even the top dressing is being hosed away. By AsiaToday reporter Lee Mi-hyun - Voices urging to prepare for cyber warfare is growing in Southeast Asia, which has weak information security against cyber threats. India has turned its attention to artificial intelligence (AI) in preparation for cyber warfare. "India turns to AI as cyber warfare threats grow," reported AFP on Sunday. India's tech start-up Innefu has recently signed an agreement with the government of India and is using AI to look at data provided by Indian intelligence agencies to find patterns in the past and predict future behavior. Its latest offering Prophecy has been able to find the main players of an incident along one of India's borders and the connection among them by analyzing intelligence documents, including social media snippets on planned protests. India has been struggling with numerous armed conflicts on the border and the target of cyber attacks. More than 20,000 pages outlining the secret combat capability of six submarines that French shipbuilder DCNS was designing for the Indian Navy were leaked to the media last year. India's first opposition leader Rahul Ghandi's Twitter account was hacked in November. Advertisement "Cyber warfare is happening right now. India should not lost out in the cyber revolution," said Tarun Wig, co-founder of Innefu Labs. Southeast Asia, including India, is considered to be more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Cyber security vulnerabilities in Southeast Asia alter the safety of the internet on a global scale, said Bloomberg BNA quoting security analysts. Southeast Asia has the world's fourth-largest internet population, and smartphone usage is also surging. However, it has an underdeveloped system of data protection laws and weak adoption of cyber security best practices. Besides, illegal software is rampant, making it easier to infect systems with malware. Southeast Asian countries realized the emergence of a new war zone called cyberspace, and are now preparing for cyber warfare. Advertisement Malaysia, where botnets still run rampant, launched last week the Cyber Defense Operations Centre (CDOC), which was first suggested in 2013. The Malaysian defense ministry has set its goal of building the best cyber defense capability in Southeast Asia. Nepalese media The Himalayan Times urged changes in Nepal, saying, "Nepal is extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks in the era where an individual or even a group of individuals can wage a war with just a use of computers." According to the report, Nepal is encountering a high number of malware attacks on a daily basis and it has also become a target and being exploited by cyber criminals and state sponsored hackers. Previously, the Nepalese government and the military were attacked by the cyber -espionage organization Naikon, and the Nepalese financial institution also suffered financial loss from cyber-criminal organization Carbanak. According to the report, Nepal has Information Technology Security Emergency Response Team (ITSERT-NP) but technical personnel capable of defending the national level infrastructure are extremely limited and are always outnumbered by start-up hackers. The media said that Nepal needs to build up "an elite cyber task force for national defense of information and security of Nepal." It pointed out that not only the government but also the nation as a whole should raise awareness of cyber security. Nikki Haley, President Donald Trump's nominee to become the United States ambassador to the United Nations, appeared in a confirmation hearing on January 18 lasting more than three hours in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She introduced herself in an address to members that was both autobiographical -- the daughter of immigrants -- and political. Acknowledging her neophyte standing in international affairs, she announced at the outset: "Like most government agencies, the United Nations could benefit from a fresh set of eyes. I will take an outsider's look at the institution as I have in every challenge in my life, I will come to the UN to work and to work smart." Her testimony and answers to senators' questions revealed throughout the three hours that she intends to work most closely with the Trump national security team, which is led by Michael Flynn, a controversial retired general who has been seen as a conspiracy theorist in the past, focusing on distrust of Muslims. Haley will be a member of the National Security Council, she told the committee. Advertisement When the hearing turned to questions from committee members, led by the chairman, Senator Bob Corker, a Republican from Tennessee, and Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the top-ranking Democrat, their approaches to the UN reflected dramatically different political positions. Corker accused the UN of failing to live up to its founding peace and security mandate and went on to insult publicly the former secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, saying, "For me it was hard to determine if [he]even had a pulse when big issues were being dealt with by the world." Cardin commended the UN "for the unsung good that it is does." Challenging critics on the right who would deny American funds for the organization or withdraw from all or parts of it, he added that "it is almost impossible to imagine a world without the UN." Stepping into this partisan divide, Haley, the governor of South Carolina, who has scant international experience, was asked to discuss her priorities as US envoy and her attitudes toward the UN and global issues. Her replies sometimes tempered or broke with Trump's recent pronouncements. Here are excerpts of what she said: On Russia and the US in the UN Security Council: Russia's going to be at the forefront of a lot of issues that we have to deal with. Russia is trying to show their muscle right now. It is what they do, and I think we always have to be cautious. I don't think that we can trust them. We have to try and see what we can get from them before we give to them. They certainly have done terrible atrocities, when you look at things in Syria, and how they are working with Iran. . . . I think we need to let them know we are not O.K. with what happened in Ukraine and Crimea and what is happening in Syria. Support for continuing or expanding sanctions on Russia? What I believe is important is that we get together with the National Security Council [in the White House] and the president-elect and we decide on a plan for Russia: what we expect from them . . . what violations will trigger additional sanctions -- and when we say it, we should do it and follow through with it. Advertisement Do you believe Russia committed war crimes in Aleppo? Yes, I do. Proposals to register Muslims in the US: The administration and I don't think there should be any registry based on religion. I think what we need to do is make sure that we know exactly which countries are a threat, which ones have terrorism, and those are the ones we need to watch and be careful, and vet as we go forward in terms of who comes into the country. Do you have a game plan for UN reform, for fixing the UN? It is what I have done all my life. I love to fix things, and I see a UN that can absolutely be fixed. Peacekeeping: We have 16 peacekeeping operations. Some are very successful. Some are not, and we need to go back and look at when we get into a mission, what is the end goal. Is it happening? . . . If you look at Sierra Leone, you see it started off rocky but ended up very strong. If we look at South Sudan, it's terrible, but you also have to look that we're not getting cooperation from their own government. . . . I see peacekeeping reform from the standpoint of not just those issues -- also when it comes to whistleblower issues [in peacekeeping]. We've seen fraud. We've seen sexual exploitation. We've seen corruption of all kinds, and the whistleblower protections are not strong enough. People are still too afraid to speak up. We need to make sure that the countries that are contributing troops hold those troops accountable when they make these violations. . . . They need to understand that if we have to pull out those countries troops altogether we will do that, because many of those countries actually make money out of peacekeeping missions. US funding of the UN: I think we need to go into every part of the organizations of the UN, but one in particular that you can look at is the Human Rights Council, and you really have to question what is the goal of the Human Rights Council when they allow Cuba and China to serve on those. They basically are protecting their own interests while they're going after other countries to make sure that they give them a hard time. Do we want to be part of that? Do we want to leverage funding for that and say that we don't want to do that? We've done that with Unesco before. . . . We've also got decisions to make on those types of organizations, and so I do think it [funding] could be leveraged. I do think it's something we can be open about, and it's something I look forward to exploring further. Advertisement US abstention on Resolution 2334, condemning Israeli settlements: What happened with Resolution 2334], it basically said that being an ally to the United States doesn't mean anything, and if we are a strong ally, and we always stand with them, more countries will want to be our allies and those that challenge us will think twice before they challenge us. What we saw with 2334 was it not only sent a bad signal to Israel, it also told the entire world that we don't stand with anyone, and I think that was a terrible mistake, and we have to come out strong. We have to be incredibly vocal. Should the US withhold dues to the UN because of Resolution 2334? I absolutely understand the frustration over Resolution 2334, but I think it's important that we are strategic. . . . Yes, I do think there are times where you can withhold dues [but] I don't think you should slash and cut across the board because I don't think that will accomplish the goal. Should the US move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem? Absolutely. Not only is that what Israel wants, but this Congress has also said that's what they support. Should there be serious consequences when territorial sovereignty is violated? I believe it's up to the circumstances. . . . With every situation it is important that we discuss it with the National Security Council, with the president-elect and we have a plan. What we don't want is kneejerk reactions. Her priorities at the UN: I think the biggest part is how we represent America going forward. We need to represent our country from a position of strength. We need to remind the rest of the world that we are the moral compass of the world . . . that when we say something that's where we stand, and when we say something we're going to follow through and do that. This time it is Cuba. Last week was Nicaragua. It's 9 am, and we've just arrived in the airport of the last leg of our summer travels through Central America. We enthusiastically exited the non-air-conditioned international terminal, schlepping our heavy backpacks with sweat dripping down our brows. The backpackers we had conversed with in Guatemala had specifically advised us against bringing cash, but rather to take out money from the ATM at the airport to avoid hefty conversion fees. Unbeknownst at the time, all the people we had spoken to were European and thus unaware of one minor detail, that Cuba does not accept US credit or debit cards. With only $25 USD cash left from our travels, we had no idea what we were in for. Heading straight for the ATM, we thought our plan was simple; we would take out enough cash to last us for the next four days. I inserted my card into the ATM, and received an error message. So we tried again. And again. And again. We tried this with every debit and credit card we possessed, to no avail. We were not too concerned at that point, as we were certain we would find a way to take out cash. We left the airport with our pre-arranged taxi that cost $25 USD and headed to our Casa where we would be sleeping. Our plan was to drop off our backpacks and figure out our precarious money situation. Advertisement Our first stop was the local bank in Havana. It was a boiling hot day and there were lines out the door. Frustrated Cubans were pushing each other to gain entry into the bank. As my friend and I are not Spanish speakers, we knew we had to find an English-speaking local to help us. Luckily, we met Gina, a kindhearted Cuban who saw two distressed American girls and decided to literally adopt us for the day. Gina stayed in the bank with us for two hours, trying to call her friends and see if there was any way we could take out money from our American cards. It was at that point we realized our money problem was going to be more problematic than we had anticipated. Stress started to seep in. Coupled with the boiling humidity and lack of food and sleep, it was not a great combination. Gina, who sensed our anxiety, warmly invited us to her home to speak to her husband and see if he had any novel ideas. As we walked into her house she proudly exclaimed "Mi Casa Es Tu Casa" and thanks to Flo-Rida, I actually understood what she meant. Gina's husband wisely advised us to walk to the local hotel and speak to the concierge who may be able to help. Twenty minutes later, we were told the following, "There is no way your credit card will be accepted in Cuba. Your only hope is the International Bank. And even that..." We left the hotel severely distressed and disheartened. To have an issue when you are traveling is challenging, but to have one in a third world communist country brings challenging to a whole new level. Without any access to Wi-Fi or phone communication we were stuck in a traveler's worst nightmare. Advertisement Not ones to give up easy, we ran to the international bank. It was just our luck that due to the heat and a broken air-conditioning the international bank closed its doors at 1:30 PM. We showed up at 1:40 PM. Although the doors were closed I could see people inside so we frantically started to bang on the door. At this point we were royal messes. With tears streaming down both of our faces, it was a pitiful site. Thankfully the man fixing the air-conditioning felt sympathetic and opened up the door to the bank. We ran inside to find someone who spoke English. After explaining our situation, they told us there was nothing they can do, but suggested going to another bank called Western Union. This would be our only option. Directions when you can use Google maps are a piece of cake, but in Cuba finding our way to Western Union was no small feat. The man fixing the air-conditioning realized we would never find our way to Western Union and kindly accompanied us. Outside Western Union, was a kind security guard who told us to wait and we would be seen shortly. Twenty minutes later, we walked inside a tiny room with one little lady sitting by a desk. Thankfully Mr. Fix the Aircon (for lack of remembering his real name, "Angel" also works) decided to stay with us until we had the situation under control. The lady at Western Union explained that we needed to use someone's phone to call the USA and transfer money into a local Cuban's bank account. Mr. Fix the Aircon graciously allowed us to use his little Nokia mobile to call the USA, but with limited money left on his prepaid account, we would only have a few minutes. A frantic phone call for money is not something I have ever done before (nor something I hope to ever do again). My friend tried calling her dad, who did not answer his phone. Next, I dialed a family friend's number. The immense pressure and headache that kept on growing made it hard to think logically. It is hard to describe how it feels to be stuck in a country without any money. My brain was flooded with thoughts of sleeping on the street, or crashing at Gina's house, or selling the jewelry I was wearing. We were considering returning to the airport and trying to get on a plane to Mexico, but did not even have money to get back to the airport. As all these thoughts are flying through my brain, my friend Sam miraculously answered the phone. When I heard his voice, I was lost for words."Chaya, are you OK?" I heard but could not respond. I knew I had to say something so I replied, "I will be OK, I just need money urgently." We took turns crying. My friend, who was not crying at the time and could speak, took the phone and quickly tried to explain the situation. We had exactly one minute before the call was disconnected. We were not sure that he had not heard all the information needed for the transfer but all we could do was wait. 30 minutes later, he called us back and told us he would transfer the money. In the meantime, Sam called a dear friend of mine, Sari who lives in Israel to ask her advice. He was worried we were being kidnapped and held for ransom. Sari called Mr. Fix the Aircon's phone to hear if I was OK. She told me she had already Googled the local Cuban police and was about to report a kidnapping of two US girls. Whilst all this drama was occurring my friend and I were sitting and frantically waiting in the little cubicle for the lady at the bank to tell us that the transfer was successful. Two hours later, Sam had miraculously managed to transfer $500 into Mr. Fix the Aircon's bank account and a few minutes later we were holding $500. Relief and disbelief, flooded through my entire body. Words aren't sufficient to describe how we felt holding that $500. We could not believe that our dramatic quest for money had come to an end and we were free to continue our travels. We profusely thanked Mr. Fix the Aircon for helping save our lives and gave him $20 (which is apparently equivalent to a month salary). The contrast between the vulnerability we felt without money, to the instantaneous feeling of security that enveloped us once we were holding cash was mammoth. With a newfound understanding of gratitude, we left Western Union and found a taxi to take us back to our Casa. (Global Times) 08:47, January 24, 2017 Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang(R, front) meets with a Philippine cabinet delegation led by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez (L, front) in Beijing, capital of China, Jan. 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Lin) China will invest $3.7 billion in 30 projects for poverty alleviation in the Philippines, the Ministry of Commerceannounced after a meeting with a visiting Philippine delegation of ministers amid improved bilateral ties. Chinese experts say China's investment and business assistance is irreplaceable for the Philippines despite competition from other countries that offer aid to the Southeast Asian nation. A delegation of five Philippine cabinet members arrived in Beijing Sunday night for a two-day visit. Their visit is aimed at materializing the promised $15 billion investment from China to the Philippines reached in October last year, during President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to Beijing. After meeting with the delegation on Monday, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng announced the poverty-reduction projects and said that China is willing to promote mutual trust with the Philippines and implement the agreement reached by both countries' leaders on economic and trade cooperation as soon as possible under the One Belt and One Road initiative. Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, head of the delegation, said he had a "very productive" meeting with Gao and they had discussed large projects in the Philippine's rural areas, as well as some smaller projects, Reuters reported. During the meeting, both countries agreed to restart the China-Philippines Joint Committee of Economics and Trade which had been suspended since 2011, China News Service reported. "The fast recovery of the Sino-Philippine relationship is based on successful handling of the sovereignty dispute in the South China Sea between both countries," Xu Liping, a research fellow at the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. China-Philippines trade and economic cooperation was severely affected by the island disputes in the South China Sea during former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III's administration, which stirred up disputes backed by the US. His successor Rodrigo Duterte took a pragmatic approach and visited China in October, during which the two sides agreed to downplay sea tensions and signed a batch of investment and trade agreements. Irreplaceable assistance China's investment and business cooperation is not only a reward for Duterte's friendly policies to China, Xu said, but also for the long-term benefit of both countries. "Duterte is not a traditional Filipino politician, because he has no base in Manila and those pro-US traditional political, media and economic elites. His support is from the grass roots and undeveloped rural areas," Chu Yin, an associate professor at the University of International Relations, said. He can win high support from poor voters who suffered from drug trafficking by countering drug dealers with a tough hand. But in order to secure long-term support under pressure from traditional elites and US criticism of the anti-drug campaign, Duterte needs to deliver economic benefits and infrastructure development to the people, Chu said. Although Japan is also offering financial assistance to the Philippines, in what the international community views as a contest with China's influence in the South China Sea region, Japan's offer to the Philippines has no comparison with China in terms of the amount of money and its effect, Chu said. Media reported that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged 1 trillion Japanese yen ($9 billion) in aid to the Philippines over five years, including building a subway line for Manila and supplying aircraft and ships for the Philippine coast guard. Xu said, "$9 billion sounds like a big number as well, but the fact is that only 20 percent of this aid will be from the Japanese government, while Japanese private companies will share the rest. But they don't have a very high motivation to follow Abe's order." Since the Philippines and Vietnam are fixing relations with China and restarting pragmatic cooperation which benefits both sides, it is very difficult for the US to use China's neighbors to intervene in the South China Sea in the future, Chu said. According to the Chinese commerce ministry, Dominguez said that the Philippines will fully support China's One Belt and One Road initiative, and will promote the connection between two countries' development strategy, and the Philippines sincerely hopes China can expand its investment on infrastructure construction and start financing cooperation in the Philippines. The Philippines will take up the rotating presidency of ASEANin 2017. Chinese Commerce Minister Guo said "China will closely cooperate with the Philippines to deepen the construction of the China-ASEAN free trade zone and push the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations toward constructive results as soon as possible." While President Trump wasted time griping about coverage of his Inauguration crowd size, Russian boss Vladimir Putin got busy making a heck of a deal that threatens U.S. influence in the Middle East. On Inauguration Day Russia inked a long-term agreement to greatly enlarge its military presence in Syria, more than doubling the space for warships (including nuclear subs) in Russia's only Mediterranean port and securing rights to a major air base. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad looks stronger than ever, thanks to Putin, whose price for that appears to be ensuring Russia's ability to deploy forces in Syria for the next half-century and perhaps beyond. Advertisement Also, Putin's sway over Turkey grows. Officials there are suggesting publicly for the first time that Turkey would accept a peace deal in Syria's six-year-old war that would allow Mr. Assad to stay in power. What's happening here is the outflow of perceptions that the U.S. is withdrawing from the region under Trump. And Putin is picking up the slack. WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES - 2017/01/19: Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, President-elect Donald Trump's choice as Secretary of Energy, is sworn in at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill January 19, 2017 in Washington, DC. Perry is expected to face questions about his connections to the oil and gas industry. (Photo by Stephen J. Boitano/LightRocket via Getty Images) As we start the Trump presidency, events just keep getting more bizarre. At his first and last press conference as president-elect, Donald Trump boasted about his divestment plan in which he was "sort of, kind of," turning over the management of his business enterprises to his two adult sons. He displayed a table full of documents which were supposed to indicate the extent of his divestment, but the documents were not made available for the press to examine. Furthermore, in spite of claiming that he was stepping away from his business enterprises, Trump was still boasting about being offered a $2 billion deal from a Dubai business man. While Trump assured us that he turned the deal down, the obvious question is why he was discussing it in the first place. Advertisement Insofar as Trump is actually stepping away from his business, this is very far from the sort of blind trust arrangements made by presidents of both parties for the last half century. The public can never be sure that his actions as president are not motivated by a desire to fatten the profits of Trump enterprises. Nor can we be assured that actions by foreign governments won't be affected by their country's dealings with the president's business empire. The ethical lapses from the top carry through to his cabinet appointments, which seem destined to replace Ringling Brothers Circus as the strangest show on earth. Andy Puzder, Trump's pick for Secretary of Labor, runs two chains of fast food restaurants that have repeatedly violated wage and hour laws and has been legally forced to make payments to workers.. These are the laws that Mr. Puzder will be responsible for enforcing if he gets approved for the job. Also, it appears that the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee may legitimately have to ask Mr. Puzder when he stopped beating his wife. His first wife accused Mr. Puzder of repeatedly assaulting her in divorce filings, although she has recently issued a statement claiming that her earlier accusations were not true. Betty DeVos, the Amway heiress who Trump designated to be his Secretary of Education, will be forever remembered as the person who suggested that we need guns in schools to defend children against grizzly bears. She also would not commit herself to saying that the schools have an obligation to educate children with disabilities. In addition, she seemed completely unfamiliar with the major debates in recent decades on education policy, for instance growth versus proficiency. Advertisement Representative Tom Price, the pick for Health and Human Services Secretary, appears to have bought stock in a medical device company the day before he introduced legislation that would improve its regulatory status. His lawyers are now threatening CNN with legal action for reporting this fact. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has been designated for Secretary of Energy, a department that he previously advocated eliminating, although he famously could not remember its name in a Republican primary debate. Apparently both Trump and Perry misunderstood the department's duties at the time of his selection, failing to realize that its primary responsibility is overseeing the country's nuclear weapon arsenal, not promoting oil and gas development. Treasury Secretary designate Steve Mnuchin made much of his fortune running OneWest bank, which was known for rushing foreclosures and evictions following the collapse of the housing bubble. The California Attorney General's staff recommended legal action against OneWest for questionable practices, including backdating legal documents. In his original disclosure documents, Mr. Mnuchin apparently forget to mention over $100 million in assets, as well as his position as director of a hedge fund headquartered in the Cayman islands. Representative Rick Mulvaney, Trump's pick to head the Office of Management and Budget, neglected to pay over $15,000 in taxes for a household worker. This is the same offense that wiped out several high level nominees in Democratic administrations. James Mattis, Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense and perhaps the most qualified selection in the group, has earned notoriety as a member of the board of directors of Theranos, a company now famous for fraudulent claims on its medical tests. In addition, we have a designee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, whose entire foreign policy experience has been doing deals for Exxon-Mobil for forty years. And then there is the billionaire investor Carl Ichan, who has apparently offered to serve as an unpaid economic advisor to Trump, while he remains free to invest his fortune in ways that take advantage of the advice he offers. Advertisement A year before his swearing in as President, Trump vowed that he would go after what he called then-President Obama's executive orders. Or, as he crudely put it, his "illegal and overreaching executive orders." He repeatedly came back to that threat on the campaign trail, echoing the standard GOP hit line that Obama supposedly went way overboard and usurped his presidential authority by using his pen to make law. On day one of his swearing in, he wasted no time in doing exactly what he told an interviewer he'd do. His first act was to sign an executive order nailing the one law above all others that he made a campaign mantra to nail, that is Obamacare. His executive order directs agencies to "waive, defer, grant exemptions" to any part of Obamacare they choose. Getting rid of many of Obama's executive orders won't be so easy. Some are firmly ensconced as law and will require extensive public comment, hearings and review. That's a long, tedious, drawn-out process. Others have been in place long enough that government agencies have made them part of their compliance requirements. Still, nothing, and I mean nothing, drove GOP leaders to fits of anger faster than Obama's touch of his pen to an executive order. They were hot because he had the power to wield the executive pen in defiance of, and as an end around, every congressional roadblock and obstacle they tossed up to block any and everything that he proposed in his second term. And because his executive orders had the force of law behind them. So, for instance, when there was zero possibility of getting even the faintest, most tepid, gun control measure through Congress, Obama signed a few executive orders that put some peripheral checks on gun sales. In all, Obama, signed a couple hundred orders. Advertisement That was more than enough for the GOP to threaten to file lawsuits and even drop loud hints that his actions may even warrant impeachment. The GOP's hysterical ire at Obama wasn't lost on Trump. There was absolutely no doubt that he'd move with breakneck speed to hit back, and hit back hard, at Obama by going after his executive orders. Conservative advocacy groups and GOP leaders had a dizzying array of Obama's executive orders that they demand be immediately wiped off the books. Clean power plant regulations, transgender bathrooms, overtime pay for federal contracted work, immigration restrictions easing, and the gun control orders were high on their hit list. In fact, every single one of Obama's executive orders has been listed, checked off, and targeted for "review" by Trump. Some may survive, but many won't, and among the many will be those such as gun control, environmental, immigration and workplace controls that will soon become ancient history. Despite the GOP's rage at Obama for wielding his executive pen, the truth is that he was near the bottom on the list of presidents in the number of executive orders issued. The last president that issued orders at a lower rate than Obama was Grover Cleveland. GOP Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush issued far more executive orders per day in office than Obama. It's not really the number or rate of executive orders, however, that Obama has issued that has raised the hackles of the GOP. It's the executive orders that he issued that gave the GOP ammunition to attempt to intimidate and politically bash Obama. Advertisement Now that Obama is out of office, Trump and the GOP's frontal attack on his executive orders is much more than an angry and indignant party going after executive orders it didn't like, or restoring what it considers its proper congressional lawmaking authority. It's revenge, pure and simple, against a former president's legacy. Much of that legacy is intertwined with his willingness to use the power of his office whenever and wherever he thought he could to frontally challenge the GOP to cease its relentless, dogged, and destructive campaign of dither, delay, denial, and obstructionism to anything that had the White House stamp on it. The executive orders on gun control were a textbook example of that. Another was the executive order that required prospective federal contractors to disclose labor law violations and give federal agencies more guidance on how to consider labor violations when awarding federal contracts. This was a measure that was long past due given both the rampant nepotism, cronyism, game-playing and outright racial and gender discrimination by an untold number of businesses that grab federal contracts. These two orders drove home that Obama was determined to make a lasting mark by using federal power in the fight against the gun-related carnage that wracked the nation as well as the blatant racial and gender bias in the workplace. The executive orders on environmental, immigration, and LGBT issues were also landmark measures that would have lasting imprint for his administration. This is what is anathema to Trump and the GOP and this is why they must go. Because of competition from ridesharing companies, there are few bright spots in the taxi industry these days. But by law, Chicago's wheelchair accessible fleet will soon total 400 cars. And here, that's good news for everyone - taxis, Uber, Lyft, the City of Chicago and people with disabilities. Imagine that, rideshare companies working with the taxi industry to drive demand for the hundreds of wheelchair taxis required by Chicago's regulations! In the sharing economy, opportunities can exist as contradictions. Continued growth of the sharing economy has challenged our understanding of some our most fundamental business and societal constructs. Indeed, the very concept of the "free market" continues to evolve as new technology-enabled platforms change the way the world exchanges goods and services. These unsettling questions reach into every corner of our lives, challenging our understanding and application of some of our most sacred legal and civic institutions, including the bedrock American imperative for full, fair and equal access for everyone in our increasingly diverse country. A recently filed federal lawsuit against the rideshare company Uber got me thinking about how the sharing economy affects people with disabilities like me. The lawsuit, championed by some prominent local disability right advocates, alleges that Uber has violated the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) by discriminating against people with wheelchairs. Since the ADA personally and directly impacts my quality of life as well as my livelihood, reflexively I wanted to side with fellow activists who - as they see it - are fighting to protect the ADA. But the professional experience I have helping people with disabilities get around caused me to give this issue a deeper look. How should our community approach - literally and figuratively - and shape our ridesharing future? And will we benefit when we approach an app-based reality with a "fax machine" mentality? Advertisement The ride share business seems simple to me. You own a car and want to make a couple extra bucks, so you sign up on Uber (or Lyft). You earn money by driving people in your vehicle from point A to point B in return for a fee calculated on the basis of distance and time traveled. That's it! You're hooking up with fellow citizens, in the process efficiently addressing critical transportation and employment-related issues our country faces. It seems like the free market at its best. But just like the odd relative who still relies on the fax machine, some in the disability community don't get it yet. They think it makes sense to force rideshare companies to become transportation companies; to buy accessible vehicles, hire drivers and pay for expenses such as insurance and vehicle maintenance. But the rideshare apps are already accessible. They make it easy for someone with an accessible vehicle to use it to serve someone else with a disability who may not have access to transportation. And herein lies the problem and the opportunity. People with disabilities and their family members with access to accessible vehicles aren't participating - at least not in any significant numbers - in ridesharing. Some would impose a "separate but equal" solution. But do we want the rideshare companies, who own no vehicles, to buy them just for us? Advertisement Has our community in general - and advocacy groups in particular -- made sufficient effort to encourage "us" to sign up to use our own vehicles to serve ourselves? Why is someone asking for separate treatment on our behalf? After all, doesn't the "share" in "rideshare" imply exactly that? Is this lawsuit an important effort to protect the rights of people with disabilities or is it a patronizing act of dinosaurs who are making us look like we are not ready for the tech-driven new economy? Since people with disabilities have benefited greatly from technological innovation, we truly understand just how ironic this is. On a recent trip to the Philippines I used Uber in Manila. This turned out to be a much nicer and easier option than the usual alternative, especially for someone with my limited mobility. This experience is one small example of a much larger truth, that many of us in the disability community do understand how the sharing economy works and how it can be harnessed to benefit us. We are ready to do business. All that said, our ability to drive business in this market depends on a variety of factors. We recognize that taxis and ridesharing arrangements aren't options for everyone. That's why we must remain persistent in efforts to invest in a more accessible and dependable public transportation system. Making CTA's "EL" more accessible, for example, remains a work in progress that is deserving of attention from Chicago's disability advocates. I am proud to say that my organization, Open Doors Organization/Open Taxis, is also working to develop innovative solutions for this market. We are partnering with the City of Chicago and ridesharing companies to encourage more individuals in the disability community to sign up as drivers. In addition, Open Taxis, which is the Centralized Dispatch for over 220 wheelchair accessible Chicago taxis, is already working to integrate our cars and drivers into the rideshare system. Already known for having one of the most accessible and disability-friendly taxi fleets in the world, the latest developments will continue to burnish Chicago's position as a disability-friendly mecca. August Wilson's Century Cycle chronicles the lives and fortunes of African-Americans in the 20th century. Jitney, set in 1977 in Pittsburgh's Hill District, is among his best -- and it's making an impressive Broadway debut. Now at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater, Jitney, which had a run off-Broadway in 2000, is set in a gypsy cab company. Because regular taxi cabs won't go to the neighborhood, residents utilize jitneys, like Becker's car service. A character-driven drama, Jitney focuses on the lives of working men and their domestic travails -- men and women, fathers and sons. Wilson is a naturalistic writer; he captures their quirks and tensions in distinct rhythms of speech. Advertisement A microcosm of a changing America, the ensemble is presented with sympathy and the occasional moment of grace. It's like a jazz riff; each person strikes a singular chord in a larger symphony. Becker (John Douglas Thompson) is the dignified cab owner trying to save his crumbling building from urban renewal. A respected man in the community, he notes: "It's not what you want, it's what you need. Black folks always get the two confused." Indeed, responsibility is a recurring theme, as the men grapple with their fates. The gossipy Turnbo (Michael Potts) often tangles with Youngblood (Andre Holland), a Vietnam vet with a girlfriend (Carra Patterson) and child. The drunk Fielding (Anthony Chisholm) lives from one drink to the next, while Doub (Keith Randolph Smith) tries to keep the peace. But when Becker's son Booster (Brandon J. Dirden), returns from prison, the play shifts into high gear. Advertisement Aided by Jane Cox's moody lighting, Toni-Leslie James' colorful costumes and David Gallo's perfect set, director Ruben Santiago-Hudson delivers the Broadway debut Jitney deserves. His strong, beautifully directed cast and Wilson's poetry click. Together, they drive a memorable, heartfelt production. While August Wilson chose Pittsburgh, his hometown, as the setting for his plays, Jason O'Connell's The Dork Knight looks to Hollywood. Specifically, the many movie renderings of Batman, his ultimate superhero, grab his youthful attention. A one-man show off-Broadway at the Dorothy Strelsin Theater, Dork Knight is O'Connell's homage and obsession with Batman. A lonely kid from Long Island, he parallels his troubled real life with that of Bruce Wayne, a tormented orphan who saves Gotham. All relationships -- familial and romantic -- are gleaned through the prism of the Batman movie experiences. True, O'Connell doesn't aspire to superhero status, but he lives for the film releases, dissecting them with fervor. Indeed, one of the best parts of the show is his villain imitations, including The Riddler, Joker and Penguin. Advertisement Memoirs are tricky, and solo shows need engaging, sustaining monologues. While his story is touching and he mines the clever premise for humor, it drags a bit in the middle, then picks up at the end. O'Connell assumes everyone shares his encyclopedic knowledge of the Batman movies. For those who don't, a few graphic projections would work wonders. If you critique visuals, it helps to show them. On the plus side, his sound design works, while his sincerity and love of subject shines through. O'Connell isn't afraid to be honest and vulnerable, little wonder his younger self was first captivated in 1989 by the tall, dark and laconic Michael Keaton as Batman. A mere 36 hours have passed since millions of women worldwide rose up to defend human rights and economic and social justice in the face of the expected assault by the Trump-Pence Administration. The administration has chosen to ignore them, taking early actions to dismantle many of the gains made in the last decades. This is no surprise. As an advocate for women's rights, I expected this administration's actions would follow a longstanding pattern. Women's rights--and in particular reproductive rights--often act like a "canary in the coal mine" of human rights. When the overall danger to human rights is not clear to most observers, feminist activists see the first signs of what is to come. By targeting women's rights, leaders of all stripes seek to solidify their popular support. They invoke arguments of "culture," "traditional values," and/or "religious beliefs" to justify or excuse their assaults. We saw this in Turkey. Women's rights activists there sounded the alarm about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) when he rose to power in the early 2000s. When Erdogan was first elected Prime Minister, in 2003, a leading Turkish feminist told me that he harbored regressive views about women's role in society and the family. No one was listening then. Many in Europe and the United States were infatuated with Turkish economic growth and with what was then considered its progressive Muslim democracy. Advertisement The AKP came to power when Turkey's Penal Code was being revised. Erdogan and the party strongly opposed amendments proposed by the Turkish women's movement to advance sexual and bodily autonomy and rights. It took three years of battle for the activists to prevail, but the signs that the AKP would come back for another round were clear. Over the next decade, rates of domestic violence doubled and female employment went down as the AKP sought to bring back the "traditional family." In 2012, Erdogan attempted to curtail abortion rights and was only stopped from doing so when the Turkish women's movement held massive protests. Recently, in the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt, he has purged academia, fired thousands of civil servants, jailed journalists, closed hundreds of civil society organizations, and curtailed freedom of the press in an unprecedented manner. At the same time, Erdogan proposed to allow child rapists to go free if they married their victims--a proposal once again defeated by the women's movement. Similarly, in the United States, when George W. Bush won the presidency in 2000, women's rights advocates knew he was in close alliance with right-wing, anti-choice groups and intended to attack reproductive rights. True to form, Bush reinstituted the Global Gag Rule on the first day of his Presidency. He appointed a former adviser to the Vatican to US delegations sent to the UN to negotiate reproductive rights. In the wake of 9/11, George W. Bush also brought back torture and large-scale spying on American citizens, repurposed Guantanamo for indefinite and illegal detentions, and ordered renditions of foreign suspects, among other violations. What appeared to be a "women's issue"--the willingness to attack reproductive rights--was a marker for a general willingness to violate and discredit human rights. Bush was ultimately unable to rollback Roe v. Wade or international agreements on reproductive rights. The women's movement, here and abroad, fought his Administration with sustained intensity for eight hard years. Advertisement President Trump has promised to punish women for abortion. Vice-President Pence has an egregious record on women's rights--from seeking to force women to hold funerals for fetal tissue to arguing that only women who have suffered a "legitimate" rape should be allowed to have an abortion. Trump's nominees for positions in the administration are, with few exceptions, vocally anti-choice and anti-LGBT. The president, on day three of his tenure, has reinstated the Global Gag Rule, cutting funding to organizations worldwide that provide vital reproductive healthcare to women. The canary is already sounding the alarm. Aston, PA, USA - September 22, 2016: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivers a speech at a rally in Aston, Pennsylvania. In his inaugural address, Donald Trump correctly reported a crime--the ongoing rip-off of America's working families--but misidentified the culprits. That's not surprising, since he's one of them and plans to accelerate the theft now that he's in power. It's true: working-class families have not shared in the nation's prosperity over the past few decades. But Trump claimed our federal government and foreign nations had stolen the prosperity of America's middle class. Not true. The real thieves are Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies. And through his policies as president, they plan to steal even more. Advertisement The U.S. economy (real GDP) has grown by 300% since 1986. But the income of the average American household has grown by only 10%. Where has all the money gone that hasn't gone to America's working families? To Donald Trump and the other members of the Top 1%. Just between 2009-15, the income of One Percenters grew 37%, to an average of almost $1.4 million a year. Income inequality inevitably leads to wealth inequality: The Top 1% now own as much as everyone in the bottom 95% combined. How do they do it? One big way is through the ownership of corporations, which is highly concentrated among the wealthy. The Top 1% hold over one-third of corporate stock; the top 10% have over 80% of all corporate shares. While working families are struggling to make ends meet, corporate profits are soaring--as high as they've been since the 1960s. But those profits are not invested back into the workers and communities who created them. Instead, they're used to further enrich shareholders and top executives, like Trump, through dividends and stock buybacks. Advertisement Trump and his friends are trying to sell us the same old line that what's good for big business is good for American workers, but the facts show that just isn't true. He's trying to distract us by blaming overseas boogeymen. The reality in the U.S. has been that big corporations and the rich have been lifted on a rising tide of new wealth while working families are just treading water. Along with not paying their workers, corporations also aren't paying their taxes. We need those taxes to fund public investments working families rely on, like schools, highways, and retirement security. In the middle of the last century, corporate taxes provided one in three federal dollars--now it's just one in nine. So, if Donald Trump really wanted to use his presidential powers to restore "the wealth of our middle class" that's been "ripped from their homes," a good first step would be to make sure the wealthy and big corporations started paying their fair share of taxes. But no. Instead, he wants to slash the corporate tax rate by 60%, surrendering $2.6 trillion in public revenue over 10 years. He wants to cut the tax rate paid by Wall Street hedge fund managers and big corporate lawyers from 40% to just 15%, losing $1.5 trillion in a decade. And he wants to give multinational corporations stashing trillions of dollars in profits offshore a $550 billion tax cut from what they now owe. His tax plan would, by the way, also raise taxes on almost 9 million working families, including half of all single parents. Advertisement I've marched in and organized many marches. So I supported but wasn't planning on going to DC for the January 21 Women's March, feeling good that younger women were rightly leading this time around. As the time grew nearer, Take The Lead's Leadership Ambassadors created an Action Party event that grew just as the Women's March itself was growing beyond all expectations. I had to be there -- for our event and in solidarity with the millions of other marching women and men around the world. A delayed train back to New York after the march gave me a few moments for power shopping. I spotted a red raincoat I couldn't't resist. Nor could I resist asking the cheery salesperson, who by appearance and accent seemed to be from India, whether she had attended the march. "Oh yes," she said. "It was very important. I got permission from my boss to close the shop for four hours, and I took the other two employees and my daughters." Her words touched me profoundly as a microcosm of stories that brought so many people out onto the streets. I asked many women why they were marching. Young women in particular said they were afraid for themselves of having their rights taken, especially reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and protection from sexual harassment. Older women had more nuanced answers that included fighting racism and xenophobia (with more than a few sporting signs saying "I can't believe I still have to protest this shit"), but the fear of being sent back to the 1950's is real and palpable for everyone -- as is the strength of conviction that we must not let that happen. Advertisement Sometimes you have to speak truth to power with your whole body. We had after all just seen in full living color how deeply strains of racism, sexism, and patriarchy remain, influencing not just voting choices but also how individuals see the world. To all those who questioned why women marched: Where you stand, what you can even see depends on where you sit. The less oppressed or more privileged one has been, the harder it is to see why people are marching, or why they are afraid. The peacefulness of the marches as reported everywhere in the world was a direct challenge to the bullying and boorishness exemplified by the new administration. As I reflected on the day, I alternated between the joy that comes from standing in peaceful assembly with over a million people who share your values and the cold fear of knowing from a long lens on history that these moments can whistle past without generating substantive change. I've learned three crucial lessons from decades of marching. Lesson #1: it is easier to mobilize people to fight back than to fight forward -- but fighting forward is more effective. Human beings are hardwired to react rather than to be proactive. We learned from millennia of evolutionary biology to be alert to threats and to respond quickly and viscerally as though they were wild animals about to eat us. But thinking ahead is much harder. Advertisement Within days of Trump's election, a group of former congressional staffers published an impassioned roadmap for resistance they named "Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda." Modeled on the Tea Party's success at grassroots organizing to defeat Obama's agenda, it's mostly good advice that would be echoed by conservatives as well as liberals. Except for one piece that kills the value of the rest of it: it recommends not advancing policy initiatives since they won't pass anyway. That is a guaranteed losing strategy. When you're in the minority is exactly the time to redouble a proactive agenda. Why? It gives you a chance to define issues and frame the terms of the debate. She who defines the terms usually wins. Proposing legislation forces the opposition to spend energy and money fighting you. It makes them dance to your tune instead of the other way around. And last but not least, it energizes your own constituency. Power and energy come from moving out into new spaces, never from standing still. Lesson #2: Enjoy the euphoria. But capture the energy of those high emotions to feed your power TO. Swell it up to enlarge your intentions. Let it keep you marching forward FOR a big goal, not increments. Will women learn from this march to stay active, in small daily ways, yes, but more strategically also, for large and visionary goals that can create systemic change? A positive sign is the large numbers of women reported to be signing up for political campaign training. But the proof will be in how many of these women actually run for office. We need these nascent office-holders and we also need more women sitting on corporate boards, women taking on CEO, CFO and other leadership positions. We need women building wealth and influence and using them effectively as power TO make change. We must fill the pipelines from grass roots passions to deep pocket wealth with women who have the will and means to put not just one woman in power but a wide and continuing spectrum of women. As study after study shows, not only is it good for women to have women throughout the leadership spectrum, it's good for businesses, government, and the society at large. Lesson #3: Own your power TO and embrace strong, ethical, and accountable leadership. As Micah White, a co-creator of the Occupy movement wrote from bitter experience in The Guardian, "Without a path from protest to #power, #WomensMarch will end up like Occupy." This is the hardest lesson for any activist to learn and to apply in real time. The powerful optics of pink hats filling the aerial photos needs to be translated into a movement that moves with intentional forward motion. Writes White, "Without a clear path from march to power, the protest is destined to be an ineffective feel-good spectacle adorned with pink pussy hats." Advertisement An effective movement that creates lasting change must choose one overarching goal that can be stated in terms simple enough and laden with a compelling moral value for large numbers of supporters to coalesce around. Passing the Equal Rights Amendment has been suggested as an example. My choice would be a tangible goal of leadership gender parity by 2025. From my conversations with march organizers, it appears they get the need for continued action but have not had the will to force a singular focus, preferring instead to operate the big tent of a new coalition made up of wildly disparate causes. This is a sure way to dissipate the energy that they will need to translate the march into the fundamental change it seeks. Then, having coalesced around a goal, a movement must allow for a leader to take the lead, if I may coin a phrase. Women have so often been left out of leadership power circles that we frequently resist assigning strong leadership roles. Or on the other end of the spectrum, as George Lakoff cautions, we hide under the aegis of the "strict father" leader model and fail to woman up to our fair share of leadership roles. Neither of these extremes will bring about the revolution. The Women's March, or rather Marches, present a chance to break both of those patterns. At my trainings, I ask people to position themselves on a 1-10 power continuum, 10 being "I love power, am completely comfortable with it." Rarely in a group of 150 women like those at our Action Party will I have more than a few placing themselves at 10. That night after the march, almost every participant declared herself a 10. I realize there was self-selection in the room, but still...spending the day marching with a million or so like-minded people palpably increases our sense of our own power and intention. The residual benefits to the movement are inestimable. I still have women who attended the women's march in 2004 telling me that it turned them into activists. Now, multiply 1,000,000 by the global numbers and the benefit of social media. This is BIG. Potentially, that is. Advertisement This article was originally posted on Inverse. By Nick Lucchesi Any website worth its code has a sitemap. The list of text links at the bottom of each page is used by search engines like Google to direct people to relevant pages with the information they seek. Those text links are the rafters of a website, and in politics, they can show just how different one president is from the next. And if the incoming president wants to build a border wall between here and Mexico, don't expect the White House website to be available in Spanish. At 11:23 a.m. Eastern on Friday, this is what WhiteHouse.gov looked like, as captured by the Wayback Machine, the web page recording service done by the people at archive.org. The "ISSUES" column is the longest, with 29 individual issues broken into sections and ranging in subject from "Rural" to "Women" to "Cuba" to "Technology." The sitemap also includes at the bottom an "En Espanol" option. In all, it contains 114 links. The White House's sitemap as of 11:23 a.m. Friday. As of right now, 1 p.m. Eastern Friday, the sitemap for WhiteHouse.gov looks much, much shorter with just 38 links. Gone is the "En Espanol" option, which given Trump's opinion of Spanish-speaking people, doesn't immediately seem like an oversight. While shorter, Trump's branding and policy positions do show up: There are links to pages titled "America First Energy Plan," "America First Foreign Policy," "Bringing Back Jobs And Growth," "Making Our Military Strong Again," and so on. Advertisement The sitemap for the Trump White House on Friday after Trump's noon inauguration. Switching all the digital accounts from one president to another is a big job and so is archiving the digital presence an outgoing president. It's also probable that some of the digital platforms set up by Obama -- inarguably America's first social media president -- won't be touched and possibly deleted by Trump. There's the White House's Spanish-language Twitter account: @LaCasaBlanca. While Obama and his predecessor, Texan George W. Bush, spoke Spanish with varying levels of fluency, Trump's only ever uttered "bad Hombres" while insulting immigrants during a debate. (The same account under Obama has been archived here: @LaCasaBlanca44.) The sitemap is an old part of the internet but it can still reveal a lot. Update, Monday, January 23: "We are continuing to build out the website," White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters on Monday when asked about it. "We've got the IT folks working overtime on that now." Spicer also said of Trump: "I think his relationship with the Hispanic community is going to be great." Advertisement Photos via Archive.org, Getty Images / Alex Wong MORE FROM INVERSE: I first saw Barack Obama in political action when I was assigned to cover the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary in the winter of 2008. Obama lost New Hampshire to Hillary Clinton, but when I arrived at a high school gymnasium late that evening expecting to observe some concessionary gloom, what Obama gave the crowd instead was a rousing campaign speech, looking to the primaries that still lay ahead. It was a demonstration of the 47-year-old Senator's skill in organizing two successful presidential campaigns, with himself as the spark plug. As they campaigned against each other, Senators Clinton and Obama returned to Washington for significant business on Capitol Hill. I covered a joint hearing on Iraq of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees with General David Petraeus. Clinton, a member of Armed Services, used her allotted minutes for a tirade against the General for his unwarranted optimism about the war; her Senate vote to give President Bush an Iraq green light was a millstone for her campaign, as it was again in 2016. Senator Obama's turn, as a first termer, came a lot later. He asked Petraeus what would have to happen in Iraq to declare that the United States did what it set out to do, and the forces could come home. The General gave a respectable and respectful answer to the law-professor-turned-legislator; Petraeus was himself a Princeton PhD. Score another one for Obama's effectiveness. Advertisement The issues separating Clinton and Obama were few. One point of difference related to enacting a national health insurance plan. Based on her experience with the abortive Hillarycare effort early in her then-46-year-old husband's administration, she insisted that everyone be required to participate. Obama opposed the so-called individual mandate. But when he took office, Obama sought the cooperation of the health insurance industry, to avoid a reincarnation of its devastating "Harry and Louise" advertising campaign against Hillarycare. He was told that if the law ordered insurers not to deny coverage to those who had a costly health condition, it would have to require that everyone eligible be induced to buy a policy. The best explanation I heard for that requirement came not from Obama, but from Mitt Romney. Early in his Presidential campaign, he spoke at a medical college, asserting from his experience as governor of Massachusetts that medical insurance for all could not work if there were "free riders." Hillary Clinton and David Petraeus went on to become colleagues in the Obama administration. It's now well known that as Secretary of State, she advocated a more forceful policy in Syria, after urging Obama to join Britain and France to counter the violence unleashed on the Libyan people by Muammar Gadaffi. Libya's subsequent descent into chaos helped Obama decide not to go along with Clinton on Syria. Advertisement Obama left office in this hundredth anniversary year of the birth of President John F. Kennedy, who was inaugurated at the age of 43. Both ran for President as inspirational agents of "hope" and "change." Both energized supporters, notably young people, who showed up in droves at rallies and later at the ballot box. Both were articulate and photogenic, and so were their wives. Kennedy had to conquer prejudice as the first Roman Catholic President, Obama as the first African-American. Obama was much better at delivering a prepared speech in the teleprompter era, Kennedy better at delivering a succinct reply to a press conference question. Reporters couldn't help but admire Presidential candidates who were also skillful wordsmiths. I could not bring myself to go to the "Jackie" movie and relive the shocking and dispiriting murder of JFK--the result of which has been that subsequent Presidents are surrounded by security, "the bubble," Obama called it. It also helps them keep reporters behind a barrier. Obama is young enough, 55, to have another career, perhaps to create a foundation like Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter who have roamed the earth promoting democratic change and fighting epidemic diseases. So too Michelle Obama, who was a lawyer and hospital executive before she reluctantly went to the White House and sought activities that would test her skill set but not overshadow her husband. She insists she won't be a politician, but her talent with a teleprompter is also now formidable. How we will eventually look back on the Obama years will depend on such factors as how far his successor is able to go in reversing his initiatives (and whether the administration after his restores them), as well as how the Middle East's various quagmires play out, and whether his successor's policies toward Russia and China, not to mention Israel, succeed or backfire. President Trump's ambitions to overturn much of the Obama track record, as well as some policies that once were Republican or bipartisan, are--as one of his supporters put it in a television interview--"quite a crap shoot." Official: Trump expected to respect one-China principle China called on the new US administration to stick to the one-China principle and strictly limit its relationship with Taiwan to the nonofficial level, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday. She made the remarks at a regular news conference when asked about China's expectations of the government led by Donald Trump, who was inaugurated as president on Friday. President Xi Jinping sent Trump a congratulatory message. Every US administration should follow the commitment made by both the Republicans and Democrats to stick to the one-China policy, she said, adding that it is the foundation for the Sino-US relationship. China established channels to maintain communications with Trump's team after he won the election, she said. In a 1978 joint communique, the US said that it recognized the one-China policy that there is only one China and Taiwan is part of China, and the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing China. In his inaugural speech, Trump did not mention China directly. Last month, however, he challenged the one-China principle by answering a congratulatory call from Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen. China and the United States should respect each other's core interests and handle disputes in a proper manner, Hua said, adding that China's stance on its sovereignty issues is clear. She called on both sides to deal with economic and trade frictions prudently since "trade war and confrontation will result in no winners". Teng Jianqun, a senior researcher in US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the Foreign Ministry's remarks constitute a message to the new US president that China's core interests should not be challenged. "Washington should keep the promises it made and abide by established policies," he said. Beijing also expressed its hope of maintaining the current stability in the China-US relationship under the Trump administration, he added. Fu Mengzi, a Sino-US relations researcher at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the "America first" policy espoused by Trump cannot be accomplished without the assistance of other countries, including China. "All countries are closely connected within the context of globalization. Every single country that wants to develop, change or prosper will need help from other countries," he said. It was refreshing to hear virtually every candidate for Democratic Party Chair recently call for a greater effort to reach a broader base of voters, specifically white, working class voters and voters in the inland states. I spent much of my adult life working with Democratic campaigns in that part of the country -winning tough races. It's the corner of America I was raised in, and it's still what I call home. Hearing my Party admit it has failed to communicate in those regions is reassuring that things can eventually get better. This moment of introspection happened in a recent debate for the candidates for Democratic National Committee Chair sponsored by Huffington Post and streamed on Facebook. Some contenders for Chair hail from places where they have seen painful consequences of our Party's losses up close and personal, repeatedly - states like South Carolina, Indiana, and Idaho. After the devastating loss of the White House to Republican Donald Trump and a general drumming at the ballot box at every other level, recognition that there is a problem is the first step towards a solution. But taking the steps that come next will be the most critical part if Democrats are to again connect to white working class voters and non-coastal parts of the country. Advertisement First, those who would be part of the solution for the Democratic Party must understand that the Party is not led solely by a Committee Chair or leadership structure. Our Party is led collectively by numerous people and organizations, including the other Democratic Committees (Democratic Governors Association, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Committee, Democratic Attorneys General Association, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, and the like). Our Party is influenced by groups that have come to play integral roles in the electoral efforts and progressive thought world - groups like Priorities USA, the Center for American Progress, Progressive Policy Institute, Third Way, The Hub, Democracy Alliance, organized labor, SIX, and David Brock's numerous organizations (full disclosure, one of which I was affiliated with for three years). The fact is, the leadership of both national political parties is made up of various organizations and individuals - not just a Chair and committee structure. The second part of this first step will be to build some level of consensus among these various entities and their leaders in recognizing that the problem is real and critically important to address and resolve. That is a tougher task than it sounds. Even after the devastating electoral losses of 2016 and the losses in the eight years prior that cost Democrats 11 seats in the Senate, 62 seats in the House, 12 governorships, and 958 state legislative seats across the country, not all will agree the issue should be addressed proactively. There will be some thought leaders who may not be bothered by the concept of the Democratic Party becoming a "Party of the coasts." There will be others who say that it is just a question of demographics and that if Democrats wait, eventually the problem will resolve itself. Nonsense. Republicans are watching demographic trends as closely as Democrats, and Republicans are not yielding that their Party is in its final death throws. There will be others amongst the Democratic elites who call for an ideological purity test, as though it is the Party's role to set ideology, rather than platform. Democrats should stop squabbling over "wings" of the Party and start focusing on building back. The issue before us is not a question of "identity politics" versus "economic populism." The issue before Democrats is a question of focus. Specifically, our next Democratic Chair must build a consensus among Democrats for focusing on the states between the coasts and the voters there. Advertisement If you want to compete in a state, you need an infrastructure there. That means electing local and state Democrats. That means Party building in non-election years. It means a new and greater focus on non-federal politics and politics in non-coastal states. It means dedicated resources if changes are to be made. Second, our next Party Chair must break with what has become the norm among national Democrats: talking at our fellow Americans rather than talking with them. This means we must have more than a listening tour. It means the next DNC chair, along with the major political entities in the Progressive world, must begin a dialogue with people of all backgrounds in all parts of our country. An honest dialogue will not only proactively define what it means to be a Democrat, but also dispel Republican false narratives. More importantly, it will bring thoughts, ideas, tactics, case studies, and a bench of political and campaign talent not only into the process, but hopefully leading the process. Our next chair must facilitate the development of a clear and salient vision for the country in conjunction with Democrats and Americans of all walks of life, from every part of the nation. This should not be "our" vision. It should be "America's vision" for our future. In this time of being a minority Party in every capacity, Democrats must not fall into only being the opposition Party of "no" without its own vision or just a glorified fact-checking operation rebuking Trump Republicans but offering no alternative. Our Party must not be reduced to a stoic clearing house of policy ideas and programmatic proposals. We must renew our vision, a vision which in the end won more votes on Election Day 2016 than that of Republicans. Third, we must move beyond the Beltway. Our ranks of strategists, tacticians, and leaders of the Party must not be exclusively creatures of Washington. Washington is not where elections happen. We need to look to the leaders - mayors, governors, strategists, and operatives - who have learned how to accomplish that which our Party must now accomplish and where it must be accomplished. We must effectively communicate that the Democratic Party is a Party of people who believe every person should be treated fairly. Advertisement Too many Democrats now search for solutions within the Beltway. They look to "messaging" and "issue platforms" as though they will magically bridge the gap with voters and geographies without actually engaging them and communicating. That is not to say that our Party, its stalwarts, or its identity should be thrown to the scrap heap. We must remember that far more Americans voted for the Democrat for President, not the Republican, in 2016. We should not look to fix the parts of our Party that are not broken, but we must shift our approach in how we fix those parts which are broken. Credit:Michael Holmes With the goal of harnessing the untapped potential of Iranian-Americans, and to build the capacity of the Iranian diaspora in effecting positive change in the U.S. and around the world, the Iranian Americans' Contributions Project (IACP) has launched a series of interviews that explore the personal and professional backgrounds of prominent Iranian-Americans who have made seminal contributions to their fields of endeavour. We examine lives and journeys that have led to significant achievements in the worlds of science, technology, finance, medicine, law, the arts and numerous other endeavors. Our latest interviewee is Parisa Khosravi. Parisa Khosravi is the founder and president of Payam Global Strategies LLC. Khosravi recently retired from CNN after nearly three decades with the company. Throughout her career as Senior Vice President of international news gathering, domestic news gathering and global relations for CNN Worldwide, Khosravi led CNN's historic coverage of countless award-winning news stories. As a CNN executive for over two decades, she led CNN's key international editorial relationships and finally as the first-ever global Ambassador for CNN, Khosravi met and liaised with world leaders and decision-makers. Khosravi is a recognized authority on safety and security matters for her meticulous and decisive management of CNN's teams as they covered the world's most dangerous hotspots, conflicts and natural disasters. Khosravi is also an expert on crisis management, multiculturalism and women-in-the-workforce issues. With unrivaled commitment and passion for international news, Khosravi orchestrated CNN's largest investment in international news gathering in its history. Khosravi will put her experience and global relationships to use in order to make positive change happen and advance humanitarian causes with her new endeavor. Who is Parisa Khosravi? Can you tell us about your background, both personal and professional? I was born and raised in Tehran and came to the States just before the Revolution in '79. I grew up in Chicago and studied broadcast journalism as an undergraduate and was recruited by CNN right out of school. I worked my way up from an entry-level position right after graduation to Senior Vice President in charge of all of CNN's international news coverage and, for a period of time, I also oversaw domestic coverage. I became the company's first-ever global ambassador, which meant meeting with world leaders and officials, dealing with crises and ensuring CNN teams had access to difficult and challenging parts of the world. What has been your personal key to success? Who and what were the biggest inspirations for your career? Doing what you believe in and hard work. I think one's accomplishments are most rewarding when we put in the time and pay our dues and earn each step up the ladder based on our own merit. My joy and passion in journalism was an opportunity to give a voice to the voiceless. What would you say are the most profound changes that journalism has undergone in the in last two and a half decades? You were responsible for CNN's entire international and domestic news gathering operations including more than 100 correspondents at the network's 45 bureaus worldwide. What are the main challenges in gathering international news? Are Americans more or less informed about international news today? In the past three decades, the changes in journalism have indeed been profound. Journalism used to be much more about reporting and being in the field. Two areas which have especially changed the way we gather news are technology and safety. We used to have to haul around two-thousand-pound satellite dishes in order to transmit live breaking news. Now we can do a live shot with our cellphones. As journalists we used to be treated like the Red Cross; we were the neutral zone. I have a souvenir t-shirt from a conflict zone in Africa from a couple of dozen years ago, on the front it says: DON'T SHOOT; on the back, it says: PRESS. We used to announce ourselves. Nowadays, you might as well put a big target on your back, as journalists have unfortunately become the prime target and the biggest prize in so many conflict zones. The advancement of technology has democratized the media, and the speed and flow of information have increased exponentially. We have unprecedented access to information and news, but are we more informed?I don't believe we are. There is much disinformation out there now. How can West Asian/Middle Eastern people become more accurately portrayed in the mainstream media and in the majority's imagination? I think no matter where we come from, our background provides us with unique and valuable insights and perspectives. I think as citizens of the world we should all be more proactive and engaged in our communities. No one can represent us better than ourselves. What are some common myths about the journalism profession? Journalism is not about being a celebrity. Our society has become obsessed with the celebrity culture and some enter the journalism field thinking it is a glamorous life. What is the biggest challenge that you have faced in your career? Letting some stories and images go, especially when it involves children in dire situations and difficult places. Can you share some specific highlights of your work? I got to meet some amazing people in my 28 years at CNN. I traveled the world over and met Popes and Presidents and everyday people. I got to witness history from the front row seat; the responsibilities were awesome, humbling and sobering. I have seen humanity at its best and at its worst. It is tough to pick specific highlights, however, one thing I am very proud of is that I was able to build the most international team at CNN, both in our newsroom and in the field giving us incredible strength to react to breaking news and cover the world as comprehensively as possible. This question speaks to your exemplary humility. How much of your success and the trait of modesty would you attribute to your faith and belief system? Thank you for the kind compliment. It is important not to let one's title or position in life to go to one's head and feed one's ego. I am an optimist by nature and take life and all its challenges and opportunities as lessons which can help me grow and evolve. As a Zoroastrian, I have been raised with our three principles of: Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Deeds. I have always tried to live by these simple, yet all-encompassing values which have kept me humble and positive. What does it mean to be an Iranian- American to you? I am a proud Iranian-American. I don't think of myself as an immigrant; America is my home.As someone of Iranian origin, I am proud of our 2600-year-old heritage and what it has contributed to the world through its rich history. Cyrus the Great wrote the first ever human rights charter which called for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of movement.This was more than two and a half thousand years ago! Think about it. Thomas Jefferson was an admirer of Cyrus the Great and studied Cyrus as the founding fathers wrote the Bill of Rights. As an Iranian-American, I cherish the best of both cultures. Many factors are cited to determine the outcomes of key turning points in wars and politics--economics, military capacity, geography, demography and leadership, to cite only a few. But, there is another factor less often cited: the role of luck, accidents and misjudgments. These factors are not easily calculable but helped determine many historical outcomes. Take World War II. The United States was lucky that Nazi Germany did not destroy the Soviet Union in a five-month campaign in the summer and fall of 1941. The War Department warned President Roosevelt that the Soviet forces could not last more than six weeks against the first rate Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. President Roosevelt feared that if Nazi Germany did destroy the Soviet Union, its lone ally Great Britain would surrender. This would leave the unprepared United States alone against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in a war Roosevelt feared it could not win. In the summer of 1941 Roosevelt's fears seemed justified. In 1941 Soviet losses were six times more than German losses on the field of battle and the Germans seemed on the edge of victory. The United States, largely unprepared for war with under two million soldiers, less than 15,000 experienced officers and infant war industry, could not alone defeat Germany and Japan. Advertisement And yet, the Soviet Union came close to losing the war. As Marshal Georgii Zhukov, commander of the Soviet Western front, said in a 1966 interview, in the fall of 1941 when the Wehrmacht got to within 15 miles of Moscow, "It was an extremely dangerous situation. In essence, all the approaches to Moscow were open...Our troops on the Mozhaisk defense line could not have stopped the enemy if he moved on Moscow...I telephoned Stalin. I said the most urgent thing is to occupy the Mozhaisk defense line as in parts of the Western front in essence there were no (Soviet) troops" But Germany made critical mistakes. Diverted by events in Greece and Yugoslavia, it attacked Russia in late June rather than in early May. When the Russian winter descended in October, the German army bogged down to a halt. Hitler also ignored the advice of his generals to go straight to Moscow but instead wasted two vital months in seizing much of the Ukraine. The result of these misjudgments: ultimately, at a stunning cost of seven million soldiers dead and 5.6 million soldiers captured, Moscow won the war in 1945. Advertisement At Pearl Harbor the Americans were again lucky. A third Japanese attack might have destroyed most of the ships in harbor, oil reserves, dockyards and maintenance facilities. This would have seriously damaged the American navy for another year or two and even might have led to an American withdrawal to California. But the Japanese, fearing American reinforcement and other factors, withdrew and lost their opportunity to destroy the American navy and dominate the Pacific Ocean. The same is also true of politics. Take Joseph Stalin. Who imagined that someone like Stalin would ever become the leader of the cosmopolitan Bolshevik party? Stalin was a non-intellectual Georgian, with a damaged left arm and smallpox scars from childhood and accidents. He was born of an abusive, alcoholic cobbler and had gone to school for four years to study for being a priest. Even when Lenin promoted him for his organizing skills and national minority background, he had decided by 1922 to oust him from the Politburo. But, Stalin was saved by the fact that Lenin had been shot by an anarcho-syndicalist in 1918 and died in January 1924. There was Abraham Lincoln. Born on the frontier with only 18 months of schooling, he had an estranged father and twice was saved from dying as a child. Lincoln was prone to recurrent clinical depression and seances. He lost two races for the US Senate and one for the Vice Presidency and failed in business. Even when he won the Presidency in 1860 it was in a four-way race. Finally there was Harry Truman. A protege of the Prendergast machine in Missouri, he never attended college and was a captain in the army. A failed haberdasher and US Senator from Missouri for several terms, he was lucky to be promoted to the Vice Presidential spot on the Democratic ticket in 1944 when President Roosevelt was fading and he took his place in 1945 when Roosevelt died. The contrasts are almost so astonishing as to be trite. On one side are the millions of people protesting Trump in hundreds of cities and towns across the US in the greatest popular opposition to an incoming president in US history. On the other side is a new administration that seems to have already conceded that it neither has nor really seeks popular legitimacy. Trump shows no desire to build a popular base, nor win over any citizen who was not already a supporter. In his inaugural address, he spoke repeatedly of giving power back to the people, but this people is narrowly conceived. Trump is there to act on its behalf, to redress its grievances and defend it against foes (foreign competitors, corrupt politicians, street gangs). This authoritarian vision promised a glorious future through the enactment of a national will that his administration defines, and one that will require "total allegiance". Day One also saw the new administration's takeover of Whitehouse.gov. The purpose of this official website is always to present the president's priorities. Here though it seems to serve notice of a stripped down ideological plan for accelerated resource extraction, deregulation, global military dominance, and domestic repression. Advertisement The inaugural address articulated Trump's vision by painting an almost cartoonish landscape of defeat, humiliation, and violent unraveling of the social order. It is unsurprising that the speech was penned by chief White House strategist Steve Bannon and senior aide Stephen Miller, who likely wrote the copy for the White House website as well. The speech is consistent with the vision Bannon has often described in his worldview - a grand historical struggle "of the Judeo-Christian West against Islam" or the "barbaric empire in the Far East"; and the political necessity of nationalist fervor. Miller, who has been obsessed with what he sees as the evils of multiculturalism since his days at Duke University (with Richard Spencer), no doubt sees "American carnage" as what many people with whom he is associated calls "white genocide." The pages of Whitehouse.gov meanwhile take the Nixonian idea of the Silent Majority - which the Trump campaigned used throughout his campaign - and make it a full-throated declaration of a law and order state: "Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter." It is as if the administration knows full well that it will face ever-increasing resistance as it pursues fully vanguardist aims, and so must preemptively define that resistance as criminal. The entire orientation of this new administration can be summed up in the declaration Stephen Miller would scream to campaign crowds as he warmed them up for his candidate: "Everything that is wrong with this country today, the people who are opposed to Donald Trump are responsible for!" Advertisement This administration preparing themselves for our resistance. Indeed, Trump's first day on the job was spent beginning to mend fences with the intelligence agencies he will need to enact domestic repression. Know how to clear a room of 500 international guests in the middle of dinner in less than 3 minutes? Announce that the Northern Lights can be seen outside. The chance to see the aurora borealis up close and personal is one of many unique benefits of attending a conference in northern Norway at the end of January. Taking place this week in Troms, Norway, at 70 degrees north, the conference in this case is Arctic Frontiers, THE international arena for discussing the future of sustainable development in the Arctic. The conference presents participants with the opportunity to not only see the Northern Lights but also to witness the first time the sun will rise above the horizon after a two month absence. Advertisement By combining discussions of policy, business, science, academia and culture above the Arctic Circle, Norway has created an annual forum for expanding interest and shared knowledge of the importance of the Arctic. Arctic Frontiers includes discussions and presentations from political leaders and Norwegian and international experts on ways to move toward ensuring a sustainable future for the Arctic. The focus of this year's conference, "White Space -- Blue Future," is the oceans, a timely topic given the role the ocean plays in food provisioning, climate regulation, transportation and resource development. Over the years, a number of side events have been added to the conference to offer the international Arctic community and participants cultural and networking opportunities. I hope such additions will help rally the interest of a new and younger generation with backgrounds in academia, business and politics. For those students in the U.S. who cannot make it to Troms for the conference, I'm available to engage via Skype in a Virtual Ambassador session to discuss any number of topics, including the Arctic. If you're interested in participating, click here. Advertisement There are more than 2,000 participants at this year's conference, representing 35 countries. Many of these countries are not members of the Arctic Council, but rather observers. From a Norwegian perspective, it's encouraging that non-Arctic countries are present and eager to learn and engage. There are 32 observer countries and organizations to the Arctic Council and more are interested to get involved. Additionally, we are also witnessing an increase in scientific research from more countries than in the past. This is very good. Beyond the conference, Norway is committed to strengthening multilateral cooperation in the Arctic through the Arctic Council. We are very appreciative of the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council, which has accomplished a great deal. The agreement on strengthening international science cooperation in the Arctic is a landmark achievement. We look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the U.S. in the months leading up to the Arctic Ministerial. As the Arctic Frontiers conference takes place, an important annual gathering for marine scientists, the Alaska Marine Science Symposium, is being held in Anchorage. This is critical, as the challenges we are facing in addressing the effects of climate change are larger than any one nation and should not be faced alone, and the symposium encourages multinational collaboration on this very important topic. By focusing on the oceans, this year's Arctic Frontiers conference brings a particular charge, as climate change will, in a few decades, open up a new ocean. I believe that conferences such as this one can provide inspiration and energize our efforts in our day jobs as they relate to the Arctic, but we should not forget that the important thing is results. Ultimately, the success of the Arctic Frontiers conference lies in its ability to bring people together to focus our collective resources together to develop solutions to joint challenges. This past Saturday, January 21st, millions of people marched at over 600 Women's Marches across our nation and world. The combined total of people who took to the streets in cities from Washington, D.C. to Seattle and all cities in between is historic. Saturday's marches were the starting line. Now it's up to us to keep the march going strong as we return to our regularly (over) scheduled daily lives. We all know that democracy and justice aren't about one day, one person, or one election. We stay engaged in the easy times, and double down when it's hard. It's time to double down. If everyone sets aside 5 seconds, 5 minutes, or even 5 hours a week, then mountains will move. Together, we are a powerful force wherever and however we march -- and that includes marching from our phones while sitting on a bus on the way to work. Advertisement Keep your marching shoes on. *Here are 5 actions this week that you can take from wherever you are right now to keep the #WomensMarch going! You can pick one action or all. You can do the action now or later. The most important thing is to keep the momentum going! 1- Protect Healthcare -- Now is a critical time to make our voices heard to protect healthcare coverage. The coverage of nearly 30 million people is at risk. Send a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper to speak out for quality, affordable healthcare via this easy link! (It's truly easy. Sample language and direct links to papers are on the link when you click it). *Click to help protect healthcare: http://action.momsrising.org/lte/Healthcare 2- Stop Hate! -- The U.S. Senate has started voting on Trump's cabinet nominees. It's an understatement to say that this isn't a normal cabinet, nomination process, or election. These nominees represent and promote hateful ideals and policies that are harmful for our children and our economy. We cannot stay silent because these dangerous cabinet nominations hurt our children and families, threaten our economy, and tear at the fabric or our democracy. Join us in telling the U.S. Senate not to confirm a Cabinet of Bigotry. *Click to sign onto a letter to your U.S. Senator about the cabinet nominees: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/put-stop-cabinet-of-bigotry/ Advertisement 3- Advance Fair Pay -- Women on average earn just 80 cents to a man's dollar, moms just 71 cents, and women of color as low as 46 cents to a white man's dollar. Tell your elected officials to update our fair pay legislation now. *Click to tell elected officials to stop unfair pay practices: http://action.momsrising.org/sign/Equal_Pay_2017/ 4- Address the Childcare Emergency -- Childcare costs more than college. This is a national emergency. Parents need safe, enriching places for their children to be so they can go to work, kids need high quality childcare so they can thrive, and childcare workers need fair pay. We need solutions at every level! Sign up now to urge your city leaders to make early education and childcare a priority by delivering the Strong Start for Strong Cities city resource guide to your local leadership. *Click to urge your city leaders to get moving on childcare: http://action.momsrising.org/signup/StrongStart_2016/ 5 -- Criminal Justice Reform -- We're living in a time when more than 2.7 million children in the U.S. have an incarcerated parent and approximately 10 million children have experienced parental incarceration at some point in their lives. We can and must fix this. Your voice is powerful! Please share your comments and stories with us about why this issue is important to you -- and we'll deliver your messages directly to elected leaders! Advertisement *Click to share your experiences and thoughts on the criminal justice system so we can educate leaders about what's really going on in America: http://action.momsrising.org/survey/justice_sentencing_reform_comments_stories/ Now, you might be wondering: What is MomsRising, anyway? MomsRising is an organization of over a million people, including people in every state in our nation, that's working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation that works for everyone. We open avenues for busy people to make an impact and have an impressive track record of wins at the city, state, and federal levels. One thing we've learned over and over again throughout our past 10 years together is that together we truly are a powerful force! YOU ARE INVITED! For your last action of the week, we invite you to sign on with us and we'll bring you regular, high impact ways to #KeepMarching in the coming weeks as well: http://action.momsrising.org/signup/stand_with_momsrising/?source=stand Why sign on with us? The unfair treatment of any one of us, hurts us all. Silence is not an option. Our freedoms are intertwined. So we rise together. *We also have a Spanish-language community! MamasConPoder! Would you like info from MomsRising.org in Spanish? Sign up to receive emails from our Spanish-language community, MamasConPoder.org! My son always roots for the predator. He says they have to eat too. As someone who has a science background and as a conservationist, I know that I should agree with him. Or at a minimum, I should probably be neutral. But I can't help it. When I'm sitting on my couch watching a nature documentary, I root for the prey. Go rabbit! When it comes to managing wildlife though, I root for the predator. Why? Because wildlife policies inevitably favor the prey. Predators are the underdog--by a long-shot. And we're seeing evidence of that yet again. The day that we feared is here: Congress dropped its War on Wolves Act. And the war on wolves continues. Great Lakes democratic Senators Klobuchar and Baldwin, both facing 2018 elections, joined republican Senators Barrasso and Enzi from Wyoming as cosponsors on the Senate's bill to kick wolves off of the endangered species list. If it and its companion bill in the House pass, Wyoming, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin wolves will lose Endangered Species Act protections and these states will decide how to manage wolves. That will mean a swift start of trophy hunting and trapping in some states and even unsportsmanlike baiting and hounding of wolves in Wisconsin. Advertisement Not one, but two federal courts have said these states' wolf plans are so bad, that wolves need to stay protected under the Endangered Species Act. The War on Wolves Act isn't just bad news for wolves, it's also bad news for the Endangered Species Act. The last thing that nature needs is a bunch of politicians picking and choosing which species get protected and which ones are left behind. As we all know, Congress and science don't always go together, especially when it comes to our natural world. Back to the question: why this unrelenting war on wolves? Some believe that ranchers and wolves can't coexist. And yes there are individual ranchers and ranching groups that oppose wolves. But the truth is that only a fraction of one percent of cattle are killed by wolves. Things like weather and disease are the real dangers. Ranchers from Michigan to Idaho who follow best practices for ranching in wolf country have few conflicts with wolves. So what is really going on here? For starters, state fish and wildlife agencies have historically received the bulk of their funding from hunting and fishing license sales, as well as ammunition tax revenue. So hunters often have an outsize influence on the agency decisionmaking (so much so that, in many parts of the country, these agencies are called fish and game--not wildlife). And some hunters don't want anyone but humans killing deer and elk. Or they are trophy hunters who want to kill wolves. In any event, agencies tend to be protective of their budgets, which translates into a desire to maximize both ungulate populations and the quantity of hunting licenses available for sale. Additionally in many states, the agriculture lobby is a powerful political force, leading the fish and wildlife agencies to decisions that often protect livestock interests--even at the expense of wildlife. Advertisement Second, wolves aren't just seen as one cog in the wheel of nature. They're seen as a symbol of the federal government. Since wolves were reintroduced by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into Yellowstone and managed by FWS in other regions, they're deeply associated with "the feds" and deeply despised by those who hate all things federal. Third is mythology. Wolves are smart, family-oriented, and communicative. Their personalities are clear. There was Romeo--the wolf who loved the dogs of Juneau and visited them every fall for five years. There was '06, the beloved Yellowstone badass who went without a mate for much longer than scientists anticipated, because it turns out, she didn't need a pack to bring down an elk. She could do it all by herself, even just days after giving birth to pups. There is Journey, unknowingly making history with thousands "watching" when his adventures took him to California and back to Oregon where he settled down and started a family. But we treat wolves differently than all other species. It isn't about science. It's about the mythology--the stories we tell ourselves. As children, we read Little Red Riding Hood. And we haven't let go of our childhood fears. We continue to tell ourselves this same story as adults: wolf as our enemy, our killer--just see Amanda Seyfried in the horror movie, Red Riding Hood or Liam Neeson in The Grey. Actually don't see those movies. Please don't. STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. America is obsessed with it. On the U.S. Department of Education web site, the STEM section is subtitled "Education for Global Leadership." In other words, the country that leads in STEM will lead the world! And that's the problem: America isn't #1 in STEM. We're not even close. In December 2013, international test results placed the U.S. below the top 25 countries in math. Pundits, politicians and "thought leaders" were quick to react. They all said American students must improve dramatically in STEM or our status as a superpower is in jeopardy. Jobs, productivity and the economy: everything depends on STEM. We haven't been this freaked out about science education since sputnik started beeping in the 1950s. But will the sky really fall if Chicken Little doesn't get a degree in astrophysics? Will the economy take a hit? Will productivity shrink? Will America lose billions of dollars? Advertisement Actually, we might. But it won't be because of Chicken Little's lack of STEM knowledge. It will be because he can't communicate. If Chicken Little can't tell us the sky is falling, his solution - no matter how scientific, technical, engineered or mathematical - won't do a lot of good. While STEM deficiencies might lead to problems in the future, communication deficiencies are causing expensive disasters right now. Look no further than "The Silent Killer of Big Companies," a Harvard Business Review article from 2012. It linked notorious business disasters such as the financial implosion of Enron, misguided product decisions of Nokia and the explosion of a British Petroleum oil rig. What did they have in common? They were very expensive mistakes caused by "a grievous lack in communication." Let's look at some numbers: -A 2015 report published by the Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions found that communication failures were linked to 1,744 deaths over five years and caused $1.7 billion in malpractice costs. -A 2009 study by Siemens Enterprise Communications found that a business with 100 employees spends $528,443 a year clarifying communications to employees. Advertisement -A 2007 poll by the Computing Technology Industry Association named poor communication as the reason most IT projects fail. And project failure is a major cause of cost overruns, budget blowouts and wasted spending. -And it's not just IT projects. A 2013 report by the Project Management Institute found that $75 million of every $1 billion spent on a project is at risk due to ineffective communications. Time is money. And nothing wastes more time than poor communication. You've probably experienced it yourself: rambling meetings, incomprehensible presentations, and vague directions from cryptic managers. Not surprisingly, companies with poor communication have higher employee turnover, deficient customer service and lower productivity. It all adds up to big bucks. A classic example is the Harmon Hotel. The 49 story tower was supposed to be one of the tallest in Las Vegas. But in 2008, construction stopped after inspections revealed serious errors. Despite a redesign, construction never resumed and the 15 stories already built were demolished in 2015. A case study called "Deconstructing a $1 Billion Disaster" placed much of the blame on lack of communication. Yet STEM classes are considered essential while communication is grouped with majors such as philosophy, history and English. You know what I'm talking about, the liberal arts. If you say you're kid is majoring in one of them, then your friends say "I'm sorry." Advertisement It wasn't always that way. Communication, which used to be called speech, holds a special place in western civilization. The legal system in ancient Greece had no lawyers. So people had to plead their own cases. Consequently, they paid to learn how to give a speech. The sophists, who taught them, were the first paid teachers in the west. Speech then evolved into rhetoric which was considered a pillar of education in the Middle Ages. Then in the 20th century, the field became known as speech-communication. And finally: communication. But somewhere along the way, communication had its Rodney Dangerfield moment. No one gave it respect anymore. It became a "soft" skill. It's a long story to explain why that happened. And it doesn't really matter. The point is that communication skills are fundamental and lack of them will be even more costly to our country than a lack of STEM skills. So here's what I propose. We keep the focus on STEM, but replace Science with Speech - meaning communication. We don't need Science in STEM anyway. To a non-scientist, which is most people, technology, engineering and mathematics are really the same as science. So science is just redundant in STEM. By replacing it with Speech, we prevent billions of dollars in business disasters and save thousands of lives. We still have the technological, engineering and mathematical capabilities if the sky starts falling; and we also have the ability to communicate the problem and solution. The largest coordinated national and international protest in American history snuck up on me, like a long-lost friend's unannounced visit. I spent half my life pining over being slightly too young and too conservative to have been together with Woodstock's 400,000. But there I was 48 years later, half a century later, on January 21, 2017, stumbling unwittingly out of the Metro red line at Judiciary Square, Washington, DC, and spilling onto a sea of humanity packed like sardines, and into an experience that dwarfed 1969 Woodstock. This was not a sea of kids scared to death of the draft, everyone in their twenties, raucous music and lots of sex. There was no tear gas and rage and throwing stuff everywhere like Chicago 1968. There was plenty of anger, but there was this strange peace among people of every age group and race, religious and secular, the very young and the very old, families with kids, the super straight and the extraordinarily tattooed, every social group imaginable. The crowd was exuberant but sad, ecstatic but serious, eager to march but almost absurdly patient and kind. They were mostly women but an astonishing number of supportive men. I still cannot understand the calm without guides, without any instructions whatever, without any sound system or video or speeches, crushed by a turnout so large that no one could move. Here is the thing, most of us were content to just be with each other without direction, massively crushed, enjoying each other's signs and all our outrageous peculiarities and differences. It is as if some outside dark force had ordered us to say hello to each other for the first time in our lives, because we knew in our hearts that we may be about to lose each other. The scientists know well that loss, fear of loss, is a far more powerful motivator than opportunity for gain. We average Americans sat there like sardines, very patient, because we knew that what we were doing right then and there, that freedom of assembly, may be lost. But with such high stakes why was it all so calm, why weren't we angry at organizers or lack of directions? Advertisement I saw something new, some new state of mind cutting across generations, with no tension with one age group or gender against the other, no race or religion against one another, no secular against religious, no mockery of any group or phenomenon, except mockery of mockery itself. I also saw something not led from the top, but led from our strange attraction to each other in a time of sorrow, of loss. I sensed it from the first second we entered the metro and discovered long lines of strangers from around the country lining up for metro cards, lines I had never in my life seen in Washington. I sensed already on the DC Metro, rushing as a mob to the last usually empty cars that everyone filled to every single space, and then we looked at each other after the doors closed in amazement. Who are all these people? Why do they all wear the same pussy hats? Who coordinated all of our feelings? What the hell has just happened to my individual loneliness and hellish confrontation with the possible end of democracy? Where was my lonely sorrow, and why did all these people have the same look in their eyes of longing, sadness, hope? It was as if we knew no one but knew everyone and the pain they carried inside. With complete strangers, at each turn of our journey to the march, we sensed urgency, but not urgency to get to the march, urgency that we might lose the most precious gift of freedom that our ancestors had given us. We were racing not to the marching grounds but to an inheritance that we felt we could lose. As the march on Washington was lived on the ground, there was a new reality born, a reality of collective care and commitment to save what we can always be lost. No intellectual rebuke, from Socrates to Eisenhower could convince us of what we might lose as much as the reality of these days. When massive crowds come to know each other, history often adjusts. In April 1967, about 300,000 people demonstrated against the war in New York. In 1965, most Americans had supported U.S. policies in Vietnam, but by 1967 only 35 percent did so. In October 1969, more than 2 million people participated in Vietnam Moratorium protests across the country. The following month, over 500,000 demonstrated in Washington and 150,000 in San Francisco. The American population at the time was about 190 million, and today it is about 320 million. With our millions this past week, we are not that far off from the kind of numbers that changed history and changed attitudes in the United States within a few small years. But there was persistence and momentum that made the difference in the 1960s, and our future and our willpower is still uncertain. What impressed me most about all the demonstrations around the world that these women led is calm. One of the reasons for the unbelievable calm, composure, kindness and self-discipline of the masses, is that we are wiser today about ourselves, about violence, about anger, and about change. Oh, we are angry, and every one of the participants felt aggrieved or wounded in one way or the other by the unjust, illiberal and tragic way in which a minority in the country, together with a minority of billionaires and covert leaders, seized the country, enjoyed an absurd mascot, and began to dismantle every aspect of democratic safety, with bullying of each of us in different parts of our identity. But we are impressed by the relationship between inner peace and outer peace, the consequences of personal behavior, personal demeanor for the effectiveness of social change. Calm hovered over the atmosphere like a soft blanket in situations that were often tense with deeply uncomfortable crowding, no directions, no way out (I tried to go home for an hour and gave up), no guidance, no police protection, no program that could be heard or seen, at least in DC. Advertisement Perhaps we are reaching a new stage of history. We show up with our minds and our bodies to challenge injustice, to fight for a better way, but we are doing so with calm restraint and love, from teenagers to twenty-somethings, every single decade of human beings, gay and straight, every religion and no religion, angry for a thousand legitimate reasons, and still harming no one, aiding many and guiding many at every turn, with the calm aid of others an act of ultimate defiance against bullying itself. Historians and conflict analysts will study this day, for both its purposeful qualities, its accidental qualities, and the surprising global outcome. They will study the action/reaction spiral of threats to democracy and the response of the masses. They will note that these marches occurred in the shadow of other mobs that have been given permission to threaten and bully isolated individuals and institutions across the country. They will note the less understood and bewildering contemporary effects of false social media, virtual bullying, virtual mob violence, and the instrumentalization of this by foreign states and agencies. But they will also note with incredulity the spontaneous courage of millions of strangers, led by women, to forge quiet, determined commitments that can be summed up on one placard: This is what democracy looks like. They will note the overwhelming evidence from every conflict region in the world that where there is increasing equality of men and women together in struggle, something dramatically wise and calm occurs in human thinking and collective decision making, something that explains the sustainability of women's peace relationships with other women and men across enemy lines in the worst war zones. They will note that something dramatic is happening to human evolution of consciousness and evolution of change that occurs with less violence in direct correspondence to when women and men unite as equals. Advertisement U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (2nd R) and his wife Melania take the stage with Vice President-elect Mike Pence (L) and his wife Karen at a pre-inauguration candlelight dinner with supporters at Union Station in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst In the days before Donald Trump's inauguration, we have been witnessing displays of extreme resistance by many trying to somehow find a way to prevent it. Almost 200,000 women will be marching on Washington alongside other protest groups, which are planning to disrupt the inauguration and damage property. In addition, we have been hearing about false news of Trump's connections to Russia, celebrities snubbing invitations to appear, and some are even calling for a military coup that would prevent Trump from becoming president. Advertisement These unprecedented acts of resistance represent a significant phenomenon taking place. To me, it is much less about politics and much more about understanding human nature and social behavior. By scrutinizing the process at hand, we will all benefit by better understanding ourselves and, in turn, understanding how we can build healthier societies that are more cohesive and balanced. The Real Issue at Hand Nicolas Fitz writes in Scientific American, describing the inequalities in American society, that "There is a great divide between our beliefs, our ideals, and reality." This gap between what we say and what we actually feel and do is now exposing itself, and for many, it's not easy to swallow. Advertisement If people who stand for democracy, pluralism, and free thought cannot accept others who speak, think, or vote differently, or if people who stand for minority rights, kindness, and compassion actually cut off their family members for having a different opinion; then the values they were upholding mean nothing. The ideals of liberalism were supposed to create a more just society, but they haven't. In reality, what we have today is an extremely polarized society alongside extreme economic disparity. Letting Go of What Wasn't Working As liberalism takes its last breaths, understandably many people just cannot accept it. They are fighting this change with all their might, sensing that something that has defined them and that has been indoctrinated into their mindset is being severely threatened. However, we must see that this fight is futile. What is now ending isn't really that worth hanging on to. When looking at the world that Trump must face as president, we see a crisis-ridden reality. Under the liberal pretense of civil rights and freedoms, America has reached a point where socioeconomic gaps have become outrageously wide. The United States has now become the most unequal of all Western nations. Three studies, published over the last several years in Perspectives on Psychological Science, show that people have no idea how unequal American society has become. The top 20% of US households own more than 84% of the wealth, and the bottom 40% combine for a measly 0.3%. Advertisement Racial tensions have risen, too, as campuses became hotbeds of anti-Semitism; and the "Black Lives Matter" movement entered campus culture, bullying anyone who challenges them. Paradoxically, intolerance of those who think differently has become the new normal for the liberal culture so self-deluded and blind to its own faults that it has created a social code closer to fascism than anything else. In Europe, Liberal leaders such as Angela Merkel simply could not foresee how open-border immigration policies would bring Europe to a crisis that would transform it completely, politically and socially. Governments and the politically correct media concealed actual migrant crime rates and sought to silence anyone who would name the problem for what it is. This tragic approach has brought Europe to a crisis no one knows how to solve, and to rising nationalistic trends. Even the Dalai Lama, widely considered a humanitarian leader, has pointed out the flaw of this thinking, and yet it's as though leaders were simply incapable of acting differently under the constraints of the liberal straightjacket they were wearing. This disconnect from reality has been going on for quite awhile, but the world had reached such a dangerous point, that generals were openly preparing the public for an inevitable World War III just weeks before the US election. We should all feel very lucky to have been spared for now; thanks to a much needed wakeup call and change of course. Trump as a Revelation Trump, imperfect as he is, signifies the breaking away from the previous approach that has been failing the world so badly. He represents the cutting away of pretense and a returning to pragmatism that may cater to the actual needs of people, not ideas. That's why Americans voted for him. They were tired of being forgotten in a culture of philosophical ideals and empty rhetoric. Pretty words could no longer hide the ugly truth of America's socio-economic reality. Advertisement The election campaign and the last weeks of Obama's presidency revealed even more of the true sentiment behind those lofty words. Polls have shown themselves to be useless. Media outlets are viewed as tools for manipulating public discourse and opinion. The fake news phenomenon has crystallized the feeling that we just can't trust what we are being told. The great revelation of our culture's egoism is at hand. There is no bastion of truth left standing. Egoism is being revealed not only as the driving force of our economy and politics, but as what truly separates us from one another. The political divide has become the most prominent one, but it's not the only one. Our egos have been growing out of hand and making our relationships more and more difficult on many fronts, social and personal. Marriages, families, work relations, friendships, and our personal well-being, have suffered. However, this is actually an important revelation. In Kabbalah, it is referred to as "the recognition of evil" (hakarat hara), which is the preliminary stage before true correction can take place. The Light at the End of the Tunnel As the current paradigm of exploitation is ending and many are forcefully trying to resist it, there are greater forces at play that no one can hold back. With the technological revolution that is replacing human workers with robots and automation, a new socio-economic order is imminent. As Guy Standing writes in The Guardian, Universal Basic Income is becoming an urgent necessity. Advertisement Standing also explains that, basically, everything that does not involve significant social skill or generalized intelligence is potentially automatable. The New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, recently said in an interview: "Connecting people to people will be a huge job. ...I think that the best jobs will be people-to-people jobs. We're going to see a whole new set of jobs and industries around the heart, around connecting people to people." Reality itself is pushing us towards a focus on people, and towards greater cooperation. Therefore, it doesn't matter which side of the political spectrum you are on. We will all need to focus more on strengthening human connection to survive the changes that are inevitable in our society's evolution. Going With the Flow The incoming Trump administration surely acknowledges that times are changing. It is no coincidence that hi-tech giants such as Elon Musk and Travis Kalanick have joined Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum. These two Silicon Valley visionaries are at the front of the IT revolution as well as the call for UBI in the future US economy. We have yet to see how governments handle the growing need to supply income as well as meaningful occupations for those out of jobs. As "people-to-people" jobs take precedence, and social skills become more and more necessary, we will need to retrain ourselves in these fields. I have written about the infrastructures of education that will be required to cultivate this new culture of positive human interaction we are now being propelled into. Advertisement Learning to Work WITH Egoism, Not For It We must not wait for change to happen; we need to help make it happen. Instead of fighting and resisting, we should learn from our mistakes and become innovators that lead the way to the kind of societies that we truly want to see. First, we need to acknowledge that it is our growing individualism and self-interest that has been putting us out of balance. One of the most striking examples is how we throw out massive amounts of food, while so many people go hungry. It's not that we are not intelligent enough as a species to find solutions and to take care of everyone's basic needs - it's that self-interest simply gets in the way. Next, we need to learn how to work with our individualistic tendencies in favor of the whole, rather than at its expense. This practice of seeing the greater collective benefit rather than the narrow and selfish benefit has been the objective of generations of Kabbalists who had perfected a method of transformation to share with humanity. It is a practical method that teaches how to genuinely rise above differences in opinion and perception, so as to enhance our relationships and enable cooperation. The ability to connect in mutual care for the sake of a shared purpose is greatly lacking in today's culture. It is now becoming crucial that we instill it within us, to create a sustainable future. In recent years, the Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) Movement, founded by my students, has been conducting Round Table events and Connection Circle sessions throughout the world with resounding success. These two techniques, on which I elaborate in my book, Completing the Circle, implement the principle discovered by Abraham the Patriarch and perfected by his descendants and disciples: "Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes" (Prov 10:12). Our differences will remain, but we need to learn how to appreciate and complement each other nonetheless. Advertisement Most of all, if we wish to live up to the values of openness and mutual acceptance in our societies, we need to replace ideologies with actual practices. Post Inauguration America Natural developments are pushing us away from the dangerous philosophical idealism that is disconnected from reality, and towards a more pragmatic approach in which we create and practice the kind of human relations that allow for more cohesive and balanced societies. (Xinhua) 11:04, January 24, 2017 China and the Philippines have confirmed cooperation programs worth 3.7 billion U.S. dollars, during a meeting held in Beijing, a senior Chinese official said Monday. "The cooperation projects, which are the first batch, on improving people's living standards now only need a series of bank-related procedures," said Gao Hucheng, China's commerce minister, after a meeting between the Philippine cabinet delegation and Chinese officials. The meeting was held to implement the results and consensus agreed by the two countries' leaders in October 2016. The Philippine delegation are on a two-day visit to China, which started Monday. Gao said earlier Monday that the two sides had basically reached agreement about the implementing process and rules, and that he expected the two sides to sign the agreement before the delegation left Beijing. Gao said the document would help ensure smooth, efficient, fair and transparent cooperation between the two countries in the fields of infrastructure, transport, highways, telecommunications, railways, irrigation and living standards. He said that the six-year development plan for the two countries was nearly finalized, adding that he expected it to be signed next month in Manila. Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met with the delegation led by Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez on Monday. Wang said that China and the Philippines were friendly neighbors with great room and potential for economic and trade cooperation, urging the two sides to implement the important consensus reached by the two countries' leaders. The vice premier also called for accelerating the drafting of a bilateral economic and trade cooperation plan and earnest efforts to implement priority cooperation programs. San Diego, California, USA - May 27, 2016: A protester holds a sign featuring an angry photo of Donald Trump and reading 'Bad for America' at an anti-Trump protest outside a Trump rally in San Diego. Since the shockwave that was Donald Trump's victory on election night, I've seen countless posts on social media along the lines of "Stop whining! Your candidate lost. Get over it." Many left-leaning persons lamented the fact that Hillary Clinton lost the election. Lament is a natural part of any political loss. It occurs after each election. Its prominence in recent years might just be due to the public display on social media. It is true that there has been much dismay over Clinton's loss to Trump. However, the lament over Clinton's loss only begins to scratch the surface. The wounds incurred over this election season are not caused from normal political banter and infighting. Trump's candidacy was rooted threats against the poor, women, the LGBTQ community, and racial minorities. People now are fighting for their rights and lives. And thus the fear of many is legitimate precisely because President Trump was not a "normal" candidate and he is not a "normal" president. Advertisement As I said in the days after the election, the accusation that people are "whining" about their candidate losing is misguided. Many lament because Trump has threatened their very existence. This is as true after the inauguration as it was immediately following the election. Trump's threats have turned out to be more than just political rhetoric in the first few days of his presidency. Since January 20, President Trump has already signed executive orders to undo the Affordable Care Act, following through on two years of promises. Many immigrants fear the wall that Trump built his campaign on. I could go on, but enough has been made of the president's fear-mongering tactics. America has shown it is not ready to turn over and succumb to President Trump's policies. Within 24 hours of Trump's swearing in, millions around the country marched peacefully throughout major metropolitan areas and through smaller, rural communities as part of the Women's March. In my own city of Denver, nearly 200,000 marched as a sign of protest against Trump and as a sign of solidarity to stand up for one another's rights. Some may ask, "what's the point?" The "point" is multifaceted, but one aspect is for the people to be visible and numerous. Many of the same people asking about the point of protesting also seem to be of the same demographic regurgitating the "stop whining that your candidate lost" message. The lack of understanding about why so many are upset about Trump's election has now resulted in questioning the validity of protesting. Advertisement (Women's March in Denver, Colorado. January 21, 2017) I myself have been and will continue to be a vocal critic of President Trump. I will fight against President Trump far more than I would have if Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush or John Kasich had been elected. Despite a vast disagreement on nearly every issue, I can say that those men appear to be respectful individuals who truly care about the well-being of their country. They just simply have different ideas on how to arrive at a better tomorrow. I can look back at the last 15 years and still to this day disagree with the policies of former President Bush. Yet I believe he had the best intention in his course of action, however short sided his decisions might have been. I surmise that the response to other GOP candidates, had they won this year, would have been the same. I will use whatever resources I have at my disposal to fight for the rights of those that Trump threatens. I say that because President Trump is no mere politician. Trump is not just someone to whom many disagree with on matters of political and social belief. Disagreement is part of the fabric of our society. The fury over Trump stems not merely from disagreement - it is the result of threats against many. By: Leesa Muirhead The world is in continuous change, and the concept of responsible stewardship, not just for today, but also for the many stakeholders including future generations, comes naturally to many family owned businesses. This sense of commitment - including a long-term focus on customers, employers, suppliers and the greater community - are principles that fit in well, and align with a focus on sustainability. However, most organisations face their share of sustainability challenges in today's highly competitive markets and volatile economic environment. No organisation, especially those that rely on limited or declining natural resources, can operate the way they did 10 years ago. Advertisement Consumers are more sophisticated and demand more. With wider access to available information, increased visibility into corporate business practices, and a better understanding of the interconnectedness of all that we do, the pressure to succeed is enormous. More importantly, the pressure to succeed in a manner that supports sustainability principles is rapidly growing. So, first and foremost, what is sustainability[1]? Much has been said about the terms 'sustainability' and 'sustainable development' over the last few decades. So much so, the word is almost lost to jargon. Typically, sustainability is defined as 'meeting the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' [2] Advertisement In business, being responsible and sustainable refers to a set of voluntary company activities, which demonstrate the inclusion of social and environmental concerns in business operations, and in their interactions with stakeholders. The concept of engaging with both stakeholders and the general public about a business' environmental and social accountability has been around for decades. Indeed, it has become a mainstream issue as business owners and managers realised its importance. For many organisations sustainability is evolving from a feel good exercise to a strategic imperative. This focus on economic, environmental and social risks and opportunities, if left unattended, could potentially threaten the long-term success of the business. Sustainability and CSR practices are well established as being good for business, and not just a public relations exercise. Sustainability approaches tend to result in increased operational efficiency, reduced waste and increased product differentiation, all of which help to improve business processes and profitability. However, sustainability is transitioning from being seen solely as a way of cutting costs or gaining efficiencies. It can be used as a vehicle to achieve competitive advantage and growth through the positioning of products, services and brands that appeal to an organisation's stakeholders. These expectations and increasing demands, require organisations to not only demonstrate responsible (and sustainable) business practices, but also report on these practices in a relevant and objective way. Advertisement The landscape is shifting and with it an understanding that sustainability is not simply one function or siloed domain. It's a responsibility that everyone - as an individual and within an organisation - needs to own. This shift in perspective has raised the visibility of sustainability, prompting meaningful discussions and the production of comprehensive guidance and tools, specifically designed to support family business on the pathway to sustainability. Sustainability is relevant to all parts of the business, which is why it is so important that it forms a fundamental part of the organisation's vision and strategy. To successfully demonstrate effective sustainability practices, organisations need to do more than implement policies and procedures. It is not just a top-level initiative. Sustainability needs to permeate organisational thinking. It necessitates a tone from the top, which fosters a culture and understanding of sustainability - from the boardroom to the shop floor. One that weaves sustainability practices into the fabric of the business, and integrates into business thinking, operations, planning and activities to be truly effective. To achieve this, organisations need to develop interrelated strategies and objectives across the business. The Polaris initiative (available via the Institute for Family Business) advocates an assessment tool, developed in collaboration with B Corp, which provides a comprehensive framework to evaluate, and set strategies and objectives on aspects of business governance, employees, community, environment, impact business models and family governance. Advertisement By applying a sustainability lens across the business, we seek to introduce and reinforce an interrelated holistic perspective of the business and its activities, its stakeholders, the opportunities and specific risks that could affect the business. This interconnectedness has a propensity to drive often intangible and significant benefits that elevate the significance of sustainability within, and throughout, the business. Successful family companies usually seek steady long-term growth and performance to avoid risking the family's wealth and control of the business. The successful ones tend to be committed to more than just profitability, and have expanded from their entrepreneurial beginnings, by overcoming and adapting to unique performance and governance challenges. Family businesses are often called upon to be the caretakers of their communities and their environment. They are usually considered the main job creators and innovation drivers in their respective economies. It is widely demonstrated that family businesses take these responsibilities seriously, but there is rarely a formalised approach - to if, and how, these goals are part of their corporate strategy, and whether they are aligned with core business activities. In their day-to-day management, family business leaders often have little time to formalise their approaches to responsible management, let alone communicate them. Advertisement Sustainability in practice Alistair Macphie, Chairman of Macphie, a B Corp certified family business, has been pioneering CSR and sustainability practices since 1973. Their successes are inherent to what they do, are formalised in a constitution and indoctrinated with articulated values. Their sustainability activities are consistently communicated within the business (on a daily basis), showcasing achievements in the environment and community. This ethos and culture serves to attract and retain clients, suppliers and other stakeholders as well as retaining talent - the average employee tenure is 12-years. As 4th generation food producer and 35th generation farmer a sustainable, long-term vision, robustly embedded within the organisation, has become second nature for all. In the field of social responsibility, much like other best practice areas, there is no one solution that fits all, especially when considering the widely diverging cultures and institutional settings family businesses operate in. What might be considered a valid sustainability strategy for one business, may very well not apply to a family business based in emerging markets, for instance. As the context changes, so does the scope and extent of social and environmental challenges. Therefore, strategies need to be adapted to address context, challenges and constraints, such as priorities, focus, human and capital resource. For example, let's take a consumer products business. They may place a strategic focus on sustainable production practices and packaging, to achieve greater market share and to reach emerging consumers who are focused on 'buying green'. Many businesses will be typically addressing sustainability issues such as: corporate social responsibility (CSR) and including philanthropy, employee engagement etc, human rights, reducing waste, the supply chain, and responsible sourcing. Advertisement Family businesses can make a big leap by realising that sustainability is more than just something they might support or engage in. Done properly, social responsibility concepts can seamlessly integrate sustainability into all levels of a family business' goals and decisions. The 'lean and mean' structure of most family businesses naturally supports sustainability when it comes to being efficient with resources. Based on the premise that family business base their activities around deeply embedded historical culture and values, it can be argued there is more need to formalise this 'good doing' - to provide more structure, to leverage and communicate these efforts to the world and stakeholders, and differentiate from publicly owned business. Why? Families often underestimate the benefits of formalising responsible business actions, and how it can benefit their reputation and profitability. Whether it is how they treat their employees or what environmental practices they have in place, the community at large will feel more involved with the family business brand if these actions are well communicated. In many recent, documented cases, businesses have found a correlation between their sustainability activities and their profitability. Cal Bailey, Sustainability Director cited that sustainability initiatives developed at NG Bailey, have attracted new business opportunities and helped underpin client relationships, with particular interest around their apprenticeship scheme which has trained 6,000 apprentices over 50 years. This is in addition to the creation of their new energy business, which was launched as a result of reducing their carbon and energy usage. Their best practice facilitated innovation and increased profitability. Advertisement Next Generation The importance of creating a legacy for the next generation, which is based on responsible practices, has to be a key mission for the incumbent leaders of family businesses around the world. Formalising sustainability practices of family businesses can reduce complexity; by creating and articulating a cohesive approach, it allows the business and its stakeholders to enjoy the benefits. The pressure on family business grows, as sustainability has become an integral part of corporate sector discussions around the world. As next generation members join their family companies - a generation that has grown up with the notion of an accessible world that allows direct comparison to individuals and families across the globe - business families are under considerable pressure to hand over a business that satisfies not only international regulations and standards, but also an ethos which bridges a divided economic landscape that has resulted in deprivation. To enable this, family business owners, leadership, managers and family members must participate. Their participation helps create an organisation that is conducive to implementing plans in a timely, positive and productive manner, with an aim of cohesion, trust and shared goals. Kydd Boyle, a Fifth Generation Member of the Scott family, owners of Sandaire Investment Office, is aware of the increasing pressure on the next generation to lead a transparent and accountable business. As part of discussions in the past year, the family has discovered what they are already doing - in terms of responsible investing - to better know how these efforts can be enhanced. Despite distance (geographically and as 5th generation from the Founder), the younger generation is finding commonality in their desire to be stewards of more than wealth; combined with a desire to be stewards of the environment, of wanting to do things differently, as well as achieving financial return and impact. This exploration, and deliberate decision making, offers opportunity for cross-generational exchange, which facilitates challenging and robust ideas, concepts and knowledge. The organisation can then be better prepared to achieve enduring success, and better navigate obstacles that it encounters over time. With all the advantages that may come from a family structure, family business is vulnerable to the same pressures as other businesses. As they attempt to adapt to globalisation, changing value systems and a revolution in technology and communications, it remains a challenge for sustainability minded family businesses to balance their commitment to creating and growing wealth, with long-term stewardship. The importance of family business to the global economy is undeniable. They account for two thirds of all companies around the world and 50%-80% of employment in most countries. With that kind of global impact, and by virtue of not being encumbered by financially fickle shareholders, which can pressure public companies to maximise profit (come what may) - there is immense opportunity for family businesses to help influence, establish and build the critical mass needed for sector and market transformation. [1]Within the context of this article, we aim to demystify sustainability for family business; so that a layperson can understand the key issues, questions and values involved. We use the term sustainability, synonymously with corporate social responsibility (CSR), social responsibility, responsible business, and stewardship. [2]Bruntland Report, 1987 Pioneers for Change is a seed-bed for innovative thought. An activator of personal potential. A catalyst for collective energy. A community to drive social change. Our annual, international Fellowship is open to anyone aged 28 - 108 years old. We gather change-makers -- a business person, a community person, an investor, a thinker or doer -- who are willing to harness their talents, energy and resources as a force for good. Pioneers for Change is an initiative of Adessy Associates. Advertisement Adessy Associates believes social and business objectives are mutually reinforcing. We equip and enable organisations for a sustainable future, by focusing on benefit for people, planet and profit. Our bespoke services harness sustainability, innovation, consciousness and purpose. We are proudly B Corp certified. I have followed the career of the Canadian saxophonist Michael Blake ever since I first heard him on the 1998 album Slow Poke at Home, a brilliant, raw and bare bones record made in the basement of bassist Tony Scherr's home, with the slide guitar virtuoso Dave Tronzo and the drummer Kenny Wollesen. I continued tracing his path with the bassist Ben Allison on the fine album Man Sized Safe from 2008.This originally Montreal born, Vancouver based musician calls New York his home since 1986. He was a member of John Lurie's ground breaking Lounge Lizards in the mid to late nineties. He and cohort trumpeter Steven Bernstein, also a Lurie alumnus, were members of Blake's progressive group Hellbent, where Tuba, trumpet, violin and saxophone created some very eclectic music. As with any creative artist, Blake's musical vision has constantly shifted as his muse takes him, often into unknown territory. In the early 2000's he and his Danish cohorts offered his Blake Tartare with a foot into the experimental free-jazz theater. His Elevated from 2002, found the saxophonist in a more traditional ensemble that featured his gorgeous sound with Allison on bass and the pianist Frank Kimbrough adding their musical gifts to the mix. But in the last few years Blake's search has led him deeper into the past and the music of the masters that have come before him. You can hear it in his warm, lustrous tone when he lets you. He has clearly listened to and respects those who have given so much to this music we call jazz. In 2006 he recorded The World Awakes - A Tribute to Lucky Thompson and in 2014 he gave us his homage to Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young the fabulously retro Tiddy Boom. Advertisement In 2016 Blake wrote and recorded Fulfillment, an album inspired by a shameful incident in British Columbia's history back in 1914. The Komagata Maru was a Japanese ship that came to the port of Vancouver bearing East Indian Sikh immigrants trying to take economic asylum in Canada. They were turned away by the Canadians in a shameful act of xenophobic exclusionism. Blake's music is used to great effect to raise awareness of this blot on Canadian history. On his latest album, Red Hook Soul, Blake returns to history, this time his own personal history, as it relates to the music of his formative years; the music of pop, R and B, rock and roll and especially soul. He takes songs by Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Ben Webster, Gladys Knight and Lana del Rey, mixes them into a gumbo with his own originals and comes up with a thoroughly entertaining recipe for down home cooking of the partying variety. Blake's band for this outing include his old stalwart Tony Scherr taking up the lead guitar work here, Avi Bortnick on rhythm guitar, Erik Deutsch on piano and electric keyboard, Tim Lunzel on electric bass, Moses Patrou on percussion and Tony Mason on drums. The opener and title tune, "Red Hook Soul," is a rollicking, joyous bounce that is buoyed by Blake's ebullient soprano saxophone and a freewheeling rhythm section. Red Hook is a reference to the tip of Brooklyn and the home to many dive bars that Blake and company have played at one time or another. The music just cruises like a partying group of friends barreling down a highway in an open convertible on a sunny day. Break out the beer! Advertisement "Volunteered Slavery" is a Rahsaan Roland Kirk composition that has an infectious, funky lope to it, with Blake's raw tenor leading the way over some laid-back percussive work by Patrou and Mason and some very raw, static-laden slide work by Scherr. This one will have you bopping your head up and down. A fine tribute to the master Rahsaan, an underrated jazz musician as ever there was; an exceptional artist whose work was sometimes dismissed because he chose to play multiple instruments at once, which some viewed mistakenly as more trickery than talent. Blake's "Nitty Gritty" features Bortnick's driving rhythm guitar licks that move the song behind Mason's deft shuffle and Lunzel's pulsing bass. Deutsch uses electric keyboard on organ mode, sustaining his notes as the band rocks on. Blake's tenor wails with his own brand of funk and grit, employing some snarky screeches and snarly honks, but all the while maintain the song's fun vibe. Lana del Rey's "Video Games" is a dark, foreboding tune, with somber piano chords and echoed guitar riffs in the background. Blake uses this backdrop to explore his more pensive side. He never "overplays," letting his tone and space deliver the emotional impact of what he is trying to portray. The band sets the drone of this march and Blake delivers his eulogistic cry, ending his solo in a beautiful breathy finale. In another of his homages to his saxophone elders, Blake enshrines the robust, uplifting playing of "King Curtis." The honk-tonk feel of this romp is authentic, with Deutsch's piano sounding a bit Leon Russell -like and Blake playing his full-bodied tenor is in fine form, buttressed by Scherr's on-point guitar work The music of Blake's formative years, would not be complete without a slow Otis Redding emotion drenched, R & B tune that was emblematic of an era when slow dancing in high school gymnasiums mixers was not the bump and grind of today's scene, but a more intimate affair. "I Love You More Than Words Can Say" finds Blake's tenor evoking just the right blend of earnestness and poignancy following the great Redding's lead. Advertisement With Blake, there is always a way to bring the masters to the table and here he takes tenor titan Ben Webster's "Did You Call Her Today" and steeps it in R & B. With a fifties rock backbeat from Mason and some raspy slide work by Scherr, Blake transforms this gem from the early sixties into a rally call to party on down. His sensuous tenor solo is wonderfully fluid and commanding, but more importantly joyful with no pretense. "Everybody Need Love" was the title song from a 1967 album by R & B songbird Gladys Knight and the Pips. Blake plays this one true to its original easy swaying vibe. Bortnick's rhythm guitar strumming the repeating chord structure as Blake handles the melody line with an unfettered looseness. We need a little more of this uncomplicated sentiment today. The album ends with the Ray Charles classic "That Lucky Old Sun." Blake has claimed that hearing Charles sing "America the Beautiful" before the famous Ali/Frazier fight "The Thriller in Manilla" brought him to tears as an impressionable ten-year-old. Blake's high register tenor work at the opening, paired with Deutsch's piano, is enough to evoke similar emotions. The song is true to Charles original slow tempo and Blake's tenor is strong, emotional and plaintive. On January 17 I put forth "The Argument for Donald Trump's Illegitimacy" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-greene/the-argument-for-donald-t_b_14220416.html I should have simply waited a few more days. Donald Trump just made an even stronger argument himself and the only thing America can now do to resolve this issue is to either conduct a thorough, precinct by precinct recount or to accept The President at his word, declare the results to be illegitimate and call for a new election. On December 4, 2016, the country of Austria did exactly that. They called for and conducted a whole new election because of relatively minor vote counting issues in some of their precincts, significantly less of an issue that we now have in The United States. http://www.wsj.com/articles/austrian-court-orders-rerun-of-presidential-vote-1467369788 Advertisement But in his press conference Sean Spicer said that these 3 - 5 million illegal votes were irrelevant because "Donald Trump won 306 electoral votes". But did he? How in the world can we be certain who these "illegal voters" voted for? Donald Trump won the State of Michigan by 9,528 votes. Can we be legally certain that more than 9,528 of the 3 - 5 million illegal votes were not cast for Trump over Clinton in Michigan?Donald Trump won the State of Wisconsin by 22,748 votes. Can we be legally certain that more than 22,748 of the 3 - 5 million illegal votes were not cast for Trump over Clinton in Wisconsin?Donald Trump won the State of Pennsylvania by 44,312 votes. Can we be legally certain that more than 44,312 of the 3 - 5 million illegal votes were not cast for Trump over Clinton in Pennsylvania? And while we are at it, can we be legally certain that there weren't more than these 76,588 total votes that gave Donald Trump the Presidency in the 7 Million votes that Rolling Stone journalist Greg Palast claims were suppressed or not properly counted? Mr. Palast has been calling for a thorough recount ever since the election. http://www.GregPalast.com The Russian hack absolutely affected the outcome of The 2016 Election but 3 - 5 million illegal votes takes this conversation to a whole new level. Advertisement When the history of Donald Trump's administration is written, people may point to the appointment of a Koch Brothers' operative to a little-known White House position as a turning point in Trump's evolution from unorthodox Republican candidate to doctrinaire corporate politician. Meet Trump Legislative Director Marc Short Think of it as a merger, or an acquisition. His administration hires suggest that Trump, who ran a heterodox and intermittently populist (if consistently bigoted) campaign, has been joining forces with the more established corporate extremism of the Republican Party establishment. Consider Marc Short's appointment as Director of Legislative Affairs. According to the White House website, the Office of Legislative Affairs "serves as the President's primary liaison to the United States Congress, and is responsible for advancing the President's legislative agenda on Capitol Hill." Advertisement The Director of Legislative Affairs has typically been an obscure figure, plucked from a staffer job on Capitol Hill. And while the position calls for "working with Senators, Representatives, and their staffs to promote the President's priorities" (as the White House website puts it), Great Britain's Prince Phillip may have captured a key aspect of the job more pithily when he was introduced to one of Short's predecessors some years ago: "Ah," Prince Philip said, "the spear catcher." But Marc Short, who is reportedly Donald Trump's choice to fill the position, is more accustomed to doling out cash than he is to catching spears. It's true that Short has some Hill experience, as chief of staff to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) and then-Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN). Short isn't really a policy wonk. He's an operative in Republican and right-wing circles. After serving as finance director for Oliver North's failed senatorial campaign, Short reportedly helped Pence run the House Republican Conference, managed the Reagan Ranch, and was a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security under Bush. The Kochs' Dark Money Man Peddled a Plan to Take Down Trump Short is best known for his tenure as president of the Koch Brother's Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the political fund organized by the Koch Brothers to advance their far-right, pro-corporate, anti-environmental agenda. While the group describes itself as a "business league," CMD noted that its fundraising cycles much more closely resemble those of a political party, complete with high-tech voter lists and opposition research. Advertisement The "Washington Post" described the organization as "carefully constructed with extensive legal barriers to shield its donors" and said it operated "de facto banks" that were "feeding money to groups downstream." Freedom Partners has reportedly cut checks for as much as $63 million to support campaigns and causes beloved by the Kochs and their allies, including anti-environmental groups, the National Rifle Association, and two different groups working to repeal Obamacare, the 60 Plus Association and the Center to Protect Patient Rights (CPPR) run by Koch money man Sean Noble (who renamed the group American Encore.) CPPR/American Encore created some bad headlines for the Kochs. It was forced to pay huge fines as part of a settlement with California Attorney General-now Senator-Kamala Harris for activities that were described as "campaign money laundering," although Noble and the Kochs denied wrongdoing. Three other groups that received Freedom Partners funding were fined by the Federal Election Commission last year for violating campaign regulations. This is classic dark money behavior, and Short was in the middle of it. Short doesn't just give money away. As president of Freedom Partners he received a lot, too. The latest IRS filing for the organization shows that Short was paid $1,110,328 in 2015 by the nonprofit, and received another $48,444 in "other compensation from the organization and related organizations." The last person to hold his White House job reportedly received $172,200 per year - an excellent standard by most measures, but a step down from Short's former salary. Advancing the Koch Agenda from Inside the White House Short's path to the White House was not without a surprise or two. He left Freedom Partners in 2016 to join Marco Rubio's campaign, a move that was interpreted by some as a sign that the Republican establishment wanted to stop Trump at all costs. If the right-wing National Review is to be believed, Short was so determined to stop Trump that he personally presented Charles Koch with a plan for blistering ads " a detailed, eight-figure blueprint for derailing (Trump) on Super Tuesday," but was rebuffed. Advertisement He's come a long way since then. So why the change of heart? Perhaps because the candidate Short once wanted to stop is now poised to deliver on key elements of the Koch Brothers' agenda. Trump is appointing oil industry executives and lobbyists to a number of top positions and denies the reality of climate change. His xenophobic and bigoted rhetoric fuels the kind of fear that does great things for gun sales. Like Freedom Partners, Trump is pushing deregulation. And Trump, together with his congressional allies, is poised to repeal Obamacare. Recently, the Kochs' "grassroots" group Americans for Prosperity, is telling potential donors (with typically hyperbolic capitalization) that the Kochs' three-part agenda consists of "1. REPEALING OBAMACARE; 2. FIXING OUR BROKEN TAX SYSTEM" - that is, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy - and, "3. CUTTING FEDERAL SPENDING." Freedom Partners gave more than $130 million to organizations that supported Obamacare's repeal in 2012 along, according to its IRS filing. $115 million was given to the CPPR and $15.7 million went to the 60 Plus Association, which also lobbied heavily against it. CPPR funneled money to other groups as well, creating a fake storm of "grassroots" opposition. Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity routinely used Obamacare as a hot-button issue, targeting key Democrats with "issues ads" in their re-election races - which, of course, means that they were aiding Republicans in those races. American Encore also spent millions the same way. Advertisement A Friendly Koch Takeover Short is not the only Koch person to join the Trump Administration. VP Mike Pence is a Koch ally and he has been helping stack the cabinet with a coterie of Koch friends. Pence may become the most powerful vice president in U.S. history - outstripping even Dick Cheney in influence. And while Trump has differed with the Kochs on some key issues - including trade, Social Security, and Medicare - they have always agreed on deregulation, privatization, the climate, taxes, and Obamacare. Trump's appointments suggest that he may be moving closer to the Kochs on other issues as well. One thing seems clear already: the Kochs and their big-money allies seem poised to gain more influence than ever during a presidency they once tried to prevent. Deep in a lengthy Bloomberg Businessweek article on Emirates Airline was a quote that spoke volumes about the airline's strategy and confirmed the case that the U.S. carriers have been making for more than two years. In "Is Emirates Airline Running Out of Sky?" Chief Operations Officer Adel Ahmad al-Redha said: "We have never equated our investment into a dollar return."* Mr. al-Redha makes plain what longtime observers have been saying for years: Despite the flash of all those brand-new, big airplanes, a hub airport loaded with bling, Jennifer Anniston as celeb-spokeswoman and gushing accolades from passengers, Emirates does not rely on turning a profit to survive, a requirement for U.S. airline carriers and most other airlines and businesses. This acknowledgement demonstrates that Emirates is not a real airline. Having spent my entire working life in and near real airlines with investors and bank loans and other challenges, I was certain that sooner or later a credible business journalist would question whether, even with massive government subsidy and other big advantages, Emirates' business model was sustainable. Advertisement It was heartening to read a simple truth that other journalists dance around; at the top of the article, author Matt Campbell wrote that Emirates is "owned by its government." And he did a nice job of uncovering other basics: The cozy linkages in what is essentially a single entity - call it Dubai, Inc. The author wrote, "The company's chairman is Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, the uncle of Dubai's absolute monarch. He also runs the airport authority, the aviation regulator, and the city's largest bank, should Emirates ever need a loan." That the national regulator is essentially the airline is especially troubling. The absolute control that Emirates exercises over the company and its workers, from company dormitories with specified curfews for flight attendants to company doctors, all the way down to the precise shade of red lipstick for female cabin crew (the author noted they are "referred to invariably as 'girls'"). Creepy. The company's dizzying growth trajectory is bumping into slowing demand in many of the regions that have been the foundation for its global ambitions; in May 2016, Emirates reported the first revenue decline in a decade, and since then more warning lights have blinked on. The author noted these declines in the context of Emirates' orders for "50 A380s and 174 Boeing 777s, adding to the 92 and 148, respectively, it currently flies." As readers dive into the article, I would suggest keeping two important facts in mind. First, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have produced overwhelming evidence to prove the existence of massive amounts of government support provided to the three Gulf airlines. This is not a schoolyard "is too/is not" argument. The three U.S. airlines spent several years producing incontrovertible proof of at least $50 billion in subsidies and other support. They hired forensic accountants and investigators and built an enormously powerful case. Importantly, because the UAE does not comply with international accounting standards (called IFRS), it's impossible to really determine what's going on by looking at Emirates' annual report and other financial statements published in Dubai. (The U.S. airlines found the true numbers in reports Emirates and the other two airlines filed with authorities in Singapore, Hong Kong and other places with transparency and genuine accounting rules.) Second, it should not be forgotten that the massive subsides have allowed Emirates (and the other two Gulf titans) to divert traffic away from U.S. airlines and their European joint venture partners. As just one example from the U.S., India is the largest "beyond" market for Emirates, Etihad and Qatar, and their shares of bookings through travel agents and other intermediaries more than quadrupled from 2008 to 2014. More examples of traffic diversion are available in a Forbes article here. And the notion (in the article and many previous stories) that Emirates has grown the market only exists because massive government support allows them to flood markets with too many seats, thus driving down prices. That may be good for consumers in the short term, but totally distorts the market and creates instability in the medium and long term. The U.S. carriers, their customers, employees, and investors have benefited from the U.S. government's 120 Open Skies agreements, which have opened global markets, bringing new opportunities. But the governments of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, and their state-owned airlines, have violated the terms of these agreements through the massive subsidies and other state assistance. As President-elect Trump takes office this week, I'm optimistic that the new Administration will see how damaging these trade violations are and seek to enforce our trade agreements and level the playing field for U.S. airlines and their workers. ____________________________________ Advertisement Africa has occupied a more or less constantly insignificant position in both Republican and Democratic administrations in the US since the 1960s. Studies of US-Africa policies have tended to depict Republican administrations as "globalist" - more likely to look at Africa as part of a bigger picture than as its own unique geopolitical space. Democrats, meanwhile, are perceived "Africanists" who have close sympathies to African interests. But these distinctions are deceptive. Some Republican administrations, such as that of George W. Bush, paid more attention to African issues such as HIV/AIDS than, for instance, Bill Clinton's Democratic administration did. There were great expectations that Africa would feature prominently during Barack Obama's presidency. Instead, his administration built on some of the initiatives of the previous Republican governments rather than breaking new or distinctive ground in Africa. Advertisement Donald J. Trump is the new man in charge of the US, and Africa seems to have little cause for celebration. During his presidential campaign Trump gave no indication of how his administration would relate to Africa, a continent with a large diaspora in America. Worries about his stance on Africa were compounded by Trump's deliberate articulation of divisive policies regarding migration, foreigners, Muslims and race. In the week before Trump's inauguration it was reported that the president-elect's advisers had posed pertinent questions to the State Department about Africa. I'd like to offer unsolicited responses to four of Trump's questions. I will direct these to the man himself. In doing so, I hope to address the question that's top of mind for the continent right now: what does a Trump presidency mean for Africa? US aid to Africa With so much corruption in Africa, how much of our funding is stolen? Why should we spend these funds on Africa when we are suffering here in the US? President Trump, your administration will not be the first to discover that foreign aid is a double-edged sword. It rewards autocratic regimes while also strengthening institutions in more democratic ones. So it's important to understand the institutional conditions under which aid is disbursed. Your administration should continue the correct policy of selective discrimination of aid recipients. The United States Agency of International Development (USAID) has garnered significant experience in managing aid over the years. You should let it continue the work of putting American dollars where they make a difference. Of course, it is your sovereign responsibility to guarantee that US taxpayers' money isn't stolen by venal regimes. Al-Shabaab and Boko Haram We have been fighting Al-Shabaab [in Somalia] for decades. Why haven't we won? This is an unwinnable war. The fight against Al-Shabaab is part of the war on terror that your predecessors prioritised in Africa. The US has made some difference in how Al-Shabaab is managed in Africa, but your administration should seriously rethink its approach if it wants to see genuine change. Rebuilding the state in Somalia is the antidote to violent extremism. This rebuilding won't happen when American administrations indiscriminately drop bombs in Somalia or support weak regional governments that may never marshal the resources to defeat the Islamic insurgents. What is required are renewed efforts to negotiate a political settlement between the Somali government and Al-Shabaab through international mediation. Al-Shabaab may be amenable to negotiations once the relentless drone attacks from America stop and once regional players can be weaned away from unsustainable militarised approaches. Advertisement Why is the United States bothering to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria? Why have all the [Chibok] school girls kidnapped by the group not been rescued? The Chibok girls may never be found, thanks to the incompetence of the Nigerian military. In the past the Nigerian military was the leading professional army in West Africa. But corruption and political interference have weakened it significantly. A more capable Nigerian military should be able to defeat Boko Haram without American assistance. Probably the US might channel some aid towards supporting a strengthened Nigerian military so it can take care of its own local problems. In addition, the best policy toward Boko Haram should be to encourage Nigeria to find negotiated solutions to a problem that stems from political and economic marginalisation. The Chinese conundrum Are we losing out to the Chinese? Yes. The US has gradually lost out to the Chinese, which has large investments and is trading robustly with Africa. But instead of complaining about the Chinese, your administration should try to figure out why and where they are succeeding in Africa. If, as you claim, one of your major policies will be to promote business interests abroad, then Africa will need more attention. This, by the way, will not be inconsistent with broad African opinion that clamours for enhanced international investment in Africa. Advertisement Negotiation will be key So what does all this tell us about Trump's stance on and approach to Africa? First, there is understandable cynicism about Africa from the incoming administration. This is born from the negative images that inhere in a large segment of the American psyche. Gradually, however, this scepticism will be tempered by the realities of dealing with a continent that cannot be written off. Second, all new administrations need to have the space and latitude to question the logic of previous policies, as a starting point for new and innovative policies. But in foreign policy, clean slates are the exceptions rather than the rule. Thus, there will be both change and continuity in Trump's African policies. The doomsayers may perhaps be surprised at what comes out of the Trump White House. Trump will not run the US alone. As has always been the case, American presidents must negotiate policies with Congress. African governments and citizens will hope that these negotiations yield compromises across a wide range of issues that benefit the continent into the future. Gilbert M. Khadiagala, Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Head of Department, University of the Witwatersrand Denmark is considered the happiest country in the world. Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen/Reuters Opinions differ on the definition of well-being. Yet there's a growing consensus that it cannot be reduced to material consumption and that other aspects of life, such as health and good social relations, are essential to being well. Increasing well-being is generally accepted as one of the essential components of social progress, but if different aspects of life all contribute to well-being, can or should we construct an overall measure of it? For example, is "happiness" a good measure? Before we can begin to monitor social progress in terms of well-being, we need more clarity on the concept itself. Advertisement Measuring happiness One possibility is to use large opinion surveys in which individuals answer simple questions on their degree of happiness or life satisfaction. These have revealed robust patterns, confirming that economic growth has a weaker than expected effect on satisfaction, and that other aspects of life, such as health and unemployment, are important. These simple survey measures seem credible. But according to psychologists, happiness and life satisfaction do not coincide. Life satisfaction has a cognitive component - individuals have to step back to assess their lives - while happiness reflects positive and negative emotions that fluctuate. A focus on positive and negative emotions can lead to understanding well-being in an "hedonic" way, based in pleasure and the absence of pain. Looking instead to individuals' judgements about what is worth seeking suggests a preference-based approach (a possibility we discuss below). People judge all sorts of different things to be worth seeking. In other words, happiness may be an element in evaluating one's well-being, but it is not the only one. Advertisement The capability approach Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has pointed out that understanding well-being on the basis of feelings of satisfaction, pleasure, or happiness have two problems. The first he calls "physical-condition neglect". Human beings adapt at least partially to unfavourable situations, meaning the poor and the sick can still be relatively happy. One striking study by a team of Belgian and French physicians has shown that even in a cohort of patients with chronic locked-in syndrome, a majority reported being happy. The second problem is "valuation neglect". Valuing a life is a reflective activity that should not be reduced to feeling happy or unhappy. Of course, Sen admits, "it would be odd to claim that a person broken down by pain and misery is doing very well". We should therefore not fully neglect the importance of feeling well, but also acknowledge it is not the only thing people care about. Together with Martha Nussbaum, Sen formulated an alternative: the capability approach, which stipulates that both personal characteristics and social circumstances affect what people can achieve with a given amount of resources. Advertisement Giving books to a person who cannot read does not increase their well-being (probably the opposite), just as providing them with a car does not increase mobility if there are no decent roads. According to Sen, what the person manages to do or to be - such as being well-nourished or being able to appear in public without shame - are what really matter for well-being. Sen calls these achievements the "functionings" of the person. However, he further claims that defining well-being only in terms of functioning is insufficient, because well-being also includes freedom. His classic example involves the comparison between two undernourished individuals. The first person is poor and cannot afford food; the second is wealthy but chooses to fast for religious reasons. While they achieve the same level of nourishment, they cannot be said to enjoy the same level of well-being. Therefore, Sen suggests that well-being should be understood in terms of people's real opportunities - that is, all possible combinations of functionings from which they can choose. The capability approach is inherently multidimensional; but those seeking to guide policy often think that rationally dealing with trade-offs requires having one single ultimate measure. Adherents of the capability approach who succumb to this thought often mistrust individual preferences and apply instead a set of indicators that are common to all individuals. Advertisement So-called "composite indicators" - like the United Nations' Human Development Index, which adds together consumption, life expectancy and educational performance at the country level - are a frequent outcome of this kind of thinking. They have become popular in policy circles, but they fall victim to simply adding up scores on different dimensions, all deemed equally important. Taking individual convictions seriously Beyond the subjective approach and the capability approach, a third perspective - the preference-based approach to well-being - takes into account that people disagree about the relative importance of different life dimensions. Some people think that hard work is necessary to have a valuable life while others prefer to spend more time with family. Some think that going out with friends is key, while others prefer reading a book in a quiet place. The "preference-based" perspective starts from the idea that people are better off when their reality matches better what they themselves consider to be important. Preferences thus have a cognitive "valuational" component: they reflect people's well-informed and well-considered ideas about what a good life is, not merely their market behaviour. Advertisement This does not coincide with subjective life satisfaction. Recall the example of patients with the locked-in syndrome reporting high levels of satisfaction because they have adapted to their situation. This does not mean that they would not prefer to have their health back - and it certainly does not mean that citizens without locked-in syndrome would not mind falling ill with it. One example of a preference-based measure, advocated by the French economist Marc Fleurbaey, directs people to choose reference values for all non-income aspects of life (such as health or number of hours worked). These reference values will depend on the individual: everyone probably agrees that not being ill is the best possible state, but a workaholic lawyer is likely to place a very different value on work hours than someone with an arduous and hazardous factory job. Fleurbaey then suggests that people define a salary that, combined with the non-income-based reference value, would satisfy the individual as much as their current situation. The amount by which this "equivalent income" differs from the person's actual work-based income can help answer the question: "How much income you would be willing to give up for better health or more free time?" Some psychologists are sceptical about preference-based approaches because they assume that human beings have well-informed and well-considered ideas about what makes a good life. Even if such rational preferences exist, one struggles to measure them because these are aspects of life - family time, health - that are not traded on markets. Advertisement Does all this matter in practice? The following table, compiled by the Belgian economists Koen Decancq and Erik Schokkaert, shows how differing approaches to well-being can have practical consequences. It ranks 18 European countries in 2010 (just after the financial crisis) according to three possible measures: average income, average life satisfaction and average "equivalent income" (taking into account health, unemployment, safety and the quality of social interactions). Some results are striking. Danes are much more satisfied than they are wealthy, while France is the opposite. These large divergences are not seen when comparing equivalent incomes, however, which suggests that satisfaction in these two countries is heavily influenced by cultural differences. Germany and the Netherlands also do worse on satisfaction than on income, but their equivalent income rankings confirm that they do relatively worse on the non-income dimensions. Greece has a remarkably low level of life satisfaction. Cultural factors may play a role here, but Greece is also characterised by high income inequality, which is not captured by the averages in the table. Advertisement These differences among various measures of well-being hint at the important issues involved in deciding which measure of well-being - if any - to select. If we want to use the measure to rank nations' performance at providing well-being, then we will be pulled towards a single, simple measure, such as subjective happiness. If we seek to keep track, for policy purposes, of whether individuals are doing well in the respects that really matter, we will be pulled towards a more multi-dimensional assessment, such as that offered by the capability approach. And if we are most impressed by disagreement among individuals as to what matters, we will have reason to understand well-being along the lines suggested by the preference-based approach. The authors are lead authors of the chapter Social Progress, A Compass for the International Panel on Social Progress Demonetisation is just the latest example of post-truth politics at work. Ajay Verma/Reuters Major social change does not happen within the space of a year. Yet, to a large number of observers around the world, the "post-truth" phenomenon seemed to emerge from nowhere in 2016. Two key events of 2016 shaped our understanding of the post-truth world: one was in June, when Britain voted in favour of leaving the European Union. The other was in November, when political maverick Donald Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States of America. Trump's administration spent the third day of his presidency speaking of "alternative facts", and making false claims about the size of the crowds that had attended his inauguration. For the rest of the world, the importance of both Trump and Brexit can best be gauged by understanding that they happened in the USA and in the UK. The UK was the key driving force of the world from the 19th century until the second world war, the US has been ever since. The US and the UK often have shared a similar point of view on many global geopolitical developments, as strategic allies or by virtue of their "special relationship". Advertisement The dominant Western narrative The mainstream English-language media are largely concentrated in the US and UK, and as such dominate the global news agenda. Had these surprising electoral results happened in any other two nations, the impact of the "post-truth" narrative would surely have been lesser. Of course, events of such historical importance in quick succession, across the Atlantic, would naturally shake up English-speaking Western intellectuals. But there is an argument to be made that the US and the UK have been living in denial of facts and evidence for years. In 2003, after all, both the countries went to war in Iraq over the false notion that Saddam Hussein was harbouring weapons of mass destruction. Post-truth could also mean that a section of the elite in the US and the UK are facing a reality they never expected. When elites are not comfortable with the truth, the term "post-truth" emerges. One who seeks facts from one set of events will face the charge of ignoring evidence from another set of events. Advertisement Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn told us a long time ago that the narrative of the Western mainstream media and politicians do not necessarily represent people's interests. The world has largely been influenced by what the US and the UK mainstream media and policy-makers think; what rest of the world thought about truth has always mattered less. Wake up and smell the post-truth As years pass by, and as we in the rest of the world have more willingness to accept that the US and the UK did not help bring peace or stability in Afghanistan, Iraq or many other places, we realise that we have long been living in a post-truth world, where the landscape of reality was largely seen from the perspectives that these powers, in solidarity of the two governments and the elite mainstream media, wanted us to see. There can surely be an argument that there is no credible uniform narrative echoing from the internally divided US and UK now. For the US, even the relationship with old foes, such as Russia, is no longer clear. An increase in partisanship in the US has seen stark divisions arise, with intelligence agencies and the mainstream media on one side, and the alternate media siding with organisations such as WikiLeaks on the other, often sharing narratives emerging from Kremlin-funded media outlets such as RT. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton belong to the former club; Donald Trump, as of now, to the latter - driven by convenience. Advertisement Binary pictures always failed to represent real-life complexity, some of us have suddenly woken up to realise it. India: home of post-truth politics That was the global context of post-truth politics and its advent in the West. But as the US and UK wake up to this new era, it's worth noting that the world's largest democracy has been living in a post-truth world for years. From education to health care and the economy, particularly its slavish obsession with GDP, India can be considered a world leader in post-truth politics. India's post-truth era cannot be traced to a single year - its complexities go back generations. But the election of Narendra Modi in 2014 can be marked as a significant inflection point. Ever since, the country has existed under majoritarian rule with widely reported discrimination against minorities. India's version of post-truth is different to its Western counterparts due to the country's socioeconomic status; its per capita nominal income is less than 3% of that of the US (or 4% of that of the UK). Still, post-truth is everywhere in India. Advertisement Modi's government has shown how key decisions can be completely divorced from the everyday lives of Indian citizens, but spun to seem like they have been made for their benefit. Nowhere is this more evident than with India's latest demonetisation drive, which plunged the country into crisis, against the advice of its central bank, and hit poorest people the hardest. Despite the levels of extreme poverty in India, when it comes to social development, the cult of growth dominates over the development agenda, a trend that Modi has exacerbated, but that started with past governments. The dichotomy of India's current post-truth experience was nicely summed up by Arun Shourie, an influential former minister from Modi's own party. He disagrees with the prime minister, just as many Republicans share sharp differences of opinion with President Trump. Shourie said the policies of the current administration were equal to his predecessors' policies, plus a cow. Advertisement Context is everything India's post-truth landscape may be a harbinger of what's to come for the US and the UK. Certainly, there are echoes in both nations of the nationalism narrative that swept Modi to power in 2014. Each nation and each society has its individual interpretation of the post-truth political world and its impact on the social and economic landscape. Back in 2012, Justice Anthony M Kennedy, in scrutinising former president Barrack Obama's health-care reform said, "most questions in life are matters of degree." And so it is with post-truth politics. We have always lived in some form of the post-truth era, to varying degrees. But if this current manifestation of the phenomenon is a response to the fact that too much "political correctness" or "identity politics" did not go well with the majority in either India or the US and the UK, too much protectionism is also likely to have devastating consequences. In any democratic society, the pendulum of public opinion swings from one pole to another. In the US and the UK, as in India, we are now seeing the pendulum swing to a populist, or post-truth extreme. For all three countries, the assumption is that as the pendulum swings more in one direction, the invisible forces of democracy will eventually work to bring balance, which will lead to a swing in the opposite direction. Advertisement But that also assumes that no untoward large-scale irreversible damage is done to the world in between swings. And yes, that is a big assumption, given where the world stands now. White nationalist Richard Spencer was punched in the middle of a TV interview on inauguration day. Spencer Selvidge/Reuters While millions of people joined a worldwide women's march to protest the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, and a smaller number gathered to celebrate it, parts of the internet were debating the vital question: is it OK to punch Nazis? The debate was sparked when Richard Spencer - the antagonistic president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank - was punched in the face by a masked assailant during a television interview. Captured by the cameras of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, footage of the punch quickly spread across social media. Advertisement By the end of the weekend, a number of dedicated hashtags such as #punchmorenazis and #punchyourlocalnazi had sprung up. These hashtags countered the recent rebranding of white supremacy as the "alt-right". Instead, users drew historical comparisons between contemporary events in the US and those of 1930s Germany. Social media users also remixed the footage of the Spencer punch to music, from Disney's Frozen, Rage Against the Machine and the Indiana Jones theme tune. The choice of Indiana Jones was not coincidental. In fact, it tapped into the growing symbolic value of the film franchise to many of those who resist the world's political slide to the extreme right. In the films, archaeologist Professor Indiana Jones is a staunch anti-Nazi. This is perhaps best illustrated by his exploits in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and the moment in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) when Jones remarks, "Nazis - I hate these guys". Advertisement So it is not surprising that after Spencer was punched, Indy returned to our screens, albeit on mobile devices rather than in movie theatres. He appeared in memes featuring Nazi fight-scenes from both these movies and in one tweet from comic book writer Gerry Duggan, alongside a still of the Spencer punch and an image of Captain America punching Hitler, dating to the superhero's first appearance in 1941. Do it like Indiana Jones Significant research has been carried out on the geopolitical symbolism of Captain America but Indy has escaped similar degrees of scrutiny. A cursory attempt at such an analysis reveals how Indiana Jones, partly through his new associations with Captain America, personifies certain ideas of American patriotism. This is interesting given that one of the earliest symbolic uses of Indiana Jones can be attributed to a Berlin-based anti-fascist group, whose members would surely find patriotism's close relationship with nationalism a little problematic. A sticker that appeared on street corners throughout the German capital between roughly 2008 and 2013, and which is now archived in the Street Art Graphics Collection at St. Lawrence University, shows Indy, in his famous fedora, punching a large bare-chested, skin-headed Nazi. Its slogan implores: "Do It Like Indiana Jones". Advertisement Antifaschistische Aktion Nazis: the ultimate bad guys Professor Susan Aronstein has described the Nazism depicted in the original Indiana Jones trilogy as an "interchangeable force of darkness". Casting the Nazis as the bad guys tapped into easily recognisable categories of good and evil helped the films re-establish America as a land of liberty after the Vietnam War. Since then, Indy's patriotism has found new targets that complicate his symbolic value for the political left. This reaction was reminiscent of the Indian film certification board's response to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). They temporarily banned the movie for its negative depiction of Hinduism. Until recently, few leapt to the defence of Indy's Nazi enemies but this might soon change, given the alt-right's recent negative reaction to Star Wars. Advertisement Indy in the academy Ultimately, the binary logic of good versus evil has masked some of the more problematic aspects of Indy's escapades, not least their neo-colonialism and sexism. Real archaeologists have highlighted these deficiencies but for the most part, Indiana Jones is still generally held in high regard by scholars who are keen to attract public interest. But where does the rallying call to punch more Nazis leave an academic discipline that openly acknowledges the character's huge influence on its public perception and student enrolment numbers? Watching the Indiana Jones led me to study archaeology at university and I still remember learning about the Nazi regime's abuse of the discipline to promote their racist ideologies. Thus I partly agree with those who are glad to see archaeology channelled through popular fictional characters like Jones to influence opinion against far-right extremism. And yet I cannot shake the nagging feeling that using Indy in this way might also come to reinforce growing anti-intellectualism and contribute to the deepening divides between academics and those segments of the public that sympathise with or are vulnerable to far-right ideologies. These cleavages recently became evident with the launch of the Professor Watchlist, which encourages students to "expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom". Advertisement The initiative attracted criticism on social media and opponents responded by trolling the website with fake reports relating to fictional academics including, yes you've guessed it, Professor Indiana Jones. Landing heavier punches So is it OK to use Indiana Jones as an excuse to support punching white supremacists? Certain moments may allow only a small number of reasonable responses, some of which may involve the use of violence. However, it is worrying when popular icons are flattened and their advocates or fans filtered into bubbles on the right and left in ways that close down the opportunity to exchange opinions for the better. As the video of Richard Spencer continues to be remixed online, some users have joked that if they began an archaeology degree today they could start fighting Nazis during Trump's expected four-year term as president We rarely see Professor's Jones intellectual skills in action but perhaps it would be productive to encourage him to land heavier punches through recourse to knowledge, rather than his fists. Ideally, those drawn to the field of archaeology by Indy's most recent outings would learn to defeat the rise of the right through the use of intellect rather than violence. Perhaps they will even manage it by the time the fifth Indiana Jones film is released in the summer of 2019. Advertisement Samuel Merrill, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Digital Sociology, Umea University (Xinhua) 13:14, January 24, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed three memorandums, ordering the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a freeze on federal hiring and a ban on financing pro-abortion programs abroad with U.S. federal funds. "We've been talking about this for a long time," Trump said as he signed the paper ordering the exit from TPP. "Great thing for the American worker, what we just did," Trump said as he held up the signed document to the press. The White House has yet to release the details of the executive order. The TPP, a free trade pact between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, was formally signed by ministers from these 12 countries in last February after more than five years' negotiation. Trump's action on Monday was considered as a symbolic move, as the U.S. Congress hasn't approved the deal yet. However, the move indicated that the new administration is actually shifting trade policies from previous U.S. norms. Trump has also said he would renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with the Canadian and Mexican governments, seeking a better deal for the United States. International institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have warned that the inward-looking policy and protectionism could be a threat to global growth. Trump then signed an order that put a freeze on hiring employees from federal agencies. "Except for the military," Trump stressed as he signed the paper. The order dictates that no vacant positions can be filled, or new position created, unless an agency head deems the position "necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities," according to the memorandum. The memorandum also said the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management will devise a plan within 90 days to "recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the federal government." The third executive order Trump signed on his first working day as president was a ban on the financing of pro-abortion programs abroad with U.S. federal funds. The policy, nicknamed the Mexico City policy, originated from the Reagan years and went on and off in the years after depending which political party took hold of the White House. Former President Barack Obama rescinded the policy when he entered the White House in 2009. Accompanying Trump in the oval office as he signed the orders were Vice President Mike Pence, Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon, among others. In a sense, the damage is already done and who can doubt that what follows will be a demolition derby -- with an exception almost too obvious to mention. In the pre-inaugural period, one simple fact of the Trumpian accession stood out boldly: just about every one of his appointees to a non-national-security post was prepared to rip his or her agency (or its mission) to shreds. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry essentially had to apologize for once claiming that he'd like to abolish the Energy Department, which he is now to head. Former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, historically in the pay of big energy, is to take over the Environmental Protection Agency, which he sued 14 times in his home state and challenged fiercely about its desire to protect the environment. Betsy DeVos, prospective head of the Department of Education, would like to tear up those "failing government schools" and turn "public" education into a voucher-driven phenomenon. Tom Price, the soon-to-be head of Health and Human Services, not only wants to rip out Obamacare at the roots, but essentially cripple Medicaid and Medicare, too. And though we have no details yet on labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder's plans, given his record and his views (he'd like to replace workers with machines that don't take vacations), it's easy enough to guess that he will prove another dismantler. And so it's likely to go in Donald Trump's version of America. The first news from his administration's budget front, for instance, indicates that an axe will soon be taken to the departments of commerce, energy, justice, transportation, and state. In addition, the Hill reports, "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely." Advertisement As I mentioned, however, there is a major exception to all of this that fits well with essential Republicanism in these years -- a "small government" philosophy until you reach the oppressive powers of the state and then "big" doesn't even cover it. So the major exceptions to all this will be the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security (that wall!). At the inaugural concert, Donald Trump once again emphasized that money will indeed flow in ever-increasing amounts into reversing the supposed "very sad depletion of our military." ("We're going to build up our great military. We're going to build it up. We're going to strengthen our borders.") In other words: for the civilian side of the government, no, but for the Defense Department, it's thumb's up all the way. On a visit to Washington D.C. in December I made a most astonishing discovery. I found, eight years after it opened its new building, one of the finest modern museums I have ever experienced, the Newseum. Situated on Pennsylvania Avenue and overlooking the National Mall, it commands a special place in the capitol's pantheon of great museums and it also boasts fantastic views of the City from its fifth floor terrace. The Newseum was established in 1997 and its first home was in Arlington, Virginia, a little out of the limelight and the tourist trail. The new building was opened in 2008 at a cost of over $450 million and was designed by James Polshek. It extends over five floors and contains 15 theatres, extensive galleries, and two broadcast studios. The design is contemporary, full of glass with the opportunity for passersby to get an impression of what's on offer. The exterior ground floor is dedicated to today's front pages of every newspaper you can imagine and the building's colors are sort of grey and then blue, at least to my eye. Admission is not free, in fact it's expensive at over $20, because it's not part of the Smithsonian. But my word, it's worth it. The museum states that it celebrates the five freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment but having spent two days walking around and experiencing the many exhibitions and attractions, many of them interactive, I believe it goes even further than that. For me it's a monument to the amazing courage and commitment of investigative journalists, photographers and cameramen the world over. And it's really their story in chronicling our times that is told in gracious style, from Walter Cronkite announcing Kennedy's death in 1963 to the unfolding catastrophe of 9/11. As newspaper columnist Rod Dreher wrote of the courageous responders that day: "There are three kinds of people who run toward disaster, not away: cops, firemen and reporters." Advertisement Investigative journalists are the people dedicated to finding and establishing the truth often at immense danger to their own lives. The museum includes a Journalists Memorial to 2,291 who were killed while on duty around the world. These writers and photographers inform and promote the civic discourse about the state of our society. We all need to hold their work as sacred because it is truly the basis of freedom. We might sometimes loathe such journalists for what could be described as their intrusiveness and at other times we must praise their tenacity and sheer stubbornness in digging up the truth. I hope that we shall never live without them even in this technological age. The exhibition that most moved and frankly shocked me was the very first I devoted time and thought to. This was on the first floor and featured Pulitzer Prize-winning news photography. There were many photographers such as Damon Winter, Kevin Carter, Don Bartlett, Barbara Davidson, Carol Guzy, Stan Grossfeld, and Jessica Rinaldi, and their work was all dedicated to astonishing news coverage. Their subjects were as varied as you can imagine, sometimes in color, and other times black and white, capturing scenes of joy, war, cruelty, destruction, love, and disaster. All the photographs create a deep emotional connection with the subject. I have no idea how they can do that but virtually each photograph stops you in your tracks, forces a sharp intake of breath and focuses the mind. There are hundreds of photographs to study and several that still haunt me - Stan Grossfeld's image of a starving mother and her child in Ethiopia staring at the camera with such dignity as though posing for a C20 version of Michelangelo's Pieta (in photo right); the happiness of a family reunion with a father returning from war; the horror and mindlessness of a lynching in Bangkok. Advertisement These are pictures of our world captured in a single moment of vivid truth. The photographers talk about having front seats to history and none could tell that story more eloquently than the picture of the very moment Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald (the alleged assassin of Kennedy), or the terror of an anonymous figure falling from the burning Twin Towers. The photographs have a transcendence that speaks to what we care about deep down in our very souls and it is perhaps this realization that creates this intense emotional feeling and connection. I believe you can find in these frozen images the depths of our humanness as much as in any great work of art. I lingered for a long time with these images and was speechless and moved as a result. Then there are all the other exhibitions. In the basement there is a display devoted to the Berlin Wall. In fact there is a huge section of the Wall covered in graffiti and overlooked by a complete East German watchtower from Check Point Charlie. The Wall must be 12 feet or more high and the tower is a good three stories tall, from which aerie the East German guards could shoot at anything that moved. The whole exhibit looked like the ossified remains of the Soviet Tyrannosaurus Rex. Then there are two enormous glass elevators that I mistakenly walked into thinking they were rooms! These take you to the fifth floor, which is where they advise you to start your long journey to the ground floor. There is the FBI exhibition containing tommy guns from the gangster era, one of the Unabomber's cabins, and the car belonging to one of the 9/11 hijackers. There is the famous video screen stretching across a long room where you can absorb basically whatever is in your sight-line. Then there are the front pages of all those newspapers reaching back into the depths of time announcing the major events of our world history such as the execution of Charles I at the end of the British Civil War in 1649, the Fire of London in 1666, the assassination of Lincoln in 1865 and the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. They were all terrifying and fascinating glimpses into our past that tell a salutary tale about what we might expect our future to be. As I came to know the museum better I wanted to see more about their education programs. You might say that the entire building is dedicated to education and that is correct in many ways. A quick look at the Newseum's Education website pages revealed a variety of resources, classes and events for students, teachers and professionals. There is also a ten-year partnership with the School of Communication at American University that includes internships as well as the highly successful Reel Journalism series, a film series hosted by the Newseum in their Annenberg Theater and moderated by jointly appointed distinguished journalist-in-residence, Nick Clooney. Like it or not, Donald Trump is the 45th President of The United States of America. That might be obvious considering he was inaugurated on Friday, but for those who say "He's not my president," I'm sorry to tell you, but his decisions are about to impact your lives in very significant ways, no matter how many Saturday's you spend holding a sign that references your vagina. (Disclaimer for all women who marched: Thank you for marching to protect women's rights... please keep reading and keep fighting) More importantly than how his presidency will affect Americans' daily lives is how his presidency will affect diplomatic relations with foreign countries, likely altering Americans' experiences while traveling and even jeopardizing their ability to travel abroad. Many citizens from countries around the world think we just elected the next Putin and they are not only in disbelief, but they are terrified. Travelers Will Have A Difficult Job Traveling internationally under Obama was pretty easy in most nations, as he was well-liked. In most countries I visited during his time in office, people would say "Obama!" and throw me a thumbs up. As a traveler, we are on the forefront of America's reputation. It will be a traveler's job, now more than ever, to prove that our views do not coincide with the xenophobia that has taken hold in the White House. Advertisement The American Government was formed to be a representation of the American people, but the current administration does not represent the majority's values. By treating others with respect, engaging in important conversations, and not participating in cultural appropriation, we can demonstrate that the American government is vastly different from the American people they represent. America's Newfound Ability for Travel to Cuba Could Be Gone Trump has threatened to scrap the normalization process initiated by the US and Cuba in December of 2014. This could jeopardize cruise services and flights from the US to Cuba. Basically, legal travel to Cuba could disappear as fast as it came. If you think you can still just go through Mexico, think again. How welcome will we be there after we build that wall? On the contrary, many experts on the Cuba matter do feel that now that the travel floodgates have been opened, it's too late to go back. Only time will tell. More Expensive Flights Gulf carriers (such as Emirates and Qatar) may no longer be able to compete with US carriers, as the Trump presidency means the renegotiation of Open Skies Agreement. This means less competition on many international routes, which means higher prices to consumers. The negotiations could go a number of ways, depending on which lobbying route the US carriers take. Warm Welcomes May Be Chilled Other countries might not give you the warm welcome you were hoping for. For whatever reason, America's reputation around the world improved under Obama's administration. As seen by the marches and protests around the world, countless others now seem to be singing a different tune about the USA. However, that warm welcome we've all come accustomed to in recent years may be a bit cooler in the coming days. Advertisement Say Goodbye to China and it's Great Wall Tensions have increased with China due to Trump questioning the 'One China Policy' and recognizing Taiwan's leader. It's complicated, but it is a very real threat to our relationship with China. In addition Trump wants American goods to no longer be made in China (despite the hats handed out at his inauguration). If tensions continue to heat up, travel to China for US citizens could become more difficult. Tighter Immigration As we place more harsh immigration restrictions on other nations, we should expect to see the same in return. As far as some countries are concerned, we are a bunch of white supremacist psychos who just voted a reality star into the world's most powerful office. This goes back to the traveler's new job, to show we are not our government and put on the best face we can for the world. Less Visa Free Travel As we tighten our borders to other nations, they are going to do the same to us. This means possibly less visa-free travel for Americans, and a probably increases in the costs of visas. Better US Travel Beyond the challenging days ahead for international travel, there could be a silver lining for those who would rather travel within America's borders right now. Included in President Trump's platform was an effort to improve America's infrastructure. If his promise is kept, travel in America could see improvement. America is in desperate need for an improved railway system, something all other first world countries have in place. Maybe with Trump's Presidency, we will finally get something better than the outdated trains that we are accustomed to. Here's hoping. You Must Travel With Urgency Travel NOW! Because Trump is unpredictable and seemingly makes rash decisions, you never know where US citizens may no longer be welcome. I constantly say there is no rush with travel, and although I still strongly believe that, I now feel there is an urgency in 2017. If there is someplace you have always wanted to visit, don't wait. Advertisement It has yet to be seen how many of these predictions will come true in the near future, but are you really willing to bet your dream travel destination on a man who seems to be pissing off more than just Rosie O'Donnell? (File photo) Rent-a-partner services have become increasingly in demand in China as Spring Festival approaches, with the most expensive daily payments running as high as 3,000 RMB. Pressed by families to bring home girlfriends or boyfriends, some young men and women choose to rent a total stranger, turning partner rental into big business. At least 21 details about available rent-a-partner services could be found on an online Baidu Tieba forum on Jan. 17, which indicated that prices start from 100 RMB per day. There are also websites offering professional rental services of girlfriends or boyfriends. Such websites demand a commission of up to 15 percent of the daily charge from the pretend partners, Beijing Youth Daily reported. We will find you a partner according to your career and height requirements. We can also show you a picture first. We do not have any inexperienced workers; those we recommend are very good at getting along with the elderly, and they know how to speak and behave in different situations, an employee told the newspaper. It is permissible for rented girlfriends to sleep in the same room as customers, but they cannot share a bed. The employee also warned that the website does not guarantee the safety of either party. If you want to rent out your services, you must be responsible for anything that goes wrong, the employee noted. According to Beijing-based lawyer Chang Sha, contracts for the rental services are valid as long as no laws are violated and morality is upheld. Meanwhile, Chang noted that websites providing such services should shoulder the responsibility of checking users identities and protecting their personal information, Beijing Youth Daily reported. Rent-a-partner services have been gaining popularity in recent years, but their popularity typically peaks in the weeks before Spring Festival. The services are very worthwhile to young people whose parents often expect to see their children with partners during the holiday. The spotlight has fallen on comedian and Hollywood star Tracy Morgan but not for the reasons he may have hoped.Instead, the former 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live actor has been informed he must give insurers access to his personal records including more than six years of tax returns.In a report by the New York Daily News it was revealed that a federal magistrate judge in New Jersey has given the comedian 20 days to show the documents requested by Ohio Casualty Insurance Company and Liberty Insurance Underwriters who are fighting an obligation to fund what they consider to be an exorbitant settlement given to him and comedian Ardie Fuqua reported by Bloomberg to be in the region of $90 million.The insurers represent Walmart and the comic duo were given confidential settlements from the firm on the back of the July 07, 2014 crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that saw their friend James McNair killed. The crash was caused by a Walmart truck driver who was sleep-deprived and crashed into their limousine Morgan himself suffered a brain injury.The following year, Walmart agreed to a $10 million settlement to McNairs children but details of its pact with Morgan and Fuqua were not released.Now the insurance companies are arguing that Walmart acted too quickly and offered too much money and so they are trying to prove that Morgans potential future earnings were not compromised to the extent that was originally believed.Instead they want anything related to his TV appearances following the settlement as well as driving a Lamborghini in midtown Manhattan shortly after the settlement, (walking) around midtown New York shortly after the settlement and his appearing at the Emmy Awards to make a presentation.Both Morgan and Fuqua have been ordered to comply with the subpoena. HW Kaufman Financial Group has announced its acquisition of Essential Insurance Services, an audit firm that specializes in general liability, workers compensation, and other auditable insurance coverage.According to a company statement, HW Kaufman views the acquisition as a step to extend its presence and capabilities in key growth areas.The addition of Essential Insurance Services adds significant talent to our team. For us, acquisitions are not just a financial motivator, they are about gaining expertise, Alan Jay Kaufman, chairman, president and chief executive.As it makes the transition into HW Kaufman, the Colorado based audit firm will become part of US-Reports, which is the parent firms national provider of audit, inspection and risk management services.US-Reports president Jon Kovach claimed that the acquisition will give Essentials current client base greater reach with expanded services. Delong Steel, located in Xingtai, Hebei Province, is one of two steel factories in the city. In 2014, the company reportedly allocated a total of 210 million RMB ($31 million) to upgrade its environmental protection equipment. The company has so far established multiple environmental protection projects. Water samples before and after treatment (left and middle). On Jan. 22, Si Guoliang, the Environmental Protection Bureau chief of Xingtai, paid a visit to the company. Si drank up a cup of recycled water, indicating his confidence in the water's quality and the company's performance. Staffers said the quality of the water has surpassed national drinking water standards. Fish swim in the recycled water. As severe storms whipped the south east of the US over the weekend, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) issued reminders to the general public to ensure orderly claims filing and processing as residents go about repairing their damaged property.Homeowners should first contact their insurance company or agent through their toll-free number, app or website to begin filing a claim. Insurers plan for catastrophes and are prepared to assist homeowners immediately, PCI regional manager of state government relations Logan McFaddin said in a PCI statement.The trade group added that policyholders should immediately secure their property after the storm to prevent further damage or theft. Claimants should also document losses by photographing damage and keeping receipts and other transaction records for the reference of their adjustors, PCI emphasized.Moreover, they warned against rogue contractors. They told the public to only deal with those who are government certified and insisted that they should ask for proper credentials before signing any contracts. In providing physicians and surgeons with protection in the case of malpractice, medical professional liability policies play an integral role in the US healthcare system. Medical professional liability typically insures a physician or surgeon against any bodily injury or damage that is caused to a patient during the rendering of, or failure to render, medical professional services. Unlike typical errors & omissions policies, which insure a financial loss component, medical malpractice liability is more focused on physical harm and long-term disability.One of the most common causes of legal action we see is failure to diagnose, whether thats lung cancer, breast cancer or any type of harmful disease, explains Jim Baldyga, VP and medical professional leader at General Star Management Co. We also see many claims after complications in surgery, or if surgery does not have the impact a patient envisaged for example, an orthopaedic patient who has surgery for back pain, but finds that the pain is not alleviated.Claims made against plastic surgeons by unsatisfied clients are also common. Obstetricians are vulnerable as well if a complication during the birthing process leads to the baby being affected by cerebral palsy or the mother suffering a physical injury or death. All of these situations are covered by medical professional liability, Baldyga says.There are myriad risks for any physician or surgeon who does not have modern, comprehensive medical professional liability coverage in place. Having to face a lawsuit with inadequate coverage, or a policy with coverage gaps, could be catastrophic.The good thing about buying an insurance policy is that youre also buying a defense if somebody dies during surgery, youll be provided with a legal defense, Baldyga says.If there is an indemnity loss, or if there needs to be a settlement or liability, that will also be covered. If the insurance company feels that there is no reason to settle, the suit may go to trial, and those expenses are covered, too.Baldyga notes that most doctors buy $1 million worth of medical professional liability, which also includes an unlimited legal defense clause. We had a recent case in Chicago where we ended up paying $400,000 to defend a policyholder, Baldyga says. He eventually got let out of the case, so we paid no indemnity, but it did result in $400,000 in legal expenses. Thats unusual, but it does happen.The language in a medical malpractice policy is fairly standard, and the coverage is generally broad. While there are exclusions, policies have tended to be standardized over time. However, that doesnt take away from the complexity of the medical malpractice space. Its a specialist space that, for many brokers, is their only professional focus, Baldyga says. To be successful in this space, brokers need to know all of the ins and outs of the business.Medical malpractice laws and insurance vary by jurisdiction, so brokers working in this arena must have a strong knowledge of each states requirements if they want to service clients across the country.An important aspect of this information gathering is to find out the medical malpractice limits physicians typically carry in each state, which states have a cap on damages and what impact that may have.In the state of Indiana, for example, if a physician were to enroll in the Indiana Patient Compensation Fund, the physicians damages are capped in the event of a malpractice claim, explains Matt Anderson, senior vice president of medical professional liability at RT Specialty. Even if a jury awards a family $6 million in a medical malpractice case, the judge would have to cap the amount of damages to an amount that would be substantially less. Having that sort of knowledge is one way that brokers can differentiate themselves, especially when dealing with multi-state exposure.Innovations in technology, and specifically telemedicine and telehealth, are also forcing brokers to increase their knowledge of countrywide legislation. Telehealth enables a physician in Florida to have a conference with a patient in Illinois over the internet, Anderson says. The physician is able to diagnose x-rays and imaging scans and then provide the patient with guidance.The concept has forced brokers to familiarize themselves with each states medical insurance requirements and guidelines in order to provide coverage.Prior to working in the medical malpractice side of the business, Anderson operated as a retail agent focusing on lawyers professional liability. But when he decided to become a wholesaler, he wanted to focus on medical malpractice.Concentrating on one area gives a wholesale broker the ability to differentiate himself or herself and succeed, Anderson says. It allows you to become great at one thing and keep your fi nger on the pulse of the industry. It enables you to get a sense of where the market is going in terms of coverage and price. A generalist broker may be good at a lot of things, but a broker focused on a particular area can choose to be great at one.For brokers who do want to focus on the medical malpractice space, the policy form is of utmost importance. Carriers are now throwing sub-limited coverage onto policies for HIPAA violations, Medicare and Medicaid audits, medical billings and E&O, and brokers are expected to keep on top of a carriers updates.A broker who knows how the regulatory climate pertains to malpractice is at an advantage because the landscape is changing, especially now that we have electronic medical records and an uptick in medical audits, Anderson says. Having a strong understanding of regulatory features and their impacts is very important because there are so many markets today writing this coverage. I work with over 30 carriers who will write medical malpractice coverage in some capacity. Being able to keep up with 30 insurance companies underwriting appetites and policy forms would be difficult for any broker simply dabbling in this area.The biggest challenge for brokers working in todays medical professional liability industry is competition. There are many markets willing to write physician medical malpractice, whether in the surplus lines non-admitted arena or the admitted standard market, but due to increased consolidation in healthcare, there are fewer insureds buying coverage. There seem to be more brokers than there are insureds wanting to buy the coverage, Anderson says. Competition has also driven down premiums, so brokers are working as hard, if not harder, for less commission.In response to the saturated nature of the market, Anderson advises brokers to focus on practice specialties that are insulated from mergers and acquisitions of hospitals, health systems and other physician groups.I have worked in the locum tenens physician contract staffing world and had lots of success, he says. With hospitals being short-staffed of doctors, healthcare organizations are relying on third-party providers to staff the hospital. Insuring those staff locum tenens accounts has been successful because theyre not going to be purchased by a hospital or large healthcare system.Healthcare for those who are incarcerated is an area that Ive also had a great deal of success with because its also insulated hospitals are not going to be getting into that space and insuring the business. Email IC Arizona at azpoliticalintel-at-yahoo.comIC Arizona is a subsidiary of IntellectualConservative.com Haiti - NOTICE : The 11th edition of the 2017 Jazz Festival changes its date Due to the electoral calendar, the 11th edition of the International Festival of Jazz of Port-au-Prince "PAPJAZZ 2017" will be held exceptionally in March, from Saturday 4 to Saturday 11, in the capital and its surroundings. This exception will also give organizers the opportunity to celebrate International Women's Day by putting women in the spotlight on March 8 at all stages of the Festival. For its 11th edition, PAPJAZZ will receive artists from Germany, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Cuba, Spain, France, Mexico, Panama, Switzerland, the United States and of course Haitians artists and from the diaspora, who will present jazz, creole jazz but also a sample of the music of Haiti in all its diversity. IH/ iciHaiti The 12th month of the lunar calendar is peak season for weddings in rural China, which is sure to cause financial stress for many families. An investigation shows that the increasing price tag of rural weddings has cost many parents their life savings, or even led them to rack up huge debt to help their sons tie the knot. In fact, this "wedding-driven poverty" is not a new phenomenon, Xinhua reported on Jan. 23. As people in rural area become wealthier, more and more brides demand cars, houses and other major assets from their husbands-to-be. According to 76-year-old Tao Yuanfeng, a former village official in Shandong province, most families go into debt to throw weddings. Some remain in debt for nearly a decade. An investigation in Shandong revealed one rural family that spent more than 200,000 RMB on a wedding, equal to almost five years' net income of the four-member family. Additionally, grooms often borrow significant sums of money from friends and relatives. Another issue is that many people cannot bear the expense of gift-giving. It's a tradition for Chinese people to offer money as gifts at weddings, funerals and other important events. "My annual net income is about 15,000 RMB, but the gift money consumes more than 10,000 RMB," said Tao. Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist and former professor at the School of Sociology and Population Studies of Renmin University of China, pointed out that the high cost of weddings highlights the imbalanced gender ratio in rural areas. A shortage of women has led to the rise of women's status in the marriage market. The hope of some poor people to raise their circumstances through betrothal gifts is also quite evident. Wang Zhongwu, a professor at the School of Philosophy and Social Development at Shandong University, noted that expensive weddings and showy funerals in rural areas are more than just an unhealthy social ethos; they also affect social stability and prevent villagers from becoming wealthy. A survey carried out by the city of Linyi in Shandong province indicates that most people are actually reluctant to spend large sums of money on weddings. They throw large parties only because they don't want other villagers to look down on them. Indeed, 79.7 percent of villagers believe it is necessary to change customs surrounding weddings and funerals, 81.5 percent are willing to start this change from themselves and their own families as long as the government also helps, and 10.5 percent say the government has not previously done a satisfactory job addressing the problem. In 2016, China listed Shandong as one of two pilot provinces to host programs aimed at changing customs and habits in rural areas. Most villages in Shandong have already set up committees for this purpose. Expectations for betrothal gifts should be based on public opinion, suggested Wang. The local government should advocate a new way of planning weddings that includes simple engagements, more modest betrothal gifts and less peer pressure between neighbors. China urges U.S. to watch how it talks about the South China Sea issue (Xinhua) 21:02, January 24, 2017 China on Tuesday urged the U.S. side to speak and act cautiously on the South China Seaissue, reiterating that China was committed to solving the issue peacefully through negotiation with the countries directly concerned. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily briefing, when commenting on White Housespokesperson Sean Spicer's comments on Monday concerning the South China Sea issue. Noting that the United Statesis not a party in the dispute, Hua said that China exerts indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and its adjacent waters, and China is firmly committed to safeguarding its own sovereignty and maritime rights. Hua said that China firmly preserves the freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, as well as peace and stability in the region. China makes continuous efforts to try to peacefully solve relevant disputes through negotiation with countries directly concerned, said Hua, adding that China's stance on the South China Sea issue is clear-cut, consistent, and unchanged. According to reports, Spicer on Monday said that, "it's a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China property, then yeah, we're going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country." Photo credit: China Railway Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute (www.brdi.com.cn) On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump became the 45th President of the United States, a stunning accomplishment for the Washington outsider. Millions of ordinary American workers left behind in the modern economy placed their faith in Trump to revive the country and with that the narrative of America changed from one of exceptionalism to one of despair and decline. Part of this new dark narrative centers on Americas crumbling infrastructure. In his inaugural speech, Trump said Americas infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. His claim is backed by data. The report card by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which is released every four years, gives American infrastructure an overall grade of poor. The organization argues that infrastructure is critical for long-term economic growth and estimates that $3.6 trillion in investment is needed by 2020. Trump wants to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure all across the nation to accelerate economic growth and increase productivity gains, but he has no clear plan on how to finance and carry out the proposed project. When it comes to infrastructure, China wins hands down. China spends more on economic infrastructure annually than North America and Western Europe combined, according to a study by the McKinsey Global Institute. Kingston University Professor of Economics Steve Keen told Peoples Daily Online that Trump could learn a lot from China about infrastructure. America lacks the capacity to plan and carry out large-scale projects, because the expertise needed to expand infrastructure has been lost. Chinas economic success is testament to the advantages of its system and to Chinese ingenuity, and infrastructure is one of the nations strengths. Because the Chinese government is more involved in the nations development, leaders can plan, finance, and carry out very ambitious projects in a relatively short period of time. We should keep in mind that while Trump wants to rebuild Americas crumbling roads and bridges, China is already building megacities with populations that will be larger than some countries populations, and is frequently setting records with amazing infrastructure. Most recently, China connected the worlds longest heavy-duty steel arch bridge over the Yangtze River. The Hutong (Shanghai-Nantong) Yangtze River Bridge in E China Over the years, Trump has expressed admiration for Chinas economic success. Based on his comments, it seems he wants America to be more like China in terms of growth. In November 2012, Trump wrote a tweet saying China is growing because it can build the worlds tallest building in 90 days, adding that there is too much red tape in America. In July 2013, Trump wrote a tweet saying China is building 50 brand new airports while America continues to rot. In October 2014, Trump wrote a tweet saying China overtook America as the worlds largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, and criticized the government for wasting money while China builds airports and skyscrapers. Like other areas of infrastructure, China has been building skyscrapers at a rapid pace, and its rising skyline is impressive. Skyscrapers are more than just structures needed for the operation of a country. They also represent the concentration of power and wealth. Jason Barr, Professor of Economics at Rutgers University-Newark, told Peoples Daily Online that buildings get taller as a citys fortunes rise and get shorter or are built less often as a citys fortunes decline. A study by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat reported that China completed 84 skyscrapers in 2016, totaling over 12 miles in height. In the same period, America completed seven skyscrapers, five of which are in a single city. China already has more completed buildings (150+ meters) than any other country in the world, and about 75 percent of the top 30 completed projects this year will be in China. According to Barr, this trend could continue for the next two or three decades. Once China builds to house its rapid economic growth it will have a huge stock of buildings, so there will be less pressure to build as rapidly or as tall. China has something that America badly needs: infrastructure. However, protectionist trade policies toward China would do little to achieve the goal of reviving America, according to an analysis by Stratfor. The $1 billion-dollar Vista Tower, a condominium and hotel skyscraper under construction in Chicago, is being jointly developed by Chicago-based Magellan Development Group and China-based Wanda Group. The tower represents the largest real estate investment by a Chinese firm in Chicago and one of the largest in the U.S., according to the Chicago Tribune. The tower also represents the mutual benefits of the China-U.S. economic relationship. The two largest economies in the world will need to find a sweet spot in this highly interdependent relationship, and infrastructure could be a golden opportunity for both sides to leverage each others strengths for the benefit of both sides. The Vista Tower (Photo: Wanda Group) The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: This Isnt Our Last Love Letter Dear Don Don, Way back in 92 I walked into the room and knew Never felt this way before I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes And the feeling grew As I took a seat I knew A love that would have my heart Forever I knew Way back in 92 They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true We were the exception to that rule Our love had no where to hide A spark set fire As if this is how the universe started I never doubted our love or what we could do Together we grew Forming a bond everlasting That became our glue My euphoria was YOU Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared For how fortunate we were : to have and to hold through sickness and in health Til death do us part Until we are together again This isnt our last love letter I love you with all my heart and soul Yours forever, Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow) Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus. A True American Hero I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus. I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years. I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years. But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us. In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about. Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle. I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life. I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life. No one will ever do what he did. I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO David Jurist IMUS IN THE MORNING FIRST DAY BACK! Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Constance Wu has criticised the Oscars after Casey Affleck was nominated for a Best Actor award, citing sexual harassment allegations that were brought against the actor in 2010. The American actress, who stars as Jessica Huang in Fresh Off the Boat, is an increasingly prolific voice on Hollywood's diversity issues. Following the Oscar nominations announcement, she spoke out against Affleck's Oscar nod for Manchester by the Sea and criticised both the industry and media's reluctance to discuss allegations of verbal abuse and sexual assault against the 41-year-old actor made in 2010. Posting on her Twitter account, she said that she had been counselled not to talk about issues surround Affleck for career's sake. F my career then, she continued. I'm a woman and human first. That's what my craft is built on. In other tweets following the Oscar nominations announcement she wrote: Men who sexually harass women 4 OSCAR! Bc good acting performance matters more than humanity, human integrity! Bc poor kid rly needs the help!... Boys! BUY your way out of trouble by settling out of court! Just do a good acting job, that's all that matters! bc art isn't about humanity, right? She also linked to a piece she had written about how Casey Affleck's win will be a nod to Trump's, which read: Right, he's not running for Prez [sic]. He's running for an award that honours a craft whose purpose is examining the dignity of the human experience, and young women are deeply human. Films to get excited about in 2017 Show all 13 1 /13 Films to get excited about in 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi Director: Rian Johnson Rian Johnson Cast: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Lupita Nyong'o Plot: No details yet, but it will continue directly on from Rey coming face-to-face with Luke at the end of The Force Awakens. Release Date: 15 December 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Thor: Ragnarok Director: Taika Waititi Taika Waititi Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Karl Urban, and Mark Ruffalo Plot: Story details are minimal as of now, but Thor's third return to screen has already been teased to feature a loose adaptation of the famous 'Planet Hulk' storyline. Release Date: 27 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 You Were Never Really Here Director: Lynne Ramsay Lynne Ramsay Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Alessandro Nivola Plot: A war veteran's attempt to save a young girl from a sex trafficking ring goes horribly wrong. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Annihilation Director: Alex Garland Alex Garland Cast: Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A biologist's husband disappears. She thus puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not quite find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, and a surveyor. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Wonderstruck (image from Far From Heaven) Director: Todd Haynes Cast: Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams, and Amy Hargreaves Plot: The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Mother (image of Darren Aronofsky) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Domhnall Gleeson, and Ed Harris Plot: A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Killing of a Sacred Deer (image from The Lobster) Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Alicia Silverstone Plot: A surgeon forms a familial bond with a sinister teenage boy, with disastrous results. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 Blade Runner 2049 Director: Denis Villeneuve Denis Villeneuve Cast: Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, and Jared Leto Plot: Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, 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, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years. Release Date: 6 October 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Lady Bird (image of director Greta Gerwig) Director: Greta Gerwig Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, and Lucas Hedges Plot: The adventures of a young woman living in Northern California for a year. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara (image of director Steven Spielberg and star Mark Rylance) Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Mark Rylance, Oscar Isaac Plot: The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara recounts the story of a young Jewish boy in Bologna, Italy in 1858 who, having been secretly baptized, is forcibly taken from his family to be raised as a Christian. His parents' struggle to free their son becomes part of a larger political battle that pits the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 How to Talk to Girls at Parties Director: John Cameron Mitchell John Cameron Mitchell Cast: Elle Fanning, Ruth Wilson, and Nicole Kidman Plot: An alien touring the galaxy breaks away from her group and meets two young inhabitants of the most dangerous place in the universe: the London suburb of Croydon. Release Date: Unknown Films to get excited about in 2017 The Dark Tower Director: Nikolaj Arcel Nikolaj Arcel Cast: Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, and Tom Taylor Plot: Gunslinger Roland Deschain roams an Old West-like landscape in search of the dark tower, in the hopes that reaching it will preserve his dying world. Release Date: 28 July 2017 Films to get excited about in 2017 Suburbicon Director: George Clooney George Clooney Cast: Matt Damon, Julianne Moore, Josh Brolin, and Oscar Isaac Plot: A crime mystery set in the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, where the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and betrayal. Release Date: 24 November The absence of awards doesn't diminish a great performance. That's on the page, or screen, as it were... and the opportunity to even DO the part is a tremendous honour in and of itself... Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Art doesn't exist for the sake of awards, but awards DO exist for all that art is trying to accomplish in life. So context matters. It's why art exists. I know it's just an award but I guess I'm in this career, not for awards, but because the treatment of human life matters to me. So I stand the f*** up for it. Affleck, who is the younger brother of actor, director and producer Ben Affleck, was accused of sexual harassment by two women - Amanda White and Magdalena Gorka - who worked on his infamous project I'm Still Here in 2010. In her complaint, Gorka described her treatment by Affleck as the most traumatising of her career. The allegations in the two suits ranged from unprofessional behaviour to physical intimidation. Affeck denied all the allegations, however he eventually agreed to settle with both women. No details of any financial settlement have been released to the public. Asked to comment on the two suits in a Variety profile published in October 2016, Affleck responded: "People say whatever they want. Sometimes it doesnt matter how you respond I guess people think if youre well-known, its perfectly fine to say anything you want. "I dont know why that is. But it shouldnt be, because everyone has families and lives." Get our free weekly email for all the latest cinematic news from our film critic Clarisse Loughrey Get our The Life Cinematic email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Life Cinematic email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} After what feels like months of waiting, the Oscar nominations have been announced, La La Land equalling Titanic and All About Eves record for most nominations with 14. As with every year, there were numerous snubs, including Tom Fords Nocturnal Animals (only one nomination for Michael Shannon in Supporting Actor) and Martin Scorseses Silence (again, one nomination for Cinematography). On the flip side, there were some very notable surprises. Hidden Figures and Fences both took four nominations despite stiff competition, while Hell or High Water also proved itself with Best Picture and Supporting Actor for Jeff Bridges. Here are the five biggest surprises. Ruth Negga - Loving Despite stiff competition from the likes of Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, and Kate Beckinsale, Negga won a deserved leading actress nomination for her role in Loving. For a BAFTA Rising Star nominees, thats quite the accomplishment. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Show all 19 1 /19 Early Oscars 2017 contenders Early Oscars 2017 contenders La La Land Whiplash director Damien Chapelle opens this years Venice Film Festival with this original musical starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as a couple of dreamers trying to make it big in Hollywood: she, a lonely aspiring actress; he, a cocky jazz pianist. The trailer promises a neon-soaked, dreamy take on the classic Golden Age musical, all big-hearted romance and wholesome glamour. Expect La La Land to explore some darker emotional territory alongside all the toe-tapping, too. In cinemas here on 13 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Silence Martin Scorseses passion project since 1991 is yet to receive a release date but rumours abound that it will be out in time for the Oscars. Based on a novel of the same name by Japanese author Shusaku Endo, the story centres on two Jesuit missionaries sent to 17th century Japan to spread Christianity and find their mentor Once there, they endure brutal persecution at the time of Kakura Kirishitan (Hidden Christians) following the defeat of the Shimabara Rebellion. Silence sounds weighty, intense and full of hard-hitting promise. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi director Ang Lee has narrowly missed out on a Best Picture win twice now but this adaptation of Ben Fountains acclaimed novel could be the film that finally wins him some overdue glory. The cast includes Kristen Stewart and Vin Diesel with newcomer Joe Alwyn in the lead as 19-year-old soldier Billy, who is brought home for a victory tour after serving in Iraq. Told in flashbacks, the drama reveals the horror of what really happened to his squad in contrast to Americas flashy, patriotic perceptions. Out here 6 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders A United Kingdom Oyelowo plays Prince Seretse Khama, inaugural Botswana president from 1966 to 1980, in this follow-up to 2015s Belle. Films about real life people often hold clout with the Academy when done well and with Gone Girls Rosamund Pike playing Khamas eventual wife Ruth Williams, A United Kingdom should pull in cinemagoers. Khama sparked a global stir when he married the white Londoner in the late Forties and the first pictures from the movie promise beautiful costumes and cinematography. A United Kingdom will open the London Film Festival before its general release on 25 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Loving Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton star as Mildred and Richard Loving in this historical drama about an interracial couple sentenced to prison in Virginia in 1958 for the crime of getting married. Out here just in time for the Oscars on 3 February. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, Loving earned positive reviews from critics when it competed for the Palme dOr at Cannes and received a standing ovation for understated, strong performances. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Manchester by the Sea One of the best scripts co-producer Matt Damon had ever read, this tragedy about an uncle who is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boys father dies while trying to reconcile with his ex-wife stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and newcomer Lucas Hedges. It was bought at Sundance by Amazon for $10 million and arrives in the UK on 13 January. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Nocturnal Animals Designer Tom Ford has cinematic strings to his bow, as proved with 2009s Venice premiere The Single Man. Hes back in the chair for this drama-thriller starring Amy Adams as a remarried art gallery owner whose ex-husbands violent new book begins to haunt her. Jake Gyllenhaal, Isla Fisher and Armie Hammer also star. Due in UK cinemas on 4 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Light Between Oceans Michael Fassbender stars alongside last years Best Supporting Actress winner Alicia Vikander in the big screen adaptation of ML Stedmans 2012 novel of the same name. Derek Cianfrance is the man behind the camera for this story about a lighthouse keeper war veteran who rescues a baby girl with his wife after she washes up on an adrift rowboat. Then, in steps another Oscar winner, Rachel Weisz, as the woman who threatens to break their happy family apart. Out in the UK on 4 November - bring tissues. Early Oscars 2017 contenders American Pastoral Ewan McGregor makes his directorial debut with this period adaptation of Philip Roths novel American Pastoral. The drama - set in the 60s - centres on a successful businessman (McGregor) whose missing daughter (Dakota Fanning) is accused of a violent bombing in post-war America. Out in the UK on 11 November. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Queen of Katwe Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding) is the director behind this long-awaited biopic of Ugandan chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi. That Mutesi is played by 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner Lupita Nyongo is reason enough to anticipate this Disney-produced film, out here 21 October. Disney Early Oscars 2017 contenders Free Fire Ben Wheatleys new action thriller will close the London Film Festival. Set in Massachusetts in the late Seventies, Free Fire stars Oscar-winning Room actress Brie Larson in the lead alongside Cillian Murphy. It follows the heart-stopping game of survival after shots are fired during a meeting between Justine, two Irishmen and two arms dealers who are selling them a stash of guns. Expect blood, sweat and irony with bravura filmmaking from the High-Rise director. Reaches UK cinemas sometime in 2017. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Paterson Jim Jarmuschs Palme dOr contender sees Adam Driver take the lead as a bus driver poet from Paterson, New Jersey. Each night after work, he has dinner with his wife Laura before walking his dog (2016s Palm Dog winner) to the bar for one beer. Then one day, a small disaster strikes. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Founder Michael Keaton has starred in the last two Best Picture winners Spotlight and Birdman. Here, he takes on the role of ruthless McDonalds founder Ray Kroc, with the film telling the story of the fast food empires origins. The ambitious entrepreneur on a journey to theme didnt end so well for last years Joy, so it remains to be seen whether The Founder can live up to expectations as an Oscars contender. Out here 30 September. The Weinstein Company Early Oscars 2017 contenders Sully Clint Eastwood returns with Sully: Miracle on the Hudson, about the hero pilot who, in 2009, successfully landed his plane along the Hudson River after it was disabled by a flock of geese, saving all 155 crew and passengers. Tom Hanks takes the lead as Chesley Sullenberger in a biopic that sounds like it could tick a lot of Oscars boxes. Based on the autobiography Highest Duty, the thriller marks Eastwoods first directorial effort since 2014s American Sniper. Out 2 December. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Jackie Pablo Larrain directs Oscar winner Natalie Portman as late first lady and fashion icon Jacqueline Kennedy in what he has promised will not be another classic biopic. Set in the days immediately after John F Kennedys 1963 assassination, the film sparked great excitement among distributors after a seven-minute promo screened at Cannes. Release date unknown at this stage. Early Oscars 2017 contenders The Girl on the Train The Helps Tate Taylor is in the directors chair for this years Gone Girl about a troubled woman who becomes embroiled in a murder case after developing a fixation on a beautiful couple from her commuter train. Expect a film pulsating with creepy, voyeur vibes, a la Rear Window, based on Paula Hawkins bestselling thriller. Out in the UK on 7 October. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Florence Foster Jenkins Meryl Streep has been widely praised for her turn as the 1940s New York heiress who couldnt sing (and we mean really couldnt sing) yet somehow became an opera singer with the help of her patient husband St Clair Bayfield (Hugh Grant) and pianist Cosme McMoon (Simon Helberg). Directed by two-time Academy nominee Stephen Frears, the film proved heartwarming and inspiring upon its release earlier this year and was embraced by both film lovers and critics. Early Oscars 2017 contenders Christine Rebecca Hall set Sundance ablaze in January, earning five-star reviews for the performance of her career in Christine, about the news anchor who killed herself live on air in 1974 after suffering from depression. Yet to receive a UK release date, Christine arrives in US cinemas in October, with Antonio Campos also one to watch for directorial accolades come awards season. Courtesy of Sundance Institute Early Oscars 2017 contenders Arrival Paramount Pictures Michael Shannon - Nocturnal Animals Tom Fords film may have been snubbed in general, but that didnt stop the awesome Michael Shannon being nominated for supporting actor. Whats most surprising is that co-star Aron Taylor-Johnson won the supporting actor Golden Globe earlier this month while Shannon didnt receive a nomination. Mel Gibson - Hacksaw Ridge The actor-turned-director was blacklisted from Hollywood for almost a decade following some very inflammatory comments. However, all has seemingly been forgiven as his comeback film, Hacksaw Ridge, has received multiple nominations, while Gibson himself is up for Best Director. A surprising turn of events for the Mad Max star. The Lobster Yorgos Lanthimoss black comedy was first shown at Cannes in May 2015 but that hasnt stopped it sticking in critics minds. The film goes up against La La Land, Hell or Highwater, Manchester by the Sea, and 20th Century Women. Suicide Squad Were not kidding. The villainous superhero film is now an Oscar-nominated superhero film thanks to its inclusion in Makeup and Hairstyling. Yes, someone is actually praising what they did to The Joker. We cant believe it either. Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There is so much to admire about Meshuggah; their union of complex polyrhythms and crushing death metal riffs makes them one of the most technically ferocious bands in the history of music. They unwittingly blazed a trail for a whole sub-genre of heavy music so technically accomplished, it took about a decade for enough bands to become proficient enough to establish it as a movement. Tonight is the last night of a UK and Ireland tour in support of their eighth album, The Violent Sleep of Reason. Keerych Luminokayas rich, vivid album artwork is re-created in sumptuous detail, providing a suitably horrific backdrop for the complex brutality on display. A synched light show almost as technical as the riffs that spew forth from the stage add occasional glimmers of beauty to the maelstrom and magnificent display of lasers lifts the set around the halfway mark, just as our battered ears might be about to tire. Look at any review of Meshuggah's live show and youre pretty much guaranteed to see the band described as playing with machine-like precision. Its undeniably true that the five musicians are rigorously tight way beyond the means of 99% of other people on the planet but the descriptor does come with the insinuation that Meshuggah are emotionless. The lighting, whilst beautifully evocative, does little to dissuade this notion, presenting the band as one giant silhouetted hulking mass, but in truth, Meshuggah are perfectly adept at conveying emotion, provided those emotions are shot through with a searing polemic vitriol. The bands latest album comments on many themes worthy of discussion; religious dogma, extremist views, the apathy of modern society to rise up against oppression, and is well-represented with some of its strongest cuts, including Clockworks, Nostrum and Born in Dissonance. Meshuggah vocalist Jens Kidman, 'a ferocious presence' (Charlie Gardner) Vocalist Jens Kidman is a ferocious presence, his feral bark gradually meshing with the other instruments as another means with which to batter the audience's senses. And the skill with which drummer Tomas Haake manages to keep the whole train from de-railing whilst still playing in time-signatures that would boggle the brightest of minds is breath-taking. The setlist has a momentum that sustains the brutality, a stunning feat considering how easy it might be for the listener to become accustomed to a vicious onslaught lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes. But herein lies a potential dilemma; it may have taken 30 years, but the world has now caught up with the savage intricacies that lie within Meshuggahs music. For the first 15 years of their career, the Swedes were kings in a class of one, but in the last decade and a half, other pretenders to the tech-metal crown have sprung up in their wake (Car Bomb, Sikth, Ion Dissonance and Gojira to name but a few) and are beginning to take the genre into newly compelling avenues. It could be argued that Meshuggah havent really evolved their sound since 2008s Obzen; refined and honed? Sure. But have they shown much growth in that time? Debatable. Whether this is something that bothers you or not comes down to your disposition for being pummeld around the head with complex, intricate riffs so powerful, they could knock out a herd of elephants. Its undeniable that Meshuggahs influence and standing as a pioneer in heavy music is already written into the annals of metal history and their live show, as it stands, is powerful enough to continue to astonish fans around the world. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ewan McGregor has refused to appear on Good Morning Britain because he does not agree with Piers Morgans disparaging comments about the Womens March against Donald Trump. Morgan, who has frequently called President Trump a friend, sparked criticism after he suggested the global protests following Mr Trump's inauguration were vacuous and attracted rabid feminists. Less than an hour before McGregor was due to appear on the show, Morgan said the actor would be coming on the programme to discuss his latest film, the Trainspotting sequel, but McGregor changed his mind at the last minute. Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise Piers Morgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch, McGregor wrote on Twitter. Round-up: Women's March Protests 2017 Morgan, who is also editor-at-large of the US Mail Online, immediately hit back at McGregors no-show and suggested the actor should have appeared on the programme to openly debate the issues. Sorry to hear that Ewan McGregor - you should be big enough to allow people different political opinions. You're just an actor after all, he said. In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters But Morgan later insisted they had no intention of talking to McGregor about the march. The controversial columnist said he would be writing an article about McGregor today and sending it to him for his approval. Morgans comments about the Womens Marches stoked controversy. As well as writing a column about the protest titled Madonna and a bunch of famous, foul-mouthed nasty women let down ladies everywhere, he also suggested the march was not about equality but was instead centred on Trump-bashing, bomb threats and hateful jibes directed at other women on Twitter. I'm planning a 'Men's March' to protest at the creeping global emasculation of my gender by rabid feminists. Who's with me? he said. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up Both of McGregors daughters attended the protest and the actor expressed solidarity with the anti-Trump demonstrations which saw protesters take to the streets in 60 countries and on seven continents across the world to promote equal rights for women and defend marginalised groups. I'm with you in spirit today women of the world. My daughters are marching. I'm so proud to see this extraordinary power, McGregor wrote on Twitter on Saturday. President Trump has a record of making demeaning, sexist comments about women. This includes boasting that when you are a star you can grab women by the pussy in a leaked 2005 tape, calling comedian Rosie ODonnell a fat pig, and saying former Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly had blood coming out of her wherever. McGregor has been outspoken about his political beliefs in the past. In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, he made headlines when he accused Boris Johnson of behaving in a spineless manner after his shock announcement he would not be running for Conservative leader. He also rebuked Mr Johnson for campaigning to leave the EU and then not dealing with the consequences. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For years, male flycatchers have grown a sparkling white patch on their forehead every breeding season to signal their attractiveness as a mate and issue a warning to any rivals. The bigger the patch, the greater the catch was the essential message. But a major new study of collared flycatchers on the Baltic island of Gotland, spanning more than 30 years, has discovered a dramatic reversal in the evolution of this trait in a finding that suggests climate change could result in many birds becoming less attractive. Where once a large patch helped the males to reproduce, it now has a negative effect, the researchers found. And, as a result, the patch has gradually gotten smaller. The researchers said other studies suggested this reduction in ornamentation could be happening all over Europe and that more species could be similarly affected. Over the course of the study from 1981 to 2014, the average temperature in Gotland rose by 1.5 degrees Celsius. And the warmer weather was found to be linked to the reduction in patch size. After a cold spring, highly ornamented males did well, but after a warm one they did not and the balance of power between small and large-patched males finally switched in the late 1990s. The precise mechanism driving the change has not been established, but biologists have long studied the evolutionary pros and cons of elaborate ornamentation to attract a mate versus putting all efforts into straight-forward survival so an animal stays alive and is therefore still able to breed. For example, growing eye-catching feathers might increase the chance of sex but also attract the attention of predators. Writing in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, the researchers said: Annual fitness selection on forehead patch size switched from positive to negative during the study, a reversal that is accounted for by rising spring temperatures at the breeding site. Highly ornamented males were selectively favoured following cold breeding seasons but selected against following warm breeding seasons. They said this dramatic reversal suggested the the balance of this ornamentation-survival trade-off was fundamentally altered over the study period. The researchers, Simon Evans and Lars Gustafsson of Uppsala University in Sweden, found that the average size of forehead patches decreased by about 10 per cent between 1981 and 2014. Animals in decline Show all 8 1 /8 Animals in decline Animals in decline Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) Where: Orkney Islands. What: Between 2001-2006, numbers in Orkney declined by 40 per cent. Why: epidemics of the phocine distemper virus are thought to have caused major declines, but the killing of seals in the Moray Firth to protect salmon farms may have an impact. Alamy Animals in decline African lion (Panthera leo) Where: Ghana. What: In Ghanas Mole National Park, lion numbers have declined by more than 90 per cent in 40 years. Why: local conflicts are thought to have contributed to the slaughter of lions and are a worrying example of the status of the animal in Western and Central Africa. Animals in decline Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) Where: Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Costa Rica. What: Numbers are down in both the Atlantic and Pacific. It declined by 95 per cent between 1989-2002 in Costa Rica. Why: mainly due to them being caught as bycatch, but theyve also been affected by local developments. Alamy Animals in decline Wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) Where: South Atlantic. What: A rapid decline. One population, from Bird Island, South Georgia, declined by 50 per cent between 1972-2010, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Why: being caught in various commercial longline fisheries. Alamy Animals in decline Saiga Antelope (Saiga tatarica) Where: Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. What: fall in populations has been dramatic. In the early 1990s numbers were over a million, but are now estimated to be around 50,000. Why: the break up of the former USSR led to uncontrolled hunting. Increased rural poverty means the species is hunted for its meat Animals in decline Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) Where: found worldwide in tropical, subtropical and temperate seas. Why: at risk from overfishing and as a target in recreational fishing. A significant number of swordfish are also caught by illegal driftnet fisheries in the Mediterranean Animals in decline Argali Sheep (Ovis mammon) Where: Central and Southern Asian mountains,usually at 3,000-5,000 metres altitude. Why: domesticated herds of sheep competing for grazing grounds. Over-hunting and poaching. Animals in decline Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) Where: the Indo-Pacific, from the Red Sea to South Africa and to the Tuamoto Islands (Polynesia), north to the Ryukyu Islands (south-west Japan), and south to New Caledonia. Why: Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing and trading of the species The changes they found were on a similar scale to ones found by researchers who studied a collared flycatcher population in Hungary suggesting that our results are representative of continent-wide changes to ornamentation in this species. Based on this, we posit that climate change could similarly be impacting the eco-evolutionary dynamics of signalling in other species, the researchers added. An article published in the same journal commenting on the study said the abrupt about-turn in evolution had happened so quickly it was hard to believe. For male collared flycatchers, having a large white patch on your forehead signals that you are a fearsome rival, and an attractive mate, wrote Cody Dey, of Windsor University, Canada, and James Dale, of Massey University, New Zealand. But while large patch size was thought to give males an evolutionary advantage, it seems that climate change is turning this advantage on its head. The authors found that males with large forehead patches had higher fitness than males with small patches in the early years of the study. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan However, this pattern reversed sometime between 1995 and 2000. In seven of the eight most recent years, males with small forehead patches had higher fitness than those with large patches, demonstrating, incredibly, a complete reversal in selection over the study period. They said it was possible that such sex-related finery could be lost not just from collared flycatchers, but other species, because of global warming. As Evans and Gustafsson show, some ornaments will decline in response to environmental change, and it is conceivable that some ornaments could disappear altogether, they wrote. But they also added: There are also reasons to predict that climate change will drive the evolution of new, or exaggerated, ornaments in some species. Just as climate change will lead to winners and losers in terms of species abundance and distribution, it seems it may also lead to winners and losers in the global beauty pageant. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cancelled a major climate change summit just a couple of weeks before Donald Trump was sworn in as president. The federal agency, which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, unceremoniously and abruptly sent out emails calling it off during the first two weeks of January. One climate change expert has speculated it could be self-sabotage and a former CDC director has said that sometimes the agency is subject to external political pressure. Mr Trump has previously called climate change a hoax and his White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has said the president believes global warming a bunch of bunk. The White House deleted its global warming wepbage on the day of inauguration. It was replaced with a 361-word policy titled America First Energy Plan. Sometimes the agency is subject to external political pressure, said ex-CDC director Howard Frumkin, who also said he did not bother buying a plane ticket to the meeting once Mr Trump was elected, speaking to E&E News. CIA director nominee Mike Pompeo refuses to accept Nasa's findings on climate change Sometimes the agency self-censors or pre-emptively stays away from certain issues. Climate change has been that issue historically. The two-day Climate & Health Summit conference, earmarked to take place in Atlanta from 14 February, was expected to explore the translation of science to practice. An employee at the National Indian Health Board, a CDC partner, told the Huffington Post it was cancelled on those dates. 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Show all 10 1 /10 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A group of emperor penguins face a crack in the sea ice, near McMurdo Station, Antarctica Kira Morris 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Floods destroyed eight bridges and ruined crops such as wheat, maize and peas in the Karimabad valley in northern Pakistan, a mountainous region with many glaciers. In many parts of the world, glaciers have been in retreat, creating dangerously large lakes that can cause devastating flooding when the banks break. Climate change can also increase rainfall in some areas, while bringing drought to others. Hira Ali 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Smoke filled with the carbon that is driving climate change drifts across a field in Colombia. Sandra Rondon 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Amid a flood in Islampur, Jamalpur, Bangladesh, a woman on a raft searches for somewhere dry to take shelter. Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable places in the world to sea level rise, which is expected to make tens of millions of people homeless by 2050. Probal Rashid 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Sindh province in Pakistan has experienced a grim mix of two consequences of climate change. Because of climate change either we have floods or not enough water to irrigate our crop and feed our animals, says the photographer. Picture clearly indicates that the extreme drought makes wide cracks in clay. Crops are very difficult to grow. Rizwan Dharejo 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Hanna Petursdottir examines a cave inside the Svinafellsjokull glacier in Iceland, which she said had been growing rapidly. Since 2000, the size of glaciers on Iceland has reduced by 12 per cent. Tom Schifanella 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A river once flowed along the depression in the dry earth of this part of Bangladesh, but it has disappeared amid rising temperatures. Abrar Hossain 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A shepherd moves his herd as he looks for green pasture near the village of Sirohi in Rajasthan, northern India. The region has been badly affected by heatwaves and drought, making local people nervous about further predicted increases in temperature. Riddhima Singh Bhati 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change A factory in China is shrouded by a haze of air pollution. The World Health Organisation has warned such pollution, much of which is from the fossil fuels that cause climate change, is a public health emergency. Leung Ka Wa 10 photographs to show to anyone who doesn't believe in climate change Water levels in reservoirs, like this one in Gers, France, have been getting perilously low in areas across the world affected by drought, forcing authorities to introduce water restrictions. Mahtuf Ikhsan A second worker told the website it was called off on the first or second week of January and that it was planned for months and months. The second employee reportedly said the conference could be folded into an American Public Health Association summit in November. Partners included the American Public Health Association, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and National Association of County and City Health Officials. Richard Jackson, a CDC director between 1994 and 2004, said it may now see climate change as not an immediately winnable battle. George Mason University climate change director Ed Maibach said: I'm concerned this is an act of self-sabotage on the part of the CDC. Recommended Donald Trump environment boss admits climate change not a hoax Under the Barack Obama administration, the CDC helped cities and states prepare for public health problems such as heat waves, air pollution and sea-level rise. We are exploring options to reschedule the meeting while considering budget priorities for fiscal year 2017, including the current continuing resolution, and potential overlap with an APHA conference on the same topic also being held later in 2017, said a CDC spokesman. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} While a handful of models take the express route to stardom, for many, the slog up the ladder can be far more taxing. And, though strong, chiselled features and a good physique are important, it turns out these are just two of the many elements needed to become a male supermodel. Speaking to Forbes, the head of the men's division at Elite Model Management Milan, Ruggero Quarta, shared the four things that make up-and-coming models stand out from the crowd. Its no secret that a career in this industry is typically short-lived and as such, most start their runway careers from a young age. With mens fashion month well under way, Quarta revealed that designers are consistently looking for younger, fresher looking male models. At present were noticing an increasing demand from clients for younger male models meaning under the age of 18, he says. So if you're knocking 20, your dreams may already be over. Similarly, when casting for shows, these brands are looking for a distinct look - but theres been a shift of late. Male modelling is no longer the reserve of bronzed adonises, and thanks to the rise of designers like Raf Simons and Gosha Rubchinskiy, European guys are often at the top of the wishlist. Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Show all 5 1 /5 Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Zach Miko, IMG IMG Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Zach Miko, IMG IMG Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Claus Fleissner, Curve Model Management Tilman Schenk Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Claus Fleissner, Curve Model Management Silvana Denker Plus Size male models changing the fashion industry Claus Fleissner, Curve Model Management Silvana Denker The guys from Northern Europe and Eastern Europe are currently amongst those more requested. In theory however, well suggest all the guys with the right measurements to clients, Quarta adds. In the age of digital media, its equally as important for budding models to have an interesting off-the-runway persona, a strategy that Quarta says is key in establishing a social media following and one that can determine the course of a models future career. Some of them might be musicians, others skaters or surfers. Bringing out those personalities can give them something over a fellow male models. Interestingly, while its vital to get noticed in this industry, there is such a thing as overdoing it, as Quarta explains that the key word remains quality over quantity. Recommended Dutch construction worker becomes model after photo is shared online You dont want the new face to immediately take on too many projects, as it will give clients the impression that he has already done everything, and you lose a sense of exclusivity. And theyll start losing interest, he says. Nevertheless, the runway gives a male model the exposure he needs to launch a successful career, which can lead to booking lucrative campaigns such as perfume deals, print and TV commercials. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Julian Assange has claimed that Barack Obama only granted clemency to Chelsea Manning to "make life hard for him". One of Mr Obama's last acts as president was to commute Ms Manning's sentence, allowing her to be released in a matter of months rather than decades. The act was widely seen as a gesture of goodwill on the basis that Ms Manning was jailed for being a whistleblower. But now Mr Assange has claimed that Mr Obama actually made the decision in spite of him. That was in reference to WikiLeaks' promise that if Ms Manning were granted clemency then Mr Assange would hand himself in to be extradited to the US a claim that he initially appeared to be sticking by, then changed his mind on and then committed to again so long as he can come to an agreement with the Department of Justice. In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters Whats the result?" he said in an interview with Australian current affairs programme The Project. "It is going to make life hard for Assange because either he will be extradited to the US or we will show him [to be] a liar. Therefore, it is OK to pardon Chelsea Manning thats what happened. It isn't clear whether or not the US justice department is actually looking to extradite Mr Assange, and it has not publicly brought charges against him. WikiLeaks claims that those charges have been brought in private and that if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy where he has lived since summer 2012 he will be taken there. For the same reason he has refused to meet prosecutors in Sweden, where there is an allegation of rape that he denies. He says that an outstanding extradition order that would take him to Sweden would lead to him then being extradited to the US. The White House has said that Mr Assange's promise to leave the embassy didn't have anything to do with Mr Obama's decision. But Mr Assange said that he had done so in order "to look tough". In the end, Barack Obama wanting, I guess, to look tough said that my offer had nothing to do with Chelsea Manning being granted clemency, so there is no quid pro quo, he told the programme. He also said that he had avoided mentioning his terms in the offer to leave that he would require a deal with the US Department of Justice because he's "not an idiot". We had a major strategic victory in liberating Chelsea Manning," he told the programme. "But, of course, saying Im willing to accept extradition doesnt mean Im saying that Im willing to be a complete idiot and throw all my lawyers away and so on. We are going to have a discussion with the DoJ about what that looks like. The ball is in their court. It remains unclear whether or not such a deal is actually on the table, or when and even whether Mr Assange will actually look to leave the embassy. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Andrew Lumsden was in his twenties when he decided to explore the gay world of Sixties London, as he puts it. Decades later, he is regarded as one of the pioneering figures in the fight for LGBT rights in the UK who brought about the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality some fifty years ago. In July 1967, changes to the Sexual Offences Act legalised homosexual acts between men over the age of 21 in private in England and Wales. At that time, Lumsden found it hard to label his feeling that he wasnt attracted to women, as had been presented to him as the norm. I wasnt aware of one other person who was what we now call gay when I was 26 years old. And I knew an enormous number of people in the late 1960s. In fact, Lumsden recalls the word gay first being used to describe same-sex relationships. At the time, people complained that they could no longer comfortably describe a happy occasion as gay, he says. We chose it ourselves instead of being called 'queer'," a word which has since been reclaimed by the LGBT movement. I hated the gay world of that time, says Lumsden, who after graduating with an English degree from Cambridge University worked at the Daily Telegraph and The Times as a reporter. We had been taught to hate ourselves. I had been accustomed to a heterosexual world in which everyone met openly and all their friends knew who they were seeing. Everyone was being bullied by the police, no one was out to other people in their work places, you couldnt talk about who you met or liked. Nothing! The law was deeply hostile, and the police were worse. But Lumsden unwittingly took his first step towards making history when he read that the burgeoning Gay Liberation Front (GLF) civil rights group was organising a march, and immediately decided to join. The GLF said dont hate yourself, you can be proud be happy. We were all so confident and happy in what we were doing. Lumsden linking arms with Michael James, a GLF Radical Queen protestor, dressed in drag, in 1971. A world away from the taps and swipes of Grindr and Her and gay clubs that were their precursor, Lumsden first dipped his toe into Londons gay scene by tentatively placing an advert in the International Times newspaper. They bravely accepted small same-sex contact adverts, and they got prosecuted for it in the end. I was living in Soho at the time, and I met several young men that way. Some of them didnt understand the significance of the advert. They were just lonely in London and wanted to make friends. Others were young men who knew perfectly well what the advert meant. Lumsden quickly became a key player in the GLF, a movement that was started in New York following the Stonewall riots and adopted in London and San Francisco. While it is easy to look back on the time with rose-tinted spectacles, Lumsden stresses that the fight was tough and dangerous as the group were regarded by many as attacking the very fabric of society. LGBT+ rights around the globe Show all 9 1 /9 LGBT+ rights around the globe LGBT+ rights around the globe Russia Russias antipathy towards homosexuality has been well established following the efforts of human rights campaigners. However, while it is legal to be homosexual, LGBT couples are offered no protections from discrimination. They are also actively discriminated against by a 2013 law criminalising LGBT propaganda allowing the arrest of numerous Russian LGBT activists. AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Brunei Brunei recently introduced a law to make sodomy punishable by stoning to death. It was already illegal and punishable by up to 10 years in prison AFP/Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Mauritania Men who are found having sex with other men face stoning, while lesbians can be imprisoned, under Sharia law. However, the state has reportedly not executed anyone for this crime since 1987 Alamy LGBT+ rights around the globe Sudan Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal under Sudanese law. Men can be executed on their third offence, women on their fourth Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Saudi Arabia Homosexuality and gender realignment is illegal and punishable by death, imprisonment, whipping and chemical castration Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Yemen The official position within the country is that there are no gays. LGBT inviduals, if discovered by the government, are likely to face intense pressure. Punishments range from flogging to the death penalty Getty LGBT+ rights around the globe Nigeria Both male and female same-sex sexual activity is illegal and in some northern states punishable with death by stoning. This is not a policy enacted across the entire country, although there is a prevalent anti-LGBT agenda pushed by the government. In 2007 a Pew survey established that 97% of the population felt that homosexuality should not be accepted. It is punishable by 14 years in prison Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Somalia Homosexuality was established as a crime in 1888 and under new Somali Penal Code established in 1973 homosexual sex can be punishable by three years in prison. A person can be put to death for being a homosexual Reuters LGBT+ rights around the globe Iraq Although same-sex relationships have been decriminalised, much of the population still suffer from intense discrimination. Additionally, in some of the country over-run by the extremist organisation Isis, LGBT individuals can face death by stoning Getty Of course, that involved being arrested on occasion. Learning that the gay-friendly Chepstow pub in Londons Notting Hill had banned drag queens from entering, the GLF and members of the Radical Queens group commune staged a sit-in. It was a famous gay pub, says Lumsden. It was a place that made money out of gay customers and had declared a policy that no one in drag would be served, probably at the request of local police. About 20 of us went in, many of us dressed in drag. The landlord told us to get out and we refused so he called the police. In the end the police carried us out. The group were charged with disorderly conduct. To happily add salt to the wound, members of the group attended their date at the Magistrate's court dressed in their finest gowns. The Radical Queens arrived in beautiful drag. The magistrate was quite put out. There was no pretence that they were women. They were in hats, and frocks. Indeed immensely hairy chests surrounded by frills and furbelows was one of the great sights of the movement. We wanted to show that we were free to dress as we liked. If we want to be camp, we will. It was breaking down the stereotypes of what a man must be like." Lumsden took a different, yet equally subversive, approach. I was so bad at drag so I wore a suit to court. My way of upsetting people was to be flagrantly gay and looking exactly like an ordinary office worker. Andrew Lumsden pictured on his 75th birthday Decades later, actions that we take for granted still have a special resonance for Lumsden. Men pushing prams, for instance, is a shift in traditional gender roles that Lumsden still finds delightful. He also recalls the first time he saw a man with long hair. It was on Oxford Street in the late Sixties, and people were staring at him. They didnt know what to do. Now, he wants to undo the damage of anti-gay laws around the world - many of which were imported to British colonies - and wants those given pardons for being convicted of archaic homosexual crimes to be given an apology. "A pardon is for a criminal. Parliament needs to give these men an apology," he stress. Inclusive sex education is also vital to young people understanding their bodies and sexualities, he adds. Same-sex marriage, he continues, is all right for some but is to him simply a "tax fiddle". "I didnt want gay marriage because I felt marriage is an institution that does terrible damage to women, and is used to bully the other half of the globe." Lumsden may be a septuagenarian, but he is no less defiant or devoted to the cause. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Bangladeshi father is begging his country's government for permission to euthanise his sons and grandson because they have no hope of recovery. Tofazzal Hossain wrote to his local district administration asking for help to end the lives of the 24-year-old, 13-year-old and eight-year-old with medicine. All three suffer from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a severe muscle-wasting condition, which causes them to weaken and get progressively worse over time. One of the most common and severe forms of Muscular Dystrophy, it usually affects boys in early childhood. Men with the condition will usually only live into their 20s or 30s, according to NHS Choices. 'I think this will lead to healthy debate about assisted death' STR/AFP/Getty (STR/AFP/Getty) Mr Hossain's request has prompted a rare debate about euthanasia in a country, which does not have a state health service like the NHS and an estimated 600,000 suffer from incurable diseases. I have taken care of them for years. I took them to hospitals in Bangladesh and India, I sold my shop to pay for their treatment but now I'm broke, Mr Hossain told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency. The government should decide what it wants to do with them. They are suffering and have no hope of recovery. I can't bear it any longer. The fruit vendor from the Meherpur region in the southwest of the country said the boys are aware of their condition but can do little for themselves as they are confined to their beds. But he reportedly refused a journalist's request to ask his eldest son, Mohammad Abdus Sabur, about the unusual request from his father to end his life. I told them about the letter, said Mr Hossain, whose grandson can still go to the bathroom although his condition is worsening. They did not take it seriously. Perhaps they did not understand the severity of the situation. Mahbubul Alam, a doctor who has treated the family, said: "It's a humanitarian case. Everyone should come forward [to help]. Mercy killing is forbidden by secular law and the religious code followed by the Muslim-majority population. 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 Most Bangladeshis would oppose the mere discussion of euthanasia, according to Nur Khan Liton, head of local rights group Ain O Salish Kendra. But Nezamuddin Ahmed, the head of Bangladesh's sole palliative care centre in the country's capital, Dhaka, said: I think this will lead to healthy debate about assisted death. Supporters have left thoughts and prayers for the family on social media. Assisted dying is illegal in most countries apart from Switzerland, Germany, Mexico, Japan, Canada, and five American states. Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 14:57) Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: Foreign ministries of Azerbaijan and Moldova will hold political consultations on Feb. 27-28 in Baku, Moldovan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Gheorghe Leuca told reporters in Baku Jan. 24. Leuca noted that the consultations will be held during the visit of Moldovas Deputy Foreign Minister Lilian Darii to Azerbaijan. The envoy also said that the meeting of the Azerbaijani-Moldovan intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation will be held in late February-early March 2017. Moldovas Deputy Prime Minister Octavian Calmac will visit Baku to take part in the meeting, added Leuca. He noted that during the meeting, the sides plan to consider prospects of development of the trade and economic cooperation. The diplomat emphasized that there is a need to renew the contractual and legal base with new documents. As of today, 54 bilateral documents have been signed between the two countries, said Leuca adding that meanwhile, the work is underway on signing new documents. The work on two documents is at the stage of completion, he noted, adding that these documents cover defense and migration spheres. The ambassador added that Azerbaijan and Moldova are also working on the draft agreement in the transportation sphere and others. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Moldova amounted to $4.46 million in 2016 and $3.96 million out of this amount accounted for the goods import from Moldova, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The boss of aircraft giant Airbus has warned that his company would be entering a dangerous phase if the UKs vote to leave the European Union disrupts the movement of people and products. Toulouse-headquartered Airbus, which employs 15,000 people in Britain, already issued warnings about the possible consequences of a Brexit vote ahead of the referendum last year. We've got a lot of Brits working in Europe and a lot of French and Germans working here in the UK, so for us as an international company, that's what we need to have - a fairly seamless process, chief executive Tom Williams, speaking to the Commons Treasury Select Committee on Tuesday, said. Anything that disrupts that model will create inefficiency and could affect our long-term competitiveness," he added. Mr Williams also said that Washington would be delighted to see any kind of disruption because US competitors would take every opportunity to undermine the success of Airbus. Chief operating officer Tom Williams warned MPs over Brexit free movement (Reuters) He said any EU deal must allow Airbus, which has 600 EU workers in the UK and 1,800 UK citizens in Europe, to move its products and workers around Europe, including at short notice and without restrictions. In a letter sent to staff in the run-up to the June referendum Airbus Group said that it makes "good economic sense" for the UK to stay in the EU due to its ability to trade freely and recruit workers. 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 Prime Minister Theresa May last week confirmed Britain will be leaving the EUs single market as she unveiled her strategy ahead Brexit negotiations. Ms May added that remaining a member of the single market would mean being bound by EU laws. That would mean in practice not leaving the EU. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Guardian is weighing up the option of becoming a tabloid newspaper and outsourcing its printing operations to one of its big rivals, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Recommended The Guardian counts the costs of its global ambitions Publisher Guardian Media Group (GMG) said in 2016 that it would need to save 20 per cent to stem underlying losses that widened to 62.6m for the year to 3 April and that it was aiming to break even in three years, according to the news agency. "The company is working on a whole range of efficiency projects and the print programme fits into that," one source close to the company told Reuters. A separate source told Reuters that GMG was thinking about the option of moving production to Rupert Murdochs News UK's presses later this year, and change the format to a tabloid in doing so. GMG is owned by The Scott Trust, created in 1936 to safeguard its flagship newspaper. Last year, The Guardian denied rumours it is about to close its print operations in a bid to curb operating losses. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An ingredient widely used in toothpaste and a range of food products can cause cancer, scientists have found. The additive, titanium dioxide, caused precancerous growths in 40 per cent of rats that were given the chemical in their drinking water, according to researchers in France and Luxembourg. It also sped up the development of these growths, which are not malignant but can develop into more dangerous cancers. The product, which is referred to as E171, is widely used in sweets, chocolate, biscuits and chewing gum, as well as toothpaste and sunscreen, to whiten products or make them look more opaque. Previous research by the International Agency for Research on Cancer found inhaling titanium dioxide, which is also used in products such as paint, could cause cancer but this is the first time such link has been shown when the product is consumed orally. In the latest study, scientists found E171 was absorbed by the intestine and passed into the blood, where it spread to other parts of the body. Precancerous growths were found in the intestine or colon of 40 per cent of the rats exposed to the chemical, but in none of those that were given uncontaminated water. E171 was also found to weaken the rats immune system. It is unclear whether the product might have a similar effect in people, and the scientists said their findings cannot be extrapolated to humans. Despite this, the French government ordered an immediate inquiry into the safety of E171. This will take place as part of a wider investigation into the impact of nano-materials on health, and results will be published by the end of March. In a joint statement, the French ministries for the economy, health and agriculture said: A study carried out by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and published today shows that oral exposure to titanium dioxide (E171), the additive used particularly in the agri-food industry, is likely to result in effects on health. However, at this stage, the results of the study do not make it possible to extrapolate to humans. In light of the findings of this study, the Ministries of Economy, Health and Agriculture decided to jointly refer the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (Anses) to determine whether the food additive E171 presents a potential hazard to consumers." 13 ways to help prevent cancer Show all 13 1 /13 13 ways to help prevent cancer 13 ways to help prevent cancer Stopping smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees tar build-up in the lungs and DNA alteration and causes 15,558 cancer deaths a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Avoiding the sun, and the melanoma that comes with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-lovers dodge being one of the 7,220 people who die from it 13 ways to help prevent cancer A diet that is low in red meat can help to prevent bowel cancer, according to the research - with 30 grams a day recommended for men, and 25 a day recommended for women 13 ways to help prevent cancer Foods high in fibre, meanwhile, can further make for healthier bowels. Processed foods in developed countries appear to be causing higher rates of colon cancer than diets in continents such as Africa, which have high bean and pulse intakes 13 ways to help prevent cancer Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as the magic number for good diet in the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia, at 7,000 a year 13 ways to help prevent cancer Obesity and being overweight, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, causes 3,917 deaths by cancer a year on its own Getty 13 ways to help prevent cancer Dying of a cancer caused by infection also comes in highly, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths a year. Infections such as human papilloma virus - which can cause cervical cancer in women - and hepatitis - can be prevented by vaccinations and having regular check-ups 13 ways to help prevent cancer Cutting back on drinks could reduce the risk of cancers caused by alcohol - such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and mouth cancer - that are leading to 3,208 deaths a year 2014 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Sitting around and not getting the heart pumping - less than one hour's exercise a day - is directly leading to about 1,800 people having lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, that cause cancers 2011 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause in women, caused 539 deaths from (mainly breast) cancer in Australia last year. It did, however, prevent 52 cases of colorectal cancers 2003 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Insufficient breastfeeding, bizarrely, makes the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, said the research AFP/Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Oral contraceptives, like the Pill, caused about 105 breast cancers and 52 cervical cancers - but it also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine (womb) cases of cancer last year 2006 Getty Images 13 ways to help prevent cancer Taking aspirin also prevented 232 cases in the Queensland research of colorectal and oesophagal cancers - but as it can also cause strokes, is not yet recommended as a formal treatment against the risk of cancer The Independent has contacted the UK Department of Health for comment. The study into the impact of titanium dioxide in rats was led by Frances National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and published in the Scientific Reports journal. The team gave rats E171 through their drinking water for 100 days. The quantities used were proportionally similar to those humans are exposed to through foods and cosmetic products Publishing their findings, the researchers said: These results indicate that E171 both initiates and promotes the early stages of colorectal carcinogenesis in animals. These studies show for the first time that the additive E171 is a source of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the intestine and the entire body, with consequences for both immune function and the development of preneoplastic lesions in the colon. Oral exposure to E171 is a concern, especially in children who tend to eat a lot of sweets." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Microsoft has joined a growing list of companies threatening to pull investment from the UK after Brexit. The tech company - one of the worlds largest said the potential for huge import tariffs on goods meant it may have to reconsider future expansion in Britain. Theresa May confirmed in her Brexit speech last week that the UK would be leaving the Single Market and the customs union, opening the door for duties to be imposed on imports from the rest of the world. Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn clash on free trade after Brexit And Microsoft UKs Owen Larter said the company was contemplating building and expanding data centres elsewhere in Europe following the vote. If all of a sudden there are huge import [tariffs] on server racks from China or from Eastern Europe, where a lot of them are actually assembled, that might change our investment decisions and perhaps we build out our data centres across other European countries, the government affairs manager said, at a talk on the impact of Brexit on the tech sector. Mr Larter said the US tech company was currently hoping to build data centres in the UK at a pretty strong lick as the market was performing very well, but added: We're really keen to avoid import tariffs on any hardware. He continued: The UK is actually the EUs largest cloud market at the moment, and is set to double by 2019. That kind of bright future is probably not going to be possible if we make it a lot harder to transfer data and store data from the EU into UK data centres. This is particularly significant for Microsoft; weve just opened two data centres here in the UK. After his comments were reported, Microsoft released a statement saying they were "not reflective of the company's view". "As we have said both before and after the EU referendum vote, Microsofts commitment to the UK is unchanged," a spokesperson said. He also warned about the consequences of strict immigration rules on the firms ability to hire staff, saying Microsoft had "struggled internally to recruit from the US, India and China, Silicon reported. Several leading banks have already signalled that they will switch operations from the UK to elsewhere in the EU following the Brexit vote. HSBC and UBS two of Europes biggest banks are each planning to relocate around 1,000 staff and Goldman Sachs is considering halving its 3,000-strong London workforce. Economists warn that the full impact of Brexit will not be felt until the UK actually leaves the Brussels bloc, possibly as early as March 2019. 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 Last October a British company became one of the first to move its HQ to Europe, after 122 years trading from the UK. Lincolnshire-based firm Smiffys said it could not afford to wait for Article 50 to be triggered and would open an office in the Netherlands. However, Google and Facebook are pressing ahead with new headquarters in the British capital despite the uncertain conditions. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Nicola Sturgeon has signalled the need for another Scottish independence referendum after Britain's Supreme Court ruled the devolved assembly in Edinburgh did not need to be consulted on triggering Brexit. While the court ruled against Theresa May's Brexit plans and decreed that MPs were entitled to vote on whether to trigger Article 50, the justices unanimously ruled the Government did not need to consult with the devolved powers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This raises fundamental issues above and beyond that of EU membership, Ms Sturgeon said following the decision. Is Scotland content for our future to be dictated by an increasingly right-wing Westminster government with just one MP here, or is it better that we take our future into our own hands? It is becoming ever clearer that this is a choice that Scotland must make. Scottish voters rejected independence in 2014, but Ms Sturgeons Scottish National Party (SNP) say the result of the EU referendum last June which a majority of Scottish people voted against demonstrates the need for another independence referendum. The SNP leader described the British governments claims of Scotland being an equal partner as empty rhetoric and the devolution settlement as worthless. The claims about Scotland being an equal partner are being exposed as nothing more than empty rhetoric and the very foundations of the devolution settlement that are supposed to protect our interests [...] are being shown to be worthless, she added. Ms Sturgeon said she would press the case for a compromise deal on Scottish access to the EU when she meets the Prime Minister for talks on Brexit at the joint ministerial committee for devolved and UK governments on Monday. It is now crystal clear that the promises made to Scotland by the UK government about the Sewel convention, and the importance of embedding it in statute, were not worth the paper they were written on, she said. 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 Although the court has concluded that the UK government is not legally obliged to consult the devolved administrations, there remains a clear political obligation to do so. Indeed, the court itself notes the importance of Sewel as a political convention. Prior to the Supreme Court ruling, Ms Sturgeon pledged that MSPs would be given the opportunity to vote on the triggering of Article 50 regardless of the outcome. Earlier this month, before Ms Mays Brexit speech, the First Minister said being forced out of the single market which it is now clear that Britain is set to leave would be one red line that might cause her to trigger a second independence referendum. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case on Brexit has called on politicians to be quicker in condemning those who cross the lines of common decency after she was subjected to barrage of abuse in the run up to the ruling, along with her fellow claimants. Gina Miller said she was shocked at the level of personal abuse she had received and called for those in positions of power to do more. In Britain we are lucky. We are fortunate to have the ability to voice legitimate concerns and views as part of society. I have therefore been shocked by the levels of personal abuse that I have received from many quarters over the last seven months, for simply bringing and asking a legitimate question, she said. She was speaking after the judgment which found that Theresa May must secure parliamentary approval before withdrawing Britain from the EU. I sincerely hope that going forward, people who stand in positions of power and profile are much quicker in condemning those who cross the lines of common decency and mutual respect, she added. The investment manager has previously spoken about death threats she was sent after Novembers High Court judgment and claimed police advised her to avoid public places. In December, London's Metropolitan Police arrested a 55-year-old man on suspicion of racially-aggravated malicious communications aimed at Ms Miller. Ms Miller, 51, said Brexit was the most divisive issue of a generation, but she insisted that the case was about the legal process, not politics. This ruling today means that MPs that we have elected will have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the Government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations negotiations which will frame our place in the world and all our destinies to come, she said. There is no doubt that Brexit is the most divisive issue of a generation. But this case was about the legal process, not politics. Todays decision has created legal certainty, based on our democratic process and provides the legal foundation for the Government to trigger article 50. In last Junes referendum, UK voters backed Brexit by 51.9 per cent to 48.1 per cent, however campaigners argued enacting this without allowing the UK Parliament a vote was undemocratic and a breach of long-standing constitutional principles. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A referendum on the UKs exit package from the European Union with the option to remain a member of the bloc should be held before the Government triggers Article 50, a Labour MP is demanding in a private members bill. The bill from Geraint Davies, the Labour MP for Swansea West, comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hand down a crucial ruling on whether MPs should be given a vote on the triggering of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty the mechanism for leaving the EU. But Mr Davies bill, which is not official Labour policy, calls on the Government to set out its negotiation package and allow the UK electorate to vote on this in a referendum before Theresa May serves EU leaders with the Article 50 notice. In Junes referendum, the British people did not vote for particular terms of the UKs withdrawal from the EU, said Mr Davies. Triggering Article 50 hands back our EU membership, and gives the remaining 27 EU member states two years to decide the exit package which best suits their interests, to discourage others from leaving. The assurance that the UK would give people the final say on the exit package through a referendum would give the EU an incentive to negotiate before Article 50 is triggered. The vote would have an option to remain in the EU, if that is preferable to the agreed exit package. The Government should therefore delay triggering Article 50 and give people the final say. The Terms of Withdrawal from EU Referendum Bill says that the Government should also include detailed and specific information on the proposed status of EU nationals living in the UK and UK citizens living in other member states. Since the referendum in June, their status has been in a state of limbo. The Bill proposes to ask the British public: Do you support the Governments proposed United Kingdom and Gibraltar exit package for negotiating withdrawal from the European Union or Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union? Recommended Sturgeon assures MSPs they will be given chance to vote on Article 50 The options will include support the Governments propose exit package and remain a member of the European Union. In the landmark ruling on Tuesday the Supreme Court will deliver the verdict of 11 judges. It follows a ruling by the High Court in November stating that Parliament should have the final say on officially deciding that the UK wishes to leave the EU. Businesswoman Gina Miller, the lead claimant in the High Court case, has insisted the legal action was not aimed at stopping Brexit, but ensuring the supremacy of Parliament in the process. But Mr Davies bill is unlikely to halt the Article 50 process, considering Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, has stated on several occasions he will not block legislation allowing Ms May to trigger it. It is not year clear, however, whether MPs in the party will be compelled to vote for the measure as the leaders team will not reveal if the vote will be whipped until the Governments legislation appears in the Commons. Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters The Prime Minister has also repeatedly insisted the decision of the British public in June 2016 is irreversible and that there can be no second referendum and no attempts to sort of stay in the EU by the back door. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} London Underground drivers will stage a 24-hour strike in a dispute over the forced displacement of staff. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union who work on the Central Line will walk out from 9pm on Wednesday. There will be no service east of Leytonstone, and a reduced service on the rest of the Central Line, while the Waterloo & City Line will not run at all. Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: RMT negotiators have made strenuous efforts through the Acas machinery to resolve this dispute but the door has been slammed in our faces. If LU are allowed to get away with this move on the Central Line they will start shunting drivers around at the drop of a hat regardless of the consequences. Our members will be sent out from pillar to post to plug gaps that are solely down to staffing shortages. Tube Strike causes chaos for London commuters With massive budget cuts in the pipeline at LU this is a straw in the wind as to how the company expects to operate in the future. Staff across London Underground are angry and the company would be wise to recognise that. A shuttle bus will operate between Epping and Chingford in north-east London. Other London Underground services will operate as normal, but will inevitably be affected by passengers opting for alternative routes. During the Sunday-to-Monday 24-hour walkout on 8 and 9 January, which closed an estimated 96 per cent of stations, Clapham Junction was evacuated because of overcrowding and various key capital trunk roads were congested. Peter McNaught, operations director for the Central line, said: We apologise to customers for the disruption they may experience due to this unnecessary strike. We have made all reasonable efforts to resolve this dispute with the RMT through talking through the issues with them, and we have minimised the number of employees affected from 30 to eight. We urge the RMT to engage with us to resolve this issue and to withdraw the strike action, which will only cause needless disruption to Londoners. Press Association Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Piers Morgan has accused Ewan McGregor of being a paedophile-loving hypocrite after the actor cancelled his appearance on Good Morning Britain. McGregor refused to appear on Morgan's show on Tuesday morning because he did not agree with his scathing comments about the Womens March against Donald Trump. Morgan suggested the global protests were vacuous and attracted rabid feminists. Morgan, who is also editor-at-large of the US Mail Online, has now hit back at McGregors decision to cancel his appearance in a column piece for the publication which describes the actor as a paedophile-loving hypocrite in the headline. The controversial columnist said he would have asked McGregor about Roman Polanski if he had not pulled out of the interview which was scheduled to focus on McGregor's latest film, the Trainspotting sequel. Polanski, a French-Polish film director who McGregor worked with on The Ghost Writer, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977 but then fled America. He currently divides his time between France, Poland, and Switzerland, which have refused to extradite him. Had we done the interview, I might have asked him how his heroic support for women justified him working for director Roman Polanski, a self-confessed and convicted child abuser, on the film, The Ghostwriter, Morgan wrote in his column piece. Polanksi pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, then fled America to escape a lengthy prison sentence. McGregor praised Polanskis directing skills on Good Morning America back in 2010 but refused to comment on his personal troubles. In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters McGregor decided to pull out of Good Morning Britain at the last minute on Tuesday after he became aware the show was hosted by Morgan. Was going on Good Morning Britain, didn't realise Piers Morgan was host. Won't go on with him after his comments about #WomensMarch, he wrote on Twitter. According to Morgan, the actor arrived at the ITV studio but refused to do the interview and exited the building. Morgan immediately hit back at McGregor on Twitter, suggesting the actor should have appeared on the show to openly debate the issue. Sorry to hear that Ewan McGregor - you should be big enough to allow people different political opinions. You're just an actor after all, he said. Recommended Ewan McGregor pulls out of Good Morning Britain due to Piers Morgan Morgan insisted he and co-host Susanna Reid had no intention of talking to McGregor about the Womens March on the show. On Saturday, McGregor expressed solidarity with the Womens Marches which both of his daughters attended. I'm with you in spirit today women of the world. My daughters are marching. I'm so proud to see this extraordinary power, McGregor wrote on Twitter on Saturday. Protesters took to the streets in 60 countries and on seven continents across the world to promote equal rights for women and defend marginalised groups. A representative for McGregor did not immediately respond to request for comment. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Azad Hasanli - Trend: The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) has completed the emission of shares worth 600 million manats, the bank said in a message Jan. 24. After placement of shares, the total number of shares reached nearly 4.6 billion (nominal value of each share is 0.27 manats), and the banks authorized capital amounted to 1.24 billion manats, according to the message. The capital increase is carried out as part of measures aimed at the banks rehabilitation, the message said. The shortcomings in the management, investment and loan policy of the International Bank of Azerbaijan in recent years, as well as financing of less efficient, risky investment projects worsened the bank's financial state, caused increase in the share of distressed assets and reduced its liquidity. On July 15, 2015, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the measures for rehabilitation related to the preparations for privatizing the state-owned shares of the International Bank of Azerbaijan OJSC. In order to restore the bank's financial position, the distressed assets of the bank were transferred to state-owned Aqrarkredit non-bank credit organization. Aqrarkredit CJSC provides the IBA with liquid assets in exchange for distressed assets. As of today, Aqrarkredit CJSC bought the distressed assets worth about 10 billion manats from the IBA. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Residents of an Irish town are reportedly being harassed by callers trying to reach an X-rated TV channel. Inhabitants of Westport have been plagued by the late-night landline calls resulting from Irish viewers calling Babestation, the phone-in adult TV station, because they are not using the international dialling code for the UK. Regional Development Minister Michael Ring said his constituents in County Maro were "aggravated and annoyed". "They are getting these calls in the middle of night. One of those people has an elderly mother and family members all over the world and there could be a call at any time that they would have to take, Mr Ring told the Sunday Independent. Other residents have also reportedly received calls from people trying to contact Sky television helplines, which have similar numbers to landlines in the town. Mr Ring said the residents should not have to resort to changing their numbers. The Fine Gael politician has consulted with police, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) and ComReg, the Republic of Ireland's communications sector regulator, to try and find a solution. BAI chief executive Michael O'Keeffe said it contacted Babestation on behalf of one complainant. "It is unfortunate that this issue is still continuing," he said. "However, the BAI is not in a position to address the problem as it is not within our remit and he was advised at all times we were assisting him as a matter of courtesy." A spokesperson for ComReg told The Independent: "ComReg has been in contact with its counterpart in the UK and are trying to identify a solution to the issue as soon as possible. We advise anyone calling UK from the Republic of Ireland should always use the prefix 00 44." Mr Ring also contacted UK regulator Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA). A PSA spokesman told The Independent it was looking into the problem. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A London synagogue is raising money so it can house a Syrian refugee family, who are likely to be Muslims, on its premises. Members of the South London Liberal Synagogue in Streatham, south London, are hoping to raise 50,000 to convert a former religious studies teaching room into a two-bedroom flat so a family of refugees can move in. Alice Alphandary, the synagogue chair, told The Independent that the project was proving so popular with the congregation that two architect members had already agreed to work for free on the conversion. It really is lovely, she said. It is a project where everybody is pulling together. Its really touched people. Ms Alphandary, 31, whose own father came to Britain from Egypt as a refugee in the 1950s, said her communitys awareness of how often Jews had needed to flee persecution or war had played a massive part in the enthusiasm for the project. Within the Jewish community, she said, You get varying levels of religious observance, but so many have got stories It really is, if we are not the children of refugees, we might be the grandchildren of refugees. Its such a part of our collective identity. Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Show all 13 1 /13 Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Volunteers walk a group of refugee children towards their school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pose at a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children attend an English language class at the volunteer run school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children carry vegetables in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A newly arrived Syrian refugee, 13, holds her sister, 2, in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Refugee children pretend they go to school as they play in a refugee camp in the island AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Greek girl walks past a graffiti on her way to a school on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Malian refugee child poses from behind a fence in a makeshift camp AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian Kurd mother combs Roza's hair, as she prepares to go to a volunteer-run school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A Syrian family from Aleppo newly arrived to Greece sits in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child carries a broken blackgammon game in a makeshift camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees Inside the classroom with Chios's child refugees A child holds onto her mother, Djeneba from Mali, before attending school in a refugee camp on the island of Chios AFP/Getty She added that the Abrahams Tent project named after the open-sided tent created by Abraham to welcome strangers will be officially launched on Saturday February 25, the day of Shabbat Shekalim, which commemorates a census of the Jews taken following their Exodus from Egypt. With news of the project spreading online, however, some in the wider Jewish diaspora have appeared critical of the project. Michael Burd, a presenter at a Jewish radio station in Melbourne, Australia, who has also called divisive, progressive Democrats the new fascists, left a message on the synagogues Facebook page claiming: We in Australia are forced to engage armed guards at our synagogues specifically because of fear of attack from extremist Muslims including Syrian, Palestinian and other Muslims. In fact, due to increased Muslim immigration some of our Jewish day schools and Jewish community centres are in the process of erecting bomb-proof walls in the event of Muslim-related attacks, deranged lone wolves etc. Jews in London must be very lucky and the only Jews in Europe not living under siege. Ms Alphandary, however, said she had no such fears about a Syrian, possibly Muslim family living in the converted flat, which will have its own private entrance. Its very important to remember that we are talking about human beings, she said. There are more things that unite us than divide us. Its very easy for religion and politics to get confused, and I think it is very important to recognise our common humanity and to help challenge perceptions slightly. We have a good relationship with our local inter-faith communities. She added: If you look at the rhetoric that was in the press maybe 150 years ago when there was a lot of Jewish immigration coming into the country, its not dissimilar to the language used today towards immigrants and refugees. Its also important to distinguish between what is at the heart of a religion and what isnt. Lambeth, the synagogues local London borough council, had committed to housing 20 families as part of the Government promise issued under David Cameron to receive 20,000 refugees by 2020. But Ms Aplhandary said the council was finding it difficult to find landlords willing to take in refugees at the local authority housing rate, which was usually well below market rents especially in areas like Brixton which have in recent years gone from deprived to highly desirable. It is thought that so far only six Syrian families have been housed in Lambeth, including a family of six who are now living in a cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace, the official residence of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Ms Alphandary said the Abrahams Tent project therefore represented an opportunity for the synagogue congregation to make a telling contribution. She said: For so many people, its the chance to make a bit of a difference. Its hard to make great change in life, but if you can just take one small positive action, its a good place to start. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Labour MPs who vote against triggering Article 50 will escape punishment, the partys Brexit spokesman hinted today. Keir Starmer said no decision had been taken about the sanction for rebels who defy Jeremy Corbyn instead promising the conflict would be resolved collegiately. Four Shadow Cabinet members are rumoured to be considering a revolt, although only one Clive Lewis, the Shadow Business Secretary has gone public. Asked what would happen to the rebels, Sir Keir said Labour havent made decisions, adding: We are having discussions with colleagues. Speaking to Sky News, Sir Keir added: This is a difficult set of decisions for many colleagues who feel very strongly about these issues We are handling it collegiately, talking to people and discussing it in the Labour party in the way you would expect. Three frontbenchers were allowed to keep their jobs after rebelling in an earlier vote on triggering Article 50 last month. And some Labour MPs say they are still pressing for a free vote on the start of EU withdrawal something Sir Keir appeared to confirm is still under consideration. Mr Corbyn has said his MPs will only be asked to back the start of Brexit a word falling short of a strict three-line whip. A failure by Labour to enforce discipline after Mr Corbyn insisted he would not obstruct Brexit will be seized on by political opponents. Further down the line, Labour has tried to paper over the cracks with a vow to seek a meaningful vote on the exact form of the UKs exit from the EU. Sir Keir suggested the Prime Minister should be forced to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the final deal if MPs and peers vote it down, presumably in 2019. Mr Corbyn said: Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe. Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given Parliamentary approval. Labour will table detailed amendments, including a demand that a full Brexit plan is published before Article 50 is published something the Government has already rejected. It will also seek a commitment to securing barrier-free access to the single market and that the legal status of EU citizens in the UK is resolved before negotiations begin. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Labour has said it will fight any attempts by the Government to introduce a one-clause bill that will trigger Brexit. The Supreme Court has cleared the way for Theresa May to bring forward a piece of legislation for Parliament to trigger Brexit that is only "very short indeed" . The words in the ruling are a boost to ministers who favour a short bill that could limit the breadth of the debate in Parliament that precedes a vote, and make it harder for opposition MPs to amend the legislation. But it also sets the scene for wrangles in the Commons and Lords, with Labour, Liberal Democrats and the SNP all signalling they will try to alter any legislation the Government brings forward. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: "If it's a simple piece of legislation we would then want to amend it to ensure Parliament does have a proper role and a meaningful role in the process." "The vote at the end of the exercise is really important. "In other words, Parliament needs to have a meaningful role at the outset in knowing and setting out objectives but also a grip on the process until we get to a conclusion," he added. Asked if Labour would try to stop Brexit, he replied: "We have said repeatedly that we accept and respect the outcome of the referendum and it follows from that that we don't seek to block the Prime Minister from starting negotiations. "But we have said all along that the terms of the negotiation and the role of Parliament in this is really important so we will be pushing for amendments." 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 Broadly the case today was over whether Theresa May could trigger Article 50, starting the official Brexit process, without allowing Parliament a vote on the matter. While the Supreme Court upheld a High Court decision that MPs are entitled to vote on it, they also delivered some good news for the Prime Minister regarding the kind of Bill MPs should vote on. The judgement said: "What form such legislation should take is entirely a matter for Parliament. "But, in the light of a point made in oral argument, it is right to add that the fact that Parliament may decide to content itself with a very brief statute is nothing to the point. "There is no equivalence between the constitutional importance of a statute, or any other document, and its length or complexity. A notice under article 50(2) could no doubt be very short indeed, but that would not undermine its momentous significance." The Independent reported yesterday that ministers believe they will be ready to publish their Bill as early as this week, in a bid to ensure Ms May keeps to her timetable of triggering Article 50 by the end of March. A Government source said: "It will take a couple of days to fully digest the judgement and determine what the response will be. Officials can work quickly but they wont be able to work miracles to bring it out on the morning." The well-placed source added: We need to look at the issues that arise and after that we can make a decision pretty swiftly. I dont think its unreasonable to expect the Bill to be published later in the week. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Supreme Courts Brexit ruling means that it could take the Government two years to even begin the process of leaving the European Union, a leading constitutional lawyer has said. Geoffrey Robertson QC, who first outlined the argument that succeeded in the court in The Independent just a few days after the EU referendum, said the judges decision was a momentous reaffirmation of the sovereignty of Parliament. Theresa May has said she wants to trigger Article 50 the mechanism by which states can leave the EU this spring. However Mr Robertson said the requirement to go through the entire parliamentary process involving the House of Lords meant this would probably not be possible until 2019, just a year before the next election. The other EU states have refused to enter into negotiations about the terms of the UKs departure until the British Government makes a formal submission under Article 50. Doing so begins a process of up to two years after which the UK would leave the EU even if no deal on trade, movement of people and other matters had not been agreed. This means Brexit might not actually happen until after the 2020 election, which would then become a highly charged campaign in which the fate of Britain's EU membership would be effectively decided. For Mr Robertson said while the ruling had left open the question of whether the UK Parliament could stop the Brexit process after Article 50 was triggered, he believed it could as Parliament can repeal tomorrow what it passes today. 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 By a vote of eight judges to three, Supreme Court supported the High Courts earlier decision that Ms May needed the approval of Parliament if the UK was to leave the EU. That decision led to howls of outrage with the High Court judges dubbed the Enemies of the People by some sections of the tabloid press. But Mr Robertson said the ruling was a momentous reaffirmation of the result of the English Civil War, namely that parliamentary sovereignty trumps the Executive, whether the Executive is the king or the Prime Minister and her Cabinet. The judgment puts beyond doubt that the Government must now go through the entire parliamentary process including the agreement of the House of Lords and the assent of the Queen before it can trigger Article 50, he said. 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 Government cannot get away with just a quick bill in the House of Commons. It has to go through the entire parliamentary process, which could take a couple of years. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling that Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering Britain's exit from the European Union, attention will inevitably shift to those MPs who now have the power to reject the Government's plan. Some MPs have indicated they will vote against triggering Article 50 when it comes to a Commons vote. Few Conservative MPs are likely to vote against the bill, with former chancellor Ken Clarke the only one to have said he will. Former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has also said he plans to vote against the Government bill. 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 Some MPs are planning to go against their constituency's vote in the EU referendum. Labour MP Owen Smith, who lost a leadership challenge to Jeremy Corbyn, has also said he plans to defy his Pontypridd constituency's leave vote. Here are all the MPs who have suggested they will vote against the activation of Article 50, which triggers the mechanism by which a country must exit the union within two years. Conservative Ken Clarke - Rushcliffe Labour Neil Coyle - Bermondsey and Old Southwark Geraint Davies - Swansea West (voted leave) Thangam Debbonaire - Bristol West Helen Hayes - Dulwich and West Norwood Peter Kyle - Hove David Lammy - Tottenham Tulip Siddiq - Hampstead and Kilburn Owen Smith - Pontypridd (voted leave) Catherine West - Hornsey and Wood Green Daniel Zeichner - Cambridge Liberal Democrat Tom Brake - Carshalton and Wallington (voted leave) Alistair Carmichael - Orkney and Shetland Nick Clegg - Sheffield Hallam Tim Farron - Westmorland and Lonsdale Sarah Olney - Richmond Park and North Kingston Mark Williams - Ceredigion Green Caroline Lucas - Brighton Pavilion Scottish National Party Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh - Ochil and South Perthshire Richard Arkless - Dumfries and Galloway Hannah Bardell - Livingston Mhari Black - Paisley and Renfrewshire South Ian Blackford - Ross, Skye and Lochaber Kirsty Blackman - Aberdeen North Philip Boswell - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Deidre Brock - Edinburgh North and Leith Alan Brown - Kilmarnock and Loudoun Lisa Cameron - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow Douglas Chapman - Dunfermline and West Fife Joanna Cherry - Edinburgh South West Ronnie Cowan - Inverclyde Angela Crawley - Lanark and Hamilton East Martyn Day - Linlithgow and East Falkirk Martin Docherty - West Dunbartonshire Stuart Donaldson - West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine Marion Fellows - Motherwell and Wishaw Margaret Ferrier - Rutherglen and Hamilton West Stephen Gethins - North East Fife Patricia Gibson - North Ayrshire and Arran Patrick Grady - Glasgow North Peter Grant - Glenrothes Neil Gray - Airdrie and Shotts Drew Hendry - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Stewart Hosie - Dundee East George Kerevan - East Lothian Calum Kerr - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Chris Law - Dundee West Angus MacNeil - Na h-Eileanan an Iar Callum McCraig - Aberdeen South Stewart McDonald - Glasgow South Stuart McDonald - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Anne McLaughlin - Glasgow North East John McNally - Falkirk Carol Monaghan - Glasgow North West Paul Monaghan - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Roger Mullin - Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Gavin Newlands - Paisley and Renfrewshire North John Nicolson - East Dunbartonshire Brendan O'Hara - Argyll and Bute Kirsten Oswald - East Renfrewshire Steven Paterson - Stirling Alex Salmond - Gordon Tommy Sheppard - Edinburgh East Christopher Stephens - Glasgow South West Alison Thewliss - Glasgow Central Owen Thompson - Midlothian Michael Weir - Angus Elidh Whiteford - Banff and Buchan Philippa Whitford - Central Ayrshire Corri Wilson - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Pete Wishart - Perth and North Perthshire Social Democratic and Labour Party (Northern Ireland) Mark Durkan - Foyle Alasdair McDonnell (South Belfast Margaret Ritchie - South Down Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government is refusing to reveal how much money has been spent on lawyers to fight Theresa Mays two failed Brexit legal challenges. The Supreme Court today ruled against the Prime Minister and dismissed her appeal, siding with claimant Gina Miller who argued MPs alone can trigger Article 50. The case was the second failed attempt by Ms May to advance her Brexit plans, which were also defeated in a High Court case in November. The Department's refusal to reveal the legal bill for government lawyers who represented Ms Mays case will fuel concerns that her decision to fight the court cases has been a waste of public funds. Under Freedom of Information rules, government departments are required to release information publicly about their finances. However, the Department for Exiting the European Union, which is responsible for enacting Brexit, has refused a formal request under these rules submitted by The Independent. The Department stated two months ago that this was because figure would be announced in due course by Minister David Davis, however they refused to specify a timetable for such an announcement and no announcement has been forthcoming. The Supreme Court is to shortly announce its verdict on whether Ms May has sufficient authority to trigger Article 50, or if she requires approval from MPs. The case originally began in the High Court, after being brought by banker Gina Miller and a crowd-funded cohort known as the Peoples Challenge. 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 Government lawyers failed in the High Court case, whereupon they made the decision to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, resulting in further legal proceedings. The decision to appeal the case was criticised at the time amid concerns the action was futile and was a waste of public funds. A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union did not respond when approached for comment by The Independent. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been accused of prioritising business deals over human rights after he organised a string of trade trips to the Middle East. Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the Tory Cabinet minister was working on post-Brexit trade arrangements with authoritarian regimes in a desperate bid to secure deals after Theresa May announced the UK would withdraw from the EU Single Market. Criticism of the Governments trade policy followed a recent visit by the Tory minister to the Gulf state of Kuwait. Dr Fox is also understood to be lining up trade meetings with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain among its members. Places Liam Fox has visited since becoming International Trade Secretary Of the International Trade Secretarys eight overseas visits since November, three have been to Gulf states, including Oman and Bahrain. Mr Farron said the former defence secretary was making deals with countries that have a questionable record on human rights. Dr Fox met the Prime Minister of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak on Sunday and declared the country would remain a commercial hub for the UK. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Gulf state has launched an aggressive crack down on free speech and sweeping new DNA laws that "violate" Kuwaiti citizens right to privacy. Dr Fox used an article in the Daily Telegraph last week to say that the UK was hoping to remove trade barriers with countries around the world. The Government should never compromise on the prosperity of the United Kingdom, he said. However, Mr Farron said Britains top trade negotiator was instead compromising on human rights. "Another day, another desperate visit by Liam Fox to secure a trade deal with a country that has a questionable record on human rights, the Lib Dem leader told the Independent. "All because the Conservative Brexit government is hell bent on taking us out of the single market without even putting the final deal to the British people. "This follows his attempts to strike trade deals with Saudi Arabia and Oman among others. If only he were so keen to ensure Britain was able to continue trading in the world's largest market, the single market. Then he wouldn't need to put trade above human rights." Dr Fox's visit to Kuwait is expected to be followed by trips to other states in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia. HRW says the Saudi government systematically discriminates against women and minority groups and has a well-documented capital punishment programme that grants dozens of executions each year. His visits to the Middle East both recent and upcoming follow scrutiny of the UK Governments arms deals with the Saudis, who are engaged in a war with Houthi rebels in Yemen. Labours shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, said: In Kuwait we trust that Liam Fox will use this opportunity to set out how any future trade agreement must respect human rights, and raise social and environmental standards to the highest level in both our countries. Trade agreements must not be used as a means of undermining labour rights and public policy protections in the way suggested by the Prime Minister last week when she held out the vision of the UK as a deregulated tax haven off the coast of Europe. A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said Gulf states are "important partners" for the UK and the "strength of our relationship allows us to work together on a wide range of areas such as trade and security, including through the recently established UK-GCC trade working group. This is one of seven such groups we have established around the world. The International Trade Secretary and his Ministerial team are banging the drum for Britain and pulling out all the stops to boost trade across the globe. Since July last year, DIT ministers have visited 35 different markets, including 13 European countries, promoting the UK as a place to do business and trade with. They stressed Dr Fox has also conducted visits to Germany, Brazil, Hong Kong plus three separate trips to Switzerland in the last three months. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Tory rebels joined forces with Labour today in a bid to force Theresa May to publish her EU withdrawal plans in Parliament or face the prospect of two years of tension and bad blood from her own MPs. Around a dozen Conservatives want her objectives set out in a White Paper so they can be officially debated in Parliament before she fires the starting gun on Brexit. An initial vote on triggering Article 50 might now happen as early as next week. A string of Tories openly demanded the concession in Parliament, with one later telling The Independent that if Ms May failed to give way, she faced fraught relations with her own benches just as she tries to pass complex Brexit laws on a narrow timescale, with a tiny Commons majority. The warning came just hours after the Supreme Court stamped out Ms Mays hopes of triggering Article 50 without a vote in Parliament. Judges said that because Brexit would cut off a source of UK law, there was no way Ms May could hope to start EU withdrawal talks without authorisation from MPs and Lords. With the victory for Parliament still hanging in the air, both Ms May and those MPs seeking to rein her in moved swiftly to secure their political high ground. Brexit Secretary David Davis said the Government would publish a bill within days and warned against any attempt to thwart the will of the people. Sources indicated that on Thursday the Government would introduce to Parliament a short bill to trigger Article 50, starting a two-year countdown to Brexit in which the UKs new relationship with Europe must be decided. Brexit ruling: Government to introduce legislation within days The bills second reading could take place next week, in hope that the Lords can start considering the legislation at the end of February, with the final stages passing in early to mid-March. But immediately after Mr Daviss statement, six Tory MPs stood to call for Ms May to publish her Brexit plans in a White Paper, with one more saying the same in an interview afterwards. Some indicated Ms May might enjoy a smoother ride on passing her bill to trigger Article 50 if she agreed to publish her objectives in the White Paper which in turn would give MPs something concrete to hold her too as she negotiates with Brussels. Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan reminded ministers that Theresa May had effectively promised to publish a plan in December, arguing that the key speech she had given on Brexit was not enough. She said: I would suggest to [Mr Davis] that the passage of [Article 50] will be swifter if a White Paper is published and debates happen on that, too. Brexit round-up: Supreme Court rules against Government Former ministers Alistair Burt and Anna Sourby and Bath MP Ben Howlett, 70 per cent of whose constituents voted to remain in the EU, also called for the document. Former Chancellor Ken Clarke said the Government needed to bring something forward that improved Parliaments ability to give or withhold its consent to major policy objectives. Education Select Committee chair Neil Carmichael told the BBC: What we need to do is make sure we have a plan that we can see and feel, and that is in the form of a White Paper. We do need to have that kind of detail so that we can have a proper informed discussion. The MPs are still likely to vote for triggering Article 50, but a Tory MP told The Independent: If [a White Paper] fails to happen there will be tension and bad blood. The tone of [Ms Mays] speech last week was markedly better in terms of trying to build bridges. But its hard to maintain that call for unity if, when people call for something thats perfectly reasonable, thats then not delivered. Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer also called for the Government to produce a formal White Paper, rather than relying on the Prime Minister's Lancaster House speech. He told Mr Davis: "You can't have a speech as the only basis for accountability for two years or more." 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 Indicating that Labour would seek changes to the Article 50 legislation ministers publish, Sir Keir told MPs: On issues as important as this it would be wrong for the Government to seek to minimise the role of Parliament and to avoid amendments. His party indicated that, as well as the White Paper, it would push for amendments seeking to guarantee the rights of EU citizens, secure a meaningful vote on the deal Ms May eventually agrees and for Parliament to have regular updates on negotiations. But Labour had its own problems, with leader Jeremy Corbyn urging MPs to vote for triggering Article 50 despite more than 20 apparently planning to vote against it. The Liberal Democrats, who have just nine MPs but more than 100 peers, will vote against Article 50 unless there is a guarantee of the public having a vote on the final deal, said leader Tim Farron. He added: This Tory Brexit Government are keen to laud the democratic process when it suits them, but will not give the people a voice over the final deal. They seem happy to start with democracy and end in a stitch-up. Nicola Sturgeons SNP suffered a blow after Supreme Court also ruled the UK Government is not legally compelled to consult the devolved administrations before formally triggering the Brexit process. The party said it would submit 50 amendments to the Article 50 Bill, including one aimed at ensuring Scottish ministers effectively have a veto on triggering the process. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Iain Duncan Smith has claimed the Supreme Court stepped into new territory with its Article 50 ruling. The Leave campaigner and former party leader suggested the judges had told Parliament actually what they should do after the Government lost its appeal on how Brexit was to be triggered. But his statement was picked apart by online experts and contradicted by Brexit Secretary David Davis, who told MPs shortly afterwards that the Government values and believes in an independent judiciary. Mr Duncan Smith told BBC2s Victoria Derbyshire: Theres the European issue but theres also the issue about who is supreme Parliament or a self-appointed court. This is the issue here right now, so I was intrigued that it was a split judgment, Im disappointed they've tried to tell Parliament how to run its business. They've stepped into new territory where they've actually told Parliament not just that they should do something but actually what they should do. I think that leads further down the road to real constitutional issues about who is supreme in this role. The anonymous Secret Barrister, who writes a column for the Solicitors Journal, called the intervention Trump-like in its audacity and provably false. The writer said on Twitter: There's no issue about who is supreme between Parliament and Supreme Court. Its Parliament. The Court expressly did not tell Parliament how to run its business. It clarified what the [Governmentt] could not do unilaterally. The Supreme Court is not self-appointed. It was established by Parliament by section 23 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. The only real constitutional issues are those arising in IDS' own imagination, born of his own unstymied ignorance and base stupidity. And Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons: We believe in and value the independence of our judiciary, the foundation upon which the rule of law is built. The Supreme Court's website sets out how judges are appointed according to the 2005 Act. The Lord Chancellor, a politician, convenes a selection commission which decides who should join the court. The Lord Chancellor can, in closely defined circumstances, reject its candidate or invite the commission to reconsider. The Queen makes the formal appointment once a recommendation has been sent to the Prime Minister. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Seba Aghayeva Trend: The policy carried out by dictatorship in Armenia is leading the country to a disaster, depriving the Armenians, particularly the youth, of their future, Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry, told Trend Jan. 24. Hajiyev recalled the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs recent remarks about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The president, opening a military town on Jan. 23, said that the conflicts settlement is very simple, Hajiyev recalled. Restoration of Azerbaijans territorial integrity must be the first step in this direction, Hajiyev cited President Aliyev. He also cited Ilham Aliyev who declared that Azerbaijan will never allow creating a second fictitious Armenian state in the Azerbaijani lands. Azerbaijans stance on the conflict is decisive and unambiguous; it is based on justice, norms and principles of the international law and UN Security Council resolutions, according to Hajiyev. As for the statement of Armenias deputy foreign minister, Hajiyev said the low level of political and diplomatic education of the neighboring countrys representatives is surprising and ironic. Armenian foreign ministrys official, who is only partially familiar with the UN Charter and the principle of peoples self-determination, still does not understand that by committing bloody ethnic cleansing, occupation and aggression, and by putting forward the situation created as a result of these crimes as a right to self-determination, is contrary to the requirements, the essence and philosophy of the principle of peoples self-determination, Hajiyev said. If the Armenian deputy foreign minister occupied himself with biology, which is his specialty, it would probably benefit Armenia more, he added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Supreme Court is due to shortly announce their verdict on Theresa Mays Brexit plans, revealing whether she has sufficient power to take the UK out of the European Union alone or must get MPs approval. The verdict represents yet another delay in the Prime Ministers bungled Brexit plans, which have been criticised by political opponents as vague and weak. As its an appeal case, most of the Supreme Court case is a re-hearing of what lawyers argued in the High Court. However, there is one significant exception. By the time the appeal was sent to the Supreme Court, Northern Irish lawyers were granted permission to also argue that their local parliament, Stormont should get a say. Their arguments were not originally heard in the High Court case in London, but will now have to be taken into account by the Supreme Court Judges. What does it mean? This means that the Supreme Court could rule against the government, in a different way to how judges at the High Court did. Supreme Court judges could not only rule that MPs at Westminster must get to vote on whether Theresa May triggers Article 50- but also whether the devolved parliaments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales get to vote on it too. If that happens, which way would the devolved parliaments be likely to vote? A majority of people in Wales voted to leave the EU, so it is likely their politicians would have to support leaving too. However, both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted Remain, opening the possibility their politicians could justify blocking Article 50 if their local parliaments get to vote on it. Northern Irish politicians are particularly concerned about Brexit, amid worries it could harm the peace process. Some politicians have told The Independent they are going to vote to block Brexit if it comes to Stormont. Could that stop Brexit? Potentially. As with so much of Brexit, the issue is very unclear and its unchartered territory. One thing which is certain is that if either the Northern Ireland or Scotland parliament votes to block Brexit, but Wales and England parlimants vote to trigger Article 50- that would put the UK in a very difficult position constitutionally. It is likely that Leave supporters in England and Wales would feel very frustrated if the other regions block it. Similarly, if Northern Irish or Scottish politicians vote against Brexit and have their vote ignored, this could fuel local bids for independence from the UK, escalating tensions about whether they get enough of a say in national politics. It would certainly delay Brexit by at least a few months, to allow the devolved parliaments time to look at the motion and vote on it. How would that work? The local politicians in those parliaments would be sent a legislative consent motion- a kind of bill which they would sign off on saying they agreeing with what the MPs in Westminster are voting on. How does Northern Ireland complicate things further? Power-sharing between nationalists and unionists recently collapsed in Northern Ireland, meaning the parliament will soon be dissolved. It happened when the Republican party Sinn Fein pulled out of power-sharing over a dispute with the Democratic Unionists. A snap election has been called for 2 March, to try and elect a new government which agree to share power and resurrect the parliament. However, in the meantime, Northern Ireland will not have a government. This raises concerns that if there is no Northern Irish parliament to confirm Article 50, Brexit may not be able to take place until it returns. Local politicians have told The Independent that if Ms May tries to trigger Article 50 while the parliament is collapsed, she will face a court challenge from local politicians arguing this is unconstitutional. What happens now? The Supreme Court is due to give its verdict on the case at 9:30am on Tuesday. They will choose one of three options: Theresa May can trigger Article 50 without MPs and Westminster voting on it Theresa May must get approval from MPs at Westminster before triggering Article 50 Theresa May must get approval from MPs at Westminster, as well as MLAs in Northern Ireland, MSPs in Scotland and AMs in Wales Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} European officials remained resigned to the prospect of Britain leaving the EU on Tuesday, despite a Supreme Court ruling that Theresa May must consult Parliament before triggering its departure. Irelands foreign affairs minister said the Governments commitment to meet a March deadline for triggering Article 50 provided welcome certainty ahead of Brexit negotiations. Charlie Flanagan said Ireland had been preparing for Brexit long ahead of the ruling, in which eight of 11 Supreme Court judges agreed both the Commons and the Lords must approve before the two-year process of leaving the EU can begin. He said: "I welcome the confirmation from the UK Government that it will proceed with the triggering of Article 50 by the end of March at the latest. This provides welcome certainty for the beginning of the negotiations between the UK and the EU. "Preparations and our programme of engagement with our EU partners are continuing and we will be ready for the challenging negotiations ahead." In Germany, an editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung warned "Britain will leave the EU" regardless of the Supreme Court's decision, although other newspapers suggested Brexit could be delayed. European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas remained bullish about the prospects of a fast trade deal being negotiated once Article 50 has been triggered. Mr Schinas told reporters in Brussels the full terms of a withdrawal agreement including any amount the UK would have to pay Brussels for its existing liabilities - would have to take priority. If one wants to divorce but to remain friends on the basis of a new relationship, first one needs to agree on the terms of the orderly separation, he said. An orderly separation, where both sides honour their obligations. Then on the basis of this [one can] build a future new good relationship. Mr Schinas refused to be drawn on the impact of the Supreme Court ruling or the matter of whether or not Article 50 can be revoked once notification has been given. This was a judgment decision for the UK Supreme Court to take. It's now up to the British Government, the UK, to draw the consequences from that decision, he said. And accepting that Brexit is going ahead, the head of the council of euro zone finance ministers warned Britain against the crazy move of turning Britain into a haven of low corporation tax and regulation. 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 "It would be bad for Europe, but also bad for England, bad for the United Kingdom, to end up as a kind of tax paradise off the European coast," Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who is also the Dutch finance minister, told RTL TV. "In the current climate, where we are working closely with the British to tackle tax evasion, it would be a crazy step backwards." Mr Dijsselbloem said the Netherlands was already in talks with London-based banks looking to relocate from London, insisting they did not seem perturbed by strict Dutch rules capping bankers bonuses. "The strict regulations we have are aimed to protect Dutch clients," he said. "The law already says that the strict conditions don't apply to international banks working from the Netherlands." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Supreme Court ruling on Brexit handed down on Tuesday morning could prove to be "a matter of life or death" for five million people across Europe, according to a representative for expatriates. John Shaw, from the campaign group Fair Deal For Expats, said he was "delighted and relieved" by the judgement, which blocks Theresa May from triggering the process of leaving the EU without first getting Parliament's approval. Mr Shaw said the Government had been treating the two million British expats in Europe, as well as the three million EU citizens in the UK, as "bargaining chips", and welcomed giving MPs a role over the triggering of Article 50. Supreme Court rules Parliament Campaigners for the rights of expats, the majority of whom were barred from voting in the referendum, have been involved in the Brexit court case from its onset. Recommended Judges defy Theresa May and hand Brexit power to MPs Many British expats living in Europe depend on Britain's membership of the EU for basic needs such as healthcare, the right to work and their children's education. "Everything people in Britain take for granted in their daily lives, rests for us on our being EU citizens," Mr Shaw said. "Proper parliamentary scrutiny now offers the best chance for our circumstances to be considered in the lead-up to the Brexit negotiations." Mr Shaw, who lives in Lauzon in France, said he was suffering from cancer and cited a friend who had lived an extra "four or five years" as a result of French healthcare, paid for under EU rules. "So it is a matter of life or death," he said. "Together with three million nationals of other European countries who live here, we are the people who will be most profoundly affected by all of this. "This is the human side of Brexit. We would urge the Government not to use us as bargaining chips. We will be calling on the Government and the European Commission to ensure hard guarantees are put in place about what the future holds for such a large number of ordinary people. We ask that governments across the EU do the same." Handing down the Supreme Court judges' ruling, which went against the Government by a majority of eight to three, Lord Neuberger said the process of Brexit would change British law and take away legal rights currently enjoyed by British citizens. Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters "The UKs constitutional arrangements require such changes be clearly authorised by Parliament," he said. Lord Neuberger said the judgement was not about the referendum result or a comment on the merits of leaving or staying in the EU. "The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament authorising it did not say what would happen afterwards," Lord Neuberger said, meaning any action taken now must be in keeping with the UKs constitution. UK government does not need Scotland and Northern Ireland's permission to trigger Article 50 Speaking outside the court, the Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the Government was "disappointed in the outcome". He said that Britons were "fortunate enough to live in a country where everyone... even the Government... is subject to the rule of law", adding that the Government would comply with today's judgement. The verdict will come as a considerable blow to Ms May, amid growing criticism that her plans for EU withdrawal are chaotic. The Prime Minister will now have to give Parliament the chance to vote on whether to trigger Article 50, the mechanism by which EU withdrawal can formally begin. It is unclear what will happen legally if MPs vote against the bill which Ms May is now required to bring forward, as much of the constitutional law related to Brexit remains as yet untested, although Jeremy Corbyn has "asked" his MPs not to vote to obstruct it. The judges' ruling is a victory for Gina Miller, a philanthropist and banker, who brought the case against the government. She was also backed by a crowd-funded group called The Peoples' Challenge, who described themselves as a group of "concerned EU citizens". Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May must consult Parliament in order to trigger Article 50, the Supreme Court has ruled. Here is a summary of their ruling: Background to the appeals Recommended Judges defy Theresa May and hand Brexit power to MPs Article 50 of the Treaty on the European Union provides, in summary terms, that, if a member state decides to withdraw from the European Union (the EU) in accordance with its own constitutional requirements, it should serve a notice of that intention (a Notice), and that the treaties which govern the EU (the EU Treaties) shall cease to apply to that member state within two years thereafter. Following the June 2016 referendum, the Government proposes to use its prerogative powers to withdraw from the EU by serving a Notice withdrawing the UK from the EU Treaties. The principal issue in these appeals is whether such a Notice can, under the UKs constitutional arrangements, lawfully be given by Government ministers without prior authorisation by an Act of Parliament. References from Northern Ireland, and interventions by the Lord Advocate for the Scottish Government and the Counsel General for Wales for the Welsh Government, raise the additional issues of whether the terms on which powers have been statutorily devolved require consultation with or the agreement of the devolved legislatures before Notice is served, or otherwise operate to restrict the Governments power to do so (the devolution issues). The UKs constitutional requirements are a matter of domestic law which the parties all agree should be determined by UK judges. The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with political issues such as the merits of the decision to withdraw, the timetable and terms of so doing, or the details of any future relationship between the UK and the EU. Nick Clegg says government are due for Brexit 'collision' The claimants submit that, owing to the well-established rule that prerogative powers may not extend to acts which result in a change to UK domestic law, and withdrawal from the EU Treaties would change domestic law, the Government cannot serve a Notice unless first authorised to do so by an Act of Parliament. Resolution of this dispute depends on the proper interpretation of the European Communities Act 1972 (the ECA), which gave domestic effect to the UKs obligations under the then existing EU Treaties, together with subsequent statutes, which gave effect to and related to later EU Treaties, and the European Union Referendum Act 2015. The devolution issues require the court to consider whether the terms of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (NIA), and associated agreements, require primary legislation, and the consent of the Northern Ireland Assembly and/or the people of Northern Ireland, before a Notice can be served. Under each of the devolution settlements in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales the devolved legislatures have responsibilities to comply with EU law, and there is a convention (the Sewel Convention) that the UK Parliament will not normally exercise its right to legislate with regard to devolved matters without the agreement of the devolved legislature. Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Show all 13 1 /13 Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Supreme Court Brexit Challenge People wait to enter the public gallery outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Gina Miller, co-founder of investment fund SCM Private arrives at the Supreme court in London on the first day of a four-day hearing Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waves the EU flag in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Satirical artist Kaya Mar poses with two of his paintings in front of the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin. The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge The eleven Supreme Court Justices will hear the government's appeal, following the High Court's recent decision that only Parliament can trigger Article 50 Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Businesswoman Gina Miller arrives at the Supreme Court ahead of the first day of a hearing into whether Parliament's consent is required before the Brexit process can begin Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Attorney General Jeremy Wright arrives at the Supreme Court in London EPA Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Protesters outside the Supreme Court in London, where the Government is appealing against a ruling that the Prime Minister must seek MPs' approval to trigger the process of taking Britain out of the European Union PA wire Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protesters wearing a judge's wigs and robes stands outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A protester holds up a placard outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters Supreme Court Brexit Challenge Pro-Europe protestors dressed as Supreme Court Justices stand outside the Supreme Court Getty Supreme Court Brexit Challenge A man waiting to enter the public gallery waves a European Union flag outside the Supreme Court ahead of the challenge against a court ruling that Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London Reuters The principal issue was raised in proceedings brought by Gina Miller and Deir Dos Santos against the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union. The Divisional Court of England and Wales (Lord Thomas LCJ, Sir Terence Etherton MR and Sales LJ), declared that the Secretary of State did not have power to give Notice, without Parliaments prior authority. The Secretary of State has appealed to the Supreme Court against this decision. The Northern Ireland claims were heard together by Maguire J in the Northern Ireland High Court, who determined and dismissed the devolution issues, and, on an application by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland Maguire J referred four issues to the Supreme Court and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal referred one further issue. Judgement The Supreme Court by a majority of 8 to 3 dismisses the Secretary of States appeal (Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption and Lord Hodge in the majority with Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hughes dissenting). In a joint judgment of the majority, the Supreme Court holds that an Act of Parliament is required to authorise ministers to give Notice of the decision of the UK to withdraw from the European Union. Each of the dissenting justices gives a separate judgment. On the devolution issues, the court unanimously concludes that neither section 1 nor section 75 of the NIA is of assistance in this case, and that the Sewel Convention does not give rise to a legally enforceable obligation. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government will bring a Bill to Parliament to start the legal Brexit process "within days", after the Supreme Court ruled against Theresa May's plans and decreed that MPs were entitled to vote on whether to trigger Article 50. Sources within the Conservative Party told The Independent legislation could be published by Friday and the initial stages potentially put to a vote by Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Brexit Secretary Mr Davis told the Commons: "I can announce today that we will shortly introduce legislation allowing the Government to move ahead with invoking Article 50, which starts the formal process of withdrawing the European Union." The Supreme Court verdict is a blow for the Prime Minister, albeit one she had expected and had prepared for, after she initially wanted to launch the Brexit process unilaterally. There is now no doubt that Ms May must seek the permission of MPs, a vote due by the end of March, before invoking Article 50 and starting a two-year countdown to Brexit Recommended Pound dips after Brexit court ruling Delivering the judgement, Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." Lord Neuberger said the judgment was not about the referendum result or a comment on the merits of leaving or staying in the EU. "The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament authorising it did not say what would happen afterwards," Lord Neuberger said, meaning any action taken now must be in keeping with the UKs constitution. "So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries." Attorney General Jeremy Wright makes statement after Supreme Court Brexit ruling The Independent reported today that ministers were likely to be ready to publish the Bill that MPs will vote on by the end of the week. After the judgement, Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the Government was "disappointed" by the final decision in its historic battle over who has the right to authorise the start of Brexit. Gina Miller statement following the Supreme Court Brexit ruling He added: "The Government will comply with the judgement of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it." A Downing Street spokesman said: "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that. "It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. "We respect the Supreme Court's decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly." 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 It is unclear what would happen legally if MPs vote against such a bill, as much of the constitutional law related to Brexit remains as yet untested. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has "asked" his MPs to vote not to obstruct it. The judges' ruling is a victory for Gina Miller, a philanthropist and banker, who brought the case against the Government. She was also backed by a crowd-funded group called The Peoples' Challenge, who described themselves as a group of "concerned EU citizens". Although the Government lost the challenge, the justices unanimously ruled the Government did not need to consult with the devolved powers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In a statement released immediately after the ruling, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not "frustrate the process for invoking Article 50" but would seek to amend the Government. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said it would be "against the spirit of the judgment" if the Government tried to introduce a one-clause Bill. He told Sky News: "If it's a simple piece of legislation we would then want to amend it to ensure Parliament does have a proper role and a meaningful role in the process." Recommended Brexit Supreme Court ruling on Article 50 vote summary The Government must produce a formal Brexit plan so progress can be tested against it, Sir Keir said. "The vote at the end of the exercise is really important. In other words, Parliament needs to have a meaningful role at the outset in knowing and setting out objectives but also a grip on the process until we get to a conclusion," he added. The SNP, said it would put forward 50 "serious and substantive" amendment, while the Liberal Democrats will vote against triggering Article 50 unless Ms May promises a second referendum on the final exit deal. Lord Chancellor Liz Truss, who faced claims she had not spoken out quickly enough in defence of three High Court judges who ruled against the Government on the case last year, delivered a staunch defence of the judiciary following the Supreme Court ruling In a statement issued minutes after the judgement was handed down, she described the justices as "people of integrity and impartiality". Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ministers do not need to ask permission from Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales before triggering Article 50, the Supreme Court has ruled. The UK's most senior judges said the Government was not legally compelled to consult devolved legislatures. The so-called Sewel Convention means that the UK Parliament generally does not legislate on devolved matters without consulting the other legislatures, but the court ruled unanimously that it "does not give rise to a legally enforceable obligation". Recommended Pound dips after Brexit court ruling Politicians in Northern Ireland had been preparing measures to block Brexit, if the Supreme Court had ruled Stormont had to be given a say over Article 50. Northern Ireland voted to Remain in the EU by a margin of 56 per cent and the overwhelming majority of local parties are pro-EU. As the only part of the UK which also shares a land border with another EU nation, in the form of the Republic of Ireland, concerns have been raised about how the border will be affected, and how this could undermine the peace process. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, had promised MSPs they will have the opportunity to vote on triggering Article 50 regardless of the outcome of the Supreme Court case. The Scottish Government has put forward proposals for a differentiated settlement that would allow Scotland to stay in the single market while the rest of the UK leaves. Writing in the Daily Record, Ms Sturgeon said: "This isn't some academic debateremoving us from the largest single market in the world would be devastating for people's jobs and living standards." The Government lost its appeal this morning after arguing it did not need to seek a Parliamentary vote on starting the Brexit process. A bill is thought to be heading to Parliament later this week. Giving a short summary of the court's findings, Lord Neuberger stressed: "The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with whether the UK should exit from the EU, or the terms or timetable for that exit. "The main issue is whether the Government can trigger Article 50 without the prior authority of an Act of Parliament." 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 A spokesperson for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "Labour respects the result of the referendum and the will of the British people and will not frustrate the process for invoking Article 50. "However, Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 Bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe." Some of Mr Corbyn's MPs are pushing for a referendum on whatever Brexit deal the Government reaches. Gina Miller, the lead claimant, said outside the Supreme Court: "There is no doubt Brexit is the most divisive action for a generation ... but this wasn't about politics.. "In Britain we are lucky to voice legitimate concerns and views. I have therefore been shocked by the personal abuse I have received from the many quarters for simply asking a legitimate question." Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Why are we asking this now? Defeat for the Government in a historic court battle over the right to trigger Brexit will not derail Theresa May's plans, Downing Street has said. Yet it hands Parliament the power to delay or even obstruct Britains departure from the EU. What did the Supreme Court decide? By a majority of eight judges to three, the Supreme Court found that the Prime Minister must seek the permission of MPs before she can trigger Article 50, thereby starting the two-year countdown to Brexit. Handing down the Supreme Court judges ruling, which went against the Government by a majority of eight to three, Lord Neuberger said the process of Brexit would change British law and take away legal rights currently enjoyed by British citizens. The UKs constitutional arrangements require such changes be clearly authorised by Parliament, he said. Brexit round-up: Supreme Court rules against Government Lord Neuberger said the judgment was not about the referendum result or a comment on the merits of leaving or staying in the EU. The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament authorising it did not say what would happen afterwards, Lord Neuberger said, meaning any action taken now must be in keeping with the UKs constitution. What happens now? The Government has said it will accept the ruling. It has little choice in the matter, given the Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the UK. But Downing Street also insists it will not let the judgment have an impact on Ms Mays timeline for triggering Article 50. The Prime Minister has said she wants to formally declare the UKs intention to leave the EU by the end of March, allowing for two years of negotiations and the completion of the Brexit process in spring 2019, well in time for the 2020 general election. In its judgment, the Supreme Court said the Government would need to table no more than a one-line piece of legislation in order to fulfil its legal requirement to consult Parliament. The Government has been bracing itself for todays judgment going against it, and so is expected to be in a position to put a bill before Parliament in early February. Who gets a vote? Both MPs in the House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords must approve the Governments legislation in order for it to become an Act of Parliament and legally trigger Article 50. Theoretically, the bill should have enough time to pass through the Commons by the February recess, at which point it will go to the Lords. The Commons will have a final vote on any amendments made in the Lords, and then it will go to The Queen for the formality of royal assent. 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 Could the bill fail? In short, the answer is no. Based on a bit of political mathematics, we can say with confidence that it will pass through the Commons without much trouble. Thats because the Conservative Party has a clear majority of MPs, and almost every Tory MP is expected to vote in line with the Government and in favour of triggering Article 50. Only the Europhile grandee Ken Clarke has said he would consider blocking Article 50. Some Labour MPs, the Lib Dems and the SNP will probably vote against triggering Article 50. But between them they will likely command a small fraction of the MPs needed to frustrate Ms May further. The Lords will be a more intriguing prospect. The Government has no clear majority in the upper house and many Lords were very firm supporters of Remain in the referendum. A core of Europhiles in the Lords have been saying they will do everything in their power to block Brexit, even if that means facing accusations of being elite, out-of-touch enemies of the people. Nonetheless, with the threat of a constitutional crisis and the possible triggering of a snap general election if the Lords blocks Brexit, most commentators expect the house to give the bill its reluctant assent. How long will it take? One sticking point in the process could come if MPs group together in a bid to win concessions from the Government over consulting Parliament during the two-year Brexit negotiations. The SNP has already said it plans to table 50 serious and substantive amendments to the bill regardless of what the Government puts forward. Labour has also said it wants time to scrutinise the bill, though Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has asked his MPs not to try and frustrate the process as a whole. Watch the Supreme Court's Brexit ruling in full And it is conceivable that those two, plus the Lib Dems, could convince some Remain-voting Tory MPs that there are gains to be made by blocking the bill until Ms May commits to Parliament having a greater deal of oversight across the whole Brexit process. Essentially, the Supreme Court has opened the door for MPs to reclaim power over Brexit from the Government, in a to and fro that could take some time in the Commons. But with the whole process likely to be given top priority in parliamentary proceedings, it could yet be done and dusted by Ms Mays March deadline. Could the matter go to a European court? The Supreme Courts ruling is final, and there is no way that it could be appealed or referred any higher to the European Court of Justice. But other aspects of Brexit are highly likely to end up being ruled on by the ECJ, according to Europes most senior judge Koen Lenaerts. One key aspect which remains untested is whether or not Article 50 is revocable can Britain back out of Brexit once the two-year countdown has begun? The ECJ has the power to rule on things like the interpretation of the Lisbon Treaty in which Article 50 is contained and the validity of acts of EU institutions. It is also worth noting that European law has already played a role in the Supreme Court ruling today. Lord Neuberger said Parliament must have a say, in part, because some rights currently enjoyed by British and other EU citizens will be taken away by Brexit. Those rights are defined by the European Convention on Human Rights, which was adopted into UK law (and therefore the consideration of the Supreme Court) in 2000. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} When will the Supreme Court announce its decision? The Supreme Court will rule at 9.30am on Tuesday whether Theresa May has sufficient authority to withdraw the UK from the European Union, or if parliament must have a say in her plans. The judges, who are the most senior in the country, will deliver their verdict on whether MPs are entitled to a vote on whether the Prime Minister triggers Article 50, the formal mechanism by which EU withdrawal can commence. Angela Merkel's senior economic adviser says May's Brexit plan is impossible What are the two sides arguing over? Speaking on behalf of Ms May, government lawyers have argued the referendum of 23 June, in which a slim majority voted for Brexit, means she has sufficient mandate to act. They also argued that Prime Ministers have traditionally acted to sign international treaties or agreements with other countries, without approval from parliament. However, those taking the case against the government have argued Ms May requires the approval of parliament before she can act. They have claimed that under constitutional law, only parliament can be responsible for taking away the rights of citizens. As cessation of EU membership would result in the loss of certain rights such as freedom of movement, or the right to vote in EU elections, British citizens will lose rights in this instance and so only parliament can enact Brexit, their lawyers told the court. 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 Who has brought the case forward? The case is brought against the government by a number of parties, including Gina Miller, a philanthropist and former investment banker. She is also joined by a crowd-funded initiative known as the Peoples Challenge, comprised of pro-EU concerned citizens. The legal challenge first went to the High Court in November, where judges ruled against the government and found parliamentary approval must be sought. However, the government appealed the verdict, whereupon the case was referred to the Supreme Court. Upon appeal, applicants from Northern Ireland were also allowed to join the case in order to make their argument that leaving the EU without consulting the Stormont parliament may be a violation of the Good Friday Agreement, the peace treaty which ended the Troubles conflict. Who is expected to win the case? The Government is widely expected to lose this case upon appeal too, with the Supreme Court anticipated to rule in favour of Ms Miller and the Peoples Challenge. However, as the new material from Northern Ireland has now been allowed to be considered, it is possible that the Supreme Court could also rule that the devolved parliaments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must also get a say on whether to trigger Article 50, by approving a Legislative Consent Motion. This raises the possibility that the devolved administrations could block or delay Brexit, as a majority of people in Northern Ireland and Scotland both voted Remain. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May's approach to Brexit risks making her the unwitting tool of aggressive nationalists seeking to tear the European Union apart, former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg is warning. Speaking ahead of the Prime Minister's talks with Donald Trump in Washington on Friday, Mr Clegg will name the new US president as part of an axis of aggressive nationalism stretching from the White House to the Kremlin and taking in hardline Brexiteers in the UK and populist parties in countries across Europe. At a conference in Brussels on Tuesday, the former Liberal Democrat leader will warn Mrs May to put Britain's interests first at the White House on Friday, and not to be drawn into the president's nationalist tactics to undermine the EU. Theresa May confirms upcoming meeting with President Trump Recommended Supreme Court judges to deliver crucial ruling on Brexit He will accuse Mr Trump of effectively colluding with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to undermine the security and prosperity of Europe, said party aides. Mr Clegg is expected to tell the E!Sharp conference: Theresa May's approach to Brexit is not only contrary to Britain's national interest, it also runs the risk that the Brexit negotiations unwittingly become the means by which the forces of aggressive nationalism seek to unpick the EU itself. This has long been the stated ambition of the most hardline Brexiteers, and was repeated at the meeting of populist parties held in (German city) Koblenz this weekend. 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 My message to Theresa May is clear: as you travel to Washington this week, beware the dangers of becoming an unwitting tool for the isolationism of Trump, Putin and nationalists across Europe. Her vision for a hard Brexit will pull us out of the European single market, the world's largest borderless marketplace - which was, let's not forget, designed by the British and championed by the Conservative prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher. That is the wrong choice for Britain's interests. PA Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A refugee is running for election in Glasgow, to give back to the city which granted her safety. Roza Salih, 27, fled Kirkuk, Iraq along with her parents and younger sister after her family was persecuted for speaking out against Saddam Hussein. They were granted refuge in Glasgow in 2001, when she was just 12-years-old. She was one of seven school girls, known locally as the Glasgow girls, who were subject to dawn immigration raids and taken to a detention centre. However, she was soon released following a public campaign. She now has leave to remain in Scotland and went on to study law and politics at Strathclyde University. She says she wants to give back to the community which has welcomed her. She will be running as a candidate for the SNP at the upcoming council elections. She is standing in the citys ward 13. If her campaign is successful, it is thought that she would be the first refugee to be elected in the UK. UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 4 November 2022 A peacock is seen in the early winter sunshine in the Dutch Gardens in Holland Park AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 3 November 2022 A villager cooks roti bread at the site of the annual Camel Fair in Pushkar, in India's desert state of Rajasthan AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 2 November 2022 A red squirrel gathers nuts in Pitlochry, Scotland Reuters UK news in pictures 1 November 2022 Englands Tara-Jane Stanley scores their sides seventh try against Brazil during the Womens Rugby League World Cup group A match at Headingley Stadium, Leeds PA UK news in pictures 31 October 2022 GBs James Hall competes during the mens parallel bars qualification at the World Gymnastics Championships in Liverpool AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 October 2022 People dressed in Halloween costumes paddle board along the river Avon in Christchurch, Dorset PA UK news in pictures 29 October 2022 Members of the public take pictures as police officers remove activists from a road during a Just Stop Oil protest, in London Reuters UK news in pictures 28 October 2022 A cosplayer attends the MCM Comic Con London 2022 at the ExCel Centre in London Reuters UK news in pictures 27 October 2022 98-year-old D-Day Veteran Bernard Morgan, whose story is among those featured on the giant poppy wall, during the launch of The Royal British Legion 2022 Poppy Appeal, at Hay's Galleria in central London PA UK news in pictures 26 October 2022 A meerkat explores a pumpkin in the enclosure at Wild Place, Bristol, where some of the animals are having pumpkin treats as part of their environmental enrichment PA UK news in pictures 25 October 2022 King Charles III welcomes Rishi Sunak during an audience at Buckingham Palace, where he invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 Rishi Sunak celebrates with Tory MPs outside the Conservative Campaign Headquarters after becoming the new leader of the Conservative Party Reuters UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA UK news in pictures 20 October 2022 Britains Prime Minister Liz Truss delivers a speech outside of 10 Downing Street in central London to announce her resignation AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 19 October 2022 Salmon leap up Stainforth Force on the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales as they swim upriver to their spawning grounds during the annual Salmon migration PA UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA Speaking to the National, she said: I feel like the area is part of me. I used to look down at the view of Glasgow. It was just beautiful. I started out having zero pence in my pocket as an asylum seeker. I didnt have anything. I just want to be able to serve the people and make them proud. They welcomed me to Scotland and I really want to give back to them. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anakhanum Hidayatova Trend: Cyprus Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides has expressed hope that 2017 will be the year of progress in the resolution of conflicts in the Council of Europe area. He made the remarks during the second day of PACE winter plenary part-session that kicked off in Strasbourg Jan. 23. Touching upon the conflict settlement issues, he expressed hope for the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, crises in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Cyprus is currently chairing the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has been urged to raise growing concerns over human rights in Turkey when she holds talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the country later this week. It comes as Downing Street revealed the Prime Minister will use her brief visit to Ankara to discuss trade, defence and security and reflect the fact that Turkey is indispensable partner and a close ally for the UK on many issues of global importance. But ahead of her visit on Saturday, which will directly follow her trip to Washington to meet President Donald Trump, Ms May is being pressed to use the vital opportunity to address growing concerns over human rights in the country. Her visit comes after Mr Erdogan declared a state of emergency following last summer's coup attempt, which was followed by a wave of arrests, the closure of numerous media outlets and the removal of thousands of public officials including judges, teachers and university academics from their jobs. According to Amnesty International the human rights situation in the country has deteriorated markedly since this event and that cases of excessive use of force by police and ill treatment in detention continued. Kate Allen, the UK director of the organisation, said the upcoming visit is a vital opportunity for Ms May to ask some probing questions over Turkeys human rights crackdown following last years bloody coup attempt. Human rights abuses during the attempted coup absolutely must be investigated and their perpetrators brought to justice, but this cant be done at the expense of fundamental rights, she added. Weve gathered disturbing evidence of widespread torture in the immediate aftermath of the would-be coup, and the rights of detainees have also been severely curtailed in a series of executive decrees. More than 40,000 people have been remanded in pre-trial detention since the coup attempt, and more than 90,000 civil servants have been summarily suspended or dismissed from their jobs. More than 100 journalists and media workers have been imprisoned - some for months - in punitive lengthy pre-trial detention, and hundreds of media outlets have been shut down as part of a massive crackdown on freedom of expression. Ms May should call for journalists held in pre-trial detention in Turkey to be released, for an end to torture in detention and for due process and the rule of law in Turkey to prevail. Asked whether Ms May will raise concerns over the clampdown during her talks with Mr Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, a Number 10 spokesman said: "We have been clear in our support for Turkey's democracy and institutions since the coup last summer. "The PM will take this opportunity to reiterate our support for that, but we've also been clear that Turkey's response to that must be proportionate and of course we will continue to raise those issues." Pressed on whether the UK regarded the response so far as having been "proportionate", the spokesman replied: "We are a close friend of Turkey. We've been very clear that we support Turkey's rights in support of its democracy and its institutions. He added: "The visit will reflect the fact that Turkey is an indispensable partner and a close ally for the UK on many issues of global importance, including trade, security and defence. "We will be looking at future relationships which we may be looking to explore with Turkey once we have left the EU." In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Show all 17 1 /17 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Pierre Crom/Twitter In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Murad Sezer/Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters In pictures: Turkey coup attempt Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters However, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Tom Brake said: "From Erdogan to Trump, Theresa May seems to see her natural allies as the populist bullies of the world. This is a deeply alarming sign of her priorities for diplomacy in post-Brexit Britain. "Erdogan has jailed more journalists than any other country. He has locked up teachers, professors and policemen without any due process, yet our Government is point-blank refusing to call him out on these egregious crimes. "The Prime Minister has a responsibility to defend freedom of speech worldwide instead of cosying up to bullying regimes." Andrew Smith from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) is also calling on the Prime Minister to raise the human rights concerns in the country and halt the sales of arms to Ankara. If May is concerned for those being repressed by the Turkish authorities then she must stop the arms sales and use her influence to call for positive and meaningful change, he added. "Turkey has moved in an increasingly authoritarian direction under President Erdogan, particularly following last summer's crackdown. There have been major attacks on press freedom and serious allegations of torture. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Conservative MPs have piled pressure on Theresa May to publish a full Brexit plan one suggesting the triggering of Article 50 will be held up if she refuses. A string of Tory backbenchers urged the Prime Minister to produce a fully fleshed-out white paper before the vote to start the Brexit process. One, Nicky Morgan, went further, pointing out that the Commons had voted only last month in favour of being given that plan with Government support and hinting at trouble ahead. Recommended Brexit Supreme Court ruling on Article 50 vote summary That vote was on a motion which first revealed that the Commons is likely to back Ms Mays timetable for invoking Article 50 by the end of March. Ms Morgan, a former Education Secretary, said: When Parliament voted for the motion in December it was not just in relation to the 31st of March deadline it was also in relation to the publication of a plan. The passage of the Bill will be swifter if a white paper is published and debates happen on that too and the Article 50 process is separate. The same call was made by four other former Cabinet ministers Dominic Grieve, Anna Soubry, Alistair Burt and Ken Clarke. However, the MPs with the exception of Mr Clarke either stated they would vote for Article 50, or are expected to do so. The Tory unease was laid bare as David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, made a statement following the Supreme Courts ruling that MPs must approve the invoking of Article 50. In reply, Mr Davis said, repeatedly: We will provide as much information as we possibly can, subject to not undermining our negotiating position. The December motion committed Ms May to publishing the Governments plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked - but stopped short of demanding a full white paper. Ministers have made no clear they have no plans to publish one, arguing the Prime Ministers speech, last week, was the plan. However, Labour has said it will attempt to amend the Article 50 legislation to force a white paper, along with robust impact assessments. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As the Fast Shows Swiss Toni never quite said, parliamentary sovereignty is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman: time-consuming and expensive to get your hands on, then over very quickly. Poor parliament. Theyd only got their sovereignty back at half past nine in the morning, and it wasnt even lunchtime before David Davis took it away again. No sooner had the Supreme Court decided, by an 8 to 3 verdict, that it is parliament and not the Prime Minister that gets to break the glass / pull the trigger / press the red button on Article 50 (the sad metaphor-less truth is post the letter but that wont do), than the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union was telling them when and how theyd be doing just that. I can announce today that we will shortly introduce legislation allowing the Government to move ahead with invoking article 50, he said. It will be a straightforward bill, that will prepare the ground for these assembled elected, professional decision makers to crack on with the making of a decision almost all of them fundamentally disagree with. There was a strange mood in the house. There always is in these bizarre times. If you can Imagine if the Chilean miners had been told there's been a vote and, sorry, we're going to have to piss on the biscuits, then youll have some clue as to the looks on the faces of MPs on every side of the house. These people know theyve got no choice but to crack on and do something none of them wants to. To take a deep breath, public servants in a national parliament, and do active damage to their own constituents, because that's what their constituents have asked for. There are many reasons to find the many convulsions and complications of Brexit almost impossible to understand. That, to take just one example, the Labour Party campaigned for Remain under the leadership of an ardent Eurosceptic of thirty years standing who is now telling his MPs theyll face a whip to taking the country out the EU might seem bewildering to the occasional observer. But the key is seeing it all through the simple prism: they just really really dont want to do it, but they know they must. Some of them do want to, of course, and they were as vocal and as angry ever. John Redwood was angry about the puppet Parliament answering to Brussels. Bill Cash glowered about the Supreme Court verdict having nothing to do with the political merits of the decision. Its six months since these people achieved their lifes dream, and yet theyre still as angry as they were before. Tempting as it is to liken them to Second World War Japanese soldiers fighting on for the Emperor on some pacific jungle atoll, the trouble is it's not like theyve not been told the war is over - and that they won. Mr Davis made solemn proclamations on the independence of the judiciary in a nation that is watched by other countries as an example for themselves. Yeah, those days are gone mate. The death threats to Gina Miller, the ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE stuff did that. Its not that there arent still plenty of people out there who see the UK as a shining example, its just that, well, theyre mainly fascists (they really are). If you dont believe it, ask Marine Le Pen why she spent most of the last half of last year with the Union Jack as her profile picture on Twitter, and probably Tinder too. Still, theres always the Lib Dems, so serious about repositioning themselves as the party of the 48 per cent that one of their nine MPs turned up. It fell to Tom Brake to ask for a second referendum. Mr Davis told him to exercise his brain. Tell Brussels that well be voting again on the deal, and theyll make it as bad as possible so we vote against it, he explained rather persuasively, confirming that the madness is definitely going ahead. In any case, a second vote won't be necessary. Forced to explain to Anna Soubry why, no, there can be no question staying in the single market, the EU in all but name despite that specific questions noted absence from the ballot paper, he suggested thus: What we have come up with is the idea of a comprehensive free trade agreement and a comprehensive customs agreement that will deliver the exact same benefits as we have. All of the benefits then, and none of the costs. Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Donald Tusk and indeed everyone else have now spent more than a year saying that this wont be possible, which it wont be. But hey, why start listening now? For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Islamist terror groups in Nigeria are now using female suicide bombers with babies to avoid detection before carrying out their attacks, officials have warned. Two women carrying babies blew themselves up in the town of Madagali on 13 January, killing themselves, the infants and four others. They passed a security checkpoint after being mistaken for civilians because they were carrying children, the BBC reports. Nigeria finds schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram Two other women were stopped at a security checkpoint and detonated their explosives. Officials told the broadcaster the use of babies could signal a "dangerous" trend. Islamist group Boko Haram is widely suspected of being behind the attack. The rise of Boko Haram Show all 20 1 /20 The rise of Boko Haram The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau delivers a message. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga in a video where he warned the massacre was just the tip of the iceberg. As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and business were destroyed in the 3 January 2015 attack on the town near Nigeria's border with Cameroon AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People displaced as a result of Boko Haram attacks in the northeast region of Nigeria, are seen near their tents at a faith-based camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in Yola, Adamawa State. Boko Haram says it is building an Islamic state that will revive the glory days of northern Nigeria's medieval Muslim empires, but for those in its territory life is a litany of killings, kidnappings, hunger and economic collapse The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nitsch Eberhard Robert, a German citizen abducted and held hostage by suspected Boko Haram militants, is seen as he arrives at the Yaounde Nsimalen International airport after his release in Yaounde, Cameroon on 21 January 2015 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Officials of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visit victims of a bomb blast in Gombe at the Specialist Hospital in Gombe. According to local reports at least six people were killed and 11 wounded after a bomb blast in a marketplace in Nigeria's northeastern state of Gombe on 16 January 2015. Islamist militant group Boko Haram has been blamed for a string of recent attacks in the North East of Nigeria The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather at the site of a bomb explosion in a area know to be targeted by the militant group Boko Haram in Kano on 28 November 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram People gather to look at a burnt vehicle following a bomb explosion that rocked the busiest roundabout near the crowded Market in Maiduguri, Borno State on 1 July 2014. A truck exploded in a huge fireball killing at least 15 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the city repeatedly hit by Boko Haram Islamists The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram President Goodluck Jonathan visits Nigerian Army soldiers fighting Boko Haram Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Displaced people from Baga listen to Goodluck Jonathan after the Boko Haram killings AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan speaking to troops during a visit to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State; most of the region has been overrun by Boko Haram AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Members of the Nigerian military patrolling in Maiduguri, North East Nigeria, close to the scene of attacks by Boko Haram EPA The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Harams leader, Abubakar Shekau, appears in a video in which he warns Cameroon it faces the same fate as Nigeria AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Nana Shettima, the wife of Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima (C) weeps as she speaks with school girls from the government secondary school Chibok that were kidnapped by the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, and later escaped in Chibok The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate in Johannesburg The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Boko Haram militants have seized the town in north-eastern Nigeria that nearly 300 schoolgirls were kidnapped from in April 2014 AFP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A soldier stands guard in front of burnt buses after an attack in Abuja. Twin blasts at a bus station packed with morning commuters on the outskirts of Nigeria's capital killed dozens of people, in what appeared to be the latest attack by Boko Haram Islamists, April 2014 The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The aftermath of the attack, when Boko Haram fighters in trucks painted in military colours killed 51 people in Konduga in February 2014 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram The leader of Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau (with papers) in a video grab taken in July 2014 AFP/Getty The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Ruins of burnt out houses in the north-eastern settlement of Baga, pictured after Boko Haram attacks in 2013 AP The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram A Boko Haram attack in Nigeria, 2013 AFP/Getty Images The rise of Boko Haram Boko Haram Abubakar Shekau, Boko Harams leader AP The insurgent group has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions some of those are among the many thousands they have kidnapped over the years. In one particularly horrific example, a female suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on 28 November, detonating her explosives and killing the woman and the baby. On New Year's Eve, a 10-year-old girl was used in a suicide bomb attack in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri. Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} One of the Barack Obama administration's final acts was to release $221m of funding to the Palestinian Authority. Republican members of Congress had tried to block the allocation after the group sought membership of international organisations. The funds are to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, and other projects around governance and political reform. Seven ways Barack Obama has made Donald Trump's life more difficult Though holds placed by members of Congress are generally respected by the executive branch, they are not legally binding, and State Department officials said they would release the money just hours before Donald Trump's inauguration on 20 January, Yahoo reported. Further money was also released for climate change programmes and to various UN agencies$4m and $1.25m respectively. The UN money will go to projects for tackling sexual exploitation, ozone protection and peacebuilding. The news came as it was announced Mr Trump's administration was in the "beginning stages" of discussing a plan to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Show all 11 1 /11 Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama's best moments in the White House May 19, 2009 The President was leaving the State Floor after an event and found Sasha in the elevator ready to head upstairs to the private residence. He decided to ride upstairs with her before returning to the Oval Office, Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Oct. 26, 2012 President Barack Obama pretends to be caught in Spider-Man's web as he greets the son of a White House staffer in the Outer Oval Office Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House A National Security staffer, Carlton Philadelphia, brought his family to the Oval Office for a farewell photo with President Obama. Carltons son, Jacob, softly told the President he had just gotten a haircut like President Obama, and asked if he could feel the Presidents head to see if it felt the same as his. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House March 21, 2010 The President, Vice President and senior staff applaud after watching on television the House vote on H.R. 4872 for health care reform, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Dec. 3, 2009 President Barack Obama fist-bumps custodian Lawrence Lipscomb in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building following the opening session of the White House Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Sept. 22, 2015 "The Obama family and Biden family greet Pope Francis as he arrives in the United States for the first time at Joint Base Andrews," Sept. 22, 2015. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Feb. 21, 2014 President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden participate in a "Let's Move!" video taping on the Colonnade of the White House, Feb. 21, 2014 Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Feb. 18, 2016 President Barack Obama watches First Lady Michelle Obama dance with 106-Year-Old Virginia McLaurin in the Blue Room of the White House prior to a reception celebrating African American History Month, Feb. 18, 2016 Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Jan. 21, 2013 "The President and First Lady wave to supporters as they ride in the inaugural parade. I had asked the President if I could ride in the presidential limousine and the President joked, 'But Michelle and I were planning to make out," Jan. 21, 2013. Peter Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama share a private moment in a freight elevator at an Inaugural Ball, January 2009 all pics: Pete Souza Barack Obama's best moments in the White House Barack Obama rests his hand on the bible that President Lincoln used for his swear-in, being held by his wife Michelle Obama as he is sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America Rex Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Mr Trump by telephone on Sunday evening, but the White House statement released after the call made no mention of the embassy. The Palestinians have said that an embassy move would kill any prospect for peace. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A father and son accused of raping a teenage girl over a three-year period and keeping her shackled in a basement have made it clear that they dont have faith in the law or in the people who practice it. When they face an Ohio jury as they defend themselves against criminal charges that carry long prison sentences, they will rely on one book: The Bible. Timothy Ciboro and his son, Esten Ciboro, both of Toledo, are each charged with multiple counts of rape. The trial is scheduled to start this week, months after the girl, who is Timothy Ciboros stepdaughter, managed to unshackle herself and escape while her alleged abusers were gone, authorities said. During a hearing Friday, the Ciboros made the unusual request of having access to the Bible, which they plan to cite as they defend themselves in front of a jury. The Bible, Esten Ciboro told a judge, is the only law book that truly matters, the Toledo Blade reported. Theres a great deal of strategy in Scripture and I use those strategies in everything I do, Esten Ciboro told the judge, according to the Toledo Blades coverage of the hearing. Its a vital part of everything I do. Timothy Ciboro said he and his son intend to use Gods holy word to ask questions, questions that we believe are absolutely vital to our case, the paper reported. Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Linda Jennings has decided to allow the two to bring their Bible during the trial, but she told them that they cant use the book to question witnesses. Its the courts opinion that while the Bible is very important, it is not a law book in a court of law, Jennings said, according to the Toledo Blade. The Ciboros are accused of sexually assaulting the girl over a period of three years, from 2012 to 2015. They are each charged with three counts of rape, endangering children and kidnapping. Timothy Ciboro, who faces two additional rape counts, is also accused of sexually assaulting the girls younger sibling during the same time period, the Toledo Blade reported. The two men were arrested in May after the then-13-year-old girl escaped from the basement, where she allegedly was held for more than a year, authorities said. She was spotted about a mile and a half away, carrying a backpack and two bags, NBC affiliate WNWO reported. She told police that she was fed spoiled leftovers and was forced to urinate in a bucket with ammonia. The Ciboros were charged with kidnapping and endangering children shortly thereafter. They were indicted on rape charges in September. The childs mother, Stafonda Hawkins, also was arrested on an unrelated parole violation, WTOL reported. The girl told police that her mother had left and that she had not seen her since 2012. The father and son have been adamant about representing themselves despite repeated pleas from attorneys that having a lawyer is in their best interest. During a hearing in November, Esten Ciboro said he would rather rely on his faith than on a lawyer. Professionals built the Titanic. Amateurs built the ark, he told Jennings, the judge, according to the Toledo Blade. Earlier, Jennings told Timothy Ciboro that he could not represent himself because of his strange behaviour in court. For example, during an October hearing at which he pleaded not guilty to rape charges, he said he was charged with offenses against [his] children, WTOL reported. What are the offenses that youre charged with against your children? Jennings asked. Bad things I dont want to talk about, your honour, Timothy Ciboro responded, according to WTOL. Ultimately, though, the judge allowed both defendants to represent themselves, with appointed defence attorneys on standby. This is not the first time that religion has been used, in some way, in a criminal case. Last year, for instance, an Indiana mother argued that her decision to beat her son with a hanger was driven by her religious beliefs. 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 Kin Park Thaing, through her attorney, asked a judge to dismiss charges against her, arguing that Indianas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by then-Gov. Mike Pence in 2015, protected her from prosecution. An Indianapolis judge later denied Thaings request. She pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to a year of probation. In November, an Indiana man accused of not paying more than $1,000 in state income taxes also invoked the states controversial religious freedom law to avoid prosecution. Rodney Tyms-Bey argued that paying taxes imposed a burden on his religious beliefs, although he declined to say what those beliefs were or how, specifically, they were affected by paying taxes. Its unclear how Timothy and Esten Ciboro plan to use the Bible to aid their defense, or what part of it they plan to cite. Jury selection will start Monday. Copyright Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} There may have only been 15 of them marching against the inauguration of Donald Trump, but in the tiny village of Sandy Cove in Nova Scotia, Canada that represented almost a quarter of its population of 65. Gwen Quigley Wilson and Melissa Merritt wanted to join in with one of the worldwide marches, which saw over two million people take to the streets in over 30 different countries to protest against the anti-women policies of the new US president. But after finding out that the nearest march was over two hours away from their home, they decided to organise their own because it felt like one of those moments in history that you couldnt stand by and passively observe. Ms Quigley Wilson told CBC News that they were not expecting any kind of turnout, so when 15 people showed up nearly a quarter of the towns population they were ecstatic. The group marched between the local school and the fire hall for an hour, enough time for two boatloads of cars leaving a nearby ferry port to pass by. Although few appeared to honk in support, one of the marchers, Kadijah Photiades, said she did not think there signs were big enough. But after she uploaded a short video of the march on Facebook, it had been viewed over 100,000 times and had attracted hundreds of comments. She said it was predominantly love and support and gratitude from women all over the world. She added: One woman said she had looked at all of these marches all around the world, and it wasn't until she saw our little tiny march in Sandy Cove that she actually burst out crying. Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Show all 18 1 /18 Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather outside the White House at the finish of the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds attended the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters hold up signage near the Washington Monument during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters gather during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters arrive on the platform at the Capital South Metro station for the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators protest during the Women's March along Pennsylvania Avenue January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Joshua Lott/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Following the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the Women's March has spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights. Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A marcher holds a sign during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. The march is expected to draw thousands from across the country to protest newly inaugurated President Donald Trump. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A woman chants while attending the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters attend the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march in Washington, DC, during the Women's March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester gestures toward the White House on the Ellipse near the South Lawn of the White House during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Drew Angerer/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington A protester, holding a Donald Trump doll wearing a pink cap, marches in Washington, DC, during the Womens March on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of people flooded US cities Saturday in a day of women's rights protests to mark President Donald Trump's first full day in office. Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters take to the National Mall to demonstrate against the presidency of Donald Trump Washington, DC on January 21, 2017. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Dominick Reuter/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protesters march during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. Mario Tama/Getty Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators gather on The Ellipse during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Demonstrators march down Pennsylvania Avenue during the Women's March on Washington January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Hundreds of thousands of protesters spearheaded by women's rights groups demonstrated across the US to send a defiant message to US President Donald Trump. Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Thousands attend Women's March on Washington Protester's signs are left near the White House during the Women's March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. Large crowds are attending the anti-Trump rally a day after U.S. President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th U.S. president. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Mario Tama/Getty Ms Merritt said that she had encountered several Trump supporters in the local area and that although Washington DC was nearly a thousand miles away misogyny was everywhere. She said: It's really uplifting to be surrounded by people who are like-minded. It made my heart very happy to have other women stand beside me and do that. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to advance the construction of the $3.8bn (3bn) Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project, saying during the signing that it will be subject to terms and conditions to be negotiated by us. Mr Trump owned approximately $15,000-$50,000 stock in Energy Transfer Partners, the company overseeing the majority of construction of the pipeline, but sold it sometime in the last half of 2016, according to financial disclosures. He also owned and then sold his shares in Phillips 66, another company responsible for construction according to CNBC. The CEO of Energy Transfer Partners contributed more than $100,000 to President Trumps campaign and the Republican Party. A Dakota Access construction site near the town of Cannon Ball, North Dakota (Reuters) (REUTERS) What is DAPL? It is a proposed pipeline that would carry approximately 470,000 barrels of oil over 1,172 miles from North Dakota wells, through South Dakota and Iowa, ending at a shipping port in Illinois. The project was initially approved by the states involved in 2014, but has been met with several months of protest by activists. What part of the route is controversial? The proposed route runs under Lake Oahe on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian reservation. Eight other pipelines already run under the lake at varying depths, but protesters say the construction and size of DAPL would put the reservations only supply of drinking water at risk of oil spills and contamination as well as harm sacred sites. There is also concern that it would lead to increased carbon emissions. Proponents of the pipeline have estimated it would create nearly 8,000 jobs, most of which would be temporary, and lead to lower energy costs. It is expected to generate tax revenue for the four states as well. Back in December protesters celebrated a decision by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Usace) denying Energy Transfer Partners an extension of the pipeline under a Missouri river reservoir, seen by the company as a political delaying tactic by the Obama administration. Trump signs executive orders to push through Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines What happens next? It is unclear when construction will actually start now that the Executive Order has been signed, but Trump told carmakers in a meeting held Tuesday morning that he will make it a very short process ... youre going to know very quickly whether projects are approved. Neither Usace or any federal agency has conducted an environmental impact review of the entire proposed pipeline route, but another executive order was signed Tuesday morning expediting environmental reviews and approvals for all infrastructure-related projects. Where and by whom construction on DAPL will take place is clear however, with President Trump saying during the signing event we will build our own pipelines, we will build our own pipes, like in the old days. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump's decision to block US funding for abortion services around the world could result in tens of thousands of women dying, with the decline of these services leading to millions of unsafe abortions in developing countries, aid organisations have warned. Mr Trump signed an executive order reinstating a ban known as the Mexico City Policy which prohibits the US giving federal family planning funding to international health groups that provide abortion care. Shortly afterwards, the President's press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Trump was standing up for all Americans - including the unborn. But the policy is likely to hugely increase the rate of abortion in developing countries, causing the deaths of an estimated more than 21,000 women. The ban, which was first implemented by Ronald Reagan in 1984 and has been enforced by all Republican administrations since then, has been called the global gag rule because it prevents medical professionals and aid workers whose work is supported by US grants from even discussing termination as an option for women with unwanted pregnancies. The so-called 'gag rule' forces NGOs to choose between accepting family planning and being prohibited from providing abortion counselling, or refusing US family planning funds altogether and attempting to secure alternative sources of funding. This often means women and girls are prevented from accessing contraception and safe abortion consistent with the laws in their countries. Mr Trump's move was condemned on Monday as an assault on womens health, with activists warning the rule threatens to undermine the viability of countless groups that provide healthcare, including contraception and abortion services, to millions of women in the developing world. Now it has emerged from reports in previous years that the policy is only likely to have the exact opposite effect to the one intended. In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters A 2011 study found enforcement of the gag rule by the George W Bush administration led to an increase in abortion rates in sub-Saharan Africa, likely because of lost contraception access, while a 2010 study stated that it hampered Ethiopias efforts to address high rates of unsafe abortion. Marie Stopes International, an NGO that lobbies in favour of abortion and provides a variety of family planning services in both the UK and abroad, warned women in developing countries would pay the price for Mr Trumps reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, saying it would result in thousands more maternal deaths every year. Because of its belief that safe abortion is a vital component of womens reproductive healthcare, the organisation will lose all funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) so long as the Executive Order is in place. Recommended Trump reinstates global abortion funding ban surrounded by men It warned the loss of services that will result from Mr Trump's reinstatement of the ban during his first term in office could result in 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions and 21,700 maternal deaths. Marjorie Newman-Williams, Vice-President and Director of Marie Stopes Internationals international operations, said: All the medical evidence, as well as everything we know from our daily interactions with women, is unequivocal: if you take safe abortion services out of the reproductive healthcare package, it exposes women to risk. Every year, 21.6 million women are so desperate to end their pregnancy they put their lives on the line by risking an unsafe abortion. Thousands of them die and millions more are left with life altering injuries. "Agreeing to the Mexico City Policy would mean accepting their fate and turning our backs on the very women who need us most. Trump Inauguration protests around the World Show all 14 1 /14 Trump Inauguration protests around the World Trump Inauguration protests around the World Activists from Greenpeace display a message reading "Mr President, walls divide. Build Bridges!" along the Berlin wall in Berlin on January 20, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United State Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World An activist holds up a sign at the "We Stand United" rally on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on January 19, 2017 in New York Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters burn a U.S. flag and a mock flag with pictures of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump outside the U.S. embassy in metro Manila, Philippines Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Filipino protestors hold placcards during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines, 20 January 2017. On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inaguration as the 45th president of the United States, Filipinos and Fil-Americans held a protest in front of the US embassy in Manila to denounce the incoming US president. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Hong Kong police officers and security guards look on as an anarchist protester belonging to the Disrupt J20 movement sits after using a heavy duty D-lock and motorcycle lock to chain himself to a railing at the entrance gate to the Consulate General of the United States of America in Hong Kong to protest the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, Hong Kong, China, 20 January 2017. Two activists were arrested and taken away by Hong Kong police during the demonstration. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A banner is unfurled on London's Tower Bridge, organised by Bridges Not Walls - a partnership between grassroots activists and campaigners working on a range of issues, formed in the wake of Donald Trump's election, which aims to build bridges to a world free from hatred and oppression. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters chain themselves to an entry point prior at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, U.S. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Bridges Not Walls banner dropped from Molenbeek bridge in Brussels, Belgium, 20 January 2017, in an Greenpeace action part of protests Wolrd protest in solidarity with people in the US, the day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA Trump Inauguration protests around the World Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters Another NGO working on abortion services in developing countries, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), warned that the impact of Mr Trump's decision would be "devastating". Ms Amu Singh Sijapati, President of Family Planning Association of Nepal, where the organisation runs a -large US-funded project to strengthen family planning service delivery systems within Government Health Ministries, said: Our USAID-funded projects have been really successful. "Already we have been able to train health workers, expand clinics and provide a much broader mix of contraceptives choices like long acting methods through satellite services that are targeted to really disadvantaged groups. "Funding cuts would mean we can't support 37 districts including supporting Government of Nepal effort on sexual and reproductive Health and rights. The impact also means we would lose essential medical staff like nurses, doctors and health experts. It would be devastating." Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anakhanum Hidayatova Trend: Djiboutis parliament, the National Assembly, adopted a resolution recognizing the Khojaly genocide, Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry told Trend Jan. 24. The resolution was officially presented to Azerbaijans Ambassador to Djibouti Elman Abdullayev by the National Assembly Chairman Mohamed Ali Houmed during a meeting of the sides. During the meeting, Mohamed Ali Houmed reiterated his countrys support to Azerbaijan. The Foreign Ministry said the National Assemblys resolution recognizes that Azerbaijani territories were occupied by Armenia. The resolution also recognizes the massacre by the Armenian armed forces against the civilians in the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly on Feb. 26, 1992 as an act of genocide and crime against humanity, and declares that the persons responsible must be punished in accordance with relevant international instruments, said the ministry. Respect for sovereignty and internationally recognized territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan was reaffirmed in the resolution of the National Assembly and it is declared that occupation of a territory by force is unacceptable according to the UN Charter and international law. The National Assembly demanded the implementation of the resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, UN Security Council, as well as other international organizations regarding the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan and called on international community and international organizations to put pressure on Armenia to implement these decisions. Deep concern over the fate of more than one million Azerbaijanis, who fell victim to the Armenian aggression, the scale of humanitarian problems and their critical situation, was expressed in the Djibouti National Assemblys resolution, and the international community was called on to contribute to the conflicts resolution, said the Foreign Ministry. On February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. A total of 487 civilians became disabled as a result of the onslaught. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} As Republicans try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they should be reminded every day that 36,000 people will die yearly as a result. - Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), in a tweet, January 12 2017 With the fate of the Affordable Care Act hanging in the balance, the rhetorical warfare is only going to get worse. Earlier this week, we looked at an exaggerated GOP claim about Obamacare premiums. Then this tweet caught our eye: How is this number calculated and is it credible? The Facts For context, more than 2.6 million people died in the United States in 2015, or nearly 7,200 per day. So Sanders is suggesting repeal of the law would increase the number of deaths by 1.4 percent. Sanders obtained the figure of 36,000 from a calculation by ThinkProgress, a left-leaning website, according to his aides. Essentially, ThinkProgress assumed that repeal will result in 29.8 million people losing their insurance and that one person will die for every 830 people who lose their insurance. That yields a number of 35,903. So this is an estimate based on two other estimates. How credible are the other two estimates? The Obama administration says that about 20 million people have gained insurance because of the ACA. Weve done some digging on this number - some conservative analysts have raised questions about it - but it generally seems in the ballpark. Surprisingly, more of the increase in coverage comes from the expansion of Medicaid, not the creation of the exchanges for individual insurance. The larger number of 29.8 million comes from an Urban Institute report that assumes Republicans will repeal parts of the law through the reconciliation process without outlining any replacement plan, thus leading to a near collapse of the non-group insurance market. Thats a pretty big assumption. Moreover, one cannot assume that everyone will automatically lose coverage. One recent study has indicated that nearly 30 percent of the gain in the insured came from people who were already eligible for Medicaid. This is known as the woodworker effect. In theory, these people still would be eligible even if the expansion of Medicaid was repealed, though the authors of the report dispute that, saying the woodworker effect took place precisely because of policies in the law. In any case, nearly 30 million is certainly a high estimate. The other part of the calculation is even more problematic. It stems from a study on the effect of the Massachusetts health-care law implemented by then Gov. Mitt Romney, not the Affordable Care Act. The study compared changes in mortality rates for adults from 2001-2005 to the rates in 2007-2010, after the law was implemented. The research indicated that for every 830 adults who gained insurance, there was one fewer death per year. But the study clearly noted that we do not have individual-level insurance information and thus cannot directly link mortality changes to persons gaining insurance coverage. Moreover, it said the results could not be directly applied to the Affordable Care Act because Massachusetts differs from the rest of the nation, including lower mortality, higher income and baseline insurance coverage rates, fewer minorities, and the most per capita physicians in the country. There are wrong ways and right ways to cite this kind of data. When the White House Council of Economic Advisers in December cited the report, it appropriately noted that it was based on data from Massachusetts: If experience under the ACA matches what was observed under Massachusetts health reform, an estimated 24,000 deaths are already being avoided annually. But Sanders not only directly applied the formula to the ACA, but he also assumed that withdrawing insurance would have the same impact as adding insurance. Benjamin Sommers, the lead author of the study, said: Youre right that giving insurance versus taking it away may not produce mirror image effects - that adds further uncertainty to the discussion. Sommers, who helped implement the ACA as an Obama administration official in 2011-2014, said applying the formula could produce a reasonable ballpark estimate of what is a difficult question to answer, but its clearly not a definitive fact. He added that Sanderss tweet was not a very nuanced assessment. Twitter isnt the best venue for assessing complex research findings. Warren Gunnels, a Sanders policy aide, also pointed to a detailed 2009 study that estimated that out of every 1 million people without insurance, 1,000 will die because they lacked insurance. The study followed a group of patients for 12 years and found that those without insurance had a higher rate of mortality. Roughly speaking, if all 20 million people who gained insurance under the Affordable Care Act lost it, that would mean 20,000 deaths. Not only is that about half as much as the figure touted by Sanders, but it also assumes Republicans will simply leave everyone now covered without health insurance. In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters The Pinocchio Test Certainly, the impact of changes in the health-insurance market on the death rate is an important issue in the debate over Obamacare, especially if Republican pledges to keep everyone covered fall short. But the Fact Checker often warns readers to be wary of scare statistics that lack context. Sanders has tweeted as a definite fact an estimate that a) assumes Republicans will gut Obamacare without a replacement b) assumes the worst possible impact from that policy and c) assumes that data derived from the Massachusetts experience can be applied across the United States. Those are three very big assumptions. Take away any one of them, and Sanderss claim that repeal of the law will cause 36,000 people to die a year falls apart. Ordinarily, this sort of fuzzy math would be worthy of at least Three Pinocchios. But ThinkProgress, in calculating the number, at least said this many people could die. Sanders instead stated it as a definitive fact - that 36,000 will die. That tips this claim into Four-Pinocchio territory. The Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Donald Trump has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency, barring officials from posting updates to social media and speaking to reporters. According to emails sent to EPA staff, all incoming media requests would be "screened" by the administration, while the administration banned press releases, blog updates, and posts to agency social media accounts. Other federal agencies the US Department of Agriculture and Health and Human Services have been ordered to halt "any correspondence to public officials". The Trump administration previously ordered a "temporary suspension" of grants to the EPA, stopping new business activity. The action is expected to have an immediate impact on nationwide EPA projects. After an anonymous source notified an official on Capitol Hill with concerns of the agency freeze, ProPublica confirmed that the new administration had taken such actions. The source from the Hill told the Huffington Post that anonymous contact from an agency staffer was rather odd. Donald Trump says that 'environmentalism is out of control' "I will say it's pretty unusual for us to get these kinds of anonymous contacts from people at the agency, which makes me think it's unusual," they said. Myron Ebell, who ran the agency during Mr Trump's transition, confirmed the freeze, but noted that was not out of the ordinary for a new administration. "Theyre trying to freeze things to make sure nothing happens they dont want to have happen," he said, "so any regulations going forward, contracts, grants, hires, they want to make sure to look at them first" Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA "This may be a little wider than some previous administrations, but its very similar to what others have done." However, advocates worry that the freeze could hurt scientific research that is currently underway. "Any effort to stop a scientific agency from responding to congressional, federal, state and local inquiries has a chilling effect, Bob Cord, director of public affairs at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, told the Huffington Post. The Senate has not officially confirmed Mr Trump's pick to head the EPA, Scott Pruitt, who has drawn significant criticism for his position on environmental issues. A former Oklahoma attorney general, Mr Pruitt is a climate change denier who has repeatedly sued the EPA over its attempts to regulate pollution, and has called the agency "unlawful and overreaching". Mr Trump signed a number of executive orders during his first week in office that have indicated his dedication to rolling back environmental regulation. Despite the outpouring of public support for the Indigenous movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline, Mr Trump signed an order to advance the final leg of the project although it remains unclear when construction would resume. Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders issued a sharp rebuke of the action and vowed to "do everything I can" to stop the project. "President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet," he said. If Mr Trump continues on this track, the future looks rather bleak for environmental advocates. He held a meeting with automakers earlier in the day, and vowed to make things easier for corporations. "[Environmentalism is] out of control, and we're going to make a very short process," he said, "and were going to either give you your permits or were not going to give you your permits, but you're going to know very quickly." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps press secretary has claimed a decision has not yet been made to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Sean Spicer told reporters at the first White House press briefing the Government is at the early stages in this decision-making process despite rumours an announcement could be imminent. The President said repeatedly during his election campaign that he intended to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem, despite warnings the move would violate international law and destroy the peace process. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Mr Trump by telephone on Sunday evening. The White House statement, released after the call, made no mention of the US embassy, but an Israeli news outlet indicated the highly controversial move could be declared on the Presidents first full working day in office. In response to a question asking if the US embassy would be in Jerusalem at the end of the next four years, Mr Spicer said: Theres a reason you go through a decision-making process, and thats what were in the process of starting right now. I dont want to get ahead of if it was already a decision, we wouldnt be going through a process, he added. In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In September, Mr Trump told Mr Neanyahu America would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which would mark a decisive shift in US foreign policy. Although Israel calls Jerusalem its capital city, few countries, including the US, accept this and most embassies are kept in Tel Aviv. Jerusalem has been fiercely fought over. Captured by Israel in 1967, Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they hope to make in the West Bank and Gaza strip. Israeli officials have said they don't want any move to be rushed, according to Reuters. They believe the US embassy should be in Jerusalem, and Trump has said he will live up to his promise, but the decision has to be carefully thought through. The practicalities alone are difficult. While the US government has several buildings in Jerusalem, including a consulate-general dealing with the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, it cannot create an embassy overnight. Earlier in January, US officials and Israeli Foreign Ministry sources said the incoming US ambassador to Israel could be based in Jerusalem, while the official embassy building remains in Tel Aviv. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Donald Trump signed executive orders to advance the construction of the controversial Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines. Mr Trumps orders would turn over decisions made by Barack Obama to halt the construction of both projects. Mr Obama rejected the Keystone pipeline in November 2015. A year later, the US Army Corps of Engineers denied the permit to build the $3.8bn Dakota Access Pipeline amid months of protest outside the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. The terms of the order would be subject to renegotiation between the US government and the companies involved. The order related to the Dakota Access Pipeline is a major blow to activists, known as water protectors, who have staged demonstrations blocking the construction for months. Lawyers for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe said Mr Trumps action was done hastily and irresponsibly, and they will pursue legal action. Senator Bernie Sanders quickly rebuked the action a day after praising Mr Trumps order to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and said he will do everything I can to stop these pipelines. President Trump ignored the voices of millions and put the short-term profits of the fossil fuel industry ahead of the future of our planet, Mr Sanders said. Donald Trump says that 'environmentalism is out of control' Environmental groups also promised significant action in response to Mr Trumps decision to allow the pipelines construction. A powerful alliance of Indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and climate activists stopped the Keystone and the Dakota Access pipelines the first time around, and the same alliances will come together to stop them again if Trump tries to raise them from the dead, said Greenpeace USA executive director Annie Leonard said. Instead of pushing bogus claims about the potential of pipelines to create jobs, Trump should focus his efforts on the clean energy sector where Americas future lives. In a series of executive actions in his first full week in the White House, Mr Trump reversed some key policies of his predecessor, which includes the scrapping of Trans-Pacific trade agreement, an order to urge his administration to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, as well as the renewal of the Global Gag Rule, that bars US aid going to international family planning NGOs that even mention abortion. Pushing through the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines would solidify Mr Trumps deregulation of the domestic oil industry. Earlier in the day, Mr Trump remarked to US automakers that he would ease environmental regulations. [Environmentalism is] out of control, and we're going to make a very short process, he said, and were going to either give you your permits or were not going to give you your permits, but you're going to know very quickly. Press Secretary Sean Spicer had already hinted that Mr Trump would allow the Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners to proceed with the project to complete the 1,172-mile pipeline. Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Show all 15 1 /15 Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota A person pours a pepper spray antidote into a protester's eyes during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota People swim across a river to where the police officers are standing guard during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota A man holds up a ceremonial object while police officers look down from a hill during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota People protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota November Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Two people stand in the water of a river while police officers guard the shore during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota A man stands on a makeshift bridge over a river while police officers stand on the opposite shore during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Police use pepper spray against protesters in a boat during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Police use pepper spray against protesters in a boat during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Police use pepper spray against protesters in a boat during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Tonya Stands recovers after being pepper sprayed by police after swimming across a creek with other protesters hoping to build a new camp to block construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, near Cannon Ball, Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Dakota Access Pipeline protesters stand in the foreground and in the waist-deep water of the Cantapeta Creek, northeast of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, near Cannon Ball, N.D., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Officers in riot gear clashed again Wednesday with protesters near the Dakota Access pipeline, hitting dozens with pepper spray as they waded through waist-deep water in an attempt to reach property owned by the pipeline's developer. Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Dakota Access Pipeline protesters stand in the foreground and in the waist-deep water of the Cantapeta Creek, northeast of the Oceti Sakowin Camp, near Cannon Ball, N.D., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. Officers in riot gear clashed again Wednesday with protesters near the Dakota Access pipeline, hitting dozens with pepper spray as they waded through waist-deep water in an attempt to reach property owned by the pipeline's developer. Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota People who were tear gassed return to the shore during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota People yell at police officers standing on the opposite shore of a river during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Protesters occupy Standing Rock reservation, North Dakota Police use pepper spray against protesters in a boat during a protest against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, U.S Reuters Im not going to get in front of the President's executive actions, Mr Spicer told reporters in the White House briefing room, but I will tell you that areas like the Dakota and Keystone pipeline areas that we can increase jobs, increase economic grown, and tap into America's energy supply. Thats something that hes been very clear about. He added that Mr Trump is very, very keen in making sure we maximise use of our natural resources to Americas benefit. Mr Trump previously owned between $500,000 and $1m in shares of Energy Transfer Partners in 2015, according to campaign disclosures. After selling off much of his shares, he still holds between $15,000 and $50,000 stake in the company last summer. The Trump campaign had denied that Mr Trumps interest in Dakota Access Pipeline project had anything to do with his personal investments and everything to do with promoting policies that benefit all Americans. Further complicating Mr Trumps peripheral relationship with the project, his Energy Secretary pick former Texas Gov Rick Perry is a paid board member of Energy Transfer Partners. TransCanada, the company in charge of the Keystone XL project, would have to reapply for permission to build the pipeline, but the companys plans have already faced congressional review. Mr Obama ultimately rejected the project because he decided it would not make a meaningful contribution to our economy. Shipping dirtier crude oil into our country would not increase Americas energy security, Mr Obama said, explaining that the pipeline would not boost US jobs. What has increased Americas energy security is our strategy over the past several years to reduce our reliance on dirty fossil fuels from unstable parts of the world. He added: America is now a global leader when it comes to taking serious action to fight climate change. And frankly, approving this project would have undercut that global leadership. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A 70-year-old man who told investigators after robbing a Kansas bank that he'd rather be imprisoned than with his wife has admitted carrying out the hold-up. Lawrence Ripple pleaded guilty on Monday in Kansas City, Kansas, to a federal bank robbery count. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Court documents show that Ripple gave a Kansas City bank teller a note in September demanding cash and warning he had a gun. Ripple grabbed nearly $3,000, sat in the lobby and told a guard he was the guy he was looking for. An FBI agent says Ripple had argued with his wife earlier and told her in writing he'd rather be in jail than at home. The Kansas City Star reports that Ripple's wife accompanied him to court Monday. AP Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Melania Trump is an object to her husband, according to a body language expert who analysed the behaviour of the First Family on inauguration day. Followed by TV cameras, the US President and his wife were scrutinised constantly on the day Donald Trump was sworn in. Many observers remarked on the apparently cold nature of the relationship between the couple, particularly in comparison to the Obamas. "Melania is an object to [Mr Trump]," said Susan Constantine, a body language expert who has trained US government departments and top lawyers. "I don't see any warmth or true love and compassion in that relationship whatsoever," she told Mic. Despite the close dancing of the President and his wife and the inauguration ball, another body language expert, Patti Wood, told the publication the way in which they danced was indicative of an unbalanced relationship. The President was pulling her in sexually, making contact with the pelvis area, Ms Wood said, while Ms Trump was actually pulling away slightly from him as they danced indicating she didnt want to merge with him as a partner. Another example which received more attention occurred near the beginning of inauguration day. It's interesting that Trump got out of the car and came up the stairs and shook hands instead of helping his wife out of the car, waiting for her, or even looking back for her, Ms Wood told the Mail Online. Donald Trump arrives at the White House This view was echoed fully by Ms Constantine, who said: If you didn't know that they were married, you wouldn't know that they are married. Later, at the swearing in ceremony, television cameras caught Mr Trump apparently giving his wife only the most cursory of greetings as she joined him shortly before what was likely the biggest moment of his life. An immediate comparison could be drawn to the Obamas, with Barack warmly greeting Michelle as she joined him on stage. Throughout his campaign, Mr Trumps conduct with women was widely regarded as sexist and has been recorded using numerous misogynistic expressions. And in addition to making lewd comments about sexual harassment, a number of women also alleged he had harassed them in the past. Trump Inauguration protests around the World Show all 14 1 /14 Trump Inauguration protests around the World Trump Inauguration protests around the World Activists from Greenpeace display a message reading "Mr President, walls divide. Build Bridges!" along the Berlin wall in Berlin on January 20, 2017 to coincide with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United State Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World An activist holds up a sign at the "We Stand United" rally on the eve of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on January 19, 2017 in New York Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters burn a U.S. flag and a mock flag with pictures of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump outside the U.S. embassy in metro Manila, Philippines Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Filipino protestors hold placcards during a protest rally in front of the US embassy in Manila, Philippines, 20 January 2017. On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump's inaguration as the 45th president of the United States, Filipinos and Fil-Americans held a protest in front of the US embassy in Manila to denounce the incoming US president. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Hong Kong police officers and security guards look on as an anarchist protester belonging to the Disrupt J20 movement sits after using a heavy duty D-lock and motorcycle lock to chain himself to a railing at the entrance gate to the Consulate General of the United States of America in Hong Kong to protest the inauguration of United States President-elect Donald Trump, Hong Kong, China, 20 January 2017. Two activists were arrested and taken away by Hong Kong police during the demonstration. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A banner is unfurled on London's Tower Bridge, organised by Bridges Not Walls - a partnership between grassroots activists and campaigners working on a range of issues, formed in the wake of Donald Trump's election, which aims to build bridges to a world free from hatred and oppression. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Protesters chain themselves to an entry point prior at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Washington, DC, U.S. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Bridges Not Walls banner dropped from Molenbeek bridge in Brussels, Belgium, 20 January 2017, in an Greenpeace action part of protests Wolrd protest in solidarity with people in the US, the day Donald Trump sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds an anti-U.S. President-elect Donald Trump placard during a rally in Tokyo, Japan, Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A Palestinian protester holds a placard during a demonstration against the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and against US President-elect Donald Trump, on January 20, 2017, near the settlement of Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Banners on North Bridge in Edinburgh as part of the Bridges Not Walls protest against US President Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World Russian artist Vasily Slonov (L) and his assistant carry a life-sized cutout, which is an artwork created by Slonov and titled "Siberian Inauguration", before its presentation on the occasion of the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, in a street in Krasnoyarsk, Russia Getty Trump Inauguration protests around the World A woman holds a banner during a march to thank outgoing President Barack Obama and reject US President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration at a park in Tokyo, Japan, 20 January 2017. EPA Trump Inauguration protests around the World Palestinian demonstrators protesting this week against a promise by Donald Trump to re-locate the US embassy to Jerusalem Reuters On Monday, he reintroduced the Mexico City Policy, which blocks US funding supporting family planning and reproductive rights a move decried as an "assault on women's health" by campaigners. Many commentators are concerned that if Mr Trump has little regard for his wife, there will be little to impede him in implementing policies harmful to women. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Senate has confirmed controversial candidate Mike Pompeo to head the CIA in President Donald Trump's new administration. The vote Monday was 66-32. His appointment was confirmed despite opposition from some Democrats, who highlighted the Kansas Republican's varying viewpoints on key issues such as surveillance, torture and Russias "influence campaign" in the 2016 Presidential election. During his senate confirmation hearing, Mr Pompeo refused accept findings by Nasa on climate change and said he would not let his personal views against gay marriage interfere with his new role. Mr Pompeo will lead the major agency as the intelligence community has been thrust into the spotlight and become an increasingly partisan issue. US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, are currently reportedly investigating the frequent contact between new national security adviser, retired general Michael Flynn, and the Russian ambassador to the US, around the time that former President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for interfering with the election. Mr Trump largely dismissed their findings that Vladimir Putin authorised his operatives to meddle with the US election and insisted that any hacking did not help his path to the White House. CIA director nominee Mike Pompeo refuses to accept Nasa's findings on climate change Mr Trumps first official stop as President was to make a speech to around 400 CIA employees in front of the memorial wall, but he spent more time talking about his "war" with the press and the size of his Inauguration crowds than issues directly relating to intelligence. "There is nobody that feels stronger about the intelligence community and the CIA than Donald Trump, there is nobody," the President had insisted. Donald Trump performs U-turn by praising the CIA But former CIA director Leon Panetta told CNN that the CIA was "not the appropriate place to start whining" about the Inauguration. "To go off and start talking about the press, talking about how many people were at the inauguration, I just think frankly, that was not appropriate," he said. Mr Pompeo's appointment comes the same evening that Rex Tillerson, an oil tycoon with links to Russia, was confirmed as secretary of state. The White House has complained Senate Democrats are stalling Mr Trump's Cabinet picks, which meant Mr Trump visited the memorial wall without a CIA director. Democrats, in turn, have accused Republicans of rushing through the picks without proper background checks. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A 34-year-old man was shot on a university campus while protesting over a speech by the controversial right wing Breitbart News journalist Milo Yiannopoulos. Police are investigating the incident at the University of Washington-Seattle campus and the victim, whose identity has not yet been made public, remains in a serious condition. The victim is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The victim was a member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which describes itself as a union for all workers and an anti-racist, anti-fascist organisation. Milo Yiannopoulos, 'alt-right' columnist and internet personality (Getty) According to a statement from the group, members were on campus last Friday to protest over Mr Yiannopoulous rhetoric because it encourages violence towards minority groups. The victim was unarmed at the time of the shooting. Approximately 80 Seattle police officers were brought in to supplement the 25 university police staff for the event, during which several people were hit with paint and people were throwing bricks. Alt-right leader Richard Spencer punched in the face during inauguration protest Police Maj Steve Rittereiser told the Seattle Times that the alleged shooter, accompanied by another person, had turned himself in. The shooter has reportedly claimed self-defence and said that the union member who was shot was in truth a white supremacist who was being aggressive towards him. Both the alleged shooter and the person accompanying him were released pending an investigation and a consultation with the King County Prosecuting Office. Mr Yiannopolous, no stranger to backlash for his views, had previously been banned from social media platform Twitter due to repeated use of misogynistic and racist language. The editors $250,000 book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster was also met with criticism on social media and calling for the company to drop him. His planned January 13 speech at University of California-Davis was canceled by organisers and a speech given at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, during which he mocked a transgender student, was condemned by school officials. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A pair of journalists arrested during protests in Washington DC against Donald Trump's Presidential inauguration are facing up to 10-years behind bars. Evan Engel of the technology news website Vocativ and Alex Rubinstein of Russia Today (RT) America have been charged under rioting law. Both have protested their innocence and they have the full backing of their employers. The pair were covering the unrest in the US capital which erupted as Donald Trump was being sworn in as 45th US president. Alex Rubinstein can be seen falling to the pavement in the background to the right of shot Reuters (Reuters/Adrees Latif) Police said more than $5,000 (4,011) in damage was caused when people, wearing black clothing and balaclavas, smashed shop windows and burned police vehicles in an apparent anti-Capitalist demonstration. More than 200 people were arrested including Mr Engel and Mr Rubinstein. The pair were released after brief court appearances. They are accused of "Charge #1: Riot Act - Felony Charge" according to the court records, seen by The Independent. As a result they face a maximum jail term of 10-years and financial penalties of up to $25,000 (20,061). The police did not name the pair on the day but a statement referred to groups of rioters. The group damaged vehicles, destroyed the property of multiple businesses, and ignited smaller isolated fires while armed with crowbars [and hammers]," it said. Preliminary information indicates the group collectively engaged in these criminal acts. It added that pepper spray was used and that two uniformed officers suffered minor injuries from coordinated attacks. RT confirmed Mr Rubinstein had been arrested and that he was released the following day. I was hit in the face with a flash grenade, it blinded me for a moment and my ears were ringing for a while, said Mr Rubinstein, who claimed he showed his media credentials to police. Protests mar Trump inauguration ceremony Alt-right leader Richard Spencer punched in the face during inauguration protest A Vocativ spokesman called the charges against their reporter "an affront to the First Amendment and journalistic freedom." They added that they would "vigorously contest this unfounded and outrageous charge. Mr Engel is due back at the District of Columbia courts on 15 February when Mr Rubinstein will also appear. An RT statement reads: The arrest and subsequent felony rioting charge against our reporter, Alexander Rubinstein, simply for doing his job covering inauguration protests in Washington DC is an absolute outrage. "Such acts represent an egregious violation of journalistic freedom, and are particularly disheartening to witness in the country that positions itself as the global champion of free press. "RT will apply the full weight of its legal team in support of our journalist and we are confident that a thorough review by the US Attorneys office will confirm that Alexander, who wore his press credentials at all times, was wrongfully arrested. The Independent has contacted the two men and their attorneys for further comment. William Miller, a spokesman for the US attorney's office said: Generally speaking, we are continuing to evaluate evidence and continuing to investigate the events of Jan 20, 2017 and are always open to receiving additional information." Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A state senator has questioned why taxpayers should pay for birth control for "unhappy liberal women" who could afford to march in support of women's rights in Washington DC. Chris McDaniel, a Republican of Mississippi, wrote two scathing Facebook posts about the womens marches, which gathered more than three million people in the US alone, and how they strengthened his resolve to take away funding for womens reproductive rights. "So a group of unhappy liberal women marched in Washington DC. We shouldn't be surprised; almost all liberal women are unhappy. Perhaps there's a correlation," he wrote. Recommended Trump reinstates global abortion funding ban surrounded by men He added: "But I do have a question: if they can afford all those piercings, tattoos, body paintings, signs, and plane tickets, then why do they want us to pay for their birth control?" His comments came the day before President Trump signed an executive order to ban federal funding for international organisations that mention or advocate for abortions. Mr Trump is also working to repeal Obamacare, which ensures that women have no co-pay access to birth control. He has also said he would defund Planned Parenthood, a chain of family planning clinics which is already prohibited from using federal funds for abortion procedures, and provides crucial health care coverage for millions of people including smears and cancer screening. His state of Mississippi has refused the expansion of Medicaid, a funding stream relied upon for people who have very little income. The state has the sixth highest uninsured rate and one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the US. Mr McDaniels first post had 19,000 reactions as of Monday evening, with many of the comments opposed to the Senator's views. One user wrote: "Please tell me this is not the logic, writing, or thought process of an adult US senator. This seems like the rantings of a freshman in high school who has never been exposed to the people beyond his homogeneous community." "No amount of liberal hell raising will change my opinion," he wrote in a second post on Monday. "Indeed, as I awake this morning, I have never been more committed to the absolute defunding of Planned Parenthood and the immediate wholesale repeal of Obamacare," he added. Mr McDaniel could not be reached immediately for comment. The womens marches, which drew far more men and women in Washington DC last weekend than Mr Trumps Inauguration, also drew its critics. Responses varied in their objections, including decrying the marches as "pointless" and a gathering of "white, self-entitled women". The marches have been described as the largest, most peaceful demonstrations in American history. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 Trend: Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order on measures to restore the Jojug Marjanli village of the Jabrayil District, liberated from the Armenian occupation in April 2016. The State Committee of Azerbaijan for Affairs of Refugees and IDPs will receive 4 million manats from the Presidential Reserve Fund for 2017 for construction of 50 houses, a school building and the relevant infrastructure at the first stage, according to the order. Azerbaijans Ministry of Finance will provide the specified funds and the Cabinet of Ministers will resolve the issues arising from the order. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In the days leading up to President Donald Trumps inauguration, three nights of protests and riots broke out at Standing Rock as demonstrators continue to oppose the Dakota Access Pipeline. Thousands of Native Americans, environmental activists and protesters have since August stood in protest of the $3.8 billion (3 billion) project that had intended to cross underneath North Dakotas Lake Oahe, a water source upstream from the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Protesters fear the pipeline could damage drinking water and desecrate sacred grounds. In December a US Department of Defence agency denied permission for the pipeline to pass under the lake. Members of the Standing Rock Sioux have since asked protesters to head home with our most heartfelt thanks. Many have, but some have remained, with further clashes seen between protesters and police over the past week. Recommended Donald Trump will likely move forward with Dakota Access Pipeline A total of 27 people were arrested over the course of Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week when protesters accessed Backwater Bridge, according to Morton County Sheriffs Department. Reports claim police used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on the protesters. A statement from members of the Sacred Stone Camp in Standing Rock claimed protesters were unarmed when, on Martin Luther King day, they led a prayer walk to the razor wire barricade 700 feet away from the drill pad where the pipeline had been set to cross the Missouri river. Police posted a video of the protesters using wire cutters to cut through the barbed wire and claimed these were then turned into circular, Frisbee shapes and thrown at officers. A total of 16 people were arrested on Monday and Tuesday for a number of offences, including engaging in a riot and assault on a peace officer. On Wednesday protesters allegedly became more aggressive by throwing projectiles at officers, who then deployed less-than-lethal munitions of direct impact sponge rounds, drag stabilizer bean bag rounds, hand deployed pepper spray canisters and smoke riot control CS canisters. Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline Show all 21 1 /21 Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Despite blizzard conditions, military veterans march in support of the "water protectors" at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Fireworks fill the night sky above Oceti Sakowin Camp as activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline near the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Despite blizzard conditions, military veterans march in support of the "water protectors" at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Fireworks fill the night sky above Oceti Sakowin Camp as activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline near the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Despite blizzard conditions, military veterans march in support of the "water protectors" at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Native American and other activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nation listens to speakers during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Today the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending the months-long standoff. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: An Native American activist rides down fom a ridge which overlooks Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Despite blizzard conditions, military veterans march in support of the "water protectors" at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Political activist Cornel West listen to speakers during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Today the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending the months-long standoff. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline Activists hold hands during a prayer circle as they try to surround the entire camp at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country gather at the camp trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline Activists celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota, after hearing that the Army Corps of Engineers has denied the current route for the Dakota Access pipeline. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Chief Arvol Looking Horse (L) of the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Nation listens as political activist Cornel West speaks during an interfaith ceremony at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Today the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending the months-long standoff. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Military veterans from Southern California collect firewood for their campsite at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Despite blizzard conditions, military veterans march in support of the "water protectors" at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 03: Activists participate in an art project conceived by Cannupa Hunska Luger, from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 3, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Native Americans and activists from around the country have been gathering at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 05: Military veterans are briefed on cold-weather safety issues and their overall role at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 5, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. Over the weekend a large group of military veterans joined native Americans and activists from around the country who have been at the camp for several months trying to halt the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Yesterday the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not grant an easement for the pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation. The proposed 1,172-mile-long pipeline would transport oil from the North Dakota Bakken region through South Dakota, Iowa and into Illinois. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Native American and other activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Native American activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline CANNON BALL, ND - DECEMBER 04: Native American and other activists celebrate after learning an easement had been denied for the Dakota Access Pipeline at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The US Army Corps of Engineers announced today that it will not grant an easement to the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Sioux Tribes Standing Rock reservation, ending a months-long standoff. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) Getty Images Sioux from Standing Rock claim victory over Dakota Pipeline Activists celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp on the edge of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation on December 4, 2016 outside Cannon Ball, North Dakota, after hearing that the Army Corps of Engineers has denied the current route for the Dakota Access pipeline. The US Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday announced they will no longer allow the Dakota Access Pipeline to cross under a lake on the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota, marking a huge win for Native Americans and protesters who had long opposed the construction. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images) AFP/Getty Images One protester, who had been injured in the face, was taken to the Sanford Medical Centre in Bismark by ambulance. The North Dakota National Guard had deployed a missile defense system to the area near the protest site, but it was unarmed and being used only for observation purposes, said Amber Balken, a spokeswoman for the North Dakota National Guard. The number of people arrested since 10 August is now 624, police said. On Wednesday, the US army began gathering information to prepare an environmental impact statement on the easement to cross Lake Oahe. President Trump has not commented specifically on the pipeline, which had been intended to carry oil from western North Dakota to a shipping point in Illinois, but his press secretary Sean Spicer hinted that the President may move forward with the project. Im not going to get in front of the Presidents executive actions, but I will tell you that areas like the Dakota and Keystone pipeline, areas that we can increase jobs, increase economic growth, and tap into Americas energy supply more, thats something that he has been very clear about, he said this week. Additional reporting by Reuters Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The United States asked David Cameron's government to keep details of the alleged failed Trident missile test launch secret, according to reports. American technology was to blame for the problems in the June 2016 test and Barack Obama's administration pressed the UK not to reveal details, The Times said. Claims that a missile went off course last year have led to accusations there was a cover-up in the run-up to a major Commons debate on renewal of the 40 billion renewal of the Trident system. Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed she was informed about the test before addressing MPs ahead of the July vote, which came just days after she entered office. A British military source told the newspaper: It was the Obama administration that asked the Cameron administration not to comment on this. The US administration may have been worried that there could be similar problems on other missiles. The British submarine successfully carried and launched the missile; the bit that went wrong was the US proprietary technology. Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence refused to comment on the claims. Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon was summoned to the Commons on Monday to update MPs on the incident, but repeatedly refused to discuss details of the launch. As he was speaking, CNN reported an unnamed US defence official with direct knowledge of the incident had confirmed the unarmed Trident II D5 missile veered off course after being launched from a Royal Navy submarine off the coast of Florida. The US official was reported to have said the altered trajectory was part of an automatic self-destruct sequence triggered when missile electronics detect an anomaly. Sir Michael told MPs that a demonstration and shakedown concludes each time with an unarmed missile firing, adding: HMS Vengeance successfully concluded that shakedown operation. He added: There are very few things that we cannot discuss openly in Parliament, but the security of our nuclear deterrent is certainly one of them. It has never been the practice of governments to give Parliament details of the demonstration and shakedown operations. 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 Ministry of Defence has repeatedly publicised successful launches of Trident missiles in recent years. Sir Michael said: It may well be that earlier governments in different situations, indeed in more benevolent times, might have take different decisions about how much information they were prepared to reveal about these particular demonstration and shake-down operations. But these are not, of course, as benevolent times. PA Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} If there is one fact everyone can agree on about the size of the crowds in Washington this weekend, it's that an inordinate amount of time has been spent arguing about the size of the crowds. Short of individually counting attendees one by one and barring technological advancements that could retroactively analyse images to do so there may never be undisputed numbers pinned to the inauguration of President Donald Trump or to the Women's March that stormed Washington the following day. Yet, that has not stopped people from trying to come to a consensus. Crowd size was at the centre of the Trump administration's first stormy White House media briefing on Saturday. It was debated on social media, amid an array of side-by-side images and accusations of doctored photographs. Predictably, crowd size was even one subject discussed by "Vladimir Putin" on this weekend's Saturday Night Live cold open. Why is estimating crowd size so difficult and so contentious? Recommended 11 things that have happened since Donald Trump became US President History tells us, though, that disputes over crowd estimates are nothing new. The politicisation of crowd sizes in the US has its roots partly in the Million Man March on the Mall in 1995. At the time, the National Park Service, which oversees the Mall, gave official crowd-size estimates for all major events that took place there. Sean Spicer's first press conference as Press Secretary where he spoke about the media's reporting on the inauguration's crowd size (Getty) After the Million Man March, the agency released figures that put the crowd at roughly 400,000. That estimate rankled organisers of the march, who threatened to file a lawsuit for defamation. In 1996, Congress banned the agency from using its funds to count crowds, and the parks service has refrained from doing so since. "No matter what we said or did, no one ever felt we gave a fair estimate," US Park Police Major JJ McLaughlin, who had been in charge of co-ordinating crowd estimates, said in 1996, according to the Associated Press. Still, the agency has continued to estimate crowd size without releasing numbers to the public. In 2009, the US Parks Service released a statement saying it would "not contest" the Washington mayor's office's estimate of 1.8 million attendees for President Barack Obama's first inauguration. Other, more conservative estimates have placed that number at far less. Before that, the record had been 1.2 million attendees for Lyndon B Johnson's inauguration in 1965. Part of the reason a crowd-size estimate can be so contentious is that it is one of the few metrics available to gauge an event's popularity, real or perceived, said Steve Doig, a data journalism professor at Arizona State University. "I think it's always meant kind of the same thing: the size of my crowd is a measure of how wonderful I am or how wonderful my movement is," Doig said. "Every political rally of any kind... one of the first things that anybody who is involved in it wants to do is claim a large and enthusiastic crowd. The counter-argument is often, 'No, it wasn't really that big.'" Doig has researched and taught crowd estimation for several years, but first became interested in the subject while as a Miami Herald reporter in the mid-1980s, when he was assigned to cover an annual street festival. "Every year the organisers were claiming it got bigger and bigger and bigger until it got ridiculous," Doig said. "It would be like, half of Miami would have had to be there." Realising he could not rely solely on crowd estimates released by the organisers, Doig began researching ways for journalists to independently and accurately do so. He found one of the most commonly used approaches was the "Jacobs Method", devised in the 1960s by Herbert Jacobs, a Berkeley journalism professor whose office happened to be in a tower that overlooked a plaza where student protests took place. Conveniently, the plaza was divided by markings on the ground so that it appeared as a grid from above. 'Million Man March' in Washington DC, called by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as a day for black men to unite and pledge self-reliance and commitment to their families and communities (Getty) "It was like standing on graph paper," Doig said. From his vantage point, it was easy for Jacobs to estimate how many students were in each grid, calculate an average and then multiply that average by the number of grids to arrive at a rough estimate or, as Doig put it, "elementary-school math." In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters "Measure the area that a crowd is in basically the square footage and then divide by whatever your reasonable density estimate is," Doig said. "And that produces a reality-based estimate of how many people are likely to be there." For the most part, the boundaries of crowd are stable; the density of the crowd is where there is some room for interpretation. In a loose crowd, where people are about one arm's length away from each other, Doig estimates about 10 square feet per person. In a very tight crowd, where people are essentially "back-to-chest", Doig allows about five square feet per person. Anything less is not really believable, he said. "There are bad estimates where I've seen one square foot per person," Doig said. Even the stampedes in Mecca, where people were crushed in 2015, didn't reach that kind of density, he added. "That's like beyond moshpit." Washington comes with its own set of challenges when it comes to crowd estimation. In 2015, a report by The Washington Post showed that perspective mattered greatly when estimating crowds on the Mall. When viewing a crowd from a low angle say, from the inaugural dais the spaces between people can easily visually disappear, causing the crowd to appear less spaced out. Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th US President in 2009 in Washington DC (Getty) Because of this, the most accurate way to capture a crowd is to take a straight-overhead image. However, much of the city is covered in a no-fly zone, preventing aircraft and most aerial photographers from doing so. About 15 years ago, Curt Westergard and a team developed a tethered, bagel-shaped balloon about 12 feet in diameter that could be floated to record aerial images of large gatherings, ideally from about 900 feet above the ground. Westergard, the owner of Virginia-based Digital Design and Imaging Service, has since provided crowd estimates for a variety of major events, including the Women's March on Washington on Saturday. When analysing aerial images afterwards, instead of using grids to estimate attendance, Westergard uses computer programs to draw polygons any irregular shapes around clusters of people with similar density. While he acknowledges "grids work", Westergard said an irregular polygon can often be more accurate, because crowd density is not always consistent within a grid. (His fascination with polygons comes in part from his background as a landscape architect: "It's just part of our training to figure out polygons: for example, how much concrete you put around a kidney-shaped swimming pool," he said. "It's calculus, really.") Westergard and his business partner, Ryan Shuler, try to take politics out of the equation as much as possible. "Our interest is very technical and scientific," Westergard said. "If it's a rally for X or Y... we'll probably just call [the project] by the date. That way, we'll try to get even more scientific and psychological distance between the event and us. So while others may argue about it, we just try to put blinders on and just deal with the size, which is hard enough. It's extremely hard. This is not a pure science. You don't come up with a hard answer." (Getty (Getty) Trump has been known to care, deeply, about the size of his crowds. Throughout his campaign, the mogul frequently inflated the attendance at his campaign rallies. After a stop in Phoenix last July, for instance, Trump claimed he had addressed anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 people there even when the Phoenix Fire Department asserted capacity at the event space was capped at 4,200 people, The Arizona Republic reported. Similar scenes played out at campaign events in Colorado and Ohio, this time with additional accusations against local fire marshals for their 'incompetence', according to PolitiFact. Given this history, it perhaps was no surprise that the crowd-size wars heated up this weekend, in the wake of two historic events that attracted people from both ends of a divided country. Before his inauguration on Friday, Trump had been vamping up expectations for record crowds at his swearing-in ceremony. "Inauguration Day is turning out to be even bigger than expected," he tweeted on 14 January. "Hopefully we're going to get a million people," he said again in a video ad last Wednesday. "We're going to really make a big statement." Regarding the Trump inauguration, the Washington Metro released figures on Saturday that said 570,557 people took trips in the system between its early 4am Friday opening and when it closed at midnight. That compared with 1.1 million trips for Obama's 2009 inaugural and 782,000 in 2013, according to Metro. The day following Trump's inauguration, hundreds of thousands of women descended upon the streets of the nation's capital for the Women's March on Washington, a mass rally for women's rights that some described also as a mass rebuke of Trump. In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters The Washington organisers had sought a permit for 200,000 for the gathering. On Saturday, they said as many as half-a-million people participated, dwarfing Friday's inaugural crowd. It was only a matter of time before a crowd-related response from Trump and his team was issued. On Saturday afternoon, Trump claimed at CIA headquarters that, from his view on the dais, attendance at his swearing-in "looked like a million, a million and a half people." Later that evening, White House press secretary Sean Spicer held a media briefing to accuse the press of underreporting the crowds at Trump's inauguration. He used a series of false statements to back up his claims, alleging incorrectly that Friday was "the first time in our nation's history" that floor coverings had been used to protect the grass on the Mall. He also provided Metro ridership figures that were incorrect. Several media outlets quickly pointed out that Spicer was wrong on several counts. (Shortly after the briefing, Spicer's false statements inspired a series of memes and hashtags on Twitter.) "This is an appalling performance by the new press secretary," The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler wrote in his fact-check of Spicer's claims. "He managed to make a series of false and misleading claims in service of a relatively minor issue." On Sunday morning, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared on Meet the Press and sparred with host Chuck Todd over Spicer's false statements. The Trump team, she insisted, had "alternative facts". Doig noted that turnout at Trump's inauguration, still in the hundreds of thousands, was nothing to sneeze at, he said. "That's the other thing that sort of aggravates me about the inflated claims," Doig said. "They actually destroy credibility for what was actually an amazing turnout." Still, he said it was clear from overhead images that the inauguration was not by any means "the largest", as Trump's team had claimed. Using his methods, Doig estimates that the crowd size for Trump's inauguration was actually about a third of the size of Obama's 2009 inauguration. Crowd counting scientists came to the same conclusion in a New York Times analysis of photos and videos of the Mall from both events. "Who are you going to believe?" Doig asked. "Spicer or your lying eyes?" Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Women's March on Washington spearheaded a massive show of resistance to Donald Trump, with as many as 4.6 million demonstrators taking to the streets across the USA. Here are eight things campaigners against the Republican tycoon are doing in the wake of those marches. Education Resistance organisation StayWoke has published a 'Resistance Manual' to Trump, comprehensively listing all the ways to battle regressive aspects of his policy platform. It's an up-to-the minute counterpart to progressive reading lists covering centuries of resistance. Lobby leaders American citizens can telephone their Representatives and Senators, asking them to pledge to oppose Donald Trump: making politicians fear electoral losses if they don't stand against the new President where possible is one way to mitigate against the double hold the Republicans currently have on the American legislature and executive. This site provides phone scripts on a vast range of lobbying issues aimed at standing "up to Trump and protect our democracy". In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Show all 32 1 /32 In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London An image of President Donald Trump is seen on a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A view of the skywriting word reading 'Trump' as thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney, New South Wales EPA In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome People shout and hold signs during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A protester holds a placard during the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille A placard ready 'Pussy grabs back' is attached to the handle bar of a bike during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A young Thai girl holds a "women's rights are human rights" sign at Roadhouse BBQ restaurant where many of the Bangkok Womens March participants gathered in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok A Thai woman takes a photo of a "hate is not great" sign at the women's solidarity gathering in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Bangkok American expats and travellers gather with the international community in Bangkok at the Roadhouse BBQ restaurant to stand in solidarity in Bangkok, Thailand Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protetesters gather outside The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Women's March at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Marseille Protestors hold placards reading 'My body my choice, my vote my voice' during a 'Women's March' organized by Feminist and human rights groups in solidarity with women marching in Washington and around the world for their rights and against the reactionary politics of the newly sworn-in US President Donald Trump, at the Old Port (Vieux Port) of Marseille, southern France Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Rome A person holds a sign during a rally against US newly sworn-in President Donald Trump in Rome Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activist Sarah Annay Williamson holds a placard and shouts slogan during the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Kolkata Activists participate in the Women's March rally in Kolkata, India AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A Women's March placards are rested on a bench outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London A women carries her placard ahead of the Women's March in London, England Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila Women protesters shout slogans while displaying placards during a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President Donald Trump, in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Berlin Protesters attend a 'Berlin Women's March on Washington' demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Protesters take part in the Melbourne rally to protest against the Trump Inauguration in Melbourne, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters take part in the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Melbourne Womens march on Melbourne protestors marching during a rally where rights groups marched in solidarity with Americans to speak out against misogyny, bigotry and hatred Rex In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Macau Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March rally in Macau, Macau. The Women's March originated in Washington DC but soon spread to be a global march calling on all concerned citizens to stand up for equality, diversity and inclusion and for women's rights to be recognised around the world as human rights Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Manila A mother carries her son as they join a rally in solidarity against the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines AP In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney An infant is held up at a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman attends a demonstration against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydney A woman expresses her Anti-Trump views in Sydney, Australia Getty Images In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump Sydeney Protesters demonstrate against new U.S. President Donald Trump in Sydney, Australia. The marches in Australia were organised to show solidarity with those marching on Washington DC and around the world in defense of women's rights and human rights Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters march from The US Embassy in Grosvenor Square towards Trafalgar Square during the Women's March in London, England Getty In pictures: Women of the world march against Trump London Protesters carrying banners take part in the Women's March on London, as they stand in Trafalgar Square, in central London Reuters Boycott Trump With one room in his Washington DC hotel going for $500,000 a night in the run-up to his inauguration, you might not be planning a stay in one of Donald Trump's luxury suites. But there are at least 32 ordinary retailers which also carry his products, and some people have been asking for a boycott. Give money In the days following the business mogul's shock election, left-wing charities and political campaigns reported record surges in donations. For example, the American Civil Liberties Union saw donations explode by 7,000 per cent to $7.2 million in under a week. There are several lists online of charities, campaign groups and grass-roots organisations that are asking for support. Jezebel's selection of 'pro-women, pro-immigrant, pro-Earth, anti-bigotry' organisations is a good place to start. From LGBT Books to Prisoners to Women Organised Against Rape to the Mexican American Legal Defence fund, there's a wealth of ideas in the article and the comments below. Round-up: Women's March Protests 2017 Give time Not everyone has money to spare, and not everyone has time, but many of the organisations looking for financial support are in even greater need of volunteers. These aren't just American causes: more British people are getting involved with volunteer work post-Brexit. Become a clinic escort Violent opposition to women seeking abortions is on the rise. While Trump has been typically self-contradictory on the issue, during his campaign he vowed to defund the Planned Parenthood service which provides American women with access to abortion. Some groups are asking pro-choice Americans concerned about the coming onslaught on reproductive rights to become 'clinic escorts', shielding women from this violent abuse and turning 'potentially negative experiences' into positive ones. Keep protesting The women's marches may be over for now, but there are many more one-off and regular acts of visible resistance taking place across the United States. A handful are listed here, including a new coalition calling for demonstrations outside the local offices of Congress members every Thursday. And if you can't track down any protests in your city, start one yourself like the Hawaiian grandmother whose quiet call to action instigated the Women's March, now believed to be the largest day of protest in US political history. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Producing electricity with large-scale renewable energy projects could become illegal in Wyoming under new legislation filed by politicians in the state. The Republican-controlled state legislature introduced the measure that would forbid utility companies from supplying energy to the grid that comes from large-scale wind or solar projects. The bills nine sponsors, which include two state senators and seven state representatives, largely come from Wyomings top coal-producing counties which have been threatened by the arrival of shale gas and the spread of renewable energy sources. It proposes that heavy fines by levied on utilities that continue to, or begin, providing energy from non-eligible sources. The move is supposed to ensure that 95 per cent of Wyomings energy comes from eligible resources by 2018 and 100 per cent by 2019. Eligible resources are defined as coal, hydroelectric, natural gas and small scale wind or solar production meaning rooftop solar panels or wind turbines for individual homeowners or small businesses private use would not be allowed. Despite the proposals, energy experts and activists say it is unlikely to become law. I think there will be a lot of concerns about its workability and whether this is something the state needs to do," Shannon Anderson, the director of local organising group Powder River Basin Resource Council, told InsideClimate News. "It seems to be 'talking-point' legislation at this point." In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters But she stressed that the development was very troubling, saying she had never seen anything like this before and it was essentially a reverse renewable energy standard. Wyoming is currently the largest producer and consumer of coal in the US. Nearly 90 per cent of the states electricity was generated through coal, according to the most recent data. Renewable energy, mainly wind power, was the second largest source. As a large sparsely populated state with vast energy resources Wyoming is a net producer of energy. It is set to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of Donald Trumps pledge to revitalise the struggling coal industry. On the campaign trail he claimed clean energy was bad for the economy. Within days of taking office he announced plans to roll back environmental regulations at a meeting with the heads of several car firms saying environmentalism is out of control. He has also signed an executive action permitting the development of the Keystone IX and the Dakota Access Pipeline which the Obama Administration had previously blocked. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} China could replace the United States as a member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after President Donald Trump confirmed he would pull his country out of the proposed trade agreement. Mr Trump signed an executive withdrawal order on Monday after strongly opposing the 12-nation pact during his campaign. The deal had not been ratified and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had also campaigned against it. Australian diplomat Alexander Downer told the BBC's Today programme his government had approached a number of other countries in the group and discussed bringing in China to replace the US. The former foreign minister, and now high commissioner to London, said: "Our trade minister and our Prime Minister have spoken to a number of TPP countries and I think it's possible we could push ahead with a 12-minus-one agreement. "Alternatively we could add other countries to it. One possibility is to add Indonesia, another possibility is to add China." Mr Trump said his decision was a "great thing for the American worker". He had called the TPP "a potential disaster for our country" and plans to "negotiate fair bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back on to American shores". His executive order was a defection from Republicans in Congress who supported the trade deal, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Barack Obama had worked with the GOP leader to pass legislation to grant the President authority to negotiate the TPP. And ranking Senate Republicans were quick to criticise Mr Trump's decision to pull away from the pact. "President Trumps decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership is a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region," said Arizona Sen John McCain. Mr Trump also plans to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, the pact between the US, Canada, and Mexico introduced by George H W Bush and pushed through Congress by Bill Clinton. The TPP is a proposed agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries that would cut tariffs and deepen economic ties between the signatories. The member states that signed the deal in February 2016 are the US, Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. The agreement was initially designed to create an alternative to the new single market resembling that of the EU. TPP backers hoped it would help promote economic growth while geopolitically, it was believed a deal would bring China's neighbours closer to the US and reduce their dependence on Chinese trade. In the US, free trade deals like the TPP have been unpopular with the working-class voters who are thought to have elevated Mr Trump to the White House. Mr Sanders argued that trade agreements like it "have ended up devastating working families and enriching large corporations". Anti-TPP campaigners in the US have pointed out that by making it easier to shift jobs abroad, the agreement could have led to huge job losses at home. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} China says it has irrefutable sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea after the White House vowed to defend international territories in the strategic waterway. White House spokesman Sean Spicer signalled a sharp departure from years of cautious US handling of Chinas assertive pursuit of territorial claims in Asia. The US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there, Mr Spicer said when asked if Mr Trump agreed with comments by his nominee for Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Earlier this month Mr Tillerson said China should not be allowed access to islands it has built in the contested South China Sea. Its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yeah, were going to make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, Mr Spicer said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the United States is not a party to the South China Sea dispute. China claims most of the South China Sea, while Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei claim parts of the sea that commands strategic sea lanes and has rich fishing grounds along with oil and gas deposits. 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 Chinas sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea was irrefutable Ms Hua said. But China was also dedicated to protecting freedom of navigation and wants talks with nations directly involved to find a peaceful solution. We urge the United States to respect the facts, speak and act cautiously to avoid harming the peace and stability of the South China Sea, Ms Hua said. Our actions in the South China Sea are reasonable and fair. No matter what changes happen in other countries, what they say or what they want to do, Chinas resolve to protect its sovereignty and maritime rights in the South China Sea will not change, she added. Mr Tillersons remarks at his Senate confirmation hearing prompted Chinese state media to say at the time that the US would need to wage war to bar Chinas access to the islands, where it has built military-length air strips and installed weapons systems. Mr Tillerson was asked at the hearing whether he supported a more aggressive posture toward China and said: Were going to have to send China a clear signal that, first, the island-building stops and, second, your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed. Rex Tillerson calls China's actions in the South China Sea 'illegal' The former Exxon Mobil Corp chairman and chief executive did not elaborate on what might be done to deny China access to the islands. But analysts said his comments, like those of Mr Spicer, suggested the possibility of US military action, or even a naval blockade. Such action would risk an armed confrontation with China, an increasingly formidable nuclear-armed military power. It is also the world's second-largest economy and the target of Trump accusations it is stealing American jobs. Mr Spicer declined to elaborate when asked how the United States could enforce such a move against China, except to say: I think, as we develop further, we'll have more information on it. Mr Tillerson narrowly won approval from a Senate committee earlier this week and is expected to win confirmation from the full Senate. Military experts said that while the US Navy has extensive capabilities in Asia to stage blockading operations with ships, submarines and planes, any such move against China's growing naval fleets would risk a dangerous escalation. Recommended China could replace America in TPP after Trump withdrawal Aides have said that Mr Trump plans a major naval build-up in East Asia to counter China's rise. China's foreign ministry said earlier this month it could not guess what Mr Tillerson meant by his remarks, which came after Trump questioned Washington's longstanding and highly sensitive one-China policy over Taiwan. Washington-based South China Sea expert Mira Rapp-Hooper at the Center for a New American Security called the threats to bar China's access in the South China Sea incredible and said it had no basis in international law. A blockade - which is what would be required to actually bar access - is an act of war, she added. The Trump administration has begun to draw red lines in Asia that they will almost certainly not be able to uphold, but they may nonetheless be very destabilizing to the relationship with China, invite crises, and convince the rest of the world that the United States is an unreliable partner. Bonnie Glaser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank called Mr Spicer's remarks worrisome and said the new administration was sending confusing and conflicting messages. Dean Cheng, a China expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Mr Spicer's remarks showed the South China Sea was an important issue for the Trump administration. He said it was significant that neither Mr Spicer nor Mr Tillerson had been specific as to what actions would be taken and this left open the possibility that economic measures - instead of military steps - could be used against China and firms that carry out island building. Reuters Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain's decision to leave the EU could be stopped entirely following the Supreme Court's ruling that Parliament must decide on it, according to the German media. The Supreme Court decision means that Article 50 can only be triggered by a vote in Parliament, and not by the Government. But that decision might stop it happening at all, German newspapers have speculated. Die Welt quoted the head of the German Institute for Economic Research, Michael Huether, who said that the political fallout from Brexit may become too much and the public and MPs may change their mind. That could happen when they realise the decision is economically unaffordable, he said. 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 There is a one-in-three chance that Parliament will act to stop Brexit altogether at some point, he told the German paper. But other German papers disagreed with Die Welt and Mr Huether's projection. An editorial in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung cautioned that "Britain will leave the EU" despite the Supreme Court's decision. Both Sueddeutsche Zeitung and news magazine Der Spiegel speculated that the decision might lead to a change in the timeline for Theresa May. But both suggested that Brexit will still happen, even if it takes slightly longer. All of the German papers had the ruling as the top story on their website. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A protest against the anti-Islam group Pegida in Dresden has been banned over fears a snowball fight could erupt. Dresden town hall said it could not allow the counter-protest to go ahead because "the possibility of snowballs being thrown cannot be excluded." Snowball fights broke out during previous demonstrations in the city, The Local reports the authorities claimed in their decision. Anti-Islam movement PEGIDA stages protests across Europe The man who submitted the proposals, Benjamin H, has previously organised several protests against Pegida and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. He told the German daily Tagesspiegal he feared "the whole culture of protesting will go down the drain if you are only ever allowed to stand in the corner." Mr H had already agreed to numerous restrictions for the protest, including not using a loudspeaker van and preventing participants from using whistles. In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany A police officer talks to a counterprotestor at the sidelines of right-wing movement 'Baergida' (Berlin Patriots against the islamization of the Occident), a Berlin version of Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident), protest in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany Participants of right-wing movement 'Baergida' (Berlin Patriots against the islamization of the Occident), a Berlin version of Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident), protest in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida with a sign reading 'Stop agitation against Islam' in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany Participants of the 'Alliance against Racism' demonstrate against right-wing initiative Pegida (Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the Occident) in Berlin. Counterdemonstrations against racism and xenophobia have been planned in Dresden, Berlin, Cologne and Stuttgart. The demonstrations staged by the anti-Islamic Pegida movement produce a series of slogans arguing that Germany is taking in too many foreigners, that the social structures are about to collapse due to the rising number of asylum-seekers, and that there is the threat of an 'Islamisation of the Occident' In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany German Justice Minister Heiko Maas takes part in a protest against the march of a grass-roots anti-Muslim movement in Berlin. The rise of the group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida), has shaken Germany's political establishment In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany The lighting of the Brqandenburg Gate was switched off to make a statement against racism as People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Berlin In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany A left wing activist struggles with the riot police during a protest against a planed march of the Pegida movement in their first Berlin demonstration, which they have dubbed 'Baergida' In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Hamburg In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Munich In pictures: Anti-Pegida protesters Germany People protest against right-wing initiative Pegida in Stuttgart At the request of the authorities, his protest was to be held in a small corner of the central square, far away from where the far-right group would demonstrate. The authorities also said, since the protest was expected to attract over 100 participants, "a gathering of this size is a good cover for possible disruptors." Members of Pegida, which stands for "Patriotic Europeans against Islamisation of the West," have been accused of racism, fascism and xenophobia. Pegida holds weekly Monday marches in Dresden and has formed factions in several European countries, including the UK. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Former president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz a sharp critic of the Brexit vote has emerged as the favourite to stand against Angela Merkel in German elections in September. Mr Schulz is a member of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SDP), which is in coalition with Ms Merkel's centre-right Christian Democratic Union party. The SDP leader Sigmar Gabriel said on Tuesday he would not stand in the upcoming vote and put Mr Schulz forward as the party's candidate for chancellor. Mr Schulz recently decided to return to domestic politics after five years in Brussels. He has been a vocal critic of the UKs decision to leave the EU, saying Brexit could lead to mutual humiliation of the UK and Brussels. Future Brexit negotiations between London and Brussels are likely to be affected by who is elected German chancellor on 24 September. Ms Merkel will be running for a fourth term, although it is not clear who would join her in a coalition government. The vote is expected to see the nationalist Alternative for Germany (AfD) enter parliament on a wave of anti-migrant sentiment. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (EPA) Ms Merkel's conservative bloc is currently leading in the polls on about 36 per cent, followed by the SDP with around 21 per cent and the AFD on 12 per cent. Mr Schulz is yet to comment on his selection by the SDP head, although he hinted in November he might run for chancellor. German media said Mr Gabriel was eyeing the foreign minister brief. Additional reporting agencies Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 Trend: Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov discussed the Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts settlement, said Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry. Mammadyarov paid a working visit to Moscow Jan. 24. The meeting was initiated by the Russian side. The parties exchanged views on the issues raised by the two countries presidents at the Vienna and Saint Petersburg meetings. Mammadyarov reiterated Azerbaijan's position on the conflicts settlement and noted that the current status quo needs to be changed. The sides also discussed the prospects of development of the interstate relations and touched upon the issues that have arisen in the bilateral relations in recent days. The FMs agreed to always keep such questions in focus. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An Italian rescue helicopter has crashed in the mountains near the site of a deadly avalanche that killed more than a dozen people last week, according to local media. The Italian civil protection agency said it was checking reports of the incident, reports of which come six days after the avalanche hit the Hotel Rigopiano near Abruzzo. The ANSA news agency said six people were aboard the helicopter. It remains unclear whether the crash was linked to the avalanche rescue effort, which has been a lengthy and protracted process because of the inaccessibility of the avalanche site. The state-owned TV channel Rai said the helicopter was ferrying someone injured from a nearby ski area in Campo Felice. Recommended Many feared dead in hotel buried by avalanche after Italy earthquakes Ornella De Luca of the civil protection agency said it had received information of an incident involving an emergency helicopter, but that the details were not yet clear. Hopes began to fade on Tuesday that any more survivors would be found from last Wednesday night's devastating avalanche, as the death toll climbed to 15. The discovery of more bodies left 14 people still unaccounted for. Firefighter spokesman Alberto Maiolo said search crews aided by excavators were finally able to penetrate the snow-covered central part of the hotel for the first time the bar and kitchen area and found the bodies. He said there were no signs of life. "Logically, hopes fade as time passes, but we are continuing to search and trying to do it as quickly as possible," he said. The first funerals were held Tuesday, with crowds gathering under a steady rain outside the hilltop church in Farindola to pay their respects to Alessandro Giancaterino. The chief waiter, one of the first victims pulled from the rubble, had offered to stay for a double shift on 18 January to spare a colleague from having to make his way to the hotel through the snow, which was two to three meters (six to 10 feet) high in some places. In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters vehicles make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Rescuers make their way to the hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy. A hotel in the mountainous region hit again by quakes has been covered by an avalanche. Italian media say the avalanche covered the three-story hotel in the central region of Abruzzo AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel a convoy of emergency vehicles en route to hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara), Abruzzo region. According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Two dogs wonder past a vehicle and mounds of snow at a nearby sports ground in Montereale. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy, local media reported quoting rescue services. 'There are many dead,' Antonio Crocetta, the head of a group of Alpine police that was trying to reach the cut-off hotel Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel The hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola (Pescara). According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A mountain view from the main road to Monterale, after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck the region. Several people have died after a ski hotel was buried by an avalanche in earthquake-hit central Italy Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Piles of snow and rubble cascading down the stairway into the foyer of the hotel Rigopiano in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel A man being escorted by Alpine policemen outside the Hotel Rigopiano, near the village of Farinfola, on the eastern lower slopes of the Gran Sasso mountain. Up to 30 people were feared to have died after an Italian mountain Hotel Rigopiano was engulfed by a powerful avalanche in the earthquake-ravaged centre of the country. Italy's Civil Protection agency confirmed the Hotel Rigopiano had been engulfed by a two-metre high wall of snow and that emergency services were struggling to get ambulances and diggers to the site Getty Images In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An Italian firefighters helicopter flies during rescue operations in the area where an hotel was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel An aerial view of the Rigopiano Hotel hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Italy AP In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel Firefighters during rescue operations at hotel Rigopiano after it was hit by an avalanche in Farindola, Pescara. EPA In pictures: Deadly avalanche buries Italian hotel According to an Italian mountain rescue team, several people have been killed in an avalanche that has hit a hotel near the Gran Sasso mountain in Abruzzo region. Authorities believe that the avalanche was apparently triggered by a series of earthquakes in central Italy EPA "He was a great hard worker. He was very professional," said his brother, Massimiliano Giancaterino. "This is the memory that I want to keep of my brother, beyond obviously the private ones that I keep in my heart." Prosecutors are investigating whether a series of missed communications, underestimations of risks and delays in responding to days of heavy snowfall contributed to the toll from the avalanche. In addition, they are looking into the original construction of the isolated resort and whether it should have been open for business at all in such conditions. Mr Giancaterino, who is also a former mayor of Farindola, said it was useless to speculate now, while an investigation was just beginning, about whether the tragedy could have been avoided. "Now it is not the time for hypothesis," he said. "It is the time of pain and above all my thoughts go to the friends and relatives of those who are still missing," he said. Nine people have been pulled out alive from the rubble, three of whom remained in hospital in nearby Pescara. Additional reporting by AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A Swedish politician has resigned after asking if anyone could shoot Donald Trump. Roland Peterson, a member of the local council in the southeastern city of Kalmar, posted the question on Facebook after he was left dismayed by the new US Presidents approach to climate change, the Ostra Smaland newspaper reported. I believed that Donald Trump would calm down after he became the President," he wrote. "But how wrong I was! He exceeded my worst fears! He went on to suggest that someone should "shoot" the US leader. He deleted the post within an hour, but later announced his resignation from both the council and the Swedish Social Democratic Party in a letter to party members. It followed an angry reaction to the post from his colleagues. Johan Persson, a fellow councillor, told the newspaper it was totally unacceptable, while Roger Holmberg, chairman of the Social Democrats in the city, called it idiotic. Donald Trump: 11 things that have happened since he became US President He said: One might think that someone has crazy opinions, but to even think about the idea of violence is completely wrong. Mr Peterson told Ostra Smaland he had posted the comment because he was "so pissed over Mr Trumps approach to climate change. He risks the entire future of the earth. When we finally got the world to start going in the right direction he begins new oil wells and coal production, he said. In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges guests as he arrives on the platform at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump shakes hands with Justice John Roberts after taking the oath at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as the 45th president of the United States Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump President Donald Trump raises his fists after his inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets outgoing President Barack Obama before Trump is inaugurated during ceremonies on the Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump resident-elect Donald Trump arrives on the platform of the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during ceremonies at the US Capitol in Washington DC Getty In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. President Donald Trump waves with wife Melania during the Inaugural Parade in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters registered their rage against the new president Friday in a chaotic confrontation with police who used pepper spray and stun grenades in a melee just blocks from Donald Trump's inaugural parade route. Scores were arrested for trashing property and attacking officers AP In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators protest against US President Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A woman holds a sign before the start of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Anti-Trump protesters prepare banners for a protest against the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump, in Berlin REUTERS In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators shout slogans against US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators march, block foot traffic and clash with U.S. Capitol Police at the entry checkpoints for the Inauguration of Donald Trump Alamy Live News In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators display a banner as people arrive for US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A man displays a placard as people lineup to get into the National Mall for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump in Washington DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump raise their hands as they are surrounded by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A demonstrator wearing a mask depicting Donald Trump protests outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Demonstrators hold placards as they protest outside the US Embassy in London Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former US President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush arrive for the Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden share an umbrella as President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address at the inauguration in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton arrive on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump U.S. Vice President Mike Pence takes the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC Getty Images In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon depart from services at St. John's Church during the Presidential Inauguration in Washington Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump take cover as they are hit by pepper spray by police on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump An activist demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump is helped after being hit by pepper spray on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer tries to tackle a protester demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump Reuters/Adrees Latif In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump Police arrest and detain a protester in the street in Washington DC Rex In pictures: Protests, pomp and Donald Trump A police officer falls to the ground as another shoots pepper spray at protesters demonstrating against U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the inauguration in Washington DC Reuters But I agree that it was idiotic. Since his inauguration on 20 January, Mr Trump has branded environmentalism out of control, suspended Environmental Protection Agency grants, and removed all mention of climate change from the White House website. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trumps administration has said the US president is open to cooperation with the Russian military to conduct joint air strikes on Isis in Syria. The president has been very clear that hes going to work with any country that shares our interest in defeating Isis, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said on Monday, in his first daily press briefing. I think that if theres a way that we can combat Isis with any country, whether its Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, well take it. The president has said that he would defeat Isis quickly after taking office, in the past referencing a top secret plan. However, on Monday it also emerged that Mr Trumps administration had asked the US militarys chiefs of staff to draw up new strategies for defeating the group. The announcement comes the same day that the Russian Defence Ministry said that a coordinated strike against Isis targets near al-Bab in northern Syria had already taken place, which would mark the first such joint action. Two Russian warplanes and two aircraft from the US-led coalition destroyed several ammunition and fuel depots and killed an unknown number of militants, Moscow said, claims the Pentagon denied. Mr Spicer also said that the Russian statement was rubbish. In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Show all 30 1 /30 In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian family arrives at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian woman, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, reacts as she stands with her children in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past resident fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood , after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past residents fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-regime fighter speaks with a child, as residents flee violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood. Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops AFP/Getty Images In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Smoke rises as seen from a governement-held area of Aleppo, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers targeting rebels-held areas in the eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria. According to media reports, the army is now holding on 99 percent of Aleppois eastern neighborhoods EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-government forces patrol Aleppo's eastern al-Salihin neighbourhood after troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers rest following the battle at al-Sheik Saeed neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-government fighter walking past closed shops in the Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo's Old City. Once renowned for its bustling souks, grand citadel and historic gates, Aleppo's Old City has been rendered virtually unrecognisable by some of the worst violence of Syria's war Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The crucial battle for Aleppo entered its 'final phase' after Syrian rebels retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The retreat leaves opposition fighters confined to just a handful of neighbourhoods in southeast Aleppo, the largest of them Sukkari and Mashhad Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilans arrive at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods. Syria's government has retaken at least 85 percent of east Aleppo, which fell to rebels in 2012, since beginning its operation Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilians flee the Sukkari neighbourhood towards safer rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The fall of Aleppo would be the worst rebel defeat since Syria's conflict began in 2011, and leave the government in control of the country's five major cities Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee Aliya inside the tent where she lives with her husband and ten children in a camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee women and children outside the entrance to their tents in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee woman outside the entrance to the tent where her family live, in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A vehicle drives past a mosque at night in Idlib, Syria. Picture taken with a long exposure Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The night sky is seen through damaged windows in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, Syria Reuters US Air Force Colonel John Dorrian, a coalition spokesman, almost immediately labelled the Russian claim as propaganda. While former President Barack Obamas administration said last September that joint US-Russian military action against Isis could be on the table if a ceasefire held, Washington suspended Syria talks with Moscow when the truce down over an aid convoy bombing near Aleppo. The Kremlin has expressed hope that Donald Trumps presidency will bring fresh enthusiasm for international cooperation on ending the almost six-year-long war, which the UN says has claimed 400,000 lives. Turkey, which alongside the US to date has supported a broad spectrum of rebel groups fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assads government, has indicated that the removal of Mr Assad from office is no longer a dealbreaker for Ankara. Asked on Monday whether President Trump would be open to working with Mr Assad to fight Isis - as per comments made on the campaign trail - Mr Spicer said lets not take that too far. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Syrian regimes representative at peace talks with rebels in Kazakhstan has said that government forces will continue their assault on opposition-held areas near Damascus, despite a pledge to enforce the current shaky ceasefire. Two days of talks, which marked the first time in the almost six-year-long conflict that the Western-backed rebel opposition coalition and regime representatives had come face to face for negotiations, ended on Tuesday to mixed reaction from the two camps. Neither the rebel nor government representatives signed the proposed agreements. While the negotiations ended with a deal between the Russian and Turkish brokers, as well as Iran, to implement a monitoring mechanism to oversee Syrias fragile three-week-old ceasefire, delegates from both the rebel and regime camps came away unhappy with the outcome. Kazakhstan's foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, read out a statement at the close of the two-day meeting, saying the three countries will use their influence to strengthen the truce. He did not specify how the agreement would work. The three backing countries also reiterated their determination to fight jointly against Isis and al-Qaeda affiliated groups in the complex war. Before the talks began the Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian government said it was pushing for an agreement on a full political framework aimed at ceasing hostilities, whereas the rebel delegation all members of which were military rather than civilian representatives prioritised ending the current regime offensive on Wadi Barada near the Syrian capital, and the resumption of aid access to conflict areas. In a statement after the sessions closed, Syrias ambassador to the UN, Bashar al-Ja'afari, who led the government delegation at the talks in Astana, says the offensive by the government and allied troops on Wadi Baradi would continue as long as terrorist groups controlled the main water supply to Damascus. In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Show all 30 1 /30 In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian family arrives at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian woman, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, reacts as she stands with her children in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past resident fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood , after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past residents fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-regime fighter speaks with a child, as residents flee violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood. Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops AFP/Getty Images In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Smoke rises as seen from a governement-held area of Aleppo, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers targeting rebels-held areas in the eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria. According to media reports, the army is now holding on 99 percent of Aleppois eastern neighborhoods EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-government forces patrol Aleppo's eastern al-Salihin neighbourhood after troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers rest following the battle at al-Sheik Saeed neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-government fighter walking past closed shops in the Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo's Old City. Once renowned for its bustling souks, grand citadel and historic gates, Aleppo's Old City has been rendered virtually unrecognisable by some of the worst violence of Syria's war Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The crucial battle for Aleppo entered its 'final phase' after Syrian rebels retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The retreat leaves opposition fighters confined to just a handful of neighbourhoods in southeast Aleppo, the largest of them Sukkari and Mashhad Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilans arrive at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods. Syria's government has retaken at least 85 percent of east Aleppo, which fell to rebels in 2012, since beginning its operation Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilians flee the Sukkari neighbourhood towards safer rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The fall of Aleppo would be the worst rebel defeat since Syria's conflict began in 2011, and leave the government in control of the country's five major cities Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee Aliya inside the tent where she lives with her husband and ten children in a camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee women and children outside the entrance to their tents in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee woman outside the entrance to the tent where her family live, in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A vehicle drives past a mosque at night in Idlib, Syria. Picture taken with a long exposure Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The night sky is seen through damaged windows in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, Syria Reuters The capital has been without water for more than three weeks since rebels turned off some supply lines and others were bombed by what monitors believe were government helicopters. Mr Jaafari accused the rebels of associating with Jabhat Fateh-al-Sham, an al-Qaeda linked group in the area, a claim which the main rebel umbrella organisation denies. A rebel spokesperson added that the delegation was unhappy with the continued presence of Iran in the conflict, reiterating the rebels refusal to work with the country, which has sent logistical and financial aid as well as fighters to shore up Mr Assads presidency. The Astana talks were supposed to precede restarting the peace process in Syrias complicated war. As with other conferences, further negotiations will take place in Geneva under the auspices of the UN. The next round of talks there are scheduled for 8 February. Agencies contributed to this report Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Its 3am. Is it the view of the Rockies icy peaks glittering in the moonlight making me shiver under my quilt, or something else? I need the loo but I can't shake the feeling there's a presence beside the bed. I try not to think about what Madame Vera, the hotels clairvoyant, said earlier about a talkative ghost residing in my room. Maybe Kubricks film of a man going mad in a snowbound, haunted hotel was the wrong thing to watch just before bed. This Saturday marks 40 years since Stephen Kings chilling masterwork, The Shining, was published. And it was a little over 40 years ago that Stephen King, his wife Tabitha, and their three-year-old son travelled from Boulder, Colorado, up to the Rocky Mountains National Park. Because of heavy snowfall, they were forced to turn back and overnight in Estes Park, 7,500 feet above sea level, at The Stanley: said to be Americas most haunted hotel. The horror maestro, riding a wave of success with Carrie and Salems Lot, came here end of season, snow clouds scudding across the sky as a nightmare waited for him in room 217. King dreamed of a dark presence chasing his son, Joe, down the corridors of The Stanley. Recommended Airline pilot reveals what frightens him most about flying Shaken, he sat outside on the balcony nursing a cigarette, those spectral peaks in the distance. By the time he stubbed it out, the nightmare had already inspired his next bestselling book. Its evening as my friend Sheila and I set out from Denver. Just like the start of the novel, snow is predicted on the radio as we weave through the Rockies toward Estes Park, a charming one-street town of T-shirt and souvenir shops. As we pass alongside an ink-black lake, the light fading, I catch my first glimpse of The Stanley glowering on the mountainside, white as a ghost. Beyond its Doric-columned timber exterior is a wood-panelled lobby, a fire crackling in the corner, central stairway and sobre oil paintings. The antique gold lift with the diamond shaped window is just as it was in the novel. How are things going, Mr Torrance? The bar at The Stanley Hotel (Stanley Hotel) Unable to bag 217 considered the hotels most haunted room Im assigned the next most active, 413, which has a serene view of the Rocky Mountains. As I head down for dinner, I feel an invisible hand caress my hair. No, its not the breeze, I swear its a hand; and no, no one is here but me and an empty corridor. At dinner in the Cascades Restaurant, Im joined by Madame Vera, a sprightly pensioner who reminds me of Anjelica Huston. You felt it, didnt you? she says. Vera claims her mother also had the shining Kings term for people with a heightened sixth sense. Recommended The Shining hotel to become horror museum She whisks me away on a whistle-stop tour of this creaky Georgian dame. Since its grand opening in 1909 it was built for inventor and businessman Freelan Oscar Stanley and his wife, Flora) The Stanley has played host to presidents and emperors. As we march down endless corridors, perfect for tricycles), I shiver as we pass in and out of pools of glacial air. Thats just a presence, the place is full of them, Vera laughs. Were on the fourth floor now. This is the most haunted floor. The kids of rich families used to stay up here with their nannies. Sometimes you hear balls being bounced, taps turning on, furniture moving around... and lots of giggles. Later, my friend Sheila and I catch the 9pm ghost tour. Becka, our delightfully kooky guide preps us with a pre-spook chat apparently Mr Stanley makes appearances on peoples snaps, his wife tinkles the ivories on her Steinway piano in the ballroom, and we should expect to see orbs and humanoid shapes around the place. We walk out to the Concert Hall, where Becka leads us up to the balcony. Yall see those wall lights keep getting brighter and dimmer? Thats Eddy, an ex-con who worked the lighting rig at concerts. After he passed, he came back here. Recommended 5 great things to do in Colorado The Concert Hall, they say, accounts for 80 per cent of the hotels paranormal activity and our group is really feeling it. Someone claims to have seen something on the stage, where Houdini once performed; another shouts that theres an orb in one of their photos. We make for the basement, affectionately known as the piano graveyard, where pianos allegedly play themselves, and two ghosts reside: Paul, apparently short-tempered and not beyond hurling guests three feet across the room, and Lucy, a 19-year-old who loves Led Zeppelin. Each time Becka mentions the band in this room, the door slams shut of its own accord. When our fellow ghost-hunters depart, Sheila and I try it ourselves, checking for a hidden staffer and a piece of string. Led Zeppelin, we whisper, and the heavy door slams. Back in the hotel I mention the bouquets of rose perfume I keep walking into. Yeah, thats Mrs Stanley, it was her favourite scent, says Becka, matter-of-fact. This way to room 217: The staircase at The Stanley (Stanley Hotel) The next morning, over pancakes and syrup, Sheila and I compare our overnight experiences. While I did finally make it to the bathroom, despite the fact I could feel something right next to the bed, Sheila didnt get off so lightly she heard a child scream, another giggle, and saw a green orb on the far wall of her room. I meet Madame Vera for a reading in her cosy office and she tells me things about myself and family that seem beyond the art of charlatanism. Is "the shining for real? Who knows, but we leave The Stanley with a shiver. Travel essentials Getting there British Airways (ba.com) flies from Heathrow to Denver from 571 return. From there, its a 90-minute drive to Estes Park. Staying there The Stanley Hotel (stanleyhotel.com) has double rooms from US$255 (200), B&B. Haunted rooms start from $390. More information colorado.com Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Supreme Courts welcome verdict sends the Brexit process back to where it should have been all along Parliament. Theresa May created unnecessary uncertainty by appealing against the High Court's ruling. If she had accepted it, she would have won Parliaments backing for legislation on Article 50 and would now be well on course to start exit negotiations with the EU by her 31 March deadline. But will Parliament now step up to the plate? Its far from certain and the omens are not good. There is probably a majority in the Commons and Lords to stay in the single European market, but that is unlikely to translate into a formal vote. The reaction of pro-European Conservatives to Mays announcement last week that the UK would leave the single market was instructive and they rolled over immediately. Similarly, there is no majority in Parliament for the hard Brexit that Mays strategy could be taking us towards. A majority of MPs and peers probably regard that as an act of economic self-harm. But there is no guarantee that they will muster the votes to prevent it. Too many MPs are frightened of their own shadows, and of being accused of trying to overturn last years referendum. Yet they know in their heart of hearts that even if a majority of their constituents voted Leave, they did not vote for a hard Brexit. So they would be entirely within their rights to exercise their judgement and soften the hard edges of Brexit, which is not the same as thwarting the will of the people or dictating the Government's stance in the tricky negotiations, as ministers claim. Brexit round-up: Supreme Court rules against Government A flurry of amendments to the Article 50 legislation have already been promised. But some such as Labours attempt to safeguard workers, social and environmental rights may be ruled out of order because the Bill will be very tightly drawn. Demands for tariff-free access to the single market could be accepted by ministers at this stage, even though we dont know whether the EU will agree to them in the talks. The significant battles during the rushed passage of the Article 50 Bill will be over Parliaments role during the negotiations. There will rightly be cross-party demands for MPs to have a real influence over the final deal, and the right to send May back to the EU table to get a better one. Her strategy is clear: to offer Parliament a last-minute choice between her deal and the no deal of World Trade Organisation tariffs, in the hope that Tory MPs vote through her agreement. Labour is demanding a meaningful Commons vote on the deal. It is on the right track but its vagueness is typical of the timid response to Brexit by the official Opposition which has allowed May a much smoother ride than she has deserved. Only the Liberal Democrats, SNP and the Greens have spoken up for the 48 per cent so far. Granted, Labour is being pulled in two different directions and Brexit would be a headache for any leader of the party. Two out of three Labour MPs represent seats that voted Leave but the overwhelming majority of the MPs backed Remain. Brexit is the new dividing line in politics, exacerbating Labour's loss of support in the opinion polls under Jeremy Corbyn. The divide harms Labour most. The party holds 46 of the strongest pro-Leave seats many in the North where Ukip is breathing down its neck and it also represents 41 of the 100 most pro-Remain constituencies, including Corbyns and several of his shadow cabinet. 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 Two tricky by-elections next month in Copeland and Stoke-on-Trent Central have added another pressure. Labour does not want to be accused of blocking Brexit but Corbyn has been unable to deliver the stronger line on immigration demanded by many Leave voters in the partys heartlands. Under conflicting pressures from his Shadow Cabinet, he has flip-flopped, saying he is not wedded to EU free movement, but does not rule it out. No wonder voters are confused about what Labour stands for. Brexit has added to Labours identity crisis and could make it an existential one. At least we know where the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Ukip stand. However difficult the terrain, a leader has a duty to lead. Corbyn is not yet doing that on the issue of the day, the biggest challenge to the country since the Second World War. How ironic that, despite the Conservatives bitter split on Europe that cost their last three prime ministers their jobs, it is now the Labour Opposition that is hopelessly divided on Brexit. Labours weakness will make it much harder for Parliament to do the job that the Supreme Court has handed it. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Theresa May has lost her appeal to the Supreme Court, which ruled at 9.30 this morning that an Act of Parliament is required before the Government can trigger Article 50, to start the procedure for leaving the European Union. But the Prime Minister's embarrassment is limited. The bill is almost certain to go through Parliament in plenty of time for her deadline of the end of March, as I explained on Sunday. There is a large majority in the House of Commons expected to vote in its favour. Not even the House of Lords, which is usually harder to control, is likely to obstruct it. The judges also unanimously ruled that the Government is not required to consult the Scottish Parliament, Northern Ireland Assembly or Welsh Assembly before triggering Article 50, which removes the last plausible obstacle. So the sting of defeat will hardly be noticed: the Court's ruling will now expose Labour's problems, as the battle will now be fought out over attempts to amend the bill as it goes through Parliament. In that struggle, Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, have to balance their claim that they will not block Article 50 with their attempt to hold the Government to account. Brexit: Supreme Court rules against the government The Government will probably publish the bill tomorrow. Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has suggested that Labour will table an amendment to require a vote in Parliament on the Brexit deal in time to allow the Government to reopen negotiations. That could be an ingenious way of trying to position Labour as the party of soft Brexit rather than hard, but it is hard to explain to the public and, if the Government portrays it as an attempt to block Brexit, it can probably defeat it. Starmer was honest about Labour's problems on ITVs Peston on Sunday: Im not going to pretend that this isnt difficult for the Labour Party. There are colleagues in the Parliamentary Labour Party who are very concerned, as am I, about the outcome of the referendum. We have two thirds of our MPs in heavily Leave areas, we have one third in heavily Remain areas. We need to talk to our colleagues and respect each other through this, but Im not going to pretend there arent strong views, of course there are. Its not a classic divide in the party, left/right or leadership/non-leadership. Its a genuinely difficult issue that we need to handle with care and we will. But this is a party that campaigned to remain and is now accepting we've lost that and defining where we go from here. In effect, there is little Labour can do. Starmer will bring his legal skill to arguing for amendments that might be accepted in the House of Lords, such as guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens in Britain or for an early vote on the Brexit deal. This morning Labour said it would table an amendment designed to prevent the Government turning Britain into a bargain basement tax haven. We look forward to the wording of that one. 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 Procedurally, Starmer and Corbyn have a point in refusing to say how Labour MPs will be whipped. Starmer said: Thats not yet been determined. We are talking to colleagues on this we dont know the outcome of the case and we havent seen the legislation. At one level, it makes sense to say that the party will wait to see the detail, but it means that Labour's policy is not clear to the voters outside Parliament. The big picture is that Theresa May is getting on with Brexit, and Labour basically agrees with her but would just like to make some points that no one can remember. Three men have been remanded in custody in connection with alleged trafficking and immigration offences at Dublin Airport An airline worker accused in connection with an alleged international human trafficking operation has associations with organised criminals, a court has been told. Three men have been remanded in custody in connection with alleged trafficking and immigration offences at Dublin Airport. Aer Lingus employees Peter Kernan, 56, with an address at Old Rectory Lodge, Celbridge, Co Kildare, and Frederick Cham, 61, with an address at Railway Cottages, Hazelhatch, Co Kildare, were each charged with two counts under Section 2 of the Illegal Immigrants Trafficking Act 2000. The alleged offences occurred on January 9 and January 22. A third man, Xing Wang, 28, of no fixed address in China, has been charged with immigration offences. An officer from the Garda National Immigration Bureau told Dublin District Court that Kernan and others allegedly helped to allow the illegal entry into the state of non-nationals by bypassing airport control and allowing them to exit the airport. It is alleged money was paid for this to happen. Kernan made no reply when the charges were put to him after his arrest, the court was told. The officer told the court he would object to any bail application by Kernan because of the seriousness of the charges and his association with organised criminal gangs who have access to false documents. A considerable sum of money was seized from the accused in recent days, the officer said. The court was told that a proposed surety offered for Kernan's bail had been withdrawn because of publicity around the case. A solicitor for the divorced father of two, whose new partner was in court, said his family are trying to pull money together to meet bail conditions. Judge Cormac Dunne remanded Kernan in custody until January 31 to agree bail. Conditions would include the accused's own bond of 2,000 euro as well as an independent 20,000 euro surety in cash - or two sureties of 10,000 euro - to be approved by the court, the judge said. Kernan, dressed in a brown jacket, green shirt and black trousers, would also have to surrender his passport, sign on at Leixlip Garda station three days a week and agree to have no contact whatsoever with Cham. Cham, dressed in a black jacket, shirt and jumper, also made no reply to the two charges when put to him, the court was told. He was remanded in custody until Friday when, his solicitor said, he will make a bail application. The court heard Xing Wang was arrested in a car park at Dublin Airport on Sunday January 22. He was taken to Coolock Garda station where he was charged on Monday evening on three counts: under Section 29 of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act; of failure to produce a passport or other identity card, under Section 12 of the Immigration Act; and failure to present to an immigration officer on arrival in the state, under Section 4.2 of the Immigration Act. He made no reply to the charges. Dressed in a black jacket, jumper and jeans, the accused, who needed an interpreter, was remanded in custody to appear before Cloverhill Court in Dublin on Friday. A solicitor said no bail application was being made at this stage because of identity and status issues. The new leader of Sinn Fein at Stormont has said Tuesday's Brexit ruling ignores the will of the people. The devolved assembly will not have to be consulted when Parliament votes on triggering EU exit negotiations by the end of March, the Supreme Court concluded. Michelle O'Neill called on the Irish Government to help secure special status for Northern Ireland within the EU once the UK leaves - despite Britain's highest court rejecting that argument. She said: "Clearly the ruling again ignores the will of the people of the North who voted by a majority to stay in the European Union." in its judgment, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled not only did devolved bodies have no role in deciding the future of the UK as a whole in the EU, Northern Ireland had no special status beyond this either. The judges found, while Northern Ireland's people had a fundamental constitutional voice on being part of the UK, that did not extend to being part of the EU. Mrs O'Neill spoke to foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan on Monday night. She said: "We believe that the North needs to have designated status. "Clearly the onus is now on the Irish Government to step up to the plate. "They need to act in the interests of all the citizens of this island because they will be at the negotiating table and it is important that they act in our interests and make sure that we do receive special status given the nature of where we are here." Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU referendum by a majority of 56% to 44%. Mrs O'Neill said Brexit would undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended decades of violence and the principle of consent to change held by the people of the north. She said human rights legislation underpinned the Agreement. "The failure to recognise the will of the people of the North is a failure by the Tory government, continually refusing to acknowledge the will of what the people here have asked for. "Brexit will absolutely undermine the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent." Theresa May has declined an invitation to make a historic address to the Irish parliament. Theresa May has declined an invitation to make a historic address to the Irish parliament. The Prime Minister was asked by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to give a speech in the Dail during a one-day official visit to Ireland before the end of the month. She would have been the first Tory leader, and only the second British prime minister, to speak before Dublin's parliament - following on from Tony Blair's ground-breaking address in 1998. But Mr Kenny has indicated that Mrs May has turned down the offer, originally advanced by the house speaker, or Ceann Comhairle, on a suggestion from the Green Party. "My understanding is that the Prime Minister's schedule will not allow that to happen and I am not in control of that schedule," Mr Kenny told the Dail. "Obviously, when details are absolutely finalised, we will be aware of those. "My understanding is that the visit was to come to Government Buildings to have a Taoiseach to Prime Minister discussion, and to follow that with a particular set of issues. "It is around this that the visit will take place." Mrs May and Mr Kenny are due to meet in Dublin to discuss Brexit. Green Party leader Eamon Ryan had said it was vitally important that Mrs May sets out her views on how Brexit will affect Ireland during her visit. Last November, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon got a standing ovation when she addressed the upper house of parliament, the Seanad. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Ilhama Isabalayeva Trend: Azerbaijan may start inspecting safety on other countries planes, the press service of the Azerbaijani Parliament told Trend. A bill has been prepared in this regard for introducing amendments and additions to the Law on Aviation of Azerbaijan. Under the bill, the safety inspections on planes will be held observing their flight schedules. The persons who are to conduct such check-ups will have to get a certificate. The amendments were prepared on the basis of the proposals of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The bill will be submitted for discussion to Azerbaijani Parliaments plenary session, to be held Feb. 1. Leo Varadkar said the timing is not right for a speech. Photo: Gerry Mooney Minister Leo Varadkar has said he doesn't think British Prime Minister Theresa May should address the Dail during her visit here after her "harsh" speech on Brexit. His remarks come despite an invitation to Mrs May being issued by the Department of the Taoiseach last week. She is due to visit Dublin - her first as prime minister - before the end of the month. But Mr Varadkar said he's "not sure if now is the right time" for her to address the Dail. "Obviously she's made her speech last week in London...while the words were soft and polite, the message behind it was a very harsh one and I don't think this would be the occasion on which she should really address the Dail," he said. "I think we have some hard talking to do in Government Buildings before that happens." The possibility of Mrs May delivering a speech to TDs was floated by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan last week. Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dail that Ceann Comhairle Sean O Fearghail had written to him about the matter and said he would "follow through" on that letter. It's understood Downing Street has received an invitation for her to address the Dail but a spokesman for Mrs May could not say if it will be accepted. "Planning for the visit is still ongoing," he said last night. Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar has indicated that Mr Kenny may not be in office for the full duration of the Brexit talks. "Brexit is going to go on for many years. There'll be many changes in prime minister across the European Union," he said after being asked if he was concerned a change in Taoiseach would weaken Ireland's position. "I think what's important there is to make sure that Ireland's approach to Brexit is not just about any one person, that it's a whole of government approach." The social protection minister will travel to London next month to meet his British counterpart to discuss pensions, welfare and employment law issues which he said will be "significantly impacted by Brexit". Mr Varadkar has been tipped as one of the main contenders to succeed Mr Kenny, who has said he will step down as Fine Gael leader before the next election. Mr Varadkar confirmed a report at the weekend that he told Fine Gael members in Tipperary that they need to be prepared for the possibility there will be an election this year. The constituency is a key target for his party, which lost two of its seats in the county in 2016. Mr Varadkar said that he told members that elections can "happen by accident", pointing to the events in the North. He said he doesn't believe either Sinn Fein or the DUP thought they would be going to the polls even six or eight weeks ago. "The point I made was that in Tipperary we need to be prepared" Mr Vardakar said he isn't predicting that an election will happen this year. He was speaking at an event marking the 70th anniversary of his department. He put a letter in a time capsule for whoever holds the office in 2027. An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny pictured speaking at The European Financial Forum at Dublin Castle this morning (Photo: Colin O'Riordan) Dublin would be an "ideal choice" for the relocation of the European Banking Authority from London as a result of the Brexit vote, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said. Mr Kenny told delegates at the European Financial Forum that Dublin's IFSC is "Brexit-ready" in a direct pitch for financial services firms displaced as a result of the UK referendum. He claimed Ireland was an "obvious choice" for firms looking to retain access to the single market. "We're well prepared for the changes that Brexit may bring," the Taoiseach said. "The government has made a public declaration of interest in Ireland becoming the location of the European Banking Authority. "With its significant financial services sector and efficient transport links to other European capitals, Dublin is the ideal choice for the Authority's relocation." Mr Kenny told delegates, who included representatives from global banks, that Ireland is a desirable location for investment. "We continue to offer a stable, predictable and a certain business environment alongside continued access to the European market," he said. "I know that many UK based financial services companies are considering moving some or all of their operations in relation to Brexit and Ireland in that context remains an obvious choice for those wishing to maintain a presence in the single market." The Government will roll out its biggest guns at an event at Dublin Castle today to drive home the message that Ireland is open for banks and insurers exiting the UK as a result of Brexit. Figures released yesterday show pessimism among Britain's financial services firms has increased for a fourth consecutive quarter, the longest spell of unbroken gloom since the financial crisis. The latest quarterly survey of 103 financial services firms by business lobby CBI and consultancy PwC found sentiment about Britain's overall business climate fell the most since December 2008, with banks especially pessimistic. The figures show 90pc of banks surveyed said preparing for the impact of Britain's exit from the European Union was their top challenge. At Dublin Castle today Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Central Bank Governor Philip Lane, Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor, junior minister Eoghan Murphy and IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan, will all address the European Financial Forum. It is a timely opportunity to lobby industry leaders to shift jobs here at a time when decisions are being made about where to locate future investment. The Forum, organised by the IDA and the 'Financial Times', will focus on issues including the impact of Brexit and the emerging role of China in European finance. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Brexit gloom among finance houses appears to be deepening. "Uncertainty has contributed to the low levels of optimism reported by many financial services companies, particularly by the banks," Andrew Kail, head of financial services at PwC, said in its UK report. Banks have begun signalling how they will put plans into action to cope with a "hard" exit by Britain from the EU, after UK Prime Minister Theresa May said Britain would leave the single market. Kail also said that greater clarity on the UK position on Brexit from the Prime Minister's speech this week was welcome, not least a commitment to a period of phased implementation. However, the survey revealed a more optimistic outlook for hiring, with 18pc of financial firms saying they had increased employment in the period compared with 10pc showing a decrease. IT was the biggest area for new jobs. The survey also said firms considered increasing their dialogue with regulators as the biggest priority as Britain negotiates its EU exit. (Additional reporting Reuters) Enda Kenny with Eamon Creamer, owner of a 1916 Ford Model T, in Ballymahon, Co Longford, yesterday. Photo: Mark Condren Taoiseach Enda Kenny will today break with the Government's long-standing policy of not publicly touting for UK-based companies to relocate to Ireland. In his first significant speech since British Prime Minister Theresa May outlined her plans to take the UK out of the single market, Mr Kenny will make an explicit pitch for financial institutions. He will tell a major summit in Dublin that Mrs May's decision to opt for a 'hard Brexit' means Ireland will be the only English-speaking country in the EU with "a stable, predictable and certain business environment". A Government source said they are determined to protect existing business but must also react to the "major opportunity" presented by Brexit. Finance Minister Michael Noonan previously said that Ireland would not be "predatory" in seeking foreign direct investment. However, sources said Mr Kenny's speech to the European Financial Forum in Dublin Castle will up the ante. "We will have access to the European single market, the UK will not. We are open for business," the source said. The Taoiseach will tell attendees, including senior representatives from the China Investment Corporation (CIC) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, that Ireland has made a public declaration of interest in becoming the location of the European Banking Authority. "With its significant financial services sector and efficient transport links to other European capitals, Dublin is the ideal choice for the Authority's relocation," he will say. "And we continue to be a very desirable location for investment. After the UK's exit from the EU, Ireland will be the only English-speaking, common law country in the European Union. "We will continue to offer a stable, predictable and certain business environment alongside continued access to the European market of over 400 million people. "I know that many UK-based financial services companies are considering moving some of their operations in light of Brexit," the Taoiseach will say. Meanwhile, Housing Minister Simon Coveney has said the Government is encouraging companies locating here to consider regional cities and towns as part of the Brexit plan. David Greene, lawyer for Mr Deir Dos Santos, outside The Supreme Court in London after Britain's most senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May does not have the power to trigger the formal process for the UK's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire Legislation will be introduced "within days" to keep Theresa May's timetable for leaving the EU on track, after the Prime Minister suffered defeat in a historic legal battle over Brexit. By a majority of eight to three, judges at the Supreme Court rejected the Government's plan to use prerogative powers to trigger withdrawal talks under Article 50 of the EU treaties, ruling that ministers must first obtain the consent of Parliament. Downing Street insisted the ruling would not derail the Prime Minister's deadline of invoking Article 50 by the end of March. And Brexit Secretary David Davis told the House of Commons that a "straightforward" bill would be tabled to give effect to the decision of Britain's voters. He said the Supreme Court ruling did not affect the fact Britain will be leaving the EU in line with the result of the 2016 referendum, telling MPs: "There can be no turning back. The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year." Delivering the court's verdict, Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger stressed: "The issues in these proceedings have nothing to do with whether the UK should exit from the EU, or the terms or timetable for that exit." Withdrawal from the EU would mean a "fundamental change" to the UK's laws by cutting off one of its sources, as well as changing the legal rights of British citizens, he said. "The UK's constitutional arrangements require such changes to be clearly authorised by Parliament," said Lord Neuberger. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries." Read More No date has yet been set to begin the process of taking an Article 50 bill through the Commons and Lords, with officials at Mr Davis's Department for Exiting the EU due to finalise its wording over the coming days. Mr Davis said: "Parliament will rightly scrutinise and debate this legislation, but I trust no-one will seek to make it a vehicle for attempts to thwart the will of the people or frustrate or delay the process of exiting the European Union." With Labour declaring it will not frustrate the invocation of Article 50, there was little doubt the Prime Minister can get a bill through Parliament. But she risks having her hands tied in negotiations by any conditions inserted by MPs into the legislation, with the Scottish National Party declaring it will table 50 "serious and substantive" amendments. Mr Davis resisted pressure from MPs in the Commons to commit himself to a White Paper setting out Mrs May's objectives in withdrawal negotiations. Number 10 insists that Mrs May has already set out her aims in full in her Lancaster House speech last week, but the chair of the Commons Exiting the EU Committee, Hilary Benn, said that the failure to spell them out in a formal paper would show "a lack of respect" to Parliament. Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, warned that the PM's speech set out a "high risk" strategy, containing "big gaps, inconsistencies and unanswered questions" which could impose a heavy cost on British families and businesses. He warned that it would be "wrong" for ministers to try to stop MPs amending Mr Davis's bill. Sir Keir denounced the Government's decision to appeal an earlier High Court defeat in the Supreme Court as "a waste of time and money". But Mr Davis insisted it was right to test the legal position in the highest court in the land. Read More Attorney General Jeremy Wright - who led the Government's court battle - acknowledged ministers were "disappointed" by the judges' ruling, but said they would "do all that is necessary to implement it". To relief in Downing Street, the judges unanimously rejected a bid to require Mrs May to consult devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March," said a Number 10 spokesman. "Today's ruling does nothing to change that. "It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out." Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not "frustrate the process for invoking Article 50", but would seek to amend the legislation to prevent the UK becoming a "bargain-basement tax haven". "Labour is demanding a plan from the Government to ensure it is accountable to Parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given parliamentary approval," said Mr Corbyn. The SNP's Alex Salmond confirmed plans to table multiple amendments, adding: "If Theresa May is intent on being true to her word that Scotland and the other devolved administrations are equal partners in this process, then now is the time to show it." Read More The Liberal Democrats, who have just nine MPs but more than 100 peers, will vote against Article 50 unless there is a guarantee of the public having a vote on the final deal, said leader Tim Farron. But Ukip leader Paul Nuttall warned MPs and peers not to hamper the passage of the legislation. "The will of the people will be heard, and woe betide those politicians or parties that attempt to block, delay, or in any other way subvert that will," he said. The Supreme Court ruling was welcomed by investment broker Gina Miller, the lead claimant in the case against the Government. Speaking outside court, she told reporters: "This ruling today means that MPs we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable experience and expertise to bear in helping the Government select the best course in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations." A lawyer for co-claimant Deir Dos Santos described the ruling as "a victory for democracy and the rule of law". Britain's Attorney General, Jeremy Wright, speaks outside the Supreme Court following the decision of 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, Britain, January 24, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Parliament must vote on legislation to trigger Brexit. Here is the historic court case explained: What was the Supreme Court asked to decide on? Whether the Prime Minister or Parliament has the final say in deciding when, and if, Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty should be invoked. What is Article 50? It is the formal mechanism which a nation state must trigger if it wishes to leave the European Union. What does Article 50 say? "A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament. "The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period." Why is the Supreme Court ruling on this? Because the Government appealed against a High Court ruling in November which blocked Prime Minister Theresa May using the royal prerogative to launch Britain's exit from the EU without Parliament having a say. What happens next? If the Supreme Court rules in favour of the Government, Mrs May has stated she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March. If it upholds the High Court judgment, Parliament will debate and vote on invoking the measure. Was the result of the June referendum binding on Parliament? No. It was a consultative plebiscite, though few people on either side mentioned that at the time. Government officials are looking at the idea of having customs depots along the Border for commercial vehicle checks after Brexit, Transport Minister Shane Ross has said. The depots would allow goods vehicles to go through a customs procedure, the minister said. Mr Ross was speaking on the margins of a Brexit conference focused on the transport sector, which heard that, as a result of the UK vote to leave the EU, some eastern European workers in Ireland were returning home, two flights had been cancelled between Donegal and Glasgow, there had been a slowdown in regional development, and a reduced rate of growth at Rosslare Europort. "If people and goods are stopped physically [at the Border], it's going to cause real, real difficulties, so we have to be ready for that," Mr Ross said. He said having an electronic border was an option. But he added: "I think there's another idea of depots, so that ordinary individual travellers can go one way, but there'll be goods depots where they'll [commercial vehicles] have to go through some procedure. "It's only an idea I've heard floating around my department." Read more: If the border goes up, there's always a way around it - like the old days Mr Ross said the idea would be "not to inconvenience the tourists and other people like that". A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport later stressed the idea was just one being considered "in a worst-case scenario", but wouldn't give further details. More than 100 attended the department-organised conference, including state agencies, business and haulage representatives. Each table was asked to give their views on a series of questions, including the impact that Brexit is already having on businesses in the sector. One table said that up to 18pc of total revenues had been negatively impacted, while concerns were also raised about access to labour, with claims that some eastern European workers were already leaving. Currency fluctuation was repeatedly cited, while worries about customs checks and delays at the Border were also cited. Some 326,000 people cross the Border in the north-west region in a week, the conference heard. The impact on the Irish motor industry was noted, as sales of used cars have slumped. There were also calls for a Brexit minister. "I take the point that people are saying that the Government must up the tempo," Mr Ross said. "I think the tempo is quite fast at the moment and some would say that it's too fast, considering we don't actually know quite where we're going to land." THE new leader of Sinn Fein at Stormont has said Tuesday's Brexit ruling ignores the will of the people. The devolved assembly will not have to be consulted when Parliament votes on triggering EU exit negotiations by the end of March, the Supreme Court concluded. Michelle O'Neill called on the Irish Government to help secure special status for Northern Ireland within the EU once the UK leaves - despite Britain's highest court rejecting that argument. She said: "Clearly the ruling again ignores the will of the people of the North who voted by a majority to stay in the European Union." In its judgment, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled not only did devolved bodies have no role in deciding the future of the UK as a whole in the EU, Northern Ireland had no special status beyond this either. The judges found, while Northern Ireland's people had a fundamental constitutional voice on being part of the UK, that did not extend to being part of the EU. Mrs O'Neill spoke to Irish foreign affairs minister Charlie Flanagan on Monday night. She said: "We believe that the North needs to have designated status. "Clearly the onus is now on the Irish Government to step up to the plate. "They need to act in the interests of all the citizens of this island because they will be at the negotiating table and it is important that they act in our interests and make sure that we do receive special status given the nature of where we are here." Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU referendum by a majority of 56% to 44%. Mrs O'Neill said Brexit would undermine the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which ended decades of violence and the principle of consent to change held by the people of the north. She said human rights legislation underpinned the Agreement. "The failure to recognise the will of the people of the North is a failure by the Tory government, continually refusing to acknowledge the will of what the people here have asked for. "Brexit will absolutely undermine the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of consent." Tony Barber, Europe Editor and Associate Editor at the Financial Times in London, addressed the crowd at the IIEA Renowned European journalist Tony Barber said that Theresa May has so far handled Irish Brexit matters with "caution and maturity". Speaking to the Institute of International & European Affairs (IIEA), Tony Barber, Europe Editor and Associate Editor at the Financial Times in London, said that "maturity should prevail". Mr Barber argued that Theresa May's government will no longer be able to evade necessary choices between 'hard' and 'soft' Brexit, and that these decisions may expose the internal contradictions of the political and electoral coalition that rejected EU membership in June 2016. Read More Mr Barber analysed the possible impact this will have on British politics in 2017 and what Brexit will mean for Ireland. "What can be predicted with some confidence is that the EU will not tamely grant Britain privileged market access to sector such as car manufacturers. There will be no room for pick and choose tactics in our negotiations." He said the leave vote was inspired by "insecurity, not joblessness but falling living standards, poorly paid work, shrinking welfare state and the feeling that the gap is widening every year between the advances in technology and the possibility of social and economic improvement". "In her speech May was almost brutal in ruling out special Brexit arrangements for Scotland but this does not necessarily accelerate the time frame for a second vote on Scottish independence. "As for UK- Irish relations, the priority must be to preserve the common travel area between the north and republic, to avoid customs, trade and investment barriers and most crucial of all to uphold the peace process and promote harmonious community relations in Northern Ireland." He said that so far, Theresa May has handled Irish matters with "caution". "May and her ministers have so far spoken on Irish matters with caution and even maturity that are often shockingly absent on their remarks with the EU. "I expect the sense of maturity to prevail no matter how fraught the negotiations become." However he said constitutional instability in the UK "cannot fail to have profound implications for the republic". Azerbaijani insurance company, PASHA Insurance OJSC has been assigned Financial Strength Rating of B+ (Good) and a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of bbb- by A.M. Best Company which provides credit ratings and financial data services globally for the insurance industry. The assignment of the credit and financial ratings of PASHA Insurance is a profound case not just for PASHA Insurance, but for whole Azerbaijan insurance market. The ratings indicate the companys strong operating performance, risk-adjusted capitalization, and good quality reinsurance protection. Moreover, the agency acknowledges that PASHA Insurance has solid business profile taking into account several factors such as, leadership of the company for gross written premiums in 2016, its growing customer base, and most importantly, its expanding underwriting portfolio (average 26% increase each year from 2011 to 2015). A.M. Best Company is one of the most notable companies, which focuses on insurance industry. Important to mention, PASHA Insurance OJSC is the only insurance company in Azerbaijan, that has been assigned rating for its financial strength by A.M. Best. PASHA Insurance has been operating in the insurance market since 2006. As a member of PASHA Holding group of companies, PASHA Insurance offers 36 types of compulsory and voluntary insurance services for both individual and corporate customers. During 10 years of its activity the insurance company has indemnified its customers insurance claims, total amount of compensation coming out to 115 890 100 AZN. PASHA Insurance is the leader and the biggest insurer of the Azerbaijani insurance market for the amount of share capital (50 million AZN), volume of insurance premiums and compensated insurance claims and other financial and non-financial indicators. The Supreme Court in the UK has ruled that Parliament must vote on legislation to trigger Brexit but a spokesman for 10 Downing Street has said it will not change plans to trigger divorce proceedings by March. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that," he said. The Government appealed against a High Court ruling in November which blocked Prime Minister Theresa May using the royal prerogative to launch Britain's exit from the EU without Parliament having a say. Speaking after the ruling the Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government will do "all that is necessary" to implement the ruling. Mr Wright said the Government was "disappointed" by the final decision in its historic battle over who has the right to authorise the start of withdrawal negotiations under Article 50 of the EU treaties. But he said that ministers will comply with the ruling, which effectively means that MPs must be given a vote on Article 50. Speaking on the steps of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General said: "The Government will comply with the judgment of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it." Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has welcomed the UK Government's remarks. "I welcome the confirmation from the UK Government that it will proceed with the triggering of Article 50 by the end of March at the latest. This provides welcome certainty for the beginning of the negotiations between the UK and the E," he said. "The Government's preparations for the upcoming negotiations on the UK's withdrawal from the EU have been extensive and comprehensive. These preparations and our programme of engagement with our EU partners are continuing and we will be ready for the challenging negotiations ahead. "Our priorities in these negotiations remain our citizens, our economy, Northern Ireland, our Common Travel Area and the future of the EU itself," he added. The highest court in the UK rejected an appeal by ministers against a High Court judgment blocking their decision to begin Britain's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. Supreme Court justices ruled, by a majority of eight to three, that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot lawfully bypass MPs and peers by using the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two-year process of negotiating the UK's divorce from its EU partners. However, they unanimously rejected an argument that devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must be consulted before Article 50 is triggered. The ruling is a blow to Mrs May, who has repeatedly said she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March following the clear majority in favour of Brexit in the June 2016 referendum. Read More But she will be buoyed by the decision on the devolved administrations, which could have been much more significant in upsetting her timetable if it had gone the other way. The court case was won by a wide-ranging group of anti-Article 50 campaigners led by investment manager Gina Miller, 51, and hairdresser Deir Dos Santos. Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." Speaking after the ruling, Mr Wright said: "Of course the Government is disappointed with the outcome. But we have the good fortune to live in a country where everyone - every individual, every organisation, even government - is subject to the rule of law. "So the Government will comply with the judgment of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it. "The court has been very clear throughout this case that it has not been deciding whether the United Kingdom should or should not leave the European Union. "The people of the United Kingdom have already made that decision. "Now enacting that decision will be a political matter and not a legal matter." 'The stress has turned into resilience, that's what the politicians need to understand." So says Padraig O'Reilly of the North East Pylon Pressure Campaign (NEPPC) which held a meeting in Kells last week attended by 600 concerned landowners and local representatives. The group is fighting the planned overground North-South interconnector from Meath to Tyrone which, it claims, will require around 400 pylons. The group's anxiety was heightened before Christmas when An Board Pleanala (ABP) approved EirGrid's planning application. "The anger, frustration and disappointment at the decision by An Board Pleanala was clear at the meeting. People have put their lives on hold because of this issue. We feel the decision by An Bord Pleanala flies in the face of natural justice, but we are resilient, we won't lie down and we are considering our next step," said O'Reilly. The NEPPC says it wants a strengthened national electricity grid but not "at the price of people's lives and health", and not one that causes irreparable damage "to our environment, heritage and livelihoods". The group is campaigning for the North-South interconnector to be laid underground. As such, its representatives will meet with Denis Naughten, Minister for Communication, Climate Action and Environment, in the coming fortnight to discuss their fears and to ask him to instruct EirGrid to pursue an underground option instead. The proposed line will also cut through the counties of Monaghan and Cavan. The NEPPC is also considering the option of a judicial review of ABP's decision. However, that process could cost up to 120,000, and may not ultimately be successful. "Already people have had to dig deep. We've been to the High Court twice and made oral submissions. Local communities have spent a small fortune fighting this already," says O'Reilly. A spokesperson for EirGrid told the Farming Independent that it expects construction to be complete and for "the line to go live by the end of 2020". He outlined the next steps for the project, as far as EirGrid was concerned. "We have to wait for the planning process in Northern Ireland to run its course. A planning enquiry will convene in Armagh City next month and if the project receives planning approval (there), we will be in a position to begin construction by early 2018," he said. Judicial review The spokesperson said that there is the possibility of a judicial review of the process, which could delay matters by months. He said interaction with landowners is ongoing. "We have a community liaison officer, Grainne Duffy, and agricultural liaison officer, John Boylan, based in Monaghan. They are in regular contact with local farmers, residents and politicians, and have reported increased levels of activity since planning permission was granted in December. They will continue to speak to landowners who are directly affected and this will include details of the financial package available to them. "We will also look to engage with local groups regarding our Community Fund, which is available for groups along the route. We will also be speaking to residents located close to the line who are entitled to compensation via our Proximity Payments scheme." According to Regina Doherty, Government Chief Whip and TD for Meath East, EirGrid will face many challenges bringing its plan to fruition. "With less than 20pc access on the designated route, this will be a difficult build for EirGrid," she said. Doherty, who attended last Thursday's meeting, said that she would continue to support the campaign to see consideration for the North-South interconnector to be wholly, or partially, undergrounded. "I fully support farmers and landowners in their actions by way of judicial review of ABP's decision, and in their preparation to make a submission at the upcoming Oral Hearing in Northern Ireland," she said. She said she wasn't "in the business of encouraging or organising, as some media outlets have suggested recently, civil disobedience". Fianna Fail's Shane Cassells, Meath West TD, said: "This issue will continue to be troublesome for the Government until they start treating the people of Meath fairly." His party colleague Thomas Byrne said this will be a political decision. "We tabled a motion in 2013 asking that the option of undergrounding this connector be looked at as technology changed but nothing has happened," he said. "We will be meeting with our party leader this Thursday to discuss our next step and we'll do everything we can to convince Government to act once and for all," he said. Fintan Slye, chief executive of EirGrid, said the North-South Interconnector is "undoubtedly the most important infrastructure scheme on the island. "The project will increase capacity of the grids north and south, helping to facilitate the connection of more renewable electricity generation. This is essential to achieve sustainable energy targets set by the EU," he said. Many beef farms could face a battle for survival if Britain pushes ahead with a hard Brexit, according to some of the country's leading agricultural experts. The dire forecasts follow the British Prime Minister's speech last week indicating that Britain is veering closer to a 'hard' exit from the EU over the next 18 months. "If the inevitable decreases stemming from Brexit come on top of lower prices associated with the extra 100,000 head of stock that are starting to come through the system this year, the losses could be enormous and enough to decimate some farms," said Teagasc's Kevin Hanrahan. "It could end up being the biggest restructuring event in the sector in living memory. "This isn't a reversible scenario, so it would cost a fortune to cover the losses with subsidies - the public might be willing to pay for this for the medium term, but not long term," he said. Processors A spokesman for beef processors said that Brexit could be "catastrophic" for Irish beef farms. "If we end up with a situation with basic World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules it would have a catastrophic effect for the wider sector," said Meat Industry Ireland's Cormac Healy. However, the lobbyist insisted that beef factories were preparing themselves for a long fight. "We're not giving up the ghost yet. There's a long way to go, but we need to be pushing more for state aid because this is a structural change," he said. But he admitted that Brexit would have a negative effect on prices, regardless of the final detail. "No matter what it is, it's a negative - you've just got to scale it back," he said. Agri-economist Professor Alan Matthews told an Oireachtas hearing last week that Brexit would be a "very big negative shock, and a permanent one". However, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed struck a more optimistic note last weekend. "It's hard to envisage a scenario where Europe will inflict damage on itself," he told the Farming Independent. "In that sense, Europe has an interest in trading with the UK as well. I think that, eventually, business sense will prevail," he said. Cash-strapped farmers are facing another financial headache as quotes for machinery insurance are being hiked by up to 30pc, a leading agri-contractor group has warned. Although agri-related injury claims remain consistently low, small, medium and large-scale contractors have been lumped with increasing premiums over the last three years. Fears are growing over the rising cost of farm insurance in general. The main insurers in agriculture are FBD, Aviva and Zurich. Michael Moroney, the newly appointed CEO of Farm Contractors Ireland (FCI), says the soaring cost of machinery insurance needs to be addressed. "We are seeing big increases in premiums being quoted to contractors at the moment. Some of them are quite significant, up to 30pc. "Nobody is prepared for a 30pc increase because contractors certainly won't be getting a 30pc increase in charges to farmers. "It's impossible for them to pass on that level of increase," he said. The FCI will hold a number of nationwide meetings with members this week to identify the extent of the problem. "We're trying to identify why premiums are increasing at such a substantial level because we don't have any indication that claims are increasing. "It doesn't seem to be machine related, it seems to be business related, the business of farm contracting is experiencing the increase," he said. "You could have someone at a small scale with two balers and five tractors, and you could have somebody at a big scale with a big outfit with diggers, tractors and trailers. There doesn't seem to be any difference," he said. Earlier this month, a Government working group made a range of recommendations aimed at bringing down the spiralling cost of motor insurance following repeated calls to cap the size of payouts for certain injuries - most notably whiplash which accounts for 80pc of all motor insurance claims. The commission will examine payouts for soft tissue injuries and compare them to the average awards in other countries. Transparency The IFA said moves towards greater transparency on claims data and more sharing of information on awards is "very positive". However, a spokesman for Injuries Board Ireland, an independent Irish government body for assistance with personal injury claims and compensation, told the Farming Independent they receive "scarcely more than a handful of ag-related claims every year". "In order for someone to make a claim, there has to be someone else who is liable. If there was an accident on a farm, in most cases, the person who sustained the injury would also be the owner-occupier of the farm so therefore they wouldn't be in a position to make a claim," he said. ICMSA President John Comer is "very concerned" at the increasing cost of farm and other insurance, and is calling on the Government to tackle the underlying causes. "We are expected, as farmers, to compete on a global economy but we pay insurance premiums well in excess of international norms," he said. "Reforms aimed at lowering premiums must see real results for farmers. In the meantime, farm families are urged to break old habits and consider getting quotes from other insurers and brokers." The IFA has called on the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, to intervene directly in the GLAS payments controversy. Between 9,000 and 10,000 farmers have yet to receive payments under GLAS and AEOS, with close to 40m in supports delayed. IFA rural development chairman Joe Brady said the payments situation had descended into a "debacle" and he called on Minister Creed to take personal charge of the matter. "The delays in GLAS and AEOS payments have caused a lot of concern on farms and has seriously affected cash-flow difficulties on farms. Minister Creed was left in no doubt at the IFA AGM as to the gravity of the situation and IFA now expect him to act," Mr Brady said. He claimed that many of the unpaid farmers in GLAS had yet to receive a payment, even though they joined the scheme as far back as May 2015. Around 97m was paid out at the end of December last, which represented 85pc of the payment to 27,363 GLAS I and II farmers, IFA maintained. The remaining 15pc payment is expected to be made from the end of February onwards when on-farm inspections have been completed by the Department of Agriculture on selected farms. However, Brady contended that "very few payments" were made last week, "despite commitments given that more would be made". IFA estimates that a further 35m is now due, as well as GLAS+ payments worth 3.6m. In relation to AEOS, Brady pointed out that around 4,000 farmers were still due a payment. This represents the last payment in the scheme for many farmers who have now moved to GLAS. Owen OCallaghan in his offices in Cork. Photo: Provision Few men have had such an impact on modern Irish life as developer Owen O'Callaghan. Mr O'Callaghan (76) died in Cork after a short illness early yesterday morning with his family by his bedside. Tributes were paid for his role in the economic development of Ireland and for his generous patronage of charities and the arts. But the Rochestown-based developer is perhaps best known to the public not for his projects but for the planning controversies that sparked the longest-running tribunal in State history. The retail centres and vast housing estates he developed over 40 years in the construction industry effectively helped shape modern Irish cities. The projects he developed over the years included the Liffey Valley Centre in Dublin, Mahon Point Shopping Centre in Cork and the Opera Lane complex in Cork. Expand Close Owen O'Callaghan with Cllr Therese Ridge (FG) unveiling the plaque at the sod-turning ceremony for the Quarryvale/Liffey Valley development in April, 1997 / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Owen O'Callaghan with Cllr Therese Ridge (FG) unveiling the plaque at the sod-turning ceremony for the Quarryvale/Liffey Valley development in April, 1997 Read more: Well known developer Owen O'Callaghan dies after short illness But for the best part of two decades, Mr O'Callaghan had vehemently fought the allegations levelled against him in the Mahon Tribunal. The 15-year tribunal had found that Mr O'Callaghan provided cash to former Government press secretary and lobbyist Frank Dunlop in support of a strategy of corruptly paying politicians to support a rezoning of Quarryvale lands in Dublin. When the tribunal published its findings in a 3,000 page report, Mr O'Callaghan rejected them as "unfair, biased and unjust". Expand Close Shoppers on Opera Lane, Cork city. Photo: Provision / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Shoppers on Opera Lane, Cork city. Photo: Provision Over recent years, Mr O'Callaghan focused most of his energies in his native Cork, with a hospital proposal, a bid for the 70m Cork events centre and a vast office complex. Mr O'Callaghan was married to Shelagh and is survived by his children Brian and Zelda. His youngest daughter Hazel (22) died in a freak equestrian accident in July 2002. A native of Ballincollig, Mr O'Callaghan was the son of a farmer. Educated at St Finbarr's College in Farranferris, he qualified as a quantity surveyor in 1964 and went on to work for the Cork engineering firm O'Connell and Harley. In 1969, he struck out on his own establishing a construction company - OMAC - with his brother Jack. The O'Callaghans quickly established themselves as housebuilders with developments in Ballincollig, Youghal and Douglas. In the 1980s, Mr O'Callaghan branched out with the establishment of O'Callaghan Properties, which is now acknowledged as one of Ireland's foremost developers of shopping centres. Cork Chamber President Barrie O'Connell expressed sadness at the passing of Mr O'Callaghan, extending condolences to his family and colleagues at O'Callaghan Properties. "Through his vision Owen made a hugely valuable contribution to the economy in Cork," he said. "His various projects across retail, housing and office development resulted in the creation of thousands of jobs as well as enhancing both the social and economic infrastructure of the region. "Owen displayed an outstanding commitment to Cork through his life and career and will be sadly missed." Mr O'Callaghan's removal is tonight at 6.30pm to St Patrick's Church, Rochestown. Requiem Mass is at 1pm tomorrow. The European Investment Bank (EIB) provided over 825m for long-term public and private sector investment across Ireland during 2016. As the European Union's finance arm, the EIB provides low-cost funding for sustainable investment projects - mainly across Europe. It is expected that hundreds of schools across the country - in addition to academic and student facilities at leading Irish universities - will be transformed as a result. Last year, a total of 350m was provided to upgrade outdated buildings and build state of the art new education and research facilities at primary and secondary schools as well as University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons. Fourteen new Primary Care Centres are also currently being built across the country as Ireland became the first country in Europe to benefit from EIB backing of primary healthcare. Furthermore, the EIB are expected to announce details of significant new support for social housing investment in Dublin and communities across Ireland and confirm the first support for forest investment in the country for 20 years. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan welcomed the involvement of the EIB in Ireland in recent years, particularly last year. "The consistent growth in Irelands economy and elevated levels of business confidence provide a compelling basis for investment in our evolving economic and social infrastructure," he said. European Investment Bank Vice President Andrew McDowell said that the opening of the EIB's first permanent office in Dublin indicates an increase of the bank's engagement in the years to come. Credit unions have limits imposed on them, with the value of their overall loan books restricting what they can issue as mortgages, but the Central Bank said it was reviewing the rules. Stock Image Hopes have been raised that rules limiting the amount of mortgage lending by credit unions may be relaxed. Credit unions have limits imposed on them, with the value of their overall loan books restricting what they can issue as mortgages, but the Central Bank said it was reviewing the rules. The move to review the mortgage restrictions comes as credit unions are stepping up their efforts to capture some of the rising demand for mortgages. The Government's help-to-buy rebate for first-time buyers and a shortage of housing mean mortgage demand is strong. A new initiative means credit unions are expected to step-up mortgage lending. They are to target first-time buyers, trader-uppers and those looking to acquire properties in tenant-purchase schemes. They could lend up to 400m this year, this despite having some 5bn to loan out. Current rules mean they can issue only 10pc of their individual loan books in long-term lending, such as mortgages. But the Central Bank said it was reviewing the rules, in a move that could give a massive competitive boost to the home-loans market. "Longer-term lending limits are constantly under review by us and are also being addressed in the strategic dialogue forum we initiated last year," a spokesman for the Central Bank said. Proposals for changes to the restrictions on long-term lending have already been put to credit union representative bodies. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: Azerbaijan exported products worth $495.39 million to Georgia in 2016, according to a report of Georgias National Statistics Office. Azerbaijan reduced export to Georgia by 8.1 percent in 2016 as compared to 2015, according to the report. The report says that Azerbaijan with a specific weight of 5 percent (7 percent in 2015) ranks the sixth among main exporters to Georgia. Canada is the leader with $1.79 billion (18.2 percent), being followed by Turkey - $1.35 billion (13.7 percent) and Ireland - $844.28 million (8.6 percent). The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to $648.85 million in 2016, according to the report. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to almost $648.85 million in 2016, according to the report. The specific weight of Azerbaijans trade turnover with Georgia is 5.4 percent of the total volume of Georgias foreign trade operations. The UK's Lloyds Bank has emerged as the latest lender to be the target of a cyber attack that two weeks' ago led to customers being locked out of online accounts. Photo: Reuters The European Union is considering "stress tests" of banks' defences against cyber attacks, officials have said, as concerns grow about the industry's vulnerability to hacking. Cyber attacks against banks have increased in numbers and sophistication in recent years, with criminals finding new ways to target banks beyond trying to illicitly obtain details of their customers' online accounts. The UK's Lloyds Bank has emerged as the latest lender to be the target of a cyber attack that two weeks' ago led to customers being locked out of online accounts. The Central Bank here brought in new guidelines last year that apply to all regulated financial firms - including banks and insurers - in an bid to prevent attacks by raising technology standards. Internationally, complex cyber attacks continue to rise. Banks "are struggling to demonstrate their ability to cope with the rising threat of intruders gaining unauthorised access to their critical systems and data", a report from the European Banking Authority (EBA) warned in December. The next step from European regulators to boost security could be an EU-wide stress test. The European executive commission is assessing additional initiatives to counter cyber attacks, a commission official told Reuters. "These include cyber-threat information sharing or penetration and resilience testing of systems." The ECB last year announced plans for a database to register incidents of cyber crime. The Commission is studying whether EU-wide tests would help step up security, a source said. The EBA, which is in charge of stress-testing banks, is expected to detail in summer the checks it intends to conduct in the next exercise, which is planned for mid-2018. An EBA official said cyber security was on the agency's radar but no decision had been made on a possible stress test. EBA chairman Andrea Enria has urged EU states to stress-test their financial institutions for cyber risks. (Reuters) A Louis Vuitton store in Sloane Street was ram-raided in the early hours of the morning by a gang who escaped on mopeds. The Metropolitan Police were alerted at 12.50am on Tuesday to a burglary in progress at the up-market retailer. Officers attended the incident and discovered a silver Ford Transit van had been driven into the shop and left at the scene. The value of the items stolen is not known and no arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at Kensington and Chelsea on 101 or to contact police on Twitter via @MetCC. McDonald's is trying stage a comeback, but still has plenty of work to do in its flagship US market. The world's biggest burger chain said US sales dipped 1.3pc at established locations for the final three months of 2016. Its performance was better overseas, and the sales figure rose globally. The company - which has its global HQ in Oak Brook, Illinois - attributed the sales decline at home to a tough comparison from the year-ago period, when it introduced an all-day breakfast menu. The results nevertheless underscore the hurdles McDonald's faces in its push to revitalize its image while facing broader industry challenges, including supermarkets and convenience stores selling more prepared foods and cheaper groceries encouraging people to eat at home. Earlier this month, The NPD Group said it expects customer traffic for the restaurant industry to remain "stalled" this year, as it was in 2016. McDonald's isn't alone in struggling to attract more customers. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has said the retail landscape would undergo a "seismic" change as people do more of their shopping online, leading to less foot traffic in general. The coffee chain's transactions at established US locations slipped by 1pc in the previous quarter. McDonald's, meanwhile, has conceded that it failed to keep up with changing tastes and that it's speeding up efforts to transform into a "modern, progressive burger company". It recently introduced its Big Mac in different sizes, for instance, and has been testing fresh beef for some of its burgers. Heading into 2017, McDonald's said it would focus on growing customer traffic. (Associated Press) Ruth Negga arrives at the Golden Globes in Beverly Hills, California. REUTERS/Mike Blake Irish actress Ruth Negga did us proud earlier as she landed a much coveted Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The rising Limerick native star secured her first Academy Award nomination for Best Performance in a Leading Role for her role in Loving, set in 1960s Virginia. However, in one of two embarrassing errors, the official Oscars website did not appear to mention the hotly tipped leading lady at all. Amy Adams - who was essentially snubbed for her efforts in 'Arrival' - was actually named in the listing of Best Actress instead of Ms Negga. The second gaffe mentioned Tom Hanks as Best Actor, when he too didn't appear on the original list. ABC Digital has reportedly taken responsibility for the mistake, apologising for any confusion caused. This morning, in an attempt to release breaking news as announced, ABC Digital briefly posted inaccurate nomination information on the Oscar.com website, the company said in a statement. The nominees announced by the Academy on Twitter were accurate. ABC quickly identified and corrected the errors. We apologize to the Academy, press and fans for any confusion. Ms Adams was considered after landing nominations at the Baftas and the Golden Globes but may have seen her support eroded by also being in contention for Nocturnal Animals. Ms Negga said she was "truly humbled" by the nomination: "I thank the Academy for this recognition, which I share with my co-collaborators Jeff Nichols and Joel Edgerton." About 10 mins after noms, Oscars website has Amy Adams in list of best actress nominees; not Ruth Negga. Appears fixed. pic.twitter.com/Czwj2MPiKd Christopher D. Shea (@iamcdshea) January 24, 2017 "It has been such an honour to have been given the opportunity to tell the incredible story of Richard and Mildred Loving, who serve as an inspiration that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. The Loving's fought quietly yet tirelessly, and changed the course of American legal history. "Today, to be among such extraordinary women - my fellow nominees, my peers with films this year, and the legendary performers whose work of years past has long inspired me...this means a great deal to me." Video of the Day Supporting Actor Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water Mahershala Ali, Moonlight Lucas Hedges, Manchester By The Sea Dev Patel, Lion Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals Lead Actor Casey Affleck, Manchester By The Sea Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge Ryan Gosling, La La Land Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic Denzel Washington, Fences Cinematography Arrival La La Land Lion Moonlight Silence Animated Feature Film Kubo and the Two Strings Moana My Life as a Zucchini The Red Turtle Zootopia Costume Design Allied Fantastic Beasts Florence Foster Jenkins Jackie La La Land Documentary (feature) Fire at Sea I Am Not Your Negro Life, Animated OJ: Made in America 13th Documentary (short subject) Extremis 4.1 Miles Joe's Violin Watani: My Homeland The White Helmets Film Editing Arrival Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water La La Land Moonlight Foreign Language Film Land of Mine A Man Called Ove The Salesman Tanna Toni Erdmann Makeup and Hair Styling A Man Called Ove Star Trek Beyond Suicide Squad Original Song Audition (The Fools Who Dream), La La Land Can't Stop the Feeling, Trolls City of Stars, La La Land The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story How Far I'll Go, Moana Original Score Jackie La La Land Lion Moonlight Passengers Production Design Arrival Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Hail, Caesar! La La Land Passengers Adapted Screenplay Arrival Fences Hidden Figures Lion Moonlight Original Screenplay Hell or High Water, Taylor Sheridan La La Land, Damien Chazelle The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, Epthimis Filippou Manchester By the Sea, Kenneth Lonergan 20th Century Women, Mike Mills Sound Mixing Arrival Hacksaw Ridge LaLa Land Rogue One 13 Hours Best Actress Isabelle Huppert, Elle Ruth Negga, Loving Natalie Portman, Jackie Emma Stone, La La Land Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins Best Supporting Actress Viola Davis, Fences Naomie Harris, Moonlight Nicole Kidman, Lion Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea Best Director Damien Chazelle, La La Land Denis Villeneuve, Arrival Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester By The Sea Barry Jenkins, Moonlight Best Picture Arrival Fences Hacksaw Ridge Hell or High Water La La Land Lion Manchester by the Sea Moonlight Hidden Figures You'll make me cry," Ruth Negga sighs. There is a pantomime frown before those moonbeam eyes re-emerge smiling. I had sought to begin our chat with something light and easy about Negga being finally home after seven long months of promotional duty. Seven months of hotel rooms "exactly" like the one we are seated in today in the Westbury, and seven months of questions, questions and more questions. This is her first proper interview junket of this campaign back in the old sod, however. After we're done, she plans to brave the Grafton Street shopping hordes and meet some friends for a catch-up drink. "At the risk of being cheesy, it's very nice to be home," she says, cosying into her chair. "I find it a bit like breathing out and relaxing here. There is the relief of being understood when you come back. There's one word, I find: 'Water'. Nowhere but here will anybody understand me when I say it. Not in America. Not even in England. It's that lack of having to repeat oneself, and I know that sounds really petty and tedious. Irish people are also quite sensitive about imitations of our accent. I think it's really bad that people feel they can do it when they meet us. I don't find it funny impersonating anyone's accent" Unless you're getting paid to, I assume. "Yes! exactly," she hoots back at my cheek. This is some weeks before Meryl Streep will use Negga to help make a point in her recent and now-famous Golden Globe speech about celebrating Hollywood's diversity. Not only will Streep nearly call Negga a Londoner (more of which later), but she will correct herself with a stage-Irish accent. Whether Negga picked Tinseltown's grand dame up on this afterwards is not known but the following night on Jimmy Kimmel Live! she will call Streep's affectionate shout-out "a dream come true". Be it from international press or big-screen legends, such attention tends to be par for the course when you deliver one of the most talked about performances of the year. Loving is a richly understated biopic of game-changing interracial couple Mildred and Richard Loving. The film was in development long before last year's "Oscars So White" controversy and now finds itself hitting nerves with sectors of American society that are dismayed over that nation's ugly political swing to the Right. Negga's turn as Mildred is the movie's epicentre, and with a rake of nods already collected this awards season, all eyes are now on Tuesday's Academy nominations announcement and that most glittery of nights in the Dolby Theatre a month later. Not bad for the Limerick girl who became a mainstay of the acting circuit up in Dublin before her horizons expanded to London and the United States. Wherever she appeared - The Crucible in the Abbey, on our screens in Love/Hate, whooping ass in Preacher - nuance, poise and perspiration tagged along. Irish audiences used to her presence may baulk at the "newcomer" mantle she is being ascribed outside our shores now, but we must concede that Loving is a breakthrough role for the 35-year-old that will most likely change her life. Directed by Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special), Loving emphasises the fact that the couple at the heart of its tale - who violated Virginia's interracial laws when they married in 1958 - were not torch bearers. They were just ordinary people who loved being together. Neanderthal ideas that God intended the races to be kept separate by sea borders were finally disposed of in the 1967 Supreme Court case that ruled in their favour. Negga and co-star Joel Edgerton keep the wattage low and the undercurrent powerful. She was born in Addis Ababa, where her Ethiopian father and Irish mother were a hospital doctor and nurse, respectively. At age four, Negga came to Limerick with her mother. Her father was set to follow them but was killed in a car accident when she was just seven. She remained in Ireland until a stint in South London when she was 11. Then it was back to Dublin to train in acting at Trinity's Samuel Beckett Centre and work as a journeyman actor. Eventually, there was a full-time move to London in 2006, where she lives in Primrose Hill with partner and Preacher co-star Dominic Cooper ("It's nice having someone who understands that what you're negotiating is something very odd. I'm very lucky."). She surely considered her parents' relationship while portraying Mildred. Video of the Day "I don't know if I did to a great extent," she says slowly. "Mildred reminded me a lot more of my auntie Pauline. She died last year and I was very close to her, and I did harness a lot of her. We were very much reared by the women in our family and kind of absorbed that maternal mothering way that they had about them. The countryside formed her, just like Mildred. I lovingly stole bits from her." Loving's content has naturally led many interviewers to ask about her own background and the prejudice that she and her parents perhaps encountered ("none whatsoever") which gets understandably tiring. Even without me asking, she finds herself explaining this to me. "I have asked my mother," she says, "and I don't think she's lying, she's quite an honest woman - they never had any problem in Ethiopia, ever. My family never expressed any wariness. That's not my narrative so I'm not going to lie and say there was. When I came home from the hospital, everyone was delighted with me!" Promoting Loving, however, has opened her eyes to how lucky they had it. After one US screening, a girl not much older than Negga approached her, speaking about how her maternal grandfather forbid her black father from entering his home. "And it was only after the grandfather had died that the father told the daughter because he didn't want her to think ill of her own blood. All these strange stories that are quite moving. The lovely thing is people are coming up to us wanting us to bear witness to their history." "I get impatient with people's curiosity," she says, a little guiltily, just afterwards. "I used to find it very alienating for me. People used to look at my history like I was some sort of exotic curiosity. For me, that's my normality, and it's very isolating when people always see you as something that is 'other'." I remark that Phil Lynott's statue is a stone's throw from the hotel. His surrounds were far less racially diverse, and his talent and charisma overshadowed that exoticism. "Yes," she grins. "It's awful when you talk about people like they're your mate, isn't it? 'Me ol' pal Philo!' The great thing about Phil Lynott - I just totally love him to pieces - is that his blackness wasn't indistinct from his Irishness. ''They were very much the one and the same, and I always felt like that. I am over saying 'I am this' and 'I am this'. I don't think that I have to choose. People are always wanting you to choose in a very stark manner about your life. We have to afford our own selves and others more complexity than that." Negga looks unreasonably glamorous this dull winter morning, and in a certain light, she can generally come across quite demure. The truth is she's actually full of craic, and has a wonderfully childish nasal snigger that you suspect has been refined over a lifetime of mischief. She ties herself in knots recalling an interviewer who repeatedly began questions with "as a British actress" ("It's not that the idea disgusts me, it's just that it's not true!") and then became worried her protestations would label her "irate Irish actress Ruth Negga". She is thoughtful too, riffing away on how her move to London a decade ago exposed to her just how Irish she truly was (she suffers bouts of "deep homesickness"), our relationship with land and "the mythmaking that we've internalised". She is up on everything from last year's Marriage Referendum to Waking the Feminists and Repeal the 8th, all of which she calls "moving" displays of social activism spearheaded by "ordinary people with a need, just like Richard and Mildred". But underneath all this is a genuine shyness, the kind that struggled to adjust to phalanxes of flashbulbs when Loving debuted at Cannes last May. It is there as her voice descends to a whisper and expression becomes evasive. It is a side of her that many simply refuse to believe can exist in a "film star". "Cannes was a major jump for me," she exhales in a flood of recall. "People are so surprised when you say you're a bit nervous about going on a chat show or whatever. 'Why not just play a character?' they say, but these are almost opposite ends of the spectrum - being oneself and being a character. One can be many things. I was a very shy child but I was also an extrovert. It's possible to inhabit those two camps, side by side. The great thing is that acting serves that purpose. Even looking into a camera at a photoshoot is so alien because you're trained not to see the camera or be aware of its presence when filming." She suddenly reminded herself to show some good-mannered humility about her lot, as if the homeliness of her Ethiopian and Irish roots are reining in a fledgling Hollywood diva that just threatened to break out. "But it's not something that I would complain about - it's a lovely thing - but it is just a by-product. I hate to use that word because that sounds dismissive, and I don't want to be dismissive of it - it's a very strange thing to happen. Like being on the front cover of Vogue. Like, I never even dreamed that was a possibility. I have huge respect for Vogue, huge respect for [editor] Anna Wintour. I was buying this magazine when I was a teenager. "It's intelligent, it's high art, it's a celebration of women. And to be a brown person on a cover of something is also very cool." She'll just have to get used to these "lovely by-products". Loving opens nationwide on February 3 Terry Paramore works on his roof after a severe storm caused a tree to fall on his home, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017, in Albany, Ga. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of (Photo: AP Photo) Fire units attempt to locate a possible person in Santa Ana River in Costa Mesa, California., (Photo: AP) Jake Hart, 13, plays in the rising floodwater during a storm in Seal Beach, California (Photo: AP) Residents and volunteers of Hattiesburg helps salvage personal belongings in the Hall Avenue neighborhood that was destroyed from Saturday's twister that damaged much of the city, . (Photo: AP) Waves crash into the historic WW1-era ship called S.S. Palo Alto at Rio Del Mar in Aptos, Calif., after it was torn apart during a storm (Photo: AP) Isabella Busse , 6, walks through floodwater near the Seal Beach Pier during a storm in Seal Beach (Photo: AP) A rescue worker enters a hole in the back of a mobile home in Big Pine Estates that was damaged by a tornado (Photo: AP Photo) At least 20 people have died after violent storms and tornadoes tore through south-eastern US states. Fifteen died in south Georgia, including seven from an apparent winter tornado which devastated a trailer park before dawn on Sunday. Authorities reported four deaths on Saturday in Mississippi as the storm system intensified. The storm was so big parts of it threatened the Carolinas and north Florida. In south Georgia's Cook County, coroner Tim Purvis confirmed seven people died at the mobile home park in the rural community of Adel, where about half of the 40 homes were levelled. The 15 killed in south Georgia also included two deaths each in the counties of Berrien and Brooks. In northern Florida, Columbia County Emergency Management director Shayne Morgan said a storm passing through Lake City caused a tree to crash into a house. A woman was injured and later died in hospital. The National Weather Service in Miami said on social media that two tornadoes touched down early Monday morning in south Florida. A tornado with top wind speeds of 107mph hit Miami-Dade County, while a tornado reaching speeds of 80-85mph hit Palm Beach County. Minor flooding was reported across Florida's Panhandle. In South Carolina, the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes struck over the weekend, injuring one woman who was trapped in a mobile home near Blackville. The weather service said a tornado touched down at about 3.45pm on Saturday in Barnwell County before moving into Bamberg County. The other occurred in Orangeburg County a few minutes later. Weather experts say tornadoes can hit any time of year in the US South - including in the dead of winter. While the central US has a well-defined tornado season - the spring - the risk of tornadoes "never really goes to zero" for most of the year in the south east, said Patrick Marsh of the Storm Prediction Centre in Norman, Oklahoma. He said 39 possible tornadoes were reported across the region from early on Saturday into Sunday evening - none immediately confirmed. Of those, 30 were reported in Georgia, four in Mississippi, and one each in Louisiana and South Carolina. January tornado outbreaks are rare but not unprecedented, particularly in the South. Data from the Storm Prediction Centre shows that, over the past decade, the nation has seen an average of 38 tornadoes in January, ranging from 84 in 2008 to four in 2014. Motorists have been alerted after a car was seen this morning driving the wrong way down the N4. A car was spotted travelling on the Dublin/Galway road near the Mayonoth junction. The car was driving the wrong way on the westbound carriageway of the road. AA Roadwatch warned commuters this morning about the incident. KILDARE: Car driving the wrong way along the M4 Dublin/Galway Rd westbound in the Kildare area (near J7 Maynooth). https://t.co/qvBPcgxUj8 AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) January 24, 2017 A pedestrian was also reported on the M50 between Junction 3 and Junction 4. Elsewhere Irish Rail warned commuters that a technical fault has delayed the Longford-Pearse-Bray route by 25 minutes. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has also alerted commuters to delays due to a breakdown at Junction 11 on the N40. In Dublin City Centre Sheriff Street is closed westbound from Castleforbes Road to East Road and diversions in place are causing delays on North Wall Quay. The Luas Greenline is also running with 15 minutes delays this morning due to a non-Luas related incident. A human-trafficking operation netted 18m from hundreds of desperate immigrants by funnelling them through Dublin Airport with the help of Aer Lingus staff. The smuggling scheme was exposed after a major sting operation on a flight from Madrid, involving the Special Detective Unit (SDU) and officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau. Further arrests are now expected in the human-trafficking operation which is understood to have enormous international links, including the Italian Mafia and Chinese Triads. Two Aer Lingus employees, aged 56 and 61, have already been arrested on the suspicion of assisting the people-smuggling operation. Read More Read more: Over 3,000 people prevented entering Ireland through Dublin Airport last year - top garda Expand Close Click to view full size graphic / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Click to view full size graphic A 28-year-old Chinese national, who entered the country illegally, was also arrested. Three men are due to appear in Dublin District Court this morning. Gardai investigating the unprecedented people-smuggling operation are expected to make more arrests in the near future. The Irish Independent has learned that the smuggling operation came to light after a man who entered Ireland illegally attempted to leave on a flight to another EU country. Authorities noticed that there was no official record of the man ever entering the country, and an investigation began. Network Sources have stated that each person pays at least 10,000 to the smugglers, but the amount could be up to 30,000. About 600 people have been smuggled into Ireland by the organised crime gang in the past number of years, meaning they would have netted in the region of 18m. "The massive operation includes criminal gangs from Italy and Eastern Europe as well as China, and the majority of illegal immigrants smuggled into Ireland would be Chinese nationals," a source said. Gardai are examining whether the flights involved in the criminal network originate from other EU cities, including Rome and Madrid. Read More Read more: All you need to know about the alleged immigrant smuggling ring at Dublin Airport A senior garda said that there was always a fear of airline staff assisting such criminal enterprises. Assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Driscoll, who is in charge of Special Crime Operations, added that Ireland could suffer reputational damage if successful Garda operations such as this one did not take place. "There is always the danger that employees - and this is worldwide - who have the capacity to facilitate illegal immigration will do certain acts that may assist in that regard," he said. "The one thing for sure is that Ireland's reputation would be greatly damaged if we didn't show a capacity to continuously monitor our immigration control and detection of breaches where they took place. "The figures I have given in terms of the ongoing refusal of leave to land and ongoing monitoring over many years and recognition of potential corrupt practices involved is what will be highlighted and acknowledged at an international level," Mr O'Driscoll added. Both Aer Lingus and the Dublin Airport Authority said they were co-operating with the ongoing Garda investigations but would not comment any further. Fresh measures are expected to be introduced this year, including the Advanced Passenger Information (API) system. It requires people travelling to a particular country to submit their passport details and information about themselves before they travel to the country. This is expected to be implemented by March. A UK adult television station has a apologised to residents in Westport, Co Mayo who were inundated with calls from users of x-rated chatlines advertised on the channel. The Sunday Independent last weekend revealed Regional Development Minister Michael Ring was forced to contact television regulators and gardai after his constituents were bombarded with calls from adult chatline callers. Today, Babestation, the UK channel advertising the chatlines, issued a statement apologising for the inconvenience caused to people living in Westport. "Babestation recognise this as an innocent misunderstanding and they are extremely aware that disappointed callers in Ireland, whose intention it was to speak to one of the Babestation girls, may have inadvertently reached homes on the west coast of Ireland," a statement said. "They also recognise the impact that this has had on those that may have received these calls, and would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused. Babestation are keen to stress, and will continue to do so publicly, that when dialling a UK number, the 0 should be replaced by 00 44,'" it added. The adult station said it planned to visit Wesport with two models and speak to residents as a "show of support and recognition". However, Mr Ring insisted the station and its models were not wanted in Wesport. Mr Ring said: "All we want them to do is change the phone numbers so residents are not annoyed by these calls. We don't want them down here. " Babestation said it will visit Westport on Thursday 26th January at around 2pm. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: The import of Georgian goods by Azerbaijan decreased by 36.3 percent to $153.46 million in 2016, as compared to 2015, according to a report of Georgias National Statistics Office. Azerbaijans share in the Georgian export was 7.3 percent during the period, as compared to 10.9 percent in 2015. Azerbaijan has been the leader regarding the goods import from Georgia for a long period. However, the situation changed after the introduction of a temporary ban on imports of cattle from Georgia in 2016, as well as due to a sharp decline in export of cars and other products. According to the results of 2016, Azerbaijan ranked the fifth among countries importing Georgian products. The country was the leader for goods import from Georgia ($240.95 million) in 2015. Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to almost $648.85 million in 2016, according to the report. The specific weight of Azerbaijans trade turnover with Georgia is 5.4 percent of the total volume of Georgias foreign trade operations. Bus Eireann and unions will attend a meeting at the Labour Court this afternoon as the company faces the threat of an all-out strike over a drastic survival plan. The National Bus and Railworkers Union said it has accepted an invitation from the court to meet to "provide some clarity on some of the conjecture surrounding the status of this dispute". Siptu has also said that it will attend the meeting. The move comes after the company said earlier today that it is seeking the court's help after unions refused to attend talks on cuts. They claim the cuts will reduce the pay of the company's 2,600 workers by up to 30pc . In a statement this morning, the commercial semi state company said it was a "very regrettable situation" that unions had not turned up for a meeting they were invited to at Broadstone in Dublin this morning to discuss cuts to earnings. "We require leadership from all sides to ensure meaningful discussions can commence," said the company in its statement. "We are dedicated to securing the future of Bus Eireann as a premium employer and we have requested a meeting with all staff unions to discuss proposals which would restore our finances and protect the maximum number of jobs." It said unions have refused to meet the company or failed to confirm acceptance of the invitation. The company said some have "stated outrightly" that they will not engage with the company on improved efficiencies and cost saving proposals. General Secretary of the Nbru, Dermot O'Leary, accused Bus Eireann of attempting to play footloose and fancy free with the industrial relations institutions of the state. For Bus Eireann to call for leadership from all sides to ensure meaningful discussions can commence is as pitiful as it is insulting," he said. He accused the new management team of providing cover for their "paymasters" at both CIE group and department level. Mr Hernan recently revealed that cuts would include the axing of shift payments, reductions in Sunday premiums, and cuts in allowances. Redundancies are also expected and the company has not ruled out compulsory job losses. Mr Hernan has said that management and support grades will be "streamlined" and clerical staff are overpaid. The company said the court had accepted it could not deal with a pay claim last month until it had produced a more detailed plan. It said it had now given these details to unions in an attempt to deal with the wage claim in the context of the "urgent financial crisis" it faces. "Bus Eireann wrote to all unions on January 16 outlining the actions, which we believe are required to deal with the immediate risk of insolvency while ensuring future competitiveness and sustainability," said today's statement. "Bus Eireann has a viable future and can successfully compete but only if we make the necessary changes." Meanwhile, Acting Chief Executive Ray Hernan is expected to tell a Dail committee tomorrow that all 2,600 jobs are at risk because the company faces insolvency in 18 months. A judge has refused a 31,000 settlement offer to a five-year-old schoolgirl who broke her right leg while attending a Dublin playschool. Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said the figure would not be enough to compensate Lacey Murphy who still feels pain in her leg, almost two years after the incident. Barrister William Reidy had told the court that Lacey was only three in April 2015 when she climbed on an open wardrobe at Larkin Early Education Centre, Ballybough Community Centre. Mr Reidy said Lacey unfortunately fell off the wardrobe onto her right leg. She had been taken to hospital where x-rays revealed a fracture of the tibia. The court heard that Lacey had needed to undergo a manipulation of her right leg bones under anaesthesia. She had to wear a long leg cast and later a walking boot for a number of weeks. Mr Reidy, who appeared with solicitors OHanrahan & Co, said Lacey was expected to make a full recovery but was still experiencing pain in her leg. Through her mother, Lynn Murphy, of Courtney Place, Dublin, Lacey sued the school for negligence. Mr Reidy told the court that following an assessment by the Injuries Board, the defendant had made a 31,000 settlement offer, which he was not recommending to the court. Judge Groarke said he was satisfied the offer was not enough and refused it. The case will now go to a full trial at a date to be fixed by the Circuit Court office. Kathleen Chada took the case against husband Sanjeev over the murders of Eoghan and Ruairi. Photo: Collins Courts The wife of a man jailed for life for the murder of their two young sons has obtained a High Court judgment of 77,690 against her husband over the deaths of the boys. Kathleen Chada, a clinic manager, of Ballinkillen, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, sued Sanjeev Chada (45), whose address was given as Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin. Mrs Chada sued him for assault, battery and trespass on the person causing the deaths of Eoghan (10) and Ruairi (5) Chada at Skehanagh Lower, Ballintubber, Co Mayo, in late July 2013. He was jailed for life in October 2014 after pleading guilty to the murders. The Central Criminal Court heard the boys' bodies were discovered in the boot of Chada's car on July 29, 2013, after it had crashed into a wall near Westport with him in the driver's seat. Chada, who had ran up gambling debts, told his wife he was taking their sons bowling in Carlow but instead drove to Mayo where he strangled the boys with a rope before trying to kill himself. Expand Close Eoghan (right) and Ruairi Chada (left) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eoghan (right) and Ruairi Chada (left) The court also heard Chada had secretly mounted huge debts from online trading and had borrowed from family and friends and lost large amounts of money. He was 500,000 in debt at one stage from gambling other people's money. He told gardai he killed them "because I love them so much". In a victim impact statement at the boys' inquest, Mrs Chada said that her two sons had "everything to live for". Expand Close Sanjeev Chada. Photo: Frank McGrath / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sanjeev Chada. Photo: Frank McGrath "So much potential cut down in such a cruel and violent way by their own father who they loved and adored. He was their hero. How can evil such as this have been hidden for so long in a seemingly loving father? "How can he be so utterly, utterly selfish? He has robbed us of so very, very much - me, our family and the boys' friends and the community. Who can ever know what potential the boys had in the future? It is all gone." Yesterday, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan was told Sanjeev Chada was not contesting the judgment application. The judge said it was not necessary for Mrs Chada to give evidence. He told her he was "terribly sorry over the tragedy that has befallen your family. It was an unspeakable tragedy and you have my sympathy". Mrs Chada thanked the judge. The court was told the boys' maternal grandparents had waived any claim in relation to the case as had the paternal grandmother who lives in Romford, England. Mr Justice Noonan was also told a sum for the legal costs had also been agreed. Peter Kernan, arrives at the district court in Dublin, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non-nationals. Picture credit; Damien Eagers Peter Kernan, arriving at the District Court in Dublin on January 24, 2017, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non-nationals. Picture credit: Damien Eagers Xing Wang, 28, arrives at the District Court in Dublin, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non nationals. Picture credit; Damien Eagers Peter Kernan (56) (left) and Xing Wang (28), both with addresses in Celbridge, Co Kildare Two Aer Lingus workers have been charged by gardai investigating an alleged people-smuggling ring operating through Dublin Airport. The two were brought to court this morning charged with immigration offences after their arrest at the airport. A third man, a Chinese national, was also charged. The two Aer Lingus staff, Peter Kernan (56), with an address at Old Rectory Lodge, Celbridge, and Frederick Cham (61) appeared in Dublin District Court accused of facilitating the trafficking of a non-national into the State, while the Chinese national Xing Wang (28) is accused of failing to present himself to immigration authorities. Mr Kernan, with an address in Celbridge, Co Kildare, is applying for bail and the application will be heard by Judge Cormac Dunne this afternoon. Judge Dunne remanded Mr Cham, with an address at Railway Cottages, Hazelhatch, Celbridge, and Mr Wang, of no fixed address in custody to appear in Court again on Friday. No bail applications were made by their lawyers. Expand Close Xing Wang, 28, arrives at the District Court in Dublin, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non nationals. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Xing Wang, 28, arrives at the District Court in Dublin, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non nationals. Picture credit; Damien Eagers The court heard none of the accused replied to the charges after caution. Mr Kernan and Mr Cham are each charged with two counts of facilitating the trafficking of a non-national into the State at the airport on January 9 and 22 last. Expand Close Peter Kernan, arriving at the District Court in Dublin on January 24, 2017, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non-nationals. Picture credit: Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Peter Kernan, arriving at the District Court in Dublin on January 24, 2017, he is charged with facilitating the travel of non-nationals. Picture credit: Damien Eagers Mr Wang is charged with failing to produce a passport or identification card and failing to present himself to an immigration officer, under the Immigration Act. He is also charged with an offence under Section 29 of the Theft and Fraud Offences Act. CEO Linda Peters said that the move was being discussed Boys could be welcomed into Girl Guides Ireland - if they identify as a girl. New guidelines from the Girlguiding organisation in the UK have outlined how it wanted to welcome boys to the organisation who "self-identify" as girls. It said the group aimed to "support all girls and young women... this is understood in terms of the way a person self-identifies their gender identity - a person's inner sense of self". This means that if a boy "self-identifies" as a girl, he can join his local guide unit without, for example, having to dress as a girl. The rules have been published as part of an updated policy on equality and diversity. Linda Peters, chief executive officer of the Irish Girl Guides, said the organisation was also considering such a policy. "Our policy is that anyone who lives their life as a female is welcome to join our organisation," she told the Irish Independent. "We're taking direction from the Girl Guides in Canada and we're going to develop a guideline for our leaders. "We asked their permission to adopt their guidelines if it suited us, but ours may be slightly different." Ms Peters said that the issue of transgender children had been raised in Ireland before the UK move. "We had our board meeting on Saturday and there was mention of transgender children," she said. "We have a committee specifically for equality diversity and inclusion, and we had a large meeting of all our committees over the weekend and we were looking at the guidelines." Discretion "It was coincidental as we were driving back that [Girlguiding] UK had issued a press statement that they had released their policy on transgender children." But Ms Peters said that the proposed changes would require input from parents and committee members. "It's not something that you throw together; there needs to be a lot of consultation," she said. The UK guidelines say there should be "flexibility and discretion" shown. They also state that it is not "best practice" to tell parents that their daughters in the Girl Guides will be sharing facilities such as sleeping areas and toilets with transgender girls, who were born male. This might arise during, for example, camping trips away. When asked about whether parents should be informed if there is a transgender child going on a trip with the other children, Ms Peters said this was another area that was up for consultation. "We will be consulting someone with prior experience. Up until now there's only one member in our organisation that has a transgender child and we would like to consult with her. We want to take time to think this through, as it could have big implications," she said. Girlguiding UK has long been a single-sex organisation, with its chief executive Julie Bentley, a leading campaigner for abortion rights and greater access to contraception, describing it as "the ultimate feminist organisation". TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has been called on to intervene to try to alleviate the trolley crisis as 520 patients waited for a bed. Fianna Fail spokesman on health, Billy Kelleher asked today:Where is the Taoiseach? He said Health Minister Simon Harris is proving himself incapable of dealing with the immediate, and current, hospital overcrowding crisis "The Taoiseach has previously made much of his hands on approach to ensuring progress in the health system." Deputy Kelleher was commenting following the release of the daily Trolley Watch figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation which showed 520 people were lying on trolleys this morning in Emergency Departments and hallways. I dont make this call lightly. More than a fortnight ago, we heard from the Minister that he had a plan, and that it would work. Patients lying on trolleys would be hard pressed to see any evidence of Minister Harris promised improvements. Minister Harris must come before the Oireachtas and explain in detail, hospital by hospital, how he, his Department and the HSE are seeking to resolve the crisis. If additional funding is needed, over and above the existing 2017 health budget, the Minister needs to come to Dail Eireann, and seek cross-party support for it, with the necessary detail. Fianna Fail have made repeated calls for the opening up of additional step-down facilities that could be used to take the burden off of acute hospitals. The current crisis began in September 2016, and there is no sign of it ending. Blaming it on a flu outbreak belies a complete lack of planning and preparation by the Minister. This is simply not acceptable. The European Financial Forum in Dublin was evacuated this morning due to a fire alarm. The event is being held at Dublin Castle and is set to be attended by Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Hundreds of attendees were evacuated briefly from the building shortly after 9am. Attendees returned to the building within 10 minutes. It is understood the fire alarm may have been set off by somebody smoking or vaping in the bathrooms. Organisers of a European financial forum made a plea for attendees "not to smoke or vape in the toilets" when they returned following the evacuation. The forum, now in its second year, aims to bring together international and Irish industry leaders. At the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz and CEO of PwC Central & Eastern Europe met with Mr Rovnag Abdullayev, the President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), and with Mr Elshad Nasirov, the Vice President of SOCAR. The meeting featured an open and fruitful discussion on a number of topics and initiatives of importance to both companies, as well as the continuing development of the Azerbaijan and regional economy. The World Economic Forum provides a great opportunity to meet with important contacts and clients from around our global network and to discuss strategic business issues and opportunities. It was wonderful to have a chance to speak with Mr Abdullayev and Mr Nasirov. We value our relationship with SOCAR greatly and look forward to continuing to serve SOCAR as a professional services provider, said Olga Grygier-Siddons, CEO of PwC Central & Eastern Europe. SOCAR is clearly the cornerstone of Azerbaijans economy. Not only it has led the way for the countrys oil and gas industry, the company has helped to modernise the economy by pioneering the use of advanced management practices. SOCAR has entrusted PwC to support them in making the companys transformation programme a reality. PwCs work with SOCAR represents a strategic partnership and significance of this relationship is reflected in our purpose - building trust in society and solving important problems of our clients. SOCAR has partnered with PwC at several high importance projects to advance our financial reporting and management practices. We are delighted to observe high-level commitment from PwC leadership to our country and our company. Azerbaijan is embarking on new chapter of its economic development. SOCAR is integral part of the new economic roadmap and we are looking forward to leverage the knowledge and best practices accumulated at PwC, said Rovnag Abdullayev, the President of SOCAR. SOCAR is a Global Priority Client for PwC; this once again proves the Firms commitment to Azerbaijan and SOCAR. We will continue leveraging the experience of our global network, industry knowledge and business understanding to create the value SOCAR and Azerbaijani Government is looking for from strategy through execution. The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. Three production divisions, one oil refineries and one gas processing plant, a deep-water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 23 subdivisions are operating as corporate entities under SOCAR. The purpose of PwC is to build trust in society and solve important problems. It is a network of firms in 157 countries with more than 223,000 people who are committed to delivering quality in assurance, advisory and tax services. Find out more by visiting www.pwc.com. PwC has been active in Central and Eastern Europe for the past 25 years. PwC Central and Eastern Europe (PwC CEE) is a network of firms, consisting of separate legal entities in accordance with applicable local laws and regulations. It works to help its clients in local markets become more successful and globally competitive. Today PwC has more than 8,800 people, including 260 partners, working in 55 offices across 29 countries in the region. PwC Azerbaijan provides industry-focused assurance, tax, legal and advisory services to various industries. Over 130 professionals from 6 countries working in PwC office in Baku, Azerbaijan share their thinking, experience and solutions to develop fresh perspectives and practical advice for our clients. Eddie Hutch (58) was shot dead at his home in Dublins north inner city on the night of February 8 Gardai have arrested a man in his late 20s in connection with the murder of Eddie Hutch Snr on February 8 2016. The man arrested is currently detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939 as amended in a Garda Station in North Dublin. Eddie Hutch Snr, father-of-five, was shot at his home at Popular Row, Dublin 3 as part of the Kinahan-Hutch fued. The 58-year-old Dublin based taxi-driver died due to gunshot wounds to the head. Eddie Hutch, who is the brother of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch, was murdered on February 8, three days after gunmen stormed the Regency Hotel and gunned down David Byrne (33), a close associate of crime boss Daniel Kinahan (37). Two of the killers are believed to have escaped in a car that was later found dumped on St Patrick's Parade, in nearby Drumcondra. The murder is being treated as a revenge attack for the killing of David Byrne, considered one of the key lieutenants of the Kinahan cartel. More to follow A man has been jailed seven months for sexually assaulting three young girls in a Co Fermanagh swimming pool last year. Spaniard Cristian Diaz (35), a Madrid University graduate, was jailed after appearing at Dungannon Crown Court. Judge Stephen Fowler QC told the electrical engineer that while he accepted he did not pose a serious risk of harm, the courts considered all sexual touching of young children as serious, particularly when committed in a public arena where children should have been able to feel safe, and where parents allowed them to go in safety. Judge Fowler, who also put Diaz on the Sex Offenders' Register for 10 years, said his young victims had been understandably left confused, distressed and upset. He added it was also a serious case as it involved three different children, during three separate incidents on three different dates, and all in a public place. However, in mitigation, Judge Fowler said that Diaz had pleaded guilty and, while not at the first opportunity, it had vindicated the children, spared them from having to give evidence in court, and was an indication of a level of remorse on Diaz's part. In a statement issued on behalf of the parents, they praised the bravery of their children in coming forward. "They should be very proud of themselves in helping to stop further harm to members of the public," they said. The mother of one of his victims said the defendant may have come into Dungannon Crown Court "as Cristian Diaz - but he is going out as a registered sex offender". Diaz, living at East Bridge Street, Enniskillen, at the time, admitted sexually touching the schoolgirls, aged between nine and 11, in the Lakeland Forum swimming pool in the town on February 24, March 10 and March 12, 2015. Diaz was sentenced to a total of 14 months, seven to be served in custody, followed by seven on licence. He has expressed a wish to return to his family home on the outskirts of the Spanish capital afterwards. Prosecuting counsel Simon Reid told an earlier hearing that the girls had been left frightened, scared and traumatised after Diaz had approached them in the pool and "touched" them outside and over their swimsuits. Mr Reid said the defendant would either dive into, or duck under, the water beside the girls who later reported being touched by him, and it felt like a "prod or a poke", and that on one occasion the man tried to apologise, telling the youngster, who did not reply, that he was "sorry". The barrister added that following the complaints, police were able to identify Diaz from CCTV footage pieced together from the dates and times of the assaults. Diaz, he said, had no criminal record, either here or in Spain. Mr Reid said an aggravating factor was that the girls were "exposed and vulnerable, swimming in a place where they should have felt safe". However, Diaz's guilty pleas had saved the girls the trauma of having to relive their ordeal in open court. Defence barrister Ian Turkington said that a remorseful Diaz, who lost any friends he had made since coming to Enniskillen, accepted the upset, suffering and hurt caused by his actions, which were short-lived, with no skin to skin contact. Mr Turkington continued that his client, a university graduate, came from a respected family, and that he had a previously clear record, with an impeccable character and work ethic. "He describes it as the greatest mistake of his life," Mr Turkington added. A definition of 'sexual consent' to be approved by Government today will explicitly outlaw engaging in a sexual act with someone who has passed out from intoxication. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will seek Cabinet backing today for the laws which seek to prevent people being "taken advantage of". The legislation will also introduce extra protections for people with disabilities who may not be able to communicate their consent. The Law Reform Commission was recommending that definition of consent be written into law as far back as the 1980s. Sources told the Irish Independent that Mrs Fitzgerald's proposed definition will "make it clear that a person who is incapable of consenting to a sexual act due to, for instance, being asleep or unconscious, as a result of intoxication" cannot give consent. Currently, Irish law states that rape occurs if a person has not consented to intercourse and/or if the perpetrator was reckless as to whether the victim did or did not consent. However, the courts have had to create their own definitions of consent. There will also be new and strengthened offences to tackle child pornography, along with new provisions to be introduced regarding evidence by victims, particularly children. Another element of the Bill is to criminalise the purchase of sexual services. "When enacted, the bill will bring Irish law into line with a number of international legal instruments," a source said. Police forensics officers examine the area around a sealed-off petrol station in north Belfast following the shooting of a police officer. Photo: AFP/Getty Images Detectives investigating the attempted murder of a policeman in Northern Ireland last night made two more arrests. The men, aged 30 and 39, were detained in west Belfast in connection with the petrol station forecourt shooting of a young officer in north Belfast. A 36-year-old man arrested in the wake of Sunday's shooting remained in custody last night. The community officer was shot three times in the arm and commanders believe his body armour may have saved him from further harm. Detectives believe the officer may have been saved by his bulletproof vest after the garage was riddled with gunshots during the suspected dissident gun attack. Police believe the gunman may have been lying in wait across the busy Crumlin Road before opening fire on the packed forecourt with a high-velocity rifle as families went about their business on Sunday. Appeal They are now appealing for the public's help in finding the car that they believed was used in the attack. After firing as many as nine or 10 shots, the gunman is thought to have made his getaway in an Audi car at around 7.30pm. Chief constable George Hamilton said police expected CCTV footage would be collected from the garage and forensic officers spent much of yesterday at the scene. Mr Hamilton described the attack, believed to have been carried out by dissident republicans, as reckless and despicable. "We as police officers are citizens in uniform and this officer was a member of the community," he said. "He was attacked, but other members of the community were at massive risk as well. "The people who did this don't care who they could have murdered, albeit though it was clear the attack was aimed at the police officer on duty. Read more: 'The work of cowards' - Police officer hospitalised after drive-by dissident shooting, one arrest made "It's very fortunate that we're not conducting a murder investigation." The injured officer is believed to have been hit three times in his arm and spent three hours in theatre at the Royal Victoria Hospital overnight on Sunday. He will need more surgery in the future. Police said he is "recovering well". Police also believe the officer's ballistics vest, which has been taken away for testing, may have been struck. Early indications suggest the gunman lay in wait for his target at an empty car park across the road from the garage. A dad-of-one was killed in a tragic mountain-biking accident in Co Tipperary. Gardai are investigating the incident in which the 50-year-old, originally from Co Limerick, suffered fatal injuries while descending a trail on his bicycle. The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon at approximately 3pm on private grounds at Ballingarry, Co Tipperary. The man was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was taken to University Hospital Limerick where a post mortem was to be arranged. The deceased has been named as Mr. Warren Smith. Gardai are reporting his death not to be suspicious but are investigating for the purpose of the Coroner's inquest. The media's confidence in publishing "robust commentary" is being threatened by "unreasonable and frequent threats of defamation actions", according to the Press Council of Ireland. While acknowledging the balance between the right to publish and maintaining an individual's right to reputation, the council said it was concerned that these actions may arise from a very small number of wealthy individuals "whose access to finance may be disproportionately greater than that of the press". The council has also expressed concern that the current defamation process is slow and often results in "excessive awards" in comparison with other countries. In a submission to the Department of Justice, which is currently carrying out a review of the 2009 Defamation Act, the council noted that the print media in Ireland is facing these and other "unprecedented difficulties". The detailed submission - which follows the invitation for views by the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald - addresses the level of awards in particular. As suggested by the council, cases should be heard in the Circuit Court where there would be a limit on costs and potential awards and in cases where larger amounts are being sought, the hearings might be heard in the Commercial Court. The council has also called for the Defamation Act to be strengthened so that the public can the Press Council process as an alternative to defamation proceedings. The interior of the Stardust which went on fire on the morning of the St. Valentines Day 1981, killing 45 young people. Photo Independent Newspapers A Private Members' Motion calling for a new inquiry into the Stardust disaster which claimed 48 lives will be brought before cabinet today. The motion by Independent TD Tommy Broughan will seek to establish a commission of investigation into the tragedy. Minister of State Finian McGrath said he will support the motion, despite the Government stating there is insufficient evidence for a new inquiry. On Valentines Day 1981, a fire in the Stardust ballroom in Artane, Dublin, killed 48 young people and injured 214 others. Expand Close The interior of the Stardust after the fire in the early hours of St Valentine's Day, 1981 Photo: Independent Newspapers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The interior of the Stardust after the fire in the early hours of St Valentine's Day, 1981 Photo: Independent Newspapers The families of those killed have not accepted the original probes findings, which they say do not reflect the experience of those who were there. A tribunal of inquiry reported in November 1981 that the "more probable explanation of the fire is that it was caused deliberately" and "probably started [on a seat] in the west alcove." Antoinette Keegan, who was 18 at the time of the 1981 fire, said the victims' committee has new evidence of where the fire started but are "constantly being ignored". Speaking to Independent.ie, Antoinette insisted the main source of the fire came from the roof and not the seating area, as currently documented. "I was there when the whole building collapsed on top of us. It came down on top of us, not from the seating area," she said. "The Department of Justice have been told many times that two 999 calls were made that night informing them that there was a major fire on the roof and another small fire in the seating area,"she added. A Department of Justice spokesperson said the department is considering the Private Members' Motion ahead of this week's Dail debate. Other families campaigning for a new inquiry believe key testimonies were omitted from the original report, including testimonies from witnesses both inside and outside the venue pointing clearly to the fire having started in the roof-space. Brenda Kelly, a resident who was living near the Stardust stated she saw a fire at the club at about 1.30am and that she called 999 at 1.43am. The final report does not refer to Ms Kelly's testimony or record her 999 call. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Kazakh coal producers are interested to enter new markets in Europe and Asia after the reduction in coal export to Russia, Kazakh LS business website reported with the reference to Executive Director of the Republican Association of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises Nikolai Radostovets. Russia is set to replace Kazakh coal imports to its own coal, within the program of industry development until 2030. Kazakh coal companies want to sign long-term export contracts, Radostovets said at the governmental meeting Jan. 24. He also noted that Russia is going to increase the fee for transit carriers. This increase will affect Kazakh coal exporters among others. Radostovets asked Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev to support local companies in this issue within the forthcoming negotiations with Russia. Head of the Republican Association of Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises also stressed that Kazakhstan requires new coal strategy and new rules of cargo transportation. He also noted that coal producers in Kazakhstan experience rail car shortage in late 2016 they were provided with 70 percent of required cars and proposed to create a special working group under the Ministry of Investment and Development, which would optimize the process of car provision. Kazakhstan produced 98 million tons of coal in 2016. As much as 71.8 million tons of this volume was supplied to domestic market, 26.2 million tons sent to export. In 2017 Kazakhstan plans to produce 100 million tons. Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova South Dublin apartment owners have been left infuriated as they face a bill of up to 30m, which will "unfairly penalise them for the planning of others". Apartment owners at Beacon South Quarter in Sandyford have received a letter outlining a bill of up to 30m to be presented to them at an upcoming AGM on February 6. It is in relation to damage caused by water issues and to fire safety structures that need to be remedied in the building. The apartment owners are "being presented with astronomical charges to rectify structural issues affecting the homes that they purchased," said Fine Gael TD Josepha Madigan. Inflated "The costs arise from a failure to provide to sufficient water ingress and fire safety structures in the original construction of the residential development," said Ms Madigan. "Over the weekend I was contacted by a number of concerned residents of the Beacon South Quarter apartments. "These homes were purchased in good faith by many people at inflated Celtic Tiger prices. "They are now being asked to pick up the tab for poor planning that failed to adequately provide for damage to the building from water issues or fire safety," she added. Ms Madigan said a solution "similar to those struck for residents of Priory Hall and Longboat Quay" should now be considered. "We must arrive at a solution that does not unfairly penalise residents for the poor planning of others", she said. One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said residents were "feeling helpless". "I've got a knot in my stomach ever since I read that letter. It was out of the blue," they said. Damage "Luckily I have not been affected by the water damage but my heart goes out to those who have. "I wasn't aware though about an upcoming fire audit, of which there is scant information about in the letter. "In the letter it just said the management company will be collecting 9m in 2017 for the fire issues. "You're just left scratching your head," the resident said. "I bought my apartment in 2006 before the boom and after paying my mortgage and management service fees this is the last thing I wanted." Fine Gael councillor Emma Blain said: "it's not very fair at all". Aramark Property, which acts as an agency for the managing company, and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council did not offer a comment when contacted by the Herald. British Prime Minister Theresa May has turned down an invitation to address the Dail during her visit to Dublin later this month. The decision by Ms May comes after the Supreme Court in the UK today ruled that Parliament must vote on legislation to trigger Brexit - but a spokesman for 10 Downing Street has said it will not change plans to trigger divorce proceedings by March. "The British people voted to leave the EU, and the Government will deliver on their verdict - triggering Article 50, as planned, by the end of March. Today's ruling does nothing to change that," he said. The Government appealed against a High Court ruling in November which blocked Prime Minister Theresa May using the royal prerogative to launch Britain's exit from the EU without Parliament having a say. Speaking after the ruling the Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government will do "all that is necessary" to implement the ruling. Mr Wright said the Government was "disappointed" by the final decision in its historic battle over who has the right to authorise the start of withdrawal negotiations under Article 50 of the EU treaties. But he said that ministers will comply with the ruling, which effectively means that MPs must be given a vote on Article 50. Speaking on the steps of the Supreme Court, the Attorney General said: "The Government will comply with the judgment of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it." Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan has welcomed the UK Government's remarks. "I welcome the confirmation from the UK Government that it will proceed with the triggering of Article 50 by the end of March at the latest. This provides welcome certainty for the beginning of the negotiations between the UK and the E," he said. "The Government's preparations for the upcoming negotiations on the UK's withdrawal from the EU have been extensive and comprehensive. These preparations and our programme of engagement with our EU partners are continuing and we will be ready for the challenging negotiations ahead. "Our priorities in these negotiations remain our citizens, our economy, Northern Ireland, our Common Travel Area and the future of the EU itself," he added. The highest court in the UK rejected an appeal by ministers against a High Court judgment blocking their decision to begin Britain's exit from the European Union without Parliament having a say. Supreme Court justices ruled, by a majority of eight to three, that Ms May cannot lawfully bypass MPs and peers by using the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and start the two-year process of negotiating the UK's divorce from its EU partners. However, they unanimously rejected an argument that devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland must be consulted before Article 50 is triggered. The ruling is a blow to Mrs May, who has repeatedly said she intends to trigger Article 50 by the end of March following the clear majority in favour of Brexit in the June 2016 referendum. Read More But she will be buoyed by the decision on the devolved administrations, which could have been much more significant in upsetting her timetable if it had gone the other way. The court case was won by a wide-ranging group of anti-Article 50 campaigners led by investment manager Gina Miller, 51, and hairdresser Deir Dos Santos. Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." Speaking after the ruling, Mr Wright said: "Of course the Government is disappointed with the outcome. But we have the good fortune to live in a country where everyone - every individual, every organisation, even government - is subject to the rule of law. "So the Government will comply with the judgment of the court and do all that is necessary to implement it. "The court has been very clear throughout this case that it has not been deciding whether the United Kingdom should or should not leave the European Union. "The people of the United Kingdom have already made that decision. "Now enacting that decision will be a political matter and not a legal matter." Caolan Melaugh is battling cancer for the second time The mum of a two-year-old battling cancer for the second time has called for more research to prevent childhood cancer and relapse rates. Little Caolan (2) is battling a rare form of aggressive childhood cancer, Neuroblastoma, and is hoping to go to the US for treatment to prevent relapse. Parents Stacey and Gerard Melaugh from Killygordon, Co Donegal are trying to raise thousands of euro for their eldest son. Caolan was diagnosed at just 10-weeks-old and went through intense treatment for 18 months at Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin. Expand Close Caolan Melaugh sadly lost his fight against cancer / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Caolan Melaugh sadly lost his fight against cancer The family were overjoyed when his scans came back all clear in June 2016, but just three months later, the cancer was back. "Caolan was placed on a trial medication that was to prevent a relapse in July 2016. Unfortunately treatment here in Ireland for relapse is very limited so it meant we had to travel to the US for treatment at a cost of 20,000 each time," Caolan's mum Stacey told Independent.ie. "He went to America but Caolan took a seizure and things turned for the worst. "I was at home expecting our second baby so my husband Gerard was over with my sister. They were only supposed to be away for four days but ended up staying in America with Caolan for two weeks. They got home just in time for the delivery of our second child, Eoghan." Expand Close Little Caolan was diagnosed at just 10-weeks-old / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Little Caolan was diagnosed at just 10-weeks-old Currently, Caolan attends Crumlin five days a week for ongoing chemotherapy, and so far the scans have shown that little Caolan is clear from cancer. The family are fundraising to help cover the costs of travelling to America again. "He's currently in his sixth cycle of chemo but after that Ireland has nothing else to offer him. We're trying to see if America can offer us something to prevent a relapse again," said Stacey. "We had the money raised before but when Caolan took ill in America all the money went to those bills." Despite his ongoing treatment, Stacy said that Caolan is in good form. "It's awful but it becomes part of your life. "We're trying everything we can for Caolan but there really needs to be more research into preventing childhood cancer and the relapse." You can donate to Caolan's fund here Frustrated by your inability to fall asleep? You're not alone. An estimated 15pc of Irish people suffer from insomnia, a sleep disorder that can adversely affect the mood and impair emotional regulation. If you're at the end of your tether, or you feel as though you've tried everything, perhaps it's time to take an alternative approach. 1 TAKE AN EPSOM SALT BATH Magnesium is known as nature's Valium for good reason. It improves nerve function, relaxes muscles, and may even reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. If you want to get a better night's sleep, the best way to take magnesium is in the bath. When Epsom salt, also known as magnesium sulfate, is used as a bath soak, a small amount of magnesium is absorbed through the skin, and it's often just enough to relax the body and induce sleep. 2 DON'T LOOK AT THE CLOCK Those who habitually lie awake at night will know that insomnia can sometimes be a fear of not falling asleep, as much as it is an inability to fall sleep. This is known as 'psychophysiological insomnia' - the pressure to fall asleep - and it triggers a self-perpetuating cycle. Sleep experts advise that insomnia sufferers don't compound the anxiety by looking at their clock during the night. It's also important to use soothing self-talk. Instead of thinking 'I'll be exhausted tomorrow', assure yourself that you have functioned perfectly well on limited sleep in the past and there is no reason why you can't do it again. 3 REDESIGN YOUR SLEEPING SPACE The Sleep Foundation has outlined specific standards for the ideal sleeping environment. A bedroom should be cool - between 15 C and 19 C - and free of any noises that can disturb sleep. They also recommend blackout curtains, eye shades, ear plugs, 'white noise' machines, humidifiers, fans and other devices, if necessary. 4 YOUR BED IS ONLY FOR TWO THINGS sleep and sex. All sleep experts are united in this advice. Avoid the temptation to watch movies or work on your laptop while lying in bed. This will help you associate your bedroom as a place of rest, rather than work or recreation. Additionally, sex is proven to induce sleep. It has to do with the 'cuddle hormone' oxytocin, which is released during sex. 5 SLEEP UNDER THE STARS A fascinating study published in Current Biology found that a week of camping (without exposure to artificial light) resets the body clock. When we are exposed to natural light, our internal body clocks align with solar time, the study found. If you've been working night shifts (which can wreak havoc on the sleep schedule in the long run), consider a getaway that allows you to sleep under the stars. 6 START A GRATITUDE DIARY Arianna Huffington, author of The Sleep Revolution, recommends writing a gratitude diary as part of your bedtime routine. "Write down a list of what you're grateful for before bed," she says. "It's a great way to make sure your blessings get the closing scene of the night." 7 NATURE'S SLEEP PILL If you are in a cycle of taking prescription sleeping pills, consider transitioning to a non-addictive natural alternative. Integrated medicine pioneer Dr Andrew Weil recommends the sedative herb valerian, which has been used since the age of Hippocrates to treat insomnia. You can find it in most health food shops. Take one to two capsules half an hour before bedtime. Check with your doctor first. 8 PRACTICE MINDFULNESS Mindfulness meditation has myriad benefits, better sleep being just one of them. According to a study that was recently published in JAMA Internal Medicine, those who practiced mindfulness had less insomnia, fatigue and depression, when compared to another group who had completed a sleep education class. 9 COUNT NUMBERS, NOT SHEEP The tired old cliche about counting sheep probably won't help those who have difficulty falling asleep. However, counting numbers can be surprisingly effective, says sleep expert Dr Vicky Seelall, who recommends counting backwards from 100 in multiples of 3... 99, 96, 93, 90, 87, 84 etc. 10 EXERCISE EARLIER IN THE DAY Exercise is proven to enhance sleep quality, but the time of day that you work out is crucial. Vigorous exercise within three hours of sleep, when the body should be going into wind-down mode, can over-stimulate the metabolism. 11 WEAR PYJAMAS It's all too easy to fall into bed wearing tracksuit bottoms and a T-shirt. However, sleep experts suggest that our sleep wear can act as an external cue that signals to the brain that it is time to fall asleep. 12 LEARN TO SELF-SOOTHE Deirdre McGrath of Deva Healing Arts in the Dublin Holistic Centre (devahealingarts.com) is an energy medicine practitioner, which is described as "acupuncture without the needles". She teaches a workshop on insomnia in which she suggests the following technique: "Place one hand flat across your forehead and the other flat across your lower belly (just below the navel). Hold for 2-3 minutes. "Then, keeping one hand on your belly, press the tips of thumb, index and middle finger of the other hand together, and hold lightly at the hollow at the base of your throat. This connects your energies in a way that dissipates stress, allowing your body to relax and drift off to a natural sleep." 13 WIND DOWN WITH YOGA Yoga teacher Sinead O'Connor of Hush Yoga (hushyoga.com) recommends restorative yoga and yin yoga to those who are suffering from insomnia. "The beauty of these yoga styles is that they reenergise when energy is needed, yet they have an equally calming effect so that when it's time to rest, it's possible to do so." She also recommends a number of postures that can be done just before bedtime. "Postures that promote good sleep are mostly seated forward bends," she explains. "The forward motion of the spine has a very calming effect on the nervous system. There are an array of postures that one can choose, including Balasana (child's pose), Adho Mukha Svanasana (downward dog), Janu-Sirsasana (head-to-knee forward bend), Badhakonasana (butterfly pose) and Sukasana (easy pose), to name a few. "It is also important to balance all the forward motion with a simple backbend. Something like bridge posture is a good choice here as it isn't as intense as some of the other backbends that can invigorate the nervous system." 14 PRACTICE 4-7-8 BREATHING The 4-7-8 breathing technique is known as a tranquilliser for the nervous system. Dr Weil says it can help insomniacs fall asleep in 60 seconds, although that claim may be a touch farfetched. Nonetheless, it's a powerful breathing technique that induces a deep state of relaxation. With your mouth closed, inhale quietly through your nose for a count of four. Hold your breath for a count of seven. Finally, exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound, for a count of eight. Repeat the cycle two to four times, or until you feel relaxed. 15 SCENT TO SLEEP Certain essential oils can calm the mind and relax the body, leading to a better night's sleep. Aromatherapist Michael Hinch of In Harmony Holistic Therapies recommends the following blends: Blend 1 1 drop geranium 2 drops palmarosa 2 drops lavender 10ml grapeseed carrier oil Mix all the ingredients and use the blend for therapeutic massage or in a diffuser (without the carrier oil). Blend 2 1 drop sweet orange 2 drops lavender 2 drops geranium 10ml grapeseed carrier oil Mix all the ingredients and use the blend for therapeutic massage or in a diffuser (without the carrier oil). A mum who had delayed going for her routine smear test after welcoming her second child said she was frightened her children would be left without a mother when she was diagnosed with pre-cancerous cells. Esther Hope (36) and her husband Gareth were shocked when high-grade-three pre-cancerous cells were discovered following a biopsy and doctors told the couple that cervical cancer would have developed within six months, had the mums smear not picked up abnormalities. "I had just welcomed my second baby in 2012 and I was so busy juggling the two kids," said Esther speaking to Independent.ie. "I knew I was overdue my smear test but when you're so busy things just go out of your head. Luckily I had a friend who was harassing me to just go and get it over and done with. It was just a simple trip into my GP, an uncomfortable minute or two, and I forgot about it soon after that," said Esther from Gorey in Wexford. "About six weeks after my smear, Cervical Check got in touch with me to say there had been some abnormalities, which was worrying. I was sent down to Wexford Hospital for a biopsy and a few weeks later I was given the news that I had high-grade-three pre-cancerous cells. It was a very scary thing to be told in just six months or a year Id have had cancer, when I had two small kids at home relying on me." Read More Following the diagnosis, stay-at-home mum Esther, then 31, underwent LLETZ treatment to burn away the abnormal tissue. The mum-of-two said it was an intense time for her family, but her husband proved to be a huge support during the frightening process. "The procedure I underwent involved burning away the cells that were there, which was quite unpleasant and a little bit invasive. Luckily I have such a good support in my husband Gareth, who came with me to my appointments along the way. "It still frightens me to think that I could have developed cervical cancer because of a routine thing I had been putting off. My kids might have been left without their mum." Read More More than 300 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in Ireland each year, and Esther says her experience has encouraged her to become a campaigner for Cervical Check. In Ireland, women over the age of 25 are entitled to a free smear test through the service. "I have never thanked anyone as much as my friend, who kept reminding me to go for that smear. For women over the age of 25 it's a free service, and such an important one. Now Ive become this strange person who is always telling women to just go and get it done. Its two minutes of slight discomfort, but it could save your life." The Pearl of Wisdom campaign was launched by broadcaster Maura Derrane this week to mark Cervical Cancer Prevention Week. It is supported by the national screening programme CervicalCheck, and the Irish Family Planning Association. For more information visit cervicalcheck.ie. US President Donald Trump takes the oath of office during his inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Two professors of psychiatry and one assistant professor had the temerity to write to President Obama last month to ask that he request a psychiatric assessment of Donald Trump. They said they believed the then president-elect had narcissistic personality disorder. According to them, he met the criteria set out in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (the tome that details the symptoms required to make a psychiatric diagnosis in the US). While they pointed to the dangers of making diagnosis without meeting the individual, they nevertheless made this request based on their belief that Trump meets the criteria set out for this disorder and questioned his fitness for office. A Huffington Post journalist interviewed some psychiatrist and psychologists and stated "virtually every mental health professional believed with 100pc certainty that Mr Trump satisfied the DSM criteria for this incurable illness... a serious danger to the country and the world". Here are some memorable quotes to illustrate the thinking of a narcissist: "This is the moment we will see the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal" or "a light will shine down from somewhere, it will light upon you, you will experience an epiphany and you will say to yourself 'I have to vote for Barack'." Yes these grandiose words are those of Obama. Yet professors of psychiatry had not called for his psychiatric evaluation, or expressed any concern that he was a danger to the country because of his possible narcissism. Such opprobrium is one sided and unidirectional (from left to right). Narcissism is rife in politics and to label that as an illness is an example of the medicalisation of everyday flaws, of the grossest kind. What is narcissistic personality disorder anyway? I have never made this diagnosis because it betrays a very simple misunderstanding about the nature of mental illness and personality disorder in particular. There is a flawed assumption that these labels represent some clear entity occurring in nature that constitutes an illness, like say, tuberculosis or rheumatoid arthritis. You either have it or you don't, you can measure it biologically and it has a particular course and response to treatment. Personality disorder has none of these attributes, and is nothing more than a description of personality traits that occur in the general population who would not be diagnosed with any psychiatric condition but for the fact that it impacts negatively on relationships. There is no clear demarcation between these traits and those diagnosed with a personality disorder, apart from the impact others. Many of the personality disorder categories that are used in psychiatric jargon have not been shown to be specific, and discrete entities and narcissistic personality disorder belongs to that group. Narcissistic personality disorder itself is defined as "a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism". It has always been a controversial diagnosis and while the American classification includes it, the World Health Organisation International Classification of Diseases does not. This is used in Europe. Even in the US, there are many who question the recognition of narcissistic personality disorder as a mental disorder. Sure, Obama and Trump are both narcissists. That does not equate with mental illness. The world of fashion, of movie stars, pop stars and celebrities are also fertile breeding grounds for narcissism. The cult of personality, whether it be Barack Obama, the Kardashians or Kim Jong Il stimulates popular worship that fans grandiose self- regard. Donald Trump is a bombast, loud and shrill with a very large ego. I do not subscribe to the idea that he or Barack Obama have a personality disorder, as has been suggested of both; this has been infinitely more voluble regarding Trump through the prism of political disdain. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, to which the three psychiatrists referred in their letter, is often referred to as the Bible of Psychiatry. That is an apt comparison. It should be treated in the same manner that the Bible (unfortunately) is by many and that is with complete and utter disregard. Ryanair has announced new flights from Dublin to Valencia and Tours as part of its 2017 winter schedule. The new schedule, to commence in late October, includes 68 routes which will deliver some 12m passengers through Dublin, the airline said. Ryanair currently operates twice-weekly summer services to Valencia and Tours from Dublin, but the announcement sees the routes go year-round. Tours, in centre-west France, is a gateway to the Loire Valley region. "Irish customers and visitors are booking our summer 2017 seats in record numbers as fares continue to fall," said Kenny Jacobs, the airline's Chief Marketing Officer. Despite the new routes, however, Ryanair says its traffic will decline by three percent at Dublin Airport next year "as daa costs rise". Contacted by Independent.ie Travel, a spokesperson for Dublin Airport pointed out that there is no increase in its charges this year. It welcomed the new services. In total, Ryanair will operate 97 routes from Ireland next winter. A 9.99 seat sale is underway on ryanair.com. Read more: The trick to the Holiday World Show is to work smart, not hard, says our Travel Editor - himself a veteran visitor. The Holiday World Show is like the internet come to life with added human beings. After melting your brain with online searches, theres something reassuring in suddenly seeing 2017s travel options laid out in real-life stands and pavilions. Taking place in Belfast this weekend, the show rolls into Dublins RDS Simmonscourt next Friday (January 27-29), bringing with it over 1,000 travel professionals. It costs 7/4 to visit, so dont wander mindlessly into exhaustion. Take a look at the exhibitor list (holidayworldshow.com) and target those you most want to talk to. Trust me, the browsing bit will take care of itself. Is it worth it? Almost always. Holiday World is a great place for advice you can nab one-on-one guidance with tour operators and destination experts, and travel journalist Eoghan Corry runs a series of free Travel Summits on topics ranging from cruise to ski and solo holidays, providing steers that are hard to find online. The Holiday World Show is also chocabloc with show-only deals, discounts and prize draws. In many cases, you can book on-site too. Whats new? 2017 sees the return of Aer Lingus and the national tourist boards of Greece and Italy, as well as new exhibitors in Argentina, Japan and Botswana. The 2017 Visit USA Pavilion is the largest ever, with over 40 stands. Elsewhere, a sprawling Home Holiday Pavilion will showcase lots of ideas for staycations Ask the Failte Ireland reps for a go of their new Virtual Reality headsets, giving 360-degree views of the Wild Atlantic Way. Just dont fall over! January has seen a notable rise in holiday budgets and demand for luxury trips, according to the Irish Travel Agents Association (itaa.ie). The year in travel is well and truly underway. Fly South Expand Close Cork International Hotel / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cork International Hotel The first ever Cork International Travel Fair is scheduled from February 4-5. Taking place at the Cork International Hotel, the free event features some 40 exhibitors showcasing home and overseas holidays, and prize draws include a trip for two to New York with WOW air. The Fair is sponsored by Cork Airport, which posted an 8pc growth in passenger numbers last year. If you fancy making a night of it, a special discounted rate of 99 B&B per room is available (quote TRAVBB when booking). See corkinternationalairporthotel.com for details. Lovin' Limerick Expand Close Do Castelo Beach, Albufeira. Photo: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Do Castelo Beach, Albufeira. Photo: Education Images/UIG via Getty Images In 2016, The Holiday Show returned to Limerick after a nine-year hiatus. With CSO figures showing overseas trips up 6.5pc from last January to September over the same period in 2015, I wasnt surprised to see it back in 2017. Staged at UL Arena in association with Shannon Airport (February 18-19), the show is free to visit, promises lots of event-only deals and competitions, and exhibitors range from Aer Lingus and Ryanair, to Wendy Wu Tours (who, incidentally, are offering 300 per couple off tours booked this January). See holidayshow.ie for details. Read more: Running a small country can be a lot like running a small company. You have to be adaptable to the ever-changing wider picture, whether that's the global political environment or the business landscape. One of the advantages of being small is that you should be able to move quickly. First mover advantage is important. But the other essential requirement for success when you are small is the necessity to keep competitive. This is especially relevant for Ireland as we enter into a period of great uncertainty. Last Friday, US President Donald Trump told us in no uncertain terms that it's "America first". That means that protectionism is back in the United States and we need to understand what that could mean. There are going to be major challenges to our corporate tax code and this has already been seen through Mr Trump's vow to slash the US corporate tax rate. He has also said very menacing things about the US pharma industry, which is such a major employer in Ireland. British Prime Minister Theresa May's speech last week equally took quite an aggressive tone on inward investment, when she said that Britain outside the EU would have the freedom to set competitive tax rates and embrace policies to attract the world's biggest companies. We also know the UK's corporate tax rate is due to fall from 20pc to 17pc by 2020, if not before. So we know what the British and possibly what the new Trump administration want to do - our two most significant markets. This is arguably one of the greatest threats our foreign direct investment (FDI) policy has ever faced. It raises the question - do we need to deliver a more competitive corporate tax offering in response to Brexit and Mr Trump? Our current corporate tax offering is strong, but is it strong enough to keep attracting business in a more protectionist world? The other unsettling truth is that we have developed a growing dependence on the revenue we receive through corporate tax receipts. Dan O'Brien recently wrote in this paper about how there is a deceleration in our general tax receipts. In particular, tax revenue going to the Exchequer fell by more than 12pc in December 2016 compared to the same month in 2015. His analysis shows that the dramatic and welcome increase in corporate tax receipts is offsetting reductions experienced by other tax revenue streams. The corporate tax intake has also been central to the Government exceeding its budget deficit targets for the last two years. If we are to get our health service in better shape and if we are to continue tackling our housing crisis, corporate tax receipts must keep flowing in. A fresh look at our FDI policy needs to focus on three principles: n Maximising the investment opportunities from Brexit and encouraging financial services entities to relocate to Ireland, based on a strong IDA strategy; n Taking a stronger approach to target emerging markets, particularly China. The Trump administration looks prepared to limit trade between the US and China, which could potentially open up new investment opportunities. The IDA has opened several offices in China, so we are well placed to seize these opportunities; n Maintaining our clear advantage with links to US businesses. Thankfully, our trade relationship with the US is historically and currently strong. We have to keep it strong. We currently have more than 700 US companies operating in Ireland. In 2015, US FDI to Ireland represented 20pc of all US investment in the EU. To deliver on these priorities, a proper policy discussion needs to take place. While it may be a bridge too far to reduce our corporate tax rate from 12.5pc, nothing should be ruled out in light of the changing political environment all around us. We have to be able to respond to whatever threat emerges. We must remember that we used to have a special 10pc rate for manufacturing and IFSC companies. However, there are concrete policy decisions that could benefit our corporate tax offering. These could include: improving our system of tax reliefs to encourage top executive foreign talent to come to Ireland; maintaining our intellectual property regime; and ensuring Finance Minister Michael Noonan's knowledge development box is implemented in full. What must be a major priority for the Government is improving our infrastructure in the areas of transport, housing and broadband. These are real issues for businesses considering a move here. Given our new dependence on corporate tax receipts and the new protectionist landscape, we need to ramp up our efforts to keep the investment pipeline strong. Nothing should be ruled out. Brian Hayes is a Dublin Fine Gael MEP Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anvar Mammadov Trend: Creation of modern enterprises in the non-oil industry continued in Azerbaijan in 2016 and 410 enterprises were opened in the country during the year, said Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev. He made the remarks at an expanded session of the Board of the Ministry of Economy Jan. 24. Construction of a number of industrial facilities was started in the country, 410 industrial enterprises were opened and also work on organization of industrial parks and zones was continued. Four companies will start operating at the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park this year and three more companies will start in 2018. It is planned to create about 800 new jobs at these enterprises, Mustafayev said, according to a message from the ministry. Also, work is still underway to continue attracting new residents to the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park, according to him. Mustafayev added that Baku Shipyard, resident of the Garadagh Industrial Park, is now successfully operating. The biggest current contract of the shipbuilding plant is to design and construct a Khankendi vessel worth $378 million for BP to carry out underwater construction work, he noted. The minister added that the plant also signed an agreement with the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping CJSC in 2016 to build two barges worth $82 million and two oil tankers worth $28 million. Less than five hours after he was inaugurated, US President Donald Trump was ridiculed on Irish national television during the 'The Late Late Show'. Coverage of Mr Trump's first days in office has been entirely negative, both in his own country and throughout the world. Very well organised demonstrations have enticed millions onto the streets to de-legitimise this democratically elected president across the globe. These demonstrations appear to be organised by a well-heeled celebrity liberal establishment apoplectic with rage that their preferred candidate was not elected. Those who stoke dissent and trouble in the world's greatest superpower, which is already greatly divided, play a very dangerous game. Some have done very well over the last quarter of a century, while others find their avenues of securing a better life snatched from their grasp as they and their families are abandoned to penury and despair. Now, the first time they play the democracy game successfully and elect someone who appears to understand their plight and wishes to help them, democracy itself is being challenged and thwarted by the very ones who passionately advocate this form of government only when it appears to favour their own aspirations. There is enormous and increasing inequality in the United States, and indeed in most democracies. Many feel elected government works only for the well off and if they now find their worst fears confirmed by concerted opposition to their successful participation in the process, the outcome could be horrendous. The United States will never be conquered or destroyed by external forces but unimaginable internal conflict could rip this great country asunder. People should pull back and give democracy a chance, remembering Abraham Lincoln's dire warning: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Padraic Neary Tubbercurry, Co Sligo Following the Trump triumph, a whole new language is making its presence felt. We are now getting accustomed to such terms as 'post-truth society' and 'alternative facts'. However, lest The Donald claims these terms to be original, let me inform him that he has come on the scene too late. The Vatican has been using such terms for generations - we in the Church call it "mental reservation". To other folks, the term is simply "untruth". Fr Iggy O'Donovan Co Limerick Noonan and pension deficits I don't suppose yesterday's news about deficits in Irish pension schemes soaring to more than 4bn has anything to do with the 2bn extracted from them in recent years by Finance Minister Michael Noonan by way of the pension levy? No doubt politicians will be expressing shock and horror in due course when companies start to close their defined benefit pension plans and look for someone to blame (other than themselves, of course). Roger Blackburn Naul, Co Dublin Pedestrians are not at fault Seven people were hit and killed by seven two-tonne-plus vehicles over the three weeks. However, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) says that pedestrians should make themselves more visible and, secondly, that cars should slow down. How about telling cars to slow down on roads first rather than victimise the victims? Cars kill people. In the last 10 years, 400 plus pedestrians and cyclists have been killed by vehicles. One pedestrian has been killed by a cyclist. The RSA needs to change its focus on the drivers in the first instance, and then on vulnerable road users. Liam Clear Naas, Co Kildare Irish and Americans not that close I would respectfully point out to Kevin O'Malley the anomalies in his observations (Irish Independent, January 20) that there are cultural, linguistic and DNA ties between us and the people of America. While 10pc of Americans claim to be of Irish extraction, the majority of Americans do not share a common culture, except to espouse independence. That continent is not a nation, it is a federation of states, a multi-cultural melting pot of civilisation where 10pc of the population possess 90pc of the wealth, and 47pc possess the other 10pc of the wealth. Mr O'Malley does, however, sound like a good man with his heart in the right place. Daniel Teegan Union Hall, Co Cork Bus drivers must be punished I was appalled, but not surprised, to hear Bus Eireann drivers on Joe Duffy's 'Liveline' radio show giving their opinions of the elderly (especially) and their use of the free travel pass. These guys - vehement in their opposition to pensioners and others who enjoy free travel - took it upon themselves to somehow influence political thinking regarding the non-issue of people, for whatever reason, being entitled to this welcome and small concession. How dare bus drivers hold such animosity towards those who, in their younger and working years, have paid their taxes and now should be free to enjoy a free spin on the bus or train - every day if they wish. Bus staff who articulate publicly their personal views on free travel ought to and must be disciplined by their superiors. Our politicians should also intervene, insofar as to declare that people are not going to lose their travel pass, regardless of the obvious disparagement of a section of society in an industrial relations environment of pay demands from bus drivers. I worked on the buses as a conductor decades ago, and too many staff back then held the same views but were very careful to keep such hurtful thoughts to themselves. Now, it seems, they wish to dictate policy themselves within Bus Eireann. Incidentally, the people of which I speak hated the job as a whole, and the drivers who are now complaining cruelly against free travel and its use are of the same ilk, yet think they are on safe ground to do so. This must not be allowed. Robert Sullivan Bantry, Co Cork We could learn from the Dutch I wonder if the Department of Education ever considered following the Dutch model of not giving primary students homework? After all, these young children of six, seven and eight years of age will have long enough to work and stress in their young lives when they are in secondary school. A recent survey of 29 countries showed Dutch children are the happiest - not giving their young children homework didn't seem to disadvantage them. Almost all Dutch children speak four languages when they leave school. Worth thinking about? Noel Skinner Santry, Dublin Mel Gibson (60) and his pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross (26) seen out for a stroll in Dublin Writer Rosalind Ross and director/actor Mel Gibson attend the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) Rosalind Ross, Mel Gibson attend the Closing Ceremony during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival on May 22, 2016 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/FilmMagic) Mel Gibson is celebrating the birth of his ninth child. The 61-year-old Braveheart star's girlfriend Rosalind Ross, 27, welcomed the couple's first son, Lars, on Friday in a Los Angeles area hospital, according to U.S. news show Extra. The baby news broke in mid-September and a source told People.com the couple was "excited" about the idea of becoming parents. "Mel loves being a dad and he and Rose can't wait to be parents together," the insider said. "The last two years have been some of the happiest he's ever had." Expand Close Writer Rosalind Ross and director/actor Mel Gibson attend the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Writer Rosalind Ross and director/actor Mel Gibson attend the 74th Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 8, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) The baby is former professional equestrian Rosalind's first. She showed off her baby bump on the red carpet at the Golden Globes earlier this month. Asked about the impending arrival at the end of 2016, Mel told Extra, "Im just there to catch!" He told the outlet he's so used to the birth process that he no longer gets nervous: "I think my adrenals are worn out, so I dont even react anymore," he laughed. Gibson recently settled a lengthy child support battle with his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, who he split from in 2010. They are parents to six-year-old daughter Lucia. Expand Close Mel Gibson (60) and his pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross (26) seen out for a stroll in Dublin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mel Gibson (60) and his pregnant girlfriend Rosalind Ross (26) seen out for a stroll in Dublin He also shares seven older children with his ex-wife Robyn - makeup artist Hannah, 36, who is married to musician Kenny Wayne Shepherd, twins Edward and Christian, 34, William, 32, Louis, 28, Milo, 26, and teenager Thomas, 16. Mel and Robyn separated in 2006 after 26 years of marriage. They finalised their divorce in 2011. Penalties are set to increase for motorists guilty of serious speeding offences Drivers responsible for the most serious speeding offences are set to face harsher penalties under new sentencing guidelines for magistrates. Fines for motorists caught going well above the speed limit will start from 150% of their weekly income rather than the existing level of 100%. It means, for example, someone who is sentenced for driving at 101mph or faster in a 70mph zone will now be dealt with in a more severe bracket. The Sentencing Council said the move aims to ensure there is a " clear increase in penalty as the seriousness of offending increases". It follows responses to a consultation arguing previous guidelines did not properly take into account the increase in potential harm that can result as speed above the limit rises. Speeding is one of a number of areas covered in new sentencing guidelines for magistrates' courts in England and Wales being published on Tuesday. In another change conditional discharges will be included as a sentencing option in the least serious cases of TV licence payment evasion. Under a conditional discharge the individual is not punished unless they commit another offence within a set period of time. Tens of thousands of people are prosecuted each year for dodging the 145.50 licence fee, with the vast majority handed a fine. The inclusion of this outcome in the new guidelines formally sets out the option for magistrates not to issue a financial penalty for cases judged to be in the lowest level of offending. It is anticipated a conditional discharge could be appropriate in cases where the offender has been without a licence for a short period, or had made significant efforts to obtain one. The guidelines set out possible factors which could reduce the seriousness of TV licence evasion, including where the culprit was experiencing "significant financial hardship" at the time due to "exceptional circumstances". Magistrates are also being given new advice on how to approach animal cruelty. For the first time additional aggravating factors of "use of technology to publicise or promote cruelty" and '"animal being used in public service or as an assistance dog" are being included - with the latter meaning police dogs or horses are specifically highlighted. Magistrates' courts deal with more than one million offenders across England and Wales each year. The new guidelines, which also cover railway fare evasion, truancy and being drunk and disorderly, aim to reflect changes in the law since the they were last updated in 2008. The Sentencing Council said the new guidelines are not intended to result in significant differences to current sentencing practice but will bring changes to sentencing for some specific offences. District judge Richard Williams, a Sentencing Council member, said: "The magistrates' courts deal with the vast majority of offenders in England and Wales, so it is essential that the guidelines they use are up to date and help ensure that sentences are applied consistently and effectively." Malcolm Richardson, national chairman of the Magistrates' Association said the new guidelines "will further help ensure the consistent effectiveness of the magistracy". The guidelines will be used to sentence adult offenders in all magistrates' courts in England and Wales from April 24. RAC road safety spokesman Pete Williams welcomed the change on speeding. He said: " Anyone who breaks the limit excessively is a danger to every other road user and is unnecessarily putting lives at risk. "Hopefully, hitting these offenders harder in the pocket will make them think twice before doing it again in the future. "While greater sentences for excessive speeders are obviously a deterrent, the best deterrent of all is more effective enforcement." Louise Ellman, chair of the Commons Transport Committee, welcomed the change regarding speeding penalties. "However, for enforcement to be successful, there must be the likelihood that offenders will be caught and prosecuted," she said, adding that a declining number of dedicated road traffic police officers is of "real concern". Justice minister Sam Gyimah said: "Speeding can have tragic consequences, so there must be strong penalties in place to deter drivers from behaving recklessly. "These new guidelines will help make sure sentences properly reflect the seriousness of the crime." Neil Greig, director of policy and research at road safety charity IAM RoadSmart, cautiously backed the guidelines as being welcomed by the majority of law-abiding drivers. But he added: "The effect they will have on those already willing to flout the law and put themselves and others in danger remains to be seen." In a study of 29 healthy heterosexual young men scientists found that injections of the hormone kisspeptin enhanced the brain's response to sexual and romantic pictures of couples Feeling sexy and romantic is linked to a hormone appropriately named "kisspeptin", research has shown. Scientists are now looking to see whether the smooch chemical can help in the treatment of psychological sexual problems. Kisspeptin is a naturally occurring hormone that stimulates the release of other signalling chemicals linked to reproduction in the body. A study of 29 healthy heterosexual young men found that injections of the hormone enhanced the brain's response to sexual and romantic pictures of couples. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans showed enhanced activity in regions of the brain stimulated by sexual arousal and romance. The same effect did not occur when the volunteers viewed non-sexy images. Kisspeptin boosts brain circuits associated with sex and love, the scientists believe. Lead researcher Professor Waljit Dhillo, from Imperial College London, said: "Most of the research and treatment methods for infertility to date have focused on the biological factors that may make it difficult for a couple to conceive naturally. "These of course play a huge part in reproduction, but the role that the brain and emotional processing play in this process is also very important, and only partially understood. "Our initial findings are novel and exciting as they indicate that kisspeptin plays a role in stimulating some of the emotions and responses that lead to sex and reproduction. "Ultimately, we are keen to look into whether kisspeptin could be an effective treatment for psychosexual disorders, and potentially help countless couples who struggle to conceive." The team, whose findings are reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, plans to study the effects of kisspeptin in a larger group including women as well as men. Another discovery was that kisspeptin also seemed to be involved in regulating mood and reducing negativity, suggesting that it may help combat depression. Co-author Dr Alexander Comninos, also from Imperial College, said: "Our study shows that kisspeptin boosts sexual and romantic brain activity as well as decreasing negative mood. "This raises the interesting possibility that kisspeptin may have uses in treating psychosexual disorders and depression which are major health problems which often occur together, but further studies would be needed to investigate this." Dubai authorities are investigating a centre for the disabled after it hosted and publicised a visit by Kim Kardashian West. A story in Tuesday's edition of the state-owned Emarat Al Youm newspaper said the investigation focused on the Rashid Centre for the Disabled not having prior approval for the visit by the American reality TV star and wife of rapper Kanye West. It also says authorities are concerned about T-shirts bearing Kardashian West's image that were being handed out during the January 16 visit. Dubai officials and the Rashid Centre for the Disabled did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kardashian West travelled to Dubai to give a make-up class - her first major public appearance since being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week in October. AP A medical emergency helicopter carrying six people crashed in a mountainous area of central Italy on Tuesday and local television reported that all those aboard were killed. Video from the scene showed the front half of the helicopter completely destroyed on a snowy, fog-shrouded slope. The accident happened on the other side of Italy's Gran Sasso mountain range about 100 km (62 miles) from the site of last week's avalanche that buried a hotel and killed at least 15 people. The helicopter involved in Tuesday's accident was not part of ongoing rescue operations at the hotel. Instead, it was on its way to a hospital in the provincial capital of L'Aquila after picking up an injured skier. A wealthy British businessman who was run over in the Ukraine was "murdered" by his internet bride while they celebrated their first wedding anniversary, his best friend has told an inquest into his death. Barry Pring, 47, suffered horrific injuries when he was hit by a vehicle - possibly a lorry - while waiting for a taxi outside a restaurant in Kiev with his wife, Ganna Ziuzina, on February 16, 2008. Mr Pring married Ms Ziuzina, a former stripper who was almost 20 years his junior, in 2007 but his family and friends said they did not believe she loved him and that she treated him coldly. His best friend, Peter Clifford, was best man at the couple's Kiev wedding and, giving evidence at the inquest at Devon County Hall on Tuesday, said Mr Pring was "totally under her influence". He said: "There is no reasonable doubt in my mind that Barry was murdered, nor is there any reasonable doubt in my mind that Ganna Ziuzina either arranged for, or was complicit in, his murder." Coroner, Dr Elizabeth Earland said that "strenuous" - but ultimately unsuccessful - attempts had been made to try to get Ms Ziuzina to attend the hearing. She read out a statement given by Ms Ziuzina who said she had given three separate statements to police in Ukraine and did not "believe I can add anything further". Mr Pring's brother, Shaughan, said he believed Ms Ziuzina was "only interested in Barry for his money and saw their relationship as an opportunity to better her position financially". Expand Close Irene and Shaughan Pring, the mother and brother of Barry Pring, outside Devon County Hall, Exeter, where an inquest is taking place for the wealthy British businessman who was run over in the Ukraine Credit: Johanna Carr/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Irene and Shaughan Pring, the mother and brother of Barry Pring, outside Devon County Hall, Exeter, where an inquest is taking place for the wealthy British businessman who was run over in the Ukraine Credit: Johanna Carr/PA Wire He added that his brother was "besotted" by the woman, who he knew as Anna, but that she "became very demanding", asking for money. The inquest heard Mr Pring, originally from East Devon, set up his own consultancy business aged 30 after moving to the London area and that his career required him to travel extensively. His mother, Irene, said in a statement that her son started seeing Ms Ziuzina, who he said was a teacher, when he was 46. She did not find out until later that they had met on a website - www.elenasmodels.com - which describes itself as an "online Russian and Ukrainian dating site for men who are looking single women and girls for friendship, relationship and marriage" or that Ms Ziuzina was working as a lap dancer or stripper. Mrs Pring said her son frequently flew to Kiev and started supporting Ms Ziuzina financially after she stopped working as a stripper. In early January 2007 Mr Pring told his parents to expect an announcement and then phoned on January 23 to say he would be marrying four days later. "No one from our family was invited," said Mrs Pring. "Barry returned to live in London. Anna stayed in Kiev, moving to the apartment that Barry had bought ... we all expected her to get her visa straight away." But Ms Ziuzina did not get a visa until August that year and then did not come to live in the UK. Instead, she visited for two weeks with her mother, before travelling to Devon with Mr Pring to meet his parents for the first time. Mrs Pring said of the visit: "I was quite surprised to see how cold she was towards Barry. "She was not loving or caring towards him at all. She never lifted a finger [or did] anything. She was a lazy thing ... she was not providing a home for my son." The court heard Mr Pring, who owned a total of five properties including three in the London area, bought another apartment in Kiev and sent Ms Ziuzina 40,000 to finish it. She spent that Christmas with Mr Pring in Devon before flying back to Ukraine again, his mother said. Just before his last trip to Ukraine, Mr Pring told his mother, in their final conversation, that the apartment was nearly finished. Mrs Pring heard about her son's death when his brother, Shaughan, came to tell her that Ms Ziuzina had phoned to report that he had been killed. She said the family became suspicious and hired a private investigator in Ukraine, spending 100,000 in an attempt to find the truth. "We are sure that Anna had some involvement in Barry's death in order to inherit money or property," she added. "Our family has lost a treasured son, brother and uncle which will have an affect on us all for the rest of our lives." The inquest heard how after Mr Pring's death, Ms Ziuzina travelled to London, sold her husband's Range Rover and the contents of his apartment and removed money from his British bank account. Dr Gyan Fernando, then a Home Office pathologist, examined Mr Pring's body after it was returned to the UK from Ukraine. In a statement read out at the hearing, he said there was no paperwork returned with the body and that the cause of death was "multiple injuries" including fractures. He said the injuries, which included "traumatic separation of the trunk", were "extremely unlikely" to have been caused by a car and that it was more likely Mr Pring had been run over by a heavy vehicle such as a truck. The inquest heard that blood tests revealed alcohol in Mr Pring's blood at the time of his death, which indicated that he was likely to have been intoxicated to some degree. The case was investigated as an unexplained road traffic accident but police in the Ukraine upgraded their inquiry to a murder hunt in 2011. The hearing continues. Detective Constable Jonathan Watts, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said he had been in London looking for Ms Ziuzina last week and added that it was likely she was abroad. He said the force had not been able to question witnesses directly or the Ukrainian police but details passed to him through Interpol included information from witnesses who described the vehicle that hit Mr Pring as travelling at high speed with no lights. Stolen number plates found at the scene came from a vehicle parked near where Ms Ziuzina had lived in Kiev in 2007 "giving rise to the assumption that the act was pre-planned", he added. DC Watts said the couple had gone out to dinner after Mr Pring said he wanted to have traditional Ukrainian food and had travelled - at Ms Ziuzina's suggestion - 22-25 miles (35-40km) from their address to get to the restaurant. They arrived at 9pm and sat at a table in the middle of the room. During the meal, for which the bill came to 110 US dollars, they ordered 20 50g measures of vodka. They paid the bill in cash at 11.30pm after Mr Pring's credit card was declined and Ms Ziuzina called the same taxi firm that had dropped them at the restaurant but said it would take 40 minutes for a vehicle to reach them. Mr Pring said this was too long and they would hail a taxi from the road, the inquest heard. DC Watts said a "call was made but she was not logged by a Taxi Express worker, suggesting that she had not actually spoken to a call operative". He added that it was not possible to stop a car or taxi on the highway but the pair left the restaurant and were seen by witnesses to be outside for 30 to 40 minutes before descending to the westbound carriageway - heading in the wrong direction - and Mr Pring was seen to climb over the safety barrier. A loud noise was heard before witnesses saw a car pinning an "object" to the inside of the barrier for one to two seconds, said DC Watts. He added that the object came to rest on the safe side of the barrier and was Mr Pring's body. He said of the accident: "Witnesses describe a car travelling at 75mph. There was no evidence of braking or slowing before the car left the scene. Witnesses recorded their impression that it was deliberate." The police were called and Ms Ziuzina was spoken to before asking to be allowed to go home at 2am. DC Watts said she left her house again shortly afterwards and returned to an area near the accident, staying for about three hours. He said Devon and Cornwall Police had been unable to directly contact Ms Ziuzina "at any stage" Freelance journalist Graham Phillips told the inquest he became involved in investigating the case while working for a magazine in Kiev in 2012. He interviewed a stripper friend of Ms Ziuzina's, Tatiana, who described her co-worker as a "gold digger" and said she had not loved or cared for Mr Pring. Mr Phillips said he asked Tatiana if Ms Ziuzina could have killed Mr Pring and she said "it was eminently possible" and "absolutely something Anna was capable of". He added that Ms Ziuzina's family had refused to talk to him and had been "hostile". The coroner said she found that Mr Pring had been unlawfully killed. She said: "His guard was lowered by inebriation. The car had stolen licence plates and did not brake or stop. "I am satisfied that having heard all the evidence... much of it circumstantial, nevertheless, in my view it is overwhelming. "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Barry John Pring has been unlawfully killed." She said the case demonstrated the difficulty in investigating a case of a death abroad and added: "Our thoughts and condolences must go to the family who have endured years and years of distress and unhappiness." Dr Earland added that Mr Pring had been "tricked" into standing on the westbound carriageway of the busy road to hail a taxi, despite that being the wrong direction. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Pring's brother Shaughan Pring said the family's fight for justice would go on. He said: "It is the verdict we expected. However, it is still not going to get us justice for Barry." Shaughan Pring said Ms Ziuzina was still a free person and that the family would take advice from their solicitors on the next step. He said he "didn't hold his breath" that anything would happen in Ukraine, and added: "We are not just going to pack up and go home." Speaking after the hearing, DC Watts said: "I'm happy with what's been said today. Clearly the coroner has had an opportunity to make a really well-weighted decision of unlawful killing and the narrative that she had added to that is of significance as well." DC Watts said Devon and Cornwall Police had no jurisdiction over the case but that if further information came to light the Ukrainian police would have to consider its position. He said the UK police had had very little contact with the Ukrainian authorities. He added: "We clearly feel that had we had jurisdiction, and we haven't, then things might have ended differently." He said the Pring family had "driven things in the Ukraine". "I think the way they've conducted themselves has been very dignified and very energised as well," he said. "They have put a great deal of money and energy into trying to get answers about Barry's death. "Ultimately, it hasn't ended as they would have wished but does a case like this ever end?" The Duchess of Cambridge arriving at East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Adrian Dennis/PA Wire The Duchess of Cambridge has heard the heart-rending story of a couple who lost their young son to an inoperable brain tumour during a visit to a hospice. Kate sympathised with Tristan and Claire Cork whose five-year-old son Finnbar died last summer despite a course of intensive treatment and told the husband and wife "I'm a mother and I can't imagine what you've been through" and gave them a hug before she left. Expand Close The Duchess of Cambridge arriving at East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Adrian Dennis/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duchess of Cambridge arriving at East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Adrian Dennis/PA Wire There were lighter moments during Kate's visit to the hospice in the Norfolk village of Quidenham, run by East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), with the Duchess avoiding an avalanche of tinsel when she joined children for an art therapy session. She admitted her first public speech five years ago - in praise of EACH which she supports as royal patron - was "terrifying". Kate met the bereaved couple, who were joined by their two remaining children, for a private chat during her tour of the hospice which EACH is planning to replace with a 10 million purpose built facility. Speaking after the royal visit Mr Cork praised the care and support his family and their son had received at Quidenham and the counselling the charity provided after their loss. Expand Close Tristan and Claire Cork alongside their two children, who chatted with Duchess of Cambridge as she toured East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Chris Radburn/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tristan and Claire Cork alongside their two children, who chatted with Duchess of Cambridge as she toured East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Chris Radburn/PA Wire He added: "We said to her just over a year ago we had a little boy who was healthy, a five-year-old boy going to school, riding his bike, going swimming. "And in the space of six months we had to watch him become so disabled and so unwell. "People don't think that's going to happen in their lives and (it) doesn't matter if you're a worker, or a businessman or a member of the Royal Family - whoever you are, that can happen." Finnbar Cork was diagnosed with a brain tumour in March last year after suffering dizzy spells and unsteadiness and died five months later after his condition deteriorated. Expand Close The Duchess of Cambridge (centre) participates in a craft session with Isabella Benton (left) and Amy Hewett (2nd right), in the Art Therapy room, during her to visit East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Adrian Dennis/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Duchess of Cambridge (centre) participates in a craft session with Isabella Benton (left) and Amy Hewett (2nd right), in the Art Therapy room, during her to visit East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) in Quidenham, Norwich, as it continues fundraising for a new purpose-built hospice in Norfolk. Photo: Adrian Dennis/PA Wire Mr Cork (34) from the village of Hethersett, near Norwich, lamented the lack of money allocated to finding a cure for brain tumours. A spokesman for Brain Tumour Research said: "Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killers for children and adults under 40, yet just 1pc of national spend on cancer research goes to this disease." The 34-year-old said about Kate: "She was really compassionate, she gave us a hug afterwards." During the visit the Duchess was welcomed by pupils from three schools outside the hospice and collected bouquets of flowers from the youngsters. When she joined a group of children for an art therapy class, after meeting their parents, she narrowly avoided getting glitter and paint on her emerald green Hobbs suit. The Duchess sat next to six-year-old Isabella Benton, who has a number of neurological conditions. Isabella was intent on covering her picture with as much glitter and paint as she could, and she made Kate laugh when she tipped all the sparkling decorations over her artwork. When Kate saw some toy dinosaurs on a shelf she said, in an apparent reference to three-year-old Prince George: "I can see that would go down well with someone I know." Rachel Turner, a play specialist at the hospice, said afterwards about the Duchess: "It was a close-run thing she just avoided the glitter and paint." Isabella's mother Michala Benton, who has three other daughters, said: "My little girl Daisy asked her what's it like to be a real princess and Kate said she's very well looked after by her husband. "She said I do amazingly well with the kids and said Charlotte and George run in different directions all the time, and I said 'I'm glad I'm not the only one whose kids are like that' - she was very down to earth." Kate's visit gave her the chance to see the hospice and meet its staff before it is replaced by The Nook - a purpose-built facility which will allow EACH to provide more services like a hydro-pool for the children with life-threatening conditions. The Duchess helped launch The Nook Appeal in 2014, and she was updated on the project's progress. More than 5 million, out of a target of 10 million, has been raised so far. Graham Butland, EACH's chief executive, thanked the Duchess for visiting during a reception attended by volunteers, supporters and staff. He looked back at her involvement with the charity starting in 2011 when she first visited a hospice before becoming royal patron. When he told the audience "That journey developed as we went into your first public speech", Kate said the word "terrifying". Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Azerbaijan exported 5.89 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey in January-November 2016 as compared to 5.57 billion cubic meters exported in January-November 2015, the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority said in a report posted on its website. Azerbaijan supplied 6.17 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey in 2015 versus 6.07 billion cubic meters in 2014. According to the report, Turkey imported 40.78 billion cubic meters of gas in January-November 2016, out of which 34.45 billion cubic meters were imported via pipelines and 6.33 billion cubic meters accounted for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. Azerbaijan's share in Turkey's total gas imports was 14.43 percent in January-November 2016. Turkey imports gas from Azerbaijan via the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum). Turkey has a contract for the annual purchase of 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan's offshore Shah Deniz gas and condensate field. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Gambians pose in front of military vehicles as Ecowas troops from Senegal secure the area near the State House in the capital Banjul (AP/Jerome Delay) Gambia's new president Adama Barrow has made a woman leader of the opposition coalition that helped bring him to power his deputy as troops mount security sweeps to prepare for his return to the country. The appointment of Fatoumata Tambajang as vice president was announced by coalition spokesman Halifa Sallah, who said the rest of Mr Barrow's cabinet would be revealed on Tuesday. Ms Tambajang, a former United Nations Development Programme staffer, was instrumental in helping Gambia's opposition parties overcome their differences and unite against ousted strongman president Yahya Jammeh, who came to power in a coup and ruled for 22 years. Mr Barrow remained in Senegal on Monday, where he travelled more than a week ago when it was uncertain whether Mr Jammeh would acknowledge defeat in the December election and step down. After days of frantic mediation, and as a regional intervention force deployed to apply pressure, Mr Jammeh finally agreed to leave, flying out on Saturday night. Mediators said his destination was Equatorial Guinea, though the notoriously secretive country has yet to confirm his arrival. Mr Barrow's return date has not been fixed and this week's appointments are aimed at filling a void created by his absence. The armed forces have pledged loyalty to him, though regional forces from the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) continued to push Gambian soldiers out of the official residence, State House, on Monday, in advance of Mr Barrow's arrival. They also took over a Republican Guard barracks training centre in Bakau, just outside Banjul. The presence of Ecowas troops was cheered by many in the capital, and some emboldened Gambians even tried to cross the gates of State House - a place they did not dare attempt to enter before. Abass Hydra said it was his first time back near State House since his father was arrested inexplicably during prayers and held for three months. "It was very difficult for us at that time, and it was traumatising, and now finally we are free because Jammeh is gone," he said. "I hope for peace and unity. We need Ecowas here so that they can help stabilise things." Meanwhile, Equatorial Guinea's opposition condemned the government's decision to welcome Mr Jammeh. President Teodoro Obiang will be held responsible "for what might occur" as a result of Mr Jammeh's presence on the country's soil, a statement by Andres Esono Ondo, secretary general of the opposition Convergence for Social Democracy, said. Mr Jammeh should not qualify for political asylum because he triggered Gambia's crisis by refusing to step down, the Democratic Opposition Front said in a separate statement. "We are not against Pan-Africanism, but we are in favour of a more objective Pan-Africanism that does not consist in just bringing over the waste of Africa," the group said. On Monday, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said preventive diplomacy in Gambia avoided bloodshed, restored democracy and averted a "humanitarian disaster". Mr Dujarric said the unity of Ecowas, with UN backing, was critical to Mr Jammeh's handover of power and if diplomacy had not worked "we would have seen a far worse situation". AP Hamas warned the move could add "fuel to the fire" (AP) Gaza's Hamas rulers have warned the US not to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, saying such a step could unleash new violence. The Islamic militant group said the move would "open a new chapter of conflict" and "add fuel to the fire". Hamas is sworn to Israel's destruction. It has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, and fought three wars with Israel since seizing control of Gaza 10 years ago. The rival Palestinian Authority has also urged US president Donald Trump not to follow through on his campaign promise to move the embassy. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as their hoped-for capital. In southern Gaza, dozens of Palestinians demonstrated against the move, with some burning an effigy of Mr Trump. Dubai authorities are investigating a centre for the disabled after it hosted and publicised a visit by Kim Kardashian West. A story in Tuesday's edition of the state-owned Emarat Al Youm newspaper said the investigation focused on the Rashid Centre for the Disabled not having prior approval for the visit by the American reality TV star and wife of rapper Kanye West. It also says authorities are concerned about T-shirts bearing Kardashian West's image that were being handed out during the January 16 visit. Dubai officials and the Rashid Centre for the Disabled did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kardashian West travelled to Dubai to give a make-up class - her first major public appearance since being robbed at gunpoint during Paris Fashion Week in October. Jennifer Lawrence was one of the most high-profile victims An Illinois man accused of hacking into the electronic accounts of 30 celebrities and stealing private information, including nude videos and photos, is due to be sentenced. Edward Majerczyk, 29, is set to appear in Chicago federal court, having pleaded guilty to felony computer hacking in a Los Angeles court last year. He was accused of orchestrating a phishing scheme that illegally accessed more than 300 email and other online accounts, including those belonging to the actress Jennifer Lawrence. Majerczyk signed a plea agreement for his case to be transferred to Chicago, with both sides agreeing that he should receive a nine-month prison term. Federal agents have said Lawrence broke down and became distraught during a 2014 meeting about nude photos of her which appeared online. The US Senate has approved the appointment of Donald Trump's nominee Mike Pompeo to run the CIA, despite claims that he has been less than transparent about his positions on torture, surveillance and Russia's election meddling. Mr Pompeo, whose appointment was approved by 66 votes to 32, takes the helm of America's top spy agency at a crucial time for US national security as intelligence, traditionally a non-partisan issue, has been thrust into the political arena. President Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies after their assessment of Russian involvement to help him win the election, but has also has said he is fully behind them. Senate Republicans hoped to vote on Mr Pompeo's nomination on Friday, after Mr Trump's inauguration, but Democrats succeeded in stalling action until they could hold a debate. Senator Ron Wyden said Mr Pompeo was the "wrong man for the job". "He has endorsed extreme policies that would fundamentally erode liberties and freedoms of our people without making us safer," the Oregon Democrat said. He said Mr Pompeo's answers to questions from some senators had been "vague" and "contradictory", making it impossible to know what he believed. "I see no real commitment to transparency and his views on the most fundamental analysis of the day - the involvement of Russia in our election - seemed to shift with those of the president," Mr Wyden said. In written responses to questions from the Senate on January 3, Mr Pompeo said only that intelligence agency assessments in general should be taken seriously. After Mr Trump conceded Russia was behind the campaign hacks, Mr Pompeo told the Senate intelligence committee that particular assessment was "solid". "We need a CIA director who is direct about his beliefs and his assessments," Mr Wyden said. But Republican senator Richard Burr, chairman of the intelligence committee, said Democrats were playing politics in its efforts to delay and derail Mr Trump's choice to run the CIA. One of Mr Trump's first stops as president was at the CIA's headquarters in Northern Virginia on Saturday, where he made a speech that focused more on falsely accusing the media of lying about how many people attended his inauguration than on the role the CIA plays protecting the US. Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents, he assured intelligence officials: "I am so behind you." He made no mention of his repeated criticism of the intelligence agencies following the election, including his public challenges of their high-confidence assessment that Russia meddled in the White House race to help him win. In its final days, Barack Obama's administration announced intelligence findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election with the goal of getting Mr Trump elected. Mr Trump himself has denied most of the assessment, though eventually conceded Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the campaign. Mr Pompeo, a conservative Republican from Kansas and a member of the House of Representatives intelligence committee, faced a mostly friendly confirmation hearing on January 12. He enrolled as a teenager at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated first in his class in 1986, serving in the army at a time when the Soviet Union was America's number one adversary. AP Later, at a swearing-in ceremony for Mr Pompeo, US vice president Mike Pence praised his "wealth of experience" and "character" and said he was "stepping up to lead the finest intelligence-gathering operation the world has ever seen". AP The Trump presidency spells disaster for the estimated 50,000 Irish illegally living in the US, a leading immigration lawyer has warned. Caro Kinsella expects Donald Trump to sign orders authorising the deportation of illegals with criminal records within days, before broadening deportations out to all illegals. Mr Trump pledged to take action on "criminal illegals" within his first 100 days in office. Having already signed an executive order aimed at dismantling Obamacare, Limerick-born Ms Kinsella fully expects the US president's next major action will be to follow up on his campaign pledges on illegal immigrants. The Florida-based attorney said Mr Trump would want to show "shock and awe" in the first days of his presidency. "When the executive order is signed, the deportations are going to be at a rate that is mindblowing," she said. In an interview with the Irish Independent, she said immigration authorities already had lists of illegals compiled and ready to go for when Mr Trump signs the executive order. However, she believes deportations will move to an even higher pace if Mr Trump carries out his promise to do away with so-called sanctuary cities, where it is easier for illegals to live as they do not have to give law enforcement agencies information about their immigration status. While Mr Trump has consistently pledged to kick out foreign criminals, just how stringent the definition of "criminal" will be remains to be seen. "It is very worrying when he says criminal, because he hasn't defined it," Ms Kinsella said. "Are we talking about a guy that had a DUI 10 years ago? How are they going to define criminal? "If you are a green-card holder and you have committed a shoplifting offence, then that crime can actually have you deported from the US. "So crimes that are technically innocuous, that are misdemeanours, can have severe consequences, even if you are legal in the US." Ms Kinsella said many Irish illegals had done well in the US and become prominent businesspeople. These were people who may have overstayed an initial visa, but had been able to continue working after obtaining a social security number and a state identification card. "You would be surprised at the type of people who are inside the US without immigration papers," Ms Kinsella said. "Often they are successful people who have really progressed, but for one reason or another they were remiss with their immigration and as a result now they are in limbo. They could be employing people and have successful businesses." Ms Kinsella expects the J1 programme, under which Irish students have travelled to the US to work during the summer since the 1960s, will get a stay of execution. "Down the line, the J1 programme is in jeopardy. But I don't think it is high priority yet," she said. "Because he wants to do all these other things - mass deportations, building his wall and trying to renegotiate Nafta (North America Free Trade Agreement). "I think he will do those things first before he comes to the J1 programme." Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Turkey imported 21.71 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia in January-November 2016, as compared to 23.96 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2015, the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority said in a report posted on its website. Russia supplied 26.78 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Turkey in 2015, as compared to almost 27 billion cubic meters in 2014. According to the report, Turkey imported 40.78 billion cubic meters of gas in January-November 2016, of which 34.45 billion cubic meters were supplied via pipelines, while 6.33 billion cubic meters accounted for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Some 53.25 percent of the total volume of Turkeys gas import accounted for Russia in January-November 2016. Russia supplies gas to Turkey via the Blue Stream and the Trans-Balkan pipelines. Blue Stream is a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline with the capacity of 16 billion cubic meters per year that carries natural gas from Russia into Turkey. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Donald Trump posted a picture of his own inauguration with a huge mistake printed onto it. The President posted on Twitter a picture of a "photo delivered yesterday that will be displayed in the upper/lower press hall," he wrote alongside the picture. He thanked its photographer, Abbas Shirmohammadi. But the picture's inscription includes a huge mistake. Written at the bottom is a date "January 21st, 2017" which is actually the day after Mr Trump was inaugurated. The swearing-in ceremony that the picture depicts actually happened on 20 January, a day that Mr Trump has officially declared to be the "National Day of Patriotic Devotion". January 21 was actually the date of the anti-Trump Women's March around the world, which was according to some estimates far better attended that Mr Trump's inauguration and was the biggest day of protests in US history. The error may be the result of the photographer using the same date as Barack Obama's inauguration in 2013. That took place on 21 January and a picture on Mr Shirmohammadi's website shows an almost identical picture with the same caption. Inaugurations always take place on 20 January, unless that date falls on a Sunday. That happened in 2013 and so Mr Obama took the oath privately on 20 January and then did it again at a private ceremony the following day. Mr Trump was presumably posting the picture in part because it showed a huge crowd attending his inauguration. The Trump presidency has repeatedly looked to dispute the number of people who turned up to the event with press secretary Sean Spicer arguing that an optical illusion had led people to be tricked into believing fewer people turned up than actually did. Crowd experts have referred to the viewpoint from the Capitol, where Mr Trump's photo was taken, as "distorted". From that perspective it's not possible to see if there's room, a scientist told the BBC this week. The tweet and its accompanying photo were still online almost an hour after it was first posted. Mr Trump may not actually be allowed to delete his own tweets without having them archived a rule that he has already broken. $20m under a mattress was discovered at an apartment in Massachusetts Credit: U.S. Attorney MA / Twitter Here is someone who took hiding money under the mattress to the extreme after police in the United States found $20 million (16m) in cash at an apartment. The huge pile of banknotes were uncovered inside a wooden bed frame, the US Attorney's Office in Massachusetts said, sharing a photo of the cash seizure on Twitter. A Brazilian man has been arrested in connection with conspiring to launder proceeds from an alleged pyramid scheme, prosecutors say. Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha (28) has been charged with one count of conspiring to commit money laundering following the seizure earlier this month. Photo of $20M seized in box spring following arrest of Brazilian national in scheme to launder proceeds of TelexFree https://t.co/ulmFXtI9mr pic.twitter.com/0MTHxjaVZL U.S. Attorney MA (@DMAnews1) January 23, 2017 Prosecutors say Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong, AP reports. It is alleged Rocha was handed a suitcase containing $2.2 million (1.76m) at a restaurant before agents followed him to the address and later arrested him. The money was allegedly from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme. The Boston Herald reports that Rocha's lawyer argued that his client had no criminal record and should be granted bail with GPS monitoring. Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Donald Trump has told congressional leaders that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election if 3-5 million immigrants living in America illegally had not voted. President Trump made the debunked claim, without offering any evidence, at a private White House meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange. Republican-dominated House of Representatives majority leader Kevin McCarthy alluded to it, telling reporters that Mr Trump and the politicians talked about "the different Electoral College, popular vote". Asked if anything surprised her about the meeting, the chamber's Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said: "I won't even go into that." There has been no evidence of widespread tampering or hacking that would change the results of the presidential contest. Mr Trump won the Electoral College by a comfortable margin, but Democratic rival Hillary Clinton won the popular ballot by nearly 2.9 votes. Throughout the campaign, Mr Trump pushed false claims about the propensity of voter fraud, telling his supporters the election had been "rigged" against him. He has made the unverified claims before, tweeting in late November that he would have won the popular vote "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally". He also alleged at the time that there had been "serious voter fraud" in California, New Hampshire and Virginia and complained that the media was not covering it. Meanwhile, Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto said his government was prepared to negotiate with Mr Trump if his country's national sovereignty was respected. Mr Pena Nieto gave a speech detailing what Mexico's baseline negotiating points would be, including economic integration, respect for the rights of migrants and the money they send home. Those remittances amount to about 25 billion dollars (20bn) a year and have become a major source of foreign revenue for the country. Mr Trump had originally suggested that the US might retain some of that money to help pay for a wall between the countries, a project he says Mexico will pay for. Mr Pena Nieto sought to chart a middle course, saying: "Neither confrontation nor submission. Dialogue is the solution." He said that over the weekend he has talked to Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau about the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) ahead of a planned January 31 meeting with Mr Trump. Mr Trump has pledged to renegotiate the three-nation trade agreement and slap tariffs on imports. Mr Pena Nieto's office said that during Sunday's conversation, Mr Trudeau and the Mexican president "spoke about the importance of the United States for both countries, and agreed to join forces to continue promoting the economic integration of North America". Mr Trump announced Monday that he had set up meetings with Mr Trudeau and Mr Pena Nieto, saying: "We're going to start some negotiations having to do with Nafta." Mexico's manufacturing sector has benefited from Nafta, but Mr Trump claims it has displaced US jobs. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Trump "has already spoken to both the president of Mexico and the prime minister of Canada about his desire to renegotiate, and as he meets with both of these individuals over the next 30 days or so, that is going to be a topic". "If they come in and express their willingness to do that, you could negotiate it in the current parameters and update it through the existing structure," he said. "If they don't, and decide to pull out, we will have to go back to the drawing table in the future." US president Donald Trump has signed executive orders to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Both projects had been blocked by the Obama administration, partly due to environmental concerns. The orders are subject to renegotiations of the terms and conditions involved. Mr Trump also signed a notice requiring the materials for the pipelines to be constructed in the United States. The new US president also announced that he plans to nominate a justice for the Supreme Court next week, moving swiftly to try to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Mr Trump is summoning top senators to the White House later to discuss his upcoming nomination. He has sought to focus his first full week in office on jobs and the economy. Republicans, as well as some unions, have cited the pipeline projects as prime opportunities for job growth. Former president Barack Obama had halted the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut US efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centrepiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing lines running to US refineries on the Gulf Coast. The US government needs to approve the pipeline because it would cross the nation's northern border. Separately, late last year, the US Army corps of engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites. Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes these claims and says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. Earlier, Mr Trump caused more controversy after making unsubstantiated claims about election fraud - even as he reached out to Democratic rivals, business leaders and union chiefs in a bid to sell his policies. During a bipartisan reception at the White House on Monday evening, Mr Trump is understood to have claimed that he lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton because three to five million illegal immigrants had voted in the November election. There is no evidence to support Mr Trump's claim, which was reported by a Democratic aide. The assertion appears to be part of a developing pattern for Mr Trump and his new administration in which falsehoods or otherwise unverifiable claims overshadow his efforts to build bridges. Mr Trump began his first full week as president playing host to business, union and Congressional leaders at the White House. Again and again, he ordered aides to summon journalists from their West Wing workplace at a moment's notice for unscheduled statements and photo opportunities. Among those meetings was a reception at the White House for congressional leaders of both parties. Mr Trump is also expected to speak by phone with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and meet his newly sworn-in CIA director Mike Pompeo. Mr Trump's comments on the popular vote were similar to claims he made on Twitter in late November that he had won the electoral college in a "landslide" and also "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally". Mrs Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes, despite losing the electoral college. There is no evidence that voter fraud significantly affected the vote. Earlier, Mr Trump charted a new American course abroad, withdrawing the US from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), using one of his first actions in office to reject a centrepiece of his predecessor Barack Obama's attempts to counter China and strengthen US ties in Asia. For Mr Trump, the move fulfilled a central campaign promise. He has repeatedly said the 12-nation trade pact - which was eagerly sought by US allies in Asia - was detrimental to American business interests. As Mr Trump signed the paperwork in the Oval Office, he said: "Great thing for the American worker what we just did." In addition to his executive action on TPP, Mr Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring - with the exception of the military - and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups which perform abortions or provide information about the option. Film director Roman Polanski will not now take part in the Cesar Awards in Paris next month Film-maker Roman Polanski has decided not to preside over the French equivalent of the Oscars, after protests from France's women's rights minister and feminist groups because of decades-old US sex charges. An official with the arts academy that stages the Cesar Awards said on Tuesday that Polanski will not take part in the February 24 ceremony in Paris, and the academy is discussing alternative options. The official would not comment on the reason for Polanski's decision. Women's minister Laurence Rossignol had called it "shocking" for the 83-year-old Polanski to preside over the Cesars. Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in 1977, but then fled the US. Polanski won the 2003 best director Oscar for The Pianist. AP Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR increased independent fuel supply to Ukraine by seven percent in 2016, as compared to 2015, according to the Ukrainian media. Structures of the Azerbaijani company delivered 136,000 tons of fuel during the period that is by seven percent more than in 2015, according to the report. Despite the fact that SOCAR is the supplier of oil to a refinery in Greece, the companys Ukrainian subsidiary imported to Ukraine diesel fuel from Belarus, Bulgaria, Poland and Lithuania, says the report. SOCAR exported 1.14 million tons of oil products in 2016, as compared to 1.23 million tons in 2015. The company is the sole producer of oil products in Azerbaijan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump instituted a government-wide hiring freeze Monday, signing apresidential memorandumthat would affect a large swath of the government but leave wide latitude for exemptions for those working in the military, national security and public safety. The move - coming on the new president's first full working day in the White House - represents the opening salvo in what could be the most concerted effort to overhaul the federal workforce in 35 years. Critiquing the Washington establishment was central to Trump's campaign, and he placed federal employees at the center of his effort to "clean up corruption and special interest in Washington D.C." His "Contract with the American Voter" listed a hiring freeze as a key element. It was one of several executive actions he issued Monday, including ones to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and to block U.S. funds from being distributed to international organizations that perform or discuss abortions. Trump's memorandum states that "no vacant positions existing at noon on January 22, 2017, may be filled and no new positions may be created, except in limited circumstances," although the freeze does not apply to military personnel. "The head of any executive department or agency may exempt from the hiring freeze any positions that it deems necessary to meet national security or public safety responsibilities," it reads, adding the head of the Office of Personnel Management can allow for hiring "where those exemptions are otherwise necessary." Speaking to reporters Monday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said there has been "a lack of respect for taxpayer dollars in this town for a long time and I think what the president's showing through the hiring freeze . . . [is] that we've got to respect the American taxpayer." "Some people are working two, three jobs just to get by," he added. "And to see money get wasted in Washington on a job that is duplicative is insulting to the hard work that they do to pay their taxes." House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who is hoping to enact broader civil-service changes that could make it easier to remove workers for misconduct and replace federal pensions with retirement plans often used in the private sector, said in an interview that he was "very supportive of freezing the net numbers of federal employees." But he said some agencies, including the U.S. Secret Service and those dealing with cybersecurity operations, had to be able to fill open positions. "The president is obviously working to fulfill a campaign promise. I concur with the goal," he said. "In terms of the details on the execution, we would love to work with him." The details at this point are a little bit murky. Officials at the Pentagon said Monday evening that it wasn't yet clear whether the freeze would exempt civilian Defense Department personnel, which number roughly 750,000, or only uniformed employees. One Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to address internal discussions, said that Pentagon lawyers were examining the directive. Veterans - who make up 31 percent of the federal workforce - could also be disproportionately affected by the move because they receive a hiring preference when it comes to federal jobs. One unit of the Pentagon, according to an official who asked for anonymity to discuss personnel matters, is in the process of hiring between 20 and 30 veterans and is now looking at whether to put the hires on hold. Depending on how the exemptions are interpreted, according to New York University public service professor Paul Light, the freeze might affect fewer than 800,000 employees, or more than one-fifth of the overall federal workforce. "Anyone who's looking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is looking in the wrong direction," Light said. "The real action's going to be on the Hill." Still, the move sparked an immediate outcry from federal employee union officials and some public-service advocates. "There's real need for change in the federal government, and this is not the kind of change that's constructive," Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, said in an interview. "You don't freeze into place what is already not what you want." Richard Thissen, president of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, noted that the federal workforce is now roughly 10 percent smaller than it was in 1967. Thissen said the freeze "would undermine the efficiency of government operations by creating hiring backlogs and inadequate staffing levels, and it is unlikely to save any money." The last two major, across-the-board freezes were instituted by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, who imposed them after taking office. In 1982, the General Accounting Office (now the Government Accountability Office) issued a report concluding that both freezes ended up costing more money than they saved and were "not an effective means of controlling federal employment." Part of that expense stemmed from the hiring of contractors to compensate for staff reductions; Trump's memorandum makes clear, however: "Contracting outside the Government to circumvent the intent of this memorandum shall not be permitted." President George W. Bush imposed a hiring freeze in 2001, but it affected only selected agencies. Under President Obama, some agencies, including the Pentagon, imposed hiring freezes because of budget constraints. Trump also instructed the head of OPM to "recommend a long-term plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government's workforce through attrition" within 90 days, at which point the hiring freeze would expire. Rachel Greszler, a senior policy analyst with the Heritage Foundation, said it made sense for Trump to impose an initial freeze so he can "evaluate things and see where the waste and inefficiencies are" in the federal government. "He needs that time so that more federal employees don't come onto the rolls, because it's extremely difficult to fire federal employees," Greszler said. However Stier said there are real deficiencies in the federal government already, and a freeze will just exacerbate them. The government spends nearly 80 percent of its $90 billion IT budget on operations and maintenance, and there are nearly three times as many employees over age 60 as under age 30. "That's not the workforce you want to freeze; you want to refresh it," he said. The move will likely translate into a grayer federal workforce, where the average age is around 50. Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents federal workers in his Virginia district, noted that a third of career employees are eligible for end-of-career benefits in September 2017. Without replacements, the average age "gets a year older every year." And Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va., who also represents federal employees, said they are "used as a political punching bag," warning that the instructions will affect people throughout the country. Eighty-five percent of the federal workforce, he noted, "lives outside the Beltway." "So for lawmakers who think this only affects people inside the Beltway, think again," he said in an interview. "This will affect your veterans' services, your Social Security services your national parks, your forests." Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., also does not support what she called in a statement "this type of across-the-board freeze." Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Maksim Tsurkov Trend: Baku will host the third meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) on Feb. 23 with the consent of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev, the Energy Ministry told Trend Jan. 24. The ministry said that several meetings and discussions were held in connection with the organization of the Advisory Councils next meeting. The list of the meetings participants has been determined, invitations for participation in the meeting have been sent to energy ministers of countries involved in the Southern Gas Corridor [Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Italy, Greece, Albania and Bulgaria], Balkan countries, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic, heads of international financial institutions and representatives of other interested parties, said the ministry. The meetings initial program and agenda have already been prepared. The SGC Advisory Council held its first meeting on Feb. 12, 2015, and the second meeting on Feb. 29, 2016. The Southern Gas Corridor envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe via Georgia and Turkey. The gas will be exported through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov JMC Projects India secures new orders of Rs2,277 crore; Stock gains 2.6% JMC Projects (India) Limited (JMC), a leading Civil Engineering and EPC Company has secured new orders of Rs2,277 crores. The details are as follows: Water Projects in India of... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 2:08 pm Lupin receives USFDA tentative approval for Drospirenone Tablets Global pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) has announced that it has received tentative approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Abbreviated New Drug ... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 1:26 pm Bloomberg Report: Pegatron Corp starts production of iPhone 14 in India Pegatron Corp., a Taiwanese contract manufacturer for Apple Inc., has begun producing the most recent iPhone 14 model in India. Pegatron is now the second Apple supplier to manufacture th... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:48 pm JMC Projects India allots NCDs for Rs100 crore; Stock rallies over 3.5% The Management Committee of the Board of Directors of JMC Projects (India) Limited at its meeting held on November 04, 2022 has allotted 1000 Repo Rate, Unsecured, Rated, Listed, Rede... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:34 pm Nykaa receives shareholders' approval for bonus issue and ESOP; Stock down 1% The Board of the lifestyle retailer FSN E-Commerce Ventures Limited (Nykaa), on October 3, 2022, approved Bonus Issue of Equity Shares in the proportion of 5 (Five) fully paid-up Equity Sh... November 04, 2022 | 04-11-2022 12:03 pm Russias Gazprom company is discussing the possibility of using Poseidon and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to export gas to Europe, the companys deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev said. He made the remarks during the European Gas Conference in Vienna Jan.24, Reuters reported. TAP is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor which is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. TAP project envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries. The pipeline will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. Poseidon is the project for construction of offshore part of ITGI gas pipeline which will run through the bottom of the Ionian Sea and connect the gas transport systems of Greece and Italy. Harold Frazier, the chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, addresses a #NoDAPL rally outside of the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on August 24, 2016. Photo by Indianz.Com / Available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License The leader of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is firing back at Republican President Donald Trump as the war over the Dakota Access Pipeline enters a new and highly-charged political phase. Chairman Harold Frazier took issue with the presidential memorandum that Trump signed in the Oval Office on Tuesday. He said the directive ignores the Sioux Nation's treaty rights and their right to be consulted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "The United States Constitution declares that treaties with Indian tribes are the Supreme Law of the Land," Frazier said on Tuesday. "President Trump cannot steamroll over the Constitution and our treaties. Not to mention the Corps own policies requiring consultation with affected tribes. Frazier's comments came after the White House released the text of the document, a few hours after the signing ceremony. The memo calls for an "expedited" consideration of the final portion of the pipeline at Lake Oahe in North Dakota, upstream from the Cheyenne River Reservation As part of the directive, Trump opened the door for the Department of the Army to withdraw a new environmental review that was initiated just two days before he took office. Instead, he indicated that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers might be able to use an environmental assessment released last July as the basis for approving the final portion of the pipeline. But the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe note that the assessment never took into account treaty rights or impacts on water resources. That's why the Indian Country and the #NoDAPL movement supported a more thorough review of the crossing at Lake Oahe. If this pipeline is so safe, then why did they reroute it from north of Bismarck to our lands and waters?' Frazier said. "Our lands and waters were reserved in treaty with the United States and must be protected! Both tribes are part of an ongoing lawsuit that challenges the permitting process for the pipeline. But they agreed to put their complaints on hold in order for a federal judge to focus on the crossing at Lake Oahe. The wealthy backers of the pipeline insist they were already granted approval to complete work at Lake Oahe by the July 2016 environmental assessment. A hearing on the matter is expected sometime in February and a decision would come sometime after that. Trump's memorandum doesn't outright order the Army or the Army Corps to approve the crossing so it's not clear how his directive will impact the litigation. But the Department of Justice provided notice on Tuesday afternoon to Judge James E. Boasberg to inform him of the development. White House Documents: Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (January 24, 2017) Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline (January 24, 2017) Executive Order Expediting Environmental Reviews and Approvals For High Priority Infrastructure Projects (January 24, 2017) Presidential Memorandum Regarding Construction of American Pipelines (January 24, 2017) Presidential Memorandum Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing (January 24, 2017) Press Release: President Trump Takes Action to Expedite Priority Enery and Infrastructure Projects (January 24, 2017) Federal Register Notice: Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in Connection With Dakota Access, LLC's Request for an Easement To Cross Lake Oahe, North Dakota (January 18, 2017) Join the Conversation Related Stories: President Trump thumbs nose at Indian Country with action on two pipelines (1/24) Democrats blast Trump for ignoring Native opposition to pipelines (1/24) Senate committee postpones vote on Trump's Dakota Access ally (1/24) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe focuses on battles as Trump takes office (1/23) Native Sun News Today: DefundDAPL billboard goes up in New York (1/19) Department of the Army takes the lead on Dakota Access Pipeline (1/18) Dakota Access executive confirms crude already placed in pipeline (1/18) Judge declines to block publication of Dakota Access Pipeline notice (1/17) New battle opens as Dakota Access disputes environmental review (1/17) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe responds quickly to Dakota Access threat (1/17) Gyasi Ross: Let's divest from DAPL and support Native owned banks (1/17) Jeffrey Ostler/Nick Estes: Treaties and the Dakota Access Pipeline (1/17) James Giago Davies: The real power to defeat the Wasicu pipeline (1/16) Mille Lacs Band divests from bank over Dakota Access financing (1/13) Trump's Energy nominee vows to stay away from Dakota Access (1/12) Native Sun News Today: Legal fight continues over Dakota Access (1/12) Alex Jacobs: Indian Country saw plenty of positive wins in 2016 (1/10) Army Corps counters Dakota Access on crucial pipeline easement (1/6) Kyle Powys Whyte: Why the Dakota Access Pipeline fight continues (1/6) Federal grand jury convened in connection with #NoDAPL incident (1/5) North Dakota defends request for small fine against Dakota Access (1/5) Mark Trahant: Standing Rock prepared us for the Donald Trump era (1/2) Desiree Kane: Photos from seven months of living at Standing Rock (1/2) Steven Newcomb: Oceti Sakowin never surrendered lands to U.S. (1/2) James Giago Davies: Prayer alone didn't stop the Dakota pipeline (12/29) Gyasi Ross & Matt Remle: Divest from the Dakota Access Pipeline (12/26) Native Sun News Today: Standing Rock movement inspires others (12/21) Sarah van Gelder: Veterans asked for forgiveness at Standing Rock (12/21) Winona LaDuke won one vice presidential vote in electoral college (12/21) Donald Trump picks billionaire to oversee Dakota Access Pipeline (12/20) Michael Running Wolf: #NoDAPL kitchen serves traditional foods (12/20) Ray Cook: Water protectors treated like terrorists in own lands (12/20) Pipeline opponent secures one vote as Electoral College meets (12/20) Judge sets stage for next phase of Dakota Access Pipeline case (12/19) Native Sun News Today: #DefundDAPL targets backers of pipeline (12/19) Denver American Horse: Water protectors always in my prayers (12/19) Steven Newcomb: Veterans beg for forgiveness at Standing Rock (12/19) Peter d'Errico: #NoDAPL battle is about tribal self-determination (12/19) Mark Trahant: New North Dakota governor backs Dakota Access (12/16) Jenni Giovannetti: The war against Dakota Access is far from over (12/16) Ari Paul: City takes steps to divest $3B from Dakota Access bank (12/16) Scott Montgomery: #NoDAPL highlights failures in energy policy (12/16) Jennifer Falcon: Mixed feelings from the #NoDAPL encampment (12/16) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL movement shifts to new phase (12/15) Matt Stannard: Public bank helps silence #NoDAPL movement (12/15) Trump's Energy nominee sits on board for Dakota Access owner (12/14) Vi Waln: Stay vigilant because Dakota Access battle isn't over (12/14) Ivan Star Comes Out: Fascist police resurface at Standing Rock (12/14) North Dakota pipeline spill occurred near Missouri River system (12/14) Dakota Access pushes for dismissal of appeal in #NoDAPL case (12/13) North Dakota pipeline spills more than 176K gallons of crude oil (12/13) Dave Archambault: Dakota Access Pipeline battle is far from over (12/12) Sarah van Gelder: How the Standing Rock movement changed us (12/12) Louise Erdrich: Indigenous people unite to stop the Black Snake (12/12) Steven Newcomb: What the media won't show at Standing Rock (12/12) Judge won't rush ruling on Dakota Access easement amid change (12/9) Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: Maybe we can learn from our tragic history (12/9) Tribes promise fight against Dakota Access ahead of court hearing (12/8) Tribes bringing #NoDAPL battle to international human rights forum (12/8) Dakota Access Pipeline disputes small fine for disturbing tribal site (12/8) Harold Frazier: 'Wopila tanka' to all the #NoDAPL water protectors (12/8) Native Sun News Today: Temporary win on Dakota Access Pipeline (12/8) James Giago Davies: Obama could have stopped #NoDAPL abuses (12/8) Steven Newcomb: 'Unjust' war against #NoDAPL water protectors (12/8) North Dakota county wants 'Sheriff Kirchmeier' account off Twitter (12/7) Rosalyn R. LaPier: How Standing Rock became a site of pilgrimage (12/7) Lakota Country Times: North Dakota county sheriff hit with lawsuit (12/7) Vi Waln: The #NoDAPL movement reminds them we are still here (12/7) Native Sun News Today: Lakota artist designs 'Water is Life' tipi (12/7) Ivan Star Comes Out: The lust for oil and the #NoDAPL movement (12/7) Common Dreams: Veterans ask for forgiveness at Standing Rock (12/7) Tiffany Midge: Don't shame Standing Rock Sioux Tribe for pipeline (12/7) Editorial: A 'false victory' on the Dakota Access Pipeline easement (12/7) Dakota Access resumes push to complete final portion of pipeline (12/6) Dave Archambault: It's time for water protectors to return home (12/6) Kirk Francis: Tribes must remain vigilant despite #NoDAPL victory (12/6) Tracy Loeffelholz Dunn: Numbers behind Standing Rock's victory (12/6) Indian Country cheers historic decision on Dakota Access Pipeline (12/5) Tribes and Dakota Access headed back to court for hearing in D.C. (12/5) Sen. Heidi Heitkamp again parts with Indian Country on #NoDAPL (12/5) Dave Archambault: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe thanks many allies (12/5) Mark Trahant: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe continues to defy history (12/5) Democracy Now: Thousands of veterans deploy to Standing Rock (12/5) Dana Lone Hill: Lakota prophecy warns of our water turning black (12/5) James Giago Davies: Finding the real enemy in the #NoDAPL fight (12/5) Quinault Nation prepares for journey to Standing Rock encampment (12/2) Doug George-Kanentiio: Iroquois prophecies warn of grave dangers (12/2) Brandon Ecoffey: Media gets it wrong on Dakota Access frontlines (12/2) Bronson Koenig: What I found during my journey to Standing Rock (12/2) Timothy Egan: Fake cowboys cheered while the real Indians suffer (12/2) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe calls for safety as veterans head to camp (12/1) North Dakota sheriff scrubs Facebook of incriminating #NoDAPL information (12/01) Sen. Heidi Heitkamp considers role in Donald Trump administration (12/1) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL kitchen in need of more supplies (12/1) Native Sun News Today: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe summons allies (12/1) Vi Waln: Sacred fire burns at Oceti Sakowin camp in North Dakota (12/1) Ivan Star Comes Out: Veterans at Standing Rock for the good fight (12/1) Sioux Nation to President Obama: Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/30) Lakota Country Times: Herbalist brings medicine to Standing Rock (11/30) Dana Lone Hill: A big 'wopila' to all the #NoDAPL water protectors (11/30) Kelly Hayes: My whole heart is with the #NoDAPL water protectors (11/30) Large veterans group heads to #NoDAPL frontline in North Dakota (11/30) Sheriff hit with lawsuit as governor moves in on #NoDAPL camp (11/29) Dakota Access Pipeline almost finished except at Lake Oahe site (11/29) Mark Trahant: The rule of law protects Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (11/29) Democracy Now: Sen. Bernie Sanders on Dakota Access Pipeline (11/29) Lakota Country Times: Youth finish 1400-mile Standing Rock run (11/29) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL struggle brings tribes together (11/29) Delphine Red Shirt: #NoDAPL water protectors pray for everyone (11/29) Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: Law enforcement panel ignores our history (11/29) Ruby Hansen Murray: Real Indians remain invisible to the media (11/29) Army Corps changes course and closes land to #NoDAPL camps (11/28) Charmaine White Face: Let Big Spirits take over at Standing Rock (11/28) Jenni Monet: Public outrage mounting over #NoDAPL crackdowns (11/28) State claims rocks and 'improvised weapons' used at standoff (11/23) Charles Trimble: Water protectors need more than our prayers (11/23) Doug George-Kanentiio: For those standing with Standing Rock (11/23) Arne Vainio: Water is Life -- A sacred journey to Standing Rock (11/23) Democracy Now: County sheriff 'not worthy of a shred of belief' (11/23) Editorial: A 'shameful and bloody' use of force at Standing Rock (11/23) Dakota Access cries of financial hit as victim remains in hospital (11/22) Law enforcement blames #NoDAPL resisters for severe injuries (11/22) Dakota Access continues legal push as frontline hit by assaults (11/21) Lakota Country Times: Crow Creek upset by #NoDAPL crackdown (11/21) Vi Waln: Water protection walk urges forgiveness amid crackdown (11/21) Tom Goldtooth & Annie Leonard: Obama can block Dakota Access (11/21) Chip Colwell: How the Dakota Access Pipeline review went wrong (11/21) Peter d'Errico: Indigenous thought guides #StandingRockSyllabus (11/21) Tracy Rector: Dakota Access Pipeline threatens our mother earth (11/21) Mark Trahant: Time is on the side of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (11/18) Steffani Cochran: #NoDAPL water protectors need legal services (11/18) Harold Frazier: Take action now to block Dakota Access Pipeline (11/17) Native Sun News Today: Sheriff continues #NoDAPL crackdowns (11/17) Michelle LaPena: Lessons from the movement at Standing Rock (11/17) Native women lead massive march to stop Dakota Access Pipeline (11/16) Lakota Country Times: County criticized for #NoDAPL crackdown (11/16) Brandon Ecoffey: South Dakota officers abuse water protectors (11/16) Mary Annette Pember: 'Desperate' legal move by Dakota Access (11/16) Melissa Hellmann: Aggressive law enforcement at Standing Rock (11/16) Steven Newcomb: Dakota Access Pipeline violates treaty rights (11/16) Dakota Access defies easement delay and vows to finish pipeline (11/15) Lakota Country Times: On the #NoDAPL front line in North Dakota (11/15) Vi Waln: Military forces commit violence against water protectors (11/15) Cronkite News: Concert raises funds for the #NoDAPL movement (11/15) Army Corps still won't issue easement for Dakota Access Pipeline (11/14) Dakota Access Pipeline faces a small fine for disturbing tribal site (11/14) Indian Country prepares for a new jolt on Dakota Access Pipeline (11/14) Tim Giago: Tribes at major crossroads with Donald Trump in office (11/14) Cedar Wilkie Gillette: We can all support the #NoDAPL movement (11/14) Sarah van Gelder: Standing Rock chairman on a President Trump (11/14) Steven Newcomb: Dakota Access Pipeline is about colonization (11/14) Jenni Monet: What Donald Trump's win means for Standing Rock (11/10) Native Sun News Today: Prayer vigils continue at Standing Rock (11/10) Ivan Star Comes Out: Water protectors are treated like terrorists (11/10) Rep. Cramer confirms Donald Trump's embrace of Dakota Access (11/10) Doug George-Kanentiio: The war on Natives and our Earth begins (11/9) Dakota Access stands to gain with Donald Trump in White House (11/9) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe presses Obama to stop Dakota Access (11/9) Native Sun News Today: Native youth lead run to Standing Rock (11/9) Michael Lawson: Roots of #NoDAPL movement go back decades (11/9) Alex Jacobs: #NoDAPL crackdown harkens back to Indian wars (11/9) Elizabeth Cook-Lynn: #NoDAPL violence follows a familiar pattern (11/8) Andrew Revkin: #NoDAPL movement isn't just about the pipeline (11/8) Tiffany Midge: Jingle Dress Dancers bring prayers to Standing Rock (11/7) Army Corps calls pipeline resisters 'trespassers' in letter to county (11/4) Obama elevates role of chairman of Suquamish Tribe on key panel (11/4) Democracy Now: 'Huge step' from Obama in fight against pipeline (11/4) Editorial: Native voters can make change at ballot boxes on November 8 (11/4) Winona LaDuke: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sets pipeline hearings (11/4) Gyasi Ross: The best option is to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/4) Editorial: Reroute Dakota Access Pipeline away from reservation (11/4) Tribes remain cautious amid Dakota Access Pipeline uncertainty (11/3) North Dakota panel opens probe into Dakota Access disturbance (11/3) Native Sun News Today: Tribes seek protection amid #NoDAPL crackdown (11/3) Brandon Ecoffey: Authorities step over the line with #NoDAPL crackdown (11/3) Ivan Star Comes Out: #NoDAPL crackdown hinders reconciliation (11/3) Mary Annette Pember: A young boy's return from Standing Rock (11/3) Jan Hasselman: Putting the brakes on the Dakota Access Pipeline (11/3) President Obama hints at delay in Dakota Access Pipeline easement (11/2) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe moves to cut ties with pipeline investors (11/2) Open letter to law enforcement and National Guard in North Dakota (11/2) LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: Bundys tried to come to #NoDAPL camp (11/2) Kalamaoka'aina Niheu: Law enforcement become more militarized (11/2) Lakota Country Times: South Dakota a part of #NoDAPL crackdown (11/1) Bureau of Indian Affairs apprehended security worker with rifle (10/31) Democracy Now: Dakota Access security guard had assault rifle (10/31) Tim Giago: Water protectors must continue to remain peaceful (10/31) Mark Trahant: Native candidates make history in North Dakota (10/31) Dina Gilio-Whitaker: #NoDAPL crackdown shows racism lives on (10/31) Steve Russell: Juries might be only hope in #NoDAPL crackdown (10/31) Donna Ennis: Tribes must be included in federal decision-making (10/31) Authorities crack down on #NoDAPL treaty camp in North Dakota (10/28) Mark Trahant: More injustice as police move in at Standing Rock (10/28) Jyl Wheaton-Abraham: Water protector efforts are not in vain (10/28) Native Sun News Today: Sheriff makes biggest #NoDAPL roundup (10/27) Democracy Now: Dakota Access security guards weren't licensed (10/27) Dana Lone Hill: Indian people won't stop fighting for our rights (10/27) Dave Archambault Sr.: Dehumanizing the #NoDAPL movement (10/27) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees decline in business at casino (10/27) Republican Donald Trump invested in Dakota Access Pipeline (10/27) Native youth pressure Hillary Clinton to take a #NoDAPL stand (10/26) Dakota Access ramps up spending on lobbying and politicians (10/25) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe presses Obama on Dakota Access (10/25) Donald Trump embraces big energy projects like Dakota Access (10/24) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe can pursue own #NoDAPL complaint (10/24) Democracy Now: New resistance in fight against Dakota Access (10/24) Mark Trahant: North Dakota takes #NoDAPL battle to extremes (10/24) Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye backs Hillary Clinton (10/21) Native Sun News Today: Ping-pong continues in #NoDAPL case (10/21) Misty Perkins: Indigenous voices are lost in colonial translation (10/21) Native leaders in Alaska endorse Hillary Clinton in historic move (10/20) Morgan Rodman: Federal agencies work to protect treaty rights (10/20) Mary Annette Pember: First baby born at water protector camp (10/20) Duane Yazzie: Spirituality prevails as #NoDAPL fight continues (10/20) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe opens reservation to #NoDAPL camp (10/20) Vi Waln: Water protector camps overflow with spiritual energy (10/19) Mary Annette Pember: Teaching a new generation of protectors (10/19) Democracy Now: Standing Rock Sioux chair was strip-searched (10/18) Mary Annette Pember: Army Corps on shaky ground with pipeline (10/18) North Dakota sees setback in pursuit of Dakota Access resisters (10/18) Mary Annette Pember: Kitchen serves the #NoDAPL movement (10/17) Gyasi Ross: A 'humbling' #NoDAPL experience for Tito Ybarra (10/14) Indian Country united for full review of Dakota Access Pipeline (10/13) Alex Piechowski-Begay: What water and #NoDAPL mean to me (10/13) Native Sun News Today: Battle continues against Dakota Access (10/13) North Dakota questions legality of Defenders of the Water School (10/12) Jim Kent: Putting a stop to pollution of our waters and our lands (10/12) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe calls for prayer amid additional arrests (10/11) Mark Trahant: Native candidates use #NoDAPL as campaign issue (10/11) Misty Perkins: Continue to stand with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (10/11) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees setback as court lifts injunction (10/10) Army Corps promises answer on Dakota Access easement soon (10/10) Yavapai-Apache Nation News: Hopi boy to run to Standing Rock (10/10) Mary Annette Pember: Pipeline promises jobs but impacts linger (10/10) Doug George-Kanentiio: We all must do our part for Standing Rock (10/7) Gyasi Ross: Interview with founder of Defenders of Water School (10/7) Mary Annette Pember: Police crack down on #NoDAPL protectors (10/7) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL movement continues to grow (10/6) Gyasi Ross: Hillary Clinton can't be quiet on #NoDAPL movement (10/6) Mark Trahant: Climate change and the Dakota Access Pipeline (10/6) Mary Annette Pember: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe denied access (10/6) NYT Lens Blog: Photographer documents life at #NoDAPL camps (10/6) Appeals court takes up #NoDAPL case as pipeline remains in limbo (10/5) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe fires back as court hears #NoDAPL case (10/5) Dakota Access tries to sneak in report on eve of critical hearing (10/4) Charles Trimble: Standing on moral high ground in #NoDAPL fight (10/4) Winona LaDuke: Join us and put a stop to the pipeline to nowhere (10/4) Another big week as Standing Rock Sioux Tribe heads back to court (10/3) Brandon Ecoffey: Politicians show their true colors on #NoDAPL (10/3) David Ganje: Tribes can't remain silent about their water rights (10/3) Tim Ballew: Tribal sovereignty finally gets attention it deserves (10/3) Steven Newcomb: Domination system at play in #NoDAPL fight (10/3) Alex Jacobs: Big media continues to ignore indigenous interests (10/3) Native Sun News Today: Standing Rock Sioux in fight for 'our lives' (9/30) Jenni Giovannetti: #NoDAPL inspires mixed-race keyboard warrior (9/30) Dakota Access enlists big name law firm ahead of court hearing (9/29) Dave Archambault Sr.: The roots of the battle at Standing Rock (9/29) Mary Annette Pember: Water protectors rounded up for praying (9/29) Dina Gilio-Whitaker: A model for tribal consultation with UNDRIP (9/29) House approves national water bill without #NoDAPL amendment (9/28) County sheriff announces additional arrests of #NoDAPL resisters (9/28) Mary Annette Pember: Sheriff is looking into reports of 'gunshots' (9/28) Mark Fogarty: Young Native journalists cover historic movement (9/28) Peter d'Errico: Briefcase warriors must defend original nations (9/28) Judge urges tribal coordination on complaint in #NoDAPL case (9/27) Albert Bender: Spill confirms fears on Dakota Access Pipeline (9/27) Sierra Club: More review needed for Dakota Access Pipeline (9/27) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL lands before United Nations (9/26) Gyasi Ross: Obama's legacy on the line with Dakota pipeline (9/26) Obama administration asks tribes about infrastructure projects (9/23) Mary Annette Pember: A young boy's journey to Standing Rock (9/23) Harlan McKosato: Obama must keep promise to Indian people (9/23) Appeals court in DC sets stage for October 5 #NoDAPL hearing (9/22) Republican lawmaker eagerly defends Dakota Access Pipeline (9/22) Bureau of Indian Affairs role in #NoDAPL 'task force' in doubt (9/22) Mark Trahant: Politicians can no longer ignore the Native vote (9/22) Native Sun News Today: Nation rallies to #NoDAPL movement (9/22) Dave Archambault Sr.: History unfolds on Standing Rock land (9/22) David Ganje: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe takes stand for water (9/22) Democracy Now: Sacred Stone Camp founder standing ground (9/22) Harold Monteau: #NoDAPL movement draws a line in the sand (9/22) County sheriff leads investigation into #NoDAPL confrontation (9/21) Federal appeals court sets October 5 hearing in #NoDAPL case (9/21) Tribes deliver Wisconsin firewood to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (9/21) Democrats host forum on Dakota Access Pipeline on Capitol Hill (9/21) Leader of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe speaks at United Nations (9/20) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe tries to revive #NoDAPL complaint (9/20) Tribes clash over new casino but agree on #NoDAPL movement (9/20) Alex Jacobs: Scenes from Standing Rock resemble Selma in 60s (9/20) Another rollercoaster week as #NoDAPL fight enters new phase (9/19) Judge dissolves restraining order against Standing Rock leaders (9/19) Zoltan Grossman: Cowboys are quiet as tribes unite for #NoDAPL (9/19) Dave Archambault: Disaster placed on Standing Rock's doorstep (9/19) David Gipp: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands up for life and water (9/19) Terri Miles: That 'information point' at the #NoDAPL encampment (9/19) Peter d'Errico: Be bold in fighting Dakota Access Pipeline in court (9/19) Appeals court halts Dakota Access Pipeline work pending hearing (9/16) Sparring continues in #NoDAPL lawsuit as tribes seek halt to work (9/16) Bronson Koenig hosts basketball clinic for youth at Standing Rock (9/16) Senate passes water bill but fails to include #NoDAPL amendment (9/15) White House to respond to #NoDAPL petition with 203K signatures (9/15) Doug George-Kanentiio: Prophecy and the people at Standing Rock (9/15) Mark Trahant: There is something we can do to help Standing Rock (9/15) Native Sun News Today: #NoDAPL movement forges ahead to win (9/15) Mary Annette Pember: Indigenous women lead prayers for water (9/15) Steve Russell: Legal encounters and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/15) Emotions run strong as #NoDAPL seeps into debate on lands bill (9/14) Defenders of the Water School is going strong at #NoDAPL camp (9/14) Key House Democrats call for hearing on Dakota Access Pipeline (9/14) Brandon Ecoffey: Pipeline destroys our sacred and cultural sites (9/14) Jori Kaniehtakohe Rourke: Our people unite in #NoDAPL battle (9/14) Hundreds rally at White House to block Dakota Access Pipeline (9/13) Judge won't grant injunction to protect sacred sites in DAPL path (9/12) Democracy Now: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe creates 'awakening' (9/12) Mark Trahant: #NoDAPL movement forces long overdue debate (9/12) Matthew Fletcher: Obama joins tribes on the right side of history (9/12) Steve Russell: Anonymous makes appearance in #NoDAPL fight (9/12) Liz Perez Halperin: Why this warrior stands up for Standing Rock (9/12) Obama steps in with major action halting Dakota Access Pipeline (9/9) Tribes move quickly to protect sacred lands within pipeline path (9/9) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe thanks Obama for #NoDAPL stance (9/9) Indian Country eagerly anticipates decision in #NoDAPL lawsuit (9/9) Lakota Country Times: Henry Red Cloud takes stand for #NoDAPL (9/9) Ernestine Chasing Hawk: A history of resistance at Standing Rock (9/9) Steve Russell: Legal encounters and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/9) Obama dodges #NoDAPL query as youth question commitment (9/8) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe urges calm ahead of #NoDAPL ruling (9/8) Mark Trahant: White House must get involved in #NoDAPL fight (9/8) Native Sun News Today: Law clamps down on #NoDAPL resisters (9/8) Ivan Star Comes Out: #NoDAPL movement is about sacred water (9/8) Jim Gray: Mainstream media is missing the major #NoDAPL story (9/8) Gyasi Ross: Doing your part to ensure #NoDAPL keeps on winning (9/8) Sheriff recruiting more law enforcement for #NoDAPL campsites (9/8) #NoDAPL movement takes center stage at North Dakota summit (9/7) Lakota Country Times: School going strong at #NoDAPL campsite (9/7) Mark Charles: The #NoDAPL struggle continues after hearing in DC (9/7) Dave Archambault II: The Dakota Access Pipeline musn't be built (9/7) Eastern Cherokees contribute $50K to Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (9/7) Jill Stein of Green Party faces charges for standing with #NoDAPL (9/7) Dave Archambault: Dakota Access Pipeline destroys sacred sites (9/7) Steven Newcomb: Vicious dogs unleashed on #NoDAPL resisters (9/7) Mike Myers: Historic ties between the Haudenosaunee and Sioux (9/7) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe disappointed with ruling in #NoDAPL case (9/6) Dakota Access fires back at tribes ahead of hearing in federal court (9/6) Lakota Country Times: Tribes still united at #NoDAPL encampment (9/6) Native Sun News: Death highlights dangers of Dakota Access work (9/6) Hearing ordered after Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reports destruction (9/5) Army Corps backs restraining order against Dakota Access Pipeline (9/5) Quinault Nation sends Grandfather Canoe to #NoDAPL encampment (9/5) Sarah Sunshine Manning: Dogs attack peaceful #NoDAPL resisters (9/5) LaDonna Brave Bull Allard: We have no choice but to defend water (9/5) Jacqueline Keeler: #NoDAPL resistance is part of something bigger (9/5) Steve Russell: Federal Indian law and the Dakota Access Pipeline (9/5) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reports cultural finds near pipeline path (9/2) Mark Trahant: #NoDAPL poses test for Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine (9/2) Native Sun News: Cartoonist brings humor to #NoDAPL movement (9/2) Tribal activists cheer demise of controversial pipeline in Minnesota (9/2) United Nations Forum backs Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on #NoDAPL (9/1) Native Sun News: Northern Cheyenne Tribe joins #NoDAPL efforts (9/1) Jim Kent: The real truth about the #NoDAPL resistance movement (9/1) Mark Trahant: Candidate shows support for #NoDAPL movement (9/1) Lakota Country Times: #NoDAPL roadblock remains a major issue (8/31) Brandon Ecoffey: #NoDAPL resistance is the start of a movement (8/31) Dave Archambault: Struggle unfolds on Standing Rock Sioux land (8/31) Terri Miles: Indian Country unites to stare down the black snake (8/31) Joel Heitkamp: Officials in North Dakota need a lesson in respect (8/31) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe confirms lack of easement for pipeline (8/30) Supplies needed for #NoDAPL Defenders of Sacred Water School (8/30) Lakota Country Times: Students witness history at pipeline camp (8/30) Vi Waln: Media distorts peaceful nature of sacred #NoDAPL camp (8/30) Mike Myers: Historic ties between the Haudenosaunee and Sioux (8/30) Mark Anthony Rolo: Tribes remain at mercy of bad federal policies (8/30) Defenders of the Water School opens at pipeline resistance camp (8/29) Lakota Country Times: Resisters dispute emergency declaration (8/29) Dave Archambault: Stopping the desecration of our Mother Earth (8/29) Mark Trahant: State erects roadblock at peaceful #NoDAPL camp (8/29) Latoya Lonelodge: Witnessing history at Camp of Sacred Stones (8/29) Jon Eagle: Land remains sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (8/29) Albert Bender: Tribes join together at Camp of the Sacred Stones (8/29) Steven Newcomb: Law of Christendom at play in #NoDAPL battle (8/29) Arvol Looking Horse: Saving our Earth from energy development (8/29) Tribal Tribune: Unity at Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's #NoDAPL camp (8/26) Winona LaDuke: Corporate interests come to destroy our mother (8/26) Sarah Sunshine Manning: #NoDAPL campaign awakens our people (8/26) Dakota Access Pipeline lacks key approval to build by reservation (8/26) Lummi Nation sends totem pole to #NoDAPL camp in North Dakota (8/26) Dave Archambault: Why the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is fighting (8/25) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe chair dispels rumors about camp site (8/25) Sen. Bernie Sanders joining opposition to Dakota Access Pipeline (8/25) Native Sun News: Thousands join #NoDAPL resistance movement (8/25) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sees strong support at pipeline hearing (8/24) Kayla DeVault: Navajo Nation must take a stand on Dakota Access (8/24) Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe seeks prayers ahead of pipeline hearing (8/23) Lakota Country Times: Oglala Sioux Tribe joins fight against pipeline (8/23) Brandon Ecoffey: The Horse Nations prepare for battle over pipeline (8/23) Simon Moya-Smith: Hillary Clinton remains silent amid pipeline feud (8/23) Steven Newcomb: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe challenges domination (8/23) Sheriff mistook sacred pipes for pipe bombs at pipeline protest site (8/23) Tribes prepare for critical hearing in Dakota Access Pipeline lawsuit (8/22) Mark Trahant: Pipeline fight highlights power of political organizing (8/22) Lakota Country Times: Tribes unite to stop Dakota Access Pipeline (8/22) Vi Waln: Our water system is being threatened by energy pipelines (8/22) Winona LaDuke: Bigger problems ahead for Dakota Access Pipeline (8/22) Dallas Goldtooth: Tribes shut out of Dakota Access Pipeline process (8/22) Native Sun News: Resistance grows against Dakota Access Pipeline (08/18) Harold Frazier: Obama must put a stop to Dakota Access Pipeline (08/15) Tribes and Native youth join forces in campaign to stop oil pipeline (08/11) Democrats embrace tribal sovereignty in platform for convention (07/08) Dakota Access Pipeline to go underneath tribal burial site in Iowa (06/22) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe battles oil pipeline (06/08) Iowa board approves energy pipeline work amid tribal objections (06/07) Native Sun News: Tribes score big in fights against energy projects (05/26) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeks halt to construction of pipeline (05/12) Native Sun News: Youth run 500 miles to protest new oil pipeline (05/11) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe aims to stop pipeline (04/27) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Army Corps to discuss oil pipeline (04/26) Native Sun News: Tribes gaining traction in war against pipelines (04/20) Brandon Ecoffey: Tribes continue battle against energy pipelines (04/19) Standing Rock Sioux Tribe sets up sacred camp to oppose pipeline (04/15) Native Sun News: Tribes organize against Dakota Access Pipeline (04/13) Iowa Tribe joins fight against oil pipeline on aboriginal territory (3/24) Native Sun News: Standing Rock Sioux Tribe battles pipeline plan (3/14) Native Sun News: Tribes fight another pipeline through Great Plains (07/07) Meskwaki Tribe opposes oil pipeline through aboriginal territory (03/17) An aerial view of Oceti Sakowin, the largest #NoDAPL encampment in North Dakota. Organizers are preparing to clean up and evacuate the site due to anticipated flooding. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has voted against a relocation on the reservation so residents are expected to move on despite a strong desire to stay and support the #NoDAPL movement. Photo: Oceti Sakowin Camp Lawmakers have postponed action on two Cabinet nominees for Republican President Donald Trump , including one with strong ties to the Dakota Access Pipeline The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources was due to consider Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Montana) and former Texas governor Rick Perry at a business meeting on Tuesday morning. But the votes were postponed "until further notice." No reason was given as Democrats have sought to delay some of Trump's picks amid concerns about their qualifications and conflicts of interests. So far, the Senate has only confirmed two of Trump's Cabinet choices Zinke, an adopted member of the Fort Peck Tribes , has not encountered much resistance and has instead been mostly praised by lawmakers and tribal leaders, particularly those from Montana. He is eventually expected to win approval to lead the Interior Department Perry, on the other hand, has faced questions about his background. When he ran for president, he said he would eliminate the Energy Department , but he told the committee last week that he regretted taking that position. "If confirmed, I will enter this role excited and passionate," Perry said at his January 19 hearing Donald Trump and Rick Perry at Trump Tower in New York City, New York, in June 2013. Photo: Office of Governor Rick Perry Although the Energy Department does not have direct authority over Dakota Access, Perry has vowed to divest his financial interests in Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners and to stay away from matters affecting them. The two firms are financing and constructing the controversial project , which remains in limbo due to objections from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its many supporters around the world Perry owns between $1,001 and $15,000 in "common stock" in Energy Transfer and between $1,001 and $15,000 in "common stock" in Sunoco, according to his public financial disclosure report . He also holds large stakes of "unrestricted stock" in both companies -- the total value ranges between $200,002 and $500,000. Additionally, Perry was paid by both firms to serve on their boards. According to his disclosure, he was paid $101,010 by Energy Transfer from February 2015 through December 2016 while Sunoco paid him $70,009 from March 2015 through December 2016. That time period saw Dakota Access go through the state and federal permitting processes to build the pipeline. It also saw the rise of the #NoDAPL movement, which has become an international and celebrity cause. As a result, the final portion of the pipeline is undergoing an additional environmental review to address concerns raised by the tribe. The Department of the Army , which does not fall under the Energy Department's authority, has taken the lead on the effort instead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , according to a notice that was published in the Federal Register before Trump took office on Friday. Trump supports completion of the pipeline but has not yet said what he will do to advance the project. It would be difficult, though not impossible, to withdraw the environmental impact statement that was initiated last week. "I'm not going to get in front of the president's executive action but areas like Dakota and the Keystone pipeline ... we can increase jobs and economic growth," Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, said at a briefing at the White House on Monday. Regardless of Trump's position, the wealthy backers of the pipeline insist they have been granted approval to finish the project at Lake Oahe along the Missouri River. A federal judge is considering the firm's cross-claim but a decision isn't expected until after a hearing sometime in February. The 1,172-mile pipeline runs through four states and is all but complete except for the portion near Standing Rock. Dakota Access hoped to start shipping oil by January 1 and has claimed it is losing $20 million a week since the project is in limbo. "We are being disadvantaged by the delay," David Debold, an attorney for the wealthy backers, told a federal judge at a hearing in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday. Federal Register Notice: Notice of Intent To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement in Connection With Dakota Access, LLC's Request for an Easement To Cross Lake Oahe, North Dakota (January 18, 2017) Join the Conversation Related Stories Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has indirectly hit out at Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Raees" and supported Hrithik Roshan's "Kaabil". Vijayvargiya tweeted, "The Raees who is not of his own country is useless and we should all support 'Kaabil' (competent) patriot. In the tweet the politician has not taken name of Shah Rukh or "Raees" the movie. Directed by Rahul Dholakia, "Raees" was at the centre of a controversy for casting Pakistan actor Mahira Khan. Mahira plays the 51-year-old actor's love interest in the film, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as a police officer. As if that wasn't enough today he once again hit out at SRK comparing him to Dawood. Speaking in an interview to India Today Vijayvargiya said: "If Dawood Ibrahim comes on the street, crowds will come out to see him as well... you can't gauge someone's popularity on the basis of crowd," he said. He said this when asked about the incident when a person died in a stampede at the Vadodra railway station. Post Karan Johars "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil", the SRK-starrer will be the second big film to be released after Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) called for a ban on Pakistani artistes in wake of Uri attacks. Both "Raees" and "Kaabil" are set to release on January 25. Shah Rukh had also met the MNS chief to avoid any pre-release trouble due to Mahira's presence in the movie. 1. These Pictures Of Deepika Padukone From Her Latest Photoshoot Prove She's The Hottest Superstar Slaying magazine photoshoots have always been her thing because her right attitude always reflects in pictures. Last year, we saw on the cover of some of the most coveted international magazines and now her recent Filmfare shoot showcases her in an easy-care free avatar. 2. Jaya And Amitabh Are Not Living Together Anymore, Claims Their Estranged Best Friend Amar Singh A media report quoted Amar Singh saying, "People blame me for every possible rift in the country. When the Ambanis split, they projected me as the person who created the Mahabharat between them. It wasn't me. People have said the same about me and the Bachchans. But even before I met Amitabh Bachchan, he and Jaya Bachchan were living separately. One of them was living in Pratiksha and the other lives in his other bungalow Janak. There were also speculations about a problem between Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Jaya. I am not responsible for that." 3. Jackie Chan Is In India To Promote His Film 'Kung Fu Yoga' & Here's How Bollywood Welcomed Him A photo posted by Salman Khan (@beingsalmankhan) on Jan 23, 2017 at 7:56am PST Key highlights of his trip have been selfies with Bollywood superstars. It looks like everyone turned into fanboys and fan girls. From Salman Khan to Tiger Shroff, everyone had their selfie-moments with him. Have a look. 4. We Need An Explanation Of Police Violence On Pro-Jallikattu Protesters, Says Kamal Haasan ANI He said, "Not because I'm a coward. I am against bans. I've spoken against the ban on my film too. Nothing should be banned." 5. SRK's Promotional Train Ride For Raees Turns Fatal, Leaves One Dead After A Massive Stampede! One person died and another was left critical on the crowded Vadodara railway platform. The train reached Vadodara station and SRK stood on the gate, as he waved at his fans. Farid Khan Sherani, in his late forties, had arrived at the railway platform with his wife and daughter as they were big fans of SRK. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Huseyn Valiyev Trend: Russias Yandex will open a representative office in Azerbaijan in the near future, a source close to the matter told Trend. The companys aim is to develop Yandex services for Azerbaijani users, in particular, to launch the Yandex.Taxi service in Baku in the near future, according to the source. In connection with the opening of a Yandex office in Azerbaijan, the Moscow office has already solved the issues concerning license certificates and programs, the source said. The issues related to the navigation system are currently being solved. The Yandex.Taxi app is accessible on the devices running Android and iOS operating systems. Yandex is recruiting customer support specialists in Azerbaijan. One of the requirements is the ability to work with large amounts of data and promptly handle incoming requests, as well as the ability to work with clients, taxi companies and drivers. Yandex is a Russian multinational technology company specializing in internet-related services and products. Yandex operates the largest search engine in Russia with about 60 percent market share in that country. Twitter We are seeing a lot of creative ways that PR agencies and film-makers are using to promote their films. The latest film to join the creative bandwagon is Shah Rukh Khan's Raees. After Ranbir-Deepika and Imtiaz Ali pulled off a similar promotional stunt where they took a train ride for film promotions, Shah Rukh Khan and team Raees followed the same path. Shah Rukh Khan left Mumbai yesterday and many gathered to send him off. Even though the strategy is creative, it obviously hindered the life of normalcy for many. Twitter Shah Rukh Khan and team Raees went on board the August Kranti Express Train to travel to Delhi for the promotions of the film that releases on Wednesday. They left the Mumbai Central station around 5 pm and had SRK in one of the AC compartments with his entourage as well as the film's director Rahul Dholakia and producer Ritesh Sidhwani. After the news of his train journey was publicized on social media, many people gathered to catch a glimpse of their favorite superstar. It was all happy and great until it turned fatal for one. One person died and another was left critical on the crowded Vadodara railway platform. The train reached Vadodara station and SRK stood on the gate, as he waved at his fans. Farid Khan Sherani, in his late forties, had arrived at the railway platform with his wife and daughter as they were big fans of SRK. Just when the train left the Vadodara station, the crowds rushed towards the exit that led to a huge chaos and near-stampede. This left many injured but Sherani, collapsed. Sherani and one other man were rushed to nearby hospitals. while other suffocated people were helped by police personnel and passersby. Sherani was rushed to a private hospital in Vadodara but sadly was declared dead on arrival. Sherani was a known figure in the old city area of Vadodara and affiliated to the Samajwadi Party. Among other businesses, Sherani also ran a dormitory near the railway station. Twitter This promotional ride also left two constables of the Railway police injured, as they collapsed during the chaos. The constables are undergoing treatment at SSG hospital and thankfully are out of danger. Several other persons were wounded and left bleeding during this and this raises a very important question. Isn't security and safeguarding the public, the duty of film-makers and people who are involved with the film? In this modern day where we want everything on a fast forward mode, one night stands are not for everyone and especially women! Although as many as 7 in 10 of us will experience a one-night stand at some point in our lives, new research from Norway suggests how women and men feel about it the morning after can vary greatly. ASSETS.RBL.MS After a previous US study found that women more often regret agreeing to a one-night stand than men, whereas men regret passing up the chance more than women, a team of researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technologys (NTNU) Department of Psychology along with the University of Texas at Austin, wanted to see if the same held true in Norway, a supposedly more sexually liberal and egalitarian country. For their research, the team recruited 263 male and female students aged 19 to 37 years who had all experienced at least one one-night stand. The team found the same pattern in Norway as in the US, with around 35% of women and only 20% of men regretting the experience to some degree. Women were also more likely to feel unhappier about the experience, with just 30 of women reporting that they were happy with their most recent casual sex experience -- compared to over 50% of the men. The results also showed that when it came to turning down the offer of a one night stand, nearly 80% of women were happy that they had said no, however only 43% of men felt the same. When explaining possible reasons for the differences, the team suggested that it could be that women worry more and are less likely to partake in risky behaviour that men. However, this theory doesnt explain the differences in reactions after the event. HMMLIFE.COM Further questioning ruled out the idea that women feel more regretful because they do not get as much sexual pleasure out of a one-night stand as men do, with the team also suggesting that pregnancy concerns, STD infections and getting a bad reputation could instead help explain the patterns. Evolutionary psychology could also be a reason. Dr Buss, one of the co-authors on the study, explained that Women and men differ fundamentally in their sexual psychology. A key limitation on mens reproductive success, historically, has been sexual access to fertile women. These evolutionary selection pressures have created a male sexual mind that is attentive to sexual opportunities. So for men, continued researcher Professor Kennear, its a case of quantity, not quality so he can improve his reproductive success by having as many fertile mates as possible. Because women are restricted in how many children they can have, they instead go for quality over quantity to pass good genes on to their children and produce a good environment in which to raise them. And although society, culture, and attitudes change, our basic biological function does not, with Dr Buss adding that Many social scientists expect that in sexually egalitarian cultures such as Norway, these sex differences would disappear. They do not. This fact makes the findings on sex differences in sexual regret in modern Norwegian people so fascinating scientifically. She had spent six decades of her life in Bengal before relocating to Houston in the US. But, before Saturday, her birthplace had never felt so unsafe, threatening and insecure. jagarn/representational image The septuagenarian and her disabled daughter were at the mercy of a bloodthirsty mob, who assaulted the two and their driver with sticks and rods suspecting them to be child-lifters before setting their car on fire. Irate villagers stripped the daughter and molested her before looting their cash and valuables. The elderly woman shudders to think what could have happened had police not rescued them in time. Fear writ large on her eyes, the 75-year-old NRI does not want to stay in this country even for a day more. Her worst nightmare is over, so is her will to stay back home. Police on Sunday arrested 11 people on charges of molestation and attempt to murder in the incident that took place in Hooghly's Balagar. Nine more named in the FIR are absconding. The woman had relocated to the US 12 years ago along with her husband, a retired professor of Kalyani University, to stay with her two elder daughters. She came back to India every few years to stay with her son and younger daughter. On Saturday evening, the septuagenarian and her disabled daughter had go ne to meet a relative. Sowetan/representational image "We pleaded with folded hands, but they were in no mood to listen to us. Some of them were carrying iron bars.They hit us with stones and punched us," the elderly lady recounted. Her daughter, a teacher at a Kalyani school, even showed her identity card, but that was of no use. Irate villagers, who suspected them to be child traffickers, tried to burn them alive inside their car. "They sprayed a petrol-like liquid on the car and were about to set it afire when police arrived. I have never seen such brutality ," the elderly woman said on Sunday from her hospital bed. "While we were rescuing them, some locals attacked us too. The car was set on fire after we left," said an officer of Balagar police station. When the villagers started to attack, the daughter managed to call her brother at Kalyani and asked for help. mid day/representational image Locals on Sunday claimed that rumours of increased activity of child traffickers had been spreading in the region and that had created a panic among villagers. Though no case was reported from either Balagar or Kalna police station area in the last seven days, villagers continued patrolling these places. "In most cases, rumours were spread through social networking platforms. It is difficult to track down the source in such cases," said a top cop at Nabanna. In its sternest action so far against Vijay Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines, the CBI has arrested eight people, including former IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Aggarwal and the now-defunct airline's ex-CFO A Raghunathan, in a seven-year-old case related to Rs 900-crore loan default. The agency is planning to declare the flamboyant businessman a "proclaimed offender," paving the way for attachment of his properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The CBI also arrested IDBI Bank's ex-deputy managing director O V Bundellu and two other officials, SKV Srinivasan and R S Sridhar. KFA executives Shailesh Borkar, AC Shah and Amit Nadkarni were among the eight arrested. BCCL Sources said the arrest of IDBI Bank's former deputy managing director BK Batra was imminent as the CBI seeks to tighten the noose around Mallya who fled the country on March 2 last year even as probes were underway. The action against the former CMD and two ex-DMDs of a bank is the strongest action yet against an entity, though top-ranking bank executives had been arrested in the past, too, on corruption charges. The Enforcement Directorate has already attached several assets belonging to Mallya. The arrests were followed by raids at 11 places, including Mallya's residence, three floors of UB Towers in Bengaluru and residences of Aggarwal and Raghunathan. In 2009-10, when the UPA was in office at the Centre, IDBI Bank had led a loan restructuring exercise for debtladen KFA despite the airline enjoying sub-par rating. The bank had accepted the 'Kingfisher brand' as collateral for the loan even as the company was facing turbulence. Livemint The airline subsequently began defaulting on repayment to all lenders. The CBI as well as the ED began to pursue the case with, what sources called, a serious intent after the regime change in Delhi in 2014, causing discomfort to the glamorous tycoon. The case took on a political dimension when Mallya, taking advantage of the absence of a warrant, quietly slipped out to London, a twist in the plot which was seized upon by Congress to accuse the BJP government of helping the liquor baron flee the country. The CBI's tough action can help the saffron establishment, which had always smarted under Congress's charge and pointed out that Mallya was a beneficiary of the "crony capitalism" under UPA, to turn the political tables on the opposition party. The political confrontation post-demonetisation has, in any case, seen BJP releasing details of loans sanctioned by public sector banks under UPA to Mallya and other big industrial houses. bccl Arrests of key executives of IDBI Bank and the now-defunct KFA will give the offensive a sharper edge in the campaign for assembly polls. The CBI has alleged that after meetings between Agarwal and Mallya, executives of IDBI had pushed a loan to the airline, overruling concerns from other departments. Batra, who was then the head of corporate banking, is accused of processing the papers hastily and recommending that Agarwal could sanction the loan without the executive committee's approval. Agarwal had defended his actions and said the disbursement was made in anticipation of the executive committee's approval and said it was not unusual. UB Group confirmed a visit by the CBI team. "A CBI team visited the UB Group offices in Bangalore today and we are fully cooperation with them," a UB group spokesperson said. Since November 8, 2016 India has seen a sudden spurt in the number of emotional economists. These economists either support or oppose demonetisation based on emotions rather than facts. So you have long posts on Facebooks and multiple tweets but the real impact of demonetisation or the lack of it is just lost in this noise. BCCL No doubt demonetisationlike everything else announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-- has ended up polarising people. Either demonetisation is the second best thing to have taken place in India since 1991 liberalisation or its akin to the rule of Louis XVI of France whose political mismanagement led to the French revolution. Taking Modis assertion on its face value that demonetisation was aimed at reducing black money, one wonders whether it has been a success or a failure. But before we get to that, we have to set the parameters for measuring success or failure. A perfect outcome would mean eradicating black money from India altogether. Also people not being able to generate future black money may be an added advantage. Similarly, a failure would mean zero impact on black money or perhaps increase in black money in the Indian economy in the coming years. It is no secret that after the government banned old currency notes, many people rushed to buy gold. The trick was simple; buy gold to use up your stash of demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes. AFP Taking advantage of the situation many jewellers sold gold to black money hoarders at double the price. So when gold was pegged at Rs 30,000 the asking rate was anywhere between Rs 58,000 to Rs 63,000 per 10 grams. This may just be considered a success for the government in some way. Not so much because gold was purchased but mainly because wealth created by black money was destroyed. Many would want to argue whether the wealth destruction could have implications, but thats a separate debate. Yet, the fact is, half the black money is destroyed due to overpriced gold purchase. While the other half is back has been routed back into the economy using ingenious evasive means. As its safe to assume that the jewellers, who sold gold to black money hoarders, will not be holding on to old currency notes. They would have brought the money back into circulation. The other way, a much talked about one, is the cash deposits with the RBI. Going by that standard, from whatever information is in public domain about the amount of currency notes deposited with RBI, demonetisation may have been a failure. BCCL As far as future generation of black money is concerned that in some way is taken care of by something unrelated: Goods and Services Tax (GST). Most of the black money is generated by smaller Indian traders and businessmen. Even the bribes paid to politicians and government officials could be sourced back to the businessmen. GST, if implemented in its current form, would leave little scope for tax evasion by Indian businesses. This should reduce if not curb generation of black money. Its quite clear that one actiondemonetisation in this case-- will not lead to completely stop the black economy. To put it clearly then: Has demonetisation reduced black money? The answer is yes, even if it is marginally. Will demonetisation stop future generation of black money? No. GST would. So is demonetisation a success or a failure? The honest answer to that is: nobody really knows till now. Not even Mr Modi as of now. Mohammed Ali is one heck of a confident kid for his age. The 16-year-old recently rejected a 5 million offer for a website he designed in his bedroom! That's over Rs. 42 crores he said no to! Ali, who designed weneed1.com, a price comparison website, believes that it will be worth a lot more in future. Hence, offer rejected! Mercury via Metro A buyout that could have literally made him a millionaire was offered just before Christmas. The kid said, as reported by Metro, "We met the investors in London, they were a global data driven company, and they didnt realise I created all the technology involved. The main reason we rejected the offer was because, if the technology and concept is worth millions already, just think how much it will be worth once people use it." Mercury via Metro Of course, he realises the big risk he took by rejecting the offer but Ali wants his website to become a household name. And it's not the first time the genius boy has won something big. His video game 'Project 2006' previously earned him a 30,000 reward! His website, that Ali co-created with his 60-year-old business partner, Chris Thorpe, will launch on January 28. Sophie Cruz, the six-year-old and the daughter of undocumented immigrants gave an inspiring speech at the Women's March in Washington. (Also read: On Day 2, Millions Take To The Streets Across The World To Protest The #TrumpPresidency) In her speech, Sophie asked thousands of protesters who were there at the March to protect our families. independent At the end of her Spanish speech, Sophie, whose parents are from Mexico, chanted si, se puede yes we can. We are here together making a chain of love to protect our families. Let us fight with love, faith and courage so that our families will not be destroyed, she said. Sophie added: I also want to tell the children not to be afraid, because we are not alone. There are still many people that have their hearts filled with love lets keep together and fight for the rights. God is with us. Last year, she wrote a letter to Pope Francis about immigration reform and went on to meet Barack Obama last year without her parents, Raul and Zoyla Cruz, owing to their immigration status they could not pass security at the White House without their social security numbers. washingtonpost Her note called on the Pope to help her parents and others in their situation to stay in the US. (Also read: In America For Baywatch, Priyanka Chopra Shows Support For Women's March Against Trump) Sailor Lisa Blair set off from the Australian town of Albany on Monday in a bid to be the first woman to circumnavigate Antarctica solo, non-stop and unassisted in less than 100 days. Facebook/Lisa Blair The 32-year-old from Queensland will have to navigate through the Southern Oceans Cape Leeuwin, Cape Horn and Cape Agulhas, which are regarded as some of the worlds most dangerous stretches of water, Xinhua news agency reported.The risk of huge seas, strong winds and icebergs are only some of the challenges Blair will have to contend with. Facebook/Lisa Blair Ive been out doing sea trials, weve done four or five hour sails every afternoon just testing all the equipment and going through the paces and making sure the electronics are working correctly and Im pleased to say its all good, Blair told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Blairs 1,600 nautical mile voyage will be an undertaken in a fiberglass boat, raising some safety concerns. Facebook/Lisa Blair The designer of the boat, Robert Hick, named the vessel Climate Change Now in order to highlight environmental issues and raise money for climate action. If Blair beats the previous 102-day record, shes expected to arrive back in Albany at the end of April. The newly elected US President Donald Trump thanked the former President of United States, Barack Obama, for a heartfelt letter that he left for him in the Oval Office. However, Trump said that he will not be divulging its contents to the media. (Also read: Indian Girl Receives A Thank You Letter From Obama After She Told Him He's The Best President!) I just went to the Oval Office and found this beautiful letter from President Obama Trump said on Sunday, addressing senior staff members before they were sworn-in. usmagazine It was really very nice of him to do that and we will cherish that. We will keep that and we wont even tell the press whats in that letter. It all begins today! I will see you at 11:00 A.M. for the swearing-in. THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES - THE WORK BEGINS! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2017 When Obama became the President, he himself received a letter from the then President, George W Bush. Bush said there would be trying moments during his presidency and warned Obama that critics will rage and said your friends will disappoint you, The Hill magazine reported. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me, Bush wrote. (Also read: Barack Obama's First Tweet Post Presidency Is The Sweetest Thing On The Internet Today) In the letter President Bill Clinton wrote to Bush in 2001, Clinton saluted and wished him success and much happiness. The burdens you now shoulder are great but often exaggerated. The sheer joy of doing what you believe is right is inexpressible, Clinton wrote, Seems like a good omen! Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Elena Kosolapova Trend: Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev took part in a meeting of the working group on redistribution of powers, the presidential press service said in a message Jan. 24. The working group on redistribution of powers was created a couple of weeks ago to work out proposals on transfer of some powers from the president to the Government and Parliament. During the meeting, Nazarbayev noted that defense capabilities, external policy, public administration, protection of the Constitution, and ensuring the effective work between branches of Government will remain under the presidents competence. Meanwhile, the presidents powers in program approvals, appointments to the Government, and creation of new governing bodies could be transferred to the Government and the Parliament. The head of the working group Adilbek Dzhaksybekov informed the president that the working group has already prepared three groups of proposals on the redistribution of powers. The proposals of the first group are related to the powers in social and economic spheres and do not require changes to the Constitution. The second group of proposals envisages further improvement of the judicial and law enforcement systems and does not require amendment to the Constitution as well. The third group includes about 40 proposals to amend the Constitution, which envisage the expansion of the Parliaments powers. Moreover, it was proposed to strengthen the accountability of the Government to the Parliament. President Nursultan Nazarbayev pointed to the need for redistribution of powers between the president, Government and Parliament during a ceremonial meeting in honor of the 25th anniversary of independence of Kazakhstan in December 2016. He did not rule out the possibility of amending the countrys Constitution. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.24 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed the first framework agreements for uranium mining legacy fund in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, said the message on EBRD website. These agreements will provide the legal basis for implementation of projects for dealing with uranium mining legacy in these countries. The uranium mining legacy fund was established at EBRD in May 2015 at the request of the European Commission (EC) to finance projects to rehabilitate high-priority sites in Central Asian countries. The conclusion of framework agreements with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan marks an important milestone. The preparatory phase of the Environmental Remediation Account has come to a close and work can start to address a serious hazard for the population of Central Asia and for stability in the region, said EBRD First Vice President Phil Bennett The purpose of the Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia is to support measures to deal with the legacy of Soviet-era uranium mining and processing in the region. The EBRD has been managing nuclear safety and decommissioning funds on behalf of the international community since 1992, when the G7 requested the creation of the Nuclear Safety Account to deal with the legacy of Soviet-era nuclear facilities. Central Asia served as an important source of uranium in the former Soviet Union. Many of the uranium legacy sites are concentrated along the tributaries to the Syr Darya River, which runs through the densely populated Fergana Valley, the agricultural center of the region that is shared by the Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn How the GOP Is Playing Trump Until They Can Dump Him By Robert Reich January 22, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - I had breakfast recently with a friend who's a former Republican member of Congress. Here's what he said: Him: Trump is no Republican. Hes just a big fat ego. Me: Then why didnt you speak out against him during the campaign? Him: You kidding? I was surrounded by Trump voters. Id have been shot. Me: So what now? What are your former Republican colleagues going to do? Him (smirking): Theyll play along for a while. Me: A while? Him: Theyll get as much as they want tax cuts galore, deregulation, military buildup, slash all those poverty programs, and then get to work on Social Security and Medicare and blame him. And hes such a fool hell want to take credit for everything. Me: And then what? Him (laughing): They like Pence. Me: What do you mean? Him: Pence is their guy. They all think Trump is out of his mind. Me: So what? Him: So the moment Trump does something really dumb steps over the line violates the law in a big stupid clumsy way and you know he will ... Me: They impeach him? Him: You bet. They pull the trigger. Robert Bernard Reich is an American political commentator, professor, and author. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997 The Conspiracy to Impeach Trump Already Launched By Thomas Lifson January 22, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " American Thinker " - It should be crystal clear to all Americans that his political enemies are searching for any pretext to launch an impeachment effort to unseat President Trump, once they think it would have a chance of success. Given the level of animosity toward Trump in his own party, and the possibility of midterm election losses for the presidents party (the normal pattern in American politics), these efforts cant be dismissed as impossible. We know about this secret conspiracy because of a leak to the Washington Free Beacon. Joe Schoffstall reports: A confidential David Brock memo obtained by the Washington Free Beacon lays out the ways the Democratic operative plans to use his numerous organizations to take down President Donald Trump through impeachment. Brock is currently at the Turnberry Isle Resort in Aventura, Fla. for a weekend conference with more than 100 major liberal donors. Attendees are mapping out a course to combat the newly sworn-in president. According to the private and confidential memo, Brock plans to defeat Trump through impeachment, using American Bridge, his liberal super PAC, as the main vehicle to do so. No other progressive organization has the resources and assets that American Bridge has amassed over the past several election cycles to hold Trump, his administration, and the politicians accountable, the 44-page confidential memo states. Only Bridge stands ready with staff already hired, Trumps web of business ties mapped out, and a massive video archive at our fingertips. The right will bolster Trump aggressively and deceptively. The campaign to stop him must be nonstop. At American Bridge, it has already begun. If this sounds like a sales pitch, thats because it is. Brock functions only with the funding of rich leftists like George Soros and his allies, and his humiliating failure to deliver for them in the 2016 election leaves him no option but to escalate, in hopes the suckers donors will throw good money after bad. The sales pitch presents a well-oiled machine already operating: Within weeks of the election, Bridge launched a Trump War Room, which has already scrutinized Trumps transition team and will continue to watch the personnel, policies, and practices of the administration. The state-of-the-art Trump War Room will strive to uncover details of Trumps affection for Russia and Putin. They are tracking Trumps foreign and domestic business partners, construction projects in foreign countries, and negotiations on potential future projects that he could use to put personal profit ahead of our national security. With so many opportunities for foreign governments and corporations to gain influence over Trump, American Bridge will use every means at its disposal to hold Trump and his administration accountableincluding FOIA requests, lawsuits, and regulatory complaints. As the progressive movements political research clearinghouse, we will arm our allies to join us in taking on the administration through paid advertising, earned media, grassroots efforts, and legal recourse. The group laid out its strategic plan for the next four years. The top outcome is to defeat Trump through impeachment. The number of stories and the value of TV time for anti-Trump media coverage we generate will break all internal records, the memo states. Multiple Trump nominations will become a drag on his administration due to the research we unearth. Trumps approval rating will remain historically low. I have little doubt that the megaphone of the White House will be employed to publicize this memo. What are the odds that Brock will blame the Russians? But the Vast Leftwing Conspiracy has been exposed laying out its plans in serch of a pretext for all to see. The left is counting on media support to make its case for impeachment work. But that is a diminishing asset for them, and the Trump administration has signaled that it is ready to help dispatch the ailing members as they collapse. I think it is time to ask prominent Congressional Dems if they are willing to condemn the effort to impeach before a pretext is even available. American Thinker 2017 The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Palestinians Will Need More Than Grudging Unity To Save Them By Jonathan Cook January 22, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Without fanfare, Palestinian arch-rivals Fatah and Hamas announced last week that they intended to set aside years of power struggles to begin in earnest the process of forming a unity government. Palestinian officials said a disastrous international arena had underlined to both factions the pressing need to end divisions between the West Bank and Gaza. The statement was issued as a peace summit in Paris fizzled out ineffectually and Donald Trump prepared to enter the White House. Unity if it finally comes will reflect not a shared vision nor strategy, but a reluctant admission of the dire conditions facing Palestinian struggle over the next four years. The warning signs for Hamas intensified this month, as winter deepened, with mass protests in Gaza over electricity shortages. Donations from Turkey and Qatar, combined with a crackdown from local security services, bought a little quiet. But the enclave is simmering and in desperate need of relief from the decade-long throttling of Israels siege. Over in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas is faring little better. He has invested his credibility in diplomacy. But the signs suggest that a Trump administration will not tolerate Palestinian moves at international forums such as the United Nations. Mr Trumps ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has declared his support for Israels illegal settlements. And the presidents son-in-law, Jared Kushner, another donor to settler causes, is to be Middle East envoy. During the inauguration ceremony on Friday, Mr Trump enthused improbably about Mr Kushner: "If you cant produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can." All this has occurred against a drum beat of intent to move the United States embassy to occupied Jerusalem, threatening to inflame Muslim and Arab opinion. The one tangible hope for Palestinians, a French-hosted peace summit, proved a damp squib. Foreign ministers were chiefly concerned about not starting off on the wrong foot with the incoming Trump administration. Britain exemplified this approach, blocking European Union efforts to adopt the summits tepid conclusions. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off the summit as the "last gasp of the past before the future sets in". Israel has lost no time in preparing for the future, one in which peace talks and a two-state solution look obsolete. The new order is being crafted at Amona, a small settlement the courts have ruled is in violation of Israels own laws because it is built on privately owned Palestinian land. All settlements are illegal according to international law. Faced with this impediment, the Israeli government is furiously devising new military regulations that would empower the settlers to seize more West Bank land from Palestinians and end legal oversight. Separately, ministers are rallying behind legislation to annex Maale Adumim, a large settlement east of Jerusalem in a strategically vital location in the West Bank. If approved, this would be Israels first formal annexation of territory since the Golan 35 years ago. Maale Adumims municipal borders include an area known as E1 that Israel has been quietly trying to settle for years. Until now, the US and Europe have vehemently opposed any development there, warning that it would strike a double blow against prospects for peace. It would complete East Jerusalems encirclement with settlements and effectively split the West Bank in two. Exploiting the change of mood in Washington, however, Naftali Bennett, the education minister and leader of the settlers Jewish Home party, has pushed annexation of Maale Adumim to the top of Israels agenda, as a prelude to seizing other parts of the West Bank. So futile does the case for Palestinian statehood seem in Israel that even prominent liberals, such as the writer A B Yeshoshua, have come out in hesitant support of annexation. Mr Yehoshua has argued for annexing so-called Area C some two-thirds of the West Bank on supposedly "humanitarian" grounds. A change of status, he says, would entitle its 150,000 Palestinian residents to more rights than they have now, without threatening Israels Jewish majority. The annexation trend was underscored by a little-noticed law passed last week by the Israeli parliament. For the first time, the rulings of Israels military courts against Palestinians will be admissible in Israels civilian courts. Ostensibly the measure is designed to assist settlers who wish to sue Palestinians for damages in Israeli courts by allowing them to rely on the verdicts of West Bank military courts. Aside from issues of justice military courts operate on low levels of evidence, accept secret information from the army, and have high conviction rates the new law blurs the existing separation between the legal systems of Israel and the West Bank. It is further evidence of a creeping process of incorporating the West Bank into Israel. Those few "relics" who object are being purged. Israels deputy attorney general, Dana Zilber, was this month stripped of her authority over law enforcement in the West Bank after attempts to rein in the settlers. The readying of the infrastructure of annexation will only accelerate under the blind eye of a Trump administration. Palestinians will need more than grudging unity to withstand the birth of the new order. Jonathan Cook is an independent journalist in Nazareth http://www.jonathan-cook.net/ US Intervention in Syria? Not Under Trump By Gareth Porter January 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " MEE " - A new coalition of US-based organizations is pushing for a more aggressive U.S. intervention against the Assad regime. But both the war in Syria and politics in the United States have shifted dramatically against this objective. When it was formed last July, the coalition hoped that a Hillary Clinton administration would pick up its proposals for a more forward stance in support of the anti-Assad armed groups. But with Donald Trump in office instead, the supporters of a U.S. war in Syria now have little or no chance of selling the idea. One of the ways the group is adjusting to the new political reality is to package its proposal for deeper U.S. military engagement on behalf of U.S.-supported armed groups as part of a plan to counter Al Qaeda, now calling itself Jabhat Fateh al Sham. But that rationale depends on a highly distorted presentation of the problematic relations between Syrias supposedly moderate rebel groups and Al Qaedas Syrian offshoot. The Combating al-Qaeda in Syria Strategy Group was formed last July by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), according to the policy paper distributed at an event at the Atlantic Council on Jan. 12. The Strategy Group also includes Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute and Jennifer Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War, both of whom have advocated direct U.S. military force against the Syrian regime in support of the armed opposition. But it was CNAS that had the political clout to bring the coalition together under what appeared to be very favorable circumstances. Michele Flournoy, the founder and CEO of CNAS and a former third-ranking Pentagon official, was reported to be Clintons likely choice for Secretary of Defense during the 2016 presidential primaries. And the June 2016 report of a CNAS study group co-chaired by Flournoy was in line with Clintons openly declared support for a more muscular US intervention in Syria. That report had called for a U.S.-declared no bombing zone to protect armed opposition groups, vetted by the CIA, from Syrian and Russian attacks. Flournoy had then described the policy in an interview as telling the Russian and Syrian governments: If you bomb the folks we support, we will retaliate using standoff means to destroy [Russian] proxy forces, or, in this case, Syrian assets. Expecting a Clinton Victory The new coalition of think tanks began meeting last summer when the politics in the United States seemed favorable for a political campaign for U.S. military intervention in Syria. On Sept. 30, Lister published a lengthy essay calling on the United States to provide shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to moderate opposition groups as well as to threaten attacks on the Syrian army if it violated the ceasefire. Lister was obviously hoping that President Clinton would adopt that policy option a few months later. Now the new strategy group is trying to sell the same proposal to Trump, calling it a holistic, preventative counter-terrorism policy that empowers moderate Syrians to overcome extremists in Syria. It argues that Al Qaeda is seeking to gain control over areas now controlled by moderate forces in order to establish an enduring Sunni extremist order in Syria. But the argument that these armed groups, which the U.S. has supported in the past, would be prepared to resist Al Qaedas long-term caliphate with more money and arms and U.S. bombing of Assads air force, is too divorced from reality to have traction in Washington now. In fact, the so-called moderate armed groups have never been truly independent of Al Qaeda in Syria. They have depended on the highly disciplined troops of Al Qaeda and its closest allies and the military strategy devised by Al Qaeda commanders to pressure the Assad regime. Lister himself has been clear on this point. Under his proposed plan for the United States to use the threat of military force against the regime, the CIA-vetted moderate armed opposition groups were not expected to end their military cooperation with Al Qaedas Fateh al-Sham or to separate themselves physically from its forces, as had been provided in both the February and September ceasefire agreements. Lister stated explicitly his assumption that such cooperation was unlikely to diminish significantly even if his proposal were to be carried out. Rather, the idea of Listers plan was to force negotiations on the Assad regime. That aim would still obviously have required the continued military power of Fateh al-Sham and its close ally, Ahrar al-Sham, to succeed. Lister and his fellow coalition members are not likely to be able to sell the new administration on the idea that any of the Syrian armed groups the CIA has supported would even consider seriously resisting Fateh al-Sham under any remotely believable circumstances. Syrian Army: The Only Alternative? Washington Post columnist David Ignatius recently recalled meeting with leaders of Harakat al-Hazm, considered the most promising moderate armed group in Syria, at a safehouse in Turkey in late 2014. He found them despondent because the United States had just carried out a rare air strike on Al Qaeda operatives believed to be plotting a terrorist attack on the West. They told Ignatius that, because of the U.S. bombing what was then called the Nusra Front, Al Qaeda would no longer tolerate their own groups operations. Soon after the meeting, the Nusra Front did indeed eliminate Harakat al-Hazm and appropriate all the TOW missiles and other military equipment the CIA had given them. The Ignatius account reflects a fundamental reality throughout northern Syria, from 2013 onwards, that was simply ignored in media coverage: all of the opposition groups have been absorbed into an Al Qaeda-controlled political-military order. The idea that the moderate groups could be a bulwark against Al Qaeda, which is now being peddled by Lister, Cafarella and CNAS, no longer has any credibility even in those quarters in Washington that were once open to it. A tell-tale sign of the shift in attitude toward those groups mood in Washington is the fact that Ignatius used the past tense in referring to the CIAs program of arming the moderate groups in Syria in his article last month. The U.S. military leadership was never on board with the policy of relying on those armed groups to advance U.S. interests in Syria in the first place. It recognized that, despite the serious faults of the Assad regime, the Syrian army was the only Syrian institution committed to resisting both Al Qaeda and Islamic State. It seems likely that the Trump administration will now return to that point as it tries to rebuild a policy from the ashes of the failed policy of the Obama administration. Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Tulsi Gabbard Interview: Arming Our Enemies Anti Trump Or Pro Hillary? Ashley Judd : Nasty Woman Speech At Anti Donald Trump Protest Video Judd, reciting a poem by 19-year-old Nina Donovan, spoke to a crowd estimated at a half a million people who have descended on the nations capital to protest Trump on his first full day as president. Judd, a self-proclaimed loud, vulgar, proud woman, went to the extreme of comparing Trump to Hitler and referring to his Cabinet picks as Nazis renamed, Posted January 23, 2017 Russia, Beware of Trump U-Turns By Finian Cunningham January 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Sputnik " - Russia has cautiously welcomed the US presidency of Donald Trump, but still Moscow is wisely keeping a wait-and-see position on whether it can work with the new White House occupant to improve international relations. Trumps oft-stated desire to restore friendlier relations with Russia and his comment last week that he would trust Russian leader Vladimir Putin as much as he would Germanys Angela Merkel are all to be welcomed as apparent steps toward a more sane US policy. However, there remain big questions about Trumps reliability in following through. Trumps apparent aspirations for normalizing relations with Russia are certainly more promising than the aggressive, Russophobia that has been the staple of Washingtons policy under his predecessors, Barack Obama and George W Bush. But can the former business mogul deliver? Theres more than a sneaking feeling that the billionaire property magnate turned politician says a lot of things which he subsequently flatly contradicts. Its not clear if this trait is due to willful deception, or less maliciously, due to a feckless, short attention span. Either way, the upshot is a character of questionable integrity. Over the weekend, following Trumps inauguration as the 45th president of the United States, we got more of a flavor of his vacillating brand. On Saturday, the first full day as president, Trumps first official duty was to visit the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency, at Langley, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from his White House residence in Washington DC. There he lavished the agency with praise and gratitude, saying he was 1,000 per cent in support of its intelligence work. Trump also scoffed at media reports that he was involved in a feud with the CIA. No-one supports you as much as I do, said Trump to cheering agency staffers. Now hold on a moment. Trump was indeed very publicly running a battle with the CIA and other US intelligence agencies before and after the election on November. He had initially denounced their claims that Russia had hacked the elections as ridiculous. Later, he sort of retracted that, agreeing with their allegations against Russia. Only weeks before his inauguration, Trump slammed the CIA for Nazi practices over leaks to media outlets that the agency had briefed him about allegations of Russian blackmail. Some observers have noted approvingly that this abrasive attitude from Trump towards the CIA indicated a bold independence from the shadowy unelected power centers of the US the so-called Deep State. But instead what we saw over the weekend was President Trump making it a priority to coddle the spooks who act as the muscle behind the Deep State. Just remember the phrase: Im a 1,000 per cent behind you. Rather different from John F Kennedys vow to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces. The CIA is one of the most criminal, murderous secret agencies ever in the history of the world which has been essential for the projection of American power. It is involved in everything from assassinating foreign leaders, to overthrowing democratic governments in place of murderous regimes, to covertly arming terrorist proxies. For Trump to rush over to Langley as his first order of business on his first day in office and to exalt an agency known informally but more accurately as Murder Inc, is a disturbing sign of where his priorities lie. The following instances are not meant as a comprehensive list of other Trump U-turns, but theres enough contained here for serious doubts about his character. Straight after his presidential swearing-in on Capitol Hill, Trump was hosted at a Congressional luncheon on Friday. In after-dinner toasts, he singled out Hillary Clinton and her husband, ex-president Bill, as fine people and requested they both stand up to receive applause from the hundreds of guests. Say what? During the election campaign against Democrat rival Hillary Clinton, Trump had ferociously labelled her Crooked Hillary owing to Wall Street sleazy connections. Trump had also vowed to launch criminal investigations against Clinton and he encouraged his supporters at rallies to chant, Lock her up! Lock her up! Another one of Trumps rallying calls was a promise to drain the swamp in Washington of big business interests, lobbyists and political place men. But so far he has stuffed his incoming cabinet with nominees who are billionaire personifications of the Washington swamp, appointing Wall Street financiers to positions overseeing government finance and the economy. On a lighter note, but equally enlightening, was Trumps twitter rage at Hollywood actress Meryl Streep. After blasting Trump at the Golden Globes awards ceremony earlier this month, he hit back by describing the screen star as over-rated. Though only a couple of years ago, Trump named Meryl Streep as one his favorite artists. Getting back to a more serious vein, last week Donald Trump gave a wide-ranging interview to British and German media in which he pilloried Russia for its military intervention in Syria and blamed Moscow for unleashing a humanitarian crisis. That marked quite a change from Trumps earlier stated views on Russias actions in Syria, when he praised them for wiping out Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/IS) and other terror groups. In his weekend fawning over the CIA, Trump was following on from the pathetic prostrations of his cabinet picks during Congressional confirmation hearings over the past two weeks. Nominee after nominee, including his pick for defense secretary General James Mad Dog Mattis, and his chosen new director for the CIA, Mike Pompeo, have cravenly adopted the establishment line that Russia represents a dire threat to US national security. All this, and more besides, raises the question: can Trump be trusted? When Trump says the US-led NATO military alliance is obsolete, what does that really mean? That the 28-nation war machine should be decommissioned? Or rather, does obsolete in Trumps inscrutable thinking mean that the war machine needs to be revamped and reinvigorated? There seems little doubt that the election of Trump was to be preferred over Hillary Clinton. Her open hostility towards Russia and willingness for military confrontation would have been disastrous. By contrast, Trumps stated willingness to engage positively with Russia is a welcome departure from the belligerent policy extant in Washington. Nevertheless, there are more than a few signs that Trump is just a maverick big-mouth who says things with gusto only to flatly contradict himself later. Perhaps Trump does personally want to restore relations with Russia. Perhaps he will go ahead and meet Vladimir Putin in person soon. So far, Moscow has cautiously welcomed Trumps presidency. But Russian leaders know that the systematic causes of US belligerence run much deeper than one man can possibly contest. Moreover, given Trumps erratic thinking there are grounds for suspicion that the deeper system of US power the Deep State will be able to manipulate him into adopting its agenda. With regard to Russia and other perceived global rivals that agenda is one of hostility and conflict not partnership. Thats how US capitalist power operates. In which case, Russia is prudent to be wary of the Trump administration. Hope for the best, but expect a Trump U-turn at any time. The Philippines in the Center of Asian Realignment By Andre Vltchek January 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - Philippines, for decades a limping invalid, poor and suffering from countless ailments, is now suddenly finding itself at the vanguard, reshuffling the entire Asia Pacific, sending Western imperialists packing. In Manila, where the US used to roam unopposed, now Russian warships are calling on goodwill and symbolic visits. On January 6 2017, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte boarded the Russian anti-submarine combat vessel Admiral Tributs, chatted with its officers, and then declared, loudly and clearly: Friends, long live! Thats from the heart; I hope you can come back more often. Definitely, Russians will be happy to come back! Associated Press (AP) reported on January 6: Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who accompanied Duterte on the ship tour, expressed optimism about the start of a partnership between the two countries defense establishments when he met with Russian navy officials Thursday night. May our common aspirations for regional and global peace and security enable us to become good partners, cooperating and coordinating towards tranquil and safe seas for all, Lorenzana said on board the Admiral Tributs. He said during his trip to Russia in early December, he agreed with Russian defense officials to finalize a memorandum of understanding that will be the basis of future military engagements, including joint military exercises, so it can be signed during Dutertes planned trip to Russia President Duterte openly admires Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is planning to visit Moscow in April and he has already expressed his hope that Russia would become his countrys ally and protector. The Philippines is also rapidly moving closer to China. There is significant improvement of bilateral relationships. Tension over disputed territories in the South China Sea is being gradually defused, and Manila is increasingly considering Beijing as its new and powerful ally, investor and partner, definitely not as an enemy. While he is lashing at the US, the EU and the UN, (calling the former US President Barack Obama son-of-a-whore, and telling him to go to hell!), Mr. Duterte defines China as the kindest nation. This sort of rhetoric, let alone policies, can never be overlooked or forgiven by the West. A couple consisting of leading Philippine Academics, Eduardo and Teresa Tadem, explained the new direction of their countrys foreign policy: The trend is clear: away from the West, towards China and Russia. We think that he [Duterte] will soon reach a territorial agreement with China. Plenty of goodwill is now coming from President Xi Jinping. Things are done quietly, but some great concessions are already visible: our fishermen are allowed to return to the disputed area. China is pledging foreign aid, investment, and it is promising to make our railways work again. However, Dr. Reynaldo Ileto, a leading Filipino historian, is concerned about Dutertes survival, should he move too quickly with the regional realignment: He cannot break up with the United States too abruptly hed be killed. For a while, in Manila, we were discussing the pattern established; the way the West treats the rebellious countries and their governments: Ukraine, Brazil, and even the former President of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo. Arroyo moved closer to China, explained Dr. Ileto: They got her indicted for corruption. Only Duterte managed to release her. Antagonizing China, even provoking it into a military conflict, has been the mainstay of US foreign policy in Asia, at least during the later years of the Obama administration. This dangerous trend will most likely continue, even accelerate, since Donald Trump has already taken office. President Dutertes stubborn determination to reach a peaceful arrangement with China may put him squarely on the hit list of the Western Empire. Prof. Roland Simbulan from the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines confirms what Dr. Ileto suggested above: If Duterte moves too fast, he will be overthrown, by the military. He is an outsider. Police and army hold grudges against him. Many top military commanders here were trained by the US, and often even corrupted by the US. Dutertes anti-US and anti-imperialist policy goes beyond rhetoric; it is real. He is confrontational, he is against the US foreign policy towards the Philippines and the world. * However, President Duterte is not only a self-proclaimed socialist, he is also a pragmatist. For him, this is the best time to take advantage of confusion caused by the upcoming administration of Donald Trump and its frequent anti-Asian outbursts. Japans MP, Shinzo Abe, is looking for new allies in the Asia Pacific and beyond. His country is in disarray, horrified by Trump and his doctrines. China and Russia may be Mr. Dutertes two new soul mates, but the deep pockets of Tokyo cannot be fully neglected either. During his two-day visit to the Philippines, Mr. Abe pledged to provide 1 trillion yen ($8.7 billion) in funding and investment. He also promised to assist with deteriorated infrastructure, and to help the Philippines with the maritime security vessels and aircraft. Japan is the Philippines largest provider of aid, a substantial source of remittances. Japans help is not expected to be altruistic. It is clearly understood by the analysts that Mr. Abe is now using his subtle diplomatic skills and financial incentives in order to seduce President Duterte into returning back to the US-Japan camp, and even abandoning the new alliance that is being presently forged between the Philippines, China, Russia and possibly Vietnam. It is a complex and dangerous game, which at the end of the road may lead to a war, even to a global conflict. There is absolutely no doubt on which side Japan has been standing. Both Japan and the Philippines have territorial disputes with China, but while the Philippines is lately opting for compromise and peaceful settlement, Japan is increasingly choosing a confrontational path. PM Shinzo Abe is well aware of the fact that later this year, the Philippines will be hosting the ASEAN meeting and therefore in a position to control the focus and influence the language of the joint communiques. That is why he is willing to eat simple cakes and (at least metaphorically) sing his sweet and seductive songs in Dutertes humble home in Davao. It is highly unlikely that President Duterte would scale down his cooperation with Beijing just in order to get his hands on a few more secondhand coastguard vessels, or for an extra dose of foreign aid. However, he is likely to continue maintaining his close relationship with Tokyo, as his country has been doing for decades. To emphasize it, he declared during his meeting with the PM Shinzo Abe: In Tokyo, I said that Japan deserves its own rightful place in the constellation of the Philippines friends Tonight, let me reiterate that Japan is a friend closer than a brother. That means that Japan is a friend unlike any other. Perhaps, or maybe not * This is an extremely critical moment for Asia. China and Russia are rising, while old allies of the West, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are either in decline or in distress. The Philippines and Vietnam are calculating their next moves. Thailand, Malaysia and even Indonesia are suddenly uncertain about their previously staunch pro-Western stands. Father of the imperialist Pivot to Asia, President Barack Obama, has stepped down. Aggressive and anti-Asian leader Donald Trump is on to the throne. When it comes to the Empire and its involvement in Asia, things are getting from bad to worse. It is clear that the West is not willing to tolerate the leadership of Beijing even on Chinas own continent. Now Washington has to deal with one more obstacle to its complete rule. Once fully obedient and submissive, a poor former US colony, the Philippines, is suddenly roaring, flexing its muscle, negotiating independently for the best deals available, and searching for its own destiny. Just one year ago all this would be unimaginable, but it is happening now. The entire Asian continent is watching and so is, most likely, the entire political, military and intelligence establishment of the West. The process is very quick (dangerously quick, say many in Manila), and Washington can hardly keep up with the changes. President Duterte is governing his complex country for only six months, and there are already many fundamental developments. Russian warships are visiting Manila and future joint exercises are being discussed, even planned. China and the Philippines are talking peace, friendship, cooperation and even railways. Vietnam and the Philippines are moving closer. Japan is suddenly coming as a humble friend, not as an economic bully. For the Philippines, 2017 will be decisive: the country will establish itself as one of the main catalysts of the changes in Asia, or it could collapse, be destroyed, from outside or from inside, with substantial external help. Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel Aurora and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism . View his other books here. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter . The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Revolt Is the Only Barrier to a Fascist America By Chris Hedges This is a transcript of a talk Chris Hedges gave at the Inaugurate the Resistance rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. January 23, 2017 " Information Clearing House " - " Truth Dig " - The ruling elites, terrified by the mobilization of the left in the 1960s, or by what [political scientist] Samuel P. Huntington called Americas excess of democracy, built counter-institutions to delegitimize and marginalize critics of corporate capitalism and imperialism. They bought the allegiances of the two main political parties. They imposed obedience to the neoliberal ideology within academia and the press. This campaign, laid out by Lewis Powell in his 1971 memorandum titled Attack on American Free Enterprise System, was the blueprint for the creeping corporate coup detat that 45 years later is complete. The destruction of democratic institutions, places where the citizen has agency and a voice, is far graver than the ascendancy to the White House of the demagogue Donald Trump. The coup destroyed our two-party system. It destroyed labor unions. It destroyed public education. It destroyed the judiciary. It destroyed the press. It destroyed academia. It destroyed consumer and environmental protection. It destroyed our industrial base. It destroyed communities and cities. And it destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans no longer able to find work that provides a living wage, cursed to live in chronic poverty or locked in cages in our monstrous system of mass incarceration. This coup also destroyed the credibility of liberal democracy. Self-identified liberals such as the Clintons and Barack Obama mouthed the words of liberal democratic values while making war on these values in the service of corporate power. The revolt we see rippling across the country is a revolt not only against a corporate system that has betrayed workers, but also, for many, liberal democracy itself. This is very dangerous. It will allow the radical right under a Trump administration to cement into place an Americanized fascism. Ignorance allied with power, James Baldwin wrote, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. It turns out, 45 years later, that those who truly hate us for our freedoms are not the array of dehumanized enemies cooked up by the war machinethe Vietnamese, Cambodians, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians or even the Taliban, al-Qaida and ISIS. They are the financiers, bankers, politicians, public intellectuals and pundits, lawyers, journalists and businesspeople cultivated in the elite universities and business schools who sold us the utopian dream of neoliberalism. We are entering the twilight phase of capitalism. Wealth is no longer created by producing or manufacturing. It is created by manipulating the prices of stocks and commodities and imposing a crippling debt peonage on the public. Our casino capitalism has merged with the gambling industry. The entire system is parasitic. It is designed to prey on the desperateyoung men and women burdened by student loans, underpaid workers burdened by credit card debt and mortgages, towns and cities forced to borrow to maintain municipal services. Casino magnates such as Sheldon Adelson and hedge fund managers such as Robert Mercer add nothing of value to society. They do not generate money but instead redistribute it upwards to the 1 percent. They use lobbyists and campaign contributions to built monopoliesthis is how the drug company Mylan raised the price of an EpiPen, used to treat allergy reactions, from $57 in 2007 to about $500and to rewrite laws and regulations. They have given themselves the legal power to carry out a tax boycott, loot the U.S. Treasury, close factories and send the jobs overseas, gut social service programs and impose austerity. They have, at the same time, militarized our police, built the most sophisticated security and surveillance apparatus in human history and used judicial fiat to strip us of our civil liberties. They are ready should we rise up in defiance. These mandarins are, if we speak in the language of God and country, traitors. They are parasites. Financial speculation in 17th-century England was a crime. Speculators were hanged. The heads of most of [todays] banks and hedge funds and the executives of large corporations, such as Walmart and Gap, that run sweatshop death traps for impoverished workers overseas deserve prison far more than most of the poor students of color I teach within the prison system, people who never had a fair trial or a chance in life. When a tiny cabal seizes powermonarchist, communist, fascist or corporateit creates a mafia economy and a mafia state. Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy. Trump and his coterie of billionaires, generals, half-wits, Christian fascists, criminals, racists and deviants play the role of the Snopes clan in some of William Faulkners novels. The Snopeses filled the power vacuum of the decayed South and ruthlessly seized control from the degenerated, former slave-holding aristocratic elites. Flem Snopes and his extended familywhich includes a killer, a pedophile, a bigamist, an arsonist, a mentally disabled man who copulates with a cow, and a relative who sells tickets to witness the bestialityare fictional representations of the scum now elevated to the highest level of the federal government. They embody the moral rot unleashed by unfettered capitalism. The usual reference to amorality, while accurate, is not sufficiently distinctive and by itself does not allow us to place them, as they should be placed, in a historical moment, the critic Irving Howe wrote of the Snopeses. Perhaps the most important thing to be said is that they are what comes afterwards: the creatures that emerge from the devastation, with the slime still upon their lips. Let a world collapse, in the South or Russia, and there appear figures of coarse ambition driving their way up from beneath the social bottom, men to whom moral claims are not so much absurd as incomprehensible, sons of bushwhackers or muzhiks drifting in from nowhere and taking over through the sheer outrageousness of their monolithic force, Howe wrote. They become presidents of local banks and chairmen of party regional committees, and later, a trifle slicked up, they muscle their way into Congress or the Politburo. Scavengers without inhibition, they need not believe in the crumbling official code of their society; they need only learn to mimic its sounds. What comes next, history has shown, will not be pleasant. A corrupt and inept ruling elite, backed by the organs of state security and law enforcement, will unleash a naked kleptocracy. Workers will become serfs. The most benign dissent will be criminalized. The ravaging of the ecosystem propels us towards extinction. Hate talk will call for attacks against Muslims, undocumented workers, African-Americans, feminists, intellectuals, artists and dissidents, all of whom will be scapegoated for the countrys stagnation. Magical thinking will dominate our airwaves and be taught in our public schools. Art and culture will be degraded to nationalist kitsch. All the cultural and intellectual disciplines that allow us to view the world from the perspective of the other, that foster empathy, understanding and compassion, will be replaced by a grotesque and cruel hypermasculinity and hypermilitarism. Those in power will validate racism, bigotry, misogyny and homophobia. Our only hope now is an unwavering noncooperation with the systems of corporate control. We must rebuild democratic institutions from the ground up. We must not be seduced into trusting the power elites, including the Democratic Party, whose seven leading candidates to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee demonstrated the other night at George Washington University that they have no interest in defying corporate power or backing democratic populism. We must also acknowledge our own failures on the left, our elitism, arrogance and refusal to root our politics locally in our communities. Rosa Luxemburg understood that unless we first address the most pressing economic and physical needs of the destitute we will never gain credibility or build a resistance movement. Revolt, she said, is achieved only by building genuine relationships, including with people who do not think like us. Revolt surges up from below, exemplified by the water protectors at Standing Rock. Politics is a game of fear. Those who do not have the ability to make power elites afraid do not succeed. The movements that opened up the democratic space in Americathe abolitionists, suffragists, labor movement, communists, socialists, anarchists and civil rights and labor movementsdeveloped a critical mass and militancy that forced the centers of power to respond. The platitudes about justice, equality and democracy are just that. Only when power is threatened does it react. Appealing to its better nature is useless. It doesnt have one. We once had within our capitalist democracy liberal institutionsthe press, labor unions, third parties, civic and church groups, public broadcasting, well-funded public universities and a liberal wing of the Democratic Partythat were capable of responding to outside pressure from movements. They did so imperfectly. They provided only enough reforms to save the capitalist system from widespread unrest or, with the breakdown of capitalism in the 1930s, from revolution. They never addressed white supremacy and institutional racism or the cruelty that is endemic to capitalism. But they had the ability to ameliorate the suffering of working men and women. This safety valve no longer works. When reform becomes impossible, revolution becomes inevitable. The days ahead will be dark and frightening. But as Immanuel Kant reminded us, if justice perishes, human life on earth has lost its meaning. We fight for the sacred. We fight for life. It is a fight we must not lose. To be a bystander is to be complicit in radical evil. Revolt is a political necessity. It is a moral imperative. It is a defense of the sacred. It allows us to live in truth. It alone makes hope possible. The moment we defy power, we are victorious. The moment we stand alongside the oppressed, and accept being treated like the oppressed, we are victorious. The moment we hold up a flickering light in the darkness for others to see, we are victorious. The moment we thwart the building of a pipeline or a fracking site, we are victorious. And the moment those in power become frightened of us, we are victorious. I do not know if we can build a better society. I do not even know if we will survive as a species. But I do know these corporate forces have us by the throat. And they have my children by the throat. I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists. Chris Hedges, spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. Inaugurate the Resistance! The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. A village in the southern part of Borno State, Ndagu Village, Askira-Uba local government area has suffered a fresh attack after fleeing Boko Haram insurgents stormed the area in large numbers setting the entire village ablaze. According to a source, at least three people lost their lives while several women were abducted in the attack that took place at about 7:30 pm on Sunday. The area has been one of the least hit of waves of attack from the terrorist groups in the state but suffered several attacks in 2016. The villagers are now at the mercy of the insurgents because of inadequate security for people in the area, a resident of the village identified as Ibrahim Askira said. He added that, As I speak with you now, many people who fled to the bush have not returned. We are not sure what has happened to them. They took away many women that we are not yet sure of the number. The people in this village are completely traumatized due to this attack. We cannot be sure of our next sleep, I call on the security to be more proactive in dealing with these Boko Haram boys. If the security agents leave us like this, they will finish us, a local hunter, Aminu, added. By Fereydoun Barkeshli for Trend After the successful resolution of outstanding issues between Iran and the six major powers in January 2016, very few could believe that the country's oil industry could embark upon ambitious plans to bring the country's oil and gas industry back on track. NIOC (National Iranian Oil Company) was quick to react towards regaining its lost market share in international oil trade and move towards 4 million barrels a day of crude oil production in six months. However, the next giant phase began to materialize with the final ratification and approval of Iran's "IPC" model. This giant steps indicated that oil, gas and petrochemical remains the country's engine of growth and leading industry igniting the first ever huge foreign and domestic investment in Iran. It is needless to remind that Iran is the last remaining frontier for international trade and business. Iran is eligible and capable to absorb some $370-380 billions within the next decade. For the country's oil industry, all the infrastructure is already in place. In a decade of less, Iran would be able to join the "Trillion dollar club" (unofficial classification of the world's major economies with a gross domestic product (nominal GDP) of more than USD 2 trillion per year.) Having said that, Iran's NIOC needs to internationalize its approach and policies and upon the successful implementation of contracts both domestic and foreign, begins to move to international markets in quest for establishing its rightful place in global oil industry. The US imposed its first sanctions basically on Iran's oil industry just three months after the Islamic Revolution. This has remained in place for the last 37 years. In fact Iran is not the only country which is a victim of the U.S.oil embargo. The imposed sanctions were felt in other countries as well - Venezuela, Russia, Libya, Iraq and Nigeria. For years the US administrations, one after another, used sanctions as a tool for managing the oil supply. No doubt the policy of international engagement in the oil industry is one way to shield the country from outside pressures. Based on a study undertaken by Vienna Energy Research Group, a Vienna-based energy and OPEC research group, western countries lost over $280 billions in lost business opportunities in Iran. The European Union is therefore currently working hard to compensate its economic and business losses in Iran. When it comes to business, sky is the limit. Iran's economy and international partnership posses a huge and vast potentials. Fereydoun Barkeshli is president of Vienna Energy Research Group in Austria and the National Iranian Oil Companys former general manager for OPEC and international affairs. Dr Kayode Fayemi, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, has challenged Nigerian youths to explore and utilise their creative ability to develop the society. Fayemi gave the challenge while delivering the 2016 convocation lecture of at the University of Lagos. He said that one of the failings of the society was its inability to give young people enough room to explore their creative abilities. The theme of the lecture is: Building a Successor-Generation: Reflections on Values and Knowledge in Nation Building. According to him, there is need for young people to be given chance for self expression and make mistakes to avoid repeating same later in life. He further said that young people did not optimally take advantage of opportunities where they existed. The minister said that a university, being a macrocosm and microcosms of the larger society ought to be the ground for students to explore and make mistakes in a protected environment. Macrocosm and microcosm refers to a vision of cosmos where the part (microcosm) reflects the whole (macrocosm) and vice versa. The earlier we realise that no one owes us anything, the better for us and the more prepared we will be to face challenges of life. Do not think you are entitled to a job just because of your parents influence or what they have. Do not think things will be all rosy because you graduated from UNILAG with good grades. Be prepared for surprises and disappointments, because life is bound to hand you a couple of them. The only guarantee you have in this life is what you do for your selves with the grace God has bestowed on us all, he said. Fayemi urged youths to be prepared to bend backwards and do those things they might consider to be beneath them. What you need to know, however, is that as a UNILAG graduate and a postgraduate student in the United Kingdom, I have driven taxis and worked as a guard amongst other several menial jobs to survive. Earlier in a remark, a retired Maj.-Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, said there was the need for leaders of today to give the younger generation opportunity to lead and serve the country. Nwachukwu, who is also a former Senator, however, said that for such opportunity to be effective, the younger generation, too, must be prepared to be mentored. The lecture was part of activities lined up for the institutions 2016 convocation. The convocation proper begins on Jan. 24, with the award of degrees, certificates and prizes to students found worthy in character and learning. Source: NAN The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday re-arraigned, retired Col. Sambo Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser (NSA) and five others, for alleged diversion, and criminal breach of trust. The others were Bashir Yuguda, Shuaibu Salisu, a former Director of Finance, Office of the NSA, Dalhatu Investment Ltd., Sagir Attahiru and Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto State. They were re-arraigned on a 22-count charge before Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, and they pleaded not guilty to the charges. Baba-Yusuf ordered that the existing bail condition be maintained after listening to submissions of all counsel to the defendants and the prosecuting counsel. The Prosecuting counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), opposed the upholding of Dasukis bail, saying that he was still being held by the Department of State Services (DSS) since he was granted bail earlier. Jacobs also applied for date to open his case against the defendants since they pleaded not guilty to the charges. This, he said, was in accordance with Section 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which provides for day-to-day trial. Dasukis counsel, Mr Ahmed Raji (SAN), objected, saying that the EFCC brought his client to court and not DSS. He also said that ECOWAS court had earlier given a valid judgment on the issue and objected to the suggestion of Rotimi. He argued that the day-to-day trial was when the case fully commences. The counsel to other defendants aligned with Dr Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Counsel to Bafaarawa, saying that Section 396 of ACJA should not be put above the provisions of in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. Fagbemi said that the section provides for fair hearing and so it would not be right for the defendants to be arraign today and trial to commence tomorrow. Baba-Yusuf adjourned till Feb. 24 for commencement of trial. Dasuki and others were earlier arraigned on a 22-count charge bordering on diversion, conspiracy, bribery, abuse of office and criminal breach of trust of about N19.4 billion before Justice Peter Affen in December 2015. The defendants were also granted bail by Affen in the sum of N250 million each with two sureties each in the like sum. Affen said that one of sureties must be a retired or serving civil servant in Federal Governments employment, reside within the courts jurisdiction and own landed property in Abuja. The case was consolidated and transferred to Baba-Yusufs court following an application by Chief Joseph Daudu, counsel to Dasuki. Source: NAN The Ekiti State Governor and Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors Forum, Ayodele Fayose, has called for support for all-inclusive efforts to rebuild the PDP, describing the party as a sleeping, and not a dead lion. Governor Fayose, who emerged as Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum last Thursday, made this call when he visited former governor of Ogun State, Gbenga Daniel, in his Lagos residence on Sunday night. According to a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, the governor, who promised to work with all PDP leaders across the country to make a success of his tenure, said that the party could still boast of the best and established structure across the country, which needs only reactivation by putting all hands on deck. Earlier, Governor Fayose had received former Minister of Information, Jerry Gana and former governorship candidate of the PDP in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, who visited the governor at his Lagos residence to congratulate him. While describing the present challenges being faced by the PDP as a phase that we can overcome most importantly that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government has failed to impress Nigerians and succeeded in pauperising the nation by its cluelessness, Governor Fayose said; falling is not unusual, but remaining in the falling state is admittance of perpetual defeat, which the PDP must not submit itself to. He lamented that Nigeria was being led by a nepotistic and dictatorial president, who has made the country to be more divided more than ever before, adding that With the unleashing of hunger and suffering on Nigerians, PDP stands to gain electorally ahead of 2019 if the party put its house in order. The governor, who called on all serving and former governors as well as other leaders of the PDP to rise to the rescue of the party by providing fearless and sincere leadership for party faithful, described the continuous closure of the partys national secretariat as part of the deliberate efforts of the APC led federal government and its agents like the police and SSS to make Nigeria a one party state. Responding, former Governor Gbenga Daniel likened Mr. Fayose to the biblical Daniel, who believed in the rebuilding of the Macedonian wall. Mr. Daniel, who called for support for Mr. Fayose to achieve his good intentions for the PDP, described him as as a fearless, focused and courageous man, and a timely interventionist with a realizable mission. Nigerian musician, Femi Kuti paid a visit to a camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. The Afrobeat musician posted on Twitter with the caption, Went to Maiduguri with IRC to c the IDP camps 4myself and create more awareness .Tried 2 put a smile on the faces of the children in d camps A 70-year-old man from Kansas, USA pleaded guilty to robbing a bank last year because, he said, he was tired of living with his wife. Lawrence John Ripple pleaded guilty on Monday in US District Court in Kansas City, to the robbery last September of the Bank of Labor. Ripple was released on bond after he was charged in September and was accompanied to court by his wife Monday. They declined to comment after the hearing. Ripple pleaded guilty without an agreement with prosecutors. The prosecutors and defense attorney will be free to argue what sentence they think is appropriate. The judge will set a sentencing date after a presentencing investigation. The bank he robbed is a block from Kansas City, police headquarters. The robbery was captured on bank surveillance video that showed Ripple hand a note to a teller. The note read, I have a gun, give me money, according to court documents. The teller handed over $2,924, but instead of fleeing, Ripple sat down in the bank lobby. When a bank security guard approached him, Ripple told the guard that he was the person the guard was looking for, according to the documents. The guard took Ripple into custody and recovered the money that had just been taken. Later, when questioned by police and FBI agents, Ripple said that he and his wife had an argument earlier in the day and he said he no longer wanted to be in that situation, according to the affidavit filed to support the bank robbery charge. Ripple said he wrote out his robbery note in front of his wife and told her he would rather be in jail than at home. He then said he walked to the bank and committed the robbery. One Musiliu Taheed who was arrested with a human head in Oyo State was Monday arraigned before an Oyo State Chief Magistrates Court, sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan. Recall that the 37-year-old was arrested with a human head he severed from a corpse buried at the back of Basic Community Primary School in Olomi area of Ibadan, the state capital. He had confessed to visiting grave yards at night to exhume corpses, cutting off heads for ritual purposes. At the court hearing, the prosecutor, Adewale Amos, said Musiliu committed the crime at Onibuke Zone 1, Aba Alfa, Olomi. He added that the defendant had committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 329A of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol; II, Law of Oyo State, Nigeria, 2000. Musiliu was also charged with unlawful interference with a corpse, thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 242 (1) of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol; II, Law of Oyo State, Nigeria, 2000, the prosecutor added. The accused person pleaded guilty to the two counts of unlawful possession of human head and severing the head of late Tajudeen Akanbi, 62, from his grave. In her ruling, the presiding Chief Magistrate, Mrs. Durosaro Kehinde-Tijani, ordered that the accused be remanded in the Agodi Prison. The Magistrate called for presentation of facts and adjourned the case till March 6 for mention. Source: Dailypost Nigerian newspaper headlines today, January 24, 2017. Guardian Two Magistrates Courts in Rivers State have remanded 45 members of the indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) for holding rallies in support of the President of United States, Donald Trump. Thisday President Muhammadu Buhari has resubmitted the name of Mr. Ibrahim Magu to the Senate for confirmation as Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The Nation The Sultan railed yesterday against impunity, saying it fuels violence. More measures should be taken by governors of the Northern States, especially the Governor of Kaduna State, Sultan Muhammed Saad Abubakar III said. Vanguard T HE Federal government, has been urged to ensure that all Nigerians are captured under the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, in order to ensure the attainment of universal healthcare in the country, even as government was tasked to provide more Primary Healthcare Centres in the country. Punch Governors of the 19 northern states under the aegis of the Northern Governors Forum on Monday in Kaduna met with emirs, chiefs and political leaders over disturbing herdsmen attacks and other related crimes in the region. Leadership Several people are feared to have been killed and many others injured after suspected Fulani herdsmen yesterday afternoon invaded Ipiga village in Ohimini local government area of Benue State. The Sun The Federal Government has disclosed that no fewer than 2,000 Nigerians were evacuated from Libya in the last two months following the emergence of videos and photographs of Nigerians being killed in the North African country. Premium Times The private jet used to ferry the disgraced former president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, was a chartered plane leased by the national leader of the All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu. Nigerian security officials have warned citizens to be vigilant in the wake of what it calls the trend of female suicide bombers carrying babies to avoid suspicion. Authorities cited the attack on Madagali where two female suicide bombers escaped detection because they were carrying babies. Despite assurances from Nigerias Federal Government that Boko Haram has been defeated, the group has staged several attacks in North Eastern Nigeria. Most of the groups suicide bombing are carried out by young girls and officials have now urged more vigilance in communities in the North East. Governor Abiola Ajimobi on Tuesday, signed into law a bill prohibiting violence against women in the state. Present at the signing ceremony of the bill to Prohibit Violence Against Women in Public and Private Life, at the Governors Office, Ibadan, the state capital, were the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Seun Abimbola; Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Musah Abdulwasil, and other stakeholders. Governor Ajimobi, who in recent weeks has been in the news for wrong reasons notably on how he handled the protesting students of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, (LAUTECH), has been receiving praises from people of the state for the signing of the bill. ***As She Denies Clubbing With Tonto Dikehs Husband Actress Rose Meurer is currently on vacation in Johannesburg, South Africa. According to her Instagram, this means a week filled with fun moments as she takes a break from her alleged role in Tonto Dikehs marital crisis. The Goodwill ambassador was earlier today accused of partying with Tonto Dikehs husband, a rumour she has since denied as she repost a collage of photos posted by Quilox Night Club. The club management had wrote; Different days, different time. The pictures were put up on Monday the 16th of January as a throwback to our previous week. all everyone wants to do is be happy and party at their favorite spot. #Quilox #nightclub #luxurylifestyle#lagos #nigeria #clubs #clubbing #party #fun#lagosparty. She then added; Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iran may file a complaint against Turkmenistan in the International Court of Arbitration over a recent gas dispute, a senior Iranian oil official said. Hamid-Reza Araqi, Iranian deputy oil minister, has said that his country will definitely file the complaint in the International Court of Arbitration if Turkmenistan refuses to hold talks with Iran to resolve the issue, Mehr news agency reported. He further pointed to the agreement on gas swap between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan through Iran and added that about six million cubic meters of gas are swapped between the two post-Soviet nations on a daily basis. Although Turkmenistan has stopped exporting gas to Iran, we have, so far, no plans on halting the neighboring countrys gas swap program, he added. Araqi further called for launching talks aimed at resolving the issue. Turkmen Foreign Ministry said Jan. 3 that Turkmenistan limited the natural gas supply to Iran from Jan. 1 over the outstanding debts for previous natural gas sales. A team of students in the US is planning to brew beer on the moon for the first time. The team plans to send a canister aboard an Indian lunar lander that is set to launch this year. The team, comprising engineering students of the University of California, San Diego, is among the finalists in the Lab2Moon competition being conducted by TeamIndus, which will send a spacecraft to the moon on December 28 this year as part of the Google Lunar XPRIZE Challenge. The experiment will test the viability of yeast fermentation on the surface of moon, researchers said. Understanding how yeast behaves on the Moon is not just important for brewing beer in space, researchers said. It is also important for the development of pharmaceuticals and yeast-containing foods, like bread. The group, which calls itself Team Original Gravity, is one of just 25 teams selected from a pool of 3,000 to compete for a spot aboard the TeamIndus spacecraft. The idea started out with a few laughs among a group of friends. We all appreciate the craft of beer, and some of us own our own home-brewing kits, said Neeki Ashari, a student at UC San Diego. When we heard that there was an opportunity to design an experiment that would go up on Indias Moon lander, we thought we could combine our hobby with the competition by focusing on the viability of yeast in outer space, said Ms. Ashari. All of the preparation required before yeast is added will be done on Earth. Our canister is designed based on actual fermenters, said Srivaths Kalyan, mechanical lead for the team. It contains three compartments the top will be filled with the unfermented beer, the second will contain yeast, said Mr. Kalyan. When the rover lands on the Moon with our experiment, a valve will open between the two compartments, allowing the two to mixWhen the yeast has done its job, a second valve opens and the yeast sink to the bottom, separate from fermented beer, Mr. Kalyan said. The experiments will be evaluated by an international jury in March when teams fly to Bangalore to showcase their prototype. The spacecraft is owned by the Indian start-up TeamIndus, one of four teams in the world to win a $1 million Milestone Prize for successfully simulating the landing technology concept of its spacecraft. Contrary to popular belief, ransomware has been around for decades. The first malware program to lock up peoples files and ask for a ransom was the PC Cyborg Trojan in 1989. It was created by Harvard-trained evolutionary biologist Dr. Joseph Popp, who was working on several AIDS-related projects at the time. Dr. Popp sent a floppy disk containing a program covering AIDS information, teaching, and testing to tens of thousands of mailing list subscribers. At startup, a crude EULA warned users they had to pay for the programand the author reserved the legal right to ensure termination of your use of the programs .... These program mechanisms will adversely affect other program applications on microcomputers. Most people didnt read the EULA and ran the program without paying for it. After 90 boots, the program crudely encrypted/obfuscated the users hard drive data, rendering it inaccessible, and asked for a payment of $189 to be sent to a Panamanian post office box. (Check out a great analysis of the Trojan.) Ransomware evolution Early ransomware used symmetric key encryption, and the cipher algorithm was often poorly constructed. Encryption experts could frequently break the ransomware easily, and because the symmetric key was the same shared key in every infection, every computer touched by the same ransomware program could be unlocked at once. Eventually, ransomware authors learned to use public key cryptography (where both a private key and a second public key is involved) and started to use popular, well-known, well-tested cipher algorithms. A different key pair was generated for each infection, which made ransomware a very difficult problem to solve. By the middle 2000s, tough-to-break ransomware was becoming very popular, but the problem of how hackers would collect their money remained. Real money and credit card transactions can be traced. Enter CryptoLocker, the first widespread ransomware program to demand bitcoin payments. CryptoLocker first appeared in 2013. When matched with randomly generated email addresses and darknet pathways, it became almost impossible to catch ransomware hackers. Ransomware writers and distributors are now making tens, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars off their victims. These days ransomware keeps getting more dangerous and targeted. Ransomware programs are now being developed to attack specific types of data, such as database tables, mobile devices, IoT units, and televisions. This page chronicles all the significant developments from the last year or so. Defeating ransomware First, you need to verify that youve actually been hit by ransomware. Less sophisticated programs merely take over your current browser session or computer screen. They make the same blackmail claims as a more sophisticated ransomware program, but dont encrypt any files. All you need to do is reboot the computer and/or use a program like Process Explorer to remove the malicious file. Nothing beats a good backup. Nothing beats a current, offline backup. The offline part is important because many ransomware programs will look for your online backups and render them unusable, too. Get patched. Making sure your system is fully patched is a great way to prevent any malware from infecting your computer. But also see if they are the real patches from the real vendors. Unfortunately, fake patches often contain ransomware. Dont get tricked. Dont let yourself get socially engineered into installing ransomware. In other words, dont install anything sent to you in email or offered to you when visiting a website. If a website says you need to install something, either leave the website and dont go backor leave the website and install the software directly from the legitimate vendors website. Never let a website install another vendors software for you. Use antimalware software. Everyone needs to run at least one antimalware program. Windows comes with Windows Defender, but there are dozens of commercial competitors and some good freebies. Ransomware is malware. Antimalware software can stop the majority of variants before they hit. Use a whitelisting program. Application control or whitelisting programs stop any unauthorized program from executing. These programs are probably the best defense against ransomware (besides a good offline backup). Although many people think application control programs are too cumbersome to use, expect them to become much more accepted as ransomware continues to grow, at least in business computing. The days of allowing employees to run any program they want are numbered. What to do if youre locked up If all your critical data is backed up and safe, then youll be back in business in a few hours time. Youll still need to reformat/reset/restore your device, however. Luckily, that process gets easier with each new operating system version. Using another safe, uninfected computer, restore your backup. Apply all critical security patches, restore your data, and resolve never to do what you did that got your device locked up in the first place. If you dont have a clean backup copy of your critical data and absolutely need the data, you have two options: Find an unlock key or pay the ransomware demand. Using another safe, trusted computer, research as much as you can about the particular ransomware variant you have. The screen message presented by the ransomware will help you identify the variant. If youre lucky, your ransomware variant may already have been unlocked. Many antimalware vendors have programs to detect and unlock ransomware (if it recognizes the variant and has the unlock key). Run that program first. It may take an offline scan to get rid of the ransomware. Several websites also offer unlocking services, free and commercial, for particular ransomware variants. Heres an example of a ransomware unlocker. Also, believe it or not, ransomware distributors will even occasionally apologize and release their own unlocking programs. Lastly, many people choose to pay the ransomware to recover their files. Most experts and companies recommend against paying ransom because it only encourages the ransomware creators and distributors. Yet quite often it works. Its your computer and data, so its up to you whether to pay the ransom. Be aware that in many cases people have paid up and their files have remained encrypted. But these cases seem to be in the minority. If ransomware didnt unlock files after the money was paid, everyone would learn thatand ransomware attackers would make less money. I hope you never become a ransomware victim. The odds of infection, unfortunately, are getting worse as ransomware gains popularity and sophistication. Related video: Ransomware marketplaces and the future of malware Novozymes sheds 198 jobs The company is allocating additional resources to high-growth opportunities, primarily in emerging markets, which means that, across the organization and geographies, it has laid off 198 employees, 62 of them in Denmark. Novozymes has reported that 6% organic sales growth in Q4 has led to full-year organic sales growth of 2% and 8% net profit growth. In 2017, Novozymes said it expects to deliver organic sales growth of 2-5%, with contributions from all five business areas. Novozymes believes it sees long-term opportunities within industrial biotechnology and will continue to invest in innovation to realize the potential of its pipeline. Successful commercialization of the pipeline makes a return to historical organic sales growth rates achievable, the company says, noting that it is now allocating additional resources to high-growth opportunities, primarily in emerging markets, while safeguarding profitability. This means that, across the organization and geographies, it has laid off 198 employees, 62 of them in Denmark. Q4 came in as expected at 6% organic sales growth, marking a positive end to an otherwise challenging year, said Peder Holk Nielsen, President & CEO of Novozymes. 2017 will be a year with sustained investments in new innovation. The divisions have reviewed their strategies and made significant changes to accelerate growth, for example shifting more resources to the emerging markets. As a consequence, we unfortunately need to lay off 198 employees to enable investments in market opportunities in both 2017 and 2018. Indianapolis, Indiana The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld the district courts decision and ruled in favor of Eli Lilly regarding validity and infringement of the vitamin regimen patent U.S. Patent No. 7,772,209 for Alimta (pemetrexed for injection). In the case of Eli Lilly and Company v. Teva Parenteral Medicines, Inc., et al., the court affirmed the earlier district courts rulings that the vitamin regimen patent is valid and would be infringed by the generic challengers proposed products. If the patent is ultimately upheld through all remaining challenges, Alimta would maintain U.S. exclusivity until May 2022, preventing marketing of generic products for as long as the patent remains in force. The Alimta compound patent rem ains in force through January 24, 2017. In March 2014, the U.S. Court for the Southern District of Indiana upheld the validity of the vitamin regimen patent. In August 2015, the same court ruled in Lillys favor regarding infringement of the vitamin regimen patent. We are pleased with todays ruling by the Court of Appeals, affirming the earlier district courts decisions, finding the Alimta vitamin regimen patent is valid and would be infringed, said Michael J. Harrington, senior vice president and general counsel for Lilly. The significant scientific research that Lilly performed in support of the vitamin regimen patent deserves intellectual property protection, which has been confirmed in every validity challenge to date. We continue to emphasize that protection of intellectual property rights is extremely important to the biopharmaceutical industry and the patients we serve. These rights help support the development of the next generation of innovative medicines to treat unmet medical needs. The case was before Chief Judge Sharon Prost, Judge Pauline Newman and Judge Timothy B. Dyk in Appellate Court Case No. 2015-2067. Chief Judge Prost wrote the opinion. Opinion Cotton Closes with another Triple Digit Gain Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT Front month cotton futures added triple digits to the climb on Friday. Dec cotton closed up by another 4.73%, for a weekly gain of 20.5%. The December to December spread is now an 8.56 cent premium for... CTZ22 : 86.93s (+4.73%) CTH23 : 85.67s (+4.26%) CTK23 : 84.63s (+3.21%) Cattle Markets Fade into Weekend Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT Live cattle futures ended the Friday session 10 to 50 weaker in the front months. For the week, Dec fats faded by $1.35. The weeks cash price was mostly near $150 in the South and mostly near $153 in... LEZ22 : 151.650s (-0.20%) LEG23 : 154.375s (-0.32%) LEJ23 : 158.000s (-0.19%) GFX22 : 177.825s (-0.10%) GFF23 : 179.625s (+0.11%) Mixed Close for Hog Futures Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT Hogs went into the weekend mixed but mostly lower with 15 to 40 cent losses in the nearbys and 5 to 20 cent gains in the deferred contracts. For the week, December hogs ended with a $13.13 loss, while... HEZ22 : 82.975s (-0.48%) HEJ23 : 92.400s (-0.16%) KMZ22 : 93.875s (-0.13%) Soy Futures Rally into Weekend Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT Soybean prices traded higher with 1.14% to 1.7% gains in the front months to go into the weekend in the black. Jan beans closed the week with 4.4% gains. Soy oil futures led the rally, closing the week... ZSX22 : 1451-4s (+1.73%) ZSPAUS.CM : 14.2554 (+1.92%) ZSF23 : 1462-2s (+1.76%) ZSH23 : 1469-0s (+1.73%) Wheat Futures Gain on Friday Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT Fridays wheat trade worked higher after a re-balancing from the Russia related run-up to start the week, and subsequent collapse on Wednesday. On net, December SRWs 7 1/4 cent gain into the weekend... ZWZ22 : 847-6s (+0.86%) ZWH23 : 866-6s (+0.81%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7988 (+0.94%) KEZ22 : 953-2s (+1.27%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.1129 (+1.33%) MWZ22 : 954-4s (+1.22%) Corn Closes Net Stronger Barchart - Fri Nov 4, 4:46PM CDT The week of corn trade saw strength out of the weekend on Russia pulling out of the grain export corridor, but quickly reversed midweek when Russia re-entered. On net, Fridays 1 3/4 to 3 1/4 cent gains... ZCZ22 : 681-0s (+0.26%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7795 (+0.35%) ZCH23 : 686-6s (+0.29%) ZCK23 : 686-6s (+0.29%) Fourteen firefighters were injured on Saturday morning while battling a blaze at a Metro Self Storage facility in Charleston, a neighborhood in Staten Island, N.Y. The four-alarm fire began just before 10 a.m. at the back of the property at 3026 Veterans Road W., according to a source. It took about 150 firefighters two hours to get the fire under control. Forty to 50 storage units containing household goods, construction materials and a car were destroyed, according to James Leonard, chief of the Fire Department of the City of New York. The smoke made accessing the interiors of the units difficult, he added. "We had to use saws to open them (storage units) up. Three firefighters suffered serious injuries, while the remainder had minor ones. None were considered life-threatening, a source reported. The injured were transported to local hospitals. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Metro Storage LLC is a privately owned, fully integrated real estate operating company that owns more than 120 self-storage properties in 12 states. It specializes in the acquisition, development and management of self-storage facilities nationwide. Metros facilities comprise more than 8.1 million square feet of storage space. Real estate development company Johnson Development Associates Inc. (JDA) has purchased a 3.9-acre parcel in Chesterfield, Va., on which it plans to build a self-storage facility. The company paid $2 million through an LLC for the property at 1671 Mall Drive, according to the source. The seller was Robious Road Holdings LLC, a Virginia-based company. The facility will be designed by McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture, a Spartanburg., S.C.-based architecture, planning and interior-design firm. The parcel is at the intersection of Mall Drive and Robious Road, just north of the Chesterfield Towne Center, a local mall. Its also near a new Aldi grocery store and the 368-unit Clairmont at Chesterfield Apartment Homes. JDA has several projects underway in the area, including a $10 million self-storage facility in Short Pump, a village of Glen Allen, Va. The 4-acre site is off Tom Leonard Drive. Additional projects include a $39 million warehouse in Hanover, Va., that will house a 311,000-square-foot Vitamin Shoppe distribution center, the source reported. The developer was represented in the deal by Matt Hamilton, vice president of the Norfolk and Richmond, Va., offices for Colliers International Group Inc., a commercial real estate company. Spartanburg-based JDA owns an investment portfolio of commercial and industrial properties including self-storage facilities, multi-family rental communities and single-tenant industrial space. It has developed more than 6,500 luxury apartments since 1996, while its industrial projects comprise 20 million square feet of commercial space. Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Farhad Daneshvar Trend: Iran will pay $1.9 billion in compensation to Turkey after the International Court of Arbitration ruled in Ankaras favor in a dispute over pricing, a senior Iranian oil official said. Hamid-Reza Araqi, an Iranian deputy oil minister, has said that Tehran and Ankara have agreed on a 13.3 percent discount on the prices of gas delivered from the Islamic Republic to Turkey, Mehr news agency reported. In 1996, Iran and Turkey inked a 25-year deal on supplying 30 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey per day. Ankara appealed to the International Court of Arbitration regarding the price on Iranian gas in March 2012. Although the contract is still in place, it remains a sore point in the two countries' economic relations. Turkey urged for a 25-percent discount from Iran on the supplied gas, while Iran said it would agree to the discount if Turkey increased the amount of imported gas. Iran is considered a major gas supplier to Turkey as the Islamic Republic annually delivers about 10 billion cubic meters of gas there. A new auto aims to drive retirement savings higher. Its called auto-portability, and it would enable a separating employee to easily roll assets into a new employers plan. While the notion has been percolating for some time, a growing body of research is highlighting the benefits of consolidating employee assets so they can better grow their retirement nest eggs. Without a coherent, unified retirement system in the U.S., the Sisyphian task of building one has long been taken in incremental steps. The effort to ensure the American workforce is saving for retirement has given American workers, for example, auto-enrollment and auto-escalation, devices that move more people into workplace retirement savings plans and increase their savings rate over time. Now, some defined contribution plan experts are hoping that soon, all job changers will be able to hold on to one retirement account throughout their careers. We call it the small account problem, says Spencer Williams, founder, president and CEO of Retirement Clearinghouse, a provider of portability and consolidation services for recordkeepers and plan sponsors. While auto-enrollment has helped grow the number of 401(k) accounts, 47 percent of all people changing jobs each year have account balances under $5,000 (a total of 7.3 million workers) due to an increasingly mobile workforce, says the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). These small accounts often get left behind or lost as their owners, most often low- or middle-income workers, move on. According to a February 2016 study from the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) entitled, Plan Leakage: A study on the psychology behind leakage of retirement plan assets, the length and complexity of the process of moving assets from one employer to the next creates barriers to success. If these barriers were eliminated, the study concludes, more plan participants would hold on to their assets. Trying to eliminate barriers as we did with auto-enrollment will be critical to improve the leakage, says Sabrina Bailey, head of Retirement Solutions, at Northern Trust Asset Management, pointing out that today, 40 cents of every dollar in a defined contribution plan leaves the plan before its owner turns 55. (Some of those assets leave in the form of loans, another barrier to savings). In 2013, the Retirement Clearinghouse asked for an advisory opinion from the Department of Labor on the topic of portability. It did so, the firm says, because in the system that it envisions, plan assets would become portable for employees who not only give affirmative consent, but also for those who give no consent, just as in auto-enrollment. The DoL has yet to release a response to the Retirement Clearinghouse request. Deep in the heart of Texas, hedge funds still feel some love from the states pension plan for teachers in the form of a new compensation proposal. In late December the Teacher Retirement System of Texas sent ripples throughout the hedge fund industry after alternative investment consultancy Albourne Partners released a white paper disclosing a novel hedge fund fee model that it has been working on with the $133.2 billion, Austin, Texas-based pension fund. The approach called 1 or 30 is designed to ensure that the investor gets 70 percent of the economics from its hedge fund investment, while recognizing the need to pay a performance fee to asset managers in lean times. Under the proposed fee model, the management fee gets paid back through a discount to the performance fees (applied over time if the hedge fund fails to perform in any given year), and Texas will pay performance fees only after reaching an agreed-upon hurdle rate. The maximum that a manager can make is 30 percent of the alpha, or performance after the benchmark, minus the one percent management fee. The simplest way to consistently meet an investors 70% alpha share objective would be a fee structure with no management fee and a 30% performance fee, paid only on alpha. Such a fee structure, however, could result in significant business risk to the manager during any prolonged period of underperformance as there could be long periods without any certain revenue for the manager from either management or performance fees, wrote Albourne portfolio analyst Jonathan Koerner in the paper. To eliminate this risk, the 1 or 30 structure guarantees regular management fee income to the manager on a consistent ongoing basis, identical to current traditional management fee mechanics. A reduction of the same amount is then made to the performance fee to return total fees to equilibrium at 30% of alpha. TRS has not disclosed exactly how the pension system will apply its new fee approach; the plan currently invests in 30 hedge funds. But the proposal is a clear indication that the pension system, headed up by CIO Britt Harris who briefly served as CEO of the worlds largest hedge fund manager, Bridgewater Associates has not fallen out of love with hedge funds, even as it seeks to find a pathway to better economics for investors. This contrasts with a number of state an pubic pension plans most notably CalPERS in California, the New York City Employees Retirement System, and state pension systems in Rhode Island and New Jersey that are either pulling out of hedge funds entirely or significantly scaling back their hedge fund commitment. Many of these states and cites have felt significant pressure from unions to eliminate hedge funds, arguing that these investment vehicles take money from Main Street workers to pad the pockets of managers in the form of high fees. Texas, however, has come under far less pressure to exit hedge funds, despite the fact that the state has one of the largest pools of defined benefit pension assets in the country. This may be partly because the influence of unions in state level politics is less, particularly for those groups in the organized labor movement, including teachers unions (which have given particular scrutiny to hedge funds). Another factor is how much influence pension trustees, or lawmakers, can have over investment and asset allocation decisions. In the case of New York City, for example, the influence of trustees can be great, while other plans including a number that remain committed to hedge funds have fewer stake holders with direct power to influence investment decisions. Public plans and other large funds that remain committed to hedge funds have, almost across the board, raised questions about fees, however. The $15.8 Illinois State Board of Investment is another fund that has made clear it is only willing to invest in, and pay for, hedge funds that it believes are providing true alpha. Other plans are reducing fees by cutting their number of funds, as Illinois has done, but writing larger tickets and giving more discretion to managers, with the managers in turn operating on a fee model that is far reduced from the two percent management fee and 20 percent performance fee that had been the standard for hedge fund managers throughout much of the industrys existence and maturation. Some mangers, specifically Israel Englanders Millennium Management and Ken Griffins Citadel, still charge operating expenses to investors in some or all of their funds. An investment consultant who spoke with Institutional Investor commended the idea of adding a hurdle rate to fee payments, as the Albourne/TRS model does, and generally commended the 1 or 30 approach. That said, the consultant suggested the hurdles Albourne is using which vary depending on the strategy are quite low and could be easily met by managers. A manager being judged against the 1 or 30 model could still make a performance fee in a year when its strategy lost money, if the benchmark performed even worse. Nether TRS or Albourne responded to a request for comment. If a new, global study by consulting firm Accenture is correct, Amazon.coms founder and CEO Jeff Bezos may find himself getting back into the asset management industry. Accentures 2017 Financial Services Global Distribution & Marketing Study, which focuses on consumers of investment-related products and services, reveals new opportunities for companies that want to leap into the evolving digital market for investment advice. One finding: Some 79 percent of U.S. consumers would consider receiving investment advice from the most popular names on the Internet. If banks and other financial-services companies are unable to act fast enough to provide automated advice supplied by whats popularly known as robo-advisers to thousands of investors clamoring for it, Accenture believes the vacuum will be filled by four digital giants known collectively as GAFA: Google, Amazon.com, Facebook, and Apple. That could bring Bezos who once worked at hedge fund firm D.E. Shaw back into asset management. The GAFA companies have apparently set a standard for a state-of-the-art customer experience that banking and financial services cannot offer. A large and growing segment of younger investors are channel agnostic, meaning it is becoming less and less important to them where investment advice comes from, Accenture finds. Stephanie Sadowski, Accentures leader of the distribution and agency management practice for North America, compares the new investment-advice frontier to changes in the telecommunications industry in the early 2000s. At that time, phone service providers had a choice between becoming content providers or so-called dumb pipes. Today, banks and financial service companies face the choice between providing robo-advice or becoming dumb vaults that is, simply repositories of assets. The Accenture study, which surveyed 32,000 customers in 18 markets, found that consumers have grown comfortable with computer-generated support and recommendations because of their past interactions with GAFA. Customers understand that data has become currency, and they will pay to get something in return: solid investment advice. There remain, of course, consumers who are driven by gold-plated, personalized, high-touch advice, while others seek the best price, or the best value for their money, Accenture found. Banks, independent broker-dealers, wealth managers, and other financial-services providers will need to determine how to structure and provide their offerings based on which consumer groups they want to serve in the brave new world of the robo-adviser. This content is from: Video Inflation remains the primary concern for the worlds central banks, which have engaged in the broadest and fastest tightening regime in history, according to Alejandra Grindal, chief economist at Ned Davis Research. A financial giant has begun testing an online chatbox platform from a fintech start-up as it sets out to convert website visitors into committed customers.AMP is trialling Flamingos Cognitive Virtual Assistant platform Rosie for its Flexible Super superannuation product for a period of four to six months on a paid trial basis, following the signing of a proof of concept in December last year.In an Australian Financial Review report, an AMP spokesman said: We are trialling the latest technology to ensure our interaction with customers through our online support platforms is best practice.Catriona Wallace, founder and CEO of Flamingo, said Rosie was designed to help financial institutions assist and retain customers as they deliberate on which complex financial products were right for them.It is an artificial intelligence engine that guides customers through their financial services product purchase, or through onboarding or inquiries, Wallace told AFR.In research commissioned by Flamingo to Fifth Quadrant, it was found that while 77% of people were comfortable to very comfortable with the concept of using chatbots when communicating with organisations, early generation online customer assistance tools have rated poorly for conversions.Yet Wallace said this year would be the year of artificial intelligence and bot strategy, and that more financial service institutions would be experimenting and testing. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has welcomed the appointment of Gladys Berejiklian as Premier of New South Wales.Berejiklian was announced as Premier earlier this week following the shock resignation of Mike Baird.Formerly state treasurer, Berejiklian was a champion of tax reform to help aid the transition from the Emergency Services Levy on insurance to a property based levy which will come into effect from July 01.This fairer model for funding fire and emergency services will reduce the cost of insurance and encourage more people to insure their properties, Berejiklian said at the time of the announcement in December 2015.Rob Whelan, CEO of the ICA, welcomed the appointment of Berejiklian alongside that of new deputy Liberal leader, Dominic Perrottet, who also has previously stated his openness to economic reform.The ICA has for many years argued that inefficient insurance stamp duties, which add 10% to premiums in NSW, should be removed to encourage economic growth, and reduce non-insurance and underinsurance, Whelan said.The New South Wales CTP market also remains a top priority for both the ICA and the new leadership. The CTP market has been the subject of much debate over the last six months and the ICA hopes that the new leadership will help reform the market into a no-fault defined benefits scheme.The ICA looks forward to meeting the new leadership team to discuss these vital measures, Whelan continued. An insurance consultant has been named among the dead after a man deliberately drove his car into pedestrians in Melbournes Bourke Street Mall on Friday.Jess Mudie, 22, an insurance consultant for Marsh in Sydney was named among the dead with four others killed and more than 30 people injured.We were shocked and saddened to learn of the death of our dear colleague, Jess Mudie, Scott Leney , chief executive officer of Marsh, said in a statement.Although with us for just under a year, she had already won the admiration and friendship of those she worked with and had a bright future ahead of her.Marsh colleagues across Australia join Jesss loved ones and friends in their grief and mourning. We will be providing all the support we can to her family and colleagues at this sad time.The attack saw the alleged driver, Dimitrious Garasoulas, shot in the arm by police before he was arrested.Police have said the incident was not terror-related, the BBC reports. A year after the painful sale of its Argentine workers compensation business, Australias biggest global insurer has clamped down on fraud and excessive claims as it fortified its governance structure in its Colombian liability business.David Fried, QBE emerging markets chief executive, told The Australian that the $17 billion insurance giant had learned from the fiasco with Argentine workers, and was now using its Indian data analytics centre to detect patterns in insurance claims that could spell more serious and systematic problems for the company - starting with the Colombian market.Its one of the first times Ive known that this has been done in a Latin American context, Fried said. We were able to see where there was fraud, an over-abundance of claims, and where hospitals might be overcharging.Similarly to Australia, third-party motor insurance is compulsory in Colombia, where the program is known as SOAT, and just as fraught with issues.Were continuously analysing our portfolios around the world, understanding movements and being able to actually understand any issues prior to them becoming more problematic for the organisation, Fried continued.In a country plagued by political violence, warring drug gangs, and contested land controlled by rebels and illegal narcotics traders, Fried said QBE was able to identify a combination of high rates of accidents, higher rates of injury in certain geographic areas, and higher rates being charged by medical clinics in certain parts of Colombia.It was also automobiles travelling into certain areas, perhaps experiencing other issues, and what thats allowed us to do is to build a database of murders and licence plates, Fried said. Knowing cars that are going into these areas and making sure were not insuring them, making sure were stopping doing business in certain areas, he said.QBE was also able to inform the government about the fraudulent overcharging of several medical facilities in the country, which led to hospitals getting fined.In 2015, QBE divested its Argentine workers compensation business after regulatory changes in 2012 which allowed employees to file for a wide range of claims, triggering an explosion of lawsuits that dislodged the sustainability of the insurance model. A former executive with Pittsburgh-based health care giant UPMC has admitted he stole nearly $850,000 from the company by arranging to hire his wife and a friend as ghost workers. Federal prosecutors say 48-year-old Ronald Locy faces up to a decade in prison after pleading guilty last week to embezzlement in connection with health care. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Locy, of Georgetown, Texas, was a senior director in the claims department for UPMC Health Plan. Prosecutors say Locys wife received more than $785,000 from 2005 to 2013 even though she never worked for the health plan. Authorities say bogus documents, including performance reviews, were entered into the health plans database because of Locy. Another person was placed on the payroll for $61,000. Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Fraud Pennsylvania StarStone, the global specialty insurer and subsidiary of Enstar Group Ltd., announced a joint venture partnership with Malakite Underwriting Partners Ltd., a managing general agent in Dubai, subject to regulatory approval. Led by managing partner Giles Hussey, Malakite will target specialty business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and initially will offer flexible multi-class insurance for energy, marine and property terrorism risks. Lloyds Syndicate 1301, managed by StarStone Underwriting Ltd., will be Malakites lead capacity provider, with the remainder supplied by other participating Lloyds syndicates. Hussey joins from Swiss Re with more than 14 years of experience in the Middle East, where he served as head of MENA, Swiss Re Corporate Solutions. Before that Hussey was CEO, Middle East & Asia at Lancashire Insurance following an extensive broking career with JLT and Marsh. Tim Fillingham, chief executive officer of StarStone Insurance Services Ltd., and Simon Schnorr, StarStones global head of marine, will join the board of Malakite, assuming the additional roles of chairman and director, respectively. The competitive market has created a dynamic environment for flexible carriers with the ambition and expertise to build new businesses, said Fillingham. With a MENA presence in Malakite, StarStone and its partners can swiftly deploy their capabilities across key growth markets while at the same time move closer to clients, he added. Having the right people in place breeds success and Giles, with his impressive track-record and insurance acumen, brings local connections that will be instrumental in developing this new venture, Fillingham went on to say. Hussey said: Giving clients access to flexible capacity, specialty expertise and locally relevant solutions is a founding principle of Malakite. This, combined with the operational capability and financial strength of Lloyds, will provide clients in the region with the very best the market has to offer. About Malakite and StarStone Launched in 2016, Malakite is a multi-line Middle East and Africa-focused independent specialty insurance underwriting company, delivering a range of energy, marine and property terrorism solutions from its central hub in Dubai. StarStone is an A- rated insurance group with six wholly owned insurance platforms, including Lloyds Syndicate 1301. It underwrites business across the property, specialty and casualty risk classes from operations in London, Continental Europe, the United States and Australia. Source: StarStone and Malakite Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Excess Surplus Insurance Wholesale Lloyd's Swiss Re Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Khalid Kazimov Trend: The Iranian city of Mashhad has been officially named as the cultural capital of the Islamic world in 2017 during a ceremony held in the holy city on Jan.24. Shahindokht Molaverdi, Iran's vice-president for women and family affairs, has said that the role of women in the Islamic societies should be studied during such events, IRIB news agency reported. She further said that the event would have a constructive impact on holding dialogue between the various Islamic sects. Mashhad city is home to the shrine of the eighth Shia Imam Reza. In 2011, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), which is associated with the Organization of Islamic Conference, launched the initiative for three cities to be named each year as such capitals throughout the countries in Asia, the Arab region, and the African region, which house considerable Muslim populations. On Tuesday, Mashhad was awarded the title by Deputy Director General of the ISESCO Amina al-Hajri at a ceremony attended by ranking Iranian officials and 250 cultural and political figures from 51 world countries. Meanwhile, Iranian officials plan to increase the number of religious tourists to almost six million in the next two years. Minnesota would use state money to offset the health premium hikes for more than 100,000 residents under a measure legislators were considering on Jan. 19, a novel approach as states across the country grapple with the rising costs and uncertain future of the Affordable Care Act. As the only Midwestern state to create its own insurance marketplace, Minnesota was an early adopter of President Barack Obamas health care law. However, it faces some of the nations largest rate increases this year, driven in part by higher-than-expected medical costs for a small, severely sick population of residents who buy coverage on their own. Even as President-elect Donald Trump plots a repeal of the law, Minnesota officials from both parties agree they need to step in and help by tapping roughly $300 million in rainy day funds. I urge the Legislature to agree to health insurance premium relief immediately, so that we can get help to the Minnesotans who need it most, Gov. Mark Dayton said. The state support wouldnt be available to shoppers who get federal subsidies, instead going to those faced with covering premium increases that range from an average of 50 percent to 67 percent just since last year. But Dayton and Minnesotas Republican Legislature havent yet agreed on how to structure the relief, or whether it should be paired with broader market changes like ushering for-profit insurance companies into a state that currently bans them. The state House was expected to pass its own plan Thursday that would cover 25 percent of a persons entire monthly premium. Most states saw double-digit premium increases for 2017, but Minnesotas response is unique. Alaskas answered instability in its individual market by creating a reinsurance program last year to help insurance companies cover unexpected losses. In Minnesota, the money would go directly to residents like Tracie Loeffler, an adjunct college professor whose familys monthly bill jumped 62 percent from 2016, along with a new, $10,000 deductible. Their premium payments are now larger than their mortgage. Were burning through our savings just to pay for basic health care, and thats not right, she said. But the debate surrounding how to help residents like Loeffler isnt over, and it hasnt been easy. The plans have been in the works since the fall, when the rate increases were first unveiled and Dayton proposed a premium rebate. It was the subject of special session talks that fizzled out before the Minnesota Legislature returned earlier this month. Dayton and legislative Republicans still need to agree on how theyll help. Dayton has called to route the money through insurance companies to reduce premiums directly, saying Republicans proposal requiring income testing and checks from the state would result in months of delays. Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said he thinks they can nail down an agreement and send relief within the week. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Minnesota Indiana and several environmental groups are objecting to a plan by Peabody Energy Corp to exit its $8 billion Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing concerns over how the company will cover about $1 billion in future mine cleanup costs. Most creditors support the plan by the worlds largest private-sector coal company to cut $5 billion of debt, but it faced official objections in court filings on Friday. Indiana and the environmental groups objected to Peabodys failure to disclose how it will finance the future cleanup of contaminated mines, an issue that has attracted attention in several recent coal bankruptcies because of a federal program called self-bonding. For decades, self-bonding has exempted large coal companies like Peabody from setting aside cash or collateral to ensure that mined land would be returned to its natural setting, as required by law. In its reorganization plan filed last month, Peabody said it would address its self-bonding cleanup obligations in accordance with the law but did not provide further details. In a limited objection, Sierra Club said details on financial coverage of cleanup obligations were necessary for parties to determine whether the reorganization plan is feasible. Peabody holds self-bonds in Wyoming, New Mexico, Indiana and Illinois. In an emailed statement, Peabody spokesman Vic Svec said the company was funding every dollar of its current cleanup obligations and had accelerated restoration work over the past year, reducing its bond obligation by 18 percent. We look forward to continuing to restore the land and provide assurances for future obligations, through a potential blend of both third-party surety bonds and self-bonding, Svec said. Rivals Arch Coal Inc and Alpha Natural Resources replaced self-bonds for environmental liabilities at active mines with third-party bonds when they emerged from Chapter 11 last year. A hearing to approve Peabodys reorganization will be held in St. Louis on Jan. 26. Among other objections filed on Jan. 20, certain creditors and shareholders opposed the proposed recoveries granted under the plan, and four former executives, including ex-chief executive officer Gregory Boyce, filed a complaint about their retirement packages. Svec said the company was evaluating the objections and would respond in due course. The U.S. Trustee, a government watchdog for bankruptcies, has also objected to parts of the reorganization plan. Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn Topics Pollution Indiana Mining The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined forces with insurance company Isle of Man Assurance Limited to offer insurance overage for all media workers without restriction in any region of the world including war zones. According to IJF, many insurance companies refuse to insure news professionals working in dangerous areas, or do it at very heavy costs, which results in many reporters and freelancers, including fixers and technical staff, covering news in some of the worlds most dangerous countries working without an insurance policy. The IFJ has now create the Insurance for Journalists website to sell policies to its affiliates members working on assignments anywhere in the world. The insurance is designed to cover journalists, whether freelance or employed, including reporters, producers, photojournalists, stills photographers, camera crew, sound engineers and production staff at home and working on assignments all over the world. Coverage is available for one week to a year. It offers from $100,000 to $500,000 in accidental death and disablement cover with sickness, evacuation and repatriation with rates based on five zones. The five zones include extreme (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Russia, Syria and other countries); severe risk (including Algeria, Egypt, North Korea, Lebanon, Pakistan and other countries); high risk (including Iran, Israel, Kenya, Tunisia and Zimbabwe and others); medium risk (Cuba, Haiti, India, Jordan, Philippines, Mexico, Turkey and others) and low risk (including the U.S., UK, Australia and all nations not in other zones). The IFJ 25th annual report on journalists and media staff killed (1990-2015) recorded at least 2297 media professionals killed in the last 25 years with highest death rates in Iraq (309), Philippines (146) and Mexico (120). Weekly cover in even the extreme risk zone would cost $52 for $100,000 worth of cover. The same cover in the lowest risk zone would be $12.00. The insurance policies have been developed with the assistance of a team of journalists led by Frank Giglio, a former news production manager with 42 years experience in the field for ABC and Fox News. Every policy provides cover for accidental death and disablement plus emergency accident and sickness evacuation and repatriation from anywhere in the world including hostile regions to the policyholders country of residence when required. The insurance team has contracted with National Global Solutions, a firm specializing in evacuation and emergency response in trouble spots and natural disaster sites around he globe. The majority of news organisations and media outlets rely on the freelance community to cover breaking news, documentaries and special events, it is essential that each individual or group are properly insured, said Giglio. All policies are provided by Isle of Man Assurance Limited (IOMA). IOMA is authorised and regulated by the the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority and in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Holders of the IFJ International Press Card get a 10 percent discount on any policy. While careful planning remains the most important part of newsgathering, no media worker should be excluded from access to a decent and global insurance covering all risks, said Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the IFJ. Source: Insurance for Journalists The frequency of large-scale tornado outbreaks is increasing in the United States, particularly when it comes to the most extreme events, according to research recently published in Science. The study by researchers including Joel E. Cohen, a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, finds the increase in tornado outbreaks does not appear to be the result of a warming climate as earlier models suggested. Instead, their findings tie the growth in frequency to trends in the vertical wind shear found in certain supercellsa change not so far associated with a warmer climate. Whats pushing this rise in extreme outbreaks, during which the vast majority of tornado-related fatalities occur, is far from obvious in the present state of climate science, said Cohen, the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor at Rockefeller University and Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University, who conducted the research while a visiting scholar in UChicagos Department of Statistics. Tornado outbreaks are large-scale weather events that last one to three days, featuring several thunderstorms and six or more tornadoes in close succession. In the study, published in the Dec. 16 issue of Science, the researchers used new statistical tools, including extreme value analysisa branch of statistics dealing with deviationsto analyze observation-based meteorological estimates associated with tornado outbreaks together with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration datasets. The researchers estimated that the number of tornadoes in the most extreme outbreak in a five-year interval doubled over the last half-century. This means that in 1965 the worst outbreak expected over five years would have had about 40 tornadoes, while in 2015 the worst outbreak expected over five years would have had about 80 tornadoes. Viewing the data on thousands of tornadoes that have been reliably recorded in the United States over the past half-century as a population has permitted us to ask new questions and discover new, important changes in outbreaks of these tornadoes, Cohen said. To understand the increased frequency in tornado outbreaks, the researchers looked at two factors: convective available potential energy, or CAPE, and storm relative helicity, which is a measure of vertical wind shear. Earlier studies had projected a warming climate would increase CAPE, creating conditions favorable to a rise in severe thunderstormsand potentially tornado outbreaks. But Cohen and his colleagues found the increases in outbreaks were driven instead by storm relative helicity, which has not been projected to increase under a warming climate. Our study raises new questions about what climate change will do to severe thunderstorms and what is responsible for recent trends, said co-author Michael K. Tippett, an associate professor at Columbia Universitys Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science. The fact that we didnt see the presently understood meteorological signature of global warming in changing outbreak statistics for tornadoes leaves two possibilities: Either the recent increases are not due to a warming climate, or a warming climate has implications for tornado activity that we dont understand. Citation: More tornadoes in the most extreme U.S. tornado outbreaks, by Michael K. Tippett, Chiara Lepore (Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University) and Joel E. Cohen. Science, DOI 10.1126/science.aah7393 Source: University of Chicago Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Windstorm Education Universities A federal judge has awarded nearly $40,000 in fees to attorneys for a woman who accused a former Louisiana police chief of sexually assaulting her in his office while she was drunk and he was on duty. The womans lawyers sought nearly $90,000 in fees, but U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick ruled that $39,899 is reasonable compensation. Dick said there was evidence of overbilling and duplicative billing in records submitted by plaintiffs attorneys. Dick awarded $50,000 in damages to the woman in August after ruling that the town of Sorrento and its former police chief, Earl Theriot, are liable for violating her constitutional rights. During a trial in June for her civil lawsuit, the woman testified that Theriot forced her to perform sexual acts in his office after finding her drunk in public. Theriots attorneys claimed she initiated the unconsummated sexual encounter to avoid jail. Dick, however, ruled that the woman was legally incapable of consenting to sex with Theriot given how drunk she was at the time of their Nov. 1, 2013, encounter inside the towns police station. The judge, who heard the case without a jury, awarded the woman $15,000 in compensatory damages and $35,000 in punitive damages. In 2014, Theriot was sentenced to two years of probation after he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his sexual encounter with the woman. Theriot served as the towns police chief for 12 years. The plea deal for the criminal case required him to resign from his post in Sorrento, where sheriffs deputies now patrol the town of roughly 1,500 residents. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Louisiana Law Enforcement Officials say one electrical worker has died and another was critically hurt in a fire at a downtown Amarillo, Texas, construction site. An official with University Medical Center in Lubbock says Roger Copelin suffered severe burns and died Sunday. Spokesman Eric Finley says Keath Garrison was in critical condition on Jan. 23 in the burn unit. Amarillo Fire Marshals investigators are trying to determine what started Saturdays blaze that firefighters brought under control within minutes. Deputy Chad Parsons says the complex includes offices being built atop a parking garage. A statement Monday from the contractor, Opus Design Build, says the company is also investigating the accident that involved workers employed by a subcontractor. A spokesman for Xcel Energy says the complex will house the utilitys new regional headquarters. Xcel is based in Minneapolis. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Training Development Construction A company running a string of taxpayer-funded charter schools and its founder cant sue a former North Carolina local school superintendent for libel after he criticized plans for a competing school, the state Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 17 Former Brunswick County Schools Superintendent Edward Pruden was protected against the libel lawsuit because his opposition was part of his official position as local public schools chief, the court said. The unanimous decision by a three-judge court panel did not address whether statements deemed objectionable in the lawsuit by Roger Bacon Academy Inc. and the companys owner, charter-school entrepreneur Baker Mitchell Jr., were libelous. Pruden criticized plans for the competing charter school and the profit motive behind Mitchells company, which is paid to manage the schools which operate with fewer rules than traditional public schools. South Brunswick Charter School, which instructs children in kindergarten through fifth grade, opened anyway in 2014. We dont run our schools for a profit. We dont run our schools for just some of the children. We operate Brunswick County schools for all of the children, Pruden said in a 2013 video Mitchell and the company cited as objectionable. As for that competition game on. On behalf of the 12,000-student Brunswick school district, Pruden also opposed the startup school in an impact statement to education officials. The proposed charter school offered nothing that the traditional public schools werent already doing, and Mitchells companies profited from the more than $2 million a year in taxpayer money drawn away from existing schools, the letter said. Prudens actions were consistent with the duties and authority of a superintendent and constituted permissible opinions regarding his concerns for the approval of a new charter school, the court opinion said. Mitchells company also operates schools in Leland, Whiteville and Wilmington under contract with the nonprofit group Charter Day School Inc., which was granted the charters by state school officials to operate with taxpayer money. The company is paid to provide supplies and management know-how to run the schools. Roger Bacon Academy is one of a growing number of charter-school management companies. They have grown with the interest in charter schools, which many parents have embraced as competition for poorly performing traditional public schools. Opponents argue charter schools contribute to racial re-segregation and drain money from tradition schools, which especially in rural areas struggle to attract quality teachers. Supporters point to academic measures that show many performing better than traditional schools while being held accountable by parents who can readily transfer their children back to traditional schools. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Lawsuits Education North Carolina The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) has taken disciplinary actions including fines totaling more than $77,000, license revocation and other punishments against five Tennessee insurance licensees for numerous violations of state law. The punishments came after investigations by TDCIs Insurance Fraud Investigations and Legal teams. Details of the cases include: An Initial Order issued by an administrative law judge (ALJ) against Darius Marquette Jones of Tipton County became final on Dec. 30, 2016, revoking Jones Tennessee insurance producer license and assessing a $3,000 penalty along with court reporter costs. The violations stemmed from the discovery of Jones misappropriation of $4,070.86 in premiums he had collected as an appointed Farmers agent. An administrative hearing was initiated by TDCI and held on Aug. 15, 2016, which Jones did not to attend. As a result of evidence introduced at the hearing the ALJ found three violations of Tennessee insurance law related to the misappropriation of premiums, violation of laws, and a demonstration of untrustworthiness and financial irresponsibility. An Agreed Final Order between TDCI and Larry P. Chinn of Shelby County became effective Nov. 26, 2016, assessing $7,500 in civil penalties and suspending his insurance producer license for six months. The Agreed Final Order was a result of a TDCI investigation that determined Chinn had failed to report an action taken against his license by the Minnesota Department of Insurance, as required by law. The underlying Minnesota action, occurring in Aug. 26, 2014, determined that Chinn had failed to adequately supervise employees that issued misleading policy information and recommended to clients a host of unsuitable premium financed life insurance policies. The Agreed Final Order finds Chinn in violation of three separate insurance laws related to violating a law of the commissioner, committing an unfair trade practice by way of misrepresentations, and demonstrating untrustworthiness and dishonest conduct. Two Initial Orders issued against Johnny R. Jackson of Sumner County & Forrest J. McDole of Robertson County became a Final Order effective Nov. 10, 2016. One order was issued against McDole revoking his insurance producer license and assessing a $22,200 civil penalty. The other issued a civil penalty against Jackson for $44,400. The pair worked together as owners of insurance agency Senior Security, LLC, organized and operated in Franklin, Ky. The penalties stem from a TDCI investigation finding that McDole and Jackson both participated in the sale of a life insurance policy to Sparta consumers riddled with misrepresentations as to the terms of the product. In addition, Jackson facilitated the sale as an unlicensed insurance producer, of which McDole knowingly accepted business from Jackson as an unlicensed insurance producer. The ALJ found the two violated several insurance laws including engaging in dishonest conduct and demonstrating untrustworthiness, and allowing an unlicensed person to engage in the sale of insurance. The Final Order issued against A Final Agreed Order was entered between TDCI and Doris Elfriede Karras of Orange County, Calif. effective Oct. 19, 2016, revoking her license and assessing a $500 civil penalty. An investigation by TDCI found that Karras provided false information to TDCI on her Nov., 2014, nonresident insurance producer application by answering that she had not been named as a party to a civil suit when in fact she was currently named as a defendant to a civil suit brought by Transamerica alleging fraud and racketeering. In addition, Karras made the same misrepresentations to the Minnesota Department of Insurance and Transamerica when seeking an appointment with the Company. The Final Agreed Order finds Karras in violation of several insurance laws related to submitting false information in a license application, attempting to obtain a license through misrepresentation, having a license revoked in another state, and failing to update the Department of administrative actions within 30 days of the action. The Department will not tolerate those who break the law, said TDCI Assistant Commissioner for Insurance Michael Humphreys. The Department protects the public by ensuring those who sell policies to Tennessee consumers are honest and trustworthy individuals. Those who choose to flaunt the law have no place working in Tennessee. Source: Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance Topics Trends Agencies Tennessee Minnesota Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is urging Congress not to repeal former President Barack Obamas health care overhaul without a well-developed replacement plan, suggesting in a letter that it may take three years for a new system to be fully implemented. In a letter and 15-page list of suggestions obtained by The Associated Press, Ducey urged House Marjory Leader Kevin McCarthy to eliminate many of the basic insurance requirements in Obamas law and allow states to again set their own insurance rules. Ducey is urging McCarthy to keep tax subsidies for individuals in place for now to keep the marketplace that now covers 180,000 Arizonans from melting down. And he wants state flexibility for Medicaid plans, including limiting coverage in lean times and to require healthy individuals to work or seek jobs to maintain their coverage. Those plans now cover nearly 2 million people, including 400,000 under Medicaid expansion thats part of the Affordable Care Act. McCarthy asked governors in early December for suggestions on how to the new Congress should repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Duceys letter and the larger list of suggestions from his top health staff was sent last week and provided to the AP under a public records request. Here are some key points in Duceys letter: Overall Suggestions The Republican governor is a longtime critic of Obamas law, saying in his letter that its promises have proven false. But he said that even with its many flaws, it is important to note that there were flaws in the system we had before. Individuals were prevented from getting insurance due to a pre-existing condition, for example, and for them, Ducey said the thought of repeal and returning to a time when they could not buy insurance at all is very scary. Ducey said any repeal law must include discussion of how to replace it and he doesnt want to see any Arizonans have the rug pulled out from under them. Eliminate Taxes Ducey wants to repeal the taxes that pay for health insurance subsidies and other costs of Obamas health care law. Ducey says those fees are just passed onto patients and states. He doesnt explain how Congress should pay for continued costs of the law without those taxes. Individual Market Ducey wants the government to ensure theres enough time to put in place a new health care plan before Obamas law completely disappears, and he proposes doing that by maintaining subsidies to ensure people can maintain coverage while new plans are designed and offered by insurers. In addition, he wants allow new healthcare sharing ministries, faith-based cooperatives pool members money to pay medical costs but arent traditional insurance. Medicaid Arizona has embraced the expansion of Medicaid, and Ducey negotiated with the Obama administration last year to enact program changes that allow some patients to be charged small co-pays for some services and require them to look for work. A lifetime 5-year limit and work requirement were rejected. Ducey hopes Congress goes a step farther by letting states place caps on enrollment, check for eligibility more frequently, impose work requirements and charge premiums and co-pays for coverage. Employer Market Ducey suggests allowing insurers and employers offer lower-cost plans if people quit smoking, lose weight or meet other incentive goals, saying participation in health goal plans alone wont earn incentives. States should take over regulation of small business and employer plans, freeing them from minimum ACA requirements. Current tax deductions for employers that provide health insurance should be retained and extended to the self-employed. Regulation Ducey wants states to take over insurance regulations now overseen by the federal government, allowing them to approve plans. He says essential health benefit requirements like payments for annual checkups and preventative care such as mammograms should be repealed so consumers could choose lower-cost plans. He also wants federal rules that keep older people from having to pay much, much more than younger people eliminated to lure younger people to buy insurance. He also said any changes should not increase uncompensated care, especially for rural hospitals. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Arizona In a 7-0 decision, the California Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones in a legal challenge brought by the insurance industry, the California Department of Insurance announced. Rejecting the insurance industrys arguments, the Supreme Court ruled the insurance commissioner has broad discretion to adopt rules and regulations as necessary to promote the public welfare. The insurance industry lost their challenge to Jones consumer protection regulations that require insurers replacement cost estimates actually reflect the complete cost of rebuilding a policyholders home after a fire. We have won an important victory for California consumers over the insurance industry with the Supreme Courts decision today upholding our consumer protection regulation, said Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones in a departmental release. The Supreme Court rejected the insurance industrys effort to strike down the departments regulation, which protects consumers from misleading insurer estimates of home replacement costs, which left homeowners without adequate coverage or ability to rebuild their homes after fires. Climate change, years of drought, and more devastating wildfires have changed the landscape of California and led to a year-round fire season. This regulation offers homeowners peace of mind, should disaster strike, Jones added. The commissioner said the regulations were needed because insurance companies were misleading consumers by giving them incomplete home replacement cost estimates, sometimes by removing key components from the actual estimates they calculated, in order to undercut competitors with lower premium. The practice unfairly left consumers who relied on their insurers estimates unaware they were underinsured, and many could not rebuild after fires destroyed their homes. The insurance industry, led by the Association of California Insurance Companies and the Personal Insurance Federation of California, used its lawsuit challenging the regulation to challenge the insurance commissioners authority to adopt regulations that protect consumers from insurers unfair and misleading practices. While the insurance industry did not argue insurers would have difficulty complying with the regulation, or that the general rule requiring all insurers replacement-cost estimates include all costs necessary to replace a home is a bad idea, the industry argued that the regulation was overreaching by the commissioner. Source: California Department of Insurance Related: Topics Carriers California Legislation Market Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 24 By Anakhanum Hidayatova Trend: The EU is making great efforts to totally remove the visa regime with Georgia and Ukraine, European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said during PACE winter session. He said Georgia should meet more than 40 and Ukraine more than 150 economic and political conditions of the EU in order to achieve the complete abolition of the visa regime. The European Parliament on Dec. 15, 2016 approved the completion of the legislative process to cancel the visa regime for citizens of Ukraine and Georgia. The decision was made by the majority of MEPs. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum Jeremy D. Morley concentrates on International Family Law. The firm works with clients around the world from its New York office, with a global network of local counsel. Mr Morley is the author of "International Family Law Practice", the leading treatise on international family law in the U.S., and "The Hague Abduction Convention", published by the American Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a former law professor. Sara presentata il prossimo 24 febbraio a Fiorano, la monoposto Ferrari progettata per il Mondiale 2017 di F1, il giorno prima dei primi test dellanno a Barcellona. Ad annunciarlo il presidente e Ad di Ferrari, Sergio Marchionne, e il capo della scuderia, Maurizio Arrivabene, durante il tradizionale incontro con la stampa per lo scambio degli auguri natalizi. In quello stesso giorno la Ferrari ha chiesto la possibilita di un Filming day, ovvero un test a uso degli sponsor, per la prima messa a punto della macchina in pista a Fiorano prima della partenza per il circuito catalano. In caso di assenso, la nuova Ferrari scendera in pista sul circuito di casa. Alla domanda di alcuni giornalisti circa la scelta del terzo pilota del Cavallino Rampante, il presidente Marchionne afferna: Risposta facile. Antonio Giovinazzi e il terzo pilota della Ferrari, posso confermare. Gli altri due per il 2017 sono confermati, Sebastian Vettel e Kimi Raikkonen, confermando che il Cavallino ha scelto lesordiente di Martina Franca (Taranto), vicecampione della Gp2 a 23 anni, come prima scelta oltre ai due piloti ufficiali. Non faccio piu previsioni. Sergio Marchionne, rispondendo a una domanda sulle ottimistiche previsioni fatte un anno fa, alla vigilia del Mondiale 2016 di F1, che poi per la Ferrari e andato molto male, ha riferito che questo e un errore che non fara piu. La cosa peggiore del 2016 e che nella stagione la vettura non e migliorata, mentre altri sono migliorati molto, il bilancio di Marchionne, che di fronte ai nuovi obiettivi, ha aggiunto: Bisognera fare meglio del 2016, che non e difficile. Running for office costs moneya lot of money. That's why candidates collect millions of dollars in contributions. And so, too, do the political action committees (PACs) established in their name. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, candidates in the 2020 presidential cycle drew almost $4 billion in donations. The organization said more than $1 billion was raised by Joe Biden and an additional $580 million came from outside money. Donald Trump raised about $774 million in donations and another $314 million from outside money. But once the political campaign is over, the volunteers leave, the printers are turned off, and the buttons are put away, where does all that leftover money go? Key Takeaways Candidates raise millions and billions for themselves and through political action committees during political campaigns. There are rules in place for how money can be used after a campaign ends. Permissible uses include charitable donations and donations to other candidates while personal use is prohibited. Campaigns may refund money to donors or redistribute it with their permission if they drop out. Super PACs may use leftover campaign cash to support the same candidate in other elections. Candidate Campaign Committees These are the official committees run by the candidate and their campaign team. The Federal Election Commission has rules in place to control how money is spent after a candidate bows out or after an election is officially over. Permissible Uses The contributions can be used in the following ways: Donations to charities as long as the candidate does not receive any compensation from the organizations before it is spent and the donation is not used by the charity to benefit the candidate. A donation of a maximum of $2,000 to another federal candidate, and donations to state or local candidatesall subject to state law. Gift/donations of nominal value on special occasions to anyone besides the candidate's family. Unlimited transfers to a local, state, or national political party committee like the Democratic or Republican National Committees. Transfer to a future election campaign committee of the same candidate. For example, Bernie Sanders transferred $12.7 million from previous campaigns to his 2020 presidential committee. Create a Leadership PAC to back other candidates and a political agenda. Critics say these can be used as slush funds since there are fewer restrictions. Personal Use Is a No-No Candidates are not allowed to use any remaining funds for personal use after all campaign-related debts are settled. Personal use is defined as a commitment, obligation or expense of any person that would exist irrespective of the candidates campaign or responsibilities as a federal officeholder. In other words, campaign funds may not be used for an expense that exists independent of the campaign. Expenses that are automatically considered personal use include: Household items Mortgage or rent for a personal residence Salary payments to the candidate's family unless they provide a bona fide service to the campaign and the payment reflects the value for the service in the free market Candidates who are unopposed are allowed to have a separate contribution limit. General Election Refunds The amount of money any individual can donate to a single candidate is capped. The Federal Election Campaign Act limits contributions to $2,900 per election for the 2021-2022 federal election cycle. One important point to note is that the primary election and general election count as two separate elections. This means that it is possible for someone to contribute $5,800 to a federal candidateonce during the primary and another time during the presidential campaign. But if your candidate drops out of the race before the general election or loses the primary race, $2,900 of your donation must be refunded to you within 60 days. Alternatively, the candidate can redesignate or redistribute their general election funds with the contributor's permission. Political contribution limits are adjusted or indexed for inflation. The 2019-2020 contribution limit was capped at $2,800. Super PACs Ideally, contributions should not be lying around and should be spent as quickly as they come in to maximize the chances of the candidate winning. However, a super PAC can have money left if those at the helm were reluctant or inept. Where you see a lot of money left over in the super PAC after the candidate drops out, that will probably tell you something about how seriously the super PAC took the race, to begin with, according to Robert Kelner, chair of the Election and Political Law Practice Group at the law firm Covington & Burling. Super PACs cannot coordinate with a federal candidate or donate to a national political party committee. They can, however, continue to use the money to support the same candidate in other elections or another federal candidate in future elections. Although a super PAC's treasurer isn't legally obligated to refund any of the money to donors but often do. In 2016, the Jeb Bush super PAC Right to Rise said it would refund $12 million to donors. Can Politicians Keep Campaign Funds? Politicians cannot keep any campaign funds for themselves. Contributions must be used during the campaign to pay for related expenses. They are not intended for personal use. Any money that is left over after a candidate drops out or once the election is over must be used to pay off debts. Funds can also be used for other purposes. For instance, a candidate may donate an unlimited amount to a federal, state, or local political committee or they may be refunded to donors. Can Campaign Contributions Be Refunded? Candidate campaign committees can be refunded to donors after the candidate drops out. This must be done within 60 days. They may also redirect the funds elsewhere with the donor's permission. Some candidates may also choose to refund contributions to donors for moral or ethical reasons, or for legal purposes if a donor has exceeded the maximum allowable contribution. Are Campaign Contributions Subject to Taxes? All political organizations are subject to taxation under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. As such, they may have filing requirements with the IRS. Donors who wish to make contributions to political campaigns should note that they do not count as charitable donations and, therefore, cannot be used to claim a tax deduction. Can You Deduct Campaign Expenses? You cannot claim any campaign expenses for a political candidate as a deduction on your annual tax return. This means that anything you've spent out-of-pocket is not eligible from your gross incomeeven your time. The Bottom Line Political campaigns can raise millions and even billions of dollars through personal and business donations. This money can be used to pay for travel, administration, salaries, and any other campaign-related expenses. Candidates must keep diligent records of where the money comes from and how much is spent. But if a campaign ends (for whatever reason), it must find ways to disperse the funds. This includes spreading it out to other candidates, gifts, and refunds to donors. But candidates are prohibited from using these funds for personal use. Correction - July 6, 2022: A previous version of this article incorrectly specified the amount that Donald Trump raised during his 2020 campaign. As the price of a college education continues to soar, many American families are counting on significant outside help to foot the bill. Consider that the average cost for tuition and fees at an out-of-state public university is, as of 2022, nearly $24,000 per year, according to The College Board. For private schools, tuition and fees average $32,410. For students who haven't earned lucrative scholarships, need-based financial aid can play a vital role. The key to receiving a generous package rests largely on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form, better known as the FAFSA. This is the document that schools use to determine federal aid, including Federal Direct Loans and Pell Grants. Many institutions also use it to decide whether students are eligible for any of their own scholarship funds. Much of the time, parents dont give the FAFSA much thought before the deadline. By understanding how the form works, however, youll have a better chance of meeting the aid criteria. Its also important to look beyond the form itself and realize that finding the right school can be just as important to your aid prospects as what you put in the document. Here are some basic steps for ensuring that you get the best combination of grants, loans, and work-study programs possible. Key Takeaways With the cost of college tuition soaring, parents and students need to benefit as best they can from need-based financial aid, scholarships, and other financial support available. Filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form (the FAFSA) is critical, as it is what schools use to determine federal aid, as well as whether students qualify for any school-specific scholarship funds. To benefit, a family should file and not assume they won't qualify, do the filing early, minimize taxable income, and consider carefully whose name any college savings have been listed under. Also remember that FAFSA isn't the whole picture when it comes to financial aid. 1. File Early Perhaps the easiest move you can make is to fill out the FAFSA as early in the year as possible. Thats because many federal loans and grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Even if the university has a much later deadline, it helps to submit the document as soon after Oct. 1 (the new, earlier FAFSA filing date) as possible. Many parents assume they have to put the FAFSA on hold until they complete their previous years tax return. Unfortunately, doing so can put your chances of need-based assistance in serious jeopardy. The new rules let you fill out the financial aid documents using the previous years data. You can do this automatically by using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the official FAFSA website, which is available roughly three weeks after filing the form. Oct. 1 The earliest date at which you can file the Free Applications for Federal Student Aid form, also known as the FAFSA. 2. Minimize Your Taxable Income The FAFSA is the main tool universities rely on to determine the applicants expected family contribution (EFC)that is, the estimated amount the student and the student's parents can kick in toward tuition and other expenses. All else being equal, a lower EFC will result in greater need-based aid. When calculating the familys portion of expenses, the biggest factor is its income level. Needless to say, it helps to keep the amount of taxable income as low as possible in the base year. How can a family accomplish this feat without hurting itself in the short term? One way is to postpone the sale of stocks and bonds if they generate a profit, as the earnings will count as income. That also means holding off on early withdrawals from your 401(k) or IRA. Besides, ask your employer if you can defer any cash bonuses to when they wont have a negative impact on your childs financial aid. Thanks to the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, beginning in July 2023 the term "student aid index" (SAI) will replace EFC on all FAFSA forms. In addition to some changes in the way the SAI is calculated, the change attempts to clarify what this figure actually isan eligibility index for student aid, not a reflection of what a family can or will pay for postsecondary expenses. 3. Clarify Who Owns Your Assets If youve been putting money away for your childrens college education over the years, youll be in much better shape when they graduate from high school. But all that saving does have a small catchsome of that money will be included in your EFC. One important aspect to realize about the FAFSA is that schools anticipate students will contribute more of their assets toward higher education than parents will. Consequently, your application will fare much better in most cases if any college savings accounts are in a parents name. So if you set up a Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) account for your child to avoid gift taxes, you could be hurting your chances of need-based aid. Youre often better off emptying these accounts and putting the money into a 529 College Savings Plan or a Coverdell Education Savings Account. Under current rules, these are both treated as a parents asset, as long as the student is classified as a dependent for tax purposes. 4. Dont Assume You Wont Qualify Having a substantial family income doesnt always mean that financial aid is beyond your reach. Its important to remember that the needs-analysis formula is complex. According to the U.S. Department of Education, factors such as the number of students attending college and the parents' age can affect your award. Its always a good idea to fill out the FAFSA just in case. Keep in mind, too, that some universities wont offer their own financial aid, including academic scholarships, if you dont fill out the FAFSA first. The assumption that the form is only for low- and middle-income families often closes the door to such opportunities. 5. FAFSA Isnt the Whole Picture While the FAFSA is a vital tool in determining need-based aid, some families actually put too much emphasis on the document. The fact is, most financial-aid counselors have the authority to use resources as they see fit. The expected family contribution usually plays a big role, but it may not be the only factor theyll consider. The more an institution values the students skills and experiences, the more likely it is to woo them with an attractive aid package. The key is to look for colleges representing a good fit and reach out to the financial aid office about your childs prospects for grants or federally subsidized loans. (For example, Harvard has several specific programs for academically excellent students.) This, in addition to its academic reputation, can help families select whether a school is worth pursuing. Who Qualifies for FAFSA? To be eligible for FAFSA, you must be a high school graduate who is an enrolled student at a qualified higher education institution with a demonstrated financial need, and be a U.S. citizen or eligible noncitizen. What Are the Main Types of Student Financial Aid? Financial aid for education comes in the form of government-backed student loans, private student loans, grants, work-study arrangements, and scholarships. Some are based on need and others on merit (or both). A newer type of arrangement, called an income-sharing agreement (ISA), gives students aid in return for a portion of their employment income going forward until the debt is paid off. How Much Student Debt Do Americans Have? Student debt in America has grown to a record of nearly $1.8 trillion as of 2022, inclusive of 43.4 million borrowers. This implies that the average loan size outstanding is just over $37,000. The Bottom Line A generous financial aid award can take much of the sting out of college tuition costs. The best way to improve your childs chances of getting one is by filing early and doing whatever you reasonably can to reduce your familys estimated contribution. The Chinese economy thrives as a manufacturing powerhouse and the nation's products seem to be everywhere. The majority of tags, labels, and stickers on a variety of goods proclaim they are Made in China. Because of this, it's understandable Western consumers might wonder, Why is everything made in China? Some may think the ubiquity of Chinese products is due to the abundance of cheap Chinese labor that brings down the production costs, but there is much more to it than that. In addition to its low labor costs, China has become known as "the world's factory" because of its strong business ecosystem, lack of regulatory compliance, low taxes and duties, and competitive currency practices. Here we review each of these key factors. Key Takeaways Given the abundance of Chinese products in the marketplace, it's understandable consumers might wonder why so many goods are made in China. One of the reasons companies manufacture their products in China is because of the abundance of lower-wage workers available in the country. China's business ecosystem of networked suppliers, component manufacturers, and distributors has evolved to make it a more efficient and cost-effective place to manufacture products. While Western manufacturers comply with various health, safety, employment, and environmental regulations, Chinese manufacturers generally operate under a much more permissive regulatory environment. China has been accused of artificially depressing the value of its currency in order to keep the price of its goods lower than those produced by U.S. competitors. Lower Wages China is home to approximately 1.41 billion people, making it the most populous country in the world. The law of supply and demand tells us that since the supply of workers is greater than the demand for low-wage workers, wages stay low. Moreover, the majority of Chinese were rural and lower-middle-class or poor until the late 20th century when internal migration turned the country's rural-urban distribution upside-down. These immigrants to industrial cities are often willing to work many shifts for low wages. China doesnt follow (not strictly at least) laws related to child labor or minimum wages, which are more widely observed in the West. However, this situation seems to be changing and more provinces report they have increased their minimum wages in response to increases in the cost of living. In 2021, Guangdong, China's largest economic providence, increased its minimum wage by almost 10% to up to 2,360 yuan per month. As of 2022, Shanghai has the highest hourly minimum wage among 31 provinces (2,590 RMB per month), while Beijing has the highest hourly minimum wage (25.3 RMB per hour). The huge labor pool in China helps to produce in bulk, accommodate any seasonal industry requirement, and even cater to sudden rises in the demand schedule. Business Ecosystem Industrial production does not take place in isolation, but rather relies on networks of suppliers, component manufacturers, distributors, government agencies, and customers who are all involved in the process of production through competition and cooperation. The business ecosystem in China has evolved quite a lot in the last 30 years. For example, Shenzhen, a city bordering Hong Kong in the southeast, has evolved as a hub for the electronics industry. It has cultivated an ecosystem to support the manufacturing supply chain, including component manufacturers, low-cost workers, a technical workforce, assembly suppliers, and customers. American companies like Apple Inc. (AAPL) take advantage of China's supply chain efficiencies to keep costs low and margins high. Foxconn Technology Group (a Taiwan-based manufacturer of electronics) has multiple suppliers and manufacturers of components that are at nearby locations. For many companies, it's economically unfeasible to take the components to the U.S. to assemble the final product. Lower Compliance Manufacturers in the West are expected to comply with certain basic guidelines with regards to child labor, involuntary labor, health and safety norms, wage laws, and protection of the environment. Chinese factories are known for not following most of these laws and guidelines. Historically, Chinese factories have employed child labor, have had long shift hours, and have not provided the workers with compensation insurance. Some factories even have policies where the workers are paid once a year, a strategy to keep them from quitting before the year is out. Faced with mounting criticism, the Chinese government has claimed to institute reforms that protect workers' rights and provide for fairer compensation. However, compliance with the rules in many industries is low and change has been slow. Additionally, environmental protection laws are routinely ignored, enabling Chinese factories to cut down on waste management costs. According to a 2019 World Bank report, 18 of the worlds top 20 most polluted cities are in China. However, air pollution in China's largest cities decreased during the early shut-down periods of COVID-19. Taxes and Duties The export tax rebate policy was initiated in 1985 by China as a way to boost the competitiveness of its exports by abolishing double taxation on exported goods. Exported goods were subject to zero percent value-added tax (VAT), meaning they enjoyed a VAT exemption or rebate policy. Additionally, consumer products from China were exempted from any import taxes. These lower tax rates helped to keep the cost of production low, enabling the country to attract investors and companies looking to produce low-cost goods. China and U.S. Tariffs In July 2018, the U.S. announced China-specific tariffs, targeting 818 imported Chinese products valued at $34 billion. This was the first of many rounds of tariffs imposed by both countries, resulting in $550 billion of U.S. tariffs applied to Chinese goods and $185 billion of Chinese tariffs applied to U.S. goods as of February 2020. Upon President Joe Biden taking office, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for the end of multiple tariffs. Throughout the Biden presidency, there have been ongoing discussion of easing tariffs. As the United States continued to battle rising inflation throughout 2022, both President Biden and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen stated easing tariffs with China could have positive implications on domestic inflation concerns. Currency China has been accused of artificially depressing the value of the yuan to provide an edge for its exports against similar goods produced by U.S. competitors. China keeps a check on the appreciation of the yuan by buying dollars and selling yuan. The yuan was estimated to be undervalued by 30% against the dollar in late 2005. In 2017, the yuan appreciated 8% against the dollar, a move that experts say came about after former President Trump threatened to label China a currency manipulator. However, this trend reversed and the yuan weakened against the dollar beginning in June 2018 when the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese goods. On Aug. 8, 2019, China's central bank lowered the yuan to 7.0205 per dollar, the weakest level since April 2008. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the yuan continued to lose value to the U.S. Dollar. The average exchange rate throughout 2021 was 6.4529 CNY to USD with the exchange rate hitting 6.36 at the end of 2021. As of January 2022, the Chinese foreign exchange reserves totaled approximately $3.2 trillion. Why Is the Chinese Economy So Strong? China has many favorable conditions that strengthen its economy. It often invests heavily in domestic infrastructure and real estate. It has lower wage requirements and favorable tax treatment help make manufacturing costs low. It also boasts relative supply chain efficiencies that entices international corporations How Much Money Does the U.S. Owe China? As of April 2022, the United States owes China over $1.2 trillion. Does China Have the World's Largest Economy? No, China has the second largest economy in the world. The United States has the largest economy in the world; as of April 2022, the International Monetary Fund estimates the U.S.'s GDP was $25.35 trillion. By comparison, the IMF estimated China's GDP at $19.91 trillion. The Bottom Line Pundits have wondered if China will lose its spot as "the world's factory as other emerging economies offering cheap labor dull China's competitive edge. However, the availability of cheap labor is just one of many factors that have kept the "Made in China" label on so many products purchased by consumers around the world. It will take more than low labor costs for emerging economies to set up a business ecosystem that can compete with China's. For some time to come, China will be "the world factory with its low production costs, huge labor pool, vast talent base, and business ecosystem. A small plane crashed at the Tucson International Airport in Arizona Monday, and officials confirmed it was deadly, Fox News reported. The crash triggered a fire and massive cloud of black smoke. The Tucson Fire Department responded to help rescuers, Fox 10 reported. The crash did not affect commercial flights, airport officials added. "It was, just, boom," witness Garry Rathore told KUTV. "It was flaming all around... It just dropped out of the sky." The plane was a twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 300, KTVK added. Larry Karisny, writer, speaker, and consultant on IoT and other Cybersecurity issues, will be a featured panelist at the IoT Evolution Expo, coming up February 7 to 10 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We sat him down to ask him a few questions. IoT Evolution: So you are an advisor, writer, and speaker focusing on cybersecurity and you will be a panelist in The IoT Evolution Security Track at the IoT Evolution Expo in Ft. Lauderdale taking place on February 7-10th. You have also been a Director of ProjectSafety.org for 13 years. Can you tell us a little about ProjectSafety? Larry Karisny: ProjectSafey started with combining wireless 4.9 GHz 2.4 GHhz and 5.9 GHz in a single 802.11 j WiFi chipset used in supporting public safety in survivable wireless mesh designs. These radios would be used for communication in catastrophic events such a hurricane when critical infrastructure is down. Basically, public and private in-vehicle radios would create public safety primary access networks by just meshing multiple vehicle radios together creating incident response networks when all other communication systems are down. Early in the design, wireless and application security immediately was seen as a major problem. This gave ProjectSafety.org the advanced insight security problems in not only wireless technologies today such as IoT but complete operational and industrial IT systems such as the smart grid. In fact, one of the first uses of IoT on a grand scale was the Smart Meter which immediately showed security vulnerabilities. ProjectSafety saw all this coming years ago, and frankly, is shocked about what is going on with IoT which is out in the physical world not just a database of intellectual property that can be stolen. Exploiting an IoT in an operational or industrial IT system can blow something up. Serious stuff and remarkable irresponsibility is shown in not securing these devices. IoTE: So what is the problem with IoT security and why aren't people adding proper security to these devices? LK: Lets first take a quick look at how conventional information system security products work. You start by categorizing security priorities that are important to you, for instance, where your highest level intellectual property is stored or where top secret information is stored an example of the public sector. You then get executive management to agree that money needs to spend in securing these priorities and do risk analysis on the cost of the using the conventional information system security products. I am using the word conventional meaning the way we secure things today which are flawed, to begin with. In general, conventional security Next Generation Firewall Wall (NGFW) Intrusion Detection System (IPS) security technologies encrypt or harden the authenticated and access to sensitive information and Security Event and Information Management (SIEM) security technologies to try to keep unwanted attacks from coming into our processes and systems. These conventional information system security approaches are not perfect and are more of a deterrent to cyber attacks than assured stop measures. IoT and the billions of devices that will affect our business and industrial systems will prove these conventional information system security approaches will lack the scale and capability of even deploying todays cybersecurity products and services into the tiny IoT devices. Case in point: One of the design criteria in IoT is to establish the longest possible battery life. This requires very small processor and flash memory many times not offering the space for IoT device updates or enough flash memory to install high-end encryption. This is a big problem and eliminates the use todays IPS technologies and the ability to update devices that may have been exploited. The sheer volume of these devices is making current SIEM security technologies obsolete and unmanageable. There is just too much out there to watch and trying to put in some monitoring database that already often misses attacks, defects, administrative and end user errors using current cybersecurity technologies is not a solution. Basically, current cybersecurity approaches cannot scale to the amount of IoT that some people are predicting to reach one trillion which in turn is demonstrating why we need to address cybersecurity with new approaches. IoTE: What are the new approaches you would suggest in offering solid cybersecurity methodologies? LK: Something my colleagues and I realized when trying to secure operational and industrial IT systems: conventional security technology cannot currently follow operational and time sequential business logic. Business logic is applied in the communications among the component part of a system a service or device. There is something that fundamentally needs to change in the where and when we are viewing and mentoring of business process logic. Current security systems are focused on securing the systems and things we dont want in the systems when they should be validating that the correct business logic is taking place. We need to focus on what yeses of cybersecurity than the nos that can no longer scale with the increasingly massive flows of these time sensitive data flows. We need to validate the message unit. The message unit is the communication path for instruction and information shared among interrelated end points. These tiny messages are the sequential actuaries that make something happen in operational and industrial processes. The business logic processes are the flow of putting these message units at the right place at the right time. Combining these capabilities can be used to remediate malware compromises, defects or administrative errors for real-time business and security management. This is a departure from the current historical approach to business and security management, where millions of permutation causes are first modeled and monitored inside databases for compromise. I have focused on the cybersecurity in the smart grid for years and found something very interesting when addressing security in Industrial Control Systems and the Smart Grid. There were electro-mechanical technologies over 50 years old that were trying to interface with new digital technologies. I searched with my colleagues in trying to find a communication path for instruction and information shared among interrelated end points in the power grid systems. Amazingly there was a communication technique found that crossed years of technology that could be used to monitor these system process. The tiny message action when combined with typical sequential and operational business logic can offer the accuracy, low overhead, and economy that can even secure all operational and industrial process including IoT. IoTE: If you had total control of cybersecurity in IoT, what would you do? LK: The last place I spoke as an honored guest was the 11th Annual Cyber and Information Security Research (CISR) Conference at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This was the home of the Manahan Project for years that housed the secrets of the atomic bomb. It was interesting to speak there because many people including myself consider cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure to be potentially as dangerous as the atomic bomb. There were even discussions that the intellectual property of cyber security should be handled like the secrets of the Manhattan Project were handled many years ago. This is not what happens in cybersecurity today. I am studying for my Certified Information Systems Security Professional exam and frankly was shocked by what I saw. This certification is the gold standard of all cyber security certifications and is all-encompassing in debt look at how cybersecurity runs today. My first surprise was that the areas discussed were often the use of technologies that in many cases were over twenty years old. Then there were the discussions that can give a hacker a road map to the vulnerabilities and the technologies used in addressing cyber attacks. Last I was shocked to find how a cyber attack is discovered and how manual the process was in searching through an amazing amount of data historically stored in system logs. So, a hacker can change something today and we are combating that with 20 years old technologies and manual processes. Not good. So, if I was running cybersecurity I would just do it. Even Rudy Giuliani the adviser on cybersecurity to the White House stated that our current cyber defense is not what it should be. We need to find a way to start fast tracking the use of new cybersecurity technologies rather than dragging them through analysis paralysis groups and organizations. These bureaucracies can often delay or block the release of superior cybersecurity technologies or even worse disclose so much information that a cyber attacker can target cybersecurity vulnerabilities. If there is something out there that makes sense just fund it, test it and get it out there. Thats what hackers do and until we start fast tracking cyber defense technologies the same way we will always be playing catch-up. I will be discussing this more detail in a panel discussion at the IoT Evolution Security Track in Ft. Lauderdale Florida on February 10th. Hope to see many of my colleagues there. With billions of IoT being deployed and an administration in the White House ready to find solutions that are already in the private sector there is no better time for this discussion. Edited by Ken Briodagh London's major airports were badly affected Monday as a blanket of freezing fog hit large areas of Britain, Xinhua reported. By midday more than 100 flights at London Heathrow, Britain's busiest airport, had been cancelled, while 65 were cancelled at London City Airport and a number were also cancelled at London Gatwick. Luton and Stansted airports were able to continue to operate, with just a few delays. Heathrow explained on its social media site why it has been badly affected by fog. Its message said: "Bad weather of any type can create flight delays for arriving and departing aircraft at any airport around the world. Due to Heathrow operating at 98 percent capacity, the effects of fog on flights can be more noticeable than most airports. "The vast majority of airports have spare runway capacity so aircraft can be spaced out more during fog without causing delays and cancellations." "Heathrow is unusual in that it operates at 98 percent capacity, with a plane landing or taking off every 45 seconds. Without taking preventative action, spacing flights out more during fog inevitably causes delays and cancellations because there is simply no room to accommodate the delayed flights." The day started with a fog warning issued by meteorologists at the Met Office, saying that a large area of southern England would be affected by low temperatures and freezing fog, with adverse weather continuing into Monday afternoon. Passengers at all airports in the greater London area were being advised to check with airlines whether their flights had been cancelled or delayed because of the weather. Parts of northern England were also affected by fog, with the possibility of flights from some provincial airports facing delays. Fog also caused major problems for commuters on motorways and major roads as they headed to work. Visibility on some roads made driving conditions hazardous, but there were no reports of any major road crashes caused by the poor visibility. With temperatures in some parts of southern England down to minus 8 degrees Celsius during the night, weather forecasters said temperatures would struggle to climb above zero in many areas. Sinn Fein wants victims of the tracker mortgage scandal to be given a date for their compensation. The party will table a motion later calling for a strict deadline for redress. An inquest has found that a wealthy British businessman was unlawfully killed by his internet bride while they celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Barry Pring, 47, who was run over in the Ukraine was "murdered", his best friend has told an inquest into his death. Mr Pring suffered horrific injuries when he was hit by a vehicle - possibly a lorry - while waiting for a taxi outside a restaurant in Kiev with his wife, Ganna Ziuzina, on February 16, 2008. Mr Pring married Ms Ziuzina, a former stripper who was almost 20 years his junior, in 2007 but his family and friends said they did not believe she loved him and that she treated him coldly. His best friend, Peter Clifford, was best man at the couple's Kiev wedding and, giving evidence at the inquest at Devon County Hall on Tuesday, said Mr Pring was "totally under her influence". He said: "There is no reasonable doubt in my mind that Barry was murdered, nor is there any reasonable doubt in my mind that Ganna Ziuzina either arranged for, or was complicit in, his murder." Coroner, Dr Elizabeth Earland said that "strenuous" - but ultimately unsuccessful - attempts had been made to try to get Ms Ziuzina to attend the hearing. She read out a statement given by Ms Ziuzina who said she had given three separate statements to police in Ukraine and did not "believe I can add anything further". Mr Pring's brother, Shaughan, said he believed Ms Ziuzina was "only interested in Barry for his money and saw their relationship as an opportunity to better her position financially". He added that his brother was "besotted" by the woman, who he knew as Anna, but that she "became very demanding", asking for money. The inquest heard Mr Pring, originally from East Devon, set up his own consultancy business aged 30 after moving to the London area and that his career required him to travel extensively. His mother, Irene, said in a statement that her son started seeing Ms Ziuzina, who he said was a teacher, when he was 46. She did not find out until later that they had met on a website - www.elenasmodels.com - which describes itself as an "online Russian and Ukrainian dating site for men who are looking single women and girls for friendship, relationship and marriage" or that Ms Ziuzina was working as a lap dancer or stripper. Mrs Pring said her son frequently flew to Kiev and started supporting Ms Ziuzina financially after she stopped working as a stripper. In early January 2007 Mr Pring told his parents to expect an announcement and then phoned on January 23 to say he would be marrying four days later. "No one from our family was invited," said Mrs Pring. "Barry returned to live in London. Anna stayed in Kiev, moving to the apartment that Barry had bought ... we all expected her to get her visa straight away." But Ms Ziuzina did not get a visa until August that year and then did not come to live in the UK. Instead, she visited for two weeks with her mother, before travelling to Devon with Mr Pring to meet his parents for the first time. Mrs Pring said of the visit: "I was quite surprised to see how cold she was towards Barry. "She was not loving or caring towards him at all. She never lifted a finger [or did] anything. She was a lazy thing ... she was not providing a home for my son." The court heard Mr Pring, who owned a total of five properties including three in the London area, bought another apartment in Kiev and sent Ms Ziuzina 40,000 to finish it. She spent that Christmas with Mr Pring in Devon before flying back to Ukraine again, his mother said. Just before his last trip to Ukraine, Mr Pring told his mother, in their final conversation, that the apartment was nearly finished. Mrs Pring heard about her son's death when his brother, Shaughan, came to tell her that Ms Ziuzina had phoned to report that he had been killed. She said the family became suspicious and hired a private investigator in Ukraine, spending 100,000 in an attempt to find the truth. "We are sure that Anna had some involvement in Barry's death in order to inherit money or property," she added. "Our family has lost a treasured son, brother and uncle which will have an affect on us all for the rest of our lives." The inquest heard how after Mr Pring's death, Ms Ziuzina travelled to London, sold her husband's Range Rover and the contents of his apartment and removed money from his British bank account. Dr Gyan Fernando, then a Home Office pathologist, examined Mr Pring's body after it was returned to the UK from Ukraine. In a statement read out at the hearing, he said there was no paperwork returned with the body and that the cause of death was "multiple injuries" including fractures. He said the injuries, which included "traumatic separation of the trunk", were "extremely unlikely" to have been caused by a car and that it was more likely Mr Pring had been run over by a heavy vehicle such as a truck. The inquest heard that blood tests revealed alcohol in Mr Pring's blood at the time of his death, which indicated that he was likely to have been intoxicated to some degree. The case was investigated as an unexplained road traffic accident but police in the Ukraine upgraded their inquiry to a murder hunt in 2011. Detective Constable Jonathan Watts, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said he had been in London looking for Ms Ziuzina last week and added that it was likely she was abroad. He said the force had not been able to question witnesses directly or the Ukrainian police but details passed to him through Interpol included information from witnesses who described the vehicle that hit Mr Pring as travelling at high speed with no lights. Stolen number plates found at the scene came from a vehicle parked near where Ms Ziuzina had lived in Kiev in 2007 "giving rise to the assumption that the act was pre-planned", he added. DC Watts said the couple had gone out to dinner after Mr Pring said he wanted to have traditional Ukrainian food and had travelled - at Ms Ziuzina's suggestion - 22-25 miles (35-40km) from their address to get to the restaurant. They arrived at 9pm and sat at a table in the middle of the room. During the meal, for which the bill came to 110 US dollars, they ordered 20 50g measures of vodka. They paid the bill in cash at 11.30pm after Mr Pring's credit card was declined and Ms Ziuzina called the same taxi firm that had dropped them at the restaurant but said it would take 40 minutes for a vehicle to reach them. Mr Pring said this was too long and they would hail a taxi from the road, the inquest heard. DC Watts said a "call was made but she was not logged by a Taxi Express worker, suggesting that she had not actually spoken to a call operative". He added that it was not possible to stop a car or taxi on the highway but the pair left the restaurant and were seen by witnesses to be outside for 30 to 40 minutes before descending to the westbound carriageway - heading in the wrong direction - and Mr Pring was seen to climb over the safety barrier. A loud noise was heard before witnesses saw a car pinning an "object" to the inside of the barrier for one to two seconds, said DC Watts. He added that the object came to rest on the safe side of the barrier and was Mr Pring's body. He said of the accident: "Witnesses describe a car travelling at 75mph. There was no evidence of braking or slowing before the car left the scene. Witnesses recorded their impression that it was deliberate." The police were called and Ms Ziuzina was spoken to before asking to be allowed to go home at 2am. DC Watts said she left her house again shortly afterwards and returned to an area near the accident, staying for about three hours. He said Devon and Cornwall Police had been unable to directly contact Ms Ziuzina "at any stage" Freelance journalist Graham Phillips told the inquest he became involved in investigating the case while working for a magazine in Kiev in 2012. He interviewed a stripper friend of Ms Ziuzina's, Tatiana, who described her co-worker as a "gold digger" and said she had not loved or cared for Mr Pring. Mr Phillips said he asked Tatiana if Ms Ziuzina could have killed Mr Pring and she said "it was eminently possible" and "absolutely something Anna was capable of". He added that Ms Ziuzina's family had refused to talk to him and had been "hostile". The coroner said she found that Mr Pring had been unlawfully killed. She said: "His guard was lowered by inebriation. The car had stolen licence plates and did not brake or stop. "I am satisfied that having heard all the evidence... much of it circumstantial, nevertheless, in my view it is overwhelming. "I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Barry John Pring has been unlawfully killed." She said the case demonstrated the difficulty in investigating a case of a death abroad and added: "Our thoughts and condolences must go to the family who have endured years and years of distress and unhappiness." Dr Earland added that Mr Pring had been "tricked" into standing on the westbound carriageway of the busy road to hail a taxi, despite that being the wrong direction. Speaking after the hearing, Mr Pring's brother Shaughan Pring said the family's fight for justice would go on. He said: "It is the verdict we expected. However, it is still not going to get us justice for Barry." Shaughan Pring said Ms Ziuzina was still a free person and that the family would take advice from their solicitors on the next step. He said he "didn't hold his breath" that anything would happen in Ukraine, and added: "We are not just going to pack up and go home." The UK's Supreme Court gave its historic ruling today on who has the power to invoke the UK's withdrawal from the EU. :: What did the UK's highest court decide? The justices ruled, by a majority of eight to three, that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot lawfully bypass MPs and peers by using the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the two-year process of negotiating the UK's divorce from its EU partners. :: Which justices dismissed the Government's appeal, and who allowed it? Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Mance, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Sumption and Lord Hodge rejected the Government's case, while Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hughes dissented. :: What did Supreme Court President Lord Neuberger announce on Tuesday? He declared: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today rules that the Government cannot trigger Article 50 without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." :: What is Article 50? It is the formal mechanism which a nation state must trigger if it wishes to leave the European Union. :: What does Article 50 say? "A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament. "The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period." :: Why did the Supreme Court rule on this? Because the British Government appealed against a High Court ruling in November which blocked Mrs May using the royal prerogative to launch Britain's exit from the EU without Parliament having a say. :: What happens now that the justices have upheld the earlier decision? Parliament will debate and vote on invoking the measure. :: Was the result of the June referendum binding on Parliament? No. It was a consultative plebiscite, though few people on either side mentioned that at the time. U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Tuesday to move forward with construction of the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, rolling back key Obama administration environmental policies in favor of expanding energy infrastructure, Reuters reported. While oil producers in Canada and North Dakota are expected to benefit from a quicker route for crude oil to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners, a revival of the projects would mark a bitter defeat for Native American tribes and climate activists, who vowed to fight the decisions through legal action. Trump campaigned on promises to increase domestic energy production and before taking office indicated he supported completion of the Dakota pipeline and re-starting the C$8 billion ($6.1 billion) Keystone XL project, which was rejected in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama. Protesters had rallied for months against plans to route the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it threatened water resources and sacred Native American sites. It is not yet clear how exactly the orders will move the projects forward. In a statement, the Standing Rock Sioux said they would fight the decision. "Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream," said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock tribe. The North Dakota Petroleum Council, the trade group for the state's oil producers who are relying on Dakota Access to expand their crude transport options, cheered Trump's order. "We think this is a great step forward for energy security in America," said Ron Ness, the council's president. The more than 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline linking Canada's oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast was conceived nearly a decade ago. Since then, however, the U.S. shale revolution has redefined oil flows, with domestic refiners suddenly finding themselves awash with plentiful supply and needing fewer foreign imports. The Solution Centre, based at City West in Dublin, and which is run by industry body the Credit Union Development Association, said it will provide help for the biggest credit unions in the country, representing one million customers. Credit unions taking part include Tullamore in Offaly, St Anthonys and Claddagh in Galway, Dundrum in Dublin, as well as St Canices in Kilkenny, which is the biggest community credit union in the country. Investec Ireland analyst Owen Callan said credit unions are attempting to significantly increase lending to residential mortgages this year, as they seek to challenge the mainstream banks. He estimated that the 400m could represent around 5% to 6% of the expected new mortgage demand in the Irish market this year. The amount of new mortgage lending has slumped during the economic crash, and has been slow in picking up in recent years. Investec Ireland said that credit unions could do well in capturing niche markets such as lower income families looking to buy affordable homes an area CUDA said it would be targeting. CUDA chief executive Kevin Johnson said credit unions were ideally placed to fill the gap in the market left by building societies. He said that there were a number of affordable housing schemes aimed to help lower-income households buy their own homes, or buy an existing previously rented council house. Others offer eligible first-time buyers the chance to buy newly-constructed homes and apartments at prices significantly less than their market value. Credit unions are happy to support these purchases, particularly as the loan-to-value ratios are typically relatively low and the existing tenants invariably have a proven payment record, he said. Credit unions face restrictions on the amount they can lend out in mortgages. But CUDA said only 2% of the available 5bn has been lent out on 10-year terms, leaving 400m to lend. Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan, who announced the move at Green Week in Berlin, said these hubs will become a major driver for innovation and job creation in the rural economy. He was speaking during a follow-up seminar to last Septembers Cork 2.0 conference where a coalition of stakeholders launched a 10-point plan for the future of rural development. Taoiseach Enda Kenny and a string of rural-based ministers insisted the initiative will help bring the economic recovery to isolated regions yesterday, amid repeated criticism from Fianna Fail and Labour that the policy is a rehash of previous plans and offers few tangible benefits. The targets detailed in the 71-page plan which are based on the five areas of sustainable communities, enterprise and employment, rural tourism, culture and improving infrastructure and connectivity include: A 60m funding boost for 600 towns and villages this year; A 50m increase in sports and cultural facility spending; 135,000 new jobs by 2020, including 5,000 construction jobs and increased focus on apprenticeship and training scheme opportunities; A 40% increase in regional foreign direct investment by the end of the decade; A 12% increase in overseas visitors during that period A doubling of flood relief works investment by 2021; Increased financial supports for 4,000 new community projects and, New incentives for families to refurbish derelict buildings and turn them into homes. In addition, the plan promises to build 18 new rural primary care centres by the end of next year, increase rural-based gardai by 3,200 and drastically improved broadband in line with previously announced plans to address the fact some areas have internet speeds 36 times slower than urban centres. Speaking at the launch of the plans at Ballymahon, Co Longford, Taoiseach Enda Kenny who was flanked by Rural Affairs Minister Heather Humphreys, Communications Minister Denis Naughten, parliamentary party chair Martin Heydon, and minister of state for regional development Michael Ring, among others said the targets will help to rejuvenate recession-damaged parts of Ireland. The Taoiseach said the plan has something in this for everybody, adding that rural Ireland does not need to be saved or rescued but should instead be supported to achieve its potential. However, despite the positive remarks, opposition parties heavily criticised the plans. Fianna Fail rural affairs spokesman Eamon O Cuiv said the plan is a rehashing of existing schemes, adding four previous rural action plans failed to rejuvenate the regions. Labour regional development spokesman senator Denis Landy labelling the plan as fake news, said the reality is the 60m fund will mean just 100,000 per town. Macra na Feirme president Sean Finan last night welcomed the plan, but said it needs to be fully resourced with a dedicated budget . While employers group Isme similarly welcomed the measures, Irish Rural Links Seamus Boland said the funding involved should be seen as just a down-payment and that rural Ireland needs real and not yellow pack jobs. Barrister Liam OConnell told Judge Jacqueline Linnane that, next Friday, he would be asking her to order Richard Stanley to immediately end the use of his property at The Pines, Lehaunstown, Cabinteely, as what can only be described as an unauthorised hostel. Mr OConnell, at the Circuit Civil Court with Dunlaoghaire-Rathdown County Councils law agent Dorothy Kennedy, said the private dwelling was considered a fire and health risk. It has come to the councils notice that the three-storey dwelling is being used as other than a private dwelling, with up to 17 individuals in one room and about 36 people housed in the basement, Mr OConnell told the court. Aonghus ONeill, a planning inspector with the local authority, told the court in a sworn affidavit that the house, on four levels, was registered at the Land Registry in the name of Richard Stanley as owner. It comprised a basement with two rooms, a ground floor, first floor, and attic level. Mr OConnell told Judge Linnane that the county council had become aware of reports that up to 70 people were living in the house and, for health and safety reasons, it carried out an inspection. He said Mr ONeill and another council inspector, Aidan Shannon, found that almost every room they could obtain access to had been filled with either double beds or bunk beds. Loose electrical cord providing power to a washing machine and two tumble dryers at the top of a stairs leading to the basement had to be avoided. In a boiler room, there were no smoke or heat detectors and flammable materials were scattered about the room. They had found a communal dining room, while three rooms on the first floor had been locked shut. Mr OConnell said the use of the property had changed from that of a private dwelling to one involving the provision of accommodation to paying customers. He said the county council would be seeking an injunction restraining the continued use of the house as a multi-occupancy dormitory property. Mr OConnell said the council had sought undertakings from Mr Stanley to terminate multi-occupancy forthwith and to arrange for and provide suitable accommodation for those people accommodated there. Judge Linnane said that, out of consideration for the plight of the people living in the property, she would not grant immediate restraints or injunctions, but would deal with the matter on Friday on notice to Mr Stanley. Last October, former High Court judge Iarfhlaith ONeill was appointed by the Government to examine the latest allegations made by Garda whistleblowers. The smear campaign allegations were made by the former head of the Garda press office, Superintendent Dave Taylor, who is currently suspended from the force. He claimed that senior gardai targeted the whistleblower, engaging in character assassination on a widespread scale by passing on false and damaging allegations, including to journalists and politicians. Obviously, there is a process underway and youll appreciate that Im constrained in what I can say, but what I can say is that Im not aware, nor was I aware, of any campaign to discredit any individual, said Ms OSullivan. Of the inquiry, she said: It will reach its findings. Im satisfied that the process will establish the truth. Certainly, I had no knowledge of any campaign to undermine any individual, nor would I take part in any campaign to undermine any individual. The Commissioner was speaking to RTEs Sean ORourke on the same day as new ethics rules for officers were published. Commenting on whistleblowers in general, Ms OSullivan said it takes courage for someone to speak up. I recognise it takes great courage to speak up, she said. It takes great courage particularly as a member of a disciplined organisation to speak up, but its a responsibility and a right that we all have to speak up and to challenge some of the things we see or even some of the assumptions about the way things are done around here. Constructive dissent is much better than destructive consent, Ms OSullivan said a new culture encouraging people to speak their minds was being fostered. She also said honest mistakes can be made in the line of duty. A blame culture isnt necessarily a healthy culture, but its an easy culture, she said. Certainly, my experience is we are creating a culture encouraging people to speak up, people to speak their minds and thats a balance that has to be had in what is a disciplined organisation. Moving from a blame to a learning culture, where someone makes an honest mistake, and that they are not afraid; our members go out every single day and they have to make critical life-changing decisions in really quick time and they do that in absolute integrity and with absolute impartiality and sometimes they do make a mistake. She was also asked how bothered she was by the thoughts and comments of politicians about how she carries out her role. She said she had a very important job to do. Ms OSullivan also addressed other issues within the force, such as resources, technology, and the closure of stations. She said a review was underway into the garda stations that were closed as a result of the recession. In relation to technology and computers, the commissioner said investment had been secured. Some stations are without computer access. Our aim this year is to have those stations networked, she said. Intense negotiations, which continued late last night, failed to reach agreement ahead of this mornings Cabinet meeting. As revealed in the Irish Examiner last week, the Independent Alliance is backing junior minister Finian McGraths demands for a new inquiry, but Fine Gael and, in particular, Tanaiste Frances Fitzgeralds department is opposed to it without new evidence. Mr McGrath and victims families are adamant new evidence exists, but Department of Justice officials are not convinced. Last night, Transport Minister Shane Ross was adamant that he and the other Alliance members backed Mr McGrath 100% in his demands for an inquiry. Mr McGrath has long campaigned on behalf of the Stardust victims families and he told the Irish Examiner he must stand with them now. The Department of Justice said the wording of a motion being brought by Independent TD Tommy Broughan would be difficult to accept, as it suggests there has been no contact with the victims families, which it said is not correct. Government sources said that among the solutions being considered was a counter motion, or allowing Mr McGrath a free vote, as he is not bound by Cabinet collective decision-making. However, these were deemed to be unworkable. Discussions are expected to continue today to resolve the stand-off in time for the debate tomorrow night. Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald will put forward the legal changes at this mornings Cabinet meeting in a bid to further protect people at risk of assault while in vulnerable positions. Despite public awareness campaigns in recent years, victims groups have repeatedly said a large number of incidents are never reported because the victim was drunk, asleep, or unconscious at the time. While a number of these cases still go to court, due to a gap in existing laws Irish judges currently have no legal definition on which to base their rulings, as there is no legal definition of consent under these situations on the statute. As part of an amendment to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Bill 2015 which is at its final stage before becoming law Ms Fitzgerald will say the gap must be addressed and a new legal definition of consent specifically addressing these issues drawn up. The request, expected to be passed by Cabinet before being included in upcoming Dail and Seanad votes on the bill, will state that in future no one can be considered to have consented to a sexual act if they are drunk, otherwise intoxicated, asleep, or unconscious. Among the other elements of the bill are new criminal offences to protect children from grooming, online predators, and child pornography; addressing a gender anomaly on incest; and increased harassment order powers to protect the victims of convicted sex offenders. The Cabinet meeting will also see Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar seek permission to begin a five-week consultation period with businesses and trade unions over his working family payment plans. The move, which follows the creation of an inter-departmental working group on the issue last year, is designed to promote work over welfare by supplementing households incomes while encouraging parents to take on full-time jobs. While it has been criticised for claiming Ireland suffers from a culture of welfare dependency, the scheme is seen by Fine Gael as a key part of reforming the system. Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone will put forward a general heads of bill for her plans to financially support families. The legal change is linked to last Octobers budget announcement to create a universal scheme to help with childcare costs. Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell OConnor will put forward a jobs action plan which is due to be launched next week and will contain a series of Brexit-focused measures seeking to protect the economy. The plan will be raised as part of a wider Brexit discussion before British prime minister Theresa May travels to Dublin next week. Martin Barry, of 30 Harbour View Rd, Knocknaheeny, Cork, pleaded guilty to charges arising out of a number of drunken incidents and he was jailed yesterday by Judge Olann Kelleher for four months. The judge said: The most serious matter was the knife, waving the knife to the public, and he was covered in blood himself. Inspector Ronan Kennelly said at Cork District Court yesterday: On November 3, 2016, at approximately 9 oclock in the morning gardai were on mobile patrol when they received a call in relation to a domestic incident at 30 Harbour View Rd. On arrival at this address the defendant, Martin Barry, ran out of the property onto the public footpath wielding a 12-inch kitchen knife. Gardai approached Mr Barry and he immediately went back into the house and dropped the kitchen knife on the floor of the hallway. Gardai spoke with Mr Barry who was very drunk and agitated and covered in blood which turned out to be his own. Mr Barry was arrested and conveyed to Mayfield Garda station. Frank Buttimer, defence solicitor, said the accused was in a relationship which at that time was volatile. He said the accused had bereavement issues arising out of the deaths of two brothers. Mr Buttimer said the accused had turned to alcohol to deal with these matters but was finally determined to deal with these difficulties in a proper manner. ADS ADS The first Geophysic watch was created in 1958 by Jaeger-LeCoultre in honour of the International Geophysical Year. In 2015, the Manufacture in the Vallee de Joux launched the Geophysic collection, with several models combining powerful watchmaking expertise with a classic, timeless aesthetic. This line has now been reinterpreted reinforcing its original qualities - a generously dimensioned case, easily legible functions, visible luminescent hands, the hightech Gyrolab balance wheel, etc - and in 2017 Jaeger-LeCoultre unveils the Geophysic True Second, the Geophysic Universal Time and the Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time watch, available in a limited series of 100 pieces. With this timepiece, Jaeger-LeCoultre has introduced for the first time in its history a flying tourbillon in a watch allowing the time in twenty-four cities around the world to be read simultaneously. With its 43.5 mm platinum case, the Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time asserts itself as the most exclusive piece in the eponymous collection and offers exceptional readability and operating. The Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time offers a 360-degree view of the world under the dome of its sapphire crystal. In this majestic planisphere, the eye is drawn to the flying tourbillon, which appears to float in space with the absence of a bridge to hold its cage. The lightly convex side view of the dial recalls the shape of a globe. On the intense blue lacquered ocean, small spirals form waves amplifying the impression of relief and depth that the watch creates when viewed from above. With a satin-brushed finish, the continents move across the central disc every 24 hours i.e. following the pace set by the flying tourbillon. In this landscape that changes as the hours go by, the tourbillon rotates around itself and the guilloche dial with remarkable accuracy. The Gyrolab balance wheel - with its balance spring hand-crafted in the workshops of the Manufacture - features the shape of a watch anchor, the symbol of Jaeger LeCoultre. With constant readability thanks to the luminescent material, which constitutes the points on the flange of the dial and the hands, the Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time watch is easily set with a single crown. The automatic mechanical movement Jaeger-LeCoultre Calibre 948, which offers a 48-hour power reserve, can be admired through the sapphire crystal case-back. Outshining the rubies and blued screws, the solid gold monobloc oscillating weight reveals Jaeger-LeCoultres two characteristic initials through the heart of its half-sphere. The Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time is fitted with a blue alligator strap, secured with a folding buckle in white gold. Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said the Government must stress this need to other EU nations if our interests are to be protected, saying Irelands situation is significantly different to other states. Speaking after an EU agriculture ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, just 48 hours after holding bilateral talks with British counterpart Andrea Leadsom, Mr Creed said Ireland has a legitimate ask in wanting to continue to trade easily with Britain. Urging his Government counterparts not to cut off our nose to spite our face, he said a practical solution must be found to ensure Irish businesses are not adversely affected by Londons split with Brussels. I would hope that we would have a practical solution and that we are not into cutting off our nose to spite our face, he said. Our situation is just different, significantly different, to any other EU country, and thats something we dont think we should be punished for. Mr Creed was speaking amid ongoing concerns over the impact of Brexit on our Ir ish economy, with concerns the split could see exports fall 40% and cost 20,000 jobs. While Jobs Minister Mary Mitchell O Connor is due to publish a Brexit-related jobs plan next week after it is signed off by Cabinet today, it remains unclear how Government can protect Ireland from a Brexit backlash. Meanwhile, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said the issues will be raised with British prime minister Theresa May when she travels to Dublin next week days after she becomes the first foreign leader to meet US president Donald Trump. Imposing a sentence of two and a half years, Judge Martin Nolan said survival was the main motivating factor in the fraud trade. McAteer, then director of finance at the bank, obtained the 8m loan as the bank was on the brink of collapse. McAteer is already serving a three-and-a-half-year prison term imposed in July 2016 for his part in a separate 7.2bn fraud. The latest sentence will run alongside this. Last month, McAteer, aged 66, of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to obtaining a loan of 8m from Anglo on September 29, 2008, which he secured against his shares in the bank. He then used the money to pay off a personal loan he obtained from Bank of Ireland. The loan was formulated by Anglos executive board of directors to prevent the Anglo shares being sold off, which would have further damaged confidence in the bank. The maximum penalty available for the offence of fraudulent trading was seven years in prison and a 63,486 fine. Imposing a sentence of two and a half years, Judge Nolan said that, at the time, McAteer and other executives in the bank were under considerable pressure and their whole ambition was survival. He said that McAteer was a self-made man who came from a modest background and studied hard and worked very hard. He said McAteer was, at one point, an extremely wealthy and successful man. Judge Nolan said McAteer will be an impoverished man when he gets out of prison and will live in modest circumstances. He said it is highly unlikely he will reoffend. Taking his age and personal circumstances into consideration he said it would be unjust to impose a sentence consecutive to the one he is already serving. He ordered the sentence to start from yesterday. Patrick Gageby SC, defending McAteer, said his client was supposed to retire before the bank started to collapse but that he delayed his retirement and stayed on because his help was needed at the bank. He said that, if he had retired at the right time, he would have done so with great advantages and a good amount of money. Counsel said the offences resulted in no loss to the bank. He said there were no more pending charges against McAteer and that this case would mark a poor end to his career. Last week, Pat Whelan, the banks former director of lending, was fined 3,000 for failing to keep a proper record of the fraudulent 8m loan to McAteer. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has re-entered talks in a bid to address staff shortages and difficulties in both hiring and keeping nurses which, it says, is impacting on patient care. Going in to negotiations with the HSE, the Department of Health, and the Department of Public Expenditure, INMO general secretary Liam Doran said financial incentives would have to be included if strike action is to be averted. Some 90% of INMO members voted in favour of industrial action before Christmas, but strikes have been put on hold as talks with management continue. Mr Doran said there are 3,500 fewer nurses than in 2008, yet the health service is now dealing with more patients and is 20% busier. He called on the HSE to accept that more than 4,000 extra nurses and midwives are needed to help ease overcrowding and ensure a safe health service for patients. Talks are expected to continue this week before the INMO executive meets again next Monday to decide whether it will press ahead with strike action or continue with the deferral to allow negotiations go on. Meanwhile, Bus Eireann is expected to go to the Labour Court this week after unions refused to meet with the company today. Bus Eireann, which could be insolvent within two years if it cannot drastically cut costs, had put forward a range of measures to staff representatives last week. The company had promised annual pay rises of around 2% over four years if workers accepted the new measures, including cuts to allowances, premium payments, and temporary staff The proposals were roundly rejected by unions. Dermot OLeary of the National Bus and Rail Union said all stakeholders including the Government and the National Transport Authority would have to come around the table before unions would be willing to engage in talks. The Government maintains that it is an issue for management and unions as the massive losses relate to the companys commercial Expressway routes. Mr OLeary also questioned whether Bus Eireann would be able to take the dispute to the Labour Court at this stage. This is not a straightforward industrial dispute as far as we are concerned, he said. Bus Eireann is due to come before the Oireachtas joint committee on transport tomorrow. Committee chair Brendan Griffin said it would be useful to hear from the company but that he is eager to also hear from the union and bus workers. We need to hear where the system is failing and we need to address that, said Mr Griffin. It has also emerged that a former senior civil servant was appointed by the Department of Defence last September to review the whistleblowers claims, but they have yet to be contacted by this official. Today, the Irish Examiner can reveal that: In 2015, Mr Coveney was told that workers were not receiving occupational health monitoring as required by law, 11 months before the Health and Safety Authority issued its report recommending such surveillance be put in place; One frustrated whistleblower subsequently contacted the Taoiseach in December 2015 with his complaint raising concerns about a lack of communication from Mr Coveney; Whistleblowers repeatedly contacted the Department of Defence to request updates on the review of their disclosures; The organisation representing members of the Defence Forces separately contacted the Air Corps by letter with similar concerns in 2015, and warned that any health inspection of Baldonnel would produce damning findings. The Irish Examiner yesterday revealed that the State is facing legal action from a number of defence forces staff who claim their illnesses are as a direct result of their exposure to chemicals while working at Casement. It also emerged that the Health and Safety Authority last October threatened the Air Corps with prosecution unless it implemented a number of recommendations, including the provision of appropriate equipment to staff handling chemicals and the surveillance of staff health to monitor any adverse effects they experienced as a result of their day-to-day duties. The Defence Forces said that it cannot comment on protected disclosures, which are a matter for the Department of Defence, and that it would be inappropriate to comment on other queries submitted by this newspaper as there is litigation ongoing. The department said that, in order to protect the identity of whistleblowers, it was not in a position to discuss the matter of protected communications but confirmed the minister received a number of disclosures, made under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. A series of questions were put to Mr Coveney regarding the protective disclosure and the concerns raised by the whistleblowers, however no reply was given. A series of questions were also sent to Mr Kenny, but again no reply was given. Frances Fitzgerald described the attack as despicable, while Noirin OSullivan said the shooting was a matter of sadness and shock. Ms OSullivan said the shooting comes on the week of the fourth anniversary of the murder of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe in north Louth by a cross-border crime gang. The PSNI officer was shot at a filling station on the Crumlin Road in Belfast around at 7.30pm on Sunday. Contrary to early reports of a drive-by shooting, PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton said the shots were fired by a gunman from behind a fence across the road from the station. He said the shooting was completely reckless, as there were people both in the forecourt filling petrol and in the shop. He said the officer, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, received gunshot wounds to his right arm and was undergoing surgery. He said violent dissident republicans were the main suspects. Ms Fitzgerald said the threat to PSNI officers was severe. She said there were individuals who were determined to take this kind of despicable action and will do whatever was necessary. She said both the PSNI and the gardai have had huge successes against dissident republicans. There is a severe threat by dissident groups and others to the PSNI in the north of Ireland, she said. Both gardai and the PSNI are working to ensure that, a) thats prevented and b) that those who engage in that kind of activity are brought to justice. Ms OSullivan said the shooting was very concerning and that her officers worked very closely with the PSNI to combat terrorism. Its always a matter of sadness and shock when we hear about an officer injured on duty in any fashion, particularly when you hear of an officer being shot, she said. It reminds us, of course, of two colleagues, Tony Golden and Adrian Donohoe, whose anniversary occurs this week. She said these officers, and all police officers, go out to protect the public and the community. Speaking at a Policing Authority event, Ms OSullivan also responded to financial issues relating to Templemore Training College, highlighted in an internal Garda audit and reported in the The Sunday Times. They span back 20 years, so they are very much legacy issues and very much focus on accounting standards that, by todays standards, wouldnt be acceptable. She said recommendations regarding modern accounting practices were being implemented: Im informed there is no misappropriation of money. There is no criminality that has been identified. If there was, we would have taken action. The Hero initiative will be launched on Thursday at the Jennings Gallery in University College Cork. It is hoped a new research project will eventually result in the development of novel treatments for leukaemia, for which Ireland has the highest rate in Europe. Set up in 2011, the Hero trust provides funding for research projects and education in haematology. Professor Mary Cahill, a consultant haematologist at Cork University Hospital and UCC, said: The name stands for haematology, education, and research trust, but we put on the O at the end of Hero to make it easy to remember. In the last decade alone, there has been extensive progress made in treating blood cancers and curing some. Our researchers seek to build on and extend this progress. A type of cancer found in the blood and bone marrow, leukaemia, which accounts for one in 40 cancer deaths in Ireland, according to the National Cancer Research Institute, is caused by the rapid production of abnormal white blood cells. These are unable to fight infection, and impair the ability of the bone marrow to produce vital red blood cells and platelets. The research led by Dr Sharon McKenna, of the Cork Cancer Research Centre, in collaboration with Prof Cahill, has shown how cancer cell survival mechanisms can be tamed and manipulated to cause early leukaemia cancer cells (called blasts) to grow into more mature, well-behaved cells. All cancer cells have the ability to batten down the hatches and go into survival mode when the going gets tough for the cancer and the patient is receiving chemotherapy, said Dr McKenna. This process is called autophagy. Cancer cells use this process to hibernate and can wake up again once the chemotherapy is over. This, of course, will cause the cancer to relapse, sometimes with devastating consequences for the patients. The UCC researchers have shown autophagy is a key component in making troublesome, immature cancer cells grow into responsible adult cells that do vital work. This represents a newer way of looking at cancer treatment. Increasingly, we are learning that cancer can be effectively tamed where it cant be eliminated, said Prof Cahill. The research group is working to discover how to manipulate the autophagy process to cause cells to mature quickly in cases of urgent clinical need, such as when a person develops acute leukaemia. Dr McKenna said: We are already aware of a number of compounds which can bring this about. Some are surprising; for example, high doses of a certain kind of Vitamin A can trigger this mechanism. The complainant previously told a jury that she underwent a voodoo process in Nigeria during which she swore she would not report the alleged trafficker, Joy Imasogie. She said that, once in Ireland she had to have sex with up to 10 men a day to pay off a 50,000 debt to Ms Imasogie arising from her being brought to Ireland. Ms Imasogie, aged 40, of Chapleswood Crescent, Hollystown, Dublin 15, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to organising for the woman to enter the country illegally, to compelling or coercing the woman to be a prostitute, and to controlling or directing the activities of prostitution for gain on dates between March 2006 and April 2008. Yesterday, the jury heard Ms Imasogies garda interviews, in which she denied trafficking or involvement in prostitution. Noel Devitt, prosecuting, said Ms Imasogie told gardai she came to Ireland from Nigeria in 2002 and worked in several jobs. She said she was married and had five children, including three in Ireland. Over the course of three interviews conducted in late 2010, Ms Imasogie said she knew the alleged victim but denied charging her 50,000 to bring her to Ireland. She said she had never met her before she came to this country. I didnt bring her so why would I discuss money with her, she told gardai. Ms Imasogie said sometimes the woman would come to her house to do her hair in exchange for food but denied making her work as a prostitute. She said she visited the alleged victim in prison when she was arrested for being in Ireland illegally but said that she would also do this for other Nigerians. She was having an affair with my husband for three years, Ms Imasogie said. She wanted to have a baby with him. The accused also claimed the mother of the alleged victim was using voodoo to take her husband away from her but did not succeed. Gardai put it to Ms Imasogie that she ran a prostitution business from several premises around Dublin. The accused denied this and said she had never even visited the premises. The trial continues before Judge Patricia Ryan and a jury. Kathleen Chada, a clinic manager, of Ballinkillen, Bagnelstown, Co Carlow, sued Sanjeev Chada, aged 45, whose address was given as Arbour Hill Prison, Dublin. Ms Chada sued him for assault, battery, and trespass on the person causing the deaths of Eoghan, 10, and Ruari, 5, Chada at Skehanagh Lower, Ballintubber, Co Mayo, in late July 2013. He was jailed for life in October 2014 after pleading guilty to the murders. The Central Criminal Court heard the boys bodies were discovered in the boot of Chadas car on July 29, 2013, after it had crashed into a wall near Westport with him in the drivers seat. Chada, who had run up gambling debts, told his wife he was taking their sons bowling in Carlow but instead drove to Mayo, where he strangled the boys with a rope before trying to kill himself. The court also heard Chada had secretly mounted huge debts from online trading and had borrowed from family and friends and lost large amounts of money. He was 500,000 in debt at one stage from gambling other peoples money. In one note he wrote before the killings, Chada said: I could not let you bear the pain of being from a broken home. Mammy is getting rid of me and I could not leave you behind. I have so much to teach you but I could not do that if I was not with you. We will be together now in some way in the most beautiful country, your mate and Daddy. Sanjeev Chada. He told gardai he killed them because I love them so much. Yesterday in the High Court, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan was told Chada was not contesting the judgment application. The judge said it was not necessary for Mrs Chada to give evidence. He told her he was terribly sorry over the tragedy that has befallen your family. It was an unspeakable tragedy and you have my sympathy. Mrs Chada thanked him. The court was told the boys maternal grandparents had waived any claim in relation to the case as had the paternal grandmother who lives in Romford, England. Mr Justice Noonan was also told a sum for the legal costs had also been agreed. The Big Fellow: possessor of a short fuse, a big heart and a bullying, boyish bravado. Of all the Irish patriots who enjoyed a resurrection for the centenary year, it is Michael Collins we remember in the most complex and colourful terms. We equally acknowledge his flaws, admire his bravery and mourn his violent end. Yet Frank OConnor, the man who revived Collins memory with his 1937 biography, The Big Fellow, arguably the author of the Collins who lives on in public imagination, not only fought opposite his fellow Cork man, on the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War, but admitted to having danced with glee when he heard of Collins shooting. OConnors account of Collins has coloured our sense of the Clonakilty-born icon to this day; it was to The Big Fellow that Liam Neeson turned to prepare for his portrayal of Collins in Niall Jordans 1996 biopic. Actor, director and playwright Declan Gormans play, also titled The Big Fellow, invites audiences to revisit the Michael Collins story and examine OConnors role and motives in bringing him to life for us. There are very few public figures who feel that real and close to us, Gorman says. Even for the people who were on the opposite side to him, the sense of anguish that was felt about his death was that he was the best of us. The fundamental reason why people are still so exercised by Michael Collins is that they think of him as their brother. Perhaps it suited DeValeras Ireland to have Collins forgotten about. No public enquiry into his cavalcades ambush at Beal na Blath was ever made. Collins, despite his roles as Minister for Finance in the first Dail, president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and commander-in-chief of the army, is hardly mentioned in Dorothy Macardles Irish Republic, a book often cited as the official narrative of the War of Independence and its aftermath. According to Gorman, Maccardles history was compromised by her almost sycophantic regard for DeValera. In 1936, Michael Collins had been very much airbrushed out, Gorman says. The historians were writing Collins out of history, and it took a literary writer to write him back in. For The Big Fellow is as much a play about OConnor as it is about Collins. Gorman found his curiosity piqued while reading The Big Fellow: what possessed OConnor, who volunteered with the anti-Treaty IRA in his late teens, to describe his humanising biography as a labour of love? Over the course of a decade, Frank OConnor moved from rejoicing in Michael Collins death to writing a magnificent book in praise of him, Gorman says. This fascinated me as a writer. Gormans play sees OConnor (Gerard Adlum) summon forth the figure of Collins (Cillian O Gairbhi) at his typewriter, retelling some of the defining moments in Collins life, before the tables are turned; challenged by the character of Collins, OConnor recounts his own memories of the period and his involvement with the anti-treaty side. With a cast of two, the play is demanding for the actors, both physically and in terms of their expressive range. Adlum, in particular, takes on the role not only of OConnor but of every other character who makes an appearance in the script: DeValera, Cathal Brugha and Joe OReilly, amongst others. As soon as he walked into the casting room I knew I had the right guy, Gorman says of Adlum. Hes a chameleon and he can do anything: with his body, with his face, with his voice. He is a genius at multiple-role playing, which is a very specific skill. But none of what hes doing would work without the solid, implacable rock of Cillian O Gairbhi playing Michael Collins. He carries all the emotion. In WB Yeats 1916 poem, he has this verse where he talks about the stone in the stream. I had that in mind in rehearsals. Cillian is the stone and Gerard is the stream shifting around him. This theme of duality is mirrored throughout the play: Free State versus Anti-Treaty, author versus subject, Collins devil-may-care man of action pitted against the studious and bespectacled OConnor. Theres also the distinction between famous general and unknown soldier, because if Frank OConnor hadnt become a famous writer, he would have been a completely forgotten volunteer, Gorman says. The former artistic director of Droghedas Upstate Theatre Project and Chair of the Abbey Theatres Outreach Education group, Gormans theatrical work has often revolved around themes of reconciliation, most specifically with the Crossover Project, a ten-year cross border arts initiative. Reconciling duality, then, has been something of a speciality for him. Art that speaks to the psyche of the people is, to me, the best art, he says. Were keeping connected to the stories of both men; theres a real sense of trying to connect to audiences and connect communities. The Big Fellow premiered last May but is touring 16 locations in one month in 2017, beginning in Collins home-town of Clonakilty and closing in the Axis Theatre in Ballymun, close to his burial place in Glasnevin. The play is far more than one of the many cultural products designed to commemorate the centenary of 1916, Gorman says: In terms of centenaries, theres a much more difficult set of questions facing Irish society now as we decide how to deal with the legacy of the Civil War. "Therell be no simple solutions in terms of parades. Itll all have to be teased out: why did we do it all? What was the price of forming a nation? This play speaks directly to that, and thats where the OConnor and Collins thing comes in, in terms of the national psyche. Gorman knows, from last years shows, that the Collins story still has a profound impact on Irish audiences, especially in West Cork. We all know its coming. Its prefigured into the very start of the play, but the fact of his shooting is a stunning moment in the theatre every night, he says. Theres this silence. People are still shocked. Thats one of the wonderful things about theatre, that we care terribly, no matter how we feel about him politically. The Big Fellow runs at Rossmore Theatre, Co Cork, today and tomorrow. For nationwide tour details, see declangorman.com. Michael Collins in popular culture Film and Television Niall Jordans 1996 biopic featured Liam Neeson in the title role as Collins. The Treaty, a 1991 made-for-TV film starring Brendan Gleeson as Collins, centred around the Treaty negotiations. Dominic Behans 1969 Republicansympathising television play was refused airtime by the BBC. Behan appealed to David Attenborough, then BBC director of programming, who decided to broadcast it in the interests of free speech. Stage Mary Kennys play, Allegiance, showed at the 2006 Edinburgh FestivalFringe with Michael Fassbender, a real-life great-great-grandnephew of Collins, in the role of his ancestor. Cork Opera House commissioned a musical about Collins by the late Bryan Flynn, which had a run in 2009 in Cork and later in the Olympia in Dublin. Pat Talbots 2016 play, A Great Arrangement, examined the relationship between Collins and his fiancee Kitty Kiernan through their correspondence. Video game In an alternate future presented in one modification for Darkest Hour: A Hearts of Iron Game, Collins has survived and appears as dictator of Ireland. Culture Rangoon Govt to Host Chinese New Year Celebrations Lanterns hang over Sin Oh Dan Street in Rangoon, January 2017. RANGOON The Rangoon government will organize Chinese New Year celebrations attended by the regional chief minister in the citys Chinatown on Sunday, the first time the local authority has officially participated. To welcome the Year of the Rooster, we will celebrate in Chinatown with the full support of the divisional government, said U Win Myint, who is the secretary of the Myanmar Chinese Chamber of Commerce. This is the first time everpreviously, we held the celebrations on our own, he added. The Year of the Rooster in the Chinese lunar calendar starts on Sunday and lasts until Feb. 15, 2018. The roostera symbol of fidelity and punctualityis the 10th symbol in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac signs. Celebrations will be held from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. on New Years Day (Sunday) with opening speeches by Rangoon Division Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein and Chinese Ambassador Mr. Hong Liang. The celebration aims to deepen the traditional ties between Burma and China, and to rebuild the image of Rangoon which was once a spectacular town. We also hope that the celebration will attract foreign travelers, and spur the hotel and tourism industries, said U Win Myint. A number of Chinese businesses and cultural organizations based in Rangoon are preparing to participate in the celebrations in Chinatown, where red paper lanterns have already been hung and lion and dragon dancers have been practicing. At 5 a.m. on Sunday, Rangoon residents from eight wards will offer morning meals to more than 1,000 monks and nuns along Lanmadaw Street leading from the downtown area to Shwedagon Pagoda. Over 3,000 lanterns will be lit in the streets of Chinatown. Pandals will be erected on Shwedagon Pagoda Road, Maung Khaing Street, Latha Street, and Lanmadaw Street, and they will feature performances of the dragon dance, lion dance, and other traditional dances. There will be food stalls and cultural booths as well, U Win Myint said. Because being cold is the secret to weight loss, according to science A woman with her scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth, feeling cold (Photo : Getty Images/Tim Boyle) Looking for faster and effective ways to lose weight? The secret could just be as simple as turning down your heater. According to Prevention, a recent research suggests that spending time in cooler temperature can boost burn up of calories by 30 percent. This research is published in the journal Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism. Advertisement Professor Barbara Cannon, a physiologist at the Wenner-Gren Institute in Stockholm explains that it is because of brown fats, NetDoctor reported. She said that brown fats act differently from the variety of fats that most of us are trying to lose. She explained that the white variety of fats, which is the normal fat tissue is the main storage place of energy and this energy is stored in the form of fat. On the other hand, brown fat cells which are filled with mitochondria is where fat combustion takes place. The cells will first burn the fat they contain and then import the fat from the white fat stores. So what happens is that when our body is exposed to cold temperature, it increases the development and the production of brown fat cells. This is because when we feel cold, the nervous system send signals to the temperature sensing region of the brain and then activates the nerves that travel to brown fat. This theory was tested in a study conducted in 2012, where volunteers were made to wear cold suit for three hours. The suit was just enough to decrease their body temperature without making them shiver. The researchers found that over the three hour period, the participants were able to burn a total of 250 calories. Calorie burning is just one of the important benefits of brown fat. Brown fat also plays a significant role in stabilizing blood sugar and fighting diabetes. It is also known to cholesterol levels which means that they are also very helpful in keeping a healthy heart. Asia Four Arrested in Malaysia with Alleged Links to Islamic State The peaks of the Petronas Twin Towers are seen in central Kuala Lumpur in August 2014. / Olivia Harris / Reuters KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia Malaysian police said on Monday they had arrested four people, among them three foreigners, with links to an Islamic State cell based out of the southern Philippines. Muslim-majority Malaysia has been on high alert since an attack last January by Islamic State-linked militants in Jakarta, the capital of neighboring Indonesia. The cell, operating out of the province of Mindanao, was led by a former university lecturer, Mahmud Ahmad, who is known to be a Malaysian member of Islamic State, Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement. The cell had planned to use the east Malaysian state of Sabah as a transit point for South Asian and Southeast Asian militant recruits looking to join Islamic State in the Philippines, Khalid said. He said one of the arrested suspects, a Philippine man, had been instructed to recruit new followers from Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Rohingya Muslims from Burma, and arrange for their travel to Mindanao. The suspect, a watch-seller, was arrested in Sabah along with a Malaysian woman who was planning to marry and travel with him to the Philippines, Khalid said. Police also arrested two Bangladeshi men in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, who had allegedly been recruited by the Philippine suspect. The two are suspected of having links with Daesh groups in Bangladesh, Khalid said, using another name for Islamic State. Khalid said Mahmuds cell had joined up with the Philippine militant group, Abu Sayyaf, and pledged its allegiance to the groups leader and the countrys most-wanted man, Isnilon Hapilon. Last June, militants who claimed to be fighting for Islamic State said in a video they had chosen Isnilon to lead the groups Southeast Asian faction. The video, posted on social media, marked Islamic States acceptance of allegiance by Southeast Asian supporters and called for them to launch attacks in the region. Malaysia has arrested more than 250 people between 2013 and 2016 over militant activities linked to the Islamic State. Burma Burmese Tycoons Contribute $8 Million to Govt Peace Fund State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi chairs the government peace negotiation body, as part of her stated prioritization of peace and national reconciliation. Burmese tycoons contributed more than 11 billion kyats (US$8 million) to the National Reconciliation and Peace Centers Peace Fund, within two weeks of the government calling on the public to donate. The funds received will be coordinated by the newly-formed Joint Coordination Body (JCB) for peace process funding. The JCB will oversee the expenses in four key sectors: ceasefire negotiation and implementation; negotiation and dialogue; development that supports peace; and the National Reconciliation and Peace Center (NRPC). A detailed ist of national donors will be released soon, said U Zaw Htay, the Presidents Office spokesperson. We are compiling a list, he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, and there will be an honorary ceremony for some of those who contributed. So far, more than 11 billion kyats have been contributed, including donations from businesses like Kanbawza Bank and Shwe Than Lwin Media Co. The number could go up to as high as 15 billion kyats as more donations come in, said U Khin Shwe, the chairman of the Zaykabar Company and a former Upper House lawmaker. U Khin Shwe said he would also donate 1 billion kyats. Last week, the Brighter Future Myanmar Foundationwhich is the philanthropic wing of the countrys largest bank, Kanbawza Bankdonated 3 billion kyats toward the peace process. Earlier this month, the National League for Democracys (NLD) members of Parliament also donated 200 million kyats from an NLD lawmakers fundinto which 25 percent of their salaries are contributedto the peace fund. The NLD government has been using the national budget for peace related projects, including the convening of the 21st Panglong peace conference, despite the availability of foreign aid. The government said the Peace Fund will allow public ownership of the peace process and the State Counselor urged Burmese tycoons to contribute. We want our people to feel ownership for the process. We also know that foreign aid has been available, so we formed the JCB to be able to effectively use this aid for the peace process as well, said Zaw Htay. Amagyi [State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] wants to have peace in the countryso, our donations will be useful in some way to help support those in needespecially for food and shelter for internally displaced people, added former lawmaker U Khin Shwe. Amagyi said we, the national people, should donate because up to this point the international community has been supporting the peace process, he said. Two Union peace conferences were held in 2016 and a third one [the second 21st Century Panglong peace conference] is to be likely to held in late February. To convene the first Union Peace Conference in January 2016 under former president U Thein Sein, some 300 million kyats from the national budget and some US$100,000 from international peace funds were used, according to sources close to the former governments peace team. Information about the cost of holding the 21st Century Panglong peace conference in September 2016 has not yet been released. Burma Postal Service Gains Public Trust Japans parliamentary vice-minister Megumi Kaneko visited the Rangoon General Post Office. / Chanson / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Burmas postal service has increased public trust after receiving technical expertise from Japan, said the Japanese parliamentary vice-minister for internal affairs and communications. The parliamentary vice-minister Megumi Kaneko visited the Rangoon General Post Office on Tuesdaynearly three years after the two countries signed the first memorandum regarding the postal business, which enabled Japan to help modernize Burmas postal system using the Japan Post as a model. During my visit to the General Post Office, I [observed] that the public has more trust in the postal service than in the past, Kaneko told the media at a press conference on Tuesday. We are trying to implement a postal service model incorporating Burmas network of some 1,380 post offices around the country, she added. Japan Post Co. dispatched specialists and technical trainers to major post offices in three principle cities: Naypyidaw, Rangoon and Mandalay. Burmas General Post Office under the ministry of Transport and Communications also sent its staff to Japan for training sessions following the agreement to seek assistance from Japan in early 2014. Japanese specialists conducted a comprehensive review and survey on the Burmese postal service and introduced a system called Kessoku, which aimed to optimize operation schedules for precise and efficient deliveries. Kaneko said the reputation of the postal service in Burma was not satisfactory in the past and she had pledged to help improve the quality of the countrys postal system, expecting that its business potential would attract Japanese investors. Delivery times for express mail between citieswhich had averaged 2-3 days in the pastwere shortened to 1.1 days and deliveries of ordinary mailwhich had taken 4-5 dayswere shortened to 1.6 days, she said at the press conference on Tuesday, referring to their evaluation survey. The parliamentary vice-minister will visit Naypyidaw on Wednesday to meet the minister of transport and communications, as well as the information minister, for further collaboration in information technology and broadcast services. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Burma to attend the Japan-Asean summit meeting in November 2014, and Burmas State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi went to Japan in November to discuss aid to Burma and future business collaborations. Burma Schoolteacher Shot Dead in Hpakant Miners search for jade stones at a mine dump at a Hpakant jade mine in Kachin State, Burma on November 28, 2015. / Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters RANGOON A schoolteacher was abducted and gunned down Wednesday morning in Kachin States Hpakant, the Hpakant Township Police Station has confirmed. U Aung Zin Tun, a schoolteacher in the village of Nantmaphyit, was abducted from his house in the village at around 8:45 a.m. and his body was recovered at around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, said a police officer in Hpakant Township. Unconfirmed sources said the teacher was abducted by three unidentified men, but The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the information. We found the body near a heap of earth waste [from a jade mine] by the roadside of Jayar Yang road, which runs from Nantmaphyit to Malam. We have opened a murder case, said the police officer. Police are still investigating the case, and have yet to find out how long ago the slain teacher was assigned to Hpakant Township. That schoolteacher beat students who went to the Kachin State Day celebration [on Jan. 10]. Then, parents complained and he had to apologize to them. Thats how I knew him. I was amazed to hear that he was dead this morning, said U Brang Shawng, a Hpakant local. The police officer from Hpakant Township Police Station said that ten students were absent from U Aung Zin Tuns class on Jan. 10 without requesting leave. The next day, he hit each student twice with a wooden sheet. He did not know they went to the Kachin State Day celebration. Then, the Kachin Tradition and Literature Committee summoned him, [because of the beatings] and he had offered apologies. So, as far as we are concerned, it had been settled, said the police officer. The police station is working to identify the murderers and the concerned ward administrators are assisting the police in their investigation. There are over 100,000 internal migrants from across Burma working at jade mines in Hpakant, where drugs are also easily available. In 2016, an unidentified gunman gunned down a ward administrator in her residence in Hpakant. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko Burma SSA-N Rejects Defense Ministry Accusation That They Attacked Burma Army Shan State Army-North soldiers at their Wan Hai headquarters in 2015. / Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Ethnic armed group Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) hit back at a Ministry of Defense report that the group attacked Burma Army troops as they destroyed a poppy plantation in Mong Hsu Township, Shan State on Sunday. Col. Sai Phone Han of the SSA-N told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that in fact the Burma Army attacked SSA-N bases in Mong Hsu Township. It is propaganda from the defense ministry, he said. It is not true that they came to destroy poppies, they attacked our bases and we fought them off. A defense ministry statement on Jan. 21 reported that the Burma Army and police were destroying poppy fields when they were attacked three times by SSA-N troops. The Burma Army ordered the SSA-N to withdraw from two bases in Mong Hsu Township by Jan. 19 but SSA-N leaders maintained that the land belonged to them and the two sides clashed on Sunday. Locals have reported a recent buildup of SSA-N troops but Col. Sai Phone Han said the situation was stable. We have had two days without fighting, he said. The SSA-N did not sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) but did sign a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government in 2012. Clashes between the armed group and government troops continue, however, including a major government offensive against the SSA-N headquarters in Wan Hai in 2015. The National League for Democracy-led government is slated to hold the second 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference in February, though the date is not yet confirmed. Conflicts have increased in recent months with ongoing clashes in Muse and Kutkai townships in northern Shan State between the Burma Army and the Northern Alliancea coalition of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Arakan Army (AA). A total of eight Burma Army soldiers were killed and more than ten wounded in a four-hour firefight with the TNLA in Kutkai Township, Shan State on Monday in which the Burma Army reportedly used two helicopters, according to the TNLA. The ministry of defense reported that one KIA member was killed and ammunition was seized in a clash in Muse Township on Sunday. Burma Tensions Rise between Burma Army and SSA-N over Mong Hsu Road Project SSA-N soldiers clean their weapons at a base near Wang Hai. / Lawi Weng / The Irrawaddy RANGOON Tensions rose Thursday as the Burma Army demanded that soldiers of the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) withdraw from one of their bases in Mong Hsu Township, northern Shan State, in order to make way for a road-building project that cuts into SSA-N territory. A battalion commander from the Burma Army directed Mong Hsu Township authorities to instruct the SSA-N to pull back from their Mong Hsu base, according to an SSA-N spokesperson. They threatened to attack us if we refused to withdraw from our base, said Col Sai Su of the SSA-N. They ordered us to withdraw by noon today. As the noon deadline passed, Col Sai Su told The Irrawaddy that his troops had not withdrawn, and the SSA-N would fight back if the Burma Army approached their positions. The demands from the Burma Army were only verbal, and we need to find out more, said Col Sai Su. Whether or not their orders are legitimate. The SSA-N has not signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA), but it did sign a bilateral ceasefire with the government in 2012. Still, there are occasional clashes between the Burma Army and the SSA-N, including a major government offensive against the SSA-N headquarters in Wong Hai in 2015. Col Sai Su criticized the way in which the Burma Army pushed into Mong Hsu. They may have expected that our talks would yield a positive result, he said. But these were not constructive steps they took to engage with us. Tensions have mounted since early January when Brig-Gen Htet Htun, a Burma Army leader, informed SSA-N leaders that the army planned to construct a new road in Mong Hsu. Two Burma Army battalions have deployed in January near the area of contention in Mong Hsu Township, according to Col. Sai Su. So far, SSA-N leadership has not agreed to allow the road construction because they suspect it is intended to make it easier for the Burma Army to launch future military offensives in the region. When we receive an order like this, to withdraw from our positions in Mong Hsu, how do they think we feel? said Col Sai Su. They should understand our feelings. They should come and talk directly to us. They should not send someone else to do it, he added. Burma Two Years On, Investigation Into Double Murder of Kachin Teachers Has Stalled Rangoon civil society groups join in prayer at Maha Bandoola Garden and demand an investigation into the case of two slain female Kachin teachers who were raped and killed in Shan States Kutkai Township in 2015. / Sai Zaw / The Irrawaddy Two years on, an investigation into the brutal rape and murder of two Kachin schoolteachers in Kutkai Township has stalled due to continued war. On Thursday, Jan. 19, a memorial service was held in Kutkais Kaung Kha village for the victims: Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin, who were both 20-year-old volunteer teachers working with the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) when they were raped and killed in their hut on the same day in 2015. Members of the Kachin public and the KBC attended the memorial. Zau Rau from the KBC in Muse, Shan State, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that thousands had gathered to pray for the two young women. KBC has been working to seek justice for the victims. Zau Rau said they had consulted with the Kachin Lawyers Network regarding the legal proceedings of the case, which have not been filed. The case investigation team led by the Muse District police head is reportedly still gathering information. At the time of the murders, Kaung Kha was occupied by soldiers from the Burma Army Infantry Battalion 503. The victims legal support team were scheduled in May 2016 to meet soldiers in a Lashio court who were accused of perpetrating the crime, but the meeting fell through. The KBC asked the Burma Army for the opportunity to question 28 soldiers stationed in the area at the time of the murder, but the Tatmadaw did not comply. We wanted to talk with and interview the three drivers who drove the soldiers truck, and to all 28 soldiers the following morning [after the murder]. But we still cannot, Zau Rau explained. The ongoing conflict in northern Shan State, including in Kutkai Township, is the main obstacle in processing the case, said Brang Dee, an advocate in Lashio who represents the Kachin Lawyers Network. The Kachin lawyer collaborated with the government investigation team but Brang Dee said, We could not travel to meet with witnesses in the area, as the area is in a conflict zone. Locals claim Burma Army soldiers could be the perpetrators, as the crime happened while they were in Kaung Kha. Ten days after the incident, the Tatmadaws own newspaper denied the accusations and threatened legal action against anyone who claimed otherwise. Despite such threats, people have continued calling for the justice for the two victims. Internationally, the Burma Campaign UK delivered a petition signed by more than 3,200 people to the UK government, calling on them to do more to help stop rape and sexual violence in Burma, on this second anniversary of the victims deaths. Womens rights activists have also called for an independent and unbiased inquiry into the case, with an investigation team comprised of representatives from womens organizations, civil society groups and human rights lawyers. May Sabe Phyu, director of the Gender Equality Network said, the case of the two schoolteachers highlights the insecurity and limits to justice faced by women in the conflict zone. We, the womens groups, will never forget or ignore the case, as long as justice is not being sought, she said. News NCA Signatories Push Army Chief to Halt Clashes with Northern Alliance Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing welcomes Mutu Say Poe in Naypyidaw on Monday. / Commander-in-Chief Office / Facebook NAYPYIDAW The Peace Process Steering Team (PPST)a committee representing the eight ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA)called on State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma Army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to declare a unilateral ceasefire in Burmas northern conflict zones. Delegation leader Pado Saw Mutu Say Poe pressed the ceasefire demand on Monday as the PPST met separately with both of Burmas top decision-makers in Naypyidaw, according to PPST spokesperson Col Khun Okkar. Our delegation leader Mutu Say Poe has called on both the State Counselor and the army chief to stop the military operations in the northern areas of Burma, not just to reduce them, Col Khun Okkar told reporters. Neither the State Counselor nor the army chief gave any official response to the ceasefire demand. The two leaders did not make official remarks. They just evaded it, said Col Khun Okkar. However, they indirectly mentioned the cause of clashes in the northern areas. Maybe thats why they did not talk about de-escalation and ceasefire. During the meeting, the Burma Army chief tried to justify the ongoing military operations. He presented evidence that certain ethnic armed groups had launched attacks on the Union Highway and were working to expand the territory under their control, said Col Khun Okkar. It appears that the government will be taking the lead role in the peace process, and the army will implement any ceasefire deal, said Col Khun Okkar. If it receives approval from the Burma Army, the governments Peace Commission will hold talks with the Northern Alliancean ethnic alliance of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Arakan Army (AA), he said. Since Nov. 20, the four ethnic armed groups of the Northern Alliance have been involved in daily clashes with the Burma Army in Shan and Kachin states in areas close to the Burma-China border. The clashes have resulted in dozens of civilian and military deaths and caused thousands of villagers to flee their homes. Probably, there will be leaders from the Wa, Mongla, and three Northern Alliance members who may arrive in Naypyidaw in mid-February. And I think there may be some new NCA signatory groups before the end of February, ahead of the 21st Century Panglong, said Col Khun Okkarsending a signal that the Northern Alliance may be persuaded to sign the NCA. The Burma Army has refused to recognize the AA as an official ethnic armed group, pointing out that it was only founded in 2009. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and army chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing have brought different approaches to the peace process. The governments approach seems to be to try to understand the difficulties of NCA non-signatories and to work with them, according to Col Khun Okkar. All ethnic armed groups must sign the NCA before they will be permitted to join the peace conference that is slated for late February. The Burma Army will not allow any non-signatory groups to attend, the PPST said. The PPST has argued that the political outcome of the 21st Century Panglong will be legal and binding only if all groups are allowed to send representatives. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. Politics State Counselor, NCA Signatories Meet to Increase Peace Cooperation Burmas State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement met in administrative capital Naypyidaw on Monday to discuss the second round of the Union Peace Conference. / State Counselor Office / Facebook NAYPYIDAW Burmas State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) met in the administrative capital Naypyidaw on Monday to discuss the second round of the Union Peace Conference, also known as the 21st Century Panglong peace conference. Discussions focused on strengthening the cooperation between the two sides to achieve better results at the conference, which is slated to be held at the end of February. The meeting was mainly about how to cooperate for the success of the peace process and to ensure that the second round of 21st Panglong Conference yields the political results we desire, Col Khun Okkar, of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), told the media after the meeting at the National Reconciliation and Peace Center in Naypyidaw. The meetings were held following a request from NCA signatories to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma Army Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing. Those who signed the NCA in Oct. 2015 include the All Burma Students Democratic Front, Karen National Union (KNU), Chin National Front, PNLO, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army, KNU/KNLA Peace Council, the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South, and the Arakan Liberation Party. The eight groups combined Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) held an urgent two-day meeting from Jan. 10-11, and decided that they should meet Burmas top decision makers. Many things happened last year,and so in the urgent meeting of the PPST we decided that we should meet the State leaders. We at first decided to dispatch a five-member delegation, but then we came as a six-member delegation, said Col Khun Okkar. The delegation was led by Pado Saw Mutu Say Poe of the KNU. The PPST said they came to discuss cooperation, as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said during her peace talks with youth in Naypyidaw on Jan. 1 that 2017 would be a peace year. Divisional level political dialogue will start soon in Dawei and Irrawaddy Division in the run-up to the second round of the peace conference. In addition, discussions with ethnic minority groups will be held in Chin State and also among Pa-O communities before holding the 21st Century Panglong Conference, according to Col Khun Okkar. He said that he hoped that discussion between the Burma Army and Chinese delegates would pave the way for the Northern Alliancethe Kachin Independence Army, Taang National Liberation Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Arakan Armyto join the 21st Century Panglong Conference. If the channel for negotiation is opened, clashes may deescalate, Col Khun Okkar said. In a meeting with Northern Alliance representatives in Kunming on Jan. 19, Chinas Special Envoy of Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang requested that the ethnic armed coalition begin peace talks with the Burma Army, and asked that fighting subside during the upcoming Chinese New Year. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko The promotional poster for the upcoming Indo-Chinese joint venture movie, 'Kung Fu Yoga,' featuring Jackie Chan. Driving a car with a real lion on the backseat was not the only risky thing that Chinese actor Jackie Chan did while filming Kung Fu Yoga. He revealed at a press conference at Equarius Hotel that he had a secret surgery while in the middle of shooting the movie. And even if he was in pain, he shot a scene the next day in Iceland wherein he dove into very cold water because he refused to use a stunt double. Advertisement Emergency Surgery While in London, he felt so much pain so he had a check-up, but doctors found his abdominal muscles were rotting and his intestines were not in place. The 62-year-old Jackie Chan went through an emergency five-hour surgery to address his condition, Toggle reported. Only six people knew he had the surgery, and it excludes his wife Lin Feng Jiao and son Jaycee Chan. After the success of the procedure, he called his family and informed them. If I told them before the surgery, they would worry themselves to death. Id rather let them know when everything is fine, the actor explained. Brain Surgery Injuries as an action star are part of the risks that come with his work that Jackie Chan had gone to so many medical procedures to address the health conditions. In 1986, while shooting Armour of God, his head hit the ground first which caused a crack on his skull that pierced the actors brain. He had a surgery and told his family seven days after the procedure. Following his London surgery that left four big holes on Jackie Chans stomach, Stanley Tong, the director of Kung Fu Yoga cancelled the fight scene between the action and Aarif Rahman, a 29-year-old Arab-Malay-Chinese actor, but Jackie Chan insisted on shooting the scene. Kung Fu Yoga is one of the films that would open on Jan. 27 for Chinas Spring Festival. Jackie Chan is currently in Mubai to promote the movie. According to Times of India, Indian actor Sonu Sood made arrangements so his co-star would have a memorable stay in India in terms of grand hotel accommodations, watching a stand-up comedy show and have him watch a Bollywood movie. Tuesday, January 24th, 2017 (11:52 am) - Score 1,525 The rural villages of Barbon and Middleton in Cumbria have today won a grant of 9,900 from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and its Sustainable Development Fund (SDF), which will be used to help B4RN roll-out a 1Gbps community-built FTTH network. JFDI. At present B4RNs (Broadband for the Rural North) community built and funded Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH/P) network has already connected well over 2,500 premises around remote rural parts of Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire in England (here). Customers typically pay just 30 per month for the 1000Mbps (symmetrical) unlimited service and theres also a one-off connection fee of 150. The network, which is supported by a strong team of local community volunteers who help to build the infrastructure (usually in exchange for shares in B4RN), is almost constantly expanding and todays news is another perfect example. Last April 2016 residents from two small villages in the Lune Valley Barbon and Middleton joined forces with B4RN to create the B4RN Barbon and Middleton Community Group. Both villages are about 2.2 miles apart (Middleton is directly north of Barbon) and linked by the A683 road. Since being established the new community group has already made fantastic progress, with the first 15 properties (8 live) being connected in Barbon during November 2016 via a mix of either 1Gbps FTTH/P or an up to 200-300Mbps WiFi solution (community hotspot). However the project has today received a big boost thanks to the YDNPAs new grant of 9,900. Apparently this extra investment will enable them to fund the cost of the main fibre optic control cabinet at Barbon Village Hall, that serves both Barbon and Middleton communities, plus links forward to Dent and Garsdale where B4RN has also been busy. Chris Clark, YDNPA Champion for Sustainable Development, said: This is the eighth B4RN community broadband project that we have been able to support with the Authoritys Sustainable Development Fund, investing a total of 81,000 in improved broadband infrastructure in the National Park. Access to good quality broadband is critical to strong, self-reliant and balanced communities and is a real challenge for small, remote communities that have been overlooked in the national roll-out so far. These are exactly the sort of projects our Sustainable Development Fund is designed to support. Kevin Taylor, Chairman of the B4RN Barbon and Middleton Community Group, said: This project just goes to show what a community can achieve when everyone pulls together. As well as enjoying the benefits of hyperfast broadband ourselves, we are future proofing our two rural communities. We should again highlight that the vast majority of funding for this roll-out (around 70%) has already been raised by local residents (the project has a target of about 130,000) and so the extra 9,900 should put it very close to being fully funded. The cost per house to build the system in Barbon is currently about 690, although this falls as the percentage of take-up increases. We note that Barbon is home to around 240 people, while Middleton is much smaller and appears to be mostly a sparse farming community. Meanwhile B4RN continue to roll-out in other areas too and they hope to have 3,000 active connections by the end of April 2017. Long may it continue. Pictured: Left to Right = Kevin Taylor (B4RN Barbon and Middleton Community Group Chairman), Mike Kingsbury (Treasurer to the Community Group) and Carl Lis (Chairman of Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority). President Trump has elevated Ajit Pai from commissioner to Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He will officially replace Tom Wheeler, who resigned as of the end of the Obama administration. Pai is the senior Republican FCC commissioner. Interestingly, he was appointed by Barack Obama in 2012. Pai was the most vocal opponent of Wheeler, and was particularly ardent in reaction to the net neutrality rules, which are the former commissioners legacy accomplishment. The story suggests that Pai will be at least as supportive as Wheeler on freeing up spectrum for 5G and streamlining equipment siting and deployment for the new cellular standard, according to RCR Wireless. On December 7, Pai spoke to the Free State Foundation, which is the source of much of todays analysis. He clearly stated that the net neutrality rules, which mandate equal treatment of all content, were doomed under President Trump. On the day that the Title II Order was adopted, I said that I dont know whether this plan will be vacated by a court, reversed by Congress, or overturned by a future Commission. But I do believe that its days are numbered. Today, I am more confident than ever that this prediction will come true. And Im hopeful that beginning next year, our general regulatory approach will be a more sober one that is guided by evidence, sound economic analysis, and a good dose of humility. What he didnt know that day, of course, is that he would head up the wrecking crew. A substantive insight into Pais positions was posted by Devin Coldewey at TechCrunch. Being substantive, of course, doesnt mean it is fair and balanced. That said, it is critical of Pai. Pai, the piece says, has written many things that are worryingly incendiary. Coldewey does say that it is wrong to call Pais viewpoints unreasonable and credits him with having a willingness to negotiate and compromise. But, at the end of the day, Coldewey says that Pai has consistently come down on one side: It turns out that industry giants are almost always the gainers in Pais ostensibly by-the-book objections, often in the form of being allowed to continue doing what theyve been doing for years or decades. This isnt because hes an industry plant something people thought about Wheeler, by the way but because hes a die-hard free market Republican who truly believes that largely unregulated competition is the path forward. And like any other ambitious politician, he isnt afraid to cherry-pick facts or manipulate the message to achieve that goal. Obama famously said that elections have consequences. It seems that one of those consequences almost certainly will be the end of net neutrality. Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk. Infosys has released a large survey on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). The major takeaway from the survey is that the companies that have enjoyed financial success recently are those likely to be ahead in AI deployment. The implication is that smart companies think that AI is a winner. The survey, Amplifying Human Potential: Towards Purposeful Artificial Intelligence, included input from 1,600 senior business decision makers. The tie between success in the recent past and excitement about AI is clear: Organizations who report faster growth in revenue over the past three years were also more likely to be further ahead when it comes to AI maturity, the press release says. Respondents seem to accept that AI is a big part of their future: AI is perceived as a long-term strategic priority for innovation, with 76 percent of the respondents citing AI as fundamental to the success of their organizations strategy, and 64 percent believing that their organizations future growth is dependent on large-scale AI adoption. While there are ethical and job related concerns 62 percent believe that stringent ethical standards are needed to ensure the success of AI most respondents seem optimistic about redeploying displaced employees with higher value work. The press release offers a summary of findings, including the fact that organizations that have or plan to deploy AI expect a 39 percent average increase in revenue and a 37 percent reduction in costs by 2020. The fast and deep acceptance of AI by industry is also the theme of a post today at Forbes by Gil Press, who quotes numbers from Narrative Science, Forrester Research and IDG. They all point in an upward arc, including the prediction by IDG that AIs market value will grow from $8 billion last year to $47 billion in 2020. Press listed what to him are the top 10 AI business applications. Theyre all already established in business, or on their way to being so. Thus, its not hard to see why the growth will be so fast. They are: natural language; speech recognition; virtual agents; machine learning; AI-optimized hardware; decision management; deep learning; biometrics; robotic process automation and text analytics and natural language processing. The ways in which AI works will improve as it burrows deeper into the enterprise. Entrepreneur suggests that AI has solved, or is close to solving, several challenges that slowed its progress. For instance, systems will soon be able to learn without human oversight and think abstractly and creatively. The result, the piece suggests, is that AI will provide better tools and analytics, and enable personnel to be redeployed and better solve customer needs. AI is here to stay. Indeed, its acceptance in business will accelerate as time goes on as the systems get ever-more clever and independent. Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk. South Korean Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun (Photo : ARIRANG NEWS/Youtube) South Korean Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun was arrested on Jan. 21, Saturday, on the grounds for suspicion of the abuse of power by the South Korean Prosecutor. She draws up a blacklist of artists, writers, and entertainers relevant to the case of impeaching President Park Geun-hye. Advertisement A group of special prosecutors took the famed Culture Minister that afternoon for series of questioning. This is the first time a sitting high official got arrested in South Korean political history. Acting President, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency that the 50-year-old minister to submit her resignation. However, Prime Minister Kyo-ahn is waiting for the court to decide about the President's fate for the rulings, Wall Street Journal reported. Given that the constitutional court pursues on the impeachment, President Park Geun-he will be the first democratic leader elected into office that will be removed due to corruption scandal being heard in the court. There are guidelines being implemented on National Censorship on the impending political crisis in South Korea. It aims to penalize artists in cases for obstructing the running impeachment hearing. Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun finally got arrested, according to the Seoul Central District Court with a statement, "the crime has been verified and there were concerns over the destruction of evidence," on a text message to reporters. The warrant was issued last Wednesday. It was noted on the Reuters that arresting the Minister along with Presidential Chief of Staff was due to abuse of power and perjury. Minister Cho plainly denied that the existence of the Blacklist but heard of reports that it does. She said she's got nothing to do with it. Samsung Group's involvement also took the spotlight on the impeachment. However, the same prosecutor's office denied issuing a warrant because of charges of bribery, embezzlement, and perjury last Wednesday. Executive Vice President Hwang Sung-soo of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. was already called in for questioning on the cases involving President Park and close confidant Choi Soon-sil, whose accused of colluding to donate to two foundations to back up Presidential initiative policies. The South Korean has impeached President Park but continued to sit in an office. However, she has been stripped by the court of Presidential powers and is waiting for its final decision. NASAs New Horizons spacecraft is getting ready for its next big mission in the icy outskirts of the solar system nearly two years after its encounter with the dwarf planet Pluto. The spacecraft is now headed towards an object located in the Kuiper Belt roughly 1.6 billion kilometers away. This region is filled with trillions of icy rocks and remains unexplored. The new mission target was discovered in June 2014 by the Hubble Space Telescope was named 2014 MU69. Pluto which lost its planetary status after New Horizons launch in 2006 is also a Kuiper Belt Object and the largest of its kind. In 2014, 2015 New Horizons became the first spacecraft to visit Pluto when it flew by the dwarf planets and its moons. The spacecraft to about 16 months to send its data of the dwarf planet, this gave scientists new insights on Pluto and its moons. Alan Stern, the New Horizons principal investigator at Southwest Research Institute said that the New Horizons flyby of the Pluto system was completely successful. Scientists now have a global map of the dwarf planet, detailed images of Plutos mountainous landscape and icy volcanoes. Tall mountain ranges is suggestive of recent geological activity on the planets surface. A detailed photograph beamed by New Horizons quickly became Plutos famous feature. Unofficially called the Tombaugh Regio, the feature is a huge heart-shaped basin. Scientists said that the basin seems to indicate the presence of a subsurface ocean. The spacecrafts flyby also gave scientists the opportunity to study Charon, one of Plutos moons. It was discovered that once face of Charon always faces Pluto and vice-versa. As a result of being tidally locked, Plutos heart is always facing its moon, Charon. The moon was also discovered to be taking part of its atmosphere from Pluto as indicated by the moons giant red spot as reported in SPACE.com. New Horizons also found evidence of ices flowing across Plutos surface at the left edge of the heart-shaped basin. Close images taken by the crafts Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager reveal signs of geologic activity. According to John Spencer, co-investigator of the mission, surfaces like this are seen only on active worlds like Earth and Mars. The images also showed an area that lies within the western half of Plutos heart-shaped region that is the size of Texas where a sheet of ice appears to have flowed and may still be flowing reminiscent of Earths glaciers as reported in an article by NASA. The South Korean tech giant is expected to release its latest flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S8, this year as it strives to regain customers loyalty. The Samsung Galaxy S8 The most anticipated smartphone of Samsung this 2017, the Galaxy S8, as it's expected to be called, is rumored to be unveiled within the next couple of months. And with this, we have a bunch of good news from reliable sources to share. According to Tribune, the Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to boast the latest in smartphone technology and feature major design innovations. This move is for the people to trust Samsung again and regain the loss of the company in terms of its sales. Here's everything we now so far with the Samsung's latest flagship. Edge To Edge Bezel-less Display Samsung Galaxy S8 is expected to feature a full-screen bezel-less display. It is also expected to have no physical home button in front of the screen. The rumor hints at a revolutionary design allowing for a greater viewing area while maintaining the overall size of the smartphone. The physical home button could be replaced with a virtual one. As Business Insider reported, Samsung Galaxy S8 won't have a physical home button. The home button may be embedded underneath the front glass panel. If so, it could look and work similarly to the new home button on Xiaomi's new Mi 5s smartphones AI Assistant Both Apple and Google are the only smartphone device manufacturers that offer products which feature smart assistants. Tribune reported that it is expected to be a thing of the past with the introduction of the Galaxy S8. Samsung made an official announcement regarding the inclusion of an AI assistant in the upcoming smartphone after the news on the acquisition of Viv Labs Inc, which is a firm run by a Siri voice assistant program co-creator. Introduction Of Bixby This report from SamMobile could give "Bixby," Samsung's rumored AI for the Galaxy S8, its own set of eyes through the phone's camera. So, instead of asking Bixby about something you want to know, you could potentially show it what you want to search for with the Galaxy S8's camera. It's an interesting prospect, as neither Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa or Google's own Assistant are tied into any cameras or camera technology. Dual-Lens Camera ET News claims that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 will have a dual-lens camera, one of which will be a 16-megapixel camera and the other one is an 8-megapixel camera. While a more recent leak from a known gadgets leaked on Chinese social media site, Weibo, claims that the dual lens of the Samsung Galaxy S8 will have 13- and 12-megapixel sensors. Upgraded Processors Samsung Galaxy S8 models are to be packed with Qualcomms most advanced Snapdragon 835 processor. Other international models will use a version of Samsung's very own Exynos chip. Though few details on these chips exist, I am sure that they'll surely be very powerful. 4K Display Many people know that Samsung has been a leader when it comes to smartphone devices displays. The manufacturer already offers a dual-curved display with Quad HD resolution devices. However, word has it that the South Korean tech giant may switch to a higher 4K display with the upcoming Galaxy S8. While the higher resolution will certainly make for a better user experience, it would also consume greater power. This points towards a larger battery as well. If you have not seen Subaru's new Crosstrek Concept yet, then here is the deal, it looks totally awesome and you have been missing out. Subaru's new Crosstrek Concept has just recently made its debut at the 2017 Montreal Auto Show and it certainly magnetized a lot of eyes toward its handsome looks. The automaker should hurry up and make it a production model already. Subaru Concept: From XV To Crosstrek Okay, so this really is not the first time that the world has seen the Subaru Crosstrek Concept as it was first introduced during the 2016 Geneva Motor Show but it was under a different name. According to report, Subaru's concept was carrying the name of "XV" when it made its debut in Switzerland last year and while some recognized it as a Crosstrek, many people did not. Thankfully, this has been made clear when the Subaru concept made its debut at the 2017 Montreal Auto Show. Subaru Concept: What Exactly Is New? Here's the deal, the new Subaru Crosstrek concept basically says "I'm the vehicle you can that you can take anywhere you want." In terms of looks, the front section features a sporty demeanor with its wide and low stance. This is paired with hawk-eye headlights that imply solid power under the hood. The rear section features taillights that match the headlights and similar low and wide stance that are found in the front as reported. As for the sides, let's just say that it compliment the front and rear section with the way its curves extend from one end to another. Subaru Concept: Not A Lonely Debut Apparently, the new Subaru Crosstrek concept was not the only one that made its debut at the 2017 Montreal Auto Show. Reports state that the all-new Subaru Impreza has also made its appearance in the abovementioned event. "This was our first Canadian auto show with the Impreza, and we felt that the Crosstrek Concept that will share its same new platform was a great tie in," said a spokesperson for Subaru in a report. Subaru Concept: Why The Concept Should Be Made A Production Version Soon Given how sporty the Subaru Outback Crosstrek looks and we are certain that it will have a powerful engine to back its looks up, the automaker should definitely hurry up and turn the concept into reality for us soon. At present, no official word has been mentioned regarding when this will happen but it is expected to be introduced as a 2018 model. With that being said, we will either see the production version before the end of this year or it will be launched early next year. The 26th International UFO Conference is scheduled to come to Arizona in February. Thousands of people are expected to join the event where witnesses, enthusiasts and alien life experts will be the participants. Furthermore, speakers are expected to shed light on alien life by giving their testimonies and some gathered evidences to prove extraterrestrial presence. The International UFO Conference for 2017 has been set to happen in the Fountain Hills on Feb. 15-19. The five-day event comes to the site where the talked-about Phoenix Lights took place 20 years ago. The incident happened in March 1997 where thousands of residents witnessed the UFO sighting. Over a thousand of these people are expected to share their experience including the former governor of Arizona, Fife Symington. Several more witnesses of UFO sightings are set to share what they saw during the upcoming International UFO Congress. The so-called Phoenix Lights have been reported by thousands of people where an alleged triangular formation and stationary lights were witnessed. The Phoenix City Councilwoman Frances Barwood claims that she has personally spoken with over 700 residents of Phoenix who said they have seen the UFO floating silently over the city. Symington, who was then the governor of Arizona previously shed light to the 1997 incident, but he now claims to have seen the UFO himself. As was noted by OpenMinds, Symington said, Im a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that Ive ever seen. The former governor claimed that the object was not from this planet and that the incident was legit for other people to ridicule it. Following this, many people are questioning the credibility of Symingtons testimony where he initially said otherwise. James Fox, whom Symington had an interview with regarding the Phoenix Lights will also be presenting at the International UFO Congress. The footage of his interview with the former governor will be shared during the event. UFO researcher and local of Arizona and local UFO filmmaker Dr. Lynne Kitei is also expected to discuss findings regarding the Phoenix Lights incident. According to the Inquisitr, the event will be participated in by other interesting writers like Ben Hansen (Fact to Faked: Paranormal Files host), Yvonne Smith (hypnotherapist and abduction researcher), Stanton Friedman (nuclear physicist), Dr. Bob Davis (neuroscientist) and Kathleen Marden, Ryan Sprague, Erica Lukes, Jennifer Stein, Paul Stonewall, Greg Bishop, Noe Torres, Richard Dolan, Dr John Alexander and David Marler who are all UFO researchers, and UFO journalist Alejandro Rojas. There will be more speakers to join the gathering like Ted Roe (co-founder of NARCAP) USAF Colonel Charles Halt, astronaut trainer Ken Johnston and Prof. Erling Strand. These people are expected to disseminate important information about UFOs and extraterrestrial life during the 26th International UFO Conference. It's already been confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S8 won't be arriving at next month's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. It's thought that the launch of Samsung's upcoming smartphone may have been pushed back as the company works to address safety concerns in the wake of the Galaxy Note 7 disaster, with Samsung having finally revealed the cause of the battery fires which plagued that handset. In lieu, the company's mobile President DJ Koh has signaled a delayed launch date for the Galaxy S8, according to a source which could mean a late March or early April release date. Samsung Galaxy S8 May Unveil At A Separate April 15 Launch Event In New York. Two separate recalls and some explosion later, Samsung canceled its Note 7 phone which cost the company more than $5 billion. Samsung confirmed after its Galaxy Note 7 investigation press conference that the Galaxy S8 won't be unveiled to the public at MWC. Instead, Samsung will use the extended time to "To win back consumer trust," Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin announced. Rumors in recent weeks have suggested that Samsung may host a special event in either March or April to unveil the Galaxy S8. None of that has been confirmed and likely won't be for weeks. Samsung Galaxy S8 Expected Specs And Features A lot of us are expecting big things from the Galaxy S8, with speculations of a dual-lens camera, a 4200mAh battery, a massive of 6GB of RAM, an iris scanner, an AI assistant and with a curved QHD or 4K screen.Samsung may use either the Snapdragon 835 or Exynos 8895V depending on market (both 10nm chipsets) UFS 2.1 storage with IRIS scanners, water resistance, USB Type-C ports, and 3.5mm headphone jacks. In addition, the batteries might be the same size as last year's phones, which would mean 3000mAh for the S8 and 3600mAh for the Galaxy S8 Plus, however, that there will be a new version of fast charging or fast wireless charging will be expected too. After the big recall of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung decided to still continue its series with the soon to be released new flagship phablet to be called as the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Is Coming According to The Next Web, following several months of investigating, Samsung finally revealed what purportedly caused Galaxy Note 7 devices to burst on into flames. The tech giant blamed the malfunction on two separate battery-related issues. The first is the design flaw in the upper right corner of the units and a welding defect from a supplier, both of which caused the smartphone's batteries to create a short circuit and blow up. Samsung's mobile chief DJ Koh confirmed that the South Korean manufacturer has plans to unveil a new and improved Samsung Galaxy Note 8 later this year. As reported by CNET, with the new flagship smartphone, Samsung promises to "bring back a better, safer and very innovative" successor to the fire-catching Galaxy Note 7. We found through the investigative process, we knew there are lots and lots of loyal Note customers, Koh said in an interview. Tim Baxter, president of the Samsung US said that a large number of users of Galaxy Note 4, as well as Galaxy Note 5, are still loyal since they are all hoping and waiting for an upgrade for their smartphone devices. With that, the company will proceed to deliver the most-awaited upgrade. Why Samsung Is Sticking With The Galaxy Note 8? "I will bring back a better, safer and very innovative Note 8," Koh said. According to critics, the decision is a very risky move for Samsung, given the baggage the Galaxy Note brand now carries. For the past few months, airline attendants were required to say that Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones could not be carried on flights, even if they were powered off. The Samsung Galaxy Note 8, which following previous years' precedent will likely debut fall of this year and will serve as a measuring stick for how much progress the South Korean tech company makes in the coming months. "A lot is going to be based on the next great thing that comes out that's problem-free," said Thomas Cooke, a professor at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business. Framed by the accusations of wanting to get Donald Trump elected by publishing harmful material about the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks is once again in the spotlight, this time because of an action that almost no one in the U.S. expected: a declaration of war against the American president. Donald Trumps Adviser Confessed That He Wont Release His Tax Returns Believe it or not, Julian Assanges group requested that someone provides Donald Trumps tax returns in order to publish it immediately, which is clearly a threatening way to show its teeth to a president that has been characterized as being suspiciously ambiguous in this specific matter. In fact, WikiLeaks request came after Trumps senior adviser Kellyanne Conway suggested on an interview at ABC that his tax history will never be released, getting to the point in which she explained that this is something that the American people doesn't care at all. Soon after she made these comments, the whistleblower organization tweeted that Trumps breach of promise regarding this issue is even more gratuitous than Hillary Clintons concealing her Goldman Sachs transcripts, which is definitely something almost unthinkable for everyone who thought that WikiLeaks was a Trumps ally. WikiLeaks Tweeted That Trump Is Worse Than Clinton Actually, many considers that saying that Trumps lack of transparency on his funds is worse than Clintons behavior, is something quite harmful to the president, considering the terrible image that WikiLeaks made about the Democratic candidate during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. These actions were made by publishing classified material from John Podestas emails. What seems worse about Conways comments is not the fact that several polls reveals that the American people do care about Donald Trumps tax history, is actually that the president is breaking his campaign promise of doing this, and is actually breaking a tradition that has lost since 1976, in which every single U.S. president has provided this information. Although this was an unexpected scenario, it seems that WikiLeaks will turn into Trumps worst enemy during his administration. A former White House chief of staff has sent the "strongest a distress signal" that aliens exist and the US Government has been covering the entire story for fear of how the public would react. John Podesta, campaign chairman for Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House, has lifted UFO disclosure campaigners with a series of shocking answers to questions from a TV reporter. Podesta was formerly an adviser to President Barack Obama and he's the chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. One Of The Critical Issues Of Our Time In a discussion with CNN, he stressed out, it was time for the government to "release any evidence it has about the presence of alien life forms from outer space." He said: "The US government could do a much better job in responding in quite many legitimate questions that people have about what's going on with unidentified aerial phenomena." He was then asked straight, if he had seen evidence of alien visits while working for President Clinton, and gave a series of carefully-worded replies which have left UFO campaigners thunderstruck. He said: "That's for the public to critic once they've seen all the evidence that the US government has. When asked if he believed in extra-terrestrials, he added with a smile: "There are a lot of worlds out there. "The American people, I think, can handle the truth." Last month, it was evealed how Bill and Hillary Clinton had spent several years trying to get the government to reveal UFO files in the mid-90s, at the request of powerful business tycoon Laurence Rockefeller. But the Rockefeller Ingenuity, as it became known, strangely stopped without success in 1996. Theory That Upholds The Truth, Might Be In Reserve The couple and Mr Podesta have been suspected by the Paradigm Research Group, which lobbies the White House for full disclosure, of declining to speak of the initiative or why it was unsuccessful ever since. But since January this year camp Clinton has been making noises about the release of such files and more transparency about the secretive Area 51 top-secret military base. In January Mrs Clinton said she wanted to open on what is happening at the shadowy facility in Nevada, where UFO comparatists believe evidence of alien technology is hidden away. Answering to questions about UFOs during an interview in New Hampshire, she said: "I am going to find the underlying truth of it." Temperatures raised another notch last month when her most trusted advisor Mr Podesta reiterated her commitment to release top-secret UFO files to the world if elected. Mr Podesta added in the latest interview that if Mrs Clinton is elected, "she'll ask for as many records about Area 51 in Nevada as the US government has to be declassified." He said: "I think that's a vow that she intends to keep and that I aim to hold her to." Russell Calka of the exploration group said it was the sturdiest signal so far from a senior official that aliens exist. He said: "He mostly tells the world that aliens are real and the data are real without ever in a straight word, saying anything." A study from the genetics firm deCODE in Reykjavik has exposed an evolving change in our brains characteristics and formation. Put it simply, those born in 1910 were more likely to stick with schooling for longer than those in 1975. And it's not just a matter of changing attitudes. Humans Really Are Still Evolving, Study Finds The gradual death of a cluster of genes is being held responsible for the slow but steady drop in IQ. At the researchers' point of view it was a genetic study and bank of database of more than 100,000 Icelandic citizens. They matched this against a set of 74 genes recognized early last year as being involved in brain progress during pregnancy. Put it together, their presence - nor absence - could be used as an pointer for how long an individual was likely to spend going through the school and university. This is what the Icelandic researchers sought to test. Their study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month, uncovered the decline. "As a species, we are well-defined by the power of our brains," deCODE CEO Kari Stefansson said in a account. "Education is an exercise and refining of our mental capacities. Thus, it is mesmerizing to find that genetic factors linked to more time spent in schooling are becoming rarer in the gene pool." It's a leak, if proven true, that has dire inferences, but it is supported contingent evidence. It's long been noted people who seek higher education tend to have fewer children. This, the scholars say, means Iceland's smarter population have been contributing less to the nation's gene pool. And it's beginning to show. "The rate of reduction is small per generation but marked on an evolutionary period," the paper reads. The scholars argue that time spent in the schooling system itself does not appear to be to blame for the fall in fertility. It's all in the genes. Those inclined towards education appear also to have a tendency towards having children later in life. "Despite the negative selection against these order variations, education levels have been increasing through the years," Dr. Stefansson notes. "Time will tell whether the decline of the genetic propensity for education will have a notable impact on human society." How Will Evolution Alter Human Beings In The Future? This sounds odd to many people, especially because the technological boom that we have seen now in modern times, but it is true. In fact, a Stanford University biology professor recently published two papers in which he spoken his conclusion that humans have been getting dumber for thousands of years... Are humans today becoming smarter or stupider? Comparing in our modern lives and technology with that of any early generation, one might think we are becoming smarter. But, in two papers published in Trends in Genetics, Gerald R. Crabtree of Stanford University claims that we are losing mental dimensions and have been doing so for 2,000-6,000 years! The reason, Crabtree concludes, is due to genetic mutations-which are the mainstay of neo-Darwinian evolution. The expected closing date of Verizon's deal to buy Yahoo is pushed back to the second quarter from the first. Verizon's Deal To Acquire Yahoo According to The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo announced on Monday, Jan. 23, that its $4.8 billion deal with Verizon is expected to close a quarter later than expected. The reason invoked for the delay is the fact that both sides have to deal with the fallout of two massive data breaches disclosed Yahoo. The hacks were announced by the internet company in September and December, casting a shadow over the future of Verizon's agreement to acquire Yahoo's core internet business. Previously, the deal was expected to close in the first three months of 2017, but now the deal's closure is pushed into the second quarter. According to CNBC, Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo's core business in July 2016. Verizon aims to broaden the scale of its AOL media offerings and acquiring Yahoo's internet core business could help supporting its business expansion strategy. Yahoo shared a chart in a quarterly earnings report showing a slight decline in searches, page views and email messages sent and read compared with statistics on Dec. 14. At that time the company announced a second data breach affecting over one billion user accounts. Because they didn't show a major decline, Verizon can still be encouraged by Yahoo's user engagement numbers. However, it appears that, before making a final determination, the communications company still needs more time to monitor the impact. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer highlighted the continued stability in company's user engagement trends and said in a statement that the opportunities with Verizon are still looking bright. However, Yahoo skipped its conference call with market analysts, as it also did the previous quarter. Investors are still optimistic that the deal would go through. Yahoo's stock rose on Monday to $42.70 or nearly 1 percent in after-hours trading. On the long term, after the disclosure on Dec. 14 or the second hack, Yahoo's stock has risen to about 4 percent. The remaining company would be called Altaba, in case that the sale of Yahoo's core internet business will be completed. The new name would contain Yahoo's stake in Alibaba as well as Yahoo Japan. Other Challenges To Closing The Deal Another challenge that complicates matters for the deal is an investigation started by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investigation aims to clarify whether Yahoo should have disclosed the data breaches sooner. Yahoo disclosed in September the 2014 theft of more than 500 million user accounts. The stolen personal data included names, dates of birth, email addresses, encrypted passwords and telephone numbers and encrypted passwords. Then the company said in mid-December that it was hit with a different massive data breach in 2013, compromising more than one billion user accounts. Verizon was close to an agreement with Yahoo on ways of handling future hacking liabilities before the company disclosed the second hack. However, the disclosure put things on hold and amplified concerns among investors that the accord would fall apart. Yahoo's financial health was overshadowed by these disclosures of the hacks. Yahoo said on Monday that its overall revenue rose 16 percent to $1.47 billion. Revenue rose 25 percent to $590 million when looking at the growing areas of video, mobile, native and social ads. NCPA: Lang suits the position not just because of his many achievements in the musical arena but also because of the strong partnership he has shared with the organization through the years. (Photo : chncpa.org) "As our organization enters its 10th year, Lang Lang is the best candidate of the Artist-in-Residence program," said NCPA Vice President Li Zhixiang in a press conference. In a news conference on Jan. 17, the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) announced that it has chosen international classical pianist Lang as its Artist-in-Residence for 2017-2018. Advertisement Li said that Lang suits the position not just because of his many achievements in the musical arena but also because of the strong partnership he has shared with the organization through the years. On Dec. 31, 2007, during its inauguration year, NCPA was joined by the pianist in its first New Year's Concert under Maestro Seiji Ozawa. He was also invited in April 2011 to be the Ambassador of NCPA Classical Music Channel. Then in Dec. 2012 he cooperated with the China NCPA Orchestra for the 5th anniversary of NCPA. And though based in New York which he considers his second home, Lang would join NCPA almost every year in doing performances before Chinese audiences in Beijing. As the Artist-in-Residence, he will be doing four concerts. According to the news release of NCPA, Lang's recital in April will include the music of Debussy, Liszt, Albeniz and Manuel de Falla. In December, he will work with China NCPA Orchestra in the Grieg's Piano Concerto under Zubin Mehta. Lang will also join the Orchestra's second North America tour and stage a show in Carnegie Hall in New York. He will also perform in the popular oriental classics Yellow River Piano Concerto, which will be one of the highlights of his residence. Lang will also conduct a master class as part of the residence program, China Daily reported. During the past years he had already done master classes. The first was in 2008, and then two more in 2009 and 2012. This class is part of NCPA's art education program. "NCPA has been an important partner in promoting classical music in China and also a supporter of my career. I have deep respect for organization, as well as many unforgettable moments," said Lang. The Artist-in-Residence program of NCPA was started in 2014 and was successively joined by Wang Jian, Yuja Wang, and Chen Qigang. A few months after Samsung was forced to recall and later cease production of the Galaxy Note 7, the Korean conglomerate has now revealed the results of its investigation regarding its exploding devices. The investigating groups, one from Samsung and three from third party firms (Exponent, TUV Rheinland, and UL), came up with two reasons. Design Flaw The first involved a design flaw in the original Galaxy Note 7 batteries. The said flaw, located at the upper right corner of the battery, allowed the electrodes to bend causing the separation between the negative and positive tabs to breakdown. This is similar to what one independent company, Instrumental, discovered upon subjecting the device to a teardown. Instrumental found out that the separators between the negative (graphite) and positive (lithium cobalt oxide) layers were too thin to prevent the layers from touching each other. Manufacturing Issues A manufacturing issue on the ramp of the replacement batteries was the reason why they also caught fire. Other problems in manufacturing that the investigators encountered were the battery's high energy density, inconsistencies in the charge level, and missing or uneven insulation tape. Interestingly, Samsung pointed out that the problem was not the phone itself. The Galaxy Note 7, on its own, was fine but it demanded too much. It required powerful batteries in its thin frame which unfortunately pushed the limits of engineering. The investigating team included around 700 engineers who focused on testing 200,000 units of the Galaxy Note 7 along with 30,000 more batteries. The Galaxy Note 7 was released in August last year but after hundreds of cases wherein the handset suddenly went up in smoke and even caught fire, Samsung recalled the devices and had the batteries replaced. But even the replacement batteries were defective and caught fire, as well. There even came a point when the flagship phablet was banned from all U.S. flights. Numerous theories surfaced as to what may have caused the explosions but most trained their focus on the batteries. It was later discovered that Samsung tested its batteries in its own lab, something that is not practiced by other companies. The norm was to have a third party test the batteries. Samsung finally pulled the plug on the Galaxy Note 7 and began its month's long investigation on the matter. Samsung's head of the mobile division, DJ Koh, offered a sincere apology for the company's shortcomings and is hopeful that it can regain the trust of its customers, distribution partners, retailers, and carriers. According to Recode, Samsung is planning to continue the Galaxy Note line but will pay more attention to product safety. The founder of SpaceX and Tesla has made two trips to the Trump Tower. Donald Trump partnering up with Elon Musk is a possibility after the two met in the White House after the president had his first full day in office. The two apparently discussed a possible manned mission to Mars and public-private space partnerships. This probably signals a shift of NASAs focus on climate change. Musk and his company SpaceX has a very ambitious dream of the colonization of Mars. The company is setting the goal of launching the first human mission to the red planet by 2024. NASA under President Obama had shifted from government-funded to private had launched the US as the worlds innovation leader. Trump also had a talk with historian Douglas Brinkley about the Apollo program. According to Brinkley, Trump reflected on how the Apollo program brought the country together in the 1960s. Trump stated that the program had captured the spirit of the American people. The United States is still the only country to put a human on the moon and the only country to land an operational spacecraft on Mars. SpaceX has designed a powerful Falcon Heavy Rocket which plans to send into space a manned Dragon spacecraft. SpaceX plans to launch the 230-foot tall rocket which has a liftoff thrust of 18 747 jets as reported in an article by the Daily Galaxy. Although Musk does not share the same political views as Trump, both men are motivators. Musks ambitious proposals appeals to young engineers. The ideal of building a fleet of enormous spaceships bringing 100 people at a time to Mars is exciting as opposed to NASAs sluggish and incremental approach to human spaceflight. The idea of Donald Trump partnering up with Elon Musk is not too farfetched as Trump understands the power of a big idea. He knows quite well what kind of leverage a cult personality can bring as published in an article by The Denver Post. A mysterious looking ball of light in the middle of the night sky has recently left Russian sky watchers baffled after they speculated it to be a UFO. At first, it was found that the captured footage of the lattice-like sphere of light seems nothing more than a tiny light in the sky above the city of Ryazan in western Russia. But as the eyewitness to the mysterious object was said to have zoomed it in, the luminous object apparently appears more like a large ball with microstructures which she claimed as to be visible within. Moreover, as the alleged eyewitness films the bizarre moment, a dog can be heard going crazy in the background. Mysterious Ball Of Moving Light According to reports revealed by Mirror, people who have watched the video said that the dog furiously barks at the object as if he's trying to protect his owner from bad guys. It was found that the sky gazer has also tried to zoom in and out just to emphasize the object's scale. As experts have explained it, the object is too small to be the moon but too big to be any other easily identifiable object. Additionally, the sky gazer also said that there is an alleged gray strip moving on it as it was also seen in the video clip. Are Aliens On The Move For Earth Domination? Furthermore, as per Daily Mail, there is still no information currently available which would be able to explain the strange sighting. On the other hand, despite the fact that the video has already been shared and has even gone viral across the internet, no one seems to be able to shed any light on what the object is. Skeptics say that the moving light was just a ball of lightning known to be an atmospheric phenomenon that produces luminous spheres. It takes a lot of horsepower to support LinkedIns 467 million members worldwide, especially when you consider that each member is getting a personalized experience, a web page that includes only their contacts. Supporting the load are some 100,000 servers spread across multiple data centers. To learn more about how LinkedIn makes it all happen, Network World Editor in Chief John Dix recently talked to Sonu Nayyar, VP of Production Operations & IT, and Zaid Ali Kahn, Senior Director of Infrastructure Engineering. LinkedIn Sonu Nayyar, LinkedIn VP of Production Operations & IT Lets start with the big picture view of what you have for data centers around the world. Nayyar: We have three main data centers in the U.S. that serve LinkedIn.com worldwide, one in Richardson, Texas, one in Ashburn, Virginia, and a new one in Oregon that we just launched. We have a smaller data center in Singapore that we launched earlier this year, and its main purpose is to improve our member experience in APAC. It has basically a complete set of data but its only for our members in APAC. All four are connected by our MPLS backbone and 13 global points of presence (POPs). Are they all of similar architecture, or a mix given they were built at different times? Nayyar: We have a mix. We started with a colo facility prior to building our first data center in Ashburn. And obviously the technology has improved incrementally year after year, and now Oregon is a complete step-up function. LinkedIn Zaid Ali Kahn, LinkedIn Senior Director of Infrastructure Engineering Kahn: Virginia was when we first started the shift to the wholesale model. So instead of using retail providers [of compute capacity] from companies like Equinix, etc., we leased data center space basically a big empty shell and built out everything inside, right down to the power, the busways, the racks, all those things. And after Virginia we built another one in Texas because we were scaling pretty fast. When we got to Oregon we were able to step back and think about what we wanted the future of our data centers to look like. Thats when we made the transition to a hyperscale model. Going forward, we will retrofit our other data centers for the new model. You guys arent building your own servers like some of the Web giants, are you? KAHN: No. Were using standalone rack servers. We work closely with OEM vendors to make sure they meet our specifications for performance, etc. We were one of the first big users of Ciscos UCS, but we have moved more towards Supermicro commodity hardware. Are these data centers also supporting your business needs? Nayyar: We have a hybrid. We do have a small footprint in Santa Clara where we have our corporate data center resources -- HR, Finance, development, pre-prep production, etc. -- but we constructed Oregon so we can use security zones to support those corporate needs from any data center. What does the customer-facing LinkedIn application look like? Nayyar: Our app is complex, so everything in the data center is in support of rendering the page when you go to LinkedIn.com. As you can imagine, you have different connections than I do, everyone does, so the page you see is highly customized and theres a ton of east to west traffic in our data center to generate each page. A lot of computation has to go on. For every byte that comes into our network we go 100x east to west to generate the page. Wow. Nayyar: With our application everything is connected. Obviously some parts of our site are separate, like Recruiter has a different interface. But for the general consumer member, LinkedIn.com is all connected. Kahn: We have multiple products and thousands of services. Youve probably heard about Rest.Li, one of our most talked about gateway integrators, when these things communicate you also end up with a very large volume of data moving between data centers. LinkedIn Rows of servers featuring LinkedIns hyper-dense data center design Does each data center support the same thing or are duties distributed? Nayyar: Any one site can serve traffic. If there is a failure in one data center we just route traffic to another site. Theres replication going on between all the data centers in real time across our 100Gbps MPLS backbone. They all serve the same thing and thats how we improve our availability. If there is an outage at one site, whether its a bug, a network issue, a power issue or even a change gone bad, we can easily fail traffic out within five minutes. All of them work together serving LinkedIn.com. Are you serving the populace by geographic region? Kahn: Yes. We are a heavy user of Anycast [the ability to promote one IP address from multiple points in the network], which means we can route our members to the closest POP [point of presence]. Nayyar: We try to figure out which set of users from which part of the country should be routed where and route them to the nearest POP. POPs are small scale data centers with mostly network equipment and proxy servers that act as end-points for user's TCP connection requests. Kahn: We select the location of the POP based on member experience. We know which geographical areas are challenging. We have a data science model we use to do predictive analytics that shows, if we put a POP in Australia, then page download time will improve by X percent. Then we have to build POPs in these areas and they tie back to our data centers. All the heavy lifting of the pages is done at the POPs, and then theres backend data connectivity, but the POPs helps to make the page download time faster. Weve seen improvements up to 25% percent in page download just by having a POP in Asia. Nayyar: We monitor our site speed very closely across the world and were constantly looking on how we can improve that. Whether we do that via the network or continuing to improve the app, the heaviness of the pages, or within the data center, reducing the time it takes to build that page and then presenting it to our members. Ok, lets turn to youre newest data center in Oregon, which came online in November. How is it different? Kahn: Compute-wise it is much more dense. Typically people do 7-9 kilowatts per rack. We dont own these facilities so we wanted to optimize for space by packing more servers into a rack. We can do more than 14 kilowatts per rack. But with dense compute, as you can imagine, theres going to be a lot of heat, so we had to figure out how to innovate the design of the data center cooling system. We ended up going with rear-door heat exchanges. Were one of the first to do water-based cooling at the rack. Theres a CapEx expense to do that, obviously, but over time we will be using a lot less power. So youre pumping water through the racks? Nayyar: Were basically precooling water outside and circulating it through these rear-door heat exchangers, which neutralizes the hot air right at the rack so there is no cold air/hot air-aisle containment necessary. LinkedIn Rows of servers featuring rear door heat exchanger technology from LinkedIns data center in Hillsborough, Oregon Any concern about pumping water around all those systems? Nayyar: That was one of the concerns as we were looking at the technology, but we tested it thoroughly and the designs are really robust. We also have quite a bit of monitoring around this so we know if there is any kind of leak, but were not concerned as of right now. Using outside air to cool the water must be pretty efficient. What kind of PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) are you looking at for the Oregon data center? Nayyar: Oregon is commissioned for 1.06. And its worth mentioning that our corporate goal is to be using 100% sustainable energy in the future. Were not there yet, obviously, but were working towards it and thats part of the reason why we chose Infomart in Oregon because they have direct access to renewable energy. Lets turn to the innovative work youve done on the network side, what you have spelled out in your Project Altair design documents. As I understand it, each of your racks has a top-of-rack switch and they communicate with multiple fabric devices. Kahn: Yes. The Altair design is one big fabric solution. Think of it as a big flat network. There is no core, no chassis. Say you were building for 100,000-plus servers using the traditional enterprise model. A packet going from one server to another would end up traversing 25 to 30 chipsets, giving you milliseconds of latency between two servers. What weve done is reduce that to less than five chipsets for server-to-server communications using a five-stage Clos architecture, a spine and leaf design, and that reduces our switching latency between two servers to microseconds. (see Figure 1). LinkedIn Figure 1. Project Altair So in our spine and leaf topology everything is broken down into different stages. Each top-of-rack has four paths upwards to four different spines, and those four spines talk multiple ways to the spines above it, so all of those spine switches become one big fabric. Every top-of-rack switch has four or more paths to get out using equal-cost multi-path (ECMP). (see Figure 2). LinkedIn Figure 2. Project Altair Are the top of rack and spine switches similar? Kahn: Yes, they are actually exactly the same. Weve gone to a single SKU model which means we buy only one type of the switch, a one U device. Do you get all your switches from the same supplier? Kahn: No. Its one platform. They are all the same design and same chipset. One SKU. You can have multiple suppliers, but the same platform. Ours use a Tomahawk chipset and are 32x100G ports, 3.2Tbps. We bring 50Gbps to each server, which is different. We believe were the first to have actually deployed in a way that every server can have a 10G, 25G or 50G and, in the future, even a 100Gbps path. Weve kind of future-proofed this for the next four or more years. All of the spines are 100Gbps and the subscriptions between the spines are one to one so, if you send in 100Gbps, you always get 100Gbps out. Down to the top-of-rack we bring 50Gbps and we do that using the PSM4 standard so we can take two 100Gbps ports and split it into four 50Gbps ports bringing the effective available cabinet bandwidth to 200Gb/s. I read in some of your documentation that top-of-racks are not redundant, so that means you can afford to lose a whole cabinet, is that because everything is replicated across the servers? Kahn: Yes, and across data centers. Its all about distribution of failure domains and simplifying infrastructure. At this scale you have to share space. The applications are fault tolerant enough that we can lose an entire cabinet and things will just failover, either within the data center or across the data center. Do I understand right that youre running your own code in your top-of-rack switches? Kahn: Some of them. We are a mix of OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and ODM (Original Design Manufacturer). OEMs would be a provider like Cisco, or whatever. Then we have ODM suppliers and we run our own code on those, and we are slowly adopting that as we are building out new cabinets and a new set of databases. Why develop your own? Kahn: We had very specific things we wanted to control. We wanted to focus on how we manage our fabric. Our goal is not to necessarily build the worlds best network operating system. Thats not our goal. Our goal is to build the applications on top of the control plane that manages our fabric network. For example, we want to do streaming telemetry from the switch itself and upload it into a platform for machine learning and use that to figure out how to intelligently route traffic, find performance bottlenecks and just operate the network better. Thats our goal. Internally we call this initiative the Programmable Data Center. We want to understand more about the application level of the network and optimize traffic inside the data center for that. Ok. And youre supporting both IPv4 and v6 with the goal of moving to v6 across the board? Kahn: Yeah. We are very active on the v6 front. A few years ago we launched www.linkedin.com on IPv6 to address the inevitable exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. We decided to tackle the problem on the edge first so we can address markets that are sending IPv6-only traffic. We have seen high IPv6 growth in mobile traffic and also some performance gains. Recently we started to look at IPv6 inside the data center as we scale. We will soon be running out of v4 inside our data centers so we decided to dual stack v4 and v6 with the goal that eventually we will be v6 only in a couple of years. Whats the total capacity of your data centers, and what do you anticipate in terms of growth going forward, especially given your acquisition by Microsoft? Nayyar: If I include our corporate data center, I would say were close to 40 megawatts. Were definitely adding more capacity next year. Thats in the plan. What we dont know is how the integration with Microsoft is going to affect usage. The deal just closed, so were starting to figure out how we can work together. Right now our plans factor in organic growth, but were going to have to wait to see how things work out. I think that was everything on my list. Anything I didnt think to ask you about? Trump's inauguration (Photo : Austin American-Statesman/Facebook) There's a new U.S. President in town, and China is hoping that it would still be "business as usual" under the Trump administration. At this point, no one is sure how President Trump would be dealing with the very delicate relations between the two countries. While his predecessors might have threatened China in the past, the Chinese government fears that Trump might just follow through with his words, escalating into a full-blown trade war. Advertisement Prior to his inauguration, the U.S. President has strongly criticized China's currency management and trade practices, unwillingness to rein in North Korea, and unlawful military activities in the disputed South China Sea. Trump has also questioned the principle of the One China principle, which has been one of the foundations of the U.S.-China relations for decades. For now, China will be playing the "wait and see" game before it decides how to deal with Trump. "It all comes down to whether Trump presents China as an enemy. China just wants to know what the price tag is to return to business as usual," said Dr. Scott Kennedy, deputy director of the Freeman Chair in China Studies and director of the Project on China Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. China is cautious in dealing with the new administration, but it remains optimistic. The Xi government has signaled that it's ready to work with the new administration and has already taken some policy steps that may help improve relations. China plans to relax restrictions on foreign investment in long-closed areas of its economy such as banking, securities, features, mutual funds and insurance. "China will take a positive approach to its relationship with the U.S. The question is, can they do that quickly enough and effectively enough to avoid the negative dynamics of a looming trade war?" said Paul Haenle, China adviser to former U.S. President George W. Bush and director of the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing. It's been only a few days since his inauguration and his next steps are still unknown. Like China, everyone just hopes that this doesn't erupt into a trade war. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. Get unlimited access to all content and features at ivpressonline.com with our Full Online Access Subscription. Read our E-Edition, the digital replica of the print newspaper online, access content in exclusive sections including Family, Teen, Business, Databases, Farm and more. This option does not include daily home delivery of the Imperial Valley Press newspaper. For home delivery service, please select Premium or Premium Plus. Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the G20 Summit on September 4, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. (Photo : Getty Images) While the new U.S. President has put Canada in quite a difficult position, Canada's International Trade Minister says that "sitting down with China is the right thing to do" as it seeks to open its borders to more trade. If successful, enhanced economic relations will be an unprecedented move in China-Canada relations. Advertisement The Trudeau government has already signaled its interest in talking free trade with China. "In a world where people are talking about uncertainty and protectionism, Canada represents 0.5 percent of the world population and we represent 2.2 percent of global trade. So we have to be looking at markets, not only for today but prepare markets for years to come," said International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. Maintaining a Confident Front While still unsure of how Trump will be dealing with U.S.-Canada relations, Trudeau and his cabinet are "maintaining a confident front." Trump's protectionist agenda on international trade might include a tariff on all goods crossing into the U.S. A client note from the National Bank of Canada indicated a proposed 10 percent border adjustment tax, which will potentially cause Canada's total exports to drop by 9 percent. "We share the largest unguarded border in the world, we have $2.4 billion in trade of goods and services every day, we have 35 states in the U.S. which have Canada as their major export market, we have nine million jobs in the U.S. which depend on trade with Canada," said the trade minister. Champagne shared that he reminded U.S. officials about the "integrated economy and the prosperity" during their visit at Davos. While the Trudeau government is still uncertain of how to deal with the U.S.-Canada relations under the new administration, it is indeed a wise decision to look for other partners who are also willing to talk enhanced trade. Various marijuana businesses are starting to expand in the United States after cannabis has been made legal in 26 states and even the nations capital. However, legal marijuana business owners are still encountering challenges in their respective ventures due to the stigma surrounding the industry. Take former Wall Street lawyer turned entrepreneur, Joel Schneider. According to CNBC, Schneider is making a fortune running three Bud+Breakfast hotels in Colorado. He is said to be making $1 million a year running his hotels, where his guests are allowed to smoke marijuana anywhere within the premises. Schneiders first B&B in Denver features six suites ranging from $299 to $399 a night. Guests ages 21 to 80 enjoy luxuriously-appointed rooms, a well-stocked bar, and meals specially prepared by a chef. Though Schneider has found success in Colorado, he plans to open franchises in other marijuana-friendly states, such as California. However, the road to success hasnt been an easy one as the entrepreneur said that he has encountered some challenges along the way. The businessman revealed that he initially provided a marijuana bar with free cannabis for guests. But since his guests paid to stay at the B&B, Schneider was cited by law enforcement for selling drugs without a license. He also said that finding competent staff has been a challenge, as people whom he hired in the past were very rowdy and irresponsible. After receiving complaints, Schneider was forced to fire the entire crew as they were partying to 5 oclock in the morning. As the Trump presidency begins, Schneider is also concerned that the incoming U.S. Attorney General could make a move to shut down the industry. The entrepreneur is remaining optimistic about the matter. Meanwhile, the cannabis industry is poised to grow with various innovations in the business. Several marijuana expos are scheduled to take place this year, including the Marijuana Business Conference and Expo, which will be held on May 17-19 in Washington D.C. It is expected that new business concepts will be introduced at the three-day event, while entrepreneurs discuss investment opportunities in new states. The cannabis industry is also about to get bigger as weed weddings are starting to become a fad in Colorado and Portland, Oregon. The Cannabis Wedding Expo will be held in Denver on Feb. 19 and in Portland on March 26. For more, check out Jobs & Hires report on whether you should start a marijuana business in 2017. When President Donald Trump appointed Jared Kushner as his senior adviser, many people pointed out that the action violates the Constitution. Despite some people expressing disagreement, Trump went ahead and appointed Kusher to the post. The Constitution of the United States prohibits a government official from giving a relative a government role. The action, which is commonly known as nepotism, is widely practiced in countries that are under a dictatorship. This is why it is no surprise that Trump's action raised some eyebrows. However, it appears that Trump has never really considered anyone other than Kushner for the role. Despite his misgivings about immigrants, Trump expressed confidence that Kushner will properly do the job. The International Business Times reported that Kushner comes from a family of poor immigrants and of Jewish heritage. Trump's daughter, Ivanka, had to convert into being an Orthodox Jew, which is why some people find it laughable when the president tweeted and lambasted Jewish people. Kushner owns a newspaper and is a real estate magnate. His father, Charles, was imprisoned for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations. Charles was the one responsible for the growth of the Kushner family's real estate firm. Despite Charles' imprisonment, the Kushner family's real estate firm managed to flourish beyond belief and is now one of the biggest players in the industry. It is not clear how Kushner will affect future laws and regulations since much like Trump, he is sort of a newcomer to politics. However, Forward reported that Trump expressed full confidence that Kushner will be able to broker peace in the Middle East. The task is a huge one given that a number of presidents have already tried but they all fail. Trump's nominees and appointees are mostly dubious. Jobs & Hire previously reported that Trump's Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, his pick for the Environmental Protection Agency head, doubts humans' impact on climate change. As the Trump administration begins, people in the country and all over the world cant help but talk about the new president, his views, and what will happen to the U.S. now that a controversial figure is in charge of the highest office in the land. While some workers can barely contain themselves from bringing this discussion into the workplace, some are worried that talking about politics would hurt their careers. But could you jeopardize your career by talking about politics at work? According to Helen D. Reavis and Deena R. Merlen, partners with the law firm Reavis Parent Lehrer LLP, it depends on where you work (via The Muse). Reavis and Merlen said that if you work in a state where the law protects employees from workplace discrimination based on political affiliation, youre safe from being fired because of your political views. Youre also safe if the state extends other protections that would protect you from losing your job for talking about politics in the workplace. However, theres the matter of talking about politics when youre supposed to be working. Its likely that the company you work for will frown upon this practice, as most bosses will prefer that you dont talk about politics on the companys dime. If you tend to talk about politics with your co-workers constantly during work hours, then its likely that youll be hearing about it from your boss. The same goes for using social media in the office to post your political views. There is a time and place for airing your views on Facebook or Twitter, and the office is not one of those places. Also, try to be on your best behavior onlineremember that anyone can see your posts, including your boss. While talking about politics at work may not affect your career, it could affect your relationship with your co-workers. Remember that politics is very personal, and each person can have different beliefs, with some feeling more strongly about it than others. To avoid being that person who everyone loves to avoid in the office, dont think of the political conversation as a way to change your colleagues mind about his or her beliefs. The objective here is to have a healthy discussion and to gain insight from each others views. If you feel the need to be heard, do so, but keep in mind that each person needs to be respected, whatever he or she stands for. For more, check out Jobs & Hires report on how to recover from job rejection. Senior students across the country are in the final stretch of their academic year, and many are equally excited and nervous about entering the workforce after graduation. With the big day looming ahead, many students are now starting to worry about their future after college. As the job market has become more competitive in recent years, most people know that having a degree may not be enough to secure a job. However, there are ways to land a job immediately after graduation. Heres how to secure a job after graduating from college. Make the most of your senior year Obviously, this isnt the time to slack off just because you only have a few months left in college. While studying, you could take the time to check out job fairs, make connections, and search for work opportunities. Dont think about landing your dream job Your first job wont likely be the job that you want, but very few people actually land their dream job fresh out of college. Remember that your first job will unlikely be your last job. Instead of aiming for the job of your dreams, think about the skills that you can acquire from the first place that hires you. After two or three years, you could use those skills to apply for a position that would fit in your professional goals. Prepare to look for a job Take the time to update your resume. You could also take a short business writing course if you could fit it in your schedule. Prospective employers often look at applicants social media pages, particularly Facebook accounts, so make sure to delete any posts or pictures that would give them the wrong impression. Upload a professional-looking profile picture and update your profile if necessary. Learn how to present yourself for job interviews. You can check out Jobs & Hires tips on how to dress appropriately for interviews. Also, brush up on your interview skills and practice with a family member or a friend who has recently been through the job hunt process. China-based phone maker Xiaomi will be losing the man who made it popular in India. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice president of international, has tendered his resignation to the company. Barra has been with Xiaomi since 2013. Prior to joining Xiaomi, he served as an executive in the U.S. tech giant Google. Since then, Xiaomi has grown into one of the largest startup companies, Bloomberg News reported. Barra has been living in Beijing, which is known for its smog. The former Google and Xiaomi executive said that he is leaving China to return to the U.S. because living in a "singular environment" has started to impact his health. His departure is expected to have limited impact on Xiaomi. The phone maker's brand standing in the international setting has stabilized, particularly in India where it is widely recognized. However, analysts believe that his resignation reflects Xiaomi's next move. Some industry observers have speculated that with Barra gone, Xiaomi will now refocus all its sales and marketing efforts in China. In India, Xiaomi has enjoyed billions of dollars in revenue. However, it failed to be successful in its domestic market, which is China. Its sales and revenue could not keep up with its competitors. Venture Beat reported that Xiaomi founder Bin Lin chose Xiaomi Vice President Xiang Wang to succeed Barra. While the founder boasted about the phone maker's future expansion plans, analysts believe that the near-term plan is to focus on China first and maintain its current standing in India. It appears that entering the U.S. market would be challenging because of Apple and Samsung. With regard to Silicon Valley, the newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly talked to tech executives Balaji Srinivasan and Jim O'Neill in order to offer them jobs in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to Jobs & Hire. President Donald Trump is hoping that a son of a farmer will be a big help the United States' agriculture industry. The U.S. president expressed confidence that former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, his pick to head the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will be able to solve the challenges that American farmers are currently facing. Trump expects that Perdue's experience in farming and grain trading would be enough for him to be able to create a platform that will boost the living of American farmers. The president noted that Perdue has also served as a governor of a large agriculture state, The T And D reported. Perdue vowed that he will do his best to help American farmers with their issues. The former Georgia governor does not seem to shy away from his farming roots, calling himself as a "simple Georgia farm boy." It can be noted that legislators that come from Midwest, which include Iowa, North Dakota and Nebraska, are usually the ones who get the agriculture post. If he wins nomination, Perdue would be the first Southerner in several years to earn the post. When he was serving as a governor in Georgia, some people have criticized Perdue for shying away from implementing sustainable programs. He also allegedly failed to provide solutions to the state's problems. However, Kansasagland reported that Midwest farmers are also confident that Perdue will be able to handle agricultural issues nationwide. They want Perdue to push for bigger bills and convince Trump about the benefits of trade deals. In leading the Department of Agriculture, Perdue will have to come up with a farm bill that would not alienate any of the industry's workers. He will also have to take the lead in running rural development programs. All eyes are on Trump's appointees as they would set the tone for the rest of the president's stay in The White House. Jobs & Hire previously reported that Jared Kushner, Trump's son in law and senior adviser, could lose his job due to nepotism charges. Luca Todesco Will Upgrade Yalu Jailbreak Tool to v. 10.2 (or Pangu Will) So Stay Away from 10.2.1 or Downgrade Now Heres How Apple Inc. keeps updating its iOS 11 firmware ahead of its release this summer 2017. (Photo : YouTube/EverythingApplePro) Unsurprisingly, Apple let out its latest series of software upgrades this week and the bump up includes iOS 10.2.1 to replace version 10.2. For most iPhone and iPad users, the thing to do is install the new OS immediately that is available to download as IPSW or over the air. But for those holding on the word recently issued by Luca Todesco that there will be an iOS 10.2 jailbreak soon, stay where you are. Advertisement From his Yalu jailbreak tool that is based on version 10.1.1 of Apple's mobile operating system, Todesco recently announced that upgrading to 10.2 is quite possible. Per WCCFTech, "the jailbreak will arrive as part of an update to Yalu." However, the solution will come with limitations and one is that the jailbreak will not initially support the iPhone 7 series, as confirmed by Todesco. Nonetheless, it is the jailbreak that most certainly fans will be getting soon so it will do. There are rumors that Team Pangu from China will spring a surprise, take a cue from the Yalu JB tool and improve on it for their version of an iOS 10.2 jailbreak. But this scenario playing out is practically a moonshot for now as the Chinese hacking group has been strangely silent for months now. In reality, there is no solid sign that Pangu will upgrade its existing jailbreak work - the semi-tethered iOS 9.2-9.3.3 JB tool - and only Cydia creator Saurik vouched for the team that work was underway for a possible iOS 10 jailbreak. But Saurik issued the note on the matter months ago and with no update to assure jailbreak fans they can only hope that truly Pangu was cooking up something and serve it real soon. So whether the next jailbreak release will come from Todesco or Team Pangu, the best thing to do is observe status quo - that is to keep out of iOS 10.2.1, which for sure will include fixes that can potentially kill the exploits necessary for a jailbreak, and wait for the solution that Todesco (or Team Pangu) has promised. But for those who got too excited and already installed 10.2.1, now is the time to downgrade. Thankfully, the same WCCFTech report is with an easy tutorial on the subject. It's quite a work but it will be rewarding if the object is not to be left out once the Todesco Yalu jailbreak, supposedly based on iOS 10.2 and in semi-tethered status when done, starts rolling out. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. Yang Jisheng is a famed chronicler and critic of the Mao era. (Photo : New York Times) Chinese officials have warned Yang Jisheng against publishing new material on the history of the Cultural Revolution, according to a report by The New York Times. The new book, entitled "The World Turned Upside Down" is a sequel to his previous work, "Tombstone." Advertisement The author is a famed chronicler and critic of the Mao era. He began his claim to fame when he published "Tombstone," his landmark study of the famine started by Mao's policies in the late 1950s. Since rising to power in 2012, President Xi and the Communist Party have been ruthless in denouncing historians who paint a grim picture of the party's past. The government has prevented Yang from traveling to the United states as well. "I wrote this book to expose lies and restore the truth. This is an area that is extremely complicated and risky, but as soon as I entered it, I was filled with passion," says Yang. Pressure to Discredit History Aside from government officials, party journals have attacked Yang's findings that 36 million people died in a famine from 1958 caused by Mao's Great Leap Forward. "Yang Jisheng is not a historian. He leaves the impression that he's not interested in history, and virtually all his later works display strong political tendencies," according to an editorial in the Global Times. This is not the first time Yang has encountered such detractors. Last year, Yanhuang Chunqiu, a liberal-leaning magazine, was taken over by editors loyal to the Communist Party. Following the incident, a court in Beijing compelled a historian to apologize for questioning the party's account of the 1941 battle in the war against Japan. "There's quite a lot of pressure," says Yang. " I just want to restore this big story and the real facts behind it in order to resurface the history." A decision by BNC Bancorp to sell, rather than continue with its aggressive buying strategy, came down to how the bank approached the $10 billion asset threshold for additional regulatory oversight costs. BNC, based in High Point, announced Sunday it has agreed to be sold for $1.9 billion in stock to Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc. of Nashville. Pinnacle Bank would be the surviving brand by late 2017 or early 2018. The deal, projected to close early in the third quarter, would give Pinnacles first presence in the Carolinas and Virginia, gaining 76 BNC branches, including 20 in the Triad and three in Forsyth County. Pinnacle would approach $19 billion in total assets by acquiring BNCs $7.4 billion. It also would leave BB&T Corp. as the only major bank based in the Triad. Rick Callicutt, BNCs president and chief executive, acknowledged in a note to employees that management had some wariness to the cost and risk associated with surpassing $10 billion in total assets. SNL Financial has said the additional regulatory costs upon reaching $10 billion can represent a line in the sand for banks in growth mode in a consolidating industry. We considered three choices: continue to acquire larger banks to warrant the higher regulation costs; slow our growth as we approach $10 billion, or combine our company with another high-performing community bank, Callicutt said. Honestly, the number of attractive acquisition targets for us was narrowing, and slowing down was not an option, Callicutt said. Since 2010, BNC has bought or acquired through Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. assistance a total of 13 banks with a combined $4.77 billion in total assets. BNC has entered or expanded in the Triad, Charlotte, Durham, Asheville, Chapel Hill and two Triangle branches from The Bank of Hampton Roads. It also made acquisitions in Charleston, Greenville, Mount Pleasant, and Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Roanoke, Va. Many banks consider a major purchase one that represents between 10 percent and 25 percent of its total asset size. By contrast, BNC represents nearly 67 percent of Pinnacles $11.2 billion in total assets, making it closer to the merger-of-equals that was a popular deal strategy before the Great Recession of 2008-11. Both Callicutt and Terry Turner, Pinnacles president and chief executive, said their confidence comes primarily from their separate expertise in integrating banks. I know this is a time of uncertainty, Callicutt said. We are good at change. Im convinced Pinnacle is good at managing change, too. Callicutt said BNC jobs would be eliminated in operations and administration. Pinnacle plans to let affected BNC employees know by Feb. 28, but their position likely wont go away until early 2018. Although the bank plans to open three branches under construction, Callicutt said we anticipate some office closures will occur as a result of on-going branch reviews. By comparison, Turner said in his memo to Pinnacle employees that no jobs are expected to be eliminated. Pinnacle indicated to Tennessee media that it could add jobs in Nashville. Both we and Pinnacle have been committed to the idea that the Southeast deserves an impactful financial services firm with significant scale that operates with the culture of a community bank with local decision making led by banking professionals that are experienced and established in each market, Callicutt said. By joining firms, Pinnacle and BNC can leverage each others competitive strengths. There is no other bank that we would have entertained this kind of deal. Turner said BNC represents the single best platform to expand our presence in urban, high-growth metropolitan markets (in the Southeast). Turner said Pinnacle has identified nine Southeast urban markets it wants to enter. Pinnacle has acquired or purchased banks in Tennessees four urban markets of Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis and Chattanooga. The only Southeast target markets that would not be included through buying BNC are Atlanta, Richmond, Va., and Virginia Beach, Va. I challenge you to find a better fitting target for our goals than BNC, Turner said. Brian Martin, an analyst with FIG Partners of Atlanta, called the proposed deal as positive for Pinnacle as it is consistent with their strategy of becoming one of the dominant commercial banks in the Southeast. In our view, Pinnacle is paying a rich but fair price to significantly increase its scale in some of the best urban, high-growth Southeast markets. Tony Plath, a finance professor at UNC Charlotte, said the rule about doing low-risk, small-size deals was appropriate when bank credit quality was suspect, earnings were low, balance sheets were clogged with bad loans, and capital was in short supply. If you screwed up any sort of acquisition, it could easily put the solvency and independence of the buyer at risk. Plath said a $7.4 billion acquisition of a clean and well-performing bank, which is the case here, is quite doable for an $11.2 billion buyer. Amber Nicole Burch, girlfriend of the late avowed Satanist Pazuzu Algarad, was indicted on murder and robbery charges Monday by a Forsyth County grand jury. Burch, 27, is charged with murder, armed robbery and accessory after the fact to murder. She is accused of shooting Tommy Dean Welch to death on Oct. 2, 2009, with a .22-caliber rifle and then robbing Welch of his personal property, clothing, shoes and wallet, according to the indictments. The indictments also accuse her of helping Algarad bury the body of Joshua Fredrick Wetzler in July 2009. Burch had initially been charged with murder and accessory after the fact; the armed robbery charge is new. Krystal Nicole Matlock, 30, was also indicted Monday on a charge of accessory after the fact to murder. She is accused of helping Burch and Algarad bury Wetzlers body. Algarad had been facing murder and accessory charges in killing Wetzler and helping Burch bury Welchs body. On Oct. 28, 2015, Algarad, 36, committed suicide at Central Prison in Raleigh, where he had been held on a safekeeping order. An autopsy said he died from severe blood loss from a deep wound to a major blood vessel in his left arm. Deputies with the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office found the skeletal remains of Welch and Wetzler on Oct. 5, 2014, at Algarads now-demolished house at 2749 Knob Hill Drive in Clemmons. Welchs remains were found in a shallow grave under a fire pit in the backyard; Wetzlers remains were found in a shallow grave near the exterior basement stairs of the house. According to autopsies, Welch was shot once in the back of the head and Wetzler was shot three times in the head and at least four times around the torso. Julie Boyer, Burchs attorney, declined Monday to comment on the indictments. David Freedman, attorney for Matlock, said he hopes to resolve the matter shortly. He declined to elaborate further. Forsyth County District Attorney Jim ONeill said he could not comment on a pending criminal matter because of the rules of professional responsibility. Both women had been scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on Feb. 9. Because of the indictments, a new court date will be scheduled in Forsyth Superior Court. Satanistic rituals Burch lived with Algarad and his mother, Cynthia James, at 2749 Knob Hill Drive. They didnt always get along. Burch and Algarad were each convicted of assaulting James in separate incidents. According to a court document, James told authorities that she was afraid of her son but didnt want to prosecute. According to court documents, Algarad regularly performed Satanistic rituals and animal sacrifices at the house. Algarad was born in San Francisco in 1978 and his birth name was John Alexander Lawson. He legally changed his name to Pazuzu Illah Algarad in 2002, saying in an affidavit that the name change was for religious reasons. According to a psychiatric report connected to an unrelated criminal case, Algarad told psychiatrists at the now-closed Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh that he had practiced a Sumerian religion that involved the monthly sacrifice of a small animal. He said he would have to perform the ritual during what he called the black moon and asked if he could get out of the hospital to perform it. Burch graduated in 2008 from Rock Hill High School in Rock Hill, S.C. At some point, she moved to Winston-Salem and got romantically involved with Algarad. Friends said she changed for the worse after getting involved with Algarad, including filing her teeth and not showering. A friend of Burchs told the Winston-Salem Journal in 2014 that she and Burch went to Bible study together when they lived in Rock Hill. All that changed after she met Algarad. She fell into his lifestyle and fell into his identity, Burchs friend said. The friend asked that her name not be used because of concerns about her safety. When inspectors went into the house soon after the bodies were found, they discovered a mess. Debris and broken glass clogged the hallways and trash filled up several rooms. Pentagrams and other Satanic messages were scrawled on the walls. The house was eventually demolished in April 2015. Missing since 2009 Welch and Wetzler were reported missing in 2009. And investigators have not said publicly how they ended up at 2749 Knob Hill Drive. Stacey Carter, Wetzlers former girlfriend and the mother of his son, has said Wetzler had no interest in Satanism or the occult and was never violent. He frequently went to music festivals. She last talked to him in July 2009 but didnt report him missing until six months later because Wetzler was known to hit the road for months at a time. Tommy Welch loved cars and drank a little but never did drugs, Rusty Welch, his brother, told the Journal in 2014. Welchs family reported Welch missing Oct. 4, 2009, after he failed to show up at a family gathering at his brothers apartment, which is within walking distance from Tommys apartment. The missing report was filed two days after Burch is alleged to have fatally shot Welch, according to the indictments. Investigators and prosecutors have not said what led deputies to the house in October 2014. Judge David Hall of Forsyth Superior Court issued written orders sealing search warrants that were carried out at the house on Oct. 4 and Oct. 5, 2014. Hall said revealing details of the deaths could jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Another search warrant was executed at the house and sealed on Feb. 26, 2010. About the same time, Carter said she had told police that she had heard a rumor that Wetzler was buried at the house. All three search warrants remain sealed. Wake Forest University announced Tuesday that it has appointed Olga Pierrakos as founding chairwoman of the new Department of Engineering in Wake Downtown. She is one of only a few women heading departments of engineering at institutions across the United States. The university also stated that students, faculty and administrators are using formal research, departmental evaluations and innovative outreach to determine why more women and minority students are not declaring a major in science, technology, engineering and math when many universities have developed programs to attract them to the STEM disciplines. With Pierrakos appointment, Michele Gillespie, Dean of the College, said she is excited to see how much more Wake can do to meet the goal of diversity in STEM disciplines as part of its commitment to liberal arts education. Pierrakos will start her new job this summer and the Department of Engineerings classes will begin this fall. A career in engineering Statistics on the number of women at the head of engineering departments were hard to find. Counting both women and men, the number of tenured and tenure-track faculty at U.S. engineering colleges stood at 26,839 in 2015, according to the American Society for Engineering Education. For the same period, tenured and tenure-track women increased their representation in engineering faculty ranks to 15.7 percent in 2015, a more than 4 percent gain since 2006. Pierrakos is currently the program director of the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation, or NSF, in the Directorate of Education and Human Resources. At the NSF, she manages a $100 million portfolio to strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics known as STEM education at two- and four-year colleges and universities. Pierrakos is also a founding faculty member and associate professor of the Department of Engineering at James Madison University, where she helped establish the department in 2008. Starting a new engineering program is typically a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to be honored with doing that twice is a rare opportunity indeed, Pierrakos said. Gillespie said that Pierrakos is suited for her new position because of her expertise in building a successful engineering department from the ground up, her deep appreciation for a blended engineering and liberal arts curriculum, and her passion for strengthening undergraduate STEM programs across higher education. Pierrakos research expertise is in biomedical engineering, sustainable energy systems and engineering education research. At James Madison University, she has worked with students to characterize the flow past prosthetic heart valves and investigate novel metrics for assessing the performance of cardiac health and prosthetic heart valves. Her choice At the age of 10, Pierrakos moved from Greece to Richmond, Va., in 1988. Throughout her middle school and high school years, she said, teachers and peers would encourage her to consider going into engineering because she was good at math and science. But I had no clue what engineering was, Pierrakos said. After graduating from high school, she continued her education at Virginia Tech where she spent 11 years. She switched from her initial major in biology to engineering because I wanted to do something that would integrate my interests in math and science, she said. Once she made the change, she fell in love with engineering. She sees engineering as an integration of fundamental knowledge and skills in the math and sciences being applied in real-world authentic applications. At Virginia Tech, she received a bachelors degree in engineering of science and mechanics and a masters degree in engineering mechanics. She also earned a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the Virginia Tech Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences, a joint graduate program. She is married to John Karabelas and has three sons. Without his support, I dont think I could do half the stuff Ive done, Pierrakos said of her husband. Mentoring, bridging the gap As an engineering education researcher, Pierrakos has written extensively about diversity and inclusion in engineering. She is passionate about mentoring students, including those frequently underrepresented in engineering fields such as women and ethnic minorities. The motivations to diversify the student population in engineering have been at the core of what Ive experienced as a woman going through this journey as an undergraduate student, graduate student and even as a faculty member, she said. Gillespie said that it is important for women and minorities to have the same representation in STEM fields as they do in the general population. We have been working since the 1970s to achieve general equity in terms of women and minorities pursuing and sticking with STEM careers, Gillespie said. We still havent made the kinds of gains you would expect with such effort. Rebecca Alexander, director of academic programming at Wake Downtown and a chemistry professor, believes one way to close that gap is to show students how the study of STEM fields can improve lives and change the world. Our challenge is to introduce world problems like drug delivery, water purification and energy usage, and teach students to care about them and apply their knowledge to solving them, Alexander said. Amanda Griffith, associate professor of economics at Wake Forest University, has done studies on why and how women and minorities abandon STEM majors. Thinking carefully about the experiences women and underrepresented minorities are having in the classroom is important in terms of keeping them in the STEM major, she said. Success leads to persistence. Innovations Wake stated that among its chemistry undergraduate majors, more than 45.5 percent, or 46 of 101, are female. The national average is 48 percent, according to the NSF. The university also stated that an innovative STEM Incubator class, designed to attract women and underrepresented minorities to STEM majors, has yielded 6 percent growth in the enrollment of women in computer science programs, to 32 percent in 2016 from 26 percent in 2013, while the national average is about 18 percent. Wake is also part of an NSF funded alliance, along with Vanderbilt University and Fisk University, aimed at helping historically underrepresented minorities work toward careers in the STEM fields. Paul Burks, founder of the defunct Ponzi scheme Zeek-Rewards.com, could be held personally liable for a $244 million money judgment if a federal judge grants a motion from U.S. attorneys. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of N.C. had no comment when asked Monday about how much of that amount Burks has. It was determined during Burks criminal trial that he personally profited by at least $10.1 million from ZeekRewards. Burks reached a consent settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August 2012 in which he did not admit wrongdoing or that his companies operated as a Ponzi scheme. However, he agreed to pay a $4 million penalty. In the five-page motion, The United States notes that the factual findings in the report and particularly the recommendation for a conservative $244 million restitution order support issuance of a money judgment. The office said that recognizing the low likelihood that defendant will ever be able to pay a money judgment in this case ... the U.S. government may use the requested money judgment to collect overseas fraud proceeds that have not been repatriated. ZeekRewards was one of the largest Ponzi schemes in U.S. history at $939 million, according to federal regulatory officials and prosecutors. The companies, which debuted in January 2011, were shut down and their assets frozen in August 2012. On July 21, a federal jury found Burks, 67, of Lexington, guilty of wire and mail-fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, mail fraud and tax-fraud conspiracy. His sentencing date is set for Feb. 13 in Charlotte. Burks has been free on bond. It is possible Burks could spend the rest of his life in prison. The wire and mail-fraud conspiracy charge, the mail-fraud charge and the wire-fraud charge each carry a maximum prison term of 20 years and a $250,000 fine. The tax-fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum prison term of five years and a $250,000 fine. The federal government determined that ZeekRewards had a net money gain of $426.3 million. As of Sept. 30, ZeekRewards receiver Kenneth Bell has recovered $362 million and disbursed $269.8 million to victims. Bell has plans to distribute an additional $42.2 million in mid-March. That would raise the reimbursement totals to about 75 percent for qualified recipients. An additional $17 million could be dispersed to about 18,000 victims who live outside the United States. In February 2015, Bell gained court permission to certify about 9,400 net winners as defendants in a class-action lawsuit. Bell has defined net winners as those who had a net gain of at least $1,000. The amounts include interest owed by each individual. The overall net winner list contained 15 individuals from Forsyth County, 105 from the Triad and Northwest North Carolina, and 390 statewide. WASHINGTON North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein joined others from 15 states and the District of Columbia in seeking to defend a U.S. consumer watchdog agency amid speculation that President Donald Trump may fire its director, Richard Cordray. The attorneys general, all Democrats, said in a court filing Monday they have "a vital interest in defending an independent and effective" Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and are seeking to intervene in a case over whether its structure is constitutional. They said it's urgent for them to intervene because Trump as a candidate expressed opposition to the 2010 law that created the CFPB while tightening regulation of the financial industry. A federal appeals court ruled in October that the agency's structure violates the Constitution's separation of powers by limiting the president's ability to remove the agency's director. That ruling is being appealed by the CFPB. The attorneys general, led by George Jepsen of Connecticut, noted that they have often brought legal actions in coordination with the federal agency. If the court ruling were allowed to stand, their power to protect consumers against abuse would be undermined, they argued. The independent agency has been swept up in partisan politics since its creation to protect consumers from harmful banking and lending practices. Wall Street interests, the banking and consumer finance industries and Republicans in Congress have opposed and criticized the agency. The law creating the CFPB after the 2008-09 financial crisis says its director can only be removed "for cause," such as neglect of duty, and not over political differences. In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that conflicts with the Constitution, which allows the president to remove executives for any reason. That problem can be solved, the court said, by taking out the "for cause" provision giving the president the power to remove the director at will. After Trump won election, some Republican lawmakers urged him to fire Cordray, a Democrat and Obama appointee whose five-year term doesn't end until next year. Trump pledged during the campaign to dismantle the Dodd-Frank law, which tightened supervision of Wall Street and the banking industry in the wake of the crisis and created the CFPB. "Contrary to his populist rhetoric, the president's failure to support the CFPB would be a gift to powerful financial interests and a bitter broken promise to regular Americans he vowed to defend," Jepsen said in a statement. The CFPB has taken legal action against banks, mortgage companies, credit card issuers, payday lenders, debt collectors and others. The agency says that over five years it has recovered $11.7 billion that it returned to more than 27 million harmed consumers. Some Democratic lawmakers also have warned recently against a possible move by Trump against Cordray. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the Democrats' fiercest critic of Wall Street, told reporters in a conference call last week that firing Cordray "would be a huge handout to lobbyists for the big banks." In addition to Stein and Jepsen, the attorneys general asking to intervene in the case are from Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. HOUSTON A "good Samaritan" shot and wounded an armed robber at a San Antonio mall after another man was killed while confronting two people who had just held up a jewelry store, a police spokesman said Monday. The licensed concealed handgun holder, whose name has not been released by authorities, believed other people were in danger and was within his rights to use his gun following the Sunday robbery, said San Antonio police spokesman Officer Doug Greene. The wounded suspect was hospitalized in critical condition Monday; the second suspect, who shot and wounded two people in the Rolling Oaks Mall while running away, was captured later Sunday. "It was obvious it was a very dangerous situation and that lives were being threatened and (the two robbers) were armed with weapons and ... the good Samaritan with the (concealed handgun) license could have been injured as well," Greene said. "We just ask people to use their best judgment when they get into situations like this." Police described both men who tried to intervene as "good Samaritans." Greene said the men did not know each other. The man who was killed was identified by the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office as 42-year-old Jonathan Murphy. He was unarmed but nonetheless tried to stop the robbers outside the jewelry store, according to Greene, who didn't immediately know how Murphy tried to stop them or whether there was a physical altercation before Murphy was shot. The man with the concealed handgun saw the shooting and fired multiple times at the robber who had shot Murphy, Greene said. He did not know how many people were in the mall at the time. Murphy had been at the jewelry store with his wife to get their wedding rings cleaned, said family friend Chris Cercone. He believes Murphy, who managed sales at a local car dealership and lived in nearby Cibolo, was looking out for the safety of his wife and others at the store when he confronted the robbers. "John always looked out for his family and he'd do anything to protect his family and others. And I believe that cost him his life," said Cercone, who is an attorney in San Francisco and is dating Murphy's stepdaughter. Murphy "was a protector in every sense of the word," said Cercone, who has set up a GoFundMe page for Murphy's family. Police Chief William McManus called Murphy's death senseless "because it seems like the gentleman was trying to do the right thing," Greene said. Asked whether people with concealed weapons should intervene in such situations, Greene said, "It really depends on that concealed handgun license holder, on how comfortable they feel, at what level do they think they need to respond." Authorities said both robbery suspects face preliminary charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The two people who were wounded were hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening. Two other people a woman who complained of chest pains and a pregnant woman who had labor pains were also taken to hospitals. WASHINGTON The Senate on Monday confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee to run the CIA despite some Democratic objections that Rep. Mike Pompeo has been less than transparent about his positions on torture, surveillance and Russia's meddling in the U.S. election. The vote was 66-32. Pompeo takes the helm at the nation's top spy agency at a crucial time for U.S. national security as intelligence traditionally a nonpartisan issue has been thrust into the political arena. Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies after their assessment of Russian involvement to help him win the election while the new president also has said he is fully behind them. Senate Republicans had hoped to vote on Pompeo's nomination Friday, after Trump's inauguration. But Democrats succeeded in stalling action until they could debate. Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Monday said Pompeo was the "wrong man for the job." "He has endorsed extreme policies that would fundamentally erode liberties and freedoms of our people without making us safer," Wyden said. He said Pompeo's answers to questions from some senators have been "vague" and "contradictory," making it impossible to know what Pompeo believes. "I see no real commitment to transparency and his views on the most fundamental analysis of the day - the involvement of Russia in our election - seemed to shift with those of the president," Wyden said. In written responses to questions from the Senate, on Jan. 3, Pompeo said only that intelligence agency assessments in general should be taken seriously. After Trump conceded Russia was behind the campaign hacks, Pompeo on Jan. 12 told the Senate intelligence committee that particular assessment was "solid." "We need a CIA director who is direct about his beliefs and his assessments," Wyden said. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Democrats were playing politics in its efforts to delay and derail Trump's choice to run the CIA. One of Trump's first stops as president was at the CIA's headquarters in Northern Virginia on Saturday where he made a speech that focused more on falsely accusing the media of lying about how many people attended his inauguration than on the role the CIA plays protecting the U.S. Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents Saturday, Trump assured intelligence officials, "I am so behind you." He made no mention of his repeated criticism of the intelligence agencies following the election, including his public challenges of their high-confidence assessment that Russia meddled in the White House race to help him win. In its final days, President Barack Obama's administration announced intelligence findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election with the goal of getting Trump elected. Trump himself has denied most of the assessment, though eventually conceded Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the campaign. Pompeo, a conservative Republican from Kansas and a member of the House intelligence committee, faced a mostly friendly confirmation hearing on Jan. 12. He enrolled as a teenager at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated first in his class in 1986. He served in the Army at a time when the Soviet Union was America's No. 1 adversary. RALEIGH North Carolina's new insurance commissioner is apologizing for sharing a meme on social media mocking women who took part in the women's march in Washington. WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported Mike Causey said in his apology that the post he shared on Facebook and linked to one of his Twitter accounts "represented a momentary lapse in judgment on my part for which I am truly sorry." Causey shared a photo on his Facebook page Sunday from someone in Jacksonville, Florida, that showed a street filled with marchers with the text overlaid: "In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking than Michelle Obama did in 8 years." Causey, a Republican, was elected to his first statewide office in November when he defeated Democratic incumbent Wayne Goodwin. 'Arrested Development' cast Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Jessica Walter, Jason Bateman, Alia Shawkat, Michael Cera, Portia de Rossi, and Mitch Hurwitz speak during The Netflix Network portion of the 2 (Photo : Getty Images/Frederick M. Brown) Avid fans of the Netflix television series "Arrested Development" will be happy with the latest news. The long-awaited fifth season extension of the award-winning comedy series might soon hit the small screens with a unique storyline that features the beloved Bluth family. Latest spoiler news for "Arrested Development" Season 5 teased of the Netflix series' potential new format that will reveal different age versions of beloved characters. A major part of the upcoming new season will include several flashback scenes and a prequel story that will feature younger versions of the main cast members, according to TVLine. Advertisement Viewers can also expect to see new faces in upcoming episodes who will play the said younger roles. Moreover, the prequel plot will allow showrunners to work around the busy schedules of original cast members yet still continue the Netflix series' Season 5 run. Meanwhile, an insider told the same news site that many of the upcoming "Arrested Development" Season 5 episodes will contain scenes with all of the original cast members in several family shots. However, the insider also noted that the Netflix series' showrunners and writing team have yet to finalize the said story format. In other news, executive producer Brian Grazer recently mentioned that they are "close" to signing up all of the Netflix show's original cast members. In a TCA press event held in early January, the showrunner stated that they were able to come up with a working arrangement that will address the casts' various commitments yet still appear in the show, Deadline quoted Grazer as saying. Moreover, "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz shared in an earlier interview with the said news outlet that he already came up with a plot line for Season 5 that could potentially include a murder mystery theme. Story speculations also hinted at the Netflix series' new season containing elements that are similar to current political events such as President Donald Trump's plans to build a border wall. Aired in 2013, the said scenario was featured in the Netflix show's fourth season where Lindsay's (Portia de Rossi) impassioned speech about creating a wall between the U.S. and Mexico paved the way for her political career. Some fans speculated that Hurwitz might consider incorporating the said plot in the show's new season. The targeted released date for "Arrested Development" Season 5 has yet to be revealed, although filming activities are speculated to start in June. Watch a clip from the Netflix show's Season 4 below: The Slender Man craze swept the younger digerati while their unwitting elders occupied themselves online with Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Only in May 2014 did the general public hear of Slender Man when news erupted that two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls had lured a friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. Three years after the attack, the girls are set to be tried as adults for attempted murder. Why did they do it? Turns out, to appease and curry favor with this Slender Man character. Slender Man was all the rage for youngsters worldwide. He was born with an online post in June 2009 as a mysterious specter photo-shopped into everyday images of children at play. Slender Man was typically depicted as a spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. He was regarded by his devotees as alternately a sinister force and an avenging angel. A film that explores the Slender Man effect, for both better and worse, would have been valuable for parents. HBOs Beware the Slenderman isnt that film. It promises to examine how an urban myth could take root in impressionable young minds, leading to an unspeakable act. But its would-be murderers are not your everyday impressionable youths. One, Anissa Weier, is found to have a delusional disorder. The other, Morgan Geyser, is diagnosed with early childhood schizophrenia. As such, the case of Morgan and Anissa hardly seems representative of anything beyond a pair of already troubled young people who spun out tragically. So sharply focused on the perpetrators is the film that it scarcely even acknowledges the victim, Payton Leutner, Morgans friend since kindergarten, who, apart from her role as attackee, seems extraneous to the films intended narrative. The film tries, but fails, to put the crime in a cultural context. Experts and other talking heads weigh in on the larger implications of the Slender Man mania. But the film prefers to savor more than probe. Sabrina Ellis, Director of Product Management at Google Inc., speaks during an event to introduce the Google Pixel phone and other Google products on October 4, 2016 in San Francisco, California. (Photo : Getty Images/ Ramin Talaie) Google is rolling out a new feature for Android devices named Instant Tethering as part of Google Play Services 10.2. With this feature, users will be connected to the internet when connection is lost. Instant Tethering aims at simplifying the process of setting up a mobile hotspot through automating the process altogether. It is easier than sharing connectivity through Wi-Fi hotspot. Once multiple devices are connected to the same Google account, internet sharing will be enabled from one device that has cellular connectivity to the other. There is ease of use, once the initial set-up of the user agreeing upon its use is completed, then perhaps no further set-up necessary. Advertisement Once instant tethering is activated, android devices with no internet connections will be offered to go online by sharing the data of other smartphones and tablets. The device that would like to go online and the one that will be sharing its internet connection should be linked to the same Google account, with the negotiations of the connection facilitated through Bluetooth, BGR reported. Reportedly, Instant Tethering is currently on a limit rollout. According to reports by Android Police, apparently the initiation will first be for Pixel and Nexus devices which are Android 7.1.1 Nougat powered. The Pixel C and Nexus 9 will not be able to function as mobile hotspots, but they will be connect to mobile hotspots created by the feature even if still on Android Marshmallow. Android Police reported, "there is a server-side component to Instant Tethering", so compatible devices with installed Google Play Service 10.2 might not see the feature appear right away. For these devices, there is recommendation to have them restarted so as to trick of launching the feature. Google has not disclosed an expected date for Instant Tethering to be rolled out to all Android smartphones and tablets. However, as the feature is still being tested on Pixel and Nexus devices, more Android devices should start seeing the Instant Tethering option. Watch a video of Google's New Instant Tethering that allow fans to easily share internet across devices: Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News | BETHLEHEM (Maan) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his far-right government on Sunday that he would lift all restrictions on settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. Netanyahus announcement came as Israels Jerusalem municipality approved permits for the construction of at least 566 new illegal Israeli settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, after the plans were said to be put on hold until after US President Donald Trump was sworn in. A spokesperson for the municipality told Maan that the Local Building and Planning Committee in Jerusalem approved the construction of 671 housing units in a number of areas, after their approval was delayed for several weeks. The spokesperson said that 324 units were approved in the Ramot settlement, 174 units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement, and 68 units in the Pisgat Zeev settlement. She also listed a number of new construction to be greenlit in various Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem, including 49 units in Beit Hanina, 14 units in Wadi Joz, 24 units in Umm Lisun and Umm Tuba, seven units Jabal al-Mukabbir, four units in Beit Safafa, three units in Sur Bahir, and four units in al-Tur. It remained unclear as of Monday morning whether the newly approved construction in the Palestinian neighborhoods would be for the purpose of Jewish-only settlements. A representative from the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem (ARIJ) told Maan that their organization was investigating the municipalitys approvals. According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Netanyahus pledge to ramp up East Jerusalem settlement expansion was a major factor in convincing Israeli ministers to hold off from voting on a bill calling for the annexation of the occupied West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim to Israel. Netanyahus pressure on the annexation bill, as well as the retraction of his support for a bill that would retroactively legalize dozens of illegal Israeli settlement outposts, is reported to be the result of pressures from Trumps newly instated administration. While Trump is a vocal supporter of Israel and its settlement expansion a policy which is deemed illegal under international law the American head of states advisers reportedly urged that no unilateral steps should be taken by Israel until a meeting was held between Netanyahu and Trump sometime in February. Netanyahu nonetheless told the Israeli security cabinet that he supported the annexation of Maale Adumim as well as Israeli sovereignty over all other settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, and that he planned to advance settlement building in the West Bank, Haaretz reported. Netanyahu also proclaimed that he would not be willing to enter negotiations with Palestinians which would grant them an autonomous state, stating that what I am prepared to give the Palestinians is not exactly a state with every authority but rather a state-minus. His statement reiterating the Israeli governments refusal to negotiate a proper two-state solution came as Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Thursday for the establishment of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, as he announced the disbursement of $7.6 million in aid for Palestinians. Netanyahu has been widely criticized for publicly claiming to advocate a two-state solution while simultaneously championing settlement policy to appeal to an increasingly right-wing government and Israeli public. Calls to annex Maale Adumim and to annex a majority of the occupied West Bank have gained momentum among reactionary Israeli lawmakers and ministers following the passage of UN Resolution 2334. While members of the international community have rested the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the discontinuation of illegal Israeli settlements and the establishment of a two-state solution, Israeli leaders have instead shifted further to the right, with more than 50 percent of the ministers in the current Israeli government having publicly stated they are opposed to a Palestinian state. A number of Palestinian activists have criticized the two-state solution as unsustainable and unlikely to bring durable peace, proposing instead a binational state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians. Via Maan News Agency Related video added by Juan Cole: Press TV: Israel OKs construction of 600 settler units in Jerusalem Al-Quds Reddit Email 0 Shares TeleSur | Saudi Arabia and its Persian Gulf Arab allies are happy to see Obama leave office as President Donald Trump would be very, very tough on Iran. While the world watched with horror as Donald Trump delivered his aggressive America First speech on the day of his inauguration, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies in the Persian Gulf quietly shared Israels very own excitement to see him assume the Oval Office. We are optimistic about the incoming administration and look forward to working with it in all areas that are a concern for both of us, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in Paris last week. We will look at the Trump administrations view as articulated. Wanting to restore Americas role in the world, we welcome this. Wanting to defeat ISIS, absolutely. Wanting to contain Iran absolutely. While they do, at least publicly, clash over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel and the Gulf Arab states are united when it comes to the threat of Iran, which former President Barack Obama struck a nuclear deal with despite outcry from the right-wing government in Tel Aviv and the extremist Saudi government. The relationship between the oil-rich Arab states and the Obama administration evolved from complete excitement when he took office in 2009 to utter hostility over the Iran deal and what they saw as Obamas weakness in Syria and taking military action against Iran-backed President Bashar Assad. Perception is important: Trump does not look like the kind of guy who will bend towards Iran or anyone else, Abdulrahman al-Rashed, a veteran Saudi commentator, said in a Reuters article Monday. If he behaves as he says, then we will see another Ronald Reagan, someone all the forces in the region will take seriously. Thats what we have missed in the past eight years, unfortunately. Saudi Arabia and its allies felt that Obama was not following their wishes in the region and instead pursuing his own agenda. In Egypt, commentators for Saudi-owned newspaper said that he betrayed his Arab allies by supporting the Arab Spring protests against their ally dictator Hosni Mubarak. In Syria, they feel that Obamas calculated policy, which called for Assads ouster but did not put troops on the ground against him, allowed Iran to gain ground in the region. The conflict in Syria has sectarian dimensions as Assad and Iran are from Islams Shiite sect while Saudi Arabia and its extremist allies in the country come from the Sunni sect. I think he is going to be very, very tough on Iran. He will be decisive, an unnamed Gulf Arab businessman told Reuters. In Yemen, the Obama administration did provide logistical support for the Saudi-led campaign there, however, it has been critical of Saudi actions there which the U.N. had said could amount to war crimes. In fact, last month Obama, after more than 20 months of the Saudi war in Yemen, decided to halt some arms sales to the kingdom over widespread civilian deaths. The war has killed more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, since March 2015. The Gulf states, which claim that Iran is backing the rebels against the Saudi ally president, are likely to see Trump reversing Obamas limited policy of engagement, and instead providing more support for their campaign. Saudi journalist Faisal J. Abbas, the formal head of the Saudi-funded Arabiya TV, argued in November that if Trump is serious about combating violent extremism and taking on terrorists, he will have no better partner militarily, financially and ideologically than the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) states. Israel shares the Gulfs anti-Iran sentiment and sees Trump as the president who will listen to the Israeli demands above all, including that of reinstating Washingtons decades-long hostile policy towards Tehran. Trumps cabinet picks have already made it clear they will pursue an anti-Iran policy. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a retired marine general known for distrust of Iran, is a familiar figure to Gulf Arab rulers. A former leader of central command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis said in senate confirmation hearings earlier this month that Iran was the biggest destabilizing force in the Middle East and its policies are contrary to our interests. It is noteworthy that Trump has been labeled an Islamophobe and a racist for repeated calls for a Muslim registry in the United States and for an entry ban on all Muslims coming to the country. He has also labeled most Syrian refugees as terrorists and members of the Islamic State group. However, the richest Muslim countries in the world, who portray themselves as leaders of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, seem to take no issue with the U.S. presidents bigoted rhetoric. Via TelSur Related video added by Juan Cole Ruptly TV: Saudi Energy Minister hoping to strengthen ties with Trump administration Reddit Email 415 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | al-Diyar (The Lands) [Beirut] reports on what Egyptian officials allegedly leaked about the telephone conversation between Donald J. Trump and Egyptian president `Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. There is no way to certify the truth of this report. For all I know it is Egyptian propaganda, or Syrian propaganda. The newspaper is linked to the semi-fascist Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party. So buyer beware. The leakers are alleged to have said that when Trump and al-Sisi discussed Syria, Trump expressed admiration for Syrian strong man Bashar al-Assad, saying that he is a brave man who endured steadfastly in the face of terrorism, but adding, Circumstances dont allow me to contact him directly. Trump said, according to these sources which al-Diyar maintains are in the Egyptian presidents office, that he would be in contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin to coordinate military operations in Syria against terrorism and and against Daesh [ISIS, ISIL] so as to wipe it out. Al-Sisi is alleged to have contacted al-Assad after the call and to have conveyed Trumps compliment about him being brave and unswerving, since al-Sisi suspected that Trump was speaking to al-Assad through him. Trump is said to have promised his support in fighting terrorism to Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former brigadier general who overthrew elected Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi in 2013. He said that the US will be fighting terrorism in the Middle East. Trump is alleged to have said that Washington will also be carrying out military operations against terrorism in Iraq and Syria in coordination with Russia. Likewise, this report says that Trump supports moves in the US Congress to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. (The Muslim Brotherhood actually gave up violence in the 1970s; but Sen. Ted Cruz wants to designate it as a terrorist group as a wedge toward trying to destroy Muslim-American community organizations that can somehow be tagged as Muslim Brotherhood). Al-Sisi for his part has long since declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and has waged a concerted campaign to destroy the organization, which had won the 2011 parliamentary elections and the 2012 presidential elections in 2012 before being overthrown in 2013. The Muslim Brotherhood is the Sunni worlds religious Right, and typically agitates to move society away from secular principles and toward a more fundamentalist vision. Trump is alleged to have said that the US will support the Iraqi army with air strikes and military aircraft to end terrorism in that country. As I said, youll have to decide for yourself how plausible these details are. Given al-Diyars politics, it seems to me more likely that it has Syrian sources than Egyptian ones, so this may be al-Assads secret police passing on their impression of the Trump-Sisi exchange, perhaps based on what their Egyptian counterparts told them. But then it could also just be lies. But in that case it would tell us what sort of lies are circulating about Trump in the Middle East. Related video: CGTN Africa: U.S.-Egypt ties strained under Obama, leading to hopes for Trump Michael Schumacher of Germany and Mercedes GP reacts in parc ferme after finishing his last F1 race following the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace. (Photo : Getty Images/Clive Mason) According to earlier reports, Schumacher was reportedly walking a little. However, it turns out that the reports were nothing but false and the family was forced to reveal that the legendary racer did not progress much. A report back in Dec. 2016 revealed that a family friend, close to the Schumachers, reportedly smuggled and sold the racer's bedridden photos for financial gains. The said photos were sold for 1million, but no copy was every found because the German prosecutors asserted that it will be in violation of Schumacher's "personal range of life." Advertisement Schumacher's health updates have remained elusive, even though racer's fans have been clamoring for more details. The German racer's actual health status has only been shared with close family and friends. The Family's absolute secrecy has been often criticized by publications and famous personalities, most notably the racer's former manager, Willi Weber. Schumacher's old friend and manager is reportedly upset with the clan for withholding important health facts about Schumi's recovery. In an interview with German magazine, Bunte, Weber revealed, "It's time to pour pure wine for his millions of fans. But I'm biting on granite because for a long time my advice is no longer heard," Autoweek reported. Schumacher family has kept Michael's health condition under tight wraps, ever since he met with that fatal ski accident back in 2013. While some believe that it is family's right to demand privacy in these testing times, others like Weber and his fans want to know how their favorite sportsperson is holding up. Weber not only expressed his displeasure against the Schumacher family for keeping Michael's health status a secret, but also accused them of being untruthful to the fans. He believes that it is time that the family gave at least some indication about the recovery of their favorite idol, Express reported. The lawyer for ex-Panama dictator Manuel Noriega [Telegraph profile] said Monday that a court has granted Noriega leave to prepare for brain surgery at home instead of in a hospital. Lawyer Ezra Angel had argued that Noriega should not be required to prepare in a prison or hospital, and that his home was the only place that would be adequate. Noriega, 82, has a benign brain tumor [NYT report] that has to be surgically removed. Noriega was the strong-man dictator of Panama from 1983-1989 until he was ousted by US troops sent in by former president George HW Bush. In 2011 Noriega was sent from France to Panama where he has been serving a prison sentence for the murder of opposition leaders during his dictatorship. In 2010 Noriega was extradited to France from the US to stand trial for money laundering, where he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment [JURIST reports]. Noriega was originally convicted in the US of eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in 1992 [CNN report] and spent the next 17 years in a Miami federal prison. A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Monday prohibited [opinion, PDF] the merger of two major health insurance companies, Aetna and Humana [corporate websites]. This comes after a Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] decision [WP report] that the $37 billion merger would inhibit competition and ultimately hurt customers. The DOJ sued [complaint, PDF] in July in an attempt to bock the merger citing the anti-competitive concerns. Judge John Bates was concerned [NPR report] that the merger would decrease competition substantially in the Medicare Advantage market. There was also concern that such a merger would have led to higher prices and lower quality health insurance. The companies merger agreement will expire February 15. Many corporations with a worldwide reach have come under fire recently for antitrust issues. Last week the European Commission welcomed an agreement [JURIST report] between Apple and Amazon to end their exclusivity obligations for audio books. In January the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that plaintiffs may sue Apple [JURIST report] for violating antitrust regulations by forcing users to purchase apps exclusively through their app store. The EU in November made allegations [JURIST report] that Google had abused its market dominance of its Android mobile phone operating system. In August the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), South Koreas antitrust regulator, confirmed that the country is investigating [JURIST report] whether Google violated the countrys antitrust laws. Widows in Zimbabwe are routinely evicted from their land by relatives after the death of their husbands, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] report [text] released Tuesday. The report documents interviews with 59 widows, throughout all 10 provinces of Zimbabwe, conducted between May and October 2016. In 2013 Zimbabwe adopted a new constitution [text, PDF] that protects equal rights for women, including inheritance and property. However, this only applies to women who are in an officially registered marriage. A majority of marriages in Zimbabwe are conducted under customary law, leaving widows without a legal recourse. Those who can afford to go to court have been able to gain success through organizations such as Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Education Trust [advocacy website]. This report comes at a time where womens rights are facing international barriers. On Monday HRW released a report which highlighted current Russian legislation that the group says would weaken protections [JURIST report] against domestic violence in the country. Last week a US judge issued a temporary restraining order [JURIST report] to halt a Texas plan to cut Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood. Earlier this month in India police were accused of raping [JURIST report] at least 16 women in October. The Chui Regional Court in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Tuesday reinstated the life sentence for human rights defender Azimjan Askarov. The court found Askarov guilty again [AP report] of stirring up ethnic hatred during deadly clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in 2010 and of being involved in the murder of a policeman. The reinstatement of his sentence has raised international concern over the state of human rights in the area. Human rights in Kyrgyzstan have been an issue [UN report] as ethnic conflict between the local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz has been bloody. In 2010 a court in Kyrgyzstan sentenced 19 ethnic Uzbeks for their involvement in the June 2010 ethnic violence [Guardian backgrounder] that resulted in more than 300 deaths and an additional 2,000 injuries. Seventeen of the Uzbeks received life sentences [JURIST report] and two received 25-year sentences for their participation in a riot that blocked a major highway and killed 16 people in the Suzak district. The defense lawyers, who work for a local human rights organization and were giving free legal representation to the men, were allegedly threatened [AI report] by relatives of the Kyrgyz victims and told to keep silent during the trial. [JURIST] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [official website] said Sunday he will be lifting restrictions on Israelis building settlements in East Jerusalem. The statement said [Reuters report] My vision is to enact sovereignty over all the settlements. Immediately after the announcement, hundreds of building permits were approved by the municipal government. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu delayed [Haaretz report] lifting restrictions for two weeks to wait for then-US president Barack Obama [personal website] to leave office. Netanyahu will be meeting with Obamas successor Donald Trump [official website] at some point in the near future. In a statement to Reuters, Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said We strongly condemn the Israeli decision to approve the construction. Netanyahu and his ministers also decided Sunday to postpone discussion of annexing a West Bank settlement. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been at the forefront of recent international news and reports. A spokesperson 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. Netanyahu in December summoned [JURIST report] the ambassadors of the 14 UN Security Council members 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. Earlier this month Trump was warned [JURIST report] by Palestinian leaders not to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. [JURIST] New York City on Monday agreed to settle [text, PDF] a 2010 lawsuit [complaint, PDF] filed against the New York Police Department (NYPD) [official website] for issuing summonses without legal justification. The lawsuit regards [NYT report] approximately 900,000 summonses issued for quality-of-life crimes between 2007 and 2015 that were later dismissed for legal insufficiency. Plaintiffs had accused the NYPD of promoting the issuance of summonses regardless of actual wrongdoing in order to meet quotas. Such a policy was accused of disproportionately affecting minority communities. The city has agreed to pay up to $75 million to settle the lawsuit, with $56.5 million being set aside to compensate affected individuals and the remainder being used for attorneys fees. The city has also agreed to issue department-wide notifications reiterating the ban against enforcing quotas. The NYPD is currently in the process of changing its policies regarding how and when summonses are issued. The settlement agreement must now be approved during a final fairness hearing before the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website]. The NYPD previously faced scrutiny for its stop-and-frisk procedures [JURIST backgrounder]. Criticisms against such procedures revolve primarily around the relevant racial issues involved [JURIST op-ed]. Critics claim such procedures are unconstitutional [JURIST op-ed] because they unfairly target minorities, who are disproportionately selected for stops and searches. Other criticisms indicate that the procedure itself is unwieldy and ineffective [JURIST op-ed], emphasizing quantity of searches over their quality and resulting in an unnecessary drain on department time and resources. In 2014 Mayor Bill De Blasio [official website] agreed to settle [JURIST report] a lawsuit against the NYPD for stop-and-frisk procedures after reaching a settlement requiring three years of NYPD oversight by a court-appointed monitor. The mayor announced [JURIST report] his plan to drop the citys appeal of the lawsuit earlier that year. In November 2013 the court blocked NYPD stop-and-frisk changes. In the period between 2004 and 2011 only 1.5 percent of the 2.3 million searches conducted revealed an illegal weapon. In September 2013 Judge Shira Scheindlin rejected [JURIST report] a motion by the City of New York to stay her order requiring a halt of the stop-and-frisk procedure. Earlier that year the judge granted [JURIST report] class action status to those challenging the procedure. [JURIST] Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said Monday that a referendum on the governments plan to pardon thousands of prisoners was needed after thousands protested [JURIST report] the proposal. Many claim the proposed prisoner release is fueled by government officials agenda to aid corrupt politicians. The proposed referendum [AP report] would ask Romanians whether they agree with the possible government measure. The Socialist Democratic Party, now the leading party in parliament after the December election, has not addressed the pardons in any public statements. Premier Sorin Grindeanu has proposed an emergency ordinance that would bypass the president and parliament, citing problems with overcrowding in prisons. The European Commission will soon release a report on Romanias progress in improving judiciary independence and abolishing corruption, the subject behind the Romanian protests. Prison concerns have been widespread in recent months. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Hawaii filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the US Department of Justice in January, stating that overcrowding in the state correctional facilities is resulting in violations of the prisoners Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. In December Bolivia President Evo Morales pardoned 1,800 prisoners [JURIST report] in a continued attempt to cut down on prison overcrowding. A group of international human rights experts, including UN Special Rapporteur on torture Juan E. Mendez, in July called on [JURIST report] states worldwide to adopt the Revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. In March the Council of Europes Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment released a report [JURIST report] condemning Greece for police abuse, poor prison conditions and mistreatment of detained juveniles. [JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday declined [order list, PDF] to hear an appeal by Texas seeking to revive the states voter identification requirements. The Republican-backed law had been considered one of the strictest in the nation and had previously been contested in court by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website], civil rights groups and individual voters. Under the law, only seven types of government-issued ID were permitted for voting purposes, including a drivers license, a concealed handgun license, a military ID card or a US passport. State university ID cards or ID issued to obtain welfare benefits were not considered sufficient. Challengers of the law predicted that it made it impossible for up to 600 000 people to vote and that it was unduly harsh on minorities, who typically support Democrats. But supporters of the law argued that it was necessary to prevent voter fraud. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton [official profile], who launched the appeal, stated [press release] that he was disappointed in the decision and that Texas enacted a common sense voter ID law to safeguard the integrity of our elections, and we will continue to fight for the law in the district court, the Fifth Circuit, and if necessary, the Supreme Court again. The Texas voter ID law, first passed in 2011, is one of the strictest in the country. The law was blocked by the DOJ, which previously had the power to review voting changes in some jurisdictions under a preclearance requirement laid out in Sections 4 and 5 of the Voting Rights Act. However, when the Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] Section 4 in 2013, there was no longer a basis for enforcing the requirement in those jurisdictions. Texas lawmakers announced their plans to reenact the voting law hours after the courts decision. In October 2014 a district court ruled that SB 14 violates the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the US Constitution and filed a permanent injunction [JURIST reports] against its enforcement days later. However, an appeals court temporarily reinstated the law, stating that the upcoming elections were too close to make a change, and the Supreme Court permitted [JURIST reports] the law to be enforced. In March the appeals court agreed [JURIST report] to reconsider Texas voter ID law before the entire court, as opposed to a panel of just three judges. That month, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Congressman Marc Veasy, along with other plaintiffs, filed an application [JURIST report] with the Supreme Court, asking the court to vacate a stay that allowed the voter ID law to remain in place during the 2014 midterm elections. The court did not vacate the stay but stated that if the appeals court did not make a ruling in this case by July 20, then the parties could seek relief from the Supreme Court. Egypt froze its participation in the bloc in 2010, but last July, Egyptian Irrigation Minister attended the 24th annual meeting of the NBIs Nile-Com in Uganda, a move viewed as partial return to the group The Nile Basin Initiative is currently preparing a delegation to visit Cairo to discuss Egypts possible return to the regional grouping after seven years of inactivity, the initiatives head said. Hopefully by March, the NBI can send the delegation if formed, and successful talks would depend on the Egyptian authorities, Innocent Ntabana, the executive director of the initiative, told Ahram Online by phone earlier this month from Entebbe. Egypt froze its participation in the bloc in 2010, but last July, Egyptian Irrigation Minister Mohamed Abdel Ati attended the 24th annual meeting of the NBIs Nile Council of Ministers (Nile-Com) in Uganda, a move viewed as partial return of the northern African nation to active participation in the group. From the perspective of many Egyptians, neither the ministers move nor the NBIs anticipated visit to Cairo have been that significant, due to their lack of information about the Nile states relations. The initiative was launched in February 1999 by nine African countries with the aim of creating an intergovernmental partnership and providing a forum for consultation and coordination among the Basin States for the sustainable management and development of the shared Nile water and related resources for win-win benefits, according to the initiative official website. The founding members were Burundi, the DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Sudan has subsequently divided into two separate countries, both of which are now members of the grouping. Despite many Egyptians knowing little about the NBI itself, they do name Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia as among the members of the organisation. The ongoing conflict over Ethiopias Grand Renaissance Dam, which Egypt has reservations about, has been heavily reported by the Egyptian media for several years. I am not surprised, and am not sure about the knowledge of the rest of the basin population over the Nile, but they are highlighting the conflicts, then that is because the media doesnt focus on the cooperation and the benefits out of the partnership, Ntabana told Ahram Online. Egypts concerns over the CFA In 2010, five of the Nile Basin Initiative members adopted a treaty called the Cooperative Framework Agreement. The CFA stipulates, among its principals, an equitable and reasonable utilisation of the waters of the Nile river. Egypt and Sudan declined to sign the agreement, citing disagreements over Article 14(b) which requires members not to significantly affect the water security of any other Nile Basin States. It was this disagreement over the CFA that led Egypt to suspend its full participation in the NBI. Cairo argues that Egypt has historical rights to use the Nile water that were not taken into consideration by the CFA, said John Nyaoro, the NBIs former head during the initiatives media training held in Kigali last month. According to NBI, 95 percent of Egypts population lives along its banks, and the Nile accounts for nearly all of Egypts drinking and irrigation water. Egypt has also demanded a clear phrase about prior notification for other members of planned measures by any of the NBI states, Nyaoro said. All our development partners would want an all-inclusive NBI, where the basin states are participating. So even when one country -not just Egypt- is out, saying that it isnt satisfied with an issue, the partners would want the NBI states to consider and look into that issue, Nyaoro said. Egypts current stance toward the NBI is legal, and the participation will be remained frozen until the issues raised can be solved, Walid Haqeqi, the Egyptian irrigation ministrys spokesman, told Ahram Online. What we care about is to reassure Egyptians over their water security, said Haqeqi. Haqeqi elaborated that freezing activities within the initiative does not affect Egyptian bilateral relations with the NBI members themselves. Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed last month to water and irrigation ministers from a number of Nile basin countries the importance of reaching a consensus on the CFA, which aims to guarantee the rights and water security of all countries along the river. El-Sisi has been attempting to bolster Egypt's relations with African nations over recent months, visiting Uganda, Rwanda and receiving the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir in Cairo to discuss the current situation in his country. The ministry is yet to receive an official notification from the NBI regarding its delegations visit to Cairo, but Egypt welcomes any move that could solve the CFA issues, and the minister said so at the last meeting he attended, he concluded. "I would like to seize this opportunity to reaffirm Egypt's sincere will to continue and build upon what we started in 1999, putting aside all the challenges and misunderstandings that may hinder our regional cooperation," Egyptian water resources and irrigation minister Mohamed Abdel Ati was quoted as saying during the Nile-Com annual meeting. Egypt needs to diversify its demands on the table to make the issue easier to negotiate, because with only one single item on the table, the talks would become very rigid, Ana Cascao, a programme manager at the Stockholm International Water Institute told Ahram Online on the sidelines of a workshop held in Sudan last month. In order to have Egypt back to the NBI family, there is a need for it to show openness to compromise as this could also influence the willingness of others to compromise," Cascao said. The CFA versus bilateral treaties Egypt and Sudans fears over their historical rights to use the Nile water are exaggerated, Salman Salman, a former World Bank advisor on water law told Ahram Online last month in Kigali. Egypt signed a bilateral agreement with Great Britain, on behalf of its colony Sudan, in 1929, which was then supplemented by another accord in 1959 between Egypt and independent Sudan; under these treaties Cairo has the right to a water share of 55.5 billion cubic metres a year, the lion's share of the river's total flow of around 84 billion cubic metres, while Sudan has the rest. Salman explained that there is no contradiction between the downstream countries historical rights and the CFA principal of an equitable and reasonable utilisation of the water. The South Sudanese swamps are the factor that sets the flow rate of the Nile, nothing else, Salman told Ahram Online. The White Nile travels through the South Sudanese Sudd wetlands, and much water is lost to evaporation. Previous attempts to build a canal to divert the White Nile away from the vast swamps, to raise the flow of the river, have failed, as local communities rely on these wetlands. Egypt has accepted the GERD itself, so why does it rejects the CFA? wondered Salman. In 2015, Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan signed a Declaration of principal s in Khartoum on the sharing of Nile waters and the GERD, include giving priority to downstream countries for electricity generated by the dam and providing compensation for any damages. Last September in Khartoum, the three countries signed contract with the French engineering consultancy Artelia and BRL groups to study the impacts of the GERD on the downriver states. Sudan's return to the fold Sudan came back to the NBI in early 2012, believing in its strong commitment to cooperation and the benefits of being part of the Nile Basin fraternity, said Seifedin Hamad, the former minister of water resources of Sudan. Hamad had prepared a paper--unveiled last month in Kigali--summarising Sudans benefits from resuming its activities with the African initiative and urging the development partners to play a major and effective role in bridging the gap between Egypt and other Nile Basin countries. The paper, obtained by Ahram Online, listed thirteen points explaining the Sudanese experience of unfreezing its participation in the NBI. Hamad notes among them that: when absent your voice will not be heard, whereas if you are present you observe and acknowledge the interests of others and others will observe your interests. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypts foreign ministry announced on Tuesday it has successfully convinced Berlin to lift restrictions on flights from Germany to Sharm El-Sheikh resort; a decision that would push more flights to South Sinai's largest city. According to an official statement by the ministry, the German transportation ministry removed a restriction on German airlinesimposed in the wake of a Russian plane crash over the Sinai desert in October 2015that required them to fly at a minimum altitude of 26,000 feet above South Sinai. The decision means that all air companies would be able to fly directly to Sharm El-Sheikh and St. Catherine international airports, without paying additional insurance fees. The ministry pointed out that around 125 flights arrived from Germany in 2016 to different tourist areas in Egypt, especially Red Sea resorts. A number of European airlines and governments introduced restrictions on flights to Sharm El-Sheikh over security concerns after a Russian passenger jet crashed in Sinai in 2015, killing 224 people, most of whom were holidaymakers. German airlines were among many foreign carriers who banned check-in luggage on flights from the city's airport following the crash. Berlin subsequently halted direct flights from German airports to the city. The flight ban was lifted in May 2016, and in November 2016, Sharm El-Sheikhs airport received the a German air flight carrying 144 tourists, putting an end to the one-year travel ban. Egypt's foreign ministry said the positive German decision came after extensive efforts by Egypts foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and the Egyptian envoy in Berlin to support German tourism in Egypt. According to the ministry, Germans accounted for the greatest number of tourists to visit Egypt in 2016, with 655,000 people. The ministry said that lifting restrictions on the flights from Germany to South Sinai was top on the list of issues FM Shoukry discussed during his visit to Berlin last week. On 11 January, Shoukry flew to Germany for a two-day visit, in which he met with his German counterpart, as well as transportation and interior ministers to discuss lifting the restrictions. The ministry said Berlin's decision would make it easier for travellers to secure flights, allowing the resumption of normal traffic to Sharm El-Sheikh and other South Sinai resorts. Egyptian tourism, a pillar of the country's economy and a key source of hard currency, has taken a blow since the passenger plane crash. Sharm El-Sheikh's economy is believed to have suffered the most. Egypts revenues from tourism dropped from $6.1 billion in 2015 to $3.4 billion in 2016, according to statements by Central Bank of Egypt Governor Tarek Amer on Monday. The number of tourists visiting the country dropped by 50 percent in the first half of 2016 compared to the previous year, according to Egypt's Tourism Authority. Search Keywords: Short link: Ukraine-based confectioner Roshen, owned by the countrys president Petro Poroshenko, plans to halt production at its Lipetsk confectionery plant in Russia in April with the expected loss of around 700 jobs. Roshen said the decision was for economic and political reasons and a sharp decline in sales, leading to a three-fold fall in production at Lipetsk compared to 2013 levels. The company said its sales had been hit by a long-standing unjustified ban by Russian authorities on the import of products from Ukraine. In addition, Roshen has accused Russian authorities of actively discrediting its operations, which it claimed had in turn hit sales. Roshen said it will mothball production equipment at the site. The confectioner said it cannot sell the plant because the facilities have already been seized by authorities as part of ongoing investigations by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation into allegations against the company, including tax fraud, which the business disputes. Flights between Russia and Egypt could be resumed not earlier than late February, Russian news agency TASS reported on Monday, citing a source in Cairo close to the ongoing inspection checks on Egyptian airports. The source said that biometric equipment one of the Russian experts demands to enhance Egyptian airport security, which Cairo had purchased was not yet functioning at Cairo International Airport. "The biometric equipment they bought for scanning fingerprints and retinas is not functioning yet. The equipment is still being installed. In Hurghada and Sharm el-Sheikh the equipment is running, but only in the test mode. After all the systems are launched another delegation of experts from Russia is set to arrive for a final check of the second terminal at the capital's airport," the source said. Egypt has been implementing tighter security measures at its airports since a Russian passenger flight crashed shortly after taking off from Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport in October 2015. The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for downing the plane, which killed all 224 people on board. Egyptian investigations into the cause of the crash are still ongoing. Earlier this month, the head of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airports and Air Navigation Mohamed Saeed said that Cairo International Airport was set to receive biometric equipment from Germany on 12 January for immediate installation to better track airport staff. Similar equipment has already been installed at the Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada international airports. According to the TASS source, an aviation security agreement between Moscow and Cairo would only be signed after the completion of all these procedures. "And only after [the completion of those procedures] will we talk about the timing of flight resumption. In the best case, we can expect it by the end of February, and most likely in March," the TASS source said. Last week, a team of Russian experts arrived Egypt for a security inspection of the Red Seas Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada airports. According to TASS, Russias Transport Ministry is currently preparing a report to be delivered to the Russian government on Cairo International Airports security procedures. After the report is delivered, the ministry is expected to begin a gradual resumption of flights, following more than one year of flight suspension between the two countries after the crash of the Russian airliner. A number of European countries that suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh following the 2015 crash have recently reinstated direct flights to the South Sinai tourist hotspot. On Tuesday, Germany lifted the last set of restrictions on direct flights from Germany to the city. Russia, which led European countries in sending tourists to Egypt prior to the crash, has conducted inspections of Egyptian airport security measures several times. Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Egypts President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in late December that flights from Russia to the country would resume soon. Search Keywords: Short link: Trade minister Tarek Kabil said that SMEs and micro-projects represent 75 percent of the national economy, whether in formal or informal businesses Egypt's Al-Shabab Magazine, which operates under Al-Ahram organisation, held on Monday a conference on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the sponsorship of the trade and industry ministry, with a number of cabinet ministers in attendance to speak on the matter. Trade Minister Tarek Kabil said that SMEs and micro-projects represent 75 percent of Egypt's national economy, whether in formal or informal businesses, Al-Shabab reported. Kabil noted the massive increase in land devoted to industrial development, from 2.6 million square meters in 2015 to 13.6 million square meters in 2016. Industrial zones have grown especially in the cities of Badr, Sadat and Port Said. The minister said that getting an industrial licence represents the major obstacle to SMEs and micro-enterprises. He said that an inter-ministerial committee is currently drafting legislation that would decrease the time it takes to acquire a permit from two years to two weeks. International cooperation minister Sahar Nasr said SMEs are considered a major force in the economy for job creation, especially in needy areas. Nasr added that 50 percent of SME aid is given to women, in light of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis declaration that 2017 would be the year of women. Search Keywords: Short link: Claims that Turkey will hand over the Syrian town of al-Bab to President Bashar al-Assad's forces after driving out Islamic State (IS) militants are not true, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told the state-run Anadolu agency on Tuesday. Syrian rebels, backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes, have been besieging al-Bab since December. Kurtulmus said the U.S.-led coalition had failed to give sufficient support to Turkey's operation to seize the town. Search Keywords: Short link: Syrian rebels and their war-torn country's regime were heading into Day Two of peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Tuesday, after a first day of negotiations yielded no apparent breakthrough. "If things go well, as expected, today will be the final day," rebel spokesman Yehya al-Aridi told AFP, adding it was "not expected" that his delegation would meet face-to-face with the regime Tuesday after refusing to do so a day earlier. Aridi said that his delegation would hold meetings with rebel backer Turkey and regime ally Russia, two of the talks' sponsors along with Iran. The talks that kicked off Monday were billed as the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011. But the rebels announced they were backing out of Monday's direct talks because of the regime's continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the capital Damascus. The two sides sat at the same table for the opening statements, but spent the rest of the day negotiating via mediators. The rebels have insisted the talks focus on bolstering a frail truce brokered by Turkey and Russia last month, while the regime has called for a political solution to the nearly six-year conflict and for rebels to lay down their arms in exchange for an amnesty deal. Rebel spokesman Osama Abu Zeid said ceasefire violations and threats of forced displacements were hindering the negotiations, and that the rebels would bring up the truce in Tuesday's talks. In addition to having different objectives, the two sides also disagree about the role of the talks' three organisers, Russia, Turkey and Iran. A member of the rebel delegation told AFP on Monday that the group would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, another backer of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian regime, meanwhile, has said it would refuse to hold government-level talks with Turkey and sign any document bearing the signature of a Turkish official -- suggesting this would include any deal to come out of the talks. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, delt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of second city Aleppo. More than 310,000 people have been killed and more than half of the country's population displaced since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad's rule. Search Keywords: Short link: On Friday, 20 January 2017, Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America. He used the occasion to remind his fellow US citizens and the rest of the world of his campaign promises, summing up with the nationalist slogans America First and Make America Great Again. The new President did not lose time before starting to implement some of those promises, such as freezing support for Obamacare, which he wants repealed; removing climate change from the White House website; and inviting the leaders of Canada and Mexico to meet him and review the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He also withdrew the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a major trade agreement among the countries around the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Trump had a telephone conversation with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, inviting him to the White House in early February, amid rumours that the US would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an anathema for Palestinians and other Arabs. He announced that in a few days he would be visited in Washington, D.C., by Prime Minister Theresa May of the UK, whose decision to leave the EU he had applauded. His associates were speaking to the Russian Embassy in Washington in order to arrange a telephone call between him and President Putin. The contrast with former President Obama could not be starker. While civility determined a polite send-off by the new first family of the Obamas from the White House, the unraveling of the latters legacy seems to be the focus of the new President. He may have no clear idea of how to replace Obamacare with something that works better for the American people, especially the underprivileged. But the privileged and well-connected billionaire approaches and talks to working-class Americans in a way that the nerdier Hillary Clinton, his electoral opponent, could not. Mr. Trumps rhetoric about bringing back companies and jobs to America, eliminating Islamic fundamentalism, and keeping foreign workers out of the US territory and job market continues unabated. In addition to new priorities in terms of substance, President Trump and his team are introducing a new style in relations with the press and even with truth itself the strategy of the new White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, seems to promote alternative facts. A new, obnoxious style that does not seem to tolerate dissent and is ready to recast reality according to whim. Even the simple issue of whether Fridays Presidential inauguration had an audience bigger than any other in the past became a major bone of contention, even though the press compared aerial photos from the Trump and Obama inaugurations, clearly showing that Obamas was much better attended. What seems beyond doubt is that this US Presidents inauguration has attracted a very large number of protest marches around the world. This is not going to be a passing fixture of this Presidency. But will Mr. Trump be deterred by criticisms of his policy and styles; probably not. President Trump is apparently determined to upset the status quo in the US and the world. The result may be positive, if he focuses on and manages to mitigate several of the failures of the current system. This includes the world financial system that has led to gross inequalities, like the fact that the eight richest people have in their hands as much wealth as half of humanity, as recently suggested by Oxfam. One can only hope that Mr. Trump will be less of a populist provocateur and more of a proposer of new, workable solutions to the many problems that plague globalization. Till then, it does feel like the end of the world as we know it or, at least, the end of liberal democracy is near, when one hears the Chinese President defend globalization and climate change in his Davos speech, against the professed new American isolationism and attacks on climate action. Three quarters of a million civilians living in west Mosul are at "extreme risk", the United Nations warned Tuesday as Iraqi forces prepared for a push into the Islamist militant bastion. A hundred days into a massive offensive to retake the Islamic State (IS) militant group's last major stronghold in Iraq, federal forces and Islamist militants took up positions on either side of the Tigris River that divides Mosul. The three months it took to reconquer Mosul's east saw some tough fighting but even deadlier battles are expected on the city's west bank, which is home to the narrow streets of the Old City and some of IS's traditional redoubts. "We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west," the United Nations' humanitarian coordinator for Iraq Lise Grande said in a statement. "We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives." Iraqi forces have retaken all central neighbourhoods in east Mosul and on Tuesday were clearing Rashidiyah, which lies on the northern edge of the city and is the east bank's last area still to be secured. Tens of thousands of other forces are deployed north, south and west of Mosul, meaning that the Islamist militants are trapped in the city where their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed his "caliphate" in 2014. Residents of west Mosul and civil activists told AFP on Monday that IS fighters had forced civilians along the river front to leave their shops and homes. "The group forced us to leave our homes... without allowing us to take our belongings," a resident of Al-Maidan said. "It deployed gun positions and posted snipers on roofs and at windows." Facing them across the river are some of Iraq's most seasoned elite forces, whose engineers some reports said were already working on assembling pontoon bridges for a cross-river assault. All bridges across the Tigris in Mosul were either bombed by IS or hit by airstrikes carried out by the US-led coalition that has helped Iraq reclaim about two thirds of the territory it lost to IS in 2014. "The Iraqi forces have over the course of their battle against Daesh (IS) in this country developed the capability to do bridging, including bridging while under fire," coalition spokesman Colonel John Dorrian said. The UN had feared an exodus of unprecedented proportions before the Mosul offensive began on October 17 but while 180,000 people did flee their homes, the majority stayed. It now estimates that 750,000 people still live in Mosul's west bank, either because they did not want to leave their homes or were prevented from doing so by IS, which has routinely used civilians as human shields in this conflict. "We don't know what will happen in western Mosul but we cannot rule out the possibility of siege-like conditions or a mass exodus," Grande said in the statement. "To date, nearly half of all the casualties from Mosul are civilians. It's terrifying to think of the risks families are facing," she said. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which assists some of the displaced families, also said the lack of access to west Mosul was a source of great concern, given the humanitarian crisis that fighting in the east had already caused. "Those still trapped inside Mosul city are in even graver danger due to the fighting and shortages and, 100 days since the fighting started, we still have no way to reach them," it said in a statement. The recapture of Mosul by Iraqi forces would deal a death blow to the Iraqi part of IS's caliphate, with the next major target the group's stronghold of Raqa in neighbouring Syria. In retaken areas of eastern Mosul, efforts to resume a normal life picked up in recent days, with many shops reopening and children starting to go back to school. The UN's Children Fund said 30 schools had reopened this week. "After the nightmare of the past two years, this is a pivotal moment for the children of Mosul to reclaim their education and their hope for a better future," UNICEF's Iraq representative Peter Hawkins said. The UN said more than 20,000 people displaced since the Mosul offensive started 100 days ago have already returned to their homes in areas retaken from IS. Search Keywords: Short link: Russia, Iran and Turkey, the sponsors of peace talks between Syrian rebels and Damascus, agreed Tuesday to establish a joint "mechanism" to monitor the frail truce in the war-torn country. The sides will "establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire, prevent any provocations and determine all modalities of the ceasefire," according to a final statement read by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov following the talks in Astana. Rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran also support the presence of the armed opposition at political negotiations under UN auspices set to take place next month in Geneva, the statement said. The rebel delegation said earlier that they would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, another backer of President Bashar al-Assad. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels backed out Monday of what could have been their first face-to-face talks with the Syrian regime since the conflict erupted in 2011. They said they would not engage in direct negotiations with the regime because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. The latest diplomatic push to end bloodshed in Syria comes one month after regime forces, aided by allies Russia and Iran, retook full control of Aleppo, dealing the rebels a heavy blow. More than 310,000 people have been killed and more than half of the country's population displaced since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011 with protests against Assad's rule. Search Keywords: Short link: LINCOLN A chorus of state lawmakers called for State Sen. Bill Kintner to resign Tuesday, while others said he should be expelled from the body. Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk said a resolution to expel Kintner would be brought to the floor Wednesday. He said he believes there are more than enough votes to pass it. Scheer said he personally would support a motion to expel the Papillion senator. He has lost respect of the state, he said. Kintner, who was not on the floor Tuesday morning, faced an explosion of public anger and legislative criticism Monday after retweeting a comment that appeared to make light of sexual assault. Kintner issued a statement after Tuesday morning's debate, saying he has made no decision about his future as a senator. "I understand my colleagues concern about the retweet I sent this weekend," he said. "I am very troubled by the liberal activist campaign that is using my mistake on the tweet to escalate calls for my resignation." Kintner went on to say that if Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha "didnt have me to beat up, he would be taking up floor time on some other issue." "It has been clear that Chambers agenda has been to remove me from office since last summer," Kintner said. "He has made it obvious that he will use any means, including lies and cheap shots at my wife and myself." The Republican lawmaker paid a fine last year after admitting to engaging in cybersex on his state-issued computer with a woman he met online. Kintners wife, Lauren, leads Gov. Pete Ricketts policy research office. Several senators Tuesday made renewed appeals for Kintner to resign. The senators who spoke were from the four major political parties represented in the Legislature. Many said if Kintner does not resign, he should be expelled. Other lawmakers, particularly new members, still hadnt made a decision, saying they wanted to listen to the debate unfold before taking a position. The Nebraska Constitution requires 33 votes to expel a state senator. The expulsion would not prohibit the expelled member from running for public office again, including the office that he or she was expelled from. State Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln said her office has been inundated with phone calls, emails and personal letters from people questioning why Kintner remained in office. Were unable to do the states business, she said. Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, who reported the same deluge at her office, called for Kintner to resign. I think as an elected official we are held to a standard that should be above reproach, she said. This has gone on long enough and its time to move forward. For the first time, Sen. Jim Smith publicly called on his fellow Papillion senator to resign, saying that is the best thing for the things he values. Sen. Mark Kolterman of Seward said he has more than 40 senators signatures on a letter calling for Kintners resignation. The time has come to end your pain to have to serve with us any longer, Sen. Bob Hilkemann of Omaha said, referring to Kintners frequent criticism of the Legislature. Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete said her concern comes from an accumulation of issues, including the cybersex incident. She would support Kintners removal from the body and was among those counting votes for expulsion. This has the potential to totally derail the session, she said. if we care about the Legislature and about doing the business of the people, we need to deal with this. Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, who has supported Kintner remaining in the body, said he would vote for censure. The retweeting incident calls into question Kintners judgment, not just his behavior, he said. Sen. John Murante of Gretna said he supports punishing Kintner, but he doesnt know how he will vote on the expulsion motion set to come before the Legislature on Wednesday. It is my hope that Sen. Kintner resigns and avoids plunging this Legislature into that kind of discussion, he said. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse said he had a hard time standing between Kintners roughly 40,000 constituents. Whos is the judge and who is the jury? he said. We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form A Islamist militant group has launched an assault and seized some positions from Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups in northwestern Syria that are attending peace talks in Kazakhstan, rebel officials said on Tuesday. Officials from the Islamist militant group, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, could not immediately be reached for comment. Fateh al-Sham was previously known as the Nusra Front. It changed its name after cutting its ties with al Qaeda last year. An official in one of the rebel groups, Jabha Shamiya, told Reuters the attack in rural areas west of Aleppo began overnight, and it was the first time Fateh al-Sham had attacked the FSA groups in that area. The commander of a second FSA rebel group, Jaish al-Mujahideen, told Reuters Fateh al-Sham aimed to "eliminate the revolution", saying the group had seized "some positions", though these were far from its headquarters. Search Keywords: Short link: Blog Archive Nov 2022 (1) Oct 2022 (10) Sep 2022 (8) Aug 2022 (11) Jul 2022 (7) Jun 2022 (8) May 2022 (9) Apr 2022 (9) Mar 2022 (7) Feb 2022 (8) Jan 2022 (6) Dec 2021 (5) Nov 2021 (6) Oct 2021 (3) Sep 2021 (2) Aug 2021 (2) Jul 2021 (5) Jun 2021 (7) May 2021 (13) Apr 2021 (15) Mar 2021 (10) Feb 2021 (6) Jan 2021 (11) Dec 2020 (13) Nov 2020 (12) Oct 2020 (14) Sep 2020 (11) Aug 2020 (10) Jul 2020 (9) Jun 2020 (8) May 2020 (8) Apr 2020 (13) Mar 2020 (14) Feb 2020 (12) Jan 2020 (14) Dec 2019 (16) Nov 2019 (15) Oct 2019 (14) Sep 2019 (14) Aug 2019 (13) Jul 2019 (17) Jun 2019 (14) May 2019 (14) Apr 2019 (15) Mar 2019 (16) Feb 2019 (12) Jan 2019 (17) Dec 2018 (14) Nov 2018 (18) Oct 2018 (16) Sep 2018 (15) Aug 2018 (18) Jul 2018 (17) Jun 2018 (19) May 2018 (16) Apr 2018 (16) Mar 2018 (18) Feb 2018 (22) Jan 2018 (24) Dec 2017 (20) Nov 2017 (21) Oct 2017 (16) Sep 2017 (17) Aug 2017 (17) Jul 2017 (18) Jun 2017 (23) May 2017 (20) Apr 2017 (19) Mar 2017 (22) Feb 2017 (17) Jan 2017 (17) Dec 2016 (20) Nov 2016 (24) Oct 2016 (18) Sep 2016 (16) Aug 2016 (19) Jul 2016 (16) Jun 2016 (13) May 2016 (15) Apr 2016 (16) Mar 2016 (13) Feb 2016 (17) Jan 2016 (18) Dec 2015 (20) Nov 2015 (19) Oct 2015 (17) Sep 2015 (15) Aug 2015 (19) Jul 2015 (17) Jun 2015 (16) May 2015 (14) Apr 2015 (17) Mar 2015 (16) Feb 2015 (14) Jan 2015 (16) Dec 2014 (20) Nov 2014 (13) Oct 2014 (17) Sep 2014 (22) Aug 2014 (14) Jul 2014 (20) Jun 2014 (19) May 2014 (18) Apr 2014 (13) Mar 2014 (17) Feb 2014 (14) Jan 2014 (15) Dec 2013 (17) Nov 2013 (15) Oct 2013 (14) Sep 2013 (15) Aug 2013 (14) Jul 2013 (12) Jun 2013 (11) May 2013 (10) Apr 2013 (8) Mar 2013 (7) Feb 2013 (8) Jan 2013 (14) Dec 2012 (10) Nov 2012 (9) Oct 2012 (9) Sep 2012 (6) Aug 2012 (6) Jul 2012 (7) Jun 2012 (8) May 2012 (11) Apr 2012 (9) Mar 2012 (9) Feb 2012 (10) Jan 2012 (7) Dec 2011 (12) Nov 2011 (17) Oct 2011 (9) Sep 2011 (13) Aug 2011 (16) Jul 2011 (11) Jun 2011 (7) May 2011 (8) Apr 2011 (6) Mar 2011 (2) Feb 2011 (8) Jan 2011 (3) Dec 2010 (1) Jul 2010 (1) Jun 2010 (1) May 2010 (4) Apr 2010 (2) Mar 2010 (4) Feb 2010 (6) Jan 2010 (4) Dec 2009 (9) Nov 2009 (11) Oct 2009 (12) Sep 2009 (14) NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday called for boosting security cooperation with the Gulf states as the Western military alliance opened its first office in the region. "It will be a vital hub for cooperation between the alliance and our Gulf partners," Stoltenberg said at the inauguration of the centre in Kuwait in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah. The centre is based on the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), which was launched by the NATO leaders in 2004 and aims to boost security links with the Middle East, in particular Gulf Arab states. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are members of ICI while the remaining two Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states -- Saudi Arabia and Oman -- plan to join. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah said the region is facing serious challenges that require cooperation with international organisations. "We face common security threats like terrorism, weapons proliferation, and cyber attacks. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability," Stoltenberg said. "So it is essential that we work more closely together than ever before. We have now developed individual cooperation programmes with all our Gulf partners," he said. Stoltenberg said that over the past year, NATO has trained hundreds of Iraqi officers in Jordan to better fight the Islamic State (IS) militant group. "We are now extending our training and capacity-building efforts into Iraq itself," he said. NATO continues to fight terrorism in other ways, including with direct support to the anti-IS coalition, he said. The centre will strengthen the military-to-military cooperation and the fight against terrorism and extremism, Stoltenberg said. The centre will help the Gulf states by providing advanced training courses on cyber security, energy security, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Search Keywords: Short link: Six Russian warplanes launched a coordinated strike on Islamic State (IS) militants' targets in the Syrian province of Deir al-Zor, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the Russian defence ministry. The defence ministry said the Russian Tu-22 bombers flew from an air base in Russia over the territory of Iraq and Iran to make the strike. Search Keywords: Short link: 48 Shares Share Dear Dr. Price, Congratulations on your upcoming appointment as the new Health and Human Services Secretary under President Trump. As a physician myself, its great to know that a fellow physician will head up the agency. Im sure you understand too, having been a practicing orthopedic surgeon, how disheartening and frustrating it is to have non-clinical experts making key decisions about health care. Im sure youve also seen the news about how your nomination has divided the physician community. Nevertheless, you have the full support of many of our nations top physician organizations, including the American Medical Association. I am all for physicians taking leadership positions in health care, industry and yes politics. Your resume is hugely impressive. Im aware of many of your viewpoints. And in the interests of being completely honest, I am not in agreement with all of them as Im sure is the case for a large percentage of the over 800,000 physicians in the United States. Especially if you ever propose changes that risk any of our long-suffering patients losing access or have the result of making health care more unaffordable for them. Having said that, I am glad about your consistent wish to put the doctor-patient relationship first. Nobody needs to tell you what has gone on over the last decade and how the practice of medicine has changed for the worse. We need to consider the following five points to make American Health Care Great Again: 1. The cost of our health care system is just unsustainable, as weve known for a very long time. Both total cost as a share of GDP and individual cost to the patient. Everything we do has to keep this in mind. Patients cant keep seeing their expenses rise and access limited. That applies to all our citizens. 2. The frontline of medicine has been decimated by excessively onerous regulations. While we certainly need to maintain high standards and raise quality, there are better ways to do it than lumber our physicians (and nurses) with ever more tick boxes and layers of expensive administration. Ask some of your physician colleagues, Dr. Price, how much time they are now spending staring at a screen instead of being with their patients? Meaningful use, whatever its intentions, has caused something of a catastrophe because of suboptimal IT systems that we are now forced to use and spend the majority of our day navigating. 3. Lets keep our independent physicians. The last decade, thanks to certain policies, has heavily favored large health care corporations over independent physicians. These fine doctors, who have traditionally been the backbone of our health care system (such as the good old-school country doctors) now find it impossible to practice independently. Did we need to alienate them so much? 4. Lets foster a health care system that favors doctors (or nurses, or indeed any other health care professionals) in positions of leadership. The move towards corporate medicine and consolidation has done quite the opposite. The number of non-clinical administrators is exploding, while the number of practicing physicians appears to be drastically shrinking! At the same time as encouraging those physicians who want to lead such as yourself let us also address issues that will help put more doctors on the front line, including practice environment and spiraling medical student debt. 5. As youve already said time and again, we must always remember that its all about the patient and their doctor. This paradigm is central to all health care systems true patient-centered care. When we promote a system that understands this, we will be able to do many more things including strengthening our primary care sector and focusing on prevention rather than cure all while offering patients the freedom and choice that they need with the fewest barriers between them and their doctor. As much as we need to improve, lets also not forget all of the great things about American health care. We have the most amazing doctors and nurses and lead the world in innovation and research. We can maintain our high standards, while still giving our patients the best possible deal at much lower costs. We can also make our system a great one to work in for our hard-working doctors. This health care ship can still be reversed especially by the collective efforts of those physicians who all started off with the same call to service and altruistic intentions that you probably did too. Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician and author of three books, including Thomas Jefferson: Lessons from a Secret Buddha. He is the founder and director, HealthITImprove, and blogs at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand. Image credit: Brookings 63 Shares Share I went to medical school to go into family medicine. During my interview when I said I wanted to do family medicine, the interviewer looked me up and down and said, You know, you dont have to say that just because you are at (insert name of primary care focused medical school). Now, less than two years into medical school, Im watching with sadness as the con side of my pro/con primary care seesaw tips lower and lower. My intentions of writing this are not to bash, elevate, or debate any specific specialty, but to explain what the current state of primary care looks like as a second-year medical student and how that will affect my residency decision and therefore the future of health care. There is a large disconnect between practicing physicians and medical students. My point of writing this is to bring up the some of the concerns that medical students perceive as rational reasons to stay away from primary care, even if they feel as though they would make great primary care physicians. Through my eyes as an eager medical student, two recent legal changes shook my outlook on primary care: 1. Oregon NP Payment Parity Bill (HB 2902): The first state in the nation to require insurance companies to follow equal pay for equal work rules on insurance reimbursements for nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians in primary care and mental health. 2. VA Grants Full Practice Authority to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses When I read those articles, everything changed. Why would any medical student want to pursue primary care after eleven years of post-high school education, when they could do the same thing, for the same pay as a nurse practitioner or a physician assistant? I cant help but ask myself, will I be overtrained to go into primary care? Will I take too many exams, work too many hours, and take on too much debt to go into primary care? It is the erosion of physician territory, particularly in primary care, that makes me step back from my prior commitment to primary care and strongly reconsider options that pay better and are not encroached upon by other professions. Part of me feels like a traitor. If you want to know how to get more students to go into primary care, I would start by addressing these fears. It is hard for medical students to decipher if the primary care boat has simply hit a wave and taken on a splash of water or if it is more like the Titanic heading towards an enormous iceberg. Some specialties appear to be watching from the shore pointing and laughing rather than assisting or calling for help. The boat I am on is heading towards what looks like thick smoke. Put yourself in my shoes: Do I jump ship or take a deep breath and hold on? The author is an anonymous medical student. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 65 Shares Share A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com. As a lifelong resident of southeast Louisiana and a veteran of numerous weather and flood-related events that have required me to use my homeowners and flood insurance, I am very familiar with gaps in insurance coverage. Insurance policies are very detailed agreements that many of us read over quickly, but really dont know what is or is not covered until the time comes to make a claim. And although we do tend to know the cost of our insurance premium, only after an event do we realize the true cost of the insurance selected and the various gaps that may exist. These same types of surprise insurance coverage gaps are now appearing in healthcare. It is no longer the norm to see a health insurance policy that simply spells out a deductible and the percentage of medical bills that you as the consumer will pay across the board. The goal of purchasing health insurance is to allow you and your family the security of knowing that if you are carrying out preventive health care or have an emergent medical need for health care, you will be covered and your costs will be manageable. That has become a challenge. Unfortunately, health insurance plans have become increasingly more complicated, for patients and physicians. Even discerning consumers can find themselves facing gaps in their insurance. Many insurance companies have several products, each with potentially multiple tiers, making purchasing and using health insurance more confusing and difficult for consumers. Premiums for narrow insurance networks tend to be lower on the front end, making them more appealing, but they may lead to unexpected gaps in coverage. With the increase of insurance companies narrowing and tiering their insurance networks, patients may be treated by physicians who are outside of their health insurance network without their knowledge. Patients are then expected to pay the difference between the actual charge for the out-of-network physicians care and the amount the insurance company decides it is going to pay after copay and deductibles. This is known as balance billing and may be seen by patients as surprise medical bills when in reality it represents surprise coverage gaps. To make matters worse, insurance companies have sought in various jurisdictions to have lawmakers ban physicians from appropriately billing for the medical care they provide to their patients. This does not address the true problem. This issue is particularly concerning for hospital-based physicians such as physician anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, hospitalists, emergency medicine physicians, and neonatologists. These physicians very often care for patients at an in-network facility. It is not that these physicians dont want to be included in the network, but rather the payment rates are not calculated fairly. As a physician, it is not as simple as sitting at a table with an insurance company and negotiating payment for the medical services we provide to our patients. In fact, I have never directly negotiated a payment rate in my career. I am told what I will be paid, and I can choose to accept it, or not be included in the network. Thus, many health care providers find themselves out-of-network and seeking appropriate payment from patients for their services after the insurance company has paid their portion. Obviously, this problem is extremely complicated, but there are a few strategies that patients can use to help avoid these unexpected medical bills: 1. Before having a medical procedure, ask who will be involved in your care from physician anesthesiologist to pathologist then try to find out from the insurance company whether they are in your specific plans network. 2. Call your insurance company to verify that not only the hospital, but also your particular physicians and other providers are in-network. 3. Low premiums dont necessarily mean affordable care. Always ask for details about what the health insurance plan covers and does not cover before signing up to protect against high co-pays, deductibles and a plan with a narrow network of physicians. 4. If an unexpected medical bill does occur, raise significant concerns with your insurance company. If you do not receive an adequate response, reach out to your state-level department of insurance for assistance. Insurance plans with narrow networks remove or reduce patient choice by providing coverage with a limited number of physicians, high deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance. These inadequate networks limit insurance companies cost and shift them to patients and other stakeholders. I recommend patients spend time analyzing their current health insurance and become more familiar with the potential sites and locations where they may receive health care services and the physicians they may encounter. After a thorough analysis, you, the patient and the consumer of the insurance company, may find that the low-cost health insurance that seems very appealing, may be riddled with surprise gaps in coverage, costing more in the long run. Kraig S. de Lanzac is an anesthesiologist. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Israel's Defence Ministry announced plans on Tuesday to build 2,500 more settlement homes in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since President Donald Trump took office. A statement from the Defence Ministry said the plans, authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, were intended to fulfil a demand for new housing "to maintain regular daily life". Most of the new construction will take place in existing settlement blocs. The statement said 100 of the homes would be built in Beit El, a settlement which according to Israeli media has received funding from the family of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It was not immediately clear whether it was the first time that the new construction had been announced. There are several stages involved in the process of approving and building new settlement homes. Search Keywords: Short link: City officials are at the State Capitol advocating for the Gateway City. The mayor, city manager and department heads have spent the day meeting with state representatives to discuss how Laredo could be better served and represented at the Capitol. Mayor Pete Saenz says topics like trade and border security have been discussed, along with transportation projects. He adds they are looking into other places they could get funding. "We applied [for] a FASTLANE grant through federal government, then if that doesn't come through, the plan is to work with TxDOT and get the funds from the state," Saenz said. The mayor says the directors of many city departments also made the trip to Austin. Laredo Border Patrol agents have rescued two undocumented immigrants in two separate cases. The Marine Unit found one immigrant struggling to stay afloat in the Rio Grande River. The second rescue involved an unaccompanied child who was discovered at a remote ranch. Both individuals were checked for injuries, and then processed by agents. IRS-certified students from the Laredo Independent School District are providing free tax assistance to Laredoans, starting Tuesday. Along with the VITA program, the free tax help will be offered to low-to-moderate income families. Preparations will take place at all Laredo ISD high schools until April 18. Martin High School tax preps will take place from 4:15 - 6:15 pm. Nixon and Cigarroa preps will take place from 4:30 - 6:30 pm. Russia, Iran and Turkey on Tuesday agreed to shore up a shaky truce in war-torn Syria, but rebels and Damascus made no breakthrough towards a political settlement of the conflict after indirect talks. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara, the sponsors of the negotiations in the capital of Kazakhstan, announced they would "establish a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with the ceasefire" in place since late December. The three powers also backed the participation of the armed rebel groups at a new round of peace talks set to be hosted by the United Nations in Geneva next month. "There is no military solution to the Syrian conflict and... it can only be solved through a political process," the final statement by Russia, Iran and Turkey, read out by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov, said. The two days of meetings in Astana -- which have left the West sidelined -- were mainly a Kremlin initiative and come as Russia has made itself the main powerbroker in Syria with its gamechanging military support for leader Bashar al-Assad. The meeting was expected to see the first face-to-face negotiations between the regime and the armed opposition since Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, but the rebels backed out and mediators were forced to shuttle between the two sides. The latest diplomatic initiative to end the bloodshed in Syria that has cost 310,000 lives comes one month after regime forces, aided by Russia and Iran, dealt a crushing blow to the rebels by retaking full control of the country's second city Aleppo. A ceasefire brokered by Russia and rebel-backer Turkey has been in place since late December but both rebels and Damascus have complained of repeated violations. The rebels -- who insisted they would use the Astana talks to push Damascus to respect the truce -- refused direct talks with the regime on Monday because of its continued bombardment and attacks on a flashpoint outside the Syrian capital Damascus. Regime negotiator Bashar al-Jafaari said after the end of the talks that the meeting "succeeded in achieving the goal of consolidating the cessation of hostilities for a fixed period paving the way for dialogue between Syrians." "Astana has only one goal: consolidating the regime of the cessation of hostilities," he said. There were, however, no concrete details given immediately on the three-way mechanism agreed by Russia, Iran and Turkey to strengthen the ceasefire and how it would resolve the thorniest hotspots. The rebels have called for a halt to regime attacks on Wadi Barada, an area 15 kilometres (10 miles) northwest of Damascus, but Jafaari insisted operations would continue there. There was profound rancour and mudslinging between the delegations from Damascus and the rebels. It also remained to be seen how the sides could patch up differences on the role of the talks' three organisers, Russia, Turkey and Iran. A member of the rebel delegation told AFP on Monday that the group would agree to have Russia serve as a guarantor of the current ceasefire but not Iran, which controls troops on the ground fighting for Assad. The Syrian regime, meanwhile, said it would refuse to hold government-level talks with Turkey and sign any document bearing the signature of a Turkish official. Search Keywords: Short link: Two young entrepreneurs from Kilkenny are going head-to-head with entrepreneurs from Carlow, Wexford and Wicklow at the Regional Final of Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition, which takes place on January 31 in Wexford. Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny will be represented at this years Regional Final by Mel Clohosey (33) from Urlingford Kilkenny with his business proposal SocialFeedia in the Best Idea Category and Leanne Nolan (35) of Vow2Wow a specialised awardwinning freelance bridal hairstyling service with plans to expand into a hairdressing academy - will be in the Best Start- Up category. Three finalists will be selected by the judging panel to compete at the IBYE National Final in March, one from each competition category. So far, 180 talented entrepreneurs across every county in Ireland, aged between 18 and 35, have been awarded a total of 1.5 million in investment funding through the Local Enterprise Offices, after winning or becoming runners-up in IBYE County Finals. This initiative for young entrepreneurs is run by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) nationwide, and supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland. The investment awards will be used by the young entrepreneurs to help fund business start-ups, create new jobs locally or to help develop new products for international markets. As part of the supports on offer through the competition, more than 400 young entrepreneurs around the country benefited from boot-camp training sessions in which they were put through their paces in every aspect of how to start and develop a business. Fiona Deegan, Head of Enterprise (Acting) with Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny, wished local category winners the best of luck at the Regional Final, saying: We see the IBYE initiative as an important springboard for our young entrepreneurs who want to start or expand a business. The 180 entrepreneurs across every county in Ireland who share 1.5 million in investment funding, which include our County Winners and Runners-up, can now make their business ideas and expansion plans a reality in 2017. Its also about nurturing entrepreneurs through bootcamps, training, networking and mentoring, with job creation benefits throughout the region. Announcing details for the Regional Finals, The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms. Mary Mitchell OConnor T.D, said: This competition highlights that Irelands entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. Our young entrepreneurs are the employers of the future, and are the backbone of the Irish economy. This investment will help all their businesses to grow and flourish and in turn will create and support more jobs throughout every region. The competition attracted a record number of entries, with 1,842 applying in total and 185 applying from the region. The young entrepreneurs are hoping to follow in the footsteps of the three 2015 National Finalists from the region notably Blaine Doyle of GlowDx. The region has enjoyed considerable success in the competition, as Blaine Doyle won the respective categories, clinching Best Business Idea in 2015. More details are available through www.localenterprise.ie and from the IBYE website at www.ibye.ie. Kingstree, SC (29556) Today Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. High near 80F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low 64F. Winds light and variable. VANCOUVER, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Teck Resources has held talks with fellow miner Anglo American Plc about sharing port infrastructure at their neighboring copper mines in Chile, Teck's chief executive officer said on Monday, arguing for more industry partnerships. Sharing infrastructure between Teck's Quebrada Blanca copper mine and Anglo's Collahausi copper mine, both of which are weighing expansions, would help reduce costs for both companies as well as reduce their environmental footprint, Teck CEO Don Lindsay said. "They are looking at expansion. We are too. We are building two ports 5 kilometers (3 miles) apart. This is ridiculous," Lindsay said, speaking at a mining conference in Vancouver. "We've got to stop doing that as an industry," he said, adding that host countries appreciate miners working together to reduce their environmental impact. There are clusters of ore bodies all over the world owned by different companies but well suited for joint development, Lindsay said. Teck, which also mines coal and gold, formed a joint venture with fellow Vancouver-based gold producer, Goldcorp in 2015 to jointly develop their neighboring mines, Relincho and El Morro, which are also in Chile. Lindsay said he had spoken with Anglo CEO Mark Cutifani about sharing infrastructure. "We'll sort something out," he said. Last week, Goldcorp CEO David Garofalo said the world's biggest gold miners need to forge partnerships to share the financial and other risks of developing large gold deposits. (Reporting by Nicole Mordant; Editing by Leslie Adler) HANOI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - EHere's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official market and indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi at 0109 GMT. Jan 24 Jan 23 USD/VND mid-point 22,187 22,191 USD/VND interbank 22,550/22,555 22,550/22,555 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.37/36.76 36.42/36.81 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) Israel must face international action over a major expansion of settlement building announced Tuesday following US President Donald Trump's inauguration, a top Palestinian official said. "The international community must hold Israel accountable immediately for what it is doing," Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary general Saeb Erekat told AFP. He added that Israel had been emboldened by "what they consider encouragement by American President Donald Trump." Search Keywords: Short link: HANOI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0406 GMT. Jan 24 Jan 23 USD/VND mid-point 22,187 22,191 USD/VND interbank 22,520/22,600 22,550/22,555 USD/VND unofficial 22,720/22,750 22,680/22,730 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.54/36.96 36.42/36.81 Interbank offered rates Overnight 5.0-5.8 4.0-5.5 1 week 5.0-5.5 4.5-5.5 1 month 5.0-5.5 5.0-5.5 3 months 5.1-5.5 5.0-5.5 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 David Lawder and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin has told senators that he would work to combat currency manipulation but would not give a clear answer on whether he currently views China as manipulating its yuan, according to a Senate Finance Committee document seen by Reuters on Monday. In written answers to supplemental questions from the committee following his confirmation hearing last week, Mnuchin did not close the door to a potential Treasury declaration of China as a currency manipulator. Asked by Senator Orrin Hatch, the committee's pro-trade Republican chairman, if he agreed that China appears to have stopped trying to devalue its currency and is now trying to prevent depreciation, Mnuchin wrote: "If confirmed, I intend to review the issue of Chinese currency manipulation." The document was verified by a Senate aide. The Chinese currency question is important because if Treasury declares Beijing a currency manipulator, it starts a process under which the Trump administration is required by law to demand special negotiations with Beijing to resolve the issue. That process could end in punitive duties on Chinese goods aimed at eliminating any advantage that the currency manipulation would provide. Throughout his election campaign, President Donald Trump had threatened to levy punitive tariffs against China in order to bring down the U.S. trade deficit and such a declaration could provide a mechanism for launching that effort. He also accused China repeatedly of manipulating its currency for trade advantage. While China was widely viewed to have held down the value of its yuan to gain a trade advantage five to 10 years ago, many economists say that in the past year, Beijing has been working to prop up the yuan's value. China's central bank has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in reserves to keep the yuan's value from falling further in the face of capital outflows caused by economic uncertainty. Former president Barack Obama's Treasury secretary, Jack Lew, had again declined to name China a currency manipulator last October, arguing its reduced global current account surplus was a positive development. The Treasury is due to issue its next currency report, which evaluates the foreign exchange practices of major trading partners, on April 15. Hatch in his questions said it was possible that Trump could instruct Mnuchin to name China a currency manipulator even if it did not meet the statutory criteria. "It seems to me that taking this action would undermine your credibility and the credibility of the U.S. when we seek to take on currency manipulation in the future. Are you advising the President to avoid taking actions that undermines the credibility of the United States?" Hatch asked. Mnuchin answered: "Currency manipulation is a serious infraction of free trade principles and needs to be effectively addressed. As Treasury Secretary, I will ensure that we defend American jobs by combating currency devaluation utilizing the reporting and monitoring functions of the Treasury and legislative processes established by Congress." Mnuchin said that he would work through existing multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the G7 and the G20 to address currency manipulation as an unfair trade practice, as well as working bilaterally with major trading partner. However, he said that the IMF and other institutions "do not appear to have prevented nations from manipulating the value of their own currencies." (Reporting by David Lawder and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Andrea Ricci) OTTAWA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Housing prices in Canada's largest city, Toronto, have increased disproportionately and are spilling over into nearby communities, the federal housing agency said on Tuesday. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp (CMHC) said the spillover of rising home prices has affected nearby cities within commuting distance of Toronto. It noted the average price in the Greater Toronto Area was up 18 percent in the third quarter of 2016 from the same quarter in 2015. While most Canadian housing markets have cooled after a long boom, Toronto has continued to boil, sparking concerns about a bubble. The government tightened mortgage lending rules again late in 2016 in a bid to lower the risk of consumers taking on too much debt to get into the market. The CMHC has said there is strong evidence of overvaluation in Toronto, with the growth in house prices persistently outpacing economic and demographic fundamentals. The report said the spillover effect of high prices is greatest in communities closer to Toronto, and that the impact of a negative or positive shock would affect prices in the spillover communities more dramatically than in Toronto itself. It said, for example, that "an unexpected 10 percent contraction in GTA (Greater Toronto Area) prices could lead Hamilton prices to decline by 14 percent within one year," the report said. (Reporting by Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) * Saudi stocks recover after missing Q4 estimates * Mouwasat Medical jumps after board urges higher dividend * GFH Financial rockets in Dubai * Masraf Al Rayan leads Qatar up * Emaar Misr breaks technical support in Cairo By Andrew Torchia DUBAI, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's stock market continued rebounding on Tuesday in a generally strong Gulf region, while a drop by shares in real estate firm Emaar Misr dragged down Egypt. The Saudi index climbed 1.1 percent, adding to Monday's 1.7 percent gain. With the fourth-quarter earnings reporting season more or less over, many Saudi firms have posted flat or weak profits because of government austerity steps and a sluggish economy. Over half a dozen major firms, including food maker Savola and several banks, missed analysts' estimates by wide margins. But stocks in most companies which missed estimates have recovered strongly, suggesting investors are looking towards improvement in the non-oil economy this year as the government's introduction of austerity measures slows. Mouwasat Medical Services jumped 3.5 percent after saying its board was recommending a cash dividend of 2.5 riyals per share for 2016, up from 2 riyals in the previous year. The company reported an estimate-beating 34.2 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit last week. Savola surged 3.3 percent. It had dropped 2.0 percent on Sunday after reporting a shock fourth-quarter net loss, but jumped 5.4 percent on Monday. Kuwait's index climbed 0.9 percent as trading volume remained extremely high, though it fell slightly from Monday's level. The index is up 17 percent since the end of last year, causing funds and individual speculators to pile into the market to catch the momentum. Dubai's index rose 0.3 percent as GFH Financial , a speculative favourite and the most heavily traded stock, jumped 11.2 percent. It also soared during the day on Monday but gave up all its gains by the close on that day. In Qatar, the index rose 1.0 percent as Islamic bank Masraf Al Rayan , the most heavily traded stock, rose 4.6 percent to a 14-month high. Egypt sank 0.9 percent as Emaar Misr dropped 4.3 percent to 2.67 Egyptian pounds, confirming a break of technical support at 2.80 pounds, the bottom of its range since mid-November. That triggered a bearish right triangle formed by the highs and lows since November and pointing down to the area of 2.30 pounds. Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals jumped 10 percent to 19.89 pounds, however. Last week Beltone Financial raised its fair value estimate for the stock to 32.3 pounds from 17.68 pounds, citing stronger global oil prices among other factors. TUESDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS SAUDI ARABIA * The index rose 1.1 percent to 7,092 points. DUBAI * The index added 0.3 percent to 3,720 points. ABU DHABI * The index rose 0.5 percent to 4,679 points. QATAR * The index gained 1.0 percent to 11,058 points. EGYPT * The index fell 0.9 percent to 12,883 points. KUWAIT * The index climbed 0.9 percent to 6,742 points. OMAN * The index edged down 0.1 percent to 5,766 points. BAHRAIN * The index rose 0.3 percent to 1,278 points. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ OPEC in first joint oil cut with Russia since 2001, Saudis take "big hit" ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> The Dom Post editorial: Today is Wellington Anniversary Day, when we celebrate the arrival of the first settler ship in New Zealand. Probably not many Wellingtonians actually know that this is the occasion for their day off. And thereby hangs a tale and a political argument. The Aurora landed at Wellington Harbour (then called Port Nicholson) with 148 emigrants and 21 crew aboard on 22 January 1840. Nowadays Wellington Anniversary Day is celebrated on the Monday nearest to 29 January. Were not entirely sure why. The point is that this is an arbitrary sort of anniversary which remains obscure to most of the people who observe it. In a way it comes as a bit of a nuisance as well: it arrives just when most of us are starting to get used to being back at work after the summer break. There is no national public holiday between Queens Birthday (June 5) and Labour Day (23 October). So we dont get a national holiday during most of the long dark winter months. We have to wait till well into spring for a break. What we need is a holiday in the depths of winter, when everyone is fed up and needs an excuse for a knees-up. We should have, in other words, a holiday somewhere about the end of July. By then we are cold and sick of everything. The best way of making the reform would be simply to abolish all those meaningless anniversary days and switch them to, say, July 26. Wellington would give away its nice-but-unnecessary summer holiday in exchange for a desperately-needed feast in the dark time of the year. You can now donate to Kiwiblog Stuff reports: Labour leader Andrew Little has ruled out running in New Plymouth in this years election, leaving it wide open for outgoing teacher union president and Taranaki high school teacher, Angela Roberts. After four years at the helm of the Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Roberts is packing up the last of the boxes and clearing her Wellington desk as she prepares to return to her job as an economics teacher at rural Stratford High School. There has been speculation as Roberts tenure draws to an end that she might be head-hunted to run in New Plymouth, which was the most marginal seat in the country when National MP Jonathan Young won it in 2008. Id consider it its a fabulous electorate and I grew up there, she said. Little has spoken with Roberts about running both New Plymouth and Whanganui, the electorate she lives in, have been thrown up as possibilities. Saudi Arabia and France, both backers of Syrian rebels, said on Tuesday they hoped Syrian truce talks in Astana would lead to a resumption of U.N.-led peace efforts in Geneva and more aid to civilians suffering from five years of war. In a joint news conference, foreign ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault of France and Adel al-Jubeir of Saudi Arabia also suggested that cooperation with new U.S. President Donald Trump would be important on a range of Middle East issues. Iran, Russia and Turkey ended truce talks in Kazakhstan on Tuesday with the announcement of a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with a shaky truce between Syrian warring parties. Saudi Arabia did not take part in the Astana meetings, though a French envoy attended informally with other Western counterparts. The talks in Astana come after years of intermittent talks in Geneva failed to resolve the conflict. "We wish for the success of today's meeting. But I dont know if were going to reach a real agreement. We hope for negotiations to resume in Geneva," Ayrault said, according to an interpreter's translation of his remarks. The next round of Geneva talks, led by the United Nations, will be held on Feb. 8. The U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, took part in the Astana talks. Saudi Arabia, one of the chief backers of the rebels, has not indicated whether it will continue sending them military support since they were routed from their largest stronghold, Syria's second city of Aleppo, in December. The U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan represented Washington at the talks. Jubeir said he was optimistic about the possibilities of regional powers working with the Trump administration. He expressed confidence in Trump's cabinet nominees, including national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom he described as "an American patriot." Flynn ruffled feathers with divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail, such as a Twitter comment that "Fear of Muslims is RATIONAL." Ayrault was more circumspect about the likelihood of cooperation with Trump, and noted that uncertainties existed about the new administration's policies. He reiterated support for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, suggesting a conflict with Trump's plan to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and raised questions about U.S. leadership on trade and climate change. "The U.S. is a powerful country. Its a superpower. And it carries responsibilities to the world. Even if it is defending the interests of its people, it cannot defend its peoples interests without a multilateral approach," Ayrault said. Search Keywords: Short link: After four months and more than eight dozen thefts, police say they've nabbed the duo responsible for a crime spree spanning the Front Range. Joshua Medley, 28, and Diedre Crawford, 26, are accused of stealing 102 catalytic converters between September and December of last year. Thefts were reported from Colorado Springs up to Fort Collins. A Fort Collins crime analyst was the first to piece together that the converter thefts happening in other Front Range communities were connected to the cases reported in the Fort Collins-Loveland area. After that, an enormous multi-agency investigation began, involving numerous law enforcement including the Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado State University, Broomfield, Colorado Springs, Lone Tree, Aurora, Denver, Greenwood Village and UCCS police departments. Police caught a break in late December when officers located two suspect vehicles at a home in Broomfield and identified Crawford and Medley as the suspects. Prior to that, Medley had allegedly been caught in the middle of trying to cut a catalytic converter out of a car in Aurora and was chased away by the witness. Police say they found evidence linking the couple to the thefts after executing a search warrant at their home. The couple was arrested in early January and charged in cases out of Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Loveland, with more charges pending. The case remains under investigation. If you believe you were a victim, you are asked to contact your local law enforcement. According to police, catalytic converters are found in a vehicle's exhaust system to help reduce carbon emissions and are typically targeted by thieves for their metal. Kuwait's foreign minister will make a rare visit to Tehran on Wednesday to deliver a message to President Hassan Rouhani on a "basis of dialogue" between Gulf Arab states and arch-rival Iran, Kuwait's state news agency reported. The visit comes days after Rouhani said countries including Kuwait had offered to mediate in the escalating feud between Shia Muslim Iran and Sunni power Saudi Arabia. Kuwaiti news agency KUNA quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah as saying relations between Iran and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of six Arab states "must be based on the UN Charter and principles of international law". Iran and Saudi Arabia, the dominant member of the GCC, back opposite sides in civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Riyadh and some other members of the GCC accuse Tehran of using sectarianism to interfere in Arab countries and build its own sphere of influence in the Middle East. Iran, set to benefit from an easing of international sanctions after its nuclear deal with world powers in 2015, denies interfering in Arab countries. Tensions in the Gulf have reached levels unseen since the 1980s, when Iraq received Gulf Arab funding for its 1980-88 war against Iran in a pan-Arab effort to stem the influence of its 1979 Islamic revolution. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in January 2016 cut diplomatic relations with Iran and some other Gulf states recalled their ambassadors in solidarity with the oil-rich kingdom after its embassy in Iran was torched by protesters. But long-standing trade links and shared access to oil and gas fields have stopped many Gulf states from shutting the door on Iran. Kuwait, which has a sizeable Shia Muslim minority, is seen as a potential mediator. When Kuwait's emir visited Iran in 2014 it was the first by a ruler of the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state since the 1979 revolution. "We are partners in the region and we have many common interests and possibilities," said Sabah, adding that dialogue would be for the benefit of both sides. Search Keywords: Short link: First African-American, female elected to serve as TVA board chair JANUARY 24, 2017 at 1:28 p.m. V. Lynn Evans has been elected as chair of TVA's board of directors. Image courtesy of TVA. KNOXVILLE The Tennessee Valley Authority board of directors has unanimously elected V. Lynn Evans of Memphis, Tennessee, board chair. Evans is the first African-American to serve as chair in TVAs 83-year history. She is also the first female and first Memphian to chair the board. I am honored that my fellow board members have confidence in my abilities to serve as chair, Evans said. TVA has made great strides in the past four years to improve its financial and operational performance. I look forward to our continuous efforts to set strategic priorities and drive for strong results, which benefit all of the people of the Tennessee Valley. Three board members, Chair Joe Ritch, and Directors Pete Mahurin and Michael McWherter, completed their terms Jan. 3, 2017. TVA bylaws call for the selection of a board chair within 30 calendar days of the chairs vacancy to ensure the board can continue to work effectively as changes occur. A notational vote was held by the six members currently serving on the board to elect Evans as chair. Board positions are nominated by the President of the United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Evans was sworn in to the TVA board in January 2013. A native of Anguilla, Mississippi, Evans has chaired the boards Audit, Risk, and Regulation Committee since 2014. She has also served on the Nuclear Oversight, People and Performance and External Relations committees. Evans owns V. Lynn Evans, CPA, a certified public accounting and consulting firm established in 1983. During her service on the Memphis Light, Gas & Water board of commissioners, Evans was chair from 2008 to 2009. She has also served on the board of directors of First Alliance Bank in Memphis, Tennessee, since its inception in 1998. Evans is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, Black Business Association, and the International Womens Forum. Evans currently serves on the board of the Thomas W. Briggs Foundation. She is a graduate of Leadership Memphis (1981) and has served on the board of a number of community organizations including the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis (former chair), ArtsMemphis, Womens Foundation for a Greater Memphis, and the RISE Foundation. Evans received a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. The TVA Boards next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 16, 2017 in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving more than 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. Published January 24, 2017 Egypt's Petroleum Minister Tarek EL-Molla said that Egypt is aiming to increase its natural gas production up to 50 percent by mid-2018, as well as completing the infrastructure development projects of Misr Fertilizers Production Company (MOPCO) and The Egyptian Company for Ethylene Production (ETHYDCO) petrochemicals factories. El-Molla's statement came during his participation in the Egyptian-British business council meetings held in London. The minister stated before the council that Egypt has announced two major international bids for gas and petroleum excavation in 2016, in addition to the inking of 76 agreements and securing $31 billion of investments during the upcoming 3-4 years, to speed up gas excavation in the Zohr, North Alexandria and Atoll fields. El-Molla stressed that the gas production sector is set to become a major pillar of sustainable devolvement by 2021, making Egypt an international hub of gas and petroleum production. Egypt has 12 natural gas field development projects underway worth a total of $33 billion in investment, El-Molla stated in May 2016. The three largest projects, which include the mammoth Mediterranean gas field Zohr that was discovered by Italy's Eni in 2015, are expected to collectively bring 4.6 billion cfd online by the start of 2019. Egypt imports of LNG reached around 1-1.1 billion cfd of LNG in 2016. The country relies to a large extent on LNG to generate electricity for its 90 million population. Search Keywords: Short link: Thousands of Korean cars stand by to be loaded at a port for export. Korea prepares for possible free trade renegotiations with the United States, which will likely affect future outbound shipments of Korea's leading goods such as cars, semiconductors and consumer electronics. / Yonhap By Park Hyong-ki Korea is preparing for all possibilities regarding its trade deal with the U.S. amid moves by President Donald Trump to abandon and readjust terms of its two key multinational trade pacts, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said. Yeo Han-koo, the Trade Ministry's point man on free trade agreements (FTA), said that although it will refrain from prejudging what might happen to the Korea-U.S. bilateral deal, the government will be preparing for all possibilities. "We should not overly predict that changes to the FTA are inevitable, but this does not mean that we are just going to sit back and do nothing. We are preparing at the same time carefully observing the U.S. policy moves on its multinational deals," said Yeo, the ministry's FTA deputy director general. This comes as President Trump signed an executive order to scrap plans to join a dozen economies, including Japan, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Former President Barack Obama strongly supported the TPP, which represented 40 percent of the global trade, in an effort to curb the rise of China. Also part of Trump's campaign pledge, he said he will exercise his executive power to renegotiate with Canada and Mexico on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The U.S. is expected to undo and redesign some of the NAFTA terms to be more favorable toward the country under Trump's America-first policy. His hard-line stance on global free trade is likely to affect the Korea-U.S. FTA, which many analysts said will also inevitably push the two allies to renegotiate. Trump has criticized those trade deals, saying that they made American manufacturers move out of the U.S., ultimately killing many American jobs. Observers say that Korea can no longer afford to just sit by, get nervous and second guess whether renegotiations will happen. Yoo Jang-hee, an economist and former chairman of the Presidential Commission on Shared Growth for Large and Small Companies, said Korea needs to gather and show data to the U.S. to get the facts straight about the bilateral free trade. "Korea definitely benefited from the deal, enabling more of its manufactured goods to be exported to the U.S. The U.S. has also seen benefits if we look at our service account. For instance in education, intellectual property licensing and movies, the U.S. was able to boost its service account surplus whereas Korea's deficit increased," Yoo said. "These are some of the facts Korea should deliver to the U.S. instead of worrying about renegotiations." Not only has the U.S. service surplus increased, Korea's investment in U.S. high tech has grown since the FTA. Korea's investment in the U.S. more than doubled averaging $5.7 billion over the last four years after the KORUS FTA went into effect. It was an increase from $2.2 billion on average before the bilateral trade deal, according to the Trade Ministry. The bilateral FTA created more than 10,000 jobs in the U.S. as well. Even though the U.S. had an overall trade deficit of some $500 billion in 2015, it had a surplus of more than $262 billion in services, according to Korea Investment & Securities. "This would likely push the U.S. to pressure its partners to further open up their services sector as it tries to reduce the overall deficit," said Park Jung-woo, analyst at Korea Investment & Securities. Given his executive power on trade, enabling the U.S. president to bypass the Congress and implement trade policies, the Trump administration is expected to raise tariffs and further warn other economies such as China to make up for tax cuts and infrastructure spending at home. By Yoon Ja-young Concerns are growing that Korean companies may lose opportunities to win orders from multilateral development banks including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) should they be stigmatized as corrupt entities following the presidential scandal. A special prosecution team is investigating the corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her long-time friend Choi Soon-sil who have been accused of having conspired to extort money from businesses in return for favors. A total of 53 conglomerates provided 77.4 billion won to the Mir and the K-Sports foundations, allegedly controlled by Choi. The special prosecution team said last week that it regards the "donations" by the 53 conglomerates as bribes if the firms have sought special favors in return. If they are charged with bribery and convicted by the court, the firms may be stigmatized as corrupt entities, which might deprive them of business opportunities at the development banks as they ban corrupt entities, observers said. The companies are especially concerned over the AIIB. Established in 2016 under China's initiative to nurture a global development bank that rivals the World Bank or the Asia Development Bank (ADB) led by the United States and Japan, the AIIB provided over $1.7 billion financing for nine projects last year. It is expected that the annual financing will expand to between $10 billion and $15 billion within five years. The AIIB has thus been regarded as a huge opportunity abroad for conglomerates which have been suffering from the economic slowdown here. The AIIB says in its Policy on Prohibited Practices that the bank should ensure that its "financial support is used only for the purpose for which it was granted." "It is, therefore, essential that the bank does business with trustworthy parties who adhere to the highest integrity standards," it said. It explains that the policy would establish a regime for the "sanctioning of firms and individuals that are found to have engaged in specified forms of fraud, corruption and other practices in the contravention of the policy." The government, however, said it isn't likely that the political scandal will hinder Korean firms in the global arena. First of all, it isn't certain whether they will be charged with bribery. The conglomerates are stressing that they were forced to fund the foundations while it isn't clear that they received favors in return. A government official also pointed out that other multilateral development banks have similar anti-corruption provisions, but they weren't applied to political corruption scandals. Multilateral development banks post the list of sanctioned entities on their websites, after confirming corruption through multiple procedures. "Many chairmen of conglomerates were sentenced to a jail term previously, but the companies weren't sanctioned by the ADB or the World Bank," the official explained. However, conglomerates are still cautious as the country is at odds with China over Seoul's decision to deploy a U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System. South Korea is deploying the system to protect itself from increasing nuclear threats from North Korea, but China has said that it conflicts with its national security interests. By Jhoo Dong-chan Arthur John Patterson, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of the murder of a Korean student in 1997, has lodged an appeal. According to the Seoul Central District Court, Monday, Patterson's lawyer submitted an appeal petition to a higher court Friday, immediately after the ruling. "Patterson is not guilty," his lawyer said after the trial. "There is no solid evidence that Patterson committed a murder 19 years ago. He will lodge an appeal." The high court hearings are expected to be shorter than the lower court one, which lasted for four months, as the lower court had already summoned all available witnesses. By Kim Bo-eun The Reconciliation and Healing Foundation is reviewing a request from a former sexual slavery victim who wishes to return 100 million won she received from the foundation as per the "comfort women" agreement between Korea and Japan. The foundation was formed to carry out the deal reached in December 2015 on wartime sex slavery. Under the deal, the two countries agreed to put the issue to rest, with Seoul receiving 1 billion yen (10.3 billion won) is government funds from Tokyo. Under the agreement, surviving victims would receive 100 million won each from the funds. Among the 46 remaining victims, 34 accepted, 31 of whom have received the money as of December. The foundation will also provide funds to surviving family members of 199 deceased victims. Kim Bok-deuk, a former comfort woman in the southern city of Tongyeong, received the money last year but decided last week to return it. "We heard from the victim last Friday and are currently reviewing the request," a foundation official said. "We will respect the victim's wishes." This will be the first case of a victim sending the money back after receiving it. The foundation has yet to decide on how to use the returned funds. Earlier this month, a civic group based in Tongyeong claimed the foundation had victims who were ill into receiving the money, saying Kim was one of them. Kim is hospitalized for Alzheimer's disease. But the foundation said it met with her last June and explained about the money which "she agreed to accept." The foundation is using the 10.3 billion won in funds for direct payments to victims and commemorative projects. Among the remaining victims, 12 have refused to receive the money, stating they cannot accept the bilateral deal. In the agreement, the Japanese government did not acknowledge its legal responsibility in drafting the sex slaves for its military before and during World War II _ characterizing the 1 billion yen fund as humanitarian assistance rather than reparations. The deal met with public outrage, as it was made behind closed doors without prior consultation with victims. Meanwhile, the government has appealed a local court ruling that it must disclose documents of the December 2015 deal. A lawyer affiliated with the progressive lawyers'group known as Minbyun filed the suit against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. By Yi Whan-woo Han Dong-man The Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to set up a contingency team to ensure the security of Korean nationals abroad, a senior ministry official said Tuesday. The measure follows a series of crimes targeting Koreans in some Asian countries, with Korean missions providing ineffective services and being blamed for injuries to victims. "As part of the plan, we seek to establish an emergency situation room to respond in a timely manner toward any incidents, such as terrorist attacks or earthquakes," Ambassador for Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs Han Dong-man said. "It will be especially important to take prompt measures on weekends or at night when crimes are prone to take place more often." Officials from the National Police Agency and other relevant organizations are likely to join the contingency team, according to Han. "We'll discuss with other ministries about the matter considering the urgent nature of dealing with overseas emergency situations," he said. He also said the ministry will boost its 24-hour call center for consular services. Concerning the quality of the call center, Han said the government will take steps to bolster training and education. One of the targeted areas will be the recording of telephone conversations, over which countries have different rules about privacy and human rights. "It won't be easy but I think we'll be able to lessen conflicts with the callers while improving our call service if officials at the consular center record the conversation upon the callers' agreement," Han said. Snubbing request for help An official at the Korean mission in Taiwan allegedly complained to Korean female tourists for calling at 3:49 a.m. on Jan 14 when they rang for help after one of them was raped by a Taiwanese taxi driver who drugged them on Jan. 12 while touring Taipei. Without disclosing the private information of the official, the foreign ministry denied the allegation and claimed that the official explained to the victims they should report the incident to the Taiwanese police immediately. The foreign ministry did not reveal whether their phone call was recorded. In the Philippines, a Korean businessman in his 50s was confirmed to be dead Jan. 17 after he was kidnapped by eight Filipino suspects, including four active and retired police officers, in October. The Philippines has been one of the countries where an increasing number of murders, kidnappings, assaults, thefts and other crimes have been committed against Koreans recently. Six Koreans were killed there in 2016, 11 in 2015 and 10 in 2014. "We'll offer legal advice and also consult with the bereaved family members over the latest murder case in the Philippines," Han said. He said he plans to meet Mexican Ambassador to Korea Jose Luis Bernal Rodriguez this week to discuss the case about a Korean woman in her 30s, Yang Hyun-jung. She is imprisoned in Mexico after being arrested in January 2016 on charges of running a prostitution ring. She has claimed that since she was accused of that, the Korean embassy in Mexico has failed to protect her. At the China-North Korean border, a total of 88 cases were reported over the past five years about Koreans who went missing after visiting there. Egypt's Tourism and Antiquities Police has recovered six Khedivate-era lamps that were stolen late December from the El-Refai Mosque in Cairos El-Khalifa district, with the culprits behind the theft arrested earlier this week, the Ministry of Antiquities said on Tuesday. El-Saeed Helmy, head of Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that a committee of archaeological experts has confirmed the recovered lamps authenticity. Mona Ahmed, a restorer at the Museum of Islamic Art who specialises in glass artefacts, told Ahram Online that the lamps are in good condition, and that they bear the rank of Khedive Abbas Helmy II, who ruled Egypt and Sudan from 1892 to 1914. The Tourism and Antiquities Police say that the people who stole the lamps were working with a film crew that was shooting inside the mosque. The police arrested two suspects, one of whom is an antiques dealer, while a third is at large. Police say the suspects intended sell the lamps for EGP 900,000. Helmy says the six lamps were among 15 adorning the ceilings of the mausoleums of King Fouad and Princess Ferial at El-Refai Mosque. The lamps, which date to 1910, are made of glass adorned with a Quranic verse written in Mameluke raised script. Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, says the verse from the Surat An-Nur. Helmy says the lamps were recovered quickly due to the swift action by the antiquities ministry, which was quick to report the theft, and that the minister of antiquities has taken measures to prevent similar thefts in the future. Search Keywords: Short link: Members of Gyeongnam International Foreign School (GIFS) will present an in-depth information session about its academic program and a new boarding program on Geoje Island, South Gyeongsang Province, Feb. 02. "GIFS, a pre-K-12 day and boarding school, has been serving the local expatriate and Korean community for over a decade," states the invite. "We are dedicated to providing an educational environment where students experience learning and living in a global village." Founded in 2004, GIFS is a privately funded international school located in Sacheon and is a member of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. GIFS is a part of the same family of schools as Busan Foreign School and is authorized as an International Baccalaureate (IB) world school. The information session will be held at Admiral Hotel in Okpo, Geoje Island, from 7 to 9 p.m. Refreshments will be provided. Visit facebook.com/GyeongnamInternationalForeignSchool or email admissions@gifs.or.kr for more information. Peter Chung By Park Jin-hai Korea-born entrepreneur Peter Chung was an honorary speaker at Belhaven University's commencement ceremony, Dec. 17. In front of 400 graduates at the private Christian university in Jackson, Mississippi, the chairman of the Vancouver-based investment management company Primacorp Ventures Inc., received an honorary doctorate in education being recognized for his lifetime contribution to higher education and humanitarian efforts. "I'm very much honored to receive the degree. It has been such a great pleasure for me that my education business can do good, and give happiness to others," said Chung during an interview with The Korea Times. With the motto of "changing lives through education, service and care," Chung's company has invested in schools that have grown to become some of Canada's largest independent providers of private post-secondary education. On the reason he started paying attention to education, he said, "The bible says there is nothing better for man than to be happy and do good in his lifetime. When I thought about my own death, I wondered what I should leave behind." "Then I concluded educating students and seeing them become active members of society and as a result, contributing to the whole world, is my way of becoming happy and doing good in my life time." With an annual enrollment of over 15,000, the company owns and manages a number of for-profit colleges in Canada, including Vancouver Career College and CDI College, offering career training programs in various fields of business, healthcare, education and technology. The Harvard business school-educated businessman, together with his wife Stephanie Chung, also runs Joe's Table Cafe, a social enterprise dedicated to creating employment for individuals with cognitive disabilities both in Canada and Korea. The first Joe's Table Cafe opened in Burnaby, east of Vancouver, in June, 2013, in memory of the couple's late oldest son Joseph, who suffered from autism and died in a swimming accident. Five of nine employees working there are people with disabilities. Later he opened two additional cafes in Seoul one in the local missionary radio station FEBC building and the other at the SaRang Community Church. "The cafe was named after my son, combined with a letter T, representing a cross, and able, meaning possible," 63-year old Chung said. "By establishing non-profit coffee shops, I wanted to give those with unique abilities jobs and chances to contribute to society, without being pre-judged as persons with disabilities," he said. "I set the rule of hiring half disabled staff and half not and making them help each other. In selling coffee, we make people buy coffee, not from sympathy toward the disabled, but for the best quality our coffee offers." Trump expected to add pressure over MD program By Jun Ji-hye The new U.S. government is likely to attempt to deploy more assets of its global missile defense (MD) program on and around the Korean Peninsula in addition to a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, officials here said Tuesday. Washington is also expected to pressure Seoul to join the U.S.-led MD system, which Japan is already participating in, while improving its weapons systems including missiles that are already stationed in the Asia Pacific region, they noted. Should this materialize, it could provoke a severe backlash from China, which could trigger a fierce arms race in the region. President Donald Trump has made it clear that the United States will develop a state-of-the-art MD system to protect against missile-based attacks from countries such as North Korea and Iran. "President Trump will end the defense sequester and submit a new budget to Congress outlining a plan to rebuild our military," the White House said on its website on his inauguration day, referring to automatic cuts in defense spending. Policymakers here are paying keen attention to the fact that Trump specified North Korea when mentioning his plan to advance the MD system amid the North's mounting missile threats. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in his New Year address that Pyongyang has entered the final stages of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of about 10,000 kilometers, capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland. "It is predictable that the U.S. would ask us to accept more of its advanced MD assets besides THAAD," said a military official on condition of anonymity. "We are currently analyzing what Trump's message means exactly to prepare countermeasures." Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, who chairs the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, also noted that there is a possibility that Washington could call on Seoul to expand its cooperation in the MD system in the region. "The U.S. has been attempting to establish its MD system around the world," he said. "I think the Trump administration will make greater efforts to do so, and as part of these efforts, Washington could demand Seoul's participation in it." The THAAD system, designed to shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at the end-stage of their flights, is believed to be an integral part of the MD. Since the allies announced in July last year that the battery will be deployed here this year, it was regarded by objectors including China as an attempt by Washington to get its Asian ally to join the MD system to contain their influence in the region. China believes that THAAD could be used to spy on the country's missile capability despite Seoul and Washington's assurance that the system is only designed to defend against the North's missiles. The U.S. already operates several MD assets on and around the Korean Peninsula including Aegis destroyers equipped with ship-based Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interception systems. For its part, there is a growing possibility for the South Korean Navy to import SM-3 or SM-6 ship-to-air missiles from the U.S., according to observers. In August last year, U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks raised the need to pursue surfaced-based-at-sea interceptors to add layers to the defense of South Korea. Some analysts noted that Trump's pledge to develop the advanced MD system was aimed not only at better defending against North Korea's missile threats but also probably at holding China's growing military capabilities in check. The ministry stressed the nation does not have a plan to join the U.S. MD but will establish its own Korea air and missile defense system. By Lee Han-soo Park Kyung-sil The Supreme Court on Tuesday confirmed the guilty verdict against PAGODA Academy CEO Park Kyung-sil, dealing a blow to her leadership of one of South Korea's biggest foreign language institutes. The top court upheld the appellate court's 30-month jail term imposed on Park, 62, with the term suspended for three years. Park was accused in 2013 of embezzlement and breach of trust that led to the company suffering a 53 billion won ($45.5 million) loss. Back then, the prosecution said she pocketed 1 billion won in corporate money, causing losses of 53 billion won by making the company share the financial burden of her daughter's company. A PAGODA spokesperson would not comment. Ko In-kyung, Park's ex-husband, founded the PAGODA Academy in 1983 and turned it into one of Korea's biggest foreign language institutes. PAGODA reported 56.7 billion won revenue in 2015, down from 57.5 billion won a year earlier. Net profit for 2015 shrank to 44.1 billion won from 59.4 billion won in 2014. Market observers said the decline could be blamed on intensifying competition, along with managerial problems caused by the CEO's involvement in the litigation, said market observers. Park has also been involved in a family feud since 2004 over control of the business. Since then Ko has accused Park of conspiring to kill him, a charge of which Park has been cleared, and blew the whistle on Park's embezzlement and breach of trust. Arthur Patterson / Korea Times file By Jung Min-ho The Supreme Court will deliver a final verdict Wednesday on the "Itaewon murder" case in which the son of U.S. military contractor stabbed a 22-year-old Korean to death at a Burger King outlet in the Seoul district 20 years ago. The top court said Tuesday it will finalize the case after Arthur Patterson, now aged 38, appealed the Seoul High Court's ruling that sentenced him to 20 years in prison for the killing of college student Cho Joong-pil in 1997. In September, the appeals court gave him a 20-year prison sentence the maximum term for suspects aged 18 or younger at the time of murder for killing Cho in a Burger King bathroom. Patterson was able to avoid heavy punishment for such a long time because prosecutors failed to identify the right suspect in their initial investigation. They wrongly pressed murder charges against Edward Lee, another U.S. citizen present at the crime scene. Meanwhile, Patterson was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 1997 only for possessing an illegal weapon and destroying evidence. Former K-Sports Foundation chairman blames President By Lee Kyung-min Former chairman of the K-Sports Foundation Jeong Dong-choon walks out of the Seoul Central District Court, Tuesday, after testifying in the criminal trial of Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye's confidant, and former presidential secretary An Chong-bum. Jeong Dong-choon, former chairman of the K-Sports Foundation, said Tuesday he thought President Park Geun-hye had set up two scandal-ridden foundations Mir and K-Sports. He also said Park's confidant Choi Soon-sil controlled the foundation's personnel management at Park's behest. Jeong, a former associate of Choi, the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal, appeared as a witness during a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court. Choi and former presidential secretary An Chong-bum are on trial on criminal charges of abuse of authority and extortion. According to Jeong, Park's main policy initiative was the promotion of Korean culture overseas and the foundation's 77.4 billion won in funds raised by the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), a lobby comprising the nation's largest conglomerates. "Given this, the set up of such foundations could not have materialized unless the person behind the whole project was as powerful as the President," he said. Jeong said yes when asked if he meant only the President was able to raise such a large amount from the nation's businesses. "I don't think Choi acted alone," he said, suggesting she wouldn't have had authority over the business groups without Park's support. Jeong said he thought Choi was acting on behalf of the President as major decisions concerning the foundations as instructed by Choi and An were almost the same. "I followed Choi's orders as I thought they came from the President," he said. To the prosecution's question on whether the board members were appointed only as a formality with no actual clout, including Jeong himself, he said that is close to his understanding, a direct contradiction to Choi's testimonies. Choi said earlier that she never was involved in setting up or managing the foundations, nor had she played any role concerning the two. Jeong's testimony also countered Choi's claim that she berated him over the phone when she was furious at his decision to resign without consulting her in advance. Jeong resigned after the FKI pressured him last September as numerous media reports about the influence-peddling scandal began to emerge. The FKI announced that the two foundations were to be disbanded. Choi, who was staying in Germany at the time, called him and shouted at him saying, "Why did you give the FKI what it wanted?" Following this, Jeong resumed the chairmanship, but his term ended on Jan. 12 after the board ruled in favor of his dismissal. By Kim Se-jeong The number of foreign tourists to Seoul exceeded 13 million last year, the highest ever recorded for the city. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, 13.5 million tourists visited the capital in 2016, up from 10.4 million in 2015 and 11.4 million in 2014. The number came amid a growing concern that Chinese tourists would stay away due to a decision to deploy a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Korea. Among the 13.5 million, 46.8 percent came from China. "We're happy with the number," Ahn Joon-ho from the city said. "The city's efforts will continue this year, and I am sure we can achieve a new goal." The city government's new goal for this year is 17 million. Another priority will be the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. The 14-day sporting event is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to Gangwon Province. To attract tourists, the city said it is working to develop new tour programs. It is also working with Gangwon Province and Incheon. Secondly, the city will step up its marketing efforts in China to maintain the flow of Chinese tourists. Last year, the city sent delegations to tourism fairs held in China and invited popular bloggers and TV stations for tours. Challenges are ahead due to growing retaliation by the Chinese central government. Also, the city said it will bolster marketing efforts to attract non-Chinese, especially Middle Easterners and Indonesians whose numbers are on the rise. The city said it will start with increasing the number of restaurants using halal ingredients. The city said it will also work to maintain return visits, especially among Japanese tourists. Dirty Sleep is a painting satirizing President Park Geun-hye's alleged seven hours of absence from duty on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking and her bizarre relationship with Choi Soon-sil. It is a combined parody of "Olympia" by Edouard Manet and "Sleeping Venus" by Giorgione. / Yonhap By Kim Rahn A controversy is brewing over a satirical painting depicting President Park Geun-hye naked. The painting created an instant buzz after being displayed at an exhibition organized by Rep. Pyo Chang-won from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) at the National Assembly Hall. The National Assembly Secretariat decided to halt the exhibition, Tuesday, after protests from female lawmakers. Pyo's party also referred him to its ethics committee for possible disciplinary measures, while the lawmaker claimed the painting was within the bounds of the freedom of expression. "Although the artwork was intended as a satire, we concluded that it was inappropriate to have such a painting to be exhibited at an event organized by a lawmaker," Rep. Park Kyung-mee, DPK spokeswoman, said. "Pyo defended himself citing freedom of expression. But the painting is also anti-feminist." The exhibition, titled "Soon, Bye," has been held at the lobby of the Assembly building since Friday. The painting in question is titled "Dirty Sleep," lampooning the allegations that the President was sleeping after receiving a sleep-inducing injection so she could undergo cosmetic treatment on the day of the Sewol ferry sinking on April 16, 2014, and that explained her alleged seven hours of absence from duty. It is a combined parody of "Olympia" by Edouard Manet and "Sleeping Venus" by Giorgione. A naked woman with Park's face sleeps on the bed, while her friend Choi Soon-sil, the central figure of the corruption scandal, attends to Park, holding a bunch of syringes. Over the window in the background is seen the ferry Sewol sinking. On Park's abdomen are the face of Park's father and former President Park Chung-hee and a missile symbolizing the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. The artist, Lee Ku-young, earlier said the piece is a parody of Park and Choi's relationship under the theme of the missing seven hours on the day of the Sewol tragedy. The exhibited artworks were created by about 20 people who were allegedly on the government's blacklist of artists critical of the Park administration. The ruling Saenuri Party also criticized the exhibition, saying it is a "character assassination of the President under the guise of freedom of expression." "The exhibition shows defamation of character and low-quality sexual harassment under the pretext of satire," Saenuri spokeswoman Kim Jung-jae said. "We should respect artists' reasonable criticism of social issues, but if it goes too far, it causes anger." Pyo said that he still believes the painting is within the bounds of freedom of expression. "But some point out the exhibition caused an unnecessary stir ahead of the impeachment ruling and the presidential election. I respect that opinion," he said on his Twitter. Presidential contender suffers another blow By Kim Rahn Ban Ki-moon Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's scandal-ridden nephew, Bahn Joo-hyun, is on the wanted list for dodging compulsory military service, according to a media report Tuesday. The Hankyoreh daily reported that the prosecution indicted Bahn, 39, for violating the conscription law, citing an unidentified high-profile government official. The daily did not say specifically when the indictment was filed. As he continued to not comply with a summons, the prosecution put him on the wanted list, according to the daily. Bahn has been in the United States since his early 20s. The Military Manpower Administration declined to confirm the report, citing privacy protection rules. Ban also did not comment on the report. However, his father, Ban Ki-sang, admitted the son's draft dodging. "He went to the U.S. to study when he was a college freshman. If he joined the military, he would have given up many things he had achieved, so he chose to stay in the U.S.," his father said. According to the law, Bahn was supposed to come back to Korea and fulfill his duty by 2004 when he turned 26. Those who stay overseas to avoid the service are subject to between one and five years in prison if they return to Korea. His father also said Ban Ki-moon would have been aware of his nephew dodging the draft. During the years when Ban's nephew was avoiding the service, the former U.N. chief was the foreign minister under the late President Roh Moo-hyun. It was also confirmed that in April 2012, Ban took part in his nephew's wedding in New York while serving as U.N. chief. The anonymous official told the Hankyoreh, "If Ban Ki-moon knew of his nephew's military evasion, he should have persuaded the young man to return to Korea and fulfill his military duty." This is the latest in a series of allegations raised against Ban and his relatives since he showed his intention to run for the presidency. Earlier this month, Bahn and his father were indicted in the U.S. on charges of corruption, money laundering and conspiracy for allegedly attempting to bribe a high-ranking Qatari government official in return for business favors. They promised Korea's Keangnam Enterprises they would help it sell a building complex in Hanoi to the Qatari government, but a broker who worked for them pocketed the money for himself. After the failed sale of the building, Keangnam filed a $590,000 damages suit against Bahn with a Seoul court last year. But Bahn did not respond to the suit and lost it. Bahn allegedly did not come to Korea for the trial because he would face punishment for dodging the draft. Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, criticized Ban Ki-moon for not taking any action against his nephew's draft dodging while knowing about it. "He keeps saying that he did not know much about illegalities by his brother and nephew," Woo said. "If his relatives are involved in other irregularities in the future, would he keep saying so, even after becoming president? If so then he does not deserve to become president." By Kim Hyo-jin Moon Jae-in, the leading presidential hopeful, said Tuesday that South Korea should seek balance between the United States and China in dealing with diplomatic challenges. He unveiled this view in a roundtable discussion with security and intelligence experts. The meeting was organized to help Moon, former chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), prepare for possible challenges and risks posed by the Donald Trump administration, his aides said. Moon said Seoul should engage in diplomacy with "confidence" and put the "national interest first." He claimed the country should seek multifaceted cooperation with various diplomatic counterparts as part of such efforts. "Tension between the U.S. and China could increase in Northeast Asia," he said, touching upon rising uncertainty over the new U.S. administration. "We need to advance the 70-year-long alliance with the U.S. while developing the strategic partnership with China." "Seoul also needs to strengthen relations with Japan and Russia and European and Asian countries. In the face of new challenges, we need to expand our cooperation with countries all over the world." Moon implied that a government under his control would not necessarily follow the heavily pro-U.S. stance of the Park Geun-hye administration. Under Park's lead, the administration decided to deploy a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery here, straining relations with Beijing that believes the X-band radar could be used to spy on the country's military activities and capabilities. "For the last ten years, the country failed at security and diplomacy. Peace was marred, security became unstable, and the economy, highly dependent on foreign factors, is further slumping," he said. "National interest can only be aequired in pursuit of co-prosperity in cooperation with other countries." If the Trump administration pushes defense cost-sharing, Moon implied he would actively engage in negotiations in pursuit of the national interest. "The U.S. forces stationed in Korea are not just for Korea's security but are also in line with U.S. interests. Given that we have mutually beneficial relations, I believe we can engage in negotiations confidently," he said. Over the planned deployment of THAAD, Moon said no position was made during the closed-door meeting. Suh Hoon, former deputy director for North Korean Intelligence at the National Intelligence Service and a participant of the roundtable, told reporters there were shared concerns among the participants that the issue will continue to trouble the next administration. Moon has insisted that the next administration take over dealing with the controversy over THAAD deployment, saying it should seek parliamentary approval and chances of persuading China and Russia. Following the roundtable, Moon expressed determination that he will step up to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue if he takes office. "South Korea should take the lead in the Korean Peninsula issue, especially the North's nuclear issue," he said. Moon and his aides discussed a possibility to hold a meeting between parliamentary foreign affairs committees from member countries of the six-party talks as a temporary substitute to the stalled six-party talks, Suh said. This year will host Morocco as a guest of honour and poet Salah Abdel-Sabour as the person of the year and an expanded Chinese participation The 48th Cairo International Book Fair will open on Thursday, 26 January at the Fair Grounds in Nasr City, with 670 publishers from 35 countries. There will be 100 less Egyptian publishers than last year, reflecting the economic crisis that the industry is suffering from after the prices of printing material such as paper and ink doubled following Egypts floating of the currency last November. This year the fair has chosen the renowned Egyptian Poet Salah Abdel-Sabour (1931 1981), one of Egypt's most influential contemporary poets, as the fair's person of the year. Last year, Egyptian novelist, Gamal El-Ghitany (1945 2015), was chosen as the person of the year. Morocco has been chosen as this year's guest of honour, with the theme of the year being "Youth and the Culture of the Future." Many Arab intellectuals and poets will participate in this years cultural programme with the list including renowned Syrian poet Adonis, Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad, Tunisian philosophy professor Fathy El-Triki, Egyptian director Waheed Hamed, Chinese novelist Choi Tsi Chen and Egyptian intellectual Morad Wahba. China will have a bigger booth this year on 180msq and has expanded its participation in the fair to an unprecedented extent. China has been showing a growing interest in Egyptian cultural life, and the first Chinese literary magazine in Arabic was released in October 2016 for a very low price. This year 25 Chinese writers, poets and artists will participate in the fair. However, this year will see a lower number of publishers. Last year saw a record number of participating publishers 850 and the largest number of countries participating in the fair since its inauguration. This year will only see 670 publishers, 451 Egyptian, 200 Arabs, 13 international, and six from African countries. The numbers last year amounted to 550 publishers from Egypt, 250 from the Arab world, and 50 foreign publishers. This year's fair comes amid rising prices of books due to the acute drop in the value of the Egyptian pound against the U.S. dollar after Egypts central bank floated the currency in November last year. This doubled the price of most books as Egypt imports nearly two thirds of its needs of paper and ink from abroad. This also will make it hard for Egyptians to be able to purchase books from Arab publishers, due to the fact that all of it is priced in USD. For instance, a $10 book will be 180 EGP, which is almost 10% of the salary of an Egyptian worker or an employee who earns the minimum wage set EGP 1200. The head of the General Egyptian Book Organization -- the official organiser of the fair -- Haitham Al-Hajj Ali, vowed to crack down on publishers who violate copyrights and publish unauthorised books. The problem of unauthorised books has cost publishers who own the copyrights large losses as "fake books" are sold at lower prices than the original book published by the owner of the copyrights. Aly also said in a press conference that books about Islamic movements and political Islam will be present at the fair as long as it doesn't violate the constitution and law. In 2015, books by Sheikh Youssef El-Qaradawi, who is currently living in Qatar and is a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, sparked controversy and were removed from display at the Dar El-Shorouk wing of the fair, along with books by the late radical Islamist author Sayed Qutb. The fair will be open daily from 10am until 7pm for book selling, and until 9pm for cultural events. Tickets are sold in front of the fairgrounds for 1 EGP. Search Keywords: Short link: The move by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology makes most VPN service providers in the country of 730 million internet users illegal. Move means all cable and VPN services need prior government approval and comes as Beijing steps up censorship before power-reshuffle party congress By Josh Ye By Josh Ye Beijing has launched a 14-month nationwide campaign against unauthorised internet connections, including virtual private network (VPN) services, which allow users to bypass the country's infamous "Great Firewall". A notice released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Sunday said that all special cable and VPN services on the mainland needed to obtain prior government approval a move making most VPN service providers illegal. The "clean-up" of the nation's internet connections would start immediately and run until March 31, 2018, the notice said. "China's internet connection service market ... has signs of disordered development that require urgent regulation and governance," the ministry said. The crackdown on unregulated internet connections aimed to "strengthen cyberspace information security management". Major VPN service companies including Vypr and Express said they were aware of the issue. While a representative from Vypr said the company was "currently working on ways around this", a representative from Express by the name of Dane said that his company would release an official statement on its blog soon. China blocks access to 135 out of 1,000 sites in one ranking of the world's top websites, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, according to Greatfire.org, which monitors online censorship on the mainland. As a result, many internet users on the mainland rely on VPN services to access blocked sites and services. A cat-and-mouse game has thus been going on for years between the authorities and VPN service providers. The last major crackdown on VPNs was in March 2016 during the National People's Congress meeting in Beijing. Many companies complained that their paid-for VPN services were not functioning for up to a week. Beijing's censorship of online information and its control of internet access would be particularly vigilant in 2017 for the once-in-a-decade power reshuffle party congress, analysts said. The Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates the internet and acts as an online censorship office, pledged loyalty to the Communist Party leadership headed by President Xi Jinping on January 5. Bureau officials issued a statement that said one of their priorities this year would be to cultivate an online environment that was "conducive to a successful 19th party congress". Two days ago, two websites run by a liberal think tank, along with 15 other sites, were shut down as control tightens ahead of the party congress. The latest crackdown has caused a stir on the internet, with many social media users complaining that their VPN services had failed or slowed down. Some expressed fears of losing touch with the outside world or of being held accountable by security forces for using a VPN system. One Weibo user wrote: "So many people are laughing at how [US President Donald] Trump is building a wall near Mexico while we are unaware that we have been thickening our own wall. The more we monitor, the more we lose." A new "smartcard," exclusively for foreign tourists, was released Monday, allowing them to use public transport more conveniently and offering various discounts. / Courtesy of Korea Tour Card By Hong Dam-young A new "smartcard," exclusively for foreign tourists, was released Monday, allowing them to use public transport more conveniently and offering various discounts. In cooperation with the Visit Korea Committee, Korea Smart Card (KSC) Korea's public transits fare card issuer said Monday that the "Korea Tour Card, also offered discounts at shopping centers, restaurants and tourist attractions. Korea Tour Card's release is to celebrate the Korea Grand Sale 2017 a shopping and tourism festival for foreigners lasting from Jan. 20 to Feb. 28. Card holders can use subways, buses, express buses, trains and taxies. They can also receive discounts and gifts from 25 affiliated tourist spots, including Lotte World Mall, Hyundai I'PARK Mall, Doota Duty Free, Galleria Duty Free, Lotte Duty Free, Lotte World, Everland and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. K-pop fans can also enjoy cheaper prices at cafes and theaters operated by SM Town, one of the biggest K-pop agencies. The benefits are available until the end of "2016-2018 Visit Korea Year" a three-year campaign to attract foreigners. Korea Tour Card costs 4,000 won ($3.40) at 7-Eleven convenience stores nationwide, on 40 Jeju Air international flights, or at travel stores at Incheon International Airport Station and Seoul Station. The card can be recharged at convenience stores, card dispensers at Seoul Metro Line 1-4, smartcard recharging machines and station service desks at Seoul Metro Line 1-8. For more information, visit the Korea Tour Card website at vkc.or.kr. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to Donald Trump congratulating him on becoming the United States president, the foreign ministry said on Monday. By Catherine Wong, Wei Qi By Catherine Wong, Wei Qi Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to Donald Trump congratulating him on becoming the United States president, the foreign ministry said on Monday, as it warned Washington to abide by the one-China policy. Trump's pledge last week to put "America first" has fanned fears that the US will take an isolationist path, leaving China to fill the vacuum. A senior Chinese diplomat said yesterday that China did not want to assume the mantle of world leadership but could be forced to take on that role if others stepped back. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Xi congratulated Trump on his inauguration, but called on Washington to respect the sensitivity of Taiwan issues. "Healthy, stable and developing relations between China and the US are beneficial to the people of the two countries as well as the whole world," Hua said. "On Taiwan, the one-China policy is the premise of ... Sino-US relations. The US government should limit communication between the US and Taiwan to an unofficial category." Beijing's stand on territorial sovereignty was firm, Hua said. Trump irked Beijing last month by having a phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and questioning the validity of the one-China policy. Beijing also expressed dismay when former Taiwanese premier Yu Shyi-kun led a delegation to Washington for the inauguration. Trump did not mention China in his inauguration speech on Friday, but vowed to put "America first" in determining US policy. A White House statement released after his speech said Washington would crack down on nations that violated trade agreements, comments seen as a veiled attack against Beijing. Observers have also been scratching their heads over whether the US will still be eager to maintain its global leadership position, and whether China will take a more prominent role on issues such as climate change. Zhang Jun, head of the foreign ministry's international economics department, said last week that China had no intention of seeking global leadership. "If anyone were to say China is playing a leadership role in the world I would say it's not China rushing to the front but rather the front runners that have stepped back leaving the place to China," he said. "If China is required to play that leadership role then China will assume its responsibilities." By Lee Seong-hyon With "Trump America" in place now, one of the areas that the East Asian geopolitical analysts pay attention to is how the Trump variable would enter into Sino-North Korea relations. First, China is wary that the tough-talking Trump may take a much harder line toward North Korea that may, in turn, "destabilize" China's strategic neighborhood environment. Beijing has a habit of suspecting that Washington gets tougher on North Korea when it wants to warn China. This might sound odd to outside observers, but "this pattern" is a well-entertained item among regional strategists. It also reveals how China identifies its geopolitical vulnerability more aligned with North Korea, than with the United States. At the extension of the logic, it also underscores the potential limitation of cooperation Washington wants to have from China, so as to jointly deal with the regional pariah. That won't happen, however, to borrow Trump's New Year's resolution on North Korea. In fact, when Trump blurted "That won't happen" as a reaction to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's threat of test-launching an ICBM (with an obvious connotation that its reach could hit continental America), it was China that was also alarmed. Trump's swift Twitter warning against North Korea's seemingly unstoppable ICBM libido was perceived by China as a firm deterrence posture by Washington on the matter. A North Korea-fired ICBM landing on American soil is tantamount to hurting U.S. "core interest," a Chinese analyst observed. The term, "core interest," is jargon with a specific definition when it is used in the Chinese security context. According to the Chinese Communist Party, "core interest" is the top-level national interest among the three interests (core, major and general). Specifically, it is an interest the "nation's survival" (guojia de shengcun) depends on, and therefore there can be "no room for compromise" (burong tuoxie). So, China's perception of attaching a cardinal graveness to North Korea's possible ICBM launch and America's possible retaliation makes Beijing jittery, as it destabilizes China's backyard. Furthermore, this warning came from the mouth of Trump a human being China finds inhumanly challenging to pin down, let alone predict. China expects the Trumpian push on Beijing to restrain Pyongyang, to be more demanding than Obama's. Trump said China has "total control" over North Korea. "China should solve that problem," he declared. Whether China really has that level of leverage over North Korea is debatable, but what matters is Trump's "thinking" on the matter. He is now the president of the United States (despite some Americans' denial). Trump's thinking will have decisive policy implications regarding how the U.S. government will approach the topic from now on. Supportive of this interpretation, Trump's pick for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said China can "make magic" on the North Korean issue. The question is, will China make that magic? As things stand now, and based on how China has been implementing the latest U.N. sanctions, China appears to be on a course that cannot afford to meet American expectations. The latest U.N.-approved sanctions, which China also signed, have been rolling in the aftermath of North Korea's successful fifth nuclear test reportedly its biggest yet. While giving its nod behind the international body's move, China yet insisted the sanctions not hurt the North Korean people's "livelihood" (minsheng). The defining feature of "minsheng" is that, it is China that defines it, and it is China that enforces it. When the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was asked to define it, Wang circumscribed it by saying: "People know what it means when they hear it," during a press conference last year. Wang's Zen-like answer was masterful, but the "minsheng" clause serves to remain as one of the two main challenges to the task of implementing the sanctions, in both spirit and flesh. The other challenge in the sanctions scheme is the so-called "conflict of interest" between the local governments and the central government. The local economy of a city such as Dandong, a Chinese city that borders North Korea, relies largely on its trade with North Korea. Sanctions naturally hurt the city's economy. Therefore, enforcing sanctions goes against the local interests. Moreover, the provincial officials' job evaluation is also significantly based on the local economy's growth. The official's local popularity also suffers when he strictly enforces the sanctions. "So, what would you do about the sanctions if you were the mayor of Dandong?" a Chinese interlocutor asked. China also bemoans the lack of "incentives" from the United States for Beijing's enforcing the sanctions. As the U.S.-China relations are expected to enter into a "conflict phase" under the Trump administration, China may find itself much less enthused to play the role of a "hit man" against its problematic neighbor. On the contrary, as North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that openly challenges the U.S. leadership, China will find Pyongyang more useful than before, in corroborating China's geopolitical interests. Taken together, Sino-North Korea relations in 2017 will not only depend on their mutual mojo (a topic we'll cover later), but also largely leveraged by the U.S.-China relationship. Lee Seong-hyon, Ph.D., is a research fellow at the Sejong Institute. Reach him at sunnybbsfs@gmail.com The anthropomorphic stele from 4000 BC will be displayed at "Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" exhibit (left), and the 18th century French costume from the Les Arts Decoratifs in Paris will be also on display. / Courtesy of National Museum of Korea By Kwon Mee-yoo The National Museum of Korea (NMK) revealed its yearly plan, studded with a human-shaped statue from Saudi Arabia dating back 6,000 years, delicate French clothing from the 18th century and treasures from Germany as well as Korean relics from the Iron Age. NMK director Lee Young-hoon announced six special exhibitions and a themed exhibit scheduled for this year at a press conference at the museum in Yongsan, Seoul, Monday. Four of the special exhibits feature collections from overseas museums in Saudi Arabia, France, Germany and Russia. First up is "Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," which will introduce some 450 artifacts from 12 institutions from Saudi Arabia from May 9 to Aug. 27. The traveling exhibit gives a glimpse to the rich cultural tradition of the Middle East, including archaeological finds dating back some 6,000 years. A French clothing exhibit spotlighting buttons will be held in collaboration with the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris from May 30 to Aug. 15. Some 1,800 costumes, buttons, accessories and paintings will showcase the beauty of French clothing, centering on the humble object that has been holding things together since the 13th century. A group of museums in Dresden, Germany, will present royal treasures from Sept. 19 to Nov. 12 and the Hermitage Museum in Russia will hold an exhibition centering on French art, in exchange for a Korean porcelain exhibit, from Nov. 19 to April 15, 2018. "Cultural History of Iron" (tentative title) from Sept. 26 to Nov. 26 will highlight one of the most important elements in the history of Korea. "There have been minor exhibitions on the establishment of ironware, but this is going to cover the whole history of iron, starting from the first iron made in Korea through the Three Kingdoms era, Goryeo Kingdom, Joseon Kingdom up to now. It will focus on the role iron played in the development of Korea," Lee said. The "New National Treasure" (tentative title) exhibit from May 13 to July 9 will be held in cooperation with the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and will introduce national treasures and treasures newly designated in 2014 to 2016 to the public. "The CHA designates new treasures, but they don't have a function to put them on show. So we will try to let the public know about these new treasures through an exhibit," Lee explained. Though the NMK has the largest collection of Korean relics, this year's special exhibitions heavily relies on foreign artifacts. Lee said some of the exhibitions are held in exchange for the NMK's overseas exhibits. "We are preparing for a major exhibit on the Goryeo Kingdom to celebrate the 1,100th anniversary of the its foundation and an exhibition on tigers, which serve as the mascot for the PyeongChang Winter Games, in collaboration with Japan and China," Lee said. Visit museum.go.kr for more. By Ted Gover North Korea's advancing nuclear weapons program and recent stated intentions to test launch intercontinental ballistic missiles demonstrate the rising urgency of Pyongyang's threat and the need for Washington, Seoul and Beijing to devote planning for an outbreak of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. While a diplomatic breakthrough with Pyongyang is preferable, the prospect of the North's new capability to conduct a nuclear strike on the U.S. west coast presents an unacceptable risk to a growing number of policymakers in Washington, raising the chance of preemptive U.S. military action. Given this development, Washington, Seoul and Beijing must begin planning for agreed parameters relating to armed conflict with Pyongyang and for what would ensue after a collapse of Kim Jong-un's regime. Complicating the need for joint planning are the strained relations between Washington and Beijing. Despite their growing differences, the prospect of war with Pyongyang demand that Washington and Beijing work together with Seoul in these ways: Establishing military objectives: A breakout of hostilities would necessarily involve U.S. and ROK forces. Given China's preference for maintaining a North Korean buffer state on its own border due to territorial sovereignty concerns, Washington, Seoul and Beijing must coordinate a framework that clarifies objectives and each other's respective areas of operation during a conflict with Pyongyang. In order to lower chances of a U.S.-China clash, both sides must implement measures to ensure clear communications before and during hostilities. Additionally, discussions should work towards an agreement on the areas in the North where U.S., ROK and Chinese forces will be permitted following the North's collapse. Securing North Korea's weapons programs: Pre-conflict discussions must focus on measures for securing the North's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons stockpiles. Failure to do so would increase prospects for terrorist organizations getting their hands on the weapons through the black market or by other means. Restoring order: Restoring order after the fall of a government is a complicated endeavor and pre-conflict planning is often inadequate. Subduing surviving regime elements, implementing a stabilization force of necessary size, deciding who is imprisoned and who is granted amnesty are just a few of the many necessary considerations. Washington, Seoul and, to a lesser extent, Beijing, must devote discussions on agreed approaches. Human rights: Pyongyang is known for its extensive system of gulags where political prisoners are raped, tortured, starved and subjected to forced labor and executions. Surviving political prisoners must be freed and placed under the care of the South. Washington and Seoul cannot abandon their obligations to these political prisoners and must be firm on this issue in their deliberations with Beijing. Beyond this, refugees will need shelter and medical care, and the impending famine in the North must be addressed. This commitment needs to be shared by regional partners (Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo), the U.S. and the international community. There are clearly other policy areas that merit discussion. Yet, by working through their mutual distrust and growing rivalry, Washington and Beijing must partner together and work with Seoul to plan for future hostilities during this time of elevated tensions with Pyongyang. Failure to do so would invite a repeat of past tragedies on the Korean peninsula. Ted Gover, Ph.D. is instructor of political science at Central Texas College, U.S. Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Write to amberjack_shoal@yahoo.com. By John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS Chaos, Conflict and Crisis are some of the words describing the combustible global situation the new American President Donald J. Trump inherits from his predecessor. Far from a stable world order, Donald Trump is entering a complex foreign maze in which he must decipher, decode and often defuse a feckless and lamentable foreign policy legacy from Cuba to China. Let's take a look at the international situation Donald Trump faces. China. On Obama's watch China's trade deficit with the USA ballooned hitting an all time high of $367 billion in 2015. More ominously, Beijing is expanding its geopolitical reach into the international waters of the South China Sea, through building artificial islands and platforms in disputed reefs. Despite the conflicting claims of six other countries, the People's Republic provocatively claims the South China Sea as a kind of exclusive "Mare Nostrum" Our Sea. While American rhetoric has stressed the right of free navigation in international waters, Washington's words and a downsized U.S. Navy have not stopped China's deeds. Obama's vaunted Pacific Pivot was another style over substance policy. North Korea. North Korea'snuclear threat has expanded. Pyongyang has perfected working nuclear weapons during Obama's Administration. There have been five nuclear tests and the regime is working on long range missile technology, targeting Japan and ultimately the USA. This could be a first test for Trump. Don't take the bait. Middle East: Obama inherited a dangerous but stabilized Iraq. After much American blood and treasure spent toppling Saddam's dictatorship, Iraq was reasonably secure. Obama's precipitous troop pullout caused the string in the national fabric to unravel reopening the sectarian divide. After losing huge swaths of land and cities to Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), described by Barack Obama as a "junior varsity" terrorist group, only now has the Baghdad government begun to regain its footing. Slowly they are reclaiming lost land from ISIL with the help of 5,000 U.S. troops. Iran: Despite the Islamic Republic of Iran being a clear and present danger to regional stability, especially Saudi Arabia and Israel, the Obama team brokered a multilateral diplomatic deal with Russia, China, France, Germany and the UK to presumably defuse Iran's embryonic nuclear capacity. While the "deal" as Secretary of State Kerry proudly describes it, has frozen Tehran's nuclear weapons program, not all countries are quite so sanguine. In the meantime Obama released hundreds of millions of Iranian frozen financial assets and helped Boeing aircraft win contracts to sell Iran Air late model American civilian airliners and technology. Syria: Poor Syria; 500,000 dead, over ten million people internally displaced or as refugees. The so-called Arab Spring which began with democratic intentions soon turned into a bloody sectarian winter. An American see-saw policy of tough words and empty actions toward Syria's dictatorship, inflamed a regional conflict and eventually invited bloody backdoor Russian involvement. There are many more Middle East disasters from Western intervention in Libya (the country is now a chaotic gaggle of warlords and terrorist clans), Yemen once Obama's poster child in the region, is torn asunder by rival Saudi and Iranian backed factions. Once close American relations with Israel are tragically frayed. In Sudan, a country led by a convicted war criminal responsible for mass murder in now forgotten Darfur, the Obama Administration has quietly eased tough sanctions on the regime. Cuba: In Cuba the Castro Family dictatorship has been rewarded with U.S. diplomatic relations, and a major political thaw. Obama went so far as to cancel a time honored Cuban refugee asylum policy. Sum total: a reward for Castro, not Cuban democracy. Europe: Despite the Obama Administration's tough rhetoric and later sanctions against Russia, the harsh reality remains that an independent and sovereign Ukraine is being dismembered by the Russians. Washington's tough talk and political hype to the contrary, Russia occupied Crimea and destabilizes eastern Ukraine. The Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, though NATO and European Union members remain dangerously vulnerable. Obama's Administration started with a jaunty Russian Reset; Hillary Clinton's friendly outreach policy toward Moscow. Before long reality intervened and the Obama-Clinton team saw they were being played by Putin. Then the pendulum swung the other way in which Russia, long the land the American left sought political Detente with, suddenly reemerged as what Ronald Reagan rightly called the Evil Empire. That was the Soviet Union, this is Putin's Russia, not quite the same Bear. While critics degenerate Trump for seeking good relations with Russia, as former Defense Secretary Willian Cohen advised, "good relations, yes but not on Putin's terms." Right. There's a need for NATO now more than ever. Donald Trump knows this. While most NATO members have capriciously cut defense spending knowing the USA will pick up the burden, this must change. Trump needs a NATO Reset to underscore the Transatlantic Alliance and reaffirm its vital importance to American values, security and European sovereignty. John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of "Divided Dynamis: The Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China." Culture ministry's public apology blamed for lacking sincerity The culture ministry offered a public apology for its role in the creation of a list of anti-government artists, Monday. The apology came two days after former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun and Kim Ki-choon, a former presidential chief of staff, were arrested by special prosecutors for allegedly initiating the so-called cultural blacklist. The existence of the blacklist had been substantiated by Cho's testimony at a National Assembly hearing earlier this month and also by President Park Geun-hye's first culture minister, Yoo Jin-ryong, who was sacked in the midst of an overseas visit to Russia in July 2014. Before being removed, Yoo reportedly told President Park Geun-hye not to proceed with the blacklist, but she ignored the suggestion. The list has angered so many Koreans because it has set this country back more than 30 years. The ministry's apology, however, fell short of addressing some lingering questions many have about the particulars of the creation and management of the list. The apology was particularly faulty since it did not contain specific measures about how the ministry plans to prevent similar cases in the future. The insincere apology shows the ministry's lack of understanding about the gravity of the situation. The discriminatory list of anti-government figures is an intolerable affront to our democracy and constitutional values. It is unthinkable that a ministry should take an active part in the kind of shameful practice that existed during the authoritarian rule decades ago. As Yoo pointed out, all high-level officials at the culture ministry are not free from responsibility for the blacklist. First Vice Minister Song Soo-keun, the acting minister, delivered the apology, but he is also suspected of involvement. Song should have been clear about exactly who and which department or affiliated organizations were involved in its management. But he fielded questions about disciplinary action on officials involved and only said the ministry will take necessary measures after the investigation by the special prosecutor is concluded. The ministry should immediately launch its own internal investigation of its part in the list and clearly explain to the people exactly when and how it became involved. It is becoming increasingly clear that the root of the blacklist lies in Cheong Wa Dae. The presidential office should also apologize for attempting to crack down on people that have opposing views from the government. There has been no word from Cheong Wa Dae except to say that the President had nothing to do with it. The people will not tolerate this kind of irresponsible approach, which will only aggravate public sentiment ahead of the Constitutional Court's ruling on the president's impeachment. By Yoon Sung-won Samsung is pushing to make a profit in the biomedicine business on the back of the improved performance in bio product contract manufacturing organization (CMO) operations last year, according to Samsung BioLogics Wednesday. In its first earnings report since a successful initial public offering (IPO), Nov. 10 last year, the Samsung biomedicine affiliate highlighted its expectations for further improvement in profitability this year as it is gearing up to boost operations at its second plant in Songdo, Incheon. According to a regulatory filing, Samsung BioLogics said it posted 30.4 billion won ($26.08 million) in operating losses in 2016, down 85 percent from a 203.6 billion won deficit in 2015. Annual sales reached 294.6 billion won, up 223 percent from 91.3 billion won year-on-year. The company recorded 176.8 billion won in net losses last year, compared to 1.9 trillion won in net profit in 2015. Samsung BioLogics explained that the net gain in 2015 reflects a one-time accounting factor a non-operating profit of 2.7 trillion won in recognition of its stocks on its affiliate. "This has been generated as a result of revaluation of our 91.2 percent stake of Samsung Bioepis in 2015," the company said. Samsung BioLogics said its first plant would be fully operational for the CMO business this year and its second plant initiated trial production last year, contributing to the increase in the company's overall rate of operation as well as reducing losses. "In 2017, we will maintain the first plant fully operational and gradually increase the operation rate at the second plant," Samsung BioLogics said. "This will further improve our performance." The outfit said it has completed 60 percent of the construction of its third plant in Songdo and plans to finish it at the end of the year. Once completed, the plant is expected to be able to manufacture 180,000 liters of biomedicine products a year. This will make Samsung BioLogics a global biomedicine producer with a total of 360,000 liters annual manufacturing capacity, exceeding Boehringer Ingelheim's 240,000 liters and Ronza's 260,000 liters. On Wednesday, Samsung BioLogics closed at 155,000 won on the Seoul bourse, down 0.32 percent from the previous day. Bigbang's TOP is soon to leave for his army duty. Although he is a big guy, he is actually softhearted. He once cried on Bigbang's concert in Japan when he was talking about leaving. Maybe it will be a hard time for him. Recently, he shared a message before his enlistment. TOP is the first member in Bigbang that has to fulfill army duty. He is scheduled to start his duty on Feb. 9. According to report from Soompi, on Jan. 22, he shared a video from Bigbang concert 0.to.10 showing the screaming of the fans. He also wrote a message about his leaving. On his message, he said that he would miss his fans so much and that he would come back as a mature person. He is such a sweet person to say goodbye for the fans. He will do his duty for 2 years from now on and for other two members, GD and Taeyang, they will have their solo activity again this year. Before that, TOP also gave a message for his Japanese fans. He posted a video on Dec. 29, by saying bye and give heart sign with his fingers. Although there was no audio for the video, he clearly said bye for his Japanese fans. Along with the video, he also wrote a message for Japanese fans, according to report from Koreaboo. TOP is a great collector of arts. His love for arts has made him into a collector. He has collections of chairs, wine, and paintings. He keeps his collection at his house with fine security system. In the group, he is in charge of a rapper. TOP is also known as 'Bingu TOP' among members and fans as he never hesitates to show his silly dance to other members. He likes to make prank to other members and give funny joke. But, TOP is also a sweet guy that often shares his food for other members. VIP will not be able to see him for some time and he will be missed so much. So, how do you feel about his leaving? The year 2016 was a big year for actor Park Bo Gum. His series "Moonlight Drawn By Clouds" was well-received and he was even awarded the Male Top Excellence Award at the 2016 KBS Drama Awards. That award was made even more memorable not just because of his heartfelt speech, but because one of his closest friends Song Joong Ki was also crying while Park Bo Gum tearfully thanked many of his supporters for the award. Many fans know of the close relationship between the two, who became friends due to the fact that they are under the same label. In fact, Park Bo Gum even became a guest on one of Song Joong Ki's fan meets. The roles have now reversed as just this January 23, Song Joong Ki now became the special guest in Park Bo Gum's Asia fan meeting tour. The latest venue is at Taiwan, where Bo Gum and Joong Ki spent precious time with fans numbering to 4,000. Allkpop reports that Joong Ki was dubbed by Bo Gum as "the sunbae who gives me the most acting advice." During the event, Bo Gum and Joong Ki delighted fans with their friendship, as they played games while guessing what each other was thinking. They even had a segment where they drew each other's faces. Finally, Song Joong Ki also explained why he was crying during Bo Gum's tearful speech at the drama awards. Aside from the fact that he was happy for his junior's win, Song Joong Ki, as reported by Soompi, also remembered how worried Park Bo Gum was in preparing for his role in "Moonlight Drawn By Clouds." Joong Ki also reminisced about his own win five years ago, and that's why he got emotional. Park Bo Gum's Asian tour has taken him to Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Taipei. The next leg of his tour will take place in Tokyo, Thailand, Singapore. PRESS RELEASE Bank of China Opens Balkan Regional Headquarters in Serbia Jan. 23, 2017 (EIRNS)In an important development, on Jan. 21 the Bank of China officially opened its Balkan regional branch in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, to provide banking services for cooperation in investments, trade, tourism, and other fields, for countries in the regionSerbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and others. The event dominated headlines in all major media in Serbia and beyond. The ceremony was held in the Government Palace and attended by President Tomislav Nikolic and members of the government. This important development follows last Junes state visit of Chinas President Xi Jinping to Serbia, and also his talks last week with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. As Zivadin Jovanovic, president of the Belgrade Silk Road Connectivity Center and of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, noted in a TV commentary on Sunday, cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, as a global initiative, is not only important for development of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, but for the whole of Europe. Through the Belt and Road win-win cooperation, Europe and China are getting closer, which is equally positive from an economic, cultural, and political point of view, particularly now when the EU is undergoing serious difficulties. Furthermore, he underlined that Serbias role in the implementation of the China-CEE cooperation under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is growing. The two countries are strategic partners cooperating in various fields. Just in the last five years, partners from the two countries have been constructing or modernizing roads, highways, railways, ports, bridges, tunnels, a thermo-electric plant, a steel factory, and strengthening people-to-people exchanges. As of Jan. 1 this year, a no-visa system for citizens of the two countries came into force. A number of infrastructure projects, already implemented, or under implementation, in Serbia, are highly important for modernization of connectivity in the CEE region, and in Europe. Lastly, Jovanovic said that cooperation under CEE-BRI has proven to be very important for Serbias overall economic development, modernization of industry and infrastructure and improvement of international standing. PRESS RELEASE Intra-Syrian Meeting Begins in Astana Jan. 23, 2017 (EIRNS)In Astana, Khazakstan, the meeting between Syrian government representatives and representatives of armed opposition groups opened this morning, with both sides apparently in the same room for the opening, where the Kazakh foreign minister, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, read a welcome statement from Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Then they went to separate rooms, where their discussions were mediated by UN Special Envoy Staffan De Mistura. According to most reports, tensions between the two sides were high, but at the same time, both sides avoided the kinds of actions that would sabotage the talks altogether. "It will make it possible to reach a qualitatively new level in the negotiating process," said Alexander Lavrentyev, President Putins special envoy on the Syrian settlement and chief of the Russian diplomatic delegation in Astana. "The Russian delegation had a meeting with the Syrian government delegation led by Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari. The meeting was very constructive," Lavrentyev said. "The Syrian side demonstrates a complete understanding and a very constructive approach." The Syrian opposition delegation expressed similar optimism after the first day of talks. "The sides are expected to work now on a mechanism of ceasefire observance," said opposition spokesman Yahya al-Aridi, reports TASS. He added that only the idea of such mechanism is being looked at. The Syrian opposition believes it has found understanding from Russia at talks in Astana: "We see that they have achieved their military goals and now want a political settlement," he said. One item that will not be discussed in Astana is the fate of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Al-Aridi, reports the Associated Press, said there was no plan to discuss Assads position before addressing what he said were ongoing government violations of the cease-fire. "I dont think theres a context for that now. Nobody is ready for this," al-Aridi told reporters in Astana. "We need a commitment to that cease-fire." As for Russia, Turkey, and Iran, the three guarantor powers of the cease-fire agreement, they expect to issue a communique, tomorrow, on cooperation to fight terrorism. According to another report in Tass, the communique will say that Russia, Turkey, and Iran welcome the separation of terrorists and groups of armed opposition, and plan to jointly fight against militants of the Islamic State and the al-Nusra terrorists groups. The three governments also plan to set up a trilateral mechanism to monitor the cease-fire in Syria. A former high-ranking AT&T executive has sued the Dallas telecommunications giant, alleging he was made a scapegoat for a corporate scandal involving a racist text message because his supervisors were nervous the government might block the companys takeover of DirecTV. Aaron Slator, who was president of content and advertising sales for AT&Ts U-Verse TV service, filed the breach of contract and breach of good faith lawsuit Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. Slators suit alleges that his April 2015 termination came after AT&T officials repeatedly assured him that he would not be terminated because of the incident, which occurred about 18 months earlier. Slator also alleges defamation over AT&Ts move to announce that he had been fired. Advertisement Diversity and inclusion are important core values to us, AT&T said Tuesday in a statement. We stand behind our decision to terminate Mr. Slator and are confident that his baseless allegations will ultimately be rejected. Slators high-profile dismissal came as AT&T was awaiting a decision from the Federal Communications Commission on whether it would approve AT&Ts $49-billion purchase of DirecTV, based in El Segundo. It is clear that AT&T terminated Slator so that it could serve up a scapegoat for the claims of rampant, systemic, and far-reaching racial discrimination throughout AT&T as an organization, the lawsuit states. AT&T panicked that these claims would further imperil its already precarious merger discussions with DirecTV and the Federal Communications Commission. The scandal erupted in late 2013 when Slator, who was working in Los Angeles, asked his executive assistant to transfer data to a new work mobile phone. She discovered a text message that contained a meme of an African toddler dancing under a headline that contained a racial slur. Slator had sent the message to another colleague, referring to the meme as an oldie but goodie. The former assistant, who is African American, filed a report with the companys equal opportunity office, which prompted a review. AT&T brought in investigators to determine whether there was discrimination in the workplace, and determined there was none, according to Slators complaint. Slator, who first joined AT&T in 1999, contends that he was assured by AT&T officials in 2013 and 2015 that he would not be let go because of the text message. At the time, AT&T was preparing for the DirecTV deal. His dismissal came one day after a second African American woman who worked in Slators group, Knoyme King, filed a $100-million lawsuit against AT&T that contended the company had a racism problem. That suit has since been settled. Slator is represented by Patricia Glaser and Kerry Garvis Wright of the Glaser Weil law firm. Last fall, AT&T announced its proposed acquisition of Time Warner, which owns CNN, TBS, TNT and the Warner Bros. film and TV studio in Burbank. That deal is awaiting federal review. meg.james@latimes.com @MegJamesLAT ALSO Unionization vote may resolve Telemundos dispute with SAG-AFTRA With La La Land, which hauled in 14 Oscar nominations, Lionsgates gamble is paying off big Four reasons why Hollywood supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership The long-running dispute between Telemundo and SAG-AFTRA over whether actors for the Spanish-language broadcaster can unionize could see a conclusion by March. Hollywoods largest union announced Monday that a vote is set to take place to decide the fate of the networks thousands of performers who appear in popular telenovelas and other programs. SAG-AFTRA said the vote, which is set to occur sometime between Feb. 7 and March 8, will be administered by the National Labor Relations Board. The union called for a vote last month in a petition to the independent federal agency. Advertisement Telemundo, based in Miami, ranks among the largest Spanish-language broadcasters in the U.S. NBCUniversal acquired the company in 2001. We are proud of the success we have achieved together with our talent through the direct relationship we have enjoyed with them, Telemundo said in a statement. Since SAG-AFTRA first approached us about a year ago, we have invited them to ask for a National Labor Relations Board election. We are pleased the union now has done this, so that our talent will be able to make a decision for themselves on whether to be represented. Telemundo said that it has created hundreds of high-value jobs for Spanish-language talent and remains committed to making Telemundo a great place to work for them and all our employees. SAG-AFTRA has fought for years with NBCUniversal, contending that the company maintains a double standard by allowing its English-language performers to unionize while refusing the same right to Spanish-speaking actors. This vote is about equity, fairness and the fundamental rights of Spanish-speaking actors in this industry and in our country, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said in statement. The union has asserted that Telemundo pays its performers half of what English-language actors earn on other NBCUniversal-owned networks, and that Telemundo doesnt provide its telenovela actors healthcare, contribute to their pensions, or pay standard overtime. SAG-AFTRAs campaign began when NBCUniversal acquired Telemundo more than 15 years ago. The dispute has been tense at times, with the union producing a commercial last year blasting NBCUniversal. Telemundo refused to air the Spanish-language spot during the networks live broadcast of its Premios Tu Mundo award show. As Telemundo has grown to become the largest employer of Spanish-language performers in the U.S., SAG-AFTRA has ramped up its effort to unionize the company. Some actors have publicly complained that they arent sharing in the companys success and are having difficulty making ends meet. Univision Communications, the broadcasters main competitor, doesnt produce original scripted dramatic content in the U.S., according to a spokeswoman for SAG-AFTRA. Univision relies instead on a program licensing agreement with Grupo Televisa, with the work covered by the Mexican actors union ANDA. To read the article in Spanish, click here david.ng@latimes.com @DavidNgLAT UPDATES: Jan. 24, 10 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Telemundo. This article was originally published at 7:55 p.m. on Jan. 23. The nations top consumer financial watchdog, who some Republicans want President Trump to fire, said Tuesday that the new Republican administration wont change his approach to aggressively hold banks and other financial firms accountable. Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, wouldnt comment on what he would do if Trump asked for his resignation but said it was important that independent federal agencies not get mired in partisan politics. The new administration really shouldnt change the job at all, Cordray said in his first public comments since Trumps inauguration, Advertisement Were expected to work with different administrations of different points of view, Cordray said at a forum held by the Wall Street Journal. We have an independent mandate to do what we do and we will continue working to protect consumers. Whether the president can fire the head of the independent consumer bureau, which was created by the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul, is the subject of an ongoing legal dispute. Cordrays five-year term doesnt expire until July 2018, and an agency spokeswoman has said he has no plans to step down. The agency has been praised by Democrats and consumer advocates for cracking down on abuses by financial firms; it was a key player in the $185-million settlement Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay last year for the creation of as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization. This month, two Republican senators called on Trump to fire Cordray, echoing the views of many GOP lawmakers who believe the agencys efforts have restricted lending and reduced consumers choices. Asked Monday if Trump was going to shake up the bureaus leadership before Cordrays term expires next year, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said no decision has been made at this time on that. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and 37 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote to Trump on Tuesday saying they would strongly oppose any attempt to remove Cordray and would view such an action as an illegitimate abuse of power. Director Cordray has done nothing to give the necessary cause for his removal from office, the lawmakers wrote. Communities of color and, indeed, all consumers in America will benefit from having director Cordray remain in his position and continue to independently implement the mandates imposed upon him by Congress as the director of the CFPB. Trump has said he wants to dismantle Dodd-Frank. Legislation from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) to overhaul the law would rename the bureau the Consumer Financial Opportunity Commission, replace the single director with five commissioners and subject its budget to congressional appropriations. Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) based their firing request on an October federal appeals court ruling that the consumer bureaus structure is unconstitutional because it gives the director too much power. Under Dodd-Frank, the director serves a five-year term and can be removed only for cause, such as neglect of duty. In a 2-1 ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said that structure violated the Constitutions separation of powers because it limited the presidents authority. The court said the solution was to strike down the laws for cause provision, meaning the president could remove the consumer bureau director for any reason, the same as with other executive branch appointees. The agency is appealing the ruling, asking all of the courts judges to review it. Some legal scholars said the legal challenge could present problems for Trump if he wants to remove Cordray. Cordray, a lawyer and former Ohio attorney general, wouldnt say Tuesday whether he would fight an attempt by Trump to fire him, and he wouldnt provide his own legal opinion of whether the president had that authority. I was nominated and then confirmed by the Senate to serve a term, Cordray said. All the independent federal regulatory agencies have terms that overlap one administration or another. Thats meant to preserve their independence. Thats important because without the independence you end up mired in partisan politics, the big-money special interests will try to dictate results, Cordray said. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter ALSO Trump has vowed to slash regulations. Where he might start and the hurdles he faces Trump names new FCC chairman: Ajit Pai, who wants to take a weed whacker to net neutrality Trump hammered the Federal Reserve as a candidate. As president, he could quickly reshape it UPDATES: 10:15 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from a letter by members of the Congressional Black Caucus warning Trump they would oppose any effort to remove Cordray. This article originally was published at 7:30 a.m. Scores of California hospitals with high rates of patient infections have not been inspected within the last five years, according to a petition filed Monday by Consumers Union. California law requires hospitals to be inspected every three years, but the state has fallen so far behind that the period has stretched to at least five years for 131 hospitals, the group said. Eighty of those hospitals have reported infection rates that are significantly higher than other facilities, it said. Advertisement Among those hospitals are Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Its time to start looking at these hospitals that have significantly higher infection rates and do something that makes them accountable, said Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumers Unions Safe Patient Project. The California public health department said Monday in a brief statement that it planned to respond to the petition within 30 days. Healthcare-associated infections are a serious public health issue, said Ali Bay, a spokeswoman for the health department, and we share concerns about the impacts they have on patients. She did not say why the state had fallen behind on inspecting hospitals. Because of limited infection-reporting requirements, state officials dont know how many Californians are sickened by bacteria or other pathogens while in the hospital. They estimate that as many as 9,000 Californians die each year from hospital-acquired infections, although experts say that may be low. Consumers Union, a national nonprofit group, looked at rates of handful of hospital-acquired infections that facilities must report under a 2008 law, including the superbugs Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile. Even though that data is not comprehensive, the group said, it has helped reveal which hospitals have continuing problems with controlling infections. Consumers Union said inspectors should be using the data to focus in on hospitals with recurring lapses in patient safety. But the consumer group said state officials told it that they are not providing the infection rate information to inspectors, who can levy fines, because they dont want to anger the hospitals. State epidemiologists believe if they bring in the enforcers, the hospitals will no longer work with them and infections will increase, McGiffert said. The state is putting patients lives at risk by blocking inspectors from finding out which hospitals report high infection rates, she said. The consumer group said an outbreak linked to tainted medical scopes at UCLA, which began in late 2014, showed why it was crucial for the state to perform comprehensive inspections every three years. The state had not been to UCLA Medical Center for the required inspection for at least four years before the outbreak, which killed three patients, according to the groups petition. SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter After The Times reported on the outbreak, state inspectors visited the hospital in March 2015. They found numerous safety violations that went beyond the medical scopes and declared an immediate jeopardy meaning that lives were at imminent risk. The consumer group said that the state may have been able to save lives if it had conducted a thorough inspection every three years as required by law. Tami Dennis, a UCLA spokeswoman, said the medical center has comprehensive and rigorous infection-control programs reflecting a commitment to our highest priority the well-being of our patients. She said the university continues to work with county, state and federal health officials to reduce infection rates and improve the clinical outcomes of our patients. Stephanie Hall, chief medical officer at USCs Keck School of Medicine, said she believed that two types of infections were combined in the state numbers, which unfairly implies the cancer center had a high rate. The cancer center asked the state to audit its practices in 2015, she said, which helped ensure measures to prevent infections were in place. We continue to see significant improvement in all infection measures at Norris and remain constantly vigilant, Hall said. Long Beach Memorial said it could not immediately comment. The petition asks the state to immediately investigate hospitals with significantly higher-than-average infection rates and impose penalties where violations have put patients at risk. It also asks the state to comply with the law requiring more frequent inspections. Under California law, the state must respond in writing to the petition or hold a public hearing. melody.petersen@latimes.com Follow @melodypetersen on Twitter MORE BUSINESS NEWS How a mothers lawsuit helped get Snapchat to crack down on media companies Unionization vote may resolve Telemundos dispute with SAG-AFTRA With La La Land, which hauled in 14 Oscar nominations, Lionsgates gamble is paying off big A federal judge says he is inclined to fine Pacific Gas & Electric Co. the maximum $3 million as well as require the utility to mention its criminal convictions in ads and conduct community service as part of its sentence in a criminal case stemming from a deadly natural gas explosion in the San Francisco Bay Area. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson was scheduled to issue his sentence Monday, but pushed the decision back to consider comments by attorneys for the government and PG&E. The 2010 blast of a PG&E natural gas pipeline sent a giant plume of fire into the air, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes in the city of San Bruno. Advertisement A jury convicted the company in August of five counts of pipeline safety violations, including failing to gather information to evaluate potential gas-line threats and deliberately not classifying a gas line as high risk. Prosecutors said the company deliberately misclassified pipelines so it wouldnt have to subject them to appropriate testing, choosing a cheaper method to save money. Jurors also convicted the utility of misleading investigators after the blast. PG&E attorney Steve Bauer says the company is prepared to pay the $3 million fine and has agreed to a monitor to oversee its operations as part of any sentence. But he asked Henderson to set a time limit on the ads and link them to efforts to improve safety. Prosecutors have pushed for the advertising requirements, saying that a $3-million fine alone would be a drop in the bucket for PG&E. Victims of the explosion say they remain traumatized and want Henderson to issue a sentence that changes the company. Three blast victims spoke Monday during the sentencing hearing in San Francisco. Sue Bullis said she lost her husband, son and mother-in-law in the blast and still suffers from anxiety and depression. She called on the judge to impose an independent monitor to oversee the utility. This was due to the negligence of a greedy company that put profits ahead of safety, Bullis said. It is my hope that with the proper checks and balances for PG&E, this kind of tragedy will never happen again. Julie Kane, PG&E chief ethics and compliance officer, told the court: Our commitment to safety will never stop. We are profoundly sorry. The California Public Utilities Commission previously fined PG&E $1.6 billion and directed that shareholders rather than customers pay the record penalty. Embattled bank Wells Fargo & Co. says it will eliminate a policy that allowed branches to get 24 hours notice before annual visits by internal reviewers a practice that may have contributed to the banks unauthorized accounts scandal. The so-called branch-control review process occurs at every bank location across the country and includes reviews of documents, interviews with employees and observations of practices, according to Wells Fargo. The San Francisco company said a 24-hour heads-up was given to branch locations before the review so each bank could ensure it is staffed to assist with the review and maintain customer experience. Advertisement However, a Wall Street Journal article on Tuesday said the notice gave employees time to hide improper practices by shredding papers or forging signatures that could have shown that accounts were opened without customers authorization. The Journal cited more than a dozen unnamed current and former employees. Wells Fargo said in a statement that the behavior described has always been against our policies, and that in order to remove any possibility of an issue, we plan to eliminate the 24 hour notice. The bank noted that the branch-control review process has evolved to include review of electronic documents and electronically captured signatures that are examined ahead of branch visits. The bank also said its separate internal audit team has been independently reviewing the branch-control review process, and will increase its coverage and visits this year. Wells Fargos corporate risk department will separately conduct reviews of about 600 bank locations this year with no advance notice. We continue to make improvements and take a hard look at all our processes, the bank said. In September, Wells Fargo agreed to a $185-million settlement with regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Los Angeles City Attorneys Office, who said the banks aggressive sales culture pushed thousands of employees to open as many as 2 million accounts without customer authorization. The bank did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlements, but said it would change its sales practices and apologized to customers. The wrongdoing, which led to the resignation of Chief Executive John Stumpf in October, was first reported in a 2013 Los Angeles Times story. samantha.masunaga@latimes.com Twitter: @smasunaga The Trump administration could make numerous changes that affect the workplace, and although its anyones guess what shape those changes will take, the new presidents Cabinet picks and campaign rhetoric offer some clues. Here are six workplace issues to watch. E-Verify A chief rallying cry of President Trumps campaign involved limiting immigration to boost employment among native-born Americans, and a position paper outlining how he would do that includes mandating E-Verify nationwide to keep employers from hiring people who are in the country illegally. E-Verify, a system for employers to electronically check new hires identity information against government databases before permitting them to work, has been required of federal contractors and vendors since 2007. Some states require public or private employers to use the system; California does not. Critics of E-Verify raise concerns about privacy, implementation burdens and inaccuracies that keep legal immigrants from working. Advertisement Quickie union election rule In 2014, the National Labor Relations Board issued a rule that, among other things, shortened the time period between when a union files for an election and the election itself. Critics say that makes it easier for unions to organize workers because employers have less time to present their arguments against union representation. That rule is among several policies adopted by the NLRBs Democratic majority that could be walked back if Trump appoints more conservative members to the board. He could also restrict the boards funding to limit enforcement. The five-member panel currently has two vacancies, and the general counsel who decides which cases are heard by the board will see his term expire this year. Joint employer standard One of the NLRBs most controversial moves under the Obama administration was to broaden the definition of joint employer such that more companies could be held liable for labor law violations by their subcontractors or franchisees, and be brought to the bargaining table should workers employed by subcontractors unionize. The agencys closely watched Browning-Ferris decision in 2015 said a company can be a joint employer if it exerts indirect control over workers, or if it reserves control even if it does not exercise it. The decision has been appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. But the new joint employer standard, opposed by congressional Republicans, might not last under Trump. The president would presumably sign into law any congressional effort to legislate the reversal of a controversial [NLRB] decision such as the Browning-Ferris joint employer case that does not align with his policies, according to an analysis by the law firm Littler Mendelson, which represents management in employment cases. Trumps pick for Labor secretary, fast-food executive Andrew Puzder, has denounced the broadening of the joint employer definition. I would be close to shocked if the joint employer guidance and the emphasis on joint employers from the administrative standpoint isnt completely walked backwards, said Jeff Risch, chair of the labor and employment practice at the law firm SmithAmundsen. Still, he said, the Obama administration has shined a spotlight on the issue and spurred lawsuits that are being evaluated by the courts, so the floodgates already may be opened. Mandatory arbitration agreements A hotly debated topic in labor law is whether its legal for employers to require workers to resolve disputes through arbitration rather than class-action lawsuits a big money- and headache-saver for employers. Although the NLRB has argued that such requirements violate workers right to concerted activities under the National Labor Relations Act, circuit courts have been split on the issue, and the Supreme Court previously has held that such requirements are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act. The lower-court split sets the stage for potential review by the Supreme Court. EEOC pay reporting rule Amid a national conversation about a persistent wage gap between men and women, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced that employers will have to start providing data on employee pay and hours by sex, race and ethnicity in order to help the agency investigate pay discrimination. The first reports are due in March 2018. Many employers, who already report how many people they employ by race and gender, have complained its a major paperwork headache. Trump didnt mention the EEOC guidelines on the campaign trail, but some observers say a more conservative EEOC under his administration could revise or rescind the regulations before they take effect. Overtime rule A last-minute injunction against a new Labor Department rule that would double to nearly $48,000 the minimum salary someone must make before they can be exempt from overtime pay has left the rules fate in question. A Texas federal judge blocked the planned Dec. 1 implementation of the rule, a signature Obama administration initiative meant to boost middle-class incomes, until he decides whether its lawful. Theres no timeline on when that decision might come. Labor nominee Puzder, who has criticized the overtime rule, could modify or roll it back. But California has its own requirement that overtime be paid to salaried workers who earn less than $41,600 a year and allows them to claim overtime after working more than eight hours in a day. aelejalderuiz@chicagotribune.com Elejalde-Ruiz writes for the Chicago Tribune. Times staff writer Melissa Etehad contributed to this report. ALSO New FCC chairman Ajit Pai wants to take a weed whacker to net neutrality Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief says Trump wont tone down his agency As Trump pushes for U.S. manufacturing, Made in America is losing its luster in the fashion world Ayelet Bitton never thought shed get involved in politics. Like many of her Silicon Valley peers, the 25-year-old software engineer cared about social and political issues, but didnt think it was her place to speak up. I used to stay away from political conversations because they could get awkward, said Bitton, who develops software for San Francisco ride-hailing firm Lyft. This changed Nov. 8. Donald Trumps presidential victory sent a shock wave through the socially liberal but generally politically detached tech industry, catalyzing something of an awakening in Silicon Valley. Some tech workers who had long toed their companies apolitical lines saw Trumps win as a turning point: the moment when they should become more vocal about their views. Advertisement In the months since the election, some workers have organized protests. Others have joined fledgling activist groups such as the Tech Workers Coalition or the recently formed Tech Solidarity. Many are now looking for ways big and small to allay their own fears of how a Trump administration might affect issues such as privacy, immigration and civil rights. Its no secret theres a lot of privilege here in Silicon Valley, said Bitton, who acknowledged that the affluence of the sector and the liberal bubble of the Bay Area meant that few tech workers had realized the stakes of the election or thought that Trump would win. But now I feel compelled to stand with movements that dont directly affect me, she said. For Bittons part, she immediately upped her monthly donation to Planned Parenthood. She started donating to the American Civil Liberties Union. She signed an online pledge to never build software that could be used for the mass deportation of immigrants. And she walked in the Womens March in Oakland the first time that shed ever taken part in a protest. The recent election has also made some in Silicon Valley reflect on the industrys responsibility as creators of services used by governments and political candidates. Last Wednesday, around 70 tech workers protested against their own outside the headquarters of Palantir Technologies, a data analysis start-up co-founded by Trump supporter Peter Thiel. The protesters feared that Palantir which already has government contracts could use its data analytics tools to assist in deporting immigrants or building a registry for Muslims, as Trump called for on the campaign trail. (Thiel has said Palantir would not help craft a Muslim registry.) The part of our job we love is to promise people new possibilities, said Sophie Xie, 28, a freelance designer and former Facebook employee who attended the Palantir protest. The part that we dont like is to dwell on the consequences. Like Bitton, Xie was shocked into action by Trumps win, and started giving more thought to the moral dilemmas technologists face when building products that are either used by or affect large swaths of society. Xie lent her design skills to the protest by building the events website. Other techies have also found ways to make their technical skills useful to organizations that may need their help. In San Francisco, Kate Bertash, an employee at mobile e-learning firm Elevate Labs, is organizing an abortion access hackathon in March that will connect people from the tech sector with nonprofits in need of volunteers. Across the Bay, tech workers on Friday took part in Oaklands General Strike Against Trump by manning a drop-in tech clinic where nonprofits could get help building websites, creating mailing lists, and with basic tech troubleshooting. Since the election, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights nonprofit, has seen a surge in interest and a spike in donations from members of the tech community. The lid is lifting, said Shahid Buttar, the EFFs director of grass-roots advocacy. Comfortable people are waking up. Its easy to be aware when youre uncomfortable; a lot of people have lost their comfort and their complacency. Comfortable people are waking up. Its easy to be aware when youre uncomfortable. Shahid Buttar, EFFs director of grass-roots advocacy For generations the Bay Area has been a hotbed of activism, but in recent years tech firms and tech workers have been the ones being protested, not the protesters. Demonstrations have targeted the tech industry for driving up the price of housing to exorbitant levels, for blocking public bus stops with its employee shuttle buses, for failing to diversify its own ranks, and for increasing the gap between the haves and the have-nots. Two years ago, many of my friends would have never wanted to organize a protest or be public about their political beliefs, said Lea Yu, 28, a product manager in the tech industry who helped organize the Palantir protest. I think its millennials maturing. Some are now more secure in their employment and are able to take more risks. Data suggests theres a disconnect between the politics of tech employers and tech employees. Of the tech workers who made presidential campaign donations, 95% supported Hillary Clinton, according to nonpartisan campaign donation tracking group Crowdpac. Yet of the $3.6 million given to House and Senate candidates by four political action committees formed by Facebook, Amazon, Google and Microsoft, nearly 60% went to Republicans, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Large tech companies have generally been reticent about taking political positions for fear of alienating some users. But to take no position is to support the status quo, some tech workers said, and when tech executives sat in a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in December without kicking up a fuss about his campaign rhetoric, it became apparent to them that they would have to take up the fight themselves. So far, major tech employers have been staying out of their employees way. Facebook last year updated its political engagement policy for employees, allowing them to participate in personal political activities on their own time and with their own funds. Communications specialists who have worked at tech companies in the Valley also said that firms have started to realize they have little control over what their employees think or say. With censorship a touchy issue (Facebook went to great lengths last year to assure conservatives that right-leaning news wasnt being censored on its platform), they said it would look worse if a company tried to restrict its employees political participation. Which means this is just the beginning, according to techies who have taken first steps into political activism. Expect more protests, hackathons, apps and willing volunteers. And, in Bittons case, political conversations. She used to stay out of them because she was worried theyd get awkward. Now I dont care anymore. tracey.lien@latimes.com Twitter: @traceylien ALSO How a concerned mothers lawsuit helped get Snapchat to crack down on media companies Yahoos earnings improve, but the closure of its Verizon deal is delayed Samsung blames battery defects for Galaxy Note 7 fires As treehouses go, this one offers unparalleled views. To the north are the scrub-covered slopes of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge. To the south are the ramshackle constructions of Tijuanas Colonia Libertad neighborhood, with its tire retaining walls and patchwork roofs of corrugated tin. Stretching into the horizon to the west is roughly seven miles of undulating steel border wall separating Mexico from the United States. The U.S.-Mexico border is no ordinary place. And this is no ordinary treehouse. It is a work of art built by a collective of Japanese artists known as Chim Pom. The backyard treehouse, on the Tijuana side of the border, also functions as a wry viewpoint over one of the most politicized borders in the world. For the record: This article states that the artist Ellie flew to Hawaii in 2012 for a shoot with a Japanese video crew who were subsequently banned from entering the U.S. The artist was preparing to fly to Hawaii when the incident occurred. Its our art, said Ryuta Ushiro, a member of the collective, but its also for children. Advertisement The installation couldnt be more timely. Newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has made building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border a high priority mentioning it Jan. 11 during his first official news conference in months, when he told reporters, I want to get the wall started. Looking north toward the United States from Chim Poms border treehouse, toward a fenced area protected by the U.S. Border Patrol. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) But the wall remains controversial. Only 37% of Americans support building it, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released last week. And on Monday, ABC ran an interview with the outgoing head of the Customs and Border Protection agency, who cast doubt on the projects utility. I think that anyone whos been familiar with the Southwest border and the terrain kind of recognizes that building a wall along the entire Southwest border is probably not going to work, stated Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of the CBP under President Barack Obama. When we look at the cost and we have about 600 miles of fencing now we look at the maintenance and the upkeep, we know how incredibly difficult it is. This puts Chim Poms sardonic treehouse, located in a private backyard about 2 miles east of downtown Tijuana, at the center of a charged political storm. A view of the border treehouse created by Japanese art collective Chim Pom, which is titled U.S.A. Visitor Center. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Earlier this month, just as Trump was making his comments about getting construction on the wall started, I met with Ushiro and fellow Chim Pom member Motomu Inaoka in a drizzly supermarket parking lot on Tijuanas traffic-jammed Boulevard Cuauhtemoc. From there, the pair drove me into the hills of Colonia Libertad, a neighborhood that is framed by the infrastructure of transit and the denial of transit: A railroad to the west, the Tijuana International Airport to the east and the U.S.-Mexico border wall, just to the north. Ushiro, a slim young man in a pork pie hat, said that Chim Pom grew interested in the border for a variety of reasons. We saw Donald Trump on the news the immigration issue, he said. And wed heard rumors about tunnels and people jumping the wall. Inaoka turned onto a muddy dirt road that runs parallel to the border wall. We pulled up to a small dwelling whose northern edge shares a boundary with the border. As we spilled out of the car, we were greeted by a pack of children who surrounded Ushiro with shouts and hugs. Behind them was Esther Arias Medina, a steely Mexican matriarch who has lived on this land as long as she can remember certainly long before a border wall ever materialized. When the artists knocked on her door and asked for permission to build a treehouse in the lone pepper tree that inhabits her tiny yard, she said, I didnt think about it. I just said yes. The children, she added, adore it. We followed the kids to the back, where another member of Chim Pom, Ellie, who doesnt use a surname and is the only woman in the group, waved hello from her perch in the treehouse. Ryuta Ushiro of Chim Pom (wearing hat), sits with neighborhood children in their border treehouse. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Ellies own immigration troubles have given the collective a personal reason for creating a piece about the border. In 2012, the artist, who also works in television, flew to Hawaii for a shoot with a Japanese video crew. Ushiro said that as a gag a member of the TV crew checked off a box on a visa waiver application stating that he had been involved in terrorist activities. As a result, the entire crew was banned from entering the U.S. and since then, Ellies applications to enter the U.S. have been denied. The treehouse is as close as shell get to the U.S. for now. And the piece nods to this closeness: Its exterior is emblazoned with a sign that reads U.S.A. Visitor Center. What is the purpose of a visitor center? Ushiro asked. Parks like the Grand Canyon have visitor centers. [People] might not be able to go in, but they can see it from the visitor center. Ellie cant go into the U.S., so she sees it from here. Based in Tokyo, the six members of Chim Pom have been working together for more than a decade, frequently taking on issues of politics and environment often in wry ways. They came to prominence in 2006 with an installation called Super Rat, which featured taxidermied rats from the citys Shibuya District some of which have developed an immunity to poison painted to resemble the Pokemon character Pikachu. Sol, age 7, plays on the border wall, which stretches for miles into the western horizon. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) In their ongoing piece Dont Follow the Wind, the collective traveled into the exclusion zone around the site of Japans Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and installed an art exhibition featuring works by various international figures including Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, photographer Taryn Simon and Internet pranksters Eva and Franco Mattes. The installation will not open to the public until the area around Fukushima is declared safe for human settlement. That could mean decades. We are interested in invisible worlds, Ushiro said of the piece. This problem is long-term and its global and no one knows when Fukushima will be open again. The treehouse project began last summer, when four members of Chim Pom, along with a fellow artist, took a drive along the U.S.-Mexico border from Mexicali to Playas de Tijuana looking for something, anything, that might spark an idea for an installation or a performance. In Colonia Libertad, they came across Arias singular home. Id never seen such a crazy house, Ushiro said. The landscape is really beautiful you can see so much. That landscape includes the vast architecture of U.S. security theater. From the treehouses northern window, it is possible to take in the sight of an unusual no mans land: Several hundred feet north of the wall that marks the border is a second fence on U.S. territory. The fence creates a narrow corridor along the border that is closely monitored by the CBP. (I counted one helicopter, half-a-dozen trucks and one four-wheeler in the course of an afternoon.) Chim Poms treehouse which could sleep two adults comfortably offers a humorous counterpoint to this austere landscape. Its interior is decorated with a jumble of objects: sketches, maps and works of great American literature, such as Mark Twains The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (in Japanese). On one side hangs a coyote pelt a nod to the smugglers known as coyotes, who help spirit migrants across the border, but also to famed conceptualist Joseph Beuys, who once locked himself in a Manhattan gallery with a wild coyote as a work of performance. A coyote pelt hangs inside the treehouse, in honor of Joseph Beuys and a reference to the individuals who help smuggle people across the border. (Carolina A. MIranda / Los Angeles Times) In addition to the treehouse, the artists created a small plastic sculpture of a grave titled Libertad (Liberty), which they placed on the U.S. side of the border as part of a short performance. Late in the afternoon, the rain clouds parted and the border was suddenly bathed in misty light. Two stray dogs trotted through the no mans land on the U.S. side, oblivious to the bureaucracy of international borders. Ellie gathered the Arias kids, along with their cousins and friends, to help carry the sculpture down the hill in a squealing, chaotic procession. At the chosen point, Fernando Arias, Esthers son, clambered over the first border wall on Mexican land and arranged the piece on U.S. land, in the gap formed before the second fence an action that earned him a quick blast of a Border Patrol officers siren. Arias quickly clambered back over the wall to Mexican territory. The piece, Ushiro said, is to make a grave for liberty on U.S.A. land. Fernando Arias arranged the sculpture Libertad on the U.S. side of the border as part of a performance organized by Chim Pom. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) While the election has brought much talk of building a border wall, the reality is that in places such as Colonia Libertad, walls have been a reality for a decade (even as undocumented immigration has dipped). Sometimes this has put the Arias family in the middle of tear gas and pepper spray assaults from border patrol. Yet as imposing as the walls appear, they are nonetheless permeable. The U.S. fence, with its dense metal weave and its crown of concertina wire, is full of patches where determined individuals have sliced their way through with wire cutters. Ushiro said that in his time working on the treehouse, he has seen a number of people make it through. Donald Trump can build the highest wall, he said, but its useless. Kids play in view of the wall marking the U.S.-Mexico border and a fiberglass sculpture bearing the name Libertad. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Before us, a 7-year-old girl named Sol climbed the border wall as if it were a jungle gym. She sat on top and paused for a moment to look around. Then she turned and asked me if I was from el otro lado the other side. I nodded. She replied: I know people there too. A drawing inside the treehouse depicts the procession of children who carried a symbolic grave bearing the words Libertad. (Carolina A. Miranda / Los Angeles Times) Sign up for our weekly Essential Arts & Culture newsletter carolina.miranda@latimes.com On Twitter: @cmonstah ALSO Studio Visit: Ingrid Hernandez, forging an artistic record of Tijuanas impromptu settlements An architecture school rises in Tijuanas red light zone Trickle-up urbanism: How one Tijuana designer wants to improve his city one tiny public space at a time La La Land passed its first audition Tuesday and then some, earning a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. Now, the question is: Can it go on and land the role it has seemed destined to win since debuting at film festivals in the fall? Can it take the Oscar for best picture? For those not wanting next months ceremony spoiled, you should probably skip ahead a couple of paragraphs. In fact, you might want to skip ahead to next years Oscars. Advertisement Because no movie is going to beat La La Land this year. The reasons behind that inevitability have to do both with the quality of Damien Chazelles spectacular, heartfelt musical as well as that most of the other nominated movies do not possess the qualities typically found in a best picture winner. Historically, the film academy has not often given its top honor to intimate, fictional, character-based dramas like Manchester by the Sea or Moonlight or a crowd-pleaser like Hidden Figures or a sci-fi flick like Arrival. From Amy Adams leading actress snub to Mel Gibsons resurgence, L.A. Times film critics Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang discuss the Oscar nominations. The only nominated film that does have the right stuff key nominations for director and lead actor, as well as a handful of nods for crafts is the awards movie nobody saw coming. Thats Mel Gibsons powerful story of patriotism and faith, the war drama Hacksaw Ridge. Its the kind of big-canvas period epic that Oscar voters have rewarded in the past, one that unabashedly embraces noble themes of selflessness and heroism. You know, the kind of thing academy members can pat themselves on the back for supporting. But when Hacksaw was initially released in early November, most awards pundits assumed it would have a rough time gaining traction, given that Gibson had been largely ostracized from the filmmaking community since he uttered anti-Semitic slurs during a 2006 Malibu drunk driving arrest. There were signs, though, that Hollywood was ready to turn the page. Every time Gibson showed Hacksaw Ridge to academy voters and guild members, he and the movie were typically greeted warmly, often with standing ovations. And while the film packed Gibsons trademark, uncompromising brutality, it also sported an uplifting story in its true-life depiction of Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat as a medic during World War II. So, if Hacksaws nomination was a revelation, perhaps its strength with voters remains underestimated. Again: Aside from La La Land, its the only nominated movie equipped with all the elements that academy members have honored and cherished through the years. Not that thats going to catapult it to a win. But in another year, against a different film, it might have. Live coverage: Analysis, reactions, snubs, surprises and more on the 2017 Oscar nominations 1 / 2 NOMINATED: Actress in a leading role - Isabelle Huppert (Guy Ferrandis / Sony Pictures Classics via AP) 2 / 2 NOMINATED: Original score - The Empty Chair (Manu Brabo / AP) While the best picture is all but decided, theres still some intrigue in the acting categories. Sundays SAG Awards will provide a few clues, most notably whether Denzel Washington might have a shot at displacing Casey Affleck as the default lead actor front-runner. Playing Fences world-class storyteller, Washington probably has more lines of dialogue in the movies first five minutes than Affleck does in the entirety of Manchester by the Sea. Its a towering turn that reveals every facet of the emotionally ruined man Washington plays. You can make a strong case that Affleck has the more challenging assignment in Manchester, portraying a character utterly consumed by grief, unable and unwilling to move forward. But Oscar history tells us the kind of performance voters reward. And its rarely the inward turn. Affleck too has been dogged by scrutiny over sexual harassment suits filed against him in civil court by two women in 2010. Several news outlets have argued that Affleck has received something of a media pass regarding his past, compared to the controversy that derailed The Birth of a Nation filmmaker Nate Parker. If Washington wins the SAG Award on Sunday, it could possibly signal a momentum change in that race. The lead actress race, meanwhile, sorted itself out at the expense of Amy Adams (Arrival) and Annette Bening (20th Century Women). I always knew there wasnt room in this category for all the years worthy performances. Now, with the dust settled, five nominees remain: Emma Stone (La La Land), Natalie Portman (Jackie), Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins) and, in a beautiful surprise, Ruth Negga for her quietly powerful turn in Loving. Again, the SAG winner will be telling. But for now, the edge belongs to Stone on the strength of her irresistible performance and voters obvious La La Land love. Stone is young. She has never won an Oscar. And shes damn good. Recently, that combination unlocked the Academy Award in this category for Brie Larson (Room), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Portman (Black Swan). Now it should be Stones turn. I think Moonlight will pull off a deserving win for its cast in the ensemble category at Sundays SAG Awards. It feels like the academy will want to reward a member of its troupe somewhere, which is why Mahershala Ali stands as the favorite for supporting actor. But this is a category that often surprises, so you cant discount the chances of favorite son Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water) or Michael Shannon (Nocturnal Animals), a consistently great actor and a refreshingly candid and enjoyable presence on the awards season trail. And as for supporting actress, lets just say that if anyone can deliver a dozen different and amazingly eloquent acceptance speeches in one year, its Viola Davis. Youll be seeing the Fences standout at the podium two more times Sunday at the SAG Awards and next month at the Oscars. By the time this long march is over, she might be the only part of it I truly miss. glenn.whipp@latimes.com Twitter: @glennwhipp Stop us if youve seen this one before: Mel Gibson has a new son. He also has a couple of new Oscar nominations for Hacksaw Ridge. Gibson and girlfriend Rosalind Ross welcomed a baby boy on Friday, the actors rep confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. Lars Gerard Gibson weighed in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. Hes the Mad Max actors seventh son, and his first child with Ross. Gibson, 61, and Ross, 26 shes a writer and champion equestrian vaulter have been dating for about two years. Advertisement What could be more exciting than listening to the nominations being announced while holding my newborn son! This is a truly wonderful honor, Gibson said in a statement Tuesday morning. Hacksaw Ridge was nominated for Academy Awards for best picture, lead actor (Andrew Garfield), film editing, sound editing and sound mixing, and Gibson was nominated for director. He previously won in the best picture and director categories for Braveheart in 1995, when he was merely a father of six. Gibson has nine children: a girl and six boys with ex-wife Robyn Moore, a girl with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva and now the boy with Ross. He also has three grandchildren. cdz@latimes.com @theCDZ ALSO Madonna clarifies blowing up the White House comment: Taken wildly out of context Gavin Rossdales boys are peeking at his texts to see if he has a girlfriend (he doesnt) I had a couple of bad moments: How Mel Gibson went from most hated man in Hollywood to 2017 Oscar nominee Whats next for Oscar-nominated actor Dev Patel? A good cry in the shower (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times) Dev Patel, who was nominated for an Academy Award for actor in a supporting role for his part in Lion, has big plans for celebrating his nomination news: a shower. Are you freaking out? That is the understatement of the century. It kind of hasnt fully permeated my brain. Im just so overwhelmingly grateful to the universe and the master of that universe, Garth Davis [director of Lion]. I am seeing on Twitter that youre the third Indian actor to be nominated for an acting award. Wow. Who are the other two? I need to find out. But this is just such a beautiful moment. I think its a time of celebration. So youre in India filming a new movie? Yes, Hotel Mumbai. Its 7:30 p.m. Ive been out here for two weeks. Were just finishing off the shoots, so were nearly done, and Ill be back in Los Angeles in two days. You had quite a first Oscar experience with Slumdog Millionaire. What do you remember? I remember walking down the red carpet and rubbing the bottoms of the Oscar statues as a good luck ritual. I remember going on the stage carrying Rubina, the young actress, and it was just like seeing all of those young faces in absolute ecstasy. And this time around, little Sunny might be with you. Yes! Hes so incredible in this film, and I share this nomination with him in a big way. So this time at the Oscars, more of the focus will be on you. I think the first time we were there, it was all such a blur, and it was hard to really kind of make heads or tails of it all. Now that Ive been there a couple of times last year to present documentary I know its amazing to just watch people in those moments of joy. People in the dark who have been in editing rooms for months. To go there again, alone in a way, with this nomination, its really special. OK, so your work day is over. What will you do to celebrate? I literally just got the news, and Im talking to you within 20 minutes of hearing. Im sitting in this hotel in the best reception spot I have. I called my mother and she was at work in the care home, and she just started screaming and crying and everyone was looking through the glass wondering why shes making a big scene. Will you take her to the show if you can? 100 percent. Thats her moment. Im her guest. Youve spoken a lot over the past few months about how hard it was to get a role like this as a guy who looks like you. Does this feel like vindication? Completely. I think every actor faces their own unique struggles in this industry, and every one of those journeys Ive been on has been a unique learning experience. Lion came to me three years ago. I wouldnt have been able to do what Ive done in this film without that struggle. The life experience to embody that character -- it feels like it has accumulated to this moment. I put everything I had into that film. Every part of my soul went into this journey and getting it right. A script like that, for myself, is such a rarity. I wanted to do it justice. It also gave you your new long hair look. The Lion mane! Clearly, thats Garths vision to cover my big ears. Im sticking with it because Im playing a character in this film who is a Sikh and wears a turban, and underneath that, hes got a big bun. So man bun up next? Maybe. Where are you off to next? Im gonna get in the car, and then Im gonna go get in the shower and probably break down. Ive been holding it in. I need a good cry in the shower. At a time of global anxiety, fervent populism and enduring conflict, international filmmakers have turned to marriage, hijinks, history and even a remote island in the middle of the ocean to make sense of things. Those themes were resonant in the Academy Award nominations for best foreign language film, which were dominated by European movies that included an eccentric father-daughter comedy, a World War II drama about hidden land mines and the story of a curmudgeonly Swede charmed by his immigrant neighbor. The two other movies among the five nominees were Tanna, an Australian-directed tale of star-crossed lovers on a South Pacific island and The Salesman, an investigation of a marriage in turmoil by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. Farhadi won the best foreign language Oscar in 2012 for A Separation. Advertisement Live coverage: Analysis, reactions, snubs, surprises and more on the 2017 Oscar nominations Europes gaze at itself was revealing. Germanys Toni Erdmann sets Eastern European capitalism as a backdrop for the strained relationship between a conformist daughter and her prankster father. Denmarks Land of Mine raises questions about morality and blame as German soldiers clear land mines on a beach. A Man Called Ove from Sweden looks at immigration through the eyes of a suicidal railroad worker. The nominated films explore the fissures, bonds, expectations and unpredictability of relationships, especially when characters are forced to confront change. The Salesman hits all these notes as a couple navigates vengeance, fear and the insecurities of home after a wife is attacked by a stranger in the shower. That film, like Toni Erdmann, directed by Maren Ade, draws the viewer deep into the intricacies of psychology and emotion. Its in crisis that we reveal our true selves, Farhadi recently told The Times. Film to me is like a court trial. The spectator is the judge. Toni Erdmann has been a favorite of critics but the way it tests the bounds of family troubles the father (Winfried) is a rambling jokester who wears oversized fake teeth and an outfit that makes him look like Big Foot is bracingly unconventional. Perhaps too much for some in the Academy. The unsentimental film crystallizes German sardonic wit yet it movingly plays on Winfrieds act-of-love strategy to embarrass his daughter (Ines) until he frees her from her rigid mask. 1 / 2 NOMINATED: Actress in a leading role - Isabelle Huppert (Guy Ferrandis / Sony Pictures Classics via AP) 2 / 2 NOMINATED: Original score - The Empty Chair (Manu Brabo / AP) Tanna summons a different kind existential crisis amid battling tribes in the South Pacific. Unfolding amid thatched huts, grass skirts and a flickering volcano, the film, based on a true story, centers on the fate of two lovers after one of them is chosen to marry someone in an opposing clan to keep peace and preserve island culture. Directed by Bentley Dean and Martin Butler, the film is a picturesque paean to a way of life far from the tug of modern forces. Land of Mine glimpses the dangerous irony of changing fortunes. It explores compassion, hate and justice along a Danish beach where Nazis had laid 45,000 land mines to prevent an Allied invasion. But the Danish army is back in control and has pressed German POWs into the meticulous task of clearing the mines. Directed by Martin Zandvliet, the movie follows A War, about the Afghanistan conflict, as the second Danish film in two years to be nominated for an Academy Award. Whimsy mixes with Scandinavian stoicism in a A Man Called Ove, directed by Hannes Holm, after a laid-off railroad worker and recent widower attempts to hang himself. The title character is a gruff bore who becomes enamored with his Iranian immigrant neighbor in a tender story that speaks to larger questions of culture and diversity that have been agitating Europe in recent years. No one should be all on their own, Oves neighbor tells him. Not even you. See the most-read stories this hour Twitter: @JeffreyLAT jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com There are few things Hollywood loves more than celebrating itself and, true to form, the nominations handed out Tuesday for the 89th Academy Awards reflected an industry happy to revel in its own glittering self-image. But they also revealed a 90-year-old tradition-bound institution embracing the future with record levels of diversity, both in demographics and format. The effervescent, brightly colored musical La La Land a love letter to the city of Los Angeles and the movies themselves danced its way to 14 Oscar nominations, including best picture, tying the all-time record held by Titanic and All About Eve. One of nine films to score a best picture nod in this years crowded and varied field, La La Land has been widely embraced as a balm in these politically turbulent times and a fresh twist on a genre that had largely fallen out of favor. Advertisement Its a film that uses all the tools of cinema performance and music and design and storytelling and masterfully combines them to deliver a joyful experience, said one of the films producers, Marc Platt. No cynicism, no irony just joy. But beyond the resurgence of the old-fangled musical, Oscar voters gave the recently embattled motion picture academy something bigger to cheer about: Unlike last years telecast, which host Chris Rock scathingly branded the White Peoples Choice Awards, the 89th Academy Awards will not be dominated by hot-button questions of discrimination in the film industry. After two years of bitter controversy over back-to-back slates of all-white acting nominees, seven actors and actresses of color earned nominations this year. The diversity of this years nominations which, in a further break from tradition, were announced via a pre-recorded, live-streamed video instead of the usual news conference is a testament to a strong group of recent films, including Fences, Moonlight and Hidden Figures, that deal head-on with issues of race in ways that have resonated with critics and audiences. It goes to the heart of what I say over and over again and that is, frankly, that diversity pays, said Hidden Figures producer Donna Gigliotti, who helped bring the real-life story of female African American mathematicians in the space race to the screen. People want to see their own stories up on the big screen. The problem is nobody in Hollywood is really paying attention, so it falls on independent producers to find and tell these stories. To help encourage the telling of those stories, and in response to last years #OscarsSoWhite furor, the academys leadership has taken dramatic steps to broaden the organizations overwhelmingly white and male membership ranks. Of the 683 industry professionals invited to join last year, 46% were female and 41% people of color. And while it is impossible to know what impact that new class had on the nominations, six black actors and actresses earned nominations. Among them were Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, who share the screen in Washingtons adaptation of August Wilsons play Fences, and Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, who earned nods for their work in Moonlight, a coming-of-age film about a gay African American boy growing up in Miami that earned eight nominations in total, including one for its African American director, Barry Jenkins. Live coverage: Analysis, reactions, snubs, surprises and more on the 2017 Oscar nominations Even so, writer and activist April Reign, who first created the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag in 2015, says there is still much work to be done before the problem is truly solved. Noting the lack of Latino or Asian American acting nominees, Reign said that we cant forget just because we have black nominees this year. #OscarsSoWhite is about everybody. Studios, she said, need to be actively seeking the stories of the marginalized and thats not happening yet. And indeed, the lists of nominated directors and writers were overwhelmingly male. There were no women nominated in the directing category, and in the screenplay categories there was only one: Hidden Figures co-writer Allison Schroeder. While La La Land emerged from Tuesdays nominations as the odds-on favorite to win the top prize, Oscar voters spread their love far and wide, with films across a range of genres competing for best picture, including the cerebral sci-fi hit Arrival, the crime thriller Hell or High Water and the World War II epic Hacksaw Ridge. For Hacksaw Ridge director Mel Gibson, the nominations capped a noteworthy comeback. The onetime megastar, who spent years as an industry pariah for his alleged anti-Semitism and other controversial offscreen behavior, picked up six nominations for his film, including nods for his directing and for lead actor Andrew Garfield. This was definitely a film that had to overcome a lot of stuff to get in, said Hacksaw Ridge producer Bill Mechanic. Only by the quality of the movie being so strong did the love overcome the hate. It was emotional to see Mel be embraced and all the stuff of the past finally being forgiven. 1 / 2 NOMINATED: Actress in a leading role - Isabelle Huppert (Guy Ferrandis / Sony Pictures Classics via AP) 2 / 2 NOMINATED: Original score - The Empty Chair (Manu Brabo / AP) The wrenching drama Manchester by the Sea, though an odds-on favorite for the six nominations it received including best picture, was also a milestone. As the boundary between film and television grows ever porous, Manchester marks the first time Amazon Studios, or any streaming service, has earned a best picture nomination. The story of an emotionally broken man who becomes the guardian of his late brothers teenage son, the film earned six nominations in total, including for its director and writer, Kenneth Lonergan, and for stars Casey Affleck, Lucas Hedges and Michelle Williams. The documentary O.J.: Made in America blurred formats even further. The 7-hour documentary that was shown in five parts on ESPN as well as in a limited theatrical release earned a nomination for best documentary feature, as did director Ava DuVernays Netflix film about racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, 13th. With a crowd-pleasing Hollywood confection like La La Land dominating the nominations and the #OscarsSoWhite controversy abated for now, the Oscar telecast which will air on ABC on Feb. 26, with Jimmy Kimmel hosting promises a return in many ways to the old-school and the feel-good. We want to inspire people with memories of what a best friend the movies have been over the course of their life, and we want to have a lot of laughs, Oscar telecast co-producer Michael De Luca told The Times in November. Get in, get out. No homework. All joy. That said, with many in liberal-leaning Hollywood staking out full-throated opposition to President Trump and diversity so strongly on display, these Oscars are sure to be freighted with political messages, overt and otherwise. These are very wild times, said industry stalwart Jeff Bridges, who earned a supporting actor nod for his role as a Texas Ranger in Hell or High Water. Were all in it together. Times staff writers Trevell Anderson, Christie DZurilla and Jessica Gelt contributed to this report. josh.rottenberg@latimes.com Twitter: @joshrottenberg ALSO Academy Awards 2017: Complete list of nominations With La La Land, which hauled in 14 Oscar nominations, Lionsgates gamble is paying off big The 2017 Oscar nominations conform to Hollywoods conventional ideas about quality A gun dangles and a mustache catches dust as eyes of earned and battered wisdom scour the scrub lands. Jeff Bridges righteous Texas Ranger in Hell or High Water is a folksy man of grit whose sense of justice, like his drawl, keep his compass set when the bad guys ride and the storm gathers. The part of unwavering Marcus Hamilton gave Bridges his seventh Academy Award nomination in a supporting or leading role. He won his first Oscar in 2010 for his portrayal of an alcoholic troubadour in Crazy Heart, another role in which age and experience although in vastly different personalities lift a man into fable. Woke up this morning in beautiful Solana Beach after playing a cool gig at the Belly Up with my band the Abiders to find out Ive been nominated for my performance, Bridges said in a statement Tuesday morning. What a thrill. Advertisement 1 / 2 NOMINATED: Actress in a leading role - Isabelle Huppert (Guy Ferrandis / Sony Pictures Classics via AP) 2 / 2 NOMINATED: Original score - The Empty Chair (Manu Brabo / AP) Live coverage: Analysis, reactions, snubs, surprises and more on the 2017 Oscar nominations Bridges has for decades stood before us in full: flake, madman, alien, president, shock jock, smitten boy, plane crash survivor and, of course, The Dude, that abiding, bathrobe-wearing misfit bowler of sideways poetry and fantastical misfortune. In a career that spans more than 70 films, the 67-year-old actor has disappeared into subtleties, whispers, growls and asides like a man who fits perfectly into the clothes of passing strangers. His characters are often affable and earnest; calm and thoughtful men at home in their imperfections. Whether its the one-eyed bounty hunter in True Grit or the talk show host seeking redemption in The Fisher King, Bridges embodies his roles without strain or strings. Critic Pauline Kael famously called him the most natural and least self-conscious screen actor that has ever lived. He can find wonder in the smallest things. Bridges, who in the late 1950s appeared with his father, Lloyd, and his brother, Beau, in the TV series Sea Hunt, is a child of Hollywood. He watched it shift from the power of the studios in the 1960s to the rise of maverick filmmakers who captured the times with realism. He has endured and thrived in parts of eloquence, individuality and wide range. Ben Foster, Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges star in Hell or High Water. His sexually awakening youth in The Last Picture Show (1971), which brought him his first Oscar nomination, was a testament to a nations restlessness and change; his alien in Starman was a guileless innocent who laid bare human transgression; his whimsical Lightfoot in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot frustrated sidekick Clint Eastwood; and in The Fabulous Baker Boys, he was a disillusioned jazz man with a slanting cigarette and Michelle Pfeiffer slinking across his piano. There are times when the creaky man with the rasp can appear a shade from caricature and mannerism. Bridges rarely crosses that line, though, even when hes heading with mixed blessings toward deeper truths. The Dude, as they say, abides. That role in the Coen brothers The Big Lebowski was infectious with a shaggy haplessness that turned an imbiber and raconteur into legend. The Dude is older. Still wild, ready to surprise. The voice, the narrowing eyes, the face that says a books worth of things in a glance. But he moves these days not so much with mercurial glee as with ambled grace. See the most-read stories this hour jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffreyLAT ALSO: The big Oscar nomination snubs and surprises Academy Awards 2017: Complete list of nominations The 2017 Oscar nominations conform to Hollywoods conventional ideas about quality When BET announced in 2015 that its first scripted miniseries would take on the iconic singing group New Edition, the excitement in R&B circles was instant. The concept of a movie centering on the rise, fall and resurrection of one of the most iconic and influential singing groups in soul music had the potential to be a true crowd-pleaser. But along with the buzz came the questions: Would the group, particularly its most high-profile and controversial member Bobby Brown, be involved? Would the project have the rights to the hit songs? Would it cover the good, the bad and the ugly? Producers of the film, particularly considering the groups continuing popularity, felt the pressure. During the filming of a relatively innocuous winter scene last summer at a Hollywood recording studio, they were visibly concerned about how The New Edition Story would be received by the groups loyal fans and viewers especially the hard-to-please Black Twitter community. Advertisement Thats the real Siskel and Ebert, executive producer Jesse Collins said, referencing the classic film critic duo. Theres a lot of pressure. We just tried to focus on telling the story. Hopefully, people will love it. As he talked, technicians worked on a scene that explored one of the key moments in the groups roller-coaster journey arriving to work on its seminal Heart Break album, the first to feature Johnny Gill after Browns acrimonious exit, with powerhouse producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.) The anxiousness surrounding the film was understandable. Biopics, especially made-for-TV projects, have met with intense public scrutiny and skepticism. A spate of biopics centered on black artists, including Whitney Houston, Aaliyah, TLC and N.W.A, were met with mixed reaction, controversy and even litigation. Nevertheless, BET not only moved forward, but aimed high with an ambitious, three-night miniseries on the group, which is still so beloved it can pack arenas more than 30 years after its debut. The musical drama premieres Tuesday and concludes Thursday. Getting the story right was the key consideration for those involved. All six members of the group Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe, Johnny Gill and Ralph Tresvant served as producers, as did New Editions longtime manager and choreographer, Brooke Payne. Maurice Starr, who Svengalied them to pop stardom with bubblegum R&B hits he crafted, consulted, while Jam, Lewis and Kenny Babyface Edmonds, superstar producers who previously worked with the group, collectively or on solo projects handled music for the film. Were at the point in our lives personally and professionally where we feel like we can tell the story and really open it up. Ricky Bell, New Edition New Edition sold millions of records, catapulted Brown, Gill and Tresvant to solo success and launched two splinter groups, Heads of State and Bell Biv DeVoe, whose megahit Poison remains an earworm 26 years after its release. But for all its tightly choreographed moves and smooth soulful harmonies NSync, Backstreet Boys and 98 Degrees owe them some credit years of interpersonal drama underscored the success. Tensions raged over lead singing parts and bitter rivalries. Brown eventually was voted out over his unpredictable behavior. A contentious reunion tour exploded with an onstage brawl. The film exposed the tumultuous journey, which group members were able to confront with a sense of understanding and insight. Were at the point in our lives personally and professionally where we feel like we can tell the story and really open it up, Bell said. We prided ourselves on keeping our dirty laundry, so to speak, to ourselves. It was challenging opening up old wounds and talking about things we havent discussed. Despite having not released material since 2004, New Edition continues to perform (with and without Brown). Its members still put out music on their own spinoff hip-hop outfit Bell Biv DeVoe soon will release its first album in nearly 16 years. This is a story of brotherhood that speaks to our community, Bell said. It brought a lot of clarity to us as friends. We held onto it for a while, and Im glad because I believe that its really the right time for us. gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com For more music news follow me on Twitter:@GerrickKennedy ALSO Michael Jackson biopic coming to Lifetime Are the Oscars still #SoWhite? A look at the diversity among this years nominees Bobby Browns rocky life in spotlight hits tragic note with daughters death Kerry Washington, Samira Wiley, Marti Noxon and 400 industry insiders braved a blizzard for the Women at Sundance 2017 brunch on Monday at The Shop in Park City, Utah. Sponsored by Refinery 29 and the Sundance Institute, the event provided a chance for networking as well as eating; the spread included a bloody Mary bar, mimosas and Dove chocolate crepes. Following remarks by the Sundance Institutes Kati Putnam and Refinery29s chief content officer Amy Emmerich (who is in charge of scripted, female-focused content at the digital-media company), Washington joined Manchester by the Sea producer Kimberly Steward for a conversation aimed to empower and inspire the group. Im such a huge fan of Kimberly, said Washington, who, by design, hadnt met Steward prior to taking the stage. She had this amazing, beautiful profile in the New York Times and she was talking about women she admired in the business. I was so honored to be named. I said, I want to be in a room with that woman a woman who shouts out other women. Advertisement After producing HBOs Confirmation last year, Washington said she was eager to play a larger role behind the camera. Ive been lucky because it is not often that you get to be mentored in the way that Ive been mentored. Because of the success of Scandal on ABC, I was able to have a producing deal there. Thats not something that can happen easily. She then put the spotlight back on Steward and the audience. I want to hear more about being a financier and what youre looking for, Washington insisted. I feel like we all would want to hear what it is that financiers need to hear in order to pick us. Earlier that morning, Orange is the New Black producer Lauren Morelli and her fiancee Wiley, sipped coffee while discussing the state of the industry. Having conversations with women all morning has been such a lovely way to start the day, Morelli said. I concur. Being here fosters an environment of inspiration, Wiley added. At the Womens March on Saturday, there was a man wearing a button that said, Seven percent of directors are female, Morelli continued. You know those numbers, but there was something about seeing it so plainly in the middle of something so inspirational. You think, Is it going to get better? But I feel like all I can do is put different work into the world and make sure that work represents the world as I see it. ALSO Elizabeth Olsen, Mary J. Blige hit party circuit at Sundance 2017 weekend one, night two Ashley Graham fronts Marina Rinaldi spring 2017 ads Designer Q-and-A: Rachel Comey on the womens march, the future, and the transformative power of fashion If youre both an avid reader and a committed movie buff, you can pass the time before the 89th Academy Awards ceremony on Feb. 26 by dipping into the sources of the adapted screenplay nominees. But you wont be reading any novels. Two nonfiction books, two plays and one short story inspired the Oscar nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay: Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion and Moonlight. For the first time since 2013, none of the nominated screenplays this year is based on a novel. Heres more about each of the nominees. Advertisement Arrival Its not often that a screenplay based on a short story (Arrival) makes the cut the last was in 2008, when The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, based on a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was nominated. Arrival, written by Eric Heisserer, is an adaptation of Ted Chiangs Story of Your Life, the Nebula Award-winning tale of a linguist recruited by the government to communicate with aliens. In an article for The Times, Heisserer called Chiangs story his favorite science fiction piece, and said the writing process was difficult because of the storys advanced subject matter, much of which deals with linguistics and physics. The script itself was a challenge like no other, Heisserer wrote. I was writing for characters much smarter than myself, facing their own greatest challenges. Teds story offered me some groundwork, but I had to find drama and conflict within the linguistic theory to sustain something for a feature film. Chiang told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that he was pleased with the adaptation. I dont think any number of novels featuring linguist protagonists will have the same impact as a major motion picture with a protagonist as a linguist, he said. The fact that the movie turned out as well as it did, I think, is almost literally a miracle. Fences The screenplay for Fences was written by the author of the play its based on, August Wilson, who died in 2005. The film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play has been in the works for a long time, and Wilson was adamant that the movie be directed by an African American. (Denzel Washington both directed and stars in the film). In a 1990 interview in Los Angeles, Wilson criticized movies about African Americans directed by whites, saying, White people have set themselves up as custodians of our experience. He added, Ive asked Paramount to hire a black director for this film. Until the industry is ready to hire a black to direct DeNiro or Redford, blacks should at least be able to direct their own experience. Hidden Figures The film Hidden Figures takes its inspiration from Margot Lee Shetterlys 2016 history, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. Theodore Melfi and Allison Schroeder wrote the screenplay. Schroeders grandparents worked for NASA, and she interned at the agency as a high schooler. Author Shetterly, whose father spent his career at NASA, praised Schroeder, with whom she shared her research. She was very, very interested in getting this right and really putting the spirit of the real people onto the screen, Shetterly said. A lot of what I learned working with Allison was what it takes to adapt a literary work for film. Everyone thinks they know how to write a screenplay, but its a real craft. Its not easy. Lion Australian writer Luke Davies wrote the screenplay for Lion, based on the 2014 memoir A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley and Larry Buttrose. The book and movie tell the true story of an Indian boy, Brierley, who was adopted by an Australian family when he was 5 after being separated from his mother and brother and living on the streets. About 25 years later, Brierley played by Dev Patel in the film used Google Earth to try to find the town where he was born. The book A Long Way Home was an international bestseller. Moonlight One of the most critically acclaimed films of the year is the coming-of-age drama Moonlight, written and directed by Barry Jenkins, and based on Tarell Alvin McCraneys In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. McCraney, a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, worked on the project while at Yale Drama School but thought it would be unproducible on stage. McCraney praised Jenkins adaptation and said he was shocked at the films success. I always knew that it would be better served as a film than a play, but I always thought that it would be something kind of small and independent, he told NBC.Lets just say I could not have expected this to happen. Jenkins told The Times he was also taken aback by the ecstatic reaction to his movie. Its all sort of a blur, he said. Having grown people cry in my arms at screenings is a surreal experience. Im still processing whatever the hell it is thats happening with the film right now. NOTE: Back in January, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) put forth an Obamacare replacement plan that wasnt perfect, but provided some reasonable bases for compromise with Democrats. With the House GOP repeal plan blown to smithereens on Friday, Im reoffering the analysis I did at the time of Cassidy-Collins. _________________ If youre following the health insurance debateand since the coverage of more than 20 million Americans is under threat from the Trump White House and the Republican congressional majority, you should beyoure going to be hearing a lot in the coming weeks about Cassidy-Collins. Advertisement Thats an Obamacare replacement plan just introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Dubbed the Patient Freedom Act, Its the first such proposal that indicates that the GOP is becoming increasingly panicked about the political price of repealing the Affordable Care Act outright, and increasingly desperate to reassure voters that the provisions of Obamacare they actually value can be retained without a break. These include Obamacares protection of coverage for pre-existing conditions, its ban on lifetime and annual limits for benefits, and coverage of certain preventive services without co-pays. It also keeps coverage of mental health services and guarantees black-lung benefits for coal miners. The federal exchange, healthcare.gov, will continue to operate. Dependents still will be permitted to stay on their parents employer-sponsored plans until age 26. The measure kills the employer mandate and individual mandate, though it substitutes a continuous coverage system for the latter, which well explain in a bit. The other [Republican] bills have said, Lets just get rid of Obamacare. This one seems to be offering options. Karen Pollitz, Kaiser Family Foundation The goal of Cassidy-Collins is to shift the the decision of whether to keep Obamacare, dump it entirely, or come up with an alternative system to the states. (A three-page section-by-section summary is here.) When you speak to Americans, Cassidy said Monday on the Senate floor, they want their state capital to be the principal force behind how their insurance is administered, not our nations capital. Its uncertain where Cassidy got this notion, since the last governor of his own state, Republican Bobby Jindal, left 192,000 constituents, of whom 64% were black, without coverage by refusing to expand Medicaid; they couldnt all be hailing his policy as a boon. (He was reversed last year by his successor, Democrat John Bel Edwards.) Under Cassidy-Collins, states in which the ACA works, like California, could keep it or fashion a new system that looks very much like it. Those whose leaders have made hostility to the ACA a watchword, like Mississippi, can abandon it or create a system that provides junk insurance to residents at lower cost, while claiming theyve saved everyone. States that expanded Medicaid to cover their neediest residents, with a federal contribution of 90% of the cost or more, can continue the program; holdout states can join in. The other [Republican] bills have said, Lets just get rid of Obamacare, says Karen Pollitz, a health reform expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation. This one seems to be offering options. The bill appears to maintain the ACAs roster of taxes, including the medical device and Cadillac taxes and surcharges on high-income taxpayers. Thats wise, because it also maintains individual subsidies and Medicaid payments to the states, and those have to be paid for somehow. But for the most part, Cassidy-Collins is a mess. Its initial 73-page draft brims with so many ambiguities and inconsistencies that healthcare experts who have worked their way through it still arent sure what some provisions mean or how they will work. Its goal of keeping some parts of Obamacare and dropping others has yielded a Rube Goldberg contraption that adds new layers of complexity to a system that should be getting simpler. Indeed, healthcare expert Timothy Jost of Washington and Lee University finds that its complexity exceeds that of the ACA. As a result, he says, adopting the bill would need a much longer transition period than the Jan. 1, 2018, deadline written into the text. The most interesting aspect of Cassidy-Collins may be that it dispenses with many of the usual GOP nostrums that are useless for improving healthcare for most Americans; thats a sign of its sponsors good faith and high seriousness about healthcare that shouldnt be overlooked. Theres nothing in the bill about tort reform or selling insurance across state lines, and only a vague reference to high-risk pools. The bill does broaden health savings accounts in a way that might chiefly benefit the wealthy, but thats unclear. The most important questions raised by the bill are whether healthcare policy really can be set state-by-state, and whether the measure provides enough funding to the states and their residents to make the system work. Lets take a look at how Cassidy-Collins is structured. States have three options. They can keep the ACA as is, eliminate it entirely, or create their own system, within limits. No matter the choice, the ban on exclusions for pre-existing conditions, the ban on lifetime and annual benefit limits, and the guarantee of insurance for those under 26 would stay. Under the grow-your-own choice, statescall them option states-- could dump such ACA mandates as the minimum essential benefits required of all individual insurance plans in the country. These include mental health and maternity coverage, vision and dental care for children, hospital care, and outpatient services. The only exceptions are childhood immunizations without co-pays, a mandate for adequate doctor and hospital networks, and generic drug coverage for certain (unspecified) chronic conditions, which must be included even in the default, high-deductible bare-bones plans that every option state must establish. Those default plans could be skimpy indeed. Health insurance expert David Anderson of Duke describes them as coverage that is adequate for hit by a meteor events but not for people with actual chronic conditions, adding, if this was coverage that I was offered at zero...premium when I was 25, it would be a good deal. Residents of option states that dont choose alternative plans would automatically be enrolled in the default, though they could later opt out. The Cassidy-Collins protection for preexisting conditions is complicated. Applicants cant be refused or surcharged for medical conditions as long as they havent allowed their coverage to lapse for more than 63 days in any 18-month period, and enrolls during open enrollment periods. If the lapse is longer, they can be surcharged or denied coverage only for the same time frame as the lapse, but not for longer than 18 months. During that period theyd be eligible for the default plan. What about money? In option states, subsidies and the federal Medicaid share would stay; states would get from the federal government 95% of what they would expect from residents subsidies and Medicaid funding. Even states that failed to accept Medicaid expansion would receive an amount equal to what they would have gotten if they had, which sounds a bit like a reward for leaving their own poorest residents high and dry for several years. The subsidies then would be funneled to individuals via Roth health savings accounts. These are accounts that provide no tax deduction when money is contributed, but a tax-exemption when its withdrawn to pay medical expenses. The bill expands HSAs so they can be spent not only on deductibles and co-pays but premiums. Its unclear whether there are limits on individual contributions to these HSAs, but if individual contributions are allowed thats a big handout to the wealthy, who get a bigger tax break in this system than low-income people. Number-crunching suggests that lower -income people also could be losers because unlike the ACA, which bases subsidies on household income with poorer families getting more, under Cassidy-Collins the distribution of subsidies would be tied less to income. Thats bad for lower-income families because the total ACA subsidy money is divided evenly over more people than the ACA, observes Loren Adler, a health policy expert at the Brookings Institution. Americans fearful of losing their health insurance to an outburst of ideological zeal in the Republican Congress have reason to find hope in Cassidy-Collins. It falls well short of an evisceration of the Affordable Care Act; in fact, it leaves much of the ACA in place and includes provisions that might discourage states and insurers from racing to the bottom by cutting benefits indiscriminately. On the other hand, it still leaves the door open for some states to leave their residents with only the most minimal coverage guarantees. Jost thinks the bill reflects Republican anxiety about repealing Obamacare without having a replacement handy. But it still faces immense obstacles. Conservatives will grouse that it leaves the ACAs taxes in place and isnt, in fact, repeal at all. Democrats wont like the ability of states to dismantle the ACA at will; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) already has observed that its a nonstarter because of its potential to create chaos. No one disputes that the draft will need a lot of backing and filling. Jost observes that it appears to have been rushed into legislative language without adequate consideration of how it would actually work and what it would cost. He adds, It may form a basis for discussion, but it is not ready for enactment. 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. MORE FROM HILTZIK How Andy Puzders fast-food industry sticks taxpayers with the cost of supporting its workers U.S. judge finds that Aetna deceived the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare Paul Ryan continues his assault on Obamacare and Medicare this time on the Charlie Rose show A+E Networks is looking to grow its digital footprint for its channels, Lifetime, FYI, A&E and History and has made two editor in chief hires to drive that expansion. The move is somewhat of a reversal in the media industry, which has seen more examples of digital brands trying to reach the small screen than vice versa. Lea Goldman, the former editorial director of Refinery29, who also served as executive editor of Hearsts Marie Claire, will helm Lifetime and FYI. Former News UK creative content director Tiffanie Darke will oversee A&E and History channels. Both women will report to A&Es chief marketing officer Amanda Hill and president of international and digital media Sean Cohan. According to the firm, they will focus on editorial strategy, facilitating creation and curation of content for use on-air, across digital and on social platforms, and they will also support the companys efforts to initiate nontraditional strategic partnerships, events and sponsorship opportunities. Advertisement Goldman, who left her job at Refinery29 after just four months, said the Lifetime opportunity arose and it wasnt something she could pass up. Her move coincided with former Vice Media chief operating officer Alyssa Mastromonacos move to A+E where she serves as the networks president of global communications strategy & talent. Mastromonaco, former President Obamas deputy chief of staff and a Marie Claire contributing editor, met Goldman four years ago when she was working on a story about women in Obamas administration. The two kept in touch, and the rest is history. Goldman told WWD that her decision to join the network had to do with its mission to reach women on a mass scale. Nobody owns the space, she said, calling Lifetime a meaningful and relevant womens brand. Part of the job will entail adapting Lifetimes DNA to the digital world through short-form video, editorial and social media content, and according to Goldman, the opportunity is to speak to an arguably broader swath of women, who come from different socio-economic backgrounds. In todays competitive, fragmented media environment, we need to build brands that truly connect to culture, are an ongoing and meaningful part of our audiences lives and are therefore also clearly consistent across all platforms, Hill said. Having Lea on board to work across our female brands and Tiffanie collaborating across our male/adult brands are important evolutionary next steps for our building our cultural reputation, driving relevance through powerful storytelling and for our company as a whole. Lea and Tiffanie are accomplished editors, creators and strategists with rich experience working across all content platforms, Cohan added. We look forward to their contribution to elevating the visibility and reputation of our powerful brands and content. ALSO L.A. designer Bethany Yellowtail creates a silk scarf for Womens March on Washington Jill Cohen-Sandler tosses and turns at night, her mind filled with anxiety over how she and her husband will pay for their daughter to attend the University of California. Shes a state rehabilitation counselor. Hes a retired teacher. Together, the Santa Rosa couple brings in $103,000 annually. Thats too much to qualify for the major financial aid programs but not enough to pay the $34,000 total annual cost of a UC education. The financial pressures may force their daughter Rose to attend community college, despite her 4.66 GPA as a senior at Maria Carrillo High School, her mother said. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this stuff, Cohen-Sandler said. Im constantly calculating, how are we going to make this work? Advertisement Many middle-class families across California face similar struggles. And those problems are likely to deepen soon if UC and Cal State leaders approve the first tuition increases in six years and Gov. Jerry Brown makes good on his budget proposal to phase out the states only scholarship program for middle-class students. Cohen-Sandler said she had counted on a middle-class scholarship for Roses education. But even with that $3,000 scholarship, $4,000 from their college savings plan, $5,500 in loans and the $5,000 they believe they can spare from their paychecks, she said, the family still would be short nearly half the money needed for a year at UC. Families used to be able to afford college. But the cost of attendance for middle-class families has become unbearable. Lupita Cortez Alcala, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission She has written to Brown and other state politicians, pleading to spare the Middle Class Scholarship program, which was designed to cover up to 40% of tuition and fees for UC and Cal State students whose annual family income and household assets (excluding primary homes and retirement accounts) each fall below $156,000. The far larger Cal Grant program covers needier students the income ceiling for a family of four this year, for instance, was $90,500. The middle-class program has offered nearly 190,000 scholarships in the last three years, according to the California Student Aid Commission. About 40% go to low-income students who dont make the cut for the Cal Grant program. Four-fifths of recipients are Cal State students, who received a maximum award of $1,641 this year. UC students maximum scholarship was $3,688, the commission said. Browns proposal would retain current students awards but begin phasing the program out for new students in the 2017-18 school year. He says its necessary given lagging state revenue, a state deficit that without action could hit $1.6 billion by summer and the need to retain aid for the states neediest students. As H.D. Palmer, the state finance department spokesman, said in a statement, We believe that gradually phasing out the Middle Class Scholarship Program will allow us to continue to maintain the Cal Grant entitlement program thats focused on those students with the greatest financial need. Rafi Sands, a UCLA student body leader campaigning for more middle-class support, criticized that rationale. Its pitting groups of students against each other, said the junior, who studies business, economics and political science. Theres an idea that middle-class students dont deserve to be asking for aid and dont need it, but from what Ive seen, people could not be more wrong about that. Sands and other UCLA students are rallying to share stories of the middle-class struggle, save the scholarship program and press UC leaders for more support. A 2016 UC report on financial aid found that, between the 2008-09 and 2011-12 academic years, annual levels of student borrowing and cumulative debt at graduation increased the fastest among middle-income students and rates of borrowing have not declined as quickly for them as for other income groups. The report also found that the proportion of students whose families earned between $107,000 and $134,000 declined from 11% of undergraduates in 2007-08 to 7% in 2014-15. Over the same period, those students whose families earned less than $27,000 annually grew from 13% to 19%. The recession prompted major funding cuts. Tuition and fees more than doubled to the highest levels in state history: $5,472 for CSU and $12,294 for UC, while student costs for housing, food and books also grew. The scholarship program was aimed at helping middle-class families manage those hikes, said Lupita Cortez Alcala, executive director of the California Student Aid Commission. The award amounts, she said, are relatively small but richly deserved by those who have worked hard, saved, taken out loans and done everything right yet still struggle to pay for college. Families used to be able to afford college, she said. But the cost of attendance for middle-class families has become unbearable. David Lopez, president of the California State Student Assn., said the middle-class scholarship bailed him out during his second year at Cal State East Bay. He used it for costly textbooks, allowing him to work just 20 to 30 hours a week and focus more on school. For our middle-class students, any little bit helps. Lopez said. Not having this will be detrimental to our students, and may cause a delay in graduation. Some UC campuses try to help such families on their own. UC Davis offers a $3,000 Aggie Grant, and UC Berkeley caps parent contributions at 15% of total income for families earning $80,000 to $150,000. UCLA is aiming to raise $1 billion for scholarships as part of its $4.2-billion Centennial Campaign. UCLA Foundation President Shirley Wang said middle-class students would be a priority; she and her husband donated $1 million for scholarships. We have to make sure that people who work hard can send their children to college, Wang said. We need to fill that gap. Chancellor Gene Block, who has launched a 50% match program for certain scholarship donations, said such student aid was crucial for attracting top students. Cal State officials say they do not have similar resources to make up the gap if the middle-class program is cut. Dean Kulju, Cal States director of student financial aid services and programs, said there are few other financial aid options besides federal loans for middle-class students. But he said far more CSU students receive Cal Grants than middle-class scholarships: About 121,000 to 38,000, respectively, last year. The Cal Grant aid has more than doubled in five years to $635 million in 2015. Choosing how to prioritize is not easy, especially with so many students in need, said Kulju, adding that lawmakers could consider broadening the income range for Cal Grants. Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) said he plans to consider such ideas at a hearing next month on how to expand financial aid. In Santa Rosa, meanwhile, Rose Cohen-Sandler is hedging her bets by also applying to private universities with more generous financial aid packages. One already has offered a $25,000 scholarship. But the UC still has her heart. Its really disappointing to want to stay in the state but almost feel you have to go out of state to escape large debts, she said. teresa.watanabe@latimes.com Twitter: @teresawatanabe rosanna.xia@latimes.com Twitter: @RosannaXia ALSO Californias budget deficit is back, Gov. Jerry Brown says State fails to inspect scores of hospitals with high infection rates Feds sue nations largest student loan servicer, accusing it of cheating borrowers Marijuana shops are trying to look like the Apple store 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print As Hollywood gathered at the SAG Awards, some entertainers joined LAX protest Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Protests begin again at LAX on Sunday morning By Genaro Molina Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 The Los Angeles Times mixed-martial arts ranking for January, as put together by Todd Martin. Heavyweight 1. Stipe Miocic 2. Fabricio Werdum 3. Cain Velasquez 4. Alistair Overeem 5. Junior Dos Santos 6. Ben Rothwell 7. Vitaly Minakov 8. Josh Barnett 9. Derrick Lewis 10. Andrei Arlovski The biggest event of the month in heavyweight MMA took place abroad. Mirko Cro Cop turned back the clock at age 42, knocking out three opponents including King Mo Lawal to win Rizins Open Weight Grand Prix tournament. Afterwards, the legend announced his retirement from the sport of MMA. Advertisement Light Heavyweight 1. Daniel Cormier 2. Anthony Johnson 3. Phil Davis 4. Alexander Gustafsson 5. Glover Teixeira 6. Ryan Bader 7. Jimi Manuwa 8. Liam McGeary 9. Misha Cirkunov 10. Ovince St. Preux Following an impressive victory in December, Jared Cannonier will receive the biggest opportunity of his career when he takes on Glover Teixeira in a featured bout at UFC 208. Cannonier is one of a number of fighters looking to break into the established top mix of the division. Middleweight 1. Michael Bisping 2. Yoel Romero 3. Luke Rockhold 4. Ronaldo Jacare Souza 5. Chris Weidman 6. Gegard Mousasi 7. Robert Whittaker 8. Kelvin Gastelum 9. Derek Brunson 10. Krzysztof Jotko Chris Weidman, coming off the first two losses of his MMA career, will have an opportunity to rebound when he takes on Gegard Mousasi at UFC 210 in Buffalo. Mousasi is looking to earn a title shot himself, so the stakes are high for this battle between elite middleweights. Welterweight 1. Tyron Woodley 2. Demian Maia 3. Stephen Thompson 4. Robbie Lawler 5. Rory MacDonald 6. Ben Askren 7. Carlos Condit 8. Donald Cerrone 9. Dong Hyun Kim 10. Neil Magny UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley has been outspoken recently in his perception that he has been treated differently on the basis of race. While there is some merit to the notion that he at times has gotten harsher criticism than one might expect from a fighter in his position, few new champions wouldnt receive heavy criticism for spending as much effort as Woodley has appearing to make efforts to select opponents. Neil Magny takes Johny Hendricks place in the rankings after defeating him in a close fight at UFC 207. Lightweight 1. Conor McGregor 2. Khabib Nurmagomedov 3. Tony Ferguson 4. Eddie Alvarez 5. Rafael Dos Anjos 6. Edson Barboza 7. Nate Diaz 8. Justin Gaethje 9. Michael Chiesa 10. Beneil Dariush Justin Gaethje improved his MMA record to a perfect 17-0 with a gutsy performance at WSOFs NBC event on New Years Eve. His opponent Luiz Firmino was getting the best of the action in the first couple rounds but Gaethje fired back and forced a doctors stoppage after the third round. Gaethje may never get the credit he deserves fighting his prime outside the UFC but he is one of the most exciting fighters in the sport. Featherweight 1. Jose Aldo 2. Max Holloway 3. Frankie Edgar 4. Cub Swanson 5. Ricardo Lamas 6. Daniel Straus 7. Patricio Pitbull Freire 8. Jeremy Stephens 9. Anthony Pettis 10. Doo Ho Choi Yair Rodriguez made a statement with his destruction of MMA legend B.J. Penn in the main event of a UFC Fight Night card. Penn looked slow and fragile, serving as little more than a kicking bag for the dynamic Rodriguez. It was sad seeing Penn with that form but may serve as a springboard for Rodriguez as he rises in the sport. Bantamweight 1. Cody Garbrandt 2. Dominick Cruz 3. T.J. Dillashaw 4. Marlon Moraes 5. Bibiano Fernandes 6. John Lineker 7. Eduardo Dantas 8. Raphael Assuncao 9. Jimmie Rivera 10. Thomas Almeida Cody Garbrandt scored a scintillating upset of Dominick Cruz to capture to the UFC bantamweight title. Garbrandt was quicker and hit harder, handing Cruz the most decisive loss of his storied career. Garbrandt will now need to take on former training partner T.J. Dillashaw, who was dominant in his own right in a win over John Lineker on the same card. WSOF champion Marlon Moraes also picked up another victory over Josenaldo Silva. Womens Bantamweight 1. Amanda Nunes 2. Valentina Shevchenko 3. Holly Holm 4. Julianna Pena 5. Ronda Rousey 6. Cat Zingano 7. Sara McMann 8. Raquel Pennington 9. Alexis Davis 10. Sarah Kaufman Ronda Rouseys return to MMA was a short-lived one. Rousey, the onetime queen of womens fighting, suffered an ignominious knockout defeat in just 48 seconds at the hands (literally) of Amanda Nunes. Its an intriguing story how a fighter who was so dominant for so long had her career fall apart in such quick order. Flyweight 1. Demetrious Johnson 2. Joseph Benavidez 3. Henry Cejudo 4. Kyoji Horiguchi 5. Jussier Formiga Womens Strawweight 1. Joanna Jedrzejczyk 2. Claudia Gadelha 3. Karolina Kowalkiewicz 4. Jessica Aguilar 5. Jessica Andrade Youre a Democrat. You represent Southern California in Congress. The world has just been turned upside down, and youre on the bottom. What do you do now? Rep. Tony Cardenas of Pacoima is chanting. He skipped President Trumps inauguration and asked constituents to join him in an hour of meditation. Keep calm and say om, said the news release. Rep. Ted Lieu of Torrance jumped on Team Trumps notion of alternative facts. He hung a sign on the door of his House office Alternative Fact Free Zone. Advertisement Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, is doing a lot of cringing. Theres the Russian hacking to consider, along with the possibility of Trumps rhetoric alienating crucial allies or radicalizing more foes, and Trumps lack of decorum in speaking before the CIAs wall of fallen heroes. I was appalled to see him stand in front of the wall and spend what seemed like half his time talking about how great his support was and how many times hes been on the cover of Time magazine, Schiff said. For him to go to the CIA and say nobody has more respect for them than he does, when he was comparing them to Nazis not two or three weeks ago, is classic Trumpian doublespeak. No argument here. But the reason I stopped by the House was to find out how the Democrats intend to govern, given Republican control of the White House, Senate and House. None of the three lawmakers sugar-coated the challenge. Its going to be a tough slog, said Cardenas, whose focus on at-risk kids and immigration policy had an ally in President Obama. The Senate has a shot to block legislation, Schiff said, but theres not much we can do in the House, given the Republican majority. But the Democrats cant just sit around either especially if Washington takes a hatchet to Californias environmental, immigration or healthcare policies. My time frame is 24 months, Lieu said, referring to the midterm elections of 2018. If we take back the House, we can stop the most extreme elements of the Trump agenda. He was heartened by what happened the day after Trumps inauguration. I think the Womens March changed a lot. I think it showed America and members of Congress that he does not have a mandate, he said. Schiff said Trump was politically shrewd to make American companies reconsider plans to move jobs outside the country, and he supports Trumps plan to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Lieu agrees on the trade pact and likes Trumps pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs. And if Trump actually does have a plan to create good jobs rebuilding infrastructure, the congressmen said theyll go along. But the consensus among Cardenas, Schiff and Lieu was that Trump made big promises he cant possibly keep, and that hell pay a price for it. Over time, said Schiff, people will grow tired of his shtick. Automation, for one thing, will make it impossible to restore manufacturing jobs in the way Trump has suggested. And cheaper, better healthcare for all sounds great, but good luck with that. Voters will know in a year and a half, Lieu said, at which point Trump will have trouble blaming failures on Obama and the midterms will be approaching. Schiff added that Trump could also end up banging heads with GOP leaders. We can be a voice, and I have a megaphone. Rep. Tony Cardenas of Pacoima We can be a voice, and I have a megaphone, Cardenas said. California enrolled millions of residents for healthcare coverage under Obamacare, and Cardenas is prepared to fight bad legislation and send up a flare the moment any of his constituents lose coverage. The lawmakers also intend to highlight examples of alternate facts, flip-flops and bonkers pronouncements by the commander in chief. Schiff said Trump has already backpedaled on releasing his taxes and making Mexico pay for the presidents proposed border wall. And then there is Trumps cockamamie claim that he would have won the popular vote if not for 3 million to 5 million immigrants in the country illegally who voted for Hillary Clinton. Maybe the best strategy is to handle Trump like a Labrador. Remove the leash, stand back and let him run. Cardenas, who joined his wife and daughter in the Womens March, said he thinks Supreme Court nominations and the threat to womens healthcare and the right of choice will keep Trump foes engaged. Lieu said he spoke to the Pacific Palisades Democratic Club and encouraged his audience to support womens organizations and civil rights groups. I also told them to go buy a newspaper, because the assault on a free press is very troubling, he said. His job just got harder, Cardenas said, but he has plenty of motivation to keep fighting, especially because race played a role in the presidential campaign. Hes a United States congressman whose late father was a Mexican immigrant, and when Cardenas looks up from his desk he sees a large painting of his father and grandfather stooped over, working side-by-side in a Stockton potato field in the 1940s. Two gentlemen working their tails off with no end in sight, day after day, breaking their backs, Cardenas said. Somebody had a camera, they looked up, and theyre smiling. On Friday, I saw an inauguration. On Saturday, I saw an insurrection. And now its back home to California, where I intend to keep an eye on what comes out of Washington. But I make no guarantees that I will be able to keep calm and say om. Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez MORE FROM STEVE LOPEZ Call to arms from the National Mall: Tweet all people kindly Massive marches and a cranky new president. Were certainly off to a colorful start Beware the politician with simple answers: Trump still divides, and theres a lot at stake In the nearly two months since 36 people died in a warehouse fire in Oakland, one central question remains unanswered: What caused the worst fire in modern California history? Investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives probed the burned remains of the Ghost Ship but have not yet offered an explanation of what sparked the blaze and why it was so deadly. Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of the ATF in San Francisco, has said there is no evidence that it was intentionally set and, despite initial reports, it was not started by a faulty refrigerator. Advertisement Residents and others who were inside the warehouse described it as a firetrap filled with debris and powered by makeshift wiring. But on Monday, lawyers for the manager of the Ghost Ship made an unexpected claim: The fire did not start in the artists collective but in a neighboring structure. Derick Ion Almenas legal team, led by prominent attorney J. Tony Serra, issued a 10-page report saying the fire didnt begin inside the warehouse. Almena has been the focus of much scrutiny and criticism since the fire, which the Alameda district attorneys office has opened a criminal investigation. Its hard to know how scientific the attorneys report is, but it does offer a window into Almenas defense. The defense attorneys report said there is no direct utility connection from the power company into the part of the Ghost Ship where the fire is believed to have started. The report included photos that appear to show the fire is visible in an adjacent building. Alameda County prosecutors said the investigation is ongoing. We have three attorneys and three inspectors working on this matter, said Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman, adding that pending its completion they wont address the specifics of the probe. ATF officials on Monday referred all comments to Alameda County prosecutors and the Oakland Fire Department, which is also investigating. Until now, officials have never suggested the fire started outside the Ghost Ship. In the aftermath of the fire, Almena told NBCs Today show he was incredibly sorry Everything I did was to make this a stronger, more beautiful community. The Ghost Ship warehouse was owned by Oakland resident Chor N. Ngs trust and zoned exclusively for commercial use. But former residents and visitors have said the warehouse housed an artists collective and unpermitted living quarters inside, and hosted concerts and other events. Tenants and visitors to the warehouse before the blaze have described its electrical power source as coming from another building with it lacking sprinklers and filled with debris, trash and old furniture. Photos from inside the building show a vast tangle of electrical wires as well as a heating system that appeared to be hooked to portable propane generators. The building had not been inspected by city building inspectors in 30 years. Almenas defense team said he should not be blamed for the fire and that he could face charges to divert attention from the failure of Oakland officials to inspect and fix the Ghost Ship. Oakland City Hall has faced heavy criticism for what some consider lax inspection records, even though it received warnings about the conditions in the warehouse. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes ALSO Lawyers for Ghost Ship manager say they fear he will be charged to hide government negligence Long Beach police fatally shoot armed suspect after hours-long standoff Emergency crews work to recover two bodies submerged after weekend California storms Authorities launched separate recovery efforts Monday in Northern and Southern California for the bodies of two people who were swept away by fast-moving water during the weekends intense rains. In Castro Valley, authorities were searching for the body of a woman whose vehicle skidded off a highway north of Hayward on Saturday and plunged into a swollen creek. In Harbor City, firefighters, police and coroners investigators were recovering the remains of a person, possibly an adult man, who was swept away Sunday by a strong currents near Machado Lake. The powerful rainstorm was one of three storms that pummeled California recently and brought hours of heavy rain on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters said the deluge was the strongest in at least seven years and caused widespread flooding and damage. Advertisement Rain The weekends rain and unpredictable currents hindered recovery efforts along Alameda Creek, where the missing woman and her vehicle disappeared, according to Sgt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriffs Office. Conditions in the creek were extreme and a nearby canyon was closed due to a debris flow, he said. According to the California Highway Patrol, the woman crashed into another vehicle about 10:45 a.m. Saturday while driving on California State Route 84 near Niles Canyon Road. After crashing, her vehicle became submerged in the raging and abnormally high creek. The CHP did not publicly identify the woman, but said she was an 18-year-old from Tracy. Sheriffs deputies worked with the states water resource agency to reduce the volume of water in the creek, according to Kelly. In Los Angeles, rescuers worked around the clock plucking people from swift-moving water. Firefighters performed a dozen rescues on Sunday as sustained rain saturated the ground and filled riverbanks, said Brian Humphrey, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The departments swift water rescue team assisted five people who were trapped in thick brush and brisk water conditions on Sunday near Machado Lake and Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, he said. A family at the lake told officers that a man, who was with them, was swept away by the powerful water and didnt make it out, according to Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department. He was identified as Luis Jose Garcia, 51, of Los Angeles, he said. An LAFD helicopter and firefighters searched for four hours for the missing man, but did not find him. Officers took a missing persons report and the search was called off, the officer said. As lake waters receded Monday, the remains of a person could be seen submerged in heavy vegetation, Humphrey said. The body has not been identified, authorities said. Most Angelenos, he said, heeded warnings to stay clear of flooded areas. Although the storm has moved out of Los Angeles, he advised residents to stay away from any rivers or pools of water. The most dangerous days are after the rainstorm, he said. Lake and river currents, according to Humphrey, are still active and unsafe. veronica.rocha@latimes.com For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA on Twitter. UPDATES: 4:15 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from the LAPD about the man who disappeared in the lake. This article was originally published at 3:30 p.m. The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve a 145-unit residential tower near the Beverly Center, ending a nearly three-month back-and-forth saga over the project at City Hall. Councilman Paul Koretz endorsed the La Cienega Boulevard project in November, withdrew his support a month later, then backed it again last week after real estate developer Rick Caruso agreed to reduce its height by 55 feet, taking it from 20 stories to 16. Opponents contend that Caruso is still getting too much from the city. Until Tuesdays vote, city rules allowed buildings no taller than 45 feet on the site. Advertisement The approval of the project means any developer with deep pockets will be able to do whatever they want with land in this neighborhood, said Dick Platkin, a board member for the Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn., which has threatened to sue over the project. Koretz disputed the idea that Carusos 185-foot project would set a precedent, saying the area already has tall buildings, including the eight-story Beverly Center. He said he would not support efforts to build equally tall structures on the other side of La Cienega. The councils vote, Koretz said, represents a middle ground between Carusos request for a 240-foot tower and calls from neighborhood activists to limit it to 134 feet. Honestly, everybodys a little annoyed, he added. Some are a lot annoyed. Im sure the developer is not happy about losing most of the profit out of his building. Caruso did not respond to a question from The Times about Koretzs claim. But in a statement, Caruso said he was thrilled with the councils vote. The vote demonstrates that by working closely with the community, we can bring a project to the neighborhood with tremendous community benefits, he said. Caruso plans to start construction later this year. He and his associates gave more than $476,000 to L.A. politicians and their initiatives over a five-year period, donating to all but one of the council members. Last month, Caruso said the donations are part of a larger effort to make the city better. He compared the contributions to his extensive charitable giving to churches, nonprofits and educational institutions. Supporters of the La Cienega tower, including the local neighborhood council and advocates for increased housing construction, praised Caruso for agreeing to offer 14 units at below-market rents. Backers also say the project will have much-needed amenities, including a market, a restaurant and a 6,910-square-foot plaza with a fountain. Its going to be a good project, and create many, many middle-class jobs, said Ron Miller, executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. david.zahniser@latimes.com Twitter: @DavidZahniser ALSO No charges against LAPD officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford, D.A. says Wife of Ghost Ship manager apologizes to Oakland officials and activists following deadly fire Downtowns Pope of Broadway mural featuring actor Anthony Quinn fully restored by original artist Los Angeles County prosecutors said Tuesday they will not criminally charge two Los Angeles police officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford during a clash near his South L.A. home in 2014, drawing the ire of activists who say LAPD officers are rarely held accountable when they use deadly force. The death of Ford, a 25-year-old black man, generated controversy almost immediately, becoming a local touchstone in the ongoing criticism over how officers interact with residents in African American and Latino communities. More than two years later, local activists still describe Fords death as an unjust killing, continuing to chant his name along with others killed by police. The investigation that followed Fords death has been closely watched by those activists, LAPD observers and many within the department. L.A. County Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey has faced criticism over her handling of the case, particularly the amount of time it took for her office to reach its decision. Advertisement That decision comes more than a year and a half after a police oversight panel faulted one of the officers, saying that his handling of the encounter was so flawed that it led to the fatal shooting. On Tuesday, Laceys office detailed the decision not to prosecute the officers in a 28-page report, saying the physical evidence corroborated the officers accounts that Ford knocked one officer to the ground and tried to grab his gun. Ford posed an immediate threat to the officers, prosecutors wrote, and they acted lawfully when they responded with deadly force. Standing near a portrait of her son, Tritobia Ford spoke to reporters at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon and sobbed as she expressed her dismay with that conclusion. The last bit of hope that we had is crushed, she told reporters.These officers are going scot-free. Theyre getting away with murder. Theres no justice for Ezell. Ford, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was walking near his South L.A. home when he was shot by Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas. Wampler and Villegas were assigned to an anti-gang unit when they tried to stop Ford as he walked away from a larger group in what prosecutors described as a known gang area on West 65th Street. After Ford ignored officers commands to stop, authorities said, Wampler grabbed Ford because he believed the 25-year-old was trying to discard drugs. Authorities said Ford then knocked Wampler to the ground and tried to grab his gun during a scuffle, prompting police to shoot. Fords DNA was found on Wamplers holster, according to prosecutors, who said a witness also heard one of the officers shout, Let go of the gun! during the struggle. Prosecutors said blood stains found on Wamplers uniform and scuff marks on his utility belt supported the fact that Ford was on top of Wampler during the struggle. In 2015, the Police Commission concluded that Wampler violated department policy when he fired at Ford. The board said it looked at the totality of the circumstances not just the moment he fired and faulted the officers decision to approach and physically contact Ford. Villegas was cleared in his use of deadly force, but the panel criticized him for drawing his weapon early in the confrontation. The commissions decision overruled LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who said he believed the officers acted within policy. Josh Rubenstein, an LAPD spokesman, declined to comment on Tuesdays decision and referred questions to the district attorneys office. He also declined to say whether the officers had been disciplined. Under state law, police discipline matters are confidential. An attorney representing the officers, Greg Smith, said disciplinary action had not been taken as of Tuesday, though the LAPD could still choose to initiate a disciplinary proceeding. A man walks by a memorial at 65th Street and Broadway in South L.A., where Ezell Ford was killed. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Ford was killed just days after a police officer fatally shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., sparking not only widespread national protests over police killings but scrutiny of prosecutors who decide whether to charge officers criminally. The Los Angeles County district attorneys office has not charged a law enforcement officer in an on-duty shooting since 2000, records show. Lacey took office in 2012. Melina Abdullah, a local organizer with Black Lives Matter in Los Angeles, accused Lacey of ignoring what some members of the community consider a pattern of excessive force within the LAPD. She has refused to prosecute officers who kill our people, Abdullah said. This case is particularly troublesome given that she did have a Police Commission ruling that said the officers were out of policy. She could have prosecuted them, one would think, more easily than other cases. Paula Madison, a former police commissioner who reviewed Fords shooting in 2015, said she believes his death resonated with many Angelenos because of the long-standing complaints within some neighborhoods about stops made by police. Im sorry that this young man lost his life because he happened to be in an economic and social status that did not allow him to live in whats called a safe neighborhood. Its not his fault, she said. Its not his fault and yet he was stopped, and that stop led to him losing his life. In an interview, Lacey urged critics to examine the facts of the case, particularly the physical evidence that showed scratches on Wamplers handcuff holster and Fords DNA on the gun holster. You have an officer who honestly believes that hes about to be killed, Lacey said. He has the right to defend himself. Although the civilian police commissioners faulted Wamplers initial contact with Ford, Lacey said the officers actions prior to the shooting did not factor into her decision. Even if you had a poor stop, that doesnt mean that Wampler and Villegas are entitled to be shot, Lacey said. Thats really what our focus was on. Asked about the lengthy review process, Lacey said her office did not receive the case from the LAPD until May 2015. A federal lawsuit filed by Fords family also slowed the process, she said, as prosecutors had to wait months to access witness depositions taken in that case. Laceys decision was met with praise from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers in the city. No officer ever wants to be put in a dangerous situation where they must struggle to maintain control of their weapon, but officers must be allowed to protect themselves, their partners and the public, the union said in a statement. Police Commission President Matt Johnson said he believed Fords death was investigated thoroughly and fairly by the LAPD, though he said the delayed announcement from the D.A.s office was unfortunate. Our hearts, he said, continue to go out to Ms. Ford and the Ford family. Any loss of life is a tragedy, irrespective of legal analysis or debate, and we must rededicate ourselves every day to finding solutions to prevent such tragedies from occurring. Losing a child is painful beyond compare, under any circumstances. Wampler and Villegas sued the city this summer, alleging they were being kept on desk duty and unfairly denied advancement and other employment opportunities because of their race and Fords. Wampler was described in the lawsuit as Caucasian, though department records list him as Asian American. Villegas is Latino. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement that he accepted the D.A.s decision but was dedicated to finding better ways to protect the safety of all Angelenos. Even as the Ford case comes to a close, Lacey must now turn to another controversial shooting: the May 2015 killing of Brendon Glenn in Venice. Glenn, 29, was unarmed when he was shot and killed by Los Angeles Police Officer Clifford Proctor. Proctor has said Glenn was reaching for his partners service sidearm when he opened fire, but Beck said evidence disputes that statement and he has called for Lacey to file criminal charges. Lacey said her office will render a decision in that case as soon, but as carefully, as possible. kate.mather@latimes.com james.queally@latimes.com marisa.gerber@latimes.com Follow @katemather and @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. ALSO Hairdresser found dead with stab wounds at his Woodland Hills home Wife of Ghost Ship manager apologizes to Oakland officials and activists following deadly fire Ski patroller killed during avalanche control activities at Squaw Valley resort UPDATES: 8:10 p.m.: This article was further edited and reorganized. 4:50 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey and Fords mother. 12:55 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from city officials, local activists, and the union that represents Los Angeles police officers. 12:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details 11:30 a.m.: This story was updated with additional information from prosecutors. This story first published at 11:00 a.m. Los Angeles new ordinance on living in cars was billed as a boon to homeless people, making it legal for the first time to park and sleep in half the citys streets. But with the measure set to kick in Feb. 6, a new map suggests the law could trigger a crackdown on some of the citys 28,000 homeless people. The map, which police will use to enforce the measure, shows only 10% of city streets cleared for car lodging. Other posted restrictions on overnight parking and oversized vehicles are not on the maps, but will be enforced. Advertisement One Venice block inadvertently marked safe is actually a canal, accessible by amphibious vehicle only. This isnt a street. Im not sure what it is, city parking enforcement Officer Hector Chun said as he patrolled the neighborhood last week. Many jurisdictions have moved against homeless people living in their cars in recent years, with 40% of 187 cities surveyed in 2016 by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty having adopted curbs. L.A.s difficulty in finding places to put its occupied vehicles underscores its continuing failure to rein in its burgeoning homeless population as it heads into its annual homeless count, which begins Tuesday night. Voters in November approved $1.2 billion to build 10,000 affordable and homeless units over the next decade, and the city is planning to build on city-owned lots and in converted nuisance motels. But for a second year, street encampments cling to neighborhoods from Los Feliz to North Hollywood. More than 6,600 vehicles countywide are occupied. Earlier this month, Mayor Eric Garcetti scrapped his timetable for housing homeless veterans, saying 1,200 remain outdoors a year after the deadline he had set to bring them in. The city seems to be resting on its laurels passing a homeless housing bond, and meanwhile it has created not so much as another cot, said retired UCLA law professor Gary Blasi, who has studied and litigated homeless issues for decades. Garcettis press secretary, George Kivork, said the vehicle dwelling restrictions are a stopgap measure while the city develops a parking program for homeless people. Kivork added that the mayor knows current strategies will not solve the homelessness crisis overnight, but remains committed to working to solve it as quickly as possible. The new law was adopted in November in response to complaints from neighbors sick of occupied mobile homes, vans, trash and disorder at their doorsteps. It restricts parking by car lodgers anytime near parks, schools and daycare centers, and from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. in residential neighborhoods. The law expires in July 2018. Every neighborhood council, every church, every community group you go to, people are concerned that people have turned the curb in front of their house, in front of their business, into an apartment essentially, Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson said as the council adopted the ban. Officials had said homeless people could park in commercial and industrial zones. But some commercial streets labeled available on the map have restrictions on oversized vehicles, tow-away signs or red curbs. Even some industrial streets are off-limits. Saticoy Street near Woodman Avenue, a light industrial section of Panorama City, for example, is marked OK for vehicle dwellers but signs there read No stopping 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Police are handing out maps and outreach workers are passing on information, but with a warning: The maps do not contain street-by-street information related to posted parking restrictions. Therefore, it is important for all persons living in their vehicles to verify all surrounding posted parking restrictions before engaging in activities associated with vehicle dwelling. The city has no digital inventory of its estimated 1 million street signs; a two-year, $4.4-million to $5.6-million project is underway to change that. Until then, homeless people will have to improvise. Harris-Dawson, who heads the homelessness committee, said the city never intended to make a parking space for everyone whose refuge is their RV or camper. The lawmakers of Los Angeles should have learned by now that criminalization of homelessness does nothing to solve the underlying problem of homelessness. Eric Tars, senior attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty There just was not a scenario where we could provide 7,000 parking spaces, said Harris-Dawson. The councilman said other cities need to step up, adding, Los Angeles is going to absorb a certain amount of cars; the rest of the city is off limits. Councilman Mike Bonin, who originally estimated half the citys streets would be open to car lodgers, called the parking inadequate and said the shortage demonstrated the urgency of his proposal to open civic, church and industrial lots, linked to sanitation and social services, to homeless people. A pilot program could begin as soon as April, but its space will be limited. The [new parking] system is a Band-Aid, which is helpful in identifying legal places to park while protecting residential neighborhoods from becoming campgrounds, Bonin said. Homeless people and their advocates said the law will sow confusion and put homeless people on the run in some cases from neighborhood to neighborhood. If they run us out of here, well be parking in the Palisades, said Jimmy Gonzales, 51, who has lived in his van with his wife and dog in Venice since his release after a 20-year prison term. I know a woman, she spray-paints her vehicle every week to 10 days, so the police cant say shes been somewhere too long, said Mike Greiner, 57, another Venice homeless man. Civil rights attorneys said the law likely will face a legal challenge. The city has not fared well defending its homeless enforcement policies. A judge last April issued an injunction barring city police and sanitation workers from destroying homeless possessions on skid row without adequate notice. The new car-lodging ordinance replaces a 1983 ordinance struck down by a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel. It appears to be applied only to the homeless, Judge Harry Pregerson wrote in the June 2014 decision. The next month, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck directed officers to stop enforcing the law. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter From the long history of being on the losing side of court cases, the lawmakers of Los Angeles should have learned by now that criminalization of homelessness does nothing to solve the underlying problem of homelessness, and in fact makes it worse, said Eric Tars, senior attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Residents say their safety is at stake. Cassandra Weinman, a social media and marketing freelancer who lives near a big Venice encampment, said a homeless man punched her in the face and took her phone when she tried to report him urinating behind her apartment. Obviously Im sympathetic to the situation with the homeless, its sad, but we do pay a lot of rent, Weinman said, adding that the street isnt a house. Times staff writer Jon Schleuss contributed to this report. ALSO Developers join the campaign for a quarter-cent sales tax to fund homeless services More than 1,200 homeless veterans living on Los Angeles streets still need housing In six months, L.A. went from high and dry to wet and wild. Heres how it happened What caused the deadly Ghost Ship fire? Officials arent saying, but attorneys have unexpected theory UPDATES: 3:40 p.m.: This story has been updated to include a link to police maps. The wife of an Oakland warehouse manager has offered an apology following a fire that killed 36 people on the property in December. More than anything, I want to say how sorry I am for what happened on Dec. 2, Micah Allison told officials at a special Oakland City Council meeting Monday night. And I wish more had been done before, because we carry a heavy weight on our shoulders right now. Allisons husband, Derick Ion Almena, came under intense scrutiny following the fire that destroyed the repurposed warehouse known as the Ghost Ship. Some who lived in the artists collective have described it as a firetrap filled with debris and that electricity was provided through makeshift wiring. Advertisement On Monday night, Allison said the medias portrayal of her family hasnt been pretty, and that because of that, people dont want her family moving into their neighborhood. 1 / 24 The ruins of the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland, the site of a fire that killed at least 36 people, are seen from above on Dec. 5. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 24 Debris litters the inside of a warehouse where a fire killed 36 people during a club-style party. (David Butow / For The Times) 3 / 24 A firefighter walks through the burned-out Oakland warehouse on Saturday. (David Butow / For The Times) 4 / 24 Firefighters walk through a debris-strewn warehouse where a fire killed at least nine people in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 5 / 24 A drone flies over investigators outside Oaklands Ghost Ship warehouse, where 36 people died this month in one of the worst fires in modern California history. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 24 Titus Cromwell, 4, places a flower from his familys garden near the scene of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 24 In the days after the Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, hearts dedicated to victims were hung from a nearby tree. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 24 Daryl Norman, 63, of Oakland stops by the scene of the fire on his way to church in Oakland. I had to come see for myself, he said of the 36 victims. God bless them. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 24 People stand at the perimeter holding flowers while watching crews remove material from what remains of the Ghostship warehouse fire, that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 24 An art installation near the scene of the Ghost Ship fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 24 People pay their respects Dec. 11 near the scene of the warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 24 Mourners observe a moment of silence for the lives lost in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire at the Oakland Museum of California on Friday evening. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 13 / 24 ATF agents map the scene of the fire investigation Friday at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland. (Francine Orr/ Los Angeles Times) (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 14 / 24 Rain falls on the memorial for victims of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles TImes) 15 / 24 Hillary Morse, 22, of Oakland mourns the loss of two of her close friends in the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 24 Jacob Ramirez, 4, left, looks on while his grandmother Eva Ramirez, 52, consoles Hillary Morse, 22, right, of Oakland near the site of the warehouse fire in Oakland. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 24 Flowers, candles and notes, memorializing those killed and injured in the Ghostship warehouse fire that burned and killed at least 36 people in the Oakland neighborhood of Fruitvale. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 24 A makeshift memorial of flowers and candles stands Dec. 4 near the site of the Oakland warehouse fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 24 A man who identified himself as Ben P. reads cards on Sunday at a memorial near the site of the blaze. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 24 Kristen Grzeca, a music teacher at Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, hugs Monina Sen Cervone, director of world music and dance at the school, on Sunday at a makeshift memorial for victims of the warehouse fire. A 17-year-old victim was one of Grzecas students. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 24 After attending church, Teionna Cunningham of Oakland leaves flowers near the site of the fire. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 24 A Seventh Day Adventist group prays on Sunday near the scene of the fire on 31st Avenue in Oakland. (David Butow / For The Times) 23 / 24 Flowers are left near an Oakland warehouse where a fire broke out during a concert, killing 36 people. (David Butow / For The Times) 24 / 24 Dino Graniello, left, and Jessie Xenakis light candles near the scene of a warehouse fire in Oakland that killed at least two dozen partygoers. (David Butow / For The Times) Allison said that a former landlord had contacted them offering them a place to stay. However, neighbors caught wind of the offer, she said. In a couple hours, or over a 24-hour period, they contacted the landlord and said that if they let us move back into the house that they would cause a lot of trouble for him. Allisons comments came as council members discussed proposals to ensure better and safer housing in the city, as well as a move to impose a moratorium on evictions. I want to thank everyone for everything they are doing, she told officials and activists. Allisons comments came hours after her husbands legal team issued a 10-page report, asserting that the fire didnt begin inside the warehouse. Instead, lawyers claimed the fire started in a neighboring structure. The attorneys report said there was no direct utility connection from the power company into the part of the Ghost Ship believed to have caught fire first. The report included photos that appear to show flames visible in an adjacent building. A final report on the cause of the fire has not yet been completed, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. richard.winton@latimes.com Twitter: @lacrimes MORE ON GHOST SHIP What caused the deadly Ghost Ship fire? Officials arent saying, but attorneys have unexpected theory Lawyers for Ghost Ship manager say they fear he will be charged to hide government negligence Oakland under scrutiny over lack of safety inspections of Ghost Ship before catastrophic fire For muralist Eloy Torrez, it was the face that really got to him. His beloved downtown Los Angeles mural, the Pope of Broadway, featuring actor Anthony Quinn, had been chipping and fading in the sun for years. But when Quinns painted face began to peel off the wall, thats when the sight of his 1985 painting became truly painful for Torrez. On Tuesday, Torrez joined art conservationists and city officials beneath the 70-foot-tall artwork on the side of the former Victor Clothing Co. building to celebrate its full restoration, which was completed this month by Torrez himself. Advertisement To me, Anthony Quinn represents Los Angeles and its diversity, Torrez said. The unveiling of the restored mural occurred in a downtown L.A. and on a Broadway much different from the one that existed when the artwork was commissioned three decades ago. Back then, Broadway was the bustling Latino commercial center of Los Angeles, with businesses catering to the regions booming immigrant population. Years of gentrification have radically changed Broadway. Today, its become a center of the new hip downtown, with many of the old Latino businesses and Spanish-language movie theaters replaced by upscale eateries and restored theaters. The venerable Grand Central Market nearby was re-created as a foodie haven. In some ways, the mural is a link between the new and the old. The mural came about after Torrez met Ramiro Salcedo, then-owner of the Victor Clothing Co. at 242 S. Broadway. In 1983, Torrez painted a mural called Legends of Hollywood on Hudson Avenue depicting Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, James Dean and Clark Gable. Salcedo told Torrez he wanted a mural that would show a Latino actor who would represent that era of Hollywood. The artist immediately thought of Quinn. Artist Eloy Torrez and his newly restored downtown mural of Anthony Quinn, the Pope of Broadway. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) The Legends of Hollywood mural was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake, according to the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles. Quinn, who was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and grew up in East L.A., did a stint as a professional boxer before going on to win two Academy Awards. He won the Oscar for supporting actor in 1953 for his role in the film Viva Zapata! and again in 1957 for his part in the movie Lust for Life. Torrez painted the actor dancing much the way he did in his 1964 film Zorba the Greek arms outstretched in a Christ-like pose. Behind the dancing figure, Torrez painted crosses in windows similar to the nearby Bradbury Building. The mural, which looms over a parking lot, grew cracked and faded over the years. It was defaced with graffiti, and it suffered from moisture damage. L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar helped secure a donation for $150,000 to refurbish the mural from Greenland USA, the company behind the downtown hotel and condo complex Metropolis. The restoration was overseen by the Mural Conservancy of Los Angeles. The mural now has an anti-graffiti coating to protect it against vandalism. This mural harkens back to an important part of Broadways history when many Latino immigrant families used to come to Broadway in large numbers, particularly in the 70s and 80s, Huizar said. They kept this street alive. Huizar, who was born in Mexico, said that as a young person, he often came to the Broadway corridor for back-to-school shopping and to see shows at the nearby Million Dollar Theater, where Quinn performed. There are many words said about this mural and the man it depicts, Huizar said. Its iconic. Its legendary. Its classic. They all fit the brilliant work that Eloy first painted in 1985, and Anthony Quinn represents what is most majestic about being an Angeleno. Valentina Castellani the wife of Quinns late son, Francesco called Anthony Quinn a role model for the Latino community who brought Mexico to the world. Never like nowadays in this fragile time, our Latino youth are in need of such role models, Castellani said. This mural became the Hollywood sign of the Latino community. hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson ALSO No charges against LAPD officers who shot and killed Ezell Ford, DA says Trump won a Scientology neighborhood in L.A., analysis shows. It was a rare GOP victory in blue L.A. In six months, L.A. went from high and dry to wet and wild. Heres how it happened A missing 15-year-old boy who authorities feared may have stolen his familys guns after a dispute with a girl was found armed with a gun at an Arcadia mall, Los Angeles County sheriffs officials said Tuesday afternoon. Aldric Partovi was considered a critical missing juvenile Tuesday morning after his family reported that he had not been acting right following a dispute with a girl. They also reported that three guns were missing from the boys fathers home, Sgt. James Long said. But by 2:30 p.m., the search was over after Arcadia police found him at the mall, sheriffs Lt. Frank Ruiz said. He was carrying a gun, but it was not immediately clear if the firearm belonged to the boys father, officials said. One of the missing guns was found in a wash near the boys home, officials said. Advertisement Partovi may be in possession of two firearms missing from his fathers residence, and it is not known if he suffers from psychological issues, the Sheriffs Department said when it appealed to the public for help locating the teen. Arcadia police are detaining the teen until they transfer him into sheriffs custody, authorities said. All schools in the San Marino school district were placed on lockdown out of an abundance of caution, he said. joseph.serna@latimes.com For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter. UPDATES: 3:05 p.m.: This article was updated with details that the boy was armed and being detained. 2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details on authorities finding the missing teen. 2:05 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the L.A. County Sheriffs Department. This article was originally published at 1:35 p.m. In quiet corners of her home, she pays tribute to the beloved, the musk of incense mingling with winter blooms. For days, then weeks, then months, Kobkaew Fields tears would not stop. Dressed in black, she mourned not for a mother or father, brother or sister, daughter or son, but for a king. Bhumibol Adulyadej. The ninth monarch of Thailand. For 70 years he reigned, until his death one day in October. Advertisement Sometimes, I think I want to die before I know this news of him leaving us, Field said. My heart is empty. Over the weekend, the Buddhist observation of the 100-day anniversary of his death drew tens of thousands of Thai Americans to temples across the United States, including in Hollywoods Thai Town. Among them, Watana Kiatpiriya, a sushi chef from Burbank, carried a picture of the late ruler, saying: Hes always on our mind. Hes like our teacher and I have endless respect for his knowledge. What will we do now hes gone? the 63-year-old asked, moaning. The surge of grief is likely to march on, even into the spring, particularly for those who only ever knew one king. Everyones keeping to their black wardrobe. The mood is quite serious, said Chancee Martorell, executive director of the cultural and social services group Thai Community Development Center. There are no big celebrations for holidays. Its all been canceled, even for American New Year and Thai New Year, which begins April 13. Buddhist priest Pra Kyu Vinai Thorn Kittisak, flown in from Thailand, performs 100-day death anniversary services at Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Field, 60, vows to cover herself in black until the one-year mark of the monarchs death. I cannot even think about going to parties, said the North Hollywood resident. I just think about the king, my king. This is a man who lived a simple life, who has a farm inside his palace which is not like Buckingham Palace. She cries and cries, said Fields husband, Michael. You have to understand that she is devoted to a king who sat on a throne, but he cared for ordinary subjects. There are countless stories of him traveling across the land, stopping to talk to the poor, asking how he could make things easier. King Bhumibol, who died Oct. 13, came to the throne in 1946. A trim, bespectacled man, he lived in opulent palaces but nurtured a relatively austere life. He was equally comfortable among the rich and the poor, sometimes taking a camera to examine rural development projects. By the time of his death, more than 2,000 projects in Thailand bore the fingerprints of his planning. He was an accomplished composer and musician, who unlike many of the loyal subjects who mourn him virtually never left Thailand, despite being born in Cambridge, Mass., where his father was studying medicine at Harvard. The monarch was a descendant of King Mongkut, who was depicted in Rodgers and Hammersteins musical The King and I. Most of us, this is who we have always looked up to so its not easy to lose him. The day he died is a day we will never forget, said Phaitoon Sarujikamjorn, 44. After the kings death, the Long Beach resident rushed to a meeting at the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles, where officials began planning a series of events to honor him. L.A. County is home to about 100,000 people of Thai descent, the largest such population outside of Thailand. Many are concentrated in East Hollywood and the northeast San Fernando Valley. In Thai Town, altars with offerings of fruit and fresh food in restaurants, markets and mom-and-pop stores feature images of the king. Even in the tiny places, there will be tributes to him because he is highly venerated, Martorell said. The Thais have such a close bond to their country because compared to other Asian Pacific Islander communities in the U.S., our communitys history [in the U.S.] is brief -- just 60 years. We havent been here that long and we travel back and forth to maintain our ties. Thai community observe 100-day anniversary of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand at Wat Thai Temple in North Hollywood. King Bhumibol Adulyadej was the worlds longest-reigning current monarch. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Chris Sukhaphadhana, a patent lawyer in Los Angeles, returned from a recent visit to Thailand with his wife. Our bonds are strengthened every time we go back. Imagine having the same king when you were born and when your parents were born, the 37-year-old said. Part of our ties to this king is longevity. There are no term limits so he had decades to be able to amass a body of work. Pichaya Na Takuathung, 31, worried whether she had enough black dresses for mourning. Even though the king, served by 30 prime ministers during his reign, had been in worsening health, she said she was startled when she suddenly received sympathy texts from a Chinese American friend. My grandma had to be hospitalized, she refused to eat, said the real estate student from Monterey Park. Before him, people would not look at kings in the eye, but on his adventures, he actually knelt down to talk to people. When I was little, I actually took it for granted that all kings did that. Growing up, Na Takuathung went on a school field trip to King Bhumibols palace to see how workers at a factory on the grounds made nutritious milk candy for children who didnt like drinking milk. Sarujikamjorn would not speculate about the kings successor, Prince Vajiralongkorn, now crowned as King Rama X. He is considered an international playboy, thrice married and divorced. He likes fast cars and was living in Germany until ascending to the throne. Responsibility can transform someone and can elevate someone, said Sarujikamjorn, vice president of the Thai Assn. of Southern California. We all have commitment to our values and our country. No matter where a Thai lives, we step up, speak up, stand up for our culture and our monarchy. anh.do@latimes.com Twitter: @newsterrier Los Angeles police are investigating the death of a professional hairdresser who was found stabbed and beaten outside his Woodland Hills home Monday evening. The man has been identified by police as 49-year-old Fabio Sementilli. At about 5 p.m. Monday, paramedics responded to a medical emergency call at a home in the 5000 block of Queen Victoria Road. Advertisement When they arrived, they found Sementilli on his patio with injuries to his face and significant blood, said Officer Liliana Preciado, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. Sementilli sustained numerous stab wounds to his neck and upper torso, according to police. He was unconscious and not breathing when authorities arrived and was pronounced dead at the scene, Preciado said. Sementillis car, a black 2008 Porsche Carrera 911, was missing, Preciado said. The vehicle had paper plates. The death, Preciado said, has been ruled a homicide. There were no suspects as of early Monday morning, she said. Sementilli, who was Canadian born, was a vice president of education for the cosmetics giant Coty Inc., according to Modern Salon magazine. Sementilli mentored tens of thousands of hairdressers with a hands-on approach either on a one-to-one basis or on a grander scale, Modern Salon wrote. On Friday, Sementilli posted a photograph of his 1987 hairstylist certification on Facebook. It was the 30-year anniversary of his first certification in the field, and he reminisced in the post about how his career started with optimism and a strong work ethic and how many people had helped him along the way. Ive never been a glass half empty kind of guy, he wrote. Im optimistic, Im driven and I dont accept the habit of negativity around me. I dont sit on the fence and with this conviction I conduct myself everyday [sic] to ensure Hair and Nail Professionals everywhere can build a successful and sustainable career! hailey.branson@latimes.com Twitter: @haileybranson ALSO Homeless people face L.A. crackdown on living in cars Judge throws out murder conviction of man in notorious Palmdale killing What caused the deadly Ghost Ship fire? Officials arent saying, but attorneys have unexpected theory UPDATES: 12:00 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about Sementillis condition. 7:15 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about Sementillis career. This article was originally published at 6:05 a.m. At the end of June, Los Angeles had recorded its driest five-year period since record-keeping began almost 140 years ago. The announcement seemed like an ominous milestone, especially after an El Nino-fueled weather pattern that was supposed to drench the region had failed to materialize. But just six months later, L.A. has seen a major turnaround. Los Angeles is experiencing its wettest winter in years, with 14.33 inches of rain since October more than 200% of average. Thats nearly as much rain as the city gets in a typical year. Advertisement So how did Southern California go from high and dry to wet and wild so quickly? One answer could be that lingering energy from last years strong El Nino, combined with not-quite La Nina conditions which typically foreshadow dry weather in California helped set the stage for a comeback season, state climatologist Michael Anderson said. Also a factor is the famous mass of drought-causing high pressure that once shooed winter storms away from California and was called the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge. This year, that mass of high pressure has been much more transient, shuttling between Hawaii, Baja California and California. When it has gone traveling, thats opened up a path for wet storms to reach California, Anderson said. Its just the right set of circumstances that everything lined up for California, Anderson said. If things line up just right, it sets up for conditions for a very wet California. Rain That has meant the arrival of both cold storms from the north Pacific Ocean and warmer, subtropical moisture plumes targeting California, a perfect combination that has dumped astonishing levels of snow in the Sierra Nevada as much as 20 to 30 feet and dropped impressive rain in Southern California that flooded freeways and triggered mudslides. In fact, the last rainstorm was a hybrid of both types, UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain said. The cold, strong storm from the Gulf of Alaska combined with warmer, moister, subtropical air over L.A., which caused hail around the region and heavy, intense rain on the south L.A. County coast. On Sunday, 3.87 inches fell at Long Beach Airport, setting an all-time record for the area. Its not common to see a full day of soaking rain in this part of the world, Swain said. What California is actually seeing this winter was what experts had expected last year, as a massive El Nino a warming of ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean developed. We have these very strong west-to-east winds we call them zonal winds at the jet stream level in the atmosphere that has sort of propelled this prolonged series of storms toward California and actually allowed these storms to strengthen, Swain said. The presence of this strong jet stream is key, Swain said, as California lies in a region in which storms often weaken as they approach the state. Last year, the strong west-to-east winds over the Pacific Ocean did develop, but instead of being aimed at Southern California, it benefited areas to the north, especially Oregon and Washington. This year, it really is headed right at us, Swain said. 1 / 43 A car is stuck in standing water on the southbound 110 Freeway on Jan. 22. (Christina House / For The Times) 2 / 43 A surfer barely clears a giant wave in Manhattan Beach. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 43 People enjoy the snow in Acton. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 4 / 43 Elizabeth Wolterbeek plays among rocks in the 200 block of Mel Canyon Road in Duarte on Friday after a mudslide. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 43 A girl loses control of her umbrella after being rescued by a Huntington Beach police officer and a tow truck operator. Her family became trapped in their disabled car in the middle of flooded Heil Ave. amid a heavy downpour in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 43 Commuters navigate a rain-soaked 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday morning, as the first of three storms rolls through Southern California. More storms are expected over the weekend. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 43 Palmdale residents Cesar Navarro, left, and his son Cesar Navarro Jr. sled down a snowy hill in Acton. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 8 / 43 A fast moving discharge of water spews from the San Gabriel Dam, as a storm front moves through the area. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 43 A bicyclist comes to the end of a trail thats covered in wet sand at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 43 Snow covers boat slips and a lone picnic at Lake Arrowhead on Monday as the latest strom moves through. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 43 Debris, including drinking cups, rubber balls and bottles, washes ashore along the Alamitos Peninsula near East Ocean Boulevard and 56th Place in Long Beach on Monday. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 43 Dale Ball of La Canada Flintridge has rain gear for herself and her dogs while walking toward the entrance to Hahamongna Watershed Park in Pasadena on Jan. 23. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 43 A car drives through a snowy scene on Shannon Valley Road in Acton. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 14 / 43 A city worker uses a snowblower to clear the walkways during a snowstorm at Lake Arrowhead Village. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 43 With the road closed to traffic, Paul Doolin rides a skateboard past a fallen boulder that rests on Topanga Canyon Blvd. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 43 A city worker shovels the walkways during a snowstorm at Lake Arrowhead Village in the San Bernardino mountains. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 43 Jose Villa of Lake Arrowhead clears fresh snow off his windshield during a blizzard in Rimforest, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 43 Snow begins to fall and stick to the road in Crestline, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 43 Enrique Nicanor carries plywood on an improvised walkway he made over a flowing creek that damaged the driveway to the house where he works on Iron Canyon Road. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 20 / 43 Clearing storm clouds are reflected in the wet sand at low tide in Newport Beach on Monday. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 43 County of Los Angeles pubic works equipment clears the flooded creek on Iron Canyon Road. (Michael Owen Baker / For The Times) 22 / 43 Niklas Hofverberg and his daughter Bianca Hofverberg, 3 1/2 years old, watch the sun set as storms clouds dissipate in Venice on Monday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles TImes) 23 / 43 John Fisher of Altadena looks out toward Devils Gate Reservoir in Pasadena on Jan. 23. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 43 Westminster resident Shirley Hansen carries her dog Scruffy while she walks through floodwater caused by recent rain on the boardwalk in Seal Beach. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 43 A glimpse of blue sky is seen during a break in the rain at Devils Gate Reservoir in Pasadena on Jan. 23. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 43 Gina Picciolo takes a picture of a boulder that fell onto Topanga Canyon Blvd. Picciolo is a longtime resident in the area. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 43 Ward Preston and Gina Picciolo walk past a mudslide along Topanga Canyon Blvd. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 43 A Huntington Beach police officer watches a tow truck operator hook up chains to rescue a family from the middle of flooded Heil Avenue after their car stalled in the deep water amid a heavy downpour in Huntington Beach on Jan. 22. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 43 A rainbow appears over Seal Beach, Calif. on Monday. The tail end of a punishing winter storm system lashed California with thunderstorms and severe winds Monday after breaking rainfall records, washing out roads and whipping up enormous waves. (Amy Taxin / Associated Press) 30 / 43 All lanes of the 110 Freeway from Carson Street to 223rd Street were closed Sunday because of flooding. (Christina House / For The Times) 31 / 43 Jerry Katz stands next to a mudflow at the corner of Mel Canyon and Brookridge roads in Duarte. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 43 A Huntington Beach police officer watches a bus drive through flooded Heil Avenue amid a heavy downpour in Huntington Beach. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 43 A man looks for a safe way to cross floodwaters flowing from hillsides in a nearby recent burn area on North Iron Canyon Road in Santa Clarita. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 43 A Huntington Beach police officer diverts a pickup driver while a tow truck operator hooks up chains to rescue a family from the middle of flooded Heil Ave. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 43 Mud and rocks have filled the driveway of a Duarte home along Mel Canyon Road, where residents have been evacuated due to mudslides. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 43 Rudy Fuentes stands on the porch of his home on Mel Canyon Road in Duarte, looking out at where mud has taken over his driveway. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 43 Police stop traffic on Mountain Crest Road where residents have been evacuated due to incoming storms in the Fish fire impact area in Duarte. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 43 Marcus Jenkins selling umbrellas as he shelters under one of his own on Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood as the second of three winter storms begin to drench the Southland Friday. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 43 Motorists navigate the flooded lanes of northbound Fairview Street in Santa Ana. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 43 Ella Masa, all wrapped in plastic, pushes her two service dogs as she joins an East LA/Boyle Heights group with banners and posters marching from Mariachi Plaza on Friday, protesting President Trumps inauguration. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 43 Umbrellas are necessary on Hollywood Boulevard as the second of three winter storms begins to batter Southern California on Friday morning. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 43 A pedestrian scurries across the street under her umbrella in downtown Los Angeles on Friday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 43 Paulina Tu takes cover under her umbrella as she waits for a ride in downtown Los Angeles on Friday morning. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) With three storms hitting Southern California in five days, there hasnt been time to dry out between them. Weve seen water flowing now in most all of the different streams and larger rivers in Southern California, which is the first in about six years, National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt said. Late Monday, Gov. Jerry Brown issued emergency declarations for 50 counties, including Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and San Diego. The declarations will help counties speed up applications for state and federal disaster relief funding. In the past, when there has been no El Nino or La Nina neither a warming nor a cooling of the Pacific Ocean at the equator significant rainfall for California can occur. Such La Nada conditions were present in the winter of 2004-05, which produced the second-wettest rainy season in downtown L.A. history. Those rains preceded devastating landslides in La Conchita in Ventura County and Bluebird Canyon of Laguna Beach. With a La Nada no El Nino, no La Nina anything can happen, said Bill Patzert, climatologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. He also noted that the atmospheric river storms are coming from an area of the ocean that has warmer temperatures. Thats a hangover from El Nino. The atmospheric river storms have arrived in a number and size not seen in years, said Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Atmospheric rivers are long plumes of concentrated water vapor that are an important feature of the global water cycle. Strong ones can transport as much vapor as equivalent to 20 times the liquid water discharged by the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico at any given moment. Atmospheric rivers are responsible for 40% to 50% of Californias annual precipitation, Ralph said. When have a lot of them, sometimes we get into flooding. When we dont have enough of them, we get into drought, Ralph said. The storms have benefited some Southern California reservoirs, with Castaic Lake at about 71% of capacity Monday. Northern Californias windfall has allowed water to flow into Diamond Valley Lake, a critical reserve for Southern California. The giant reservoir is now at 72% of capacity, up from 37% from about a year ago. But there is still a long way to go before any victory can be declared. Lake Perris is filled to only half of its normal level. Lake Cachuma in Santa Barbara County is still only 13% of its historical average for this time of year. While the rain was pretty impressive and welcomed here by everyone watching the skies, it was certainly not enough to end the drought or to fill up the lake significantly, said David Matson, assistant general manager of the Goleta Water District. The groundwater supply is also far from recovered. Southern California has been drawing down groundwater reserves during the drought. Parched soils have absorbed much of the water, limiting runoff. And many of the regions groundwater basins remain severely overdrawn. Dont be mistaken they are depleted severely depleted, said Mark Pestrella, acting director of the L.A. County Department of Public Works. We are not out of severe drought here in Southern California. We will need three identical years of this type of year to come out of this drought cycle. For instance, the Key Well level at the Main San Gabriel Groundwater Basin in Los Angeles County dropped to a historic low of 172.2 feet in October. The historic high was more than 295 feet, achieved in 1983 after one of the wettest winters in recorded California history. The U.S. Drought Monitor recently revised its map to show no signs of drought conditions in Northern California because of recent rains. The map has been criticized by some experts for oversimplifying the situation in California, who say weekly changes in weather patterns dont mean the drought is over. People are still relying on bottled water in some parts of Tulare County. And some surface reservoirs are remarkably low. These are impacts that cant be ignored when youre assessing whether youre still in a drought, said Doug Carlson, spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources. To read the article in Spanish, click here ron.lin@latimes.com matt.stevens@latimes.com ALSO One for the books: Here are some records this storm has blown past Widespread flooding, mudslides, evacuations as biggest storm in years batters California Raging rivers, flooded freeways and a very wet Disneyland scenes from Southern Californias powerful storm Rep. Tom Price, President Trumps nominee to be Health and Human Services secretary, continued to offer assurances Tuesday that the new administration would provide Americans affordable health coverage. But appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, the Georgia Republican provided little detail about what that coverage would look like and repeatedly refused to pledge that Americans could keep their current health plan under any replacement for the Affordable Care Act. What I commit to the American people is to keep patients at the center of healthcare, Price told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the senior Democrat on the committee. Advertisement And what that means to me is making certain that every single American has access to affordable health coverage that will provide the highest quality healthcare. A frustrated Wyden shot back: On the questions that I asked, Will the congressman commit that nobody will be worse off, nobody will lose coverage? We didnt get an answer. Price, a former surgeon, got a more sympathetic reception from Republicans on the committee. They hailed his knowledge of health policy and readiness to head the mammoth health department, which oversees not only Medicare and Medicaid, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health. Dr. Price has the experience and qualifications necessary to effectively lead this large and diverse set of agencies, Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Tuesday. Price is expected to win confirmation. But the six-term congressman has become one of Trumps most controversial nominees, in part because of his fierce criticism of the healthcare law, frequently called Obamacare, and his previous efforts to slash federal funding for Medicare and Medicaid, which provide coverage to more than 100 million elderly and poor Americans. Democrats on the finance panel repeatedly quizzed Price about what would happen to patients. Price kept his answers vague. In a round of questions about Medicare, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) asked: Are you willing to commit that we wont see increased costs or less coverage for seniors under a revision of Medicare that you might advocate or that the president might pursue? Price responded: Our goal is to make certain that seniors have access to the highest quality healthcare possible at an affordable price. In the past, Price has been a strong proponent of increasing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 and shifting more costs to patients by converting Medicare into a voucher system that would give beneficiaries a limited amount of money to shop for private health plans. In another exchange about the basic set of health benefits that insurers must provide under Obamacare, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) asked: Can you assure us that youre prepared to make sure that Americans have quality insurance coverage to deal with issues such as preventive care, mental health services, addiction services and pediatric dental? Price responded: What I commit to you, senator, is that we will do all that we can within the department with the incredible knowledge and expertise that is there to define whether or not the program is actually working. Price has argued that many of the people who have gained coverage through Obamacare are not getting needed healthcare because it is too expensive. However, while some consumers are struggling with high insurance deductibles, there is growing evidence that Obamacare has made medical care more accessible for millions. In fact, the share of adults who skipped care because of costs dropped by nearly one-fifth between 2013 and 2015, according to a recent report from the Commonwealth Fund. Overall, the law is credited with expanding health coverage to more than 20 million previously uncovered Americans. Democrats also have called for an independent investigation of Price for pushing legislation that increased the value of several stocks shortly after he bought them. Price denied any wrongdoing. On Monday, a group of Senate Democrats wrote to the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking the federal regulator to look into possible legal violations, including the ban on insider trading. It is clear through his financial disclosures that Rep. Price actively traded in multiple pharmaceutical and other health sector stocks while having access to a great deal of nonpublic information about pending health legislation and regulations, the senators wrote. The finance committee is expected at a future meeting to recommend Prices confirmation along party lines. That meeting has not yet been scheduled. noam.levey@latimes.com Twitter: @noamlevey UPDATES: 2:05 p.m.: This article was updated after the hearing. This article was originally published at 3 a.m. In a report 2 years in the making, Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey said Tuesday that the two Los Angeles police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Ezell Ford on Aug. 11, 2014, acted in self-defense and did not commit a crime. Yet its important to take note of some things that Lacey did not say, simply because as a criminal prosecutor it is not her place to say them. Lacey did not say that justice was done, or that everything in the incident went as it should. In fact, the Los Angeles Police Commission whose business it indeed is to weigh in on such questions found in June 2015 that one of the officers broke department policy by stopping Ford, physically restraining him and setting in motion the chain of events that led to the shooting. Advertisement Even that question is not a simple one, and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck disagreed with the finding. Ford lived in an area of high gang and criminal activity, and Becks strategy, backed by the citys political leadership, has been to flood such hotspots with officers. Once there, they have a limited range of options to protect residents from crime, and many of those options put them in the position not just as protectors of the community but as its irritants, or worse. Aggressive policing means consensual stops to ask questions, but in a heavily policed neighborhood, a request from an armed, uniformed police officer surely comes across as something less than friendly, and stopping to answer questions would hardly seem voluntary. Stops can easily go bad, especially when the subject is in poor mental health, as was the case with Ford. But lets be frank they can go bad with any population that has a rational mistrust of police and is tired of being repeatedly flagged down by officers who say things like, Hey, let me talk with you, as one officer reportedly told Ford. In her report Lacey did not say whether its acceptable to live in a neighborhood where people have to put up with that kind of police intrusiveness, or with the crime that makes it necessary, but lets say it: It is not but neither is it entirely clear what to do about it. The police cannot simply let crime go unchecked. Nor did Lacey say, although the rest of us must, that the LAPD must do better. Although not every police killing of an unarmed African American man is an act of murder in fact, few such killings are neither can any be simply written off as an unfortunate and unavoidable incident that is the tragic lot of people because of their race, their income or their neighborhood. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook In addition to the Los Angeles city election coming up on March 7, there will be a runoff on May 16, and thankfully it should be the last of its kind. Participation is so low in odd-year city elections that the few people who did show up in 2015 voted to scrap the municipal election calendar and consolidate future city elections with the even-year presidential and gubernatorial ones, which produce better turnouts. But the new schedule doesnt kick in until 2020, so we have one last double-round of odd-year balloting. The May election, especially, could be a record-breaker for voter turnout, and not in a good way. None of Mayor Eric Garcettis 10 challengers has captured the public imagination so far, and it would not be unusual for an incumbent to win more than 50% of the vote in March and avoid the May runoff. City Atty. Mike Feuer and Controller Ron Galperin dont even have any opponents, so there could be no citywide office on the ballot. What a perfect place to quietly slip in a proposed city charter amendment that would completely overhaul police disciplinary review boards to tilt the balance in favor of cops. Hardly anyone will be coming out to vote except those who are organized by the police union and its supporters to give a thumbs-up to the ballot measure. Advertisement Thats the cynical ploy that the City Council will be considering this week. With Garcettis backing, the Police Protective League the union representing the rank-and-file officers who come before the disciplinary boards is pushing a measure to oust Los Angeles Police Department leaders from the boards in favor of all-civilian panels. That may sound like a solid move until you read the reports showing that civilians routinely go easier on officers facing discipline than their uniformed leaders do. The current police discipline system has been intact since the early 1990s, so even if a change is warranted, there is no pressing need to rush one onto this last of the lowest-turnout ballots no reason, that is, except to secure the desired result with a get-out-the-vote campaign carefully targeting just those voters likely to approve the measure. Acknowledging that the disciplinary system hasnt even been reviewed or evaluated in more than 20 years, council President Herb Wesson recently called for a series of reports and community meetings on just that subject. That would have been a great idea if those reports and meetings had taken place before the council had made its choice and was preparing to put it on the ballot. Moving ahead with a ballot measure before any of those reports and meetings, however, is a very bad idea. A council with its collective eye on the best interests of the entire city, and not merely the police union, should see that. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Its beginning to look as if President Trump is having second thoughts about his campaign promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If so, he will be following in the footsteps of his predecessors and putting the national interest above politics. Trump wasnt the first presidential candidate to promise to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but his commitment has been taken more seriously than those of past candidates. David Friedman, Trumps choice for ambassador to Israel, has said that he looks forward to performing his service from the U.S. Embassy in Israels eternal capital, Jerusalem. Yet when he was asked Monday about plans for moving the embassy, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said: Theres no decisions. Were at the very early stages of that decision-making process. When a reporter pressed him about whether the embassy will have been moved to Jerusalem by the end of Trumps four-year term, Spicer replied: If it was already a decision, then we wouldnt be going through a process. Advertisement In 1995 Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which required the embassy to be moved to that city by May 31, 1999 but also authorized the president to waive that provision to protect the national security interests of the United States. That is exactly what presidents since then have done including Bill Clinton, who in 1992 endorsed the principle of moving our embassy to Jerusalem, and George W. Bush, who said in 2000 that as soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the U.S. ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital. Clinton and Bush changed their minds for a good reason: Moving the embassy would inflame Arab opinion and make achievement of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement even harder to achieve. Although West Jerusalem is where the government of the Jewish state is based, East Jerusalem which Israel effectively annexed after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War is where Palestinians hope to establish a capital of a state of their own. Putting the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem could send a message that the U.S. accepts Israels claim to both halves of the city, rejecting the Palestinians ambitions for an area thats overwhelmingly Palestinian in population. And its not at all clear that Israels claim is valid. Trump, who has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next month, once described a potential Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement as the ultimate deal. He would be making such a deal less possible by following through with this campaign promise. What Spicer called the decision-making process should end with a reaffirmation of current policy. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook ALSO What Trump means when he says America first A professional opinion: You dont need a psychiatrist to know theres something wrong with Donald Trump The new Trump administration sounds more like the old Trump campaign The TPP is dead, but dont bury it yet President Trumps executive actions Tuesday to revive the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access pipelines two environmental flashpoints doused by the Obama administration should not have come as a surprise to anyone. He promised to do so during the campaign, and his support is consistent with his desire to make the U.S. oil and gas industry more productive. Nevertheless, there are good reasons to oppose both projects. The Keystone pipeline would move 830,000 barrels of oil a day through the American heartland, creating hundreds of short-term construction jobs while encouraging a particularly dirty form of oil extraction. President Obama eventually scuttled the project as contrary to the national interest of combating global warming. The Dakota Access pipeline, whose builders include a company in which Trump until recently invested, would carry 500,000 barrels a day over a 1,100-mile pipeline, including under a dammed stretch of the Missouri River from which the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation draws its water. After dramatic protests, the Army Corps of Engineers denied a key permit and directed that alternative routes be explored. In signing his declarations, Trump zeroed in on the jobs that would be created, which meshes with his pledge to invest in the nations sagging infrastructure while getting more people more work. But not all infrastructure is created equal; some of it serves our long-term interests, and some of it decidedly does not. Promoting the use of fossil fuels, and especially the ones pulled from Canadas tar sands, falls into the latter category. Advertisement In addition to reviving the pipelines, Trump signed another action seeking to streamline what he described as the incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible permitting process for domestic manufacturing. Streamlining of regulations might be a good thing but only if the projects are fully vetted and, when approved, do not cause undue harm to the environment. Sadly, Trump has displayed little concern for the environment, and significant contempt for environmental regulations. His order freezing all new business activities by the Environmental Protection Agency should worry the 56% of Americans who think environmental concerns should outweigh economic ones. Similarly, Trump nominated as head of the EPA someone who has sued to block the agency more than a dozen times, and selected the former head of Exxon Mobil as secretary of State. The national interest the worlds interest, for that matter is not best-served by speeding the investment in infrastructure that makes it cheaper and easier to burn fossil fuels. The U.S. should be encouraging investment in the infrastructure of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources. Trump needs to get his head out of the oil sands, and face the reality of climate change. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, its going to be only America first, America first. President Trump, inaugural address, Jan. 20, 2017 President Trump is something of a paradox. He roots himself in nostalgia for yesteryear make America great again! but he is remarkably unconcerned with history. He ransacks the past for rhetorical baubles but declines to carry their historical baggage too. In 2015, a Washington Post reporter had to remind Trump that his use of the phrase silent majority had Nixonian overtones. Oh, is that why people stopped using [the phrase]? Trump replied. Nobody thinks of Nixon. I dont think of Nixon when I think of the silent majority. He invokes the forgotten man as if he invented the term, never indicating that it was one of Franklin D. Roosevelts central themes. Advertisement His inaugural address made almost no reference to American history. His populist rejection of the status quo and the establishment suggests that he thinks the country is starting over at Year Zero. Indeed, he repeated a standard campaign line that at least some historians might quibble with: that he was elected by an historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. Trump sees America more as an identity than an idea. Which brings us to America first, a slogan the president seems to have first absorbed from a New York Times reporter trying to characterize the candidates positions. As with silent majority, Trump refuses to accept what that term means to many of the people who hear him use it. Granted, its more complicated than mainstream journalists would have you believe. The America First Committee was founded in the spring of 1940 by isolationist students at Yale University and quickly became a major national movement though it was never the purely right-wing phenomenon many claim. Many Republicans and conservatives supported it (including a then-15-year-old William F. Buckley, who as an adult repudiated isolationism and barred isolationists from the pages of National Review). But other allies in the isolationist or non-interventionist cause included American Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas, longtime Nation editor Oswald Garrison Villard, and such progressive icons Charles Beard, John Dewey, Joseph Kennedy, Bernard Baruch and Progressive Party hero Robert La Follette. Though its true the German American Bund had opposed war, so did American pacifist organizations (until the Soviets told them to change their position). Isolationism is an American tradition, and its defenders can claim George Washingtons farewell address as proof of its pedigree. The entire purpose of the America First Committee was to keep FDR from dragging the U.S. into another European war. Given the still fresh memory of the horror both at home and abroad of World War I, this always struck me as a defensible if, in hindsight, wrong position. The isolationists had largely fought FDR to a standstill until Pearl Harbor, which ended all debate. After the war, with the full knowledge of Nazi crimes and years of domestic patriotic fervor, the term America first took on a more sinister reputation in retrospect than it deserved. Some Jewish groups to this day unfairly consider it vague code for America should have let the Holocaust run its course. That Trump could so easily adopt America first without being hobbled by its negative connotation was a political coup. He insists that its just a catchphrase for prioritizing American interests. Even though the term is both catnip and dog whistle to some of his more unsavory fans, I think hes sincere. Still, on his own terms, my problem with Trumps America first isnt his desire to do what is in Americas best interests who could oppose that? Its how he defines Americas best interest and its best self. With his blind eye to the past, hes stumbled into old-fashioned nationalism. Up until very recently American exceptionalism i.e. we are a creedal nation dedicated to certain principles reflected in our founding documents defined the conservative understanding of patriotism. Trump, however, sees America more as an identity than an idea. He promised that Americas example will shine for everyone to follow, but he defined that example not in terms of our liberties or ideals, but in terms of unity. We will rebuild our country with American hands and American labor following two simple rules; buy American and hire American. We will shine through our success at building infrastructure, walling off our economy and crushing our enemies. All in all, this is no new vision though it is arguably new for an American president. jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook When black performers were excluded from all acting categories at the Academy Awards for a second year in a row in 2016, the shutout sparked a second year of an impassioned social-media movement: #OscarsSoWhite. You could say the campaign was a success. A week later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pledged to phase out senior members and enlist new, diverse voters who would, if all recruiting goals were met, double minority membership by 2020. This morning, for the first time, three black actors were nominated in the same category, best supporting actress: Viola Davis for Fences, Naomie Harris for Moonlight, and Octavia Spencer for Hidden Figures. Denzel Washington was also nominated in the lead actor category for his performance in Fences, and Mahershala Ali in the supporting actor category for Moonlight. But Hollywoods diversity problem isnt solved. By many measures, its still as bad as ever. And the studios biggest minority deficit by far involves the very people living and working outside their walls in virtually every direction Latinos. There were no egregious snubs for Latinos as expected, Lin-Manuel Miranda got a nod for original song for Moana but thats only because there were so very few roles for us to begin with. Though the Mexican auteur Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Oscar for best director in 2015 and 2016, and his countryman Alfonso Cuaron took home the same award in 2014, the two directors are elite aberrations. Advertisement In a report published last year, USC found that Latinos got only 5% of speaking roles in the top-grossing 100 films released in 2015. The glaring absence extends to television. UCLAs 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report found that Latinos were the most underrepresented group in TV for the second year in a row. The previous year, UCLAs annual report found that Latinos got only 2% of the roles in scripted broadcast TV, while Asians got 4% and black characters were overrepresented. According to the reports longtime author, Darnell Hunt, Hollywood has actually been losing ground with minorities because the Latino populations growth is outpacing the industrys reluctant attempts to diversify. Even when rare lead roles are scripted for Latino characters, they are often filled by non-Latino actors. Ben Affleck played the Mexican American CIA operative Antonio Tony Mendez in the 2012 film Argo, and Jon Favreau played the Cuban entrepreneur behind the El Jefe food truck in his 2014 film Chef. More recently, the British actor Charlie Hunnam, best known for his role in TVs Sons of Anarchy, was criticized for taking the role of a Mexican American narco-boss in the upcoming feature American Drug Lord. The dearth of Latino storytelling and overlooking of Latino talent is especially remarkable when you consider that about 3 out of 4 people in Los Angeles County are minorities, and about half of them are Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Latinos surpassed whites as the largest ethnic or racial group in California in 2015, and we make up nearly 1 out of 5 Americans. We also accounted for almost 1 out of every 4 tickets purchased by frequent moviegoers in 2015, according to the Motion Picture Assn. of America. In the same year, more Latinos headed to theaters regularly than African Americans and Asians combined. For these reasons, the African American activist Najee Ali is bringing back the boycott this year, but with a focus on Latinos. In a telephone interview, he called the industrys snubbing of Latinos disturbing. In another interview, Alex Nogales, chief executive of the National Hispanic Media Coalition and a longtime advocate for diversity in film and TV, told me that his group will be joining criticism of the Academy. Yes, theyve done better with African Americans, he said, but diversity is about more than just one group. Were being ignored. Nogales was echoing a sentiment expressed by the actor America Ferrera in a column for Deadline last year. At a certain point, it becomes unavoidable to notice that were being ignored, Ferrera said. In a scathing piece for the Hollywood Reporter in 2014, Chris Rock argued that the industry sees Latinos only as a service class. Forget whether Hollywood is black enough, Rock wrote. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? Youre in L.A., youve got to try not to hire Mexicans. Elyce Helford, director of Jewish and Holocaust studies at Middle Tennessee State University, has argued that Hollywoods Jewish founders established a lily-white vision of America because they feared anti-Semitism and wanted to stave off any suspicions or accusations that their values were un-American. A similar fear has led some of Hollywoods most celebrated Latino talents, including Rita Hayworth, to adopt professional names that belie their south-of-the-border heritage. This year brings an added concern that an industry that has long portrayed Latinos as banditos, gangsters, and busboys will serve to fuel the racism and hatred generated by a divisive election in which the winning candidate attempted to brand Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. If theres hope that Latinos will ever been seen as three-dimensional, assimilated, and American, it can be found just outside the studio gates. Dennis Romero is a staff writer for the L.A. Weekly. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook Donald Trump did a lot of lying during his first weekend as president, inflating the size of his inauguration crowd and denying his prior attacks on the Central Intelligence Agency. But there was one thing that he got right, or nearly so. Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Trump tweeted on Sunday. Why didnt these people vote? Protesters at Saturdays Womens March in Washington and at dozens of other rallies across the country were quick to ridicule the remark, noting that people who travel long distances to demonstrations arent likely to sit out election day. And they stressed that more Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for the man who was sworn in on Jan. 20, although Trump with his characteristically blase attitude toward the truth has denied that too. Advertisement In Detroit ... more than 75,000 voters who had supported Obama didnt make it to the polls. They didnt vote for Trump; they simply stayed home. Yet if you swap out these people for more people, Trump was onto something. Compared with other democracies, a pathetically small number of Americans bother voting. And the key to stalemating Trump and to defeating him the next time around will be getting more people to the polls. Among the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States ranks 31st in the percentage of eligible voters who turn out to cast ballots. Last November, only 58% of eligible Americans voted. Thats despite the fact that some states have implemented same-day registration which lets people register and vote simultaneously and that a growing number of states provide early voting by mail. To excuse low turnout, some Democrats were quick to blame new voter-identification laws and other restrictive measures, which have been targeted at minorities. But overall voting levels were about the same in 2016 as in 2012, suggesting an older and more chronic culprit: lack of interest. Put simply, millions of Americans dont care enough about elections to show up for them. That was especially bad news for Clinton in states such as Michigan, which backed President Obama in 2012 but swung to Trump in November. In Detroit, for example, more than 75,000 voters who had supported Obama didnt make it to the polls. They didnt vote for Trump; they simply stayed home. So did half of Americas voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Clinton handily beat Trump in this age category, by a margin of 55% to 39%. But she couldnt get enough of them to vote to make a difference in the final tally. How can Trumps opponents get out the vote (in the right places) the next time around? The first step as in Alcoholics Anonymous is admitting that they have a problem. Its not just Clinton who lost; Democrats are the minority in the House and the Senate, and have been routed at the state level. They cant blame that on the Russians or Republican villainy. Next, of course, theyll have to frame strategies that appeal to a wider swath of Americans. Almost by definition, protests preach to the converted. The pussy hats and obscene signs from Saturdays rallies arent likely to persuade people who stayed home or who voted for Trump to join the Democratic column. The best solution is old-fashioned organizing, focused on the issues of the most pressing concern to voters: healthcare, jobs and wages. We got a taste of that last month in Macomb County, Mich., where Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders led a rally in defense of the Affordable Care Act. If Democrats are going to win back places such as Macomb, which went decisively for Trump, they have to show people why they should switch sides. And yes, that means reaching out to voters who cast ballots for a confirmed bigot and misogynist. Despite all of the talk about inclusion at Saturdays demonstrations, we didnt hear a lot about adding white working-class and rural voters to the anti-Trump coalition. Thats a big mistake. And its a great way to be a loser to borrow one of Trumps favorite insults the next time. Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook MORE FROM OPINION The TPP is dead, but dont bury it yet What Trump means when he says America first When L.A. takes to the streets, it defines itself as a city In so-called flyover country, lots of real Americans are mad as hell at Donald Trump too While the main political spotlight these days is riveted on wherever President Trump happens to be which is just the way he likes it other parts of government continue to work, including the Supreme Court, which Monday rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of Alabamas death penalty. Why the court refused to hear the case is unknown there was no accompanying comment. But the rejection leaves unresolved an apparent conflict between how Alabama decides who should die, and how the court has previously ruled such a decision must be reached. In short, the court has held that only juries can make the finding of fact that makes a convicted murderer eligible for death. But in Alabama, a judge can sentence someone to death even if a jury recommends the sentence should be life without parole, or fails to reach a unanimous verdict of death. Advertisement The case the court refused to hear was filed by Thomas D. Arthur, who was convicted in the 1982 murder-for-hire of Troy Wicker, arranged by Wickers wife, with whom Arthur had had an affair (she spent 10 years in prison). A jury in Arthurs third trial (convictions in the first two were overturned) recommended 11-1 for death. The judge then held his own sentencing hearing, found Arthur guilty of an aggravating factor making him eligible for capital punishment under Alabama law, and sentenced him to death. But the U.S. Supreme Courts Hurst ruling requires the final finding of fact to come from a jury. Under Alabamas system, there is no way to know whether the jury and the judge even found the same aggravating factor necessary to impose death. Further, while a verdict of guilt must be unanimous, Alabamas jury recommendation of death does not have to be. So the decision to kill someone faces a lower hurdle than the decision of whether the person was guilty of the murder, an issue Arthur also sought to have the court consider. Its perplexing why the Supreme Court opted not to take the case and either shut down Alabamas capital punishment system under its Hurst precedent, or explain why what seems to be a clear violation, in fact, is not. The best speculation: The court prefers to wait for a later case on the issue, when it has all nine seats filled. As long as states and, for that matter, the federal government are going to issue death sentences, they must do so constitutionally. Meanwhile, people are getting executed. The Court last month refused to hear, without comment, a similar appeal by Ronald Bert Smith, who was put to death by lethal injection on Dec. 8. The Alabama Supreme Court had found that because Smiths jury found him guilty by a 7-5 vote of an unidentified aggravating factor, the Hurst requirement was met, even though the judge ultimately sentenced Smith to death based on his own fact-finding. As The Times editorial board said about the state court decision: Thats a preposterous argument it cherry-picks one of the jurors preliminary determinations and ignores their ultimate conclusion that Smith should be sentenced to life without parole. It also ignores the fact that the judge based his decision on his own findings, not on what the jury found, because the jury didnt reveal any details. Theres no way to know if they even found the same aggravating factors were at play. On its face, the power the judge wields seems to conflict with the Supreme Courts Hurst decision. The death penalty is an unjust and immoral act, no matter how heinous the crime. It serves no deterrent value, and by the time executions occur, so much time has passed Arthur is 74, and was first sent to death row 34 years ago that it serves no penological purpose. But as long as states and, for that matter, the federal government are going to issue death sentences, they must do so constitutionally. And its up to the Supreme Court to ensure that happens. So far, its been failing. Scott.Martelle@LATimes.com Follow my posts and re-tweets at @smartelle on Twitter President Trump reportedly has decided to retain FBI Director James Comey, though no official announcement has been made by the White House. If Comey is indeed staying on, that will be disappointing news to some notably supporters of Hillary Clinton who blame Comey (along with Vladimir Putin) for her defeat but also other disinterested critics of Comeys actions during last years presidential campaign. But its the right outcome. Comey is in only the fourth year of a statutory 10-year term, fixed by Congress as a way to insulate the director of the FBI from partisanship and to distinguish that law-enforcement official from other officials including the attorney general, the FBI directors nominal superior who are expected to implement a presidents policy preferences. Advertisement True, the president can remove the FBI director at any time, but the fixed term ought to be honored unless the official has engaged in misconduct. Of course, some of Comeys more caustic critics believe he is guilty of just that. They cite one or more of these actions: * His decision to go public last July with his recommendation to the Justice Department that Clinton not be charged with a crime for mishandling classified information about her private email server. * His simultaneous statement that there was evidence that Clinton and her aides had been extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. * His decision to provide Congress with documents relating to interviews with Clinton and other witnesses. * Last and most controversial, his decision 11 days before the election to send Congress a letter (which quickly became public) saying that the FBI had learned of new emails that appear to be pertinent to the Clinton investigation. Although Comey sent Congress another letter two days before the election saying that nothing in the additional emails had altered the FBIs earlier recommendation, the damage had been done. The Justice Departments inspector general is investigating whether policies or procedures were not followed in connection with the Clinton email matter, and he is looking not only at Comeys actions but also those of others. If that investigation were to produce evidence of illegality, Trump obviously could dismiss Comey. But that seems highly unlikely. Even some of Comeys critics acknowledge that the director was faced with a difficult dilemma last summer: a presidential candidate under investigation whose husband himself a former president had recently met with the attorney general who would make the final decision on whether criminal charges would be brought against his wife. Given that situation, Comeys decision to go public with his recommendation is defensible; his later actions, including the letter about the additional emails, much less so. But a firing offense? Then there is the fact that if Comey were to go, Trump would nominate his replacement, at a time when the FBI is continuing to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election designed, in the view of U.S. intelligence agencies, to assist Trump and harm Clinton. Even Comey critics who otherwise might favor a new FBI director will think twice before calling for his head under these circumstances.. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Reno, nicknamed The Biggest Little City in the World, isnt exactly known as a hotbed of political resistance. A small group of people protesting Columbus Day and the Dakota Access Pipeline was purposefully hit by a car under the city arch back in October. The day after Donald Trumps election, the Reno Gazette-Journal estimated the turnout for the ensuing protest was at least 100. So the organizers of Saturdays Reno womens march had low expectations, especially because it had been snowing like crazy and University of Nevada, Reno students were still on winter break. Nevada is an open-carry state, and there were safety concerns. Felicia Perez, a founder of the Reno Solidarity Network and one of the marchs speakers, told me she thought if 200 people show up, its a win for Reno. But just before 9 a.m., the fenced-off streets in front of the federal courthouse began to swell with foot traffic. When marchers looked around to check themselves out, they saw a sea of fellow Northern Nevadans. It was the biggest assembly in the citys history, larger than the anti-war marches of the 60s and the 2006 immigration reform protests; 10,000 people attended, according to the Reno Police Department. Advertisement This whole thing they call tough love thats not mentioned in the Bible. Reno protester Verita Black Protho On Saturday, opposition to President Trump and his administration manifested in massive marches in large coastal cities like Washington, Los Angeles and New York. Less anticipated, however, was the explosion of resistance in smaller cities and towns across America. And while the Womens March on Washington faced criticism for centering on the experiences of cisgender white women a historically repeated navel-gazing made ever more insulting to minority communities by the fact that 53% of white women voted for Trump Renos march was indigenous-led, and organized by activists of many races, religions, sexual orientations, abilities and gender expressions. White women stepped back during the days events and highlighted the long-standing advocacy work of communities of color. When the marchers reached City Plaza, Janice Gardipe of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony offered a gentle blessing before Perez jumped onstage and turned the event into a rock concert: Buenos Dias! Good Morning Biggest Little Marchers! Que Viva La Mujer! Welcome to the resistance! She talked about the rage, sadness, and shock that shed felt since Trumps election. I am the daughter of migrant parents. I am a queer, latinx woman of color. I am only alive today because of the Affordable Care Act. And yes, THIS IS what a woman can look like, she shouted, ripping her pink pussycat hat off to reveal her bald head. The crowd exploded in cheers. Helen Fillmore, a UNR student pursuing her masters degree in hydrology and a descendant of the Washoe Tribe, got the biggest applause of the day when she repeated the Dakota pipeline organizing slogan: Water is life. In Nevada, where mining has polluted many water supplies, the message resonated. We pray that those who say they walk with Christ start acting like they walk with Christ, Verita Black Protho, a local boutique owner and self-labeled progressive Christian, told the crowd. In the Old Testament through the New, were told to care for the poor, the widows, and the orphans. This whole thing they call tough lovethats not mentioned in the Bible. A woman kept running to the front to ask the speakers to talk louder for those in the back. The woofers were rattling from overload. Meanwhile, alt-right media were working overtime to discredit the massive D.C. march and media reports of non-record-setting inauguration attendance figures, arguing that only wealthy liberals or coastal elites could get to Washington. That doesnt explain what happened Saturday. As Cindy Norris, an older white woman who attended with two friends, told me: Im here because for the first time in my life Im standing up for something I believe in. Too many times Ive sat still while bad things happened, and Im not going to do it anymore. Like Norris, each person I spoke with at the Reno march lived in Nevada, and each had hopes for the communities that were incompatible with Trumps agenda. Lots of so-called real Americans are mad as hell too. And whether their states went red or blue, an astounding number of those in the middle are beginning to organize. The past four years Ive been living here, Ive been like, Renos not ready, Perez told me after the march. But theyre ready now. Melissa Batchelor Warnke is a contributing writer to Opinion. Follow her @velvetmelvis on Twitter. 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Democrats in the California Legislature move to condemn President Trumps immigration orders Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra takes a jab at the Trump administration when asked about the battles to come Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print Advertisement 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Copy Link URL Copied! Print 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 FBI Director James B. Comey, the target of bipartisan criticism over his handling of politically sensitive investigations, is staying in his job as head of the law enforcement agency. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms intended to carry across presidential administrations, even when a new party takes over the White House. Comey, who was appointed by President Obama, is in the fourth year of his term and has spoken publicly about his enthusiasm for remaining in the job. President Trump criticized the FBI during his campaign for its decision not to recommend charges against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, over her use of a private email server. He called the bureaus decision a horrible mistake. Advertisement In a CBS 60 Minutes interview after the election, Trump said he hadnt decided whether to keep Comey on, though he did appear to greet the FBI chief warmly last weekend at a ceremony for law enforcement officials. Although an FBI director can be fired by the president, only one since 1976 has been removed prematurely Reagan appointee William Sessions by President Clinton in 1993. Comey was fiercely criticized by Democrats for a letter he sent Congress 11 days before the election that said the FBI had discovered additional emails in the Clinton investigation that it wanted to review. Then, just before election day, he said the emails had done nothing to change the FBIs conclusion. The episode infuriated Clinton supporters who said that the discovery shouldnt have been made public so close to the election, and that it had damaged her chances. Comey has since been criticized for refusing to discuss with Congress any investigation the FBI might be conducting into possible connections between Trump aides and Russian authorities, leading to charges of a double standard. The FBI also has been investigating Russian interference in the election, which the bureau and other intelligence agencies say was aimed at helping Trump win the presidency. The New York Times first reported that Comey would stay on. His name was included on a Justice Department document listing career, term and similarly designated component heads unaffected by the presidential transition. The Associated Press also confirmed that the Trump administration planned to keep Comey as FBI director. Comey would continue to run the agency amid an ongoing Justice Department inspector general investigation, announced this month before Trump took office, into the FBIs handling of the Clinton email inquiry. It will look at whether Comey broke with Justice Department protocol in sending the letters to Congress and whether agents improperly disclosed nonpublic information. Comey has said he welcomes the review. ALSO Trump signs orders pulling out of Pacific trade deal, freezing government hires Trump moves quickly in bid to revamp Americas trade policy What to expect in Trumps first 100 days Trumps White House sets an unapologetically aggressive tone in its first days UPDATES: 5:30 p.m.: The story was updated with additional reporting and background on Comey. The story was originally published at 8:15 a.m. During his rapid rise, Sen. Marco Rubio has been described in many ways charismatic, smart and a young political leader in a hurry. But in a defining moment Monday, with his decision to fall in line with President Trumps pick for secretary of State, Rubio risks a less flattering label: someone who folds under pressure. The Florida senator was the last remaining Republican holdout against Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil executive whose relationship with Russia has drawn widespread scrutiny. Rubio once balked that a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin was not what he wanted in the top U.S. diplomat. Advertisement But facing pressure not to stall Trumps choice, and as other Tillerson critics Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dropped their opposition, Rubio backed down. I believe the president is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the Cabinet, Rubio said in a lengthy statement Monday. He remained critical of Tillerson, calling his views on many issues troubling. He also criticized Tillersons unwillingness to acknowledge Putins alleged war crimes. Despite his extensive experience in Russia and his personal relationship with many of its leaders, he claimed he did not have sufficient information to determine whether Putin and his cronies were responsible for ordering the murder of countless dissidents, journalists and political opponents, Rubio said of Tillerson. At the same time, Rubio sized up the politics and assessed correctly that his opposition was a losing battle. It would stall but not stop Tillersons nomination. He would be wasting political capital. Tillerson is now expected to sail to confirmation. He passed the first hurdle Monday, when senators on the Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 to send his nomination to the full Senate. No Republicans now oppose Tillerson, and Democrats as the minority party do not have enough votes to stop his confirmation. Trump made promises to blue-collar voters. Democrats plan to make sure he follows through Democrats blasted Rubio for failing to stick to his initial skepticism of Trumps pick. By ignoring his serious reservations about Tillersons connections to Vladimir Putin, Marco Rubio is not only rolling over for Donald Trump, hes earning the nickname Trump gave him: Little Marco, said Zac Petkanas, senior advisor at the Democratic National Committee. Defying Trump would have been risky for Rubio, but it also could have been politically beneficial. Rubios profile is poised to rise in the Trump era as a new-generation leader of a Republican Party that remains deeply divided over the president. For many anti-Trump Republicans, the senators failed 2016 presidential bid stands as a stark reminder of what could have been had Trump not swept the nomination. His vote on Tillerson was additionally fraught because part of Rubios political appeal lies in his growing expertise in foreign affairs and national security. He has positioned himself as a counter to Trumps untested America first policy. Standing alone, though, would have come at a cost. Trump has shown he does not welcome detractors and, in fact, holds grudges against them. Prominent Republicans have reportedly been hammering Rubio with the hard sell. Last week, Vice President Mike Pence and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus brought Tillerson to meet with Rubio for a 90-minute session as Trumps team made the case not to delay Tillersons confirmation, according to those familiar with the session. Rubios opposition could have stalled Tillerson in the committee. Rubio emerged more comfortable after the meeting. Tillerson also provided written answers to about 100 questions from the senator. Yet as late as Sunday, Rubio was legitimately torn, said Alex Conant, a longtime Rubio advisor. Its not the first time Rubio has showed an independent streak, only to back off when the politics heated up. Trump and the GOP are charging forward with Obamacare repeal, but few are eager to follow During his first term in the Senate, Rubio was a leader of the so-called Gang of Eight, who crafted a landmark immigration overhaul that was approved by a robust bipartisan majority in the Senate. But as the bill ran into steep resistance, Rubio disassociated himself from the effort. House Republicans refused to consider the measure, and momentum for its passage faded. On the presidential campaign trail, Rubio tried a mix of strategies after Trump started name-calling him as Little Marco, including counter-attacks on Trumps spray tan and small hands. Those backfired, and once Trump became the nominee, Rubio supported him. After his failed presidential bid, Rubio was strongly encouraged to seek reelection to the Senate if he ever hoped to run for president again even though he had already announced he was leaving Congress. GOP leaders at the time were worried his Florida seat could fall to Democrats if he retired. Rubio jumped into the Senate race, and in November won a second term. lisa.mascaro@latimes.com @LisaMascaro ALSO Despite talk of GOP unity, Trumps programs face fight from Republican budget hawks Believe me: People say Trumps language is affecting political discourse bigly Trumps rise draws white supremacists into political mainstream: I am winning, says David Duke Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, a highly regarded conservative jurist best known for upholding religious liberty rights in the legal battles over Obamacare, has emerged as a leading contender for President Trumps first Supreme Court nomination. Gorsuch, 49, was among 21 potential high court candidates circulated by Trumps team during the campaign, but his stock has been rising lately as several admirers and supporters have been named to positions in the Trump administration. He currently serves on the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. A former clerk for Justice Byron White, also a Colorado native, and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, he served in the George W. Bush administrations Justice Department. Advertisement In Gorsuch, supporters see a jurist who has strong academic credentials, a gift for clear writing and a devotion to deciding cases based on the original meaning of the Constitution and the text of statutes, as did the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Just as importantly, Gorsuch is seen as someone who might be more easily confirmed in the Senate. Unlike other appointees of President George W. Bush, Gorsuch won an easy Senate confirmation on a voice vote in 2006. He is very bright, well-respected and quite personable, said John Malcolm, a lawyer at the Heritage Foundation. And theres no question he would not be as contentious as some others. Until recently, the two top contenders for the first Supreme Court nomination by Trump were believed to be Judge William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama, who serves on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta, and Judge Diane Sykes of Wisconsin, who serves on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court in Chicago. Trump mentioned them in a Republican debate after Scalia died. Pryor appeared to have an edge because he is a protege of Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trumps choice for U.S. attorney general. Pryor has been an outspoken critic of abortion rights and gay rights, which won him admirers on the right, but also made him a target for liberals and Democrats. He once described the Roe vs. Wade decision as the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law. While attacks from liberals would be expected, Pryor has also drawn criticism from some activists on the right. In 2011, he signed on to an 11th Circuit opinion by liberal Judge Rosemary Barkett upholding a sex-discrimination complaint filed by a transgender state employee in Georgia. The worker was hired as a man but was fired after returning as a woman. In a 3-0 decision in Glenn vs. Brumby, the 11th Circuit concluded it is unconstitutional sex-based discrimination to fire a state employee because of his or her gender nonconformity. Leonard Leo, an executive vice president of the Federalist Society and an advisor to the Trump team, said in a broadcast interview that Pryor was following legal precedents. But the decision has been cited by some on the right as grounds for opposing him. Perhaps as a result, several other prominent conservative judges like Gorsuch are getting more attention. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that Democrats would fight hard to stop court nominees who were not bipartisan and mainstream. Pryors past comments on abortion and gay rights would almost certainly fuel a confirmation fight. When President George W. Bush nominated him to the 11th Circuit in 2003, Democrats used the filibuster rule to block a vote. Bush then put him in the post temporarily through a recess appointment. He finally won confirmation on a 53-45 vote in 2005 as part of a bipartisan Senate deal led by the so-called Gang of 14. By contrast, Gorsuch does not have a record of strident comments that would fuel a confirmation fight. However, he knows firsthand the rough side of political battles. His mother, Anne Gorsuch Burford, was a conservative Colorado state legislator and a states rights advocate when President Reagan chose her in 1981 to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. She was soon caught up in battles with environmentalists and Democrats on Capitol Hill for allegedly going soft on polluters. She was held in contempt of Congress in 1983 for refusing to turn over documents. She said she had followed the legal advice of the Justice Department. Nonetheless, she was forced to resign in 1983 because the White House saw her as a political distraction. She returned to Colorado and died in 2004. Neil Gorsuch was educated at a prep school in Maryland and has degrees from Columbia University, Harvard Law School and Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate in legal philosophy. His best-known opinions grew out of the dispute over the Obama administrations regulation requiring employers to provide female employees with the full range of contraceptives as part of their health insurance. Catholic groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor and the evangelical Christian family who owned the Hobby Lobby craft stores sued and sought a religious exemption from paying for contraceptives that they said could destroy a fertilized human egg. Both cases ended up in the 10th Circuit, and Gorsuch voiced support for the religious claimants. All of us face the problem of complicity, he wrote in the Hobby Lobby case. And government should not force people with sincerely held religious beliefs to be complicit in conduct their religion teaches them to be gravely wrong. The Supreme Court reached the same decision by a 5-4 vote in 2014. Shortly before he became a judge, Gorsuch wrote a book for Princeton University Press, The Future of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, which reviewed the history and the legal arguments for and against permitting people to have help in ending their lives. He concluded arguing for retaining the laws banning assisted suicide and euthanasia based on the idea that all human beings are intrinsically valuable and the intentional taking of human life by private persons is always wrong. david.savage@latimes.com On Twitter: DavidGSavage ALSO Trumps victory assures a conservative majority on the Supreme Court Asian American band the Slants takes its trademark battle to the Supreme Court: Is it free speech or a racial slur? 114th Congress filled the fewest judgeships since 1952. The 115th presents a big opening for Trump After a shaky few days, the rituals of the presidency worked on Monday to bolster President Trump, establishing a sense of normalcy rarely seen since he announced his unorthodox campaign for the White House in 2015. Trump began his first full weekday in office by meeting with business leaders in the White House about manufacturing as television cameras recorded the moment. He signed an order withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, keeping a campaign promise even if the action was mostly symbolic since the agreement was already effectively dead in Congress. He gathered labor leaders to his side, reaching out to a group that has been a bulwark of Democratic politics; later he met with congressional leaders including some in his own party for whom he was not the first option as president. Advertisement It was routine for a president and that was the point. Video of the meetings made Trump seem both magnanimous and in charge, even if it was not clear how long Mondays righting of the ship would last. (Indeed, in a private meeting with congressional leaders Monday night, he falsely claimed that hed lost the popular vote because millions of illegals voted, according to a congressional aide.) Much of Monday contrasted sharply with Trumps first days in office, which had been marked by controversy and confusion. At his inauguration on Friday, Trump scorned leaders of both parties in an address that darkly exaggerated many of the problems facing the country and did little to appeal to the majority of the country that had not voted for him. On Saturday, angered by coverage of his inauguration and especially the emphasis on his audience being smaller than President Obamas he issued a series of complaints, including several untrue statements, during a speech at CIA headquarters. The visit was meant to smooth over frosty relations with some in the intelligence community, but the use of the setting for a political speech made Trump look less focused on them than on perceived slights. The notion that regular meetings at the White House could give Trump a means to improve his image comes as something of an irony, for the new president came to Washington intent on bashing typical goings-on and taking on the establishment in both parties. Yet Mondays events found Trump for the first time as president publicly back in his comfort zone. He presided over sessions in the White Houses Roosevelt Room as if he were back in a corporate suite or on the similarly-staged set of NBCs The Apprentice, in which Trump starred as the host surrounded by supplicants seeking his good will. This time, the supplicants were titans of business, leaders of organized labor and, later in the day, members of Congress. Being seen taking part in the rituals of a work day is important for several reasons: Trumps opponents have worked to portray him as unhinged, capable of plunging the nation into an international crisis at any turn. But Mondays images if sustained could begin to counter that view, particularly as Americans see him preaching the mom-and-apple-pie imperatives of creating more blue-collar employment. Were going to put a lot of people back to work, were going to use common sense, and were going to do it the way its supposed to be done, Trump said during the labor meeting, which was televised. Were going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country, and its going to be reversed. I think youre going to have a lot of companies come back to our country. For more on politics That was the same message Trump had offered every day of his campaign, but this time it was uttered in measured presidential, even tones. Media studies have shown that visuals register more strongly than the spoken or written word; viewers which means voters are captivated by what they see and tend to ignore what they hear. To the extent that holds true, Mondays pictures helped to offset any recounting of Trumps calamity-filled weekend. Particularly for those making the turn from celebrity to chief executive, simply being seen performing the job can make the officeholder seem more normal. That has been true with a host of figures from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former movie star, to Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota senator and former Saturday Night Live comedian. People watch TV news in small segments. To see the guy being president, to see the guy being governor, thats reassuring, said Stu Spencer, who worked for several Republican presidents, including Ronald Reagan. He noted that for the same reason, presidents who take time off to campaign often see their popularity fall. In Trumps case, the work day was meant to show him as a listening president who is engaged in trying to make peoples lives better, as his spokesman, Sean Spicer, described him in a Monday afternoon briefing. That is decidedly not the same as campaign Trump, who spent most of his time in one-way communication, delivering angry speeches to his large and enthusiastic audiences. While Monday was a day of symbolism for Trump, it did not deliver surprises. Much of what Trump has done in the first few days has simply undone what President Obama did in his first few days. In his third full day in office, for example, Obama had lifted a ban on U.S. support for international organizations that provide abortion services, a measure first instituted in 1984 by President Reagan. On his third full day in office Monday, Trump reversed Obamas reversal, putting the ban back in effect. The meetings with business leaders and labor and Trumps abandonment of the Pacific trade agreement, a move that he cast as putting American jobs first were similar to early steps taken by Obama, who came into office facing more dire economic difficulties and a cratering labor market. The focus on the economy is smart politically. Trump inherited an economy that has steadily improved and an unemployment rate that has dropped substantially. Yet the swiftness of the past economic decline and the unevenness of the recovery has left many Americans fearful and pessimistic, particularly in the industrial states where Trump sealed his victory in November. That has only heightened the need for Trump to be seen, as he was Monday, as focusing on economic matters. Trump also must present himself as a man of action because he lacks the rhetorical gifts of his predecessor. Heres the thing that I think is going to be very different [about] this president: Its going to be about action and success, Spicer said at a press briefing last week, when asked about Trumps inaugural address. And hes going to be judged a lot more on his action and success than sort of soaring rhetoric. Yet Obamas first few days also provide a reminder that judging whether a presidents actions will prove successful takes time. On his second day in office, Obama signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp within a year, a measure hailed by human rights advocates and diplomats. As he left office Friday, nearly eight years later, Guantanamo was much reduced, but still open, a stubborn reminder that the desires in the early days of an administration can be frustratingly difficult to translate into reality. cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker ALSO: Huge rallies signal emerging anti-Trump movement, but sustaining momentum could prove difficult What to expect in Trumps first 100 days Updates on California politics It was quick and easy for President Trump to fulfill his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership. With a stroke of his new presidential pen, he buried the massive Pacific free-trade agreement that the Obama administration had painstakingly negotiated, even though the 12-nation accord had been moribund for the last year after losing political support. It had little chance of being ratified by Congress. The real questions are: What will Trump replace it with? And when and how will he remake Americas economic relations with the rest of the world? Advertisement Nobody really knows for sure what Trump will do on trade because he has spoken only in generalities, threatening high tariffs and other tough measures against countries and American companies that move operations abroad. Trumps goal is to reverse the trade deficit and bring back jobs to U.S. shores. To many, he has sounded alarmingly protectionist, although it isnt clear how much of that is merely rhetoric to bring trading partners to the negotiating table. Trumps trade policies will probably become clearer with his approach to reshaping the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which has been in force since 1993 and accounts for about $1 trillion of U.S. merchandise trade. The president said Monday that he would begin renegotiating NAFTA at the appropriate time, but White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Trump had already spoken to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his desire to reopen NAFTA negotiations. And I think as he meets with both of these individuals over the next 30 days or so, thats gonna be a topic, Spicer said. Trumps appointments suggest that the administration is serious about taking a sharply different, more aggressive tack on trade than recent past administrations, particularly involving China, the United States top trading partner. Yet Trumps Cabinet officials also include international business people and investors who have generally backed free trade. Trumps secretary of State nominee, Rex Tillerson, said that he did not oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That is one X factor, said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizens Global Trade Watch. Is he going to be able to simply implement what hes stated or will he be getting a pushback from his Cabinet as well as the congressional leadership? One strategy that Trump confirmed Monday was that he would be pursuing bilateral trade talks instead of multiparty deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Were going to have trade, but were going to have one on one, and if somebody misbehaves, were going to send them a letter of termination, 30 days, and theyll either straighten it out or were gone, Trump told reporters after meeting with union leaders in the White House. An advantage of bilateral trade negotiations is that the U.S. can focus on a single country and not have to make concessions to satisfy a third party, although multilateral deals can offer commercial and geopolitical benefits that apply to many countries in a single swoop. Trumps pick for Commerce secretary assures lawmakers he is not anti-trade The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which stood to be the worlds largest regional trade accord, accounting for 40% of global economic output, was the linchpin of the Obama administrations strategy to bind the region around an American-designed system of trade and commerce, essentially providing a counterweight to Chinas increasing influence in the region. Although the Pacific deal was concluded more than a year ago, it never took effect, and Trumps action Monday made clear it would not be revived, as some congressional Republicans had sought. The U.S. already has a free-trade deal with six of the Trans-Pacific Partnership countries, but the pact would have added Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia. It would have uniformly lowered or eliminated tariffs on many goods, and created common standards and rules of practice on a wide range of trade and investment activities. The Pacific agreement was widely rejected by congressional Democrats, unions and consumer groups as favoring corporations and not taking a strong position against currency manipulation or providing better protections for patients, workers and the environment. We appreciate that Donald Trump laid it in its grave, said Thea Lee, deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But thats only a first and small step. While there are signs of more aggressive trade actions on the part of Trump, Lee said it wasnt clear how Trumps approach one of his popular refrains is buy American would manifest itself in actual trade policies. The incoming administration has a narrower vision of America first, she said. It could be negotiated and be worse for working people. Alan Deardorff, a professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan, worried that Trumps intent to renegotiate NAFTA could be very harmful if it restores the tariffs and other barriers to trade between the U.S. and Mexico that existed prior to NAFTA. That would destroy, but not replace, the complicated North American supply chains that have grown under NAFTA and sustain much of U.S. manufacturing. Canada and Mexico are the United States top two export destinations. American shipment of goods to Mexico totaled $212 billion last year, up from just $4.5 billion in 1993 when NAFTA was signed. Yet imports from Mexico have surged even more, particularly cars and car parts and electronics, to a total of about $271 billion in the first 11 months last year from almost $40 billion in 1993. The result was a U.S. trade deficit of $58.8 billion through November last year, contrasted to a small surplus of $1.7 billion in 1993. Trade with Canada is more balanced, with the U.S. running a shortfall of about $9 billion last January to November. Trade experts agree that NAFTA is ripe for revisions, given its age and the need to update and incorporate rules and standards for areas like ecommerce and other aspects reflecting a more high-tech, service-based economy. Americas biggest trade deficit in goods is with China, about $319 billion through November last year. Trump and his nominees to oversee trade have had the harshest words for China, pledging to upend the way Washington deals with Chinas trade and commercial relations. The U.S. has 20 free-trade agreements in force, but none with China. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, reckons it wont be difficult for Trump to launch renegotiations on NAFTA. Both governments said, Were ready, bring it on, he said of Mexico and Canada. The negotiations are almost certain to take many months and will most likely be led by Trumps nominee to be the U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer, a veteran trade lawyer, and Wilbur Ross, named to serve as the new Commerce secretary. Both are expected to be confirmed by the Senate. Peter Navarro, a UC Irvine professor who was named by Trump to lead a new White House-based trade office, is also expected to play a role. At his confirmation hearing last week, Ross, a billionaire financier who has invested in distressed steel, textile and other manufacturing companies, spoke critically of the low wages of Mexican workers. He suggested that he might push to renegotiate NAFTAs rules of origin a provision that allows a certain percentage of content made outside of NAFTA countries to be shipped duty-free when they are included in the final product traded among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Trump has vowed to slash regulations. Where he might start and the hurdles he faces Ross also expressed support for strengthening the federal governments procurement practice of favoring domestic suppliers. Many in Canada appear to be bracing for increased tariffs and reduced exports to the U.S., some experts there said. Everybody has come to terms with the idea that they need to pay a higher price to access the U.S. market, said Domenico Lombardi, a global economist at the Center for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada. James Bacchus, a former Democratic House member from Florida and onetime chairman of the World Trade Organizations appellate body, said it was much too early to tell how the U.S. would approach the negotiations, much less what the shape of a revised NAFTA might look like. The Trump administration has not yet laid out its negotiating agenda, nor explained what its bottom line will be, he said. If Trump doesnt get a sufficient amount of what he wants, he has warned that he would withdraw from NAFTA outright. But Bacchus said that was an unlikely scenario. What would that be, he asked, or is that simply a negotiating tactic? don.lee@latimes.com Follow me at @dleelatimes ALSO: Reality check: Manufacturers returning to U.S. may mean jobs for robots, not people Why this is the perfect time to invest in infrastructure, and why it probably wont happen Millennials arent big spenders or risk-takers, and thats going to reshape the economy President Trumps top spokesman gave an unusually raw assessment of his bosss views about the media Monday. Even after moving into the White House, the new leader of the free world doesnt appear to have gotten over the slights of not being taken seriously. Trump finds whats written and said about him frustrating, disillusioning, demoralizing and undermining to his credibility, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters gathered for his first formal briefing. Its not about one tweet. Its not about one picture. Its about a constant theme, Spicer said in a lengthy monologue. Its about sitting here every time and being told, No. Well, we dont think he can do that. Hell never accomplish that. He cant win that. It wont be the biggest. Its not gonna be that good. The crowds arent that big. Hes not that successful. Advertisement Spicer spent more time on the subject than on any other issue during a briefing of more than an hour in which he was asked about such weighty topics as the U.S. Embassy in Israel, immigration and tax reform. Of course, presidents and their staffs have been complaining about the press long before the advent of Twitter or television. Usually, they gripe to reporters privately while accepting that the intense scrutiny is part of the job. But its seldom discussed publicly, in so much detail, with so much anguish and so soon after a president has taken office. And it helps explain why Trump has sparred so vigorously with the press over the size of the crowds at his inauguration, sending Spicer out Saturday to falsely assert they were the biggest ever, rather than move on to more substantive battles over policy. Trump comes into office with the lowest approval ratings for a new president in decades. His clashes with the media, which helped fuel his rise but have been his foil in rallying his anti-establishment base, promise to remain a constant in his administration. One of his most influential advisors, Stephen Bannon, until recently ran Breitbart News, a conservative website that feeds off its antagonism of the mainstream media. Another top advisor, Kellyanne Conway, coined the phrase alternative facts on Sunday to explain why Trump and his aides were, once again, at odds with fact-checkers. In making his case that Trump has been mistreated, Spicer reached back to doubts expressed by pundits that began before Trump ran for president. Spicer keyed in on primary battles where he said Trump was underestimated. He complained about an erroneous news report, which had to be corrected, that Trump removed a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. from the White House. And he painted a vivid picture of a man staring out at a sea of supporters during the inauguration Friday, only to feel stung later that he wasnt given enough credit for his popularity. Its an amazing view, Spicer said. And then to hear, Well, look at this shot, and ... It wasnt that big. Its a little demoralizing because when youre sitting there and youre looking out and youre in awe of just how awesome that view is and how many people are there and you go back and you turn on the television and you see shots of comparing this and that. Even as Spicer struck a more conciliatory tone with the media on Monday than he did over the weekend, smiling often and exchanging banter, he continued to insist he had not misled in his attempts Saturday to assert that more people viewed Trumps inauguration than any other in history. White House veterans from President Obamas staff had little sympathy for Spicer, even as they agreed the glare of the press can be harsh on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Welcome to the major leagues, said Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama communications advisor, in an email. And they found it rich that Trump, who grew his political following by questioning Obamas legitimacy and American birthplace, is now complaining that others are trying to undercut his credibility as president. This is your prize, said Bill Burton, another Obama alumnus. You can complain about it for the next four years or you can accept the fact there is a press corps that is going to write things that you dont agree with on a day-to-day basis. But Ari Fleischer, a former press secretary for George W. Bush, said he thought Spicer and Trump were voicing a frustration felt by many Republicans, who believe the press has a liberal bias and a particular grudge against Trump. Fleischer had been critical of Spicers performance Saturday, where he felt Spicer was on thinner ground, but he gave the press secretary high marks Monday. In the past, a lot of Republicans have thought what Trump thinks, and then they bite their tongue, Fleischer said. Trump doesnt bite his tongue. noah.bierman@latimes.com Twitter: @noahbierman As millions of demonstrators marched across America, in a panoramic rebuke to the countrys new president, the interim head of the Democratic Party looked on approvingly. Its a real movement organization, resources, leaders and institutional support, said Donna Brazile, who got her start in politics knocking on doors in her poor neighborhood outside New Orleans. While politicians attended, they didnt organize this event. Thats real power. Grass-roots at its core. But will it matter much beyond last weekend? In the halls of Congress, in office towers and break rooms, on park benches, really anywhere two or more left-leaning activists gathered, the questions Monday were the same: Was the Womens March on Washington and around the country the start of a history-bending political movement? Or merely a way for Trump-loathing Democrats and their allies to blow off steam in a great gust of pink-hued protest? Advertisement How celebrities at the Womens March say theyll reflect the change they want to see in America Honestly, were still trying to figure that out, said Ben Tulchin, a pollster for the insurgent presidential candidacy of Bernie Sanders. Tulchin spent the day with his 5-year-old son while his wife and 7-year-old daughter joined Saturdays demonstration in San Francisco. Prior to the march, we were all trying to figure out what resistance to President Trump will look like, Tulchin said. Today, were trying to anticipate where it goes from here. Organizers of the protest were laying concrete plans, hoping to capitalize on the momentum before it dissipates. Even before the marchers left Washington there were workshops, instructing women on the nuts and bolts of running for office back home. Planned Parenthood held a training session for 2,000 organizers on how to build support and fight efforts to end its federal funding. The website promoting the march called for 10 follow-up steps in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, starting with a postcard-writing campaign directed at the U.S. Senate; it promised nine more suggestions to come. Plans were already underway for another big protest in Washington in April, to promote continued government action to fight climate change. Its absolutely critical the Womens March not become a one-off, said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, a leader of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the chief organizers of Saturdays protest. The intent is that the Womens March is really the inauguration of the defense against Donald Trump. For all their spectacle, however, the nationwide demonstrations cannot overcome deep divisions within the Democratic Party, which stands, for now, as the leading edge of the anti-Trump opposition. Participants in Saturdays march for womens rights gather outside City Hall in Los Angeles. (Stuart Palley / For The Times) Brazile, who has spent decades working for Democratic candidates and causes, is seen as an enemy by many of her ideological soulmates, precisely because she has spent so many years as a party operative. (Notably, she was in Europe on Saturday, watching the protests from overseas.) The contest for her replacement as the partys national chair has become a proxy battle between supporters of Sanders and Hillary Clinton, who continue to harbor ill will over their acrimonious fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Similar battles are underway to lead state parties across the country, and the bitterness among Democrats did not suddenly dissolve as a result of Saturdays massive demonstrations. For some, the huge turnout brought sadness and angry thoughts of what might have been. If I spoke at any march I would say this: Being here today does not forgive you of your sins against not doing enough for Hillary Clinton, said Michael Trujillo, a Democratic strategist who worked for both of her presidential campaigns. Marching today isnt about checking off some box before visiting the Arts District, Trujillo went on, referring to the trendy neighborhood on the edge of downtown Los Angeles. Its about dedicating every Saturday to calling voters for the (2018 elections). Absent that, I guess Thank you for the nice visuals on CNN. The most successful protest movements have been a culmination of years of effort and unity around a common purpose: ending the Vietnam War, promoting civil rights or, more recently, thwarting the sweeping federal healthcare law passed under President Obama. By contrast, Saturdays demonstrations served up a smorgasbord of political causes: the plight of Native Americans, environmental justice, reproductive rights, religious freedom, gay rights, immigration rights, gun control, education funding, and more. It was the biggest ever give or take a million. Heres why you should be skeptical when it comes to counting crowds The one unifying thread was opposition to Trump and Republicans who now control Congress and that, Casey-Lefkowitz insisted, is a very, very durable force binding Democrats and their allies and, most importantly, ensuring they stay active and engaged. That feeling of empowerment is one thats going to continue, she said. That, of course, remains to be seen. For now, protest organizers are eager to act before the moment, and its emotional pitch, fades away. Emilys List, a Democratic group that supports female candidates, held a Sunday morning training session for hundreds of protesters who came to Washington, encouraging them to return home and invest their energies at the state and local levels. The best candidates are the ones who want to fix something, or who are mad as hell, said Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for Emilys List. Right now theres a beautiful combination of those factors and were working diligently to take advantage of that. mark.barabak@latimes.com @markzbarabak Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report. ALSO The science behind crowd counting Madonna clarifies blowing up the White House comment: Taken wildly out of context Trump takes step toward reshaping U.S. trade and freezes hiring of federal workers The White House indicated Monday that President Trump would be open to military cooperation with Russia to fight Islamic State, a move that would be a big policy change for the U.S. government, and one that would run afoul of current law. I think if theres a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether its Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, well take it, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters, using an acronym for the militant group. U.S. military cooperation with the Russians would upend the relationship between the two former Cold War adversaries, which have been on the opposite sides in the Syrian conflict since the beginning of Russian military involvement more than a year ago. Advertisement But a provision of the National Defense Authorization Act first passed by Congress late in 2014 and renewed since then strictly limits the Pentagons ability to work with Russia. The law was passed in response to Moscows annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its continued involvement in the Ukrainian civil war. Talks between the two countries militaries have been severely limited since Congress passed the law, which prohibits military cooperation until Russia has ceased its occupation of Ukrainian territory and its aggressive activities that threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Pentagon and the Russian military established an emergency communications line in October 2015 to ensure that the two nations pilots do not mistakenly run into or fire on each other in their bombing runs over Syria. The two sides speak three times a week, U.S. officials said. U.S. planes have carried out thousands of airstrikes in Syria against Islamic State as part of a coalition that has involved NATO and Arab air forces. The coalitions strikes in Syria and in Iraq are coordinated each day by a U.S. command center in Qatar, where officials from dozens of countries are represented so each knows where others are operating. Russian aircraft have been conducting a separate air campaign to support Syrian President Bashar Assad in the countrys blood-soaked six-year civil war. Russia began bombing Syrian rebel positions in September 2015. When U.S. and Russian diplomats announced a temporary Syrian cease-fire agreement late last year, there was hope of additional communication between the two militaries. But that truce effort quickly collapsed after a U.N. aid convoy was bombed by Russia and a U.S. airstrike hit a Syrian army base. Each side accused the other of bad faith. The Kremlin has repeatedly angled to collaborate further with the U.S. to share intelligence and targeting information in the Syrian war. Pentagon officials have been uneasy about any such arrangement because coordinating with Moscow would mean the U.S. would share responsibility for Russian actions. The Russian military has routinely bombed Syrian hospitals, schools, and civilian centers in addition to dropping cluster and incendiary weapons with impunity, according to U.S. officials, rebel groups in Syria and independent observers. Russia has hit few Islamic State targets, according to senior Pentagon officials. I think their activities in Syria have been backwards and counterproductive, former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in his final news conference Jan. 10. In a Senate hearing this month, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) accused the Russians of having committed war crimes in Syria. On Monday, the Russian defense ministry said warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition had participated in a strike alongside Russian aircraft and that the U.S. had relayed coordinates of Islamic State positions. The Pentagon quickly denied the claim. The Department of Defense is not coordinating airstrikes with the Russian military in Syria, Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said in a statement. william.hennigan@latimes.com Twitter: @wjhenn ALSO: Climate change is real: Just ask the Pentagon Overweight, tattooed, stoned? The Pentagon may still want you Captured battlefield cellphones, computers are helping the U.S. target and kill Islamic States leaders The official list of candidates seeking to replace former Rep. Xavier Becerra in Congress includes 23 candidates who will appear on the ballot and another candidate who has qualified as a write-in. Becerra, now attorney general, resigned from Congress to fill the vacancy created when Kamala Harris was elected to the U.S. Senate. For the record: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Wallace is a former employee of the city of Santa Monica. Speculation as to who will prevail in an already crowded race to replace Becerra has been building. Advertisement The final, certified list of candidates released by Secretary of State Alex Padilla includes 19 Democrats, a Republican, a Green Party candidate, a Libertarian and an independent. The write-in candidate, Michelle Hope Walker is also a Democrat. A special election primary in the district, which covers much of L.A.s downtown, Koreatown and Eastside, will be held April 4. If no single candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a general election runoff is scheduled for June 6. Here are the candidates: Robert Lee Ahn, 41, Democrat: An attorney and former Los Angeles city planning commissioner appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti. Ahn was born and raised in Los Angeles after his parents immigrated from South Korea. Ahn resigned from the planning commission Feb. 1. Vanessa Aramayo, 39, Democrat: A public affairs consultant and stay-at-home mom who was the former executive director for the California Partnership, a statewide group focused on economic justice. Aramayo has also worked as a staffer in the Assembly and Congress and was born to immigrant parents in Glendale. Maria Cabildo, 49, Democrat: A longtime Boyle Heights activist who until recently served as director of homeless initiatives for the L.A. County Community Development Commission. The daughter of immigrants, she helped co-found the East Los Angeles Community Corp., a nonprofit focused on economic development and housing. Alejandra Campoverdi, 37, Democrat: A former Obama White House staffer who also briefly worked for the Los Angeles Times, leaving in July. A graduate of Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of Government, Campoverdi was raised by her mother in Santa Monica. Arturo Carmona, 38, Democrat: Former deputy political director for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign who most recently worked for Latino digital startup network Mitu. Carmona was born in Downey but spent several years as a child living with his parents in Mexico. Wendy Carrillo, 36, Democrat: A labor activist and former journalist and radio personality who was an early Sanders supporter and spent several weeks at the Dakota Access Pipeline protest. Brought to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador as a child, she later became a citizen and recently spoke about her experience at the Womens March on Washington. Ricardo De La Fuente, 27, Democrat: A businessman who helps run his familys real estate and land development business and most recently served as campaign director for his fathers failed presidential campaign. Born in San Diego, De La Fuente recently moved to downtown Los Angeles. Adrienne Nicole Edwards, 29, Democrat: A housing counselor and community organizer who ran against Becerra twice, most recently in 2016, when she received 23% of the vote. Yolie Flores, 54, Democrat: A former Los Angeles Unified School District board member with a degree in social work who now helps run the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, an education nonprofit. She was born in El Paso to Mexican immigrant parents and raised in Huntington Park. Melissa Sharkie Garza, 38, Democrat: A filmmaker and producer who owns her own company. Born and raised in Orange County, Garza has a master of fine arts from Chapman University. Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez, 42, Democrat: First elected in 2012, Gomez is a former political director for the United Nurses Assns. of California, organizer for labor union AFSCME and teacher. A Harvard graduate whose parents and siblings are Mexican immigrants, Gomez grew up mostly in Riverside. Sara Hernandez, 33, Democrat: Former downtown director for L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar who until recently was executive director of Coro Southern California, a public affairs institute. Raised in Salinas, Calif., Hernandez worked for a time as a teacher and launched a nonprofit that helps students obtain scholarships to elite private schools. Steven Mac, 35, Democrat: Deputy district attorney for L.A. County and a former military intelligence officer who serves in the Army Reserve. Raised mostly in South Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, Macs parents are ethnic Chinese immigrants who fled Vietnam in the 1970s. Angela E. McArdle, 33, Libertarian: A paralegal who works with foreclosure and tenant cases. A graduate of Biola University, McArdle grew up in Texas and Southern California. Kenneth Mejia, 26, Green Party: A certified public accountant who became a registered voter last year so he could vote for Sanders in the presidential primary. Raised mostly by his mother, a nurse and Filipino immigrant, Mejia ran as a Democratic write-in candidate against Becerra in June. Sandra Mendoza, 48, Democrat: A program manager at the Los Angeles city clerks office who previously worked in the garment industry and as a union organizer. Mendoza came to the U.S. illegally from El Salvador as an unaccompanied minor and later became a citizen. She ran against Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) in 2014 and 2016. Raymond Meza, 32, Democrat: Union organizer for SEIU Local 721 who helped lead the Fight for $15 minimum wage campaign in California. He was raised in Montecito Heights, mostly by his mother. William Rodriguez Morrison, 54, Republican: An apartment building manager and perennial candidate who has run for L.A. City Council, the state Senate and L.A. mayor. Mark Edward Padilla, 52, no party preference: An administrator at an immigration law firm and former Catholic school teacher who sits on the board of an anti-abortion rights crisis pregnancy center in Montebello. Armando Sotomayor, Democrat: A community volunteer who lives in Carson and whose work is mostly focused in Long Beach. A former Republican who ran as a Democrat last year against Isadore Hall and Nanette Barragan in the 44th Congressional District primary, finishing in third place before endorsing Barragan. Richard Joseph Sullivan, Democrat: An attorney who received his law degree from Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. Tracy Van Houten, 34, Democrat: An aerospace engineer for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where she worked on the Mars Curiosity rover. A graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, shes a mother of two and a longtime resident of Pasadena. Michelle Hope Walker, 45, Democrat: A comedian and activist who qualified as a write-in candidate on March 21. Walker ran as an independent presidential candidate last year but was not on Californias ballot. She also previously ran for Assembly in 2014. Tenaya Wallace, 42, Democrat: A strategist who specializes in public education campaigns for businesses and nonprofits. Born in Los Angeles, Wallace now lives in Silver Lake. Candidates who have dropped out: Alex Poulton, 30, Democrat: A data analyst for a medical company who formerly worked in film production. Candidates who did not complete filing requirements: Jason Ahn, Democrat: A physician who is currently a National Clinician Scholar at UCLA. Ahn directed a documentary called Divided Families about the impact of the Korean War. Keith Kirkwood, 33, Democrat: A businessman and former model who serves on the Mid City West Community Council, part of Los Angeles network of neighborhood councils. Karl Siganporia, 28, Republican: An attorney who lives in San Jose, Siganporia explored a run as a Democrat in the 33rd Congressional District in 2014. He dropped out to run as a write-in candidate against Rep. Brad Sherman later that year. SIGN UP for our free Essential Politics newsletter christine.maiduc@latimes.com For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc. ALSO Heres what 23 candidates in L.A.s congressional race say on the top issues Updates on California politics California attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra is warned against suing Trump early and often Early poll in race to replace Becerra suggests voters care most about healthcare, immigration and opposing Trump For attorney general nominee Xavier Becerra, immigration is a personal issue UPDATES: March 22, 5:20 p.m.: This article was updated with Walkers write-in candidacy. March 21, 7:30 a.m.: This article was updated with Edwards age and the date of Ahns resignation from the L.A. City Planning Commission. Feb. 15, 5:15 p.m.: This article was updated with the official list of certified candidates. Feb. 10, 4:35 p.m.: This article was updated with the latest candidate count after the filing deadline. Feb. 7, 12:35 p.m.: This article was updated to add Jason Ahn and Mark Edward Padilla. Feb. 1, 10:11 a.m.: This article was updated to include Edwards entry into the race. Jan. 27, 4:29 p.m.: This article was updated to include De La Fuentes entry into the race. Jan. 25, 4:26 p.m.: This article was updated to include the special election dates. Jan. 24, 5:50 p.m.: This article was updated to clarify that Yolie Flores has a degree in social work. This article was originally published on Jan. 24 at 11:15 a.m. Lawyers for the state and businesses clashed in a Sacramento appeals court Tuesday over how much power California has to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and whether that authority includes raising revenue for lawmakers to spend. The case could determine the future of the states cap-and-trade program, which requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The program is the centerpiece of Californias climate agenda and has been extolled as an international model in the fight against global warming, but opponents argue that it constitutes an unconstitutional tax. A decision, which is expected from the state appeals court judges within three months, has been hotly anticipated by businesses and advocates whose next steps hinge on which way the court rules. Spectators and journalists began lining up outside the courthouse before it opened on Tuesday morning, and there werent enough seats in the courtroom for everyone to watch the proceedings. Advertisement National environmental organizations have vociferously defended the cap-and-trade program, one of the few such initiatives anywhere in the world. The groups are particularly concerned about any stumbling block in California with President Trump promising to roll back environmental regulations in Washington. With the federal government seemingly stepping back from climate leadership, Californias example is even more important, said Erica Morehouse, a lawyer for the Environmental Defense Fund. Cap and trade was devised by the California Air Resources Board to meet emissions-reduction goals set by lawmakers in 2006, and the first permits were auctioned off in 2012. However, the original legislation wasnt passed with a two-thirds vote, the legal threshold for raising tax revenue. The state should not be allowed to collect money through the program, said James Parrinello, the attorney representing the California Chamber of Commerce, one of the organizations suing the state. The Air Resources Board is asking for a blank check granting the power to raise whatever revenue it wants, Parrinello said. He added that he believes that because greenhouse gas emissions are the inevitable result of modern society, regulators could start charging Californians for how far they drive to limit tailpipe emissions, or how much milk they drink because cows produce methane. All human activity creates greenhouse gases, he said. [Regulators] could say those activities are privileges and levy a fee on them. Parrinello said the revenue produced by cap and trade now in the billions of dollars since the first auction in 2012 is essentially a government slush fund. Some of the money is used to fund the construction of the bullet train from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Follow live coverage from the Capitol on Essential Politics David Zonana, a deputy attorney general representing the Air Resources Board, defended the revenue by saying its being used to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, furthering the goal of the regulations. For example, spending cap-and-trade revenue on affordable housing developments helps slash emissions if its close to transit lines, reducing the amount of time people drive, he said. Zonana said cap and trade is a legitimate regulatory tool. Greenhouse gases are an enormous environmental problem, he said. Cap and trade is tested and well-suited to that problem. The court should not second guess the decision of regulators, Zonana added. Zonana also said cap and trade isnt a tax because buying pollution permits through a state auction isnt required under the 2006 emissions-reduction law. Companies could also trade for the credits on a market, or modify their operations to lower emissions. But thats not how the system works in practice, Parrinello said. Companies often have no other choice besides buying permits unless they want to shut down. An income tax is voluntary because people can quit their jobs, he said. Attorneys were reluctant to predict which way the court will rule once a decision is released in the coming weeks or months. You cant handicap what the decision is, said Tony Francois, a lawyer for the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing some of the businesses challenging the program. chris.megerian@latimes.com Twitter: @chrismegerian ALSO The immediate threat to Californias climate-change fight isnt Trump, its this Californias cap-and-trade program faces daunting hurdles to avoid collapse Updates on California politics Donald Trump the candidate denounced Chinas trade policies. But one of his first acts as president handed the country its best chance yet to rival the U.S. as global economic leader. Trump on Monday officially scrapped the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pen stroke that reversed his predecessors push toward Asia and dashed the last-minute hopes of Pacific Rim member nations trying to resist Chinas gravitational pull. The move delighted Beijing, which no longer needs to worry about a U.S.-led deal Chinese officials saw as an attempt to undermine its rise. These leaders now have a rare opportunity to tilt the geopolitical landscape and promote an agenda more aligned with Chinas goals for global trade. Advertisement If China is required to play that leadership role, then China will assume its responsibilities, Zhang Jun, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministrys international economic affairs department, told reporters on Monday. The 12-member TPP, which stretched from Japan to Peru but did not include China, aimed to create a free-trade zone for about 40% of the worlds economy. It would have cut tariffs and set rules for trade disputes, the environment and intellectual property. The Obama administration viewed it as key strategy to expanding U.S. influence in the region. Trump has long criticized international trade agreements and said his executive action would protect American workers from low-wage countries like Vietnam and Malaysia, two other members of the accord. The TPP came hand in hand with a vision about what the world order looked like, said Danny Quah, an economics professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. It had to do with America being in the center writing the rules of the game that benefit everyone. Nothing revealed the diverging attitudes clearer than two speeches last week Trumps inaugural address and Chinese President Xi Jinpings keynote at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. While Xi advocated free trade, Trump embraced protectionism. Europe is distracted by its own wave of populism, leaving few major economies to fill the void. Without China or America, Asia-Pacific countries would create their own various trade deals, which would be a total mess, said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing think tank. But Xis China is also one where civil rights lawyers are jailed for speaking out and regulations make it nearly impossible for foreign businesses to compete. Officials on Monday announced a crackdown on virtual private networks that allow Internet users to circumvent the countrys censorship system. Critics fear the communist country will determine new global roles that arent in the interests of the U.S. or its allies, such as deals without human rights assurance or worker protections. Failure to move forward on initiatives like the TPP would create a void that China is all too happy to fill, and one that would leave our closest military allies and partners no choice but to line up behind China, former U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in a speech this month just before leaving office. The TPP had appeal among leaders from Tokyo to Hanoi because it helped keep China at arms distance. Japans parliament ratified the TPP agreement last week, a largely symbolic show for a dead treaty at least one with U.S. participation. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc even this month held out hope that Trump would reconsider his pledge to pull out of the deal. Analysts considered Vietnam which has leaped from one of the worlds poorest countries to one of its fastest-growing economies to be among the TPPs biggest potential winners. Now the Southeast Asian nation has little choice but to turn to its northern neighbor, its largest trading partner with which it also shares a fraught relationship. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea have stoked further tension between the two countries. When asked about their greatest concerns, many Vietnamese answer in one word: China. People worry about the vacuum, that theres some space left behind with the new administration that will be filled by China, said Vu Thanh Tu Anh, director of research at the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam and Malaysia are now looking to a China-backed trade deal with 16 Asia-Pacific states known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. Australias prime minister said Tuesday the country would try to salvage the TPP without the U.S. and that China might be able to join a revamped accord. China continues to develop a trade path along the ancient Silk Road, an effort to expand influence westward. The country also supports a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific. If we focus on RCEP we will not face any major loss in the face of the TPPs collapse, said Datuk Ahmad Maslan, Malaysias deputy minister of international trade and industry, according to the countrys official Bernama news agency. Such countries, at least for now, have few other options. If you are an [Asian] economy facing slower growth, where do you go? said Malcolm Cook, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. China seems to be the only one in the game. Meyers is a special correspondent. Twitter: @jessicameyers Yingzhi Ying and Nicole Liu in the Times Beijing bureau contributed to this report. ALSO What Trumps orders on trade, abortion and federal hiring really do and dont do With Trump in the White House, Israel moves aggressively to build on disputed land A terrorist attack in Germany could have hurt Angela Merkel politically. So far, it hasnt Iraqs prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul fully liberated from Islamic State militants after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began. Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider Abadi hailed the unmatched heroism of all security forces factions and public support for the operation. Advertisement Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse, al-Abadi said, using the Arabia acronym for Islamic State. The heroism of our security forces was behind Daeshs defeat. Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city and Islamic States last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, Abadi told the Associated Press: I cant tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so. Hundreds of civilians fled on foot from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. Meanwhile, Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial. His comments came a day after ordering a probe into a video on social media purportedly showing government troops beating and killing at least three Islamic State suspects in Mosul. On Monday, a provincial investigative committee in western Anbar province concluded its probe into human rights violations in June near the town of Fallujah. It found that a member of a Shiite militia killed 17 civilians, Abadi said. The militiaman, affiliated with the Badr Organization, is in detention and awaiting trial, he said. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of Mosul in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west, Grande said in the statement. We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives. ALSO The key to success in latest Syrian peace talks: low expectations In a final insult, Gambias ex-leader looted millions of dollars, his successor says White House opens door to military cooperation with Moscow, but it would be illegal All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced. 19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc. Brazilian medical services unit could raise as much as $272m if it sells shares at the top of the range Sunscreen vs. Umbrella: Putting On Sunscreen Protects Skin Better Than Shade, Study Finds staff@latinoshealth.com By Maze Keen Jan 24, 2017 12:00 AM EST Umbrellas are there to protect people from the harsh sun when out in the open. It turns out that it does not offer much protection compared to using sunscreen, a new study finds. The study, which was published in JAMA Dermatology Wednesday, was conducted by researchers from Johnson & Johnson Consumer, Inc. based in New Jersey. The company owns the sunscreen that was involved in the study, the Neutrogena Ultra Sheer SPF100+. The study suggests that an umbrella may not be a good substitute for sunscreen when it comes to skin protection from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. To arrive at their findings, scientists recruited 81 participants that had fair skin. They were made to sit in Lake Lewisville, Texas in the midday for three and a half hours. The study was conducted in August 2014. Some of the participants used SPF 100 sunscreen while some used a standard beach umbrella. The next day, they were checked for the severity of sunburns. The study found that around 78 percent of the participants who used shade to protect their skin got sunburns compared to 25 percent who used only sunscreen. There were 142 areas of the skin that got burned on 41 umbrella participants and 17 on the sunscreen group. Although the study showed how sunscreen can be a better skin protector from the harsh rays of the sun compared to an umbrella, it also pointed out that none of the methods used in the study offered 100 percent protection. Lead author Dr. Hao Ou-Yang advised that individuals need to have a "holistic approach" in dealing with skin protection under the sun, Reuters reported. Ou-Yang also told the publication that this holistic approach should not only include using sunscreen but also wearing a hat, putting on clothes and getting under a shade or using an umbrella. Even an NYU Langone Medical Center dermatologist Dr. Jennifer Stein said that a person should not stick to only a single method for skin protection from the sun. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Former US President George H.W. Bush Suffers From Pneumonia: Tube Instead Indicates A Severity Of His Case staff@latinoshealth.com By Caroline Soriano Jan 24, 2017 12:14 AM EST Former president George H.W. Bush was hospitalized due to a life-threatening infection. The 92-year-old man has been given a breathing tube after being diagnosed with pneumonia this week. This is a clear indication that his case is a severe one. But the question is, will he recover? Headlines were filled with news about United State's former president George H. W. Bush after he was rushed to a Houston hospital this week. The 92-year-old man was placed in an intensive care showing that he has a severe case of pneumonia. In 2015, pneumonia had already put him down on a motorized scooter or wheelchair after breaking a vertebra. Bush is also known for suffering vascular parkinsonism, a rare condition that is almost similar to Parkinson's disease. Fortunately, Jim McGrath, who is the family;s spokesman, stated that the ex-president was 'extubated' after his condition improves on Friday. 'President Bush is comfortable and watching the inauguration,' McGrath said. But the spokesman won't give any details about the outcome of the former president condition, as per DailyMail. Bush will remain in the Houston Methodist Hospital will undergo observations, lengthening his stay in the hospital for few more days. Meanwhile, his wife Barbara Bush could be discharged earlier after being admitted to the hospital due to a case of bronchitis, USA Today reported. A recent press release stated that the ex-president's "spirits are high." He is even looking forward to having a regular schedule. A pneumonia is a popular lung infection that can either be mild or severe. Young ones and elders are more prone to having this condition. Aside from this, Bush was also diagnosed with vascular parkinsonism, a disease that mimics Parkinson's disease. However, the condition does not have the same tremors as of Parkinson's and it does not respond to the drugs intended for the Parkinson's disease. Subscribe to the latinos health newsletter! Caterpillar is known as the young stage of butterfly. A caterpillar in Peru showed an exceptional behavior which was never seen before. It made a piece of body armor with some piece of leaves. That armor looks like a tube and the caterpillar was first crawled inside the tube then started walking by pulling the leafy armor with its mouth. This strange activity was first spotted by Dr. Joe Hanson. Dr. Hanson documented this full never seen before activity and uploaded to his own Youtube channel, It's OK to Be Smart presented by PBS Digital Studios. This video was shot at Peruvian Amazon with the guidance of Pedro Lima and entomologist Aaron Pomerantz. Hanson said in his video, "like a knight inside a suit of armor". while Hanson picked the caterpillar in his hand then it immediately hide inside the tube. The tube is a natural camouflage which helps them to be unnoticed by the predators. Although, caterpillars use several techniques to protect themselves from predators. Some of the species use Freeze and Drop techniques to confuse predators and some of them rolled themselves like a spiral formation. Sometimes they get defensive, while they seem danger they eject a foul smelling liquid that stops predators in their tracks. But this is the first example that a caterpillar is building a body armor to protect itself, according to the report by LiveScience. Hanson Explained in his video that the tube was so finely crafted that it looks like the leaf have been cut and pasted together with glue by an artist. The Caterpillar used its saliva to glue the leaf which becomes silky after getting dry. Hanson and his team also noticed that there was a bulge in the middle of the tube. The main purpose of the bulge was to turn around for the caterpillar. It helps them to escape from the other end while trapped inside the tube. Researchers identified the species of this caterpillar as,hermit crab caterpillar. DNA analysis suggests that it will become a moth after being developed. As it is a newly discovered species, so entomologists are planning to conduct several studies on this to gather more information about the life cycle of this insect. Hanson told that the Amazon is still full of species that are yet to be discovered. It looks like the former Hollywood power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are moving on; with their professional lives that is. Angelina Jolie has landed a new perfume project and is now the face of a new fragrance for women. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt threw a very private party at the Hotel Casa Del Mar in Santa Monica, California after attending a charity event in Malibu. Looks like the once 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' could be reviving their careers and simply leaving the fates of their six children and their divorce to court. The 'Tomb Raider' actress is the new face for Guerlain Parfumeur' fragrance for women, says E! News. The new scent is collaboration between Angie and the perfume brand and this actually started while she was directing her film 'First They Killed My Father' in Cambodia in 2015. Guerlain was actually Angelina's late mother's favorite and she is honored to promote the brand. Meanwhile, Brad Pitt was in a charity event with Chris Cornell and Sting in Malibu on January 14 and on January 18 he hosted his own private party in Santa Monica, reported US Weekly. A source said that despite looking very happy surrounded by friends, the 'Allied' actor did not forget his kids. As he left in the morning, he took a huge gold and white balloon arrangement with him to take to his kids. The source also said that he has been working out lately, eating healthy and exercising outdoors. He is slowly reemerging but still takes time to focus on himself especially on his health. Aside from the huge balloon decor, Brad also took home the alcohol from the event. He did not want to attract attention so he left Hotel Casa Del Mar from the back entrance. Angelina and Brad are still fighting for the custody of their six children. After Jolie filed for divorce last September, she wanted full custody of their children while Pitt contested with joint custody. Jan 23, 2017, 4:55pm ET Cadillac expects China to overtake U.S. in total sales China will eventually become Cadillac\'s largest market. Cadillac may be a thoroughly American luxury brand, but China will soon become the marque's largest market. The United States is currently Cadillac's largest single market, but its lead is dwindling. Last year Cadillac's U.S. sales fell by 3 percent to 170,006 units while deliveries in China shot up 46 percent to 116,406. The U.S. could hang on for another year or two (sales actually increased by 2.6 percent between July and December), but Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen says it's inevitable that China will overtake the U.S. as the brand's largest market. "We are moving Cadillac from having this very strong U.S.-centric focus to having a global focus," de Nysschen told Automotive News. "The time will come when we will sell more Cadillacs in China than here." Despite that shift, de Nysschen says the U.S. will remain critical to Cadillac's bottom line because profit margins are much better here. "Whatever you make in China, you share," he said, referring to a Chinese law that requires foreign automakers to partner with local companies. "The U.S. will remain more important for a very long time. Photo by Drew Johnson. Seoul National University held a series of offsite prep programs for new students from Feb. 2 in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province. Among numerous programs, freshmen put on a play satirizing the realities facing new entrants into the tough job market, which places a premium on diplomas from prestigious universities, grades, standardized English test scores, experience studying English abroad, volunteer activities, internships and various certificates. The 600 SNU freshmen who watched the performance generally agreed with its message. But none denied that good looks appear to be the most valuable asset for a jobseeker. One freshman in the College of Social Sciences at SNU said, It may sound ridiculous to consider cosmetic surgery to get ahead in the race to find a good job, but you can't ignore the fact that good looks go a long way." Another freshman at the same college agreed, saying, "Appearance doesn't matter in university entrance exams, but this may not be the case in the job market." One freshman in the College of Humanities said, "They say graduating from SNU no longer guarantees a good job so I have to accept the reality that even SNU students have to pay attention to their looks." SNU sociology professor Jung Kun-sik said these attitudes reflect the intense competition in the job market. "Not only have good looks become a key asset, but we are seeing our entire social values change, placing top priority on outward appearances." Jan 24, 2017, 11:48am ET Detroit Big Three remain upbeat following breakfast with Trump \"We all want a vibrant U.S. manufacturing base that is competitive globally and that grows jobs,\" says GM chief Mary Barra. Executives from Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have released optimistic statements following their breakfast with President Donald Trump. The meeting was among the first industry-specific gatherings scheduled during Trump's first week in the White House. He met with more than a dozen executives in the Roosevelt Room to discuss how to achieve a collaborative relationship that will "revive the automobile industry" and boost American jobs. "I appreciate the President's focus on making the US a great place to do business," said FCA chief Sergio Marchionne. "We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing." FCA pointed out that it has invested more than $9.6 billion in US manufacturing facilities and created 25,000 new jobs since 2009. Marchionne previously called Trump's win a "game changer" for the automotive industry, but cautioned that the President's policies had not yet been fully "spelled out" for US manufacturing. "We had a very constructive and wide-ranging discussion about how we can work together on policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry, one that supports the environment and safety," said GM CEO Mary Barra. "We all want a vibrant US manufacturing base that is competitive globally and that grows jobs. It's good for our employees, our dealers, our suppliers and our customers." Trump threatened a "big border tax" over the Mexico-built Chevy Cruze, criticizing GM's $5 billion Mexico expansion plan. GM later announced plans to invest $1 billion at its US factories and create 7,000 jobs. One of the projects involves insourcing axle production from a Mexican supplier to a Michigan factory. Ford chief Mark Fields was also upbeat after meeting with Trump this morning. He praised the President for walking away from the Trans Pacific Partnership, described as a "bad deal" that lacked protections against currency manipulations. "I think as an industry, we're excited about working together with the president and his administration on tax policies, on regulation and on trade to really create a renaissance in American manufacturing," Fields added. Trump has promised to eliminate 75 percent of business regulations to help companies keep their operations in the US. He has also vowed to slash the maximum corporate tax rate to just 15 percent. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!" he wrote in a Twitter post this morning. Jan 24, 2017, 6:44am ET Mitsubishi to introduce Eclipse-badged crossover in Geneva The Eclipse will fight in the same segment as Nissan\'s Rogue Sport. Mitsubishi is dusting off the Eclipse nameplate to use it on a brand-new crossover, according to a recent report. The Eclipse was once a coupe, but the Japanese brand has made it clear that it's done building sedans and coupes. The next Eclipse will consequently take the form of a compact crossover aimed right at the Nissan Rogue Sport that debuted a few weeks ago in Detroit. It will borrow styling cues from the XR-PHEV II concept introduced at the 2015 edition of the Geneva Auto Show. Technical details are vague at best. British magazine Auto Express reports Euro-spec variants will be available with a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder, or a 2.2-liter turbodiesel. A six-speed manual transmission and front-wheel drive will come standard. A CVT and Mitsubishi's S-AWC all-wheel drive system will be offered at an extra cost. It goes without saying that the oil-burner will not be offered on this side of the pond. Seeing a six-speed stick in U.S. showrooms is unlikely at best, though we're not ruling it out completely. Mitsubishi hasn't revealed what its next crossover will be called. Executives have confirmed the model will be presented in March during the Geneva Auto Show, so we won't have to wait long to find out if the Eclipse has received an extra set of doors and a few additional inches of ground clearance. Jan 24, 2017, 8:56am ET Paris begins diesel ban Some diesel cars are no longer allowed in Paris. Paris has introduced a new color-coded sticker scheme that will bar some diesel-powered vehicles from entering the city center. Paris is planning to ban all diesel cars by 2025. Known as "Crit'Air, the program bans all diesel cars registered between January 1997 and December 2000 from entering the city. Those vehicles are identified by a grey sticker on their windshield; it's estimated that about 1.92 million vehicles, representing 6 percent of France's registered vehicles, fall into that category. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is also pushing to have diesels registered between 2001 and 2005 banned from the city center. Identified with a brown sticker, those vehicles account for about 14 percent of France's 32 million registered cars. Pollution has become increasingly noticeable in the French capital over the last few years. "I can really feel the pollution. I have young children and I can see it on their skin and hair. It's such a shame that in Paris, which we call the City of Light, we're not able to fix this problem, one Parisian told Reuters. Paris, along with Athens, Mexico City and Madrid, has pledged to ban all diesel cars by 2025. Germany is hoping to take things a step further by presenting a plan to ban all diesel- and gas-powered cars EU-wide by 2030. Jan 24, 2017, 12:54pm ET Toyota to expand Indiana plant, increase Highlander capacity The Japanese automaker plans to invest $10 billion in its US factories over the next five years. Toyota has announced plans to expand its Princeton, Indiana, factory to support higher output capacity for its Highlander SUV. The Japanese automaker will invest $600 million for retooling and modernization improvements. It will eventually enable the factory to produce an additional 40,000 Highlanders each year. The Princeton facility set a new production record last year, building more than 400,000 vehicles for the first time in its 20-year history. Toyota's North American production rose to more than 2.1 million vehicles in 2016, including 1.3 million vehicles built in Kentucky, Indiana, Mississippi and Texas. Canada accounted for around 600,000 vehicles, while Mexico factories built around 140,000 units. The automaker is currently building a new factory in Mexico with an expected output of 200,000 vehicles annually. The plant is expected to begin production in 2019, halfway through President Trump's first term in office. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on vehicles that are built in Mexico and exported to the US, sparking an uptick in PR communications highlighting investments in US factories. Toyota expects to spend $10 billion on its US factories over the next five years. Bethlehem Mayor Bob Donchez wants to boost street activity in the city's commercial areas through a parklet pilot program. The city is trying to gauge interest in parklets -- outdoor restaurant or community seating platforms built over parking spaces -- and test them out through the 2017 pilot program, said Darlene Heller, city planning director. "This is an innovative way for the city of Bethlehem to encourage more activity on our downtown streets," Donchez said. "We look forward to working with downtown property and business owners on this pilot program." Bethlehem is accepting applications for parklets in the city's commercial and mixed-use corridors until 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15. Applications are available here. An internal city committee will select up to four applicants to test out the parklet concept through the warm weather months of 2017. Ideally, only one parklet per block will be approved so they can be spread over the city. The pilot is not meant for restaurants looking to expand their existing outdoor dining options. They are best suited for areas with lots of foot traffic but narrow and congested sidewalks that prevent traditional sidewalk cafes, Heller said. "We want to provide an opportunity for parklets in areas generally where the right-of-way or sidewalk wouldn't allow them," she explained. Once cold temperatures return, parklets will be removed from parking spaces and the city will review the program to decide if it was successful enough to bring it back in 2018. Easton tried its hand at parklets in 2015 when Sette Luna owner Josh Palmer pushed for city council to approve his parklet proposal. No Easton eateries have added parklets after council established an $11-per-day per parking space fee. Bethlehem tried to limit the fees associated with parklets while still making up some of the meter money the city's parking authority would lose if meters are removed, Heller said. "I think we tried to get a number that was reasonable and fair," she said. The city is not limiting parklets to only restaurant uses. It could be used by an art gallery or as a community space or public art installation, Heller said. They may be public or private spaces. "It is fairly open, although dining is the most common option," she said. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. The TPP would have been the biggest regional trade deal in history, covering nearly 40 percent of the world's economy and about a third of world trade. China didn't take part in the talks, but appears ready to step into the vacuum and create its own deals with Southeast Asian countries that would have been part of the 12-nation agreement. Spicer said the new president would pursue bilateral trade agreements with individual countries throughout the world. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters that as Trump "has said many times, this type of multinational agreement is not in our best interest, and hes moving quickly to advance trade policies that increase the competitiveness of the American worker and manufacturer." The trade deal, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, had been negotiated since 2009 during former President Barack Obama's White House tenure, but the U.S. Congress never ratified it, with numerous lawmakers opposed to or skeptical of the deal. It would have covered trade with Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Chile, Canada, Mexico and four other countries. The new president, as past Republican chief executives have done, also signed an order reinstating a ban on providing government funds to international groups that perform abortions or provide information about the procedure. At the White House, Trump called it a "great thing for the American worker -- what we just did." President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 12-nation Pacific Rim trade deal on Monday as he started his first full week in office. In advocating for the deal, Obama said last year, "We can't let countries like China write the rules of the global economy. We should write those rules." Trump, who took office last Friday, assailed globalization of the world's economy throughout his long run to the White House, saying U.S. multinational trade deals cost American workers their jobs as their employers moved operations abroad in search of cheaper labor. Even before announcing his run for the presidency a year-and-a-half ago, Trump said, "The Trans-Pacific Partnership is an attack on America's business. It does not stop Japan's currency manipulation. This is a bad deal." The agreement would have cut more than 18,000 tariffs, including on all U.S. manufactured goods and almost all American farm products. The deal sought to end exploitative child labor and set acceptable work conditions on minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health. The new president said in a Twitter comment that his first week would be busy, "planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security." He met Monday morning with top executives from U.S. manufacturers and later in the day has a White House meeting set with union leaders and a contingent of workers. At the start of the meeting with the business leaders, Trump assured them of his intent to streamline government. "The regulations are going to be cut massively and the taxes way down," he said. Trump warned the business executives to not move their operations to other countries, saying they would face a hefty tariff if they manufacture products elsewhere and then attempt to bring them back across the border to sell in the U.S. Among those meeting with him were the leaders of Dow Chemical, SpaceX, the Dell computing firm, the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The president called on the business leaders to come up with a list in the next 30 days of ways to boost U.S. manufacturing, an important sector of the world's largest economy, but one that has lagged in the recovery since the country's steep recession in 2008 and 2009. Trump says he is not against trade deals, but wants more favorable terms for the United States that benefit its workers. The American leader says he also wants to redraft the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. At a swearing-in ceremony for top White House advisers Sunday, Trump said he will discuss NAFTA, immigration and border security as he meets January 31 with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. The White House said he also plans to meet soon with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "I think we're going to have a very good result for Mexico, for the United States, and for everyone involved," Trump said. Trump vowed during the campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to thwart illegal immigration that he said would be paid for by Mexico. Pena Nieto has dismissed the idea that his government would provide the funding, calling it "ridiculous." Trump's busy schedule Monday includes a meeting with congressional leaders and one-on-one discussions with House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan as the new administration and Republicans in Congress embark on attempts to overturn many of Obama's actions. It is the first time in more than a decade that Republicans have controlled both chambers of Congress and the White House. Just hours after his inauguration, Trump signed an order setting in motion his intent to try to promptly repeal Obama's signature health care reforms. Before his meetings with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, Trump will host talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May Friday in the Oval Office. May has said she wants to focus on post-Brexit trade talks, NATO and fighting terrorism. Trump's first two days in office got off to a rocky start, with the president boasting falsely about the size of the crowd that attended his swearing-in. White House spokesman Sean Spicer later offered inflated claims about the crowd. On Sunday, one of Trump's aides, Kellyanne Conway, described Spicer's assessment of the crowd size as "alternative facts." The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan was honoured with a civic reception hosted by Laois County Council last night. First elected to the Dail on February 17, 1987 the civic reception drew on all strands of a public life spanning 30 years. In attendance was the Minister's family, as well as a number of relations and colleagues from the political and legal worlds. Cross party tributes were paid to the Minister across the Council floor. In his address, Minister Flanagan said he couldnt think of better values than those instilled into him by his father Oliver J Flanagan. Politics were becoming less stable, the Minister noted. There was gratuitous abuse. And there was populism where simple answers were given to very difficult and complex problems. He insisted: We need to stand up for values and freedom of expression - to be tolerant. It behoves us all to be vigilant. To quote Thomas Jefferson, vigilance is the price of freedom. We should not lose sight of that. We need to reaffirm and remind ourselves that the European Union was set up after the ravages of two world wars in which millions of people died. I am a committed European. I always have been. Minister Flanagan said Ireland was little more than an economic backwater 50 years ago. Now it was one of the worlds top 10 developed nations. Speaking of the civic reception, he stated: I regard this as a huge honour and a great privilege for me and my family. He added: I feel very proud of my county, very proud of having had the opportunity to serve on Mountmellick Town Council and the County Council. "You see that people became less secure about voting for the traditional parties in the Netherlands. They started to look to alternatives, and also populist alternatives, because of their increased insecurity in the economic, but also the cultural sphere." Andre Krouwel is a political analyst and director of Kieskompas (Electoral Compass), an online website advising voters. He says Dutch anti-immigrant populism started in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall: Despite the Dutch reputation of being an open and tolerant country, populist Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party are leading the polls. His message is anti-establishment, anti-immigrant, anti-EU and anti-Islam. Political parties in the Netherlands have kicked off their campaigns for March 15 parliamentary elections. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his right-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ran a full page newspaper advertisement Monday calling for people to "act normal or leave" the Netherlands if they do not like the country and its values. The message is seen by critics as targeted at Dutch citizens of a non-Western background. Several populist and anti-immigrant parties were established and some made it into parliament, but Wilders' is the only one still standing. Kay van de Linde is a political spin doctor who worked with some of those anti-establishment parties in the 2000s. He says most parties fail because they blow themselves up: "The most difficult thing was to organize a political party and get good people. And that's always the problem. Even Wilders is not immune to that. The thing he fears the most is dissent within his own ranks. That's why he organizes very secretive[ly]. He is basically in charge of everything. He fears infighting." Wilders' Freedom Party is not really a party, as he is the only official member. It is said he is the only one calling the shots, with the others following his lead. Dutch governments are always coalitions of several political parties. Almost all political leaders, including the prime minister, have said they will never govern with Wilders because of his hardline views. The Freedom Party backed a Cabinet coalition once, between 2010 and 2012. But a split between Wilders and the other two parties led to the fall of the Cabinet, and the government did not have enough parliamentary seats without Wilders' support. Krouwel says that Wilders has achieved very little, even during those two years when he was supporting the government: "Populists have a very bad record of turning their ideas into policies. The only impact they really have is that they push mainstream parties towards their goal." A number of new political parties, mostly anti-EU and anti-establishment, are also on the ballot for the March elections. Jan Roos, a TV presenter turned politician, is the leader of VNL, a new right-wing party. He was the driving force behind the national referendum on a deal between Ukraine and the European Union, a deal that was rejected by more than 60 percent of Dutch voters. Roos says the Dutch have never been particularly pro-EU, two referendums on European issues, one in 2005 and another in 2016, were both rejected by citizens. "Those were the only two times we had a real popularity poll on the policies of the European Union. Both times a large majority rejected it. So the Netherlands has never been pro-European Union. T he pro-EU story is just simply not true." While Dutch politics clearly shifted to right in 2010, populist rhetoric is now causing polarization on both sides of the political spectrum. As a fight for the support right-wing voters continues, the battle for left-wing Dutch voters has yet to be settled and has become more competitive in recent weeks. The bizarre life of a Dutch man who lived near Blessington and made several appearances at Naas District Court is set to be made into a movie. The colourful past of a man who goes by the name Anthonie Van Wilderoden and who appeared before Naas District Court on a number of occasions has emerged after he was jailed last week for 18 months. And its now being made into a movie. Anthonie Van Wilderoden (44), with an address in Ballyknockan, Vallymount, Blessington, was charged in 2014 with stealing stable mats from the Tri shop on the Curragh in August of that year. On January 13 of this year, Mr Van Wilderoden was sentenced after being convicted of a running a shoplifting enterprise. He claimed he had built up a heavy debt and his estranged wife had gone to America with his children leaving him with no way to support himself. In October of 2015, Naas District Court heard that the defendant had a number of previous convictions dating back some years to various courts in the Netherlands and Belgium - the last of which was in 2007. However what Naas District Court did not hear was details like the fact that he had been in a Dutch witness protection plan after he claimed to be able to give evidence against the Hells Angels, and that he had almost managed to marry into nobility having restyled himself as the Spanish Duke of Aragon and changed his name from De Bruin to Van Wilderoden. Naas District Court was told in October 2014 that Mr. Van Wilderoden had worked in Ireland as a business consultant to a call centre for a healthcare company, but lost that job when the company went bankrupt. More recently, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard evidence that he now sells edible insects having set up a business called Eddiebug with the help of a government loan and that he is also the director of a chocolate making company in Wicklow. He said he began the shoplifting enterprise because had built up heavy debt and his estranged wife had gone to America with his children leaving him with no way to support himself. The court heard he would put up advertisements on Donedeal selling household products and would then steal these products from shops depending on the interest in the ad. None of the buyers knew the goods were stolen. Van Wilderoden used a modified baby's pram to steal items from Arnotts, Curries and Harvey Norman including a Nespresso coffee machine, crockery sets, a vacuum cleaner and an electric blanket. He was caught and charged in 2015 but was arrested again shortly afterwards for stealing a 900 Jimmy Choo handbag from Brown Thomas. Van Wilderoden claimed this was intended to be a mother's day present and wasn't stolen to order. Mr Van Wilderoden pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of theft from the four stores between December 2014 and March 2015. He also admitted to possession of a specially modified pram and possession of three stolen gold plated mirrors. In the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Cormac Quinn imposed a sentence of two years. He said he was suspending the last six months because Wileroden is a foreign national. Garda Michael Moran told prosecuting counsel Pieter Le Vert BL that he got a call from a security guard at Arnotts, Henry Street who became suspicious when he saw Van Wilderoden wheeling around a pram with no baby in it. The guard stopped the accused and found crockery sets and a coffee maker inside. The pram had been modified with bungee cords to hold down the goods. Van Wilderoden was arrested and admitted taking the goods but said they were presents for his wife's birthday. He allowed gardai search his car where they found goods stolen from other stores such as a high-end food mixer and a broadband modem. Gardai also found two pages with goods listed on it. Van Wilderoden admitted this was a shopping list which he used to keep track of what to steal. He admitted he put the ads online and stole the goods to order. He was released on bail and two months later was caught stealing the handbag from Brown Thomas. On this occasion gardai searched his house and found three stolen mirrors. Mr Van Wilderoden was again released on bail and later entered an early guilty plea. However, he then fled to Belgium before his sentence date. He was arrested on a European Arrest Warrant and returned to Ireland in November 2016. He has 19 previous convictions from Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium including fraud, forgery, theft and embezzlement. The defendant said he set up his businesses with his wife using loans from his wealthy father-in-law. He said he owed money to this person as well as lending institutions and a loan shark. He received an insurance payout of 155,000 resulting from a botched surgery which caused him to lose a kidney. He said he used this money to repay his father-in-law. Defence counsel Sean Rafter BL said Van Wilderoden was sexually abused as a child and became a male prostitute as a teen. He said he saved the money from this to set up his first business but that he was a person who is totally incapable of handling money. Counsel said Van Wilderoden had bought a plane ticket back to the Netherlands and if he was given a suspended sentence he was willing to promise not to return to Ireland. Back in October 2014 when he appeared at Naas District Court, a Probation Report was ordered by Judge Desmond Zaidan on the defendant. That report assessed that he is at some risk of reoffending and suggested that he would need to work on what it called his impulse management. When hes in a bind, the court heard, he tries to get out of it by doing things, like stealing, which only makes it harder for him and everyone else around him. Its a long term difficulty that hes had but his solicitor felt that the Probation Report had highlighted to his client that his problems could be addressed and managed. Judge Zaidan noted that the defendant had paid back the value of the goods he stole, and his difficult history, but felt that a marker needed to be put down before he fined the defendant 350 and sentenced him to 14 days in prison. Dutch media has identified the defendant as a native of the town of Barneveld, which is in the central eastern part of the country, 60kms from Amsterdam. Described by his estranged wife as a pathological liar, the Dutchman claimed that he was born in 1972 and had an unstable childhood. His parents, he said, split up when he was a child. Dutch journalist Jos Verkuijlen of broadcaster Omroep Brabant has compared Mr Wilderoden to Leonardo Di Caprios character in the film Catch me if you can. Except that Anthonie keeps getting caught! he joked. The Irish Times reports that he claimed that he was kidnapped by his father. He also said he was sexually abused and that he became a male prostitute at 15. Convicted first in 1997, he was jailed later for fraud, theft, embezzlement and forgery. In 2005, he pretended to be a millionaire and conned top-range restaurants and a helicopter rental company. Later, he came into contact with a notorious branch of a Hells Angels motorcycle gang called The Nomads, who controlled much of Hollands drug trafficking and prostitution, according to Mr Verkuijlen. Mr De Bruin, as Mr Wilderoden was then known, told Dutch police he could help solve a 2004 murder case, saying he had spoken to a fellow prisoner while in jail, about the matter. That got him into the Netherlands witness protection programme for a while before it was discovered he had fabricated most of what he claimed. He was still kept in the witness protection for fear of retaliation and kept his head down for the next few years until he emerged with a different identity, that of the Spanish Duke of Aragon, Anthonie Van Wilderode dAragon, all set to wed Tara Elliot, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy Scottish-Irish aristocrat. Gossip In the Netherlands in 2010 was that it was expected to be almost as big a wedding as that of the king eight years before. Due to be held in a tiny village in the south of the Netherlands, there were hundreds of bouquets ordered, musicians and a celebrity chef - all at a former royal residence, the Palace Het Loo in Apeldoorn. But just before the wedding, suppliers started looking to get paid and the police were called. Although shocked, the bride had already married Van Wilderoden in a civil ceremony in Belgium. He was returned to jail for a further nine months from a previous sentence - and a year later got another year in jail for wedding fraud. The journalist Jos Verkuijlen covered the trial and reported that the defendant was very polite and very believable. I can understand how he fooled a noble family. Notwithstanding the fraud, Ms Elliot stayed married to the defendant - at least until more recent times and appeared prominently in the media in relation to the insect food business some years ago. She is quoted in the Irish Times as saying: We are very much estranged and I will be granted a divorce very soon, within a couple of months. He is a pathological liar. It would be foolish to believe what he told yourself, or the courts or anyone. Im just another one of this victims and he deserves to get a lot longer than he got. And she says he still owes her father a large sum of money. The film of his life, titled Basilica, is currently in production. It should be a great movie, said Mr Verkuijlen, better than Catch Me If You Can. Two Kildare men appeared at Dublin District court today in connection with the alleged trafficking of illegal immigrants into Ireland through Dublin airport. The men are Aer Lingus employees. A third man from China was also charged. Frederick Cham (56) from Railway Cottages, Celbridge and Peter Kernan, (58) from the Old Rectory Lodge, Celbridge are accused of facilitating the entry into the State of an illegal immigrant on 9 January and 22 January of this year under the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act. Xing Wang (28) is accused of possessing false documents, failing to produce a passport or identity card and failing to present himself to an immigration officer when he arrived in the country. Detective Garda Brendan O'Sullivan alleged that Mr Kernan, along with others, organised the entry of illegal immigrants, bypassing passport control and with no contact with security. Gardai objected to bail because of the seriousness of the charges. They also highlighted the accused's alleged association with organised criminal gangs, which had access to false documents. Xing Wang and Frederick Cham have been remanded in custody until Friday while Peter Kernan is due before the court next Monday with consent to bail. Sinn Fein county councillor, Caroline Mulvey, has called on the Minister for Education to restore full school bus services at this months council meeting after recently published review of concessionary school bus tickets recommended reducing the number of concessionary tickets to families. Cllr Mulvey said; There are currently 561 primary and post primary school bus tickets issued to students in Co Leitrim. I want a commitment from Minister John Halligan that these students will not lose their bus ticket. In mid-December the Minister published a review in to concessionary school bus tickets. The recommendations in this review are to reduce the number of concessionary tickets to families. The Minister's claim that there is not going to be any changes to the current rules that were adopted in 2012 for downsizing of school bus transport under the value for money scheme are not entirely correct. The reality is that the rules he is referring to were put on hold pending the outcome of this review. He now intends to implement these rules without any changes whatsoever. What was the point of the review other than to rubberstamp the cuts to school transport?," asked Cllr Mulvey Many parents will be faced with the prospect of their child, who is currently availing of school transport on a concessionary basis, losing out on their school bus seat next September. This is unacceptable and cannot be allowed to happen and I am demanding assurances that no family in Leitrim will be lose their school bus ticket as a result of the recommendations in this review whether it is concessionary or not. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Ireland is set to be the first country in the world to have a single electronic health record system (EHR) for its maternity hospitals, and the maternity unit in Sligo General Hospital will host a launch of the new healthcare initiative tomorrow, Tuesday 24 January. Irelands Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS) promises automated recording and integrated care, meaning that all those involved in the care of mothers and babies in Irish maternity units have instant access to all current clinical detail and records. As the system develops, it will be able to create algorithms that will warn clinicians on risk factors and give guidance and support in making decisions. Time-saving alone, in documenting babies care, will improve productivity. The HSE and members of the National Project Team will visit Sligo General Hospital with a 24 hour Digital Challenge taking place in hospitals countrywide to mark the launch of Irelands ground-breaking Maternal and Newborn Clinical Management System (MN-CMS). As part of the roll-out of the new healthcare initiative each of the countrys 19 maternity hospitals has identified a digital gap to be remedied ahead of the implementation of digital records. Technical issues including Wi-Fi and network capability, the provision of laptop carts, printers and scanners, and resources or digital training for staff will all be addressed within 24 hours of the hospital visit, HSE Chief Information Officer Richard Corbridge explains. Love Leitrim and national groups including Friends of the Earth Ireland and Uplift are urging people in Ireland to get their voice heard on the current public consultation on fracking, which ends next Thursday Feb 2nd. Love Leitrim are reminding business and community organisations, and local people in the region of the importance of using the opportunity to have their say on fracking by sending in a submission by Feb 2nd and Back The Bill. The consultation seeks the publics opinion on the legislation on fracking passed unanimously in the Dail on October 2016 to its next stage, as well as the recent EPA report published last month. Love Leitrim have been busy compiling their own submission due to go live on the site, later this week. Templates are also available on their website for people to get wording or information to assist them to complete a submission. Members have also been active on the ground in the Glens Centre, the farmers market and will be at forthcoming marts and bingo spreading the word. They even got as far as the capital where local farmer Michael Gallagher joined forces with poet Stephen Murphy in a Dublin rally last Saturday 21st to let the crowd know it was their right to speak up. Love Leitrim advises the public that submissions can be emailed to Fracking@oireachtas.ie or posted to The Clerk, Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment at the Houses of the Oireachtas, Leinster House, Kildare Street Dublin 2, D02 XR20. Fianna Fail TD for Roscommon/Galway Eugene Murphy has said that the Governments 60m plan to revitalise rural Ireland contains some real positives and he broadly welcome any such initiative which aims to safeguard and improve services and facilities for people living in rural Ireland. Proposals to lure people back to town centres by converting shop fronts into homes are welcome as well as a scheme due to be rolled out by the autumn which will see house buyers offered grants on a pilot basis to restore properties in rural towns and villages. Other positives include 90 new public nursing home facilities and the establishment of 18 primary care centres while I also welcome plans for a grant scheme for CCTV and personal alarms for the elderly. I also welcome the announcement of a new rates alleviation scheme which will move to re-evaluate rates in a number of counties including Roscommon as many businesses are crippled by the hike in commercial rates," said Deputy Murphy. However I would like to see further clarification in relation to the upgrading of the N4 between Mullingar and Longford and the N5 between Scramogue and Ballaghaderreen as they are vital infrastructual links to the West. "While there are undoubtedly some great positives in the plan I am fearful that the 60m which has been allocated will be spread very thinly leaving under 2m per county. The Government needs to bring forward a tangible plan with ring-fenced funding and I sincerely hope that this is simply not a rehashing of existing schemes and programmes which were previously announced. Moves to introduce possible rates alleviation schemes to support rural development is long overdue. However, the commitment to provide investment of up to 50m for job creation across the regions rehashes what was announced in the Programme for Government last year.. Shockingly, 900,000 rural households and businesses will still have to wait up until 2023 for state intervention to receive moderate speed broadband - 6 years over the promised deadline. I am also disappointed that there is no specific allocation for the Local Improvement Road Scheme, concluded Deputy Murphy. Harveys Point Hotel, Lough Eske, Donegal has been named No 1 Hotel in Ireland by worldwide hotel review website Trip Advisor for the fifth successive year in its 2017 Travellers Choice Awards. This is a remarkable achievement for the hotel which also took the No 1 in Ireland title in 2013, 2014 2015 and 2016. Harveys Point Hotel was also ranked 10th Best Hotel in Europe in the Trip Advisor European Awards , three places higher than its 13th place in 2016. Harveys Point was also ranked No 1 Hotel in Ireland for service and 2nd in Ireland for Romance Harveys Point hotelier Deirdre McGlone and her team were over the moon when the news was posted on the Trip Advisor website this morning. Said Deirdre: "Words can hardly express the excitement that we feel, having won No. 1 Hotel in Ireland on TripAdvisor for the fifth year in a row. This award belongs to our dedicated team, each of whom play their part in the Harveys Point success story. Our heartfelt thanks to our many guests who wrote so favourably of their experiences at Harveys Point. We are immensely proud of this great achievement which encourages us to raise the bar even higher in delivering the highest possible standards of hotel-keeping and hospitality". The No 1 in Ireland ranking placed Harveys Point ahead of Ashford Castle (2nd), The Merrion Hotel Dublin (3rd), Killarney Park Hotel (4th) and Hayfield Manor Cork (5th). Dr Zulfiqar Ali will be the Liberal Democrat candidate for next months Stoke-on-Trent Central by-election. Dr Ali is a consultant cardiologist who has lived in Stoke with his family since 2001. He was born in Kashmir, Pakistan, and has three children. He served as a Cllr from Hanley West / Shelton ward in 2008 to 2011 and was Deputy Group Leader 2009 to 2011.He was the partys candidate in Stoke-on-Trent Central in 2015. His campaign will focus on why it is vital for Stokes prosperity that we remain in the European Single Market (he was a passionate Remain supporter in the referendum), as well as focusing on local NHS services, which need more funding and are weighed down by crippling PFI contracts signed by the previous Labour government. Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: Zulfiqar is an excellent local candidate who will give the people of the Potteries the representation they need. The Liberal Democrats will be fighting a really strong campaign in Stoke, and after our success in Richmond Park and winning over 20 council by-elections since May we are raring to go. Dr Ali said: He offered no documentation for the claim and took no questions from reporters. But his statements on the size of the crowd mirrored Trump's earlier boast that perhaps as many as 1.5 million watched from the National Mall in Washington as he was sworn in as the country's 45th president. Late Saturday, Spicer told reporters, "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe." Spicer said "tens of millions" of people watched Trump's assumption of power on social media and online streaming by news networks, in addition to the 30.6 million viewers on U.S. television networks and perhaps a few hundred thousand at the event in Washington. New White House press secretary Sean Spicer, widely criticized for his assessment of the crowd size at President Donald Trump's swearing-in last Friday, said Monday "it's unquestionable" that the event was the "largest watched inaugural ever." Government Avoids Estimating Crowds At his first official briefing Monday, Spicer acknowledged that information he passed on Saturday night about subway ridership leading to the inaugural turned out to be inaccurate, but he said, "I'd like to see any information" that disproves the contention that it was the most watched U.S. presidential inaugural. "I believe that we have to be honest with the American people," Spicer said, adding, "I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. Our intention is never to lie." The U.S. government no longer makes crowd estimates for large gatherings on the National Mall, after feuding for years with groups staging events that often claimed bigger crowds than the officials said had shown up. But virtually all U.S. media accounts concluded that far fewer people attended Trump's inauguration, compared to those in 2009 and 2013 for former President Barack Obama. Widely published photos of Obama's 2009 swearing-in, when he started his first four-year term, compared with Trump's inauguration showed a much larger crowd eight years ago, with large swaths of the National Mall nearly empty last Friday. An estimated 1.8 million people jammed the mall for Obama's first inauguration, while one television network estimated Trump's crowd at 250,000, although some estimated a bigger crowd. Conway Defends Press Secretary Whatever the Friday number, other analysts said many more people attended Saturday's Women's March on Washington, a celebrity studded event intended as a rebuke to Trump's ascent to power. Spicer's assessment of the crowd size has drawn wide scorn on social media in the United States, with some offering humorous parodies of it, such as, "The groundhog is the most accurate predictor of weather in history. Period. #SpicerFacts." Kellyanne Conway, another Trump aide, said Sunday that Spicer was offering "alternative facts" about the crowd size, but repeatedly declined to say why Trump ordered his press secretary to make the erroneous crowd statements. What a depressing spectacle we witnessed in the House of Commons today. A government which had just had a kicking from the Supreme Court for trying to do something unconstitutional should have been subdued and its representatives should have had their tails between their legs. But why should it, when its main opposition party lay prostrate in front of it. Rather than look sheepish, David Davis was smug. It should be so different. We should be building up to a dramatic parliamentary occasion. Gavin Williamson, the Government Chief Whip, shouldnt be able to sleep at night because hes worried about whether votes will be won. As it is, he could spend the next couple of weeks lying on the sofa with a beer watching re-runs of The Thick of It. Today, Labour MP after Labour MP stood up to ask questions, but prefaced their remarks with I am voting for Article 50. Whats the point in that? The Government needs to feel some real heat, some real jeopardy. Only then is it likely to deviate from the extreme course they have decided upon. And what does it matter if the Bill they present fails? Nobody voted on 23rd June for Article 50 to be triggered by the end of March. They would just have to have another go with something more acceptable. Sadly, Labour is running so scared of UKIP that its MPs cant find an effective way to fight for the things that are good for this country like membership of the single market/EEA. This matters because the only chance there is of inflicting some serious defeats on the Government is if Labour is prepared to walk away from the Article 50 Bill. As it is, the only UK-wide party to vote against will be the Liberal Democrats. The SNP and Greens will join us in the No lobby. No wonder David Davis had the air of a relaxed Brit in a Benidorm bar. And as for the Tories, it is very disappointing to see Nicky Morgan and Anna Soubry fall into line, even if they are asking some wider questions. The British people, all of them, are entitled to expect more from the Mother of Parliaments than a few Tory MPs asking David Davis to slag off the Liberal Democrats. MPs should be mindful that the vote on 23rd June was but a snapshot. By the time we do actually leave, it is likely that a majority will want to stay in the EU. David Howarth, former Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, told the Social Liberal Forum conference last year that by March 2019 even if nobody changed their mind, demographic reasons alone (young, pro EU voters coming on to the electoral roll), would wipe out the Leave majority. This has to be a major factor in the Governments refusal to allow the people to have a say on the Brexit deal. They know that their plans for the bumpiest of Brexits would not gain the consent of the people. Its time for MPs who think that the Governments plans are ridiculous to find some backbone and give it some opposition, whatever party they are from. This is the biggest and most important decision our representatives have had to make for decades. Its going to affect every one of us, probably for the worse. The very least we should expect of them is that they elevate the occasion to an epic parliamentary event with oratory and argument that we are talking about for years. At this point, there seems little hope of that. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings We're sorry that the ministry you were looking for is no longer available on LightSource.com. However, below are some great ministries that offer related content. Enjoy the inspiration, encouragement, and Biblical challenge from these LightSource.com ministry partners! LIMERICK City and County Council has purchased just four properties for housing need from the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) so far, according to council correspondence. Confirmation of the figure was received by Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor Cian Prendiville, who requested the information from the local authority, ahead of a metropolitan district council meeting last week. This follows a recent report by the Irish Times this month, which claimed that the council had been, to date, offered 147 properties by Nama, 55 of which were confirmed with having demand, 70 with no demand and 16 rejected for sustainable community reasons. A statement issued to Cllr Prendiville said that Nama offered the council, in total, 19 properties, and 16 of which were confirmed for housing need and that four had been purchased. The AAA councillor expressed confusion over the two different figures, and said that he would look into it. There have been reports that councils have been turning down a number of properties by Nama, and that some councils were not taking them because they werent in the area that they wanted and other reasons. He said that another reason for the council rejecting a property is in the event the property is located in a community with a lot of social housing. So, for example, if it is in a Regeneration area, they may not take it. And that doesnt seem very practical, given the scale of the housing crisis today. A monthly council report for December says there are 3,511 people on the housing waiting list in Limerick city and county. This is a reduction of 180 people on the list since November 2016. The push for me to do this, is that there is a lot of scrutiny on Nama at the moment and the role that Nama could play in actually solving the housing crisis, and actually putting its vast resources in terms of properties and in terms of money that could be used for public good, and to provide housing. It seems that those resources arent being used in that way. A JUDGE has expressed her disgust after being told a fight erupted next to the body of a young woman within minutes of her death. Details of the unsavoury incident emerged during criminal proceedings at Limerick District Court. Two men and a woman were prosecuted for assault as a result of the bust-up which happened at a homeless shelter in the city almost two years ago. Garda Conor OBrien said the incident happened shortly after he and a colleague were alerted to a sudden death at the shelter. Ambulance personnel were attending to the 29-year-old when gardai arrived but that she was pronounced dead a short time later. Garda OBrien said while while speaking with the manager of the shelter, he was alerted to a commotion in the deceased womans room. He said he observed several people in the small room and told the court that two relatives of the woman were grappling next to her corpse. Emotions were very high, there was a lot of screaming and shouting, he said. One of the men later told gardai he had snapped and thrown a few punches after he was knocked onto the womans body. Judge Marian OLeary was told there is a complicated family tree and that several members of the womans extended family dont see eye to eye. Following discussions between the parties, the charges against the woman were withdrawn by the State and the case of the two men adjourned to July to allow for a period of reflection. Judge OLeary commented she had never heard anything so disrespectful. Its just so sad, she said. TRIBUTES have been paid to the property developer Owen OCallaghan, who was behind the development of Arthurs Quay shopping centre in Limerick and passed away aged 76 on Sunday night. While his business interests were predominantly based in Cork and Dublin, OCallaghan took a keen interest in developments in Limerick, and was a joint developer of Arthurs Quay shopping centre, alongside Michael Tiernan of Tiernan Properties. Built by John Sisk & Sons, the 26 retail unit centre opened in 1989 at a cost of 15m, and is now due for a long-awaited redevelopment in line with the Limerick 2030 plan. If realised, that plan could see the area transformed, including the redevelopment of the park, overlooking the waterfront, and the construction of the 150m Opera site across the road on Patrick Street and its environs. I was very saddened to learn of Owens death. We became partners on Arthurs Quay some 30 years ago, and remained good friends since then. While I had the idea for the site, and secured it, City Hall looked for proposals to develop it and Owen came on board as a 50/50 partner, Mr Tiernan told the Limerick Leader. In September last, OCallaghan warned that Cork needs to expand as it risks being eclipsed by Limerick. Behind major projects such as Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in Dublin and Mahon Point and Opera Lane in Cork, he expressed concern about growth in Limerick, given the launch of the 500m plan up to 2030, under businessman Denis Brosnan. Limerick is starting to go places. We would want to watch Limerick. They have a lot of people rooting for Limerick. They have got the Minister for Finance there, he said. The Construction Industry Federation also expressed its sympathy to Mr O'Callaghan's family. Owen OCallaghan was a figurehead for the construction industry in the region and that through his vision, determination and business acumen he brought many projects, investment and jobs to Cork in his many developments over the last number of years and decades, said Conor OConnell, regional director of CIF. Many of these projects would simply not have happened without his foresight and personal determination to develop Cork and the region as a whole, he said. A director of 70 companies and founder of OCallaghan Properties, the Rochestown resident and native of Ballincollig, passed away in hospital on Sunday night after falling ill on Christmas Day. He is survived by his wife, Sheehagh, son Brian and daughter, Zelda, and predeceased by his daughter, Hazel who died in 2002 at the age of 22 after suffering a serious head injury during a show jumping accident. MINISTER for Finance Michael Noonan has said has it would be premature to say if expected tax reforms in the United States, following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, will be detrimental for Ireland. Speaking at The Irish Times corporate tax summit in the Westin hotel in Dublin this Tuesday morning, Minister Noonan concurred that all indications are that US tax reform is more likely following the recent Presidential election. It remains to be seen what the shape if any US reform would take. A lower US corporate tax rate is widely expected to be the centrepiece of any reform. Speculation that such a move would be detrimental for Ireland is premature, he said. He stressed that Irelands 12.5% rate will remain highly competitive and that Ireland will remain an attractive location for US companies in which to invest. Regardless of how the US tax system changes, I will continue to ensure that Irelands regime is competitive and compatible for businesses operating globally. He said the Brexit process which he expects will take some six years will also present some tax challenges, which will require Ireland to retain its sovereign flexibility on tax matters. His timeline for Britains exit from the EU trading market is significantly longer than the two-year timeline proposed by UK prime minister Theresa May. In the context of an all-island economy, and the large volume of both business and domestic traffic between both countries, it is imperative that any post Brexit solutions do not inhibit the ability of this to continue, said Noonan. He said that the Government has been undertaking an extensive programme of engagement with all other EU Governments and EU institutions, to outline key priorities for the Brexit negotiations. These are the economic and trading relationship with the UK, the Common Travel Area, Northern Ireland and the future of the EU itself. This engagement is being intensified in 2017, he said, adding that the Government is acutely aware of the potential challenges ahead. The Government will continue to meet and engage with their EU counterparts over coming weeks to emphasise Irelands concerns and to ensure that they are fully reflected in the EU position once negotiations commence. This activity is reinforced by extensive engagement at diplomatic and official level. NOT since Richard Harris was nominated for an Academy Award in 1991, has another Limerick star touched Oscar glory. Irish-Ethiopian Ruth Negga has this Tuesday lunchtime been announced as one of five nominees for a best actress award at the Oscars. Her fellow nominees are Natalie Portman (Jackie), Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins), Emma Stone (La La Land), and Isabelle Huppert (Elle). Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Kieran O'Hanlon, said he will be writing to her on behalf of the citizens of Limerick to send his congratulations and every best wish for the upcoming ceremony itself. "I was absolutely delighted to hear the news at lunchtime, and all of Limerick is certainly rooting for her. It's great for Limerick - we're on the map now in the film industry, with Troy Studios to set to open in Castletroy, and now we have a second Oscar nominee," he told the Limerick Leader. "Win or lose, I would love to invite her and her family to a mayoral reception in City Hall, when her schedule allows for it," said the Fianna Fail mayor. There will no doubt be celebrations shortly in Dooradoyle in honour of the Loving star, who counts a wide extended family in the citys suburbs. Ger Malone, one of Neggas four uncles in Limerick, where she grew up in her early years, told the Leader today that the news is fantastic. He said that there will be a "quiet celebration" tonight and more to come at the weekend as more family converge back in Limerick. "It's great news for Limerick and it's great news for the family," he said. He said he doubts he'll be attending the Oscars himself on February 26, but theyll be eagerly watching from home, while she enjoys herself with a family representative. Mr Malone said all the family have been delighted to witness her success. Absolutely, were all very proud of her. Shes a hard worker, very committed and deserves every success. She was always a great little actress growing up. Among her cousins in Limerick is Peter Malone, another son of Ger, who has played rugby with Bruff, St Munchin's, Garryowen, Munster, and who is now Munster Rugby's elite player development manager. Her cousin Dave Malone has frequently been her companion of choice as she stepped out on successive red carpets at the Golden Globes, and previously in New York and Cannes. Ruths mother Nora now lives in London, after moving from Limerick, and there are four other aunts and uncles from the Dooradoyle Road, and even more cousins. Negga, an only child, was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she lived until she was four. Her mother Nora was working in Ethiopia as a nurse when she met Negga's father. Ruths father was due to move to Limerick after them but died in a car accident, when she was just seven. She went to national school in Roxborough, and later spent part of her secondary school at the all-girls Scoil Carmel on OConnell Avenue, which has now closed its door. She moved to London and completing her drama studies at Trinity College Dublin. The former Love/Hate star, 35, who also played Shirley Bassey in an acclaimed BBC drama, is nominated for her role in Loving, which tells the true story of an illegal inter-racial marriage in 1950s Virginia. The couple battled before the Supreme Court in 1967 for their right to live together as husband and wife. Limerick's hellraiser Richard Harris was last nominated for an Oscar in 1991 for The Field, and was earlier nominated for his role in This Sporting Life in 1964. A GROUP of dance artists are to perform a special evening of performance that responds to an archive of former work, in a show coming to Dance Limerick. Live Archive responds to the archive of Dublin Contemporary Dance Theatre 1979 to 1989 the first State funded contemporary dance company. Original company members Robert Connor, Joan Davis, Mary Nunan and Loretta Yurick, explore some of their choreographies from the 1980s, working along with present day early and mid-career dance artists. Through this process of bringing their archive back to life, they open themselves up to what can happen when dance artists re-examine their past work with a new generation of dancers they say. Announcing the January 28 performance, Jenny Traynor of Dance Limerick said: We are really excited to present Live Archive here. This is a fantastic opportunity for audiences to see the evolution of contemporary dance and to experience dance as a living, breathing, organic artform. Limerick audiences are in for a very special evening of dance. A post-show conversation, which is being hosted by Mary Wycherley dance artist in residence for Limerick will also take place. Doctors said Monday that the health of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, who is suffering from bacterial pneumonia, is improving and that he has been moved out of the intensive care unit of a Houston hospital. "He still has a fair amount of coughing," Dr. Clint Doerr, a pulmonologist, said at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, where the 92-year-old Bush has been hospitalized. Doerr said the 41st president still needs breathing medication and antibiotics, but that "everything is progressing." The doctor said Bush could be released from the hospital in several days if he continues to get better. Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email alerts for the top daily stories sent straight to your e-mail Special Forces hunk turned TV Star Ant Middleton says his life has changed completely since appearing on the hit TV series SAS: Who Dares Wins. The heart-throb, who "lived in the shadows" when he served with the Special Boat Service is now the star of the Channel 4 show. Ant told Lincolnshire Live during a visit to Lincoln today, Wednesday January 24, that he, his wife and five children have had to adapt to a completely new lifestyle since he was approached to appear on TV. "I lead a team in Afghanistan and I would also build missions and give out orders and execute missions," he said. "I was responsible for 30-40 people. It was a massive team effort. It's bigger than the individual. You're not looking out for yourself, you're looking out for your pal from left to right. "It builds a trust that then builds a bond throughout your career and life. It's an unbreakable bond." Ant was later approached by Channel 4 to be part of the team on the programme, where five ex-Special Forces soldiers recreate the SAS's secret selection process and put recruits through it. "They started asking questions about the Special Forces and my name got mentioned and they got in touch," he said. "I showed them a course I ran and put it on a bigger scale. I went and spoke with them in London about it and have never looked back. It's quite strange. "I've gone from living in the shadows, to being in the limelight. You learn to adapt to your lifestyle. "Nothing lasts forever but I am enjoying myself. I also understand the responsibility I have and I see how many people it inspires. "If you've had a tough lifestyle, it's never too late to get back on track. It's bettered me as a person. I have a real responsibility as a role model now and I'm trying to give back." The Channel 4 show has had two series and is commissioned for a third, Ant revealed. During the second series, Ant explained how he was in charge of structuring the whole course. "It's not just set up. Hours and hours of work goes into it," he said. His visit to Lincoln today was to help promote a car dealership, Forces Cars Direct in Tritton Road The dealership sells cars to serving and ex-military personnel. Steve Thornton, managing director who served in the military, said: "We have this amazing company and Ant can give us the exposure and experience we need. "There is 4.6 million military both former and serving but less than five per cent are aware of this service. We deliver cars to more than 1000 locations and can deliver cars straight to people's doors or to their nearest participating dealership. "It's about giving something back. Our motto is 'if you serve, you save'." Ant added: "We're both likeminded people and it will be a perfect team. "My priority for helping out anyone is helping the military from the army and navy to the RAF. "To be ambassador for someone that offers such great discount, I hope I can be the voice to get that out there. "I understand the status I have and I'm using it to be the voice of the military. Being ambassador just sat right with me and it benefits so many people." When Ant left the military, he served five months in prison but said this was a turning point in his life. "It adapted me to society. I had to realise I was out on my own and no longer under the umbrella of the organisation to back me up," he said. "But now it's about reaching out to those people who are tough on themselves and showing them that you can change your own life. "There are plenty of opportunities out there. If you put your mind to it, nine times out of ten you can achieve it. You can get tarnished with the criminal record brush." "You have to take the positives and leave the negatives behind," he said. There is no big winning or prize if you complete the gruelling selection process on 'SAS: Who Dares Wins' but Ant said it's what candidates get out of it for themselves that is the reward. He said: "We give them an array of tools so they can get a positive outcome from it." Speaking of his own experience of the selection process, Ant said a resistance to interrogation was the hardest part for him. "I was on the run for five days in the Highlands in Scotland. I ate a slice of bread. I was hallucinating maybe after day three and doing 30 miles a day. I've never been so cold in my life. "I managed to evade the hunter and then I went straight into interrogation for two days. Psychologically, it nearly got to me. I really had to dig deep to keep my mind occupied. They're really clever at what they do." To find out more about Forces Cars Direct, click here . Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign up to our free email alerts for the top daily stories sent straight to your e-mail A murderer obsessed with Jack the Ripper killed a sex worker and then wrote 'JACK' across her body. He strangled and stabbed a blonde mother-of-two to death after luring her to his home. Casey Scott, 29, went on the run for three days after murdering Lenuta Haidemac, 28, at his flat in Drummond Road. Lincoln Crown Court heard Scott also "degraded" Ms Haidemac's body after the killing and took a photograph. Sarah Knight, prosecuting, said Ms Haidemac , 28, went to Scott's flat on the night of 20 July after he booked her for a 150 an hour sex session via an online escort agency. Miss Knight said: "Lenuta Haidemac was vulnerable due to the occupation she was in. "She was lured to his home address by him. He had no intention to pay for the services he had booked her for. "Once inside his flat, sexual activity having taken place between them, he strangled her and subjected her to a violent knife attack. "He then degraded her naked dead body still further by scrawling the word 'JACK' across her abdomen, a morbid reference to his internet search concerning Jack the Ripper." The court heard following the killing Scott also wrote the word 'JACK' across Lenuta's abdomen. "Knowing what he had done, he then went to ground, trying to escape justice before the police were able to track him down," Miss Knight added. Lenuta was Romanian and lived 20 miles away in Boston with her partner Octavian Selistean and their two sons, then aged 3 and 13. She had only lived in the UK from late 2015. Miss Knight added: "She earned her living as an escort. She advertised on a website. She would visit clients in their own homes. That is how she came in to contact with Scott. "It is clear two days before her dead body was found that Scott contacted her by text message. He made arrangements for her to visit him at his home. He booked her for 10.30pm to perform sexual acts on him. She made it clear to him the booking would be 150 an hour." CCTV footage showed Scott making a quick visit to his local shop to buy four cans of larger, chocolate and biscuits shortly before Lenuta's partner drove her to the area. Mr Selistean was not aware of the precise address and waited outside for Lenuta to confirm by text she had arrived safely at Scott's ground floor flat in Drummond Road. She sent her confirmation text message at 10.32pm. "She was never to be heard or seen alive after that time by anyone other than Scott," Miss Knight told the court. Mr Selistean tried to ring Lenuta when she failed to return to his car an hour later but he did not contact police until 9am the next morning. Lenuta's body was not found until shortly before 10pm on 22 July when police arrived at Scott's flat. The cause of death was strangulation and two stab wounds to the neck. After the killing Scott went on the run for three days visiting a number of towns across the East Midlands but he left behind his phone at the scene. He was arrested 20 miles from the murder scene after being found sheltering in a hedgerow in a disused area of Boston. The court heard Scott had no previous convictions and only one caution for shoplifting in 2009, but following the murder police traced two other young women whom Scott had attempted to strangle. On the day of the murder Scott also sent a Facebook message to a friend about a prostitute coming over. When the pal warned Scott he would not get away without paying Scott messaged back: "It doesn't matter.I'll sort it." Andrew Jefferies QC, mitigating, said while it was accepted that Scott had "degraded" Lenuta's body there was no evidence this was planned in advance. Mr Jefferies said one female friend described Scott as "shy" until he had a drink. At an earlier hearing Scott, who had lived as tenant in the ground flat on Drummond Road for five years, admitted murdering Ms Haidemac between 19 and 22 July 2016. Passing a life sentence on Scott, Judge Michael Heath ordered him to serve a minimum tariff of 19 years imprisonment before he can be considered for release by the parole board. Judge Heath told Scott, who appeared in court by videolink from prison, that it was a "brutal" murder of Ms Haidemac. "Her life was brutally ended by you, by strangulation and a vicious knife attack, followed by the degradation of her body," Judge Heath said. "Your evil act left Ms Haidemac dead and deprived two young children of their mother." The judge added the killing was aggravated by Scott's behaviour afterwards. The court heard Ms Haidemac's partner and two children had returned to Romania after the murder. In a victim statement Mr Selistean said: "She did not deserve this, she must have been so frightened at the end." Speaking after the hearing Detective Chief Inspector Diane Coulson, who investigated the murder, said: "Scott is clearly a dangerous individual and he is now off the streets for 19 years. "But it will be very difficult for Lenuta's partner and her children to come to terms with. They have lost part of their family." Scott was jailed for life. The government will have some 22 million more eggs supplied this week to ease a shortage amid the nations worst-ever bird flu outbreak. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Monday that a total of 22.36 million eggs will hit store shelves before the Lunar New Year holiday this weekend. They include the first batch of 750,000 out of 4.5 million eggs the government itself will import for the first time through the Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corporation. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. President Park Geun-hye on Monday paid her respects at the graves of her parents, strongman Park Chung-hee and his wife Yuk Young-soo, in the National Cemetery in Seoul. It was the first time she has left her official residence at Cheong Wa Dae, where she has been holed up since the National Assembly voted to impeach her on Dec. 9. A Cheong Wa Dae official said Park went in the early afternoon and stayed about 10 minutes. She traveled with a minimum security detail and no entourage. Samsung has concluded that the cause of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones catching fire last year was defective batteries after all. In a press conference Monday, the tech giant said the first batch of batteries from Samsung SDI were faulty, and then the replacement batteries from China's ATL had a different fault that caused the same problem. Samsung failed to detect the defects in the assembly process. It was forced to recall millions of the phones around the world and stop production, resulting in billions of dollars of losses. Samsung says it has now drastically toughened safety tests of rechargeable batteries starting with the Galaxy S8 smartphone and changed design and software programs as well. Taking Responsibility Koh Dong-jin, the head of Samsung's mobile division, told reporters, "We sincerely apologize for the discomfort and concern we have caused to our customers." "A thorough examination found that it was the batteries that had caused Galaxy Note 7 mobile phones to overheat and catch fire and that there were no problems with hardware and software," he added. The company had conducted exhaustive tests of tens of thousands of Note 7s for the last three months to identify the cause. New U.S. President Donald Trump has made a state-of-the-art anti-missile shield a top priority to protect America "against missile-based attacks from states like Iran and North Korea." The plan was announced with great fanfare on the White House website the day after Trump was sworn in last Friday. "Our military needs every asset at its disposal to defend America. We cannot allow other nations to surpass our military capability," the statement reads. "The Trump administration will pursue the highest level of military readiness." The U.S. already has a multilayer missile defense system consisting of SM-3 missiles on Aegis vessels, and ground-based missiles batteries such as Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense batteries and PAC-3 interceptors. It now aims to increase the number of ground-based missiles on the U.S. mainland and Alaska from 30 to 44 by year's end. The U.S. is also pushing ahead with a plan to intercept ballistic missiles at a high altitude with drone-mounted laser weapons. Last year, the chief of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said it would become a reality soon. Some experts predict such weapons could be deployed warfare-ready before 2020. A government source here said South Korea could try to buy THAAD and SM-3 missiles. Last year was the hottest year on record, but it wasn't just high temperatures that people will remember Americans had to handle a fiery, contentious election, and people around the world experienced violent, political strife. It seems fitting, then, that "dumpster fire" has been selected as the word of the year for 2016. In a vote held in Austin, Texas, on Jan. 6, the American Dialect Society chose "dumpster fire" defined as "an exceedingly disastrous or chaotic situation" as the word (or, rather, words) of the year. "As 2016 unfolded, many people latched on to 'dumpster fire' as a colorful, evocative expression to verbalize their feelings that the year was shaping up to be a catastrophic one," Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society, said in a statement. "In pessimistic times, 'dumpster fire' served as a darkly humorous summation of how many [people] viewed the year's events." [The 6 Strangest Presidential Elections in US History] The phrase "dumpster fire" wasn't invented just last year, and although it's actually two words, the American Dialect Society said "Word of the Year" can be interpreted in its broader sense, as a "vocabulary item" in other words, not just words but phrases. The society also added that the chosen words or phrases do not have to be brand-new, but they should represent things that were newly prominent or notable in the past year. "Very few [words of the year] are brand-new," said Allan Metcalf, an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, who founded the society's Word of the Year vote in 1990. "It's not a scientific process," Metcalf told Live Science, noting the unpredictability of the hand vote, which can be swayed by a particularly impassioned nomination speech. Voters picked "dumpster fire" from a field of other category winners, including "normalize," "post-truth," "#noDAPL" (a hashtag used by protesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline) and the fire emoji. The eventual word of the year won in a runoff vote against "woke," which means "socially aware or enlightened." This selection is the 27th annual word of the year, joining a list of previous words of the year that reflect changing sociopolitical environments. The 2015 winner was the singular "they" (in place of "he" or "she"), and in 2014, "#blacklivesmatter" took the title. The American Name Society also announced its selection of "Aleppo," the city in Syria, as 2016's name of the year. Original article on Live Science. Known as periodical cicadas, these long-lived insects the longest-lived in North America can be found only in the eastern half of the United States, surfacing between May and June in cycles of 13 or 17 years, depending on the species. They live near trees, hatching and growing underground as nymphs and living off sap that they siphon from tree roots. During their years underground, the nymphs molt through five growth cycles, known as instars. Then, when ground temperatures reach 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius) at a soil depth of 8 inches (20 centimeters), the nymphs emerge en masse and metamorphose into winged adults, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [6 Amazing Facts About Cicadas] The emergence of a population of periodical cicadas is usually synchronized across multiple states. The number of boisterously buzzing bugs varies widely from year to year but can total in the billions; in 2016, periodical cicadas in some areas congregated in densities of 1.5 million insects per acre, the Washington Post reported. Here's what you need to know about the periodical cicadas that will be emerging in 2017. Periodical cicadas and annual cicadas: What's the difference? Annual cicadas emerge later in the year than periodical cicadas, arriving in late June through August, according to the Magicicada website. The annual variety is typically light green or brownish in color, while periodical cicadas have black bodies, red legs, bright red eyes and red veins running through their large, translucent wings. Periodical cicadas' bodies measure about .0.75 to 1.25 inches (1.9 to 3.2 centimeters) in length, while annual cicadas' bodies are somewhat bigger, at about 1.75 inches (4.5 cm) long, entomologists with North Carolina State University (NCSU) wrote. There are approximately 3,000 cicada species, seven of which represent periodical cicadas. Three periodical species Magicicada septendecim, Magicicada septendecula and Magicicada cassini have 17-year life cycles, while four species Magicicada tredecim, Magicicada neotredecim, Magicicada tredecassini and Magicicada tredecula follow a 13-year life cycle. What is a brood? Periodical cicadas are identified by the term "broods," which categorizes the insects based on the year in which they emerge, with Roman numerals representing each group. According to NCSU entomologists, there are 30 broods: Broods I through XVII are found predominantly in the northeastern U.S. and have 17-year life cycles, while Broods XVIII through XXX are 13-year cicadas and live mostly in the southern U.S.. Where can you find them? In 2017, Brood VI periodical cicadas are expected to emerge in three states: South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia. They will appear in Rabun County in Georgia, in Oconee and Pickens Counties in South Carolina, and in Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Henderson, McDowell, Polk and Wilkes Counties in North Carolina, with smaller groups anticipated in Ohio and Wisconsin, Cicada Mania reported. As of June 12, cicada emergence is underway in Georgia and the Carolinas, with additional sightings reported in central Oklahoma, according to Cicada Mania. The last time this brood was seen in the United States was in 2000. Hillary Clinton had just been elected to the U.S. Senate, the International Space Station was welcoming its very first crew, and Harry Potter and his friends were entering their fourth year at Hogwarts in the newly released novel "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (Scholastic, 2000). The periodical cicadas that emerged in 2016 Brood V, another 17-year group appeared in parts of Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. Sometimes, different broods overlap, as they did in 2015, when Brood IV (17-year cycle) and Brood XXIII (13-year cycle) appeared across 14 states in total. In May 2017, people living in the Mid-Atlantic region were surprised to see periodical cicadas, which were not expected until 2021, appearing in the hundreds 1,000 sightings were reported from northern Virginia to Bel Air, Maryland in just two days, the Washington Post reported. Entomologists are collecting data about these early appearances, to determine whether this represents a disturbance in the cicadas' life cycle that could be linked to longer growing seasons due to climate change, according to the Washington Post. How do cicadas know when to come out of the ground? "The year of cicada emergence is cued by what I and others believe to be an internal molecular clock," Chris Simon, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut, told Entomology Today. A periodical cicada's internal clock is likely calibrated by certain environmental cues that signal the passage of a year, "such as the trees leafing out," Simon suggested. This event, he said, changes the composition of the fluid in tree roots that nourishes cicada nymphs in early instars, or developmental stages. "The accumulation of 13 or 17 years triggers the emergence of fifth-instar nymphs. The day of emergence is triggered by accumulated ground temperature," Simon said. In fact, entomologist Richard Karban of the University of California, Davis, used this "tree time" phenomenon to get a group of 17-year cicadas to emerge a year early. Karban manipulated peach trees that were supporting the cicada nymphs so that the plants bloomed twice a year rather than just once. The cicadas had already been brooding for 15 years, and the double-blossoming tree roots tricked the insects into "thinking" two years had passed, according to the article published in July 2000 in the journal Ecology Letters. How long are they around? Adult periodical cicadas enjoy a brief and frenzied mating period that lasts just four to six weeks, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) explained in a Pest Alert publication. About three to five days after mating, females lay approximately 24 to 28 eggs, which hatch after six weeks. Then, the nymphs burrow underground, and the cycle begins all over again. Brood VI's next expected appearance will be 17 years from now, in 2034. Are cicadas harmful? Adult cicadas can't bite or sting, and aren't toxic; in fact, they are edible, with an "asparagus-like" flavor, cicada expert Gene Kritsky, a biologist at the College of Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, told National Geographic (opens in new tab). Unlike the highly destructive locusts that they are sometimes mistaken for, periodical cicadas don't feed at all, according to the USDA. However, females can damage tree branches by carving tiny slits to hold their eggs, the USDA said. Fun facts about periodical cicadas Every species of cicada produces a unique song that the males use to call the females, and the bugs can be heard at up to a distance of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers). While periodical cicadas generally have red eyes, some of the insects have white or blue eyes, biologist Patrick Abbot at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee said in a statement. Cicada researcher Roy Troutman has captured photos and video of periodical cicadas that have white eyes, a trait caused by a genetic mutation that strips the color from the insects' eyes and even from their wings, he explained in a video description (opens in new tab) . . The veins at the tips of periodical cicadas' wings can appear to take the shape of the letter "w," according to the Cicada Mania website. People once viewed that letter as an evil omen, The New York Times reported on May 20, 1894, saying, "some superstitious persons have greatly alarmed themselves, most unnecessarily, by thinking this meant war. Others, more sensible, think it means warm weather." By emerging in enormous numbers, periodical cicadas follow an unusual survival strategy, essentially outlasting their predators by providing them with too much to eat, according to a 1993 study published in the journal Ecology. This technique, known as "predator satiation," enables hungry predators to gorge themselves sick on readily available prey, until the predators reach a saturation point where they avoid the cicadas completely. The "synchronized, explosive emergences" of periodical cicadas ensure that even though large numbers of the insects may be eaten, plenty will still survive long enough to mate and lay their eggs, the study authors wrote. Editor's Note: This article was originally published on January 24. It was updated with information on the current status of the cicada season. Original article on Live Science. In this Nov. 3, 2015, photo, the Keystone Steele City pumping station, to which the planned Keystone XL pipeline would connect, is seen in Steele City, Nebraska. President Donald Trump signed executive orders today (Jan. 24) to expedite completion of the stalled Keystone XL (KXL) and Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction projects. Trump said that forthcoming work on DAPL would be "subject to terms and conditions negotiated by us" and that "we are going to renegotiate some of the terms" for Keystone XL, Reuters reported. The orders were signed before reporters in the Oval Office, and it is as yet uncertain how soon the projects will resume. [Top 10 Worst Oil Spills] DAPL, which would travel 1,172 miles (1,886 kilometers) through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, and transport 470,000 to 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was halted in December 2016, when the Department of the Army announced that it was denying approval for an easement that would direct the pipeline under North Dakota's Lake Oahe. The easement's proposed location 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation meant that pipeline leaks or ruptures could threaten the reservation's water supply, and army officials agreed that further investigation was required to assess DAPL's environmental impact. "It's clear that there's more work to do," Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army's assistant secretary for civil works, said in a statement. "The best way to complete that work responsibly and expeditiously is to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing." The KXL project, an $8 billion pipeline that would extend 1,179 miles (1,897 km) from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, and transport about 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was blocked by then-President Barack Obama in 2015. Obama explained that KXL would not significantly contribute to the U.S. economy and that installing it would bolster reliance on fossil fuels, weakening progress against climate change. In another executive action issued today, Trump decreed that American steel would be used to build the pipelines, an initiative that he promised would create thousands of jobs for steelworkers. Trump told reporters that the KXL project alone would generate "28,000 jobs, great construction jobs," Reuters reported. However, KXL labor requirements were described as "relatively minor" in a 2013 assessment by the State Department. According to the report, the KXL project would generate only 35 permanent jobs and 15 temporary jobs, "primarily for routine inspections, maintenance and repairs," and that the socioeconomic impact would be "negligible." Original article on Live Science. This colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted some of the ultrastructural details seen in the cell wall configuration of a number of Gram-positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Tuberculosis in mice can be cured much faster than normal by simply tweaking the standard regimen of antibiotics, new research shows. Scientists reduced treatment time in mice by up to 75 percent; they did so by optimizing the combinations and doses of the standard drugs. The finding may lead to a markedly shorter course of treatment for tuberculosis in humans and may reduce the risk of the infection becoming resistant to the antibiotics. Treating tuberculosis in humans can be long and onerous; the infected person must take a regimen of antibiotics for eight months or more. As a result of this lengthy treatment, patients often fail to complete the full course of medication; this is particularly true in poor countries, where people may not have easy access to medical care. Failing to complete the course of antibiotics can lead to disease relapse, further spread of the illness and drug resistance. [27 Devastating Infectious Diseases] The newly optimized combinations of antibiotics could reduce the spread of even the most virulent strains of tuberculosis, the researchers said. Their findings were published today (Jan. 24) in the journal Nature Communications. Tuberculosis, or TB, is a leading cause of death worldwide, with more than 10.4 million cases and 1.8 million deaths in 2015, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The disease is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. TB is an airborne disease spread by coughing, sneezing or any exchange of saliva. Most worrisome to infectious-disease experts is the rise of multi-drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB, against which few if any drugs are effective. There were more than 500,000 such cases in 2015, according WHO, mostly in China, India and Russia. In the United States, 10 drugs are approved to treat TB. And the first line of defense is a set of four antibiotics: isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide. These are usually given together for eight weeks, often followed by just isoniazid and rifampin for the next 16 to 24 weeks. [6 Superbugs to Watch Out For] This standard regimen evolved from the 1950s to the present by a process of adding or replacing drugs one by one, rather than by a systematic search to identify the most highly synergistic drug combinations, explained the research team in the new study. Given the literally billions of possible combinations of drugs and doses, the team set out to find which combination could be most effective at killing M. tuberculosis. The researchers were led by Dr. Marcus Horwitz, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) David Geffen School of Medicine. The team used a special drug-screening technique developed at UCLA to rapidly identify the most promising drug combinations, and then tested them in a cell culture. That work was reported in March 2016. This approach allowed the scientists to rank more than 1,000 three- and four-drug combinations in order of their potency in killing M. tuberculosis, Horwitz said. In the new study, the team tested the most promising combinations on mice that were infected with TB. Two regimens stood out: One had four common and inexpensive drugs (clofazimine, ethambutol, prothionamide and pyrazinamide) and cured the mice in 12 weeks. The other had a similar set of four drugs but with a less-common, more-expensive drug (bedaquiline) replacing prothionamide. It cured the mice in only four weeks, a 75 percent reduction in time compared to the standard treatment. [7 Bizarre Drug Side Effects] Dr. Daniel Clemens, an adjunct professor of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine and a co-first author on the study, said he is guardedly optimistic that the regimens could work in humans. "Showing markedly greater efficacy than the standard regimen in the mouse model makes our regimens very promising for further study in humans, but does not guarantee that they will be more effective in clinical trials," Clemens told Live Science. "There are differences between TB in mouse and human that could cause our mouse model to overestimate the clinical efficacy of our regimens," he said. "On the other hand, the mouse model might underestimate the efficacy [because] whereas a few residual bacteria in a mouse can cause relapse, the stronger human immune response may control a small number of bacteria and prevent relapse." Clemens said his team found other drug combinations in the cell-culture studies that hold potential as "universal regimens for treatment of multi-drug-resistant TB" and that the researchers hope to test in mice and ultimately in humans. Follow Christopher Wanjek @wanjek for daily tweets on health and science with a humorous edge. Wanjek is the author of "Food at Work" and "Bad Medicine." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on Live Science. The periodic table contains a wide array of elements, numbered from one (hydrogen) to 118 (oganesson), with each number representing the number of protons stored within an atom's nucleus. Scientists are constantly working to create new elements by cramming more and more protons into nuclei, expanding the periodic table. The effort sparks curiosity and questions: Can the table be enlarged in the opposite direction? Is it possible to make an element zero? Does it already exist? "Element zero" has been a matter of conjecture for nearly a century, and no scientist searched more ardently for it than German chemist Andreas von Antropoff. It was Antropoff who placed the theoretical element atop a periodic table of his own devising, and it was also he who thought up a prescient name for it: neutronium. You don't widely hear Antropoff''s name today, as his Nazi leanings earned the scientist international disgrace. You do, however, hear about neutronium. Today, the term commonly refers to a gaseous substance composed almost purely of neutrons, found within the tiniest, densest stars known to exist: neutron stars. Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of large stars. Just twenty kilometers wide, they hold the mass of one to three Suns. The incredible mass comes from how they are composed. The stars are made up almost entirely of neutrons clumped together by intense gravity. Neutrons normally exist only within nuclei of atoms, making their congregation an astronomical rarity, and deserving of a cool name, the aforementioned "neutronium". (Image: The structure of a neutron.) But is the stuff also worthy of the title "element zero"? Neutronium is theoretically devoid of protons, so on face value it fits the bill, as no protons would mean no atomic number. With that said, such a definition would certainly require some creative thinking. Neutronium only dwells under the crushing gravity of a neutron star. Extract a teaspoon of the stuff (roughly equal to the mass of a mountain) and it will decay almost instantly with "tremendous" radioactivity. To consider neutronium a stable element we'd almost need to think of a neutron star as an atomic nucleus. That's a massive stretch. (Author's Note: Some learned commenters have correctly pointed out that elements don't have to be long-lasting to be considered elements. This strengthens the case for neutronium as element zero!) Original article on RealClearScience. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! The Valuation Office, the State property valuation agency, commenced the process of posting over 6,300 Proposed Valuation Certificates to commercial and industrial ratepayers in the Longford, Roscommon and Westmeath rating authority areas on Thursday last, January 12. This is an important milestone in the revaluation of all non-domestic property in Ireland which is currently underway through a programme known as the National Revaluation Programme. Provision for a revaluation of all non-domestic property in Ireland was made under the Valuation Act of 2001 as amended by the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015. Neither residential property nor agricultural lands are rateable and consequently will not be affected by the revaluation. The proposed valuation of each property has been arrived at by reference to relevant market rental information at the specified valuation date of October 30, 2015, collected and analysed by the Valuation Office. Following revaluation, there is a much closer and more uniform relationship between rental values of property and their commercial rates liability. A revaluation is necessary to bring more equity and transparency into the local authority rating system and to ensure that all ratepayers pay a fair share of the commercial rates to be raised. The revaluation will result in a redistribution of the commercial rates liability between ratepayers depending on the relative shift in the rental values of their properties in relation to each other. While an individual occupier's rates liability may increase or decrease, the revaluation will not increase the overall commercial rates income of the local authority. The commercial rates income of each local authority is capped in the year following a revaluation. The Proposed Valuation Certificates posted last week will state the valuation that the Valuation Office proposes entering for each property when new valuation lists are published on September 15, 2017. The valuations will be used to calculate the rates charged in 2018 and subsequent years. If a ratepayer accepts that the valuation set out in the Proposed Valuation Certificate is correct, they do not need to respond to the Valuation Office. If a ratepayer is dissatisfied with his or her proposed valuation or any of the details contained in the Proposed Valuation Certificate he or she should make 'representations' to the Valuation Office within 40 days of the date of issue of the said Certificate. If making representations, an occupier must provide clear reasons and supporting evidence to justify any proposed changes, including an alternative valuation. Ratepayers will also have the right to appeal their valuation subsequently to the Valuation Tribunal, an independent body set up for that purpose. When these representations have been considered, the Valuation Office will issue Final Valuation Certificates in early September 2017. These final valuations will then be used by the County Council to calculate their respective rates charges for the 2018 rates year and subsequent years. The valuation is a key element in establishing the rates liability but is not the amount of rates actually payable. While the Valuation Office determines the valuation, each local authority determines, levies and collects the actual rates payable. The Valuation Office website, www.valoff.ie, sets out detailed information about the revaluation and the representations process. The Office also has a dedicated Customer Support team to deal with revaluation queries by email at reval2017@valoff.ie, or by telephone at Lo-Call 1890 532 431 or 01 8171033 between 9:30am and 5:30pm from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. Every single road in and out of the proposed Center Parcs site in Ballymahon is to be upgraded, the Leader can reveal. In what is being described as a significant investment, government chiefs earlier this morning gave the green light to the ambitious move. No definitive figure has so far been placed on the overall sum thats expected to be involved, but its expected the final total could be as high as six or even seven figures. Speaking ahead of its official announcement, Independent Cllr Mark Casey said the news had Longford-Westmeath TD Kevin Boxer Morans fingerprints all over it. This is all down to the work of Kevin Boxer Moran, said a clearly delighted Cllr Casey. Its a significant infrastructural boost for Ballymahon and surrounding areas. As well as that its the first real commitment that the Government has given to Center Parcs. The announcement comes in the same week Taoiseach Enda Kenny and four of his ministerial colleagues travelled to the south Longford town to deliver the Governments latest master plan to reinvigorate rural Ireland. Aptly dubbed Realising our Rural Potential, the 60m scheme as set out by Mr Kenny aims to revitalise over 600 rural and regional towns over the next three years. In giving his backing to that strategy, Cllr Casey said todays announcement was a further illustration of the increased leverage rural counties like Longford were now enjoying at government level. After ten years of neglect its great to see south Longford getting its just rewards, he claimed. Never before has Longford got as much roads funding as Westmeath even though its significantly higher and its solely down to the work Kevin Boxer Moran has done for Longford. For more on this story, see tomorrow's Longford Leader. Family & Parenting, Sports & Recreation, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: January 24 2017 On Saturday, February 4th , Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker and the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau will host a free New York Safe Boating Course. Mount Sinai, NY - January 20, 2017 - On Saturday, February 4 th , Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker and the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau will host a free New York Safe Boating Course at the Mount Sinai Fire Department (746 Mt. Sinai-Coram Road, Mt. Sinai, NY 11766). The 8-hour course will be from 9:00am to 5:00pm and will provide participants with the tools and knowledge they need to safely operate a boat or personal watercraft. Successful completion of the safe boating course will quality you to receive a boat safety certificate issue by New York State. Certificates are free for people ages 18 and under and $10 for adults over 18. The course is free and open to all skill levels. Participants must be at least 10 years of age by the date of the course. Advance registration is required. To register, please call Legislator Ankers office at 631-854- 1600. Local News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: January 24 2017 Settlement requires Cigna eliminate a written ban on coverage for claims for neuropsychological testing of psychiatric conditions and autism spectrum disorder. Cigna's policies denied coverage for neuropsychological testing for psychiatric conditions and autism spectrum disorder. Insurers must provide same access to mental health services as they would any other treatment following settlement. New York, NY - January 23, 2017 - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that his office has reached a settlement with Cigna, requiring the health insurer eliminate a written ban on coverage for claims for neuropsychological testing of psychiatric conditions and autism spectrum disorder. Cigna will also reprocess denied claims for autism spectrum disorder. Insurers must provide the same access to mental health services as they would for any other treatment. We will continue to aggressively enforce our health care parity laws to ensure that no New Yorker faces illegal barriers when seeking mental health treatment, said Attorney General Schneiderman. Attorney General Schneidermans Health Care Bureau launched an investigation into Cignas administration of mental health benefits following a complaint in 2016 about its written policy for neuropsychological testing. The policy said that Cigna does not cover neuropsychological testing for psychiatric conditions and autism spectrum disorder because such testing is considered educational in nature and/or not medically necessary. Under the terms of the settlement, the company agrees to comply with Timothys Law, New York legislation enacted in 2006 and named for a 13-year-old Schenectady boy who committed suicide after an insurance company denied ongoing coverage for treatment of serious mental health issues. Timothys Law mandates that New York group health plans provide broad-based coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of mental, nervous or emotional disorders or ailments at least equal to the coverage provided for other health conditions. The New York law is similar to federal mental health parity laws, which were passed in 2008. The settlement requires Cigna to revise its policies, pay autism claims previously rejected, and pay a penalty of $50,000. Cigna also clarified its policy regarding concussion and mild cognitive impairment. Cigna shall also provide coverage information to its members and members health care providers upon request. Consumers with a complaint regarding health insurance coverage for mental health, or any other health care-related complaint, may always contact the Attorney Generals Office Health Care Helpline at 800-428-9071. The investigation of this matter was conducted by Assistant Attorney General Carol Hunt, under the supervision of Health Care Bureau Chief Lisa Landau. The Health Care Bureau is part of the Social Justice Division, which is led by Executive Deputy Attorney General Alvin Bragg. Suffolk Leg. Rob Trotta Presides Over Installation of 2017 Board of Directors at Kings Park Chamber of Commerce Local News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: January 24 2017 Suffolk County Leg. Rob Trotta introduced by Chamber as the county representative for Kings Park and a staunch supporter of sewers for downtown Kings Park and Smithtown. Pictured from left to right, in the back row, are Suffolk County Leg. Rob Trotta, Jack Hessel, treasurer, Leo Ostebo, Chris Reimels, second vice president, Charlie Gardner, first vice president, Edward McElhone, Jr., secretary, Heather Reynolds and Tony Tanzi, president. In the front are from left, Peri Wallack and Angie Marketta. Kings Park, NY - January 23, 2017 - At the January meeting of the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce Tony Tanzi, chamber president, introduced Suffolk County Legislator Rob Trotta as the county representative for Kings Park and a staunch supporter of sewers for downtown Kings Park and Smithtown. The main reason we are getting the $40 million in sewer funding is to the credit of New York State Senator John Flanagan and Smithtown Town Supervisor Pat Vecchio for their years of persistence in obtaining the support for these projects, said Legislator Trotta. Legislator Robert Trotta represents the 13th Legislative District, which includes Smithtown, Fort Salonga, Kings Park, San Remo, Nissequogue, Head of the Harbor, and St. James, as well as most of East Northport and parts of Northport and Commack. Legislator Trotta serves on the Legislatures Economic Development, Environment, Planning & Agriculture, Health, Public Works, Transportation & Energy, and Ways & Means Committees. White House Marine Guard is Suffolk Honors Grad Richard McLaughlin School & Education, Local News, National & World News, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: January 24 2017 LongIsland.com Suffolk County Community College Class of 2011 honors graduate and Marine Richard McLaughlin stood as White House Marine Guard during 45th presidential inauguration. On the right side is Suffolk County Community College Class of 2011 honors graduate and Marine Richard McLaughlin. Photo by: Still-shot from CBS News, via SCCC. On Jan. 18, Russia announced that it carried out joint air raids with Turkey against Islamic State positions in and around Al Bab, Syria. Turkey and its allies have been leading the fight on the ground as part of Operation Euphrates Shield, which seized significant territory from the so-called caliphate in northern Syria last year. Until last week, however, the Russians were not part of the Turkish-led operation. That changed when the Russian defense ministry said that nine Russian and eight Turkish fighter jets had together struck targets in Al Bab, according to Al Jazeera. Today the Russian and Turkish air forces are conducting their first joint air operation to strike [the Islamic State] in the suburbs of Al Bab, Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, who serves in the Russian defense ministry, claimed. The announcement drew a sharp rebuke from Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi, an influential pro-al Qaeda ideologue living in Jordan. Maqdisi denounced Turkeys decision to cooperate with the Russians and Bashar al Assads regime. A statement attributed to Maqdisi entitled, Euphrates Shield has become a Russian and Bashar Shield, was disseminated on social media, including on Arabic and English-language Telegram channels associated with the jihadi cleric. Today Russia has announced publicly that it has launched joint air raids with Turkey against the group ISIS in the city of Al Bab, the message read, and that it was coordinated with Bashars regime! The statement continued: So the alliance is between the Khalifa of those who water down the religious principles [note: meaning Turkey], and with Putin and Bashar! Maqdisi argued that while the joint operations are currently targeting the Islamic State, they could be expanded to include Jabhat Fath al Sham (JFS), al Qaedas rebranded branch in Syria. At present it is against the group ISIS, Maqdisi warned, and soon it will be against JFS and the others. The ideologue went on to criticize those jihadist and Islamist groups in Syria that are cooperating with Turkey as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. Therefore, those who issued Fatwas [note: religious edicts] permitting the participation in the Euphrates Shield should revise their Fatwa and absolve themselves from it. Maqdisi continued: Their Fatwa permitting it (Euphrates Shield) has become the Shield for Bashar and Putin! So they must not be arrogant and bury their heads in the sand. Although Maqdisi did not specifically name the groups he had in mind, he was almost certainly referring to Ahrar al Sham, an al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that models itself after the Taliban. Maqdisi may have also had in mind Islamist organizations such Nur al Din al Zanki, which has a strong presence in Aleppo and is allied with both JFS and Ahrar al Sham. JFS issued a statement last year rejecting overt cooperation with Turkey. But others justified cooperation with Turkey. Ahrar al Shams theological council went so far as to issue a statement saying that allying with Turkey under the banner of Operation Euphrates Shield is religiously permissible. As Maqdisis critique demonstrates, not all jihadists and Islamists agree with Ahrar al Shams position. This is not altogether surprising. The jihadis are not automatons. There have been longstanding disagreements even with al Qaeda itself as to how to best proceed in Syria and elsewhere. Various schools of thinking have evolved within the al Qaeda network. And the decision to cooperate with Turkey has been reportedly controversial within Ahrar al Sham itself. While Maqdisi has been outspoken, at least on social media, regarding what he sees as the pitfalls of cooperating with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish forces in Syria, other al Qaeda figures have blessed cooperation with Turkey under certain circumstances. Nasser bin Ali al Ansi, an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) official who also served as al Qaedas deputy general manager until his death in Apr. 2015, previously addressed cooperation with Turkey and Qatar. In a question and answer session that was released online in early 2015, al Ansi was asked how the jihadists should deal with countries like Qatar and Turkey, whose policies tend to benefit the mujahideen. Al Ansi replied that there is no harm in benefiting from intersecting interests, as long as we do not have to sacrifice anything in our faith or doctrine. However, al Ansi warned, this does not alleviate their burden for collaborating with the Americans in their war against the mujahideen. The jihadists need to be attentive to this detail, al Ansi explained. In other words, al Qaedas members and like-minded jihadists can benefit from working with Turkey and Qatar, as long as those nations do not cross the line by advancing Americas war against the mujahideen. Of course, the same logic could be applied to Turkey and its new collusion with Russia. In a video posted online in Oct. 2016, Dr. Abdallah Muhammad al Muhaysini explained why it was not in the interest of the mujahideen to launch attacks in Turkey. Despite claiming to be an independent jihadi, Muhaysini is probably the top al Qaeda cleric in all of Syria and, according to the US Treasury Department, part of JFS inner leadership circle. Muhaysini explained that no individual or sole group had the right to launch operations in Turkey, as this was a matter that affects all of the mujahideen in Syria. In Nov. 2016, Muhaysini followed up on his remarks concerning Turkey by criticizing the Islamic State for launching operations inside the country. Muhaysini blasted Abu Bakr al Baghdadi for ordering such operations, saying that Turkey is the artery that the wounded go through to be treated and the safe haven for millions of people who fled the fire of war. It is telling that, in recent years, al Qaeda has not joined the Islamic State in orchestrating attacks inside the country. Still other senior al Qaeda leaders, such as Mohammed Islambouli, have openly operated inside Turkey. And American officials complained about the Turks cooperating with Al Nusrah Front, as JFS was previously known, in the past. Maqdisi is still widely cited across al Qaedas global network. Judging by his recent pronouncements on social media, however, he clearly does not favor working with Turkey, or elements of its government. In another message posted on Telegram on Jan. 7, Maqdisi wrote: Erdogan openly allies with the Russian Kuffar [disbelievers] and supports them over the Mujahideen. And despite that, some people desire to see him as the heir of the Ottomans and the reviver of the rightly guided Khalifa, or Caliph. The English-language Telegram channel associated with Maqdisi posted another condemnation of Turkey on Jan. 15. Turkey is not the Ottoman Caliphate, rather it is stated in its constitution that it is a secular state, Maqdisi wrote. And its army which participates alongside the Russians and the crusaders in their fight against the Muslims is a secular NATO army and is not an Islamic army. Erdogan is not a Mujaddid (reviver) of the glory of the righteous Caliphate like how the foolish compromisers claim, Maqdisi inveighed. Rather he [Erdogan] is proud of secularism and calls towards it and he is among those who fight against Jihad and plots against its people and their project. It is worth noting that Ahrar al Sham never referred to Erdogan as the reviver of therighteous Caliphate. Instead, some within Ahrar have merely favored a pragmatic approach with respect to Turkey, which has reportedly supported the organization. Maqdisi wrote that Erdogans support for the refugees and his alliance with some of the revolutionaries [in Syria] does not make him innocent of his secularist beliefs or from his support for the Crusaders and the Jews against the Muslims. Interestingly, Muhaysini had cited Turkeys support for refugees and general assistance to those fighting in Syria as reasons to avoid attacks inside the country. As Maqdisis criticisms reveal, jihadists and Islamists have longstanding disagreements over their relations with Turkey. But not all jihadis agree with him. 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. The US military targeted al Qaedas branch in Yemen with a series of airstrikes over the weekend. Five al Qaeda members were killed in the central Yemen province of Al Baydah, according to the Department of Defense. The strikes are the first reported against jihadist groups in what the Obama administration has described as areas of active hostilities, meaning Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and sometimes Libya, since President Donald Trump took office. The Pentagon noted the strikes at the end of a news article on the DoD website that focused on military operations against the Islamic State in Mosul and Ramadi. Initially, the military did not disclose the number of strikes that took place: In Yemen, the United States conducted airstrikes from Jan. 20 to 22 in al-Bayda against al-Qa-da in the Arabian Peninsula operatives, killing five al-Qaida members in three days, Davis said. AQAP remains a significant threat to the region and the United States, he said. Al-Qaidas presence has a destabilizing effect on Yemen [in addition to] its using the unrest there to provide a haven from which to plan future attacks against the United States and other interests, the spokesman said. We will continue to degrade, disrupt and destroy al-Qaida and its remnants, and we remain committed to defeating AQAP and denying it safe havens regardless of its locations, Davis said. The strikes conducted by the United States continue to diminish AQAPs presence in the region, the spokesman said. One day later, CENTCOM released a statement announcing three strikes: On Jan. 20, one strike killed an AQAP operative in the al-Baydah Governorate. On Jan. 21, one strike killed three AQAP operatives in the al-Baydah Governorate. On Jan. 22, one strike killed an AQAP operative in the al-Baydah Governorate. The US has stepped up its air campaign against AQAP in Yemen. The US launched 39 airstrikes against AQAP in 2016, the largest yearly total since 2012 (41 strikes), according to data compiled by FDDs Long War Journal. There have been at least four strikes this year, including one on Jan. 8. That strike also took place in Al Baydah province. The targets have varied, as all aspects of AQAPs network have come under fire. The US has killed both senior and low-level leaders and commanders, as well as fighters. Additionally, the US has hit training camps, military formations, and even equipment captured from the Yemeni military. AQAP still controls rural areas of central and southern Yemen despite both attacks from the US and a United Arab Emirates-led ground offensive, which ejected the group from major cities and towns that it held between March 2016 and the summer of 2016. AQAP claims to still operate training camps in Yemen to this day. In mid-July, AQAP touted its Hamza al Zinjibari Camp, where the group trains its special forces. Zinjibari was an AQAP military field commander who was killed in a US drone strike in Feb. 2016. The US military targets AQAP with the approval of Yemens government in exile. The government was forced to flee the capital of Sanaa after Houthi rebels overran the city as well as several provinces in both north and central Yemen. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of 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. Properties / Interiors & Decor Those looking to customise their kitchen with only the finest that Italy has to offer, can look no further than Foster, that is now available in Singapore. Jan 24, 2017 | By Robbie Wilson Brescello, Italy is home to Don Camillo, Und Peppone and Foster. If you find yourself in this part of the world, one should make their way to the Terranova palace. The 17th-century building is home to Foster who is one of the premier kitchen appliance manufacturers in the world. Founded in 1973, the Italian companys beautifully crafted products are available in more than 50 countries worldwide and are developed with respect for the environment. Being environmentally friendly is so important to Foster, that in 2008, their efforts were rewarded when they were added to the Enterprises of Nature Club by the World Wildlife Federation. Fast forward to 2016, and as part of a move to create a better customer experience, Foster has now partnered with Ideal Kitchen, who is their exclusive distributor in Singapore. The almost 2,000 square foot showroom, is located on Genting Lane and provides visitors with the ultimate kitchen shopping experience. Inside, youll find beautifully crafted sinks, stoves, ovens and more, all made with the finest attention to detail. From integrated appliances to stainless steel worktops, the selection is remarkable. The brand is famous around the world for their sinks. Using advanced manufacturing technologies and steel that is extra thick, they are able to create bowls with depth in excess of 20 cm and in more than 400 versions. When you purchase a Foster product, its all about the quality and the tailor-made experience. Say for instance you are looking at stoves and the style you see in the showroom only features four hobs. However, thats definitely not enough if you host lavish dinner parties. Youd need five or even six and with the best high-efficiency burners. Not a problem. The team at Ideal Kitchen will work with Foster to ensure you have the perfect stove to cook up a feast on. Some of the latest and most popular Foster products available at Ideal Kitchen are the coffee machines, steam and combi ovens, and self-contained compact kitchens. The E.S.E. coffee pad system makes espresso like those in Italy, and has a steam dispenser and boiling water for the perfect cappuccino. For quick and easy use, the system also features a touch control display. If you love eating healthy, then the steam oven is an excellent addition to any kitchen. With its wide cooking chamber, you can steam cook everything from broccoli to dumplings. The KE Micro Combi features a stainless-steel cooking chamber with a convection oven, grill and microwave. Its extremely high-tech and features a crystal clear LED display for a sleek and sophisticated look. The self-contained compact kitchen has everything built-in. Theres a spacious dishwasher, multi-functional oven, induction cooker, cooker hood, sink mixer tap and a refrigerator with freezer, to make for a cohesive and user-friendly environment whenever youre whipping up a storm. Ideal Kitchen 28 Genting Lane #01-03 Platinum28 Singapore 349585 Email: info@idealkitchen.com.sg This was first published in Palace Magazine. Welcome to the second part of Have Gear, Will Travels digital photography special. In part one, I talked about the camera gear, hardware, software, and apps I use to make myself look like a semi-competent photographer. Depending on where Im going and what I plan on doing while Im there, the photography gear I jam into my backpack can range from dirt cheap to questionably expensive. All the tips Im providing today, however, come at the low, low cost of free. In order to better illustrate these techniques, tweaks, and suggestions, I spent a week in Montana this past November taking in the sights in Bozeman, Pray, Yellowstone National Park, Three Forks, Butte, the ghost town of Bannack, and all points in between. My time there was cold, the landscape was starkly beautiful, and the people I encountered were disarmingly warm. Within the space of a week, the state managed to charm its way to the top my list of favorite North American road trip destinations. But for now, lets talk photography. The following rules have worked well for me, and now, I pass them on, like the low-rent inheritance they are, to you. Dont be stupid Seamus Bellamy See the brown lump in the middle of this photo? Its a buffalo. It was far enough off the road as I drove through Yellowstone National Park that I likely would have missed it, if I hadnt have noticed its breath lofting from its nostrils in a lazy upward pillar in the cold winter air. It was the first animal I spotted in the park that day and I was excited. Neither the point-and-shoot camera or either of the iPhones I had with me, equipped with Moments 2X telephoto lens or not, provided me with the optical reach I needed to bring the beasts features out in an image in a way that made me happy. Yeah, the buffalo was laying down in knee-deep snow, and he looks like hes too full of chocolate to run. But theres no way in hell I was going to get any closer to this thing. The furry buggers can easily outpace a human. Per the National Park Service, more than three times as many people were injured in bison attacks than dust-ups with bears between 1980 and 1999. And in 2015, Darwinism reared its head on multiple occasions as snap-happy idiots decided to move within six feet of one of these furry tanks, hoping for an amazing photo to remember their time in the park by. Stepping beyond a fence that officials put in place for your safety? Yeah, thats stupid too. Seamus Bellamy For most folks, the best way to see elk up close, is from the safety of their car. Use your head: No matter whether its getting within petting distance of a wild animal, standing on the edge of a cliff, or taking a photo of disenfranchised individuals in a country where you dont understand the social rules, no photo is worth getting hurt or dying for. Plan, if you can Seamus Bellamy The only drinks youll find in Skinners Saloon these days are the ones you bring with you. You spend time planning a vacation or business trip: accommodations, the route transportation and what youll bring with you all get some consideration. Heck, some people wont leave the house to go to the store without a shopping list. Is it so much to ask that a little thought go into capturing the moments or places thatll allow you to reconnect with an amazing adventure for years to come? While theres something to be said for spontaneity in photography, planning before pulling the trigger on a shot can mean the difference between taking a picture of something cool that you saw on your travels and allowing others to see why you felt it was so cool in the first place. While wandering through the ghost town of Bannack, I came across this old barbers chair in Skinners Saloon. An artifact of the 1800s, it added a real sense of life to an otherwise dead buildingwho knows how many road agents, regular townsfolk, and travelers sat in it back in Bannacks heyday? Cool chair! I could, upon seeing it, just snap a pic of the thing, like this: Seamus Bellamy Or, in giving consideration to how the light plays on the patina of the chairs leather, looking to the contrast between the clean lines, artful lines of the foot rest, and the age-gnarled texture of the saloons walls and floor shoot the same chair, under the same lighting conditions like this: Seamus Bellamy That the Saloon window in the background provides a view at the rugged countryside surrounding the town helps to provide some context for the shot. The shadows cast a mood. This is a far better photo than the first one. Its a feat anyone can accomplish by taking the time to stop and plan. Shoot many, pick one Seamus Bellamy As a camera, the iPhone excels at many things. But over the past decade, one issue that Apple has failed to sort out is how much trying to snap a photo on a bright day sucks. If you cant see your handsets display in a blast of direct sunlight, theres no way to tell if what youre shooting will turn out or be a waste of your time until youve had the opportunity to review your photos somewhere that the light is more conducive to seeing. This ones kind of a no-brainer, but I feel it worth mentioning nonetheless: when in doubt, take as many shots as you can and sort it out later. On the day we visited the Travertine Terraces in Yellowstone park, it was clear, cold, and so bright out that I could scarcely see what was on my phones display when I went to line up a shot of the Terraces limestone ledges and swirling steam. So, I fired off ten shots in a row, hoping that Id snag something that would work for me. Most of them came out backlit and underexposed. But, after spending some time in Adobe Lightroom with my favorite image from the series, I ended up with this: Seamus Bellamy Despite being blinded by the sun, constantly shifting clouds of steam and my less-than-pro-level camera skills, I still managed to snag this shot. Not bad for not being able to see what the heck I was doing. Use Portrait Mode in moderation Seamus Bellamy Knowing when and when not to use the iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode can dramatically improve your photos. Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7 Plus is amazing! I love how much depth and drama it can add to a photo. One of the reasons I still use a dedicated camera like the Sony RX100 III is because of the bokeh effect you can achieve with it. Thanks to the iPhone 7 Plus ability to ape this visual effect, Im one step closer to traveling just a little bit lighter. That said, not every portrait benefits from the use of the effect. Heres an example: Seamus Bellamy This shot of my partner, taken 20 minutes away from the Roosevelt Arch and the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana, captures the moment she spotted the park for the first time. But with the iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode blurring out the background, the photo could have been taken in front of a snow drift and itd likely look much the same. Now, check out the same shot with the bokeh effect removed: Seamus Bellamy Here, you get a sense of the majestic landscape we were lucky enough to be travelling through. It helps to tell the story of where weve been and what we were up to. Think about why youre taking photostheyre a huge part of how we communicate our life experiences online, share memories with our loved ones, and reminisce on happier times when things get too dark to bear. Just because you can do something cool to a photo doesnt mean you should do it. Expose yourself Seamus Bellamy Light is a jerk. Too little of it and, without the aid of a tripod and long exposure, your photos will wind up looking like a grainy, pixelated mess. If you get too much light or it comes beaming in from the wrong direction, you can end up with a photo like the one above. When I saw how underexposed this shot turned out, I was disappointed. Wed spent the day hiking around Bannack State Park, just outside of Dillon, Montana. Much of the day was overcast and threatening snow. But as we walked past the pond you see in the photo, the sun decided to make an appearance and put on a show, dancing light across the wind-kissed water. Happily, thanks to Adobe Lightroom, I was able to tinker with the images exposure and color, transforming a cruddy shot into something Im proud to put on display: Seamus Bellamy If you dont have access to Lightroom, dont sweat itthe iOS and MacOS Photos app allows you to adjust exposure, shadows and highlights, contrast, and the color saturation of your pictures. With a little practice, your shots will wind up looking a whole lot better. Lens correction is your friend On our first day in Montana, we ate had treated ourselves to a stupid-good dinner at Roost Fried Chicken in Bozeman before driving to our digs for the night at the Chico Hot Springs Resort in Pray. Along the way, as the sun set, I demanded my partner stop the carthe setting sun, surrounded by snow-heavy clouds, was just too pretty to pass up. Grabbing my iPhone SE with Moments Wide Angle Lens attached to it, I snagged this: Seamus Bellamy The good news is that the wide angle allowed me to capture a huge chunk of the landscape. The bad news is that because the lens field of view is larger than what the iPhone camera sensor can see, the image gets jammed down the cameras throat and gets distorted along the way. The fancy technical term for this is lens or barrel distortion. But the result is that your images will come out all curvy and weird looking. Happily, Lightroom contains a software modules that allow you to correct much of the damaging effects that lens distortion can have on an otherwise beautiful shot. After noodling for less than five minutes, I was able to straighten my photo out so that it looked like this: Seamus Bellamy The difference is subtle, but a definite improvement. If youre passionate about the photos you take, even if you only get to take them on a casual basis, taking the time to learn about the hardware and software you use can pay dividends. Step out of the shadows Seamus Bellamy Thats me in the corner. Thats me in the SUN. LIGHT. Screwing up this photo. R.E.M. References aside, having the light behind you when youre taking a photo can be a double-edged sword. Sure, your subject will be well lit, allowing all the details that made you want to capture it in the first place to shine. But, if youre standing too close or if the sun or other light source is too low, you get a wicked silhouette of yourself and other junk that has no place in your photo gumming up the works. I spent years trying to photograph stuff at different angles or waiting until the lighting conditions were better before I stumbled across a simple solution to the problemoptical zoom: Seamus Bellamy By standing further away from what youre shooting, you wont cast a shadow over it. It works a treat with the iPhone 7 Plus telephoto lens or with a detachable iPhone lens like the ones Moment makes. Easy! Enjoy yourself Seamus Bellamy Remember to take the time to appreciate how lucky you are to travel. The most important travel photography tip I can impart to you is to remember to put your camera down from time to time. Theres no sense in taking photos of the places you visit if you dont create amazing memories to go along with them. See the things, go to the places, and relax. Seamus Bellamy Dont ask questionsjust get in your car and drive to Roost Fried Chicken in Bozeman, Montana. Trust me. Eat new foods and, if youre so inclined, drink all the drinks (when we got to the Headframe Spirits distillery in Butte, we certainly did). Doing so will make the photos you bring home with you all the more rewarding. Chennai : A day after police forcibly evicted pro-jallkattu protesters, actor Kamal Haasan today questioned the action and said he was shocked that women and children were also reportedly caught in the melee. The popular actor said he wanted "reasonable explanation" for the police action. He said women and children were also reportedly affected by the crackdown. On videos which have gone viral purportedly showing police personnel indulging in arson and beating women, Haasan said he hoped they were not real cops. "Hope cops seen in videos are not real". Referring to the protests, he said it was a symbol of discontent. The uprising is "absolutely legitimate", the top star said, adding, he was very touched by the protests. On the ban on jallikattu, he said more people die in accidents than jallikattu. On demands for banning animal rights group PETA, he said he did not support banning PETA. "Can Correct them, if they are wrong." The 62-year-old actor, reacting to the police crackdown on protesters, had yesterday tweeted "aggressive police action on students passive resistance will not bear good results." He had also urged protesters not to resort to violence. Haasan, a known jallikattu supporter, had earlier lauded students for conducting a peaceful stir on the bull taming sport, saying he had become a fan of these students. Police had yesterday evicted scores of pro-jallikattu protesters from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially Marina beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and lathicharge at a few places in the city. PTI It's still too early to fear a torrent of protectionism. Photo by Elisabeth Dellinger. Our political commentary is non-partisan and non-ideological. We favor no party or politician and believe partisan bias invites investing errors. This morning, some unexpected breaking news rocked the world: The next Star Wars movie will be called The Last Jedi. Oh, and Donald Trump signed an Executive Order pulling the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which would have been a free-trade deal among the US, Japan and 10 other nations if it were allowed to live. As markets go, it's a non-event: The Obama administration declared TPP DOA last year, and both Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigned against it. Markets move most on surprises, and this was a foregone conclusion. Naturally, the move is giving rise to speculation there is more to come. But this is wildly premature. There is little evidence the global tide is turning toward protectionism, and none of Monday's trade-related developments are reason to be bearish. Markets like free trade, and a free-trade deal encompassing 40% of global GDP would have been a long-term positive. But its death isn't bearish. Not having TPP doesn't mean new trade barriers are rising. Rather, it extends the status quo, which has been fine for the world economy and markets and can remain so. Some say Trump's Executive Order shows he means what he said on trade.[i] Philosophically, we do agree actions speak louder than words. Yet Trump's rhetoric on trade hasn't exactly been consistent. He calls himself a free-trader while threatening tariffs. He says he wants to trade a lot, but also that America should make its own stuff. The contradictions make us suspect it's all a big headfake, ploys from the man who ran to be America's Negotiator-in-Chief. Art of the deal and all that. Consider the verbal volleying surrounding NAFTA, which also made headlines Monday. Early in his campaign, Trump spoke broadly of scrapping it, blaming it for untold US manufacturing job losses. That softened over the campaign's course, with "renegotiate" becoming the key verb. Now staffers say a forthcoming Executive Order will kickstart the renegotiation process. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are due in town for NAFTA talks soon. This isn't reason to be bearish or bullish about NAFTA's prospects-wait and see what shakes out. "Renegotiate" could mean anything, and there is currently no reason it can't mean "update" and "improve." Trump frequently says he doesn't consider any of America's "free trade" deals to be truly free, and he is not alone in claiming this. Last year, development economist Hernando de Soto[ii]made a strong case that extant bilateral deals, despite their many merits, codify protectionism and pick winners and losers: [Mercantilism] has made a comeback in the 21st century. One way is through the emergence of complex bilateral trade agreements-surely better than no trade at all but riddled with labyrinths through which special interests prowl to capture surplus value and smuggle in low-cost labor. Mr. Trump's "100-Day Action Plan to Make America Great Again" calls for "special task forces" to identify and close the loopholes through which privileges are granted in complex trade agreements. This, if done properly, could improve trade while bringing greater benefits to a broader number of people. Today, in developing countries, these same trade agreements are frequently challenged-not by governments but by the people excluded from their privileges. Why is this coming to the fore now? Because after the defeat of communism 27 years ago, ordinary people expected to be allowed to benefit directly from international trade agreements but most of them received only the kind of sops that mercantilism gave them. The devil is in the details and execution, but an updated NAFTA that makes trade freer is possible. After all, President Obama made nearly identical pledges to renegotiate or scrap NAFTA when he ran in 2008-then he lifted the nearly two-decade ban on Mexican trucks entering the US, completing NAFTA's implementation. This time around, perhaps the three amigos expand it to cover digital markets, which didn't broadly exist when NAFTA was born. When Trump announced his plans to host Pena Nieto and Trudeau, he spoke of his desire for a "very good result for Mexico, for the United States, for everybody involved." Again, actions speak louder than words, but this doesn't sound like code for "border's closed, don't let the tariffs hit you on the way out." Perhaps this all sounds highly speculative to you, but that is the point. All we have so far is talk and guessing, nothing actionable for investors. Markets move on probabilities, not possibilities. It's too early to assign probabilities to NAFTA's survival, improvement or demise. Our sole point is that the claim "Trump kills TPP" means "Trump will kill NAFTA" is a galactic jump to conclusions.[iii] It is also too early to get excited over the "very big border tax" Trump promised yet again Monday during a meeting with several business leaders. Specifically, he threatened a 35% tax on American firms that offshore production of goods destined for the US market. This could make production costlier and less efficient, and it would amount to government picking winners and losers, neither of which would thrill markets. At the same time, targeting companies with tariffs is likely illegal under the current law, so it is not something Trump could do unilaterally. It would require legislation, which pro-trade Republican senators-of which there are many-would do their darnedest to block. Some House Republicans have mooted a blanket border adjustment tax, which would tax all products (raw materials, components and finished goods) imported by US firms, but Trump has already denounced this. Behold, the wondrous powers of intraparty gridlock. Then, too, it's a big world out there, and trade is still getting broadly freer. While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a TPP without America is "meaningless," other signatories are more optimistic and might try to pick up the pieces. Even if the broad group pact doesn't survive in some fashion, we could end up with a bunch of smaller free-trade deals among some participants. TPP talks already yielded a side deal between Japan and Australia, and more bilateral or trilateral deals could emerge from the wreckage. Heck, the US could even get in on the fun-Trump has always said he prefers bilateral deals to group pacts, where too many pet peeves and competing interests get in the way. Speaking of which, UK Prime Minister Theresa May visits the White House later this week, and both camps suggest a free-trade deal is high on the agenda. US trade policy matters, but always think globally. The Future of Pharma In The Age Of Trump BY PATRICK COX : Last week, Donald Trump complained about drug prices in a press conference. Drug companies, he said, are getting away with murder. During that presser, pharma and biotech stocks lost over $20 billion in value. Investors should have learned an important lesson. They probably didnt. Trumps targeting of drug sellers was not a fluke. Hillary Clinton's "price gouging" tweet last September had the same type of impact on markets. For those who understand the big picture, these two events offer clues about the future of the drug business. The real problem isnt drug pricing The big picture is pretty simple. Healthcare costs will continue to rise even if drug prices go down. At most, medicines account for about 15% of the national medical bill. Theyre not the reason that costs are rising. But, they are easier to attack than hospitals and doctors. Heres the real problem: America is broke. Worse than broke, actually. This is because of healthcare costs. These costs are the number one driver of federal spending (as well as the deficit and debt). As President Obama learned, those costs are hardcoded into the system. Healthcare costs are rising not because of greed or inefficiency (though there are plenty of both). They're rising for demographic reasons. And theyre rising faster than we can repay the trillions weve already borrowed. The unfunded liabilities for future healthcare are even more of a problem. As a result, our fiscal policy choices will be increasingly limited and ineffectual. Politicians and the public will demand that something be done. And that something will mean greater government involvement in drug pricing. Let me explain why this is inevitable. As the Congressional Budget Office has pointed out, age-related healthcare costs and the associated debt service are the only part of the federal budget thats growing in proportion to the whole. (Increases of approximately 9% in these programs are mandatory and automatic.) Source: CBO The graph above is quite sobering, but you should read the CBOs statement below it. Note that growth in the major health care programs and Social Security is projected to exceed the decline in other noninterest spending relative to GDP. Heres why healthcare costs are rising The CBO clearly points to age-related disease as the culprit. Simply put, we are living longer. Healthcare costs rise exponentially with age, and the percentage of the population that is older is growing. This is simple math, but our leaders seem to be in denial over this macroeconomic reality. This graph, based on data from the HHS Administration on Aging, makes the trend clear. Source: CBO This aging of the population is only one half of a bigger change often called the flipping of the demographic pyramid. Its taking place throughout the world. But the trend is growing fastest in the West. The effect of the baby bust In the past, when birthrates were higher, longer life spans and a larger aged population wouldnt have been a problem. Today though, birthrates are too low to provide the younger workers that we need to pay for our increased medical costs. In fact, CDC data show that the US fertility rate fell last year to its lowest since 1909 (when tracking began). This puts our fertility rate at about 1.8 births per woman. At least 2.1 births are required to replace the existing population and maintain the old-age dependency ratio (OADR). In other words, the pool of younger workers (contributors) is shrinking while the aged population (dependents) is growing. Our already untenable OADR is getting worse. Optimists say that the birthrate will rise when the economy improves. It may to some degree, but US birthrates have been well below replacement rate since 1972. This is true even among immigrants. This interactive chart by the WHO shows just how dire the picture is. Even if by some miracle, we could return to 1950s birthrates, it wouldnt help. Why not? Babies born now wont become working contributors for decades. Likewise, most immigrants dont become net contributors for decades either. The issue is that we dont have that long to fix the problem. The politics of the demographic shift The political consequences of this change are huge and are not widely recognized. We cant afford to pay the rising cost of healthcare for the aged. Nor is it possible (politically) to reduce their level of care. In the news, weve heard a lot of talk about the changes in political demographics. But most reports make the mistake of focusing on ethnicities. As such, they ignore the biggest demographic change in historythe growth of the most powerful of all political blocs the aged. This proverbial third rail will not go quietly into the night. So politicians will try anything to put off the day of reckoning. Most investors and politicians dont get it. Many are in full denial. But its time to face facts; we're entering the Trumpian age of the deal. Big pharmas ability to set prices will give way to political pressures. The future outlook for pharma There are ways to deal with this situation and even profit from it. One is to shift from big pharma, ETFs, and companies that sell older existing drugs and invest in biotech startups. Big pharma will claim that reduced profits on widely used drugs will limit their ability to acquire new drugs. But it may, in fact, incentivize drug discovery. Pharma tends to be slow to replace very profitable drugs with something newer and better. The Trump Administration could make new drug development more attractive by following through on its promise to reduce regulatory hurdles. New and better drugs can reduce total healthcare spending, not just drug costs. A significantly superior cancer drug, for example, would cut hospital and physician costs. Even more exciting is the work in geroprotectors. These are drugs that could prevent (rather than treat) cancers and other age-related diseases. But these drugs are difficult to approve because prevention may take decades to prove with finality. If I were Trump, I would reach out directly to the aged community. He could enlist their help to move the most promising and safest geroprotectors into the market. There are compounds, currently stalled by regulators, that have shown tremendous efficacy in animals. I think they could effectively rejuvenate older individuals and return some degree of health and vigor. Since most people are forced to retire due to their or their spouses health, this could repair the dependency ratio. A more immediate solution has ironically come from the company that inspired the fateful Clinton tweet, KaloBio. You may recall that pharma bro Martin Shkreli took over the company and then increased the price of KaloBios older antibiotic Daraprim by more than 5,000%. (Daraprim is a life saver for a few thousand Americans who suffer from the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis.) After Shkreli destroyed the company, investors looked for help. They chose industry veteran Cameron Durrant PhD, a well-known critic of big pharma. Despite his initial hesitance, Durrant has since turned the company around via regulatory jiu-jitsu. Exploiting the bad press surrounding KaloBio and the biotech industry, he announced a bold new approach to drug pricing. Called the Responsible Pricing Model, it is a transparent process that involves the help and advice of those who want affordable drugs. This includes regulators, insurers, researchers, and patients. In return, KaloBio has lower costs and risks. This approach can shift traditionally risky biotech stocks into more bond-like instruments that could outperform ETFs. Bigger pharma players, like Allergan, are now emulating Durrant's model. Clearly, the industry is starting to see the writing on the wall. Investors should as well. Stay in the Loop on Life-Extending Research with Tech Digest John Mauldin Archive Read about the latest breakthroughsas well as the innovative companies that work on them. Get Tech Digest free in your inbox every Monday. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. The Deep State in the Age of Trump Politics as usual, especially the party version of Republicans and Democrats is the latest endangered species to hit the bone yards of extinction. Now, that does not mean that competing power factions have all merged into a collegial stew of some imaginable melting pot. No the literal power behind the government that embeds the deepest recess of manipulated reality still maintains and uses their influence and coercion force to remain in control. What actual effect Donald Trump will have to break the connections that keeps the deep state in charge can only be judged with the passage of time. Some contend that Trump is actually an integral component of an elitist fraternity of financial magnates that sit at the table of the deep state. Well, assessing the appointees to his cabinet concludes that talented and accomplished achievers often have accumulated great wealth. Those who condemn capable people, out of hand, because of their money acumen are fools who reside in their fantasy theories. Much like the 68 House Democrats, who boycotted the Trump inauguration, their irrelevancy in the actual mix of shaping world affairs approaches the insignificance and lack of credibility from the Corporatist Mass Media. In the era of Trump America First, how will divergent cliques and kindred insiders react, respond or cooperate with the new sheriff in town? The strange concept of conducting affairs in a beneficial national interest has not been tried in well over a century. So when the Hill reported that the Trump team prepares dramatic cuts Overall, the blueprint being used by Trumps team would reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years, can only be viewed as a promising sign. Notwithstanding, budgets do not translate directly into political influence or clout. Consequently, understanding the raw nature of power in this artificially concocted construct that claims that globalization is the only course for human endeavors requires an examination of a state within a state. With the long ongoing hubbub at the Central Intelligence Agency, what better example of the deep state is there to examine the conflict within? In case you missed the memo, peel back the layers on the onion, CIA director John Brennan is a Muslim convert? Understanding this background puts Glenn Greenwald, not exactly a fan of Trump, essay The Deep State Goes to War With President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer, in even a greater relevance. But cheering for the CIA and its shadowy allies to unilaterally subvert the U.S. election and impose its own policy dictates on the elected president is both warped and self-destructive. For months, the CIA, with unprecedented clarity, overtly threw its weight behind Hillary Clintons candidacy and sought to defeat Donald Trump. In August, former acting CIA Director Michael Morell announced his endorsement of Clinton in the New York Times In general, Clinton defended and intended to extend the decades long international military order on which the CIA and Pentagons preeminence depends, while Trump through a still-uncertain mix of instability and extremist conviction posed a threat to it. Presenting a different perspective Charles Hugh Smith offers a simple, yet succinct definition of the deep state: It is the unelected government that continues making and implementing policy regardless of who is in elected office. He goes on to ask: Does a Rogue Deep State Have Trump's Back? Given my thesis of a profound disunity in the Deep State, and the emergence of a progressive element hostile to neocons and neoliberalism (including Wall Street), then it's not much of a stretch to speculate that this rogue Deep State opposed to neocon-neoliberalism has Trump's back, as a new administration is pretty much the only hope to rid the nation's top echelons of the neocon-neoliberal policies that have driven the U.S. into the ground. Rather than being the bad guys, as per the usual Liberal world-view, the Armed Forces may well play a key role in reducing the utterly toxic influence of neocon-neoliberals within the Deep State. If you have wondered why academics like Paul Krugman and the CIA are on the same page, it's because they are simply facets of the same structure. Krugman is a vocal neoliberal, the CIA is vocally neocon: two sides of the same coin. I invite you to study the chart above with an open mind, and ponder the possibility that the Deep State is not monolithic, but deeply divided along the fault lines of Wall-Street-Neocons-Neoliberals and the progressive elements that rightly view the dominant neocon-neoliberals as a threat to U.S. national security, U.S. global interests and world peace. This viewpoint might stretch the boundaries of normally accepted interpretations, since the establishment has seldom before needed to worry about an Outsider gaining the Presidency of the United States. In light of the desperate meltdown from intelligence agencies using their unconvincing assets in the fake news media, a struggle for the heart and soul of America is being played out between the propaganda press and the real truth tellers. So when President Trump Visits CIA: "I Am So Behind You", the natural response is why does Ex-CIA chief Brennan labels Trump 'despicable'? Well, the struggle demonstrates that the vision of the establishment is in a total panic to save their imperial empire, while Trumps mission is to apply a nationalistic policy that is diametrically in opposition to the globalists that thrive on continued conflict. When the deep state makes policy, the system destroys any semblance of legitimacy. Just how far are the forces of Machiavellian supremacy within the deep state willing to go to eliminate opposition to their power? When a lapdog publication like The New Yorker runs a feature ROGER STONE VERSUS THE DEEP STATE, you know that the cover-up can no longer be contained or kept from the American public. Stone is intelligent and witty, and it is often jarring to listen to him as he turns from a sober analysis of politics to bizarre conspiracy theories. He is a frequent guest on Alex Joness Infowars radio show, where he recently alleged that he was poisoned by unspecified enemies in the deep state, his term for American intelligence operatives. He told me that the C.I.A. invented the allegations of Russian hacking and an influence campaign to help elect Trump directed by Vladimir Putin because the agency wanted to go to war in Syria. The C.I.A. has their assessment, he said, emphasizing the last word. Assessment means guess. The President-elect hasnt been shown proof because theres no proof to be shown. The deep state needs to get over it. Their candidate lost. They wanted a wider proxy war in Syria, and Trump is not for war. He is for detente. Nations always seek to develop their clandestine spying networks. No rational citizen would argue to eliminate intelligence acquisition on foreign countries or competing interests. However, the progression of the deep state has been fostered and enhanced by many elements in society. Most have little respect for the constitutional separation of powers delineated in the U.S. Constitution. Espionage was a major factor in George Washingtons victory in the American Revolution. Conversely, the CIA has empirically established that the forces of imperium have maintained control over the rightful authority of our nation going back to the Allen Dulles era. Donald Trumps appointee, Mike Pompeo will become the next DCI. It falls to him to defang the snake from making policy. The role of intelligence is to gather, analyze and interpret information. Black bag, covert wars and overthrowing governments has no place under the auspice of a band of Yale Skull and Bones internationalists. The CIA must be restricted to providing superior and accurate briefings to the President. The military command needs to be placed in charge of any clandestine operations that strictly follow an America First standard. Arrogant civilians who profess to be connoisseurs of spy craft have proven to be dilettantes of Operation Gladio warmongering. Pompeo would be well served if he would listen and heed the wisdom of two ex-CIA patriots, Michael Scheuer and Ray McGovern. Of course their counsel on the Middle East would conflict with Jared Kushner love affair with Israel. This example illustrates the complex twists that complicate the feuds within the deep state. Based upon the early direction in the Trump administration, the deep state money changers will not be challenged. Regretfully, the shadow governance is too widespread and entrenched to be removed in one executive action. This fundamental abdication of recognizing the eternal enemy of the Republic will undermine any positive attempts that revolve around the edges. The deep state is the establishment which runs rough shot over the lackeys in Congress who must beg for money for re-elections. The entire executive branch of agencies and departments has bred collectivist toadies among their ranks of the welfare state. And the esquire class has perverted the rule of law to mean whatever absurd pronouncement of equity that the courts dictate. The deep state hates the populist will of loyal Americans. Source: http://batr.org/reactionary/012417.html Discuss or comment about this essay on the BATR Forum http://www.batr.org "Many seek to become a Syndicated Columnist, while the few strive to be a Vindicated Publisher" 2017 Copyright BATR - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. MARTINSVILLECity prosecutors dropped several charges Monday and suspended a Martinsville womans sentence, as part of a plea deal in a forgery case. Desseri Idonna Pritchett, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of feloniously forging a public record. In exchange, Judge G. Carter Greer sentenced her to five years in prison, all suspended on conditions of five years of supervised probation followed by five years of good behavior. Originally, Pritchett had faced two counts each of unlawfully obtaining DMV documents and uttering forged documents; and one count each of forging a public record, perjury in DMV matters and title registration fraud. Martinsville Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Andy Hall read a summary of the prosecutions evidence, which alleged the following: On Feb. 29, 2016, Pritchett entered the Division of Motor Vehicles office at 310 Starling Avenue, Martinsville. She had bought a 1998 Ford Wind Star from her father for $800 and was required to place the title in her name. Instead of signing the title in her own name, Pritchett allegedly forged the name of a cousin in three different places on the title. The cousin allegedly had not given her permission for Pritchett to sign the cousins name. The title states above the signature line: I/We certify and affirm under penalty of perjury that the information contained in this application is true and correct to the best of my/our knowledge. I/We understand it is unlawful to knowingly make a false statement and any violation may be prosecuted as a felony as provided in Virginia law. Pritchett also allegedly forged her cousins name on the signature line and submitted the forged title to DMV. She was then issued a new title and registration in the cousins name. After that, the prosecution claims that Pritchett subsequently sold the van for $860, allegedly forging her cousins name on the title. Pritchetts lawyer, Caitlin Reynolds of the public defenders office, made no corrections or additions to the prosecutions evidence during Mondays hearing. MARTINSVILLE CIRCUIT COURT Also Monday in Martinsville Circuit Court, a man accused of stealing a credit card and attempting to use it twice at local ATMs received sentences totaling 24 months in jail, with four months active and 20 months suspended on certain conditions. Judge Greer sentenced Antarious Tycedric Tinsley, 21, of Martinsville, in accordance with a plea agreement. The prosecution amended a charge of felonious credit card theft against Tinsley to petit larceny, a misdemeanor, and Tinsley pleaded guilty to petit larceny. Tinsley also pleaded guilty to attempted credit card fraud, a misdemeanor. On each of the two charges, Judge Greer sentenced Tinsley to 12 months in jail, with two months active and 10 months suspended on conditions including two years of supervised probation and three years of good behavior. Judge Greer also ordered Tinsley to pay restitution. Judge Greer told Tinsley, While you have no felonies on your record, thats only by the grace of God and consideration of the commonwealth. Felonious convictions have ramifications, including the ability to obtain gainful employment, Judge Greer told Tinsley. You cant make a living stealing, Greer said. You cant take what does not belong to you. Society does not allow it. I will not allow it. Greer encouraged Tinsley to get a GED. The incident allegedly happened on May 27, 2015. In another case Monday, in a plea agreement Matthew Thomas Tucker, 34, of Martinsville, pleaded guilty to felonious possession of methamphetamine. Judge Greer said there was sufficient to find guilt, but he put off judgment for a year. Greer placed Tucker on the first offender program, ordering him to have a substance abuse assessment and complete any recommended treatment or educational services, to remain alcohol- and drug-free and undergo random testing, to do 100 hours of community service, and to seek or maintain employment. Judge Greer set a review hearing for Jan. 18, 2018. Greer said that if the evidence at that hearing is that Tucker has been a model probationer, has not broken any rules of probation and has not tested positive for drugs, the judge will drop the charge of possession of methamphetamine. However, if Tucker does not comply with the terms during the next year, he will be convicted of felonious possession of methamphetamine and sentenced accordingly, Greer said. According to the commonwealths evidence, Tucker allegedly possessed 0.138 grams of methamphetamine on Aug. 14, 2016. COLLINSVILLE A man accused of stealing and pawning a generator and leaf blower qualified for a court-appointed attorney Monday in Henry County General District Court. Judge Larry Gott appointed lawyer Matthew Clark to represent Alan Kent Hall, 56, of Martinsville, who is charged with felonious grand larceny, felonious obtaining money or property by false pretense and misdemeanor obtaining money or property by false pretense. Judge Gott set a court hearing for April 13. A criminal complaint and arrest warrant by Investigator P.C. Stone of the Henry County Sheriffs Office alleged that between Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, 2016, Hall stole a Troy-Bilt generator (valued at $600) and a Stihl leaf blower (valued at $160) and pawned the items. The criminal complaint alleged that the Ridgeway man who owned the items that were stolen said he confronted Hall and that Hall told him that he had pawned the items and that if the owner would give him $250, he would return the items to the owner. The owner advised that he was never returned the items or the $250, the complaint alleged. HENRY COUNTY DISTRICT COURT In another case Monday, Judge Gott set a court hearing for May 18 for Kevin Duane Webster Jr., 23, of Fieldale, who is charged with offenses including felonious destruction of property and misdemeanor false report to law enforcement officer about commission of a crime. An arrest warrant and criminal complaint by Investigator C.A. Ashley of the Henry County Sheriffs Office alleged that on Jan. 14, 2017, Webster reported to Ashley that Websters truck had been stolen. Webster and a friend allegedly gave Ashley information about where the vehicle had been and when it was last seen. A short time after Ashley took the report from Webster, Websters vehicle was located on Henry County property at the boat ramp on River Road burned up on top of a hay bale. The complaint alleged that Ashley spoke with Webster again about the truck and Webster admitted to lying about the truck being stolen. The complaint alleged that Webster drove onto Henry County property while off-roading, causing over $1,000 of estimated damage. While off-roading there, the truck got stuck on top of a hay bale, causing a fire which destroyed his truck, the complaint alleged. In another case, Judge Gott set a Feb. 13 court hearing for Shawn Kailyn Mullins , 30, of Collinsville, who is charged with felonious possession of a schedule 1 or 2 controlled substance. A criminal complaint alleged that on Jan. 9, 2017, Mullins possessed a glass pipe that had a dark residue in it. A state lab allegedly determined the residue contained methamphetamine. Also Monday, Tevin Maurice Harris, 21, of Collinsville, who is charged with felonious unauthorized use of a vehicle, qualified for a court-appointed attorney, and lawyer Matthew Clark was appointed to represent him. According to a criminal complaint, a Bassett woman said she loaned Harris her 1993 Toyota Corolla on Jan. 5, 2017, about 5:30 p.m. and told him to bring it back the next day. The woman alleged that as of Jan. 7, Harris had made several excuses but had not returned the vehicle. RICHMOND Teachers arent happy with the states decision to eliminate its share of a 2 percent pay raise last year, even though most school divisions paid it anyway. Its time to bridge the gap in state funding! shouted Jim Livingston, president of the Virginia Education Association, to a thick crowd of teachers thronging the lobby of the General Assembly Building on Monday morning. Livingston wants Virginia to pay its share of the 2 percent raise that was canceled Dec. 1 because of a revenue shortfall now projected at $1.26 billion for the two-year state budget ending in June 2018. While legislators have made a priority to restore a 3 percent raise to state employees that also was eliminated, only one legislator, Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg, has proposed to amend the budget to provide a raise for teachers. Ruffs proposed amendments would give a 3 percent raise to teachers instead of the 1.5 percent one-time bonus proposed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The proposal would cost about $127 million, or roughly $72 million more than the governors proposed bonus. Teachers werent part of the amendment proposed in the House of Delegates by Del. Charles Poindexter, R-Franklin , chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on compensation and retirement, to restore raises that had been planned last year for state employees and state-supported local employees. While all but a dozen or so localities gave teachers a 2 percent raise anyway, Livingston said the states decision to tie its funding to revenue performance is unfair to local school divisions. They recognize the state is not stepping up to the plate and meeting their constitutional obligation to provide a high-quality education to the children of the commonwealth, he said in an interview before the rally outside a House committee meeting room. Tom Smith, lobbyist for the Virginia Association of School Superintendents, said most school divisions gave the raise because they were already obligated under teacher contracts before the state confirmed the shortfall and canceled the raises. Once we start raises at the beginning of the [fiscal] year, either you give it the rest of the year or you have to change the contract to take it away, Smith said. One of the localities that did not give the raise was Dickenson County, in far Southwest Virginia. The school division did not pay the raise after the state canceled its share, said Larry Barton, finance director for the Dickenson school system. If the state had not done that, we would have given the raise, Barton said. The state decision brought Phyllis Mullins, a seventh-grade civics teacher in Dickenson, more than 350 miles to Richmond early on Monday to advocate for the states share of a teacher pay increase. With the economic situation the way it is in the coalfields, were desperate, Mullins said. Robert Vaughn, staff director of the House Appropriations Committee, said the decision on teacher raises rests with local school boards, not the state, which only offered incentive funds for a raise. This time, the incentive money went away, and all but 12 [school divisions] paid, he said. The committee is looking for a different way to boost funding for school divisions by channeling more money to them from the Virginia Lottery, without requiring a local funding match. The assembly dropped the match requirement as part of a new budget approach last year to eventually send 40 percent of lottery profits to K-12 education; currently, about 30 percent of lottery money goes to education. We want to help our schools, but we dont want to put a burden on them with the funding match, Vaughn said. In Dickenson, the lottery money is welcome, Barton said. It really helps as far as the match. Our locality is really strapped for cash right now. RICHMOND The state Senate on Monday rejected, 14-26, a bill that would have brought potential jail time for the crime of remaining at an unlawful assembly or a riot after being ordered to leave. Several Republicans joined Democrats to stop Senate Bill 1055 by Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Stafford. Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, said the bill did more than increase penalties for rioting. Because an unlawful assembly could stem from a peaceful demonstration, she said, the bill does subject peaceful protesters to a penalty that quite frankly in many circumstances could be too harsh. Stuarts bill would increase the punishment from a Class 3 misdemeanor to a more serious Class 1 misdemeanor. Such a conviction could result in up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine. Under current law, a Class 3 misdemeanor could not result in jail time and could result in a fine of up to $500. Stuart, a former commonwealths attorney in Westmoreland County, and some Republicans said the bill was necessary to deter illegal behavior at an increasing number of political demonstrations. This is a public safety bill for us and the protesters, frankly, Stuart said. This has absolutely nothing to do with civil disobedience or peaceful protest this has to do with a riot, looting, pillaging, breaking into peoples places of businesses. McClellan rebutted that point. Republicans also said remaining at an unlawful assembly after being told to disperse is already illegal the bill simply enhances the punishment, they said. What this bill does is give teeth to that law, said Sen. Bill Carrico, R-Grayson, a former state trooper. Carrico cited a protest in Richmond after the November election in which demonstrators blocked an interstate. Democrats decried the bill, noting that it passed the Senate courts committee on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.s birthday. Youre going to put people in jail because they didnt move on quickly enough? said Senate Democratic Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax. RICHMOND Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring says Republican-backed legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy would "very likely be struck down as unconstitutional." In a formal opinion issued at the request of Del. Charniele Herring, D-Alexandria, the attorney general advised that the bill seeking to restrict abortions based on when fetuses become capable of feeling pain would not stand up to past U.S. Supreme Court decisions on fetal viability. "The Act would impose a general prohibition on a woman's ability to have an abortion prior to viability, and therefore would impose an undue burden on a woman's right to choose to have an abortion, in violation of prevailing Supreme Court precedent," Herring, a Democrat running for re-election this year who joined a women's march in Washington, D.C., over the weekend wearing a Planned Parenthood scarf, wrote in his opinion. "If enacted, the legislation would likely result in a significant, costly and successful constitutional challenge against the commonwealth." The legislation, House Bill 1473 sponsored by Del. David LaRock, R-Loudoun, faces a certain veto from Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe if it were to pass the General Assembly. The bill failed to advance from committee last year. With four Republicans and two Democrats running for governor, the 20-week abortion ban could emerge as an issue in the governor's race. Similar bills have passed or are under consideration in several states. RICHMOND A House Health, Welfare and Institutions subcommittee Tuesday tossed out a bill that would have mandated a new vaccine for all sixth-graders in Virginia. The bill was backed by the Virginia Department of Health and brought forward by Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington. It would have required that Virginia students receive an immunization to protect against the bacteria that causes meningococcal disease. "It is rare, but it is very serious," Hope said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most severe illnesses the bacteria cause include infections in the fluid surrounding the brain and spine. The Medical Society of Virginia, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Virginia Association of School Nurses spoke in favor of the bill, along with the Department of Health. But opposition came out in force. Representatives with the National Vaccine Information Center and Virginians for Medical Freedom spoke against the bill during Tuesday's hearing. Opponents argued that cases of meningococcal disease are so rare that they do not require a mandate, and that education about the vaccine is far more likely to cause children to get immunized than mandates. The percentage of Virginia adolescents that already receive the vaccine is 66.8 percent, Hope said, which is below the national average. "School immunization requirements are a key and important strategy of improving these rates and protecting our children," Laurie Forlano, the state epidemiologist, told the committee. There was a big carbon dioxide is the problem sign held high on Friday, as the march went on in Richmond. It was followed up by one demanding that we Free Palestine and End Brexit Now. I dont want to say these were anti-Trump rallies, because if they were, the protesters might want to learn what the presidents powers actually are. To the best of my knowledge, we cant control what happens in England. And yet, while the signs might have been weird, both they and the march were perfectly legal. The roles were reversed on Saturday. At this point, it was the pro-Trump crowd marching and critics of the new president holding up signs on the sidelines. The point is that the chants of the marchers, as well as those of the protesters, were all an example of the same freedom being expressed. Pro or con, they all used their freedom of speech to get their point across, as well as their right to assemble. Were all willing to support those concepts when its a topic were in favor of. When we agree with a political platform or even a spiritual one, we talk about how people should be allowed to speak their mind. We cheer when marches or rallies are organized for our church, for our school or some cause we support. But then its often a different story when the opposition pops up. At that point, we start shouting for microphones to be turned off, for Facebook or Twitter to suspend accounts or for march permits to be denied. And yet if it was us, if it was our cause the march supported or our candidate speaking, wed be fighting hard to make sure our rights were protected. Thats why we need to do just as much for the opposition. Protecting opposing views is the entire point of the First Amendment. After all, we wouldnt need a Constitutional amendment ordering us to let people speak or assemble about subjects we agree on. When a friend of mine posted video from his trip to Fridays inauguration, someone tried to get Facebook to block it as a case of hate speech. Even once he was able to post it, he was called a racist and a war monger. Another friend of mine marched in Washington on Saturday. After one picture was posted on Instagram, she got a notification saying that some of her followers had flagged the content as questionable and demanded it be removed. The only people following her on Instagram are friends and family members, people shes known all her life. And yet, some of them wanted to remove her opinion from view, because it was different. Look, I get it. No matter what side of the political coin you fall on, at some point there was a situation in Washington to irritate you this weekend. For those opposing the president, it was the simple fact of the inauguration. For those supporting him, it was the fact these people were marching in protest. Yes, it's annoying to hear people talk about why your side is wrong. But trying to remove any opposition isn't the answer. That's not a free society. That's from the playbook of a third world country. Were just not always going to agree. Sadly, there are some people who fail to understand my dislike for the New York Yankees. I also know people who for some reason love oyster stew, but this mountain boy just never developed a taste for it. Those are trivial things, I know, but the same goes for the big ticket stuff. Does trickle-down economics work? Are tax breaks a way to generate job growth? Does it matter how much national debt we accumulate? To each of those questions, there will be someone with an opposing viewpoint. Even if they annoy us, even if we find their position completely stupid, its still their right to stand up and say how they feel. Its their right to march, to hold up signs and protest, if thats what they feel like. Its our responsibility in these times, especially when we dont agree, to defend those rights. Now lets be clear, having the right to free speech or the freedom to assemble doesnt mean you can do whatever you want. For those who felt vandalizing stores this weekend was their right, theyll have at least a few days in jail to think about it and some criminal charges to follow. Thats the other part of the First Amendment, as in what it doesnt say. It doesnt give us the right to physically attack someone because of the color of their skin, the religion they practice or the political party they support. No, you cant vandalize someone elses property because youre mad at a political result. When it's peaceful protests or any type of disagreement, we need to protect the right to those conversations, not shut them down. Why? Because at some point, the shoe may be on the other foot. There is a famous old Indian parable called the blind men and the elephant. The story goes that a group of blind men once encountered an elephant, and each touched the animal to learn what it was like. One man touched the elephants trunk; another a tusk; another a floppy ear; another the skinny tail. The men then compared their notes, and they completely disagreed with one another about what an elephant is, because each had a different experience. There are a few ways to interpret this story, and it has been applied to everything from religion to science. One interpretation is that all of the men were partly right, and we should be more understanding of each other because everyone approaches a situation from their own unique viewpoint. At the same time, we cannot ignore the fact that every one of the men was wrong. Just because someone says that an elephant is just one big long trunk and nothing else, that doesnt mean the man is right, no matter how loudly or forcefully he repeats his claim. An elephant is an elephant. On Saturday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer took to the briefing podium for the very first time and announced that Fridays crowd was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. Spicer has gotten a fair amount of flak and mockery for the statement, but as former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer who served under President George W. Bush has pointed out, its unlikely that the press conference was Spicers idea. This clearly was the president saying to Sean, The coverage is terrible. Go out there and correct it, Fleischer said in an interview with the Washington Post. On Sunday mornings episode of Meet the Press, Chuck Todd asked Trump Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway why Spicer made the statement regarding crowd size, because the statement was patently untrue. You're saying its a falsehood, Conway replied. And they're giving Sean Spicer, our press secretary gave alternative facts. Anyone who has read George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four should find the phrase alternative facts terrifying. Thats a term that should be in every Newspeak dictionary. The problem here has nothing to do with partisan politics. The problem is that we all ostensibly share the same reality, and White House staff should not be making up alternative facts to suit their whims. The actual evidence strongly suggests that this was not the largest crowd to ever attend an inauguration. First things first, 570,557 people rode the D.C. Metro on Friday, compared to 1.1 million in 2009. That information comes from Forbes, a conservative publication. Forbes also reports that Trumps inauguration drew 30.6 million television viewers, not including internet streaming, while Obamas inauguration drew 37.7 million. Trumps viewership is second largest in history, but its second to Obamas. That could change if the number of people who streamed it online is determined, but we dont presently have that information. Then theres the now-famous photo of Fridays inauguration crowd, taken from the Washington Monument by Reuters News Pictures Staff Photographer Lucas Jackson. His boss, Reuters News Pictures Editor Jim Bourg, shared that the photo was taken at 12:01:18 p.m. on Friday. Thats a timestamp, taken from the data stored in the photo, and it cannot be altered or erased. It shows a dramatically smaller crowd than the similar photo of the 2009 inauguration, which was taken at 11:30 a.m. The inauguration ceremony begins at noon. These pictures arent doctored. They arent fake. These are facts. And yet, we have a press secretary who stood in front of the nation essentially quoting Groucho Marx: Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes? Now, you might argue that it doesnt really matter how many people showed up to Trumps inauguration. I agree 100 percent. A big crowd at a presidential inauguration is not an indicator that the president will do a good job, nor is a small crowd an indicator that a president will do a bad job. All of that is up to the president. The size of the crowd at Trumps inauguration ultimately doesnt matter. What does matter is his administrations willingness to broadcast blatant falsehoods, and when confronted, dismiss these falsehoods as alternative facts. That sets a deeply troubling precedent, and it should be troubling whether youre a Democrat, a Republican, or anything in between. While crowd size is relatively unimportant to everyone except Trump the moment that alternative facts are used to justify domestic policy or foreign intervention, our democracy will be in serious danger. As the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. AE_oil_1.JPG 8-22-05 Springfield- L.E. Belcher Inc. oil storage facility. (Repubublican File Photo) SPRINGFIELD -- Family-owned Leonard E. Belcher Inc., also known as L.E. Belcher, is selling its Springfield oil and gas terminal to Sprague Operating Resources, part of a New Hampshire-based public company with operations all over the Northeast. Sprague is paying $20 million, according to a news release issued Tuesday by Sprague. The deal is expected to close in 30 days. "It's not the whole company," said Edward Hough, president and CEO of L.E. Belcher. Belcher will keep its convenience stores and gas stations in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont and its wholesale gas business, Hough said. The move puts Belcher in a better position to grow in the business it will retain, he said. "It was a strategic decision for us," he said. "They are bigger than us -- these guys have 19 terminals and they know that business." He said Sprague also shares Belcher's values and treats its employees and customers right. L.E. Belcher has a total of 200 employees but it is not known yet how many of them will transition to Sprague Sprague said it has previously supplied the L.E. Belcher terminals and is well known along the Interstate 91 corridor in Western Massachusetts. Sprauge said it expects the Belcher operations to generate $3 million to $4 million in profit each year. Founded in the 1920s, Belcher calls itself one of Springfield's largest private companies. Edward Hough is the son of Charles Hough, who began as a truck driver for founder Leonard Belcher in 1936 and bought the business in the 1950s. Belcher distributes branded and unbranded gasoline including Shell, Irving and Citgo products. With the purchase, Sprague said it will own the largest distillate tank storage operation in the area, supplying heating oil, diesel fuel and kerosene into regions not served by its existing network of deep-water terminals on the coast. Sprague is a publicly traded company with $422.8 million in sales for its most recent quarter. Founded n 1870, it has 600 employees and 19 terminals in the Northeast. Sprague stock, which trades under the symbol SRLP on the New York Stock Exchange, was at $27.10 at the close of trading Tuesday. that's up 90 cents per share on the day. According to the release: "We have long considered L.E. Belcher's business and terminal assets as one of the best in New England, and are pleased to be chosen as the team to carry the Hough family legacy of customer service in the Springfield region into the future," announced David Glendon, president and CEO. "As a supplier to L.E. Belcher for many years, we know the market very well and are looking forward to welcoming new employees to the Sprague team. Our acquisition strategy of pursuing high-quality assets in strategic locations has once again paid off with an attractive bolt-on purchase in one of the few remaining Northeast markets where Sprague did not control a terminal asset." Menck.jpg Menck Windows at 77 Champion Drive in Chicopee has shut down (Jim Kinney/ The Republican) CHICOPEE -- When it was getting set up and when it was running, politicians and business boosters touted Menck USA as something going right with the economy in Western Massachusetts. But now that it's gone wrong, the state and local agencies that gave Menck incentives to set up shop in Chicopee are weighing how to settle their affairs with the company -- and how to do so without hurting its landlord and another company that shared its building. Menck USA shut down Jan. 11, laying off about 30 employees. They were given the pay they were owed and their benefits were paid up until the time of the shutdown. The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council plans to discuss Menck at its meeting Tuesday in Boston. The council's first step likely will be to decertify Menck so that it can claim no more of its state tax credit, said spokeswoman Samantha Kaufman of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. The state gave Menck $750,000 in investment tax credits back in 2013. The city of Chicopee gave Menck a five-year special tax assessment valued at $348,933. And MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, issued a $5 million tax-exempt bond on behalf of Menck USA to fund the project. Boston Private Bank purchased those bonds, which were enhanced by a MassDevelopment guarantee. At the time, Menck promised to hire 50 people. "This was a signature project, both for the state and for the region," said Michael L. Vedovelli, director of community and economic development for the city of Chicopee. Menck USA opened in early 2015 in rented factory space at 77 Champion Drive in Chicopee. The business was a a joint enterprise between Menck Fenster GmbH, a 130-year-old custom window and door manufacturer in Hamburg, Germany, and Liesenfeld International, a logistics company also based in Hamburg. The idea was to build Menck's precision-made, high-quality wooden windows in Chicopee and distribute them to users across the U.S. Menck had been selling its German-made windows here through a distributor. But it took too much time and too much money to get the Chicopee factory up and running. Backers said they were tapped out and the company closed, fearing it wouldn't be able to make another payroll despite having $800,000 worth of window orders to fulfill. Michael B. Katz, a Springfield attorney representing Menck USA, said he's working now with the owners and with Boston Private Bank to sell Menck's equipment and its unfilled orders in one piece so it can be reopened and the employees called back. There are interested parties, he said. There are also buyers interested in buying just the unfilled orders so they can fill them. If efforts to sell the company as a whole are unsuccessful, it will be liquidated piece by piece. In an earlier statement, Katz said Boston Private Bank is owed more than what the equipment and the orders are worth. Investors also have a secured claim on the assets, he said. That leaves the other parties: MassDevelopment: While reluctant to discuss details, MassDevelopment spokeswoman Kelsey Abbruzzese said MassDevelopment's guarantee on the $5 million bond was $1 million. That means MassDevelopment is on the hook for the loss. MassDevelopment financed or managed 352 projects generating investment of more than $4 billion in the Massachusetts economy in the most recent fiscal year. These projects are expected to create about 8,200 jobs and build or rehabilitate about 4,200 residential units. MassDevelopment guarantees the loans to encourage lenders to make larger loans financing economic development, Abbruzzese said. State: So far, Menck has claimed $300,000 of the $750,000 tax credits, according to the Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council. All companies claim the credits on a set schedule over time. State law does provide for the agency to "claw back" the benefits and try to collect the taxes if the goals are not met. Kaufman said it's too early to talk about a claw-back process with Menck. But in what the Boston Business Journal called an unprecedented move, the state is trying to claw back $400,000 in benefits after a Warren Buffet-backed company failed to live up to jobs promises in Attleboro. Chicopee: Menck has just one year left on its property abatement in Chicopee, Vedovelli said. But Menck was a renter. The real estate tax abatement really went to the landlord, Winstanley Enterprises in Concord. And Winstanley and Chicopee were able to use that abatement to attract another tenant, building materials distributors Holden Humphry Co., into the other half of the building, which was once home to Rock-Tenn Corp. Vedovelli said he doesn't see a lot of utility in disturbing an agreement that's helping Holden Humphrey Co., especially if that agreement will expire soon anyway. Eric Nelson, vice president of Winstanley, said only that his first goal is to get another tenant into the Menck half of the building as soon as possible. dorothy day horizontal.jpg Catholic social activist Dorothy Day is the subject of a new book by Kate Hennessy, her youngest granddaughter, who will read from "Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of My Grandmother" at Mount Holyoke College, Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. in the Morrison Room of the Willits-Hallowell Center, 26 Park St., South Hadley. (Associated Press/file) SOUTH HADLEY - A granddaughter of Dorothy Day is launching her new memoir about the late co-founder of the Catholic Worker newspaper with a reading on Wednesday at Mount Holyoke College. Day was one of the four Americans whose dreams for a more just society were highlighted by Pope Francis during his 2015 historic address before a joint session of the U.S. Congress. Kate Hennessy will read from "Dorothy Day: The World Will Be Saved by Beauty: An Intimate Portrait of My Grandmother" during a luncheon meeting with students at Eliot House, as well as at 7 p.m. in the Morrison Room of the Willits-Hallowell Center, 26 Park St. Hennessy is the daughter of Tamar Teresa Batterham Hennessy, Day's only child who died in 2008. Tamar Hennessy, who married David Hennessy in 1944, had nine children, Kate Hennessy being the youngest. Her new book is being released Tuesday by Simon & Schuster, and the Odyssey Bookshop, a co-sponsor of the reading, will provide books to purchase at the event. It is described as an account about Day, who is being considered for sainthood, that will "show her as driven to do good but dogmatic, loving but judgmental, in particular with regards to her only daughter, Tamar." Day (pdf), who was born in 1887 and died in 1980 and wrote several autobiographies, lived through periods of immense change both within society and in the Church, including two world wars, women marching for the right to vote, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement and the Second Vatican Council. She was drawn early in life to issues of equality and pacifism, dropping out of college in 1916 to work as a journalist in New York City. Day's work as writer and activist was much influenced by Peter Maurin, a former priest who envisioned a more communal style of living that would bring people of all backgrounds together in ways that continue today, and led to their founding of the Catholic Worker in 1933. Day married and divorced, had an abortion, gave birth to her daughter while in a relationship with Forster Batterham and converted to Catholicism a year later in 1927. She seemed to find a home in the Church's social and moral teachings, something Mount Holyoke's Annette M. McDermott noted in calling Day a woman who was willing to face "the murkiness of life." "Her conscience is striking today. We don't take a lot of time today to understand conscience, but she was very discipline," McDermott said. She cited Day's daily reflections, which included prayer and a willingness, like that of her friend Trappist monk Thomas Merton, also mentioned by Francis in his address to Congress, to "walk with questions in a very authentic way." McDermott, dean of religious and spiritual life at Mount Holyoke and a Sister of St. Joseph of Springfield, said she and Odyssey owner Joan Grenier discussed the fall release of Hennessy's book this summer, but did not know their event, jointly sponsored with the religion department, would mark the start of Hennessy's book tour. McDermott called Wednesday's readings both "timely" and "relevant" in terms of current challenges faced in particular by students considering their futures. "It is a timely story given all that is going on today. It deals with one woman's way of addressing social change from a faith perspective," McDermott said. "Young people wonder what they can do, how they can get involved. Dorothy Day lived through these types of challenges and complexities. Her life gives voice to that." McDermott said she was also looking forward to the book's "inter-generational" theme in terms of it being a "a story of a granddaughter talking about her grandmother." Hennessy, who is also a musician, has traveled widely and has made her home in Vermont and Ireland. She is also author of "Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker: The Miracle of Our Continuance," with photographer Vivian Cherry, which published last year. Other sponsors for Hennessy's appearance include Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield's communications department. Spokesperson Mark Dupont called the appearance a "tremendous honor" for the area and "opportunity for a new generation to learn about this great Catholic woman through the remembrances of her granddaughter." "Day was a leading advocate for connecting Catholic teaching with outreach to the poor, an advocacy to which she not only gave voice but also example through her own life and the creation of the Catholic Worker Movement," Dupont said. Additional area sponsors of the evening reading include the American Friends Service Committee of Western Massachusetts; Daughters of the Heart of Mary; Elms College; Dorothy Day Guild; Great Barrington Catholic Workers; Our Lady of the Valley Church of Sheffield; the Rev. Bruce N. Teague; Pax Berkshire; and the Sisters of St. Joseph Justice and Peace Committee. The readings are free. Anyone wishing to attend the interfaith student lunch reading should contact Annie Clattenburg at (413) 538-2054 to ensure seating at the smaller venue. Five years ago this week Ameristar Casinos of Las Vegas purchased 41 acres off Page Boulevard in Springfield as a site for a possible $500 million casino resort. The former Westinghouse manufacturing site property for the proposed resort was purchased for $16 million. Forty five years earlier retailers in downtown Springfield prepared for the annual 'Clearaway Day.' During the annual sale, downtown merchants looked to clear out their remaining winter merchandise. Forty One stores participated in the 1967 event. These are some of the headlines you'll see from Page 1 of The Republican and its predecessors over the past fifty years for the week of January 22 - January 28. Each week I'll put together a slideshow of Page 1 images from selected years over the course of that week. We're starting with a look back at one, five, thirty, forty and fifty years ago, with Page 1s from each day of the week for those years. The slideshow for December January 22 - January 28 is embedded at the top of this article. From the January 24, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union We'll also find some humor printed out on page one over the years. In 1967 'Dennis The Menace' could be found on the bottom of page one six days a week. A year ago this week the trustees of Amherst College voted to drop the unofficial Lord Jeff mascot from the college. The came following student protests over the use of the mascot. From the January 24, 1987 edition of The Morning Union And from 30 years ago, a photo of a much snowier looking Springfield on the page one of January 24, 1987. You'll find with looking through the slideshow, that while many stories come and go, many of the issues and topics that affected lives in the past, continue to have an impact on our lives today. Copies of these and other stories can be found in the online archives. Links to the archives are at the bottom of the page at www.masslive.com/republican The historic archive includes stories prior to 1989, and the Newsbank archive covers 1988 through the present day. This is an update of a story posted at 12:08 p.m. LUDLOW - Three people were taken to Baystate Medical Center on Tuesday with what are described as serious injuries following a two-car collision on the Massachusetts Turnpike near the Ludlow exit, The accident, reported shortly after 10 a.m. closed the westbound lane of the turnpike for a short period, according to the Massachusetts State Police. Two people were trapped in the wreckage and had to be freed by the Ludlow Fire Department, police said. According to police, the accident occured when one vehicle, a Nissan van driven by a 54-year-old Springfield woman, changed lanes. The driver of a Honda sedan had to swerve to avoid a collision, but in doing so, went out of control. The Honda struck the Nissan and then went off the road and into a tree in the median strip. The two occupants of the Honda, a woman and man from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, were trapped in the car. They were taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Police did not disclose the nature of their injuries but said they were considered serious. Another woman who was in the car but was not trapped was also taken to Baystate. Police said her injuries were also serious. The driver of the NIssan was not injured. Police did not disclose any of their names. The accident remains under investigation. The biomimicry revolution may not be televised, but it is definitely underway. A new flapping wind turbine from Tunisia marks a revolutionary breakthrough in the field of mechanics. Until recently, scientists have been limited in their ability to apply new understandings of animal and human motion to machines, according to Tyer Wind. In the wind energy sector, this limitation has resulted in fairly simple and relatively inefficient turbines. Using 3D Aouinian kinematics that he pioneered, Anis Aouini is disrupting that space with a unique wind turbine modeled on articulations of the only bird capable of sustained hovering-the hummingbird. by Tafline Laylin Full Story: http://inhabitat.com/revolutionary-flapping-wind-turbine-mimics-hummingbirds-to-produce-clean-energy/ Republican Congressmen would love to keep you distracted with the healthcare battle. And while that fight is of huge importance, theyre using that publicity to quietly pave the way to toss away 640 million acres of American land even if the government loses money on the transaction. In the rules for the 115th Congress, lawmakers altered one little line that has the potential to allow the government to callously throw away national treasures. by Lacy Cooke Full Story: http://inhabitat.com/congress-maneuvers-to-give-away-640-million-acres-of-american-land/ Lee County, Ala., lost 7,000 jobs in industries from textiles to tires to fitness equipment when Chinese competition invaded America. Vacant storefronts dotted downtown Opelika, the county seat, and disability claims soared as older workers with limited skills struggled to find new jobs. Instead of merely surviving, though, Lee County is now thriving. Its unemployment rate of 4.7% in October was slightly lower than for the U.S. as a whole. Since 2001, the east-central Alabama county has added 14,000 jobs, five times the growth rate in the rest of the country. "Better educated places with colleges tend to be more productive and more able to shift out of declining industries into growing ones," says Mark Muro, a Brookings urban specialist. "Ultimately, cities survive by continually adapting their economies to new technologies, and colleges are central to that." By Bob Davis | Photos by Bob Miller for The Wall Street Journal Full Story: http://www.wsj.com/articles/theres-an-antidote-to-americas-long-economic-malaise-college-towns-1481558522 During his state of the city address Monday, Helena Mayor Jim Smith said it will be important for state lawmakers to fund programs benefiting cities and counties and lift the cap on reimbursements local governments receive. Smith noted the achievements of various city departments, the dedication of city staff and a city commission that takes its role of governance seriously. AL KNAUBER [email protected] Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/politics/city-county/state-of-the-city-helena-mayor-calls-for-program-funds/article_9bf01cd2-e7d0-59ea-85aa-eded4e20aa0f.html Montana is the only state in the country that does not provide funding to schools for students older than 18, a distinction Rep. Jean Price, D-Great Falls, hopes to end. On Monday, she introduced House Bill 178 to the Education Committee. The measure would provide ANB funding essentially a lump sum, per-student payment from the state to schools that choose to educate a student who is 19 years old. Currently, the state only funds students who are age 18 or younger at the start of their final academic year. JAYME FRASER [email protected] Full Story: http://helenair.com/news/politics/bill-would-make-montana-last-state-in-the-country-to/article_0da2bc15-6615-5639-9fa6-5d9390f50652.html Late last week, Superintendent Elsie Arntzens administration removed the Graduation Matters Montana website after announcing uncertainty about continuing the initiative. On Monday, Great Falls Public Schools, in partnership with the United Way of Cascade County, said that it will continue the initiative locally, whether the Office of Public Instruction decides to continue its funding or not. Sarah Dettmer , [email protected] Full Story: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/news/local/2017/01/23/gfps-committed-helping-students-cradle-career/96977808/ When Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan started the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) http://thehustle.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&id=4dd07ec2a4&e=2eac5a2f43 just over a year ago, they pledged to spend $3B over the next decade to "cure all disease." Yesterday, the philanthropic organization made its first acquisition http://thehustle.us7.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=3f7cb66d0ac9656fb4719d6a6&id=3f7946ba43&e=2eac5a2f43 to help accomplish that goal buying Meta http://meta.com , a "science search engine" that makes it easier to find and keep track of the latest academic research. How does Meta work? Meta indexes all the scientific research available then uses AI to read everything and spit out the important stuff you need to know from sources you can trust as opposed to whatever comes up first on Google or Bing (gotta be at least one Bing user out there). CZI intends to improve the overall product before making it free for everyone in the coming months. Who will this benefit? First and foremost, this helps scientists, who are currently overwhelmed by information. Not only are they expected to stay up to date on more research than is humanly possible (scientists publish 2,000-4,000 new papers per day about biomedicine alone!), but theres no easy way to search or aggregate any of it. So, Meta will ease that burden dramatically. In addition, here are 2 other groups who will benefit: Universities and foundations: By making it super easy to spot trends and get in touch with authors, funding organizations can make better decisions on what research to back and where to put their resources. Students: No more Googling scientific terms and citing some research paper from search results page #9 that may or may not be #fakenews. The perks of being an LLC When Marky Mark and Priscilla-y Priscilla (doesnt really work for her name, does it?) decided to make CZI an LLC, they took some heat for "diverging from the traditional structure of a charity." However, the main reason they went the LLC route was that it allows them to acquire for-profit companies like Meta, make their technology accessible to everyone, and put the money it earns back towards its cause. So it looks like its gonna start paying off (literally). Named in honor of Americas most revered visual historian and documentary filmmaker, the Ken Burns American Heritage Prize recognizes an individual whose body of work has advanced our collective understanding of the indomitable American spirit. Nominees for the annual Prize consist of visionary artists, authors, conservationists, educators, filmmakers, historians and scientists. The Prize also serves to inspire public support for American Prairie Reserve https://www.americanprairie.org , the modern-day embodiment of Americas optimistic, boundless and daring approach to accomplishing the unprecedented. Today, American Prairie Reserve is creating the largest park in the continental United States on the Great Plains of northeastern Montana. "As a lifelong student of the American experience, its a privilege to lend my name to a Prize honoring individuals whose accomplishments reinvigorate the nations understanding of all that is possible," Mr. Burns says. https://www.americanprairie.org/ken-burns-american-heritage-prize-2017 Equatorial Guinea fully supports the statement of Saudi Arabias Energy Minister made on Sunday, declaring that the Kingdom would be ready to react to any potential impact of the Coronavirus on the global oil market. Yesterday, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, Minister of Energy, expressed confidence over the Chinese authorities abilities to contain and eradicate the new coronavirus. He added that in the case of psychological factors impacting oil prices, the Kingdom would be ready to act with OPEC and OPEC+ members on maintaining the stability of the market. As an OPEC member, Equatorial Guinea stands by Saudi Arabias statement and is fully ready to engage on a coordinate action with OPEC if future evolutions of the coronavirus were to affect global oil market stability, declared H.E. Gabriel Mbaga Obiang Lima, Minister of Mines and Hydrocarbons. We share confidence in the ability of China and the international community to put an end to the spread of the virus at the soonest, and will continue to monitor market expectations accordingly. Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires QZ.com, Monday, January 23, 2017 7:23 AM President Donald Trump used his first email in office to raise money for the Republican National Committee. "I am humbled to write to you for the first time as your president," he wrote in the email, which went out to RNC subscribers less than two hours after the inauguration. The email asks recipients to donate money to the RNC. Read the whole story at QZ.com by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, January 23, 2017 Advertisers will need to wait their turn to roll out the "Made in America" campaigns as brands bring manufacturing back to the U.S. and improve the economy, but the Trump effect has already begun to influence change at the top of the electronics supply chain. Apple, one of the largest manufacturers of mobile phones, is considering a deal with Foxconn to build a U.S. manufacturing plant for displays, according to Asian media outlet Nikkei. The $7 billion manufacturing facility with key iPhone assembler and contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, also known as Foxconn, would create between 30,000 and 50,000 jobs, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told the press. Nikkei also reports that Foxconn's interactive display startup -- Smart Technologies, based in Canada -- might move the facility to the U.S. now that U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled an intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement. advertisement advertisement The "buy American and hire American" mantra Trump laid out Friday during his inaugural speech could become the catalyst to see more positive movement like the proposed Apple-Foxconn deal. Moves like these will have a trickle-down effect. Increased manufacturing will spur on logistics and delivery services like the one from Amazon Flex. Even if this deal is not done, it shows a desire by foreign companies to help rebuild manufacturing in the United States. A deal between Apple and Foxconn would likely have a huge influence on other companies to do the same and eventually spur growth in the economy that lead brands to increase spending on advertising, but it won't happen overnight. Not all of Trump's goals seem to have a clear path. For me the future of Net Neutrality remains up in the air with Trump's "plan" to name Ajit Pai as head of the Federal Communications Commission, reportsBusiness Insider, citing Politico. Pai, as the media reports, spent time serving telecoms having worked as a lawyer for Verizon between 2001 and 2003. This becomes someone to keep a close eye on. On the downside, the deal could dismantle steps taken by Google and others during the past four years, put today's data and ad-targeting procedures into question, and force companies to rethink online advertising and delivery of content. On the upside, it could keep ad-tech companies busy reinventing ways to track consumers from one device to another and serve ads across channels. I'll leave you with one more alternative thought on the Trump effect in relation to stimulating the economy and unity in a divided nation. While most mainstream media reports the news as a negative factor with regard to the Trump administration, the rallies to protest the president's ideas brought together hundreds of thousands in solidarity in the Woman's March. The Wall Street Journalreports: "the Metro public transit system reported that about 275,000 trips had been taken as of 11 a.m. Saturday about eight times normal volume compared with roughly 193,000 trips the system recorded on Inauguration Day by the same time." by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 23, 2017 Some of us admittedly, naive sorts cherished the hope that upon assuming the mantle of the most powerful office on earth, Donald Trump would rise to the occasion and assume a more dignified tone in his statements and general mien. Perhaps, he would even start acting so presidential. Or at least stop taking potshots at the press. Oh vain, foolish hope. After a number of news outlets noted Trumps inauguration apparently attracted a significantly smaller number of attendees than Barack Obamas in 2009, Trump unleashed a fresh tirade against the mainstream news media, which he accused of deliberately under-counting the crowds in order to make him appear unpopular. During his visit to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in Langley, VA, Trump called journalists from the mainstream news media who were covering the among the most dishonest human beings on earth. He claimed 1.5 million people had attended his inauguration. The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, later amplified the assertion by adding: This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe. Spicer cited the fact that the National Park Service no longer releases estimates for crowd sizes as support for his assertion. Separate estimates cited by the Financial Times put the audience at around 250,000, compared to 1.8 million for Obamas inauguration in 2009. When asked about Spicers statement by NBCs Chuck Todd on Meet the Press, White House strategy advisor Kellyanne Conway said Spicer was relying on alternative facts. In what will surely become a familiar refrain, mainstream news outlets fired back by openly calling the statements falsehoods in their headlines and reporting a level of overt antagonism almost never seen in modern U.S. history, even during the frostiest periods of White House-press relations. Thus, Todd fired back at Conway: Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods. Similarly, The New York Times published an article with a headline stating point-blank: With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift, while Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan opined: Sean Spicers remarks about the audience for Trumps inauguration were full of falsehoods As always, it should be remembered that claims made by Trump and his proxies arent intended to persuade or deceive journalists or the people who get their news from them. Instead, they are simply meant to create an atmosphere of ambiguity in which objective facts appear unknowable and all information is a matter of personal perspective. This contested reality then allows Trump to present an alternative narrative to supporters who already dismiss all mainstream news outlets as inherently dishonest. by Tobi Elkin @tobielkin, January 24, 2017 NinthDecimal, a marketing platform comprised of location data, on Tuesday announced a data integration agreement with Acxiom. Marketers can now activate NinthDecimals location-based audience segments and Acxioms third-party audiences on top of their own CRM (customer relationship management) data to create cross-device-oriented media campaigns on mobile and desktop. NinthDecimals device association will be combined with Acxioms propensity household data and third-party data to reach customized consumer segments with one-to-one targeting. The goal is to provide measurement at scale across all media platforms, including TV. Being able to measure across all channels, including TV allows marketers to hold their campaigns accountable and measure success, and it also allows marketers to target their audience more directly. NinthDecimal said that under the agreement, marketers can deliver cross-device campaigns across its network of more than 75,000 mobile apps and online display partners, or use the portable combined audience data programmatically via mobile app, mobile web, and desktop on more than 15 demand-side and data-management platforms. These same audiences can also be applied to addressable TV media channels. advertisement advertisement Integrating our audience intelligence with Acxiom has created another way for brands to tap into comprehensive sets of consumer household and mobile insights, stated NinthDecimal President David Staas. By combining Acxioms data with NinthDecimals addressable match data, we are delivering an effective solution for audience targeting and measurement across all media platforms. Acxiom customers can also use NinthDecimal audience intelligence to activate their first-party CRM. By having a better understanding of how customers spend their day, they can create unique segments and profiles for highly personalized marketing programs on any media platform to reach current and potential customers. Both companies said the partnership bridges Acxioms data with NinthDecimals offline attribution solution, Location Conversion Index. Combining the two sources of data enables marketers to measure overall campaign results and effectiveness, including ROI metrics such as in-store foot traffic lift, across mobile, online, and TV. In addition, ad exposure data from NinthDecimal will enable Acxioms closed-loop return on ad spend measurement (ROAS) to deliver more effective insights into the impact digital marketing is having on both offline and online sales initiatives. by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, January 23, 2017 News of Republican Ajit Pai's elevation to chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has alarmed many consumer advocates. Pai not only voted against the recent net neutrality rules, but has made clear that he intends to scrap them. He also opposes a host of other rules, including new broadband privacy regulations that prohibit carriers from drawing on people's Web-surfing data for ad targeting without their explicit consent. "Ajit Pai has been on the wrong side of just about every major issue that has come before the FCC during his tenure," Craig Aaron, CEO of Free Press, stated in response to reports about Pai's new role. "Hes never met a mega-merger he didnt like or a public safeguard he didnt try to undermine." advertisement advertisement News of Pai's new role also spurred Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) to declare on Friday that the FCC should protect consumers and promote competition. I will vigorously oppose any efforts by leadership at the FCC to undo net neutrality and broadband privacy rules ... or roll back any fundamental consumer protections," he stated. But not everyone opposes Pai's elevation. Among his supporters is the trade group News Media Alliance, which today praised Pai as "an avid supporter of the news media industry." In 2014, the News Media Alliance, then called the Newspaper Association of America, supported proposed net neutrality rules that would have prohibited broadband providers from blocking or degrading material. The FCC ultimately went further by reclassifying broadband as a utility and imposing common carrier rules that prohibit ISPs from blocking or throttling content, and from charging higher fees for prioritized delivery. (The newspaper organization has never taken a position on the FCC's decision to subject broadband carriers to common carrier regulations.) Despite its endorsement of net neutrality principles, the News Media Alliance is heartened by news of Pai's appointment because of his views on media cross-ownership. Specifically, Pai recently dissented from a decision to preserve rules that prevent companies from owning newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market. "Had the prohibition on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership been eliminated years ago, the industrys prospects might look brighter today," Pai said last year. "Investments in newsgathering are more likely to be profitable when a company can distribute news over multiple platforms. And cross-owned television stations on average provide their viewers with more news than do other stations." The News Media Alliance currently is suing to overturn the FCC's ban on media cross-ownership. by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, January 24, 2017 It really is a sign of the times: A TV network makes a live-action series based on the old Archie comics and instead of a wholesome show somewhat akin to the tone of the comic books, you get a Riverdale thats more like Twin Peaks. Theres even a cast member from the original Twin Peaks -- Madchen Amick -- who plays an unhinged mom with an axe to grind (not literally) in Riverdale. Premiering on Thursday, Riverdale is the long-awaited CW reboot of the Archie comics. Beware the word reboot -- it often indicates a wholesale remake of something that resembles the original source material you remember in name only. In this show, the names will be familiar -- but only to those of us old enough to have actually read an Archie comic. Theyre all here in Riverdale, however. Amick plays the mother of one of them -- straitlaced Betty Cooper, the blonde, proverbial girl next door, who lives next door to Archie Andrews. They have grown up together and they are platonic friends, although Betty would like to be more than that. Red-headed Archie is a jock with a sensitive side (he writes his own songs). His parents are divorced and his mother lives somewhere else. Archie lives with his now-single father -- played by Luke Perry -- who owns a construction company. There is a dark-haired Veronica, who moves to Riverdale from New York City in the premiere episode, following a public scandal in which her father, a financier, has been indicted for fraud. The result is that Veronica and her mother are no longer rich -- at least, not as rich as before. Theres a Reggie, who in this show is an arrogant jock. In a nod to the necessity for diversity in all TV communities, the new Reggie happens to be Asian-American. Thankfully, there is a Jughead (pictured above). Hes a night owl and a bit of a loner who serves as chronicler and narrator of the new Riverdale and all its denizens. Theres a gay male character not seen in the Archie comics (at least not in the ones that I last saw -- which was back in the 1970s). Perhaps the characters who are the most different in this new version of Archie are the oaf-like jock named Moose, who turns out to be gay (but closeted); and the teacher named Miss Grundy. In the old comics, she was a white-haired spinster with her hair in a bun. Here, shes Ms. Grundy, a dark-haired, smoldering hottie who has a steamy summer affair with Archie. I told you they changed things up a bit, didnt I? In the first episode that I previewed, there was no sign of portly Mr. Weatherbee. Maybe hell turn up in a future episode, and let me guess, hell be gay too. Theres a Pop Tate, though, proprietor of Pops Chock-lit Shop, the teens neighborhood hangout. Like Twin Peaks, the overarching storyline (no pun intended) concerns the mysterious murder of a popular teen -- in this case a male high school jock. Murder, a steamy affair with a sexy teacher, an autopsy scene -- these were not featured in the panels of the old Archie comics, at least as I remember them. The truth is, Riverdale is not a bad show for teens, except for its resort to vulgarity that is completely unnecessary. Examples include a question that Reggie asks Archie about his summer as a construction worker. Did you tap some cougar ass this summer? Reggie asks. In reply, Archie says something half-intelligible about Reggies fantasies and his wank bank, which seems to be TV slang for someones Internet porn cache. Later, the gay character reports that Moose has an appendage like a horse. And the possibility of sex with the red-headed Archie is described by one worldly teen as riding the ginger stallion. With its murder storyline and its sex-with-a-minor subplot (Archie and his friends are mere sophomores, after all), Riverdale is not your fathers Archie. While its not a nice show, it could be a better one if the scriptwriters can get their minds out of the gutter. Dont hold your breath waiting for that to happen. Riverdale premieres Thursday (Jan. 26) at 9 p.m. Eastern on CW. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, January 24, 2017 A federal judge ruled yesterday that the proposed $37 billion merger between Aetna and Humana would be anticompetitive, particularly when it comes to seniors in the Medicare Advantage marketplace. The ruling casts doubt on the likelihood that a similar pending alliance between Anthem and Cigna, already under fire on multiple fronts, will get a green light from the courts and regulators. The government case against the Humana takeover focused on the market for private health plans for the elderly, known as Medicare Advantage. The U.S. argued that the combination of Aetna and Humana would eliminate competition between the insurers in 364 counties in 21 states and probably would drive up seniors premiums for Medicare Advantage plans, write David McLaughlin, Zachary Tracer and Andrew M Harris for Bloomberg. advertisement advertisement Aetna countered that the Medicare market is much larger than the Justice Department claims because it includes both Medicare Advantage plans and government-administered Medicare, providing more choice for seniors than the government portrayed. Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that the Court is unpersuaded that the efficiencies generated by the merger will be sufficient to mitigate the anti-competitive effect for consumers in markets the deal affects, in a 158-page decision, writes James F. Peltz for the Los Angeles Times. The Justice Department laid out strong proof at trial that the merger of these two health-insurance giants would have seriously harmed consumers across the country, George Slover, senior policy counsel at Consumers Union, said in a statement cited by Peltz. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called the ruling a decisive victory for jobs, consumers and healthcare. The American Medical Association also applauded the decision. The judge based his decision enjoining the merger on evidence of overwhelming market concentration figures the merger would generate, plus findings of head-to-head competition between Aetna and Humana that would be eliminated if the deal were finalized, Kevin McCoy elaborates for USA Today. We're reviewing the opinion now and giving serious consideration to an appeal after putting forward a compelling case, an Aetna spokesman said. Humana stands to receive a $1 billion breakup fee from Aetna should the deal be abandoned, Reuters Diane Bartz reports, making the ruling a bit easier for it to swallow. Arnall Golden Gregory LLP attorney Jeffrey Jacobovitz tells Bartz that appeals at the D.C. Circuit succeed about one-third of the time and can take a year to resolve. He added that it would be difficult, though not impossible, for Aetna to wait for Trump's new antitrust enforcers to be named and then strike a settlement to save the merger, perhaps by offering to divest more assets, Bartz writes. The Justice Department said the courts decision would save customers and taxpayers up to $500 million a year, report Brent Kendall and Anna Wilde Mathews for the Wall Street Journal. Aetna attempted to buy a formidable rival, Humana, instead of competing independently to win customers, said deputy assistant attorney general Brent Snyder. Regarding the looming decision of Indianapolis-based Anthem's proposed $54 billion acquisition of Bloomfield, Conn.-based Cigna, Randal Schultz, a partner at Lathrop & Gage and chair of the firm's healthcare strategic business planning practice group, tellsBeckers Hospital Reviews Morgan Haefner: I'll be shocked if the other case doesn't come down the same way. The New York Posts Josh Kosman reported last week that a decision from Judge Amy Berman Jackson, also with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, will come soon and sources say she will also rule against a merger on antitrust concerns. Anthem is expected to appeal; Cigna reportedly wants out of the troubled deal. Putting it all in perspective, the New York Times Reed Abelson and Leslie Picker write that insurers had embarked on a frenzy of deal making a year and a half ago. The proposed combinations promised to reshape the industry by shrinking the number of the largest insurers to three, from five; the largest, UnitedHealth Group, remained independent. Today, the industry finds itself in arguably an even greater state of flux, with President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress having vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something else, the details of which are unknown. Mondays decision adds to the uncertainty facing the industry. But, considering our aging, deconditioned population and the fact that the industry has the largest lobby in D.C. by far, we not-so-boldly predict that it will remain on its feet. by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, January 24, 2017 When Donald Trump was merely a presidential candidate--when nobody thought hed win--many of the media wise guys predicted his next move would be to start the Trump News channel. A brilliant strategy! It would arrive with millions of Trump fans. When he was elected president, that talk all ended. But why? The president has an existing Web site with a dynamite URL that could be everything the Trump Channel could have been, though (I suppose) absent the advertising. Its called WhiteHouse.gov and its just squatting there on the Internet, ready to be exploited. Under previous presidents, WhiteHouse.gov looked and felt like it still does--a subdued repository of presidential speeches, initiatives and wonky policy points -- published with reserved Times Roman label headlines. It still seems dignified. Bor-ing! advertisement advertisement For example, on Saturday, when Sean Spicer, the new press secretary, went ballistic on the press about their alleged under-reporting of the inauguration crowds, it resulted in this less-than-boiling headline on WhiteHouse.gov: Statement by Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Thats it???? you could easily imagine the president exclaiming when that was all his own site made of that grand enema Spicer administered to the lyin media. Why not something like, Spicer Knocks The Smile Off Those Kiss-Ass Journos. Would it surprise anybody if WhiteHouse.gov is remodeled to become not just the official voice of the White House, but something like the official news and analysis and venting site for the president, his policies and his minions? With a little investment, add an OTT app and you're in millions of living rooms and mobile phones. If youre going to have a propaganda site, why be shy about it? Big bold headlines, cool video, red hot copy, regular sniper shots at the most detested journalist of the moment, and maybe aggregated content from conservative sites. Thats the stuff. One stop shopping. WhiteHouse.gov would approximate what the once-imagined Trump channel was going to do. Everything seems to be in place. Trump has the experts on board. On his staff is Jared Kushner, married to Trump's daughter and formerly the publisher of the New York Observer. But even more directly, Stephen Bannon, the former Breitbart big cheese and presumed shaper of Trumps populist rhetoric, is the presidents counselor. Just the other day, Julia Hahn, described on a conservative site as one of Bannons more ferocious proteges at Breitbart News joined the White House. She also is a former TV producer for right-winger Laura Ingraham. You may have noticed Breitbarts view of Trumps opening act: Fake News: Three Mainstream Media Lies On Trumps First Day. Now thats a read! Already, WhiteHouse.gov has unplugged the Spanish version of the site, consistent with Trumps distaste for Spanish language assistance in a country where English is the way we roll, hombre. At his press conference Monday--the one where took questions--Spicer was asked about the Spanish take-down and suggested a new version is still in the works. "We are continuing to build out the Web site, both in the issue areas and then that area," Spicer told a Univision reporter who asked. But we've got the IT folks working overtime right now to continue to get all of that up to speed. Trust me, it's just going to take a little bit more time, but we're working piece by piece to get that done." Much of the piece by piece work so far has been to dismantle, to repeal and replace so to speak. The Website Inverse reported that At 11:23 a.m. Eastern on Friday, this is what WhiteHouse.gov looked like, as captured by the Wayback Machine, the Web page recording service done by the people at archive.org. The 'ISSUES' column is the longest, with 29 individual issues broken into sections and ranging in subject from 'Rural' to 'Women' to 'Cuba' to 'Technology.' The sitemap also includes at the bottom an 'En Espanol' option. In all, it contains 114 links. It goes on: As of right now, 1 p.m. Eastern Friday, the sitemap for WhiteHouse.gov looks much, much shorter with just 38 links. Gone is the En Espanol' option, which given Trumps opinion of Spanish-speaking people, doesnt immediately seem like an oversight. While shorter, Trumps branding and policy positions do show up: There are links to pages titled 'America First Energy Plan,' 'America First Foreign Policy,' 'Bringing Back Jobs And Growth,' 'Making Our Military Strong Again,' and so on. Even in its boring state, natural foes of Trump noticed. This is what were up against, fumed Michael Brune, Sierra Club executive director in an email to supporters titled Deleted. Obviously, different presidents, different issues. My point is that ideologically, WhiteHouse.gov can be a go-to place for friends and foes. For a president with such animosity toward the press though a lot of that is just schtick it would be easy for him to sell his adoring public on the idea that WhiteHouse.gov is pure alternative truth. With age, our cognitive abilities slowly begin to deteriorate. Age-related cognitive decline is a normal process that, as new research suggests, may start earlier than we previously thought. Share on Pinterest A new study suggests that in women, cognitive decline may start in midlife. As people begin to live longer lives, it has become increasingly important to understand age-related cognitive decline. By 2030, the population of people in the United States over 65 years old is expected to increase by twofold from 2000, reaching 72 million . There is a lack of consensus as to the exact age when cognitive decline starts to happen. Some researchers argue that cognition starts to slow down as early as ones 30s, while others have pointed to the ages of 55, 60, or even 70 as marking the beginning of the process. A team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), set out to examine the existing evidence on cognitive decline in midlife women. Their study suggests that, at least in women, cognitive decline may start sooner than previously thought. The study authors are Arun Karlamangla, MeiHua Huang, WeiJuan Han, and Gail Greendale from UCLA, and Margie Lachman from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. They point out that previous studies in this area may not have accounted for the so-called practice effects. These occur when repeat testing in the same individuals affects the results, which may sometimes mask the effects of menopause transition. Researchers in Norway suggest that an answer to what causes Parkinsons disease may lie in the mitochondria the tiny powerhouses inside cells of dopamine-producing cells. They found that dopamine cells in diseased brains are less able to protect against aging-related damage in their mitochondrial DNA than cells in healthy brains. Share on Pinterest The researchers recently discovered that dopamine cells in the brain area affected by Parkinsons disease are unable to protect against aging-related damage to the DNA of their mitochondria. Study leader Dr. Charalampos Tzoulis a neurologist at the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital, both in Norway and colleagues hope that the discovery will lead to new treatments for Parkinsons disease. They report the findings in the journal Nature Communications. Parkinsons is a progressive, brainwasting disease that affects movement and can manifest as a range of symptoms, including: muscle rigidity; speech problems; tremors in the hands, limbs, jaw, and face; and impaired posture, gait, and balance. Despite decades of research, the exact causes of Parkinsons disease remain a mystery. Experts generally agree that a combination of genetic and environmental factors both of which vary from person to person are involved. An important known risk factor is age. The estimated risk of developing Parkinsons disease is 2-4 percent for people aged 60 and over, compared with 1-2 percent in the general population. The disease mainly affects dopamine-producing neurons or nerve cells in a brain structure known as the substantia nigra. As the disease progresses, these cells malfunction and die, depleting levels of dopamine, a chemical messenger that plays an important role in controlling movement. Many scientists believe that a better understanding of the mechanisms behind the destruction of dopamine cells could lead to treatments that stop or even reverse Parkinsons disease. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine provides compelling evidence that extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) is spread from person-to-person in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa from 2011-2014. The study was conducted by a team of researchers from Emory University, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. It builds on a growing body of evidence showing that person-to-person transmission, not just inadequate treatment, is driving the spread of drug-resistant TB. South Africa is experiencing a widespread epidemic of XDR TB, the deadliest form of TB, including a tenfold increase in cases between 2002 and 2015. The study found that the majority of cases (69 percent) in high HIV- and high TB-burden areas happened due to person-to-person transmission rather than inadequate TB treatment in South Africa. By using social networks analysis, the study identified numerous opportunities for transmission not only in hospitals, but also in community settings, such as households and workplaces. The study has important implications for efforts to prevent drug-resistant TB, which have traditionally focused on ensuring that patients receive accurate and complete TB treatment. "These findings provide insight as to why this epidemic continues despite interventions to improve TB treatment over the past decade. Public health and research efforts must focus more intensely on identifying and implementing additional or new interventions that halt transmission in hospitals and community settings." said Emory University's Neel R. Gandhi, M.D. The study included 404 XDR TB patients in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and was led by a team of researchers including Neel R. Gandhi, M.D. of Emory University and Sarita Shah, M.D., M.P.H. of CDC's Division of Global HIV & TB. Researchers examined the role of transmission by combining robust genotyping methods with social network and epidemiologic analysis. The study is the first of its kind, bringing together these multiple state-of-the-art methods to study XDR TB transmission in a high-incidence setting. "These findings are further proof that we need to better detect, prevent, diagnose, and treat drug-resistant TB," said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. "TB resistant to last-resort drugs is spreading through hospitals and homes, at work, and in other places in this high burden community. The only way to stop this disease is by improving infection control and rapidly finding and effectively treating people with TB." What is XDR TB? Drug-resistant TB is a significant global epidemic. Reported in 105 countries, XDR TB is resistant to at least four of the key anti-TB drugs. In most settings, treatment is effective less than 40 percent of the time, with death rates as high as 80 percent for patients who also have HIV. Interrupting the spread of TB can be particularly challenging in countries most affected by the disease. In settings with limited resources, measures to prevent the spread of TB such as contact tracing, implementation of effective infection control measures, improved ventilation in hospitals and better training for healthcare workers, can be difficult. Study authors suggest that breaking the cycle of transmission of drug-resistant TB requires a greater focus on infection control efforts - while also maintaining global programs to quickly detect and effectively treat all people with TB. Article: Transmission of Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in South Africa, Neel R. Gandhi, M.D. et al., The New England Journal of Medicine, doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1604544, published 19 January 2017. Scientists have discovered why a type of breast cancer drug stops working in some patients. The early-stage findings, from an international team led by Imperial College London and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, reveal some breast tumours evolve to make their own 'fuel supply', rendering treatments powerless. The team, whose findings are published in the journal Nature Genetics, hope their work will increase treatment options for patients whose cancer has returned. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the U.K, and causes 55,200 new cases every year. Around 70 per cent of breast cancers are so-called ER positive, which means the cancer cells contain a receptor for the hormone oestrogen. It is this hormone that fuels the tumours. Patients with this type of cancer are offered one of two drugs after surgery to prevent the cancer coming back. One of these drugs, called tamoxifen, prevents oestrogen from binding to DNA in cancer cells, while the second type of treatment, called aromatase inhibitors, prevents residual oestrogen from being produced in other tissues. The latter drugs are usually used in women who have gone through the menopause. These women's ovaries have stopped producing oestrogen, but some of the hormone is still made in several other tissues by an enzyme called aromatase. The medication prevents this enzyme making oestrogen. However both tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors stop working in around one in three patients. Scientists assumed the tumours developed resistance in some way, but didn't know how. However in the latest study, the team discovered that in one in four patients taking aromatase inhibitors, the tumours had increased production of aromatase in the cancer cells. The tumours appear to do this by increasing the number of aromatase genes, in a process called amplification. This allowed the cancer cells to effectively make their own oestrogen, without relying on external sources of the hormone, explained Dr Luca Magnani, co-lead author of the research from the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial: "For the first time we have seen how breast cancer tumours become resistant to aromatase inhibitors. The treatments work by cutting off the tumour's fuel supply - oestrogen - but the cancer adapts to this by making its own fuel supply." The researchers also discovered that tumours become resistant in different ways, depending on whether tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors are used. Almost none of the tumours in patients taking tamoxifen had increased production of aromatase to boost their oestrogen supply - and the team are now planning further studies into how cancer cells become resistant to tamoxifen. In the current research the team analysed tumour samples taken from 150 women whose breast cancer had returned and spread around the body. All the women were treated at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. The team are now working on a test to identify whether a patient's tumour has started to increase aromatase production, and make its own estrogen. "In many cases when an aromatase inhibitor stops working in a patient, doctors will try another type of aromatase inhibitor. However, our research suggests that if the patient's cancer has started to make their own aromatase, this second drug would be useless. This is why we need a test to identify these patients," added Dr Magnani. Dr Magnani added that, in the meantime, doctors should take a second sample of the tumour, called a biopsy, when the cancer returns. "At the moment, patients often only have one biopsy, when they are first diagnosed. However, if they had a second biopsy when the cancer returns, this will give us vital information about how the cancer has evolved and the treatment options available." He hoped this study may lead to more options for patients whose breast cancer has returned or spread. "Once a cancer spreads, the disease is incurable. However, let's not give up this fight too soon - if we take a second biopsy we can find out which treatments would work. Around half of breast cancers are diagnosed in women over 65, which means that with treatment advances we may be able to make breast cancer a chronic disease, and enable people to reach a normal life expectancy." The work was funded by an Imperial College Junior Research Fellowship, Cancer Research UK and AIRC. Providing medical assistance in dying to people in Canada will not increase health care costs, and could reduce spending by between $34.7 and $138.8 million, according to a new research paper in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The savings exceed the $1.5M to $14.8M in direct costs associated with implementing medical assistance in dying. The authors caution that cost reduction should not be a factor in individual decision-making by patient and physicians. Canada's recent legalization of medical assistance in dying has meant that health systems have to adapt to provide this service. "We are not suggesting medical assistance in dying as a measure to cut costs," write Drs. Aaron Trachtenberg and Braden Manns from the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta. "At an individual level, neither patients nor physicians should consider costs when making the very personal decision to request, or provide, this intervention." Health care costs increase as people near death and take a greater slice of health care. For example, in the province of Manitoba, data indicate that 20% of health care costs are allocated to patients in the last 6 months of life, although they make up only 1% of the population. The researchers combined data from the Netherlands and Belgium, where medically assisted dying is legal, with recent data on end-of-life costs in Canada to estimate the impact on health care spending. In their modelling, the researchers estimated between 1% and 4% of all deaths would be medically assisted, that 80% would be cancer patients of whom 50% would be aged 60 to 80 years. Of these patients, 60% would die one month earlier and 40% would die one week earlier than without medically assisted dying. To estimate costs of assisted dying, the researchers ran 4 different models based on 1%, 2%, 3% and 4% of deaths and created subgroups based on sex, age and average cost of health care use in the last month and last week of life for each subgroup. The authors note a limitation of using data from the Netherlands and Belgium as assisted dying is allowed for minors, people with dementia and people with non-terminal diseases in those countries. In Canada, medically assisted dying is only available to adults aged 18 years and over and whose death is fairly imminent. As well, the cost data were from the province of Ontario, and may not represent all end-of-life spending in Canada. "The true effect on health care costs will not be certain until we determine who the typical Canadian patient requesting the intervention is and how its practice is implemented across the country," the authors write. "Our analysis is only a cost analysis and it does not consider the clinical effects of medical assistance in dying on patients at the end of life," write the authors. "Patient-level research that explores the reasons why Canadians choose medical assistance in dying, the value they assign to their suffering versus death and other aspects of their experience will need to be done before true economic evaluation of medical assistance in dying in terms of cost-effectiveness and utility can be done." In a related commentary, Dr. Peter Tanuseputro, a physician at Bruyere Research Institute and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, writes that Canada should improve palliative care to improve end-of-life care. "These potential cost savings, which are not trivial, should be considered in the context of the largely inadequate and haphazard delivery of palliative care across Canada," he writes. "Despite some successful and exemplary palliative care programs, palliative care in Canada remains deficient; this is the reason that aggressive, institution-based and ultimately costly end-of-life care exists, and why such a large potential cost savings can be anticipated from medical aid in dying in Canada." Transforming palliative care will improve quality of life for dying patients by alleviating suffering. "What matters most is that we address society's failure to provide adequate care for the dying," he concludes. Article: Cost analysis of medical assistance in dying in Canada, Aaron J. Trachtenberg MD DPhil, Braden Manns MD MSc, CMAJ, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.160650, published 23 January 2017. Commentary: Medical aid in dying: What matters most? Peter Tanuseputro MD MHSc, CMAJ, doi: 10.1503/cmaj.161316, published 23 January 2017. New research funded by Pharmacy Research UK and published in Health Expectations, reveals people with dementia may struggle with managing their medication - exposing them to side-effects, medication errors and an increased risk of non-adherence to drug treatment. Researchers at Aston University, Hull University and the UEA interviewed family carers, people with dementia, nurses, GPs and community pharmacists for the project. Their year-long research found that as dementia develops the person struggles to manage their own medication and increasingly relies on support from family carers. This is often their partner, who may also be taking many medicines and finding the carer role stressful, thus increasing the risk of medication error. The study showed that for some carers this was a real burden of responsibility and that they hid their anxieties. Lead researcher Dr Ian Maidment, Senior Lecturer in Clinical Pharmacy at Aston said: "Our study found incorrect dosing, forgetting to give the medication and taking medicines which should have been stopped." Professor Chris Fox, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist from UEA's Norwich Medical School said: "There can be severe health impact for both the patient and carer - too often in my clinical practice I come across patients and families overburdened and unclear about their medication regimes. This can result in more visits to their GP and hospital and is a cause of avoidable NHS admissions." Dr Andrea Hilton from Hull University added: "There is a substantial role for community pharmacists and their teams to assist carers; many pharmacists have day-to-day contact both with carers and people with dementia. Community pharmacy is in a unique position to support and embrace patient-centred care and this is currently under-utilised. This research highlights that community pharmacists should be working more with GP practices and have full access to patients' medical records. Furthermore, home visits should be conducted for medication reviews." Barbara Woodward-Carlton a former carer and a member of the Alzheimer's Society Research Network highlighted: "During the years I looked after my mother who had Alzheimer's disease I wish I had known what help I could have had from community pharmacists. "My mother was an extremely pleasant person who always wanted to co-operate but found it incomprehensible that she should be taking any medication at all. At one point when she was very ill, I continued the medication she had been given including 'water tablets' without realising that she was dehydrated. I live with the shame of not knowing that as she was barely drinking and eating I should have stopped that medication. I welcome that community pharmacists are increasingly seen as those who can advise, educate and help those of us who care for others." Dr Clare Walton, Research Manager at Alzheimer's Society said: "Seven in 10 people with dementia are also living with other health conditions and managing multiple medications which can be a tremendous challenge. Finding new and innovative ways to support people with dementia and their carers to safely and correctly age their medication is a focus for future research." Ian Maidment added: "People with dementia are amongst the most vulnerable members of society and need more support with medication management. We need to develop new ways of supporting people with dementia manage their management and then test how well these new ways work." Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran has now triggered a controversy by allegedly asking from the CPM District Secretary a list of candidates for the 295 temporary vacancies under the Left-ruled Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. Advertisement The researchers analyzed more than 45 million pregnancies in the U.S. between 2004 and 2014 to determine if there are significant differences in ratios of both maternal deaths and stillborn deliveries depending on the day they occurred. Weekend delivery is also associated with differential maternal and neonatal morbidity, including increased ratios of perineal lacerations, maternal transfusions, neonatal intensive care admissions, immediate neonatal ventilation requirements, neonatal seizures and antibiotic use."We were able to control for pregnancy complications, and found that most women with pregnancy complications known to lead to death actually deliver on weekdays, suggesting that the actual problem with weekend deliveries is even greater," Steven L. Clark, senior author of the study explained.Researchers also looked at months of the year including "July phenomenon," the month of the year that is associated with an increased risk of medical errors and surgical complications that occurs in association with the time of year in which United States medical school graduates begin residencies. The researchers found no association between maternal-fetal mortality and July.Clark continued, "Any system that shows this sort of variation in the most important of all system outcomes is, by definition, badly broken. Our data suggest that a part of the overall dismal U.S. obstetric performance may be related to this systems issue, that is, there may be a 'spill over' effect that is demonstrably worse on weekends but is also present on weekdays to a lesser extent."Our data does not allow us to go any further than this in terms of specifying what the problem is. However, we believe it is likely due to the fact that rarely is care of the pregnant inpatient the primary concern of the treating physician - it is almost always a distraction from office, surgery or personal activities."The researchers determined that by addressing this study and improving the obstetric quality of care on weekends by different methods, such as expanded use of the hospitalist or laborist model, will be one important component of addressing this issue.Source: Eurekalert Advertisement The research was conducted by Dr. Laura Rosen of the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University; Dr. Hagai Levine from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public and Community Medicine; Dr. Salman Zarka from the University of Haifa; and Vladi Rozhavski, Tamar Sela, Dr. Yael Bar-Ze'ev, and Dr. Vered Molina-Hazan from the IDF Medical Corps. It was funded by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research.Among nonsmokers at recruitment, 18% initiated smoking during service. Former smokers were at greatest risk: 56% began smoking during service. Men and women with combat profiles were also at an increased risk, after adjusting for personal, family, and military factors.Prevalence of smoking was greater among males at discharge (40.3%) than among females (32.4%), but the increase during service was similar. On the other hand, 12% of smokers at recruitment quit smoking during service. There were no clear trends over the decades regarding smoking prevalence at recruitment and discharge. There was a slight increase in smoking cessation during service among males.Nearly a fifth of nonsmoking new recruits initiated smoking during service, and over half of former smokers relapsed to smoking. Because 50%- 65% of smokers die prematurely from smoking-related causes, the ongoing and future damage is enormous. The large increase in smoking during service, combined with high subsequent mortality of smokers, suggests that military tobacco control policy affects long-term survival of military personnel, and is an important contributor to population-wide mortality in countries such as Israel where a large percentage of individuals serve.Dr. Laura Rosen, Chair of the Department of Health Promotion in the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, said: "The government and the Ministry of Health need to cooperate with the IDF, in order to reduce the number of soldiers who start smoking, to encourage soldiers to quit smoking, and to protect non-smokers from exposure to cigarette smoke. We should take an example from the United States, which conducted extensive changes to the smoking policy in its military, to protect its soldiers and to improve the readiness and performance of its combat units. "Dr. Hagai Levine, Head of the Environmental Health Track at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, said: "The increase we found in the rate of smoking during compulsory military service is of great concern in light of the serious consequences for public health. We must concentrate our efforts in the war against smoking in order to protect the health of young men and women, and to coordinate civilian and military efforts in order to fight smoking throughout the life course. I hope that the IDF will adopt similar measures to those implemented successfully in other armies."The investigators recommend the creation of a central tobacco control body with comprehensive tobacco control policy, similar to programs in the U.S. military. The following steps are recommended: enforcement of smoking bans in public areas; prevention of supply of free or reduced-cost cigarettes to soldiers; prevention and treatment of tobacco dependence tailored for the military environment; monitoring of personal and army-wide smoking status.The investigators also recommend that commanders disseminate health messages and no-smoking messages through personal example, particularly in combat units and during combat operations. A special program should target former smokers, given the high chance of returning to smoking. Special attention should be paid to those who score higher in their recruitment profiles, who often end up serving in combat units where the smoking rate is higher.The dramatic increase in smoking during military service presents a window of opportunity for changes in health behaviors, and suggests a need for a multi-year war on tobacco among soldiers, in order to protect their health and military fitness. The study also showed that smoking is already problem prior to recruitment, which adds urgency to the call for national efforts to prevent smoking initiation, which could be coordinated with the Ministries of Education and Defense.Source: Eurekalert Elevated Alanine Aminotransferase Chronic liver disease like nonalcoholic fatty liver disease Chronic hepatitis C and B. Advertisement Elevated ALT and AST levels mild borderline moderate severe massive Other Significant Guidelines Questions pertaining to medical history Findings about physical examination Recommendations for radiological and laboratory tests needed to conduct a liver biopsy Guidelines for diagnostic testing for liver diseases, including autoimmune liver disease; viral hepatitis A, B, and C; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; metabolic and genetic disorders that include hereditary hemochromatosis, Wilson's disease and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency Guidelines for diagnostic testing for liver injury caused by Herbal supplements Prescription drugs Over-the-counter drugs Guidelines for Rare Diseases Primary sclerosing cholangitis Primary biliary cholangitis Screening for celiac disease. Disorders of striated muscle Liver disorders of pregnancy Lyme disease, which could be an uncommon reason for elevated liver tests Change In Name Hepatocellular Injury Cholestatic Injury Paul Y Kwo, Stanley M Cohen and Joseph K Lim. ACG Clinical Guideline: Evaluation of Abnormal Liver Chemistries. The American Journal of Gastroenterology. (2017) doi:10.1038/ajg.2016.517 The elevated ALT will aid in identifying people withThere are many therapies that are now available for conditions like chronic hepatitis C which could improve the condition of the liver. However, early identification is key, for which lowered levels of ALT could play a significant role.Dr. Kwo further cautions that even a seemingly small increase in ALT which does not normalize after a considerable period of time requires further investigation. The lowered levels indicated in the guidelines will require clinicians a little time to get used to, but Dr. Kwo hopes that it will aid in identifying disease early and improve overall health of the liver.There are algorithms provided in the guidelines for elevated levels of ALT and AST. They provide a graded evaluation method that categorize elevations asThere are also provisions which state when there should be immediate evaluation in the event of elevated levels. There are algorithms for the evaluation of abnormalities in the bilirubin levels and in alkaline phosphatase levels, though there are not too many changes in these.The guidelines also includeThe newly stated guidelines by The American College of Gastroenterology even include rare diseases likeThe guidelines state that instead of the name liver function test, it should henceforth be known asor. This is because the basic metabolic panels are indirect markers of liver function and not direct markers.It is the disproportionate elevation of AST and ALT levels when compared to levels of alkaline phosphatase.It is the disproportionate elevation of alkaline phosphatase level when compared to levels of AST and ALT.An increase in conjugated bilirubin implies cholestasis or hepatocellular disease when unconjugated bilirubin is a major constituent of the circulating levels of bilirubin.Dr. Paul Kwo stated that liver tests provide an important window into the overall health of an individual. The improved therapies that are available in this era for some liver diseases with probable options for other chronic liver diseases make it necessary to identify high risk patients and guide them to appropriate therapies. The guidelines provided will aid clinicians and other health care providers in providing the necessary support for correct diagnosis.Source: Medindia Art is the only way to run away, without leaving home. ~ Twyla Tharp. Its true. Mumbai might be known for the hustle bustle of fast city life, with no time to stop and stare at the beauty and enigma around. But, amidst all the noise, commotion and chaos, every art lover and enthusiast can find themselves in solitary bliss at any of these quaint art galleries in the city of Mumbai. 1. Volte Volte Ever since its opening in 2009, Volte has rapidly established to be one of the best in the Mumbai arts world. It is home to an array of exhibitions, events and multimedia installations. There are works by local talents as well international talents from Belgium, South Africa. Address: 202 Sumer Kendra, Floor 2, Pandurang Buhadkar Marg, Worli 2. Chatterjee and Lal Chatterjee and Lal The gallery founded by a husband-wife duo in 2003 is an exciting combination of young and upcoming artists. From their start in 2003 they grew to move to a larger space in 2007. They also have a prominent part in creating installations in non-traditional spaces, with performances in streets of Mumbai. Address: Arthur Bunder Road, 1/18, Floor 1, Kamal Mansion, Colaba 3. Project 88 Project 88 Built within an old 19th century printing press, it is spread over 4000 square feet space, which results in a decor displaying particularly expansive range of installations and works. Having garnered reputation, they collaborate with other galleries across India and abroad. Address: Ground Floor, B.M.P. Building, Narayan A Sawant Rd, Azad Nagar, Colaba 4. Sakshi Art Gallery Sakshi Art Gallery An eclectic mix from all over the country and abroad, they have a healthy representation of moderns but also never shy away to showcase the bold. Its support for leading Indian artists such as M.F. Husain, Ram Kumar amongst others, has put it at the forefront on the art scene in Mumbai. Address: 6/19, 2nd Floor, Grants Building, Arthur Bunder Road, Near Radio Club, Colaba 5. Chemould Prescott Road Chemould Prescott Road Founded in 1963, it is one of the oldest commercial art galleries across the country. It became famous for showcasing the work of Indian modernist icons like M.F Husain; while staying true to their state of the art facilities and a capacious exhibition space inside the 19th century relic of British colonialism. Address: 3rd floor, Queens Mansion, G. Talwatkar Marg, Fort 6. Maskara Maskara A former grain factory converted warehouse is literally large to park an aircraft, rather they chose it to make it into an art project space. Mercury-filled sculptures, and more unusual works have been witnessed here. Address: No. 6/7, 3rd Pasta Lane, Colaba 7. Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke Mother-daughter duos impeccable personal style to a space that brought some of the best international artists like Kiki Smith, and Jonathon Messe, amongst others. In addition to them, young artists and upcoming artists are nurtured by backing over the years. Address: 2, Sunny House, 16/18, Mereweather Road, Behind Taj Mahal Hotel, Colaba 8. Amrita Jhaveri Projects Amrita Jhaveri Projects An exceptional space, small yet engaging gallery, is run by one of the most influential art consultants in the country. It has a perfect sea-facing view. The gallery has garnered eyes of various artists, which led to some great exhibitions. Address: 58, Walkeshwar Rd, Raj Bhavan, Malabar Hill 9. Mumbai Art Room Mumbai Art Room Nestled in a lane, behind a store facade, they wish to promote the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art, design and visual culture. They have often made their textual material in Hindi, Marathi along-with English. Address: Pipewala Apartments, 4th Pasta Ln, Badhwar Park, Apollo Bandar, Colaba 10. Lakeeren Lakeeren While the gallerist took a sabbatical from running the gallery while she acquired a PhD in history of art, South Asian artists have been given a very nurturing platform here. Politics drives the gallerys curation. Address: 6/18, Grants Building, 2nd Floor, Opposite Basilico Restaurant, Arthur Bunder Road The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today while addressing an election rally in Punjab blamed Pakistan for supplying drugs in the state. The minister also urged the public to give their vote to SAD-BJP alliance in the upcoming elections. He said "There has been no corruption allegations levelled against the Centre in the last two and a half years" . He further added "If you don't want to vote then please don't, but will you lathi charge or throw shoes at the current chief minister of Punjab Prakash Singh Badal?" The Punjab Assembly elections will began from 4 February. Also Read: Supreme Court: 'Budget will be presented on February 1' Former congress MLA Krishna Hegde and actor Dalip Tahil joins BJP Goa to be the first state to opt for electronic transmission, said Syed Nasim Zaidi HARBOR BEACH The Harbor Beach Seniors met on Jan. 3 at the American Legion Hall with 40 members and two guests present. President Marge opened the meeting with the Lords Prayer, Pledge to the Flag and grace before meal. Lunch was served by Gayle Volmering. She was thanked for the great meal. The secretarys report and treasurers report were read. PIGEON Scheurer Hospital, in cooperation with List Psychological Services, will host Mental Health Matters at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, in the Wilson Education Center. Teri Southworth, MA, LPC of List Psychological Services will discuss Anxiety. Light refreshments served. Public welcome. The owners of Thumb Rum and Brew Co., who have selected Sebewaing to build a new $1.2 million micro-distillery and restaurant. Certified public accountant Elizabeth Hardenburg, who has been promoted to senior accountant at Nietzke & Faupel of Pigeon. Richard Easton of Cass City, a local senior citizen who enjoys traveling, hunting and helping his church. The late sculptor John Misico, whose Forever Soaring work is on display in Ubly for the community to enjoy. Todd Tate, who has been again chosen to be the president of the Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Schools Board of Education. Everyone helping out with the flamingo flock fundraiser for Huron Behavioral Health. Harbor Beach High School senior Tyler Booms, who has been chosen the Huron Area Technical Center student of the month. Davenport University students Krystal Errer of Bad Axe and Kendra Stone of Deckerville, recently chosen to the schools presidents list for their academic achievement. Local Knights of Columbus poster contest winners Jalyn Braun, Eric Phillips and Casey Goulette. Tuscola County sheriffs deputies who recently rescued two lost men on the ice of Saginaw Bay. New directors at the Michigan Sugar Co. James Roggenbuck, Tom Gettel, Clark Gerstaker and Kenneth Kousky. Blue Star Mothers Thumb Chapter 178, and all of its helpers, who packed Christmas boxes for servicemen and servicewomen both overseas and stateside. The leaders and workers at Bad Axe Wal-Mart, which recently awarded $500 to Caseville Elementary School to purchase innovative educational furniture. The items went to Amanda Sowderss third-grade classroom. The Putman Family of Caseville, whose 25 members recently appeared on a special program at the TLC cable network. The staff at Huron Medical Center, which was recently recognized for its high dose rate of the hepatitis B vaccine. Phyllis Podlaskowski of Elkton, after village President Randy Haley recently proclaimed January as Phyllis Podlaskowski Appreciation Month. Podlaskowski has been a longtime village council member and community supporter. Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker FFA members Aaron Maust and Jake Bushey, both seniors, who are state finalists to receive the Star Farmer in Agricultural Placement. Dr. Hammam Zmily, who has announced he is welcoming patients at the Huron Medical Center in Bad Axe. Zmily specializes in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular medicine. Sixth-grader Carson Holland, who has won the 2017 Geography Bee at Christ the King Lutheran School of Sebewaing. The 29th Annual National Geography Bee is sponsored by the National Geographic Society. Eddie Gs restaurant of Marlette, which after recent fundraisers, presented a $2,000 donation to United Hospice Service of Marlette Regional Hospital. Recent Bad Axe High School champions Dylan Smith and Ryan Wehner, who won their weight classes at the Hatchet Individual Invitational. Cass City High School wrestlers Wyatt Dickson, Tylor Cowdry, Brad Baker and Darren Dickson, who went undefeated at the recent Flushing Team Tournament. 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... Joseph V. Micallef is a best-selling military history and world affairs author, and keynote speaker. Follow him on Twitter @JosephVMicallef Claims that World War III has already started reverberate relentlessly across the media landscape. It's become a persistent drumbeat that is steadily gaining momentum. From Pope Francis's declaration that "we must not be afraid to tell the truth, the world is at war" to Russian claims that NATO's Operation Anaconda in 2016 was a precursor to an invasion of Russia and all-out war with the West. The symbolism of German tanks traveling across Poland toward the Russian frontier for the first time since 1941 was not lost on Vladimir Putin who declared, "you people do not feel a sense of the impending dangerthat the world is being pulled in an irreversible direction." Critics of Donald Trump have already warned that given the 45th President's penchant for unpredictability, a twitter storm could inadvertently precipitate a confrontation that would quickly escalate into a military clash. Certainly, the intent of the new administration to challenge the status quo, from trade policy with China to the value of NATO, the disarray of the European Union, the relentless spread of jihadist terror and its consequences into every aspect of life in Europe and North America, the spread of violence around the world underscored by never-ending wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Yemen; all underscore the sense that the world is untethered, that international institutions are increasingly impotent, that the global order is coming apart as it descends into ever greater chaos and disorder. At the height of the Cold War the possibility of a Third World War was a real and frightening possibility. Pentagon strategists gamed possible conflict scenarios and how they might evolve, think tanks opined on optimal nuclear force structures, strategic deployments and response strategies. Novelists and screen writers mined the topic for countless thrillers. Professional historians wrote "contra-factual histories" of how the war had started, played out and its ultimate consequences. With the end of the Cold War the prospect of a Third World War seemed to recede from the playbook of potential conflicts. Armchair strategists speculated about possible U.S.-China conflicts or even a limited U.S.-Russian clash over Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states. The novelist Tom Clancy even postulated a Sino-Russian war that would see the U.S. intervene on behalf of Russia, Moscow joining NATO, and culminating in a rogue nuclear missile attack launched by Beijing against the United States. A bit farfetched given the current state of American relations with Russia. I guess that's why they call it fiction. It was always assumed, however, that a Third World War would be fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, and that it would represent a heating up of the Cold War that would ultimately lead to a military clash over Western Europe. Conflict would breakout all over the world, hence the designation "Third World War," but it would be in Europe that the main confrontation would be played out. The Soviet Union is no more. Although Russia still retains a significant military force and the largest nuclear arsenal in the world (7,000 Russian warheads versus 6,800 for the United States), it lacks the breadth and depth of forces to engage the United States and its NATO allies on a worldwide basis. The current impression of Russian ascendency and the restoration of a bipolar world is owed more to clever Russian diplomacy than it does to a restoration of Russian military power. In the meantime, there is another very real war that is being fought worldwide. The United States, supported by various NATO members and assorted Arab governments, has fought two wars in the Gulf, one to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait and one to create a regime change in Baghdad, and another war in Afghanistan. It has been engaged in a long running conflict with various jihadist groups, most notably al-Qaida and, in the last several years, Islamic State. Over the last two decades, U.S. forces intervene directly and indirectly in a broad stretch of Muslim countries from Mali to Pakistan and, in particular, in civil wars in Syria and Libya and, to a lesser extent, in Yemen as well. In addition, the U.S. finds itself increasingly confronted by Iran and its Shia proxies throughout the Middle East. At the same time, both al-Qaida and Islamic State have spread their operations around the world, collectively creating more than 75 "franchises" in various countries in the Muslim world and setting up cells throughout Europe, North America and Australasia. In the process, they have demonstrated a capacity to radicalize "lone wolf jihadists" and spur them to stage low level, terrorist attacks throughout Europe and North America. Since 9/11, there have been 48 separate attacks of jihadist violence in the United States that have claimed the lives of 139 Americans. There have been scores of planned terrorist attacks, some admittedly bordering on the comical, that have been thwarted by law enforcement authorities. The FBI has identified and opened active investigations on more than 1,000 would-be American jihadists, spanning all 50 states. According to the website thereligonofpeace.com, worldwide, there have been a total of 30,000 incidents of jihadist inspired violence since the attack on September 11, 2001. In December 2016 alone, there were a total of 1,378 deaths and 1,737 injured from 188 incidents of jihadist terror in 27 countries. Another study by the BBC and the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence at the University of London suggested the numbers were even higher. To put these statistics in perspective, in a typical year there are 9,000-gun related homicides in the United States. Just in 2016, Europe experienced three major terrorist attacks and scores of additional jihadist incidents. Between the Brussels suicide bombings, the Nice truck attack and the Berlin Christmas market attack, there were a total of 134 people killed and 830 injured. Since 2015, there have been a total 35 terrorist attacks and an additional 25 planned attacks that were thwarted across Europe. What is more troublesome, is that Interpol estimates that around 10,000 EU passport holders have trained and fought with jihadist organizations throughout the Middle East. Many of these have already returned. One of the ironies of Europe's war against jihadist terror occurred after the Paris attacks of 13-14 November 2015. Following the attacks, which killed 130 people and injured another 368, French police, supported by national police forces in Belgium, Holland and Germany, launched a massive manhunt to identify the ringleaders of the Paris attacks. The mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was finally cornered in an apartment in the Paris suburb of St. Denis. He was subsequently killed following a shootout with French police. Western reporters correctly identified St. Denis as a predominantly Muslim neighborhood and dutifully quoted French police admonitions that the neighborhood was prone to crime and unsafe at night. They missed, however, a most sublime irony. The neighborhood of St. Denis is home to the Basilica of St. Denis, an imposing medieval abbey church that dates to the 12th century, which was the final resting place for all but three of France's kings and queens. Buried there also, in a modest grave, is Charles Martel. Charles the Hammer was never crowned a king of France but his exploits, at the Battle of Tours in 732, in defeating the Moorish armies that crossed the Pyrenees intent on expanding the Muslim empire into Western Europe, laid the foundation of the Carolingian dynasty and its reassertion of European power under his grandson Charlemagne. It is a supreme irony that one of the men considered most responsible for defending the remnants of Christian Europe from the Muslim onslaught of the 8th century would today find his grave located in a Muslim neighborhood. Who said that history's muse doesn't have a sense of humor? The historical analogies can, however, be overplayed. It is tempting to see the current conflict between Islamic jihadists and the Western world as little more than the next round in a clash of civilizations that have been at war with each other for the better part of a millennium. It is a struggle that has waxed and waned across Europe and the Mediterranean world since the 8th century, a struggle that has twice seen Muslim armies on the verge of overrunning Europe and that has seen Europe respond in-kind. From the 18th century on, especially after the battle of Navarino in 1827, the Muslim world and the Ottoman Empire, which was its leading edge, had been on the defensive gradually seceding territory to Europe's powers until World War I finally broke the Ottoman Empire and the Sykes-Picot treaty divided its remaining lands among the European victors. Jihadist iconography with its references to avenging the Christian crusades as well as past Muslim defeats, from the sieges of Vienna and Malta to the Battle of Lepanto; its repudiation of the Sykes-Picot boundaries; its incorporation of the mythology of epic Islamic victories at Qadisiyyah or Yarmouk; and its declarations that jihadists will reconquer the lost lands of the historic Muslim empires of the 9th to the 12th centuries, further reinforce this impressionso does the jihadist practice of singling out Christians, especially clergy, among its prisoners for immediate execution. Nonetheless it would be incorrect to see the current jihadist violence as simply a continuation of the Christian-Muslim struggle of the past Millennium. For one thing, Europe today is largely a secular society. The targets of jihadist violence have, to a large degree, been secular symbols of Western societya free press, tourism sites, music halls, etc. There have not been many attacks against symbols of Christian culture in Europe, such as churches, even though such locations are undefended and would represent very soft targets of attack. At least not yet, although it's hard to believe that there isn't some jihadist group intent on attacking St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. In the Middle East, however, Christian churches and landmarks have often been singled out for attacks. There are probably around 50,000 to 100,000 active jihadists in the world today, of which around 10,000 to 20,000 represent a core leadership group. There could be as many as 100,000 to possibly 200,000 additional militants that have had some training or some battlefield experience, that are committed jihadists, but are not necessarily active. This latter group is a sort of a strategic reserve that can be called upon, on a regional basis, when needed, and that are available to whichever jihadist group will pay to hire them. Truthfully, intelligence agencies are not certain how many jihadists there are in the world, how many are simply active sympathizers or wannabes, and how many actually pose a lethal threat. Intelligence agencies estimate that there are probably 10,000 to 20,000 jihadists and committed supporters in Europe, of which around 5,000 to 10,000 are in France and Belgium. There is probably half that number in the United Kingdom. In the United States that number is believed to be between 1,000 and 2,000 militants. In addition, there is a significant pool of sympathizers who identify with the jihadist movement, will support it financially, and are generally in agreement with their aims, even though they themselves will not actively participate in jihadist violence and may even condemn the more brutal examples of jihadist terror. This is perhaps the hardest group to identify. Several recent surveys suggest that this last group may amount to between five percent, to as much as twenty percent, of the world's Muslim population. It's hard to be entirely sure because it's impossible to know to what extent respondents game pollsters by giving politically correct answers depending on who they perceive the questioner to be. Assuming that the five percent to twenty percent figure is reliable, then these sympathizers represent a pool of supporters of between 75 million to 300 million people. It's possible that the number of sympathizers is greater, but it's unlikely that the number is smaller. So where does that leave us? The conflict with jihadist organizations is certainly a worldwide struggle. Jihadist inspired violence has occurred on every continent in the world. The only exception being Antarctica. A significant portion of the worldwide response to jihadist violence has been in the form of military operations carried out by national military forces. A struggle against a quasi-military force numbering between 100,000 and 300,000 combatants that are in turn supported by between 75 million and 300 million non-combatants certainly feels like a war. On the other hand, conventional military operations against the Islamic State and other jihadist organizations notwithstanding, the vast majority of jihadist incidents in the West are handled by national police forces, even if sometimes these involve paramilitary police or elite police units, and the vast majority of jihadist violence has been against civilian noncombatants. In that regard, jihadist violence seems less like a military conflict than it does a criminal conspiracy, albeit a worldwide one with an overtly political agenda. Moreover, while we can reject the characterization of jihadist violence as a Christian-Muslim struggle, much less a continuation of the historic Christian-Muslim enmity that lasted from the 8th century through the 19th century, the fact remains that these jihadists are explicitly targeting and see their opponent as Western culture and civilization in both its Christian and secular forms. What they are advocating is a replacement of Western culture by an explicitly Islamic alternative and in this endeavor, that they have the sympathy and varying degrees of support of literally millions of the world's Muslims. The struggle with jihadism is in fact a world war; one with multiple front lines scattered across the world's major cities. That conclusion is inescapable. It is not the Third World War, because it has little in common with the first two, and while conventional military forces will play a role, this conflict will involve national police forces to an unprecedented extent. It is therefore possible to say that this is the first "World War" fought by asymmetric forces simultaneously across the globe that involves both civil and military forces. There have been other conflicts fought by asymmetric forces. Indeed there is nothing new about such wars. The conflict between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Great Britain or that between the United States and the Vietcong are examples of such clashes. What is different about the jihadist conflict is that it is being fought on a worldwide basis. IRA violence was almost entirely carried out in Northern Ireland and England. The conflict with the Vietcong was fought in Vietnam and to a lesser extent Cambodia and Laos. The Vietcong never attempted to stage attacks against civilians in San Francisco or against U.S. military installations in Europe. In the struggle with jihadism there are no targets off the table, no theater of operation that is off limits or beyond reach. Finally, the fact also remains that the jihadists identify themselves as Muslims, utilize Islamic iconography and its symbolism, and wrap themselves in its traditions and sacred scriptures to justify their actions. Moreover, in doing so they have the support of a sizable number, even if they remain a minority overall, of other Muslims around the globe. We can characterize their beliefs as a corruption of the Islamic faith and point out that an overwhelming majority of the world's Muslims do not agree with them and that they simply wish to live in peace with their non-Muslim neighbors. Nonetheless, it doesn't change the fact that a Muslim identity, albeit a corrupted one, is at the core of the jihadist movement. This is what world war looks like in the 21st century. It is not a conventional global war like World War I and II, although it certainly involves the deployment of military forces around the globe. It has both the elements of a conventional battlefield and an insurgency, but an insurgency fought simultaneously across the globe in multiple independent theaters where the target of opportunity might just as easily be a local shopping mall as it is a military target half a world away. Jihadist violence might be the result of a centrally organized operation or unscripted, random acts of violence by local, self-radicalized militants. The enemy can be a combatant on the other side of the world or your seatmate on the local subway, they can be everywhere and they can be equally impossible to find. We have never fought a war like the one we are fighting now. We lack a comprehensive doctrine of how such a war should we fought or a coherent strategy to defeat our opponents. We have relied predominantly on military operations, even though it is clear that in a war of ideas military force will never be a complete solution. Our government leaders are unwilling to admit this is going to be a multigenerational war that will require significant spending and sacrifice. We expect our military personnel to carry out never ending deployments while politicians treat the notion of mandatory military service as the third rail of American politics. Instead those same politicians look for any pretext to hang out the "mission accomplished" sign. They can put it away because it is unlikely that they will have a legitimate reason to use it in our lifetime. Even as we roll back the Islamic State, new and old jihadist organizations are standing by ready to assume the mantle of jihadist leadership. The defeat of Islamic State and its militants won't end jihadist violence in the world, it will simply morph into new organizations and actors articulating the same storyline. This is a war for nothing less than the heart and soul of secular Western civilization, a war in which the old rules of combat and strategic protocols no longer apply. We cannot win this war with the tactics and strategy of the last World War, we cannot win it with our current half-hearted attempts, we cannot win it with tactics devised and judged on a template of political correctness, and we cannot win this war if we are unwilling to admit we are already fighting it. -- If you would like to submit your own commentary, please send your article to opinions@military.com for consideration. Depending on your PT test, the order of swimming may best be determined by where it is in the order of events of that test. It once seemed like the Rangers were moving swiftly toward a deal with free agent first baseman Mike Napoli, but nothing has come together as of yet. That may be because Texas is only interested in guaranteeing the veteran a single season, as ESPN.coms Buster Olney reports (Insider link). Its not terribly surprising, perhaps, to learn of that stance. With so many other power bats still remaining even with Mark Trumbo and Jose Bautista now off the market theres good reason for teams to look to minimize their commitments in adding defensively limited hitters. Indeed, weve heard before that the Rangers were hoping to see whether Napoli or Chris Carter would settle for a deal to the teams liking. It seems that may be more than just a temporary bargaining position, though, as Olney suggests that Texas just isnt interested in Napoli if it means promising him two years worth of salaries. There are certainly some warts on Napolis free-agent case, too. He did hit 34 home runs and post a productive .239/.335/.465 batting line last year, but he also struggled badly down the stretch and in the postseason. Likewise, defensive metrics turned on him after previously showing favor toward his glovework at first base. Given that hes already 35 years of age, Napoli comes with some obvious risks on a multi-year pact. Still, Napoli is arguably the best-remaining slugger of the bunch. Only Carter compares in terms of right-handed hitters, with Mark Reynolds perhaps representing a bounceback option after an underwhelming 2016 season. But there are still a variety of strong lefty hitters out there, including Brandon Moss, Pedro Alvarez, Adam Lind, and Logan Morrison; any could also draw consideration from teams that dont have a strong preference for handedness. Trump Inauguration President Donald Trump waves after taking the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts, as his wife Melania holds the Bible, daughter Tiffany, Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jim Bourg/Pool Photo via AP) (Jim Bourg) Leaders of the 'Detroit Three' automotive companies met Tuesday morning with President Donald Trump, who is seeking to increase manufacturing in the U.S. General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Ford CEO Mark Fields and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne gathered at the White House for the event. "We have a very big push on to have auto plants and other plants -- many other plants," Trump told reporters. "It's happening." All three manufacturers have announced major U.S. investment that will improve their facilities and increase jobs. They total $2.7 billion. More U.S. jobs from automotive manufacturing are expected to be announced today in Indiana by Toyota, and Hyundai announced a $3 billion, 5-year investment plan for U.S.-based research and manufacturing. It has factories in Alabama and Georgia, and operates a tech center in Ann Arbor. According to a report from Reuters on Tuesday's meeting: "The new Republican president, who took office Friday, vowed to cut regulations and taxes to make it more attractive for businesses to operate in the United States. He vowed frequently during the campaign to be a job-creating president." But Trump said he's not only targeting automotive, according to a report from USA Today: "In opening the conversation, with reporters and television cameras present, Trump told the executives that their industry isn't the only one he is lobbying about staying in the United States: "You're not being singled out."' Among the issues on the agenda for the meeting was regulation, according to a report in The Detroit News: "Trump said he wanted to create a regulatory climate that "makes the process simpler for the auto industry." That followed Trump's move to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Women's Health Center of West Michigan, a four-story, 106,806-square-foot medical office building along the city's Medical Mile, has been sold to a Florida real estate investment firm for $43.5 million. The sales price equates to more than $400 per square foot and represents the largest dollar value sale for a medical office transaction in Michigan since 2014, according to a Jan. 24 news release by Marcus & Millichap, a commercial real estate investment services firm. The 9-year-old building at 555 MidTowne Street NE is 93 percent occupied and anchored by Metro Health's OAM Surgery Center and Grand Rapids Women's Health, the announcement said. "The recent acquisition of Metro Health by the University of Michigan, along with the significant lease term remaining on the anchor tenants, generated a high level of interest in the asset," said Seth Haron, senior associate in the firm's Detroit office. "The tenancy also includes hospital-based medical practices and a complementary mix of private physician groups." "Built in 2008, the medical center greatly benefits from its strategic location within the 'Medical Mile' of Grand Rapids," said Ashish Vakhariya, Marcus & Millichap's Detroit-based vice president of investments who represented the seller, Pinnacle Construction Group. According to city records, the property was purchased by a Tampa real estate investment group affiliated with Carter Validus, which owns medical centers and data centers throughout the United States. The sale closed on Dec. 7, 2016, according to the records. The "Medical Mile" includes Spectrum Butterworth Hospital, the Meijer Heart Center, Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, and the Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion, the Van Andel Research Center, Grand Valley State University and Michigan State University's College of Human Medicine. A 19-year-old Canton man charged with sexually assaulting a strip club worker had his case bound over to circuit court last week, records show. Shane Morgan Shane Patrick Morgan is charged with fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon for an incident that took place about 12:56 a.m. on Dec. 31, 2016, at the strip club Deja Vu, located at 31 N. Washington in Ypsilanti, according to court documents. Morgan is accused of groping the female employee at the strip club, then turning over a table on her, said Ypsilanti police Lt. Thomas Eberts. The 19-year-old was arraigned on one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual assault, a misdemeanor, and the assault charge, a felony, Jan. 1 in 14A-1 District Court. A preliminary examination was waived Jan. 19 and the case was bound over to circuit court. Morgan is scheduled to appear March 1 before Judge Archie Brown in the Washtenaw County Trial Court. He remains free on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond, according to court records. Criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years or a fine of not more than $500, or both. Felonious assault is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both. Morgan's attorney, Samuel Bennett, said he couldn't comment on the specifics of the alleged incident, but did say that Morgan is on the autism spectrum, which he will use as part of his defense. "Hopefully it will be addressed ... throughout the case," Bennett said. IMG_6668.JPG Journalist and activist Shaun King speaks to the audience about race relations in the United States during a lecture on Monday, Jan. 23, inside Rackham Auditorium. (Photo provided l Evan Hoye, University of Michigan) ANN ARBOR, MI - Are we getting better as Americans, or is this, as activist and journalist Shaun King put it, "a dip" in the ebbs and flows of United States history? King asked the question on Monday, Jan. 23, to an audience inside the University of Michigan's Rackham Auditorium, imploring them to look at the world the way German historian and founder of modern source-based history Leopold Von Ranke did. King, who appeared for the lecture as part of U-M's Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium, asked the audience to consider whether the perceived progress evidenced in numerous technological advances has translated to humanity advancing along a similar linear progression. "Humanity is not this steady, inclining progression where people are getting better and better and better and better," he said, referencing the findings of Von Ranke. "Instead, humanity is a series of peaks and valleys." King illustrated the proposed "dip" in the context of a contentious presidential election cycle that ended with the country selecting Donald Trump as its 45th president, following a two-term presidency of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama. He also noted the high rate at which black men are killed by law enforcement officers in the United States. Many people feel similarities between the cultural shift of 2016 and the civil unrest of the 1960s, King said, and he takes that to mean that despite technological advances, the divide between race and class in the United States has left many searching for answers about where the country is headed. "What the people were saying is, 'I thought that humanity was a linear progression, but here I am in 2016, so why does it feel like I'm back here?'" King said. "When they say 'What is this, the '60s?' what I think they're saying is 'I thought we were better than that.' For months, maybe years, we have walked around deeply confused at what we are experiencing, because what we are experiencing doesn't feel like the way 2016 and 2017 were supposed to feel." King, the senior justice writer for the New York Daily News, has written extensively about the Black Lives Matter movement, covering discrimination, the prison industrial complex and social justice in the wake of violence in New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, Ferguson, Missouri, Charleston, South Carolina and a number other cities. He spoke about his experiences of speaking with family members of many of the people killed in those cities, asking the audience to consider whether the United States is in the middle of a "dip" that has traditionally come after significant "introductions of innovation" for African Americans. The spike in lynchings following the Emancipation Proclamation, the rise in the criminalization of blacks following the Civil Rights movement and Trump's rise following the presidency of Obama have led the United States into the type of valley Von Ranke described, King said. "Donald Trump emerged as a birther. His entry into politics was questioning the very humanity and citizenship of the innovation," he said. "The innovation disturbed the primary power structure and in response to the innovation, we are now living in the dip." King cited sobering statistics and news stories to drill home his points -- including a Washington Post story documenting the substantial increase in the number of arrests of black Americans for drug abuse and possession from 1980 to 2011, despite decreases in all property and violent crime during the same time period. Despite the serious subject matter, King remained upbeat and inflicted humor into his message throughout the discussion, urging those in attendance to consider how they can be a part of the creation of positive change. He also asked the audience to be conscious of the potential change the Trump presidency will bring as it happens. "It's hard to discern in a moment in history when you're in it," King said. "That's the Civil War, that's the Civil Rights movement and that's where we are right now. You need to understand the time, because you will live your life in light of the time." The smartphone may just be the future of medicine. With innovative breakthroughs in cloud computing and machine learning, the medicalized smartphone is poised to reduce the need for doctors while giving more power to patients. Toward a Brave New World of Medicine Dr. Eric Topol is a believer that people will start running common medical tests while skipping office visits and sharing the data with people other than their physicians. Dr. Topol lays out the foundations of this argument in his book, titled The Creative Destruction of Medicine. In it, he finds that - contrary to the popular belief of most doctors that medicine should be administered by a specialist - companies are working to provide Do-it-Yourself devices that can help individuals conduct routine exams themselves. Do-it-Yourself Devices Such devices can measure blood pressure, monitor blood sugar levels, and chart heart activity (Source). A recent article from Cambridge Consultants found that smartphones could act as a glaucoma testing device, allowing individuals to check for open angle glaucoma through a Gear VR headset that syncs to ones smartphone (Source). Belgian researchers have found a way to monitor ones electrocardiogram through a system that integrates low cost, low power interfaces from a heartbeat monitor to an Android mobile phone (Source). Most recently, MIT discovered epidermal electronics that can measure heart rate or sun exposure (Source). Digital Doctor Visits To be clear, these devices are still a long way off from the hyper-connected, push-button utopias we envision when we speak of connected medical devices. However, 2014 research from Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, two of the largest consulting firms in the country, finds that as many as one in six doctor visits were digital, not physical (Source). What constitutes a digital doctor visit? Digital doctor visits, or doctors on demand, connect patients to board-certified doctors through live video on smartphones and tablets. Non-emergency medical issues can be taken care of, and doctors may write prescriptions if needed. Digital doctor visits also include snapping a picture of an ailment (typically a rash, infection, or other outwardly visible ailment) and having a professional recommend further treatment. Cost Effective The price of such a digital visit varies, but typically, individuals can receive board-certified medical advice for the cost of a co-payment. Not everyone is a believer, however. Dr. Topol finds that doctors dont like D.I.Y. anything. There are some really progressive digital doctors who are recognizing the opportunities here for better care and prevention, but most are resistant to change. The two consulting firms forecast that virtual physician visits will soon become the norm over physical office visits, saving clients transportation costs and waiting room time. The Gamification of Health At the end of the day, Dr. Topol believes that smartphones make taking care of yourself more of a game. Our devices are already so close to us, so why not maximize their use in order to take ownership of our own health? Final Thoughts For now, smartphones can only be used to take care of non-emergency, surface-level ailments. We will always have a need for doctors, such as for acute care, invasive surgery, or emergency treatment. However, in the coming years - and certainly in the next decade - we will see an unprecedented number of low-cost treatments that can monitor your health through ones smartphone. About the Author: Alex Pop is a writer on behalf of Florida E.N.T. & Allergy, an independent ear, nose and throat practice in the Tampa Bay Area, whose physicians have served the Tampa Bay community for over 40 years. He enjoys educating people on the issues facing society in regards to medicine and technology. Edited by Ken Briodagh This is part two of a two-article series looking at the legacy of Appalachian culture in Detroit. You can read part one, "In search of the Hillbilly Highway," here I'm not from Kentucky, but at points during a recent Kentuckians of Michigan' bluegrass concert and dinner, one of many shows and parties the organization holds in its Romulus-area event hall, I felt very much at home. Actually, I felt very much at my grandmother's home: The women of the Kentuckians insisted on sending me home with an old whipped topping container full of soup beans, the same vessel my grandmother would use to store her beans. Founded in 1960, the Kentuckians of Michigan is perhaps metro Detroit's most visible symbol of the mid-century Appalachian migration. For decades, it's gathered people from all over Kentucky and broader Appalachia, including West Virginia, Virginia, and Ohio. Its members throw Christmas, Halloween, and St. Patrick's Day parties, knit blankets and hats for local hospitals and soldiers serving overseas, and host bluegrass and country musicians from around the country. The biggest event is the annual summer picnic, which used to draw thousands. "Appalachian Odyssey," I went to the hall to learn more about contemporary Appalachian culture in metro Detroit, and who's maintaining what's left from the mass migration along the hillbilly highway. A good way to tell you're among Appalachians is a discussion of beans. We take our beanscheap, filling, nutritious sustenance that we've grown in our backyards for generationsseriously. When I found the modern-day remains of the Appalachian migration north that I wrote about in my last piece, I was not surprised to find that they included pans of cornbread and chafing dishes of beans. Earlier that evening, I'd heard a man tell Carlotta Lowe, a native of Pikeville, Kentucky, that the night's buffetham, fried cabbage, mashed potatoes, beans, cornbread, salad and sliced white breadwas the first serving of soup beans he'd had since the group wrapped up its previous season in early 2016. Kentuckians of Michigan enjoy the music "Oh, honey," Lowe said. But then she clarified: "Next week we'll have soup beans. These are great Northern beans." She was referring to pinto beans, which are brown, but the man said that, in his family, white great Northern beans were soup beans. In mine, soup beans were also white beansnavy beans, to be exactso the night's offering felt right enough to me. As did the buttery scent of fried cabbage that filled my car as I drove home with the leftovers, which I accepted as dutifully as a relative leaving Christmas dinner. Lowe has no plans to return south. How could she when she gets to pick up her granddaughter from school every day. "I'm very fortunate. I have to two places I can call home," she said. "Kentucky is my birth home, and Michigan is my adopted home, and I like both of them." There is a familiar thread to members' stories of arriving in Michigan. Most migrated for work, either their own or their spouses', or were brought as children by parents seeking work. Jobs were much more plentiful up north than in Appalachia, but I hadn't understood quite how plentifulI heard several tales of migrants getting jobs the day they got to town. Those who already had family in town tended to settle near them, in places like Ypsilanti, Warren, and Taylor (which locals often call Taylortucky). There is also a notable Appalachian population in the Springwells neighborhood. On the porch of the Kentuckians hall before dinnerthere is an actual dinner bellI asked about people's arrival stories, including the discrimination I'd read about in my research. No one had any experience with it. Betty Long, a Virginia native who's lived here for 50 years, joked that people often said they couldn't understand her accent. "I'd say, 'Well, I'll write you a note, and if you can't read that, you're out of luck,'" she said with a laugh. As we were talking, Powell Conley joined us. Conley's father moved the family from Salyersville, Kentucky to Ypsilanti in 1951 when Powell was eight. They lived in Willow Run Village, originally built to house workers in the Willow Run manufacturing complex, where World War II aircraft was built. "Unfortunately, the questions haven't changed since the '40s and '50s," Conley told me. "Writers are not the most what's the word, Burl?" Burl working the sound system Burl Stevens, a Wyandotte native whose parents came north from eastern Kentucky, laughed. "Don't ask me." "Nearly all of us that came up here could read and write," he said. I told him I assumed as much. "Well, many don't. 'Buncha dumb hillbillies.'" Appalachians were just doing "what people did for years and years before," he said. "They went where the work was. It's no different now." Conley met people here from all over the country, and yet, he said, writers could only ever find Kentuckians and West Virginians. I asked what questions I should be askingwhat the flip side of that story is. "The flip side is the humanity of it," he said. "Those of us who came here weren't any different than the ones that were already here. We might have talked a little different, we might eat a little different"he paused"we did teach 'em how to eat up here." He laughed and told me about a neighbor woman who used to come by at suppertime and eat so much cornbread that his mother started baking her a separate batch. Kentucky memorabilia And, soon enough, Conley was telling more stories. Stevens too. Conley's father worked at the Dodge Main plant. When they went on strike, his dad went back to Kentucky to put the crops in. Stevens remembered the occasions when his father would end up with four-day weekends: His mother would have the car packed, and they'd head back to Kentucky as soon as his shift was over. Like Stevens, many children of Appalachian parents were born and raised in Michigan and grew up exposed to Appalachian traditions like food and music (Stevens was playing dobro onstage that night). Mary Pike, 71, a Kentuckians member whose parents came from eastern Kentucky, has such a twang that when her old workplace had a bet about where she was from, nobody wonnot one person guessed Michigan. Families traveled back home often, though a common refrain I heard that night was that home is not the same now that their parents and other relations have passed away; many don't go back as often or at all. After I left the Kentuckians that night, I kept thinking about Conleys commentabout the way Appalachians were represented in all the old media I came across, the broad brushstrokes and easy caricatures. I sympathize with the suspicion Conley felt because I still experience what he described. The national understanding of my home is not exactly nuanced. That can includes Detroit: The year I moved here, a Detroit Free Press reporter tweeted an incest joke about West Virginia. From the "Beverly Hillbillies" to the most recent season of "American Horror Story," casual discrimination against rural people has been normalized practice for decades. It is assumed that we must be poor, dirty, dumb. All that was on my mind as I sat down to write, and as I revisited a section on the Kentuckians of Michigan in "Appalachian Odyssey." The book noted that the group was often called upon to answer questions about the life of Appalachians in southeastern Michigan, and I felt the weight of that too. As a writer, of course, I saw what a wealth of information the Kentuckians represented, all those stories in one room. But, as an Appalachian, I felt the fatigue of having to account for everything people think they know about you, for some experience that is expected to be homogenous, having to disassemble your way of life for their inspection and spend your time disproving instead of just being. All photos by It was natural that the members of the Kentuckians would continue their traditions wherever they settled; many people do. I understood where Bobbie Sue Williams, a now-deceased officer of the Kentuckians, was coming from when she told two of the book's authors, "I really don't know what they expect from us."All photos by Nick Hagen a multidisciplinary academic study of the migration, reports that 10,000 people attended in 1963. Last year, it was closer to 300.The younger generations don't seem to be as interested, and membership is thinning out. Some folks pass away, others retire and move back down south.Conley settled on "dependable." Norma Heath in her kitchen, where kids come to use her laptop. Norma Heath has Internet access, which puts her just barely in the majority in her Detroit neighborhood. Heath, who lives just west of Hamtramck in Detroit's North End neighborhood, often receives visits from a young neighbor who lacks Internet access so he can do his homework for school. "He'll come down to my house and say, 'Miss Norma, can I use your Internet? I have a science project I need to do and we don't have the computer or the Internet,'" Heath says. "What's Norma gonna say? 'Sure!' I can't tell them no." An informal survey conducted last summer by the Since 2009, the DDJC member Monique Tate says that for too many Detroit residents, Internet access is still considered a luxury when it's actually a necessity. "They can't afford that," Tate says. "If children don't have access to that tool, are not literate, and don't know how to operate within it, you're deprived when it comes to basic knowledge. You're deprived when it comes to jobs. You're deprived when it comes to society and how everything is working." A different kind of literacy Monique Tate in the Morningside neighborhood where a mesh network is located Limited access to technology creates another underlying problem: many Detroiters have little to no basic knowledge of how to use technology in the first place. Tate says she encounters millennials on a daily basis who know less about how to use a computer than she does and she's over 50 years old. "I will state with certainty that if you are not digitally literate, you are illiterate," she says. "There's reading, writing, arithmetic, and technology. It belongs up there with those." DDJC's members have sought to combat digital illiteracy through a variety of initiatives, many of them helped along by federal funding from the Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP). Funded through the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, BTOP was implemented to improve broadband access nationwide. One of Tate's first forays into digital justice work was a BTOP-funded project led by Detroit nonprofit Other initiatives have been more modest. DDJC regularly hosts a fair-like event called "[The Internet] is something that is almost mystical for a lot of us," says AMP executive director and DDJC member Jeanette Lee. "It just arrives in our devices and connects us to the rest of the world. A lot of the work we're doing is to demystify the Internet's actual architecture." Recently DDJC members have also worked to address situations in which expanded data access actually works to the detriment of the populations the coalition is trying to help. A key example is the city of Detroit's "As community organizers, maybe in the block club or in a neighborhood group, we can understand who owns and who's buying properties around us, and specifically if there are properties in the neighborhood that are abandoned or not being taken care of," she says. "But the flipside of that is this real fear that it's making it that much more possible for big developers and companies to very quickly buy up huge tracts of land." Accordingly, recent DiscoTechs have focused on explaining the benefits and risks of open data and how communities can use it to their greatest advantage. "It comes back to that idea of what access actually means for the portal and who users are," McInchak says. "If there isn't actually an engagement plan around the portal, it's just sort of this thing that sits online." Opportunity through access Joan Ross Although digital literacy has been and remains a major component of digital justice efforts in Detroit, Tate says its importance has decreased somewhat. While the number of groups offering literacy training has grown over time, that doesn't change the fact that a huge portion of Detroit's population still can't afford a computer and utilize those literacy skills at home. She describes literacy as one element of a three-pronged approach to digital justice, the other two being Internet access and access to computers or other equipment. The equipment part of the equation is a tough nut to crack given the costs involved, but DDJC is currently stepping up some long-running efforts to improve neighborhood Internet access. When the coalition was awarded $1.2 million in BTOP funding in 2010, one of the key initiatives that arose over the three-year funding period was a program known as Tate, a Digital Stewards alum, has participated in the creation of two mesh networks in her neighborhood of MorningSide. "They don't serve enough, but they serve at least a block or two individually," she says. One of DDJC's newest projects is aimed at taking community wireless networks to the next level in three Detroit neighborhoods. Launched this summer, the Joan Ross is spearheading EII in the North End as director of NEWCC and acting station manager of WNUC 96.7 FM, which will house the neighborhood's gigabit Internet connection. Ross describes EII as an "incredibly big" development for the neighborhood, which she says has been "really, really left out in this digital movement." She also notes that the Internet connection itself is just one component of the EII program, which also emphasizes Digital Steward training for neighborhood residents and includes an app development training component for young people in each neighborhood. Ross envisions even more possibilities beyond that, including creating some sort of social enterprise to continue advancing Internet access or installing solar panels to run a community network. "Once we start this conversation, it's just wide open," she says. "It's just incredible how many things we can begin to bring into community with this access, with just this small opportunity which may seem little." Tate says that's basically digital justice in a nutshell: expanding opportunity one person, one class, one connection at a time. "It's not just about sharing land or sharing food, as people had done in the past in order to survive," she says. "This is about sharing your technology, your knowledge, your access to the Internet, and even your equipment until people are able to build their own or acquire their own." Robotic carts carrying full boxes of hand-picked tomatoes exit the Mastronardi Produce greenhouse before being placed in biodegradable packaging. Mastronardi Produce employees hand pick tomatoes on the vine from the Coldwater, Mich. greenhouse that Meijer customers can pick up from the produce department the next day. This article is one of a series of stories about Michigans agricultural economy. It is made possible with funding from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development . Read the rest of the series here. It might be January, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy homegrown Michigan produce. In fact, it could be as close as your neighborhood grocery aisle.Mastronardi Produce is a Canadian grower, headquartered in Kingsville, Ontario, that specializes in hydroponic greenhouse cultivation, a form of growing that makes use of mineral nutrient solutions instead of soil. Because it grows indoors, the company is able to offer its SUNSET brand of produce year-round at Michigan grocers like Meijer, Whole Foods, Aldi, Costco, Sam's Club, Trader Joe's, Walmart, and Target.What's more, since it operates a greenhouse in Coldwater, they're also able to provide consumers with Michigan-grown produce. The Coldwater facility supplies state retailers with SUNSET tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, and cucumbers, and during the chilly months it also grows its WOW (Wonders of Winter) line of strawberries.Due to its south central Michigan location, the Coldwater operation allows the grower to harvest, pack, and deliver its produce to customers throughout the Midwest in a timely fashion, often on the same day it's picked.Completed in 2014 (and operational since 2012), the 60-acre Coldwater facility is Mastronardi Produce's most state-of-the-art indoor growing operation. The greenhouse relies on a variety of technologies including grow lights (and LED research lighting) to control temperature, humidity, water, and light conditions, allowing for optimal crop growth. Automated harvest carts, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags are also used to increase efficiency and to keep track of produce."Compared to field farming, greenhouse growing is much more efficient, yielding 12 to 20 times more produce in the same area," says Daniela Ferro, a spokesperson for Mastronardi Produce. "It also reduces water consumption drastically, and allows us to use natural, integrated pest management instead of chemical pesticides to manage any harmful insects. Of course, this also means that frigid Michigan winters won't harm our protected crop, so consumers can enjoy local produce all year long."In addition to providing consumers with Michigan produce, the company has also been a boon to the state's workforce, hiring local workers at all levels of employment at its Coldwater greenhouse and Livonia distribution center, the company's largest depot in North America.As for the relationship with the state's retailers, it's been a mutually beneficial one: the embrace of grocers has allowed the Coldwater operation to flourish while keeping store shelves stocked with the local produce their customers value. Due to the high interest in keeping things local, it's also worth noting that Mastronardi Produce goes the extra mile when it comes to guaranteeing where their fruits and vegetables come from."Because we're greenhouse grown, we also have an enhanced food safety and traceability program, which allows us to trace product back to exactly where it came from," says Ferro. "Retailers have the satisfaction of knowing they're providing their consumers with safe, high-quality produce year-round."The Michigan-based grocery chain Meijer has been purchasing Mastronardi Produce for over 40 years and offers Michigan-grown tomatoes at each of its 230 stores, which are spread over six states."Meijer offers our customers fresh, vine-ripened Michigan-grown tomatoes year-round, thanks to Mastronardi Produce's state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse in Coldwater," says Meijer spokesperson Christina Fecher. "We also offer locally-grown sweet peppers in colder months grown at that greenhouse."The grocery chain ensures that Mastronardi Produce and other growers meet their own high corporate standards by sending in a team of experienced buyers to check out their suppliers' farms and growing facilities.Keeping things local has been a priority for Meijer since the chain opened its first store in Greenville back in 1934. And the local produce options that the SUNSET line allows the grocer to offer are really appreciated by shoppers."Not only is buying local produce the right thing to do, it's what our customers want and deserve," says Fecher. "Today, Meijer works with more than 125 local growers, which we define as growers within our six-state footprint. Of those, 92 are located in Michigan. We're also one of the largest purchasers of local produce in the markets we serve."Peter Anastor, Director of the Agriculture Development Division at the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), has seen Mastronardi Produce's Coldwater facility and he's impressed."Mastronardi is a driver of what's going on in Michigan as far as hydroponics," he says, "I think it's a good glimpse at what the potential future of agricultural growing is going to be."Right now, this type of indoor growing is only a small component of the state's agricultural economy; the only other facility that MDARD is regularly involved with is Kilbourn Produce, a family-owned hydroponic operation in Marshall, Michigan that grows red bell peppers.But the prospects are promising. Anastor thinks the attraction of locally grown produce, in terms of environmental sustainability and the desire to support Michigan jobs, combined with the efficiencies of hydroponic growing, like being able to control the growing conditions and harvest crops year-round, represent a wonderful economic opportunity.While the indoor ag industry is still in its early stages, MDARD has been talking with possible investors. For its part, Anastor says his agency is happy to talk to potential business operators and help connect them with prospective employees, identify a good location, and work with the MEDC and other state departments on permitting and incentives.And as technology makes the field more efficient, he expects interest in setting up new operations in the state will grow."Looking out at the next decade, I think we're going to see more of this type of growing," says Anastor. "It's something we are keeping an eye on and are very interested in." you are here: business Subbarao: Note ban may be akin to Iraq WMD fiasco if results not tangible The government had anticipated 15-20 percent of black money will be destroyed via its demonetisation move, which actually has not happened, believes the former governor of Reserve Bank D Subbarao. business Voice business down, data services to drive growth: Tata Comm Pratibha Advani, Chief Financial Officer at Tata Communications, Tuesday said the company is pinning its hopes of growth on data services, with its voice business continuing to show a decline. January 24, 2017 Syria - "Rebel" Infighting And Turkish Losses Help the Government And Its Allies On the last days of the Obama administration the U.S. military hit a large Al-Qaeda training camp in Idleb governate in Syria. The camp was known as a training area for European fighters. B-52 strategic bombers dropped a large amount of bombs on the camp Over 100 people were killed in the attack. The camp's existence, though probably not the exact location, was known since 2013 but the U.S. had not touched it before. Some suggested that the attack had the purpose of destroying evidence of U.S.-al-Qaeda cooperation in Syria. The Turkish, Russian and Iranian governments had agreed on talks in Astana in Kazakhstan between delegations from "moderate" militant groups in Syria and the Syrian government. Ahrar al Sham, which ideologically borders between al-Qaeda and the "moderates", was also invited. It declined to take part in solidarity with the not invited designated terrorist group Jaish Fateh al-Sham (the former Nusra Front aka al-Qaeda in Syria). Russia had suggested the talks with the intent of separating the "moderate" Takfiris under Turkish control from the designated "terrorist" Takfiris. The talks had no immediate results but still achieved their purpose. Shortly after the talks began al-Qaeda attacked Ahrar al Sham. After some on and off fighting al-Qaeda started yesterday to attack all "moderate" Takfiri groups in Idleb and Aleppo governate. (Al-Qaeda is allied with Jund al-Aqsa, an ISIS splinter group, and with the Zinki group, a CIA vetted "moderate" gang known for receiving TOW missiles from the CIA as well as for the beheading of a Palestinian child.) As al-Qaeda it is the biggest group on the rebel held ground it can only be fought by a united opposition. That fight is currently ongoing. The separation of "moderates" from "terrorists" has thereby happened. Russia had asked the U.S. for over a year to help with the separation. But all Russian agreements with the State Department were sabotaged by the CIA and the U.S. military and the U.S. claimed that the groups were too "mingled" with al-Qaeda to be separated. from them Now, without U.S. interference, the separation has happened. The "moderate" groups depending on Turkish supplies are now also fighting al-Qaeda and have thereby a common enemy with the Syrian government. Russia will surely try to diplomatically build upon that commonalty. The Russian and Syrian military are holding back from the area. One should not disturb the enemy when it is making mistakes. Let the Takfiris fight each other and sort themselves out. What is left after that fight will be easier to defeat. The situation in Damascus is still bad. The water from Wadi Barada on which 5-6 million people in Damascus depend is still cut off. Several ceasefire agreements in Takfiri held Wadi Barada were broken by al-Qaeda elements. During the last one the main Syrian negotiator was killed by an al-Qaeda sniper when visiting the area. The Syrian army has surrounded the Wadi and intense fighting is going to liberated the occupied water wells. Further south preparations seem to be ongoing for a rearming of Takfiri groups via Jordon. During the last days the Syrian government interdicted the smuggling of at least 19 TOW missiles and large amounts of other ammunition. Someone has plans to reignite a fight in the south which had been quiet for most of the last year. Around al-Bab east of Aleppo the Turkish army is still trying to take the city of al-Bab away from ISIS. The Turks depend on a lousy infantry made up of some Syrian rebel groups and are weakened due to Erdogan's purges of the Turkish army and airforce. Over a third of the pilots have been kicked out of the service. Many others are under investigation. IThe Turkish soldiers seem to have little will to fight. Yesterday 34 soldiers failed to show up at a hearing in Istanbul over alleged participation in the coup against Erdogan. They are fighting somewhere near al-Bab and had received no court notice. Some air force pilots have to check in with the police when they start to fly against ISIS and have to again check in with the police when they come back. They are not allowed "to leave the country" but still get orders to bomb in Syria. It is no wonder that such an army is incapable of effective fighting. Yesterday 5 Turkish soldiers were killed and two more main battle tanks were lost. Turkey makes no progress at al Bab but has steady losses of men and heavy equipment. South of al-Bab the Syrian army has started an operation to clean ISIS territory between the Qweiris airbase and the city. It may well reach al-Bab from the south before the Turks come near to it from the north. Further east the U.S. supported Kurdish SDF is nearing the Tabqa Euphrates dam west of the ISIS capitol Raqqa. Capturing the dam will be very difficult. In a warning ISIS opened several gates of the dam and further downstream flooding is now a serious concern. Blowing up the dam would have catastrophic results for many people in east Syria as well as in Iraq. Further east the fighting in Deir Ezzor continues. The city is besieged by ISIS and a large attack recently managed to split the Syrian army garrison from the living quarters of the 100,000 inhabitants under government protection. Air supplies were impossible. A large Russian air campaign has helped to push ISIS back. Up to a 100 strikes per day have disabled ISIS artillery in the area and helicopter landings to bring in supply and reinforcements are now again possible. Food supplies for the population are again being dropped from large transport planes. During the last three days the Russian airforce flew strategic bombers from Russian territory to Deir Ezzor and intensely bombed ISIS held positions. ISIS reinforcements coming from Raqqa and Palmyra were interdicted before they could reach the area. Deir Ezzor already looked lost but it now may survive the latest ISIS attempt to storm it. In various areas of Syria different configurations of enemies and allies are fighting each other. The situation seems to get more complicate by the day as Turkey and the U.S. are permanently changing their positions and intentions. While U.S. supported "moderates" in the north fight the former allied al-Qaeda, the "moderates" in the south receive resupplies despite their intimate local alliance with al-Qaeda. ISIS is fought by the U.S. in coalition with the Kurds but not in coalition with its NATO ally Turkey. Meanwhile ISIS is supported by the U.S. in its campaigns against the Syrian army. Turkey is hopelessly lost. It barely controls the "moderates" in the north and any fighting against al-Qaeda and ISIS will find a brutal terror echo in Syrian cities. Its campaign against al-Bab is stuck but with mounting losses. How long will it take Erdogan to finally give up on his neo-Ottoman dreams about new Turkish land in Syria? One might hope that the new U.S. administration will find some sense and engage in a coalition with Syria and Russia to eliminate all Takfiris on Syrian ground - ISIS, al-Qaeda and any "moderate" Islamist group that rejects to make peace. But the Trump administration is not (yet) organized at all. Some groups within it see their priority in fighting Iran which is needed to make peace in Syria as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan and maybe even in Yemen. Others want to fight ISIS and al-Qaeda, others see Russia as the biggest enemy. Fighting all at the same time is simply not possible. But is there someone who can set the priorities? A compromise strategy within the administration will be a chaotic mishmash of tactical measures that will contradict each other. That is what I expect to see. It may well take months if not a year before sanity will settle in and some reasonable plan will emerge. Until then Syria will stay in a chaotic fight though with a growing advantage on the side of the government and its allies. Posted by b on January 24, 2017 at 20:03 UTC | Permalink Comments next page Dr. Amber Halliburton, owner of the Me, You and Some Glue craft studio in Morganton, has been through a lot of changes in the past two and a half years. After losing her husband, Jimmy Halliburton, in a fatal accident while he was on duty as a forest ranger in August of 2014, Amber finished her doctoral degree in education while working full time as a behavioral specialist with Burke County Public Schools and raising her two young children. In May of 2015, Halliburton and her children attended a ceremony in Raleigh held each year by the North Carolina Fallen Firefighters Foundation. As an employee of the North Carolina Forest Service, Jimmys memory was honored along with those who had perished fighting fires in 2014. Ambers daughter, Emma, received a flag in commemoration of his service and ultimate sacrifice. I will never forget her tiny body accepting the flag and rose from all those seemingly huge, uniformed men, while I held Coleman, who had recently turned a year old, Halliburton wrote in a post on her website, www.sunshinecouragequilts.org. After receiving her degree, Halliburton followed a calling to leave BCPS to open a creative arts studio for kids of all ages in the fall of 2015. Me, You and Some Glue, located within First United Methodist Church, was a dream she and her husband had that she saw through to completion. My message is, Your grief does not have to be your identity, Halliburton said. It happened, but you dont have to wear that as your identity for the rest of your life. You turn it around and make something good out of it. Halliburton started with art classes and soon added instruction in things like digital design, music and textiles. She brought in former Morganton Sewing Center employee Sharon Taylor to teach quilting classes. As Taylor developed ideas for projects, she and Halliburton discussed ways to connect the community to the art of quilting. She and Taylor decided to start opening the quilting room at Me, You and Some Glue on Fridays starting at 10 a.m. and inviting members of the community to help make throw-sized quilts to honor the memories of fallen firefighters across the state each year. Its a really low spot for (the families of) those folks who are inducted into that, Halliburton said. They went to work that morning expecting to come home, and so for those families, its complete devastation. When sharing this idea with Emma, she immediately said it would be great, since you cant sleep with the flag they give you. Emma, who is now four years old, named the project Sunshine Courage Quilts. I want to give them to the kids and say, I love you, God loves you and have good courage, Halliburton remembers her daughter saying. Their current goal is to make a quilt for each of the 11 families whose loved one will be remembered at the next NCFFF ceremony this May. This goes to a specific family to remember their person, and we will be there to actually give it to them, Taylor said. It makes it a little more heartfelt when its going to somebody you can put a face and a name to. Taylor has recruited four local quilters to help with the project so far: Carolyn Loudenslager, Kay Jones, Nelda Toner and Judy Brittain. They have three quilts completed, and several more in progress. I read about it on Facebook and was interested in it because of Sharon, Jones said. It seemed like a really worthwhile cause. Loudenslager agreed. Ive made a couple quilts for friends who have cancer, and its the same idea, Loudenslager said. Its like youre saying, I cant be there to support you and give you a physical hug, but wrap up in it and know theres someone thinking about you. Volunteers do not need prior quilting experience, because Taylor will teach them with materials theyve already collected. She has plans to have students from the Morganton Day School come in and learn how to make a quilt. Taylor and the other quilters made labels for the quilts featuring a sunburst. Halliburton and Taylor also are accepting donations of money, fabric, batting and quilting supplies. Halliburton said a local Girl Scout troop has pledged to donate a portion of members cookie sales to help pay for materials. She hopes to eventually have enough supplies and quilters to make quilts for each child of every fallen firefighter each year, instead of one per family. They will hold a special blessing of the quilts on Saturday, April 29 at FUMC and have invited firefighters from departments across the state to attend. They will display the quilts in the sanctuary starting at 2 p.m. and have people come through and pray over them. Then at 3:30 p.m., the Rev. Dr. John Fowler, senior pastor of FUMC, will lead a prayer service focusing on the quilts and the brave people they were made to honor. A barbeque plate dinner will be offered after the service. Proceeds from the dinner will go to support the NCFFF. Were excited, because we really think we can involve community in this, Halliburton said. In every part of what we do, I try to connect back to the community, because to be successful as people and as a business, if its not community-based, its going to fail. As a parent with young kids, Im blessed with my faith and the community thats supported me. For more information about the Sunshine Courage Quilts project, visit www.sunshinecouragequilts.org. Tammie Gercken can be reached at tgercken@morganton.com. Maintaining independence and editorial freedom is essential to our mission of empowering investor success. We provide a platform for our authors to report on investments fairly, accurately, and from the investors point of view. We also respect individual opinionsthey represent the unvarnished thinking of our people and exacting analysis of our research processes. Our authors can publish views that we may or may not agree with, but they show their work, distinguish facts from opinions, and make sure their analysis is clear and in no way misleading or deceptive. To further protect the integrity of our editorial content, we keep a strict separation between our sales teams and authors to remove any pressure or influence on our analyses and research. Read our editorial policy to learn more about our process. Affordability is a major issue in every major Canadian housing market, new report claims. There are no affordable major markets, one major market is rated as moderately unaffordable, three are rated seriously unaffordable and two are rated severely unaffordable, Demographia said in its 2017 edition of the International Housing Affordability Survey. The survey compares housing affordability in 406 metropolitan housing markets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, China, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia. To determine affordability, the survey assigns an affordability value based on house prices compared to median household incomes. A median multiple value is established; a value under 3.0 is considered affordable. Vancouver was deemed the countrys least affordable market with a value of 11.8. It ranks third overall, worldwide. Toronto also has a severely unaffordable housing market, with the Median Multiple deteriorating to 7.7 in 2016, adding an equivalent of a years income to last years 6.7. Consistent with other high cost housing markets, Toronto has had substantial domestic outmigration, Demographia said. Montreal has seriously unaffordable housing (4.8), and has also experienced substantial net domestic out-migration. Calgary (4.6) and Edmonton (4.1) are also seriously unaffordable. Canadas most affordable major market is Ottawa-Gatineau (3.9), which is rated as moderately unaffordable. The controversial study joins a growing chorus of voices lamenting housing affordability in Canada. CMHC issued a red warning for Canadas housing market in its latest Housing Market Assessment, released in the fall. We now see strong evidence of problematic conditions overall nationally, CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan said at the time. This is fuelled by overvaluation meaning house prices remain higher than the level of personal disposable income, population growth and other fundamentals would support. Toronto, Vancouver, Hamilton, and Quebec City were all given a red warning; Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Regina, and Montreal, meanwhile, were assigned a yellow warning for moderate evidence of overvaluation. The latest predictions by industry observers painted a relatively bumpy year for Canadian real estate amid some uncertainty, and a Richmond-based soothsayer provided further bad news from the stars.Ahead of the Year of the Fire Rooster (which starts January 28), astrologer Sherman Tai offered sober advice for hopeful Chinese investors who are looking for a second, more celestial opinion.Some stars are good for property, and some stars are bad for property, Tai said, as published by the South China Morning Post. This year, the bad star is going into the house.In Chinese fortune-telling, real estate (along with retail) is associated with water, an element that is totally at odds with the coming year.Tai predicted that Vancouver might suffer property price declines of as much as 10 per cent, along with a noticeable slowdown in provincial retail sales growth. This is because the city is situated in the southwest corner of the countrya less-than-auspicious position for real estate.In the last 12 to 15 years, every year I was telling people that if they have money to invest, to invest it in the property market, Tai said. After 2015, and in my last years prediction in the Year of the Fire Monkey, I asked them to stop.New rules implemented by the Chinese government on those who are looking to exchange their yuans into foreign currencies might lead to a sharp decline in the Canadian housing market, economist Andy Xie warned earlier this month.Mainland authorities are now requiring documents providing details on the reasons for currency conversion, and when the money will be used. Improper use of the converted funds (e.g. the purchase of a residential property) will entail stiff penalties such as being banned from exchanging money. The continuous outpouring of interest in Canadian homes from American would-be buyers might very well yield a noticeable boost in the number of sales transactions this year, according to the latest report from Royal LePage.In its study released on Friday (January 20), the real estate seller noted that the Canadian housing sector should not underestimate the impact of this interest materializing into actual purchases.Given America's vast population, even a fractional increase in the number of households following through on this initial interest and successfully completing the demanding process of emigrating to Canada could drive a material increase in the number of home-buyers from south of the border, Royal LePage president Phil Soper said, as quoted by CBC News.The report revealed that daily traffic to the Royal LePage website increased over four-fold after Donald Trumps shocking victory in the November 8 elections.Fully 41 per cent of U.S. nationals who coordinated with Royal LePage since then have searched for properties in Ontario. Meanwhile, British Columbia ranked second, garnering 17.9 per cent of the inquiries.In addition, approximately 40 per cent more American buyers indicated interest in Q4 2016, compared to the same period in the previous year.The United States was already a top source for immigration into Canada, and now in the period following the recent U.S. election, we are witnessing a material bump in American interest in Canadian real estate, Soper explained. With the high value of the U.S. dollar increasing Americans purchasing power, we may be seeing more moving trucks with U.S. licence plates in our future.Google searches for move to Canada have seen a significant rise ahead of the U.S. polls, and the online portal of the Canadian immigration department suffered a system crash on election night due to the overwhelming number of inquiries. Mount Pleasant, SC (29464) Today Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 80F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. #NCT 127 K-pop group NCT 127's concert in Jakarta ends early for safety reasons A concert by K-pop boy group NCT 127 in Jakarta ended early on Friday after some excited fans caused chaos to get closer to the stage, a local event agency said. "An unexpected ... Five-Star Professional Award winner Susie Cheatham has been named the new branch manager of HomeBridge Financial Services Overland Park branch in Kansas.Cheathams appointment will increase HomeBridges presence for local homebuyers and housing industry professionals in the Knsas City area, according to a news release.I came to HomeBridge because it represents a best of both worlds scenario for customers, she said. The companys personal style in how they treat their customers matches my own way of doing business, and its financial resources provide borrowers a level of flexibility and mortgage options many banks and credit unions simply cannot match.Cheatham has worked in the mortgage field in the greater Kansas City area for twenty years and is a three-time winner of the Five-Star Professional Award. OPEC and other oil producers agreed on a way to monitor their compliance with last months historic supply deal, putting global markets on track to re-balance after more than two years of oversupply. The countries have already cut oil supply by 1.5 million barrels a day, more than 80 percent of their collective target, since the deal took effect on Jan. 1, Saudi Arabias Minister of Energy and Industry Khalid Al-Falih told reporters in Vienna. Compliance is great -- its been really fantastic, Al-Falih said Sunday. Based on everything I know, I think its been one of the best agreements weve had for a long time. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela met counterparts from non-OPEC nations Russia and Oman to find a way to verify that the 24 signatories to their Dec. 10 accord are fulfilling pledges to remove a combined 1.8 million barrels a day from the market for six months. They intended to prove the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is serious about eliminating a global glut and dispel skepticism stemming from previous unfulfilled promises. Kuwaiti Oil Minister Essam Al-Marzouk, who chairs the five-member monitoring committee, emerged smiling from the hour-long meeting with a message of success: oil producers were in total agreement on the monitoring mechanism and wouldnt accept anything less than 100 percent compliance with the cuts. The committee, comprising ministers from Kuwait, Russia, Algeria, Venezuela and Oman, will meet next on March 17 in Kuwait and again in May. OPECs secretariat will present it with a report on the 17th day of each month, the group said in a statement. A technical group, consisting of delegates from each of the five committee members along with OPEC president Saudi Arabia, will meet each month to prepare the report. The monitoring committee will assess data submitted by each producer country, along with information from agencies such as IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Argus Media Ltd. and the International Energy Agency, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said. The committee will evaluate compliance with production targets only, though the technical group may also look at export data to support its analysis, Novak said. Oil prices rose to an 18-month high of more than $58 a barrel after OPEC and several non-members agreed to end two years of unfettered production and instead cut output. Crude has since slipped about 5 percent from that peak as traders await proof that they will follow through. Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest oil exporter, has already exceeded its target with an output reduction of more than 500,000 barrels a day, Al-Falih said, while Algeria and Kuwait have also cut to levels beyond their targets, according to ministers from those nations. Other OPEC members such as Iraq and Venezuela have not yet reached their quotas but say they are more than half-way there. Al-Falih said he hoped all countries would reach full compliance with the deal next month and forecast that brimming global stockpiles of crude oil would return to normal levels by the middle of the year. The agreement expires at the end of June, though producers will discuss in May whether to extend it, Kuwaits Al-Marzouk said. Russia has pared production by an average of 100,000 barrels a day, a milestone it hadnt expected to reach until next month, Novak said. The largest producer involved in the agreement said it would make a daily reduction of 300,000 barrels by April or May. We are starting to see a shift in the momentum and the emergence of more bullish sentiment on the market, Al-Marzouk said earlier Sunday. These are all encouraging signs that we are on the right track. Producers are keeping the door open for a possible extension of the six-month deal, Novak said. However, theres no indication that the cuts will need to be prolonged after June, Algerian Energy Minister Noureddine Boutarfa said Saturday in an interview. OPECs production fell by 220,900 barrels a day to 33.085 million a day in December, led by declines in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, according to secondary sources data in the groups monthly report published Jan. 18. The organization agreed to reduce its output to 32.5 million barrels a day, although that total included about 740,000 barrels a day from former member Indonesia. We started to trust each other better, which is just as important as the market re-balancing, Novak said. One year ago not many believed in the success of this initiative. New members inducted into Institute of ... Dr. Liza Ortiz, Tuolumne County Public Health Officer View Photos Sonora, CA Got that scratchy throat feel yet? Regional health officers in three counties are sounding a warning: influenza cases are up statewide and locally. Noting a noticeable uptick in lab-confirmed flu-related clinic visits and hospitalizations throughout California, Tuolumne County Health Officer Dr. Liza Ortiz and her counterparts in Calaveras and Mariposa counties, Dr. Dean Kelaita and Dr. Eric Sergienko have issued a public statement urging folks to take precautions. Drs. Ortiz and Kelaita additionally confirm that currently, in Tuolumne and Calaveras counties, more people are suffering with related symptoms such as coughing, fevers and sore throats. Get The Shot The health departments in all three counties recommend that as it is still not too late for anyone six months of age or older to benefit from getting a flu shot to seek one out locally. Along with being available at doctors offices and many pharmacies, influenza vaccinations are offered at the following places: In Tuolumne County, through Public Health on Tuesdays from 1-4 p.m. at 20111 Cedar Road North, Sonora. In Calaveras County, Public Health administers them Mondays from 3-5:30 p.m. and Thursdays from 8 a.m.-noon at 700 Mountain Ranch Road, #C-2, San Andreas. Mariposa County Health Department offers walk-in flu shots every weekday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at 5085 Bullion Street, Mariposa. Take Common Sense Care Along with getting immunized, the healthcare pros emphasize taking other common sense precautionary measures. Along with having your vampire sneeze maneuver at the ready when your nose starts to tickle * Stay home when you are sick * Cover coughs and sneezes, optimally with a tissue * Wash hands often and thoroughly with soap and warm water or an alcohol-based sanitizer * Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Rex Tillerson's nomination for Secretary of State Monday, setting up a contentious debate and vote in the full U.S. Senate. Senate Foreign Relations Committee approves Rex Tillerson's nomination for Secretary of State Full Senate will vote next week on whether to confirm Tillerson Democrats concerned about his refusal to condemn human rights violations D.C. DIGEST: Latest News from AP | Washington D.C. Calendar | Nomination Scorecard The committee voted along party lines, 11-10 for Tillerson's approval Monday afternoon. The full Senate will vote next week. The vote came down to Florida's Senator Marco Rubio. The Republican showed concern for Tillerson's answers regarding human rights violations and his refusal to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal." In the end, Rubio said it would be against national interests to delay Tillerson's confirmation, but he had concerns that the U.S. in the coming years would "not give the defense of democracy and human rights the priority they deserve." Democrats feel Tillerson's close ties to Russia and President Vladimir Putin through his time as CEO of Exxon Mobil compromise his ability to promote U.S. values and ideals. They say Tillerson misled the committee on the extent of Exxon Mobil's lobbying against sanctions that they placed on Russia for its annexation of the Crimea. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Florida, says he will not vote for Tillerson when the vote goes before the full house. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report. An Orlando Police officer who was the Fraternal Order of Police Orlando Lodge's 2015 officer of the year was arrested on a DUI charge early Saturday. Officer Ben Gauntlett arrested on DUI charge Saturday Gauntlett has been with Orlando Police since February 2013 He was Fraternal Order of Police Orlando officer of year in 2015 Benjamin Gauntlett, 26, of St. Cloud faces a charge of driving under the influence after being booked into the Orange County Jail. According to an arrest affidavit, Gauntlett was seen by a deputy driving a Ford pickup erratically southbound on North Hughey Avenue early Saturday, near OPD headquarters. The deputy said Gauntlett ran a red light at West Central Boulevard, then got onto the westbound Interstate 4 ramp. The deputy pulled over Gauntlett just before the East-West Expressway and reported that Gauntlett appeared intoxicated. Gauntlett refused field sobriety tests but was arrested and taken to the Orange County Sheriff's Office DUI testing center, where three breath tests registered .195 or above, the affidavit said. A loaded firearm was found in the center console of the pickup, deputies said. Gauntlett has been with Orlando Police since February 2013 and is assigned to midnight patrol. He has been relieved of his law enforcement duties, credentials and firearm pending an internal investigation, the department said. Katharine the great white shark is wintering near Melbourne again. The 14-foot, 2,300-pound great white shark who has her own Twitter account was fitted with a GPS device by a team from the University of North Florida as part of a project called OCEARCH to learn about the migration habits of sharks. Katharine returns to the east coast of Florida annually. In the past month, she's traveled from the shallow waters off the Bahamas to near West Palm Beach, north to the waters off Palm Bay and finally near Melbourne. According to OCEARCH data, she was at her farthest point from Florida in February 2016, far out in the North Atlantic Ocean west of Nova Scotia. By March, she had traveled south to near the island of Bermuda. In July, she had made it off the coast of North Carolina. The GPS device with which Katharine is fitted registers a "ping," identifying her location, when the shark's dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water and transmits a signal to a satellite. SOUTHINGTON Two Southington High School students put together a 30-page report on ways to better market the Apple Harvest Festival, ideas that are being put into practice by the festivals public relations firm. Festival committee Co-chairman Tom Lombardi said the committee was particularly impressed with Emily Daley and Sydney Krolls suggestions on how to use social media to reach more young people. Last year, the town hired Walsh Public Relations of Bridgeport to handle the festivals marketing. The firm was chosen in part because of its experience with social media marketing. The festival has always had a Facebook page, but added other platforms, such as Twitter, to reach a younger demographic, Lombardi said. Daley and Kroll presented the report to the committee last week. They based their findings on nearly 170 interviews conducted at last years festival. The report was part of the students marketing studies. Jim Champagne, festival coordinator, said the girls suggested a presence on the social media platform Snapchat, which is popular with teens. Walsh Public Relations hadnt initially planned to start a Snapchat account but will do so after hearing the report. Those two high schoolers felt that social media was the best place to catch that young demographic, Champagne said. Were going to take that information and use it. He was impressed with the work the two had put into the study as well as their presentation. It was nine months worth of work, Champagne said. The festivals main demographic is families. Festival committee members are also hoping to draw more young people. Lombardi said the study and report was a great way to involve high school students with the towns signature event. It was good to get the school involved with local government, he said. jbuchanan@recordjournal.com 203-317-2230 Twitter: @JBuchananRJ HARTFORD The legislature appears poised to debate abortion, access to contraception, workplace conditions for pregnant and nursing mothers and other womens health issues this session. A group of Democratic female lawmakers, backed by several of their male counterparts, unveiled five proposals Monday focusing on womens health and protections in the workplace. They said the proposals are an effort to build off of nationwide protests on Saturday, but also come in response to legislation they characterized as being anti-women. Pro-life advocates said the bills are needed to start a discussion on the states abortion law. Those on both sides of the aisle said Monday they welcome that discussion. Im ready for that debate, State Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, said during a press conference in the Legislative Office Building. Were going to show, again, that overwhelmingly the people of Connecticut, not just the women of Connecticut, ...are behind us. Peter Wolfgang, executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, said he wants a public hearing, blaming lobbyists for successfully blocking efforts in the past to discuss abortion in Connecticut. Im thrilled that this is happening, he told reporters after the press conference. There has not been a serious discussion on this issue in many, many years. Wolfgang said hed consider a public hearing a victory. The last significant debate about abortion law in the General Assembly was in 2007. The bills announced during Mondays press conference include legislation that would preserve the right to pregnancy-related healthcare, as well as others preserving provisions under the Affordable Care Act, such as access to contraceptives. The package of bills would also continue the ACAs requirement that breast pumps be covered by insurance and improve workplace conditions for nursing mothers. Other proposals would seek to eliminate delays to those seeking time-sensitive healthcare for pregnancies or contraception, and to improve workplace protections for pregnant women. Linehan said she was able to bring her jaundice son home from the hospital after just two days and nurse him to health, thus avoiding a costly extended stay, because of insurance coverage of a breast pump. Rep. Kelly Luxenberg, D-Manchester, meanwhile, said she is still paying large medical bills after a 2009 Pap smear found a medical issue that could have resulted in cancer because she switched jobs and was temporarily denied insurance coverage due to a pre-existing medical condition. The ACA prohibits such rejections. Lawmakers said they put the proposals forward because of debate at the national level. Some of the bills would continue ACA requirements in Connecticut should Congress repeal parts of or the entire federal law. They also expressed concern about other bills proposed by some Republican state legislators. In particular, they objected to proposed bills that would require women to have a ultrasound prior to getting an abortion, and one that would mandate parental notification of minors seeking an abortion. Connecticut requires that minors must first receive counseling, but is one of only a handful that doesnt require notification. Wolfgang insisted that even pro-choice lawmakers would support parental notification, which he said would increase the chance law enforcement would be notified whenever a minor is impregnated. Sen. Joe Markley, R-Southington, Sen. Len Suzio, R-Meriden, Rep. Craig Fishbein, R-Wallingford and Rep. Rob Sampson, R-Wolcott, have introduced or co-sponsored bills proposing the requirement. Staffers from pregnancy crisis centers around the state said vaginal ultrasounds are more thorough, and are more likely to find cysts or other medical issues. Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said he wouldnt let any anti-choice, any anti-women bills to be voted on and passed in the state Senate. msavino@record-journal.com 203-317-2266 Twitter: @reporter_savino JENNIFER LAI Houstonians, who score below the national average when it comes to managing credit, have an average credit card debt of $6,130, according to a new study by Experian. The VantageScore credit score for the Houston metro averages 659, below the U.S. average of 673, according to the 2016 Experian State of Credit report. The scale ranges from 300 to 850. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based MHI, has expanded the duties of its Houston headquarters to handle new business opportunities for oil and gas-related machinery. The company has established a dedicated office in Houston, which will focus on linking the company's products such as compressors and gas turbines with companies involved in drilling, refining and liquefied natural gas, according to a company statement. San Antonio Express-News /File photo The Polish subsidiary of San Antonio-based Evestra Inc. has received more than $4 million to develop a drug designed to fight a painful condition that can cause infertility in women. The $4.6 million grant from the Polish National Centre for Research and Development, partially financed by the European Union Regional Development Fund, will fund Evestra Onkologias research into EC313, a drug to treat endometriosis, the company said in a news release Tuesday. Editors note: Today, we look back at Week 3 of 365 Days of Tacos, in which food writer and restaurant critic Mike Sutter reports on a different taqueria, restaurant or truck every day on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com/Tacos. Taco of the Week This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT They call them the deniers and want them excluded from President Donald Trumps cabinet. Theres Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who they claim denies evolution. Theres Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general, who they claim denies climate change. Theres Scott Mnuchin, Trumps Treasurer secretary pick, who they claim denied help to foreclosure victims while at OneWest bank. Theres Betsy DeVos, Trumps choice to lead the Department of Education, who they say will deny necessary programs to schools and students. And finally theres Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trumps pick as Attorney General, who they say denies equality and is a racist. Trump and many Republicans, however even in blue Connecticut clearly love them and believe theyre the right choice to lead the nation at this juncture in history. But for an hour, some 50 angry and concerned state residents demonstrated with signs outside the Brien McMahon federal courthouse on Lafayette Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon. More than three dozen then took their concerns to Joe Rodriguez, a deputy state director for Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthals staff. Blumenthal, who has an office in the building, was not in Connecticut on Tuesday. He is participating in Congressional hearings in Washington. Were holding a series of events every Tuesday for the next 100 days, said Jennifer Just, who worked on former President Barack Obamas 2008 campaign and until recently served as a digital manager for the states House Democrats. She said she is very concerned about the Trumps choice of Tom Price to head the Health and Human Services Department because he is opposed to the current Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. My son has a pre-existing medical condition which without ACA would cost over $10,000 a year to cover, said Just. The demonstrators included members of MoveOn.org., the Working Families Party, 350 Connecticut and participants in last weekends Womens March. Donald Trump riled up crowds claiming he'd drain the swamp and chase corruption out of Washington, said MoveOn.org Organizing Director Vicki Kaplan. But so far his politics have only furthered a culture of corruption, and nowhere is that clearer than in the greed and hate embodied by the nominees to his Swamp Cabinet. Lisa Boyne, who helped organize the event and the Womens March in Stamford, handed a folder containing 150 residents concerns to Rodriguez. I started my life in activism three weeks after Trumps election, said Boyne, a Fairfield resident. She vowed to keep doing the work. Activism is in the air, she said. But some members who met with Rodriguez wanted to know how they go about continuing to be heard. The key is how you leverage what you are doing here today, he told them. Marching, rallying, protesting is all part of it. Thats your God-given right, but you have to be engaged at all levels. He told them to reach out to others with similar views, join organizations that espouse those views and get involved in local and state politics including joining municipal boards and commissions. Jere Eaton, of Stamford, vowed to help organize in minority communities and told Boyne, You are stuck with me. Eaton also praised Blumenthal, who she said is at every event. If we were more like Sen. Blumenthal, our state and country would be far better ... He doesnt just talk the talk, he does the right thing. Blumenthal is opposed to several of Trumps choices, including DeVos and Sessions. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TRUMBULL First Selectman Tim Herbst is being sued by his future brother-in-law for allegedly firing him from a town job after he started dating Herbsts sister and for raising false suspicions hes a drug dealer. Jesse Jablon, who is engaged to Amanda Herbst, Herbsts younger sister, filed the lawsuit in state Superior Court in Milford in November. The suit alleges that Herbst a Republican with his sights on the governors office terminated Jablon from his temporary post as Trumbulls chief administrator in August 2013, solely on the basis that he was dating Herbsts sister. The suit goes on to accuse Herbst of bad-mouthing Jablon to future employers such as the city of Ansonia, and jeopardizing Jablons job with Enterprise Rent-A-Car by making claims hes a drug dealer. Jablon is seeking at least $15,000 in punitive and compensatory damages from Herbst, who earlier this month formed an exploratory committee for statewide office. Through his New Haven attorney, John R. Williams, Jablon declined an interview request. I think that Mr. Herbst is just as much a bully in his private life as he is in his public life, Williams said. He has made it his business to try to destroy this young man in any way that he can. Herbst stood by his decision to fire Jablon, citing what he characterized as a conflict of interest of having his sisters boyfriend in a high-profile position in his administration. He denied meddling in Jablons job search and shared a pair of emails from current and former Ansonia officials that he said proves that Jablon wasnt hired for an information technology position with the city because he wasnt qualified. Herbst declined to comment on the lawsuits claim that he raised suspicions about Jablon being a drug dealer with Jablons employer. Instead, the 2014 state treasurer candidate accused Democrats of trying to dredge up dirt on his family. Its no surprise that the personal attacks are coming this early from Governor Malloy's Hartford insider allies and the Connecticut Democratic Party, Herbst said. Rather than debate the issues, the modus operandi of Malloy's gang is to respond to all criticism of their job-crushing, fiscally ruinous record and policies with personal attacks and political smears. During an April 2015 interview with Hearst Connecticut Media for a profile, Herbst said he gave Jablon a choice to keep dating Herbsts sister or keep his job. If Jablon continued to do both, Herbst said at the time, it would have opened him up to allegations of nepotism. And if the relationship between his sister and Jablon didnt work out, Herbst said, it would have put him in an awkward position. Jablon had been working as Trumbulls chief administrative officer while Herbsts chief of staff was on maternity leave. I have an obligation to the people of Trumbull to manage the town in a fair and ethical manner, Herbst said at the time. When Mr. Jablon became interested in pursuing a relationship with my sister, a decision was made that it would not be appropriate for him to continue working in my office. I am pleased that he has found other employment and makes my sister very happy. Williams said Tuesday that he has emails contradicting Herbsts statements that he did not meddle in Jablons job search. He declined to release those documents, saying that he would see Herbst in court. Williams said Jablon hesitated for a long time about suing his future brother-in-law, but felt he had no choice when Herbst contacted Jablons current employer with a story about him being a drug dealer. Every family has its issues, Williams said. He reached his point where he was at his wits end. Earlier this month, Herbst joined a crowded lineup of Republicans raising money for a potential 2018 run for governor and other statewide offices. Malloy, the two-term Democratic incumbent, hasnt made a decision on whether he will seek re-election. His job approval ratings have been dragged down by budget deficits, prior tax increases and the loss of General Electrics headquarters to Boston. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - State Police are looking for the cause of a massive fire Sunday that destroyed the main building of the old Wykeham Rise School for Girls. More than a dozen tanker trucks from surrounding towns were called in to fight the fire, which burned well into Monday morning. Officials said the building was fully engulfed in flames when the first fire engines arrived about 8 p.m. on Sunday. Local officials were cautious when asked how the fire started. Its a vacant building and there was no electricity, First Selectman Mark Lyons said. There wasnt any lightning in the area, either. Something happened that caused the fire. Whether it was malicious, who knows? State Police confirmed Monday that they are investigating. Lyon noted that the states arson tips line is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for any information that leads to an arrest. They (state investigators) havent said its arson, but they are trying to get more information, Lyon said. Washington Fire Marshal Tom Osborne could not be reached for comment. Controversy has long surrounded the 27-acre property as owners sought to redevelop it as a luxury hotel or resort. After years of litigation, town officials and a developer reached a settlement that permits construction of a 49-room luxury inn, three restaurants, a spa and a pool. Developers said Monday the fire would not impede construction, which is expected to begin this spring. The property has had several owners and several uses over the years, from the girls school to the rehearsal site for the Rolling Stones national tour in 1989. Albany Legislative analyses of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive budget proposal show that the spending plan hinges on more than $800 million in what lawmakers say are new tax and fee actions. The analyses, released Tuesday evening, inventory taxes and fees that have been unearthed in Cuomo's budget in the past week since he first introduced his fiscal plan. The largest revenue generator is the proposed extension of the so-called millionaires' tax on high-wealth earners' incomes. Other comparatively smaller tax actions include the taxation of vapor products used in e-cigarettes, new taxes on cigars and various fee increases for state Department of Motor Vehicles' provided documents. But while the analyses in part cover ground that has garnered media coverage in recent days, the Senate's assertion that Cuomo's budget includes $803 million in new fees yet again exposed a rift between the executive and majority Republicans, who are sparring over the extension of the millionaires' tax. "A couple members asked questions, and I'm not going to dance around it: I was very surprised to see when you tell me there's basically nothing and then there's $250 million in new fees," Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said of Cuomo's budget presentation following an unrelated appearance in Colonie on Monday. (He was referring to new Department of Motor Vehicle-related fees that were not detailed by Cuomo last week.) "That's important for the public to know, and that's important for it to be part of our discussion." It was not clear Monday evening how Republicans arrived at the $250 million number a GOP spokesman referred a reporter to a chart in the chamber's budget analysis, though the DMV-related fees it listed added up to far less. The Cuomo administration took offense to the GOP analysis before it was released in full, with a spokesman accusing the Republicans of using "fuzzy math." "The Senate Republicans' 'new tax' is an extension of the millionaires tax, and they're saying they would rather give a tax break to millionaires than a tax cut to the middle class and increase education funding," Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said. "We say New York's children and middle class matter, and should come before the Senate Republicans' millionaires." Even so, the analysis by the Democrat-controlled Assembly which supports the extension and even expansion of the millionaires tax shows $830 million in what it says are new tax actions for the coming fiscal year. Again, the bulk of that amount is made up by the current millionaires' tax extension, projected to generate $683 million in revenues in the next fiscal year. The Legislature's assertion that the budget includes multiple new tax actions and fees runs counter to Cuomo's own claim in his budget briefing with reporters a week ago. At that event at the Executive Mansion, he said his budget includes a single new DMV fee and revenue is derived from the millionaires' tax. The Legislature will hold its first joint budget hearing on Tuesday, when it will hear testimony regarding higher education beginning at 9:30 a.m. at the Legislative Office Building. mhamilton@timesunion.com 518-454-5449 @matt_hamilton10 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate GREENWICH Two Greenwich High students were selected as finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, a national pre-college science competition. Seniors Ethan Novek and Derek Woo will travel to Washington, D.C., to display their research to the public, meet with notable scientists and compete for $1.8 million in awards, including the top award of a $250,000 scholarship. They are among 40 students from around the country chosen for the honor. Novek and Woo already won $2,000 each when they were recognized as Regeneron scholars earlier this month. This, to coin a phrase, is HUGE, as we have had only two finalists in the past 10 years, said Andrew Bramante, who teaches the GHS independent science research course the students take. The level of competition and complexity of research at this level is at the cutting edge of science; as such, this accomplishment is without equal. The Regeneron competition, formerly known as the Intel Science Talent Search, is a competition for high school seniors who have completed an independent science research project prior to the fall of their senior year. Applicants submit their academic records, essays, recommendations from teachers and mentors and a 20-page research paper on their science project. Novek was recognized for Low-Temperature Carbon Capture Using Aqueous Ammonia and Organic Solvents. His invention can scrub carbon-dioxide as it is leaving the chimney of a power plant and convert it to high purity carbon dioxide for reuse, while simultaneously increasing the electricity-production efficiency of the power plant. Noveks invention has been patented and published in a leading peer-reviewed journal. He was also chosen as a semi-finalist in the 2017 Carbon XPrize competition for the invention. Woo was recognized for Battling Honey Bee CCD via Reduction of Neonicotinoid Content in Guttation Droplets using Biochar Soil Additives. His research showed that pesticides in the soil migrate through the corn plant and become concentrated droplets on the tip of the plant leaves. The droplets contain a more than lethal dose of pesticide that either kill the bee outright or, in less toxic doses, can disorient the honey bee so it is unable to return to the hive. Caitlin Sullivan, the director of Outreach and Equity Programs with the Society for Science and the Public, who helps coordinate the Regeneron Science Talent Search, said the judges "are looking for passionate individuals who are exceptional scientists. All of the scholars are students that are well-prepared for a future in science." On Jan. 6., six GHS students were chosen as Regeneron scholars. In addition to Woo and Novek, seniors Olivia Hallisey, Sanju Sathish, Devyn Zaminski and Madeleine Zhou were among the 300 students honored by Regeneron, chosen from more than 1,800 applicants from around the country and from American schools abroad. They were each awarded $2,000 in prize money from Regeneron. Greenwich High School also received $2,000 for each scholar. Bramante said he appreciates that the winnings are funneled back into his science program. Over the past 10 years, 18 Greenwich High students have been selected as scholars in the science competition. Two GHS students have been chosen as finalists in the competition. emunson@greenwichtime.com; @emiliemunson This piece appeared in the Houston Chronicle on May 1, 1955. The headline and words are reprinted as they ran then. The future of orchestral muscle in Houston will rest, beginning next fall, in the long, glamorous hands of one of this century's stunning personalities and one of the two most publicized men of music - Leopold Stokowski. With the recent naming of this conductor as music director of the Houston Symphony for the next three years, some 270,000 citizens who actually attend the orchestra's concerts each season, and thousands more who follow it over KTRH broadcasts, have been wondering: What may we expect of Stokowski? At 73, he is in the last active quarter of life, but the genius of a conductor seems to have very little to do with his age. Arturo Toscanini, the only other conductor able to compete with Stokowski in international publicity, retired from the NBC podium last year at the remarkable age of 87. Stokowski's appearance is youthful, his energies still amazing to those around him. His restive mind still searches for new fields to conquer, new ways to improve the music he makes, or to broaden the sphere of his influences through music. The title music director, which he will hold in connection with the Houston Symphony Society, is an all encompassing one. He will be the mentor of this city's orchestra which, after two seasons of comparative instability under guest conductors, needs a firm hand. Moreover, one could not imagine the tensely strung Stokowski agreeing to serve under any circumstances in which he was not in total control of the music and its effects. This is an important factor, because we may then expect from Stokowski some very particular things, based upon his own lifelong devotions and preferences. He has an active interest in young people and holds the belief (sometimes contested by schoolteachers) that the age range, 4 to 11, is the best time to interest children in music. The orchestra has already pursued a vigorous student concert program, but this, too will change probably, with Stokowski. Once in Philadelphia, when he presented Saint-Saens' "Carnival of Animals," He trooped a few lively specimens from the zoo across the stage just to make things more graphic for the young minds. He will probably conduct a few of the student concerts here himself, and has been known to turn around and give his young audience choice comments as he goes. Stokowski's interest in choral works for Houston is already known. We may expect that he will perform two contemporary choral pieces with the Houston Symphony next season. One called "Symphony of Peace," By Andrzej Panufnik, an escape from Red Poland and considered one of Poland's great creative talents, employs women's, men's and children's choruses, plus soloists. The other is "Carmina Burana" by contemporary German composer Carl Orff, performed by Stokowski earlier this season in Boston. And there will be other exciting choral experiences in the Music Hall under Stokowski's guidance. We must remember that here is the conductor who introduced the gigantic Eight Symphony of Mahler to Philadelphia. It called for a large orchestra, a chorus of 1000 voices, and thus the expenditure of an additional $14,000. The occasion was a historical success and was said to be instrumental in proving the Philadelphia orchestra an ensemble of more than local significance. There will be evenings of special program interest: Groupings of works not generally heard together. And listeners will have Stokowski's never-falling interest in the contemporary composer, too, to reckon with. Imagine what importance this great exponent of contemporary composition can bring to the annual Texas Composers Commission award, and the works he will play in Houston premieres. Though in his first season here, he will personally conduct only half the subscription concerts, he has worked closely with the management in selecting such guest conductors as Sir Thomas Beecham, Andre Kostelanetz, Max Rudolf and Bernard Hermann to lead the ensemble when he will have to be away. He is fussy about guest artists, too, and has O.K.d them only after close scrutiny of the prospective list. Among them his first season will be pianist Gina Bachauer, Ellen Ballon, Robert Casadesus, and the Texas-born Van Cliburn; violinists Szymon Goldberg and Erica Morini; tenor Richard Tucker, and guitarist Andres Segovia. The various means of projecting music and musical effects have always captivated the interest of this conductor. His work in film is evidence enough, but more dramatic has been his profound research in the science of electronics as connected with music. He is credited, along with technicians at RCA-Victor, with development of certain of today's recording techniques. His disks of everything from Bach - in his own brilliant transcriptions for orchestra - to Stravinsky have been classic best sellers. And the Houston orchestra is expected to begin making records with Stokowski next season. He believes in recording not in dead studios but in live concert halls where every acoustical quirk is known and understood. We should watch, then, for Stokowski to "case" the Music Hall, rearrange the seating of his musicians, fuss about the placement of mikes and the tilt of sound boards or acoustical shells. We may expect a continuous change of location for the orchestra personnel in concerts, and a series of rehearsals conducted with stern unsmiling attention to one passage or another, always reaching for the effect that only "Stokey" with his exceptional flair for dramatics and tone can conceive. It is understood that Stokowski is not coming to Houston to ride out a marital rift (he was recently separated from heiress Gloria Vanderbilt), or to recoup any financial fortunes (he is reported to have received $240,000 in one season while conductor of the Philadelphia orchestra). He has always been a restless creator. Wearying of an undertaking only when he had given it the best he had. Thus, after 29 years at the head of the Philadelphia orchestra, he stepped down in 1941, to the astonishment of most and against the wishes of many. Stokowski sees in Houston an orchestra of proven timbre, with high intent behind it, but one severely in need of a master builder. He may see in Houston too, a vigorous, healthy city ready to appreciate his own surging imagination and vigor. Possibly, too, he sees Houston as a likely place for a man to spend time with his two young sons who, for all their sophisticated background to date, are enthralled by the Western world of cowboys and Indians. This coming together of a man of such widespread interest and proven capabilities with a city that has shown itself eager for brilliance on the podium may go down in musical history as one of the significant pacts in the fabled story of American music. Three exciting and adventuresome seasons will detail just what it will mean to Houston. UPDATE When Stokowski's hiring was announced, Ann Holmes wrote that he had the potential to make "this orchestra one of the most important in this country." He went on to attract "international recognition by commissioning new works and making recordings," according to the symphony's website. It notes, for example, that he led the Houston Symphony in the world premiere performance of Alan Hovhaness' Symphony No. 2, "Mysterious Mountain" and started the first of his recording sessions with the symphony on Capitol Records with Gliere's Symphony No. 3 in B minor. He stayed beyond his initial three-year contract. In 2013, the Chronicle wrote about four CDs of reissued recordings of his work in Houston, calling them a "testament to the glorious reign of maestro Leopold Stokowski." Two are mostly devoted to the music of Richard Wagner. "It's in the Wagner selections, especially, that Stokowski's freewheeling conducting style can be clearly heard. In his hands, the music takes on a fluid quality - and the Houston Symphony sounds lush and bursting with energy." The story says that as in Philadelphia, Stokowski would find himself at odds with the symphony's board, as some felt he was programming too much modern music. Tensions came to a head in the 1961-1962 session, the story says, citing "Houston Symphony: Celebrating a Century," a book by former Houston Post critic Carl Cunningham. That was when Stokowski tried to present a guest appearance by Shirley Verrett, a black opera signer. When two white choirs declined to participate, the symphony retracted its invitation to her, Cunningham wrote in the book. In 2003, the New York Times wrote about Verrett and her autobiography, "I Never Walked Alone.'' The story mentions Stokowski's attempt to hire Verrett, saying: "The orchestra's board would not sanction a black soloist. Deeply embarrassed, Stokowski arranged for Ms. Verrett to perform Falla's 'Amor Brujo' with the Philadelphia Orchestra, a performance that resulted in a splendid recording." When Stokowski resigned, he said he wanted to be closer to his sons in New York after a divorce from his fifth wife, Gloria Vanderbilt, according to Cunningham's book. In 1961, Sir John Barbirolli became principal conductor for the Houston Symphony. - Laura Goldberg The most recent reports outlining average SAT scores show students in Friendswood continue to achieve high scores compared with peers at other area schools. Based on a comparison of scores from 14 area high schools from the Friendswood, Clear Creek, Pearland, Deer Park and Alvin school districts, Friendswood High School and Clear Brook High School were ranked in the top five on SAT results for students who graduated in 2016, according to reports from the Texas Education Agency. Friendswood High placed third with a combined average of 1626, compared with the state average score of 1394. However, the scores for the school show a decline over the previous year's score of 1642 and represents the lowest since 2012's report showed an average score of 1625. In 2014, the average score was 16 points higher at 1642. In 2013, it was 15 points higher at 1641. TEA reports also include average scores for the SAT English and math components at Friendswood High, which also show declines over a two-year period. Scores for the SAT English component fell to 1068 in 2015, down from 1075 reported in 2014 and 1071 in 2013. Scores on the math component also show a decline going from 569 in 2013 and 567 in 2014 to 559 in the most recently released TEA reports for 2015 testing. Friendswood ISD spokesman Dayna Owen said occasional up and downs were a normal part of the process. "We look at our data every year and even though we see a small fluctuation, our scores remain strong," Owen said in an email. "Small fluctuations can be normal when comparing different cohorts of kids from year to year. We are happy with our results but are always looking for ways to improve as a district." For Clear Brook High School students, the average score rose by 42 points over last year's reports going from 1512 in 2014 to 1554 in 2015. TEA reports show the average 2013 score for the school at 1525. In 2012, it was 1489. Following are the highest-ranking schools among five school districts in the area. 1. Clear Lake High School Top among local public high schools is Clear Lake High School with an average SAT score of 1691. Principal Karen Engle said her multifaceted strategy for top scores includes giving teachers the opportunity to collaborate, working to increase the number of students from all demographics who take the test each year and offering a program for students who achieve top scores on the practice test for the SAT, the PSAT in the ninth and 10th grades. One of Clear Creek ISD's district-wide policies is to provide free PSAT testing for all 10th-graders. In addition, every ninth-grader is given a practice version of the PSAT, which gives all their students the opportunity for extra practice, Engle said. "On our campus, what we do from there is identify the highest-scoring students from the ninth and 10th grade and we offer them classes on the weekend to help them prepare for the PSAT National Merit Program," Engle said. "The whole focus is developing the academic rigor needed for the PSAT and that work flows over into the SAT scores." Ninth-graders in the program are called "Future Scholars" and 10th-graders are known as "Lake Scholars." The program is not free, but scholarships are available to students who qualify for free or reduced lunches. Veena Dass, the school's dean of instruction, oversees the program, which serves approximately 150 students and is taught by a group of teachers who receive advance training. "We put together a team of 15 teachers who get together and design this curriculum," Dass said. "We've found that when they go back to the regular classroom instruction and work with their teams, these advanced teaching strategies get infused into the regular curriculum, which benefits all their students," Dass said. The program offers one four-week session in the fall and a second four-week session in the spring. "These teachers really know how to be successful on the PSAT and SAT tests, and they are able to bring those skills back to their regular classrooms where they work with another 150 students on average every day," Engle said. "So, even though they specialize during the weekend classes, their abilities and the training they receive is also very beneficial for all our students on a daily basis." Clear Lake High also offers a "professional learning community" program that brings teaching staff members together once each week to share ideas. "One key thing a campus needs to be successful is to provide collaborative time for their teachers," Dass said. 2. Clear Horizons Early College High School Clear Horizons Early College High School was ranked second on the list with an average SAT scores of 1653. Principal Brett Lemley said the culture of the school was one reason. "It's important to us because we are university-focused and we know that the SAT is a big hurdle for many kids and we want to help them get as prepared as possible. Since we are an early college high school, our students are looking at university from Day One. Immediately, they're thrown into the college culture, and so they know they are going to have to master the SAT if they want to attain their goals," Lemley said. "Overall as a campus, our whole culture is aimed toward autonomy and making sure students are prepared and looking ahead." In addition to the districtwide practice of having every sophomore take the PSAT as practice for the SAT, Lemley said he also set aside extra funds from the campus budget for additional testing. "What we do that I think contributes to our success is that we have every freshman, every sophomore and every junior take the PSAT test every year," he said. "So, by the time they're juniors they've seen the PSAT three times. I think that is a huge benefit to our students going in to take the SAT during the senior year. The repeated exposure helps bolster their vocabulary, their skills on the SAT and their writing skills. "Plus, we really push that this test that will help students with the National Merit Foundation and perhaps even help win some scholarship money, and I think that helps our students take it more seriously," Lemley said. "Our students work very hard and I'm proud of them," Lemley said. "It is a lot of work to go to an early college high school because these students are living in two worlds. They live in the high school world and the college world. They have to be good at time management. They also have to be autonomous and assertive with studying and goal setting. That's part of why our students are so successful." How all 14 schools fared Below is the combined average SAT score of each school, ranked highest to lowest. The state average is 1394. 1.Clear Lake High School, 1691 2.Clear Horizons Early College High School, 1653 3.Friendswood High School, 1626 4.Dawson High School, 1590 5.Clear Brook High School, 1554 6.Clear Springs High School, 1543 7.Pearland High School, 1538 8.Clear Creek High School, 1526 9.Clear Falls High School, 1515 10. Turner College and Career High School, 1509 11. Alvin High School, 1444 12. Clear View High School, 1443 13. Deer Park High School, 1435 14. Manvel High School, 1397 The new YMCA at Katy Main Street is scheduled to open Feb. 1 in what will be the Y's first Houston-area opening in about six years. The two-story, 41,000-square-foot facility is opening after some construction delays, but it is expected to serve thousands of families and offer similar programs as those found at Katy's Monty Ballard YMCA at Cinco Ranch, which has undergone expansions in recent years as Katy's growth pushed the need for another location. "Our current Katy location has over 7,000 families that are members, which is more 20,000 people - which is the capacity for that facility," said Paul McEntire, president and CEO at the YMCA of Greater Houston. "With all of the growth on the west side of town, we really needed more space." The new Y, which will be the 32nd YMCA fitness center in the Houston area, will include group exercise rooms, a cycle studio, a heated outdoor pool, a wellness center, a child watch area and a personal training studio, as well as a splash park for children. McEntire said members can expect a more open concept with more natural lighting than is found at the Monty Ballard location. The new Y will staff about 130 mostly part-time workers and eventually grow to a staff of roughly 200, McEntire said. The facility cost an estimated $12 million to build, $9.6 million of which came from the YMCA of Greater Houston's reserve fund and about $2.4 million of which the Y had to raise, with the nonprofit still needing to raise about $100,000. The last newly constructed Y to open in the Houston area came in 2010. McEntire said the YMCA of Greater Houston has not opened a new facility since then mostly because Houston's economy, which has been negatively affected by an energy industry downturn since 2014, has not created a favorable situation to fundraise for new fitness facilities. The YMCA at Katy Main Street was scheduled to open around December, but an issue with permits, as well as April's catastrophic flooding in the Houston area, caused the project to be delayed, McEntire said. Now that it's finally opening, though, the Y will greatly serve the people of Katy, according to Heather Saucier, director of media relations at the YMCA of greater Houston. "We've had some members come forward and tell us that when they worked out at the Y, they were successful," she said. "One of the reasons is because the greeter at the door says hello, or says, 'Hey, we missed you on Wednesday.' So our members tell us that they feel that they are a part of the family at the YMCA, and that is what helps them keep going there and helps them achieve their goals." Katy's new Y will have the same membership rates as the Monty Ballard YMCA, and new members who sign up by January 31 do not have to pay a joining fee, which can cost up to $125. The 54,000-square-foot Monty Ballard YMCA, which opened 14 years ago on Westheimer Parkway, underwent a $1.2 million expansion in 2005 and a $5.1 million expansion in 2009, with each project adding rooms, parking spaces and equipment. The YMCA of Greater Houston is discussing plans for another fitness center in the near future, but there are no details available yet, McEntire said. He added that the Y would like to begin opening a Houston location every 2-3 years if the local economy improves. "Our perspective is really unique," McEntire said. "We have extensive children, teen and family programming. Most traditional fitness facilities - they don't really target that. The whole family is a part of the Y. That's part of the reason we went (to Katy) is because there's not (similar services) out there besides the Y." Pasadena's city government is feeling shock waves from a recent federal voting rights trial that led a judge to rule that the city thwarted Hispanic voters' influence and must revert to a previous form of council representation. One target of some residents' anger is Mayor Johnny Isbell, who decided without seeking council approval to appeal U.S. District Court Judge Lee H. Rosenthal's ruling, which throws out a 2013 redistricting that combined two at-large positions with six single-member districts. The ruling demands that the city revert to eight solely single-member districts as a fairer way to represent Hispanics, who represent the majority of the city's voters. "We are wasting valuable resources to defend the undefendable," resident Robbie Lowe told Isbell at a Jan. 17 council meeting. "I am infuriated my tax dollars are being used to fight for something that should never have been supported by anyone, let alone yourself. "There is only you and you alone deciding what goes on in our city," Lowe said. "The system we have in place is tantamount to a dictatorship. This has to change." The lawsuit took more than two years to go to trial, and so far city legal costs associated with the trial have cost Pasadena taxpayers roughly $2 million, city officials recently told the council. At the Jan. 17 meeting, City Councilman Cody Ray Wheeler expressed anger about how the appeal was handled. "I was not consulted not was anyone on the council consulted," Wheeler said. "This was done unilaterally by the mayor, and we are now entering into a phase where we are defending a redistricting scheme that has been deemed discriminatory." "Well, I would prefer that we not talk about the lawsuit," Isbell replied, adding that he would not respond on attorney's advice because of the appeal. Isbell and supporters of the 6-2 council system argue that it gives citizens more representation on the council. The voting rights lawsuit was filed against the city by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national nonprofit civil rights group. In her 113-page ruling issued Jan. 5, Rosenthall wrote that her verdict was based on "the extent of racially polarized voting and dilutive election procedures" that led her to conclude "Latino voters in Pasadena do not yet have equal opportunities for political participation." Call for investigation Also raising tensions in the city are trial testimony indicated that while on the clock as city employees, community relations director Richard Scott, who retired last week, and others used email accounts and other resources to campaign in favor of the redistricting. Isbell, who cannot run for re-election because of term limits, has been criticized for not authorizing an investigation after Scott testified in the trial that he had led campaign activities from City Hall to push for the redistricting and to support particular candidates. Oscar Del Toro, a candidate for District G who ran unsuccessfully for an at-large council position in the 2015 election, has asked Isbell to launch an investigation to ensure May election would be fair. "The question for me is who gave the order for Mr. Scott to do this? How deep is the issue? How many times? How many years?" Del Toro said. Del Toro is running against Cary Bass, who testified during the trial to serving in 2013 as treasurer for a political action committee, "Citizens for a Strong Pasadena," which was funded almost entirely by Isbell and used to garner support for the charter-change election. In the 2015 election, Bass stepped down as treasurer and went on to be elected to his current council seat with financial support from the mayor's PAC. Bass was one of the candidates whose campaigns Scott testified as working to support while on the clock as a city official. After running an unsuccessful campaign against Bass for the council in 2015, Larry Peacock recently filed as a candidate for a different district, F. He questioned if the election process will be fair to all candidates this time around. "The 6-2 district system was discriminatory not only to Hispanics but also to the election candidates themselves, including me," Peacock said. "I was so wrapped in my race and doing what I could do that I wasn't focused on what the odds were against me. I looked at it as if I had this mountain I had to climb and I was going to do it. I put my head down and did the best job I could. But, looking back, I wish I had a fair playing field. And, it bothers me that I was at a disadvantage from the moment I started my campaign. "I have hopes that our legal system that we operate under in Harris County and the state of Texas will actually look into the situation going on here in Pasadena," Peacock said. Coded message? Evidence presented in the trial pointed to a political machine working behind the scenes at Pasadena City Hall. In her ruling, Rosenthal wrote, "The court finds that the City and Mayor used Pasadena's Neighborhood Network Program to promote voting for the candidates and issues they favor. The City and Mayor gain support from predominately Anglo South Pasadena in part by sending significant grant money and lending substantial City organizational and resource support to that part of town. Homeowners' associations are told at Neighborhood Network Program meetings and events which candidates and positions they should support." The Neighborhood Network Division is a city-run program that works to help neighborhoods form associations, helps with deed restrictions and distributes grants to member neighborhoods. Through his authority to control and manipulate the Neighborhood Network Division, Scott was able to connect with and mobilize voters from south Pasadena, according to Rosenthall's ruling. Council members who represented the neighborhoods on the city's north side testified that they were not invited to the Neighborhood Network award banquets and campaign socials and that the neighborhood groups from their districts were often overlooked. South Pasadena resident Bianca Gracia testified in the trial that she was among those invited to what she and others thought would be a neighborhood mixer in October 2013. Gracia testified she was surprised when she arrived to discover the meeting was actually a campaign rally and that residents were asked to go door-to-door in their neighborhoods to mobilize support for the charter election. Yards signs and other political materials were also handed out. Gracia told the judge that Isbell and others spoke at the meeting and she became offended when City Councilman Steve Cote told the crowd of several hundred that if the voters did not vote for Proposition 1, Pasadena would "turn blue." A Republican activist in the 2016 presidential campaign, Gracia said she understood the comment as code that Latinos would gain political power over Pasadena. Gracia testified she believed she was the only Hispanic person in the room. Gracia testified that she then went to the next City Council meeting to voice her concerns about using the Neighborhood Network program to promote a political campaign and said that after that meeting, Isbell called her to his seat and asked her repeatedly, "Who sent you here?" In her testimony, Gracia said she replied that no one sent her and that she then pulled up her sleeve and asked the mayor whether he thought the color of her skin meant that she had no voice and wasn't able to come to City Council and speak for herself. City Councilman Ornaldo Ybarra said he sees the evidence presented in the trial as damaging to the city's reputation and that it casts a shadow on whether the upcoming elections will be conducted fairly. "In reviewing the transcripts and the depositions, clearly there was a political machine at work within City Hall between the Neighborhood Networks, Communications Director Richard Scott, the mayor and other people who work in the public relations department who were working against candidates on city time. I think that was the most damaging thing that came out," he said. A "practically perfect" British nanny and a flying chimney sweep compete for attention with 95 students tap-dancing at once when Ovation Theatre at Glenda Dawson High School presents the musical "Mary Poppins" at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26-28 and Feb. 2-4. "These kids are amazing, and this might be the biggest show we have ever done," director Tim Unroe said. Renee Shohet, a senior, plays Mary Poppins, a peculiar but magical nanny who was the subject of a series of children's books by P.L. Travers before Julie Andrews won an Oscar portraying her in the 1964 Disney movie classic. The 17-year-old daughter of Jason and Ellen Shohet of Pearland said, "Mary Poppins is definitely poised and elegant. The accent helps a lot in being a proper Englishwoman." Well-loved tunes The 2006 Broadway production, which was nominated for seven Tony Awards including best musical, combines parts of the Travers books with elements of the Disney movie, including such memorable tunes as "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "Chim-Chim-Cher-ee" and "Jolly Holiday." Unroe said the Dawson cast decided that, although the parents of naughty Jane and Michael Banks hire Poppins "to fix their kids," the nanny's true purpose is to "fix their dysfunctional parents." For example, Mr. Banks is overly obsessed with "Precision and Order," according to a number that is performed at the bank where he works, said David McKnight, who plays the stuffed-shirt character. The 17-year-old senior is the son of Cleavy and Lynda McKnight of Pearland. More Information Want to go? What: "Mary Poppins" Where: dawson High School, 2050 Cullen Blvd., Pearland When: 7:30 p.m. Jan. 26-28 and Feb. 2-4 Cost: $12 premium, $10 reserved Information: unroet@pearlandisd.org See More Collapse Anh-Mai Kearney, 17, who plays Mrs. Banks, added, "Mary Poppins teaches her to believe in herself." The senior, whose parents are Vince and Le Kearney of Pearland, explained that Mrs. Banks, a previously meek wife and mother, becomes receptive to the nanny's suggestion that "anything can happen if you let it." "Anything Can Happen" is a new song, not in the movie, that George Stiles and Anthony Drew composed for the stage musical, along with a book by Julian Fellowes. The stage show not only keeps the popular song "Step in Time," but also magnifies it into a 10-minute tap-dancing showstopper. The director's wife, Aimee Unroe, choreographed the musical. 10-minute tap tour-de-force Their son, Nathan Unroe, 18, plays Bert, who leads a group of featured players in "Step in Time." His mother began teaching them how to tap-dance last summer. "She really put us through our paces," said Nathan Unroe. Last week, he and Renee Shohet were trained on how to stage-fly by ZFX Flying Effects, a Louisville, Kentucky company that custom-builds and installs flying equipment for stage shows. A huge cast of ensemble members are split into what the director calls the "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" chorus and the "Let's Go Fly a Kite" chorus, depending on which major number they perform. "All 95 kids are in our big tap number," said the director. The students are accompanied by professional musicians who are conducted by Dawson choir director Roxan Silva of Pearland. Fifteen students serve behind the scenes as crew members. Tim Unroe said the cast and crew were immensely assisted by an always-reliable community volunteer, Russ Weber of Pearland. For example, Weber rigged a device that enables Mary Poppins to slide up the banner of a staircase. "Weber has been the single most important factor in our success here at Dawson," said Unroe, who directs two musicals each year at the school. "For 'Poppins,' he welded the frame for the house and a ton of other things," Unroe said. "As a matter of fact, he welded the revolve we used in 'Les Miserables' a few years ago and is being used in the current production at Friendswood High School this year." Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net More than half of all school districts in Southeast Texas have now formally opposed the state's new A-F rating system, with Spurger ISD and Hardin-Jefferson ISD's board adopting resolutions against the grades. Eighteen schools in the Texas Education Agency's Region 5 have passed resolutions asking the state legislature to repeal the system and replace it with a community-based accountability system. With an HTC Vive strapped to my head, I looked toward a wall in the hotel room and saw a person-shaped image. Back in reality, a Vayyar employee was stepping side to side in the bathroom. I was able to track his movements from the other room. To put it bluntly, I was seeing through walls. Out of all the things I saw at CES, Vayyar's technology may be the most impactful. The Israeli company's sensors use radio frequency signals to create 3-D scans. As the electromagnetic waves bounce off an object, it creates the data for the sensor. Related: How Technology Is Rapidly Changing the Way Things Get Done Across Industries For example, the company used its 3-D imaging sensor Walabot to scan a demonstration wall. As the phone-like device was slowly swept side to side, an image on a nearby screen showed where the pipes hidden behind it were. It could also see inside the wall as a mouse ran from one side to the other. That's useful for construction and pest extermination. Image credit: Stephen J. Bronner The technology was originally developed as a safer, less intrusive and relatively inexpensive way to detect cancerous tissue in breasts. "This device will change a lot," said Raviv Melamed, Vayyar's founder and CEO. "We were going for this one thing and we realized it could be used for much more. That's unique for a startup. Usually they go in one direction." Vayyar holds patents for its technology and plans to make money off licensing it. It also sells its sensor chips to other companies -- about 200 have bought it so far -- who will install them in their products. The company has partnered with Samsung and other large companies, but those deals are under wraps, said Melamed, who previously worked with radars in the Israel Defense Forces and later at Intel's wireless division. "What Qualcomm did with cellular, we want to do with imaging," he said. Related: Google Co-Founder: Take Chances, Pursue Your Dreams and Silence the Voices The company, which employs 50 people and has raised $34 million, plans to focus on smart home technology this year. That includes security, elder care and health monitoring. Another demonstration I witnessed was a Vayyar employee go from standing to lying on the bathroom floor. A sensor on the wall immediately started beeping. As Melamed points out, this is a way to have peace of mind as older people take showers while protecting their privacy, because there's no camera. Image credit: Stephen J. Bronner In another test, I laid on a bed while a sensor hung from the ceiling. I was told to breath normally, which was visible on a nearby monitor. I then drew a deep breath and held it, which caused my image on the monitor to disappear. Vayyar said its sensor, which detects the tiny movements of the lungs, could be used to diagnose sleep apnea. A cleaning robot connected to a Vayyar sensor was able to detect the difference between a door frame and a cable. When it encountered the latter, the robot knew not to go any further. Related: How This Augmented-Reality Company Hopes to Compete With Microsoft and Google While Vayyar had all the aforementioned uses on display for me, the company has put its technology out to the maker community to find even more uses for its sensor. One of those suggested uses was for fisherman to scan their catches for eggs (which can be made into caviar). This approach goes hand in hand with Melamed's top advice for entrepreneurs. "I like to take a lot of advice," he says. "Talk to as many people as you can and understand pitfalls so you don't to go through them yourself -- and stay humble." Related: This Company Set Up an Amazing Office Inside a Historic Victorian Castle Seeing Through Walls Is the Least Cool Thing This Tech Does How Marketing can Help Brands Tap the Massive Rural Opportunity Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved MC faculty members honored Two Midland College faculty members were presented with the Teaching Excellence Award at a luncheon on Jan. 19. The 2017 honorees are Stacy Egan, assistant professor of English, and Michael Fields, cosmetology program chair. Egan conducts writing/grammar seminars, manages programming for MCs Language Hub and is co-advisor of the English Honorary Society. She has a bachelor of arts degree in English from New York University and master of arts and a master of fine arts degrees from McNeese State University. Fields developed MCs Cosmetology program in 2004. He has an associate of arts degree from El Paso Community College and a Texas Cosmetology Operator/Instructor license from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. They received a cash honorarium and an individual plaque, and their names are permanently displayed in the Pevehouse Administration Building. They will represent Midland College at the League for Innovation in the Community College conference in San Francisco March 12-15. Other nominees for the award were John Anderson, chemistry program chair; Derek Gasch, manufacturing services department chair; Pamela Howell, English program chair; Joey Schenkman, biology instructor; and Donna Thompson, psychology professor. --- Simon scholarship applicants sought Simon Youth Foundation, a national nonprofit of Simon malls -- including Midland Park Mall -- is seeking applicants for its Simon Youth Community Scholarship. The application period ends on March 1. The scholarship is $2.500 for four years, according to a press release from the foundation. Students can apply online by visiting syf.org/scholarships. --- UTPB professor organizes Italy trip ODESSA -- Nancy Hart, associate professor of art at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, is organizing a study-abroad course to Italy. The trip, planned for May 21-June 1, will encompass Rome, Vatican City, Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, Regello, Cortona and Pienza. A short course is planned for participants to learn about the places they will be visiting. The trip is through WorldStrides Tour Co., according to a press release from UTPB. The cost is $3,800 per person, which includes airfare, hotels, some meals, museum admission fees, tour guides and transportation. Deadline to sign up is Feb. 9. There will be a $400 deposit. To sign up, or for more information, contact Nancy hart at hart_n@utpb.edu. As I have worked with and gotten to know many gifted students over the years, I have found that their interests and talents vary from one student to another. One student may be interested in drama and writing, while another is only interested in engineering and creating and also has been identified as a dyslexic student. Although the methods of delivery, resources and programs vary from place to place, there are three goals that should be part of any plan for the education of gifted students: creativity, scholarliness and self-efficacy. In this time of high-stakes testing, creativity has been the first great fatality. Teachers are abandoning creating and inventing for worksheets and review, pouring information into students rather than letting them discover it for themselves. This is tragic for the gifted learner. The students who will be creating our future dont have a chance to color outside the lines or imagine what could be. They must, instead, focus on what is and the information that must be contained to regurgitate on the state assessment. Research shows that creativity, such as a muscle that has not been exercised and conditioned, will drop drastically around fourth grade. At that critical time when abstract thinking is beginning to set in, it is vital that students remain curious and engaged. They must be interested in the idea of learning and discovery and not simply in receiving information. In addition to exhibiting creativity, gifted learners need to be scholarly. They need to thirst for knowledge and question independently. They must be offered opportunity for independent thought. They need practice utilizing a variety of resources for a given topic. They need to be challenged and learn to take risks without fear of failure. These skills may only be gained by hands-on experience and in a classroom where these traits are encouraged and fostered. These skills will not be accurately measured on state assessments, but in the medicines, cures and businesses created in 10 years. Without self-efficacy, the above-mentioned traits are useless. Students gain self-esteem by being told they can do it. They gain self-efficacy by trying hard things and completing them, showing themselves they can do it. Self-efficacy may only be gained by a bit of a struggle and a series of trial and error to reach an ultimate solution. Too often, when we see students struggling we want to jump in and help or offer suggestions. This teaches students they need help. By allowing them to struggle and sweat a little, they learn to solve problems and find solutions. Gifted learners are often the forgotten population. They will be fine anyway. They can take in and regurgitate information with the best of them. They are, however, our future doctors, engineers, presidents and inventors. Im not sure I want my future doctor to have had a fine education experience. I want her to be one who thinks outside the box and uses creativity to find solutions and treatments for patients in need. I want her to be scholarly and have the ability to research and question and find information when something is not completely adding up. I want my doctor to have a high self-efficacy. I want to know she will not give up because she knows she can solve difficult problems. The training of those doctors begins now with the students we have in front of us. The Midland ISD school board, by a 4-3 vote, selected the search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates of Schamburg, Illinois, to lead the hunt for a new superintendent. The race came down to Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates and Ray and Associates Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. While Ray talked more specifically about current reform processes currently taking place inside the school district, the board picked Hazard, whose recent successes included Eanes ISD (Austin Westlake), Fort Bend ISD, Humble ISD, Round Rock ISD and Houston ISD. Hazard officials mentioned Fort Bend and Humble as turnaround situations. It is the Houston ISD search that might send the biggest message to those inside Midland about the direction of its school district. Houston ISD hired Richard Carranza during its recent search. Carranza was acknowledged in the making of the Lone Star Governance report, which stresses -- among other things -- the theories of action. The Midland ISD board and administration staff recently worked to incorporate those theories of action into their long-term district goals. The next superintendent will be expected to use those goals as a framework moving forward. So while Ray and Associates officials could talk about theories of action concepts, it was Hazard that has delivered. The decision wasnt reached without a split in the board. Board President Rick Davis, Karen Nicholson, John Kennedy and Bryan Murry all supported Hazard and voted down an attempt by James Fuller, Robert Marquez and Tommy Bishop to select Ray and Associates (3 to 4) before a motion was made to select Hazard. I hope the community is as excited as I am that we have a firm like Hazard that has a proven track record of conducting nationwide searches and placing superintendents all over the nation, including Texas, Davis said. If I was a member of the community I would be excited to see they really are not going to limit themselves to any particular area or region or state. This board is committed to transforming this district. Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates is expected to build a profile for the next superintendent and will do so using community input. There will be a website where people can fill out an online survey. Rick Berry, senior associate with HYA, said during the firms presentation that they will be looking for candidates who have a track record of building a system like the one Midland ISD has identified. This is the most important decision you will make as a school board member, Berry said. We want to do such a good job that we make that final decision hard for you. Ford Park's new operator will take over the Jefferson County-owned property on April 1, after Commissioners Court on Monday approved a contract signed by County Judge Jeff Branick and Spectra by Comcast Spectacor last week. Spectra replaces SMG, the only operator Ford Park has had since the venue opened in the early 2000s. The contract stipulates that Spectra invest $700,000 to improve the property or use part of that sum to provide incentives to bring in revenue-producing events. The county's base fee to Spectra is $62,000 a year, but it's a sliding scale based on the revenue that Spectra generates. Spectra manages venues for 750 clients, competing in many of the same markets as SMG. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said he did not know how many of the current Ford Park employees would be retained by Spectra. The SMG general manager, John Hughes, has a non-compete clause and will not continue in his position. In other business, commissioners approved requirements for bidders who want to take over the former Texas Youth Commission unit on U.S. 69, known as the former Al Price Unit. A charter school that had a lease for the property failed to meet its obligation and the county canceled the lease. Branick said at least four entities expressed interested in the property, one of which is CoreCivic, a successor company to private-prison contractor Corrections Corporation of America. The property covers 57 acres and includes 11 buildings, including dorms, an administration building, a gymnasium, cafeteria and infirmary. By leasing the property, the county would no longer have to pay utilities, which amount to nearly $100,000 per year. Branick said he expects bids in about a month. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach HOUSTON -- Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she's heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month. The patient, who asked not to be identified, has chronic massive ulcers, AIDS and auditory hallucinations. He rents a cot in another person's home but is more often homeless, with no family to help him. "It's almost like self-sabotage," Gurley said about her many attempts to steady her client's life. "We get really close to an important doctor's appointment or getting him connected with stable housing, and his impulsiveness gets in the way of that." Patients like the Houston man are health care's so-called "super-utilizers" -- people with complex problems who frequent emergency rooms for ailments more aptly handled by primary care doctors and social workers. They cost public and private insurers dearly -- making up just 5 percent of the U.S. population, but accounting for 50 percent of health care spending. As health care costs continue to rise, hospitals and doctors are trying to figure out how to find these patients and get to the root of their problems. An effort to do just that started in New Jersey's poorest city, Camden, more than a decade ago. Inspired by the way police departments mapped crime data to detect "hot spots," family physician Dr. Jeffrey Brenner dug into ambulance records and emergency department data to show how high-cost patients were shuttling between city hospitals. "In America, we're medicalizing social problems and we're criminalizing social problems, and we're wasting huge amounts of public resources," Brenner said. "We have the wrong tools to solve the wrong problem." To steer patients away from expensive emergency care and push health systems to change the way they do business, the Affordable Care Act funds programs called Accountable Care Organizations. These are networks of hospitals, physicians and others who team up to improve care, lower costs and reap the savings. Brenner's team at the Camden Coalition includes Latonya Oliver and Bill Nice, social workers who seek out patients like Peter Bowser in local neighborhoods. Bowser was once homeless and went to the emergency department nearly 30 times in one year. But after Oliver and Nice helped get a permanent roof over his head, Bowser's trips to the ER all but stopped. "I think you'd prefer to spend your time here than in the hospital any day of the week," Nice said to Bowser on a recent afternoon, gathered at the kitchen table in his tidy apartment. This high touch, data-driven approach has yielded big savings. ER visits for the first group of patients dropped by 40 percent, cutting monthly hospital bills from $1.2 million dollars to $500,000. Since then, Brenner has sought to spread the model around the country. One example is the Patient Care Intervention Center in Houston, a sprawling city desperate to aid its sickest and most isolated patients. While the more than 100 hospitals here typically know their own super-utilizers, they had no way of knowing the top users across the entire city. Tackling that problem took unprecedented planning among typically disjointed city and county agencies, hospitals and nonprofits. Now, many of the hospitals in Houston and the fire department pool their data and send it to Kallol Mahata, a former oil industry IT engineer with the patient care intervention center who combines it into one database. Mahata and Dr. David Buck, the group's founder, help to identify patients at the top of the list -- the outliers of the outliers. Teams are dispatched to parks and neighborhoods to find the patients. Firefighters and paramedics like Thomas Pierrel often know these residents from 911 calls. But this time, their mission is different: to encourage them to enroll in the volunteer program. Inside one super-utilizer's threadbare home, Pierrel makes his pitch. "We go with you to your doctors, we make appointments, we find specialists. We try to maximize the resources that you have," he tells the prospective client. The results of these intensive interventions can be stunning. Timmy Williams was dying when Dayna Gurley found him. He was holed up at home and reeling from untreated HIV that had progressed to AIDS. He couldn't take care of his young son and cycled through Houston's hospitals. "When we first met Timmy, he was very hard to engage," Gurley recalled. "We knew that he probably was not taking any of his medication, and he was very skinny." She arranged for a home aide to care for Williams seven days a week, got his apartment cleaned and the lights turned back on. Now, Williams' HIV is undetectable and his health -- and life -- have been steadied. In the two years since Houston's Patient Care Intervention Center has been up and running, costs for those in the program have gone down 83 percent and hospital visits by 70 percent. But it can be difficult to keep these programs moving. Often insurance companies and government payers reap those savings, rather than hospitals. Buck and Dayna Gurley were once banned from a Houston hospital whose executives feared losing money if their high-cost patients stopped showing up. "Nobody wants to take ownership of any of it," said Buck, his voice bristling with frustration. "The people just want ownership of what they have authority over, and that's really the issue: each of these areas are little fiefdoms." Back in Camden, even Brenner is less optimistic than he once was. His office now overflows with pillows and kitchenware for clients the Camden Coalition is trying to place in housing. And he thinks homelessness and entrenched financial interests in health care are the biggest barriers. "I think this is going to take a lot longer than I ever imagined," he said. "I think we're in a 20-year arc of recalibrating and rethinking what is health and what's health care? What's the purpose of our health care system? What are we trying to accomplish?" But Brenner still believes these intensive efforts are the best way to help patients like Timmy Williams. He's now healthy enough to make his way around the city on his own, says Gurley, and her super-utilizer team did more than rescue him from his darkest days. "I had to put it in my head that no one is going do it for me," he said. "I have to do it for myself. I have to step out and do it myself." At home now with his son, his illness no longer gets in the way of being the father he wants to be. But it's unclear how these efforts will be affected by a Trump administration, which along with congressional Republicans wants to repeal the health law. PBS NewsHour producer Jason Kane contributed to this report. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Traffic slowly recovered after the scene was cleared following a deputy-involved crash early Tuesday morning on Interstate 45 in north Houston, snarling traffic for miles. The wreck happened on the inbound North Freeway near Rankin, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Heightened security measures were temporarily ordered Tuesday at a high school in southwest Houston after a student reportedly had a gun on campus. Wisdom High School was placed on lock down about 10:30 a.m. as a precaution when a student reportedly may have had a gun at the campus at 6529 Beverely Hill Lane, according to officials with the Houston Independent School District. After a mall robbery gone awry rocked the San Antonio area Sunday, leaving one person dead and others injured, Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted his prayers for those affected and later said he was proud of his niece, an SAPD officer who escorted one of the suspects involved to jail. "Proud of my niece working with San Antonio PD to arrest suspect in Rolling Oaks Mall robbery (and) shooting," the governor tweeted. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A bleeding man who sought help at a Northeast Side gas station was taken to a hospital Monday night. San Antonio Police Department Sgt. Giles Snavely said the man was shot after an argument with two other men at about 6:45 p.m. within the adjacent apartment complex in the 4600 block of Thousand Oaks Drive. He then ran through a gap in the fence and entered the gas station for help as he was bleeding profusely, Snavely said. RELATED: Man killed after being ejected from vehicle in violent I-10 crash A customer administered first aid until EMS and police arrived, he said First responders told police the man had two gunshot wounds to the torso. He was taken to San Antonio Military Medical Center in critical condition, police said. Snavely said one of the shooters may have also been injured during the incident. RELATED: 'Careless' foreman crushes woman, 19, with backhoe at Bexar County construction site He said it is unclear at this point in the investigation whether the man shot also had a weapon and was firing back. Police have not yet said what led to the shooting, but had a portion of the apartment complex taped off. Blood could be seen on the right door of the gas station, and a large gun was marked in the parking lot of the complex. jbeltran@express-news.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two suspected armed robbers are in custody after they fatally shot one man and injured two other citizens in a botched robbery attempt at a diamond store in the Rolling Oaks Mall in San Antonio. Here's what we know so far: 1. Second suspect arrested Police identified Jose Luis Rojas, 34, as the second suspect in the Rolling Oaks Mall shooting. He remains in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center Tuesday morning after being shot several times during the robbery. 2. Threat hits S.A. stores hard San Antonio jewelers have been on 'high alert' after the Rolling Oaks Mall shooting. On average, U.S. jewelers lose about $100 million each year from robberies, according to the most recent FBI statistics. RELATED: Social media posts give first-hand accounts of mall shooting 3. One 'Good Samaritan' was killed San Antonio police have called the two citizens who intervened in the robbery "Good Samaritans." Jonathan Murphy, 42, has been identified as the citizen who was fatally shot. According to a GoFundMe page, he and his wife, Aimee, had gone to Kay Jewelers to have their wedding rings cleaned. The second citizen, who has yet to be identified, was not injured in the shooting. It is unclear if he was acquainted with Murphy. Police declined to say which citizen had the concealed handgun license. But Aimee Murphy, the wife of the man killed, said on Monday her husband was not the one with the firearm. And that he was shot as he stood in front of her as a shield. 4. Suspect identities and statuses The first suspect has been identified as 35-year-old Jason Matthew Prieto. Converse police arrested him near the intersection of Loop 1604 and Coppergate after he apparently wrecked a stolen getaway car. He was found with two guns on his person. He is charged with capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault. He remains in jail on a $1.7 million bond. RELATED: 'Careless' foreman crushes woman, 19, with backhoe at Bexar County construction site 5. What went wrong Police have not given the official order of gunfire exchange, yet, but at some point the suspects encountered two citizens who attempted to intervene. What is known is that one of those suspects fatally shot one of the citizens, and one of the citizens shot and critically injured one of the suspects. The uninjured suspect then fled, shooting at least two other citizens as he exited the mall, according to police. 6. Four in all were transported to the hospital and one was treated at the scene Not counting the victim who died, there were three other people hospitalized with gunshot wounds, including a suspect in the robbery. Two victims suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds. The suspect is listed as critical. One man was also hospitalized for chest pains because of the incident, and a pregnant woman was treated at the scene. 7. One suspect has an extensive criminal history According to the Bexar County district clerk, Jason Prieto, the suspected robber who fled, has an extensive criminal history dating back to at least 2000, when he was 19. He has previously faced one aggravated assault charge, one assault charge, eight charges of drug possession, two charges of burglary of a vehicle, two theft charges and two charges of evading detention. RELATED: Killed 'Good Samaritan' was getting wedding rings cleaned 8. Police believe the suspects may have committed similar robbery on Jan. 20 Three armed robbers described as Hispanic men dressed in all black robbed the Exotic Diamonds jewelry store in the South Park Mall on Jan. 20 around 11:15 a.m. "We are looking at the possibility that these are the same suspects in a smash-and-grab robbery that occurred Friday at South Park Mall," police spokesman Sgt. Jesse Salame said on Sunday. "They are very similar incidents, the way the store was targeted, and two Hispanic males with the same clothing description." The suspects in the South Park Mall robbery stole several pieces of jewelry, but no one was injured, police said. 9. Responses from elected officials San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor arrived responded to the Rolling Oaks shooting, as did District 10 Councilman Mike Gallagher. Both officials congratulated the multiple law enforcement agencies who responded to the shooting on their efficient coordination and rapid apprehension of the second suspect in the shooting. But Taylor also commented on the rising crime rates San Antonio, and other major cities, have seen in the past year. "I know here in San Antonio we often feel insulated because we have such a great community, but we've seen an uptick in crime in big cities across the country and unfortunately we're not immune to that," she said. 10. When and where it happened Police responded around 3:30 p.m. to the Kay Jewelers inside the Rolling Oaks Mall in the 6900 block of North Loop 1604. The Live Oak Police Department confirmed a shooting had occurred around 4:15 p.m. Staff writer Silvia Foster-Frau contributed to this report This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO Police have identified the second suspect in the fatal Rolling Oaks Mall shooting that left one man dead and several others injured. Jose Luis Rojas, 34, remains in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center Tuesday morning after being shot several times during an attempted armed robbery at a Kay Jewelry store in the Rolling Oaks mall. RELATED: This is everything we know about the fatal San Antonio mall shooting so far Rojas faces charges of capital murder and two counts of aggravated robbery, according to previous reports. Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, the other alleged armed robber, was arrested Sunday night by Converse police after he fled the scene of the shooting. Prieto has already been booked in on the same charges as Rojas. The shooting occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the 6900 block of Northeast Loop 1604 at the Kay Jewelers at Rolling Oaks Mall, where two suspects entered the store and allegedly shot several people after trying to rob the store, according to a previous report. READ MORE: Panicked shoppers, employees take to social media during fatal Rolling Oaks shooting Jonathan Murphy, 42, who was at the jewelry store with his wife, died from gunshot wounds sustained during the suspects' escape. Two victims were hit with shrapnel and were transported to SAMMC with non-life-threatening injuries. They have since been released from the hospital. This story will be updated with more information as it becomes available. Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO Two East Texas school principals who were among those injured in Sundays deadly botched jewelry store robbery at a Northeast Side mall are back at home. Dr. Ivan Velasco and Adriana Velasco, husband and wife, both suffered gunshot wounds Sunday during the incident at Rolling Oaks Mall and were admitted to San Antonio Military Medical Center, a Willis ISD spokesperson confirmed Tuesday. RELATED: 34-year-old identified as second suspect in Rolling Oaks Mall shooting Jamie Fails, director of communications for Willis ISD, said the Velascos were released from the hospital and returned home to Willis Monday night. Fails said Ivan was shot in the foot, while Adriana was hit in the lower jaw and lip, needing a number of stitches. Were just so grateful that it wasnt worse than that, Fails said in an interview with mySA.com. Adriana Velasco is an assistant principal at Meador Elementary and Dr. Velasco is an assistant principal at Willis High School. The town of Willis is about 48 miles north of Houston. RELATED: 10 things we know about the botched armed robbery at Rolling Oaks Mall Its unknown at this time when the two principals will return to work, Fails said. The Velascos were injured when two suspects entered the Kay Jewelers at Rolling Oaks Mall on Sunday afternoon and attempted to rob the store. Police said two good Samaritans intervened at some point in the incident, with one of the men, 42-year-old Jonathan Murphy, fatally shot by one of the suspects. RELATED: Panicked shoppers, employees take to social media during fatal Rolling Oaks Mall shooting Police have two suspects in custody, one of whom was shot by one of the good Samaritans. Jose Luis Rojas remains in critical condition at San Antonio Military Medical Center, according to a previous report. The second suspect, Jason Matthew Prieto, 34, was arrested Sunday night by Converse police after he fled the scene. Both men face a charge of capital murder and two counts of aggravated robbery, according previous reports. Text "Breaking" to 48421 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite With 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms and 6 levels in the White House, newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump and his family had plenty to explore during their full schedule of inauguration events over the weekend. President Trump, usually prolific on social media, took a backseat in terms of sharing behind-the-scenes shots of the first family's first days in their new roles and home. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's been four days since Donald Trump was sworn in as president, and the internet can't stop talking about how sad first lady Melania Trump looked during Inauguration Day, going as far as to create a "#FreeMelania" campaign on Twitter. A clip from Inauguration Day showing the new first lady putting on a smile as her husband turns and speaks to her during the proceeding and then quickly frowning as he turns back around has now gone viral. Dozens of tweets have called for Melania Trump to "blink twice" if she wants to be saved, while others said how sad the first lady is making them. No one is quite sure what the president uttered to Melania Trump, or if he said anything at all. RELATED: 13 facts about Melania Trump, the new first lady Mic spoke with a body language expert who said the way Melania Trump acted over the weekend showed signs she was not happy in her relationship. "If you didn't know that they were married, you wouldn't know that they are married," said Susan Constantine, a communication and body language expert, to the website. In comparison to Barack and Michelle Obama, Constantine said the previous first couple's body language is evidence of "genuine warmth and love between the two." RELATED: Behind the scenes during the Trumps' first weekend as the first family While some have said they feel bad for Trump, others aren't sure the first lady is so innocent. In response to a tweet that said Donald Trump doesn't appreciate Melania Trump and she "doesn't seem happy at all," one Twitter user flipped the narrative. "Melania is a rich, privileged 46-year-old woman who willingly married Trump, had his child and furthered the birther claims against Obama," they said. The first lady supported her husbands birther theories that claimed former President Obama was not born in the U.S. in a 2011 clip unearthed by Teen Vogue. RELATED: Here's how President Donald Trump has already redecorated the Oval Office "It's not only Donald who wants to see (Obama's birth certificate), it's American people who voted for him and who didn't vote for him," she said on the Joy Behar show six years ago. Teen Vogue argues that Melania Trump is not as innocent as the internet is making her out to be. "Not only has she supported the birther movement, but she also backed her husband after multiple claims came out about him sexually assaulting other women. It also still can't be overlooked that she plagiarized Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech in her own Republican National Convention remarks this past summer, taking words from the former first lady and the wife of the man she's accusing of not being an American citizen," the reporter writes. kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 So-called sanctuary cities will be at the center of one of hottest debates in this year's legislative session. San Antonians can get an up-close preview of the crucial battle at the Express-News/UTSA/KLRN town hall meeting Jan. 26, 2017, at 7 p.m. The event will be streamed live on this page. Details on how to attend can be found at mySA.com/townhall. The 90-minute town hall will be in the Buena Vista Theater at UTSA's downtown campus. A panel that includes San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, state rep. Diego Bernal, Jeff Judson of the Heartland Institute and Republican County Chairman Robert Stovall will discuss the pros and cons of legislation filed in the Texas Senate. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has declared that prohibiting so-called sanctuary cities is one of his top priorities. Gov. Greg Abbott wants lawmakers to pass a sanctuary cities, too. As described by its author, state Sen. Charles Perry, a Republican from Lubbock, Senate Bill 4 would require law enforcement agencies in the state to "comply with, honor, and fulfill" detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The proposal also would specifically prohibit local entities, such as cities and counties, from adopting or enforcing policies that discourage police from inquiring about a person's immigration status during a lawful detention. The campaign for state-level "sanctuary cities" laws gained momentum after the 2015 shooting death of Kate Steinle, who was killed by a 45-year-old undocumented immigrant who had been deported to Mexico five times. "Banning sanctuary city policies will help prevent criminal aliens from being put back on our streets," Perry said. "I have no doubt that with the help of my colleagues in the Texas Legislature, we will pass this bill." For about a decade, the so-called "sanctuary cities" debate has roiled legislative sessions in Austin, often pitting tea party-aligned Republican newcomers against longer tenured Republican members. Last session, a similar bill, also sponsored by Perry, failed to win approval before lawmakers left Austin. While the term sanctuary cities has no specific legal definition, the bill's supporters have a new target in Travis County's incoming sheriff Sally Hernandez, who said before Election Day that she would not cooperate with ICE detainer requests for inmates in the county's custody. If Republicans successfully pass the bill this time, Gov. Greg Abbott has said he will sign it. "I strongly support this & expect to sign it into law," the first-term governor tweeted Nov. 16. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, also supports the measure, saying after Perry filed the bill that these cities are "creating a magnet for illegal immigration." Astrid Dominguez, an ACLU of Texas policy strategist, said her group will continue to fight Senate Bill 4, as it did similar bills in past sessions, but she noted an uncertainty hanging over the upcoming session. "In Texas, even before the election, we were already heading here. That doesn't change anything for Texans," she said. "Now, the concern people have, on top of the state law, is that there might be another layer from the federal government." According to activists, Democrats, who oppose such a measure, could try to persuade enough Republican legislators to wait and see what the federal government will do in this regard before Texas passes any law. Still, they acknowledge, Democrats' minority status in both chambers of the Legislature leave them with little institutional power to stop Senate Bill 4. "If some version of the bill is going to pass, what I hope passes is something that respects human rights and civil rights," Olivares said. "If not, we don't discount a challenge in court." SACRAMENTO California must prepare for uncertain times ahead in light of disturbing rhetoric and actions during the first days of President Trumps term, Gov. Jerry Brown said in his annual State of the State speech Tuesday. Brown said he read through previous speeches and was struck by what the state has accomplished over the years, including increasing money for schools and universities, raising the minimum wage, and creating a rainy-day fund. But, Brown said he was unable to keep his thoughts on just the states agenda and would not be using this years speech for new proposals. Instead, the four-term governor used his 15th State of the State speech at the state Capitol to take a combative tone toward Trump, without ever saying his name. Weve seen the bald assertion of alternative facts. Whatever those are, Brown said referring to comments made by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway. We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy truth, civility, working together have been obscured or even swept away. As Brown spoke in California, Trumps far-reaching actions on the opposite coast were becoming clearer. The president on Tuesday signed executive orders to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. White House press secretary Sean Spicer also doubled down during a Tuesday news conference, saying Trump firmly stands by his unsupported claim that millions of people voted illegally in the November election, therefore robbing the president of the popular vote. Brown cautioned lawmakers to follow science and to believe their eyes when they see that the sun is shining and to not construct some alternative universe of nonfacts that we find more pleasing. Brown said California will work to protect immigrants, who are a vital part of the economy, as well as the health care that so many people depend on through the Affordable Care Act and advancing climate change policies. He said people must be guided by facts and civility, urging lawmakers to work across party lines this year to set an example for the nation. That was a welcome message for Republican legislators in California, who can be easily overlooked since Democrats have a supermajority in both the state Senate and Assembly. That two-thirds Democratic control would allow the party to pass taxes or place a constitutional amendment on the ballot without a single Republican vote. The Democratic power in California stands in sharp contrast to the Republican majorities in Congress. The talk from the state Legislature up until now has been very combative, very focused on fighting not fixing, said state Senate Republican Leader Jean Fuller of Bakersfield. But, Fuller said, Browns speech included moments in which the governor appeared to look at ways to work with the federal government. Brown said infrastructure is a key area of concern in the state, noting that the president has stated his firm intention to build and build big. That, Brown said, he can support. I say Amen to that, man! Brown said to cheers in the Assembly chambers. Amen to that, brother! Were there with you. Some lawmakers said they had hoped Brown would highlight housing needs or the states massive $77 billion deferred maintenance backlog to signal to legislators that those will be priorities this year. Hes always touched on a few priorities, not a huge laundry list, said state Sen. Steve Glazer, D-Orinda, a former senior adviser to Brown. He summed it up well. Hes focused on the issue of most importance today for the state. It was predictable, but important. Among the issues Brown highlighted was the anxiety felt by those immigrants in the country without documentation. Brown said he recognizes that Washington determines immigration policy, but he added that the state has had a role as well in what happens to immigrants. He highlighted the states efforts to help immigrants in the country without documentation, such as the Trust Act, which limits cooperation with federal immigration officials; drivers licenses; employment rights; and access to higher education. We may be called to defend those laws and defend them we will, Brown said. And let me be clear: 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. He also railed against climate change deniers. The science is clear. The danger is real, he said. At the end of his speech, Brown quoted two stanzas from folk singer Woody Guthries This Land Is Your Land. Then he closed: California is not turning back. Not now, not ever. His speech comes on the heels of his January budget proposal, where the governor said lagging revenues have the state facing a $1.6 billion deficit if spending is not tempered. Lawmakers are beginning the months-long process of combing through the governors $122.5 billion general fund spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That budget was slightly less than the current budget of $122.8 billion. Before his speech, Brown swore in former Rep. Xavier Becerra as the states new attorney general. Becerra resigned from Congress on Tuesday morning. Becerra, a veteran Los Angeles lawmaker and son of Mexican immigrants, replaces Sen. Kamala Harris, who was sworn in to the U.S. Senate this month. 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. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Courtesy photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Steve Bennett /San Antonio Express-News Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Bob Worth, founder of the R.L. Worth & Associates commercial real estate firm, on Tuesday won the Philip M. Barshop Founders Award, which the Real Estate Council gives each year to an accomplished leader in the industry. Worth is well-known for rehabilitating the ButterKrust bakery on Broadway and building the Quarry Heights office building on the North Side, among other projects. He has become one of San Antonios most prominent office developers over the last 30 years, said local developer Walter Embrey, who announced the award at a luncheon at the Pearl on Tuesday. Water was used in an attempt to dilute a chemical pesticide under a trailer home after residents of the home began to feel sick. The chemical reaction of the water and pesticide toxic fumes that proved fatal to four children. The Accident: How it Occurred and Who Was Involved A pesticide, aluminum phosphide, was placed underneath a mobile home in Texas by a family who had received the pesticide from an acquaintance. Several family members began to report feeling sickened by the pesticide, so one family member attempted fix the issue by washing the pesticide away with water. The reaction of water with aluminum phosphide creates a toxic phosphine gas which can create excess fluid in the lungs and lead to respiratory failure. This toxic reaction killed four children and hospitalized five other people. There were 10 people in the mobile home at the time. The victims, an older sister and three younger brothers, were siblings whose ages ranged from 7 to 17. The 17-year-old, Yasmeen Balderas, was looking forward to her high school graduation. The Amarillo Police Department is still investigating; however, it seems to be a case of accidental poisoning thus far, reports CNN news. Pesticide Poisoning Statistics According to CNN, an estimated 1 million to 5 million cases of pesticide poisoning occur each year, typically among agricultural workers. The majority of pesticide poisonings occur in developing countries where safety regulations for pesticide are either inadequate or nonexistent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) reports that an average of 23 deaths per year are caused by exposure to pesticides in the U.S., the majority, however, are linked to suicide. Contact an Experienced Child Injury Attorney At Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys, we have the experience and resources to handle your childs case. If your child has been the victim of a serious injury, contact our offices. We represent clients/victims all over the country. We are available 24/7, nights and weekends. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. According to the Chicago Tribune, the husband of a woman who died after being hit by a car on her bicycle is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver in Mount Prospect, Illinois. About the Wrongful Death Lawsuit Joni Beaudry, 55, was riding her bike at Central Road and Weller Lane when the fatal bicycle crash occurred. Beaudry attempted to traverse the street at the crosswalk when she was hit by an SUV. The Chicago Tribune reports that the mother of five died from injuries sustained in the collision. The driver of the SUV, 56-year-old Hanna Burzynska, was cited by police and issued a fine for misdemeanor failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. On Friday, Beaudrys husband filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Burzynska, according to the Chicago Tribune. The lawsuit, which seeks more than $100,000 in damages, states that Burzynska carelessly and negligently drove and operated the SUV, failing to keep a reasonable careful lookout ahead. The lawsuit seeks compensation not only for medical, funeral, and burial expense but also emotional suffering the family has gone through. Bicycle Accident Statistics The following information regarding bicycle, or pedalcycle, crashes is provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): 743 pedalcyclists died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2013. An estimated 48,000 pedalcyclists were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2013. Sixty-eight percent of all pedalcyclists who died in motor vehicle crashes in 2013 died in urban area crashes. Most pedalcyclist fatalities occurred at non-intersections (57%) in 2013. Contact an Experienced Wrongful Death Attorney Thomas J. Henry Injury Attorneys is a personal injury law firm with offices in Corpus Christi, Texas, San Antonio, Texas and Houston, Texas representing accident victims nationwide. Our priority is to provide our clients with the best legal representation. Our experienced trial attorneys are committed to defending your rights in personal injury matters including defective products, auto accidents and trucking accidents, and medical malpractice. If your loved ones death was the result of another partys negligence or intentional misconduct, contact our offices immediately we are available 24/7, nights and weekends. Editors Note: This content is made possible by Thomas J. Henry Personal Injury Law. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of The San Antonio Express-News' or mySanAntonio.com's editorial staff. Learn more about our advertising products at www.hearstmediasanantonio.com. OUTSPOKEN musician Hosiah Chipanga hopes that the new government will address the issue of banning songs from being played on state-owned radio stations. In an interview with The Standard Style in Mutare on Thursday, Chipanga said although he had tried on so many occasions to meet President Robert Mugabe to say out his views about his banned music, he was now hopeful that the new government would help musicians to express their views freely. I am just giving it time to find out if there is also any change of heart and ear in the new faces, or maybe my struggle continues, said Chipanga. Chipanga said as musicians, they were expecting President Emmerson Mnangagwa to come up with policies that help artists in their business. Music plays a critical role in nation building and there is no reason why such music that has messages that build a nation or that tries to correct matters and carries issues pertaining to the social economic injustices to the people is banned, he said. I know that there are other affected musicians and we are looking forward to meeting Mnangagwa and other relevant officials in government to discuss the issue. Regardless of almost 40 years in my musical mission to try and save Zimbabwe from the situation in which the country was in, no one has taken me seriously and my messages in my songs have been misinterpreted. I have been labelled an enemy of the state, but l want to fully explain to Mnangagwa the actual meaning and objective of my songs. Some musicians who have had some of their songs banned on national radio include Leonard Zhakata and Thomas Mapfumo, among others. Look, today there is a new leadership in government and this what we have been advocating in our songs, he said. Breaking News via Email Jay Pops the Clown Ricker presented the donation last week to the Salvation Army. INDIANAPOLIS Rickers Convenience Stores across central Indiana raised more than $75,000 for Salvation Army programs and services during the 2016 Christmas season. By collecting donations through counter kettles, Rickers made a significant contribution to Indianas Division of The Salvation Armys Red Kettle Campaign. It is a high priority of Rickers to support our community, said former NACS Chairman Jay Ricker, founder and chairman of Anderson, Indiana-based Rickers. We are proud to give to an organization, like The Salvation Army, that has such a strong mission to help Hoosiers in need. Ricker, who doubles as Rickers philanthropic mascot Pops the Clown, presented Salvation Army Indiana Commander, Major Bob Webster, with a check from the convenience store chain for $75,612.50 on January 20. The UK's Eurovision entry will be decided this Friday has already generated controversy, months before the contest takes place in Kiev, Ukraine. The reason? All six finalists, who will compete in a heat on BBC2's 'You Decide' programme, are former X Factor contestants - or, as some people have rather cruelly dubbed them, 'rejects'. They are Danyl Johnson, Lucie Jones (both 2009), Olivia Garcia, Nate Simpson (both 2016), Holly Brewer (2015) and Selena Mastroianni (2012). People on Twitter have been reacting to the shortlist, and not all of it is complimentary: #Eurovision UK entry is doomed with an X Factor reject singing Y Marc Almond (@Tubzy2001) January 24, 2017 So every one of this years UK hopefuls for Eurovision is an X Factor reject!! So another year of nul points for UK then.... YAA? #Eurovision Carl Goddard (@CarlGoddard_) January 24, 2017 Our Eurovision contest representative will be decided this Friday on the Telly! All former X Factor contestants, I'm leaving the Country YYY YA Brian (@Brianquizmaster) January 24, 2017 X Factor rejects representing the U.K this year at #Eurovision. Should be exciting watching us place 24th again. Chris Aaron Arnott (@Chris_Arnott) January 24, 2017 An X Factor reject to represent the UK for Eurovision?! We have no chance! If we didn't vote for them then Europe bloody won't! #Eurovision Ryan Ashmore Y (@Razamataz144) January 23, 2017 All the Eurovision contestants are former X factor contestants Y Hollie Y (@rosegoldbadwi) January 23, 2017 Mind you, at least the people of the UK have a say in their Eurovision entry. Ireland, on the other hand, will not be afforded the same opportunity as our entry - by Brendan Murray, a former member of Louis Walsh's boyband Hometown - has already been given the green-light, although the song has not been selected. H/T: NME By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She now spends most of her time in Asia researching a book about textile artisans. She also writes regularly about legal, political economy, and regulatory topics for various consulting clients and publications, as well as scribbles occasional travel pieces for The National. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit watchdog group, filed suit yesterday in federal district court in Manhattan, charging that Trump violated the emoluments clause of the US Constitution (and continues to violate same) by allowing his businesses including hotels to accept payments from foreign governments. The complaint can be found here. In this action, CREW is represented by leading constitutional and ethics lawyers, including CREWs board chair and vice-chair Norman Eisen and Richard Painter the top ethics lawyers for the last two presidents; constitutional law scholars Erwin Chemerinsky, Laurence Tribe, and Zephyr Teachout; and constitutional litigator Deepak Gupta. As Ive written in a previous post, US Constitutions Emoluments Clause: a Nothingburger for Trump: Article 1, Section 9 of that document states that No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State. The clause, on its face, appears to pose a real problem for President Trump, whose companies continue to do business with foreign governments or entities controlled by them although Trumps private lawyer, Sheri Dillon of the law firm, earlier in January disputed this, as reported by Politico in Trump says lawsuit claiming he violated the Constitution is without merit, saying: The Constitution does not require President-elect Trump to do anything here, Dillon said. Paying for a hotel room is not a gift or a present and it has nothing to do with an office. Its not an emolument. Trump had promised to address the problem of conflicts of interest between his business operations and his role as President. In a January 11 press conference, Trump outlined a plan to transfer leadership and management of the Trump Organization over to his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., as well as a longtime company executive. This stands in contrast to other Presidents and cabinet officers, whove customarily transferred their assets to some form of blind trust. Trump neither relinquished ownership of his businesses nor did he establish a blind trust. It would be extremely difficult for Trump to set up such a trust, as his holdings are generally not in the form of paper assets that can be passively managed or easily liquidated. In addition, Trumps properties in part rely heavily on the use of his name the Trump brand to which he is no doubt in many cases contractually bound to continue to use. Further, Trump has pledged to donate to the US Treasury any profits that arise from activities his businesses conduct with foreign countries, but details how these profits would be calculated, how they would be monitored as well as how transparent this process would be, have, to say the least, not been worked out. The emoluments clause has not been much at issue throughout US history, and theres scant precedent for how it applies or should be interpreted. Yet while it appears as if Trump might be in a pickle here, as I wrote in my previous post, Just because somethings unconstitutional, doesnt mean that any such unconstitutional activity will necessarily be prevented, precluded, or punished. One of the threshold issues that arises in litigation is who can sue to enforce a right or, to put it in more formal legal terms, who has standing to sue. Again, I turn to my earlier post, where I addressed the issue of whether a third party such as an aggrieved private citizen, successfully sue the President for violating the emoluments clause? This often comes as a surprise to non-lawyers, but the reality is that the US legal system strictly limits who can sue. Persons must have standing in order to bring a suit (as compared to some countries, such as India, and US states, such as California (but only for state law violations), where it is possible to bring a public interest litigation to right an obvious wrong). In US federal court, the authority for bringing a suit comes from Article III of the Constitution. To summarize very broadly an extremely complicated area of the law, to have standing to sue, plaintiffs must be involved in an actual case or controversy meaning that one cannot bring a case just to determine what a court MIGHT decide. Further, a long series of cases has also established that plaintiffs must have suffered a particularized injury in order to prevail in a lawsuit. This provision prevents someone from bringing a suit arguing, hypothetically, that as a taxpayer, s/he has been harmed by a general policy of the US government. What does this mean? Well, I would suggest that no one should spend hard-earned money and try to find a lawyer to bring a suit alleging that President Trump has violated the emoluments clause or any other federal anti-corruption or anti-bribery statute, for that matter anytime soon. That matter would almost certainly be dismissed on the basis that the plaintiff lacked standing to sue. Standing and Emoluments Clause Ive taken a good hard look at the complaint filed by CREW and their the legal dream team, and note that it skates over extremely thin ice on the standing issue. Hence, I see no reason to back off on my earlier conclusion that the clause will turn out to be a bit of a nothingburger as far as Trump is concerned. Despite the attention this case has attracted including a direct response from Trump himself who yesterday averred that this action is without merit this lawsuit almost certainly will be dismissed, well before it gets anywhere near the United States Supreme Court. Let me spell out my reasoning. The general test is that to have standing to sue, a plaintiff must show s/he suffered a concrete and particularized injury and that a court can remedy that the injury. What injury has CREW suffered, even if we assume for the sake of argument that Trumps ongoing business operations do indeed violate the emoluments clause? As a Forbes article explains, Why The Constitutional Lawsuit Against Trump Is Likely To Fail: The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to allow citizens to use the courts to reverse government policies they disagree with unless they can also show some sign of tangible injury. Whether its environmentalists suing to reverse a regulation they dont like or alarmed citizens suing to find out if the governments been snooping on their phone calls, citizens dont have a case unless they can claim an injury in fact. Hypothetical injuries wont cut it. If I know that, and Forbes knows that, you can be sure that Tribe et al are well aware of the difficulties of establishing standing in such an action. The CREW complaint rests its standing claim on Havens Realty v. Colman (1982), under which a a non-profit housing discrimination group (HOME) was allowed to sue a private real estate firm, not on a discrimination claim but on the basis that the real estate firms steering practices impaired HOMEs ability to provide counseling and referral services for low- and moderate-income homeseekers. The Court determined that [s]uch concrete and demonstrable injury to the organizations activities with the consequent drain on the organizations resources constitutes far more than simply a setback to the organizations abstract social interests. Over to the CREW complaint: CREW brings this action to stop and prevent the violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause that Defendant Donald J. Trump has committed and will commit, which have already injuredand, without a remediable order from this Court, will continue to injureCREW in the form of a significant diversion and depletion of its time, resources, and efforts. CREW has standing under [Havens] , because there has been a concrete and demonstrable injury to the organizations activities[,] with the consequent drain on the organizations resources. [citation omitted] CREW seeks declaratory relief determining the meaning of the Foreign Emoluments Clause and stating that Defendants present and future conduct violates this provision, as well as injunctive relief ordering Defendant to refrain from violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause (complaint, p. 2). The Forbes piece calls this rationale for establishing standing a bold attempt, given the Supreme Courts repeated decisions since Havens Realty rejecting attempts to sue the government without a specific injury. Id describe it as a Hail Mary pass. The key question: Whats the injury to CREW if Trump is indeed violating the emoluments clause? Over to Forbes again: CREW relies on the Havens argument that it was forced to expend resources protecting the public against Trumps conflicts but thats unlikely to fly. Other activists will no doubt come up with some claim that attempts to get over the very high hurdle in front of private citizens suing to change government policy. Maybe they will include a rival real-estate firm or hotelier who says foreign tenants skipped over their properties to get in Trump buildings. But judges arent stupid: Theyll look at CREW the way the Supreme Court looked at Amnesty International when the human-rights group sued James Clapper, then the Director of National Intelligence, over what activists suspected to be wholesale surveillance of foreign communications. The group claimed it was spending extra money trying to safeguard its communications and it was unfair to say they didnt have the evidence of surveillance since it was guarded by the secrecy they were seeking to penetrate with their lawsuit. But the Supreme Court tossed out the case, saying Amnesty didnt have standing to sue. What if nobody has standing to sue? The court cited an earlier decision: [t]he assumption that if respondents have no standing to sue, no one would have standing, is not a reason to find standing. (As an aside, sometimes, a federal statute creates an explicit private right of action to enforce some constitutional provision. Yet Congress has never bothered to pass a federal statute that expressly creates a private right of action for violating the emoluments clause, as The Wall Street Journal has reported.) Ulterior Motive: Make Trump Release His Tax Returns While CREW almost certainly wont prevail in this lawsuit, one other motive for filing the suit may be to try and get Trumps tax returns released a part of the discovery process, where a defendant is required to turn over documents that are relevant to the plaintiffs legal claim. CREW will almost certainly argue that it is necessary to get access to extensive Trump financial records including tax returns in order to unravel the web of complex financial relationships that would show violations of the emoluments clause. Yet if the suit is dismissed at an early stage in the litigation process, extensive discovery will be avoided, and the tax returns will remain locked away from public scrutiny. Is This the Best Democrats Can Come Up With? Given the difficulty of established standing which I believe to be very remote indeed I wonder whether this is actually a wise allocation of opposition resources? At one level, this suit can be seen as just the latest example of Democratic party virtue-signalling. The complaint explores the scope of Trumps business interests, and teases out numerous potential conflicts. CREW has been working the ethics beat for more than a decade, but over the last couple of years, its reputation has suffered as it has shifted tack to pursue a more partisan, Democratic agenda, as Bloomberg reports : For more than a decade, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, has scrutinized and assailed federal agencies and politicians from both parties to root out unethical behavior in government. Over the past two years, however, some of the groups most influential work has been quietly dropped. Annual rankings of the most corrupt members of Congress and a bi-annual list of the worst governors have stopped. A pipeline of in-depth reports on issues ranging from financial markets to timber-industry lobbying has gone dry. The group walked away from a spat over Hillary Clintons treatment of e-mails as secretary of state, even after an Inspector General found that CREWs public records request had been improperly denied. The reason? Longstanding Naked Capitalism readers will not be surprised that CREW until recently was controlled by David Brock, a Democratic Party operative and fervent supporter of Hillary Clintons campaign, as reported by the New York Times, in Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim. And the self-explanatory headline to the Bloomberg article quoted above makes the point crystal clear: CREWs Watchdog Status Fades After Arrival of Democrat David Brock. Im surprised that months after the shock result of losing the presidential election to a character regarded as a beyond-the-pale buffoon and seeing solid Republican majorities installed in each house of Congress the Democrats are still faffing around on designing their responses. All the efforts deployed in subverting the Electoral College, or blaming the Russians for Hillarys loss, might, I would be suggest, have been better directed to accepting the debacle that their misguided electoral strategy had created, turning the page, and focussing on what to do next. Why are Democrats not marshalling their resources to shape the way Trump governs such as by mounting concerted campaigns to block the worst of Trumps Cabinet picks? And further, why are Democrats not conducting a thoughtful post mortem, with the intention of designing a strategy to make the 2016 electoral outcome a low point, rather than a harbinger of further disasters? By Wolf Richter, a San Francisco based executive, entrepreneur, start up specialist, and author, with extensive international work experience. Originally published at Wolf Street Why these mega-mergers? Fees, egos, and pricing power. On Monday, a federal judge blocked Aetnas $34-billion acquisition of Humana. Combined they would have formed the second largest health insurer, behind the also under-attack Anthem-Cigna merger. The court cited antitrust grounds related to Medicare Advantage insurance plans, where their combined pricing power would ultimately raise the costs that consumers pay for coverage. But Wall Street loved the deal that had been announced with such great hoopla in 2015. It was the year of the mega-mergers. The bigger the better. Money was growing on trees. And investment banks would have made a bundle. How big would the combined entity have been? In January this year, Aetna had a Medicare Advantage enrollment market share of 7.2%, and Humana of 16.9%. The largest player was UnitedHealth with 23.7% (chart). The merger would have given Aetna-Humana a share of 24.1%. And the top two players would have controlled nearly 50% of the US market. And in numerous areas, one of them would have totally dominated. That fits the definition of an oligopoly. US District Judge John Bates put it this way in his 158-page opinion filed Monday: Federal regulation would likely be insufficient to prevent the merged firm from raising prices or reducing benefits, and neither entry by new competitors nor the proposed divestiture to Molina [another health insurer] would suffice to replace competition eliminated by the merger. And thus, Judge Bates said, the merger would likely substantially lessen competition for Medicare Advantage plans in 364 counties and also in certain Florida public insurance exchanges. But the judge also revealed a shadier side to the deal. Aetna threatened the government last summer with pulling out of 11 of the 15 states where it participated in the Obamacare individual insurance markets, claiming it was a business decision. The threat was made while the Department of Justice was investigating the merger but before it filed its antitrust lawsuit. It was a shot before the bow. After the lawsuit was filed, Aetna followed through on its threat. And Judge Bates put his finger on it: It wasnt just a business decision, he wrote. There was more to it. Aetna tried to leverage its participation in the exchanges for favorable treatment from DOJ regarding the proposed merger. Aetna then tried to cover up that connection between the threat to pull out of those markets and the antitrust investigation to the point where the repeated efforts to conceal a paper trail about the decision-making process bordered on malfeasance, he wrote. Judge Bates determined that there was persuasive evidence that when Aetna later withdrew from the 17 counties, it did not do so for business reasons, but instead to follow through on the threat that it made earlier. Aetna said it is giving serious consideration to an appeal. But if the deal remains in its current collapsed form, a lot of money is going to reverse course, and not just in the stock market and among merger arbs: according to the DealBook, the three investment banks advising the companies could lose $88 million of their $101 million in fees: Citigroup, which advised Aetna, would have received $45 million in fees. So far, it has already been paid $5 million. It could lose around $40 million Lazard, which also advised Aetna, would have received $15 million. So far, it has been paid $5 million. It could lose around $10 million Goldman Sachs, which advised Humana, would have received $41 million. So far, it has been paid $3 million. It could lose around $38 million. And Aetna gets to pay Humana a breakup fee of about $1 billion, if the deal remains in its collapsed form. The ripples might spread further. Last summer, while it was at it, the DOJ also sued to block Anthems acquisition of Cigna, which would create the largest health insurer in the US. Originally, the deal was valued at $54 billion. The case went to trial last year but the court hasnt ruled yet. If that deal collapses, the investment banks advising both companies will lose $93 million in fees, of the total fees of $126 million. And perhaps the judge might throw in a few revelations as well. We cannot wait. IBM is in trouble and desperate hype is apparently required. Read Big Shrink to Hire 25,000 in the US, as Layoffs Pile Up 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. February 3 is the deadline for Tipperary farmers to return their claim forms on EU Milk Reduction Scheme. The Chairperson of ICMSAs Diary Committee is calling on the Department of Agriculture, Food & Marine and the Co-ops to ensure that the payments due under the EU Milk Reduction Scheme are issued as soon as possible. Gerald Quain issued a warning to all those farmers who applied for Phase 1 and who believe they qualify for payment. Those applicants must engage with their cooperative or purchaser as quickly as possible as the deadline for submission of an application to your cooperative or purchaser is Friday February 3 - that is, next Friday week. Theres no time to lose, he said In order to qualify for payment an applicant must have reduced production by at least 20% of the authorised amount as advised by the Department of Agriculture last October. ICMSA is urging all farmers who received an allocation to engage with their Co-op to make sure they comply with this minimum reduction amount. If production was not reduced by at least this minimum amount in the reference months there will be no payment under the scheme. The specialist dairy farmers organisation said that Dual Suppliers should request a copy of the relevant forms from one or other of their cooperatives and upon completion, send that directly to the Department per the advice on the Frequently Asked Questions section of the form. There is no reason for the Department of Agriculture to delay payment once they have received all the forms by February 3. Given that February is a traditionally a tight cash-flow month for dairy farmers and following the very difficult year that was 2016, it is essential that this payment is made early in the month to give farmers some critical financial room-to-maneuver, concluded Mr. Quain. The 17th Annual Cahir Older Persons Party was a fantastic success again this year! The party took place in Cahir House Hotel last Friday, January 20. A call was put out over the last couple of weeks to invite all Senior Citizens to attend the ever-popular Senior Citizens Party. The event now in its 17th year is organised by three good friends, Peter Butler, Pascal ODwyer and Bill Coffey along with Cahir District Gardai and it takes place in Cahir House Hotel. Older Persons Party Organisers - the 3 Amigos are Peter Butler, Bill Coffey and Pascal ODwyer Many people turned up on the night where there was singing by The Sheehans, Inspector Eddie Golden as well as some Transition Year students from Colaiste Dun Iascaigh. There was lots of Irish dancing and dancing by the guests too and there was lovely soup, sandwiches, cakes and hot drinks served to all. There was so many spot prizes that there seemed to be one for every person present! TY Students from Colaiste Dun Iascaigh sang for the Older Persons Party L to R: Lorraine Burke, Kevin OConnor, Caoimhe Ryan, Shane Davis and Alannah Donaghy. Special guests on the night were Superintendent Paul ODriscoll and Mayor of the Clonmel Cahir District Cllr Andy Moloney who launched the event. Donal & Josie Barrett attended Cahir Garda District Older Persons Party. On hand to help on the night were members of Cahir Fire Service, Red Cross, Cahir Scout Group, Cahir River Search & Rescue and the always at hand Transition Year Students. Transport was arranged for those who needed it so that the guests, who came from many of the surrounding areas along with neighbours and friends, enjoyed the evening immensely. Members of An Garda helping on the night were L to R- Sgt. Brendan Franklin, Gda Philip OSullivan, Gda Arezoo Khazouiee, Superintendent Paul ODriscoll, Inspector Edmund Golden and Gda Louise Lordan. The Senate Banking Committee voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve the nomination of Ben Carson as the next Housing and Urban Development secretary. The vote means the nomination will move to the full Senate, where it is likely to be swiftly approved. During the vote on the nomination, Republican panel members praised Carson, a neurosurgeon and former GOP presidential candidate, pointing to more than 20 letters of support from affordable housing advocates, industry groups and other stakeholders. "Dr. Carson has achieved a great deal of success during his impressive and accomplished career, and I was encouraged by his recent testimony before the committee," said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo. "He is committed to carrying forth the mandate of HUD and learning more from people directly affected by HUD policies. Now that his nomination has been voted favorably out of the committee, it is my hope that the full senate will follow suit in a timely manner." Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, acknowledged that he would not have chosen Carson to lead HUD due to his lack of experience on housing issues. "But despite my reservations, and my disagreements with some of his positions, I will give Dr. Carson the benefit of the doubt based on commitments he has made to me in person and to this committee in his testimony and written responses," Brown said. "This includes Dr. Carsons promises to address the scourge of lead hazards that threaten the health and futures of children in Ohio and nationwide; uphold the Fair Housing Act and the housing rights of LGBTQ individuals; and advocate for rental assistance, investment to end homelessness, and including housing in the presidents infrastructure plan. I will do everything in my power to hold Dr. Carson accountable for making good on his promises." Rob Nichols, the president and CEO of the American Bankers Association, said Carson will bring a fresh perspective to HUD. "Improving FHA will be an important priority, and we hope to work with Dr. Carson to bring greater stability and long term viability to its programs, as well as a return to a more balanced business relationship between FHA and its lenders," Nichols said in a statement. (As delivered) Your Highness, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Ministers, Sheikh Thamer, Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a real honour to be here today and I am really delighted to be back in Kuwait once again, for my second official visit as NATO Secretary General. Last year I toured the construction site for this impressive facility. Today I am honoured to celebrate the opening of the ICI-NATO Regional Centre. In doing so, we mark two important milestones: A milestone in the friendship between NATO and Kuwait; And a milestone in the blossoming partnership between NATO and the entire Gulf region. We owe a debt of gratitude to Sheikh Thamer Ali Al-Sabah. So I thank him for his leadership and steadfast support. Thank you so much. I also want to thank the State of Kuwait in hosting and the people of Kuwait for your generosity and in hosting this Centre, for being such a strong and valued NATO partner and for your long-standing leadership in promoting regional security. NATOs Istanbul Cooperation Initiative the ICI was designed to contribute to long-term regional stability. So I am extremely pleased that our three other ICI partners are represented here today: Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. I am also glad to welcome the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation, and the representatives from Saudi Arabia and Oman. This Centre is a historic first: NATOs first such presence in the Gulf region. It will be a vital hub for cooperation between the Alliance and our Gulf partners. As well as with Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, including in our important fight against terrorism. We will work together in a range of different areas, including: strategic analysis; civil emergency planning; military-to-military cooperation; and public diplomacy. *** The partnerships we will strengthen through this Centre are vitally important to NATO. Because the security of Gulf countries is directly linked to the security of all Allies. We face common security threats like terrorism, weapons proliferation, and cyber attacks. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability. So it is essential that we work more closely together than ever before. We have now developed individual cooperation programmes with all our Gulf partners. Because modern security institutions and well-trained local forces represent our best weapons in the fight against violent extremism. *** NATO has a long history of working with partners to project stability beyond our borders. Over the past year, we have trained hundreds of Iraqi officers in Jordan to better fight ISIL. And we are now extending our training and capacity-building efforts into Iraq itself. NATO continues to fight terrorism in other ways, including with direct support to the Counter-ISIL Coalition. Our AWACS surveillance flights provide surveillance data to support Coalition air operations. And all Allies contribute individually to the Coalition in different ways. My message is this: In addressing the most pressing security challenges of our time, we are much stronger together than we are alone. And thats what this NATO-ICI Centre is all about. Deepening trust. Building cooperation. And working together to make our nations safer. Today, I am proud to say that NATO has a new home in the Gulf region. And that we have opened a new chapter in our deepening partnership. I would like to close by once again thanking Kuwait and all our partners here today for their strong support. And for making the opening of this Centre today possible. Thank you so much to all of you. Thank you so much Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, and thank you so much for hosting us today. And I am very grateful for this opportunity to meet with you and to be here in Kuwait And on behalf of the North Atlantic Council, I want to thank you and the government of Kuwait for hosting all of us here today. Kuwait has been a strong and dedicated NATO partner for many years. And you help to build greater security and stability in the Gulf region. Including through this very building the NATO-ICI Regional Centre which we inaugurated earlier today. Minister, last year you and I signed a NATO-Kuwait Transit Agreement to facilitate the transit of personnel and supplies to our NATO Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. And to make any future NATO activities in the region more effective. Back in 2004, Kuwait was the first country to join NATOs Istanbul Cooperation Initiative the ICI. Kuwait was also the first ICI country to establish an Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme with NATO. Today all four ICI countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have these cooperation programmes with NATO. This means that we will be able to step up our cooperation in many areas, including: Crisis management and the fight against terrorism; Energy security; Cyber defence; Non-proliferation; Defence against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons; Maritime security; And civil emergency management. Our relationship with Kuwait and the other the ICI partners reached a new level last year, when all four countries opened diplomatic missions to NATO. So our ties are getting broader and they are getting deeper. Today we held a meeting of the North Atlantic Council here in Kuwait. Together with our ICI partners, as well as other countries, we are developing our cooperation and it is becoming stronger every day. We discussed regional security challenges, and how we can work together to address them. Including at this impressive new facility the NATO-ICI Regional Centre which we opened this morning. It is the Alliances first such presence in the Gulf. And this centre will be a vital hub for our practical cooperation. This is essential. Because our security is directly linked. We face the same threats, like terrorism and failing states. And we share the same aspirations for peace and for stability. We have learned over the years that we are much stronger with allies and partners than we are alone. So I am extremely pleased that our cooperation with Kuwait and our other Gulf partners is reaching new heights. And I look forward to working even more closely together in the future. Including at our new Regional Centre here in Kuwait a proud home for a promising partnership. So thank you once again for hosting us and for making this very centre such a great success and enabling us to inaugurate it today. Thank you. MODERATOR: Now we would like to open the floor for questions please. Q: Good afternoon Minister. You ... there is a message directed to Iran when are you going to convey this intended message to Iran and what are you expecting as a response? And now that we have Mr. Trump as President for the U.S. what are you expecting from the American Administration because Donald Trump has requested from NATO to increase their responsibilities and also to increase the contributions as well as (inaudible audio breaking up). So what are you demanding? So, whos going to be now financing NATO in the future, this is the question for (inaudible audio breaks up)? JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): I can comment on the question of NATO and the new U.S. Administration. Im absolutely certain that the new President, President Trump and the new U.S. Administration will be fully committed to NATO and to the Trans-Atlantic Partnership and the importance of the security guarantees. Im absolutely certain partly because this is in the interests of both Europe and United States. Strong NATO is of course good for Europe but its also good for the United States. Two World Wars and the Cold War have taught us that stability in Europe is also important for peace and stability in the United States, North America. And we have to remember that the only time that NATO has invoked Article 5 of the Collective Defense Clause was after an attack on the United States 9/11 2001 and hundreds of thousands of European soldiers but also soldiers from other countries have served in Afghanistan in an operation, military operation which was a direct response on an attack on the United States. So I think this illustrates that NATO and the partnerships that NATO has established is of course good for European NATO allies but its also good for North America and it illustrates the importance of NATO that we stand together that we protect each other so its also in the interest of the United States to have a strong NATO. Second, I spoke with President-elect Trump just a few days after he was elected in November and he conveyed a very strong message to me that he personally was very committed to NATO and the Trans-Atlantic bond and yesterday evening I had the privilege of speaking to the new Secretary of Defense, James Mattis and he expressed strong support to NATO. Hes an old friend of NATO. Secretary Mattis has been a Senior NATO Commander before. He knows this region, he has been in Kuwait, he has been in Iraq and he welcomed also the establishment of this Centre because Secretary Mattis said that this Centre provides an excellent platform for strengthening the cooperation between NATO and the countries in the Gulf region. So Im absolutely certain that the new U.S. Administration sees and will support strengthening NATO both when it comes to collective defense in Europe but also projecting stability through our neighbourhood, working with partners like for instance Kuwait and other countries in the Gulf region. When it comes to whos going to pay I fully agree with the message from President Trump but also the message that Secretary Mattis gave me, or told me yesterday evening when we spoke on the phone, and that is that we need a fairer burden sharing. European allies have to spend more, have to invest more in defense and I look forward to working together with President Trump and also with Secretary Mattis in pushing this agenda and make progress when it comes to increased defense spending among European NATO allies. We have seen some progress, some allies already meet the 2 percent guidance but we need more, we have a long way to go and I look forward to work together with the new Administration addressing the importance of defense spending. So, Im absolutely certain that NATO will continue to adapt. NATO is the most successful alliance in history because we have been able to adapt and the establishment of this Centre in Kuwait today is yet another expression or example of how NATO is adapting to new security challenges and how we are working together with partners, close friends like Kuwait and other partners in the Gulf region. HIS EXCELLENCY SHEIKH SABAH KHALED AL-SABAH (First Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs): [TRANSLATOR:] With regard to the first question, I will visit tomorrow Iran to convey a message from his Royal Highness, our Emir to the President of Iran on the Iranian Gulf relations and all the issues that should be built on the international law and the relations established on the principles of the United Nations. Again I would like to congratulate Donald Trump and the new Administration for assuming office and I wish the American President all success and we look forward to continue our fruitful cooperation between our two nations at all levels. MODERATOR: Please. Q: Omar Hassan (sp?) the French Press Agency. So, this message that youre taking with you to Iran, are they going to contribute to solve the problems that we have? HIS EXCELLENCY SHEIKH SABAH KHALED AL-SABAH (First Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs): [TRANSLATOR:] Well there is a genuine willingness and desire to have normal and fair relations with Iran. We are all partners in this region and we have a common interest and we have huge capabilities on both sides be it on the Iranian or in the Arab side. So, opening a channel of dialogue and communication I think this will enable us to better benefit from our capabilities and resources and it will bring benefit to both sides. MODERATOR: Please. Q: Salah al-Keen (sp?) (inaudible) ... future and (inaudible) cooperation. Do you envision this cooperation between (inaudible) to reach a (inaudible) between (inaudible) and NATO? JENS STOLTENBERG: This Centre, the regional NATO ICI Centre is a Centre for strengthened partnership between NATO, the countries in the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and with other countries in the Gulf region. This is not about, this is not a full-fledge military cooperation meaning any collective security guarantees but it is a way for NATO to work even closer with good friends, good partners in the Gulf region. And I think we really will benefit from closer cooperation because the countries in the Gulf region and NATO we face the same threats, the same challenges, terrorism, failing States, cyber-attacks and instability in our neighbourhood. And therefore we can work together in addressing terrorism; in addressing cyber-threats; and in building stability and thats the reason why we so much welcome the establishment of this Centre. This NATO Centre in Kuwait is a new home for NATO and it it provides an excellent potential for expanding further our cooperation and we will also provide mobile training teams from our Joint Force Command in Naples that can work together with personnel and officers in the region. So we will expand our cooperation but this is about partnership; its not about collective security guarantees. Q: Sahara (inaudible) from the Egyptian Agency. There was a proposal on ... to have some efforts on easing the tension between Saudi Arabia and Egypt. HIS EXCELLENCY SHEIKH SABAH KHALED AL-SABAH (First Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs): There was mediation (sic) efforts. Well, the Saudi Egyptian relations are very important. Egypt is a very strategic geographic, (sic) very strategic country and that relations (audio breaks up) of course the relation between the Gulf States and Egypt should be at their best and now were facing the challenges and the common threats so everyone is keen on keeping good relations between the Gulf States and Egypt and everyone is trying to exert efforts to improve the relations everywhere and at every time. MODERATOR: Last question please. Q: Thank you your Excellency. (inaudible away from microphone)Your Excellency this new Treaty signed between NATO and the Arab States? And is that door open between NATO and the (inaudible) other treaties with the other Gulf States or the Middle East States? Thank you. JENS STOLTENBERG: What we signed today was an agreement on how to run this Centre with a clear mandate for this regional Centre for cooperation, for partnership. This is not a Treaty on collective defense or security guarantees but of course while working together, by helping each other we strengthen the security both of Kuwait, the other ICI countries and NATO because by working together we help stabilize our neighbourhood and when our neighbours are more stable we are more secure and when we work together for instance in addressing the all more important challenge of terrorism or cyber-threats then both Kuwait, the other Gulf countries and NATO becomes more secure. So this is a contribution to make all of us more secure, to regional stability and to peace but it is not a collective defense treaty; it is a platform for cooperation. It is a milestone and it is a proud house for enhanced cooperation between NATO and the Gulf countries. (As prepared) Minister Gajdos, Generals, Soldiers, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, This is a momentous day for Slovakia and for NATO. On behalf of NATOs Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, I thank all of you for being here to celebrate this special occasion. I especially want to thank the government and the people of Slovakia for their strong support for NATO and for making this day possible. I am also grateful to all of the Allies who are participating directly in this multinational NFIU headquarters. Slovakia, of course. But also the Czech Republic. Germany. Hungary. Poland. Romania. The United States. And my own country, Turkey. This is the eighth NATO Force Integration Unit that has been inaugurated over the past two years. The other seven NFIUs are located in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. This robust network of NFIUs in central and eastern Europe perform several critically important functions for NATO and our collective security. This multinational unit will be staffed by 21 Slovakian personnel combined with 20 international personnel. These personnel will play a vital role in military planning, exercises, and in facilitating reinforcements, if needed. The message is clear: NATO is here in Slovakia. We are committed to defend your country and your people against any threat or act of aggression. More broadly, these eight NFIUs symbolise NATOs solidarity. They represent NATOs commitment to collective defence. To the idea that we are in this together. That we will defend one another. Its the notion of one for all and all for one that has kept NATO strong, our citizens safe, and our countries at peace for nearly 70 years. We have learned over the years that we are much stronger working together than going it alone. All eight NFIUs are part of NATOs Readiness Action Plan or RAP that was agreed to at NATOs Wales Summit in 2014. And RAP, in turn, is part of NATOs response to the evolving security challenges we face following Russias illegal annexation of Crimea and ongoing aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine. We have increased our NATO Response Force to 40,000 troops. And we can now deploy them and other forces faster than before. So this relatively small headquarters is part of a much bigger plan. In fact, taken as a whole, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement of our collective defence capabilities since the end of the Cold War. But let us also remember that NATO is, has always been, and will always be a defensive alliance. The most successful alliance in history. Everything that we do is defensive, proportionate and fully in line with our international commitments. Our forces do not pose a threat to any country. Our goal is to prevent conflict, not to provoke conflict. This NFIU is designed to help us keep our countries safe. And to uphold our shared values on which NATO was founded: democracy, individual liberty, and the rule of law. So I congratulate Slovakia on this momentous day. It is an honour for me to be here to take part in the inauguration of this new headquarters. Today we take an important step toward greater security for Slovakia and your people. For NATO as a whole. And for future generations. (Natural News) As of this morning, President Donald Trump has signed three executive actions. In addition to putting a stop to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Trump has instituted a federal hiring freeze (except for the military) and has re-instituted Mexico City Policy which prevents federal funds from going to overseas organizations that perform or promote abortions. Mexico City Policy was first instated by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It has been rescinded twice under the Democratic administrations of Clinton and Obama, and now has been re-instated twice by the Republican administrations of Bush and Trump. (Related: Keep up with the Presidents latest policy decisions at Trump.news) A poll collected by Gallup early in Obamas presidency revealed that rescinding Mexico City policy was not popular decision: only 35 percent of voters approved of the action. Pro-abortion groups have, unsurprisingly, been opposed to this legislation for a very long time. When then-President Clinton revoked Mexico City Policy in 1993, he declared that the broad conditions were unwarranted. Eight years later, President George W. Bush re-instated the policy, noting that tax-payer dollars should not be used to fund abortions. It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad. It is therefore my belief that the Mexico City Policy should be restored. When Obama again repealed the policy in 2013, he cited similar reasoning as Clinton. Mexico City Policy has clearly been controversial from the get-go. Those who favor abortion feel the policy is too stringent; those who oppose abortion feel that their tax dollars should not be used to pay for something they do not support. The policys detractors maintain that without our precious funding, thousands of women will not have access to safe abortions. Activists have even gone so far as to condemn the decision as an assault on womens health which is just as ludicrous as it sounds. Mexico City Policy does not prevent private individuals from donating to causes they are concerned about. It merely prevents federal funds which are collected from every single tax-paying citizen in the United States from being used by international organizations to pay for or promote abortions. Given that only about a third of Americans approved of Obamas removal of the policy, it stands to reason that the majority of tax-payers do not want their hard-earned dollars being used to fund abortions. The people who oppose abortion, and tax-payers funding it, have rights too. The Supreme Court has already legalized abortion in all 50 states; should those who oppose it really be mandated to pay for it in other countries, as well? Absolutely not. The revoking of Mexico City Policy was a highly controversial choice that Obama made early on in his presidency, back in 2009. Now that Trump has re-instated it, it is not surprising that the liberal media is out in full-swing, decrying the policy as an attack on women. The reality is that Trump is protecting the right of the majority to not have their tax dollars used for a purpose they disagree with. Trumps reinstatement of Mexico City Policy has garnered much approval from conservatives and anti-abortion activists across the board. Even Senator Rand Paul has tweeted about his support of the policy, noting that tax-payer money should never be used to take innocent lives. Sources: Breitbart.com Independent.co.uk WeeklyStandard.com CBSNews.com Cleveland.com (Natural News) With the exception of a few donor interests, former President Barack Obama never entered into international agreements that were going to be of any real benefit to the United States. Whether it be the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Climate Change Accords or globalist trade deals, the lie was always that such deals would benefit ordinary Americans and American business interests while doing exactly the opposite. Tens of millions of Americans knew that already, and one of them was just inaugurated as our 45th president. As reported by Breitbart, Donald J. Trumps pledge to get the U.S. out of bad trade deals took a major step forward on Monday, the presidents first full work day, when he signed scores of executive actions including one that essentially kills any American involvement in the much-maligned and extremely controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. (RELATED: Trump has pledged to dramatically roll back Washington! Stay current at Liberty.news) Weve been talking about this for a long time a great thing for the American worker, Trump said after putting his signature to an order killing Obamas primary trade agreement, which was to be between the U.S. and 11 other countries, most of them in Asia. Trump repeatedly called the deal bad for American workers, and apparently U.S. Labor agrees with him: Unions that normally reserve only the most vile comments for Republican presidents and lawmakers are praising Trump for taking this action. Today, President Trump made good on his campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Teamsters President James P. Hoffa. With this decision, the president has taken the first step toward fixing 30 years of bad trade policies that have cost working Americans millions of good-paying jobs. The union, one of the countrys largest, has also opposed NAFTA, which Trump has pledged to re-negotiate. The TPP, as Natural News reported in May, was never going to be a good thing for American workers, businesses and industries, as Obama and its supporters in both major parties promised. As we noted, Brett Redmayne-Titley, an undercover journalist who managed to attend secretive TTP planning events, wrote that that the agreement was no less than treason for essentially putting globalization on steroids, no matter the cost to U.S. jobs and industry. Also, Brooke Harper with Global Trade Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based trade watch organization, said that TPPwhich was really a treaty and thus subject to the advice and consent of the Senate before the U.S. could officially adopt it was nothing short of a complete sell-out of the American people to corporate interests. Most corporations that began as American companies are now global in nature; they do business all over the world. So theyre no longer loyal primarily to the United States, but rather to their bottom line, hence the quickening pace of moving jobs and operations offshore, where labor pools are cheaper and regulatory burdens are far less. Now that TPP is dead, Trump administration officials indicated that the president would move quickly to address NAFTAthe North American Free Trade Agreement, which was negotiated during the administration of President George H. W. Bush but ratified during the Clinton administration in the early 1990s. Trump has heavily criticized this deal as well, correctly noting that its mostly been a boon for Mexico, which has seen hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs migrate there in the quarter-century since it took effect. (RELATED: What governmental agency has Trump dismantled today? Keep up at BigGovernment.news) White House officials have said that Trump is scheduling meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to open new discussions on how to revise portions of the agreement. While Trump is getting criticism from the usual globalist quarters inside and outside the U.S., he certainly was not prophetic in predicting the negative effect the agreement would have on U.S. job opportunities and manufacturing. That honor goes to another businessman-turned-politician, Ross Perot, who ran for the presidency under the then-newly-formed Reform Party. Perot, a Texas native, warned that the agreement would create a giant sucking sound of jobs out of the U.S., and he was right. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: NYTimes.com Breitbart.com ActivistPost.com (Natural News) Billionaire Hungarian George Soros is either adored or reviled, depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall on. But one thing is for certain: We should be much more concerned about his political meddling than we are about alleged Russian election hacking, the latter of which is nothing more than a fake news story. Why? Because Soros has directly funded what can only be called domestic terrorism operations that have led to the deaths of police officers and the destruction of American cities. And frankly, the Trump administration should do what the Left-wing Obama regime would never do: Hold Soros legally accountable. As reported by The Washington Times in January 2015, Soros-financed organizations gave at least $33 million to groups that emboldened activistsemboldened, as in burned, looted and destroyed public and private property, and led to activism against American police officers in the form of assassinations. [RELATED: Read the latest about civil unrest and terrorism at Terrorism.news]. Whats more, its not just tens of millions of Americans who are sick and tired of Soros meddling and support for civil unrest. His own country has had enough as well. As reported by Bloomberg, Hungary is planning a crackdown on all Soros-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other politically active groups, now that President-elect Donald J. Trump will take over the Oval Office: The European Union member will use all the tools at its disposal to sweep out NGOs funded by the Hungarian-born financier, which serve global capitalists and back political correctness over national governments, Szilard Nemeth, a vice president of the ruling Fidesz party, told reporters Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an early supporter of Trumps, has long criticized Soros and his network of organizations, as well as his Left-wing political activism. Bloomberg, in its report, described Soros as a U.S. Democratic Party supporter with a wide network of organizations that promote democracy in formerly communist eastern Europe. No, not democracy, unrest and chaos. What groups he funds in the U.S. are doing is not practicing democracy, they are sowing violence and creating anarchy, and Europe-based NGOs are doing pretty much the same thing (by advocating continent-wide acceptance of massive numbers of refugees from countries that are hotbeds of terrorism throughout the Middle East, for example). Whats interestingnay, hypocriticalabout Soros political Leftism is that he uses American-style capitalism to fund efforts to overthrow capitalistic societies. Whats more, the groups he funds in the U.S. use the First Amendments free speech, assembly and redress provisions to tear down our Constitution-based republic. Think about the recent election results; Left-wing revolutionaries are using their freedom of speech to stump for repeal of the Electoral College system. Our founders considered a pure democracy but rejected it in favor of a republic because it better served all Americans, not just the elite. All said, well state this as plainly as we can: The Trump administration should pursue Soros and every other seditious, Left-wing Marxist revolutionary on our soil and internationally, and arrest them for attempting to destroy our country from within. Treason does not only come from betrayal by a high government official; it applies to anyone who attempts to kill a duly elected or appointed official or overthrow the current form of government by force. [RELATED: Keep up with the latest developments at Treason.news] Soros became a naturalized American citizen in 1961, so he definitely falls under provisions in U.S. Code defining treason: Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. Trump himself has expressed no love for Soros, accusing him of being part of a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities. Its high time this man paid a price for attempting to harm the country that took him in and helped make him wealthy beyond imagination. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: Bloomberg.com WashingtonTimes.com TheNationalSentinel.com Bugout.news Microsoft has just announced this morning that it has finally acquired AI startup Maluuba, a Toronto-based company that wants to use deep learning for language processing. According to The Verge, deep learning is an approach in the field of artificial intelligence that is currently in popularity due to incredible achievements that were being made all over the field in over the past five years. Microsoft recently wrote in a blog announcing the purchase that as they set new milestones for speech and image recognition through deep learning techniques, machine reading and writing will be only a few strikes away. Back in summer of 2016, Maluuba shared the results of an AI system that could read and comprehend text with apparently near-human capability. This should currently outperform systems that are being boasted by Google and Facebook. Microsoft not only bought the company but also established closer ties with Yoshua Bengio, a pioneer in the field who also served as an advisor to Maluuba. He will now be the advisor of Microsoft's AI division. It appears this system could easily be integrated with Cortana, which is Microsoft's digital assistant, to help Microsoft consumers deal with everyday chores like e-mail. Maluuba appears to image a system that doesn't just know what e-mails you receive, but also determine how critical the information each message is. For Microsoft's new enterprise services, the possibilities are almost endless. Microsoft said we can even have a future where, instead of searching directories, documents or e-mails to find certain information, one can just communicate with an AI agent that will leverage Maluuba's machine comprehension capabilities to respond to the request. The said agent will then be able to answer the question in a company security-compliant manner by having a deeper understanding of the contents of the files. This is severely better than retrieving documents by keyword-matching.This appears to be just one of the hundreds of potential scenarios that could happen with Maluuba pushing the state-of-the-art possibility of machine literacy. Brainwave authentication is one of the many new biometric measures that are being proposed as an alternative to passwords. The idea is for authentication to be done with electroencephalogram (EEG) readings. According to New Scientist, for instance, instead of using a password, a computer can display a series of words and then measure the response via an EEG headset. These signatures are unique and more complex, meaning they are more difficult to hack than a standard password. However, New Scientist reports that recent research suggests that EEG readings can be able to authenticate someone's identity with accuracy rates around 94-percent. There are some factors, however, including if we have had too many drinks. Tommy Chin, a security researcher from cyber security firm Grimm and Peter Muller, a Rochester Institute of Technology graduate student, tested this theory by analyzing the brainwaves of people before and after drinking Fireball shots. Chin says brainwaves can be manipulated by external influenecs such as opioids, caffeine and alcohol. These make it a significant challenge to verify the authenticity of the user because they drank a lot of alcohol. Chin and Muller initially presented their findings at a security conference in Washington DC this month. They said brainwave authentication accuracy may fall to 33 percent in drunk users. They recruited more participants at SchmooCon to gather more data. However, John Chuang at the University of California, Berkeley, said the problem is not just confined to drinks and drugs. He recently published the impact of exercise on EEG authentication and found that accuracy degrades immediately after a workout, though it's easily recovered. According to New Scientist, he suggests that other factors such as fatigue, stress and hunger can reduce reliability. It could be possible to collect "templates" for a user by mapping their EEG signatures when drunk, tired and so on in order to measure accuracy in different conditions. Chin and Muller also found it possible to tweak the EEG data analysis using machine learning. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation have recently announced that they are planning to launch a new mission to collect and bring back samples from the moon back to Earth. According to a report from the National Public Radio, the decision of China to launch another mission to the moon comes two years after successfully landing a rover on the moon's surface. China became the third country to land a rover on the moon, following United States and the former Soviet Union. For the mission, China plans to send the Chang'e-5 lunar probe aboard the heavy-lift carrier rocket Long March-5. The launch is scheduled to be done in late November at Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province. "With a weight of 8.2 tons, the lunar probe is comprised of four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander," said Ye Peijian, one of China's leading aerospace experts and a consultant to the program, in a report from CCTV News. Lunar samples will be first taken by the lander and then put into a vessel in the ascender after the moon landing. Next, the ascender will takeoff from the moon to dock with the orbiter and returner orbiting the moon. The samples will then be transferred from the ascender to the returner. The orbiter and returner will be the ones heading back to Earth. However, the returner will detached from the orbiter just a several thousand kilometer before re-entering the Earth. If the mission is a success, it will become a myriad of first for China. It will be China's first automated moon sampling, first moon take-off, first unmanned docking in a lunar orbit about 380,000 km from earth, and first return flight in a speed close to second cosmic velocity. China is also planning on launching Chang'e-4 lunar probe around 2018. The primary mission of the Chang'e-4 is to be the very first to have a soft-landing on the far side of the moon, conducting an in situ and roving detection and relay communications at earth-moon L2 point. NBC Bay Areas investigative unit has uncovered a near complete 911 ambulance response meltdown in San Francisco that left at least five people with no ambulances to immediately take them to the hospital. The most serious incident in the Jan. 13 collapse was at the corner of Clay Street and Grant Avenue in Chinatown, where records obtained by NBC Bay Area show the struggle to find an ambulance for an apparent stroke victim. It ultimately took some 21 minutes to get an ambulance to the scene, more than double the target response time. That was not the first incident that night, however. It was about 7:30 p.m. when the city ran out of ambulances. Engine 8 in the citys China Basin area called for an ambulance response. This is Engine 8, do you have a medic attached to this call, chest pain and shortness of breath? one firefighter asked over the radio. Were trying to get a medic right now, was the reply. Just a few minutes after that crew could not get an ambulance to come, at 7:37 p.m. someone called 911 about a woman collapsing at the corner of Clay Street and Grant Avenue. The crew from fire station No. 13 arrived at 7:43. The dispatch log includes the notation, medic to follow, which indicates no ambulance was immediately available for what had been a Code 2 - a moderate level response call. Yeah, we need a Code 3 ambulance for this run, one Station 13 firefighter can be heard saying over the radio when he arrived, increasing the urgency rating of the call. Need C3 (Code 3emergency) Medic is reflected in the log as of 7:44. Two minutes after that, dispatchers locate a private ambulance. It took another 14 minutes for the medics to arrive at 7:58 p.m. That was some 21 minutes after the first call went out. But that was not the only Chinatown crew left waiting. Engine No. 2 radioed in to a dispatcher. Do we have a paramedic assigned to our run yet? the firefighter asked. Engine 2, negative. Still other crews in the Western Addition and the Financial District were told the same thing. As the crisis mounted, there was an exchange between the Financial District based crew. Do we have a medic assigned to this call yet? Truck 13, we have no medics right now, came the reply. Its not the best case scenario, acknowledged fire spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge about the Friday the 13th meltdown, which she said was the product of a dramatic and unexpected increase in call volume. It was just a surge, she said. They happen. You never really quite know when its going to happen -- so, we do the best we can with that The ambulance shortfall came as the city logged a record number of ambulance transports in December. Talmadge says the problem has been made worse because the citys staffing model did not account for the influx. Theres only so much we have control over we cant control those surges, she said. But again, based on projected call volume, we staff accordingly. Help is on the way, but it may not be enough, Talmadge acknowledged. Some 30 new paramedics are expected to go into service in the next month or so, but Talmadge says more may be needed to keep pace. In December alone, Talmadge says, medics took 400 more patients to the hospital than just the month before, a record of more than 1,800 transports. Its trending up, its getting more challenging, she told us. Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents the Chinatown area, says he is terrified at the prospect of not having enough ambulances on just a routine Friday night. Thats pretty frightening, he said, adding that he wants to hold hearings on what the collapse on Friday and the response to the woman who collapsed. We need to have a soup to nuts review of how our ambulance system is working in San Francisco, he told us, and I intend to do that. Rescue crews on Monday believe they found the car belonging to an 18-year-old Tracy woman who went missing over the weekend after her car veered from the roadway and crashed into the Alameda Creek near Fremont. The woman, who police say likely did not survive the crash, was still missing as of Monday after her 2000 silver Honda Accord on Saturday crossed the center divide on Niles Canyon Road, collided with a white Honda Accord and plunged into the creek, according to police. Initial reports indicated it had been a solo vehicle crash. Crews will resume searching for an 18-year-old Tracy woman who went missing after a vehicle went off the roadway and plunged into Alameda Creek, near Fremont, on Saturday. Bob Redell reports. Alameda County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ray Kelly on Monday said that roughly 30 family members of the missing teenager walked along the creek in hopes of finding any trace of the woman or the car. One of the searchers noticed an unusual sight in the water, prompting authorities to launch a drone in order to get a closer view. Drone footage revealed two tires sticking out of the rushing water. Officials with the Alameda County Sheriff's Department did not officially confirm, but they said the located vehicle likely belongs to the missing woman because it was spotted roughly 100 yards from where authorities believe the crash occurred. "When you walk with the family and the mom and dad, it's very moving," Kelly said. "It is their determination that helped them find the car today." The teen just graduated from high school and was attending college, hoping to become a social worker. An 18-year-old Tracy woman is missing after a vehicle went off the roadway and plunged into Alameda Creek, near Fremont, on Saturday, according to the Alameda County Sheriffs Office and the CHP on Sunday. Marianne Favro reports. Crews will not remove the vehicle until Tuesday because of unsafe water conditions. Removal teams cannot begin recovery until the water level and current subside. The teenage driver was traveling from Tracy to Menlo Park when her mother notified police that she was missing. Police on Monday closed Niles Canyon Road in both directions while they searched for the car and the woman. The road was scheduled to re-open around 3 p.m. Authorities plan to close the same stretch of pavement on Tuesday beginning around 9 a.m. or 10 a.m. in order to continue the search, police said. Gov. Jerry Brown delivered an aggressive defense on Tuesday of California's liberal policies on immigration, health care and climate change during his State of the State address, vowing to fight the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress if they threaten to roll back state policies. "California is not turning back. Not now, not ever," Brown said. The Democratic governor, who has made fighting climate change a legacy issue, also noted the state's successes in cutting unemployment, closing a multibillion-dollar deficit, boosting school funding and expanding rights for immigrants who are in the country illegally. While no one knows what President Donald Trump's administration will bring, the governor said, "there are signs that are disturbing." "We have seen the bold assertion of 'alternative facts.' We have heard the blatant attacks on science," Brown told a joint session of the Democratic-controlled Legislature. "Familiar signposts of our democracy truth, civility, working together have been obscured or swept aside." With backing from the Obama administration, the state of 39 million people has adopted the most aggressive program in the U.S. to fight climate change, a campaign to roll back carbon emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The measures include escalating fees charged to polluters for emissions under the state's cap-and-trade system, incentives for electric cars, and regulation of greenhouse gas releases from dairy cows and landfills. The state also embraced the federal health care law and committed billions of dollars to expanding Medi-Cal, the state's health insurance program for the poor. While over 5 million more people now have access to health care, the expansion relies on billions in federal funding that now could be at risk. Brown also noted several laws passed by the Legislature to expand protections for people living in the country illegally and to give them access to driver's licenses, work permits and a college education. "We may be called upon to defend those laws, and defend them we will," he said. "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." He received a standing ovation from lawmakers. He also urged the Democrats, who have a supermajority in both houses, to reject the divisiveness of last year's presidential election and embrace bipartisanship. Assemblyman Tom Lackey, a Republican from Palmdale, said he hopes it was "a genuine invitation for collaboration." "His address did not give me confidence that we will be moving forward on issues that matter most to Californians," Lackey said in a statement. "Skyrocketing housing costs, declining middle-class job prospects and rising violent crime rates were not even mentioned." Brown is projecting a $1.6 billion budget deficit and proposing $3 billion in spending cuts, largely to social programs that his fellow Democrats support. In his address, he did not propose any new policies. He did find himself in agreement with the Trump administration on the need for infrastructure improvements, saying California has "roads and tunnels and railroads and even a dam that the president could help us with." Republicans in the Legislature agree with Democrats on the need for billions in infrastructure projects, but not on how to pay for them. Assemblyman Phil Ting, a San Francisco Democrat, said the speech offered hope for Californians who fear they might be singled out under the new administration in Washington: "I think it's a message to them that we're going to continue to protect you." Brown is coming off a blockbuster year of liberal victories. In addition to securing an extension of California's landmark climate change legislation, he increased the state minimum wage, expanded family leave laws, toughened gun laws and persuaded voters to soften sentencing laws and reject a ballot measure that threatened two of his legacy projects on high-speed rail and water supply. Earlier Tuesday, Trump dealt a blow to President Barack Obama's legacy on climate change, signing executive actions to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, a move cheered by congressional Republicans and decried by environmentalists. ___ AP writer Sophia Bollag also contributed to this report. At an emotional sentencing hearing Monday, a woman recalled how she lost her husband, son and mother-in-law and her personal ordeal after the San Bruno explosion. It was beyond words, it was a horrible experience for me, Sue Bullis told Judge Thelton Henderson about how the PG&E pipeline explosion shattered her life. Henderson is set to sentence the company on pipeline safety and obstruction charges Thursday. The judge stressed that the case was quite serious and although not directly tied to the Sept. 9, 2010, disaster, the charged offenses posed a risk of making such incidents more likely. Henderson told the prosecution and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. that he intends to see the maximum probation term of five years as well as the maximum $3 million penalty. Henderson will set out the details of the sentence at the Thursday hearing. Bullis told Henderson a highly personal account of the San Bruno nightmare. She said her 24-year old daughter was out with friends to celebrate her birthday, Bullis said. A nurse, Bullis was at a Sunnyvale hotel for a work conference. Thats when she heard about the fire in her neighborhood and tried to find her husband and son, without success. Bullis lost her husband, Greg, 50, son William, 17, and mother-in-law, Lavonne, 82. The shock of the night and the aftermath turned to terror, self-imposed isolation and depression. Bullis said she was so haunted by memories that she had move away and even quit the church where her family worshipped. She said she kept seeing her lost family in the front pew. Bullis also became estranged from her surviving daughter, although they have since reconciled. She said her ordeal was so crippling, she could no longer work as a nurse. It gave me purpose, Bullis said of her nursing career, and its loss stands as a huge void in my life. At one point, Bullis told the court, she contemplated suicide. I wanted to join my husband and my deceased family," she said. "I truly did not want to live. With therapy and support, Bullis said she has found a path forward. Still, Bullis told the court that she is filled with regrets over what happened that night. She then asked if the utility had any remorse for what occurred, given their aggressive defense in the court trial last year. I just wonder, today, if PG&E has any regrets, she said. Bullis then asked that the judge to act to ensure that the safety of the community is assured. No court decision will bring back my family or family life, she said. It is my hope that with proper oversight, that this tragedy will never happen again. Bullis was followed by Jessica Morales, who lost her daughter Rene in the blast. Morales told Henderson that she was disappointed that no one in the company had seen the inside of a jail cell for what happened. An official with the National Transportation Safety Board also addressed the court, saying that the investigative body spent needless time fighting with the utility during the yearlong probe. The company is now convicted of one count of obstructing the NTSB probe. Stephen Klejst told the court that PG&E thwarted our efforts at nearly every turn and engaged in obfuscation and outright deception. He said a firm stance against the utility should be taken. Its about punishing the defendant and sending a clear message that disrupting a federal probe will lead to severe consequences. A PG&E official, hired in 2015 as chief ethics compliance officer, became emotional herself as she gave a statement to the court. On behalf of PG&E, we sincerely apologize to the families and friends of those who lost their lives or were injured in this tragic explosion, and we want them to know our mission and our commitment to safety will never stop, said Julie Kane, a vice president with the company. We will remain forever committed to taking action to meet the high safety standards that our customers, and we, demand and expect," Kane continued. "We are profoundly sorry. Former Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Bill Scott was sworn in Monday as San Francisco's new chief of police in a City Hall ceremony marked by the shouts of a handful of protesters. Scott, who was appointed by Mayor Ed Lee last month after a months-long search triggered by the resignation in May of former police Chief Greg Suhr, takes the helm at a time of turmoil and change and is expected to lead the department through a reform process started under his predecessor. He acknowledged today that the department has difficult challenges ahead. The department is working to implement a series of reforms recommended by a U.S. Department of Justice report released in October and also recently adopted body-worn cameras and finalized a revised use of force policy that has become the subject of litigation with the San Francisco Police Officers Association. "We have been tasked with reforming our department, not for the sake of change or for political purposes, but instead for the sake of making it better at what we do, that is keeping our city safe and free from disorder in a manner that is constitutional, effective, professional and legitimate in the eyes of the public, "Scott said. "You have already begun that process and I applaud you for your efforts," he said. Scott, whose selection over department insider candidates such as interim Chief Toney Chaplin prompted a negative reaction from the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said he had begun meeting with San Francisco officers and had been welcomed. He said he understood that the trust of his officers was not a given but would have to be "earned." It was as Scott spoke about the community's desire for reform that several protesters began shouting from the audience, calling out phrases including "Gascon do your job!"-- a reference to the slow pace of charging decisions in recent police shootings under District Attorney George Gascon. The protesters were quickly removed and Scott continued speaking through the interruption. Lee said he expected Scott, an Alabama native who has 27 years of experience in the Los Angeles Police Department including direct involvement in reform efforts there, to be "the finest police chief in America." "The San Francisco Police Department strives to be a model for 21st century policing and a leader in our nation in balancing public safety and community trust," Lee said. "I am confident that the appointment of [Scott] as chief of police will be the next step on the path to improvement and reform." The Sobrato family has given $100 million to Santa Clara University the largest gift ever to the private Catholic school. The money, announced Saturday and given by Silicon Valley real estate and philanthropy luminaries, John and Susan Sobrato, will be used to create the Sobrato Campus for Discovery and Innovation. That will become a "campus within a campus to bring undergraduate students studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or STEM studies all under one roof. Spokeswoman Deepa Arora said the university hopes the 300,000-square-foot campus, which will be located within the center of the school's complex, will be finished by 2020. The new campus will replace the existing law school and three aging engineering buildings, and will be designed by Portland-based Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects along with lab-design experts Research Facilities Design of San Diego. "I'm not worried about my legacy," John Sobrato said in an interview with NBC Bay Area on Tuesday. "I'd like to see something happen today. I want this project built and occupied in my lifetime." The gift is the largest in Santa Claras 166-year history and ranks as the second-largest gift ever to a Catholic university, accordng to Arora. Its also the largest single gift the Sobratos have ever made. In an interview, Sobrato said he hoped his large donation will inspire other tech leaders to pitch in as well. The 1960-business graduate estimated the full project will cost $270 million. Sobrato has already given the school $20 million to build the universitys Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center, and Orradre Library, completed in 2008, among other gifts. Since 1996, the university said the Sobrato Family has donated nearly $375 million in cash and real estate to educational, health, human services, and other charities. "It's great news," said Jim Lyons, vice president for university relations. "We think it's a game changer." Added University President Michael Engh: "This historic gift will accelerate our vision of leveraging our academic excellence, Jesuit values, and Silicon Valley relationships to forge imaginative solutions to the urgent challenges we face." Earlier this month, the University of California at San Francisco received $500 million by the Helen Diller Foundation, one of single largest gifts in University of California history and one of the most generous gifts ever given to an American university. In 2016, Nikes Phil Knight gave $400 million to Stanford University. And in 2015, hedge-fund manager John A. Paulson gave $400 million to Harvard University. Massive waves cleared a 25-foot retaining wall and crashed into a Pacifica restaurant early Saturday morning, bursting through the beachside windows and rushing over tables and chairs. Moonraker manager Emily Yeafoli shared the restaurant's surveillance video with NBC Bay Area on Tuesday, adding that the water spilled all over the banquet room of the restaurant located inside the Best Western Lighthouse Hotel at 105 Rockaway Beach Ave. No one was inside the restaurant at the time, but a man was in the lobby of the Best Western that shares a wall with the restaurant when the wave hit. "I heard the crash, and they had everyone right away relocate to a different area," said Tony Mercado. Another witness had been watching the high waves. "You could see the waves splashing way up onto the sidewalk," said Sue Phelps. "I wasnt surprised to hear the window broke. Just never turn your back on it." City crews were on hand to clear debris and clean up the sidewalk. And inside the Moonraker, electric fans were set up to dry out the floor, Yeafoli said. Storms over the weekend were brutal, causing waves throughout the region to swell to record heights. In Monterey Bay for example, 34-foot waves crashed into the historic SS Palo Alto, ripping off its stern. Despite the boarded-up windows, Yeafoli said Moonraker is open for business. She's not yet sure how much the damage cost, adding that insurance will pay for it. "We have an event scheduled in the room on Friday," she said. "So fingers crossed it's fixed by then." This isn't the first time the ocean waves knocked out window panes at Moonraker. Yeafoli said that "years and years ago," sometime in the 1990s, the windows blew out on the second floor of the restaurant during similarly stormy weather. Meanwhile, at Sharp Park Beach, a handful of photographers were on hand snapping shots of a rare goose sighting. Birdwatcher Dawn Jefferson said someone spotted an Native Alaskan Goose and sent out an alert to the birdwatching community. She descibed it as a "lifetime spotting." "This is the first time Ive ever seen an emperor goose in my life," Jefferson said. "It could be the weather that brought his goose down, its hard to say." Elsewhere in Pacifica public works crews began repairs on a giant sinkhole that opened up on a popular path to the beach last month. The sunny weather Tuesday gave workers the opportunity to fill the hole with concrete. There was no estimate on when the path would reopen, but crews said they are making progress. Following the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on Friday, a demonstration estimated to be one of the largest nationwide swelled across cities globally on Saturday, including thousands of people from the Bay Area. The totals are still trickling in, but a tally from organizers and police indicate there were roughly 300, 000 men, women and children taking to the streets throughout San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the East Bay. The number grows even bigger when smaller cities are counted too. There were plenty of people carrying "Girls just want to have fun-damental rights" and "I'm a feminist" in places such as tiny coastal Pacifica, Redwood City and more conservative Walnut Creek. As for what's next? Organizers are now trying to harness the energy from the varied grassroots groups who came out in force over the weekend, and figure out the answer to that very question. San Francisco: 150,000 marchers Estimates for the Women's March in San Francisco are between 100,000 to 150,000 people, however, the San Francisco Police Department does not record official crowd numbers. East Bay: 105,000 marchers Outside of San Francisco, Oakland reported the biggest march near Frank Ogawa Plaza and Lake Merritt with early crowd estimates of 100,000 people, police said. Estimates range from three to 10,000 people for the march on Saturday in Walnut Creek and another 500 people are estimated to have attended in Albany. Peninsula: 1,000 marchers Pacifica police are estimating 250 people showed up to a march on the coast side, and between 50 to100 in San Mateo. There were no estimates available for a community rally filling Redwood City's Courthouse Square. South Bay: 25,000 to 38,000 marchers Smaller marches were held in the Bay Area with police estimating about 25,000 people in San Jose as the event got started and 30,000 to 38,000 people estimated by organizers at the end. North Bay: 3,000 marchers The Napa Valley Register estimated a few thousand attended a local march in Napa. Nationwide As of right now, two data scientists are trying to pool resources to get the public more accurate numbers from a day estimated to make historical numbers. Spearheading the project is Erica Chenoweth at the University of Denver and Jeremy Pressman at the University of Connecticut. Its no small feat as theyve already recorded marches held in 500 cities in the U.S. alone with between 3.2 and 3.7 million people. That number could grow as protest organizers estimate as many as 5.5 million participants worldwide. Pressman said curiosity started the project. "As Saturday unfolded, it seemed like more marches were happening than I expected," Pressman said. "Many people forwarded links to reports. We have now stopped taking in new information and are just assessing what we have received." The two believe theyll have better estimates assessed later this week. Whats Next? The question on so many minds and social media feeds of what's next for those that came out to march. "My inbox is full of all kinds of ideas, especially what's next," said Jenny Bradanini, who co-led the Women's March in San Jose. Currently, she said California organizers are mobilizing to connect women with community groups and actions that showed up to gather signatures and support for their causes. "This turned out to be a movement that none of us envisioned it to be," Bradanini said. "It' going to be a different environment going forward." With one of the largest nationwide marches outside of Washington D.C. occurring in Los Angeles, organizers estimate that one in five marchers were people in California. She said that was a powerful statistic to hear and wants people in this state to get involved with community action groups going forward or by gathering a group of close friends and family to start a discussion. "It is political, yes, but another really important part of this is community," Bradanini said. "Gather a community and talk about things - about the issues that are important to you." Israel on Tuesday announced the construction of 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank, the second announcement of new construction in the occupied territory since President Donald Trump took office, NBC News reported. On Sunday, Jerusalem municipality announced the construction of about 670 homes in contested east Jerusalem. Palestinians and most of the international community consider all settlements illegal. The moves come after Trump opposed in December the decision by the U.S. not to block a United Nations resolution reprimanding Israel for its settlements. "[Prime Minister] Netanyahu is taking advantage of the change of administration in the United States in order to sooth settler pressure and gain political capital," a spokesman for Israeli group Peace Now said in a statement. Former wrestling entertainment executive Linda McMahon cast herself as a job creator in her bid Tuesday to become the next leader of the Small Business Administration. McMahon, who stepped down from WWE in 2009 for two unsuccessful Senate runs in Connecticut, told the Senate panel considering her nomination that she helped build a business from scratch, transforming it into a global enterprise with more than 800 employees. McMahon said she and her husband started out sharing a desk. She recalled questioning whether she had enough money to continue leasing a typewriter or whether they could purchase it. "Like all small-business owners, I know what it's like to take a risk on an idea, manage cash flow, navigate regulations and tax laws, and create jobs," she said. In her political campaigns, Democrats criticized McMahon for building an organization that peddled violent and sexually explicit content, but Tuesday's hearing focused on how she would advocate for small businesses in the Trump administration. Based on the questioning and comments from the hearing, she'll comfortably win confirmation. Indeed, her opponents in those Senate races in Connecticut said they were confident McMahon would give good advice to President Donald Trump on policies affecting small businesses. "Politics can't work if political grudges never die," said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy. McMahon spent about $100 million of her own money in her Senate races and was a major contributor to political action committees seeking to help Trump in November's election. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said she was concerned that in seeking political office McMahon had advocated for merging the Small Business Administration within the Commerce Department. McMahon said in running for the Senate that she was focused on reducing duplicative programs, a concept that she said President Barack Obama had discussed as well. "I am a firm believer that SBA needs to be a stand-alone agency," McMahon said. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, the committee's chairman, said he would seek a quick vote on McMahon's confirmation. "We're going to try to move this next week," he said. The pipeline projects that President Donald Trump moved forward with executive actions on Tuesday will create thousands of construction jobs for a year or two. Fewer than 100 permanent jobs will be created, according to U.S. government figures. The Dakota Access pipeline would create 8,200 to 12,000 temporary jobs, but only 40 permanent ones, according to Dakota Access LLC, the company behind the pipeline, the Brookings Institution reported last year. The pipeline, which prompted a standoff by members of the Standing Rock Sioux over what they say would damage cultural sites, would run from North Dakotas Bakken formation to Illinois. [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More A State Department analysis of the Keystone XL pipeline found that 3,900 construction jobs would be created while it was being built or 1,950 a year if it took two years to finish. The analysis, done in 2014, also found that an additional 42,100 jobs could be created for companies supplying concrete, earth-moving equipment and other goods and by services provided to the workers, such as food and construction camps. [[411666595, C]] TransCanada Corp., the company building the pipeline, disagreed with the construction numbers, putting the figure at 9,000, according to a primer prepared by FactCheck.org in 2014. The corporation agreed with the 42,100 figure for total employment, FactCheck.org noted. Fifty workers would be required to operate the pipeline. The Keystone XL pipeline would run 1,179 miles from the Canadian province of Alberta to Nebraska, where it would connect existing pipelines to refineries on the Gulf Coast. In a statement, TransCanada said it was preparing a new application for the pipeline. "KXL creates thousands of well-paying construction jobs and would generate tens of millions of dollars in annual property taxes to counties along the route as well as more than $3 billion to the U.S. GDP," it said. The Obama administration denied a permit for the Dakota Access pipeline late last year and rejected the Keystone XL pipeline in November 2015. Then Army Corps of Engineers under former President Barack Obama said it would look for alternative routes after protests by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Obama said that approving the Keystone XL pipeline would undercut American leadership in fighting climate change. Trump said he would seek to renegotiate the terms of the construction of both pipelines. "From now we are going to start making pipelines in the United States," Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday. [[411666475, C]] President Donald Trump moved to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines Tuesday, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Both orders are subject to renegotiations of the agreements. Trump also signed a notice requiring the materials for the pipelines to be constructed in the United States, though it was unclear how he planned to enforce the measure. "From now we are going to start making pipelines in the United States," Trump said from the Oval Office on a busy day in Washington, with many hearings scheduled on Capitol Hill. [[411666475, C]] Looking ahead, Trump announced that he planned to nominate a justice for the Supreme Court next week, moving swiftly to try to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The president summoned top senators to the White House later Tuesday to discuss his short list of nominees, which reportedly has been narrowed to three names. Trump has sought to focus his first full week in office on jobs and the economy. Republicans, as well as some unions, have cited the pipeline projects as prime opportunities for job growth. Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut U.S. efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing lines running to U.S. refineries on the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needs to approve the pipeline because it would cross the nation's northern border. Separately, late last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, though Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes that and says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. [[411666595, C]] Trump said Tuesday at a meeting with the heads of the big three American automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler, that he is, "to a large extent, an environmentalist," though he didn't elaborate. But the president has signaled a different approach to the oil and gas industry from Obama's, nominating former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt, a frequent critic of the EPA, supported Keystone XL. [NATL] The Fight Over Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock Trump also met with Indian Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi. A statement says the two leaders discussed opportunities for cooperation in economy and defense, and security in South and Central Asia. They resolved that their nations "stand shoulder to shoulder in the global fight against terrorism." Trump says India is a "true friend" of the U.S. in addressing global challenges, and he has invited Modi to visit later in the year. The president was also set to meet new CIA Director Mike Pompeo and Senate leadership Tuesday. House Speaker Paul Ryan said Tuesday he has invited Trump to address a Joint Session of Congress on Feb. 28. It would be his first speech to Congress. Even as Trump moves to implement his agenda, he is still making false claims. During a reception with lawmakers at the White House Monday evening, Trump claimed the reason he'd lost the popular vote to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton was that 3 million to 5 million voted illegally, including immigrants living in the U.S. without documentation. That's according to two NBC News sources familiar with the private exchange. There is no evidence to support Trump's claim. He made a similar statement on Twitter in late November that he had won the Electoral College in a "landslide" and "won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes but lost the electoral contest. Trump's assertion appears to be part of a continuing pattern for him and his new administration in which falsehoods overshadow his outreach efforts. Also Tuesday, Senate committes approved Ben Carson for housing secretary, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for United Nations Ambassador and Wilbur Ross to lead the Commerce Department. A hearing for attorney general pick Sen. Jeff Sessions was delayed one week. All committee votes must be approved by the Senate. Rep. Tom Price (health and human services secretary), Elaine Chao (labor secretary), Linda McMahon (small business administrator) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (Office of Management and Budget director) also had committee hearings Tuesday. NBC's Asher Klein contributed to this report. The White House on Tuesday stuck firmly to President Donald Trump's claim that millions of people voted illegally in the November election, but provided no evidence to back up his assertion. Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the president "does believe" that he lost the popular vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton only because of widespread illegal ballots. Spicer said Trump's belief is based on "studies and evidence." "He believes what he believes, based on the information he was provided," Spicer said. But he would not detail what information he was referring to, citing only a 2008 Pew study that he said showed 14 percent of people who voted were not citizens. David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and one of the authors of the Pew report cited by Spicer, rebutted the claim in a tweet Tuesday, saying that "voting integrity better in this election than ever before. Zero evidence of fraud." As NBC News reports, Becker also tweeted in November in response to a similar unsubstantiated claim from Trump. "We found millions of out of date registration records due to people moving or dying, but found no evidence that voter fraud resulted," Becker wrote. Spicer, who spent several years at the Republican National Committee before joining the White House, would not say whether he shared the president's belief. He also sidestepped questions about whether the White House would investigate the voter fraud allegations, saying only, "Anything is possible." Trump first raised the prospect of illegal voting during the transition. Then, during a reception with lawmakers at the White House Monday evening, he again claimed that he'd lost the popular vote because 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. That's according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. Critics from both sides of the aisle have called on the president to put this issue to rest. As NBC News reports, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., pleaded with Trump Tuesday to stop repeating the widely debunked claim. "To continue to suggest that the 2016 election was conducted in a fashion that millions of people voted illegally undermines faith in our democracy," Graham told reporters. "It's not coming from a candidate for the office, it's coming from a man who holds the office. So I am begging the president, share with us the information you have about this or please stop saying it." Democratic lawmakers denounced the inaccuracy of the president's statement as well, with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, calling the claims "nonsensical" and "delusional." "When Trump talks about 3 to 5 million people voting illegally he is sending a message to every Republican governor in this country to go forward with voter suppression," Sanders said. Some Republicans, however, are supporting Trump's claim. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, would not say whether he agreed with the president, though he told NBC News that "the notion that election fraud is a fiction is not true." Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said Tuesday "there is data out there" to back up the president's claim, though he believes the number of illegal votes may be slightly lower, closer to 2.4 million. He told NBC News that he reached that figure by extrapolating on "how many illegals could have or could be voting in the United States." Trump's assertion appears to be part of a continuing pattern for him and his new administration in which unverified or unverifiable claims overshadow his outreach efforts. Both Trump and Spicer made unsubstantiated comments over the weekend about the crowds who gathered for the inauguration. Aides and associates of the president say that he is dogged by insecurity over his loss of the popular vote and believes Democrats and the media are questioning the legitimacy of his presidency. On Tuesday, the president tweeted a photograph from the inauguration taken from an angle that accentuated the crowd and said he planned to hang the image in the press area of the White House. A Florida man accused of killing another man in a wooded area in Massachusetts faced a Bay State judge Tuesday. Michael Arthur Noguera was ordered to be held without bail during his arraignment on multiple charges, including murder and armed robbery, in Fall River Superior Court on Tuesday. Prosecutors say Noguera, 47, was arrested in South Carolina in November after he fled Easton when he gunned down Daniel G. Smith. Smith was found suffering from gunshot wounds by two children on bikes, authorities said, and he was eventually taken to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, where he later died. Noguera is due back in court on March 13. It's unclear whether he has an attorney. The Senate Executive Committee began hearings Tuesday on elements of a bold, bipartisan plan to break the states budget gridlock. The plan, which was devised by Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, is comprised of a series of interdependent bills that outline tax hikes, a statewide minimum wage increase, reforms to the states workers compensation system, and a two-year property tax freeze, among other things. All 13 or so proposed bills must be passed for any of the bills to take effect. The Senate Executive Committee is expected to discuss a variety of those measures during Tuesday's meeting, but won't take action on elements of the package. Cullerton and Radogno were initially pushing for a Wednesday floor vote on the deal, but have since backed off that aggressive timeline. On Tuesday, Radogno claimed the Senate plan is currently the best option to end the state's lingering budget impasse. We have generally utilized the ideas that have come from our members, from the working groups, from stakeholders, Radogno said during Tuesdays committee meeting. I think while we certainly would like to get something done, we are both very humble and willing to accept further additions, refinements and so on. This is a huge package with many, many moving parts and I cant stress enough how much we are interested in constructive feedback to make this thing work, she added. If the complex package can clear the Senate, it will still require approval from the Democrat-controlled House and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Last week, Rauner lauded Cullerton and Radognos bipartisan push to craft a budget deal, but wouldnt explicitly back their developing plan. If the package fails, the states ongoing budget impasse will likely continue to fester. Under the Senate proposal, the states income tax would reportedly jump from 3.75 percent to 4.99 percent. The corporate tax rate would also jump from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. Additionally, the plan outlines a state minimum wage increase from $8.25 to $11 an hour. The so-called grand bargain would also include a two-year property tax freeze, as well as pension and workers' compensation reforms. Illinois' most recent stopgap funding plan expired at the start of the year, leaving the states higher education and health and human services in a precarious position. The Senate committee approved a bill Tuesday that amends the Chicago Municipal and Chicago Laborers articles of the Illinois Pension Code to aid the fund's solvency. The measure was previously passed on the final day of the last General Assembly and is currently awaiting approval from Gov. Bruce Rauner. Health experts say cases of norovirus are on the rise in the Chicago area, highlighting the need for increased awareness and proper hygiene. Norovirus occurs throughout the year, said Procopio Loduca, an infectious disease doctor with Presence Resurrection Medical Center. In general, it is more common in the winter months and we are seeing a worse season than the last few seasons for norovirus. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, reports of cases by early January had surpassed those of the same time in 2016 and 2015. Doctors are telling patients to be alert for potential symptoms, which can often mirror other illnesses. The symptoms usually involve nausea, vomiting, as well as diarrhea, said Loduca. It can also include stomach pain, fever, nausea or body aches. A person usually develops symptoms 12 to 48 hours after being exposed, with the illness typically lasting about one to three days. Loduca warns that norovirus can spread quickly, especially in close quarters like a cruise ship, senior living facility or even a school. Earlier this month, a suburban high school was closed for multiple days after hundreds of students became ill with what school officials believed was a stomach bug. It was later revealed that the cause behind the illnesses was norovirus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports norovirus sickens millions of people each year. There is no vaccine to prevent it, but research is being done in that area. Loduca said good hygiene will help keep norovirus from spreading this season. Make sure you wash your hands before you eat, he said. Certainly if you are caring for someone with the illness, make sure they are washing their hands after you care for them. In addition, the CDC recommends washing fruits and vegetable thoroughly, washing laundry thoroughly and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces often. Mayor Rahm Emanuel slammed President Donald Trump Monday for debating the crowd size at Fridays inauguration, urging the Republican to instead focus on jobs and education. "You didnt get elected to debate the crowd size at your inaugural," Emanuel said after a ribbon-cutting at an Uptown domestic violence shelter. "He got elected to make sure the people have a job, the economy continues to grow, people have a security as it relates to kids' education, etc.," he added. "It wasnt about your crowd size. It was about their lives and their jobs." The mayor advised Trump to "create a relationship between the desk in the Oval Office and the issues at the kitchen table." He noted that Chicagoans who attended Saturday's Women's March were talking about jobs, education, health care and security, not the size of Friday's inaugural crowd. Emanuel was also troubled by the Trump administrations decision to highlight Chicagos violent crime statistics on the White House website. "There were thousands of shootings in Chicago last year alone," the website reads. "Our country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement and more effective policing." The revamped site promises that Trumps incoming administration will focus on law and order and warns against the dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America. The mayor claimed the answer to the city's ongoing violent crime crisis lies in giving officers the training, supervision and certainty" they need for pro-active policing. Emanuel warned against returning to the controversial stop-and-frisk tactics favored by Trump. If you look at the last year across the country and then say, The only answer is to go to stop-and-frisk. Thats it, thats not where the world is today, Emanuel said. "We need our police to have high professional standards, the training to support them in those high professional standards and the certainty to be proactively involved," he added. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report that found the Chicago Police Department violated constitutional rights by engaging in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force. The DOJs 13-month investigation was sparked after dash-cam footage of the 2014 police-involved shooting of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald was released in November of 2015. On Monday, the mayor claimed there's a reason why homicides and shootings are also surging in other American cities, like San Diego, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Memphis and Baltimore. "Clearly, there was a reaction to what happened accross the country," Emanuel said. "On the other hand, the choice isn't just go back to stop-and-frisk." In November, the Chicago Police Department announced the bold Be the Change campaign that aims to add 970 officers over a two-year period. Emanuel acknowledged that the success of the hiring blitz ultimately relies on the department's policing policies Monday. "If police step back and adopt a more reactive mode, youre going to end up with the only winners in that process are gangs," the mayor said. Emanuel also renewed his call for stiffer sentences for repeat gun offenders Monday. If you use a gun in New York, three-year minimum for that crime, Emanuel said. In Illinois, its one year. And dont think for a moment gang members dont know theres not a penalty for using a gun." Two Iraq war veterans, who didnt previously know one another, were united in a suburban Chicago bar by a tragedy that occurred a decade ago. Noah Ramos received a Facebook message from a fellow Marine he had never met saying I have something that belongs to you and I want to give it to you in person. That something was the dog tag of Ramos brother, Lance Cpl. Hector Ramos, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq in 2005. I was in shock, Noah Ramos said. Corey Tibbets was part of the first unit on the scene of the crash 10 years agoand found the dog tag. I picked it up, realized what it was and Ive had it ever since, he said in a phone interview. For 12 years, he kept it safe at his home in Texasuntil he traveled to Naperville Saturday to deliver it to Ramos. I know if it were my brother, it would mean everything to me to have that piece of him that he had on him at the end, Tibbets said. An appreciative Ramos said hes gained a friend for life in Tibbetseven though nothing will replace the loss of his little brother. Corey just went above and beyondas a Marine would doand I feel blessed hes in my life now, Ramos said. I got a piece of my brother back, I couldnt expect any more. Crosstown Pub, with its fitting name, picked up the men's tab after hearing their story. Authorities have determined that the reported home invasion that had a west suburban community on edge last week was "not a bona fide incident," according to a statement from police. Indian Head Park police initially sent a warning on Wednesday night alerting residents to a home invasion with injuries in the Acacia Townhomes, reporting that the suspect was still at large. In the robo-call and text alert, people living near the area were asked to keep their doors locked and outside lights on. Cook County Sheriff's officers and a police dog joined Indian Head Park police officers in the search for the suspect late into the night, though police issued a statement Tuesday announcing the investigation had ended. "After a thorough investigation, it has been determined that the reported Home Invasion was not a bona fide incident," Indian Head Park police chief Robert Cervenka said in the release. "The Indian Head Park Police Department would like to acknowledge and thank the various agencies that assisted in this investigation. We also want to thank our residents for their input, concern and understanding. We want to emphasize that the Village takes reports of all crimes seriously. This incident is now classified as Cleared/Closed and we will have no further comment," the statement continued. Police initially said a man in a mask broke into a townhome on Briarwood Court and cut the arm of a girl who was home alone. The wound was minor and she was treated at the scene, officials said during a town hall meeting on Saturday to address community concerns about the incident. Police did not respond to requests for clarification on the statement Tuesday, and it was not immediately clear if any further action would be taken. A man is using social media to meet up with Northwest Side residents at their homes and rob them, according to police. The robberies happened about 2 a.m. Tuesday in the 3100 block of North Central Park and about 12 a.m. Thursday in the 3000 block of North Neva, according to the community alert from Area North detectives. Both times, the victims agreed to meet the suspect at their home after they were contacted through a social media website, police said. When the suspect arrived, he pulled out a weapon and demanded the persons property. The suspect was described as a black man between 25 and 35 years old, 6-foot and 6-foot-2 and 170 to 190 pounds with short black hair and a medium complexion. Police advise residents not to arrange to meet strangers through social media websites. Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at (312) 744-8263. The Illinois Senate could vote on a new budget proposal as soon as Wednesday, which could signal the end of the state's nearly two-yearlong stalemate. Senate President John Cullerton and Republican Leader Christine Radogno are tasked with pushing through their sweeping plan, which includes a variety of budget and non-budget items. Under the proposal, the states income tax would reportedly jump from 3.75 percent to 5.25 percent. The corporate tax rate would also jump from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. Additionally, the plan outlines a state minimum wage increase from $8.25 to $11 an hour. The so-called grand compromise would also include a two-year property tax freeze, as well as pension and workers' compensation reforms. Nevertheless, leaders in Springfield were tight-lipped on the proposal Monday. Cullertons office declined to comment on the budget, citing the proposals developing nature. Radognos office did not immediately respond to Ward Rooms request for comment. If the Senate passes their proposal this week, the plan will then require approval from the House and the governors office. Gov. Bruce Rauner lauded Cullerton and Radognos bipartisan push to craft a budget last week, but wouldnt explicitly back their developing plan. I think its premature for me to comment on any specific types of proposals yet, Rauner told reporters last week. I think things are very fluid, theyre evolving. Some ideas are going somewhere, some arent." I want to compliment Democrats and Republicans in the General Assembly, especially in the Senate where theyre working hard to try to get a balanced budget with reforms, the governor added. "I think that's great." While Senate leaders jockey to push through their massive plan, Rauner will deliver his State of the State address Wednesday in Springfield. The governor halted budget negotiations last month after House Speaker Michael Madigan refused to put forth a budget proposal. The speakers office claimed the onus is on Rauner to propose a budget. Madigans office declined to comment on the new budget proposal Monday, claiming the Senate deal is still being hashed out. Illinois' most recent stopgap funding plan expired at the start of the year, leaving the states higher education and health and human services in a precarious position. Senate committees are slated to begin hearings Tuesday on the new proposal. Eight people were arrested after a fight on Broad Street in New London, and at least one person broke out a knife and stabbed others involved, according to New London police. Police said they responded to 264 Broad Street around 8:20 p.m. Monday for a report of a large fight and someone armed with a knife. When officers arrived there was a crowd of people actively fighting. The group did stop but started up again in front of officers, police said. According to police officers were punched, kicked and spit on as they broke up the incident, but none of them reported injuries. When police brought the various suspects to the station for booking, they discovered one person had three stab wounds to his back that he had not been aware of. He was taken to Lawrence and Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. A female was also taken to the hospital for a cut on her head. A third individual had a slash on his hand, but he refused treatment, police said. A total of eight people were charged in the incident. Allan Vargas, 21, of New London, who police said had a knife, was charged with second-degree assault, carrying a dangerous weapon and second-degree breach of peace. Mia Brown, 19, of Norwich, was charged with accessory to assault, assault on a police officer, carrying a dangerous weapon, interfering with police and breach of peace. Wanda Marty, 48, of New London, was charged with interfering with police. Caroline Vargas, 20, Adrian Reyes, 30, Amariz Negron, 20, Shayla Negron, 21, and Carol Valezquez, 38, all of New London, each face a breach of peace charge. A garage and several vehicles were destroyed by a fire at a home on Old Black Point Road in East Lyme. Police said fire was in the area of 106 Old Black Point Road. According to East Lyme Fire Marshal Richard Morris, around 7 a.m. a neighbor saw smoke coming from the property and rushed over to wake the residents up. The two residents of the home got out safely. It took firefighters about a half hour to put the fire out. No injuries were reported. Four vehicles, including an antique car and a 40-foot camper, were totaled and the garage destroyed. East Lyme Public Safety warned that residents in the area may see discolored water because of the amount of water drawn to fight the fire. Officials said the discolored water was not a health hazard but it could stain laundry. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Morris said his office was looking at electrical issues in the vehicles and electrical service in the garage. Editor's note: Every year ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, President Xi Jinping carries out a tour to inspect the work done at the grassroots and extend festival greetings. During these visits, Xi pays attention to a wide variety of problems, such as education and development, poverty relief at rural areas and development plans at urban areas. Here, let's have a look at Xi's previous visits and his statements. President Xi visited Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, Beijing's co-host city for the 2022 Games, to listen to a briefing on preparatory work and inspect proposed venue areas around Chongli county on Jan 23. "There should be clear positioning of this region for future development. Rather than developing into a large-scale comprehensive metropolitan area, Chongli should be built into a ski destination with a strong local character," Xi said. Thousands of pro-life supporters will rally in Washington D.C. this Friday for their annual March for Life demonstration. There was a smaller march with the same message in New Haven Monday afternoon. Life is life, Norma Contois from Branford said. Every year Contois voices her opposition to Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized the right to abortion 44 years ago. Actions have consequences and if youre old enough to have sex, youre old enough to know that one of the results can be pregnancy, she said, so why should that child suffer and lose its life. After a noon mass at the Church of St. Mary on Hillhouse Ave., the pro-life demonstrators marched in front of City Hall and New Havens courthouse. It is so important to us that the unborn be protected, said Elizabeth Grayson of New Haven. Contois carried a sign calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. I should not have to pay for someone elses mistakes, she said. According to data from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, abortions are six percent of the services it provides. More than 90 percent are in areas like contraception, cancer screenings and STD and HIV testing. One of the biggest misconceptions with the administration thats coming in is that they will be able to get rid of us, said Kafi Rouse of Planned Parenthood of Southern New England, thats just not going to happen. These doors will stay open. Planned Parenthood will be here for the next 100 years. According to Planned Parenthood's website, "federal funding is from Medicad reimbursements for preventive care, and some is from Title X. There's no keep-Planned-Parenthood-running part of the federal budget." At the pro-life rally, Grayson marched with her husband and four-month-old baby. She is hopeful court appointments during the Trump presidency could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned. She is exactly the same baby here that she was when she was inside of me, Grayson said. Platt Brothers in Waterbury was a recent victim to U.S. policy when it comes to "Buy American," a provision that places rules on when a federal agency needs to purchase American made, or American-based goods. David Mieczkowski, the President and CEO of Platt Brothers, a company which specializes in the production of zinc rod and wire, said Monday morning he learned they had been outbid by a European manufacturer for a $100,000 contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. Instead of making it in Connecticut with Connecticut labor, U.S. labor, its going to be made in Europe for the Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Defense," Mieczkowski said. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy has said since he entered office he has wanted to end the practice of the federal government making purchases from overseas manufacturers. He sent a letter to President Donald Trump outlining his vision for accountability when it comes to federal spending, asking for a watchdog, regular audits, and limits on waivers all related to "Buy American." This is a relatively easy way for him to telegraph early in his presidency that hes willing to put his actions where his words are with this Buy America, campaign," Murphy said Monday, President Trump himself, in his first day in office during his inauguration address said there will be new ground rules when it comes to how the federal government will make purchases. "We will follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American," President Trump said. Murphy said even though he disagrees with President Trump "on just about every issue," he says ensuring American manufacturers get a first look from the federal government is a place where he can meet the new president. My job as a U.S. senator is to make peoples lives better in Connecticut and that means creating jobs here. My job is not to be the political opposition to Donald Trump. My job is to make life better for the people of Connecticut. Residents in one of two Connecticut communities chosen as finalists for the state's third casino, crowded a school auditorium Tuesday night, to hear about those plans. More than 300 people packed the East Windsor Middle School for a meeting with the chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes. For the first hour, the men laid out their argument for why Connecticut needs a third casino. They said MGM's brand new casino project going up 15 miles north in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts poses as a threat to the state's economy. They warned that Connecticut could lose 9,400 jobs and $702 million in revenue when the competing casino opens. However, they said a third casino could add to the economy, by adding jobs and upwards of $6 million to the community they chose. People lined up at the microphone to have their voice heard and get their questions answered. While some said they came to the meeting undecided about the project, many already had their minds made up before the meeting even began. Theres a lot of people that need jobs. It would help East Windsor a lot," said Donald Arsenault of East Windsor. Casinos have an element that, like it or not, isnt advantageous," argued Michelle Vannelli of Windsor, a community stuck right in between the two casino finalists, East Windsor and Windsor Locks. East Windors long-abandoned Showcase Cinemas, right off the interstate, is one of two finalists for the $300 million casino project. Among the concerns brought up Tuesday night was congestion on I-91. I feel the traffic will be so bad I wont want to come here anymore," said Bonnue Karkowski, also of Windsor. There's also the potential burden on emergency services. Me living right there, Im concerned about crime," said East Windsor resident David Bania. Another issue said some residents, the toll the casino may take on the towns infrastructure, from water and sewer, to roads. Tribal leaders wouldnt say how much theyre willing to give the town to cover those costs. We stay very cognoscente of the demands that we place on the public services of the community and we come to arrangements that are mutually beneficial," explained Mohegan Tribe Chairman Kevin Brown. Earlier Tuesday, the Coalition Against Casino Expansion said they do not want a third casino, focusing on the negative economic and social impact of gambling, bringing out victims of gambling addiction to state their case. "I took it from playing bingo all the way to sleeping in a prison," said Joanie Masot of Advocacy Unlimited. "Before 2008, all I did was gambling. And literally in 2008, I hit the bottom rock. I lost my businesses. I lost my job. I lost everything," said Adam Osmond of Farmington. Several bills dealing with the casino issue are also being considered in the state legislature, including one that would require a competitive bidding process. That would open up the project to other developers besides the two tribes. Another would require town referendum before moving forward with a new casino. Time is not our friend. MGM has steel going up. Any delay in this process, whether its at the town level, the state level, isnt going to be helpful," said Rodney Butler, Mashantucket Pequot Tribe Chairman, adding that at the end of the day they want to work with townspeople and lawmakers to be welcome members of the community they want to build in. Richard Ellis a gambler himself, said he's all in. Id rather gamble in my own town than go way down to Norwich," Ellis explained. MGM says they expect to have their new casino opened in Springfield in Fall of 2018. Connecticut's tribal leaders say they hope to have theirs up and running in 12 to 18 months. They plan to hold a meeting Thursday at 7:30 at the Windsor Locks High School. President Donald Trump has signed an order that freezes hiring by the federal government, with the exception of the military. And while some praised the move, the decision has many federal workers feeling disappointed. Trump signed the order Monday morning as a way to reduce payrolls and rein in the size of the federal workforce. White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus handed Trump the document -- one of three executive orders the new president signed Monday -- in the Oval Office as aides and reporters looked on. "A federal government employee hiring freeze," Priebus said. "Except for the military," Trump said twice, looking around the room pointedly. White House press secretary Sean Spicer spoke about the executive order at a news conference Monday afternoon. "I think what the president is showing through the hiring freeze, first and foremost today, is that we've got to respect the American taxpayer," he said. "They're sending us a ton of money and they're working real hard -- some people are working two, three jobs just to get by -- and to see money get wasted in Washington on a job that is duplicative is insulting to the hard work they do to pay their taxes." House Speaker Paul Ryan praised Trump's move. "[By] instituting a hiring freeze, he has taken a critical first step toward reining in Washington bureaucracy," he said in a statement. Statistics from the Office of Personnel Management, though, show that the number of executive branch employees hasn't been this low since 1965, and that the number of employees has stayed more or less steady in the last 15 years. Federal worker Greg Guthrie, who is also union officer with the National Federation of Federal Employees, said he didn't understand how Trump could conclude that a hiring freeze was a good idea even before his Cabinet nominees have been approved. "As a federal worker, it's kind of deflating to be felt like you're unnecessary,'' he said. The union's president, Randy Erwin, said in a statement Monday that a hiring freeze is a "terrible idea.'' "Freezing federal hiring sounds good on the campaign trail, but it does not make government smaller like some people think it does,'' he said. "All it does is lead to the hiring of more federal contractors which tend to cost taxpayers more than federal employees and are less accountable.'' The full effect of a hiring freeze is unclear. According to OPM, the federal government hired 221,000 workers in fiscal 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. The number excludes uniformed military personnel. But roughly a third of those hired were military veterans, who enjoy hiring preferences in the federal government. Erwin also pointed out that the Department of Veterans Affairs currently has 2,000 vacancies and said "it is the American veteran that is going to suffer'' because the agency is now barred from filling those vacancies. Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, whose district includes many federal workers, said Monday that the government actually needs to increase its capacity to handle certain issues, like cybersecurity. "This Executive Order ... will have a depressing effect on our ability to recruit and retain the next generation of federal workers,'' he said in a statement. "This is a far cry from President Kennedy's effort to inspire a new generation to enter public service.'' Republican Barbra Comstock, who also represents parts of northern Virginia in Congress, announced her own opposition to the hiring freeze and said "past hiring freezes in both Republican and Democrat administrations have cost the federal government money in the long run.'' About 85 percent of all federal employees live outside the D.C. area, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Trump vowed during his campaign that he would take on the federal bureaucracy. The other two executive orders he signed Monday ended U.S. participation in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and reinstated a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the procedure. President Donald Trump asserted in a private meeting with congressional leaders Monday night that he would have won the popular vote in the 2016 election if 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the country illegally hadn't voted. Trump made the debunked claim, without offering any evidence, at a White House meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., alluded to it, telling reporters that Trump and the lawmakers talked about "the different Electoral College, popular vote." Asked if anything surprised her about the meeting, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "I won't even go into that." There has been no evidence of widespread tampering or hacking that would change the results of the presidential contest. Trump won the Electoral College by a comfortable margin but Democratic rival Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes. Throughout the campaign, Trump pushed false claims about the propensity of voter fraud, telling his supporters the election had been "rigged" against him. Trump has made the unverified claims before, tweeting in late November that he would have won the popular vote "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally." He also alleged at the time that there had been "serious voter fraud" in California, New Hampshire and Virginia and complained that the media wasn't covering it. Children in South Dallas are learning about a subject you typically don't see in the classroom: yoga and mindfulness! The Dallas Yoga Center recently started sharing mindfulness training with third, fourth and fifth graders in five Dallas ISD schools, mostly in South Dallas. "The goal is to improve school performance and emotional well-being," said Jamila Thomas, coordinator for the African American Success Initiative. "I received a few phone calls from principals, saying they needed additional support with respect to students who said they were having an issue controlling their emotions," Thomas said. She says she did online research and saw how yoga programs helped students in Baltimore and reached out to the Dallas Yoga Center for a similar program. "The students are responding!" Thomas said. According to research, mindfulness can impact focus, emotional well-being and other items, including reduced anxiety and increased compassion. "Meditation and yoga change the areas of the brain that are involved in memory and attention and so, these are the areas that are developing the most in kids," said Dr. Julia Evans, neuroscientist at the Callier Center at University of Texas in Dallas. "We know that the more stressed a child is, the more it affects their ability to focus and attend," said Evans. Thomas and school staff members will study detention rates and students' grades to determine success, but says teachers say they've already seen a positive change in their students. "Bottom line is the increase of academic achievement by helping students be mindful," said Thomas. The Dallas ISD produced a piece on the project here. A benefit concert at Theatre 3 in Uptown Dallas Tuesday night honored actor Derek Whitener and helped raise money for his medical bills.[[411597495,R]] "We're going to do songs some songs from shows that he's been in, shows that he's directed, some of his favorite songs," said Calvin Scott Roberts, a fellow actor who is organizing the benefit. Whitener, 33, is also the artistic director at The Firehouse Theatre in Farmers Branch, and he continues to recover in the intensive care unit at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas following a brutal beating outside the Target store on Haskell Avenue near Uptown late Saturday, Jan. 14. "I thought, what a really good way to sort of show Derek that we love him and we care about him in the community, because you know when something like this happens, it's tough, but then when it's so close to home, it's even tougher," Roberts said. A GoFundMe page has already raised more than $100,000 to help with Whitener's medical bills. Hollywood stars are also lending their support, with Jamie Lee Curtis tweeting, "Random act of kindness meet random act of kindness. Please help." Random act of violence meet random acts of kindness. Please help! Derek's Medical Bills by Brina Wingo - GoFundMe https://t.co/Yz7QHa9wg4 Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) January 17, 2017 After hearing about the attack, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, one of the stars of Modern Family, wrote on Facebook, "We can't be silent while these things happen we must stand together and make noise to ensure that love ALWAYS wins." Over the weekend, several North Texas theaters collected donations for Whitener. The free benefit concert, which starts at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Theatre 3, will also accept donations for Whitener's care. "I hope to raise a tremendous amount of love tomorrow is really what I hope," Roberts said. The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is hosting more than 11,000 youth competitors this year. Sidney Dunkel and her heifer, Mav, are part of those competitors. "She [Mav] doesn't like to play, she just kind of likes to lay around and be lazy and do whatever she wants," Dunkel said about her heifer's personality. Monday, Dunkel and Mav competed at the stock show. "I'm a little nervous because I have 50 heifers in my class," Dunkel said, just an hour before her class began. To get ready for Mav's competition, Dunkel helped blow-dry Mav's coat. It's a task that Dunkel has performed countless times over the past year. "We spend a lot of hours in the barn and blowing their hair, because it usually takes close to two hours or a little more to wash and bathe them, then blow them dry each time, so a lot of hard work and dedication, and those skills definitely come in handy down the road," Dunkel said. Dunkel purchased Mav back in March, and since then, it's been a continuous effort that has taught both of them a lot. "You learn a lot of patience when you're working with a young animal," Dunkel said. "Because whenever we first bought her, she didn't know how to lead, she didn't know that I was a safe person, that I was going to be OK to be around." Dunkel's hard work in a variety of events has paid off. Over the last three years, the Archer City High School senior has won more than $30,000 in scholarships from the stock show. She earned the money through showing horses, judging horses and competing in the calf scramble. The scholarship money, she said, is very much appreciated. "It helps a lot, because I'm going to attend Texas Tech in the fall, and then after I graduate from there I'd like to move onto vet school at Texas A&M," Dunkel said. "So all the scholarship money I can get will help greatly to help pay for eight years of school." Chinese New Year pictures take on a modern look in the creations by Chinese young artists. Photos provided to China Daily Apple gets Chinese artists to present traditional themes in a modern way for Spring Festival, Deng Zhangyu reports. As every Spring Festival approaches, Chinese households follow the custom of hanging paintingsusually colored woodblock printson their doors and walls to welcome the new year. However, the tradition has changed a little in the digital age. One such painting now appears on gadgets' screens, with the swords of door gods replaced by karaoke microphones. In addition, a door god holds a camera and a bird's cage, and behind him are skyscrapers and fancy cars. The peace-themed Chinese Lunar New Year painting created by Beijing-based artist Ye Hongxing was first designed on a computer and then turned into a physical artworka mosaic of tens of thousands of stickers. "I combined modern and traditional elements to make it interesting. They can be downloaded as wallpapers on phones and computers," says Ye. She is one of the five artists invited by US tech giant Apple Inc to make paintings focusing on reunion, fortune, peace and harvesttraditional themes of Chinese woodblock prints for Spring Festival paintings that date back hundreds of years. The Dallas landlord under fire for evicting hundreds of low-income families instead of repairing their homes claims he is being treated unfairly in Mayor Mike Rawling's new plan to help those tenants. Catholic Charities will visit the families starting this weekend to identify their needs. Then, other non-profit groups will be asked to help provide relocation assistance. I dont believe money is the issue, Rawlings said. I believe lack of information and misinformation is the issue. The city negotiated a code enforcement and eviction delay with the landlord, HMK Limitd, and owner, Khraish Khraish, last year after the owner refused to comply with new city rules that hold rental homes to the same standards as multi-family apartments. The landlord would face no fines if tenants were allowed to stay until the end of this school year. Now, Rawlings is working to help the 225 families still living in HMK rental homes. So, theres a sense of urgency for everybody to come together, get this information, get the plan, get the money and get it done, Rawlings said. Khraish stood through the Mayors City Hall announcement, then complained that he is being treated unfairly. They have no options for the community. Im the only person who is actually providing options for the community, affordable housing for the community and Im being left out of this entire discussion, Khraish said. Khraish said he plans to sell 130 properties to Habitat for Humanity to build new homes. He said he has sold 80 properties to that non-profit group in the past and also now plans to build apartments. "I am dismayed that they have not even discussed my affordable housing plan," Khraish said. "I had to close my rental business due to the mayors selective targeting of my company." Khraish said many of his west Dallas properties were built before the area was part of Dallas and forcing those properties to comply with current city regulations is unreasonable. There is no way that houses built in 1940, outside the city, and outside city codes could comply with Chapter 27, Khraish said. HMK tenants complain that basic plumbing and structural problems go unresolved. Tenants representative Raul Reyes said he owns an old west Dallas home and it is possible to maintain it according to current city codes. As a homeowner. Ive done that, so I would assume its the same concept as a landlord, Reyes said. We all have to be accountable and responsible as citizens and as neighbors. HMK tenant Stephanie Hampton said her rental home was built in 1960, decades newer than those which the landlord deems unrepairable, but she still has trouble getting repairs made. Theres been several incidents where he did not repair things in a timely manner, Hampton said. You would have thought that he would have started his properties without the citys input several years ago. She has been told her home is also on the eviction list, but she is working to help even less fortunate neighbors. I have some resources other people may not have, Hampton said. Catholic Charities representatives said they will contact all affected tenants by March 1 to see that help is available to those who need it. Rawlings said he welcomes the Habitat for Humanity cooperation Khraish suggests, but it will not provide housing within the time frame of his current agreement with the city. "If thats an ultimate solution for these families, then Im more than thrilled," Rawlings said. "Time is a wasting here. Schools going to be out in just a few months. What to Know Little Elm police Detective Jerry Walker was shot and killed Jan. 17 responding to a call about an armed man outside a home. Walker is survived by his four children who range in age from a few months to 22 years old. Donations for the Walker family are being accepted at the Capital One Bank - Little Elm Branch on East Eldorado Parkway. Family and friends of slain Little Elm Detective Jerry Walker said goodbye to the fallen police officer at his funeral in Plano Tuesday morning. Walker was a well-known and beloved member of the force and is credited with touching many young lives through the years. His fellow officers traveled to his funeral at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. To make that possible, police officers and staff from agencies around North Texas are stepping into a number of positions in Little Elm so citizens retain police protection during the funeral. A funeral is held at Prestonwood Baptist Church Tuesday for a Little Elm police officer killed in the line of duty. We have a group called the Brotherhood for the Fallen and they have taken the officers in that group and traveled to Little Elm on almost a daily basis and helped out honestly with however they can, Fort Worth police officer Tamara Valle said. Officers from around the state have been coming in as well, so they have been handling some of that also. Along with Fort Worth, officers from Frisco and Plano and the Denton County Sheriffs Office have offered aid to ensure Little Elm officers and staff have time to heal after the death. Parking lot is full as first responders from all over the state attend Detective Jerry Walker funeral. Watch: https://t.co/TPw73TrG9h pic.twitter.com/SbHtY0PEpZ Ames Meyer (@AmesChopper5) January 24, 2017 Slain Little Elm Officer Jerry Walker Laid to Rest in Plano Fort Worth is always willing to help out any communities that need help from us. In particular our brothers and sisters in blue, Valle said. So, in this case, we have been helping out with certain guard details and honorary details. Police said it is never easy to lose one of their own, but Walker is the first officer in the history of the Little Elm Police Department killed in the line of duty. However they need us to help, were going to be there, Valle said, If we just need to be there to hold a hand, listen to what they are saying, were going to be there and were going to do that. Little Elm town offices will be closed Tuesday to allow everyone to attend the funeral. Emergency services will be handled by neighboring agencies. Fire crews from Lake Cities and Highland Village handled medical and fire calls throughout Little Elm to allow fellow Little Elm firefighters to attend Detective Jerry Walkers funeral. Firefighters Fill Void in Little Elm Firefighters from neighboring communities were also called on to help, and honored to do so. Fire crews from Lake Cities and Highland Village handled medical and fire calls throughout the town to allow fellow Little Elm firefighters to attend Detective Walkers funeral. Were pretty much a brotherhood even though we wear a different patch, said Vince Jones, paramedic at Highland Village. Were all a family. Lake Cities and Little Elm crews always help each other out on a regular basis through mutual-aid agreements, but Captain Troy Hammons said today was different and special. It is an honor to come over here and help out, Hammons said. What more would you want to do than to show them that were here until they need to come back. Crews will be on scene throughout the evening to allow Little Elm firefighters to mourn. Lewisville Fire helped Lake Cities cover their town, while Flower Mount assisted Highland Village. I get chills every time something like this happens to see the support, Jones said. Family, friends and community members came together to honor and remember fallen Little Elm Police Detective Jerry Walker on Monday with a public viewing. A funeral service for Walker is set for Tuesday at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. Funds Raised for Walker's Family A memorial fund has been set up for the Walker family -- anyone who wishes to contribute can make a donation at the Capital One Bank - Little Elm branch. You can mail donations to the bank, in the name of the "Jerry Walker Fund" to 2821 East Eldorado Parkway, Little Elm. Separately, on Monday Jan. 30, between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m., the Whataburger on 8000 Farm-to-Market Road 423 will donate 20 percent of sales to Walker's family. A spokesperson for the restaurant said Walker was a frequent customer and they wanted to do something to support his family. Video from Detective Jerry Walker's Funeral Dr. Jarrett Stephens, teaching pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, delivers a welcome and prayer following a video tribute to slain Little Elm Detective Jerry Walker, Jan. 24, 2017. Dallas Police Department Chaplain Mike Middleton reads an obituary for slain Little Elm police Detective Jerry Walker at his funeral, Jan. 24, 2017. Little Elm Chief of Police Rodney Harrison speaks at the funeral of slain Detective Jerry Walker, Jan. 24, 2017. Speaking on behalf of the family, Lt. Brad Wilcox talks about his relationship with slain Little Elm Detective Jerry Walker at his funeral, Jan. 24, 2017. John Freebird, who served in the U.S. Army with Little Elm Detective Jerry Walker, talks about his friendship with the slain officer, Jan. 24, 2017. [[411708816,C]] NBC 5's Larry Collins and Homa Bash contributed to this report. A memorial for a Texas Ranger killed while rescuing a kidnapped child in 1987 has been installed in Horseshoe Bay, the Texas Department of Public Safety says. Ranger Stanley Guffey was fatally shot helping rescue Kara Leigh Whitehead, a 2-year-old girl taken 30 years ago by Brent Albert Beeler. Texas Department of Public Safety According to a report of the incident by The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame, Beeler was on parole when he kidnapped the child and 22-year-old Denise Johnson, who worked as a maid for the child's family. The report said Beeler killed Johnson and demanded $30,000 and a car for the child's safe return. Guffey, along with Ranger John Aycock, volunteered to hide in the back of the car to prevent Beeler's escape. Below is more of the account from The Texas Ranger Hall of Fame: When the car was delivered, Beeler placed the girl in the front seat and threw a briefcase with the money in the back. In so doing he spotted Guffey, who identified himself as a Texas Ranger, and ordered Beeler to surrender. In the seconds it took Guffey to identify himself, Beeler fired a .44 Magnum revolver, fatally wounding Ranger Guffey. Guffey was able to fire one shot before collapsing, but it missed Beeler. Ranger Aycock returned fire through the car window, fatally wounding Beeler. He quickly pulled Kara-Leigh Whitehead to the rear of the car out of harms way before leaving the vehicle to approach Beeler. Today we solemnly honor Ranger Stanley Guffey, a man who heroically answered the call of duty and, without hesitation, put his life on the line in order to save a child. His dedication and sacrifice will never be forgotten, said Texas Ranger Chief Randall Prince in a news release Monday. He truly was an extraordinary man gone entirely too soon, and his sacrifice will always be remembered. According to the DPS, Guffey began his career in the Highway Patrol in 1968 and was a Texas Ranger stationed in Brady at the time of this death. Guffey was posthumously awarded a Medal of Valor by DPS for his heroic actions. Aycock was also awarded a Medal of Valor. For more than 18 years, Ranger Guffey proudly served the people of Texas, selflessly shouldering the tremendous risks and responsibilities associated with being a peace officer, said DPS Director Steven McCraw in a news release Monday. DPS is eternally grateful for his service and unwavering commitment to protecting others no matter the cost and this monument will be a constant reminder of his heroic service. Members of Ranger Guffeys family, DPS leadership, local officials, law enforcement and members of the community attended the ceremony at the Horseshoe Bay Police Department. The dedication commemorated the 30th anniversary of Guffeys death. During the ceremony, Horseshoe Bay Mayor Steve Jordan also read a proclamation recognizing Guffey and officially naming a Horseshoe Bay Police Department patrol boat in his honor. Police Chief Tony Hill of Perryton, Texas (Guffeys hometown), presented a second the proclamation from the mayor of Perryton. The monument marker was installed by The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Texas Rangers Association Foundation and City of Horseshoe Bay. Authorities said a woman in her 20s was injured in a single-vehicle crash in Dallas Tuesday morning. [[411624825,C]] Dallas police said they responded to a call about the crash in the 11400 block of Plano Road at about 2:40 a.m. Witnesses told police the woman was driving south on Plano Road when her SUV left the road, struck a tree and rolled. Police said the woman was ejected from the SUV. Paramedics transported the woman to Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas in serious condition. No further details have been released. Preventing fraud is a big deal this year. It means your tax return could be delayed significantly. If you wind up waiting to get your tax refund this year the Internal Revenue Service says blame identity thieves. A new law forces the IRS to hold your refund while they check to make sure you are who you say you are. This year the IRS is delaying refunds for people with child tax credits and the earned income tax credits. This impacts some 40 million working families who will have to wait longer to get a refund. Many North Texans filed their taxes last year only to find out someone else had already stolen their information and beat them to it. Just Friday, scammers convinced a worker at the Argyle Independent School District to fork over personal information for all their employees, possibly to file fake tax returns. It's easy to be fooled. Here's what you need to know so you're not the next one: President Donald Trump has disputed climate change, pledged a revival of coal and disparaged wind power, and his nominee to head the Energy Department was once highly skeptical of the agency's value. What this means for states' efforts to promote renewable energy is an open question. States that are pushing for greater reliance on wind and solar power are not quite sure what to expect as Trump takes over. Many of them depend heavily on federal renewable-energy tax credits, grants and research, much of which comes from the Energy Department. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Trump's pick to lead the department, presents a contradictory figure: A Texas oil promoter, he also oversaw a huge expansion of wind-energy production while governor. When he ran for president in 2011, he included Energy on a list of departments he thought should be abolished, though he disavowed the idea Thursday at his Senate confirmation hearing. "We don't know what version of Perry is going to show up," said Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. Renewable energy accounts for about 15 percent of the electricity generated in the United States. And 29 states have set targets for boosting their reliance on such power. Officials, experts and advocates in more than a half-dozen states with some of the most ambitious goals told The Associated Press that they are on course to meet their targets. Most said that while Trump policies could slow the expansion, they won't stop it. The price of harnessing the power of the sun and wind has dropped so much that in many areas of the country, experts say it could be competitive with traditional power sources such as coal and natural gas even without federal subsidies. Further, they do not expect a fast repeal of the key federal tax credits that have propelled the industry for years. Still, policies aimed at bringing more renewable power online quickly are not expected while Trump is in office. "We need to be moving faster, not slower," said Jeff Forward, president of the trade group Renewable Energy Vermont. "I fear we're tapping on the brakes right now." Those who promote renewable energy are concerned because Trump has expressed doubts about whether climate change is real, even though scientists agree that it is happening and that the burning of fossil fuels is a major reason for it. Trump also has called for reviving the coal industry, which has struggled in part because of the rise of renewable energy. And he has criticized wind turbines near Palm Springs, California, both for killing birds and for looking like a "junkyard." Perry, at his confirmation hearings, said he believes climate change is happening and that some of it is caused by human activity. He also said he favors an "all of the above" energy policy, the way he did in Texas, and wants the federal government to continue research on renewable energy. He didn't say what he thought of green-energy tax credits and other incentives. The federal wind credit is set to be phased out in 2019, and the solar one, four years after that. Those incentives and other federal spending on renewable energy in fiscal year 2015 totaled about $10 billion, nearly twice as much as similar subsidies for fossil fuels. In Hawaii, federal tax credits reduced the price for developers and homeowners by about $125 million annually from 2011 to 2014, according to an analysis by Blue Planet Foundation. During that time, the portion of the state's electricity coming from renewables nearly doubled from 12 to 21 percent. Randy Iwase, chairman of the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, said incentives are important to the state's goal of having 100 percent of its power generated from renewable sources by 2045, the nation's most aggressive target. "We are in a toddler stage," he said. "When you lose focus, when attention is distracted, when you make it less of a priority, the toddler kind of wobbles." The Energy Department said in a report last year that the cost of getting power from wind fell more than 40 percent from 2008 to 2015, and solar panel prices dropped more than 60 percent in that period. Market forces have made green power big in Republican-led states, with wind turbines springing up along the Great Plains from Iowa to Texas. In those places many of which have low or no green-energy requirements the arguments for renewable power are more often cost savings and job creation, rather than the environmental benefits. In December, Republican Gov. John Kasich of Ohio vetoed a bill that would have delayed the requirements there. This month, Phil Scott, the new GOP governor in Vermont, affirmed his commitment to Vermont's goal of 90 percent green power by 2050. Meanwhile, some Democratic-leaning states have been pushing their requirements upward. Since 2015, both New York and California have increased their targets to 50 percent by 2030, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has indicated he would like to go further than that. Hawaii Gov. David Ige, a Democrat, said he is committed to meeting the state's target regardless of what policy changes come from Washington. "I know that there can be some changes in federal policy tax credits and those kinds of things," Ige said. "But it's very clear to me that Hawaii's commitment is much broader and deeper than federal policy or tax credits or incentives." Mike Pompeo was sworn in Monday night as director of the CIA at a crucial time for U.S. national security as intelligence traditionally a nonpartisan issue has been thrust into the political arena. "You are stepping up to lead the finest intelligence-gathering operation the world has ever seen," Vice President Mike Pence said during the nighttime swearing-in ceremony. "The men and women serving under your command give true meaning to the word courage." The Senate earlier Monday confirmed President Donald Trump's nominee to run the CIA despite some Democratic objections that the Kansas congressman has been less than transparent about his positions on torture, surveillance and Russia's meddling in the U.S. election. The vote was 66-32. Trump has been critical of intelligence agencies since their assessment of Russian involvement to help him win the election, but the new president also has said he is fully behind them. Senate Republicans had hoped to vote on Pompeo's nomination Friday, after Trump's inauguration. But Democrats succeeded in stalling action until they could debate. Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden on Monday said Pompeo was the "wrong man for the job." "He has endorsed extreme policies that would fundamentally erode liberties and freedoms of our people without making us safer," Wyden said. He said Pompeo's answers to questions from some senators have been "vague" and "contradictory," making it impossible to know what Pompeo believes. "I see no real commitment to transparency and his views on the most fundamental analysis of the day - the involvement of Russia in our election - seemed to shift with those of the president," Wyden said. In written responses to questions from the Senate, on Jan. 3, Pompeo said only that intelligence agency assessments in general should be taken seriously. After Trump conceded Russia was behind the campaign hacks, Pompeo on Jan. 12 told the Senate intelligence committee that particular assessment was "solid." "We need a CIA director who is direct about his beliefs and his assessments," Wyden said. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said Democrats were playing politics in its efforts to delay and derail Trump's choice to run the CIA. One of Trump's first stops as president was Saturday at the CIA's headquarters in Northern Virginia, where he made a speech that focused more on falsely accusing the media of lying about how many people attended his inauguration than on the role the CIA plays protecting the U.S. Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents Saturday, Trump assured intelligence officials, "I am so behind you." He made no mention of his repeated criticism of the intelligence agencies following the election, including his public challenges of their high-confidence assessment that Russia meddled in the White House race to help him win. In its final days, President Barack Obama's administration announced intelligence findings that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential election with the goal of getting Trump elected. Trump himself has denied most of the assessment, though eventually conceded Russia was behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the campaign. Pompeo, a conservative Republican from Kansas and a member of the House intelligence committee, faced a mostly friendly confirmation hearing Jan. 12. He enrolled as a teenager at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated first in his class in 1986. He served in the Army at a time when the Soviet Union was America's No. 1 adversary. The Trump administration is scrutinizing studies or data published by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, and new work is under a "temporary hold" before it can be released. The communications director for President Donald Trump's transition team at EPA says the review extends to all existing content on the federal agency's website, including details of scientific evidence showing that the Earth's climate is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame. Doug Ericksen clarified his earlier statements to The Associated Press, which reported that the Trump administration was mandating that any studies or data from EPA scientists undergo review by political appointees before they can be released to the public. He says he was speaking about existing scientific information on the EPA website that is under review by members of the Trump administration's transition team. He says new work by the agency's scientists is subject to the same "temporary hold" as other kinds of public releases, which he said would likely be lifted by Friday. He says there is no mandate to subject studies or data to political review. Her husband heard the crash and noticed the power go out moments after she left to drive to work. When he went to the window to check, he saw their massive oak tree had uprooted and toppled onto utility lines and onto the road -- on top of her car. "I see the extent of the damage, immediately, I'm thinking the worst," recalled Blake Matthews as he hugged his wife Gricelda, who survived by scrunching down into the driver's seat even as the oak was crushing the roof of her Honda. It happened Monday morning on Tamarac Road, outside their Pasadena home. Gricelda Matthews had just pulled her Honda out of the driveway to head to work. She recalled hearing a cracking sound, but did not see the tree coming down before it was too late. "It just, 'boom!'" she said. Her car stopped, and she could see the roof being pushed down under the weight of the tree, mostly on the passenger side, but also above her head, so she lowered herself in the driver's seat. She honked for help. None of the doors would open, so she rolled down the driver's side window, and squeezed out through it. Her son Brandon, 20, had just come outside to help. "I see her pop out the window. Thank the Lord, a miracle!'" he said. Their oak was one of four large trees that spontaneously toppled Monday morning in Pasadena alone, this coming at the tail end of Southern California's rainiest week in years, and to city officials, there was no doubt the rain was a common factor. "The issue is such over-saturation," said Lisa Derderian of the Pasadena Fire Department. "These trees get top-heavy." The other falling trees fortunately did not fall on cars or power lines. Pasadena city crews with chainsaws cut apart the uprooted oak and cleared Tamarac Road by early afternoon. Restoring the downed power lines and replacing a power pole that snapped took several more hours. Both Gricelda and Blake Matthews both said they already had concerns about their oak. "I knew something would happen with that tree," she said. "That was one of my thoughts, that this would happen," he said, worried about the impact of so much rain after five years of drought stressing trees. "But I didn't think it would happen like that." Oaks are protected by a number of laws in California, but can be trimmed or cut back under the direction of an arborist. Derderian expressed concern the risk of large trees toppling did not end immediately with the departure of this last in a series of storms -- but with saturated soils, the risk could linger for several more days. The Aidingbao Hotel in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, will be transformed into a gallery as it hosts the international art fair, Third Art Nanjing in May. Booths will be set up in the hotel lobby and other public areas, while artworks will be placed inside guests' rooms, as part of the five-day expo opening May 19. With the theme "my first art collection", the fair aims to make hotel guests and collectors consider art as a part of everyday life. Since the inaugural fair in 2005, Art Beijing has been well received among participants, but drawn some criticism for being too commercial. Huang Bingliang, executive director of organiser Baijiahu International Culture Investment Group, said the feedback will help them to better balance commerce and academic interests, as well as make the fair more international. Last year's fair attracted 34,500 visitors and 1,500 artworks were sold. Huang said one Nanjing collector looked for works to decorate his new apartment in Singapore and spent 2 million yuan at the fair. He hoped the fair would attract new collectors who are brave and insightful investors in art. He said they will offer both original works as well as decorative pieces and products for day-to-day use designed by artists. The developed Yangtze River delta that includes Nanjing and Shanghai is home to many art collectors and there has been a rise of entrepreneur collectors in recent years with some planning museums to house and display their private collections. Real estate developer Yan Lugen, who founded Baijiahu International Culture Investment Group, is one such collector who owns both Chinese and Western art. His group operates the Nanjing International Art Festival, which has been held annually since 2014 and will now become a biennial fair from 2018. The company also operates five Art100 galleries in Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hong Kong and New York, with plans to open another one in Guangzhou. More than a dozen graves are sinking into the ground at an East Los Angeles cemetery after severe rainfall hit the region over the weekend. Los Angeles historians Kim Cooper and her husband Richard Schave noticed the unsettled graves while visiting Home of Peace Memorial Park in East LA. "It was pretty shocking. There were sections of graves that had completely caved in," Cooper told NBC4. The couple said they could feel the water had "really saturated" the lawn. They left because they felt it wasn't safe to be walking there. An aerial view of the 116-year-old cemetery showed at least a dozen damaged graves. An employee of the cemetery, who asked not to be identified, said water retention issues are to blame and that's not unusual for this to happen during heavy rainstorms. He added that workers are tending to the graves damaged by the severe storm immediately. Cooper and Schave, who run Esotouric Bus Adventures, are confident that the cemetery will clean up the damage. "I know they're going to get on it because they do very good work here," Schave said. Home of Peace Memorial Park is the final resting place for many who hold a special place in Hollywood history including founder of Universal Pictures Carl Laemmle, co-founder of MGM studios Louis B. Mayer and Shemp and Curly of The Three Stooges. Prosecutors on Tuesday declined to file criminal charges against the officers involved in the 2014 fatal shooting of a man during a struggle over an officer's gun, officials said. In a partially redacted 28-page report, prosecutors said Officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas shot Ezell Ford, 25, lawfully in self-defense and in defense of others in South Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 2014. Tritobia Ford, Ezell Ford's mother, said the DA kept her promise to call her but she is more angry and distrustful of the justice system. "My son was unarmed," she said. "He was murdered. It was unwarranted. It was unjustified. My son didn't have a gun." Lacey said that the officers had a right to defend themselves. "It was not a close call because we believe we had evidence that Mr. Ford was struggling with the officer over possession of that gun," she said. In a statement, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, applauded Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey's decision. "The evidence indicates that Ford was on top of Wampler, struggling to obtain Wampler's primary service weapon and posing an immediate threat to his safety and his partner's safety," the union said. "In fear for their lives, Villegas and Wampler each responded with deadly force. "No officer ever wants to be put in a dangerous situation where they must struggle to maintain control of their weapon, but officers must be allowed to protect themselves, their partners and the public." The union noted that last year, 140 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, and 63 of those were killed by gunfire. Ford was killed after a struggle with the officers. The officers had been in the neighborhood known for gangs and drugs. They initially tried to stop Ford for questioning when he was seen leaving a gang hangout but became suspicious when he looked in the direction of the officers, walked away and the officers saw him trying to conceal his hands. Ford was shot when he tried to remove Wampler's pistol from its holster during a struggle, the report said. Villegas fired his gun at Ford after Wampler yelled out that Ford had his gun, police said. While on the ground, Wampler grabbed his backup weapon, reached around Ford and fired a shot at close range, striking Ford in the back, the LAPD said. In November, Ford's family reached a tentative settlement with the city of Los Angeles over a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit in which they alleged their son was killed while lying on the ground unarmed. According to the lawsuit filed in March 2015, Wampler and Villegas who were named defendants along with the city and LAPD "intentionally and/or negligently fatally shot unarmed decedent Ezell Ford multiple times with their firearms" after he had complied with their order to lie on the ground. The officers knew Ford was "mentally challenged" and that he was not committing a crime at the time, the lawsuit stated. The shooting prompted several protests and calls for a speedy and transparent investigation. Activists have contended that eyewitnesses dispute the police account of events. Lolita Lopez and NBC4 News Services contributed to this report. Two men were in custody and another suspect was at large after a driver plowed into a South Los Angeles house following a pursuit Monday. The chase began at 11:35 p.m. when the driver of a Dodge Charger wanted for possible DUI and reckless driving failed to pull over for deputies, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department Century Station. The driver lost control, crashed through the front yard fence and right through the door of the home in the 12000 block of Main Street, deputies said. There were four residents sleeping inside, but no one was injured. Gwen Yancy was sleeping when the pursuit ended in her living room. "I heard something shake," Yancy said. "I thought it was an earthquake." The car stopped feet away from where Wilson Leniel was sleeping. "I was like, 'Oh, that's a car!'" said Leniel. "So I started to try to get out of the room, and I figured out the only way to get out was to climb over the car." Three men got out of the car and tried to hide, Leniel and Yancy said. Police said the occupants of the car dumped a gun. Two men were taken into custody and were later arrested, but the third suspect got away. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said a search for the third suspect was underway Tuesday. Although the damage to the home was extensive, the residents of the home told NBC4 they were glad no one was injured. "Everybody's OK," Leniel said. "Everything can be fixed and replaced." Lin-Manuel Miranda is getting closer to EGOT status, thanks to his Oscar nomination for best original song. The "Hamilton" creator picked up a nod Tuesday for composing "How Far I'll Go" from the animated film "Moana." "You know, I feel fine," Miranda said with a laugh in an interview with The Associated Press moments after he learned of the nomination. "I am thrilled to get to go to the Oscars, honestly," he added. "I won't even be a little modest about that. I've been a fan of the Oscars telecast since I was a kid I used to memorize Billy Crystal's musical monologues." For his work on "Hamilton" and "In the Heights," Miranda has won three Tonys and two Grammys. He won an Emmy with songwriter Tom Kitt for outstanding original music and lyrics for the 2013 Tony Awards. His competition at the Academy Awards includes another multi-award winning musician: Justin Timberlake. The former boy band leader, who has won 9 Grammys and 4 Emmys, earned his first Oscar nomination Tuesday for his No.1 hit "Can't Stop the Feeling!" from the animated film "Trolls." Sting and J. Ralph also scored a nomination for the song "The Empty Chair," giving Sting his fourth nomination in the category and marking Ralph's third. The song is from the HBO documentary "Jim: The James Foley Story," about freelance journalist James Foley, who went to Syria in 2012 to cover the country's war, and was beheaded by Islamic State militants in a video released in August 2014. "We're surprised and we're delighted, mainly for the movie," Sting said in a phone interview from Los Angeles. "We believe more people should see this movie. It's very important. If it gets more attention, we're happy." "This was something that Sting and I really wanted to create a celebration of this incredible man's life. We didn't want to focus on the horrific tragedy that ultimately fell upon him," Ralph added. "Audition (The Fools Who Dream)" and "City of Stars" from the hit "La La Land" both by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul round out the five nominees. "City of Stars" won the Golden Globe for best original song earlier this month, besting Miranda and Timberlake's songs. Miranda, 37, is currently in London filming "Mary Poppins Returns." He said he didn't realize the Oscar nominations were happening today. "I'm so messed up with time zones," he said. Miranda said writing the music for Disney's "Moana" which also earned a nomination for best animated feature film was a dream job. "I wanted to write a Disney song since I was 9 years old when Sebastian the crab (in "The Little Mermaid") started singing calypso music it changed my life," he said. "This is a result of three years of work, two of which were concurrent with being in a Broadway show at the same time, so it's enormously joyous to get to celebrate that work. ... It's really thrilling." Timberlake shares his nomination with Karl Johan Schuster and Max Martin, the pop mastermind who was nominated for the original song Oscar last year for co-writing the Weeknd's "Earned It" from "Fifty Shades of Grey." Other nominees last year featured well-known acts like this year's group, including Lady Gaga and Sam Smith, who won the Oscar for "Writing's on the Wall" from "Spectre." Two arrests have been made in last week's shooting at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Park in northwest Miami-Dade that left eight injured, county officials said Tuesday. Miami-Dade County Communications director Mike Hernandez tweeted that police director Juan Perez said two arrests have been made in the shooting. At a news conference held Tuesday, director Perez praised the work of the media, community leaders and authorities for catching the two suspects. Perez added that even though two people were arrested, the investigation is "still evolving". He said the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office and detectives are working to put together all the pieces of the investigation. Police confirmed that 18-year-old Gerrell Brownlee and a 17-year-old have been arrested. Brownlee faces charges including attempted second-degree murder, carrying a concealed firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The juvenile faces attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a minor charges, police said. No other details of the arrests were immediately known. Police would not said if they were looking for any other suspects. At Tuesday's news conference, Perez continued his anti-gun violence message saying, "the community...stands side-by-side with us. We're going to take this any longer. Enough is enough on the gun violence." The shooting happened hours after an MLK parade had ended at the park at Northwest 62nd Street and 32nd Avenue last Monday. Police said the teens arrested are members of rival neighborhood gangs and that the people shot were innocent bystanders. Of the eight people who were shot, five are juveniles, with one as young as 11. The ages range from 11 to 30, and all survived the shooting. A Sarasota County sheriff's deputy is behind bars for allegedly trying to kill a woman and make her death look like a suicide after exploiting her for money and stealing her dog. Eighteen-year veteran Frankie Bybee found himself on the wrong side of the law, according to Sheriff Tom Knight. He said the deputy recently befriended a 79-year-old woman while on duty and made frequent visits to her home. The victim's neighbors were concerned about what they called regular visits. That was unusual they said. "We thought maybe somebody had tried to rob her or something," said Joe and Norma Glickman, who live next door. The woman was recently hospitalized and had allowed Bybee to watch her dog, officials said. She gave him more than $1,000 for vet bills, but Bybee allegedly kept the money instead and found the dog a new home through Craigslist.com. He is also alleged to have forged her signature to write himself $65,000 worth of checks. "He was taking advantage of her because of her age and winning her confidence to exploit her for her money," Knight said. Bybee broke into her house, drugged her and left her car running to fill the rooms with carbon monoxide, investigators said. Sheriff Knight believes he wanted to make her death look like a suicide. But she survived. Bybee was arrested Monday morning and later appeared in court. The deputys attorney Charles Britt spoke on his behalf. "Mr. Bybee does and continues to deny the allegations that were made by the government in this case," Britt argued. Bybee was ordered held on more than $1 million bond at the Sarasota County Jail. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson says President Donald Trump's hiring freeze could hurt the government's response to a dangerous hurricane. Sen. Nelson spoke out Monday on the vacancies in the National Weather Service, the same day Trump signed an executive order that stops all federal agencies from hiring, except for the Pentagon, the Miami Herald reported. "The National Weather Service's around-the-clock forecasts save lives in Florida and around the nation," Nelson said, according to the Herald. "Failure to fill vital vacancies within the agency means those hands won't be around when the monster storm hits. Not only would that be irresponsible, but it could put people's lives at risk." According to the NWS, there are a total of 638 vacancies, roughly 16 percent of the workforce. There are 65 vacancies in the Southern Region. Of the 638 vacancies, 570 are "emergency essestial" employees, meaning they must report to work during hurricanes, floods and other emergencies. Trumps nominee to head the Commerce Department, billionaire Wilbur Ross, said last week that he would move quickly to fill the NWS vacancies. "Timely and accurate weather information is crucial to protect both lives and property, and is also essential to the smooth functioning of numerous areas of commerce, including aviation, shipping, fishing and farming, to name just a few," Ross said in a statement. "Proper staffing of the NWS is therefore important and, if confirmed, I intend to review the current efforts and see how they can be improved." The Atlantic Hurricane Season begins June 1. Britain's Supreme Court has ruled that the Parliament must vote on whether the government can start the Brexit process on Tuesday, according to BBC reports. A pro-Europe supporter shows off products whose names have been changed as he waits outside the Supreme Court, before the decision of a court ruling on whether Theresa May's government requires parliamentary approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, in Parliament Square, central London, Britain, January 24, 2017. [Photo/Agencies] The ruling means Theresa May cannot begin talks with the EU until MPs and peers give their backing - although this is expected to happen in time for the government's 31 March deadline. But the court ruled the Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say. Campaigners argued denying the UK Parliament a vote was undemocratic. But the government said it already had the powers to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty - getting talks under way - without the need for consulting MPs and peers. The judges rejected the case put by ministers by a majority of eight to three. Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" but would "comply" and do "all that is necessary" to implement the court's judgment. Police say an eastern Pennsylvania man beat his mother and choked her to the point of unconsciousness for changing the TV channel. David Cantrell, 42, was jailed on assault and harassment charges after the argument Sunday night at their Bath home. [[411553275, C]] Moore Township police say Cantrell punched his mother in the mouth, lifted her up and then slammed her on the floor. They say he also choked her until she lost consciousness, saying, "I hope you die." [[411664445, C]] Police say the woman later went to a neighbor's house for help. Online court records don't list an attorney for Cantrell, who remained in the Northampton County jail Tuesday -- unable to post $75,000 bail as he awaits a preliminary hearing Feb. 3. [[411637395, C]] Police didn't immediately return calls for additional details. [[238427591, C]] What to Know The Valley Stream resident was charged in February 2013 in a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities The scheme caused more than $200 million in losses to businesses and financial institutions Prosecutors say 19 people have pleaded guilty in the scheme A Long Island man is in custody nearly four years after he was charged in what New Jersey prosecutors call one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever. Habib Chaudhry, 49, faces arraignment this week. The Valley Stream resident was charged in February 2013 in a conspiracy to fabricate more than 7,000 false identities to obtain tens of thousands of credit cards. Prosecutors say 19 people have since pleaded guilty in the scheme. The scheme caused more than $200 million in losses to businesses and financial institutions. It is not clear where Chaudhry was apprehended. Information on an attorney for him wasn't immediately available. A prominent former New York City emergency room doctor has been sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to sexually abusing four women who had been his patients. David Newman, of Montclair, New Jersey, was also sentenced on Monday to three years of post-release supervision. He will have to register as a sex offender. The investigation into the physician at Mount Sinai Hospital began last January after a woman who was treated for shoulder pain told police Newman gave her morphine and then masturbated on her. The 46-year-old doctor was arrested after a second woman complained to police. The other women then came forward alleging similar acts. Newman wrote a book on the patient-doctor relationship. He also claims to have served in a combat hospital in Iraq. What to Know A nor'easter hammered the tri-state with wind and rain, toppling trees, flooding streets and cutting power to thousands President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama's signature trade deal Britain's government lost a legal fight over Brexit; the country's Supreme Court said the prime minister must get approval from parliament Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here. Nor'easter Pummels Tri-State With Wind, Rain A powerful noreaster unleashed rain and wind on communities across the tri-state as it continued its push through the Northeast Monday night, toppling trees, flooding streets and wreaking havoc on transit systems. The storm sent objects flying in New York City, cut power to thousands on Long Island and New Jersey, and dropped snow on the Hudson Valley. Conditions were forecast to slowly improve Tuesday, though windy and damp weather would remain and there was a risk of high-tide flooding to coastal communities in the morning. NJ Transit said that service had returned to normal after a chaotic night for commuters following a downed power line. President Trump Resigns From Businesses President Donald Trump has resigned from his namesake company and more than 400 affiliated entities, a Trump Organization spokesperson told NBC News. In a statement, the spokesperson said Trump had transferred title, management and authority of the companies to a trust under the management of his sons Don and Eric and of Allen Weisselberg, chief financial officer of The Trump Organization. The spokesperson provided a resignation letter dated Jan. 19 and signed by Trump, along with a list of hundreds of companies that he had left. "Alternative Facts" Are Front Page Seth Meyers took a look at President Donald Trump's first day in office, and the "alternative facts" offered to describe his inauguration day. Watch it here. Searches for the definition of fact spiked on Merriam-Webster's website following Kellyanne Conways appearance on Sundays Meet the Press, where she used the phrase, alternative facts. Conway told Chuck Todd that alternative facts were used to assess the crowd size at Trumps inauguration. Meanwhile, Trump wrongly asserted in a private meeting with congressional leaders Monday night that he would have won the popular vote if not for widespread voter fraud. U.S. Backs out of TPP Pact Several countries expressed hope Tuesday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership could be salvaged, after President Trump's decision on a U.S. withdrawal from the trade pact left its future in serious jeopardy. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged Trump's move was a massive blow to the 12-nation agreement, but suggested other countries, such as China, may help fill the void left by the U.S. As expected, Trump used one of his first actions in office to officially abandon the trade deal on Monday, dubbing it a detriment to American businesses. Brexit: Government Loses Court Fight Britain's government lost a legal fight over Brexit Tuesday but the ruling was not expected to impact the U.K.'s move to leave the European Union following last year's shock referendum result. The country's Supreme Court said Prime Minister Theresa May must seek approval from parliament before she invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and triggers up to two years of divorce talks. Theres been growing criticism that Mays plans for EU withdrawal are mired in chaos. CDC Cancels Climate Change Conference The government's top public health agency has canceled a conference next month on climate change and health but isn't saying why publicly. A co-sponsor said he was told by the CDC that it was worried how the conference would be viewed by the Trump administration. Public health experts say climate change is a man-made problem that contributes to a range of health issues and illnesses, including heat stroke and diseases spread by tropical insects. Minnesota Governor Faints During Speech Gov. Mark Dayton collapsed while delivering his State of the State speech on Monday, striking his head on a lectern. The 69-year-old Democrat appeared to be conscious as he was helped into a back room several minutes later. Nearing his 70th birthday on Thursday, Dayton has a history of health problems. The owner of a tailor shop in Manhattan was stabbed by a robber Monday afternoon, police say. The 78-year-old owner of Apel's Alteration on East 27th Street was stabbed just after 12:30 p.m. after clashing with his attacker inside the shop, police said. Police say the robber stabbed the tailor repeatedly in the chest and demanded money. The shop owner initially resisted but eventually relented and gave the attacker $80 in cash from his own pocket. The assailant stabbed the shop owner a few more times before he ran out of the store, police said. "He had a gash on his face and he was holding himself so I was pretty sure he had a gash down there," said Matthew Moreno, who works next door. The victim was taken to the hospital with stab wounds to the chest, cuts to the face, a fractured skull and a punctured left lung, police said. He was in critical but stable conditon. Blood could be seen on the floor inside the shop as police swarmed the scene, looking for clues and gathering evidence. Regulars at the victim's store described him as a nice older man who worked alone. "He works by himself, he likes to work by himself," said Boris Rafailob, who also works next door. "He's a nice gentleman. It's very unfortunate." The suspect is described as being about 40 to 50 years old, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 11, weighing 160 to 190 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at nypdcrimestoppers.com. A man charged a decade ago in Wisconsin with trying to kill his girlfriend's unborn child has turned up in New York, authorities say. Sheriff's officials say the U.S. Border Patrol stopped a vehicle in Franklin County's Malone Friday because of suspicious criminal activity. Manishkumar Patel was a passenger in the vehicle. Agents took Patel and the driver to the Border Patrol office where they were fingerprinted. USA Today Network-Wisconsin reports records showed Patel was wanted in Outagamie County and he was arrested. The 43-year-old Patel is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, recklessly endangering safety, stalking and other charges in Wisconsin. Patel is accused of spiking his girlfriend's drink with an abortion-inducing drug. He was charged in November of 2007. Patel's attorney did not immediately return a call for comment. New Jersey Transit commuters grew frustrated and weary as they waited on packed platforms in the rain and squeezed onto crowded trains that crawled during the evening rush hour Monday. When high winds from a powerful nor'easter knocked down wires in Linden earlier in the afternoon, NJ Transit and Amtrak was forced to suspend all service that ran through those tracks. That included NJ Transit's North Jersey Coast and Northeast Corridor lines, and Amtrak's Acela and Northeast Regional lines. Heavy winds in Jersey City Monday tossed around a hanging scaffolding around, banging it against a building. Credit: Bruno Boni Oliveira New Yorkers Wrestle With Wind, Rain as Nor'easter Bears Down NJ Transit and Amtrak eventually announced service was restored but cautioned customers that it would be significantly slower due to speed restrictions along the Linden portion of the tracks. But customers were annoyed to find just how delayed their commute home would be. "Cold and rainy," tweeted Vivian Myers, showing a photo of commuters huddled underneath overhang on a rainy NJ Transit platform at Metropark. "Train is able to go to Trenton. Seems that the crew can't do the hours to get us home???? So we are kicked off." Train leaving passengers on the platform @MarciRubinN12 pic.twitter.com/vY7unA8bOc Vivian Myers (@vecharo) January 24, 2017 @NJTRANSIT this is incredibly unsafe. Three and a half hours to metropark to be trampled trying to get off. pic.twitter.com/OhkRn7g6Dj Sarah Hunter (@S_M_Hunter) January 24, 2017 Sarah Hunter tweeted a video of masses of commuters inching along a platform in the rain, with umbrellas out and parka hoodies up: "@NJTransit this is incredibly unsafe. Three and a half hours to metropark to be trampled trying to get off." At Newark Penn Station, customers were packed shoulder to shoulder as they waited for their trains amid delays and cancellations. @NJTRANSIT @News12NJ Left work 3 hours ago, still trying to get to South Amboy. Little progress. pic.twitter.com/nP2NvQGcKO Jason Slesinski (@JSlesinski) January 23, 2017 One man aboard a train to Hamilton, New Jersey, shot video from inside, telling NBC 4: "This train has not moved in 20 minutes. Even then it only moved a few feet." NJ Transit said in a statement, "Amtrak personnel worked to clear the wires as quickly as possible, however, power was lost to the signal system, forcing trains to proceed at dramatically reduced speed through the area. "This resulted in numerous trains being delayed at both Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station, with significant crowding at stations along that route." NJ Transit says Amtrak crews are still working to restore the signal system in the Linden area, but if the work isn't completed before the morning rush hour, passengers may again experience delays due to the reduced speeds in the area. Tracks were briefly flooded at Hoboken Terminal in the afternoon but officials said it didn't affect service. Waves battered the New Jersey coast as a noreaster approached. Brian Thompson Reports. What to Know NYPD officer Richard Haste has been undergoing departmental trial in the shooting death of Ramarley Graham Graham was an unarmed black man shot and killed in front of family members in 2012 The punishment against Haste probably won't be known for several weeks, if at all The family of the unarmed black man shot to death in his own bathroom by an NYPD officer in 2012 alleges police are covering up the facts in the case. Ramarley Graham's mother and other relatives spoke to media in Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, a day after the disciplinary trial of NYPD officer Richard Haste came to a close. They argued video evidence contradicts testimony given by responding cops in Haste's trial, and called for their firings. Constance Malcolm, Graham's mother, said she wanted to set the record straight about her son: he's not a monster, he wasn't selling drugs, he didn't have a gun and he never ran from police, she claimed. "Life was cut short all because somebody was too hasty, broken protocol and thinking they were above the law," said Malcolm." It wasn't just Richard Haste, they all played a part in my son's death." She said her 6-year-old son witnessed his brother getting shot. The family presented extended video clips, some of which had already been viewed in court, they said illustrated their point. Some footage showed Graham, then 18, being carried outside on a gurney after he was shot, a blanket covering his face. Other videos showed the reaction of NYPD officers to the initial scene; Graham's family says they didn't appear frightened and weren't ducking for cover, which they say delegitimizes officers' claims, including Haste's, that Graham was shot to death out of fear for NYPD lives. Graham's family said Tuesday they want Haste and 11 other officers fired. "They all play a part. They all play a part in my son's death and they all should be fired," said Malcolm. Haste's attorney, Stuart London, acknowledged the case was a tragedy and said his client understands that. "The issue of justification is a separate one," London said. "The video was never a crucial part of this case. It was un-contradicted at trial that Ramarley Graham possessed a weapon and never acquiesced to officer Haste's commands to 'Show me your hands, show me your hands.'" The NYPD has consistently denied any suggestion of a cover-up. A representative couldn't immediately be reached following Tuesday's briefing. Haste, who had been investigating a drug case on the day Graham died, testified he followed the young man into his Bronx apartment building on suspicion that he may have had a gun. After Haste and his partner broke down the door of Graham's home, the officer said he saw Graham sidestep into a bathroom, and he leaned inside to face him. Haste, who is white, testified that he yelled, "Show me your hands!" but Graham instead reached deeper into his pants and yelled obscenities. "I thought I was about to be shot," Haste said. "I expected to be dead. Haste initially faced a criminal manslaughter charge in the death, which became another flashpoint for outrage over police use of deadly force against minorities. But the criminal case was dismissed because of a procedural error, and a new grand jury declined to indict. Federal prosecutors also declined to bring charges. NYPD lawyers have sought to get Haste fired, saying he botched department tactics requiring him to take cover and call for backup. The officer's attorneys say he had good reason to think Graham was drawing a gun when he fired. No weapon was recovered. Haste's trial wrapped up Monday, but word of any punishment likely won't come for several weeks. The judge will submit a written recommendation about whether the officer can remain on the force - all subject to final approval, reversal or change by the police commissioner. It's likely the NYPD would confirm if Haste is ultimately fired. But lesser punishments resulting from such proceedings - whether an officer is reprimanded, docked pay or put on probation - and the reasoning behind any decisions are not disclosed. Through Nov. 5, 7:30-9 p.m. and Sun., Nov. 6, 2-3:30 p.m. Illinois College Sibert Theatre McGaw Fine Arts Center, Jacksonville Jacksonville Theater & Comedy Sarah Ruhls contemporary take on the myth of Orpheus focuses on the heros beloved Eurydice, who, after dying on her wedding day, finds herself in a strange new land. Reunited with her father in the Underworld, Eurydice must find the balance between remembering her life before and living with her new circumstances. The New York Times hailed Eurydice as Rhapsodically beautiful. A weird and wonderful new play - an inexpressibly moving theatrical fable about love, loss and the pleasures and pains of memory." 217-245-3471 Closing arguments began Tuesday morning in the civil trial for the 2013 Market Street collapse catastrophe that killed seven and left another dozen people hurt. Plaintiffs' attorney began the two days of closings, with the defense expected to begin their arguments in the afternoon. It marks a significant milestone in a trial going on five months, though it does not mean an end is near. The six defendants are developer Richard Basciano and his company STB, his project representative Plato Marinakos, demolition contractor Griffin Campbell, Campbells excavator operator Sean Benschop, and the Salvation Army, which owned and operated the store that Bascianos building crushed the morning of June 5, 2013. Plaintiffs' attorney Steve Wigrizer began the day rehashing arguments and testimony that called into question the oversight and management of the project by STB officials and, by extension, its principal owner, Richard Basciano. Early on in the trial, plaintiffs' attorneys used emails leading up to the disaster between an STB manager, Salvation Army officials and STB's project representative, Marinakos, to argue both an indifference to potential dangers and incompetence by all parties. Wigrizer pointed to a June 2 email that he claimed showed "a very, very bad and despicable thought process." The email involved a plan to take down much of the building while leaving a four-story chimney that was attached to the Salvation Army. It was a vengeful ploy, Wigrizer claimed, by STB officials to get back at the Salvation Army for ignoring STB's requests for roof access during the demolition. Wigrizer also described it as "a despicable plan in the context of a building on Market Street." Attorneys for the defendants have at times during the trial blamed each other for what caused the collapse and resulting deaths. Alternately, attorneys for STB and Basciano would blame Marinakos or the Salvation Army, the Salvation Army would blame STB and Marinakos, Marinakos would blame Benschop and Campbell, and STB, Basciano and Marinakos would blame Benschop and Campbell. Benschop and Campbell are serving lengthy sentences in jail for their roles in the collapse. They are the only two who were criminally tried. Marinakos served as a willing witness for the Philadelphia District Attorney in the cases against the two. Day two of closings Wednesday is shaping up as a clash of titans in Philadelphia's legal world. Defense attorneys for Marinakos and the Salvation Army will present arguments in the morning, including attorney Jack Snyder. Then, two of the city's best known civil case litigants, Richard Sprague and Robert Mongeluzzi, will present their closings in the afternoon. Sprague is the attorney for Basciano. Mongeluzzi is one of the lead attorneys for the plaintiffs. After the closing arguments, Judge M. Teresa Sarmina will charge the jury to begin deliberations. Her instructions in the charging phase could make as long as half of the day Thursday. The jury will then deliberate over a 36-question verdict sheet, which will determine whether any or all of the five defendants in the case are liable for damages to the families of the seven people killed and the surviving victims. If any defendants are found liable, the trial will then enter its damages phase, during which attorneys will then present expert witnesses to give testimony about how much value can and should be assessed when life is lost, people are injured, and trauma is incurred upon victims. The jury would then deliberate again. No timeframe has been set for the entire process, but Sarmina has put time limits on the closing arguments for both the plaintiffs and the defense. Without any unforeseen occurrences, closings will conclude by Wednesday afternoon. Philadelphia Police have arrested a homeless man accused of attacking a transgender woman while yelling anti-gay slurs in an assault captured on Facebook Live. Daejon Workman, 25, was arrested Sunday and charged with simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. Ryannah Quigley, 23, of Seattle, Washington, told NBC10 she was attending the Creating Change conference in Philadelphia. Quigley said she was walking along the 1300 block of Filbert Street in Center City at 4:40 p.m. Friday with two of her friends when a man, who police later identified as Workman, began staring at her. Quigley said she greeted Workman but he continued to stare at her. "I said, 'Is there a reason why you're staring at me up and down?' And he stopped and turned and looked and he said, 'Whatever bro.' So that's when I said, 'Please don't call me bro,'" Quigley said. Quigley said Workman then started shouting at her and yelling anti-gay slurs. "He just kept telling me, 'You're a f-----,' and 'You're going to hell.' Then he kept saying, 'You'll never be a real woman,'" Quigley said. Quigley told NBC10 she then took out her phone and began recording the encounter on Facebook Live. Thats when she says Workman threw a bag of food at her and then punched her in the face before running away. Quigley reported the incident to Philadelphia Police. On Sunday morning, officers saw Workman standing in the Frankford Terminal, wearing the same clothes he wore during the attack, investigators said. He was then arrested. Quigley said she suffered cuts and a bruise but is doing okay. She told NBC10 shes been the victim of violence before. She was attacked by a group of people a few years ago. "Often times we are not believed," Quigley said. "We are often looked at as the problem. Because as trans women people assume that, 'Oh, you must have been hitting on him.'" Quigley's friend Keyonna Fowler witnessed the incident and said the suspect's comments were "horrible." "Just because a trans woman speaks to you does not mean that she wants you," Fowler said. Quigley said the video of the attack was later taken down by Facebook administrators who claimed it violated their terms of service. Quigley also claimed she was blocked from accessing her Facebook account. Her friends and supporters have posted updates on her recovery to her page for her. "Transgender individuals, they are people," Quigley said. "They are living and they will continue to be here." A New Castle County grand jury has indicted a Wilmington woman charged in a September arson that left three firefighters dead. Beatriz Fana-Ruiz was indicted Monday on six counts of murder, nine counts of reckless endangering, assault, and three counts of arson. Lt. Christopher Leach and Senior Firefighter Jerry Fickes died at the scene of the Sept. 24 row house fire after the first floor of the home collapsed, trapping them in the basement. Senior Firefighter Ardythe Hope was hospitalized in critical condition for several weeks before she died last month. A fourth firefighter was injured. Fana-Ruiz is the daughter of the homeowner and was a temporary resident at the time of the fire. An attorney for Fana-Ruiz didn't immediately return a phone message seeking comment Monday. Mayor Jim Kenney pledged to take action against discrimination in Philadelphias Gayborhood during a news conference Monday morning. City leaders unveiled a new report issued by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations detailing instances of discrimination in the historically gay neighborhood. This followed an October public hearing, which invited members of the LGBTQ community to share their experiences and concerns regarding racial tensions in an area often associated with inclusion and diversity. But the facade of peaceful coexistence did not always extend to community members of color, many of who complained for decades about racial bias and discriminatory practices while frequenting bars, restaurants and even social service organizations in the Gayborhood. Its an urban myth that people from a marginalized community dont oppress each other, said Ernest Owens, a gay activist and editor of G Philly. Now, our concerns are validated. Among the reports finding was evidence that LGBTQ people of color, women and transgender people often feel unwelcome and unsafe in Gayborhood spaces. The report cites business practices that substantiate the numerous reports of racism and discrimination in the neighborhood. Owens, a black 25-year-old who relocated to Philadelphia from Houston, has experienced some of these problems firsthand. Ive had to get patted down, up and down, all around while I can see other people in front of me get in with no problem, he said. That kind of discrimination is very inhumane and derogatory. I really felt less than. While the report issued Monday did not provide statistics, the authors did find that discriminatory practices have been common for at least three decades. Most frequently, black patrons were turned away for not complying with dress codes and forced to present several forms of identification, according to the report. The commissions October hearing attracted close to 400 participants. Among those attendees were the owners of 11 bars that had been subpoenaed by the commission and several directors of nonprofit organizations that service the neighborhood. The commission combined data offered by these businesses and found that employment policies, dress codes and other practices worked to create an unsafe and unwelcoming environment for people of color and transgender community members. As a result of their findings, the commission issued a series of recommendations that include mandatory training for business owners and nonprofits working in the neighborhood. Racism in the LGBTQ community is a real issue. Its a real issue in our entire society, not only just in the LGBTQ area or in the Gayborhood, Kenney said. We need to do more to address it here in Philadelphia. We will do whatever else we need to do to see that the recommendations are adopted. And that possibly could include eliminating organizations who wont change their ways by limiting our participation in their work financially. A man who had his ear bitten off Monday said his roommate allegedly attacked him in a drunken rage during an argument about President Donald Trump. Police and the bite victim, 30-year-old Marcos Ortiz, haven't identified the suspect who remained on the loose Tuesday. Ortiz returned home from the hospital Monday night with a bandage on his ear, bandages on his hand and scratches on his face. He told WPXI Pittsburgh the other man was drunk and angry about not having winning lottery tickets, then attacked him after expressing fears he'll be deported under the Trump Administration. Ortiz said his roommate then pushed him down the steps. Ortiz ran to the nearby gas station for help around 6:45 a.m. Monday after the man grabbed knife and threatened to kill him, Ortiz said. "He went crazy," Ortiz said. "'You're going to die tonight!' And I said, 'Why?'" Police found Ortiz's ear in the apartment but the roommate was gone, according to WPXI. Ortiz, who is also from Mexico, said the man has been his roommate for about six months and is in the country legally. Police spokeswoman Emily Schaffer told WPXI she was unable to say whether the victim was pro- or anti-Trump, or which position motivated the attack. New Jersey's Assembly speaker wants to add a $2 charge to each hotel room bill in Atlantic City to help prevent massive police and firefighter layoffs in the struggling gambling resort. Shortly after Republican Gov. Chris Christie's administration seized power in Atlantic City last fall, the state began seeking steep cuts in public safety, calling for as many as 100 firefighter layoffs and 27 in the police department. Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, a Hudson County Democrat, introduced a bill Monday that would impose the additional surcharge on Atlantic City hotel bills, with the proceeds to be used exclusively to help fund police and fire operations. The charge would end after two years. "I was adamant that any state takeover of Atlantic City not involve, among other things, police and firefighter layoffs that would threaten public safety and the city's efforts to market itself as a safe and family-friendly destination, but not everyone agreed," he said. "The harsh reality is now setting in, sadly, but I will not stand idle and allow police and firefighter layoffs to harm public safety for residents while also hurting the public's ability to feel confident about visiting the city. Atlantic City must remain successful for the betterment of the entire state." Prieto had no immediate estimate Tuesday of how much the measure might raise each year. In December, city union officials revealed that the state, which seized power a month earlier, was seeking big cuts in public safety spending as part of a package of financial austerity measures designed to stabilize the nearly broke city's finances. The state can now cancel decisions by the City Council, break union contracts, and seize and sell city assets. A spokesman for Christie declined to comment on the bill. Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian had no immediate comment. [[238427591, C]] As jobs-versus-environment clashes go, few issues have been as hard fought and generated as much passion in New Jersey as a proposal to run a natural gas pipeline through federally protected woods atop some of the nation's purest drinking water. The plan was narrowly defeated in 2014. But since then, Republican Gov. Chris Christie has replaced several commissioners on the state agency that will reconsider the plan with supporters of the pipeline. On Tuesday, a public hearing on building the pipeline was being held in Pemberton. With a new administration in power in Washington that is more receptive to fossil-fuel energy projects, the fate of the Pinelands pipeline is sure to be closely watched by national energy and environmental groups. "This is a symbol of the national battle between clean energy and renewable resources, and the push for pipelines," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "This is the front line of a battle that's coming where Donald Trump is going to want to push pipelines everywhere." South Jersey Gas proposes to run the pipe from Maurice River Township in Cumberland County to the B.L. England power plant in Upper Township; it would run mostly under or alongside existing roads. Jeff DuBois, CEO of South Jersey Industries, said the company already operates over 1,400 miles of gas mains and 133 miles of elevated pressure lines within the Pinelands without harm to the environment. "For many years, our underground infrastructure has warmed homes, dried clothes and heated water in the very same Pinelands towns where new infrastructure will be laid," he said. "In reality, this project is no different." New Jersey regulators will decide whether the pipeline gets built. After the proposal was defeated in 2014, the executive director of the New Jersey Pinelands Commission unilaterally decided that it met the agency's criteria and was therefore approved. Environmentalists sued, and a court ordered the commission to take a new vote. That could come as soon as next month. The proposed pipeline has been hotly fought by environmental groups, who fear it will harm the fragile Pinelands and set a bad precedent for future development there. They said it will cause a loss of some habitat and increase runoff and erosion in an area home to an aquifer estimated to hold 17 trillion gallons of some of the nation's purest water. Four former state governors two Republicans and two Democrats also oppose the pipeline, citing their desire to protect a vulnerable natural resource. South Jersey Gas maintains that in addition to providing a cleaner fuel source to the power plant, the new pipeline would provide a second transmission vehicle for natural gas to thousands of customers in Atlantic and Cape May counties. There is only one pipeline right now that takes gas to nearly 29,000 homes and businesses, which could be left out in the cold without a second means of getting gas to their homes if the existing pipeline fails. Kevin Poloff, an operations technician at the power plant, said the pipeline has been the victim of a disinformation campaign by opponents. "I live a mile and a half from where this pipeline is going to begin, and I drive along Route 49 every day," he said. "The shoulder of the road, where it's going to go, is mowed and manicured by the state. Once this goes in, it will not be noticed. It will look exactly the same as it does now." [[238427591, C]] A Wilmington Police officer shot and killed an armed man, according to officials. Police were called to a home on the 1700 block of W. 13th Street in Wilmington, Delaware Monday around 6 p.m. for a report of a distraught male possibly armed with a gun. When they arrived they found the man who police say was holding a handgun. Investigators say one of the officers opened fire and shot the man. They have not yet revealed whether the unidentified man aimed his weapon at the officers prior to the shooting. The man died from his injuries. Wilmington Police and the State of Delaware Department of Justice are investigating the incident. Rex Tillerson's bid to be secretary of state narrowly won approval Monday from the Republican-led Foreign Relations Committee, a move that all but assures the full Senate will confirm President Donald Trump's pick for the key Cabinet post. Members of the panel voted along party lines, 11-10, to back Tillerson following a contentious confirmation hearing nearly two weeks ago that stoked concerns he might not win the panel's recommendation. But just hours before members cast their votes, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., declared his support for Tillerson, backing off from a challenge to the new president. Rubio said that despite serious reservations about Tillerson, particularly over his views on Russia, he believed a president was entitled to significant deference in assembling his Cabinet. None of the committee's 10 Democrats voted for Tillerson. They cited concerns Tillerson would continue to view the world through the lens of a corporate executive and not the nation's chief diplomat. Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, said Tillerson "equivocated" during his confirmation hearing on questions about human rights, civil society and press and religious freedoms, and repeatedly prioritized "narrow business interests ahead of these core national security interests." Every nominee for the job going back at least four decades has been approved by overwhelming votes from both sides in the Foreign Relations Committee, as senators have traditionally wanted to deliver a bipartisan display of confidence to the nation's top diplomat. No other nominee since 1977 has received more than two "no" votes from the committee. Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the committee's Republican chairman, said he has "no doubt" Tillerson is well-qualified, citing his leadership of the energy giant. Corker chided his colleagues who had demanded information about Tillerson's personal taxes, saying the material had been used to ask "silly, silly questions." Corker also criticized unnamed lawmakers who held Tillerson responsible for comments Trump made during the presidential campaign or during his inauguration speech. "To me, Mr. Tillerson is an adult who's been around," said Corker, adding that Tillerson can be a "very good anchor" on issues that Congress cares about. Rubio announced he would vote for Tillerson in a statement posted on Facebook. "Despite my reservations, I will support Mr. Tillerson's nomination in committee and in the full Senate," said Rubio, who'd come under strong pressure from fellow Republicans to back the nomination and avoid dealing Trump an embarrassing setback in the early days of his presidency. Rubio had clashed with Tillerson at a committee hearing earlier this month, bridling at his refusal to label Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" and his failure to condemn human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and the Philippines in strong enough terms. He chided Tillerson over the need for "moral clarity." But in the end, after unsuccessfully opposing Trump for the GOP nomination last year before coming around to support him, Rubio decided to fall in line this time, too. His statement came after the nomination got a boost Sunday from two influential Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who also offered tepid endorsements for Tillerson. Like Rubio, McCain and Graham had voiced concerns in light of Tillerson's long history of personal dealings with Putin, his record of doing oil deals in Russia and his questioning of the U.S. sanctions on that country. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he was encouraged by several of Tillerson's public stances, including "his clear-eyed understanding of the threat posed by Putin's Russia" and his commitment to NATO. But Coons said the differences on key issues between himself and Tillerson outweighed the similarities. "I believe that climate change is a pressing national security threat," Coons said. "I believe that advocating for human rights, a free press, and democracy around the world advances our own security and economic interests here at home." Further roiling the debate is U.S. intelligence's assessment that Russia meddled in the presidential election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton. Even while announcing his support for Tillerson, Rubio laid out a series of concerns in his statement Monday. "Despite his extensive experience in Russia and his personal relationship with many of its leaders, he claimed he did not have sufficient information to determine whether Putin and his cronies were responsible for ordering the murder of countless dissidents, journalists and political opponents," Rubio said of Tillerson. "He indicated he would support sanctions on Putin for meddling in our elections only if they met the impossible condition that they not affect U.S. businesses operating in Russia." San Diego's homegrown musical 'Bright Star', which first premiered at The Old Globe before making its way to Broadway, will launch a national tour. Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's new musical will tour in the 2017 - 2018 season, according to multiple reports citing Producer Joey Parnes. The tour stops and casting will be announced at a later date, according to reports. The musical first premiered September 2014 to open The Old Globe's 2014 - 2015 season. Inspired by a true story, the musical tells the story of literary editor Alice Murphy and a young solider, Billy Cane - and the powerful secret that changes their lives. The musical is set in 1920 and 1940s North Carolina. After a run at The Old Globe, the musical transferred to Broadway, where it played more than 100 performances and was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book. More than 90 Yorkshire terriers and Yorkshire terrier mix breed dogs are receiving medical attention after they were rescued from a North County hoarder home last week. The San Diego Humane Society helped rescue the 92 dogs on Friday from unsanitary conditions in a North County home. Officials said the owner sought out help for the animals. The owners of these dogs are an elderly couple who reached out to us for help, said Stephen MacKinnon, Chief of Humane Law Enforcement for San Diego Humane Society, in a statement. We see this type of situation all too often when well-intentioned people get in over their heads. The dogs were taken to the San Diego Humane Society's San Diego campus. Over the weekend, veterinarians and animal care teams examined the rescued pups. Some dogs had to had their coats shaved to remove heavy tangles. Others needed medication for wounds and other ailments. We always dread seeing a situation like this. It's tragic for the animals and often for the people involved. But when this happens, our first response is always for the animals," said Dr. Gary Weitzman, president and CEO for San Diego Humane Society, in a statement. "We want to get them away from a dangerous situation as quickly and compassionately as possible-both for the animals and the people involved," said Weitzman in a statement. Veterinarians with the Humane Society estimate the dogs will need a few weeks before they are ready for adoption. The Humane Society estimates the dogs will become available for adoption mid to late February. At this time, the Humane Society is not keeping a waiting list. Dogs will become available on a first-come, first-serve basis. A woman who died after a strenuous search and rescue operation in the rough water off Sunset Cliffs was identified Monday, according to the San Diego County Medical Examiner. Adriana Toro, a 23-year-old woman, was staying with friends in an apartment in San Diego, confirmed the Medical Examiner. On Saturday, Toro was walking along the rocks with a friend when they were carried off by a wave at Santa Cruz Avenue and Bacon Street - near San Diego's iconic Sunset Cliffs. It happened Saturday evening just after 5 p.m., when police were quickly alerted. Lifeguards were sent to the scene and managed to pull the unconscious woman from the water after a prolonged and challenging search effort. She was taken to a local hospital on advanced cardiac life support, according to the Medical Examiner. Despite efforts to resuscitate Toro, she soon died. A witness - who saved one of Toro's friends - said the women were taking photos of the view along Ambrosioni. In a matter of seconds, he said, "they went out right over there, right off the edge." The man, who lifeguards are calling a hero, jumped in and saved one of the women swept away by waves. When he tried to go back and save the second, the woman had already been taken by the current. I ran back and forth and when she got close enough and I went out and I picked her up," he said. The man wanted only to be identified as Struble. One woman was taken to a nearby hospital, but the second woman continued to get lost in the foam. I tried to go back for the second one, but I couldnt get there in time because the waves just got too big and she got too far out, the Good Samaritan said. Lifeguards searched through thick ocean foam for nearly 40 minutes looking for the woman who was swept off shore. Lieutenant Rick Romero explained it was difficult to spot the second woman caught in the current. We did see her, but in the amount of the time, the surge was coming in and out shed appear and then disappear in the foam, said Lt. Romero. Lifeguards said the water was 58 degrees with waves up to 15 feet high. On top, the ocean water had two feet of foam. The woman was pulled out of the water unconscious Saturday evening. She was taken to the hospital and later succumbed to her injuries, lifeguards said. During the incident, two lifeguards were also taken to a hospital, as a precautionary measure. President Donald Trump's announcement saying he may be able to cut regulations for businesses is welcome news to many small business owners in San Diego County. On Monday, President Trump met with CEOs of businesses at the White House. During the meeting, Mr. Trump told them he believed he could cut regulations by 75 percent or maybe more. The small business barely survives because there's a lot of regulations, said Sameh Abdel-Masih. Abdel-Masih runs The Swedish Royal Bakery in Poway. The last six months have been hard on him. He used to have three employees. Now, its just him and his wife. We pay a lot of money here and there and it's just a small business, he said. Mary Rhynes runs Haven Studio Hair Salon a few doors down. Shes a wife and a mother, but in this election, she voted for the candidate who would be in the best interest of her business. Anyone who ran that was a business person, I would vote for them over a politician," Rhynes said. Federal deregulations dont impact her directly, but it could boost her bottom line. If big businesses stay here and good paying jobs stay here, that's my client base, Rhynes said. But in Mission Valley, Bankruptcy Attorney Dan Shay sees things differently. As a bankruptcy lawyer, I hate to say it, but I think business is going to boom over the next four to eight years, he said, a nod to the housing market crisis. What happened the last time we deregulated? Shay also noted that many of these regulations have practical applications to protect consumers. The fact is, until there is a concrete plan put forth by the Trump Administration, there is no way to know which regulations are on the chopping block or how that will impact business. It is unclear if state regulations will loosen as well. Police are searching for the person who shot a man in the face in Southeast D.C. Tuesday morning. After the shooting, police said the victim ran toward a crowd standing outside Nationals Park for a job fair. Police were called to the 1500 block of S. Capitol Street SE just after 10 a.m. for the report of a shooting. Investigators initially said the shooting happened outside the park's Center Field gate. Later, they said the victim ran to the park after he was shot behind a nearby liquor store. The victim was taken to a hospital, according to a statement from the Nationals. His condition is unknown. There was a job fair at the stadium Tuesday morning, according to Levy Restaurants, a company that runs concessions in stadiums. However, police said the shooting was not related to the event. "We were standing in the line for the job fair, and we hear shots coming from that direction," said a woman who was attending the job fair. "Everyone just started pushing." Police believe the shooter left the area in a car. They do not have a description of the suspect. People at the stadium were told to shelter in place, but the order was lifted a short time later. Officials with the Washington Nationals said the job fair has been rescheduled for Jan. 31. "The Nationals are cooperating with the MPD investigation," a Nationals spokesperson said. Days after 235 people were charged with felony rioting on Inauguration Day, the D.C. police chief says arrests may be ongoing. The group was charged on Saturday after protesters smashed the windows of an emergency vehicle and several businesses, and set fire to a limousine. Six police officers were hurt, with one falling unconscious after he was hit in the head. Interim Police Chief Peter Newsham said Monday that members of the force were still trying to identify some of the violent protesters and vandals. "To the extent that we can identify people on our own, we will. We'll present information to the U.S. attorney for warrants, and if we're unable to identify people, then we're probably going to make those images public to see if the public can help us identify who they were," he said. One person already has been identified from video and was charged with assaulting an officer. A group of about 50 of the people who were arrested said in a lawsuit filed Friday that they were innocent observers who were improperly swept up in the group. "They arrested everyone in a single location, including reporters, lawyers, law students and non-riotous protesters," lawyer Mark Goldstone said. Newsham said he was unable to speak about the pending lawsuit. "My intent is not to get into a back and forth with any particular group," he said. "My intent is to let people know that when you come to Washington, D.C. and you break the law, that the Metropolitan Police Department is gonna safely and respectfully take you into custody, and then well let the judicial process play out from there." The group that was arrested consisted of 230 adults and five juveniles. Only about a dozen of the people were D.C. residents, Newsham said. According to a review of court paperwork by The Associated Press, the average age of those arrested Friday was 27, though three were over 55. About a third were women. The police chief stressed that the vast majority of protesters on Inauguration Day and participants in the Women's March on Washington the following day were peaceful. The annual March for Life anti-abortion demonstration will be held Friday. D.C. police are ready for any protests that may occur there, Newsham said. Prince George's County police now know the name of a woman who was found murdered in the county earlier this month. The family of 26-year-old Takeisha Hughes-Coats called police Monday night after seeing a story about her death on the news. Hughes-Coats of Northeast Washington was found shot multiple times in the parking lot of the Lynnhill condo building in Temple Hills on Jan. 15. She died at the scene. She didn't have identification, a cellphone, a purse or a wallet with her. Investigators released several composite sketches of Hughes-Coats and her tattoos in an effort to identify her. "She's someone's child," Prince George's County police Assistant Chief Sammy Patel said. "There's no other way we can start this investigation truly without identifying who she is." Police are now working to find her killer. Anyone with information that can help police is asked to call 301-772-4925. A Maryland homeowner pleaded guilty to weapon possession on Friday after a 2016 incident where he allegedly shot two Prince Georges County firefighters, killing one. Darrell Lumpkin pleaded guilty to a single felony count of weapon possession and faces up to 15 years in prison. Lumpkin was not allowed to have a weapon because of a previous felony charge on his criminal record from the 1980s. On April 15, Lumpkins brother called for help, believing his brother was having a medical emergency for a diabetic crisis. Prince Georges County firefighters responded, and two firefighters, John Ulmschneider and Kevin Swain, forced their way into the home. Police said Lumpkin believed his house was being broken into and fired in self-defense. Ulmschneider, 37, was killed, and Swain, 19, survived four gunshots. "We understand, based on the prosecutor who responded to the scene that night, that it appeared that the homeowner was asleep" when the firefighters tried to get inside, and that he thought his home was being broken into, Angela Alsobrooks, state's attorney for Prince George's County, said in July after a grand jury indicted Lumpkin on gun charges. Sentencing is set for March 31. Montgomery County, Maryland, Executive Ike Leggett vetoed a bill that would have increased the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020. The County Council passed the bill on Jan. 17 by a 5-4 vote. The current minimum wage is $10.75 per hour, and the bill would have incrementally increased the wage to $11.50 in July of 2017, $12.50 per hour in 2018, $13.75 per hour in 2019 and $15 per hour in 2020. In a memo to the council, Leggett reiterated his support of a pay increase over an appropriate timeframe and under certain conditions. However, he said this bill went too far and too fast, and he hoped a modified bill could be worked out that had broader support in the council. He said he was concerned about the competitive disadvantage the bill would create on businesses in the county, saying residents would essentially shoulder the bulk of the cost. Leggett wants a study to be done on the fiscal and economic impact on the county that would be created by the minimum wage increase. He wants the study to be done by July. He also wants any wage increase timeframe to be stretch out for an additional two years to 2022. He said small businesses should be entirely exempt from any minimum wage requirement. The county executive laid out four conditions in a new bill he said would be necessary for him to sign the wage increase. Be based on an expeditious study on the direct and indirect financial impacts on private employers, non-profits and County government Include an exemption for small business, the definition of which can be informed by the study Include an exemption for youth workers Provide for reaching $15/hour in 2022 He acknowledged the broad support in the community and on the council for an increase. He said a revised bill meeting his requirements would be better for Montgomery County residents and businesses. A Prince Georges County, Maryland, family is asking for help in identifying the driver involved in a hit-and-run crash in November that injured three people. Diamond Frazier, 17, and her family were heading north on Route 301 in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, when their car was rear-ended, spinning out of control. Frazier was thrown out of the car through the rear window, landing on the opposite side of the highway. Police said the driver of the car ran away from the scene, leaving behind the vehicle. According to the family's attorney, the owner of the vehicle is not cooperating with the investigation, and police still have not identified who was driving the car. Although all three family members were injured in the collision, Frazier was hurt the most seriously. Since the crash, shes had countless surgeries and is still unable to walk. Frazier said she has been on bed rest and missed most of her senior year at Wise High School. The family said Maryland State Police are close to making an arrest but need witnesses to come forward. The detective on the case would like people to contact them if they have any information at 301-568-8101, the number for the Forrestville Barrack of the Maryland state Police. The number of mumps cases has hit a 10-year high, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Almost every state, including Massachusetts, had confirmed cases in 2015. The CDC said at last count in early December, there were approximately 4,300 cases nationwide. That number almost tripled the number in 2015. Some experts say the problem is that the vaccine is not 100 percent effective and almost everyone is getting vaccinated. Numbers obtained by NBC Boston from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health showed one case of the mumps reported in the year 2000, but there was a significant jump in 2016 to 252 cases. Doctor Daniel Kuritzes, Infectious Division Chief at Brigham and Womens Hospital said some doctors are sensing immunity from mumps vaccines and that the vaccines may not be as long lasting as once hoped. There is no vaccine that is going to be 100 percent effective. Its about 85 percent protection which is really good for a vaccine, said Kuritzes. The first vaccination is given at age 15 months, then a second booster between ages 4 and 6. Mumps are easily transferred through saliva and patients suffer from flu like symptoms and swollen glands. The CDC said patients in recent outbreaks had been immunized and were given a third booster. Doctor Kuritzes said more research needs to be done before recommendations can be made about whether all adults will need that third shot. The mumps outbreaks has reignited the vaccination debate. Doctor Kuritzes has told parents who choose not to immunize their children that the vaccine is safe. The mumps story is a perfect example of why you want to make sure your kids are vaccinated, Kuritzes said. He stressed most adults will not get the disease because they do not live or socialize in close quarters. Good hygiene practices like covering your sneezes and washing your hands help in prevention. A Massachusetts gun rights group has filed a lawsuit against the state's governor and attorney general, arguing that the state's current assault weapons ban is unconstitutional. The Gun Owners Action League, or GOAL, announced the lawsuit Tuesday morning, which also reportedly includes the state's public safety secretary and the state police as defendants. The complaint contends the state's 2016 ban on the sale or possession of certain popular rifle models is illegal. The Boston Globe reports that GOAL is a state chapter of the National Rifle Association. A spokesperson for the AG's office says they will fight the lawsuit in their ongoing efforts to protect Massachusetts residents. "The assault weapons ban keeps dangerous, military-style weapons off our streets," spokesperson Jillian Fennimore said in a statement. "Since our office issued the enforcement last July, sales of illegal assault weapons have ended in Massachusetts. This new lawsuit, the second challenge by the gun lobby, seeks to overturn this 20-year-old law." Federal officials have released an eyebrow-raising evidence photo in the case of a Brazilian man's arrest and the discovery of about $20 million in cash hidden inside a box spring in a Massachusetts apartment. A judge on Monday ordered 28-year-old Cleber Rene Rizerio Rocha be held without bail, ruling him a flight risk and holding him on a charge of conspiring to commit money laundering. Rocha was arrested this month when the money was discovered in a Westborough apartment. Prosecutors say Rocha was part of a scheme to transfer millions of dollars to Brazil by laundering the cash through Hong Kong. The money was from TelexFree, a defunct internet phone company authorities say was a massive pyramid scheme. Meanwhile, Boston's U.S. Attorney's Office released an evidence photo on Monday that depicted the enormous amount of cash stuffed into the box spring. The Boston Herald reports that Rocha's lawyer argued that his client had no criminal record and should be granted bail with GPS monitoring. The driver who crashed into a school bus earlier this month in Weston, Massachusetts, is now facing charges. Scott Rossi, 29, of Belmont, was charged Monday with negligent operation and unsafe lane change in the January 13 crash on 128 southbound in Weston. An investigation found that Rossi crossed several lanes of the highway with his pickup truck without checking to see if any other vehicles were in his path. As a result, he struck a bus with 22 middle school students on board, causing the bus to roll over a guardrail. The students, along with an adult bus driver and bus monitor, were taken to local hospitals with minor injuries. The city of Boston will consider a plan to issue municipal identification cards, an idea that other cities have used to help immigrants and the homeless. Mayor Marty Walsh said the city is seeking a consultant to study the feasibility of creating city ID cards that could be used to access the city's services, banks and cultural institutions. The plan would aim to help those who face obstacles getting other forms of government ID, including immigrants who entered the country illegally. Walsh said in a statement Monday that he is committed to creating a more inclusive city. The city plans to hire a consultant for the six-month study by the end of March. Municipal ID programs began in 2007 in New Haven, Connecticut, and have expanded to about 10 cities. The 1st Fighter Wings air crews and support personnel out of Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, arrived at Nellis AFB, Nevada, Jan.17 and 18, 2017, to participate in Red Flag 17-1, as the exercises core unit. Red Flag, a three-week combat training exercise involving U.S. and allied forces air, space and cyber domains, kicked off January 22 on a simulated battlefield over the skies of the Nevada Test and Training Range north of Las Vegas. Throughout the training exercise, Airmen support their units in defeating aggressors including realistic threat systems and opposing enemy forces, providing all domains the ability to train collectively for contingencies in a safe environment to increase the combat capabilities for any future combat situation. This year we are the core unit, meaning we are the heartbeat for Red Flag, said Capt. Matthew Siverio, Red Flag 17-1 core unit project officer. "Each member that is attached to the core unit will utilize their expertise to match the expectations of the Red Flag Air Expeditionary Wing commander to ultimately make this the most successful Red Flag we can." According to Master Sgt. Erick Matos, Red Flag 17-1 superintendent, as the exercises core unit, the 1st FW has the added challenge of not only conducting its own air-to-air and cyber mission taskings, but also supporting Red Flags U.S. and allied forces. We are ensuring over 30 different units and over 3,000 individuals form not only the U.S., but partner nations like the United Kingdom and Australia as well as our sister services have all the resources they need and require to learn and execute the best way of employing a combined large force package in a live-fly environment, Matos explained. Siverio anticipates that facilitating successful countering of air, space and cyber threats by all participating units will take a team effort lead by Americas first team, the 1st FW. We're here as a core unit to help all other participating units by lending our expertise and ensuring they have all the necessary resources they need to meet the objectives set out by Red Flag staff and their respective units, said Siverio adding that such groundwork can range from augmenting core members to fill duty gaps and tasking other to units to achieve exercise needs. For Matos, succeeding as the core unit is simple; ensure all duty requirements are met and support wherever help is needed. We will overcome challenges merely by having the correct and experienced core personnel assigned to each Air Force Specialty Code required, said Matos. This will ensure that all personnel have all necessary assets and support, in order to achieve the commanders mission intent. With three weeks of intensive training left to go, Red Flag veterans and first timers, will have the 1st FW to rely on and keep the heart of Red Flag special tactical operations moving forward faster. Data scientists continue to be in huge demand, and you won't fare badly either if you have expertise as a technical program manager, data engineer or DevOps engineer, according to the latest rankings from a couple of big jobs-related websites. Glassdoor on Monday released its annual list of the Best Jobs in America, and I've zeroed in on those most techie in nature (though of course practically any job on such a list has a tech component these days). Tops for the second straight year is the job of Data Scientist, based on three key factors: earning potential, job satisfaction and job openings. MORE: According to the Glassdoor, the median base salary for a data scientist is $110K and there were close to 4,200 jobs open across the country in this area. Hey, someone's gotta make sense of all that big data being compiled and all those machine learning tools being rolled out. Other high rankers are: DevOps Engineer, with a median base salary of $110K and more than 2,700 job openings; Data Engineer, with a $106K median base salary and nearly 2,600 jobs open; and Analytics Manager, with a $112K median base salary and close to 2,000 jobs open. Data Engineer is new on the list, as is UI Designer. In addition to tech jobs (comprising 14 of the 50 jobs on the Glassdoor list), those in finance and healthcare also ranked well. MOST PROMISING JOBS LinkedIn's cut on hot jobs is its Most Promising Jobs of 2017 list, as discussed by Daniel Shapero, careers product leader at LinkedIn in a blog post late last week. You'll probably be relieved to hear that Hospitalist (dedicated in-patient physician in a hospital) is at the top of this list: No, you might not be qualified to snag one of these jobs yourself, but you'll be glad that others are. Among the most promising tech jobs on the list are Site Reliability Engineer, described by Google as "what happens when you ask a software engineer to design and operations team." The median base salary comes in at $140K and job openings have grown 93% year over year, according to LinkedIn's inaugural list, which emphasizes jobs with high median salaries, strong job openings and the promise of promotion or advancement within an organization. Data Engineer, a job that Glassdoor also cited, ranks #9 on the LinkedIn list. Other tech jobs with great potential include scrum master, software engineer, data architect, analytics manager and customer success manager. CRM, data analysis, data warehousing and programming skills are among those underpinning these jobs with promise. Not to be a party pooper, but do take this into consideration, too. While hiring managers anticipate bringing more tech talent on board in 2017, 10% fewer of those surveyed by tech and engineering career site Dice say that they expect increased hiring than they did heading into the second half of 2016/ President Donald Trump has named Commissioner Ajit Pai, an outspoken opponent of the FCCs net neutrality rules, as the next head of the agency. The choice was widely expected after Trumps election last November. Pai is the senior Republican on the commission, having served since 2012. He doesnt need to be confirmed by the Senate because he is already on the Commission. Pai attacked the reclassification of broadband as a utility in 2015, saying it would place excessive burdens on service providers, other internet players and consumers. The expansion of broadband service through a competitive marketplace has been one of Pais themes as a commissioner. I look forward to working with the new Administration, my colleagues at the Commission, members of Congress, and the American public to bring the benefits of the digital age to all Americans, Pai said in a statement Monday. Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler proposed the net neutrality plan and former President Barack Obama strongly supported it. Trump and Republicans in Congress have criticized the rules and are expected to target them as part of an overall push for deregulation. Although Pai can take over as chairman without a confirmation vote, he will need to be renominated and reconfirmed at the end of this year when his current term on the Commission expires. The FCC customarily includes three members from the presidents party and two from the opposition. If Trump follows suit, he will name one more Republican and one more Democrat. In addition to Pai, Democrat Mignon Clyburn and Republican Michael ORielly are on the Commission now. Pai grew up in Parsons, Kansas, the son of immigrants from India, according to his biography on the FCCs site. In addition to several positions as an attorney in the federal government, he was an associate general counsel at Verizon from 2001 to 2003. The disk-wiping Shamoon malware, which was used in attacks that destroyed data on 35,000 computers at Saudi Aramco in 2012, is back; the Shamoon variant prompted Saudi Arabia to issue a warning on Monday. An alert from the telecoms authority, seen by Reuters, warned all organizations to be on the lookout for the variant Shamoon 2. CrowdStrike VP Adam Meyers told Reuters, The Shamoon hackers were likely working on behalf of the Iranian government in the 2012 campaign and the more-recent attacks. It's likely they will continue. On Monday, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported that 15 government agencies and organizations have been hit with Shamoon 2 so far. Shamoon wipes data and takes control of the computers boot record, which prevents the PC from being turned back on. One of the latest victims is potentially Sadara, which is a joint venture between Michigan-based Dow Chemical and Saudi Arabian Oil. Sadara reportedly had to shut down its computer network on Monday and it remained down today. A company spokesman told the Associated Press that the downtime had not affected operations at the facility. The company said something similar in a tweet: According to another Saudi TV report, Saudi Technical and Vocation Training Corp was also affected. Yet a spokesman denied its network was damaged when confronted by AP. Reuters added, Other companies in Jubail, the hub of the Saudi petrochemicals industry, also experienced network disruptions, according to sources who were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. Those companies sought to protect themselves from the virus by shutting down their networks, said the sources, who declined to identify specific firms. After the initial Shamoon attacks in 2012, a variant of the original malware was used in attacks against Saudi Arabia in November 2016. Symantec suggested, Why Shamoon has suddenly returned again after four years is unknown. However, with its highly destructive payload, it is clear that the attackers want their targets to sit up and take notice. Shamoon was blamed for destroying computers at six or more Saudi organizations in November, including the Saudi aviation regulator. The malware overwrote files with an image of a 3-year-old Syrian refugee boy lying dead on a beach. When discussing a second wave of Shamoon 2 attacks that occurred in November, Palo Alto Networks recently explained, Much like the initial attacks, the lack of an operational C2 server suggests that the threat actors sole intention for carrying out this Shamoon 2 attack was to destroy data and systems. Without an operational C2, the actor would be unable to issue a command to set a custom kill time when the Disttrack payload would begin wiping systems, which would force the payload to rely on its hardcoded kill time. It is too early to point fingers at possible nation-state attackers this go around, but back in 2012, Iran denied being responsible for the Shamoon attacks against Saudi Arabian interests even though some experts hinted that it might be true. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in 2012, All told, the Shamoon virus was probably the most destructive attack that the private sector has seen to date. Iran has not officially commented on the latest Shamoon 2 outbreak. Hostilities reportedly persist between the two countries. In 2016, a series of fires at Iranian petrochemical plants raised suspicions that cyberattacks may have played a role. The head of the Iranian military cybersecurity unit at first blew off reports that the numerous fires may have been a result of hacking. Later, however, he changed his tune, saying, The viruses had contaminated petrochemical complexes. Irregular commands by a virus may cause danger. As for the latest attacks, Saudi Ministry of labor spokesman Khaled Aba Al-Khail said the ministry and the Human Resources Development Funds computer systems had been affected by the newest Shamoon 2 attacks. The agencies are coordinating with their National Center for Cybersecurity at the Ministry of Interior to take care of it. Kingsclere venue to thrash out patchy reception issue THE MP for North West Hampshire will host a meeting in Kingsclere next month to thrash out issues on the roll-out of high-speed broadband across North Hampshire. Kit Malthouse (Con) has issued an open invitation to the February 3 summit, where speakers will include representatives from Hampshire County Council, BT and Broadband Delivery UK, the Government agency responsible for the broadband roll-out. Mr Malthouse said: Following on from my broadband summit in 2015 [in St Mary Bourne near Andover], I will be holding a further summit to update constituents and interested parties on progress with high-speed broadband roll-out. Since the summit 18 months ago, the Governments broadband policy is taking clearer, and more promising, shape, but there is still more to be done. If there are other people within the constituency who you think would welcome an update, please pass along this invitation. Rural communities in North Hampshire highly-dependent on the provision of high-speed broadband include Highclere village, where the issue of patchy reception was discussed at a Highclere Parish Council meeting last Tuesday. Vice chairman John Stoker, who took the meeting in the absence of chairwoman Sally Izett, revealed his personal broadband reception fell short of requirements. No way could I download films, said Mr Stoker. Sometimes I struggle with email. Parish councillors said approximately 40 to 50 houses in the village were unable to access superfast broadband, despite adjacent properties being able to do so. Broadband widths fluctuated between 16 to 25 megabytes, depending on the time of internet usage. Concerns were also expressed that the lack of any high and consistent broadband speed would affect property prices in the area, with many villagers working from home suffering inconvenience and frustrations, due to the variations in speed. At 9.30am I have a good broadband speed, then later it starts slowing down, said parish councillor, Brad Norton. I still get drop-outs and Im on superfast [broadband]. Im on 30 megs and it can drop down to 13/14. Broadband speeds as high as 38 megabytes were reported in neighbouring Penwood part of the Highclere parish however, this speed had also been found to vary and drop. Parish councillor Mike York advised that his neighbour Mike Palmer had wide knowledge of the subject and it was hoped he could attend the summit. The summit will take place on Friday, February 3, from 10am to noon at the Fieldgate Centre, Field Gate Drive, Kingsclere. Anyone wishing to attend should email Ethan Brooks at brooksek@parliament.uk or call 0207 219 3940. By Reuters ABU DHABI: The veteran chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Aviation Group, which owns one of the Middle East's top airlines, will leave this year, but the carrier remains committed to a system of equity alliances that he developed, Etihad said on Tuesday. Australian James Hogan, 60, who over the past 10 years built Etihad into an aggressive competitor to Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways, will step down as president and CEO of the group in the second half of 2017. Chief financial officer James Rigney will also leave this year, Etihad said. Chairman Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel al-Mazrouei said Etihad was continuing a "company-wide strategic review" which could include adjustments to the network of equity partnerships with other carriers that Hogan used to engineer rapid growth at Etihad. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy, he said. However, an Etihad spokesman told Reuters there was no link between the review and Hogan's departure, which had been planned for many months. Etihad owns stakes in seven airlines around the world: Air Berlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional, India's Jet Airways and Virgin Australia. In 10 years, Etihad grew from a 22-plane regional carrier into a global operation with 120 aircraft. But in recent months, a slowing regional economy, overcapacity in the industry and a strong U.S. dollar have pressured its earnings. Company and industry sources told Reuters in December that Etihad was reviewing its policy of investing in European airlines after continued losses at Air Berlin and Alitalia. That month, Etihad said it was cutting jobs in some parts of its business, but did not give a number. On Monday, Alitalia, in which Etihad has a 49 percent stake, said it planned to cut non-labour related costs by at least 160 million euros ($172 million) this year as it tried to become profitable again. The Italian carrier is going through a heavy restructuring which sources said may include up to 2,000 job cuts and the grounding of planes. On Tuesday, Etihad said it had started a global search for a new group CEO and a new CFO. It said it was grateful to Hogan and that he and Rigney would join an investment company, which it did not name. ABU DHABI: The veteran chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Aviation Group, which owns one of the Middle East's top airlines, will leave this year, but the carrier remains committed to a system of equity alliances that he developed, Etihad said on Tuesday. Australian James Hogan, 60, who over the past 10 years built Etihad into an aggressive competitor to Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways, will step down as president and CEO of the group in the second half of 2017. Chief financial officer James Rigney will also leave this year, Etihad said. Chairman Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel al-Mazrouei said Etihad was continuing a "company-wide strategic review" which could include adjustments to the network of equity partnerships with other carriers that Hogan used to engineer rapid growth at Etihad. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy, he said. However, an Etihad spokesman told Reuters there was no link between the review and Hogan's departure, which had been planned for many months. Etihad owns stakes in seven airlines around the world: Air Berlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional, India's Jet Airways and Virgin Australia. In 10 years, Etihad grew from a 22-plane regional carrier into a global operation with 120 aircraft. But in recent months, a slowing regional economy, overcapacity in the industry and a strong U.S. dollar have pressured its earnings. Company and industry sources told Reuters in December that Etihad was reviewing its policy of investing in European airlines after continued losses at Air Berlin and Alitalia. That month, Etihad said it was cutting jobs in some parts of its business, but did not give a number. On Monday, Alitalia, in which Etihad has a 49 percent stake, said it planned to cut non-labour related costs by at least 160 million euros ($172 million) this year as it tried to become profitable again. The Italian carrier is going through a heavy restructuring which sources said may include up to 2,000 job cuts and the grounding of planes. On Tuesday, Etihad said it had started a global search for a new group CEO and a new CFO. It said it was grateful to Hogan and that he and Rigney would join an investment company, which it did not name. By Express News Service BENGALURU: The discovery of a suspicious object near Lalbagh metro station by a staffer on Monday caused a scare in the city amid the polices efforts to provide adequate security ahead of Republic day. Police later confirmed it to have been a hoax bomb threat. The incident took place on around 9 pm on Monday, when a Lalbagh metro security guard spotted a tiffin box which was kept near the station. Growing suspicious, he called the police and informed them about it. After being alerted, Siddapura police rushed to the spot with Bomb Detection and Disposal squad and dogs and found crackers tied with thread and covered with papers. The police have procured CCTV footage from nearby localities and have started investigations to nab the accused. Deputy commissioner of Police (south) Sharanappa said that the investigations were underway. "We are looking into the issue seriously," he said. BENGALURU: The discovery of a suspicious object near Lalbagh metro station by a staffer on Monday caused a scare in the city amid the polices efforts to provide adequate security ahead of Republic day. Police later confirmed it to have been a hoax bomb threat. The incident took place on around 9 pm on Monday, when a Lalbagh metro security guard spotted a tiffin box which was kept near the station. Growing suspicious, he called the police and informed them about it. After being alerted, Siddapura police rushed to the spot with Bomb Detection and Disposal squad and dogs and found crackers tied with thread and covered with papers. The police have procured CCTV footage from nearby localities and have started investigations to nab the accused. Deputy commissioner of Police (south) Sharanappa said that the investigations were underway. "We are looking into the issue seriously," he said. By Express News Service CHENNAI: Around 40 miscreants who were indulging in sporadic incidents were arrested across the city on Monday, after the week-long protest came to an end. Addressing the media here, city police commissioner S George said in the morning, we had asked the protesters to withdraw their protest and gave them time to disperse. "But there were other anti-social elements and miscreants who had crept into the protest crowd diverting the demands which we got information from our intelligence wing. Based on it, we decided to disperse the crowd," he added. He also pointed out that Mylapore Deputy Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan had held talks with the students asking them to withdraw and around 4500 supporters returned to their houses. It was only the non-students who were at the beach trying to create problems. "We had no intention to harm the public but they argued with the police and pelted stones that is when police used their force to restrain their entry towards the beach. There was stone pelting reported at eight places and Bells road and Ice House police station were worst affected," he said. According to him, 94 policemen and senior officers have been injured and 51 police vehicles have been damaged on Monday. "We had deployed 7000 police personnel in the city of which 1000 were sub-inspector who are under training and still there were protests happening in 98 places," said George. He also added that more police personnel will be deployed and patrolling stepped up on Tuesday to ensure that the city returns to normal. CHENNAI: Around 40 miscreants who were indulging in sporadic incidents were arrested across the city on Monday, after the week-long protest came to an end. Addressing the media here, city police commissioner S George said in the morning, we had asked the protesters to withdraw their protest and gave them time to disperse. "But there were other anti-social elements and miscreants who had crept into the protest crowd diverting the demands which we got information from our intelligence wing. Based on it, we decided to disperse the crowd," he added. He also pointed out that Mylapore Deputy Commissioner of Police V Balakrishnan had held talks with the students asking them to withdraw and around 4500 supporters returned to their houses. It was only the non-students who were at the beach trying to create problems. "We had no intention to harm the public but they argued with the police and pelted stones that is when police used their force to restrain their entry towards the beach. There was stone pelting reported at eight places and Bells road and Ice House police station were worst affected," he said. According to him, 94 policemen and senior officers have been injured and 51 police vehicles have been damaged on Monday. "We had deployed 7000 police personnel in the city of which 1000 were sub-inspector who are under training and still there were protests happening in 98 places," said George. He also added that more police personnel will be deployed and patrolling stepped up on Tuesday to ensure that the city returns to normal. Mouli Mareedu By Express News Service HYDERABAD: Spooked by the presence of a ghost in a hotel room, eight members of a family ran out their lodge rooms in Old City and sought the assistance of local police on Sunday night. The tourists from Mumbai, after arriving in the city on Friday, were housed at Cozy Lodge under Hussaini Alam police limits. Taking a serious note of the incident, the police team led by a sub-inspector shifted them to another lodge. Inspector G Shyamsundar informed that a touring family called the police station at 1.20 am and told that they were scared to stay in the lodge after they encountered paranormal activity. They claimed to have been assaulted, added the inspector. An entry in the General Diary(GD) was made by the police while no case was registered. Syed Mustaq and Syed Ashwaq, along with their wives and children, from Mumbai, were lodged in two rooms in the hotel. They had gone to sleep by 11.30 pm on Friday. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sadik who was on night duty visited the place and noticed the scared tourists who were waiting outside the lodge. We shifted them to another lodge located near Goutham Model school in the same police limits, the inspector said. Police, however, maintain that the tourists could have had a nightmare. Our policemen verified the facts. It was revealed that their rooms were locked from inside when the incident is said to have taken place, the inspector said. Meanwhile, the hotel owner Md Pervez denied any paranormal activity. The tourists were scared after the incident and policemen confirmed that nothing of that sort took place in my lodge. Once the tourists vacated the rooms, the same was allotted to new guests, Pervez said. HYDERABAD: Spooked by the presence of a ghost in a hotel room, eight members of a family ran out their lodge rooms in Old City and sought the assistance of local police on Sunday night. The tourists from Mumbai, after arriving in the city on Friday, were housed at Cozy Lodge under Hussaini Alam police limits. Taking a serious note of the incident, the police team led by a sub-inspector shifted them to another lodge. Inspector G Shyamsundar informed that a touring family called the police station at 1.20 am and told that they were scared to stay in the lodge after they encountered paranormal activity. They claimed to have been assaulted, added the inspector. An entry in the General Diary(GD) was made by the police while no case was registered. Syed Mustaq and Syed Ashwaq, along with their wives and children, from Mumbai, were lodged in two rooms in the hotel. They had gone to sleep by 11.30 pm on Friday. Assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Sadik who was on night duty visited the place and noticed the scared tourists who were waiting outside the lodge. We shifted them to another lodge located near Goutham Model school in the same police limits, the inspector said. Police, however, maintain that the tourists could have had a nightmare. Our policemen verified the facts. It was revealed that their rooms were locked from inside when the incident is said to have taken place, the inspector said. Meanwhile, the hotel owner Md Pervez denied any paranormal activity. The tourists were scared after the incident and policemen confirmed that nothing of that sort took place in my lodge. Once the tourists vacated the rooms, the same was allotted to new guests, Pervez said. Aishik Chanda By Express News Service KOLKATA: Reigniting the 70-year-old controversy over recognition of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army for their contributions to the final leg of the independence movement, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Tuesday forwarded a proposal to defence minister Manohar Parikkar for creation of a new 'Azad Hind' regiment in the Indian Army. The proposal was handed over to the West Bengal Governor by a state BJP leader. "I share the feeling that an Azad Hind regiment should be created in the Indian Army to honour the contributions of Netaji Subhash to the independence movement. Creation of Azad Hind regiment will boost the morale of our jawans. I will forward the proposal along with my approval to the defence minister," the Governor told the press. The country celebrated the freedom fighter's 120th birth anniversary on Monday. There are 31 regiments in the Indian Army. The youngest regiment Sikkim Scouts was formed in 2013 and made operational in 2015. Along with Arunachal Scouts and Ladakh Scouts regiment, it recruits local youths with an aim to create regiments specialised in mountain warfare. Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the truth behind Netaji's disappearance should come out. "We had declassified all Netaji files which were with the state government. Some files were there with the central government. Truth may come out if an independent investigation is conducted but unfortunately that did not happen," she said. Azad Hind Fauj, formed by 43,000 British Indian Prisoners of War (PoW) soldiers in Singapore in 1942, was instrumental in Japanese victory in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and their march till Kohima, where a well-entrenched British Indian Army fought a bitter battle to halt the Axis advance and push back the Japanese and INA soldiers back into Burma. A much smaller 3,000 strong Free India Legion (German: Legion Freies Indien) fought alongside Nazi German Army Wehrmacht in major battles in France and Italy. India may face sharp criticism from the Allied nations of World War II if Azad Hind regiment is created, given the fact that though the Netaji Subhash-led militia force was not directly involved, it was ally of German and Japanese forces who had committed innumerable atrocities on people of occupied nations in Europe and Asia. KOLKATA: Reigniting the 70-year-old controversy over recognition of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj or Indian National Army for their contributions to the final leg of the independence movement, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi on Tuesday forwarded a proposal to defence minister Manohar Parikkar for creation of a new 'Azad Hind' regiment in the Indian Army. The proposal was handed over to the West Bengal Governor by a state BJP leader. "I share the feeling that an Azad Hind regiment should be created in the Indian Army to honour the contributions of Netaji Subhash to the independence movement. Creation of Azad Hind regiment will boost the morale of our jawans. I will forward the proposal along with my approval to the defence minister," the Governor told the press. The country celebrated the freedom fighter's 120th birth anniversary on Monday. There are 31 regiments in the Indian Army. The youngest regiment Sikkim Scouts was formed in 2013 and made operational in 2015. Along with Arunachal Scouts and Ladakh Scouts regiment, it recruits local youths with an aim to create regiments specialised in mountain warfare. Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the truth behind Netaji's disappearance should come out. "We had declassified all Netaji files which were with the state government. Some files were there with the central government. Truth may come out if an independent investigation is conducted but unfortunately that did not happen," she said. Azad Hind Fauj, formed by 43,000 British Indian Prisoners of War (PoW) soldiers in Singapore in 1942, was instrumental in Japanese victory in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and their march till Kohima, where a well-entrenched British Indian Army fought a bitter battle to halt the Axis advance and push back the Japanese and INA soldiers back into Burma. A much smaller 3,000 strong Free India Legion (German: Legion Freies Indien) fought alongside Nazi German Army Wehrmacht in major battles in France and Italy. India may face sharp criticism from the Allied nations of World War II if Azad Hind regiment is created, given the fact that though the Netaji Subhash-led militia force was not directly involved, it was ally of German and Japanese forces who had committed innumerable atrocities on people of occupied nations in Europe and Asia. Namita Bajpai By Express News Service SULTANPUR: Highlighting his power as the chief of the Samajwadi Party, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday not only lambasted the BJPs demonitisation drive at his first election rally here but also made sure his warring uncle Shivpal Yadav did not figure in the star campaigners list released by the party. At Sultanpur, BJP-led Centre was Akhilesh's main target even as he chose to spare his other rival BSP in the entire speech that lasted a little over 20 minutes. The choice of the venue surprised many as this constituency goes to the polls in later phases. However, the CM chose it considering its past. After 1969, the constituency has always elected an MLA from a party that has eventually formed the government in Lucknow. Slamming the BJP for its pre-Lok Sabha election slogans of Acche Din, he asked, "Where are achhe din? Instead of fulfilling their promises, they make people hold broom and do yoga, Akhilesh said. The SP chief then shifted his focus to the demonitisation drive asserting the step has hit the common man badly. The entire nation was made to stand in long queues and so many people lost their life, he alleged adding his government helped all the families of those who lost their lives while standing in bank queues. He also took a dig on the Central government for being devoid of any roadmap for the nations development. Samajwadiyon ka rasta Vikas ka rasta hai (Samajwadis are moving on path of development), he said and expressed his apprehension that the BJP, in order to grab credit, would include a number of ambitious development projects taking a clue from the SP Manifesto. The UP chief minister pointed out that Samajwadis, on their own, were capable of returning to power but with Congress walking by their side, the combination was expected to breach the magical 300-figure to form a government with absolute majority. Meanwhile, the ruling party gave a list of its 40 star campaigners to the Election Commission which had no mention of Shivpal Yadav. The list, which was sent to the poll panel in Delhi by SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav, contains names of party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh and 38 other leaders. SULTANPUR: Highlighting his power as the chief of the Samajwadi Party, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday not only lambasted the BJPs demonitisation drive at his first election rally here but also made sure his warring uncle Shivpal Yadav did not figure in the star campaigners list released by the party. At Sultanpur, BJP-led Centre was Akhilesh's main target even as he chose to spare his other rival BSP in the entire speech that lasted a little over 20 minutes. The choice of the venue surprised many as this constituency goes to the polls in later phases. However, the CM chose it considering its past. After 1969, the constituency has always elected an MLA from a party that has eventually formed the government in Lucknow. Slamming the BJP for its pre-Lok Sabha election slogans of Acche Din, he asked, "Where are achhe din? Instead of fulfilling their promises, they make people hold broom and do yoga, Akhilesh said. The SP chief then shifted his focus to the demonitisation drive asserting the step has hit the common man badly. The entire nation was made to stand in long queues and so many people lost their life, he alleged adding his government helped all the families of those who lost their lives while standing in bank queues. He also took a dig on the Central government for being devoid of any roadmap for the nations development. Samajwadiyon ka rasta Vikas ka rasta hai (Samajwadis are moving on path of development), he said and expressed his apprehension that the BJP, in order to grab credit, would include a number of ambitious development projects taking a clue from the SP Manifesto. The UP chief minister pointed out that Samajwadis, on their own, were capable of returning to power but with Congress walking by their side, the combination was expected to breach the magical 300-figure to form a government with absolute majority. Meanwhile, the ruling party gave a list of its 40 star campaigners to the Election Commission which had no mention of Shivpal Yadav. The list, which was sent to the poll panel in Delhi by SP National General Secretary Ramgopal Yadav, contains names of party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh and 38 other leaders. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has given its approval to ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol on containing the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). This legal agreement which is set to expire 2020 puts onus on developed countries to take measures to bring down carbon emissions. Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise. The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2012. So far, 65 countries have ratified the Second Commitment Period. Paris Agreement comes into being post-2020 that allow every country to decide on the action itself. Recognising that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) in the atmosphere, the Kyoto Protocol places commitments on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets and to provide financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing nations. Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under this commitment period in accordance with Sustainable Development priorities will attract some investments in India as well. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seeks to stabilise Green House Gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would minimise interference with the climate system. In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines India's leadership in the comity of nations committed to the global cause of environmental protection and climate justice, according to a statement issues by the government. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the 1st commitment period was from 2008-2012. At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the 2nd commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for the period 2013- 2020. NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet has given its approval to ratify the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol on containing the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). This legal agreement which is set to expire 2020 puts onus on developed countries to take measures to bring down carbon emissions. Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise. The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2012. So far, 65 countries have ratified the Second Commitment Period. Paris Agreement comes into being post-2020 that allow every country to decide on the action itself. Recognising that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) in the atmosphere, the Kyoto Protocol places commitments on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets and to provide financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing nations. Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under this commitment period in accordance with Sustainable Development priorities will attract some investments in India as well. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seeks to stabilise Green House Gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would minimise interference with the climate system. In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines India's leadership in the comity of nations committed to the global cause of environmental protection and climate justice, according to a statement issues by the government. The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the 1st commitment period was from 2008-2012. At Doha in 2012, the amendments to Kyoto Protocol for the 2nd commitment period (the Doha Amendment) were successfully adopted for the period 2013- 2020. By ANI NEW DELHI: Looks like Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' journey by rail, from Mumbai to Delhi, was not as smooth as expected. It turned fatal on Tuesday as one of his fans died in Gujarat's Vadodara, which left the 51-year-old actor deeply saddened. While speaking to the media on the same, he said, "One of our colleagues was traveling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Baroda. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate." "We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour," continued the 'Dilwale' actor. Adding, "We have some of our people with the family members there. Hopefully God will bless her soon. For the unversed, SRK started his promotional journey by train, from Mumbai to his hometown Delhi, where fans gathered at every station the train halted to meet their superstar. While SRK did not step down from the train, choosing to wave at the crowds and urged them to watch the film on a loudspeaker, fans in Vadodara swarmed the railway platforms since several hours before the scheduled arrival of the train. Due to this chaos, two fans were injured at the Vadodara Railway Station. While one breathed his last, the other was rushed to a hospital for immediate treatment. Rahul Dholakia directed 'Raees,' which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is set to be released on January 25. NEW DELHI: Looks like Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' journey by rail, from Mumbai to Delhi, was not as smooth as expected. It turned fatal on Tuesday as one of his fans died in Gujarat's Vadodara, which left the 51-year-old actor deeply saddened. While speaking to the media on the same, he said, "One of our colleagues was traveling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Baroda. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate." "We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour," continued the 'Dilwale' actor. Adding, "We have some of our people with the family members there. Hopefully God will bless her soon. For the unversed, SRK started his promotional journey by train, from Mumbai to his hometown Delhi, where fans gathered at every station the train halted to meet their superstar. While SRK did not step down from the train, choosing to wave at the crowds and urged them to watch the film on a loudspeaker, fans in Vadodara swarmed the railway platforms since several hours before the scheduled arrival of the train. Due to this chaos, two fans were injured at the Vadodara Railway Station. While one breathed his last, the other was rushed to a hospital for immediate treatment. Rahul Dholakia directed 'Raees,' which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is set to be released on January 25. Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: The Jats in Haryana have decided to resume their agitation for reservation from January 29, following which the State government has sent a requisition for 55 companies of Central security forces and has also issued a call out a notice to depute 7,000 Home Guards in the State to avert any untoward incidents. The Jat-dominated districts of Rohtak, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panipat, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal and Fatehabad are likely to be the epicentre of the agitations with potential for violence as was seen last year. The Jats have also been garnering support from 250 Jat-dominated villages of Delhi. Akhil Bhartiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS), president Yashpal Malik, has announced the resumption of dharnas in 19 districts of the State from January 29. The government had assured reservation to Jats, withdrawal of criminal cases and release of Jat youth lodged in jails, compensation and free medical treatment to those injured during the stir and action against officials guilty of excesses. The government has paid compensation to the kin of those killed, but no other demand has been met, he said, adding that the Jats were willing to wait for the reservation since the matter was sub judice. Malik added that they will oppose the BJP during the Assembly polls in Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand. Additional chief secretary, Home, Ram Niwas said though the leaders of agitating organisations have assured of dharnas in a peaceful manner, the administration is fully geared to maintain law and order. He said district magistrates have been appointed and all the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police have been directed to ensure that highways and railway tracks are not obstructed and no damage is caused to property. All the proposed dharnas would be video-graphed. In view of the elections in Punjab and UP, the Crisis Coordination Committee, which met under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Haryana, stressed the need to follow instructions issued by Election Commission and carrying out coordination exercises by district administrations along with those in neighbouring states. CHANDIGARH: The Jats in Haryana have decided to resume their agitation for reservation from January 29, following which the State government has sent a requisition for 55 companies of Central security forces and has also issued a call out a notice to depute 7,000 Home Guards in the State to avert any untoward incidents. The Jat-dominated districts of Rohtak, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh, Panipat, Hisar, Jind, Kaithal and Fatehabad are likely to be the epicentre of the agitations with potential for violence as was seen last year. The Jats have also been garnering support from 250 Jat-dominated villages of Delhi. Akhil Bhartiya Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS), president Yashpal Malik, has announced the resumption of dharnas in 19 districts of the State from January 29. The government had assured reservation to Jats, withdrawal of criminal cases and release of Jat youth lodged in jails, compensation and free medical treatment to those injured during the stir and action against officials guilty of excesses. The government has paid compensation to the kin of those killed, but no other demand has been met, he said, adding that the Jats were willing to wait for the reservation since the matter was sub judice. Malik added that they will oppose the BJP during the Assembly polls in Punjab, UP and Uttarakhand. Additional chief secretary, Home, Ram Niwas said though the leaders of agitating organisations have assured of dharnas in a peaceful manner, the administration is fully geared to maintain law and order. He said district magistrates have been appointed and all the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police have been directed to ensure that highways and railway tracks are not obstructed and no damage is caused to property. All the proposed dharnas would be video-graphed. In view of the elections in Punjab and UP, the Crisis Coordination Committee, which met under the chairmanship of additional chief secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Haryana, stressed the need to follow instructions issued by Election Commission and carrying out coordination exercises by district administrations along with those in neighbouring states. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: The PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir has identified 723 kanals of land in Kashmir for setting up 6000 transit accommodations for migrant Kashmiri Pandits, who fled the Valley after eruption of militancy in 1989. The Government of India (GoI) has conveyed approval for construction of 6000 transit accommodations in Kashmir for allotment to the migrant Kashmiri Pandits, Minister Incharge Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Basharat Bukhari, informed Legislative Assembly, which is in session in Jammu, in a written reply. He said the Deputy Commissioners in Kashmir have identified 723 kanals and 3 marlas of land across the Valley with the tentative cost of Rs 374.65 crores for setting up these transit accomodations. According to sources, the transit accommodations for migrant Kashmiri Pandits are likely to be set up in South, North and Central Kashmir. The transit accommodations for Pandits have already been set up in Haal and Mattan areas in South Kashmir and Sheikhpora in Central Kashmirs Budgam district. After eruption of militancy in Valley in 1989, the Kashmiri Pandits migrated from the Valley and lived in Jammu and other parts of the country. The Muslims in Valley blame then State Governor Jagmohan for migration of Pandits in the Valley. The State government informed that the jobs will be provided to the migrant Pandits returning to the Valley. Sources said the state government has informed Centre about the process to identify about 6,000 jobs in various government departments for the migrant Pandits. Over 1700 out of 3000 jobs sanctioned for Pandits have been provided to migrant Pandits in the Valley, they said. According to sources, apart from 3000 jobs for Pandits already sanctioned by the State government, Union Ministry of Home Affairs has conveyed the approval for creation of 3000 more additional posts for migrant Pandits with funding from central government. The proposal is under active consideration of the government and may be submitted in the State cabinet meeting to be chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for its approval, they said. According to State government, 41462 Kashmiri migrant families and 1054 Jammu migrant families are at present residing in different areas of Jammu province and government is making all necessary efforts for their rehabilitation. While giving a break-up of 41462 migrant families living in Jammu, it disclosed that of these 37347 families belong to Hindus including Kashmiri Pandits, 2252 are Muslim families and 1758 are Sikh families. The central government had in 2008-09 sanctioned a package of Rs 1618.40 crores for rehabilitation of the migrants Kashmiri Pandits. According to the package, each migrant family was to be provided Rs 7.5 lakhs for constructing house. It also envisaged setting up of transit accommodations for the migrant Pandits in the Valley and one-time grant for revival of agriculture and horticulture land of the migrants. It also favoured continuation of relief and scholarship to school going children of migrant KPs besides waiver of interest, an official said. On January 19, J&K Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution for creating a conducive atmosphere for return of Kashmiri Pandits and other migrants to the Valley. Similar resolution was also passed in upper house of the State Legislature. SRINAGAR: The PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir has identified 723 kanals of land in Kashmir for setting up 6000 transit accommodations for migrant Kashmiri Pandits, who fled the Valley after eruption of militancy in 1989. The Government of India (GoI) has conveyed approval for construction of 6000 transit accommodations in Kashmir for allotment to the migrant Kashmiri Pandits, Minister Incharge Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Basharat Bukhari, informed Legislative Assembly, which is in session in Jammu, in a written reply. He said the Deputy Commissioners in Kashmir have identified 723 kanals and 3 marlas of land across the Valley with the tentative cost of Rs 374.65 crores for setting up these transit accomodations. According to sources, the transit accommodations for migrant Kashmiri Pandits are likely to be set up in South, North and Central Kashmir. The transit accommodations for Pandits have already been set up in Haal and Mattan areas in South Kashmir and Sheikhpora in Central Kashmirs Budgam district. After eruption of militancy in Valley in 1989, the Kashmiri Pandits migrated from the Valley and lived in Jammu and other parts of the country. The Muslims in Valley blame then State Governor Jagmohan for migration of Pandits in the Valley. The State government informed that the jobs will be provided to the migrant Pandits returning to the Valley. Sources said the state government has informed Centre about the process to identify about 6,000 jobs in various government departments for the migrant Pandits. Over 1700 out of 3000 jobs sanctioned for Pandits have been provided to migrant Pandits in the Valley, they said. According to sources, apart from 3000 jobs for Pandits already sanctioned by the State government, Union Ministry of Home Affairs has conveyed the approval for creation of 3000 more additional posts for migrant Pandits with funding from central government. The proposal is under active consideration of the government and may be submitted in the State cabinet meeting to be chaired by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for its approval, they said. According to State government, 41462 Kashmiri migrant families and 1054 Jammu migrant families are at present residing in different areas of Jammu province and government is making all necessary efforts for their rehabilitation. While giving a break-up of 41462 migrant families living in Jammu, it disclosed that of these 37347 families belong to Hindus including Kashmiri Pandits, 2252 are Muslim families and 1758 are Sikh families. The central government had in 2008-09 sanctioned a package of Rs 1618.40 crores for rehabilitation of the migrants Kashmiri Pandits. According to the package, each migrant family was to be provided Rs 7.5 lakhs for constructing house. It also envisaged setting up of transit accommodations for the migrant Pandits in the Valley and one-time grant for revival of agriculture and horticulture land of the migrants. It also favoured continuation of relief and scholarship to school going children of migrant KPs besides waiver of interest, an official said. On January 19, J&K Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution for creating a conducive atmosphere for return of Kashmiri Pandits and other migrants to the Valley. Similar resolution was also passed in upper house of the State Legislature. By PTI NEW DELHI: "Casting aspersions" on the Election Commission will work against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said today. He termed as "loose" Kejriwal's remarks that the EC has not been able to stop corruption in the last 70 years. Quraishi, however, added that the AAP chief, perhaps needs to "articulate" his argument on bribery carefully. He could be right to an extent, he said. "These comments were loose...to certain extent he is right as well and that is why we are debating the issue. (On bribery) perhaps he has to articulate it carefully. But casting aspersions on the EC is something that is going to work against him," Quraishi said at an event organised by the Association for Democratic Reforms here. Kejriwal was recently censured by the Election Commission for his comments asking voters in Goa to take money from rival political parties but vote only for AAP. The Aam Aadmi Party chief had yesterday told the poll panel that his remarks were aimed to contain graft and sought a review of its order to allow him to repeat the comments. Kejriwal today once again attacked the EC and said that by stopping him from making these remarks, the poll body was promoting corruption. Meanwhile, Quraishi, who held the post of CEC from July 2011 to June 2012, also batted for public funding of political parties, which he said would be more effective than state funding of elections. The absence of any expenditure cap on political parties makes the ceiling on spending of individual legislators a "mockery", he said. NEW DELHI: "Casting aspersions" on the Election Commission will work against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said today. He termed as "loose" Kejriwal's remarks that the EC has not been able to stop corruption in the last 70 years. Quraishi, however, added that the AAP chief, perhaps needs to "articulate" his argument on bribery carefully. He could be right to an extent, he said. "These comments were loose...to certain extent he is right as well and that is why we are debating the issue. (On bribery) perhaps he has to articulate it carefully. But casting aspersions on the EC is something that is going to work against him," Quraishi said at an event organised by the Association for Democratic Reforms here. Kejriwal was recently censured by the Election Commission for his comments asking voters in Goa to take money from rival political parties but vote only for AAP. The Aam Aadmi Party chief had yesterday told the poll panel that his remarks were aimed to contain graft and sought a review of its order to allow him to repeat the comments. Kejriwal today once again attacked the EC and said that by stopping him from making these remarks, the poll body was promoting corruption. Meanwhile, Quraishi, who held the post of CEC from July 2011 to June 2012, also batted for public funding of political parties, which he said would be more effective than state funding of elections. The absence of any expenditure cap on political parties makes the ceiling on spending of individual legislators a "mockery", he said. Prasanta Mazumdar By Express News Service GUWAHATI: Suspected militants fired at a convoy of goods-laden trucks and oil tankers in Manipurs newly-created Noney district on Tuesday. No casualty was reported, the police said. The militants had briefly fired from a hilltop in a forested area when the convoy of 300 vehicles was headed to Manipur capital Imphal from southern Assams Silchar side via National Highway 37. It was a convoy of oil tankers and goods-laden trucks. The militants targeted an oil tanker by firing shots at it from a hill at around 11.30 AM. The ROP (road opening party) immediately returned the fire. After the brief exchange of fire, the militants escaped. There was no casualty or arson in the incident, Noney superintendent of police TK Anal told Express. The firing took place between two ROP posts, which are one kilometre apart from each other, he said. Cornered by an indefinite blockade enforced on National Highways 2 and 37 by the United Naga Council (UNC), the Manipur government has been bringing the goods-laden vehicles and oil tankers via the safer but little used NH-37 for the past few weeks. National Highway 2 snakes into the State from Nagaland. Manipur chief secretary O Nabakishor said they were bringing 300 goods-laden vehicles every alternate day. Today (Tuesday), we are bringing 300 goods-laden trucks from Silchar-Jiribam side via NH-37. These include 150-200 oil tankers, 80-100 FCI trucks and the rest loaded with commodities. Day after tomorrow, another 300 vehicles will be escorted into the State. We have plans to bring 1,200 vehicles every week, he said. The chief secretary said the vehicles were being escorted by CRPF and Manipur Police while Assam Rifles and Army had been engaged in area domination. He said there was no shortage of medicines as the State government had tied up with private airlines. GUWAHATI: Suspected militants fired at a convoy of goods-laden trucks and oil tankers in Manipurs newly-created Noney district on Tuesday. No casualty was reported, the police said. The militants had briefly fired from a hilltop in a forested area when the convoy of 300 vehicles was headed to Manipur capital Imphal from southern Assams Silchar side via National Highway 37. It was a convoy of oil tankers and goods-laden trucks. The militants targeted an oil tanker by firing shots at it from a hill at around 11.30 AM. The ROP (road opening party) immediately returned the fire. After the brief exchange of fire, the militants escaped. There was no casualty or arson in the incident, Noney superintendent of police TK Anal told Express. The firing took place between two ROP posts, which are one kilometre apart from each other, he said. Cornered by an indefinite blockade enforced on National Highways 2 and 37 by the United Naga Council (UNC), the Manipur government has been bringing the goods-laden vehicles and oil tankers via the safer but little used NH-37 for the past few weeks. National Highway 2 snakes into the State from Nagaland. Manipur chief secretary O Nabakishor said they were bringing 300 goods-laden vehicles every alternate day. Today (Tuesday), we are bringing 300 goods-laden trucks from Silchar-Jiribam side via NH-37. These include 150-200 oil tankers, 80-100 FCI trucks and the rest loaded with commodities. Day after tomorrow, another 300 vehicles will be escorted into the State. We have plans to bring 1,200 vehicles every week, he said. The chief secretary said the vehicles were being escorted by CRPF and Manipur Police while Assam Rifles and Army had been engaged in area domination. He said there was no shortage of medicines as the State government had tied up with private airlines. Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday unveiled its election manifesto for the 2017 Assembly elections with the dictum - 'Jo keha so kar vikhaya'. The party promises provisions for free supply of power to farmers for 10 hours during the day; waiver on farm debts of farmers with land holdings of upto 2.5 acres; supply of 5 kg sugar at Rs10 per kg and 2 kg ghee at Rs 25 per kg to blue-card holders, small farmers, labour and other needy sections; free education for all toppers among boys and girls, full assistance for overseas studies for all 10 toppers in class 12, free two-wheelers to all girl students in class 12 and graduation, in their manifesto. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "We have delivered what we have promised earlier-- be it the production of power within the State or introducing unique welfare schemes like Aata-Daal and Shagun, to providing 100 per cent water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns across the State. We are similarly committed to delivering on the promises made at this Assembly election. Focusing on farmers in the State, Badal said the alliance government will give fertiliser input incentive of Rs 100 per quintal on both wheat and paddy as an additional support to farmers over and above the minimum support price (MSP). All small farmers will also be eligible for Rs two lakh interest-free agriculture crop loan, he said. Besides this, the alliance has promised to set up tubewell for all farmers irrespective of the land holding. He said farm labourers will also be compensated in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities. A one- stop-shop which will dispense aata daal, function as medical clinic cum Sewa kendra will be opened in villages. All link roads will be made 18 feet wide, he added. Badal added that Akali-BJP alliance is also committed to equipping 10 lakh youth with skills through 25,000 skill centres--one skill centre catering to five villages. Those pursuing the courses will also be eligible for Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan. The alliance government will also facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. We will give government employment and also create jobs in tourism and industrial sectors to reach the 20 lakh job promise, he said. Outlining his vision for the industry, Sukhbir said, "We have laid down all needed infrastructure. All major towns and cities will be connected with four and six lane highways. We need mega industry centres. Accordingly we have planned to make the Malwa region a textile hub. An industrial park will be created over 2,500 acres in Rajpura. Trade fair centres will come up in Mohali, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Similarly world class IT hubs will be created in Mohali and Amritsar. A manufacturing hub will be created in Ludhiana by way of the Cycle Valley. A pharmaceutical hub will be created in Rajpura and Medicity at Mullanpur. He also assured that traders with a turnover of about Rs two crore per annum will not be required to maintain books and will be allowed to perform self certification and pay tax in lumps. Currently this facility is available for traders with a turnover of Rs one crore. Sukhbir said, "The welfare of weaker sections is closest to our hearts. We have accordingly decided that all kutcha houses will be made pucca and the houseless would be given jobs. He added that economically backward among general category citizens will also be eligible for all social welfare schemes meant for SC/ BC categories. He said it had been decided to increase all welfare pensions from the present Rs 500 per month to Rs 2,000 per month. Shagun scheme will also be raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 51,000. The manifesto promises free gas connections to all blue card holders. All blue card holders, small farmers, petty traders and construction workers would be eligible for medical claims to the tune of Rs one lakh per annum. Taking in account of the womenfolk, metric-pass women would be eligible for sewing machines. Stating that controlling crime and continuing the fight against drugs was a top priority for the Akali- BJP alliance, he said CCTV cameras would be installed on all entry and exit points of villages and cities to check crime. He said a Special Border Area Force would be constituted to form a second line of defence and to keep a tab on infiltration. He said the SAD- BJP government will give Darbar Saheb along with other major heritage and religious towns a heritage makeover. He also announced that the government would take steps to regularise all unauthorised colonies at a nominal price. He said there would not be any tax on CSD to benefit ex-servicemen. He said big infrastructure projects which would be taken up in the next five years would include Super Expressway linking Jalandhar and Ajmer Sharif and New Express Alignment between Amritsar and Delhi. Sukhbir also made it clear that presently Punjab did not have land or water for construction of the SYL canal. "We have returned the land on which the canal stood back to the farmers from whom it was acquired. The SYL canal cannot be constructed under any circumstances now. We are also committed to continue a peaceful democratic struggle to secure inclusion of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas in Haryana back into Punjab. We will also work devotedly to ensure the criminals who massacred innocent Sikhs are brought to book and the victims are fully rehabilitated. We also stand for a genuine federal structure, protection of minorities and peace and communal harmony. CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Tuesday unveiled its election manifesto for the 2017 Assembly elections with the dictum - 'Jo keha so kar vikhaya'. The party promises provisions for free supply of power to farmers for 10 hours during the day; waiver on farm debts of farmers with land holdings of upto 2.5 acres; supply of 5 kg sugar at Rs10 per kg and 2 kg ghee at Rs 25 per kg to blue-card holders, small farmers, labour and other needy sections; free education for all toppers among boys and girls, full assistance for overseas studies for all 10 toppers in class 12, free two-wheelers to all girl students in class 12 and graduation, in their manifesto. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said, "We have delivered what we have promised earlier-- be it the production of power within the State or introducing unique welfare schemes like Aata-Daal and Shagun, to providing 100 per cent water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns across the State. We are similarly committed to delivering on the promises made at this Assembly election. Focusing on farmers in the State, Badal said the alliance government will give fertiliser input incentive of Rs 100 per quintal on both wheat and paddy as an additional support to farmers over and above the minimum support price (MSP). All small farmers will also be eligible for Rs two lakh interest-free agriculture crop loan, he said. Besides this, the alliance has promised to set up tubewell for all farmers irrespective of the land holding. He said farm labourers will also be compensated in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities. A one- stop-shop which will dispense aata daal, function as medical clinic cum Sewa kendra will be opened in villages. All link roads will be made 18 feet wide, he added. Badal added that Akali-BJP alliance is also committed to equipping 10 lakh youth with skills through 25,000 skill centres--one skill centre catering to five villages. Those pursuing the courses will also be eligible for Rs 10 lakh interest-free loan. The alliance government will also facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. We will give government employment and also create jobs in tourism and industrial sectors to reach the 20 lakh job promise, he said. Outlining his vision for the industry, Sukhbir said, "We have laid down all needed infrastructure. All major towns and cities will be connected with four and six lane highways. We need mega industry centres. Accordingly we have planned to make the Malwa region a textile hub. An industrial park will be created over 2,500 acres in Rajpura. Trade fair centres will come up in Mohali, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Similarly world class IT hubs will be created in Mohali and Amritsar. A manufacturing hub will be created in Ludhiana by way of the Cycle Valley. A pharmaceutical hub will be created in Rajpura and Medicity at Mullanpur. He also assured that traders with a turnover of about Rs two crore per annum will not be required to maintain books and will be allowed to perform self certification and pay tax in lumps. Currently this facility is available for traders with a turnover of Rs one crore. Sukhbir said, "The welfare of weaker sections is closest to our hearts. We have accordingly decided that all kutcha houses will be made pucca and the houseless would be given jobs. He added that economically backward among general category citizens will also be eligible for all social welfare schemes meant for SC/ BC categories. He said it had been decided to increase all welfare pensions from the present Rs 500 per month to Rs 2,000 per month. Shagun scheme will also be raised from Rs 15,000 to Rs 51,000. The manifesto promises free gas connections to all blue card holders. All blue card holders, small farmers, petty traders and construction workers would be eligible for medical claims to the tune of Rs one lakh per annum. Taking in account of the womenfolk, metric-pass women would be eligible for sewing machines. Stating that controlling crime and continuing the fight against drugs was a top priority for the Akali- BJP alliance, he said CCTV cameras would be installed on all entry and exit points of villages and cities to check crime. He said a Special Border Area Force would be constituted to form a second line of defence and to keep a tab on infiltration. He said the SAD- BJP government will give Darbar Saheb along with other major heritage and religious towns a heritage makeover. He also announced that the government would take steps to regularise all unauthorised colonies at a nominal price. He said there would not be any tax on CSD to benefit ex-servicemen. He said big infrastructure projects which would be taken up in the next five years would include Super Expressway linking Jalandhar and Ajmer Sharif and New Express Alignment between Amritsar and Delhi. Sukhbir also made it clear that presently Punjab did not have land or water for construction of the SYL canal. "We have returned the land on which the canal stood back to the farmers from whom it was acquired. The SYL canal cannot be constructed under any circumstances now. We are also committed to continue a peaceful democratic struggle to secure inclusion of Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas in Haryana back into Punjab. We will also work devotedly to ensure the criminals who massacred innocent Sikhs are brought to book and the victims are fully rehabilitated. We also stand for a genuine federal structure, protection of minorities and peace and communal harmony. Fayaz Wani By Express News Service SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Central Kashmirs Ganderbal district on Tuesday while army foiled an infiltration bid along Line of Control (LoC) in States border district of Rajouri by killing a militant. In another separate incident, a militant was killed in the operation while remaining fled towards Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK). A police spokesman said after receiving information about the presence of militants in Hadoora, Shuhama area of central Kashmirs Ganderbal district, Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K police, armys 5 Rashtria Rifles and paramilitary CRPF personnel cordoned off the area early this morning and launched search operation to track down the militants. He said during the search operation, militants hiding in the area fired from automatic weapons towards the soldiers. The fire was returned by the troops and in the ensuing gunfight, which continued for more than three hours, two Lashkar militants were killed, the spokesman said adding security forces did not suffer any casualties during the firefight. The slain militants were identified as LeT militants Qari Hanzullah and Anas Bilal, both residents of Pakistan. 2 AK-47 rifles, 1 grenade, 6 magazines and 180 rounds were recovered from the encounter site, the police spokesman said. A police official said both the militants were active since 2013. They were involved in Fidayeen attack on CRPF in Nowhatta area of downtown Srinagar on August 15, 2016 in which CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar and a police constable were killed, he said. The official said the militants were also involved in the attack on SSB convoy at Zakoora area in outskirts of Srinagar on October 10 last year in which one SSB jawan was killed and seven SSB personnel and a cop injured. Terming the killing of militants as another jolt for Lashkar, he said both the militants were operating in Srinagar and Ganderbal areas in Central Kashmir since January 2013 and had recently started coordinating with Hizbul Mujahideen. They were transporting newly infiltrated groups from one place to another and were managing safe places and hideouts for them, he said. Meanwhile, a defence spokesman in Jammu Lt Colonel Manish Mehta said army foiled an infiltration bid of militants in Sunderbani sector along LoC in Rajouri district and killed a militant. Army men deployed along LoC in Sunderbani sector in Rajouri district foiled an infiltration attempt in the early hours today. The troops detected movement of militants along the LoC and engaged the infiltrating militants in a gunfight, he said. The body of the slain militant has been recovered. A weapon and ammunition were also recovered from the slain militant, the defence spokesman said. He said the killing of militant assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely militant attacks around January 26. SRINAGAR: Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Central Kashmirs Ganderbal district on Tuesday while army foiled an infiltration bid along Line of Control (LoC) in States border district of Rajouri by killing a militant. In another separate incident, a militant was killed in the operation while remaining fled towards Pakistan administered Kashmir (PaK). A police spokesman said after receiving information about the presence of militants in Hadoora, Shuhama area of central Kashmirs Ganderbal district, Special Operations Group (SOG) of J&K police, armys 5 Rashtria Rifles and paramilitary CRPF personnel cordoned off the area early this morning and launched search operation to track down the militants. He said during the search operation, militants hiding in the area fired from automatic weapons towards the soldiers. The fire was returned by the troops and in the ensuing gunfight, which continued for more than three hours, two Lashkar militants were killed, the spokesman said adding security forces did not suffer any casualties during the firefight. The slain militants were identified as LeT militants Qari Hanzullah and Anas Bilal, both residents of Pakistan. 2 AK-47 rifles, 1 grenade, 6 magazines and 180 rounds were recovered from the encounter site, the police spokesman said. A police official said both the militants were active since 2013. They were involved in Fidayeen attack on CRPF in Nowhatta area of downtown Srinagar on August 15, 2016 in which CRPF commandant Pramod Kumar and a police constable were killed, he said. The official said the militants were also involved in the attack on SSB convoy at Zakoora area in outskirts of Srinagar on October 10 last year in which one SSB jawan was killed and seven SSB personnel and a cop injured. Terming the killing of militants as another jolt for Lashkar, he said both the militants were operating in Srinagar and Ganderbal areas in Central Kashmir since January 2013 and had recently started coordinating with Hizbul Mujahideen. They were transporting newly infiltrated groups from one place to another and were managing safe places and hideouts for them, he said. Meanwhile, a defence spokesman in Jammu Lt Colonel Manish Mehta said army foiled an infiltration bid of militants in Sunderbani sector along LoC in Rajouri district and killed a militant. Army men deployed along LoC in Sunderbani sector in Rajouri district foiled an infiltration attempt in the early hours today. The troops detected movement of militants along the LoC and engaged the infiltrating militants in a gunfight, he said. The body of the slain militant has been recovered. A weapon and ammunition were also recovered from the slain militant, the defence spokesman said. He said the killing of militant assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely militant attacks around January 26. By PTI NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today extended help to rescue an Indian national reportedly stuck at a border near war zone Yemen. "We will do our best to rescue him," Swaraj tweeted, responding to media reports that an Indian national named Vijay, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, has been stuck at SaudiArabia-Yemen border due to bombing in the area. Vijay who is at Al Tiwala, some 60 km away from Jizan in Saudi Arabia, has reportedly made an appeal to be rescued, saying he is living in dangerous conditions. Vijay was sent to Saudi Arabia by an agent from Palakollu in West Godavari to work in a hospital. NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today extended help to rescue an Indian national reportedly stuck at a border near war zone Yemen. "We will do our best to rescue him," Swaraj tweeted, responding to media reports that an Indian national named Vijay, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, has been stuck at SaudiArabia-Yemen border due to bombing in the area. Vijay who is at Al Tiwala, some 60 km away from Jizan in Saudi Arabia, has reportedly made an appeal to be rescued, saying he is living in dangerous conditions. Vijay was sent to Saudi Arabia by an agent from Palakollu in West Godavari to work in a hospital. By Express News Service VIJAYAWADA: In the wake of the proposed silent protest at RK Beach in Visakhapatnam on January 26, Andhra Pradesh DGP N Sambasiva Rao on Tuesday affirmed that no permission was granted for such congregations in Visakhapatnam where Section 144 of CrPC is in force. "In a democratic country, people have right to exercise their freedom of speech and can organise any protests or rallies. But no individual or organisation has sought permission. When nobody is ready to take responsibility for organising such event, we cannot permit it. If something goes wrong, who is to blame? " he said. However, he said that the police would consider if anyone seeks permission. The DGP appealed to people not to take the messages on social media at face value and land themselves in trouble. "With no censorship, social media is being used for all wrong purposes. People are tweeting or posting messages without any responsibility which will not be tolerated," he said. On restrictions against media's entry to the RK Beach Road in Visakhapatnam, he said that there were no restrictions on media but in case the coverage would hamper law and order, the police are bound to act accordingly. VIJAYAWADA: In the wake of the proposed silent protest at RK Beach in Visakhapatnam on January 26, Andhra Pradesh DGP N Sambasiva Rao on Tuesday affirmed that no permission was granted for such congregations in Visakhapatnam where Section 144 of CrPC is in force. "In a democratic country, people have right to exercise their freedom of speech and can organise any protests or rallies. But no individual or organisation has sought permission. When nobody is ready to take responsibility for organising such event, we cannot permit it. If something goes wrong, who is to blame? " he said. However, he said that the police would consider if anyone seeks permission. The DGP appealed to people not to take the messages on social media at face value and land themselves in trouble. "With no censorship, social media is being used for all wrong purposes. People are tweeting or posting messages without any responsibility which will not be tolerated," he said. On restrictions against media's entry to the RK Beach Road in Visakhapatnam, he said that there were no restrictions on media but in case the coverage would hamper law and order, the police are bound to act accordingly. By Express News Service VISAKHAPATNAM : The first college social network for students, Askpal (Askpal.com), a free online platform, specifically designed to foster student-to-student and student-to-alumni communication is now available to Vizagites. College students across India can take advantage of this new type of social networking service to connect with friends, professors and alumni to get career advice and job referrals. Askpal.com, mobile apps are also available on both iPhone and Android platforms. Students can create a community for their colleges where they can ask questions, get trusted advice from friends, professors and alumni, who are working and earn money while helping others, said Uma Suryapalem, president and co-founder of Askpal. Students can ask queries about internship opportunities, get job referrals, better place to live, find roommates or even ask for advice to study abroad. Askpal recently completed a pilot programme where students from several colleges, including MIT, Stanford, UPenn, Case Western, Oregon State University and University of Washington asked and answered questions using Askpal. Through the pilot programme, we could show how the students can use Askpal to create a community of their alumni, professors and peers, added Uma Suryapalem. People interested in joining their college communities can visit Askpal.com and search for the college under categories. If a suitable community for a particular college is already available, they can immediately sign up. If a college community has not yet been established, they can create one and invite their alumni, professors and other students. VISAKHAPATNAM : The first college social network for students, Askpal (Askpal.com), a free online platform, specifically designed to foster student-to-student and student-to-alumni communication is now available to Vizagites. College students across India can take advantage of this new type of social networking service to connect with friends, professors and alumni to get career advice and job referrals. Askpal.com, mobile apps are also available on both iPhone and Android platforms. Students can create a community for their colleges where they can ask questions, get trusted advice from friends, professors and alumni, who are working and earn money while helping others, said Uma Suryapalem, president and co-founder of Askpal. Students can ask queries about internship opportunities, get job referrals, better place to live, find roommates or even ask for advice to study abroad. Askpal recently completed a pilot programme where students from several colleges, including MIT, Stanford, UPenn, Case Western, Oregon State University and University of Washington asked and answered questions using Askpal. Through the pilot programme, we could show how the students can use Askpal to create a community of their alumni, professors and peers, added Uma Suryapalem. People interested in joining their college communities can visit Askpal.com and search for the college under categories. If a suitable community for a particular college is already available, they can immediately sign up. If a college community has not yet been established, they can create one and invite their alumni, professors and other students. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday asked Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to increase Keralas share of rice or at least restore the earlier quota - 16.25 metric tonnes. The state is now getting 14.25 lakh tonnes annually. After the meeting, Paswan tweeted a photo of him standing with Pinarayi. But he termed the Kerala CM as O Paneerselvam. However, Pinarayi took the episode lightheartedly. Pinarayi asked the Centre to extend the rice procurement period for three months. Having rolled out the National Food Security Act in November 2016, Kerala needs higher allocation from the Centre. Kerala CM has placed several demands in front of us. One is increasing foodgrain allocation under NFSA, Paswan told reporters. Pinarayi also demanded more subsidy as the state wanted to give subsidised sugar under the PDS. At present, subsidised sugar is supplied only to BPL families. The state has also asked for paraboiled rice and additional foodgrain allocation of about 50,000 tonnes per month to meet the demand of 10-15 lakh migrant workers in the state. It has also sought Central support to make extra payment to state-run FCI labourers. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here Monday his government is planning to hold another all-party meeting to resolve the BJP-RSS violence in Kannur. We had called an all-party meet earlier to ensure peace. We are planning to convene one such meeting again, he said. In Delhi to fulfil a wish list from the Centre, Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed Keralas ration issue and other pending projects, including the airports and an AIIMS. While trying to play down the protests over the Kannur killings, Vijayan said the RSS too must refrain from political violence in the state before campaigning against it at the national level. If the RSS is campaigning against violent politics, it must also refrain from all sorts of violent politics. The government does not support any kind of violence. We are taking necessary steps to maintain peace, he said. On a two-day visit to Delhi, Vijayan made light of the BJPs threat to impose Presidents rule in Kerala. He said a lot has changed in the country since the state government was dismissed in 1959 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Such threats will not affect us. The state government was once dismissed in 1959. Since then, a lot has changed. The BJP needs to understand that, said Vijayan. His statement came following Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu last week warning the LDF Government of serious consequences if it continued to unleash political violence on its rivals. NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday asked Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan to increase Keralas share of rice or at least restore the earlier quota - 16.25 metric tonnes. The state is now getting 14.25 lakh tonnes annually. After the meeting, Paswan tweeted a photo of him standing with Pinarayi. But he termed the Kerala CM as O Paneerselvam. However, Pinarayi took the episode lightheartedly. Pinarayi asked the Centre to extend the rice procurement period for three months. Having rolled out the National Food Security Act in November 2016, Kerala needs higher allocation from the Centre. Kerala CM has placed several demands in front of us. One is increasing foodgrain allocation under NFSA, Paswan told reporters. Pinarayi also demanded more subsidy as the state wanted to give subsidised sugar under the PDS. At present, subsidised sugar is supplied only to BPL families. The state has also asked for paraboiled rice and additional foodgrain allocation of about 50,000 tonnes per month to meet the demand of 10-15 lakh migrant workers in the state. It has also sought Central support to make extra payment to state-run FCI labourers. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here Monday his government is planning to hold another all-party meeting to resolve the BJP-RSS violence in Kannur. We had called an all-party meet earlier to ensure peace. We are planning to convene one such meeting again, he said. In Delhi to fulfil a wish list from the Centre, Vijayan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed Keralas ration issue and other pending projects, including the airports and an AIIMS. While trying to play down the protests over the Kannur killings, Vijayan said the RSS too must refrain from political violence in the state before campaigning against it at the national level. If the RSS is campaigning against violent politics, it must also refrain from all sorts of violent politics. The government does not support any kind of violence. We are taking necessary steps to maintain peace, he said. On a two-day visit to Delhi, Vijayan made light of the BJPs threat to impose Presidents rule in Kerala. He said a lot has changed in the country since the state government was dismissed in 1959 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Such threats will not affect us. The state government was once dismissed in 1959. Since then, a lot has changed. The BJP needs to understand that, said Vijayan. His statement came following Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu last week warning the LDF Government of serious consequences if it continued to unleash political violence on its rivals. By Express News Service CUTTACK: The 120th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was observed with pomp and gaiety on the premises of the freedom fighters birth place Janakinath Bhawan at Odia Bazar here on Monday. With the dawn of the day, Ram Dhun was recited at Janakinath Bhawan following which Netaji Birth Place Museum was opened for visitors. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik garlanding the statue of Subhas Chandra Bose at Netaji Birth Place Museum in Cuttack on Monday | Express On the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid tributes to Netaji by garlanding his statue on the Museum premises. Later, the CM visited the room where the freedom fighter was born and galleries of the Museum. Naveen also inaugurated a sand art exhibition organised by the Culture Department in association with Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi. The sculptures by sand artist Pramod Kumar Patnaik on the life of Subhas Chandra Bose were a hit among the visitors. The CM recounted Netajis patriotism and unconditional love for the country. His contribution to the countrys Independence is incomparable and we are proud of him, Naveen said. Speaking to mediapersons, Culture and Tourism Minister Ashok Kumar Panda said effort is on at Government level to develop Netajis birth place in Cuttack. On the demands of different social organisations to name Cuttack Railway Station after Netaji, Panda said the claim should be made before the Central Government. It is upto the Ministry of Railways to name the station after Subhas Chandra Bose, he said. To mark the occasion, a massive rally was taken out from NCC Headquarters to Netajis birth place. Among others, political leaders, bureaucrats, senior citizens, intellectuals, students and the general public visited Netajis birth place and paid rich tributes to the freedom fighter. CUTTACK: The 120th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was observed with pomp and gaiety on the premises of the freedom fighters birth place Janakinath Bhawan at Odia Bazar here on Monday. With the dawn of the day, Ram Dhun was recited at Janakinath Bhawan following which Netaji Birth Place Museum was opened for visitors. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik garlanding the statue of Subhas Chandra Bose at Netaji Birth Place Museum in Cuttack on Monday | Express On the occasion, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik paid tributes to Netaji by garlanding his statue on the Museum premises. Later, the CM visited the room where the freedom fighter was born and galleries of the Museum. Naveen also inaugurated a sand art exhibition organised by the Culture Department in association with Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi. The sculptures by sand artist Pramod Kumar Patnaik on the life of Subhas Chandra Bose were a hit among the visitors. The CM recounted Netajis patriotism and unconditional love for the country. His contribution to the countrys Independence is incomparable and we are proud of him, Naveen said. Speaking to mediapersons, Culture and Tourism Minister Ashok Kumar Panda said effort is on at Government level to develop Netajis birth place in Cuttack. On the demands of different social organisations to name Cuttack Railway Station after Netaji, Panda said the claim should be made before the Central Government. It is upto the Ministry of Railways to name the station after Subhas Chandra Bose, he said. To mark the occasion, a massive rally was taken out from NCC Headquarters to Netajis birth place. Among others, political leaders, bureaucrats, senior citizens, intellectuals, students and the general public visited Netajis birth place and paid rich tributes to the freedom fighter. By PTI CHENNAI: With police cracking down on pro jallikattu supporters, veteran cinema star Kamal Haasan today came out in support of students and youth, saying "aggressive police action on students' passive resistance will not bear good results" and urged protesters not to resort to violence. "This is a mistake. Aggressive police action on students passive resistance will not bear good results", Haasan wrote on Twitter. He also appealed to the students and youth not to resort to violence. Haasan insisted that the protesters take up the non-violent path and said neither students nor public should resort to violence. My request to the police minister.Stop harrassing peacful protesters of TN and Marina.Let the CM offer solutions arrived upon @ the assembly Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 Have informed our Honrbl.PM through the best of my connections. The Honrbl. Justice seekers will have to maintain peace Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 Spoke to the Honrbl.CM of TN. The looming question has been asked of him. He will answer soon. They're eager to satisfy you. Stay calm Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 A looming question. When the students were calmly waiting to see what decision the assembly takes , Why preempt with police action ? Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 He also expressed concern over violence in Alanganallur, famous for holding the sport. Meanwhile, RJ-actor Balaji requested the protesters to go home, saying the Government promulgating an ordinance in itself was success to the peaceful protests conducted over the last week. The protest is over.Plz stop this. pic.twitter.com/VlPX5dpy9m RJ Balaji (@RJ_Balaji) January 23, 2017 "Instead of celebrating the first success (of making the Government to promulgate an ordinance), why are you venturing into violent protests?", he asked in a video that was widely circulated in the social media. The protests which were held peacefully over the last week should not end like the way it is turning out now, he said. "I appeal to the protesting students and public to go home. Protests are over. Please go home." he said. Police today evicted scores of pro-jallikattu demonstrators from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially from Marina beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and mild lathicharge at a few places in the city. CHENNAI: With police cracking down on pro jallikattu supporters, veteran cinema star Kamal Haasan today came out in support of students and youth, saying "aggressive police action on students' passive resistance will not bear good results" and urged protesters not to resort to violence. "This is a mistake. Aggressive police action on students passive resistance will not bear good results", Haasan wrote on Twitter. He also appealed to the students and youth not to resort to violence. Haasan insisted that the protesters take up the non-violent path and said neither students nor public should resort to violence. My request to the police minister.Stop harrassing peacful protesters of TN and Marina.Let the CM offer solutions arrived upon @ the assembly Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 Have informed our Honrbl.PM through the best of my connections. The Honrbl. Justice seekers will have to maintain peace Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 Spoke to the Honrbl.CM of TN. The looming question has been asked of him. He will answer soon. They're eager to satisfy you. Stay calm Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 A looming question. When the students were calmly waiting to see what decision the assembly takes , Why preempt with police action ? Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 23, 2017 He also expressed concern over violence in Alanganallur, famous for holding the sport. Meanwhile, RJ-actor Balaji requested the protesters to go home, saying the Government promulgating an ordinance in itself was success to the peaceful protests conducted over the last week. The protest is over.Plz stop this. pic.twitter.com/VlPX5dpy9m RJ Balaji (@RJ_Balaji) January 23, 2017 "Instead of celebrating the first success (of making the Government to promulgate an ordinance), why are you venturing into violent protests?", he asked in a video that was widely circulated in the social media. The protests which were held peacefully over the last week should not end like the way it is turning out now, he said. "I appeal to the protesting students and public to go home. Protests are over. Please go home." he said. Police today evicted scores of pro-jallikattu demonstrators from protest venues across Tamil Nadu, especially from Marina beach, amid incidents of stone-pelting, torching a car and mild lathicharge at a few places in the city. By Express News Service CHENNAI: What began as a disconnected campaign and transformed into a carnival on the sands of Marina descended into chaos after the hardline fringe hijacked the protest for jallikattu and refused to relent, leading to a pitched battle with the police that stopped Chennai on its tracks on Monday. At the end of the day, there were several casualties in the battle on both sides. But with the key persons dissociating themselves from the protest since Sunday, there was none to assume responsibility for this chaos that this leaderless uprising spiralled into. Even as the Assembly session began in the morning where the Bill, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017, was to be introduced, what has till now been a peaceful, passive occupation exploded into sporadic but intense street battle at various spots. After being stopped before they could join the sit-in at the beach, various groups, whom the city Police Commissioner described as anti-social elements with vested interest, began setting up roadblocks with objects including burning vehicles, and pelted stones and glass bottles at the police. Ice House police station near the beach came under arson attack, with a few personnel including women trapped inside. In all, over 50 police vehicles were damaged, besides government and private vehicles. While they showed restraint in handling the crowd at Marina that came with intense media coverage, videos shot on mobile phones emerged later in the evening, which showed personnel setting fire to auto-rickshaws, vandalising vehicles and terrorising neighbourhoods. In the battle for no mans land that the city became, the men in khaki wanted to establish supremacy with order if not law. The hardline outfits some of them distrust Indian democracy while the others dont believe in democracy itself acted as was expected. More damaging was the opposition parties reluctance to explain to the crowd the basics of Constitution and Parliamentary system. There were statements condemning police highhandedness from almost all parties, but none asking for withdrawal of protests. Instead, a few of them hit the streets with their own protest. Union minister and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu directly accused the DMK and Congress of politically exploiting the situation to spread an anti-Centre feeling. It finally took a retired High Court justice to explain the legal terms. The worst casualty, however, is the discredit the day brought to a campaign that had given hopes of a new wave of non-violent youth assertion. CHENNAI: What began as a disconnected campaign and transformed into a carnival on the sands of Marina descended into chaos after the hardline fringe hijacked the protest for jallikattu and refused to relent, leading to a pitched battle with the police that stopped Chennai on its tracks on Monday. At the end of the day, there were several casualties in the battle on both sides. But with the key persons dissociating themselves from the protest since Sunday, there was none to assume responsibility for this chaos that this leaderless uprising spiralled into. Even as the Assembly session began in the morning where the Bill, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 2017, was to be introduced, what has till now been a peaceful, passive occupation exploded into sporadic but intense street battle at various spots. After being stopped before they could join the sit-in at the beach, various groups, whom the city Police Commissioner described as anti-social elements with vested interest, began setting up roadblocks with objects including burning vehicles, and pelted stones and glass bottles at the police. Ice House police station near the beach came under arson attack, with a few personnel including women trapped inside. In all, over 50 police vehicles were damaged, besides government and private vehicles. While they showed restraint in handling the crowd at Marina that came with intense media coverage, videos shot on mobile phones emerged later in the evening, which showed personnel setting fire to auto-rickshaws, vandalising vehicles and terrorising neighbourhoods. In the battle for no mans land that the city became, the men in khaki wanted to establish supremacy with order if not law. The hardline outfits some of them distrust Indian democracy while the others dont believe in democracy itself acted as was expected. More damaging was the opposition parties reluctance to explain to the crowd the basics of Constitution and Parliamentary system. There were statements condemning police highhandedness from almost all parties, but none asking for withdrawal of protests. Instead, a few of them hit the streets with their own protest. Union minister and BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu directly accused the DMK and Congress of politically exploiting the situation to spread an anti-Centre feeling. It finally took a retired High Court justice to explain the legal terms. The worst casualty, however, is the discredit the day brought to a campaign that had given hopes of a new wave of non-violent youth assertion. K Shiva Shanker By Express News Service HYDERABAD: A software professional from the city, who refused to take drugs for swine flu offered by the government health staff, is now said to be critical and undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital. In this process, his daughter too was tested positive but was cured later. This is not an isolated incident. A few patients from the city who tested positive for swine flu, have apparently refused to take preventive medicine (to prevent and treat the flu) offered by the Rapid Response Team of the health department. The patients rejected medicines stating they would not opt for medicines provided by a government department and got treated at private hospitals. Those who refused to take prophylactic medicines include a software employee and employees of another profession. As per protocol, details of the people who test positive for the flu are sent to the health department with all the details. A team from the department contacts the patients to offer prophylactic medicine. Apart from the patient, other family members of those who tested positive are given the drug so that they will not contract the infection from the patient. One of the patients whom our team was attending was a software employee. His daughter too tested positive but was cured of it. His condition is critical and is getting treated at a corporate hospital. He refused to take the prophylactic medicine stating that he would not opt for medicines given by government agencies, said a senior official of the health department. Similarly, a lawyer who refused treatment on similar grounds is also undergoing treatment in another corporate hospital. When our team visited him, they were shooed away. He is being treated for the infection now, said the staff member. HYDERABAD: A software professional from the city, who refused to take drugs for swine flu offered by the government health staff, is now said to be critical and undergoing treatment at a corporate hospital. In this process, his daughter too was tested positive but was cured later. This is not an isolated incident. A few patients from the city who tested positive for swine flu, have apparently refused to take preventive medicine (to prevent and treat the flu) offered by the Rapid Response Team of the health department. The patients rejected medicines stating they would not opt for medicines provided by a government department and got treated at private hospitals. Those who refused to take prophylactic medicines include a software employee and employees of another profession. As per protocol, details of the people who test positive for the flu are sent to the health department with all the details. A team from the department contacts the patients to offer prophylactic medicine. Apart from the patient, other family members of those who tested positive are given the drug so that they will not contract the infection from the patient. One of the patients whom our team was attending was a software employee. His daughter too tested positive but was cured of it. His condition is critical and is getting treated at a corporate hospital. He refused to take the prophylactic medicine stating that he would not opt for medicines given by government agencies, said a senior official of the health department. Similarly, a lawyer who refused treatment on similar grounds is also undergoing treatment in another corporate hospital. When our team visited him, they were shooed away. He is being treated for the infection now, said the staff member. By AFP BEIJING: China on Tuesday warned Washington it is "firm in safeguarding our rights and interests" in the South China Sea, responding to White House comments that the US would defend American and international interests in the disputed area. "China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing Tuesday. "The United States is not a party to the South China Sea issue." BEIJING: China on Tuesday warned Washington it is "firm in safeguarding our rights and interests" in the South China Sea, responding to White House comments that the US would defend American and international interests in the disputed area. "China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters," foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing Tuesday. "The United States is not a party to the South China Sea issue." By AFP BEIRUT: Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria battled a range of rebel groups in the north of the country on Tuesday, as the government and opposition wrapped up new peace talks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the clashes began early in the day with an attack by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front on a base belonging to the Jaish al-Mujahideen faction. Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Al-Nusra Front, is listed internationally as a "terrorist" group, despite formally renouncing its affiliation with Al-Qaeda in 2016. But it has also been a key partner at times for rebel groups in Syria, and it leads a powerful alliance that controls all of Syria's Idlib province. Despite the ties, tensions have occasionally flared between the jihadist group and other rebel forces, which accuse Fateh al-Sham of seeking hegemony. The morning attack prompted further clashes which continued Tuesday afternoon along the border between Idlib province and northern Aleppo province, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Rockets fired during the fighting killed five members of a family, most of them children and women, he added. The monitor said Fateh al-Sham had seized territory from rebel groups in Aleppo, while rebels advanced against the jihadist group in Idlib. There was no official statement from either side on what sparked the clashes, which came after days of tension in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, including infighting between other rebel groups. But Fateh al-Sham has been hit in recent weeks by a series of deadly air strikes, most believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition fighting jihadists. Abdel Rahman said the group appeared to believe that local rebels were providing coordinates for the air strikes. The latest clashes come as Syria's government and rebel groups conclude fresh peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, building on a ceasefire in force since December 30. Fateh al-Sham is excluded from the ceasefire and has rejected the negotiating process, creating fresh tensions with opposition groups. The powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction, a close ally of Fateh al-Sham in Idlib, declined to take part in the talks, saying it wanted to avoid isolating the former Al-Qaeda affiliate. But on Tuesday, its fighters were battling the group, and a leading Ahrar al-Sham official warned Fateh al-Sham that it was "at a crossroads". "It either completely joins the revolution or it is a new Daesh," said Labib al-Nahhas on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Syria's civil war has killed more than 310,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since it started in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. BEIRUT: Al-Qaeda's former affiliate in Syria battled a range of rebel groups in the north of the country on Tuesday, as the government and opposition wrapped up new peace talks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the clashes began early in the day with an attack by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front on a base belonging to the Jaish al-Mujahideen faction. Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Al-Nusra Front, is listed internationally as a "terrorist" group, despite formally renouncing its affiliation with Al-Qaeda in 2016. But it has also been a key partner at times for rebel groups in Syria, and it leads a powerful alliance that controls all of Syria's Idlib province. Despite the ties, tensions have occasionally flared between the jihadist group and other rebel forces, which accuse Fateh al-Sham of seeking hegemony. The morning attack prompted further clashes which continued Tuesday afternoon along the border between Idlib province and northern Aleppo province, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Rockets fired during the fighting killed five members of a family, most of them children and women, he added. The monitor said Fateh al-Sham had seized territory from rebel groups in Aleppo, while rebels advanced against the jihadist group in Idlib. There was no official statement from either side on what sparked the clashes, which came after days of tension in Idlib and Aleppo provinces, including infighting between other rebel groups. But Fateh al-Sham has been hit in recent weeks by a series of deadly air strikes, most believed to have been carried out by the US-led coalition fighting jihadists. Abdel Rahman said the group appeared to believe that local rebels were providing coordinates for the air strikes. The latest clashes come as Syria's government and rebel groups conclude fresh peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana, building on a ceasefire in force since December 30. Fateh al-Sham is excluded from the ceasefire and has rejected the negotiating process, creating fresh tensions with opposition groups. The powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction, a close ally of Fateh al-Sham in Idlib, declined to take part in the talks, saying it wanted to avoid isolating the former Al-Qaeda affiliate. But on Tuesday, its fighters were battling the group, and a leading Ahrar al-Sham official warned Fateh al-Sham that it was "at a crossroads". "It either completely joins the revolution or it is a new Daesh," said Labib al-Nahhas on Twitter, using an Arabic acronym for IS. Syria's civil war has killed more than 310,000 people and displaced millions from their homes since it started in March 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. By Associated Press WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump pursuit of an "America first" foreign policy is raising questions about who, if anyone, will fill the void if the U.S. relinquishes its traditional global leadership role. China and Russia are among the aspirants for greater economic and military influence, while an ambivalent Germany could emerge as the West's moral compass. For generations, the U.S. has largely set the terms for the global economy, policed international security threats and spearheaded the response to crises like Ebola and Haiti's earthquake. But after sweeping into office with an isolationist-tinged message rooted in the idea the U.S. needs to refocus on itself, Trump has said and done little to dispel the notion that he wants the rest of the world solve its own problems. In his inaugural address, Trump said the U.S. for too long has been invested in other countries' industries, militaries, borders and infrastructure while letting its own fall into "disrepair and decay." "That is the past," Trump said. In one of his first acts, Trump on Monday formally withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a project launched under President George W. Bush and negotiated by President Barack Obama to set trade rules with Asia and counter China's economic influence Trump said he was doing a "great thing" for U.S. workers by tearing it up. But Sen. John McCain, a fellow Republican, said the withdrawal "abdicates U.S. leadership in Asia to China." China isn't the only country that could profit from U.S. retrenchment. In their own ways, Russia and Germany also could stake a claim to a greater global role. But no one can simultaneously match America's economic, military and moral might, and a more isolationist U.S. could mean a power vacuum. "There's no country or collection of countries that can do what the U.S. has done for the last half-century," said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's partly a question of resources and capacity, and it's partly a question of ambition." "A huge number of things will simply not be done," he said. While U.S. rivals like China and Russia would relish the opportunity to try to replace the United States, many countries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere are fretting the prospect of an American retreat. Even Germany is unsettled about being increasingly looked to as a moral example. China, which has been investing billions in Africa and Latin America to curry influence in the developing world, could become an increasingly dominant economic power. It already is aggressively pursuing a multicountry trade deal that would appear the likeliest alternative to TPP, a scenario Obama's administration had warned would let China "write the rules" and lead to worse labor and environmental standards. Beijing has used Trump inauguration as an opportunity to ridicule America's democracy and tout its own communist system as superior. And many of China's neighbors share its fears about Trump threats to trigger a "trade war" with the Asian powerhouse by taxing Chinese products. "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from," Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, laying out his plans for growth, overseas investments and expanded trade opportunities. It was the type of agenda the U.S. might have previously touted. America's military alliances are no sure thing, either. Trump has suggested a broad rethink, calling NATO "obsolete" and challenging U.S. allies to bear greater cost while beefs up its military in the Pacific and Russia exerts military power in Eastern Europe, which suffered for decades under Soviet domination. It's not the only place the Kremlin is flexing its muscles. In Syria, Russia has backed more than a year of successful Syrian government offensives against rebels and is currently directing peace talks between the two sides. The U.S. was but a bystander at the negotiations Monday, while the White House said it could partner Russia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria. Such an arrangement could significantly enhance Russia's reputation in the Middle East. "With the election of Donald Trump , the old world of the 20th century is finally over," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in the Bild newspaper, reflecting a broader European lament about confused international leadership and increased disorder. Trump push has mirrored a broader global debate about globalization vs. isolation. British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Trump later this week, seeking cooperation from an American leader who cheered her country's vote to leave the European Union which Obama campaigned against. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who once cursed Obama for the American's criticism of his country's war on drugs, has embraced Trump "America first" approach and expressed relief the U.S. will no longer lecture others on how to behave. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long accused of undemocratic tendencies, echoed that message, declaring "the end of multilateralism" in the age of Trump . While China's increased economic strength and Russia's military vigor may appeal to some, few Western-looking nations will turn to either for moral leadership. Germany has tried to fill that void, embracing hundreds of thousands of refugees and championing a dwindling multilateralism 70 years after being culpable for some of history's greatest ever atrocities in World War II. But Germany, Europe's economic motor, has a glaring shortcoming: An inability to match the hard power of aspiring leaders in Moscow and Beijing. And for all her efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a tough re-election later this year, where she will find out if her Germany is immune to the new populist surge. WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump pursuit of an "America first" foreign policy is raising questions about who, if anyone, will fill the void if the U.S. relinquishes its traditional global leadership role. China and Russia are among the aspirants for greater economic and military influence, while an ambivalent Germany could emerge as the West's moral compass. For generations, the U.S. has largely set the terms for the global economy, policed international security threats and spearheaded the response to crises like Ebola and Haiti's earthquake. But after sweeping into office with an isolationist-tinged message rooted in the idea the U.S. needs to refocus on itself, Trump has said and done little to dispel the notion that he wants the rest of the world solve its own problems. In his inaugural address, Trump said the U.S. for too long has been invested in other countries' industries, militaries, borders and infrastructure while letting its own fall into "disrepair and decay." "That is the past," Trump said. In one of his first acts, Trump on Monday formally withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a project launched under President George W. Bush and negotiated by President Barack Obama to set trade rules with Asia and counter China's economic influence Trump said he was doing a "great thing" for U.S. workers by tearing it up. But Sen. John McCain, a fellow Republican, said the withdrawal "abdicates U.S. leadership in Asia to China." China isn't the only country that could profit from U.S. retrenchment. In their own ways, Russia and Germany also could stake a claim to a greater global role. But no one can simultaneously match America's economic, military and moral might, and a more isolationist U.S. could mean a power vacuum. "There's no country or collection of countries that can do what the U.S. has done for the last half-century," said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's partly a question of resources and capacity, and it's partly a question of ambition." "A huge number of things will simply not be done," he said. While U.S. rivals like China and Russia would relish the opportunity to try to replace the United States, many countries in Asia, Europe and elsewhere are fretting the prospect of an American retreat. Even Germany is unsettled about being increasingly looked to as a moral example. China, which has been investing billions in Africa and Latin America to curry influence in the developing world, could become an increasingly dominant economic power. It already is aggressively pursuing a multicountry trade deal that would appear the likeliest alternative to TPP, a scenario Obama's administration had warned would let China "write the rules" and lead to worse labor and environmental standards. Beijing has used Trump inauguration as an opportunity to ridicule America's democracy and tout its own communist system as superior. And many of China's neighbors share its fears about Trump threats to trigger a "trade war" with the Asian powerhouse by taxing Chinese products. "Whether you like it or not, the global economy is the big ocean that you cannot escape from," Chinese President Xi Jinping said last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, laying out his plans for growth, overseas investments and expanded trade opportunities. It was the type of agenda the U.S. might have previously touted. America's military alliances are no sure thing, either. Trump has suggested a broad rethink, calling NATO "obsolete" and challenging U.S. allies to bear greater cost while beefs up its military in the Pacific and Russia exerts military power in Eastern Europe, which suffered for decades under Soviet domination. It's not the only place the Kremlin is flexing its muscles. In Syria, Russia has backed more than a year of successful Syrian government offensives against rebels and is currently directing peace talks between the two sides. The U.S. was but a bystander at the negotiations Monday, while the White House said it could partner Russia to fight the Islamic State group in Syria. Such an arrangement could significantly enhance Russia's reputation in the Middle East. "With the election of Donald Trump , the old world of the 20th century is finally over," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier wrote in the Bild newspaper, reflecting a broader European lament about confused international leadership and increased disorder. Trump push has mirrored a broader global debate about globalization vs. isolation. British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Trump later this week, seeking cooperation from an American leader who cheered her country's vote to leave the European Union which Obama campaigned against. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who once cursed Obama for the American's criticism of his country's war on drugs, has embraced Trump "America first" approach and expressed relief the U.S. will no longer lecture others on how to behave. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long accused of undemocratic tendencies, echoed that message, declaring "the end of multilateralism" in the age of Trump . While China's increased economic strength and Russia's military vigor may appeal to some, few Western-looking nations will turn to either for moral leadership. Germany has tried to fill that void, embracing hundreds of thousands of refugees and championing a dwindling multilateralism 70 years after being culpable for some of history's greatest ever atrocities in World War II. But Germany, Europe's economic motor, has a glaring shortcoming: An inability to match the hard power of aspiring leaders in Moscow and Beijing. And for all her efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces a tough re-election later this year, where she will find out if her Germany is immune to the new populist surge. Express News Service COLOMBO: Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the new High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, presented his credentials to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena here on Tuesday. Among those present on the occasion were Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Deputy High Commissioner of India, Arindam Bagchi. High Commissioner Sandhu is a career diplomat with nearly thirty years of experience. Prior to his current assignment, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. He had earlier served in Indian Missions in Moscow, Kiev, Washington D.C., Colombo, New York and Frankfurt, besides discharging various responsibilities at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. An alumnus of St.Stephens College in Delhi, Sandhu headed the Political Wing in the High Commission in Colombo from December 2000 to September 2004. 2000-2004 was an exciting period in the recent political history of Sri Lanka marked by political instability, a looming threat from militant Tamil separatism, and a divisive, foreign-brokered peace process. On return to Sri Lanka now, High Commissioner Sandhu will see a very different alignment of political forces. He will also see the machinations of a new external force- China- which is threatening to supplant India and the West as a force in the island. Divisive Peace Process After the December 2001 parliamentary elections, there was a cohabitation government in Sri Lanka in which the principle partners were the directly elected Executive President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, belonging to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led Peoples Alliance (PA), and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who belonged to the rival United National Party (UNP). While President Kumaratunga had over-riding constitutional powers, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe enjoyed majority support in parliament. But as feared, they could not pull together. The President and the Prime Minister were sharply divided on economic management, the way in which the Tamil problem should be approached, and the way the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should be fought. In this midst of this stand off, in 2002, Wickremesinghe went in for a Norway-brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE without taking the President on board first. Expectedly, the CFA only widened the rift between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe. Kumaratunha opposed the CFA tooth and nail on the grounds that it was grossly weighted in favor of the Tamil rebels and that the Wickremesinghe regime was giving in to the Tigers outrageous demands meekly, thus seriously jeopardizing national security. The conflict between the two government leaders came to a head in 2003 when the President Kumaratunga took over three critical ministries - Defense, Internal Affairs and Mass Communication. The farcical cohabitation government formally came to an end in April 2004 when a snap parliamentary election resulted in the defeat of the UNP. Current Scenario The Sri Lanka Sandhu is coming to as High Commissioner of India is, however, a very different one. Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe had closed ranks to oust a common rival, Mahinda Rajapaksa, from the Presidency in January 2015. The SLFP and UNP are now part of a broad-based National Unity Government with President Sirisena representing the SLFP and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe representing the UNP. Kumaratunga herself is outside the political structure but heads a government organization promoting post-war ethnic reconciliation. The LTTE, which was source of discord between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe in 2002-2004, is no longer so after its decimation in 2009. The two leaders are expected to continue to be together to keep Mahinda Rajapaksa out of power. But the alliance between the trio - Kumaratunga, Wickremesinghe and Sirisena- will have to be sustained and strengthened as keeping Rajapaksa out of the reckoning is not going to be easy. Rajapaksas popularity is increasing given the National Unity Governments inability to deliver on promises. And although the top leaders of the government are putting up a show of unity in their formal and public utterances, internal discord is evident in numerous actions. COLOMBO: Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the new High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka, presented his credentials to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena here on Tuesday. Among those present on the occasion were Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Deputy High Commissioner of India, Arindam Bagchi. High Commissioner Sandhu is a career diplomat with nearly thirty years of experience. Prior to his current assignment, he was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington D.C. He had earlier served in Indian Missions in Moscow, Kiev, Washington D.C., Colombo, New York and Frankfurt, besides discharging various responsibilities at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi. An alumnus of St.Stephens College in Delhi, Sandhu headed the Political Wing in the High Commission in Colombo from December 2000 to September 2004. 2000-2004 was an exciting period in the recent political history of Sri Lanka marked by political instability, a looming threat from militant Tamil separatism, and a divisive, foreign-brokered peace process. On return to Sri Lanka now, High Commissioner Sandhu will see a very different alignment of political forces. He will also see the machinations of a new external force- China- which is threatening to supplant India and the West as a force in the island. Divisive Peace Process After the December 2001 parliamentary elections, there was a cohabitation government in Sri Lanka in which the principle partners were the directly elected Executive President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, belonging to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led Peoples Alliance (PA), and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who belonged to the rival United National Party (UNP). While President Kumaratunga had over-riding constitutional powers, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe enjoyed majority support in parliament. But as feared, they could not pull together. The President and the Prime Minister were sharply divided on economic management, the way in which the Tamil problem should be approached, and the way the war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should be fought. In this midst of this stand off, in 2002, Wickremesinghe went in for a Norway-brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE without taking the President on board first. Expectedly, the CFA only widened the rift between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe. Kumaratunha opposed the CFA tooth and nail on the grounds that it was grossly weighted in favor of the Tamil rebels and that the Wickremesinghe regime was giving in to the Tigers outrageous demands meekly, thus seriously jeopardizing national security. The conflict between the two government leaders came to a head in 2003 when the President Kumaratunga took over three critical ministries - Defense, Internal Affairs and Mass Communication. The farcical cohabitation government formally came to an end in April 2004 when a snap parliamentary election resulted in the defeat of the UNP. Current Scenario The Sri Lanka Sandhu is coming to as High Commissioner of India is, however, a very different one. Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe had closed ranks to oust a common rival, Mahinda Rajapaksa, from the Presidency in January 2015. The SLFP and UNP are now part of a broad-based National Unity Government with President Sirisena representing the SLFP and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe representing the UNP. Kumaratunga herself is outside the political structure but heads a government organization promoting post-war ethnic reconciliation. The LTTE, which was source of discord between Kumaratunga and Wickremesinghe in 2002-2004, is no longer so after its decimation in 2009. The two leaders are expected to continue to be together to keep Mahinda Rajapaksa out of power. But the alliance between the trio - Kumaratunga, Wickremesinghe and Sirisena- will have to be sustained and strengthened as keeping Rajapaksa out of the reckoning is not going to be easy. Rajapaksas popularity is increasing given the National Unity Governments inability to deliver on promises. And although the top leaders of the government are putting up a show of unity in their formal and public utterances, internal discord is evident in numerous actions. By IANS ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani woman was arrested in Jeddah on terror charges, taking the total number of Pakistanis arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in terror activities to 69, media reports said. On Saturday, Saudi security forces rounded up Fatima Ramadan Balochi Murad along with her Saudi husband from an apartment in al-Naseem district, the Saudi Gazette reported. Murad was detained in a security operation launched after a firefight and subsequent blowing up of two suspected terrorists in Jeddah on Saturday. In July last year, a Pakistani suspect, Abdullah Qalzar Khan, blew himself up near Solaiman Fakeih Hospital in Jeddah, which led to the arrest of as many as 49 Pakistani residents who were put under interrogation. A terrorism operation attempt was also foiled last October in Jeddah. It involved two Pakistanis - Solaiman Arab Deen and Farman Naqshaband Khan. They had planned to carry out blasts in Al-Jowhara Stadium. According to Saudi Gazette, Fatima was "a Pakistani woman married to wanted Saudi terrorist Hussam Al-Johani". Her arrest "is further proof that terrorist organizations are still recruiting women to use them in terror operations". "Terrorists, hit by preemptive security operations, had no other option but to recruit women to help them carry out their heinous crimes", it said, quoting security sources. "They took advantage of the respect given to the privacy of women by the Saudi government and its security forces. Spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said terrorists were exploiting the respect for the privacy of women especially at security checkpoints. "The recruitment of women by terrorists is not a new phenomenon, but the number of such women is still very little," he said. "According to the ministry's statements, the exploitation of women has remarkably dropped and has come down to terrorists recruiting their own wives," the Gazette said. The Saudi interior ministry has revealed that 5,085 terror suspects from 40 countries were undergoing detention in five intelligence prisons in the kingdom. "There are 4,254 Saudis detained in intelligence prisons constituting the largest number of suspects," it said. The Saudis are followed by 282 Yemenis and 218 Syrians. There are three suspects from the US and one each from France, Belgium and Canada, it said. ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani woman was arrested in Jeddah on terror charges, taking the total number of Pakistanis arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in terror activities to 69, media reports said. On Saturday, Saudi security forces rounded up Fatima Ramadan Balochi Murad along with her Saudi husband from an apartment in al-Naseem district, the Saudi Gazette reported. Murad was detained in a security operation launched after a firefight and subsequent blowing up of two suspected terrorists in Jeddah on Saturday. In July last year, a Pakistani suspect, Abdullah Qalzar Khan, blew himself up near Solaiman Fakeih Hospital in Jeddah, which led to the arrest of as many as 49 Pakistani residents who were put under interrogation. A terrorism operation attempt was also foiled last October in Jeddah. It involved two Pakistanis - Solaiman Arab Deen and Farman Naqshaband Khan. They had planned to carry out blasts in Al-Jowhara Stadium. According to Saudi Gazette, Fatima was "a Pakistani woman married to wanted Saudi terrorist Hussam Al-Johani". Her arrest "is further proof that terrorist organizations are still recruiting women to use them in terror operations". "Terrorists, hit by preemptive security operations, had no other option but to recruit women to help them carry out their heinous crimes", it said, quoting security sources. "They took advantage of the respect given to the privacy of women by the Saudi government and its security forces. Spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said terrorists were exploiting the respect for the privacy of women especially at security checkpoints. "The recruitment of women by terrorists is not a new phenomenon, but the number of such women is still very little," he said. "According to the ministry's statements, the exploitation of women has remarkably dropped and has come down to terrorists recruiting their own wives," the Gazette said. The Saudi interior ministry has revealed that 5,085 terror suspects from 40 countries were undergoing detention in five intelligence prisons in the kingdom. "There are 4,254 Saudis detained in intelligence prisons constituting the largest number of suspects," it said. The Saudis are followed by 282 Yemenis and 218 Syrians. There are three suspects from the US and one each from France, Belgium and Canada, it said. By Associated Press LONDON: Britain's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May must get legislative approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, raising the possibility that lawmakers will delay her plans to trigger negotiations by the end of March. The 8-3 decision forces the government to put a bill before Parliament, giving members of the House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords the chance to debate and potentially offer amendments that could soften the terms of Britain's exit from the EU, known as Brexit. While the ruling won't scuttle Britain's departure, it once again highlights uncertainty about the timetable for negotiating the country's future relationship with the bloc of 500 million people, which is central to trade, immigration and security. "Unfortunately for businesses and other institutions, Brexit still means uncertainty," said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at the international law firm Clifford Chance. "Parliament remains divided and the outcome of the negotiations remain unknown." The lawsuit was considered the most important constitutional case in a generation because it centered on the question of who ultimately wields power in Britain's system of government: the prime minister and her Cabinet, or Parliament. May had said she would use centuries-old powers known as royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty and launch two years of exit talks. The powers traditionally held by the monarch permit decisions about treaties and other specific issues to be made without a vote of Parliament. The prime minister argued that the June 23 referendum on EU membership gave her a mandate to take Britain out of the 28-nation bloc and that discussing the details of her strategy with Parliament would weaken the government's negotiating position. Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller sued to force the government to seek parliamentary approval. Leaving the EU, she said, would change the fundamental rights of citizens and this can't be done without a vote of lawmakers. The Supreme Court agreed. "The referendum is of great political significance, but the act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result, so any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. constitution, namely by an act of Parliament," Supreme Court President David Neuberger said in reading the decision. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries," he said. Significantly, the court also ruled that the legislatures of the nations that are a part of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not need to be consulted on Brexit. While the U.K. government has ceded authority over many local issues to these bodies, responsibility for international relations still rests with the government in Westminster. "Relations with the EU are a matter for the UK government," Neuberger said. A decision in favor of the regional governments would likely have led to even more delays as local lawmakers piled in with their concerns. The government of Scotland, where voters overwhelmingly supported continued EU membership, has been an outspoken opponent of the prime minister's plans for Brexit. The court's ruling will focus the debate in Parliament, where May's Brexit secretary, David Davis, told the House of Commons that the government timetable remained on track. A bill will be introduced within days. "There can be no turning back," Davis said. "The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year." Opposition was immediately evident. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would seek to amend the legislation to make sure the government is held "accountable." The Scottish National Party, the third-largest party in the House of Commons, promised to put forward 50 amendments. Miller, co-founder of SCM Direct, an online investment manager, had argued the case wasn't about blocking Brexit. Instead, she said, it was about "democracy" and the "dangerous precedent" that a government can overrule Parliament. For Miller, who brought the case along with hairdresser Deir Dos Santos, the court's decision brought vindication after months of threats to her security that followed her involvement in the case. "No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged," she said. "Parliament alone is sovereign." The case revolved around an argument that dates back almost 400 years to the English Civil War as to whether power ultimately rests in the executive or Parliament. Constitutional expert Andrew Blick, an expert on the Magna Carta at King's College London, said that advocates of withdrawal had long argued that leaving the 28-nation bloc would protect parliamentary sovereignty. "They claimed that leaving would promote the principle that the U.K. Parliament is the ultimate source of constitutional authority in the UK," said Blick, who advised the Welsh government on the case. "That principle has now come back to bite them." Underscoring the importance of the case, May put Attorney General Jeremy Wright in charge of the legal team fighting the suit. Wright had argued the suit was an attempt to put a legal obstacle in the way of enacting the referendum result. The decision is a bad defeat for May and means that the government "still does not have control of the Brexit timetable," said David Allen Green, a lawyer at the London legal firm Preiskel & Co. "The appeal decision is, however, a victory for the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and a vindication of an independent judiciary," Green said. "The Supreme Court has told the government to get back into its box: A proper process has to be followed." LONDON: Britain's Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May must get legislative approval to start the process of leaving the European Union, raising the possibility that lawmakers will delay her plans to trigger negotiations by the end of March. The 8-3 decision forces the government to put a bill before Parliament, giving members of the House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords the chance to debate and potentially offer amendments that could soften the terms of Britain's exit from the EU, known as Brexit. While the ruling won't scuttle Britain's departure, it once again highlights uncertainty about the timetable for negotiating the country's future relationship with the bloc of 500 million people, which is central to trade, immigration and security. "Unfortunately for businesses and other institutions, Brexit still means uncertainty," said Phillip Souta, head of U.K. public policy at the international law firm Clifford Chance. "Parliament remains divided and the outcome of the negotiations remain unknown." The lawsuit was considered the most important constitutional case in a generation because it centered on the question of who ultimately wields power in Britain's system of government: the prime minister and her Cabinet, or Parliament. May had said she would use centuries-old powers known as royal prerogative to invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty and launch two years of exit talks. The powers traditionally held by the monarch permit decisions about treaties and other specific issues to be made without a vote of Parliament. The prime minister argued that the June 23 referendum on EU membership gave her a mandate to take Britain out of the 28-nation bloc and that discussing the details of her strategy with Parliament would weaken the government's negotiating position. Financial entrepreneur Gina Miller sued to force the government to seek parliamentary approval. Leaving the EU, she said, would change the fundamental rights of citizens and this can't be done without a vote of lawmakers. The Supreme Court agreed. "The referendum is of great political significance, but the act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result, so any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the U.K. constitution, namely by an act of Parliament," Supreme Court President David Neuberger said in reading the decision. "To proceed otherwise would be a breach of settled constitutional principles stretching back many centuries," he said. Significantly, the court also ruled that the legislatures of the nations that are a part of the United Kingdom Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not need to be consulted on Brexit. While the U.K. government has ceded authority over many local issues to these bodies, responsibility for international relations still rests with the government in Westminster. "Relations with the EU are a matter for the UK government," Neuberger said. A decision in favor of the regional governments would likely have led to even more delays as local lawmakers piled in with their concerns. The government of Scotland, where voters overwhelmingly supported continued EU membership, has been an outspoken opponent of the prime minister's plans for Brexit. The court's ruling will focus the debate in Parliament, where May's Brexit secretary, David Davis, told the House of Commons that the government timetable remained on track. A bill will be introduced within days. "There can be no turning back," Davis said. "The point of no return was passed on June 23 last year." Opposition was immediately evident. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would seek to amend the legislation to make sure the government is held "accountable." The Scottish National Party, the third-largest party in the House of Commons, promised to put forward 50 amendments. Miller, co-founder of SCM Direct, an online investment manager, had argued the case wasn't about blocking Brexit. Instead, she said, it was about "democracy" and the "dangerous precedent" that a government can overrule Parliament. For Miller, who brought the case along with hairdresser Deir Dos Santos, the court's decision brought vindication after months of threats to her security that followed her involvement in the case. "No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged," she said. "Parliament alone is sovereign." The case revolved around an argument that dates back almost 400 years to the English Civil War as to whether power ultimately rests in the executive or Parliament. Constitutional expert Andrew Blick, an expert on the Magna Carta at King's College London, said that advocates of withdrawal had long argued that leaving the 28-nation bloc would protect parliamentary sovereignty. "They claimed that leaving would promote the principle that the U.K. Parliament is the ultimate source of constitutional authority in the UK," said Blick, who advised the Welsh government on the case. "That principle has now come back to bite them." Underscoring the importance of the case, May put Attorney General Jeremy Wright in charge of the legal team fighting the suit. Wright had argued the suit was an attempt to put a legal obstacle in the way of enacting the referendum result. The decision is a bad defeat for May and means that the government "still does not have control of the Brexit timetable," said David Allen Green, a lawyer at the London legal firm Preiskel & Co. "The appeal decision is, however, a victory for the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and a vindication of an independent judiciary," Green said. "The Supreme Court has told the government to get back into its box: A proper process has to be followed." By PTI WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has opened the door to cooperating with Russia "or anyone else" to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, suggesting it could reverse a previous refusal to coordinate military action with Moscow as long as it backs the Syrian government. "I think if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Asked if the openness extended to working with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been condemned internationally for killing civilians, Spicer said, "We're not going to get together with people under the guise of defeating ISIS if that's not truly their guise." He added, "So let's not take that too far." Spicer also suggested that Trump already has told Defense Secretary James Mattis to review how he might change the US approach to fighting the Islamic State. "I think he has ordered it," Spicer said, adding that Trump would discuss the matter with Mattis during a visit to the Pentagon Friday. "At that time, he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs," he added, referring to the military service chiefs. During the more than two years that President Barack Obama directed US military action against IS in Syria, he resisted Russian overtures to coordinate military action. Obama believed Moscow was acting counter to US interests by propping up Assad, whose government Obama called illegitimate. The Pentagon has maintained a hotline with the Russian military to deal with the narrower issue of avoiding air accidents in Syria. With Trump in the White House, Moscow seems eager to draw the new administration into closer military cooperation, perhaps reflecting Trump's frequent statements during the presidential campaign that he welcomed opportunities to improve relations with Moscow. On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the U.S. had provided targeting information for a joint airstrike against Islamic State fighters in Syria. But Pentagon officials flatly denied the Russian assertion. US Air Force Col. John Dorrian, chief spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, called the Russian statement "rubbish." At the Pentagon, a spokesman, Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, said the U.S. military is not providing targeting information to the Russians or coordinating air operations with them. WASHINGTON: The Trump administration has opened the door to cooperating with Russia "or anyone else" to combat the Islamic State group in Syria, suggesting it could reverse a previous refusal to coordinate military action with Moscow as long as it backs the Syrian government. "I think if there's a way that we can combat ISIS with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure, we'll take it," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. Asked if the openness extended to working with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has been condemned internationally for killing civilians, Spicer said, "We're not going to get together with people under the guise of defeating ISIS if that's not truly their guise." He added, "So let's not take that too far." Spicer also suggested that Trump already has told Defense Secretary James Mattis to review how he might change the US approach to fighting the Islamic State. "I think he has ordered it," Spicer said, adding that Trump would discuss the matter with Mattis during a visit to the Pentagon Friday. "At that time, he will continue to have conversations about what he wants from them and the joint chiefs," he added, referring to the military service chiefs. During the more than two years that President Barack Obama directed US military action against IS in Syria, he resisted Russian overtures to coordinate military action. Obama believed Moscow was acting counter to US interests by propping up Assad, whose government Obama called illegitimate. The Pentagon has maintained a hotline with the Russian military to deal with the narrower issue of avoiding air accidents in Syria. With Trump in the White House, Moscow seems eager to draw the new administration into closer military cooperation, perhaps reflecting Trump's frequent statements during the presidential campaign that he welcomed opportunities to improve relations with Moscow. On Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the U.S. had provided targeting information for a joint airstrike against Islamic State fighters in Syria. But Pentagon officials flatly denied the Russian assertion. US Air Force Col. John Dorrian, chief spokesman for the US-led coalition in Baghdad, called the Russian statement "rubbish." At the Pentagon, a spokesman, Maj. Adrian J. Rankine-Galloway, said the U.S. military is not providing targeting information to the Russians or coordinating air operations with them. By Associated Press LA VENTA: French President Francois Hollande met with leaders of Colombia's largest rebel movement Tuesday in an area where guerrillas will soon begin turning over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Hollande, accompanied by President Juan Manuel Santos, visited a rural camp in southern Colombia run by the United Nations. While there, Santos and top Colombian officials explained how some 7,000 guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are supposed to disarm over the coming months and begin their transition back to civilian life. The visit, the first to Colombia by a French head of state in 28 years, included a private meeting with representatives of the FARC, including a member of the group's ruling secretariat whose nom de guerre is Pablo Catatumbo. Hollande expressed support for the peace deal, calling it a model for resolving conflicts around the world. "The disarming and demobilization is not reversible," Hollande told journalists. More than 350 United Nations observers from several Latin American nations are spread out at 26 locations across Colombia preparing for the FARC's demobilization. Holande's visit to the rural camp has not been without controversy. Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the campaign that defeated the original accord in a nationwide referendum, accused Hollande of "supporting the impunity of terrorists" by meeting with the FARC. "Many of us feel rejection toward the successor of Napoleon and De Gaulle for his visit to the FARC," Uribe wrote in an open letter this week. LA VENTA: French President Francois Hollande met with leaders of Colombia's largest rebel movement Tuesday in an area where guerrillas will soon begin turning over weapons as part of a historic peace deal. Hollande, accompanied by President Juan Manuel Santos, visited a rural camp in southern Colombia run by the United Nations. While there, Santos and top Colombian officials explained how some 7,000 guerrillas belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are supposed to disarm over the coming months and begin their transition back to civilian life. The visit, the first to Colombia by a French head of state in 28 years, included a private meeting with representatives of the FARC, including a member of the group's ruling secretariat whose nom de guerre is Pablo Catatumbo. Hollande expressed support for the peace deal, calling it a model for resolving conflicts around the world. "The disarming and demobilization is not reversible," Hollande told journalists. More than 350 United Nations observers from several Latin American nations are spread out at 26 locations across Colombia preparing for the FARC's demobilization. Holande's visit to the rural camp has not been without controversy. Former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the campaign that defeated the original accord in a nationwide referendum, accused Hollande of "supporting the impunity of terrorists" by meeting with the FARC. "Many of us feel rejection toward the successor of Napoleon and De Gaulle for his visit to the FARC," Uribe wrote in an open letter this week. By Associated Press MOSUL: Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began. Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the "unmatched heroism of all security forces factions" and public support for the operation. "Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse," al-Abadi said, using the Arabia acronym of IS. "The heroism of our security forces was behind Daesh's defeat." Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the IS's last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi told The Associated Press: "I can't tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so." Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. Meanwhile, Al-Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial. His comments came a day after ordering a probe into a video on social media purportedly showing government troops beating and killing at least three IS suspects in Mosul. On Monday, a provincial investigative committee in western Anbar province concluded its probe into human rights violations in June near the town of Fallujah. It found that a member of a Shiite militia killed 17 civilians, Al-Abadi said. The militiaman, affiliated with the Badr group, is now in detention and awaiting trial, he said. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of Mosul in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. "We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west," Grande said in the statement. "We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives." The statement called on warring parties "to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance." Mosul is the IS group's last major urban bastion in Iraq. The extremists still control large areas in neighboring Syria. In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office said it had received "reasonable corroboration" for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an airstrike in the al-Jadida neighborhood of IS-controlled western Mosul last week. "Attributing responsibility for airstrikes is very difficult," Ravina Shamdasani said, adding that "it is clear that civilians are being killed in airstrikes." A U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's own air force have been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Mosul operation. The U.N. human rights office also said IS fighters have taken over "many hospitals" in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the extremist group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. In Baghdad, a car exploded inside a dealership in the eastern Nahda area on Tueesday. The Interior Ministry said a bomb had been planted on the vehicle and that the blast caused no casualties. A police official and a medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the blast killed at least two people and wounded seven. MOSUL: Iraq's prime minister on Tuesday declared eastern Mosul "fully liberated" from Islamic State group militants after a day of fierce fighting and more than three months after a massive U.S.-backed operation to retake the city began. Iraqi forces drove Islamic State militants from one of their last bastions in the eastern half of the city, while aid groups expressed concern for the estimated 750,000 people still in the militant-held west. In his weekly news conference on Tuesday, Haider al-Abadi hailed the "unmatched heroism of all security forces factions" and public support for the operation. "Daesh has quickly collapsed and no one expected such collapse," al-Abadi said, using the Arabia acronym of IS. "The heroism of our security forces was behind Daesh's defeat." Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the IS's last urban stronghold in the country, fell into the hands of the extremists in the summer of 2014, when the group captured large swaths of northern and western Iraq. Asked how long it will take to liberate the western side of the city, al-Abadi told The Associated Press: "I can't tell now, but we are capable of doing so and we will do so." Hundreds of civilians fled from the northeastern Rashidiya neighborhood on foot as Iraqi helicopters circled overhead and fired on militants. At least two wounded Iraqi soldiers were brought back from the front lines after a suicide bombing. A mortar attack in another neighborhood in eastern Mosul killed an Iraqi army colonel on Sunday, according to Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, a military spokesman. Meanwhile, Al-Abadi renewed his promise to investigate allegations of human rights violations by security forces in conflict areas and bring those responsible to trial. His comments came a day after ordering a probe into a video on social media purportedly showing government troops beating and killing at least three IS suspects in Mosul. On Monday, a provincial investigative committee in western Anbar province concluded its probe into human rights violations in June near the town of Fallujah. It found that a member of a Shiite militia killed 17 civilians, Al-Abadi said. The militiaman, affiliated with the Badr group, is now in detention and awaiting trial, he said. The U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, expressed concern for civilians in the western half of Mosul in a statement signed by 20 international and local aid groups. She said the cost of food and basic goods is soaring, water and electricity are intermittent and that some residents are forced to burn furniture to keep warm. "We hope that everything is done to protect the hundreds of thousands of people who are across the river in the west," Grande said in the statement. "We know that they are at extreme risk and we fear for their lives." The statement called on warring parties "to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and ensure they have access to life-saving assistance." Mosul is the IS group's last major urban bastion in Iraq. The extremists still control large areas in neighboring Syria. In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office said it had received "reasonable corroboration" for a report that 19 civilians were killed in an airstrike in the al-Jadida neighborhood of IS-controlled western Mosul last week. "Attributing responsibility for airstrikes is very difficult," Ravina Shamdasani said, adding that "it is clear that civilians are being killed in airstrikes." A U.S.-led coalition and Iraq's own air force have been carrying out airstrikes in support of the Mosul operation. The U.N. human rights office also said IS fighters have taken over "many hospitals" in western Mosul and are using them as military bases. It said the extremist group is diverting food, water and medicine to its fighters. In Baghdad, a car exploded inside a dealership in the eastern Nahda area on Tueesday. The Interior Ministry said a bomb had been planted on the vehicle and that the blast caused no casualties. A police official and a medical official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters, said the blast killed at least two people and wounded seven. Sorry, that page not found! Please visit our Home Page for latest updates UP polls: TMC supports 'SP-Congress alliance' Kolkata, Jan 22 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said her Trinamool Congress supports the alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the UP assembly polls. (Posted on 22 January 2017, 1667627216 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/west-bengal-news.php (Posted on 22 January 2017, 1667627216 173O212O198O32) Full support from Trinamool Congress @AITCofficial to the good alliance for UP between @incindia @samajwadiparty, Banerjee tweeted.Launching the poll manifesto, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday attacked the Centre and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is giving people broom or asking to perform yoga in the name of good days.BJP has nothing to talk about development, Yadav said while addressing the rally.They sometimes give you broom or ask you to perform yoga, he said.Yadav said people have faith on his government.We have no competitor. People have faith on us, he said.I have seen both good and bad in very small time, he said.He urge young people of the state to vote for his party.You will see the development, UP si going to witness in the upcoming days, he said.UP will elect a new assembly in the upcoming days. Math learning startup Cuemath raises USD 15 million from CapitalG and Sequoia India New Delhi , : Math learning startup Cuemath has raised USD 15 million in its Series B round of funding from CapitalG and Sequoia India. CapitalG (formerly known as Google Capital), the growth equity investment fund of Alphabet (Google's parent company), led this round of funding. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627216 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627216 173O212O198O32) When asked about the rationale behind this investment, Kaushik Anand, CapitalG's Head of India Investments, said, "We believe technology can help solve the strong desire and need for quality education. And Cuemath has scaled with great unit economics and capital efficiency. We are happy to be supporting Cuemath on the quest of transforming the way math is experienced by children across the globe."Cuemath is an after-school math excellence program for children in KG to Grade 8 and is offered through home-based centers. Cuemath strives to make children great at math with the belief that math can transform a child's future. The centers are managed and run by trained and certified Cuemath Teachers who share Cuemath's vision of math excellence. Founded in 2013, Cuemath now has over 2,000 centers educating more than 10,000 students across the country.By March 2018, Cuemath aims to establish 5,000 centers and enrol 40,000 children in the program. The funds raised will be utilised towards making the learning system more powerful and expanding to more cities across the country.Manan Khurma, Cuemath's founder and CEO said, "Math is the skill of the future. Given the way technology is evolving, the most valuable ability in just a few years from now will be that of complex problem-solving, and the best way to build that ability is to build a strong and holistic math foundation. Schools, by design, cater to only a limited subset of math. Although many of them do a good job at it, our children need much more. Cuemath takes math excellence to a wholly different level. Through its multi-format tech-enabled learning system, Cuemath ensures that children not only master math but also fall in love with it."Cuemath is making thousands of children great at math and promising to build the next generation of thinkers. It's also offering a prestigious home-based career opportunity to educated women who are looking to switch, restart or kick-start their careers.Anshumani Ruddra, Chief Product Officer at Cuemath and earlier VP of Product at Practo said, "Cuemath's data and technology is used to define each student's learning trajectory and guide the Cuemath Teacher on exactly what to teach and how to teach it. We believe this kind of in-person learning is extremely valuable from a young learner's perspective. This unique model sets us apart and we don't see any direct competition in the market yet, although we'd be more than happy if other players were to take our path in this quest of creating a global math revolution."Abheek Anand, Principal, Sequoia Capital India Advisors said, "The most exciting aspect about the Cuemath program is how the unique technology and learning system inspires a love for mathematics in children at a very young age. Manan and the team have spent years perfecting a new way of teaching math to young children and delivering it through a unique partner model, and this round of funding gives them the ability to expand the business dramatically."Currently, Cuemath has a presence in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad, with over 300 math excellence centers in each of these cities. Pakistan provides Chinese firm with two chunks of land for CPEC power project Lahore [Pakistan], Jan. 23 : Two chunks of land, measuring 175 acres each have been provided to a Chinese company by the Government of Pakistan for the USD1.57 billion Matiari-Lahore 660kV High Voltage Direct Current transmission line power project. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627217 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627217 173O212O198O32) The China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company Ltd (CET), a company owned by the State Grid Corporation of China, has been given possession of these land after the National Transmission Dispatch Company Limited (NTDCL) acquired it from landowners, reports the Dawn.Of these lands, one is located about 50kilometres from Lahore near Balloki, Bhaipheru, and the second one is situated within the jurisdiction of Matiari, a small town in country's Hyderabad district.The Matiari-Lahore transmission line will have the capacity to transmit about 4,000MW of power and is the country's first mega the direct current (DC) project.The power project is a part of the USD 51 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).The project's civil work is expected to be inaugurated in March this year as preparatory work on the part of the contractor is still underway.Ministry of Water and Power official said, "We have completed the land acquisition for two mega converter stations of the project that will be built near Balloki (Bhaipheru, Lahore). And, we have also handed over control of the Lahore land to the Chinese firm. The possession of land in Hyderabad is likely to be completed soon."The alternate current (AC), received from the plants in AC mode, will be converted into DC (direct current) by the convertor station to be built in Hyderabad for the onward transmission in the same mode through the line.Electricity would be received in DC by the Lahore convertor station and then it will convert it into AC for its onward supply to consumers through other AC lines of 500kV and 220kV.The official added that the land acquisition for passing of the transmission line through various areas on the way such as Hyderabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur, Hasilpur, Vehari, Sahiwal, Kasur and Lahore is likely to start soon as agreements between Pakistan and China had almost finalised in the wake of respective memorandums of understandings."This project will be completed on a fast track basis. And initiation of civil work of the two convertor stations in the days to come hints that the project will be completed in October, 2019, as per deadline," the official said. Lokmanya Tilak, strongest voice of 'Swaraj' will be part of 2017 Republic Day Parade tableaux New Delhi , Jan. 23 : Many people might not be aware that Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak, India's famous freedom activist and a social reformer, was also a mathematician, news reporter, editor, writer and orator. Thus, Maharashtra has prepared very special Tableau on Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak for the Republic Day Parade this year. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627218 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627218 173O212O198O32) The tableaux on Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak on Rajpath will be part of the tableaux from 17 states and Six ministries of the Central Government this year. These tableaux will showcase varied themes starting from country's rich cultural heritage and socio-economic evelopment to nation's progress in key areas like IT, women, empowerment and environment protection. Each state tableaux depicts its own story to portray themes ranging from art form, folk culture, flora and fauna and achievements.The tableaux on Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak, a great man who gave his famous slogan 'SWARAJ IS MY BIRTH RIGHT AND I SHALL HAVE IT' and served as an inspiration for future revolutionaries of India's struggle for freedom, will coincide this year's commemoration as the 160th birth anniversary of the honoured freedom fighter. Known popularly as Lokmanaya, meaning revered by the people, Tilak was one of the first leaders of the Indian Independence movement. He committed himself to bring about awakening in the society and nation building so as to liberate India from the oppressive rule of the British. He started publishing his newspapers, the 'Mahratta' and 'Kesari'.With a view to bring about social awakening and unity in the fight against the foreign rule, he initiated the celebrations of 'Ganeshotsav' and also the 'Shivjayanti Utsav'. This year the tradition of celebrating Ganeshotsav as begun by him would be completing 125 successful years. Lokmanya Tilak understood the importance of physical education and hence, encouraged it along with other social reforms. He was one of the strongest advocates of 'Swaraj' or Self Rule for India. The Maharashtra tableau depicts the commemoration of the 160th birth anniversary of this great man of India.The Republic Day Parade on Rajpath will witness tableaux from 17 States and Six Ministries of the Central Government this year. These tableaux will showcase varied themes starting from country's rich cultural heritage and socio-economic development to nation's progress in key areas like IT, Women, Empowerment and Environment Protection. Each State tableau depicts its own story to portray themes ranging from art form, folk culture, flora and fauna and achievements. Two oil tankers airlifted to trouble-torn Manipur Guwahati, Jan 23 : To ease the fuel crisis in trouble-torn and poll-bound Manipur, the Centre airlifted two oil tankers to the north eastern Indian state on Sunday evening. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627219 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667627219 173O212O198O32) According to reports, an Indian Air Forces cargo plan carried the two oil tankers to Imphal.Two oil tankers carrying 20 and 13 kilo litres of diesel was brought to Manipur by the cargo plane.Manipur is facing shortage of essential commodities, specially petroleum products and medicines, following the on-going economic blockade imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) since November 1 last.Assembly polls in Manipur will be held on March 4 and 8, 2017. and the north eastern Indian state(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath) Manipur polls: BJP announces list of 31 candidates New Delhi , Jan. 23 : Ahead of the Assembly elections in Manipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its first list of 31 candidates. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626275 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626275 173O212O198O32) The names of the candidates were finalised in a meeting of the party's Central Election Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Party President Amit Shah, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and other prominent members of the party.Out of the 31 names of candidates announced by the party, 20 will contest election in the first phase of polling and the remaining 11 in the second.Manipur will vote for 60 assembly constituencies in two-phase on March 4 and 8 respectively. The counting of votes will take place on March 11. Tata Trusts announces 'The City Data for India Initiative' in partnership with World Council Mumbai/ Kolkata, Jan 23 : The City Data for India initiative, a major new program of Tata Trusts in partnership with the World Council on City Data (WCCD), was announced in Mumbai on Monday in a bid to build high calibre data in Indian cities. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626277 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/west-bengal-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626277 173O212O198O32) Towards this, a national roundtable was held that marked an important milestone with the first three cities, Pune, Surat, and Jamshedpur, being recognized as the first ever in India to achieve WCCD ISO 37120 certification and will contribute immensely to the Smart City Initiative of the Government of India. City data has been a widely used currency globally and is now helping Indian cities break a new ground and emulate global standards.Sudhir Mungantiwar, Cabinet Minister of Finance, Planning, and Forest Departments, Government of Maharashtra gave a keynote address on the challenges and opportunities of Indias urban transformation and the value of Data.He said, Time is money and this principle is effectively implemented if we understand the value of accurate data. I want to particularly congratulate Tata Trusts for having recognized the importance of accurate data and aiding the process of creating smart cities. By working with and certifying the three pilot cities Pune, Surat and Jamshedpur, Tata Trusts has helped the government in taking forward the smart cities project.Speaking at the event Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts said, Through the City Data for India Initiative, we are showcasing the true strength and importance of data for cities. Through our partnership, we are going beyond age of looking at colored data, selected data to non-discretionary collection and capture of data, setting goals, evaluating ourselves against global peers. It gives me great pleasure to know that we are making the start with Surat, Jamshedpur and Pune as cities who are willing to share their city data. It will enable people in both public and private sector to set civic goals, to evaluate outreach and impact of policy and initiatives. This is an exceedingly important move in the long term. Tata Trusts is proud to participate in this and congratulate the three cities for being willing to be a partner in what could be a tremendously important movement towards a truly Digital India.The roundtable threw interesting insights on how conforming to certain data standards by providing open, certified data will also make an important contribution to making cities more attractive to private investment by reducing perceptions of risk while simultaneously enabling effective interventions and plugging of gaps within the city by the administration.Keynote presentations were delivered by the three Municipal Commissioners of the City Data for India Initiative pilot cities Pune, Surat Jamshedpur; to showcase their existing city data related programs and to highlight the opportunities to further enhance planning, decision-making and infrastructure investment through internationally-comparable certified city data. Another panel revealed insights on the importance of a culture of data for innovation learning for building smart, sustainable, resilient, prosperous inclusive cities in India and why high-quality data is critical for enabling all aspects of the city infrastructure investment life cycle.The value of high-quality city data is particularly important in India, where the urban population is projected to grow from 410 million in 2014 to 800 million by 2050, placing enormous demands on city leaders, planners and decision-makers in all tiers of government. This is why Tata Trusts and WCCD have established a partnership to implement the City Data for India Initiative.Our first, three WCCD ISO 37120 certified cities in India have applied the lessons learned throughout the WCCD network in an exemplary fashion. With the assistance of our partners at Tata Trusts this initiative has unequivocally proven that cities have the potential to drive a culture of data that will inform decisions, investments and transparent governance. Further, this data has the power to serve as a catalyst to create truly smart, sustainable, resilient, inclusive and prosperous cities of tomorrow dedicated to the principles that unite the cities throughout the WCCD network, stated WCCD President and CEO Dr. Patricia McCarney.Image:Wikimedia Commons Mamata Banerjee pays homage to Netaji Kolkata, Jan 23 : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday paid homage to freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose during a state government event in Darjeeling here. (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626278 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/west-bengal-news.php (Posted on 23 January 2017, 1667626278 173O212O198O32) Birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is being observed today everywhere, Banerjee posted on Facebook.I paid homage to the great leader in our state government programme at Darjeeling, he said.He said: We also extended assistance to local people under various government schemes and initiated a number of new projects.Images: Mamata Banerjee Facebook page Majid Majidi's next 'Beyond The Clouds' goes on floors today Mumbai, Jan 23 : Finally, setting all rumors surrounding iconic Iranian film-maker Majid Majidi's next film, here's the real deal. Majidi is all set to roll his first Indian film titled Beyond The Clouds, that dwells on the adoration of love and life. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626279 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626279 173O212O198O32) Produced by Zee Studios and Eyecandy Films, the film dwells on nuanced human relationships, an area that Majidi specialises in.While the leading lady is yet to be finalised, Majidi has zeroed in on his little boy wonder.Making his debut with the legend is Ishaan Khatter actor Shahid Kapoors younger brother. Music maestro A R Rahman will be working on the score of the project. This is Rahmans second association with the director.Going on floors on Monday in Mumbai, the film will be shot at numerous locations in India.Apart from the director and Ishaan, others present and marking the occasion of the first day of shoot were music maestro A R Rahman, producers of the film, Akash Chawla,Business Head - Zee Studios along with Shareen Mantri Kedia and Kishore Arora from EyeCandy Films. Also present were Ishaans parents Neelima Azim and Rajesh Khatter along with brother Shahid Kapoor.Talking about his latest project, Majidi says, Filmmakers like Satyajit Ray , whose work I adore, have represented Indias culture, rich heritage and the lives of common people to a global audience. These visions and images have stayed in my mind for years and cajoled me to make a film in India. Finally , Im in Mumbai with a lovely team to narrate a story woven around the lives of common people.Akash Chawla, Business Head, Zee Studios, elaborates, Its our pleasure to associate with a global icon like Majid Majidi. Over the years, he has narrated stories with authenticity and honesty, the vision with which Zee serves content to its audience globally. This film, his first venture in the country , celebrates an India unseen by the world with a heartwarming story .Shareen Mantri Kedia and Kishor Arora from Eyecandy Films, further elaborate, Words cant describe the genius that is Majid. His vision and artistry are unparalleled. As fans, we have been spellbound by his narratives. Its an honor to bring him to India. Working with him and developing this project over the last few years has been an enriching experience.Speaking further about casting Ishaan, Majidi says, Ishaan is a wonderful boy. He is extremely talented and I feel, he will have a bright future in the film industry. Harvard South Asia Institute, Tata Trusts conclude project on 'Livelihood Creation in India' New Delhi, Jan 23 : The Harvard South Asia Institute (SAI) in collaboration with Tata Trusts successfully concluded the 18-months project on 'Livelihood Creation In India' in an event hosted in New Delhi on Monday. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626279 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626279 173O212O198O32) The event showcased an overview of Livelihood Creation in India that focuses on three key areas: Rural Livelihood Creation in the handicrafts and handloom sectors; Educational, Social and Economic Empowerment of Women; and Science and Technology-based Social Entrepreneurship.The keynote address was given by Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.The project aimed at filling the capacity gaps through residential workshops jointly conducted by Harvard Faculty and in-region experts.The workshop on science and technology based social entrepreneurship was conducted in collaboration with IIT Delhi and focused on diverse themes including business perspectives to social entrepreneurship, perspectives from the government, design for success and impact, perspectives from the industry, and leveraging external resources.Over 25 social entrepreneurs from 14 states were shortlisted for this workshop.A vital part of this project was to stimulate interventions and scale up existing initiatives that can lead to greater impact in select geographies. Social innovation grants totalling INR 50 lakhs were given to 12 budding social entrepreneurs and crafts enterprises in India to achieve this objective.Delhi-based Smart Joules, a social enterprise that aims at eliminating wasted energy in India, was one such grantee that received support and mentorship as part of the project on Science and Technology based Social Entrepreneurship. The organization deploys various energy efficient technologies that reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings.Shashank Shah, Visiting Scholar, Harvard Business School and Project Director and Fellow Harvard University SAI, who led the project said, It has been an enriching experience to lead the project. Smart Joules has a vision and commitment in working towards bringing more than 300 million Indians out of energy poverty. Harvard SAI is happy to support them in their passion and technology-based ideas to create a cleaner society.Professor Tarun Khanna, Director, Harvard University South Asia Institute; Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School; and Chairman, NITI Aayog Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, and Faculty Chair of this project, shared the project findings and outcomes, at the event. Speaking on the occasion, he said, The South Asian Region is a laboratory for entrepreneurship, technological advancement and cultural diversity. The Harvard SAI consistently makes efforts to use its multi-disciplinary faculty expertise to contribute to India and the region with research-based learning and interventions.The core objective at Tata Trusts, said Ganesh Neelam, Head, Technology and Innovations, Tata Trusts; and Director, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI) Foundation for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship (FISE) is making a sustainable difference in the quality of life for communities we work with. Science and technology play a critical role in resolving the challenges faced by them and the Trusts collaboration with Harvard University SAI is a step towards identifying some of the best possible technology solutions, to address barriers being faced in the areas of livelihoods, healthcare and education to name a few. With the key focus being scalable social impact, this programme brings together multi-sectoral strengths to create a platform for capacity elevation and innovation across the country.Tata Trusts have historically supported visionary individuals and organizations with the passion to promote Indias rich crafts and their potential for creating dignified livelihoods for our artisans. This collaborative effort with Harvard University SAI is an effort to build an engaging network of organizations that share a common purpose to rejuvenate Indias crafts and its practicing artisan communities with the intent to deliver catalytic economic and social impact. Social entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and artisan collectives came together under this unique program to learn from each other, get mentoring, pitch innovative ideas and receive seed funding to fund a passion project. The intent was to create an enriching experience for key players in the sector to help deliver resilient and sustained impact in artisan communities they work with, said Reshma Anand, Head Partnerships, Strategy and Crafts, Tata Trusts.Later, two panel discussions followed. The first one was on Rural Livelihood Creation in the Indian Crafts Sector, anchored by Dr. Vandana Bhandari, Former Dean and Professor National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi. The second on Science and Technology Based Social Entrepreneurship was anchored by Professor Tarun Khanna. Narendra Modi congratulates Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on taking over as Prime Minister of Mauritius New Delhi, Jan 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on the telephone with Pravind Kumar Jugnauth a short while ago to congratulate him on his assumption of office as the Prime Minister of Mauritius. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626280 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626280 173O212O198O32) Prime Minister Jugnauth thanked the Prime Minister for the telephone call.The Prime Minister and Prime Minister Jugnauth affirmed their shared commitment to further strengthen the time-tested and unique relationship between India and Mauritius, read a government statement.The Prime Minister also appreciated the leadership and contribution of outgoing Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth to strengthening the strong bonds of friendship between India and Mauritius. PM Modi presents National Bravery Awards to 25 children New Delhi, Jan 23 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday presented the National Bravery Awards to 25 children. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626280 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626280 173O212O198O32) Interacting with the awardees, the Prime Minister said their deeds of bravery show their decisiveness as much as their courage.He encouraged the children to ensure that this award does not become the end of their lifes purpose, and added that this award should only mark the beginning for them.Reminding the children about the significance of the day 23rd January, Netaji Subhas Chandra Boses birth anniversary, the Prime Minister urged the children to read as much as possible, and especially read biographies of leaders, sportspersons and other people who have done great deeds in their lives.He said that bravery is a state of mind; a healthy body helps, but the prime moving force is the mind.Therefore, he added, we need to make the mind strong.He urged the children to ensure that the adulation and fame that they are getting, should not become an obstacle to their future progress.Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi was present on the occasion.The National Bravery Award Scheme was initiated by the ICCW Indian Council for Child Welfare to give due recognition to the children who distinguish themselves by performing outstanding deeds of bravery and meritorious service and to inspire other children to emulate their examples. Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat visits Siachen Glacier Srinagar, Jan 23 : Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Monday visited Siachen Glacier in Jammu and Kashmir, the world's highest and coldest militarised zone Himalayan Mountains of the region. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626281 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626281 173O212O198O32) In his first visit to Siachen, Leh and the Valley since taking charge, Bipin Rawat paid his respects to the soldiers killed in action at theSiachen war memorial. He was accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lieutenant and also he paid tributes to the martyrs by laying awreath and later interacted with troops.Thereafter, the Army Chief moved to Leh where he was briefed on the overall security situation and operational preparedness by the Corps Commander. During his interaction, he appreciated the commitment, dedication, sacrifice and professionalism of all officers and menposted to the region and called up on them to continue to uphold the core values of the Indian Army, Defense Spokesman said.Rawat also visited Srinagar, Kashmirs summer capital, where he was briefed about the prevailing security scenario in Kashmir. Rawat wasinformed about the measures placed to integrate all government agencies for efficient intelligence generation and successful conduct of operations.General Rawat earlier served in Kashmir in various capacities including commanding the Dagger Division in 20112012 and an RR Sector in Sopore - Bandipora in 2006-2007.While this was Rawats first visit to the Valley as army chief, he did visit the state earlier this month, taking a tour of the Udhampur-based Northern Command in Jammu province.(Reporting by Salem Iqbal Qadri, Image: Indian Army Twitter page) Syria: UNICEF calls for unimpeded aid access to children in besieged Deir Ez Zor New York, Jan 23 : The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Monday called for unimpeded and unconditional access to children in the besieged city of Deir Ez Zor, noting that they have not received regular humanitarian aid for more than two years. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626281 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626281 173O212O198O32) UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict in Syria to immediately lift all sieges and allow unimpeded and unconditional access to children in Deir Ez Zor and in all the 15 areas under siege across the country, said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEFs Regional Director, in a statement.According to UNICEF, children in Deir Ez Zor have come under intense attack in the past week, and indiscriminate shelling has reportedly killed scores of civilians and forced others to remain in their homes. The escalation of violence threatens the lives of 93,000 civilians, including over 40,000 children who have been cut off from regular humanitarian aid for over two years.In addition, food prices have skyrocketed to levels five to ten times higher than in the capital, Damascus, and chronic water shortages are forcing families to fetch untreated water from the Euphrates River, exposing children to the risk of waterborne diseases.Nothing justifies the use of siege and the untold suffering that it unleashes on children. The children of Syria have already paid the highest price for a war that is not of their making, Cappelaere said.Photo: WFP/PhotolibrarySource: www.justearthnews.com Seven million people in Lake Chad basin 'living on the edge' - UN relief official New York, Jan 24 : Spotlighting the desperate plight of millions in Africa's Lake Chad basin, the top United Nations humanitarian official for the Sahel region called on Monday for international solidarity with the people in urgent need. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626282 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626282 173O212O198O32) I wish I had good news, but I dont, Toby Lanzer, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, told a news conference at the UN Headquarters, in New York that was largely focused on the crisis affecting Lake Chad basin countries, which include Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.11 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, 7.1 million of them are severely food insecure. [They are] living on the edge surviving on, if they can, one meal a day, he noted.Lanzer added that among them, the situation of children is particularly worrying. Some 515,000 children are severely and acutely malnourished and their lives are at risk if aid does not reach them urgently.No government on Earth can do what it takes to confront [these numbers] of severe food insecurity, he stressed. This is a clear case where international solidarity with the governments of the region is needed.He also noted the peaceful resolution of the political standoff in the Gambia prevented yet another crisis in the region, which already has at least 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDP). Fearing violence this past weekend, some 52,000 Gambians fled to Senegal and Guinea Bissau, but are now starting to return.Response to bombing of IDP camp in Rann, NigeriaTurning to the tragic bombing of a camp for IDPs in Nigerias Rann, Lanzer hailed the efforts of the first responders relatives of those in the camp, as well as nearby villagers who rushed in to help the victiThe UN and humanitarian family too stepped in from the onset of the disaster, helping the first responders as well as helping transfer those severely injured to medical facilities.The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) also flew in medical supplies and teams on the day of the incident and in subsequent days.We sprang into action, in exactly the way we are meant to do, said the UN relief official. It was a tremendous effort from the local and community aid workers, as well as by international humanitarians.Improving security reveals depth of humanitarian sufferingResponding a question, Lanzer explained the scale of humanitarian suffering in the region has become increasingly evident with improving security situation as a result of the military campaign against Boko Haram. This has allowed humanitarian actors to reach many places which were impossible to get to earlier due to insecurity.Speaking on the situation on the ground at that time, he said: [We saw] towns and villages that were totally destroyed. [Places] that were completely cut off for over three years [and places] devoid of two-, three- and four- year olds because they have died.Upcoming conference in OsloLanzer also informed the media about an upcoming conference for the region, to be held in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on 24 February, to draw attention to the tragic situation there.He further noted that the humanitarian appeal for the region for 2016 was only 52 per cent funded.When you are funded to this extent, a lot of lives are lost, he said, We hope that with the leadership of Norway, Germany, Nigeria and the support of the UN, we can convince many Member States to go to Oslo and make statements of political support and also, we hope, material support, that will allow the agencies to do their work to save lives, as well as give people a hand up.Credit: OCHA/Ivo BrandauSource: www.justearthnews.com Afghanistan: UN-backed USD 550 million aid plan aims to reach 5.7 million people New York, Jan 24 : A newly-launched United Nations-backed humanitarian response plan for Afghanistan is seeking USD 550 million in 2017 to support the most vulnerable and marginalized population of the conflict-torn country. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626282 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626282 173O212O198O32) Strategic, life-saving interventions related to shelter, food, health care, nutrition, safe water and sanitation are expected to reach an estimated 5.7 million people under the Afghanistan 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan, released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).According to the Plan, the continued deepening and geographic spread of the conflict has prompted a 13 per cent increase in the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance to 9.3 million in 2017.OCHA notes that Afghanistan remains one of the most dangerous, and most violent, crisis-ridden countries in the world. The 8,397 civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2016 marked the highest record since 2009, and included a 15 per cent increase in child casualties from 2015.The Plan dedicates $240 million to interventions to assist refugees and returnees.In 2016, the conflict has led to unprecedented levels of displacement, reaching half a million in November the highest number recorded to date. On average, every day sees another 1,500 people forced to leave their homes, escaping violence.Last year also saw the unprecedented return of some 600,000 registered refugees and undocumented Afghans from Pakistan. With no obvious prospects for an improved state of affairs, 2017 is likely to see at least 450,000 new internally displaced persons and potentially as many as a million more Afghan returns from Pakistan and Iran.Photo: IOMSource: www.justearthnews.com Jared Kushner to meet PM Trudeau's cabinet in Canada New York [USA], Jan. 24 : Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and one of his top advisors, will meet Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626284 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/us-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626284 173O212O198O32) According to Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokesperson, Kushner will travel to Calgary on Tuesday to hold the meeting, reports the CNN.This comes as the Trump administration has entertained renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a free trade deal joining the U.S., Mexico and Canada.Revamp of the NAFTA, which Trump said was the worst trade deal the U.S. has ever signed and continues to kill American jobs, was a central promise of Trump's presidential campaign.The controversial free trade deal has been criticised for allowing companies to move jobs abroad, but its supporters say it provides millions of jobs in the U.S.At a White House event on Sunday, Trump said he had scheduled meetings with Prime Minister Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique PeAa Nieto to renegotiate NAFTA.The present agreement lowers trade restrictions between the U.S., Canada and Mexico and was signed by President Bill Clinton in December 1993.On Sunday, Kushner's name was cleared to work at the White House by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, saying the appointment does not violate federal nepotism laws.The lawyers determined that the White House is not an 'executive agency' and is therefore exempt from restrictions on hiring in a 1967 nepotism law.Kushner was instrumental in Trump's campaign and his transition. Hasina's India visit likely to be delayed Dhaka [Bangladesh], Jan. 24 : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's India tour, which was scheduled to take place in February, is likely to be delayed. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626284 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626284 173O212O198O32) According to the Daily Star, the delay is to happen due to the upcoming polls in five states in India, including the most populous Uttar Pradesh, beginning from February 11.According to sources, it would be very difficult for India to arrange a schedule for Hasina in February and March as the country's key political leaders would be in the midst of the election campaign and watching the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur, and Goa.Hasina wants a very positive outcome from her India visit which includes signing of the Teesta deal water sharing deal, which remains a major challenge for the Hasina government as no visible progress has been made on ratification of the treaty since the signing was stalled in September 2011.Though the diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi said signing of water sharing treaty was not a precondition for the Prime Minister's visit, it remains the most important issue in Bangladesh-India relations.About the prospect of Hasina's visit taking place in March, the Indian Government would be busy with the national budget, making the very small.Hasina was scheduled to visit New Delhi last month, but the tour was postponed due to scheduling problems.A Bangladesh Foreign Ministry official said that during the Prime Minister's proposed visit, the two countries are likely to ink over two dozens of agreements, including those for using Chittagong and Mongla ports by India.India is also likely to make a fresh commitment to provide loans of over USD 12 billion. Abu Dhabi Crown Prince to arrive today to witness R-Day celebrations New Delhi , Jan. 24 : Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of United Arab Emirates (UAE), Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, will be on a three-day official visit to India from today during which he will attend the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626285 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626285 173O212O198O32) The Crown Prince will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow, following which he will lay wreath at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at the Raj Ghat.The Crown Prince will in the afternoon meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House here following there will be exchange of agreements between both sides.Later in the evening, he will meet Vice President Hamid Ansari at hotel Leela Palace here and then call on President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.He will emplane for Abu Dhabi after witnessing the Republic Day parade on January 26. K.T. Rama Rao pitches for friendly state policies Hyderabad (Telangana) , Jan. 24 : Information Minister K.T. Rama Rao has pitched for friendly state policies to investors in Japan. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626286 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/andhra-pradesh-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626286 173O212O198O32) During his tour to Japan, Rao met several investors and top managements of different organizations.He met Satoshi Shimizu, Ryohin Keikaku, MUJI, (MUJI is a retail giant which sells wide variety of household and consumer goods without any brand) Director and General Manager, East Asia Business and invited them to Hyderabad to explore the opportunities available in the state.He also pitched for setting up their outlet which offers local talent developed products of high quality at affordable prices.The minister also explained them the friendly policies of the government.After the meeting, Rao presented them Pochampally Stole.In another meeting, Minister Rao met with JICA. Hidetoshi Irigaki, senior vice-president; Kyosuke Inada, Senior Director, SE Asia; Katsuo Matsumoto, Deputy Director General, SE General and discussed on priority sectors like Urban Infrastructure, Forestry, Water and Sanitation, and Industrial Development.JICA has invited Telangana to submit its proposals on these sectors for consideration for funding.Rama Rao also met JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization). Shikegi Maeda, Executive vice-president; Takashi Suzuki, Senior Director for Global Strategy, South West Asia and agreed on holding business summits in Tokyo and Osaka cities of Japan with various industry leaders prior to invest in Telangana.The minister also met Satoshi Shinozaki, president, Mayekawa Research Institute Co. Ltd., vice-president, the public-private council for promoting Global Food Value Chain and requested to consider Telangana for their future expansions. Pakistan to host 13th ECO summit in March Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan. 24 : Pakistan will host the 13th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) in March this year. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626286 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/world-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626286 173O212O198O32) The ECO held its last summit in 2012 and now it is Pakistan's turn to host the meeting, reports the Daily Times.The member states of the organisation are Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.The official website says Pakistan will host summit on March 1. Iran is the leading member of the group.ECO is a Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organization which was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities. National Girl Child Day: Lets reaffirm our commitment to challenge gender stereotypes, says PM Modi New Delhi , Jan. 24 : As the nation observes National Girl Child Day today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the nation to reaffirm their commitment to challenging stereotypes based on gender and promote gender sensitisation as well as gender equality. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626287 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626287 173O212O198O32) Taking to Twitter, the Prime Minister said that National Girl Child Day is a day to celebrate the exceptional achievements of the girl child, whose excellence in many fields makes the nation proud."It is imperative to reject discrimination against the girl child and ensure equal opportunities for the girl child. Let us reaffirm our commitment to challenging stereotypes based on gender & promote gender sensitisation as well as gender equality," he added in a series of tweets.The government, in 2008 declared 24th of January every year to be celebrated as the National Girl Child Day' with the objective of raising consciousness of the society towards the girl child so that she can be valued and respected.In the national capital, the day will be celebrated at a special function organized by the Women and Child Development Ministry in the light of exemplary achievements by nation's daughters during 2016.Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi and Minister of State Krishna Raj will be addressing the audience.The occasion shall be marked by the release of National Plan of Action for Children 2016.Ten districts under the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme for their exemplary performance will also be felicitated. PM Modi urges people to reject discrimination against girl child New Delhi, Jan 24 : Addressing the nation on National Girl Child Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to not discriminate against girls. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626288 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626288 173O212O198O32) In a Twitter post, PM Modi said, National Girl Child Day is a day to celebrate the exceptional achievements of the girl child, whose excellence in many fields makes us proud.It is imperative to reject discrimination against the girl child and ensure equal opportunities for the girl child, a second tweet read.The Prime Minister also spoke for the need of gender equality and gender sensitisation in India.Let us reaffirm our commitment to challenging stereotypes based on gender promote gender sensitisation as well as gender equality, he said. High-performance, zero emission and low price: Okinawa launches e-vehicles of the future in India New Delhi,Jan.24 : e-automobile manufacturer Okinawa Autotech has launched high-speed electric two-wheelers/scooters for the Indian market to alter the belief that e-automobiles can't match the power, speed and efficiency of traditional petrol vehicles. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626289 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626289 173O212O198O32) With a charging duration of six to eight hours, Okinawa's e-scooters can cover distances of around 200 km in upcoming models. Furthermore, it offers dual charging systems. While the normal mode takes anywhere between six to eight hours, the option of a fast mode is available which gets the vehicle up and running within two hours.Okinawa's vehicles are equipped with state-of-the-art technology that provides the best of performance and sustainability. Furthermore, these vehicles are fitted with utility features such as anti-theft alarm, speedometer, Central locking smart controller as well as an Eco and power mode of operations.Okinawa's latest product, Ridge, is a scooter that will appeal to riders from the ages of 18-60 years. The scooter is available in various colour combinations such as red, green-gold, red-white and white. Alloy wheels, tubeless tyres and telescopic suspension further assist the vehicle to handle any kind of terrain, whether they are the clogged roads of the cities or the barely-there roads of rural India. Ridge comes with a loading capacity of 150 kg and under-the-seat storage.Jeetender Sharma, MD, Okinawa Scooters said, "Being an Indian company, our vision is to be a leading electric two-wheeler manufacturer by offering a solution to the daily commuting needs of the average person. We aim to empower all our stakeholders through products that add to their lifestyle without subtracting anything from the environment. By making technology and nature ride together, Okinawa is poised to create a revolution in India's transportation space. We promise never-seen-before performance standards and are driven by our motto of 'Power the Change' in each and every component of our vehicles. They run fast, are great to look at, come at extremely affordable prices and are a big ray of hope to curtail the amount of environmental degradation."Sharma further added, "We have prepared a detailed state-wise expansion plan and will be following up the 'Ridge' with other scooters which have unique features such as accident detection, app-enabled vehicle maintenance, and smart controller-based road positioning. We are extremely hopeful that the Indian consumer will begin to travel on the path of a safer and more sustainable future, riding on Okinawa's vehicles." Donald Trump to speak to Narendra Modi today Washington, Jan 24 : : Days after taking over as American President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday amid concerns in India about the fate of the country's outsourcing industry with the US new dispensation coming in. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626290 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626290 173O212O198O32) According to The World Street Journal, the conversation will be among several between Trump and other world leaders this week as he begins his duties as U.S. president. He has already spoken with the leaders of Egypt, Israel, Canada and Mexico, and plans to host a visit from British Prime Minister Theresa May later this week.The details about Trumps intended phone call to Modi are not yet known.Indias president, Pranab Mukherjee, issued an invitation to Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to visit India shortly after Trumps inauguration Friday. The White House hasnt responded to the invitation.After former US President Barack Obama and Modi worked to strengthen ties between the two countries, Trumps pre-election speeches that stoutly defended protectionism for Americans spoke against outsourcing industry and the H-B visa program, created a high uncertainty for millions of Indian professionals.Trumps Image:twitter.com/POTUS Abu Dhabi Crown Prince is Chief Guest at Republic Day function, to meet PM Modi on Wednesday New Delhi, Jan 24 : Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of United Arab Emirates, is arriving in India on Tuesday on a three-day state visit. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626290 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/more-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626290 173O212O198O32) He will be the Chief Guest for the 2017 Republic Day celebrations on Thursday.Briefing the media on Tuesday, Secretary (ER) Amar Sinha said that the Crown Princes visit will further strengthen the defence and security cooperation between India and UAE.The Crown Prince is accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, senior officials and captains of industry.During the visit, the Crown Prince will call on President Pranab Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari.He will also hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday on bilateral, regional and global issues of common interest.This is the second visit of the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi to India since February 2016.Following Prime Minister Modis visit to the UAE in August 2015, the two countries have agreed to elevate the mutually beneficial relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership.According to the Ministry of External Affairs, India and UAE enjoy warm, close and multi-faceted relations underpinned by cultural, religious and economic linkages.The two countries reported a well-balanced bilateral trade of about US$ 50 billion in 2015-16.UAE is among the top investors in India in terms of foreign direct investments. It contributes significantly to Indias energy security and was the fifth largest supplier of crude oil to India in 2015-16.Indians form the largest expatriate group in the UAE. Nearly 2.6 million Indians live in the UAE, the MEA said in its release.Image: AIRNews Twitter Fans bunk school, colleges to catch glimpse of Shahrukh Khan at Nizzamuddin rly stn New Delhi , Jan.24 : Waiting to catch a glimpse of Bollywood's king Khan, Shahrukh, scores of fans gathered at the Nizzamuddin Railway station on Tuesday, where the actor boarded off the train he took from Mumbai. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626292 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626292 173O212O198O32) Fans of the 51-year-old actor, who is currently on a promotional spree for his upcoming flick 'Raees' in the national capital, went hayway while waiting to meet their favourite star.Sultan, a die-hard Shahrukh fan had been waiting at the railway station from 7:30 am to catch a glimpse of the 'fan' star.He said, "People are saying that he has left from here. It's not possible that Shahrukh Khan can leave without meeting us."Another fan said if the 'Dilwale' star doesn't meet them, they would go and watch Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Kaabil' instead of 'Raees'.He stated, "We will wait till evening and if Shahrukh will not meet us, we will not see his film 'Raees'".Some of the crazy fan had even bunked their schools and colleges just to meet their favourite star and get an autograph.A school going boy said, "I have seen Shahrukh once at the Kapil Sharma Comedy Show in Delhi, I had come to see him again but couldn't."Some fans always expressed resentment against the actor for leaving the station without meeting them. A group of fans said, "Shahrukh, if you see this video, we want to tell you that we love you".The entire team of Raees, along with producer Ritesh Sidhwani, director Rahul Dholakia and other crew members were also aboard with the 'DDLJ' star.The film, which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is slated to release on January 25. Deeply saddened by what happened in Vadodara: Shah Rukh Khan New Delhi Jan. 24 : Looks like Shah Rukh Khan's 'Raees' journey by rail, from Mumbai to Delhi, was not as smooth as expected. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626293 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626293 173O212O198O32) It turned fatal on Tuesday as one of his fans died in Gujarat's Vadodara, which left the 51-year-old actor deeply saddened.While speaking to the media on the same, he said, "One of our colleagues was traveling with us. Her uncle came down to see her at Baroda. He suffered from a cardiac arrest. It was really unfortunate.""We started the journey thinking we all will travel, spend time with each other when one of your own loses someone one trip like this, it saddens us all. On behalf of everyone, our prayers and blessings with the whole family. She has reached there. I just spoke to her. I think the burial is in an hour or half hour," continued the 'Dilwale' actor.Adding, "We have some of our people with the family members there. Hopefully God will bless her soon."For the unversed, SRK started his promotional journey by train, from Mumbai to his hometown Delhi, where fans gathered at every station the train halted to meet their superstar.While SRK did not step down from the train, choosing to wave at the crowds and urged them to watch the film on a loudspeaker, fans in Vadodara swarmed the railway platforms since several hours before the scheduled arrival of the train.Due to this chaos, two fans were injured at the Vadodara Railway Station.While one breathed his last, the other was rushed to a hospital for immediate treatment.Rahul Dholakia directed 'Raees,' which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Mahira Khan, is set to be released on January 25. G-Shock introduces new 'Vande Mataram' limited watch collection on this Republic Day New Delhi , Jan.24 : India is composed of languages and cultures of different types but there are some common sentiments that tie all of us together. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626293 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626293 173O212O198O32) Slogans like 'Vande Mataram' are strong sentiments that have played a significant role in keeping the love for our country alive. Honoring such unconditional love for the nation with its philosophy of 'Creativity and Contribution', Casio India has introduced new G-Shock Republic Day limited watch collection for young India this. The watch signifies bold and rebellious attitude of today's Indian youth who wants to conquer the world while staying connected to their roots.The new G-Shock GA-110GB comes with 'Vande Mataram' slogan imprinted in Hindi on Resin band, which symbolizes the true essence of Republic Day and ignites the sense of independence in every youth of the nation. Complementing the slogan, there is a Fighter Jet symbol that represents G-Shock's attitude towards reaching every height and conquering every challenge. It also features the finest printing of letters 'IND' on end side of band to bring an Indian feel and appeal.Speaking about the new limited edition, Kulbhushan Seth, Vice President, Casio India said, "Casio believes in contributing to community with its latest innovations and creating a positive impact on consumers. 'Vande Mataram' as a slogan has so much energy that it infuses a new level of respect and pride in Indian youth. The new Republic Day edition celebrates the power of young India and ignites the true sense of being an Indian."While the sturdy timepiece salutes the absolute toughness and futuristic outlook of Indian youth, it comes with amazing features to take care of your daily lifestyle needs. Protected with the Mineral Glass dial, it is water resistance up to 200-meter, featuring a bright LED light to use it at anytime and anywhere. Additionally, the watch is capable of showing the world time, countdown timer, and 5 daily alarms with Full auto-calendar (up to year 2099).The limited edition watch is available at an attractive price of Rs. 9795/-. SRAM and MRAM invests in TN based organic products firm New Delhi , Jan 24 : UK based firm has invested an undisclosed amount in Sapthagiri Pee Gee Pvt. Ltd. The firm is in organic food business and is eyeing to tap a large market soon. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626294 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626294 173O212O198O32) Chennai - based organic product firm Sapthagiri Pee Gee Pvt. Ltd. has raised an undisclosed sum in Series A funding from UK based SRAM and MRAM Technologies and Resources Limited in a crowd sourcing exercise. This is the first closure announcement and more funds are expected to be raised as part of this round.At a function organized to facilitate the Funding arrangement a very ecstatic G. G. Sekar (a former MP and MLA from Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu in India and the Managing Director of Sapthagiri PEE GEE) confirms the deal and said that the funds will be used for buying additional land for organic farming, marketing expenses, opening more physical outlets, scaling up its online shopping portal and also its restaurant division.Founded in 2002 by G. G. Sekar, SevenHills runs a fruit crushing and pulp manufacturing venture in Tamil Nadu, India. Its fruit pulp is exported to different countries and is sold to the local juice manufacturers as well.Initially set up in Tamil Nadu, Seven Hills has plans to put up additional manufacturing bases in Maharashtra and also later at Indonesia to leverage the growing demand for organic products in the latter.All its farm produce will be used as ingredients in the dishes served at its restaurant, besides being sold under its private label 'SevenHills'. It plans to enter the bakery products business and will introduce its own brand of perishables that include pickles, sauces, jams, syrups and cookies. Currently SevenHills farms vegetables, fruits and poultry products in about 30 acres of land spread across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra in India and also in Cambodia. The company is about to close a deal to purchase 25 acres of farm land in Tamil Nadu as part of its expansion initiatives. SevenHills also works with other farms for its additional requirements and stocks products of other certified organic product partners in its stores.SevenHills plans to have three physical stores in Mumbai, Jakarta and Phnom Penh, Cambodia, besides an online store where customers can place orders and get them delivered. By the end of 2017, SevenHills plans to open five more stores.G. G. Sekar added that, "The company is expected to break even in the next nine to twelve months".S. L. Hiranandani, founder chairman and Managing Director, SRAM MRAM Technologies and Resources Limited, and one of the venture's early angel investors, said that, "The organic sector works on the basis of trust and even a small deviation in the production process can impact quality".SRAM and MRAM enables angel investment in startups based in tier two and three cities working in the areas of agriculture, biotechnology, information technology and related fields. (ANI-NewsVoir) Cabinet approves ratification of the Second Commitment Period of Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change New Delhi, Jan 24 : The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to ratify the Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol on containing the emission of Green House Gases (GHGs). (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626297 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626297 173O212O198O32) The second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 2012. So far, 65 countries have ratified the Second Commitment Period,read a government statement.In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines Indias leadership in the comity of nations committed to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice. Ratification of the Kyoto Protocol by India will encourage other developing countries also to undertake this exercise. Implementation of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under this commitment period in accordance with Suslainable Development priorities will attract some investments in India as well.The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) seeks to stabilise Green House Gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would minimize interference with the climate system.Recognizing that developed countries are principally responsible for the current high levels of Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) in the atmosphere, the Kyoto Protocol places commitments on developed nations to undertake mitigation targets and to provide financial resources and transfer of technology to the developing nations. Developing countries like India have no mandatory mitigation obligations or targets under the Kyoto Protocol. Etihad Aviation Group announces President and CEO transition process Abu Dhabi, Jan 24 : The Etihad Aviation Group Board of Directors on Tuesday announced that James Hogan will step down as President and Chief Executive Officer of the company in the second half of 2017. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626297 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626297 173O212O198O32) The Board and Hogan first initiated the transition process last year with the formation in May of the Etihad Aviation Group, a diversified global aviation and travel organisation.Commenting on Hogans time at Etihad, Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the Board of the Etihad Aviation Group said: We are very grateful to James. In just ten years, he has overseen the growth of the company from a 22 plane regional carrier into a 120 aircraft global airline and aviation group, with seven airline equity partnerships which together serve more than 120 million guests every year. It is a business which has set new benchmarks for service and innovation. Under his leadership, the company has provided new opportunities for thousands of Emiratis and has been a critical element in the remarkable progress of Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We look forward to James continued association with Abu Dhabi in new ways.James Hogan commented: Along with the Board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi. The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad.Commenting on current priorities for the business, Mazrouei said: To position the company for continued success in a challenging market, the Board and management team will continue an ongoing, company-wide strategic review. We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape.We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy.Last month, Etihad Airways unveiled plans to create a new European leisure airline group in a joint venture with TUI AG. A new codeshare agreement with Lufthansa and an aircraft leasing agreement between airberlin and Lufthansa were also announced. As a minority shareholder, Etihad is actively participating in the next phase of Alitalias restructuring plan.Mazrouei added: Etihad is a great business with strong fundamentals and a deeply experienced aviation and airline management team. These assets, along with a realigned organisation, provide more agility and added focus as Etihad enters the next phase of its development.Hogan will join an investment company along with Etihad Aviation Group CFO James Rigney, who will also leave the company later this year. A global search for a new Group CEO and a new Group CFO is already underway. International Research Organisation for Life and Health Sciences (IROLHS) in Collaboration with Smile Nation felicitates the best professionals in the healthcare industry in India New Delhi , Jan. 24 (ANI-BusinessWire India): A total of 200 doctors and dentists from 24 states were honoured with top honours in the first edition of the Indian Health Professionals Awards organized by Pune-based International Research Organization for Life and Health Sciences (IROLHS). (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626298 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626298 173O212O198O32) The event, held in Pune at Residency Club, witnessed awards bestowed upon top notch doctors, dentist, hospitals & institutions, recognising their extraordinary contribution to the healthcare industry. International Research Organisation for Life & Health Sciences (IROLHS), a research organization registered under Government of Corporate affairs in association with Smile Nation organised the first edition of the awards.Medical and dental professionals from Pune were also awarded for their work in their respective fields. Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital topped the awards list as it bagged the award for 'Overall Best Hospital' in India amongst stiff competition from top hospitals at a pan-India level.Dr. Abhishek Soni was adjudged as the outstanding dentist of the year, whereas Dr. Anand was awarded as Best Editor of Dental Journal. In the new practice dental clinic category, Dental and Dental Clinic emerged as the winner. Diya Rupawat was bestowed as Best Intern of the year from MA Roonganwala Dental College, while, Dr. Nitin Darda was honored with Excellency in Homeopathy.The event witnessed participation of doctors and dentists from 60 cities across 24 states. The nominees were judged by an independent jury comprising experts from the medical field. Also, honorary special awards were given to various professionals for their outstanding work and overall contribution to the industry.The mega initiative witnessed get together of the who's who of the healthcare sector in one place to discuss and network on issues that are pertinent to this industry. The discussion highlighted the issue related to securing India's health concerns. The event witnessed leaders from private & government organisations, policy makers, representatives from the government and key people from sector affiliates, all assembled to recognise and applaud the achievements of the best healthcare providers.Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Swapnil Sunil Bumb, Founder & CEO, IROLHS and the stalwart behind the initiative said, "We are thrilled with the response that we received in the first edition of the awards. The awards truly acknowledged the medical fraternity for their tireless dedication to the cause of healthcare; we felt there was a strong need to build a forum that will bring all the stakeholders of healthcare sector onto a single platform. It is with this perspective IROLHS & Smile Nation come together to host Indian Health Professionals Awards. We strongly feel The Indian Health Professionals Awards can become an exchange of idea forum where the stakeholders from the healthcare sector can discuss, deliberate and put forth their solutions to the issues plaguing the healthcare industry." (ANI-BusinessWire India) Snapdeal's 'Unbox India' sale records maximum success from the North New Delhi , Jan. 24 : A region-wise analysis of the sales recorded during Snapdeal's 'Unbox India' sale recorded maximum response from the North region, followed closely by the West and South. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626298 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/business-india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626298 173O212O198O32) During the same period, a record number of applications were also received for the Snapdeal HDFC bank Credit Card, which brings customers great value in the form of discounts, offers and rewards. With reward points being offered on HDFC cards and availability of a zero-EMI option, the sale of and order value in categories like premium mobiles, Smart TVs, high end laptops, ACs, home theatre systems, washing machines, refrigerators, speakers and DSLRs increased. Premium kitchen appliances and beauty products were also popular categories during this sale.Celebrating the spirit of 'Indianness', the sale consisted of offers and deals as part of its 'Pride of India' store; a one-stop shop for all products made in India. High selling products from the store included traditional temple jewellery, handicrafts and artifacts from states like Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, artisanal textiles and clothing items like sarees, and ethnic footwear from across the country.Vishal Chadha, Senior Vice President (Business) said, "As a way to celebrate Republic Day this year, we were extremely proud to showcase India's vast range of crafts for our consumers. The response from the consumers has been very encouraging, and we will continue to find similar ways to connect our consumers' with our country's heritage." 'Inspired' by PM Modi, Rimi Sen joins BJP New Delhi , Jan. 24 : Actor Rimi Sen joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya here on Tuesday. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626299 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/bollywood-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626299 173O212O198O32) Soon after joining the BJP, Sen showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi."Not only me but the entire nation is inspired by Prime Minister Modi. I will go wherever the party needs me. The government has given us a responsibility and we will fulfill it," Sen told ANI.Besides Sen, Bhojpuri actress and model Kashish Khan has also joined the party. TVS Motor Company Ltd's total revenue grew to Rs. 3239.55 Crores New Delhi, Jan 24 : Two and three-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company Ltd on Tuesday said total revenue grew to Rs. 3239.55 Crores in the quarter ended December 2016 as against Rs. 3151.12 Crores recorded in the quarter ended December 2015. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626299 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/automobile-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626299 173O212O198O32) The Companys Profit Before Tax (PBT) registered a growth of 4.1 % to Rs.169.80 Crores in the third quarter of 2016-17 as against Rs. 163.14 Crores in the third quarter of the previous financial year and Profit After Tax (PAT) increased by 10.4% to Rs. 132.67 Crores in the quarter under review as against Rs.120.21 Crores in the corresponding period last year, the company said in a statement.During the quarter ended December 2016, the overall two-wheeler sales of TVS Motor Company, including exports grew by 4% to 7.03 Lakh units as against 6.76 Lakh units registered in the quarter ended December 2015. Motorcycles sales registered 2.48 Lakh units in the third quarter of 2016-17 as against 2.60 Lakh units registered in the third quarter of 2015-16. Scooter sales during the quarter under review are 2.21 Lakh units compared to 2.32 Lakh units in the third quarter of 2015-16.The Company exported 0.99 Lakh units of two and three wheelers in the quarter under review as against 1.08 Lakh units in the third quarter of 2015-16. Three wheelers registered sales of 16081 units in the quarter under review as against 26225 units in the third quarter of 2015-16.Image:wikimedia commons Gen. Rawat pays maiden visit to Eastern Command as Army Chief New Delhi , Jan. 24: Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday undertook his first visit to the Eastern Command after taking over as the Army Chief. (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626300 173O212O198O32) https://www.newkerala.com/india-news.php (Posted on 24 January 2017, 1667626300 173O212O198O32) Earlier in the day General Rawat landed at Tezpur and was received at the airport by Lt. Gen Praveen Bakshi, Eastern Command and Lt Gen AS Bedi, Gajraj Corps.On his arrival, he was briefed by the Corps Commander on the security situation in the AOR (area of responsibility).After that the Army Chief's proceeded to visit Tawang and the forward areas in Western Arunachal along with the Army Commander and the Corps Commander.General Rawat has previously been a Corps Commander in the Eastern Command and is well acquainted with the nuances of operational scenario here.He was satisfied with the operational preparedness of Gajraj Corps and encouraged all ranks of the Corps to keep up the high state of alertness and professionalism displayed by them. Catholics who assist at the traditional liturgy of the Church quickly come to love one monumental fact about it: its stability, regularity, constancy. With a few exceptions due to local calendars or unannounced votive Masses, one can come to anyliturgy and know within moments which Mass in the missal is being celebratedand then know, with certainty, exactly how that Mass will unfold for the remaining half-hour or hour, since everything is fixed in place.What a consolation to know that the celebrant is not being asked to exhibit the state of his mind in extemporaneous remarks, or his pastoral judgment in choices between this or that prayer!older, greater, stronger, and steadier than any of us mere mortals, and we gratefully submit ourselves to its lofty spiritual pedagogy and accumulated wisdom. We are not the drivers but the passengers. The driver is Christ our Lord, and never once in the liturgy (except perhaps in the homily) are we confronted with a jarring disjunct between the principal celebrant and His intelligent instrument.People who have practicedknow that it benefits from the slow assimilation of a chosen text. One must mortify the desire to read too much or to skip all over the place. One often has to re-read and re-read a passage before it penetrates the mind. In just the same way, the great strength of the one-year lectionary contained in the traditionalis that it affords the worshiper time to absorb a certain set of luminous biblical passages, extremely well chosen for their liturgical purpose. Meeting these texts repeatedly, one puts them on like a garment, or assimilates them like food and drink. One begins to think and pray in their phrases.What happens with the lectionary happens, in turn, with the entire liturgy. The fixity of thefrom top to bottom, from collect to postcommunion, from Psalm 42 to the Prologue of John, faciliates a liturgicalthat can range over the words of the entire missal, in both its repeated (Ordinary) and changing (Proper) parts.To have the light and warmth of contemplation, you first need the fire of prayer; to fuel prayer, you need the wood of meditation; and to have meditation, there has to beReading presupposes something fixed and stable to be read, internalized, remembered, pondered. Any improvisation at this level, or any overwhelming quantity of text or a constantly changing text, will tend to thwart the slow and steady building of memory, the shaping of the imagination, and the fertilizing of the intellect. If you throw too much wood on the fire, you put it out. If the wood is green, the fire smokes. And if there is no kindling and no match, the fire cant be started.of these things have to be in place: the right ingredients in the right order, with the right proportions and the right timing. Fifteen hundred years of slow and highly conservative liturgical development produced the right content, the right order, the right proportions, and the right timing. Because the new liturgy has vastly more content and the way things play out is subject to the choices of celebrant and musicians, the proportion of parts is quite malleable and liable to enormous imbalance, and the pacing or feel of the liturgy is not comfortingly invariable and focused.This, then, is the fundamental problem withthe new liturgy: it is too pluriform, too gigantic, and too mutable to sustain a meditative orengagement with the texts, chants, and gestures. One cannot simply surrender to it and take on its own identity, since the wills and intellects of various secondary agents are too much in play, making its identity like the chameleons color. Will the real Novus Ordo please stand up? In the traditional liturgy, the daily stability of the Mass and its relatively limited selection of readings, together with the recurrence of the psalms in the weekly cursus of the Divine Office, strongly supports a liturgicalthat is decisive in deepening the spiritual life of clergy and laity. In particular, one profits from the immensely powerful correlation of the antiphons and readings of the Office with those of the Mass.[1] It would be hard to deny that there are correlations between the character of the revised liturgical books, the customary crowd-orientedthe lack of ascetical-mystical life among so large a part of the clergy, and the shallowness, if not heterodoxy, of preaching. All these things reinforce one another; there is little to oppose them from within the form of the liturgy itself.Moreover, the overwhelming fixity of traditional liturgical forms makes the times when theredifferences in the prescribed liturgy so much more striking. The omission of Psalm 42 and the doxologies during Passiontide makes us feel we are being stripped and humiliated with Christ. Theof the Agnus Dei at the Mass for the Dead reminds us (as do so many other details of the Requiem Mass) that we are offering up our prayers for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and not thinking of ourselves.[2] One thinks of the rare times in the year when genuflections are called for during the course of a Tract or a Gospel, such as during the octave of Epiphany or during Lent[3]; one thinks of the peculiarities of the Divine Office on All Souls or in Holy Weekexamples are numerous. These changes in an otherwise monolithic and highly determined pattern can be shattering in their psychological effect. It is like a great composer who knows how to use a touch of sharp dissonance that makes the prevailing consonance all the more powerful, or a great painter who adds a touch of bright red to an otherwise subdued canvas. The old liturgy shows a masterful grasp of how human psychology works.The same rationalistic instinct that multiplied the quantity of texts also abolished almost all such unique features and differentiations, so that there was a simultaneous flattening of rites into uniformity and an uncontrolled expansion of material in the lectionary and missal. Sadly, we can note that both the uniformity and the expansion are characteristic of industrial methods of mass production. Indeed, the word mass in contemporary English has two meanings: the density of matter and a widespread group of similarly-minded individuals. The modern Mass exhibits excess of material as well as a democratic leveling of difference within that material. This phenomenon has been demonstrated with regard to the revised lectionary, which, although many times larger than the old one-year lectionary, nevertheless contains less of the total breadth of Scriptures actual message because of its studied avoidance of any passages that could offend or be misunderstood.[4]But we have reason today to be of good cheer, for these problems are more and more widely acknowledged, and the only sensible solution to themthe restoration of the fullness of traditional Catholic worshipis gaining ground, even in spite of semi-official resistance. What will happen when the last barriers fall down is not difficult to predict. The traditional liturgyboth theand theis ideal for the life of prayer to which we are all called by God, and to which our baptism invisibly impels us. As a locus ofthe classic Roman rite stirs us to ponder and linger over particular phrases of Scripture or particular liturgical prayers hallowed by tradition and to make them the basis of a most fruitful meditation and preparation for Holy Communion. It will continue to gain ground, one prayerful soul after another, one seminarian, priest, or bishop at a time, one altar and parish to the next.[1] I speak here from personal experience. Although I had already attended theMass and had fallen in love with it at Thomas Aquinas College, I really came to know it well when, at the International Theological Institute in Austria, I was able to attend a daily 6:00 am Low Mass for several yearssomething, alas, that has not been possible for the past 10 years, and how I miss it! Going through that cycle day by day profoundly formed me and won my heart and mind over completely to the old prayers and calendar. I believe it would do the same for any serious Catholic who was given the grace of such consistent exposure. Later on, as I began to pray the old Divine Office, the connections were a cause of continual delight and strengthened my life of prayer. I know that a similar discovery happened for the monks of Norcia years ago when they finally saw that there was too much of a disjunct between the monastic office and the Novus Ordo Missae. In order to achieve an internal reconciliation of all their daily prayer, they chose the Vetus Ordo, albeit retaining an openness to celebrating the Novus Ordo when assisting local clergy or certain groups of pilgrims.[2] This in contrast to post-conciliar funerals and Masses for the dead, which are almost entirely focused on the living who are present, due to the assumption (often stated explicitly) that the deceased requires no prayers and is already rejoicing with all his friends and relatives in heaven. The traditional Requiem Mass in a severe manner orders the entire service to the benefit of the deceased soul, which is no doubt why it was particularly loathed by the reformers, both in the 16th century and in the 20th.[3] As I noticed in my article In Defense of Preserving Readings in Latin : Among the most moving and beautiful signs of the latreutic or adorational function of the readings in theare those times in the course of the liturgical year when the priest, ministers, and faithful genuflect during the reading of the Gospel at a passage that narrates some reality thatfor the total response of the believer, in body and soul. Thus, on Epiphany and during its octave, when the priest reads or chants that the Magi fell down and worshiped the Christ-child, he, and everyone with him, bends the knee in silent adoration. In Lenten Masses the priest kneels at the Tract; on the second Passion Sunday, the Finding of the Holy Cross, and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, at the Epistle (ut in nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur); and on a number of other occasions, such as at the third Mass of Christmas, when the Prologue of John is read; at the end of the Gospel for Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent (Jn 9:1-38); during the Alleluia before thesequence; and at votive Masses of the Holy Spirit, the Passion of the Lord, and Deliverance from Mortality.[4] See my article A Tale of Two Lectionaries: Quality versus Quantity and the further references given there. 3 Newport County teams are one win from playing for a title The playoffs are underway, and there are teams still alive, while others have been eliminated. Champaign, IL (61820) Today Rain showers early, then remaining overcast and windy later in the day. Morning high of 62F with temps falling to near 50. Winds SSW at 25 to 35 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Winds could occasionally gust over 50 mph.. Tonight Clear. Low 42F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. A man currently serving a 12-year sentence for impersonating a physician was sentenced this morning to an additional 120 months in federal prison for posing as a doctor after escaping from prison in 2000.Gerald Barnes, 70, was sentenced on his fifth conviction of impersonating a doctor. The 10-year sentence imposed by United States District Judge J. Spencer Letts in Los Angeles will run consecutive to both the 12-year sentence and a separate, previously imposed 2-year sentence for the escape. The prior sentences are not due to expire until June 2009.Barnes, who was born Gerald Barnbaum, claims to have legally changed his name in the 1970s to Gerald Barnes, the name of a licensed physician who was practicing in Stockton, California. After obtaining copies of Dr. Barnes school records and medical credentials, the fake Dr. Barnes used the documents to obtain employment at numerous medical clinics and offices in Southern California.As part of todays sentencing, Judge Letts ordered the defendant to stop using the name of Gerald Barnes, finding no evidence that the defendant had ever legally adopted that name.Barnes pleaded guilty in 1981 to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of a 29-year-old patient who died of complications from diabetes after being misdiagnosed by Barnes. He was convicted again in 1984 and 1989 on state charges of grand theft and writing fraudulent prescriptions. Upon each release from prison, Barnes resumed his impersonation of Dr. Barnes.In 1996, Barnes pleaded guilty to federal charges related to his ongoing impersonation of a physician. Prior to his arrest by federal agents, Barnes had been employed as the medical director of Executive Health Group, a Los Angeles clinic with a client list that included the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a number of major corporations. As a result of this conviction, Barnes was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.In August 2000, Barnes escaped from federal custody while being transferred from a prison in Taft, California, to one in Marion, Illinois. He immediately returned to Los Angeles, re-assumed the identity of Dr. Barnes, and obtained employment as a physician with Family Medical Center, a clinic with offices in Los Angeles and North Hollywood. Barnes continued working as a doctor, earning a salary of $10,000 per month, until he was arrested by United States Marshals on September 27, 2000. Barnes was subsequently prosecuted in Illinois on federal escape charges, which resulted in the 2-year sentence.When he pleaded guilty to the most recent case in September 2003, Barnes admitted impersonating Dr. Barnes to secure and maintain employment at Family Medical Center, where he examined and treated patients and wrote numerous prescriptions for controlled substances. Barnes also admitted using Dr. Barnes Social Security number and credit rating to purchase merchandise, including a new Mitsubishi Eclipse purchased for over $25,000. Barnes financed the entire purchase price and made no payments on the vehicle.At today's sentencing hearing, Judge Letts described Barnes' case as "extraordinary," noting that the defendant had been "incredibly successful" at portraying a physician, even at the age of 66. Despite Barnes' request for leniency in light of his age and claimed health problems, Judge Letts stated that he could not "in good conscience" impose anything less than a 10-year sentence.This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which received assistance from investigators with the California State Medical Board. The Drug Enforcement Agency provided specialized expertise during this investigation. http://www.usdoj.gov In new research published in the peer-reviewed journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research (embargoed until January 23 at 14:00 GMT), researchers in Israel found that cigarette smoking increased by almost 40% during compulsory military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). In a systematic sample of nearly 30,000 soldiers from 1987 to 2011, the prevalence of smoking grew from 26.2% at recruitment to 36.5% at discharge, a 39.4% increase. The researchers, from Tel Aviv University, the University of Haifa, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in cooperation with the IDF Medical Corps, say the increased smoking prevalence among military personnel, and the increase during military service, should act as a wake-up call to governments and health systems in countries lacking strong military tobacco control policies. The research was conducted by Dr. Laura Rosen of the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University; Dr. Hagai Levine from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public and Community Medicine; Dr. Salman Zarka from the University of Haifa; and Vladi Rozhavski, Tamar Sela, Dr. Yael Bar-Ze'ev, and Dr. Vered Molina-Hazan from the IDF Medical Corps. It was funded by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research. Former smoking and combat profiles are risk factors for smoking initiation Among nonsmokers at recruitment, 18% initiated smoking during service. Former smokers were at greatest risk: 56% began smoking during service. Men and women with combat profiles were also at an increased risk, after adjusting for personal, family, and military factors. Prevalence of smoking was greater among males at discharge (40.3%) than among females (32.4%), but the increase during service was similar. On the other hand, 12% of smokers at recruitment quit smoking during service. There were no clear trends over the decades regarding smoking prevalence at recruitment and discharge. There was a slight increase in smoking cessation during service among males. A tobacco control plan in the army is desperately needed Nearly a fifth of nonsmoking new recruits initiated smoking during service, and over half of former smokers relapsed to smoking. Because 50%- 65% of smokers die prematurely from smoking-related causes, the ongoing and future damage is enormous. The large increase in smoking during service, combined with high subsequent mortality of smokers, suggests that military tobacco control policy affects long-term survival of military personnel, and is an important contributor to population-wide mortality in countries such as Israel where a large percentage of individuals serve. Dr. Laura Rosen, Chair of the Department of Health Promotion in the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, said: "The use of tobacco harms IDF soldiers and security in general. The government and the Ministry of Health need to cooperate with the IDF, in order to reduce the number of soldiers who start smoking, to encourage soldiers to quit smoking, and to protect non-smokers from exposure to cigarette smoke. We should take an example from the United States, which conducted extensive changes to the smoking policy in its military, to protect its soldiers and to improve the readiness and performance of its combat units. " Dr. Hagai Levine, Head of the Environmental Health Track at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine, said: "The increase we found in the rate of smoking during compulsory military service is of great concern in light of the serious consequences for public health. We must concentrate our efforts in the war against smoking in order to protect the health of young men and women, and to coordinate civilian and military efforts in order to fight smoking throughout the life course. I hope that the IDF will adopt similar measures to those implemented successfully in other armies." The investigators recommend the creation of a central tobacco control body with comprehensive tobacco control policy, similar to programs in the U.S. military. The following steps are recommended: enforcement of smoking bans in public areas; prevention of supply of free or reduced-cost cigarettes to soldiers; prevention and treatment of tobacco dependence tailored for the military environment; monitoring of personal and army-wide smoking status. The investigators also recommend that commanders disseminate health messages and no-smoking messages through personal example, particularly in combat units and during combat operations. A special program should target former smokers, given the high chance of returning to smoking. Special attention should be paid to those who score higher in their recruitment profiles, who often end up serving in combat units where the smoking rate is higher. The dramatic increase in smoking during military service presents a window of opportunity for changes in health behaviors, and suggests a need for a multi-year war on tobacco among soldiers, in order to protect their health and military fitness. The study also showed that smoking is already problem prior to recruitment, which adds urgency to the call for national efforts to prevent smoking initiation, which could be coordinated with the Ministries of Education and Defense. A team of researchers that has confirmed the presence of bacteria in a woman's vagina and cervix may either increase the risk of premature birth or have a protective effect against it, has won the March of Dimes Award for Best Abstract on Prematurity at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting. The findings will be presented Thursday, January 26, at 1:15 p.m. PST at Caesars Palace Augustus Ballroom in Las Vegas. Michal Elovitz, M.D., and colleagues at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Maryland studied 2,000 pregnant women, taking vaginal swabs at three distinct time points in pregnancy, and performed analyses on the specimens to determine the microbial colonies that were present. They found that the presence of many bacteria actually conferred a lower risk of spontaneous preterm birth while other bacteria were associated with a significant increased risk. The bacteria associated with spontaneous preterm birth, in conferring either protection or risk, were different between African-American and non-African-American women. Premature birth (before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is the #1 killer of babies in the United States and the leading cause of death in children under age 5 around the world. Babies who survive an early birth often face serious and lifelong health problems, including breathing problems, jaundice, vision loss, cerebral palsy and intellectual delays. In addition to the human toll, preterm birth accounts for more than $26 billion annually in avoidable medical and societal costs, according to the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Elovitz, who is professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania, vice chair of Translational Research and Director of the Maternal and Child Health Research Center at PENN, says doctors have been frustrated by the lack of treatments that reliably prevent premature birth. Furthermore, she says, clinicians currently have no good screening test to determine which women are at highest risk for preterm birth. In the quest for a new approach to the problem of prematurity, she began to engage with leading researchers in other fields such as bioengineering, immunology, pharmacology and microbiology. "Although conventional wisdom says premature birth begins in the uterus, we decided to take an entirely new look at the problem," she says. Dr. Elovitz and her colleagues decided to investigate whether the initiation of preterm birth might begin in the cervicovaginal space, specifically leading to early changes in the cervix. "We started with the hypothesis that there is some difference in the molecular, biological, biochemical and/or microbial events in cervicovaginal space in women who ultimately have a premature birth compared to women who ultimately have a full term baby," she says. Dr. Elovitz has been able to pursue this line of research as a co-investigator for the March of Dimes Prematurity Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania as well as through her National Institutes of Health funded studies. In a study titled "Motherhood and the Microbiome," funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, Dr. Elovitz and her team were able to target one part of this hypothesis by studying the cervicovaginal microbial communities in a large prospective cohort of pregnant women. "We are very excited to report that we did find significant differences in the microbial communities early in pregnancy in women who ultimately have a preterm birth compared to a term birth," she says. "Different bacterial species were associated with quite a dramatic increased risk of premature birth. If our study is confirmed, it could mean that targeting CV bacteria may be a new therapy to prevent premature birth in the immediate future, not decades from now." Edward R.B. McCabe, MD, PhD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the March of Dimes, agreed. "From these data, we may learn how to prevent preterm birth either by eliminating the CV bacteria that are associated with an increased risk and/or by enhancing the presence of protective bacteria. This is a promising new area that should become a research priority," he says. A new Norwegian study shows new mechanisms behind Parkinson's disease, which can be key mechanisms for future treatment. More than 10 million people worldwide have Parkinson's disease. The cause of Parkinson's disease is unknown and thus no effective treatments exist. A study from the University of Bergen (UiB) suggests that the secret of the disease may lie in the mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell. "We hope that our findings may be the key to a future treatment. There is generally very little knowledge about the mechanisms causing Parkinson's disease. Now, we are a step closer to understanding these mechanisms and we may have a target to strike at for therapy" says neurologist Dr Charalampos Tzoulis who directed the study at UiB's Department of Clinical Medicine and Haukeland University Hospital. Aging of the brain The problem, it seems, is that the microscopic powerhouses found in our brain cells are not able to adapt to the effects of aging in people who get Parkinson's disease. Mitochondria contain their own DNA, which tell them how to build their power generators. "It is known that the DNA of mitochondria is damaged during aging, causing failure in the power generators, lack of energy and disease," says Tzoulis. Comparing brain cells In their study, Tzoulis' team compared brain cells from healthy aged persons to those of individuals with Parkinson's disease. The researchers discovered that brain cells of healthy persons are able to compensate for the age-induced damage by producing more DNA in their mitochondria. This protective mechanism is weakened in individuals with Parkinson's disease leading to a loss of the mitochondria's healthy DNA population. "I believe we have discovered an essential biological mechanism that normally preserves and protects the brain from aging related damage. Intriguingly, this mechanism appears to fail in persons with Parkinson's disease rendering their brain more vulnerable to the effects of aging" Tzoulis explains. In a study to be presented Friday, Jan. 27, in the oral concurrent session at 1:15 p.m. PST, at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, researchers with the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Houston, Texas partnered with the Maternal-Fetal Unit, CEDIFETAL, Centro de Diagnostico de Ultrasonido e Imagenes, CEDIUL, Barranquilla, Columbia and the Unidad De Fertildad Y Genetica De Cartagena, Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, to create the study, Characterization of brain malformations and volume assessment in fetuses with Zika Virus infection using MRI. Researchers assessed fetal brain findings and volumetric composition with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of confirmed Zika virus infected fetuses from the recent outbreak in Barranquilla, Columbia. The fetuses were screened throughout gestation, finding brian anomalies at 29 weeks gestation. "Up until our study, there have not been any reports focused on detailed brain imaging from the Zika outbreak in Colombia," stated Magdalena Sanz-Cortes, M.D., Ph.D. with Baylor College of Medicine's department of obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Texas Children's Pavilion for Women and presenter of the study at the SMFM annual meeting. The researchers found a reduction in brain tissue and increased amount of fluid that was most pronounced in the upper brain. "Microcephaly does not happen in all Zika cases," Sanz-Cortes explained, referring to the small head size that has been characterized as a Zika symptom. The findings were similar to the findings of infected babies in Brazil. "This research has filled a gap of knowledge for us," Sanz-Cortes continued, "these results support the recent notion that we should not rely on microcephaly to determine if a fetus or newborn has contracted the Zika Virus." Later start times could help Canadian teens' grades and health, research indicates Delaying school start times could help Canadian teenagers sleep better - giving them a better chance for success, according to McGill University researchers. In a study published in the Journal of Sleep Research, the researchers found that students from schools that started earlier slept less, were less likely to meet the national sleep recommendations for their age, and were more often tired in the morning. The findings help explain why, according to recent data, one in three Canadian teenagers don't get enough sleep. "It is time that we have a conversation about school start time in Canada," says lead author Genevieve Gariepy, a post-doctoral student in McGill's Institute of Health and Social Policy. Fighting biology "The problem is that early school start times conflict with the natural circadian clock of teenagers," Gariepy says. "As teenagers go through puberty, their circadian clock gets delayed by two to three hours. By the time they reach junior high, falling asleep before 11 p.m. becomes biologically difficult, and waking up before 8 a.m. is a struggle. Adolescents are fighting biology to get to school on time." Previous research internationally has shown that teenagers who are sleep-deprived do worse at school, have more health problems, and are more vulnerable to depression, anxiety and behavioural problems. The McGill researchers used Canadian data covering 30,000 students from 362 schools across Canada, from a cross-national survey conducted every four years in more than 40 countries in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Later start times, better sleep Start times in the Canadian schools ranged from around 8:00 to 9:30. "We found a strong association between later school start times and better sleep for teens," says Prof. Frank Elgar, co-author of the study. "Changing school start times involves consultations among various stakeholders, and logistical issues such as bus schedules," Gariepy notes. "But these challenges can be overcome. A later school start-time policy has the potential to benefit a lot of students." By clicking "Allow All" you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyse site usage and support us in providing free open access scientific content. More info. After the launch of the new KTM RC200 and RC 390, KTM is now mulling over bringing the 390 Adventure to India.Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj has confirmed that the adventure tourer has already been finalised, but did not specify when will it arrive in India, according to a report on Autocar India.Details on the adventure tourer have not been released, however it is speculated to come with the same 373cc single-cylinder engine fitted to the RC and the Duke 390.It could have a revised version of the new two-piece trellis frame that will also be seen on the Dukes due for launch. This frame will likely be used with a sturdy box-frame swingarm, a different head-stock, wire-spoke wheels (in a 19"-17" configuration) and more suspension travel to handle off-road duties.Considering that the bike will focus on off-road capabilities, it is likely to get a strong skid plate under the engine and a high-mounted exhaust.It may be revealed at this years EICMA show in November, and possibly be launched by early 2018. It will rival adventure tourers like the Royal Enfield Himalayan and the soon-to-be-launched BMW G310 GS in India. Shouldnt be any injustice to anyone,police personnel already present there(Bastar)for security: Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh on Bela Bhatia pic.twitter.com/OlfBvu4IbD ANI (@ANI_news) January 24, 2017 Activist Bela Bhatia was allegedly threatened by a group of 30 men who barged into her home and asked to leave the region in Chhattisgarhs Bastar, the Indian Express reported on Tuesday.They threatened to burn down the house she rents and forced Bhatia and her landlady to sign an undertaking that she would vacate the house within a day.This comes two days after Bhatia visited villages in Bijapur district with a National Human Rights Commission team that recorded statements of women who had allegedly been the victims of rape, physical and sexual assault by security personnel between October 2015 and January 2016.Two weeks ago, the NHRC had issued an interim order stating that 16 women were victims of such acts. In November 2015, Bhatia was one of the activists who had entered villages deep inside Bijapur, facilitated the registration of FIRs and brought the alleged incidents to public attention.Bhatia lives in Parpa village on the outskirts of Jagdalpur, Bastar district headquarters. Chhattisgarh police said the men were residents of Pandripani in Parpa who were holding a virodh pradarshan and had dispersed once personnel arrived. They added that a 15-member police team has been deployed for Bhatias security.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Raman Singh reacted to the development and said that security has been provided to prevent anything untoward.A group of around 30 men arrived on motorcycles and a white SUV in the morning. They said I would have to leave the house immediately or they would burn the place. They were threatening the landlady, too, that she must see to it that I move out immediately, Bhatia told the Indian Express.My landlord and his sons had been called to the police station several times last week on different pretexts, and they had already communicated to me that I must leave. There has been a conscious attempt to manufacture discord between me and the residents of the village, she added.Bhatias partner, economist Jean Dreze, told The Indian Express that another group had similarly arrived at her home after 1 am on Saturday night. They shouted at her to leave the house, but the door was locked and they couldnt gain entry. On Monday, they were much more hostile, and threatened to burn the house. Under duress, she had to sign a piece of paper, along with her landlady that she would leave in a day, he said.Bastar District Magistrate Amit Kataria told the paper that he received a call from Bhatia that her home had been surrounded, and immediately sent a police force. New Delhi: The much-anticipated visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India is likely to be delayed further, top Bangladeshi officials indicated in the capital. "Both the prime ministers (Narendra Modi and Hasina) have been busy and she herself had been very busy with meetings and (WEF at) Davos. So, we have not finalised any date as of now," a source said. Asked if the visit would be happening sometime in February as expected, he said, "We are still not sure about it. Maybe, we will having a meeting next week and work out on the dates." During Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar's visit to Dhaka last month, Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim had said she (Hasina) has plans to visit India and officials of the two countries would work out the schedule. Hasina was earlier expected to leave for New Delhi on December 18 to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues with her Indian counterpart Modi, but the plan got postponed. The postponement had come amid speculation in the media in Dhaka that it was not a suitable time to discuss Teesta water sharing issue given the preoccupation of the government post-demonetisation. A source in the Prime Minister's Office in Dhaka and three Awami League policymakers had in December said the Teesta issue requires the consent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is protesting the NDA's government's demonetisation move. Since Mamata has overtly expressed her dissatisfaction, the Bangladesh administration, keeping everything in mind, realised that it was not a suitable time to discuss the Teesta issue, the Dhaka Tribune reported last month. Hasina, early December had told reporters in Dhaka, "I am going to India, I am not going with any conditions... discussion is on for Teesta river water sharing and we are hopeful". In October, Modi had met Hasina on the sidelines of BRICS- BIMSTEC Outreach Summit in Goa. At the invitation of Hasina, Modi visited Bangladesh in June 2015. "We are at fortunate phase of our history and we hope there will be no obstacles to future solution... The horizon of bilateral relations has become a sunrise horizon," Akbar said at an event in Delhi on Monday. A senior Bangladeshi official said, "We (India and Bangladesh) have to take note of each other's sensitivities and vulnerabilities and sustain dialogues with an open mind." The Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a detailed charge-sheet against absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya and others in the Rs 1,300 crore loan default involving the defunct Kingfisher Airlines and IDBI here on Tuesday, an official said.The 1,000-plus page charge-sheet has alleged the losses to the public sector bank by virtue of sanctioning loans to Mallya's airlines without following proper procedures.The loans of Rs 750 crore, Rs 200 crore and Rs 150 crore pertained to repayment of pending aircraft dues and party repayment of loans owed to another public sector bank.It has said the airlines managed to secure the loans in collusion with IDBI officials and part of the loan was diverted for "personal uses".The CBI has accused "omissions and commissions" on the part of the bank officials, including its former chairman Yogesh Agarwal, and said the loans were sanctioned despite poor credit ratings and falling financial health of the airline.The CBI said that further investigations are on in the case and a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya has been issued which was in the process of being executed.Besides, it has sent letters rogatory to Singapore and the British Virgin Islands to find out the details of the bank accounts of Kingfisher Airlines in those countries.The CBI also produced former IDBI chief Yogesh Agarwal, who was arrested from New Delhi on Monday, and others before the Special CBI Court and they were remanded to custody till February 7.Seeking their custody, the CBI said they are influential persons who may flee the country like the "absconder accused" Mallya who had already fled, and may tamper with the evidence.The CBI has invoked various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against all the accused, who have applied for bail.Senior Counsel Amit Desai and lawyer Rajiv Chavan representing the accused sought interim bail for their clients.The CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami asked time till Monday to file the agency's reply to the bail application. The Special Court fixed January 30 as the date for the next hearing. New Delhi: Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar, whose tenure was scheduled to end on January 28, has been given a second extension of his term by one year, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet said in a notification on Monday. According to the notification, Jaishankar's term has been extended from January 29, 2017 until January 28, 2018. Jaishankar, a 1977-batch IFS officer and who is widely known to have the ear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was appointed Foreign Secretary on January 29, 2015, a couple of days before his retirement, replacing Sujatha Singh, who resigned in protest seven months before her date of superannuation. Jaishankar is known for his proximity to both Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his experience of having served as Ambassador in China and the US stands him in good stead. With Donald Trump taking over as the US President, Jaishankar's experience will be invaluable in dealing with the new administration. He has already been to Washington and met key members of the Trump transition team prior to the US presidential inauguration on January 20. Jaishankar, a known workaholic who, according to insiders, often sleeps in night on his office couch, has been an astute articulator of the Modi foreign policy vision. Patna: A week after Bihar police alleged sabotage behind the Patna-Indore express train, the Ministry of Home Affairs has handed over probe in the Ghorasan(Motihari) case. It is alleged that ISI planted a bomb on railway tracks at Ghorasahan in East Champaran district on October first last year to cause an accident. The tragedy though was averted. Bihar police had alleged that ISI had hired Hindu criminals to carry out a spate of train derailments from Kanpur to Motihari and the conspiracy was revealed when one of the alleged conspirators confessed after arrest. NIA teams have already begun preliminary probe and sources say the focus is on Dubai-based ISI agent Shamshul Huda. Moti Paswan, the man arrested by Bihar police, has reportedly confessed that ISI routed money through Shamshul Huda to carry out derailments in India. According to sources, Huda is a known operative of fake Indian currency and has a network in Nepal. Police investigations in Nepal and Bihar have revealed that Huda through his Nepali agent Brij Giri paid Paswan and his aides three lakh rupees to carry out blasts on train track in Kanpur. Top government sources say Nepal has asked Dubai to extradite Huda who is also wanted on murder charges in Nepal. Indian government agencies, sources say, are in touch with Nepal on the issue. Inspite of these revelations, the union ministry of home affairs has decided to hand over only the Ghorasahan(Motihari) case to NIA. 'If during course of its enquiry NIA detects a larger conspiracy, then Kanpur and hirakud derailments will become part of their investigations," a top MHA officer told CNN news18. Speaking on Jallikattu violence, Tamil actor Kamal Haasan on Tuesday said the mass protest demonstrated on Marina beach was a symbol of discontent among Tamil people. The actor said, The agitation was a symbol of their discontent. I was a part of Hindi agitation; it was not against Hindi or people. We knew Gandhi Ji and Nehru Ji spoke in Hindi. It was on pressing the language on us and making us illiterate, It was about us losing government jobs. It was a series of events. Everybody was making inflammatory speeches. This whole agitation came out of inflammation. I am just looking at the system from the media angle. We took it for too long. It cannot be sudden. I think we found a reason in Jallikattu, he added. Hours after the Panneerselvam-led Tamil Nadu government on Monday passed the Jallikattu Bill, a police crackdown on young protesters at the Marina beach in the state triggered widespread violence. Stay tuned for live updates: Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. Raipur: Civil rights activist and researcher Bela Bhatia, who was threatened by dozens of men late Monday evening, has reiterated she will not leave insurgency-hit Bastar in the face of intimidation and will continue to work for the people. I will not be leaving Bastar and will continue to work for protecting the rights of voiceless and marginalized communities. Since November last year, a propaganda is being done against me that I have complained to police that people here are manufacturing liquor, said Bela Bhatia, who is the wife of Belgian born economist Jean Dreaze. "As of now, I am just leaving my current address but not Bastar," she added. Meanwhile, Bastar SP, Rajendra Dash, claimed a police team was rushed to Pandripani village to provide security to Bela Bhatia after reports that villagers have staged demonstration outside her house. "Police will protect Bhatia's democratic rights despite she is being accused of sympathising with Maoists," added Dash. Notably, the activist was threatened by dozens of men on Monday and was asked to vacate her rented house. The miscreants also took an undertaking from her that she will leave one just one day. This comes two days after Bhatia visited villages in Bijapur district with a National Human Rights Commission team that recorded statements of women who had allegedly been the victims of rape, physical and sexual assault by security personnel between October 2015 and January 2016. Two weeks ago, the NHRC had issued an interim order stating that 16 women were victims of such acts. In November 2015, Bhatia was one of the activists who had entered villages deep inside Bijapur, facilitated the registration of FIRs and brought the alleged incidents to public attention Strongly condemning the attack on Bela Bhatia, social activist Swami Agnivesh asked Chhattisgarh as well as Central government to ensure elaborate security to the researcher. "Moreover, the government should immediately remove IG SRP Kalluri from Bastar and take legal action against him on charges of violating Supreme Court directives and violation of Human Rights," said Agnivesh. Demanding immediate arrest of attackers, Chhattisgarh CPI (Marxist) Secretary, Sanjay Parate, alleged that the mask assailants were backed by the state government and police. "Those people were backed by police which are targeting organizations and people actively working to protect the interest and rights of tribal people in Bastar," Parate said. Parate further said that Bela Bhatia is targeted because she is continuously raising the issues of sexual harassment of tribal women in the region by security personnel and helping NHRC to investigation the police excesses. Vadodara: One person died and two policemen were injured after police lathicharged a crowd going berserk following the arrival of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan at the train station here. Khan arrived in Vadodara onboard the August Kranti Rajdhani Express on Monday to promote his new film Raees. The deceased has been identified as Farid Khan Pathan of Hatikhana area of Vadodara, who arrived at the railway platform with his wife and daughter to catch a glimpse of the actor. Two constables of the Railway police also collapsed during the chaos and are undergoing treatment. Officials at the railway police control room here said, "At around 10.30 PM the train arrived at platform number six of the station and halted for 10 minutes." "Shah Rukh's fans had gathered in large number to have a glimpse of the actor who had boarded the train from Mumbai and is going to Delhi as part of the promotional campaign for his film," railway police said. Pathan was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Earlier, reports said he felt suffocated during a stampede at the railway station and then suffered a heart attack. "The crowd went berserk when the train halted and began banging its window panes and even falling on top of each other. Police had to resort to mild lathicharge to control the crowd. When the train started moving, people started running along with it," officials said. (With agency inputs) New Delhi: Expressing hope that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will work together for global peace, exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists the Dalai Lama said the world needs more leaders with compassion, while addressing the FICCI Ladies Organisation in New Delhi. He said the world is headed towards peace and non-violence as countries including Japan and European Union are working towards peace and nuclear disarmament, and hopes Trump and Putin will come closer and work towards creating global peace. Stressing over the need for peace to prevail across the globe, he called for dialogues with a sense of concern at all levels for solving problems of violence in the world, further reiterating the importance of dialogue over violence and how the leaders across the globe must work towards making this a century of dialogue and not one of violence. "World is moving towards peace and non violence as using force has become outdated world wide. I hope newly elected US president Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will come closer and work towards creating global peace .", said His holiness The Dalai Lama . The Dalai Lama, who has met former US presidents, including four meetings with Barack Obama, had said in Mongolia in November that he had 'no worries' about Trump's election as US president and looked forward to meeting him after he took office. His exchanges and dialogues have not been received too well by Beijing and Dalai Lama has also been allegedly accused of trying to split Tibet from China in the past. Refuting all accusations hurled at him, The Dalai Lama had earlier appealed to Tibet to remain under Chinese rule, but with an emphasis on stronger protection for its traditional Buddhist culture and more active political participation by Tibetans. The Dalai Lama, at the event, also underlined the need to encourage more women leaders, emphasizing on how they are more compassionate and sensitive towards others and why the world needs more leaders with compassion as compassion towards others builds trust and loyalty. He said that women are biologically more sensitive towards others, implying that world could definitely do with more women leaders. We must take steps wherever necessary to improve educational opportunities with emphasis on secularism and hygiene for all, especially women, so everyone lives a healthy life, the Dalai Lama said while addressing the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) in New Delhi. The leader called for the need to develop compassion and warmheartedness to survive in the exceedingly inter-dependent world. "We should all develop inner value of compassion as all religions in common teach us cultivating love and compassion. Although they advocate different philosophical views, purpose of every religion is to ultimately support the practice of love and compassion.", he said, adding that there is a dire need to focus on oneness and equality of all human beings, alleviating completely the ideology that promotes us and them which leads to nothing but conflict. Thank you @EyeOfJackieChan for giving this film to my Chedi Singh @SonuSood . This is the coolest : https://t.co/Nl0qk742pl Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) January 17, 2017 Bhai, @beingsalmankhan I have an unusual power packed surprise for you!! See you soon in India Pandeji Hum aah rahe hai. @eyeofjackiechan A video posted by Sonu Sood (@sonu_sood) on Jan 19, 2017 at 5:22am PST Jackie Chan is in India to promote his upcoming film Kung Fu Yoga co-starring Disha Patani and Sonu Sood. The actor, who landed in India on Monday morning, received a warm welcome at the Mumbai airport.Bollywood's superstar Salman Khan has often made news for promoting films of his co-actors and this time he has chosen to promote Sonu Sood-Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga in his own special way. Salman took to Twitter a few days back and thanked Jackie for offering this film to his Dabangg co-star 'Chedi'. He wrote, "Thank you @EyeOfJackieChan for giving this film to my Chedi Singh @SonuSood . This is the coolest".As a reply to Salman, Jackie promised him to meet him when he visits India and the action star kept his word.Salman took to Twitter and shared an adorable photo from their meeting last night. The two of them are all smiles as they pose with their Panda toys.Kung Fu Yoga is one of the three Sino-Indian co-productions being made as part of an agreement between the two countries. Mumbai: Iconic actor and filmmaker Jackie Chan, who arrived here on Monday for promoting his upcoming Sino-Indian film Kung Fu Yoga, says he would like to act in Bollywood films and loves Indian culture, food and people. "I want to do a Bollywood film, is there any director to hire me," quipped Jackie Chan at the press conference here. "I do not want to do any action-comedy films. I am interested in doing romantic Indian films! You know 11 years ago, I tried to do a Bollywood film but that was so melodramatic and I could not fit into that. But now I think I can," he added. The film also features actor Sonu Sood, who said: "I think during the shooting of the film, Jackie used to get excited whenever we shot for the dance sequences, he would get ready wearing Indian clothes and would start dancing even before the camera rolled." Directed by Stanley Tong, the film Kung Fu Yoga also features Bollywood actors Amyra Dastur, Disha Patani along with Sonu, who is also the distributor of the film. The cast of the film was present at the JW Marriot along with the director Stanley Tong. Actor Shilpa Shetty introduced Jackie on stage. As it was a very emotional moment for Shilpa when Jackie entered the stage with his arms folded in 'Namaste' the actress touched his feet saying, "Being an actress I never had this kind of a fan-girl moment. I am feeling blessed to share the stage with Jackie sir." Asked if he watched Bollywood cinema before this collaboration, Jackie said: "I started watching Sonu Sood's movie after meeting him as I wanted to know him." "Honestly, as a kid though I used to watch Bollywood movies, neither I understood the language nor those dance music scenes that never interest me. But I think in last 15 years, things have changed a lot. There is good technology, great fight sequences, actions and lot more. I think it is probably one of the best in the world," Jackie answered on being asked if he likes Bollywood films. Jackie Chan is playing the character of a renowned professor of archaeology at the Terracotta Warriors Museum in Xi'an, China, who teams up with young Indian professor Ashmita (played by Amyra Dastur) and assistant Kyra (played by Disha Patani) to locate the lost Magadha treasure of India in Tibet. The film Kung Fu Yoga is scheduled for release in China on January 28 and in India on February 3. Nominations for the 89th annual Academy Awards have been announced, and yes, the best from Hollywood has made the cut. La La Land has earned nods for best picture, its stars Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, its songs and its 32-year-old writer-director, Damien Chazelle. The other nominees for best picture are: Moonlight, Arrival, Manchester by the Sea, Hell or High Water, Lion, Fences, Hidden Figures and Hacksaw Ridge. Quebec filmmaker Villeneuves Arrival bagged eight nods, which included best picture and best director. Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs was joined by Demian Bichir, Dustin Lance Black, Glenn Close, Guillermo del Toro, Marcia Gay Harden, Terrence Howard, Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, Jason Reitman, Gabourey Sidibe, and Ken Watanabe to declare the 24 award categories through a pre-taped video footage that have been shot in six cities around the globe. The 89th Oscars will take place on February 26 and will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. If the trend in the recent years is anything to go by, its fairly clear that the filmmakers not only need good films, but also want to focus on films that come with incredible marketing campaigns and ground-breaking advertising. So as the need to help a film rake in huge moolah stop depending on just one trailer and maybe a bit more than that sees a spurt, filmmakers are thinking of every possible way that promises cinematic enjoyment.When Shah Rukh Khan decided to taken on a train journey covering a few cities in India including Hyderabad, Delhi, Mathura and Vadodara to promote Raees, everybody felt that it would work. But little did he know that the marketing strategy would turn tragic. For the uninitiated, SRK's fans had gathered in large number at Vadodara station to watch their favourite star, who had boarded the train from Mumbai and was going to Delhi as part of the promotional campaign for his film. The crowd went out of control when the train halted and some of them started banging window panes. Police had to resort to mild lathicharge to control the situation. And during the incident, one person died and two policemen injured.Heres a lowdown on the promotional campaigns for Bollywood films that were not just wacky, but also weird and went totally wrong.To create huge buzz for Ghajini, Aamir Khan decided to become part of a weird promotional campaign. Aamir, who had sported a unique hairdo in the film, decided to use the promotion campaign around it. A competition was held in IMAX Mumbai.Imagine jalebi-making sessions in some sweet shop! Well, thats what the makers of the film thought would help the film. The reason? Song Jalebi Bai was a part of the film!Many might not remember but this film featured Shahid Kapoor and Genelia Dsouza in key roles. To promote the film, a unique strategy was made which didnt look very appealing. The lead actors spent the entire night in a car which was surrounded by media!While promoting the film, Vidya Balan decided to dress up as a beggar and sat among them outside the Hyderabad Railway Station. Reportedly, a woman, who mistook her for a beggar, scolded her for not working. Vidya also fooled Hrithik Roshan.The press conference was similar to a scene from of a horror film. Besides Emraan Hashmi performing a few weird acts, he was joined by the leading ladies- Huma Qureshi, Kalki Koechlin and Konkona Sen Sharma who came in the garb of witches.For the film, games with the theme of Ra.One and merchandises resembling Ra.One characters were launched by SRK.Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoors promotional campaign for their love story in the film was amazing. Alia posted an invitation card on her Twitter handle, inviting fans to her engagement ceremony with Arjun Kapoor.During the films promotions. a shocking video featuring Arjun Kapoor as he slapped a Radio Jockey was made viral.The multi-starrer film featuring Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin, Farhan Akhtar and Katrina Kaif had an interesting campaign too. They carried out a real-life road trip in the city of Mumbai and Delhi.Salman Khan to make sure hid film Bajrangi Bhaijaan a super hit not only appeared on several television soaps, such as Qubool Hai and Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma, but also participated in a Facebook chat made exclusively for female fans. New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday reiterated that political parties cannot seek votes in the name of religion, caste etc. as it will amount to a "corrupt practice sufficient to annul the election" under the electoral laws. In a letter addressed to the office bearers of all recognised national and state political parties, the EC referred to a January 2, 2017 Supreme Court ruling that said that an appeal to voters in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language is "impermissible". "An appeal in the name of religion, race, caste, community or language is impermissible under the Representation of the People Act, l95l, and would constitute a corrupt practice sufficient to annul the election," the SC had observed in its verdict. The poll panel has asked the parties to "suitably brief and inform their lower formations and party cadres and all their candidates about the ruling of the Supreme Court" and ask them to desist from any activities that would amount to soliciting votes in the name of religion, caste, etc. in any manner, "in their own interest and in the interest of the party". "Such appeals may also fall within the ambit of sub-paras(3) and (4) of Part-l of the Model Code of Conduct," the EC warned. The Election Commission also made it clear that pictures of constitutional authorities cannot be used for electoral purposes as they cannot be associated with a particular political party. The directions of the Commission came after the President's Secretariat pointed out that the photographs of the President and Vice-President are being used by political parties, their leaders and candidates in advertisements as part of their election propaganda and urged the poll watchdog to issue "suitable instruction" in this regard. The Ludhiana unit of Congress in an election campaign meeting last week had put up hoardings in which they use photograph and name of President Mukherjee. "It is pertinent to mention here that the President is the guardian of the Constitution and completely apolitical and neutral in the democratic set up as envisaged in our Constitution. It is, therefore, necessary that the political parties and leaders exercise great caution while making any reference to the President of India in their political campaigns," the EC said. It made it clear that photographs of President and Vice-President of India, as also the photographs of the Governor of the states, should not be associated with or used in any manner in the advertisement/propaganda/campaigning in connection with elections by political parties and candidates. A copy of the Commission's directions has also been marked to the President's Secretariat. The Election Commission might have settled the claims and counter claims of Samajwadi factions without controversies, but now AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal is training his guns on EC. Quoting a another tweet that claimed money was being distributed in Punjab to win votes, Kejriwal tweeted: "EC fails to stop this. EC prevents me from saying: 'Take money from them n vote 4 us'. EC's message: 'vote 4 those who give u money'. The poll season has begun and EC is becoming a target, raising questions at the panels authority. Last week, BJP's SangeetSom kicked up a row when his campaign vehicle played a video allegedly pitting Hindus against Muslims. EC censured him, but his political opponents cry the punishment was just a rap on his knuckles. News18's Debayan Roy approached two former Chief Election Commissioners (CEC) of India TS Krishnamurthy (2004-2005) and N Gopalaswami (2006-2009) with the same set of questionnaires on is the panel failing to stamp its authority. Here is what they said: EC has censured Kejriwal for his statement on poll corruption as well as BJP MP Sakshi Maharajs allegedly communal speech. Two provocations of two different kinds, with varied ramifications, but the punishment is same. How does being censured regardless of its ramifications help? N. Gopalaswami: You are not looking at the other action where penal provisions are also invoked. In the case of Sakshi Maharaj, sections from the Indian Penal Code and The Representation of Peoples Act will have to be invoked. But any plenary action has to be initiated by the court of law. Censure is definitely not a substitute to the penalty imposed by the penal sections of substantive Indian laws. But if members of a political party are censured a number of times then the concerned political party is served a notice stating that the party is not abiding by the rules and regulations agreed upon while registering the party and suitable action can be taken against them. Taking an action against the party is within the ambit of EC but reprimanding them according to penal laws is up to the courts. For the EC, when a leader is censured, its not him that we censure but the party which is warned. T.S. Krishnamurthy: Election Commission of India generally censures offenders in the case of first offence in the hope that the censured person would behave better. Normally censures are given after giving an opportunity to the party concerned so that the view of the person is obtained. So long as the offence is a minor, Censure has an impact. If the offence is serious then censures may not be adequate. That would depend upon the circumstances of the case. Do you think the censure is justified or are we reading too much into a political speech? Gopalaswami: No, no, no. The very fact that he supported the idea of being bribed or taking bribe shows that he supports the concept and I think it was a correct measure to issue him a notice and then censure him. If he would have said that "Do not accept bribe from anyone and vote for me" then there would have been no offence. Krishnamurthy: In my opinion if any person invokes religion to influence voters such persons should be after enquiry disqualified from campaigning in election for one or two years apart from filing a police complaint under IPC & Representation of People's Act. Perhaps the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) needs to be amended. The Law Ministry has rejected ECs request to insert a new section, 58B, to grant it permanent legal powers to take action if voters of a constituency are bribed by political parties. Do you think there is a need for such an amendment? Gopalaswami: It has to be understood that penal powers cannot be given to the Election Commission. You cannot substitute EC for the courts and strike at the basic separation of powers. Penal powers have been reserved for the judiciary. Having said this, EC has its own set of powers too, like if the EC comes to know that a corrupt practice like bribery is taking place then the elections can be cancelled in that place as was the case in Tamil Nadu. But disqualifying the political party leaders is again under the jurisdiction of the courts. Courts may find certain leaders guilty of violating provisions of the IPC, RP Act, which might result in the disqualification of the guilty leader. Krishnamurthy: Well I think ECI needs certain powers to disqualify voters/candidates who violate the Model Code of conduct. In fact some aspects of Model Code of Conduct may have to be given legal shape. It is only because of this that such ambiguities are arising. NGOs that monitor elections say that EC limit on expenditure for polling candidates is a joke. For eg: Limit for electoral spending by a MLA in UP is 16 lakhs but NGOs claim that a winning candidate ends up spending several crores. Gopalaswami: This is an eternal dilemma of the EC. The panel only recommends to increase or decrease the ceiling of expenditure by the political parties but the parliament can easily go ahead and disregard such recommendations and remove any sort of ceiling from election expenditure. We are all pretending to be socialists. Every politician would want to be called as a socialist thinker. There is a saying in Tamil. You pretend that you are beating and I will pretend that I am crying. In this case too, EC pretends that it has proposed a ceiling to election expenditure and Parliament pretends to accept such a recommendation, both knowing well that such ceilings will never be adhered to. For a change, EC should now puncture the socialist concerns of all sectors and accept that this menace cannot be controlled. How do you think EC will able to monitor the issue of bribery? If there is one crook and nine policemen, then the crook can be nabbed, but if there are nine crooks and one policeman then it is impossible to get hold of him. Bribes are usually paid in different ways like under the nose or in form of coupons where people can use it to purchase things from a shop. You cannot ask EC to do something which they cannot manage and then blame the institution. I was the CEC during the 2007 UP elections. We successfully controlled the menace of booth capturing and bogus voting. It was only possible because we could track the officials who manage booths as they are on a contract basis, plus the guns which are used during booth capturing can be differentiated as a private gun or a public gun thereby helping us to understand who the miscreants were. But such a thing is not possible for bribery because if EC goes and says that vote according to conscience and reject the bribe of Rs2,000, then the leader will increase the amount to Rs 4,000 thereby making the electorate fall prey to it. In UP alone, I had to deploy 4, 50,000 additional paramilitary force during the seven phase polls and it is indeed a matter of great shame that a country which calls itself democratic have elections at gun point, does not matter whether it is a private gun or a public gun. In US, UK, no where do you find armed personnel near a polling booth? Hence it is useless to blame the EC. No one really bribes out of philanthropy. They know that after investing Rs20 they will win and they can again mint back the money. Krishnamurthy: State funding of elections and banning donations directly to political parties may be one of the options.I feel there should be a National Election Fund to which alone corporates and individuals who are not members of the party be allowed to donate with 100% tax rebate. ECI has been sending suggestions for electoral reforms periodically. This needs to be addressed urgently. New Delhi: The Election Commission on Monday cleared the decks for the central government to present the Budget 2017 on February 1, but barred it from announcing any schemes for the five poll-bound states. The poll panel also specified that the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the government's achievements in these states either. In a letter addressed to the Cabinet Secretary, the EC said that "in the interest of free and fair elections" and in order to maintain "level playing field", no state-specific schemes shall be announced "which may have the effect of influencing the electors" of the five states where assembly elections have been announced. The government has advanced the presentation of the annual budget to February 1, instead of the usual practice of presenting it on the last day of February. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court (SC) rejected a plea for deferring the Union Budget 2017-18, in view of assembly polls in five states, holding that the presentation has to be done before the start of the financial year (FY) -- from April 1 -- and not during the FY. Rejecting the plea, the SC observed: "If there is something that the Centre does that affects elections in the states then the Election Commission would come into the picture." Assembly elections in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur are scheduled to be held between February 4 and March 8. New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra on Tuesday congratulated the Congress and Samajwadi Party for forging a "grand alliance" and said that Uttar Pradesh will "shine" under the leadership of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and SP President Akhilesh Yadav. "The alliance between Congress and SP (Samajwadi Party) is not only an alliance between two parties, it's an alliance between two young and dynamic leaders - Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav," Vadra wrote on Facebook. "My best wishes to them for the upcoming UP Elections," Vadra said. Congress and Samajwadi Party have forged an alliance ahead of the assembly elections in India's most populous state. Vadra, who is married to the Congress President's daughter Priyanka Gandhi, also said, "I am sure that under their dynamic leadership, UP will shine and become extremely progressive." "Both youth icons will bring forth immense energy, brilliant ideas and implementation to transform UP into a world class state. Congratulations on the grand alliance!!" he added. As per alliance, Congress will contest on 105 seats while Samajwadi Party would contest on 298 seats in the 403 seats assembly. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav kicked off Samajwadi Partys election campaign with two public rally on Tuesday from Sultanpur. For once I thought Cycle (party symbol) might slip out of my hands but by gods grace and your blessings Cycle has come to you again, said Akhilesh in a public rally. As per the poll schedule, the last date to file nominations is January 24, while scrutiny of nomination papers would be held on January 25. Voting would be held on February 11, while counting of votes would be done on March 11. Stay tuned for more updates: Meanwhile, in a major setback to Akhilesh, Allahabad High court on Tuesday stayed UP governments order of giving scheduled caste status to 17 backward castes. Stay tuned for more updates: Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here. Bengaluru: With the clamour growing for organising 'Kambala', a traditional annual buffalo race, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said his government was in favour of holding it and asked the Centre to take a favourable stand as it did for Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu. "We are in favour of Kambala, we are for Kambala. We pressurise the Union government to take a stand in favour of this (Kambala), similar to the way in which it favoured jallikattu in Tamil Nadu," he told reporters here. To a question on large-scale protests planned by Kambala committees, he said "....they are protesting for Kambala, we are also in favour of Kambala." Spurred by the Jallikattu stir in Tamil Nadu, Kambala Committees had met in Mangaluru on Monday to strategise their agitation, where it was decided to hold a massive protest on January 28 in Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada district. Symbolic Kambala, a traditional annual buffalo race in the marshy fields in coastal districts of the state, is also likely to be held as a mark of protest. Karnataka High Court's division bench, headed by Chief Justice S K Mukherjee, in an interim order in November 2016 had stayed holding of Kambala on a petition by PETA challenging it in view of orders passed by the Supreme Court on Jallikattu. Kambala Committees have filed an interim application, seeking vacation of the stay. The matter came up on Friday before the division bench of the High Court, which adjourned the case to January 30. Calling Kambala a folk festival with over a thousand-year history, BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said it has an emotional connect with the people. "Ban on Kambala is an after effect, on the basis of the ban on Tamil Nadu's Jallikattu. The matter is coming before the High Court on January 30, I'm hopeful that we will get justice and there will be no need for any agitation..." he said. Hoping that the Centre would take a favourable stand for getting approval for Kampala, he said, "The state government should also approach the Centre, and for no reason should Kambala be stopped..." Support for the folk sport has gained momentum in the social media also. Microsoft founder and world's richest man - Bill Gates could become the world's first trillionaire soon. According to research firm Oxfam International, the world would get its first billionaire in the next 25 years, when Bill Gates becomes around 86 years old.A report by Oxfam International said that considering that Bill Gates' fortune is growing at 11 per cent per year since 2009, he could become the world's first trillionaire soon.Another report by Oxfam had revealed that eight billionaires, including Bill Gates, from around the globe have as much money as the 3.6 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world's population.As per the Oxfam report, the eight billionaires, according to the Forbes billionaires list published in March 2016, include Warren Buffett, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Inditex founder Amancio Ortega, Carlos Slim, Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Oracle's Larry Ellison. Many investors like to look for momentum in stocks, but this can be very tough to define. There is great debate regarding which metrics are the best to focus on in this regard, and which are not really quality indicators of future performance. Fortunately, with our new style score system we have identified the key statistics to pay close attention to and thus which stocks might be the best for momentum investors in the near term. This method discovered several great candidates for momentum-oriented investors, but today lets focus in on BHP Billiton plc BBL as this stock is looking especially impressive right now. And while there are numerous ways in which this company could be a great choice, we have highlighted three of the most vital reasons for BBLs status as a solid momentum stock below: Longer Term Price Change for BHP Billiton While any stock can see a spike in price, it takes a real winner to consistently outperform the market. That is why looking at longer term price metricssuch as performance over the past three months or year-- and comparing these to an industry at large can be very useful. And in the case of BBL, the results are quite impressive. The company has beaten out the industry at large over the past 12 weeks by a margin of 16.4% to 11.2% while it has also outperformed when looking at the past year, putting up a gain of over 100%. Clearly, BBL is riding a bit of a hot streak and is worth a closer look by investors. BHP Billiton PLC Price BHP Billiton PLC Price | BHP Billiton PLC Quote Fiscal Year EPS Estimate Change for BBL In addition to price performance, it is also important to take a look at earnings estimate changes for the full year. This can show if BBL is poised to make a run based on fundamentals, or if the company is simply moving on speculation. Over the past month, the full year earnings estimate for BBL has risen by 2.2%. On its own this is impressive, but consider that it also beats the industry average of 0 too. The trend is undeniably in BHP Billitons favor right now, and it suggests that the momentum might be long lasting for this stock. Story continues BHP Earnings Estimate Revisions Moving in the Right Direction While the great momentum factors outlined in the preceding paragraphs might be enough for some investors, we should also take into account broad earnings estimate revision trends. A nice path here can really help to show us a promising stock, and we have actually been seeing that with BBL as of late too. Over the past two months, three earnings estimates have gone higher compared to none lower for the full year, while a similar trend has been seen for the next year time frame too. These revisions have helped to boost the consensus estimate as two months ago BBL was expected to post earnings of $1.73/share for the full year, though today it looks to have EPS of $2.51 for the full year now, representing a solid increase which is something that should definitely be welcomed news to would-be investors. Bottom Line Given these factors, investors shouldnt be surprised to note that we have BBL as a security with a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) and a Momentum Score of A. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. So if you are looking for a fresh pick that has potential to move in the right direction, definitely keep BBL on your short list as this looks be a stock that is very well-positioned to soar in the near term. Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2017 In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 finest tickers for the entirety of 2017? Who wouldn't? These 10 are painstakingly hand-picked from 4,400 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. They are our primary picks to buy and hold. Be among the very first to see them >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BHP Billiton PLC (BBL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Stockholm, Sweden : Three young men suspected of gang-raping a woman in Sweden and livestreaming the attack on Facebook have been detained. The police have now urged social media users on Monday to turn over the footage. The suspects, aged 18, 20 and 24, were arrested early Sunday in an apartment in Uppsala, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Stockholm, in the presence of their 30-year-old victim after members of a Facebook group saw the attack streamed live and alerted the police. The closed Facebook group has 60,000 members. Josefine Lundgren, 21, was one of the first to call authorities. She told daily Expressen that the 24-year-old suspect, a repeat offender considered by police to be the main attacker, "tore the clothes off" his victim before raping her. The attacker also "had apparently filmed everything and took pictures that he put on (messaging site) Snapchat," she said. At a press conference on Monday, investigators appealed to social media users who had images of the attack to turn them over to police. "We have some picture and video material. But we don't have any images showing the attack itself," Uppsala deputy chief prosecutor Magnus Berggren said. The film has been removed from Facebook but it has been circulated on the internet. Swedish media have published excerpts of the footage, showing at least one of the suspects holding a revolver. According to Berggren, other charges could be pressed against the suspects in addition to one of aggravated rape, for having streamed the attack. In an email to AFP, a press spokesman for Facebook in the Nordic countries denounced "a hideous crime". "Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users" and Facebook cooperates systematically with police in criminal investigations, he said. Iraqi officials laid the cornerstone of a new airport near Karbala on Monday, mostly to handle the millions of pilgrims who flock to the holy Shiite city each year. The Central Euphrates Airport will be located some 35 kilometres (20 miles) south of Karbala, Ahmed Tobal, an engineer with the Khayrat al-Sibtein company supervising the project said. "The first phase will include the construction of a runway, a passenger terminal, a car park and a maintenance facility," he said at Monday's ceremony. "The airport will receive its inaugural flight in 18 months." British company Copperchase, whose managing director Anthony Myers also attended the ceremony, will carry out the $500-million (467-million-euro) project, Tobal said. Khayrat al-Sibtein belongs to the Imam Hussein shrine, the Karbala mausoleum of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson which is one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. "This airport will contribute to reviving tourism in the central Euphrates region," said Sheikh Abdel Mahdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's most revered cleric. He said that at least five Iraqi provinces would benefit from the new airport, which will be around half way between Karbala and the other holy Shiite city of Najaf. "Karbala receives millions of pilgrims and building the airport is a necessity," Karbala Governor Aqeel al-Turaihi said during the ceremony. He said that in recent years around 2.5 million foreigners visited Karbala each year for Arbaeen, an annual commemoration at the Imam Hussein shrine which has become one of the world's largest pilgrimages. "Establishing it does not only serve the people of Karbala and neighbouring provinces but all the Muslims of the world who come during the religious holidays," Turaihi said. Islamabad/Jeddah: A Pakistani woman was arrested in Jeddah on terror charges, taking the total number of Pakistanis arrested in Saudi Arabia for alleged involvement in terror activities to 69, media reports said. On Saturday, Saudi security forces rounded up Fatima Ramadan Balochi Murad along with her Saudi husband from an apartment in al-Naseem district, the Saudi Gazette reported. Murad was detained in a security operation launched after a firefight and subsequent blowing up of two suspected terrorists in Jeddah on Saturday. In July last year, a Pakistani suspect, Abdullah Qalzar Khan, blew himself up near Solaiman Fakeih Hospital in Jeddah, which led to the arrest of as many as 49 Pakistani residents who were put under interrogation. A terrorism operation attempt was also foiled last October in Jeddah. It involved two Pakistanis - Solaiman Arab Deen and Farman Naqshaband Khan. They had planned to carry out blasts in Al-Jowhara Stadium. According to Saudi Gazette, Fatima was "a Pakistani woman married to wanted Saudi terrorist Hussam Al-Johani". Her arrest "is further proof that terrorist organizations are still recruiting women to use them in terror operations". "Terrorists, hit by preemptive security operations, had no other option but to recruit women to help them carry out their heinous crimes", it said, quoting security sources. "They took advantage of the respect given to the privacy of women by the Saudi government and its security forces. Spokesman of the Interior Ministry Maj. Gen Mansour Al-Turki said terrorists were exploiting the respect for the privacy of women especially at security checkpoints. "The recruitment of women by terrorists is not a new phenomenon, but the number of such women is still very little," he said. "According to the ministry's statements, the exploitation of women has remarkably dropped and has come down to terrorists recruiting their own wives," the Gazette said. The Saudi interior ministry has revealed that 5,085 terror suspects from 40 countries were undergoing detention in five intelligence prisons in the kingdom. "There are 4,254 Saudis detained in intelligence prisons constituting the largest number of suspects," it said. The Saudis are followed by 282 Yemenis and 218 Syrians. There are three suspects from the US and one each from France, Belgium and Canada, it said. Beirut: The Trump administration says it is willing to partner with Moscow to combat the Islamic State group. In his first daily White House press briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that President Donald Trump has been "very clear" that he will "work with any country committed to defeating ISIS." He says the administration will work "with Russia or anyone else" to defeat the militant group, either militarily or economically. The president has vowed to defeat IS "quickly" when he takes office, though he has not provided specifics on his plans for US military efforts in Iraq and Syria. On Monday the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had carried out a joint airstrike mission with US-led coalition warplanes against IS in Syria. That claim was immediately denied by the Pentagon. Sanaa: Forces allied with the internationally-recognized government of Yemen seized control of a strategic Red Sea port on Tuesday after waging an assault against Shiite rebels, a top military commander said. Brig. Gen. Ahmed Seif al-Yafai said in press remarks that his forces have entered the city of Mokha, where dozens of families were seen fleeing days of clashes and bombardment. Dozens of fighters were killed as the bodies of the slain men littered streets and sidewalks, witnesses said. Mokha, one of Yemen's oldest ports, is seen as a weapons lifeline to the rebels and their allies who control the capital, Sanaa, and much of the northern region. A Saudi-led military coalition is backing the government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and seeking to restore him to power. The assault on Mokha aims at securing the entire western coastline including the ports of Hodeida and al-Saleef which the northern region depends on for imports of basic food necessities and which the coalition also believes are main transit points for weapons coming from Iran. If Hadi's forces manage to seize the ports, the rebels known as Houthis will be largely cut off from the outside world; the Saudi-led coalition has enforced a no-fly zone that has kept the Sanaa airport closed. The Mokha campaign comes at a time of a political deadlock. Today, UN Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed ended his visit to Yemen where he met with ministers from the rebel-backed government days after visiting Aden, the temporary capital for Hadi's government. A statement issued by Ahmed's office urged both sides to agree on a cessation of hostilities. "It is mandatory that the parties end the violence to ease the suffering of the Yemeni people and pave the way for a peacefully negotiated settlement," the statement said. "What we need at this stage is more than words, what we need is commitment and results. BEDFORD A Bedford County teenager has been found competent to stand trial after he was accused of shooting at vehicles in the Thaxton area, but his defense wants him relocated to a mental health facility in the meantime. Daniel Jared Flint, 18, faces charges of attempted arson of an unoccupied dwelling; malicious shooting/throwing at a train/car; attempted malicious shooting/throwing at a train/car; and gun possession by involuntarily committed. The incident took place Oct. 13, 2016, when Bedford 911 dispatchers were contacted by a caller who heard gunshots coming from a residence at 5202 Wheatland Road, authorities said at the time. The caller told 911 the man living at that address had a history of mental health problems. Flint allegedly went around the area with a rifle, Bedford County Sheriffs Maj. Ricky Garner said, and deputies received numerous calls about his location throughout the incident. One of the calls was from a WDBJ-7 reporter who said someone had fired a shot at the reporters van near the intersection of Von Roy and Wheatland roads. Deputies and Bedford police officers later found extensive damage to the home on Wheatland Road, according to authorities. Flint was taken into custody the same afternoon, and no one was injured in the incident, they said. At a hearing Monday in Bedford County General District Court, Judge Glennwood Lookabill found Flint competent to stand trial on the charges based on a report by Western State Hospital. His defense had requested the evaluation last year. Flints preliminary hearing has been set for 1:30 p.m. April 26. Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance said after the hearing Flints defense is looking to see if he can be moved to a mental health facility, but he remains incarcerated at Blue Ridge Regional Jail. If a secured facility can be found where Flint can be moved, whether to relocate him would be determined at a bond hearing, Nance said. Flints attorney, Michael Lonchar, of the Bedford County public defenders office, said Monday he could not comment. RICHMOND Its not only peeping Toms who may use aerial remote-piloted drones to violate privacy but also criminal scouts and corporate saboteurs, according to state legislators trying to regulate the developing technology. After determining the three bills its members heard Monday trying to regulate flying recreational drones were not yet ready, a House of Delegates Courts of Justice Committee subcommittee created a work group to be led by Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax. The bills either are under construction or under negotiation. Del. Robert B. Bell, R-Albemarle, the Criminal Justice subcommittee chairman, showed frustration that drone regulation has been under negotiation for four or five years while complaints from constituents continue that drones are used to invade personal privacy. Im embarrassed that we havent fixed it yet, Bell said, adding the holdup was because some stakeholders were content with the status quo. This idea that you can park a drone outside a windows gotta stop. If you all cant come up with something, we all will. Patrick Cushing, representing Unmanned Systems Association of Virginia,a trade group for businesses interested in drone technology,said the state legislature should wait for developments from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA passed drone-related regulations that went into effect in August, including a requirement the drone remain within the remote pilots eyesight. Its really the FAA thats taken a lead, and we need to let the FAA do what theyre going to do before we do what we do, said Cushing, who signed up for the work group to make sure the industry has a voice in the decision-making process. HB2350 carried by Del. J. Randall Minchew, R-Loudon, makes using a drone for the purpose of peeping a Class 1 misdemeanor and would consider it criminal trespass. Del. Matt Fariss, R-Campbell County, said drones are used to scout for robberies in rural areas leading to theft of equipment, such as chain saws and four-wheelers. Fariss bill, HB1602, would make anyone violating the physical invasion of privacy, or using a drone to capture video, sound, infrared or other images, liable for civil penalties of $1,000 or total damages, whichever is greater. HB2197, brought by Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, is meant to protect manufacturers who work with dangerous materials or critical infrastructure, according to Brent Vassey, president and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association. The bill would make a first offense of using drones to capture images at designated facilities a Class 3 misdemeanor. Selling or spreading the image would be a Class 2 misdemeanor. I think were getting overloaded with layers of different issues, said Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge. The players all seem ready, but I feel like this should have been pre-negotiated a while back. Albo said the special drone subcommittee may be able to figure out something this year. At least we can focus the disagreement on one or two issues if thats possible, Albo said. The Appomattox County Commonwealth's Attorney has determined Amherst County and Nelson County law enforcement exercised justified use of force when arresting 40-year-old James Paul Bertuglia more than a year ago, despite his death shortly after deputies deployed Tasers to subdue him. Law enforcement involved in the chase and his arrest said last week they still havent received official notification of a closed case. Law enforcement pursued Bertuglia by car late at night Dec. 7, 2015, from Nelson County into Amherst County. Officer Brandon Payne, with the Amherst Police Department, wrote about the chase in a search warrant filed in Bertuglias case. He mentioned Bertuglias erratic driving several times. When asked where and why the chase began in Nelson County, Capt. Robert New said because the Nelson County Sheriffs Office still considers the investigation open, he couldnt comment. Bertuglia of Chatham,crashed his truck through a locked gate on a driveway off Patrick Henry Highway, and law enforcement vehicles followed him into an open area. Payne described Bertuglia accelerating toward him after following him into the area and hitting his car head on. Law enforcement then boxed in Bertuglias truck. Payne wrote he and Nelson County sheriffs deputies were shouting commands for Bertuglia to turn off his vehicle and put his hands up. He described entering and shutting off the truck amid Bertuglia throwing things from his car, writing Bertuglia appeared to be under the influence of either alcohol or narcotics. Having left the vehicle, Payne described hearing a Taser missing its target, then deploying his own Tasers probes. With Bertuglia appearing to be unaffected by the stun, Payne attempted to stun him directly and later pepper sprayed him. He wrote a Nelson deputy again stunned Bertuglia before officers fought to handcuff him, eventually succeeding. Once Bertuglia was placed in an ambulance with rescue personnel, Payne wrote he heard someone say Bertuglia had regained a pulse and was breathing. He was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital early Dec. 8. Lynchburg General Hospital doctors proclaimed Bertuglia brain dead, and he was taken off life support Dec. 14, 2015. Virginia State Polices Bureau of Criminal Investigations reviewed the incident and sent its findings to Appomattox Commonwealths Attorney Darrel Puckett, assigned to the case as a special prosecutor. Puckett said he met with state police on multiple occasions after they had finished their investigation. State police did a very thorough investigation on this, and I spent quite a bit of time discussing their findings, he said. The special agent [Senior Special Agent R. Clay Overholt with the Virginia State Police] spent a lot of time with me and he was able to answer everything. Puckett sent a letter to the Virginia State Police and to Amherst Circuit Court Judge Michael Garrett on Nov. 4, 2016, describing his findings in the case. He wrote the Amherst County Sheriffs Office, Nelson County Sheriffs Office and Amherst Police Department exercised justified use of force in Bertuglias arrest and that no criminal charges are warranted. Bertuglias autopsy report, according to Pucketts letter, stated his manner of death was accidental and the cause of death complications of excited dilerium (sic) to combined cocaine and methamphetamine use with physical restraint, including use of electronic conductive devices. The medical examiner was unable to determine whether being struck by the Tasers contributed Bertuglias death, he wrote. Other factors considered in the autopsy report included evidence of old scar tissue to the decedents heart believed to be weeks to years old; i.e., some form of heart disease, though Puckett also wrote the cause of that scar tissue was unknown. A toxicology report showed methamphetamine was in Bertuglias bloodstream within toxic/lethal range, according to Pucketts letter, as well as a byproduct of cocaine and a metabolite from methamphetamine use. The substances in Bertuglias system and evident heart disease alone could have led to death themselves, Puckett said. Puckett also wrote he reviewed video footage captured from at least three different law enforcement vehicles, observing many of the Taser deployments missed their targets, and four officers struggled with him once he was on the ground. The Taser manual advises against use on those with mental issues or those under the influence of alcohol or drugs when practicable, Puckett wrote. Connie Bertuglia, James Bertuglias mother, said she received his autopsy report in July but had to call state police every month to see if the investigation into her sons death had closed. She learned in November the case had been closed with Pucketts determination that no charges were warranted. I disagree with that. I feel that was definitely police brutality or aggressive force on my son, she said. I havent been able to see any of the reports as of yet. While she said shes been told she cant receive any copies of documents, she plans on viewing the investigation documents in March when she passes through Virginia while traveling north from Homestead, Florida. Connie Bertuglia said she sees the excited delirium cause of death as a cover-up for police brutality on her son, an echo of a national discussion on police use of Tasers. According to the autopsy report she received, law enforcement deployed Tasers on her son 10 times before he was taken away. Describing him as not a big guy at about 180 pounds, she said she didnt know why officers needed to take him down. From her understanding, Connie Bertuglia said law enforcement began to chase her son after he caused property damage by driving onto someones lawn somewhere in Nelson County. I just dont understand how my son can end up dead because he drove on somebodys lawn, she said. Amherst Police Chief Robert Kimbrel said he had contacted Virginia State Police in early December to learn about the results of its investigation. He was told it was concluded and Puckett had found no wrongdoing but said he had received no physical statements. Im not really considering the situation closed until I get something in writing back, he said. With Amherst Police officers involved as the third supporting agency in the chase, Kimbrel said he understood Bertuglia reacted aggressively to law enforcement. It was unfortunate that he had plenty of opportunities to just comply with the verbal direction and he didnt do so, he said. The Nelson County Sheriffs Office also said they hadnt received any formal word from state police on the investigation closing. State police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said local law enforcement has been briefed on the final ruling, and the Virginia State Police is in the final stage of officially closing the case. As one of about 16 Lynchburg police officers who traveled to Washington, D.C., for President Donald Trumps inauguration Friday, Sgt. Bobby Moore said it was an honor to serve. Moore said hes come to the ceremony to serve for the past two inaugurations of former President Barack Obama. He said the Lynchburg officers were stationed together along Pennsylvania Avenue beside Virginia State Police and Greensboro, North Carolina, Police, tasked with keeping the crowds within set boundaries. Officers were briefed on their duties at 3 a.m., and Moore said they werent headed back to their hotels until about 8:30 p.m., so its a long day to have that constant screaming and yelling. One break room for law enforcement was in the back of the National Archives, and Moore said officers were able to stop in to see the Constitution and Bill of Rights while resting from their duty on the street. To just say that I have been there is something Ill carry with me for the rest of my life, he said. Famed political prankster Vermin Supreme is not welcome to speak at Liberty University but he showed up anyway Monday night. Vermin Supreme, a political satirist who wears a rubber boot on his head and has run in every presidential election since 1992 campaigning on a promise of free ponies for all Americans and mandatory tooth brushing laws was invited to speak to LUs Young Americans for Liberty group yesterday, but students said that appearance fell through after LU denied its speaker request form. However, after he allegedly was denied permission to speak at an official campus event, Vermin Supreme stopped by LU to meet with students as a visitor. Vermin Supreme appeared at the invitation of students, adorned in his customary boot, promising free ponies and preaching the virtues of mandatory tooth brushing laws and zombie apocalypse awareness. Its unfortunate I was unable to make a full presentation today, Vermin Supreme told about 100 students in the Three Seasons Room in DeMoss Hall, where he spent about two hours speaking with the crowd. Vermin Supremes appearance comes in spite of allegedly being denied permission to speak at an official campus event. According to Matthew Lofgren, an LU student and secretary of Young Americans for Liberty, the organization was told Vermin Supremes appearance had no value to the university. Young Americans for Liberty has been at LU since 2012 and is self-described as a student group dedicated to advancing classically liberal, traditionally conservative ideas, on Facebook. Lofgren told The News & Advance They [administration] said they saw no value in Vermin Supreme, so they denied him [permission] to come speak at Liberty as a guest speaker. According to an email provided by Lofgren, the speaker request was denied Jan. 6. Unfortunately Dr. [Mark] Hine denied the request to bring in Vermin Supreme for your event as he did not see value in bringing him to the university, stated the email from Jack Heaphy, LU student body president. Last week Liberty spokesman Len Stevens said the university would not comment on the issue. Lofgren said an event request form was approved by the university in late November, but a subsequent speaker request application was denied by the university, which would have covered the $1,000 cost to host Vermin Supreme. Speakers on the LU campus require administration approval. In the past, LU has brought a variety of speakers to campus, ranging from newly elected President Donald J. Trump to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, both of whom visited LU in 2016. Without university funds to support Vermin Supremes appearance, Young Americans for Liberty sought to raise the money online and host Vermin Supreme off campus. Those plans fell through when an online fundraising effort by Lofgren stalled at $105, well short of the target goal of $1,000. According to Lofgren, students funded Vermin Supremes appearance, the fee for which he said was dramatically decreased. Lofgren said he was surprised at the decision by LU officials and had looked forward to bringing Vermin Supremes raucous brand of political satire to campus for an event planned for 200 students. Vermin Supreme previously visited the Liberty campus for the 2009 film Vote Jesus, in which he caricatured the politics of conservative Christians. The film was never released to the public. You hear so much about all the Democrats hating Republicans, all the Republicans hating Democrats, and it gets old. And [with Vermin Supreme] you get a guy who just wants to make fun of everyone, Lofgren said. According to Lofgren, the plan was for Vermin Supreme to speak to students and share a screening of the 2014 independent documentary Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, which explores the long, strange journey of the political prankster and his history as a fringe candidate. Vermin Supreme, reached via email, said he was grateful to LU students for the invitation to speak. "Let me say that this may or may not be a 'free speech' issue. As a private institution the decisions they make in terms of content presented on campus is theirs, Vermin Supreme said via email. Vermin Supreme regularly speaks at colleges across the country. LU was one of three college campuses listed as stops on Vermin Supremes ongoing 2017 Victory Tour, which continues with upcoming stops across the East Coast. Other universities, according to a schedule posted on his Facebook page, are Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York, where Vermin Supreme performed Wednesday, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he is scheduled to perform Thursday. According to Jonathan Blanchard, a Clarkson student and vice president of the Clarkson Union Board, which is responsible for scheduling speakers and events, Vermin Supremes appearance was well attended and enjoyed by the students who turned out for his appearance at the university. All in all there was a significant amount of lowbrow humor, some clever political references and a brief serious portion of the show. He came as an entertainer, not a speaker. We had well over 400 people in attendance, completely filling the capacity of the performance area, Blanchard wrote via email. RICHMOND While legislators negotiate a $1.26 billion budget gap, theyre also considering if and how to restore teacher cost-of-living raises that automatically dropped with projected revenues. Hoping to draw scarce state dollars in their direction, the Virginia Education Association, the teachers trade group, united educators from throughout the commonwealth Monday, including representatives from Lynchburg and Bedford and Amherst counties. While asking their legislators to support a raise, the representatives for local education associations lobbied against legislation they say would funnel state money to private charter schools and away from localities. Stagnant state contributions and locally frozen wages force teachers to move out of state or to another locality if they want higher pay, teachers said. Weve taken our hit for 10 years. Weve done our jobs. Weve been doing more with less, and were owed better by the state, said Karl Loos, Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School for Innovation seventh-grade social studies teacher. Loos, who also is the Lynchburg Education Association president, has worked in the Lynchburg school system for 26 years. Although the legislatures monies committees are digging to cut all around, Republicans controlling the legislature and Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe have indicated they want to address teacher compensation in some way. "I would very much like to see if there's a way to give a pay raise to teachers," said Sen. Steve Newman, R-Bedford County, a Senate Finance Committee member, adding any raise may come out of the broader education budget. In a floor speech Monday, Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment, Jr. R-James City, said legislators will see what they can do "within our fiscal constraints" regarding teacher pay. A commission led by Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Stafford, recommended restoring the 3-percent increase for state employees passed last year but also automatically cut because of low revenue projections. The commission recommendations didn't reference state-assisted employees, the category that includes teachers. I dont think its any different than what weve been saying since November, and that is we have a priority to try and do what we can, to try to get the 3-percent salary increase funded, and thats the priority right now, said Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Sen. Frank Ruff, R-Mecklenburg, proposed a budget amendment for teacher raises in Fiscal Year 2018. The states contribution for teacher pay was flat from 2009 until 2014, when teachers received a 2-percent raise followed by a 1.5-percent raise in 2015, according to materials provided by the Virginia Education Association. But teachers said pay raises have not kept up with the cost of living and have been used to off-set increased contributions they make to the Virginia Retirement System. Virginia teacher pay is $7,200 below the national average, and Lynchburg teacher pay is $4,500 below the Virginia average, Loos said. Frozen pay-scales, several teachers said, means the school system loses experienced teachers to other districts and states. The two-year budget the General Assembly passed last March included a 2-percent pay raise for teachers and other state-assisted employees until revenue estimates came up short, triggering automatic cuts. Replacing it is far from automatic. Im not sure we can at this point, quite frankly, said Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, Jr., R-Augusta. Hanger, Senate Finance committee co-chairman, said legislators are taking into consideration localities that went ahead with pay raises as well as the bonuses McAuliffe already built in. The dust hasnt settled on it yet. While officials inLynchburg and Appomattox, Bedford and Nelson counties approved raises despite the lack of a contribution from the state, those in Campbell and Amherst counties gave bonuses, according to a report in The News & Advance. Despite the lack of pay raises, many of the teachers who stay do so because theyre from the area or have put down roots. I dont want to give up and leave Bedford. I love what I do. I love teaching, said Liberty High School social studies teacher Crystal DeLong, who works two extra jobs. I didnt go into teaching to make money, but we need to be able to make a living wage. Somewhere among its monthly meetings at a local barbecue restaurant, the Greater Richmond Knife Club realized it had a problem. By carrying their switchblades, or automatic knives in club parlance, to compare them with other hobbyists, members might be breaking Virginia law. After a Richmond-area state lawmaker filed legislation on the clubs behalf, switchblades could be coming out of the legal shadows. Like people collect stamps, these people collect automatic knives, said Del. R. Lee Ware Jr., R-Powhatan, whose bill to allow Virginians to carry concealed switchblades for work and recreational purposes is on its way to a full vote in the House of Delegates after passing a committee last week. I dont know if they trade these, but they show the features, some of them elaborately ornamented. The knife club member who asked Ware to file the bill asked to remain anonymous out of fear of law enforcement and the possibility that a burglar might target his prized knife collection. Just as some people appreciate the craftsmanship and utility of a beautiful watch, others love switchblades, the collector said, pointing to his recent purchase of a knife made out of an engraved mastodon tooth. Efforts to ban switchblades, which open quickly with a push of a button, were largely rooted in the widely held perception that they were the weapon of choice for 50s-era street gangs. Wares legislation, House Bill 1432, would remove switchblades from the list of weapons that are illegal to sell in Virginia. Currently, state law says anyone caught possessing a switchblade, blackjack, metal knuckles or throwing stars is automatically considered a would-be seller or dealer and is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $250. They could inadvertently become criminals just for having their hobby in their car, Ware said. In 2015, the House passed a more sweeping bill to fully legalize the sale of switchblades and similar weapons, but reversed itself and killed the measure a day later. The 2017 switchblade bill passed the Republican-controlled House Courts of Justice Committee Friday on a 13-7 vote, with six Democrats and one Republican opposing it. The measure will likely come up for debate and a vote by the full House later this week. In the early stages of debate over the bill, some raised the concerns that language allowing switchblades for recreational activity might be too broad. You can be walking down the street at 2 a.m. and thats your recreation, John Jones, executive director of the Virginia Sheriffs Association, said at a subcommittee hearing. Del. Marcus B. Simon, D-Fairfax, a frequent critic of Republican efforts to loosen rules on concealed weapons, said he could support a bill letting people have less lethal weapons with a permit, but allowing them for anyone who claims a recreational use seems a little reckless. The bill is backed by the American Knife and Tool Institute and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the gun-rights group that regularly lobbies lawmakers to ease restrictions on firearms. VCDL member Bob Sadtler told lawmakers an easy-to-open knife comes in handy for his work as an electrician and HVAC installer. I could not begin to count the number of times that I have been slithering through a crawlspace or wriggling through an attic, I barely have enough space to reach my belt let alone open a knife, Sadtler said. These knives were originally designed as tools for the tradesmen. The use as weapons was incidental. Sadtler also noted that the VCDL supports anything that expands self-defense options, even though Wares proposal made no mention of carrying knives for protection. I just want to make sure you and your members understand that this bill has nothing to do with self-defense, Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said in response to Sadtlers comment. I was told to provide support for the bill, Sadtler said. Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, has introduced bills to allow a casino in Virginia so many times that she lost count. But with the December opening of the MGM National Harbor hotel and casino in Maryland and what she called a huge sucking sound of Virginia dollars traveling across the Potomac River Lucas made her case again on Monday. She came close. But close doesnt count at a casino or before the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology, where Republicans killed Lucas four casino bills on an 8-7 party-line vote. Lucas said her home city wants a casino. Portsmouth is fiscally stressed, she said. The city is home to an above-average amount of non-taxable federal property and is suffering from tolls established to fund a new underwater tunnel connecting Portsmouth to Norfolk. City Attorney Solomon Ashby appeared at the hearing to back Lucas bills on behalf of city hall. Knowing her bills faced an uphill battle, Lucas tried to entice the committee over money. Busloads of Virginians are heading to Maryland to spend their cash there, she said. Many of us are also looking to try to bring some of those funds back to Virginia, she said. Sen. Scott A. Surovell, D-Fairfax, had Lucas back. Revenue from a casino could help the state close its budget shortfall, he said. Were missing out on a real opportunity in this state by not taking advantage of this, he said. Paula Otto, executive director of the Virginia Lottery, said lottery officials had no position on the Lucas legislation. But should the General Assembly allow a casino, she said, lottery officials should oversee it. Surovell asked Otto if she could estimate how much money Virginia would lose because of the opening of the Maryland casino. Virginia could lose an estimated $10 million annually in lottery profit, she said. The Virginia lottery generates annual profit of about $550 million. Otto also noted that the MGM casino believes about half its business will come from Virginians. Were keeping a very close eye on it, she said. The Family Foundation, which lobbies for socially conservative causes, opposed the casino legislation. Lucas didnt come out of the committee room completely unlucky. The committee approved her Senate Bill 1400, which would allow organizations that hold bingo games to also hold poker games, and allow the state to regulate poker tournaments. Her bill passed 8-7 after Sen. William R. DeSteph Jr., R-Virginia Beach, joined her side. Belmont casino worker in court for murder Ahkeel Toussaint, also known as Cakes, of Mc Shine Lane, Belle Eau Road, Belmont, was charged with Hospedales murder which took place on July 23, 2016, at about 5.45 am. Toussaint was also charged with robbery with aggravation and possession of a firearm and ammunition. He appeared in the Port-of-Spain Eight Magistrates Court yesterday. Sgt Hemraj Sirju laid the charges on Saturday. Hospedales, 22, who worked in his familys catering business, was shot and killed at Ariapita Avenue after he was confronted by a man who attempted to snatch his gold chain. Determined to not let her sons death be in vain, Hospedales mother Avis George-Hospedales established a charity fund to assist families who also lost loved ones to gun violence. The Isaiah Hospedales AKA Papi Charity Fund is intended to provide counselling, financial and emotional support to families who have endured similar tragedy. Toussaint will return to court next month. Energy sector continues to be engine of prosperity He continued, ...We also must recognise that global energy market has become much more competitive through the advent of shale gas in the USA and emerging oil and gas economies in developing countries. In this scenario, companies must harness new technology, such as digitisation, robotics, and analytics, to improve efficiency and output. Other measures include the sharing of services and equipment, in particular, the sharing of rigs and seismic vessels. To this end, Imbert said that seven exploration wells will be drilled, one by BPTT in the Columbus Basin; BHP Billitons deep-water exploration programme will continue and the Government will increase the availability of land acreage and marine areas for exploration to increase hydrocarbon production. Beyond 2018, said Imbert, several other projects will begin, one of which is the procurement of gas from the Dragon Field in Venezuela by 2019. Significantly, Regional President of BP Trinidad and Tobago, Norman Christie, also present at the event, praised Imberts removal of the fuel subsidy in the recent budget, calling it a tough decision that had to be made. In fact, Christie said tough decisions must be taken to improve productivity and growth in the energy sector. Also present were Thackwray Driver, president and chief executive officer of the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago and Derek Hudson, vice president of Shell, Trinidad and Tobago. The event was held at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain. LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Angola's sovereign wealth fund will invest $180 million in the country's first deep sea water port in Cabinda, the fund's chairman Jose Filomeno dos Santos said on Tuesday. The sovereign fund, known by its Portuguese acronym FSDEA, is making the investment from its $1.1 billion infrastructure fund, with the first phase of the port's construction expected to be finished by the end of 2017. "We are giving some support to kickstart the project," Dos Santos said. "It might be used as a transhipment hub because it's a deep sea port and one of the few in the region." Construction at the port of Cabinda, located in a heavily guarded territory that accounts for half the oil output from Africa's top petroleum producer, started in 2016 with costs totalling around $700 million. The expectation is that the investment will yield a return of over 10 percent on an annualised basis over an investment horizon of 10 years. Dos Santos said facilities at the port would include a duty free area and a ship repair yard, which the region does not currently have. Cabinda will also give access to the markets of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Around two years after the port has been in operation it is envisaged that other investors will be invited to participate in the port concession, which is expected to run for 30 years, he said. The fund had $4.755 billion under management at end-September 2016, up from $4.56 billion at the end of the first quarter. (Reporting by Claire Milhench and Karin Strohecker, editing by Ed Osmond) Trump: 'I'll Very, Very, Very Probably Do It Again' Polygamy is still illegal in Utah, as the US Supreme Court has declined to hear arguments against the lower court ruling that kept it so. Kody Brown and his four wivesthe stars of TLC's Sister Wiveshave for years been seeking to remove the penalties for polygamy in Utah, and in December 2013, a federal judge ruled in their favor and effectively decriminalized polygamy in the state. But in April of last year, an appeals court overturned that decision, reinstating the polygamy ban. On Monday, the Supreme Court let that appeals court ruling stand, the AP reports. The problem for the Browns is that they've never actually been prosecuted for polygamy. They argued that Utah's law in and of itself, along with a 2010 police investigation of their family, constituted discrimination against their family; the appeals court disagreed. One expert explains to the Salt Lake Tribune that a prosecutor would likely have to actually charge consenting adult polygamists with a crime, and for those consenting adults to show that prosecution had harmed them, in order for the Supreme Court to address the issuebut, he says, it's unlikely any prosecutor will ever do so, instead focusing any charges on polygamy cases that involve alleged sexual abuse, fraud, or underage marriage. (Read more polygamy stories.) Gentry and Hadley Eddings endured the unimaginable in May 2015: On their way home from a wedding in North Carolina, a car wreck caused by a distracted driver killed their 2-year-old son Dobbs and forced a 37-weeks-pregnant Hadley to undergo an emergency C-section. That son, Reed, suffered severe head trauma and died at two days old. A year and a half later, the Eddings are planning to welcome two new babies into their lives. "Y'all have held us up in prayer and we are so grateful!" Hadley wrote on a Facebook page set up for their family. "Now we ask you to add two more Eddings to your prayers! We are expecting twins this summer!" Faith is important to the EddingsGentry is a pastor, and had just officiated his sister's wedding before the crashand despite the fact that the other driver may have taken heroin, the Eddings forgave him right away. "From the day this happened, Ive been very concerned about you," Hadley told him at the hearing where he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, per a 2016 Charlotte Observer article. "I want you to be rehabilitated. I want you to have a good lifeI dont want this to be the end for you." A year after their sons' deaths, the couple announced that donations to their family funded a grade school in Haiti that would bear the boys' names. Hadley told WRAL in 2015, "My arms are grieving. I want to hold someone. I want to run my hands through his hair and that has been really hard to get used to. There is no little person to take care of." Now, in a statement released through their church Monday, Hadley says, "We are excited that Dobbs and Reed are going to be big brothers." (An unborn baby survived the car crash that killed his mother.) "He will not divide us" isn't the only phrase recorded on Shia LeBeouf's livestream outside New York's Museum of the Moving Image. As a crowd chanted the phrase to the webcam on Sunday, a man came into view yelling "1488," which the Anti-Defamation League describes as "a general endorsement of white supremacy," per Slate. LeBeouf then entered the frame himself, repeatedly screaming "He will not divide us" in the man's ear, reports Mediaite. In a more positive encounter at the installation, a woman said she got out of bed and traveled to the museum from Brooklyn after seeing a lone man speaking on the livestream. "You were so vigilant and I wanted to come and give you a hug," she told him. (Read more Shia LaBeouf stories.) Donald Trump is now president of the United States, and that appears to be his only job: A document provided to CNN by the Trump Organization states that Trump has resigned from all his positions in more than 400 companies. "I, Donald J. Trump, hereby resign from each and every office and position I hold" in all of the companies listed, states the letter, which is dated Jan. 19, the day before Trump's inauguration. Sons Donald and Eric Trump are now in control of the companies, press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Monday. ProPublica reports that much of the necessary paperwork in states including Florida wasn't filed until late Monday. Trump has so far failed to divest from his businesses, which ethics experts say is an essential move to prevent conflicts of interests. Lawyers say the trust Trump promised to transfer his holdings to has been drawn up, though it will be an entity run by sons Donald and Eric instead of a blind trust run by a third party, reports the Wall Street Journal, which has an interactive map of Trump's web of business holdings. Charlie Douglas, an expert on private trusts at the Cedar Rowe Partners, tells CNN that the letter shows Trump is giving up his position in hundreds of companies and is a good start, though Trump will still have to file paperwork to show who is taking his place. "He can resign in a day but that doesn't tell the whole story of what happens to the companies," Douglas says. (On Monday, a watchdog group sued Trump over payments from foreign governments.) By Charlotte Greenfield and Stanley White WELLINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) - Australia and New Zealand said on Tuesday they hope to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after U.S. President Donald Trump kept a promise to abandon the accord. The TPP, which the United States had signed but not ratified, was a pillar of former U.S. President Barack Obama's policy to pivot to Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has touted it as an engine of economic reform, as well as a counter-weight to a rising China, which is not a TPP member. Fulfilling a campaign pledge, Trump signed an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday pulling the United States out of the 2015 TPP agreement and distancing the United States from its Asian allies. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he had held discussions with Abe, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong overnight about the possibility of proceeding without the United States. "Losing the United States from the TPP is a big loss, there is no question about that," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. "But we are not about to walk away ... certainly there is potential for China to join the TPP." In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying did not say directly whether China would be interested in joining the TPP but that at a time of economic uncertainly the Asia-Pacific should make its own contributions to growth with openness. "We think that in the present situation, no matter what happens, all should keep going down the path of open, inclusive, continuous development, seeking cooperation and win-win," Hua told a daily news briefing. Obama had framed the TPP without China in an effort to write Asia's trade rules before Beijing could, establishing U.S. economic leadership in the region as part of his "pivot to Asia". China has proposed a counter pact, the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) and has championed the Southeast Asian-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Hua said efforts on FTAAP should be stepped up, adding China hoped talks on RCEP could be concluded at an early date. MEETINGS PLANNED New Zealand's English said the United States was ceding influence to China and the region's focus could switch to alternative trade deals. "We've got this RCEP agreement with Southeast Asia, which up until now has been on a bit of a slow burn, but we might find the political will for that to pick up if TPP isn't going to proceed," English said. Malaysia's trade minister said negotiators from the remaining TPP countries would be in "constant communication" to decide the best way forward. "Notwithstanding the current position of the new U.S. administration on (TPP), we will continue to engage with our American colleagues to strengthen our bilateral trade and economic relations, given the U.S.s importance as our third-largest trading partner and a major source of investment," Mustapa Mohamed said in a statement. The TTP, which has been five years in the making, requires ratification by at least six countries accounting for 85 percent of the combined gross domestic product of the member nations. Australia held open the possibility of China, the world's top exporter, joining a revised deal. "The original architecture was to enable other countries to join," Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday. "Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed interest and there would be scope for China if we are able to reformulate it." Japan has led the push for the partnership, which includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam. "There is no change to our view that free trade is the source of economic growth," Japanese Economy Minister Nobuteru Ishihara told reporters. When asked whether Japan would be open to negotiating a bilateral trade pact with the United States, Ishihara said it was uncertain whether U.S. trade officials would start such negotiations. Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said separately that Japan was not considering moves with other TPP members based on a lack of U.S. involvement. "As Prime Minister Abe has made clear, TPP without the United States is meaningless and the balance of interests would crumble," he told a news conference, adding Japan would keep explaining the benefits of the pact for America. Abe had made TPP a core of his economic growth policies and along with the Obama administration, viewed it as strategically vital in the face of a rising China Trump took office on Friday and pledged to end what he called an "American carnage" of rusted factories and crime. He vowed to bring jobs back by renegotiating what he called bad multilateral trade deals in favour of bilateral ones. New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay said he had talked with a number of TPP-member ministers at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week and he expected they would meet in coming months. "The agreement still has value as a FTA (Free Trade Agreement) with the other countries involved," McClay said in an emailed statement to Reuters. (Additional reporting by Swati Pandey in SYDNEY, Ami Miyazaki and Linda Sieg in TOKYO, Liz Lee in KUALA LUMPUR and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Robert Birsel) The Taiwanese company that assembles Apple's iPhones and other electronics is considering investing $7 billion in a US factory to produce display panels that would create as many as 50,000 jobs. Foxconn CEO Terry Gou discussed the potential expansion Sunday during a company meeting in Taiwan, the AP reports. Gou, whose company bought Japan's Sharp Corp last year, said a decision would depend on factors including whether a state where the factory might be built would be willing to provide low-cost land or power. "If American state governments were willing to provide these terms and we calculate it is cheaper than shipping from China or Japan, why shouldn't Sharp build a factory in the United States?" Gou said. Gou said investment would "exceed $7 billion" and the facility, if built, would employ 30,000 to 50,000 people. He said Pennsylvania is a leading candidate, but Foxconn is in discussions with other states, too. Foxconn, founded by Gou in 1974, assembles smartphones and other devices for Apple, Sony, BlackBerry, and other brands. Most of its operations are in mainland China, where its vast factories employ more than 1 million people. Little-known to consumers, Gou's company raised its global profile with its purchase of Sharp, which is decades older than Foxconn but was struggling financially. (Read more Foxconn stories.) The Maya civilization suffered "waves" of war and political instability before its collapse in the 2nd century. The civilization later recovered, but history would repeat itself just a few hundred years later, delivering a final blow, researchers explain in a PNAS study offering a clear chronology of the civilization's demise. It's based on 154 radiocarbon dates from charcoal samples along with data from ceramics at the site of Ceibal in Guatemala which show "similar patterns" of warfare around 75 BC and AD 735, reports the International Business Times. Each was followed by a period of political upheaval, the first of which led into the Preclassic collapse of AD 150-300. Ceibal then saw a population decline and many other Maya cities were abandoned. But with "the development of dynasties centered on divine rulership," the civilization soon after rallied as power centralized, say researchers at the University of Arizona. However, warfare returned a few centuries later, resulting in a new period of political instability. This one led into the Classic collapse circa AD 800-950, when Ceibal again experienced a population decline, according to a release. But this time, power splintered and the Maya were unable to recover. Archaeologists now hope to survey other Maya sites for similar patterns of decline that may show why the Classic collapse proved fatal. (This Maya pyramid hides two others.) If you'd like to send a message to the White House, you might want to get your smoke signals handy: As of Monday, those calling a White House phone line for public comments were told that the line had been closed. Callers were instead directed to leave a comment on the White House website or reach out via Facebook Messenger. There's just one problemapart from the fact that 13% of Americans don't use the Internet, according to the Pew Research Center: the White House's official Facebook page doesn't appear to have a messaging option, nor does President Trump's Facebook page, reports Variety. Contrary to reports, the Huffington Post reports the White House call switchboard remains active, but there is no option to leave a comment. The comment line was also closed during the last few weeks of Barack Obamas presidency, per Mashable, but the Trump administration has yet to clarify how Americans can now get in touch. The administration also hasn't commented on the removal of the Spanish version of its website, which has angered officials in Spain, reports the Local, noting Trump previously criticized Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish while in the US. "We believe it is not a good idea to give up on such a communication tool, given that this is a country with 52 million Spanish speakers," says Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis. (White House pages regarding climate change and LGBT rights also disappeared.) James Comey will stay on as FBI director under President Trump, reports the New York Times. Neither the White House nor the FBI has announced the news, but Comey has been telling top aides of late that the president wants him to remain. The Washington Post and ABC News have confirmed it. The decision has been closely watched, given Comey's controversial role in the election: Hillary Clinton supporters say he cost her the election with a last-minute inquiry into her email that ultimately yielded nothing, while Trump had criticized his earlier decision not to bring criminal charges against her over the email. Comey still has about six years left in his term if he serves it in full, and the FBI has two important investigations under way related to Trump, notes the Post: It's looking into Russian hacking of the election and into whether any Trump associates had improper contact with Moscow. This week, for instance, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, is under scrutiny for phone calls he made to the Russian ambassador on Dec. 29, the day the Obama administration announced new sanctions on Moscow. (Read more James Comey stories.) Paris Jackson, now 18, gives an extensive and candid cover interview to Rolling Stone in which she describes what it was like to grow up with Michael Jackson as her fatherand what she thinks really happened to him. "It's obvious" that he was murdered, she says. "Absolutely." She says her father would talk about people wanting to kill him, though she won't specifically say who would have wanted him dead: "A lot of people." She admits that the whole thing sounds like "a total conspiracy theory," but "all real fans and everybody in the family knows it." And someday, justice might be done. "It's a chess game," she says. "And I am trying to play the chess game the right way. And that's all I can say about that right now." Jackson was 11 when her father died. In less-dark moments, Jackson recounts an idyllic childhood, during which she and her siblings attended school at Neverland Ranch and, if they got all their work done and behaved, were able to visit the property's amusement park, movie theater, or zoo on the weekends. When she was 7, after her father's child molestation trial ended in an acquittal, the family left Neverland and traveled the world. When Michael Jackson died, they were preparing to set down roots in London for a year for his O2 Arena performances. Jackson recounts her struggles after his death, including drug addiction, multiple suicide attempts, and a relationship forged with her mother, Debbie Rowe. She also says she's absolutely certain Michael Jackson is her biological father: "He's my dad, why would he lie to me?" The full interview, which also includes tidbits from brother Prince, is worth a read. (Or check out pictures from Paris' modeling debut.) Israel said Tuesday it approved 2,500 new settler homes in the West Bank, a controversial moves that signals a major ramp-up of construction just days after the swearing-in of President Trump, whose election has emboldened the settlement movement, reports the AP. Trump is widely expected to be more sympathetic to Israel's settlement policies than the fiercely critical Obama administration, and has also vowed to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to contested Jerusalem. Israel's nationalist government has welcomed the prospective change in policy, but it also risks igniting Palestinian or even regional unrest. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed on the approval "in response to housing needs." He said the majority of the housing units will be built in settlement "blocs," areas where most settlers live and which Israel wants to keep under its control under any future peace deal with the Palestinians. Some 100 homes were slated for two smaller settlements. The Palestinians want the West Bank, as well the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalemareas captured by Israel in the 1967 warfor their hoped-for state. They, along with much of the international community, view settlements as illegal. (Read more Israel stories.) New Delhi: Tax solutions provider KDK Softwares has launched a toll-free number to resolve GST-related queries ahead of the Union Budget. The company, which launched its 'GST Helpline' service recently, said it has received over?10,000 calls with most of the callers inquiring about the new tax regime whether it will be beneficial for small businesses. "Over 70 per cent calls received by the helpline had a single concern on GST rates and whether this will be a beneficial tax structure to small businesses," KDK Softwares CEO Mohit Bhambani said here. Queries of over ten thousands callers were studied, he said. "About 80 per cent calls received were from the organisation having a business turnover below Rs 1 crore. Most of them were worried on the GST rates and how it will be levied on supply in case a company is supplying products directly to the end customers," he added. With the recent demonetisation and upcoming GST regime, SMEs and startups are facing very challenging economic environment in addition to their experience of several highs and lows during the past five years, the CEO said. But at the same time, understanding the importance of the SME sector, the central government has re-implemented Public Procurement Policy and also launched Make in India, Startup India and Skill India campaigns to promote the sector, he noted. The company said its national toll-free helpline number 1800 103 9271 is available in 6 languages - English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam. The company, which launched its 'GST Helpline' service recently, said it has received over?10,000 calls with most of the callers inquiring about the new tax regime whether it will be beneficial for small businesses. "Over 70 per cent calls received by the helpline had a single concern on GST rates and whether this will be a beneficial tax structure to small businesses," KDK Softwares CEO Mohit Bhambani said here. Queries of over ten thousands callers were studied, he said. "About 80 per cent calls received were from the organisation having a business turnover below Rs 1 crore. Most of them were worried on the GST rates and how it will be levied on supply in case a company is supplying products directly to the end customers," he added. With the recent demonetisation and upcoming GST regime, SMEs and startups are facing very challenging economic environment in addition to their experience of several highs and lows during the past five years, the CEO said. But at the same time, understanding the importance of the SME sector, the central government has re-implemented Public Procurement Policy and also launched Make in India, Startup India and Skill India campaigns to promote the sector, he noted. The company said its national toll-free helpline number 1800 103 9271 is available in 6 languages namely, English, Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada and Malayalam. (Adds analyst quote) By Tsvetelia Tsolova SOFIA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's president on Tuesday called an early national election for March 26 and appointed former parliament speaker Ognyan Gerdzhikov as caretaker prime minister until then. Gerdzhikov, 70, currently a professor of law and head of an arbitration court, served as speaker of parliament in a centrist government from 2001 to 2005. Kiril Ananiev, 61, currently a deputy finance minister in charge of budgets, will take over as finance minister, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Ananiev is seen as a safe pair of hands, having served as deputy finance minister in five different governments. The appointments show that President Rumen Radev, who took office this month after winning an election with the backing of the opposition Socialists, is seeking continuity and balance, analysts said. Radev had to call an early election after Bulgaria's centre-right government resigned late last year following the defeat of its candidate in the presidential election. Radev will dissolve the parliament on Friday. "The head of state sets March 26 as the date for the general election. With another decree, the president appoints Ognyan Gerdzhikov as interim prime minister," the president's office said in a statement. Russia-friendly Radev is also expected to appoint diplomat Radi Naidenov, currently Bulgaria's ambassador to Germany, as interim foreign minister as he seeks to reaffirm Sofia's commitment to its allies in the European Union and NATO. SEEKING BALANCE The main task of Gerdzhikov's interim government will be to ensure that the Balkan country holds a fair election and maintains fiscal stability to protect the Bulgarian currency's peg against the euro. "Radev won his post with the support of the Socialists, but the interim government does not look like a Socialist one," said Parvan Simeonov, an analyst at Sofia-based Gallup International. "We see a centrist line and with the finance minister - a continuity of policies. Radev wants balance and this is what the interim government shows," he said. Story continues The previous centre-right government of Boiko Borisov secured economic growth and cut unemployment to an eight-year low while cutting the fiscal deficit, but its failure to tackle endemic graft in the EU's poorest country has frustrated voters. Political analysts say the parliamentary election, Bulgaria's third since 2013, is again unlikely to produce a strong majority government able to implement the judicial, economic and other reforms the country needs. Borisov's GERB party has a narrow lead over its main Socialist rival, latest opinion polls show. "None of the parties is expected to win an outright majority, which will result in a fragmented parliament and another fragile coalition government," Teneo Intelligence analyst Andrius Tursa said in a note. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Gareth Jones) San Francisco: A charitable foundation backed by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife has said it has bought a Canadian artificial intelligence startup as part of a mission to eradicate a disease. The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Toronto-based Meta, which uses AIto quickly read and comprehend scientific papers and then provide insights to researchers. Meta capabilities will be unified in a tool made available for free to scientists. "We are very excited about what lies ahead," Metaco-founder and chief executive Sam Molyneux said in a statement. Zuckerberg and his doctor wife, Priscilla Chan, inSeptember pledged $3 billion over the next decade to help banish or manage all disease, pouring some of the Facebook founder's fortune into innovative research. "This is a big goal," Zuckerberg said at a San Francisco event announcing the effort of the philanthropic entity established by the couple in 2015. "But we spent the last few years speaking with experts who think it is possible, so we dug in. " In the field of biomedicine alone, thousands of research papers are published daily, initiative science president CoriBargmann and chief technology officer Brian Pinkerton said in a post on the charity's Facebook page. Meta artificial intelligence can analyse insights across millions of papers, finding connections and patterns at scales and speeds impossible for humans to match unassisted, according to Bargmann and Pinkerton. "Meta will help scientists learn from others' discoveries in real time, find key papers that may have gone unnoticed, or even predict where their field is headed," Bargmann and Pinkerton said. "The potential for this kind of platform is virtually limitless." Zuckerberg said last month that he built an artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler" -- named Jarvis -- that even plays with his family. The Facebook chief took on the personal project last year, devoting about 100 hours to making a system inspired by"Iron Man" film character Jarvis as a virtual assistant to help manage his household. Jarvis is not a physical robot, but an application Zuckerberg can access through his phone or computer to control lights, temperature, music, security, appliances and more. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Qualcomm has denied the allegations put by Apple saying, iPhone maker company has been trying to turn a simple contract dispute into a regulatory issue. However, Telecommunication-company has no plans to stop doing business with the iPhone maker. Apple sued mobile chip maker Qualcomm for $1 billion in a patent fight pitting the iPhone maker against one of its major suppliers. Qualcomm will look to file its own lawsuits in response, whether in the U.S. or elsewhere, and get Apples case dismissed. The 100-page complaint filed Friday in a San Diego federal court depicted Qualcomm as a greedy monopolist abusing its power in a key segment of the mobile chip market to extort royalties for iPhone innovations that have nothing to do with Qualcomms technology. While Apple uses its homegrown processors to power the iPhone, it relies on modem chips from Qualcomm, especially in the U.S., where rivals dont support technologies used by Sprint and Verizon. With the iPhone 7, Apple began using modem chips from Intel as well, though those chips only work with the types of networks used by AT&T and T-Mobile. For all the Latest Business News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Delhi Police has launched a preliminary inquiry into allegations of forgery, cheating and fraud against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his brother-in-law and a public servant for alleged irregularities in grant of contracts for roads and sewer lines. The Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi Police has initiated a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, a senior officer said on Tuesday, adding that no FIR has been lodged in the matter. A complaint in this regard was lodged by Kislay Pandey, a lawyer, on behalf of the Roads Anti-Corruption Organisation (RACO), an NGO. The complainant accused Kejriwal, his brother-in-law Surender Kumar Bansal, the proprietor of a construction company, and PK Kathuria, the then executive engineer in the Delhi government's Public Works Department (PWD), of indulging in corruption. The NGO, which claims to monitor public works, alleged that Bansal had submitted fake bills and invoices to the PWD. It also claimed that there were documents that showed no material was actually purchased for completing the works. The complaint alleged that the documents given to the PWD were "concocted and forged" by the accused, causing a loss of over Rs 10 crore to the public exchequer. It also alleged that the chief minister had caused substantive gains to Bansal and others by using his influence, adding that his role must also be probed. The complaint alleged that Bansal operated through several dummy firms to obtain government contracts "in connivance with various senior PWD officials", which never got executed "whereas, shockingly all the payments have been cleared under the pressure of Kejriwal". New Delhi: A 37-year-old man who was imposing as a senior doctor got arrested on Monday at Safdarjung Hospital. The name of arrested man is Avinash Anand, who claimed to be an associate professor at AIIMS Trauma Center in the orthopaedics department and had forced resident doctors at Safdarjung to admit patients. He had even pulled out a fake identity card and was found carrying forged stamps. After arresting Anand police charged him under IPC section of 419 and 420. Avinash Anand's profile on Facebook and Twitter describes him as a doctor from AIIMS, Delhi. New Delhi: Suspended JNU student Dileep Yadav who has been on hunger strike since three days was rushed to hospital by police on Monday even as students alleged that he has been abducted. Yadav is among the nine students who were suspended by the university last month for allegedly disrupting an academic council meeting. He has been on hunger strike since three days demanding that the suspension of these students be revoked. Students alleged that Kumar was abducted by police and JNU administration, a charge denied by both. A student who has been on a hunger strike for the last three days has been literally abducted from campus by the police and JNU admin. Repression is real. Where a fellow student, Najeeb disappears after being beaten up by ABVP activists, teachers are threatened, student activists punished and even democratic means of protest like hunger strikes are trampled upon, the JNU student union said. According to a senior police official, The student was not taken forcefully. Seeing his critical health conditions, he was shifted to hospital in the universitys ambulance for emergency medical attention with local police assistance. Panaji: The Congress on Tuesday attacked BJP President Amit Shah over his statement that the next Goa government will be functioning under the leadership of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar saying that Goa is not a union territory to be governed by Delhi. It is for the people of Goa to think on what Shah said. We are not a Union territory to be ruled from Delhi. We are a full fledged state developed much compared to the other states, Goas Leader of Opposition Pratapsinh Rane said in Panaji. Rane was reacting to remarks made by Shah on Monday at a public meeting in Vasco town. When asked whether such a trend favours the state, Rane said, it is not good for the entire country where Defence Minister is seen more interested in Goa than what is happening at the border. Parrikar is already ruling the state through remote control. Every weekend he spends here since he became the Defence Minister, Rane quipped. On Monday, Shah had said that though Parrikar is needed at Centre the next government in the coastal state will function under his leadership, irrespective of his posting. Goa has given a big asset to the country in Manohar Parrikar. There is a huge demand for Parrikar in Delhi and also here in Goa. The people of Goa demand that we should send Parrikar back to the state, Shah had said. Goa is going to polls to elect the 40-member House on February 4. New Delhi: On 100thA episode, housemates turned into chefs for their final task aBB Dhaba in the house. After the debacle in the task on Monday to increase the prize money, on Tuesday, housemates woke up to the aoppo F1sa tunea. After many tussles during their stay in the house, A Manu Punjabi, Manveer Gurjar and Bani J shared their aspirations with each other. For the final task, BB Dhaba- housemates were divided into two teams, Bani J- Manu Punjabi and Lopa aRohan. Manveer Gurjar became the organiser and strict owner of the Dhaba. The task was held in three rounds. #ManveerGurjar will have to judge which Team was better based on the look and taste of the dish! #BB10GrandFinale pic.twitter.com/CKJrqjCuuw a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 24, 2017 As the task began, both the ladies - Lopa and Bani went into theA store room to choose their ingredients. In the first round both the teams made Chinese dishes while in theA second round, teams made Italian dishes. In the third task the teams prepared sweet dish. Bani J's team won all three rounds of the task as Manveer athe judge of the task really liked the Bani J dishesa presentation. #ManveerGurjar & @rohan4747 get into a war of words after Rohan asks Manveer not to interfere in the task! #BB10GrandFinale pic.twitter.com/auW5WMlZOv a Bigg Boss (@BiggBoss) January 24, 2017 As the second round began, a small fight erupted between both the ladies as Lopa tried to grab everything while Bani picked up only those ingredients she needed. But a fight erupted after Lopa realised that she had missed the important ingredients and asked Bani to share.A Rohan and Manveer also got into a war of words after Rohan asked Manveer not to interfere in the task. A A At the end of the task, Bigg Boss applauded the housemates for their performance in the task and for surviving 100 days in the house. Bigg Boss also organised a lavish dinner for the housemates as they successfully completed the task. Prince of Indian Cuisine, Zorawar Kalra also joined the housemates for the dinner. New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is a person who stardom speaks for himself. He enjoys a huge fan base and plays in millions when it come to earnings. However, there was a time when King Khan had meagre pay. Yes! it's true. The 'Dilwale' actor has revealed that his first salay was merely Rs 50 as he was an usher in a Pankaj Udhas concert. While that first income was quite special for SRK, he spent it in the most special way. "I went to Taj Mahal in train with my first income", said Shah Rukh. "I have travelled some long distances when I was younger. I did one, when I got my first earning from Pankaj Udhas concert, I was an usher. We got Rs 50, so we went to Taj Mahal, saved money," the 51-year-old actor said. The "Fan" star said that on his way back, he had pink lassi in a huge glass which messed up with his stomach. "There they used to give this Pink lassi. We were so hungry, we had nothing to eat, but the lassi was big. But I think there was a bumble bee in it. I remember the whole way back from Agra to Delhi I was throwing up." King Khan has travelled to Delhi from Mumbai through August Kranti for promotions of his latest "Raees". "I am very happy. Had come to Mumbai first time in train. I am excited but nervous too because I am going in a train after a long time. This is a long journey but we will have fun, the entire team of 'Raees' is here." His film "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" had an iconic train scene with Kajol in the climax. When asked if he knew the sequence would become iconic, Shah Rukh says, "I never thought that. We had very little time to shoot, had to wrap up things quickly. Kajol was running, my hands were stretched out, I didn't know it would become famous." The actor says he is not "nervous" before the release of "Raees", which hits the screens on January 25. "When people people make you a star, there should be expectations. If they don't have any expectations from me then who else. I am not nervous, the film has substance and popular masala. It is a good mix of both. I feel it's a good film. People will like it", said Shah Rukh. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Mumbai: Popular for action films, superstar Jackie Chan says that he does get scared to perform stunts on the screen and insists that he is no superhero. "I am motivated to do action because of you (audience). I do get scared to do action. When I do a stunt I think will this be my last shot. When I look around so many fans, the love and warmth, I want to do different kind of films. That's my goal," Jackie told reporters in Mumbai at a promotional event of his upcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga" on Monday night. "I don't know how many years I can continue to do making films and doing action but as long as I can I will do it," the 62-year-old actor said. Jackie arrived in Mumbai on Monday morning the Indian-Sino venture "Kung Fu Yoga" and was welcomed at the airport by his co-star Sonu Sood. He later shot 'The Kapil Sharma Show' before heading to his hotel in suburban Juhu to address the media. The "Who Am I" star couldn't stop heaping praises on Sonu Sood. "He (Sonu) is tough. We learn martial arts first and then do films. He doesn't look that strong but he is. He learnt all of it in one week, he knew the timing and rhythm," he adds. Jackie thinks beside Sonu, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan are good at action. When asked who is the best action star in Bollywood, he said, "It is difficult to say. Aamir Khan, Salman Khan." For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Hollywood actor Jackie Chan, who is in India these days to promote his upcoming release 'Kung Fu Yoga', is leaving no stone unturned to promote the movie. But apart from all the promotions, what else is grabbing the eyeballs is Chan's meeting with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. The two legends recently met at a Mumbais five star hotel, after Khan came in to welcome Jackie Chan to India. The 'Sultan' actor even shared a pictur of himself with the Hollywood star where the two are all smiles as they pose with soft toys of Panda. 'Kung Fu Panda' also stars Sonu Sood, Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur. Also Read | 'Namaste Salman': Jackie Chan has a 'power packed' surprise for 'Sultan' of Bollywood Interestingly, Sonu had even shared a video where Jackie had promised Salman to meet him during his India visit for the promotions of this movie. Directed by Stanely Tong, 'Kung Fu Yoga' is a multi-lingual and action-adventure comedy which is set to release on February 3 in India. For all the Latest Entertainment News, Hollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: The Chennai Police said that anti-social elements had "crept" into the pro-Jallikattu protests, which turned violent and also asserted that it will not allow such persons to exploit the situation on Monday. Police Commissioner S George said even in the morning most protesters had said they were satisfied with the Jallikattu ordinance and also a bill to replace it. Only "certain groups were resisting," he told reporters tonight. Also Read: Jallikattu row: Fire at Ice House Police Station near Marina Beach in Chennai, violence erupts in various parts "There were anti-social elements and miscreants who crept into the protesting crowd and diverted the demands, which we got to know from our intelligence wing. Based on it, we decided to disperse the crowd," he added. Police used force only after stones were pelted at them, he claimed, adding, the police personnel had no intention to attack or harm people. As many as 94 cops sustained injuries while 51 police vehicles were damaged in today's violence, he said. "There are sporadic incidents taking place in different parts even now. We are controlling them. We are dealing with it. We will deal with it firmly and more police personnel are coming and they will be deployed. Wherever anti-social elements are trying to exploit the situation, the city police will not allow (it), the Tamil Nadu police will not allow (it)," he asserted. George said, even a police station was attacked, women cops not spared, and 'disruptions' had happened at over 90 locations in the city, he said. The police have detained about 40 persons for interrogation in connection with today's violence, he said, adding, the situation was now under control. On a video showing a police personnel purportedly setting a vehicle on fire, the city police commissioner said the matter would be probed. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With just a few days left for assembly election in five states to start and political parties doing their best to woo voters, Election Commission on Tuesday directed parties to desist from splitting voters on religion and caste. The EC also added that such practice by political parties will amount to the violation of the model code, it also reminded them of a recent Supreme Court order which said such appeals amount to corrupt practice. The election commission has also asked parties to not use pictures of president and vice-president in election posters. The commission sent letters to chief electoral officers of all states and has directed that seeking votes in the name of religion and caste by or on behalf of any candidate or political party would now amount to violation of the provisions of the Mode Code of Conduct. The Chief electoral officers have been asked to inform the grassroots level election officials and ensure the compliance of the SC orders during elections. Supreme Court on January 2, held that any appeal to vote or to refrain from voting for a candidate on the ground of religion, caste, race, community or language of the candidate, election agent, any person making the appeal with the consent of the candidate or on the ground of the religion, caste of the electors would amount to corrupt practice. Detailing the broad points of the judgement delivered by a Constitution Bench, the Commission has now asked the parties to ensure "strict compliance" of the judgement. "The political parties may also suitably brief and inform their lower formations and party cadres and all their candidates about the ruling of the Supreme Court and ask them to desist from any activities that would amount to soliciting votes in the name of religion, caste, etc in any manner, in their own interest and in the interest of the party. "Such appeals may also fall within the ambit of... Model Code of Conduct," the letter addressed to top brass of all recognised national and state political parties said. (with PTI input) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Chandrababu Naidu-led Chief ministers' panel recommended a slew of measures to boost digital payment. The panel suggested various measures like Rs 1,000 subsidy on smartphones by non-tax assesses and small merchants. It also recommended cash transaction tax on withdrawals of Rs 50,000 and above in banks. The panel also recommended tax levy on cash transactions of Rs 50,000 and above. The Chief Ministers Panel report, headed by Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu submitted its report to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The panel also made a case for the abolition of merchant discount rate (MDR) to make Digital Payments cheaper than cash. The Merchant Discount Rate is charged to a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card services. The committee comprising Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has also asked the Centre to promote Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) by incentivising and not charging MDR. The other recommendations include tax incentives for micro ATMs, biometric sensors etc. and tax refund for consumers using digital payment up to a certain proportion of annual income. When asked how sure he was about incorporation of these recommendations in the forthcoming budget on February 1, Naidu said, I am very confident about that. Explaining about advantage of digital payments, he said that there are lots of cost of handling physical currency because of its printing, movement and security while there is no such cost for digital currency. Naidu also elaborated that with the increase of volume of digital transitions, the cost will reduce and there is huge opportunity in India because non-cash payment transitions by non-banks per capita per annum is 11 in the country as compared to 26 in China, 728 in Singapore, 355 in the UK, 142 in Brazil, 70 in South Africa and 32 in Mexico. Similarly, the report highlights that the number of (cashless) pay points per million people are 1,080 in India as against 31,096 in Singapore, 30,078 in the UK, 25,241 in Brazil, 7,267 in South Africa, 7,189 in Mexico and 16,602 in China. The panel made a case for relief in prospective taxes for encouraging merchants to accept digital payments and no retrospective taxation to Merchants doing digital transactions. It also suggested that for Aadhaar Pay, Biometric (FP & Iris) sensors should be provided at 50 per cent subsidy to all merchant points. The panel said in its interim report that all payment banks and banking correspondents should be made interoperable through AEPS and also provide infrastructure for 1,54,000 post offices by way of interoperable Aadhaar enabled Micro-ATMs. Naidu also suggested insurance for all digital transactions to safeguard the interest of people going cashless. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave a go ahead to the approval to waive off interest on short-term crop loans from Cooperative Banks to farmers for the months of November-December 2016. The government has waived off Rs 660.50 crore interest on short-term crop loans. A number of key decisions were also taken by cabinet including giving its approval to ratification of Second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol on containing emission of Green House Gases. The Cabinet also approved a transfer of 11.35 acres of land to the Airport Authorities of India. However, the government will take an equivalent area of land in exchange at Anisabad in Bihar. An approval to the IIM amendment bill, seeking to authorise IIMs to grant a degree as opposed to diploma, was also approved by the Cabinet. The Cabinet also gave a go ahead to the construction of a world class convention centre at Pragati Maidan. The total cost of this project by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) will be Rs 2,254 crore. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: An NIA team on Monday inspected the accident site of Jagdalpur-Bhubaneswar Hirakhand Express in Vizianagaram, in which 39 people lost their lives on Saturday, to ascertain if it was a terror act as the Railways has suspected sabotage. Official sources said the team is looking into whether there was a terror angle involved or the accident was due to technical or human error. It was just an examination of the accident site to draw preliminary inferences whether the case can be taken up by the NIA, they said. With the Railways suspecting sabotage, Home Ministry was exploring the option of handing over the investigations to NIA, which is nodal agency to probe terror-related cases. The NIA is also looking into the claims of three persons, arrested from Bihar, that derailment of Indore-Patna train on November 20 last year, in which 150 people lost their lives, was caused due to sabotage by Pakistans ISI. The probe agency, however, had so far found no evidence or input to this effect during its probe. Uttar Pradesh Police has also rubbished the claims of any sabotage in the Railway accident. Moti Paswan, Uma Shankar and Mukesh Yadav, arrested last week from East Champaran district of Bihar, had claimed that they have received Rs 3 lakh to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at Ghorasahan railway station in the district on October 1 last year. Bihar Police had reportedly recovered the IEDs. A team of NIA officials has already gone to Bihar to question the accused and verify their claim. The trio had reportedly confessed to the possible role of ISI in the last years derailment. They also claimed to be working for the ISI, the sources said. At least 39 people lost their lives due to the derailment of Hirakhand Express at Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday night. Odisha Police, however, ruled out the involvement of Naxals in the mishap. There is no indication of Maoists hand behind the derailment, Odisha DGP K B Singh had said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Chennai: The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of media reports over the police excesses on those who were protesting in support of Jallikattu and issued notices to Tamil Nadu authorities. Earlier this month, protests were being held in Tamil Nadu and the protesters demanded that the bull taming sport be allowed to take place across the state. Jallikattu was banned by the Supreme Court in 2014. The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Bill, 2017 allowing Jallikattu was passed by the Tamil Nadu Government in the State Assembly on Monday. After the passage of the Bill, the police, while evicting protesters from Marina Beach in Chennai, allegedly beat them up and arrested them. ALSO READ | Anti-social elements crept into pro-Jallikattu protests in Chennai: Police According to media reports, the police apparently damaged private property in order to disperse a large number of people gathered at landmark places in Chennai, the NHRC said in a statement. The NHRC observed that the media reports indicated unprovoked police action that amounts to a violation of human rights. The NHRC also said that the protesters has not exceeded their fundamental right. The visuals on television news channels showed that police set on fire the huts, autos, motorcycles, vegetable shops on the streets and other properties on internal streets in Chennai, the NHRC said. ALSO READ | Jallikattu row: Kamal Haasan shocked over police action on pro-bullfight protesters The commission said that the reports showed bleeding students running for their lives, while police personnel beating the protesters. Taking a serious view of the unprovoked police excesses, the NHRC issued notices to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and Director-General of Police as well as the Chennai Police Commissioner, and has asked for reports in two weeks. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: A policeman was injured after suspected militants attacked a convoy of police and CRPF patrolling convoy on Tuesday in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. According to sources, the militants opened fire and lobbed grenades at the patrolling party. The latest attack came hours after security forces gunned down two suspected militants in Kashmir's Ganderbal area. A police official said that security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in the Hadoora area of Ganderbal district, 25 kms from following information about the presence of militants in the area, a police official said. He said as the security forces were closing in on the position of the militants, the latter opened fire which was retaliated by the troops. In the ensuing gunbattle, one militant is believed to have been killed while the operation is still in progress, the official said. (More details awaited) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar have convened separate all-party meetings on January 30 to ensure smooth conduct of proceedings and to know the various issues the political parties seek to raise during the session. Sources said while the governments meeting has been convened in the morning, the Speakers dinner meet is in the evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise the issue of transparency in poll fundings during the meeting convened by the government with leaders of various political parties. The meetings come a day before President Pranab Mukherjee addresses a joint sitting of the two Houses in the Central Hall of Parliament. Read | No state-specific schemes shall be announced in Budget to ensure fair elections, says Election Commission The Union Budget is slated to be presented on February 1 and the Economic Survey may also be tabled the same day. The first half of the session will be a short affair and will end on February 9 as it is being held in the middle of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa. A shorter first part will help parties focus on electioneering. The second half of the session will begin on March 9 and will conclude on April 12. Sixteen Opposition parties had this month moved the Election Commission urging it to ask the government to present the Union Budget after the elections are over on March 8 so that it is not used as a tool by the NDA to influence voters in the five states. While the Supreme Court today refused to give any directions to the government in this regard, the Commissions decision is long awaited. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Shimla: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday said he would not campaign for Congress in Punjab for the assembly polls unless the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal was constructed and the states share of water was released. He said interests of Haryana were supreme to me. How can I campaign for Congress in Punjab unless Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal is constructed and Haryanas share of water is released, Hooda said while addressing a Congress rally in Shimla to protest against inconvenience caused to people due to demonetisation. He said the SYL agreement was broken by former Punjab chief minister Captain Amrinder Singh. Unless Punjab assures that the agreement would be honoured and SYL would be constructed, how can I campaign in favour of Congress, Hooda said. Terming the demonetisation a most erroneous decision after independence, he said the people would give a befitting reply to notebandi of government by votebandi in elections. The people would pronounce their verdict on demonetisation in assembly elections of five states and later in Himachal. The impact of demonetisation on the economy would be visible soon and financial position would deteriorate, the former chief minister said. Claiming that farmers, small traders, labourers and poor people who were made to stand in queues are the most affected by demonetisation, Hooda said the decision was purportedly taken to weed out fake currency, choke the funding of terror outfits and unearth black money, but the government is shying away from telling that how much black money has been detected and how much fake currency destroyed. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for talking about cashless economy, he said this experiment has failed even in advanced countries and how it would be successfully implemented in India with 6.50 lakh villages. Hooda claimed that the GDP would be reduced by two to three per cent due to demonetisation, which would be ruinous for our growing economy. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. By Ethan Lou (Reuters) - A Toronto court has rejected a bid by Ecuadorian villagers to enforce a judgment in their home country against Chevron Canada Ltd, ruling the subsidiary is not liable for parent Chevron Corp, the U.S. oil major said on Friday. A Canadian lawyer for the villagers in the environment-damage lawsuit said the ruling is "not a modern-day view," and that an appeal will be filed. Residents of Ecuador's Lago Agrio region have been trying to force Chevron to pay for water and soil contamination caused from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001. The villagers obtained a $9 billion judgment against Chevron in Ecuador in 2011. But the company has no assets in Ecuador, and the villagers have been suing it in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Argentina to enforce the decision. While not disputing that pollution occurred, Chevron has alleged the villagers' lawyer, Steven Donziger, and his associates went too far, including arranging for the ghost-writing of a key environmental report and bribing the presiding judge in Ecuador. A U.S. federal appeals court, which blocked enforcement of the judgment last year, agreed with the company. On Friday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled Chevron Canada Ltd is a separate entity from Chevron Corp, and is thus not a debtor to the Ecuadorian judgment, according to a copy of the decision provided by the California-based Chevron. But Justice Glenn Hainey also ruled partly in favor of the villagers. Chevron had argued the Ecuadorian judgment is unenforceable in Canada because of what it says is the corrupt manner in which it was obtained. The villagers had asked for that argument to be struck out entirely. Hainey ruled some parts of Chevron's argument should be struck, while some should be tested through trial. Karen Hinton, U.S. spokeswoman for the Amazon Defense Coalition that represents the villagers, called the decision a "resounding victory," even if the Chevron Canada subsidiary, which is worth billions, is not up for grabs. "The part of the decision that knocks out Chevrons subsidiary from the enforcement action still allows the villagers to proceed against Chevron itself," she said. "The part of the decision to limit Chevrons liability is a temporary setback that will be corrected quickly on appeal." (Editing by Alan Crosby and Lisa Shumaker) Ludhiana: Ruling party in Punjab Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) released it manifesto on Tuesday. The election manifesto talks a lot about farmers like debt waiver for small farmers, 20 lakh jobs for youth, mega complexes for the industry in the state but it fails to provide a roadmap to tackle Punjab drug addiction problem. The vision document, which was released by Punjabs Deputy Chief Minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in Ludhiana, has the catchline - jo keha so kar vikhaya (We fulfill whatever we claim). We have delivered what we have promised earlier. Be it making the Punjab power surplus, introducing unique welfare schemes like aata-daal and Shagun, to providing 100 per cent water and sewerage facilities in 165 towns across the state. Now we will do the same in all 12,000 villages besides making cemented streets and putting up solar lights. We are similarly committed to delivering on the promises made today, Badal said on the release of SAD manifesto. A new initiative to give 5 kg sugar at the rate of Rs 10 per kg and 2 kg ghee for Rs 25 per kg would also be implemented, Badal said. He said that free power and other facilities being given to farm sector will continue. Wooing the farmers, Badal announced the SAD-BJP alliance was committed to waiving off farm debts of all small farmers. He said the alliance government would also give fertiliser input incentive of Rs 100 per quintal on both wheat and paddy as an additional support to farmers over and above the minimum support price (MSP). All small farmers will also be eligible for a Rs two lakh interest free agriculture crop loan. Besides, the government will provide tubewell to all farmers irrespective of the land holding, and free and regular ten hour day time power supply for farm operations, he said. Badal said farm labourers will also be compensated in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities. He said besides, a one stop shop which will dispense aata daal. Sewa kendra will be opened in the villages. All link roads will be made 18 feet wide. The SAD president said the Akali-BJP alliance was also committed to imparting skill to 10 lakh youth in 25,000 skill centres with one skill centre catering to five villages. Those doing the skill courses will be eligible for Rs 10 lakh interest free loan. The alliance government will also facilitate 50,000 youth to acquire taxis without down payment and soft loans. We will give government employment and also create jobs in tourism and industrial sectors to fulfill the 20 lakh job promise, he said. Assembly Polls in Punjab will be held on February 4 For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Panaji: Days after an RSS functionary advocated a review of reservation policy, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said though there is some misuse of the quota system, but it is needed to uplift the downtrodden. Though the situation in Goa is different, the social condition of SC and ST people across the country is not good...It is improving, Parrikar said to a question while addressing the BJPs youth convention in the poll-bound state. I admit there is some misuse of reservation. But I feel we need to work out a mechanism to bring up those who are downtrodden into the social structure, he said. The reason behind reservation is to bring them up. I feel that there is a need for reservation policy, he said. Notably, RSS publicity chief Manmohan Vaidya had on Friday said that even B R Ambedkar, architect of the Constitution, was not in favour of the perpetual continuance of reservations, and the reservation policy should be reviewed. However, after Vaidyas remarks kicked up a row, the Sangh clarified that reservation, as provided by Constitution, should continue and there should be no unnecessary controversy. Meanwhile, Parrikar also said that circumstances forced him into politics, but he still follows the principles adopted during his first day into this field. I remember, in 1989 I never thought that I was destined to be in politics. But due to certain circumstances, I was pushed into politics. In those 10 years, I saw at least 12 Chief Ministers, he said at the convention. If you want to have a comprehensive development of Goa, the plan needs to be worked out. But during that time (when I joined politics), there was no plan. Entire ten years went only to change the chief ministers, the BJP leader said. After every 10 years, there was political instability. The MLAs used to get huddled in a camp and for eight to ten days they were out of contact from the world trying to work out a new political equation, Parrikar said, recalling the days of instability which were witnessed by the coastal state. The MLAs were being kept under watch so that they dont cross over and go to rival camp. Entire strength was wasted on politics. Goas development had been hampered to a great extent. Goa had become a ship without sails, he said, reminding that in 2000 he got a chance to rule the state. The day I entered politics, I knew that there are several pitfalls on the way. There is every probability of losing the control. Easy money comes with power, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, he said. Parrikar said he still follows the principles that he adopted while entering the politics. Whatever personal work is there I do it with my own money. If you come to my bungalow in Delhi, you will find that only those things which are officially given to me by the government. You will not find any army person, except for those who are attached officially, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed charge sheet against liquor baron Vijay Mallya, Kingfisher Airlines and nine others in CBI special court in Mumbai in connection with the loan default case. Nine accused who were arrested on Monday by CBI, were produced before the special CBI court in Mumbai on Tuesday. The court sent all 9 accused to judicial custody till 7th February.Next hearing on the bail application of all 9 accused will happen 30th January. On Monday, CBI arrested at least 9 people, including former IDBI Bank chairman Yogesh Agarwal and former chief financial officer of now defunct Kingfisher Airlines A Raghunathan, in an effort to recover Rs 9,000 crore that the billionaire Vijay Mallya owes lenders. Other IDBI executives arrested by CBI include O V Bundellu, S K V Srinivasan and R S Sridhar, they said. The sources said besides former CFO of Kingfisher Airlines, three more former executives Shailesh Borke, A C Shah and Amit Nadkarni were also arrested. The arrests have been made from multiple cities. While Raghunathan was arrested in Mumbai, Aggarwal was taken into custody from Gurgaon, the sources said. CBI has alleged that Aggarwal approved the loans and also instructed to expedite the ratings while finalising the loans to Kingfisher Airlines of over Rs 900 crore. The agency had alleged that loans were issued by accepting Kingfisher brand as hypothecation, lease aircraft and guarantees from UB group and Mallya himself. During the probe, CBI had come across alleged communication from Raghunathan to IDBI bank in which he had referred to meetings between Mallya and Aggarwal. The agency is investigating if the loan disbursal took place after these meetings. CBI had registered a case against Mallya, Director of defunct Kingfisher Airlines; the company; A Raghunathan, Chief Financial Officer of the Airlines; and unknown officials of IDBI Bank. The loan was allegedly sanctioned in violation of norms regarding credit limits. The sources said there was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium. It was first exposure to the bank. There was no need for the bank to take the exposure outside the consortium when already other loans were getting stressed, a senior CBI official, probing the matter, had earlier said. Rs 250 crore of loan given by IDBI Bank was allegedly routed through different bank accounts of Kingfisher Airlines which had stopped operations in 2012 following huge debts. Mallya, who has moved to Europe last year, is facing another CBI case which was filed on the basis of a complaint from State Bank of India which is one of the lenders to the Kingfisher Airlines in connection with Rs 1,600 crore of alleged default. The CBI said a case has been registered against Mallya and others after receiving a complaint from State Bank of India, which is leading a consortium of 17 banks that have given loans to Kingfisher Airlines. The airline, owned by Mallya, had taken Rs 6,900 crore from a consortium of 17 lenders in early 2010 after a second debt restructuring for the airline. (with PTI inputs) For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Stockholm: Three young men suspected of gang raping a woman in Sweden and livestreaming the attack on Facebook have been detained, police said, urging social media users today to turn over the footage. The suspects, aged 18, 20 and 24, were arrested early Sunday in an apartment in Uppsala, 70 kilometres (45 miles) north of Stockholm, in the presence of victim after members of a Facebook group saw the attack streamed live and alerted police. The closed Facebook group has 60,000 members. Josefine Lundgren, 21, was one of the first to call authorities. The attacker also had apparently filmed everything and took pictures that he put on (messaging site) Snapchat, she said. At a press conference today, investigators appealed to social media users who had images of the attack to turn them over to police. We have some picture and video material. But we dont have any images showing the attack itself, Uppsala deputy chief prosecutor Magnus Berggren said. The film has been removed from Facebook but it has been circulated on the internet. Swedish media have published excerpts of the footage, showing at least one of the suspects holding a revolver. According to Berggren, other charges could be pressed against the suspects in addition to one of aggravated rape, for having streamed the attack. In an email to AFP, a press spokesman for Facebook in the Nordic countries denounced a hideous crime. Our teams work around the clock to review content that is being reported by users and Facebook cooperates systematically with police in criminal investigations, he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: The US Senate has confirmed former Congressman Mike Pompeo as CIA director while Rex Tillersons nomination to be the Secretary of State moved a step closer to approval as Donald Trumps Cabinet takes shape. Pompeo, who was confirmed by the Senate by 66-32 votes, replaces John Brennan, a political appointee, whose term ended on January 20 with that of Barack Obama as the US President. Later, Pompeo was sworn in last night as CIA director. You are stepping up to lead the finest intelligence-gathering operation the world has ever seen, Vice President Mike Pence said during the swearing-in ceremony. The men and women serving under your command give true meaning to the word courage, he said. Significantly, Trump, who succeeded Obama as the 45th President of the US, made his first visit to a federal agency to CIA headquarters in Langley. Pompeo, 53, is only the third member of Trumps cabinet to take his post after Secretary of Defence James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly were sworn in Friday. On Pompeos conformation, Senator John McCain, in a statement, said the new Director of the CIA must focus on uncovering facts about the many complex national security threats confronting the nation. Now is the time to turn the page on our discussions of old programmes and activities, which we have thoroughly reviewed and addressed, he said. Congressman Davin Nunes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Pompeo with his deep background in intelligence and military affairs, he is confident will serve the intelligence community well and make vital contributions to national security. At a time when Americans face escalating threats from both terror groups and state entities, its reassuring that someone with as much experience and knowledge as Mike will be leading one of the nations premier intelligence agencies, he said. Meanwhile, a key Senate panel approved the nomination of Tillerson as the Secretary of State. This has paved the way for the Senate to formally vote on his nomination following which Tillerson would occupy the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department as the top American diplomat. The position has been vacant since January 20 when John Kerrys term demitted office with outgoing president Obama. Even as Trump had nominated Tillerson as his Secretary of State much in advance, the Senate has not been able to confirm him because of some reservations by a few lawmakers, including from Trumps own Republican party. The approval by Senate Foreign relations Committee came after Senator McCain and Senator Marco Rubioboth of the Republican partyannounced that they will support his nomination. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: President Donald Trump on Monday formally pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership as he signed an executive action to withdraw from the negotiating process of the 12-nation trade deal, one of the major international trade initiatives of his predecessor Barack Obama. Weve been talking about this for a long time...It is a great thing for the American worker, Trump said as he signed the decree to withdraw the US from the TPP, which aimed to set trade rules for the 21st century and bind US allies against growing Chinese economic clout. Trump had vowed during the campaign to withdraw the US from the Pacific trade deal which he argued was harmful to American workers and manufacturing. Trump had said the free trade agreements were lopsided against the US and vowed to implement more protectionist trade policies as president, rallying voters to the polls with his America First slogan. The TPP was negotiated under former President Barack Obama, but never ratified by Congress, so withdrawing from it will not have an immediate, real effect on US economic policies, although it does signal a new and very different US outlook on trade under Trump. Its signatoriesAustralia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Bruneitogether represent 40 per cent of the world economy. Fast-tracking implementation of his campaign promises, Trump also signed two other orders including freezing the hiring of federal workers and hitting foreign organisations that provide abortions. The Wall Street Journal said the move was largely symbolic, because congressional leaders and the Obama administration had signalled in November that no near-term vote would be held on the TPP. Top Republican Senator John McCain described Trumps decision as a mistake. President Trumps decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region, he said. This decision will forfeit the opportunity to promote American exports, reduce trade barriers, open new markets, and protect American invention and innovation, he argued. It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it, he noted. Abandoning TPP is the wrong decision. Moving forward, it is imperative that America advances a positive trade agenda in the Asia-Pacific that will keep American workers and companies competitive in one of the most economically vibrant and fastest-growing regions in the world, McCain said. However, Democratic Senator from Ohio Sherrod Brown described this move as one that would reboot the manufacturing sector. Throwing out TPP is the first necessary step in overhauling our trade policy to put American workers first, said Brown. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: In a stern warning to China, the US has said it will protect its interests in the disputed South China Sea and defend international territories from being taken over by one country. I think areas in the South China Sea that are part of international waters and international activities... I think the US is going to make sure that we protect our interests there, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at his first news conference. So its a question of if those islands are in fact in international waters and not part of China proper, then yes, were gonna make sure that we defend international territories from being taken over by one country, Spicer said. He was responding to a question related to a recent statement made by Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson that US would deny China access to these islands as they are in international waters. China in a strongly worded statement had warned US of a war if it is denied the access. The US President, Spicer said, understands that China is a big marketfor US goods and services. When he met the head of Alibaba a couple of weeks ago, that was part of the point. Theres huge market issue there. But in many cases, its not a two-way street, he said. There are so many Chinese businesses and individuals frankly, who can have ease of access in the United States to sell their goods or services, he added. I think that whether or not youre talking about the financial services or the banking, you know, the other service industries, or our manufacturing goods and services, or some of the IP problems that we have with China, that it really is not a two-way street, Spicer said. So he understands the market that China has and our desire to further penetrate that market. But he also recognises, theres a lot of concerns with how we are treated entering into Chinas market, and we need to review that, he said in response to a question. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. James Hogan Etihad On Tuesday, Etihad Aviation Group announced that its president and CEO James Hogan will leave the company he helped build. According to the Abu Dhabi-based airline and aviation conglomerate, Hogan along with CFO James Rigney will leave Etihad in the second half of 2017 to join an, as yet unnamed, investment firm. "Along with the Board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the UAE and to the development of Abu Dhabi," Hogan said in a statement. "The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad." Rumors of Hogan's departure surfaced in late 2016 after the company experienced heavy losses to due to the CEO's global expansion strategy that saw Etihad make expensive equity investments in more than half a dozen airlines around the world. Airbus A380 Etihad Over the past few years, Hogan has embarked on a equity acquisition spree that has seen Etihad take substantial ownership stakes in "partner airlines"Alitalia, Air Berlin, Air Serbia, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, Air Seychelles, and Etihad Regional. In September 2016, the partner airlines along with Etihad Airways and its accompanying subsidiaries were reconfigured to form Etihad Aviation Group. Hogan, 60, joined Etihad Airways in 2006 and has presided over the airline's incredible growth from an upstart regional player with 22 aircraft to a global power with more than 120 aircraft and another 204 on order. Including the partner airlines, Etihad Aviation Group owns equity in a fleet of more than 700 aircraft. Prior to his arrival at Etihad, the Australian served as CEO of Bahrain-based Gulf Air. Etihad Alitalia Deal In addition, Etihad has garnered critical acclaim for its high standard of service and is one of just nine airlines to received a five-star rating for consumer aviation website Skytrax. Story continues However, Etihad's critics in Europe and the US allege that much of the airline's explosive growth and plush appointments can be attributed to billions of dollars of subsidies from the Abu Dhabi government. These are allegations that Hogan has repeatedly denied. NOW WATCH: An inside look at the most luxurious airport lounge in New York More From Business Insider The TPP is dead: Trump uses executive order to withdraw from partnership With the exception of a few donor interests, former President Barack Obama never entered into international agreements that were going to be of any real benefit to the United States. Whether it be the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Climate Change Accords or globalist trade deals, the lie was always that such deals would benefit ordinary Americans and American business interests while doing exactly the opposite. Tens of millions of Americans knew that already, and one of them was just inaugurated as our 45th president. As reported by Breitbart, Donald J. Trumps pledge to get the U.S. out of bad trade deals took a major step forward on Monday, the presidents first full work day, when he signed scores of executive actions including one that essentially kills any American involvement in the much-maligned and extremely controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. (RELATED: Trump has pledged to dramatically roll back Washington! Stay current at Liberty.news) Weve been talking about this for a long time a great thing for the American worker, Trump said after putting his signature to an order killing Obamas primary trade agreement, which was to be between the U.S. and 11 other countries, most of them in Asia. Trump repeatedly called the deal bad for American workers, and apparently U.S. Labor agrees with him: Unions that normally reserve only the most vile comments for Republican presidents and lawmakers are praising Trump for taking this action. Today, President Trump made good on his campaign promise to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said Teamsters President James P. Hoffa. With this decision, the president has taken the first step toward fixing 30 years of bad trade policies that have cost working Americans millions of good-paying jobs. The union, one of the countrys largest, has also opposed NAFTA, which Trump has pledged to re-negotiate. The TPP, as Natural News reported in May, was never going to be a good thing for American workers, businesses and industries, as Obama and its supporters in both major parties promised. As we noted, Brett Redmayne-Titley, an undercover journalist who managed to attend secretive TTP planning events, wrote that that the agreement was no less than treason for essentially putting globalization on steroids, no matter the cost to U.S. jobs and industry. Also, Brooke Harper with Global Trade Watch, a Washington, D.C.-based trade watch organization, said that TPPwhich was really a treaty and thus subject to the advice and consent of the Senate before the U.S. could officially adopt it was nothing short of a complete sell-out of the American people to corporate interests. Most corporations that began as American companies are now global in nature; they do business all over the world. So theyre no longer loyal primarily to the United States, but rather to their bottom line, hence the quickening pace of moving jobs and operations offshore, where labor pools are cheaper and regulatory burdens are far less. Now that TPP is dead, Trump administration officials indicated that the president would move quickly to address NAFTAthe North American Free Trade Agreement, which was negotiated during the administration of President George H. W. Bush but ratified during the Clinton administration in the early 1990s. Trump has heavily criticized this deal as well, correctly noting that its mostly been a boon for Mexico, which has seen hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs migrate there in the quarter-century since it took effect. (RELATED: What governmental agency has Trump dismantled today? Keep up at BigGovernment.news) White House officials have said that Trump is scheduling meetings with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to open new discussions on how to revise portions of the agreement. While Trump is getting criticism from the usual globalist quarters inside and outside the U.S., he certainly was not prophetic in predicting the negative effect the agreement would have on U.S. job opportunities and manufacturing. That honor goes to another businessman-turned-politician, Ross Perot, who ran for the presidency under the then-newly-formed Reform Party. Perot, a Texas native, warned that the agreement would create a giant sucking sound of jobs out of the U.S., and he was right. J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for Natural News and News Target, as well as editor of The National Sentinel. Sources: NYTimes.com Breitbart.com ActivistPost.com Submit a correction >> This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEW MILFORD - Makers, creators and entrepreneurs wanted. Local businessman Tony Vengrove has opened Makery Coworking on Bank Street, where innovators will be able to rent space for a day or a year or somewhere in between to conduct business. The two-story, 5,000-square-foot space offers small rooms for private phone conversations, a conference room for large groups, and collections of tables, straight-backed chairs and sofas where collaborative conversations, note-taking or deep thinking can take place. Its for people who may be tired of working in isolation in their homes or meeting at a coffeehouse and want to add legitimacy to their operation, Vengrove said. But the most important thing is the community, people networking together. Everyone can have an office at home. This is a place to inspire and lift everyone up. Richard Portelance was one of the first entrepreneurs to join Makery Coworking. He runs two start-ups out of his house and keeps in touch with his colleagues mostly by phone. Working out of my house is fine but theres a lack of stimulation, Portelance said. That human interaction really helps to develop ideas because youre face-to-face, or inspired by conversation at the coffee machine with someone you havent met before. This building is a great creative space to brainstorm and do entrepreneurial work. Similar coworking spaces have started in other parts of Connecticut including the Hackerspace run out of the Danbury Library but Makery Coworking reflects Vengroves personality and his hopes for his hometown. Vengrove first moved to New Milford in 1998 but then he and his wife Kate transplanted their family to Richmond, Va., when the local corporation Tony worked for was acquired in the wake of the 2008 recession. He got involved in several efforts to spur that citys start-up community, but Vengrove said he and Kate kept thinking about New Milford. I saw firsthand how the creative economy can revitalize a community and realized we could do all this entrepreneurial stuff in New Milford, Vengrove said. We were homesick for the fabric and the hills of Litchfield County and were troubled to hear about the challenges facing Connecticut. So we said, lets go home to do our part to make the community and state better. They moved back to New Milford in 2013. Vengrove founded the marketing and strategy firm Miles Finch Innovation and began networking in the region and state with other innovators. Last summer, the space at 20 Bank St. became available. New Milford officials are supportive of the new business. This space combines the freedom that technology offers with a place to interact with other likeminded people and exchange ideas, knowledge, and resources so that a concept or home business can grow and thrive, Mayor David Gronbach said. I know that it will be a tremendous opportunity for the town and am excited to see it open. The Makery Coworking building, built in 1904, has been home to many retail outlets in the past several years. The most recent occupant was a pop-up store created by The Green Spot of New Milford. Vengrove asked the owners to leave behind some of their inventory to display on the many beautiful built-in shelves that adorn Makerys perimeter walls. Were excited to use our display cases to showcase the amazing works of local makers, creators and entrepreneurs, Vengrove said. A big part of our mission is to advocate for the startup community and we plan to actively blog about the impressive entrepreneurs that call the Northwest Corner home. Makery Coworking will offer several events during the year to encourage entrepreneurship and creative works of all kinds. Vengrove said the space and its offerings will adapt based on the needs of the people who rent space there. I believe New Milford and the region is home to some of the most creative people in the state, he said. To reach Makery Coworking, email tony@makerycoworking.com. cbosak@hearstmediact.com; 203-731-3338 China's State Grid already operates 10,000 kilometres of power transmission lines in Brazil, the official Xinhua news agency reported (AFP Photo/CHRISTOPHE SIMON) (AFP/File) Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - China's State Grid signed a deal Tuesday to buy a majority stake in Brazil's electricity giant CPFL for $4.5 billion, offering a boost to a Latin American giant struggling with recession. The purchase of a 54.64 percent stake in CPFL for 14.19 billion reals expands the Chinese company's presence in Brazil, a huge emerging market with some 200 million inhabitants. Analysts say Chinese firms have been ramping up investments in Brazil, where local firms are selling off assets to help the weather the crisis. Chinese companies currently have some $15.2 billion worth of investments in Brazil, according to Bloomberg news. Another Chinese state energy company, CTG, has bought stakes in various power plants in Brazil since 2013. The world's largest utility company and China's largest state-owned enterprise, State Grid has pursued deals around the world. Its attempted purchase of Australian electricity network Ausgrid last year was blocked over national security concerns. But it boasts other investments in Italy, the Philippines, Portugal and Hong Kong, the company said in a statement. It entered the Brazilian market in 2010 and already operates transmission lines in the states of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. It runs 10,000 kilometers (6,213 miles) of power transmission lines in Brazil and has another 6,000 kilometers under construction, the company said. - Chinese expansion - State Grid said it aims to extend its presence in electricity transmission and distribution in Brazil as well as generation from renewable sources. "The aim of acquiring control of CPFL Energy is to diversify State Grid International's business portfolio and to use existing synergies between CPFL and its transmission assets to strengthen our leading position in the Brazilian electricity sector," it said. State Grid distributes electricity to nearly a billion people across China through local subsidiaries. China has invested more than $105 billion in renewable energy though it is still reliant on coal, according the UN figures. Story continues In December, it signed up to build a $1.5-billion power line across Pakistan. It also bought a stake in the Greek operator ADMIE. - 'Good for Brazil' - CPFL is the largest private power company in Brazil and the country's third largest utility provider overall. It supplies power to millions of people and is a leading supplier of renewable energy, the Chinese company highlighted in its statement. The Brazilian company sees the deal as "fundamental" to "continuing its path of growth" and strengthening its own position in the sector, CPFL's president Andre Dorf said in a separate statement. The deal offered Brazil a boost as it fights to scramble out of its deepest recession in decades and stabilize the public finances. "This investment is good for Brazil because the country needs non-speculative foreign capital for infrastructure services like this," the president of the Electricity Sector Associations Forum, Mario Menel, told AFP. The Chinese deal gives CPFL an opportunity "to expand, and this can set an example for other Brazilian companies," he said. NEWTOWN - A 100-year-old group that fights anti-Semitism met with town police Monday after suspects who robbed and burned a liquor store apparently defaced the building with swastikas and a racial slur. An official from the Anti-Defamation League met with Newtown police Chief James Viadero and left the meeting confident that the liquor store incident on Sunday was being investigated swiftly and appropriately, according to a release. While this may be an opportunity for community education one day, right now the most important thing is making sure that everyone in Newtown knows that they are safe and the police are on top of it, said Steve Ginsburg, ADL Connecticut Regional Director, in a prepared statement. We commend the Newtown Police for their work on this case. Viadero on Monday said he called in state police investigators because of the complexity of the crime scene, and because of the novelty of the crime. The typical pattern of robberies is that suspects leave as quickly as possible, and do not take time to set a fire or leave potentially incriminating evidence, such as racial slurs. This kind of hateful action has no place in our towns or in our country, the ADLs Ginsburg said. We hope that the people responsible are identified and punished. Incidents of bias and hate crimes can deeply impact those specifically targeted and an entire community, Ginsburgs statement continued. ADL has also been in contact with the alleged victim and other community members to ensure that they are kept informed of key developments and have a chance to share their concerns and have them addressed. BROOKFIELD - As promised, Superintendent John Barile has restored funding for the K-2 world language program that had been dropped from his proposed 2017-18 budget. Bariles original budget had eliminated 1.5 positions in the Spanish program for kindergarten through second grade, but the idea met strong opposition from parents. About 160 people signed a petition to preserve the world language program, and the School Board received more than 60 emails on the topic. In response, Barile told parents at a special meeting earlier this month that the district would drop this idea. Its clear that the community values and prioritizes the world language program, he said. Barile accordingly added $120,000 to his original budget for the Spanish teaching positions and $130,000 for a district coordinator for world languages and English language-learners. Barile said the consultant who helped the district launch its world language program five years ago had recommended hiring a coordinator, but the position had never been created. Wed like to put that in as well, so we have full supervision and oversight of the program, he said. Barile proposed the updated $41.8 million budget at a Board of Education meeting last week. The updated proposal is $1.4 million, or 3.58 percent, larger than this years budget. The district also resolved the issue of balancing Spanish and social studies time in the fifth and sixth grades. The board had struggled for the last several weeks over how to provide more time for social studies because of the increased standards on the topic and declining social studies skills. While the schedule can still be fine-tuned, Barile said fifth- and sixth-graders will take 59 hours of Spanish a year in 2017-18, as compared to 70 hours this year. This is still more Spanish than most area fifth-graders take and an increase from fourth grade, when students take 35 hours a year, he said. The kids still double, essentially, their world language instruction in fifth grade, Barile said. This will allow for 105 hours of social studies a year in fifth and sixth grades, as compared to 70 hours this year. The board will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to approve the budget, which will be sent to the first selectman at the end of the month. BROOKFIELD - Town officials say Brookfield desperately needs a new, bigger library, but others are concerned the town does not have the money. The Board of Selectmen voted 2-1 earlier this month to hire the architect Doyle Cofflin to get feedback from the community to design what a new library could like and determine its cost. Supporters hope to find a location for the library, potentially in the Four Corners district, and hold a referendum on the project in February 2018, before a $1 million state grant expires. Library Director Anita Barney said the current building is much too small to serve the community. The building is 9,600 square feet, and she says it should be 32,000 square feet to serve a town Brookfields size. Because of the lack of space, books are stacked so high that patrons and librarians struggle to reach them, Barney said. The building only has one meeting room, which limits its programming. There's so much that the library can do for anyone in town, whether youre a reader or not, Barney said. We do concerts and programs and wed be able to do more and better. A library today is really the living room of the community and wed like to see people coming here as a gathering space. Christina Cumberton, who chairs the New Library Committee, said in a bigger building she would want additional community rooms, bathrooms that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a makerspace, a teen section and a cafe. [Modern libraries are] really built with interaction and collaboration in mind, she said. Libraries are going more the way of being bustling activity places. It's the community living room. Its no longer a hush place. Our current building just does not lend to that at all. Cumberton said more than 575 residents have signed a petition for a new library, and that when people move to Brookfield they are shocked at how small the library is. First Selectman Steve Dunn said he supports the proposal, but he is concerned about where the library would go and how much it would cost. Although the town has yet to receive an actual cost estimate, he guessed it could be $10 million to $12 million. Dunn said the 10-year capital plan, which he will finish at the end of the month, will help determine whether the town can afford the project. This plan will examine possible renovations to the schools, revitalization in Four Corners, an expansion of the police station and digital police radios, as well as the library. We have to look at these things, he said. We cant just willy nilly decide that we want a library. Because I cant in good conscience decide that we want a library if we need a new school because schools come first. Selectman Marty Flynn, who voted against hiring the architect, agreed the town needs to figure out its 10-year capital plan before it moves forward with the library. We have to be careful going out to the public asking people for money without a list of priorities and I think we need to prioritize our spending, he said. Board of Finance member Mark Mulvaney said the town needs to develop a better idea of how much the library would cost before pursuing the project. I think they need to weigh [the library] against some of these other projects that we do have a fairly good grasp of what the costs will be and not spend any more town money until we know whether the townspeople are going to approve the project or not, he said. If the town does not approve the library by March 1, 2018, it would lose a $1 million grant. But Dunn said this is not a reason to rush into the project, especially since the grant could only cover 10 percent of the cost. Although I dont want to lose the grant, thats not reason enough to precipitously decide to build a library, he said. Cumberton said the committee plans to run trips to newer libraries in the area for selectmen, Board of Finance members and other residents. A lot of people who don't know what a modern library looks like, those are the people that don't understand the need, she said. But as soon as you start talking to them and you show them what's been built in the last 10 years, their eyes are opened. On Feb. 28th voters in Connecticuts 32nd Senate District could have a huge impact on the balance of power in the state Senate. A win by Democrat Greg Cava could flip the state Senate to Democratic control, breaking the current 18-18 tie. The 32nd Senate seat was vacated by Rob Kane, R-Watertown, before the opening of the 2017 session. Kane resigned to become the Republican State Auditor. Its definitely an uphill climb for Cava; the overwhelmingly Republican district includes the towns of Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Oxford, Roxbury, Southbury, Washington, Watertown and Woodbury, plus portions of Middlebury and Seymour. But turnout for special elections is typically low, which presents us with a serious shot at the seat and helping Democrats take back the state Senate. In a recent letter to The News-Times, Joseph Neves suggested that the U.S. cut off its aid to Israel. Such an action would not only be detrimental to Israel, but ultimately to the U.S. as well. Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, has been a staunch ally of the U.S. since its birth in May, 1948. The friendship between the two democratic nations goes well beyond a shared political philosophy Israel, with its superior intelligence gathering and top level cybersecurity capabilities has over many years provided the U.S. with security information related to the turbulent Middle East, e.g., such sensitive issues as the internal working of the Syrian government and the military and nuclear capabilities of Iran. $1 million Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair renewed Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair renewed Reappointment of internationally renowned Queen's Professor Dr. Heather Stuart KINGSTON, ON, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Bell Let's Talk and Queen's University today announced a $1 million gift to renew the Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair. The inaugural holder of the world's first anti-stigma research chair, Dr. Heather Stuart, has been reappointed to the position for another 5-year term. "The Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair positions Canada as a leader in advancing research into the pervasive stigma around mental illness, a significant barrier to treatment for many people. The support of Bell Let's Talk enables Dr. Stuart and her team to continue their important work in finding new ways to leave stigma behind," said Daniel Woolf, Queen's Principal and Vice-Chancellor. Dr. Stuart's advocacy work has led to greater awareness and the development of best practices in stigma reduction. Dr. Stuart has shared best practices in anti-stigma intervention and outreach with organizations around the country and internationally, including the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the World Psychiatric Association. Dr. Stuart brings her work to audiences across the country through public lectures including in Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver to date. "Bell Let's Talk is very proud to renew our partnership with Queen's and to support the continued work of Dr. Stuart and her team," said Mary Deacon, Chair of the Bell Let's Talk initiative. "Since the Bell Canada Mental Health and Anti-Stigma Research Chair was established in 2012, awareness of the stigma around mental illness and efforts to reduce it have enabled many more people to reach out and get the help they need." While 1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, two thirds of those will not seek treatment for fear of judgment or rejection. Working to end that stigma is a key pillar of the Bell Let's Talk mental health initiative, alongside access to care, research, and workplace mental health. In 2015, Dr. Stuart and Bell Let's Talk developed the 5 simple ways to help end the stigma around mental illness. "I am extremely grateful for the support of Bell Let's Talk and Queen's and I look forward to continuing my work with partner organizations to develop and evaluate mental health best practices. This work will include significant knowledge exchange through speaking at conferences, consulting with policymakers and others, and publishing in peer reviewed scientific literature." Tomorrow is Bell Let's Talk Day Bell Let's Talk Day 2017 is January 25, when Bell will donate 5 cents to Canadian mental health programs for every text message, mobile call and long distance call made by Bell customers; every tweet and Instagram post using #BellLetsTalk; every view of the Bell Let's Talk Day video on Facebook; and every use of the Bell Let's Talk geofilter on Snapchat. Bell Let's Talk now has its own hashtag emoji on Twitter. Whenever you type #BellLetsTalk or #BellCause in Twitter, the Bell Let's Talk logo automatically appears at the end of the hashtag. Bell's donations are made at no extra charge to Bell Let's Talk Day participants, though normal long distance or text charges, if any, apply. Bell Let's Talk Day 2016 set new records for engagement with 125.9 million messages of support, and Bell increased its funding for Canadian mental health by $6,295,764.75. About Bell Let's Talk The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaign, like Bell Let's Talk Day, alongside significant Bell funding for community care and access, research, and workplace initiatives. To learn more, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. About Queen's University Queen's distinguishes itself as one of the leading research-intensive institutions in Canada. The mission is to advance research excellence, leadership and innovation, as well as enhance Queen's impact at a national and international level. Through undertaking leading-edge research, Queen's is addressing many of the world's greatest challenges, and developing innovative ideas and technological advances brought about by discoveries in a variety of disciplines. Queen's University is a member of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities. For more information, please visit queensu.ca. Media inquiries: Jacqueline Michelis Bell 613 785-1427 [email protected] Anne Craig Communications Officer, Media Relations Queen's 613-533-2877 [email protected] SOURCE Bell Canada Related Links www.queensu.ca $4.5 M investment will create jobs, expand research and foster innovation TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Canadians will be better equipped for the well-paying middle-class jobs of today and tomorrow as a result of a $4.5 M investment in OCAD University. This joint federal-provincial investment was announced today by Adam Vaughan, Member of Parliament for Spadina-Fort York, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and by Han Dong, Member of Provincial Parliament, Trinity-Spadina. The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda, along with Ontario's continued investment in public infrastructure, the largest in the Province's history, aims to make this country a global centre for innovationone that creates jobs, drives growth across all industries and improves the lives of all Canadians. This investment is a prime example of that vision in action. The funding will support two OCAD University projects: the Centre for Experiential Learning and the Campus for the Connected World. The Centre for Experiential Learning will expand OCAD U's research and innovation space and nurture the existing campus culture of creativity, collaboration and innovation. The building and its operations will be a model of social and environmental sustainability, incorporating healthy, innovative building materials. The funding will also support Phase 1 of OCAD University's Campus for a Connected World, which will house an expanded university initiative around innovation training, design thinking, Big Data design research, and accelerator capacity that supports digital commercialization initiatives and brings design skills to emergent companies. Of the investment, $4.5 M will come from the federal government. OCAD University, together with fundraising and industry partnerships, will contribute an additional $3.8 M for the Centre for Experiential Learning and $7.5 M for Campus for the Connected World, for a total investment of $11.3 M. The funding from the Government of Canada is being allocated through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, which will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities. As a result of these investments, students, professors and researchers will work in state-of-the-art facilities that advance the country's best research. They will collaborate in specially designed spaces that support lifelong learning and skills training. They will work in close proximity with partners to turn discoveries into products or services. In the process, they will train forand inventthe high-value jobs of the future. And their discoveries will plant the seeds for the next generation of innovators. That is how the Strategic Investment Fund will jump-start a virtuous circle of innovation, creating the right conditions for long-term growth that will yield benefits for generations to come. Ontario is making the largest investment in public infrastructure in the province's historyabout $160 billion over 12 yearswhich is supporting 110,000 jobs every year across the province with projects such as hospitals, schools, roads, bridges and transit. Since 2015, the Province has announced support for more than 475 projects that will keep people and goods moving, connect communities and improve quality of life. To learn more about infrastructure projects in your community, go to Ontario.ca/BuildON. Quotes "Supporting OCAD's expansion is not only good for Canada it's good for Toronto. OCAD is at the forefront of delivering new ideas and new leaders for a new economy. Innovation drives Toronto as much as it defines OCAD and the federal government is proud to play a role." Adam Vaughan, Member of Parliament for Spadina-Fort York "This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government's vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation. That means making Canada a world leader in turning ideas into solutions, science into technologies, skills into jobs and start-up companies into global successes. This investment will create conditions that are conducive to innovation and long-term growth, which will in turn keep the Canadian economy globally competitive." The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "Encouraging scientific awareness in Ontario and across Canada depends on supporting our world-class scientists and researchers. Through investments such as those under the Strategic Investment Fund, we are continuing to lay the groundwork for making Canada a global leader in scientific excellence." The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science "OCAD U has been a vital part of our community for many years and it has embraced magnificently the imagination and innovation of our young artists and designers. The projects will strengthen the foundation of OCAD U, enabling it to further grow and thrive in the 21st century." Han Dong, Member of Provincial Parliament, Trinity-Spadina. "As we continue to renew and expand our campus, we look forward to amplifying OCAD University's digitally-focused learning and research, as well as its connections to industry and community partners, says Dr. Sara Diamond, President and Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University. "OCAD University is proud to provide experiential learning that will ensure our grads are members of a highly-skilled workforce that supports talent innovation and entrepreneurship, crucial to STEAM + D disciplines. We are grateful to the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario for their support and recognition." Dr. Sara Diamond, President and Vice-Chancellor, OCAD University. Quick facts The Government of Canada's Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure Canada is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. Innovation Agenda is designed to ensure is globally competitive in promoting research, translating ideas into new products and services, accelerating business growth and propelling entrepreneurs from the start-up phase to international success. The targeted, short-term investments under the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. and help universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery, and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects. Associated links Follow Minister Bains on social media. Twitter: @MinisterISED Instagram: ministerised SOURCE OCAD University For further information: Elizabeth Cheesbrough, Office of Adam Vaughan, M.P., Spadina-Fort York, 613-992-2352, [email protected]; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected] Related Links http://www.ocad.ca Progress made in the battle against unnecessary regulations TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, during Red Tape Awareness Week, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) issued its annual red tape report card, grading the provinces and territories on their commitment to red tape accountability. The report card looks at political leadership, public measurement, and constraints on regulations. CFIB has been asking governments to take the first step to being accountable by getting on the red tape scale. "For governments that want a better grade, red tape reform has a simple formula: measure, report, repeat," said Laura Jones, Executive Vice-president and Chief Strategic Officer at CFIB. "Without knowing the size of the problem, it's impossible to tackle it like trying to lose weight without first weighing yourself." JURISDICTION GRADE British Columbia A Quebec A Saskatchewan B Nova Scotia B Federal Government B Ontario B- Prince Edward Island C+ New Brunswick C+ Newfoundland and Labrador C Manitoba D+ Northwest Territories F Alberta F Yukon N/A* Leading the way on red tape reduction are British Columbia and Quebec. Both provinces have shown strong leadership in dealing with red tape, have established a comprehensive measure of the regulatory burden, and has reduced or restricted the growth of unnecessary regulations. "Kudos to British Columbia for showing leadership and continuing to hone in on the unnecessary regulations restraining small businesses," proclaimed Jones. "Along with Quebec, they are showing the rest of the country how it's done. Now we encourage them, and all the provinces and territories, to take up our challenge and legislate a one-for-one law." Government red tape is a hidden tax that affects Canada's small businesses much more than larger firms. According to CFIB's latest research, the annual cost of all regulations on businesses in Canada is estimated at $37 billion per year, with one-third of that ($11 billion) considered to be red tape. CFIB is Canada's largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 109,000 members across every sector and region. SOURCE Canadian Federation of Independent Business For further information: For more details about the report card, visit www.cfib.ca/redtape. To arrange an interview with Laura Jones, please contact Kiara Morrissey at 416-222-8022 or [email protected] Related Links www.cfib.ca HALIFAX, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ - Bullfrog Power, Canada's leading green energy provider, and East Coast Credit Union are announcing a significant new environmental partnership. East Coast Credit Union is choosing Bullfrog Power's green electricity for all of its 20 branches and 30 ATMs across Nova Scotia, the largest green energy commitment of any credit union in Atlantic Canada. "We're so excited to welcome East Coast Credit Union to the bullfrogpowered community," says Holly Bond, VP, Regional Sales, Bullfrog Power. "By supporting green electricity with Bullfrog Power, East Coast Credit Union is taking important action on climate change and is demonstrating that businesses in Nova Scotia can be leaders in the transition to a low carbon economy." East Coast Credit Union is bullfrogpowering its branches and ATMs. That means that Bullfrog Power's generators put 100 per cent clean, pollution-free electricity onto the grid to match the amount of conventional power that East Coast Credit Union's branches and ATMs use. Across Canada, Bullfrog Power's green electricity comes from a blend of wind and low-impact hydro power sourced from new Canadian renewable energy facilities. "By supporting green energy with Bullfrog Power, we're reducing our environmental footprint and supporting the development of new community-based renewable energy projects across Canada," says Ken Shea, CEO, East Coast Credit Union. "In particular, we're proud to support local renewable energy projects in Nova Scotia, such as the newly constructed Ellershouse Wind Farm." Bullfrog Power, through its community renewable projects program, has supported more than 70 green energy projects across Canada. Bullfrog Power community projects in Nova Scotia include the Hope Blooms community solar greenhouse in Halifax and a rooftop solar installation in Ship Harbour with The Deanery Project, a nonprofit co-operative focused on the environment, youth and community development. For more information on Bullfrog Power's community projects, visit bullfrogpower.com/projects. About Bullfrog Power Bullfrog Power, Canada's leading green energy provider, offers renewable energy solutions that enable individuals and businesses to reduce their environmental impact, support the development of green energy projects in Canada and help create a cleaner, healthier world. As a Certified B Corporation, Bullfrog Power meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Thousands of individuals and businesses in Canada are doing their part to address climate change and air pollution by choosing green energy with Bullfrog Power. Sign up easily, quickly and affordably at bullfrogpower.com. Join the bullfrogpowered community online on Facebook (facebook.com/BullfrogPower), Instagram (@bullfrogpower) and Twitter (@bullfrogpower). About East Coast Credit Union East Coast Credit Union is a dynamic, full service, financial co-operative using a member-first approach to partner with individual and business members to achieve financial success. East Coast Credit Union is the largest credit unions in Atlantic Canada with over $677 million in assets and serving over 41,000 members from a branch network reaching from Cape Breton to Dartmouth, giving you more access when and where you need it. They have grown to become a stronger credit union that is focused on investing in your communities, providing competitive products and new services and building relationships with your unique financial needs in mind. Providing convenient and flexible banking options means their members can do their banking any way, anywhere! They are proud to be a part of the credit union system that has been ranked first in customer service excellence out of all financial institutions for 12 years in a row. East Coast Credit Union is locally owned by their members. They are committed to supporting the communities they live and work in through not only financial support but also countless volunteer hours. SOURCE Bullfrog Power For further information: Contact Bullfrog Power: Jon McKay, Corporate Communications Manager, 416.360.3464 ext 239, [email protected]; Contact East Coast Credit Union: Carolyn Grant, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications, 902.863.6605 ext 3908, [email protected] Related Links www.bullfrogpower.com [January 24, 2017] University of Colorado Law School Creates Secure, Browser-Based Learning Environments Using Ericom AccessNow Ericom Software, a global leader in application access and desktop virtualization solutions, today announced that the University of Colorado Law School has deployed Ericom AccessNow to support its nine on-campus legal clinics, where students have the opportunity to practice law with faculty guidance. Utilizing pure browser-based technology, Ericom AccessNow gives Colorado Law student attorneys flexible and secure access to practice management software, secure email accounts, desktop features, and case materials from any device, anywhere. As part of their clinical education experience practicing law for real cases, Colorado Law student attorneys regularly handle sensitive and confidential information. In order to comply with attorney-client privilege and ethical obligations, student attorneys require a secure computing environment through which to access software and other resources located on the school's secure servers. Prior to deploying Ericom AccessNow, Colorado Law's IT staff tested out both VMWare and Windows remote desktop solutions to provide law students with secure remote access. However, these solutions proved to be too complex for students to use and too resource-intensive to administrate and support. "Ericom AccessNow makes it simple to keep confidential case information secure while giving students the flexibility to access the legal resources they need using any standard browser and from any device - even from their smartphones in the courtroom - without installing any software," stated Jonathan Sibray, IT Director of the University of Colorado Law School. Perfect for non-technical users, Ericom AccessNow provides a transparent solution that makes accessing the school's secure computing environment as simple as opening a browser and clicking link. "Ericom AccessNow is so incredibly easy for the students to use, no hand holding necessary." Ericom AccessNow has also proven to be a cost-effective solution, as it enables the University of Colorado Law School to provide student attorneys with professional virtual computers while still allowing them to use their own devices, thus saving the school from having to purchase specialized devices. From an IT perspective, Ericom AccessNow is easy to deploy and administrate and requires minimal support from the IT staff and help desk. This simplicity ensures an efficient solution that saves Colorado Law's small IT team from wasting limited resources. According to Mr. Sibray, "Ericom AccessNow has taken a huge load off of the IT team because it just works. We wish we had found this solution earlier!" "As higher education institutions continue to transition learning and educational resources online, security and ease of access is a significant concern," stated Ilan Paretsky, Chief Marketing Officer at Ericom Software. "Ericom AccessNow has helped to transform Colorado Law's clinical education program for students, faculty and IT staff by creating secure computing environments that allow the students to handle real-world cases with a sense of professionalism, in preparation for their future careers." For more information about Ericom's browser-based access solutions, visit: http://www.ericom.com/access-now/html5-rdp-client/ About Ericom Ericom Software provides simple, secure solutions for remote access, desktop virtualization (VDI) and web security, with a focus on application delivery, cloud enablement, and secure browsing. Since 1993, Ericom has been helping users to securely access enterprise mission-critical applications running on a broad range of Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows Terminal Servers, Virtual Desktops, legacy hosts, Linux and other systems. Ericom has offices in the United States, United Kingdom and EMEA. Ericom also has an extensive network of distributors and partners throughout North America, Europe, APAC, and Africa. Our expanding customer base is more than 30 thousand strong, with over 8 million users. For more information about Ericom and its products, please visit our website. You can also follow Ericom Software on our blog, as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and our YouTube channel. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005636/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] ams Announces Completion of Transaction to Acquire Heptagon and Related Capital Increase ams (SIX: AMS (News - Alert)), a leading worldwide supplier of high-performance sensor and analog solutions, announces the completion of the transaction to acquire 100% of the shares in Heptagon and the related capital increase of 11,011,281 new shares from authorized capital excluding subscription rights. ams announced on 24 October 2016 that the company had signed an agreement to acquire Heptagon, the worldwide leader in high performance optical packaging and micro-optics. The upfront consideration for the transaction includes approximately USD 64 million in cash, 5,450,586 ams shares from currently held treasury shares as well as 11,011,281 new shares from authorized capital. The capital increase creating the 11,011,281 new shares from authorized capital was registered with the commercial register today and the shares are admitted to trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange from tomorrow, 25 January 2017, onwards. The total number of shares outstanding of ams AG will therefore be 84,419,826 no par value bearer shares with a calculated nominal value of EUR 1.00 per share. Following the registration, the selling shareholders of Heptagon hold approximately 19.5% of the total registered share capital of ams. They are subjectto a market standard, staggered lock-up obligation ending in the second quarter 2018. ### About ams ams is a global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced sensor solutions and analog ICs. Our mission is to shape the world with sensor solutions by providing a seamless interface between humans and technology. ams' high-performance analog products drive applications requiring extreme precision, dynamic range, sensitivity, and ultra-low power consumption. Products include sensor solutions, sensors, sensor interfaces and power management ICs for consumer, communications, industrial, medical, and automotive markets. With headquarters in Austria, ams employs over 2,900 people globally and serves more than 8,000 customers worldwide. ams is listed on the SIX Swiss stock exchange (ticker symbol: AMS). More information about ams can be found at www.ams.com. ams social media Follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) https://twitter.com/amsAnalog or share with LinkedIn (News - Alert) http://www.linkedin.com/company/ams-ag?trk=hb_tab_compy_id_20853 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006198/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Lawful Interception Market - Drivers and Forecast from Technavio Technavio analysts forecast the global lawful interception market to grow at a CAGR of over 24% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005665/en/ Technavio has published a new report on the global lawful interception market from 2017-2021. (Graphic: Business Wire) The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the global lawful interception market for 2017-2021. To determine the market size, the study considers revenue generated from mediation devices, intercept access points, decoders, routers, gateways, switches, handover interface, and management servers. Over 38% of the overall incremental growth of the market is expected to originate from EMEA, where lawful interception aids in prosecuting criminals and thwarting potential terrorist acts. France, Germany, Greece, and Italy use lawful interception in coordination with law enforcement agencies, thus driving market growth. Lawful interception services constitute the largest application segment of the global market. The convenience and service quality of various deployment models offered by vendors is driving its high adoption in the market. Managed service providers (MSPs) ensure a high level of responsiveness and quick fault resolution, one of the core reasons for its high adoption. Request a sample report: http://www.technavio.com/request-a-sample?report=55962 Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Technavio analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the global lawful interception market: Rise in volume of data traffic Rising law and order violations Advances in communication channels Rise in volume of data traffic "The popularity of cell phones, social networking services, and business cloud services with access to the internet has led to an increase of data passing through the communications infrastructure. Consumers are adopting intelligent monitoring solutions such as lawful interception to ensure the safety of their data," says Amrita Choudhury, one of the lead analysts at Technavio for IT security research. The rising number of smartphone subscriptions for LTE (News - Alert) smartphones and the rise of data consumption per subscriber is leading to the growth in mobile data traffic. This increase in data traffic has boosted the need to mitigate the growing global terrorism and electronic fraud, pushing for the adoption of lawful interception solutions. Rising law and order violations Digital information and communication devices have taken business and people connectivity to the next level. As a flip side to these advances, criminals have taken to this platform to gain access to confidential information and conduct illegal activities online. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies worldwide are strengthening their security systems to counter these attacks and curb illegal activities taking place in their country, hence fostering the demand for lawful interception solutions. Advances in communication channels In places such as the US and Europe, government agencies circulate mandates on communications service providers to deliver communication content and data to law enforcement agencies and government authorities to aid in investigations. Advances in communication channels provide added opportunities to lawful interception vendors. They provide enhanced solutions capable of intercepting all possible emerging communication channels, thus ensuring safety. "Advances in communication channels such as the voice over internet protocol, web-traffic and e-mail, and technologies such as LTE, WiMAX (News - Alert), and WLAN have paved the way for a lawful interception to counter terrorist and criminal activities. The complexities of communication environment such as wired and wireless communication exchanges have increased the need for lawful interception solutions," says Amrita. Browse Related Reports: Become a Technavio Insights member and access all three of these reports for a fraction of their original cost. As a Technavio Insights member, you will have immediate access to new reports as they're published in addition to all 6,000+ existing reports covering segments like cloud computing, data center, and ITO and BPO. This subscription nets you thousands in savings, while staying connected to Technavio's constant transforming research library, helping you make informed business decisions more efficiently. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124005665/en/ [January 24, 2017] Toulouse Welcomes Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to Europe's Aerospace Valley With New Facilities PLAYA VISTA, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) announced today the signing of an agreement with the city of Toulouse, France to open a facility for the development and testing of Hyperloop-related technologies. As part of this agreement the city, known worldwide as "Aerospace Valley," is providing a 3,000 square meter (37,674 sq. ft.) facility along with outdoor terrain. This announcement comes shortly after HTT's announcement of surpassing $100 million in in-kind and equity investment. "Our new center in Toulouse will help us continue to develop and manufacture important aerospace technology which will further improve the system," said HTT CEO Dirk Ahlborn. "The talent pool in the region allows us to hire some of the brightest minds in aerospace." "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies represents the cutting edge of transportation," said Jean-Luc Moudenc, Mayor of Toulouse and President of Toulouse Metropole. "This new collaborative corporation is already having a big impact on Europe and the rest of the world. We look forward to the exciting advancements that HTT will develop here." "Toulouse is the heart of Europe's aerospace industry so it is only natural that we have a presence there amongst many of our partners and peers," said HTT Chairman Bibop Gresta. "We are grateful to the community of Toulouse for welcoming us with open arms." "Our close relationship with the local government is exactly what is needed to implement Hyperloop systems in Europe," said HTT COO Andres De Leon. "While developing our technology we will also work together to create the necessary regulatory framework for the system." The new HTT Toulouse Research and Development Facility will be located at the Francazal Airport, a former military base being converted into a larger Mobility innovation Park by Toulouse Metropole. HTT worked closely with So Toulouse, an agency binging investment to the area, along with Metropole, as key partners on the agreement. This announcement marks the fourth development deal directly with a government and is the latest in a series of important developments for HTT this month, including: the signing of Brno, Czech Republic connecting to Prague and Bratislava, the development deal formed directly with the nation of Slovakia in 2016, and the official strategic partnership agreement with the office of His Highness Sheikh Falah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi yesterday. At the end of 2016 HTT announced a development deal with the Department of Municipalities and Transportation of Abu Dhabi to develop a route connecting the city of Abu Dhabi with the neighboring city of Al Ain. About HTT Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. (HTT) was founded in November, 2013, birthed of JumpStartFunda unique crowdfunding and crowdsourcing incubator platform that uses collective knowledge and assets to make ideas like Hyperloop a reality. HTT is a collaborative organization built within the egalitarian ecosystem of a company that values every one of its contributorsboth individual and entity. Collaborations with groups such as Atkins, Leybold Corporation, and Deutsche Bahn have resulted in tremendous advancement of the Hyperloop transportation system, setting the stage for a commitment to an installation in Quay Valley, California. HTT has an exclusive agreement with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for use of their passive magnetic levitation system as the core of low-cost, safety-conscious construction and design in the Hyperloop. The company is partnered with more than 600 professional team members who provide the company with engineering, physics, legal, human resources, media relations, logistics, and construction talent to fuel a company that is uniquely collaborative and filled with talent. About Toulouse Toulouse is the capital city of the southwestern French department of Haute-Garonne, as well as of the Occitanie region. It is the fourth-largest city in France with more than 1.3 million inhabitants as of 2014. Toulouse is the centre of the European aerospace industry, with the headquarters of Airbus, the Galileo positioning system, the SPOT satellite system, Airbus Group (formerly EADS), ATR and the Aerospace Valley. The city also hosts the European headquarters of Intel and CNES's Toulouse Space Centre (CST), the largest space center in Europe. Thales Alenia Space, and Astrium SatellitesAirbus Group's satellite system subsidiaryalso have a significant presence in Toulouse. Its world-renowned university is one of the oldest in Europe (founded in 1229) with an enrollment of more than 100,000 students. The air route between Toulouse and Paris is the busiest in Europe, transporting 2.4 million passengers annually. Our full press kit with images and video can be found here Contact: Ben Cooke Director of Media Relations (310) 720-1214 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toulouse-welcomes-hyperloop-transportation-technologies-to-europes-aerospace-valley-with-new-facilities-300395767.html SOURCE Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] Avenue Code Celebrates 9 Years in Business; Launches Education & Diversity Initiatives Avenue Code, a top IT consulting firm specializing in end-to-end solutions for e-commerce, celebrates its 9th anniversary this month. Despite opening for business during the economic downturn of 2008, Avenue Code continues to showcase steady yearly growth, recently ranking in the San Francisco Business Times' 100 Fastest Growing Companies list. After nearly a decade in business, Avenue Code's client roster boasts a number of the retail industry's most iconic brands - but the company's leaders don't consider this their biggest achievement. "The most important hallmarks of success are the relationships we build," said Chase Hill, CEO of Avenue Code. "We prefer the word 'partner' to 'vendor,' and our investment in the success of our clients, consultants, and communities is a reflection of that philosophy." It shows. Avenue Code's Glassdoor profile shows that 95% of employees would recommend the company to a friend, with individual reviewers noting opportunities for growth, wor/life balance, and company culture as top reasons for choosing Avenue Code. In Brazil, where Avenue Code operates two offices, the company was ranked as the #5 most beloved company in the country. The ranking is based on employee feedback anonymously submitted to Love Mondays, a top Brazilian workplace reviewer. How is Avenue Code celebrating 9 years in business? Besides plans to open the first East Coast office in New York City, the company has launched Avenue Code Social, a new program focused on pro bono work for schools and non-profits. "We wanted to give back to our communities in a tangible way," said Holly Vander Wall, Marketing Manager. "Avenue Coders are passionate about consulting and helping others, and for some time we'd been looking for a way to channel these skills into an initiative benefitting our communities. AC Social was the result." Currently, AC Social is being piloted in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, where employees teach coding and computer skills at a local school and donate consulting time to local non-profits. It doesn't end there. Troubled by the dearth of women in technology, Avenue Code has taken on the challenge of creating resources to assist women pursuing careers as software developers. 2017 marks the launch of AC Wonderwoman, the company's newest internship program, tailored toward mentoring women with limited technical experience to develop their skills and ultimately work as fully-fledged consultants. "We believe diversity makes us stronger," explained Alexander Carvalho, VP of Delivery & Operations. "We're deeply committed to both diversifying our own workforce and offering programs to address some of the obstacles women beginning a career in technology often face. This is just the beginning." About Avenue Code Avenue Code is a full-service information technology consulting and development organization (http://www.avenuecode.com). Serving Fortune 100 e-commerce companies, Avenue Code boasts a breadth of experience in e-commerce, omni-channel technology, and mobile application development. Avenue Code is committed to providing solutions that enable clients to build sustainable success. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006400/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Wolters Kluwer Introduces Clarion to Deliver Clear Business Insight for Corporate Attorneys Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., a part of Wolters Kluwer, today announced the launch of Clarion, a due diligence and client advisement solution specifically designed to support corporate attorneys' most important activities. In a matter of minutes, Clarion has the ability to surface vital information on a company's revenue sources, partnerships, customers, and suppliers that would typically take hours of research. Using deep business relationship data Clarion identifies the most material relationships - as well as relationships that may not be self-evident - to provide corporate attorneys and the groups that support them with comprehensive information to conduct due diligence, assess risk, and identify business opportunities with unmatched speed and accuracy. "Clarion was developed exclusively for legal practitioners - with unique, actionable data points and an intuitive point and click dashboard, we built this solution specifically to support their workflow," said Dean Sonderegger, Vice President & General Manager, Legal Markets & Innovation. "Clarion supports an attorney's most important work - by efficiently giving them greater control over research - to enhance their ability to provide strategic counsel." Clarion supports a wide range of client advisement activities, including: due diligence around merers and acquisitions or SEC (News - Alert) disclosure; identifying supply chain and revenue risks; vetting potential acquisitions and partnerships; identifying peer firms for document research; and strategic legal advisement. Working with customers, Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. will actively rollout new features and enhancements to Clarion to further meet and exceed the needs of legal professionals. To learn more about Clarion, visit https://lrus.wolterskluwer.com/product-family/clarion About Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. is a part of Wolters Kluwer N.V. (AEX:WKL) a global leader in professional information services and solutions for professionals in the health, tax and accounting, risk and compliance, finance and legal sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with specialized technology and services. Wolters Kluwer reported 2015 annual revenues of 4.2 billion. The company, headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands, serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries and employs 19,000 people worldwide. For more information about Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S., visit www.WoltersKluwerLR.com, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006439/en/ [January 24, 2017] Leading FinTechs from across North and South America gathering in Miami for TEMENOS-hosted FinTech Competition FinTechs are invited to compete in Temenos' series of Innovation Jams MIAMI, Jan. 24, 2017 /CNW/ -- Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the software specialist for banking and finance, is holding its second annual Miami Innovation Jam. Research shows that banks are responding to their challenges by investing in innovation. Through endeavors like the Innovation Jams, Temenos' objective is to facilitate collaboration between FinTechs and banks. In 2016, 58 FinTechs from 17 countries showcased the latest breakthroughs in financial technology. This year, Temenos will host five Innovation Jams, including Miami's which also features a presentation from financial disruption guru, Brett King. Who: Banks, FinTech startups, FinTech providers, reporters, analysts and Temenos partners who follow the latest trends in FinTech When: March 16, 2017 | 8:30 a.m. 5 p.m. Where: Private Key Club, 567 NW 27th Street, Miami, FL 33127 Highlights: Hear from Brett King , best-selling author and host of the Breaking Banks podcast , best-selling author and host of the Breaking Banks podcast Experience the latest developments in technology Network with FinTech leaders and innovators How: Register for free at: http://tem.mn/miami-jam Details: FinTechs looking to enter the competition must register by January 27, 2017 (subject to rules of entry). General attendees must register by March 15, 2017. The winners from each regional Innovation Jam will progress to the final Innovation Jam at the Temenos Community Forum in Lisbon, Portugal. The finalist will join Temenos' ecosystem of FinTech partners, MarketPlace, granting them access to up to 2,000 financial institutions, and over 500 million banking customers. Interview Opportunities: Brett King (Breaking Banks), Enrique Ramos O'Reilly (Temenos), Ben Robinson (Temenos), and FinTech participants of the Innovation Jam About Temenos Temenos Group AG (SIX: TEMN), headquartered in Geneva, is a market-leading software provider, partnering with banks and other financial institutions to transform their businesses and stay ahead of a changing marketplace. With 54 offices worldwide, including eight in North America and five in Latin America, Temenos offers advanced technology leveraging global and local expertise. Over 2,000 firms across the globe, including 38 of the top 50 banks, rely on Temenos to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers. For more information, visit www.temenos.com. Media Contact Event Contact Jessica Wolfe Public Relations Coordinator Tel: +1 610 232 2793 Email: [email protected] Maria Pulice Marketing Manager Tel: +1 646 472 8037 Email: [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leading-fintechs-from-across-north-and-south-america-gathering-in-miami-for-temenos-hosted-fintech-competition-300396044.html SOURCE Temenos [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [January 24, 2017] The Law Offices of Howard G. Smith Announces the Filing of a Securities Class Action on Behalf of Banc of California, Inc. Investors and Encourages Investors to Contact the Firm Law Offices of Howard G. Smith announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of a class (the "Class") consisting of persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Banc of California, Inc. ("Banc of California" or the "Company") (NYSE: BANC) securities between October 29, 2015, and January 20, 2017, inclusive (the "Class Period"). Investors suffering losses on their Banc of California investments are encouraged to contact the Law Offices of Howard G. Smith to discuss their legal rights in this class action at 888-638-4847 or by email to [email protected]. The complaint filed in this lawsuit alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects, including: (1) that the Company had extensive ties to an alleged "fraudster" named Jason Galanis ("Galanis"); (2) that, given alanis' history, the Company's ties to Galanis created substantial regulatory risk; (3) that revelation of Galanis' ties to the Company could cause a substantial decline in the market price of the Company's securities; (4) that the Company allegedly misled investors concerning the Company's connections with Galanis; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about Banc of California's business, operations, and prospects, were false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On January 23, 2017, Banc of California announced the resignation of its CEO, Steven A. Sugarman, and that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had opened an investigation into whether the Company had misled investors in its response to an October 2016 Seeking Alpha report disclosing a connection between the Banc of California and an alleged fraudster named Jason Galanis. On this news the Company's shares fell $1.50 per share, or nearly 10%, to close on January 23, 2017 at $14.65 per share, on unusually high volume of over 6 million shares. If you purchased shares of Banc of California during the Class Period you may move the Court no later than sixty days from the date of this notice to ask the Court to appoint you as lead plaintiff. To be a member of the Class you need not take any action at this time; you may retain counsel of your choice or take no action and remain an absent member of the Class. If you wish to learn more about this action, or if you have any questions concerning this announcement or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Howard G. Smith, Esquire, of Law Offices of Howard G. Smith, 3070 Bristol Pike, Suite 112, Bensalem, Pennsylvania 19020 by telephone at (215) 638-4847, toll-free at (888) 638-4847, or by email to [email protected], or visit our website at http://www.howardsmithlaw.com. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006540/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Baypoint Prep Celebrates School Choice Week Students at Baypoint Preparatory will celebrate National School Choice Week during three school days of activities. Each day, a different group of students will perform the National School Choice Week 2017 dance to Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling." Students will also share why they love their school and local officials are scheduled to speak. The event begins on Wednesday, January 25 and runs through Friday, January 27 at the school located at 26089 Girard Street in Hemet. Baypoint Preparatory Academy is a public charter school serving 400 students in grades K-12. The goal of the event is to celebrate great education choices in California and raise awareness among parents aout school choice. The celebration is timed to coincide with National School Choice Week (January 22-28, 2017), which will feature more than 21,000 events across the country. Held every January, National School Choice Week is an independent public awareness effort designed to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child. Through more than 21,000 independently planned events across the country, National School Choice Week raises public awareness of all types of educational choices available to children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. You can learn more by visiting www.schoolchoiceweek.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006548/en/ ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton on Tuesday proposed massive expansions to education options, health insurance offerings and more this year. Major portions of Dayton's wish list will be whittled down or erased entirely by Republicans who control the Legislature. Republicans say they'll push for lower spending and to put more of a $1.4 billion budget surplus toward tax relief. The governor's nearly $46 billion proposed budget was largely overshadowed by his collapse during Monday night's State of the State address and his announcement Tuesday that he was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Here's a look at some of Dayton's ideas: BY THE NUMBERS Dayton's proposed budget clocks in at $45.8 billion, a roughly 10 percent increase from the state's current budget. His first offer kicks off the push-and-pull with the Legislature as they try to set the next two-year budget. Much of the new money would go toward education, with $75 million set aside to expand a new preschool program to more schools and an additional $371 million to increase the state's per-pupil funding formula by 2 percent in each of the next two years. Republican legislative leaders said there were things to like in the governor's proposal but said they were dismayed by the topline number. "Do I think 10 percent is too much? Yes," Republican House Speaker Kurt Daudt said. "I probably think 5 percent is too much." The budget work won't begin in earnest until after lawmakers get a final update on the state's financial position in late February. The Legislature has to pass a new budget by late May. HEALTH INSURANCE Dayton's announcement of his most dramatic proposal was derailed by his collapse Monday evening. His prepared remarks for the State of the State, which he finished out Tuesday, laid out his plan to create a public health insurance option by allowing every Minnesota resident to purchase MinnesotaCare, one of the state-sponsored programs for low-income families. Story continues If passed, residents could start buying state-negotiated plans in 2018. State officials say it wouldn't require ongoing state funding, but would need $12 million in startup costs. They estimate it would double MinnesotaCare enrollment to more than 200,000. Dayton pitched it as an answer to the skyrocketing costs and instability for shoppers who buy coverage on their own. "Why would we deny our citizens that chance to get a better deal?" Dayton said. It would be the first so-called public option in the country, and would require federal approval even as President Donald Trump's administration looks to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Some top Republicans called Dayton's idea a non-starter. "Starting another potential government program at that time doesn't seem like a great idea," Peppin quote. REHASH Dayton's proposal will bring familiar debates back to the Minnesota Legislature. Lawmakers are well-versed in Dayton's preschool initiative, having approved a slimmed-down version that put out $25 million for schools in impoverished districts to set up early education programs. Dayton urged lawmakers that more funding was needed to help thousands more of Minnesota's youngest learners. Also, he's reviving his push for a gasoline tax another non-starter for Republicans, who say it's unnecessary to fund a major bridge and road repair effort. His proposal calls for a per-gallon tax increase of 10 cents would help improve infrastructure across the state. Yellow Wood Academy Hosts School Choice Information Session The community is invited to learn more about school choice in Washington by attending an information session hosted by Yellow Wood Academy. The event is timed with National School Choice Week 2017 - the nation's largest-ever celebration of educational opportunity. The informational session runs from 11:50 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the school located at 9655 SE 36th Street, Suite 201 in Mercer Island. Yellow Wood Academy is a private school serving 58 students. The goal of the event is to celebrate great education choices in Washington and raise awareness among parents about school choice. The celebration is timed to coincide with National School hoice Week (January 22-28, 2017), which will feature more than 21,000 events across the country. Held every January, National School Choice Week is an independent public awareness effort designed to shine a positive spotlight on effective education options for every child. Through more than 21,000 independently planned events across the country, National School Choice Week raises public awareness of all types of educational choices available to children. These options include traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, online learning, private schools, and homeschooling. You can learn more by visiting www.schoolchoiceweek.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170124006550/en/ I have read the rumours of the death of President Muhammadu Buhari at an unknown hospital and the reactions that have trailed those rumours with a growing sense of dismay. While the rumours have since been dispelled, it is very disconcerting to watch many Nigerians wish President Buhari ill health & death. It is a well known fact that I am not a fan of President Buhari or his administration. It is also very well publicised that I do not feel he has the capacity to deliver the socio-economic and political growth and development Nigeria desperately needs. However, I believe we must draw the line somewhere. And the appropriate place to draw the line must be when we wish death and ill health on our President. I do not believe that such wishes are in keeping with our traditions regardless of the ethnic groups to which we belong or in keeping with our faiths regardless of the gods to whom we pray. It is not sufficient to say that members of President Buharis party resorted to similar antics while they were in the opposition. As true as this may be, those antics were despicable then and laid foundation for the deep seated divisions that pervade Nigeria today. It is my belief that to set Nigeria on the path to healing, we have to deviate from that negative trajectory even when we disagree. I have noticed that many people have wished President Buhari ill in the name of playing opposition politics. I believe that this course of action is erroneous. Opposition politics should be about proffering credible alternatives; critiquing government policies and showing Nigerians how we can do better with similar resources; how our plans, policies and projections will improve the quality of life of the average Nigerian citizen from Sokoto to Port Harcourt, Kano to Lagos and Calabar to Maiduguri. Only then can we convince Nigerians that we deserve much better than this government is giving us at the moment. If we say we are better, we must be better. I urge Nigerians to remember the ethnic and religious tensions that the death of the late President Umaru Musa Yaradua (of blessed memory) threw Nigeria into, tensions that I do not think we have recovered from. As unpleasant as it might be to say this, the sad reality of our geo-political construct is that the death of President Buhari may return Nigeria to those days. Do not get me wrong. I am very unhappy with President Buharis stewardship of Nigeria. I am unhappy that there is a 100% rise in the price of food, drugs and other necessary day to day items. I am unhappy that we have to pay N145 per litre of fuel. I am unhappy that there is an absolute disregard for the rule of law. I am unhappy that our government sends our military out to kill protesters, no matter how misguided their protests may be. I am unhappy that our exchange rate is N499-$1. I am unhappy that we barely generate 2000mw of power. I can go on and on. All I am saying is that instead of being motivated by our unhappiness to wish President Buhari death, let us put that unhappiness to good use by registering to vote, explaining to as many people as possible how his policies are impoverishing millions of Nigerians and ensuring that we vote him out in 2019. That is the ideal to which we must aim. God bless Nigeria. Deji Adeyanju is the Convener of the Concerned Nigerians Movement, a Civil Advocacy Group aimed at promoting accountability and transparency in government in Nigeria. He tweets from @adeyanjudeji The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful storm system ploughed up the U.S. Eastern seaboard with torrential showers and high winds on Monday, hindering airline and rail travel, after killing at least 21 people in the South, many in mobile homes demolished by tornadoes. The storm, which unleashed deadly twisters in Mississippi and Georgia over the weekend, turned cooler as it advanced on the Northeast, where residents faced potential flooding, downed power lines and high surf late on Monday and early Tuesday, said Tim Morrin, the National Weather Service's New York observation program leader. "The best place to be is inside," Morrin said. Two commuter rail lines operated by New Jersey Transit, which serves about 100,000 passengers daily, suspended service during the evening rush hour between New York City and parts of New Jersey due to fallen power lines, the agency said on its website. About 750 U.S. airline flights were cancelled, with New York metropolitan airports bearing the brunt of the disruptions, according to the air traffic website FlightAware. New York City emergency management officials warned that wind speeds could reach 60 miles per hour (97 km per hour) through Monday night, with more than 3 inches (7.5 cm) of rain possible. Flood advisories and watches were issued for much of the region. Northern Pennsylvania and parts of New England were expected to receive more than 6 inches (15 cm) of wet snow, producing dangerously slick roads, and AccuWeather said traffic along several interstate highways through the region may be impeded. Forecasters said winds topping 50 mph (80 kph) could whip the East Coast from Delaware to Maine, where the state legislature cancelled all business for Tuesday in anticipation of harsh weather. As the storm front reached the Middle Atlantic Coast on Monday evening, a flood warning was posted for parts of southwestern Virginia, and a high wind advisory was in effect for western North Carolina. The storm was expected to take a northeastward path away from the U.S. coastline by Wednesday evening, the Weather Service said. The rain and snow will help ease a dry spell in the northeast United States, where much of the region has suffered from moderate to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Thunderstorms and tornadoes spawned by the same weather system killed 16 people on Sunday in Georgia, according to a tally by the Storm Prediction Centre in Oklahoma. Four of those fatalities were confirmed, and a toddler was reported missing, in Dougherty County after a twister left a path of destruction up to a half mile wide. A trailer park was especially hard hit, and local authorities said they expected the death toll to rise. "It literally looks like God took half of the mobile home park and threw it across the street into the woods," Dougherty County Commission Chair Chris Cohilas said at a news conference. Cohilas expressed frustration at the pace of the federal government in furnishing emergency help, calling it "disgraceful." "I would ask President Trump to take some significant steps to cut through the red tape and get us some people on the damned ground," he said at a news conference on Monday. Governor Nathan Deal, announcing that he extended a state emergency declaration to 16 Georgia counties, said Trump had called him on Sunday and promised he would be "ready and willing to respond" to an expected request for federal disaster relief. A tornado killed four people, three of them in mobile homes, in the southern Mississippi town of Hattiesburg on Saturday, and one person was reported killed in northern Florida when a tree toppled onto a house during a severe thunderstorm, authorities said. (Additional reporting by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Florida, and Laila Kearney, Frank McGurty and Chris Michaud in New York; Editing by Scott Malone, Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler) The Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, president, Marcel de Souza, has explained why West African troops in the Gambia (ECOMIG) are still in the country following the exit of Yahya Jammeh.He said the force was there to protect the people and maintain order as new President Adama Barrow prepares to assume office.In a chat with members of the Diplomatic Corps on the political situation in The Gambia, De Souza said ECOWAS does not have the intention of invading any country of member states.The ECOWAS mission in the Gambia was misunderstood. It was said that since Yahya Jammeh had left the country, what is the force still doing there? The forces are not there to fire shots but to secure the situation, he said.He disclosed that there were heavily-armed mercenaries in the country and this posed threat to the life of the President Barrow.We cannot allow Adama Barrow to move into the country in such a situation, he said, adding that the troops would be there for the situation to improve.Barrow remains in neighbouring Senegal amd De Souza did not mention when the new president would return to his country. Guinness Holds EGM for N40bn Rights Issue Guinness Nigeria Plc is set to hold an Extraordinary General Meeting on Tuesday (today), as it seeks shareholders approval for its planned N40bn rights issue.The company had announced at the end of 2016 its intention to offer a rights issue as part of plans to optimise its balance sheet and improve its financial flexibility.The EGM, the brewer said in a statement on Monday, would set the scene for the company to raise up to N40bn.Guinness Nigeria, subsidiary of Diageo Plc, was established in 1960 and has a base of over 70, 000 local and international shareholders.Guinness Nigeria last year became the first total beverage company when it acquired rights to distribute international premium spirits like Johnnie Walker and Baileys in Nigeria in January 2016 and later commissioned a spirits line for locally manufactured spirits at its Benin plant in November.This week, the company is also expected to release its first-half results for the six-month period ending December 30, 2016. After weeks of intrigues, President Muhammadu Buhari has renominated Ibrahim Magu for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) ch... After weeks of intrigues, President Muhammadu Buhari has renominated Ibrahim Magu for Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman.It was also learnt that the Presidency may raise a lobbying team to prevail on the Senate to allow Magus nomination sail through.The lobbying will involve confidence building and allaying the fears of some senators who believe they might be the targets of the ongoing anti-corruption war.A letter has been sent to Senate President Bukola Saraki.Prior to the disclosure in the Senate, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal, had broken the news of the Presidents decision to Magu, a source said.It was gathered that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), met with the acting EFCC chairman on Friday. The rough edges were smoothened and a better understanding struck, it was learnt.A source, who pleaded not to be named, said: A letter has been sent to the Senate by the President to renominate Magu. As a matter of fact, the President based his decision on the fact that there was no evidence linking the acting chairman of EFCC to any act of corruption or infractions.The President is convinced that Magu has tried his best to fight corruption in a selfless manner and without fear or favour.All intra-cabinet challenges which led to the initial security report on Magu were addressed by the President before he left for London.Buhari, it was learnt, made up his mind to reappoint Magu after a personal interaction with the Acting EFCC chairman about one and half weeks ago on Malamis report.Besides, said another source, some members of the kitchen cabinet and associates of the President insisted on Magu because his performance so far has defined the main achievement of this administration.Members of the kitchen cabinet and associates who influenced Buharis decision are Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; Amb. Babagana Kingibe; elder statesman Mamman Daura; Prof. Itse Sagay; National Security Adviser Gen. Babagana Moguno; and members of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption; a former Inspector-General of Police; Amb. Maina Waziri; Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai and Aisha Buhari.The assessment and acceptance of Magu by some countries, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, were said to have availed Buhari of intelligence report which made the President to retain the Acting EFCC chairman.Another source said: Before making up his mind, the President met separately with the AGF, Magu and the DG of the DSS on the allegations contained in the security report sent to the Senate.At the session with Magu, the President was convinced that he did not commit any offence.On the same day, he gave Magu and the AGF a joint assignment to do for him. This was the first signal that he might be renominated.Contrary to what is being insinuated, the President consulted widely with his advisory council against corruption and he upheld the argument of members of PACAC that Magu deserves to come back.But some kitchen cabinet members and associates, including Vice President Osinbajo, actually worked day and night to ensure the retention of Magu. Either at breakfast or dinner, they seized every opportunity to impress on the President why Magu should be given a chance. Kingibe, who has known Magus father for long, stressed that the family has a long history of uprightness and steadfastness.These kitchen cabinet members also reconciled Magu and the Director-General of the Department of State Security Service, Mallam Lawan Daura, who clarified that he was never interested in destroying anybodys career let alone Magu whom he sees as a son.The presidency may raise a lobbying team to prevail on the Senate to confirm Magu.A source in the Presidency said: We know the renomination of Magu might still not go down well with some senators but the Presidency will allay their fears.This time around, there will be intense legislative lobbying to build confidence in all that Magu will be fair to everybody, irrespective of ethnic, religious or party affiliations.We knew what wrong during the first nomination. The Presidency will not allow a repeat of such. All we have to do is to promote the merits behind the choice of Magu.As a matter of fact, some senators do not have enough fact-sheet on Magu. We are going to do much work this time around. Some were angry that the Senate was being blackmailed by pro-Magu forces in the Senate and in annoyance they threw away his nomination.And for the new Senate Leader, Sen. Ahmed Lawan, this is his first major test to show that he has the confidence of his colleagues.However, Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) Mr. Ita Enang, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN): Im not aware of that discussion (on Magu) and I dont want to speak on the matter because I dont have details. Former Minister of Aviation and Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Femi-Fani-Kayode has described the reunite of the former Pr... When father and son come together the heavens rejoice. This is good news and it is the beginning of great things. pic.twitter.com/BMlY0LpjAu January 21, 2017 Former Minister of Aviation and Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Femi-Fani-Kayode has described the reunite of the former Presidents, Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo as the beginning of new things.The former Minister expressed joy on social media over the reconciliation of both leaders.He said: When father and son come together the heavens rejoice. This is good news and it is the beginning of great things.Former President, Goodluck Jonathan over the weekend visited former President, Olusegun Obasanjo at his residence in Ogun state. Federal government has ordered the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC to investigate why the Big Brother Nigeria show is being shot in... Federal government has ordered the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC to investigate why the Big Brother Nigeria show is being shot in South Africa.In a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed directed the NBC to determine whether Multi-Choice, by shooting the show in South Africa, has breached the Nigerian Broadcasting Code in any way.He said the commission should also investigate the issue of possible deceit, since the viewing public was never told that the event would be staged outside Nigeria.As a country of laws, only the outcome of the investigation will determine our next line of action, he said.The minister said concerned Nigerians had bombarded his office with calls to complain about what they regard as an anomaly of shooting outside the country a show meant for Nigerians. He urged them to remain calm while the NBC investigates the issue and submits its findings.Nigerians have also kicked against the shooting of the TV reality series in South Africa. The Federal Government on Monday advised the Bring Back Our Girls Group to stick to its advocacy role. The Federal Government on Monday advised the Bring Back Our Girls Group to stick to its advocacy role.The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, also urged the group to see the government as a partner rather than an adversary in its quest to secure the release of the Chibok girls.The minister in a statement signed by one of his aides, Mr. Segun Adeyemi, said the incessant attack of the current government is counter- productive.He said, The BBOGs continued portrayal of the government as an adversary and the needless firing of darts at the President, who is doing his utmost best to bring the girls back home safely, could be ultimately counter-productive.The Federal Government has bent over backwards to carry the BBOG along and to show transparency in the conduct of the search for the girls.The recent invitation extended to the group to witness first-hand the search for the girls by the Nigerian Air Force is a clear indication of this.However, it came to us as a surprise that despite its initial positive report on the tour, the BBOG has too quickly reverted to its adversarial role.BBOG should stick to its role as an advocacy group rather than pretending to be an opposition party. The synonyms of the word advocacy do not include antagonism, opposition or attack.In fact, those words are the antonyms of advocacy. The Federal Government has said it will sack any teacher found in classrooms without the Teachers Registration Council of Nigerias (TRC... The Federal Government has said it will sack any teacher found in classrooms without the Teachers Registration Council of Nigerias (TRCN) certificate and licence before the end of this year.Minister of State for Education Prof. Anthony Anwukah said this at the maiden induction ceremony for teachers in Imo State University.Anwukah, who was the chairman of the occasion, said in a statement issued in Abuja yesterday by Head of Information at TRCN, Ojewuyi Muyiwa, that there would be no going back on the two-year deadline given to teachers to register with the TRCN.He urged teachers, who were yet to register with TRCN to do so to avoid being sacked.The Registrar/Chief Executive of the council, Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, urged teachers not to undermine professionalism.He said the TRCN would soon reintroduce the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), which would serve as a major prerequisite for admittance into the teaching profession.Ajiboye said: There is no going back on TRCN professionalism drive across the country; hence the council would soon reintroduce the Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE), which would serve as a major prerequisite for admittance into the teaching profession in Nigeria.He added that the grace given to teachers to obtain their certificates from the TRCN would soon be over.On her part, the universitys Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Victoria Obasi, hailed the efforts of TRCN in repositioning the teaching profession.She noted that TRCN had become a formidable force to reckon with in teachers education across the country and the world over. President Adama Barrow will arrive in Banjul, the Gambian capital today to begin functioning from the Presidential palace, one of his ad... President Adama Barrow will arrive in Banjul, the Gambian capital today to begin functioning from the Presidential palace, one of his advisers said last night.Another aide to Barrow also yesterday accused former president Yahya Jammeh of emptying the states coffers by plundering millions of dollars in his final days in power.Over two weeks, over 500 million dalasi ($11 million) were withdrawn by Jammeh, Mai Fatty said. As we take over, the government of The Gambia is in financial distress.The coffers are largely empty.After 22 years of iron-fisted rule, Jammeh refused to recognise the result of a December 1 election won by Barrow, triggering a weeks-long political crisis.But under the threat of a regional military intervention, he chose exile in Equatorial Guinea, which is not party to the International Criminal Court.That means he cannot be extradited in the event he is charged with crimes against humanity or other serious offences.Barrows spokesman Halifa Sallah told AFP on Sunday that Barrow aimed to set up a truth and reconciliation committee, his preferred method of dealing with grievances against the regime, though many Gambians want Jammeh and his entourage to be prosecuted.Sections of the security services were under Jammehs personal control and are responsible for extrajudicial killings, torture and arbitrary detention, rights groups say.Sallah added that Barrow had written a letter that indicated that (Jammeh) would be treated as an ex-president, with the same rights and privileges as Dawda Jawara, the countrys only other president since independence.That includes immunity from prosecution, according to The Gambias constitution, unless two thirds of the national assembly votes to assert that legal proceedings are in the public interest.On Monday, staff were working to ensure the presidential palace was safe for Barrow to enter.While he is eager to return as soon as possible, according to Fatty, the state of security in The Gambia is still fragile.He said that Barrow hoped some of the 7,000 troops mobilised earlier this month by Senegaland four other nations would remain in place after his arrival.A military aide to Barrow was due to be dispatched to work with the security chiefs of the army and police and finalise plans for his entry into the country, Sallah said.Gambians looked on in disbelief at the empty State House in Banjul on Sunday night, unable to believe it had finally been vacated, while cheering on and thanking the Senegalese troops.I was born and raised in Banjul. Good riddance! said Mohammed Jallow, a 54-year-old businessman.Barrow has a lot of work to do. Hes inheriting a very bad situation, he added.The Gambias army chief said Monday the regional troops were brothers welcomed with open arms.Chief of defence staff Ousman Badjie told AFP the Malian, Senegalese, Togolese, Nigerian and Ghanaian soldiers are our brothers, adding we are happy that they are here to complement our efforts.But critics have raised concerns over a statement issued by the United Nations, regional bloc ECOWAS and the African Union that seemed to offer Jammeh comfortable guarantees.The statement said no legislative measures would be taken that would infringe the dignity, security, safety and rights of Jammeh or his family, noting that he could return when he pleased and that property lawfully belonging to him would not be seized.That clause will be especially contentious after Jammeh was accused of plundering The Gambias coffers.But Reed Brody, a lawyer involved in the landmark conviction of former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, said Gambian law could not halt a prosecution if the evidence against Jammeh was serious enough.International law prohibits amnesties for atrocities such as torture and crimes against humanity, and internal United Nations rules even prevent the UN from agreeing to any such amnesty, he told AFP by email.Barrow has chosen a woman as his Vice President.Opposition spokesman Halifa Sallah, told reporters in Banjul yesterday, that Fatoumatta Tambajang, a prominent pro-democracy activist, was part of the opposition coalition that unseated Jammeh.She is touted as one of the main brains behind the formation of a coalition going into the December 1, 2016 polls.Mrs Tambajang, who was a former United Nations Development Program (UNDP) gender/development expert, also served as a cabinet minister in the government of Jammeh. She was Minister of Health, Social Welfare and Womens Affairs.Mrs Tambajang has been a vocal critic of Jammeh regime and has repeatedly condemned the arrest and detention of members of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) and the heavy crack down on opposition.She will take the role occupied by another female, Isatou Njie-Saidy, Jammehs long serving deputy who resigned in the wake of the political impasse. Ekiti State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum Chairman Ayodele Fayose has called for all-inclusive efforts to... Ekiti State Governor and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors Forum Chairman Ayodele Fayose has called for all-inclusive efforts to rebuild the PDP, describing the party as a sleeping, and not a dead lion.Fayose spoke when he visited former Ogun State Governor Gbenga Daniel in his Lagos home on Sunday night.A statement by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the governor promised to work with all PDP leaders across the country to make a success of his tenure.Fayose said the party could still boast of the best structures across the country.Earlier, the governor received former Minister of Information, Prof Jerry Gana and former PDP governorship candidate in Lagos State, Jimi Agbaje, who visited him to congratulate him.The governor called on all serving and former governors as well as other party leaders to rise to the partys rescue by providing fearless and sincere leadership.Daniel, who called for support for Fayose to achieve his good intentions for the PDP, described him as as a fearless, focused and courageous man, and a timely interventionist with a realisable mission. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, on Monday said that former Governors are responsible for the ongoing recession in the country. Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra state, on Monday said that former Governors are responsible for the ongoing recession in the country.Speaking on CNBC Africa, Obi said Nigerian governors under the Goodluck Jonathan administration refused to save for a rainy day.Obi said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former minister of finance, and Muhammad Sanusi II, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), begged the federal government to build its savings but the governors kicked against the idea.''I was in government when the likes of Ngozi Iweala, Aganga, Sanusi were crying lets save; we collectively said we dont want savings, and we are now in this mess; we cannot afford to increase it by going to borrow without a clear road map on what we would use it for, Obi said.People start saving in crisis. Go and check most nations that save, they started it in crisis situation, because they could see the point of not saving yesterday; and that is where we are.I have said it before that even if we saved five percent of all our oil earnings from 1960 to date, which is about $1.2 trillion, considering a compound interest of about five percent, we should have about 150 billion today.I was in government when Ngozi Iweala was crying meeting after meeting, lets save money; we need to save for a rainy day. We said no. Some say this woman should not be found near this country, Obi added.We even went to court as a body to challenge savings, and look at where we are today. Instead of us realising from that mistake to say, today lets start.Change that constitution that says we cannot save; what type of constitution is that? When we are talking about constitution amendment, we should amend things that are immediate.Issue of savings should be included in our constitution today; oil is a depleting asset, and we are not even saving for tomorrow.He urged the federal government to embrace restructuring and let the countrys strengths be found in its diversity. Donald Trump President Donald Trump met with the CEOs of General Motors, Ford, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday. Before the meeting, he listed his demands on Twitter. "Will be meeting at 9:00 with top automobile executives concerning jobs in America," he wrote from his personal Twitter account. "I want new plants to be built here for cars sold here!" Of course, most cars and trucks sold in the US are already built in the US. The "big three" carmakers are major employers in the upper Midwest, a key reason GM and Chrysler were bailed out by the federal government in 2009. Beyond the Detroit carmakers, the Japanese and German auto companies have been building vehicles at US factories in the South for decades in nonunion "right to work" states. We don't yet know all of the details about what Trump actually told the CEOs on Tuesday, but his objective seems straightforward: build more plants and hire more workers. This, however, is not something that the carmakers will be willing to do in the current market. Both GM CEO Mary Barra and FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne released statements after the meeting. "We had a very constructive and wide-ranging discussion about how we can work together on policies that support a strong and competitive economy and auto industry, one that supports the environment and safety," Barra said. "The US is our home market and we are eager to come together to reinvigorate US manufacturing. We all want a vibrant US manufacturing base that is competitive globally and that grows jobs. It's good for our employees, our dealers, our suppliers, and our customers." And Marchionne said: "I appreciate the president's focus on making the US a great place to do business. We look forward to working with President Trump and members of Congress to strengthen American manufacturing." No new factories But making US auto manufacturing globally competitive and strengthening it overall will not entail new factories or new jobs. Story continues A record 17.55 million new vehicles were sold in the US in 2016. We've now had two consecutive years in which the sales record of 2000 was topped. The boom has been great for Detroit's bottom line: cheap gas and easy credit have meant that many of the vehicles sold have been profitable trucks and SUVs. The US auto industry is delighted with Trump because of his promises regarding corporate tax cuts and deregulation (though executives are wary about his proposed border tax, given that GM, Ford, and FCA all have operations in Mexico and have for decades). US Auto Sales Graphic The problem is with Trump's demands regarding capital expenditure and hiring. The automakers would have stood a decent chance of getting a rollback on regulations with any Republican president, but the protectionism Trump is pushing for runs counter to their businesses. The situation is complicated and actually made more complex because sales have been so hot in the US. Globally, the auto industry has an excess-manufacturing problem, something that FCA's Marchionne has often highlighted. This really isn't the case in the US. Automakers are dead set against adding capacity here with the market running so far above what's known as the "replacement rate" of sales 15 million annually or thereabouts and instead are maximizing their capacity utilization so they won't be stuck with unused capacity and layoffs when the downturn inevitably arrives. Cracks in the boom Cracks have already appeared in the boom, and Trump has assailed the automakers for their efforts to address them. Specifically, Ford, GM, and Chrysler want to shift low-profit small-car production to Mexico, where lower wages will enable them to continue to build these vehicles for the US and other markets. Demand in the US is collapsing for passenger cars, so automakers want to use their US factories to build trucks and SUVs instead of smaller sedans. Ford Escape In some cases, demand has ebbed to such a degree that layoffs are inevitable; GM just laid off 1,200 workers at its Lordstown, Ohio, plant, which is where the Chevy Cruze compact sedan is assembled. Lordstown is on the I-80 corridor, a center of Trump's support in the election. In other cases, automakers are trimming their production because inventories have gotten too big. In fact, some dealers were sitting on more than a three-month supply of cars and trucks with only two months left in 2016 to get the vehicles off their lot. Beyond all of this, automakers are under pressure to invest not in unnecessary capacity but in research and development that will enable them to attack the growing autonomous-driving, car-sharing/ride-hailing, and electric-vehicle opportunities. None of those really involve hiring additional factory workers. The dangerous effects of Trumponomics The automakers genuinely want their big corporate tax cut and a rollback on fuel-economy standards so they can make gestures toward Trump's demands in the form of some marginal hiring and some investment in plant retooling. To a degree, Ford did this during the transition when it canceled plans to build a new plant in Mexico for small-car production and instead invested $700 million in a Michigan factory to build hybrids. Car companies could also see Trumponomics juice the economy in 2017, keeping auto sales elevated. But artificially elevated sales are a throwback to the undisciplined ways of the precrisis industry. All the major players have learned their lessons. Flanked by General Motors CEO Mary Barra (L) and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne (R), U.S. President Donald Trump hosts a meeting with U.S. auto industry CEOs at the White House in Washington January 24, 2017. With their existing manufacturing footprints, major automakers can be quite profitable by the standards of the car business and sustain profitability in a US market that swoons to 11 million in annual sales. If they give into Trump and start building new factories and hiring new workers in a peaked market, the capital will be wasted because the capacity will never be needed and the jobs will vanish in a downturn. For what it's worth, additional hiring by the big-three automakers would bring on new United Automobile Workers union jobs, not something that's likely to sit well with Republicans in Congress. Carpocalypse Trump could contemplate something apocalyptic with US automaking and try to drive the Japanese and the Germans out so that US car companies could eventually grab that market share, but the result would be large-scale unemployment in the US South. It would also be a Trumpian version of authoritarian industrial dictating that even the more authoritarian countries of the world won't go near. Trump could also recognize that Chinese automakers want to get into the US market and figure that they can bring the jobs and plants, effectively burning money to establish a foothold. But for a Chinese car company to carve out sales, it would have to take share from a US, Japanese, German, or Korean automaker in a US market. The bottom line is that Trump needs jobs headlines right now. The auto industry could give him that by committing to "investment" at various levels, tied to the possibility of new factories and new jobs. But the factories will take a while to build, and the jobs won't really move the needle that much in reality in an economy that has been adding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month. But Trump also needs actual jobs, particularly in the auto-industry heartland. It's unlikely that the automakers will give him that but if they do, they'll be playing a long game, with no intention of retaining those jobs when the market starts to slide. Trump will probably endure a recession in the next four years. His demands of the US auto industry could only make it worse. NOW WATCH: 'It's a little demoralizing': Watch Trump's press secretary go off on reporters over perceived bias More From Business Insider Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday lashed out at the Presidency saying they should stop lying to Nigerians over th... Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, yesterday lashed out at the Presidency saying they should stop lying to Nigerians over the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari. He also said Nigerians cannot afford to have another constitutional crises due to Mr. Presidents health. The Presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu had attacked Mohammed on Monday saying he is suffering from pathological cynicism.According to in destroying every positive effort and achievements of the government and we advise Nigerians to be wary of prejudiced and biased critics like Dr. Junaid Mohammed who are more interested in personal publicity than respecting facts and figures about their claims. But reacting to Sheus statement, Mohammed said the Presidential spokesperson should stop telling Nigerians lies about his health just as he maintained that General Sanni Abacha remains one of the healthiest President Nigeria ever had.His words, I believe Sheu is under pressure which is why he attacked me. However, I believe strongly they need to stop lying to Nigerians about Mr Presidents health. Can they actually tell Nigerians what this medical leave or routine check-up is? They dont seems to be telling us the truth. Mohammed who maintained he has been President Buharis friend since when he was a secnd lieutenant in the Army said he cannot shy away from telling the President the truth anytime he misfires. He said, If I am to comment on issues that concern Nigerians, I wont shy away from telling President Buhari the home truth anywhere he is making mistakes. I criticized General Abacha as Head of State and told him some truths in private and sometimes face to face.I believe if people can challenge their friends in power, it shows they are not intimidated by the powerful. If Aisha Buhari can say what she said about her husband, I think the President needs to check himself and retrace his steps on some issues that concerns the country. I think the question the President needs to ask himself is that after one he has taken over the reigns of power, what has changed? Is Nigeria better off than when he took over on May 29, 2015? The truth is that Nigeria is worse off today than when Buhari took over the reigns of power.Every Nigerian today is worse off and nothing seems to be working under this government. Some who are rich in 2015 cannot say same today due to the economic woes that Nigeria is presently experiencing and we cannot continue to close our eyes off it. He further explained, This administration has failed in tamming the economic woes that seems to have turned everyone poor in present day Nigeria. Even though the administration made some giant strides in the fight against Boko Haram, the country is still not safe as people still live in fears even in Kano today. And there is also political crises in the party where President won his own election.So the President seems to be at war with everyone including the National Assembly members. He however maintained, I believe President Buhari should engage in turning around the fortunes of Nigeria economically, politically and security wise. By now, his administration should have stopped blaming the Jonathan government for their woes. I believe that in Politics, you take assets and liabilities. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has distanced the government from the recent arrest of the Publisher of Premi... The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed has distanced the government from the recent arrest of the Publisher of Premium Times and one of its reporters.Mr Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher of the online newspaper and the judicial reporter, Ms. Evelyn Okakwu were arrested last week by the police.The government and the police received knocks for the arrest, which many said was an attempt by the government to gag the media.But Information minister in a statement on Tuesday absolved the government, saying that the current administration was keenly aware of the importance of a free press to the success of any democracy and so would not do anything to stifle the media.According to him: The Federal Government will not do anything to stifle press freedom because it is keenly aware that a free press is vital to the success of any democracy.He explained that the whole issue of the journalists arrest is purely a private affair involving a citizen and a privately-owned newspaper, and wondered how that could now be construed as an attempt by the government to intimidate the press.We have said it before and we want to re-state it: The Federal Government has no immediate or long-term plan to stifle press freedom. Even the Social Media, with its warts and all, will neither be regulated nor have its operations tampered with, the minister assured Nigerians. Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said that 19 suspected Lassa fever patients who had close contacts with anoth... Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Babatunde Ipaye, has said that 19 suspected Lassa fever patients who had close contacts with another new suspect came out negative in the Lassa fever screen test.Ipaye told journalists yesterday in Abeokuta, the state capital, that the 396 people who had primary and secondary contacts with the Assistant Chief Nursing Officer of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Idi-Aba in Abeokuta, who died of lassa fever have been declared free.He stated that they were declared free according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) standard, saying: 19 close contacts to another new suspected lassa fever case came out negative after been tested.The commissioner, therefore, said during the process of monitoring the 396 contacts, another suspected case was recorded with about 50 contacts traced to the victim, adding that the blood samples of the 19 primary contacts out of the 50 contacts to the victim have been tested and all came out to be negative.Ipaye said the suspected victim who later died at UCH in Ibadan cannot be counted for Ogun State, adding that the remaining 39 secondary contacts have been placed under close monitoring with one thermometer and health officer attached to each of them to monitor their temperatures.The commissioner said so far, none of the contacts has shown abnormal temperature since they began monitoring.He added that the medical officers attached to each of the contacts would continue to monitor until the specified period in line with WHO standard was exceeded before they could be medically adjudged to be free of the disease.Ipaye also advised members of the public to report any case of malaria symptoms that may have exceeded three days of treatment to the nearest General Hospital, the Ministry of Health, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, or call the following dedicated lines 09099140121 and 09099140122. Nigerian Senate will today commence the debate on the general principle of the 2017 budget. Nigerian Senate will today commence the debate on the general principle of the 2017 budget.Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Senator Baba Kaka Bashir Garbai has said.President Muhammadu Buhari had presented the budget to the joint session of the National Assembly in December last year.This weeks sitting would be devoted for the debate. Interested Senators will speak during the debate, Garbai said.The N7.2trillion budget has N419billion statutory transfers, N1.6 trillion for debt service, N177.4billion for sinking fund, N2.9trillion for recurrent (Non-debt) expenditure and N2.058trillion for capital expenditure.It was gathered that a register was opened last week for Senators to indicate their willingness to contribute to the debate. Soldiers attached to Operation MESA (Op MESA) have been accused of brutalising a young man, Nathan Olajide, for wearing an outfit that a... Soldiers attached to Operation MESA (Op MESA) have been accused of brutalising a young man, Nathan Olajide, for wearing an outfit that accentuated his muscles.According to the victim, he was beaten for almost two hours at Keffi Street in Lagos Island, close to Dordan Barracks, Obalende, because the soldiers felt he was trying to intimidate them with his muscles.Olajide said his attackers rode on a Hilux marked NA1003, adding that the incident occurred at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday.Narrating his ordeal on social media, the victim said: I was beaten up for almost two hours last night (Sunday) by soldiers of OP MESA because I was wearing a black armless top and red track trouser.They asked if I was a cultist and why am I so muscular in shape? They asked if I build up to intimidate soldiers? I told them I work out because I love to be fit and I enjoy doing it.One of the soldiers slapped me immediately and the rest started whipping me with koboko for no reason. I copied their plate number Hilux NA1003.Olajides post generated public outcry with many calling for disciplinary action against the soldiers.Contacted, the spokesman for the Nigerian Army 81 Division, Col. Kingsley Samuel, said the case would be investigated.He added that the vehicle plate number provided would ease investigation into the matter. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has resumed orientation of corp members in Adamawa state, after a three-year suspension caused by ... The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has resumed orientation of corp members in Adamawa state, after a three-year suspension caused by the Boko Haram insurgency.The last orientation was held in Adamawa in March 2013.Speaking to Tuesday in Yola, Mohammed Abubakar, state coordinator of NYSC, said 2, 500 corps members were deployed to the state.Registration of corp members started this Tuesday morning by 7 am and you can see they are trooping in; we are expecting 2, 500 corp members, he told NAN.Abubakar said that adequate security had been put in place with about 300 officials from the army, police, department of state security, Nigeria security and civil defence corps and NYSC.He explained that the state government had provided the facility of Adamawa State Polytechnic, Yola, as a temporary camp, pending the final evacuation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the permanent orientation camp in Damare.I want the corps members to understand that this is a borrowed camp and should therefore bear with the available facilities, he said.While lauding the state government for it support towards a successful orientation, Abubakar urged the people of Adamawa to continue supporting and showing hospitality to corp members. The Presidency has distanced itself from reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has written a fresh letter to the Senate insisting on co... The Presidency has distanced itself from reports that President Muhammadu Buhari has written a fresh letter to the Senate insisting on confirming the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Mr. Ibrahim Magu.The Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Mr. Ita Enang, said he was not aware of such letter.Enang was reacting to media reports that the President, who is currently on a 10-day annual vacation, had sent a letter to the Senate insisting on the confirmation of Magu.He said, You are about the third person calling me on this matter.I am not aware of that discussion and I dont want to speak on the matter because I dont have details.The Senate on December 15, 2016, rejected the request for the confirmation of Magu based on security reports from the Department of State Security.It thereafter returned the nomination Magu to the President for further action.The presidency had in July 2016 written the Senate, requesting the screening and confirmation of Magu as Substantive Chairman of EFCC.Buhari appointed Magu as acting chairman of the EFCC after the removal of Mr Ibrahim Lamorde on Nov. 9, 2015.Before his appointment as the acting EFCC chairman, Magu was the Head of Economic Governance Unit of the commission.(NAN) US President Donald Trump met with a dozen prominent American manufacturers at the White House on Monday, promising them he would slash ... US President Donald Trump met with a dozen prominent American manufacturers at the White House on Monday, promising them he would slash regulations and cut corporate taxes.But he warned them of penalties if they moved production outside the country.Trump, who took office on Friday, promised to bring manufacturing plants back to the United States during his campaign, and has not hesitated to call out by name companies that he thinks should bring outsourced production back home.He told the chief executives of Ford, Dow Chemical, Dell-Technologies, Tesla and others that he would like to cut corporate taxes to the 15 per cent to 20 per cent range.This is down from current statutory levels of 35 percent a pledge that will require cooperation from the Republican-led US Congress.But he said business leaders have told him that reducing regulations is even more important.We think we can cut regulations by 75 per cent, maybe more, Trump told business leaders in the Roosevelt Room.When you want to expand your plant or when Mark wants to come in and build a big, massive plant or when Dell wants to come in and do something monstrous and special youre going to have your approvals really fast, Trump said, referring to Mark Fields, CEO of Ford, who sat around the boardroom style table.The new president told companies that they were welcome to negotiate with governors to move production between states, but said those businesses that choose to move factories outside the country would pay a price.We are going to be imposing a very major border tax on the product when it comes in, Trump said.A company that wants to fire all of its people in the United States, and build some factory someplace else, and then thinks that that product is going to just flow across the border into the United States thats not going to happen, he said.Trump was scheduled to hold a meeting later on Monday with labour leaders and U.S. workers, the White House said.Trump, a Republican who took over from former Democratic President Barack Obama, was also expected to sign executive orders to renegotiatethe free trade agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, and to formally withdraw the United States from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership.Between winning the presidential election in November and taking office, Trump hosted a number of U.S. CEOs in meetings in New York, including business leaders from defense, technology and other sectors.He also met with leaders of several labor unions, including the AFL- CIO.Trump, a real estate developer, has particularly focused on manufacturing, lamenting during his inaugural address on Friday about rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation and vowing to boost US industries over foreign ones. (Reuters/NAN) Nigerian forward Victor Anichebe could be ruled out of action two months after sustaining what looks like a knee injury in Sunderland's 2-0 defeat by West Brom in the English Premier League at the weekend.Anichebe who just returned from a hamstring injury, was brought on as a second half substitute but later went down clutching his right knee.According to Sunderland Echo, there are fears the 28-year-old could be out until March.Also the club still have to wait for confirmation from a scan results to confirm if Anichebe will spend time on the sidelines.Anichebe's latest injury scare will be a big blow to Sunderland who already have Lee Cattermole, Jan Kirchhoff, Paddy McNair, Jordan Pickford and Duncan Watmore all out with long-term injuries.Since joining Sunderland as a free agent, Anichebe has scored three league goals.The former Everton striker was instrumental in Sunderland's four Premier League games against Bournemouth, Hull, Leicester and Watford, and has provided tremendous support for leading scorer Jermain Defoe with his linkup plays. There are indications that the MTN Group will not list the shares of its Nigerian unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in 2017. There are indications that the MTN Group will not list the shares of its Nigerian unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), in 2017.This was made known by Phuthuma Nhleko, chief executive officer, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.We see ourselves as a partner to governments in Africa because it is all about partnership, Nhleko said.As regards the Nigerian matter, I wish it was millions of rands. I dont think this is the right forum to rehash the past; the matter has been dealt with although it could have been handled differently from both parties.Its a work in progress and hopefully within the 12 to 18-month period we will be able to do it. Regulatory issues need to be resolved, and the macro conditions need to have improved.MTN agreed to list its shares on the NSE in 2017 as part of the settlement of a N330 billion fine imposed on it by the government for failing to deactivate more than five million unregistered sim cards.The telco was initially fined $5.2 billion (N1.04 trillion) but it was later reduced to N330 billion.Weve always intended to list we have reaffirmed that with the government. Clearly, we can only list when the conditions are conducive, Nhleko added.In December, Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, said that MTN had paid N80 billion, adding that the payments would continue for three years until all the N330 billion had been settled. KOLWEZI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO--(Marketwired - Jan 23, 2017) - Ivanhoe Mines (IVN.TO)(IVPAF) Executive Chairman Robert Friedland and Chief Executive Officer Lars-Eric Johansson today announced assay results from another 25 holes as part of the ongoing 2016-2017 drilling campaign at the Kakula Discovery on the company's Tier One Kamoa-Kakula Copper Project, near the mining centre of Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Kakula Discovery remains open along a northwesterly-southeasterly strike. Massive potential for resource expansion is considered to remain within the Kakula Discovery area. High-grade, chalcocite-rich copper mineralization has been outlined along a corridor that currently is approximately one kilometre wide and at least 5.5 kilometres long (see Figure 2). The latest drilling results further reinforce the exceptional continuity of high-grade copper mineralization and the relatively flat-lying geometry. Highlights include: DD1093, a step-out hole drilled 1.6 kilometres northwest of the current boundary of Kakula's current Inferred Resources, intersected typical Kakula-style mineralization similar to holes drilled in the centre of the high-grade Kakula Discovery. The hole intersected 11.10 metres (true width) of 5.82% copper at a 3.0% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 993.0 metres; 11.10 metres (true width) of 5.82% copper at a 2.5% copper cut-off; 11.90 metres (true width) of 5.57% copper at a 2.0% copper cut-off; and 12.88 metres (true width) of 5.26% copper at a 1.0% copper cut-off. A photograph of the mineralized intersection in hole DD1093 is shown in Figure 10. DD1080, drilled 1.0 kilometre northwest of the boundary of Kakula's current Inferred Resources, intersected 4.49 metres (true width) of 8.51% copper at a 3.0% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 857.6 metres; 4.99 metres (true width) of 7.96% copper at a 2.5% copper cut-off; 4.99 metres (true width) of 7.96% copper at a 2.0% copper cut-off; and 10.23 metres (true width) of 4.75% copper at a 1.0% copper cut-off. DD1065, drilled 300 metres northwest of the boundary of Kakula's current Inferred Resources, intersected 6.24 metres (true width) of 6.44% copper at a 3.0% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 638.0 metres; 7.24 metres (true width) of 5.96% copper at a 2.5% copper cut-off; 8.39 metres (true width) of 5.43% copper at a 2.0% copper cut-off; and 8.39 metres (true width) of 5.43% copper at a 1.0% copper cut-off. "It is remarkable to drill a step-out hole more than 1.6 kilometres beyond the limits of the previous mineral resource boundary and intersect almost identical, high-grade, chalcocite-rich mineralization," said Mr. Friedland. "The open-ended nature of the extremely high-grade copper mineralization at the unfolding Kakula Discovery certainly has caught the attention of the mining industry. The ongoing results speak for themselves - and leave me speechless." In addition to the three step-out drill holes highlighted above that extend the Kakula Discovery to the northwest, hole DD1079, drilled 400 metres southeast of Kakula's current Inferred Resources and beyond a line of poorly mineralized drill holes, intersected significant Kakula-style chalcocite mineralization within a siltstone unit. The hole intersected 3.51 metres (true width) of 3.63% copper at a 3.0% copper cut-off, beginning at a downhole depth of 851.0 metres; 3.51 metres (true width) of 3.63% copper at a 2.5% copper cut-off; 3.51 metres (true width) of 3.63% copper at a 2.0% copper cut-off; and 3.51 metres (true width) of 3.63% copper at a 1.0% copper cut-off. "This hole provides profound encouragement for the potential continuity of Kakula-style mineralization along strike to the southeast," said David Edwards, Geology Manager for the Kamoa-Kakula Project. In response to the spectacular exploration success, Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining have accelerated the Kakula exploration program with the mobilization of additional contracted drill rigs. Nine rigs now are drilling at Kakula, focused in the northwest resource expansion area, where the aim is to initially infill an area of 2.6 square kilometres immediately northwest of Kakula's current Inferred Resource boundary. Infill drilling of Inferred Resources is ongoing in the central section of Kakula. To the southeast, step-out drilling is continuing to explore extensions of the Kakula high-grade zone along trend. The current Kakula drill plan is shown in Figure 2. Ongoing geological studies leading to new Kamoa-Kakula exploration targets In addition to exploring along the Kakula trend, significant overall potential exists both within the Kakula exploration area and on the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence as a whole. Approximately 200 square kilometres of the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa-Kakula project area remain untested. The Kamoa-Kakula geology team, with the assistance of its technical advisors, is intensively evaluating the structural and stratigraphic controls on mineralization of the broader Kamoa-Kakula basin. This project is intended to define and rank priority targets located in the untested parts of the licence. Initial work has highlighted a number of high-priority drill targets that are planned to be tested this year. Figure 3 highlights the expansive area of the mining licence that remains to be drill tested in relation to the currently defined Mineral Resources, as well as showing some of the exploration targets that are being investigated. Figure 1. Kamoa-Kakula Project map shows the initial development area for the Kansoko Mine and the adjacent Kakula resources area. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f1.jpg Figure 2. Planned exploration drilling over the Kakula exploration area for Q1 2017 and Q2 to Q4 2017 showing current and future target areas and locations of recent significant intersections. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f2.jpg Figure 3. Kamoa-Kakula mining licence showing copper grade of Indicated and Inferred Resources at a 2% copper cut-off, untested areas and current target areas. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f3.jpg Figure 4. Drill-hole location plan for the Kakula discovery area shows holes completed and in progress, superimposed on 1% composite grade-thickness contours. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f4.jpg Figure 5. Location Plan showing grade and thickness of recent results superimposed on 2.0% composite grade-thickness contours. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f5.jpg Figure 6. Location Plan showing grade and thickness of recent results superimposed on 2.5% composite grade-thickness contours. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f6.jpg Figure 7. Location Plan showing grade and thickness of recent results superimposed on 3.0% composite grade-thickness contours. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f7.jpg Figure 8. Strip-logs of drill holes DD1021, DD1070 & DD1032 showing typical Kakula-style mineralization. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f8.pdf Kakula exploration program has been accelerated, with nine rigs now drilling in a bid to further expand the discovery area. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518i1.jpg Figure 9. Section along the axis on the Kakula Deposit on the section A-A'-A" showing drilling completed to date and composites at a 3% copper cut-off. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f9.jpg As shown in Figure 9, the Kakula Deposit is a gently-dipping blanket of thick, chalcocite-rich copper mineralization. Initial mine development is planned to begin in the flat, near-surface zone highlighted in the inset which, at a 3% cut-off, is between 7.1 metres and 11.7 metres thick and with copper grades between 8.11% and 10.35% along the deposit's axis. Figure 10. High-grade copper intersection in drillhole DD1093. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518f10.jpg New Kakula Mineral Resource estimate expected early in Q2 2017 Ivanhoe Mines expects to produce an updated Mineral Resource estimate for the Kakula Deposit within 90 days. The initial Mineral Resource estimate for Kakula - the second major discovery on the Kamoa mining licence - was detailed in Ivanhoe Mines' October 12, 2016, news release. Based on approximately 24,000 metres of drilling in 65 holes, Kakula contained Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 66 million tonnes at 6.59% copper, plus Inferred Resources of 27 million tonnes at 5.26% copper, at a 3% cut-off. At a lower, 1% cut-off, Kakula contained Indicated Mineral Resources estimated at 192 million tonnes at 3.45% copper plus Inferred Resources of 101 million tonnes at 2.74% copper. Kakula's addition boosted the combined Kamoa-Kakula Indicated Mineral Resources to 944 million tonnes at 2.83% copper, plus Inferred Resources of 286 million tonnes at 2.31% copper, at a 1% cut-off. The October 2016 Kakula Mineral Resource was defined by drilling covering a total area of 8.7 square kilometres within the larger 60-square-kilometre Kakula exploration area. The total areal extent of Indicated Resource is 4.6 square kilometres at a 1% cut-off and the areal extent of the Inferred Resource is 3.3 square kilometres at a 1% cut-off. The average dip of the mineralized zone in the Indicated Resource area is 13 degrees, while the average dip is 16 degrees in the Inferred Resource area. With the addition of Kakula's Mineral Resources, Wood Mackenzie - a prominent, international industry research and consulting group - demonstrated that the Kamoa-Kakula Project is the largest copper discovery in Zambia and the DRC, making it the largest copper discovery ever made on the African continent. Wood Mackenzie's research, independently prepared for Ivanhoe Mines in October 2016, also showed that Kamoa-Kakula already ranked among the 10 largest copper deposits in the world. Approximately 46,000 metres now have been drilled at the Kakula Discovery since the current drilling campaign was started in May 2016. New preliminary economic assessment will analyze expanded development scenarios of up to 16 million tonnes per annum. In addition to updating the Kakula Mineral Resource estimate, an expanded preliminary economic assessment (PEA) also is underway that will assess the potential of mining the combined Kamoa and Kakula discoveries at extraction rates of between eight and 16 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) - believed by Ivanhoe Mines' engineering team to better reflect the size, thickness and grade of the deposits and the associated economics. The December 2016 PEA estimated that the initial phase of production from Kakula, at a rate of 4 Mtpa, would have a projected average grade of 7.52% copper over the initial five years of operations. Given the potential to significantly expand Kakula's high-grade resources, the project engineering team is targeting a life-of-mine average annual copper production scenario for a mine of up to 8 Mtpa at Kakula, potentially producing in excess of 400,000 tonnes per annum. Ivanhoe Mines expects that the extension of the Kakula Discovery by approximately 40% will have a major, positive impact on the project's economics, offering the potential to significantly expand Kakula's mining rate and extend the deposit's mine life. "The December 2016 PEA assessed the economics of building an initial mine at Kamoa-Kakula with the primary focus of keeping the pre-production capital costs to a maximum of $1 billion," said Mr. Johansson. "Given that we already have a Tier One, high-grade resource base at Kamoa-Kakula, the engineering team is going to remove availability of capital as a constraint. The next version of the PEA will focus on determining the optimal initial development scenario, as well as the best steady-state mining rate, which balances capital efficiency with effective scale and long-term operating costs to maximize the project's net present value." In addition, data collection and testwork to support a subsequent pre-feasibility study also is underway to enhance the findings of the Kakula 2016 PEA. Mineralization at Kakula is substantively thicker and higher grade than elsewhere on the Kamoa mining licence; it also is consistently bottom-loaded and will support the construction of selective, mineralized zone (SMZ) composites at cut-offs up to at least 3% copper. The lateral consistency of mineralization at these higher cut-offs presents significant opportunities for mine planning, with large areas of the resource having chalcocite-rich mineralization with average grades in excess of 6% when using the 3% SMZ. Chalcocite (copper sulfide, Cu 2 S) is opaque and dark-grey to black, with a metallic lustre (see Figure 9 for an example of Kakula high-grade chalcocite drill core). Due to its very high percentage of contained copper by weight (the percentage of the mineral that is actual metal to be extracted is 80% copper by weight) and its capacity to produce an exceptionally clean, high-grade concentrate, chalcocite is considered to be the most valuable copper mineral. Based on initial metallurgical test work, the chalcocite-rich nature of the copper mineralization at the Kakula Deposit is expected to yield higher metallurgical recoveries and higher concentrate grades, which in turn are expected to reduce unit transportation costs and therefore improve financial returns. Bench-scale metallurgical flotation test work at XPS Consulting and Testwork Services laboratories in Falconbridge, Canada, achieved copper recoveries of 87.8% and produced a concentrate with an extremely high grade of 56% copper using the flowsheet developed during the Kamoa pre-feasibility study (PFS). The material tested was a composite of chalcocite-rich Kakula drill core, assaying 8.1% copper. Earlier metallurgical testwork indicated that the Kamoa concentrates contain arsenic levels of approximately 0.02%, which are extremely low by world standards. Given this critical competitive marketing advantage, Kamoa's concentrates are expected to attract a significant premium from copper-concentrate traders for use in blending with concentrates from other mines. The Kamoa concentrates will help to enable high-arsenic concentrates from mines in Chile and elsewhere to meet the limit of 0.5% arsenic imposed by Chinese smelters to meet China's new environmental restrictions. A metallurgical test-work program also is underway at Zijin's laboratories to evaluate the potential of bio-leaching material from the Kakula and Kamoa deposits. Advancing underground development at the Kamoa Deposit now more than half way toward reaching high-grade copper mineralization Underground mine development at the Kansoko Sud area of the Kamoa Deposit is progressing ahead of plan and within budgeted costs. The twin declines, incorporating service and conveyor tunnels, have advanced more than 550 metres since the first excavation blast was conducted in May 2016. The underground declines now are more than half-way toward the high-grade copper mineralization at the planned Kansoko Mine and are expected to intersect the orebody early in the second quarter this year. Ivanhoe Mines expects that the fleet of mining equipment will begin development work at the adjacent Kakula Deposit once the twin declines have intercepted the mineralized zones at the Kansoko Mine development and a bulk sample has been obtained for feasibility-level metallurgical test work. Excavated rock from the advancing, underground access tunnels is hauled to the surface through the box cut at the Kansoko Mine development on the Kamoa Deposit, adjacent to the Kakula Discovery. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518i2.jpg http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518i3.jpg Ongoing construction of the twin declines that will provide underground mining access now has progressed more than 550 metres and is past the half-way point between the Kansoko Mine's surface box cut and targeted, high-grade copper mineralization at the Kamoa Deposit. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518i4.jpg Table 1. Recent Kakula drill results completed since the October 2016 Mineral Resource estimate. http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518t1.pdf Table 2: Drill-Hole Collar Locations and Orientation http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1083518t2.pdf Current partners in the Kamoa-Kakula Project The Kamoa-Kakula Project is a very large, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, located approximately 25 kilometres west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 kilometres west of Lubumbashi. The Kamoa Copper Deposit was discovered by Ivanhoe Mines (then named Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum) in 2008, followed by the discovery of the Kakula Deposit in early 2016. In August 2012, the DRC government granted mining licences to Ivanhoe Mines for the Kamoa-Kakula Project that cover a total of 400 square kilometres. The licences are valid for 30 years and can be renewed at 15-year intervals. Mine development work at the project began in July 2014 with construction of a box cut for the decline ramps for the planned Kansoko Mine that will provide underground access to the high-grade mining areas in Kansoko Sud and Kansoko Centrale. Following the signing of a partnership agreement with the DRC government last November, Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining each hold an indirect 39.6% interest in the Kamoa-Kakula Project, Crystal River Global Limited holds an indirect 0.8% interest and the DRC government holds a direct 20% interest. In addition, Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining and Crystal River recently amended their Shareholder, Governance and Option Agreement that originally took effect December 8, 2015. The agreement governing their relationship in the Kamoa-Kakula Project codifies the operation of the project committee and the management of the DRC subsidiary, Kamoa Copper SA, so that the agreement is consistent with existing, on-the-ground practice. The amendments also clarify that if Ivanhoe Mines arranges project financing for 65% of the capital required to develop the first phase of the Kamoa-Kakula Project, Ivanhoe Mines then will be entitled to acquire the indirect 0.8% interest in the Kamoa-Kakula Project held by Crystal River for a price equal to the then current market value of that interest as determined by an independent expert valuator. The acquisition of Crystal River's indirect 0.8% interest in the Kamoa-Kakula Project would give Ivanhoe Mines majority control of Kamoa Holding Limited, the entity that presently owns 80% of the Kamoa-Kakula Project. Zijin Mining already had committed to use its best efforts to arrange or procure project financing for 65% of the capital required to develop the first phase of the Kamoa-Kakula Project, as set out in a feasibility study, without any recourse, and on terms acceptable to Ivanhoe Mines. If Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining cannot agree on project financing, the matter will be referred to binding arbitration in Hong Kong. At the request of Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining, and subject to the satisfaction of the applicable conditions, the DRC will provide its assistance in obtaining the advantages contemplated by the DRC's special law - No. 14/005, enacted to facilitate Sino-Congolese cooperation - relating to the tax, customs, parafiscal tax, non-tax revenues and currency exchange regime applicable to cooperation projects. Qualified Person and Quality Control and Assurance The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, P.Geo., Ivanhoe Mines' Vice President, Project Geology and Evaluation, and a Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release. Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA-QC program on assays from its Kamoa Project. Half-sawn core is processed at Kamoa's on-site preparation laboratory and prepared samples then are shipped by secure courier to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia, an ISO17025-accredited facility. Copper assays are determined at BVM by mixed-acid digestion with ICP finish. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks are inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. For detailed information about assay methods and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information, please refer to the current technical report on the Kamoa Copper Project on the SEDAR profile of Ivanhoe Mines at www.sedar.com. About Ivanhoe Mines Ivanhoe Mines is advancing its three principal projects in Sub-Saharan Africa: Mine development at the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery on the Northern Limb of South Africa's Bushveld Complex; mine development and exploration at the Kamoa-Kakula copper project on the Central African Copperbelt in the DRC; and upgrading of the historic, high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine, also on the DRC's Copperbelt. For details, visit www.ivanhoemines.com. Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including without limitation: (1) statements regarding the massive potential for resource expansion; (2) statements regarding the expectation to have an updated independent Mineral Resource estimate prepared for Kakula in early Q2 2017 and within 90 days of this press release; (3) statements regarding the potential for continuity of Kakula-style mineralization along strike to the southeast; (4) statements regarding the aim of initial drilling to infill an area of 2.6 square kilometers; (5) statements regarding the high-grade Kakula zone remains open along a southeasterly and northwesterly strike; and (6) statements regarding the expectation that Kamoa's concentrates will attract a significant premium from copper-concentrate traders for use in blending with concentrates from other mines. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Ivanhoe Mines' management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, or delays in the development of infrastructure, and the failure of exploration programs or other studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued studies, development or operations. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements also include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's most recently filed MD&A as well as in the most recent Annual Information Form filed by Ivanhoe Mines. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements. The factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information and statements, and the risks that could cause the actual results to differ materially are set forth in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the company's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis report and Annual Information Form, available at www.sedar.com. This news release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (i) fluctuations in copper, platinum, palladium, gold, rhodium, nickel or other mineral prices; (ii) results of drilling; (iii) results of metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) changes to proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licences. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this news release. first-ave-gas.jpg The shooting occurred about 6 p.m. Monday at First Avenue Gas near Route 20 in Paterson. (Google Maps) ( ) PATERSON - A Bergen County man was identified Tuesday as the victim in a fatal shooting at a local gas station, according to the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. Ruskin Magamedov, 57, of of Fair Lawn was shot about 6 p.m. Monday at First Avenue Gas, located at First Avenue near Route 20, authorities said in a statement. Magamedov, who was found lying on the ground, was taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, where he died shortly after the shooting. Authorities did not say what may have motivated the shooting. "The investigation is active and ongoing," Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in a news release. Investigators ask anyone with information about the crime to contact the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office at 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org. Callers may also contact Paterson police at 973-321-1120. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook. CAMDEN -- One year after Cooper University Health Care got the green light to exclusively run basic and advanced EMS services in Camden City, boosters gathered to tout the gains made in 2016. Gov. Chris Christie, who joined Camden Mayor Dana Redd and Cooper board of trustees chairman George Norcross, specifically lauded the measure as means toward ending New Jersey's opioid crisis -- which the governor addressed at length in his 2017 State of the State address. "We're here first and foremost to say 'thank you' to all of you," the governor told Cooper paramedics assembled at one of the health care network's two dispatch facilities. In 2016, Cooper paramedics made 702 Camden City overdose reversals thanks to the anti-opioid drug Narcan. That figure, the governor said, is three times the number of people who died in New Jersey car accidents last year. The number is just one indicator of progress for Cooper, which won out over Virtua Health to provide advanced and basic life service support after contested legislation passed in 2015 required emergency medical services to be operated by a "level 1" trauma center. Other data offered by Cooper included 26,920 unique dispatches in 2016 over approximately 24,500 in 2015 as well as 4,090 ALS transports over 2,587 the year before. Cooper EMS Director Rick Rohrbach said the "integration" of ALS and BLS units and simplification of which could take a patient to the hospital helped improve 2016 figures. Further, Cooper's EMS crews managed more than 90 percent of the time to meet an 8-minute response benchmark in Camden City. The "strategic rescheduling" of resources also allowed Cooper to reduce its reliance on mutual aid from neighboring municipalities, officials said. The sage of the changeover, which some suggested as having been fast-tracked through New Jersey's legislature, was bookmarked by legal wrangling. "Let's not sugarcoat this today," Christie -- who signed the bill into law one month after its introduction -- said Tuesday. "This was a fight ... I never understood the opposition to doing it this way." Virtua, which had provided advanced life support and paramedic services in Camden since 1977, tried multiple times to block the measure. "As stated previously, Virtua disagrees with the legislative process that changed the EMS system in Camden," the healthcare system said in a release offered after Cooper's press conference. "However, Virtua continues to provide high-quality EMS services in Burlington and Camden Counties, and remains committed to all the communities we serve." The state the Superior Court's appellate division upheld the law in a summer 2016 ruling, which allowed Cooper to continue in its new role. "Our leadership made a promise to the people of Camden that we were going to make this happen," Norcross, the region's well-known Democratic power broker, said standing beside Christie and Redd. Greg Adomaitis may be reached at gadomaitis@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find NJ.com on Facebook. FANWOOD -- People around the world turned on their computers and their cell phones on Oct. 21, 2016, and found some of their favorite websites were down. Throughout the day, Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, Spotify, CNN and dozens more websites, including NJ.com, were taken offline in what authorities believe was the biggest cyberattack in the history of the internet. The weapon was something new: the Mirai botnet, a malicious piece of computer code that attacked poorly-protected internet-connected devices, including remote cameras and routers, and eventually took down major servers and websites. Who created the Mirai botnet? Last week, a well-known cyber security blogger said he had traced the original computer code to an unlikely source - a Rutgers University student living at home with his parents in Union County. Paras Jha, a 20-year-old computer science student from Fanwood, appears to have authored the Mirai botnet code, according to Brian Krebs, a former Washington Post reporter who runs the influential cyber security blog KrebsonSecurity. Krebs didn't accuse Jha of launching the historic Oct. 21 attack that crippled websites around the world. But, he said the coding language used and other anecdotal evidence points to the Rutgers junior as the person who released the original code and allowed hackers to use it or modify it for future attacks. Jha denied he was involved, telling Krebs the author of the Mirai botnet must be a "sociopath." Jha's father also said the idea his son created something that could have crashed much of the internet was ridiculous. "I know what he is capable of," Anand Jha told NJ Advance Media Friday. "Nothing of the sort of what has been described here has happened." But several questions remain: What's going on with the FBI investigation? Jha's father said the FBI has questioned the student more than once. Initially, the family believed investigators wanted Jha, who is president of a firm that helps companies avoid cyber attacks, to assist with their probe. But the family now believes the FBI is trying to build a case against him, Anand Jha said. "It is tough. He is just a college kid who doesn't know what is going on," the father said. "The truth will come out." The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. Does Jha have any knowledge about the cyber attacks on Rutgers? Krebs also said his investigation linked Jha to a series of cyber attacks on Rutgers' websites that began during the 2014-2015 school year. Rutgers' computer system was crippled by a series of DDoS, or denial of service attacks, that caused servers to overload and shut down websites. The repeated Rutgers attacks crashed the university's websites and denied students and faculty access to the internet for days. Jha told Krebs he had nothing to do with the Rutgers attacks and was a victim, just like other students. He eventually moved back to his parents' house in Fanwood and began commuting to Rutgers because of the internet problems in the dorms, he said. "The first time it happened, I was a freshman, and living in the dorms," Jha told Krebs. "At the culmination of the attacks near the end of the year, I was without internet for almost a week, along with the rest of the student body. I couldn't register for classes, and had a host of issues dealing with it." Rutgers officials declined to comment on the investigation into the cyber attacks. "We continue to cooperate with all appropriate law enforcement authorities in connection with the ongoing investigation of the DDoS attacks," said Karen Smith, a Rutgers spokeswoman. "This is a very serious matter and we will have no further comment while this matter is under investigation." Does Krebs have any solid evidence? Jha has not been charged with any crimes and has not been named a suspect by authorities. Krebs has no conclusive proof that Jha was involved in the Mirai botnet attacks or the attacks on Rutgers' computer system, said Robert Stahl, an attorney hired by Jha's family last week. "The Krebs alleged investigation makes several leaps of logic," Stahl said. "We'll be conducting our own investigation and are looking forward to clearing this young man's name." Krebs told NJ Advance Media he is not absolutely certain Jha is the author of the code, but he has several sources who are convinced. "I'm saying there are a lot of clues that suggest that. And a number of people have suggested that -- people who know him pretty well," Krebs said. Did Jha talk to anyone about the cyber attacks? Krebs said one of Jha's friends said the student bragged he was responsible for the cyber attack on Rutgers. Ammar Zuberi, Jha's former co-woker, told Krebs he visited Jha in his Rutgers dorm room in October 2015, Krebs said. "He didn't really say why he did it, but I think he was just sort of experimenting with how far he could go with these attacks," Krebs said Zuberi told him. Jha's attorney denies the student admitted anything to Zuberi. Where is Jha now? On Friday, Jha's father said his son was on Rutgers' campus in New Brunswick, but had not gone to class because of the accusations against him. The student has declined to comment through his attorney. "To be falsely accused of something like this is disturbing and distressing, as it would be for anyone," said Stahl, Jha's attorney. Staff writers Adam Clark, Mark Mueller and Ted Sherman contributed to this report. Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find her at KellyHeyboerReporter on Facebook. TRENTON -- A state lawmaker wants teenagers struggling with drug and alcohol abuse to have automatic access to a public high school that specializes in recovery, regardless of whether their home school district raises objections about the cost. Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) is trying to change state law after learning that Livingston High School stopped a 17-year-old student from attending the state's only public recovery high school, he announced Monday. His proposal would allow a certified substance abuse counselor, not school officials, to decide whether attending the recovery school is necessary. "Most superintendents and boards of education are blind," Lesniak, who is running for governor this year, said during a news conference in Trenton. "They don't see the problem, and they don't know the solution." Gina Vaccaro, of Livingston, said school district officials told her they did not want to pay for her daughter to attend the school, which opened in Union County in 2014 and is named after Lesniak. If a student leaves his or her home district for the recovery school, the local district must pay tuition based on its own per-pupil spending, Lesniak said. "I am here not only for my daughter but for all of the children who may face this challenge in their early recovery," Vaccaro said. "I am heartbroken for my daughter that she willingly wants to attend this school, she wants to make positive changes for her life and has been denied that by our school board." Livingston School District cannot legally comment on confidential student matters, spokesperson Marilyn Lehren said. But school officials denied that they make decisions about a student's placement based on cost and said the district offers a strong student assistance program. "We have attempted to have discussions with Sen. Lesniak to better inform him in this matter," Superintendent Christina Steffner said. "We remain willing to work collaboratively with the senator's office to develop sound policies in the best interest of all students in New Jersey." The district has strict drug policies in place and an agreement with township police to act swiftly when drug use is suspected, she said. "Drug use is a very real problem and I know only too well the heartache it causes," she said. The Raymond J. Lesniak Experience Strength Hope Recovery High School opened in 2014 as part of Union County's vocational district. It's named after Lesniak because he championed the initiative and is leading a push for state-sponsored recovery high schools across New Jersey. The school offers peer support programs, individual or family counseling and before and after school activities aimed at helping students remain sober. Susan Kline, of Fanwood, said she enrolled her daughter at the alternative school after rehab because she was terrified to send her daughter back to her home high school. "You would never take an adult who has a substance abuse problem or an alcohol problem, and tell them 'Go back to the bar, six, eight hours a day, five days a week,'" Kline said. "Why would we do that to our children? Because that's what schools are for them. That's where their friends are, the people they use with." Kline's daughter graduated from the recovery high school in May and now attends Rutgers University. She's approaching two years of sobriety, Kline said. "I cannot emphasize strongly enough that this resource needs to be available," Kline said. "I just hope and pray that it becomes available to any student who is willing to make that journey." Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Capping an awards season filled with starry accolades for its throwback story of love in Hollywood, the movie musical "La La Land" has again been propelled into the stratosphere, this time with a whopping 14 Oscar nominations, the most for any movie this year. The nominations, live streamed on Tuesday morning, scored the awards show darling major nods including best picture, director, lead actress, actor, original screenplay, score and original song. The tally means "La La Land" assumes its place among a "14 club" of classic films. In 1998, "Titanic" last matched the standing record for most nominations -- 14 -- set by "All About Eve" in 1951. But the movie's director, New Jersey's Damien Chazelle, 32, could now also make Academy Awards history. If Chazelle, who grew up in Princeton, won for best director, he'd become the youngest to take the prize since Norman Taurog ("Skippy") in 1931. Chazelle also made Golden Globes history this month in two ways: he became the youngest filmmaker to win the best director category and "La La Land" brought home seven awards -- the most for any film in the history of the awards show -- including one in the best picture, musical or comedy category and a Globe for Chazelle's screenplay. Starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling as an aspiring actress and jazz pianist who find love in a dreamy Los Angeles, "La La Land" resurrects the original Hollywood musical (as opposed to screen adaptations of existing Broadway musicals). Both actors won Globes for their roles, while "City of Stars," the moody and memorable anthem of the film, won best original song and Justin Hurwitz, the film's composer, won best original score. Golden Globes host Jimmy Fallon even opened the show with a "La La Land"-inspired musical number. Chazelle, an alumnus of Princeton High School, earned his first Oscar nod, a screenwriting nomination for "Whiplash," in 2015. That Oscar-nominated movie, which he also directed, was inspired, in part, by his experiences as a drummer in the school's competitive jazz band. J.K. Simmons won an Oscar for best supporting actor for playing the role of a volatile, brutal teacher at a competitive music conservatory opposite Miles Teller, who plays a student jazz drummer. Chazelle, who earlier this month accepted the best picture honor for "La La Land" at the New York Film Critics Circle awards, has said that he found inspiration in Jacques Demy's 1964 film "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg." After the"#OscarsSoWhite" controversy about a lack of diversity in the 2016 nominations, this year's actor nominations include seven actors of color. "Arrival" and "Moonlight" received the second highest number of nominations, with eight each. Summit native Meryl Streep, who delivered a memorable speech about the then-president-elect when accepting her Cecil B. Demille Award at the Golden Globes, earned her 20th career nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins," while Amy Adams, widely expected to be get a nod in the lead actress category for "Arrival," did not receive a nomination, despite the Oscars website temporarily stating that she did, an error that was soon corrected, along with a nonexistent "Sully" nomination for Tom Hanks. Annette Bening, a four-time nominee praised for her performance in "20th Century Women," for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe, was also not nominated for an Oscar. "Hamilton" star Lin-Manuel Miranda's nomination for original song ("Moana") also means he could join the ranks of Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks and Rita Moreno to become the youngest person (37) to achieve EGOT status (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) -- he already has the Tonys, Grammys and an Emmy. And he'd be doing it in record time, beating the previous record of 10 years held by Robert Lopez. "La La Land" would have to win 12 Oscars to best the record of 11 wins jointly held by "Titanic," "Ben-Hur" and "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Here are the rest of the major 2017 Oscar nominees: Best picture La La Land Moonlight Manchester by the Sea Arrival Lion Hacksaw Ridge Hidden Figures Fences Hell or High Water Lead actress Emma Stone, La La Land Ruth Negga, Loving Natalie Portman, Jackie Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins Isabelle Huppert, Elle Lead actor Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea Denzel Washington, Fences Ryan Gosling, La La Land Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge Supporting actress Viola Davis, Fences Naomie Harris, Moonlight Nicole Kidman, Lion Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures Michelle Williams, Manchester By The Sea Supporting actor Mahershala Ali, Moonlight Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water Dev Patel, Lion Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals Best director Denis Villeneuve, Arrival Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge Damien Chazelle, La La Land Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea Barry Jenkins, Moonlight Cinematography Bradford Young, Arrival Linus Sandgren, La La Land Greig Fraser, Lion James Laxton, Moonlight Rodrigo Prieto, Silence Animated feature Kubo and the Two Strings Moana My Life as a Zucchini The Red Turtle Zootopia Documentary feature O.J.: Made in America Fire at Sea I Am Not Your Negro Life, Animated 13th Foreign language film Land of Mine (Denmark) A Man Called Ove (Sweden) The Salesman (Iran) Tanna (Australia) Toni Erdmann (Germany) Writing (adapted screenplay) Eric Heisserer, Arrival Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, Moonlight Luke Davies, Lion August Wilson, Fences Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi, Hidden Figures Writing (original screenplay) Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water Damien Chazelle, La La Land Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou, The Lobster Mike Mills, 20th Century Women Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea Music (original song) Audition (The Fools Who Dream), La La Land Can't Stop the Feeling, Trolls City of Stars, La La Land The Empty Chair, Jim: The James Foley Story How Far I'll Go, Moana Music (original score) Mica Levi, Jackie Justin Hurwitz, La La Land Dustin O'Halloran and Hauschka, Lion Nicholas Britell, Moonlight Thomas Newman, Passengers To see more nominees, visit oscars.org. The Academy Awards air 8 p.m. Feb. 26 on ABC. Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook. New Jersey's first winery-operated wine bar celebrates its grand opening Saturday, Jan. 28 at Bridgewater Commons in Bridgewater. The Wine Bar & Shop, from Old York Cellars in Ringoes, will offer tastings daily from a selection of their internationally-award winning wines, handcrafted by acclaimed winemaker Scott Gares. "Instead of opening in a retail outlet or restaurant, we're opening in a mall,'' said Laurin Dorman, general manager of Old York Cellars. The Wine Bar & Shop will also be stocked with wine accessories, wine scented soaps and candles, wine infused hot sauces, marinara sauce made with Old York Cellars' own Malbec, truffle bars made with Old York Cellars Cabernet, and more. The shop will be located on the mall's second level, overlooking the atrium, between the Sunglass Hut and the Disney Store. The grand opening celebration will take place Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 28 and 29, with complimentary wine samples throughout the weekend. The store opened in November; the bar opened in the past week. There will be a meet-and-greet with Gares from 12-1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. There will also be special giveaways to the first 50 guests each day during the celebration. "We are excited to bring a key element of the winery experience to guests at the mall," said Old York Cellars owner David Wolin. "Guests at the mall will have the opportunity to experience a taste of the winery without driving to Ringoes." There are wine bars at other Jersey malls, including the Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar at Moorestown Mall. The Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar is expected to open at Newport Centre in Jersey City around March 1. Peter Genovese may be reached at pgenovese@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteGenovese or via The Munchmobile @NJ_Munchmobile. Find the Munchmobile on Facebook and Instagram. N.J. home makeover is a regular feature on NJ.com. To submit your renovation for consideration, email home@starledger.com with your full name, email address, phone number and town/city. Attach "before" and "after" photos of what you renovated. Carol Sebastian has lived in the same house in Aberdeen for 31 years, but it's not the same house she moved into back in 1986. She's always online looking for new home decor ideas to try, and every decade or so, she'll update at least one area of the three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom Colonial built in 1961. "My motto is like Lowe's: Always improving," she says with a laugh. Her most recent home improvement was a den makeover that included an overhaul of the fireplace. The den is not original to the 2,432-square-foot house. It was added in 1987 to help hold up square footage added to expand the second-floor master bathroom. The recent den update, the second since it was installed, eliminated the heavy look of dark green carpeting and too much furniture. The marble front of the wood-burning fireplace was replaced by Questech cast metal tiles that resemble bronze. The oak mantel and surround were retained and refinished in a two-step process involving Modern Masters brand paints and acids. The result is an effect with the verdigris coloring of weathered copper. Its metallic character complements the two textures of American-made faux bronze tile from the brand's Dorset collection. "It sets the whole room off, and it's very unusual," Sebastian says of the refinished mantel. From the den's new Taylor King sofa, she can watch the wall-mounted television while relaxing with a fire. Sebastian worked with Red Bank interior designer Dulce Feito-Daly on the project, and Feito-Daly advised removal of a brass inset and glass doors the fireplace opening. The result is a visually enlarged fireplace. "The room's focal point is the fireplace, and you really couldn't see the fire," Feito-Daly said. An ornate free-standing screen was placed in front of the updated fireplace as a safety measure and to enhance the new room's features. "Carol knows what she likes, and she's absolutely about European-French design with a very romantic type of influence," the designer said. The goal was to marry the room to other recently enhanced areas of the house by replicating the look of hand-worked features as they would have aged over time. The room's green carpet was replaced by porcelain Ilva flooring that resembles wood. Beneath it is radiant heat flooring. The den gets more light through French doors. One set leads to the living room, and the other to a sunny conservatory, added to the house about 15 years ago. Sebastian, who is divorced, retired from her family's commercial painting business in 2014. She soon turned her attention to her home. "I was spending a great deal of time at home," she said. "I thought, 'As long as I am going to stay here, I might as well make it happy.' " She avoids bringing in anything too precious, however. "I am not buying antiques with dogs," she says of her three Spinone Italiano companions. "They are great big Italian hunting dogs," she says. "They are my loves, second only to my sons and my grandchildren." And then there's her artwork collected over the years during travel throughout Europe, Greece and Israel. In updating the den, she brought in pieces from other areas of the house. One is a print depicting a favorite painting in Sir Thomas Lawrence 1824 portrait, "The Calmady Children." She notes that the original is in Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection. "It was in my bedroom, and I brought it down so I could look at it more," she said of her print showing two rosy-cheeked sisters. "In my bedroom, I didn't really appreciate it as much as I do in this room." A similar oil painting above the fireplace is an artist's reworking of a Victorian-era portrait of three girls and their pet rabbit. On the whimsical side, there is a fabric and papier mache jester's head with a mask from Italy's Carnevale di Venezia. It was moved to the den from the conservatory. This piece is more than 25 years old, demonstrating how beloved possessions can be refreshed simply by relocation. "If I have a piece that I really like that will fit in another area, I will move it to that area," she said. "I try to use what I have." What she renovated The den of a 1961 Colonial home in Aberdeen Who did the work Tom Trotter, tile installer; James Matis, painter; Dulce Feito-Daly, interior designer How long it took From January to May 2016 How much it cost $17,000 Where she splurged On the Taylor King sofa and the Questech tile for fireplace surround How she saved By refinishing the oak mantel and fireplace surround instead of replacing it. What she likes most The entire project. What she'd have done differently Nothing. Kimberly L. Jackson may be reached at home@starledger.com. Find NJ.com Entertainment on Facebook. NEWARK -- Taking her turn among the VIP's welcoming the old Hahne & Co. building back to life as a mixed-use enclave of apartments, shops and educational space, Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor said the store had been a pillar of what she called the "social infrastructure" of the state's largest city. "So many people have stopped me to say that they had their holiday photos taken in this place," said Cantor, who was speaking during a ribbon cutting ceremony Monday in the four-story atrium of the 115-year-old building, which has been rebuilt as a public space. One of those people was Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo, a Newark native who used to go with his family to Hahne's, not to shop -- it was too expensive -- but to have their picture taken and to take in the holiday decorations. "It was the place to be," DiVincenzo said. Hahne's closed its doors in 1987, and had stood vacant ever since as a reminder of both a more prosperous era in Newark's history and the city's inability to recapture its faded luster. But on Monday, city, state and federal officials, developers, investors and hundreds of others gathered to proclaim the Hahne building's second life, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that culminated with a shower of silver confetti from the balcony section of the atrium. Rutgers-Newark will have a presence in the form of Express Newark, an arts collaborative and incubator, which is already open inside the building. The space will be open to the public starting Tuesday, when the block-long, 24-hour atrium will open with entrances at both ends, as a link between the university section on its Halsey Street side and the rest of downtown on Broad Street. Speakers included Mayor Ras Baraka and his predecessor, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who both supported the project, along with representatives of Goldman Sachs, Prudential Financial, Citi Community Capital, which helped to finance the $174 million project. There were also officials of New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Company and the state Economic Development Authority, public partners in the project. The event was hosted by Jon Cortell, a vice president for L+M Development Partners, the developer of the project. Standing before a grand staircase in the atrium, with ornate iron railings, columns and brass light fixtures set below a vaulting skylight, Cortell addressed a crowd of at least 800 well-wishers. "At no point did we ever question the utter beauty of this building," Cortell told the seated and standing crowd. "That said, it has never looked better than it does today." Baraka said he was "ecstatic about what's happening here today." The project includes 160 apartments, 65 of them affordable units, space for shops, a restaurant and bank, and the city's first Whole Foods. Booker said it was "profound" that 40 percent of the units were affordable. The ribbon-cutting came a year and a half after city officials, developers, and investors broke ground on the development, which retains much of the old Hahne's brick exterior. Though much of the building had fallen into decay, the developers were able to save some of the original steel to use in the new development, and included architectural elements that harken back to the store's lavish heyday, according to Ommeed Sathe, a vice president at Prudential who heads the company's involvement in the project. Prudential invested about $50 million into the project. About 20 percent of the market rate units have been rented, according to Cortell, who said and residents are expected to begin moving in Feb. 1. The rest of the apartment units should be rented by mid-March, he said. The Whole Foods is expected to open this winter, and the other retailers in the building, which include a new restaurant concept from celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson, plus a Barnes and Noble Rutgers bookstore, are expected to open sometime this year. Samuelsson was among the speakers at the ribbon cutting. "Our goal is to work with the local farmers, and to work with the local farmer's market here," the chef said of the weekly produce market at Military Park, just across Broad Street. "The building is beautiful. The history is beautiful." NJ Advance Media staff writer Jessica Mazzola contributed to this report. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveStrunsky. Find NJ.com on Facebook. TRENTON -- An Irvington man on Monday admitted in federal court to running a food stamps-for-cash scheme that cost the government more than $800,000 over two years. Miguel Antonio Azcona pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper in Trenton to a single count of theft of government funds, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. Prosecutors say Azcona, 38, allowed customers at his Newark convenience store, New Community Supermarket on Springfield Avenue, to trade Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits for cash. Store employees would retain a portion of the transaction's value for Azcona's benefit, according to prosecutors. Authorities say the scheme cost the government approximately $840,584. Azcona faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, or twice the loss or gain from the crime, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. His sentencing has been scheduled for May 3. Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook. NEWARK -- The takedown of a Newark set of the Bloods gang last week - the culmination of a 10-month, multi-agency investigation - could help knock down a major drug problem in a city neighborhood, so long as other gangs don't move in to fill the void, according to law enforcement officials. The 12 alleged gang members arrested last week "represent some of the most prolific drug dealers in the city," said New Jersey Attorney General Chris Porrino, whose office will be prosecuting the cases against them. "We decided to focus here...because we believe (this set is) among the most significant." All told, the New Jersey State Police, which headed the operation, arrested 12 people and issued arrest warrants for nine more. Those arrested allegedly ranged from low-level "soldiers" for the gang, to high-ranking "five-star generals," authorities said. All are alleged members of the "Red Breed Gorillas" set, which authorities say operates primarily in the area of Stratford Place and the Grace West Housing Complex on Irvine Turner Boulevard in Newark. "This was one of the most violent gangs in Newark," Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the State Police, said in a phone interview. "Whenever you can take out (the decision makers in) a gang like that, it has a ripple effect of reducing crime in that area." Both Fuentes and Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose, who said residents in the area regularly complain of drug dealing and the violence it incites, credited the sweep to an ongoing relationship between their two departments, which provides not only for state police officers to patrol in Newark, but for the agencies to work together on larger investigations, they said. "It definitely helps reduce violence and crime in the area," Ambrose said in an interview. But, authorities stopped short of saying that one sweep of arrests will completely eradicate the drug problem in the neighborhood. Fuentes, Ambrose, and Porrino all said the priority now is to have patrols focus on the area to make sure that other gangs don't move in to fill the vacuum created by the arrests. And, Porrino said, the bust is just one of many related moves law enforcement officials are working on to stop current drug operations, and prevent addictions in the first place. "Friday, I was talking to about 200 kids at Fort Lee High School," in an effort to prevent addiction. "At the same time, officers were moving in (to make the arrests) in Newark," Porrino said. "It's not just one gang being taken down in Newark, everybody shakes hands, congratulates themselves, and goes home. It's a much more strategic approach than that." Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A Jersey City man who took heroin from New Jersey to Virginia to sell was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years prison. Duane A. Andrews, 37, was one of five people charged with trafficking heroin in Roanoke, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Virginia's Western District said in a news release. They dealt drugs between March 2013 and July 2015, authorities said. Andrews was arrested when he sold heroin to a confidential law enforcement source. His sentence totals 11 years and four months. In October, another Jersey City man, Hassan Rasool Williams, was sentenced to more than 12 1/2 years in prison for his role in the heroin distribution ring. Two others have also been convicted and sentenced. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / January 23, 2017 / EarthWater, Inc. www.EarthWater.com a manufacturer of high alkaline mineral infused beverages under brands FulHum www.DrinkFulHum.com and ZenFul www.DrinkZenful.com announced its support of the 9th Annual Big D Climb www.bigdclimb.org January 28th, 2017, in Dallas TX. This is the "biggest stair climb" in Texas, as participant's race up 70 stories at the Bank of America Plaza Building in Downtown Dallas to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and Blood Cancer Research. Event & Registration Information: http://lls.convio.net/site/TR?fr_id=1060&pg=entry EarthWater Chairman, CJ Comu stated, "We're pleased to support The Big D Climb participants and LLS. EarthWater Brand Ambassadors will be providing EarthWater to participants at the finish line to help them Rehydrate, Replenish and Recover. If you're in Dallas at this great Event - please stop by for free samples." Highlight of the Event is a contest with First Responders - Police & Fire Departments, The Fire Fighters will be in FULL structural firefighting gear: boots, pants, and coat, helmet and gloves. Police Departments are encouraged to wear their full uniform while competing against other local Police Departments. Last year over 2,000 participants attended this event - this year they are expecting bigger crowds. EarthWater is formulated and bottled in Texas. Our products are natural, organic with ZERO; Sugars, Calories, Carbohydrates, Colors, or Chemicals. Our products are non-GMO and many processed through HPP (High Pressure Pasteurization). "Fulvic and Humic" trace minerals represent the DNA of our food groups, and is the main natural component of EarthWater 100% natural, high alkaline mineral-enriched beverage. About Big D Climb The Big D Climb is the biggest stair climb in North Texas. Participants race up 70 stories of stairs at Bank of America Plaza in Downtown Dallas to raise money for blood cancer research. More than 1,600 climbers raced and helped to raise $255,000 for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, www.bigdclimb.org. Story continues About Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) LLS is the world's largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: cure leukemia, lymphoma, hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services, www.lls.org. About EarthWater Inc. EarthWater, Inc. www.earthwater.com, is a health and wellness company, that manufactures all-natural products that boost your body's immunity, including beverages, liquid concentrates and gummies under the brands FulHum www.drinkfulhum.com and Zenful www.drinkzenful.com which are 100% natural, proprietary blends of organic Fulvic and Humic complexes. All EarthWater products are available online through Amazon/Exclusives http://amzn.to/2iPti1H. For more information, email info@earthwater.com. SOURCE: EarthWater, Inc. Man tries to rob ex-girlfriend's guest in her house, JPSO says Elon Musk Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave a surprising endorsement for Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon Mobil CEO, for secretary of state. Musk tweeted that Tillerson has the potential to be an "excellent" secretary of state in reply to an Economist article published in December titled, "Give Rex a chance." "Rex is an exceptionally competent executive, understands geopolitics and knows how to win for his team. His team is now the USA," Musk said on Twitter. Musk acknowledged that his endorsement may be "surprising" on Twitter. Considering Tesla makes zero-emissions vehicles and recently made a big investment in solar energy, surprising may be somewhat of an understatement. @TheEconomist This may sound surprising coming from me, but I agree with The Economist. Rex Tillerson has the potential to be an excellent Sec of State. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2017 Musk pointed out on Twitter that Tillerson, a former climate change denier, has said the best way to cut greenhouse gas emissions is with a carbon tax, something they are aligned on. Rex Tillerson supports a carbon tax. This is what is really needed to move the needle. https://t.co/6ne01TOzs1 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 25, 2017 Tillerson narrowly won approval by the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Tillerson would be the first Secretary of State without experience in the public sector if he is confirmed by the full Senate. @danahull Rex is an exceptionally competent executive, understands geopolitics and knows how to win for his team. His team is now the USA. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2017 Republican Sen. Marco Rubio also announced his support for Tillerson just a few hours before the Foreign Relations Committee cast its votes, despite saying he had reservations about Tillerson due to sympathetic views toward Russia. Tillerson's ties to Russia go back nearly two decades, back to when he met with President Vladimir Putin in 1999 when he first represented Exxon's interests in Russia. He has done business with Russia and has worked with Rosneft, a major Russian state-run corporation, since the 1990s. President Donald Trump himself has come under fire for having potential ties to Russia. Those ties came under particular scrutiny after the publication of a 35-page dossier from a former British intelligence officer alleging the campaign colluded with the Kremlin to undermine Hillary Clinton. Those claims not been verified. Trump has publicly said he thinks Russia was behind the hacking and release of emails from within the Democratic National Committee as well as Clinton's campaign chair. @danahull I share The Economist's opinion that he should be given the benefit of the doubt unless his actions prove otherwise Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 24, 2017 Musk said in a Tweet that he shares the same opinion as The Economist in that Tillerson should be given the "benefit of the doubt unless his actions prove otherwise." The article states that Tillerson should be given a chance because he has experience working with "notoriously slippery world leaders" and has a reputation for "evidence-based decision-making." NOW WATCH: Tesla is powering an entire island with clean energy More From Business Insider The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. Copies of the Guardian newspaper are displayed at a news agent in London August 21 2013. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Guardian newspaper is considering becoming a tabloid and outsourcing printing to a rival such as Rupert Murdoch's News UK as one of a series of options to cut costs, sources told Reuters. Publisher Guardian Media Group (GMG) said last year it needed to make savings of 20 percent to stem underlying losses that widened to 62.6 million pounds ($78 million) for the year to April 3. It said it was aiming to break even in three years. "The company is working on a whole range of efficiency projects and the print program fits into that," one source close to the company said on Monday. GMG prints both the Guardian and its Sunday stablemate The Observer on special presses bought more than 11 years ago when it switched from a broadsheet to the mid-sized Berliner format. Editorially, the left-leaning Guardian has clashed with Murdoch's (NWSA.O) British newspapers, notably in bringing to light the phone-hacking scandal that resulted in the closure of his News of the World tabloid in 2011 On a business level, however, the two groups are collaborating, along with Trinity Mirror (TNI.L) and Telegraph Media Group, on Project Rio, a plan to pool newspaper advertising sales. Daily Mail publisher DMGT (DMGOa.L) pulled out of the initiative this month, according to reports. "The discussions explored a number of other areas of co-operation," one source said. Another source said GMG was considering a plan to move production to News UK's presses later this year, and change the format to a tabloid in the process. Rival publishers' presses are set up to print in broadsheet and tabloid formats. The Berliner format can still be produced using cutting equipment, although it would increase costs, the other source said. Any saving in production costs from moving to a tabloid if the group decided to change printers would need to be weighed against the cost of redesigning the paper, the source said. GMG is owned by The Scott Trust, created in 1936 to safeguard its flagship newspaper. Story continues SCOOPS The newspaper's scoops include U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelation about mass surveillances as well as the phone hacking scandal, and its online edition is one of the most popular in the world. A deterioration in the advertising market has led to widening losses, however, and the group cut jobs last year under a turnaround plan led by editor in chief Katharine Viner and Chief Executive David Pemsel. The Guardian abandoned the broadsheet size in 2005, but unlike its rivals The Independent and The Times which went tabloid, it choose the Berliner, a format long established in continental Europe but little known in Britain. GMG spent 50 million pounds ($62 million) on presses from German engineer Man Roland, according to a Guardian article published in 2009, and another 30 million on new print sites in London's Stratford and in Trafford Park in Manchester. Print sales of the newspaper rose following the change and an associated redesign, but the boost was short lived. Its average sale in October was 157,778 copies, according to ABC, fewer than half the number of copies sold in 2005, resulting in underutilized presses. A spokesman for the Guardian declined to comment on speculation regarding future print allocation. News UK's NewsPrinters operation has sites in Broxbourne, near London, Knowsley in north-west England and Motherwell, Scotland, where it prints The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times, as well as The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and the Financial Times for other publishers. A News UK spokeswoman said: "NewsPrinters is an active industry printer and is always looking at new opportunities. "However, we don't comment on any business matters that may relate to third-party contracts." (Editing by Susan Thomas) 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. Time is running out to sign up for a plan through the Health Insurance Marketplace. The last day of open enrollment is Jan. 31. All Care Health Center in Council Bluffs will hold a special enrollment event from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the clinic at 902 S. Sixth St., said Amelia Stoltman, director of development. Four certified application counselors will be available to help people who want to sign up for health insurance. The counselors can also help people apply for Medicaid, and other resource people will be on site. We will have representatives from the local Department of Human Services (office), and they will be answering questions about Medicaid, Stoltman said. Representatives from the three managed care organizations that provide coverage for Iowa Medicaid subscribers have been invited, too, Stoltman said. Once the deadline is past, people can only sign up for or change plans if they have an event that qualifies them for a special enrollment period, such as losing their health insurance, moving, getting married, having a baby or adopting a child, according to rules on healthcare.gov. A special enrollment period usually lasts until 60 days after the qualifying event. Families can enroll in Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Plan, such as Iowas Healthy and Well Kids in Iowa program, at any time of year. Marketplace coverage is for people who do not have health insurance through a job, Medicaid, Medicare, a CHIP program or other qualifying source. For 2017, the penalty for being uninsured will be the higher of the following: 2.5 percent of household income above the tax filing threshold up to a maximum equal to the total yearly premium of the average bronze plan. $695 per adult and $347.50 per child younger than 18 without insurance up to a maximum of $2,085. There is no charge to attend the enrollment event, and no appointment is necessary. For assistance by phone, call All Care Health Centers enrollment line at (712) 256-6589. New street lighting will be coming to a portion of U.S. Highway 275/Iowa Highway 92, also known as Veterans Memorial Highway. The Council Bluffs City Council on Monday evening gave the green light for installing 37 lighted street poles along a stretch of road from west of Denmark Drive to Harry Langdon Boulevard. Its part of the nearby interstate reconstruction project being done by the Iowa Department of Transportation, which includes the reconstruction part of Highway 275. The city is responsible for the lighted poles for this (U.S. 275) corridor, said Dave Vermillion, a city engineer. About half of the 37 lighted poles will be installed along the south shoulders of the highway with the remainder installed on the north shoulders, he said. The lights will be of LED quality, which are more energy efficient and last longer than other lights, Vermillion said. They look like standard light poles, he said. This project has a budget of $500,000 from sales tax funds. Installation should start in either March or April. Dave Erickson is the new chief of police in Atlantic. The 20-year veteran of the department took over on Jan. 1 after serving as a lieutenant since 2008. Our badges say protect and serve were dedicated to protect and serve out there, said Erickson, an Atlantic native. I plan to make sure that continues. Erickson took over for Steve Green, who retired as chief after being elected to the Cass County Board of Supervisors. Green served as chief for seven years. He did a great job. He ran the department well, Atlantic Mayor David Jones said of Green. Erickson said he was honored to take the position. I was very proud and hope to continue serving the citizens of Atlantic. We have an excellent department, Erickson said. The transition was easy. Erickson came to law enforcement after a career with the Atlantic Coca-Cola Bottling Company and the U.S. Marines. He started with Coca-Cola in 1980 and, after six years, joined the Marines. His four years with the Marines Corps included a deployment to Kuwait as part of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield, with his service spanning 1986 to 1991. He returned and lived in Des Moines briefly before returning to Atlantic to work for Coke for another three years. But the idea of law enforcement was stuck in his head. Erickson said hed originally hoped to join the military police, but there was a nine-month wait for boot camp. I was ready to go. When I got out, I had that calling, he said. Erickson joined the Atlantic Police Department reserve program in late 1996 and was hired on full time in early 1997. He was promoted to lieutenant before the department had the sergeant position in 2008. Over the course of his career, Erickson has served in a variety of roles and also helped with community programs like Christmas Dreams, Shop with a Cop and department-sponsored camping and zoo trips. We pride ourselves on getting out there, he said. Show them were the good guys. Build a good rapport with the community. Jones worked with Green to make the decision on the hire. I have complete faith in Dave. Hell do a great job, Jones said. He has great leadership skills. Hes determined. He has the community in mind. I knew he could do a good job. Looking forward the future, Erickson said he hopes to pick up where Green left off in serving the area. The department recently equipped officers with body cameras. Thats helping out quite a bit. We want to keep up with good service to the public, he said. The Atlantic Police Department features a total of 12 sworn officers, including Erickson, along with nine reserve officers. I couldnt be prouder to take over, the new chief said. Authorities have announced there will be no charges for the driver who hit and killed Council Bluffs native Merzedes Hart. Hart, 19, died after being struck by a car around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 13 in Waverly, Nebraska. The Lancaster County Sheriffs Office announced that after an investigation no charges will be made against the driver of the vehicle, Ricky Phillips, 51, of Lincoln. The sheriffs office said that Hart and two friends, both 19-year-old women from Council Bluffs, left Shakers Gentlemens Club on U.S. Highway 6 off the Waverly Interstate 80 exit. Hart and at least one of the other women had consumed alcohol while at the club, according to investigators. An argument ensued between Hart and one of the women, and the other woman started walking along Highway 6, a four-lane divided highway in that area. The other friend and Hart got into a car to coax the woman who had walked away back into the vehicle. The friend who was driving pulled over to the side of the road, and Hart crossed the highway to encourage the woman to get back in the car. Hart and the woman started running across Highway 6 back toward their vehicle. Just after Hart crossed the raised median, she was struck by Phillips 1994 Chevrolet station wagon, according to the sheriffs office. A series of circumstances led to Phillips not realizing hed hit Hart with his vehicle. Sgt. John Vik with the sheriffs office said that a train was traveling parallel to the highway at the time of the wreck and that visibility is low on that stretch of highway at night. Phillips pulled over to inspect his car, thinking hed hit a deer. Vik said Phillips wouldnt have been able to hear Harts friends yelling over the train. Additionally, if Phillips saw the friends, they were faint silhouettes. The train noise played into why (he) didnt hear the screaming, Vik said. Its an unlit portion of the roadway there. I think he was able to see a silhouette of something. But, in his mind, he was connecting that it was a deer walking off. A witness on the scene was able to give a description of Phillips vehicle, which helped police locate him after the wreck. Vik said there was no evidence that excessive speed played a factor in the crash. The Lancaster County Attorneys Office has decided to not pursue charges against Phillips in connection to the crash. Phillips, however, was cited for driving with a suspended license. Hart, a 2016 graduate of Abraham Lincoln High School, was a freshman member of the University of Nebraska at Omaha track team. Hart did not participate while the team competed in Lincoln earlier in the day on Jan. 13. The autopsy on Hart confirmed she died from injuries suffered in the crash. Toxicology reports to determine the level of alcohol in her body will take 3-4 more weeks. Phillips voluntarily submitted to a blood test, and those results, too, will take several more weeks. Estimates place the number of Americans who marched worldwide last Saturday in support of womens rights and in protest to demeaning comments made previously by President Donald Trump between 3.5 and 4 million. People took to the streets on all seven continents (yes, including some scientists stationed in Antarctica) in whats being billed as the worlds largest protest march. The entirety of the march is too broad and too complex to summarize in this space. The best summary we can provide is that Saturdays coordinated efforts were to say that women and men alike united in opposition to comments and actions that demean women and make them second-class citizens. These calls for equality should face no opposition or static; yet, such a march was needed to push the conversation forward. We clearly still have a double standard in this nation and world that needs to be addressed and we hope this event leads the globe further down the path to equality. No doubt the marches came a day after a man who was recorded saying, in vulgar terms, that he had made unwelcome advances and groped women ascended into the highest office in the land. Not surprisingly, the message of the march has already been twisted. But such inappropriate remarks arent rare, and only highlight the need to have this conversation. Now, a Nebraska state senator. Rep. Bill Kintner who, mind you, was already in hot water for sexual misconduct in office has been sharply criticized for retweeting a photo with a comment that three older women who were marching in the parade werent attractive enough to have to worry about being sexually assaulted. Such language and actions have no place in a legislative chamber or anywhere, for that matter. Thats why we support those who seek the fairness and equality all humans deserve. Again, preliminary estimates placed 3.5 to 4 million people marching as many as every man, woman and child in Iowa an astounding turnout. On the low side, its comparable to the entire population of Iowa plus that of Wyoming. The higher estimate encompasses every person in both the Hawkeye State and South Dakota. But, to push for the political and societal change we hope to see, marches are only the beginning. We encourage those who want to stand up against demeaning speech and actions against women to continue to pursue those noble goals long after Saturdays crowds dispersed. Late in his 16-minute inaugural address, the 45th president of the United States, Donald John Trump, took a shot at the Washington establishment he criticized during his campaign. We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. From there, he turned the onus onto himself. The time for empty talk is over, Trump continued. Now arrives the hour of action. Indeed it has. No longer will an angry tweet fired off overnight be sufficient, nor will a grandstanding campaign-style speech big on promises but light on ways to achieve those goals. Anybody who hopes Trump fails at being president has their priorities wrong. His successes and failures will be reflected upon the entirety of America. Because, on many topics, as he goes, for better or worse, the country goes as well. We, like many of you, must hope he backs off the spiteful rhetoric that dominated his campaign, with derogatory comments against veterans, women, Latinos, Muslims, journalists and others. Meanwhile, we also hope he succeeds in bringing jobs and growing the American economy. This dichotomy although more pronounced under Trump is the same that follows any election in our two-party system. The nation will win some perhaps even like never before, as he promised in his usual grandiose tones and the nation will lose some. Thats how politics work. Unsurprisingly, the speech was heavy on the populist strains that dominated Trumps campaigns, with America first repeated frequently. For someone whose mantra make America great again has permeated everyday life around the world, Trump again focused heavily on the failings of his predecessor, Barack Obama. In Trumps frequently stated opinions, Americas inner cities, trade, foreign policy jobs, etc., all weakened the country. Despite the uncertainty surrounding those claims, Trump, his appointees and a Congress controlled by his party will now act upon those opinions. During the speech, Trump also provided the following prescient line: Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. That you will, Mr. President. Now, the ball is in your court and a nation is watching. * Tjokrosaputro sued Goldman's unit in Sept * Goldman filed counterclaim against Tjokrosaputro * Goldman says Tjokrosaputro has damaged its reputation (Adds comment from Goldman's lawyer and IDX head) By Eveline Danubrata JAKARTA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs filed a $1 billion counter lawsuit on Tuesday against an Indonesian businessman who is seeking damages from the U.S. bank for conducting what he called "unlawful" trades in the shares of a property firm. Benny Tjokrosaputro, president director of Indonesian property developer PT Hanson International Tbk, filed a lawsuit in a Jakarta court in September against Goldman's unit, Goldman Sachs International. Tjokrosaputro, who says that he owned the 425 million Hanson shares that Goldman traded, is seeking 15 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion) in compensation from Goldman Sachs International and wants its assets frozen in Indonesia and overseas. Citibank, a custodian bank for Goldman Sachs International, was named as a co-defendant in his lawsuit. Goldman had said in response that Goldman Sachs International had bought the Hanson shares from New York hedge fund Platinum Partners in a series of "valid" transactions on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) between February 2015 and March 2016. Top executives of Platinum Partners were arrested in December and charged with running a $1 billion fraud. Platinum has declined to comment on the legal dispute between Tjokrosaputro and Goldman. Goldman filed the counterclaim against Tjokrosaputro for "the reputational damage and negative business impact" that Tjokrosaputro's actions had caused, it said in a statement on Tuesday. It said Tjokrosaputro's actions had caused it "at least 15 trillion rupiah in immaterial damages". In June last year, Tjokrosaputro had lodged a complaint to the Jakarta police alleging that the Hanson shares had been "fraudulently embezzled" from him, according to Goldman's counterclaim documents. Tjokrosaputro had also put out newspaper advertisements that damaged Goldman's reputation, according to the documents. Story continues "Potential clients that could have wanted to do a transaction or conduct a business relationship with our client might have held themselves back as a result," Harjon Sinaga, a lawyer representing Goldman, told reporters after he filed the counterclaim in a Jakarta court. Tjokrosaputro declined to comment when contacted by phone. His lawyer, Nadia Saphira Ganie, also declined to comment, saying the team needed to study the counterclaim by Goldman. "INVESTOR CONFIDENCE" Goldman has said the legal dispute may affect foreign investor sentiment towards Southeast Asia's biggest economy. The bank's comments came after Indonesia's government recently raised investor concerns by cutting business ties with JPMorgan Chase & Co over a negative research report and partially reversing a mining policy. "If the challenge made against Goldman Sachs' trades by Mr. Tjokrosaputro in the South Jakarta District Court is upheld, investor confidence in all trades by all investors crossing the IDX could be eroded," Goldman said in the statement. Tito Sulistio, the president director of the IDX, told Reuters that "at the moment, it's a matter for the shareholders to resolve". The IDX will only do a review when there is an official complaint to the bourse or if the development affects share prices in the market, Sulistio added. Hanson shares were up 4.5 percent on Tuesday after closing 1.9 percent lower on Monday. As of Jan. 12, Tjokrosaputro owned a 10.21 percent stake in Hanson, according to Thomson Reuters data. (Reporting by Eveline Danubrata; Additional reporting by Cindy Silviana; Editing by Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman) ATHENS, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Greece wants euro zone finance ministers to "acknowledge progress" it has made under its bailout when they meet in Brussels on Thursday, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said on Tuesday. He reiterated Athens wants a swift conclusion of its second bailout review, which has dragged on for months as Greece and its lenders remain at odds over labour reforms and fiscal targets. A quick conclusion of the review will allow Greece to participate in the European Central Bank's asset buying programme in the first quarter of the year. Speaking in Dublin earlier on Tuesday, the EU's top economic affairs official Pierre Moscovici said Thursday's Eurogroup meeting would not sign off on the review but they hope to do so as soon as possible. (Reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Angeliki Koutantou) work talk woman negotiate conversation When it comes time to negotiate your salary at a new job, you'll probably hear some variation of this question: How much were you earning in your most recent position? And you might wonder: How will they ever know? Can they even find out if I don't tell them? The answer is ... it depends. You can rest assured that there's no way for your prospective employer to find out without your knowledge. If the company does not ask for W-2 forms or pay stubs to verify your previous salary (you're under no obligation to provide them, but by refusing you run the risk of losing the offer), the company must have you sign authorization forms permitting your previous employer to disclose salary information, attorney Mitchell D. Kreiter tells Business Insider. "Every state with the exception of Louisiana has the same basic principals of law, which do not permit a prospective employer to find out what the applicant's previous salary was unless they applicant has signed an authorization form permitting the prospective employer to do so," Kreiter says. "It should be noted that all federal laws in the United States are uniform." On the other hand, the company might not be allowed to ask at all. Amy Glaser, a senior vice president at the Adecco Staffing USA employment agency, tells Business Insider that policies dictating how companies can ask about prospective employees' previous salaries vary among states and organizations. For example, Massachusetts in August became the first state to bar employers from asking job candidates about their previous earnings, in an effort to lessen the gender wage gap. No matter where you are or what you're doing, Glaser says it's not a good idea to lie about your past salary. Even if your prospective employer isn't prepared to shake down your past employers for salary information, any hiring manager worth his or her salt most likely has a pretty good idea of your market value. Story continues "It's best not to lie or inflate your current or desired salary but instead take a hard look at what you need, what you want, and what you are willing to accept," Glaser says. "Moreover, candidates should keep in mind total compensation, including incentives like cellphone reimbursement, a company laptop, or PTO. When considering a job opportunity, be sure to look at the big picture." Gretchen Van Vlymen, HR practice leader and director of account management at StratEx, a human-resources software firm, agrees that it's usually better to be honest with prospective employers, as many job-application forms include statements along the lines of "everything on this application is true to my knowledge." If you're caught lying, you could face termination. "Making unreasonable salary demands when moving from one similar role to another just isn't believable and will do nothing to help the employee's credibility during the selection process," Van Vlymen tells Business Insider. "Keep in mind that if the reason the candidate left their prior role is due to the fact that they felt they were not paid enough, it may be a good idea to actually tell the new employer about those feelings so that all parties are on the same page about priorities and expectations. At the end of the day, clear and transparent communication from both employer and employee makes for the best employment relationship, in general." "Lying is never a good idea," Kreiter says. "Lies have very short legs. They never take you very far, and you are always tripping over them." NOW WATCH: Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel shares her best advice for negotiating More From Business Insider The upscale retailer Nordstrom is now hiring for its new Nordstrom Rack discount outlet in Schererville, which is slated to open this spring. We are currently hiring for all departments and are planning to hire about 60 employees total, Nordstrom Rack spokeswoman Jessica Canfield said. The eagerly anticipated Nordstrom Rack is slated to open in Schererville on April 6, Canfield said. The new 25,000-square-foot store is only the second Nordstrom Rack in the state of Indiana. It will be located in a new addition to the Shops on Main outdoor lifestyle center at Main Street and Indianapolis Boulevard. The shopping center is anchored by Whole Foods, Tomato Bar, Gordmans, Pier 1 Imports and Home Goods. Tenants to come in the new wing include Talbots, Americas Best Contacts & Eyeglasses, and Bentleys Pet Stuff. Schererville Town Manager Robert Volkmann said they should all open this year. Nordstrom has posted a number of job openings for its Schererville store online, including in sales, merchandise, maintenance, and loss prevention. Available jobs pay more than $11 an hour, depending on experience. Seattle-based Nordstrom offers a benefits package that includes medical insurance, vision and dental coverage, a 401 (k) plan, and a fabulous merchandise discount. Items at the store are already marked down at least 30 percent off whats sold in Nordstrom department stores. The retailer said it is looking for job applicants with a high school diploma, enthusiasm, and math and communications skills who thrive in a fast-paced environment due to professionalism, problem-solving skills, attention to detail and ability to prioritize multiple tasks." It also wants employees who can work a flexible schedule and keep a calm head when dealing with customer concerns. For more information or to apply, visit http://about.nordstrom.com/careers/. CROWN POINT Anthony T. Wilson was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for his role in the killing of a Gary couple in November 2013. Wilson, who pleaded guilty Nov. 1 to assisting a criminal as a habitual offender, apologized at the sentencing hearing for his role in the stabbing deaths of Leviticus Dupree, 62, and Toshiba R. Moore-Dupree, 54. Police found the couple stabbed repeatedly Nov. 1, 2013, at their house at 2537 Delaware St. Wilson and a co-defendant, Mark A. Williams, were charged later that month with the murders. I hope the family can find it in their hearts to forgive me, Wilson said. Williams, 47, was sentenced last week to 110 years in prison after he pleaded guilty but mentally ill Sept. 29 to two counts of murder in perpetration of a robbery. Williams admitted to police he stabbed Moore-Dupree, but claimed Wilson killed the couple. Wilson told police Williams killed the Duprees after they refused to give him money. Williams was previously convicted in the stabbing death of Victoria Brown in November 1996. Wilson's sentence was entered pursuant to a plea agreement with the state. CROWN POINT A 36-year-old Gary man was sentenced Monday for the robbery and sexual battery of a woman in 2015 in East Chicago. Lamont L. Borom was sentenced Monday by Judge Salvador Vasquez to five years behind bars, but that sentence was suspended in favor of five years probation. Borom will be required to register as a sex offender as a result of his conviction. Borom pleaded guilty to sexual battery and robbery Dec. 19 in a plea agreement with prosecutors. Borom admitted in the plea he groped and robbed a woman Oct. 27, 2015, at a garage in the 4800 block of Ivy Street in East Chicago, according to the plea agreement. The woman declined to provide a victim statement at Borom's sentencing hearing. A co-defendant, Evita D. Croom, 35, of East Chicago, remains charged with criminal confinement and armed robbery in the incident. Police allege Croom grabbed the alleged victim's neck and and restrained her while Borom sexually assaulted her, according to court records. Croom is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 27. INDIANAPOLIS Hoosier voters are likely to be asked next year whether the Indiana Constitution should include a balanced budget mandate. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate voted 43-4 for Senate Joint Resolution 7, a proposed constitutional amendment requiring lawmakers spend no more in a two-year budget period than is expected to come in through tax collections. State officials of both political parties have long followed that practice in accordance with the constitution's general prohibition on most types of state debt. But state Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Buck Creek, said the state debt ban mostly is a fiction and Hoosiers deserve the security of a true balanced budget requirement. "Enshrining this type of fiscal discipline into our constitution is exactly the kind of good governance that will not only protect and promote what we're doing right now, but will prevent us from falling into the same fiscal death spiral as places like our unfortunate neighbors to the west (Illinois)," Hershman said. State Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, was among the four senators voting against the amendment. She suggested Hershman's proposal is imprecisely worded and could effectively prevent the state from ever spending its $2 billion reserve fund, or require billions of dollars be spent immediately to prop up state pension accounts if a stock market dip reduces their funding levels. "I do not believe that we need this as a constitutional amendment," Tallian said. The proposed amendment now goes to the Republican-controlled House, which overwhelmingly approved identical language in 2015. If representatives again endorse the amendment, Hoosier voters will be asked to ratify or reject it at the 2018 general election. INDIANAPOLIS A panel of Indiana senators is set to begin considering whether to provide additional state resources to assist East Chicago residents and institutions impacted by the city's lead crisis. On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will debate and take public testimony but not immediately vote on two plans allocating a total of $15 million in state funds for East Chicago. Senate Bill 148, sponsored by state Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, would require the state pay off debt linked to the shuttering of Carrie Gosch Elementary School. Officials closed the building in August after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency confirmed the school's property, and land in the nearby West Calumet housing complex, is severely contaminated by lead and arsenic from past manufacturing operations at that site. The measure, which is co-sponsored by state Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso; Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell; and Eddie Melton, D-Merrillville, also would maintain per student funding for the school district that otherwise would be lost due to children enrolling in other schools. "The East Chicago School Corp. is going to be in dire need of having the necessary funds to sustain itself because it lost the kids by closing the school," Randolph said. The other proposal, Senate Bill 317, sponsored by state Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, would appropriate $5 million to the state's disaster relief fund as a backstop, in case federal and local lead remediation efforts fail to fix the neighborhood. "I felt there wasn't anything being done to guarantee any money if there's any setbacks for the people that have to move or if there's more money needed," said Mrvan, who previously had family living near West Calumet and whose district used to include the area. "If the Superfund money runs out, or if they need money for anything else, they could count on this money." Standalone spending proposals at the Indiana General Assembly typically get merged into the biennial state budget, House Bill 1001, prior to the April 29 adjournment of the Republican-controlled Legislature. State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he expects that will happen again this year if any extra East Chicago spending is approved by lawmakers. But, in the meantime, he wants members of his committee, many of whom hail from parts of the state distant from East Chicago, to be brought up to speed on the city's lead issues. "I just think it'd be good for the committee members to kind of hear the story and see what the situation is," Kenley said. "I had some visits from the East Chicago school superintendent over the summer and she's kind of kept me informed as to what the problems are and what's happened to them. She's working really hard to manage those things, as I know they all are up there." Additional proposals to support East Chicago are pending in both the Senate and House, though none have yet been scheduled for a committee hearing. The 2018-19 state budget proposed by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb includes $1.5 million in dedicated matching funds, if needed to unlock federal grants for lead cleanup programs in East Chicago. It also provides modest general increases to the state agencies for housing, public health, environmental management and others that already have been assisting East Chicago residents affected by the lead crisis. INDIANAPOLIS Local governments in Indiana would lose their authority to limit or prohibit short-term home rentals, through websites such as Airbnb, under legislation approved Tuesday by a House committee. House Bill 1133, sponsored by state Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, pre-empts counties, cites and towns from enacting regulations that restrict homeowners from renting their dwellings for periods of less than 30 days. Recently, the city of Carmel advised property owners with rooms or homes listed for rent on Airbnb they are violating local zoning ordinances by operating a commercial enterprise in a residential district. Lehman said his legislation aims to "thread the needle" between individual property rights and government regulation. "The sharing economy is a trending issue. It's not a niche, it's not something that's going to go away," Lehman said. His plan now advances to the full House, where he expects the Republican majority will make significant changes. Lehman likewise anticipates the Republican-controlled Senate will weigh in with its own ideas, if the measure makes it there. "We're a long way from this bill ending up on the governor's desk," he said. In recent years, Hoosier lawmakers increasingly have turned to pre-emption to strike down local ordinances they oppose, including handgun carry restrictions, employee sick leave and minimum wage requirements and plastic shopping-bag bans. WASHINGTON The Trump administration has instituted what it described as a temporary media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered what it called a temporary suspension of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders were expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. EPA Region 5 in Chicago did not respond to questions Tuesday about whether the contract freeze will affect plans for an open house in East Chicago on Saturday. But it appears the open house event will still go on, according to an email obtained Tuesday afternoon by The Times. Catherine Garypie, EPA Region 5 associate regional counsel, in an email addressed to the East Chicago/Calumet Coalition, said the open house "is not expected to be impacted in any way." "Although the new Administration has taken a number of actions in recent days (some of which affect EPA operations), the Saturday meeting regarding the USS Lead Site in East Chicago is not expected to be impacted in any way," the email states. The multiagency open house is intended to provide residents living on lead- and arsenic-contaminated soil in the USS Lead Superfund site with an update on cleanup efforts. It is scheduled for 11 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the old Carrie Gosch Elementary School. East Chicago residents also recently learned drinking water at 18 homes where EPA performed sequential testing contained elevated lead levels. EPA has said it viewed the results as representative of the entire community, and the city recently changed the chemical it uses to prevent corrosion of lead service lines, records show. The lead found in drinking water is not related to lead from factories that once operated in the Superfund site, which includes the entire Calumet neighborhood. Similar orders barring external communications have been issued by the Trump administration at other federal agencies in recent days, including the Agriculture and Interior departments. Staffers in EPA's public affairs office are instructed to forward all inquiries from reporters to the Office of Administration and Resources Management. "Incoming media requests will be carefully screened," one directive said. "Only send out critical messages, as messages can be shared broadly and end up in the press." A review of EPA websites and social media accounts, which typically include numerous new posts each day, showed no new activity since Friday. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday he had no information on the blackout. He said aides were looking into the circumstances. Doug Ericksen, the communications director for Trump's transition team at EPA, said he expects the communications ban to be lifted by the end of this week. "We're just trying to get a handle on everything and make sure what goes out reflects the priorities of the new administration," Ericksen said. Beyond what was stated in the internal email, Ericksen clarified that the freeze on EPA contracts and grants won't apply to pollution cleanup efforts or infrastructure construction activities. The executive director for the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Jeff Ruch, said the orders go beyond what has occurred in prior presidential transitions. "We're watching the dark cloud of Mordor extend over federal service," Ruch said Tuesday, referring to the evil kingdom in the epic fantasy, "The Lord of the Rings." Ruch noted that key posts at EPA have not yet been filled with Republican appointees, including Trump's nominee for EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. That means there are not yet the new senior personnel in place to make key decisions. Environmentalists said the orders were having a chilling effect on EPA staff, many of whom were suffering from low morale. Trump and Pruitt have both been frequent critics of the agency and have questioned the validity of climate science showing that the Earth is warming and man-made carbon emissions are to blame. Liz Perera, climate policy director for the Sierra Club, said Trump's move to freeze all EPA communications and contracts should be "a major red flag for all Americans." "EPA was created to ensure that all Americans can enjoy clean air to breathe, clean water to drink and have their health protected from environmental and climate threats," Perera said. Staff at the Agriculture Department have also received orders not to release any documents to the public. "This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds and social media content," read the email memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press. Agricultural Research Service spokesman Christopher Bentley said the ban would not include scientific publications released through peer-reviewed professional journals. "As the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific in-house research agency, ARS values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public as we strive to find solutions to agricultural problems affecting America," Bentley said, according to a statement. The agency said that "information on our projects, people and locations" would still be available on its website. AP reported over the weekend that staff at the Interior Department were temporarily ordered to stop making posts to its Twitter account. The prohibition came after the official account of the National Park Service, a bureau of the department, retweeted a pair of posts to its 315,000 followers that seemed to be a swipe at Trump on his initial day in office. The first was a photo that compared the crowd gathered on the National Mall for Trump to the much-larger gathering that stood in the same spot eight years earlier for President Barack Obama's swearing-in. Trump later falsely claimed that more than 1 million people attended his inauguration, which Spicer insisted was the most-watched in history. ___ Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan. Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Darlene Superville contributed to this report. ___ Times staff writers Sarah Reese and Lauren Cross contributed to this report. President Donald Trump needs Congressional action to help push his agenda on tax cuts, infrastructure spending, Obamacare repeal and many other campaign promises. But on trade, Trump can do quite a lot on his ownand he seems poised to act. Trump has already pulled the United States out of the Trans Pacific Partnership, negotiated under President Barack Obama, which would have bound the United States and 11 other nations in a new trade pact. More importantly, he recently told a gathering of CEOs he would impose very major tariffs on companies that move operations out of the United States. That follows other threats to impose new tariffs of 35% or more to punish companies that build products outside the United States, for sale inside the country. Examples: 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 Toyota Motor said will build a new plant in Baja, Mexico, to build Corolla cars for U.S. NO WAY! Build plant in U.S. or pay big border tax. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2017 On some issues, Trumps bark is worse than his bite. But on tariffs and other matters relating to trade, Trump can largely do what he wants, without any new legislation or permission from anybody. These powers have been granted to the president by Congress over the last 100 years, in multiple statutes, says trade expert Gary Hufbauer of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Can it be challenged in court? Not successfully, in my view. What Trump can and cant do Trade laws can be interpreted as allowing the president to impose tariffs, which Trump calls border taxes, on just about any product he chooses. He could even single out individual products made by companies he considers particularly un-Americansuch as a particular automobile made in Mexicousing detailed tariff schedules for imports and identifying information that would only apply to the product Trump chose to target. Story continues Trump cant slap tariffs on products imported from Mexico (or Canada) right away, because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which eliminates tariffs. But he can withdraw the United States from NAFTA by merely notifying the other two signatory nations that he intends to do so; withdrawal would become effective six months later. At that point, Trump would be able to impose tariffs. He could impose tariffs on imports from China and most other countries sooner. But that wouldnt necessarily be wiseand it could turn out to be reckless. For starters, Congress is supposed to have a role in major trade decisions, even though laws passed over the years have strengthened the presidents hand. Thing is, no president has hiked tariffs on his own since Herbert Hoover in the early 1930s, and that came after Congress paved the way for him by passing the protectionist Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930. Many Congressional Republicans favor free trade and oppose new tariffs, which means Trump could irk allies he needs for other priorities. Congress believes it has the first and last word on trade, says Hufbauer. If he ignores that, people will come back at him on other issues where he needs their votes. Still, that may not faze Trump. Challenges to tariffs Singling out specific products or companies runs risks, too. Any company hit with new tariffs in a seemingly arbitrary way, for instance, could argue that such action violates constitutional rights such as due process or equal protection. The laws governing trade also have limitations. The laws granting the president the most power, for instance, require the president to cite a national emergency, such as war. If Trump werent willing to go that far, hed be operating within a narrower claim of presidential authority. Under just about every scenario, legal action challenging the imposition of tariffs seems possible and perhaps likely. (That may not bother Trump, either.) Where border taxes are unpopular: Women in Mexico City on January 20, 2017. (Source: AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) A different type of tariff applies to instances where the United States charges a trading partner with dumping products into the US market at artificially low prices, undercutting domestic producers. Trump has said hell be aggressive on this as well, following action Obama took on dumping of products such as Chinese steel. Such cases usually go to US courts or the World Trade Organization, and can take years to play out, which doesnt seem to fit with Trumps preference for quick results he can tweet about while voters are still paying attention. The biggest risk may be retaliation by other countries, if Trump hikes tariffs on their imports. Mexico has little leverage against the United States and is very vulnerable to Trumps saber rattling. But China is a different story. China is the big wolf, says economist Barry Bosworth of the Brookings Institution. And US investments in China are far larger than Chinese investments in the United States. That could portend a lot of trouble for American companies relying on China for a major portion of sales, including Apple (AAPL), Boeing (BA) and General Motors (GM). Trump, of course, has a habit of threatening hellfire and damnation, then making deals that let him claim victory with modest concessions on the other side. He has praised GM and Ford (F) for instance, for announcing new investments in US plants, even though they plan to continue production in Mexico as well. So the threat of tariffs may be an opening bid in negotiations that lead to something far less disruptive. Only Trump himself knows, for now. Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. If President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton think it was so terrible that Russia hacked the DNC and released emails that embarrassed the Democratic Party and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, why does the same president commute the sentence of a military security person who released 700 classified documents and put American military lives at risk? CHICAGO A Chicago domestic violence shelter specializing in issues facing Asian immigrants is planning the opening next week of a new $1.25 million, 12-bedroom facility, one of the largest of its kind in the nation. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was scheduled to attend an event Monday marking the new Apna Ghar shelter. The shelter grew from a volunteer-run telephone hotline, the Chicago Tribune reported (http://trib.in/2k8KJfy). Among the callers volunteers helped were Indian women who arrived in the United States for arranged marriages, but found their prospective husbands already in other relationships. Others faced abusers who hid their immigration paperwork. The first shelter opened in a small apartment in 1989. Apna Ghar means "our home" in Hindi and Urdu. Today, the shelter's staff speak 20 languages. The kitchen has separate cooking areas for meat eaters and vegetarians. Rooms are filled with Asian-inspired artwork and furniture. Executive director Neha Gill said half those served are of Asian descent and about one-fifth are white. The shelter also serves victims from Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America. "No culture outrightly says it's OK to abuse women, but at the same time, we know it goes on," said Surinder Nand, Apna Ghar's former interim executive director and a current volunteer. "By making sure they can continue to speak a language they want to speak, dress the way they want to dress and eat what they want to eat is a way victims gain back control, self respect and dignity." Apna Ghar's new facility is one of the largest of its kind in the country, said Chic Dabby, executive director of the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence, a national resource group based in Oakland, California. Since 2001, the number of U.S. domestic violence programs with a focus on Asians has grown from about 60 to 160, Dabby said. ___ Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com INDIANAPOLIS An Indiana lawmaker is apologizing for an "offensive" message about women who attended the Women's March on Washington, but says he doesn't know how it was posted to his Facebook account. The meme says, "In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking, than Michelle Obama did in 8 years," and appears to include a photo of women participating in Saturday's march. It has since been deleted. Republican Sen. Jack Sandlin, of Indianapolis, says the post does not represent his views toward women and that it is "unclear" how the post appeared on his Facebook page. Sandlin says he was "horrified" by the meme and immediately removed it. He says he changed his passwords. His spokesman, Matt Werner, confirmed the content of the message but declined to comment further. The School City of East Chicago will join the School Town of Munster this May in asking voters to pay higher taxes to fund those respective school districts. East Chicago is asking voters for additional money to boost its operating fund. Munster is asking for two referendums a general fund referendum to assist the operating budget and a construction referendum to renovate school buildings. The questions will be on the ballot May 2. Since 2008, Indiana schools no longer are funded by property taxes but instead are funded by a portion of state sales taxes. If schools want to raise more money, they must go to voters and ask them to pay more in property taxes. The board of trustees for the School City of East Chicago voted Monday night to ask taxpayers to pay an additional 30 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to raise nearly $41 million over seven years. East Chicago schools Superintendent Paige McNulty said the average homeowner with a home valued at $80,000 would pay an estimated $4 per month or $50 per year more in taxes. Hours before the School Board meeting, East Chicago board member Jesse Gomez said he believes the community will show its support for the school system by voting for the tax increase. "We've done a lot to balance the budget and bring our costs in line," he said. "We're going to need an influx of revenue into the district to make our schools better. We've got great kids and teachers. This is going to help our city overall in terms of safety and bringing in new companies to a town with an educated and trained workforce." McNulty said she is proud to say there is no deficit, and the district is paying its bills on time. However, she said the school district remains concerned about the nearly 300 students it has lost as a result of the lead problems in East Chicago. McNulty closed Carrie Gosch Elementary a week before school was scheduled to start in August as a result of the lead problems in the West Calumet Housing Complex. Those students were moved to the former West Side Middle School, which was renamed the new Carrie Gosch. She used a $3 million loan from the State Board of Education for the move. The loan also was used to refresh and update the middle school for use by elementary-age students. McNulty said she's seen support from state legislators and hopes a measure to "hold harmless" the school district will be approved. That means the district would receive state funding as though Carrie Gosch were operating at full enrollment. "If that legislation is successful, that will only help us for one year," she said. "We will still have to do something to solve our own problems. An operating (general fund) referendum will help us in the long term. I believe the city supports us, and the community supports us. I believe it will pass." In addition, McNulty is concerned about the circuit-breaker, or property tax cap, enacted about a decade ago. "The 2020 circuit-breaker is looming," McNulty said. "We might have been able to survive one of them but not both (enrollment decline and circuit breaker). We can't make up the deficit from both of them." Munster seeks money for buildings, instruction A few miles south of East Chicago, Munster schools Superintendent Jeffrey Hendrix will ask for a $48 million construction referendum to repair and renovate all the school buildings. Munster is asking voters to pay an additional 43 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to fund those projects. In addition, Munster is asking for a new operating or general fund referendum, replacing a general fund referendum that was approved in 2013 to boost the operating budget. Hendrix said the new operating referendum would replace the current 2013 operating referendum of 19 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, to 42 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. This would raise $6.9 million for seven years to support student programs, retain and attract quality teachers/staff and establish reasonable fund balances. Hendrix said a person who owns a house valued at $207,500 would pay an estimated $7.37 per month or $88.46 per year, according to the calculations put together by the district accountants, Umbaugh & Associates. If approved, the two referendums will cause an estimated net increase of 9 cents per $100 of assessed valuation over 2017, and the new school tax rate for Munster taxpayers will be $1.40 per $100 of assessed valuation. Munster leaders say they'd like to spend $15 million at Munster High School; $6.8 million at Wilbur Wright Middle School; $3.8 million at Eads Elementary; $3.6 million at Elliott Elementary; $5 million at Frank Hammond Elementary; and $8 million on technology. Munster has been fighting an $8 million deficit for the past couple of years, and has now reduced the deficit by about $3.5 million. Hendrix said the district has reduced staffing and hired new personnel at a lower cost. Several local school districts have asked voters for a general fund or construction referendum since the Indiana General Assembly passed a law in 2008 establishing referendums as a new mechanism of school funding. The city has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that claimed the NYPD issued hundreds of thousands of unjustified criminal summonses. The city's Law Department says judges threw out 900,000 of them from 2007 to 2015 because they were deemed legally insufficient. Despite the settlement, the city denied the lawsuit's accusations that officers were making arrests in order to meet a quota. Officials say the NYPD has updated its officer training in response to the suit. The court still has to approve the settlement after a fairness hearing, which is expected to take place in about three months. Costs of education to parents increased by Government freeze on education spending 20 January 2016 Children will be the biggest losers if a Government freeze on education spending this year increases the costs of education to parents, NZEI Te Riu Roa warned today. New figures released today show parents face $38,000 for the cost of state school education for a child born in 2017, an increase of 15 percent since 2007. In last year's Budget, the Government froze 2017 school operational funding and continued a seven year freeze of early childhood education funding. NZEI Te Riu Roa President Lynda Stuart said failing to fund education properly was costly to parents, but the biggest losers were children. "Schools know that parents are strapped for cash, and a survey of principals late last year shows that many schools will instead be forced to cut teacher aide hours because their communities simply can't afford to pay more. That means the children who most need extra support miss out, and teacher aides face more insecurity." "New Zealand primary school students are currently funded below the OECD average. The Government's decision to freeze school funding this year exacerbates the under-funding issue. It's time the Government prioritised children's education over promises of tax cuts." SACRAMENTOIn their first official action since Donald Trump became president, California lawmakers on Monday confirmed a new attorney general who has vowed to defend the states liberal policies against the Trump administration and a Republican Congress. Xavier Becerra easily cleared the final hurdle to become the states top law enforcement official, with a 26-9 vote along party lines in the Democratic-controlled state Senate. Becerra, who represented the Los Angeles area in the U.S. House for more than two decades, became the states first Latino attorney general. He replaces Kamala Harris, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in November. Democrats said Becerra will fight to defend Californias protections for the gay and lesbian community, women and immigrants. He will be a very strong partner for our state to work with the federal government when we can and to resist when we must, said Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat. Some Republicans said they voted against him because of his promise to challenge federal policies. Republican Sen. John Moorlach of Costa Mesa says hes worried Becerra will jeopardize federal funding for California by antagonizing the Trump administration. Many of Californias liberal policies face an uncertain future amid promises by Trump and Republican lawmakers to overhaul the nations health care, immigration and climate change laws. Our state has the law, the grit and the guts to fight for hardworking families, Becerra told lawmakers at a hearing earlier this month, later adding, I think the best defense is a good offense. The day of Trumps inauguration, the White House was already at odds with the countrys most populous state over climate change policy. The White House website said Friday that Trump planned to stop former President Barack Obamas climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The same day, California regulators plowed ahead with their own climate change goals, releasing a 157-page plan to reach a target of a 40 percent reduction in emissions from 1990 levels by 2030. Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown has called Becerra battle-tested from his time in a polarized Congress and said his experience will serve him well in defending Californias policies. Democrats in the Assembly approved Becerras confirmation earlier this month. Becerra worked as a deputy attorney general for three years before running for office. PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AP) A village in eastern Cambodia will have to be largely evacuated next month when two large bombs left over from the Vietnam War containing a powerful tear gas are excavated from the grounds of a Buddhist temple, demining experts said Tuesday. Heng Ratana, director of the Cambodian Mine Action Center, said four bombs with CS gas were dropped in the village in Svay Rieng province by U.S. aircraft in February 1970, and two that didnt explode were buried by villagers. Similar bombs have been discovered elsewhere in Cambodia. Recently alerted by current residents, an expert from his agency found the two bombs, estimated to weigh about 550 pounds each, buried just yards away from a school. Heng Ratana said he has asked officials for a partial evacuation of monks, students and other villagers for up to a week while the bombs are disposed of early next month. The United States secretly bombed eastern Cambodia beginning in 1969 to hinder its use as a sanctuary for communist Vietnamese forces attacking what was then U.S.-backed South Vietnam. U.S. forces, which openly intervened in 1970, dropped about 2.8 million tons of bombs on Cambodia until halting the bombing in 1973. Most of the bombs were conventional explosives, but others contained chemical agents such as CS gas, which was sometimes used to try to flush guerrillas out of tunnels and caves where they hid. CS gas actually a fine powder is a common riot-control weapon, used as an alternative to conventional lethal force. It causes burning eyes, coughing, breathing difficulty, stinging skin and vomiting. The use of CS gas in the Vietnam War was initially controversial because it arguably was in violation of international laws of war banning the use of asphyxiating gases. It also posed a public relations dilemma for U.S. authorities, who did not want to be accused of using chemical warfare. However, its use became common as the war escalated, and it was delivered in several forms, ranging from grenades to bombs. Its not often you catch Tucker Carlson without a well-formed opinion at the ready, but the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight freely admits that he doesnt know what the arrival of President Donald Trump will mean for shows like his and others at Fox News Channel, which for eight years often had the Obama administration as a target for criticism. Were two days into this. This is our first work day actually with Trump as president, so we can only guess, Carlson says on Monday, three days after Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. And guessing has been a pretty inaccurate way of predicting the future. Its a lot more complicated and a much greater challenge to anticipate what Trump is going to do because hes not an ideologue and hes not a doctrinaire conservative, Carlson says. Hes not really a Republican hes a third-party candidate who took over the party. Carlson, who says hes instinctively conservative on issues that have to do with families but less so at times on topics such as the economy and foreign relations, says that though hes more Republican than Democrat in his views, he doesnt owe the new Republican Congress and White House anything. The only guidepost is what you think is true, Carlson says. Ill tell you what Im not going to do is spend a lot of time getting distracted by the frivolity. Im not going to be doing two segments a night on tweeting. Im interested in the truth as you see it, he says. My mind changes on questions all the time but youve got to try to be honest. I would say my gut instinct, for whatever its worth, is I dont like to be lied to, so if I think Ive been lied to Im going to challenge you on it. Carlson, who before Fox News had worked at MSNBC and CNN, moved into one of the networks highest-profile spots earlier this month when he was tapped to replace former Fox star Megyn Kelly in the 9 p.m. Monday-through-Friday slot when Kelly jumped to NBC. He moved there from his former spot at 7 p.m. weeknights and had previously served as a weekend host of Fox & Friends and a contributor and substitute host for a variety of shows since 2009. Only a few weeks into the new role, he says he hasnt really stopped to think about what it means to be a headliner in the Fox lineup now, focusing instead on the details of how to put together the show every day. The one thing that is different if youre at 9 p.m. I think you have to be a little more on the news, Carlson says. Whereas other shows Ive done, you didnt feel like you had to do the big story of the day necessarily if you didnt have anything new to add to it. Carlson called right around the time Trumps press secretary, Sean Spicer, was wrapping up his first briefing, part of which involved smoothing over the controversy that he and his boss had stirred up Saturday with false claims about the size of the crowd at the inauguration Friday. I think when you scold people for lying you better have your facts straight they didnt! he says of Spicers statements Saturday. Thats Life 101. I guess Sean in effect apologized for that, which he should. Its pretty obvious. His colleague Chris Wallace on Sunday had taken to task Reince Priebus, Trumps chief of staff, for similar statements made by the president, which were provably false. Carlson says he thinks of lot of Trumps missteps and misstatements are due to his background and lack of experience in the careful ways of politics. Trump is a salesman, Carlson says. He talks like one. He does not speak with precision. He overstates his case habitually. We know this; its obvious. I think thats worth pointing out. I dont feel an obligation to ignore that. Why would I? But I also think that if theres something bigger going on we should point that out too. As an example, Carlson pointed to the claims Trump has made about building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and making Mexico pay for it. I dont think thats going to happen and Id ask him about that, he says. But I also think we need to talk about immigration. Im just one small cog in the giant machine of American journalism. I feel that my job is to ask questions like that. Im not a beat reporter, Im not covering the White House. Ive done all that. I like what I get to do right now. Contact the writer: 714-796-7787 or plarsen@ocregister.com From a Chapman dorm room to 12 locations in African countries and now a plan for a soap factory in Kenya, local nonprofit Health 2 Humanity has come a long way in just under three years. John Cefalu, a Chapman senior and Health 2 Humanitys founder, returned this week from Kenya where he recruited managers for the groups first factory, made possible by a partnership with the Kenyan government. When it is finished, the plant will provide 500 jobs and 20 million hygiene products to locals over the next 10 years, Cefalu said. Health 2 Humanity, started in 2014, sends made-from-scratch soap bars to three African nations and assist the locals there in setting up their own self-sustaining hygiene products businesses. The factory is expected to be completed in early to mid 2018, Cefalu said. In June, H2H will set up five new Kenyan locations, growing its lineup to 17 stores throughout Kenya, Uganda and Ghana. Though soap and hygiene are the main conversation points of Health 2 Humanity, Cefalu said the cleansing bars are a vehicle to bring about an even bigger change. As people are trained on how to start and manage their own businesses, they are empowered to make a difference in their local economy and stake their own claims in a critical industry, he said. Just because its a commodity product doesnt meant it has to be made using unfair wages and prices, Cefalu said. We can use soap, one of the most simple products out there, as a sustainability pillar that people can rally behind. Anyone can make it, the ingredients are everywhere in the world. We can use that to create change and impact no matter where were at. Opening the factory will be the culmination of everything H2H has worked for up to this point, Cefalu said. Cefalu approached members of the Kenyan parliament in August to raise awareness among the countrys leaders of Health 2 Humanitys efforts and the success of the groups 12 original locations. In October, the H2H team was flown to Kenya to meet with government officials to discuss scaling the impact up. The nonprofit has secured $2 million in funding half from the Kenyan government and half in support from U.S. businesses to build the factory. Cefalu said he was a very different person when he made his first trip to Kenya in 2012. He said he was selfish with that trip, not looking to help the world so much as his resume. But when he saw how villagers lived in Kenya, Cefula said his attitude changed. He spent time in orphanages and saw poor hygiene creeping into aspects of life he never considered some children were being turned away from school for cleanliness reasons, he said. Within two years, he returned as a college student to set up his first locations overseas. Cefalu graduates in May and said he plans to focus full-time on Health 2 Humanity. My whole motivation in high school was how much money can I make, how great of a career can I build and what are people going to remember me for, Cefalu said. Where Ive come to now is I dont care if I make a single dollar from this project. I dont care how much debt I go into, or how many hard trips and struggles I have to go through. This is going to be what I do for the rest of my life, because I believe in it. Contact the writer: jwinslow@scng.com SAN FRANCISCO A federal judge says he is inclined to require Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to mention its convictions in ads and have employees do thousands of hours of community service as part of its sentence in a criminal case stemming from a deadly natural gas explosion in the Bay Area. U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson made the comment Monday as he pushed back his final sentencing decision, saying he needed more time to consider comments by attorneys for the government and PG&E. Hendersons move followed a lengthy hearing that included emotional testimony from three victims of the 2010 explosion of a PG&E natural gas pipeline that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in the city of San Bruno. The loss of my loved ones, my personal belongings, my neighborhood, my life happened due to the negligence of a greedy company that put profits ahead of safety, said Sue Bullis, 56, who lost her husband, son and mother-in-law in the explosion. She was hopeful the sentence would lead to changes at PG&E. Henderson postponed his final decision on sentencing until Thursday. The sentence will close one of the final chapters in the legal and regulatory fallout from the San Bruno blast. California regulators have previously fined PG&E $1.6 billion for the explosion, and the company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars settling lawsuits by victims. Julie Kane, a PG&E executive, apologized Monday in court to the victims and said the company was committed to safety. We are profoundly sorry, she said. PG&E is prepared to pay the maximum $3 million fine it faces and has agreed to a monitor to oversee it as part of any sentence, said Steven Bauer, an attorney for the company. However, he asked Henderson to set a time limit on the requirement involving ads and link the messages to improved safety. Prosecutor Hartley West said she wanted to make sure PG&E isnt able to get out of the advertising requirement through a carefully worded ad that avoids using the term safety. Prosecutors have also asked Henderson to restructure PG&Es bonus program for employees a sentencing requirement PG&E opposes. Jurors convicted the company in August of five of 11 counts of pipeline safety violations, including failing to gather information to evaluate potential gas-line threats and deliberately not classifying a gas line as high risk. Prosecutors said the company deliberately misclassified pipelines so it wouldnt have to subject them to appropriate testing, choosing a cheaper method to save money. Jurors also convicted the utility of obstructing investigators after the blast. PG&E attorneys said during trial that the companys engineers did not think the pipelines posed a safety risk, and the company did not intend to mislead investigators. The stakes in the case dropped dramatically, however, when prosecutors made the surprising decision several days into jury deliberations not to pursue a potential $562 million fine if PG&E was found guilty of any of the pipeline safety counts. No PG&E employees were charged, so no one is facing prison time. Henderson said Monday that requiring PG&E to mention its pipeline convictions in any publicity about its commitment to safety seems an appropriate punishment and deterrent. He said he was inclined to require 10,000 hours of community service, with 2,000 of those performed by high-level PG&E personnel. The Orange County Agricultural and Nikkei Heritage Museum, located on the Fullerton Arboretum grounds, is the site of What If Heroes Were Not Welcome Home? The traveling exhibit, on display in Fullerton through Feb. 12, looks at the prejudice experienced by Japanese American veterans upon returning to the United States after World War II. Firsthand accounts, photos, letters and documents are on display. The exhibit originated from the Oregon Historical Society in 2013. On Feb. 5, the museum will present The Valor of Nikkei Veterans, a panel discussion that will include veterans Jim Yamashita, Yosh Nakamura, Robert Wada, Vincent Okamoto and David Uyematsu. The event runs 1 to 3 p.m. On Feb. 12, the museum will host a closing and keynote address from 1 to 3 p.m. Linda Tamura, one of the exhibits curators, will present Breaking Our Silence: Lessons From World War II. Angie Marcos For the second time in five weeks, the Southern California Gas Co. has asked its 21.6 million customers to immediately reduce their natural gas use amid stormy weather to help stave off possible natural gas and electricity shortages. Besides the voluntary advisory, SoCalGas and San Diego Gas & Electric also issued a systemwide curtailment watch effective Monday morning for their large commercial and industrial customers, advising them that they may be required to curb natural gas use in the future due to strains on the system. Were currently meeting demand using a combination of the supplies flowing into the interstate pipeline system and our three other storage fields (excluding Aliso Canyon near the northwest San Fernando Valley) but theres a possibility that cold weather conditions could result in a supply shortfall, meaning demand would exceed supply, SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride said Monday. In that case we would have to curtail service to those large customers . That has not happened yet. In the event SoCalGas reduces the supply of natural gas to its big customers, it would affect large commercial and manufacturing facilities including electric generation plants as well as hospitals and airports throughout Southern California, Gilbride has said. The last time SoCalGas made the decision to curtail its supply to these customers because of weather was in February 2014. To help prevent that from happening, the utility is asking all customers to reduce their natural gas use by lowering their thermostats to 68 degrees or below; delaying the use of natural gas appliances; and washing clothes in cold water when possible, Gilbride said. SoCalGas, which has a 20,000-square-mile service area throughout central and Southern California, stretching from L.A. to Orange County and the Inland Empire, issued the same advisory and curtailment watch on Dec. 18 during another cold snap. That advisory was lifted after two days. The California Public Utilities Commission ordered the creation of the SoCalGas advisory program to help address agencies concerns about regional energy reliability this winter in light of the Aliso Canyon moratorium. There is currently a moratorium on injection operations at the gas companys Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility above Porter Ranch. ALBANY, Ga. A tornado warning on television sent Anthony Mitchell, his pregnant wife and their three children scrambling for what little shelter their mobile home could provide. They crouched in a hallway as the twister started taking their home apart piece by piece. The windows exploded, the doors flew off the hinges, the sheetrock started to rip off the walls and fly out the windows, Mitchell said. The trailer started to lift up. And about that time a tree fell on the trailer, and I think thats what held the trailer in place from flying away. An unusual midwinter barrage of tornadoes and thunderstorms over the weekend was blamed for at least 20 deaths across the Deep South. Among them were three people killed at Big Pine Estates, the mobile home park in Albany where the Williams family lives. A twister slammed into the southwestern Georgia city of 76,000 people on Sunday afternoon, carving a path of destruction a half-mile wide in places and leaving the landscape strewn with broken trees and mangled sheet metal. Few of the roughly 200 homes at the trailer park escaped damage from the tornado, which was rated by forecasters as at least an EF-2, meaning it packed winds of 111 to 135 mph. In addition to the three dead at Big Pine Estates, a fourth body was discovered at a home just outside the trailer park. Mitchell lost his home and marveled that he didnt lose his life, too. Something helped us walk out the front door of the house, he said. Theres some people who werent fortunate enough to have a front door to walk out of. Georgia reported 15 deaths Sunday, and four people died Saturday in Mississippi. In northern Florida, a woman died after a tree crashed into her home in Lake City as a storm passed through. The National Weather Service said 39 possible tornadoes were reported over the weekend. The agency sent out teams to examine the damage and confirm now many of the storms were twisters, which can happen any time of year but are far more common in the spring and early summer. A day after the violent weather passed, search crews looked for people and pets in the Albany trailer park, stepping over tree limbs and ducking under splintered pine trunks as they went from home to home. One team discovered a terrified dog in a smashed-in trailer, where it had spent the night. Authorities said the pet owners fate was unknown. In rural Cook County, about 60 miles southeast of Albany, Aretha Perry prayed aloud in front of the First Baptist Church, where a shelter was set up after an apparent tornado destroyed about half the homes at the Sunshine Acres mobile home park. Perry said her niece and the nieces brother both lived there, and she drove out to try to help them after hearing the park had been hit. We were looking, looking, Perry said, but couldnt find them. The coroner later confirmed seven people were found dead at Sunshine Acres. Perry said her two relatives were among them. They died in the storm trying to save her grandchildren, she said, adding that the children survived. I know theyve gone on to Jesus. At Sunshine Acres on Monday, crews with cadaver dogs checked the wreckage of mobile homes for anyone dead or alive. Authorities kept residents from returning for a second day. Devocheo Williams, 29, said his home was demolished the day after he moved in. The whole trailer park was gone in 15 seconds, Williams said, describing a funnel cloud that appeared to loop back around and hit the neighborhood a second time. It looked like a ball of fire was going 100 mph. Williams said he saw a little girl picked up by the winds and tossed into a ditch. Nearby, the girls mother and a baby were trapped in rubble. He said he helped dig them out. Not everyone could be saved. I was walking by dead bodies of little kids and grown people, Williams said Williams and others left homeless by the storm huddled Monday at the First Baptist Church in Adel, a rural community of about 5,300. Residents turned out in force to help the victims. The church quickly collected an abundance of donated clothing and toiletries. Volunteers cooked free meals for survivors and emergency workers. We have turned away more people that just wanted to help because we just cant put them down here, said Brent Exum, chief investigator for the sheriffs department. Dennis VanBrackle, 75, and his wife, Sylvia, stopped by the church with a checkbook in hand. Both of us physically cant do a lot, VanBrackle said. We want to do what we can. TEL AVIV, Israel Israel will build 2,500 new housing units in the West Bank, the countrys prime minister and defense minister said Tuesday, beginning to unleash pent-up demand following eight years of conflict with the Obama administration over Israeli building anywhere beyond the 1967 border. That comes days after the municipality unfroze plans for more than 500 apartments in contested areas of Jerusalem, most of them for Jewish residents. The government had shelved settlement plans in the final months of the Obama administration, preferring to wait for a more favorable reception in Washington once Donald Trump took office Jan. 20. Were going back to normal life in the West Bank, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in an emailed statement Tuesday announcing the building plans. Most of the units will be in settlement blocs close to the border that Israel expects to keep in any eventual peace agreement with the Palestinians. The plan includes about 100 apartments in the settlement of Beit El. President Trumps ambassador-designate to Israel, attorney David Friedman, is president of American Friends of Bet El Institutions. Lieberman also will seek Cabinet backing to build an industrial area for Palestinians near Hebron. The industrial zone will be among the biggest of its kind in the West Bank and will include infrastructure for warehouses and fuel storage, according to the statement. Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi called the plan a war crime and flagrant violation of international law. It is evident that Israel is exploiting the inauguration of the new American administration to escalate its violations and the prevention of any existence of a Palestinian state, she said in an emailed statement. McDonalds is applying the Goldilocks principle to its iconic Big Mac. Starting today, the fast-food chain is offering three sizes of the signature jumbo cheeseburger, hoping one version will be the right fit for todays finicky foodies. McDonalds tested a Grand Mac and a Mac Jr. version of the Big Mac last year in Texas and Ohio. Today on the chains social media channels, McDonalds said restaurants across the country are now selling all three sizes, including nearly 600 locations in Orange and Los Angeles counties and the Inland Empire. UPDATE: Find out where to get a free bottle of Big Mac sauce Its the first major tweak to the 50-year-old sandwich, McDonalds said. A national campaign announcing the two new sizes will launch next week. As a reminder, the classic Big Mac contains two beef patties sandwiched between a sesame seed bun. The burger is layered with a slice of American cheese, lettuce, onions, pickles and secret Big Mac sauce. The Grand Mac contains two larger patties equaling one-third pound and two slices of American cheese. The burger is made with slightly larger buns. The Mac Jr. comes without the extra bun in the middle. Theres a size for everyone, a McDonalds representative told the Register. The two different sizes are available through March 20. However, Southern California restaurants will sell the Big Mac trio through mid-April. The Big Mac is a legend and a great-tasting burger, McDonalds Chef Mike Haracz said in a statement. We listened to our customers who told us they wanted different ways to enjoy the one-of-a-kind Big Mac taste. The classic combination of ingredients remains timeless and customers around the world continue to enjoy its signature taste. In todays Twitter announcement, McDonalds also announced a major surprise for Big Mac fans. On Thursday, participating restaurants will be giving away 10,000 bottles of Big Mac Special Sauce. No other details were provided, but word has it that some Southern California restaurants will be involved. Stay tuned for an update. McDonalds is expected to reveal more details on where to find a bottle on Wednesday. The Big Mac makeover comes as McDonalds has spent the past few years revamping its menu to attract new customers, including hard-to-please millennials. (Note: Citing an internal McDonalds memo, last year the Wall Street Journal said only one one in five millennials has tried a Big Mac.) Other menu tweaks have included offering more customization and adding premium ingredients to its aging burger lineup. In 2013, McDonalds tested a build-your-own burger menu in Orange County. Two years later, Southern California restaurants debuted Taste Crafted, which allows customers to build their own sandwich by choosing from a menu of pre-selected ingredients. But the biggest boost to the chains bottom line has been all-day breakfast. Giving in to consumer demand over the years, McDonalds began serving breakfast all day in 2015. Initially, the menu was limited. But a year later in October, all restaurants began serving the entire breakfast menu all day. Earlier this month, McDonalds restaurants in Southern California started selling coffee for $1. The deal applies to any size cup. The McCafe promotion also includes a small specialty drink, such as a latte, for $2. MEXICO CITY In his first major speech since the change of U.S. administrations, President Enrique Pena Nieto of Mexico promised a robust dialogue with President Donald Trump based on shared interests and mutual respect, but insisted that Mexicos sovereignty and the protection of its citizens would be the guiding forces for his government. The two leaders are preparing to meet next week, and Pena Nietos speech outlined a broad platform that Mexico hopes to pursue in the face of what many have seen as a hostile stance from the new U.S. president. Pena Nieto stressed that any reassessment of the bilateral relationship or renegotiation of decadesold accords, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, would be part of a broader package. Negotiations would include more than just trade, he said; they would also encompass migration and security, two issues where Mexico plays a strategic role for the United States. We will bring to the table all themes, he said. Trade, yes, but also migration and the themes of security, including border security, terrorist threats and the traffic of illegal drugs, arms and money. The address was the most comprehensive explanation of Mexicos foreign policy aspirations in recent months. The government remained relatively quiet during Trumps political ascendancy, and even after his election, adopting a nonaggressive approach in the face of the fear and anxiety permeating the nation. On Monday, Pena Nieto, while offering a fulsome defense of Mexicos sovereignty, maintained that engagement was the answer. The solution is neither confrontation nor submission, he said. The solution is dialogue and negotiation. At the same time, there was no mistaking the nationalist tones woven into his speech. That was perhaps the one element of the address that did align with Trumps vision for the United States, as the Mexican president seemed to borrow the America first message for his own purposes. With his government shaken by corruption scandals, escalating violence and rising gasoline prices, Pena Nieto has the lowest popularity of any president in decades. Some analysts feel that the threat posed by Trump could be a means to bolster the poor standing of Pena Nietos party while offering Mexicans a message of unity sorely lacking in recent years. We are a sovereign nation, and we will act as such, Pena Nieto said. The exercise of sovereignty implies that, in the process of negotiation, our only interest is that of Mexico and those of Mexicans. He made clear that pledge extended to Mexicans living in the United States. But he stopped short of full-blown nationalism. He described a Mexican future categorically different from the one outlined Friday by Trump for the United States in his inaugural address. Where the United States would reassess its adherence to free markets and its station as a guardian of the liberal democratic order, Mexico would reaffirm itself as a nation open to the world, that participates in global markets with high-value goods and services. Where Trump has questioned the benefits of NAFTA, blaming it for the loss of jobs in the United States to the benefit of Mexico, Pena Nieto defended the pact. In the face of calls for the agreement to be upended, he argued that the ties between the United States, Mexico and Canada should deepen. Telecommunications, energy and electronic trade should be incorporated into any new agreement, he said. At the White House Monday, Trumps aides said he would move quickly to renegotiate the agreement. Pena Nieto and his aides have been preparing for months to deal with the free trade issue. Even as some have questioned NAFTAs benefits to Mexico, where salaries are stagnant and the poverty rate has hardly moved, the government has consistently defended the accord. But it has chosen a strategy of negotiation that would allow some changes and ask for some of its own and tie those changes to broader negotiations on security and migration as a way to give Mexico some leverage in the debate. That leverage exists in Mexicos increased policing of its southern border, which serves as a first line of defense against migrants headed to the United States and terrorist threats. When the 89th Academy Awards nominations were revealed Tuesday morning, the Hollywood-loving musical La La Land tied the record by picking up 14. Only Titanic (1997) and another showbiz-themed movie, All About Eve (1950), had previously garnered that many nominations. Both went on to win the Best Picture Oscar, which of course La La will be up for when the awards are handed out on Feb. 26. Other key La La nominations include Directing and Original Screenplay for Damien Chazelle, Lead Actor Ryan Gosling and Lead Actress Emma Stone. The jazz-happy film has garnered some criticism for its focus on white characters. Nonetheless, the other big nominations news is #Oscarsnotsowhite this year. Six black actors Fences Denzel Washington in male Lead and Lovings Ruth Negga in female Lead, while Moonlights Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris, Fences Viola Davis and Hidden Figures Octavia Spencer in Supporting roles all got nods. British South Asian actor Dev Patel (Lion) made it seven out of 20 acting slots occupied by people of color, a huge change from the previous two years when all the nominated performers were Caucasians. That situation led to much controversy and changes to the academys still predominantly white male voting membership. Whether those factors or a high degree of quality films about African-Americans released in 2016 led to Tuesdays results will be debated endlessly for at least the next month. Beside La La, the other eight Best Picture nominees are Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, Lion, Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight. The cerebral sci-fi saga Arrival and sensitive indie study of a young man from Miamis inner city Moonlight boast the second highest number of nominations with eight each, followed by six apiece for Mel Gibsons harrowing war drama Hacksaw, the lost Indian child tale Lion and sad-with-humor character study Manchester. Competing with Gosling and Washington for Best Actor are Casey Affleck (Manchester), Andrew Garfield (Hacksaw) and Viggo Mortensen (Captain Fantastic). The Best Actress race includes Frances Isabelle Huppert for her astonishingly unpredictable rape victim character in Elle, Natalie Portmans shell-shocked but formidable First Widow Jackie and, for the actress 20th time, Meryl Streeps off-key Florence Foster Jenkins, along with Neggas unassuming civil rights pioneer and Stones aspiring movie star. Hell or High Waters retiring Texas Ranger Jeff Bridges, Manchesters young Lucas Hedges and Michael Shannon, as another Lone Star lawman on his last case in Nocturnal Animals, fill out the Supporting Actor card with Alis nurturing pusher and Patels obsessed adoptee. The woman who plays his Australian foster mom in Lion, Nicole Kidman, and Manchesters Michelle Williams join Davis, Harris and Spencer in the Supporting Actress category. Mel Gibsons rehabilitation, at least in the eyes of the Hollywood establishment, has finally arrived with his Hacksaw directing nomination. Visceral as that World War II battle epic was, though, did he honestly do a better directing job than Martin Scorsese, whose demanding but exquisite Silence only received one nomination for Rodrigo Prietos cinematography? Washingtons direction of himself and others in Fences was also overlooked. The four other nominated helmers are Chazelle, Arrivals Denis Villeneuve, Manchesters Kenneth Lonergan and Moonlights Barry Jenkins. African-Americans did better than ever in the writing categories this year, with Moonlights Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney, as well as the late August Wilson for rescripting his play Fences, up for Adapted Screenplay. Perhaps the biggest surprise in the two screenwriting categories is the nomination for Mike Mills semiautobiographical 20th Century Women, although that doesnt really counteract the lack of an acting nom for that films superb Annette Bening, arguably the dumbest snub of the day. That and Deadpool. The outrageously subversive and blisteringly successful superhero satire has done, admittedly surprisingly, well in other industry contests such as the Producers, Directors and Writers Guilds awards nominations. But not even a Makeup nod from the stuffy academy, which even gave one of those to the much tamer and lamer Suicide Squad? Its nice that this year some of those elderly white gentlemen remembered that people of color can be fine actors. Or, finally, that Huppert has been the most consistently daring actress on Earth for decades. Who knows? The voting members might even fool us on Oscar night and hand their Best Picture award to the subtle gay black art film instead of, for the fourth time this decade, a movie that flatters them and their profession. Somehow, though, I dont expect the organization to do anything that enlightened, or cool, or interesting. The academy may not be as whitebread now as its been in recent years, but it still seems awfully white jazz. Contact the writer: rstrauss@scng.com or @bscritic on Twitter One problem in having a president who operates without much regard for facts, truth or consistency one whose staff has devised the concept of alternative facts is that when he says or promises something, no one can know whether he means it. So it was with President Trumps mid-January promise of health insurance for everybody, including better coverage, more choice among policies, lower deductibles and no one left behind far different from anything his Republican allies in Congress ever promised in their many efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Trump later walked back this commitment, promising now only that There will be nobody dying on the streets in a Trump administration. Then, in his first executive order, he authorized officials to disregard or delay parts of the ACA, including the unpopular mandate that most Americans must buy insurance or pay a tax. For now, details of what some are calling Trump-care remain a mystery. But theres plenty of information available on what Obamacare has meant in California. Here are some facts: The number of previously uninsured Californians covered under Medi-Cal (the states version of federal Medicaid) and the Covered California program of group and individual policies jumped this winter above 5 million most of whom had no coverage before Obamacare. Premiums have risen for them, but so have federally funded subsidies to help many cover those costs unless Trump and his allies undo the subsidies. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says more than 3.7 million low-income California adults would lose health coverage if the ACA were repealed, as Republicans in Congress voted tentatively to do the other day. Another 1.2 million here would lose the tax breaks they now use to buy insurance through Covered California. But Republicans in Congress, led by House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, insist they wont merely repeal what exists now; theyll replace it with something better. Most versions they have floated of that improvement would include higher deductibles and lower coverage at greater cost, but the GOP says customers would then comparison shop and see market competition drive prices down. Now comes Trump, at first promising something no other Republican ever touted: In a telephone interview with the Washington Post, he promised universal coverage, which Democrats sought for decades but never achieved. He also vowed to force drug companies to negotiate prices directly with both Medicare and Medicaid, possibly lowering prices for seniors on Medicare Part D and for some others. Said Trump, There was a philosophy that if you cant pay for it, you dont get it. Thats not going to happen with us. Rather, he said, everyone in America can expect to have great health care . Much less expensive and much better. We already know that if Obamacare were simply abandoned, left moldering beside historys highway with no replacement, at least some deaths and disabilities would follow. Cancer patients who could previously get no care once again would get little or none. Immunizations would drop drastically. Treatment for everything from kidney stones to the common cold would be cut, with commensurately more epidemics. All this could happen if Trumps still secret new plan for health care doesnt work and amounts in real life to a simple repeal of Obamacare. Obama claimed in one of his many exit interviews that the ACA has established that mass insurance can be done; Trumps mixed messages leave it unclear whether he buys this idea. And what if Trump-care actually appears and it works? The first reality is that this would likely see Trump and his fellow Republicans re-elected easily both in 2020 and in the mid-term year of 2018. A second is that if health care becomes available to all at lower prices than todays, California and America will be healthier places. But there is no assurance anything remotely like this will happen, or that it will work if it is mandated. In fact, Trump backtracked at least twice on what he said about universal access to health care. The devil is always in the details, of course, and thats especially true with any Trump proposal, if only because he so often plays fast and loose with both facts and his own past statements. Thomas D. Elias is a writer in Southern California. Rapper Soulja Boy was charged Monday on suspicion of illegally possessing firearms including a handgun at one time stolen from the Huntington Beach Police Department, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office. The 25-year-old rapper, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, pleaded not guilty on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Studio City resident faces up to four years in prison if convicted of two felony weapons-possession counts, and a misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property. Way was arrested at his home on Dec. 15 after police found him in possession of a Mini Draco AR-15, and a Glock 21 .45-caliber handgun that had been reported stolen from a Huntington Beach police vehicle, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Michael Morse said. The Glock was taken from the trunk of an officers unmarked vehicle parked outside of his Long Beach home in September 2015, Huntington Beach Police Chief Robert Handy said Monday. Handy declined to identify the officer or comment further on the burglary because of the ongoing investigation involving Way. Although officers are permitted to take weapons home, they must keep them secure or face consequences, Handy said. The loss or theft of a Police Department-issued firearm usually results in discipline against the officer unless there are extenuating circumstances. There are very few circumstances where losing a weapon would be OK, Handy said. Law enforcement officers must lock up their guns left in unattended vehicles or face fines of $1,000, under a bill signed in September by Gov. Jerry Brown. The new law which had been in the works for months and puts officers in the same camp as civilians in storing weapons came a day after a Register investigation found that at least 329 police firearms were reported lost or stolen from Southern California law-enforcement agencies during the past five years. The gun in the Way case was among the weapons reported in the Register investigation. On Dec. 18, 2014, Way was sentenced to two years of probation after a conviction of carrying a loaded firearm in a public place, according to The Associated Press. He is best known for his September 2007 debut single, Crank That (Soulja Boy), that peaked at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Staff Writer Tony Saavedra contributed to this report. Contact the writer: 714-796-7767 sschwebke@scng.com Twitter: @thechalkoutline SANTA ANA A 23-year-old woman police said has a lengthy criminal history pleaded guilty Monday and was immediately sentenced to nine years in prison for carjackings in Irvine, Costa Mesa and Tustin. Jocelyn Cano of Santa Ana robbed a motorist on the Corona Del Mar (73) Freeway near the Fairview Road off-ramp about 6 p.m. on March 9, 2015, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Greg Scott. A 27-year-old Huntington Beach resident said a knife-wielding suspect smashed in the driver-side window of his 2011 Toyota Prius while he was stopped in traffic on the northbound side of the freeway, Scott said. The suspect ordered the victim out of the car and drove away with the vehicle, Scott said. Costa Mesa police found an abandoned Volvo S80 with a flat right front tire nearby, which had been stolen minutes earlier from an Irvine motorist in a parking lot in the 17000 block of Von Karman Avenue, Scott said. The Volvo was stolen by a knife-wielding suspect in the same manner as the one in Costa Mesa, Scott said. The attempted carjacking occurred in Tustin about 7 p.m. March 9, 2015, in the 3090 block of Edinger Avenue. Cano, who was arrested March 12, 2015, at her Santa Ana residence, has a lengthy criminal history of auto theft, burglary and narcotic arrests, according to Tustin police Lt. Robert Wright. Cano pleaded guilty to two counts of carjacking, two counts of attempted carjacking, and a count each of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and criminal threats, all felonies, according to court records. She also admitted sentencing enhancements for personally using a deadly weapon. i-Creamy Artisan Gelato offers some of the most delicious ice-cream in Sydney, but its not their award-winning creations or the predominantly Asian flavors that set them apart from the competition. Its the way they serve their ice-cream that has everyone talking about i-Creamy and their beautiful gelato flowers. Who wants gelato scoops pressed onto a crunchy cone when you can feast on a delicious ice-cream flower instead? Judging by the crowd lining up outside the i-Creamy Artisan Gelato, in Sydneys Central Business District, even on cold winter nights, and the popularity of i-Creamys Instagram page, nobody! Sure, turning an ice-cream into a work of art takes a bit more time than serving a regular gelato, but it makes people happy and they always come back for more. i-Creamy originally opened in 2012, in the Bondi Junction suburb of Sydney, but co-owners Pichaporn Sapsittiporn and Sasinuch Lapwongpaiboon later decided to move to the bustling business center of the Australian metropolis to make their flavors available to a wider audience. It proved to be a great idea, as the wide range of unique gelato flavors and their special serving technique quickly won over fans of the frozen treat. Creating a gelato rose is a slow but satisfying process. Instead of the classic ice-cream scoop, i-Creamy staff use a shoehorn-like spatula to cut the petals out of the ice-cream tub and press them onto the cone. They start by cramming a small ice-cream wedge into the cone to act as the foundation for the flower, and then apply multiple layers of delicious gelato curls until the rose is complete. As you can see in the photos, the petals get increasingly large from the inside out, giving the finished flowers a more realistic look. We do it petal by petal, Pichaporn Sapsittiporn told Broadsheet. You need the right angle. Each one of these frozen treats takes several hours to complete, so the shop tends to get a bit crowded at peak hours. But people have apparently gotten used to it and will just ask for classic ice-cream cones when theyre in a hurry or when the line behind them gets too long. It takes time but our customers really love it, Sasinuch Lapwongpaiboon adds. So much so, that most a re willing to pay an extra 30 cents to have their gelato shaped like a flower. Another thing that makes i-Creamy special is their unusual flavor lineup. Their display cabinet features 24 different flavors, rotated from a menu of 96 flavor options, many of them inspired by Asian desserts. We are all Thai, so we wanted to develop Asian flavors, Lapwongpaiboon says. You can find flavors like Thai milk tea, palm sugar, black sesame, white chocolate miso and durian, alongside timeless gelato classics like hazelnut, tiramisu or vanilla, and novelty flavors like beer and popcorn. i-Creamy patrons love to customize the look of their edible gelato flowers, by choosing the flavors to achieve the desired look. Some prefer a one-color design, while others go for a rainbow approach. Sapsittiporn always warns customers not to mix the durian with other flavors because it is so strong that the whole ice-cream will taste like it. i-Creamy is definitely not the only place to get a gelato flower, but its definitely the most popular one right now. Theyre creations are all over the internet these days. Photos: i-Creamy/Facebook You probably didnt even know that a government-approved Vladimir Putin calendar actually existed, but even more surprising is the fact that it is incredibly popular in Japan, where hundreds of thousands of copies have been snatched up by fans of the Russian president, in the last few months. The official 2017 Vladimir Putin Calendar is produced by a St. Petersburg company called Mednyi Vsadnik, with authorization from the Russian government. It features a manly photo of Putin for each month of the year, along with some of his most popular quotes. The calendar is written in eight languages, including English, and is obviously very popular in Russia. But while the calendars domestic success was to be expected, its massive popularity in Japan was certainly not. Japanese chain franchise store Loft has been exclusively selling the 2017 Putin calendar since August last year, for around 90 cents apiece. News of the calendar being available at Loft stores apparently spread like wildfire on social media, with many fans of the Russian president scrambling to buy one for themselves or their friends. By October 2016, the Vladimir Putin Calendar, which comes in two sizes, was the the third and fourth most sold item out of some 3,500 different calendars. We expected some interest from our customers, but didnt expect it to become this popular, Loft spokeswoman Koyumi Yokokawa told The Japan Times. Sometimes you can hear customers, in particular women, saying (Putin) looks good or stylish. Apparently, many Japanese see Vladimir Putin as the epitome of masculinity, and the calendar photos showing him preparing for a judo match, piloting a hang glider or wearing a aviation suit were just too hard to resist for many of his fans.The few pics in which hes wrestling with his adorable dogs do nothing to dent his aura of machismo. Instead they are considered a way to show a different side of this powerful man. Interestingly enough, the only highlighted holiday in the 2017 Vladimir Putin calendar is October 7th, his birthday. Weird Asia News reports that by the end of 2016, Loft had sold over 350,000 Putin calendars, a number that exceeded their wildest expectations. Thats Putin for you If youve always dreamed about an epic trip around the world, and have more money that you know what to do with, you might be interested in this offer from experiential travel boutique DreamMaker a 20-day luxury tour of 20 cities across the globe for you and 49 of your closest friends, at the modest price of $13,875,000. As you can probably imagine, this isnt just another trip around the world, but an ultra-luxurious experience designed for a splurging billionaire and his entourage. So what can you expect from a $14 million trip. Well, first of all the ultra rich client will be flying between the 20 cities on the itinerary in a private Boeing 767 jet, while his 49 family and friends follow in their very own Boeing Business Jet. That makes a lot of sense, we dont want these guys feeling crowded on whats supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, right? Anyway, DreamMaker claims that the lucky group will only be spending 12% of the time in the air and 88% on the ground, but they want to make every moment as pleasant as possible. So theyve prepared a variety of in-flight surprises. Dubbed Experiental Aviation, the time spent on board the two luxury jets is described as the pinnacle of private aviation. To ensure that everyones needs are catered to in a timely and professional fashion, the guest to staff ratio will be one on one, with a host of 50 other professionals all experts in their respective fields eager to make your flight as pleasant as possible. A master sommelier will treat guests to the worlds finest wines, a yoga instructor will conduct in-flight yoga sessions to help everyone relax, and renowned hypnotherapist April Norris has apparently been commissioned to develop a holistic program that integrates cutting-edge wearable sleep technology with alternative wellness techniques such as hypnotherapy, Reiki healing, Ayurvedic medicine and acupuncture. Photo: Passport to 50 It is irrelevant how big and beautiful your private jet is if you are unable to relax comfortably or get the required amount of sleep on the plane, said DreamMaker founder Gregory Patrick, the person who designed the Passport to 50 experience. But not every billionaire is into healthy living, so the in-flight program features other types of entertaining activities. For example, there is a $500,000 charity poker tournament with the worlds top-ranked poker player and a fashion show, among other things. Photo: Passport to 50 Patrick and his team have gone to great lengths to ensure that every little detail of the Passport to 50 experience oozes opulence, which leads us to the cocktail swizzle sticks. DreamMaker commissioned their partners at World of Diamonds, a Russian diamond conglomerate, to create a set of 50 18-karat gold sticks set with white and blue diamonds worth a total of $1 million. Crafted into a spinning globe atop the 50 swizzle sticks are 20 white sparklers, each representing every city landing of Passport to 50. One rare fancy blue diamond, a specialty of the diamond mining conglomerate, evokes the blue skies traversed on this trip, the press release states. The guests will get to keep these accessories as souvenirs. DreamMaker hasnt revealed too many details about the on-the-ground activities it has planned for the 50 lucky travelers, but it does mention 50 monks blessings amidst an inundation of 50,000 lotus petals. That sounds pretty special. Photo: Passport to 50 However, the Passport to 50 experience is not just about infinite luxury. Through this trip, we have a way to act as a conduit to positively impact childrens lives, says Patrick. It makes no sense to work so hard to please the most discerning of clientele without making the same effort to balance the decadence with an element of kindness that delivers higher levels of fulfillment. Planned charity activities include the distribution of 2,500 bicycles to enable rural children in Cambodia to attend school, the provision of clean drinking water for 50,000 at-risk children in the Philippines, as well as building fun centers for 50,000 children battling life-threatening illnesses in the United Kingdom. The Passport to 50 trip around the globe will kick off in August 2017 from the island of Koh Samui and continues through Siem Reap, Kathmandu, Agra, Florence, Siena, Cannes, Moulinet, London, Barcelona, Ibiza, Marbella, Marrakech, Havana, Knoxville, Kona, El Nido, an unnamed secret island, before finishing in Manilla. So get your checkbook ready. Photo: Passport to 50 Source: Passport to 50 Donald Trump The US intelligence community has opened investigations into several members of President Donald Trump's inner circle over the past year, focusing on the advisers' potential ties to Russian government officials throughout Trump's presidential campaign and beyond. The investigations appear to have begun as early as last spring, when the CIA established a US counterintelligence task force to investigate whether the Trump campaign received funds from Russia. The task force consisted of the FBI, the Treasury and Justice departments, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the National Security Agency. The BBC first reported on the existence of the investigation earlier this month, which McClatchy also reported was still ongoing. The investigation sought, among other things, to determine who financed the hacks on the Democratic National Committee and of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, and whether any of Trump's associates served as middlemen between his campaign and the Kremlin. John Brennan, the former director of the CIA, also received a recording of a conversation last year from one of the Baltic states' intelligence agencies suggesting that money from the Kremlin had gone to the Trump campaign, the BBC reported. One night before Trump's inauguration, The New York Times reported that intercepted communications were part of the investigation into ties between Russia and people close to Trump, but the report said it was "not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with Mr. Trump's campaign, or Mr. Trump himself." The BBC report indicated that the task force was granted a warrant by a judge in the FISA court named after the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on October 15 to intercept the electronic records from two Russian banks that could have been implicated in any money transfer. Trump was not named in the warrant, but three of his associates were the subject of the inquiry. Story continues All three associates contacted, but not named, by the BBC, denied the allegations contained in the report. The 4 big names Trump's potential ties to Russia have come under increased scrutiny amid allegations contained in a 35-page dossier from a former British intelligence officer. The unverified claims contained in the dossier include that his campaign colluded with the Kremlin during the election to undermine Hillary Clinton. Paul Manafort, Trump's one-time campaign manager who served as a top adviser to a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine from 2004 to 2012, emerged as a central figure in both the dossier and the intelligence community's early inquiries into Trump's ties to Russia. Secret ledgers uncovered by an anticorruption center in Kiev and obtained by The New York Times revealed that former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych's political party, the pro-Russia Party of Regions, earmarked $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments to Manafort for his work from 2007 to 2012. Manafort has denied ever having collected the earmarked payments. But the unverified dossier on which top US leaders have been briefed alleges that Yanukovych "confided directly to Putin that he authorized kickback payments to Manafort," who "had been commercially active in Ukraine right up to the time (in March 2016) when he joined campaign team." Paul Manafort The dossier also alleged that Manafort, who resigned as Trump's campaign manager on August 19, served as a liaison between Trump's campaign team and Russian government officials. The FBI looked into Manafort last year for ties to Russian officials and business interests that Manafort has said do not exist. "I have never had any relationship with the Russian [government] or any Russian officials," Manafort told The Wall Street Journal. "I was never in contact with anyone, or directed anyone to be in contact with anyone." Two other Trump allies, Carter Page and Roger Stone, have also been scrutinized by the intelligence community for their relationships with Moscow. Page served as an early foreign-policy adviser to Trump, and Stone advised Trump's campaign until August 2015. Page's extensive business ties to state-owned Russian companies, stemming from his time as an investment banker in Moscow in the early 2000s, were investigated by the FBI last summer. The bureau also looked into Stone's ties to WikiLeaks, which published the hacked Podesta emails last year. Roger Stone On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was being investigated by counterintelligence agents over his phone calls to Russia's ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, on December 29. That was the day that President Barack Obama sanctioned Russia over its election-related hacking and expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the US. Sean Spicer, the new White House press secretary, said at the time that Flynn's calls to Kislyak "centered around the logistics of setting up a call with the president of Russia and the president-elect after he was sworn in." But CNN reported on Monday that the calls, "captured by routine US eavesdropping targeting the Russian diplomats," raised "enough potential concerns that investigators are still looking into the discussions amid a broader concern about Russian intelligence-gathering activities in the United States." Flynn's ties to Russia were scrutinized after he attended a gala in Moscow in 2015 celebrating the 10th anniversary of the state-sponsored news agency Russia Today. Flynn was photographed sitting next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the gala's dinner. NOW WATCH: How a struggling Soviet spy became the most powerful man in Russia More From Business Insider By Michelle Price HONG KONG (Reuters) - Companies aiming to relocate from the United Kingdom to Luxembourg ahead of Britain's exit from the European Union will have to establish a substantial presence in the country, including key decision-makers and functions, the Benelux nation's financial watchdog told Reuters. Some UK businesses are looking to establish a notional presence in Luxembourg to maintain so-called "passporting rights" that would allow them to continue selling all their services across the 28-nation bloc with minimum cost and disruption. But Jean-Marc Goy, counsel for international affairs of Luxembourg's Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF), said it is "out of the question" and "unrealistic" for UK businesses to seek to establish a nominal presence. "EU rules require substance in the jurisdiction where an entity is established and we in Luxembourg are very mindful that that substance complies at all time with the EU rules," Goy told Reuters after attending a CSSF roadshow to the Asia region. Goy said the CSSF would assess each application case by case. "It will depend on the size and the technicality of the activities being relocated, but one thing is for sure: it cannot just be a postal address or a letter-box entity. That would be absolutely unacceptable." The CSSF will require companies to relocate a minimum number of staff, decision-makers and other key functions - covering IT, compliance, risk management and internal audit - and comply with minimum capital requirements, Goy added. His comments followed a long-awaited speech last week by Theresa May in which the British Prime Minister ended months of speculation by outlining her vision for a so-called "hard Brexit" that will take Britain out of the EU single market. May promised to seek the greatest possible access to European markets but her speech put a decisive end to any hope habourbed by London's financial lobby that the City of London could keep financial passporting rights. Goy said that the CSSF has been in talks with British businesses looking to set up in Luxembourg, one of the world's largest asset management centres. He declined to provide numbers but said that the watchdog does not anticipate an influx of tens of thousands of UK staff. (Editing by David Goodman) Lace up the ice skates, fill the thermos with coffee and get ready to hit the rink. The University of Nebraska Medical Centers annual Skate-a-thon is Friday through Saturday. During the 24-hour event, skaters will raise money for Parkinsons disease research. The public is invited to attend and participate for $10, which includes skate rental and ice access. Those in attendance can skate as long as they like. The last two events have drawn more than 500 skaters. Skating starts at 2 p.m. Friday at the UNMC ice rink, just east of 42nd Street between Dewey Avenue and Emile Street. In addition to a heated tent, hot drinks, snacks and music, there will be special activities to break up the skating. Events include dance parties, a pajama skate and yoga. Proceeds benefit Parkinsons research at UNMC and Parkinsons Nebraska, which helps those in Nebraska and surrounding areas who are affected by the disease. As many as 1 million Americans live with Parkinsons disease, according to the Parkinsons Disease Foundation. Those with the disease often experience tremors, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance or coordination. The past six skate-a-thons held at UNMC have raised more than $155,000. That money has largely benefited exercise classes and support groups, said organizer Ted Wuebben. People diagnosed with Parkinson's are encouraged to exercise, but it's often difficult for them to use the equipment at gyms. If the weather cooperates, Wuebben said he expects to see between 500 and 700 skaters, plus additional spectators. "What else can you do outside in January in Omaha? This is something to bring everybody together," he said. Wuebben and his wife, Colleen, started the skate-a-thon in 2011 after Colleen was diagnosed with Parkinsons at age 52. The couple flooded their backyard to create a rink for three years before moving the event to UNMC. Since Colleens death in 2013, the event has been held in her honor. Skaters can register in advance or pay at the event. Anyone can make an online donation. The movie Hidden Figures about three exceptional African-American women who worked for NASA during the 1950s and the early 60s, absolutely captivated me. The stars of the movie, Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monae, brought the story to life. The story was so powerful, moving, touching and in many instances painful, I could not take my eyes off the screen. Seeing a film such as this brought out a lot of agonizing feelings for African-American women. Any of us who were growing up in the 50s remembered the restaurants, restrooms, drinking fountains, amusement parks or movie theaters that we were not allowed in because of the color of our skin. I remember when traveling with my parents down South how very careful my dad was driving on the highways so as not to be stopped by a police officer, a black mans dreaded fear. I remember how our mother had to pack our lunches because we couldnt stop at a roadside cafe. We couldnt stop and use restrooms at the gas stations. I look back now and see how my parents tried to shield us kids from hate and fear yet prepare us to survive in a world that seemingly wasnt meant for us. So, to see those ladies performing in such an extraordinary way under the pressures that they had to endure was a cause for celebration. As a black woman, the pride I felt for those ladies was indescribable. But my largest reaction was the new appreciation I felt for my daughter-in-law, Alisa Gilmore, for succeeding as a black woman in a male-dominated field. Alisa is an associate professor of practice for engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Omaha campus. Her teaching specializations are robotics, electrical circuits and telecommunications engineering. She has a passion for and leads the coordination of the Nebraska Robotics Expo, which draws many teams of elementary and middle school students to Strategic Air Command to compete. She and our son, Andre, met in Atlanta, where they both received their bachelors degrees in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. Alisa also has a bachelors degree in mathematics from Spelman College and a masters degree in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. Before coming to UNL, she held engineering positions in telecommunications, research and development and manufacturing. Alisa grew up in an educationally stimulating environment as an only child of Lonnie and Melba Smith; both are dedicated professionals who wanted the best for their daughter. When they discovered that she had an aptitude for math and science, she was encouraged to pursue her interest even though it was a male-dominated field. Alisa and Andre take the same approach rearing their daughter and son. Alisa, like so many others, is disappointed over the lack of representation of women and especially women of color in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I have watched her over the years encourage, mentor, advocate, advise and help African-American young ladies to go in that direction. She is a tremendous role model. She was so excited about Hidden Figures and thrilled about being a part of a Jan. 11 movie screening and panel discussion at Aksarben Cinema held by a UNO organization, WiSTEM Pro^2 Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The Pro^2 stands for promotion and professional development. The group advocates for the advancement of women in STEM and continued professional development through mentoring, programming and encouraging the retention of women faculty and staff. Along with Alisa, the panel included Jenna Yentes, biomechanics; Anne Karabon, early childhood education; DeeDee Bennett, public administration; Kelly Gomez Johnson, teacher education; and Jennifer Harbour, history and black studies. There was a lively discussion after the movie. Thursday evening, an Omaha Red Carpet Event and showing of Hidden Figures at Aksarben Cinema honored Omahas own African-American STEM and mentoring trailblazers as they begin to launch the next generation of STEM Champions. The theater was filled not only with adults, but also an abundance of young African-American students. Not only was I delighted with Alisa being honored, but also seeing other African-American people achieving in a field that at one time did not embrace people who looked like them. And I was joyful for all the young people being exposed to the possibility of a profession in a STEM-related field. HBOs documentary on Warren Buffett got an advance screening in Omaha on Monday, starting with images of a youngster sorting out used soda-pop bottle caps and ending with the 86-year-old crooning Somewhere Over the Rainbow. In between, the film by Peter Kunhardt and his sons, Teddy and George, describes Buffetts investing philosophy and his buildup of Berkshire into the nations fourth-largest corporation. Business associates and Berkshire shareholders discuss his discipline in choosing the right investments and his decision to give his wealth to charity. But its the personal detail that sets Becoming Warren Buffett apart, said Buffett. It should be personal, he said. It doesnt tell the story thats already been told ... multiple times. He praised Peter Kunhardt. Its accurate. Its the way I lived my life, he said. Its what I hoped he would do. Buffett was among about 250 guests invited by HBO to view the film in a recital hall at the Holland Center for the Performing Arts. It premiers on the cable network at 9 p.m. central time on Jan. 30. At the Holland Centers Scott Recital Hall, the film was introduced by Buffetts youngest grandson, Michael Greenberg, who described growing up in Omaha and going to fine dining establishments, like Dairy Queen, with his grandfather. In the movie, Greenberg said, you will see him as a complete person. You will see he is as complicated as he is intelligent, as sensitive as he is calculating ... in short, hes a regular dude. The film is built around Buffetts personal relationships, especially his marriage to Susan Thompson Buffett. It includes family home movies and photos never shown publicly before and a detailed account of her illness and 2004 death, as well as Susan Buffetts relationship with his current wife, Astrid. Also attending the screening were George and Teddy Kunhardt. The family filmmaking business, based in Pleasantville, New York, has two more films under way, but they couldnt divulge the subject matter. Besides photos and movies from daughter Susie Buffett, the Kunhardt brothers visited Peter Buffett, her youngest brother, who said he might have some home movies in his basement. The two were rooting through boxes when George Kunhardt picked out one and said, I think this is it, recalled his brother, Teddy. It was amazing, Teddy Kunhardt said. The package had four rolls of 8-millimeter film, some of it undeveloped. At the time, they were just finishing a film on James Foley, an American journalist who was beheaded by the Islamic State in 2012 during the Syrian civil war. The Buffett film was a completely different project. For us, to meet and work with the person that the films about, in this case Warren Buffett, was a dream come true, George Kunhardt said. It was a great experience. The films opening bottle-cap segment is a re-enactment of Buffetts oft-told tale of his early market research. Based on his finding that Coca-Cola was the best-selling brand of soda, he bought Cokes for 25 cents per six-pack and sold each bottle for 5 cents, turning a 5-cent profit. The Buffetts also attended a showing of the Kunhardt film last week at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, with similar refreshments. Accounts of the showing said Buffett got two standing ovations. The Omaha showing was followed by a reception in the adjacent lobby that featured Dairy Queen Dilly Bars and Sees Candies. Both companies are parts of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the Omaha-based conglomerate that Buffett heads. Buffetts gravelly rendition of the song from The Wizard of Oz serves as background music as the movies closing credits roll. In the film, Susan Buffett says it brings back fond memories. My dad used to rock me to sleep at night and sing Over the Rainbow, so I have this insanely sentimental attachment to that song, she says. Ive always had a really close relationship with him. As the song ends, Buffett says, Good night, Suze. In the interview Monday, Buffett said he recorded the tune 30 years ago while on vacation at a mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. If Susie woke up at 2 in the morning, I would go in and start singing, Buffett said. The only thing that might be noted is, I think she really didnt go to sleep. I think she pretended to go to sleep so Id quit singing. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. owns the Omaha World-Herald A U.S. Agriculture Department research agency this week banned the release of news, photos and other material to the public, then, amid criticism Tuesday, appeared set to walk back the order. In a Monday memo to employees at USDAs Agricultural Research Service, Chief of Staff Sharon Drumm said the agency would immediately cease releasing any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content, read the email memo obtained by the Associated Press and reported Tuesday. Then, a Tuesday statement released by the research services spokesman, Christopher Bentley, said the service values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public as we strive to find solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. News agency Reuters reported Tuesday that the USDA said the original email was flawed. This internal email was released without Departmental direction, and prior to Departmental guidance being issued, USDA said in a statement, according to Reuters. ARS will be providing updated direction to its staff. Later Tuesday, the acting deputy secretary of the Agriculture Department said he would ask officials at the Agricultural Research Service to rescind the memo that ordered employees not to release documents to the public. Frankly I dont understand what the basis for the ARS email was, said Michael Young, the acting deputy secretary. The Agricultural Research Service is the USDAs in-house research agency, and carries out about 750 research projects. It has two offices in Nebraska and one in Iowa. Representatives at the offices in Lincoln and in Clay Center, Nebraska, referred questions from The World-Herald to the ARS national office, which did not respond to questions. Scientists at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center study livestock genetics, breeding and animal health and nutrition. Scientists in the Lincoln office study farm ecosystem management, crops and forage. The Ames, Iowa, office has a focus on animal diseases and many other topics. President Donald Trump has nominated former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary, but Perdue has not been confirmed. Young, a career official at USDA for three decades, is temporarily in charge. The restrictions on information havent been limited to the USDA. The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. And the Associated Press reported over the weekend that staff at the Interior Department were temporarily ordered to stop posting to its Twitter account. Someone at the Badlands National Park defied the order Tuesday to tweet about climate change; the tweets later were removed. The Monday memo, first reported by BuzzFeed News, drew concern from scientists posting on Twitter. Scientists from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Doane University who posted concern on Twitter about the news told The World-Herald they were not speaking on behalf of their schools and didnt want to be quoted. An official in the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Agricultural Research Division declined to comment. And officials in the institutes extension office didnt respond to a request for comment. Dan Samorodnitsky, a researcher studying prions or infectious agents at the National Animal Disease Center in the Ames office, said he had not received any memo and that colleagues still were submitting research to scholarly journals. Anything hed heard about the memo had come from news reports. Everyone is totally in the dark at least the scientists at my level are, he told The World-Herald. Andrew Kniss, an associate professor of weed biology and ecology at the University of Wyoming, said on Twitter that the ARS will have a hard time pursuing its mission if it cant communicate about its research. He told The World-Herald that the research is intended to be shared, whether so entrepreneurs can use it to bring new technologies to market, or so farmers can apply it to their own agricultural operations. Theyre public scientists this is information that we as taxpayers have paid for, he said. To prevent them from having any contact with outside media thats really problematic. The order also got attention outside of scientific research circles. The directive seems unusual, and is difficult to decipher, said Diane Wanek, director of communications at the Joslyn Institute for Sustainable Communities. The organization, with offices in Lincoln and Omaha, uses USDA research, works with the USDA on issues like building the rural economy and is a recipient of USDA grants. She said she hopes the ban is temporary and planned to contact Nebraskas congressional delegation with her questions. Were just seeing a lot of things from this administration that give us pause because we dont know what is going on, she said. This report includes material from the Associated Press. Nebraska law enforcement agencies have begun using the FBIs broader definition of sexual assault in recording crime data, a change that is expected to provide a clearer picture of sexual violence in the state and a jump in rape statistics. The new definition includes same-sex assaults, forcible penetration with an object, female-on-male assaults and a variety of other assaults not covered under the old definition, which was more limited and focused on male-on-female assaults. The change wont make a difference in how sex crimes are investigated and prosecuted, police said. Thats because state law, which law enforcement agencies enforce, already uses a broader definition. Its going to give a much clearer picture of the crimes of sexual assault, said Capt. Kerry Neumann of the Omaha Police Department. That sentiment was echoed by others. Emily Wright, an associate professor at the University of Nebraska at Omahas School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said the way society thinks of sexual assault is evolving. We are more knowledgeable about how you can be sexually assaulted, and by who, she said. Broadening the definition is certainly a good thing, and it is going to give us a better idea of what is going on in Nebraska. The FBI changed its definition of sexual assault in January 2013. Nearby states differed in how they reacted. Iowa and Missouri switched right away. Kansas has yet to broaden its definition. The definition drives how the statistics are recorded in local and FBI crime reports. In the year after Missouri made the switch its statistics showed a 40 percent increase in sexual assaults. In 2012 Missouri recorded 1,510 sexual assaults. In 2013 it reported 2,138, said Mark Ritchey, director of the Missouri Highway Patrol statistical analysis center. Nebraska in recent years has recorded about 600 to 650 forcible rapes a year. In June 2016 the Nebraska Crime Commission directed local law enforcement agencies to begin using the new definition by Jan 1. Omaha police stuck with the old definition through the end of 2016 to keep that years statistics consistent, said Neumann, who oversees investigations and crime analysis. We elected to just go with a clean slate in January, he said. It just made more sense. The change is good for victims, said Amy Richardson, CEO of the Womens Center for Advancement in Omaha. The definition in everyones mind is so narrow, she said. It always helps to have a broader yet specific definition that law enforcement can react to, that medical staff can react to. Omaha city leaders have visited with the family of a public works employee who remains at the Nebraska Medical Center after he was hit by a car Monday while working on a pothole repair. Salvatore Fidone III, 48, of Council Bluffs, was listed in critical condition on Tuesday, according to a hospital spokesperson. His colleagues in the street maintenance division have taken the news hard, said Public Works Director Bob Stubbe. Its just very difficult for those individuals, he said. A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help Fidone's family: https://www.gofundme.com/2km86r89?ssid=889310802&pos=26 Stubbe said the employees have been offered access to an employee assistance program if they need to talk about the incident. Fidone was taken to the hospital after being hit at 9:50 a.m. Monday at 144th and U Streets, said Omaha Police Sgt. Douglas Klein. Investigators determined that a city truck and its crew were preparing to fill potholes, and Fidone was standing on the drivers side of the truck. A 2012 Toyota Camry driven by Alan R. Solarana, 53, of Omaha, was northbound on 144th in the inside lane. Witnesses told police that the Camry drifted over and struck Fidone. Neither excessive speed nor alcohol use was a factor in the crash, Klein said. Omaha Police Sgt. Chuck Casey said the results of the investigation, once its completed, will be forwarded to the Douglas County Attorneys Office for a decision on any charges. Stubbe said he, along with Assistant Director Todd Pfitzer, Mayor Jean Stothert and her chief of staff, Marty Bilek, visited with Fidones family in the hospital Monday. During the invocation at Tuesdays City Council meeting, Councilwoman Aimee Melton asked attendees to pray for Fidone. She said public works employees are suffering, as is Fidones family. And she asked motorists to use caution. When one of our own is out there working hard, working in the cold, we have to remember thats a dangerous job, Melton said. Fidone has worked in the street maintenance division since October 2015. Earlier at a City Council work session, Councilman Garry Gernandt expressed his sympathy for the family and said council members are thinking about Fidone. He has parents, siblings and two children, Stubbe said. HASTINGS, Neb. A former Hastings police detective who had been charged with theft involving a GoFundMe page pleaded no contest to a Class 1 misdemeanor last week in Adams County District Court. Jerry Esch entered the plea Friday to one count of misdemeanor theft by deception, according to a press release from the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office. He was ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution. Esch, 46, of Hastings had been charged with theft by deception involving more than $5,000, a Class 2A felony, which has a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and no minimum punishment. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge in September. Esch was employed by the Hastings Police Department in November 2015 when he created a GoFundMe page in which he asked for money to cover medical expenses he claimed to have incurred due to cancer. While Esch did have cancer, he did not have the medical bills he claimed to have incurred, according to the Attorney Generals Office. According to a court affidavit, Esch told co-workers he needed to cover medical expenses that werent covered by his insurance provider, Blue Cross Blue Shield. But Blue Cross Blue Shield records from October 2014 to November 2015 indicated that Esch didnt have any out-of-network services, and he had no denied claims in 2015. In an interview with the State Patrol in January 2016, the affidavit says, "Esch acknowledged that he requested funds for medical expenses because he knew he was more likely to get donations than if he had truthfully stated his credit card debt and other debt were due to poor financial decisions." Many individuals donated money based on Eschs claims, the Attorney Generals Office press release said. New Orleans police have released a composite sketch of a person being sought for questioning in connection with a hit-and-run case more than a year ago that left a 28-year-old former Omahan dead on New Years Day 2016. Josh Woodruff, a Burke High School graduate who was director of customer strategy for a Los Angeles startup company, was struck at Decatur and Dumaine Streets about 1 a.m., police said. The person being sought was seen driving a vehicle that matches the description of the car that hit Woodruff. He was last seen driving westbound across the Crescent City Connection, exiting at General DeGaulle Drive and L.B. Landry Avenue, police said. He was described as a short black man, about 18 to 24 years old, with a thin build, brown or light brown complexion, thin braids and a green wing tattoo outline on the left side of his neck. Police said the unknown man is wanted only for questioning in connection with the case. Woodruff, a Harvard University graduate, was hit by the vehicle in the citys French Quarter and dragged more than 6 miles. In an interview Tuesday morning with KMTV, Woodruffs mother, Caren Woodruff, said the sketch made the family feel hopeful and she urged people in New Orleans who saw the crash to come forward. Im still looking for the call that says were done, she said. This is better than we had a few weeks ago, better than last year, so good, were on it. But, she said, Im looking forward to the end. A recent phone scam claiming to be from a Sarpy County Sheriffs Office lieutenant has been targeting people over a sham arrest warrant for not reporting for jury duty. The caller says a fine must be paid over the phone or an arrest warrant will be issued, the Sheriffs Office said. The caller instructs people to purchase a prepaid VISA card, the Sheriffs Office said. When the victim reads the numbers off the card, the Sheriffs Office said, the money is emptied off the card. At least one person has fallen for the scam and lost $1,000, the Sheriffs Office said. The Sheriffs Office said it does not call individuals and request that they pay off a warrant over the phone. If anyone has concerns about whether he or she is speaking to a deputy over the phone, call the Sarpy County Sheriffs Office at 402-593-2288. COUNCIL BLUFFS Alisa Roth, owner of Bloom Works Floral in Council Bluffs, has been named the winner of the 2017 Deb Dalziel Woman Entrepreneurial Award presented by Americas Small Business Development Centers Iowa. The award will be presented during a special ceremony on March 14 at the State Capitol in Des Moines. Americas SBDC Iowa is an outreach program of Iowa State Universitys College of Business and the Office of Economic Development and Industry Relations. Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Americas SBDC Iowa has 15 regional assistance center located across the state. Since the programs inception in 1981, the SBDC has helped Iowa businesses and entrepreneurs through no fee, confidential, customized, professional business counseling and practical, affordable workshops. Sue Pitts, regional director of the Iowa Western Community College Small Business Development Center in Council Bluffs, nominated Roth for the Deb Dalziel Award because, Alisa has become a respected entrepreneur and is very involved in the Council Bluffs Community. She has been through many trying times with her business and in her personal life but has trudged through it all and has never stopped working her business and putting her heart and soul into making Council Bluffs the best place it can be. Pitts said Roth was the first client she worked with when she started the SBDC position at Iowa Western in 2004. Pitts offered the following comments and insights in her nomination of Roth for the Dalziel award: Alisa had a dream to start and run her own business in 2004 and stopped into the SBDC to see how we could help her. She was in her early 20s with two very young children. Within six months, Alisa and her key employee, Susan Enewald, were gracing the 100 block in downtown Council Bluffs. They quickly became a household name in the community and a mainstay presence in downtown Council Bluffs. Alisa has become a respected entrepreneur in the community and is a top influencer in this region in her industry. She has participated in many mentor activities through the SBDC and other organizations to help and support other entrepreneurs as well as future entrepreneurs. She is not only passionate about her industry but is passionate about sharing her dream for running her own business with others. Alisa is also extremely involved in the community and uses her business as a means to raise awareness and dollars for issues important to her. One example of this is Bloom Works Annual Good Neighbor Day event. Every year on the designated national Good Neighbor Day, Bloom Works gives away 10,000 free roses. They open their doors at 8 a.m. and, while supplies last, give away 12 roses to each person. They ask that each person keeps one rose and give 11 roses away to 11 people to create many, many, random acts of kindness in Council Bluffs. Alisa has been through many trying times with her business and in her personal life including the loss of her husband, Council Bluffs Police Lt. Ben Roth, to a short and devastating battle with cancer but has trudged through it all and has never stopped working her business and putting her heart and soul into making Council Bluffs the best place it can be. Roth, who had worked for other local florists before deciding to open her own shop in 2004, said she began working with Pitts before opening her shop. Working with the Sue at the SBDC made me feel comfortable with things, Roth said. You look at things realistically. Roth opened Bloom Works Floral in 2004 at 106 W. Broadway, now the home of Glory Days. She moved the shop to its current location at 138 W. Broadway eight years ago and currently employs four part-time designers with lots of family help. Changes in technology have been very influential, she said. Its not like it was when I started 20 years ago. Its really important to keep up with social media, current communication methods, to keep up with customers." Roth is active in a variety of Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce activities as well as CB Business Connections. Shes also active in her kids school activities. Update: Embattled State Sen. Bill Kintner is resigning from the Nebraska Legislature following months of criticism from lawmakers, constituents and Gov. Pete Ricketts. Kintners resignation is effective Jan. 30. Read the full story here ***** LINCOLN Papillion State Sen. Bill Kintner faced an explosion of public anger and legislative criticism Monday after retweeting a comment that appeared to make light of sexual assault. Kintner initially blamed the liberal playbook for the response to his Sunday morning retweet. But by midafternoon Monday, he had taken down his Twitter account and issued a more muted public statement. By retweeting a message, I was not implying support for putting women in fear of their personal safety, he said. I took down the retweet as soon as I became aware that it was being misconstrued. The message in question originally had been tweeted by Los Angeles-based talk show host Larry Elder. It had a photo of three Womens March participants who appeared to be middle-aged, holding signs saying Not this pussy and Not mine either. The signs referenced comments made by President Donald Trump about grabbing women by their genitals, an action that would constitute sexual assault. Elder commented: Ladies, I think youre safe. Kintner did not add any comment of his own. Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has previously criticized Kintner for engaging in cybersex with a woman over Skype on his state computer, reiterated calls for Kintner to resign. Critics said the tweet and retweet made a joke of sexual assault and suggested, erroneously, that women are not vulnerable to sexual assault if they are too old or too ugly. Sexual assault is one of the worst things that can happen to a person, to make jokes about such is repulsive, said Ashley Weyers, who had an email exchange Sunday evening with Kintner over the retweet. The senator told Weyers that he retweeted the message because he thought it was funny. He said the women in the photo looked ridiculous standing with their crude signs. I understand people see things differently, so what strikes one person as funny, is quite often offensive to another person, Kintner said. By Monday morning, his office telephone was ringing constantly and his voicemail was full with calls from people objecting to the retweet. Twitter was buzzing with critics. But Kintner had some defenders as well, including John Orr of Blair, who said on Twitter that the uproar was designed to distract people from the real issues. In the Legislature, the incident provided additional impetus to those who want to see Kintner disciplined over the cybersex scandal. Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha said the retweet, which he said defamed women, was simply the latest incident of bad behavior by Kintner. He said its time for the Legislature to address whether to censure, expel or impeach Kintner for the cybersex incident so that the body can move on to debating bills. Theres a time to be a statesman and theres time to do the states business, no matter what it takes, Krist said. After the Legislature adjourned for the day, Krist said he will probably propose a sanction against his colleague, perhaps as early as this week. Kintner paid a $1,000 fine to the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission last summer after admitting that he misused state property in July 2015 to engage in mutual masturbation with a woman on Skype. The misuse came to light after the woman tried to extort money from Kintner and he reported the attempted extortion to the Nebraska State Patrol. At a press conference Monday on an unrelated topic, Ricketts said he hadnt read Kintners retweet, but maintained his position from the summer that the Papillion senator should resign. Its really up to the Legislature to manage their own people and take actions with their own members, Ricketts said. Asked about the womens marches in Washington, D.C., and across the nation, Ricketts called the First Amendment freedoms of speech and protest one of the best things about our country. Its always great when people get to express that, he said. Im hopeful that the Trump administration, through the policies and actions, will be able to start alleviating (the protesters) concerns. After the cybersex incident came out last summer, the Legislatures Executive Board implemented a new policy concerning the use of state computers and networks. The policy was amended into legislative rules last week. Among unacceptable uses of state technology or networks, the policy lists posting information on personal, commercial or campaign-related social media sites or websites. Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, the Executive Board chairman, said he doesnt know whether Kintner used any state-owned equipment or network to send the retweet but said he will be looking into the matter. Kintner has had a history of getting in hot water over what he says and what he has posted on social media. Among the previous controversies: In June 2015 on his Facebook page he posted a graphic photo of a beheaded woman. Kintner said he didnt know whether the photo was real but posted it to make a point about the need for the death penalty. Kintner removed the post after critics said the photo did not belong on social media, where children could access it and where it could cause grief to the womans family. At a town hall meeting in January 2014, Kintner said women, not men, can live a pretty good life by making mistakes such as having more children. He singled out women when he said he objects to paying for bad behavior through tax support of social programs, the Nebraska City News-Press reported. Later, Kintner said he should have stated his position more artfully. World-Herald staff writers Emily Nohr and Joe Duggan contributed to this report. Update, 8:30 a.m.: Embattled State Sen. Bill Kintner is resigning from the Nebraska Legislature following months of criticism from lawmakers, constituents and Gov. Pete Ricketts. Kintners resignation is effective Jan. 30. Read the full story here ***** LINCOLN The Nebraska Legislature has given State Sen. Bill Kintner a stark choice: resign or face almost certain removal by his colleagues. As he has done since he admitted last summer to using a state laptop for cybersex, Kintner on Tuesday resisted calls to step down. But the conservative firebrand from Papillion also announced that he will hold a press conference Wednesday morning to reveal how he plans to proceed shortly before the Legislature takes up a resolution to expel him from office. The resolution will be introduced by Speaker of the Legislature Jim Scheer of Norfolk, who said he was confident that it would gain more than the 33-vote supermajority it needs to pass. The speaker said it was important that he take the lead on an action that appears to be unprecedented in the 80-year history of the unicameral Legislature. While the cybersex incident has lingered for months, Kintner touched off a fresh storm of controversy this week by retweeting a comment that appeared to make light of sexual assault. Kintners conduct has brought the Legislature and legislative process into disrespect and disrepute, has shaken the confidence that the people of the state have in the Legislature and has impaired the ability of the Legislature to conduct its business, the resolution states. Meanwhile, nearly half of the 49 senators, a mix of Republicans and Democrats and others, told The World-Herald that they would vote to remove Kintner from office. Most of the rest said they were unsure how they would vote, but only two flatly ruled out expulsion. In this matter we will be setting precedent, and we should be mindful and deliberate about that, said Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwell, who said hes still weighing what he will do. Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers has applied unrelenting pressure on lawmakers to remove Kintner since August, when the cybersex incident prompted a $1,000 fine for misuse of state property. But the controversy over the retweet compelled many other senators to denounce their colleague Tuesday in a series of floor speeches that was somber and at times emotional. Every time we joke about somebody being sexually assaulted, we make everybody who has experienced that relive it, said Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, who paused to gather himself. Sen. Kintner should resign because its people like me and my family who have been through that and have to relive it. Resign! For the first time Tuesday, Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion publicly called for Kintner to resign, saying his friend appears to be hurting the conservative causes they both support. Many believe that Sen. Kintners conservative voice is the reason that he is being attacked or attempted to be moved out of office. That is not the case. The case is because of his behavior and comments, Smith said. Smith added that he met with Kintner on Tuesday and urged him to do the right thing for the Legislature, himself and his family. Kintner, who was not on the floor for Tuesdays debate, issued a statement afterward saying he has made no decision about his future as a senator. I understand my colleagues concern about the retweet I sent this weekend, he said. I am very troubled by the liberal activist campaign that is using my mistake on the tweet to escalate calls for my resignation. Kintner went on to say that if Chambers didnt have me to beat up, he would be taking up floor time on some other issue. It has been clear that Chambers agenda has been to remove me from office since last summer, Kintner said. He has made it obvious that he will use any means, including lies and cheap shots at my wife and myself. Lauren Kintner leads Gov. Pete Ricketts policy research office. On Monday, Ricketts reiterated his call for Bill Kintner to resign. The Republican lawmaker paid a fine last year after admitting to engaging in cybersex on his state-issued computer with a woman he met online. Chambers said he never made a cheap shot at Kintners wife and never said anything that was untrue. Kintners comments dont trouble me at all. His days are numbered, Chambers said. Many lawmakers even those who have said his fate should be decided by voters, not senators said they hoped the prospect of Kintners ouster would finally persuade him to step down. Sens. Curt Friesen of Henderson and Mike Groene of North Platte said they would support a resolution to censure Kintner, but not one to expel him. Groene said he urged his colleague to resign Tuesday after the retweeting incident caused Groene to question Kintners judgment. Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston said he, too, would support a censure of Kintner, but doesnt know how hed vote on expulsion. He would prefer if Kintners constituents could make the decision when they go to the polls in 2018, when Kintner is up for re-election. Its put me in an awful bind, he said. My sense is that the people of his district should make the final call. Thats what democracy is about. Has it moved slow? Yes. Sen. Bob Krist of Omaha filed the first motion to expel Kintner on Tuesday; it was not taken up before lawmakers adjourned for the day. But the speaker has the authority to set the agenda, and so his resolution will be the one debated when the Legislature convenes at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Scheer said he is among those who would vote to remove Kintner. I do believe that he has lost the respect of this body, the respect of the majority of his constituents, the respect of the state, he said. Along with expelling Kintner, the resolution would declare a vacancy for the seat representing Cass County and parts of Otoe and Sarpy Counties. It would be up to Ricketts to choose someone to fill the vacancy. That person would need to run in 2018 to keep the seat. An expulsion would not prohibit the expelled member from running for public office again, including for the same legislative seat. Taylor Gage, the governors spokesman, said no action would be taken on a possible replacement until there is a vacancy. Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln said her office has been inundated with phone calls, emails and personal letters from people questioning why Kintner remained in office. Were unable to do the states business, she said. Freshman Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, who reported the same deluge at her office, called for Kintner to resign. Later she added that she would vote to expel him. I think as an elected official we are held to a standard that should be above reproach, she said. This has gone on long enough and its time to move forward. Kintner has a history of uttering and posting controversial statements. He has compared his colleagues to monkeys, prostitutes and thieves. He also once showed support for the death penalty by posting a graphic photo of a beheaded woman. Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete said her concern arises from an accumulation of concerns. She would support Kintners removal from the body and was among those counting votes for expulsion. This has the potential to totally derail the session, she said. If we care about the Legislature and about doing the business of the people, we need to deal with this. Sen. John Murante of Gretna said he supports punishing Kintner, but he doesnt know how he will vote on the expulsion motion. We need to get back to the work of the people, he said. Its my hope Sen. Kintner resigns and avoids plunging this Legislature into that kind of discussion. ***** What Nebraska lawmakers can do Nebraska lawmakers are scheduled to take up a resolution Wednesday to expel State Sen. Bill Kintner from office. State senators have limited options when it comes to dealing with misbehavior by one of their own. Expulsion The Nebraska Constitution requires 33 votes to expel a state senator. The expulsion would not prohibit the expelled member from running for public office again, including the office that he or she was expelled from. Impeachment Similar to an indictment, an impeachment resolution spells out the reasons for impeachment. The resolution requires 25 votes to pass, after which the matter would go before the Nebraska Supreme Court for a trial. If the court finds an official guilty of an impeachable offense, that person is removed from office and barred from holding any other office in the state. Censure A letter of censure allows the official to remain in office. Although legislative rules permit Nebraska lawmakers to censure a colleague, it appears that has happened only once: In 1955, Sen. Sam Klaver of Omaha was censured on a 37-2 vote for seeking compensation to defeat a bill. A City of Omaha employee was struck by a vehicle and critically injured Monday morning in southwest Omaha. Salvatore Fidone III, 48, of Council Bluffs was hit about 9:50 a.m. at 144th and U Streets, said Sgt. Douglas Klein of the Omaha Police Department. He was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition with a head injury, Klein said. Fidone remained in critical condition Monday afternoon, a hospital spokesman said. Investigators determined that a city crew was preparing to fill potholes, and Fidone was standing on the drivers side of the crews truck. A 2012 Toyota Camry driven by Alan R. Solarana, 53, of Omaha was northbound on 144th in the inside lane. Witnesses told police the Camry drifted over and struck Fidone. Neither excessive speed nor alcohol use was a factor in the accident, Klein said. Kevin Cole Man hospitalized after being hit by car while crossing street A 35-year-old Omaha man suffered a head injury and broken leg when he was hit by a car about 6 p.m. Monday near 19th and Douglas Streets, police said. Aaron M. Demike was taken by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center and is expected to survive, according to police. A gray 2007 Nissan Altima heading north on 19th had just passed Douglas Street on a green traffic signal when it struck Demike as he crossed the street. Demike was walking east across 19th Street in the middle of the block and not in a crosswalk, investigators said. The Altimas driver, Benjamin L. Nixon, 29, did not report any injuries. Neither excessive speed nor alcohol was a factor in the accident, which remained under investigation, police said. Susan Szalewski Two stabbed near Miller Park; one in critical condition Two people were stabbed about 8 p.m. Monday in a neighborhood south of Miller Park. Both were taken by ambulance to Creighton University Medical Center. Paramedics considered one of the victims in critical condition en route to the hospital. Authorities were called to 2432 Himebaugh Ave. on a report of one person cut in the face, but when they got to the address they also found another person cut in the abdomen, according to initial 911 dispatch reports. A suspect was reported in custody, according to the dispatch reports. Police were not immediately available to confirm any arrests. Susan Szalewski Officials identify 2 killed in I-80 rollover near Wood River A 47-year-old Lexington woman and her 12-year-old daughter were identified Monday as the two people who died Saturday in an accident near the Wood River exit of Interstate 80. Witnesses told investigators that a 2005 Dodge Caravan was westbound before 4 p.m. when it began to swerve, went into the north ditch and rolled several times. The driver, Catarina Nolasco, died at the scene, the Hall County Sheriffs Office said. She was using a seat belt. Her son, Gaspariny Denny Nolasco, 17, and daughter, Maria Nolasco, 12, were passengers in the minivan. The two, who were not using seat belts, were ejected in the rollover, the Sheriffs Office said. Denny Nolasco was taken to St. Francis Medical Center in Grand Island with injuries that werent considered life-threatening. The hospital no longer listed him as a patient Monday afternoon. Denny Nolasco is a senior at Lexington High School, a school official said. Maria Nolasco was a sixth-grader at Lexington Middle School. From staff reports Man imprisoned for unlawfully storing hazardous waste CEDAR RAPIDS A Cedar Falls man has been given two years in federal prison for unlawfully storing hazardous waste. Prosecutors said that Richard Delp, 62, was sentenced last week in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He pleaded guilty. Officials said that from Jan. 1, 2004, to Oct. 23, 2012, Delp stored drums, tanks, totes and vats containing corrosive and toxic hazardous waste at his now-closed Cedar Valley Electroplating facility in Cedar Falls, without a permit authorizing the storage. Prosecutors said Delp abandoned the hazardous waste when he closed the business in September 2011. AP The City of Omaha is officially opposed to a legislative bill that would restrict local governments ability to enact firearm-related legislation. The City Council voted 4-3 Tuesday to pass a resolution in opposition to the bill, which opponents say could hinder Omaha police officers ability to fight gangs. The resolution would allow the citys lobbyist to work against the proposal. Council members Ben Gray, Chris Jerram, Pete Festersen and sponsor Garry Gernandt, all Democrats, voted for the resolution. Republican council members Aimee Melton, Rich Pahls and Franklin Thompson voted against it. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert has supported similar legislation during past sessions. Gernandt, a former police officer, offered a passionate defense of Omahas gun regulations, which include an ordinance that prohibits someone younger than 21 from registering a handgun. Ive been on the receiving end of a buck knife, he said. Ive been on the receiving end of a bullet. Ive been on the receiving end of a fist. He said Legislative Bill 68, sponsored by Sen. Mike Hilgers of Lincoln, would remove an important tool from officers in similar situations. Gernandt said that often officers stop someone on a gun violation and it leads them to solving more serious crimes. City Prosecutor Matt Kuhse presented some statistics about gun convictions: In 2016, there were 265 convictions from the City Prosecutors Office for local weapons offenses, excluding registration of firearms. There were 83 convictions under the registration ordinance. And there were 115 state offenses. LB 68 would gut the prosecution for those type of offenses and removal of those weapons off the street, he told the council. And Gray, the council president, said hes concerned about shenanigans wherein the bill was referred to the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, rather than the Judiciary Committee, where gun bills have normally been assigned in the past. State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who aggressively opposes bills that would loosen gun restrictions, is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Melton argued that the states gun laws, which would be preserved, are sufficient. She noted that the state already forbids anyone under 21 from receiving a concealed carry permit. She said the citys ordinances punish people who are doing the right thing. The City of Omaha cant treat their law-abiding citizens different than anyone else in the entire state, Melton said. Pahls, a former state senator, said he doesnt mind the Legislature discussing the gun issue. But he called the legislation a poorly drafted bill and said hed like to see other senators improve upon the language. roseann.moring@owh.com, 402-444-1084 Homeowners gave the Douglas County Board and County Assessor Diane Battiato an earful today about preliminary 2017 property valuations that likely would lead to large tax increases. The County Board had put the issue on today's agenda amid complaints from taxpayers about the recently posted valuations. Nineteen taxpayers lined up to decry the Assessor's Office's valuations. Homeowner Michael Moran, who lives near 139th & Charles Streets, has seen his valuation go up 25 percent since 2015. He said he protested his 2016 assessment and the county stuck with that valuation in August -- then raised it by another $112,000 in 2017. "I'm willing to pay my fair share, but I am not going to be hijacked by these types of situations," Moran said. Retiree Pam Curry said she worries people on fixed incomes in her Peony Park neighborhood will be forced out of their homes by higher taxes. She said people in her part of town are very angry. A homeowner from the Ginger Cove area in western Douglas County, accompanied by nine fellow taxpayers from his neighborhood, said the land value on 90 percent of Ginger Cove lots had gone up 200 to 300 percent. Doug Kagan, president of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, called the valuation system "a festering sore that never heals." The preliminary valuations would raise the total valuation of property in Douglas County by 8.25 percent. In some areas of far west Omaha, valuations would increase by over 20 percent. Some homeowners in various parts of the city would see their valuations double or more. Battiato told the board two factors are driving the increases. She said many properties had not been re-appraised by the Assessor's Office for many years. And she said a hot real estate market has been driving up the market value of homes. Nebraska law requires county assessors to set property valuations at 92 to 100 percent of market value, and to ensure properties are assessed equally. Battiato, who took over the Assessors Office in 2015, said she realizes the large increases are shocking to taxpayers. She said her staff will look into the individual issues raised Tuesday. She urged people who believe their valuation is wrong to schedule an appointment to meet with a county appraiser. Battiato also said she's "considering options" to lessen the impact. She said that included talking with state tax equalization officials. That said, she and her chief field deputy, Jack Baines, said they believed their valuations are generally correct. "We have been inundated with calls because there are a lot of very upset people," Battiato said. "But the numbers don't lie to us." Valuation increases probably will mean higher property taxes. But they're only one part of what determines a tax bill. The other is the levies set by governing bodies such as city councils, school districts and the county board. Douglas County Board Chair Mary Ann Borgeson said the board will look at reducing its tax levy, but she said that wouldn't be enough to prevent taxpayers from seeing an increase. Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert said in a statement Tuesday that she would also pursue a reduction of the city's tax levy in response to the valuation increases. Her opponent in this spring's mayoral election, Heath Mello, issued a statement saying the same. Stothert said she was told that the total valuation across the city would rise 5.8 percent. Borgeson said the Nebraska's tax equalization system has never worked "and it never will." "This is not reality in terms of taxpayers being able to pay their taxes," Borgeson said. "It's ludicrous." County Board Member Jim Cavanaugh called the valuation hikes "seriously out of whack." "I don't think 300 percent increases are justified," Cavanaugh said. County Board Member P.J. Morgan, a longtime real estate executive, called the valuations "terribly inconsistent." Battiato said her office had to develop a new market-based method of appraising valuations because they were out of line. In 2016, the Nebraska Tax Equalization and Review Commission ordered the county to increase valuations by 7 percent across the board on about 75,000 residential properties in central and west Omaha. Battiato said the 2017 valuations, while difficult to absorb, accurately reflect the rising real estate market. A legislative proposal to require more early voting locations in Douglas County was met with skepticism by County Board members Tuesday morning. Legislative Bill 163, introduced by State Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha, would require the states three largest counties each to provide at least three early voting locations with extended hours. Vargas said the bill originated from talking to Nebraskans who said the distance and travel time to Douglas Countys only early voting location were barriers to casting their ballot. But Douglas County Board Chair Mary Ann Borgeson said at Tuesdays meeting that she has heard no complaints about peoples ability to vote. And Brian Kruse, the countys election commissioner, told the board that he has taken several steps to make early voting easier, including voting by mail for those who may not be able to get to the commissions office near 114th Street and West Dodge Road. Kruse told board members that adding two more early voting sites would cost the county about $330,000 per election. And he worried that adding more sites could cause partisan fights and confuse voters if they change between elections. Board member Mike Boyle noted the worried taxpayers in the room to discuss property valuations and said the time is wrong to be spending more money on the issue. Board member Clare Duda also said he opposed the proposal. A 51-year-old Lincoln motorist will not face charges in connection with the death of a University of Nebraska at Omaha track team member nearly two weeks ago northeast of Lincoln, authorities say. Ricky Phillips struck and killed Merzedes Hart, 19, of Council Bluffs while she was escorting another woman across U.S. Highway 6 in Waverly, the Lancaster County Sheriffs Office said. The accident occurred about 10:25 p.m. Jan. 13 near Shakers Gentlemens Club along the four-lane, divided highway, the Sheriffs Office said. Phillips told investigators that he believed he had struck a deer, stopped his vehicle west of the accident scene to check for damage, then headed home. Deputies found him later at his Lincoln residence. There is no evidence of alcohol use or any bad driving behavior by Phillips that contributed to the crash, the Sheriffs Office said. Also, there is no evidence that Phillips knew or should have known that he had struck a pedestrian or knowingly left the scene of an injury accident, the Sheriffs Office said. Phillips was ticketed on suspicion of driving under suspension, but the suspended license was not a factor in the crash, the Sheriffs Office said. Phillips told the Sheriffs Office that he was returning home from work when he spotted a vehicle on the shoulder of Highway 6 with its flashers on. The Sheriffs Office said he switched to the inside lane to provide a safe passing zone for the vehicle on the shoulder. Hart and two other 19-year-old Council Bluffs women had left the strip club earlier when the accident occurred, the Sheriffs Office said. Hart, a former Female Athlete of the Year at Abraham Lincoln High School in the Bluffs, and at least one of the two other women had been drinking, the Sheriffs Office said. An argument broke out between Hart and one of the women, who started walking west on the south side of Highway 6. The Sheriffs Office said Hart and the third woman, who was driving a vehicle, headed west on Highway 6, pulling over onto the shoulder with flashers on when they were parallel with the woman on foot. Hart walked to the south side of Highway 6 in an attempt to persuade the woman on foot to get into the vehicle, the Sheriffs Office said. After a discussion, both women ran across Highway 6 toward the vehicle. After crossing the raised median, Hart was struck by a westbound 1994 Chevrolet station wagon driven by Phillips, the Sheriffs Office said. An autopsy on Hart confirmed that she died from injuries suffered in the crash, the Sheriffs Office said. Toxicology reports to determine the level of alcohol in Harts body will take three to four weeks, the Sheriffs Office said. Phillips voluntarily submitted to a blood test and those results also will take several more weeks. LINCOLN At her farm in the path of the Keystone XL pipeline, Helen Tanderup remained defiant on Tuesday. Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by seeking to restart the controversial Canadian tar sands oil pipeline. Out in Neligh, Nebraska, a protest billboard still stood along Tanderups gravel driveway. She and her husband, Art, hosted a concert headlined by Neil Young to oppose the pipeline in 2014, and their distaste for the project has not waned. We hate to have to fight it again, Tanderup said. We think its the worst thing that could happen to our land and our water. Trump signed two executive orders on Tuesday that not only advance the 1,179-mile Keystone XL but also seek to end a stalemate that has halted completion of the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota. The moves upended previous orders by President Barack Obama to deny a federal permit for Keystone XL and study alternative routes for the Dakota Access project. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts was among those praising Trumps move. Keystone XL will create good-paying jobs for Nebraska workers and bring property tax relief to counties along the route, Ricketts said. In Congress, Nebraska and Iowa lawmakers reacted positively. A large majority of Nebraskans want to see Keystone XL completed, knowing we need long-term solutions for affordable energy, Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in a press release. A spokesman for TransCanada said Tuesday that it is already preparing a reapplication for a federal permit for the pipeline and will be working with the Nebraska Public Service Commission to reapply for approval of a route through the state. KXL represents the safest, most environmentally sound way to connect the American economy to an abundant energy resource, said Terry Cunha of TransCanada. A leading opponent of the Keystone XL said that Tuesdays move once again puts Nebraska front and center in the controversy over the pipeline, which would carry thick tar sand oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Jane Kleeb, who heads a four-state environmental group called Bold Alliance, said TransCanada still needs to gain approval for a route through Nebraska a process that could take up to a year. If the company tries to use eminent domain to forcibly obtain right of way from Nebraska landowners, a lawsuit would be filed, Kleeb promised. It isnt right for a foreign corporation to use eminent domain for private gain, she said. At least 100 Nebraska landowners, Kleeb said, will resist selling right of way. TransCanada has faced multiple delays since first proposing the Keystone XL in 2010. Landowners objected to what they saw as heavy-handed tactics to obtain right of way, and fought a route through the states groundwater-rich Sand Hills. The U.S. State Department delayed its review of the project, and the Nebraska Legislature in a special session forced a rerouting of the project. In November 2015, Obama denied a permit for the pipeline, citing concerns about exacerbating climate change. The company then withdrew its application for a 275-mile route across Nebraska. In comments Tuesday, Trump promised to cut a better deal on the Keystone XL before giving it final approval. Any pipeline in the U.S., Trump said, should be built with steel produced in America. Right now, about 52 percent of the Keystone XL would utilize U.S.-made steel pipe, with the rest purchased from China and India. Cunha said that the company is still reviewing the presidents executive order, which must be finalized by the U.S. secretary of commerce. Kleeb said the presidents order puts a 60-day deadline on approval of the Keystone XL, a swift timeline that will spark a lawsuit from environmental groups on the grounds that it is too hasty. She said that with the market flooded with cheap oil, the expensive tar sands oil is no longer needed. Im not sure they can get the capital to build it, Kleeb said. Right now, Canada has pipeline capacity to carry about 4 million barrels of oil a day and produces about 3.9 million barrels a day. But the head of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Tim McMillan, said that worldwide oil consumption continues to rise and that more pipelines will be needed. They are the safest and most economical way to move oil from Albertas rich tar sands deposits, he added. It still makes sense today, McMillan said of the Keystone XL. Members of the Iowa and Nebraska congressional delegations agreed. It has never made sense to block those pipelines, said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., noted that shes long supported construction of the Keystone XL and said most of her constituents share that view. Trade unions also have supported the pipeline, which would create hundreds of construction jobs. Critics, though, point out that only 35 permanent jobs would be created. In recent months, the Dakota Access pipeline has been the scene of several violent protests near the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Native Americans fought the project, saying it trampled on tribal rights, while environmentalists said it would ruin drinking water and encourage risky fracking of oil. Nearly 600 pipeline opponents, who call themselves water protectors, were arrested in North Dakota last year, clogging courts there. On Tuesday, Trump ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to quickly review and approve construction and easement requests for the Dakota Access pipeline. From now on, we are going to start making pipelines in the United States, Trump said from the Oval Office. Ed Fallon of Bold Iowa, a group that has sued to block the Dakota Access pipeline across Iowa, said opponents will not be intimidated. The alliance of landowners, farmers, tribal communities, environmentalists and property-rights defenders whove fought this pipeline for over two years arent going to lie down and let the presidents Big Oil buddies roll over us, Fallon said. As a practical matter, the Dakota Access project faces an easier path to completion. The pipeline, which would carry oil from North Dakotas Bakken oil fields to a refinery in Illinois, is complete except for a section that would pass under the Missouri River, just upstream from the Standing Rock Reservation. Until last year, Trump owned a small amount of stock in Energy Transfer Partners and at least $100,000 in Phillips 66, an energy company that owns one-quarter of the Dakota pipeline. Trump sold the shares last year as part of a wide-ranging stock divestment, a spokesman said. This report includes material from the Associated Press. March 2008: First Keystone pipeline approved The U.S. State Department issues presidential permit for a $5.2 billion pipeline to transport crude oil from Canada through seven states, including Nebraska. Sept. 19, 2008: Keystone XL permit filed TransCanada files paperwork with the State Department to expand the existing Keystone pipeline with the Keystone XL route. June 2010: First Keystone pipeline begins operation April 2010: State Department draft report claims "limited adverse environmental impacts" from Keystone XL April 20, 2010: BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill Explosion of oil rig in Gulf of Mexico and resulting massive oil spill brings more focus and criticism to TransCanada's plans to pump more oil across Nebraska. July 26, 2011: House sets deadline for approval, Senate shrugs U.S. Rep. Lee Terry introduces bill requiring President Obama to approve or reject the Keystone XLs permit application by Nov. 1. House approves bill 279 to 147. Those voting in favor include 47 Democrats. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is one of only three Republicans to oppose the bill. But no senator steps forward to champion the measure. Both U.S. senators from Nebraska, Democrat Ben Nelson and Republican Mike Johanns, oppose the measure. August 2011: State Department report Report concludes Keystone XL project won't add significantly to the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. August 2011: Gov. Dave Heineman sends letter to President Obama Governor asks for new route that avoids the Sand Hills and the high water table in the Ogallala Aquifer. September 2011: Opposition grows in Nebraska The University of Nebraska-Lincoln announces it is severing its agreement with crude-oil pipeline developer TransCanada Inc. to run advertising on the video screens at Memorial Stadium. November 2011: Special legislative session Heineman calls a special session to address environmental concerns over the pipeline route. The Legislature creates a pipeline siting law that requires companies to apply through the Nebraska Public Service Commission. November 2011: Obama delays Obama announces no action will be taken on the pipeline until after the 2012 election. April 2012: New pipeline law Nebraska lawmakers amend state's pipeline law to give the governor the ability to approve the Keystone XL route through the state. May 4, 2012: TransCanada applies for presidential permit TransCanada applies again to the State Department for a permit after coming up with a new route through Nebraska. May 23, 2012: Lawsuit filed Three landowners file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's amended pipeline law. Jan. 22, 2013: Heineman approves route Heineman, in a letter to the Obama administration, gives his blessing to a new pipeline route through the state. Jan. 31, 2014: Another State Department report: No significant impact on climate Feb. 19, 2014: Routing law ruled unconstitutional Lancaster County District Judge Stephanie Stacy strikes down 2012 law, saying the Legislature improperly gave the governor authority to approve the pipeline route. April 18, 2014: State Department hits the snooze State Department cites concerns about the Nebraska portion of the controversial $5.4 billion project. Agencies need additional time based on the uncertainty created by the ongoing litigation in the Nebraska Supreme Court, which could ultimately affect the pipeline route in that state, according to a department press release. (Story) Sept. 5, 2014: Day in court Nebraska Supreme Court hears oral arguments in the Keystone XL case. Nov. 19, 2014: Senate votes down XL U.S. Senate comes up one vote short of the 60 needed to send to President Obama's desk legislation forcing approval of the long-stalled Keystone XL. (Story) Jan. 6, 2015: Obama promises veto White House official says President Obama would veto legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, citing the pending court decision on the Nebraska route and the State Departments ongoing review of the project. The comments come as the Senate announces plans to take up a bill to allow construction of the Keystone XL. The bill is identical to one that failed to pass the Senate in November, when Democrats were in control. The odds of passage are viewed as much improved with the GOP takeover of the Senate. Jan. 9, 2015: Supreme Court rules; House votes Nebraska Supreme Court removes a roadblock to the Keystone XL pipeline when it rejects a challenge to the law used to route the project. U.S. House votes 266 to 153 to pass a bill forcing approval of the project. The measure next goes to the Senate. Jan. 29, 2015: Senate votes to approve XL The Senate votes 62-36 to build the $8 billion project. That vote was short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto promised by the White House. Feb. 12, 2015: More litigation A judge in Holt County halts condemnation proceedings against landowners who refuse to sign pipeline easements with TransCanada. The landowner lawsuit will end up in state Supreme Court so the constitutionality of the routing law can be decided. March 4, 2015: Presidential veto The Senate fails to override the presidents veto on a 62-37 vote. The bipartisan majority that supported the measure fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for the override. Sept. 30, 2015: A new plan? TransCanada Corp. says the firm will withdraw land condemnation proceedings against property owners along the project route in Nebraska and will file a new application to build its pipeline through the Nebraska Public Service Commission. (Story) Nov. 1, 2015: TransCanada asks for timeout The company asked the State Department to suspend consideration of its controversial pipeline while Nebraska officials review its route through the state. (Story) Nov. 4, 2015: State Department won't pause review State Department spokesman John Kirby says the department advised TransCanada of its decision to continue the review. The State Department has jurisdiction over the pipeline because it crosses a U.S. border. (Story) Nov. 6, 2015: President Obama rejects President Obama rejects the pipeline, citing concerns over the U.S. economy and its international reputation. "The pipeline would not make a meaningful long-term contribution to our economy. So if Congress is serious about wanting to create jobs, this was not the way to do it," Obama said in his announcement. (Story) January 2016: TransCanada to file 2 legal challenges to Keystone rejection TransCanada filed a lawsuit over the U.S. governments rejection of the project and announced it plans to file a second legal challenge that will seek more than $15 billion in damages. (Story) July 2016: TransCanada must cover costs for some Nebraskans who fought pipeline Holt County District Court Judge Alan Brodbeck ruled that 19 Nebraska landowners who fought attempts by TransCanada to claim their property through eminent domain should receive $8,844.21 each in reimbursement from the company. (Story) Jan. 24, 2017: Executive order gives pipeline new life President Donald Trump signs executive actions to advance the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, along with the four-state Dakota Access oil pipeline. Feb. 16, 2017: TransCanada files for approval of Nebraska route for Keystone XL pipeline President-elect Donald Trump's plan to put a supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline into a crucial decision-making position may give the controversial pipeline a leg up. If approved as Secretary of State, ExxonMobil Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson would be in a position to approve the pipeline's presidential permit, a requirement for energy projects that cross an international border. President Barack Obama rejected the $8 billion project in 2015, saying it wasn't in the national interest. "Keystone XL would do more than deliver oil from Alberta and North Dakota's Bakken Shale to refiners on the Gulf Coast," Tillerson said in an April 2015 speech. "It would improve U.S. competitiveness, increase North American energy security, and strengthen the relationship with one of our most important allies and trading partners." Trump has expressed support for infrastructure projects, including adding pipelines. He said this weekend that he will issue a decision "fairly quickly" on Keystone, in addition to saying "something will happen" on the controversial Dakota Access pipeline. TransCanada Corp. was forced to write down $3 billion after the plan was rejected by the Obama administration. The company filed suit over the denial and began one of the largest trade appeals ever brought against the U.S., seeking to recoup $15 billion of costs and damages. Tillerson's potential appointment "has a meaningful impact on how we should think about Trump's international energy policy going forward," but the revival of Keystone XL may not be in his hands, said Katie Bays, an analyst at Height Securities, an advisory and investment firm based in Washington D.C. The fastest way to approve the project may be to take the State Department out of the process, Bays said. Trying to reverse the previous decision "clearly creates an opportunity for a legal challenge" -- and Tillerson is likely to support a move that lowers the bar for infrastructure projects more broadly. Advisers to Trump are exploring a strategy to speed up the approval process that includes rescinding a 1968 executive order that put the State Department in charge of permitting border-crossing oil pipelines, according to people familiar with the transition planning. "It's primarily political," Bays said. Resurrecting the project is "a feather in the cap for a Republican Congress and a Republican administration." TransCanada remains "firmly committed" to the project and "will be in a better position to provide comment on our next steps and the path forward after the transition process has been settled," spokesman Mark Cooper said in an e-mailed statement. "TransCanada does not feel it is its place to speak to the transition process in the U.S.," he said. "We are sensitive to the enormous amount of work that is going into forming the new administration and are respectful of that." The company's shares rose as much as 2.6 percent to C$60.49 on Tuesday, the most intraday since Nov. 9. If the pipeline operator did reapply for the border-crossing permit that Obama rejected, the Trump administration would approve it, but the project may get caught up in the same local fights it did the first time, said Erika Coombs, an analyst at BTU Analytics LLC. Reapplying through the State Department may also entail updating previous environmental reviews, which would be expensive, Coombs said. "It's not going to be easier the second time." In Canada, Kinder Morgan Inc.'s Trans Mountain expansion and Enbridge Inc.'s Line 3 replacement were approved earlier this month. That comes as TransCanada's Energy East pipeline remains mired in regulatory hearings and opposition from environmentalists. Calgary-based TransCanada may not want to grapple with two controversial projects simultaneously, Coombs said. In addition, with Kinder Morgan and Enbridge projects gaining approval, TransCanada could have a tougher time securing necessary contract volumes for Keystone. "The economic incentive isn't as strong as it once was," she said. Viewed against the backdrop of Energy Transfer Partners LP's controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, Keystone is poised to be a public-relations nightmare if TransCanada pursues it, said Height's Bays. "Keystone would be an easier project if it had either a lot of political support at the local level or a very strong economic argument," Bays said. "And both of those issues are kind of lukewarm." WASHINGTON Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., reintroduced legislation Tuesday aimed at protecting babies who survive an abortion procedure. We all know that every little boy and girl deserves a fighting chance and, if youve ever held a newborn or just walked past an NICU, you know this has nothing to do with your politics and everything to do with your heart, Sasse said in a press release. Sasse said that his legislation would require health care providers to exercise the same care toward a baby who is born alive during an abortion that they would for any other child at the same gestational age. Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Chuck Grassley of Iowa are among the other GOP senators sponsoring the measure. Separately, Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, held a Capitol Hill press conference Tuesday touting his own proposal that would ban abortions if the unborn child has a detectable heartbeat, unless its necessary to save the life of the mother. If a heartbeat can be detected, the baby is protected, King told reporters. He said the legislation would effectively ban 90 percent or more of abortions in the United States. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., joined King at the press conference to promote the heartbeat bill. He also distributed a press release touting his support for the King bill and one approved by the House Tuesday prohibiting taxpayer funding of abortions. The measure, which passed 238-183, also would block tax credits for some people and businesses buying abortion coverage under the Affordable Care Act. But the bill faces considerable Democratic opposition in the Senate, where it would need 60 votes. The House vote was timed to come just after the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the U.S., and ahead of the annual march by abortion opponents, which is scheduled for Friday. If signed into law, the bill would permanently ban the use of federal money for nearly all abortions a prohibition thats already in effect but which Congress must renew each year. All five GOP House members who represent Nebraska and western Iowa supported the bill. I will work tirelessly to advance the rights of the unborn to ensure a culture of life throughout our great nation, Bacon said in a press release. These bills accomplish this while also protecting the health and physical well-being of women. This report contains material from the Associated Press. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump began recasting Americas role in the global economy Monday, canceling an agreement for a sweeping trade deal with Asia that he once called a potential disaster. Trump signed the executive order formally ending U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the Oval Office after discussing American manufacturing with business leaders in the Roosevelt Room. The order was largely symbolic the deal was already essentially dead in Congress but served to signal that Trumps tough talk on trade during the campaign will carry over to his new administration. Trump had repeatedly cast the 12-nation trade pact which was eagerly sought by U.S. allies in Asia as detrimental to American businesses. Great thing for the American worker that we just did, Trump said in brief remarks as he signed the notice. The Obama administration spent years negotiating the Pacific Rim pact, though the mood in Washington on trade soured over time. Barack Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification. Trump spent his first full day of business bounding from one ornate room of the White House to another for meetings, often ordering aides to summon journalists from their West Wing workspace at a moments notice for unscheduled statements and photo opportunities. In addition to his executive action on TPP, Trump signed memorandums freezing most federal government hiring and reinstating a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option. The actions were among the long list of steps candidate Trump pledged to take on his opening day as president. But other Day One promises were going unfulfilled Monday, including plans to propose a constitutional amendment imposing term limits on members of Congress. Several of the executives Trump met with Monday initially had supported the trade agreement. The chief architect of the administrations trade policy, commerce secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, was also once a booster for the deal. Trump has expressed his preference for bilateral trade agreements rather than the multinational pacts that administrations of both parties have pursued in recent decades. On Friday, Trump will welcome British Prime Minister Theresa May, elected last year on a populist wave, to the White House for his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. The agenda is expected to include the possibility of a bilateral trade agreement as Britain looks to realign its own economy after voting to leave the European Union. Next week Trump will welcome Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto to the White House. Trump said they will discuss terms of a new North American Free Trade Agreement. Failure to ratify TPP probably paves the way for China to seek its own regional agreement, at the expense of U.S. interests. In making the case for TPP, the Obama administration had cited several major factors: It would open new markets for U.S.-made goods, raise environmental and labor standards in member nations, make the U.S. a more attractive place for investment and serve a check on growing Chinese influence in Asia. Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona blasted Trumps TPP decision, calling it a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for Americas economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region. It will create an opening for China to rewrite the economic rules of the road at the expense of American workers. And it will send a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it, McCain said Monday. Nebraska and Iowa lawmakers took a more diplomatic tack. Its clear that those of us who believe trade is good for American families have done a terrible job defending trades historic successes and celebrating its future potential, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a press release. We have to make the arguments and we have to start now. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she was disappointed with Trumps action. With one in five jobs in Iowa dependent on trade, access to new markets is critical to our states economy, Ernst said in a press release. However, we must not let this stop our country from pursuing increased trade opportunities for our exporters. Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said TPP was not a perfect agreement but established a framework for U.S. exporters pursuing economic opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region. Moving forward, I hope we can pursue bilateral agreements with these TPP countries to open more markets to U.S. agriculture producers and manufacturers, Smith said in a statement. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts said Monday that he thought TPP would have expanded markets for Nebraskas commodities, increasing ag cash receipts by a projected $378 million a year. President Trump has pledged to take a new approach to trade negotiations through bilateral trade agreements. I urge him to take swift action in the first 100 days of his administration to substantially expand markets for ag exports, the governor said in a statement. World-Herald staff writers Joseph Morton and Emily Nohr contributed to this report, which includes material from the Associated Press and Tribune Washington Bureau. A rundown of President Donald Trump's Tuesday activities and actions. Trump has promised a flurry of new activity during his first days in the Oval Office. Check back for updates to this article throughout the day. * * * * * 12:45 p.m.: EPA media blackout The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agency's social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered a "temporary suspension" of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment Monday or Tuesday. * * * * * 12:25 p.m.: Inauguration crowd photo President Donald Trump is hanging up some new art in the White House press area and it's none too subtle. The panoramic photo shows the crowds gathered near the U.S. Capitol for Trump's inauguration on Friday. It's a nod to the ongoing interest the president has in making it clear that his event was well-attended. Trump tweeted: "A photo delivered yesterday that will be displayed in the upper/lower press hall. Thank you Abbas!" For emphasis, the official Twitter account of the president retweeted the @realDonaldTrump message. The photo was taken by Washington-area photographer Abbas Shirmohammadi, and it notes the wrong date Jan. 21, although it does appear to depict the correct event. Trump and press secretary Sean Spicer have taken pains to play up the crowd size, sometimes exaggerating the number in attendance. They've excoriated the media for what they said is an effort to downplay enthusiasm for Trump's inauguration. * * * * * 11:50 a.m.: Fewer manufacturing regulations President Donald Trump has taken steps to streamline the permitting process for manufacturing. He also wants pipelines to be made in the U.S., and an expedited process for environmental reviews and approvals. The steps came as Trump signed executive actions to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Former President Barack Obama blocked construction in late 2015 of the Keystone line from Canada to the U.S. Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers is studying alternative routes for the Dakota Access pipeline. Trump describes the regulatory process as a "tangled up mess." He says if the answer is no, it should be a quick no. If the answer is yes, Trump says "let's start building." * * * * * 11:35 a.m.: New Supreme Court pick next week President Donald Trump says he will announce his pick to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat sometime next week. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that he'll be "making my decision this week" and "we'll be announcing it next week." "We have some outstanding candidates," the president said. "And we'll pick a truly great Supreme Court justice." The Supreme Court has only had eight justices since Justice Antonin Scalia died last year. President Barack Obama nominated a replacement but Republicans in the Senate refused to bring the choice up for a vote. During his campaign, Trump publicly identified nearly two dozen candidates for the vacancy. * * * * * 11:25 a.m.: Executive actions on pipelines President Donald Trump has signed executive actions to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines. Trump tells reporters in the Oval Office that the moves on the pipelines will be subject to the terms and conditions being renegotiated by the U.S. President Barack Obama killed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, saying it would hurt American efforts to reach a global climate change deal. The pipeline would run from Canada to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast. The U.S. government needs to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. The Army decided last year to explore alternate routes for the Dakota pipeline after the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters said the pipeline threatened1 drinking water and Native American cultural sites. * * * * * 10:50 a.m.: FBI director staying on FBI Director James Comey is staying in his job. A Justice Department memo lists him among officials remaining in their positions. FBI directors are appointed to 10-year terms intended to carry across presidential administrations, even when a new party takes over the White House. President Donald Trump criticized the FBI during the campaign for its decision not to recommend charges against his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. But he also appeared to warmly greet Comey at a law enforcement gathering over the weekend. Comey is in his fourth year in the job. The New York Times first reported that Comey would stay on. The director's job has been a 10-year term since 1976. Since then, only one has been removed prematurely Reagan appointee William Sessions by Bill Clinton in 1993. * * * * * 9:45 a.m.: Trump the environmentalist President Donald Trump says he's an environmentalist. The president made the comments Tuesday at a breakfast with auto industry executives. He didn't elaborate on why he sees himself as an environmentalist, but the comments came after urging companies from the auto industry and beyond to bring jobs back to the U.S. On Monday, he made similar comments at a business breakfast, stating, again without elaborating, "I'm a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment." * * * * * 9:30 a.m.: Meeting with auto execs President Donald Trump is spending the morning meeting with auto executives as part of his push to bring jobs back to the U.S. Trump told his guests Tuesday at the White House that he's looking to ease regulations to help auto companies and any other businesses wishing to do business in the U.S. Among the attendees of the breakfast are Ford Motor Co. chief executive Mark Fields, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and General Motors chief executive Mary Barra. * * * * * 3:30 a.m.: False claims about voter fraud President Donald Trump's efforts to build bridges and push through his agenda have been overshadowed once again with his continued fixation on the election and more false claims. During a bipartisan reception with lawmakers at the White House late Monday, Trump claimed the reason he'd lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival was that 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. That's according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. There is no evidence to support Trump's claim. Trump on Tuesday will continue his outreach efforts as he meets with executives from the auto industry and speaks by phone with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln will look into complaints about young men directing foul comments Saturday toward people who participated in the Womens March on Lincoln. People complained to the UNL Womens Center that men at Phi Gamma Delta made vulgar comments to marchers, said Jan Deeds, director of the center. Steve Smith, a UNL spokesman, said the university is fully investigating the matter. Civil, respectful discourse and actions are a core tenet of our institution and we are always working to ensure that tenet is a reality. Smith said comments allegedly came from some men at Phi Gamma Delta, or Fiji. Smith said the investigation will focus on students who allegedly engaged in verbal harassment and not on an entire fraternity. Phi Gamma Deltas national website said that the fraternity takes seriously the allegations and that the alleged behavior is contrary to the values of our organization. One woman who was at the march, Leslie Galloway of Lincoln, said some young men had banners for President Donald Trump and others said, We won, you lost. Galloway, 40, said she had no problem with that behavior and those comments. They have the same rights the women who marched have, she said. But when they asked whether the womens p-----s were blue, referring to womens genitalia and the color attached to the Democratic Party, that crossed the line, she said. Some commenters on the Womens March on Lincoln Facebook page described worse remarks made to them. Children attended the rally, Galloway said, as did elderly women. One young man at the march turned around, she said, and told them: Thats my fraternity. Im so sorry. Deeds said her center has worked with sororities and fraternities to end violence and harassment against women. Well, change can take a long time, she said Monday afternoon. Galloway said the young men should have asked themselves whether they would direct vulgar comments toward their mothers and sisters. I would like to see them learn from it, she said. Just be smart. Grow up. World-Herald researcher Sheritha Jones contributed to this report. Good to see folks stand for something I applaud the women who marched Saturday in Omaha and other cities. Justice and mercy disappear from public life when good people stay silent and inactive. Cheryl Nelson, Omaha Where were signs for Saudi women? As I watched millions of women march in solidarity with one another on Saturday, I had this observation. Virtually all marches were in countries where there have been considerable advances in civil rights and where both genders enjoy the privilege of rights protected by law. If this were truly meant to be a global womens movement, where were the signs decrying the overwhelming oppression of women in many countries in Africa and the Middle East? I looked hard but didnt see them. Stephen Bloodworth, Omaha Take it easy on the license plates I have seen our new Nebraska license plates, and I must say that all the to-do over the Sower on the plates is a non-issue. The plates are a clean design and easy to read, not a cluttered mess like the previous ones. For once we have plates designed for use rather than some artistic creation that is hard to grasp. Gerald Stahmer, Omaha Cant unite Divided States of America Forget the talk about uniting these Divided States of America. It isnt gong to happen. The fracture depends on President Donald J. Trump, the man who was going to end the Islamic State but instead takes on an actress, a Broadway play, a brave civil rights icon. Trump has lied, talked of assaulting women, criticized the family of a valiant Muslim military officer who died protecting our country. He leaves a trail of bankruptcies and companies unpaid for services received, and he wants to end national health care for millions with no known replacement. Nothing short of an epiphany is going to help this country. Facing all of this, you ask me to unite? Gordon Scott, Omaha Respect for others, authority lacking I agree with Michael A. Lindenbergers column, Inauguration boycott is disrespectful (Jan. 19 More Commentary). One cannot pretend Donald Trump is not the president. It was tacky and disrespectful not to show up. News reports showed all the people who protested in Washington, D.C., in Omaha and around the country after Trumps inauguration. If Hillary Clinton had won, would the people who voted for Trump have acted like this? Many protesters were rude and obnoxious, and some destroyed property. What gives them the right to do this? The First Amendment does not give the right to slander another persons name or destroy anothers property. I attended the Walk for Life in Lincoln. Some people protesting the walk were very rude by booing and yelling at Gov. Pete Ricketts and other speakers. They had no respect for authority. Were they not taught respect for authority? If they had a rally, Nebraska pro-life protesters would not act like they did. Why are people so disrespectful of others? Angie Wingert, Omaha Trumps leadership style is chaotic Get ready for the chaos. President Donald Trump has not defined the authority, responsibility or accountability of any of his key players. By necessity, Trump must clearly delineate their job descriptions, and, most importantly, comprehensibly describe how these people will network and interface with each other and with Trump as president. Lets look at how Trump has organized his team to implement one of his major promises his get-tough-on-trade policy. First theres Wilbur Ross, who is to be the commerce secretary. He will be promoting economic growth, overseeing job creation and serving as a voice of U.S. business. Then there is Peter Navarro, who is now head of the newly created National Trade Council. Hell be the point man in high-level trade negotiations, for example, China. Attorney Jason Greenblatt is now assuming the position of special representative for international negotiations. Trump said Greenblatt would be assisting in international negotiations of all types. Robert Lighthizer will be U.S. trade representative. Trump said that Wilbur Ross will play a lead role in trade negotiations. However, how the other three will interface with Ross isnt clear. Just to muddy the waters further, you know Trump will be personally involved in any trade negotiations. I believe this will eventually lead to his administrations demise his total lack of managerial competence. David L. McVey, Papillion Inauguration Day was a blast I really did enjoy the inauguration ceremony. Outgoing President Barack Obama was very gracious to incoming President Donald Trump. It was rather an added treat to see that the swamp was starting to drain itself with so many Democrats boycotting the ceremony. Stanley Tuton, Mills, Neb. Thanks for some good news What an uplifting story about the Omaha firefighters helping out the victims of a house fire (Omaha firefighters help family, Jan. 20 World-Herald). Thanks to them and to The World-Herald for covering this story. Linda Smith, Omaha A winter storm system moving across the central Plains today into Wednesday is expected to bring heavy snow and strong winds to parts of eastern Nebraska and northwest Iowa. The Nebraska State Patrol is cautioning drivers to stay off the roads in western Nebraska, where more than a foot of snow has already fallen in some areas. As wind speeds pick up this afternoon, blowing and drifting may make driving all the more dangerous, the State Patrol said. Captain Jamey Balthazor, commander of Nebraska State Patrol Troop E in Scottsbluff advised no travel in the area. The Omaha area, however, is likely to escape the brunt of winters wrath, receiving about 1 to 2 inches of precipitation, which could be a combo of snow, ice, sleet and rain, forecasters said. The heaviest snow amounts in Nebraska are to occur in the northeast part of the state. Bayard, Nebraska had received 17 inches of snow by Tuesday afternoon, said Steve Rubin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Alliance had 14 to 16 inches, Scottsbluff had 9 to 12 inches and Melbeta received 16 inches. The storm, which is expected to move out of the area by midnight, may bring an additional 1 to 3 inches to some of those areas, Rubin said. "By this evening, we should see the end of it for the next few days," Rubin said. "People should have the chance to dig out by Wednesday." The State Patrol also reminded drivers to let others know where they are going, take well-traveled routes and allow plenty of time to reach a destination. If your vehicle does become stuck, run your motor sparingly and keep a window cracked. Travelers can call 511 to check on road conditions throughout the state. In the Omaha area today, forecasters called for a windy day with a slight chance of snow before 3. p.m. and rain likely. The high will be around 37. Little or no ice accumulation is forecast and little or no snow and sleet accumulations are expected. It may be kind of back-and-forth thing, a KMTV meteorologist, Ryan McPike, said about the Omaha areas precipitation combo. Tonight, there is a chance of rain, snow or sleet before 10 p.m., with all snow expected after 10 p.m. The low will be around 30, forecasters said. Blustery conditions are expected, with north-northeast winds gusting as high as 30 mph. New snow accumulations of 1 to 2 inches are possible. McPike called for 1 to 3 inches of snow for the Omaha area, with several bouts of snow tonight into early Wednesday, some of them heavy at times. Wednesday in the Omaha area, look for snow again, mainly before 7 a.m., with a high around 30. Blustery conditions are forecast again, with northwest winds gusting as high as 30 mph. Another half-inch of snow is possible. Wednesday night, the low will slip into the low 20s, forecasters said, and northwest winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Once again weve got another storm where were on the fence, McPike said about the Omaha area possibly receiving up to 3 inches and locations to the north getting much more. The main track of this storm is so close to us, just a hair north. The National Weather Service office in Valley issued a winter storm warning until 9 a.m. Wednesday for north-central and northeast Nebraska and northwest Iowa, and southern South Dakota and Minnesota, with up to 15 inches of snow possible in the northern-most locations. Included in the warning are Tekamah, Norfolk, Sioux City, Storm Lake and Yankton, South Dakota. The weather service also issued a winter weather advisory until 9 a.m. Wednesday for a very narrow swath of east-central Nebraska stretching east into northwest-central Iowa. Included were Columbus and Denison, Iowa. Some locations could receive up to 6 inches of snow. Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Hastings, Kearney, Nebraska City, Beatrice and Falls City were not included in the winter storm warning or the winter weather advisory. McPike said he wouldnt be surprised if the Omaha area was added to the winter storm advisory later tonight. He also said a slight shift in the storms path could produce 3 to 5 inches in the Omaha area. The rest of the Omaha-area forecast, according to the weather service: Thursday Partly sunny with a high around 28. Thursday night Partly cloudy with a low in the upper teens. Friday Mostly sunny with a high around 30. Friday night Partly cloudy with a low in the low 20s. Saturday Partly sunny with a chance of flurries. A high in the low to mid-30s. Saturday night Mostly cloudy with a low in the low 20s. Sunday Partly sunny with a chance of snow. A high in the low 30s. Sunday night Partly cloudy with a low in the low 20s. Monday Partly sunny with a high in the upper 30s. 13 camels being smuggled to UP for slaughter rescued in Gurgaon India oi-PTI Gurgaon, Jan 23: At least 13 camels which were allegedly being smuggled from western Rajasthan, have been rescued from Gurgaon's Pataudi area in this district on Monday, an official of an animal welfare NGO said. "The camels were bought three days back. It was being taken to western Uttar Pradesh for slaughter," Shaptrishi Roy, the manager and the administrator of the Gurgaon-based NGO 'People for Animal', claimed. Rescued animals have been sent to Shadrana veterinary hospital and will be shifted to Sirohi in Udaypur later, he informed. Cattle smugglers buy camels from poor farmers of western Rajasthan districts such as Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Udaypur and Sriganganagar and take those to Uttar Pradesh via Haryana, Roy said. PTI Akhilesh Yadav to kick start UP election campaign India oi-Vicky By Vicky Lucknow, Jan 24, Akhilesh Yadav is all set to launch his campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2017 from Sultanpur on Tuesday. Akhilesh who has spent a lot of time in sorting out the Samajwadi Party family feud will kick start his campaign and would also attempt to cover a lot of ground in the next three weeks. Meanwhile Congress party sources say that Akhilesh would soon be joined by Rahul Gandhi. The two leaders would campaign together in the days to come. Rahul would join the UP campaign after he returns from Goa and Punjab. The SP and the Congress would use these joint campaigns to send a message to the people that they are serious about the alliance. Not many voters are still convinced about the campaign and hence both parties plan on using a joint campaign by Akhilesh and Rahul. The dates for the joint campaign will be announced in a day or two. Meanwhile Akhilesh would address a rally at Lakhimpur on Wednesday. He would however campaign alone, the SP has said. Mulayam Singh Yadav too would be joining the campaign in a day or two. His programme is still being finalised the SP says. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 9:11 [IST] Manipur 'most sensitive' among 5 poll-bound states, says IB report India oi-Vicky By Vicky According to an Intelligence Bureau report, Manipur is the most sensitive among the five poll bound states. According to the report, keeping in mind the ongoing economic blockade the state should be kept in the most sensitive category. This is the first time that Manipur goes to polls in two phases. Based on the IB report, the home ministry has directed that security be stepped up ahead of the polls. There are already 17,500 central forces that have been deployed in Manipur. Additional forces would reach Manipur in March after the polls are completed in other states. A request for an additional 5,000 personnel at the time of the elections has been made by the state. Meanwhile, the home ministry has ordered the deployment of 85,000 Central Armed Police Forces for the five poll bound states. A control room would monitor the movement of these forces 24/7 a home ministry official said. While the CAPF and the BSF would man sensitive areas, the lesser sensitive ones would be manned by the Railway Protection Force and the Central Industrial Security Force. OneIndia News Anti-India posters at Jallikattu protest venue under IB lens India oi-Vicky By Vicky Chennai, Jan 24: The ministry for Home Affairs is closely monitoring the situation in Chennai after the Jallikattu protests turned violent on Monday. The Intelligence Bureau which is also monitoring the situation has reported that there were several anti-India posters that had come up at the Marina Beach which had become the epicenter of the protests. "There were some elements who mingled with the crowd at Marina Beach and ensured that the protests turned violent," an Intelligence Bureau official informed. The IB is still ascertaining how a peaceful protest turned violent. The Tamil Nadu police is also probing how those anti-India posters were put up at the venue. A senior official said that these posters were not put up by the protesters. In fact the protesters did not even have an idea that violence would break out. Meanwhile, the Home ministry has sought a report from the state about the violence and is await a report from the state. An official informed that if required and requested from by the state government, the Union government would send a team of the Central Armed Police Force to Chennai. OneIndia News Army Chief on his first visit to J&K assured people of well being India oi-PTI Srinagar, Jan 23: Undertaking his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir as Army Chief, Gen Bipin Rawat today reviewed the security situation and assured the people of the Valley that his force will ensure their well-being. Gen Rawat, who took charge of the top post on December 31 last, visited Srinagar, Leh and Siachen. In Srinagar, he was briefed about the prevailing security scenario in Kashmir and the measures instituted to integrate all government agencies for efficient intelligence generation and successful conduct of operations, Defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said here. He said the Army Chief complimented the soldiers on the ground for their high morale, outstanding vigilance and state of preparedness. Gen Rawat, who has served in Kashmir in various capacities including commanding the prestigious Dagger Division in 20112012 and Rashtriya Rifles Sector in Sopore- Bandipora in 2006-2007, also conveyed his greetings to the people of the Valley, the spokesman said. The Army Chief "reassured them (people of Kashmir) of the Armys commitment towards their well-being," the spokesman said. Accompanied by Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D Anbu, Gen Rawat also visited Siachen and Leh in Ladakh region of the state. On arrival at Siachen Base camp, he paid tributes to the martyrs by laying a wreath at Siachen War Memorial and then interacted with troops posted there, the spokesman said. Thereafter, the Army chief moved to Leh where he was briefed on the overall security situation and operational preparedness by the Corps Commander, he said. The chief later interacted with officers and men at the Leh Garrison. During his interaction, he appreciated the commitment, dedication, sacrifice and professionalism of all officers and men posted to the region and called up on them to continue to uphold the core values of the Indian Army, the spokesman said. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 10:49 [IST] Why is the DMK continuing to oppose the imposition of Hindi? - 50 years of struggle and the truth! As Jallikattu returns, Tamil Nadu limps back to normalcy India oi-Anusha After a week of protests that marred normal life in Tamil Nadu and Chennai in particular, the state is limping back to normalcy. While schools and colleges reopened on Monday, many shops and establishments including petrol stations opened only on Tuesday. With transport services having resumed, road blocks that were put up during the protester-police clash on Monday have been cleared making way for traffic. Medical stores, milk booths and business establishments also resumed function as usual. Marina Beach, which had been the epicentre of the pro-Jallikattu protests, continues to be under tight vigil with police retaining barricades to deter people from gathering. While student organisations called off the protests in Chennai, the situation returned to normal in Madurai and Coimbatore among other places. While the government declared the bill a success for Jallikattu protesters, anger against the police was evident amongst the people of Tamil Nadu with videos and pictures of policemen pelting stones, wielding lathis, assaulting people and indulging in alleged vandalism went viral. While the Commissioner of Police S George denied all allegations, probe has been initiated into the events that unfolded on Monday. No protests, no problem Even though the Jallikattu agitations are over, Marina Beach continues to witness protests by a group of 200 people. The group raided slogans against aerated drinks, foreign products and the fast food industry. An offshoot of the Jallikattu protest, protesters claimed that all things foreign, including PETA, Jersey cattle and products should be junked by the government. The protest comes a day after a delivery van loaded with aerated drinks was vandalised in Tamil Nadu's Erode area by an unruly mob. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 10:49 [IST] 'No coercive action against BJP leaders': SC to Bengal govt over 'false' FIRs case Bengal Polls: BJP says door shut, no more mass joinings from TMC BJP leader compares Kaabil-Raees with Modi-Rahul India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer After chaos at Vadodara Railway Station due to Shah Rukh Khan's train journey to promote Raees, Bharatiya Janata Party's Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday said care must be taken to ensure that no inconvenience is caused to people during movie promotions. Care must be taken that inconvenience is not caused to people during promotions: Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP #Raees pic.twitter.com/4wHyuvnhnF ANI (@ANI_news) January 24, 2017 Vijayvargiya had earlier kicked a storm by tweeting in support of Kaabil, starring Hrithik Roshan, and slamming Raees. He had, without naming the actor, called Raees 'dishonest'. Vijayvargiya further compared Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Modi and tweeted that if a person is Kaabil (able) then even a tea seller can become PM, while Raees (Rich) wear torn 'kurtas'. Coming out in defence of Vijayvargiya, BJP spokesperson Shaina NC clarified that the tweet did not mention Shah Rukh Khan or Hrithik Roshan. Meanwhile, the Gujarat Railway Police has ordered an inquiry into the chaos that led to the death of one person at Vadodara Railway Station after a crowd of around 15,000 people gathered to have glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan. The inquiry has been ordered by Western Railway Superintendent of Police, Vadodara Division, Sharad Singhal, who confirmed the death of one Farid Khan Pathan during the rush. [Inquiry ordered into chaos during SRK's 'Raees' promotion] According to Singhal, overwhelming number of fans of the Bollywood superstar converged at the station hoping that Shah Rukh Khan would click photos upon his arrival at the station. T The Bollywood superstar boarded the train from Mumbai Central yesterday for Delhi as part of his promotional campaign 'Raees by Rail'. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 17:10 [IST] Centre withdraws Jallikattu notification India oi-Vicky By Vicky The Union government on Tuesday decided that it would withdraw the January 7, 2016 notification which exempted bulls for Jallikattu and Rekhla race. This effectively would end the ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court on the Jallikattu issue. The Centre's notification had allowed the conduct of Jallikattu. This was challenged following the court had stayed the notification. The court after hearing arguments at length had reserved orders on the matter. With the Centre now deciding to withdraw the notification the matter becomes infructuous. The Centre took the decision to withdraw the notification after Tamil Nadu passed a bill allowing Jallikattu in the state. Before the bill was passed, an ordinance had been promulgated to allow the conduct of Jallikattu in the state. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 15:17 [IST] Congress names five candidates in 2nd list for Uttarakhand polls India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 24: Congress on Tuesday released its second list of five candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, taking the total number of nominees declared so far to 68. In its first list released on Sunday, the party had declared names of 63 candidates. Elections to the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly is scheduled to take place on February 15 and counting shall take place on March 11. In the second list, released by party general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, the Congress Central Election Committee (CEC) has cleared the name of Prabhu Lal Bahuguna, an old party worker, who will contest from Raipur assembly seat, while Bal Kishan will contest from the Bageshwar (SC) seat and Rajendra Barakoti from Someshwar (SC) Assembly constituency. Barakoti, a former Almora Zila Panchayat chairperson from Someshwar, has been fielded after Rekha Arya, who had represented the constituency on Congress ticket defected to BJP during the floor test. Adesh Chauhan has been nominated by the party to contest from Jaspur Assembly seat, while Rajendra Singh will be the party nominee from Gadarpur seat. In the first list, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat will contest from two seats - Kichha and Haridwar Rural. PTI Pak committing atrocities against people in PoK, will have to bear consequences: Rajnath Singh Lack of development in J&K for decades was one of the reasons behind rise of terrorism: Rajnath Singh Won't spare anyone who promotes drug trade in Punjab: Rajnath WARNS Pak India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Abohar (Punjab), Jan 24: Attending an election rally in Abohar, Punjab, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday addressed the issue of drug menace in the state. The HM blamed Pakistan for the abnormal rise in number of drug addicts in the state, as banned substances are smuggled from the neighbouring country to Punjab. [Also Read: Highlights of BJP's Punjab manifesto: Land to Dalits, financial help to families hit by militancy] Sending a clear warning to Pakistan, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said India won't spare anyone who pushes narcotics into the country. "Pak yahaan pe koshish karta hai drug bhejne ki, mai HM ke taur pe yakin dilata hoon ki jo isse badhava dega uski mai khat khadi kar dunga (Pakistan pushes drugs into Punjab. As the HM, I want to ensure that I won't spare anyone who encourages drug trade in the state)," said Singh. The state is going to vote for the assembly elections on February 4. The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance has been in power in Punjab since 2007. The opposition Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party have blamed SAD-BJP alliance in the state responsible for widespread use of narcotics by the youngsters. Singh asked voters to elect the SAD-BJP alliance once again as they would provide corruption-free government in Punjab. "There has been no corruption allegations levelled against the Centre in the last two and a half years." OneIndia News Economic blockade: Ahead of polls, Centre supplies petroleum products to Manipur India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Imphal, Jan 24: It has been more than 80 days since Manipur is reeling under the 'curse' of economic blockade. Because of the indefinite blockade imposed by the United Naga Council (UNC) since November 1, the northeastern state is facing severe shortage of essential commodities and fuel supply. [Also Read: DEBATE: Will the next government repeal AFSPA from Manipur?] Now, it seems the Centre has taken notice of the plight of Manipuri people, who are all set to elect members for the state legislative assembly soon. On Tuesday, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told ANI that the Centre was closely monitoring the situation in Manipur. The minister of petroleum and natural gas added two trucks of petroleum products on January 22 and four trucks on January 23 were sent from Guwahati to Imphal. "Around 100 trucks containing petroleum products to be sent to Imphal today," informed Pradhan. There is nothing new about economic blockades imposed in Manipur by various political and rebel groups every year. During these economic blockades, the vehicular movements in the two National Highways--NH-2 and NH-202--connecting the state with the rest of the country--come to a standstill. Polling for the 60 seats Manipur Assembly will be hosted in two phases on March 4 and March 8. Results will be declared on March 11. In the last assembly polls, the Congress won 42 seats and Okram Ibobi Singh was re-elected as the chief minister of the state. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 10:40 [IST] 2 terrorists gunned down in an encounter in J&K's Anatnag Second accused identified as Imran arrested in Lucknow rape case In UP 166 criminals killed in encounters in past five years: Yogi Ganderbal enounter: 2 terrorists killed, AK-47s recovered India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Khimber, Jan 24: Two terrorists were killed in an encounter with security forces in Khimber's Hadoora area in Ganderbal district in Jammu mand Kashmir in Tuesday. On January 16, three terrorists were gunned down by the security forces during an encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam area. Ahead of January 26, security across Kashmir has been beefed up to ensure a peaceful Republic Day. OneIndia News He is promoting bribery: BJP on Kejriwal over remarks on EC India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his remark that the Election Commission had failed to stop corruption in the poll bound states. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told ANI that Kejriwal was denigrating the integrity of the EC. Patra said it was Kejriwal who was promoting bribery by saying that 'people should take money from other parties but vote only for the Aam Aadmi Party'. Days after the EC censured him for exhorting voters in poll-bound Goa to accept bribes, Kejriwal on Monday told the poll panel that his remarks were aimed at containing corruption. He, in fact, sought a review of its order to allow him to repeat the comments. He also asked the EC to make him the brand ambassador to put an end to bribery in elections, alleging its order against him was encouraging corruption. "By stopping me to say what I am saying, the EC is not stopping corruption, but encouraging it; I hope they will re-examine this. Through this comment, I am trying to stop bribery. In fact, the EC should make me its brand ambassador," Kejriwal said in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi. The Delhi chief minister later took to Twitter to attack the EC, saying that it had failed to stop corruption in poll bound states. EC fails to stop this. EC prevents me from saying-"Take money from them n vote 4 us". EC's msg - "vote 4 those who give u money" https://t.co/NppXPnlxIU Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 24, 2017 OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 15:29 [IST] 'Severe' yet again: Delhi air continues to remain toxic with AQI at 431 Income tax woes of India India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Jan 24: An unnamed taxpayer owed the government Rs 21,870 crore (over $3 billion) for the assessment year 2014-15, which was 11 per cent of the income tax to be paid by all Indians, according to 2016 data, the latest available, from the Income Tax Department. While three individual taxpayers declared business incomes of over Rs 500 crore, two individual taxpayers declared long-term capital gains of over Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 (for the year 2013-14). The names of these taxpayers are not made public. The richest 1 per cent Indians own 58 per cent of India's wealth, and 57 billionaires have the same wealth as the bottom 70 per cent of India, according to data published by Oxfam India, a think tank. In comparison, the top 1 per cent in the US accounted for 19 per cent of income and 38 per cent of taxes paid, US government data show. It is not possible to say what proportion of income and taxes are similarly paid by Indians because the government does not release such data. The wealth of 388 people equalled that of the poorest half of the world's population in 2010, and this has narrowed to only 62 in 2015, according to recent data from Oxfam. India had 36.5 million individual taxpayers who declared taxable income of Rs 16.5 lakh crore and were liable to pay Rs 1.91 lakh crore as income tax -- an increase of 23 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, over assessment year 2013-14. In 2014-15, over 36 million Indians declared a salary income of nearly Rs 9.8 lakh crore ($144 billion), the equivalent of 7 per cent of gross national income of Rs 134.2 lakh crore in 2015-16, followed by business income of Rs 5.6 lakh crore ($82 billion) and income from other sources at Rs 2.4 lakh crore ($35 billion). The maximum tax payable (Rs 43,964 crore) was in relation to income below Rs 150,000 annually, followed by a tax payable of Rs 17,926 crore in the tax slab of Rs 550,000-950,000. The tax liability of individuals, Hindu undivided families (HUF), companies and other entities in assessment year 2014-15 was Rs 446,719 crore, an increase of 13 per cent from the previous year. There were 64 taxpayers with a tax liability of over Rs 500 crore in 2014-15 with a total tax payable of Rs 113,068 crore, which was 25 per cent of the total tax payable of Rs 446,719 crore. The collection of income tax (including securities transaction tax) increased nine times to Rs 2.9 lakh crore in 2015-16 from Rs 31,764 crore in 2000-01, Income Tax Department data show. Just two states -- Maharashtra and Delhi -- accounted for 53 per cent of all direct taxes collected in 2015-16. IANS Indian intelligence fears Naxals may replicate ISIs methods India oi-Vicky By Vicky On Monday an NIA team visited Kuneru in Andhra Pradesh to probe the reasons behind the January 21 derailment of the Hirakhand Express. The NIA team visited the spot after it was found that there was an involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence in some earlier cases of train derailment. [Also read: Hirakhand Express derailment: NIA team reaches Kuneru] While the probe is still underway, Intelligence Bureau officials worry that other terror groups and Naxals may attempt to replicate such operations. The railways is a soft target and has come under attack several times in the past. "While on one hand, Pakistan is trying to increase subversive activities in India, the worry is that other home-grown outfits including the Naxals will attempt train derailments," says an IB official. The need of the hour is for an action plan to safeguard the railways. Not just the tracks, but even railway stations are very vulnerable to attacks from terrorist groups. It is very difficult to man both the tracks and the railway stations. Hence the IB needs to coordinate very closely with the Railway Protection Force to ensure that nothing untoward takes place. [Also read: Nepal-based Kashmiris under IB scanner for terror links] Meanwhile the Home ministry has directed the Research and Analysis Wing to submit a report on the Nepal module alleged to be behind the train accidents. The Nepal module is intact and is able to carry out subversive activities with much ease, officials say. Once the report is submitted India would urge Nepal to take strict action and ensure that these modules are shut down. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 10:55 [IST] Jallikattu: Human rights commission seeks report on police excesses India oi-Anusha The Tamil Nadu State human rights commission has registered a suo moto case over alleged police atrocities on Monday during Jallikattu protests and its aftermath. The commission has issued a notice to the chief of police in Tamil Nadu and has sought a reply within four weeks. The commission has threatened to initiate further action if the police department doesn't submit a report by post before the matter is taken up for consideration by the commission. In their notice addressed to the director general of police, Tamil Nadu, the commission has cited a report in a vernacular newspaper on alleged violent police crackdown and vandalism by police personnel. The Tamil Nadu police came under massive criticism after videos and photos of cops indulging in vandalism and violence went viral on Monday. The police meanwhile, maintained that the videos will be verified and action will be taken against those involved. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 18:04 [IST] Jallikattu violence: Its an ISI-funded agitation alleges Subramanian Swamy India oi-Anusha On a day when Chennai came to a standstill owing to widespread violence on its streets, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy claimed that the ISI had a role to play in Monday's violence. Speaking to a media house in the aftermath of the arson and violence in Chennai, the BJP MP claimed that the Jallikattu movement had turned into an 'ISI-financed agitation'. "The genuine protesters have already left Marina. Those left behind are holding posters of Prabhakaran (former LTTE chief) and Hafiz Sayeed's posters. This is now an ISI-funded agitation," he claimed on the show. Earlier in the day, Swamy took to Twitter to bash some agitators calling them 'porkis', 'naxals', 'elis', 'jehadis', 'secessionists'. While social media erupted over alleged vandalism and violence by police, Swamy hailed police crackdown on the protesters. Swamy claimed that the movement for Jallikattu had been hijacked by anti-national and anti-social elements and Monday's violence was a result of the same. He even sought for President's rule and suggested that the Tamil Nadu government ask for CRPF to bring the situation under control. Meanwhile, the Chennai police refused to put a tag on those arrested for vandalism but maintained that investigations will reveal more. "Yes, there were people doing and saying anti-social and anti-national activities at the Marina Beach. They were warned multiple times, we used the student volunteers to vacate them since they were diverting the purpose of the gathering. The police will not alienate anyone but will investigate thoroughly," said a senior officer in Chennai. Allegations of police vandalising property and indulging in violence flew high and thick with photos and videos supporting the claims going viral. The commissioner of police in Chennai claimed that the videos may have been doctored but promised a probe into the same. "If any police personnel have been involved in vandalism, we will initiate action against them. There is no denying that those in the video are indeed policemen and they will be identified and punished. The situation was way beyond control but this is not justified," said an officer who didn't want to be named. Sources from the police department also reveal that apart from the videos shot by journalists and citizens, police on the spot have recorded the events and the same are being scrutinised by specialised teams. "We have video recordings too but that will not be made public yet. We have gathered video evidence from social media, from other sources and have compiled our own recordings from day one as well. Now is the time for investigation,", an investigating officer said. OneIndia News Jallikattu: Why is the judiciary silent on police excess at Chennai? India oi-Vicky By Vicky Chennai, Jan 24: The judiciary off late has been accused of being overzealous when it decides to hear some matters which ideally should be under the purview of the legislature. In the Jallikattu matter, there have been allegations of interference made against the judiciary by the general public. It was the Supreme Court which first banned Jallikattu and later went on to stay a notification permitting the sport. Many are today asking the question if the judiciary would show the same zeal and take up a case suo motu against the Chennai police who have been accused of committing arson. Several videos were shared on the social media showing the Chennai police committing arson at Mylapore which is close to Marina Beach in Chennai, the epicentre of the Jallikattu protest. These videos were tweeted and shared by several persons including actor Kamal Hassan. Will the judiciary act? The protest at Marina was symbolic and more importantly peaceful. However, on Monday, things went haywire. It would not be wrong to say that there was a complete breakdown of the machinery. It is never a pretty sight to see policemen hurling stones at the public. The state police is under the government and more often than not the probes against such excesses are never fair. In such a scenario it would be apt if the judiciary takes up the matter. The judiciary is well within its right to take up a suo motu case and order a probe against the Chennai police. Experts say that if the judiciary can shown such keen interest in matters which ideally should have been under the purview of the legislature, it can also take up matters in public interest. The judiciary does not have to wait for a report from the Home ministry or for someone to file a petition seeking a probe. Legal experts say that the judiciary is independent and is not under anyone. If a probe is initiated by it suo motu, it would be a serious one and the matter can be taken to the logical. Such a probe can be initiated by both the Supreme Court as well as the Madras high court. The Madras HC can in fact seek a report on the violence and order a probe. The Supreme Court too which had reserved orders on the Jallikattu matter can bring it up and ask for a probe. The courts could ask for a judicial probe or even an investigation by a Central agency which could be conducted under its supervision. Legal experts say that the the high court and Supreme Court have vast powers vested in them under Articles 226 and 32 respectively. Both the courts can order for an inquiry and even place the commissioner of police under suspension pending enquiry for a breakdown of law and order. OneIndia News JNU student on hunger strike shifted to hospital India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 23: Suspended JNU student Dileep Yadav who has been on hunger strike since three days was rushed to hospital by police on Monday even as students alleged that he has been abducted. Yadav is among the nine students who were suspended by the university last month for allegedly disrupting an academic council meeting. He has been on hunger strike since three days demanding that the suspension of these students be revoked. Students alleged that Kumar was on Monday "abducted" by police and JNU administration, a charge denied by both. "A student who has been on a hunger strike for the last three days has been literally abducted from campus by the police and JNU admin. Repression is real. Where a fellow student, Najeeb disappears after being beaten up by ABVP activists, teachers are threatened, student activists punished and even democratic means of protest like hunger strikes are trampled upon," the JNU student union said. According to a senior police official, "The student was not taken forcefully. Seeing his critical health conditions, he was shifted to hospital in the university's ambulance for emergency medical attention with local police assistance". PTI Kannada to finally join English, Hindi display boards at B'luru airport India oi-Anusha Display boards at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru will now display information in Kannada too. The display that was limited to English and Hindi will now be extended to Kannada thanks to the efforts of Kannada Grahakara Koota, an association of Kannada consumers. The flight information display systems outside arrival and departure gates will now display information in Kannada. The group took to their twitter handle to announce this victory for their movement named 'serve in my language'. The association took a request to Dinesh Gundu Rao in April 2016 when he was a cabinet minister. Following his request, the KIAL has started displaying information in Kannada starting Tuesday. Dinesh Gundo Rao in his tweet thanked IAS officer D V Prasad for following up with the airport authorities to ensure that communication in Kannada was also displayed. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 19:01 [IST] Kerala political killings: What keeps Kannur's soil bloodied and red India oi-Anusha The fight to establish and maintain a political foothold in parts of Kerala is becoming a bloody affair. Close to 20 lives have been lost so far since Communist Party of India-Marxist came to power in the state in what is largely termed as political killings. Some call it retaliatory, some vengeance and others call it a socio-historical issue, but what really is the cause of these political killings and why are the political parties quiet over it? Economics of violent politics, business has a role to play Business has a lot to do with the political murders in parts of Kerala. Traditionally a CPI-M bastion, Kannur is today seeing BJP make inroads. The CPI-M used cooperative banks to lure the people of Kannur and today the BJP is using cottage industries brought in from Mangaluru. "The BJP is now striking a chord with the youngsters because they are tech-savvy. Moreover, the party is now bringing cottage industries to Kannur, Palakkad and Kasargod from coastal regions of Karnataka. The independence is something the people are impressed with and are swaying towards the BJP. This is a natural irritant to the CPI-M who used to enjoy unopposed favour from the voters. The economic backing that the BJP is bringing is leading to political backlash," said senior journalist and political commentator Ajay Kanth. Economics of politics was a tool that the CPI-M used to make inroads in the same localities and today the BJP is using it against them. The CPI-M allowed easy loans by cooperative banks and extended constant loan waiver to people in the region. The BJP is using funds from the same cooperative banks for the cottage industries now. Losing the gratitude of the people directly translates to losing the votes. Youngsters between the age of 18 and 25 prefer the BJP and many have left the CPI-M to join the BJP. All the cumulative anger flares up as violence. Why Socio-historical factors matter Kannur has a history of warrior culture being the centre for Kalaripayattu (a martial art) and the ritual art of Theyyam (a popular ritual form of worship). 'When in doubt, fight it out', is the mantra used by the people here to sort differences. The grave political impact of this is violent politics. 'An eye for an eye' is the philosophy of the people of Kannur, thanks to their historical experiences. Vengeance is a way of life and that has only spilt on to politics. Senior leaders won't intervene because the cadres threaten to desert the party and go to another. Losing grassroots-level workers in a place that is already vulnerable to vote shifts is disastrous for the party," feels senior journalist Kanth. "The people here have a great memory when it comes to retaliation. You must also consider that not all murders take place for purely political reasons. There is mostly, if not all times, a history. Either to the persons involved or the event. Most people killed are Hindus, so are the perpetrators and hence, no religious tags can be attached to it. It is purely personal and purely political, rather politically personal", Zacharia added. Political observers urge the police and the state to treat each matter individually instead of clubbing it under the category of 'political murder'. Parties keep mum Three lives have been lost in less than a month since the start of the new year. All three, including a woman, incidentally are members of the BJP. The BJP has been playing the victim card accusing the CPI-M of gross violence against its cadres but what the BJP won't speak of is the attacks mounted on CPI-M cadres by its members and those of the Sangh Parivar. The recent murder of 52-year-old BJP worker Santosh was, in fact, a retaliatory assault. Members of the CPI-M, who are currently in police custody, hacked Santosh to death after members of the RSS assaulted a CPI-M worker earlier in January. Senior leaders of the CPI(M) including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan are not new to violent politics. That is a path that most, if not all leaders of the CPI(M) have trodden, say political observers. "Both the CPI(M) and the RSS backed BJP are violent in nature. Retaliatory attacks are not the trend of Kerala politics but have become the trend of Kannur-Palakkad region. Moreover, the senior leaders of the party have no sway over the violence that happens in this belt. It is innate to the people here irrespective of what party they belong to. It is the lower rung members who indulge in violence and the parties very conveniently dissociate themselves from the killings", said Paul Zacharia, a political writer. Whatever the reasons be, political killings in Kerala are a shame on Democracy. Political parties choosing to stay mum, dissociate themselves or play the victim card is doing very little to eradicate the barbaric murderous political culture. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 17:36 [IST] The love-hate relationship between Pakistans ISI and JKLF Kaali poster row: Court to hear plea against filmmaker Leena Manimekalai on Aug 29 Manipur militant sent to judicial custody till Jan 31 India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Jan 24: A Delhi court on Tuesday sent suspected Kangleipak Communist Party-Poirei Meitei militant, Khoirom Ranjit, to judicial custody until January 31. Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh remanded Ranjit to judicial custody after Delhi Police told him that it did not require further custodial interrogation of the accused. The court listed the matter for further hearing on January 31 and also remanded Ranjit's associate Pukhrihongbamibomcha Prem Kumar to judicial custody until the next date of hearing. Both were presented in the court after expiry of their five-day police custody. Ranjit, allegedly a commander-in-chief of the militant outfit, along with Inugbamsanatombi Devi, was arrested last week from Mayur Vihar in east Delhi, while Pukhrihongbamibomcha Prem Kumar was arrested from Manipur on the basis of information provided by Ranjit. Devi is in judicial custody until January 31. The accused were allegedly involved in terror activities and running an extortion network. IANS Meet Shafi Shaikh, Karachi-based don, behind train accidents in India India oi-Vicky New Delhi, Jan 24: As the probe into the numerous train accidents -- witnessed in India in recent times -- is growing wider, an operative, Shafi Shaikh, has come under the scanner of the officials of the Research and Analysis Wing. A kingpin of a fake currency racket, Shaikh, a Karachi resident, is alleged to be the main brain behind plotting several train accidents that killed hundreds of passengers. [Also Read: Horror on the tracks: Mr Suresh Prabhu, it's time to pull up your socks] Moreover, Shamshul Huda, a native of Nepal, currently settled in Dubai, is said to have coordinated with operatives in India and Nepal to cause train sabotages. According to investigation reports, Huda was taking orders from Shaikh. The reports have revealed that Shaikh had stayed in constant touch with Huda and might have instructed him to carry out their 'mission' of causing accidents on railway tracks. Shaikh is believed to be very close to the Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. According to officials, Shaikh was initially put in charge of running a fake currency racket in India by the ISI. [Additional read: Who is this Shamshul Huda?] The RAW men are also examining the money trail into the accounts of Nepal-based operative, Brij Kishore Giri, who was in charge of causing train sabotages in Bihar. Around Rs 37 lakh were deposited into Giri's account. The amount is believed to have been transferred by Huda after being instructed by Shaikh, police officials inform. The money was believed to have been used to cause railway accidents. The financial transactions were not just restricted to the operatives from Nepal and Pakistan. Even Indian bank account holders received money to take part in train sabotage instances. One Indian operative, who is suspected of destroying the track which led to the Kanpur Express derailment in November, had told the police that he was paid Rs 50,000 for the operation. OneIndia News For beneficiaries of EWS flat a gift from PM Modi like none other On National Girl Child Day, PM salutes achievements of girls India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia New Delhi, Jan 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday took to his twitter handle and said that National Girl Child Day is a day to celebrate the exceptional achievements of the girl child, whose "excellence in many fields makes us proud". He also added that it is imperative to reject discrimination against the girl child and ensure equal opportunities for the girl child. ''Let us reaffirm our commitment to challenging stereotypes based on gender & promote gender sensitisation as well as gender equality'', Modi tweeted. Since 2008, the government has celebrated the National Girl Child Day Jan 24 every year across India to raise awareness and consciousness of the society with regard to the girl child. OneIndia News Phone pe charcha: Trump to speak with Modi tonight India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 24: US President Donald Trump will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night over phone, the White House said. "The president speaks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi," the White House said as it released Trump's schedule for Tuesday. Trump is scheduled to speak with Modi over phone at 1 pm Washington DC time, which is 11:30 pm. With this Modi, would be the fifth foreign leader Trump would have spoken with over phone after being sworn-in as the US president on January 20. On January 21, Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. On Sunday, Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Monday he had a telephonic conversation with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. After Trump surprised the world with his historic victory in the November 8 general elections, Modi was among the first five world leaders to have congratulated Trump. During his gruelling election campaign, India is among the few countries in addition to Israel with whom Trump spoke of strengthening ties if elected to power. At a charity event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition for the Kashmiri Pandit terror victims and the Bangladeshi Hindu victims in Edison on October 15, Trump, as the then Republican presidential nominee, had praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact I would take the term better out and we would be best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said and praised Modi for taking India on fast track growth with series of economic reforms and reforming the bureaucracy, which he said is required in the US too. "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi," he had said, adding that the Indian leader is very energetic. "India is key and a key strategic ally," he had said. PTI Lunar eclipse 2022: Dos and Don'ts to follow during Chandra Grahan UGC-NET 2022 results to be declared today; check steps to download scorecard 'Severe' yet again: Delhi air continues to remain toxic with AQI at 431 R-Day chief guest, Abu Dhabi crown prince, arrives in Delhi India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the chief guest of this year's Republic Day parade, arrived in the national capital on Tuesday. The Crown Prince, who is on a three-day visit to India, was recieved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Palam airport. The Crown Prince will be accorded a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Wednesday after which he will visit Rajghat. He will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Modi at the Hyderabad House. India and UAE will also exchange agreements during the bilateral interactions. Indian diaspora has a significant presence in UAE and the two countries share considerable history in trade and commercial ties. UAE is looking to move away from crude oil based economy to an innovation-driven economy. India can play significant role in helping UAE in acheiving that. Meanwhile, India would look to attract investments from the Arab nation. OneIndia News Rahul Gandhi comes out in support of activist Bela Bhatia India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jan 24: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday came out in support of activist Bela Bhatia and others like her, fighting for justice for tribals in Chhattisgarh and said that violence cannot silence the truth. "Violence has never silenced the truth. I stand with Bela Bhatia and all those fighting for justice for the tribals of Chhattisgarh," he tweeted. Violence has never silenced the truth. I stand with Bela Bhatia & all those fighting for justice for the tribals of Chhattisgarh Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) January 24, 2017 Bhatia was allegedly asked to vacate her house in Pandripani village in Bastar district on Monday by the villagers who held a protest outside it accusing her of being a 'Maoist sympathiser', the police had said. Bhatia claimed that she was allegedly threatened by a group of men who asked her to vacate immediately, failing which they will set the house ablaze. The incident occurred in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits. "After getting the information of demonstration by local villagers in front of Bhatia's house in Pandripani village under Parpa police station limits, a police team was rushed to the spot," Bastar SP RN Dash had said, adding that enough security has been provided for her protection. Notably, Bhatia was among a group of people who had accompanied a National Human Rights Commission team to villages of Bijapur two days ago to record the statements of alleged rape victims. PTI Why is the DMK continuing to oppose the imposition of Hindi? - 50 years of struggle and the truth! Stone-pelter or cop? Chennai violence no different from Kashmir India oi-Vicky By Vicky The nation watched in shock as the until-then peaceful Jallikattu protests in Chennai turned violent on Monday. There was even one horrific sight in particular which showed the policemen pelting stones back at the mob. Let us rewind to Jammu and Kashmir:It was July 2016 and the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani had led to widespread protests. Stone-pelters were all over the place and the most pathetic sight that one got to witness back then too was the police pelting stones back at the mob. [Also read: Burhan Wani killing: Here is what he did before his death] A break down of law and order: On Monday several groups shared videos of police excesses. One video showed police personnel setting fire to an auto rickshaw at Mylapore in Chennai. Another showed police personnel hurling stones at the mob. For starters, the stone is not a weapon that the police allowed to use. Under the law, they are allowed to use their lathis, water cannons, tear gas shells and in extreme conditions, their rifles to fire in the air. Stones are a strict no-no for the police force. Officers explain that however desperate the situation is, a uniformed force is not allowed to use stones. Amar Bhushan, a former officer with the Research and Analysis Wing says that there are various other options to control the crowds. "In Israel numb bullets are used. Pelting stones at protesters is nothing but pathetic," he adds. Pelting stones shows that there has been a complete break down. The police look desperate in such a situation. Stones and knives are not weapons that should be used by the police. Such weapons are used by mobs and the police have other means of controlling a mob. What took place in Chennai is clearly a case of mismanagement. Although the protests were peaceful, there ought to have been better intelligence from the state level at least. There are always elements amid protesters who try and fuel the fire. What made it worse was the behaviour by the police who were clearly seen indulging in arson. It was clear a break down of the law and order mechanism and someone at the top will have to answer and be made accountable. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 12:50 [IST] Union Budget: Mayawati welcomes EC order India oi-PTI Lucknow, Jan 24: BSP supremo Mayawati on Tuesday welcomed Election Commission's order that no scheme related to five poll-bound states can be announced in the Union Budget and said the Centre should follow the directive honestly. "The Centre should not play oversmart and hoodwink the EC order," she said in a release, a day after the poll panel said that the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the central government's achievements in these states. She said the Narendra Modi government has the responsibility to abide by the EC order honestly. Besides Uttar Pradesh, Assembly elections are being held in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. Last night, Election Commission has given its nod to the Centre to present the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly polls, but said no schemes related to these poll-bound states can be announced and the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the government's achievements in these states. Earlier on Monday, the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea seeking postponement of Union Budget presentation ahead of the Assembly elections in five states, saying there was no illustration that it would influence voters. The opposition parties had written to the President and the Commission objecting to the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly elections and demanded that the government be asked to defer it. PTI Where are the achhe din?, asks Akhilesh Yadav India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Sultanpur, Jan 24: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday addressed a public rally in Sultanpur district. Addressing a gathering, Akhilesh said that he is confident that the Samajwadi Party will win 300 seats in the forthcoming assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. SP Govt has launched a number of schemes to benefit the poor including helpline numbers for women in distress, ambulance services etc: UP CM pic.twitter.com/uFGi6Upmou ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 24, 2017 Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Akhilesh said hollow promises of ache din have been exposed since nothing has been done on those promises even after three years. He further said that when the Centre will announce the budget they will have many things copied from the work of the SP. Highlighting works done by his government, he said that his government has launched a number of schemes to benefit the poor including helpline numbers for women in distress, ambulance services etc. Oneindia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 14:17 [IST] 'Where are the fake notes? Even RBI doesn't know' India oi-IANS By Ians English Mumbai, Jan 24: The Reserve Bank of India has admitted it has no confirmed data of the number or value of fake currencies detected since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, a RTI query has revealed. "We presently don't have the confirmed data on this query," said a reply from the RBI's department of currency management (Forged Note Vigilance Division), to prominent activist Anil V. Galgali. In a pointed query, Galgali had asked RBI to provide details of the number or value of the fake currencies detected post-demonetisation, the name of the banks, dates, etc, between November 08-December 10, 2016. "However, the RBI has made it clear that nearly 11 weeks later, it has simply no data available on this crucial aspect. So the government's claims to demonetise as a weapon to kill fake currency is proving hollow," Galgali said. He pointed out that Modi had said that demonetisation would help wean out counterfeit currency notes and choke terror fundings. "The RBI's replies make it obvious that the government has failed in this endeavour or raised the bogey of fake currencies merely to implement demonetisation. Its now up to the PM to declare the figure/value of counterfeit notes recovered, in national interest," Galgali said. IANS Wire laden-box creates panic in Bengaluru's Lalbagh area India oi-Anusha A suspicious looking box-shaped material was found by the Bengaluru police at a metro station near Lalbagh west gate in Bengaluru. A call to the control room appraised the police of the abandoned item following which the police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The police said that the item looked like a handmade firecracker. It may be noted that Lalbagh is currently hosting the flower show that attracts hundreds of visitors on a daily basis. All four gates of Lalbagh were closed as a precautionary measure while police inspected the item. However, the police refused to confirm if it was a bomb module before the bomb squad verifies the same. "We appeal to the public to not panic. We have enhanced and heightened the security across the city," said Praveen Sood, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru. The commissioner along with the divisional additional commissioner and DCP were at the spot. The suspicious item has been sent for examination. The Siddapura police have registered a case in this regard and further investigations are underway. OneIndia News Rape in Bengaluru: Time to wake up to the grave threat of illegal Bangladeshi crime syndicates in India 2 Bangladeshis held in Malaysia for alleged IS links International oi-IANS By Ians English Dhaka, Jan 24: Two Bangladesh nationals were arrested in Malaysia for suspected links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, media reported on Tuesday. Malaysian special branch's counter-terrorism division held four persons, including the two Bangladesh citizens, in separate raids between January 13 and 19 in Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, the Daily Star reported. The suspects included a 31-year-old Filipino and a 27-year-old Malaysian woman. The Bangladesh men, aged 27 and 28, worked as salesmen, and were arrested last Thursday in Kuala Lumpur. They were suspected of having ties to suspected IS militants in Bangladesh and planning to join a terror cell led by Mahmud Ahmad, according to the report. Mahmud Ahmad was a former lecturer at University Malaya who had joined IS militants based in the southern Philippines. Malaysian police said the arrests meant that police had effectively destroyed a new IS cell which had planned to turn Sabah into a transit station for Southeast Asia and South Asia terrorists to join a Philippines-based IS group led by Mahmud and Isnilon Hapilon. "Preliminary investigation revealed that the cell, led by Mahmud, had combined with an Abu Sayyaf group headed by Isnilon, which had pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi," police said in a statement. Malaysia is a major destination for Bangladeshi job-seekers. Around four lakh Bangladeshi nationals are now working in the country. IANS Attorneys in New York sue Donald Trump International oi-IANS By Ians English New York, Jan 24: A group of attorneys on Monday in New York filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump accusing him of violating the Constitution by receiving money from foreign governments for their diplomats' stays at his hotels or for leasing office space in buildings he owns. The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in the Southern District of New York because a large number of Trump's real estate holdings are located there, EFE news reported. According to the plaintiffs, Trump's properties have created "countless" conflicts of interest and constitute a "serious threat" to the United States. "As the Framers were aware, private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders ... and entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious threat to the Republic," the lawsuit states. The suit contends that Trump is violating a constitutional clause prohibiting public officials from receiving emoluments from foreign governments and asks the court to issue a ruling on the matter. The specific clause has been disputed by legal experts. Trump and his team have insisted that the President has turned over management of his businesses to his two adult sons, but not the properties themselves, and they claim that he is not legally obligated to divest himself of those properties, a situation that also affects a number of his Cabinet picks. The plaintiffs contend that the clause covers income from renting office space in Trump Tower to a Chinese government bank and the Abu Dhabi tourism office, EFE news added. In addition, foreign diplomats have stayed at Trump's newly opened Washington hotel near the White House and the lawsuit specifically mentions his receipt of "payments from foreign-government-owned broadcasters related to rebroadcasts and foreign versions of the television programme "The Apprentice" and its spin-offs." Trump has promised to donate any profits his companies make from foreign governments using his hotels to the US Treasury. The lawsuit's plaintiffs -- along with other legal experts and consultants -- have insisted that Trump must sell his assets and place the proceeds in a blind trust, just as other recent Presidents have done. Trump, meanwhile, on Monday said the lawsuit is "totally without merit." IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 14:05 [IST] No one has guts...: Junior defence minister's reply to China question China to build world's brightest synchrotron International oi-IANS By Ians English Beijing, Jan 24: China plans to build a next-generation synchrotron radiation facility in Beijing, according to a researcher from Chinese Academy of Sciences. A synchrotron is a large device that accelerates electrons to almost the speed of light. Dong Yuhui said on Monday that the project is expected to start in November 2018 and will be completed in six years. The total investment will reach 4.8 billion yuan ($698 million), the China Daily reported. The facility, dubbed Beijing light source, will meet the national security demands and create aerospace materials among other products. It will provide high-resolution method to know substantial structures better. Beijing light source will be the so-called fourth generation light source and its key performance indicators would be higher than the third-generation ones. It will create the brightest X-rays worldwide, 70 times brighter than the US National Synchrotron Light Source II and 10 times brighter than Sweden's MAX IV, the strongest of its kind in the world. Bright X-rays could help measure the atomic structure of various substances and the higher brightness will help people to see more details of substances, something akin to using flashlight to see things, Dong said. Around the world, there are more than 50 such facilities providing support in many research fields. The light source plays an important role in the medical field, helping researchers know mechanisms of tumours and cerebrovascular diseases. IANS Donald Trump claims illegals cost him popular votes International oi-IANS By Ians English Washington, Jan 24: US President Donald Trump, during his discussion with congressional leaders, claimed that "illegals" voting deprived him of a victory in the popular vote, a media report said on Tuesday. Trump's agenda for discussion on Monday night revolved around relitigating the campaign, NBC news reported. The claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election was widely debunked. Sources told NBC News that Trump spent about the first 10 minutes of his bipartisan meeting with congressional leaders at the White House talking about the campaign and about how 3 to 5 million "illegals" voted in the election, causing him to lose the popular vote. The meeting with congressional leaders was described as more of a social occasion than a formal session. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said it was "light-hearted", joking that he was most entertained by seeing Trump and Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York, discuss which New York politicians were their common friends. After the reception, Trump met privately with House Speaker Paul Ryan. Ryan's office described the meeting as substantive and wide-ranging, including discussions of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act and other agenda items for the new administration. "The Speaker and President Trump are eager to continue moving forward on their shared agenda to jumpstart the economy and get the country back on track," an office spokesman said in a statement. IANS For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 14:19 [IST] Donald Trump's team: Meet Rex Tillerson, the new US Secretary of State International oi-IANS By Ians English Washington, Jan 24: The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 on Monday to support former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and send the nomination to the full Senate for all-but-certain approval. All 11 Republicans on the panel supported GOP President Donald Trump's pick, while the 10 Democratic members voted against the oilman, EFE news reported. Three committee Republicans who had expressed doubts about Tillerson -- John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio -- ultimately rallied around the nominee. McCain and Graham announced on Sunday that they would support confirmation, despite misgivings based on Tillerson's friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure running ExxonMobil, which has extensive investments in Russia. On Monday, Rubio said he would give his vote to Tillerson. "In making my decision on his nomination, I must balance these concerns (about Tillerson's Russia ties) with his extensive experience and success in international commerce, and my belief that the President is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet," the Florida senator said. Rubio added, however, that he would extend the "same level of deference" in the case of other nominations for senior posts in the State Department. While Democrats voiced policy differences with Tillerson, they also highlighted his failure to submit his tax returns to the committee. On Friday, hours after Trump was inaugurated, the Senate confirmed his nominees for Secretary of Defence and Secretary of Homeland Security, retired Gens. James Mattis and John Kelly, respectively. The Senate is expected to vote late Monday on the nomination of Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA. IANS Pakistan: Antonio Guterres listened patiently to Nawaz Sharif on Kashmir International oi-PTI New York, Jan 24: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "very carefully" listened to what was said by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who discussed the Kashmir issue with him during a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. "I think the Secretary-General listened very carefully to what the Prime Minister of Pakistan said. The Prime Minister presented the Secretary-General with a number of information. And I will leave it at that," Secretary General's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing when asked about the Secretary-General's response to Sharif asking for India to hold talks with Pakistan. Sharif last week raked up the Kashmir issue in his first meeting with the new UN Secretary General but got no positive response to his request for the world body's intervention on the issue. Sharif met Guterres on the sidelines of World Economic Forum at Davos and said Kashmir needed attention of the UN, according to a statement by the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad. "A sustained dialogue process on all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir is essential to make progress. It was in this spirit that we invited India for discussions on the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and aspirations of the Kashmiri people," Sharif had told the UN chief. Sharif had said Pakistan looks forward to Guterres's leadership and good offices and the United Nations has longstanding responsibility to play a role in the resolution of these issues. Guterres gave no positive response to Sharif's demand. PTI For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 16:03 [IST] Strikes against Islamic State: US, Russia join hands to combat terrorism International oi-IANS By Ians English Washington, Jan 24: The White House said on Monday that US President Donald Trump is open to conducting joint strikes with Russia on Islamic State terrorists. "I think if there's a way that we can combat IS with any country, whether it's Russia or anyone else, and we have a shared national interest in that, sure we'll take it," Xinhua news agency quoted White House spokesman Sean Spicer as saying at a briefing. The stance breaks from the policy of the previous US administration, which only worked with Russia to de-conflict air strikes in Syria. The remark came after the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that two jets from the US-led coalition participated in a strike on IS targets alongside Russian aircraft. But the Pentagon on Monday denied the claim. "The Department of Defence is not coordinating air strikes with the Russian military in Syria," Eric Pahon, a Pentagon spokesman, said. "DoD maintains a channel of communication with the Russian military focused solely on ensuring the safety of aircrews and de-confliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria," Pahon added. IANS Trump's Twitter mishap: Misspells 'honour' in first tweets as President International oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer He may have become the leader of the free world but moving to the White House does not seem to have helped Donald Trump's spelling. Shortly after his inauguration, the US President tweeted saying he was "honered" to have been sworn in as the 45th US leader. While the British and American spellings of the word "honoured" are different, neither are spelt in the way used by Trump. Trump wrote: "I am honered to serve you, the great American People, as your 45th President of the United States!" The tweet was quickly deleted and re-posted with the correct spelling. However, some observers have suggested the deletion of Trump's tweet, which was made from the official President of the United States Twitter handle account, may have been illegal. Under the terms of the Presidential Records Act, all records and documents relating to the US President must be preserved. Former presidents have interpreted this to include social media posts. Barack Obama's team sometimes deleted tweets but archived them to ensure they were not breaching record retention rules. Ezra Mechaber, a former aide to Obama, said on Twitter: "We eventually set up auto-archiving for official platforms, so errors could be corrected while preserving the original". It is unclear whether Trump's team archived his deleted tweet. It is not the first time that Trump has misspelled words. In December, again on Twitter, he said that China's seizure of a US Navy research drone was an "unpresidented" act instead of the correct "unprecedented". Trump has insisted he will continue to use his personal Twitter account as well as the POTUS channel. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 15:19 [IST] Trump to sign orders advancing Keystone, Dakota pipelines International oi-PTI Washington, Jan 24: President Donald Trump will sign orders on Tuesday to advance the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, a pair of projects that were blocked by the Obama administration due in part to environmental concerns. Trump is to sign the orders on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The move is expected to be cheered by Republicans and some union groups who backed the projects. Former President Barack Obama stopped the proposed Keystone XL pipeline in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut US efforts to clinch a global climate change deal that was a centerpiece of his environmental legacy. The pipeline would run from Canada to US refineries in the Gulf Coast. The US government needed to approve the pipeline because it crossed the border. Separately, late last year, the Army Corps of Engineers declined to allow construction of the Dakota Access pipeline under Lake Oahe, saying alternative routes needed to be considered. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe and its supporters say the project threatens drinking water and Native American sites, though Energy Transfer Partners, the company that wants to build the pipeline, disputes that and says the pipeline will be safe. The pipeline is to carry North Dakota oil through South Dakota and Iowa to a shipping point in Illinois. The person with knowledge of Trump's decisions insisted on anonymity because that person was not authorised to confirm the moves ahead of a formal announcement. Trump has moved swiftly this week to make good on some of his core campaign pledges he says are aimed at creating jobs and growing the economy. On Monday, he signed a memorandum withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, a proposed accord with 11 Pacific Rim countries and another of Obama's prized accomplishments. "Great thing for the American worker what we just did," Trump said as he signed the order in the Oval Office. Yet even as Trump moves to implement his agenda, he is still making false claims. PTI 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. by Graham Pierrepoint HACKSAW RIDGE IMDb Dir: Mel Gibson Starring Andrew Garfield, Teresa Palmer, Vince Vaughn, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Nathaniel Buzolic 4.5 STARS (out of 5) The war movie is something of a genre which, for those who arent captivated by it, may feel far too well-tread. The sad fact is, war movies exist due to war existing full stop and the very best of these films serve to showcase what the bravest among us go through to fight for their country (or even their countrys constitutional rights). Its a genre that is incredibly important, and one that shoulders a huge weight of responsibility after all, a movie that depicts conflict for the sake of it, or does so without due respect to those who gave their lives or even came through such battles, would rightly be considered abhorrent. Thankfully, Hacksaw Ridge tells a story that is incredibly prescient one which focuses on the only US soldier in the Second World War to enter battle without a weapon by his side. Desmond Doss was a young private who enlisted to give his life for his country and for the US constitution at the same time, however, he was a deeply conscientious man, having been brought up to believe in Christian scripture and having cemented himself on the belief that God forbids violence in all forms. As a conscientious objector, Doss comes up against heavy opposition when he first arrives at barracks, eventually leading to a court-martial where he defends his beliefs to the last he later went on to save the lives of 75 men at Hacksaw Ridge, and this movie tells the tale of how we did what he did, why he did it, and the struggles that the soldiers faced on the battlefield. Many are claiming Hacksaw Ridge to be Mel Gibsons return to the Hollywood frontline, and he makes an absolute storming return to form in the directors chair. He is a director marked by visceral detail, intense scenes of violence and even hyper-realistic gore, perhaps most notable in his celebrated works Apocalypto and The Passion of The Christ (for which he is perhaps still best known for as a director). Hacksaw Ridge is an entirely different beast to either of these movies as it is not only required to offer the story of a man who struggled against all odds to take his moral standings onto the battlefield and to save lives, but also to depict the grim reality of war. While we may have seen many movies and even TV series excel at showing us what men went through behind enemy lines, Gibson is more than well-equipped enough to have made this movie one of the best. Thankfully, it really is its possibly one of the bloodiest, starkest and most harrowing war films you will see this is arguably Gibson at his directorial best. Hacksaw Ridge - Official Trailer (Lionsgate) Hacksaw Ridge is a movie which balances the emotional trauma of war along with the physical vulgarities all too starkly theres a real sense of realism about the world that Doss walks into, and while we are given colourful characters to meet, they are all human and free from stereotype. Andrew Garfield is fantastic as the likeable, strong-willed and good-hearted Doss, who fights against the military system simply to be able to do his duty in line with his core beliefs. Vince Vaughn plays marvellously against his usual comedic roles as a hard-bitten Sergeant who, while acerbic and belittling, shows genuine humanity as Doss continues to rebel against his company. Vaughn is fantastic at displaying genuine menace when he needs to, and I for one hope that he continues to use this to his advantage in future roles. As with many war movies, it is a film that does not fritter itself with plot twists or throwaway moments each scene, each line feels completely necessary its captivating viewing. This is arguably a testament not only to the superb cast and direction, but also to the costume direction, the visuals, and the grim, nightmarish atmosphere that layers itself across the battle scenes. It is a film that does not warrant much of your analysis, but does warrant your attention and your humanity. Many true story films fall flat in the sense that they simply join the dots and stick to the written path (2016s The Finest Hours was a particularly egregious example of this) Gibsons movie shows you everything the skeleton, the flesh, the organs. It is absolutely stark, and absolutely unforgiving, making it all the more a pleasure to watch. With these elements in mind, the drawback that pulls Hacksaw Ridge away from its five star rating lies in that it is perhaps still a little too by-the-numbers but only slightly. It sticks to a safe path in terms of dialogue and characterisation (while the characters do come across as remarkably human, arguably down to the direction and the cast), meaning that while battle scenes are intense and bloody, it does opt to tell as opposed to show once off the battlefield. This, however, is only a brief observation, as it is a genuinely affecting and powerful film the whole way around. Hacksaw Ridge may not be everyones cup of tea, but it certainly tells a story that needs to be told, and is arguably one of the more effective war movies of recent years. With Christopher Nolans Dunkirk due to reach cinemas later this year, this will not be the only war movie for audiences to peruse in 2017. Judy O'Connor Dear Tax Talk, My husband Rich turned 70 1/2 in February of 2016. We decided to postpone taking out his total required minimum distributions, or RMDs, and took only a portion so we could create a taxable event in 2016 to take advantage of the deductions and exemptions. So now he will be required to take the remaining 2016 RMD prior to April 1, 2017 and the 2017 RMD prior to Dec. 31, 2017. So, we will be paying taxes on two RMDs when we file in 2018. My question: When is he required by the IRS to pay taxes on the first RMD -- at the time the first RMD is withdrawn, or can he wait and have the total tax liability taken out of the second RMD in December? Or do we have to pay estimated taxes? I have gotten two different answers, but I believe there should be a definitive answer -- one that can be backed up by IRS documentation. We live in South Dakota, which has no personal income tax, so there would be no issues in that area. Any information you can provide would be most welcome. Thank you, -- Bonnie Mature couple playing golf | Chris Ryan/Getty Images Chris Ryan/Getty Images Dear Bonnie, As long as you are having the taxes withheld from an RMD, then the choice is yours to make. This means you can have them all withheld on the second distribution if that is what you want. IRS Publication 505, Tax withholding and Estimated Tax, provides the answer you are seeking, but you have to look closely to see it. If your income tax withheld is sufficient to avoid penalties, then you do not need to make estimated tax payments. You just need to be extra sure that the amount of income tax withheld is enough to make you penalty proof. Underpayment penalty general rule: For 2017, you may owe an underpayment of tax penalty if you owe $1,000 or more with your tax return and the total income tax withheld does not equal at least the smaller of: 90 percent of your 2017 tax, or 100 percent of your 2016 tax (must cover a 12-month period). There is one caveat and that is if your adjusted gross income for 2016 is more than $150,000 ($75,000 if your filing status is "married filing a separate return"). If that's the case, then use 110 percent in No. 2 above. Story continues There are different rules for farmers and fishermen, but that is beyond the scope of our discussion. Uncle Sam operates as a "pay as you go" system, which means that if you do not have enough income tax withheld, then you need to make quarterly estimated tax payments using Form 1040-ES Estimated Tax Payments for Individuals. All the information you need is in IRS Publication 505. Thanks for the great question and all the best to you and your husband. RATE SEARCH: Shopping for a mortgage? Compare mortgage rates today at Bankrate.com! Ask the adviser To ask a question on Tax Talk, go to the "Ask the Experts" page and select "Taxes" as the topic. Read more Tax Talk columns. To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Taxpayers should seek professional advice based on their particular circumstances. Bankrate's content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this website, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this website is governed by Bankrate's Terms of Use. More From Bankrate.com Rumble 30 Oct 2022 At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about what the president thinks about.. OilPrice.com 02 Nov 2022 The U.S. is rapidly depleting our Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and is now begging Saudi Arabia and OPEC not to cut oil.. Rumble 13 Oct 2022 This week on Breaking Battlegrounds, Chuck and Sam are joined by former Secretary of State and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo... Ireland's foreign minister said he thinks Britain will be offered a flexible extension that could trigger Brexit well ahead of the.. Reuters 23 Oct 2019 Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter ONeill will formally invite President Donald Trump to attend APEC 2018 in Port Moresby, saying the United States remains a strong friend of PNG.Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States of America last Friday (Saturday PNG time) after defeating Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton in a tight and widely-followed election last November.ONeill congratulated President Trump on Monday and said the US had also been helping PNG prepare for the 2018 event.On behalf of the people and Government of Papua New Guinea, I congratulate Donald Trump on his historic inauguration as the 45th President of the United States of America, he said.I will soon formally invite President Trump to attend the APEC Summit in Port Moresby in November 2018.As Papua New Guinea prepares to host APEC, we appreciate the ongoing cooperation we are receiving from the United States and look to further enhance this engagement.The United States is a strong friend of Papua New Guinea and we will continue to build our relationship in the months and years ahead.At the bilateral level, Papua New Guinea and the United States co-operate on a wide number of areas of mutual interest.This includes increasing trade and investment, as well as other areas that include fisheries, education and healthcare.The United States has long been a beacon of democracy for the world and it is heart-warming to once again see the transition of authority between elected administrations in Washington DC.ONeill had earlier welcomed Trumps decision to nominate Rex Tillerson, the chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, as his Secretary of State.ONeill said he was delighted that Papua New Guinea would have a very good and genuine friend in the Trump administration in one of the most important offices in the United States government.Our nation is privileged to know Tillerson as a person with a genuine interest in economic development in our nation, ONeill said.In my discussions with Tillerson on ExxonMobils substantial and long-term investment in Papua New Guineas energy sector, I have been impressed by his understanding of the potential our nation holds.He has a clear appreciation of our oil and gas sector, and his confidence in the expansion of this sector, said PM O'Neill.SOURCE: THE NATIONAL/ ONEPNG US Online Gambling News Round-Up: January 2017 Published January 23, 2017 by Elana K A lot is happening on the online gambling front in a number of states. Here is the latest news on which states earned big in 2016, and which states want to see online gambling legalized in 2017. Finally, A Light at the End of the Tunnel for Delaware Delaware's final online gambling numbers from 2016 have been released, and the results are good. Over the course of the year, the online gambling industry brought in nearly $3 million dollars in revenue, a 62% increase from last year. December specifically was a good month, hitting a revenue high of $300,000, a 29% increase from December 2015. This news couldn't come at a better time. In 2013, Delaware became the third state to legalize online gambling, following New Jersey and Nevada, but it did not get off to a good start. Numbers disappointed from the beginning. But 2016 has given state lawmakers a reason to hope that the industry will continue to grow and that their efforts were not for naught. Good News from Jersey Too Earlier this month, New Jersey published its revenue from 2016, boasting a record high of $196.7 million. And, like Delaware, a record-breaking month of December with nearly $18.4 million in revenue. Make Way For Massachusetts Massachusetts looks like it is gearing up to fight the good fight for online gambling this year. Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr has resuscitated a bill that would legalize online gambling in the state, and a separate bill from State Senator Jennifer Flanagan seeks to legalize online lottery sales. But it wont be smooth sailing, with a number of opponents already announcing their opposition. Notably, Attorney General Maura Healey has come out in strong opposition to online gambling, which means that prononents of the endeavor will have their work cut out for them. Pennsylvania Living Large Pennsylvania is also trying to get in on the online gambling action. Both Senator Kim Ward and Senator Jay Costa are working on separate bills that would legalize online gambling. If either bill is passed this year, Pennsylvania would become the largest state to have approved online gambling in the United States. LIMA, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Peru said on Tuesday that it will work with China and other Asian and Pacific-rim countries to incorporate elements of the Trans-Pacific Partnership into a new regional trade agreement. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that pulls the United States out of the sweeping TPP agreement negotiated by his predecessor - prompting other member countries to vow to try to salvage it by including China. (Reporting By Mitra Taj) Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: New York-based Fred Alger Management, a $19.5 billion investment firm, has relaunched its ESG fund. Formerly the Alger Green Fund, the Alger Responsible Investing Fund is broadening its investment criteria and has added Gregory S. Adams, CFA as Portfolio Manager alongside existing portfolio manager, Christopher Walsh, CFA. The fund will be looking for growth-oriented companies that work with the firm's ESG overlay. The fund has the flexibility to invest across all U.S. industries, sectors, and market caps. With the previous mandate, the ...................... To view our full article Click here No doubt you've noticed that those in President Trump's inner circle have little in common, and much in conflict, with the interests of the citizens they are supposed to serve. Specifically, it's difficult to assume that HHS nominee Dr. Price will alter longstanding beliefs and practices that have benefitted him, even if he divests some assets or puts them into a blind trust. From a family of entrepreneurs, I understand the necessity of profit. As a taxpayer, I want to minimize the cost of public services. Adding a profit layer to privatizing government services, be they medical, infrastructure, schools, or prisons, will increase their costs, unless profit is substituted for a living wage. We see more of that now, especially in right-to-work states. This perpetuates the longstanding practice of "trickle-up" economics: enriching the few at the expense of the many. Then more people need essential public services, which adds subsidizing below-living-wage employers to the taxpayer's burden. How did we get to this place? The lessons learned by yesteryear's industrialists seem lost on today's financiers. Henry Ford raised autoworker wages so they could purchase the products they were making. Henry J. Kaiser initiated preventive health care to reduce illness and sick leave caused by untreated and contagious diseases. These leaders recognized that workers contribute to their success, and provide a stable base of customers. Today, workers are treated like disposable commodities as revenue is transferred into astronomical CEO wages and financial transactions rather than worker pay, job security, pension plans and health care. This race to the bottom served the plutocrats but endangered and enraged the electorate. One immediate concern is amending the ACA. Drew Altman, President and CEO of Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, recognizes that campaign-finance reform is a prerequisite to single-payer health care. That has been my cause for several years. This current electoral turmoil was inevitable with the long-term emphasis on partisanship, shareholder value, commodification of land and labor, and disregard for everything and everyone else in order to concentrate more dollars into fewer hands. Property managers must analyze and correct real on-the-ground physical, financial, legal, and social problems. The Citizens United decision prompted me to adapt my unique experience* to this issue. Draft legislation titled The Fair Elections Fund--a Whole New Ball Game, www.thefairelectionsfund.com, re-imagines the rally cry of the Revolution: $7.00/year for "Taxation With Representation." Several attorneys have reviewed it, and Professor Richard Painter (book: "Taxation Only With Representation") introduced me to the group Take Back Our Republic (takeback.org ). As a tax, it is exempt from Free Speech requirements. This plan funds federal campaigns with a $7.00/year tax paid by individual IRS income-tax filers. It engages citizens in the process. Prospective candidates must obtain supporting signatures from 2 - 3,000 registered voters in each jurisdiction in order to use these public funds for their campaigns. Upon enrollment, candidates do no more fundraising. Public funding extends opportunity to more candidates and approval voting eliminates the outliers. People will discern that extreme candidates will waste not only their own money, but also that of their neighbors. If one's chosen candidates don't gain wide acceptance or play by the rules, the popular #2 would be elected. This may simplify and expedite replacement in the event of a recall. It can be scaled down to state and local elective offices. Perhaps this could improve representation before the next round of redistricting. Representative democracy never was about getting 100% of what you want, or suppressing competitors. Those are the tactics of authoritarians and dictators, as exhibited by government shutdown, voter suppression, and legislative obstructionism. This increased level of post-truth politics reinforces my urgency to calm our well-armed inventory of angry fellow citizens. As George Washington anticipated, political parties are just private clubs that have wedged themselves between the people and their government. They enact laws that obstruct competition, isolate disfavored people, empower themselves, and enrich (and conceal) their campaign funders. This is far from a "free market." The recent presidential "elections" were public subsidies to select delegates who were limited to candidates apparently more responsive to their party or donors than to the people. The '70s FEC $3.00 donation to presidential campaigns and political-party conventions facilitated that takeover. Donors had no idea whose money they were supplementing. Thereafter, public subsidies to businesses increased as the wealth and influence of most citizens declined. That is why I am opposed to "matching" plans that perpetuate the current fundraising, party-oriented candidate-selection model, as well as voter disengagement. The difficult endeavor of disabling the Citizens United decision still won't eliminate fundraising or expand voter's choices. Just as current campaign funders influence legislation, if the majority of citizens want a real representative democracy, we must fund campaigns for candidates willing to represent us. This plan lets voters choose among public, private, or self-funded candidates. Some suggest campaigns dependent upon small donations. That is 1) insufficient, 2) unpredictable, 3) anonymous, 4) perpetual fundraising, and 5) doesn't expand voters' choices. Vouchers must be funded and may be useless if a voter can't reinforce their financial contribution with an actual vote for their preferred candidate where closed primaries or "top two" general elections limit free speech. Without replacement funding, a tax credit will generate a "rob Peter to pay Paul" problem, and proper usage of the credit must be verified. Another issue is voting practices. One of my concerns about ranked-choice voting is that voters may make errors that nullify their ballots. Also, in addition to counting and re-counting ballots, the system may be manipulated in such a way that a less popular candidate is elected. Alternatively, approval voting 1) dilutes the "spoiler" effect of more than two candidates, 2) identifies the voters' second choice if the directors remove a "winner" who cheated, 3) may expedite filling a vacated seat, and 4) informs the electors in choosing the President and Vice President, with consideration given to their compatibility as a pair. On the website's Cash Flow pages, you will note that the number of individual IRS tax filers exceeds the number of registered voters, actual voters, and unregistered adult citizens. Thus, taxation without representation has been restored. This is a replay of historic danger . The revenue indicated does not include the $5,000 enrollment fee from each candidate for each election, or free speech-allowed donations to the fund. It is not my place to propose how Americans may reshape their government. This gratis effort is to give candidates and voters a viable, independent voice in their governance. Is real representation worth $7.00 a year to you? Please consider endorsing and sharing this kind of plan to build an America for all Americans. * Bifurcated Street Performer Program at Fisherman's Wharf (Free Speech for all performers, extra benefits for Licensees + revenue for the Port of San Francisco) President Donald Trump is a very unfortunate aberration. He does not have a mandate and he will not be able to govern effectively. The population of America is approximately 325,443,245 individuals. There were 231,556,622 eligible voters in last month's election. 62,979,879 voted for Trump. Of the 93,986,623 ineligible voters many will become voting age today, tomorrow and every day for the next four years. He will steadily lose even more voter support for the next 1457 days. The reasons he won have been reported and debated ad nauseum. Now it is time to act. He must be made to bend to the will of the majority or he must go. His election was not a coup nor do we mollycoddle despots. He has surrounded himself with liars, propagandists, soldiers and thugs, as do all tyrants. He is desperately trying to intimidate and silence the press. He is trying to drag the intelligence community and the military into his perverted delusion of grandeur -- they are not going easy. There is no doubt that he is an American fraud. He abhors the traditional protocols and restraints of constitutional power. He is a secular, artless fauve; a fascist salesman. Many are writing about Trump in defeatist, dystopian terms. They either are too young or have forgotten -- we have been here before. President Richard Nixon was also paranoid and dangerous to the health of the Republic. He was exponentially more potentially dangerous than Trump by several degrees because he was very bright and an experienced, practiced politician. The press and the public brought him down. Nixon had the support of his party until almost the end. Trump's own party does not support him. They use him. They fear him. The My Hero Project - Cesar Chavez (Image by Public Domain) Details DMCA This past weekend's women's march around the country was exhilarating for so many reasons: it brought back memories of the struggles and victories of the Civil-Rights movement, the anti-Viet Nam War protests, Caesar Chavez and Delores Huerta leading crowds down the highways of California and, most importantly, watching my daughter proudly march, sign in hand, to the capital building in Austin. We couldn't go but we giddily wore our p*ssy hats, cheering. So, it's time to cut the defeatist, hyper-analytical crap and simply mobilize, make a plan and hit the streets. It happened forty-nine years ago. It happened forty-three years ago. It happened six years ago. It happened two days ago. Make it happen again. We have an art gallery and are in the process of starting a movement to raise awareness and fight the inevitable assault on the arts and humanities. What are you going to do? Marge and Tony, Austin Texas (Image by Kevin Tully) Details DMCA Austin Texas 1/21/17 2 (Image by Tom Delaney) Details DMCA Austin Texas 1/21/17 3 (Image by Tom Delaney) Details DMCA (Article changed on January 24, 2017 at 14:17) Class and the lack thereof is more about education, culture and breeding, than having huge amounts of money. You can't buy class. True, the members of the tiny group of oligarchs that rule America do so from a position of white entitlement. So when a belligerent, divisive, ungracious, and unrepentant man became the 45th president of the United States, many were desperately hoping that the sheer power and importance of the office would somehow transform this boorish brute of a man into something palatable that Americans could at least tolerate. No such luck, pal. Commenting on class, manners, and decorum, former United States President, Barack Obama, once inarticulately said: "no matter how much lipstick you put on a pig -- its still a pig." Ditto. Thanks Big O! Words of wisdom! God, I miss you already! Yup, that was way too much to ask. Strutting and preening himself for all to see Donald Trump reeked of arrogance and bombast his juvenile antics taking on an eerie quality of a man in the grip of a Caligula complex (Roman despot). Careful now, Trump may yet make some animal, like a horse, become a senator to outdo Caligula! I for one thought that the pomp and pageantry of the day would overshadow his massive ego and that he'd be magnanimous in victory and take the opportunity to set a tone of unity for his administration. Alas, by his second day in office, President Trump -- and that's going to take some getting used to -- had already told his first untruth to the world, declared war on the media, and gave the most sinister, ungrateful harangue in United States presidential inauguration history. He re-litigated the 2016 elections reminding us for the umpteenth time that he won, not only promised to make "America great again," but to put America first. There is no "kinder gentler Trump" only the gruff, rough schoolyard braggart now gone drunk with power over a captive audience that immediately drew comparisons with the decaying days of the Roman Empire. Lipstick anyone? Tone deaf to anything other than the sound of his own voice, Trump launched into a bitter, triumphalist screed striking fear in the hearts of 11 million undocumented immigrants, serving notice, that sooner rather than later, jack-booted men with runs on their hips would kick in their doors in the dead of night and send them back to a life of uncertainty. He conjured up images of a global apocalypse occasioned by the recklessness that is part of this modus operandi and the abandon with which he tears up rules of probity and decorum. He's right on one thing though -- he'll make good on his promise to go through Washington as a bull in a Chinese shop. The Trump I saw on the steps of the Capitol was the same Trump the world has come to know and treat with large doses of apprehension and lingering fear. As he did at the Republican Party nomination in Cleveland, he came with a message full of anger and foreboding, criticizing the record of his predecessor, and painting a dark, bleak American dystopia. Trump spoke of an "American carnage", of gangs and drugs running rampant in society supplemented with crime and rotting decay. A place only Mad Max could love. "From this day forward, it's going to be only America first," he said. "America first" -- embracing once again the slogan of the 1930s American nativist movement of appeasers and anti-Semites who sought to keep the US out of the war against Nazism. As he continued, Trump's rhetoric sounded chilling and alarmingly as a strongman in waiting. People say that he used to keep a volume of Hitler's speeches at his bedside, but I don't know if that's true. Not missing a step Trump blew off world governments by embracing the failed system of American protectionism. "Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength," he said, in defiance of the historical experience that proves protection leads to crisis and world war. In lock step with North Korea, Russia and China when it came to viewing the world, Trump stated, "from now on, all nations [will] put their own interests first". Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). In the swamp (Image by Daniel Geery) Details DMCA Medicare and Social Security (Image by Daniel Geery) Details DMCA Prostesters for Senator Hatch and Lee (Image by Daniel Geery) Details DMCA Just back an hour ago, circa 12:30 p.m. MST, from supposed meeting with Senator Hatch and Lee, of Salt Lake City. Not surprisingly, those two were absent and unavailable, busy in Washington, voting to fill the swamp, as they've worked hard to do so far. Here's Hatch speaking on that topic: U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch reaffirmed his support for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday in Provo. While addressing the Utah County Republican Women, the Utah Republican and president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate said that he thinks Trump has his faults, and was not his first choice to be the Republican nominee. But Hatch stressed that keeping a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate would keep the non-traditional candidate in line with the Republican Party's values. "You've got to make sure you have someone like Orrin Hatch to ensure a President Trump toes the line," Hatch said [great job so far, Orrin; thanks!]. Hatch also spoke at length about the importance of electing a president who will appoint conservative Supreme Court justices, as well as justices in lower courts, which he described as being the most important issue of this presidential election. It was a chilly, humid day, 30 degrees and 78% humidity, with no one even notified of this until Sunday night, so I was at least mildly surprised to see about 50 people turn out, several with signs. In spite of a large, warm lobby, we were told to stand outside, while seven folks at a time got to see Senator Lee's Representative (whoever that was), and two got the privilege of seeing Hatch's representative, whoever that may have been. I'm told that one lady trying ask questions was tossed to the ground, with several claiming to be witnesses (and later appear in court), with nothing but politeness and calm, intelligent questions asked by those of us waiting in the cold. What impressed me aside from the above, was the determination of the people vowing to "not disappear" until "the swamp is drained." Yes, it could be a long wait, but we will be there and elsewhere in this traditional Republican state, with many marches already having taken place in Salt Lake, and an SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) meeting at the U of U tonight. I was also impressed by the civility and intelligent questions being asked and one security guard who did a good job defusing and explaining the rules they are obligated to go by. I got a strong sense of the survival instincts of these folks (inspired by Moveon, but mainly with a strong sense of much we have in common, as reflected by the signs). click here click here click here click here (Article changed on January 24, 2017 at 23:08) From Consortium News Any fair judgment about Barack Obama's presidency must start with the recognition that he inherited a dismal situation from George W. Bush: the U.S. economy was in free-fall and U.S. troops were bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Clearly, these intertwined economic and foreign policy crises colored how Obama viewed his options, realizing that one false step could tip the world into the abyss. It's also true that his Republican rivals behaved as if they had no responsibility for the messes that Obama had to clean up. From the start, they set out to trip him up rather than lend a hand. Plus, the mainstream media blamed Obama for this failure of bipartisanship, rewarding the Republicans for their nihilistic obstructionism. That said, however, it is also true that Obama -- an inexperienced manager -- made huge mistakes from the outset and failed to rectify them in a timely fashion. For instance, he bought into the romantic notion of a "Team of Rivals" with his White House trumpeting the comparisons to Abraham Lincoln (although some of Lincoln's inclusion of rivals actually resulted from deals made at the 1860 Republican convention in Chicago to gain Lincoln the nomination). In the real world of modern Washington, Obama's choice of hawkish Sen. Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State and Republican apparatchik Robert Gates to remain as Secretary of Defense -- along with keeping Bush's high command, including neocon favorite Gen. David Petraeus -- guaranteed that he would achieve little real foreign policy change. Indeed, in 2009, this triumvirate collaborated to lock Obama into a futile counterinsurgency escalation in Afghanistan that did little more than get another 1,000 or so U.S. soldiers killed along with many more Afghans. In his memoir Duty, Gates said he and Clinton could push their joint views -- favoring more militaristic strategies -- in the face of White House opposition because "we were both seen as 'un-fireable.'" Seasoned Operatives So, Obama's rookie management mistake of surrounding himself with seasoned Washington operatives with a hawkish agenda doomed his early presidency to maneuvering at the edges of change rather than engineering a major -- and necessary -- overhaul of how the United States deals with the world. 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. (Image by (White House photo by Pete Souza)) Details DMCA Obama may have thought he could persuade these experienced players with his intellect and charm but that is not how power works. At moments when Obama was inclined to move in a less warlike direction, Clinton, Gates and Petraeus could easily leak damaging comments about his "weakness" to friendly journalists at mainstream publications. Obama found himself consistently under pressure and he lacked the backbone to prove Gates wrong by firing Gates and Clinton. Thus, Obama was frequently outmaneuvered. Besides the ill-fated counterinsurgency surge in Afghanistan, there was his attempt in 2009-10 to get Brazil and Turkey to broker a deal with Iran in which it would surrender much of its enriched uranium. But Israel and the neocons wanted a "regime change" bombing strategy against Iran, leading Secretary Clinton to personally torpedo the Brazil-Turkey initiative (with the strong support of The New York Times' editorial page) as Obama silently acquiesced to her insubordination. In 2011, Obama also gave in to pressure from Clinton and one of his key advisers, "humanitarian" warmonger Samantha Power, to support another "regime change" in Libya. That U.S.-facilitated air war devastated the Libyan military and ended with Islamic militants sodomizing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi with a knife and then murdering him, a grisly outcome that Clinton celebrated with a chirpy rephrase of Julius Caesar's famous boast about a conquest, as she said: "We came, we saw, he died." Clinton was less upbeat a year later when Islamic militants in Benghazi, Libya, killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. personnel, launching a scandal that led to the exposure of her private email server and reverberated through to the final days of her failed presidential campaign in 2016. Second-Term Indecision Even after Clinton, Gates and Petraeus were gone by the start of Obama's second term, he continued to acquiesce to most of the demands of the neocons and liberal interventionists. Rather than act as a decisive U.S. president, Obama often behaved more like the sullen teenager complaining from the backseat about not wanting to go on a family trip. Obama grumbled about some of the neocon/liberal-hawk policies but he mostly went along, albeit half-heartedly at times. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). From The National Without fanfare, Palestinian arch-rivals Fatah and Hamas announced last week that they intended to set aside years of power struggles to begin in earnest the process of forming a unity government. Palestinian officials said a disastrous international arena had underlined to both factions the pressing need to end divisions between the West Bank and Gaza. The statement was issued as a peace summit in Paris fizzled out ineffectually and Donald Trump prepared to enter the White House. Unity -- if it finally comes -- will reflect not a shared vision nor strategy, but a reluctant admission of the dire conditions facing Palestinian struggle over the next four years. The warning signs for Hamas intensified this month, as winter deepened, with mass protests in Gaza over electricity shortages. Donations from Turkey and Qatar, combined with a crackdown from local security services, bought a little quiet. But the enclave is simmering and in desperate need of relief from the decade-long throttling of Israel's siege. Over in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas is faring little better. He has invested his credibility in diplomacy. But the signs suggest that a Trump administration will not tolerate Palestinian moves at international forums such as the United Nations. Mr Trump's ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has declared his support for Israel's illegal settlements. And the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, another donor to settler causes, is to be Middle East envoy. During the inauguration ceremony on Friday, Mr Trump enthused improbably about Mr Kushner: "If you can't produce peace in the Middle East, nobody can." All this has occurred against a drum beat of intent to move the United States embassy to occupied Jerusalem, threatening to inflame Muslim and Arab opinion. The one tangible hope for Palestinians, a French-hosted peace summit, proved a damp squib. Foreign ministers were chiefly concerned about not starting off on the wrong foot with the incoming Trump administration. Britain exemplified this approach, blocking European Union efforts to adopt the summit's tepid conclusions. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off the summit as the "last gasp of the past before the future sets in." Israel has lost no time in preparing for the future, one in which peace talks and a two-state solution look obsolete. The new order is being crafted at Amona, a small settlement the courts have ruled is in violation of Israel's own laws because it is built on privately owned Palestinian land. All settlements are illegal according to international law. Faced with this impediment, the Israeli government is furiously devising new military regulations that would empower the settlers to seize more West Bank land from Palestinians and end legal oversight. Separately, ministers are rallying behind legislation to annex Ma'ale Adumim, a large settlement east of Jerusalem in a strategically vital location in the West Bank. If approved, this would be Israel's first formal annexation of territory since the Golan 35 years ago. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here. [Note to TomDispatch Readers: On a day when we have a powerful new piece by John Feffer, I just wanted to remind you to pick up a copy of his remarkable dystopian novel, Splinterlands, the latest in Dispatch Books' series of original works. Barbara Ehrenreich wrote of it: "A startling portrait of a post-apocalyptic tomorrow that is fast becoming a reality today. Fast-paced yet strangely haunting." If you've already bought a copy, then pick another up for a friend and give this website a bit of extra support in our future publishing endeavors. Alternatively, if you go to the TomDispatch donation page and contribute $100 ($125 if you live outside the USA), Feffer will send you a signed, personalized copy of the book. It's one hell of a novel, as well as a kind of owner's manual for the age of Trump. And keep in mind that, as you might imagine, TD needs all the help it can get in 2017. Finally, if (like me) you happen to live in New York City, Feffer will be at the New School on the evening of February 16th to discuss Splinterlands with TD author William Hartung. Hope you'll join me there! For the details on that event, click on this link. Tom] In a sense, the damage is already done and who can doubt that what follows will be a demolition derby -- with an exception almost too obvious to mention. In the pre-inaugural period, one simple fact of the Trumpian accession stood out boldly: just about every one of his appointees to a non-national-security post was prepared to rip his or her agency (or its mission) to shreds. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry essentially had to apologize for once claiming that he'd like to abolish the Energy Department, which he is now to head. Former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, historically in the pay of big energy, is to take over the Environmental Protection Agency, which he sued 14 times in his home state and challenged fiercely about its desire to protect the environment. Betsy DeVos, prospective head of the Department of Education, would like to tear up those "failing government schools" and turn "public" education into a voucher-driven phenomenon. Tom Price, the soon-to-be head of Health and Human Services, not only wants to rip out Obamacare at the roots, but essentially cripple Medicaid and Medicare, too. And though we have no details yet on labor secretary nominee Andrew Puzder's plans, given his record and his views (he'd like to replace workers with machines that don't take vacations), it's easy enough to guess that he will prove another dismantler. And so it's likely to go in Donald Trump's version of America. The first news from his administration's budget front, for instance, indicates that an axe will soon be taken to the departments of commerce, energy, justice, transportation, and state. In addition, the Hill reports, "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely." As I mentioned, however, there is a major exception to all of this that fits well with essential Republicanism in these years -- a "small government" philosophy until you reach the oppressive powers of the state and then "big" doesn't even cover it. So the major exceptions to all this will be the U.S. military and the Department of Homeland Security (that wall!). At the inaugural concert, Donald Trump once again emphasized that money will indeed flow in ever-increasing amounts into reversing the supposed "very sad depletion of our military." ("We're going to build up our great military. We're going to build it up. We're going to strengthen our borders.") In other words: for the civilian side of the government, no, but for the Defense Department, it's thumb's up all the way. If you thought Washington had a military-first policy in these last years, just wait. In essence, there may not be much left but the military to make policy with. Keep that in mind as TomDispatchregular John Feffer, author of the unforgettable new dystopian novel Splinterlands, the latest Dispatch Book, explores how Donald Trump plans to blow up the present world order, backed by that "great military" and that "big, fat, beautiful wall," and give birth to a new internationalism led by a global confederacy of oligarchs. It's a daunting vision on an increasingly daunting planet. Tom Donald Trump Against the World The Birth of a New Nationalist World Order By John Feffer Donald Trump is a worldly fellow. He travels the globe on his private jet. He's married to a Slovene and divorced from a Czech. He doesn't speak any other languages, but hey, he's an American, so monolingualism is his birthright. His fortune depends in large part on the global economy. He has business interests in nearly two-dozen countries on four continents. Many of the products anointed with the Trump brand roll off a global assembly line: Trump furniture made in Turkey and Germany, Trump eyeglasses from China, Trump shirts via Bangladesh and Honduras (among other countries). Just as wealthy Americans often slight the role the domestic infrastructure has played in the making of their fortunes, Trump routinely disregards how much his depends on the infrastructure of the global economy. The new president's cabinet nominees are a similarly worldly lot, being either generals or multi-millionaires (or both), or simply, like their president, straight-out billionaires. Rich people jet off to exotic places for vacations or to make deals; generals are dispatched to all points of the compass to kill people. With an estimated net wealth of more than $13 billion, Trump's cabinet could be its own small island nation. Make that a very aggressive island nation: the military men in his proposed cabinet -- former generals Mike Flynn (national security adviser), James Mattis (defense secretary), and John Kelly (head of Homeland Security), as well as former Navy Seal Ryan Zinke (interior secretary) -- have fought in nearly as many countries as Trump has done business. As worldly as they might be, Trump's nominees don't look much like the world. Mostly rich white men, they look more like the American electorate... circa 1817. Still, the media has bent over backward to find as much diversity as it could in this panorama of homogeneity. It has, for instance, identified the nominees according to their different ideological milieus: Wall Street, the Pentagon, the Republican Party, the lunatic fringe. In this taxonomy of Trumpism, the media continues to miss the obvious. The incoming administration is, in fact, united around one key mission: it's about to declare war on the world. Don't be fooled by the surface cosmopolitanism of the new president and his appointees. For all their international experience, these people care about the planet the way pornographers care about sex. Their interactions are purely transactional, just the means to an end. There couldn't be less empathy for the people out there involved in the drama. It's all about the money and that piercing sense of conquest. The Trump team's approach, a globalism of the 1%, benefits themselves even as it reinforces American exceptionalism. Their worldview is a galaxy distant from the sort of democratic internationalism that values diplomacy, human rights, and multilateral cooperation to address planetary problems like climate change and economic inequality. Such a foreign policy of mutual engagement is, in fact, exactly what's under immediate threat. As with Obamacare, the incoming administration wants to shred an inclusive project and substitute an exclusive one for it. In so doing, it will replace a collection of liberal internationalists with something worse: a confederacy of oligarchs. For such an undertaking that so radically privileges the few over the many, the next administration needs a compelling rationale that goes beyond assertions that the status quo is broken, international institutions are inefficient, and the United States is the indispensable power on the planet. America isn't facing just any old crisis like failing banks or nuclear wannabe nations. For someone like Donald Trump, the threat has to be huge, the biggest ever. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "One of the primary means of human communication, internal and external, is storytelling. Here, in Bottom-Up, Rob Kall is challenging humanity to tell itself a new story, one designed to free us from hierarchicalism to a more egalitarian, interconnected web of meaning." Steven Barnes, television writer (Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Stargate) and author of LION'S BLOOD" Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob Kall's Bottom Up is a revaluation of values, not the empty mouthing of the word 'democracy' that is so common, but the application of belief in popular wisdom to every aspect of life. Actually believing that the views of more people is better, means a new way of thinking about the world that is democratic, feminist, localist, populist, and radically richer than the elitist perspectives that are more common even in the parts of the world that shout the word 'democracy' the most. Here we come to understand both the power of small groups and the upsides to internet crowd sourcing, the potential of nonviolent movements and ways in which the past has not been what we supposed. Don't just read this book; get lots of people to read and talk about it." David Swanson, host, Talk Nation Radio, author of War No More: The Case for Abolition. Quicklink Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their quicklinks after publishing them. To see if the quicklink was renamed or re-published, please click here. From Consortium News Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressing the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2016. (Image by (Photo credit: AIPAC)) Details DMCA A new coalition of US-based organizations is pushing for a more aggressive U.S. intervention against the Assad regime. But both the war in Syria and politics in the United States have shifted dramatically against this objective. When it was formed last July, the coalition hoped that a Hillary Clinton administration would pick up its proposals for a more forward stance in support of the anti-Assad armed groups. But with Donald Trump in office instead, the supporters of a U.S. war in Syria now have little or no chance of selling the idea. One of the ways the group is adjusting to the new political reality is to package its proposal for deeper U.S. military engagement on behalf of U.S.-supported armed groups as part of a plan to counter Al Qaeda, now calling itself Jabhat Fateh al Sham. But that rationale depends on a highly distorted presentation of the problematic relations between Syria's supposedly "moderate" rebel groups and Al Qaeda's Syrian offshoot. The "Combating al-Qaeda in Syria Strategy Group" was formed last July by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), according to the policy paper distributed at an event at the Atlantic Council on Jan. 12. The "Strategy Group" also includes Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute and Jennifer Cafarella of the Institute for the Study of War, both of whom have advocated direct U.S. military force against the Syrian regime in support of the armed opposition. But it was CNAS that had the political clout to bring the coalition together under what appeared to be very favorable circumstances. Michele Flournoy, the founder and CEO of CNAS and a former third-ranking Pentagon official, was reported to be Clinton's likely choice for Secretary of Defense during the 2016 presidential primaries. And the June 2016 report of a CNAS "study group" co-chaired by Flournoy was in line with Clinton's openly declared support for a more muscular US intervention in Syria. That report had called for a U.S.-declared "no bombing zone" to protect armed opposition groups, vetted by the CIA, from Syrian and Russian attacks. Flournoy had then described the policy in an interview as telling the Russian and Syrian governments: "If you bomb the folks we support, we will retaliate using standoff means to destroy [Russian] proxy forces, or, in this case, Syrian assets." Expecting a Clinton Victory The new coalition of think tanks began meeting last summer when the politics in the United States seemed favorable for a political campaign for U.S. military intervention in Syria. On Sept. 30, Lister published a lengthy essay calling on the United States to provide shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to "moderate" opposition groups as well as to threaten attacks on the Syrian army if it violated the ceasefire. Lister was obviously hoping that President Clinton would adopt that policy option a few months later. Now the new strategy group is trying to sell the same proposal to Trump, calling it "a holistic, preventative counter-terrorism policy that empowers moderate Syrians ... to overcome extremists in Syria." It argues that Al Qaeda is seeking to gain control over areas now controlled by "moderate" forces in order to establish "an enduring Sunni extremist order in Syria." But the argument that these armed groups, which the U.S. has supported in the past, would be prepared to resist Al Qaeda's long-term caliphate with more money and arms and U.S. bombing of Assad's air force, is too divorced from reality to have traction in Washington now. In fact, the so-called "moderate" armed groups have never been truly independent of Al Qaeda in Syria. They have depended on the highly disciplined troops of Al Qaeda and its closest allies and the military strategy devised by Al Qaeda commanders to pressure the Assad regime. Lister himself has been clear on this point. Under his proposed plan for the United States to use the threat of military force against the regime, the CIA-vetted "moderate" armed opposition groups were not expected to end their military cooperation with Al Qaeda's Fateh al-Sham or to separate themselves physically from its forces, as had been provided in both the February and September ceasefire agreements. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). High Crimes and Misdemeanors. - a.k.a. .Liar, Liar ... Pants on ... (Image by qwealthreport.com) Details DMCA HERE IS the truth WHY Betsy DeVos is not fit to be the next Sec'y of Education! By the measures that are supposed to matter her experiment in disrupting public education in Michigan has been a colossal failure. In its 2016 report on the state of the state's schools, Education Trust Midwest painted a picture of an education system in freefall. "Michigan is witnessing systematic decline across the K-12 spectrum. Corporate education reformers are scrambling to make a distinction between charters and vouchers, but the reality is that charters clear a path for vouchers. Once you sell the public on the idea of school choice, it is increasingly difficult to say that parents may choose a corporate charter chain but can't choose a religious school." DON'T MISS THIS ONE!!! Response to Rob Kall's article: Blame Obama, Warren, DNC, Superdelegates, Hillary Primary Supporters,for Trump, Senate, SCOTUS http://www.opednews.com/articles/Blame-Obama-Warren-DNC--by-Rob-Kall-Chris-Matthews_Democrats-DNC_Fbi-Director-James-Comey_James-Comey-170123-183.html "There are people and groups to blame. The truth is that if the people and groups named below had not operated as they did, Bernie Sanders would have won the Democratic primary, then would have won the general election with his coattails sweeping the Democrats to a victory in the senate and maybe even the house, with Democrats picking up seats and power in state government as well." The Blame Game! You are right about all of them, but we need to add a few more, in my humble opinion: Honestly, even Bernie erred tactically in pushing all of the buttons on breaking up the big banks, Revolution, and Wall Street's Tyranny, but in doing so, he filled stadiums and awakened a nation to its core. Unfortunately, the big boys fought back and there were a zillion dirty tricks; he was called a socialist and "that was the next step before communism." His mega high priced campaign adviser, Tad Devine, acted like a plant, or maybe like a "potted plant" would be more diplomatic, and never returned any of my letters making very specific tactical suggestions. His staff in Burlington, including the campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, never returned calls; the emails which the lower required for communication to them maybe occasionally was responded to by some 20 year old volunteer in charge of absolutely nothing. Their very valid excuse was that they "were overwhelmed" and that the response to Bernie "was like being in a tidal wave." Soooooo, next time, be prepared. When you see a political tidal wave coming, get out your surfboard or get in a submarine, or get on top of a very tall building. The mainstream media? Absolutely among the worst to blame! Hired apparatchiks doing what they were told to do, especially in the most egregious concentration of New York City with its drones in Albany, which always believes that New York is the center of everything important, but which really is not much more than the center of 21st Century Tammany Hall, a venue of unspeakable levels of corruption. How to fix these problems before the next election? Bernie's supporters needed training and whoever runs 2018 and 2020 should be schooled in political operative instruction, and none of this "herding of cats." If the Democratic party is not rebuilt and restaffed from top to bottom, we will see the agonizing advance of pitifully small 3rd parties, and I include the Greens in that castigation. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Marching for Our House (Image by Marcello Rollando) Details DMCA Who will Donald Trump betray first: the nearly three million more Americans who stood against him on Election Day - those who living and breathing The Bill of Rights, peacefully marching in multiple American cities -- or voters who believe his Charles Lindbergh hijacked, America First 1941 isolationism is the solution to their problems. Sacrificing affordable healthcare & gender equality, tarnishing our First Amendment and rebranding America with the stench of Corporatism's profiting from the decline of our planet -- endangers the lives and sustainability of humankind -- only to prove the truth of, What is Past is Prologue. The only thing different about Donald Trump is the volume of his dishonesty, for change for America does not come from Russian comrades, but from non-violent grassroots emerging online and on the streets. In 1944, President Roosevelt said, They have imported the propaganda technique invented by the dictators abroad" you should never use a small falsehood; always a big one, for its very fantastic nature would make it more credible - if only you keep repeating it over and over and over again. How many times must we kick our nation's pendulum hard right before we learn the lessons of Hoover's Great Depression, Nixon's great Dirty Tricks, Reagan's great Trickle Down Economy, and Bush/Cheney's Great Recession, to realize this is the stuff of which Trump's make America great again was fomented? As FDR warned in 1944, The whole purpose of Republican oratory these days seems to be to switch labels. The object is to persuade the American people that the Democratic Party was responsible for the 1929 crash and the depression, and that the Republican Party was responsible for all social progress under the New Deal" Wall Street garbage in, GOP excrement out -- but only if We the People keep repeating it over and over and over again. There is no power on earth superior to the open mind of an American who, hearing the truth, sets free , "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore. Herein lies the truth and deception of why Democrats lost the 2016 elections: three million fewer voters were marketed to believe, educated Liberals are elitists who had forgotten them. Heed our 32nd president, this is not the time in which men can be forgotten as they were in the Republican catastrophe that we inherited. Although Corporatism has been found in the pockets of both major political parties, the difference of degree between the two, is staggering -- the greater of two evils has never been the better choice. Understandably, feeling forgotten, some have confused crude behavior with decisive leadership, something different with something good -- succumbing to the elixir that a team of Wall Street insiders will save us from corporate corruption. The lesson that inspired the Women's March, which inspired America to inspire Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia, is: We the People, in order to form a more perfect union, non-violently Imposed term limits on President Lyndon B. Johnson Drove from office President Richard M. Nixon Stopped Bank of America's random increase in fees Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Rob Kalls Bottom-Up: Tapping the Power of the Connection Revolution takes a very holistic view of bottom-up thinking and action, from changes in our psychology to our systems of work, living and governance. As someone who's been working to make bottom-up economics a reality for over 30 years, this book reinforces the need for and potential of redirecting our priorities-- and resources--from the few at the top to the many at the bottom." Anthony Flaccavento, author of Building a Healthy Economy from the Bottom Up Global RTLS for Industrial Applications In-Depth Industrial and Market studies 2016-2020 http://bit.ly/2jv0e1z "Global RTLS for Industrial Applications Market 2016-2020" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-RTLS is used to track asset, person, or any object in real-time basis. RTLS employs radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for communication, but some systems use optical (based on infrared waves) or acoustic (based on ultra sound) technology, either combined or separately. RTLS involves two components:Tags: These are hardware components attached to the object that has to be tracked.Readers: These are a combination of both hardware and software used to monitor signals emitting from the tag and determine the location of the object to which it has been attached.RTLS uses inexpensive radio tags and a cellular reader system to detect the presence and location of the containers. RTLS helps track assets within a smaller geographical area. RTLS provides passive or active information about the location of objects and generally tracks assets in confined areas where the required location points are covered with wireless nodes. RTLS enables transportation, healthcare, retail, and government organizations to monitor and track assets and resources more effectively. This helps in the optimal utilization of assets, streamlining of operations, and improvement of productivity. This ultimately enables enterprises to enhance their work processes. RTLS mainly uses technologies such as RFID, UWB, and Wi-Fi to locate objects.* Technavios analysts forecast the global RTLS for industrial applications market to grow at a CAGR of 31.14% during the period 2016-2020.Get Sample Report With TOC @ Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global RTLS for industrial applications market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from from both licensing of software as well as shipment of RTLS hardware. The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global RTLS for Industrial Applications 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 vendorsAeroScoutAwarepointEkahauEssensiumHPPINC SolutionsSchmidtUbisenseZebra TechnologiesView Technologies Market driverAdoption of RTLS for ease of inventory managementFor a full, detailed list, view our report Market challengeSafety and security concernsFor a full, detailed list, view our report Market trendGrowing popularity of smart factoriesFor a full, detailed list, view our report Key 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?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Industry Key Trends, Size, Growth, Shares And Forecast Research Report 2016 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=717722 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=717722 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Industry 2016 Market Research Report" to its huge collection of research reports.The Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Industry 2016 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Point of Care Diagnostic Devices industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Point of Care Diagnostic Devices 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 (United States, EU, China and Japan), 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 Point of Care Diagnostic Devices industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.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 Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.1 Definition and Specifications of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.1.1 Definition of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.1.2 Specifications of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.2 Classification of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.3 Applications of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.5.1 Industry Overview of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices1.7 Industry News Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Point of Care Diagnostic Devices Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Manufacturers 2011-20165 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Regions, Types and Manufacturers5.1 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Regions 2011-20165.2 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Types 2011-20165.3 Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Point of Care Diagnostic Devices by Manufacturers 2011-2016Make 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 @ Dental Fittings Market 2016 - 2024; Rising awareness of dental aesthetics and related advantages has resulted in increased acceptance of dental fittings amongst all age groups http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/dental-fittings-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=14195 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth insights, understanding market evolution by tracking historical developments, and analyzing the present scenario and future projections based on optimistic and likely scenarios. Each research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology developments, types, applications, and the competitive landscape.Orthodontics mainly deals with the correction of improper alignment of teeth by braces or apparent loss of teeth by dentures/artificial teeth. Orthodontics was initially chosen for children but now it is used ubiquitously. Technological advancements have reduced the stigma related with this treatment and now many dental fittings such as tongue and teeth colored braces are available commercially. Rising awareness of dental aesthetics and related advantages has resulted in increased acceptance of dental fittings amongst all age groups.Read Full Report:The dental fittings include dentures, archwires, anchorage appliances and ligatures. The braces or the brackets are meant to place the misaligned or crooked teeth in place. Braces are small squares attached to the front of the teeth by an orthodontic bonding agent and connected to each other via connectors or bands. Orthodontic bands are stainless steel, tooth colored material or transparent. Spacers are separating parts that fit between the teeth before the bands. Archwires guide braces with the movement of the teeth. Ligatures are small rubber bands which hold on to the archwires together. Traditionally braces were made up of metals, however, with technological advancements they are now available in ceramics. The braces are also made up of stainless steel, titanium or a mixture of both. The orthodontic archwires are of two types: coated metal and transparent non-metallic. Coated metal archwires are made up of nickel- titanium or of stainless steel and are coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), parylene-polymer, and an epoxy-resin. Transparent nonmetallic arches are similar to metal arches which are made from glass spindle and are embedded in polymer matrix. The growing demand for aesthetic archwires has led to many advancements in archwires technology. These wires will continuously be developed on the basis of appearance, durability and flexibility. Non-metallic archwires may take over the future market as they are more preferred over the conventional metallic wires. Dentures are used to replace and support the missing teeth and the surrounding gum tissues. Dentures are of two types: complete ones and the partial ones. The partial ones are plastic partials or the metal partials, on the basis of the material used to attach to the teeth.The dental fittings market is on an all-time high due to many regulatory reforms in most of the countries like reimbursement coverage, access to advanced technology, increased disposable income and increased rate of awareness about dental fittings treatment. Aspects such as rising awareness about dental fittings, cheaper availability of treatment and increasing health care expenditure may boost the growth of the dental fittings market in Asia Pacific. Attributing to rapid development in healthcare, infrastructure, government reforms and access to advanced dental fittings, China and India are most profitable markets in Asia. Also, easy availability of skilled orthodontists and supporting economy is expected to spur the growth of the dental fittings market in China and India.Download Free exclusive Sample of this Report:Many of the companies are manufacturing dental fittings, and are adopting acquisitions and mergers, extensive R&D as measures to expand their geographic reach and introduction of novel products in to the market. Asia Pacific dental fittings market is expected to rise with context to volume, on basis of low product prices, less market penetration, disposable earning and improving healthcare expenditure. Also the awareness of dental aesthetics systems and dental cosmetic surgery will expectedly drive this market in North America and Europe. The advanced CAD/CAM technology and 3 Dimensional digital imaging may lead to growth in the industry. The CAD technology can support in making digital prostheses much faster. The global dental fittings market is dominated by few key players such as GC Orthodontics, Dentaurum, Henry Schein, Hangzhou Shinye, and Dental Morelli.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Border Screening Market - Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16676 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Border screening is a service where people with suspected cases of quarantine of their contact and diseases are identified and are isolated in order to prevent the entry of the infected persons to a geographic region or country. Border screening also includes security screening where screening is undertaken to avoid human, economic and financial losses.The reason behind the need of border screening is to identify the suspected threats of security and the infected persons at the border. One such instance is the identification of Ebola virus that has already created epidemic in many part of the world. During the SARS epidemic, numerous countries introduce border measures, including educational information for travelers, border screening and travel warnings.The border screening market is primarily driven by the increasing awareness among public. Growing risk of epidemic through viruses is allowing public to think about it. Awareness among public regarding the diseases is increasing rapidly and they are supporting the border screening services in order to prevent diseases from spreading.Many countries have implemented the border screening in response to the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) of 2003 and the H1N1 influenza virus pandemic of 2009. Involvement of various government regulatory bodies is also fuelling the need of border screening market globally.Rising epidemic is a major concern for the world due to which investments are made on border screening market so as to improve the screening technologies and prevent the unwanted diseases from spreading. During the Ebola virus epidemic in August 2014, the World Health Organization recommended border exit screening of travelers from affected countries.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:Border screening is carried out through self-identification through airline/transit agency notification to health authorities of sick passengers, health declaration cards, fever screening of travelers executed by means of infrared thermal image scanners and visual inspection of travelers.Moreover, increasing terrorism globally has also boosted the need of border security screening in the past couple of years. Use of x-ray scanner, explosive trace detector helps in identifying the suspected risk of threats at airport, borders check in and checkout points. Security screening is used to avoid and stop unethical practices and smuggling that takes place in a large extent.The major restraining factor in this market is the high cost of screening. These screening measures are very expensive and are highly interfering measure when used screening of travelers.Another restraining factor of border screening is that border screening sometimes unable to detect the suspected threats or affected persons as they are asymptomatic but are infectious. This is due to the lower sensitivity screening and might have transmitted the disease to someone else before they are detected and isolated.Advancement of technology is acting as major opportunities in the border screening market. Newer technology will reduce the waiting time for screening procedure at the time of check in and check out. Also with the help of technological advancement accurate screening is possible with reduced chances of error.Based on system type the border screening market is segmented into Advance Passenger Information System (APIS), Automated Biometric Identification System (IDENT), Arrival and Departure Information System (ADIS), Automated Targeting System (ATS), Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS):, Interagency Border Inspection System (IBIS) among others.On the basis of product type the market is bifurcated into X-Ray screening systems, electromagnetic metal detector, explosive trace detector, biometric systems and others. Moreover, on the basis of application the market is bifurcated into airport, border check point, educational institutes and others. The geographic region is segmented in to North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.Some of the major players in the border screening market are Analogic Corporation, Argus Global Pty Ltd., Digital Barriers PLC., Implant Sciences Corporation, Smiths Detection, Safran SA, American Science and Engineering, Inc., Aware Incorporation., OSI Systems, Inc. among others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions.By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About TMRTMR 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.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Military Helicopter Seats Market - Grow at the highest during the forecast period 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16565 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The demand for military helicopter seats is increasing due to rising demand of military helicopters and it is likely to witness high growth due to several reasons such as increasing threats from terrorism and extremism among others.Based on product types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into ejection seats, crashworthy seats and others. In 2015, the ejection seat 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 increasing use of military helicopter in developing regions such as Asia Pacific, South America and Middle East and Africa. Some of the other factors boosting the demand are the raise in the fleet of helicopters.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:Based on the various maintenance types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into airframe maintenance, field maintenance, engine maintenance, component maintenance and others. In 2015, the component maintenance segment expected to be the most important market and anticipated to be the same during the forecast period.Component segment includes maintenance of foams & fittings, seat actuators and among others. These are very important components of military helicopters seat and should be maintained according to the standards set by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In 2015, the field maintenance and repair market is highly influenced by the growing orders of military helicopters from developing regions.For instance, in 2015, Korean Aerospace Industries to build up next generation light civil helicopter and light-armed helicopter and South Korea awarded a contract to airbus helicopters.Based on the various component types, the military helicopter seats market is segmented into foams & fittings, seat actuators and others. Among different types of components, seat actuator is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 2024, due to rise in the designed seats from the actuators.The others segment accounted for highest share in 2015 and expected to be the same during the forecast period of 2016 2020 which includes metals, thermoplastics, plastics and fibres among others.Based on the regions, the military helicopter seats 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. In addition, Europe is the second largest market for military helicopter seats market followed by Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America.The U.S. is the key contributors to the military helicopter seats market in North America. Military helicopter seats is high in North America is due to concentrated funding for military helicopter procurement will positively affect growth in the maintenance market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period of 2016 2024.The demand for military helicopter seats is increasing in developing countries such as India, China and Japan among others due to border problems among countries such as China and India and India and Pakistan among others. One of the major factors fueling the market for military helicopter seats market is Brazilian Army is investing enormous amounts for advancing its military.Some of the important players in the military helicopter seats market include are ORO Manufacturing Company (Carolina), B/E Aerospace, Inc. (U.S.), Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) and Zodiac Aerospace (France),). These top players are aiming to penetrate increasing economies and are adopting various methods to drive their market share.Some of the others players are Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. (United States), Thompson Aero Seating Ltd. (U.K.) and Aircraft Seating (U.K.), Acro Aircraft Seating Ltd.( United Kingdom), HAECO Americas (United States), Stelia Aerospace (France), Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (Israel) and Martin Baker (United Kingdom) among others.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions.By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About TMRTMR 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.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Garbage Bag Market - Forecast 2016 - 2023 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=10952 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com According to the World Bank report, the amount of garbage generated in urban areas, globally, is growing at a faster rate than the rate of urbanization. On an average, each person produces 1.2 kg of garbage per day and, thus, 7.4 million tons of garbage is produced per day in the world. This waste comes from households, schools, offices, market places, restaurants, industries, commercial complexes, agriculture, etc.A garbage bag is a flexible material used for the collection, storage, disposal, and handling of garbage. In addition, it has a very wide application in the transportation and distribution of garbage. It has variety of names such as bin bag, trash bag, rubbish bag, can line, etc. Three Canadians, Harry Wasylyk, Larry Hansen, and Frank Plomp, produced the first garbage plastic bag in 1950.Get PDF Brochure for more Professional and Technical industry insights:In the 21st Century, there are different materials available for the production of a garbage bag. Those materials include Low-Density Polythene (LDPE), High-Density Polythene (HDPE), recycled polythene, liner blend polythene, Medium Density Polythene (MDPE), Metallocene Polythene (mPE), degradable polythene, woven polypropylene, biodegradable polythene, and co-extruded plastic bags.Garbage bags produced from these materials are low cost, hygienic, leak proof, lightweight, durable, portable, offer resistance to air & water, meet FDA and USDA specifications, and can be recycled. These bags come in a variety of colors, such as black, pink, green, white, transparent, etc. They are also available in variety of sizes, depending on their end uses. Garbage bags find a wide range of applications in day to day life and are widely used in households, colleges, offices, shops, restaurants, hospitals, industries, etc.Evolving life style of consumers, increasing health and environmental awareness, and supportive environmental policies implemented by various governments across the globe are the major factors responsible for the increasing global demand for garbage bags and, thereby, their market growth.Owing to its value added applications, right from handling of waste to transportation and distribution of garbage, the market for garbage bags is expected to create significant growth and investment opportunities for players operating in the market, especially in the developing countries.Besides, the garbage bags market is expected to continue to grow steadily in developed nations, wherein the consumer demand for garbage storage and handling bags is high. The main growth drivers for the market are private consumers, retailers, and local packaging firms, which focuses more on delivering the product in the local market.However, sustainability of the garbage bag market majorly depends on new product innovation, such as garbage bag with enhanced odor control benefits. Additionally, presence of big and small retailers and increasing consumer preference for using cheap local products has created a highly competitive environment for big brands of garbage bags.The global garbage bag market is segmented based on: its material of construction, available sizes, and end users. By material of manufacturing, the global garbage bags market is segmented into HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, linear blend polythene, degradable polythene, biodegradable polythene, and woven polypropylene. By size, the market is segmented into 25 liters, 35 liters, and 50 liters & above. By end user, the global garbage bag market is segmented into consumer and industrial.By geography, the global garbage bags market has been classified into seven key regions, namely North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific excluding Japan, the Middle East & Africa, and Japan. The global garbage bags market is anticipated to expand at a double digit CAGR over the forecast period. Asia Pacific market is expected to be the most attractive market for garbage bag packaging due to large volumes of produced garbage from urban agglomerations. As of 2016, China is the largest garbage bags market in Asia Pacific, followed by India, and the market in these countries is expected to grow rapidly in the near future. North America, followed by Western Europe, are the other prominent regions projected to hold a promising future growth potential in the garbage bags market by the end of 2026.Some of the key players in the global garbage bag market are Allied Plastics, Berry Plastic Corporation, Clorox Australia Pty Limited, Cosmoplast, Heyuan Ruijian Plastic Products Co., Ltd., International Plastics, Kemii Garbage Bag Co. Ltd., Luban Pack, Novplasta, S.R.O., and Terdex.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications.About TMRTMR 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.Contact TMR90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Roofing Adhesives Market - Global Industry Analysis 2016 - 2024 Roofing Adhesives Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18569 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Adhesives are a material holding two surfaces together in such a way that they never detach. Their primary features include wetting the surface, adhering to it by developing strength, and maintaining stability. In a similar manner, roofing adhesives bind together sheets of styrene-butadiene-styrene modified bitumen (SBS-mod-bit) or asphalt roll roofing. Roof adhesives can be used in both hot and cold forms and are available in a variety of sizes. They enable physical interlocking and chemical bonding between materials and exhibit high environmental resistance. Roofing adhesives are capable of maintaining their performance regardless of exposure to UV light, rain, heat, salt water, and other weathering conditions. Roofing adhesives are extensively used in building and construction applications.Roofing adhesives can be classified based on resin types into polyurethane, epoxy, silicone, and acrylic varieties. Of these, polyurethane roofing adhesive accounted for a prominent share in the overall market. However, the epoxy segment is also anticipated to expand rapidly during the forecast period. Epoxy consists of an artificial substance which turns solid when heated or post application of pressure. These resins exhibit an excellent combination of adhesion, chemical resistance, and other physical properties which help them withstand severe climatic conditions. Due to this, demand for epoxy resins is poised to rise considerably during the forecast period.GET PDF BROCHURE FOR MORE PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRY INSIGHTS:Epoxy is also employed as low-tech glue in various materials such as wood, concrete, and others, which adds to the demand for it in the building and construction sector, which is incidentally a major applications of roofing adhesives. Requirement for elastic bonding adhesives from this end-user to provide higher durability to roofing surfaces plays an important role in motivating the roofing adhesives market. However, volatility in raw material prices may hamper the overall growth of this product.In terms of technology, the market is split into the solvent-borne and waterborne categories. The former are a mixture of ingredients dissolved in a solution, whereas the latter use water as a carrier or diluting medium, allowing it to evaporate or be absorbed by the surface. The main advantage of waterborne roofing adhesives is the lack of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in them. They therefore dominated the market and this trend is projected to continue in terms of their share and growth rate during the estimated period. Their exceptional shear strength, glossy appearance, high flexibility and government environmental regulations are their primary propellants.North America held a major share in the roofing adhesives market; however, Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a speedy rate during the forecast period followed by Middle East & Africa. Increasing urbanization and subsequent demand for residential and non-residential construction activities along with industrialization are the main drivers of the roofing adhesives market in Asia Pacific. Emerging middle class population and rising disposable income levels especially in countries like India and China are also some of the factors expected to drive the market for roofing adhesives during forecast period in Asia Pacific. Middle East & Africa is also another lucrative market for roofing adhesives during forecast period owing to increase in construction activities especially in commercial segment like hospitals, hotels due to focus of government on hospitality and tourism industry.There are many players operating in the roofing adhesives markets, some of the key players are The Dow Chemical Company, Henkel AG & Company, Derbigum Americans, Inc, Sika AG, Arkema, Royal Adhesives & Sealants and 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. TMR's 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.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Electrical Insulation Market - Global Industry Analysis 2016 - 2024 Electrical Insulation Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18560 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Electrical insulation is a form of material in which internally present electric charges do not flow freely. This makes it impossible for electric current to be conducted under the influence of an electric field. The main difference between electric insulation and semiconductors and conductors is that the former possesses higher resistivity, while the latter carry current with more ease. A substance is an insulator or a conductor is normally depends on the number of free electrons it possesses, which can be used to carry electric current. An important characteristic of insulating material is its ability to withstand electric stress which is known as dielectric strength. This strength is quoted in kilovolts per millimeter (Kv/mm). Previously, ceramics and glass were the most prominently used electrical insulation material. At present, polymer-based electrical insulation contributes a significant share in the global electrical insulation material market.Based on type electric insulation is classified as glass, ceramics, thermoplastic and epoxy resin. Electrical insulation material is used in various applications such as cables & transmission lines, power systems, electronic systems, domestic portable appliances, and others. Based on end-use industry, the electrical insulation market can be divided into manufacturing, transportation, infrastructure, and others. Modernization of electricity networks, increasing usage of electric appliances, and demand from the increasing population are factors contributing to the expansion of the electrical insulation market.GET PDF BROCHURE FOR MORE PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL INDUSTRY INSIGHTS:Consumption of thermoplastic electrical insulation is estimated to increase at a relatively speedy rate during the forecast period. These materials are lightweight, possess high mechanical and electric strength, and also deliver consistent performance in harsh climatic conditions. Thermoplastic electrical insulation also exhibit excellent voltage endurance compared to that of ceramics and a few other materials which makes them the preferred electrical insulation type across all regions.Demand for electrical insulation material has been dominated by the infrastructure segment followed by transporation and manufacturing. Rising construction activities especially in emerging economies such as India and China along with growing urbanization fuel its requirement for electric insulation during the projected period. Usage of electrical insulation in power systems plays a part as well and this is projected to be the markets leading application with fast growing rate during the forecast period. A surge in electrical installation activities in developing countries, improved policy regulations related to electricity, and focus on increasing the rural areas access to electricity are major drivers of the electric insulation market during the forecast period.Based on region, Asia Pacific was a prominent, rapidly expanding electrical insulation market globally and this trend is expected to continue during the estimated period. Rising population leads to a need for better industrial, residential, and commercial infrastructure which in turn elevates the demand for electricity. Modernization of electric transmission networks, government policies for electricity in rural areas, and growth of renewable energy are a few more causal factors. In Asia Pacific, China is considered to be an important market followed by India and South Korea. Middle East & Africa and Latin America are also likely to grow significantly during the forecast period.This market for electrical insulation material is highly competitive due to the presence of a large numbers of local players who supply low-quality products at comparatively inexpensive pricing. Key players operating in the global electric insulation market include DuPont, ITW Formex, 3M, Nitto Denko Corporation, Krempel GmbH, and Haysite Reinforced Plastics.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. TMR's 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.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Data Brokers Market - Segmentation, Drivers and Restraints, Regional Outlook, Global Research Report http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/data-brokers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=13037 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Data broker is a business that collects and stores the personal information about consumers and sells to organizations who require that data to design their marketing strategy based on the preferences of the customer. The data brokers collect this information from a variety of sources such as government records, browser cookies and credit/debit card transactions. The brokers integrate and synthesize the data using advanced analytics tools such as rapid miner and Google fusion tables to formulate individual profiles of the customers.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :These individual profiles are updated regularly and are sold as per the demand of the buying organizations. The data brokers collect various kinds of data such as consumer data (personal information such as name and contact detail), commercial data (companies data), scientific data (weather information & drugs composition), real estate data (homes, farms or properties) and location data (global positioning, traffic and landmarks).The data brokers store every bit of the information such as Internet activity, bulk transaction records and personal data such as date of birth, and books read. Various businesses are looking forward for that data to target the customers accordingly. This is the major driver for the growth of the market. Absence of data protection compliances in the emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil supports the growth of data brokers market. The data broker organizations support the companies in analyzing the buying pattern of the customers, thus support the organizations in developing products according to demand of the customers.Get Sample Report Copy :Growth of Internet of Things (IoT) and rising demand of data analytics is anticipated to create immense opportunities for data brokers market. However, the customers are unaware of data being collected, thus privacy issues occur consistently. This is expected to provide hurdles in the growth of the data brokers market. The sector specific compliances pertaining to data privacy such as Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is further anticipated to present challenges to the players in this market.Data brokers market is broadly segmented on the basis of product type, data type, insight level, and geography. On the basis of product type, the data brokers market is segmented into marketing products, risk mitigation products and people search products. Various data types associated with this market include consumer data, commercial data, scientific data, real estate data and geo-location data. On the basis of insight level, the data broker market is segmented into basic insights, smart insights and adaptive insights. Moreover, in terms of geographies, the global data brokers market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Latin America.North America has been the key contributor to the revenue generated by data brokers market during the last few years. This is attributed to presence of highly digit tech savvy population in the region which generates huge amount of data. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing region in terms of adoption of data broking services as it enables the businesses to design personalized promotional campaigns to target the mass population present in the region.The major participants in the data brokers market include Acxiom Corporation, CoreLogic Inc., DataLogix Inc., eBureau LLC, Experion Plc, Intellius Inc., Peekyou LLC, Databroker Ltd., Pipl Inc. and Epsilon Data Management LLC.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: Hypercholesterolemia Market - Global Industry Analysis 2020 http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/request-for-sample.html?flag=S&repid=51864 https://goo.gl/25Z1zV https://goo.gl/HRnEPN http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com/market-analysis/hypercholesterolemia-market.html http://www.syndicatemarketresearch.com Hypercholesterolemia is an inherited condition that results in high levels of total cholesterol. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that occurs naturally in the body that can be dangerous when it builds up on artery walls. Hypercholesterolemia can cause atherosclerosis and increase your risk of heart disease called coronary artery disease. Human blood cholesterol includes of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol.Get a copy of free Sample Report @One of the major factors that have been driving the global hypercholesterolemia market is the increase in the prevalence of heart disorders coupled with increasing population. Additionally, factors such as growing health awareness, government initiatives, and technology advancements are driving the hypercholesterolemia market. However, high costs of treatment are expected to hamper the market growth during the forecast period. The report also analyzes several driving and restraining factors and their impact on the market during the forecast period.The study provides a decisive view on the hypercholesterolemia treatment market by segmenting the market based on disease and regions. All the segments have been analyzed based on present and future trends and the market is estimated from 2014 to 2020. Based on the disease the market is segmented into type II hyperlipoproteinemia and others. Regional segmentation includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa with its further bifurcation into major countries including U.S. Germany, France, UK, China, Japan, India, and Brazil. The hypercholesterolemia market is dominated by North America followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. Asia-Pacific is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period.Get in-depth TOC (Table of Contents) with Tables and Figures @The report provides a comprehensive view of the hypercholesterolemia market. To understand the competitive landscape in the market, an analysis of Porters Five Forces model for the hypercholesterolemia market has also been included. The study encompasses a market attractiveness analysis, wherein application segments are benchmarked based on their market size, growth rate, and general attractiveness.The detailed description of players includes parameters such as company overview, financial overview, business and recent developments of the company. Some of the major in the global hypercholesterolemia market include Pfizer, Inc., AstraZeneca Plc, Merck & Co., AbbVie, Inc., Amgen, Inc., Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Novartis AG, Cerenis Therapeutics Holding SA, Regex BioSciences LLC, and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc.Inquire more before buying this report @This report segments the global hypercholesterolemia market as follows:Hypercholesterolemia Market: Disease Segment AnalysisType II hyperlipoproteinemiaOthersHypercholesterolemia Market: Regional Segment AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.EuropeUKFranceGermanyAsia PacificChinaJapanIndiaLatin AmericaBrazilMiddle East & 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: Compaction Machines Market Revenue Expected to Expand at 6.2% CAGR Through 2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1064 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-1064 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights (FMI), in its latest report titled Compaction Machines Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015 - 2025, has projected the global compaction machines market to expand at a steady CAGR of 6.2% in terms of revenue during the forecast period 20152025. The compaction machines market is estimated to reach US$ 3,444.3 Mn by the end of 2015, and 6,310.7 Mn by the end of 2025.Increasing investment in infrastructure development and new road development and maintenance is fuelling demand for compaction machines globally. It is projected that the total investment in infrastructure activities would account between 3.5% and 4% of the global GDP by the end of 2030. Investment in road development and maintenance is forecasted to account for 28% of the total investment made between 2015 and 2025. Furthermore, focus on developing smart cities, runaways, and dams is further expected to boost demand.Request Free Report Sample@Product-wise, the market is segmented into heavy compaction machine and light compaction machine. Heavy compaction machines are further sub-segmented into single drum roller, heavy tandem roller, and pneumatic roller. Light compaction machines segment, is sub-segmented into light tandem roller, hand operated machines, and trench roller. As far as unit sales are concerned, the light compaction machines segment account for approximately 85% share of the overall market in terms of unit sales, and is likely to dominate the market by the end of 2025, with the rising adoption in footpaths, road, and highway maintenance.Region-wise, Western Europe and Asia Pacific represented prominent markets for compaction machines globally in 2014. In terms of market value, the compaction machine market in developing countries of Asia Pacific is collectively projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.6%, with major Asian economies such as India and China playing a major role. However, in term of unit sales, Western Europe dominates with more number of unit sales in the light compaction machinery segment. The Asia Pacific region is expected to be the largest compaction machine market in terms of value by 2025 end, followed by Western Europe and North America.As per the ongoing trend in the market, the intelligent compaction machines with display, sensors and telematics are being included in most of the key players product offerings. Currently, the heavy compaction machinerys rental penetration and secondary sales market is growing significantly. However, this trend is expected to pose a major challenge for new equipment sales.Send An Enquiry@Key companies in the compaction machines market include XCMG Co. Ltd, Wacker Neuson SE, Terex Corporation, Atlas Copco, Volvo Construction Equipment - Volvo CE, Caterpillar Inc., BOMAG GmbH, Zoomlion Heavy Industries Science and Technology Co Ltd, Wirtgen Group and Sany Heavy Industries Co Ltd. Currently, global players account for over two-thirds of global revenues, however, in the future, new entrants to the market are expected to gain traction.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.Contact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Research report explores the Europe Connected Cars Market for the forecast period, 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-44 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-44 www.futuremarketinsights.com Connected cars are considered to be the future of automobile industry. In addition to wireless LAN devices, connected cars have active safety solutions and automated driver assistance systems. Enabling car owners to connect with all the connectivity devices that are inside and in the vicinity of cars, connected cars also assure to maintain safe distance between cars on roads.These cars also allow drivers to mechanically monitor cars performance and physical condition. The connected car technology can also be used to connect to cars through smartphones or other mobile devices.Research indicates that the market for connected cars, after 2010, has been growing in a nascent stage each year. Providing a wide range of opportunities to automotive and telecom industries, as well as consumers, the market is anticipated to gain mass penetration and witness substantial growth in the near future.Request Free Report Sample@Europe, which is currently the second largest market for connected cars, is estimated to outpace North America and create the largest market by 2020 end. Rising demand for vehicle safety and security will continue to be a key driver for market growth.Europe Connected Cars Market: Key DriversIncreasing demand for electric vehicles from European consumers is playing a crucial role in boosting the market for connected cars. Moreover, the market is predicted to gain traction due to widespread adoption of mobile and wireless technologies.Some governments within EU are introducing various regulations and initiatives regarding vehicles safety, which could be a favourable move for connected car manufacturers and dealers. In addition, availability of advanced telecom and road infrastructure will also continue to fuel the European market for connected cars.Key RestraintsWhile the connected car technology and smartphone technology are conjoint in this industry, the difference in their lifecycles is significant. Car development is a five-year cycle but the smartphone is developed within a much shorter time span. This is expected to act as a major restraint for connected cars in tandem with smartphone technology.Moreover, car manufacturers will need long-term, compatible mobile partners, which is currently a challenge.A recent survey concluded that many consumers from the U.K., Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, and Italy are concerned about the lack of standards across connected car manufacturers. This is anticipated to be a major barrier in the market.Research reflects significant reluctance among consumers about data privacy and digital safety. A sizeable consumer population still prefers to personalise their cars web connection via smartphones USB or Bluetooth, rather than buying a connected car with built-in options. This is another factor that could be a major roadblock to market.Furthermore, many people are not yet ready to pay separately for embedded car connection, which is foreseen to be a setback for the market in Europe.Segmentation: Europe Connected Cars MarketFMIs research on the European market for connected cars provides a six-year forecast, segmenting the market on the basis of technology, hardware, service, and application.On the basis of technology, the market is segmented into long-term evolution (LTE), Wi-Fi, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and others.The hardware segment is further segmented as processor, sensor, CPU, memory device, and wireless and cellular module.Based on the service, the market is segmented into original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) services, connected services, after-market services, and other services (e.g. safety services).According to the application, the market is segmented as telematics, navigation, safety and security, infotainment, and communications. However, the safety and security segment is expected to outperform all the segments, followed by infotainment, which is said to record the fastest growth in the European connected cars market.Europe Estimated to Surpass the Current Market Leader, North AmericaThe EU has always been highly supportive in promoting the connected car technology. The European CEN and ETSI have set certain standards for cooperative intelligence transport systems (ITS), as per the demand from the European Commission for safer, more efficient, and more sustainable transport. The latest standards make it mandatory for manufacturers to equip each car model with a GPS system and 3G/4G connectivity. Moreover, the technology is expected to interconnect drivers with automakers, dealers, and auto repair shops. This has been a major breakthrough for the connected cars market in Europe.Influential Trends in the Connected Cars MarketComplete smartphone integration, teen drivers monitoring, digital dashboards, GPS navigation systems with travel guidance, and self-driving (driverless cars) technology are the most notable trends in the connected cars industry, in Europe and globally.In the recent past, Volvo has launched a corporate initiative, according to which self-driving cars and autonomous driving features will be in market in the near future. The companys Drive Me Project in 2017 also featured 100 self-driving Volvos on public roads.Visit For TOC@Key Players: European Connected Cars MarketKey players in the European connected cars market include Apple, Inc., Airbiquity, Inc., BayerischeMotorenWerke AG (BMW), Delphi Automotive LLP, Ford Motor Company, Microsoft Corporation, TATA Consultancy Services Ltd., Toyota Motors Corp., Verizon Communications, Inc., and AT&T, Inc.Major car manufacturers have already started taking efforts toward smartphone integration to cater to connectivity demand from consumers. Since several companies from telecom and software verticals are rapidly entering the connected cars market, OEMs are expected to concentrate on strengthening their hold in the market.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and IndiaContact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Cloud-RAN (Radio Access Network) Market Industry Analysis, Trend and Growth, 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-52 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-52 www.futuremarketinsights.com Cloud-RAN,orCentralized-RAN (C-RAN) is an advanced cellular network architecture for mobile network infrastructure that can support 2G, 3G and 4G system and meet wireless communication benchmarks. Cloud-RAN is outpacing traditional cellular network system as it doesnt require RF (radio frequency) equipment, antenna, BTS (baseband unit) and digital processor to be deployed in the cell site. Traditional cellular network architecture demands more power, space, additional big cell towers and directional antennae to support new air interface technologies such as LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and multi-frequency bands. Moreover, enhancement of traditional cellular network in a wireless network to support data traffic demand becomes economically unsustainable. In contrast, Cloud-RAN enhances mobile communications and helps cellular network operators in delivering qualitative and effective mobile communication services at a reasonable cost.Cloud-RAN ensures centralization of baseband processing in one location. To connect to RRH (remote radio heads), fibre optical cables are required.Cloud-RAN is based on new technologies,viz. cloud computing thatcan take advantage of advanced remote antennae or radio head techniques and SDN (software-defined network) approaches.Request Free Report Sample@Cloud-RAN offers various benefits like reduction in cost of network operations. The three types of cost reductions are energy consumption, site rental expenses and operational & maintenance cost of network. These savings can be balanced against cost incurred on fibre optical cables required to meet fronthaul capacity and latency requirements. Cloud-RAN also enhances capacity due to coordinated multipoint and ensures speedy performance. Aforementioned benefits of Cloud-RAN architecture automatically increase the value of service to end-users. However, initial high investment required to deploy Cloud-RAN architecture acts as one of the major challengesfor the growth of Cloud-RAN market.The Cloud-RAN market can be categorizedinto component, services and geography.The market is segmented on the basis of thenatureof its components, which includes six major categories -BBU (Baseband Units), RRU (Remote Radio Units), optical transport network, servers, processors and measurement device. On the basis of services segment, the Cloud-RAN market can be categorized into network services, custom services and system integration services. The market can also be segmented on the basis of major geographies, into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Eastern Europe and Middle East & Africa.Cloud-RAN is a global multi-billion dollar market which is expected to exhibit a considerable growth in CAGR, from 2014 to 2020. The key drivers include need to reduce increasing data traffic and Capex&Opexexpenditure, which are the biggest revenue generators for the Cloud-RANmarket. The key restraint to this market is high initial cost of deployment and dependency on availability of fibre. Major players in Cloud-RAN market focuses on partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisition &merger strategies in order to outperform their competitors. For instance, in 2013 Intel Corp. acquired Mindspeed Technologies and extended its offerings with new mobile system services i.e. Cloud-RAN.Visit For TOC@Some of the key players identified in the Cloud-RAN market are Ceragon Networks Ltd.,Actix Ltd., Aricent Technologies, JDSU, 6WIND, MTI Radiocomp, Altera Corp., Mindspeed Technologies, Inc., Intel Corporation, VitesseSemiconductor, Telco Systems, VPI Systems, Telco Systems and TEOCO among others.About Us Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and IndiaContact Us:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way,Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage,New York 10989,United StatesTel: +1-347-918-3531Fax: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Hearing Amplifiers Market : Technological Advancements To Watch Out For Near Future; Global Industry Analysis 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16352 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hearing-amplifiers-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Hearing amplifiers market is segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. In 2015, North America lead the global market of hearing amplifiers followed by the Europe in terms of revenue. According to statistics compiled by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 37.5 million adults aged 18 and older in America report some form of hearing loss. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from using hearing aids and more than 90 percent of deaf children are born to parents suffering from some kind of hearing disorder. Globally, the hearing amplifiers market is expected to witness a healthy CAGR in terms of revenue during the forecast period.For Any Queries Get Solutions With A PDF Sample :The key players in the global market develop hearing amplifiers in analog and digital forms. Some of the top companies in the global hearing amplifiers market are Sound Hawk, Resound, Foshan Vohom Technology Co. Ltd., Sound world solution, Shenzhen LA Lighting Company Limited, Austar Hearing Science and Technology (Xiamen) Co., Ltd., Huizhou Jinghao Electronics Co. Ltd., Ziphearing among others.Latin America, Middle East & Africa and Asia Pacific regions are the emerging markets in the global hearing amplifiers market. Increasing awareness among the various distribution channels as well as consumers in these regions is anticipated to propel global market growth of hearing aids and amplifiers during the forecast period.Based on styles or design types of hearing aid products the global market of hearing amplifiers can be segmented as follows: Behind-the-ear (BTE) Mini BTE In-the-ear (ITE) In-the-canal (ITC)Based on function the global hearing amplifiers market can be segmented as follows: Analog hearing aids Digital hearing aidsBased on distribution channels the global hearing amplifiers market can be segmented as follows: Hospital Pharmacies Online Pharmacies Independent Pharmacies and Drug storesIncrease in number of hearing impairment cases coupled with rising costs of hearing aids are expected to drive the growth of the global hearing amplifiers market during the forecast period. Majority of the consumers use hearing amplifiers or personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) as they are considered cheaper alternatives of hearing aids. Hearing amplifiers or PSAPs, are designed to amplify sounds in any recreational environment and are exempt from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hearing amplifiers are sold directly to consumers as electronic devices without the requirement of a physician prescription.According to National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), approximately 324,200 cochlear implants have been implanted worldwide. About 15 percent of Americans (26 million people) between the ages of 20 and 69 have high frequency hearing loss due to exposure to noise at work or during leisure activities. Major driving factors for the growth of the global hearing amplifiers such as an increase in the number of prevalence of hearing impairment patients in old and young population, increasing investment in research and development in ENT field among others.View exclusive Global strategic Business report :Hearing loss can occurs when inner ear or nerve is damaged, which may be caused due to diseases, aging, loud noise, and medications. Hearing amplifier is a small part of hearing aid which makes the sound louder. Hearing amplifiers increase the power of signals and then send them to the ear through speakers.Hearing aid is useful in improving the hearing and speech of patients. An otolaryngologist investigates the cause of the hearing loss. An audiologist is a hearing health professional who identifies and measures hearing loss and will perform a hearing test to assess the type and degree of hearing loss.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: CNG and LPG Vehicles Market Globally Expected to Drive Growth through 2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-511 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-511 www.futuremarketinsights.com The increasing environmental concerns and escalating prices for gasoline and diesel have upturned the economies (especially the developing ones) attention towards alternative fuel such as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and global CNG and LPG vehicles market. The Dual Fuel options offered by these substitute fuel vehicles have convinced the consumers as noble substitutes when compared to the traditional gasoline and diesel vehicles.The major governmental mandates such as Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), California Air Resources Board Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate, and Federal Emissions Standards are turning the automotive industry towards more and more technological advancements so as to attain fuel economy and reduce emissions which are directly increasing the demand for CNG and LPG vehicles, thereby raising the global CNG and LPG vehicles market. The global CNG and LPG vehicles market is yet in its developing stage which requires a conjoint efforts of the government, people, and the manufacturers (OEMs).CNG and LPG Vehicle Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe increasing importance of clean economy and balance of the ecosystem is accompanied by governmental protocols, and is driving the global CNG and LPG vehicles market. Along with the environmental concerns, the cost saving factor (comparative to the petrol and Diesel) will also subsidize to the global CNG and LPG vehicle market.Request Free Report Sample@Despite of being the most striking subject matter of the economy in recent times there is a lack of awareness about the benefits of LPG/CNG amongst the people that is preventing the global CNG and LPG vehicles market from growing. Some of the other growth restraining factors of the global CNG and LPG vehicles market can be deficiency in the service stations of CNG and LPG, poor networks of CNG and LPG Stations, and increasing awareness of upcoming LNG vehicles.The global CNG and LPG vehicle market is also is challenged due to its higher cost of initial equipment installation.CNG and LPG Vehicles Market: SegmentationBy product/fuel type, the global market for CNG and LPG vehicles is segmented as CNG and LPG.On the basis of applications the global CNG and LPG vehicles market is segmented as Passenger Car Vehicles and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).CNG and LPG Vehicles Market: Region-wise OutlookThe CNG and LPG Vehicles market is expected to register a favourable growth for the forecast period, 2015?2025. The Asia-Pacific is projected to endure its control on the global CNG and LPG vehicles market followed by Europe and North America. The developing regions such as India and China are projected to be potentially growing in global CNG and LPG vehicles market with reference to the increasing demand for commercial vehicles and passenger cars accompanied by the escalating gasoline prices and price conscious consumers. South Korea being the developed nation in automotives market will also show a remarkable growth into the global CNG and LPG vehicles market.Request For TOC@European market is undergoing some stringent norms by the European Union (EU) that is accelerating the demand for CNG vehicles. Not only CNG vehicles but also LPG will be at a competitive advantage situation in response to the European incentives for the oil companies.CNG and LPG Vehicles Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global CNG and LPG vehicles market are Ford, Fiat Group, General Motors Group, Volkswagen, Renault, Hyundai, Suzuki, and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Radiology Information System RIS Market with Current Trends Analysis, 2015-2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-825 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-825 www.futuremarketinsights.com Radiology Information System is a software which manages the data for physicians, hospitals radiology department and clinics in an electronic form. Data could be in any form like billing, scheduling and medical imaging. Radiology information system is very useful to track radiology imaging orders and to track reports of patients. Patients entire radiology history, from admission to discharge could be track. Statistical reports for a patient or for a group of patients can be generated. The radiology information system also allows the staff to make appointments for outpatient and inpatients. Radiology Information system also provides the detailed financial recording, electronic payments and automated claims.Recently, Singapore based healthcare groups called SingHealth and Eastern Health Alliance (EH alliance) and Singapore Health Ministrys IT arm, IHis purchased Carestreams Vue Radiology (Radiology Information System) and Vue PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) for better result, access and management of radiology results and patient imaging data. Almost 4 million patients visits every year in SingHealth Group. Carestreams Vue RIS+PACS are in few other hospitals too in Singapore like Singapore General Hospital, KK Womens and Childrens Hospital, National Cancer Centre Singapore, National Heart Centre Singapore and SingHealth Polyclinics. By this software, one can access data from any location and create one unified imaging of patient file.Request Free Report Sample@Radiology Information System Market: Drivers & RestraintsTechnological advancement, rising ageing population, consolidation of healthcare providers, innovation, improved efficiency and better results, increasing demand for better healthcare systems, cost-effectiveness, increase usage of cloud computing and web based solutions, increase number of chronic diseases, are the most important driving factors in radiology information system market. Since radiology information system maintains the data for physicians and hospitals to get access form anywhere, the demand for radiology information system has increased.With so many advantages and splendid features of radiology information system, it has few disadvantages too. Lack of inexperienced professionals and interoperability issues are acting as a barrier for radiology information system market.Radiology Information System Market: SegmentationRadiology Information System Market is broadly classified on the basis of the following segments By Deployment:Web based RISCloud based RISOn-premise RISBy Product:Integrated RISStandalone RISBy End-User:HospitalsEmergency Healthcare Service ProvidersOffice Based PhysiciansRadiology Information System Market: OverviewThe radiology information system has grown substantially at a healthy CAGR due to increasing need of integrated healthcare system and rise in demand of diagnostic industry. With rapid technological advancement and innovation, radiology information system market is expected to grow globally. North America and Europe region will be dominating radiology information market in the forecast period.Request For TOC@Radiology Information System Market: Region-wise OutlookThe radiology information system market is expected to register a double-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, radiology information system market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, South America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America has the largest market for radiology information system and is contributing the most as compare to other regions. This is due to the increase demand of diagnostic industry go get better, fast and effective results.Radiology Information System Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market players in radiology information system market are Cerner Corporation, Siemens Healthcare, Carestream Health, Mckesson Corporation, GE Healthcare, Merge Healthcare, Allscripts and Epic Systems.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Releases New Report on the Hemostats For Wound Closure Market http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-827 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-827 www.futuremarketinsights.com Historically wound types remain the same over the ages with only a slight exception being the emergence of femoral punctures associated with catheterization procedures. But with the advent of newer technologies the practice of closing those wounds are changed.These new products are commonly available on hospitals & trauma centers and have wide range of usage area. Among them Hemostat has become a very popular tool to be used as wound closure material with its excellent properties. When applied to a wound, quickly absorbs blood and other body fluids, transforms into a gel to seal the wound with a protective transparent layer, actively aids in stopping bleeding, and creates an environment for wound healing.Treatment of damaged cardiac tissue in patients with high bleeding tendency can be very challenging. In this category of surgery Hemostat proved to be a very effective with the combination of collagen sponge for the management of a myocardial woundTopical hemostatic agents and tissue adhesives are used as an adjunct or alternative to standard suturing techniques to control bleeding or for wound closure.Hemostats for Wound Closure: Drivers and RestraintsWound closure has become a very frequent clinical practice which is growing very rapidly. The sophisticated procedures ensure rapid cessation of blood loss, prompt closure, strong adhesion of wound edges, tight sealing, reduced scarring, reduced risk of infection and more rapid healing. There is a pool of patients throughout the world which makes the market of this product is very lucrative. As the price is also very reasonable so acceptance of this product is gradually progressing.Request Free Report Sample@On the other hand some reports come which could restrict the growth. Surgical staples are emerging as the most useful tool on this wound closure segment. Also the market of suture which is there traditionally remains constant if not growing to some parts of the world. Few reports also suggested that patients may suffer with irritation, heat inflammation or redness on skin when hemostat are applied, though its not clear the exact reason for these.As the market is growing and price is low, so tough competitions will prevail in this segment too.Hemostats for Wound Closure: SegmentationGlobal market for wound closure products consist of hemostat are mainly driven the use of Fibrin which is the combination of thrombin & fibrinogen. Also collagen finds it use as hemostat though it still needs the approval of USFDA.Thrombin based HemostatsCombination HemostatsOxidized Regenerated Cellulose HemostatsGelatin HemostatsCollagen based HemostatsHemostats for Wound Closure: OverviewWith the rapid technological advancement in healthcare industry the Hemostats is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR in the forecasted period (2015-2025).Request For TOC@Hemostats for Wound Closure: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the wound closure products market has been segmented into seven major geographical regions which include North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific exclude Japan, Japan & Latin America, Middle east & Africa. North America contribute the most in this market followed by Europe. With the new product approvals, change in regulatory policies encourages, patient acceptance helps the market to grow. Asia Pacific & Japan pose good growth potential too for wound closure products specially Hemostat.Hemostats for Wound Closure: Key PlayersWound closure product market is highly fragmented with presence of big & small companies. The market leaders in this area are Johnson & Johnson, Covidien, B. Braun, and 3M.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Advanced- Surgical Robots Market anticipated to reach $20 billion by 2021 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/281027 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/category/53 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressreleases http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Surgical Robots Market Shares, Strategies, And Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 To 2021" globally.The new study Surgical Robots: Market Shares, Strategy, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 to 2021 has 553 pages, 216 tables and figures. Worldwide surgical robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as next generation systems provide a way to improve traditional open surgery and decrease the number of ports needed for minimally invasive surgery.Intuitive Surgical has market leadership position, advanced technology, an impressive installed base and a well trained group of surgeons able to manage the robots. Patients fare better when the surgery is done by surgical robots. The documentation of improvements in care delivery, the ability to ensure better outcomes from surgery promise that surgical robotics is a strong growth market. Intuitive Surgical will be difficult to dislodge, its dominant position is based on technological excellence that keeps being improved and competitors have a difficult time catching up, much less improving on the Intuitive Surgical technology.Other leading competitors will emerge and the group of several surgical robotic companies will collectively have enough marketing dollars and enough marketing clout to drive replacement of all open surgery. Robotic surgery is positioned to become the standard of care. Intuitive Surgical has achieved market saturation in colorectal surgery in the US, it will work on increasing its presence in other surgical market sectors. The leading robotic surgical companies are poised to grow through acquisition, purchasing smaller companies that have developed as specialized product and gained FDA approval. As detailed in the market research study there are a lot of those in every medical specialty and more to come.Get The Sample Copy Of This Report:The surgical robot market is characterized enormous variety and innovation. Snake robots are wonderfully interesting surgical robots. Medrobotics offers a highly articulated multi-linked robot. It enables minimally-invasive procedures to replace open surgical procedures. It works for many parts of the anatomy. It works in places in the body that are difficult or previously impossible to reach. The robot-assist platform includes on-board visualization. and contains multiple open device channels to accept a variety of third party surgical and interventional instruments. The robot enables physicians to operate through non-linear circuitous paths, self-supported, and through a single-site access into the body.The maneuverability of the robot is gained from its numerous mechanical linkages with concentric mechanisms. Each mechanism can be placed into a rigid or a limp state. By employing a patented "follow-the-leader" movement strategy with these alternating states, the robot can be directed into any shape through the relative orientations of its linkages.A surgical robot recurring revenue model business model is essentially large one time purchase for a system complimented by replaceable or disposable instruments that cumulatively market a much larger and ongoing market. Vendors make money from the one time sale of a system and recurring revenue from sale of devices used in every operation.Initially, a vendor sells and installs the surgical system into new customer accounts. Once systems are sold into customer accounts, the vendor generates recurring revenue as our customers use the system to perform surgery. To do surgeries, the customers need to buy and consume instruments and accessory products. Vendors also generate recurring revenue from system service.The ability to deliver such an accurate dose of radiation means that the cancer can be eradicated in patients before the patient is administered a lethal dose of radiation. This prepresents a cure for cancer once it gets working according to the promise of the systems now in place.The Accuray radiation systems that address the oncology market are perhaps the most exciting technology ever offered to any market. Because the systems are able to control the dose of radiation Amount of activity in the market, many companies, FDA approvals, way for existing vendors to improve footprint in market In the field of radiation oncology, the Accuray CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System is universally recognized as the premier radiosurgery system capable of delivering high doses of radiation with sub-millimeter accuracy anywhere in the body. As validated and proven in numerous peer-reviewed publications, the precision and accuracy of the system combines with continual image guidance and robotic mobility to deliver treatments characterized by high conformality and steep dose gradients. The newest addition to the CyberKnife product line, the CyberKnife VSI System, continues Accurays tradition of innovation. Building on a foundation of accuracy and precision in radiosurgery, the CyberKnife VSI System extends these benefits to fractionated high precision radiation therapy with Robotic IMRT that can be delivered anywhere in the body.Browse More Surgical Equipment Market Research Reports:The automated process revolution in surgery and communications is being implemented via robots. Robots automation of systems is providing significant improvement in the accuracy of surgery and the repeatability of process. According to Susan Eustis, lead author of the study, Existing open surgery can be replaced in large part by robotic minimally invasive surgery (MIS) during the ofrecast period. Minimally invasive robotic surgery, new robotic radiation treatment, and emerging robotic surgical approaches complement existing surgery techniques. Soon, all surgery will be undertaken with at least come aspects of robotic surgery replacing or complementing open surgery.During a robot assisted surgical procedure, the patient-side cart is positioned next to the operating table with the electromechanical arms arranged to provide access to the initial ports selected by the surgeon. Metal tubes attached to the arms are inserted through the ports, and the cutting and visualization instruments are introduced through the tubes into the patients body.The surgeon performs the procedure while sitting at a console, manipulating the instrument controls and viewing the operation through a vision system. When a surgeon needs to change an instrument the instrument is withdrawn from the surgical field using the controls at the console. This is done many times during an operation.The companies that get an early foothold in the market have significant strategic advantage. The robotic surgical technique benefits hospitals by reducing the length of patient stays, thereby enabling better cost management. This factor is driving demand for surgery robot systems. Since robotics provide surgeons with a precise, repeatable and controlled ability to perform procedures in tight spaces, they are increasingly in demand.The aging US population has supported demand, since the occurrence of health issues that require medical devices is higher in the elderly population. Buoyed by strong demand and sales, industry profit margins have increased considerably during the past five years. Hospitals are adopting robotic surgical devices to improve their outcomes numbers. Hospitals are measured on outcomes, robots for surgery, when used by a trained physician are improving outcomes significantly.Hundreds of universities worldwide have research programs in robotics and many are awarding degrees in robotics. These roboticists are increasingly being hired by Global 2000 organizations to link mobile robots (mobile computers) into existing IT systems.Compared with other minimally invasive surgery approaches, robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over the surgical instruments and a better view of the surgical site. Surgeons no longer have to stand throughout the surgery and do not tire as quickly. Hand tremors are filtered out by the robots computer software. The surgical robot can continuously be used by rotating surgery teams.Surgical robot device markets at $3.2 billion in 2014 are anticipated to reach $20 billion by 2021 as next generation devices, systems, and instruments are introduced to manage surgery through small ports in the body instead of large open wounds. The complete report provides a comprehensive analysis including procedure numbers, units sold, market value, forecasts, as well as a detailed competitive market shares and analysis of major players success, challenges, and strategies in each segment and subsegment. The reports cover markets for: medical specialties and sub-specialties.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersIntuitive Surgical AccurayStryker / Mako Hansen MedicalMedrobotics Freehand 2010Market ParticipantsAccel SpineAccurayAesynt / Health RoboticsAlliance SpineAlphatec SpineAmedicaApollo SpineAscendx SpineAVRA SurgicalBack 2 Basics SpineCaptiva SpineCentinel SpineCorindusElekta ABFreehandGlobus MedicalHansen MedicalHealthcare Robotics LabIntuitive SurgicalJohnson and Johnson / DePuySynthesK2MLanx / EBI Holdings / BioMet /LDRLife SpineMazor RoboticsMedroboticsMedtronicNLT SpineNuVasiveOtto Bock HealthCareRTI Biologics / Pioneer SurgicalTechnologyPrecision SpineRestoration RoboticsSI-BONE 503Spinal ElementsSpineartSpineGuardSpine FrontierSpineologySpine Smith PartnersSpine Surgical InnovationsSpine ViewSpine WaveStryker / MAKO SurgicalThink SurgicalTitan MedicalTranS1UC BerkeleyVarian Medical SystemsAbout 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:ContactMr. Nachiket90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E-Mail: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn:Thanks..!!!!!!!!!!!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 Ice Cream Market Ukraine to grow 3.0% CAGR Key Player, Regions and Forecast to 2020 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/888823-consumer-and-market-insights-ice-cream-in-the-ukraine https://www.wiseguyreports.com/checkout?currency=one_user-USD&report_id=888823 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/888823-consumer-and-market-insights-ice-cream-in-the-ukraine SummaryThe Ukrainian Ice Cream market is forecast to register higher growth in Off-trade sales than On-trade sales during 2017-2020. The Take-Home and Bulk Ice Cream category is the largest in the Off-trade volume consumption, while Artisanal Ice Cream leads the On-trade consumption. On-trade sales lead the overall distribution of Ice cream in the country. Rud, Lasunka, Laska and Limo are the leading players in the country. The use of Bag/Sachet container is forecast to register the fastest growth during 2017-2020.Request a Sample Report @Key Findings- The Ice Cream market in Ukraine is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.0% in volume terms during 2017-2020- Ukraines consumers are opting for value for money products in the Ice Cream market- The Take-Home and Bulk Ice Cream category accounts for the highest Off-trade & On-trade volume consumption in Ukraine- On-trade sales account for the majority share in the Artisanal Ice Cream category- Rud is the leading brand in the Impulse Ice Cream Single Serve category- Flexible Packaging is the most commonly used packaging material in the Ukraines Ice Cream marketSynopsisConsumer and Market Insights report on the Ice Cream market in Ukraine provides insights on high growth categories to target, trends in the usage of packaging materials, types and closures category level distribution data and brands market shares.What else is contained?- Market data: Overall market value and volume data with growth analysis for 2010-2020- Category coverage: Value and growth analysis for Artisanal Ice Cream, Impulse Ice Cream - Single Serve, and Take-Home and Bulk Ice Cream with inputs on individual segment share within each category and the change in their market share forecast for 2017-2020- Leading players: Market share of brands and private labels, private label growth analysis during 2012-2017- Distribution data: Percentage of sales within each category through distribution channels such as Hypermarkets & Supermarkets, Convenience Stores, Food & Drinks Specialists, On-trade and others in 2017- Packaging data: consumption breakdown for packaging materials and containers in each category, in terms of percentage share of number of units sold. Packaging material data for Flexible Packaging, Paper & Board and RigidReasons to Buy- Identify high potential categories and explore further market opportunities based on detailed value and volume analysis- Existing and new players can analyze key distribution channels to identify and evaluate trends and opportunities- Gain an understanding of the total competitive landscape based on detailed brand share analysis to plan effective market positioningBuy now @Table of ContentsIntroduction- Report ScopeCountry Context- Macroeconomic indicators GDP Per Capita, Population, Consumer Price Index and Age Profile- Retail and foodservice analysis Key TakeawaysMarket Overview- Value and volume analysis for the Ukrainian Ice Cream market- Impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the Ukrainian Ice Cream market- Degree of trade up/down in the Ukrainian Ice Creammarket (On-trade and Off-trade)- Volume analysis by category (On-trade and Off-trade analysis)- Market value and growth rates, by category (On-trade and Off-trade analysis)- Historic and forecast value analysis by category- Winners and losers by categories with change in market share- Segment share (Off-trade / On-trade) in a category (value terms) and change in market share- Average category level pricingRetail Landscape and Key Distribution Channels- Leading retailers in the Ukrainian Food market- Leading distribution channels (value terms) in the Ukrainian Ice Cream market- Leading distribution channels (value terms) by categoryContents Competitive Landscape- Market share of leading brands (in value) by category- Penetration of private label by category in the Ukrainian Ice Creammarket- Private label growth (in value terms) compared to brandsPackaging- Ice Cream market by type of packaging material/container (in volume terms)- Ice Cream market by type of packaging closure/outer (in volume terms)- Ice Cream market by type of packaging, forecast (in volume terms)Appendix- Country context- Category value and volume data- Sector Overview- Segment data- Packaging data- Category definitions- Segment definitions- Channel definitions- Methodology- 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 Cardiac And Lung Surgical Robots Market anticipated to reach $2.2 billion by 2021 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/488239 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/category/53 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressreleases http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Cardiac And Lung Surgical Robots: Market Shares, Strategy, And Forecasts, Worldwide, 2015 To 2021" globally.The report study has 223 pages, 85 tables and figures. Worldwide Cardiac and Lung surgical robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as next generation systems provide a way to improve traditional open surgery and decrease the number of ports needed for minimally invasive surgery.The automated process revolution in surgery and communications is being implemented via robots. Robots automation of systems is providing significant improvement in the accuracy of surgery and the repeatability of process.Intuitive Surgical owns the market as the major participant with compelling market share in cardiac and lung surgical robots. This leadership position will need to be defended as other vendor products, now in clinical trials come to market. Advanced technology, an installed base and a well trained core group of surgeons give Intuitive Surgical market advantage.Patients for some types of procedures fare better when the heart or lung surgery is done by surgical robots. The documentation of improvements in care delivery, the ability to ensure better outcomes from surgery promise that cardiac and lung surgical robotics is a strong growth market.Heart disease is still the largest disease worldwide. The issue for cardiac and lung robotic surgery is that so many heart patients exist.Every leading surgeon working to perform heart and lung robotic surgery has worked to be accepted to practice at a hospital that has those robotic devices. The really talented surgeons depend on hospitals having the cardiac robotic equipment. In order to attract physicians and patients, the hospitals have to purchase the surgical equipment.Get The Sample Copy Of This Report:The market penetration of the cardiac and lung surgical robots will go to 100 percent in the US top hospitals within five years. As the surgeons migrate to the places that have the robotic surgical equipment, other hospitals and their potential patient populations notice. If the hospital does not have the surgical robotic equipment, it will not have any surgeons, this is a bad situation for a hospital. The cardiac and lung robotic surgical equipment permits better surgery and the surgeons and patients know this.Cardiac and lung robotic surgery is poised to eclipse open surgery. It is used in the categories of lobectomy, thoracic revascularization, and mitral valve repair surgery. Surgical robots are positioned to become the standard of care for hospitals in the delivery of some heart surgery. The emerging group of several surgical robotic companies will collectively have enough marketing dollars and enough marketing clout to drive replacement of virtually all open cardiac and lung surgery.Larger hospitals that can afford the expenditure are adopting heart and lung robotic surgical devices to improve their outcomes numbers. Hospitals are measured on outcomes, robots for surgery, when used by a trained physician are improving outcomes significantly. Hospital robotic systems have an emphasis on outcomes improvement during surgery. This has resulted in investment in robotics technology that is useful, and achieves positive patient outcomes.Technology is enhancing a wide variety of procedures in many cardiac surgical specialties. Cardiac and thoracic surgeons at leading hospitals use robotic surgical systems increasingly. The aim is to perform more of the one-hundred thousand MIS surgical procedures of various types using robots. The surgeries performed by robot include cardiothoracic and vascular surgery. These surgical applications are cleared by the FDA.The technology uses metal tubes attached to the arms are inserted through the ports, and the cutting and visualization instruments are introduced through the tubes into the patients body. The surgeon performs the procedure while sitting at a console, manipulating the instrument controls and viewing the operation through a vision system. When a surgeon needs to change an instrument the instrument is withdrawn from the surgical field using the controls at the console and the nursing assistants switch instruments as per the physician instruction. This is done many times during an operation.Browse More Surgical Equipment Market Research Reports:The cardiac and lung surgical robot market is characterized enormous variety and innovation. A surgical robot recurring revenue business model is essentially a large one time purchase for a system complimented by replaceable or disposable instruments that cumulatively make the market a much larger and sustainable ongoing market. Vendors make money from the one time sale of a system and recurring revenue from sale of devices used in every operation.Initially, a vendor sells and installs the surgical system into new customer accounts. Once systems are sold into customer accounts, the vendor generates recurring revenue as customers use the system to perform surgery. To do cardiac and lung robotic surgeries, the customers need to buy and consume instruments and accessory products. Vendors also generate recurring revenue from system service.Existing open cardiac and lung surgery can be replaced in some part by robotic surgery during the forecast period. Cardiac and lung robotic surgical approaches complement existing open surgery techniques. Soon, all surgery will be undertaken with at least come aspects of robotic surgery replacing or complementing open surgery.The aging US population has supported demand, since the occurrence of health issues that require medical devices is higher in the elderly population. Buoyed by strong demand and sales, industry profit margins have increased considerably during the past five years.Hospitals are adopting robotic surgical devices to improve their outcomes numbers. Hospitals are measured on outcomes, robots for surgery, when used by a trained physician are improving outcomes significantly. Hundreds of universities worldwide have research programs in robotics and many are awarding degrees in robotics. These roboticists are increasingly being hired by Global 2000 organizations to link mobile robots (mobile computers) into existing IT systems.Robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over the surgical instruments and a better view of the surgical site. Surgeons no longer have to stand throughout the surgery and do not tire as quickly. Hand tremors are filtered out by the robots computer software. The surgical robot can continuously be used by rotating surgery teams. 3D viewing of the surgical site on a large screen improves visualization of the surgical operating field.Cardiac and lung surgical robot device markets at $72.2 million in 2014 are anticipated to reach $2.2 billion by 2021 as next generation devices, systems, and instruments are introduced to manage surgery through small ports in the body instead of large open wounds.The complete report provides a comprehensive analysis including procedure numbers, units sold, market value, forecasts, as well as a detailed competitive market shares and analysis of major players success, challenges, and strategies in each segment and sub-segment. The reports cover markets for Cardiac and Lung robotic surgery medical specialties and sub-specialties.Companies ProfiledIntuitive SurgicalMarket ParticipantsChinese Surgical RobotsCorindusFreehandJohnson and Johnson / DePuy SynthesGoogle / Johnson & Johnson / EthiconMedroboticsMedtronicMeerecompany / EterneTitan MedicalTransEnterix Acquires the ALF-X Surgical Robotic SystemAbout 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:ContactMr. Nachiket90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E-Mail: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn:Thanks..!!!!!!!!!!!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 Advanced Radiology Oncology Surgical Robots Market anticipated to reach $7.3 billion by 2022 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/507309 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/category/53 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressreleases http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearchreports-biz Recent research and the current scenario as well as future market potential of "Radiology Oncology Surgical Robots Market Shares, Strategies, And Forecasts, Worldwide, 2016 To 2022" globally.The 2016 study has 557 pages, 82 tables and figures. Worldwide Radiology Oncology surgical robot markets are poised to achieve significant growth as next generation systems provide a way to improve traditional open surgery and use radiology for cancer surgery. New systems pinpoint the delivery of radiation precisely, eliminating the radiological overdosing that has been such a problem previously, limiting the quantity of radiation that can be delivered.Radiosurgery robots take cancer surgery far beyond what has been available, promising a cure for cancer. Radiology oncology surgical robots use mechanical mobility and continuous image guidance to remove tumors. The Accuray CyberKnife robotic system follows the oncology target throughout treatment, intelligently delivering sub-millimeter precision, sparing healthy tissue. A robotic manipulator and a compact, lightweight linear accelerator, can deliver beams from thousands of non-coplanar, isocentric or non-isocentric angles. Treatments have excellent tumor coverage, steep dose gradients, and tight dose conformality.The radiation oncology market is growing globally due to a number of factors centered around the aging of the population and the benefits accrued from new technology. The number of new cancer cases diagnosed annually is projected to increase from 14.9 million in 2015 to 20 million by 2025. The increase in new cases is due to a steadily aging population. Both developed and developing countries have aging populations.Get The Sample Copy Of This Report:Technology advances improve the precision and applicability of radiotherapy and radiosurgery. Expanding uses of radiotherapy and radiosurgery equipment occur because the units are able to treat a broader range of cases. Advances in hardware and software are creating a market for replacing an aging installed base. New designs are able to deliver higher standards of care.The rise in cancer cases, together with the increase in sophistication of new treatment protocols, have created demand for more automated products. Automation depends on integration of several devices into clinically practical systems. Integrated systems make treatments rapid and cost effective.Technology advances lead to improvements in patient care. The availability of advanced, automated and efficient clinical tools in radiation therapy has brought more precise forms of radiotherapy treatment (IMRT, IGRT, VMAT, SRS, SBRT, brachytherapy and proton therapy). Technology includes the EDGE and Truebeam, and the Accuray TomoTherapy H Series and CyberKnife M6 platforms that enable treatments that reduce treatment times and increase patient throughput .International markets are under-equipped to address the growing cancer incidence. Patients in many foreign countries must frequently endure long waits for radiotherapy.9,000 additional treatment machines will be required by 2020 in developing countries. China, India and Brazil are estimated to require over 3,800, 1,200 and 400 additional machines. Demand in emerging markets, coupled with ever increasing incidences of cancer, represent additional drivers for continued growth.Radiology oncology surgical robot market driving forces relate to an opportunity to achieve change in medical practice regarding the treatment of cancer. Change would lead to utilization of stereotactic body radiosurgery more regularly as an alternative to surgery or other treatments. Radiosurgery is poised to revolutionize the treatment of cancer by eradicating tumors while not harming surrounding healthy tissue.The ability to use high doses of radiation to precisely eliminate a tumor while leaving healthy tissue unharmed is compelling. It means that high doses of radiation can be delivered without killing the person, that doses of radiation delivered can be enough to kill the cancer without killing the person, this represents a change in what has been possible previously.Browse More Surgical Equipment Market Research Reports:The Varian, Elekta, and Accuray radiology oncology surgical devices offer robust clinical treatment capabilities. Flexibility of the Accuray InCise Multileaf Collimator and robotic delivery permit treatment of tumors previously thought untreatable. With radiosurgery and SBRT cancer can be treated efficiently and effectively. The device offers accuracy.Existing open brain and abdominal cancer surgery can be replaced in large part during the forecast period by robotic radiological oncology surgery. Radiologic robotic surgical approaches complement existing open surgery techniques, but will replace them as more physicians and surgeons become skilled in manipulating the x-ray devices. Soon, all oncology surgery will be considered in the context of what part of the oncology procedure will be undertaken with at least some aspects of robotic radiologic surgery replacing or complementing open cancer surgery.The aging US population has supported demand for robotic Radiology Oncology surgery. Since the occurrence of health issues that require medical devices is higher in the elderly population the more astute baby boomers have been looking to understand what surgical alternatives are open to them. . Buoyed by strong demand and sales, industry profit margins have increased considerably during the past five years.Hospitals are adopting robotic surgical devices to improve their outcomes numbers. Hospitals are measured on outcomes, robots for surgery, when used by a trained physician are improving outcomes significantly. Hundreds of universities worldwide have research programs in robotics and many are awarding degrees in robotics. These roboticists are increasingly being hired by Global 2000 organizations to link mobile robots (mobile computers) into existing IT systems.Robot-assisted surgery gives the surgeon better control over the surgical instruments and a better view of the surgical site. Surgeons no longer have to stand throughout the surgery and do not tire as quickly. Hand tremors are filtered out by the robots computer software. The surgical robot can continuously be used by rotating surgery teams.Radiology Oncology surgical robot device markets at $4 billion in 2015 are anticipated to reach $7.3 billion by 2022 as next generation devices, systems, and instruments are introduced to manage cancer surgery through radiation excision that eliminates open cutting in the body. Patients tolerate the surgery well, walking out of the hospital after the procedure no longer bothered by healing or infection from an incision.The complete report provides a comprehensive analysis including procedure numbers, units sold, market value, forecasts, as well as a detailed competitive market shares and analysis of major players success, challenges, and strategies in each segment and sub-segment. The reports cover markets for Radiology Oncology robotic surgery medical specialties and sub-specialties.Companies ProfiledMarket LeadersVarianElektaAccurayMarket ParticipantsBest Theratronics, LtdBrainlab AGMitsubishi Heavy IndustriesViewRayAbout 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:ContactMr. Nachiket90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E-Mail: sales@marketresearchreports.bizFollow us on LinkedIn:Thanks..!!!!!!!!!!!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 Global Redispersible Latex Powder Market Estimated to Grow Strongly by 2026 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13408 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13408 Redispersible latex powder are organic polymer powder obtained through the spray drying of aqueous emulsions. Dispersion powder help improve the properties and performance of cement or dry mix powder. Redispersible latex powder combine the benefit of liquid latex modifiers with the convenience, reliability, and handling or storing advantage of one component dry mix system. The high performance redispersible latex are used in wide range of application as blender and additives to influence workability, strength development and many other application specific properties. Redispersible latex offers variety of features such as improved workability, improved open time, and abrasion resistance. Multipurpose application of redispersible latex powder is expected to expand significant during the forecast period. Redispersible latex powder are polymer emulsions that are converted by spray drying to free flowing powder. These powder redisperse back into liquid emulsions with essentially identical properties to the original emulsions when blended with water. The demand for redispersible latex powder is increasing due to its benefits in construction industry because of its application as strong strength development of the mortar, better water retention and workability, higher flexural strength and flexibility and strong impact.A sample of this report is available upon request @Redispersible latex powder is a free flowing, white powder obtained drying of aqueous vinyl acetate ethylene copolymer dispersion. It is usually in diverse construction chemical application such as external thermal insulation composite system. Redispersible latex powder is an important additive in cement based or gypsum based dry powder. The demand is booting the growth of redispersible latex powders owing to its properties such as medium hard, improved water resistance, highly recommended for cement based plasters. The global demand for redispersible latex powders is expected to create significant CAGR during the forecast period. The chemical industry is trying to form a regulation that will set the standard for a chemical that is used in each and every product. The rising demand for cement-based plasters has led to a significant surge in the valuation of global redispersible latex powders market in the near future. Going further, the advent of combine the performance benefits of redispersible latex powders is likely to create opportunities for the market growth in coming years.The global redispersible latex powder can be segmented on the basis of type, application and region. On the basis of type redispersible latex powders can be segmented to vinyl acetate ethylene (VAE) copolymers, vinyl acetate/vinyl ester of versatic acid (VAE-VeoVa) copolymers, styrene butadiene, and acrylic powder. On the basis application redispersible latex powders can be segmented to cement plasters, self-leveling underlayments, and gypsum setting compounds, repair mortars, and ceramic tile adhesives. Among application ceramic tile adhesives is expected dominate the overall redispersible latex powder worldwide.The redispersible latex powder is segmented into five region North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. Europe and North America market emerge dominate for redispersible latex powder owing increasing application of redispeesible latex powder such as external thermal insulation, composite systems, construction and tile adhesive. Asia Pacific have significant high market share of redispersible latex powders market due to increase in urbanization and modernization therefore consumption of redispersible latex power is rapidly increasing in this region. The increasing demand of innovative material is driving the market of redispersible latex powders market worldwide. The counties such as china and India are emerging market for the redispersible latex powders due to increasing manufacturing and construction business in this region.Request to view Table of content @Few market players of redispersible latex powder are Akzo Nobel, Wacker Chemie AG, Wacker Polymers, Hexion, BASF SE, Construction Chemicals Div., Acquos, The Dow Chemical Company, Yil-Long Chemical Group Ltd, Dairen Chemical Corporation, Dinova Pvt. Ltd, BCD Rohstoffe fuer Bauchemie HandelsGmbH, Synthomer Ltd, Nippon Gohsei, Bosson Chemical, F.A.R. Fabbrica Adesivi Resine S.p.A, Synthomer Ltd.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 Cellulosic Thickeners Market Headed for Growth by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13432 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13432 Cellulosic thickeners is a hydrophilic white powder in pure form, which dissolves in cold water, forming a clear viscous solution or gel. Cellulosic thickeners are used extensively in wide range of applications such as biodegradability, lack of toxicity, and abundant raw material. Cellulose thickeners are also named as cellulose gum, which are used as emulsifiers, suspending agents and thickeners in cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. Cellulosic thickeners are also used in chromatography as stabilizers for reagents and in therapeutics as bulk laxative with antacid properties. Cellulosic thickeners are also added to hair shampoo, liquid shop, and toothpaste in order to create their characteristic thick consistency. Cellulosic thickeners can be engaged as a mild glue which can be washed away with water. The increasing application of cellulosic thickener is driving the overall global cellulosic thickeners market to grow at significant CAGR in near future.A sample of this report is available upon request @The cellulose thickeners are used in various application such as pharmaceuticals, as a lubricant in eye drops and in oil & gas industry as an ingredient of drilling mud. Cellulosic thickeners, in the form of HPMC, MC, HEMC, is an odorless and tasteless white powder and also used as cellulose, Which can be obtained from wood or cotton in a water insoluble natural polymer. Cellulose after adding in specific material, enhances the properties of that material. Now a days cellulose thickeners are widely used in surgical and dental implants. Cellulose films are used as temporary substitute for human skin in case of burns, ulcers, and decubitus. Other new applications of cellulose thickeners are to maintain tackiness in food, cosmetics, etc., as a nonwoven fabric or paper for old document repair, as food additives and others. The growing demand of cellulosic thickener in such wide range of applications are fueling the growth of cellulosic thickener. Development of new derivatives and new applications of cellulose is expected to create raw material scarcity for the production of cellulosic thickeners. This scarcity of raw materials may hamper the market growth. Development of new applications in pharmaceutical and medicine field is expected to provide opportunities for the players in cellulose thickeners market.The global cellulosic thickeners market can be segmented on the basis of thickeners agent type, application and region basis. On the basis of thickeners agent types, the cellulosic thickener can be segmented by sodium carboxymethyl cellulose, methyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, and other cellulosic thickeners. on the basis of application cellulosic thickener can be further segmented into cosmetic & personal care, toiletries & household, paints & coatings, paper & paperboard, food & beverage, pharmaceutical & others(ceramic, construction, adhesive). On the basis of region, cellulosic thickeners can be segmented, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia pacific and the Middle East & Africa.The cellulosic thickeners are segmented among five regions Europe, North America, Asia pacific, Latin America and Middle East & Africa. North America and Europe are mature markets consequently innovation in the product line is expected to be the key strategy for the market players in this region. Asia pacific is the largest shareholder of global cellulosic thickeners market due to increasing rate of industrialization in this region. The increasing application of cellulose thickener in cosmetic industries as well as other industry is driving the market of cellulosic thickeners market worldwide. Cellulosic thickeners are expected moderate growth in region such as Middle East & Africa Market. Countries like China and India are emerging market for the cellulosic thickeners due to increasing manufacturing unit.Request to view Table of content @The global key vendors of cellulosic thickeners are Dow Chemical Company, DuPont (EI) de Nemours, Cabot Corporation, Croda International plc, FMC Corporation, Imperial Chemical Industries, International Paper Company, Kraft Foods Incorporated, Rhodia SA, TIC Gums Incorporated, Goodman Fielder Limited, Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Eastman Chemical Company, Ciba Specialty Chemicals Incorporated.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 Takeaway Food Delivery Market Research Report 2017 (Personal, Enterprise) by Manufacturers, Regions, Type, Application and Forecast to 2022 http://globalqyresearch.com/download-sample/146413 http://globalqyresearch.com/global-takeaway-food-delivery-market-research-report-2017 http://globalqyresearch.com/checkout-form/0/146413 http://globalqyresearch.com/ https://twitter.com/GQYResearch https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-qy-research This report studies Global Takeaway Food Delivery Market 2017, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringMcDonaldsKFCSubwayPizzahutStarbucksBurger KingDominos PizzaDunkin DonutsDairy QueenPapa JohnsWendysTaco BellDunkin DonutsChick-fil-APanera BreadSonic Drive-InRequest more information atMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Takeaway Food Delivery 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 intoRestaurant PackagingPhone OrderWebsite OrderOtherSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Takeaway Food Delivery in each application, can be divided intoPersonalEnterpriseView full report atTable of ContentsGlobal Takeaway Food Delivery Market Research Report 20171 Takeaway Food Delivery Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Takeaway Food Delivery1.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Takeaway Food Delivery by Type in 20151.2.2 Restaurant Packaging1.2.3 Phone Order1.2.4 Website Order1.2.5 Other1.3 Takeaway Food Delivery Segment by Application1.3.1 Takeaway Food Delivery Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Personal1.3.3 Enterprise1.4 Takeaway Food Delivery Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Takeaway Food Delivery (2012-2022)2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Takeaway Food Delivery Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Takeaway Food Delivery Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Takeaway Food Delivery Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.4 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 North America Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 Europe Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 China Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Japan Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 Southeast Asia Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.10 India Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)4.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 McDonalds7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.1.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.1.2.2 Phone Order7.1.3 McDonalds Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 KFC7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.2.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.2.2.2 Phone Order7.2.3 KFC Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Subway7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.3.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.3.2.2 Phone Order7.3.3 Subway Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Pizzahut7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.4.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.4.2.2 Phone Order7.4.3 Pizzahut Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Starbucks7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.5.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.5.2.2 Phone Order7.5.3 Starbucks Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Burger King7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.6.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.6.2.2 Phone Order7.6.3 Burger King Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Dominos Pizza7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.7.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.7.2.2 Phone Order7.7.3 Dominos Pizza Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Dunkin Donuts7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.8.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.8.2.2 Phone Order7.8.3 Dunkin Donuts Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Dairy Queen7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.9.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.9.2.2 Phone Order7.9.3 Dairy Queen Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Papa John's7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.10.2 Takeaway Food Delivery Product Type, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Restaurant Packaging7.10.2.2 Phone Order7.10.3 Papa John's Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Wendy's7.12 Taco Bell7.13 Dunkin' Donuts7.14 Chick-fil-A7.15 Panera Bread7.16 Sonic Drive-In8 Takeaway Food Delivery Manufacturing Cost Analysis8.1 Takeaway Food Delivery Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Takeaway Food Delivery9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9.1 Takeaway Food Delivery Industrial Chain Analysis9.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing9.3 Raw Materials Sources of Takeaway Food Delivery Major Manufacturers in 20159.4 Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10.1 Marketing Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend10.2 Market Positioning10.2.1 Pricing Strategy10.2.2 Brand Strategy10.2.3 Target Client10.3 Distributors/Traders List11 Market Effect Factors Analysis11.1 Technology Progress/Risk11.1.1 Substitutes Threat11.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry11.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change11.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change12 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Market Forecast (2017-2022)12.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production, Revenue Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.1 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Capacity, Production and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Price and Trend Forecast (2017-2022)12.2 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Consumption , Import and Export Forecast by Regions (2017-2022)12.2.1 North America Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.2 Europe Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.3 China Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.4 Japan Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.5 Southeast Asia Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.6 India Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.3 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Production, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type (2017-2022)12.4 Global Takeaway Food Delivery Consumption Forecast by Application (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixTo Purchase this premium Report With Complete TOC at :About Us:Global QYResearch () is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Contact Us:Mr. Jay SmithSenior Manager Client EngagementsCall: +44 20 32390-2407Follow us:Twitter:Linkedin: Budesonide Market Headed for Global Expansion by 2026 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13456 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13456 With the change in climate and environment, seasonal asthma has become main cause of respiratory ailments. Budesonide is used to control and prevent symptoms such as wheezing and shortness of breath caused by asthma. Budesonide belongs to a class of drugs named as corticosteroids. It works directly to the lungs to make breathing easier by reducing the irritation and swelling of the airways. Budesonide sold under the brand name pulmicort among others, is a steroid medication. It is available as an inhaler, pill, nasal spray, and rectal. The inhaled form is used in long-term management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Pulmicort respules is meant only for inhalation by compressed air-driven jet nebulizer. Budesonide is used to avert difficulty while breathing, chest tightness, wheezing and coughing caused by asthma. Budesonide powder for oral inhalation is used in adults and children; 6 years of age and older. Budesonide suspension for oral inhalation is also used in children 12 months to 8 years of age. It comes as powder to inhale by mouth using an inhaler and as a suspension to inhale by mouth using a special jet nebulizer. Budesonide helps to prevent asthma attacks and shortness of breath. Each budesonide inhaler is designed to provide 60 to 120 inhalations, depending on its size. Budesonide is a glucocorticoid used in management of asthma, the treatment of various skin disorder, and allergic rhinitis. Budesonide is provided as a mixture of two epimers (22R and 22S). The extended release oral tablet, marketed as uceris got approved by FDA for the management of ulcerative colitis. The global demand for budesonide is expected substantial growth over the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Budesonide is appropriate to the course of medication called corticosteroids. Budesonide, an adrenocortical hormone, was developed by AstraZeneca in the 1990s. It is mainly used for the treatment of non-budesonide glucocorticoid-dependent or glucocorticoid. In June 1997, budesonide aerosol got approved by FDA. In recent years, the increasing rate of air pollution will increase asthma and other breathing problem. It is estimated that, with the steady growth in asthma, demand for budesonide will be boosted. Budesonide is used to treat mild to moderate crohn's disease. Budesonide is generic name of a prescription drug sold under the brand names entocortec, uceris, pulmicort, pulmicort flexhaler, pulmicort respules, and rhinocort. It's also one of the drugs found in the inhaler symbicort, used to treat COPD and asthma. Budesonide is expected to grow at significant CAGR in near future.The global demand of global budesonide can be segmented on the basis of product type, application and region basis. On the basis of product type budesonide market can be segmented as aerosol, sprays, inhalants, and suspension, pill&rectal forms. On the basis application budesonide market is segmented to hospital, pharmacy, clinic and others. On the basis of region, budesonide market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa.Asia pacific have significant high market share in budesonide market as compared to others owing to increasing population as well as increasing pollution issue in this region especially in the countries such as India and China. China is expected to dominate budesonide market in the near future. The market size of budesonide in Asia Pacific is expected to keep growing in next few years. The North America is expected to Experience significant growth in coming years following Europe. Latin America and Middle East & Africa is projected to experience stagnant growth rate during the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @Few market players in global budesonide are Pfizer, Sandoz, Cipla, Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, Takeda, Manus Aktteva Biopharma LLP, Abbott, Lunan Better Pharmaceutical, Novartis, Mylan, Novartis, Skyepharma, AstraZeneca AB, Wellcome Australia Ltd, AstraZeneca plc, AstraZeneca Australia, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A, Orion Corporation, Santarus, Synmosa Biopharma Corporation.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 Market Outlook on Global Spare Parts Logistics Industry 2016 Applications, Supply & Leading Manufacturer Analysis http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=727043&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-spare-parts-logistics-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/reports.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com Global Spare Parts Logistics Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.A new research report on the global Spare Parts Logistics market offers a 360-degree overview of it. The report discusses the market in significant details and elucidates all aspects of the global Spare Parts Logistics market likely to impact its growth trajectory in the upcoming years. Major market stimulants and deterrents have also been examined in great detail, with quantitative and qualitative description of their expected impact on the market in the forecast period. This would enable big and small players operating in the market to understand the dynamics and maneuver their moves accordingly.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The different segments of the global Spare Parts Logistics market have been carefully discussed at length. The product segments, application segments, and end user segments have been detailed in the report, leveraging historical and current figures. The report gauges the growth figures for each of the segments to understand the global Spare Parts Logistics markets growth prospects. This helps to offer a granular overview of the Spare Parts Logistics market and areas in which it stands to gain and lose.A detailed analysis of the competitive landscape of the global Spare Parts Logistics market has also been furnished in the report. Chief competitors in the global Spare Parts Logistics market have been profiled and data about their business and financial activities has been presented. The report also throws light on their strengths and weaknesses. This report has been carefully crafted with data arrived at from primary and secondary research methodologies.The reports primary objective is to help the players operating in the global Spare Parts Logistics market to gain an insight into the current market dynamics, including opportunities and threats so as to be able to strategize sagaciously. To do, it implements market-leading analytical tools to gauge the current competitive landscape.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of Spare Parts Logistics1.1 Definition and Specifications of Spare Parts Logistics1.1.1 Definition of Spare Parts Logistics1.1.2 Specifications of Spare Parts Logistics1.2 Classification of Spare Parts Logistics1.3 Applications of Spare Parts Logistics1.4 Industry Chain Structure of Spare Parts Logistics1.5 Industry Overview and Major Regions Status of Spare Parts Logistics1.5.1 Industry Overview of Spare Parts Logistics1.5.2 Global Major Regions Status of Spare Parts Logistics1.6 Industry Policy Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics1.7 Industry News Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.1 Raw Material Suppliers and Price Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.2 Equipment Suppliers and Price Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.3 Labor Cost Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.4 Other Costs Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.5 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics2.6 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics3 Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date of Global Spare Parts Logistics Major Manufacturers in 20153.2 Manufacturing Plants Distribution of Global Spare Parts Logistics Major Manufacturers in 20153.3 R&D Status and Technology Source of Global Spare Parts Logistics Major Manufacturers in 20153.4 Raw Materials Sources Analysis of Global Spare Parts Logistics Major Manufacturers in 20154 Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Spare Parts Logistics by Regions, Types and Manufacturers4.1 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Spare Parts Logistics by Regions 2011-20164.2 Global and Major Regions Capacity, Production, Revenue and Growth Rate of Spare Parts Logistics 2011-20164.3 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Spare Parts Logistics by Types 2011-20164.4 Global Capacity, Production and Revenue of Spare Parts Logistics by Manufacturers 2011-2016For Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Global Electronic Access Control Systems Market Growth, Trends, Demands, Future Scope & Applications http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=929503&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-electronic-access-control-systems-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com/reports.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com Global Electronic Access Control Systems Industry 2016 Market Overview, Size, Share, Trends, Analysis, Technology, Applications, Growth, Market Status, Demands, Insights, Development, Research and Forecast 2016-2020.Various factors are responsible for the high revenue growth witnessed in the global Electronic Access Control Systems market. However there are a few restraints as well forecast to challenge the markets trajectory. Nevertheless, through the course of the forecast period starting from 2016 to 2021, the market will continue exhibiting steady growth. The chief drivers supporting the markets expansion are studied in detail besides including an in-depth analysis of the restraints creating bottleneck for the global Electronic Access Control Systems market. Besides this, the profiles of some of the leading market players are included in the report, intended to provide a snapshot of the prevailing competitive landscape.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @For the purpose of the study, the global Electronic Access Control Systems market is split on the basis of diverse parameters. Using industry-leading analytical tools, the factors influencing the markets growth across all its segments are studied in detail. The report compiles exhaustive information sourced via proven research methodologies. Information thus sourced, is logically interspersed relevant graphs, statistics, infographs, and statistics. It is presented in a coherent chapter-wise format. To present a holistic overview, the report also gauges the impact of Porters five forces on the global Electronic Access Control Systems market. In addition, it investigates the feasibility of potential projects for the new entrants.In order to present an executive-level blueprint of the prevailing vendor landscape, the report conducts SWOT analysis on the companies profiled. This helps presenting insights into the strengths and weaknesses of the leading companies in the global Electronic Access Control Systems market. The analysis also provides valuable information on the opportunities and threats that these companies are likely to witness over the course of the reports forecast period. The report therefore includes valuable information intended at providing the stakeholders a better perspective about the global Electronic Access Control Systems market.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Table of ContentsGlobal Electronic Access Control Systems Market Size, Status and Forecast 20221 Industry Overview of Electronic Access Control Systems1.1 Electronic Access Control Systems Market Overview1.1.1 Electronic Access Control Systems Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Electronic Access Control Systems Market Size and Analysis by Regions1.2.1 United States1.2.2 EU1.2.3 Japan1.2.4 China1.2.5 India1.2.6 Southeast Asia1.3 Electronic Access Control Systems Market by Type1.3.1 Card-based Type1.3.2 Other Type1.4 Electronic Access Control Systems Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Office1.4.2 Warehouse1.4.3 Parking Area1.4.4 Other2 Global Electronic Access Control Systems Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Electronic Access Control Systems Market Size (Value) by Players (2015-2016)2.2 Competitive Status and Trend2.2.1 Market Concentration Rate2.2.2 Product/Service Differences2.2.3 New Entrants2.2.4 The Technology Trends in FutureFor Market Research Latest Reports Visit @About UsQYReseachReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYReseachReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com Biochips Global Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023 | Researchmoz.us http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=713929 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=713929 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Biochips Market, (Type: DNA Chips, Protein Chips, Microfluidic Devices; Application: Drug Discovery & Development, Genomics, Proteomics and In Vitro Diagnostics) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This market research study analyzes the biochips market on global basis and provides estimates in terms of revenue (USD million) from 2014 to 2023. It describes the market dynamics affecting the industry and analyzes their impact through the forecast period. Moreover, it highlights the significant opportunities for market growth in the next eight years.Biochips are a collection of microarrays which are arranged on a solid substrate that enables numerous biochemical reactions such as decoding of genes in a few seconds. In addition, biochips are designed to function in biological environments and are capable of detecting and measuring a large number of biomarkers and perform complex biochemical reactions simultaneously in a very short span of time. There have been considerable advancements in the biotechnology industry on account of the increasing application of biochips. In addition, biochips are largely used for research in drug discovery and development, genomics, proteomics, and molecular diagnostics. Biochips help in analyzing organic molecules related to living organisms. Therefore, they help in detecting gene sequences, environmental pollutants, airborne toxins, and other biochemical constituents.Increasing application of biochips in the medical sector for cancer treatment, drug research, and diagnostics is one of the major factors driving the growth of the global biochips market. In addition, factors such as availability of molecular information, automation of biochemical processes through the use of biochips and application of biochips for gene and protein identification are set to drive the global biochips market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The use of biochips has brought about a transition in the field of drug discovery and research. Biochips have the ability to detect cancer before its symptoms develop in human bodies. In addition, it can easily detect virulent diseases such as smallpox, anthrax, and plague in a very short span of time. Moreover, biochips are increasingly finding application in veterinary diagnostics. Biochips comprise grids that may be dots or small wells. Each grid contains nucleic acid or antibodies and proteins which bind to a DNA sequence or a target antigen. The abundance of proteomics and genetics data coupled with the need for identifying gene sequences and proteins in human beings is driving the biochips market. Conventional gene and protein sequencing methods cannot provide qualitative output and are ineffective whereas biochips are extremely effective and produce accurate gene sequencing results in a very short span of time.Significant growth in the healthcare sector, rising demands for diagnostics and increasing medical expenditure coupled with economic reforms in major developing countries has been able to bolster the growth of this market. Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW) are key markets for the future and are expected to provide huge opportunities to the global biochips manufacturers.The market is segmented on the basis of geography into Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). These segments have been estimated in terms of revenue (USD million). In addition, the report has been segmented based on types, which includes DNA chips, protein chips and microfluidic devices. In addition, the report is also segmented by application that includes drug discovery & development, genomics, proteomics and in vitro diagnostics.For better understanding of the biochips market, the study comprises market attractiveness analysis, where the types of biochips are benchmarked based on their market scope, growth rate and market attractiveness.The report also provides company market share analysis of the various industry participants. Key players have been profiled and their company overview, financial overview, business strategies and recent developments have been covered in the report. Major market participants profiled in this report include Affymetrix Inc., Illumina Inc., GE Healthcare Ltd., Agilent Technologies Inc., Fluidigm Corporation and Cepheid Inc. among others.The biochips market has been segmented as:Global Biochips Market: By Type- DNA Chips- Protein Chips- Microfluidic DevicesGlobal Biochips Market: By Application- Drug Discovery & Development- Genomics- Proteomics- In Vitro DiagnosticsGlobal Biochips Market: By Geography- North America- U.S.- Canada- Mexico- Europe- U.K.- Italy- France- Germany- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- China- India- Japan- Rest of Asia Pacific- Rest of the World (RoW)- Latin America- U.A.E.- South Africa- OthersThe report provides a cross-sectional analysis of by type and of by application segment with respect to the above mentioned regionsMake 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 Paperboard Packaging (Boxboard and Containerboard) Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 2024 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=713925 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=713925 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Paperboard Packaging (Boxboard and Containerboard) Market for Food & Beverages, Non-durable Goods, Durable Goods, Medical, and Other Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.Paperboards are manufactured from wood pulp or layers of paper. The thickness of the paper piles defines the paperboard, which is usually large as compared to paper in order to maintain the weight to area ratio. According to International Organization for Standardization, the weight should be 224g/m2 to consider it as paperboard. Depending on application, paperboard can be a single ply or multi-ply. Paperboard offers good printing surface and excellent print quality. This makes it an ideal information carrier and brand builder. Paperboards are generally employed in cosmetics, clothing, footwear, and food industries.The report comprises in-depth analysis and forecast of the paperboard packaging market on a global as well as regional level. The report includes forecast for the period from 2016 to 2024 in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). Quantitative data has been derived through extensive secondary research of the global paperboard packaging market. Secondary sources typically include company websites, relevant magazines, government documents, and press releases. The top-down approach has been adopted to derive the regional numbers from global revenue and volume figures. Furthermore, the bottom-up approach has been employed to derive data for various product segments based on demand for paperboard packaging in each geographic segment. A combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches helps in validation of the quantitative data. The data was further validated with the help of primary research with industry experts to ensure accuracy of derived numbers.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Detailed analysis of various factors driving the global paperboard packaging market has been included for astute decision making. Impact of these drivers during the forecast period has been included with data to substantiate research findings. Furthermore, factors restraining market growth have been included for better understanding of the market. Impact of these restraints has been analyzed over the forecast period. The report also comprises various opportunities available for market growth over the next eight years. Opportunities entail untapped or recently explored factors that are anticipated to drive the paperboard packaging market during the forecast period.The report includes value chain analysis to help understand the industry thoroughly. Value chain analysis comprises detailed evaluation of the roles of various entities involved in the paperboard packaging industry, from raw material suppliers to end-users. Various processes employed in the manufacture of paperboard packaging have been included in the value chain analysis. Porters Five Forces model has been employed to determine the degree of competition in the market during the forecast period. Company market share analysis has been included for better understanding of the competitive landscape. Company market share has been derived by considering numerous factors such as sales and revenues, capacities, geographical presence, integration across value chain, and information available through primary research. Furthermore, market attractiveness analysis has been conducted to analyze product segments that are expected to be lucrative during the forecast period. This is based on various factors such as market size, growth rate, profitability, raw material procurement, and competition in each product segment.Based on product type, the paperboard packaging market has been segmented into boxboard and containerboard. Boxboard includes folding, kraft, and laminated boxboards. Depending on the grade and processing of the boxboard, it can be further sub-segmented into folding boxboard (FBB), solid unbleached boxboard (SUB), solid bleached boxboard (SBB), and white lined chipboard (WLC). The report comprises detailed analysis of all the segments in the regional and global markets and forecast based on current and future trends in the industry in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). In terms of region, the market has been segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Demand for paperboard packaging in each of its application segment has been analyzed and forecast for a period of eight years.The report also comprises profiles of leading companies in the paperboard packaging market. These include International Paper, STORA ENSO, NIPPON PAPER INDUSTRIES CO., LTD., Smurfit Kappa Group, WestRock Company, Mondi, and ITC Limited. Various attributes of these companies such as company overview, business strategies, and recent developments form the core of the company profiles section.This report segments the global paperboard packaging market as follows:Paperboard Packaging Market Product Analysis- Boxboard- Folding boxboard (FBB)- Solid bleached boxboard (SBB)- Solid unbleached boxboard (SUB)- White line chipboard (WLC)- ContainerboardPaperboard Packaging Market Application Analysis- Food & beverages- Non-durable goods- Durable goods- Medical- Other (Including industrial goods, machinery, etc.).Paperboard packaging Market Regional Analysis- North America- U.S.- Rest of North America- Europe- U.K.- Spain- France- Germany- Italy- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- China- Japan- ASEAN- Rest of Asia Pacific- Latin America- Brazil- Rest of Latin America- Middle East & Africa (MEA)- GCC- South Africa- Rest of MEAMake 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 @ Donald Trump President Donald Trump is "expected to sign an executive order as early as Monday to renegotiate" the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, NBC News' Kristen Welker reports, citing a White House official. Additionally, CNN's Jake Tapper tweeted that Trump's "first executive action on Monday will be to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership," citing a senior White House official. "Busy week planned with a heavy focus on jobs and national security," Trump tweeted on Monday morning. "Top executives coming in at 9:00 a.m. to talk manufacturing in America." On Friday, after the president's inauguration, the Trump administration laid out its plans for trade on the White House website. The administration says it will tackle trade deals including NAFTA and TPP and will push for trade policies that "will be implemented by and for the people and will put America first." "Blue-collar towns and cities have watched their factories close and good-paying jobs move overseas, while Americans face a mounting trade deficit and a devastated manufacturing base," the plan says. "With tough and fair agreements, international trade can be used to grow our economy, return millions of jobs to America's shores, and revitalize our nation's suffering communities. "This strategy starts by withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and making certain that any new trade deals are in the interests of American workers," the plan continued. "President Trump is committed to renegotiating NAFTA. If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal, then the president will give notice of the United States' intent to withdraw from NAFTA." The administration added that it would "crack down on those nations that violate trade agreements and harm American workers in the process." Last Wednesday, Wilbur Ross, the nominee for commerce secretary, said at his confirmation hearing that NAFTA would be an early priority for his department. He said he was "pro-trade," but only as long as it is "sensible trade." Story continues Trump made the debate over free trade one of the central topics of his campaign after criticizing China, Mexico, and Japan. He argued in favor of ripping up trade deals, said NAFTA was "the worst trade deal in the history of the country," and called TPP "a rape of our country." Protectionism has become more popular as American workers worry about losing jobs to other countries. And politicians across the political spectrum zeroed in on these anxieties during the 2016 campaign as they vied for the top job in the White House. About 89% of Americans said they thought that the loss of US jobs to China was a somewhat or very serious issue, according to Pew Research statistics cited by Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Ethan Harris and Lisa Berlin in May. Moreover, only 46% of Americans said they thought NAFTA was good for the economy. There is some empirical evidence to back up those grievances. In January 2016, labor economists David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon Hanson published a paper showing that increased trade with China did, in fact, cause some problems for US workers. However, trade is not the only factor that has affected American jobs in general and the manufacturing sector in particular; automation has also been a contributor. In a recent note to clients, Capital Economics' Andrew Hunter included a chart comparing manufacturing output with manufacturing employment. Manufacturing employment has been falling since the mid-1980s and started dropping at a faster rate around 2001 which coincides with China entering the World Trade Organization. Meanwhile, manufacturing output has been increasing since the mid-1980s and is now near its pre-crisis high. In other words, firms have overall been able to increase output with fewer workers over the years, which is likely at least partially because of automation. screen shot 2017 01 20 at 124600 pm NOW WATCH: Here's how to use one of the many apps to buy and trade bitcoin More From Business Insider At A CAGR Of 5.39% Global Cleanroom Robots Industry Will Grow Steadily During The Period 2016-2020 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=729303 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=729303 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Cleanroom Robots Market 2016-2020" to its huge collection of research reports.A cleanroom is a well-maintained environment with minimum levels of environmental pollutants such as aerosols, dusts, chemicals, and microbes. It has strict specifications about the number of particles per cubic meter and regarding particle size. It is typically used for manufacturing products, which require highly sterile and dust-free environment such as semiconductor, electrical and electronics, pharmaceutical, scientific research and biotechnology, and food and beverage among others.Technavios analysts forecast the global cleanroom robots market to grow at a CAGR of 5.39% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global cleanroom robots market for 2016-2020. The report considers the revenue generated from the sales of hardware, software, software licenses; renewal of software licenses; upgrades of existing solutions; maintenance; and services to estimate the market value.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Technavio's report, Global Cleanroom Robots 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 vendorsABBFANUCKUKAYamaha RoboticsYaskawa ElectricOther prominent vendorsComau RoboticsDenso RoboticsEpson RobotsKawasaki RoboticsNachi FujikoshiOmron Adept TechnologiesOTC DaihenPanasonicPari RoboticsReis RoboticsStaubli RoboticsToshibaUniversal RobotsMarket driverHigh requirement for contaminant-free machines and equipmentFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHigh system engineering and installation costsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendIntegration of IoT in roboticsFor 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?Make 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 @ Commercial Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Market (Terminal, Airside & Landside) - Global Industry Size, Share, Growth & Trends Analysis http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=1045 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/commercial-aircraft-health-monitoring-systems.html Global Commercial Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Market: OverviewAircraft health monitoring systems are becoming increasingly standard as they are important for flight safety and timely maintenance. The increasing consideration for flight safety due to the increasing volume of air traffic is benefitting the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market. Aircraft health monitoring systems are made up of several functional units each of which is important to prevent costly component damage and/or catastrophic failure.Download Research Brochure PDF@The health of the aircraft is significantly important, which determines the fate of airlines to a high degree. With the increasing number of commercial aircraft and flourishing travel and tourism industry, new aircraft projects are coming up. This presents growth opportunities for the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market.Aircraft health monitoring systems are used for several types of aircraft, which include very large aircraft, narrow body aircraft, wide body aircraft, and regional aircraft. The report identifies the various aspects that describe how aircraft health monitoring systems are important for the safety of the various types of aircraft and the growth of the commercial aircraft industry.The research report provides a comprehensive analysis of growth drivers, challenges, trends, and opportunities that will impact the progression of the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market between 2015 and 2023. It presents current market size figures and current competitive landscape based on which these aspects are analyzed for the forecast period. Technological advancements and research and development initiatives underway are duly considered at the time of the making of the report.The report analyzes the commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market from a competitive viewpoint as well. The report presents a detailed assessment of micro and macro factors essential for the existing market players as well as new entrants to understand the value chain analysis.The report provides valuable insights to understand the key market segments and the changing competitive dynamics in the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market until the end of the forecast period in 2023. An array of graphical representations and tables are used in the report that depicts the growth analysis of the market pictorially as well as textually.Global Commercial Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing number of commercial aircraft, increasing volume of air traffic, and demand for safe aircraft are the major factors driving the commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market. However, factors such as lack of management and funding along with nullification of crash risks are challenging the markets growth.Global Commercial Aircraft Health Monitoring Systems Market: Regional OutlookSome of the regions that are expected to present growth opportunities to the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The economic growth and expanding aviation industry in BRICS nations is leading to an increased demand for commercial aircraft and is expected to surpass the demand in developed countries such as the U.S.Major Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of the leading companies that have a significant presence in the global commercial aircraft health monitoring systems market are Bombardier, Airbus, Ventura Aerospace, EADS, AIRMAN, Infosys, and ASTYANAX among others. Each of the companies is profiled for their competitive attributes of recent developments, product portfolio and specification, financial standing, and SWOTs.Browse Full Report@About Us:-Transparency Market Research 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.Contact Us:-Transparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Research Report 2017 Market Capacity, Growth and Dynamics, Developments, Analysis & Heavy Investments http://globalqyresearch.com/download-sample/146398 http://globalqyresearch.com/global-industrial-fire-brigade-training-program-and-services-market-research-report-2017 http://globalqyresearch.com/checkout-form/0/146398 http://globalqyresearch.com/ https://twitter.com/GQYResearch https://www.linkedin.com/company/global-qy-research This report studies Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market 2017, especially in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India, focuses on top manufacturers in global market, with capacity, production, price, revenue and market share for each manufacturer, coveringTexas A&M Engineering Extension ServiceLakeland CollegeFalckLambton CollegeOklahoma State UniversityFire Service CollegeParkland CollegeInternational Fire Training CenterDelaware State Fire SchoolSakra Emergency Response BrigadeNorquest CollegeSouth Carolina Fire AcademyLouisiana State UniversityPetrosafe TechnologiesNova Scotia Firefighters SchoolCermRequest more information atMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services 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 intoIn-house Training Using In-house InstructorsIn-house Training Using Contract InstructorsOff-site Using In-house InstructorsOff-site Using Contract InstructorsCombinationSplit by application, this report focuses on consumption, market share and growth rate of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services in each application, can be divided intoElectric UtilityOil,Gas and MiningChemical Processing FacilitiesManufacturingOtherView full report atTable of ContentsGlobal Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Research Report 20171 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services1.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Production Market Share of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services by Type in 20151.2.2 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors1.2.3 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors1.2.4 Off-site Using In-house Instructors1.2.5 Off-site Using Contract Instructors1.2.6 Combination1.3 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Segment by Application1.3.1 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Consumption Market Share by Application in 20151.3.2 Electric Utility1.3.3 Oil,Gas and Mining1.3.4 Chemical Processing Facilities1.3.5 Manufacturing1.3.6 Other1.4 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market by Region1.4.1 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services (2012-2022)2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Average Price by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.4 Manufacturers Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2012-2017)3.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Revenue (Value) and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)3.3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.4 North America Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.5 Europe Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.6 China Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.7 Japan Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.8 Southeast Asia Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)3.9 India Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2012-2017)4 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions (2012-2017)4.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Consumption by Regions (2012-2017)4.2 North America Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.3 Europe Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.4 China Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.5 Japan Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.6 Southeast Asia Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)4.7 India Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption, Export, Import (2012-2017)5 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)5.3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Price by Type (2012-2017)5.4 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production Growth by Type (2012-2017)6 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Analysis by Application6.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Consumption and Market Share by Application (2012-2017)6.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Consumption Growth Rate by Application (2012-2017)6.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities6.3.1 Potential Applications6.3.2 Emerging Markets/Countries7 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.1.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.1.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.1.3 Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Lakeland College7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.2.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.2.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.2.3 Lakeland College Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Falck7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.3.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.3.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.3.3 Falck Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Lambton College7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.4.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.4.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.4.3 Lambton College Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Oklahoma State University7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.5.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.5.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.5.3 Oklahoma State University Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Fire Service College7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.6.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.6.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.6.3 Fire Service College Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Parkland College7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.7.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.7.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.7.3 Parkland College Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 International Fire Training Center7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.8.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.8.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.8.3 International Fire Training Center Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Delaware State Fire School7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.9.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.9.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.9.3 Delaware State Fire School Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Sakra Emergency Response Brigade7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Its Competitors7.10.2 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Product Type, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 In-house Training Using In-house Instructors7.10.2.2 In-house Training Using Contract Instructors7.10.3 Sakra Emergency Response Brigade Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2015 and 2016)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Norquest College7.12 South Carolina Fire Academy7.13 Louisiana State University7.14 Petrosafe Technologies7.15 Nova Scotia Firefighters School7.16 Cerm8 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Manufacturing Cost Analysis8.1 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Key Raw Materials Analysis8.1.1 Key Raw Materials8.1.2 Price Trend of Key Raw Materials8.1.3 Key Suppliers of Raw Materials8.1.4 Market Concentration Rate of Raw Materials8.2 Proportion of Manufacturing Cost Structure8.2.1 Raw Materials8.2.2 Labor Cost8.2.3 Manufacturing Expenses8.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers9.1 Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Industrial Chain Analysis9.2 Upstream Raw Materials Sourcing9.3 Raw Materials Sources of Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Major Manufacturers in 20159.4 Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders10.1 Marketing Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.1.3 Marketing Channel Development Trend10.2 Market Positioning10.2.1 Pricing Strategy10.2.2 Brand Strategy10.2.3 Target Client10.3 Distributors/Traders List11 Market Effect Factors Analysis11.1 Technology Progress/Risk11.1.1 Substitutes Threat11.1.2 Technology Progress in Related Industry11.2 Consumer Needs/Customer Preference Change11.3 Economic/Political Environmental Change12 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Market Forecast (2017-2022)12.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue and Price Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.1 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Revenue and Growth Rate Forecast (2017-2022)12.1.3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Price and Trend Forecast (2017-2022)12.2 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Consumption , Import and Export Forecast by Regions (2017-2022)12.2.1 North America Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.2 Europe Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.3 China Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.4 Japan Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.5 Southeast Asia Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.2.6 India Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue, Consumption, Export and Import Forecast (2017-2022)12.3 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Production, Revenue and Price Forecast by Type (2017-2022)12.4 Global Industrial Fire Brigade Training Program and Services Consumption Forecast by Application (2017-2022)13 Research Findings and Conclusion14 AppendixTo Purchase this premium Report With Complete TOC at :About Us:Global QYResearch () is the one spot destination for all your research needs. Global QYResearch holds the repository of quality research reports from numerous publishers across the globe. Our inventory of research reports caters to various industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. With the complete information about the publishers and the industries they cater to for developing market research reports, we help our clients in making purchase decision by understanding their requirements and suggesting best possible collection matching their needs.Contact Us:Mr. Jay SmithSenior Manager Client EngagementsCall: +44 20 32390-2407Follow us:Twitter:Linkedin: Global Plasticisers Market Forecast Report by 2026 www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11710 www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11710 A plasticiser is a chemical substance which is added to another material, usually a plastic, to make it flexible, resilient and easier to handle. There are more than 300 different types of plasticisers out of which around 50-100 are currently used commercially. The most common plasticisers are phthalates and adipates. Plasticisers are added to a polymer matrix to increase its flexibility and enhance its chemical properties in the final plastic product. Addition of a plasticizer can lower the glass transition temperature, melt viscosity and elastic modulus of the polymer. Plasticisers are additives which increase the plasticity or fluidity of a material. Plasticisers also enhance the properties of materials such as concrete, clays, and other related products.A sample of this report is available upon request:Plasticisers Market: Drivers & RestraintsBio-based plasticisers are produced from vegetable raw materials and are used as an alternative of petroleum based plasticisers. In order to assure sustainability, end users are looking for safe, bio-degradable and non-phthalate-based plasticisers. Decreasing supply of harmful phthalate and increasing consumer awareness are factors limiting growth of the global market. At the same time, ban on phthalate-based plasticizers in consumer goods, food packaging material and medical products have led to the development of eco-friendly bio-based plasticizers. Higher cost of bio-plasticizers as compared to phthalate-based plasticizers is a key challenge faced by the bio-plasticizers market players.Plasticisers Market: OverviewPlasticisers are the most commonly used additives in the global plastic market. The global plasticiser market exceeded 8 Mn metric tons by 2014 end. The most dominant application areas of plasticisers are plastics and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Efforts are in progress by different regulatory authorities to promote environmental friendly products which have led to an increase in the demand for bio-plasticizers in developed regions. Phthalate-based plasticizer was prominent and represented more than 75% share in the global plasticisers market. However, stringent government regulations and increasing health concerns of the consumers, stimulated the demand for bio-plasticisers which is currently a significant trend in the market.Plasticisers Market: Region wise OverviewGeographically, global plasticisers market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Middle East and Africa (MEA). By 2015 end, North America held the largest share in the global market due expanding application in flourishing industries of healthcare, chemicals and packaging. Europe all together is an established market due to stable growth in manufacturing and healthcare industry. In Western Europe countries, around 1 Mn tons of phthalates are produced annually, out of which approximately 0.9 Mn tons of phthalates are used to plasticize PVC. Overall, Western Europe, APEJ and North America are projected to hold more than 75% share in the global plasticiser market.Plasticisers Market: Key PlayersThe key research institutes in global plasticisers market are Eastman Chemical Company, BASF SE, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, Perstorp Holding AB, Exxon Mobil Corporation, PolyOne, Supreme Plasticizers, Vertellus Specialties Inc., KLJ Group to name a few.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, geographies, accessories 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 Organic Fertilizer Market Headed for Growth and Global Expansion by 2026 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11950 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11950 With increase in demand for green products and pollution free agricultural products, the term organic has become an irresistible trend of modern agriculture and is creating a buzz in the global fertilizers market. Rapid development of organic agriculture coupled with augmenting demand for organic food is expected to increase the demand for organic fertilizers.A sample of this report is available upon request @Organic fertilizers are derived or made from human waste, animal waste or vegetable matter (usually rotten or non-consumable by humans). Naturally-occurring organic fertilizers consist of animal matter from meat processing industries, peat, slurries, manures and guano. As organic fertilizers are extracted from naturally-occurring substances, the risk of environmental damage is low. Use of organic fertilizers also reduces the risk of diseases in humans, as many fertilizers find their way to human food. Prominent organic fertilizers available in the market include blood meal, bone meal, composites, earthworm castings, bat guano, fish emulsion, alfalfa meal, feather meal and rock phosphate. Selection of organic fertilizers is usually done after determining the nutrients required from the crop.The global market for organic fertilizer has witnessed steady growth in the recent past owing to government support and favorable perception among farmers and end-users. The efficiency of organic fertilizers is slow and long time. As compared to chemical fertilizers, the production of organic fertilizers has less investment and high benefits. This factor is expected to augment the global organic fertilizers market over the forecast period. Owing to the eco-friendly nature of organic fertilizers, governments in many countries have subsidised the prices, making it easier for farmers to use it.Government and environmental policies minimizing wastage and reduction in the consumption of non-biodegradable raw materials has led to an increased production of organic fertilizers. Regulations are also emphasizing more on human safety, so are supporting markets like organic fertilizers to reduce risk to human life and the environment.The organic fertilizers market is dependent upon the weather (rains/water supply) of that region or area; hence, weather conditions can hamper the growth of organic fertilizer market. Another concern with organic fertilizers is that a majority of them have lesser nutrient ratio than chemical fertilizers, which can massively impact farm produce.Request to view Table of content @The global organic fertilizer market can be segmented into seven geographical locations -- North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan and Middle East and Africa. North America and Europe are expected to dominate the global organic fertilizers market throughout the forecast period. The market in North America and Europe is anticipated to grow robustly owing to conducive climatic conditions and the ample availability of land for farming. In the APAC region, strong government policies and rules are expected to contribute to the growth of organic fertilizer market. Owing to large agricultural land in India, the organic fertilizers market is anticipated to increase at a significant rate over the forecast period.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.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 North America and Europe Farm Tractor Market: Rise in Agricultural Mechanization to Boost Uptake http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-europe-farm-tractor-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16091 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com The top three players in the North America and Europe farm tractor market Deere and Company, CNH (Case New Holland) Industrial, and AGCO Corporation accounted for a share of just under 70.0% in 2015, hinting at the rather consolidated nature of the competitive landscape. Among these, Deere and Company alone held a share of over 35% that year, emerging as the clear leader. Transparency Market Research finds that the degree of rivalry among players in the North America and Europe farm tractor market is quite high owing to the strong presence of large and established companies.Enhancing product portfolio, investing in innovations, and forming strategic alliances are some of the key growth tactics employed by players in this market. In September 2016, market leader John Deere launched a new 450 HP tractor that is specially designed to achieve reduction in fuel consumption. This has enabled the company to reinforce its strategic plan of focusing on innovation.Browse Market Research Report with ToC & Free Analysis :By revenue, the North America and Europe farm tractors market is projected to expand from US$13.6 bn in 2015 to US$17.23 bn by 2024, with North America registering a 3.0% CAGR and Europe exhibiting a 5.4% CAGR therein. By volume, the farm tractors market in North America and Europe is projected to witness a 5.1% CAGR during the forecast period.Europe to Recover from Sluggish Demand to Witness Surge in Shipment by 2024The North America farm tractor market was pegged at around 245 thousand units in 2015. Despite a declining sales volume across the higher horsepower segment, the market exhibited marginal volume growth from the previous year owing to the rise in demand for tractors below 40 HP. While the sales of farm tractors will continue a positive trend in the U.S., the sales in Canada have been witnessing a downward trend owing to a weak dollar and higher prices of the tractors.In 2015, the Europe farm tractor market volume was pegged at around 153 thousand units. The market has been recording a decline in year-on-year growth in terms of volume over the last two years owing to a low demand from several European countries, including Germany, France, Turkey, the U.K., and Italy. However, the trend is likely to change in 2017, TMR predicts. Tractor manufacturers are poised to lower the prices across different horsepower segments so as to attract more sales and recover from the sluggish demand, the lead analyst states.Government Offering Increased Support to Up Usage of Farm TractorsThere has been a growing trend of farm mechanization across North America and Europe owing to the numerous benefits offered, including considerable savings in terms of time and resources, improved efficiency, and increased production. In addition to this, precision farming has driven the need for mechanization among various farm practices, thereby fueling the demand for farm tractors. The shortage of farm laborers in these regions has also propelled the use of mechanized farming techniques and equipment such as farm tractors.Get Sample Report Copy :Another significant factor that has boosted the adoption of farm tractors across Europe and North America is the growing demand for agricultural products, brought on by the rising population. In view of this, governments in these regions have focused their attention on encouraging the usage of mechanized farming techniques by offering subsidies and easy access to credit to farmers, the author of the study notes.What poses a challenge to the North America and Europe farm tractors market is the implementation of strict emission norms in most developed countries. Regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) have imposed stringent regulations pertaining to the use of diesel engines, particularly in off-road vehicles. Tractor manufacturers are, therefore, forced to incur additional costs to adhere to these norms, thereby restricting the uptake of farm tractors.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: Global Pyrite Market Set to Grow Exponentially, 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4525 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4525 Pyrite also known as iron pyrite or fools gold is an iron sulfide mineral. Pyrite is pale brass yellow colored and has metallic luster thus having resemblance with gold. Pyrite is found with other oxides and sulfide in rocks and coal beds. Some of the countries such as Peru, the U.S., Russia, Spain and South Africa have commercially important deposits of pyrite. The flat radial disks of pyrites are also known as dollars or sun. Pyrite is used in various applications such as production of sulfur compounds such as sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid, cathode material, semiconductor material and marcasite jewelry items. In addition, pyrite is used as filler in wheels and brake pads. Moreover, the pyrites are used as an ore for gold, as both forms under similar conditions and are available in same rocks. Pyrite is also used as gemstone and is considered as a stone of warmth and power.A sample of this report is available upon request @The market for pyrite was mainly driven by jewelry and sulfur compounds market. Huge demand of pyrite for manufacturing of sulfuric acid and sulfur dioxide has been driving the market in past few years. Pyrite is used in jewelry items such as necklace with beads and cabochons. In grinding industry, pyrite is used as filler in grinding wheels and brake linings. Pyrite is also used in friction markets to increase the thermal conductivity. Pyrite also helps in adjusting the friction coefficient in brake pads. In electronics industry, pyrite is used as a semiconductor material and as an electrode in lithium ion batteries. In paper and pulp industry, pyrite is used in manufacturing of paper. Pyrite as an iron ore is one of the biggest opportunity for the market if the current iron ore becomes scarce. Moreover, pyrite is also considered as probable substitute in photovoltaic solar panels as it is inexpensive and abundant in nature. However, health and environmental hazards associated with pyrite are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years to come.In terms of demand, North America was the leading region for pyrite market in 2013. Increasing demand from sulfur compounds, electronics and jewelry has been major drivers for the market in past few years. The U.S. had the largest demand for pyrite owing to huge demand from sulfur compounds and grinding industry. However, Mexico is considered to be the fastest growing country in this region owing to increasing demand for pyrite in jewelry. Europe had the second-largest demand for pyrite market in 2013. Increasing demand for pyrite from sulfur compounds and in paper industry has been driving the market for pyrite in Europe. Germany is one of the largest consumers of pyrite in this region owing to the huge demand from grinding and electronics industry. Other countries such as Spain, Italy, and the U.K. are likely to show stable demand in next few years to come. Asia Pacific was the fastest growing region in pyrite market in 2013. The demand is huge owing to rise in markets such as gemstones, fabricated jewelry and grinding industry. India, China and Japan are anticipated to be the fastest growing markets for pyrite in this region. Rest of the World market is anticipated to be potential market for the pyrite in near future.Request to view Table of content @Some of the key manufacturers in the pyrite market are Hickman, Williams & Company, Iron Duke Pyrites, Turkish Minerals and Washington Mills among 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 Soda Ash Market to Register a Strong Growth By 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4526 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4526 Soda ash also known as sodium carbonate is a salt of carbnoic acid. Soda ash is hygroscopic in nature and forms strong alkaline solution in water.Soda ash is manufactured via three different process viz. Leblanc process, Solvay process and Hous process. Solvay process is most preffered manufacturing process in the industry due to its efficiency and cost. In this process, sodium chloride to sodium carbonate in presence of ammonia. Soda ash finds applications in various end-user industries such as glass, detergents, food and beverages, chemicals and dyeing among others.A sample of this report is available upon request @The market for soda ashwas driven by various factors from different end-user industries. Huge demand from buildings & constructionindustry is driving the soda ash market in past few years. Soda ash is used in manufacturing of flat glass which is used in modern construction activities.Increasing demand from end-user industries such as automotive from emerging countries has been one of the major factors for the growth of flat glass, subsequently increasing demand for soda ash.Another, major factor driving the soda ash market is increasing demand for powder detergents from developing countries.Soda ash is also used in various applications such as metallurgy, personal care and water treatment among others. Rising demand for personal care and water treatment industry is expected to open new markets for the soda ash market during the forecast period. Increasing demand for soda ash from fiberglass and silicates is likely to provide major opportunities for soda ash market in next few years to come. However, stern regulations faced by soda ash industry are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region in soda ash market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to be one of the fastest growing markets for soda ash due to increasing demand for glass and detergents from emerging countries such as India, Indonesia and Korea among others. The demand for soda ash is huge especially from buildings & construction, automotive and personal care end-user industry. The market for soda ash in Asia Pacific was led by China. However, India is likely to provide better opportunity for soda ash market owing to increasing consumption from various end-user industries. Asia Pacific was followed by Europe. Increasing demand from modern construction activities has been driving the market for flat glass in Europe, thus driving the demand for soda ash in this region. Germany, the UK, France and Italy were the major consumers of soda ash in Europe. However, certain regulations related to soda ash industry is likely to stagnant the growth of the market in this region. North America had the third-largest demand for soda ash in 2012. Increasing demand from glass and detergent industry were driving the growth of the market in this region. The U.S. had the largest demand for soda ash owing to huge demand from end-user industries such as buildings & construction, personal care and automotive among others. Rest of the World market is anticipated to show potential growth for the soda ash market in near future.Latin America is anticipated to show fastest growth for the soda ash market in this region. The demand is huge owing to increasing applications in personal care and water treatment applications.Request to view Table of content @The market for soda ash is fragmented and however, various manufacturers have dominated in particular regions. Some of the key manufacturers in thesoda ashmarket areGujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd., Solvay Chemicals Inc., OCI Chemicals Corporation and Tata Chemicals among others.About 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 Sodium Borate Market to Maintain Healthy CAGR, 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/4534 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/4534 Sodium borate also known as borax is a mineral, a boron compound and a salt of boric acid. Sodium borate is available in crystalline form and is water soluble. Sodium borate can also be easily converted to borates and boric acid. Borax decahydrate is the commonly used grade in the market. Some of the countries such as Turkey, the U.S., Chile and Romania have commercially important deposits of borax. Sodom borate is used in variety of end-user industries such as personal care, biochemistry, paints & coatings, metal processing, food processing, mining, paper processing, water treatment and ceramics among others. Sodium borate is also used as buffer solutions in biochemical processes and laboratories. Fire retardant is another major outlet for sodium borate and is likely to grow in years to come.A sample of this report is available upon request @The market for sodium borate was mainly driven by end-user industries such as increasing demand from personal care, water treatment and disinfectant market. Huge demand for sodium borate as antiseptic solution from detergent, disinfectant and water treatment has been the major factor for the growth of sodium borate in past few years. Sodium borate is used in manufacturing of glass, ceramics, paints & coatings and coated paper among others. Sodium borate is also preferred as a flux in metal processing industry as well as in metal welding. In ceramics, sodium borate is used as ingredient in enamel glazes and as ingredient in ceramic slips. In agricultural chemicals, sodium borate is used in micronutrients to correct the boron deficiencies in the soil. In food processing, sodium borate is used as food additive, food preservative or to improve the rubbery texture of the food. Increasing demand for treated water thus driving the water treatment industry is likely to be major opportunity for the sodium borate market in upcoming years. In spite of so many applications, environmental and health regulations associated with sodium borate are anticipated to hider the growth of the market in next few years.In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region in sodium borate market in 2013. Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing markets for sodium borate due to increasing demand from agricultural chemicals, detergents, ceramics and water treatment in this region. The market for sodium borate in Asia Pacific was led by China. Other Asian countries such as India and Japan are likely to provide better opportunity for sodium borate market owing to increasing consumption from water treatment and agricultural chemicals end-user industries. Asia Pacific was followed by North America. Increasing demand from detergents, agricultural chemicals and water treatment industry is driving the demand for sodium borate in this region. U.S. had the largest demand for sodium borate owing to huge demand from end-user industries such as personal care, water treatment and ceramics among others. Europe had the third-largest demand for sodium borate market in 2013. Increasing demand for sodium borate from personal care industry coupled with chemical industry has been driving the market for sodium borate in Europe. Germany is one of the largest consumers of sodium borate in this region owing to the huge demand from ceramics and paper processing industry. Rest of the World market is anticipated to show positive outlook for the sodium borate market in near future.Request to view Table of content @The market for sodium borate is highly oligopolistic in nature. Some of the key manufacturers in the sodium borate market are Etimine S.A., Larderello S.p.A., Quiborax S.A. and Rio Tinto Group among 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 Concrete Admixtures Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3702 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3702 Concrete is the prime essential construction materials for all type of construction project, and serve the essential requirements of civil structures such as strength and durability of the final structure. Concrete consists of mixture of sand, aggregate, binder, water and admixtures.A sample of this report is available upon request @The concrete admixtures contain specialty chemical solvent or mixture. It is used as an additive in cement or concrete to enhance the physical and chemical properties of the concrete such as aesthetic, functional, and design requirement of concrete structures. The concrete admixtures are extensively used in almost all type of concrete structures such as construction of residential buildings, industrial amenities, social and commercial complexes, and surface transportation infrastructure projects. The various cost and performance benefits offered by chemical admixtures include improved strength of the concrete structure, chemical resistance, enhanced durability and color properties, enhanced working properties of concrete and significantly low water and cement requirement. It also provides superior surface finish and better resistance to endure adverse climatic conditions.Based on the different product type the market can be divided two broad categories: mineral admixture (including fly ash, granulated blast furnace slag, silica fume and rice husk ash) , and chemical admixture (including super plasticizers, normal plasticizers, accelerating agents, retarding agents, air-entraining agents, and waterproofing admixtures).World Bank has estimated about 900 billion for the infrastructure development in developing countries till 2030. Moreover the improving quality of civil structure in developing countries of Asia Pacific is offering a double digit growth for the concrete admixture market. Various support mechanism such as foreign direct investment (FDI) for pacing infrastructure development in some of the major concrete civil structure dominant market such as India and China is providing new market opportunities for the concrete admixture market.Increasing prices of concrete admixtures chemicals coupled with lack of awareness about the advantages of admixtures in unorganized construction sector of Asia Pacific and other developing region is restricting the market expansion of the concrete admixture.Growing residential requirement due to rising middle classes coupled with government initiatives such as stricter contraction quality regulations, upcoming infrastructure development programs such as home for every citizen of India (India Vision 2020, Planning Commission of India), development of transportation infrastructure and proposals of new megacities in both India and China is expected to display new market opportunities for concrete admixture market in upcoming years.Asia Pacific is by far the largest market of concrete admixture followed by North America and Europe. Asia pacific and Rest of the World region (includes Middle East, Latin America, and Africa) are two of the fasted growing market of concrete admixture exhibiting a lucrative double digit growth over the years, whereas market of develop region such as Europe and North America is heading towards maturity and expected to grow at an below average rate. Country wise, China, India, Brazil, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Japan, Italy, Spain, U.S., Canada and Mexico are some of the predominant market of concrete admixture.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major companies operating in global concrete admixtures market, include, The Dow Chemical Company, BASFSE, SIKA AG, W.R. Grace & Co., Cemex S.A.B. De C.V., Rpm International Inc., Ashland Inc., Pidilite Industries, Fosroc International Ltd, Chryso Sas, Mapei South Africa (PTY) Ltd, CICO Technologies Ltd., and CEMEX S.A.B. de N.V.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 (Reuters Health) - The Affordable Care Act likely extended the lives of thousands of seniors who took advantage of free screening exams and were diagnosed with treatable, early-stage colorectal cancer, a new study suggests. I think the prevention-related provisions of the Affordable Care Act helped to detect cancer at earlier and more treatable stages and eventually will save lives, said senior author Nengliang Aaron Yao, a health-policy professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville. Before the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, took effect, people ages 65 and older who were insured under Medicare had to pay $275 for colonoscopies, the report in Health Affairs says. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) directed that colonoscopies be offered for free. From 2011, when the law took effect, until 2013, an additional 8,400 seniors, or 8 percent more than before, were diagnosed with early-stage colorectal cancer, researchers estimated. The study does a very nice job of showing that when you remove financial barriers to healthcare, health improves, said Dr. Cary Gross, a professor at the Yale School of Medicine, in New Haven, Connecticut who was not involved in the study. When the Affordable Care Act granted more generous coverage, we were more likely to detect cancer at an earlier stage. This shows that when it comes to creating a new healthcare plan, the devils in the details, and policymakers need to look at things like how will the proposed changes affect cancer screening, Gross said in a phone interview. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of U.S. cancer-related deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. Nearly 52,000 Americans died from colorectal cancer in 2013. Though research shows that screening reduces the risk of dying from colorectal cancer, only 25 percent of uninsured people and 60 percent of insured people had been screened as recommended, a 2015 CDC study showed. Story continues Both Yao and Gross would like President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers, who have pledged to repeal the ACA, to consider the ramifications of the new study before ruling on future healthcare legislation. Im very concerned that policymakers who are trying to save money by not covering cancer-prevention services are being penny-wise and pound-foolish, Gross said. They may save money today, but we will be paying a lot more taking care of patients with metastatic cancer down the road. Im worried on behalf of our patients and our communities that these great strides weve made against cancer will evaporate if the important provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which ensure that patients can access cancer screening services without additional costs, are taken away, he said. In the new study, researchers examined data from 18 cancer registries across the U.S. They found no change in the number of Medicare early-stage cancer diagnoses for breast cancer between the period before Obamacare, from 2008 until 2010, until the period after, from 2011 until 2013. Mammography to screen for breast cancer became free for Medicare patients under the ACA, but before that, it cost just $9 a significantly smaller financial barrier than the $275 cost of a colonoscopy, Yao said in a phone interview. In addition, breast cancer screening had been marketed more successfully than colorectal screening before the ACA was enacted, he said. Gross noted that colonoscopies can actually prevent cancer, because doctors can remove polyps during the procedure, whereas mammograms only allow doctors to see growths in the breast. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force found convincing evidence that colorectal cancer screening substantially reduces deaths in adults between 50 and 75 years old, it said last year. The task force recommended screening with colonoscopy, stool analyses or flexible sigmoidoscopy combined with a fecal-occult blood test. The new study could not determine the impact of free colonoscopies on metastatic colorectal cancer rates or mortality from colorectal cancer. Gross urged follow-up studies examining those numbers after they become available. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2jhSW2H Health Affairs, online January 9, 2017. MENA Point of Use Water Purifier (POU) Market Will Hit at a CAGR of 7.6% by 2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-ma-30 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-ma-30 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights (FMI) announced the release of a latest report titled, POU Water Purifiers Market: MENA Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020. FMI estimates that the Point of Use (POU) water purifier market in Middle East and North Africa is expected to reach US$ 471 Mn at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2014 to 2020.Residential water purification system includes point of use water purifiers (POU), point of entry (POE) water purifiers, portable water purifiers. Moreover, the demand for POU water purifiers is high among consumers in MENA region as compared to POE and portable water purifiers.In the POU water purifiers market, products with high purification capabilities such as combination of reverse osmosis (RO) and Ultraviolet (UV) technologies are more preferred. It has also been observed that a majority of the demand is coming from urban centres in GCC when compared to the entire MENA region.Request For Report Sample:Market SegmentsThe POU water purifiers market is segmented on the basis of technology which includes RO, UV and media-based. RO technology based water purifiers segment is estimated to account for slightly over 40% of the total POU water purifiers market in MENA region in 2014. Media-based water purification, which is a conventional water purification technology has also witnessed technological advancements, and is estimated to display a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period, in terms of volume. The third technology, UV based water purifiers, is estimated to exhibit a sluggish growth rate during the forecast period due to its limitation in removing only organic contaminants from water. Additionally, UV-based water purifiers are also priced higher in comparison to media-based water purifiers and hence the product preference for UV based water purifiers is comparatively low.Region-wise, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Algeria are the promising markets for POU water purifiers. In addition, a cumulative scenario has been highlighted for rest of MENA (includes smaller countries like Kuwait, Jordan etc.). Among the aforementioned regions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated to be the prominent market for POU water purifiers, followed by Turkey, due to its growing population and rapid urbanization, and increasing awareness for safe drinking water forecast period.In addition, penetration of bottled water is a challenge for the POU water purifiers market in Anatolia. As a result, Anatolia is estimated to demonstrate a sluggish growth rate in the near future. Furthermore, POU water purifiers market in UAE is anticipated to reach 149.2 thousand units by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 10% between 2014 and 2020.Send An Enquiry:Drivers and RestraintsDeteriorating water quality, rising cost of bottled water, increasing population coupled with increasing per capita income are some of the prominent factors which will catalyse the point of use water purifiers in the region. Though the MENA market is attractive in terms of absolute dollar opportunity, low awareness about safe drinking water and product unavailability are major challenges for the MENA POU water purifier market.Competitive LandscapeKey players operating in the MENA water purifier market are LG, Eureka Forbes, Strauss Water, Panasonic, WaterLife and Coolplex. The report sheds light on their key growth strategies and recent developments. In addition, the report also discusses the value chain followed by multinational companies in MENA for POU water purifiers.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: BRIC Organic Baby Food Market Anticipated to be Valued at US$ 3.5 Bn by 2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-br-333 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-br-333 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights (FMI) has released a new report titled, Organic Baby Food Market - BRIC Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2020. According to the report, the global organic baby food market is expected to account for US$ 5.6 Bn by 2020, registering a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period. On the other hand, the BRIC organic baby food market is projected to reach US$ 3,528.7 Mn at a CAGR of 19.5% over the forecast period.Rapid urbanisation, rising parental concern to feed their child with healthy and chemical free products, health awareness programmes by regional governments, emphasis on natural nourishment, and aggressive product branding will contribute to drive the growth of the global organic baby food market over the forecast period.The BRIC organic baby food market is driven by factors, such as rising number of working mothers, increased organic components, harvesting, and government support in the form of subsidies and other benefits. Moreover, consumer demand for specialised and healthy products is expected to fuel the market growth of organic baby food in BRIC region.Request For Report Sample:The BRIC organic baby food market report mainly covers three segments: product type, distribution channel, and countries in BRIC region. On the basis of product, the market is further sub-segmented into milk formula organic baby food, ready to feed organic baby food, dried organic baby food, prepared organic baby food, and others. Milk formula organic baby food is expected to be the highest contributor to the market of BRICS organic baby food in terms of revenue, followed by prepared organic baby food. Milk formula organic baby food is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 20.3% through 2020 and reach a valuation of US$1,109.6 Mn.On the basis of distribution channel, the sub-segmentation comprises speciality outlet, supermarkets, internet or online selling, chemist/pharmacies/drugstores, and others. Among all the aforementioned distribution channels, the supermarket sub-segment is expected to dominate the market, accounting for US$ 1,414.6 Mn revenue by registering a CAGR of 21.2% in the forecasted period. The ease and convenience of buying products through internet will provide an impetus to the internet or online selling distribution channel and make it a favourable distribution channel for organic baby food, thereby accounting for 19.7% CAGR growth by 2020.Send An Enquiry:Key countries for BRIC organic baby food market include India, China, Brazil and Russia. China represents the most lucrative market, followed by India. China is expected to contribute US$ 2,119.0 Mn revenue in the forecasted period. Growth of the market in China is supported by food safety issues. For example, thethe melamine scandal in baby food prompted consumers to turn towards healthy and hygienic food.Assessing the various factors driving this market, FMI Lead Analyst said, Increasing consumer awareness regarding benefits of greener products, rising parental concern, and doctors recommendation for organic baby food are expected to fuel the demand for organic baby food in BRIC.Key players profiled in this report include Nestle S.A, H.J. Heinz Company, Groupe Danone, British Biologicals, Abbott Laboratories, Bellamys Australia Limited, Campbell Soup Company, Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd and othersABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite: Global Peracetic Acid Market Expand Their Businesses With New Investments http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3724 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3724 Peracetic acid (PAA) or peroxy acetic acid is a colorless and highly acidic liquid. Hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid are used as principal constituent in commercial manufacturing of peracetic acid. It is used in various products with concentration ranging from 5%-35% content. Peracetic acid is one of the most effective oxidizing agents after ozone. It is highly water soluble and does not produce any health and environmentally hazardous byproducts.A sample of this report is available upon request @Based on the different application of the peracetic acid the market can be further segmented as disinfectants, sterilant, sanitizer and others. Disinfectant segment held largest market share worldwide in 2013. Disinfectants are used in healthcare, food and beverages industry, water treatment and bleaching application in pulp & paper industry. Sterilant and sanitizer were the two of the fasted growing application segment in 2013.The Peracetic acid market is mainly driven by the increasing application of peracetic acid in various allied industries such as food processing and beverage industries. Peracetic acid got recognition from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as antimicrobial and as safe chemicals to protect food for longer time. This has developed many new application of peracetic acid as food preservatives and microbial disinfectants over the past few years. In food industry peracetic acid is widely used as a preservative for meat and poultry and fisheries products. Moreover, rising demand of peracetic acid in various beverages processing application is also acting as a leading growth driver for the market. Nevertheless the traditional application of peracetic acid market such as industrial cleaning disinfectants, healthcare and personal care applications is rising which in turn is driving the market of Peracetic acid.Advancement in manufacturing technology, growing popularity of bio-based chemicals and innovative techniques developed for the use of peracetic acid in many new applications in an array of product is expected to lay new opportunities for of peracetic acid market in upcoming years.Direct exposure to Peracetic acid can cause severe burns, allergy, and other hazardous health effects to the eyes, skin, and respiratory organs. Peracetic acid can cause severe health issues if ingested in higher concentrations, together these factors are restricting its wide acceptance in at house hold application which is one of the major challenges for peracetic acid market.Europe is the largest market of Peracetic acid followed by North America, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). Asia Pacific and RoW (include Latin America, Middle East, and Africa) are two of the fasted growing Peracetic acid market of the world. Country wise, China and India are two of the largest regional market of peracetic acid. China held the largest market share in terms of regional consumption of peracetic acid in 2013. The size of peracetic acid market is relatively low in the RoW region, but expected to display a healthy growth throughout the forecasted period.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major companies operating in global peracetic acid market include, Kemira Chemicals, Mitsubishi Gas Chemicals, Seitz GMBH, Aditya Birla Chemicals, Ecolab, Solvay Chemicals, Peroxychem, Evonik Industries, Enviro Tech Chemical Services, Helios Group, Christeyns and Promox S.P.A.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 Nanocatalysts Market Explores New Growth Opportunities By 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3629 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3629 Catalyst with nanoparticles is termed as Nanocatalysts. It has nanoscale materials with at least one nanoscale dimension, or some time it has modified nanoscale structure to increase the catalytic properties. Catalysts are use for accelerating or decelerating the rate of change of the chemical reactions without being consumed or without any permanent physical or chemical changes within themselves. Nanocatalysts are extensively used in an array of application such as food processing industries, pharmaceuticals, oil and refinery and chemical industry. Nanocatalysts provide a larger surface area to speed the rate of reactions. Normally catalyst materials which are not catalytic when it is present in mass can become catalytic when it gets nanoscaled. Moreover nanotechnology provides custom design specification to catalysts in order to facilitate faultless selectivity in a catalyst based reaction.A sample of this report is available upon request @In the refinery and oil and gas industry, nanocatalysts materials are used in various applications such as catalytic cracking of the petroleum, heavy-oil up gradation, cleaning up oil drip, desulphurization, rectification, coal liquefaction and biodiesel and ethanol generation. Nanocatalyst is also used in removal process of various impurities found in petroleum such as sulphur, nitrogen and other metals mainly to minimize the toxic gases emission. The use nanocatalyst also enhances some of the most imperative physical properties of oil and gases such as frictional properties and overall temperature stability of the petroleum products. It also reduces octane and sulphur content found in fossils fuels to reduce carbon footprints and to increase viscosity of the petroleum product.On the basis of the chemical properties of the nanocatalyst the global nanocatalysts market can be segmented four different categories namely nanoparticulate catalysts, nanoporous catalysts, nanocrystalline catalysts, and supramolecular catalysts. Based on the end user application of nanocatalyst the nanocatalysts market can be broadly categorised as refinery, petrochemical, chemical industry, pharmaceuticals, food processing, and environmental applications. The refinery industry grasped the largest market share among all other end user application segment for nanocatalysts in 2013, whereas the environmental applications segment is exhibiting the fastest growth in 2013.Worldwide increasing demand for cost-effective renewable energy resources, growing awareness towards reducing carbon footprints coupled with depleting fossils fuel resources are some of the major drivers of the nanocatalysts market. Moreover the various performance and cost benefits associated with nanocatalysts is making it one of the popular alternative of conventional catalyst in food and beverages industries which in turns driving the market for nanocatalysts. The evolution of low-cost metal nanocatalysts with superior performance in chemical processing is providing new growth opportunities for the nanocatalysts material particularly in chemical industry.Asia Pacific is the largest market of nanocatalysts followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific is also the fasted growing market of nanocatalysts attributed to the growing allied industries such as pharmaceuticals, food and beverages and oil and refinery which in turns helping the market of nanocatalysts in this region.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major companies operating in global nanocatalysts market include, Argonide Corporation, Bayer Ag, BASF Catalyst LLC, Catalytic Solution, Inc., Genencor International, Inc., Evonik Degussa GmbH, Headwaters Nanokinetix, Inc., Johnson Matthey Plc., Mach I, Inc., Nanophase Technologies Corporation, Hyperion Catalysis International, NanoScale Corporation, Oxonica, PQ Corporation, NexTech Materials Ltd. Sachtleben Chemie Gmbh., Zeolyst International and Umicore.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 Superhard Material Market Will Continue to Grow by 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3646 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3646 A superhard material is a material with a hardness level exceeding 40 gigapascals. Superhard materials are highly incompressible solids with high electron density and high bond covalency.A sample of this report is available upon request @The various products of superhard material include cemented carbides, tool steels, ceramics and diamond. Cement carbide is generally used in industrial applications for machining tough materials such as carbon steel or stainless steel. The superhard material market is segmented in the following three categories: monocrystalline superhard, composite superhard materials and super-hard materials and tools. Monocrystalline superhard materials include diamond and cubic boron nitride.Composite superhard materials include clad sheet for oil and gas, clad sheet for cutting tools, clad sheet and wire drawing die blanks used for coal and mining. Super-hard materials and tools include polycrystalline diamond drawing dies, diamond saw blades, diamond drill bits, diamond discs and diamond cutting tools.Due to their incomparable hardness, superhard materials can scratch and shape any object, hence it used in a wide range of industrial operations related to turning, cutting, drilling, boring and grinding. Superhard materials are used in many industries including aerospace, alternative energy, automotive, chemical processing, infrastructure and construction, die & mold, electronic, general machining, mining, oil & gas, paper & pulp, power generation, railroads and shipbuilding. Application of superhard material in these industries includes abrasive, coating, cutting tool, general medical, precision part, refractory parts, sensors, semiconductor fabrication, subsystem components and wear parts polishing.In 2013, affected by the insufficient demand from downstream petroleum, construction and metal cutting machine tool and due to the sluggish economy, superhard material and products industrys growth was slowed down and many companies were facing high operating costs due to this reason. In view of this, SF Diamond Co., Ltd, BOSUN Tools Co., Ltd, Henan Huanghe Whirlwind Co., Ltd, and some other companies adopted number of measures to expand their existing production capacity and extend their industrial chain to enhance their operational capabilities.Asia-Pacific is the largest market for superhard material. China contributes the largest share of superhard material market in Asia-Pacific region generating about 90% of global output and become the top producer of manmade diamond. The superhard material market in China reached about USD 2 billion in 2013, accounting about 21.8% of global market share in superhard material. Market of superhard material in North America and Europe region is driven by improving economy, intensifying manufacturing activity and the ensuing rise in demand for machine tools that used for various industrial operations.Request to view Table of content @Major companies operating in global superhard material market are Zhongnan Diamond Co.,Ltd, Zhengzhou Sino Crystal Diamond Co., Ltd, Henan Huanghe, SF Diamond Bosun Tools, KingDream Public, Advanced Technology & Materials Co., Ltd, Zhengzhou New Asia Superhard Material Composite Co., Ltd., Henan Yalong Diamond Tools Co., Ltd, Shenzhen Haimingrun Industrial Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou Research Institute for Abrasives & Grinding, Monte Bianco Diamond Applications Co., Ltd., King strong Material Engineering Ltd, CR Gems Diamond Co., Ltd, Anhui Hongjing New Material Co., Ltd, Funik Ultra hard Material Co., Ltd, Henan Yalong Superhard Materials Co.,Ltd, Zhengzhou Realy Superabrasives Co.,Ltd and BOSUN Tools Co., Ltd.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 Aerospace Coatings Market to Record an Impressive Growth By 2021 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3649 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/3649 A coating is generally referred to as the substrate, is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object. The new technologies in aerospace coating which provide significant value advantages to the aviation industry in terms of longer service life, light weight products and improved application efficiencies. Growth in the aerospace industry can be driven by an emergent middle class in emerging economies and more and more people being able to travel for leisure. To fulfill this demand various airlines are trying to adapt strategy accordingly. Resulted in the increase in demand for aircraft and associated services. Indirectly boost the demand for aerospace coating market. Research and development plays an important role in aerospace coatings market. The leading companies such as AkzoNobel N.V and PPG Industries Inc. of aerospace coating market focus on research and development in response to the market growth and rising demand from customers. The leading companies are investing huge amount for future advancements and improved technology for aerospace coating to reduce coatings life cycle, engineered materials, improved performance and to meet the new demands coming from various types of end-user industries. For instance, PPG Industries Inc. launched Solar Heat Management (SHM) coatings. These coatings allow the reduction in air conditioning requirements while the aircraft is on the ground in warm conditions.A sample of this report is available upon request @On the basis of end-user, aerospace coatings market is bifurcated into three types: military, commercial and general aviation. Increased in the demand for light weight coating systems durability, environment-friendly solutions, unique color styling, variety of colors and faster product drying times from the commercial and military end-user segment, influencing the growth rate of global aerospace coating market. Commercial aerospace coating is the largest end-user segment, whereas military segment is also a growing end-user industry for aerospace coatings.In terms of geographic, Asia-Pacific dominates the global aerospace coating market, followed by Europe and North America. China and Japan represent the largest market for aerospace coating followed by India in Asia-Pacific. India is emerging as the fastest industry for engineering and design services. Due to this, India has an enormous potential for establishing maintenance, repair and overhaul centers for civil and military aircraft sectors. This may help in creating demand for aerospace coating market. Some of the major factors influencing the growth of aerospace coatings market in Asia-Pacific region are increasing cargo traffic, international trade and rising number of air travelers. In Europe, France, Germany and the U.K. holds major share of aerospace coating market. The U.S. represents the largest market for aerospace coating followed by Canada in North America.The global aerospace coating market is experiencing a good growth, which is expected to continue in the coming years. Some of the major drivers contributing the overall market growth of global aerospace coating market are environment-friendly products, chromo free technology, time saving and cost saving products and growth in the number of people travelling by air.Request to view Table of content @Some of the major companies operating in the global aerospace coatings market are The Sherwin-Williams Company, Akzonobel N.V., Zircotec Ltd, Henkel Ag & Company, BASF SE, Mankiewicz Gebr. & Co., Hentzen Coatings, Inc., Ionbond Ag, PPG Industries, Inc. and Hohman Plating & Manufacturing Llc.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 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Market Report 2016 | Now Available at Researchmoz.us http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=849865 http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=E&repid=849865 http://www.researchmoz.us/ http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Market Report 2016" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies sales (consumption) of Smart Connected Washing Machine in Europe market, especially in Germany, UK, France, Russia, Italy, Benelux and Spain, focuses on top players in these countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these Countries, coveringWhirlpoolLG ElectronicsRobert BoschSamsungGE Appliances...Market Segment by Countries, this report splits Europe into several key Countries, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Smart Connected Washing Machine in these countries, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeGermanyFranceUKRussiaItalySpainBeneluxTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Split by product type, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoType IType IIType IIISplit by application, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Smart Connected Washing Machine in each application, can be divided intoApplication 1Application 2Application 3Table of ContentsEurope Smart Connected Washing Machine Market Report 20161 Smart Connected Washing Machine Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Connected Washing Machine1.2 Classification of Smart Connected Washing Machine1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Application of Smart Connected Washing Machine1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 Smart Connected Washing Machine Market by Countries1.4.1 Germany Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 France Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 UK Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Russia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Italy Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 Spain Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.7 Benelux Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Europe Market Size (Value and Volume) of Smart Connected Washing Machine (2011-2021)1.5.1 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.1.2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume and Value) by Countries2.3.1 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Countries (2011-2016)2.3.2 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Market Share by Countries (2011-2016)2.4 Europe Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume) by Application3 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 Germany Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Application4 France Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.4 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 France Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Application5 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.5 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 UK Smart Connected Washing Machine Sales and Market Share by ApplicationMake 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 @ Pain Drug Delivery Market Is Expecting Worldwide Growth By 2022 Persistence Market Research Study http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/8875 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/8875 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Pain drug delivery system is an effective therapy for managing pain, whether it be a chronic nonmalignant pain, a cancer pain, or a spasticity. Medications usually circulate throughout the body in bloodstream, whereas pain drug delivery systems releases medication directly into the fluid surrounding the spinal cord, which leads to fewer drug side effects. Pain drug delivery systems help lessen chronic pain caused by failed back surgery syndrome, cancer pain, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, causalgia, arachnoiditis, and chronic pancreatitis. Such drug delivery systems used for pain management also helps reduce the spasticity caused by cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, brain injury and spinal cord injury among others. Pain drug delivery systems do not eliminate the source of pain or cure any underlying disease, but help to manage the pain.A sample of this report is available upon request @According to the British journal of anesthesia, prevalence of chronic pain is higher for instance, 10.1%-55.2% of the population in 2010. In U.S., about 30% of the population is suffering from chronic or recurring pain. Approximately, two-third of the population experience chronic pain for more than 5 years. In U.S., the cost of chronic pain is approximately US$100 billion a year. Growing prevalence of various types of cancers is a major factor driving the market. For instance, there were an estimated 14.1 million cancer cases around the world in 2012. As per WHO statistics, this number is expected to increase to 24 million by 2035. Also rising geriatric population, increasing prevalence of diseases such as osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy and chronic arthritis, moreover increasing healthcare expenditure and disposable income are some of the key factors driving the growth for the global pain drug delivery market.The opportunities for the market growth includes agreements and collaborations of drug delivery system manufacturers with pharmaceutical companies. This will help in the growth of the drug delivery manufacturers, by assisting the pharmaceutical companies with their manufacturing processes, innovative technologies, new drug development, and regulatory procedures. However, product recalls of drug delivery systems is one of the major restraint for this market which will in-turn affect the R&D expenditure for development of such products. Considering the technological trends, targeted drug delivery technologies based on loaded nano-carriers (nano-shells or nanoparticles) are also attracting interest, which will ultimately lead to the growth of the market.The global pain drug delivery market is segmented based on technology, application and geography. By technology the global, market of pain drug delivery is segmented into transdermal drug delivery system and intrathecal drug delivery systems among others. By application, the global pain drug delivery market is categorized into oncology, neurological disorders, pulmonary diseases, and hormonal disorders among others. Oncology projected a higher growth rate. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the incidence of cancer based on projections, will be greater than15 million in 2020.By geography, the global pain drug delivery market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), the Middle East and Africa (MEA) and Latin America. North America dominated the global pain drug delivery market due to growing geriatric population and regulatory and healthcare reforms like the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. For instance, the population aged 65 and over is projected to be 83.7 million in 2050, which is twice that estimated in 2012. Moreover, presence of advanced healthcare infrastructures, reimbursement policies and adoption of innovative products are also driving the market in North America. Asia Pacific is expected to expand in the coming years due to the large patient pool, increasing R&D investment, rising healthcare expenditure along with government funding and initiatives, increase in disposable income, and the rising prevalence of chronic diseases.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the key players in the global pain drug delivery market are Medtronic, Flowonix Medical Inc., Aveva Drug Delivery Systems, Prosolus Pharmaceuticals, 3M, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Hypocalcaemia Treatment Market Revenue Predicted To Go Up by 2022 - PMR Report http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/9650 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/9650 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com Hypocalcaemia is imbalance of electrolytes which is indicated by abnormally low level of calcium in the body. A healthy person has 8.5-10.2 mg/dL calcium level in his/her body, however, drop in this level could possibly led to hypocalcaemia disorder. Middle aged population needs to take 1000 mg of calcium while geriatrics population aged 65 and above should take 1500 mg of calcium per day. Hypocalcaemia is caused by hypoalbuminemia, hyperphosphatemia, surgical effects, medication effects, hypomagnesemia, heart failure, muscle cramps, vitamin D deficiency, alcoholism, magnesium deficiency, insufficient protein in the blood, in the blood and many more. Neuromuscular irritability is the most common sign of hypocalcaemia. Hypocalcaemia are mostly diagnosed by clinical suspicion and laboratory testing. Hypoparathyroidism has a major effect on hypocalcaemia and high recurrence rate.A sample of this report is available upon request @The hypocalcaemia can be caused at any age but it is commonly observed in ill patients and patients with parathyroid surgery and with increase in the prevalence of heat related disorders in the older population witnessing the growth of hypocalcaemia treatment market is expected to expand at considerable CAGR during the forecasted period. Also, with increase in the awareness among the aging population and availability of treatment creates an opportunity for hypocalcaemia treatment market worldwide. However, the biochemical abnormality associated with hypocalcaemia carries risks in diagnosis and treatment.The Hypocalcaemia Treatment Market has been classified on the basis of product, application, end use and geography.Hypocalcaemia Treatment Market by type:AsymptomaticSymptomaticProphylacticHypocalcaemia Treatment Market by Drug type:RadiocontrastLoop diureticsCalcium supplementsAntibioticsAntiepileptic drugsEstrogenBisphosphonatesCinacalcetHypocalcaemia Treatment Market by dosage forms type:Calcium supplementsParenteral preparationOral preparationVitamin D supplementsParenteral preparationOral preparationParenteral calcium supplements dosage are given to patients suffering from acute hypocalcaemia. Whereas, in case of chronic hypocalcaemia oral calcium supplements are administered. Medical supervision is given to avoid risk associated with parenteral administration. With increasing demand for effective treatment of hypocalcemia, companies need to capitalize on their resources to offer effective medications and in turn further expand their business footprint in developing regions.Depending on geographic region, hypocalcaemia treatment market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Incidence rate of hypocalcaemia is quite high in North America compared to other regions. North America dominates the global hypocalcaemia treatment market followed by Europe, Asia Pacific owing to high awareness about the treatments of hypocalcaemia in these regions. The developing regions such as Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa hold huge potential and is a promising market for hypocalcaemia treatment due to significant increase in medical tourism industry.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Key players of Hypocalcaemia Treatment Market are F. Hoffman La Roche, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Pfizer Inc., and Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Ltd.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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Laser Warning System : Impact of Existing and Emerging Market 2016 - 2026 Laser Warning System Market, Laser Warning System, Laser Warning Systems Market, Laser Warning Systems http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13213 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13213 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Laser Warning System Market: IntroductionThe increased use of electronics in weapon guiding systems is the reason for the improvement in the laser warning system market in order to counter the threat projected by the enemy quickly and effectively. Some of the latest advancements made in the laser warning system include automatic countermeasure systems integrated into the laser warning system that deploys smoke screens, dazzlers, laser jammers and others upon the detection of laser rays.TOC of this report is available upon request @Todays battlefields are more than guns and soldiers, numerous support systems are being adopted in the battlefield supporting soldiers to be alert, reduce war casualties and stay one step ahead of the enemies. The use of advanced military technology has increased over the years aiding the soldiers in making crucial tactical decisions, avoid sudden enemy ambushes and minimize damage. One such technology that has been prevalent in the modern warfare is the use of laser warning system. A laser warning system or a laser detection system is a small cautionary device equipped with a laser receiver and a warning system that detects, analyses and alerts its user of laser rays emitted by the rangefinders and guidance system of the enemy.Laser Warning System Market: DynamicsLaser warning system market is driven by the increased need of protection of the soldiers in the battle ground. Military officers who are constantly engaged in the battlefield for defensive and offensive activities always find themselves in need for continuously understanding the tactics employed by the enemy and take the necessary evasive manoeuvres to gain an upper hand. This is achieved through the use of laser warning system, which in turn positively influences the growth of the market over the forecast period. Though not limited to its usage in an active battlefield only, a laser warning system is also being increasingly employed for border protection also. As tensions are prevalent at the border of two countries, laser warning system have been increasingly installed at the borders in order to alert the officers beforehand about the threat and undertake defensive actions quickly. The market players associated with manufacture of laser warning systems are very limited in number against the backdrop of steadily increasing demand and stagnant military budget, which has forced the manufacturers to keep the competition with each other and share expertise and resources for more value added products. One crucial restraint associated with laser warning system market is the usage of beam-riders for guiding missiles, these guidance systems are more difficult to detect and has been increasingly purchased by the Middle Eastern forces. Complications associated with tightening and limiting military funding by various governments of the countries can also dent the market sales of laser warning system.Laser Warning System Market: SegmentationOn the basis of Range Coverage or Azimuth, Laser Warning System can be segmented as: 0 to 90 90 to 180 180 to 360On the basis of threat detection type, the market can be segmented as: Laser Rangefinder Laser Guidance Systems Others (Laser Designator etc.)On the basis of End Users, the market can be segmented as: Ground Force Maritime Force Air Force Others (Border Security Forces etc.)Laser Warning System Market: Regional OutlookThe Global Laser Warning System market can be segmented into seven geographical regions such as Asia Pacific excluding Japan, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan and Middle East & Africa. The U.S. in the North America region is likely to fare better in the laser warning system market than other countries in other regions owing to slightly higher military funding. Western Europe and Japan are also better prospects for the sales of laser warning systems market in the forecast period owing to improvement in military funding and infrastructure while the market in China in the Asia Pacific region for laser warning system is also likely to witness steady growth over the forecast period.Laser Warning System Market: ParticipantsExamples of some of the participants identified in the manufacture of Laser Warning System market are Thales Group Ferranti Technologies Ltd. Elbit Systems Ltd. PCO S.A. Metrodat s.r.o. Global Industrial & Defence Solutions Aselsan A.?. UTC Aerospace Systems Excelitas Technologies Corp. Saab AB Northrop Grumman Corporation BAE Systems Plc Airbus Defence and SpaceThe 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 and applications.The report covers exhaustive analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Value ChainRegional analysis includes: North America Latin America Asia Pacific Japan Western Europe Eastern Europe Middle East & AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts, and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors, along with market attractiveness within the segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and various geographies.Sample of this report is available upon request @Report highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout 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: Night Vision Goggles Market Aims Bigger with Technological Innovations, 2026 Night Vision Goggles Market, Night Vision Goggles, Night Vision Goggle Market, Night Vision Goggle http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/13273 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/13273 www.persistencemarketresearch.com Night Vision Goggles Market: OverviewHuman eyes can see visible lights that are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Electromagnetic spectrum also comprises infrared and ultraviolet light rays that cannot be seen by naked eyes. Image enhancement and thermal imaging are the two types of technologies which help to see objects in the dark. Night vision goggles amplify the available light using image enhancement technology along with infrared light technology. Night vision goggles enable night fighters and soldiers to see, maneuver and shoot during night or at a time of reduced visibility. The night vision goggles industry has evolved through three generations, namely generation I, II, and III. Out of these three, generation I has become completely obsolete in the US market.TOC of this report is available upon request @Image intensifying devices are generally based upon amplification and thus, amplify available light by 2,000 to 5,000 times. With the advancements made in technology from 1950s to the present time, the scenario has changed completely. High military demands in U.S., Iraq, and Afghanistan has led to the growth of the night vision goggles market over the past few years. The distance at which the human-sized figure can be clearly recognized depends upon the image intensifier and magnifying power of the lens used. Night vision goggles are equipped with the automatic breakaway mechanism that separate them from the helmet when the force exceeds 11g to avoid any accidents during the war.Night Vision Goggles Market: DynamicsDrivers:Small size and light weight are the primary factors responsible for driving the growth of global night vision goggles market. Furthermore, low cost of goggles and low power requirements are the other two factors driving the growth of global night vision goggles market. Moreover, night vision goggles offer maximum viewing range, which can be from 100 feet to 400 feet. This range is ideal for the combat missions conducted by soldiers and this is yet another driving factor fueling the growth of global night vision goggles market.Restraints:The normal field of view may cut down from 190 degrees to 40 degrees, creating a narrow field of view. This is a restraining factor hindering the growth of global night vision goggles market. Apart from this, night vision goggles cannot provide the same level of sharpness as witnessed by naked eye during day time and that one is accustomed to. Moreover, one of the other restraining factors hampering the growth of global night vision goggles market is that the sharpness decreases as the distance increases. This makes the objects to appear unclear and vague, leading to accidents during the war.Night Vision Goggles Market: SegmentationGlobal night vision goggles market can be segmented on the basis of application, range and technology. Based on application, the global night vision goggles market can be segmented into security, hunting, military and others. According to technology, global night vision market can be segmented into image enhancement and thermal imaging. According to the range, global night vision goggles market can be segmented into spectral range and intensity range.Night Vision Goggles Market: Key PlayersSome of the market participants in the global night vision goggles market are as follows: PYSER-SGI LIMITED. Optix LTD. ATN Corporation Nivisys, LLC Tata Advanced Systems Limited Newcon Optik General Starlight Co, Inc. Starlight NV Ltd Dipol Ltd. Harris CorporationNight Vision Goggles Market: Region-wise OutlookAccording to region, global night vision goggles market can be segmented into North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, APEJ, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. North America is expected to be the most dominating night vision goggles market, with U.S. accounting for maximum consumption, owing to army and military requirements. Asia Pacific, excluding Japan and Western Europe, is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period due to high demand in the region which is driven by security and surveillance needs. Middle East and Africa and Eastern Europe are anticipated to be the majorly growing regions in the global night vision goggles market.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 market segments such as geographies, application, and industry.The report covers exhaust analysis on: Market Segments Market Dynamics Market Size Supply & Demand Current Trends/Issues/Challenges Competition & Companies involved Technology Value ChainRegional analysis includes: North America (U.S., Canada) Latin America (Mexico. Brazil) Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain) Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia) Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand) Japan Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, S. Africa, Northern Africa)The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Sample of this report is available upon request @Report Highlights: Detailed overview of parent market Changing market dynamics in the industry In-depth market segmentation Historical, current, and projected market size in terms of volume and value Recent industry trends and developments Competitive landscape Strategies of key players and products offered Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth A neutral perspective on market performance Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout 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: Passive Infrared Motion Sensor Market - Growth Of Home And Industrial Automation To Drive The Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=16571 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/passive-infrared-motion-sensor-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Passive infrared (PIR) motion sensors are electronic sensor devices that detect motion and the presence of an identity or object that is a infrared emitting source. Any object that exceeds the temperature of absolute zero emits heat at a wavelength of infrared lights. The sensors are enabled for identification of the variations in IR radiations when an object is colliding with the primary subject of infrared radiation detection. Benefits of using passive infrared motion sensors are that these sensors use limited power and are scarcely activated by airflow. The global market for passive infrared motion sensor is segmented on the basis of device into motion controller, smoke detector, heat detectors and other devices. According to range covered, the global passive infrared motion sensor market is subdivided into long wave passive infrared sensor, short wave passive infrared sensor and mid wave passive infrared sensor. Passive infrared motion sensor market, on the basis of application, can be segmented into defense and aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics, security and healthcare and industrial sectors. The consumer electronics sector is further sub-divided cameras, smart mobile devices, smart phones and other electronics. The security segment holds the largest market share in the application segments and is forecasted to have a steady growth rate throughout the forecast market.PDF Sample For Technological breakthroughs is @Major driver driving the global market for passive infrared motion sensor market is increased application area of passive infrared sensor. In addition, rising demand for motion enabled industrial machineries, smart phones, military and aerospace devices and medical equipment, growth of home and industrial automation, rising use of wireless communication are acting as major drivers driving the global passive infrared motion sensor market. Increasing demand for motion sensing applications in the gaming sector and low power consumption also acts as a major driver to the global passive infrared motion sensor market. Increased growth in public construction projects which includes the installation of escalators, automatic doors, and taps in these projects. With increasing use of passive infrared motion sensors in these devices, the market is showing substantial growth over the forecast period and is thus acting as a major driver of the market. High cost of passive infrared motion sensors and lack of availability of cheaper alternatives is a major restraint hindering the growth of the PIR motion sensor market. In addition, passive infrared motion sensors cannot detect objects moving at a very low speed which is also a major hindrance in the growth of the overall market. Passive infrared motion sensors cannot determine the distance between two objects which limits its use in the various application sectors which is hindering the market growth substantially. Growing use of passive infrared motion sensors in consumer electronics is a major opportunity in the global market for passive infrared motion sensors.The global passive infrared motion sensor market geographically is segment into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. North America is the largest market for passive infrared motion sensors. Europe follows suit and both these regions are comparatively matured markets. Asia Pacific and Middle East and Africa are the most lucrative markets and Asia Pacific is forecasted to witness the highest growth rate. This is facilitated by increasing presence of the application areas in these regions and thus more and more key players are investing in these regions.Major players of the global passive infrared motion sensor include Axis Communications AB (Lund, Sweden), General Dynamics Corporation (Virginia, U.S), Bosch Security Systems Ltd. (Stuttgart, Germany), Current Corporation (Port Moody, Canada), Atmel Corporation (California, U.S), Elmos Semiconductor AG (Dortmund, Germany), Cypress Semiconductor (California, U.S), Honeywell International Inc. (New Jersey, U.S),Epson Toyocom Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) and STMicroelectronics N.V. (Geneva, Switzerland) among others.Market Insight can be Viewed @Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Transparency Market Research90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Decreasing Implementation Costs of Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology to Drive Wearable Payment Market http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/877638 MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on Global Wearable Payment Market 2016-2020 "The new report, titled Global Wearable Payment Market 2016-2020 provides a 360-degree view of the global wearable payment market. It serves as a reliable business tool for both existing and new players in the market.The wearable payment technology is gaining significant traction in both developed and developing regions due to the convenience offered by wearable devices in making contactless payments. As per the findings of the report, the global wearable payment market is expected to progress at a tremendous CAGR of more than 59% from 2016 to 2020. The proliferation of these devices is also encouraging several vendors to install near field communication (NFC) point-of-sale (POS) terminals in their stores so that customers can make countless payments. Furthermore, the declining implementation costs of the NFC technology along with advancements in the technology are providing a fillip to the market.On the basis of device, the global wearable payment market is segmented into smartwatches and fitness bands. The market was led by smartwatches in 2015 in terms of revenue. The segment is likely to witness a spike in the adoption rate with the advent of low-priced smartwatches. The rising penetration of smartphones that are compatible with smartwatches is influencing the growth of the segment positively. Prominent players such as Samsung Electronics and Apple are including features such as Bluetooth, RF, and NFC in phones such that users can use their smartwatches more efficiently.The key regional markets analyzed in the report are Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), Asia Pacific (APAC), and Americas. The APAC region will progress at a CAGR higher than any other region during the same period. The rapidly growing adoption of smartwatches along with the increasing focus of key companies towards the development of affordable smartwatches is providing a significant boost to the growth of the market in this region. Additionally, the robust growth of the wearable devices market in India and China is augmenting the growth of the region. The rising purchasing power of consumers in countries such as India, Japan, and Singapore is also contributing to the growth of the region.For Sample Copy, click here:The global wearable payment market is a highly competitive arena. Several players are contending fiercely in terms of product differentiation, portfolio, digital content, availability of apps, and pricing. The leading players in the market are Google, Jawbone, Apple, Visa, Samsung Electronics, and MasterCard. Constant innovations and increasing investments in order to diversify offerings will further intensify the level of competition in the market in the forthcoming years.Mergers and acquisitions are go-to strategies by the majority of key players to strengthen their market shares. Some other key players in the market are American Express, Alibaba Group, Broadcom, Barclays, Gemalto, Fitbit, Inside Secure, Sony, Infineon Technologies, Microsoft, MediaTek, Qualcomm, NXP Semiconductors, Renesas Electronics, PayPal, and Xiaomi.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Bulgaria Nuclear Power Industry in Expansion Mode, Conventional Fuels to Retain Dominance in Future http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/909431 MarketResearchReports.Biz presents this most up-to-date research on Nuclear Power in Bulgaria, Market Outlook to 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Investment Trends, Regulations and Company Profiles "The report, titled Nuclear Power In Bulgaria, Market Outlook To 2030, Update 2016 - Capacity, Generation, Power Plants, Investment Trends, Regulations And Company Profiles, analyzes the crucial aspects that are important to understand the development of the Bulgaria nuclear power industry in the future. In this report, the trends in the overall power generation industry in Bulgaria are discussed with a focus on the nuclear power industry. This includes a detailed assessment of the nuclear power outlook in Bulgaria and forecasts up to 2030.The report is an all-important tool for a know-how of the growth of the nuclear power market in Bulgaria until the end of the forecast period in 2030. This includes a detailed discussion of the installed capacity and power generation trends in the nuclear power market in Bulgaria from 2006 to 2030. This is followed by a detailed coverage of the regulatory framework that governs the nuclear energy sector including details of the specific policies that are applicable for business activities in the sector. The research report also presents a detailed overview of active nuclear reactors in the country, power generation capacity of major equipment, and company profiles of some of the leading market participants.The report begins with a brief discussion of the carbon emissions and energy consumption patterns globally narrowing it down to the Bulgaria power market. Power generation trends and installed capacity by region and by country between 2015 and 20130 are discussed for the power mix globally.For Sample Copy, click here:The report provides a detailed overview of the Bulgaria power market, which includes power generation trends on the basis of various fuel types (thermal conventional, large hydro, nuclear, and renewables) and installed capacity with forecasts up to 2030. The report further discusses the Bulgaria nuclear power market on the basis of several crucial parameters. This includes installed capacity by reactor type, installed capacity and generation trends, installed capacity by contractor, and details of major active and pipeline projects. Insights into the factors for the dominance of thermal power and slow growth of the nuclear power industry are presented as well. The section concludes with a discussion on the use of renewable sources and the reasons for their slow adoption in Bulgaria.The introductory part of the report outlines terms and terminologies, industry classification, and applications that are standards in the nuclear power industry. The section gives a birds eye view of industry chain structure, which includes upstream raw materials and downstream demand.The report analyzes the Bulgaria nuclear power industry from a competitive stance as well. Some of the top companies that are operating in the Bulgaria nuclear power market are Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD. Each of the companies is profiled for their attributes of business overview, major products and services, and SWOT analysis.MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 Global Electron Microscope Market 2017 : Zeiss, Tescan, Phenom-World, Agilent Technologies, Advantest Corp Electron Microscope http://bit.ly/2knkNwf http://bit.ly/2jMtGAe A market study based on the " Electron Microscope Market " across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Electron Microscope Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Electron Microscope industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Electron Microscope market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research ReportJEOLZeissTescanPhenom-WorldAgilent TechnologiesAdvantest CorpDelongThe report studies the industry for Electron Microscope across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Electron Microscope market & dynamics of demand and supply of Electron Microscope into consideration. The ' Electron Microscope ' research study covers each and every aspect of the Electron Microscope market globally, which starts from the definition of the Electron Microscope industry and develops towards Electron Microscope market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Electron Microscope market is classified and analysed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Electron Microscope market. The geographical segmentation of the Electron Microscope industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Electron Microscope is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Electron Microscope market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Electron Microscope market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Electron Microscope market 2017 is also analysed on the basis of product pricing, Electron Microscope production volume, data regarding demand and Electron Microscope supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Electron Microscope across the globe.About Us :Worldwide Business are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Worldwide Business, we believe in building long term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals and Materials, Automotive and Aerospace.Contact Us :Worldwide BusinessUnited States Oncology Information System Market by Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18659 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=18659 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Oncology information system is an image and information management system that allows to check all parts of oncology care for patients. Oncology information system combines medical, surgical, and radiation oncology information into a comprehensive, oncology electronic medical record that allows to manage patient's details from start of the patients admission through diagnosis and follow-up details.The factors driving the growth of the oncology information system market are increase in technological adaption and technological advancement. Increase in health care infrastructure in developing nations, growth in prevalence of secondary tumor, and rise in incidence of cancer are the other factors anticipated to propel the growth of the oncology information system market during the forecast period. According to the National Cancer Institute, cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide; in 2012, there were 14 million new cases and 8.2 million cancer-related deaths worldwide. However, lack of health care IT professionals and strict regulation are likely to restrict the growth of the oncology information system market.Download PDF Brochure of Report -According to a report by the American Cancer Society, 50% of men and 30% of women are estimated to develop cancer in some form or the other in their lifetime. Increase in amount of cancer patients is a major driver of the sales of the oncology information system market. Additionally, rise in amount of tobacco consumption and increase in amount of carcinogens present in the polluted air or in any other form are projected to drive the oncology information system market in the near future. Some of the factors driving the growth of the market are rising disposable income, which enables patients to avail expensive treatments, easily available medical insurance policies, and growing medical tourism activities. Heavy investments in R&D further act as an opportunity for the growth of the market since innovative and technologically advanced products always have the capability of substituting its predecessors.The oncology information system market has been segmented by product, application, end-user, and geography. Based on product, the oncology information system market is classified into patient information system, treatment planning system, consulting/optimization, implementation, maintenance, services, and others. Based on application, the market is segmented into care management, treatment management, and knowledge management. Based on end-user, the oncology information system market is segmented into hospital, government institution, research center, and others.Geographically, the oncology information system market in segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to account for a large market share in terms of revenue, followed by Europe. The oncology information system market in North America is expected to grow due to technological advancement and increase in demand for advanced product. The growing need to implement advanced systems in the health care sector in the region and, at the same time, deliver quality care to patients are the factors likely to drive the market in the near future. Asia Pacific is expected to rise at a high CAGR owing to increase in adoption of technological advanced products, growth in disposable income, and rise in health care infrastructure in countries such as India, China, Australia, and other countries in the region. The Latin America oncology information system market is mainly driven by the increasing adoption of technological products in countries such as Brazil and Mexico. The Middle East & Africa oncology information system market is estimated to grow in the near future due to rise in incidence of cancer. According to World Health Organization, women in the African region had the highest incidence of cancer of the cervix uteri.Major players operating in this market include CureMD Healthcare, Varian Medical Systems, Inc., Flatiron Health, Inc., Epic Systems Corporation, Bogardus Medical Systems, Inc., Cerner Corporation, McKesson Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Elekta AB, and Accuray Inc.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.Get Discount on Report Purchase -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: Consumer Oxygen Equipment Market Research Report by Current and Upcoming Trends Analysis & Forecast 2016 - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=18629 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=18629 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Oxygen is a colorless and odorless gas necessary for the body to survive. Oxygen therapy is a process to supply oxygen to patients who, due to breathing disorders, are unable to get enough oxygen supply for their body naturally. People who receive oxygen therapy often show improved energy levels and sleep, and better quality of life. Oxygen therapy can be exceptionally beneficial for those who experience low oxygen levels frequently. Regular utilization of oxygen therapy can further allow people to be mobile and active by lowering the breathing disorder. It extends life expectancy remarkably and improves the quality of life.Adoption of innovative technologies in medical devices, rise in government expenditure in health care domain, and increase in investment by companies manufacturing homecare products are likely to boost the growth of the global consumer oxygen equipment market during the forecast period. However, high product costs and stringent FDA regulations pertaining to medical devices are some of the factors which could restrain the growth of the global consumer oxygen equipment market during the forecast period.Download PDF Brochure of Report -The global consumer oxygen equipment market is segmented by product and end-user. Based on the product segmentation, the global consumer oxygen equipment market is classified into ambulatory devices and oxygen concentrators. The ambulatory devices involve liquid oxygen system and compressed gas system. The oxygen concentrators are basically devices which consist continuous flow oxygen concentrators and pulse dose oxygen concentrators. In terms of revenue, the oxygen concentrators segment dominated the consumer oxygen equipment market in 2015 owing to improved esthetics and extra safety features. The segment is expected to continue its dominance in the market by 2024 due to increasing technological developments in the lighter & portable oxygen devices, suitable for use at shopping complexes, airports, offices, and in flights. Continuous flow technology dominated the consumer oxygen equipment market in 2015. Pulse dose technology provides patients with improved technology, high mobility, ease of use, and increased efficiency. The technology is much reliable and safer than continuous flow technology, which is the reason the segment is expected to dominate the market over continuous flow technology by 2024.Based on the end-user segmentation, the global consumer oxygen equipment market involves hospitals, homecare settings, ambulatory surgical centers, and others. Growing geriatric population, coupled with rising number of long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) patients, drives the requirement for homecare settings. Therefore, the homecare settings segment is expected to grow in the consumer oxygen equipment market rapidly. In severe cases, doctors mostly recommend for oxygen therapies with home oxygen concentrators. Moreover, equipment features such as low maintenance, cost-effectiveness, and provision for intact oxygen supply to patients are driving the homecare settings segment in the market during the forecast period.Geographically, the consumer oxygen equipment market has been classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America held a large share in the global consumer oxygen equipment market in 2015, which is attributed to the rise in number of COPD patients in the region. The pressure to produce portable, lighter & cheaper equipment which can be used while traveling abroad in turn increased the demand for the consumer oxygen equipment market in North America. Evolution of health insurance system in Europe is expected to contribute considerably to the potential and attractiveness of the Europe consumer oxygen equipment market. The consumer oxygen equipment demand in the U.K. is being driven by the rising levels of smoking. Asia Pacific is considered to be a fast growing region for the consumer oxygen equipment market. Key factors driving the growth in the region include rise in preference for home treatment, high prevalence of respiratory disorders, and improvement in health care system.Major players contributing in the global consumer oxygen equipment market are Inova Labs, Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V., Chart Industries, DeVilbiss Healthcare, Inogen, Invacare Corporation, SeQual, Nidek Medical Products, Inc., Providence Medical, CAIRE Inc., VORTRAN Medical Technology, and Percussionaire Corp.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.Inquire for Custom Research -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: North America Ventricular Assist Device Market Key Trends & Industry Forecast - 2024 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=16508 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/north-america-ventricular-assist-device-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com https://tmrresearch.blogspot.com/ According to TMR, the opportunity in the North America market for VADs, which stood at US$0.4 bn in 2015, is likely to expand at a healthy CAGR of 9.20% between 2016 and 2024 and increase to US$1.07 bn by the end of the forecast period. The destination therapy (DT) segment has been reporting a greater application of VADs than the other two indication segments. It is expected to remain the leader with its share rising to 66.7% in the overall market by 2024, states the report.North America Ventricular Assist Device Market: OverviewAdvance Heart Failure is characterized as weakening of the heart caused due to failure of the left ventricle, due to which the heart is unable to pump blood to different parts of the body. According to the AHA (American Heart Association), 5.7 Mn people in the U.S suffer from heart failure and 300,000 die each year of heart failure. Moreover, the AHA predicts that advance heart failure will become the most common cause of death globally. However, these statistics have already materialized in the U.S. and Canada, where advance heart failure is currently said to be the leading cause of mortality. In Canada, the figures are rising day by day. In Canada nearly 600,000 of the total is affected by heart failure. A large proportion of these population can be saved with proper treatment and care. Thus, the existence of an unmet medical need is clearly evident and is anticipated to augment the ventricular assist device market.Download Exclusive Global Strategic Business Report:North America Ventricular Assist Device Market: Scope of the StudyThis report on the ventricular assist device market in the North America analyzes the current and future prospects of the market. The report comprises an elaborate executive summary, including a market snapshot that provides overall information of various segments and sub-segments. The research is a combination of primary and secondary research. Detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining market growth and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. Market revenue in terms of US$ Mn for the period between 2014 and 2024 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2014 to 2024 are provided for all the segments, considering 2015 as the base year. Market related factors such as technological developments, patent expiry, recent approvals, investment in clinical studies and acquisitions by leading players in the market, and historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. Growth rates for each segment within the North America ventricular assist device market have been determined after a thorough analysis of past trends, demographics, future trends, technological developments, drug development life cycle, and regulatory requirements. These factors would help the market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their share in the ventricular assist device market in North America.North America Ventricular Assist Device Market: SegmentationBased on product type, the North America ventricular assist device market has been segmented into Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), Right Ventricular Assist Device (RVAD), Biventricular Assist Device (Bi-VAD) and total artificial heart (TAH).Based on indication, the North America ventricular assist device market has been segmented into bridge to transplant (BTT), destination therapy (DT) and bridge to recovery (BTR). The American Heart Association reported that 2.6% of the total population is suffering from cardiovascular disease and heart failure is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and around 1.6% in Canada suffer from heart failure, and the number is rising each year. Therefore consequently driving the ventricular assist device market in North America during the forecast period.North America Ventricular Assist Device Market: Geographical OutlookGeographically, the North America ventricular assist device market has been segmented into two countries: the U.S. and Canada. These countries have been further segmented by indication and product type. The competition matrix section included in the report is likely to assist the existing players to increase their market shares and new companies to establish their presence in the ventricular assist device market in North America.Companies Mentioned in the ReportThe report also profiles major players in the market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, SWOT analysis, key business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments. Key companies profiled in the report include ABIOMED, St. Jude Medical, HeartWare, SynCardia Systems LLC, Sunshine Heart, Inc., Berlin Heart GmbHBrowse Full Research Report on Ventricular Assist Device 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: LTE for Critical Communications: 2016 - 2030 - Emerging Trends, Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts http://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=862759 http://www.researchmoz.us/telecommunications-market-reports-95.html http://bit.ly/1TBmnVG http://deep-research-report.blogspot.com/ ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " LTE for Critical Communications: 2016 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts " to it's Large Report database.For years, the critical communications industry has relied on narrowband LMR (Land Mobile Radio) networks for mission-critical voice and basic data services. Due to the bandwidth limitations of these LMR networks, public safety agencies and other users within the critical communications industry are keen to leverage commercial cellular network technologies to support growing demands for mobile broadband services such as video transmission and bandwidth-intensive field applications.Considering its thriving ecosystem, spectrum flexibility and performance metrics, LTE has emerged as the leading candidate for critical communications broadband networks. In addition, with the recent approval of the MCPTT (Mission Critical Push to Talk) voice standard as part of 3GPP Release 13, LTE has also become an attractive substitute for providing LMR-like voice services.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:As a result, a growing number of critical communications organizations are deploying either private LTE networks or contracting commercial LTE mobile operator services via MVNO arrangements to complement their existing LMR systems with broadband capabilities.Driven by early investments in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions, the market for critical communications LTE networks is already worth $600 Million in annual infrastructure spending. Fueled by large-scale rollouts in the public safety, energy and other sectors, the market is further expected to surpass $2 Billion by the end of 2020. This includes spending on base stations (eNBs), mobile core and transport networking gear.Spanning over 1,200 pages, the LTE for Critical Communications: 2016 2030 Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts report package encompasses three comprehensive reports covering both commercial and dedicated LTE networks for critical communications.Read All Telecommunications Market Research Reports @Table of ContentsReport 1 The LTE, LTE-Advanced & 5G Ecosystem: 2016 2030 Infrastructure, Devices, Operator Services, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts1.1 Chapter 1.1: Introduction 1.241.2 Chapter 1.2: LTE & LTE-Advanced Ecosystem 1.361.3 Chapter 1.3: LTE & LTE-Advanced Deployment Strategies 1.551.4 Chapter 1.4: Operator Service Models Monetizing LTE 1.651.5 Chapter 1.5: Unlicensed LTE Networks 1.711.6 Chapter 1.6: Evolving 5G Ecosystem 1.791.7 Chapter 1.7: Enabling Technologies for 5G 1.891.8 Chapter 1.8: Vertical Markets for LTE & 5G Networks 1.1091.9 Chapter 1.9: Industry Roadmap & Value Chain 1.1361.10 Chapter 1.10: Vendor & Operator Landscape 1.1451.11 Chapter 1.11: Market Analysis & Forecasts 1.2621.12 Chapter 1.12: Infrastructure, Devices, Operator Services & Verticals Summary 1.389Report 2 The Private LTE Network Ecosystem: 2016 2030 Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies, Industry Verticals & Forecasts2.1 Chapter 2.1: Introduction 2.182.2 Chapter 2.2: An Overview of Private LTE Networks 2.302.3 Chapter 2.3: Key Vertical Markets & Case Studies 2.602.4 Chapter 2.4: Spectrum Allocation, Standardization & Regulatory Initiatives 2.912.5 Chapter 2.5: Industry Roadmap & Value Chain 2.1052.6 Chapter 2.6: Key Market Players 2.1122.7 Chapter 2.7: Market Analysis & Forecasts 2.3112.8 Chapter 2.8: Conclusion & Strategic Recommendations 2.351About 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. Nachiket Ghumare90 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: CHILDWISE Monitor Report 2017 - Websites and Applications https://www.reportsworldwide.com/report/childwise-monitor-report-2017-websites-and-applications https://www.reportsworldwide.com/enquiry?report_id=4429 ReportsWorldwide has announced the addition of a new report title CHILDWISE Monitor Report 2017 - Websites and Applications to its growing collection of premium market research reports.The CHILDWISE Monitor is a comprehensive annual report focused on children's and teenagers' media consumption, brand attitudes and key behaviour, now in its 23rd year. This year, around 2000 children aged 5-16 across the United Kingdom were interviewed in depth on a range of topics.This report focuses on children's awareness and use of websites and apps.To view detailed description and Table of Contents of this report please visitKey Topics Covered in this Report:OVERVIEW AND SUMMARYINTRODUCTIONBackground to the reportSampleInterviewReport ContentsAbout the childrenWEBSITES AND APPLICATIONS SUMMARY2.1 Favourite websites or apps2.2 Last app downloaded2.3 Use of social networking websites and apps2.4 Websites and apps used to keep in touch with friendsAPPENDIXAbout CHILDWISECHILDWISE product purchasing terms and conditions"To Make an Enquiry of this report please visitAbout ReportsWorldwide.comReportsWorldwide.com is a leading provider of global market intelligence reports and services. With research reports from top publishers, consulting and advisory firms, ReportsWorldwide.com offers instant online access to a growing database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, geographies and trends. Moreover, ReportsWorldwide's Research Associates have in-depth knowledge of the reports and services on offer and are ready to provide assistance.Press Contact:Abigail CrastoSenior Vice President101, Arch StreetBoston, MA 02110USPhone +1 (617) 398-4994Fax +1 (617) 398-4995abigail@reportsworldwide.com Europe Hardware Encryption Market Research Report Size, Share, Trends, Future Challenges and Forecast 2021 Hardware Encryption Market https://www.wiseguyreports.com/reports/900927-europe-hardware-encryption-market-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/sample-request/900927-europe-hardware-encryption-market-report-2017 https://www.wiseguyreports.com/enquiry/900927-europe-hardware-encryption-market-report-2017 www.wiseguyreports.com WiseGuyReports Publish a New Market Research Report On Europe Hardware Encryption Market Report 2017 Europe Sales, Price, Revenue, Growth Rate and Market Share.Description:This report studies sales (consumption) of Hardware Encryption in Europe market, especially in Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy, Spain and Benelux, focuses on top players in these countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these Countries, coveringWestern Digital Corp.Samsung Electronics Co.Seagate TechnologyMicron TechnologyKingston TechnologyToshibaKanguru SolutionsWinmagicMaxim Integrated ProductsNetappGemalto NV.Thales (E-Security)Complete Report Details @Market Segment by Countries, this report splits Europe into several key Countries, with sales (consumption), revenue, market share and growth rate of Hardware Encryption in these countries, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast), likeGermanyFranceUKRussiaItalySpainBeneluxSplit by product type, with sales, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoExternal Hard Disk DrivesInternal Hard Disk DriveSolid-State DriveInline Network EncryptorUsb Flash DriveSplit by application, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Hardware Encryption in each application, can be divided intoConsumer ElectronicsIT & TelecomTransportationAerospace & DefenseHealthcareBFSIOthersRequest Sample Copy of this Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comTable of ContentsEurope Hardware Encryption Market Report 20171 Hardware Encryption Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Hardware Encryption1.2 Classification of Hardware Encryption1.2.1 External Hard Disk Drives1.2.2 Internal Hard Disk Drive1.2.3 Solid-State Drive1.2.4 Inline Network Encryptor1.2.5 Usb Flash Drive1.3 Application of Hardware Encryption1.3.1 Consumer Electronics1.3.2 IT & Telecom1.3.3 Transportation1.3.4 Aerospace & Defense1.3.5 Healthcare1.3.6 BFSI1.3.7 Others1.4 Hardware Encryption Market by Countries1.4.1 Germany Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.2 France Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.3 UK Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.4 Russia Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.5 Italy Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.6 Spain Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.4.7 Benelux Status and Prospect (2011-2021)1.5 Europe Market Size (Value and Volume) of Hardware Encryption (2011-2021)1.5.1 Europe Hardware Encryption Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.5.2 Europe Hardware Encryption Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 Europe Hardware Encryption by Manufacturers, Type and Application2.1 Europe Hardware Encryption Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1.1 Europe Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.1.2 Europe Hardware Encryption Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 Europe Hardware Encryption (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Europe Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.2.2 Europe Hardware Encryption Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)2.3 Europe Hardware Encryption (Volume and Value) by Countries2.3.1 Europe Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Countries (2011-2016)2.3.2 Europe Hardware Encryption Revenue and Market Share by Countries (2011-2016)2.4 Europe Hardware Encryption (Volume) by Application3 Germany Hardware Encryption (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales and Value (2011-2016)3.1.1 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.2 Germany Hardware Encryption Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)3.1.3 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)3.2 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers3.3 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Type3.4 Germany Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Application4 France Hardware Encryption (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 France Hardware Encryption Sales and Value (2011-2016)4.1.1 France Hardware Encryption Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.2 France Hardware Encryption Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)4.1.4 France Hardware Encryption Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)4.2 France Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers4.3 France Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Type4.4 France Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Application5 UK Hardware Encryption (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 UK Hardware Encryption Sales and Value (2011-2016)5.1.1 UK Hardware Encryption Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.2 UK Hardware Encryption Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2016)5.1.5 UK Hardware Encryption Sales Price Trend (2011-2016)5.2 UK Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Manufacturers5.3 UK Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Type5.4 UK Hardware Encryption Sales and Market Share by Application..CONTINUEDMake an Enquiry @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 Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Pune, India Remote Patient Monitoring Device Market to Reach a Valuation of US$ 1,502.9 Million by 2024 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3287 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/remote-patient-monitoring-device-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3287 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com According to the latest market report published by Persistence Market Research titled Remote Patient Monitoring Device Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 20162024, the global remote patient monitoring device market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.7% and is estimated to reach US$ 1,502.9 Mn by 2024, creating incremental opportunity of US$ 657.1 Mn between 2016 and 2024. Persistence Market Research analyzes the overall performance of the global remote patient monitoring device market and provides key insights on the factors and trends likely to influence the market during this eight-year period.Rising prevalence of cardio vascular diseases, respiratory disorders, and diabetes in the general population are major factors driving the growth of the global remote patient monitoring device market. Increasing healthcare expenditure and increasing availability of effective treatment solutions for chronic diseases is also projected to boost revenue growth of the global remote patient monitoring device market. Other factors boosting market growth include an increasing awareness among people to self-monitor before disease advancement and government reimbursement issued on homecare settings facilities.Lack of trained professionals to help with remote patient monitoring devices is expected to hinder market growth of the global remote patient monitoring device market. Insufficiency in maintaining the privacy and security of the stored data, lack of uniformity in device functionality, and lack of general awareness on patient monitoring devices are the key restraints challenging the market.The global remote patient monitoring device market is segmented on the basis of Product Type (Cardiac Monitors, Respiratory Monitors, Hematological Monitors), Application (Cardiac Arrhythmia, Diabetes, Ischemic diseases, Hypertension, Sleep apnea, Chronic respiratory diseases, Hyperlipidemia), End User (Hospitals, Homecare Settings, Long-term Care Centers, Others), and Region (North America, Latin America, Europe, APEJ, and MEA).By product type, the cardiac monitors segment is expected to remain the largest segment and is anticipated to reach US$ 765.4 Mn by the end of 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.9% over the forecast period. By the end of 2024, the respiratory monitors segment is projected to reach US$ 435.0 Mn, expanding at a CAGR of 6.5% over the forecast period. By application, the cardiac arrhythmia segment is estimated to reach US$ 307.7 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.8% over the forecast period. The diabetes segment is projected to reach US$ 196.8 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 5.6% over the forecast period. By end user, the hospitals segment is anticipated to reach US$ 690.1 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.6% over the forecast period. The homecare settings segment is anticipated to reach US$ 347.3 Mn by 2024, expanding at a CAGR of 6.2% over the forecast period.A Sample of this report is available upon request @Among regions, North America is estimated to dominate the global remote patient monitoring device market with 31.4% revenue share of the overall market by the end of 2016. The Europe remote patient monitoring device market is anticipated to reach US$ 341.1 Mn by 2024. By 2024, North America and Europe markets are expected to account for over four-fifth share of the global remote patient monitoring device market revenue.Request to view Table of content @Some key companies covered in the report include Boston Scientific Corporation, Koninklijke Philips N.V., Abbott Laboratories, Nihon Kohden Corporation, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., LifeWatch AG, Medtronic, and St. Jude Medical. These companies are primarily focused on enhancing their product portfolio through research and development initiatives and through the introduction of innovative technologies in order to gain higher market share and to strengthen their respective positions in the global market.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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Biomaterial Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 12% by 2022 due to the Increasing Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Biomaterial Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/2021 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/biomaterial-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/enquiry/2021 Synopsis of Biomaterial Market:Market Research Future has published a half-cooked research report on Biomaterial Market. The Global Biomaterial Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% during the period 2016 to 2022.Market HighlightsBiomaterials are those materials which can be biological in nature or synthetically derived materials that are used in medical device or in implants. These are non-drug substances suitable for inclusion in system that replace or augment the function of tissue or an organ. They have a wide range of applications from joint and limb replacements to artificial arteries, contact lenses and dentures. On the basis of the tissue response type the biomaterial can be divided into bio-inert that are illicit no or minimal tissue response, bioactive that encourage bonding to surrounding tissue and Degradable, or resorbable biomaterials that are mostly incorporated into the surrounding tissue, or disappear completely over a period of time. The Global Market for Biomaterial is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% during the period 2016 to 2022.The global market for biomaterials is growing due to the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, the increasing demand for regenerative medicines. Furthermore, increasing advancement in medical technology and government funding for the healthcare are some of the factors driving the market for biomaterials.Request a Sample Report @Market Application:The metallic biomaterials are used for load bearing applications that requires sufficient fatigue strength to endure the rigidities of daily activity such as walking, chewing etc. while the ceramic biomaterials are frequently used for hardness and wear resistance such as articulating surfaces in joints and in teeth as well as bone bonding surfaces in implants and the polymeric materials are usually used for their flexibility and stability and are also used for low friction articulating surfaces.Key Players in Market:The major participants of this market are: Royal DSM (Netherlands), Collagen Matrix, Inc. (US), Berkeley Advanced Biomaterials, Inc. (California), invibio (UK), BASF SE (India), Covalon Technologies Ltd. (Canada), CRS Holdings Inc. (US), Bayer AG (Germany), Zimmer Biomet, Corbion (Netherlands), Wright Medical Group N.V. (US) and others.Access the market data and market information presented through more than 60 market data tables and figures spread over 90 numbers of pages of the project report Global Biomaterial MarketBrowse Report Details @Global Biomaterial Market:The Global Biomaterial Market has been evaluated as a growing market and it is expected that the market will touch high growth figures in future. Factors such the advancement in the technologies for the treatment of chronic diseases and increasing healthcare expenditure by the nations will drive the growth of the market. The global Biomaterial market is expected to grow with CAGR of ~12% during the forecasted period.Segmentation:Global biomaterial market has been segmented on the basis of type which comprises of bio-inert biomaterial, bioactive biomaterial, bioresorbable biomaterial and others. On the basis of material; market is segmented into metals, ceramics, polymers and others. On the basis of application; market is segmented into orthopaedic, dental, cardiovascular, cosmetic surgery, ophthalmologic, wound care, drug delivery systems and others.Make an Enquiry for this Report @Regional Analysis:Depending on geographic region, Biomaterial market is segmented into four key regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. Globally North America is the largest market for Biomaterial as they deploy the most advanced healthcare technologies and the own the most advanced healthcare infrastructure and their civilized reimbursement policies. Europe is the second-largest market for Biomaterial. Asia pacific region is expected to be fastest growing region in Biomaterial market due to rising awareness among the patients and increasing healthcare expenditure.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com Global Medical Tapes Market Expected to Account for US$ 1,757.2 Million by 2024 End http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/3435 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/medical-tapes-market/toc http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/3435 http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com In a new report titled Medical Tapes Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016 2024, Persistence Market Research analyzes the performance of the global medical tapes market over an eight-year period and provides insights on the key factors and trends likely to influence the market during the forecast period (2016 2024). The global medical tapes market is expected to register a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period 20162024. In this report, the global medical tapes market is tracked in terms of value and is calibrated to obtain market revenue estimates.Rising incidences of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs), product line extensions from manufacturers, increasing innovation, concern about patient safety among clinicians, and development of single patient use tapes are major factors driving the growth of the global medical tapes market currently. Other trends boosting market growth are increasing awareness regarding the use of medical tapes for securement among physicians and patients and rising incidence of wounds, burns, and injuries. In addition, medical tapes manufacturers in the global medical tapes market are focusing on introducing differential products with enhanced safety and applications to increase their market share.However, adoption of alternative treatment methods, increasing incidence of Medical Adhesive Related Skin Injuries (MARSI), and a lack of guidelines regarding proper selection and usage of medical tapes are expected to hamper the growth of the global medical tapes market.The global medical tapes market is segmented based on product type, application, distribution channel, and region. On the basis of product type, the market has been segmented into adhesive tapes, elastic tapes, silicone tapes, paper tapes, and silk cloth tapes. The silk cloth medical tapes segment is expected to remain the largest segment, registering a CAGR of 5.0% in terms of value over the forecast period. The wider application of silk cloth medical tapes in various healthcare conditions and easier availability is expected to contribute to their growing popularity. The silicone tapes segment is expected to emerge as the most preferred product type for both patients and physicians globally over the forecast period, and is expected to register a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period 2016-2024.On the basis of application, the global medical tapes market has been segmented into wounds & injuries and surgeries & securement. The wounds & injuries segment dominated the global medical tapes market in revenue terms in 2015 and is projected to continue to do so throughout the forecast period. The hospitals segment is estimated to account for 44.6% revenue share of the global medical tapes market by 2016 end owing to increased number of hospitalizations.A Sample of this report is available upon request @On the basis of region, the market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. This report assesses trends driving each market segment and offers analysis and insights about the potential of medical tapes in specific regions. Asia Pacific is estimated to dominate the global medical tapes market with maximum value share of the overall market by the end of 2016. By 2024, the North America and Asia Pacific markets are expected to account for over 60% revenue share of the global medical tapes market. In terms of value, Asia Pacific is estimated to be the dominant market, registering a CAGR of 7.0% over the forecast period.Request to view Table of content @Some of the key companies covered in the global medical tapes report include 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Paul Hartmann AG, Scapa Group PLC, Andover Healthcare Inc., Ad Tape & Label, and Medtronic Plc. These companies are primarily focused on enhancing their market share by entering new markets and by introducing innovative and cost-effective medical tapes in order to gain a higher market share and to strengthen their respective position in the global medical tapes market.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.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb: Global Home Healthcare Software Market Analysis 2024 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/33 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-discount/33 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/home-healthcare-software-market-33 https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ http://globalresearchtrends.blogspot.in/ Some of the major companies contributing to the global home healthcare software market are Agfa Healthcare, Mckesson Corporation, NextGen Healthcare Information System LLC, GE Healthcare, MEDITECH, Medical Information Technology, Inc. (Meditech), Cerner Corporation, Siemens Healthcare and Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, Inc.Home healthcare services market is expected to grow at a robust rate between 2016 and 2024, with emergence of new entrants in market and improving macroeconomic conditions worldwide.For Any Queries Get Solutions With A PDF Sample :Until recently, medical documentation involved cumbersome paper work. Technological advancements and introduction of advanced software has eased the way industry use to operate, making work process easier and more efficient. Healthcare industry has greatly benefitted from integration of IT systems. With technological advancements, home healthcare software such as telehealth solutions and clinical management systems are available in the market.Home healthcare enables healthcare services to be delivered at patients home thereby alleviating healthcare costs.Population aged above 65 years forms the bulk of home healthcare software marketHome healthcare market is driven by various sociological, demographics, and macroeconomic factors, most notably the integration of information technology solutions in healthcare industry to meet challenges in patient data retrieval, payment and claim processing as well as storage and accessibility. This is further propelled by government initiatives to improve healthcare infrastructure.High prevalence of chronic disorders among geriatric population in turn fuels demand for nursing homes and assisted living care facilities for specialized attention. However, introduction of home healthcare software solutions is expected to bridge the gap between geriatric patient expectation and healthcare providers. The system offers solutions at patients home, thereby minimizing overall operational cost and high ROI for providers as well.Request Discount:Though the market is expected to grow at a rapid rate, weak financial support from government along with low adaptability in emerging economies are major challenges inhibiting growth of overall industry.Home Healthcare Software Market Taxonomy:Coherent Market Insights (CMI) has segmented the home healthcare software market by:Product TypeTherapeutic ApplicationDevicesPlatformEnd UserBy product type, the home healthcare software market has been segmented into agency homecare software, hospice solutions, telehealth solutions, clinical management systems, and others.On the basis of therapeutic application, CMI has segmented the home healthcare software market into clinical and non-clinical solutions. Clinical segment is expected to grow at impressive rate over the forecast period.On the basis of devices, mobile devices are expected to gain traction over laptop and tablet in the home healthcare software market.Homecare agencies and hospice agencies are key end-use segments in the home healthcare software market.Alignment between payers and providers along with access to electronic health records has boosted overall North America home healthcare software market growthAmong regions, North America is expected to dominate the global home healthcare software market throughout the forecast period. However, the market in the region is expected to lose considerable market share to developing regions, namely Latin America and Asia. Growth of the market in the region is primarily driven by increasing demand in the U.S., accounting for over 85% of overall market. Technological advancements along with high healthcare spending across all verticals is expected to propel market growth. Moreover, health awareness level among the population in developed regions is high compared to other regions. However, the market in Canada is expected to witness sluggish growth over the forecast period.Browse Research Report At :Europe is the second-largest market and is expected to create substantial opportunities for players. Over 65% of the revenue generated in the regional market is expected to be from Germany, UK and France. Markets in Russia and Poland are expected to grow at substantial rate.Asia-Pacific is a lucrative market for home healthcare software due to the easy availability of skilled manpower, cheap labor and highly developed information technology sectors in the countries particularly China and India. Moreover, India is one of the leading markets for IT software. Relaxation in FDI cap is expected to boost overall presence of MNCs in the region. Though the Asia Pacific market is vibrant, there are a lot more challenges present in the market that inhibit proper capitalization of the market opportunities. The market is highly volatile with wide variations in demographics and economic conditions. The market in China, once the power engine of Asia Pacific, is witnessing low growth, due to noticeable decline in healthcare expenditure in the region. On a positive note, India is witnessing rapid transformation across various healthcare verticals. Companies need to fully understand the demographic and macroeconomic situation to generate high ROI from the region. Markets in Latin America and MEA are expected to witness sluggish growth over the forecast period.ABOUT USCOMPANY OVERVIEWCoherent Market Insights is a global market intelligence and consulting organization focused on assisting our plethora of clients achieve transformational growth by helping them make critical business decisions. We are headquartered in India, having office at global financial capital in the U.S. Our client base includes players from across all business verticals in over 150 countries worldwide. We are uniquely positioned to help businesses around the globe deliver practical and lasting results through various recommendations about operational improvements, technologies, emerging market trends and new working methods. We offer both customized and syndicated market research reports that help our clients create visionary growth plans to provide traction to their business. We meticulously study emerging trends across various industries at both the global and regional levels to identify new opportunities for our clientele. Our global team of over 100 research analysts and freelance consultants provide market intelligence from the very molecular country level and also provide a global perspective of the market. Our team is of the most vital cog in our robust machinery that gives us the ability to deliver independent insight relying on our cognitive defusion training module.This allows for an objective and unbiased assessment of the market. We pride ourselves in my constantly striving to update our extremely in-depth understanding of the market by closely monitoring and analyzing markets, trends, and emerging best practices, across allfathomable industries under the sun. This enables us to equip our valued clientele with key decisive inputs to capitalize on lucrative growth opportunities in the market and to follow firmly position themselves on a high growth path in the future.CONTACT USCORPORATE OFFICE:Coherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comWebsite:Visit Blog : Author Virginia Frusteri Sollars Announces New Release, 'And Some Will Triumph', An Uncensored Look Into Correctional Mental Health Author Virginia Frusteri Sollars http://www.virginiasollars.net Author Virginia Frusteri Sollars has announced the release of 'And Some Will Triumph: Stories of the Mentally Ill in a Correctional Setting and the Nurses Who Care for Them'. 'And Some Will Triumph' relates the story of Elizabeth, a psychiatric nurse, who comes to California, with her teenage daughter, to work at the Raine Correctional Facility.Sollars uses her captivating and sometimes shocking stories of fact-based fiction to reveal the stark truths that lie behind the curtain of todays current issues- the fundamental facts often obscured by our headline culture. Her gift for raw storytelling takes readers backstage, where they will experience, in vivid 3-D the challenges her semi-fictional characters must face. She brings the truth into the light, and lays bare the stunning reality behind these stories in ways that mere headlines could never achieve.As a psychiatric nurse, Virginia journeyed inside the minds of the mentally ill. She not only allows her readers to participate in the day to day struggles that ensue behind the heavy steel doors of the correctional facility, but takes her readers into the thoughts, fears and secrets of the psychiatric inmates. Virginia explains the reasons why the criminal justice system has become the dumping ground for the mentally ill and why there are so few beds available to them on the outside, a matter of great concern in the United States."Most books about crimes, inmates and or prisoners write about one event and the whole book centers around that." Sollars stated. "I wanted to give my readers a broader spectrum. I wanted to make them aware of just how many mental health disorders there are, in a manner that could be easily understood, how devastating it can be for people dealing with severe depression, mania, psychosis and many of the other disorders I bring to light. How having a mental disorder can lead people to commit terrible crimes. I bring my readers into a correctional facility, so they can walk the halls I walked, and get a real feel of how psychiatric nurses deal with these inmates as well as how the inmates cope. I wanted to educate people of the challenges both the nurses and the inmates face."Sollars' book has received rave reviews from readers. Kirkus Reviews said the book is " . . .a remarkable timeline of the treatment of mental illness in the past 40 years, and its a triumphant account of her boldness as a mother, nurse, and woman. At a time when mental health is in the forefront of conversations about our health care system, her story is one of hope."One reader stated, "Absolutely the best book Ive read in years, uncensored look into correctional mental health, patients, inmates and the professionals who deal with some of societys most troubled criminals, their day to day struggles all interwoven within a gripping story of murder and suspense. A must read!" Another said, "Awesome story! While the story keeps you turning the page to see what happens next, the real plight of the mental health patients in a correctional setting is heartbreaking.Virginia Sollars is available for media interviews and can be reached using the information below or by email at virginiasollars@yahoo.com. 'And Some Will Triumph' is available at online retailers. More information is available at her website.Virginia Frusteri Sollars was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and became a registered nurse in 1980, working as a psychiatric nurse for most of her career. She worked in the jail system for twenty-six years, caring for and treating the mentally ill.PO Box 1613Shallotte, NC 28459 Glass Packaging Market Size, Company Profiling with detailed Strategies, Financials Estimation and Analysis Report 2021 Glass Packaging Market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/sample_request/1258 https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/glass-packaging-market https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/tube-packaging-market Market ScenarioGlobally there is an increase in demand for alcoholic beverages and beer which has augmented the market for Glass Packaging. The non-reactive nature of glass makes it a suitable packaging material in pharmaceutical and alcoholic beverages industry. This is backed by the increased awareness for eco-friendly packaging and increase in investments by packaging companies which has led to the growth of the global Glass Packaging Market.SegmentsOn The Basis Of Applicationo Alcoholic Beverageso Food & Beverageso PharmaceuticalsOn The Basis Of Regiono North Americao Europeo APACo Rest of the WorldKey Players Owens Illinois Inc. Saint-Gobain Ardagh Group Gerresheimer AG Vetropack Holding AG Amcor Ltd Nihon Yamamura Glass Co. Ltd Tamron Co., Ltd. Piramal Glass Limited Hindustan National Glass & Industries Ltd Stolzle-Oberglas GmbH Vidrala SA Wiegand Glas O.Berk Company LLC Shandong Pharmaceutical Glass Co., Ltd.Request a Sample Report @Study Objectives of Global Glass Packaging Marketo To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of various segments and sub-segments of the global Glass Packaging marketo To provide insights about factors affecting the market growtho To analyze the global Glass Packaging Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.o To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, APAC, and Rest of the World (RoW)o To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospectiveo To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by application and region.o To provide strategic profiling of the key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the marketo To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the global Glass Packaging marketRegional Analysis of Global Packaging Machinery MarketAPAC dominates the global Glass Packaging market with its fast growing market worldwide. It will expand at a CAGR XX% over the forecast period. The region is expected to grow in coming years due to increasing Glass Packaging consumption, particularly in China and India. The demand is dominated by the alcoholic beverages and pharmaceuticals industry. It is followed by North America which is expected to grow rapidly over $XX million by 2021. Europe and Rest of the World are also expected to grow at CAGR of XX% respectively from 2016 to 2021.Table of Content1 Executive Summary2 Scope Of The Report2.1 Market Definition2.2 Scope Of The Study2.2.1 Research Objectives2.2.2 Assumptions & Limitations2.3 Markets Structure3 Market Research Methodologies3.1 Research Process3.2 Secondary Research3.3 Primary Research3.4 Forecast Model4 Market Landscape4.1 Five Forces Analysis4.1.1 Threat Of New Entrants4.1.2 Bargaining power of buyers4.1.3 Threat of substitutes4.1.4 Segment rivalry4.2 Value Chain of Global Glass Packaging Market5 Industry Overview of Global Glass Packaging Market5.1 Introduction5.2 Growth Drivers5.3 Impact analysis5.4 Market Challenges5.5 Impact analysisContinueBrowse Report @The report for Global Glass Packaging Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Related ReportTube Packaging Market Information by Materials (Laminate, Plastic, Aluminum, paperboard and others), by Product (Squeeze tubes, Twist tubes, Cartridges and others) by Application (Personal Care, Pharmaceuticals, Food & Beverages, Consumer goods and others) and region - Forecast to 2022About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com 2017 Machinery - Raw Milk Vending Machine In-Depth Industrial and Market studies - Europe Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 2024 http://bit.ly/2knrp1G Albany, New York, Jan 24,2017"Raw Milk Vending Machine Market - Europe Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-Raw milk vending machine consists of an automatic dispenser which dispenses raw milk to a container/bottle after successful payment from the end-user. Some vending machines also provide container/bottle with the milk. Raw milk vending machine dispenses milk collected from cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep.Get Sample Report With TOC @The report provides both revenue and volume for each sub-geographic region. In terms of geographical regions, the report segments the Europe raw milk vending machine market into EU7, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Rest of Europe. EU7 is further segmented into the U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, while CIS is divided into Russia and Rest of CIS. Majority of Western European countries follow strict regulations regarding the consumption and sale of raw milk whereas Eastern European countries primarily do not comply with any regulation. Considering this variation in regulations across countries, the report also includes analysis of regulatory environment in the Europe market.The raw milk is directly sold to customers at farm in countries such as France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Ireland and the U.K. Many dairy farmers produce traditional cheese, buttermilk, yogurt and chocolate from raw milk in their farms. The major countries that have adopted raw milk vending machine include Italy, France, Romania, Germany, the U.K., Slovakia, Slovenia and Czech Republic. The key reason for adoption of raw milk vending machine was due to the revisions in regulations of respective countries regarding raw milk sale. Furthermore, majority of end-users in these countries prefer drinking raw milk and consuming raw milk related products due to their nutritional benefits. Spain, Poland and Norway restrict the sale of raw milk due to reported cases of food poisoning. During the coming years, in order to help small farmers, these countries are anticipated to ease the regulations pertaining to the sale of raw milk through vending machines.Furthermore, the report analyzes the factors that drive and restrain the growth of the raw milk vending machine market for each sub-region. The report also discusses the prevailing market trends, prospective growth opportunities, and major strategies increasing the popularity of raw milk vending machines. Also provided is the market share analysis and competitive strategies adopted by key players in the Europe raw milk vending machine market. Furthermore, the report also provide market share analysis of key players for each sub-geographic region.Major business strategies adopted by key players, their market positioning, and product offerings have also been identified in the research report. The prominent manufacturers who offer raw milk vending machine in Europe include DF Italia S.R.L., Brunimat GmbH, Letina Inox D.O.O., Milk Automation S.R.O. and Risto Gbr.* The raw milk vending machine market is segmented as below: Raw Milk Vending Machine Market By GeographyEU7 (The UK, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands)CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States)Rest of EuropeTable of ContentsChapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Scope1.2 Market Segmentation1.3 Research MethodologyChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Europe Raw Milk Vending Machine Market Snapshot2.2 Europe Raw Milk Vending Machine Market Revenue and Volume, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units) and Year-on-Year Growth (%)Chapter 3 Europe Raw Milk Vending Machine Market Analysis, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)3.1 Key Trends Analysis3.2 Market Dynamics3.2.1 Drivers3.2.2 Restraints3.2.3 Opportunities3.3 Europe Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, By Sub-region, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)3.3.1 Overview3.3.2 EU7 (The U.K., Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands)3.3.3 CIS3.3.4 Rest of Europe3.4 Competitive Landscape3.4.1 Market Share of Key Players in Europe, 2015 (% Revenue and % Volume)3.4.2 Competitive Strategies Adopted by Key Players3.4.3 RecommendationsChapter 4 EU7 Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)4.1 Key Trends Analysis4.2 Market Dynamics4.2.1 Drivers4.2.2 Restraints4.2.3 Opportunities4.3 EU7 Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, By Sub-region, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)4.3.1 Overview4.3.2 The U.K.4.3.3 Italy4.3.4 Spain4.3.5 France4.3.6 Germany4.3.7 Belgium4.3.8 The Netherlands4.4 Competitive Landscape4.4.1 Market Share of Key Players in EU7, 2015 (% Revenue)4.4.2 Market Share of Key Players in EU7, 2015 (% Volume)Chapter 5 CIS Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)5.1 Key Trends Analysis5.2 Market Dynamics5.2.1 Drivers5.2.2 Restraints5.2.3 Opportunities5.3 CIS Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, By Sub-region, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)5.3.1 Overview5.3.2 Russia5.3.3 Rest of CIS5.4 Competitive Landscape5.4.1 Market Share of Key Players in CIS, 2015 (% Revenue)5.4.2 Market Share of Key Players in CIS, 2015 (% Volume)Chapter 6 Rest of Europe Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)6.1 Key Trends Analysis6.2 Market Dynamics6.2.1 Drivers6.2.2 Restraints6.2.3 Opportunities6.3 Rest of Europe Raw Milk Vending Machines Market Analysis, By Sub-region, 2014 2024 (US$ Mn and Units)6.4 Competitive Landscape6.4.1 Market Share of Key Players in Rest of Europe, 2015 (% Revenue)6.4.2 Market Share of Key Players in Rest of Europe, 2015 (% Volume)ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 2017 Defense and Security - The Global Military Simulation and Virtual Training In-Depth Industrial and Market studies 2016-2025 http://bit.ly/2j9Q8RN Albany, New York, Jan 24,2017"The Global Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market 2015-2025" The Report covers current Industries Trends, Worldwide Analysis, Global Forecast, Review, Share, Size, Growth, Effect.Description-The Global Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market 2015-2025 report, published by Strategic Defence Intelligence, provides readers with a detailed analysis of both historic and forecast global industry values, factors influencing demand, the challenges faced by industry participants, analysis of industry leading companies, and key news.Get Sample Report With TOC @* Key FindingsThe global military simulation and virtual training market is expected to be worth US$10.4 billion in 2015, and is expected increase to US$15.8 billion by 2025, representing a CAGR of 4.20% during the forecast period.The market is anticipated to be dominated by North America followed by Asia- Pacific and Europe. The US is the largest spender, with a cumulative expenditure of US$48.9 billion over the next decade.In terms of segments, flight simulators are expected to account for 60% of the global military simulation market, followed by maritime, and combat simulators, occupying 20% each.* SynopsisThis report offers detailed analysis of the global military simulation and virtual training marketwith market size forecasts covering the next ten years. This report will also analyze factors that influence demand for the global simulation and virtual training market, key market trends, and challenges faced by industry participants. In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the following:Global military simulation and virtual training market size and drivers: detailed analysis of the global military simulation and virtual training market during 20152025, including highlights of the demand drivers and growth stimulators for armored vehicles. It also provides a snapshot of the spending and modernization patterns of different regions around the worldRecent developments and industry challenges: insights into technological developments in the global military simulation and virtual training market, and a detailed analysis of the changing preferences of global simulation and virtual training market departments around the world. It also provides trends of the changing industry structure and the challenges faced by the industry participantsSWOT analysis of global military simulation and virtual training market: analysis of the industry characteristics by determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by the global simulation and virtual training industry.Global military simulation and virtual training market country analysis: analysis of the key markets in each region, providing an analysis of the key segments of the global simulation and virtual training market industry expected to be in demand in each regionMajor programs: details of the key programs in each segment, which are expected to be executed during the forecast periodCompetitive landscape and strategic insights: analysis of the competitive landscape of the global military simulation and virtual training market. It provides an overview of key players, together with insights such as key alliances, strategic initiatives, and a brief financial analysis* Reasons To BuyThis report will give the user confidence to make the correct business decisions based on a detailed analysis of the global military simulation and virtual training market, and to identify emerging and declining markets over the next ten years.This report will give the user a thorough fact based analysis, with information about the demand for various global military simulation and virtual training segments in each of the top ten countries, and the underlying factors that are driving demand.The analysts have placed a significant emphasis on the major industries that are driving the global military simulation and virtual training market, which will provide the user with a clear picture about future opportunities that can be tapped, resulting in revenue expansion.The major programs section will inform the user about programs being undertaken within the global military simulation and virtual training departments in different segments of the marketDetailed profiles of the top global military simulation and virtual training providers around the world with information about their products, alliances, recent contract wins and financial analysis wherever available. This will provide the user with a total competitive landscape of the sector.A deep qualitative analysis of the global military simulation and virtual training sector covering sections including demand drivers, SWOT, industry trends, and the latest technological developments, among others.Table of Contents1 Introduction1.1 What is this Report About?1.2 Definitions1.3 Summary Methodology1.4 About Strategic Defence Intelligence2 Executive Summary3 Global Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market Size and Drivers3.1 Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market Size and Forecast 2015-20253.1.1 Global military simulation market to show positive growth over the forecast period3.2 Global Military Simulation and Virtual Training Market - Regional Analysis3.2.1 North America is expected to lead the global military simulation and virtual training market3.2.2 Flight simulators are expected to be the main drivers to support growth in the US market3.2.3 Military simulation market to show robust growth in the Asia-Pacific region3.2.4 European military simulation and virtual training market expected to increase despite defense budget pressures3.2.5 Markets in the Middle East to record robust spending on military simulation3.2.6 Brazil to dominant the military virtual training and simulation market in the Latin American region3.2.7 African markets expected to witness a gradual increase in military simulation spending3.3 Military Simulation and Virtual Training Sub-Sector Market Size Composition3.3.1 Market size of flight simulators expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.85% over the forecast period3.3.2 Maritime simulation market is consistently growing at the global level3.3.3 Combat Simulators market to experience a marginal increase3.4 Demand Drivers and Growth Stimulators3.4.1 Restrictive defense budgets driving demand for simulation and virtual training3.4.2 Modernization initiatives to spur demand for military simulators and virtual training programs3.5 Defense Budget Spending Review3.5.1 North American defense expenditure projected to decline marginally during the forecast period3.5.2 Asian defense budgets expected to increase at a robust pace3.5.3 European capital expenditure expected to increase during the forecast period3.5.4 Modernization programs likely to drive defense expenditure in South American countries3.5.5 Military budgets of African countries expected to increase during the forecast period3.5.6 Defense budgets of Middle Eastern countries likely to increase during the forecast period3.6 Defense Modernization Review3.6.1 Financial constraints causing delays in European defense modernization programs3.6.2 Defense budgets of Asian countries likely to be driven by competitive arms acquisitions3.6.3 Global economic slowdown leading to defense budget cuts in the North American region3.6.4 Need to replace aging equipment driving South American defense expenditure3.6.5 Security threats increasing the defense budget of African countries3.6.6 Demand for military simulators is likely to increase in the Middle East4 Industry Trends, Recent Developments and Challenges4.1 Technological Developments4.1.1 Greater focus on advanced LVC capabilities4.1.2 Transportable, reconfigurable, integrated, crew trainer (TRICT) simulator4.1.3 Collimated displays to achieve enhanced field of view and focus4.1.4 Submarine periscope simulator systemResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074 A newly formed nonprofit aims to support entrepreneurship among women with a revolving loan fund established to back new businesses from female founders. The organization, called the XXcelerate Fund, surveyed women business founders in Portland and found that most have been denied financial backing through traditional channels. So the new fund hopes to provide young companies with assistance in finding bank loans, venture capital, and ultimately in creating self-sustaining, profitable businesses. XXcelerate Fund hopes to raise $500,000 this year from loans and grants. It's seeking money from government agencies, nonprofits, investors and individual philanthropists, and plans to make its first loan in 2017. The Portland Development Commission will contribute $30,000 to the new fund. The PDC already has a number of initiatives under way to support entrepreneurship from underrepresented groups. -- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699 Wednesday 25 January 2017 7:36am A purpose-built home for the Universitys world-renowned Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which has closely followed the progress of more than 1,000 people born in Dunedin in 1972 and 1973, will be officially opened today by Tertiary Education Minister Paul Goldsmith. The new building, on the corner of Union Street and Anzac Avenue, is designed with the members of the Study first and foremost in mind. Every few years study members return from all corners of the globe to be assessed. Their day of intensive interviews and testing covers every aspect of their lives and well-being, from mental health to cardiac fitness and respiratory tests. Because members identities are never revealed, the Study building has a private entrance, private parking, and a discreet street facade. The ground floor will be dedicated to research, and includes interview rooms and specialised testing areas. The first floor is for offices and meeting rooms for researchers and support staff. University of Otago Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne says she is delighted that the Dunedin Study now has new premises that reflect the importance of the Study to the University, and its national and international significance. The Dunedin Study is a prominent jewel in Otagos crown so deserves a setting that allows it to fully shine, Professor Hayne says. Professor Hayne noted that the Study has produced over 1,200 publications and reports with many of them influencing policy-makers, both nationally and internationally. Also, the recent four-part TV documentary series about the work of the Study, Why Am I? The Science of Us, has achieved global reach in communicating the major findings of the Study to interested members of the public, she says. Last year, the Study was awarded almost $5 million over five years by the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC), for a life-course study on aging to inform early intervention strategies. This builds on more than 40 years of historic investment in the Study by the HRC, the University of Otago and major international funding agencies including the UK Medical Research Council and US National Institutes of Health. In 2016 the HRC also recognised Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit (DMHDRU) Director Professor Richie Poulton (Psychology) in its celebrating research excellence awards, for an outstanding contribution to health research excellence, leadership, and impact. The 580m building, which is covered mostly in vertical cedar, with contrasting elements of cement sheet cladding, has been completed on time and to budget, in a tight timeframe. The building was designed in-house by the Property Services Division Design Office, and construction was managed in-house by the Universitys Capital Projects Unit, with Cook Brothers Construction as the main building contractor. Originally the DMHDRU was based in Knox Church Halls, then it shifted temporarily to the former Barningham Building behind the School of Dentistry but ended up staying there for 30 years. The Unit had to move in November 2015 because the building was being demolished to make way for the redevelopment of the Universitys School of Dentistry. Since then, it had been based in Logan Park Annexe behind the University Oval, while waiting for the completion of its first permanent purpose-built facility. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Enterprise, Professor Richard Blaikie says building the new research facility reinforces the Universitys long-term commitment to supporting the Study. Its work will continue through future assessment phases to provide vital insights into many areas of human health and behaviour, including how people age in the best possible health. For more information, contact: Professor Richard Blaikie Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise) University of Otago Tel 64 3 479 8513 Email dvc.research@otago.ac.nz Mr Sean Hogan Cohort & Assessment Manager Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Research Unit Department of Psychology University of Otago Tel 64 3 479 5551 Email sean.hogan@otago.ac.nz TipRanks One thing investors are not lacking for after 2022s market rout: beaten-down stocks going for cheap compared to levels seen at the start of the year. The problem is how can investors sift through the stock debris to pick out the names which will dust themselves down and push ahead again? As with anything, there are multiple ways to run a stock through the litmus test, but one tried-and-true method is to watch out for the moves the insiders make. These corporate officers know the inner workings The 3D printing start-up has reached out to about 400 companies. The National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Cluster (NAMIC) has made it possible for tissue implants to be 3D-printed using a technology being developed by Nanyang Technological University and a Singapore-based 3D printing start-up focused on healthcare. This new printer can print the supporting structure layer by layer and insert living cells to form a live tissue that could aid in the regeneration of particular tissues or organs. According to a joint release by NAMIC and NTU, since the formation of NAMIC by the National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapore and SPRING Singapore last year, the cluster has reached out to about 400 local and international companies to help them adopt additive manufacturing, also known as 3D-printing, as part of their business. NAMIC has also successfully established joint funding for 39 joint projects between companies and academic research institutions and has 80 more projects in the pipeline. NTUs innovation and enterprise company NTUitive is leading NAMIC, in partnership with SPRING Singapore and the Singapore Economic Development Board. The clusters three founding members are Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). NRF Singapore CEO Low Teck Seng said Singapore continues to support knowledge creation and value capture through science & technology. "Facilitating industry growth through technology is key to developing our economy. We can accelerate this through mission-oriented innovation clusters that strengthen partnerships across companies, universities, research institutes and government agencies. Within this context, additive manufacturing has been identified as a key capability we would like to build through innovation clusters to forge a new technological edge for Singapores manufacturing sector," he said. Meanwhile, NAMICs managing director Ho Chaw Sing said the response they had received from companies has been positive, despite the use of 3D printing for industrial uses still being in its infancy. Story continues While 3D printing has taken off for customised products in the aerospace and biomedical industries, many local companies still find the barrier of entry quite high, due to the costly printers and a lack of expertise in additive manufacturing, Ho explained. He furthered, Our objectives are to reach, educate and help link these companies to scientists and engineers at research institutes, who already have existing 3D-printing machines and the technical know-how. This way, we ensure that the innovative solutions developed through research will meet real business needs. More From Singapore Business Review On his third full day in office, President Donald Trump met in the White House with The Dow Chemical Co. Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris and other business leaders for a discussion on job creation and growing the manufacturing base, Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a White House daily briefing. There was a really great exchange of ideas, Spicer said. The intent was for Trump to hear suggestions from leaders of Dow, Dell Inc., Whirpool Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin Corp., U.S. Steel Corp., Tesla Motors Inc., Under Armour, International Paper Co., Arconic Inc. and other companies on challenges they face and policies that could help create jobs and grow our manufacturing base, Spicer said. The group will reconvene in a month and meet on a quarterly basis. Trump on Monday said there would be a very major border tax imposed on companies that move jobs outside the U.S. and that hed cut regulations by 75 percent. If you go to another country and you decide that youre going to close and get rid of 2,000 people or 5,000 people if that happens, we are going to be imposing a very major border tax on the product when it comes in, which I think is fair, Trump said. He elaborated: So, a company that wants to fire all of its people in the United States and build some factory someplace else and then thinks that that product is going to just flow across the border into the United States, thats not going to happen. Theyre going to have a border tax to pay, a substantial border tax. Bloomberg reports ( http://bloom.bg/2jTXI7D ) Liveris told reporters that the corporate executives and Trump team talked about the proposed border tax quite a bit and, in particular, about the sorts of industries that would be helped or hurt by that. I would take the president at his word here: Hes not going to do anything to harm competitiveness, Liveris said. Hes going to actually make us all more competitive. Liveris added that Trump listened very carefully about how to actually get some action around fixing some of the issues that are embedded in creating American manufacturing jobs. Also on Monday, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Spicer told reporters the action ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy and is a strong signal that the Trump administration wants free and fair trade throughout the world. The presidents vision, Spicer said, is to negotiate fair trade deals that create jobs, increase American wages and reduce the trade deficit. Trump has appointed a tough and smart number of trade experts who will fight on behalf of American workers, according to Spicer. At a Dec. 9 event in Grand Rapids, Trump named Liveris to head the American Manufacturing Council. The two spoke fondly of each other at the event. Were finding ways to bring industry back to America, Trump said at the time, adding nobody can do it like Andrew. Dow on Dec. 9 revealed a plan to build a new research center in Midland that would create 100 new jobs in the state and bring another 100 from other global Dow facilities back to Midland. This decision is because of this man and these policies, Liveris said of Trump. I tingle with pride listening to you. Jon Chambers knew his request for rezoning of his property was stuck in the mud when the Larkin Township Planning Commission met recently. Chambers was asking that his 360 acres, at 4292 N. Jefferson, be rezoned from Agriculture to Commercial B to accommodate a proposed mud bog. I knew what their answer would be, Chamber said after the meeting. It was a stacked deck of cards so I told everyone that supported me to stay home. Chambers prophecy turned out correct as the commission unanimously recommended to deny the request. Now the recommendation heads to the Larkin Township Board for approval/denial at its Feb. 14 meeting. The Planning Commissions hearing, before a roomful of residents, was much calmer than a previous public hearing that occurred before the township board on May 17. That hearing drew plenty of emotional responses from a standing room only crowd, included shouting, foul language and anger. Before Chambers explained his plans for the mud bog, Commissioner Charles Goodman recused himself because his property abuts Chambers land. Chambers plan would be to have a mud bog event four times a year on property that is approximately one-half mile off from Jefferson. A lot of people thought it was going to be up by the road. A lot of people thought it was going to be in their backyard, Chambers said. When questioned, Chambers estimated that he could potentially draw between 15,000 and 16,000 people for each event, which brought concerns from neighbors about traffic, litter, alcohol, smog and other issues. Even though Chambers believed the board was stacked against him, he also fought public opposition. Of the nine residents that offered their opinions about the rezoning, seven of them were emphatic in their opposition. Joe Kozuch, who lives across the street from Chambers, stated, I am vehemently opposed to this proposal. Most of our commercial in the township is on Eastman Road or near Eastman Road. At the end of Jefferson Road is not a commercial road. Another resident questioned if the township allowed spot zoning, which is the process of singling out a small parcel of land for a use classification totally different from that of the surrounding area for the benefit of the owner of such property and to the detriment of other owners, according to Andersons American Law of Zoning. Township Planning Commission Chair Stan VanSumeren responded, It is recommended strongly that you dont spot zone. Gary Hardy, lieutenant and training officer for the Larkin Township Fire Department, also shared his concerns for the township that has approximately 5,400 residents. If we are going to have 15,000 people on a given weekend, thats going to require a fire and possibly an EMS presence at the site, Hardy said. The assumption is that for every 5,000 people you have to require fire and rescue. That would be an added expense and its not anything that is budgeted for at this point nor I am even sure we could handle that. To consult on the rezoning request, the township hired Wade Trim Associates, which had worked with the township in 2012 to update its master plan. Wade Trims report stated, ... we do not support the proposed rezoning of the subject site ... we advise the Township Planning Commission to forward a recommendation of denial to the township board. While sharing the report, Larkin Township attorney Peter Poznak stated that Commercial B use includes: commercial recreation facilities, such as indoor theaters, bowling alleys, skating rinks or other similar uses with the exception of outdoor theaters, which are specifically prohibited. Commissioner Edd Putt, speaking against the proposal, said, If you allow spot zoning the zoning map becomes obsolete. Fellow commissioner Duane Bremer stated ... without sanitary and sewer it would be a great disaster. Chambers request for the mud bog began at the June 9, 2015 township meeting. Township minutes from that meeting state, There were no objections from the township board. Because of that statement, Chambers believed he had the OK to proceed and spent $80,000 in preparations for the mud bog. I firmly believe I was misled, Chambers said. I think they owe me some relief. Although he didnt support the rezoning, Kozuch agreed with Chambers. When Jon went to the board a year ago, I think he got a lot of bad information from the former township supervisor, who was a partner with Jon in this fiasco and it shouldnt have gone any further than that, but it did. Jon spent a lot of money, and he shouldnt have. That was the township boards responsibility. The planning commission also erred in its handling of Chambers rezoning request at its Dec. 7, 2016 meeting, when Chambers came with a request to rezone his property. Goodman moved to deny the petition, which was unanimously approved. But, commissioners failed to schedule a public hearing on the request before voting. They reconvened on Dec. 14 to reconsider the motion and set aside the previous vote, because it was in error and did not follow procedures stated the minutes of the Dec. 14 meeting. At the meeting they set the public hearing for Jan. 18. During the process, Chambers filed a joint permit application with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on Dec. 30, 2015. That request was denied on April 28, 2016, according to a DEQ spokesperson. I applied to the DEQ and they told me if I could propose using five acres of uplands and converting them into wetlands, that they could probably work with me on a five acre chunk, Chambers stated at the public hearing. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Veronica Schmidt has seen a lot of change in her lifetime, which reached 100 years with her birthday on Monday. It happens. You never think youll live that long, she said simply. To celebrate the milestone, residents and members of Schmidts family gathered at Pinecrest Farms with a cake and live music in the communal dining area. Born Jan. 23, 1917, Schmidt was the third generation of her family to live in Detroit. She lived there until last year when her son, who resided with her, passed away. She then came to Pinecrest Farms in Midland, but fondly remembers her time in Michigans largest city. It was an exciting place. There was always something happening in Detroit. Schmidt spent most of her career employed by the Wayne County juvenile court. Elections were the highlight of the year, since it gave her much to talk about with her friends. She explained that one of the most common cases she handled were youngsters taking a joyride. Its what children got into then, she explained. They didnt steal things, they unlawfully drove them away. Innocent things, if you will. They didnt kill each other. It was a different world. Schmidt felt very comfortable discussing politics, religion and, occasionally, books with her close circle of friends. Even if they disagreed on something, their camaraderie remained strong. I had two really good friends we were three very different women. To be such good friends We could get into an argument, we could always talk about what was going on in the world. One of Schmidts greatest joys was driving. Since her father worked for Ford, she learned to drive in one of its models and retained a drivers license until she was 99. Schmidt misses the independence that went with having a license as she expressed a wish to cruise around the area and look at the scenery in general. Christmas time is her favorite season to sightsee and take in the colorful decorations. As with all things, Detroit changed, bringing in new faces and new neighbors. Yet Schmidt didnt mind. Detroits a big city. Theres all kinds of people, if you will. ... You learned about the different cultures, to respect them and their likes and dislikes. Respect for all people was a cornerstone of Schmidts upbringing. She attended a Catholic school, taught by nuns, where she learned to be a proper lady and watched her language. It was a good life, a gentle life. People respected each other. You didnt hear the language you hear today, Schmidt said. So much vulgarity. The Pinecrest staff said Schmidt is a very kindhearted and sweet lady. She never complains and is always happy, said Pam, one of the nurses. We love her, shes wonderful. Looking back, Schmidt is grateful for what she has been given. God has been good. As long as you can think, know who you are, you are fortunate. Cross-cultural ministry is quite common at Reformation Faith Ministries in Kokomo. A pastors vision, accelerated by a surprise phone call, led to some incredible opportunities for Reformation Faith Ministries in Kokomo, Indiana. Most recently, the predominantly black church welcomed and fed 150 white people for a memorial service. As it turns out, cross-cultural ministry is quite common at Reformation Faith. I didnt think it would pan out exactly like this, says Antonio Stewart, pastor of Reformation Faith, a church of about 55 attendees. Around 2010, Stewart sensed Gods call to lead a nondenominational, multicultural church. Finally, in 2014, a group of six people began meeting with him to pray, fast and save money while looking for a fixer-upper they could afford in which to host a new church. A few months later, he received an unexpected phone call. The Friends Church, a predominantly white Quaker church, had seen a decrease in numbers, and the leadership wanted Stewart, whom they had just met, to buy their fully furnished building, which appraised for about $900,000. They were only asking for $50,000 from Stewart. It was dramatic, Stewart says. I never thought that we would walk into something like that. The churchs copiers, pianos, Bibles, a van, an organeverything you can namewere included, he says. The sellers gave Stewart two requirements: Dont sell, and minister to the community. The area surrounding the church is mostly white, but Stewart, who served six years in the racially diverse military, was ready. Reformation Faiths ministries include back-to-school giveaways, a food pantry and outreach to the homeless and prisoners. Referring to the churchs congregation, which includes African-Americans, whites and Hispanics, Stewart says, In Scripture, I never saw where it should be either white or black. REFORMATION FAITH MINISTRIES Kokomo, Indiana TheReformationFaithMinistries.com A Pajiban's First Person Account of the Women's March in Washington D.C. By Alexis Dubief | PaEHba Day | January 23, 2017 | By Alexis Dubief | PaEHba Day | January 23, 2017 | Like all of you, the election left me feeling locked in an airless block of ice, an odd combination of panicked and powerless. Months and months of this. Then the Womens March showed up. March on Washington? Seriously? Crap. Should we do this? Im not a marcher, Im more of a book reader and cupcake eater. Who marches? Will people even go? Is it safe? My friend Alana and I decided we had to go. It was terrifying and financially punishing. We had long debates about it, Whats the point? What will we accomplish? Maybe we should pool our travel funds and simply donate this heap of cash to Planned Parenthood? But the idea of physically taking a stand felt right. We were committed. And homeless - there was nowhere to stay in Washington that wasnt $1,500. Thankfully Patty (fellow Pajiban) had posted that people could crash at her house. So I pinged her, Hi total stranger, were you serious about the offer to stay with you? Absolutely. Having never stayed with a total stranger before, we secretly prayed she wouldnt kill us in our sleep. As the day crept closer, the Facebook chatter about the march increased. Most of it focused on the possibility of violence and what to do if youre exposed to tear gas or arrested. We were supposed to write the ACLU hotline phone number in sharpie on our bodies. Holy fuck. The Friday before we boarded the train in Vermont. It was empty save for one other woman who was quietly knitting pussy hats. We introduced ourselves, asking her why she was going. Ive been going to every march since the 60s, I wasnt going to miss this one. I shared my anxiety about the possibility of Trump nutz and violence at the march. She just shrugged and went back to knitting. As we headed south the train slowly filled with women. There were no obvious indications they were marchers, but it was clear we had a common destination. Much to the disappointment of my friend Alana, however, there was no group singing or solidarity chants. Thank you Jesus. We arrived in D.C. around midnight and headed to the Metro which was an odd mix of older women in pink hats and wealthy Texans in tuxedoes on their way home from inaugural balls. I donned my own hat, a small gesture of defiance, as women in sparkling gowns gave us the side-eye. Arriving in Reston, Patty greeted us with hugs and a bunny hat. It was instantly clear she was good people. We agreed to leave early the next morning, to beat the crowds. We discussed our action plan if shit happened. We committed to sticking together no matter what. The first sign that the march was going to be massive was the crowd flowing into the Metro. The place was mobbed with pink while slightly frazzled Metro employees tried to sort us into a rough approximation of lines. We came from everywhere: LA, Arizona, Bangkok, Minnesota. We made friends with strangers, sharing stories with a common theme, This is not OK. We packed in like sardines, passing station after station filled with pink. The doors never opened, there was no room for more to enter. One employee at the Metro told me, In 18 years Ive never seen anything like this! We arrived in D.C. with a plan to meet a crew of Pajibans. As soon as we hit the streets, however, it became clear that meeting up was never going to happen. The number of people was staggering. We were 6 city blocks from where the march was supposed to begin and there were people everywhere. It became clear that the discord and potential violence we had feared wasnt going to happen. People were treating each other with warmth and generosity. There were a handful of police present but they werent checking bags or frisking protesters but merely looking bemused while people thanked them for their service. The White House lawn was desolate, walled off, and covered in garbage from the inauguration. There was a small army of port-o-potties that were sadly inaccessible. Because there were not enough bathrooms by a long shot. We drank just enough water to sustain life because there was nowhere to go. When hundreds of thousands of older women spend hours at an event with no bathroom facilities you know they arent fucking around. We tried to get to the rally where the march was slated to begin but it was impossible. There were people mobbed into every available cranny for blocks in all directions. Crowd experts estimate the D.C. march at 500,000 based on photos taken of the mall. But that barely captured the sprawling masses who filled the streets all around. We tried to march but it was like being a gumball in the machine. As each gumball left there was just enough room for the remaining gumballs to jostle slightly but it hardly counted as movement. The term march is powerful, but the reality was more of a shuffling meander. Being packed in with strangers should have been anxiety inducing, and yet it wasnt. There was a lightness and humor in the air. Accidentally elbow somebody and they simply smiled at you. People offered each other granola bars and tissues. Waves of cheers would move along the crowds periodically, interspersed by periods of relative quiet. People with wheelchairs were lifted out of ruts. Elderly women soldiered on. This wasnt a festival, nobody was drinking or dancing. We shared a serious determination. The signage was as varied as it was beautiful. The range of issues represented were vast yet all equally worthy. The common thread however, was clearly anti-Trump. We shuffled along for hours in the grey damp, occasionally pausing to snap a picture. This probably sounds like a miserable time, but it wasnt. It was jubilant. All in we spent 9 hours at the march. Finally Pattys husband came to rescue us from the city after it became clear that taking the Metro home was simply impossible. We were starving and dehydrated and full of emotion too jumbled to unpack. Im still exhausted and processing the whole experience. For months I felt powerless and alone. I would share an article on Facebook or send an email to an elected official. But it all felt so pointless. We were doomed and sitting in my basement retweeting Elisabeth Warren wasnt going to change that. Im just a Mom in Vermont. A nobody. None of that feels true anymore. The march took all the nobodies and made us a team. None of us are alone, because every person who stood up across the world said, I stand with you. And we will not accept the unacceptable. The march gave millions of people their power back. And hope. And a sense of purpose. The train home was no longer quiet, it was full of people sharing news stories and talking about what happens now. Discussing strategies for forming groups, for collaboration, motivation, and solidarity. For signing up and joining in. Michael Moores speech spelled out an essential strategy. He answered the question, What do you hope to accomplish with this demonstration? Look around you, youve already accomplished it. In a day of great moments, his to-do list and Ashley Judds spoken words are both a must watch. I feel changed somehow, and suspect millions share that feeling. It did not end Saturday, it began. We are not alone. We will stand up and speak out together. The election did not end the fight, its barely started. I dont know where this road leads, but we will not walk in silence. Thank you to everyone who supported the marches across the world, either in person or from home. You did something essential this past week. And I for one, will be forever grateful. PS. Thank you Patty, for everything. (Header Source - National Park Service EarthCam) Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba. Question: In Bloomington-Normal, the average cost of a bottle of wine, suggest wine sellers, is around $6.50 to $7 a bottle. Can you name the American city where you can find the cheapest deal on a bottle of wine, as well as the cities in America where wine is the most expensive? Answer: Using statistics from the Council for Community and Economic Research, Yelp and TripAdvisor, the research firm, WalletHub.com, this year did a study to suggest that Indianapolis is the cheapest place in America for a bottle of wine ($3.96, it says). That is 3.2 times lower than the cities in America where it says are the highest prices for wine No. 149, Chicago ($12.55), and No. 150, Aurora, Ill. ($12.67). COOKSVILLE At 92 years old, Evan Wissmiller has seen a lot of presidents come and go. He retired from full-time farming in the Cooksville area years ago, but still actively participates in the yearly harvest. He stays busy mowing, camping and taking day trips. With all of that life experience, he still isnt sure what Donald Trumps presidency will mean to farmers and the agriculture industry. Here is the one thing I know, he said. When a president is elected, we should all stand behind him or her and hope and work for the best. Before farmers can be sure of anything though, he added, a secretary of agriculture must be in place. Last week, several national media outlets reported that Trump will nominate former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue for the post. Confirmation hearings are expected later this month. Illinois Farm Bureau members are relieved that ... Trump has finally named an agriculture secretary and are hopeful Perdue is quickly confirmed by the U.S. Senate, said Richard Guebert, Jr. president of the Bloomington-based IFB. He added that Farm Bureau members "are confident that Perdue has the leadership skills necessary to run an agency with a $155 billion budget and more than 100,000 employees scattered across nearly every county in the nation." A onetime veterinarian, Perdue served as Georgia's governor from 2003 to 2011, becoming the first Republican governor there in more than 130 years. He also ran a grain and fertilizer business, spending much of his career in the agriculture industry before being elected governor. Each time there is a new administration, there is a little bit of uncertainty, just like farmers have, said U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, a Taylorville Republican. Every time a farmer invests his family fortune to plant seed each year and hope that it grows, thats risk. If I were a farmer, I would worry, too because its important. But I have confidence that Mr. Trump is getting the right people around him. Davis, who is on the House Committee for Agriculture, said, Trump, who made his fortune in real estate, has worked during the campaign to understand agriculture and trade issues. Through my work as a supporter of the renewable fuel standard, I was impressed when I heard that Trump, who came out and supported the renewable fuel standard, which is very crucial to farmers in Central Illinois, sat down with those in the industry to learn more about it, Davis said. Agriculture leaders also will be anxious to see what changes will occur with trade, said Craig Ratajczyk, the CEO of the Illinois Soybean Association, also based in Bloomington. Free trade is one of our key topics, he said. We would also like to see some enlightenment from Washington, D.C. on the waters of the United States. We dont want to see any type of regulations put in place that wouldnt make good market or agricultural sense. These types of issues not only affect soybean producers, but also others in the production chain. On Monday, Trump signed an order withdrawing the United States from the TPP, a decision Guebert disagreed with. Illinois agriculture depends on free trade agreements to sell our products," he said. "Currently, 46 percent of Illinois exports go to Trans-Pacific countries. The TPP was expected to increase Illinois cash receipts and net exports by $281.1 million and $127.4 million per year respectively. It is estimated that the increased marketing opportunities for Illinois farmers would have added more than 960 jobs to the Illinois economy. He added that the order to withdraw from the TPP "is another setback to an already struggling economy. With TPP being halted, we implore the administration to start working toward opening new markets for Illinois crop and livestock farmers." Guebert said the future is still uncertain with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that Trump apparently wants to renegotiate. "We are still waiting on what his intentions are and what his thoughts are," said Guebert. "Then, when we know, we will deal with that. Trade is very important to agriculture and U.S. economy. Another important component is the 2018 Farm Bill, a topic that will be discussed soon, said Janell Baum Thomas, the DeWitt County Farm Bureau manager. BLOOMINGTON Central Illinois Regional Airport soon will get upgraded service to and from Dallas-Fort Worth, CIRA officials announced Monday. American Airlines will begin serving CIRA travelers with larger Canadair Regional Jets that will offer first-class service beginning March 6. The 76-seat CRJ900 aircraft includes nine first-class seats and 67 in the main cabin. That is an increase from the current 52 seats per flight. "We value American's continued commitment to excellent service at Central Illinois Regional Airport with this upgrade to the larger regional jets and the availability of two classes of service on board," said David Colee, chairman of the Bloomington-Normal Airport Authority. "Dallas-Fort Worth is a very important business destination for our region, and as American's largest hub, it provides connection opportunities to access many other business and leisure markets." CIRA spokeswoman Fran Strebing said Dallas-Fort Worth "is important for those going to Mexico, the Caribbean, or to Phoenix and out west. The Bloomington to Dallas route has always been very popular. SPRINGFIELD A decision by a McLean County judge to seal court records in the murder case against Kirk Zimmerman has been appealed by The Pantagraph. The newspaper is challenging a move by the defense to seal two motions from public access. Zimmerman, 58, is charged with the November 2015 shooting death of his former wife Pam Zimmerman, 53, at her Bloomington office. Judge Scott Drazewski granted a motion from defense lawyer John Rogers on Dec. 22 to keep two motions to suppress certain potential evidence under seal until after a jury is chosen in Zimmerman's case. Prosecutors told the judge they do not intend to use the information in their case. Media lawyer Don Craven said the appeal filed with the 4th District Appellate Court seeks to provide public access to court records that are presumably open. WGLT radio and the Illinois Press Association also are part of the challenge to the judge's ruling. "What you have in this case is a court ruling based on motions that you can't see and documents you can't review with no public discussion on what is sealed and why it's sealed. That's not how the public court system works," said Craven, of Springfield. Craven argues in the appeal that Drazewski failed to follow a 2005 4th District Court decision that reversed the sealing of records and proceedings in the Maurice LaGrone Jr. murder case in DeWitt County. The appellate court reversed a judge's decision in that case to close the courtroom and records related to potential evidence against LaGrone, who was convicted in 2007 of killing his girlfriend's three children. "The trial court is bound to follow the decisions of the 4th District, and its decision to attempt to supersede those decisions must be reversed," states Craven's appeal. In his arguments to keep the material secret, Rogers told the judge in December that release "would result in the publication of inflammatory, prejudicial, irrelevant materials that could contaminate the jury pool and make it difficult to pick a jury in this matter." The state took no position on the defense requests and suggested that the decision to exclude the material from its case may be a matter of trial strategy rather than what the defense considers prejudicial, according to First Assistant State's Attorney Adam Ghrist. Rogers dropped his motion to close the courtroom for a hearing on the potential evidence after the judge ruled to keep the information sealed. Craven has asked for an expedited hearing on the appeal. BLOOMINGTON A police dashcam video played in a packed courtroom for Steven Hendershott's sentencing for drunken driving Monday showed the first moments after a crash in which a 4-year-old boy lost an arm, and the boy's father testified about what the family has suffered since. Hendershott, 28, of Pontiac, who pleaded guilty in October to aggravated driving under the influence, was sentenced to 5 years in prison and ordered to pay about $59,000 restitution to the injured family. In October 2015, the defendant was driving south in the northbound lane of Intertstate 55 north of Lexington just before 2 a.m. when his Jeep collided head-on with a northbound minivan driven by Funda Pradke of Kansas City, Mo. The driver and her husband, James Pradke, who was the front-seat passenger, were hospitalized, along with the children, ages 4 and 7 months. Hendershott also was injured in the crash. The video from Illinois State Police Trooper Jason Pignon's dash camera captured a limited and grainy view of the scene, but the sounds of frightened children crying out for help from adults who could not reach them could be heard. Pignon testified that he could see the parents' fractured legs trapped beneath a mangled dashboard. The officer saw the infant restrained in a car seat and the 4-year-old, his arm amputated in the crash, standing on the back seat. The officer urged the adults to remain calm as he waited for other emergency responders. As he did through most of the three-hour hearing, Hendershott wiped away tears as Assistant State's Attorney Ashley Scarborough offered testimony to Judge Casey Costigan to support her request for an eight-year term. James Pradke, a major with the U.S. Army, read an emotional four-page victim impact statement that described the breadth of the turmoil the collision has caused his family. Dressed in his uniform, Pradke shared his daily prayer that the broken bones suffered by his wife and infant would have been added to his own burden of nine broken bones and a concussion. "Mostly though, as I regrettably was not the chosen one to live out my life as an amputee, I beg God to show me how to optimize the living conditions that my 5-year-old son must now endure," said Pradke. The family also lost the vehicle purchased hours before the accident, their home, and almost $2 million he will not receive in pay because of his anticipated medical release from the Army, he said. In a statement to the judge, Hendershott apologized to the victims and his family. "Nobody here deserves to be here right now," said Hendershott as he struggled for words, his hands sunk deeply into the pockets of his jeans. The defendant's mother told the judge her son has a history of depression and alcoholism. The accident "is going to affect him the rest of his life. It's not something he's going to forget," said Jill Hendershott. The judge also heard from a co-worker at a Pontiac rehabilitation center for seniors who praised Hendershott's work with residents. Scarborough told Costigan that "this defendant should have known better," based on his substance abuse treatment for a prior misdemeanor offense. Defense lawyer Michael Herzog asked for probation and jail time. "My client is broken at what he did," said Herzog. Costigan rejected probation, saying the totality of the harm caused by the accident requires a prison term. The judge noted that Hendershott was reluctant to begin treatment during his release on bond. "If ever there was a wake-up call that alcohol and other substances have no place in your life, this is it," the judge told the defendant. Hendershott was eligible for 12 years and he must serve 85 percent of the sentence. NORMAL A professor who studies presidential rhetoric said President Donald Trump needs to recognize the impact his words can have whether they are in a speech or in a tweet. This is an area where he has to become a very, very quick learner, said Vanessa Beasley, associate professor and dean of Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt University, Nashville. Every word a president says in consequential. Speaking Monday night at Illinois State University's Capen Auditorium, Beasley said Trump's inaugural address deviated from those of his predecessors in many ways. Rather than using the speech bring people together, invoke history, show humility and demonstrate an understanding of the presidency, Trump used much of the same rhetoric he used on the campaign trail, she noted. There is a difference between what a campaign sounds like and governing sounds like, she said in a talk sponsored by the School of Communication, Department of Politics and Government, the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Student Government Association, the American Democracy Department and the League of Women Voters of McLean County. In Friday's inaugural address, Trump said, The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. But Beasley said words matter when a president talks. The talk is the action when you're president of the United States, she said. Beasley is the author of You, the People: American National Identity in Presidential Rhetoric. The title of her talk Monday was Washington and This 'First Official Act': What an Inaugural Address Means Now. She has been studying presidential speeches for nearly 30 years. The question is whether Trump's deviation from the pattern of past inaugural addresses was intentional and whether it will matter, according to Beasley. Those who supported him did so, at least in part, because Trump promised to be different, noted Beasley. People who voted for Trump feel recognized in a way they haven't for a long time, said Beasley, adding that shouldn't be ignored. If Trump's rhetoric turns more presidential, his followers might say he has become just like everyone else, she said. We live in interesting times, she told the audience of about 115 people. It's going to be fascinating. In an interview before Beasley's talk, Lane Crothers, professor of politics and government at ISU, echoed many of the same thoughts. Describing Trump's speech as very dark and negative, Crothers said, historically, the inaugural address has been used as an opportunity to rally people to your side. Instead, while Trump's speech did include words about unity and appeals to all Americans, he put them in the context of ... 'American carnage,' said Crothers. BLOOMINGTON The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to establish the Jefferson Street Community House despite opposition from members of Black Lives Matters and other residents who disagree with leasing the vacant house for police and community use. The city will lease the house at 828 W. Jefferson St. for $1 a month for one year from Mid Central Community Action and spend $5,000 to $10,000 to make the house comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The meeting was attended by about 125 people, many of whom held up signs urging the council to vote "no" on the plan, but some aldermen said they were convinced the community house the city no longer refers to it as a police substation was something residents in the immediate neighborhood wanted. "I heard feedback from all over the community. I don't discount those who live nearby who may be opposed, but the the feedback I got from those who live on the 800 block of West Jefferson Street was overwhelming in favor," said Ward 7 Alderman Scott Black, who represents the area. Ward 6 Alderman Karen Schmidt said she also was convinced of that. In a survey conducted by Community Action in the last month, 81.7 percent of respondents living in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the house said increased police engagement would make the neighborhood safer, and 91.5 percent said they want a "police engagement center i.e. substation" in the neighborhood. After the vote, many in the audience left, shouting, "No justice; no peace." While they may not have liked the way the vote turned out, Mayor Tari Renner urged them to stay involved in the community. "Most of the people are here because you're opposed to this. That's quite clear," said Renner. "This is a pilot. If this doesn't work we don't have to stick with it. "The main thing I would ask for all of you is ... don't be discouraged. We need you to stay involved. My door is always open to all of you." "I see this house as an opportunity ... because we really need to begin to talk to one another," said Schmidt. "Right now in this country we have to respect one another and listen to one another and love one another and hold hands and be a community." The day after the city announced in December its plans to open a police substation there, BLM issued a statement raising concerns about an increased police presence in the neighborhood. The council agreed to delay its vote after BLM asked for more time to allow the community to have input on the issue. Police Chief Brendan Heffner said he suggested the concept of a substation after Community Action's offer of a home as a residence for a police officer was not accepted. BLOOMINGTON Now that President Donald Trump has taken office, many immigrants, particularly Muslims and Latinos, are living with uncertainty and, some say, fear of what might come next. While campaigning, Trump vowed in his first 100 days to ban Muslim visitors and repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy. Since 2012, the DACA policy has provided more than 700,000 young, undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children with temporary deportation reprieves, lawful work permits and in-state tuition and scholarships if they met certain requirements, including being law-abiding. Under Trump, those youths, known as DACA-mented students, could be pulled out of their schools, homes, or jobs to face deportation, say local advocates. "This is especially troubling for many of these youths because the federal government now has their information and knows that they are officially in the United States without documentation," said Illinois State University associate professor Beth Hatt. "Many undocumented students are too scared to talk right now." Hatt, ISU professor Maura Toro-Morn and Nancy Vasquez, ISU assistant director of admissions, have created the Committee Advocating Undocumented Student Achievement (CAUSA) to help provide support to those students and educate teachers and others in the community about their plight. ISU has 25 and Heartland Community College several DACA-mented students enrolled in college credit or ESL classes. "We have students who have been in the United States most of their lives and have worked diligently in high school or community colleges with hopes of earning their college degree," said Vasquez. "The possibility of not having the opportunity to pursue a post-secondary education and or possibly being separated from immediate family members is terrifying; a devastating possibility." In December, the Bloomington District 87 Board of Education adopted a Not In Our School resolution declaring it opposes bullying, harassment, prejudice and all forms of intolerance toward any group or individual. "There was a lot of rhetoric certainly by Trump and his camp relating to those of immigrant status," said Superintendent Barry Reilly. "We wanted to send a signal to our community that we support our kids and families and diversity." Muslim community Meanwhile, while wrestling with concerns about their futures, the Islamic Center of McLean County's new resident scholar, Sheikh Khalid Herrington, is urging the Muslim community to remain positive with Trump in the Oval Office. "I am encouraging everyone not to become reactionary and to always maintain a positive stance against racism, prejudice and bigotry," he said. As resident scholar, his responsibilities include advising the center's executive board, religious counseling, interfaith dialogue and public speaking. Charlotte Alvarez, a staff attorney for The Immigration Project in Normal, said she is seeing more Muslims eager to complete the legal process to get their family members into the U.S. before legislation is enacted, or policy shifts affect their ability to ever see their families again. "We have a lot of different immigrant groups in Bloomington-Normal and across the state that are holding their breaths and looking to see what happens," she said The non-profit organization's four attorneys provided legal services to 722 immigrants in 2015 in 85 Illinois counties, with the majority of its clients from the Peoria, Champaign-Urbana, and Twin City areas. Bloomington-Normal is a "pretty diverse community," with one of its largest employers, State Farm, employing people of East Asian, Indian, Pakistani and Latino ethnicities, said Alvarez. The area also has a growing Congolese immigrant population, said Alvarez and local school officials. "The DACA-mented kids grew up in the United States and a lot are vested in education and training and have taken on professional and semi-professional jobs," she added. "So we are hoping that President Trump sees that these are productive residents of our society." Trump's campaign promises included building a wall, or fence, along parts of the U.S.-Mexico border and stepping up immigration enforcement against the countrys 11 million undocumented immigrants. Hatt said she's been asked to do professional development at elementary schools where children have built "walls" with snow or backpacks, claiming they need to "keep the Mexicans out." "So in my mind, it's not even really about whether someone has their papers or not, but instead the way Muslim and Latino communities have been marginalized and demonized; that somehow their rights as citizens matter less than the rest of us," she said. It is the "great working relationship" that local Muslims have with the larger community that was a factor in Herrington's decision to move recently to the Twin Cities with his wife and five children, he said. Hundreds of local residents turned out in December 2015 for a show of solidarity with their Muslim neighbors at an interfaith rally in downtown Bloomington. The local Muslim community reciprocated by holding open houses at their mosques. "Decisions, rhetoric and policy on a federal level, of course, have a broad impact, but the relationship with the local community is far more important at this point in regards to day-to-day life and personal reactions," said Herrington. NORMAL Madeleine Hoss, 89, died Sunday (Jan. 22, 2017) at Heritage Health, Normal. Visitation will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Calvary United Methodist Church, Normal, with her funeral service immediately following. Carmody-Flynn Funeral Home, Bloomington, is handling arrangements. Madeleine was born April 18, 1927, in Haifa, Palestine, the daughter of George and Victoria Msarsa. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Victor Msarsa. She is survived by her two sons, Eric (Terri) Hoss, Bloomington, and Kevin (Susan) Hoss, Normal; five grandchildren, Chris, Daniel, Alex, Rachel and Tyler Hoss; and her brother, Maurice (Johnnie) Msarsa, Knoxville, Tenn. Madeleine graduated from Schmidts Girls School and Training College in Jerusalem in 1944, with the goal of being a teacher. After the 1948 war with Israel, she taught Palestinian children of all ages until she left Israel for the United States in 1959. She studied at George Williams College in Chicago, where she graduated with a degree in group work education in 1962. She married Frank Hoss in 1962 in New Market, Ind. She received her masters degree in library science from Indiana University in 1968. She held various jobs in the field of library science in Kansas City, Mo.; Bloomington, Ind.; Lake Forest; Fort Dodge, Iowa; and Normal. When she arrived in Normal in 1981, she was employed in the library at Normal Community High School and was later named head librarian at University High School library and finally Zimmerman Library at Metcalf Lab School. She retired in 2005. Madeleine frequently spoke about multicultural issues and the role of the library at universities around the world during her tenure at the lab schools in Normal, and was awarded the Strand Diversity Award in 2000. Madeleine was always proud of her heritage as a Palestinian Arab. She visited many churches and schools around Illinois speaking about her background as an Arab, teaching kids how to count and speak in Arabic, and promoting a message of peace. As a self-taught pianist, she enjoyed playing songs wherever she went, including schools and nursing homes in Bloomington-Normal. Madeleine will always be remembered for her outgoing personality and smile. She never met a stranger and would talk about her life in the Holy Land to any and all people that would listen. A lifelong educator, she loved to teach children of all ages about her life and the importance of accepting others, no matter their religious background or heritage. More than anything, Madeleine loved her family and was so proud of her two boys and her grandchildren. She never hesitated to brag about their accomplishments to anyone. To her oldest friends, she was Maddy, to her students she was Hoss the Boss, and to her grandkids she was simply Teite. Madeleine will be missed by all. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given in her name to Calvary United Methodist Church or a charity of the donors choice. Condolences may be left at carmodyflynn.com. Buckman Announces New CEO, Board Leadership Steve Buckman, Presdient and CEO of Buckman, will retire on April 28. Jan. 24, 2017 - Buckman today announced that Steven B. Buckman, President/CEO, will retire effective April 28, 2017. Steve has led the company's nine global operating companies for more than 16 years. Junai Maharaj, currently Managing Director of Buckman Europe, Middle East and Africa, will become the CEO of Buckman effective April 28, 2017. In addition, Kathy Buckman Gibson, Buckman International's President and COO, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors beginning April 28, 2017. Otto Heissenberger, Jr. will retire as Chairman and plans to continue to serve as a board member. Steve Buckman has dedicated more than 42 years of his life to this company and I can confidently say that Buckman would not be what it is today without his vision, leadership and unwavering commitment to its high standards and values, said Otto Heissenberger, Jr., Chairman of the Board. Steve has transformed Buckman into a successful global specialty chemical company that focuses on sustainable success through teamwork and values honest and ethical long-term relationships with its customers. I know I speak for everyone at Buckman when I say that Steve will truly be missed. Steve began his career with Buckman in 1974 as Export Analyst. In 1987, he became President and COO of Buckman International and in 1996 assumed the role of Chairman of the Board, CEO and COO. He has served as President/CEO since 2000. Under Steve's leadership, Buckman's global sales doubled and the company received two Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge awards from the EPA. Buckman is a privately held, global specialty chemical company with headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. To learn more, please visit: www.buckman.com. SOURCE: Buckman Yesterday, in one of his many early actions to roll back Obama-era policies, President Donald Trump signed off on an executive action that gives government approval to continue the Dakota Access Pipeline. NoDAPL protestors scored a small victory in December, when the Army Corps of Engineers announced that they would stop construction on the project and look for alternative routes for the pipeline to take instead of running under the Missouri River and land sacred to the Standing Rock tribe. Despite this progress, the NoDAPL fight has continued. Protestors in North Dakota were still clashing with police as recently as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and North Dakota lawmakers have introduced a bill that would allow motorists to "accidentally" run over protestors on highways and roads. President Trump also opened the door to building the Keystone XL pipeline (which Obama had rejected). The administration also ordered the EPA to put a hold on all the grants and contracts they give out, and stop its members from tweeting or talking to the press. BREAKING: Trump bans EPA employees from providing updates on social media or to reporters, bars awarding new contracts or grants. AP Politics (@AP_Politics) January 24, 2017 Great day for the environment all around. [h/t New York Times] Among the many worries of new parents about the health of their newborn is the anxiety over the infant having autism spectrum disorder. This is because autism brings along various kinds of social, physical and mental challenges for the child, adding to the parenting difficulties.It is something that is not only painful for the children but it is even harder for the parents to see their beloved children like this. Even after the advancement in medicine and science, scientists have been unsuccessful in coming up with any cure or treatment for autism, Medical Daily explained. However, it was recently discovered that detection of autism at an early stage can help in therapeutic intervention later on. Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy group, recently disclosed an M-CHAT, a checklist that described the different symptoms of autism spectrum disorder present in toddlers. According to M-CHAT, not taking any interest in other kids, not responding when the name is called, failing to display bright smiles or other facial expressions and not showing toys to parents are all signs of autism. Likewise, if a 1-year-old baby does not babble or a 16-months-old infant does not speak, it is a matter of deep concern. The autism advocacy group has strongly emphasized the significance of detecting and recognizing autism while it is in its early stages. Prompt medical attention upon detection can largely help in future treatments, as stated by Raising Children. It was further revealed that despite developing habits on their own personal pace, children should be monitored for how fast or slow they are learning things. Additionally, early intervention can reduce the chances of making autism worse. Autism Spectrum Disorder is most widely known due to its ability to render a person incapable of having strong social links and interactions. But if detected early on, therapies can be done to help the child in their emotional, motor and social skills. Parenting is difficult enough as it is but parenting while inside a prison, where one is virtually helpless, can be both challenging and frustrating. Parents behind bars do not see their kids as often and they could not be with them even for major school or life events. Contact between parents and children is dependent on so many factors including prison rules. Fortunately, the Family Connection Center of the Department of Corrections makes the connection among families possible through a variety of ways. If physical visits are not possible then they can opt for video visits through Skype. Other parents send their recorded messages to their children while others write letters. All these methods allow them to establish connections with their kids even if they are in prison. A prisoner identified as Heather Leavitt communicates with her two kids ages eight and 17, through cards, according to NHPR. Through the recreation department of the Department of Corrections in New Hampshire, Leavitt said they are able to get a lot of cards for all occasions. Leavitt, however, admitted it was a struggle to communicate with their kids since she does not want them to feel sorry for her. But she also wanted to put more positive things in the lives of her children through her cards. Adam Carmody, a recovering addict charged with up to 20 burglary charges when the police caught him in 2011, also shared his own parenting experience while inside the prison, as per Concord Monitor. He said it was his sons who made him decide to reform after being sentenced to 15 years in prison. Carmody wanted to talk to his sons while in prison and was able to do that through the phone, thanks to the Family Connections Center. He also revealed his son asked him once if he was in prison because he stole money and jewelry but he plans to answer their questions when the right time comes. Meanwhile, the family is often devastated when a parent is completing jail time. But the parent suffers in prison alone and left to bear the immense pressure of taking care of the family while being separated from them, according to Family Lives. Parents who are in prison should also use their time to reflect on their life and the impact of what they have done to the family. At the same time, they should try to keep in touch with their children no matter how difficult, if only to keep the family ties alive. The news recently surfaced claiming the Islamic State (ISIS) militants are employing teenagers online by using "Headhunters." This was shared by the domestic intelligence agency of Germany, which stated the age of the recruits is less than 13. Recently, Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution President Hans-Georg Maassen informed the Islamic State's new target was naive, disillusioned youngsters who are easy to manipulate, to make them intrigued and persuade them into joining the radical group. "On social media networks there are practically headhunters who approach young people and get them interested in this (Islamist) ideology," Maassen stated, as RT News quoted. To support his claims, Maassen also gave examples of two cases where teenagers were found to work for IS and committed a terrorist activity. The first one was Safia S, aged 16. This German-Moroccan girl was accused last February when she stabbed a policeman at a Hanover train station. The second example was about a 12-years-old German-Iraqi boy who tried to detonate two explosives in Ludwigshafen. The incident happened last December. Both the crimes were attempted on home soil, Teen Vogue stated. Furthermore, the public displayed a great outrage directed towards the German police when they failed to properly deal with the Berlin Christmas market attacker. The fateful event unfolded as a man driving a truck hit shoppers and killed 12 people. Unfortunately, the police had falsely identified the wrong suspect as the attacker. The president of the organization, Hans-Georg Maassen, is monitoring the work of the German authorities carefully now and is contented with their handling of the real attacker. The man, Anis Amri, was a Tunisian seeking asylum in Germany. The official authorities in Germany are now keeping a strict check over 548 Islamists in the country who can pose a potential threat to the safety of the public and the entire nation. Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman says she's a helicopter parent. With two young daughters to watch over, the "Lion" star admits sometimes it's hard for her to let the girls be. The children 8-year-old Sunday Rose and 5-year-old Faith Margaret are Nicole's daughters with husband of more than 10 years Keith Urban. Nicole also has two adopted kids who are in their '20s Connor and Isabella with ex-husband Tom Cruise. "I do have elements of the helicopter parent that I grapple with," Kidman said via a Foxtel magazine interview, Daily Telegraph reports. The actress tries to let her daughters "find their own way" but she admits to struggling with hovering over them as she wants the girls to know their mother is always there. Sometimes, however, she senses her kids feel it's too much. "That's when they go, 'Please don't burst into tears when I tell you this, Mom," the actress revealed. It's this moment that helps her come to her senses with not becoming a helicopter parent so that her daughters would always open up to her. It helps that the actress' husband is also a hands-on dad who doesn't have the typical office job. Kidman relates because of Urban's musical roots and the nature of his job, the children pick up on his "gypsy heart" and the love of wandering and adventure. "He really is the guy who can go, 'Hey, we're going to Antarctica tomorrow', and he'd pack his bags," the actress said, Filmi Beat reports. So they often commute and travel as a family and live out in suitcases and hotels. Kidman relates her husband describes her as "so maternal," according to Express. She's also the type to look after everyone being the eldest child in her close-knit Australian family. "But I have had to learn that I can't take care of everybody," Kidman said. Yet as a mother of young girls, she's always on the defensive mode to always protect Sunday and Faith. "It's a primal instinct," Kidman concludes. President Barack Obama made efforts to improve public schools by diverting billions of funds to some of the worst-performing institutions in America. An analysis, however, shows that the reforms delivered nothing to impact substantial change. The Department of Education published the findings, entitled "School Improvement Grants: Implementation and Effectiveness," days before Obama was set to leave the White House. The School Improvement Grants has been established under President George W. Bush, which Obama inherited. According to The Washington Post, Obama poured $7 billion for the program from 2010 to 2015 from its initial budget of $4 billion. Schools that have been underperforming received at least $2 million each year for reforms that included replacing or adding teachers, adopting new teaching tools and strategies, or converting to charter schools, or else face closure altogether. A few schools did close or became charters but the bulk of the problem in transforming the schools became a hurdle. "Turning around our lowest-performing schools is some of the hardest, most complex work in education," Dorie Nolt of the Education department said in the Post's report. "We don't yet have solid evidence on effective, replicable, comprehensive school improvement strategies." According to the New York Post, some educators believe the program became a terrible investment when the Education department failed in its monitoring. As a result, students from these schools continue to get low test scores or have low graduation turnouts even after five years of "reforms" and wasted money. From 2009 to 2015, Arne Duncan was tasked as Obama's Education secretary who would have overseen this program. According to Press Herald, before Duncan left his position, he would often say that the school reform programs lacked attention. Meanwhile, the American Thinker cites the analysis is a boost to the stance of President Donald Trump and incoming Education secretary Betsy DeVos regarding public school education. The Trump administration has always said the funds for public schools have not been wisely spent, thus this will likely be used for charter and voucher school funding. A teenager was fatally stabbed by the husband of her mother in Dallas. The mother of the teen was also injured in the stabbing incident but she is now in a stable condition. The Dallas Morning News reported the incident took place on Monday at a Lake Highlands apartment complex. The suspect was identified as 33-year-old Antonio Townsley, who's currently being held at the Dallas County Jail with a bail set at $150,000. Authorities confirmed the identities of the victims, who were initially not identified in the news reports. The daughter was identified as 18-year-old Arrione Shamille Pinkney. The mother, on the other hand, was identified as 41-year-old Susan Pinkney, who is still at the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas and is recovering from her injuries. The daughter was still taken to the aforementioned hospital but did not survive her injuries. Police officers said they responded to a 911 call around 1:30 a.m. The apartment was located at Madison Apartments at 12800 Jupiter Road and Susan was the one who called to report the incident. The mother told the dispatcher her husband stabbed her and her daughter multiple times. When police came, Susan said she and Townsley argued over something she found on his cellphone but did not elaborate on this information. Townsley fled from the crime scene using the vehicle of Susan. Police were able to locate the suspect at around 6:30 a.m. Townsley told police his wife first attacked him with a long kitchen knife. He took the knife from his wife and stabbed her and their daughter before he fled from the home. Townsley has yet to be charged, CBS reported. Witnesses said the daughter collapsed after running out of their apartment unit. Three men who live across the hall from where the attack happened said the mother just moved into the complex a week ago but they never saw the suspect. One of the neighbors added the mother yelled "please don't hurt me" but did not call 911. The neighbor hoped he did something to help but stressed he feared for his life. Pro-life activists in Indiana took to the streets to protest against abortion in their annual march regarding the matter and this year, they prayed for the unborn children as they celebrated the 44th anniversary regarding the landmark case Roe v. Wade. Days after, Donald Trump, who was inaugurated on Jan. 20, reinstated the banning of funding to international health groups related to abortion. The Indianapolis march was joined by the members of the Right to Life pro-life group as well as the Chicago-based Crusaders for Life. The march, which included a memorial service for aborted fetuses, took place on Sunday at the Indiana War Memorial. Indiana has been a hotbed when it comes to abortion debate since March of last year after Governor Mike Pence signed a law, which would have made the state have some of the strictest restrictions regarding abortion. The law restricted abortions that would be terminated just because of fetal disability and gender. The law also required abortion centers to bury or cremate the remains of the unborn children. The law, however, was blocked by a federal judge on grounds of unconstitutionality. Indy Star also reported despite the blocking of Pence's signed law, another lawmaker proposed a bill that will criminalize all forms of abortion. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump was reportedly reinstating the blocking of funds to international health organizations, The Washington Post reported the rule, which was first founded by the 40th United States President Ronald Reagan, was basically blocking the nation to aid foreign organizations that use the funds to perform or discuss abortion. Trump's move, which came just two days after the Women's March in Washington, D.C. and in other parts of the country, was met with both criticism and praise. Democrats and pro-choice activist groups criticized Trump's decision while the move was praised by his fellow Republicans and pro-life activists. Pro-life activists said Trump's action is a vital step to make America great again while the supporters of abortion believed the move violates the core belief in individual choice. What are your thoughts regarding this matter? Sound off below. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions After World War I, the victorious allies obliged Germany to accept a treaty that was so humiliating that it directly led to World War II, because it forced Germany into a poverty and resentment from which Hitler rose to power. After World War II, the allies had learned their lesson and instead helped Germany rebuild, to create the democratic, peace-loving country it has been ever since. The lesson learned is that being magnanimous and generous even to your enemies is the right way to manage your foreign policy, and, incidentally, you can fix any problem if only you spend enough money on it. Eh, not so much. Turns out, I wrote about this briefly. Now Ive been reading about this in a book I picked up while Christmas shopping, Germany 1945 by Richard Bessel. This is not about the Marshall Plan, but about the end of the war and its immediate aftermath and its just chock full of holy ****, I didnt know that! bits. Once the war was clearly coming to its conclusion, everyone in the East was terrified of the Red Army, so much so that it affected the course of the war: where in the West there are images of German soldiers being relieved to surrender, in the East they fought to the bitter end not just because Hitler spurred them on but because they knew the Red Army would be seeking revenge, which they indeed did, burning villages, raping women, killing civilians. The resistance at the front was also strategic, in that the generals, even in the last days, after Hitler was dead and they were working out surrender terms, were aiming at getting as many of their soldiers into territory from which they could surrender to the U.S./Britain rather than the Red Army, and they were moderately successful in this effort, leaving only 30% of soldiers in the path of the Red Army where originally the large majority of their troops were in the East. And the Red Army was so vengeful not just because of the destruction of the Nazis in the Soviet Union, nor because of propaganda, but because they were further enraged at entering German cities and seeing the prosperity, the material wealth that was still evident despite the years of war and bombings, of these cities compared with their own homes in the Soviet Union. In the West, the army was not remotely as wrathful, but the French troops are singled out as having perpetrated their own mass rapes, though not as horrifically as in the East. Among the Brits and the American troops, the worst of the excess was in reaction to the concentration camp discoveries, both in directly taking revenge and allowing the prisoners free rein to exact their revenge. But all armies didnt hesitate to requisition homes, offices, or other buildings, without regard to the fate of their inhabitants, giving them just hours to vacate. All armies also interned significant numbers of people de-Nazification wasnt just about removing Nazis from their political offices, but putting them sometimes into the very same concentration camps in which Jews and other Nazi prisoners had been held though with reasonably humane treatment, except for the Soviets, who shipped them off to the Gulag, where half of them died. And there was a substantial fear of Werewolves that is, of an underground resistance, which meant, in the case of the western sectors, a curfew and other restrictions, and, in the East, the imprisoning of young men, even teenagers, coerced confessions, and, again, the Gulag. And well, it wasnt new to me that Germany had its map so radically redrawn, losing 1/5th of its territory, though I suspect most even reasonably-educated people arent aware of it. You read about the German/Russian carving-up of Poland in 1939, but never with the footnote that, oh, by the way, Russia never gave their piece back to Poland, but just sliced off the eastern part of contiguous Germany, plus took all of the isolated East Prussia region, to give to Poland in return. Now, to be sure, there were some grounds for keeping their piece, that is, the part of Poland that the Soviet Union kept was a region that, in centuries past, had passed between Poland and Ukraine multiple times before Russia swallowed it all, and was inhabited by both Poles and Ukrainians. As for taking part of Germany, that was a matter of purposefully weakening and punishing Germany, in addition to wanting to give Poland some replacement land. But the chaos and the dislocation that these population transfers involved, and the fact that the Germans being expelled did indeed suffer horribly both in their treatment before being removed, and after arriving, was extreme and these population transfers were signed off by Churchill and Roosevelt, not just imposed by Stalin. (In Konigsberg, as an extreme case, about three-quarters of the population of 100,000 immediately at the end of the war, died of starvation or disease before the remainder were expelled in 1947.) And although they were (that is, in the case of real Germans, rather than ethnic Germans, but citizens of Poland or Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia) moving from one part of Germany to another, they lost their Heimat, their homeland, nonetheless. Now, to be sure, Germans committed horrors, too, but civilians were not the perpetrators, and for the most part, did not experience the Nazis crimes, so any idea that they should look at their treatment with a philosophical well, we deserved the treatment we received is fanciful. Their genuine suffering caused them to focus solely on day-to-day survival, not on the degree to which others suffered even more during the war. What else? That notion that the Allies learned their lesson and didnt demand reparations? The Soviet Union dismantled factories and had the equipment shipped to the USSR an estimated 45% of industrial capacity by the end of 1946, plus railcars and half the train tracks in the Soviet zone by the end of 1947; even up to the end of the DDR, there were single-track lines which had originally been double-tracked. Factories that started to rebuild, only to have the fruit of their labors taken away in a further dismantling. And the Russians requisitioned various goods on top. But it wasnt just the Russians: the French, too, requisitioned German factory and farm output, both to fund their occupation troops and for reparations sent back to France. Specifically, farmers were required to turn over to the occupying authorities their entire harvest except for what they would consume themselves or use for seed. (How those farmers were supposed to be able to manage their own needs beyond food clothing, fuel, etc. seems to have not been considered.) And this all came to a head in the winter of 1945 1946, when Germans lacked for food and fuel. Oddly, this is a part of the story that isnt told, except in broad terms, and in terms of the low calorie counts of the rations provided by the occupiers. How many Germans starved, or were malnourished, before the Allies relaxed restrictions and allowed food imports and food aid, isnt clear. Heck, I have a personal anecdote, though: my Dad served in the army in the early 60s, and tells a story of driving around in Germany and having his car break down. A German family came to the rescue and fixed his car. He wanted to give them something for their trouble, but they told him that they were happy to do so, in order to, in some small way, repay the help they were given, shortly after the war, when they were literally starving, and an American GI gave them the food that kept them alive. Finally, in Bessels conclusion, he addresses the question: what prevented Germany from again seething with resentment and starting another war? He has a five-point explanation: First, the Germans were so utterly and completely defeated that they could not imagine that they were betrayed and could well have won, but for traitors. Second, the absolute defeat meant that the entire Nazi ideology was exposed as bankrupt. Third, despite our imagining it otherwise, the occupation, by all four powers, was harsh; there was no room for resistance. Fourth, the losses, the complete devastation, the loss of lives, meant that Germans were left . . . profoundly disoriented and without the energy for much more than a struggle for individual survival. And fifth (though perhaps too related to the fourth point to be a separate item), Germans were simply overwhelmingly focused on day-to-day concerns, both because of their material needs and because the lack of communication and transportation left them cut off from anything wider than their narrow geographic area. Multiple reasons . . . and none of them are that the Allies demonstrated magnanimity in victory. Now, did the United States ultimately provide aid? Yes, but not right away. Did the U.S. help Germany become a democratic, self-governing country? Yes, but not until 1950. Does it matter? Among other things, I think that we had an image of our adventure in Iraq following this imagined model: win, be nice, forge a new alliance with a democratic country. We didnt image that there would be resistance after the surrender, because there wasnt in Germany even though the situations were completey different. image: Dresden, Teilansicht des zerstorten Stadtzentrums uber die Elbe nach der Neustadt. In der Bildmitte der Neumarkt und die Ruine der Frauenkirche. Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1994-041-07 / Unknown / CC-BY-SA 3.0 [CC BY-SA 3.0 de (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons All the big things that were once taken for granted are now under assault. Thats a quote from an article by David Brooks in todays NYTimes explaining why he believes the womens march this past weekend will ultimately fail to be an effective opposition to Donald Trumps administration. The reason, Brooks says, is that marches have been focused on narrow sub-issues, while ignoring the mother of all issues for the entire world today: Ethnic Populism. The crucial problems today, Brooks says, concern the way technology and globalization are decimating jobs and tearing the social fabric; the way migration is redefining nation-states; the way the post-World War II order is increasingly being rejected as a means to keep the peace. Trumps reaction to these changes (Make America Great Again) is what animates his supporters. His American First agenda means that all the big things that were once taken for granted are now under assault, Brooks says. Globalization, capitalism, adherence to the Constitution, the American-led global order. If youre not engaging these issues first, youre not going to be in the main arena of national life. Where did this ethnic populism come from? In Thomas Friedmans new book, Thank You for Being Late, he tells a story relayed to him by Lawrence Summers. Summers had flown into Chicago for an event in 1988. The car that picked him up from the airport had a telephone in it. A carphone was such a novel idea back then that Summers picked it up and called his wife and every friend he could think of to brag about it. Fast forward nine years later Summers was headed to a remote village in the Ivory Coast as part of his duties as Deputy Treasury Secretary. As he was stepping into the back of a dugout canoe an Ivory Coast official handed him a cellphone and said, Washington has a question for you. In just nine years Summers had gone from being blown away by the presence of a car phone, to nonchalantly using a cellphone from the back of a dugout canoe in rural Abidjan. The point is this: the rate of change is not only incredibly fast, its global. In previous eras societies could go several centuries without having to deal with the rate of change we now experience. In a span of 5 to 7 years entire technological platforms are invented, packaged, sold until they reach global saturation, and become obsolete. Thats how long you get. About 5 to 7 years and then you have to re-imagine your job and your place in a world whos pace has hit unprecedented speeds. The hard reality is this: the pace of change is far outpacing the ability of many of our citizens to adapt, especially white, straight, educated men and women. This group is simply not equipped to having to make these kinds of wholesale adaptations to a quickly changing environment. We want the old environment back again. Thats why the crucial word in President Trumps winning campaign slogan was not America or even Great. The key to the slogans appeal was the word: again. Again is an appeal to the old environment, a promise to turn back the clock and reembody a bygone era in which middle class, white, educated, straight, married, men (mostly) could control the rates of change, and make sure those changes would benefit their own group. However, the promise of again is unrealistic. The factors driving the speed of cultural change are the toothpaste that cant be put back in the tube. The most incredible wall on the planet wont stop globalization. Youd have to dismantle the internet to make that happen. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back unless that whole sector rejects technology and automation. Global warming is real. Whether or not one believes human carbon emissions are causing it, we are still going to have to adapt to the frightening changes in the earths climate. There is no again, there is only today, and a future that will either be better or worse depending upon our ability to work together in good faith. The reality is that everyoneleft, right, or centeris going to have to embrace words that have so much more power than the word again. Words like: Reimagine. Invent. Adapt. Change. Learn. These are the words that will lead the way forward. Community. Friendship. Forgiveness. Grace. Mercy. The future will belong to those who learn to live by words such as these, those who can work together and live together as one funky and diverse community. Nature loves diversity and its incredibly adaptive and resilient. We could take a page from natures book. The truth is, there will be no making America great again. There will only be making America anew again, and againreimagining a future in which we are not building walls, but rather building communities of cooperation, friendship, forgiveness, and justice. The definition of America is up for grabs, Brooks says. It will not be determined by identity politics. Its going to take a global agenda. Thats the America we have to make. There is no again. There is only anew. Christian theology is incredibly suited for this endeavor. Jesus was all about new life, new creation, and new beginnings. The promise of Christianity is that we believe there will be a future day in which there is no more brokenness, no more death and decay, and Peace will rule every corner of existence. We believe that this future day has come crashing back into the present world in and through Christ. Gods peace is exploding into the world anywhere people allow themselves to be part of the body of Christ, the church. There are no limits to this peace, and anyone who wants can be a part of it. Thats not a a story of again. Thats a story of anew, the brand-new, the future of God, breaking into the present day. Thats the Christian story. Thats the story I want to live in. Patna: Janata Dal U leader and former party President Sharad Yadav, during a function in honor of former Chief Minister of Bihar Karpoori Yadav on Tuesday, put his party colleague and Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar in an unenviable position when he said that today's Congress Party was worse off than it was during the Emergency period under former Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Speaking at the Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna, Yadav, who was sharing the stage with Kumar and other senior party leaders, said that due to a series of financial scandals during the UPA government, the Congress Party of today was in worse shape than ever before, including the dark days of the Emergency that led to the decimation of the party in the '77 Lok Sabha elections. Continuing his tirade against the Congress, Yadav said that the party had lost all of its ground in the southern states and was about to become politically extinct in the north as well. Kumar, who was only a few feet away from the podium, was seen making a face expressing annoyance at Yadav's off the cuff remark about an ally. As recalled, Congress, being a part of the Grand Alliance in Bihar, is an ally of both Nitish-led JD-U and Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Reacting to Yadav's unexpected remarks, Congress state President and Bihar Education Minister Ashok Kumar Chowdhary tried to play down his comments saying no one in the Congress Party took Sharad Yadav seriously. "No one takes him seriously; now if Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had said something like this, it would have meant something and we would have taken appropriate measures in that case," Chowdhary said. Interestingly, less than 24 hours ago, the three members of the so-called Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, in a show of unity, held a joint media event in Patna in an attempt to dispel any rumor of cracks within the alliance. Stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are up at the midday mark, with the materials sector (XLB) leading the way, and telecom (IYZ) lagging in the red. Jonathan Corpina of Meridian Equity Partners joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange. To discuss the other big stories of the day, Alexis Christoforous is joined by Yahoo Finances Rick Newman and Yahoo Tech founder David Pogue. Trump meets with Big 3 automakers to talk jobs, regulations Donald Trump met this morning with the CEOs of the Big 3 automakers: Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler. The President started by saying he wants to see new auto plants built in the United States. He also vowed to cut taxes and reduce unnecessary regulations and make America more hospitable to manufacturers. President Trump gives go-ahead to Keystone, Dakota pipelines President Trump also took executive action today, giving the go-ahead for construction of two controversial oil pipelines: the Keystone XL and the Dakota Access. Keystone was rejected by the Obama administration, and the North Dakota project stalled after opposition from Native American groups. Tech Tuesday with David Pogue: Google Voice gets a major upgrade Each week, Yahoo Tech founder David Pogue talks about the latest innovations in the tech arena. This week hes discussing Google Voice, which just got a long-overdue, upgrade as well as a major facelift. The Far Right's Obsession with Iran 01/24/17 by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog) Marine Le Pen (photo by Claude Truong-Ngoc via Wikimedia Commons) In his inauguration speech, President Donald Trump vowed to eradicate "radical Islamic terrorism" from the "face of earth." His top lieutenants have identified the targets of this effort. Rex Tillerson, in his confirmation testimony for secretary of state, lumped together the so-called Islamic State (ISIS or IS), al-Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), and "some elements within Iran"-even though Shia Iran is bitterly opposed to the ultra-Salafist IS and al-Qaeda and, to a lesser degree, the Sunni fundamentalist MB. Trump's inner circle - his ideologue-in-chief Steve Bannon and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn - seem to have an equally un-discerning view. As Bannon explained, addressing an audience in 2014, "I believe you should take a very, very, very aggressive stance against radical Islam ... If you look back at the long history of the Judeo-Christian West struggle against Islam, I believe that our forefathers kept their stance, and I think they did the right thing. I think they kept it out of the world, whether it was at Vienna, or Tours, or other places." Yet, apart from such sweeping "clash of civilizations"-type assertions, this ambitious project looks remarkably scant on details. Although Bannon, for example, is very hostile to Saudi Arabia, he has never made his views on Iran known, nor is he on the record showing any understanding of the differences between Sunni and Shia. Flynn is known for his obsessive Iranophobia. And James Mattis, the Defence Secretary sometimes seen as a potentially moderating influence in the Trump cabinet, went as far as to suggest that Iran and IS may somehow be in cahoots. Bannon and Flynn's Islamophobia resonates strongly with the similar-minded populist nationalist parties in Europe, for whom this is one key aspect of their revolt against the "globalist elite". But on Iran, the views seem to be diverging. The far right's most powerful European representative is Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French National Front and, according to the polls, one of the leading contenders for the presidency in the elections in May 2017. In her role as a member of the European Parliament (EP), Le Pen has expressed some remarkably moderate views about Iran. For example, she tabled a number of amendments to the opinion of the EP's International Trade Committee on the EU-Iran relations after the nuclear agreement. One of those amendments removed the original language on Iran's "self-chosen isolation"-drafted by Marietje Schaake, a Dutch liberal known for her strong criticisms of Iran's human rights record and regional policies-and replaced it with a statement that the nuclear agreement "makes it possible for European countries to cooperate fully with Iran, to the benefit of all." Another amendment deplores "the EU interference in Iran's internal affairs" and reaffirms its right "to make sovereign choices." In the same vein, she also rejects the notion that the EU has to use its economic leverage on Iran to push for human rights agenda, warning that such an approach could be perceived as "an imposition of Western values and cultural colonization." In yet another clause, in reference to the existing US sanctions against Iran, Le Pen urges EU member states and the Commission to defend EU companies against the "extraterritorial applications of US law." None of these amendments was adopted, since there is an unwritten agreement between the two largest groups in the EP-the center-right Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats-not to vote for amendments tabled by members of the Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF), the far-right group of which Le Pen's National Front is a founding member. Instead, at a later stage the EP overwhelmingly adopted the moderate and pragmatic report on EU-Iran relations drafted by the British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, a member of the Social Democratic group. Another far-right member of the EP, Udo Voigt from the German neo-Nazi National Democratic Party, sits on the EP delegation for relations with Iran. Several reasons might explain the European far right's apparent fondness for Iran. First, it should be seen as part of a populist repudiation of the "liberal globalist elite," with its notions of universal human rights and free markets. Like Vladimir Putin's Russia with its emphasis on "traditional values," Iran with its system of governance and defiant foreign policy is seen as a perfect embodiment of a challenge to this "elite," and thus worthy of support. Some European extremists adore the Iranian system precisely for the same reasons that liberals abhor it, such as the widespread use of the death penalty, which they dream of bringing back to Europe. Second, supporting Iran can be seen as a poke in the eyes of the continental elites enjoying too cozy relations with the Gulf monarchies, particularly Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which the European political class, intelligence services, and general public increasingly acknowledge as sponsors of Wahhabi extremism and blame for terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels. In the end, however, the far right's voting record in the EP suggests that for them Iran is more of an instrumental issue rather than a matter of firm convictions. For example, despite all the superficially Iran-friendly rhetoric, most members of the ENF either abstained or voted against the Howitt report (Le Pen herself abstained). Likewise, despite all the Saudi-bashing, Le Pen and two thirds of the ENF voted against the amendment calling on the EU to introduce an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia in the framework of the EP resolution on the humanitarian situation in Yemen adopted in February 2016. This suggests that the European far right parties are most unlikely to play Iran's representatives in a nascent transatlantic populist "international." It seems far likelier that, if the European far right ever reaches the pinnacle of power in an important European country, it will not allow the divergent views on Iran to stand in the way of a common Islamophobic agenda with the likes of Bannon and Flynn, even at the cost of wrecking the nuclear deal. Which is another reason to avoid such a scenario at all costs. This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament. About the Author Eldar Mamedov has degrees from the University of Latvia and the Diplomatic School in Madrid, Spain. He has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the delegation for inter-parliamentary relations between the EP and Iran. Iran, Russia, Turkey agree on mechanism to ensure Syria truce 01/24/17 Source: Press TV Syrian peace talks have wrapped up in Kazakhstan's capital of Astana, with Iran, Russia and Turkey agreeing on the establishment of a trilateral mechanism to support the ceasefire in the country and monitor possible violations. The final joint statement, which was read by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov on Tuesday afternoon (local time), underlined the importance of maintaining the national sovereignty of Syria. The trio stressed that there was no military solution to the Syria conflict and it can be only resolved through a political process based on full implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254. The three countries also agreed to work out a trilateral agreement with the goal of supervising the ceasefire in the Arab country to guarantee all parties' commitment to Syria truce and prevent possible violations of ceasefire. Elsewhere in the statement, Iran, Russia and Turkey backed participation of Syria's armed opposition in UN-sponsored negotiations on Syria, which are scheduled to be held in the Swiss city of Geneva next month. The statement said the three countries "support the willingness of the armed opposition groups to participate in the next round of negotiations" under UN auspices in Geneva on February 8. The opposition has reportedly expressed dissatisfaction over the statement. They also reaffirmed their commitment to protecting sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria as a democratic country. Mohammed Alloush, who headed the Syrian opposition delegation to Astana talks, said the opposition had reservations about the final communique of the talks, adding that opposition groups had submitted a separate ceasefire proposal. He said Russia was expected to respond within a week to the ceasefire proposal offered by opposition groups. Among salient features of Astana talks on Syria was absence of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which had taken part in previous meetings on Syria in the Swiss city of Geneva. The government of Syria had voiced its vehement disagreement to participation of Riyadh and Doha in Astana talks ahead of the international gathering, citing their support for armed militants, who had wreaked havoc in the Arab country in a bid to topple the legitimate government in Damascus. Marginalization of the United States was another feature of Astana talks. Iran had also objected to presence of Washington in Syria peace negotiations with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif noting that no joint invitation had been extended to the United States for participation in Syria talks. The United States, therefore, decided not to send a full diplomatic delegation to Astana and instead, US ambassador to Kazakhstan took part in the meeting only as an observer. Last month, Iran, Russia, and Turkey worked out a deal enabling the evacuation of civilians and militants from Aleppo as the Syrian forces were about to retake the northwestern city from Takfiri militants. That also paved the way for a ceasefire applying to the entire country, which has been largely holding. In contrast, numerous rounds of UN-brokered talks and attempts by other players to enforce a ceasefire have failed in the past. The talks mainly focused on consolidating the newly-negotiated ceasefire. On Monday, Syria's Minister of State for National Reconciliation Affairs Ali Haidar said the talks were also addressing the prospect of the Syrian government and opposition carrying out joint anti-terrorism efforts and an absolute differentiation of the opposition from terrorist groups. The ceasefire and the talks have already excluded the Takfiri terrorist groups of Daesh and al-Nusra based on a consensus between Damascus and its opponents. Russian President Vladimir Putin's point man on Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, who is heading the Russian delegation, said, "If at the beginning, the members of the [opposition] delegation were somewhat under stress, the level of distress significantly decreased." Ja'afari: Astana talks successful Syria's chief negotiator in Astana talks and the country's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari took part in a press conference after the final statement of talks was read out. Answering a question, Ja'afari emphasized that the Astana meeting on the ceasefire in Syria was a "success." Referring to the final statement, he added, "Finally we have a consensual paper agreed upon by everybody." He also brushed aside Syrian opposition's anger about Iran's presence at the talks, praising Tehran for its positive role in Syria and facilitating the peace process in the country. "When you deal with politics, you do not follow emotions or sentiments. You should ... act according to your national interests. The issue here is not about who is happy and who is not happy. The issue is that finally we have a consensual paper, called final communique and agreed upon by everybody. This is the result that we should care about," he added. The top Syrian negotiator noted, "Those who say that they are not happy because of the negative role of this party or that party, whether it is Iran or elsewhere, they are fishing in the murky waters, as we say in good English. Iran is one of the three guarantors, equal to Russia and Turkey, and Iran played a positive role in facilitating this final formula that is expressed in the final declaration." Ja'fari then took Turkey to task for its negative role in abetting militants in Syria, saying, "If we wanted to act the way they (the opposition) did, we could also say that the Turkish role is a negative one, and it is a negative one. But we do not say it, because we are diplomats and we are responsible." The Syrian envoy stressed that the main purpose of the Astana talks was to find a mechanism for "cessation of hostilities." mSecure password manager review TechRadar Pro Updated In our mSecure password manager review, we take an in-depth look at this password manager to help you decide if its the most secure way to handle your sensitive data. Anyone who uses the popular Cisco WebEx extension for Chrome should update to the latest version pronto. Google security researcher Tavis Ormandy recently discovered a serious vulnerability in the Chrome extension that leaves PCs wide open to attack. In older versions of the extension (before version 1.0.3) malicious actors could add a magic string to a web address or file hosted on a website. The magic string was designed to remotely activate the WebEx browser extension. Once the extension was activated the bad guys could execute malicious code on the target machine. Ian Paul The impact on you at home: Its a good idea for anyone who uses this extension to make sure its updated to the latest version given the severity of the vulnerability. To start type chrome://extensions into the Chrome address bar and hit Enter. Next, scroll down until you see the entry for the Cisco WebEx Extensionextensions are organized alphabetically. To the right of the extension name you should hopefully see version 1.0.5, as pictured above. Protect yourself If you dont, you can do one of three things. The first is to uninstall the extension by clicking the garbage can icon, and then reinstall it from the Chrome Web Store. The second method is to check the Developer mode box in the top right corner of the chrome://extensions page. That will reveal a button in the top right corner called Update extensions now. Click that, and you should be all set. Its not clear if version 1.0.5 offers any significant protection against the threat Ormandy describes. Apparently, all version 1.0.3 did was offer a pop-up anytime that magic code was used, according to Cloudfare security researcher Filippo Valsorda. That puts the onus on the user to make sure they really want to be using WebEx when that pop-up appears. IDG That brings us to the last solution. If youd rather not bother with the extension its also possible to use a temporary, downloadable desktop program each time you want to use WebEx. That may not be convenient, but its an alternative. Ormandys discovery raised enough eyebrows that Mozilla blocked WebEx for Firefox. At this writing, version 1.0.3 of the extension (released on Tuesday, January 24) was in the Firefox add-ons catalog; however, as Mozilla has yet to review the updated extension it cant be installed on the mainstream version of Firefox 43 and up. ARM tried to break into the PC market but had a disastrous outing starting with Linux-based smartbooks and then tablets with Windows RT. But ARM is launching a comeback in PCs, and the third time could be a charm. ARM chips could emerge as a threat to Intels x86 as super thin laptops get smartphone-like usability with cellular connectivity and long battery life. The comeback for ARM is starting with Chromebooks, with more models hosting the chip architecture. Lenovos new N23 Yoga Chromebook a 2-in-1 with an 11.6-screen has MediaTeks quad-core MT8173c chip, based on ARM. At CES, Samsung announced Chromebook Plus, which uses an ARM-based Exynos chip. Acer last year shipped the Chromebook R13 with the MediaTek MT8173c chip. The ARM-based Chromebooks have flexible designs and can be used as laptops or tablets. All Chromebooks due for release this year will be compatible with Android mobile apps in the Play Store. Thats where ARM holds an advantage over x86 most Android apps are designed for ARM, which dominates in mobile devices. Most Android smartphones and tablets have ARM chips, so its common sense to put them in Chromebooks, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. Later this year, ARM will appear in Windows 10 laptops powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 835. The laptops are being called cellular PCs, which will include smartphone-like capabilities of cellular connectivity and long battery life. ARM has ruled the mobile market but has failed to make a dent in laptops and desktops, despite multiple attempts by PC makers to introduce products. The most notable failures are around the tablets with Microsofts Windows RT OS, which found no adopters. But as more data moves into the cloud, the time is ripe for ARM to make a comeback to Windows PCs and Chromebooks, McGregor said. Application compatibility was a big reason Windows RT devices failed, McGregor said. At the time, ARM could not support most of the legacy Windows applications, but that wont be an issue anymore. The ARM-based Windows 10 PCs coming later this year will have an emulator to run legacy Windows apps. Any application that runs on x86 chips will also run on ARM chips, said Cisco Cheng, a Snapdragon evangelist at Qualcomm. Qualcomms Snapdragon 835 chip will also bring new features to laptops. The chip has a superfast cellular modem that can download data at speeds of up to 1Gbps (bits per second). It also has quick charging features, Bluetooth 5, and 4K graphics. Laptops will be thin and offer long battery life. But PC makers are cautious and dont want to commit to releasing an ARM-based Windows 10 PC quite yet. But PC makers are showing enthusiasm for the idea of superthin laptops with long battery life that can remain connected to mobile networks all day. Dell is waiting to test the hardware before committing to releasing an ARM-based Windows 10 laptop, said Raza Haider, vice president for commercial client products at Dell. But the idea of an ARM-based cellular PC is attractive, and Dell wants to offer all kinds of laptop options to its clients, Haider said. HP declined to comment on whether it wants to release an ARM-based Windows 10 PC. However, the company already offers the Elite X3, a Windows 10 Mobile smartphone with an ARM chip that can double as a PC in a pinch. That could open the door for an ARM-based Windows 10 laptop in the future. Lenovo declined to comment on its plans for an ARM-based Windows 10 PC. Lenovo has been shy about adopting ARM-based chips for its laptops and desktops, but the N23 Yoga is its first Chromebook with a non-x86 chip. Microsoft today is mostly reliant on x86 for the Windows OS, and is turning to ARM because it wants to compete in the mobile world, Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates, said in a research note. Its in Microsofts best interests to make Windows 10 compatible with ARM, and cellular PCs may be just the way to break the long-standing Wintel alliance, Gold said. It will also give Microsoft more flexibility to deploy the Windows OS. For device makers, competition between ARM chips and x86 is a good scenario. It gives PC makers more choices to add to their product mix and gives them more leverage in negotiations with Intel. In the end, the adoption of ARM boils down to the price of laptops. Lenovos N23 Yoga Chromebook is aggressively priced starting at US$279, but the ARM-based Windows 10 cellular laptops may be much more expensive. The Snapdragon 835 is an expensive, top-line chip that will appear in smartphones priced above $500, and theres no way laptops including the chip will cost less than that, Gold said. Intel will still offer x86 PC chips for low-cost PCs and continue to dominate that market. Another threat for Intel is coming from AMDs Ryzen chips in the high-performance x86 PC market. The failure of Windows RT on ARM-based tablets is also fresh on the minds of PC makers. If PC makers find a considerable amount of application compatibility issues on ARM-based Windows 10 PCs, that could affect the adoption. Microsoft has demonstrated applications on ARM-based Windows PCs, but extensive independent tests havent yet been conducted. ARM licenses chip designs but isnt aggressively chasing the PC market. Its the chip and device makers licensing ARM designs that want to put the chips in as many devices as possible. But the opportunity to strike a blow to x86 in Chromebooks and Windows PCs is real this time round, and PC makers will investigate it, McGregor said. UPDATE (Friday, Feb. 3): Probationer accused of shooting Riverside AM/PM store clerk arraigned A 27-year-old Riverside man was arrested early Monday, Jan. 23, after authorities say he shot at a person during an altercation and then barricaded himself inside a home. Witnesses told police that a group of people arrived at the AM-PM minimarket at 4901 La Sierra Ave. about 10 p.m. Sunday and began fighting, according to a statement from Riverside police. When an employee from a nearby business tried to intervene, one of the people fighting pulled out a handgun fired a shot in the employees direction, the statement says. The employee ran to a nearby business and hid, but he wasnt hurt. The round hit a building. Officers arrived after the shooter had left and they spoke to a woman who said she was present during the altercation. Officers determined the incident was the result of a domestic violence incident, the statement says. They found suspect Eric Scott at a home in the 10700 block of Campbell Avenue. Believing Scott was armed with a shotgun, officers surrounded the house and saw him inside. They told him to come out, but he refused and indicated he wanted to commit suicide by cop, according to the statement. A SWAT team was called to respond with a member of the Emergency Negotiations Team. The ENT member convinced Scott to surrender and he was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, felony inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and several misdemeanors. He was arrested at 2:45 a.m. Monday and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center, where he remained Tuesday morning with bail set at $1 million. Gov. Jerry Brown vowed to protect the states progressive ideals and fight President Donald Trump on immigration, health care and the environment in a defiant State of the State Address on Tuesday, Jan. 24. In a 16-minute speech titled California is Not Turning Back, Not Now, Not Ever, Brown, a Democrat, outlined a plan to shield undocumented immigrants, stop climate change and preserve health care coverage as Republicans look to dismantle Obamacare. He noted that his great-grandfather arrived in California in 1852 from Hamburg, Germany aboard a ship named Perseverance. It is that spirit of perseverance and courage which built our state from the beginning, Brown told a joint legislative session at the state Capitol in Sacramento. And it is that spirit which will get us through the great uncertainty and the difficulties ahead. He later said: While we now face different challenges, make no mistake: the future is uncertain and dangers abound. Whether its the threat to our budget, or to undocumented Californians, or to our efforts to combat climate change or even more global threats such as a financial meltdown or a nuclear incident or terrorist attack this is a time which calls out for courage and for perseverance. I promise you both. The four-term governor noted that one in every eight Americans lives in California, which he said is home to the worlds sixth most-powerful economy. When California does well, America does well, Brown said. And when California hurts, America hurts. And when we defend California, we defend America. Browns annual address continues a theme of resistance to Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress that started soon after Trumps November victory with promises by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, and state Senate President pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, to oppose the Republican agenda. While he won a majority of electoral votes, Trump lost to Hillary Clinton in California, a state with a plurality of Democratic voters and where Democrats firmly control state government and a majority of congressional seats. More than 2 million undocumented immigrants are believed to live in California, and Trump campaigned on a promise to deport those who are in the U.S. illegally. The state also stands to lose billions of federal dollars if the Affordable Care Act is repealed, a move that could imperil health coverage for millions of Californians. Before his speech, Brown swore in Xavier Becerra as Californias new attorney general. A son of immigrants and a Democratic congressman from Los Angeles, Becerra is expected to lead the states legal fight against the GOP agenda. Hes serving the remainder of Kamala Harris term following her election to the U.S. Senate. In his remarks, Brown didnt mention Trump by name. While no one knows what the new leaders will actually do, there are signs that are disturbing, he said. We have seen the bald assertion of alternative facts whatever those are. We have heard the blatant attacks on science. Familiar signposts of our democracy truth, civility, working together have been obscured or swept aside. AMEN TO THAT! Saying immigrants helped create the wealth and dynamism of this state from the very beginning, Brown conceded that the Washington sets immigration policy. But as a state we can and have had a role to play, he said. Let me be clear: 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. Brown, 78, who is more than halfway through his second and final term, told lawmakers he intends to join with other governors and with you to do everything we can to protect the health care of our people. The governor also pledged to defend Planned Parenthood, saying the womens health care provider has been unfairly attacked in too many places in this country. The state will not back down from the fight against climate change even if Trump does, Brown said. We cannot fall back and give in to the climate deniers, he said. The science is clear. The danger is real. We can do much on our own and we can join with others other states and provinces and even countries, to stop the dangerous rise in climate pollution, Brown added. And make no mistake, we are going to do exactly that. The governor did praise Trumps plan to invest in new infrastructure. Amen to that brother! Brown said. And in this we can all work together here in Sacramento and in Washington as well. He also called for civility and extended an olive branch to state GOP lawmakers, who lost influence when Democrats regained their legislative supermajority last November. Democrats are in the majority, but Republicans represent real Californians too, Brown said. We went beyond party when we reformed workers compensation, when we created a rainy day fund and when we passed the water bond. The speech ended with the governor quoting lyrics from the Woody Guthrie folk classic, This Land is Your Land. California is not turning back. Not now, not ever, Brown said. GOP RESPONSE In a written response, Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley described two Californias one wealthy, the other struggling to get by. Assembly Republicans have a vision of California that works for the people, and we dont need higher taxes or deficit spending to get there, Mayes said. We will fix existing broken government programs rather than growing more failed government programs. In a news release, Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake, said he was disappointed with the tone of the governors speech, and I feel his defensive posture towards the new administration is premature at best. Obernolte said he was encouraged to hear Brown talk of bipartisanship, a sentiment echoed by state Sen. Jeff Stone, R-Temecula. Now is not the time to pick petty partisan fights that continue to divide our state, Stone said in a news release. Assemblyman Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, called the speech spin instead of leadership. When was the last time he went on a ride-along with a police officer? When was the last time he stood in line for a job? Patterson said in a written statement. This was a speech for the insiders who have gotten us into the trouble we are in and California deserves a whole lot better. TAKE THAT, TRUMP Gov. Jerry Browns State of the State Address served as a gauntlet thrown down at President Donald Trumps agenda. On immigration: California has enacted several protective measures for the undocumented: the Trust Act, lawful drivers licenses, basic employment rights and non-discriminatory access to higher education. We may be called upon to defend those laws and defend them we will. And let me be clear: 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. On health care: More than any other state, California embraced the Affordable Care Act and over five million people now enjoy its benefits. But that coverage has come with tens of billions of federal dollars. Were any of that to be taken away, our state budget would be directly affected, possibly devastated. That is why I intend to join with other governors and with you to do everything we can to protect the health care of our people. On climate change: Whatever they do in Washington, they cant change the facts. And these are the facts: the climate is changing, the temperatures are rising and so are the oceans. Natural habitats everywhere are under increasing stress. The world knows this. RELATED Gov. Brown tries to scale back on state budget Trump administration orders social media blackout at EPA, USDA Pro-Trump party in Riverside roars in approval for new president Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@scng.com Author Minxin Pei is the scheduled speaker at a World Affairs Council Inland Southern California event set for Thursday, Feb. 2. In Chinas Crony Capitalism: The Dynamics of Regime Decay, Pei argues that corruption operates at every level in China and has been the foundation of power since 1989. Chinese political elites understand that private wealth must connect with political power to be secure in modern Chinas economic and political system. Pei, director of the Keck Center for International and Strategic Studies at Claremont McKenna College, will discuss how such corruption endangers Chinas one-party government and whether President Xi Jinpings anti-corruption efforts are working. The event is from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Esri Conference Center, 380 New York St., Redlands. Admission is free. Reservations: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/redlands-forum-world-affairs-council-tickets-31031801955 Contact the writer: 951-368-9292, stwall@scng.com, @pe_swall Consuls of four Latin American countries signed an agreement Monday at the Mexican consulate in San Bernardino pledging to share resources and help citizens of each others countries living in the Inland Empire. The consulates of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have cooperated before now, but they said apparent policy shifts by the United States added urgency and made it important to formalize their united stand. (Because of) the political situation we are living in now, its important to send this message of unity, said Billy Adolofo Jose Munoz, consul of Guatemala in San Bernardino. Related: What goals the new Mexican Consulate chief has set In concrete terms, each of the consuls will now field calls from nationals of the other three countries and share resources such as attorneys who help with immigration and other issues, said Salomon Rosas Ramirez, consul of Mexico in San Bernardino. Our common agenda is: To open paths for development; to promote peace, safe and orderly migration; and to confirm our commitment to the protection of human rights, Rosas Ramirez said, quoting Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto: In relation to the United States we have reiterated and here were going to repeat: Neither confrontation nor submission. The choice is dialogue and negotiation. Known as TRICAMEX referring to three countries in Central Americas Northern Triangle and Mexico the agreement is the latest in a series first signed by consulates of the four countries representing citizens living in the area of McAllen, Texas. The initiative launched in that border city in December 2015, and last month the counties top officials agreed to expand it in other cities in the United States that have consulates of the four countries. The agreement was signed Monday by Rosas Ramirez and Munoz, as well as Maria Mercedes Lopez Pena, consul of El Salvador in Los Angeles. The Honduran representative was unavailable Monday but will sign later, according to the other consuls. Contact the writer: rhagen@scng.comTwitter: rmhagen San Bernardino terrorist attack survivors and victims relatives got a chance last week to tell federal and state officials about their continuing struggles to get treatment and how theyd like a $4 million anti-terrorism grant spent to help them. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, held the meeting Wednesday with at least 20 survivors and family members of about half of the 14 people killed at the Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2, 2015. Representatives from Teamsters Local 1932, whose members include survivors employed by San Bernardino County, and the California Victim Compensation Board, which administers the grant, also were there. The county administers its workers compensation program. The meeting was to get a sense of what the needs were, said survivor Julie Swann-Paez, one of those who attended. This was to help guide them. Aguilar wanted to hear directly about challenges that survivors and victims families face to get care, according to his staff. This meeting was about hearing personally from the victims so I can be the best advocate to ensure this is resolved as quickly as possible, he said in a statement. On the day of the meeting, four survivors said in a news release that theyre being retraumatized by the county. Paula Harold said she has had to undergo two five- to seven-hour psychological exams. Her attorney, Geraldine Ly, said workers comp requires people undergo a barrage of questions to determine if theyve suffered a psychological injury. Debbie Munden said an appointment was set up with a new psychologist without her consent on her daughters birthday. Mahury Flores and John Ramos said theyre being denied medications or forced to pay out of pocket even after the county contracted with an outside agency to provide case management for more survivors. The county didnt order mental exams and has no say over medical treatments or what workers comp utilization review doctors require, county spokesman David Wert said. Teamsters Local 1932 business agent Susan Carl, who was at the meeting, said they were told the feds and the state will monitor how every dime of the grant is spent, rather than leaving that to county officials. Theyve known for a long time its not working, Carl said. In my view, the outcome of that meeting was that, finally, someone got the victims together and listened to their concerns. The private meeting was held a day before San Bernardino County Chief Executive Greg Devereaux announced hes retiring. Devereauxs retirement is due to family issues and unrelated to survivors issues, Wert said. Last fall, survivors began reporting denials or delays for surgeries, physical therapy, counseling, equipment and prescriptions. They said they tried for nearly a year to get help from the self-insured county during private meetings where they explained problems with a California workers comp system not designed for terrorist attacks. County supervisors vowed Nov. 28 to hire an outside firm to expedite the workers comp process after survivors first spoke out publicly at a county board meeting that day. County officials said as recently as last week that many problems came from survivors doctors not submitting documentation. On Jan. 17, Wert said in a news release that about $1.3 million of the grant would go to the county for more than $20 million in expenses from the attack. Survivors expressed disappointment over that news. The next day, Wert issued a news release saying county officials would ask Aguilar and the state to use the $1.3 million for survivors medical treatment not funded by workers comp. Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@scng.com More than one student at Temescal Canyon High School in Lake Elsinore will be disciplined after a possible threat of a school shooting surfaced on social media, officials said. Riverside County sheriffs officials deemed the threat not credible after searching the students homes and conducting interviews Monday, Jan. 23, said Deputy Michael Vasquez, a department spokesman. No arrests have been made, he said. The incident comes more than a week after a fifth-grader at Lake Mathews Elementary School near Riverside wrote a kill list with classmates names. The student, a boy, received a two-day suspension but did not go back to the school after outraged parents vowed to keep their kids from class if he returned. Lake Elsinore Unified School District spokesman Mark Dennis said officials contacted police after they became aware of the possible threat posted on Twitter late Sunday night. More than one student was involved but Dennis said he couldnt give an exact number because the investigation continues. The district issued an email, voice message and text alert to parents before classes began Monday. We let them know the sheriffs department investigated this and they found it non credible and determined it was a hoax, Dennis said. He said officials received an initial report of a vague threat identifying the school. As information spread, people speculated online about hate or harm or what might happen, Dennis said. It escalated and snowballed, he said. Its safe to say that the message people were taking was that there might be a shooting-type scenario, Dennis said. About 80 to 100 kids are absent from the 2,200-student campus on a typical day, but 500 students missed school Monday, Dennis said. Illnesses and inclement weather also could be reasons for the higher number, he said. Principal Whitney DAmico sent another alert Monday afternoon, thanking law enforcement and letting parents know that those involved have been identified and now face the consequences of their behavior. Discipline could be up to and including expulsion, Dennis said. RELATED Fifth-graders kill list alarms parents in Riverside area Student with kill list wont be back to Riverside-area school King High plot suspects to be charged with conspiracy to commit murder UPDATE (11:20 a.m.): Adds USDA. The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants. Emails sent to EPA staff since President Donald Trumps inauguration on Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press detailed the specific prohibitions banning press releases, blog updates or posts to the agencys social media accounts. The Trump administration has also ordered a temporary suspension of all new business activities at the department, including issuing task orders or work assignments to EPA contractors. The orders are expected to have a significant and immediate impact on EPA activities nationwide. RELATED: Pact signed by Latin American consuls sends message of unity The EPA did not respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment Monday or Tuesday. The executive director for the advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Jeff Ruch, said the orders go beyond what has occurred in prior presidential transitions. Were watching the dark cloud of Mordor extend over federal service, Ruch said Tuesday, referring to the evil kingdom in the epic fantasy, The Lord of the Rings. Ruch noted that key posts at EPA have not yet been filled with Republican appointees, including Trumps nominee for EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt. That means there are not yet the new senior personnel in place to make key decisions. An Agriculture Department research agency has banned the release of news releases, photos and other material to the public. In a memo to employees at USDAs Agricultural Research Service, chief of staff Sharon Drumm said the agency would immediately cease releasing any public-facing documents. This includes, but is not limited to, news releases, photos, fact sheets, news feeds, and social media content, read the email memo obtained by The Associated Press. A statement released by ARS spokesman Christopher Bentley said the agency values and is committed to maintaining the free flow of information between our scientists and the American public as we strive to find solutions to agricultural problems affecting America. The statement said some material would still be available on the agencys website. Buzzfeed News first reported the memo. Murrieta Fire Department engineer Mike Macalinao and captains Sean DeGrave and Todd Bradstreet are certified swiftwater rescue technicians who each have trained for the risky missions for more than 10 years. They all have performed water rescues. But none, they said, matched the situation they encountered Sunday, Jan. 22, when they pulled four members of a family two parents and two young children from a large pickup that had been overwhelmed by rushing, rising water. Its like stuff you see in the movies, said Bradstreet, 42, an 18-year veteran of the fire service. Ive done little swiftwater rescues here and there, but nothing to this magnitude. RELATED: Scattered showers Tuesday, but end is in sight The incident happened in whats known as Yoder Wash, an open field area between Los Alamos and Murrieta Hot Springs roads, Capt. Matt Corelli said. Locals use the normally dry dirt-and-sand wash as a road to access neighborhoods. But when heavy rains come, Corelli said, water channels into the area through the northern part of Murrieta. The driver thought he could get through, but the force of the current moved the truck 50 yards, and it got stuck. THIS IS NO JOKE Murrieta firefighters had been on a simpler rescue of a motorist about an hour earlier where they were able to walk the driver out of his car. But this one was different. The first general impression was this is the real deal. This is no joke, Macalinao said. A team of 17 firefighters, assisted by Murrieta police, pulled off the rescue. They first assessed how much time they had; acting more slowly would allow them to put all their safety gear in place in advance, but the rising water didnt afford them that time. The hardest part was coming up with the initial action plan, Macalinao said. We cannot mess this up. Whatever plan of action we took, it has to be 100 percent correct and we cant fail. THE RESCUE DeGrave, tethered to a fire engine, swam out to calm the family and explain the rescue. As far as the number of patients and the quickly moving water, this was the most complex Ive been on, said DeGrave, 35, a firefighter for 10 years. A firefighter threw a line with four life jackets attached to it into the wash and allowed it to float to the car, where the father retrieved it. Firefighters then tethered Bradstreet, who swam to the truck and took the younger child, about 2 years old, from the tight embrace of his mother, hooking the child up to his vest. Bradstreet jumped in the water and was pulled to shore. He returned to rescue the older child, about 4 years old. You do so much training all the time and most of the stuff you do (daily responses) is benign, so I was excited to be able to use the training, Bradstreet said. The mother in the car was saying the car was moving so that put a little different feeling this is getting urgent and we might have to go faster than we wanted to. Macalinao, 35, a 12-year veteran, relieved Bradstreet and rescued the mother and then the father, all the while fighting the current. Its very strong, Macalinao said. It puts a beating on you, especially when your adrenaline is rushing. VERY REWARDING As the men reflected on the rescue the day after, they talked about the teamwork needed to pull it off and what it meant to be a firefighter. This is the craziest thing Ive ever done compared to any fire Ive been on, and it was very rewarding, Macalinao said. Said DeGrave: Our customers require us to be perfect 100 percent of the time, which is why we put such a high emphasis on training. So to save the four people, it puts a smile on your face. Corelli cautioned motorists against attempting to drive through moving water. Even 12 inches of rushing water can sweep away a small car, and 2 feet of water can carry away almost any vehicle, according to the National Weather Service. If you look up Tuesday night, you might just see two Inland school teachers boldly going where few have gone before flying with NASA. Snowline Joint Unified middle school science teacher Wendi Rodriguez and Rialto Unified third grade teacher Marie Thornsberry will be hitching a ride with SOFIA, NASAs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. Flying out of NASAs Armstrong Flight Research Center in Palmdale aboard a modified short-body 747, SOFIA carries a massive infrared telescope which NASA scientists use to study star and planet formation, black holes, planets and other bodies in our own solar system, and more. Rodriguez and Thornsberry are going on the flight as part of NASAs Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program, which puts teams of two teachers onboard SOFIA missions, where they observe scientists making observations on the flights while conducting their own experiments. We are both extremely excited for this opportunity, Rodriguez wrote in an email on Friday. We have spent the past two years in preparation for our flight week! Our families, students, schools and districts have offered us so much support. SOFIA flies at about 43,000 feet above sea level, higher than commercial airliners fly, which tend to fly between 32,000 and 37,000 feet. The highest airline flight ever was the supersonic Concorde, which could reach 60,000 feet. But as high as their flight will be, the teachers wont reach space, which is defined as starting at either 264,000 feet (50 miles) or 380,000 feet (100 km or 62 miles). The Southern California News Group will be along for the ride: Reporter Beau Yarbrough and photographer Rachel Luna will be flying with SOFIA on Tuesday, flying from California to Texas to British Columbia and back, on a nearly 10-hour flight. All the while, scientists onboard will use the infrared telescope to check out the planet Mars, the asteroid Vesta and Galaxy NGC1068, 47 million light years away. Meanwhile, Wendi has a couple of experiments that she is hoping to have approved to conduct during the flight, Thornsberry wrote in email on Friday. Contact the writer: byarbrough@scng.comTwitter: @LBY3 For the second time in five weeks, the Southern California Gas Co. has asked its 2.6 million customers to immediately reduce their natural gas use amid stormy weather to help stave off possible natural gas and electricity shortages. Besides the voluntary advisory, SoCalGas and San Diego Gas and Electric also issued a systemwide curtailment watch effective Monday morning for their large commercial and industrial customers, advising them that they might be required to curb natural gas use due to strains on the system. Were currently meeting demand using a combination of the supplies flowing into the interstate pipeline system and our three other storage fields (excluding Aliso Canyon near the northwest San Fernando Valley), but theres a possibility that cold weather conditions could result in a supply shortfall, SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride said Monday. In that case, we would have to curtail service to those large customers. That has not happened yet. In the event SoCalGas reduces the supply of natural gas to its big customers, it would affect large commercial and manufacturing facilities, including electric generation plants, as well as hospitals and airports throughout Southern California, Gilbride has said. The last time SoCalGas made the decision to curtail its supply to these customers due to weather was in February 2014. To help prevent that from happening, the utility is asking all of its customers to reduce their natural gas use by lowering their thermostats to 68 degrees or below, delaying the use of natural gas appliances, and washing clothes in cold water when possible, Gilbride said. SoCalGas, which has a 20,000-square-mile service area throughout Central and Southern California, stretching from L.A. to Orange County and the Inland Empire, issued the same voluntary advisory and curtailment watch on Dec. 18 during another cold snap. That advisory was lifted after two days. The California Public Utilities Commission ordered the creation of the SoCalGas advisory program to help address agencies concerns about regional energy reliability this winter in light of the Aliso Canyon moratorium, according to the Gas Co. There is a moratorium on injection operations at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility above the San Fernando Valley community of Porter Ranch, the site of the nearly four-month gas leak that was detected in October 2015. That massive leak, which was plugged in February and prompted Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency, released about 100,000 metric tons of methane, temporarily displaced more than 8,300 households and sickened many residents. The issue were having is were not able to inject gas into the (Aliso Canyon) storage facility like we have in past years and because of that, we simply dont have the resource weve had in prior years, said Kelly Sanders, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at USC. Contact the writer: brenda.gazzar@scng.com@bgazzar on Twitter A man was arrested in Riverside on Sunday, Jan. 22, after authorities say he assaulted a co-worker, carjacked two people and crashed both of the vehicles he took within about a quarter-mile of each other. Riverside police officials say William Antonio Amaya, 38, assaulted a co-worker with an unknown kind of weapon at a business near the Galleria at Tyler about 10:30 a.m., leaving the victim with a major head injury. Then, armed with a knife, police say Amaya stole a vehicle from another co-worker and drove east on Magnolia Avenue. He crashed with two vehicles along Magnolia near Hole Avenue, got out and ran away, according to a news release from the Riverside Police Department. Police received their first report of the situation after that crash. Then, armed with the knife and a dumbbell, Amaya carjacked a second vehicle in the parking lot of a KFC, police say. Amaya drove west on Magnolia and then collided with two more vehicles at Tyler Street about a quarter-mile away, police say. Thats where officers found and arrested him on suspicion of two counts of carjacking and attempted murder. The co-worker Amaya is suspected of assaulting was hospitalized, the release said. Amaya was taken to a hospital for medical clearance for cuts and bruises that Officer Ryan Railsback says he got from the crashes he caused. He was then booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center, where his bail was set at $1 million, jail records show. A 14-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was struck by a vehicle outside of Arlington Regional Learning Center in Riverside Tuesday, Jan. 24. A report of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle drew Riverside police officers to the intersection of Weaver Street and Arlington Avenue at 10:43 a.m., said department spokesman Ryan Railsback. UPDATE: 15-year-old boy dies 4 days after being struck by truck in Riverside Police initially said the crash was in front of Harvest Christian School, but later clarified that it was in front of the learning center about a quarter-mile west. The boy is a student at the learning center, Railsback said. A preliminary investigation revealed that a westbound white pickup truck struck the student when he stepped out into the road. The boy was not in a crosswalk, Railsback said. It isnt clear why he stepped into the road. The teen was hospitalized in critical condition, Railsback said. The pickup truck driver remained at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, as is the school, he said. The departments Major Accident Investigations Team had just cleared the scene of an earlier pedestrian-vehicle crash when they were called to this one, Railsback said. The westbound traffic was blocked on Arlington Avenue between Weaver and Adams streets. Arlington Regional Learning Center serves students who have been expelled from their original schools, according to its website. This story is developing. Check back for more information. Sometimes-heavy rain Monday didnt stop friends, neighbors and strangers from paying respects to John Phillips Rodriguez, the Army sergeant from Hemet who died Jan. 12 in Kuwait. Crowds gathered at spots along Florida Avenue and San Jacinto Street as a procession led by Patriot Guard Riders motorcyclists made its way from March Air Reserve Base through Hemet and San Jacinto to Miller-Jones Mortuary in San Jacinto around 4:15 p.m. Two motorcycles led the hearse and two vans carried family members past a gathering of people holding flags and saluting at the funeral home. Rodriguez was a great kid, said Tim Kubo, Rodriguezs recruiter when he joined the Army in 2013 after graduating from West Valley High School in Hemet. He was funny, always there for people. Kubo said Rodriguez was serious about training before heading off to basic training. He made sure he learned all that before he shipped out, Kubo said. They dont get paid to be future soldiers, but he was there like he was a soldier. Among the crowd was Mary Hargrove, a Gold Star mother whose 21-year-old son, Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Swanson, was killed Nov. 10, 2009, in the blast of an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan. Hargrove, who lived in Anaheim at the time but has since relocated to Hemet, said she attends as many events like Mondays as possible, primarily to support the mothers, as others supported her. The day he came home was the most devastating day of my life, Hargrove said. People supporting my son, standing on the street, made a big difference. It helps a lot to know people honor our sons. Rodriguez, 23, was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. His death was listed as a noncombat-related incident and is still under investigation, the U.S. Department of Defense reported last week. The military gave his rank as specialist, while the obituary on the mortuary site states he was a sergeant. Kubo said if a soldier qualifies for advancement and dies, they are promoted to the next rank, even if they hadnt been given that classification. Rodriguez was assigned to the 2nd Engineer Battalion, 3d Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss. Rodriguez was a combat engineer. He was born in Hemet and participated in the Naval Junior ROTC program at West Valley High. Survivors include his wife, Jazmin; father, John Rodriguez; mother, Janell Rodriguez; and two sisters, Julia Shaw and Cheyenne Blue. Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@scng.com President Donald Trump pulled the plug Monday on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, his first step in replacing Barack Obamas globalist trade policy with his protectionist America First ideals. Some economists and analysts fear the move could rattle trade-dependent Southern California industries and the shippers who move the goods around. Still, others hope the tycoon-turned-politicians multitiered strategy will buoy business here and across the nation. Great thing for the American worker that we just did, said Trump, pausing for comments Monday in the Oval Office. The president condemns massive free-trade agreements such as NAFTA that he believes have disadvantaged American workers and chased manufacturing and other jobs overseas. But many in trade-steeped California are fearful. We have opened up a gap for another country, another leader to shape what the trade policy of the future is going to look like, said Stephen Cheung, president of World Trade Center Los Angeles. It takes us out of the conversation. The partnership, hammered out by the Obama administration the past few years in an attempt to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia, involved 11 other countries that account for about 40 percent of the worlds gross domestic product. The mood in Washington on trade soured in recent years, however, and Obama never sent the accord to Congress for ratification, making Trumps actions Monday largely symbolic. White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Monday that the decision to abandon TPP ushers in a new era of U.S. trade policy in which the Trump administration will pursue bilateral trade opportunities with allies around the globe. The White House has said it believes it is easier to negotiate bilateral agreements on equal terms, instead of a multinational pact such as TPP, in which a group of smaller counties can more easily exert their will. Experts say the challenge with bilateral trade deals is that the Trump administration would have to complete far more negotiations and the final rules might not be uniform. Trumps boosters say such complex negotiations, however, are in the billionaire deal-makers wheelhouse. They are looking at it from a different perspective than Obama, said Kenneth Wengrod, a member of the Southern California Regional District Export Council, appointed under the Obama administration but supportive of the policy shift. Though Obama labored for years to get the pact passed, some members of his own Democratic Party were skeptical of its impact on U.S. jobs, and the former president never sent it to Congress. China is Americas largest trading partner, manufacturing everything from furniture to high-tech appliances to clothing. Trump branded the trade relationship lopsided and vowed to launch tariffs as high as 45 percent on the Asian giant. If the flow of Chinese goods slows, some economists believe that will hurt the logistics industry that ships goods from ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles to miles of warehouses in the Inland Empire and beyond. The sector employed 650,000 people last year in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. This was a loss of an opportunity in the short term and, in the long term, it opens up the opportunity for China to put together the equivalent of TPP with us left out, which would hurt Southern California, said John Husing, chief economist for the Inland Empire Economic Partnership. But some say this move is just the first of many strategic steps Trump will take to defend American jobs. The new administration is trying to find ways to address and protect the U.S. manufacturer, Wengrod said. Where there is turmoil, there is opportunity. TPP was a flawed deal that ignored some key concerns in a complex international economy and would have fallen short for California, Wengrod argued. There are a lot of things that TPP didnt address, like currency manipulation, he said. When you can have people manipulating currency, that doesnt bring parity to the world. Some say Trumps bold moves have the potential to reshape the world economy and hand the U.S. the steering wheel. The president met with business leaders Monday, as well as union leaders. Trade is just part of his formula, he reminded all of his guests. Trump said there will be advantages to companies that make their products in the U.S. and suggested he will impose a substantial border tax on foreign goods entering the country. The president also repeated a campaign promise to cut regulations by 75 percent, maybe more. I would take the president at his word here, Dow Chemical Chief Executive Andrew Liveris told The Washington Post. Hes not going to do anything to harm competitiveness. Hes going to actually make us all more competitive. Michael Camunez, a former assistant secretary of commerce at the International Trade Administration from 2010 and 2013, said he does not believe California will benefit. Its a step backward for Californias interest, Camunez said. You are narrowing, not opening up, opportunities for new markets. Thats a setback for our economy. Camunez said TPP would have imposed labor standards, environmental rules and intellectual-rights protections that would benefit Southern Californias Silicon Beach tech industry, Hollywoods recording artists and the booming gaming business. Technological advances such as automated production lines and streaming delivery of entertainment have done more to slash jobs than overseas production losses, he argued. There is this perception that trade is bad for American workers, Camunez said. Its technology and productivity that account for most of the job losses, not trade. Staff writer Rachel Uranga contributed to this report. The Managing Director of HFC bank, Robert Le Hunte is optimistic the incoming Nana Akufo-Addo government will continue with the plans laid down by the Ministry of Finance in paying the legacy debt. According to him, the change in government should not in any way alter the process already agreed on to pay the affected banks. I think thats part of maturity as a government and when a government makes a decision; its not within the individuals might but the whole country. I think the money owed in the legacy debts have gone through a number of iterations, discussions and audits and it was agreed upon as such I expect the commitments made by one government will be carried forward to another government, he told Citi Business News. The Ministry of Finance, the Ghana Bankers Association, and the Bulk Oil Distributors met in August this year to roll out plans to pay the 4.4 billion cedis legacy debt owed to some banks in the country. An initial amount of 250 million cedis has since been made from the energy sector levies. In September this year, government made the second round of payment to the banks from the energy sector levy. Mr. Le Hunte further intimated it will be important to continue the process since it will bring some relief to the banks. So I am hopeful we are not going through a whole series of new audits regarding the BDC debts, I am fully optimistic, he added. Source: The New Statesman Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Donald Trump fired all politically appointed foreign ambassadors on the day he was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States. Political ambassadors are usually major donors who are nominated by virtue of their close ties with the president. Such ambassadors, unlike chiefs of missions who are career diplomats, almost always leave at the end of his term. Trump gave absolutely no grace period and ordered Ambassadors who are appointed by former President Barack Obama to leave their offices by midday on 20 January. US Ambassador to Singapore, Kirk Wagar, was no different and had to pack his bags before Trumph ascended the Presidency. But he did so in brazen support of the outgoing President by wearing a Obama T-shirt as he departed from Changi Airport. Read Full Story .... theindependent.sg >>> : Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The Zambia police command has issued a notice halting marriages between officers and foreigners. According to a memo signed by Inspector-General of Police, Kakoma Kanganja, the move is deemed as security caution for the country. Be informed that the Police High Command has with immediate effect directed that no police officer should marry a foreigner, the memo read. The directive further said officers who are already married to foreigners should declare their spouses within a week, failure to which they will face disciplinary action. Speaking to BBC, Police spokesperson Esther Katongo, said officers are informed about the directive before joining the service. Issues of security are delicate. If not careful, spouses can be spies and can sell the security of the country, Katongo added. She said that the ban was not new, and that officers obeyed it. She said that the police only re-issued the order because some officers had begun ignoring it. There are a few officers who have started marrying foreigners, she said. They are ignoring the previous requirement and this is why another standing order has been passed to remind officers what they are supposed to do and not supposed to do. She said it was likely officers who had married foreigners would now be given some rules they should follow. On the necessity of such measure, Katongo said: When you get married, they say that you are one. You know what marriage is you share secrets. And you can tell officers do not disclose but you have no control. You wont be in their homes to always check on them. The security of the nation is what is paramount. Source: BBC Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A combine team of police and military personnel have been dispatched to Tatale in the Tatale/Sanguli District of the Northern Region, to ease the growing tension in the area over speculation that the President has penciled Thomas Mbomba, a top member of the ruling party, for the position of District Chief Executive (DCE). The security personnel have been patrolling Tatale and its surrounding communities to instill law and order, since they arrived at the weekend. Youth groups, known to be supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), demonstrated and presented a petition to the paramount chief of the Tatale, Obori Yankosur last Friday, expressing their anger over the rumour that the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has nominated the defeated NPP parliamentary candidate for the DCE post. Mr. Mbomba could not make it to the parliament this year, as he was beaten by the National Democratic Congress candidate for the constituency, Thomas Tampi. There were reported gunshots in the area at the weekend. Information reaching The Ghanaian Times indicated that some parents have started withdrawing their wards from schools in the Tatale town due to insecurity. Isaac Nbola said in an interview that many parents in nearby communities have stopped their wards from going to school due to the mounting tension. Earlier some unidentified group of people had attacked the Tatale/Sanguli NPP Constituency acting chairman, Charles Bitim, when news started spreading over Mr. Mbombas nomination. According to Mr. Bitim, the group threatened to cause mayhem in the area, if the Presidents nomination was carried through. The Public Relations Officer of the Northern Regional Police Command, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Ebenezer Tetteh told The Ghanaian Times that the police had beefed up security there to weather the storm in the area. He said that the security would do everything to ensure the situation did not escalate. Meanwhile, a group calling itself Concerned Basare Youth Association has condemned the behaviour of the groups for causing anxiety in the area. The leader of the association, Stephen Konde said violence would not solve any problem and that it was important to eschew acts likely to plunge the area into chaos. He urged the security agencies to implore everything necessary to prevent any disturbances in the district. We are appealing strongly to the security commanders in the region to ensure nothing untoward happen in the area, they stated. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Ajaratou Fatoumata Tambajang has been appointed as Vice President of The Republic of The Gambia. Tambajang, a prominent pro-democracy activist was part of the opposition coalition that unseated long time ruler Yahya Jammeh. She is touted as one of the main brains behind the formation of a coalition going into the December 1, 2016 polls. Her appointment was announced on Monday by Halifa Sallah, the spokesperson of President Adama Barrow at a Press Conference held in Banjul. Born in on October 22, 1949 in Brikama, Gambia, the mother of eight was a former United Nations Development Program (UNDP) gender/development expert also served as a cabinet minister in the government of Yahya Jammeh. She was Minister of Health, Social Welfare and Womens Affairs. Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video A sermon on homosexuality delivered in South Africa by the founder and Presiding Bishop of the Lighthouse Chapel International in Ghana, Pastor Dag Heward-Mills, has caused a deep controversy in the southern African country. Bishop Heward-Mills who was preaching at the Soweto-based Grace Bible Church described homosexual as unnatural and unbiblical. You dont find two male dogs, two male cats, or two male lionseven lizards, two male elephants, there is nothing like that in nature, it is unnatural, yes, there is nothing like that, he said. The sermon has caused a deep division among South Africans while some lauded Pastor Heward-Mills biblical interpretation of homosexuality, others have condemned it. A popular South African choreographer and radio personality Somizi Mhlongo who is also a known homosexual is among the many that have condemned the act. Mr Mhlongo said the congregation had been cheering as the Ghanaian pastor said homosexuality was sinful and disgusting. This is who I am. I am a gay man. Get it into your skull. My soul is all right with my God," said Mhlongo. Im disappointed at all the gay men and women who sat there and listened to him offending us and didnt do anything about it. I walked out and visibly so, he adds. So widespread was the division caused by the sermon in South Africa that the state broadcaster, SABC, held a panel discussion to revisit the subject of homosexuality in the country. South Africa prides as being one of the best countries in Africa that have made progress with the rights of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT). Watch the SABC panel discussion that was necessitated by Pastor Dag Heward-Mills' sermon. Video below- Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to President Nana Akufo-Addo President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday revealed the first batch Ministers of State to run affairs since his inauguration and swearing-in as president; thus putting to bed all the social media rumours of the make-up of his administration. At a press conference in the Flagstaff House, the President said he will only put out 13 names today, and would complete the process by announcing the second and third batches in the course of the week. Top on the list is Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo as a Senior Minister. Describing him as the most sucessful Finance minister in Ghana, the president recounted Mr Osafo Maafo's vast experience in the erstwhile Kufuor administration. He tasked the Senior Minister to help turn the economy around. "He took us into HIPC and got us out of HIPC", he lavished praise on Osafo Marfo. Next on the list are Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah for National Security, "Baby-face" Dominic Nitiwul for Defence, Mr Alan Kyerematen for Trade and Industry and Mr Ken Ofori Atta for Finance for Parliament's consideration. Explaining his choice of the founder of Databank as Finance Minister, the president pointed out that "we need somebody of finance who has the range, who has the capacity and insight to move mortal economies". Others names in the ministerial list include Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto for Agriculture; MP for Dormaa Central and the chairman of the Public Account Committee in the last Parliament, Dr Kwaku Agyeman Manu for Health and Mr Boakye Kyeremateng Agyarko for Energy. On why he settled on the 2012 NPP Campaign Manager and former Bank of New York Governor as his pick for Energy Minister, President Akufo-Addo he wants somebody who will make 'dumsor', 'a thing permanently of the past'. The President then named Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh (Napo), who he says has 'very independent views' but is 'very familiar with areas like health and education' as the Education Minister. He will be in charge of making the NPP's electoral promise of free Senior High School education a reality. 'People would have thought that as a doctor he should go to Health. But that is not my view,' Nana Addo said. Former Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Nandom, Ambrose Dery was named as the Interior Minister. According to the president, he wants a lawyer with an understanding of security and who can balance the needs of the ministry and the demands of the public. 'I believe he is just the right man to provide the leadership of the interior ministry', he added. Audio Attachment: Listen to President Nana Akufo-Addo The President also named Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey for Foreign Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama for Local Government and Rural Development and his one-time deputy when he was at the Attorney-General's Department under the Kufuor government, Gloria Akufo as Attorney General. 'She has very strong views, very ethical and she was the former deputy Attorney-General', Akufo-Addo said of the nominee. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video By Stanley Carvalho and Victoria Bryan ABU DHABI/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The veteran chief executive of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Aviation Group will leave this year, the company announced on Tuesday, but said it remained committed to his strategy of extending the airline's through stakes in foreign airlines. Australian James Hogan, 60, who over the past 10 years has developed Etihad Airways into an aggressive rival to Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways, will step down as president and CEO of the group in the second half of 2017. Etihad's Australian chief financial officer, James Rigney, will also leave this year, the company said. Chairman Mohamed Mubarak Fadhel al-Mazrouei said Etihad was continuing with a "company-wide strategic review" which could include adjustments to the network of equity partnerships with other carriers that Hogan used to engineer Etihad's rapid growth. Two of the major airlines in which Etihad invested, Air Berlin and Alitalia, are losing money, adding to pressure on Etihad's earnings caused by slowing growth in the Middle East's aviation market. However, Mazrouei said state-owned Etihad was not abandoning the equity partnership model, which along with code-sharing tie-ups had delivered 5.5 million passengers onto its flights in 2016. "We must ensure that the airline is the right size and the right shape. We must continue to improve cost efficiency, productivity and revenue. We must progress and adjust our airline equity partnerships even as we remain committed to the strategy, he said. An Etihad spokesman told Reuters there was no link between the strategic review and Hogan's departure, which had been planned for many months. Etihad said it had started a global search for a new group CEO and a new CFO. It said it was grateful to Hogan and that he and Rigney, 49, would join a European-based investment company, which it did not name. Along with the board and my 26,000 colleagues, I am very proud of what we have built together at Etihad and of the companys substantial contribution to the United Arab Emirates and to the development of Abu Dhabi," Hogan said in a statement. "The last decade has seen incredible results but this only represents a first chapter in the story of Etihad. INVESTMENTS Etihad owns stakes in seven airlines around the world: Air Berlin, Alitalia, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Etihad Regional in Switzerland, India's Jet Airways and Virgin Australia. In 10 years Etihad grew from being a 22-plane regional carrier into a global operation with 120 aircraft. Its growth helped attract visitors to Abu Dhabi as the wealthy emirate, seeking to diversify its oil-based economy, developed a tourism industry. But in recent months a slowing regional economy, overcapacity in the airline industry and a strong U.S. dollar have hurt Etihad. In December, the group said it was cutting jobs in some parts of its business, but did not give a number. An industry source familiar with matter told Reuters that Hogan's departure was unlikely to mean any change to the current restructuring plan for Air Berlin, which had already obtained board approval. "However if future injections of cash are needed, it may look very different, the source said. Alitalia, in which Etihad has a 49 percent stake, said on Monday that it planned to cut non-labour related costs by at least 160 million euros ($172 million) this year as it tried to become profitable. Industry sources told Reuters that the Italian carrier's restructuring might include up to 2,000 job cuts and the grounding of planes. Etihad reported a consolidated net profit of $103 million for 2015. Abu Dhabi could easily finance any earnings slump at the airline but the emirate has been seeking to make many of its businesses more efficient in an era of low oil prices. Etihad's two main regional rivals, also state-owned, have adopted different expansion strategies. Emirates has not emphasised equity alliances, while Qatar Airways has made some investments but focused on financially stronger partners. For example, it holds a stake of just over 20 percent in International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), owner of British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus. "We will look at other acquisitions of airlines but we look at airlines that don't take the resources of Qatar, or attention of Qatar management, to fix issues. We will always go after goldsmiths, not scrap dealers," Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said in 2015. (Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Mark Potter, Greg Mahlich) Nzema Youth have come across a publication on Ghanaweb.com on the 16th January, 2017 with the caption "Revoke Catherine Afekus nomination over fraud - Group demands" by a group called Truth And Accountable Governance(TAG). In this article, the group are demanding for the withdrawal of Hon. Catherine Afeku from the ministerial position she has been offered. Such unscrupulous Group is not known in the annals of Ghana since they are not registered under the Registrar General Department. They are an illegal body in the Nzema NDC with the aim of denting the image of the first female minister designate in Nzemaland. Disregard any publication or petition from the Nzema-NDC's so called Truth and Accountable Governance's against Hon. Catherine Afeku, Minister designate for Tourism, Arts and Culture. Such a petition is bogus and does not warrant public attention. This petition by this Pro-NZEMA NDC diabolical group is only aimed to demerit Nzemas and through that prevent an Nzema from getting a ministerial position in this incorruptible President Nana Addo's government. It is a toothless Union. We are challenging them to show their faces rather than hiding behind social media to dent Hon. Afeku's image. They can go to court to challenge her position if they truly believe she has done any wrong. On records, it is not Parliament who decides cases of fraud but rather a court of competent jurisdiction. Again, a fraudster has no right to represent a constituency of over 30,000 voters in Ghana, so the electoral commission's acceptance of Hon. Afeku's parliamentary nomination forms without any objections from her political opponents in the constituency and the general public clearly shows her credibility, innocence and a no wrong doing. Hon. Afeku is the current parliamentarian of Evalue-Gwira constituency of the Western Region so therefore she has the right to the Article 78 (1) of the 1992 Constitution which states that; "Ministers of State shall be appointed by the President with the prior approval of Parliament from among members of Parliament or persons qualified to be elected as Members of Parliament, except that the majority of Ministers of State shall be appointed from among members of Parliament." We wants the so called TAG to answer the following questions . Is Hon. Afeku a member of Parliament in Ghana? .Does she enjoys Article 78(1) of 1992 constitution of Ghana? . Does the constitution of Ghana allows fraudsters to be parliamentarians? From the above-stated questions, we believe Parliament should not waste time to read any documents by such a coward and an ignorant group since parliamentarians and vetting committee chairman knows better than us. We want to use this opportunity to thank His Excellency Nana Addo for recognizing we, Nzemas in his government. We believe and pray that our Heavenly father will bless him and makes his governance successful. As the saying goes " Oliver twist, we ask for more" so we are pleading with his office to engage more Nzemas in his administration. God bless Ghana God bless Nzemaland God bless Africa. Peter Ackah ......Signed..... (0547946200) CONVENER Source: Peter Ackah/ tel: 0547946200 Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Minister-nominee for Energy and Petroleum, Boakye Agyarko, today [Monday], narrated a rather emotional ordeal of how he nearly lost his life during the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era; a situation that forced him to move to the United States as a political refugee. Mr. Boakye Agyarko, who was answering questions before Parliaments Appointments Committee, explained that he had never at any point held a US citizenship, although he stayed in that country for 25 years. I went to the US as a political refugee, and qualified as such. In a matter of two years, I was able to upgrade my status from a refugee to that of a resident permit holder. This is because I had a number of equity situations namely; my sister could apply for me to hold a green card as well as my mother, who had become a naturalized American citizen. Throughout the period, I stayed in America on a Green card, and at no point in time did I become a citizen of the United States. When asked by committee member Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, whether hes able to the return to the United State, he responded in the affirmative. Narrating PNDC experience Explaining a two-year gap on his CV between 1984 and 1986, Mr. Agyarko said I was employed by Management and Investment Consultants in 1980 after my national service. In June 1983, for those who will recall, there was a mutiny led by lance corporal Halidu Giwa. I was picked up by the Military and sent to the Airforce Station and put against the wall and shot. I almost lost my life, and through the intervention of Monsieur Le Veloire and my two sisters who are seated behind me, I was able to leave Ghana through London to France, and then settled in the United States under very difficult circumstances. So for that period, I was close to being an invalid; and I didnt do any work. Even though I left officially in 1983, Management and Investment Consultants wrote to me officially saying that as at the end of 1984 I was no longer employed with them, so my employment with them ended in 1984, and the next two years I was going through a series of surgeries and recuperation. The committee member and MP for North Tongu, who solicited the information from the nominee, sympathized with him. My sympathies for a rather touching story Mr. Okudzeto said. About Boakye Agyarko Boakye Agyarko is 60 years old. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon; an Advanced Professional Certificate in Banking from the American Institute of Banking and an MBA in Financial Economics from the Pace University, New York. He held a Vice President position at the Bank of New York, in New York, and in over 20 years at the Bank, he worked at senior levels in various departments, including Operations Management and Analysis, Product Development, Global Network Managements, International Banking and Asset Management and the Y2K Management Group. His responsibilities in these various departments and positions included international trade finance, loan syndications, asset securitization and structured finance. He is a member of the American Economic Association, and an Associate of the American Institute of Bankers. He served as the National Campaign Manager of the New Patriotic Party for the 2012 Elections, and served as Policy Advisor for the Presidents 2016 electioneering campaign. He is a Consultant to Capital Economics and Investments, a start-up economic analysis and investments group in Accra, Ghana. Source: citifmonline.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. Featured Video President Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo is expected to name his first batch of Regional Ministerial nominees today. According to sources, President Akufo-Addo who visited the New Patriotic Party (NPP) headquarters at Asylum Down, Accra, yesterday amid wild jubilation by the party members, said he dropped the hint last week at a function with party executives in Accra. This is in accordance with Article 256(1)(b) of the 1992 Constitution which empowers the president with the prior approval of parliament, to appoint for each region, a minister who shall represent him in the region. Even before the president officially drops the list later today, speculations are rife over who he is most likely to name. Sources say Ishmael Ashitey, Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic party (NPP), is likely to be named Greater Accra Regional Minister-designate, Lawyer Asumah Kyeremeh for Brong-Ahafo Region and Kwamena Duncan, a regional panelist on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' morning show programme, for the Central Region. Mr. Ashitey was a former Minister of Fisheries under the Kufuor administration and former MP for Tema East. Also likely to be named is Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Wiawso, for the Western Region and Salifu Saeed, a former DCE for Nanumba, as the most likely candidate for the Northern Regional. The immediate past MP for Bosomtwi, Simon Osei, is tipped to become the Ashanti Regional Minister. Ms Gifty Eugenia Kusi, the NPP's former MP for Tarkwa Nsueam in the Western Region, is likely going to be the Deputy Regional Minister-designate. However, there is confusion in the NPP in the Northern Region over the appointment of a Deputy Regional Minister for the region. A group calling itself Youth Movement for Justice and Growth has alleged that there are intentions from the presidency to substitute Chebire Moses for Solomon Boar, MP for Bunkpurugu, for the position of Deputy Northern Regional Minister. Chebire Moses was the secretary to the Regional Minister under the Kufuor administration and willing to cooperate and mediate matters between the party's leadership and government representatives in the region, the group claimed. According to the group, it would resist any attempt by any individual or group to deny or substitute Mr. Moses for anybody. Speaking to Daily Guide, the secretary of the group Haruna Abdul Rashid, said the presidency promised to consult the constituency leadership before any nomination is made and that the entire regional chairman endorsed Moses. Source: Daily Guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Audio Attachment: Listen to Kwesi Pratt Jnr. Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. says there should be a reform in the composition of the Parliamentary Appointments Committee. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Kwesi Pratt expressed worry over some members of the Appointments Committee, wondering why Ministerial nominees are on the Committee. According to him, this culture doesn't help the vetting process. The nominees are part of the Committee which is vetting them. I cant understand it . . . Ive thought about it but cant understand it, he said. He called on the legislative body to review the Committee and ensure that any person who is appointed by the President as Minister-designate or Deputy Minister-designate either recuses him/herself or is not part of the Committee. To him, maintaining the nominees on the Committee to vet other nominees is unprincipled, "we've done this from 1993 till date. Won't we change it . . . There ought to be some level of seriousness in the vetting process." Mr. Pratt however commended the Parliamentary Appointments Committee, saying this year's vetting process is "superior to previous vettings". Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi /Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video In yet another example of tragedies bringing out the best in people, nearly $700,000 has been raised to support victims of last Fridays Bourke St rampage. On top of the tributes pouring into Melbournes CBD over the weekend and the thousands of people that attended last nights vigil in Federation Square, $686,000 has been raised for victims of the car attack that left five dead and roughly 30 injured. A heart breaking bunch of flowers left for the victims of #BourkeSt pic.twitter.com/9yqhPzdRGA Wolf Cocklin (@wolfcat) January 23, 2017 Melbournes beautiful big heart is beating strong in the #bourkest Mall. ??#7newsmelb pic.twitter.com/gRvggX6LDa Paul Dowsley (@pauldowsley7) January 22, 2017 Thank you to all who attended the Bourke St Vigil an incredible show of solidarity with the victims and those affected by the tragedy. pic.twitter.com/YZIq8TiUJa Federation Square (@FedSquare) January 23, 2017 The money comes from both the Federal and Victorian governments, which have pledged a total of $200,000, and members of the public, who have donated $486,000 in a little more than two days. Money will go directly to families of the deceased, and, while their needs will obviously vary, this will include both immediate and longer term needs and could include mean providing funding funeral costs, psychological support, and related care needs. Private funerals have since been announced for families and friends of the two youngest victims, 10-year-old Thalia Hakin and three-month-old Zachary Bryant. Zacharys two-year-old sister Zara was also injured in the rampage, but is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital. The other three victims were 22-year-old Jess Mudie, 33-year-old Matthew Si, and an as yet unnamed 25-year-old Japanese man. Anyone wishing to donate can put money directly into the Bourke St Fund, an account set up by the Victorian government. Premier Daniel Andrews has stressed that all of the money will go directly towards helping victims: Westpac Banking Corporation Name of account: Bourke Street Fund BSB: 033 009 Account Number: 668251 If you have any questions or hesitations about online banking, you can check out the website here or phone 1800 226 226 for advice. Source: ABC / Herald Sun. Photo: Getty / Wayne Taylor. Keen observers of international politics (and people who have British passports) will have noticed that, despite all the sound and fury last year around Britain voting to Brexit from the European Union, Britain still remains at this stage completely un-Brexited. Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants to kick off the triggering of Article 50 (the clause in the EU Constitution that allows countries to fuck off) in early March, but shes got a new obstacle to contend with, after the UK Supreme Court ruled that Parliament would have to vote in favour of the Brexit for the process to begin. While it seems likely that this would pass through the lower house as easily as a kale smoothie through a joggers intestines, it could have some trouble with the UKs upper house, the House of Lords, more like a servo sausage roll through honestly, Im not sure what vocation has terrible digestion, but one of their intestines. A spokesperson for Theresa May, however, reckons this wont slow her down: Its important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six-to-one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out. We respect the Supreme Courts decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly. The case was brought up by an investment manager and a hairdresser (Gina Miller and Deir Tozetti Dos Santos, respectively) who put forth the argument that the governments prerogative alone couldnt overrule the rights within the EU of British citizens, which was a view upheld by an eight-to-three majority of Britains 11 Supreme Court judges: The referendum is of great political significance, but the Act of Parliament which established it did not say what should happen as a result. So any change in the law to give effect to the referendum must be made in the only way permitted by the UK constitution, namely by an Act of Parliament. On the flip side, the Supreme Court also unanimously ruled that Britain does not require individual approval from Scotland, Ireland or Wales for Brexit to begin. Other than either slowing down or stopping the Brexit, its predicted the ruling will also have an effect on what the Brexit looks like, as the government has to soften the Brexit to gain support in Parliament. Source: ABC. Photo: Getty Images / Peter Macdiarmid. Since being elected as NSW Premier yesterday, Gladys Berejiklian has had all sorts of questions asked of her, each ranging from reasonable to wildly stupid. Will she reign-in Mike Bairds controversial lockout laws? Can she fix Sydneys enormously, depressingly fucked housing market? And how dare she, a woman in power, chose to not have children? But all that is piss compared to this one, folks: how and why the hell does she defend ibises aka Satans saddest friends?! Ibises are, quite rightfully, seen as the worst creatures on this otherwise beautiful planet. They are Filth that was put here as a challenge to us, a test to see how much ugliness and evil humanity can face down. We have done well to hate and fear them. And yet, an incoming premier, on her second day no less, comes out in defence of these winged diapers? RIP NSW Liberals, I guess. In an interview with Merrick Watts on Triple M this morning, Berejiklian was asked what her plans are to get rid of the pests. To gasps, screams and moans, she said: Can I just say something? I think they get a hard time. And Im just sick of people picking on the ibis, honestly. And when Watts, the apparent voice of reason here, quite rightly points to all the votes shell lose over this, Berejiklian bizarrely stands her ground. If anything, it sounds like she was holding back a more feverent, righteous support for the Bad Bird: Lay off them, pick another target. And look they hang around when no one else is there Anyway next question. While we here at P.TV have been chronicling ibis yarns for a while now, including that nerd-mag Australia Geographics desperate plea for us to pay the bin chicken more respect (lol no), Im yet to hear someone so passionately defend this filthy, wicked little creature. I mean look at this thing. Look at how much hate the bin rat has to give. Disgusting. You can listen to the full interview here, and we will make sure to bring you more as this story develops (note: probably not). Source: Triple M. Photos: Facebook / Mike Baird ; Wikimedia Commons / JJ Harrison. As youre probably aware of by now, former Australian Idol contestant Shannon Noll was arrested outside strip club Crazy Horse Revue in Adelaide last week. Poor Nollsie was filmed being arrested, and witnesses say he was yelling Im Shannon Noll, let me back into the Crazy Horse, which this Adelaide-born writer believes to possibly be one of the grimmest sentences ever uttered. Im talking from the beginning of the existence of the human race, up to this very point in time. Obviously, Kyle Sandilands decided to prank Nollsie after this, due to the fact that kicking a fellow human when theyre down is extremely on brand for the dickish shock jock. On the Kyle & Jackie O Show on KIIS FM yesterday morning, Kyle left Nollsie a voicemail pretending to be a female dancer from the venue, telling him he still needs to settle the bill. Hey Nollsie, its Bambi from the strip club in Adelaide. Darl you never settled your lap dance account so if you could just give us a call down here at Crazy Horse Adelaide. You know the number Nollsie. I need a card or something to swipe it on. I know normally youd like to give cash but we need a card or something over the phone. Okay darl, cant wait to see you next time. He then begins to sing what he believes is Shannon Nolls track Drive, but fucks it all up and accidentally sings Shut Up and Drive by Rihanna. Watch below: OMG SO CLEVER! Nollsie faces court on on February 24, which is only one day before his sold out show at Bribie Island in Queensland. He was charged with two counts of assault during the incident. Kyle Sandilands has been charged with nothing, due to the fact that a person cant be put in jail for being a complete twat. Source: KIIS FM. Photo: KIIS FM & Ian Hitchcock / Getty. A QUICK LESSON IN DAYS OF THE WEEK: Thursday is the day before Friday, which is quickly followed by Saturday and Sunday. And this Thursday (Jan 26) is a public holiday. Ergo, if you were smart about it and booked the Friday off as annual leave, youd have a very sweet four-day weekend not far on the horizon. But Australians, see were not that honest, at least thats what the experts is saying. Research says that this Friday, somewhere between 5% and 6% of us are going to pull a Ferris Bueller and call in sick. And its apparently going to cost the Australian economy an estimated $54 million. Thats according to Direct Health Solutions, which told Fairfax it estimates 5% of Aussies will be pulling a sickie this Friday, a jump of 42% from the daily average (3.5%). Then youve got research commissioned by HotelsCombined, which reckons the number of Aussies taking sick leave this Friday will hit 6%. And do you wanna know the state with the worst offenders? Queensland and Tasmania, on 8% each. You sneaky fucks. (Followed closely by WA & VIC on 7% and SA & ACT on 6%.) In total, with 10 million workers approximately in the economy, we are looking at about 150,000 extra work days, said DHS managing director Paul Dundon. Each day costs an average $360 to employers. This means $54 million for the day. On top of this, to cover sick leave, employers will have to keep workers on overtime to cover critical work, and employers will need to balance their service levels with potential staff shortages. Obviously pulling a sickie this Friday is a real suss look. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industrys chief executive James Pearson said people should do the right thing not least because itll leave you with sick days for when you actually need it. Misusing sick leave erodes trust in the workplace, puts extra strain on colleagues doing the right thing and leaves people short of sick leave when they genuinely need it, he said. Based on experience in past years, the number of people taking sick leave on Friday could be 180,000 people more than a typical workday, costing Australian employers more than $62 million. For all you good and perfect humans wanting to do the HONEST THING, heres how to map our your annual leave to secure yourself an extra 10 days of holiday per year. For all you ungodly and disgraceful humans the art of the sickie requires build up. Use this afternoon to complain of aches and pains; vomit if you have to. Remember: no one can prove you didnt have food poisoning. Photo: Mean Girls. By Naomi Tajitsu and David Shepardson TOKYO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> on Tuesday said it would add 400 jobs to build more SUVs at one of its U.S. plants, highlighting its expansion plans just as U.S. President Donald Trump calls on manufacturers to build more cars in the country. The Japanese automaker said the jobs were part of a $600 million upgrade of its plant in Princeton, Indiana, and were included in its plans announced earlier this month to invest $10 billion in its U.S. operations over the next five years. The announcement comes as Trump focuses on protectionist trade policies during his administrations' first week, including a formal withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on Monday. The president has previously favored a 35 percent tariff on imported vehicles and pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada to promote a "buy American and hire American" policy. He has also criticized automakers including Toyota for producing cars in neighboring Mexico for export to the United States and on Tuesday will have breakfast with the chief executives of General Motors Co , Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to discuss boosting U.S. employment. Toyota last year produced around 1.4 million vehicles in the United States, its largest market. It operates 10 factories in the country, including the plant in Indiana which new Vice President Mike Pence visited while he was state governor. The automaker also operates a pickup truck assembly plant in Mexico, and is constructing a second site in the country, where it plans to build the Corolla sedan. Earlier this month, Trump in a tweet said Toyota could be subject to a "big border tax" if it went ahead with plans to build the Mexico plant, which the automaker announced in 2015. Toyota has said its mid-term investment plans are not a response to Trump's remarks. Like many automakers, Toyota has been ramping up production of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the United States as low fuel prices spur demand for larger cars. It said the Indiana investment would increase production of its Highlander SUVs by an annual 40,000 vehicles from the second half of 2019, or around 17 percent from 2016 levels. The new jobs would add to the plant's existing production line, which operates two shifts. Of the 10 U.S. Toyota plants, five assemble vehicles, and the Indiana plant is the second-largest of the assembly sites. It currently employs 5,100 people and last year produced around 402,000 vehicles. (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu in TOKYO; Editing by Christopher Cushing) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made a rare appearance in the Australian media tonight, featuring on The Project in a lengthy interview with Waleed Aly. The conversation largely revolved around Assanges instrumental part in the Chelsea Manning case Assange said he would agree to be extradited to the United States if Mannings sentence was commuted (which it was). If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case https://t.co/MZU30SlfGK WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 12, 2017 Assange said to Aly that the only way he would leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and go ahead with his original pledge, is to perpetuate an ongoing conversation with the Department of Justice. It continues on, forever. From my perspective, it is better to engage with the US case, have a discussion with the DOJ. Are you going to keep it going? Am I going to have to stay here in the Embassy forever, or is there some way you guys can drop it or can we look at under what circumstances I would be extradited to the United States?' Aly pressed Assange a little on this point, as it kinda sounded like this doesnt really have anything to do with Mannings fight for justice, and was more a way to bring his own case back into the limelight but Assange was pretty adamant that of course hed bring his context into it, because his situation is so similar to Mannings. I am not a complete idiot. We had a major strategic victory in liberating Chelsea Manning the most significant alleged whistleblower in the last 10 years. Saying I am willing to accept extradition doesnt mean I am saying that I am willing to be a complete idiot and throw my lawyers away, and so on We are going to have a discussion with the DOJ about what that looks like. The ball is in their court. Assange also reckoned that Obamas decision to commute Manning was, actually, all about him. If we get Chelsea Manning clemency, whats the result? Its going to make life hard for Assange, because either he is going to get extradited to the United States, or were going to show hes a liar. The interview explored further Assanges newfound respect with conservative US pollies. Ever since WikiLeaks published emails hacked from the Clinton campaign, Donald Trump appears to be a big fan (although he was quoted, years earlier, as saying that Assange deserves the death penalty). There was a strange shift in Assanges political leanings he went from whistleblower left-wing legend to the hero of the alt-right uprising. When Aly asked whether Assange is totally confident that their source was in no way linked to the Russian state, Assange asserted that they are not a member of the Russian government, but refused to confirm whether they were linked to Russia in any capacity. While the leaked information boosted the likelihood of a Trump presidency, Assange was pretty cryptic on WikiLeaks involvement with his victory; just repeating the phrase We care in a variety of ways. At the end of the day, it looks like Assange isnt going to make a move any time soon. He is hosting a virtual tour and video link Q&A of the Ecuadorian Embassy that will be streamed in Sydney and Melbourne. Why, you ask? For that sweet dosh, of course. Its pretty difficult to earn a living when youre detained illegally in an embassy for four-and-a-half years. As an intellectual my life is very rich. Family life, of course, its extremely poor. Poor lil Assange. Check out the whole interview here: Waleed asks Julian Assange if he will leave the Ecuadorian Embassy, discusses his sources and why he has organised a tour. #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/rV6JR95ew0 #TheProjectTV (@theprojecttv) January 24, 2017 Source: Channel 10 / The Project. Photo: Channel 10 / The Project. Only a few weeks ago we wrote about ex-Bachelor winner (and ex of Sam Frost) Sasha Mielczarek starting a fitness blog. At the time, we really couldnt believe the scenes, and we asked the question: IS IT POSSIBLE TO APPEAR ON THE BACHELOR AND NOT BECOME A FITNESS ENTREPRENEUR?! We knew the answer before we asked the question. But we asked it anyway. Its not possible. This has been confirmed today by the announcement that cool-banana-turned-human-man, Richie Strahan, has announced hes co-directing (what does that mean? Not sure at this point) a mens activewear label. Strahan has hoped aboard WPN. (pronounced weapon), which calls itself one of Australias leading mens activewear brands. With headquarters in his hometown of Perth, Strahan has previously been involved in some side projects with WPN. and has come on as co-director to complement his plans to focus on his fitness career. WPN. has created a brand which produces fully transitional high-quality activewear that can be taken from the gym to the street [and] prides itself on being the true transitional Activewear for men, by fusing high-level craftsmanship with on-point urban design and the most technically advanced materials on the market, a brand statement reads. A photo posted by Richie Strahan (@richie_strahan) on Dec 18, 2016 at 6:25pm PST As easy as it is to automatically discount Bananies efforts as just another Bachie contestant with a one way ticket on the gravy train, his heart is in the right place (as always, god bless) and part of the profits will go to the Black Dog Institute to help support mens mental health. Mens mental health is a cause that we are extremely passionate about. Knowing how important it is to keep a healthy mind and body; our mission is to help raise awareness and reduce the rate of mens suicide in Australia and the world, the websites mission statement reads. We aim to do this through education, fitness and health tips, events, but perhaps most importantly through donating part of the profits from every sale towards a charity that is helping raise awareness and reduce the rate of suicide in men. The brand is stocked across Australia and ships internationally to the US, Europe, South East Asia and South America. The product dont come cheap, though; a tee will set you back $74.95. A photo posted by PREMIUM MENS ACTIVEWEAR (@wpnwear) on Dec 18, 2016 at 1:11am PST Photo: Supplied. Were so close to Australia Day I can almost taste the sweet, suburban mix of Aldi prawns and Jim Beam. Regardless of your political persuasion, its hard not to appreciate the day off work. This year, were gifted the public holiday on a Thursday; basically begging us to take a sickie Friday. Employers are bracing for your 8:00am food poisoning excuses, too the loss of productivity will cost the Aussie economy a whopping $50 million dollarydoos. thatsa one pricey hangover! But if youre not a complete deadhead, youll know theres a craftier way to milk these serendipitously-landing public holidays and effectively double your annual leave. With an ounce of forward planning and an unthinking boss, you can create upwards of four solid breaks throughout your work year. Heres how, you dirty dingo. So, according to fairwork.gov.au, if youre a full-time worker and youre on the job for a year, you should accumulate at least a months paid annual leave. An employee (other than a casual employee) accumulates four weeks of paid annual leave for each year of service with the employer. An employees entitlement to annual leave accumulates continuously based on the number of ordinary hours they work. Thats a total of 20 days to play with. And play with them, we shall. AUSTRALIA DAY Its probably a little late to be plugging in annual leave skirting the borders of the public holiday on Thursday, January 26th, but if you live life on the edge, log onto the system and ask for Friday 27th and Monday 30th off. Sure, the mammoth Christmas break may have only just ended, but its never too early to recuperate yourself. RESULT: 5 full fucken days for the price of two. EASTER The government lets us off the hook on Good Friday (Friday, April 14th). Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday sadly dont count for much (unless youre a weekend worker, in that case, congrats), but we get Easter Monday (the 17th of April) off as well. Make it a quarter-year celebration and take the four days after holy holiday off (Tuesday 18th, Wednesday 19th, Thursday 20th and Friday 21st). RESULT: Ten straight days full of pure hot cross bun-ness. (Really. Never underestimate the joy of hot cross bun sales on Tuesday 18th.) QUEENS BIRTHDAY God, shes got a lot of gas in her tank. 90 whole years of life on earth got me like And for that, we thank her, cause it means we enjoy a totally irrelevant holiday one we usually forget about. One that pleasantly surprises us when it rears its head come June.* This year, were celebrating on Monday, June 12th. Tell your boss youre taking the next four days off. RESULT: Nine days of crowning glory. *Except for WA and QLD, who oddly enough celebrate this day on September 25th and October 2nd, respectively. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEARS It feels almost sacrilegious to already be planning the December/January break when were just come off the back of it, but hear me out the earlier you book stuff in, the cheaper it is, and the more money you have for festive cheer (pots and parmas). While work might force you to take your leave over Xmas, if youve got a bit more leeway, you can wrangle it like a boss for max holiday pleasure. Take Friday 22nd off, as well as Wednesday 27th, Thursday 28th and Friday 29th. RESULT: 10 days of sunning your bloated ass in a santa hat, babey. Photo: Billy Madison. If you're looking to percolate a little variety into your coffee and tea repertoire, One Cup Joe can help. The shop opened in December at 1154 Mae St. in Derry Township at the Hershey Square with an eye-popping inventory of K-cup style drink pods. One Cup Joe opened in December at 1154 Mae St. in Derry Township at the Hershey Square with a large inventory of K-cup style drink pods. All together the shop sells 241 varieties, from Starbucks to Tim Hortons and Krispy Kreme, as well as 30 types of teas. There are ciders, hot cocoas and more than 30 decaffeinated coffees. One Cup Joe can be likened to a candy store for those who own single serve coffee makers. It appeals to the trend, which in recent years has leveled off but still makes up about one-third of the overall coffee market. "It's the variety and choice. That's what it comes down to," said franchise owner Barry Bieler of Palmyra. "And, it's fun." An entire wall at One Good Joe is lined with single serving pods. Shoppers can customize their orders by purchasing the pods for 79 cents a piece or $15.99 for 24 pods. Selecting mix-and-match pods benefits shoppers who want to try different brands or varieties but don't want to commit to buying an entire box, Bieler said. The store also appeals to households whose members have different drink preferences, allowing everyone to purchase their favorite drinks, he added. Among the biggest sellers so far have been Krispy Kreme and Tim Hortons brands, Bieler said, adding customers are most surprised when they find a Cake Boss brand by celebrity baker Buddy Valastro and one by "Food Network's" Guy Fieri. One Cup Joe is part of a company with shops in Warminster, Bensalem and Malvern. Along with the pods, the store sells Remington brand single serve coffee makers as well as pod holders. It also sells boxes of the pods. For 99 cents a cup, shoppers can try a cup for themselves at the shop. In the future, Bieler said he will consider opening more franchise locations. "If it's successful, we'll see. It's a very young company but that's my goal," he said. President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that a lawsuit accusing him of violating the Constitution by allowing his hotels and other businesses to accept payments from foreign governments was "without merit." His remarks to reporters in the Oval Office coincided with a letter by Democratic lawmakers asking the General Services Administration what it was doing about Trump's hotel lease for the Old Post Office building. They said the lease states that no elected official of the federal government can share in the agreement or benefit from it. An ethics watchdog group Monday pulled no punches in a lawsuit filed in federal court against President Trump, claiming that the president's refusal to divest his sprawling network of business holdings put him in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution. "This cannot be allowed," the complaint said. At the heart of the complaint is a clause in the Constitution written to prevent foreign governments from exerting influence on the United States. Known as the Emoluments Clause, the section bans the president from accepting gifts or compensation from foreign governments. With dozens of foreign holdings , any of which could benefit from Trump's new role as president, the complaint argues, the president's "business interests are creating countless conflicts of interest, as well as unprecedented influence by foreign governments, and have resulted and will further result in numerous violations" of the Constitution. "As the Framers were aware, private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders," the complaint said. The complaint was filed by Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and joined by several legal experts on ethics, including Norman Eisen, who advised Barack Obama, and Richard Painter, who worked under George W. Bush. It's not clear how well the plaintiffs will fare with their complaint. The first hurdle involves demonstrating that they have been harmed by alleged conflicts of interest created by Trump's business holdings. Story continues The plaintiffs indicated that they may use the complaint to compel Trump to disclose his tax returns, a move he has repeatedly refused on the grounds that they are under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The suit refers to the issue only broadly, noting that the "defendant has continuously refused to release his tax returns." Trump maintains that conflict of interest restrictions don't apply to U.S. presidents. "As you know, I have a no-conflict situation because I'm president, which is I didn't know about that until about three months ago, but it's a nice thing to have," Trump told reporters last week. Trump is referring to Title 18, Section 208 of the U.S. Code, which governs the financial interests of government employees, and specifically exempts "the President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress, or a Federal judge." But Monday's lawsuit argues that the constitutional ban on emoluments supersedes the ethics law Trump has cited. "The Foreign Emoluments Clause was forged of the Framers' hard-won wisdom," the complaint said. "It is no relic of a bygone era, but rather an expression of insight into the nature of the human condition and the preconditions of self governance." At a long-awaited news conference this month, Trump dismissed any potential conflicts after his attorney laid out the broad outlines of a plan to separate himself from the day-to-day operations of his businesses. The plan includes the establishment of a trust to be run by two of his sons and a Trump Organization executive. The company will also hire an ethics advisor to clear any new domestic deals, and Trump pledged to donate any hotel profits generated from foreign governments to avoid the appearance of gifts. But the plan doesn't go nearly far enough to head off major ethical conflicts, Walter Shaub Jr., director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, said earlier this month. The new structure, he said, is "meaningless." "This is not a blind trust it's not even close. ... His sons are still running the businesses, and, of course, he knows what he owns," Shaub said upon hearing the details of Trump's plan. "His own attorney said today that he can't 'un- know' that he owns Trump Tower. The same is true of his other holdings." The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. On Friday, ProPublica reported that the documents required to transfer ownership of Trump's properties had not been filed. Reuters contributed to this story. More From CNBC ADVANCE FOR TUESDAY, JAN. 24, 2017 - In this Dec. 22, 2016 photo, Mexican youth who migrated to the U.S. as children meet in Mexico City. More than 100 former child migrants have visited the country of their birth on five such trips sponsored by California State University, Long Beach, emotional journeys to what is often a barely remembered homeland, to reunite with family seen only in photos or on Skype. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) By Steve Holland and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed orders on Tuesday smoothing the path for the controversial Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines in a move to expand energy infrastructure and roll back key Obama administration environmental actions. Oil producers in Canada and North Dakota are expected to benefit from a quicker route for crude oil to U.S. Gulf Coast refiners. But going ahead with the pipelines would mark a bitter defeat for Native American tribes and climate activists, who successfully blocked the projects earlier and vowed to fight the decisions through legal action. Trump campaigned on promises to increase domestic energy production. Before taking office he said the Dakota pipeline should be completed and that he would revive the C$8 billion ($6.1 billion) Keystone XL project, which was rejected in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama. U.S. crude imports have fallen dramatically in recent years as domestic production has boomed, but the world's largest oil consumer still relies heavily on imports. Even though Canada is already the biggest source of U.S. crude imports, boosting the flow from a close ally is seen in Washington as a way to improve U.S. energy security. "It goes to show we as a nation build infrastructure that is part of a comprehensive energy plan to make our energy secure," Republican Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota told Reuters. TransCanada Corp said it would resubmit an application for a permit for Keystone XL after Trump signed an order saying the company could re-apply. The application will be reviewed by the U.S. State Department, which has 60 days to reach a decision. The orders look set to undo victories won by protesters in North Dakota against Energy Transfer Partners , which has nearly completed construction of the Dakota line. Despite the advanced phase of the project, the Obama administration in December denied the company a permit to tunnel under the Missouri River. Protesters rallied for months against plans to route the $3.8 billion pipeline beneath a lake near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, saying it threatened water resources and sacred Native American sites. At one point, nearly 10,000 people had flocked to federal land in North Dakota, including 4,000 veterans after protests turned violent at times. The main protest camp has dwindled to several hundred after the Standing Rock tribe asked activists to leave when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers denied the easement. In a statement on Tuesday, the Standing Rock Sioux said they would fight the orders. "Americans know this pipeline was unfairly rerouted towards our nation and without our consent. The existing pipeline route risks infringing on our treaty rights, contaminating our water and the water of 17 million Americans downstream," said Dave Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock tribe. OIL INDUSTRY CHEERS The North Dakota Petroleum Council, the trade group for state oil producers relying on Dakota Access to expand their crude transport options, cheered Trump's order. About 1 million barrels a day are currently produced in North Dakota. "We think this is a great step forward for energy security in America," said Ron Ness, the council's president. The more than 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline would bring heavy crude from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The project was conceived nearly a decade ago, but since then the U.S. shale revolution has redefined oil flows, with domestic refiners finding themselves awash with supply and needing fewer imports. Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said in Calgary that Keystone XL has all the regulatory approvals it needs in Canada, and that the project would be "very positive for Canada." Environmental activists campaigned against the Keystone XL pipeline for more than seven years, eventually winning a victory when Obama rejected the project in 2015. Trip Van Noppen, president of nonprofit environmental law organisation Earthjustice, said in a statement that Trump "appears to be ignoring the law, public sentiment and ethical considerations" with the decision. TransCanada shares closed up 2.7 percent on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Trump said on Tuesday in Washington that Keystone XL would create 28,000 jobs, but that figure is at odds with a 2014 U.S. State Department environmental study that said the project would create 3,900 construction jobs and 35 permanent jobs. Shares of ETP, the company building the 450,000 barrel-a-day Dakota pipeline, ended the day up 3.5 percent in U.S. trading. Trump owned ETP stock through at least mid-2016, according to financial disclosure forms, and ETP's chief executive, Kelcy Warren, donated $100,000 to his campaign. 'STANDING WITH THE NATIVES' The protest against the 1,172-mile (1,885 km) Dakota pipeline was concentrated around blocking a permit to tunnel under Lake Oahe, a reservoir that forms part of the Missouri River, adjacent to the Standing Rock reservation. The Army Corps earlier this month said it would begin an environmental assessment that could delay the project further. Tuesday's White House memoranda said the Army and the Army Corps of Engineers should review and quickly approve permits for Dakota Access. In Cannon Ball, North Dakota, protesters, many of whom have stayed at the camp for months, said they would continue fighting to protect the environment. "I'm staying here. I'm standing with the natives. This is our future," said Benjamin Buffalo, 45, a Blackfeet tribal member from Browning, Montana. At a protest in front of the White House, a few hundred demonstrators shouted slogans and carried signs, including one that read: "Now environmental rapist." "What happened today is an attack on our homes," said Jade Begay, a spokeswoman for the Indigenous Environmental Network, which fights against mining and dumping on native lands. "We are going to continue to show up at your home, Donald Trump." In New York City, about 300 protesters gathered outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower, chanting slogans such as "If all lives matter, then Native lives matter" and "You can't drink oil, even in the soil." (Additional reporting by Terray Sylvester in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, Timothy Gardner in Washington, Ethan Lou in Calgary, Alberta, Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Daniel Trotta in New York; Writing by Catherine Ngai and David Gaffen in New York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Matthew Lewis) Charlevoix closes the door to J-L comeback, earns third straight D3 district title HARBOR SPRINGS When the Charlevoix volleyball team took a two-set lead over Johannesburg-Lewiston in their Division 3 district final match Friday, there was no way the Rayders would be celebrating Russia China's top crude oil supplier in 2016, Saudi Arabia second Russia beats Saudi Arabia as China's top crude oil supplier in 2016 BEIJING Petroleumworld.com 01 24 2017 Russia overtook Saudi Arabia in 2016 to became China's biggest crude oil supplier for the first year ever, customs data showed on Monday, boosted by robust demand from independent Chinese "teapot" refineries. Russian shipments surged nearly a quarter over 2015 to about 1.05 million barrels per day (bpd), the data showed, with Saudi Arabia coming in a close second with 1.02 million bpd, up 0.9 percent in 2016 versus the previous year. China is the world's second-largest oil buyer and the fastest-growing major importer. While Saudi Arabia counts China's state oil firms as backbone clients through long-term supply contracts, China's independent refineries - nicknamed "teapots" due to their smaller processing capacity - saw Russia as a more flexible supplier. For the teapot plants, authorized to import crude oil for the first time in late 2015, shipments from Russia's eastern ports are easier to process, coming in smaller cargo sizes at a closer proximity. Russia may be able to maintain the top spot in 2017 as it expands exports of its East Siberian-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline blend crude. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is set to shoulder the lion's share of supply cuts agreed to last year by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers. "OPEC cuts means Gulf producers take a hit in terms of market share, even though most of their cuts are to Europe and US ...Russia has an ESPO expansion coming up as well as supplies via Kazakhstan earmarked for China," said Michal Meidan of consultancy Energy Aspects. State-run Saudi Aramco is expected to look to a new refinery under state-run CNOOC to lift sales. For December, Russia also held the top spot with supplies up 4.8 percent from the same month a year earlier at 1.19 million bpd. Meanwhile Saudi sales dropped nearly 20 percent from a year earlier to 841,820 bpd, data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs showed. Total crude oil imports in December hit a record as refiners stepped up purchases ahead of a deal by oil-producing countries to reduce supply and bolster prices. For the whole of 2016, imports gained nearly 910,000 bpd over 2015, the strongest annual growth on record and mostly driven by teapot buying. Third-largest supplier Angola shipped 13 percent more crude last year versus 2015, while No. 4 seller Iraq recorded similar growth. [O/CHINA1] China also boosted imports from South American producers last year, with growth of 37.6 percent from Brazil and 26 percent from Venezuela, the data showed. Imports from Iran expanded nearly 18 percent last year to a record 624,260 bpd, as Chinese state oil firms started to lift barrels from their investments in Iranian oilfields in addition to term supply agreements. A day after James D. Schultz, the Shore native who advised ex-Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett and U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan, R-Pa., stepped down as head of Philadelphia-based Cozen O'Connor's Government Law group to be President Donald Trump's White House lawyer, Schultz's ex-partners Howard Schweitzer, Mark Alderman and Robert Freedman have posted Cozen's common-sense Rules of the Road for Advancing Your Cause in the New D.C. Order. Highlights: - Listen carefully to Trump's message power back to the people, job growth, and questioning the status quo and wrap your message in those contexts. - Look for points of stability in the administration political appointees who already understand the government, the issues, and have the clout to drive decision-making. - Don't forget the bureaucracy. Career [civil servants] are wary of the new administration, but things will normalize so understand the role that bureaucrats play. - Don't make the mistake of thinking that the same Republican Party controls the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. - Don't underestimate the power of the Senate Democrats and Trump's willingness to work with them. - Don't overestimate House Republicans and Trump's willingness to buck them. - Don't try to out-Trump Trump by bullying the administration. When you do need to confront the administration, think very carefully about an attack from their flank rather than a full frontal assault. - Love or hate Trump's persona, he's not an ideologue, and he's going to be much more approachable and transactional than President Obama. - Don't overlearn the lessons of the election, the transition, or even the early days of the administration. This is a never-seen-before motion picture; not a traditional portrait. keith ellison The Women's March last week proved an uplifting respite for many Democrats left dejected by President Donald Trump's upset win and inauguration, drawing millions to marches across the country. But with one exception, the people left to put back together the pieces of the party were nowhere to be found. The Washington Free Beacon first reported Saturday that only one candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg attended a march. The rest? They were at a retreat in Florida dedicated to the future of the party, hosted by Democratic activist David Brock for top donors and party members. To some critics, it was more evidence of how the party's leadership has shunned its grassroots in favor of its donors. Guy Cecil, the chair of Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, chided the candidates for failing to make it to a march. Judging from the response, it looks like only 1 candidate marched in DC or at a sister march. Given all the talk about local organizing... https://t.co/XRxCoNGOZ5 Guy Cecil (@guycecil) January 22, 2017 Yet there were certainly reasons for the candidates to be at the donor retreat instead of the march. DNC chair candidates are selected by the 447 voting party members, whom the candidates court at private meetings like Saturday's. In conversations with Business Insider, officials with ties to several top candidates said that parts of the retreat, including the panel of DNC speakers, were open to the press and provided a platform for the candidates to get their message out to Democratic voters, top donors, and party members. But privately, officials from multiple bids lamented that Brock's retreat conflicted with the march, which was scheduled in November before the retreat. They said they didn't feel it was appropriate, however, to back out as it became more apparent in the week leading up to the forum that the marches would be larger than initially expected. Story continues Most of the candidates, in the end, paid lip service to the marchers. Former Fox News analyst and Democratic operative Jehmu Green and Idaho Democratic Party Chair Sally Boynton Brown expressed their disappointment before the event. While I hate to be missing the @womensmarch in DC, I'll see you in Florida! https://t.co/uxT0xydm4l Jehmu (@Jehmu) January 19, 2017 @Jehmu @womensmarch someday we can have cyborg clones so we can be in two places at once Sally Boynton Brown (@SallyBSquared) January 19, 2017 Others like Perez did not participate in the full retreat. The former labor secretary flew in for the on-the-record portion and left shortly after, offering praise for the marchers. "This weekend all across the country we saw hundreds of thousands of Americans make their voices heard and write our own history by taking on Donald Trump. The widespread activism on the part of everyday Americans is further proof that we will not be silenced by a bully in the White House," Perez said in a statement to Business Insider. He added: "We must keep up this energy and organize, organize, organize around our shared values of decency and equality while addressing the structural turnaround our party needs to support those efforts." Others met with activists and attended alternate protests in lieu of the women's march. Business Insider also learned that Rep. Keith Ellison, a frontrunner for the job considered close to many grassroots activists in the party, previously scheduled a meeting with a group of DNC members and activists in Florida before Brock invited the DNC candidates to the forum. Ellison left for the private meeting shortly after appearing at Brock's forum. South Carolina party chair Jaime Harrison attended a slew of rallies the previous week, including an Obamacare-support rally in South Carolina on Saturday and a civil rights rally in the state on Monday. For his part, at Monday night's Democracy In Color forum, Buttigieg subtly referenced his experience at the march in South Bend. "The best answer that I've seen to the 'salad bar problem' is what I saw on Saturday, when I was in South Bend marching with the women of South Bend in solidarity with women around the country and the world. That was a women's march, but it was a march for all of us," Buttigieg said. "I think solidarity, not isolation, is how we move forward as a party." Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist working on Buttigieg's bid, said the mayor didn't participate in Brock's event specifically to march in South Bend. "He wanted to be back in his community and join South Bend residents in the Women's March," Smith said. NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama surprise a tearful Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom More From Business Insider Don't put away your marching shoes just yet, Philly. Actually, best to keep them handy. If the first few days of Donald Trump's presidency are any indication, we're going to be putting some serious miles on our footwear and Fitbits in the next four years. Last weekend, as millions participated in women's marches across the globe, Trump's spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway delivered this whopper: After long refusing to release his taxes after what has to be the world's longest audit, President Trump won't release them at all because . . . "people don't care." Trump himself had already said as much at his first public implosion, er, news conference, when he berated a reporter who asked about them, saying the media are the only ones who care about the records. "You know, the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters, OK? They're the only ones," he said. "I won; I mean, I became president. No, I don't think they care at all. I don't think they care at all. I think you care." This just in: That is a lie. Or as Trump & Co. have rebranded lies these days, "alternative facts." Buy into them and get a free "Make America Great Again" cap, shipping not included. A poll taken before Trump's news conference confirmed that most Americans said he should release his returns. Another poll by Pew Research Center taken on the eve of that news conference showed 60 percent stated Trump has a responsibility to release the records. Just last week, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 74 percent of Americans including 53 percent of Republicans think Trump should release the documents. But given how useless polls were during the election, let's put all those aside and talk in terms that Trump's supporters and administration care about: crowd size. At the Women's March on Washington, which crowd scientists told the New York Times attracted three times as many people as Trump's inauguration, I talked to many women and men about an array of issues they were concerned about under a Trump presidency, among them his refusal to release his taxes. The folks at Tuesdays with Toomey, a growing local group that has been going to U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's Center City office since the November election, care about many, many issues, including the president's elusive tax returns. A petition demanding that Trump release his taxes has been signed by more than 270,000 people. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee, introduced a bill this month that would require Trump to release his tax returns. Bottom line: People care. So, I have an idea. Let's have a #PeopleCare "Release Your Taxes" rally. This week, Republicans are scheduled to hold a congressional retreat in Philadelphia from Wednesday to Friday to talk about how to dismantle Obamacare with, you know, something big, terrific, the best, yuuuge. Stay tuned. At the White House press briefing Monday, press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump will be here Thursday, but even if he ends up backing out, the Republicans in attendance should hear from people who care. There are already plenty of protests planned around the event, from groups opposing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act to those supporting Black Lives Matter. On Facebook, one group called Resistance in Philly: Fighting for Our Lives is scheduled to meet at the Thomas Paine Plaza at 11 a.m. Thursday. Another protest called Surround the Loews Hotel is gathering at 4 p.m. So why not add a #PeopleCare "Release Your Taxes" contingent to the mix? Spread the word among your friends and family and co-workers. Alert the troops on Twitter, our commander-in-chief's favorite mode of communication. Some have suggested nationwide marches calling for Trump's taxes on tax day, April 18. Great idea, but why not keep the momentum going from this weekend's marches and hold a #PeopleCare rally in Philly, the birthplace of democracy and the Constitution? Dear President Trump, accountability and transparency are cornerstones of democracy, so what better way to honor them than by releasing taxes to demonstrate you're not in economic conflict with the Constitution's "emoluments clause," which bars government officials from accepting gifts from foreign leaders. Trump is the first major party nominee since the 1970s to refuse to release his tax returns. At Monday's briefing, Spicer told reporters that the administration would open up a handful of digital press seats via Skype to journalists living 50 miles or more outside the nation's capital. "As you know we're all about big viewership and large audiences," he quipped, referring to the epic rant he delivered to reporters about inauguration crowd numbers that he claimed were underreported. So let's give them what they want, Philly style. See you out there, comrades. After enduring threatening tweets and campaign-trail disparagements, CEOs of the two-and-a-half domestic automakers finally sat down with now-President Donald Trump to tell their side of the story. Its a good bet they mentioned fuel-economy standards. Trump, of course, is in the midst of a public-private negotiation with the auto industry about how to create more American jobs. Trump has blasted automakers for building some US models in Mexico. General Motors (GM) Ford (F) and Italian-American hybrid Fiat-Chrysler (FCAU) have responded by announcing new investments in the United States and touting the thousands of Americans they already employ. Trump has tweeted his approval, signaling a sort of detente. But Trump is far from finished, and his next big step could be a threat to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement unless theres solid evidence of a rebound in US manufacturing employment. Ending NAFTA would wreck automaker profitability, push up car prices and possibly kill as many US jobs as it would create. Trumps modus operandi, however, is to threaten ruin but settle for something far less draconian, as long as he can declare victory. His meetings and statements are all part of the deal being made. We know what Trump wants: more manufacturing jobs he can claim credit for. So what do the automakers want? For starters, theyd be delighted if Trump slashed the corporate tax rate, as promised, and threw a few other tax breaks their way. Theyd also love some relief from onerous fuel-economy standards President Obama put in placeand tried to make irrevocable right before leaving office. Easing fuel-economy standards Trump advisers have suggested hed consider lowering fuel-economy standards. Trump may have been referring to this during the meeting with the auto CEOs, when he said environmental regulations are out of control. Supporters of the current rules are certainly worried Trump will undo Obamas work. Trumps EPA will be looking for ways to lower the standards, says Timmons Roberts, a professor of environmental studies at Brown University. Story continues In 2012, Obama pushed through new rules that would raise average fuel economy for all cars sold to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That was a huge increase, and automakers played nice only because Obama promised that the government would review the whole regimen in 2018. If the new technology needed to meet those standards didnt materialize by then, or was too expensive, the number could be lowered, or other terms adjusted. The Obama administration decided to speed up that mid-point review, completing it last November in an obvious effort to lock in the Obama standards before Trump took office. Auto executives expecting to contribute to the review felt ignored by regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation. They basically just gave us the finger, one auto exec said privately at the Detroit auto show in early January. The question isnt really whether automakers can meet the strict new standards. They probably can, with a combination of better internal-combustion technology and alternative-energy vehicles such as electrics. But new technology is expensive, and consumers arent always willing to pay for it through higher prices. Most automakers are working on electric vehicles, for instance, but they probably wouldnt be if not for the credits they get toward fuel economy and government rebates that make the cars cheaper. The market alone generally doesnt support the investment. Trump is obviously sympathetic to corporate complaints of federal overreach, and he has promised to slash many federal regulations so businesses can operate with a freer hand. It wont be easy to change the Obama fuel-economy standards, and legal challenges by environmental groups could tie up any attempted changes for years. But litigation doesnt faze Trump, and he could plausibly tell the automakers he did his share, and dealing with the courts is their problem. Consequences of eliminating NAFTA The more confrontational alternative to this kind of horse-trading is a pretty ugly scenario. For the automakers, any deal with Trump needs to retain NAFTA in something similar to its current form. Virtually all automakers selling cars in the United Statesincluding the European and Japanese brandsoperate factories in Mexico, where they typically make small vehicles with low profit margins. Many such vehicles cant be made profitably in the United States, because of high labor costs, no matter what Trump says. Trumps idea regarding a border tax, or tariff on cheap imports, would raise small-car prices, which in theory would provide more revenue for automakers. But fewer people would buy them, and production would become less efficient, pushing costs up. Nearly 2 million vehicles are shipped to the United States from Mexico each year, about 11% of all cars sold here. And automakers plan to add more capacity in Mexico during the next several years than in the United States. But if Trump killed NAFTA and shackled the Mexican auto industry, those jobs would be more to likely migrate to other low-cost countries than to the United States, according to a new report by the Center for Automotive Research. Killing NAFTA would also cause widespread disruption in auto-industry supply chains, since most automakers ship parts back and forth between the US, Mexico and Canada. That would destroy more than 30,000 US jobs, according to the CAR report. Inefficiency alone would push car prices up, even without tariffs. Automaker stocks would plummet and Trump would face a PR nightmare as he tried to explain why wrecking auto-industry profits and hiking prices is good for American workers. Far better to negotiate some kind of win-win with the automakers, which have already boosted fuel economy substantially since the Obama rules went into effect. If gas prices stay cheap, consumers probably wouldnt object to reduced MPG standards, either, judging by booming sales of low-mileage SUVs during the last few years. Trump can get what he wants without wrecking NAFTA, as long as the automakers get something, too. You can bet theyll be asking. Rick Newman is the author of four books, including Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from Setback to Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. Former Philadelphia Police Inspector Daniel Castro's latest attempt to clear his name was thwarted last week when a federal appeals court refused to grant him permission to appeal his conviction in an extortion case. Castro, 53, who once had designs on becoming police commissioner, was indicted in November 2010, accused of plotting to shake down a business partner who he said owed him $90,000 from a failed real-estate venture. Castro was caught on tape authorizing the use of "enforcers" to collect the cash through threats and violence. Castro's April 2011 trial ended with the jury hung on most charges. He later pleaded guilty to a related conspiracy count to avoid a retrial, but now maintains his innocence and says he was coerced into pleading guilty to save his pension. He served about four years in prison. On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit rejected Castro's request. The trial judge in the case had previously ruled against Castro's ineffective-counsel motion. Castro's lawyer, George Newman, said he was "very disappointed" in the court's ruling. Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Lappen, who prosecuted the case, said the government was "pleased with the court's decision denying Castro relief in this matter." Castro said Monday that he intended to continue to appeal. "It's a miscarriage of justice when the system ignores testimony of grossly erroneous advice from counsel and independent witness testimony contrary to the government's position," he said. "Credible evidence shows I was misled to plea. My faith remains steadfast and I still believe in our system to get it right." The art of the second-day (or third-day) spin is something Spicer, a longtime spokesman for the RNC, knows well, and Kellyanne Conway is famous for it. But rhetoric this election cycle has gone beyond spin, said Sherri Hope Culver, who runs Temple University's Center for Media and Information Literacy. "What really concerns me is the push toward this notion that truth is debatable, and that's going to be a real challenge for the press," she said. "Because when the press holds itself to its highest standard, it's aiming for objective truth. And if, even in that aim, it gets ridiculed, where do you go from there?" Asking questions about the source of a particular piece of news, and whether they can trust it, doesn't come naturally to most people, Culver said. And people tend to interpret the news through the lens of their own experiences. Journalists at mainstream outlets reacted to Spicer's Saturday briefing with almost universal outrage. In the conservative sphere, viewers were cheering Spicer on for sticking it to the "dishonest" media. AirAsia to Fly to Frankfurt from Bangkok in 2017 We all know that AirAsia is planning to fly to London from Kuala Lumpur this year. In addition, AirAsia will also fly to Frankfurt from Bangkok in 2017. This is not a rumour as this was told by AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes at The World Economic Forum in Davos. According to https://global.handelsblatt.com/, Tony Fernandes, told German news agency DPA at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he planned to launch two new routes, from Kuala Lumpur to London and Bangkok to Frankfurt. Tickets to Frankfurt will cost less than 200 ($214). Honestly, I would like to offer them for even less. Because of the low oil prices, we could afford about 150, Mr. Fernandes said. Hes keen to attract Europeans who want to go on holiday in Southeast Asia as well as Asians wanting to explore Europe: We see this as a mutual market, he said. This is an exciting news for AirAsia and this will definitely boost tourism for Thailand and Germany. The fare is expected below 200 (THB 7,548 / RM 951) and around 150 (THB 5,681 / RM 714). However, it didnt mention whether it is one way or return ticket. If the new route, this will bring more Germans coming to Thailand and South East Asia. Thus, now Thais can fly to Frankfurt Germany and Europe. If you need recommendation to join local tours, you can try using Thomson Discount Codes. This will save you lots of money traveling in Germany and Europe. Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts AirAsiaX Gets Approval to Fly to United States Finally, it is official. AirAsiaX gets the approval to fly to any locations in United States of America. We knew they had the approval a few weeks ago but this is the official statement. Now, AirAsiaX finally can fly to Hawaii. It has been delayed for some time due to the approval issue but now it has resolved. The official statement is as below. AirAsia Bhds long haul low-cost carrier AirAsia X (AAX) has received clearance from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to fly to the US. In a statement today, AAX said it is the first Asian low-cost carrier to secure approval to operate scheduled passenger flights to the U.S. The approval allows AAX to operate services to any destination within the U.S. AAX said it is currently considering flights to several U.S. states, including Hawaii, as part of its route expansion plans. Its group CEO Datuk Kamarudin Meranun said the approval was a major milestone for AAX. Our expansion up until now has concentrated on Asia, Australasia and the Middle East, and we are excited about our first foray into an entirely new market, as we look beyond Asia Pacific. Im confident travellers will respond well to our award-winning service and the kind of connectivity we can offer with our Fly-Thru product. As part of our expansion plans, we are also looking to resume our very popular London route, and are working towards securing the necessary approvals, he said. Source: TheEdgeMarkets.com AirAsiaX is expected to fly to Hawaii from Kuala Lumpur with one stop over either in Osaka or Narita from our sources. It should be happening within the first half of 2017. We will update with more information in the future. Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts Can a Child Fly with Photocopy Birth Certificate? Can a Child Fly with Photocopy Birth Certificate? The answer is NO. We have checked with AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines and the answer is no and the rules is set by Malaysia Airports and not by them. A few days ago, there is an incident involving a three years old girl who couldnt fly with her photocopy birth certificate in Penang. This story was shared by my friend Cynthia Wong and it immediately caught our attention. This is a story from a NGO called Wishing Star. Dear AirAsia & Mr Tony Fernandes, This is Hafiz, diagnosed with cancer of the brain in 2013. Underwent 32 radiotherapy treatment along with 2 major surgery at the tender age of 7 to remove the tumour. Unfortunately he had a relapsed in May 2015 and underwent 8 cycle of chemotherapy. And in December 2016 AGAIN another relapsed & MRI confirmed the tumour is more then 3cm now. He has been sent home under palliative care as there are no more treatment available, a very very cruel medical prognosis. Now what I am about to tell here happens to be more cruel please read on. Thanks to some donation we manage to raise during Christmas by Patsy Woo Chai Wei Sue Win Siah & friends we were able to fulfilled this wish immediately. Arrangement has been made & Hafiz were suppose to fly with his family from Penang to Johor Bahru for his Legoland trip TODAY at 5:45pm AK6415 BOOKING NUMBER YFR1FS. Upon check in, original birth certificate of Hafizs sister who was travelling with them age 2.5yrs old was required however they only have photocopied ones with them. What causes this much regret on our part from Wishing Star is how the delicate situation was not handled delicately. We understood the security protocol set to ensure safest flight possible. But for Gods sake, how do you refuse 2.5 years from flying together with the rest of the family? What aspect of security would this harm anyone? And given the situation this evening, luckily the family was sent off by a friend who was willing to take temporary custody of the child. What if the family were on their own? The whole trip would be cancelled. And if we put aside, the 4 tickets that would hv been burned, how do you mend the shattered pieces of a dying childs heart and hopes? Condition of Hafiz was explained & pleaded to ground staff, but was not handled properly. There were so many alternative & option could have been extended to them. Where is compassion? Where is empathy? If you are a mother or father reading this; tell me; how do u decide between your dying sons wish & leaving your other young child behind? That was Hafizs mom dilemma! Forced to make a choice because of lack of dicretion & empathy from party involved. Hafiz & his mom proceed and flew to Johor Bahru leaving behind the 3yrs old sister to one of our friend in Penang . Can you imagine how is Hafiz feeling now? How can this trip be memorable? How can you undo this? How can this be made right for Hafiz again? Even with a free flight option, do you think no she can fly alone Being a minor, and the original birth certificate is in their house in kampung in Sungai Petani. Thank you Kak Syima Rayyqyss for taking care of Afni now & assisted the family at the airport. AIRASIA you have just officially crushed a dying boys heart. Wan Shahriza Maz Waheed Updated on Sunday Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.244161376011471&type=1 Remember to follow Wishing Star for their tremendous effort to help Hafiz. Thus, we went to contact our friends in AirAsia and also Malaysia Airlines to clarify the rules and regulations for this. It is confirmed that a child must carry original birth certificate to fly. For your information, there is a period of time that there was not enough stock of MyKid in Malaysia. Even my eldest son didnt have a MyKid and we applied his MyKid last year so if you dont have a MyKid, please apply one now. The only criteria you can travel with photocopied birth certificate is the child lost the original birth certificate with police report and without the MyKid. We hope this story gives us awareness on such rules for our children. So what happened to Hafizs sister? There are many people with good heart in this country. Apparently, Ms Siew Peng Soo CEO of BUDS Organics helped them to have a short beachside vacation together. Kindness & love still prevails! Thank you Ms Siew Peng Soo CEO of BUDS Organics for extending the family a short beachside vacation together as a whole family. Everyone is finally together, no one is left behind. Thank you Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/185212788572997/permalink/245247419236200/ Well and of course there is the ugly side of Malaysian. This comment really makes our blood boils over this incident. Anak I ada autism. Tak ada pun I nak demand macam macam kat orang. Sick or dying doesnt mean you are above law or entitled to anything. And no. If I was in their shoesI wouldnt tinggalkan anak I yang 3yo dengan entah sesiapa, walaupun anak I yang lagi sorang tu dah nazak and nak pergi Legoland. Lagi rela I cancel the trip and kasi anak yang sakit tu understand Anak sihat ke sakit ke, selagi kita hidup, bukan kena ajar yang dunia ni bukan kita punya dan bukan semua benda boleh dapat ikut kehendak kita. A mother commented on this issue. Come on, have some empathy and sympathy for the family. We couldnt believe our eyes how a mother could comment like this! The kid is dying and Wishing Star just wanted to grant his wish to visit Legoland. We understand it is the mothers fault of not carrying the original birth certificate. To be frank, not every parent will want to carry that to travel around. Please be civilised when commenting on such issues. Have some empathy and sympathy. We hope this incident enlightened us to be more alert in carrying proper documents for traveling. Remember, you can still apply for MyKid if you dont have one. Thus, you must carry original birth certificate to fly if you dont have a MyKid. Thank you AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines for taking time to answer our queries today. Thank you Wishing Star for making Hafizs dream comes true. Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S22 Ultra and Sony ZV-1. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two. I used to travel around 17 International trips per year but now staying at home. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For advertisements or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print After initially expressing serious concerns about Donald Trumps pro-Russia secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio sold out and fell in line with fellow Republicans on the foreign relations committee. Rubios vote which was in question until earlier today pushed Tillerson over the top by a single vote with the committee confirming him on party lines, 11-10. All Republicans voted in favor of Tillerson, while the Democrats on the committee opposed him. Rubio recently expressed visible frustration during Tillersons confirmation hearing when the former CEO would not call Russian leader Vladimir Putin a war criminal for his countrys involvement in the Syria and interference in last years presidential election. Those are very, very serious charges to make, and I would want to have much more information before reaching that conclusion, Tillerson told a frustrated Rubio. Whats happening in Aleppo is in the public domain, the pictures are there, Rubio shot back. It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putins military has conducted war crimes in Aleppo. Video: Tillerson, who was awarded the Order of Friendship from Putin in 2013, wouldnt definitively say the Russian president was behind the election cyberattack that helped elect Trump last November. When it came to slapping sanctions on countries like Russia that engage in such attacks, Tillerson said he would have concerns. Despite the public back-and-forth between Rubio and Tillerson, it was likely a backroom, 90-minute meeting that pushed the Florida senator in the right direction and led the Senator to his announcement today that he would support Trumps pick, despite his obvious misgivings. When it comes to Rubio, though, none of this should surprise us. After calling Trump a con man during the primary campaign, Rubio ultimately put his party before the country in getting behind him during the general election. In the same way, the Florida senator talked tough during Tillersons confirmation hearing but eventually sold out and voted in favor of the Putin puppet all but guaranteeing his approval when he comes to a full vote in the U.S. Senate next week. As the Democratic Party said Monday after the Florida senator announced his decision, Rubio is not only rolling over for Donald Trump, hes earning the nickname Trump gave him: Little Marco.' Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Despite running on a pro-life campaign platform for a year and a half, one of Donald Trumps first actions as President of the United States will lead to millions more unintended pregnancies and abortions around the world. On Monday, the unpopular new president signed an executive order to reinstate a rule the global gag rule that bars federal money from funding any nongovernment organization around the globe that administers abortion services, or even mentions abortion as an option for family planning services. While the most devoted Trump loyalists will spin this as a good development for the pro-life cause, the real numbers not the alternative facts are pretty troubling. More from Vox: The gag rule will, however, lead to more women dying across the developing world. Marie Stopes International, a major global family planning organization, estimates that without alternative funding, the loss of its services alone will cause 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.2 million abortions, 2.1 million unsafe abortions, and 21,700 maternal deaths just in Trumps first term, from 2017 to 2020. The organization says it will also be prevented from reaching 1.5 million women with contraception every year. Trumps decision to reinstate the rule will likely hurt the poorest and most vulnerable people around the globe. As Vox also noted, Large international family planning organizations like Marie Stopes International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation have been able to bring crucial contraceptive services to areas like West Africa that were poorly served before, PAI director of advocacy Jonathan Rucks said. With the gag rule back in effect, Vox reported, Large geographic areas may simply lose services, including birth control. Surprise, surprise: The man who promised some form of punishment for women having abortions is following through on his promise and women all around the globe will suffer as a result. All of this just days after millions of women around the globe took to the streets to speak out against his presidency. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print We are used to the spectacle of Red States suing the EPA claiming states rights as they argue against emissions limits, and as Huffington Post notes of Trumps EPA pick Scott Pruitt, As Oklahomas attorney general, Pruitt has sued the EPA over environmental regulations at least 13 times, in many cases claiming states rights. Republicans brag up Pruitts staunch support of states rights yet when Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) asked Pruitt if he would keep in place a federal waiver that lets California set its own standards, Pruitt would not commit, saying, ominously, I dont know without going through the process to determine that. One would not want to presume the outcome. If Pruitt really champions states rights, the answer should have been a no-brainer. Given that other states are allowed to adopt Californias standards, and have, this is not the case of just one state being victimized by Pruitts anti-environmental stance. Enter Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, who as governor of California supported tough standards for auto emissions. The governator tweeted, My Republican colleague here is all about states' rights except the right to clean air & save lives from pollution https://t.co/KD0426XNWP Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 23, 2017 Republicans like to call environmental science junk science, but Schwarzenegger throws it back at them by calling Pruitts hypocrisy junk logic: I hope my friends in Congress won't let him get away with this junk logic. But CA has won this battle before and we will again if necessary. Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) January 23, 2017 According to Pruitts logic as Oklahomas attorney general, if not as EPA chief, There are substantive requirements, obligations, authority, jurisdiction granted to the states under our environmental statutes. That needs to be respected. If that logic were to hold, the same would apply to states supporting the EPAs previous standards. There is not a chance Pruitt would agree to that now, and Schwarzenegger is right to call attention to that fact. He is not alone: California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom pointed out, EPA nominee Pruitt won't commit to CAs right to set its own vehicle pollution standards. Apparently "states rights" is just a catch phrase? Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) January 19, 2017 There are more than a dozen states following Californias standards and as the Environmental Defense Fund explains, these states represent approximately one quarter of the U.S. vehicle fleet and vehicle miles traveled. As Cory Booker said to Pruitt, Your record is not states rights, its deregulation and siding with industry. There are significant fights ahead on a number of different fronts. It is ironic that our defense on the left should now be states rights, but that is where we are at with Republicans in full control of the federal government. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Alec Baldwin will be guest hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live next month, which means that viewers will be treated to more of the parody that drives President Trump up the wall. According to Dave Itzkoff of The New York Times: Alec Baldwin, the resident impersonator of @realDonaldTrump at @nbcsnl, will be the show's host on Feb. 11, NBC says. Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) January 23, 2017 Baldwins parody of Trump must contain more than a hint of truth because it obviously annoys Trump to no end. After the parody of his press conference, Trump tweeted: .@NBCNews is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 15, 2017 In November, Trump got angry at Baldwins impression and demanded equal time on SNL: I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show nothing funny at all. Equal time for us? Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2016 One would think that the President Of The United States would have better things to do than to sit around watching Alec Baldwin make fun of him, but this is Donald Trump that were talking about, so the answer is no. The odds are that viewers will be treated to more of Baldwin as Trump than the usual cold open of the show. Trump will be watching when Balwin hosts, and by sunrise the following Sunday morning, there will be several angry tweets about how unfunny both Baldwin and SNL are. Alec Baldwins impression of Trump is funny, but one of the best things about it is that it drives President Trump nuts. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print While claiming to be an environmentalist, President Trump will sign an executive order advancing the construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines. Video of Trump telling auto industry execs that he is an environmentalist, but environmental regulations are out of control: Trump said: On the same morning that the President was calling himself an environmentalist, it is being reported that he will sign an executive order advancing the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines. According to Bloomberg, President Donald Trump intends to take action today to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, according to a person familiar with the matter. This is a perfect example of the duplicitous behavior of the Trump administration. The presidents words mean nothing. If one wants to understand the true intentions of the Trump administration, watch their actions. For example, since taking office, Trump has held one single meeting with friendly union leaders that was notably missing any representation from the nations largest unions. In contrast, the president has held several meetings with CEOs. Trump claims that his administration intends to give government back to the people, but he is spending most of his time meeting with heads of large corporations. The President claims to be environmentalist, but he will sign an executive order advancing the construction of environmentally dangerous pipelines that will benefit energy companies, not the American people. Trump is not an environmentalist. Someone who is interesting in protecting the planet would never say sure, I am environmentalist, but those regulations related to addressing climate change are out of control. In the case of the Trump administration, actions really do speak louder than words. To understand their direction for the country watch what they do, not what they say. Charleston, SC (29403) Today Partly to mostly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High near 80F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mainly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. ST. PAUL Local lawmakers appeared shell shocked in the moments after Gov. Mark Dayton collapsed Monday night while giving his State of the State address in the Minnesota House chamber. "I think we all just took a huge gasp. It was frightening," said Sen. Carla Nelson, R-Rochester. Dayton was about 46 minutes into his speech when he stopped to take a sip of water. All of a sudden he lost consciousness and his head hit the podium. People instantly rushed to the governor's aid as someone yelled, "Get him to the ground." Meanwhile, gasps echoed throughout the chamber. NEW VIDEO: Gov. Dayton collapses during State of the State. Son, Eric, says he's "doing great." https://t.co/oCXyUmWz46 pic.twitter.com/xuJcmiSCP0 KARE 11 (@kare11) January 24, 2017 ADVERTISEMENT For a tense few minutes, the governor remained on the ground as lawmakers moved to adjourn the joint House and Senate session. The 69-year-old governor eventually was able to stand up with some assistance and walk out of the chamber. Meanwhile, the audience applauded. Dayton's Chief of Staff Jamie Tincher said that the governor was able to walk out of the Capitol and return home. Paramedics went with the governor and performed a routine check on him. He is expected to deliver his two-year budget proposal on Tuesday morning as planned. "Gov. Dayton and his entire staff thank the people of Minnesota for their outpouring of support and concern," Tincher said. Even before the speech began, Rep. Greg Davids said he noted that the governor did not appear well. Others in the audience said they noticed the governor appeared to be sweating profusely. Davids said he was shaken by what had happen. While he disagrees with Dayton on a lot of things, he said he cares for him personally. "I'll admit I'm a bit shook up. I've never seen anything like this," Davids said. The Preston Republican said he didn't want to comment on the governor's speech at this time. He said his main concern right now is the governor's health. "I hope all Minnesotans will pray for our governor's health," he said. ADVERTISEMENT Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, said the entire incident was stunning. The governor's collapse just as he was about to announce his biggest proposal of the night making Minnesota the first state in the nation to offer a public health insurance option. Dayton had planned to outline a proposal to allow people to buy into the state-run MinnesotaCare insurance program. "It's just such a sense of bewilderment and concern and let down for the way it happened," she said. In other words In the summer of 1858, Abraham Lincoln stood before his state convention and warned, "a house divided against itself cannot stand." The apt re Read moreThe danger of an island divided President Donald Trump signs an executive order on U.S. withdrawal from the Trans Pacific Partnership while flanked by Vice President Mike Pence, left, and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, right, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Monday. Reuters Looks like the lefts 1960s riot nostalgia is returning with a vengeance. The Washington Examiner reports that the stretch limo protesters set afire in Washington on inauguration day was owned by a Muslim immigrant who was opposed to Trump. And he doesnt know whether his insurance policy will cover damage from rioting. I wonder if Trump might score a PR coup by paying for a new limo for this guy, with a stern warning that future such assaults will be punished to the maximum extent of the law and then really do it (to reduce the moral hazard of incentivizing rioters to dent Trumps pocketbook with more such assaults). As of January 20, the liberal press has a new mantra: no more mister nice guy! Were going to call a lie a lie, damn it! That would have been a nice practice during the last eight years, but better late than never, I suppose. The Associated Press manifests its new attitudeall-out war on the presidentwith todays news story: Trump bridge-building overshadowed by false voter fraud line. Even as President Donald Trump starts reaching out to lawmakers and business and union leaders to sell his policies, hes still making false claims about election fraud. Thats a bold lead sentence. It would be interesting to try to find an instance in the last eight years when the AP attributed false claims, without qualification, to Barack Obama. During a bipartisan reception with lawmakers at the White House Monday evening, Trump claimed the reason hed lost the popular vote to his Democratic rival was that 3 million to 5 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally had voted. Thats according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. There is no evidence to support Trumps claim. The assertion appeared to be part of a developing pattern for Trump and his new administration in which falsehoods overshadow outreach efforts. Extraordinarily harsh words. Note, however, that the AP takes at face value the report of a Democratic aidewho spoke on condition of anonymity. That is a very thin reed on which to base the assertion that Trump lied. What about the APs flat assurance that [t]here is no evidence to support Trumps claim? If Trump said that three million illegal immigrants voted in the election, the AP is simply wrong. There is evidence to support that claim. This study by professors from Old Dominion and James Mason Universities concluded that as many as 2.8 million illegals voted in the 2008 and 2010 elections, and the illegal immigrant population has continued to grow. The study also found that: this [illegal] participation has been large enough to change meaningful election outcomes including Electoral College votes, and Congressional elections. Non-citizen votes likely gave Senate Democrats the pivotal 60th vote needed to overcome filibusters in order to pass health care reform and other Obama administration priorities in the 111th Congress. The Associated Press is free to disagree with the conclusions reached by Professors Richman, Chattha and Earnest, and to offer its own estimates of the extent of illegal voting. But it hasnt done so, and the APs claim that there is no evidence to support Trumps claim is false. The AP also describes Trumps assertion as debunked, with no reference to what evidence supposedly debunked it. The AP goes on to accuse Trumps of further lies: The start of Trumps first full week in office had begun as a reset after a tumultuous weekend dominated by his and his spokesmans false statements about inauguration crowds and their vigorous complaints about media coverage of the celebrations. Again, the Associated Press casually accuses both Trump and Sean Spicer of making false statements about the crowd at the inauguration. This flap duplicates a pattern that we saw repeatedly during the campaign. It starts with a lie about Trump by the press. Trump responds with what probably is an exaggeration, which the press hysterically denounces as a lie, without acknowledging its own role in the controversy. Here, the press started the conflict by putting out a lowball estimate that only 250,000 attended Trumps inauguration. The New York Times deceptively tried to further that narrative by circulating a photo of the crowd that was taken before the inauguration began, and before the crowd was fully assembled. That deception, which we wrote about here, was repeated by pretty much the entire press corps. So what was Trumps alleged falsehood? I made a speech. I looked out. The field was it looked like a million, a million and a half people. The president went on to say that one network said we drew 250,000 people. Now thats not bad. But its a lie. He then claimed that were 250,000 right by the stage and the rest of the, you know, 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument was packed. Trump didnt say there were a million people there, he said it looked like a million when he looked out from the podium. And there were people extending back to the Washington Monument, although it probably wasnt packed there. So Trump exaggerated, but there is only one flat-out falsehood in the picture: the original press report that only 250,000 people attended. What was Sean Spicers alleged falsehood? Spicer has taken heat for his main claim that this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe, while offering other inaccurate statements including that Trumps was the first inauguration in which white floor coverings were used on the mall. White floor coverings were used during Obamas second inauguration in 2013. I assume the press isnt going to try to create a credibility gap out of the white floor coverings. Spicers sin is saying that the largest ever international audience witnessed Trumps inauguration. But whether that statement is true or not is unknown. While television ratings were higher for Barack Obamas 2009 inauguration, online viewership around the world could indeed have been enough to make the Trump inauguration the most-watched. Here, as we saw during the campaign, Trump can be accused of exaggeration. But the liberal press is far more guilty of outright falsity, and its accusations vastly overstate Trumps purported sins. It is hard to say how the all-out war on Trump by the Associated Press and other liberal outlets will end. But so far, Trump has done pretty well by running against the media. Moscow, January 24, 2017 Tawainese legislators are considering legalizing homosexual marriage, which would make it the first Asian country to do so; but the nations Christians are standing strong in defense of traditional marriage, reports World Christian News. The largest gay parade in Asian history took place recently in Taipei, with 80,000 LGBT supporters taking to the streets, emboldened by a pro-gay marriage video posted on the Facebook page of Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen. I support same-sex marriage. Every person has the right to love and marry, she says. The bill needs 57 of 130 legislators to support it for it to go into effect. It currently boasts 56 supporters. However, while 80% of Taiwanese aged 2029 (mostly Buddhists and Taoists) are in favor of legalization, Taiwanese Christians have been holding nationwide protests, urging their countrymen to come out against the bill. Today we stand here to tell the government that Taiwanese Christians categorically oppose legalizing gay marriage. And we will not stop repeating it. No decision should be made without the consent of society, said one Taiwanese pastor, speaking on behalf of the 75% of the nations Christians who understand that homosexual marriage distorts traditional gender roles and destroys the very notion of marriage. While proponents of the bill hope Taiwan will start a new trend in Asia, conservative organizations and Christians have promised to exert strong pressure to protect traditional Taiwanese culture and preserve family values. ( Read 27149 Times) Source : Times 50 Most Desirable Women of 2016,Miss India 2016 Top 10 ,subtitles- Miss Active and Miss Lifestyle,Law student , Personal Style Blogger and Philanthropist Vaishnavi Patwardhan has signed her debut film Raja Abroadiya .When I first heard about Preetys character in the movie, I felt an instant connection with her. There are so many similarities between Vaishnavi and Preety. As I went on to read the script in detail, Preety became a part of me. The Movie is a real entertainer and Im sure everyone will enjoy the comedy. I never thought Ill get an opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful project. I came to Mumbai because of Miss India and I had no clue where destiny was planning to take me. I couldnt be more grateful to have such a beautiful film as my debut. Super excited to begin this journey!Lakhwinder Shabla is producing and directing the film Raja Abroadiya under his banner Shabla Films Pvt Ltd.The film will be shot in India and Germany.Raja Abroadiya is a rom com story of a rich but less educated boy and poor but highly educated girl who decides to go abroad by doing fake marriage.Story of the film is written by Mani Manjinder Singh,Cameraman is Ishaan Sharma,Casting done by Dinesh Sudarshan Soi,Art Director Abhishek Redkar,Music by Jaidev Kumar and Mukhtar Sahota. who was Miss India top 10 finalist,Law student and Philanthropist has signed debut film Raja Abroadiya .Times 50 Most Desirable Women of 2016,Miss India 2016 Top 10 ,subtitles- Miss Active and Miss Lifestyle,Law student , Personal Style Blogger and Philanthropist Vaishnavi Patwardhan has signed her debut film Raja Abroadiya .When I first heard about Preetys character in the movie, I felt an instant connection with her. There are so many similarities between Vaishnavi and Preety. As I went on to read the script in detail, Preety became a part of me. The Movie is a real entertainer and Im sure everyone will enjoy the comedy. I never thought Ill get an opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful project. I came to Mumbai because of Miss India and I had no clue where destiny was planning to take me. I couldnt be more grateful to have such a beautiful film as my debut. Super excited to begin this journey!Lakhwinder Shabla is producing and directing the film Raja Abroadiya under his banner Shabla Films Pvt Ltd.The film will be shot in India and Germany.Raja Abroadiya is a rom com story of a rich but less educated boy and poor but highly educated girl who decides to go abroad by doing fake marriage.Story of the film is written by Mani Manjinder Singh,Cameraman is Ishaan Sharma,Casting done by Dinesh Sudarshan Soi,Art Director Abhishek Redkar,Music by Jaidev Kumar and Mukhtar Sahota. Atlantic County PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLYNNIS REED: exhibited through April 2; That Shadow My Likeness; artist Glynnis Reed presents women in harmony with and in contrast to the natural landscape; 1 to 2:30 p.m. March 26 panel discussion; The Noyes Arts Garage of Stockton University, 2200 Fairmount Avenue, Atlantic City. ArtsGarageAC.com. RAW 2017: JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION: exhibited through May 1; 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 16 opening reception, refreshments, meet the artists, free; showcases the work of 20 talented photographers selected by jury from throughout the state of New Jersey; The Noyes Gallery at Stocktons Kramer Hall, 30 Front St., Hammonton. NoyesMuseum.org. MUTE THINGS EXHIBIT: noon to 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, noon to 4 p.m. Sundays, through March 22; closed March 11 through 19; 2:30 p.m. Feb. 7 and March 2 gallery talks; features Philadelphia artists Rebecca Saylor Sack and Cindy Stockton Moore; Art Gallery, Stockton University, Jimmie Leeds Road, Galloway Township, free. Stockton.edu/ArtGallery. Cape May County EPSOM SALT LUMINARIES ART WORKSHOP: 10 a.m. to noon Jan. 30; participants will decorate glass containers with white or colored Epsom salt and ribbon; Public Library, 235 32nd St., Avalon, free, registration required. 609-967-7155 or AvalonFreeLibrary.org. JUDGES TRIBUTE SHOW: through January; honors artists who donated their time to judge shows throughout 2016; Ocean City Fine Arts League, 608 Asbury Ave., Ocean City, free. 609-814-0308. NATURAL TRANSITION: through Jan. 31; features local artist Allisa Harris; acrylic and mixed media artwork depicting seascapes, landscapes, abstracts and more; Ocean City Arts Center, 1735 Simpson Ave., Ocean City. 609-399-7628. WINTER WHITE SALE & RECEPTION: daily through January; pottery, painting, jewelry, photography, fiber arts, and woodworking in white; all items for sale; Cape May Artists Cooperative Gallery, 122 Sunset Blvd., West Cape May. CapeMayArtistCoop.com. ART PARTY CLASSES: two-hour paint lessons, led by teacher Juliana Jost, create your own artistic reproduction; 6 to 8 p.m. Fridays adult classes, $35; 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays Mommy & Me and Daddy & Me classes for kids, $40; 106 S. Decatur St., Cape May. 609-364-5304. Ocean County PORTRAITS OF THE JERSEY SHORE: through January; photography display by Gregory Andrus; Toms River Branch, 101 Washington St., Toms River, free admission. TheOceanCountyLibrary.org. PORTRAITS OF THE JERSEY SHORE EXHIBIT: through January; photography display by Gregory Andrus; Ocean County Library, 101 Washington St., Toms River, free. TheOceanCountyLibrary.org. GETTING DIRTY IN THE CERAMICS STUDIO: 7 to 9 p.m. first Friday of each month, BYOB, instructor Kerith Creo walks participants through a few introductory projects, LBI Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, 120 Long Beach Blvd., Loveladies, $45. 609-494-1241. View complete listings at AtTheShoreOnline.com Items for Artsy Attractions should be sent two weeks in advance to pdollak@pressofac.com or mailed to Pamela Dollak, The Press of Atlantic City, 1000 W. Washington Ave., Pleasantville, N.J. 08232. ATLANTIC CITY In the world of pools and spas, the sun is hot. That explains all the solar-powered stuff on the floor of the 36th annual Pool & Spa Show on Tuesday at the Atlantic City Convention Center, from solar heaters to solar lights to the solar-powered, robot-operated pool cleaners that Paul Sim, of Solar Pool Technologies, came to sell. Sim, president of a company based in Tempe, Arizona, was at his first Atlantic City show but said he has made a version of his solar skimmer since 2010. The latest model, the Solar-Breeze NX, retails for $569. Weve sold a lot in the Northeast and almost never had a customer say, I dont get enough sun to charge it, Sim told one pool-shop owner at the show, which is open only to the industry. And this is a replaceable part? asked the customer, Andrea Zonneville, from Northern Pool and Spa in Rochester, New York, reaching for the cleaners filter. They can get another one if the dog eats it or they lose it or it gets abducted by aliens? Sim said yes, but before she bought a supply, Zonneville said she had to check with her pool partner. Kelly McKelvey is a spokeswoman for the Northeast Spa & Pool Association, the shows organizer. She said solar power isnt new to the business. Its been part of the industry for a good amount of time, but youre seeing it expanding, she said Tuesday, after walking around a show floor where more than 410 exhibitors have sales booths. Were kind of following where the consumer is taking us with energy-efficiency and cost-savings. But fun is always hot in the pool business, and Jet Creations, another first-time company in Atlantic City, deals almost strictly in fun. Take the inflatable raft with holes for beer-pong cups on a $100 bill background. And its glow in the dark or sort of the opposite of solar so its even more special, said Jason Tseng, a manager at a company founded by his father, Frank Tseng. Jet Creations was selling a bunch more inflatable stuff, from waterproof teddy bears to less-innocent looking Hot Body Pool Rafts, with something for almost any taste. One side has a picture of a bikini-bearing woman, the other side shows a guy wearing a Speedo-style suit. But it was a very serious side of the pool business that brought James Keever, the technical director for Shock Alert, to Atlantic City. Protect your family from electricity in the water, is the Missouri-based companys pitch for a product that floats around, spotting excessive electricity. Keever said Shock Alert was designed to prevent a series of highly publicized incidents from recent years, such as the near-drowning of a guest at a Wildwood Crest hotel pool last summer. The man sank to the bottom of the pool after suffering an electric shock, and a rescuer reported getting a severe shock when his leg touched a pool drain. Both men survived, but needed to be hospitalized. The $149 item will direct you to high voltage, Keever told a customer. Alex Stonkus is CEO of Pool & Spa Enclosures, a company based in Middlesex Countys Monroe Township that sells retractable pool covers from New Jersey to California and beyond. Hes a regular at the Atlantic City trade show, and said he saw a new atmosphere in the air Tuesday. This year is busier than any other year, he said. The president is picked, and people are making decisions. My pre-sales for spring delivery are higher than Ive ever had. The clear, retractable enclosures run from $15,000 to $100,000 or so depending on size, and extend the useful season for pools, he said. And when swimming time is over, Stonkus added, they make a fine greenhouse thanks to the sun, naturally. GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP Area high school students dont think racism and intolerance will be eradicated from society anytime soon, but they do believe people can at least be respectful toward each other. I think people in school do get along, Myha Brown-Baker, 17, of Egg Harbor Township, said of her high school. But then others from the outside will see things here differently sometimes. The second annual Martin Luther King Jr. Panel Discussion at Stockton University brought more than 200 students from a half-dozen Atlantic County high schools together with representatives from Stockton to discuss this years theme, Adversity in Diversity: What are the critical conversations in 2017? Moderator Brian Pluchino led panelists from Stockton in sharing their stories, including attorney Michael Angulos experiences as an immigrant child from the Philippines, whose own children have been called culturally insensitive names. There is a difference between ignorance and hate, he said. But I tell my children you cant run from the challenge. Be proud of who you are. Allure Hayes, 17, of Atlantic City High School, said Angulos talk resonated with her. People do look at you and think they know everything about you, she said. She said she has not experienced overt racism, but has had issues with stereotyping. Jason Babin, assistant director of student rights and responsibilities, said no one looking at him would immediately identify him as a member of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, and it was something he kept hidden while growing up in a culture that would not accept it. I know what its like to be feared, being treated as less than you are, he said. Tiffany Rice, a complex director at Stockton, talked about the subtle racism she faced at a job in high school, where extra work she did was not recognized. Her talk resonated with students during breakout sessions, with several discussing how they have been treated on jobs by co-workers and customers. Some said they struggle with the accusation of acting white because of how they speak or dress and said it can create identity issues because they are black, but then dont feel accepted by their peers. Several speakers told students to be true to themselves. Jonathan Johnson, director of community wellness at Stockton, said race, sex, culture and religion all contribute to a persons identity, but each student must also find their passion and work at it. He said college and travel made him not only more aware of the world, but aware of how the world viewed him as a black American male. Growing up, education was not a tradition in my family, he said. But I was curious. Atlantic City Councilman and Stockton adjunct professor Kaleem Shabazz called diversity morally correct and economically necessary. It is critical to the economical, social and political future of America, he said. During breakout sessions, Shabazz asked students what they would do, noting they would be in leadership roles one day, even if it were just of their own family. How do you not repeat the mistakes? he asked. Brittney Sconiers, 18, from Pleasantville High School, suggested students get training to be more comfortable and confident in themselves. George Matos, 16, from Pleasantville, a junior at the Atlantic County Institute of Technology, said society should recognize that people have different talents and skills. Questions after the breakout sessions included interracial dating, why black men seem to prefer white women, the societal definitions of beauty and dealing with acting white and colorism. Rice recalled dating a man who was focused on different shades of blackness. The relationship did not last. Panelists encouraged students to take the discussions back to their schools and acknowledge that some will be uncomfortable. Brown-Baker took notes at the event and said she is bringing them back to the Bridge the Gap club at EHT, which works to create understanding among students in the diverse school. We do have these conversations, she said. But this event was eye-opening. I learned more about how to interact with people and how to react to the negative. Oakcrest sophomore Mike Bell, 15, of Mays Landing, said he got the message to stay true to himself and accept others for who they are. Just love each other, he said. TRENTON The chairman of the state Senate Health Committee has introduced legislation that would require public school districts, charter schools and nonpublic schools to provide annual substance-use screening for each high school student. The legislation is intended to fight the opioid and heroin epidemic in New Jersey, and is similar to legislation approved by Massachusetts in 2016. The screening would be in a questionnaire format only. Parents could have their child opt out of the screening, but supporters hope they can demonstrate it is beneficial in helping to identify at-risk students before they become addicted. The goal is to catch students in the early throes of addiction, said Maura Collinsgru, health care program director at New Jersey Citizen Action. Its a way for students to let someone know that they are having difficulty or are making decisions that put them at risk. According to the 2013 New Jersey Student Health Survey, 39 percent of students responding had at least one alcoholic drink in the previous 30 days and 23 percent had five or more drinks in a row. In addition, 39 percent had tried marijuana at least once, 21 percent has used it in the previous 30 days and 5 percent had first used it before the age of 13. Sen. Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, said in a statement that research shows a majority of people who develop a substance-use disorder began using before they turned 18. Screening for risk factors or red flags during the high school years will provide an opportunity for early intervention and might help to prevent addiction before it even begins, he said. Under the bill, the screenings would assess a students risk for substance abuse using the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) program developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Christie addiction plans reach to South Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is taking a more focused approach to battling heroin and opioid addictio Screenings would be done by a student assistance coordinator, a school nurse, counselor, social worker or psychologist. Screenings at nonpublic schools would be conducted by a licensed health care professional. If a student screens positive for potential substance misuse, the person administering the screening would be required to provide brief intervention and assist the student with referral to treatment options, if needed. Collinsgru said a statewide coalition has been working for three years to advance youth SBIRT in New Jersey. She said Massachusetts, New York and Ohio are already implementing student screening as a way to start conversations with at-risk students. All information remains confidential. Typical questions would ask whether a student had drunk any alcohol or used marijuana or prescription drugs to get high. Collingsgru said students are generally honest and can use the survey as a way to reach out for help. Its not punitive, she said. Its a way to put them on a more positive path. A school district, charter school or nonpublic school can opt out of the SBIRT program, according to the bill, if it is implementing an alternative screening program. The potential cost of the screenings and how they would be funded was not immediately available. Collingsgru said the questionnaire itself is inexpensive and the only additional cost would be for training and implementation. She said the cost to implement the program in Massachusetts is about $20 per student, which would translate to about $7 million a year for an estimated 350,000 high school students in New Jersey. Drugs and alcohol contribute to the three leading causes of teen deaths, Vitale said in the statement. By having trained professionals on hand and ready to recognize the early indicators of substance use and screening our youth during their critical high school years, with the necessary privacy protections, we can have a better chance at fighting the drug crisis in New Jersey. One day youre a friendly face in your hometown of Fayettville, Arkansas. The next, a crowd rushes to your side for pictures and autographs, people wondering how the crown stays so nice on your head. Savannah Janine Shields, known better as Savvy, describes herself as the average, hometown girl until the whirlwind week of photos, tapings and meet and greets during Miss America week in Atlantic City, where she was eventually crowned Miss America on Sept. 11 at Boardwalk Hall. I remember the first time I was able to go home, I went to the nail salon and people were coming up to me asking for pictures, Shields said. I still feel like myself, so its surprising to have people recognize me. The 21-year-old is settling into her role as Miss America, about a third of the way into her reign, and has already appeared as a presenter alongside the country music stars of Florida Georgia Line for the American Music Awards and participated in the festivities on Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve show. Dont forget an errant selfie with Kobe Bryant. But what has been the most surprising to Shields, who was boosted to celebrity status overnight at Boardwalk Hall, is the widespread love of her title and personal connections fans across the country have to the competition. No amount of competition training by the Miss America Organization could have prepared her for a recent honor: meeting baby Savvy, who was named after her. It blows my mind, Shields said. Definitely something I didnt think would happen in my year. It was so special and such a miracle to be in that state that day and be able to visit the family at the hospital to meet their newborn baby girl. Molly and Jay Scheidt welcomed their first baby in December in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As a lifelong Miss America fan, Molly had tuned in to watch Shields win the crown in September and chose the name, Savvy Scheidt giving both Savvys the same initials. Shields visited the South Dakota hospital and met the family, getting a chance to hold Savvy Scheidt. From South Dakota to New York, one of the biggest demands of the crown is travel. Appearances range from addressing schools to visiting children in a hospital to addressing American troops. Shields said in the blur and exhaustion of constant travel its hard to remember all of the cities and states she has visited over the course of a month, but that its safe to say shes on a plane every other day. The good thing about all of that travel for Shields is that its a time to get centered. I dont wear makeup and usually dont get recognized, so I take that time to unwind in my head, she said. I recently bought some noise- canceling headphones so I can really tune out and use that time to mentally recharge. A carry-on bag always carefully holds the crown, while two other large suitcases hold a rainbow of gowns, heels and accessories, along with workout clothing. One thing she has to have? My pillow. I have to have my pillow, she said. One downside to the crown is the sacrifice of time with family and friends. Im incredibly close with my family, love my hometown, and all the people there, Shields said. I definitely miss making my own food. I know that may sound weird to some, but I love making smoothies and chopping veggies for dinner. Shields said she knows the benefits of her role far outweigh the sacrifices. Being Miss America means television appearances, and when it comes to the most fun event, appearing on Dick Clarks New Years Rockin Eve in Times Square is the winner so far. After the ball drop and the cameras were off, they played What a Wonderful World in Times Square. The confetti was still falling and people were dancing, hugging and just enjoying the moment, Shields said. In a world that sees such division at times, it was magical to see people coming together. The 2017 Miss America visited students at George L. Hess Educational Complex in Mays Landing and Atlantic Citys Pennsylvania Avenue School where she brought the idea behind her platform to a level that made sense for students, telling them to focus on adding the colors of the rainbow such as green, red and orange to their plates. Shields also made the rounds at the Metropolitan Business and Citizens Association Gala in Atlantic City. Shields now has a special way of staying connected to Atlantic City and keeping it close to her heart literally. A tour manager gave Shields a Christmas gift that will always take her back to her Atlantic City beginning. She gave me a necklace engraved with the latitude and longitude of Boardwalk Hall so I can always remember the place where this journey began, Shields said. I cherish it. It all started with the controversial remarks that Atlantic County Freeholder John Carman posted to Facebook on the day of the Womens March on Washington. Now, after the post received some backlash and criticism, some South Jersey women are planning to take action and show up at the freeholder meeting Tuesday to tell him how they feel. Carman, a Republican who is up for re-election this year, posted Saturday a meme that featured a woman cooking soup and the caption, Will the womans protest be over in time for them to cook dinner? Janice Ursani, 58, of Smithville heard about the remarks after returning from the Womens March in Washington, D.C. and decided, with a few others on Facebook, to attend the next freeholder meeting to speak up. We were offended, Ursani said. Thats not a joke, Im sorry, its not. Thats one of the reasons we went to Washington. While Carman said Monday the post was meant to be a joke, Atlantic County Democrats denounced the post, some calling it misogynistic and hateful. On Saturday, millions of women all across the country and the world stood up to hate, intolerance and misogyny, Atlantic County Democratic Committee Chairman Mike Suleiman said. That same day, Freeholder Carman embraced the very hate, intolerance and misogyny just to get a few shallow likes on Facebook. The Atlantic County Democrats Facebook page posted Monday inviting people who were offended by Carmans post to attend the next Freeholder meeting, which is Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Stillwater Building, 201 Shore Road in Northfield. I fully support womens rights and issues, Carman said Monday. I thought it was funny. People need to lighten up. It has never been medically easier to have children. Advancements in medicine and fertility treatment have made it possible for more women to give birth to healthier children, have children at older ages and correct fertility issues that may have prevented them from getting pregnant in the past. But national and local data show birth rates are at an all-time low, and experts predict that wont change anytime soon. Women and childbirth experts in South Jersey said better sex education, career goals, financial burdens and reduced stigma are among the reasons for the decrease. I actually thought Id have kids younger, but we had to wait a while, Amanda Mulderrig said. I also think some people have kids later because they wait until they get married, and they are doing that later, too. The national birth rate, or fertility rate, declined to a record 62.5 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44 in 2015, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atlantic Countys fertility rate among women in the same age range in 2014 was below the national average while rates in Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties stayed above 67.5, according to New Jersey State Health Assessment Data. Mulderrig, 29, of Mays Landing, attended a childbirth class with her husband, Ryan, 33, at AtlantiCare in Galloway Township on a recent Monday night. The couple, due April 2, sat listening to a program director go over a syllabus for the six-week course. The majority of chairs around a large square table were left empty, save for two chairs that belonged to one other expecting couple attending the program. Janis DellaZanna, clinical manager of maternal fetal medicine at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, has worked in fetal medicine and labor and delivery for more than 30 years. She said local and national drops in teen pregnancy rates as well as womens career aspirations may factor in to the overall birth rates. Theres been more access to contraceptive methods with new laws and medical benefits, and its changed so that not as many people are having surprise pregnancies anymore, DellaZanna said. Women are also working in fields that are more career professional, holding off on having children or not having them at all. In addition to more women entering and staying in the workforce, economic struggles may play a part in the declining birth rates, said Helen Hannigan, director of IT and administration at Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative. National and local economies have slowly been recovering from recession since 2009, and birth rates in the southern part of the state continued to go down. Middle-income parents will pay $233,610 to raise a child born in 2015 to age 18, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released this month. Hannigan said better sex and contraceptive education for teens has contributed to declining rates as well. Birth rates among teens ages 15 to 19 in New Jersey have decreased 78 percent since 1991, according to the CDC. All of our programs have been to try and increase communication and help young people and families get comfortable talking about it, she said. One thing experts agree on is that they see more people accepting womens decisions not to have children rather than criticizing them. We do know rates are dropping, because I see it in my office every day, but I think its more acceptable in society now, DellaZanna said. Its great to get information out there, especially with how the economy and health care industry are now, because its important to let people know whatever their decision is, its OK. Teams of volunteers will spread out across New Jersey on Wednesday for an annual count to try to determine the number of homeless people in the state. NJ Counts 2017 teams will tally the homeless in shelters, warming centers and other facilities, while street teams will search for those living in camps, abandoned cars and houses, and other locations. The 2016 state count found 8,941 homeless people, more than 1,200 fewer than in 2015, according to findings by the nonprofit Monarch Housing Associates, which oversees the annual count. That 2016 number included 1,179 homeless people in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland and Ocean counties. Officials with Monarch said because the count represents the findings of only one night during the last 10 days of January, it is widely accepted that Wednesdays endeavor will undercount the overall homeless population. This data should not be viewed as a comprehensive measurement of all families and individuals who experience homelessness throughout the year, but rather as a minimum number of persons who experience homelessness in New Jersey on a given night, officials said. Officials who operate the Cumberland County Code Blue Coalition are taking an extra step to make the count there as accurate as possible. The coalition opened warming centers Tuesday in Bridgeton, Millville and Vineland, even though weather wasnt cold enough to meet the standards for the centers to open. NJ Counts 2017 is an essential tool in the efforts to end chronic homelessness in our communities, said the Rev. Robin Weinstein, president of the M25 Initiative, which oversees the all-volunteer coalition. It measures the effectiveness of our efforts, as well as provides an important metric in securing additional resources. NJ Counts 2017s success is vital in continuing the aggressive strides made on various fronts to end the epidemic of homelessness, he said. In Cumberland County, that includes the M25 Initiatives Housing First Collaborative. The collaborative is using $500,000 in state funds to finance a program that finds permanent housing for the countys chronically homeless. The annual count is required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a prerequisite for federal funding of certain grants. HOMELESS PEOPLE: New Jersey: 2016: 8,941 2015:10,2011 Atlantic County: 2016: 476 2015: 548 Cape May County: 2016: 133 2015: 167 Cumberland County: 2016: 140 2015: 201 Ocean County: 2016: 430 2015: 605 CHRONICALLY HOMELESS PERSONS: New Jersey: 2016: 836 2015: 1,425 Atlantic County: 2016: 53 2015: 113 Cape May County: 2016: 8 2015: 2 Cumberland County: 2016: 19 2015: 53 Ocean County: 2016: 73 2015: 172 UNSHELTERED PERSONS: New Jersey: 2016: 1,442 2015: 974 Atlantic County: 2016: 116 2015: 74 Cape May County: 2016: 9 2015: 3 Cumberland County: 2016: 73 2015: 32 Ocean County: 2016: 54 2015: 17 SOURCE: Monarch Housing Associates PEMBERTON TOWNSHIP Hundreds of supporters and opponents of the proposed South Jersey Gas natural gas pipeline spent hours waiting their turn to speak Tuesday some outside in the rain during a special Pinelands Commission meeting. The meeting began at 9:30 a.m. at a church hall, with more than 100 people denied entrance when the meeting room reached its capacity of about 260. It ended almost eight hours later, about 5:15 p.m., after a parade of speakers gave their thoughts, each limited to three minutes. There was no lunch break, just a couple of short breaks, including to allow a commission recording device to be recharged. Tensions erupted early. Lena Smith, of New Jerseys Food and Water Watch, left after disrupting the meeting with chants of Shut it down, shut the meeting down and calls that the meeting be postponed to find a larger space to accommodate everyone. Smiths organization has long fought the pipeline. Her actions brought on a split with New Jersey Sierra Club. When someone comes, not to testify against the pipeline but to disrupt the meeting, all it does is help South Jersey Gas, Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel said in a written statement. The Sierra Club has also fought the pipeline for years. Other speakers also asked the commission to hold another meeting, since many people who were turned away went home rather than wait outside. South Jersey Gas wants to build the pipeline to repower the B.L. England electric generating plant in Upper Township. Under an agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection, the existing coal and oil plant must shut down May 1 because it cannot meet clean air requirements. But the plant can reopen as a natural gas plant. BL England files notice to shut down April 30 The B.L. England plant has sent a deactivation notice to wholesale electric coordinator PJM, The 22-mile pipeline will run from Maurice River Township to the power plant, travelling along roadsides through about 10 miles of protected Pinelands Forest Area. DEP Director of Air Quality Francis Steitz said if the B.L. England plant does not reopen as a gas-fired plant, more energy will be produced out of state in coal plants, and that air pollution will waft over to New Jersey. While the majority of speakers were against the pipeline, a good number of people also were there in support of it. This pipeline will benefit the Pinelands, said Vicki Clark, of the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce. One-third of Cape May County is in the Pinelands. The pipeline is also being billed as a way to provide a backup source of natural gas to the Cape May peninsula, which is now served by only one pipeline. Pinelands Commission will proceed with Tuesday pipeline comments The Pinelands Commission could approve a controversial natural gas pipeline as early as Feb. It also will be a backup supply for some residents of Atlantic County, for a total of 142,000 customers in both counties, said South Jersey Gas Senior Vice President of Engineering and System Integrity Bob Fatzinger. Supporters included labor leaders and union members, chamber of commerce representatives and South Jersey residents who stressed the need for jobs and a clean alternative energy source at B.L. England. Its beautiful out there, but where the gas line is going on the side of the road its not going to affect anything, said Kevin Polloff, of Millville, who said he spends a lot of time in the Pinelands for recreation. But by far, most of the speakers argued against allowing the pipeline to move forward. Many opponents argued the pipeline is not allowed under the commissions Comprehensive Management Plan rules. Those rules state a utility line such as a pipeline is not allowed in protected Forest Areas unless it primarily benefits the Pinelands, and they say the energy from B.L. England goes into a regional grid, not to Pinelands homes. Commission Executive Director Nancy Wittenberg decided on her own the pipeline did primarily benefit the Pinelands, because the B.L. England electric plant is located in the Pinelands and it has contracted to use at least 95 percent of the gas that goes through it. But a state Appellate Court panel decided in November she cannot make that decision on her own and said the commission must vote on it. That vote may happen as soon as the commissions Feb. 10 meeting. Those angry at being left out in the cold rain set up a protest outside under the windows where the commissioners sat. A less smelly, more climate-friendly landfill EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP Battling odors is a full-time job at a landfill. Jobs, energy, fracking its not your job to fix them, said June Hament, of Voorhees, Camden County. Your job is to protect the Pinelands. All the other problems can be handled, but not by you. Others argued that delivering gas to one commercial customer, even if it is in the Pinelands, doesnt meet the requirement that the pipeline benefit the Pinelands. In the afternoon, someone announced that President Donald Trump signed an executive order to move forward with the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, causing a stir in anti-pipeline circles. New Jersey Sierra Club promptly announced a 5 p.m. meeting to respond to Trumps actions. Elizabeth Olsen, of Barnegat Light, asked why ratepayers have to pay for the pipeline since the company is arguing it is sending all the gas to B.L. England, owned by Rockland Capital. The state Board of Public Utilities has approved a plan allowing South Jersey Gas to bill its customers for about 40 percent of the pipelines costs, with the owners of B.L. England paying about 60 percent. A strong coastal storm brought windswept downpours, wind gusts over 60 miles-per-hour, and three successive rounds of tidal flooding to South Jersey on Monday. Pedestrians struggled to walk against the wind while power lines and trees fell to the ground across South Jersey Monday during the powerful nor'easter, which struck on the one year anniversary of Winter Storm Jonas. Route 40 was shutdown in West Atlantic City and Route 30 westbound was shutdown as well. Route 9 in Absecon also saw flooding. Unlike Jonas, Monday's storm came with no snow and ice, and only minor to moderate tidal flooding, not the major to record flooding that Jonas brought last January. The powerful winds were the main impact from Monday's coastal storm, with winds gusting over 60 miles-per-hour throughout the day. Cape May gusted as high as 63. Ocean City and Atlantic City gusted to 61. The winds were strong enough to cause the Cape May-Lewes Ferry to cancel all departures on Monday, citing strong winds and rough seas. A buoy east of Long Beach Island measured waves as high as 20 feet early Monday afternoon. Around 9:30 a.m. at Connecticut and Pacific avenues in Atlantic City, a traffic light fell to the ground. The wind was so strong that workers had to hold onto railings and the doors of their trucks, and it took about three workers to pull the light up onto a truck to wheel it away. Doors opened and closed from the wind on their own on the side of House of Blues along the boardwalk, and sand blew with the wind and the rain. Street lights, traffic lights and signs were also shaking all over the city Monday. Ron Hayward, of Atlantic City, was trying to walk along the boardwalk to go home after going to the store Monday morning. He was struggling to walk against the wind, and said he anticipates it to get worse once high tide hit on Monday's late afternoon. "It gets worse as you get to the end," he said, pausing midway down the boardwalk. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority authorized the Wave Parking Garage for area residents and visitors to use for free overnight to park their cars Monday. The garage, located at the corner of Mississippi and Fairmount avenues, was open to area residents in preparation for the impending flooding conditions. Minor tidal flooding was reported during the Monday morning high tide. A four foot storm surge Monday afternoon brought moderate flooding to coastal communities during the early Monday evening high tide. One more round of minor to moderate flooding was expected to occur during the early Tuesday morning high tide, which occurs just before sunrise Tuesday. The Ocean City and North Wildwood Senior Centers were closed Monday because of the high winds, tidal flooding and heavy rain. The Cape May County Park and Zoo was also closed Monday. Vineland Police said traffic lights in center city were out on Monday due to the high winds and falling tree limbs. Lisa Lucena, administrative analyst at Vineland Municipal Utilities said an estimated 1,650 customers are without service in areas near Landis Avenue. "Our focus is to get power restored as quickly as possible," Lucena said. Thousands of Atlantic City Electric customers lost power throughout the day on Monday from hundreds of scattered, smaller outages, according to Atlantic City Electric's outage map. The first outage was reported just before 6 a.m, and outages peaked at about 6,800 customers around mid-afternoon on Monday. The cause listed for the outages was due to high winds and heavy rain from the storm. Atlantic City Electric issued a statement Sunday that said the company is prepared for the storm and outages, but residents should also be prepared and mindful for the storm ahead. Any customer that witnesses an outage or downed wires should report it at 1-800-833-7476, follow the phone prompts and ask for a call back to confirm power is restored. Outages can also be reported on the Atlantic City Electric app or at atlanticcityelectric.com/storm. Occasional rain showers and brisk winds are expected to continue on Tuesday, but not be nearly as intense as Monday. The sunshine is expected to return to the skies over South Jersey on Wednesday. 4:45 p.m. Route 30 westbound is closed. Police are asking drivers to use the Expressway to leave the city. Route 9 in Absecon has also been closed due to flooding. 4:05 p.m. Route 40 in West Atlantic City is shutdown in both directions due to flooding. Westbound traffic is being diverted on to the Atlantic City Expressway at Exit 2. Police blocking Rt. 40 east for flooding pic.twitter.com/N1Mc31XSSc Lauren Carroll (@ACPress_LC) January 23, 2017 George Redding Bridge currently open with one lane clear in each direction. pic.twitter.com/BXONL8Mrmf Wildwood Police Dept (@WildwoodPD) January 23, 2017 Ah, my view so far in Little Egg Harbor. And it's not even high tide yet. pic.twitter.com/7UIg7rQDVn Erin Serpico (@ACPressSerpico) January 23, 2017 3:28 p.m. Ocean Heights has re-opened. Twp of Hamilton PD say Ocean Heights Ave has been cleared, however, many fallen trees in surrounding woods - be careful https://t.co/86BcFsKDg2 Lauren Carroll (@ACPress_LC) January 23, 2017 3:00 p.m. Ocean Heights Avenue in Mays Landing near Harbor Avenue is closed due to a tree in the road. Emergency crews are on scene and working to clear the area. 1:30 p.m.: The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has authorized the Wave Parking Garage, located at the corner of Mississippi and Fairmount avenues, to provide free overnight parking for all area residents and visitors beginning 1:00 p.m. on Monday in preparation for the impending high tide flooding conditions. Parking will only be permitted between the second and top floors of the garage during this time. Parking on the first floor will be prohibited due to the possibility of flooding. Standard Parking personnel will be on duty through the overnight hours. The Wave Garages gates will remain open until 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday. After 6:00 a.m. attendants will resume charging new vehicles entering the garage. 12:30 p.m.: Pedestrians struggled to walk against the wind on the boardwalk and a traffic light fell to the ground in the city Monday during what's expected to be a Nor'easter hitting South Jersey. At Connecticut and Pacific avenues in Atlantic City around 9:30 a.m., a traffic light fell to the ground. The wind was so strong that workers had to hold onto railings and the doors of their trucks, and it took about three workers to pull the light up onto a truck to wheel it away. I've never experienced wind like this. Workers successfully removed the down light a job for several people. pic.twitter.com/ABW0h5V0FV Erin Serpico (@ACPressSerpico) January 23, 2017 Gov. Chris Christie has reignited his feud with the newspaper industry. In a letter to state lawmakers, Christie on Tuesday again challenged how much money newspapers receive from publishing legal notices following a proposal last year to allow government agencies to publish them on their websites instead of in newspapers. Christie has claimed the law would save taxpayers more than $80 million a year, a number that has been disputed by the New Jersey Press Association, which has said newspapers receive $20 million in revenue from the notices. Lawmakers pull controversial newspaper legal ad bill TRENTON Lawmakers on Monday failed to muster enough support for a controversial bill that The press association has been in contact with the leadership of the Senate and Assembly and is committed to providing them with data currently being gathered, said Mark Blum, publisher of The Press of Atlantic City. As a board member and a member of the NJPA Executive Committee, I can unequivocally state that the Association has no intent of deceiving the Legislature and our citizens. Quite the contrary! The Association and all of its members are all about transparency, Blum said in a statement. In December, the state Assembly failed to act on the bill, citing the need for more discussion. Some officials have referred to bill as the newspaper revenge bill. Opponents of the legal ad bill claimed that if it passed only a small group of insiders would know about the actions of government. Politicians also could use public notices to punish newspapers for negative stories, opponents said. If the bill were approved, readers of newspapers in the state would no longer find notices of sheriffs sales, planning board notices, municipal budgets and other information they have long been accustomed to in their papers. The change was previously proposed in 2010. Its difficult to imagine how anyone can argue that posting a notice on the internet is less transparent than posting a notice on one day, in one newspaper that is circulated throughout only part of the state, Christie said in his letter to state lawmakers. Late last year, I publicly called for the New Jersey Press Association, or their member newspapers, to provide certified financial information to corroborate this claim. To date, we have not received any documentation from the Press Association or their member newspapers to support the $20 million claim, Christie wrote. In a statement Tuesday, George White, executive director of the New Jersey Press Association, said neither the current related costs to governments nor assumed governmental savings have been adequately studied or analyzed. He called Christies estimate that newspapers in the state earn $80 million annually for public notices absurdly false. Since Governor Christies failed to secure enough votes for his politically-motivated plan to reduce government transparency and punish newspapers last December, NJPA has been surveying New Jerseys publishers and gathering a variety of relevant 2016 data as well as information from other states, White said. The proposal would make New Jersey the first state in the nation to remove the requirement that government legal notices be published in newspapers. Representatives of the states newspapers say the bill would cripple an already struggling industry and lead to the loss of about 300 jobs and the closing of some small newspapers. ATLANTIC CITY City hotels would pay a new, temporary fee to help fund the citys public-safety services under a bill introduced by Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto. The bill, A-4556, would charge hotels $2 per day for each occupied room for two years. All proceeds from the surcharge would go toward the citys public-safety services. The bill introduced Monday comes as the citys police and fire departments are bracing for deep cuts under a state takeover of the citys finances. I was adamant that any state takeover of Atlantic City not involve, among other things, police and firefighter layoffs that would threaten public safety and the citys efforts to market itself as a safe and family-friendly destination, Prieto, D-Bergen, Hudson, said in a statement. I will not stand idle and allow police and firefighter layoffs to harm public safety for residents while also hurting the publics ability to feel confident about visiting the city. Prieto said the bill would be a temporary solution to ensure public safety for two years while officials fix the citys finances. But the board chairman of Meet AC, the citys convention bureau, quickly criticized the proposal. He noted city hotels already pay state, luxury, casino, occupancy and promotion taxes and fees. So where do all those taxes go? Chairman Jeff Albrecht asked. Meet AC commissioned a study last year that showed Atlantic City already had some of the countrys highest room taxes. Total taxes in Atlantic City add up to 19 percent on casino rooms and 15 percent on noncasino properties on a room renting for $100, according to that research. The 19 percent tax share on city casino rooms was higher than hotel rooms in cities such as Philadelphia, Boston and Baltimore. Albrecht said the proposed $2 fee would put the citys hospitality industry at a competitive disadvantage. And he suggested that all businesses that benefit from the citys tourism industry, not just hotels, should be required to pay the fee. We would tell the state or whomever that all businesses should be included, not just hospitality, Albrecht said. Tourism is the number one economic driver, not just for Atlantic City but the entire county. If we dont do more to stimulate and protect it, we are all going to lose. The new fee could add a few million in revenue. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority collected $8.7 million on its $3 hotel room fee in 2015. This was down from $9.2 million in 2014, according to CRDA data. Police and firefighter unions are negotiating with state officials leading the takeover of the citys finances. Under the takeover law, state officials have the authority to fire workers and break union contracts, among other powers. The state, which hasnt commented on the negotiations, is seeking deep cuts to both departments, according to city and union officials. For the police, the state is looking for a pay cut across the board, a 15-step salary guide with smaller incremental raises and pay capped at $90,000, according to officials and a leaked police union email obtained last month by The Press of Atlantic City. The state also wants increased health care contributions from members and officers to work 12-hour shifts. In the email to union members, PBA Local 24 President Matt Rogers said the state also alluded to cutting the department from 277 to 250. For the Fire Department, the demands are similar, but the staffing cuts are deeper as many as 100 firefighters, according to city officials. On Tuesday, Rogers commended Prieto for introducing the bill. He said union negotiations with the state coupled with the bill, if passed and signed into law, would take pressure off local taxpayers and businesses and shift it to the casinos, which he said put a tremendous strain on the citys public-safety services. Bill DiLorenzo, president of IAFF Local 198, the citys firefighters union, said the bill is a good idea if it keeps public-safety staffing at appropriate levels. David E. Ciancaglini, 79, a retired U.S. Coast Guard admiral and a native of Woodbine who oversaw the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, died Tuesday in Sun Lakes, Arizona, where he lived since his retirement. After graduating from Millville High School, Ciancaglini enrolled in the Coast Guard and graduated from its academy in 1960. He spent his first two years aboard a ship stationed in Boston before receiving orders to attend naval flight training in Pensacola, Florida, according to a Coast Guard biography. Ciancaglini went on to complete assignments at eight different air stations. After being promoted to the rank of rear admiral, Ciancaglini served as commander of the 17th Coast Guard District in Alaska, where he was appointed federal on-scene coordinator for response to the 1989 Valdez oil spill, which dumped nearly 11 million gallons of oil into Alaskas Prince William Sound. There was a tremendous amount of pressure on all of us, not just the Coast Guard but Exxon and Alaska, he told The Press of Atlantic City in 2011. The eyes of the world were on us. Ciancaglini retired in 1996 after 36 years as a Coast Guard officer, ac-cording to the biography. He absolutely loved the Coast Guard, said his brother Joe Ciancag-lini, 71, of Millville. That was his life. Ciancaglinis time in the Coast Guard took him across the nation, from Washington, D.C., to Hawaii and Alaska, and he enjoyed travelling in his retirement, Joe Ciancaglini said. In 2015, he traveled home to Woodbine to participate in a ceremony marking Admirals Day. Ciancaglini received a number of awards for his military service, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal and the Coast Guard Commendation Medal. He was predeceased by his wife, Mona Lucinda MacCormick, and is survived by his daughter, Anna Ciancaglini, grandson Joshua, sister Barbara Leider, brother Joseph Ciancaglini and companion Kay Barnett. A celebration of life service will be held at the Valley of the Sun Funeral Home Chapel in Chandler, Arizona, and, at a date to be determined, the combined ashes of Ciancaglini and his wife will be interred during a ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium in Arlington, Virginia, according to an obituary provided by his family. 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. TORONTO and NEW YORK, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Enhanced User Interface and Platform Engine Improvements Deliver on Marketers' Needs for Ease-of-Use, Transparency, Speed and Scalability AcuityAds Holdings Inc. (TSXV:AT) (OTCQB:ACUIF) ("AcuityAds"), a technology leader that enables advertisers to connect intelligently with audiences across video, mobile, social and online display advertising campaigns, today announced that its new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform is now readily available. The highly anticipated launch of the new platform was conceived with input from AcuityAds' platform partners, which now exceeds 150+, to ensure it delivered on their requirements for ease-of-use, transparency, speed and scalability. In addition to an accompanying Documentation Center, that provides educational resources and step-by-step platform guides, the enhanced platform features a brand new "ultra-intuitive" user interface that puts campaign control in the marketers' hands more than ever before. User alerts and notifications push data to marketers so they don't have to search for the information they need. The new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform gives digital brand marketers, media buyers, and agencies alike real-time access to the most important information they need to execute intelligent campaigns successfully to deliver positive returns on advertising spend. "An intuitive system, the new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform makes digital marketing easy, and allows me to visualize the data that's important to my campaigns' success," said Marc Brasset, Director, Digital Operations and Strategy, Western Media Group. "Everything is within sight on the screen, so I don't have to search for controls. The AcuityAds Documentation Center also provides information that I can share with clients to help them understand more about programmatic. This saves my team time, and allows for a more fluid relationship with my clients." Users will benefit immediately from new features like inventory forecasting as well as a customizable dashboard which will be released in the coming weeks. These new features build on AcuityAds' signature and industry leading 60 second refresh rate of data, and the ability to create built-in, customizable revenue streams. Further, the platform engine itself has been completely redesigned & re-architected to facilitate faster processing and increased scalability. New platform elements will enable marketers to create a more seamless customer experience and deliver on their transparency needs. "At AcuityAds, we're building the most innovative solutions in the industry to empower marketers to take control of their programmatic advertising campaigns," said Tal Hayek, founder and CEO, AcuityAds. "We're proud to introduce our new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform at a time when industry leaders are calling for marketers to have unmatched transparency into media costs and inventory. Our enhanced platform, along with the accompanying AcuityAds Documentation Center, provides not only a more user-friendly interface, but also 24/7 access to information for all programmatic platform users - from novice to advanced, to be successful." To learn more about AcuityAds' cutting-edge platform, view the demo video, or visit AcuityAds' Programmatic Marketing Platform website. About AcuityAds AcuityAds is a technology company that enables marketers to connect intelligently with their most meaningful audiences through digital media. A Self-Serve programmatic marketing platform, powered by proprietary machine learning technology, is at the core of its business, accompanied by a patented solution for mobile targeting that leverages social data. AcuityAds empowers marketers by offering transparency on costs and brand safety, and real-time reporting and analytics, bringing accountability to programmatic advertising to deliver business results. AcuityAds is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with sales offices in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. For more information, visit AcuityAds.com. Disclaimer in regards to Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, AcuityAds does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. 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. Babak Pedram, Investor Relations, Virtus Advisory Group Inc., +1-416-644-5081, bpedram@virtusadvisory.com ; Tal Hayek, Chief Executive Officer, AcuityAds Holdings Inc., +1-416-218-9888, tal.hayek@acuityads.com; Media contact: Alex Jafarzadeh, March Communications, +1-617-960-9900, acuity@marchcomms.com SOURCE AcuityAds Inc. Creates consolidated, Pan-European focus on delivering market-specific solutions and expertise BUFFALO GROVE, Illinois, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ANGUS Chemical Company ("ANGUS"), a leading global manufacturer and marketer of specialty and fine chemicals, today announced a new distribution strategy for the company's complete portfolio of nitroalkanes and their derivatives sold in Europe. The transition to the new distribution agreements, which began January 1, 2017, is expected to be completed by late spring. Through a consolidated distributor network, ANGUS is shifting to a Pan-European approach for serving customers in the life sciences, personal care and metalworking fluids markets. The company will maintain a regional approach to serving the paints and coatings, and other industrial markets, to address the specialized needs of formulators and manufacturers in different geographies. The company's new distributors are authorized to sell ANGUS products into their respective markets following a de-stocking and transition period with ANGUS' former European distributors. Customers and markets not covered under the agreements will continue to be directly served by ANGUS. MARKET AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTOR REGION / COUNTRIES Biotechnology Azelis Pan-European (including Turkey)* Personal care Univar Metalworking fluids Lehmann and Voss Paints and coatings; other industrial markets Azelis France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg Univar Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Norway* Lehmann and Voss Germany, Switzerland Pointner & Rothschadl Austria, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia Samuel Banners United Kingdom, North Ireland, Republic of Ireland *Will also include Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after April 1, 2017. "In addition to extensive logistics capabilities, our new distribution partners share ANGUS' dedication to delivering technology and service that drive innovation and growth for our customers," said Liam Doherty, Business Vice President, EMEA and India. "These strategic channel partnerships will enhance our ability to deliver the highest levels of supply reliability supported by one-stop access to deep market and technical expertise. We look forward to working closely with customers and our new partners to ensure continuity of supply and technical support from ANGUS during the transition period." In late 2016, ANGUS also celebrated the grand opening of its new Customer Application Center (CAC) in Paris, France. The new laboratory is staffed to provide a variety of technical services, including analytical and applied research, as well as application, formulation and regulatory support to customers across all markets in the region. "Our investment in our Paris CAC reinforces ANGUS' commitment to innovation and service excellence by bringing technology and formulation expertise to a local level in order to provide the best solution for customers," said Doherty. "This, together with our new strategic distributor network, will enable us to serve customers in the region faster and more efficiently with versatile chemistries and expertise they need to make their products and businesses perform even better." For more information about the availability of ANGUS nitroalkanes and specialty additive products in Europe, contact Matthieu Perdon, EMEA Regional Marketing Manager, ANGUS Chemical Company, at +33 13 423 3172 or email mperdon@angus.com. About ANGUS Chemical Company ANGUS Chemical Company is a specialty and fine chemical company dedicated to the development of novel chemistries that help customers deliver enhanced product and process performance. ANGUS is committed to constantly improving products and services by mastering science and technology. The company innovates through its unique nitroalkane chemistry, which harbors the reactivity to create complex molecules for use in a wide variety of applications. The innate characteristics of this chemistry, backed by unmatched application expertise and five regional Customer Applications Laboratories, enable the formulation of multifunctional additives that improve performance, and reduce reaction steps and synthesis costs. Follow ANGUS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ANGUS Media Relations Scott C. Johnson +1-847-808-3769 scjohnson@angus.com Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/460234/ANGUS_Chemical_Company_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.angus.com SOURCE ANGUS Chemical Company GREENWICH, Connecticut, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aptuit, LLC today announced the start of a collaboration with the Molecular Surgical Laboratory of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), directed by Dr. Laurence Rahme, aimed at the identification and validation of novel targets in Gram-negative bacteria. Aptuit hopes that innovative approaches can address antibiotic resistance in the treatment of serious infections. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150709/234432LOGO ) Aptuit will provide deep expertise in integrated infectious disease discovery, including in vitro and in vivo capabilities, complementing the Rahme Lab scientific platform and expertise in the field of the anti-virulence research. Dr. Laurence Rahme, Associate Professor of Surgery, Microbiology and Immunobiology Harvard Medical School and Director of the MGH Molecular Surgical Laboratory, commented, "The academic collaboration with Aptuit, and in particular with its highly qualified anti-infective group, will maximize our success in developing highly innovative alternative therapies against multi-drug resistant pathogens, including those that are highly tolerant to all existing antibiotic therapies." Dr. Antonio Felici, Director and Head of Aptuit's Microbiology Unit added, "We are delighted to begin this collaboration with Prof. Rahme. This is an extremely promising area of research into antimicrobial resistance. Aptuit will provide expertise in integrated anti-infective drug discovery to MGH. We hope we will jointly discover new effective therapeutics against Gram-negative pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We look forward to a long, effective and successful collaboration." About Aptuit Aptuit provides the most complete set of integrated early discovery to mid-phase drug development services in the pharmaceutical industry including Drug Design & Discovery, API Development and Manufacture, Solid State Chemistry, CMC, Preclinical and IND enabling GLP/GMP programs. Fully integrated drug discovery & development services are available from our facilities in the UK, Italy, and Switzerland. Aptuit Holdings, LLC is partnered with Welsh, Carson, and Anderson & Stowe, one of the world's leading private equity investors. For more information, please visit http://www.aptuit.com SOURCE Aptuit Holdings, LLC TROMS, Norway, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arctic Economic Council (AEC) is proud to announce the publication and release of its comprehensive report: Arctic Broadband, Recommendations for an Interconnected Arctic. This report analyzes the current state of broadband in the circumpolar far north, and details suggestions of how to facilitate the technology's deployment and adoption. The 30-page first-of-its-kind report is a product of the AEC's Telecommunications Working Group, chaired by former U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Robert McDowell. "A comprehensive strategy for developing and utilizing broadband in the Arctic is critical for the region's economic future and for polar growth," said Tara Sweeney, AEC chair. "This is the first public document released from the AEC and highlights the hard work of our various working groups. Since our first meeting in Canada a little more than two years ago, our members have certainly hit the ground running." The AEC Telecommunications Working Group was officially established in 2016, organized to draft a transnational broadband strategy for the Arctic region. You can read or download a copy of Arctic Broadband, Recommendations for an Interconnected Arctic here. ABOUT THE AEC The AEC is a business forum established to facilitate Arctic business-to-business activities, promote responsible economic development and provide a circumpolar business perspective to the work of the Arctic Council. The inaugural meeting was held in September 2014 in Iqaluit, Nunavut Canada. It has a 42-member board from eight Arctic states and six permanent participant organizations. Finland will assume the chairmanship from the U.S. in 2017. CONTACT: Anu Fredrikson Director, AEC Secretariat Phone: 0047 917 29 006 anu@arcticeconomiccouncil.com Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/265586/arctic_economic_council_logo.jpg Related Links http://arcticeconomiccouncil.com SOURCE Arctic Economic Council CIBS 2017 will welcome close to 100 new participating brands this year including Whaler Marine, Langsding, BD-Marine, Matrix Parker Yacht and Jia Cheng Technology. In addition, industry buyers will have the latest preview of models from companies such as S Com-Tech who will debut their incredibly compact and versatile sailing catamaran, the Smart Cat 50. Steyr Motors will also be launching their latest marine engine onsite. Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/460405/CIBS_boating_trade_show_China.jpg Thibaut de Montvalon, Managing Director Of Beneteau Group Asia Pacific, a regular exhibitor at CIBS commented that "The event is one of the best boat shows in the marine industry, and is also one of the best indoor boat shows in Asia. We can see its huge influence on the industry each year." Buyers attending CIBS will, for the first time, be able to take part in a matchmaking system that will provide recommendations for exhibitors they may meet with, based on information provided about their business objectives at the time of registration. A team of dedicated, experienced staff will then facilitate the meetings onsite. "We are delighted to be welcoming so many new companies this year and welcoming back our regular exhibitors. We work closely with everyone to make sure they get the most out of their participation and focus our attention on matching the right buyers with suppliers so they may generate and secure future business at the event," said Helena Gao, Director of Corporate Business Development, Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo Ltd. In addition to the matchmaking system, a new Exhibitor Search Tool has been launched online, making it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for at the event. The China (Shanghai) International Boat Show (CIBS) will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) from 26 to 29 April 2017. CIBS will be held alongside HOTEL PLUS, a mega show which will be inaugurated in 2017 and covers 17 events providing complete solutions for hotels and commercial properties. CIBS will be open to the public on 29 April 2017. For more information about CIBS please visit www.boatshowchina.com/en-us/Home For more information on HOTEL PLUS please visit http://ez.jiagle.com Organizers: China Boat Industry & Trade Association China Boat Industry & Trade Association (CBITA) is an organizer of nationwide activities. With the aim of serving the government, industry and its members, the association actively promotes the recreational boating industry development in China and acts as a bridge to improve the communication between the government and the members, manufacturers, customers and research institutions, Chinese enterprises and foreign counterparts. Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co., Ltd. Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (UBM Sinoexpo) is a professional joint-venture exhibition enterprise between Shanghai Sinoexpo International Exhibition Ltd (established in 1992) and UBM China Ltd., the arm of UBM Asia that is responsible for the group's mainland China business. UBM Sinoexpo organizes a series of international exhibitions and conferences through our global network with government bodies, trade associations & organizations and media companies & partners. Related Links http://www.boatshowchina.com/en-us/Home SOURCE China (Shanghai) International Boat Show PORTLAND, Oregon and PUNE, India, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new report published by Allied Market Research, titled, "Epoxy Resin Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014 - 2022," the global epoxy resin market was valued at $6,826 million in 2015, and is expected to reach $10,264 million by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2016 to 2022. Composites is the fastest growing application segment, at a CAGR of 7.1% during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific dominated the global market in 2015, and is expected to maintain its lead throughout the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140911/647229 ) Summary of the Epoxy Resin Market Report can be accessed on the website at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/epoxy-resins-market The epoxy resin market is in its development stage due to increase in number of end user industries, surge in need for lightweight components, and intensive R&D on the subject. However, high cost of epoxy resin and fluctuating raw material prices are expected to impede the market growth. Furthermore, production of epoxy resin from bio-based sources is anticipated to provide significant opportunities to the industry players in global market. DGBEA epoxy resin with almost three-fifths market share in terms of revenue, was the leading segment, followed by glycidylamine and aliphatic epoxy resin in 2015. In the same year, liquid epoxy resin generated the maximum revenue, and held three-eighths of the total market share, followed by solution and solid epoxy resin. According to Eswara Prasad, Team Lead, Chemicals & Materials at Allied Market Research, "Rapid growth in construction and automotive industries along with economic development in emerging countries are the prime factors resulting in significant growth in demand for epoxy resin. However, high cost associated with epoxy resin and volatile raw material prices may hamper the market growth during the forecast period". Summary of similar reports can be viewed at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/materials-&-chemicals-market-report Key findings of the study In 2015, Asia-Pacific dominated the global epoxy resin market with around three-fifths share of the total revenue. dominated the global epoxy resin market with around three-fifths share of the total revenue. Liquid epoxy resin occupied around three-eighths share of the total market volume in 2015. Composites segment is anticipated to grow at a high CAGR of 7.1%, in terms of revenue, from 2016 to 2022. Aerospace is the fastest growing end use industry segment growing at a CAGR of 7.9% in terms of revenue, from 2016 to 2022. In 2015, Asia-Pacific accounted for more than half of the worldwide demand for epoxy resin and is expected to maintain its lead position throughout the forecast period. Further, LAMEA is projected to be the fastest growing region, with a CAGR of 6.7% followed by North America with 6.5%, owing to the rapid industrialization and increased demand from aerospace industries. The major companies profiled in the report include BASF SE, E I DuPont de Nemours and Company, Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman Corporation, 3M Company, Kukdo Chemicals, Nan Ya Plastics Corporation, Hexion Inc., Olin Corporation, and Cytec Solvay Group. About Us: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: Rahul Thakur 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Direct: +1-503-894-6022 SOURCE Allied Market Research AMSTERDAM and MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hippo, a BloomReach company, today announced its entrance into The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management Systems, Q1 2017. The analyst firm invited a select group of vendors to participate in its 2017 Forrester Wave evaluation for Web Content Management and has named Hippo as a Strong Performer, stating that "Hippo DX's API and cloud-first strategy outshines startup status." Forrester evaluated Hippo and 14 other vendors across 25 core criteria in 3 main categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. Hippo earned the highest score possible in five criteria, including responsive & adaptive design, back-end extensibility, and cloud. Concerning Hippo onDemand, our PaaS cloud solution, Forrester stated that the offering accelerates administration and maintenance and that "the onDemand flavor only broadens digital architect appeal." "Hippo recognized early that the transition to data-driven, omnichannel experiences required an open architecture and design, and we believe our rating as a Strong Performer in the 2017 Forrester Wave is a reflection of our growth, innovation and commitment to providing a platform that continually drives success for our customers," said Jeroen Verberg, GM of the Hippo business unit. "Being recognized for Hippo onDemand, our cloud platform, is a testament to our development team's extraordinary vision, and as we continue to integrate with BloomReach, we look forward to a monumental year for our combined platform." Hippo's position as a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave comes after a year of rapid growth for the company. In 2016, Hippo released its PaaS cloud platform, was recognized for its visionary approach for Web Content Management, and was acquired by BloomReach, a pioneer in data-driven personalization powering digital innovation and revenue acceleration at more than 150 global leaders including Staples, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. On the recent acquisition, Forrester noted in the report, "In the near future, BloomReach's data and machine learning may shape a new course with increasingly bleeding-edge marketing scenarios." "Hippo's distinction as a strong performer in the Forrester Wave for Web CMS underscores exactly why BloomReach acquired its technology and team," said Raj De Datta, co-founder and CEO of BloomReach. "In today's omnichannel world, driving superior digital experiences across web content requires a flexible, open and intelligent platform, and we couldn't be more proud of Hippo's achievement." A complimentary copy of the Forrester Wave: Web CMS, Q1 2017 is available from Hippo. Join our guest speaker Forrester Analyst Mark Grannan for a webinar discussion of the changing DX landscape on February 2nd, 2017: The Future of Digital Experience Platforms. About Hippo (BloomReach) Hippo, a BloomReach company, is a visionary in the content management software space. BloomReach is a leader in big-data commerce technology. Together, we are redefining digital experience by engineering the first open and intelligent DX platform, designed to help businesses deliver personalized content that their visitors value in any context and on any device. With our global network of Certified Partners, we serve a growing number of enterprise customers, such as Neiman Marcus, Bell Aliant, Staples, 1&1 Internet, Williams-Sonoma, Provinzial, Wayfair, REI, the University of Maryland and FC Bayern Munchen. BloomReach is backed by investment firms Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, NEA, Salesforce Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures. Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/327274/bloomreach_logo.jpg Related Links http://www.bloomreach.com SOURCE BloomReach GUANGZHOU, China, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Innovative Products and Business Opportunities" will be the core theme of Windoor Expo China 2017, which will take place at the Poly World Trade Center in Guangzhou, China from 11 to 13 March, 2017. Photo: http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170123/0861700813 Organized by Citiexpo, this annual window, door and facade trade show will bring together 560 international and local exhibitors who will welcome an expected 60,000 visitors comprised of architects, builders, contractors, fabricators, manufacturers, real estate developers, traders and other industry players from all over the world. The 23rd edition of Windoor Expo promises to reveal innovative products and bring business opportunities for attendees with different sourcing projects. Innovative Products At present, China is the largest market for fenestration products in Asia, due to its rapid industrialization and constant economic growth. Realizing smart building elements and systems, and enriching living comfort with better security and energy management solutions are the current trends in the China's industry. The Star Galaxy (Innovation Zone) will showcase new and innovative technologies and solutions in window and door hardware and equipment, building envelopes, aluminum profiles and structure sealants, taking center stage at Windoor Expo again. The innovative products with advantages on optimizing building performance and functionality, maximizing energy and operational efficiency and increasing safety and security for greater occupant comfort will meet and also lead industry needs. Featured exhibitors and brands include ASSA ABLOY Guoqiang Hardware Technology, Brilet Windows & Doors System, DSM China, Fischer (Taicang) Fixings, HOPPE, Kinlong Hardware Products, Press Metal International, Schuco International, Siegenia-Aubi Hardware, Technoform Bautec Hong Kong, Xinyi Glass Engineering, and many more. Visitors can expect to meet the most significant brands and suppliers offering their newest products. Visit www.windoorexpo.com to find more on the updated exhibitor list and product profiles. Business Opportunities Aside from the wide array of newest technologies that will be showcased by exhibitors, an interesting and relevant series of conferences will cover extensive topics on engineering design including these three keynote sessions, Anti-Typhoon, Prefabricated Building and Curtain Wall New Technology, enabling participants to learn more on the latest industry innovation, whilst providing them with an opportunity to benchmark and grow their businesses. Visitors may register online at www.windoorexpo.com to obtain a free admission badge, which will allow access to Windoor Expo and the co-located events. Related Links http://www.windoorexpo.com SOURCE Guangzhou Citiexpo Co., Ltd. SAN FRANCISCO, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The global mammography market is expected to reach a value of USD 3.8 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market growth can be attributed to the rising initiatives by various governments and NGOs to raise awareness about early diagnosis of micro calcifications in breast tissue. Some significant organizations such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation, CDC, and Breast Cancer Organization are promoting the early diagnosis of mammary gland calcification, which is one of the crucial factors expected to drive the demand over the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757 ) Based on a report published by the National Cancer Institute in 2015, it was stated that the proportion of women aged 45 to 65 years had increased to 81.1% in breast cancer screening. Major mammography manufacturers are introducing new products and increasing the number of approved products, which is further expected to impel the demand in the coming years. In January 2016, FDA approved a new manual for digital mammography quality control by the American College of Radiology. The growing number of awareness campaigns to promote womens' health services is also anticipated to propel growth. Some of the key industry players are Fujifilm; Hologic; Philips Healthcare; Siemens Healthineers; Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation; GE Healthcare; Metaltronica; PLANMED OY; Mindray Medical International Limited; and IMS srl. Browse full research report with TOC on "Mammography Market Analysis by Product, (Film Screen Systems, Digital Systems, Analog Systems, Biopsy Systems, 3D Systems), By Technology, (Breast Tomosynthesis, CAD, Digital), By Application, And Segment Forecasts, 2013 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/mammography-market Further Key Findings From the Study Suggest: Digital systems dominated the product segment in 2015 owing to the wide availability of digital breast screening devices and presence of favorable reimbursements for such devices Digital mammography dominated the application segment in 2015 due to growing awareness regarding digital technology and increasing adoption of such technology for better diagnosis In 2015, North America dominated due to the increasing adoption of technologically advanced screening devices and up surging number of approvals of 3D systems dominated due to the increasing adoption of technologically advanced screening devices and up surging number of approvals of 3D systems Asia Pacific and Latin America are the two fastest growing regional segments, because of the higher mammary gland cancer prevalence and growing number of government campaigns to improve screening results Browse related reports by Grand View Research: Infectious Vaccines Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/infectious-vaccines-market Neurovascular Intervention Devices Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/neurovascular-intervention-devices-market X-Ray Detectors Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/x-ray-detectors-market Fetal Monitoring Analysis Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fetal-monitoring-analysis-market Grand View Research has segmented the mammography market by product, technology, and region: Product Outlook (Market Revenue in USD Million, 2013 - 2025) Film Screen Systems Digital Systems Analog Systems Biopsy Systems 3D Systems Technology Outlook (Market Revenue in USD Million, 2013 - 2025) Breast Tomosynthesis CAD Digital Regional Outlook (Market Revenue in USD Million, 2013 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe UK Germany Asia Pacific Japan China India Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East and Africa South Africa 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 - Mammography Market: The growing awareness pertaining to preventive breast checkup 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. SOLNA, Sweden, Jan 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In cooperation with the Municipality of Vasteras, NCC has planned and designed the new Logarang swim center in Vasteras and has now signed an agreement to also execute the construction contract for the swimming complex. The total order value is SEK 340 million. "We are pleased to be carrying out this project in partnership with NCC, which is a leader in Sweden in the construction of swim and leisure centers," says Thomas Pennanen, representative at the City of Vasteras. The project is being carried out in partnering form, meaning that NCC and the City of Vasteras have jointly produced system documents, the project budget and detail design plans for the new center. The actual construction phase will commence shortly. The new Logarang swim center will include a 50 x 25-meter swimming pool with competition and practice lanes as well as a 25 x 12.5-meter diving pool with a depth of four meters. The facility will also house a swimming pool for teaching purposes, a children's pool and a gym. In addition, the center will feature a cafeteria/restaurant and function rooms. "NCC has solid experience of this type of partnering project. The swim center project is characterized by a high degree of complexity involving many players and in this context, a partnering model is by far the best way to proceed," says Henrik Landelius, head of NCC Building Sweden. The new center is expected to be ready for inauguration in spring 2019. The order will be registered during the first quarter of 2017 in the Building business area. For further information, please contact: Johan Karlsson, Business Manager, NCC Building, Tel: +46-70-514-74-36 Anna Trane, Head of Corporate Media Relations, NCC, Tel: +46-70-884-74-69 NCC's media line Tel: +46-8-585-519-00 E-mail: press@ncc.se This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com http://news.cision.com/ncc/r/ncc-signs-agreement-for-the-construction-of-logarang-swim-center-in-vasteras--sweden,c2170663 The following files are available for download: http://mb.cision.com/Main/197/2170663/618031.pdf PDF http://news.cision.com/ncc/i/entre,c2060291 ENTRE http://news.cision.com/ncc/i/fran-sjon,c2060292 FRAN SJON SOURCE NCC VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Considering the growing demand for natural & organic gelling ingredients for production of food and beverages, global consumption of gellan gum should continue to increase at a greater pace. However, Future Market Insights projects that over a ten-year forecast period, global consumption will exhibit a moderate CAGR of 3.7%. Global gellan gum sales will incur a sluggish increment till the end of 2026, adding just over 500 MT to the current ballpark figures on global gellan gum consumption. Regardless of substituting agar as thickener for food & beverages and incurring higher use in production of pharmaceutical fluids, global sales of gellan gum will continue to rake in meagre revenues over the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161020/430874LOGO ) Key Deterrents for Growth in Global Gellan Gum Consumption Procuring raw materials required for production of gellan gum remains to be a major challenge for manufacturers. Complex techniques used for formulating gellan gum from lactose or glucose inhibits their production among local players that have a modest manufacturing infrastructure. Gellan gum is now being actively substituted by alternative hydrocolloids such as xanthan, pectin and gelatine, which are cheaper to produce and easier to harvest from raw materials. The consumption of carrangeenan, among such hydrocolloids, is projected to gain traction as opposed to gellan gum. Preview Analysis on Global Gellan Gum Market Segmentation By Product Type - High Acyl Content and Low Acyl Content; By Application - Food (Confectionary, Jams, Fabricated Foods, Water-Based Gels, Pie Fillings & Puddings, Dairy Products, Processed Meats and Beverages), Personal Care & Cosmetics, Pharmaceuticals, Industrial and Household Cleaners: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/gellan-gum-market Nevertheless, several companies in the global food & beverage industry will continue to prefer gellan gum as organic thickeners for products such as jellies, soups and packaged yogurts. Leading gellan gum manufacturers in the world are expanding their production capacity, primarily focusing on delivering gellan gum products for food & beverage applications. Royal DSM, a prominent manufacturer of gellan gum, recently acquired manufacturing plants in China, while CP Kelco made headlines for expanding the production capacity of its San Diego plant. In the report, titled "Gellan Gum Market: Global Industry Analysis & Opportunity Assessment, 2016-2026," Future Market Insights mentions that a majority of gellan gum manufacturers in the global market are based in China, and are incidentally factoring a rampant growth of gellan gum market in the Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region. Dancheng Caixin Sugar Industry Co. Ltd., Zhejiang Tech-Way Biochemicals Co. Ltd., Hangzhou Gellan Solutions Biotec Co. Ltd., Zhejiang DSM Zhongken Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Meron Group, Hebei Xinhe Biochemical Co. Ltd., Fufeng Group, and Inner Mongolia Rainbow Biotech Co. Ltd., are gellan gum manufacturers based in APEJ countries such as China and India. In terms of global market value, APEJ gellan gum market will account for over one-third share throughout the forecast period. US-based CP Kelco will continue to account for over 70% of global gellan gum revenues, making North America a dominant region in the global gellan gum market through 2026. Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1801 According to Future Market Insights, the global market for gellan gum raked in an estimated revenues worth US$ 46.1 million in 2016, which are likely to increase at 4.3% CAGR to reach US$ 70.2 million by the end of 2026. Demand for gellan gum products will high acyl content will remain lower compared to low-acyl gellan gum products, with global sales of the latter are expected to amount nearly US$ 50 million revenues by the end of 2026. The report also projects that application of gellan gum in global food industry will procure revenues worth over US$ 40 million by the end of forecast period, rendering it the largest application segment in the global gellan gum market. More From FMI's Cutting-edge Intelligence: Egg Replacement Ingredient Market Segmentation By Ingredient - Milk Protein Formulation, Algal Flour, Proteins, Starch, Soy Products, and Others; By Application - Chocolates, Biscuits & Cookies, Cakes/Pastries/Muffins/Breads, Mayonnaise, Noodles & Pasta; By End Use - Commercial, Household; By Form - Liquid, Powder: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/egg-replacement-ingredient-market Segmentation By Ingredient - Milk Protein Formulation, Algal Flour, Proteins, Starch, Soy Products, and Others; By Application - Chocolates, Biscuits & Cookies, Cakes/Pastries/Muffins/Breads, Mayonnaise, Noodles & Pasta; By End Use - Commercial, Household; By Form - Liquid, Powder: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/egg-replacement-ingredient-market Maltodextrin Market Segmentation By Application - Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverages, Paper/Cardboard Processing, Industrial Chemicals, Cosmetics; By GMO & GMO-free Crop Production Data - GM Crops: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/maltodextrin-market Segmentation By Application - Pharmaceuticals, Food and Beverages, Paper/Cardboard Processing, Industrial Chemicals, Cosmetics; By GMO & GMO-free Crop Production Data - GM Crops: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/maltodextrin-market Colostrum Market Segmentation by Product Type - Colostrum Powder, Skim Colostrum Powder and Specialty Colostrum Powder; By Application - Functional Food and Nutritional Supplements, Medical Nutrition Food, Animal Feed, Infant Food and Cosmetics; By Form - Organic Form and Conventional Form: http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/colostrum-market About Us Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights and an aerial view of the competitive framework and future market trends. Browse More Food and Beverages Market Insights Contact Us 616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018, Valley Cottage, NY 10989, United States T: +1-347-918-3531 F: +1-845-579-5705 T (UK): + 44 (0) 20 7692 8790 Sales: sales@futuremarketinsights.com Press Office: Press@futuremrketinsights.com Website: www.futuremarketinsights.com SOURCE Future Market Insights CLAREMONT, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lisa Anderson MBA, CSCP, president of LMA Consulting Group, conducted a proprietary research study to better understand outsourcing, near-sourcing and insourcing trends for U. S. based manufacturers. Pending further analysis, Anderson reports on a preliminary finding that shows that seventy percent of responding executives expect near-sourcing to increase within the next five years. Survey data was collected from August October, 2016 and the U. S. presidential election may have an impact on this trend toward near-sourcing. Lisa Anderson "I've seen that manufacturers were already considering insourcing to the U.S. and near-sourcing options to Mexico and other closely located countries because of the Amazon effect the need for rapid response to customer needs. Thus, the industry was already moving in that direction prior to the U.S. presidential election. However, since tariffs are likely to increase and bad publicity could easily occur, the impact will probably steer some of those companies towards the U.S. instead of Mexico. "In addition to the Amazon effect, I've witnessed a number of companies who poorly planned their outsourcing and off-shoring efforts," shares Anderson. "They now have experience and data to make better decisions. Since the total cost of importing non-commodity products from Asia is equalizing with what can be achieved in the U.S. or Mexico, near-sourcing becomes a no-brainer when the customer and cash impacts are added to the cost equation. It is also far easier and more successful to communicate and manage when manufacturing is closer to the markets served." This is the third major research study conducted by LMA Consulting Group which included a Skills Gap Study and The Amazon Effect research project. With an uptick in manufacturing and continued concerns of the lack of skilled resources to fill new manufacturing jobs, Anderson is initiating a new Skills Gap Survey to assess the necessary skillsets for manufacturing positions. The data will be used to uncover new issues as well as compare and contrast results from 2013. Take the survey here or copy and paste this link into your browser http://ow.ly/pMcw308apzo. To receive the final report or participate in an Anderson-led webinar on outsourcing, near-sourcing and insourcing, enroll here or cut and paste this link into your browser http://ow.ly/7kF8308agJQ. About LMA Consulting Group Lisa Anderson, MBA, CSCP Lisa Anderson is a leading expert in selecting & implementing strategic priorities and ranked 16 most influential in supply chain by SAP. Anderson is Board approved in Supply Chain strategy by the Society for Advancement in Consulting, is an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) and won the APICS Southwest District's Milt Cook Award in 2011. Named a top 100 supply chain blogger on SupplyChainOpz, she has the unique ability to zero in on the critical strategic priorities and bridge the gap between strategy and execution to achieve dramatically improved service levels, accelerated cash flow and increased profits. With a keen focus on elevating business performance, Anderson is passionate about not only synthesizing strategic priorities that will deliver business results but also in designing an implementation approach that delivers rapid results. Anderson, also known as The Manufacturing ConnectorSM, is currently working on a book entitled "The Amazon Effect" detailing a business roadmap to thriving in an ultra-competitive marketplace. A regular content contributor in topics including supply chain, ERP and SIOP, she has been interviewed for articles in publications like Industry Week, tED Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. She actively posts educational blogs three times weekly and has two newsletters, Profit through PeopleSM and "I've Been Thinking." Prior to founding LMA Consulting Group Inc., Anderson was the Vice President of Operations and Supply Chain of PaperPak, Inc. Her twelve-year tenure included transitions and promotions through the company transformation from a $100 million family-owned business, through a merger and acquisition of three businesses into one $350 million dollar global company, followed by a management leveraged buyout in combination with an investment banking group. A sought-after writer and speaker, Anderson has spoken at the Global Supply Chain & Logistics Summit, the APICS International Conference and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Southern California's Entrepreneurial Program. Anderson is the author of "Leverage Social Networks to Drive Business Results," has published hundreds of articles and has been quoted in the media including The Wall Street Journal, ABC News and Industry Week. With a blend of management, finance and operations, Lisa received her MBA with an emphasis in Finance from California State University Fullerton and her BSBA with an emphasis in Operations Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. SOURCE LMA Consulting Group Inc. To ensure they're getting the most out of their Irish getaway, Monograms delivers travelers to towns and villages on their itinerary via first-class, high-speed rail and hand-picked, centrally located hotels. Even better? Monograms a sister company to award-winning tour operator Globus is the only vacation provider that promises travelers a warm "welcome" thanks to the on-site services of an expert Local Host who offers tips, insights and also arranges sightseeing in each destination. For instance, on Monograms' 10-day Limerick, Killarney, Dublin & Belfast vacation (priced from $1,662), travelers arrive in and spend two days in Limerick with access to the services of their Local Host before being transferred via chauffeured car to Killarney where once again, the days are theirs to enjoy, although their Local Host will have plenty of suggestions including visiting Ross Castle, dating back to the 15th Century or taking an excursion to the Ring of Kerry. Then, it's off to Dublin via train. Monograms provides all of the transfers to/from the train station and the hotels. In Dublin, a local expert shares insider stories on a city sightseeing tour which includes the Old Library at Trinity College and of course, St. Patrick's Cathedral. The journey ends in Belfast (after another first-class train ride) where travelers are invited to the Titanic Exhibition and more. Other popular Monograms rail journeys featuring Ireland include: - NEW 9-day Dublin, Belfast & London - 10-day Dublin, London & Edinburgh - 13-day Limerick, Killarney, Dublin, Belfast & London "There are good ways to see and experience Ireland and ways that are decidedly not so good. With Monograms, the difference is clear from the start because we're behind our travelers every step of the way," said Steve Born, vice president of marketing for the Globus family of brands. "They'll spend every moment exploring and savoring rather than stressing thanks to hand-picked, centrally located accommodations and the on-site services of their Monograms Local Host. They also have the opportunity to enjoy the journey and the scenery of the country between each town and village in the comfort of first-class train travel that's included in the vacation." DEAL ALERT: Looking for better deals on a better way to travel? Monograms' WANDERLIST offers travelers the best deals each month. For more information about Monograms visit www.monograms.com or blog.monograms.com. ABOUT MONOGRAMS With nearly 40 offices staffed with more than 200 travel experts that extend as far as Asia and as wide as Europe, Monograms has a rich reputation as a company travelers can depend on to help them simplify travel planning while creating special dream getaways. Monograms affords travelers the power to personalize their vacation without having to take care of planning details or logistics, thanks to the on-site support of a Local Host. With Monograms, travelers are assured their vacation details are taken care of, including hotel, transportation, sightseeing and more, so they can simply focus on having fun. Monograms is part of the Globus family of brands, an award-winning, travel industry leader with more than 85 years of international travel expertise. The Globus family of brands is a member of Sustainable Travel International (STI). Consumers can book a Monograms vacation or request brochures by visiting a preferred travel agent or by calling the following toll free number: 1.800.250.7614. For more information, please visit Monograms.com. SOURCE Monograms Related Links http://www.monograms.com NEW BERN, N.C., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In his new book (Authorhouse Publishing) Tales for Tagliacozzi An Inside Look at Modern-Day Plastic Surgery, Dr. Zannis reveals the secrets about his profession that everyone wants to know. Journey into the world of modern plastic surgery while learning about the Renaissance's founding father of plastic surgery, Gaspare Tagliacozzi. Tales for Tagliacozzi John Zannis, MD "I wanted to share my delight as I imagined recounting the many unthinkable things that happen in my practice to someone like Gaspare Tagliacozzi. And, most importantly, I wanted to give a true insight into the life of a modern-day plastic surgeon. Prospective patients will learn a lot about the procedures available today," says Dr. Zannis. The final chapter of this easy 86-page read reveals true never-before-told secrets to the general public. "I believe in complete transparency and patients making the best informed decisions for themselves," explains Dr. Zannis. "That's why I took the risk to 'reveal all'." From what motivates surgeons to where and how procedures are done, including the actual risks, everything a prospective patient wants to know before going under the knife is discussed. Dr. Zannis is board-certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and is also the author of Body Contouring without Surgery (2015). He is the founder of the Zannis Center for Plastic Surgery in New Bern, NC and the director of Rinnova Spa & Wellness Center. He is also the president of Rinnova Skincare by John Zannis, MD, a popular line of rejuvenating skin care products. For more information or to purchase the book, visit Amazon.com or www.zannisplasticsurgery.com/book. Contact: Veronica Purvis Zannis Center for Plastic Surgery 800-985-8214 [email protected] SOURCE Zannis Center For Plastic Surgery Enhanced User Interface and Platform Engine Improvements Deliver on Marketers' Needs for Ease-of-Use, Transparency, Speed and Scalability TORONTO/NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - AcuityAds Holdings Inc. (TSXV:AT) (OTCQB:ACUIF) ("AcuityAds"), a technology leader that enables advertisers to connect intelligently with audiences across video, mobile, social and online display advertising campaigns, today announced that its new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform is now readily available. The highly anticipated launch of the new platform was conceived with input from AcuityAds' platform partners, which now exceeds 150+, to ensure it delivered on their requirements for ease-of-use, transparency, speed and scalability. In addition to an accompanying Documentation Center, that provides educational resources and step-by-step platform guides, the enhanced platform features a brand new "ultra-intuitive" user interface that puts campaign control in the marketers' hands more than ever before. User alerts and notifications push data to marketers so they don't have to search for the information they need. The new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform gives digital brand marketers, media buyers, and agencies alike real-time access to the most important information they need to execute intelligent campaigns successfully to deliver positive returns on advertising spend. "An intuitive system, the new AcuityAds Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform makes digital marketing easy, and allows me to visualize the data that's important to my campaigns' success," said Marc Brasset, Director, Digital Operations and Strategy, Western Media Group. "Everything is within sight on the screen, so I don't have to search for controls. The AcuityAds Documentation Center also provides information that I can share with clients to help them understand more about programmatic. This saves my team time, and allows for a more fluid relationship with my clients." Users will benefit immediately from new features like inventory forecasting as well as a customizable dashboard which will be released in the coming weeks. These new features build on AcuityAds' signature and industry leading 60 second refresh rate of data, and the ability to create built-in, customizable revenue streams. Further, the platform engine itself has been completely redesigned & re-architected to facilitate faster processing and increased scalability. New platform elements will enable marketers to create a more seamless customer experience and deliver on their transparency needs. "At AcuityAds, we're building the most innovative solutions in the industry to empower marketers to take control of their programmatic advertising campaigns," said Tal Hayek, founder and CEO, AcuityAds. "We're proud to introduce our new ultra-intuitive Self-Serve Programmatic Marketing Platform at a time when industry leaders are calling for marketers to have unmatched transparency into media costs and inventory. Our enhanced platform, along with the accompanying AcuityAds Documentation Center, provides not only a more user-friendly interface, but also 24/7 access to information for all programmatic platform users from novice to advanced, to be successful." To learn more about AcuityAds' cutting-edge platform, view the demo video, or visit AcuityAds' Programmatic Marketing Platform website. About AcuityAds AcuityAds is a technology company that enables marketers to connect intelligently with their most meaningful audiences through digital media. A Self-Serve programmatic marketing platform, powered by proprietary machine learning technology, is at the core of its business, accompanied by a patented solution for mobile targeting that leverages social data. AcuityAds empowers marketers by offering transparency on costs and brand safety, and real-time reporting and analytics, bringing accountability to programmatic advertising to deliver business results. AcuityAds is headquartered in Toronto, Canada with sales offices in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Calgary and Montreal. For more information, visit AcuityAds.com. Disclaimer in regards to Forward-looking Statements Certain statements included herein constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at this time, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, AcuityAds does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect, in particular, new information or future events. 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. SOURCE AcuityAds Inc. Related Links www.acuityads.com HOUSTON, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The nation's leading oilfield dust control compliance provider has launched a new Houston-area office to serve customers in the epicenter of the country's oil & gas industry. AIRIS Wellsite Services brought the new office online as the new year began, staffing the Houston facility with key personnel including CEO Brendan Ryan, General Manager Santo Petitto, and Industrial Hygiene Manager Justin Lopez, MPH, along with multiple sales team members. "We know our presence in Houston will allow us to build on the success we've had and will open the door for greater collaboration with our customers in the Houston area," says GM Petitto. Establishing and expanding a presence in Houston will enable AIRIS to better reach companies with operations or headquarters in the Houston area, and will allow those customers access to the depth of expertise for which AIRIS is renowned. AIRIS has pioneered proven silica dust exposure solutions at the wellsite. The company's patented technology is an avenue to compliance for oilfield companies required to safeguard their employees from the dangers of respirable crystalline silica. The risk of silica exposure is present at virtually every frac site, and breathing silica dust may lead to silicosis, chronic lung disease and cancer. With technical, commercial and operational expertise, the team members at AIRIS' new Houston office will afford customers an even greater level of responsiveness, teamwork and collaboration. "We are able to sit at the same table, understand our clients' challenges and respond to those challenges with solutions," says CEO Ryan. "The new office in Houston provides a focal point where we can meet customers' cross-functional needs, adapting the services we provide to clients' needs and wants." The spacious Houston site is capable of storing and demonstrating AIRIS' proprietary technology, giving clients a first-hand perspective of the market's only total dust control solution. AIRIS Wellsite Services' Houston office is located at 415 Woodline Drive, The Woodlands, TX, 77386. About AIRIS Founded in 2012, AIRIS Wellsite Services is a provider of total silica dust control compliance solutions. AIRIS provides these services through the operation of a fleet of high-efficiency particulate HEPA vacuum units. AIRIS has offices in Houston, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma, and operates primarily in the Rocky Mountains, Mid-Continent, Northeast and Texas regions. Contact: Katie Sallee (918) 728-7026 [email protected] SOURCE AIRIS Wellsite Services PASADENA, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), a real estate investment trust uniquely focused on world-class collaborative science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, announced a significant lease expansion and extension with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 92,000 rentable square feet (RSF) at 9 West Watkins Mill Road in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The NIH increases its total tenancy in Alexandria's Maryland cluster to 227,000 RSF with this strategic expansion. Located in Maryland's dynamic life science ecosystem, Alexandria's 9 West Watkins will be anchored by the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). The facility will provide NIAID with state-of-the-art laboratory/office space to advance its mission to conduct and support research to better understand, treat and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic and allergic diseases, including critical research on the Zika and Ebola viruses. In addition to the NIH's new presence at 9 West Watkins, the agency has an existing 135,000 RSF on Alexandria's flagship Maryland campus at 9800 Medical Center Drive, in the heart of the Shady Grove Life Sciences Center in Rockville. The campus is home to multiple NIH institutes and centers, including the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), an entity focused on catalyzing the development of novel, breakthrough discoveries in basic and translational research. The four-building Alexandria campus provides mission-critical facilities for NCATS, among other innovative life science entities, and offers opportunities for collaboration and growth. Alexandria currently holds entitlements for an additional 260,000 RSF at 9800 Medical Center Drive. Maryland, one of the country's largest life science clusters, has emerged as a top vaccines and infectious diseases market, and also has a very strong focus on oncology and genetics. The life science cluster boasts a highly educated talent pool as well as proximity to leading federal government and regulatory institutions, including the NIH and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). With the recent passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, signed into law in December 2016, the NIH and the FDA will receive $4.8 billion and $500 million, respectively, in additional funding over the next 10 years. This significant bipartisan legislation aims to accelerate the discovery, development and delivery of treatments and cures by investing in medical research. It also includes significant funds to tackle the ongoing opioid crisis, develop antibiotics for deadly drug-resistant microbes and improve the nation's mental health system. The new law is a prime example of continued government support for biomedical innovation, and it is a positive market driver in Maryland as well as in Alexandria's other innovation clusters. Alexandria is the preeminent life science real estate owner and operator in Maryland, where it has executed new leases and lease renewals aggregating nearly 750,000 RSF during 2015 and 2016. With limited supply in the I-270 Corridor driving favorable rental rate trends, Alexandria is well positioned for growth in the region. As of September 30, 2016, Alexandria's Maryland asset base comprises approximately 2.1 million RSF, primarily centered in the Rockville and Gaithersburg submarkets, and 43% of its annual rental revenue comes from investment-grade tenants. Alexandria serves a range of high-quality and diverse tenants in Maryland, which include multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Sanofi and AstraZenenca; life science services and medical diagnostics companies, including Sigma-Aldrich and Canon U.S. Life Sciences; a number of growth- and early-stage companies, including Sanaria and Vtesse; as well as government and regulatory institutions such as the NIH and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE) is an urban office REIT uniquely focused on collaborative science and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $13.0 billion and an asset base in North America of 24.5 million square feet as of September 30, 2016. The asset base in North America includes 18.8 million RSF of operating properties and development and redevelopment projects (under construction or pre-construction) and 5.7 million square feet of future ground-up development projects. Alexandria pioneered this niche in 1994 and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, San Francisco, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland and Research Triangle Park. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban science and technology campuses that provide its innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. For more information, please visit www.are.com. SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. Related Links http://www.are.com SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sim Osborn, a well-recognized Seattle-based trial attorney has been elected president of the Washington state American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) chapter, assuming the role from outgoing president Andrew Bohrnsen. ABOTA is a national organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the civil jury trial right. Osborn is a partner at Osborn Machler, PLLC, a Seattle personal injury and civil litigation law firm. He first joined ABOTA in 2003 and has been deeply involved with the organization ever since; he was a member of the ABOTA national board from 2011 to 2013 and has served on the ABOTA Washington state executive council since 2010. ABOTA also named Osborn Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2011. The chapter also named several other positions. Michael Wampold has been elected the chapter's president-elect. In addition, Lisa Machese has been elected vice president, Chris Anderson as treasurer, Liz Leedom as membership chair, Ray Dearie as secretary, and Andrew Kinstler will be the chapter's new national board representative. "Over the years, it's hard to think of anyone more actively involved with the organization than Sim," said Andrew Bohrnsen, outgoing president of the ABOTA Washington state chapter. "His advocacy and leadership have been invaluable assets for us and I am confident that, going forward, our chapter will be steered by very able hands." In assuming his new role, Osborn will continue spearheading the "Civics Education for Justice" initiative, which matches one of the organization's member attorneys with a Washington high school in need of a civics teacher, free of charge. Where funding for a civics class may not be available, member attorneys can step in, drawing upon their own experiences and insights from within the legal system to help students understand their government and how they can participate in itrelieving financial pressures bearing upon Washington school districts in the process. "Civics Education for Justice" is jointly sponsored by ABOTA, the Washington State Association for Justice (WSAJ) and the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers (WDTL). "As a lifelong advocate of trial law, I'm honored to have been elected the new president of our local American Board of Trial Advocates chapter," said Osborn. "I know firsthand the great, necessary work that this organization doesI hope to follow Andrew's example and continue empowering our members and our community to play an active, healthy role in our judiciary and government." A tireless champion for charitable causes within the Puget Sound community, Osborn has served on the Board of Trustees of the Kirkland Boys and Girls Club, the Seattle University Alumni Board, the Kirkland Merchants, the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Providence Hospital Foundation. He has also been active with the Special Olympics and the Leukemia Society of America, and currently serves on the Board of Overseers of Whitman College. Osborn graduated from Whitman College with a bachelor's of arts in 1980 and received his juris doctor from the Seattle University School of Law (formerly the University of Puget Sound School of Law) in 1984. For more information about the American Board of Trial Advocates, please visit their website https://www.abota.org/. About the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA): Founded in 1957, the American Board of Trial Advocates is a group dedicated towards elevating the standards of integrity, honor and courtesy and the legal profession through education and training of trial lawyers. Over its fifty year history, the group has consistently fought to preserve and protect the right to a jury trial in its mission to provide "Justice by the People" for all. Find more at https://www.abota.org/ Media Contact: Mark Firmani Firmani + Associates, Inc. 206.443.9357 [email protected] SOURCE American Board of Trial Advocates Related Links https://www.abota.org AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epicor Software Corporation, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software to promote business growth, announced today that Besser Ace Hardware has launched its award-winning retail business management solution, Epicor Eagle N Series, to streamline business operations with enhanced customer service and an improved bottom line. "Because of the market-leading partnership Epicor has with Ace Hardware, in addition to powerful software functionality, we have no doubt that our business will be strengthened and more successful going forward," said Steve Modi, owner, Besser Ace Hardware. Arkansas's oldest hardware store, Besser Ace Hardware, was established in 1887. It has served the downtown Little Rock community in its current location since the 1960's. In order to get the store into optimal condition, it recently underwent a full remodel to make its operations more customer friendly, including replacing its previous ECi RockSolid POS technology with a new robust software solution from Epicor. Market-Leading Partnership to Advance Business As the 'exclusively endorsed point of sale (POS) software provider' for Ace Hardware1, the Eagle solution is leveraged in over 3,000 Ace Hardware store locations in North America. "A strong relationship with Ace Hardware was central to our selection of a new software provider and business partner," said Steve Modi, owner of Besser Ace Hardware. "Because of the market-leading partnership Epicor has with Ace Hardware, in addition to powerful software functionality, we have no doubt that our business will be strengthened and more successful going forward." Access to Information Better Serves Customers "Our search for a new solution provider was focused on finding a technology partner and system that could improve our efficiencies and bottom line," said Modi. "With the user-friendly technology that Eagle N Series offers, our staff will be able to spend less time on tedious back-office tasks such as ordering, and more time with our customerswhich will ultimately affect our bottom line positively." "In addition, customer information and real-time inventory is easily and quickly accessible within the solution. With the click of a button, we can speed to customer history and product stock status which is key for us to serve our customers better. Eagle N Series is a great enhancement to our business and we are eager to see the benefits of the intuitive solution in our store." "We are excited to welcome Besser Ace Hardware into the Epicor retail family," said Doug Smith, director of product marketing, retail and distribution, Epicor Software. "Our longstanding partnership with Ace Hardware has enhanced business operations and the bottom line for numerous independent hardware retailers, including over 3,000 Ace Hardware locations. As a leader of innovative technology solutions, Epicor will continue to deliver the tools that empower retail businessesproviding Besser Ace, and others, the foundational tools they need to grow and successfully compete against big box rivals in the market." About Epicor Eagle N Series Epicor Eagle N Series software is a fully-integrated retail business management system, with built-in best practices, designed for small to mid-sized businesses. Thousands of retail customers rely on the Epicor Eagle N Series solution to operate more efficiently and grow revenue and profits. Visit the Epicor Eagle N Series solution hub to learn more. About Epicor Software Corporation Epicor Software Corporation drives business growth. We provide flexible, industry-specific software designed around the needs of our manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industry customers. More than 40 years of experience with our customers' unique business processes and operational requirements are built into every solutionin the cloud or on premises. With this deep understanding of your industry, Epicor solutions manage complexity, increase efficiency, and free up resources so you can focus on growth. For more information, connect with Epicor or visit www.epicor.com. Epicor, Eagle N Series, and the Epicor logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epicor Software Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other trademarks referenced are the property of their respective owners. The product and service offerings depicted in this document are produced by Epicor Software Corporation. Contact: Lindsay Ortega Senior Specialist, Public Relations Epicor Software Corporation +1 952 417 5022 [email protected] 1 Epicor Software Corporation. (2015). Ace Hardware Selects Epicor As Its 'Exclusively Endorsed Point of Sale Software Provider'. SOURCE Epicor Software Corporation Related Links http://www.epicor.com ACHENJ presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Ryan in honor of her "leadership ability, innovative and creative management, executive capability in developing an organization and promoting its growth and stature in the community." Ryan, a resident of Florence, oversees NJHA, the Health Research and Educational Trust of New Jersey, a not-for-profit affiliate that promotes continuing education, patient safety, quality improvement and research; and the for-profit NJHA Healthcare Business Solutions, which provides group purchasing and other business solutions for healthcare providers. Ryan started her career practicing law in Mount Holly and went on to serve as assistant counsel under former Gov. Jim Florio and Chief of Staff of the state Department of Health. She also was a senior vice president with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. and a regional executive for the American Hospital Association and the Healthcare Association of New York State. She served as a member of New Jersey's Board of Medical Examiners, the Clinton-Gore Transition Team, the legal audit team for the Clinton National Health Care Reform Task Force, and both Governor Corzine's and Governor McGreevey's transition teams. Ryan received her law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University (Cook College). SOURCE New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) Related Links http://www.njha.com Dustin Pfluger has a proven record as an effective professional in both new business development and client service. Pfluger has put forth an aggressive plan for the Austin practice, leveraging his experience in the real estate, mortgage banking and investment industries among others. The Firm plans to add additional local technical resources supported by a full complement of consulting services. This is a big step for the growing Dallas-based partnership. Pfluger stated, "This is an exciting moment in the evolution of this remarkable firm. Our clients benefit greatly from the individual and cumulative business experience that the founding partners bring; experience that directly translates into the integrity our clients are seeking. WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today revealed that the original draft of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) controversial "Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act" was written by a disgraced former FBI agent who has made a career out of bashing Muslims and Islam. ACTION REQUESTED: Click here to urge your congressional representative to reject this anti-Muslim bill. http://cqrcengage.com/cair/app/write-a-letter?2&engagementId=280173 An Islamophobic website (WND, 11/23/2014) reported that John Guandolo, who claims that former CIA Director John Brennan is a "secret Muslim," "helped draft the [original] anti-Brotherhood bill" for then Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN). CAIR Islamophobia Monitor: John Guandolo http://islamophobia.org/islamophobic-individuals/john-guandolo.html "The fact that Senator Cruz's current legislation has its origins in the conspiracy theories of a notorious Islamophobe serves to prove that the bill is designed as the basis for an anti-Muslim witch hunt, not as a legitimate defense of national security," said CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw. The first version of the current bill, which is viewed by many as a thinly-veiled attempt to erode American Muslim civil rights and to block that faith community's civic participation, was introduced by Rep. Bachmann in 2014. The original Bachmann bill states: "If the Secretary of State does not designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act within 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall submit to Congress a report that contains the reasons therefor." The bill has been modified and reintroduced for the past three congressional sessions, but has so far failed to pass. The bill's Islamophobic sponsors and supporters believe it will pass this year because the Republican Party now controls Congress and the White House. Earlier this month, Sen. Cruz and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) reintroduced the legislation that shares entire passages with the text of Rep. Bachmann's bill. Cruz's bill also shares Bachmann's goal of seeking a return to McCarthy-era style witch hunts targeting domestic Muslim civil society organizations by falsely promoting the debunked conspiracy theory that American Muslims are being "secretly controlled" by overseas groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Cruz bill states: "Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the intelligence community, shall submit a detailed report to the appropriate congressional committees. . . if the Secretary of State determines that the Muslim Brotherhood does not meet the criteria referred to in paragraph (1), includes a detailed justification as to which criteria have not been met." Backgrounder on John Guandolo: Guandolo's Ties to Sen. Cruz, Support of Islamophobe Frank Gaffney John Guandolo left the FBI in disgrace after he "had an intimate relationship with a confidential source that he thought could damage an investigation" targeting former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA). Since leaving the FBI, Guandolo has made a career based on Islamophobic statements, such as his claim that the former CIA director is a secret Muslim and that Muslims in America "do not have a First Amendment right to do anything." The Commandant of the US Army War College said Guandolo's "claim (in print) that he teaches at the Army War College and any other references (e.g., online) identifying him as an adjunct instructor here are simply untrue." The FBI withdrew from a Texas event in 2015 after it became public that Guandolo was slated to speak there. Sen. Cruz has been linked to Guandolo. In 2016, he invited one of Guandolo's employees to testify at an Islamophobic Senate hearing. During his presidential race, Sen. Cruz also included "anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist" Frank Gaffney among his foreign policy advisers. Gaffney is a proponent of the conspiracy theory that Muslims are "infiltrating" the U.S. government. He also believes that a crescent, sometimes seen as a symbol of Islam, in the Missile Defense Agency's logo fits "an increasingly obvious and worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam." Gaffney has gone on the record as being a strong supporter of Sen. Cruz's "Muslim Brotherhood" act, calling it the "essential issue of the day." How the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act is Designed to Hurt American Muslims: In January, Baher Azmy, legal director with the Center for Constitutional Rights told the Washington Post in the article ("How an obscure U.S. policy effort could hurt American Muslims") that the bill was, "part of a two-step process to delegitimize a great swath of American Muslim advocacy organizations," adding, "This is sort of a massive cudgel, if it were passed, that could really be used to question, to target, to harass advocacy organizations." The Post article also noted: "[I]t would mark the first time that the U.S. government has pursued the terrorist designation on ideological grounds. . .It is also likely to have a far-reaching impact on American Muslims at a time when Muslim community leaders say the religious minority is facing the worst harassment it has seen since the aftermath of 9/11." In November, 2016, J.M. Berger, a counterterrorism analyst at George Washington University's Program on Extremism offered this opinion to Buzzfeed about the true objective behind the moment supporting the bill: "Let me be extremely clear. This initiative is concerned with controlling American Muslims, not with any issue pertaining to the Muslim Brotherhood in any practical or realistic sense." Nathan Lean, author of the 2012 book "The Islamophobia Industry," told the Huffington Post in January that the bill, "opens up the door for a lot of really damaging possibilities, like endless prosecution of Muslim Americans that simply hold different political or religious positions than Cruz, [Ben] Carson, Gaffney, Trump and that band of fear-mongers." CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. La mision de CAIR es mejorar la comprension del Islam, fomentar el dialogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprension mutua. Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook www.facebook.com/CAIRNational Subscribe to CAIR's Email List http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed http://twitter.com/cairnational Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/cairtv CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected] SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Related Links http://www.cair.com MELVILLE, N.Y., Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Demonstrating the high quality of its capture-to-print solution, Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, has announced that it will be in attendance for the 18th Annual West Coast Art and Frame Expo and National Conference, held at the Paris Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada from Monday, January 23rd to Wednesday, January 25th. Attendees visiting the Canon booth (#625) will have the opportunity to interact with the Company's input-to-output solution, including the imagePROGRAF PRO-1000 and imagePROGRAF PRO-2000 printers, as well as an array of Canon cameras and lenses, with technical representatives available to provide a hands-on experience. In the booth, Canon representatives will be on-hand to educate photographers on how to get the most out of their camera and printer. Finished framed photography will be exhibited in the booth, demonstrating the quality of Canon's capture-to-print solution. Guests are invited to attend the "Fine Art Success with Canon" class, at no additional charge, on Monday, January 23rd from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, hosted by Canon U.S.A. Attendees will be walked through the process of digitizing artwork and printing captured images to both help improve their own skills and possibly expand their business offerings. The class will review technical aspects integral to the workflow of camera set-up to image capture and then techniques for color correction. In addition to the class, Canon representatives will be on-site in the booth to help provide hands-on assistance to booth visitors on the process of capture-to-print. To learn more about Canon's large format offerings for fine art photography, visit www.cusa.canon.com. About Canon U.S.A., Inc. Canon U.S.A., Inc., is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately $31 billion in global revenue, its parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE:CAJ), ranks third overall in U.S. patents granted in 2016 and is one of Fortune Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based consumer service and support for all of the products it distributes. Canon U.S.A. is dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas Headquarters secured LEED Gold certification, a recognition for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest news from Canon U.S.A., sign up for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA. For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]. Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. Canon U.S.A. Web site: http://www.usa.canon.com For sales information/customer support: 1-800-OK-CANON SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc. Related Links http://www.usa.canon.com WEBSTER, Mass., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Alfredo Castelo has officially succeeded Jaime Tamayo as President and CEO of insurer MAPFRE U.S.A. Corp. and the MAPFRE North America Region. Mr. Tamayo was previously promoted to CEO of the INTERNATIONAL Territorial Area of MAPFRE, where he will oversee three regions (North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific). MAPFRE Insurance is among the top 20 auto insurance companies in the United States, where it serves consumers in 19 states. It is the leading home and auto insurer in Massachusetts. Mr. Castelo, who holds a degree in economics and actuarial sciences, joined MAPFRE as a Deputy Manager in the MAPFRE INDUSTRIAL General Management in 2004. During his career at MAPFRE, he has had considerable international experience and has held a number of executive level positions including Chairman and CEO of MAPFRE Global Risks, CEO of MAPFRE CAUCION Y CREDITO as well as senior management positions at MAPFRE EMPRESAS and MAPFRE INTERNACIONAL. In October 2010 he was appointed Third Vice Chairman of the Global Businesses Management Committee. Mr. Castelo also serves as Vice Chairman of Solunion. "I have been proud to be part of this great company for the past 15 years and look forward to working with so many talented, dedicated employees and partners across the US and throughout North America as we grow the company and meet the needs of our customers through our diverse insurance products," said Castelo. "We are a company that builds trust among employees, customers and partners, and we will continue to do that through social responsibility, sustainability and transparency." ABOUT MAPFRE INSURANCE MAPFRE Insurance, rated "A" (Excellent) by A.M. Best Company, actively writes property and casualty insurance in 19 states across the United States through a network of more than 4,200 independent agents and brokers. MAPFRE Insurance is the 19th largest provider of personal automobile insurance and the 20th largest personal lines insurer in the United States. MAPFRE Insurance is also the largest private passenger automobile insurer, homeowners' insurer and commercial automobile insurer in Massachusetts. MAPFRE Insurance provides a full range of insurance products, including coverage for automobiles, homes, motorcycles, watercraft and businesses, as well as term life insurance. MAPFRE Insurance is part of the MAPFRE Group, a global insurance company present in five continents. It is the benchmark insurer in the Spanish market, the leading multinational insurance group in Latin America and one of the top 10 insurance companies in Europe in terms of premium volume. MAPFRE employs more than 38,000 professionals and services approximately 34 million clients. In 2015, the MAPFRE Group had net earnings of over $780 million with revenues of approximately $30 billion. Contact: Linda Johnson Assistant Vice President MAPFRE Insurance 508.949.4982 [email protected] SOURCE MAPFRE Insurance LAS VEGAS, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Las Vegas ophthalmology practice, Center For Sight, announced today its introduction of the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, the second FDA-approved implantable corneal device for correction of near vision in patients who have not had cataract surgery and the first device to change the shape of the cornea to correct vision. Following up the practice's introduction of the KAMRA Corneal Inlay, in 2015, the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay provides yet another new option for surgical, outpatient treatment of presbyopia, with the goal of enhanced vision at all distances, without glasses or contact lenses. Eva Liang, MD, is Center For Sight medical director and an eye surgeon with the practice. In 2015, she was the first female surgeon in the USA to perform the groundbreaking KAMRA inlay surgery. She will perform her first five Raindrop Near Vision Inlay surgeries, in early March. "Raindrop is the second corneal inlay to be approved by the FDA, which is a validation of this relatively new platform for ophthalmic surgery. As refractive surgeons, it's always exciting to have new options for our patients. Finding the right solution for the individual patient is what we do best at Center for Sight, so having another presbyopic solution will be a huge plus for our patients," said Dr. Liang. In a ten-minute procedure, the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is implanted in the patient's non-dominant eye through a laser-created flap in the cornea. Once in position, it changes the curvature of the cornea so the front of the eye acts much like a multifocal contact lens. Patients typically see improvement in their near and intermediate vision within a week, with resumption of normal activities, such as driving and reading, the day after surgery. The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is indicated for use in patients aged 41 to 65 years who have not had cataract surgery and are unable to focus clearly on near objects or small print and need reading glasses with +1.50 D to +2.50 D of power but do not need glasses or contact lenses for distance vision. Raindrop is intended to be a long-term solution for near vision improvement; however, if for any reason the inlay should need to be taken out, an eye surgeon can easily remove it. Developed by Revision Optics, The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay gained FDA approval in June 2016 for presbyopia surgery performed in the United States. Composed of 80% water, the tiny (2.0 mm diameter) clear inlay is made of medical-grade hydrogel plastic similar to that used for soft contact lenses and has optical characteristics that are almost identical to the human cornea. In a clinical trial, near vision of 20/40 or better was achieved in 336 of 364 patients. Two years after receiving the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, most of the patients were able to see everyday things again, without reading glasses: 88% could read fine print, 92% could read a newspaper or equivalent, and 76% could read an e-mail on a computer screen or equivalent. With four convenient locations in the Las Vegas Valley, Center For Sight is a comprehensive ophthalmology center dedicated to the most compassionate, individualized, and highest standard of eye care. For more information about the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, call 702.724-2020. SOURCE Center For Sight NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cerberus Capital Management announced today that it raised $1.8 billion for its fourth global opportunistic real estate fund, Cerberus Institutional Real Estate Partners IV, L.P. (CIREP IV). As with previous funds, CIREP IV will pursue an investment strategy focused on distressed or otherwise undervalued real estate transactions globally, with a focus in the United States and Western Europe. The fund received commitments from more than 60 investors, including sovereign wealth funds, public pension plans, corporate plans, insurance companies, endowments, foundations and high net worth individuals. Ronald J. Kravit, Senior Managing Director of Cerberus, said, "We are delighted to announce the successful close of CIREP IV. We have an experienced investment team and the firm has been successfully investing in distressed and opportunistic real estate assets for over 20 years. We look forward to deploying CIREP IV and generating attractive returns to our investors." According to Evercore's recent "European Distressed Real Estate Market" report, Cerberus was the most active buyer of commercial and residential mortgage and non-performing loan portfolios and distressed real estate in Europe in 2016, an investor league table milestone that it also achieved in 2014 and 2015. Cerberus accounted for 19 percent of European closed volume in 2016, acquiring 9.4bn of secured real estate loans. Hodes Weill Securities, LLC acted as global placement agent for CIREP IV, and Axius Partners Pty Limited provided representation in Australia. About Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. Established in 1992, Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the world's leading private investment firms. Cerberus has more than US $30 billion under management invested in three complementary strategies: global credit opportunities (which includes non-performing loans, corporate credit & distressed debt, mortgage securities & assets, and direct lending); private equity; and real estate. From its headquarters in New York City and network of affiliate and advisory offices in the U.S., Europe and Asia, Cerberus has the on-the-ground presence to invest in multiple asset classes globally. SOURCE Cerberus Capital Management CHENGDU, China, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Like Christmas in the West, Spring Festival is the most important and spectacular traditional festival to the Chinese. People's homesickness and hope for family reunions are the same worldwide. The Chinese are witnessing their Spring Festival going global. Beginning from 2010, Joyous Spring Festival, an extravaganza sponsored by China's Ministry of Culture and comprising a series of events, takes place on time in cosmopolitan cities from year to year. Intended to celebrate Chinese New Year and share Chinese culture along with the world and inculcate the harmony concept on a global level, the Beijing-hosted cultural exchange initiative has organized 2,100 activities in more than 400 cities in over 140 countries and regions. The Joyous Spring Festival reappeared in Madrid this month, the 7th time it was celebrated in Spain. Nevertheless, this time there was a distinction - the festival introduced a GOH (Guest of Honor) City Week as a new component and Chengdu, a megacity in Western China, came out as the first GOH city. According to a report by JoongAng Ilbo, on Jan. 13, the Spanish Chengdu Week 2017 was launched in Madrid Center of Chinese Culture. A range of traditional cultural heritages typical of Chengdu made an appearance at the opening ceremony, including Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan opera, tea art, shadow puppetry, paper cutting and face changing. After the ceremony Madrid Mayor Mrs. Carmena expressed her longing for a visit to Chengdu, "The performances are so impressive. I want to book a flight to Chengdu right now!" Prominent Chengdu chefs served Madrid citizens the most "authentic" New Year's Eve dinner during the week. Besides, Sichuan cuisine master chefs gave a lecture at a local culinary arts college, demonstrating Sichuan culinary art on the spot. An event that lasted from Jan. 12 to Jan. 19 at a Madrid zoo highlighted painted panda sculptures, panda story walls and panda-themed lectures, making a marvelous success that associated art with the animal native to China. From Jan. 13 to Jan. 19, Chengdu Tourism & Culture Center at Plaza Mayor opened its gate to visitors who had longed to enjoy Sichuan tea, Sichuan spirits, Sichuan cuisine, Sichuan opera, tea art and shadow puppetry in part to know more about this China's Best Tourist Destination and its local tourism products and routes. Over the past few years, Chengdu and Spain have witnessed increasingly closer ties. According to authoritative statistics, foreign trade between Chengdu and Spain in the first half of 2016 alone amounted to USD53.13 million, divided into USD37.87 million export and USD15.26 million import. A couple of months earlier, a delegation headed by Spanish Ambassador Manuel Valencia to China called at Chengdu. The ambassador expressed his rosy outlook on the future of the city, pledging to promote cooperation in trade & commerce, civil aviation and sister city relationships. Chengdu has launched a direct route to Madrid on Dec 16, 2016, the first of its kind to link Southern Europe with Chengdu as well as one of the nine international routes opened at World Routes 2016 in Chengdu last September. Currently, Chengdu operates nearly 100 international routes which join 70 cosmopolitan cities (e.g. Los Angeles, Paris, Frankfurt, Melbourne and Doha) and provide for 42 million passengers on a yearly basis. Construction of a second international airport is already under way, which, upon completion, promises to form an "Aeronautic Triangle" in China together with Beijing and Shanghai, two other cities boasting two airports each, thereby further unfolding China's open-door policy and bringing Western China a lot closer to the world. The megacity in Western China now ranks as one of the few national hubs due to fast economic growth achieved in recent years. As the government steps up efforts to make Chengdu a strategic center of economy, technology, culture & creativity, foreign trade and transportation, the city once known for pandas, good food, historical and cultural heritage sites is drawing ongoing global attention to an ever-improving investment climate. Latest statistical updates show that Chengdu manufactures one half of the world's iPads, one fifth of the PCs and one half of the notebook CPUs. 278 out of the Fortune 500 companies have deployed offices or plants in this city, where nearly one million Volkswagens, Volvos and Toyotas roll off the line every year and FAW-Volkswagen Chengdu produces one third of the group's cars. A Spanish proverb goes, "Count your friends and you'll know about your wealth." Devoted to an increasingly closer partnership, Chengdu and Spain are committed to strengthening their ties and creating more wealth in the coming year. SOURCE Chengdu Municipal Government Why: This tradition takes place on the eve of Chinese New Year (1/28) and is typically followed by several days of return visits to the temple for blessings. (118th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and CNY Festival is Saturday 2/4/17 in Chinatown)** When: Friday, January 27, 2017 10:00 p.m. midnight Where: Thien Hau Temple 750-756 N. Yale Street, Los Angeles, 90012 Visuals: Visuals: Camera crews are welcome to film in and outside the temple. Firecrackers and dance preview 10:45-11:15pm and finale display at midnight. Vibrant red and gold decorations throughout, bold colorful lions, smoke from firecrackers and incense. * For background and more info: [email protected] ** The official Chinese New Year celebration will take place on Saturday, February 4, 2017 with the 118th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and the Chinese New Year Festival. For details - www.chinatownla.com or www.facebook.com/LosAngelesChinatown SOURCE Los Angeles Chinatown Business Improvement District Related Links http://www.chinatownla.com TORONTO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - ChizComm Ltd. (www.chizcomm.com) announces their return to New York Toy Fair 2017 (ToyFairNY) with a promotion to WIN one month of FREE public relations, communications and marketing services. Participants must submit a photo or video of their office frat via Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #PledgeChizComm and tagging @ChizComm for a chance to win. In the spirit of the toy industry, the only requirement is that you showcase your fraternity in a fun and creative waytogas optional. The deadline to enter is March 24th , 2017 at 11:59 p.m. EST. "Our company prides itself on our unique workplace culture and collaborative team environment," said Harold Chizick, President & CEO, ChizComm Ltd. "We work hard and have fun as a team all of us are kids at heart and we hope that the toy industry will join us." For details, visit ChizComm Ltd.'s Youtube channel at ChizCommLTD or click here to see the Chiz House anthem. Good luck and party on! This year at Toy Fair, ChizComm will be representing innovative new products from 11 hot companies. For media interested in booking Toy Fair ChizComm appointments please contact Devyn Hafner, [email protected]. About ChizComm Ltd.: ChizComm is a highly regarded leading marketing communications agency that continuously brings innovative, creative, BIG ideas to companies covering a wide range of fields such as health and wellness, lifestyle and toys. ChizComm's strong work ethic, industry expertise and successful marketing and communications efforts have made them the agency of choice amongst notable international brands. With a solid background in PR, digital marketing, social media, promotions, events, and product launches, ChizComm's boisterous, creative approach allows them to share the fun with partners and clients while developing break-frame marketing communication strategies that drive growth and make some noise. SOURCE ChizComm Ltd. Related Links www.chizcomm.com "2016 was another great year for Choice Hotels thanks to our smart brand strategies and having the right team to execute seamlessly," said Patrick Pacious, president and chief operating officer at Choice Hotels. "As a result, developers have taken note of our RevPAR performance as well as our success of opening new construction hotels in top markets. Our recently enhanced award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty program also experienced its strongest growth, indicating that travelers like the program and intend to return. These are just a few of our wins." In Choice's expanding upscale segment, the Cambria hotels & suites brand continues to enter more major markets with groundbreakings and grand openings in Philadelphia, Pa., two projects in Chicago, Nashville, Tenn. and New York's Times Square. According to David Pepper, chief development officer, Choice Hotels, "Cambria hotels & suites' strong presence in prime urban locations and Choice's unwavering commitment to the brand's success have spurred even greater interest in new projects from the hotel development community." Notable cities added to the Cambria portfolio in 2016 include four locations in California (two in Los Angeles; Anaheim and San Jose), Seattle, Boston, Dallas, Indianapolis and Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The upscale Ascend Hotel Collection brand, the world's first and largest global portfolio of best-in-class distinctive independent hotels and resorts, continued its dynamic growth in 2016, gaining more than 30 new member hotels in the United States alone, including San Francisco, Atlanta, and Virginia Beach, Va. The Ascend Hotel Collection enables independent hoteliers to plug into industry leading technology, robust distribution channels and a rapidly expanding loyalty program. In 2016, Ascend also welcomed hotels in highly desirable destinations across the U.S., including Salt Lake City, New York and Memphis, Tenn., as well as internationally in places such as the Bahamas, Ecuador, Great Britain, France, Turkey, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. "Developers are seeking out projects with Choice Hotels because of our proven record of innovation and deep understanding of the marketplace. For instance, we pioneered the soft brand concept with the Ascend Hotel Collection. Its success has led to both developers and independent hoteliers wanting our expertise in their corner," said Pepper. "More importantly, new construction projects are driving Choice's growth. This is evident with Cambria's robust pipeline in key cities across the country as well as the strong desire among developers to build new Comfort and Sleep Inn properties." The iconic Comfort brand is experiencing sustained all-time high guest satisfaction scores and continues to gain RevPAR Index against its competitors. Ambitious enhancements, such as taking strategic measures to help hotel developers determine the best places to build new prototype Comfort brand properties, opening up optimal markets for these projects by removing hotels that don't fit the Comfort brand's trajectory, elevating Likelihood to Recommend (LTR) thresholds, and establishing Comfort as the largest 100% smoke-free hotel brand across the U.S. and Canada, were all based on extensive research and analysis of consumer insights and business data. Comfort's bold steps and performance continue to draw attention from top hotel developers, resulting in an increase of openings, two-thirds of which are new construction projects. These endeavors will bring the Comfort brand to popular travel destinations, including Miami, Jacksonville, Fla., Dallas-Fort Worth, Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Tenn. and Birmingham, Ala. "The Comfort brand's success is fueled by the all-encompassing transformation strategy Choice Hotels put into motion three years ago," said Pacious. "We are pleased with the payoff, but certainly not surprised. Choice Hotels has industry leading expertise in select service brands, and the midscale tier is our sweet spot. We are also seeing similar success with Sleep Inn and our innovative Sleep Inn-MainStay Suites dual brand concept, which allows hoteliers to efficiently address multiple travel market demands business, leisure, transient and extended stay all under one roof." About half of all new Sleep Inn projects signed in 2016 will be part of the dual-brand prototype with MainStay Suites. The latest evolution of Sleep Inn's successful prototype was unveiled at the most recent Choice Hotels Annual Convention in May and has been well received by developers for its simply stylish aesthetic as well as its cost effectiveness to build and operate. Since rolling out the Designed to Dream prototype and system-wide renovation initiative in 2010, the Sleep Inn brand has delivered a consistency of quality. Among travelers, guests consistently rank the brand at the top of its competitors in guest surveys, indicating that they are likely to return and to recommend the Sleep Inn brand to others. Pacious adds, "Choice Hotels has the right strategy for continued success and growth. Dynamic brand performance helps the company meet strong demand for Choice's offerings from both travelers and developers. As new hotels across the Choice Hotels portfolio open their doors, we look forward to attracting new customers and welcoming back returning ones." Forward-Looking Statements Certain matters discussed in this press release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Generally, our use of words such as "expect," "estimate," "believe," "anticipate," "should," "will," "forecast," "plan," "project," "assume" or similar words of futurity identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current beliefs, assumptions and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to management. Such statements may relate to projections of the company's revenue, earnings and other financial and operational measures, company debt levels, ability to repay outstanding indebtedness, payment of dividends, repurchases of common stock and future operations, among other matters. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Several factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to differ materially from those expressed in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, changes to general, domestic and foreign economic conditions; foreign currency fluctuations; operating risks common in the lodging and franchising industries; changes to the desirability of our brands as viewed by hotel operators and customers; changes to the terms or termination of our contracts with franchisees; our ability to keep pace with improvements in technology utilized for marketing and reservations systems and other operating systems; our ability to grow our franchise system; exposure to risks related to development activities; fluctuations in the supply and demand for hotels rooms; our ability to realize anticipated benefits from acquired businesses; the level of acceptance of alternative growth strategies we may implement; operating risks associated with our international operations; the outcome of litigation; and our ability to manage our indebtedness. These and other risk factors are discussed in detail in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our annual reports on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. About Choice Hotels Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the world's largest lodging companies. With more than 6,400 hotels franchised in more than 40 countries and territories, Choice Hotels represents more than 500,000 rooms around the globe. As of September 30, 2016, 745 hotels were in our development pipeline. Our company's Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria hotels & suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, and Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels brands provide a spectrum of lodging choices to meet guests' needs. With more than 29 million members and counting, our Choice Privileges rewards program enhances every trip a guest takes, with benefits ranging from instant, every day rewards to exceptional experiences, starting right when they join. All hotels and vacation rentals are independently owned and operated. Visit us at www.choicehotels.com for more information. 2017 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved. SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc. Related Links http://www.choicehotels.com Confidence in Past Successes Moore comes to Coates from McDonald's Corporation bringing with her a wealth of knowledge, experience and a fresh perspective which is in tandem to Coates operations and business goals. During her 16-year tenure at McDonald's, Moore developed a strong affinity for digital solutions and was well known for driving organizational change. Leo Coates, CEO of Coates Group, is eager to see the immediate impact her guidance will bring to the team; "Kim's ability to lead individuals and teams puts us in a unique position with our US strategy and focus. Her commitment to strive for collaborative excellence will add a tremendous amount of value. We have no doubt that Kim will be able to provide the support and leadership to help our US operations flourish, and affect significant organizational growth." Since joining McDonald's in 2000 Moore has established her reputation as a multifunctional top performer and influencer. For the past year, Moore has served as Director of Global Point of Sale and Self-Order Kiosk, with the responsibility of managing the development, strategy and delivery of these product solutions globally. Prior to this, Moore held the position of Director of US IT Restaurant Technology, where she led the team responsible for delivering key technology initiatives for over 14,000 McDonald's US restaurants. Moore has continuously been acknowledged for her successes, and was recently recognized as one of the top 15 women to watch at McDonald's. Future Collaboration Moore's proven management expertise will be invaluable at accelerating growth opportunities and driving a culture of innovation for the US team and the Coates global business. Moore stated, "I am thrilled to be part of the Coates Team. Coates represents best-in-class products and a commitment to innovation that will keep our customers ahead of the curve today and tomorrow." Nigel Maughan, Coates previous US General Manager, will be relocating to Seattle for family reasons. Nigel has had significant impact on Coates US operations in the last 12 months and will continue to play an important role in the senior leadership team, focusing on key account management. There is no doubt Nigel and Moore will create a powerful combination for the US business. About Coates Group Founded in 1963, Coates applies technology and solutions to deliver relevant, personalized digital merchandising content for quick service restaurant brands (QSR) and the retail industry. Coates' data-driven CMS software Switchboard, self-order kiosks, digital drive-thru and outdoor displays are used by leading brands across 35 global markets. The privately held company is headquartered in Australia with offices in Japan, India, China and U.S. operations based in Chicago. Media Contact Victoria Cotter Coates Group (312) 366-9906 [email protected] SOURCE Coates Group Related Links http://www.coatesgroup.com BEXLEY, Ohio, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- College Rank, a website dedicated to evaluating and ranking college programs and experiences, has released a list of the Top 25 Best College Alumni Networks. Earning your college degree can influence your life in many ways. Future career path, lifelong friendships, and ultimate earning potential are just a few ways that your college years shape the rest of your life. But how often do potential students factor in the value of a robust alumni network? Becky Bye, a graduate of Colgate University, discussed the impact her alumni network has had on her career. "...throughout my career, there were times when I sought guidance about certain industries and insights about my career or careers of close friends. I had CEOs of Fortune 500 companies schedule phone meetings with me, despite their busy schedules, after receiving one email with questions about their industry," Bye said. "They were more than happy to thoroughly answer any questions I had for them and were eager to help in the future if I needed any follow-up help from them. These people didn't even know me they simply read my email and knew we shared the same alma mater." Our expert, Becca Blond, has worked to research and evaluate the value of a strong alumni presence. How do these associations connect graduating students with potential career connections, organize alumni activities all while they continue to support their beloved universities? These networks are the best in the country at providing their members with as many benefits as possible. These universities thrive on the support from their members and future grads. From the Ivy League to smaller colleges, these 25 schools continue to support their alumni well beyond the first few months after graduation. http://www.collegerank.net/best-college-alumni-networks/ You can view the entire list here (in alphabetical order) Bucknell University - Lewisburg, PA Claremont McKenna College - Claremont, CA Clemson University - Clemson, SC Colgate College - Hamilton, NY Dartmouth College - Hanover, NH Emory University - Atlanta, GA Gettysburg College - Gettysburg, PA Harvard University - Cambridge, MA Lehigh University - Bethlehem, PA New College of Florida - Sarasota, FL Northwestern University - Evanston, IL Ohio State University - Columbus, OH Pennsylvania State University - State College, PA Princeton University - Princeton, NJ Southern Methodist University - Dallas, TX St. Lawrence University - Canton, NY Stanford University - Stanford, CA Texas A&M - College Station, TX Union College - Schenectady, NY University of Florida - Gainesville, FL University of Georgia - Athens, GA University of Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, PA University of Virginia - Charlottesville, VA Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, VA Wellesley College - Wellesley, MA About: College Rank is a website dedicated to evaluating and ranking academic and student experiences. The team is committed to providing well researched and relevant articles for our readers. Contact: Name: Sara Moore Phone: 614.271.3535 Email: http://www.collegerank.net/contact/ SOURCE College Rank Related Links http://www.collegerank.net TAICANG, Suzhou, China, Jan. 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Connect Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd., a clinical-stage company that discovers and develops novel immune modulators for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer, today announces the completion of a $20 million Series A financing. Qiming Venture Partners led the financing round and was joined by Northern Light Venture Capital, Lapam Capital and Cowin Venture Capital. This financing follows on a recently closed Pre-A round of $5 million participated by Cowin Venture Capital, Anlongmed Fund, and XinYue Equity. Proceeds from this financing will be used to support the upcoming Phase 2 clinical study of the company's lead drug candidate CBP-307 in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); and the IND-enabling and Phase 1 studies of a second drug candidate CBP-201 for the treatment of atopic dermatitis and asthma. In conjunction with the financing, Dr. William Hu, Managing Partner of Qiming, and Dr. Xiaoping Ye, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Tigermed, join Connect's Board of Directors. "We are extremely grateful for the high level of interest and the support from such a distinguished group of healthcare investors led by Qiming. The closing of this oversubscribed round speaks to the significant scientific and business milestones the Connect team has delivered to date," said Dr. Wubin Pan, Co-founder, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Connect. "We are very excited to welcome William and Xiaoping to our Board and we look forward to working closely with both of them to guide Connect through the next phase of growth." "This successful fundraising is a strong recognition of the value of our product pipeline and immune modulator discovery platform," added Dr. Zheng Wei, Co-founder and CEO of Connect. "T cell modulation is now proven to be a powerful means of treating inflammation and cancer. This new funding will allow us to accelerate the clinical development of CBP-307 and CBP-201, two potent T cell modulators targeting the most critical pathways that underlie autoimmune and allergic diseases." Dr. William Hu of Qiming commented: "We find Connect an ideal investment opportunity because the company has built a strong immunology drug discovery platform and has shown an exceptional ability to execute its business strategy in a highly resource-efficient manner. The company's portfolio of immune modulators are uniquely positioned to address the large unmet and rapidly growing medical needs in China and globally. We are delighted to join this exciting team to bring these innovative products to patients." About CBP-307 CBP-307 is a novel, orally-active, second-generation S1P1 agonist with best-in-class potential for the treatment of a wide range of autoimmune diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), psoriasis, and multiple sclerosis (MS). The drug molecule works by reducing the movement of T cells from lymph nodes into tissues to cause inflammation. Connect has successfully completed a Phase 1b study of CBP-307 in Australia in healthy volunteers, in which the drug demonstrated potent T cell modulation activity, ideal pharmacokinetics, and excellent tolerability. Planning for Phase 2 studies in patients with IBD and other diseases is currently underway. About CBP-201 CBP-201 is a novel monoclonal antibody for the treatment of atopic dermatitis, asthma and other types of allergic inflammation. The drug binds IL-4R, a protein found on Th2 type T cells that is required for the signaling of both IL-4 and IL-13, two cytokines known to play a central role in a wide variety of allergic inflammatory diseases. Preclinical studies showed that CBP-201 has highly differentiating properties including extremely high potency in blocking human T cell proliferation and inflammatory cytokine production, and excellent pharmacokinetics with a long half-life in preclinical species. A Phase 1 study is anticipated in the next 12 months. About Connect Biopharmaceuticals Founded in 2012, Connect Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd. is a clinical-stage company that discovers and develops novel immune modulators for the treatment of inflammation and cancer. Connect has several drug candidates in its pipeline, including CBP-307, CBP-201, CBP-174 (an in-licensed drug candidate with exclusive global rights) and several early-stage discovery programs. The company is headquartered in Taicang, Suzhou, and has operations in Melbourne and San Diego. For more information, please visit www.connectbiopharm.com About Qiming Venture Partners Founded in 2006, Qiming is a leading China venture capital firm with offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou and Hong Kong. Qiming currently manages five US Dollar funds and four RMB funds with US$2.7 billion assets under management, and strives to be the investor of choice for top entrepreneurs in China. Qiming healthcare team has been one of most active investors in China and many of their healthcare portfolio companies are today's most influential brands in the healthcare sector. For more information, please visit www.qimingvc.com About Northern Light Venture Capital Northern Light Venture Capital (NLVC) is a leading China-focused venture capital firm targeting early stage opportunities of innovation and disruptive technology. With over US$1.7 billion capital under management, Northern Light has backed over 180 ventures in TMT, healthcare and advanced technology since its inception in 2005. Leveraging significant investing and entrepreneurial expertise in both China and the United States, the NLVC team looks to support entrepreneurs with groundbreaking ideas and exceptional vision to develop lasting ventures that positively impact society. For more information, please visit: www.NLVC.com About Lapam Capital Headquartered in Beijing, Lapam Capital is a leading healthcare-focused venture capital firm in China, with over RMB 2 billion capital under management. Lapam Capital targets both early stage and fast growing opportunities, and has built a strong investment portfolio with innovative and disruptive healthcare technology. Lapam Capital has already invested in dozens of Chinese pharmaceutical companies, which together have generated nearly half of all Class I new small molecule drugs marketed by privately-held companies in China. Lapam Capital provides comprehensive value-added services tailored for healthcare portfolio. For more information, please visit: www.lapamcapital.com Media Contact: Rosemary Chang Tel: 0512-53577866 [email protected] SOURCE Connect Biopharmaceuticals, Ltd. Related Links http://www.connectbiopharm.com "These devices are marketed aggressively to parents of healthy babies, promising peace of mind about their child's cardiorespiratory health," said pediatrician and safety expert Christopher P. Bonafide, MD, MSCE, of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). "But there is no evidence that these consumer infant physiological monitors are life-saving or even accurate, and these products may cause unnecessary fear, uncertainty and self-doubt in parents." Bonafide and colleagues wrote an article in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). His co-authors are Elizabeth E. Foglia, MD, MSCE, a neonatologist at CHOP, and David T. Jamison, executive director of Health Devices at ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research organization that evaluates medical devices, procedures and processes. The researchers focused on five models of infant physiological monitors introduced over the past two years, with names such as MonBaby, Baby Vida and Owlet, at costs ranging from $150 to $300. The manufacturers do not directly claim their products treat, diagnose or prevent disease, and the monitors have not been regulated as medical devices by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). However, an advertising video for Owlet mentions sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and suggests that the device may notify parents that something is wrong. ECRI Institute has concerns regarding safety and effectiveness of these products. "There is no publicly available evidence that these baby monitors are accurate in measuring a baby's vital signs," said Jamison. "And since these baby monitors are not regulated by the FDA, we have to question what testing has been done to assure the safety and quality of these designs." Even if these consumer monitors prove to be accurate, said Bonafide, "there is a serious question whether these are appropriate in monitoring healthy infants. A single abnormal reading may cause overdiagnosisan accurate detection that does not benefit a patient." For example, he says, one reading of low oxygen saturation that would resolve on its own may trigger a visit to an emergency department, followed by unnecessary blood tests, X-rays and even hospital admission. As a neonatologist, Foglia cares for sick infants daily in the intensive care unit and says parents often ask if they should use an apnea monitor when their babies first come home. She added, "In the future, some physiological monitors may offer real benefits to vulnerable infants at home, but we have no evidence now that these devices are safe, accurate or effective." Christopher P. Bonafide et al, "The Emerging Market of Smartphone-Integrated Infant Physiological Monitors," Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 24-31, 2017. http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.19137 For more information about ECRI Institute, see http://www.ecri.org 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: Natalie Virgilio Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (267) 426-6246 [email protected] SOURCE The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Related Links http://www.chop.edu NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Content Next (DCN), the only trade association exclusively dedicated to trusted, high-quality digital content brands, today released "Niche Publishers: How to Create Sustainable Business Models in a Digital Marketplace", a research report funded by the Knight Foundation. The research examines how 11 digital publications, including Axios, Gimlet and Recode, each capture a unique space, and the tactics they use to attract, monetize and grow their audiences. "The publishers interviewed aren't chasing scale, but rather focusing on how to develop their own unique brand and content that will deliver a very specific audience," said Jason Kint, CEO, Digital Content Next. "They also have a culture of experimentation that encourages testing different revenue streams, something all publishers large or small must focus on today." DCN's research found that niche publishers need to combine an innovative business strategy with a unique content strategy to secure the financial resources required to deliver on their core mission. Seven key strategies uncovered, include: Content Development: Unique, compelling content that will capture the attention of readers is required. Editorial Brand: A singular voice and point-of-view are necessary to break through the clutter of a crowded digital landscape. Audience Development / Delivery: Publishers must deliver attractive audiences to advertisers and sponsors; niche publishers primarily rely on audience loyalty as it demonstrates audience engagement. Data: Data is required for a solid business strategy however compilation and analysis is often hampered by funding and available staffing. Revenue Streams: Given the challenging media market, it's a necessity for niche publishers to develop multiple revenue streams. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Niche publishers should develop their KPI's early and review them often with all staff to make sure that they maintain focus not only on their editorial and business strategies but on their core mission. Operational Efficiencies: Growing revenue while maximizing resources often means coordinating with other publishers to optimize exposure, flattening hierarchies and streamlining staff functions Interviews were conducted from November 30 to December 13, 2016 with executives from a range of niche publishers from profit to non-profit and from national to local, some with targeted content and others with broad-based content. Participating executives were: Axios, Jim VandeHei , founder , founder Billy Penn , Jim Brady , founder and CEO of Spirited Media , , founder and CEO of Spirited Media Cheddar, Jon Steinberg , founder and CEO , founder and CEO Gimlet Media, Jim Grau , VP finance and operations , VP finance and operations Independent Journal Review, Alex Skatell , founder and CEO , founder and CEO ProPublica, Celeste LeCompte , director of business development , director of business development Recode, Kara Swisher , co-founder and co-executive editor , co-founder and co-executive editor Spanfeller Media Group, Jim Spanfeller , CEO , CEO The Marshall Project, Carroll Bogert , president , president The Texas Tribune, Evan Smith , CEO and co-founder , CEO and co-founder Voice of San Diego , Mary Walter-Brown , COO and publisher "Niche Publishers: How to Create Sustainable Business Models in a Digital Marketplace" was first unveiled on Thursday, January 19 during a panel discussion at DCN Next: Summit, an annual members-only conference. Participating panelists included Jim Brady, founder & CEO, Spirited Media; April Hinkle, chief revenue officer, Texas Tribune; Jim Spanfeller, founder & CEO, Spanfeller Media Group, Inc.; and panel moderator Martin Nisenholtz, special advisor & founder, DCN and professor of Digital Communication, Boston University. To view the full research report, visit: https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2017/01/19/power-focus-building-strong-niche-publishing-business/ With a focus on all types of revenue, DCN has expanded its scope to share additional intelligence and industry findings through its InContext website, public events and research. In 2016, the Knight Foundation awarded DCN a grant to offer memberships to smaller, independent online news organizations and other online content publishers. For the latest, follow DCN on Twitter. ABOUT DIGITAL CONTENT NEXT Digital Content Next (DCN) is the only trade organization dedicated to serving the unique and diverse needs of high-quality digital content companies that manage trusted, direct relationships with consumers and marketers. The organization was founded in June 2001 as the Online Publishers Association (OPA). Comprised of some of the most trusted and well-respected media brands, DCN produces proprietary research for its members and the public, creates public and private forums to explore and advance key issues that impact digital content brands, offers an influential voice that speaks for digital content companies in the press, with advertisers and policy makers, and works to educate the public at large on the importance of quality content brands. Digital Content Next's membership has an unduplicated audience of 223,098 million unique visitors or 100% reach of the U.S. online population. * More information about Digital Content Next is available at https://digitalcontentnext.org/. *Source: comScore Media Metrix Multiplatform Custom Audience Duplication, June 2016, U.S. DCN Member Entities SOURCE Digital Content Next Related Links https://digitalcontentnext.org WAUKESHA, Wis., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dedicated Computing announced today its long-term commitment to maintain its 132,000 sq. ft. global engineering and technology headquarters in Waukesha, Wisconsin for the next decade. The company has experienced impressive growth both nationally and internationally, and feels the current headquarters will continue to support its future growth and expansion. With over 200 associates in the Waukesha location, and with plans to grow that number substantially, the company's management felt it was important to re-confirm its long-term commitment to its headquarters for the benefit of its associates and customers. "This announcement is less about our facilities, and more about our people," said Don Schlidt, President and CEO of Dedicated Computing. "We draw heavily on the Milwaukee/Waukesha area in our ongoing search for talented engineering and technology focused associates that bring a great work ethic and who are interested in joining an exciting and growing company. Our headquarters decision was focused on ensuring we are located in a metro area where we can maintain and build our great team of associates in support of our future growth plans." Dedicated Computing is an original design manufacturer (ODM) of proprietary, highly-engineered computing systems for blue-chip OEM customers in the Healthcare, Life Sciences, Training & Simulation, and Industrial markets. The company recently announced a new relationship with McNally Capital, a Chicago-based firm which specializes in partnering with the management teams of high-quality, successful businesses to help them achieve their long-term growth objectives. About Dedicated Computing Dedicated Computing is a global technology company committed to solving the business problems of our customers through the design, development and deployment of innovative technology solutions. More information can be found at http://www.dedicatedcomputing.com SOURCE Dedicated Computing Related Links http://www.dedicatedcomputing.com WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DevOps, a philosophy emphasizing collaboration and efficiency among software development and operations teams, still lacks a widely agreed upon definition despite being broadly recognized among IT professionals, according to a new survey report by Clutch, a leading B2B ratings and reviews firm. DevOps' Definition Lacks Consistency and Agreement, According to New Data Wikipedia's definition of DevOps has a significant following, but many IT professionals favor other sources, according to new survey from Clutch. Clutch asked respondents to pick the definition that best characterizes DevOps from four unique options published by Wikipedia, Rackspace, Amazon Web Services, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. While Wikipedia's definition secured the largest percentage at 35%, no definition earned a majority. Wikipedia's definition states, "DevOps is a culture, movement or practice that emphasizes the collaboration and communication of both software developers and other [IT] professionals while automating the process of software delivery and infrastructure changes." Experts, however, are split in their opinion of Wikipedia's definition. "I think that the word culture is misused," said David Hickman, Vice President of Global Delivery at Menlo Technologies, an IT services company. "It's more of a methodology trend than a culture, which pertains more to social elements of organizations and how people relate to each other from a professional and business perspective." Conversely, Brian Dearman, Solutions Architect at Mindsight, an IT infrastructure consulting firm, said, "It being a cultural movement is true. Fifteen to twenty years ago, DevOps consisted of two separate things, with operations and development consistently complaining about each other. The culture is being changed, removing the animosity between each side." The report found that familiarity with and usage of DevOps is wide-reaching among those surveyed, with 80% of respondents saying they are at least somewhat familiar with the DevOps philosophy. Nearly 95% say they either already use or plan to use DevOps. Nick Martin, Principal Applications Development Consultant at Cardinal Solutions, an IT solutions provider, said that DevOps is the next evolution of the Agile movement. While the Agile movement emphasizes efficiency on the development side, DevOps seeks to bring the same mindset to the operations team as well. "It's a natural evolution that has occurred for the same reasons that made Agile so popular during the last couple of decades," said Martin. "DevOps lets us quickly put code out and fix issues," said Dearman. "Instead of having updates every few months, we can now do it every other week. When fixes are put out quicker, customers are happier." Based on the report, Clutch offers several recommendations at the end of the report for organizations using or seeking to use DevOps. The suggestions include taking time to define DevOps for your own team's goals, since a universally accepted definition remains elusive. Clutch surveyed 247 IT professionals at organizations ranging in size from sole proprietorships to enterprises. The survey questions were included in a larger survey of opinions regarding Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure. All respondents' organizations use at least one of these platforms, with usage spread nearly evenly among the three providers. For more information, contact Riley Panko at [email protected]. For the complete report, please visit: https://clutch.co/cloud/resources/devops-2017 About Clutch A B2B ratings and reviews firm in the heart of Washington, DC, Clutch connects you with the agencies and software solutions that can help you enhance your business and meet your goals. Our methodology maps agencies and software solutions based on consumer reviews, the type of services offered, and quality of work. Contact Riley Panko [email protected] 202.899.2779 SOURCE Clutch Related Links https://clutch.co RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The board of directors of Dominion (NYSE: D) has elected two new directors, Joseph M. Rigby and Susan N. Story, effective immediately. The elections bring the size of Dominion's board to 13. Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "Dominion welcomes Joe Rigby and Susan Story to its board of directors. The company and its shareholders will certainly benefit from these individuals' nearly seven decades of collective experience, leadership and customer service in the utility sector." Rigby, 60, is the retired chairman, president and chief executive officer of Pepco Holdings, Inc., whose subsidiaries provided natural gas and electric utility service to about 2 million customers. He served in that capacity from 2009 until 2016. He joined the company, in a predecessor form as Atlantic City Electric, in 1979, rising through the ranks with stints as vice president/general manager of Gas Delivery, vice president/general manager of Electric Delivery, and senior vice president, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Rigby has been a director of Dominion Midstream GP, LLC, since 2014. He serves on the boards of South Jersey Industries, Inc., and Energy Insurance Mutual. He is a member of the board of governors of his alma mater, Rutgers University; and immediate past chair of the United Way of the National Capital Area; and has served on the boards of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Edison Electric Institute, the Federal City Council, the Greater Washington Initiative and the Economic Club of Washington. Rigby earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Rutgers and an MBA from Monmouth University. Story, 56, has been president and chief executive officer of American Water which provides service to more than 15 million people in 47 states and Ontario, Canada since 2014. She joined the company in 2013 as chief financial officer, after 31 years at Southern Company. Story began her career at Southern Company as a nuclear power plant engineer. Her subsequent roles included, among others, president and chief executive officer of Southern Company Services, executive vice president of Southern Company Engineering and Construction Services, and president and chief executive officer of Gulf Power Company. Story is the independent lead director of Raymond James Financial. Her community and industry involvement includes her service on the board of directors of the U.S. Water Alliance, the Alliance to Save Energy and the Bipartisan Policy Center. She also serves on the board of advisors of the Electric Power Research Institute and the Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, and on the board of the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Story earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dominion is one of the nation's largest producers and transporters of energy, with a portfolio of approximately 26,000 megawatts of generation, 14,400 miles of natural gas transmission, gathering and storage pipeline, and 6,500 miles of electric transmission lines. Dominion operates one of the nation's largest natural gas storage systems with 1 trillion cubic feet of storage capacity and serves more than 6 million utility and retail energy customers. For more information about Dominion, visit the company's website at www.dom.com. SOURCE Dominion Related Links http://www.dom.com GREENVILLE, S.C., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy is powering South Carolina with more than just electricity. Last year, the utility donated more than $2.8 million to nonprofit organizations throughout the state. Palmetto State grant recipients in 2016 included the Urban League of the Upstate, United Way of Pickens County, Piedmont Agency on Aging, The Felician Center, Anne Springs Close Greenway, Florence-Darlington Technical College, Chapman Cultural Center, along with dozens of others. "Community and service are integrated into everything our company does," said Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe, Duke Energy's South Carolina president. "Through the Duke Energy Foundation, we provide philanthropic support to address the needs of the communities where our customers live and work, and we look forward to continuing that legacy of charitable giving and employee volunteerism in 2017 and beyond." Duke Energy's philanthropy helped fund projects such as STEM-focused after-school programs for at-risk and underserved children, technical college programs that are focused on breaking the cycle of poverty through education, environmental education programs in public schools, multiple library systems to provide summer reading programs and supporting cultural arts and arts-infused educational programs. "The Duke Energy that we know is local," said Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of the Chapman Cultural Center. "Our Duke Energy has been supporting the arts and sciences in Spartanburg for more than 30 years. Duke Energy has sponsored countless education programs and helped us put STEM and STEAM programs in every school in Spartanburg County." The Duke Energy Foundation also proactively responded to the emergent needs of communities that arose in 2016, by giving $100,000 to the One SC Fund, Harvest Hope Food Bank and American Red Cross for relief after Hurricane Matthew, as well as $25,000 to the South Carolina State Firefighters' Association in response to wildfires in the Upstate. The grants are administered through the Duke Energy Foundation, which provides philanthropic support to address the needs vital to the health of its communities, with a focus on "K to Career" educational and workforce development initiatives, the environment and community impact. The foundation annually funds more than $30 million to communities throughout Duke Energy's seven-state service area. Additionally, Duke Energy South Carolina employees volunteered nearly 14,000 hours of community service last year through the "Duke Energy in Action" program. In 2016, Duke Energy employees rolled up their sleeves to help their neighbors throughout South Carolina, including revitalizing playgrounds for at-risk youth, supplying turkeys and helping to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for those in need, and organizing food and school supply drives, just to name a few. For additional information on Duke Energy's community giving programs visit www.duke-energy.com/foundation. About The Duke Energy Foundation The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to address the needs of the communities where its customers live and work. The foundation provides more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts. The foundation's education focus spans kindergarten to career, particularly science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), early childhood literacy and workforce development. It also supports the environment and community impact initiatives, including arts and culture. Duke Energy employees and retirees actively contribute to their communities as volunteers and leaders at a wide variety of nonprofit organizations. Duke Energy is committed to building on its legacy of community service. For more information, visit http://www.duke-energy.com/foundation. Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is an S&P 100 Stock Index company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DUK. More information about the company is available at http://duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center serves as a multimedia resource for journalists and features news releases, helpful links, photos and videos. Hosted by Duke Energy, illumination is an online destination for stories about remarkable people, innovations, and community and environmental topics. It also offers glimpses into the past and insights into the future of energy. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Contact: Ryan Mosier Office: 864.370.5036 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy Related Links http://www.duke-energy.com TORRANCE, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmaus announced today that it has entered into a letter of intent (the "LOI") to establish a collaborative agreement with Generex Biotechnology Corporation ("Generex", OTCPink: GNBT). Emmaus will sell an equity interest initially worth 51% of Emmaus' issued and outstanding shares and Emmaus will have the opportunity to earn back 36% of its capital stock out of the 51% interest sold to Generex upon achieving certain milestones. The Company filed a Form 8-K Current Report in respect of the LOI with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) (www.sec.gov) on Friday, January 20, 2017. That 8-K provides comprehensive and detailed descriptions of the transaction terms. Generex is working toward rebuilding its company with a plan toward up-listing to a major stock exchange. Emmaus is working toward achieving approval and commercialization of its treatment for sickle cell disease. Joseph Moscato, Generex President & Chief Executive Officer, stated: "We welcome the association with Emmaus and are fully supportive of collectively achieving the goals of Generex and Emmaus and their shareholders." "Emmaus and Generex will collaborate to rebuild Generex as well as to grow Emmaus in a synergistic fashion," commented Dr. Yutaka Niihara, MD, MPH, Emmaus' Chief Executive Officer. "We at Emmaus look forward to working with the team at Generex." About Emmaus Life Sciences Emmaus Life Sciences is engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative treatments and therapies for rare diseases. The company's research on sickle cell disease was initiated by Yutaka Niihara, MD, MPH, Chairman and CEO of Emmaus, at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. For more information, please visit www.emmauslifesciences.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the research, development and potential commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in reports filed by Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Emmaus is providing this information as of the date of this press release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For more information, contact: Media: Jim Heins Senior Vice President ICR Healthcare 203-682-8251 [email protected] Investors: Charles Butler Senior Vice President ICR Healthcare 415-430-2079 [email protected] SOURCE Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. Related Links http://www.emmausmedical.com LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epson, the number-one selling projector brand worldwide, today announced the latest BrightLink interactive ultra short-throw presentation displays for education, including the BrightLink 685Wi, 695Wi, 696Ui, and 697Ui. These enhanced displays enable individualized instruction with wireless content sharing and deliver crisp image quality with up to full HD resolution1 and a bright, readable interactive image up to 100-inches 3x as big as a 60-inch flat panel. Combined with Epson's advanced 3LCD light engine for bright, vivid colors, the new BrightLink interactive displays result in impactful presentations and productive collaboration. Epson's new BrightLink projectors for education will be on display at FETC 2017 in Orlando, Fla. from Jan. 24-27 at Epson booth, #135, and TCEA 2017 in Austin, Texas from Feb. 6-10 at Epson booth, #2355. "The BrightLink interactive presentation displays make it easy for teachers to create engaging lessons and present and share information that students can read no matter where they are sitting in the room," said Jason Meyer, education product manager, Epson America. "With the ability to display bright, high-quality images much larger than traditional flat panels, Epson BrightLink interactive presentation displays continue to be the most advanced and affordable display technology for schools today." The new BrightLink interactive presentation displays deliver wireless capabilities for easy content sharing to help students learn and collaborate. The BrightLink series now enable instructors to share content between the big screen and wirelessly connected mobile devices for individualized learning. With the Epson Multi-PC Projection with Moderator function2 and the Epson iProjection App, teachers have the ability to see and choose to display up to four devices simultaneously from a maximum of 50 connected student devices for an engaging, collaborative classroom experience. Students can wirelessly participate in discussions by displaying content from Chromebooks, PCs, and Mac computers, as well as iOS and Android devices. BrightLink supports BYOD learning environments and is the perfect tool for showing a variety of content or for comparing students' work side-by-side3. The new BrightLink series also introduces DuoLink, an extended whiteboard feature enabling teachers and students to get twice the collaboration space by utilizing two BrightLink devices side-by-side4. Whether across campus or in the classroom, students can connect and share any type of content in real-time using the flagship BrightLink 697Ui presentation display. With the Whiteboard Sharing Tool, up to 15 participants can join a whiteboarding session directly from any mobile device with a web browser or from another BrightLink without a PC3. More about BrightLink Ultra Short-Throw Presentation Displays Epson projectors offer 3x higher color brightness than competitive models5. These new BrightLink presentation displays deliver clean images and include advanced connectivity to meet a variety of education needs. Additional features include: Ultra Short-Throw Presentation Displays Provides virtually no shadow interference Provides virtually no shadow interference Ultra Bright, Full HD Image Up to 4400 lumens in full HD Up to 4400 lumens in full HD Enhance Classroom Collaboration Wireless display solution allows teachers to control which student devices to display at the front of the room and encourages student participation 3 Wireless display solution allows teachers to control which student devices to display at the front of the room and encourages student participation Wireless Networking Enterprise-level security for peace-of-mind; wireless HD screen mirroring with Miracast; display Chromebook, iOS, Android, Mac, and PC screens 3 Enterprise-level security for peace-of-mind; wireless HD screen mirroring with Miracast; display Chromebook, iOS, Android, Mac, and PC screens Pen and touch-based interactivity With most of the models, touch and pen-based interactivity allows up to 8 users to draw, share, and collaborate at once using familiar gestures 6 With most of the models, touch and pen-based interactivity allows up to 8 users to draw, share, and collaborate at once using familiar gestures Split Screen 4 Feature Simultaneously project two images (video or still) from different sources side-by-side up to 280-inches Simultaneously project two images (video or still) from different sources side-by-side up to 280-inches Long-Life, Low-Cost Lamps Last up to 10,000 hours in ECO Mode 7 Last up to 10,000 hours in ECO Mode Remote Management Easy network connectivity with software included Easy network connectivity with software included Versatile Connectivity 3x HDMI supports multiple high-definition A/V devices, with MHL support8 , ensuring flexible placement and fast, easy setup As a leader in innovation and partnership, Epson also offers the Brighter Futures program, a unique sales and support initiative available specifically for schools. Designed to help educators select and implement the best products for their classrooms while making the most of their budgets, Brighter Futures offers special pricing, extended Epson limited warranty coverage for a total of three years, dedicated education account managers, and toll-free technical support for all Epson projectors and associated accessories. BrightLink Ultra Short-Throw Presentation Display Specifications Product Color Brightness4 White Brightness4 Resolution Display MSRP Price BrightLink 685Wi 3500 lumens 3500 lumens WXGA 100-inches from 11-inches $2,199 BrightLink 695Wi 3500 lumens 3500 lumens WXGA 100-inches from 11-inches $2,399 BrightLink 696Ui 3800 lumens 3800 lumens WUXGA 100-inches from 11-inches $2,799 BrightLink 697Ui 4400 lumens 4400 lumens WUXGA 100-inches from 11-inches $3,299 About Epson Education Products Designed with educator input, Epson's advanced interactive display and projector technologies make bright, collaborative learning environments a reality. Compatible with a wide range of devices and widely-used interactive software, Epson projectors make it easy for teachers to share content to engage students, no matter where they sit in the classroom. Epson's unmatched technology, service and support ensure educators are confident that high quality, bright images and multimedia are available in the classroom every day. Availability and Support The new BrightLink Interactive presentation displays are now available through national resellers, pro audio/visual dealers, mail order, distribution, Epson.com, and the Brighter Futures program. A new wall mount is also now available ($109) for easy, affordable integration with a variety of interactive and standard whiteboards. Epson BrightLink presentation displays come with a two-year limited warranty (three years for Brighter Futures customers) that includes two elite technical support services Epson PrivateLine phone support with direct access to an expedited support telephone line, and a Road Service replacement program that includes product exchange in one business day with paid shipping. For additional information, visit www.epson.com/education. About Epson Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 73,000 employees in 91 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts. Epson America, Inc., based in Long Beach, Calif., is Epson's regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/EpsonAmerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica). 1 Full HD resolution available with BrightLink 696Ui and 697Ui models. 2 Moderator feature is part of EasyMP Multi-PC Projection software. 3 For wireless functionality, including via the Epson iProjection App, the projector must be configured on a network, either through the Ethernet port on the projector (check model specification for availability) or via a wireless connection. Check your owner's manual to determine if a wireless LAN module must be purchased separately to enable a wires connection. Not all Epson projector are able to be networked. The Epson iProjection App does not support all files and formats. See www.epson.com for details. 4Consult your user manual for input combinations. 5Color brightness (color light output) and white brightness (white light output) will vary depending on usage conditions. Color light output measured in accordance with IDMS 15.4; white light output measured in accordance with ISO 21118. 6BrightLink 685Wi features only pen-based interactivity allowing up to two users to write and draw at once. 7 ECO Mode is up to 10,000 hours. Normal Mode is up to 5,000 hours. Lamp life will vary depending upon mode selected, environmental conditions and usage. Lamp brightness decreases over time. 8 Includes one Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) HDMI port. Note: EPSON and PowerLite are registered trademarks, Epson iProjection is a trademark and EPSON Exceed Your Vision is a registered logomark of Seiko Epson Corporation. Brighter Futures is a registered trademark of Epson America, Inc. Mac and iOS are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Android and Chromebook are trademarks of Google Inc. All other product brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks. SOURCE Epson America, Inc. Related Links http://www.epson.com (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140911/647229 ) Summary of the Fast Food Market Report can be accessed on the website at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/fast-food-market Fast food is a term used for easily prepared, processed food served in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal or to be taken away. It is a quick and low-price meal alternative for home-cooked food. The global fast food market is poised to witness significant growth during the forecast period, owing to increase in number of fast food restaurants and working women, rise in tech-savvy ordering options demand for international cuisines, and change in consumer taste and preference. Change in consumer taste and preference is a key impacting factor in the fast food market. However, factors such as high setup cost of restaurants and rise in health concerns among fast food consumers hamper the market growth. According to Eswara Prasad, Team Lead Chemicals & Materials at Allied Market Research, "Recent development in the fast food ordering technology such as telephonic ordering, online, mobile apps, and others have helped the fast food restaurants to provide better services to the consumers, thereby driving the market growth." Based on the type of fast food, the market is segmented into burgers/sandwiches, pizza/pasta, chicken, seafood, Asian/Latin American food, and others. The Asian/Latin American food segment generated highest revenue 2015, however, the burgers/sandwiches segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.02% to reach during the forecast period. Based on geography, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. The North American region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.66% during forecast period. However, LAMEA is an emerging market for fast food and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 7.61%. KEY BENEFITS FOR STAKEHOLDERS The Asian/Latin American food segment occupied the highest share in 2015 and is estimated to grow at a high CAGR of 3.77%, in terms of value, during the forecast period. North America led the market for fast food, followed by Asia-Pacific , in 2015. led the market for fast food, followed by , in 2015. The burgers/sandwiches segment is estimated to grow at the highest CAGR of 6.02%, in terms of value. U.S. is the leading market for fast food in the North American region, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.73%, in terms of value. The demand for new cuisines has increased worldwide owing to the advent of Internet, television shows, magazines, and newspaper that provide insights about various cultures. For instance, the "taco" being a Canadian dish, is a successful business in the U.S. Similarly, other cuisines such as Thai food and Chinese food are a great success worldwide. The prominent players profiled in this report include McDonald's, Hardee's, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, Firehouse Subs, and Auntie Anne's. Summary of similar reports can be viewed at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/food-&-beverages/food-services-and-hospitality-market-report About Us: Allied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain. We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry. Contact: Rahul Thakur 5933 NE Win Sivers Drive #205, Portland, OR 97220 United States Direct: +1-503-894-6022 Toll Free: +1 (800) 792-5285 (U.S. & Canada) Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975 E-mail: [email protected] Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com SOURCE Allied Market Research NEWTON, Mass., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- First Commons Bank of Newton, Mass., today reported Net Income for the year-ended December 31, 2016, of nearly $2.2 million, more than double the results for the year-ended December 31, 2015, of $1.0 million. The Bank reported Total Assets of $344 million, an increase of approximately $28 million or 9% from the $316 million reported as of December 31, 2015. Total Deposits are now $298 million compared to $273 million as of December 31, 2015, an increase of $25 million or 9%. Net Loans are now $265 million compared to $255 million as of December 31, 2015, an increase of $10 million or 4%. Tony Nuzzo, Chairman, President and CEO of First Commons Bank said, "We are very pleased with our 2016 results. We more than doubled Net Income versus 2015 while growing both loans and deposits. Additionally, our credit quality remains outstanding, without a single loan more than 60 days delinquent." Tangible Book Value on December 31, 2016, was $10.81 per share with approximately $34 million in equity and a Tier 1 Capital to Average Assets Ratio for the quarter of 9.69%. First Commons Bank's financial results are available on the FDIC's Web site at: https://goo.gl/7j5Mpy. About First Commons Bank First Commons Bank, N.A., is a nationally chartered, FDIC-insured full-service community bank dedicated to serving the businesses and individuals of Newton, Wellesley, Waltham, and eastern Massachusetts. The bank opened for business on July 22, 2009. Locations include its headquarters at 718 Beacon Street in Newton Centre, Mass., and 161 Linden Square in Wellesley, Mass. Visit the First Commons Bank website at http://www.firstcommonsbank.com. Follow the bank on Facebook at http://facebook.com/firstcommonsbank and Twitter at http://twitter.com/firstcommonsbnk. First Commons Bank, N.A. Balance Sheet (Unaudited) December 31, December 31, 2016 2015 (Dollars in thousands) Assets Cash and Due from Banks $2,571 $1,473 Interest-bearing demand deposits with other banks 943 64 Money Market Mutual Funds 445 203 Federal funds sold 35,400 41,000 Cash and cash equivalents 39,359 42,740 Interest-bearing time deposits with other banks 9,314 8,085 Investment in held -to-maturity securities 22,934 2,000 Federal Home Loan Bank Stock, at cost 979 956 Federal Reserve Bank Stock, at cost 1,954 1,859 Loans, net 265,379 254,760 Premises and equipment 764 961 Accrued interest receivable 850 891 Deferred income tax asset, net 1,234 1,225 Other assets 1,077 2,375 Total Assets $343,844 $315,852 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Deposits Noninterest-bearing $27,217 $21,539 Interest-bearing 271,309 251,203 Total Deposits 298,526 272,742 Federal Home Loan Bank Advances 10,000 10,000 Other Liabilities 1,563 1,528 Total Liabilities 310,089 284,270 Stockholders' equity Common Stock, par value .01; authorized 10,000,000 shares, 3,122,122 shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2016 and December 31, 2015 31 31 Paid-in capital 33,419 33,422 Accumulated income (deficit) 305 -1,871 Total Stockholders' Equity 33,755 31,582 Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity $343,844 $315,852 First Commons Bank, N.A. Statement of Income (Unaudited) Twelve Months Ended December 2016 2015 (Dollars in thousands) Interest Income Interest and fees on loans $12,964 $11,401 Interest on securities 521 49 Other interest 338 174 Total interest income 13,823 11,624 Interest Expense Interest on deposits and borrowings 3,017 2,540 Total Interest Expense 3,017 2,540 Net interest income 10,806 9,084 Provision for loan losses 151 428 Net interest income after provision for loan losses 10,655 8,656 Noninterest income Service charges on deposit accounts 77 43 Gain on sale of available-for-sale securities 0 0 Gain on sale of loans 288 243 Other income 24 27 Total noninterest income 389 313 Noninterest expense: Salaries and employee benefits 4,057 4,118 Occupancy expense 968 882 Equipment expense 183 207 Professional fees 564 415 Regulatory assessment 315 234 Other expense 1,313 1,346 Total noninterest expense 7,400 7,202 Income before income tax expense 3,644 1,767 Income Tax expense 1,472 742 Net Income $2,172 $1,025 Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Tony Nuzzo ProfNet - http://www.profnetconnect.com/tony_nuzzo SOURCE First Commons Bank Related Links http://www.firstcommonsbank.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmaceutical companies are actively looking for different modalities which could help in generating more revenues by competing with existing products. Traditional therapeutic have modest safety and efficacy levels and newer options are required to overcome their shortcomings. In this quest, they have focused upon cell therapy which holds both pharmacological and commercialization potential. Their utilization for therapeutic treatment of various diseases have been identified and used them successfully in past few decades. Various new cell therapy modalities are being discovered which are at different stages of clinical trials. They are expected to prove their safety and efficacy levels before entering in global market in coming years. Myriad of innovative cell therapies are under development which are expected to the change the way diseases are treated. Some of the therapeutics are widely accepted and they have already entered in clinical trials, while others are expected to face stringent regulations. Cell therapies have been widely promoted by pharmaceutical companies as cure for all diseases. Especially, the concept of stem cell therapy has been promoted as panacea that can effectively tackle majority of ailments. But investigators have found that they are far from real scenario in which most of the underlying principles of stem cell therapy are not understood. During experimentation, investigators have found tumor formation in different parts of body of test subject. Microscopic examination revealed that it is not tumor nor cancerous cell accumulation, such thing has never been reported. In some cases, cancerous condition was found to be developed after administration of stem cells. These events show that server life threatening side effects could be developed without offering pharmacological benefits. Pharmaceutical companies need diligence because cells therapies are relatively new discovery and much work has to be done before their successful commercialization. Utilization of cell therapy in tissue and regenerative medicine is expected to have huge marketing potential. Presently, there are no other options which could help in the growth of deregulated organs. Several therapeutic molecules are present in this segment but they are unable to form new tissue or sometimes organ transplant is required. It may be very complicated as suitable donor is required and process is quite invasive due to which high mortality rates are observed. On the other hand, cell therapy treatments are expected to overcome these issues which will increase their acceptance levels leading to higher sales. It could be applied for several categories that increase their applicability and commercialization prospects. Some categories like skin graft has been introduced across the globe for skin related issues. Presently, only few applications like severe burns are treated with their assistance but in future its applicability for cosmetic purposes are expected to be extended. In this way, their commercialization potential is expected to be improved increased due to increased number of indications. Cell therapies are becoming competent with time and their utilization in large number of indications have made them an indispensible part of pharmaceutical industry. Significant investments in research and development segment along with years of data are helping in introduction of innovative products. However, they are quite new for pharmaceutical industry and their long-term effect is not known. It may offer hindrance but their superior pharmacological efficacy is going to promote their usage across the globe. It is at nascent stages but holds promise for future generations which are expected to observe boost in cell therapy products. Glitches in manufacturing and large scale production are needed to be solved in coming years. Many significant results have been achieved due to which confidence of investors, investigators, physicians and patients have increased in cell therapies. All these development shows that cell therapeutics are expected to generate significant revenues across the globe. " Global Cell Therapy Market Outlook 2020" Report Highlight: Introduction & Classification of Cell Therapy Role of Stem Cells in Cell Therapy Global Cell Therapy Market Analysis Global Cell Therapy Clinical Pipeline by Country, Indication & Phase Marketed Cell Therapy Clinical Insight by Brand Name, Company & Indication Global Cell Therapy Clinical Pipeline: 262 Cell Therapies Drugs Marketed Cell Therapies: 13 Marketed Cell Therapy Clinical Insight by Brand Name, Company & Indication Adipose Stem Cell Therapy (Adipocell) Allogeneic Cultured Keratinocytes & Fibroblasts (Gintuit) Angiogenic Cell Precursor Therapy (VesCell) Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation (ChondroCelect) Autologous Chondrocytes (BioCart) Autologous Cultured Chondrocyte Implant (Carticel) Autologous Cultured Chondrocytes (Chondrotransplant DISC) Matrix Characterised Autologous Cultured Chondrocytes (MACI) Azficel-T (Laviv) Human Skin Replacement for Burns (CellSpray) Leukocyte Cell Therapy (CureXcell) Sipuleucel-T (Provenge) T-Lymphocyte Cell Therapy (Immuncell-LC) Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04397220-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 __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com LONDON, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lung cancer has become one of the most prevalent cause of cancer related morbidity and mortality in past several decades across the world. Lungs are a pair of spongy tissues present in the thoracic cavity responsible for gaseous exchange from the surrounding environment. These tissues could be easily damaged by the toxins present in environment and cells may show cancerous growth upon longer exposure. The lung cancer is a collective term for cancer development in lungs, it could be divided into two broad categories: Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). It has been observed that NSCLC is the most prevalent type of lung cancer commonly associated with the people practicing the bad habit of cigarette smoking. Surgery and radiation treatment has been found to have modest effect on NSCL while chemotherapy is largely ineffective due to refractory nature of the cancerous cells. Tumor removal was one of the widely used treatments when effective therapeutics was not available to the patients. Over time, radiation therapy made its place but large number of side effects limited its widespread usage and it was replaced by radiofrequency ablation method which is used to destroy on spot lung tumor cells with the help of high frequency radio waves. Advent of chemotherapeutics medicines helped the patients undergoing surgery or radiation therapy upto limited extent. Targeted therapies came after chemotherapy and they made place in market due to higher safety and efficacy levels. Targeted therapeutics seems to overtake the NSCLC market due to higher safety and efficacy profiles. Moreover, pharmaceutical companies are promoting them as a replacement for chemotherapeutics which used to dominate in NSCLC therapeutic market. In few cases, combinatorial therapies chemotherapeutics are used with targeted therapeutics but their market share is in decline and this trend is expected to be continued in future. Targeted therapeutics should not be considered as all-in-one treatment as they also have few limitations which are expected to be resolved in near future. The new generation of targeted therapeutics is expected to have refinement at the level of design which will be considered as evolved version of presently available targeted therapeutics. Advances in monoclonal antibody (mAbs) development technology are expected to evolve further in coming years due to which they may become major NSCLC therapeutic in market. Their potency is expected to increase along with minimum side effects and increase in specificity. The marketing potential of mAbs is expected to increase as they have proven track record and widely accepted by oncologists and patients. The developers of mAbs would consider that the simultaneous evolution of targeted and enzyme inhibitor therapies coupled with other therapies are in developing stages which will give them severe competition after some time. Their market share may get eroded by new NSCLC therapeutics which is likely to provide better pharmacological effect at competitive pricing. Large clinical development pipeline for NSCLC therapeutics is expected to grow at tremendous rates in coming years. Pharmaceutical companies are investing significant amount of funds in clinical trials which may help large number of patients. But these therapeutics have prove their worth in clinical trials along with statistically significant data on safety and efficacy will be required. They will also take few years in passing regulatory hurdles and marketing authorization before providing medical care to NSCLC patients. "Global Non Small Cell Lung Cancer Market & Pipeline Insight" Report Highlights: NSCLC Therapy Market Overview Mechanism of NSCLC Therapeutics NSCLC Therapy Market Dynamics: Drivers, Challenges & Future Prospects) NSCLC Drug Pipeline by Phase, Company & Country NSCLC Clinical Pipeline: 268 Drugs Majority of NSCLC Drugs in Phase-II Trials: 99 Marketed NSCLC Drugs: 30 Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4397236/ 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com AMSTERDAM and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hippo, a BloomReach company, today announced its entrance into The Forrester Wave: Web Content Management Systems, Q1 2017. The analyst firm invited a select group of vendors to participate in its 2017 Forrester Wave evaluation for Web Content Management and has named Hippo as a Strong Performer, stating that "Hippo DX's API and cloud-first strategy outshines startup status." Forrester evaluated Hippo and 14 other vendors across 25 core criteria in 3 main categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. Hippo earned the highest score possible in five criteria, including responsive & adaptive design, back-end extensibility, and cloud. Concerning Hippo onDemand, our PaaS cloud solution, Forrester stated that the offering accelerates administration and maintenance and that "the onDemand flavor only broadens digital architect appeal." "Hippo recognized early that the transition to data-driven, omnichannel experiences required an open architecture and design, and we believe our rating as a Strong Performer in the 2017 Forrester Wave is a reflection of our growth, innovation and commitment to providing a platform that continually drives success for our customers," said Jeroen Verberg, GM of the Hippo business unit. "Being recognized for Hippo onDemand, our cloud platform, is a testament to our development team's extraordinary vision, and as we continue to integrate with BloomReach, we look forward to a monumental year for our combined platform." Hippo's position as a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave comes after a year of rapid growth for the company. In 2016, Hippo released its PaaS cloud platform, was recognized for its visionary approach for Web Content Management, and was acquired by BloomReach, a pioneer in data-driven personalization powering digital innovation and revenue acceleration at more than 150 global leaders including Staples, Nordstrom, and Neiman Marcus. On the recent acquisition, Forrester noted in the report, "In the near future, BloomReach's data and machine learning may shape a new course with increasingly bleeding-edge marketing scenarios." "Hippo's distinction as a strong performer in the Forrester Wave for Web CMS underscores exactly why BloomReach acquired its technology and team," said Raj De Datta, co-founder and CEO of BloomReach. "In today's omnichannel world, driving superior digital experiences across web content requires a flexible, open and intelligent platform, and we couldn't be more proud of Hippo's achievement." A complimentary copy of the Forrester Wave: Web CMS, Q1 2017 is available from Hippo. Join our guest speaker Forrester Analyst Mark Grannan for a webinar discussion of the changing DX landscape on February 2nd, 2017: The Future of Digital Experience Platforms. About Hippo (BloomReach) Hippo, a BloomReach company, is a visionary in the content management software space. BloomReach is a leader in big-data commerce technology. Together, we are redefining digital experience by engineering the first open and intelligent DX platform, designed to help businesses deliver personalized content that their visitors value in any context and on any device. With our global network of Certified Partners, we serve a growing number of enterprise customers, such as Neiman Marcus, Bell Aliant, Staples, 1&1 Internet, Williams-Sonoma, Provinzial, Wayfair, REI, the University of Maryland and FC Bayern Munchen. BloomReach is backed by investment firms Bain Capital Ventures, Battery Ventures, NEA, Salesforce Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures. SOURCE BloomReach Related Links http://www.bloomreach.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hiromi Asai, who appeared at 2016 F/W New York Fashion Week, debuted her menswear collection, named Blue, at Pitti Imagine Uomo 91 in Florence, Italy in early January, 2017. Now, the HIROMI ASAI menswear collection debuts at the Show Room in Manhattan, New York, from January 25 to February 18, during the upcoming men's and women's New York Fashion Weeks. The HIROMI ASAI menswear collection includes shirts, coats, ties, jackets, casual jackets, trousers, and bespoke and fits for casual and business settings. (http://www.hiromiasainy.com). Jacket, Nishijin-ori brocade - HIROMI ASAI 2017 Mens Collection Twin dragon bomber jacket - HIROMI ASAI 2017 Mens Collection The key pieces of her collection are marine blue suits, Nishijin-ori brocade jackets, bomber jacket with dragon motif, outerwear with lining of the wind and thunder gods and neckties with selected Japanese print motifs. Ms. Asai said, "I always hope to reverse the declining trend of kimono industry in Japan and bring the collection made by Kimono textiles to its rightful forefront in fashion. Though many female designers have not focused on men's collection, I decided to use kimono textiles for men's collection and try to integrate the textiles with exquisite quality into sophisticated men's fashion." One of HIROMI ASAI's highlights is a marine blue silk suit with the deep color not able to be acquired without a traditional Japanese hand dying technique for Kimono manufacturing. The collection also features several jackets made by Nishijin-ori brocade, with textiles that include gold and/or silver thread. HIROMI ASAI's unique bomber jackets features a traditional Japanese dragon motif. The bold Dragon motif is precisely embroidered by the Nuitori lacing technique. "HIROMI ASAI collection has very unique and attractive design with the most splendid fabrics I have ever seen," one of the visitors at the recent Pitti Uomo said. All of the HIROMI ASAI textiles are woven and dyed using historical Japanese handmade kimono manufacturing techniques all over Japan. During the exhibition period, some of craftsmen will come from Japan and visit the HIROMI ASAI show room in New York for hearing the response from New Yorkers. "I am excited to show HIROMI ASAI men's collection in New York. This is the first challenge to entirely feature kimono textiles for men's collection," said Ms. Asai. "I hope many press and buyers attending to the upcoming New York Fashion Week visit our show room and enjoy the very high quality of our products as well as sophisticated designs." DETAILED INFORMATION Show Room: HIROMI ASAI (Appointment required, contact to [email protected]) Location: Townhouse in Midtown East, New York Duration: January 25- February 17, 2017 http://www.hiromiasainy.com (Web Page) https://www.instagram.com/hiromi.asai/ (Instagram) https://www.facebook.com/modeandclassic/ (Facebook) ABOUT HIROMI ASAI Hiromi Asai is a New York-based fashion designer and kimono stylist. Hiromi creatively designs exclusive styles all made by Japanese high-end Kimono textiles. The Kimono was originally a Japanese garment with many unique features: form, motif, design, fabrics, and accessories. It has a long history more than 1,000 years in Japan, yet in its native country the art of kimono creation is on the verge of crisis. Reduction of the kimono market, aging of craftsmen, and lack of their successors are slowly fading the once vibrant art. Hiromi hopes to reverse the trend and bring her collection all made by Kimono textiles to its rightful forefront in fashion. Hiromi Asai first developed women's fashion made by Kimono textiles, presented Hiromi Asai collection at 2016 F/W New York Fashion Week. Now Hiromi Asai expands her collection to men's wear. Hiromi Asai provides her clients outfits of the highest quality. Media Contact: Chris Constable [email protected] 646-891-0023 SOURCE HIROMI ASAI - Mode & Classic LLC Related Links http://www.hiromiasainy.com CHICAGO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2017, Jelmar, a respected leader in the cleaning products industry most notably known for its CLR product line, is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its most iconic product, Tarn-X Tarnish Remover. To celebrate this milestone, Jelmar will introduce an all-new Tarn-X brand label this February. As one of the first products to ever use the phrase "As Seen on TV" in commercials and packaging, Tarn-X has since become a household staple and the number one selling tarnish remover in the United States. Tarn-X is the original "wipe and rinse" cleaner specifically formulated to eliminate tarnish on sterling silver, silver plate, platinum, copper, gold and diamonds without scrubbing. "My grandfather, Manny Gutterman, created our company with the vision of fulfilling the American dream through the sale of his own branded products," said Alison Gutterman, CEO and President of Jelmar. "From that vision, Tarn-X was born 50 years ago in 1967. Since then, the brand has come a long way in new initiatives, including the launch of the CLR product line, while still maintaining three generations' worth of authentic practices and goals." The packaging was developed after months of research including quantitative testing and focus groups to determine feedback from brand loyalists and newcomers alike. The Tarn-X bottle features a new blue label that signifies the strength and loyalty the brand has sustained over generations, while its modern look better represents the ongoing evolution of the brand. Most importantly, the new label will bring to the forefront the Women-Owned and Made in the USA logos to reflect the company's values and practices. Last year, Jelmar also rebranded its entire CLR brand product line. The rebranded Tarn-X and CLR products are currently on shelves at most retailers across the country. About Jelmar, LLC: JELMAR is a leading manufacturer of a broad range of household cleaning products, including CLR and Tarn-X brands of cleaners. Flagship CLR products include CLR Calcium, Lime & Rust Remover, CLR Bath & Kitchen Cleaner, CLR Mold & Mildew Stain Remover, CLR Stain Magnet and CLR Septic System Treatment. With its unique formulas, the CLR brand gets the cleaning job done in virtually every area of the home. For more information, visit http://www.jelmar.com. You can also follow us on social media at @CLRCleaners on Twitter and www.facebook.com/CLRCleaners on Facebook. Contact: Jaime Botello Ogilvy PR [email protected] (310) 280-2316 SOURCE Jelmar Related Links http://www.jelmar.com LONDON, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This market report provides a comprehensive and easy-to-review analysis of the analytical HPLC market 2016 to 2020, providing key market data and identifying new and emerging opportunities across this field. This analysis is based on primary data disclosed by experienced end-users on their current HPLC practices and their plans over the next three years. Its findings provide a wealth of market information on HPLC and enable suppliers to target new markets and reduce costs. HPLC Market Study - Growth in end-users' HPLC analysis now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - High-growth areas of HPLC now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - End-users' three-year plans for their use of HPLC - HPLC fields and applications now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC instrument suppliers now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC consumables suppliers now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC systems and models now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC modular instruments and models including detectors, pumps and autosamplers - Sample preparation methods including manual, semi-automated and automated - HPLC pumping pressures now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC column internal diameters now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Column packing material sizes now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Column-switching now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - UPLC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - UHPLC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Fast HPLC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Hyphenated HPLC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Chip-based LC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Multidimensional LC used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Other separation techniques used now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - HPLC limits of detection achieved now and anticipated in 3 years (% change) - Innovation and development needs relating to end-users' future use of HPLC - Sample types analysed using HPLC - Disease biomarkers covering diseases, purposes and utilities - Relative HPLC consumables costs relating to their use of HPLC - Costs of sample analysis estimated by end users, using HPLC - Average monthly throughput of samples using HPLC - Countries and global regions Companies Mentioned More than 30 companies are mentioned in this report and these include AB Sciex, Advion, Agilent, Aldrich Supelco, Beckman Coulter, Bio-Rad, Bruker, Cecil, Dionex (Thermo), Dorton, Fortis, GE, Gilson, Hamilton, Hichrom, Hitachi, Imtakt, Jasco, Knauer, Merck Millipore, Metrohm, Novasep, Pall Corp, Perkin-Elmer, Phenomenex, Proxeon (Thermo), Shimadzu Corp, Tosoh, W.R. Grace, and Waters Corp. This Report High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) is one of today's most established and important analytical tools. It is used in research and routine analysis across more than thirty fields, from environmental analysis and food and drink, through to pharmaceutical development, diagnostic research and biomarker discovery. Efforts to extend its analytical detection limits and its capacity to separate and quantify analytes in complex samples has driven new developments and innovation at every level of this technique, from the column technologies and separation modes that are at the heart HPLC separations, to the instrumentation and data-handling systems. Further developments of this technique continue today and these include Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC), Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC), Fast HPLC, Multidimensional LC, Hyphenated HPLC Systems and Chip-Based LC. These advances have been accompanied by the scaling-down and miniaturization of HPLC systems, which have taken analytical speeds, separation efficiencies and detection limits to new levels, opening up new and valuable applications in this field. Laboratory Markets (formerly Biopharm Reports) has carried out a comprehensive market study of HPLC that involved the participation of 259 experienced HPLC chromatographers and profiled current practices, developments, trends and end-user plans over the next three years, as well as growth and opportunities across thirty market sectors, including life science, research and clinical areas. These areas include growth in the use of HPLC, end-user's three year plans across major market areas, instrument suppliers and instrument model numbers, consumables suppliers, costs, HPLC applications, analytical throughput and new innovation and development needs. End-users' current practices and future plans in developing areas were also covered, including Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC), Ultra High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC), Fast HPLC, Multidimensional LC, Hyphenated HPLC Systems and Chip-Based LC. Other areas include column-switching, packing material particle sizes, column internal diameters, pump pressure ranges, flow and separation modes as well HPLC systems from conventional through to micro- and nano-based systems. The findings of this study provide a wealth of market information on the current and developing used of HPLC to laboratory suppliers in this important field. Laboratory Markets' specialised market studies are designed to assist suppliers and developers to profile current and evolving laboratory market opportunities. All of our studies are carried out through specialist groups of experienced end-users and therefore findings are based on 'real world' market data. By providing new insights and a better understanding of end-user practices, needs and future plans, our studies assist suppliers to sell into these markets, and also support innovation and strategic planning. The following study areas were investigated: HPLC Market Study 1. Growth Based on recent trends in the numbers of samples analysed in their laboratories using HPLC, end-users' own estimates of by how much (% increase or % decrease) their laboratory use of HPLC changed over the last three years. Also, based on current trends in the numbers of samples analysed in their laboratories, end-users' own estimates of by how much (% increase or % decrease) they anticipate their laboratory use of HPLC will change over the next three years. 2. HPLC Instrument Suppliers ++ HPLC chromatographers' current main suppliers of HPLC instruments and those companies they anticipate will be supplying HPLC instruments to their laboratories in three years from now, where the companies++ considered were AB Sciex, Advion, Agilent, Aldrich Supelco, Beckman Coulter, Bio-Rad, Bruker, Cecil, Dionex (Thermo), Dorton, Fortis, GE, Gilson, Hamilton, Hichrom, Hitachi, Imtakt, Jasco, Knauer, Merck Millipore, Metrohm, Novasep, Pall Corp, Perkinelmer, Phenomenex, Proxeon (Thermo), Shimadzu Corp, Tosoh, W.R. Grace, Waters Corp, Other and others. HPLC Consumables Suppliers ++ HPLC chromatographers' current main suppliers of HPLC consumables and those companies they anticipate will be supplying HPLC consumables to their laboratories in three years from now, where the companies++ considered were AB Sciex, Advanced Chromatography Technologies, Advion, Agilent, AkzoNobel, Aldrich Supelco, Beckman Coulter, BGB, Bio-Rad, Bonna-Agela Technologies, Bronkhorst, Bruker, Cecil, Chiral Technologies, ChromSword, Diamond Analytics, Dikma Technologies, Dionex (Thermo), Dorton, Fortis, Fortis Technologies, GE, Gilson, GL Sciences, Hamilton, Hichrom, Hitachi, Imtakt, Jasco, Knauer, MACHEREY-NAGEL, Merck Millipore, Metrohm, Novasep, PAL System, Pall Corp, Peak Scientific Instruments, Perkinelmer, Phenomenex, Prolab Instruments, Proxeon (Thermo), Restek, SEDERE, Shimadzu Corp, Shodex, Sigma-Aldrich, Spark Holland, Tosoh, Trajan, VICI, VWR, W.R. Grace, Waters Corp, WHEATON, Wyatt Technology, YMC Europe and any others. ++ This listing of suppliers may include companies that have been acquired by other companies, changed their names, or moved out of this field and transferred their products to a third party. This is because, in our experience, end-users often refer to original supplier's and product names, even when companies have been acquired, changed their company name, or where a product range is made available through an alternative third party 3. HPLC System Models (by Model Number) HPLC chromatographers' current main use of integrated HPLC systems (single suppliers) and those HPLC systems (single suppliers) they anticipate using in their laboratories in three years from now, where the HPLC systems considered were AB Sciex cHiPLC System, AB Sciex MicroLC 200 Plus, AB Sciex NanoLC 400, AB Sciex UltraLC 110 System, AB Sciex UltraLC 110-HTC/HTS, AB Sciex UltraLC 110-XL, Agilent 1220 Infinity, Agilent 1260 Infinity, Agilent 1290 Infinity, Cecil Merit, Cecil Q-ADEPT HPLC SYSTEM Q-2, Cecil Q-ADEPT HPLC SYSTEM Q-4, Cecil Q-ADEPT HPLC SYSTEM Q-4S, Dionex (Thermo) UHPLC+ Focused, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Basic LC, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Nano LC, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Rapid Separation LC, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Standard LC, GE BioProcess MPLC/HPLC system Type I, GE BioProcess MPLC/HPLC system Type II, Hitachi Chromaster, Hitachi Primaide, Jasco LC-4000 series, Knauer AZURA Compact HPLC, Knauer AZURA HPLC Plus, Knauer Smartline system, Proxeon (Thermo) EASY-nLC 1000, Proxeon (Thermo) EASY-nLC II, Shimadzu ion i-Series, Shimadzu Nexera MP, Shimadzu - Nexera X2, Shimadzu Nexera XR, Shimadzu Prominence, Shimadzu Prominence nano, Waters ACQUITY UPLC I-Class, Waters ACQUITY UPLC M-Class, Waters ACQUITY UPLC with 2D LC, Waters Alliance HPLC, Waters Breeze 2 HPLC, Waters PATROL UPLC, Waters ACQUITY UPLC and any others. 4. HPLC Pumps (Model Numbers) HPLC chromatographers' current main use of HPLC pumps where the HPLC pumps systems considered were Dionex (Thermo) Binary Analytical Pump HPG-3x00SD, Dionex (Thermo) Dual-Gradient Analytical Pump DGP-3600SD, Dionex (Thermo) The Binary Rapid Separation Pump HPG-3x00RS, Dionex (Thermo) The Biocompatible Isocratic Micro Pump ISO-3100BM, Dionex (Thermo) The Dual-Gradient Rapid Separation, Dionex (Thermo) The Isocratic Analytical Pump ISO-3100SD, Dionex (Thermo) The Quaternary Analytical Pump LPG-3400SD, Dionex (Thermo) The Quaternary Rapid Separation Pump LPG-3400RS, Dionex (Thermo) The RSLCnano HPG, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Binary Semipreparative Pump HPG-3200P, Hitachi Chromaster 5110, Hitachi Primaide 1110, Knauer AZURA P 2.1S, Knauer AZURA P 6.1L, Knauer BlueShadow Pump 10P, Perkinelmer Flexar, Perkinelmer UHPLC, W.R. Grace 301 Pump, W.R. Grace 426 Pump and any others. 5. HPLC Detectors (Model Numbers) HPLC chromatographers' current main use of HPLC detectors where the HPLC detectors systems considered Agilent 1260 Infinity Diode Array, Agilent 1260 Infinity Evaporative Light Scattering, Agilent 1260 Infinity Fluorescence, Agilent 1260 Infinity Multiple Wavelength, Agilent 1260 Infinity Refractive Index, Agilent 1260 Infinity Variable Wavelength, Agilent 1290 Infinity Diode Array, Agilent 1290 Infinity Evaporative Light Scattering, Agilent 1290 Infinity II Diode Array, Agilent PL-RTLS, Agilent PL-HTLS GPC Light Scattering, Cecil WaveQuest, Cecil CE 4300 Dynamic Absorbance, Dionex (Thermo) Charged Aerosol, Dionex (Thermo) MSQ Plus, Dionex (Thermo) Refractive index detector, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Rapid Separation Diode Array), Dionex (Thermo) Electrochemical, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 FLD-3000 Fluorescence, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Rapid Separation Multiple Wavelength, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 VWD Variable Wavelength, Dorton Quant Nano Quantity Analyte, Hitachi 5410 UV, Hitachi 5420 UV-Vis, Hitachi 5430 Diode Array, Hitachi 5440 Fluorescence, Hitachi 5450 RI, Hitachi Primaide 1410 UV, Hitachi Primaide 1430 Diode Array, Knauer Amperometric, Knauer AZURA CM 2.1S, Knauer AZURA Detector DAD 2.1L, Knauer AZURA Detector DAD 6.1L, Knauer AZURA Detector MWD 2.1L, Knauer AZURA UV Detector UVD 2.1S, Knauer AZURA UV/VIS Detector UVD 2.1L, Knauer BlueShadow UV 10D, Knauer BlueShadow UV/VIS 40D, Knauer BlueShadow UV/VIS 50D, Knauer Conductivity CDD-10 Avp, Knauer Electrochemical DECADE II DCC, Knauer Electrochemical DECADE II SCC, Knauer Fluorescence RF-20 A, Knauer Fluorescence RF-20 Axs, Knauer Light Scattering Sedex 85LT, Knauer Light Scattering Sedex 90LT, Knauer Light Scattering Sedex LC, Knauer Polarimetric CHIRALYSER-MP, Knauer Radioflow LB 513, Knauer Refractive Index RefractoMax 520, Knauer Refractive Index RefractoMax ULTRA, Knauer Smartline RI Detector 2300, Perkinelmer Flexar PDA Plus, Perkinelmer Flexar Refractive Index, Perkinelmer Flexar UV/Vis, Shimadzu CDD-10AVP Conductivity, Shimadzu ELSD-LTII Evaporative Light Scattering, Shimadzu Nexera SR (with Photodiode array), Shimadzu RF-20A/RF-20Axs Fluorescence, Shimadzu RID-20A, Refractive Index, Shimadzu SPD-20A/20AV (UV-VIS Detectors), Shimadzu SPD-M20A Photodiode Array, Shimadzu SPD-M30A Photodiode Array Detector, W.R. Grace Alltech3300 ELSD, Waters , ACQUITY QDa Detector, Waters , ACQUITY UPLC Detectors and any others. 6. HPLC Pumps ( Model Numbers) HPLC chromatographers' current main use of HPLC autosamples/injectors pumps where the HPLC autosamples/injectors systems considered were Agilent 1260 Infinity Bio-inert High-Performance, Agilent 1260 Infinity Dual Loop, Agilent 1260 Infinity High Performance, Agilent 1260 Infinity High Performance Micro, Agilent 1260 Infinity Manual Injector, Agilent 1260 Infinity Multisampler, Agilent 1260 Infinity Preparative, Agilent 1260 Infinity Standard, Agilent 1290 Infinity, Agilent 1290 Infinity Flexible Cube, Agilent PL-GPC 50 Autosampler, Cecil Autoquest, Dionex (Thermo) Analytical Thermostatted, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Nano/Capillary, Dionex (Thermo) Manual Injector, Dionex (Thermo) WPS-3000FC, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Biocompatible Analytical, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Rapid Separation, Dionex (Thermo) UltiMate 3000 Analytical, Dionex (Thermo) WPS-3000 Well Plate Autosampler, Hitachi 5210, Hitachi Primaide 1210, Knauer Autosampler 3950, Knauer Autosampler Optimas, Perkinelmer Flexar HPLC, Shimadzu SIL-20AXR/SIL-20ACXR, Shimadzu SIL-30AC and any others. 7. Sample Preparation Methods HPLC chromatographers' current main sample preparation methods and anticipated in three years from now, where the sample preparation methods considered were manual, semi-automated and automated) where the HPLC sample preparation methods considered were Manual Affinity purification, Manual Centrifugation only, Manual Column-Switching, Manual Derivatization, Manual Dialysis only, Manual Filtration only, Manual Liquid-Liquid extraction, Manual Membrane based, Manual Precipitation only, Manual Preconcentration, Manual Proteolysis, Manual Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), Manual Sample degradation, Manual None (direct injection), Manual Other, Semi-Automated Affinity purification, Semi-Automated Centrifugation only, Semi-Automated Column-Switching, Semi-Automated Derivatization, Semi-Automated Dialysis only, Semi-Automated Filtration only, Semi-Automated Liquid-Liquid extraction, Semi-Automated Membrane based, Semi-Automated Precipitation only, Semi-Automated Preconcentration, Semi-Automated Proteolysis, Semi-Automated Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), Semi-Automated Sample degradation, Semi-Automated None (direct injection), Semi-Automated Other, Automated Affinity purification, Automated Centrifugation only, Automated Column-Switching, Automated Derivatization, Automated Dialysis only, Automated Filtration only, Automated Liquid-Liquid extraction, Automated Membrane based, Automated Precipitation only, Automated Preconcentration, Automated Proteolysis, Automated Solid Phase Extraction (SPE), Automated Sample degradation, Automated None (direct injection), Automated and any others. 8. HPLC Fields The fields in which HPLC chromatographers use HPLC, where the fields considered were Biochemistry, Biology, Biotechnology, Clinical Therapeutics, Clinical Diagnostics, Environmental, Food & Drink, Forensics, Government, Healthcare, Medicine, Natural Products, Pharmaceuticals, Veterinary and others. 9. HPLC Top-Level Applications HPLC chromatographers' top-high level applications of HPLC and anticipated in three years from now, where the top-level applications considered were Bacteriology, Biological cells, Biomarkers, Biopharmaceuticals, Bioprocesses, Chiral separations, Clinical research, Clinical therapeutics, Clinical trials, Cytogenetics, Cytology, Diagnostics research, Diagnostics routine Tests, Diagnostics screening, Drug ADME, Drug clinical trials, Drug discovery, Drug drug metabolism, Drug preclinical studies, Drug targets, Drug toxicology, Environmental analysis, Food analysis, Genomics, Metabolomics, Microorganisms, Molecular biology, Natural products, Proteins, Proteomics, Virology and others. 10. HPLC Systems HPLC chromatographers' use of different HPLC systems now and anticipated in three years from now, where the HPLC systems considered were (Conventional) HPLC, Microcolumn HPLC, Capillary HPLC, Nanoflow HPLC, UPLC and any others. 11. HPLC Separation Modes HPLC chromatographers' use of different HPLC separation modes and anticipated in three years from now, where the separation modes considered were, where the modes considered were Affinity, Chiral, Gel Filtration Chromatography (GFC), Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Hydrophilic Interaction, Ion exchange (IE), Ion exclusion, Ligand exchange, Multi mode, Normal-phase (NP), Reversed-phase (RP) and any others. 12. HPLC Flow Modes HPLC chromatographers' use of different chromatographic flow modes and and anticipated in three years from now, where the HPLC flow modes considered were Isocratic, Binary gradient, Tertiary gradient, Quaternary gradient and any other. 13. HPLC Detectors HPLC chromatographers' use of different detectors now and anticipated in three years from now, where the HPLC detectors considered were Chemiluminescence, Conductivity, Electrochemical, Fluorescence, Infrared spectrophotometric, Light Scattering (Evaporative), Light Scattering (Multi Angle), Mass Spectrometric, Optical Rotation, Photo Diode Array, Radioactivity, Refractive Index, UV-VIS Detector and any others. 14. HPLC Instrument Systems HPLC chromatographers' use of different instrument systems now and anticipated in three years from now, where the instrument systems considered were Fully integrated HPLC systems (from one supplier), Integrated HPLC system (from one supplier) + customisation, Fully modular HPLC systems (multiple suppliers), Fully customised HPLC systems, Modular and Customised and any others. 15. HPLC Pump Pressures HPLC chromatographers' use of different pump pressures now and anticipated in three years from now, where the pump pressures considered were Up to 1000 psi (~70 bar), Up to 2000 psi (~140 bar), Up to 3000 psi (~210 bar), Up to 5000 psi (~350 bar), up to 7000 psi (~490 bar), Up to 10,000 psi (~700 bar), Up to 15,000 psi (~1050 bar), Up to 20,000 psi (~1400 bar), Over 20,000 psi (>1400 bar) and any others. 16. HPLC Pump Pressures HPLC chromatographers' use of different HPLC column internal diameters now and anticipated in three years from now, where the internal diameters considered were Standard bore: 4.6 mm ID, Narrow bore: 2.1 mm ID, Micro LC: 0.5 1 mm ID, Capillary LC: 100 500 microns ID, Nano LC: 10 to 100 microns and any others. 17. HPLC Packing Material Sizes HPLC chromatographers' use of different HPLC packing material particle sizes now and anticipated in three years from now, where the packing material particle sizes considered were > 40 microns, 30 40 microns, 20 30 microns, 10 20 microns, 5 10 microns, 3 5 microns, 2 3 microns, < 2 microns and any others. 18. Column Switching HPLC chromatographers' use of column switch now and anticipated in three years from now, including their purpose for using column switching ( Sample clean-up, Sample preconcentration, For separating groups of components, For chromatographic adjustment and any other) and their use of Heart Cut or Comprehensive switching. 19. UPLC HPLC chromatographers' use of UPLC now and anticipated in three years from now 20. UHPLC HPLC chromatographers' use of UHPLC now and anticipated in three years from now 21. Fast HPLC HPLC chromatographers' use of Fast HPLC now and anticipated in three years from now 22. Hyphenated HPLC HPLC chromatographers' use of Fast hyphenated HPLC now and and anticipated in three years from now and their current use and anticipated use of hyphenated systems over the next three years where the systems considered were LC-ultraviolet array detection (LC-UV-DAD), LC mass spectrometry (LC-MS), LC-multiple stage MS (LC-MS), LC-nuclear magnetic spectrophotometry (LC-NMR), LC spectrophotometry (LC-IR) and any others. 23. Chip-Base LC HPLC chromatographers' use of Chip-base LC now and anticipated in three years from now 24. Multidimensional LC HPLC chromatographers' use of Multi-Dimensional LC now and anticipated in three years from now 25. Other Separation Techniques HPLC chromatographers' use of other separation techniques now and anticipated in three years from now, where the other techniques considered were Capillary Electrophoresis (CE), Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC), Capillary Electrochromatography (CEC), Micellar Electrokinetic Chromatography (MECK) and any other. 26. Limits of Detection HPLC chromatographers' limited of detection using HPLC now and and anticipated in three years from now, where the other limits of detection ranges considered were Milligram/ml (10-3 g/ml), Microgram/ml (10-6 g/ml), nanogram/ml (10-9 g/ml), picogram/ (10-12 g/ml), femtogram/ml (10-15 g/ml), attogram/ml (10-18 g/ml), zeptogram/ml (10-21 g/ml) and yoctogram/ml (10-24 g/ml). 27. Study Samples HPLC chromatographers' samples analysed using HPLC, where the sample types considered were Bacterial, Biological Cells, Biological Tissues, Cerebrospinal fluid, Environmental, Forensic, Industrial, Lymph, Milk, Pharmaceutical, Plasma, Saliva, Security-related, Semen, Serum, Smears, Sputum, Synovial fluids, Urine, Viral, Whole blood and any others. 28. Consumables Relative Costs HPLC chromatographers' relatives costs for HPLC consumables, where the consumables considered were Chemical standards, Chemicals & Reagents, Columns, Fittings, Gases, Glassware & Plastic ware, Servicing, Solvents and Study Samples. 29. Needs of Innovation Requirements HPLC chromatographers' future needs or innovation requirements in HPLC, where the needs or innovation requirements considered were Accuracy, Capacity, Convenience, Cost, Data interpretation, Data systems, Ease of use, Method development, Productivity/Throughput, Reliability, Resolution, Robustness, Sample preparation, Sensitivity, Service support, Size footprint, Software, Speed, Stability, Stationary phases, Throughput, Validation, Versatility and any others. 30. Disease Biomarkers HPLC chromatographers' use of HPLC for the study of disease biomarkers now and anticipated in three years from now. Other areas covered under disease biomarkers included disease areas (Arthritis, Autoimmune Diseases, Bone Metabolism, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Central Nervous System, Dentistry, Dermatology, Endocrine, Gastrointestinal, Genito-urinary System, Haematology, Infections, Inflammation, Metabolic Disorders, Musculoskeletal Disorders, Nutrition, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Pain, Psychiatry, Respiratory, Skin and any other), their purpose for studying disease biomarkers using HPLC (Biomarker Discovery, Clinical Research, Clinical Trials, Diagnostics Screening, Diagnostics Research, Diagnostics Routine tests, Disease research, Drug R&D Clinical trials, Drug R&D Drug targets, Drug R&D Preclinical, Drug R&D ADME, Toxicology, Treatment Decisions, Treatment Monitoring and any other) and finally, the clinical utility of their HPLC disease biomarker studies (Companion diagnostics, Disease prognosis, Disease stage or severity, Disease susceptibility or risk, Disease variability, Drug discovery, Drug therapy dose, Early detection of disease, Guiding treatment, Multiple utilities, Response to therapy, Safety or toxicity factors, Screening and monitoring, Therapy decision-making and any others) 31. Analysis Costs HPLC chromatographers' per sample analysis costs, where the costing points considered were <$1, ><$3, ><$5, $5 to $10, $10 to $20, $20 to $30, $30 to $40, $40 to $50, $50 to $70, $70 to $100, $100 to $150, $150 to $250, $250 to $400, $400 to $600, $600 to $1000 or >$1000. 32. Sample Throughput HPLC chromatographers' monthly HPLC analytical sample throughput, where the sample throughput points considered were <10, 10 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 50 to 70, 70 to 100, 100 to 150, 150 to 250, 250 to 400, 400 to 600, 600 to 1,000, 1,000 to 1,500, 1,500 to 2,000, 2,000 to 2,500, 2,500 to 3,000, 3,000 to 3,500, 3,500 to 4,000, 4,000 to 5,000, 5,000 to 7,000, 7,000 to 10,000 and >10,000. 33. Participants Organisation types, HPLC experience, countries and regions Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/4630500/ 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 Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- InfluxData, the premier real-time monitoring and analytics platform provider, and the company behind the leading open source platform for time-series data, has announced two additions to its executive management team: Tim Hall, as Vice President of Products and Mark Herring, as Chief Marketing Officer. "I am excited to welcome Tim and Mark to InfluxData," said Evan Kaplan, Chief Executive Officer of InfluxData. "Both are proven leaders in their respective fields, both have a deep open source background, both have a wealth of experience building products and marketing them to Developer and Architects, and most importantly both have the energy to propel InfluxData to a leadership role as the platform for building IoT, Monitoring and Real time analytics applications on." Before InfluxData, Hall was Vice President of Product Management at Hortonworks, a leading innovator of open and connected data platforms. Hall brings over 25 years of experience having worked at Oracle, HP, Talking Blocks, and other system integrators. Hall is a graduate of Claremont McKenna College. "The InfluxData team's focus on optimizing for developer happiness has given their users the fastest time to value while delivering tools that are a joy to use," said Hall. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to join this talented team and I am eager to contribute my expertise as we take the company to the next level." Herring is a zealous marketer who believes that the road to marketing success always leads through the developer. Prior to InfluxData Herring was vice president of corporate marketing and developer marketing at Hortonworks where he grew the developer community by over 40x. Herring brings over 20 years of relevant marketing experience from his roles at Software AG, Sun, Oracle, and Forte Software. Herring holds a BS Degree from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. "The proliferation and explosion of time-series data from sensors, IoT, machine logs and metrics create a unique market opportunity," said Mark Herring, Chief Marketing Officer InfluxData. "InfluxData's proven commitment to building great technology through open source and community are the pillars that will allow InfluxData to capitalize on this opportunity and become the leading provider of solutions for this market." About InfluxData InfluxData is the premier real-time monitoring and analytics platform provider. Customers use InfluxData's products to deliver the visibility and insight into metric, log, IoT, and sensor data to provide an always-on single consolidated view of their data. InfluxData provides a comprehensive platform that supports the collection, storage, visualization and alerting of time-series data. InfluxData is an active contributor to the open source Telegraf, InfluxDB, Chronograf and Kapacitor (TICK)projects. InfluxData is a Y Combinator success story, backed by Battery Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Mayfield and Bloomberg Beta. Based in San Francisco, InfluxData serves more than 260 customers, including eBay, Mozilla, Barclay's, and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). For more information visit: influxdata.com or follow InfluxData on Twitter @influxdb. Contact: Chris Churilo, [email protected] SOURCE InfluxData SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- InfluxData, the premier real-time monitoring and analytics platform provider, and the company behind the leading open source platform for time-series data, announces that InfluxEnteprise 1.2 is immediately available. InfluxEnterprise is powered by the open source TICK stack, and includes enhanced functionality around scalability, availability, and security. Customers use InfluxData's products to deliver the visibility and insight into metric, log, IoT, and sensor data to provide an always-on single consolidated view of their data. "We continue to work diligently with the open source community optimizing the database to support faster performance and expanded workloads," said Paul Dix, Founder, and CTO of InfluxData. "Community members and our customers will now be able to achieve even faster results making it possible for them to expand the reach of their real time IoT and monitoring solutions to even more demanding problems. InfluxEnterprise 1.2 now includes incremental backups of the database. This provides greater flexibility for customers who are managing InfluxEnterprise instances and reduces storage costs associated with having to maintain multiple full backups of the entire database. InfluxEnterprise 1.2 is built upon the open source TICK stack and includes all of the latest innovations. Highlights of the 1.2 version of the TICK stack include: InfluxDB has extended its query language to support sub-queries. This allows users to be more efficient in finding insights in their data. InfluxDB has a significantly improved underlying data cache which yields a 50% write performance boost under load, allowing users to rapidly store even more data than before. Kapacitor has enhanced alert condition handling which allows greater flexibility and simplicity in sending notifications. InfluxEnterprise 1.2 is immediately available to all paying customers, and a trial version is available here. For more details of the improvements in the open source TICK stack please refer to Paul Dix's blog. About InfluxData InfluxData is the premier real-time monitoring and analytics platform provider. Customers use InfluxData's products to deliver the visibility and insight into metric, log, IoT, and sensor data to provide an always-on single consolidated view of their data. InfluxData provides a comprehensive platform that supports the collection, storage, visualization and alerting of time-series data. InfluxData is an active contributor to the open source Telegraf, InfluxDB, Chronograf and Kapacitor (TICK)projects. InfluxData is a Y Combinator success story, backed by Battery Ventures, Trinity Ventures, Mayfield and Bloomberg Beta. Based in San Francisco, InfluxData serves more than 260 customers, including eBay, Mozilla, Barclay's, and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). For more information visit: influxdata.com or follow InfluxData on Twitter @influxdb. SOURCE InfluxData Related Links http://www.influxdata.com LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Instrument Business Outlook (IBO) today named Bio-Techne (Minneapolis, MN) the 2016 Company of the Year. IBO is the most authoritative newsletter tracking developments in the analytical and life science instrumentation and consumables market. "Bio-Techne consistently achieved outstanding technical, operational and financial results throughout the year," said Tanya Samazan, Managing Editor of IBO. "In 2016, Bio-Techne capitalized on opportunities in life science research and biopharma drug development to drive top line growth, expand geographically, and solidify both its core consumables product line and its newer instrument and diagnostic pathology businesses." IBO monitors market developments at hundreds of life science and analytical instrument companies on a daily basis. "Beginning in early January, we compared and contrasted the overall performance of the market's leaders and it was soon clear that Bio-Techne was outpacing its peers with sales growing more than 60% over the last three years," explained Samazan. "The company has executed a smart acquisition strategy acquisitions, introduced successful new products, and expanded globally." IBO's annual Company of the Year award is featured in the publication's 2017 Industry Forecast Issue, now available for purchase. The 39-page Forecast Issue highlights trends and projects expected growth in ten major segments of the life science and analytical instrument and consumables market, as well as an analysis of regional and end-market developments. ABOUT IBO and BIOINFORMATICS LLC Instrument Business Outlook (IBO) provides expert insights, commentary and analysis of the news and developments impacting the life science and analytical instrument and consumables market. IBO is a publication of BioInformatics LLC and its SDi division that together forms the premier research and advisory firm serving senior executives at companies making the tools of science. By leveraging our expert network of more than 75,000 scientists, the company has supported more than 500 companies in creating insights that lead to better business decisions. Offerings include assessing the size and attractiveness of scientific markets, optimizing product configurations and pricing, validating corporate acquisitions, measuring customer loyalty, and evaluating brand strength and positioning. www.gene2drug.com For more information contact: Tanya Samazan Managing Editor Instrument Business Outlook A publication of BioInformatics LLC 6242 Westchester Parkway, Suite 100 Los Angeles, CA 90045-4820 United States Phone: 310.641.4982 [email protected] www.gene2drug.com SOURCE BioInformatics LLC Related Links http://www.gene2drug.com HOUSTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kitchen Solvers, America's premier kitchen remodeling franchise is establishing an exclusive Trade Area in Houston. With over 30 years of experience and 45,000 customers served, Kitchen Solvers has perfected the process of franchise development, support, and perpetual success. As one of 20 newly-opened territories in the United States, the Houston, Texas area is primed for the successful operation of Kitchen Solvers franchises. Eric Schmitt, President of Kitchen Solvers states, "We believe that the Houston area is set to support several extremely successful Kitchen Solvers franchise locations. This city and its surrounding areas, meet and / or exceed all of the characteristics that we see from our most successful franchise areas." Houston, Texas, the United States' fourth largest market, is home to over 25 Fortune 500 companies. This is second only to New York City. The area boasts median household incomes 9% higher than the United States' average and projects 10% population growth over the next 5 years. This makes the city itself, along with its surrounding suburbs extremely diverse, affluent, and progressive. Altogether this is a perfect setting for successful franchise operations. Trade Area representation with Kitchen Solvers includes the potential development and oversight of 15-20 franchises within an exclusive Trade Area. Kitchen Solvers franchises provide personalized kitchen remodels through a business with little to no inventory, preferred vendor discounts, and minimal number of employees. Successful franchise owners range from experienced craftsmen and business people to individuals with a dedication to quality work and passion for kitchen design. About Kitchen Solvers Kitchen Solvers is a multi-dimensional kitchen remodeling business, offering total kitchen remodeling solutions for homeowners across the United States. Potential investors can learn more about franchise opportunities with Kitchen Solvers and how to establish exclusive rights to the Houston, Texas territory by calling Kitchen Solvers at 608-791-5518, emailing Eric Schmitt at [email protected], or visiting www.kitchensolversfranchise.com. SOURCE Kitchen Solvers Related Links http://kitchensolversfranchise.com CINCINNATI, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) today announced the retirement of Mid-Atlantic division President Joe Fey, and that Jerry Clontz will succeed him. Mr. Clontz currently serves as senior vice president of operations of Harris Teeter, LLC. Joe Fey to Retire After 44 Years of Service Joe Fey will retire from the company after 44 years of service, effective February 10. "Joe has accomplished much in his distinguished career spanning several supermarket divisions and Kroger's corporate office," said Fred Morganthall, Kroger's executive vice president of retail operations. "Joe is a true leader who exemplifies our values and focuses on doing what is best for our associates, customers and company. The people he has developed throughout his career will continue his legacy for many years. The entire Kroger family thanks Joe for his many contributions and wishes him and his family all the best in retirement." Mr. Fey began his career as a meat clerk with Kroger in 1972 while earning a bachelor's degree in business administration at Indiana University. He was quickly promoted to a variety of leadership positions including store management, deli/bakery merchandising, and meat/seafood merchandising in both the company's Central division and corporate office in Cincinnati. In 1999, Mr. Fey was named vice president of merchandising for the Dillons division, and in 2008 was named vice president of merchandising for the Michigan division. In 2011, he was promoted to president of the QFC division. He was named to his current role in 2014. Mr. Fey and his wife, Joy, are the proud parents of two grown sons and grandparents of three grandsons. Jerry Clontz Named President of Kroger's Mid-Atlantic Division Jerry Clontz will serve as president of the company's Mid-Atlantic division, effective February 1. "Jerry is a proven leader who is passionate about this business and the success of his associates," said Sukanya Madlinger, Kroger's senior vice president of retail divisions. "Jerry has a strong track record of success as a leader at Harris Teeter and we look forward to his contributions in our Mid-Atlantic division." Mr. Clontz joined Harris Teeter in 1971 as a bagger in Marion, NC. He has held various positions of increasing responsibility, including store manager, store director, district manager, and regional director. In 1997, Mr. Clontz was named regional vice president and was instrumental in Harris Teeter's entry in to the highly-competitive Washington, D.C. market, which included Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, southern Maryland and coastal Delaware. He was named to his current role in 2007. Every day, the Kroger Family of Companies makes a difference in the lives of eight and a half million customers and 443,000 associates who shop or serve in 2,796 retail food stores under a variety of local banner names in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Kroger and its subsidiaries operate an expanding ClickList offering a personalized, order online, pick up at the store service in addition to 2,253 pharmacies, 787 convenience stores, 324 fine jewelry stores, 1,439 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food production plants in the United States. Kroger is recognized as one of America's most generous companies for its support of more than 100 Feeding America food bank partners, breast cancer research and awareness, the military and their families, and more than 145,000 community organizations including schools. A leader in supplier diversity, Kroger is a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable. SOURCE The Kroger Co. Related Links http://www.kroger.com FinTechs are invited to compete in Temenos' series of Innovation Jams MIAMI, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Temenos (SIX: TEMN), the software specialist for banking and finance, is holding its second annual Miami Innovation Jam. Research shows that banks are responding to their challenges by investing in innovation. Through endeavors like the Innovation Jams, Temenos' objective is to facilitate collaboration between FinTechs and banks. In 2016, 58 FinTechs from 17 countries showcased the latest breakthroughs in financial technology. This year, Temenos will host five Innovation Jams, including Miami's which also features a presentation from financial disruption guru, Brett King. Who: Banks, FinTech startups, FinTech providers, reporters, analysts and Temenos partners who follow the latest trends in FinTech When: March 16, 2017 | 8:30 a.m. 5 p.m. Where: Private Key Club, 567 NW 27th Street, Miami, FL 33127 Highlights: Hear from Brett King , best-selling author and host of the Breaking Banks podcast , best-selling author and host of the Breaking Banks podcast Experience the latest developments in technology Network with FinTech leaders and innovators How: Register for free at: http://tem.mn/miami-jam Details: FinTechs looking to enter the competition must register by January 27, 2017 (subject to rules of entry). General attendees must register by March 15, 2017. The winners from each regional Innovation Jam will progress to the final Innovation Jam at the Temenos Community Forum in Lisbon, Portugal. The finalist will join Temenos' ecosystem of FinTech partners, MarketPlace, granting them access to up to 2,000 financial institutions, and over 500 million banking customers. Interview Opportunities: Brett King (Breaking Banks), Enrique Ramos O'Reilly (Temenos), Ben Robinson (Temenos), and FinTech participants of the Innovation Jam About Temenos Temenos Group AG (SIX: TEMN), headquartered in Geneva, is a market-leading software provider, partnering with banks and other financial institutions to transform their businesses and stay ahead of a changing marketplace. With 54 offices worldwide, including eight in North America and five in Latin America, Temenos offers advanced technology leveraging global and local expertise. Over 2,000 firms across the globe, including 38 of the top 50 banks, rely on Temenos to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers. For more information, visit www.temenos.com. Media Contact Event Contact Jessica Wolfe Public Relations Coordinator Tel: +1 610 232 2793 Email: [email protected] Maria Pulice Marketing Manager Tel: +1 646 472 8037 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Temenos Related Links http://www.temenos.com BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To further support its client-driven business strategy, the law firm of LeClairRyan has expanded into Florida, opening an office in Boca Raton under the leadership of shareholder Robert A. Wayne. With the new location in Boca Raton, LeClairRyan now has offices in 15 states and the District of Columbia. The firm has approximately 350 attorneys nationwide. "The opening of the office in Florida is consistent with LeClairRyan's strategic focus of comprehensively serving the needs of our clients," said Chief Executive Officer C. Erik Gustafson. "Florida is particularly significant to our clients' operations, and the opening of our office in Boca Raton will better serve our support of our clients and their legal needs. Bob has long handled our clients' commercial real estate matters in Florida, and we look forward to expanding those services and other services with Bob's leadership of the office." Wayne's practice primarily focuses on real estate transactions, including structuring complex real estate purchases and sales, financings and leases, and development, zoning and construction matters. He also has extensive experience in commercial litigation and arbitration matters relating to corporate, real estate, partnership, joint venture, construction and other business disputes. "I am looking forward to assisting new and current clients with their legal needs in Florida," said Wayne. "I am also looking forward to working with the firm's leadership to grow and develop the Boca Raton office." LeClairRyan's Boca Raton office is located at 433 Plaza Real, Suite 275. About LeClairRyan As a trusted advisor, LeClairRyan provides business counsel and client representation in corporate law and litigation. In this role, the firm applies its knowledge, insight and skill to help clients achieve their business objectives while managing and minimizing their legal risks, difficulties and expenses. With offices in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., the firm has approximately 350 attorneys representing a wide variety of clients throughout the nation. For more information about LeClairRyan, visit www.leclairryan.com SOURCE LeClairRyan Related Links http://www.leclairryan.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- LendKey, the leading lending-as-a-service provider for banks and credit unions, has been selected as a finalist in the first-ever LendIt Industry Awards, which celebrates outstanding achievement in lending and fintech. LendIt, the world's largest show in lending and fintech, chose LendKey as a finalist in two prestigious categories: Innovator of the Year and Top Service Provider. The Innovator of the Year award is given to a company that has demonstrated a strong culture of innovation, producing groundbreaking changes in the lending and fintech industry. Additionally, the Top Service Provider award is presented to the service provider that has demonstrated deep expertise, unique value, strong ROI, commitment to clients and the fostering of a deeper understanding of online lending. "We purpose-built LendKey to help banks and credit unions operate their online loan businesses. We led the idea of lending-as-a-service in 2009 and continue to innovate how traditional brick-and-mortar lenders can become leading online lenders. We're honored to be recognized by LendIt as both an Innovator of the Year and Top Service Provider finalist in their new awards program," said Vince Passione, founder and chief executive officer, LendKey. LendKey will compete for top honors within its award categories at the LendIt Industry Awards ceremony hosted at LendIt USA on March 7, 2017 in New York City. About LendKey LendKey is changing the way financial institutions do business through the market's most advanced lending platform and network. Lenders and asset managers are partnering with LendKey to bring borrowers a powerful, white-labeled lending platform that has redefined Lending-as-a-Serviceand gives financial institutions of all sizes the ability to attract new business, grow relationships, manage liquidity, and mitigate risk. LendKey was founded in 2009, in a difficult market for financial institutions that still needed to compete and grow without adding capital or operational costs. Based in New York and Cincinnati, LendKey is at the center of the lending ecosystemproviding institutional investors, banks, credit unions, affiliates, and borrowers with access, efficiency, and speed. For more information on LendKey, visit www.LendKey.com. About LendIt LendIt is the world's largest event series dedicated to connecting the fintech and lending community. Our conferences bring together the leading lending platforms, investors, and service providers in our industry for unparalleled educational, networking, and business development opportunities. LendIt USA 2017 will be held in New York from March 6 - 7. Learn more at http://www.lendit.com/. Media Contact Melissa Barto for LendKey [email protected] SOURCE LendKey Related Links http://www.LendKey.com SIGNAL HILL, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Licensed Customs Broker Giselle Rodriguez has recently joined the BGI Worldwide Logistics team. With the addition of Mrs. Rodriguez as an in-house customs broker, the company enhances their distinguished and unique personalized transportation capabilities. As Manager, U.S. CHB Services & Compliance, Mrs. Rodriguez has worked in the industry for over 10 years with companies of all sizes and across many industries. She has applied her vast expertise to facilitate many successful, seamless and efficient import supply chain transactions. The complex import customs clearance process into the United States is made less frustrating and often less expensive by using professional customs brokerage services. Gabriel Shweiri, BGI co-founder and CEO stated, "We are committed to providing the best import/export experiences for our international clients. We believe that adding a licensed customs broker to our services portfolio delivers an exceptional import logistics capability for our new and existing clients." General import/export information and specific descriptions of services offered by BGI Worldwide Logistics can be found here: BGIWorldwide - Customs Brokerage Services, and BGIWorldwide - International Freight. To get answers to questions about importing or exporting goods, including Import Bonds, HTS Classifications, Country of Origin Rules, Importer Security Filing (ISF), and Post-Entry Services visit BGI's website. BGI also offers a free online quote that can be accessed here. For more immediate assistance or questions, BGI Worldwide Logistics can be reached at 800-987-4244. Established in 1999, BGI Worldwide Logistics, Inc. is the on-demand transportation specialist providing domestic and international third-party logistics services to commercial customers. BGI specializes in delivering unique answers to complex shipping problems. Our customers rely on us as their expert resource in an increasingly complex domestic and international transportation environment. BGI is a certified, licensed and bonded expert in transportation and logistics as follows: Licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) as a Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC), Ocean Transportation Intermediary (OTI), Ocean Freight Forwarder, Licensed by the Department of Transportation (DOT), Licensed Property Broker. BGI is a Certified Member of International Air Transportation Association (IATA), and Cargo Network Services (CNS). For More information on BGI Worldwide Logistics: http://www.bgiworldwide.com/ or email to [email protected] [email protected] SOURCE BGI Worldwide Logistics, Inc. Related Links http://www.bgiworldwide.com SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital marketing company Localbiz360 will release the latest additions to its platform next week at the biggest franchise event of the year, the International Franchise Association Convention. During 2016, company executives made it a top priority to add new features based on customer feedback. As result, Localbiz360 will arrive to Las Vegas with a robust value proposition for franchisors and franchisees to manage their brand's digital presence, reputation and marketing in a single platform. "Given that reviews, social media and search engine optimization (SEO) were some areas in which digital marketers in franchising needed a hand, we focused on enhancing these areas to make their work easier," said Localbiz360 CEO Stuart Sherman. A lot of enhancements happened in Social, with Pinterest and Instagram joining Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn in the Social Dashboard. Users can now monitor all five at once. "Like our users, we're most excited about the ability to schedule up to 300 posts in Social at once, by simply uploading a worksheet," said Sherman. "Plus, our users can now upload videos to Facebook and Twitter, to be either published immediately or scheduled." Also new, franchisors can schedule social media posts for one or multiple locations, and quickly view how many locations have linked their social media accounts to the dashboard. Franchisors can also see data such as new Facebook and Twitter fans. At a Brand Level, franchisors can see how locations have responded to reviews and a summary of reviews responded. Franchisees, on the other hand, can identify positive reviews and push them to their social sites. SEO, the process through which websites are more visible on search engines, also got a boost in Localbiz360. Now users can select up to six keywords per location to monitor their performanceand their competitor's too! To learn more about Localbiz360 or to schedule a demo, contact Sally Facinelli, VP of Franchise Division, at [email protected]. Or meet the team at booth #401 during the IFA convention taking place this year at the Mandalay Bay, in Las Vegas, from Jan. 29th-Feb. 1st. Follow the conversation via social media using #IFA2017. About Localbiz360.com Localbiz360 is an all-in-one Software-as-a-Service platform designed for franchisors, franchisees, agencies and local businesses. Visit www.localbiz360.com and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Media Contact: Sally Facinelli (949) 310-3610 [email protected] SOURCE Localbiz360 Related Links http://www.localbiz360.com DALLAS, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dallas' property developer and visionary strategist Marcus Hiles is an exemplary role model for generously helping the communities to prosper. Dovetailing his life's work into a network of ways to give to others, Hiles made it his purpose to offer a better future for all. From the founding of Hiles' Western Rim Property Services in 1990, to over 15,000 properties and several branches that have grown from his original organization today, the driving force behind it all points to a commitment to change lives for the better. Marcus Hiles began by developing properties with amenities that elevated lifestyles while remaining affordable. His successes have resulted in growth and development enriching both the lifestyles of his properties' residents and rewarding Hiles for his excellent insight. Intent on giving back to the communities that have built his prosperity, Hiles has provided more than $2.5 million to fund K-12 and college scholarships, and donated thousands of school backpacks filled with supplies. He has also gifted meat to local food banks, as well as provided funds to build three churches, uplifting the spirit of the communities he has so strategically chosen. Through intelligent architectural design and carefully curated installations across the board in his projects, Marcus Hiles has given back to residents as well as the environment, rewarding both individual and global perspectives. Changing lives for the better for all who come in contact with his communities, Marcus Hiles also gives back to his industry, acting as a resource and mentor to others by sharing his extensive expertise gained as Chairman and CEO of his operations in planning, construction, development, and philanthropy. His examples at Western Rim Property, Newport Classic Homes, Estates 3Eighty, Stone Hill, and locations across the state of Texas from Dallas Fort Worth and Austin, to New Braunfels, Houston, and San Antonio, encourage others to embrace a similar mindset, raising the standard of expectation with regard to apartment community living, while maintaining affordability, environmental awareness, and a high quality of life. Marcus Hiles - Chairman & CEO of Western Rim Property Services: http://www.MarcusHiles-News.com Western Rim Property Services- Marcus Hiles - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Western-Rim-Property-Services-Marcus-Hiles-1013270532051763/ Marcus Hiles (@marcus_hiles) - Twitter: https://twitter.com/marcus_hiles Marcus Hiles - New Luxury Apartments in Frisco, TX - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmsJNbfOh-g SOURCE Marcus Hiles Related Links http://www.marcushiles-news.com Arvielo, along with other executives, will cover a range of relevant issues impacting independent mortgage bankers including market conditions, loan products, technology changes, and regulatory matters. "I always count it a tremendous privilege when MBA invites me to share my viewpoint as a leader within the mortgage industry," said Arvielo. "I look forward to contributing insight that spurs participants to keep a progressive mindset as our industry continues advancing." Arvielo manages operations and sales for New American Funding, while maintaining an active advocacy role within mortgage banking by serving on the Diversity and Inclusion Committee and the Consumer Affairs Advisory Council for MBA. She also resides on Freddie Mac's Community Lender Advisory Board. Sherrie Koehler, FHA Credit Policy Manager at New American Funding, will also address conference attendees during a panel on, "New Products for Today's Homebuyer," which will focus on loan programs that accommodate a changing demographic of borrowers in low-and-moderate-income communities. Koehler has more than 30 years of mortgage experience and joined New American Funding in 2011. During the conference, MBA will host its first Mortgage Bankers Association Political Action Committee (MORPAC) meeting of 2017. New American Funding's Co-Founder and CEO Rick Arvielo will preside over the meeting as MORPAC's new chairman. Rick Arvielo orchestrates overall growth for New American Funding and has been an influential leader in the mortgage arena. MBA has appointed him to spearhead advocacy efforts within the nation's political system on behalf of the industry. The IMB Conference is January 23-26, in Palm Springs, California. About New American Funding New American Funding is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Direct Seller/Servicer, FHA Direct Endorsement and VA Automatic mortgage lender. The company is licensed in 48 states, has 130+ branch locations, and offers a variety of home loan options, including: Conventional, FHA, Cash Out, Fixed Rate and Adjustable Rate Mortgages, VA, HARP 2.0, Jumbo, and Reverse Mortgages. RELATED LINKS http://teamnewamerican.com/ http://www.newamericanfunding.com https://www.facebook.com/newamericanfunding https://twitter.com/newamericanteam SOURCE New American Funding Related Links http://www.newamericanfunding.com ATLANTA, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MDL autoMation (MDL) and KEYPer Systems announced today, in time for NADA 2017, the availability of their brand new integrated solution combining KEYPer's best in class key management systems with MDL's innovative Bluetooth vehicle location system, Bloodhound. KEYper Systems This new joint development offering is the industry's first integrated solution using Bluetooth beacon technology to display a fully integrated location map on a user's smart phone the moment they select the keys from the key machine, which finally answers the question: "Now that I have the key, where is the car?" "MDL wanted to work with a DMS-independent partner with a stellar reputation in automotive. KEYPer and MDL partnered together to bring to market what has not been available previously mobile, low cost vehicle location seamlessly tied to vehicle key pull events. In today's world, prospects have done their homework on the dealer's web site and arrive at the store knowing what car they want to see. The inability to locate that vehicle quickly is a fast way to make that initial interaction between seller and buyer go south," said George Cresto, MDL Founder and CEO. The integrated system is designed to provide an increased level of inventory control and help any sales advisor reduce vehicle location time by 80% or more. "We are excited to work with MDL and offer this integrated feature clients have been asking for in such an affordable manner. Clients are instantly able to visually pinpoint the location of the car on the lot via a mobile device and we can tell you who took the key, why, and where the car is located," said Ric Stone, President and CEO of KEYper Systems. The new joint offering is available now and can be seen at NADA 2017 in New Orleans at MDL's booth, #3469, and KeyPer's booth, #3337. About MDL autoMation (MDL) MDL is the leader in providing process improvement through Instant Guest Recognition & Messaging using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies and License Plate Recognition (LPR) technologies. MDL systems are installed in leading U.S. dealerships enabling a "Ritz Carlton" level of service, increased customer retention, improved CSI, and sales opportunities. MDL's Bluetooth beacon solution, Bloodhound and RFID Zonal Tracking enable complete asset tracking of both service and inventory vehicles. MDL's web-based Dispatch Master effectively manages the movement operation of guest or inventory vehicles. See www.mdlautomation for more information. About KEYPer Systems Since 1992, KEYper Systems has been a global provider of innovative key and asset control solutions. Based in Harrisburg, NC, KEYper Systems offers a range of security methods from mechanical boards to state-of-the-art electronic cabinets. KEYper Systems provides security solutions to the top 25 automotive groups in the United States, as well as to top-tier property management companies, military bases, law enforcement, and hospitality organizations. See www.keypersystems.com for more information. Media Contact: Tina Copeland 888-635-7343 SOURCE MDL autoMation Related Links http://www.mdlautomation TROY, Mich., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Meritor, Inc. (NYSE:MTOR) today announced the extension of its successful "Shoes for Soldiers" for a third year and will donate up to $60,000 from the sale of remanufactured brake shoes and corporate matching to a foundation that helps position severely wounded, injured or ill veterans for success. Meritor will donate $50,000 from remanufactured brake shoe sales in addition to a $10,000 match from the Meritor Trust Fund to the Wyakin Foundation, which helps the veterans transition to leadership roles in business, government and their communities. Veterans participating in the Boise, Idaho-based foundation's comprehensive program are pursuing degrees in many areas, including engineering, business, criminal justice, education and computer science. "Wounded veterans have served our country selflessly and bring unique backgrounds and skills to companies, organizations and communities," said Brett Penzkofer, vice president, Aftermarket, North America for Meritor. "Our support of Wyakin helps veterans transition successfully to civilian lives." More than 51,000 members of the armed forces have been seriously wounded or injured in combat since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, according to the Wyakin Foundation. Sixty percent of post-9/11 disabled veterans are unemployed or have dropped out of college. The foundation's program includes educational and financial support, monthly professional development seminars, community service projects and networking opportunities for job placement. Thirty-two veterans are currently enrolled in the program, and Wyakin projects an additional 15 inductees in 2017. Fifteen veterans have graduated since the program began in 2011, with 11 expected to graduate this year. All alumni were placed in jobs within three months of graduation, according to Wyakin. The annual program cost is $6,000 per participant. "Wyakin is growing rapidly, and Meritor's generous support is allowing us to expand the breadth and depth of our program through enhanced educational resources, expanded professional development and networking opportunities," said Brent Taylor, executive director, Wyakin Foundation. "Our partnership with a respected company like Meritor also benefits Wyakin by signaling the legitimacy of the foundation and the work we do for our veterans." About Meritor Meritor, Inc. is a leading global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets. With more than a 100-year legacy of providing innovative products that offer superior performance, efficiency and reliability, the company serves commercial truck, trailer, off-highway, defense, specialty and aftermarket customers around the world. Meritor is based in Troy, Mich., United States, and is made up of approximately 8,000 diverse employees who apply their knowledge and skills in manufacturing facilities, engineering centers, joint ventures, distribution centers and global offices in 18 countries. Meritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MTOR. For important information, visit the company's website at www.meritor.com. SOURCE Meritor, Inc. Related Links http://www.meritor.com "We had the opportunity to meet Kathy and her team and within a very short time in our conversation, we both knew there was a real chemistry developing. There was a mutual passion to share ideas and develop something truly special for the home furnishings industry," says Mr. Amini. "I have been thinking about entering a whole new style category that addresses a broader and younger market. Kathy Ireland and the brand she and her company have built, enjoy an extraordinary relationship with this customer. Kathy and her creative team's unique ability to truly understand their loyal customers' needs, and translate those needs to luxurious, on-trend and yet affordable designs, is nothing short of remarkable. It is the reason Kathy and the kathy ireland brand are leaders in many industries, including the Home category. We have already started the design process on a fabulous and highly affordable major product introduction for the typical mid-America lifestyle, based on Kathy's and her creative team's vision and concepts. We feel that these new eclectic and casual designs at great price points will reflect Kathy's very successful brand and wide consumer appeal. We are truly excited to make an entrance into a new style category in partnership with one of the most powerful lifestyle design firms globally." "Everyone at kathy ireland Worldwide is amazed by the talent, beauty and quality of Michael Amini products, and the man responsible for the world's most wonderful furniture," says Kathy Ireland. "We're delighted to design something very special for retailers to offer and satisfy today's customers' more relaxed lifestyle. With Michael at the helm of this collaboration, we believe, 'Something wonderful is about to happen," adds Ireland, who recently graced the cover of Forbes Magazine for the second time in four years, as one of America's most successful self-made women. This month, Forbes Magazine also listed her as one of the country's 20 most successful celebrities. This latest issue also features Casa Elizabeth, (former estate of Elizabeth Taylor) a kiWW Weddings & Resorts property designed and curated by Kathy Ireland, as one of the top vacation destinations for the world's rich and famous. "Michael Amini may well be the most exquisite design house in the world of furniture. When our brand began, we disrupted this industry in powerful, positive ways. We led the path in licensing in the home industry. It is our intention and strategy with Michael to disrupt and lead again. We must teach, inspire, empower, and make the world better by explaining to retailers and our customers that approval is not design," notes Kathy. "I've asked Michael to bring authenticity, truth, passion, and beauty to our concepts. He and I are working diligently with kiWW's Global Creative Director, Jon Carrasco, to realize this difference between our partnership and celebrity licenses. Our infrastructure of over 160 people in offices and design studios all over America and the world makes our collaboration delightfully unique and singular. Our departments of media, brand management, retail, marketing, and design infuse the reality that Something Wonderful is About To Happen." "Nebraska Furniture Mart is proud to be the first retail partner for the entrance of kathy ireland Worldwide into the furniture industry many years ago. We remain committed to Kathy and her brand and welcome the collaboration of Michael Amini kathy ireland Home Designs. This is a partnership that we support and in which we believe. As always is the case, be assured you will find these beautiful new products on our floors. Kathy does not lend her name or endorse. Kathy is the real deal, and so is Michael. Two great leaders poised to reinvent branding in our industry. The only thing more important than our great professional relationship is our special friendship," said Irv Blumkin, Chairman and CEO of Nebraska Furniture Mart. "This is our direction to go beyond licensing, and work with the finest innovators in industry," says Stephen Roseberry, kiWW's President and Chief Marketing Officer. "Our businesses are extraordinarily diverse and the success of our scaling is the result of the combined efforts of our great partnerships, customer embrace and of course, Kathy." "Kathy Ireland is a strong brand in the furniture industry. Michael Amini is a powerful force in the furniture industry. In my opinion, the two teaming up together will raise each of their talents to new heights," says Irwin Novack, Kane's Furniture CEO. "Their collaboration will bring about a unique, innovative, invigorating product line," he adds. The Michael Amini & kathy ireland Home Designs line is scheduled to launch in 2017. "We're very pleased that kathy ireland Worldwide has joined our co-branded portfolio. This will expand our collections for retailers, while maintaining excellence that is a hallmark of Michael Amini. Because of the large amount of skus and various collections within this offering, we will announce a launch date in the near future. As always, a major introduction from Michael Amini will require a spectacular presentation encompassing all facets of home furnishings teamed with an exciting debut event," says AICO president Martin Ploy. In 2010, Michael Amini partnered with Jane Seymour, actress, artist and philanthropist for a lifestyle furnishings line, Michael Amini & Jane Seymour, A Design Collaboration. Says Mr. Ploy, "Jane Seymour remains a very important part of our corporate family. Her long term partnership with Michael Amini has produced extraordinary results; some that helped re-define industry styling with the glitz and glam looks of Hollywood and the many glimmering collections that followed." About Michael Amini Michael Amini is a designer, philanthropist, investor, world traveler and creator. Mr. Amini is the Chairman and CEO of Amini Innovation Corporation (AICO), one of the worlds most diverse and innovative furniture companies, which he founded over 28 years ago. As a young man, Michael Amini left home to travel and learn about new places, cultures, art, and architecture, and to pursue a better education. He first went to Greece and Paris, then finally to London where he studied for a year. He then traveled to the United States and attended college in Southern California where he graduated with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Michael Amini is a creative person who loves fashion, design and innovation. Also, he is a sensitive and caring person who is deeply devoted to his family, his employees, his customers and the ability to make a difference in today's world. With both his beautiful home furnishing designs and his compassionate philanthropic efforts, it is his goal to create home environments that connects people emotionally with their lifestyle. About kathy ireland Worldwide Listed as the 25th most powerful brand globally by License Global Magazine, with annual merchandise sales of $2.6 billion, according to Forbes Magazine, the success of kathy ireland Worldwide is the result of teamwork and dedication. Kathy has graced the cover of Forbes Magazine twice (2012, 2016) and in December 2016 listed by the same publication as one of the 20 most successful celebrities in the U.S. According to Fairchild Publications, Kathy Ireland is one of the 50 most influential people in fashion. SOURCE AICO/Amini Innovation Corporation MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Military.com announced today that the Transition App, supported by Citi, now has been downloaded over 5,500 times since it was released in August 2016. The app, sponsored by Citi, is available for free on Google Play and in the Apple App store and provides a personalized approach to the civilian transition process with an interactive checklist and notifications to alert the user of upcoming tasks and important military paperwork as far as 18 months before separation. The app is designed for all members of the armed forces (Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard), members of the National Guard and reserve components. The app also includes veteran job resources and allows the user to search jobs and upcoming job fairs as well as translate their military skills to corresponding civilian occupations. "In just six months, our military members have embraced this technology and relied on it to guide them through their transition to civilian life," said Greg Smith, President of Military.com and retired Navy admiral, "My hope is that even more service members will take advantage of this free resource." In addition to the app, Citi is the sponsor of the online Transition Center at Military.com. The app and desktop versions of the center are compatible so that when a user makes changes in one platform it automatically updates on the other to provide a seamless user experience across devices. "Our collaboration on the Transition App and Transition Center at Military.com demonstrates our commitment to supporting projects that empower military personnel and veterans with the tools they need to realize their economic and professional ambitions as they transition out of the military," said Ruth Christopherson, Senior Vice President of Citi Community Development and Citi Salutes and retired Colonel of the South Dakota Air National Guard. "We are pleased to learn that the technology is resonating and that so many service members now have access to vital resources that enable positive career growth." About Military.com Military.com is the nation's largest military and veteran online news and membership organization serving active duty personnel, reservists, guard members, retirees, veterans, family members, defense workers and those considering military careers. A leader in veteran employment and solutions for companies looking to hire veterans, Military.com offers employment tools, transition assistance, and employer resources as well as military discounts, and information on all of the benefits earned in service. Military.com is a business unit of Monster Worldwide Inc. More information is available at www.military.com. About Citi Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi Links: Military.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/Militarydotcom Military.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/MilitaryDotCom Military.com Google+: http://plus.google.com/+MilitaryDotCom Military.com Press Center: http://www.military.com/aboutus/twocolumn/0,15929,Press-Room,00.html SOURCE Military.com Related Links http://www.military.com MIAMI, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ML Capital Group (USOTC: MLCG), together with Spanish Peaks ScrumpDelicacies and Puration, Inc. (USOTC: PURA), is pleased to announce its official sponsorship of the Denver 420 Fest 2017 (www.denver420fest.com). The annual 4/20 celebration sees thousands of visitors celebrate cannabis legalization while enjoying A-List celebrity appearances and performances. The event reaches an additional audience numbering in the millions via online exposure through both commercial internet broadcasts and the social media integration. As an official sponsor, MLCG, PURA and Spanish Peaks ScrumpDelicacies will have their collective brand front and center, both physically at the event and online at the Super Bowl of Cannabis. MLCG Inaugural Luxury Colorado Cannabis Tour MLCG recently announced the pending acquisition of Spanish Peaks ScrumpDelicacies and a corresponding partnership with PURA as the foundation of a strategy to introduce a luxury cannabis tourism service into Colorado's $19 billion tourism sector. The luxury cannabis tours in Colorado are an expansion of MLCG's existing luxury tourism business, which is currently approaching $400,000 in annual sales. In conjunction with the sponsorship announced today, MLCG plans to launch its inaugural luxury cannabis tour, targeting interested cannabis industry investors wanting to learn more first-hand about Colorado's cannabis industry. MLCG 2017 $1 Million Forecast Building On 2016 $400,000 In Annual Sales MLCG recently published a management presentation detailing a preliminary $1 million 2017 forecast based on its introduction of the cannabis tourism offering in addition to the ongoing growth of its existing luxury tourism business. View the entire forecast presentation at the link below: MLCG 2017 LUXURY TOURISM SALES FORECAST TO INCLUDE NEW CANNABIS TOURS Safe Harbor: This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions. Explore Inc. Investor Relations [email protected] +1-786-313-3206 SOURCE ML Capital Group SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Modumetal, the leading developer and manufacturer of nanolaminated metals and materials, today announced it was named to the 2017 Global Cleantech 100 list, produced by CTG (Cleantech Group). The Global Cleantech 100 highlights the most innovative and promising ideas impacting the future of a wide range of industries. "Modumetal is honored to be named among the Global Cleantech 100 companies for leadership in innovation and sustainability," said Christina Lomasney, Modumetal's Founder and CEO. "Our high-performance, cost-competitive nanolaminated alloys are enabling new levels of precious raw material efficiency as we have proven that less material can yet deliver ultra-high performance through nanolamination." CTG reported a record number of nominations this year: 9,900 distinct companies from 77 countries. These companies were weighted and scored and further reviewed, resulting in a finalized list of 100 companies from 17 countries. "From day one, the purpose of the Global Cleantech 100 program was to act as our barometric read on how the many facets that contribute to the emergence and maturing of an innovation theme like cleantech (the "doing of more with less") are changing year on year," said Richard Youngman, CEO, CTG (Cleantech Group). "Now in its 8th year, we see more signals this year of the ongoing mainstreaming of clean technologies, sustainability, and resource efficiency on its journey towards the point where this is just the normal way business is done." About Cleantech Group Founded in 2002, the mission of Cleantech Group (CTG) is to accelerate sustainable innovation. Our subscriptions, events and programs are all designed to help corporates, investors, and all players in the innovation ecosystem discover and connect with the key companies, trends, and people in the market. Our coverage is global, spans the entire clean technology theme and is relevant to the future of all industries. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with a growing international presence in London. CTG's parent company, Enovation Partners, one of Consulting Magazine's 7 to Watch, is based in Chicago (learn more at www.enovationpartners.com). About Modumetal Modumetal is a leading manufacturer of next-generation nanolaminated materials with applications across a range of industries including the energy, infrastructure, aerospace and automotive sectors. Modumetal's low-CAPEX manufacturing approach uses electricity, rather than heat, as its primary input, enabling near room temperature operations and unlocking unprecedented materials performance at competitive costs. Modumetal has established partnerships with leading oil and gas, aerospace and technology companies, and the company's investors include BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Steel Dynamics. For complete information on Modumetal's leadership within the cleantech space, access i3 by visiting i3connect.comCTG's leading market intelligence platformand search for Modumetal. To learn more about Modumetal, please visit http://www.modumetal.com. SOURCE Modumetal Related Links http://www.modumetal.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Moore Kuehn, PLLC announces that it commenced an investigation of Navient Corp. (NAVI) concerning possible violations of consumer laws by the Company, and breaches of fiduciary duties by its officers and directors. Navient manages nearly $300 billion in student loans for more than 12 million customers and is the nation's largest servicer of student loans. The investigation concerns the Company's failure to properly handle loan payments, concealment of material information, and imposition of barriers for borrowers trying to release co-signers, among other misdeeds. Navient has been accused by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") of deliberately hindering borrowers from accessing income-based repayment plans that would have lowered their loan costs. Personalized repayment plans can help lower monthly payments for struggling student loan borrowers. Despite this, Navient encouraged its representatives to push borrowers toward less affordable repayment options, according to a complaint filed by the CFPB. Moore Kuehn encourages shareholders of Navient, borrowers with student loans serviced by Navient, individuals with information regarding Navient's conduct, including whistleblowers, former employees, and current employees, and anyone who would like to learn more about these claims to contact Justin Kuehn, Esq. by email at [email protected] or telephone at (212) 709-8245. There is no cost or obligation to you. Attorney Kuehn is experienced in prosecuting lawsuits against servicers in the student loan industry. He has previously been interviewed by ABC News for his work in a lawsuit he filed against Citibank, Discover, and The Student Loan Company, and most recently, successfully appealed under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, requiring the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency to produce certain student loan records. Moore Kuehn is a New York-based law firm with attorneys specializing in representing investors and consumers in class action litigation involving securities law violations, financial fraud, breaches of fiduciary duties, and other claims. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. Contact: Moore Kuehn, PLLC Justin Kuehn, Esq. 30 Wall Street, 8th Floor New York, New York 10005 [email protected] (212) 709-8245 SOURCE Moore Kuehn, PLLC BE'ER SHEVA, Israel, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Morphisec, leading developer of Moving Target Defense (MTD) cybersecurity products, today announces integration with leading security incident and event management (SIEM) systems, providing enterprises increased efficacy handling and understanding of advanced cyberattacks stopped by Morphisec. "With the threat landscape continuing to quickly and viciously evolve, it has become an imperative for enterprises to have a complete and immediate view into attempted attacks so they can more effectively secure their endpoints," said Netta Schmeidler, Morphisec VP of Product. "Morphisec prevents advanced in-memory attacks at endpoints. By integrating with leading SIEM systems, Morphisec is able to provide security operation teams with real-time insight including, never before available, critical attack behavior details of every advanced threat blocked." Once an attempted attack occurs and is stopped by Morphisec's denial-of-attack functionality, the fingerprint and any required incidence response details are immediately sent to the SIEM system. Because Morphisec stops the attack deterministically without false alarms and early in the kill chain before the malware had a chance to execute enterprises are able to achieve a higher level of efficiency. Additionally, no logs need to be reviewed and no remediation is required, reducing the cost of SIEM operations while keeping enterprises one step ahead of attackers at all times. According to Gartner's Magic Quadrant report on SIEM, the greatest area of unmet need is effective targeted attack and breach detection. Morphisec SIEM integration empowers SecOps teams to detect targeted threats in real-time, providing crucial context about attack technique and behavior. Moreover, Morphisec only logs real attacks, helping security personnel cut through the noise of false positives and irrelevant data so they can prioritize and respond more effectively. Morphisec integrates seamlessly with the following SIEM products: McAfee Enterprise Security Manager HPE Security ArcSight ESM IBM Security QRadar Splunk Enterprise Security About Morphisec Morphisec makes endpoint threat prevention viable again, terminating the attack kill chain at its very onset. It stops and neutralizes zero-days, advanced attacks, evasive file-based and file-less malware, ransomware, APTs and web-borne exploits before they can do any damage. Morphisec's Moving Target Defense technology morphs the memory space so authorized code runs safely while malicious code is blocked and trapped. Morphisec has been lauded by industry leaders for its disruptive and powerful value proposition. Morphisec was designated a 2016 Gartner Cool Vendor and received the People's Choice Award at PwC Cyber Security Day 2016, among other accolades. For more information, visit www.morphisec.com, schedule a demo or contact Morphisec at [email protected] or 617-209-2552. Media Contact: Julie Frey SHIFT Communications 512-792-2550 [email protected] SOURCE Morphisec Related Links http://www.morphisec.com "Our mission is to transform the way the world's top professionals share expertise and learn. Last year we announced our partnership to extend this mission into professional education at the highest level," said GLG CEO Alexander Saint-Amand, who is also a member of the Friends of Mount Sinai Advisory Board. "We are now honored to welcome three new scholars, each of whom brings a passion for their field and new learning approaches." "The purpose of training great clinicians is for them to see clearly the world around their patients and to help them root their practice in that space," added Prabhjot Singh, MD, PhD, Director, The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, Chair, Department of Health System Design and Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine. "The Arnhold Institute is committed to training the next generation of health leaders to create lasting global health impact at scale. Armed with the pioneering tools at their disposal, Mount Sinai-GLG Global Health Scholars can maximize their impact by better understanding and navigating the increasingly complex world around their patients." The program supplements traditional medical education by partnering scholars with GLG research specialists and faculty at The Arnhold Institute, under the direction of Program Director for Education Renee Bischoff, to create individualized learning plans based on the scholars' unique research interests within global health. These plans include one-on-one interactions with experts from GLG's membership including policy specialists, global business leaders, and other top professionals as well as catalytic learning opportunities in the classroom and in the field. The new scholars are Ahmed Elsayyad, Samuel "Gus" Ruchman, and Neha Sikka, all first-year medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. They will join the seven 2016 Global Health Scholars: Ahmed Elsayyad studied Public Health and Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University . His thesis, "Investigating Patient Views on Alternative Consent Models," earned the top thesis prize in the honors department for public health studies. Through GLG, Mr. Elsayyad intends to learn about how innovative transportation companies can remove barriers in healthcare transportation on the local and global levels. studied Public Health and Philosophy at . His thesis, "Investigating Patient Views on Alternative Consent Models," earned the top thesis prize in the honors department for public health studies. Through GLG, Mr. Elsayyad intends to learn about how innovative transportation companies can remove barriers in healthcare transportation on the local and global levels. Samuel "Gus" Ruchman focused on African Studies at Harvard University . Ruchman conducted fieldwork on public health projects in Senegal , Uganda , and Zanzibar . In 2015 and 2016, he worked for UN Special Envoy Ray Chambers on global health strategy and governance. At The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, Mr. Ruchman works on efforts to launch a Non-Communicable Disease Action Center. Through GLG, Mr. Ruchman intends to learn about how simple communications platforms coupled with social incentives can promote the spread of best practices in medical care. focused on African Studies at . Ruchman conducted fieldwork on public health projects in , , and . In 2015 and 2016, he worked for UN Special Envoy Ray Chambers on global health strategy and governance. At The Arnhold Institute for Global Health, Mr. Ruchman works on efforts to launch a Non-Communicable Disease Action Center. Through GLG, Mr. Ruchman intends to learn about how simple communications platforms coupled with social incentives can promote the spread of best practices in medical care. Neha Sikka studied Biomedical Engineering at Rutgers University where she developed smartphone technology to diagnose malaria in point-of-care settings. At Mount Sinai , Ms. Sikka advocates for various underserved populations in the East Harlem community as a Human Rights Social Justice Scholar. Through GLG, she intends to explore how doctors can implement sustainable solutions abroad in addition to serving on finite medical missions. GLG Social Impact Director Jen Field said: "Neha, Gus, and Ahmed bring unique experiences in startups, multilateral organizations and engineering to the group. Their perspective and interests will enhance the learning experience for everyone." Over the past year with the help of GLG, the 2016 scholars have pursued personal missions around public health. For example, scholar Isaiah Levy worked on prosthetics for people who have lost limbs from land mines and improvised explosive devices. Through GLG, Mr. Levy has spoken with experts in prosthetics development and distribution. He has also engaged with experts in robotic-assisted surgery on the technical challenges and economics of scalability. Scholar Mimi Smith has pursued interests in health and nutrition by learning from experts on human gut microbiome therapies, the adoption of health technologies among geriatric populations in the United States, and how to integrate clinical nutrition into medical school curricula. Other scholars have consulted with experts on a broad range of topics including traumatic brain injury in the NFL, cervical cancer screening tests in low-resource settings, and preventive health interventions for HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and other African countries. About GLG / Gerson Lehrman Group GLG is the world's leading membership for professional learning. Business leaders, investors, consultants, social entrepreneurs, and other top professionals rely on GLG to learn in short- and long-term engagements from more than 500,000 members and other experts. Clients partner with GLG to address their most complex strategic challenges, make better business decisions, and advance their careers through conversations, mentorships, small group convenings, surveys, and other interactionsall within a rigorous compliance framework. Global, technology-driven, and nimble, GLG's approximately 1,300 employees work in 22 offices in 12 countries. For more information visit glg.it/. About GLG Social Impact GLG Social Impact is an initiative of GLG to advance learning and decision-making among distinguished nonprofit and social enterprise leaders. The GLG Social Impact Fellowship is our flagship program, providing learning resources to a select group of nonprofits and social enterprises, at no cost. Our clients include: leading foundations, impact funds, consultancies, nonprofits and social enterprises. To find out more, visit www.GLGSocialImpact.com. About The Arnhold Institute for Global Health The Arnhold Institute for Global Health at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Health System, seeks to improve the health of people and the communities they live in, both in the United States and abroad. The Arnhold Institute serves as a global arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, leading research on the design of more equitable and effective care models that are disseminated through digital products, training systems and input on policy design. About the Icahn School of Medicine The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is an international leader in medical and scientific training, biomedical research, and patient care. It is the medical school for the Mount Sinai Health System, an integrated health care system which includes seven hospitals and an expanding ambulatory network serving approximately 4 million patients per year. The School has more than 1,800 students in MD, PhD, and Master's programs and post-doctoral fellowships; more than 5,600 faculty members; over 2,000 residents and fellows; and 23 clinical and research institutes and 34 academic departments. It is ranked among the highest in the nation in National Institutes of Health funding per principal investigator. The School was the first medical school in the country to create a progressive admissions approach for students who seek early assurance of admission through the FlexMed program. The Graduate School of Biomedical Science trains PhD and MD/PhD students, and offers master's-level programs in areas such as genetic counseling, clinical research, biomedical sciences, and public health, and an online master's degree in health care delivery leadership. The seamless connections between our medical school, graduate school, and hospital campuses provide an extraordinary environment for translating scientific discoveries into clinical treatments. For more information, visit http://icahn.mssm.edu or find the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Contact: Chloe Sarnoff / GLG Sasha Walek / Mount Sinai [email protected] [email protected] 212-824-7984 SOURCE GLG Related Links http://www.GLG.it SAN DIEGO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder rights law firm Johnson & Weaver, LLP has launched an investigation into whether the board members of Multi Packaging Solutions International Limited (NYSE: MPSX) ("MPS") breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the proposed sale of the Company to WestRock Company. MPS manufactures and sells paperboard, paper and plastic packaging products in North America, Europe and Asia. On January 24, 2017, MPS announced it had signed a definitive merger agreement with WestRock. Under the terms of the agreement, WestRock will acquire all of the outstanding shares of MPS common stock for $18.00 per share in cash. The investigation concerns whether the MPS board failed to satisfy their duties to the Company shareholders, including whether the board adequately pursued alternatives to the acquisition and whether the board obtained the best price possible for MPS shares of common stock. Nationally recognized Johnson & Weaver is investigating whether the proposed deal price represents adequate consideration. If you are a shareholder of MPS and believe the proposed buyout price is too low and you're interested in learning more about the investigation or your legal rights and remedies, please contact lead analyst Jim Baker ([email protected]) at 619-814-4471. About Johnson & Weaver, LLP: Johnson & Weaver, LLP is a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm with offices in California, New York and Georgia. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in shareholder derivative and securities class action lawsuits. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://www.johnsonandweaver.com. Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Contact: Johnson & Weaver, LLP Jim Baker, 619-814-4471 [email protected] SOURCE Johnson & Weaver, LLP Related Links http://johnsonandweaver.com BEAVERCREEK, Ohio, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- myCUmortgage, a leading provider of credit union mortgage services in the continental U.S., today announced that it has partnered with six credit unions to provide them with a wide array of mortgage tools and services. myCUmortgage is a leading Credit Union Service Organization (CUSO), wholly-owned by Wright-Patt Credit Union. Through these partnerships, myCUmortgage will help the credit unions help their members achieve home ownership through true collaboration, complete transparency and a personal touch. The new myCUmortgage partners include: Civil Service Employees Association Credit Union Ohio Firefighters Community Credit Union Ohio Ohio Valley Federal Credit Union Ohio Poverello Federal Credit Union Ohio Railroad & Industrial Federal Credit Union Florida Sylvania Area Federal Credit Union Ohio "Coming from a credit union itself, myCUmortgage has a unique understanding of the mortgage needs of credit unions and their members," said Tim Mislansky, President of myCUmortgage. "These six new partner credit unions recognize this, and we're anxious to help them become better mortgage lenders so that they can help more of their members with home ownership." By partnering with myCUmortgage, credit unions are able to provide members with a wide variety of mortgage loan programs to fit their needs as well as truly member-centric service and support. Backed by nearly 15 years of mortgage industry experience, myCUmortgage is dedicated strictly to the credit union mortgage industry and helping partner credit unions help their members enjoy the benefits and pride that come with owning their own homes. About myCUmortgage myCUmortgage is a wholly-owned Credit Union Service Organization of Wright-Patt Credit Union, based in Beavercreek, Ohio. myCUmortgage helps hundreds of credit unions nationwide to assist their members with homeownership through quality, cost-efficient, service-driven mortgage solutions. Visit www.myCUmortgage.com for more information. For more information, contact: Bob Sadowski, APR 937.912.7276 [email protected] SOURCE myCUmortgage Related Links http://www.mycumortgage.com IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, at the Tableau Partner Leadership Summit, Neudesic announced that it has been nominated as Tableau Alliance Partner of the Year, highlighting its client solutions amongst the most innovative across the Tableau partner ecosystem. Since 2014, Neudesic and Tableau have partnered with leading enterprises across various industries to offer end-to-end data and analytics solutions that enable the formation of new business models, while helping to sustain market leadership. With Tableau's technology, Neudesic's innovation and thought leadership is rewarding clients with data-driven, customer-centric solutions that open new doors of potential across their organization. "Earning this nomination is proof that we are a recognized leader in helping clients transform their digital business. Our partnership with Tableau is a key contributor to Neudesic's ability to drive value and innovation for our clients. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with Tableau and reinforcing our positioning as a foremost provider of data and analytics solutions and services," said Neudesic's chief marketing officer, Mark Jones. Neudesic's data and analytics talent, represented through the Predictive Enterprise Service Line, exploits the scale of the cloud, democratization of software, and growing compute power to shift an organization's data from a vast collection, to a profit generating or cost cutting realization. "Every day at Neudesic, we innovate with passion and purpose to help our clients transform their business through the power of data and analytics. We are in a prime position to leverage technologies like Tableau 10 to promote self-service data blending while we also help clients maximize investments into real-time analytics and machine learning," said Orion Gebremedhin, director of technology, predictive enterprise solutions, Neudesic. "I want to thank Tableau for this nomination and for their ongoing technology partnership." For more information on Neudesic's Data and Analytics solutions, visit: www.neudesic.com About Neudesic Neudesic is the trusted technology partner in business innovation, delivering impactful business results to clients through digital modernization and evolution. Our consultants bring business and technology expertise together to drive enterprise performance through custom application solutions, comprehensive managed service, and intelligent products. Founded in 2002, Neudesic is a privately held company headquartered in Irvine, California, and serves clients globally from offices in the United States and India. For more information, visit www.neudesic.com. Media Contact Mike Rossi Sr. Marketing Manager [email protected] Office: 949-754-4553 SOURCE Neudesic Related Links http://www.neudesic.com THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Newpark Resources, Inc. (NYSE: NR) today announced that its Board of Directors has set the date of the Company's 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time at Newpark Resources' Headquarters located at 9320 Lakeside Blvd, Suite 100 in The Woodlands, Texas. Newpark Resources, Inc. is a worldwide provider of drilling fluids, temporary worksites and access roads for oilfield and other commercial markets. For more information, visit our website at www.newpark.com. Contacts: Brian Feldott Director, Investor Relations Newpark Resources, Inc. [email protected] 281-362-6800 SOURCE Newpark Resources, Inc. Related Links http://www.newpark.com Thomas G. Werner is vice president corporate communications and chief sustainability officer, Norfolk . is vice president corporate communications and chief sustainability officer, . C.H. "Jake" Allison, Jr., is vice president and treasurer, Norfolk . . Susan S. Stuart is vice president audit and compliance, Atlanta . is vice president audit and compliance, . Bruno Maestri is vice president government relations, Washington . Effective Mar. 1: Jerry W. Hall is vice president mechanical, Atlanta . is vice president mechanical, . Karol R. Lawrence is vice president network and service management, Atlanta . "Today's appointments reflect the deep strength and versatility of the Norfolk Southern management team," Squires said. "Our owners, customers, and communities can have every confidence that their interests always will be first and foremost with these experienced railroad leaders." Werner joined Norfolk Southern in 1999 as director IT program management. He served in positions of increasing responsibility in the information technology department before being named vice president information technology in 2007. He was named vice president and treasurer, his most recent position, in 2013. Werner holds degrees from Princeton and University of Pennsylvania. Allison joined Norfolk Southern in 1993 as manager audits. He served in audit and compliance, sourcing, and accounting positions before being named vice president and controller in 2009. He was named vice president audit and compliance, his most recent position, in 2013. Allison holds a degree from Virginia Tech. Stuart joined Norfolk Southern in 1985 as an information technology developer. She served in information technology and accounting positions before being named assistant vice president accounting operations, her most recent position, in 2008. Stuart holds degrees from the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. In 2014, she completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School. Maestri joined NS in 1995 and served in positions relating to environmental management and protection, and then public affairs, before being named vice president government relations and corporate communications in 2005. He was named vice president government relations, corporate communications, and corporate sustainability officer, his most recent position, in 2015. Maestri holds degrees from the University of Virginia. Hall joined Norfolk Southern in 1985 as a management trainee. He served in a wide range of transportation positions before being named vice president intermodal operations in 2013, and vice president network and service management, his most recent position, also in 2013. Hall holds a degree from the University of Alabama. In 2016, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. Lawrence joined Norfolk Southern in 2001 as director program management office. She served in planning and technology and strategic planning positions before being named assistant vice president information technology, her most recent position, in 2006. Lawrence holds degrees from Susquehanna University and Villanova University. In 2015, she completed the General Management Program at Harvard Business School. Squires also announced the retirement of two Norfolk Southern executives. Donald D. Graab , vice president mechanical, Atlanta , retires after 39 years' service. , vice president mechanical, , retires after 39 years' service. Frank S. Brown , assistant vice president corporate communications, Norfolk , retires after 38 years' service. "We thank Don and Frank for their contributions and dedication -- in the best Thoroughbred tradition -- to Norfolk Southern and those whom we serve," Squires said. About Norfolk Southern Norfolk Southern Corporation (NYSE: NSC) is one of the nation's premier transportation companies. Its Norfolk Southern Railway Company subsidiary operates approximately 20,000 route miles in 22 states and the District of Columbia, serves every major container port in the eastern United States, and provides efficient connections to other rail carriers. Norfolk Southern operates the most extensive intermodal network in the East and is a major transporter of coal, automotive, and industrial products. http://www.norfolksouthern.com SOURCE Norfolk Southern Corporation Related Links http://www.nscorp.com In his role as COO, Depetris will oversee the continued scalability of the firm's ETF infrastructure to support sustained growth of the business. As Head of Product, Haghbin will identify new opportunities in the marketplace to create compelling ETF solutions that further augment the firm's existing investment platform, which includes equity, fixed-income, alternative and multi-asset solutions, as well as revenue-weighted ETF and ESG ETF strategies. "Alex and Mo are proven builders of next-gen ETF offerings who have achieved terrific success in the ETF market," said French. "With our focus on investing in the right talent and resources to support the expansion of our business, their combined experience launching compelling ETF products, coupled with our Distribution team's client-centric approach, will be an invaluable combination towards our continued success." Depetris joins from Deutsche Bank AG where he was a founder, COO and Chairman of the board of Deutsche X-trackers ETF business in the U.S. and also managed the PowerShares DB ETF platform (sold to Invesco PowerShares in 2015). Previously, Depetris was an associate with the law firm of Arnold & Porter LLP in New York. Depetris earned a J.D from Boston University School of Law and a B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland. Haghbin joins the firm from BlackRock where he was Head of Business Management, for the US Fundamental Fixed Income teams within the firm's Global Fixed Income group. Previously, Haghbin served as Head of Next Generation Fixed Income Products within iShares Americas. In 2007, he joined Barclays Global Investors (BGI) in the Portfolio Management Group and oversaw the Derivative Product Services and Trading Operations team in San Francisco (BGI was acquired by BlackRock in 2009). Haghbin holds a B.S. from the University of Colorado, and is a member of the CFA Society and the CAIA Association. The suite of Oppenheimer Factor Weighted ETFs includes: Oppenheimer's fundamental weighted ETFs offer a unique way for advisors, wealth managers, and consultants to access broad market exposure in a more optimal way than the traditional market capitalization strategies. By weighting securities in broad market indices based on top line revenue rather than market capitalization, the Fundamental Weighted Strategies offer the opportunity to reduce overexposure to overpriced sectors and stocks while still providing diversification. In 2016, OppenheimerFunds expanded its Beta Solutions client offerings into the environmental, social and governance (ESG) space. The firm launched Oppenheimer ESG Revenue ETF (ESGL) which focuses on U.S. large-cap equities with highly rated ESG practices, and Oppenheimer Global ESG Revenue ETF (ESGF) , which focuses on global large- and mid-cap equities with highly rated ESG practices. To further enhance the value proposition for clients, the firm also reduced the contractual management fees for five of its Revenue Weighted ETFs. To learn more, visit OppenheimerFunds' Press Room or Factor Weighted ETFs page. About OppenheimerFunds OppenheimerFunds, a leader in global asset management, is dedicated to providing solutions for its partners and end investors. OppenheimerFunds, including its subsidiaries, manages more than $217 billion in assets for over 13 million shareholder accounts, including sub-accounts, as of December 31, 2016. Founded in 1959, OppenheimerFunds is a high conviction asset manager with a history of providing innovative strategies to its investors. The firm's 15 investment management teams specialize in equity, fixed-income, alternative, multi-asset, and fundamental-weighted-ETF strategies, that include ESG offerings. OppenheimerFunds and its subsidiaries offer a broad array of products and services to clients, who range from endowments and sovereigns to financial advisors and individual investors. OppenheimerFunds and certain of its subsidiaries provide advisory services to the Oppenheimer family of funds, and OFI Global Asset Management offers solutions to institutions. For more information, visit oppenheimerfunds.com. An investment in ETFs is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of principal amount invested. ETF returns may not match the returns of their respective index, known as non-correlation risk, due to operating expenses incurred by the ETF. The alternate weighting approach employed by ETFs (i.e., using revenues as a weighting measure), while designed to enhance potential returns, may not produce the desired results. Because ETFs are rebalanced quarterly, portfolio turnover may exceed 100%. The greater the portfolio turnover, the greater the transaction costs, which could have an adverse effect on ETF performance. Shares of Oppenheimer funds are not deposits or obligations of any bank, are not guaranteed by any bank, are not insured by the FDIC or any other agency, and involve investment risks, including the possible loss of the principal amount invested. Before investing in any of the Oppenheimer funds, investors should carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. Fund prospectuses and summary prospectuses contain this and other information about the funds, and may be obtained by asking your financial advisor, visiting oppenheimerfunds.com, or calling 1.800.CALL OPP (225.5677). Read prospectuses and summary prospectuses carefully before investing. Oppenheimer funds are distributed by OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc., 225 Liberty Street, New York, NY, 10281 2017 OppenheimerFunds Distributor, Inc. All rights reserved. SOURCE OppenheimerFunds, Inc. Related Links http://www.oppenheimerfunds.com According to TechSci Research report, "Global Organic Dairy Products Market By Product Type, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021", global market for organic dairy products is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 11% during 2016-2021, on account of expanding product portfolio, easy availability of organic dairy products, robust distribution network, rising internet penetration and aggressive marketing strategies adopted by major companies. In 2014, healthcare expenditure across the globe reached 9.94% of the total GDP, and this is driving consumers to opt for healthy organic products. Further, Organic Valley, Omsco, Whitewave, and Aurora Organic Dairy are few of the leading players operating in global organic dairy products market. On the back of rising disposable income levels and availability of well-developed infrastructure, Europe and North America are expected to emerge as the leading demand generators for organic dairy products during 2016-2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 ) Browse 81 market data Tables and 77 Figures spread through 226 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Global Organic Dairy Products Market " https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-organic-dairy-products-market-by-product-type-organic-drinking-milk-organic-yogurt-etc-by-region-europe-north-america-asia-pacific-south-america-etc-competition-forecast-and-opportunities/869.html Organic drinking milk, organic yogurt, organic cheese, organic butter, organic milk powder and organic probiotics are the major segments in global organic dairy products market, with organic drinking milk and organic yogurt dominating the market, globally. However, on the back of attributes such as increasing immunity, energy, mental strength, reduction in risk of cancer and chronic fatigue and cure for irritable bowel syndrome intestinal homeostasis, demand for organic probiotics is expected to witness the fastest growth in global organic dairy products market, during the forecast period. Download Sample Report @ https://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=869 Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report. "Rising awareness about health benefits associated with organic dairy products, increasing average household annual spending on dairy products, rapid urbanization, easy accessibility of these products through retailers and online channels, changing consumer preferences, continuous developments in supply chain network and implementation of government initiatives to encourage farmers to switch to organic farming is boosting sales of organic dairy products across the globe. In addition, introduction of innovative organic dairy products such as energy based milk drinks, flavored organic milk drinks and variety of organic yogurt and other organic dairy products are expected to further propel growth in global market for organic dairy products through 2021.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm. "Global Organic Dairy Products Market By Product Type, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021" has evaluated the future growth potential of global organic dairy products market and provides statistics and information on market structure, size, share and future growth. The report intends to provide cutting-edge market intelligence and help decision makers to take sound investment evaluation. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends along with essential drivers, challenges and opportunities present in global organic dairy products market. Browse Related Reports Germany Organic Market, by Product Type (Organic Pulses And Food Grains, Organic Processed Food, Organic Fruits and Vegetables, Organic Dairy Products), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/germany-organic-food-market-by-type-organic-meat-poultry-and-dairy-products-organic-fruits-and-vegetables-organic-processed-food-organic-bread-and-bakery-products-etc-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/678.html Global Organic Food Market By Product Type (Organic Meat, Poultry and Dairy; Organic Fruits and Vegetables; Organic Processed Food; etc.), By Region (Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, etc.), Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 https://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-organic-food-market-by-product-type-organic-meat-poultry-and-dairy-organic-fruits-and-vegetables-organic-processed-food-etc-by-region-europe-north-america-asia-pacific-etc-competition-forecast-and-opportunities/833.html India Organic Food Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/india-organic-food-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/449.html About TechSci Research 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. Contact Mr. Ken Mathews 708 Third Avenue, Manhattan, NY, New York - 10017 Tel: +1-646-360-1656 Email: [email protected] Connect with us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TechSciResearch Connect with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsci-research SOURCE TechSci Research ELK GROVE VILLAGE, Ill., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Porte Brown LLC, www.PorteBrown.com, a Chicagoland accounting firm providing accounting, audit, tax, technology and wealth management services, announces Kyle Vroegh, CPA, has earned his CCIFP (Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional) designation. The CCIFP designation is "the only construction financial management certification accredited by the American National Standards Institute" according to the Institute of Certified Construction Industry Financial Professionals (ICCIFP). Kyle Vroegh Vroegh's newly earned certification increases Porte Brown's total number of CCIFP certified professionals to six. Porte Brown's sizeable contingent of CCIFP professionals places it on an elite level of CPA firms in the nation that can provide specialized accounting and financial management services to construction companies. Currently, there are over 1,000 CCIFPs in the United States and of that only 35 are located in Illinois. According to Bruce Jones, CPA, and Managing Partner at the Chicago area accounting firm, "We're proud of the time and effort Kyle has put into achieving this designation. It helps distinguish our firm from others in the industry by arming us with all elements of construction advising for the industry. It's a level of industryspecific expertise the average accounting firm simply can't provide, and it's the only one of its kind." "With over 300 construction clients at Porte Brown, it's important our staff has the specialized training necessary to provide the highest level of accounting services for the industry," said Jones. "The CCIFP certification allows us to provide additional guidance in areas such as project management, safety issues, human resources, IT, and legal issues related to the construction industry." About Porte Brown Porte Brown LLC is a full service accounting and consulting firm headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, Illinois. For more than 70 years, Porte Brown has focused on providing the highest level of service to individuals, businesses and organizations throughout the region. In addition to the traditional accounting services such as tax planning and preparation, audit, business valuations, and retirement plan administration. Porte Brown also provides strategic consulting and leading-edge technology implementation for clients in cloud and non-cloud environments. Wealth management services provided by Porte Brown Wealth Management LLC.* Porte Brown serves accounting and consulting clients from offices in Illinois, Indiana and Texas. For more information, visit www.portebrown.com or call 847-956-1040. *Securities offered through 1st Global Capital Corp., Member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through 1st Global Advisors, Inc. Insurance services offered through 1st Global Insurance Services, Inc. Contact: Pam Metzger, [email protected], 847-956-1040 www.portebrown.com SOURCE Porte Brown LLC Related Links http://www.PorteBrown.com CONCORD, N.C., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Extraordinary finished desserts begin with imagination, passion, and quality ingredients. For 50 years, PreGel (Pre Gelato) has been providing busy "dessertpreneurs" with essential, time-saving ingredients necessary to make their dessert innovations an unforgettable culinary experience for consumers of classic and trendy treats. With French eclairs being one of the most popular and timeless trends in patisserie, PreGel is excited to introduce the Complete Eclair Kit a collection of easy-to-use products and ingredients for the creation of consistently perfect eclairs filled with full-bodied pastry cream and a choice of flavorful dark chocolate, white chocolate, or hazelnut PreGel Pate a Glacer pastry coating. PreGel's Complete Eclair Kit Eclair The specially designed kits are available in three variations based on the flavor of (flavored coating) desired. 200200 SVC Complete Eclair Kit Noir 200300 SVC Complete Eclair Kit Hazelnut 200400 SVC Complete Eclair Kit Blanc Contents include: PreGel's Eclair Base part of PreGel's line of gluten-free pastry bases can also be utilized to create puff pastry, bigne, churros, and choux pastry applications utilizing only hot water. This revolutionary base removes the cumbersome aspect of preparation and leaves room for endless culinary creativity. PreGel Pastry Cream Superior (Cold Process) is a rich and creamy gluten-free base which can also be utilized for tarts, Bavarian creams, creme fillings and more. Its neutral flavor is customizable for more diverse flavor opportunities, while still offering a homemade appeal. PreGel Pate a Glacer are ready-to-use flavored coatings for a delicious array of baked treats including eclairs, macaron pops, quick breads, gateaux de voyage, and more. The matte finish provides consistent texture and requires no refrigeration to set. Eclair Mats are suited perfectly for choux pastry. These non-stick mats feature 18 elongated indents to make piping and calibrating much easier. No butter, grease, oils or sprays are needed. The perforated texture provides optimal heat transfer for the perfect crunch and color. Each component of PreGel's Complete Eclair Kit is also available as an individual purchase. For more information about the Complete Eclair Kit, visit www.pregelamerica.com. About PreGel America Established in 2002, PreGel America is the U.S. subsidiary of PreGel (Pre Gelato), a global developer, manufacturer, and distributor of specialty dessert ingredients, with main headquarters in Reggio Emilia, Italy. PreGel was built on producing authentic dessert ingredient solutions for passionate chefs who desired high quality and shelf-stable ingredients for the creation of innovative finished desserts. The company's diverse product lines include bases, bases with flavorings, pastes, compounds, variegates, toppings & fillings, coatings, and instant dessert bases in four main sectors: Gelato, Sorbetto & Ice Cream, Soft Serve Ice Cream, Pastry & Confections, and Specialty Beverage Solutions. PreGel provides private label options, a team of dedicated sales agents for all regions of the U.S., and hosts PreGel International Training Centers staffed by trained and award-winning chefs in North Carolina, California, Florida, and Illinois. With distribution facilities in Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles, CA, PreGel sells directly to full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, frozen dessert establishments, coffee shops, bakeries, patisseries, pizzerias, hospitality and tourism, grocery stores, colleges, universities, hospitals, and other noncommercial foodservice, as well as distributors in the United States. Your Passion. Our Ingredients. It's not just a slogan; it's what PreGel believes in. For more information, visit www.pregelamerica.com. Contact: Janae Morris, PreGel America Tel.: 704 707 0300 ext. 326 Email: [email protected] Website: www.pregelamerica.com SOURCE PreGel America Related Links http://www.pregelamerica.com SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/-- PSafe, the mobile security solution safeguarding connected experiences, announced today the availability of DFNDR for the U.S. market. The free downloadable app provides comprehensive security protection, privacy management, and performance optimization through a suite of features. DFNDR provides the leading anti-hacking solution for Android devices that shields the user from both traditional malware attacks, as well as attacks driven by browser-based phishing. The app also has two key features that service privacy. The first feature, the Vault, provides a second layer of protection against unauthorized access to user-selected apps, such as Facebook, Whatsapp, SnapChat, and others. Another key feature is DFNDR's anti-theft solution, which insures physical device protection from theft, providing device location services as well as a remote wipe feature, should the mobile device fall into the wrong hands. "We conduct our daily lives on our mobile phones. It's both a fascinating and dangerous phenomenon," said Marco DeMello, CEO and founder of PSafe. "More sophisticated means for getting into both the backend of systems and into mobile devices means greater prevalence of threats to security and privacy. DFNDR provides top notch protection against both cyber perpetrators, as well as physical theft." In total, DFNDR's comprehensive cleaning and performance suite includes 10 features that both perform general cleanup, optimization features like boosting memory, closing background apps and processes and deleting junk files. Performance optimization can also be targeted to apps, such as cleaning up Whatsapp audio and video files, and deleting duplicate photos, among others. With the release of DFNDR in the U.S. market, three key enhancements to the app include: Improved Anti-phishing: With a live, in-house classification mechanism for whitelist, this feature reduces the identification of false positives by more than 90 percent Quicker Security Scan Run-time: By using a 5K app whitelist, scan time is cut down from two minutes to less than 30 seconds Enhanced Performance Monitoring: Inform users when device speed and storage can be optimized, such as when junk files are taking up excessive space or when too many running background apps are consuming RAM With over 20 million monthly active users (MAUs), PSafe is currently the largest mobile security solution in Latin America. At the end of last year, PSafe announced its entry into the U.S. market, with its American headquarters in San Francisco, the heart of the tech community. Since then, PSafe has seen roughly 3 percent of the market share of 100 million Android users, and ranked no. 2 most downloaded security app in 2016 by App Annie. DFNDR is available for download for free today from the Google Play store. For more information on DFNDR and PSafe, please visit www.psafe.com. About PSafe PSafe is a leading security and performance mobile app company with offices in San Francisco, Rio De Janeiro and Mexico City. The company develops and offers free mobile apps focused on protection, performance and privacy to Android users. In 2015, the company became the first startup in Latin America to achieve a market value of more than R$1 billion and started its international expansion and growth, launching operations in Mexico and offering PSafe TOTAL, its principal app, to all Latin American countries. The app is ranked in the top five most-downloaded app in Google Play Brazil with more than 20 million monthly active users. PSafe is funded by Redpoint Ventures, e.ventures, RPeV, Pinnacle Ventures and Index Ventures. For more information, contact: Spencer Parkinson 801-461-9767 [email protected] SOURCE PSafe Related Links http://www.psafe.com "UC Davis Children's Hospital is there every step of the way to help children and their families overcome illness and heal from injury," says Darrin Gilmore, general manager of Gilmore Heating, Air, Solar. "Following the success of last year's event, we're looking forward to hosting another glamorous awards show viewing party to benefit such a great cause." To immerse them in the "Hollywood experience," guests of this event will be treated like celebrities, greeted and photographed on the red carpet. Once inside the opulent Metropolitan Terrace Ballroom of the Citizen Hotel, they will enjoy a special menu of locally sourced hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar with Best Picture-inspired cocktails. Ticketholders are then invited to watch the live telecast of Hollywood's biggest night as they rub elbows with local celebrities, all to benefit UC Davis Children's Hospital. Money raised will go toward patient care, programs, equipment and research at UC Davis Children's Hospital. Tickets are $85 per person (plus service charge). Tickets can be purchased at Eventbrite. The Citizen Hotel is located at 926 J Street, Sacramento, California 95814 About UC Davis Children's Hospital UC Davis Children's Hospital is the Sacramento region's only nationally ranked, comprehensive hospital for children, serving infants, children, adolescents and young adults with primary, sub-specialty, and critical care. It includes the Central Valley's only pediatric emergency department and Level I pediatric trauma center, which offers the highest level of care for critically ill children, as well as the West Coast's only Level I children's surgery center. The 129-bed children's hospital includes the state-of-the-art 49-bed neonatal and 24-bed pediatric intensive care and pediatric cardiac intensive care units. With more than 120 physicians in more than 30 sub-specialties, UC Davis Children's Hospital has more than 74,000 clinic and hospital visits and 13,000 emergency department visits each year. UC Davis Children's Hospital is committed to ensuring the health and well-being of children by promoting wellness through patient care, education, research and community service and by providing a regionally and nationally recognized center for innovative children's health care, making available the very best care possible. Click here to learn more about UC Davis Children's Hospital. Those who cannot attend the party but still wish to make a donation may do so by visiting Giving to UC Davis Children's Hospital. About Gilmore Heating, Air, Solar Gilmore Heating, Air, Solar has been serving the Sacramento area since 1979, when John Gilmore took his years of experience in designing heating and air conditioning systems and opened his own company. It was, and continues to be, a family business. The business has grown to more than 90 employees, all dedicated to the "Get More with Gilmore" motto that promises outstanding customer service with a commitment to environmental protection and community service. To find out more, visit www.gilmoreair.com or call (800) 200-9696. MEDIA CONTACT: Heather Ripley Ripley PR 865-977-1973 [email protected] SOURCE Gilmore Heating, Air, Solar Related Links http://www.gilmoreair.com PARIS, January 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In order to reinforce its leadership in Vietnam and support its growth strategy in the region, Saint-Gobain has decided to build its second plasterboard plant in the country. The Haiphong plant will come in addition to existing capacity in Ho Chi Minh in Southern Vietnam. This will ensure better commercial presence and better service for our customers. The new plant is expected to start up at the end of 2018. With this investment, Saint-Gobain's Gypsum Activity will consolidate its presence in South East Asia where it already operates 8 different manufacturing sites (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam). ABOUT SAINT-GOBAIN Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change. 39.6 billion in sales in 2015 Operates in 67 countries More than 170,000 employees http://www.saint-gobain.com @saintgobain Analyst/Investor Relations Gaetano Terrasini, +33-1-47-62-32-52 Vivien Dardel, +33-1-47-62-44-29 Florent Nouveau, +33-1-47-62-30-93 Press Relations Charles Hufnagel, +33-1-47-62-30-10 Susanne Trabitzsch, +33-1-47-62-43-25 SOURCE Saint-Gobain WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- During a news conference in Riyadh today, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir reiterated the importance of the multi-faceted U.S.-Saudi relationship. Minister Al-Jubeir discussed the long-standing ties between Saudi Arabia and the United States in the fields of international security and counterterrorism, economics and investment, and people-to-people cultural exchanges. Minister Al-Jubeir stated that Saudi Arabia looks forward to working with the new U.S. administration led by President Donald Trump. He explained that the Kingdom is largely in accord with President Trump's stated policies, including containing Iran, defeating extremists such as Daesh (ISIS) and restoring the U.S. presence in the world. "We are very, very optimistic about the Trump administration. And on working closely with it to deal with the many challenges, not only in our region, but in the world," said Minister Al-Jubeir. VIDEO: http://bit.ly/2j2jRB8 SOURCE Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Information Office Professor Chris Dede from Harvard Graduate School of Education said, "Past generations of learning technologies have seldom fulfilled the promise they offered because of various shortfalls in research, policy, planning and practice. Today, we have an opportunity to work with a variety of scholars, policy experts and entrepreneurs to develop a road map that will use virtual reality to improve immersive learning techniques for students globally." A select group of internationally recognized experts gathered to discuss policy and worked toward new initiatives that will be designed to transcend barriers and establish the next generation of immersive learning via virtual reality. Some of the luminaries attending the workshop include: Professor Chris Dede, Harvard University Graduate School of Education , Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies ; , Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies Professor Ronghuai Huang, Beijing Normal University, Dean of the Smart Learning Institute and director of the R&F Center for Knowledge Engineering ; and Dr. Leung Lim Kin, Simon, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon . During the workshop, the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and NetDragon signed an agreement on research collaboration. The Harvard Graduate School of Education will provide NetDragon and the Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University with the copyright to the EcoMUVE software. EcoMUVE is a curriculum that was developed at the Harvard Graduate School of Education that uses immersive virtual environments to teach middle school students about ecosystems and causal patterns. NetDragon and BNUSLI will jointly develop an updated virtual reality version of the software in both English and Chinese within three months. The Fujian Virtual Industrial Reality Base, a co-organizer of the workshop, is the world's first incubation base for the virtual reality industry dedicated to supporting favorable policy, technology, training and human resources. The base houses a 20,000 square meter experience center that provides firsthand experiences of virtual reality enabled classrooms. The Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University, also a co-organizer of the workshop, is a joint venture between Beijing Normal University and the Huaya Education Science Technology Company and its parent company NetDragon. NetDragon also hosted a virtual reality booth that provides attendees with the experience of a virtual reality enabled classroom. Participants utilized all of the equipment for a complete immersive learning experience. Dr. Simon Leung, Vice Chairman and Executive Director of NetDragon, said, "Immersive learning is a proven and an important teaching method that technology can enhance. We look forward to learning more about the policy initiatives that come out of the workshop and how NetDragon can apply its innovative technology to make them a reality." This workshop invited a select group of international experts in this field to collaborate on a book titled "Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Realities in Education," which will be published in late 2017. About NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited (HKSE: 0777) is a global leader in building internet communities. Established in 1999, NetDragon is a vertically integrated, cutting-edge R&D powerhouse with a highly successful track record which includes the development of flagship MMORPGs such as Eudemons Online and Conquer Online, China's number one online gaming portal, 17173.com, and China's most influential smartphone app store platform, 91 Wireless, which was sold to Baidu in 2013 in what was at the time the largest Internet M&A transaction in China. Being China's pioneer in overseas expansion, NetDragon also directly operates a number of game titles in over 10 languages internationally since 2003. In recent years, NetDragon has emerged as a major player in the global online and mobile education space as it works to leverage its mobile Internet technologies and operational know-how to develop a game-changing education ecosystem. For more information, please visit www.netdragon.com . SOURCE NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited SEATTLE, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Stash Pot Shop, the largest retailer of variety, high-quality recreational cannabis in Seattle, announced it is changing its name to Lux. The string of retail marijuana shops is changing its name in response to legal pressure from Stash Tea Company of Portland, Ore., and anticipates the name change to be finalized over the next several weeks. "After considering all of our options, changing our name allows us to avoid a legal battle and focus on what we do best as a company: providing our customers with the best product available and facilitating better education and awareness around legal, recreational cannabis," said Kc Franks, co-founder and owner of the newly named Lux Pot Shop. Lux's name change is the latest in Stash Tea Co.'s string of legal threats and actions against small cannabis retailers. The international tea conglomerate sued Beaverton Stash Cannabis Co. of Beaverton, Ore. in April 2016 for allegedly infringing on the tea company's trademark and has taken action against others. While transitions are not welcome for any organization, especially one in its first year-and-a-half of business, the Seattle Stash Pot Shop team is committed to continuing to provide high-quality service and product to Seattleites, and believes the new name represents the core values the company was founded upon: "Community. Culture. Cannabis." The word lux is a measurement of lumens, a popular light source used in many marijuana grow operations that produces the highest quality of flower. The team hopes this new name allows them to continue to 'shed light' on this nascent industry for consumers who are interested in a high-end experience that involves education and, of course, indulging. The ownership group plans to retain the same visual identity that brought it so much success, and integrate the new name into a near identical logo, complete with the company's signature parenthesis, text type and color scheme. "We are dedicated to keeping the same operations and feel that have made us a staple in the local community, with a focus on offering high-quality product and services, and supporting the very culture and lifestyle our shop embodies," said Shea Hynes, product buyer at Lux. For Franks and Hynes, and their team, the Stash Tea issue is just one of many challenges they've overcome as pioneers and active members of the recreational marijuana business community in Washington state since the industry's incipient days in 2013 and 2014. "When we first started out, the industry was like the Wild West: anyone could apply for a license, get building permits, slap a catchy name on the building and open up shop. This is certainly a proof point of the changing times facing our industry, and as it becomes more viable, a concrete business strategy and involvement in the community and broader industry are a necessity for anyone involved," added Franks. Local Industry Advocates and Evangelists The Lux team is an active contributor to legislative and awareness initiatives, including playing a key role in Seattle, King County and Washington state recreational marijuana legislative activities. In the upcoming legislative session in Olympia, Wash., Franks plans to testify and work with state lawmakers to highlight key issues facing the industry, including safe access and preventing consumption amongst minors; financial and banking limitations; strict branding and marketing guidelines facing growers, processors and retailers alike; and a proposed bill to legalize cannabis delivery across the state. "As we approach the three-year anniversary of the first recreational marijuana shops in our state, we've witnessed tremendous evolution in our industry. Yet there are still many challenges we need to address to ensure that the retail marijuana industry will continue growing more viable, and that businesses are able to operate in a way that spurs progress and innovation," stated Franks. "If we truly want to be advocates for industry success, we have to work as a collaborative, cohesive group. Through our activities in Olympia, we can offer a voice for the entire industry, not merely the interests of our individual businesses." A History of Proven Success and Innovation Stash Pot Shop opened in August 2015 and since has grown to expand to two locations, the flagship store in Ballard and its newest location at 10333 Lake City Way NE. The shop was named "Best New Pot Shop" of 2015 by Dope Magazine and was nominated for the "Best Staff Award" for 2016. Today, the business currently employs nearly fifty employees and is producing combined revenue of more than a half a million dollars per month, across both of its locations. According to public recreational marijuana database 502data.com, the company is currently one of the only recreational retail stores in the state to open two locations, and is one of the most successful in terms of revenue amongst shops with multiple stores. As former medical marijuana proprietors, the team self-funded much of their transition to the recreational scene, spurning investment opportunities that compromised the integrity of their brand and their vision of shaping the Seattle community through its key values. Its success and innovation are driven by a "Nordstrom-esque" culture of customer service and affordable, high-quality cannabis products. Since it opened in August 2015, the shop has worked to create a new narrative for itself and its industry peers by appealing to customers with a welcoming environment that promotes education and awareness. Part of this narrative is carried on through Stash Pot Shop's industry-leading digital newsletter, Toke, which provides readers with monthly updates that include recommendations for music and artist series, cannabis food recipes, and the latest industry news. As advocates for local culture and positive change, the business also hosts musicians frequently and promotes local artists and their work onsite at each location. The team also spends time educating the community at local neighborhood events and markets, and even launched its own quarterly pop-up market, Day Break, dedicated to driving the intersection of recreational marijuana industry and other businesses. The most recent Day Break event on January 8, 2017 included Michelle Mitchell, the critically acclaimed director of the documentary The Uncondemned, and representatives from the pop-up nail art shop Topcoat, among others. To learn more about the brand that is currently Stash Pot Shop and will be Lux, visit www.stashpotshop.com/. About Stash Pot Shop Stash Pot Shop is one of Seattle's original recreational cannabis retailers dedicated to providing the finest, high-quality and most natural product available in Washington state. Its core values are built around changing the stigma and dialogue surrounding cannabis culture to facilitate better education and awareness around this new era of cannabis use. With locations in Seattle's Ballard and Lake City neighborhoods, Stash Pot Shop carries an extensive selection of premium products to suit exactly what consumers are looking for. Stash Pot Shop carries an extensive selection of premium products to suit exactly what consumers are looking for. For more information on the brand that is currently Stash Pot Shop, visit http://stashpotshop.com/. MEDIA CONTACTS: Annie Alley 206.443.9357 [email protected] SOURCE Stash Pot Shop Related Links http://stashpotshop.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SISTER GIANT, to be held February 2-4 in Washington, DC, is the first large-scale conference designed to engage and galvanize Americans as part of The Great Resistance of 2017, rejecting far right extremism. Headlining the event is Senator Bernie Sanders. Key organizers and speakers of the conference are internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer Marianne Williamson and Derrick Harkins, Senior Vice-President at Union Theological Seminary and former advisor to President Obama. The conference has assembled some of America's leading thinkers to discuss a broad range of topics including: voter suppression, environmental protection, racial justice, getting money out of politics, the media and galvanizing political activism. In addition to Senator Sanders, The SISTER GIANT line-up includes: U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal the first Indian-American woman in the House; Dennis Kucinich, former U.S. Congressman and champion of diplomacy and peace; Karenna Gore, director of the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary; Thom Hartmann, radio talk show host, political commentator and bestselling author; Robert Thurman, Indo-Tibetan Buddhist scholar; Cenk Uygur, activist, political commentator and host of The Young Turks; John Fugelsang, comedian, actor, radio host; Zephyr Teachout, academic, political activist, and former political candidate; Ari Berman, political author and journalist for The Nation magazine; Vera de Chalambert, mindfulness facilitator, spiritual storyteller and scholar; Michael Lerner, rabbi, political activist and editor of Tikkun magazine, Opal Tometi, Nigerian-American writer, and Co-Founder of the Black Lives Matter movement; among other prominent speakers. Register now for the Washington event held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, 1700 Jefferson Davis Highway, in Arlington, VA a few short miles from downtown DC and 2 miles from Reagan National Airport. Or join us via livestream. For more information visit: www.sistergiant.com. SOURCE SISTER GIANT Related Links http://www.sistergiant.com CALGARY, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - SMART Technologies Inc., a leading provider of collaboration and education solutions announced today its combined vision and commitment to education through a global partnership with Choose2Matter, an organization built on the philosophy that students who believe that they matter and that they have a purpose are more likely to excel. The partnership's mission is to enable educators and empower K-12 students to discover and develop their unique greatness. SMART is contributing innovative software, hardware and services to classrooms involved in the partnership. The solutions connect everyone and everything - teachers, students, devices, and content - ultimately allowing students to discover their genius via collaboration in and out of the classroom. The partnership launched with events in various school districts globally including, McAllen ISD, Texas, District School Board of Niagara, Ontario, Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division No.119, Prince Albert Saskatchewan and St. Stephen's CE Primary School, UK. In these locations, the schools utilized Choose2Matter's student-centered philosophy and, in tandem, some also leveraged SMART Learning Suite to collaborate with other students and solve real-world issues such as bullying and inequality, demonstrating to students that they have the ability to create an impact. The Choose2Matter philosophy honors, supports and explores students' passions and guides them in how to be effective learners and citizens by drawing the connections to what they do in school to the broader community. "Choose2Matter's empowering vision is strongly aligned with our values at SMART," commented Jeff Lowe, VP of Marketing at SMART. "We look forward to continuing to partner with Choose2Matter on a global scale by equipping classrooms with solutions that help students at all grade levels discover their passion and realize their full potential," he said. "Together, Choose2Matter and SMART can grow, search and deepen the commitment to children and the mission of helping every student understand that they matter," commented Angela Maiers, Founder of Choose2Matter. "With SMART's solutions, students can share, collaborate and work together on projects, effectively assisting them in having a voice among their peers and in their communities. It's the missing link to ensure that students can connect with change-makers and extend their projects to reach their full potential," she said. Tammy Brecht Dunbar, M.Ed., STEM and leader of "The Room Nine Kids" a fifth grade classroom in Manteca Unified School District in California, was an early adopter of the Genius Matters philosophy. The impact it had greatly exceeded her expectations which she outlined in a three-part blog series. Mrs. Dunbar commented that focusing on character and genius nets unexpected results. Mrs. Dunbar referenced the results of the first standardized district proficiency tests in math that her students took after experiencing the lessons, noting, "I was shocked to see the growth of the average class score. In math, the class average increased from 12.7 out of 20 to 16.6 out of 20." Research has consistently shown that effective social and emotional-focused educational programs raise student test scores. A 2008 report by CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning, discussed three effective SEL programs that increased student test score by 11 to 17 percent. A 2009 PBS New Hour program similarly reported that a focus on SEL raises test scores. Most recently, a report endorsed by a large group of college admissions officers strongly encouraged schools to help students "develop their analytical strength, their empathic and generative selves, and their inner lives of reflection, values and aspirations." Ms. Maiers and SMART will be conducting sessions at BETT and TCEA for local educators and students. For visitors at BETT, Angela will be in the SMART Platinum Suite on Wednesday, January 25 at 4:30pm GMT to connect students in the UK with students in McAllen, Texas for a livestream learning session. Mrs. Maiers will also provide a Genius Matters keynote at 11:00am GMT on Thursday, January 26 in the SMART stand D90. Ms. Maiers and SMART will also be present at TCEA in Austin, Texas in February 6-10, 2016 and available for meetings. About Choose2Matter Choose2Matter is a universal movement and community that challenges students to make "mattering" a way of life. Started in 2011, Choose2Matter was founded on the belief that if you reach students through their hearts and when students accept they matter and know their actions count; learning, lives and worlds change. About SMART Technologies Inc. SMART Technologies Inc. is a world leader in simple and intuitive classroom technology solutions. We are an innovator in software and interactive technologies that enable natural collaboration, helping every student and teacher discover and develop their greatness. To learn more, visit smarttech.com. 2017 SMART Technologies. All third-party product and company names are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners. To view a list of SMART trademarks please visit our Trademarks and Guidelines page. Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters. SOURCE SMART Technologies Inc. Related Links www.smarttech.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tapad has partnered with WideOrbit, the leading provider of advertising management software for media companies, to develop the industry's first programmatic TV-buying platform powered by a device graph. Tapad is the leading provider of unified, cross-screen marketing technology solutions and was first to market with a device graph, the Tapad Device Graph. WideOrbit's robust supply platform and industry-leading footprint offers access to premium TV inventory on top networks, reaching more than 99 million households across local affiliates. The partnership pairs Tapad's demand-side technology with WideOrbit's supply-side inventory. As a result, marketers can leverage cross-device audiences in their TV buys for the first time. Additionally, integrating the Tapad Device Graph with digital feedback loops and audiences both accelerates optimization and enables precise audience discovery for TV marketers. "The integration of WideOrbit's quality TV supply takes orchestrated cross-screen media buys to the next level," said Marshall Wong, Tapad's SVP of TV market development. "Marketers can now optimize TV campaigns within days instead of weeks. This also untethers them from buying against generic demographics like age and gender. By allowing brands to employ their own CRM or third-party data, we can move them much closer to audiences who will take action." "Integrating Tapad's device graph with WideOrbit's programmatic marketplace delivers enormous value to marketers looking to add TV to cross-device campaigns," said Ian Ferreira, EVP of programmatic at WideOrbit. "Television still delivers the most efficient reach of any medium, and Tapad's platform now allows marketers to purchase premium broadcast inventory that extends the power of cross-screen campaigns to TV with a single, unified solution." "Our clients build lasting relationships with consumers through thoughtful and pioneering marketing," said Jeff Giacchetti, VP of digital at Mediavest Spark. "The strategic partnership of demand-side technology and supply-side inventory makes it easier for brands to find efficient, incremental reach and are critical in this endeavor." For more information about Tapad's cross-platform advertising solutions, please visit http://www.tapad.com/solutions. About WideOrbit WideOrbit is the leading provider of advertising management technology for cable networks, local television stations and radio stations. More than 3,200 broadcasters and networks leverage WideOrbit solutions to streamline operations, maximize revenue from traditional, digital and programmatic channels and extend their business across distribution platforms. Our clients include Entercom Communications, Entravision Communications Corporation, Gray Television, Inc., Meredith Corporation, NBCUniversal, The E.W. Scripps Co. and Tribune Media. WideOrbit is headquartered in San Francisco with offices across the United States as well as London, Paris and Gothenburg, Sweden. About Tapad Tapad Inc. is a marketing technology firm renowned for its breakthrough, unified, cross-device solutions. With 91.2% data accuracy confirmed by Nielsen, the company offers the largest in-market opportunity for marketers and technologies to address the ever-evolving reality of media consumption on smartphones, tablets, home computers and smart TVs. Deployed by agency trading desks, publishers and numerous Fortune 500 brands, Tapad provides an accurate, unified approach to connecting with consumers across screens. In 2015, Tapad began aggressively licensing its identity management solution, the Tapad Device Graph, and swiftly became the established gold-standard throughout the ad tech ecosystem. Tapad is based in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Singapore and Toronto. Tapad's numerous awards include: EY Entrepreneur of The Year (East Coast) 2014, among Forbes' Most Promising Companies two year's running, Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, Crain's Fast 50, Entrepreneur 360, Digiday Signal Award, iMedia ASPY Award and a MarCom Gold Award. Media Contact: Dana Casalino for Tapad [email protected] SOURCE Tapad Related Links http://www.tapad.com MARKHAM, Ontario, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Tequity Inc., a North American merger and acquisition advisory firm specializing in strategic Software and Technology M&A transactions, advised DSM Computing Solutions Inc. in their sale to Apogee IT Services, a managed IT services company headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA. Operating as Apogee IT Services Canada, Toronto-based DSM becomes Apogee's third major operations center, joining Pittsburgh and Boston in the firm's strategic international expansion. Apogee IT Services continues international expansion with strategic acquisition of DSM Computing Solutions Inc. "Our vision is to provide world-class IT to SMBs across the northeast," said Michael Halperin, CEO of Apogee IT Services. "It is especially exciting for us to grow internationally and we are fortunate enough to have combined with DSM, who aligns with Apogee's culture and high standards for service delivery." DSM Computing Solutions was founded in 1988 and grew through the evolution of the IT industry. Founder and CEO Sheldon Waters, recognized in Apogee IT another managed services provider with a similar track record of outstanding operations and client retention. "We know Apogee's standard for service delivery and how much attention they pay to their clients," said Sheldon Waters, Founder and CEO of DSM. "Coming together will make us stronger and enable us to provide more to our customers, while also providing new career opportunities for our staff. It's a win-win for all parties." Brook Venture Partners of Wakefield, MA led the acquisition in conjunction with co-investor Blue Heron Capital, a private equity firm based in Richmond, VA. "We are excited to welcome another company into the Apogee family," said Fred Morris, a partner at Brook Venture and Apogee's Chairman. "Toronto is a thriving market and it has room for a world-class IT service provider like Apogee." About Apogee IT Services Headquartered in Pittsburgh and with operations around the northeast, Apogee IT Services was founded in 1990 under the original name of PC Network Services. The company provides a suite of Managed IT services to SMBs in legal, manufacturing, financial services, professional services, education, non-profit, and other industries. In 2016, Apogee was named one of Western PA's Fastest Growing Companies by the Pittsburgh Business Times and ranked highly on the MSPmentor 501 Report, a comprehensive list of the top managed services providers worldwide. www.apogeeITservices.com About DSM Computing Solutions DSM Computing Solutions is a Toronto-based IT Managed Services firm that has been providing computing technology products and support services since 1988. For the past 10 years the company has been a pioneer in infrastructure as a services (IAAS) and managed cloud-computing solutions. DSM has helped hundreds of organizations achieve business success through well-designed cloud and hosted solutions backed by their strong service and support. www.dsm-corp.com About Tequity Tequity Inc. specializes in merger and acquisition advisory services for a wide range of Software and Information Technology companies across North America and around the globe. We help shareholders to achieve their growth or exit goals through strategic M&A transactions with growth-oriented acquirers. www.tequityinc.com Media contact: Diane Horton [email protected] 416.483.9400 x103 SOURCE Tequity Inc. Related Links http://tequityinc.com MIAMI, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To kick off the New Year in style, Celebrity Cruises is announcing an exclusive partnership with design icon Nate Berkus, naming him Design Ambassador for the brand's newest class of ships Edge Class. As Design Ambassador, Berkus will bring his distinctive personality to the launch of Celebrity Edge, hosting a series of Edge Class reveal events alongside Celebrity's President and CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo and Chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Richard D. Fain. Designed, and soon to be revealed to the world in 3D, Edge Class will transform the future of cruising. Together, Berkus and Celebrity will share this groundbreaking story in March 2017. A pioneer in the industry, Berkus established his award-winning interior design firm at the age of 24, showcasing an approachable and elevated design philosophy that has transformed countless interiors around the world for more than 20 years. Over and above the interiors he designs, Berkus' signature style has been carried through to his highly popular product lines which include a home and baby collection sold at Target, a fabric line at Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft Stores, as well as being Artistic Advisor for LG STUDIO. As such, Berkus was a perfect fit to showcase Celebrity's cutting-edge innovation and breathtaking design on its newest class of ships. "Nate Berkus embodies modern luxury, and evokes a global aesthetic with his forward-thinking style, which is admired by the design world and the world at large," said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. "When we first sat down with Nate, we knew this was going to be an incredible partnership. Design is in our DNA, as well as Nate's, plus we share a love for the same things: modern luxury, one-of-a-kind design, and global travel. We couldn't think of a better person to collaborate with on the truly transformational Edge Class." "When Celebrity approached me about a potential partnership, I couldn't wait to get onboard pun intended. Their commitment to delivering the very best in terms of luxury design, but also their attention to the overall experience, the level of detail and care, really stood out for me," said Berkus. "I love the idea that we can travel beautifully, and that every moment of the experience from start to finish is exceptional. That's what the Edge Class is all about." Edge Class is Celebrity's first new ship class in nearly a decade, succeeding the brand's revolutionary Solstice Class. The company expects delivery of Celebrity Edge in Fall 2018. Celebrity Beyond is scheduled for delivery in Spring 2020, and the third and fourth Edge Class ships in Fall 2021 and Fall 2022, respectively. Celebrity Cruises will continue revealing details throughout 2017 and 2018, inviting guests along the pioneering journey and offering glances of what's to come in the future of cruising. For more information on Celebrity Cruises, visit celebritycruises.com. About Celebrity Cruises: Celebrity Cruises' iconic "X" is the mark of modern luxury, with its cool, contemporary design and warm spaces; dining experiences where the design of the venues is as important as the cuisine; and the amazing service that only Celebrity can provide, all created to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationers' precious time. Celebrity Cruises' 12 ships offer modern luxury vacations visiting all seven continents. Celebrity also presents incredible cruise tour experiences in Alaska and Canada. Celebrity is one of five cruise brands operated by global cruise vacation company Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL). For more information, dial 1-800-437-3111, visit www.celebritycruises.com, or call your travel agent. About Nate Berkus: Since designer Nate Berkus established his award-winning interior design firm at the age of 24, his approachable and elevated philosophy has transformed countless homes around the world through his design work, home collections, books, television shows and media appearances. Ever since Berkus' first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2002, he has become one of the world's most recognizable interior designers. His work has been featured in publications including Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, VOGUE, InStyle, O Magazine, People and ELLE DECOR, which included him on their "A-List" of the world's top designers. His popular product lines include a home and Baby collection sold at Target, a fabric line at JoAnn Fabric & Craft Stores, as well as being Artistic Advisor for LG STUDIO. He has authored two New York Times bestselling books: Home Rules (2005) and The Things That Matter (2012), and in 2011 he served as Executive Producer of the Oscar winning film, The Help. Audiences followed Berkus through his own television shows, the daily-syndicated The Nate Berkus Show and 2014's American Dream Builders (NBC). Audiences will soon see him on TLC in a new show launching Spring 2017. SOURCE Celebrity Cruises Related Links http://www.celebritycruises.com Arrivals accounted for 53 percent of U-Haul traffic in 2016 thanks to locations such as White River Junction, Rutland and Burlington, the cities to pace Vermont in its net gain of one-way U-Haul trucks. White River Junction is the No. 2 U-Haul U.S. Growth City for locations with a population fewer than 10,000. Follow the Top 10 Growth States daily countdown through Feb. 3 on Twitter @uhaul and view other migration trends reports, including the U.S. Growth Cities release, at myuhaulstory.com. Arkansas was named the No. 10 growth state on Monday. Growth States are calculated by the net gain of one-way U-Haul truck rentals entering a state versus leaving a state during a calendar year. Migration trends data is compiled from more than 1.7 million one-way U-Haul truck rental transactions that occur annually. While migration trends do not correlate directly to population or economic growth, U-Haul growth data is an effective gauge of how well cities are attracting and maintaining residents. "The majority of growth is in northern part of Vermont, and specifically toward the center of the state," said Jim Blair, U-Haul Company of Western Mass and Vermont president. "Our neighborhood dealer network has grown. We've gained about 20 new dealers offering U-Haul rentals over the last two years." U-Haul area field manager Nate Dandrow, a third-generation Vermont native and former law enforcement official, said the expansion of dealer locations and forming strong partnerships has resulted in serving more do-it-yourself customers. "I think what's bringing people here is a very good quality of life," said Dandrow, a Watervillle resident. "It may be little more expensive to live here, but the return on their investment is like nowhere else. The quality of relationships people can build here is unique. The old-fashioned sentiment of neighbors caring about neighbors has perhaps fallen by the wayside in some places, but it is alive here." Vermont is home to more than 100 covered bridges and the largest concentration of sugar maple trees in the country. It has nearly 625,000 residents, according to latest U.S. Census estimate. Find U-Haul stores and neighborhood dealers in Vermont at uhaul.com/locations. U-Haul is the authority on migration trends thanks to its expansive network that blankets all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The geographical coverage from more than 21,000 U-Haul locations, including neighborhood dealers and Company-owned and -operated stores, provides a comprehensive overview of where people are moving like no one else in the industry. About U-Haul Since 1945, U-Haul has been the No. 1 choice of do-it-yourself movers, with a network of more than 21,000 locations across all 50 states and 10 Canadian provinces. U-Haul customers' patronage has enabled the U-Haul fleet to grow to more than 139,000 trucks, 108,000 trailers and 38,000 towing devices. U-Haul offers more than 536,000 rooms and more than 50 million square feet of self-storage space at owned and managed facilities throughout North America. U-Haul is the largest installer of permanent trailer hitches in the automotive aftermarket industry and is the largest retailer of propane in the U.S. www.uhaul.com Contact Jeff Lockridge Sebastien Reyes E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 602-760-4941 Website: uhaul.com SOURCE U-Haul FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UVE) announced today the addition of Kimberly Cooper, the Company's Chief Information Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, to its Board of Directors, effective January 19, 2017. The appointment expands the Board of Directors to ten directors, seven of whom are independent. Ms. Cooper will be included in the Company's proxy statement for election at its 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Ms. Cooper joined the Company in 2007 and became Chief Administrative Officer in June 2015 and Chief Information Officer in February 2015. Prior to assuming these roles, Ms. Cooper spent eight years in the Company's internal audit department, serving as both IT Manager and then IT Audit Director. She managed IT general controls reviews and new application deployment and performed ongoing security and risk awareness training to improve operational efficiencies and ensure ongoing compliance with regulatory requirements. Ms. Cooper has significant experience in information technology, risk management, regulatory compliance and operational efficiency practices. "We are pleased to welcome Kim to our Board of Directors," said Sean P. Downes, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "For the past nine years, Kim has been a tremendous asset to our Company and worked closely with senior management to develop and implement many of the Company's risk management assessment practices and key IT systems and processes. The Board looks forward to benefiting from Kim's expertise as we prepare our Own Risk and Solvency Assessment (ORSA) report as required by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners." Before joining the Company, Ms. Cooper supervised audit and assurance engagements for Fortune 500 clients in the financial services industry, both domestically and internationally, as part of the systems and process assurance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She is a licensed Certified Information Security Auditor and is Certified in Risk and Information Security Controls. Ms. Cooper holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Berkeley. About Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc., with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, is a vertically integrated insurance holding company performing all aspects of insurance underwriting, distribution and claims. Universal Property & Casualty Insurance Company (UPCIC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is one of the leading writers of homeowners insurance in Florida and is now fully licensed and has commenced its operations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Hawaii, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Alabama and Virginia. American Platinum Property and Casualty Insurance Company (APPCIC), also a wholly-owned subsidiary, currently writes homeowners multi-peril insurance on Florida homes valued in excess of $1 million, which are limits and coverages currently not targeted through its affiliate UPCIC. APPCIC is additionally licensed to write Fire, Commercial Multi-Peril, and Other Liability lines of business in Florida. For additional information on the Company, please visit our investor relations website at www.universalinsuranceholdings.com. Forward-Looking Statements and Risk Factors This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statement was made. Such statements may include commentary on plans, products and lines of business, marketing arrangements, reinsurance programs and other business developments and assumptions relating to the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified. Future results could differ materially from those described, and the Company undertakes no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statements. For further information regarding risk factors that could affect the Company's operations and future results, refer to the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Investor Contact: Andy Brimmer / Mahmoud Siddig Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher 212-355-4449 SOURCE Universal Insurance Holdings, Inc. Related Links http://www.universalinsuranceholdings.com PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A coalition of organizations including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the GE Foundation announced a public/private partnership benefiting the Saint Boniface Haiti Foundation (SBHF) last week during a ceremony at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince. The partnership provides financial, in-kind and technical support for the Reparation Pou Amelyore Ekipman Medikal (REPARE) program, enabling the Saint Boniface Haiti Foundation to create a regional model for biomedical equipment management in Haiti. Under the REPARE project, a training program is in place for biomedical technicians at St. Boniface Hospital and the University Teaching Hospital of Mirebalais, which will be used as a replicable model for expanding training opportunities to additional facilities in Haiti. The program is aimed toward enhancing the availability and skills of local biomedical technicians in Haiti, increasing the ability to provide high quality care in Haiti's hospitals. "The REPARE program will revolutionize the standard of care in Haiti," said CEO and President of SBHF, Conor Shapiro. "There are closets full of broken medical equipment throughout the country, and this project will ensure that this equipment can be repaired and maintained by local technicians and put back to work caring for patients. It will ensure the ability to diagnose illnesses and provide care." Mr. Shapiro emphasized the importance of biomedical training. "This program will truly save lives," he says. Partners agree: "REPARE convenes the expertise and financial support of important actors in Haiti's healthcare system to ensure Haitians of all incomes receive the benefits of life-saving biomedical equipment," said United States Ambassador to Haiti Peter Mulrean. "The main objective is to create an efficient maintenance and repair system in Haiti that is self-sustaining through fees for services provided by an expanded pool of certified Haitian technicians." "To achieve sustainable health delivery in Haiti, biomedical training and overall skills building are essential," said David Barash, Chief Medical Officer at the GE Foundation. "We are proud to partner with SBHF as a leader and gold standard for enabling access to healthcare and driving system strengthening in remote underserved regions." "St. Boniface's revolutionary approach to repairing medical devices is setting a new standard of surgical care and redefining health care delivery and education in and around Fond-des-Blancs," said Joe Scantlebury, vice president for program strategy at the Kellogg Foundation. "This program furthers St. Boniface's vision to improve quality and access to affordable health care and improve infant and maternal care." The proliferation of non-functioning and poorly maintained medical equipment has devastating consequences for patients seeking life-saving health services throughout Haiti. Much of the country's health clinics and hospitals depend on donated or used machinery, and the cost of maintenance through reliance on foreign engineers is not sustainable. REPARE combats these issues, while also creating jobs and bolstering the local economy. The Saint Boniface Haiti Foundation has been working in southern Haiti for nearly three decades, in response to the need for a comprehensive healthcare organization on the Southern Peninsula. Since its founding, the organization has expanded into a hospital in Fond-des-Blancs, a clinic in Villa, and multiple community health programs and mobile clinics. As a whole, SBHF provides care for nearly 100,000 patients per year, and serves on the frontlines of the country's health and disaster relief needs. About the Saint Boniface Haiti Foundation Founded in 1983, the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation (SBHF) provides essential health services to some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in southern Haiti. SBHF's model of healthcare delivery includes clinical and community-based care that works collaboratively to bring healthcare access to a large and dispersed population. SBHF's main facility, St. Boniface Hospital, is located in Fond-des-Blancs and is the largest regional hospital on Haiti's southern peninsula. It is accredited by the Haitian Ministry of Health and is one of the only providers of specialized services, including surgical care, to a broader region of over two million people, many of whom live on less than $1 per day. SBHF is a U.S.-based 501c3 organization that also has nonprofit status in Haiti. The office in Newton, Massachusetts supports approximately 275 staff in Haiti, 98% of whom are Haitian. For more information visit haitihealth.org or call us at 617-244-9800. About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation: The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Michigan, and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org. About the GE Foundation: The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of GE (NYSE: GE), is committed to building a world that works better. We empower people by helping them build the skills they need to succeed in a global economy. We equip communities with the technology and capacity to improve access to better health and education. We elevate ideas that are tackling the world's toughest challenges to advance economic development and improve lives. The GE Foundation is powered by the generosity and talent of our employees, who have a strong commitment to their communities. We are at work making the world work better. Follow the GE Foundation at www.gefoundation.com and on Twitter at @GE_Foundation. SOURCE W.K. Kellogg Foundation We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. BOSTON, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaultive, an innovator in cloud data security, today announced the integration of its cloud access security broker (CASB) with two new software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications: ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo. The product integrations are the latest to take advantage of Vaultive's next-generation CASB that offers a range of cloud data security controls and the capability to onboard new supported SaaS applications rapidly. "While ServiceNow, Oracle, and other cloud service providers implement extensive security measures to protect their applications, many customers are still held back from SaaS adoption by regulatory compliance, international data privacy, and government data access concerns," said Doug Lane, vice president of product marketing for Vaultive. "The Vaultive CASB gives organizations direct control over data stored and processed in the cloud, so they can eliminate security and compliance obstacles and unlock the benefits of using leading SaaS platforms." ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo customers can now apply Vaultive's patented feature-preserving encryption and other complementary cloud security controls to sensitive data being processed and stored in the cloud. These advanced security features establish clear segregation of duties between the internal teams charged with protecting organizational data and external cloud service providers like ServiceNow and Oracle. The cloud provider has no ability to decrypt protected data, but the Vaultive platform preserves a seamless SaaS application experience for users. Vaultive enhances ServiceNow security by providing: Searchable encryption of text and file attachments containing sensitive information Secure handling of incoming and outgoing emails Added IT help desk chat security Optional activity auditing and logging Secure data migration from legacy systems Similarly, the Vaultive platform improves Oracle Taleo security by applying added protection to personal information that is captured and stored throughout the recruiting and new employee onboarding lifecycle, including: Searchable encryption of text fields and file attachments containing personal and financial information from job applicants Secure handling of information transmitted to and from other systems in an automated manner through web services and the Taleo Connect Client Oracle Business Intelligence report support Secure data migration from legacy systems "As SaaS application usage grows, responsible CIOs are seeking a unified approach for protecting sensitive data flows consistently across their entire cloud-hosted solutions," said Ben Matzkel, co-founder and chief technology officer for Vaultive. "Our next-generation platform gives us unmatched ability to integrate new use-cases or SaaS applications quickly and demonstrate to customers that we can meet both their current and future cloud security needs." Availability Vaultive CASB protection for ServiceNow and Oracle Taleo is available immediately through Vaultive's sales channels. Organizations interested in learning more can request a demo at Vaultive.com. About Vaultive Vaultive addresses the most pressing security issues that prevent enterprises from adopting software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, including data security, regulatory compliance, international data privacy laws, and government data access concerns. The Vaultive Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) puts powerful policy, data encryption, and auditing capabilities directly in the hands of the IT team while preserving a seamless and responsive cloud application experience for users. Its flexible and highly scalable architecture helps IT teams apply a unified set of cloud security controls and best practices across all of their cloud applications. Vaultive is headquartered in Boston with research and development in Tel Aviv. For more information, visit: www.vaultive.com. Media Contacts: Vaultive Karen Regan +1 978.505.2457 [email protected] SOURCE Vaultive Related Links http://www.vaultive.com KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Jan. 23, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The escalating demand for home monitoring products such as remote patient monitoring (RPM) and mobile health (mHealth) has thrown the spotlight on the scarcity of sustainable business models. This issue has gained significance with vendors increasingly establishing partnerships and joint ventures with telcos, healthcare providers, insurance companies, governments and other stakeholders. The inherent risks in such relations can be mitigated by choosing a business model that can best tap the monetization opportunities. "Asia-Pacific is moving towards a platform monitoring model for chronic disease management, wherein devices will be provided for free and the revenue will be generated from monitoring services and data insights," said Frost & Sullivan Transformational Health Industry Analyst Shalani Andria. "Despite the slow start to the market, savvy vendors are investing early as they detect potential for exponential growth once a funding model is established." APAC Home Health Monitoring Market, Forecast for 2020, part of Frost & Sullivan's Connected Health Growth Partnership Subscription, finds that payers such as insurance companies will reimburse telehealth or offer it for free to policy holders to reduce hospital admission claims. Other topics covered by the subscription include health IT, 3D printing, video telemedicine, care assistance and automation robots, implantable electronics, and eHealth. Click here for complimentary access to more information on this analysis and to register for a Growth Strategy Dialogue, a free interactive briefing with Frost & Sullivan's thought leaders. Asia-Pacific presents significant opportunities, but it daunts vendors with the heterogeneity in regulations for remote monitoring and data sharing in individual countries, as well as a lack of clarity on government and infrastructure support. Once these hurdles are crossed, vendors can develop a sustainable revenue-generation ecosystem and deliver end-to-end home monitoring support. The demand hotspots are India, China and Japan, which are also emerging as hubs of business model innovation. Some reasons for their success include: The Indian government's initiatives to improve access to technology across the continuum of care and its "open-door" policy towards international vendors. China's large size and the expanding middle class with increased spending power. There are also international-local joint ventures in home care services due to the government's privatization of home care services . large size and the expanding middle class with increased spending power. There are also international-local joint ventures in home care services due to the government's privatization of home care services Japan's growing elderly population and high rate of technology adoption. "Vendors are already incorporating Big Data, analytics and intelligence tools in home monitoring solutions," noted Andria. "They need to realize that the humanization of home monitoring solutions will continue to be an important factor in Asia-Pacific, and will have to evolve from being tech companies to being clinical service providers." About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Contact us: Start the discussion APAC Home Health Monitoring Market, Forecast for 2020 P918-48 Contact: Carrie Low Corporate Communications Asia-Pacific P: +603 6204 5910 F: +603 6201 7402 E: [email protected] http://www.frost.com SOURCE Frost & Sullivan Related Links http://www.frost.com ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Washtenaw Community College's work in training technicians for jobs in the mobility sector was cited in Gov. Snyder's 2017 State of the State address as a "cutting edge" example of the training needed to prepare the skilled workforce of the future and drive economic growth in Michigan. A segment of Snyder's address focused on his priority to assure the state is training its skilled workforce, noting that "jobs of today won't be the jobs of tomorrow." As an example of how the state is approaching the training, the governor mentioned the Community College Skilled Trades Equipment Program (CCSTEP), which provided funding for upgraded equipment for career tech education programs at 18 community colleges across the state including Washtenaw Community College. Washtenaw Community College earmarked its portion of the funding to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for programs in its Advanced Transportation Center, specifically in the areas of advanced manufacturing, automotive transportation servicing and intelligent transportation systems. Snyder mentioned the new WCC programs during his address, saying he was impressed during a visit to the college's exhibit during Industry Week at the 2017 North American International Auto Show. During the visit, WCC faculty and students demonstrated how sensors in connected vehicles are functionally assessed, diagnosed and repaired. "WCC is training mobility technicians to understand how to work with cutting edge technology that will be in future vehicles. This is a great example of career connection and the attitude our young people should have when looking at their future careers," Snyder said in a later statement. 'We are so proud of the governor's recognition of our investment in developing a qualified and highly skilled workforce in the mobility sector," said WCC President Dr. Rose B. Bellanca. "His acknowledgment reinforces the vital role our college plays to meet the demand for a skilled workforce and create a sustainable talent pipeline -- which is the key to long-term economic prosperity not just for Washtenaw County, but for the state, the country and the world." Snyder was in attendance when the new equipment was unveiled during an on-campus event at the college in September. At that event, WCC Advanced Transportation Director Al Lecz said the new equipment will provide a strong tie to the burgeoning mobility industry in the state. "This CCSTEP equipment enables WCC to meet advanced transportation business and industry demand for technicians trained in state-of-the-art manufacturing process skills and competencies required to meet future product and process innovations," Lecz said. "WCC-trained technicians will be able to work with a variety of light-weighting materials in several manufacturing processes aimed at the industry challenge of producing vehicles meeting continuously more stringent fuel economy and exhaust emission standards." Washtenaw Community College's Advanced Transportation Center, its information technology curricula, and the expertise of the college's specially trained faculty, has positioned WCC as the number one community college for students interested in acquiring the necessary skills for employment in the areas of connectivity and intelligent transportation systems. In addition to the college's Advanced Transportation Center, WCC has developed key partnerships with the Square One Education Network which encourages middle and high school students to study Science, Technology, Engineering and Math [STEM] disciplines and the University of Michigan and its Transportation Research Institute which educates students for roles in engineering and product development and conducts transportation research. and its Transportation Research Institute which educates students for roles in engineering and product development and conducts transportation research. Another key partnership is with Wayne State University in Detroit , a recognized leader in advanced manufacturing research and education, for the creation of professional development opportunities for community college faculty and K-12 teachers centered on lightweight materials. The college's location within the Transportation Triangle [a combination of SMART corridors and highways being equipped with intelligent technology by the Michigan Department of Transportation], has given Washtenaw Community College an unmatched position as a community college training for jobs in the rapidly growing field of mobility. To learn more about the Advanced Transportation Center at Washtenaw Community College, visit www.wccnet.edu/atc. To hear the Governor's recognition of WCC, click on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4xEqCiKdbg SOURCE Washtenaw Community College Related Links http://www.wccnet.edu PLANO, Texas, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly half of small business professionals believe that President Trump will be a positive impact on their company's growth according to "The State of Small Business Report," issued by Wasp Barcode Technologies. Over 1,100 small business owners and senior executives were polled about their views on the economy, growth, hiring, marketing practices and information technology. Read the report here: http://www.waspbarcode.com/small-business-report Fifty percent of small businesses believe the government does not do enough to support small business. That number rises to 55% when businesses with 11-50 employees are asked the same question and it goes as low as 35% when asked to small businesses who employee 101-499. 42% of small businesses have more confidence in the economy now than they did 12 months ago. About Wasp Barcode Technologies Wasp Barcode Technologies is a leading provider of small business productivity systems such as inventory control, time and attendance, point of sale, and the supporting mobile computers, barcode scanners and barcode printers used to automate operations. The company is based in Plano, Texas. About the 2017 State of Small Business Report The 2017 State of Small Business Report research is based on a random online sample of 1,127 U.S. small business owners and executives with companies with five to 499 employees. The anonymous survey was conducted via the internet from November 10th- November 18th, 2016. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.9 at the 95% level of confidence. Sikora Associates, LLC provided statistical analysis. For more information about the 2017 survey or to access last year's results, please go to http://www.waspbarcode.com/small-business-report. If you require more details, other data points or would like an interview from a representative of Wasp Barcode Technologies, please contact Erin Myers at [email protected] Contact: Erin Myers [email protected] (765)702-8871 SOURCE Wasp Barcode Technologies Related Links http://www.waspbarcode.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Waterborne Ink Market: Overview Waterborne ink is also known as water-based ink. Its drying speed is sluggish compared to solvent-based inks. Ink is a blend of colorant, vehicle (resin), solvent, and additives. Waterborne ink contains 60% water or other solvents, 20% resin, 15% colorant and 5 % additives. The main solvent is water, but there could also be other co-solvents present - typically VOCs. The report estimates and forecasts the waterborne ink market on the global, regional, and country levels. The study provides forecast between 2016 and 2024 based on volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) with 2015 as the base year. The report comprises an exhaustive value chain analysis for each of the product segments. It provides a comprehensive view of the market. The study includes drivers and restraints for the waterborne ink market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The study also provides key market indicators affecting the growth of the market. The report analyzes opportunities in the waterborne ink market on the global and regional level. Furthermore, the report analyzes substitutes of waterborne ink. It also provides the global average price trend analysis. Global Waterborne Ink Market: Research Methodologies The report includes Porter's Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the waterborne ink market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein resin, technology, application and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, raw material availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market. In-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players' product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis team's expertise and market understanding. Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report. Global Waterborne Ink Market: Scope of the Study The study provides a comprehensive view of the waterborne ink market by dividing it into resin, technology application and geography. In terms of resin, the waterborne ink market has been segmented into acrylic, polyester, maleic and others. In terms of technology, the waterborne ink market is segmented into flexography, gravure, digital and others. In terms of application, the waterborne ink market has been segmented into packaging, publication, flyers & brochures and others. The packaging segment has been further bifurcated into flexible and corrugated. The publication segment has been further divided into newspapers, magazines & periodicals and books. Application segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn) between 2016 and 2024. Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for waterborne ink in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of volume and revenue for product and application segments. Key countries such as the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, the U.K., Spain, Italy, Japan, India, China, Mexico, South Africa, and Brazil have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual resin, technology and application in all the regions and countries. Global Waterborne Ink Market: Competitive Landscape The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key players operating in the global market. Key players profiled in the report include Sun Chemical Corporation, Flint Group, Siegwerk Druckfarben AG & Co. KGaA, Toyo Ink SC Holdings Co., Ltd., Huber Group, Wikoff Color Corporation, Doneck Euroflex S.A.,Sebek Inks, Dolphin Inks, BCM Inks and Chimigraf. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable). The waterborne ink market has been divided into the following segments: Waterborne Ink Market Resin Analysis Acrylic Styrene Acrylic Polyester Maleic Others (Including polyurethane resin, phenolic resin, etc.) Waterborne Ink Market Technology Analysis Flexography Gravure Digital Others (Including screen printing and sheet-fed offset printing, etc.) Waterborne Ink Market Application Analysis Packaging Flexible Corrugated Publication Newspapers Magazines & Periodicals Books Flyers & Brochures Others (Including decorative printing and product printing, etc.) Waterborne Ink Market Regional Analysis North America U.S. Canada Europe France U.K. Spain Germany Italy Rest of Europe Asia Pacific China Japan ASEAN Rest of Asia Pacific (APAC) Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest of Latin America (LATAM) Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa (MEA) Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04644554-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 __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com NEW YORK, Jan. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To meet continued demand for quality commercial Umbrella and Excess Liability insurance, XL Catlin's Excess Casualty team is adding underwriting expertise in Dallas, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri. Byron D. Goebel and Eric Buttner are joining XL Catlin's Dallas team as Senior Underwriters and Alan F. Short joins as Senior Underwriter in Kansas City. According to Barbara Luck, President of XL Catlin's Global Excess Casualty business, "Quality commercial Umbrella and Excess Casualty insurance coverages are a necessity when businesses want to protect themselves from increased liability exposures and the financial loss that can result. We've been able to effectively address these insurance needs by attracting experienced underwriters like Byron, Eric and Alan. We're excited to see them join our team to help us offer more local, personalized underwriting attention to our brokers and clients throughout the Central region of the US." Mr. Goebel joins XL Catlin with nearly 30 years of underwriting and broker experience most recently serving as Excess Underwriter at CNA Financial, where he developed a diverse portfolio of Lead Umbrella and Excess Casualty programs. He is a graduate of the University of Arkansas. With more than 25 years of underwriting, claims and business development experience, Mr. Buttner joins XL Catlin's Dallas team from Travelers where he served as an Excess Casualty Account Executive. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Joining XL Catlin's Kansas City office, Mr. Short brings an additional 30 plus years of broker and underwriting experience, including his recent tenure as an Underwriting Consultant with CNA. He is a graduate of the University of Missouri, where he majored in risk management and insurance. Helping a wide range of businesses -- from Upper Middle Market (UMM) to Fortune 1000 companies -- XL Catlin's Global Excess Casualty insurance team provides Lead Umbrella, Excess, Occurrence, Claims Made, Occurrence Reported and Primary Rail and Excess insurance coverages from global access points with underwriting centers in Bermuda, Dublin, Ireland, London, UK and 13 cities in North America. Liability limits up to $100 million are available. About XL Catlin Insurance Operations XL Catlin insurance companies offer property, casualty, professional, financial lines and specialty insurance products globally. Businesses that are moving the world forward choose XL Catlin as their partner. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com. About XL Catlin XL Catlin is the global brand used by XL Group Ltd.'s (NYSE:XL) insurance and reinsurance companies which provide property, casualty, professional and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. Clients look to XL Catlin for answers to their most complex risks and to help move their world forward. To learn more, visit xlcatlin.com . SOURCE XL Catlin Related Links http://xlcatlin.com/ Kolkata, Jan 21 : The two-day Bengal Global Business Summit organised by the state government has received investment proposals worth Rs 2,35,290 crore, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Saturday. Addressing delegates on the concluding day of the meet, Banerjee said the manufacturing sector netted investment commitments of Rs 61,765 crore. Among other major sectors, Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) attracted business proposals of Rs 50,710 crore, urban development got Rs 46,600 crore, transport Rs 38,801 crore, IT, ITes and Telecom 18,540 crore, power and NES 3,600 crore and mining got Rs 1,580 crore. "Despite demonetisation, a sum of Rs 2,35,290 crore has been committed during the summit," Banerjee said. "This figure, at this juncture, in this situation is enough," Banerjee said. She said that during the previous two summits in 2015 and 2016, West Bengal received over Rs 4.93 lakh crore of investment proposals, of which over 40 per cent are in the implementation stage. "Out of that, already over 40 per cent has been implemented. It takes time to implement the projects," she said. In the third edition of the summit, China based TEB technology committed investments of Rs 27,200 crore for an elevated mass rapid transit system, while Korea's Handong University signed a memorandum of understanding with the state-run West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation for setting up an intelligent and green city, Amit Mitra, state Finance, Industries and Commerce Minister, said. Banerjee said Norway showed interest in the maritime sector and fisheries while the delegation from Italy expressed their keenness for setting up a manufacturing plant of leather machinery. She also said the Chinese delegation evinced interest in infrastructure and manufacturing while delegates from Japan were keen on participating in drinking water and mono rail project. "Japan will speed up the process of Howrah-Yokohama partnership. Germany's textile major Orlinkon Barmag said they are looking for funds. Once they get it, they will set up a textile machinery plant in the state," Mitra said. Terming the summit "super successful", Banerjee once again urged the industrialists to invest in Bengal. "If you invest in Bengal, you can develop industries in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and north eastern states. You can also develop industries in Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore which are not far away from Bengal." The next edition of the summit will be held on January 16 and 17 next year, Mitra said. Global think tank Horasis chief Frank Jurgen Richter announced that its next Asia meeting would be held in the city in November this year. Chandigarh, Jan 22 : The Haryana government and police are prepared for any eventuality, with a faction of the Jat leadership announcing it will renew its Jat agitation for reservation which left 30 dead last year. Haryana government officials said on Sunday that a close watch was being kept on some Jat leaders, especially those owing allegiance to the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) headed by Yashpal Malik. The AIJASS has given a call for Jat protests from January 29. Haryana Director General of Police K.P. Singh said that if anyone was found indulged in any illegal activity or causing loss to public property, action would be initiated against him. "There is no shortage of police personnel and 7,000 Home Guards will be deputed with Haryana Police from January 26. Besides, adequate police personnel are being deputed in all districts. With the help of people and concerted efforts of police officers, there will be no need of extra force," Singh said. The Jat agitation in February last year left 30 people dead and over 200 injured. Government and private property worth hundreds of crores was damaged and set on fire. Large-scale looting of commercial and business premises and even motorists was reported from the 10 worst affected districts. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Saturday that people should refrain from participating in any agitation. He said the government will deal with the situation. "Yashpal Malik was not doing any good by directly or indirectly politicising the issue of Jat reservation. Malik should not politicise the issue of Jat reservation," Khattar said. "People should maintain peace and not participate in any kind agitation which is politically motivated. As far as Jat reservation is concerned, the Haryana government has enacted a law and now the issue is with the court," he said. Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar and other districts were the worst affected during the Jat agitation last year. Kolkata, Jan 22 : At least five pilgrims, including a teenager, were killed when a bus fell into a canal in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Sunday, police said. Three others were seriously injured in the accident. The bus was coming from Tarapith, a temple town in the district. Police have arrested the conductor of the bus while the driver escaped. Wellington, Jan 23 : A plan B could save the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) even if the US leaves the accord as threatened by new President Donald Trump, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said on Monday. English said TPP signatory countries have started talks over the possibility of implementing the accord without the US and seek to restore it with Japan's help, Efe news reported. "Last week, the Japanese Prime Minister (Shinzo Abe) was in Australia and was very positive about finding a way through Plan B, that is, the TPP if the US aren't part of it," English said. English added that Australia was willing to ratify the accord despite a US exit and added that the protectionist message of the new US administration, led by Trump, poses a risk to New Zealand's economy. "New Zealand's position is pretty predictable. As a small open economy, we need to trade," English said. Although the TPP was one of the key points of a shift in the US foreign policy, ushered in by former US President Barack Obama, towards the Asia-Pacific region, it is yet to be ratified by America. In 2016, New Zealand approved a legislation to ratify the accord, signed between countries, including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Brunei and Chile. For the TPP to come into effect, it needs to be ratified by countries, which represent at least 85 percent of the bloc's total economy, making US support essential as it alone accounts for 60 per cent of the total GDP of the 12 signatory states. New Delhi, Jan 23 : With Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan arriving here on Tuesday on a three-day visit to India, India's ties with the UAE are expected to get a further boost. Sheikh Mohamed, who will attend this year's Republic Day celebrations as chief guest, will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, senior officials and captains of industry. This will be his second visit to India since his visit in February last year. The bilateral relationship between the two countries got a huge boost with the historic visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August 2015. It was the first prime ministerial visit from India to the UAE in 34 years after the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in May 1981. Following Modi's visit, the two countries decided to elevate their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. In the course of Modi's visit and the return visit by Sheikh Mohamed last year, both sides agreed to cooperate across a wide range of issues. The UAE committed $75 billion to support investment in India's plans for rapid expansion of next-generation infrastructure, especially in railways, ports, roads, airports and industrial corridors and parks. The UAE being a significant contributor to India's energy security -- it was the fifth largest supplier of crude oil in 2015-16 -- both sides have agreed to promote strategic partnership in the energy sector, including through the UAE's participation in India in the development of strategic petroleum reserves, upstream and downstream petroleum sectors, and collaboration in third countries. In the area of defence cooperation, both sides have renewed their commitment to strengthening the existing cooperation in training, joint exercises, and participation in defence exhibitions, as well as in identifying opportunities to cooperate on the production of defence equipment in India under the Make in India campaign. Given the rise of the quasi-state terror organisation Islamic State and also terrorism within India's border's and in South Asia, both sides agreed to coordinate efforts to counter radicalisation and misuse of religion by groups and countries by facilitating regular exchanges of religious scholars and intellectuals and organising conferences and seminars to promote the values of peace, tolerance, inclusiveness and welfare that is inherent in all religions. Both sides have also agreed to enhance cooperation in counter-terrorism, intelligence sharing and capacity building and to promote cooperation in cyber security. With the UAE being India's third largest trading partner, both sides have also agreed to increase bilateral trade by at least 60 per cent within the next five years. Trade between the two countries stood at $50 billion in 2015-16. At 2.6 million, Indians form the largest expatriate population in the UAE and hence cultural ties and people-to-people contacts form an important element to the bilateral relationship. The image of Indians in the UAE have been generally positive and their contributions to the development of the host country have been well appreciated. India's relationaship with the UAE is crucial to New Delhi's renewed thrust in reaching out to the extended neighbourhood in the west. Hence, Sheikh Mohamed's upcoming visit assumes very high significance, say observers. Vadodara, Jan 24 : One person died of cardiac arrest when he went to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan at the Vadodra railway station, teeming with fans of the Bollywood superstar, who arrived here on board the August Kranti Express on Monday to promote his upcoming film "Raees". Social activist Farid Khan Pathan of Hatikhana area of Vadodara, who arrived at the railway platform with his wife and daughter as the family was an avid follower of the actor, fell unconscious after suffering a cardiac arrest at the railway platform. He was rushed to hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, his family members confirmed. Earlier, reports said he felt suffocated during a stampede at the railway station and then suffered a heart attack. The police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the crowd during which some persons sustained minor wounds on their head and face. Two constables of the Railway police also collapsed during the chaos and are undergoing treatment. They are said to be out of danger. The Bollywood actor is travelling with the film's director Rahul Dholakia and producer Ritesh Sidhwani from Mumbai to Delhi on August Kranti Express train to promote "Raees" which hits the screens this week on January 25. New York, Jan 24 : A group of attorneys on Monday in New York filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump accusing him of violating the Constitution by receiving money from foreign governments for their diplomats' stays at his hotels or for leasing office space in buildings he owns. The lawsuit was filed by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in the Southern District of New York because a large number of Trump's real estate holdings are located there, EFE news reported. According to the plaintiffs, Trump's properties have created "countless" conflicts of interest and constitute a "serious threat" to the United States. "As the Framers were aware, private financial interests can subtly sway even the most virtuous leaders ... and entanglements between American officials and foreign powers could pose a creeping, insidious threat to the Republic," the lawsuit states. The suit contends that Trump is violating a constitutional clause prohibiting public officials from receiving emoluments from foreign governments and asks the court to issue a ruling on the matter. The specific clause has been disputed by legal experts. Trump and his team have insisted that the President has turned over management of his businesses to his two adult sons, but not the properties themselves, and they claim that he is not legally obligated to divest himself of those properties, a situation that also affects a number of his Cabinet picks. The plaintiffs contend that the clause covers income from renting office space in Trump Tower to a Chinese government bank and the Abu Dhabi tourism office, EFE news added. In addition, foreign diplomats have stayed at Trump's newly opened Washington hotel near the White House and the lawsuit specifically mentions his receipt of "payments from foreign-government-owned broadcasters related to rebroadcasts and foreign versions of the television programme "The Apprentice" and its spin-offs." Trump has promised to donate any profits his companies make from foreign governments using his hotels to the US Treasury. The lawsuit's plaintiffs -- along with other legal experts and consultants -- have insisted that Trump must sell his assets and place the proceeds in a blind trust, just as other recent Presidents have done. Trump, meanwhile, on Monday said the lawsuit is "totally without merit." Washington, Jan 24 : The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 on Monday to support former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and send the nomination to the full Senate for all-but-certain approval. All 11 Republicans on the panel supported GOP President Donald Trump's pick, while the 10 Democratic members voted against the oilman, EFE news reported. Three committee Republicans who had expressed doubts about Tillerson -- John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio -- ultimately rallied around the nominee. McCain and Graham announced on Sunday that they would support confirmation, despite misgivings based on Tillerson's friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his tenure running ExxonMobil, which has extensive investments in Russia. On Monday, Rubio said he would give his vote to Tillerson. "In making my decision on his nomination, I must balance these concerns (about Tillerson's Russia ties) with his extensive experience and success in international commerce, and my belief that the President is entitled to significant deference when it comes to his choices for the cabinet," the Florida senator said. Rubio added, however, that he would extend the "same level of deference" in the case of other nominations for senior posts in the State Department. While Democrats voiced policy differences with Tillerson, they also highlighted his failure to submit his tax returns to the committee. On Friday, hours after Trump was inaugurated, the Senate confirmed his nominees for Secretary of Defence and Secretary of Homeland Security, retired Gens. James Mattis and John Kelly, respectively. The Senate is expected to vote late Monday on the nomination of Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA. Washington, Jan 24 : The US Senate has confirmed Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo as director of the CIA, replacing John Brennan, a media report said on Tuesday. Pompeo was tapped by President Donald Trump (before his inauguration) to head the security agency and would be tasked with polishing the tarnished relationship between the Trump administration and the CIA, Efe news reported. The Central Intelligence Agency that is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the US federal government that gathers, processes and analyzes national security information -- had revealed suspected interference by Russia to favour Trump in the November 8 election. Pompeo's Senate confirmation on Monday did not receive as much opposition during the process as the other top-level and Cabinet nominees that were put forward by Trump. His confirmation was originally scheduled to be voted on January 20, but it was postponed until Monday because of a challenge. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden said that Pompeo had attempted to hide his extreme views on torture and surveillance and provided contradictory answers to lawmakers during the confirmation process. Pompeo, 53, is an ultraconservative lawmaker who gained prominence as a harsh critic of Hillary Clinton over the deadly attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and radical Islamism. Two weeks ago, at his confirmation hearing, Pompeo emphasised that Russia is one of the "main threats" to the US and categorically rejected using torture during interrogations by US intelligence agencies, statements that were at odds with those made by Trump during his campaign. Pompeo received his education at West Point, serving in the US military from 1986-1991, and graduated from Harvard Law School, joining the House of Representatives in 2011 on the Tea Party wave. Meanwhile, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11-10 earlier in the day to support former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as secretary of state and send the nomination to the full Senate for all-but-certain approval. All 11 Republicans on the panel supported GOP President Donald Trump's pick, while the 10 Democratic members voted against the oilman. Canberra, Jan 24 : Australia will work with the remaining TPP nations and salvage what can be of the doomed free trade agreement after the US decision to withdraw from the deal, Trade Minister said. Following US President Donald Trump's overnight decision to axe America's involvement in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, effectively leaving the deal in its current form 'dead in the water', Steve Ciobo said other remaining nations have opened up discussion lines about a potential replacement, as the Trump decision was "not unexpected". "We are not going to walk away from pursuing high quality trade deals that are good for Australian exports," Ciobo said, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. "A number of us had a conversation about a possible 'TPP 12 minus one' in other words, the Trans-Pacific Partnership minus the US in order to keep hold of the gains we've been able to agree (upon)," Ciobo has said. "I've had conversations with Canada, Japan, Mexico, with New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. I know there have been conversations with Chie and Peru. "There are quite a number of countries that have an interest in looking to see if we could make a 'TPP 12 minus one'," the minister said. The Trade Minister also hinted at the possibility of introducing a new, or multiple new nations, into the agreement; he told the ABC there has been interest from Indonesia, while China may also be approached. "The original architecture was to enable other countries to join," Ciobo said. "Certainly I know that Indonesia has expressed a possible interest. And there would be scope for China if we're able to reformulate it to be a 'TPP 12 minus one' for countries like Indonesia or China - or indeed other countries - to consider joining." However, he said, it may be some time before formal discussions about the matter take place, considering Trump was also keen to "renegotiate" the existing North American Free Trade Agreement. "President Trump has indicated he wants to renegotiate elements of the North American FTA, and that would have an impact on Canada and Mexico, which in turn would have an impact on the kind of deal we could reach under the '12 minus one'," Ciobo said. Despite the optimism from the government on the matter, the federal opposition has urged the government to "move on" from the doomed multilateral trade deal, opposition spokesperson Jason Clare said. "This executive order means the TPP is now officially dead," Clare said. "(Prime Minister) Malcolm Turnbull's credibility is not in much better shape." "Last week he announced that his big economic plan for the year was to introduce legislation to implement the TPP. Donald Trump's executive order today means Malcolm Turnbull's big economic plan is also dead. It would have no effect at all. "It's time for Malcolm Turnbull to wake up and move on, and develop a real economic plan for Australia." Kochi, January 24 : Congress working committee member A K Antony has blasted self-financing and private colleges in Kerala, saying that they have been caught in a morass of corruption. He was speaking at a function held in memory of late congress stalwart A C Jose by the Ernakulam district committee of the congress on Monday. Antonys comments come in the wake of protests raging across the state by student outfits against high-handed and arbitrary functioning of managements of self-financing colleges. The protests were triggered by the alleged suicide of Jishnu Pranoy, an engineering student at Nehru College of Engineering and Research Centre, Pampady after the management accused him of committing exam malpractice. It had kicked off a chain of protests with students at several other private colleges across the state raising the banner of revolt against the arbitrary manner of functioning of college managements. Calling for purification of the education sector in the state, Antony charged that the self-financing and aided colleges in the state had become centres of corruption. What the managements are doing is nothing short of robbery, he said. The private and aided educational institutions should be brought under the scrutiny of the vigilance department, he added. Antony attributed the problems assailing the private education sector to the absence of student politics in the colleges in the sector. He also condemned the activists of the students federation of India (SFI), student outfit of CPI(M), who set on fire the principals chair at Maharajas college in Ernakulam, terming the act barbaric. Hyderabad, Jan 24 : Popular Telugu actors such as Pawan Kalyan, Sai Dharam Tej, Varun Tej and Sundeep Kishan among others have declared their support for immediate sanction of special category status to Andhra Pradesh. Spearheading the movement is Pawan Kalyan, who has said that his party Jana Sena will support the proposed protest in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. "If the youth of Andhra Pradesh are planning to do a silent protest at R.K. Beach, Jana Sena will support them," Pawan Kalyan tweeted. He went on to add that "Youth of AP should raise their voice through peaceful protests. This is the only remedy to achieve the promised special status." On Tuesday, he released a special song, a protest musical, Desh Bachao, extending his full support to the movement. The song was the official release via his party's Youtube channel. Actor Varun Tej, who is currently shooting for Telugu romantic-drama "Mister", tweeted: "Will be supporting anything that is for the welfare of the people of our states. I support the special status of AP." Sai Dharam Tej wrote: "It's time for us to be united and fight for what we were promised and deserve. AP demands special status." Actor Sundeep Kishan confirmed his participation in the silent protest. "Will be taking part in the silent protest in Vizag on the 26th to do my bit as a responsible citizen. Please join us, Sundeep tweeted. Chennai, Jan 24 : Actor Suriya's Tamil actioner "SI3", the third instalment in the "Singam" franchise, which was slated for release on Thursday after being deferred multiple times, has been postponed again. In a statement, the makers confirmed the postponement of the film. "There is an unrest situation in the state and it is completely beyond our control. Releasing SI3 under such a distress situation will have a negative impact on the film collections and also on the reputation of the stakeholders. It will be very difficult to monetise and recoup the funds invested in the film under the current circumstances," read the statement. "Considering the sentiments of the Tamil people, prevailing situation in the state, for the general good of stakeholders and all the other vital factors, we regret to postpone the release," it read. Directed by Hari, the film also stars Shruti Haasan, Anushka Shetty and Thakur Anoop Singh. The film marks the return of Suriya as khaki-donning hero Durai Singam, and he will fight crime on an international scale. Following the film's postponement, Tamil romantic-thriller "Adhe Kangal" has advanced its release to Thursday. Bhubaneswar, Jan 24 : At least 30 persons were injured when their bus overturned on the outskirts of the city here on Tuesday. There were 65 passengers, including four children, in the tourist bus at the time of the accident in Dhauli, a Buddhist site. The bus was from Midnapore in West Bengal. The injured were admitted to Capital Hospital here, while several were shifted to SCB medical college and hospital in Cuttack after their condition deteriorated, said a health official. State Tourism Minister Ashok Panda said the accident occurred after the bus driver lost control over the vehicle while negotiating a curve. Prima facie, it appears there was brake failure, Panda said. He also said that the state government would provide free treatment to the injured. The Capital Hospital released its helpline number 0674-2391983. Transport Minister Ramesh Majhi said they would inquire into the incident. Chennai, Jan 24 : Actor Vishnu Manchu, who awaits the release of Telugu action-comedy "Luckunnodu", says a lot of hope and dreams are riding on the film which hits the screens worldwide on Thursday. "Luckunnodu' releasing on Republic Day, Jan 26. Lots of hard work, hope and dreams on this one. Need your love and support," Vishnu tweeted on Tuesday. Directed by Raj Kiran, the film also stars Hansika Motwani, Tanikella Bharani, Prabhas Srinu and Sathyam Rajesh. The film, which was earlier scheduled for release on February 3, has now been advanced to Thursday. According to the makers, there's unprecedented demand for the film following the very good response to the trailer. "Producer MVV Satyanarayana was quick to grab this opportunity and decided to treat the Republic Day holiday crowd and the long weekend with his film. In the US, the film will have a solo release as no other Telugu film is coming out this week. A special premiere is being planned in US on Wednesday," read a statement. Meanwhile, Vishnu is shooting for his next Telugu film "Sarada". Tokyo, Jan 24 : The Japanese government on Tuesday said the Trans-Pacific Partnership was "meaningless" without Washington's participation after the US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withdraw from the multilateral trade agreement. "The TPP is meaningless without the US because it would lose the fundamental balance of benefits," Japanese government spokesman Koichi Hagiuda told the media. However, Tokyo insisted that it will try to convince the Trump administration of the advantages of being integrated into a framework such as that proposed by the TPP, which sought to unite Japan, the US and 10 other countries in the Pacific basin - such as Mexico, Peru or Chile - in the world's largest free trade zone, Efe news reported. "Trump is aware of the importance of free and fair trade. We want to help him understand the strategic and economic merits of the TPP," Hagiuda added. Trump, who pledged in his campaign to pull the US out of the trade alliance, on Monday signed the decree that effectively ends his country's participation in a trans-Pacific free trade agreement. For the entry into force of the TPP, approved last year, it must be ratified by countries that represent at least 85 percent of bloc's gross domestic product. The US alone accounts for 60 percent of the combined GDP of the 12 signatory states while Japan, for its part, accounts for 20 per cent. London, Jan 24 : After analysing minerals from 43 rare meteorites that landed on Earth 470 million years ago, a team of scientists proposes to revise the current understanding of the history and development of the solar system. There was a giant collision in outer space 460 million years ago. Something hit an asteroid and broke it apart, sending chunks of rock falling to Earth as meteorites since before the time of the dinosaurs. The discovery confirms the hypothesis presented by geology professor Birger Schmitz at Lund University in Sweden. He found what he referred to as an "extinct meteorite" - a meteorite dinosaur - which was named "Osterplana 065". The term 'extinct' was used because of its unusual composition, different from all known groups of meteorites, and because it originated from a celestial body that was destroyed in ancient times. The discovery led to the hypothesis that the flow of meteorites may have been completely different 470 million years ago compared to today, as meteorites with such a composition no longer fall on Earth. "The new results confirm the hypothesis. Based on 43 micrometeorites, which are as old as Asterplana 065, the new study shows that back then, the flow was actually dramatically different," said Schmitz. Schmitz conducted the study with colleagues at Lund University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "We can now recreate late history of not only the Earth but of the entire solar system. The scientific value of this new report is greater than the one last summer", Schmitz added in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy. "We found that the meteorite flux, the variety of meteorites falling to Earth, was very, very different from what we see today," added the paper's lead author Philipp Heck of The Field Museum in Chicago. Kolkata, Jan 24 : With just 40 per cent of the Rs 4.93 lakh crore ($72 billion) investments proposed in the past two editions of Bengal Global Business Summits under implementation, should it come as a surprise that the just-concluded third edition fetched about Rs 15,000 crore ($2.2 billion) less proposals than last year? "It may be one rupee or one lakh crore or one rupee or one dollar. I will be happy to see if everything is implemented. But I announce something and don't implement... is something I do not like," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee admitted in her typical populist style at the closing ceremony of the summit. Like previous editions, the two-day event, with giant banners and posters highlighting the state's achievements, was big but lacked some shine this year. However, Banerjee described the showpiece event as "super, super, super successful". According to the state government, the 2015 summit had fetched investment proposals of Rs 2.43 lakh crore and the 2016 edition received over Rs 2.5 lakh crore of proposals. The third edition received over Rs 2.35 lakh crore of investment proposals, the lowest since the government kicked off the process of branding the state. "It would not be correct if one sees West Bengal in isolation. Post-demonetisation, the entire economy of the country is going through a sluggish trend. Unless and until the country's economy is steadied, the investors will continue to have a cautious approach," former professor of Indian Statistical Institute Dipankar Dasgupta told IANS. Dasgupta also said that in the context of the competition among states to attract investors, mere MoUs and investment proposals were not that important -- what was important was the realisation of such proposals. So, 40 per cent comes to about Rs 2 lakh crore of investments that are in the implementation stage. "Maybe, it is happening but I do not know," Dasgupta said. Kalyani University's professor and economist Bysadeb Dasgupta told IANS: "West Bengal's basic infrastructure, though it has improved, is still not up to the mark as compared to relatively higher industrialised states like Gujarat and Maharashtra. This could be a reason for less investment proposals coming to the state." However, the absence of central ministers impacted the mega event adversely in terms of investment proposals and presence of industry bigwigs -- largely because of the war of words post-demonetisation. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who has been a regular visitor at the summits for the past two years, skipped the event this year though the invitation card carried his name. Last year, central ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Suresh Prabhu were also present, but none of them came this time. Usually, central ministers attract industry honchos and public sector entities tend to announce projects and swell the investment kitty. In 2015, NTPC announced investments of Rs 20,000 crore while SAIL proposed a Rs 40,000 crore expansion plan. Total infrastructure investment of Rs 37,482 crore on National Highways was announced in 2016. In 2017, no major public sector company, other than GAIL (India) Ltd, which announced investments of Rs 3,000 crore, in a gas pipeline project, was present at the summit. "The absence of central ministers is clearly due to political reasons but absence of central agencies may also be attributed to the same," Byasdeb Dasgupta said. Economists and industrialists also voiced concern over the state government's hands-off policy on land acquisition and refusal to set up special economic zones even though it has been claiming availability of land in the industrial parks and land bank. In fact, the state government's policy of allowing market mechanism for land requirement came under question after the recent violent anti-farmland acquisition protests in Bhangar of South 24 Parganas district. "The Bhangar incidents have also cast a shadow on the market mechanism. The Power Grid Corporation bought about 16 acres of land directly from cultivators for setting up the project. Almost at the completion of the project, villagers backtracked and protested, alleging they were forced to give the land by local leaders," said a West Bengal-based industrialist on condition of anonymity, adding that the end result was that the project got hampered. "Does the market mechanism provide any guarantee to investors for seamless execution of project?" he asked. Byasdeb Dasgupta said land was no longer an economic issue. "It is a political issue. Mamata Banerjee came to power riding on the land issue. It is her political compulsion not to bring any change in land policy," said the economist. (Bappaditya Chatterjee can be contacted at bappaditya.c@ians.in) Jammu, Jan 24 : A terrorist was killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district as the army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS here that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. Los Angeles, Jan 24 : Actor Mel Gibson, 60, has welcomed his ninth child. The baby boy is from his girlfriend of two years, Rosalind Ross, 26, reports people.com. He was born here on Saturday. Gibson's representative said the baby had been named Lars Gerard. "They're thrilled and Lars is adorable. Their family is all around them and Mel is over the moon. They're home and everybody is healthy and happy," the representative said. Gibson shares seven children with ex-wife Robyn Moore, to whom he was married for 26 years. The "Hacksaw Ridge" director has one daughter from his relationship with Russian pianist Oksana Grigorieva. British narrative historian Giles Milton speaking on the spicy circumstances that led to the birth of New York at the Jaipur Literature Festival Image Source: IANS News British narrative historian Giles Milton speaking on the spicy circumstances that led to the birth of New York at the Jaipur Literature Festival Image Source: IANS News Jaipur, Jan 24 : The birth of what is now the world's most cosmopolitan city is the outcome of a "spicy" conflict over four centuries ago where one man's bravery in defending a small island growing a precious commodity against daunting odds so galvanised his countrymen that they tried to retake it, and when this proved unfeasible, exchanged it for another island on the other side of the world - that of Manhattan. From this conflict between the British and the Dutch throughout the 17th century over nutmeg, which grew in a few islands in what is now Indonesian archipelago, was settled the fate of the city which eventually became New York, contends British author of narrative history, Giles Milton. At a session titled "Nathaniel's Nutmeg: The Spice Trader Who Changed History" at the Jaipur Literature Festival's fifth and final day on Monday, Milton sketched the history of nutmeg, one of the two spices including mace (jaiphal and javitri in Hindi) obtained from the nutmeg tree, which was prized in 16th and 17th century Europe as luxury and status symbol, and most valuable since it came from far away. "It could be obtained from one penny per ten pounds at the spice market in Java and this quantity sold for 2 pounds, 10 shillings in London, making it a valuable trade commodity too," he said. On its contemporary uses, Milton said that it was not prized for only its culinary use or curative properties, but because it was held to be effective in warding off plague and was also believed to be a potent aphrodisiac. "It was the Viagra of the Elizabethan times," he said. Sketching the history of British attempts to secure the spice's supply, Milton. whose first successful book had been this story, recounted the tale of various Elizabethan mariners, including of the newly-set-up East India Company, who tried to ensure this, as well as several unsuccessful attempts including by those who tried to find a different route apart from down into the Atlantic, and across the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean. One man tried to sail north and then southwards, but he and his ship came to a bad end in the Arctic while the second managed to reach Russia's Archangel and laid the foundations of what soon became the Anglo-Muscovy Company. But some hardy mariners followed the traditional route and found success, reaching Bantam, a settlement placed in rather insalubrious conditions, but the central spice market, said Milton, adding the arrival of the British sparked off conflict with the Dutch who had already established themselves there, and it was then that came the epic story of Nathaniel Courthorpe. Nutmeg, which was a "fussy plant, requiring a particular temperature and soil" grew in six islands of the Banda archipelago, and since the Dutch had taken over and fortified the biggest, Courthorpe tried to hold the westernmost of them, Run. Run, which effectively became the first-ever overseas British colony, was held for nearly five years by Courthorpe and his few men against the Dutch, who were a thousand times more powerful, and despite the island not having adequate supplies of food and fresh water. Courthorpe was eventually killed in action and the island taken over, but it was not the end of the story. His example inspired his countrymen, and in another Anglo-Dutch war four decades later, the British managed to capture New Amsterdam on the American coast and proposed to exchange it for Run. In the peace treaty, they kept it since the return of Run was unviable and it was renamed New York, in honour of King Charles' brother, the Duke of York (the future James II) who had led the invasion. "You may think who got the better dea. It was all for the sake of a little nut tree," said Milton, citing the old English nursery rhyme. (Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in) Srinagar, Jan 24 : Security forces on Tuesday shot dead three terrorists, including two foreigners, in Jammu and Kashmir, authorities said. The two foreigners from Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit were killed in a gun battle with security forces in Hadoora village in the northern district of Ganderbal, police said in Srinagar. "The operation was carried out by 5 Rashtriya Rifles, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of police and the Central Reserve Police Force," an officer said. The security forces did not suffer any casualty in the fighting that lasted more than six hours. The battle erupted as the security forces cordoned off Hadoora village following a tip. The terrorists then opened fire at the security forces who retaliated. A terrorist was also killed on Tuesday on the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district as the army foiled an attempt by militants to sneak in from Pakistan. Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Col Manish Mehta told IANS in Jammu that the incident took place in Sunderbani sector. "Troops deployed along the LoC detected the terrorists. They engaged the infiltrating terrorists with automatic weapons. One terrorist was eliminated while the rest fled towards Pakistan," he said. The body of the dead terrorist was recovered with a weapon. "This action assumes significance in view of a large number of intelligence reports of likely terrorist attacks around January 26," the official said, referring to the Republic Day. India accuses Pakistan arming and training terrorists fighting in Jammu and Kashmir. Washington/New Delhi, Jan 24 : Newly-installed US President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak over phone with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday night, four days after he was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. According to a White House press release, Trump will speak to Modi at 11.30 p.m. IST (1 p.m. D.C. time), marking the first official dialogue between the heads of the two democracies. Trump has called four other foreign leaders over the phone since he took over charge from Barack Obama on January 20. The first to receive the call from Trump was Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau followed by Mexican Premier Pena Nieto. Trump called up Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and dialled Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Monday. The Indian PM also gave a congratulatory call to Trump after his surprising victory in the November 8 US presidential election in which he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. In a series of congratulatory tweets, PM Modi had said he looked forward to working with President Trump to "further deepen" India-US ties and "realise the full potential of our cooperation". All throughout his campaign, Trump pushed his India-friendly stand and many times spoke about how important it is to strengthen the relationship with India and Israel if he is elected the 45th President of the United States. At a fundraising event organised by the Republican Hindu Coalition in New Jersey on October 15 last year, Trump praised India's fast growth rate and Modi's bureaucratic and economic reforms. "Under a Trump Administration, we are going to become even better friends, in fact, I would take the term better out and we would be the best friend," Trump had told a cheering crowd of Indian-Americans in Edison, New Jersey. "We are going to have a phenomenal future together," Trump had said praising Modi, adding that "I look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi." New Delhi, Jan 24 : Foreign companies operating in India will remain outside the purview of the rules for determining place of effective management (PoEM) that will come into effect from the next fiscal, while companies outside India engaged in active business are also exempt, the government said here on Tuesday. The government said PoEM will not apply to firms with turnover of Rs 50 crore or less in a year. PoEM rules for determining the place of effective management of a company, in order to assess its tax liability, was to come into effect in the current fiscal, but was deferred till April 1, 2017, to allow companies sufficient time to prepare accounts according to their place of residency under the new norms. "It is emphasised that these guidelines are not intended to cover foreign companies or to tax their global income, merely on the ground of presence of permanent establishment or business connection in India," a Finance Ministry statement said. "The PoEM guidelines shall not apply to companies having turnover or gross receipts of Rs 50 crore or less in a financial year," it said. "Active Business outside India (ABOI) test has been provided, so as not to cover companies outside India which are engaged in active business. The intent is not to target Indian multi nationals which are engaged in business activity outside India. "The intent is to target shell companies and companies which are created for retaining income outside India although real control and management of affairs is located in India," it added. Earlier income tax rules allowed tax avoidance opportunities for companies "to artificially escape the residential status provisions by shifting insignificant or isolated events related with control and management outside India," said a Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) circular here. Indian companies started setting up small subsidiaries in tax havens and vest superficial control of their international operations in them to avoid paying taxes on overseas operations, and only paid taxes on Indian operations. Under the PoEM rules amended by the Finance Act, 2015, a company's global income will be eligible for taxation in India if its effective management and control was situated in India "at any time" during a year instead of throughout the year. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had, in his Budget for the current fiscal, announced that PoEM will be implemented from April 2017. Commenting on the development, Rajendra Nayak, Tax Partner, EY India, said, "Given that PoEM is one of substance over form, in theory, it should always produce results, which reflects the true policy intention. In the modern environment, however, the application of the traditional PoEM factors may not result in its clear determination, or may result in an outcome, which does not appear to accord with the policy intentions." "The guiding principles issued by the CBDT seeks to address some of the practical issues which could arise in application of the PoEM test. The guideline strikes the right balance between providing certainty to taxpayers as well as ensuring that offshore companies with no substance or activities, which are controlled from India, are subject to Indian tax jurisdiction," Nayak added. International accounting firm KPMG in India's Head of Tax Girish Vanvari said in a statement: "The much awaited PoEM guidelines released today stresses on substance over form. It attempts to differentiate between shareholder control, management control and routine decisions." "In the final guidelines, the CBDT has provided adequate safeguards to ensure that PoEM guidelines does not become an oppressive tool in the hands of revenue to harass genuine assessees," said Rakesh Bhargava, Director, Taxmann. "Now an Assessing Officer can ascertain the residential status of foreign company on the basis of PoEM guidelines only after taking two-stage approval," he added. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday ordered a probe after a man died at the Vadodara railway station during a promotional tour of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan's movie "Raees". Directed the Director General of Railway Protection Force to investigate the matter and take stern action against any lapse, Prabhu said in a tweet. Prabhu's action came after Farid Khan Pathan of Vadodara died on the station as a large number of fans went berserk trying to catch a glimpse of Khan. Two other persons were also injured in the incident. The huge crowd thronged the railway station to see Khan on Monday night who was travelling to Delhi on the August Kranti Rajdhani Express from Mumbai to promote his film that would be released on Wednesday. Police had to use lathis to disperse the crowd, that caused injuries to some people on their heads and faces. Agartala/New Delhi, Jan 24 : Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday flagged off a new rail line beyond Agartala -- up to the southern temple city of Udaipur. Prabhu inaugurated the service through video-conference from New Delhi. Tripura PWD and Health Minister Badal Choudhury, Transport Minister Manik Dey and others were at the inaugural at the Agartala station. Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Engineer Harpal Singh said the 44.76-km rail line up to Udaipur (Gomati district) is part of the Agartala-Sabroom (114 km) new broad gauge line project. "The anticipated cost of the Agartala-Sabroom project is Rs 3,351 crore and it will be completed by March 2019," Singh told IANS. There are three crossing stations - Bishalgarh, Bishramganj and Udaipur - and one halt station at Skerkote on the Agartala-Udaipur railway line. There are 58 road crossings and 87 major and minor bridges across the new line. Sabroom is to be connected by rail to secure access to the Chittagong port in Bangladesh. Sabroom is the last border town of Tripura along the Bangladesh border and the sea port is just 75 km away. "After extending the railway line to Sabroom, Tripura and the entire northeast India would be linked with Southeast Asia very easily," Chief Minister Manik Sarkar told IANS. National Highway-8, the lifeline of Tripura, has already been extended up to Sabroom, 135 km south of Agartala. "We completed laying railway tracks up to Udaipur before the March 2017 schedule," the NFR Chief Engineer said. In October 2008, with the extension of the erstwhile metre gauge track up to Agartala, Tripura was put on India's rail map. Subsequently, the metre gauge was converted into broad gauge. Meanwhile, the railways have undertaken work to lay a 15-km track to link Agartala with Bangladesh's Akhaura railway station adjoining Tripura. Islamabad, Jan 24 : Pakistan is slated to host the 13th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in March, the media said. The ECO held its last summit in 2012 at Baku, Azerbaijan. The upcoming summit will take place on March 1, Samaa TV reported. The ECO, a political and economic inter-governmental organisation, was jointly founded in 1985 by Pakistan, Iran and Turkey. It provides a stage to discuss ways to promote trade and investment. The other member states of ECO are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. New Delhi, Jan 24 : India on Tuesday conducted the second successful test of the Guided Pinaka rocket from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch pad at Chandipur in Odisha. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar congratulated both the Army and the DRDO for developing the Guided Pinaka in a very short span of time. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired the Pinaka Multi Barrel Rocket System around 12 45 p.m from the ITR (Integrated Test Range) in the presence of senior artillery officers, an official statement said. According to sources, the range of the rocket has increased from 40 to 70 km with an improved accuracy from 500m to 50m. The Guided Pinaka is a modified version of the Pinaka Rocket, equipped with a navigation, guidance and control kit. This conversion has considerably enhanced the range and accuracy of Pinaka, an official statement said. "The Mission met all the objectives," the statement said.A The Radars, Electro Optical and Telemetry Systems at ITR Chandipur tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path. Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister G. Satheesh Reddy, who was present during the launch operations, said the success of Guided Pinaka has "reinforced the technological strength of the country in converting unguided systems into weapons of high precision." On January 12, the first test flight of the improved version was conducted by the DRDO. The radars, electro-optical and telemetry systems at Chandipur, tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight-path. The Guided Pinaka is developed jointly by Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL). India at present is operating two regiments of Pinaka and has ordered for two more regiments. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) last year cleared a proposal for six additional regiments at a cost of Rs 14,633 crore. Washington, Jan 24 : Former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has urged newly-inaugurated US President Donald Trump to appoint an envoy for South Asia as soon as possible and seize an opportunity missed by the Obama administration to coordinate a top-level response to the regional terrorist threat. In an interview to The Washington Times, the Pakistan Peoples Party co-chair also said that Trump's critics should not dismiss him but rather give him a chance to make his mark in the region, beset by conflicts in Afghanistan, terrorist movements and the tense India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir. "Wait for the first 90 days at least, and then we see how the cookie crumbles, or talks and walks," Zardari said. "The man has managed to get a majority in states where it was never imagined that the Democrats could lose...So how do we underestimate him?" On January 20, Zardari attended the inauguration of Trump as the 45th President of the US. He also highlighted the fact that Trump won against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the November 8 elections in those states where defeating Democrats was deemed impossible, Pakistan Today reported. Zardari further claimed that Trump should avail the chances to defeat terrorism which his predecessor Barack Obama did not. He urged Trump to do what Obama did not. "Barack Obama did not keep appropriate contact with any Chief Executive of Pakistan," said Zardari. Beijing, Jan 24 : China on Tuesday asked the US to watch its words and actions on the disputed South China Sea after Washington said it won't allow Beijing to take over the energy-rich waters. "The US is not a claimant in the related disputes in the South China Sea," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying was quoted as saying by South China Morning Post. "We urge the US side to respect the reality, to be cautious in its remarks and actions, so as to avoid undermining the peace and stability in the region," said Hua. Hua's remarks followed White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer saying that the US would stop Beijing in taking over the international waters in the South China Sea. According to The Guardian, Spice said the US would "make sure that we protect our interests". Tensions have risen between China and the US over the world's busiest commercial sea route, after new American President Donald Trump openly challenged Beijing's sovereignty over waters -- a stance avoided by his predecessor Barack Obama. Earlier, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US would block China's access to the islands in the South China Sea, infuriating Beijing. Trade worth $5 trillion passes through the South China Sea every year. South China Sea has become the world's most contested region, with China and five other littoral states laying claims to it. The zone has become highly militarised with claimant countries installing weapons on the islands claimed by them. Of all, Beijing claims almost the entire body even though the claims were rejected by an international court last year. Agartala, Jan 24 : Asserting that the northeast is a priority area for the central government which proposed to make the region a most developed area, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday inaugurated a new rail line beyond Agartala up to Udaipur. Prabhu inaugurated the Agartala-Udaipur 44.76-km rail line through video-conference from New Delhi. He said: "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is fully focused on the northeast. During the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government, the railway budget for northeast was Rs 2,021 crore and it was increased to Rs 5,340 crore in the current year's (2016-17) budget." "The railway budget for the northeastern region would be further increased in the upcoming financial year (2017-18). We have taken all out efforts to resolve the problems and backwardness of the northeastern region," Prabhu added. The Railway Minister said the last border town of Tripura, Sabroom, is being connected by rail network after spending Rs 1,200 crore to secure access to the Chittagong international sea port in Bangladesh. Prabhu said: "After extension of the railway line up to Udaipur, two famous temples -- Kamakhya (in Guwahati) and Tripura Sundari temple (in Udaipur) -- have been connected by railway network. As I love the northeast region, I frequently visit the region to ovsersee the ongoing railway projects in the region." Tripura's PWD and Health Minister Badal Choudhury and Transport Minister Manik Dey, among others, attended the inaugural function at the Agartala railway station. Chief Administrative Officer of the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) A.K. Yadav said the railway has undertaken ambitious plans to connect by 2020 all the state capitals of the northeastern states by rail network. Dey said that besides proposed rail link between Tripura and Bangladesh, northeastern states can be easily connected by railway with Myanmar to access the railway communications of the southeast Asia. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Budget passenger carrier AirAsia India has started a discount offer of 50 per cent on the return leg of round trips booked via its website and mobile-based application (App). "The discount is available on airasia.com and the AirAsia mobile App from January 23 to 29, 2017 for travel between February 1 and April 30, 2017," the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. "It (offer) covers flights operated by AirAsia India spanning all destinations including recently added Srinagar and Bagdogra." The airline will start flying to Srinagar and Bagdogra from February 19. Currently, the airline flies to 11 destinations with its two hubs in Bengaluru and New Delhi. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Signifying the high importance India attaches to its ties with the UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday personally went to Delhi airport to receive Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who arrived here to attend the Republic Day celebrations as chief guest. "Special gesture for special guest! PM @narendramodi receives H.H. Mohammad Bin Zayed The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted along with pictures of the two leaders. Modi welcomed Sheikh Mohamed after he alighted from the aircraft with a warm hug. This is Sheikh Mohamed's second visit to India after his visit in February 2016. Ties between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been on the upswing ever since Modi made a historical visit to the Gulf nation in August 2015. It was the first prime ministerial visit from India to the UAE in 34 years after the visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1981. On Wednesday, Modi and Sheikh Mohamed will head bilateral delegation-level talks following which a number of agreements, including one on creation of an investment fund, are expected to be signed. The visiting dignitary will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee and have a meeting with Vice President Hamid Ansari. On Thursday, Sheikh Mohamed will attend the Republic Day parade as the chief guest. A contingent of the UAE armed forces will also march along with the Indian armed forces during the parade. The UAE is home to around 2.6 million expatriate Indians. Abohar (Punjab), Jan 24 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday warned Pakistan of stern action if it continued trying to destabilise India through smuggling of drugs and terrorism. Addressing an election rally here in Fazilka district of the poll-bound state, Rajnath Singh dubbed the Congress as a "sinking ship" and called upon the people to bring the BJP-SAD to power again in Punjab. Targeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Rajnath Singh blamed Pakistan for supplying drugs into India. "There is this young Congress leader, who celebrated New Year in a foreign country, calling Punjab youth as addicts," said the Home Minister referring to Gandhi's earlier remarks that 70 per cent of Punjab youth were addicted to drugs. "I admit our neighbouring country Pakistan constantly endeavours to smuggle drugs to India to destroy the Indian youth. But I want to assure you that if you bring the BJP-SAD to power in Punjab we will take to task all those who indulge in this. "From drugs to terrorism, Pakistan has been constantly engaged in its bid to destabilise India. But I am here to warn Pakistan that get rid of all these habits or else we have already shown what we can do. "Our armed forces have already proved that if the need be, we can cross the line," he said referring to Indian Army's September 29 cross-border surgical strikes. Flaying the Congress over corruption, Rajnath Singh said: "It has been more than two and half years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, but even our staunchest critics cannot bring corruption charges against us." "The Congress which indulges in corruption is now asking for votes. I can say only one thing to Captain Sahab (Congress' chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh), steering a sinking ship is a very tough ask. "Congress is a sinking ship not just in Punjab but in entire India," added Rajnath Singh. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Setting an example for other nations, especially the first world, to contain global warming, India on Tuesday approved the ratification of the Doha Amendment that binds certain developed countries to reduce their emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs) till 2020. The decision to meet the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was taken by the Union cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Kyoto Protocol, that was adopted in 1997 and came into force in February 2005, is an international agreement under United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which binds a certain group of "developed countries" (listed under Annexe-I) of its total 192 parties to reduce their emissions. While the landmark Paris climate change agreement -- COP21, that entered into force in November 2016 (during COP22), is for the post-2020 period, the Kyoto Protocol is like the pre-2020 agenda to contain climate change. "In view of the critical role played by India in securing international consensus on climate change issues, this decision further underlines India's leadership... to global cause of environmental protection and climate justice," an official statement said. India ratifying the Kyoto Protocol will also encourage other developing countries to follow suit. The first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol was between 2008 to 2012 and the second period -- the Doha Amendment -- which was adopted in 2012, was to enter in action in 2013 to 2020. It is yet to enter into force as it requires 144 ratifications out of the 192 parties to the Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol is the commitment of the developed countries -- the major cause of global warming due to their higher emissions, to bring these down. However, unlike the Paris Agreement, the Kyoto Protocol does not bind its "developing parties or counties" like India and China (based on the per capita emission) into any kind of obligation to reduce the emissions or set any targets. The targets are only applicable to the less than 40 countries listed in Annexe-I. The US, which amounts for about 17 per cent of global emissions (the highest), was among the first developed countries to oppose the Kyoto Protocol and has not signed it yet. Canada, following the US, has also withdrawn from the Protocol. Experts see India's move as a step to build pressure on the developed countries to operationalise the Doha Amendment. During the first commitment period of the Protocol (2008-12), 37 industrialised countries and the European Community committed to reduce GHG emissions to around five per cent against the 1990 levels. Under the Doha Amendment, which should've become operational on January 1, 2013, the obligated parties are required to work towards reducing the GHC emissions by at least 18 per cent below 1990 levels, till 2020 before the Paris Agreement kicks in. Parties are also supposed to report a revised list of the GHCs during second commitment period. Meanwhile, in absence of any global binding committments since 2013, the year 2016 was the warmest so far, followed by 2015 and 2014. Chennai, Jan 24 : PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Tuesday sought a probe by the CBI and by a Madras High Court judge into the violence in Chennai and Madurai on Monday. Ramadoss said in a statement that there was sufficient proof to prove that police and anti-social elements indulged in the violence and not protesters favouring Jallikattu, the bull taming sport. Regretting that a protest to redeem Tamil Nadu's tradition and culture ended in violence, he said many organisations were not able to digest the neutral protest and worked to deflect its focus. He said a couple of persons arrested for violence belonged to a political party. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Higgins Fashion League 2017, a three-day fashion event that was scheduled to take place in Dubai with some of India's ace designer labels participating in it, has been postponed because organisers did not get the required licence from the authorities. Founded by Sriram and directed by Liza Varma, the fashion extravaganza was scheduled to take place at Sobha Hartland in Dubai. However, on Tuesday, Varma issued an apology to the Indian media which was due to travel for the gala -- including IANS -- for the inconvenience caused. "We sincerely regret to inform you that our event has been postponed with such short notice due to our venue sponsor, Sobha Hartland, unable to get the necessary grants and licences to host our fashion show and exhibition. "We were only informed of this last afternoon and have desperately spent all of yesterday trying to figure out an alternative venue so this crisis could be averted. But sadly it is impossible to gain this necessary licence from the government of Dubai (Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing) via any hotel also in a span of two days vis-a-vis when our event starts," the mail reads. Varma said they will come up with fresh dates soon. "We are trying our level best to sort that out on priority basis." When the event was announced, organisers had said over 50 exhibitors, including various national and international designers, including Satya Paul, Lecoanet Hemant, Charu Parashar, David Tlale from South Africa, Hindi Couture from Paris, Lida Oreilly from Mauritius, Royal Fables Trunk Collection, Silver Tulip, It's all about weaves and more, would participate. Talking to IANS, Sagar said the postponement won't affect his brand. However, he said it's not good for the organisers to make an announcement and then cancel it. "It's not a setback for us per se, but it's not good for the organisers. They can't arrange an event to cancel it. I am sorry to tell you that the mistake is not neutralised. Asking for authorization now means they initiated very late. This is what I don't agree when people give excuses. "If you want a good fashion show, then everything has to be organised," he added. Parashar, who had other plans in Dubai during the same time, says it will cause "inconvenience for new brands". "I have four to five things happening at the same time, so this won't affect me that much. I had some of previews happening at the store at the same time. If I need to fly down (to Dubai), I will fly on my own for the preview, because I can't cancel that. "The postponement can affect those brands who are new, but it's not a big deal for me," she told IANS. Some Bollywood celebrities and former beauty queens like Neha Dhupia and Parvathy Omanakuttan were also slated to be part of the event. (Nivedita can be contacted at Nivedita.s@ians.in) Panaji, Jan 24 : BJP president Amit Shah's rare literary hyperbole on Monday, referring to Goa as a mole that enhances India's beauty appears to have stirred many a native soul in India's smallest state. Shah, while speaking at a poll rally in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from Panaji, had said: "Goa is a small state. In such a big country, it is located along the Western shores. Goa may be a small state, but it is a beautiful state. God sometimes places a mole on a beautiful face, which enhances the beauty of the face. The same way, because of Goa's beauty and culture, the beauty of India is enhanced. This is how beautiful Goa is". "Does he have a speech writer, or did he come up with this on his own," asked Bevinda Colaco, who runs an online information portal out of Goa, in response to Shah's unusual observation. Shah incidentally, is not the first national figure to compare Goa to a facial characteristic, the other being none other than former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Verinder Grover, in his book 'Africa and India's foreign policy', quotes Nehru's describing a pre-liberation Goa, as "an ugly pimple on the fair face of India". Nehru's reference to Portuguese-ruled Goa as a pimple, can also be found in former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio de Oliveira Salazar's biography 'Salazar: A Political Biography' by Filipe Ribeiro De Menese. The comparison of Goa as a facial blip -- mole or pimple irrespective -- against the larger canvas of mainstream India has also triggered frosty sarcasm among a section of denizens of this sunny state. "If Goa's purpose in the Indian union is to beautify, the ugly face of the Indian nation, I think we are better off with secession," remarked Kaustubh Naik, a research scholar from Goa. Kolkata, Jan 24 : Hollywood actress and acclaimed humanitarian Ashley Judd, who was a prominent participant in the Women's March in Washington, mingled with children from red light areas of the eastern metropolis on Tuesday with a message to end human trafficking. The "Divergent" and "Double Jeopardy" star is in the city to attend the Kolkata Literary Meet. Supporting NGO Apne Aap in combating sex trafficking, Judd was seen tying shoe laces for the children and playing with them. She is expected to visit Sonagachi, one of Asia's biggest red light areas, during her stay here. "Love in double time. I am so blessed. End human trafficking. No such thing @apneaap @Polaris_Project #Kolkata #rightsforgirls @UN," Judd tweeted. The United Nations Population Fund's Goodwill Ambassador reinforced her message by posting pictures from an outing with the children. "From Kolkata with love. Education and skills, not sex. #EndHumanTrafficking @apneaap @APathAppears @PolarisProject @UNFPA @UNICEF," she said. Judd, who had endorsed former US President Barack Obama's presidential campaigns both times said: 'From Kolkata with love. #CoolMenDontBuySex @RightsforGirls @apneaap #EndSexTrafficking." In the Women's March, that included many artistes who refused to attend Donald Trump's inauguration as President of the United States last Friday, she performed a poem written by poet Nina Donovan, "Nasty Woman", to thundering applause. In Delhi, she will be attending the Last Girl First: World Congress against Sexual Exploitation. Patna, Jan 24 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday attacked the BJP by reminding its leaders that the party's predecessor Jan Sangh had opposed the reservation policy of socialist leader and icon of backward politics Karpoori Thakur. Thakur, who had announced the reservation policy as the Chief Minister of Bihar during late 1970s, was removed from the post under pressure from the Jan Sangh, Nitish Kumar said. "Thakur-led government of the Janata Party had faced opposition from its own party legislators, who were from Jan Sangh, and they questioned his reservation policy and removed him as the Chief Minister. "But today, I am happy that at last the same people -- the BJP -- have surrendered to Thakur's ideology and his stand on reservation and celeberating his birth anniversary," he said at a function of his party Janata Dal-United (JD-U) here to mark the birth anniversary of Thakur. The Bihar Chief Minister used the opportunity to mock BJP for celebrating the anniversary of Thakur by saying that "those who have nothing to do with his brand of politics are celebrating it". Nitish Kumar said the Jan Sangh, which merged with the Janata Party that formed the government in Bihar led by Thakur, played a key role in the removal of Thakur as the Chief Minister. Highlighting the works of the "former Bihar Chief Minister of the downtrodden", Nitish Kumar said his government is walking on the path shown by the socialist leader. "The Grand Alliance government led by me will fulfil the dream of Thakur." Thakur is popularly known as the "Jan Nayak" (people's leader) for championing the cause of the poor and the downtrodden. Thakur was the Chief Minister of Bihar from December 1970 to June 1971 and from December 1977 to April 1979. He was born on January 24, 1924, and died on February 17, 1988. Chennai, Jan 24 : PETA India on Tuesday responded to actor-filmmaker Kamal Haasan's dare to ban bull riding rodeos in Donald Trump-led US, saying the animal rights organisation helps animals only in India. Kamal, who feels Jallikattu -- the ancient bull-taming sport in Tamil Nadu -- should not be banned but regulated, recently told PETA in a tweet: "PETA go ban bull riding rodeos in Mr. Trump's US. You're not qualified to tackle our bulls. Empires have been made to quit India." In response to this, Poorva Joshipura, PETA India CEO, said in a statement: "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, as is indicated by its name, helps animals in India only and is an Indian entity." PETA US, on the other hand, has been working to stop animal abuse in the United States since 1980, where bull fighting is illegal and cruel activities associated with the rodeo, which Kamal refers to, are also against the law in many states, the PETA CEO added. "The rodeo is further prohibited in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and elsewhere. Spanish supporters of another organisation, PETA Europe, have made bull fights in many areas of Spain illegal," added Joshipura. On Tuesday, Kamal held a press conference at his residence and told the media that the agitation against the ban on Jallikattu is nothing but a symbol of discontent and anger among people. Beijing, Jan 24 : China on Tuesday announced it will continue to push forward alternatives to the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement after the United States withdrew from it. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference that China remains committed to economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, and will continue to encourage negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), EFE reported. The TPP that US President Donald Trump rejected on Monday, keeping to his campaign promise, was long seen as a US initiative to counter China's economic and trade power in the region. Beijing, which is not a signatory to the TPP, has consistently favored the RCEP and FTAAP, agreements it has signed, over it. "China has been advocating transparent and win-win free trade arrangements. We believe that trade rules should apply equally to all parties," said Hua. "We are ready to work with all parties, keeping in mind the economic differences and diversity in this region," added Hua, who recalled that President Xi Jinping has defended these positions in favor of free trade, both during the Asia Pacific summit in Lima and the recent Davos Forum. "China has played a real, tangible role and we are ready to work with other parties to overcome the difficulties and contribute toward facing global challenges," added Hua. The RCEP brings together the countries belonging to the Association of Asia Pacific Nations- Australia, South Korea, India, Japan, New Zealand and China. Beijing, which already has free trade agreements with the ASEAN countries, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, among others, hopes RCEP will lead to a greater FTAAP, which Beijing had promoted when it hosted the Asia-Pacific Summit in 2014. "World economy remains weak and global trade is still suffering fluctuations and countries must work together to pursue open, inclusive and interconnected development," Hua said. Astana, Jan 24 : Russia, Iran and Turkey on Tuesday announced they will establish a trilateral mechanism to support the ceasefire in Syria and urged the Syrian opposition to take part in Geneva peace talks. "The delegations of Iran, Russia and Turkey support the start of negotiations between the government of Syria and armed opposition in Astana, January 23-24, 2017," said a statement issued at the end of talks here and read out by Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov. Moscow, Tehran and Ankara agreed that the Syrian crisis can be only resolved through a political process and that there can be no military solution. The sides also agreed to a joint fight against militants from the Islamic State, which alongside Al Nusra front has not been included in the negotiations. The trio also suggested separating the terrorists from Syrian armed opposition groups. They also welcomed the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 on the Syrian crisis, which was adopted in December 2015. The countries said that they support the willingness of the armed opposition groups to take part in the next round of talks, which are scheduled for February 8 in Geneva. Syria has seen almost six years of a bloody civil war that has claimed over 250,000 civilian lives. Syrian pro-democracy protests in March 2011 escalated into the civil war as rebel groups were formed to fight the government of President Bashar al-Assad. The conflict has now acquired sectarian overtones, pitching the country's Sunni majority against Shias, and drawn in regional and world powers, including Russia, the US, Turkey. Chennai, Jan 24 : Life in Tamil Nadu was normal on Tuesday after a day of violence linked to Jallikattu, but police came under attack for breaking peaceful protests and for allegedly indulging in arson. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognizance of media reports that police attacked, arrested and damaged private property in order to disperse a large pro-Jallikattu gathering. The NHRC issued notices to the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, the Director General of Police and Chennai's Commissioner of Police. "The visuals on news channels show that police set on fire huts, autos, motorcycles, vegetable shops and other properties in Chennai. The bleeding students ran for their life," it said in a statement. "Police even entered houses and started beating people indiscriminately. The police blocked the major routes leading to Marina Beach as well as Chennai city." A video showing women and men in police uniform setting fire to vehicles and huts and damaging two-wheelers here on Monday went viral, sending shockwaves across the state. Police said the video was a fake. Although a small group of people remained at the Marina beach on Tuesday, life was back on track in Chennai. "Buses as well as suburban and metro trains are operating as usual," an official told IANS. A large contingent of police remained at the Marina. The railways for the first time in recent days did not cancel any train fully though partial cancellations and diversion of trains were announced. On Monday, police invaded the sprawling beach and forcibly began removing the thousands of young men and women massed in support of the lifting of the Supreme Court ban on Jallikattu. This triggered largescale violence in parts of Chennai, leaving some 60 people injured and leading to about 40 arrests. Violence was also reported from distant Madurai district. On Tuesday, noted Tamil actor Kamal Haasan expressed shock over the alleged acts of arson committed by police and also criticized the police crackdown on the Marina beach. "This whole agitation is a symbol of discontent and decades of various kinds of anger," he told the media here. "It is not a sudden outburst. It happened because we found a reason (to protest)." Asked if the protest should be seen as anti-national because of the anti-India slogans raised, he said: "Several political leaders in the past have demanded a separate Tamil Nadu. Were they anti-national?" PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss sought a probe by the CBI and by a Madras High Court judge into the violence in Chennai and Madurai. He said there was sufficient proof to prove that police and anti-social elements indulged in the violence and not protesters. DMK leader M.K. Stalin demanded a judicial probe into the police action. He said the police watched the protest from the sidelines for seven days and acted just when the state assembly was set to pass a bill to legalize the bull taming sport. He condemned Chennai Police Commissioner S. George for calling the demonstrators anti-social and anti-national. George said the police acted on Monday because "anti-national forces" had infiltrated the Marina protest. The police booked cases against 25 persons for violence. At Alanganallur in Madurai district, a place known for Jallikattu, the sport will be held on February 1. It took place elsewhere in the state on Sunday. Lucknow, Jan 24 : In a major setback to the outgoing Akhilesh Yadav government in the state, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday stayed its proposal to include 17 sub-castes in the Scheduled Castes (SC) category. A bench of Chief Justice D.B. Bhonsle and Justice Yashwant Verma, while staying the decision, issued the directives to the Principal Secretary of Social Welfare to ensure that a circular was issued to all District Magistrates (DMs) not to issue any such certificates. The court also ruled that these sub-castes -- Kahaar, Kumhaar, Gond, Manjhi, Prajapati, Rajbhar and others -- are not entitled to the SC certification. The decision was challenged by a Gorakhpur-based organisation, which had pleaded that only Parliament was empowered to enact any such law. Washington, Jan 24 : With President Donald Trump withdrawing his country from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it could mean a big blow for the 11 other nations that signed up, though New Zealand and Australia have said they are hopeful of pressing ahead with the mega trade deal. On Monday, Donald Trump began his efforts to dismantle Barack Obama's legacy, formally scrapping the flagship trade deal between 12 Asia-Pacific countries, that together represent 40 per cent of the world economy. Trump had denounced the trade deal as a "job killer". "Great thing for the American worker, what we just did," Trump told reporters on Monday in the Oval Office as he signed the order, fulfilling his campaign promise. The US Congress hasn't approved the deal yet. The TPP had been negotiated under former President Barack Obama and was signed by ministers from these 12 countries in February last year after more than five-year-long negotiation The trade deal -- which has also included Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei -- aimed to deepen economic ties between these nations, slashing tariffs for American imports and exports with those countries. The deal was seen as a remarkable achievement given the very different approaches and standards within the member countries, including environmental protection, workers' rights and regulatory coherence. To take effect, six countries representing 85 per cent of the group's economic output would have to ratify it. Now minus the US, which accounts for 62 per cent on its own, this cannot happen. Trump has said he would pursue bilateral deals, and would be "going back to those countries one-on-one" to find terms more favourable to the United States. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his government would find a way forward. Australian Trade Minister Steve Ciobo said on Tuesday it would require "a little bit of elbow grease" to orchestrate a plan B with the remaining TPP members, including Japan, Mexico and Canada, but goodwill remained to "capture the gains" made under the agreement. Singapore said Tuesday it will pursue other trade agreements after Trump withdrew from the deal. A spokesperson for the ministry of trade and industry told the media there are other trade agreements that are similar to the TPP such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The Japanese government said the deal was "meaningless" without the participation of the US. "We don't have the choice America has. It's big enough that they can make a living selling things to themselves," said New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English on Monday. "We have to trade." "Economists have warned that many of Trump's proposals - including suggestions that he would impose blanket double-digit tariffs on goods from Mexico and China - could backfire on the American economy by causing prices to rise or igniting a trade war," wrote Washington Post's Ylan Q. Mui. Former President Barack Obama treated trade deals as a priority during his tenure, and through this particular deal, he sought to reassert American influence in Asia and balance against a rising China. But US opponents have characterised the TPP as a secretive deal that favoured big business and other countries at the expense of American jobs and national sovereignty. On the campaign trail Donald Trump called it a "horrible deal". Critics also said that the deal would cost US jobs and the TPP would pave the way for companies to sue governments that change policy on to favour state-provided services. And it was also seen as intensifying competition between countries' labour forces. China, which was not part of the deal, has hinted it may look to take advantage of TTP's collapse saying it was in favour of "open and transparent regional economic arrangements". "Trump has single-handedly given away an enormous source of leverage over China," Edward Alden, of the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNN. "The first rule of negotiating is don't give away something for nothing, and he's done that right off the bat." The Trump administration has also announced to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with Canada and Mexico, that was ratified decades ago with the consent of the Senate Trump said that he would soon meet leaders of Mexico and Canada to discuss the renegotiation of NAFTA. The White House said it will pursue trade deals which are in the interests of American workers and crack down on nations that violate trade agreements and harm American workers. At a meeting with business leaders on Monday, Trump also said that the administration will impose "a very major border tax" on companies that are shifting production overseas. International institutions, such as World Bank and International Monetary Fund, have warned that the inward-looking policy and protectionism could be a threat to global growth. Also, in a meeting with business leaders on Monday, Trump promised to cut taxes "massively" and slash regulations by 75 per cent, CNBC reported. He also warned during a meeting at the White House that he would impose a "border tax" on goods imported by companies that move jobs out of the US. London, Jan 24 : Britain's top court ruled on Tuesday that Prime Minister Theresa May's government must seek parliamentary approval before it can start the formal legal process for withdrawing from the European Union (EU), the media reported. According to the ruling, Theresa May cannot withdraw Britain from the EU alone and must get approval from MPs and peers first, the Independent reported. Reading out the judgement, Supreme Court President David Neuberger said: "By a majority of eight to three, the Supreme Court today (Tuesday) rules that the government cannot trigger Article 50 (the mechanism that formally initiates a two-year negotiation period to leave the EU) without an Act of Parliament authorising it to do so." May has vowed to enact the legislation by the end of March. The Supreme Court ruled that there was no need for the government to wait for consent from the devolved assemblies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, said a report in the Guardian. Although the ruling, according to reports, represents a blow to Theresa May's intended timetable on Brexit, a Downing Street spokesman said it had not changed the verdict of the British people. "It's important to remember that Parliament backed the referendum by a margin of six to one and has already indicated its support for getting on with the process of exit to the timetable we have set out," a spokesman said. "We respect the Supreme Court's decision, and will set out our next steps to Parliament shortly." The Scottish National Party (SNP) and Liberal Democrats are likely to vote against the bill if their amendments are not passed, and some Labour rebels will join them, said the report. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said his party would not "frustrate the process for invoking Article 50" but would seek to amend the government's bill. Corbyn said: "Labour will seek to amend the Article 50 bill to prevent the Conservatives using Brexit to turn Britain into a bargain basement tax haven off the coast of Europe." "Labour will seek to build in the principles of full, tariff-free access to the single market and maintenance of workers' rights and social and environmental protections. "The party is demanding a plan from the government to ensure it is accountable to parliament throughout the negotiations and a meaningful vote to ensure the final deal is given parliamentary approval," Corbyn further said. Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron confirmed his party would vote against Article 50 unless people were given another vote on the final deal. Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon, said the ruling showed the promises made to the Scottish government on devolution were "not worth the paper they were written on". She said the Scottish Parliament would still have an opportunity to vote on whether it consented to the triggering of Article 50. Attorney-General Jeremy Wright said the government was "disappointed" by the Supreme Court ruling but would comply with it. He said enacting the decision would now be a political and not legal matter. The case against the government was brought by Gina Miller, an investment manager, and hairdresser Deir Tozetti Dos Santos. Outside the court, she said MPs would now have the chance to help the government select the best course in Brexit talks. She added that her victory was "not about politics, but process". The pound fell on Tuesday after the Supreme Court ruling. The pound was recently trading at $1.246, down around 0.6 per cent on the day. Before the judgement sterling was above $1.25, at a five-week high. Against the euro, sterling was 0.3 per cent lower at A1.160. Thiruvananthapuram, January 24 : A special court here in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday pulled up the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau (VACB) over the latters failure to register a first information report (FIR) in the Pattoor land grab case despite prima facie evidence showing encroachment of government property by a private person. Vigilance inquiry commissioner and special judge A Badarudeen censored the investigating agency while considering a petition filed by CPI(M) veteran and administrative reforms commission chairman V S Achuthanandan flagging the VACBs failure to register a case against the accused. The counsel for VACB, however, told the court that the delay in registering FIR was on account of a quick verification being on in the case and certain files pertinent to the case being in the possession of the Lok Ayukta. The court directed counsel for the petitioner to furnish evidence, if any, in his possession. The Pattoor land grab case pertains to allegations that the UDF government helped a realtor company appropriate government land. The realtor had allegedly erected an edifice over property through which ran a sewage pipeline. The charge against the government is that it shifted the pipeline at the behest of the realtor to enable the latter to usurp public land belonging to the KWA. V S Achuthanandan had moved the Vigilance Court accusing Oommen Chandy and other officials including former Chief Secretary Bharat Bhushan of violating the rules of business to help the realtor usurp 30 cents of public land vested with the KWA. Chandigarh, Jan 24 : In view of a section of Jat leadership threatening to renew the community's pro-reservation agitation from January 29, the Haryana government on Tuesday directed the civil and police administration to undertake people contact programme to maintain peace in the state. In a written communication to all administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners, Inspectors General of Police, Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police and Superintendents of Police, the government has directed them to closely monitor the situation and take necessary steps immediately, a Haryana government spokesman said here on Tuesday. "They must ensure the security of all major critical points like drinking water supply to Delhi in Karnal and Sonipat. Also, traffic movement on the G.T. road (National Highway No.1) and roadways depots should also be secured. All departments should also secure their own installations and services with the assistance of their own staff and the police wherever required," the communication said. The divisional and district authorities have been directed to send daily updates on the ground situation from their respective areas to the state headquarters. A section of the Jat leadership recently announced its move to renew the Jat agitation for reservation which left 30 people dead last year. The Haryana government and police was keeping a close watch on some Jat leaders, especially those owing allegiance to the All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) headed by Yashpal Malik. The AIJASS has given a call for Jat protests from January 29. Haryana Director General of Police K.P. Singh said earlier that if anyone was found indulged in any illegal activity or causing loss to public property, action would be initiated against him. The state government has requisitioned 55 companies of central police forces and ordered the deputing of 7,000 Home Guards in districts where trouble was expected during the agitation. The Jat agitation in February last year left 30 people dead and over 200 injured. Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar and other districts were the worst affected during the Jat agitation last year. Government and private property worth hundreds of crores was damaged and set on fire. Large-scale looting of commercial and business premises and even motorists was reported from the 10 worst affected districts. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said that people should refrain from participating in any agitation. He said the government will deal with the situation. Panaji, Jan 24 : The opposition in Goa has reacted sharply to BJP President Amit Shah's comment that a new BJP government in the state will be led by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar even if he is in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) likened Parrikar to Sonia Gandhi and the manner in which the Congress President controlled the Prime Minister's Office during the UPA government. The Congress also accused Parrikar of trying to run Goa by "remote control". AAP spokesperson Oscar Rebello said the BJP was being hypocritical in its approach. "For 10 years, they told us Sonia Gandhi is an extra-constitutional power and what right does she have to instruct Manmohan Singh. Now Manohar Parrikar is Goa's Sonia Gandhi. Without contesting elections from Goa, he will be ruling from Delhi," Rebello said. "There is a lot of demand for Parrikarji, in Delhi and here too. Hundreds of people from here (Goa) too say, send Parrikarji here. There, Narendra bhai needs him," Amit Shah said on Monday. "But I want to say one thing. Wherever Parrikarji is, the government in Goa will be under the leadership of Parrikarji. Goans should be assured of that," he told a rally in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from Panaji. "This is nothing but rule by remote control," opposition leader Pratapsingh Rane told IANS. Los Angeles, Jan 24 : Hollywood romantic musical comedy-drama film "La La Land" has picked up 14 Oscar nominations, it was announced here on Tuesday. "Lion", which is set in India and Australia, has received six nominations for the prestigious Academy Awards, which will be handed over to winners in a star-studded ceremony on February 26 here. "La La Land", which won seven Golden Globes earlier this year, has been nominated in categories like Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Stone) and Best Directing (Damien Chazelle). "Lion" that tells the true story about an Indian boy who falls asleep on a train only to wake up and realise he is miles away from home in a strange land where he does not speak the language, has received six nominations. Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel won an Oscar nomination for featuring in "Lion", helmed by Garth Davis. While it is a time for celebration for Dev, India's Oscar-winning music maestro A.R. Rahman couldn't make it to the nominations list. Celebrities like Terrence Howard and Brie Larson joined Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to reveal the 89th Oscars nominations in two batches. Among the top categories, Gosling will vie for Best Actor in a Leading Role with Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea"), Denzel Washington ("Fences"), Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic") and Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge"). Stone will compete against Isabelle Huppert ("Elle"), Ruth Negga ("Loving"), Natalie Portman ("Jackie") and Meryl Streep ("Florence Foster Jenkins") for the Best Actress in a Leading Role trophy. To win Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar, Dev will have to defeat Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight"), Jeff Bridges ("Hell or High Water"), Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea") and Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals"). For Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis ("Fences"), Naomie Harris ("Moonlight"), Nicole Kidman ("Lion"), Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures") and Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea" will have to fight it out to be victorious. "La La Land" will face a tough competition from "Arrival", "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures", "Lion", "Moonlight", "Fences", "Hell or High Water" and "Manchester by the Sea" to receive the Best Picture honour. "Land of Mine (Denmark), "A Man Called Ove" (Sweden), "The Salesman" (Iran), Tanna (Australia) and Toni Erdmann (Germany), on the other hand, will battle it out win the Best Foreign Language Film award. Best Directing nominees are Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival"), Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge"), Damien Chazelle ("La La Land"), Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea") and Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight"). In the Best Animated Feature, the competition is between "Kubo and the Two Strings", "Moana", "My Life as a Zucchini", "The Red Turtle" and "Zootopia". In the music category, "Jackie", "La La Land", "Lion", "Moonlight" and "Passengers" are up against Best Original Score award. New Delhi, Jan 24 : BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday targeted Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan again and virtually compared him with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, after the death of a person at Vadodara railway station during the promotional tour of the actor's movie "Raees". It is the second attack on Khan by Vijayvargiya, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) National General Secretary, within a week. One man -- social activist Farid Khan Pathan of Hatikhana area of Vadodara -- died, and two others got injured as the crowd went berserk to catch a glimpse of Shah Rukh at the railway station. The actor was en route from Mumbai to Delhi on board August Kranti Rajdhani Express. Commenting on the incident, Vijayvargiya on Tuesday told reporters: "If Dawood Ibrahim comes on street, there would be a crowd to see him ... You can't gauge the popularity on the basis of crowd. I will not comment further... People have understood what it means." Shah Rukh Khan plays a gangster in his latest movie "Raees", which is releasing on Wednesday -- the day when Hrithik Roshan starrer "Kaabil" is also scheduled for release. Vijayvargiya also gave the incident a political twist when on Tuesday he tweeted an image reading: "If one is 'kaabil' (which literally means capable), even a 'chaiwallah' (tea vendor) can become a Prime Minister. Otherwise even a 'raees' (wealthy person) born with a silver spoon wears torn clothes." Vijayvargiya's snide remark alluded to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who on January 16, while speaking at Vijay Sankalp rally of party workers in Uttarkhand's Rishikesh town, showed the torn pocket of his trademark white kurta to the crowd. Gandhi followed it with the remark with: "Mera kurta phata hua hai, lekin Modiji ka kurta kabhi phata hua nahi milta. Bade paisewalon ke saath unki photo milegi (My kurta is torn, but you'll never find Modiji's kurta torn. You will only spot him in pictures with uber rich.) Vijayvargiya, who is known for his controversial remarks, had last week clearly took sides with Hrithik Roshan starrer "Kaabil" and derided Khan's "Raees". On January 21, the BJP leader tweeted: "Now it's the turn of the country's 'kaabil' citizens. No 'raees' can take away merit from the 'kaabil'." "The Raees that couldn't be of its own country is of no good, and we should all support a 'kaabil' patriot." It should be noted that "Raees" was in controversy earlier over Pakistani artistes in it, including the film's lead heroine Mahira Khan. Mumbai, Jan 24 : The Central Bureau of Investigation submitted a detailed charge-sheet against absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya and others in the Rs 1,300 crore loan default involving the defunct Kingfisher Airlines and IDBI here on Tuesday, an official said. The 1,000-plus page charge-sheet has alleged the losses to the public sector bank by virtue of sanctioning loans to Mallya's airlines without following proper procedures. The loans of Rs 750 crore, Rs 200 crore and Rs 150 crore pertained to repayment of pending aircraft dues and party repayment of loans owed to another public sector bank. It has said the airlines managed to secure the loans in collusion with IDBI officials and part of the loan was diverted for "personal uses". The CBI has accused "omissions and commissions" on the part of the bank officials, including its former chairman Yogesh Agarwal, and said the loans were sanctioned despite poor credit ratings and falling financial health of the airline. The CBI said that further investigations are on in the case and a non-bailable arrest warrant against Mallya has been issued which was in the process of being executed. Besides, it has sent letters rogatory to Singapore and British Virgin Islands to find out the details of the bank accounts of Kingfisher Airlines in those countries. The CBI also produced former IDBI chief Yogesh Agarwal, who was arrested from New Delhi on Monday, and others before the Special CBI Court and they were remanded to custody till February 7. Seeking their custody, the CBI said they are influential persons who may flee the country like the "absconder accused" Mallya who had already fled, and may tamper with the evidences. The CBI has invoked various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act against all the accused, who have applied for bail. Senior Counsel Amit Desai and lawyer Rajiv Chavan representing the accused sought interim bail for their clients. The CBI prosecutor Bharat Badami asked time till Monday to file the agency's reply to the bail application. The Special Court fixed January 30 as the date for the next hearing. L0os Angeles, Jan 24 : Hollywood romantic musical comedy-drama film "La La Land" is nominated across 14 categories -- equalling a record previously set by "Titanic" and "All About Eve" -- for the 89th Academy Awards, it was announced here on Tuesday. Indian composer A.R. Rahman missed the race to the golden statuette, while Indian-origin British actor Dev Patel has one nomination for "Lion". "La La Land", which won seven Golden Globes earlier this year, has been nominated in categories like Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Stone) and Best Directing (Damien Chazelle). "Moonlight" and "Arrival" got eight nominations each, while "Lion", a Garth Davis directorial set in India and Australia, features in six categories of the nomination pack, which displays diversity to avert last year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Interestingly, Viola Davis has become the first black actress to earn three Oscar nominations. This year, her role in "Fences" has fetched her a nomination in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, which even feature two other black actresses -- Naomie Harris ("Moonlight") and Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures"). Celebrities like Terrence Howard and Brie Larson joined Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs to reveal the 89th Oscars nominations in two batches. While Tamil movie "Visaranai", India's Oscar entry for the Best Foreign Language Film was out of contention in an initial list itself, Rahman -- who had won two Oscars in 2009 -- lost out on his chance at two nominations for his work for "Pele: Birth of a Legend", on Tuesday. Rahman's name featured in an initial list of 145 scores in contention for a nomination in the Original Score category. Also, "Ginga", his acclaimed number from the 2016 biographical film, was part of a long list of 91 songs competing for a spot in the final nominations for the Original Song category. Among the top categories, Gosling will vie for Best Actor in a Leading Role with Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea"), Denzel Washington ("Fences"), Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic") and Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge"). Stone will compete against Isabelle Huppert ("Elle"), Ruth Negga ("Loving"), Natalie Portman ("Jackie") and Meryl Streep ("Florence Foster Jenkins") for the Best Actress in a Leading Role trophy. To win Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Oscar, Dev will have to defeat Mahershala Ali ("Moonlight"), Jeff Bridges ("Hell or High Water"), Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea") and Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals"). For Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Viola Davis ("Fences"), Naomie Harris ("Moonlight"), Nicole Kidman ("Lion"), Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures") and Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea" will have to fight it out to be victorious. "La La Land" will face tough competition from "Arrival", "Hacksaw Ridge", "Hidden Figures", "Lion", "Moonlight", "Fences", "Hell or High Water" and "Manchester by the Sea" to receive the Best Picture honour. "Land of Mine (Denmark), "A Man Called Ove" (Sweden), "The Salesman" (Iran), Tanna (Australia) and Toni Erdmann (Germany), on the other hand, will battle it out win the Best Foreign Language Film award. Best Directing nominees are Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival"), Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge"), Damien Chazelle ("La La Land"), Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea") and Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight"). In the Best Animated Feature, the competition is between "Kubo and the Two Strings", "Moana", "My Life as a Zucchini", "The Red Turtle" and "Zootopia". In the music category, "Jackie", "La La Land", "Lion", "Moonlight" and "Passengers" are up against Best Original Score award. The prestigious Academy Awards will be handed over to winners in a star-studded ceremony on February 26 here. Kolkata, Jan 24 : A couple has been arrested from Kolkata for keeping heroin and selling it to secret clients, police said on Tuesday. Sisir Sharma, 27, was arrested with his wife Jhuma Sharma, 30, from Entally in Central Kolkata on Monday evening for possession of illegal drugs. "Approximately 50 grams of heroin was seized from them," Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Crime) Vishal Gurg said. The officer said the couple used to smuggle heroin into the city and sell them to the secret clients. "The two accused are remanded to police custody till January 30," he added. Srinagar, Jan 24 : A policeman was injured on Tuesday evening when militants hurled a grenade in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. Police said the militants threw the grenade on a group of CRPF and police personnel in Haal area. The injured constable was shifted to a hospital. Security in the state has been beefed up with checkposts and by carrying out random searches to foil guerrilla attacks ahead of the Republic Day on Thursday. Guwahati, Jan 24 : Army Chief General Bipin Rawat visited the Eastern Command on Tuesday and reviewed the security situation with the top Corps Commanders located in different strategic locations of the sensitive region. This was the first visit of the General to the region after assuming the charge. The visit had a significance considering the recent spate in insurgent activities in Assam and other parts of the region, particularly ahead of the Republic Day celebrations. Suspected armed militants fired at a convoy carrying fuel and essential commodities at remote Noney district in blockade hit Manipur on Tuesday, the attack came after a group of armed militants ambushed an Assam Rifles convoy along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on Sunday and killed two jawans and injured two others. The General, accompanied by the Eastern Army Commander and the Corps Commander, also visited Tawang and the forward areas in Western Arunachal Pradesh. It may be mentioned here that General Rawat had himself commanded a Corps in the Eastern Command and was well acquainted with the nuances of operational scenario here. General Rawat left Tezpur for Imphal before moving to New Delhi the same evening. New York, Jan 24 : Reliance Foundation chairperson Nita Ambani has been honoured by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) here for her philanthropic efforts. Ambani's philanthropic work in the areas of education, sports, healthcare, rural transformation, urban renewal, disaster response, women empowerment and promotion of the arts, has been recognised with the honour. She is said to be be the first South Asian to receive the accolade. Delighted and humbled by the honour, Ambani said in a statement: "It is truly gratifying that our efforts, especially in education, sports, health and rural transformation, are bringing smiles to millions of people. "This recognition from a distinguished global institution like The Met is a tribute to our commitment towards sustainable development and social empowerment, and will inspire each one of us at Reliance Foundation to constantly do the best to make the world a better place for the next generation." The Met is recognised as one of the most iconic museums, and it houses over 5,000 years of art from around the world. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Chief Election Commissioner of India Nasim Zaidi said on Tuesday it was essential to involve more and more eligible young voters to order to enhance the quality and efficiency of democracy. The CEC made the observation in his inaugural remarks during an international seminar on "Strategies for empowering young and future voters", hosted by Election Commission of India. "India is considered to be the youngest in its demographics. We have a sizeable population of young and future voters. According to Census 2011, every year 20 million persons turn 18 to become eligible as the first time voters. Sixty two million persons are comprised of the age group of 15 to 17 years." "We need to focus on this segment for addressing the issues relating to practice of citizenship development and electoral participation," Zaidi said. "With expected increase in the number of first time and future voters, it is essential that first time and future voters are made part of electoral democracy to enhance quality and efficiency of democracy," he added. Zaidi said that this concern also throws open the issues why young voters show apathy and do not participate and what can be done to encourage them to participate. "This would mean on one hand identification of issues and challenges in civic and voter education, barriers in registration, electoral engagement and informed and ethical participation." "On the other hand, it would mean investment in future of democracy by focusing on educating, engaging and empowering young and future voters through well designed strategic interventions," he said. Zaidi said that today youth was the most connected through social media and internet, and hence the interventions should be designed keeping this in mind. Come and enjoy Read more [...] New Delhi, Jan 24 : Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel will get a maximum of 32 Police Medals for Gallantry announced on Tuesday. A total of 777 personnel have won the medal this year. The Home Ministry said 100 personnel have been named for Police Medal for Gallantry, 80 for President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 597 for Police Medal for Meritorious Service. While 32 Jammu and Kashmir personnel will get the Gallantry medial, the award will go to 12 personnel from Andhra Pradesh, seven each from Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and four each from Assam and Manipur. The Central Bureau of Investigation will get 28 medals -- including six President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 22 Police Medal for Meritorious Service. Of the 15 Delhi Police officers, three will be rewarded for gallantry, two for distinguished service and 10 for meritorious service. The Central Reserve Police Force will be awarded 78 police medals -- 16 Police Medal for Gallantry, five President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 57 Police Medal for Meritorious Service. The Border Security Force will receive 56 awards, including five for gallantry, five for distinguished services and 46 for meritorious service. The Central Industrial Security Force will be conferred 27 awards, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police 15 and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) 14 awards. The Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Statistics and P.I., Ministry of Environment, National Crime Records Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau and the National Human Rights Commission will be conferred with one Police Medal for Distinguished Service each. The Ministry of Home Affairs (Intelligence Bureau) will be conferred 32 police medals, including eight President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 24 Police Medal for Meritorious Service. The Railways will get 15 awards, including one President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service and 14 Police Medal for Meritorious Service. The Special Protection Group, National Security Guard and the National Disaster Response Force will get four awards each while the National Investigation Agency and the North Eastern Police Academy will get two awards each. New Delhi, Jan 24 : Indian women who showed remarkable performances in their respective fields were applauded by the government on the celebration of National Girl Child Day, themed on the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme (BBBP). Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister, Maneka Gandhi praised women including Silver medalist at Rio Paralympics 2016 Deepa Malik and Avani Chaturvedi, a fighter pilot, for their success. First woman amputee to climb Mount Everest Arunima Sinha and Shanno -- main advisor of Balaknama newspaper, which is run completely by street children -- were also applauded at the event here. "The BBBP program has done very well across the country especially in Haryana. Parents have to ensure health, education and success of their daughters as well as contribute to the development of their talents," Gandhi was quoted as saying. Narrating her experience and said: "It is the parents, especially the mother, who can help girls become arrows into the future." Leena Nair, Secretary to the WCD, said that the government has launched the flagship program BBBP to check the adverse sex ratio by changing the mind-set of the people. "Not only this, the WCD Ministry is putting in all efforts to address the issues related to nutrition of girls and violence against girls or women," she added. The winners of quiz competitions organised across various Kendriya Vidyalaya schools in Delhi on the theme of "Empowerment of Girl Child" were also rewarded. The occasion was also marked by felicitation of the districts under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao scheme for their exemplary performance. The government felicitated at least 10 districts across various states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Chatthisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana for their "exemplary performances" and "effective community engagements". Visakhapatnam, Jan 24 : Andhra Pradesh police on Tuesday refused to give permission for a protest planned in this coastal city on January 26 to demand special category status to the state. Director General of Police Sambasiva Rao said the police can't give permission at such short notice and expressed the apprehension that anti-social elements might sneak in and create disturbances as happened during Jallikattu protest in Tamil Nadu. The police chief said nobody had so far approached police for the permission. He said if some people plan protest through social media, permission can't be given to them. "Even if somebody approaches for permission, we can't permit them at such a short notice," he told reporters in Vijayawada. Actor and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan warned the government that by denying the permission it is creating unrest among youth. Reacting sharply to to the denial of permission, Kalyan, who has declared support to the proposed silent protest at RK Beach tweeted: "Andhra Pradesh government should allow a peaceful protest as planned by the youth. No one can deny their right in a democracy. Youth protest is apolitical. It's a citizen's right to protest when they are denied what they had been promised." "If they don't allow it now; you are creating unrest in them. Peaceful protest is their right," the actor said. It was Pawan Kalyan who had stated that people in Andhra Pradesh should get inspiration from Jallikattu protest in Tamil Nadu to achieve the promised special category status in Andhra. For last few days, youth over social media have been calling for a peaceful protest. Some other Telugu actors like Sai Dharam Tej, Varun Tej and Sundeep Kishan, among others, have also declared their support for the proposed protest. Police are also refusing permission as Visakhapatnam will be hosting a Partnership Summit on January 27 and 28. Delegates from about 50 countries are expected to participate in the event aimed at attracting investments in the state. New Delhi, Jan 24 : The government must tax cash transactions above Rs 50,000, abolish banks' interest on credit card transactions, give tax refund to consumers on digital payments and extend Rs 1,000 subsidy on smart phones to promote a less-cash, digital economy, a panel of Chief Ministers has said in a report. "To curb use of cash for large transactions consider a levy of banking cash transaction tax on transactions of Rs 50,000 and above. Consider a cap on maximum allowable limit of cash in all types of large size transactions," said the panel led by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The interim report on promoting "Digital Payments" was submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday by Naidu and Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis and Sikkim Pawan Kumar Chamling. Naidu later held a press conference to highlight the main points. The report laid emphasis on the use of Aadhaar and said this unique identity number must be made the primary identity point for the "know your customer" (KYC) norms. It said the existing Aadhaar law can be applied towards this. The report sought to point out how low in rankings India stood in terms of pay points for digital transactions (like swipe machines with merchants) -- it is 1,080 per million people in India, 16,602 in China, 7,189 in Mexico, 25,241 in Brazil and 31,096 in Singapore. Among its various recommendations, the panel said infrastructure must be provided for the 1,54,000 post offices by way of interoperable Aadhaar enabled micro-ATMs and subsidy of up to Rs 1,000 be extended on smart phones for non-income tax assesses or small merchants. "All government sections like insurance, educational institutes, fertilisers, public distribution system and petroleum must switch to digital payments," it said. "Rural and urban cooperative banks should be on-boarded to digital transactions mode immediately." In terms of Unique Identity Number, the panel said all payment banks and correspondents, besides post offices, must be interlinked to the Aadhaar-enabled payments system. The panel said for the success of a digital economy, all stakeholders must be on board -- large financial institutions and telecom entities including regulators, with awareness creation entrusted with microfinance institutions, NGOs, cooperatives, state-run units and panchayati raj bodies. As per the report, some of the constraints listed by the panel in the adoption of a digital economy includes attitudinal issues, hardware including payments acceptance infrastructure, data connectivity and cyber security. It said cash transactions were also cheaper than digital ones. The high-powered panel was asked to suggest measures to enable all sections of the population to migrate to digital payments, and recommend measures to leapfrog to the advanced digital payment systems of global standards. It was constituted on November 30, last year after the government demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Panaji, Jan 24 : Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday said he is perhaps the first Chief Minister in the country, who got the position without asking for it. "I am a Chief Minister now, but I had never staked claim to the position. I was President of the state state unit, but I have never claimed that either. Probably I will be the first Chief Minister in the country, who got this position without putting a claim or requesting anybody," Parsekar said talking to reporters here. On BJP President Amit Shah's statement on Monday that Parrikar may be brought back to state politics after the February 4 elections, Parsekar said instead of asking him for a reaction, the question should be posed to Shah. "There is a lot of demand for Parrikar ji in Delhi and hundreds of people also want him here (Goa). But I want to say one thing: wherever he is, the government in Goa will be under his leadership. Goans should be assured of that," Shah had told a poll rally in the port town of Vasco, 35 km from Panaji. Parsekar said: "You question Amit Shah only. The legislative leader is chosen after the legislative group is formed. Let the elections happen. Let MLAs get elected first, then our leader will be chosen." Lucknow, Jan 24 : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday drew criticism as he not only shared stage with controversial Samajwadi Party leader Gayatri Prajapati at a public rally in Sultanpur but also exhorted people to elect him with a handsome victory margin. Prajapati, a close associate of Mulayam Singh Yadav, has been fielded from Amethi. His tenure as the Mining Minister has been under cloud and the High Court has ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of wrong doings against him. The development is being seen in political circles as a huge dent to Akhilesh's claim of starting a new era of clean politics in his party. The BJP pounced on the opportunity and said the fact that Prajapati is the "brand ambassador of Akhilesh Yadav" speaks volumes about his bent towards graft and that the 43-year-old Chief Minister is only hoodwinking people. Keshav Prasad Maurya, the state BJP President, said the corruption and gundaraaj of the SP government has further been exposed by Tuesday's show of solidarity for the minister by Akhilesh Yadav. Shillong, Jan 24 : The North East Students Organisation (NESO) on Tuesday strongly opposed the central government's attempt to recognise Hindu Bangladeshis as Indian citizens. The apex student's body of all the indigenous communities in the region passed a resolution in this regard at its emergency meeting on Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 and said that they would oppose the move tooth and nail. "The government of India should know and understand that the Northeast is not a dumping ground of illegal migrants, whoever they may be -- Hindus or Muslims," NESO Chairman Samuel Jyrwa said. "The northeastern region will not take the burden of illegal foreigners, who came after 1971, as per the Assam Accord," he added. The Asom Gana Parishad, which is an ally of the BJP in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government in Assam, has also opposed the proposed bill. The bill for making minority communities, such as Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for applying for Indian citizenship was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee of both Houses of Parliament, under the chairmanship of Dr Satyapal Singh, for examination and presenting a report in this regard. On the prevailing law and order situation in poll-bound Manipur, Jyrwa said the student's body is seriously concerned with the suffering of the common people due to the prevailing situation in Manipur in view of the ongoing economic blockade. "The government of India should not shirk its responsibility and NESO demands that it intervene and take the initiative to solve the issue and to bring all the parties involved to the negotiation table so that the issue can be resolved amicably," he said. Jyrwa said the NESO members will meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and also Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju to impress upon them to resolve this issue at the earliest. Washington, Jan 25 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump were talking over phone around 1 p.m. (local time) on Tuesday, White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer told reporters. He said further details would be provided shortly. New Delhi, Jan 25 : Suffocation due to crowd led to the death of a social activist who collapsed during Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's train stopover at Vadodara railway station, confirmed the deceased's family members, who also said they have "nothing against" the actor. Farid Khan Pathan, a resident of Hatikhana area of Vadodara, was at the railway station with his wife and daughter, when Shah Rukh was present there for the promotional tour for his film "Raees". Pathan fell unconscious and upon being rushed to a hospital, was declared dead. Journalist Samina Shaikh, niece of the deceased, was travelling with the "Raees" team at the time. In a statement issued on behalf of the film's team, Samina said: "It's unfortunate that my uncle lost his life due to suffocation in the crowd as he was a heart patient." "However, Shah Rukh Khan and his team made sure that my mother and I reach safely to my uncle's funeral. We got down at Ratlam and Shah Rukh's team arranged a car for us to Vadodara to attend my uncle's burial." The scribe also said Shah Rukh also ensured arrangements were made for their other relatives to fly in from Mumbai to Vadodara to attend her uncle's last rites. While Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Manoj Tiwari slammed Shah Rukh for the incident and urged him to compensate the family, the deceased's mother said in the statement: "We have nothing against Shah Rukh Khan as he is not at fault." "He is also like my son... The incident has nothing to do with the 'Raees' promotional event. My son fell prey to the crowd and succumbed to death due to suffocation. All we want is prayers from everyone for my son." A huge crowd had thronged Vadodara railway station to see Shah Rukh on Monday night as he was travelling to Delhi on August Kranti Rajdhani Express from Mumbai to promote his film. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday ordered a probe into Pathan's death. Washington, Jan 25 : The leaders of the world's two greatest democracies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, spoke over phone on Tuesday in the fifth interaction by the newly elected US head with a foreign leader after he assumed office. White House Spokesperson Sean Spicer said details of their conversation that took place around 11 p.m. (IST) would be provided soon. During his campaign, Trump praised Modi as a "great leader" and sought a kinship of ideas with him as a "pro-growth leader". The call to Modi so soon after Trump's inauguration is itself a sign of India's importance to Trump. So far, Trump has spoken only with the neighbours -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mexican President Pena Nieto and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who will have a major role in helping Trump deal with the Middle East and with terrorism. The call took place shortly after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee cleared the first phase of the appointment process for Nikkai Haley to become the US ambassdor to the United Nations. When appointed, she would be the first Indian-American to hold a cabinet-level post in the US. President Pranab Mukherjee has invited Trump to visit India. Trump has made business trips to India before. Among issues of concern to India are exports to the US and the flow of technically qualified people there through H1-B visas to buoy the Indian technology companies there. However, India is likely to face problems in these areas. Earlier in the day, Trump met auto industry leaders to to promote his programme of "Make in America". On Monday, he met union and industry leaders and emphasised his campaign mantra of "Buy American, Hire American". India and the US share a common worry about Islamic radicalism. Trump has also been critical of China over its trade and regional policies. well well well...maybe common (Trumpin) sense is reaching the idiot left coast after all.Roughly 74 percent of California residents want to see an end to sanctuary city policies, according to a poll by UC Berkeley The issue to end sanctuary cities in the state crosses racial and party lines, with 65 percent of Hispanics registering their agreement, while 70 percent of independents, 82 percent of Republicans, and 73 percent of Democrats feel the same.During President Donald Trumps term, sanctuary cities could see a cut in federal funding and pushback from the Department of Justice under likely Attorney General Jeff Sessions. With TermSync, weve noticed our customers becoming more proactive in the collections process. Esker, a worldwide leader in document process automation solutions and pioneer in cloud computing], today announced it is partnering with Lowry Solutions, the total solutions provider of enterprise mobility solutions and automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology, to automate the companys billing and collections process. Eskers TermSync cloud-based accounts receivable (AR) solution has allowed Lowry Solutions to eliminate low-value tasks, placing a greater emphasis on strategic decision-making, increased process efficiency and heightened visibility throughout every stage. Connecting with Lowry Solutions existing Enterprise21 system, TermSync was the answer the company was seeking to mainstream AR data for all pertinent users. Previously, Lowry Solutions primarily used spreadsheets and hand-written notes to organize information, which not only made the process slower and more inefficient, but offered little to no visibility and tracking of customer accounts, issues and more. Searching for a solution that was easy to implement and use, Lowry Solutions contacted several vendors before landing on TermSync. The company chose the cloud-based AR solution to meet the rising business demand of eliminating timely manual methods and aggregating data for users. Benefits of Automating Billing & Collections Since implementing TermSync, Lowry Solutions has gained numerous benefits, including: Increased efficiency by centralizing customer contact, account and invoice information Heightened visibility with strategic reporting tools (e.g., aging reports, collection effectiveness index (CEI), etc.) Reduced days past due from 23 days down to 9.4 days Improved customer satisfaction thanks to an online, self-service portal for customers Mark Muehlenbeck, chief financial officer at Lowry Solutions, spoke of benefits the company has seen since implementation: With TermSync, weve noticed our customers becoming more proactive in the collections process. Now, instead of relying on an employee to call them and spending time talking over everything with them, theyre able to go into the portal, view their statement and pay open invoices. Making it that easy for them has made the collections process much simpler for us. About Lowry Solutions Founded in 1974, Lowry Solutions is the total solutions provider of enterprise mobility solutions and AIDC technology for diverse application challenges in a wide range of industries. Based in Brighton, MI, Lowry Solutions implements technology innovations nationwide to a customer base of over 10,000. The company has earned a reputation as a premier enterprise mobility solutions provider and AIDC system integrator focused on bar code, RFID-EPC products, biometrics, and asset management solutions. About Esker Esker is a worldwide leader in cloud-based document process automation software. Esker solutions, including the acquisition of the TermSync accounts receivable solution in 2015, help organizations of all sizes to improve efficiencies, accuracy, visibility and costs associated with business processes. Esker provides on-demand and on-premises software to automate accounts payable, order processing, accounts receivable, purchasing and more. Founded in 1985, Esker operates in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific with global headquarters in Lyon, France and U.S. headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin. Last year Esker generated 58.5 million euros in total sales revenue. For more information on Esker and its solutions, visit http://www.esker.com. Follow Esker on Twitter @EskerInc and join the conversation on the Esker blog at blog.esker.com. Having achieved the Gold status for Microsoft Cloud Platform Competency will help us deliver cloud solutions with more confidence so that our customers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft technology and move ahead successfully. CloudIQ Tech, a growing cloud company, helping businesses, big or small, make the right cloud move to realize the true economies of cloud, has announced that it has achieved a Gold status for the Microsoft Cloud Platform Competency. The gold level is the highest Microsoft partner level, putting CloudIQ in an exclusive category with the other top partners. The milestone achievement demonstrates CloudIQ Techs deep commitment, vast expertise in Microsoft cloud solutions and its teams willingness to acquire in-depth knowledge and proficiency in Cloud tools and solutions while uniquely aligning them to evolving Microsofts Cloud Strategy and Competency goals. It is to be noted that to earn a Microsoft Gold Competency Certification, partners team members must successfully demonstrate their level of technology expertise in general, and deep knowledge of Microsoft and its products in particular. It is a valuable recognition by Microsoft for its partners holistic expertise in designing, migrating, integrating and delivering Windows-based applications and infrastructure solutions in the cloud using the Microsoft platform. Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Prem Kumar Kandalu, CEO of CloudIQ Tech, said By achieving a Gold Competency, our dream to be part of the distinguished top 1 percent of Microsofts partner ecosystem has come true. This is a major step towards our objective of becoming a well known strategic player in Microsoft Cloud Solutions. Already within a short span of time we had become an Azure Gold Partner and now this Gold status for Microsoft Cloud Platform Competency will help us deliver cloud solutions with more confidence so that our customers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft technology and move ahead successfully. About CloudIQ Tech: CloudIQ Tech is a technology company helping businesses get the best out of emerging technologies, innovation and creative ideas. Our firm conviction that cloud is the way to go has enabled us to invest considerable time and efforts in R&D, focusing in designing, building, and managing cloud infrastructures and solutions that are uncomplicated, easily deployable, scalable while delivering the much needed edge from day one to our customers. The efforts are continual, ably supported by our team of cloud technical experts holding the highest possible certificate levels in designing, developing and implementing AWS and Azure cloud-based solutions. Today our portfolio includes a range of Solutions & Services that comprise Cloud Consulting, Cloud Migration, Cloud Infrastructure Management services and Managed Cloud services besides DevOps Orchestration and home grown cloud apps and products. These cloud solutions empower people and organizations to innovate, increase operational efficiency, find opportunities to reduce cost and increase profits, and stay ahead of competition For more information visit our site http://www.cloudiqtech.com/ Or you are welcome to contact us by calling us at 206 214-6947 Or mailing at sales(at)cloudiqtech(dot)com Contact Address CloudIQ Technologies 11820 Northup Way, Suite E-200, Bellevue, WA, 98005 Today, Cambrian Innovation, a commercial provider of distributed wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions, announced that Napa Valley-based Rombauer Vineyards will be the first winery to install Cambrians award-winning EcoVolt solution. The solution will provide Rombauer with the ability to economically treat their wastewater onsite while generating clean, renewable energy, and will enable future reuse of the winerys fully treated process water. Water continues to be a concern for many California wineries, who often face both limited water supply for production and restrictions for wastewater discharge. In the face of these challenges, Rombauer has prioritized water efficiency measures, which result in difficult to treat, highly concentrated process water. Implementing Cambrians EcoVolt solution is a critical part of the family-owned winerys strategic decision to further reduce their water-to-wine ratio. With the EcoVolt solution, Rombauer can treat its entire wastewater stream onsite while generating up to 30 kW of renewable electricity and heat. The EcoVolt solution is expected to provide the winery with significant energy and operational savings over its lifecycle. In addition, the EcoVolt solution will allow Rombauer to reuse treated process water in the future. Water is the most precious resource a winery has, so integrating Cambrians EcoVolt solution into our production plans is core to our strategy as we work to become more water efficient in every aspect of the business, said Richie Allen, Director of Viticulture and Winemaking at Rombauer Vineyards. We are excited to be the first in the wine industry to deploy Cambrians innovative technology, and look forward to expanding sustainability efforts. Rombauer is a leader in the wine industry in terms of water efficiency, currently using far less than the industry average in terms of water required for wine production. In the future, Rombauer will have the option to add additional EcoVolt modules to treat increased wastewater flows should the winery increase production. Cambrians EcoVolt solutions have helped customers transform wastewater problems into opportunities by treating over 15,000,000 gallons of wastewater and reclaiming over 3,000,000 gallons of recycled water. Managing vineyards and making wine requires sustainable and economical water management, and Napa Valley and its award-winning wine producers, like Rombauer, are on the cutting-edge, said Cambrian Innovation Founder and CEO, Matthew Silver. Cambrian is delighted to partner with industry leaders like Rombauer to create clean energy and clean water from wastewater streams, generating immediate savings and helping them achieve long-term, sustainable growth. About Rombauer Vineyards Founded in 1980 by Koerner and Joan Rombauer, Rombauer Vineyards produces critically acclaimed Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. In 1982, the family built their three-level St. Helena winery into a hillside to take advantage of the natural cooling influences. They added an extensive network of caves in the 1990s. The winery embraces traditional techniques such as barrel fermentation along with state-of-the-art equipment, with three optical sorters, basket presses and peristaltic pumps to ensure purity of fruit and gentle handling of the wine every step of the way. The family owns 350 acres of sustainably farmed vineyards in St. Helena, Carneros, Atlas Peak, Calistoga and the Sierra Foothills. The Rombauer family embraces The Joy of Wine the philosophy that the pleasure of wine lies in the sharing of it with family and friends. Koerner Rombauers great-aunt Irma Rombauer was the author of the landmark cookbook The Joy of Cooking. Media Contact Brandye Alexander BrandyeA(at)rombauer(dot)com 707/963-6634 About Cambrian Innovation Cambrian Innovation is a commercial provider of distributed wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions. Dedicated to solving critical water, wastewater, and energy management challenges for industrial producers, it is the standard for some of the top names in food and beverage processing including: Lagunitas Brewing Company, Bear Republic Brewing Company, and Russian River Brewing Company. Cambrians award-winning EcoVolt product suite offers cost-effective and sustainable options for onsite wastewater treatment, water reuse, and clean energy generation. Through its novel water-energy purchase agreement (WEPA), a financing platform for distributed EcoVolt solutions, Cambrian offers wastewater treatment and resource recovery as a service with no upfront costs. Cambrian Innovations robust research and development group is also commercializing a broader portfolio of environmental productions to help industrial clients efficiently manage their resources. To learn more, visit http://www.cambrianinnovation.com. Media Contact Claire Aviles press(at)cambrianinnovation(dot)com With Retrospect, customers can easily back up to Amazon S3 as part of their standard data protection strategy. Retrospect, Inc., makers of award-winning Retrospect Backup & Recovery software, today announced support for newly available Amazon AWS regions Europe (London) and US West (Ohio). These new regions ensure local customers have fast access to offsite storage through Retrospects hybrid data protection via Amazon S3. Amazon S3 is a great offsite storage location for critical business data. Retrospect supports all of the available storage classes: Standard, Reduced Redundancy, Infrequent Access, and Glacier. With Retrospect, customers can easily back up to Amazon S3 as part of their standard data protection strategy. Access to a local AWS datacenter has been one of the top of cloud backup requests from Retrospect customers, said Jean-Christian Dumas, Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Now, customers in the United Kingdom are able to utilize the London AWS region for quick backups and restores while knowing their data does not leave the country. Amazon S3 London and Ohio regions are supported in Retrospect 11.5 for Windows and Retrospect 13.5 for Mac. Their wealth of experience and knowledge will no doubt be a significant factor in our growth as we take on new and exciting initiatives. ThinkEDU, a leading academic reseller in North America that offers students, faculty, staff, and colleges deep discounts on thousands of software and computer accessories, has hired two key employees to head up a new initiative for the Company. ThinkEDU is pleased to announce that Merry Kirk has joined the ThinkEDU team as the Companys Autodesk Authorized Training Center (ATC) Customer Engagement Administrator (CEA). Merry has over two decades of experience working in customer service for some of the largest curriculum and academic software licensing publishers and providers. The company also proudly announces the hiring of Larry Fire, as the Companys new Educational Sales Manager (ESM). Larry formerly was the Global Manager of Education for PTC. Larry was responsible for world-wide sales, marketing strategy, packaging, and pricing. Larry has also held marketing and sales positions with Ansys, The Fire Wire and most recently PCM. Larry will head up the ThinkEDUs College and School B2B Sales Team as well as head up recruitment and on-boarding of new Autodesk Authorized Training Centers and Authorized Academic Partners (AAP) in North America. "We are delighted and excited to have both Larry Fire and Merry Kirk join our team, said Michael Fischler, CEO of ThinkEDU. These two industry veterans will assist us in growing our company while at the same time maintaining the highest customer service levels. Their wealth of experience and knowledge will no doubt be a significant factor in our growth as we take on new and exciting initiatives. **** About ThinkEDU Based in Dallas, Texas, ThinkEDU offers everything for students, faculty and staff, including academic discounts on software, hardware and more. ThinkEDU is a one-stop shop for students, faculty, and staff to purchase their software, hardware, accessories, and more. ThinkEDU operates thousands of online technology stores for college bookstores and schools. ThinkEDU was also recently named an Autodesk Learning Products Distributor for North America. Contact us at PR(at)thinkEDU(dot)com or go to http://www.thinkEDU.com to learn more about our company. Arnold S. Breitbart, M.D. Brazilian Butt Lift isnt just women in their 20s or 30s. Thanks to celebrities like Kim Kardashian West, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez, the demand for Brazilian butt lifts is on the rise. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), theres been an astounding 252 percent increase in buttock augmentations since 2000. On average, these procedures are performed every 30 minutes of every day. Dr. Arnold Breitbart, MD with New York Liposuction Center says he isnt really surprised by the increase. Over the last five years, weve noticed that more and more patients expressing an interest in the procedure, stated Dr. Breitbart, MD. You can almost call it The Kardashian Effect. Nowadays, magazines, TV and the web put a lot of emphasis on celebrities who have a perfectly shaped derriere, and I think a lot of people want to mirror that. According to Dr. Breitbart, it isnt just women in their 20s or 30s interested in this particular procedure. Women age 50 and up who desire sexy curves are having Brazilian butt lifts, too. Similar to a face lit or other anti-aging procedure, this elective surgery can help women in this age group feel more youthful, confident and beautiful. During a Brazilian butt lift, a skilled surgeon like Dr. Breitbart transfers fat from one area of the body such as the hips or abdomen to the buttocks to create a more rounded appearance with enhanced volume. Also known as gluteal augmentation, the life-changing procedure can lead to sexier curves and a shapelier contour by increase fullness, roundness and projection of the buttocks. This procedure is perfect for healthy individuals who are unhappy with the current shape of their gluteal region or they are looking to balance that area with the rest of their body, stated Dr. Breitbart. At New York Liposuction Center, Dr. Breitbart performs the procedure using a safe, advanced method called the autologous fat transfer process. Fat cells are removed from unwanted areas of the body using liposuction and then purified using a specialized process before being injected into the buttocks. Tiny injections of fat are performed over the entire surface area of the buttocks to create a symmetrical appearance that is smooth and evenly rounded. Recovery is pretty fast for most patients. We find that most of them are able to return to work in about 10-14 days and sometimes sooner, stated Dr. Breitbart. Most patients are able to resume normal activities in approximately four weeks. For patients interested in learning more about Brazilian butt lifts or cosmetic procedures, they are encouraged to contact Dr. Breitbart, MD at New York Liposuction Center at (917) 809-7787. To email, click here. ### About Dr. Breitbart, MD: Dr. Arnold Breitbart is an accomplished board certified, plastic surgeon in the New York area specializing in a variety of body contouring procedures. With features on NBC News, Glamour and SELF magazine, the high-profile doctor is the go-to source for trusted medical information on plastic surgery. Dr. Breitbart has been honored repeatedly by Castle Connolly as one of the top plastic surgeons in NYC, and has been named by Newsday as one of the top plastic surgeons on Long Island. To learn more, click here. Media Contact: Dr. Arnold Breitbart, MD New York Liposuction Center Phone: (917) 809-7787 Website: http://www.newyorkliposuction.com Parker rated all five of En Gardes 2013 Cabernet releases with scores between 96+ and 92 points. These wines are made from premium Napa Valley fruit sourced from high elevation vineyards in Diamond Mountain and Mount Veeder. The newly released 2013 Touche scored the highest with 96+ points. Parker described this wine as a sensationaltour de force that should drink well for 25-30 years. En Gardes Reserve Cabernet from Diamond Mountain Le Bijou du Roi was awarded 95 points and was explained as stunningly full-bodied, multi-dimensional mouthfeel, and long, rich finish. For complete reviews please visit https://www.engardewinery.com/accolades-press/2013/ We couldnt be more thrilled with these scores, said Csaba Szakal, Winemaker and Proprietor of En Garde. Having Mr. Parker offer such praise for our wines is a very humbling experience, he added. Szakal is a fourth generation winemaker from Hungary. His wife, Sandy Scott, was born and raised on a cattle ranch on Chalk Hill Road. While working in the Silicon Valley as a computer programmer, Szakal started making wine as a hobby in the couples garage. In 2007, the couple decided to launch their wines commercially. Szakal and Scott make barrel selections and blending decisions together to maintain a balance of male and female perspective. Robert Parker compared their blending abilities to the genius master blender, Denis Malbec, who was tragically killed last spring. http://www.winemag.com/2016/05/05/remembering-denis-malbec/ The winery specializes in high elevation Napa Cabernet Sauvignon (from Diamond Mountain, Mount Veeder and Howell Mountain) and Sonoma Countys Russian River Valley Pinot Noir. Wines from En Garde are only available at the Kenwood tasting room. For complete list of wines please visit https://www.engardewinery.com/wines/ Helder Machado - President and CEO Our focus is directed on quick response time in conjunction with quality customer service to act as our clients virtual IT department. Readers of the central Massachusetts regions definitive source for business news, Worcester Business Journal (WBJ), have chosen Machado Consulting as the Best IT Services in the newspapers 4th annual Best of Business Awards. This is the first time Machado Consulting has won this award, and Machado garnered 50 percent more votes than the second-place IT Services, according to WBJ Editor Brad Kane. There were 44 categories, and 1,800 responses. The chief focus of Machado Consulting is maximizing technology for small to medium-sized businesses allowing the focus to remain on every day business activities. Worcester Business Journal attracts a readership audience of business decision-makers who are managing businesses large and small. More than 90 percent of its readers are the senior executives in their organization. In addition to being the key decision-makers in their organizations, WBJ readers are also well educated and highly affluent. "For the first three years of the Best of Business Awards, the Best IT Services category has always been extremely competitive, with winners only besting the competition by a handful of votes. That was not the case this year, where Machado Consulting was the overwhelming favorite among WBJ readers," said WBJ Editor Brad Kane. "It appears Machado's speed in responding to client demands and technical expertise really resonate with the Central Massachusetts business community." The recognition by the WBJ and its readership underscores Machado Consultings vision statement to be the premier IT services company for Worcester. We are pleased to accept Worcester Business Journals recognition of being The Best IT Services for the year 2017. This award speaks volumes to our commitment to excellence in the fast paced, ever-expanding industry of Information Technology. We would like to thank our clients for making this a reality and look forward to continuing down this path for many years to come. Machado Consulting has been working extremely hard to provide top notch IT Managed Services to the SMB Market throughout Massachusetts and New England region. Our focus is directed on quick response time in conjunction with quality customer service to act as our clients virtual IT department. This way, owners can focus on running their business opposed to worrying about their technology environment, states Helder Machado, CEO. Many veterans have used the discipline and leadership taught in the Armed Forces to become successful business owners. Lieutenant Colonal (LTC) Helder Machado is one of them. Machado Consulting is a Veteran Owned Small-Business (VSOB) under the leadership of LTC Helder Machado. The values gained from LTC Machado's military experience has blended in with the company which in turn has allowed the company to thrive into the award-winning company it is today. LTC Helder Machado is also active duty for the Army National Guard, serving as one of the two commanders in a training battalion. He has also served honorable in Operation Desert Storm. The Worcester Business Journal award comes on the heels of Machado Consultings recognition as one of CRNs 2016 top Managed Service Providers in the country. Machado Consultings managed service offerings provide companies the full range of technology support they need for one low, fixed monthly rate. For the fraction of the cost of an in-house IT department companies have a trusted partner, ensuring their IT infrastructure is proactively managed by a TEAM of Network Engineers and professionals. IT issues keeping you up at night and impacting your business? Let Machado Consulting take them off your hands so you can put your focus where it belongs. Growing your business. Machado Consulting and other category winners will be honored Jan. 26 at WBJs 4th annual Best of Business Awards event at the Beechwood Hotel in Worcester. About Machado Consulting Machado Consulting specializes in industry-specific technology solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Collectively, the team has expertise in services such as servers, virtual servers, VoIP solutions, web development and internet marketing while working with reputable brands such as Microsoft, HP, Dell, Digium, Cisco among others. More information can be found on our website. Media Contact Russ Almstrom Business Development Manager Machado Consulting More Than Your IT Department. Worcester, Mass. Email: ralmstrom(at)machadoconsulting(dot)com Connect Please find us on our website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. According to facts filed pursuant to civil case number CIVDS1409537, the force of the rear impact pushed the plaintiffs vehicle into the center median, causing the airbags to deploy. The defendants vehicle was driven by a man who worked as an investigator for the County of San Bernardino District Attorneys office. Expert testimony revealed that both husband and wife were initially diagnosed with soft tissue injuries, but the wife was later diagnosed with intercostal Neuralgia in addition to neck and lower back problems. Her medical records show continuous treatment for more than 12 months including numerous visits to pain management specialists for nerve blocks and ablations. Prior to trial, defense counsel offered $120,000 to settle the claim, but as the trial date drew closer, the County of San Bernardino raised their offer to $375,000, still short of the plaintiffs $550,000 demand. At deposition, the defendants expert neurologist stated that the plaintiff suffered from a preexisting condition of herpes Zoster, a claim that failed to meet the National Institutes of Health standards for diagnosis. The case was then tried in San Bernardino County Court before Judge Michael Sachs. The $2.4 million judgement represents a huge victory for our clients, said Andy Ellis, who praised the invaluable assistance of co-counsel Britt Karp, who worked diligently with the clients to get to their core story. I am positive we will be witnessing more courtroom victories with Britt as first chair very soon, Ellis offered. About Ellis Law Corporation Headquartered in Los Angeles, Ellis Law Corporation is an award-winning personal injury law firm and has earned a reputation as one of Californias leading trial firms, thanks to numerous courtroom successes. During his 25+ years as a leading trial attorney, founding partner Andy Ellis has recovered more than a quarter billion dollars on behalf of clients. Ellis Law attorneys handle complex cases in state and federal courts involving auto accidents, premises liability, defective products, negligence and malpractice. Additional information about Ellis Law Corporation is available on the firm's website at http://ellisinjurylaw.com/or by calling 888 745 4381. OMAHA AKSARBEN Foundation is currently accepting applications for the annual Nebraska Pioneer and Heritage Farm Awards. Sponsored by AKSARBEN Foundation and Nebraska Farm Bureau, the program honors farm families in Nebraska whose land has been owned by members of the same family for 100 years (Pioneer) and 150 years (Heritage). To date, more than 9,000 families in all 93 Nebraska counties have been honored at their respective county fairs. Each farm honoree receives one engraved plaque and one gatepost marker as permanent recognition of their milestone. Application details must be verified by the county fair board in which the land is located prior to submission to AKSARBEN Foundation. The 2017 Nebraska Farm Award applications are due to county fair boards no later than April 21, 2017. Application forms can be obtained:Online: http://www.aksarben.org/p/coreinitiatives/agriculture/264; Email: Jody Siedelmann at Siedelmannj@aksarben.org; Phone: 402-554-9600, ext. 107; or Mail: 6910 Pacific St, Ste 102, Omaha, NE 68106 Established in 1895, AKSARBEN Foundation represents the premier employers in Nebraska and western Iowa. AKSARBEN Foundation works as a unified network to influence change for the betterment of youth, the economy and Heartland communities. We advance our mission to leverage collective business leadership to build a more prosperous Heartland by funding and guiding best practice, needs-based scholarship programs, awarding nearly $1 million annually; promoting the Heartlands cultural heritage through top-ranking community celebrations, attended by over 100,000 annually; and honoring community leaders who carry on the Heartlands tradition of philanthropy and volunteerism. KJM Capital, LLC, an Orlando, Florida- based private equity firm, announced it is rolling out a family of established, regional, refrigerated truckload carriers under a new brand name, Cold Carriers. Cold Carriers will be the master brand that presides over the sub-brands of its three, initial operating carriers: Gantt Trucking Interide Transport Sunco Trucking The company is supporting the launch and highlighting its services, geographic coverage, and driver recruiting links with a new website, http://www.coldcarriers.com. KJM Capital completed the successful acquisitions of Lexington, South Carolina-based Charles Gantt Trucking and Salt Lake City-based Interide Transport in 2015. In 2016 KJM Capital acquired Lakeland, Florida-based Sunco Trucking (also d/b/a Watkins Refrigerated) and northern Utah-based Blue Sky Logistics. Cold Carriers offers full truckload, temperature-controlled transport services with a combined fleet of over 450 tractors and 700 refrigerated units, providing transportation needs to blue chip shippers, nationwide. Substantially all of the fleet consists of late-model tractors and trailers, (2014 and newer) while being compliant with ELD regulations. Cold Carriers plans to continue strategically expanding its nationwide transportation network and capabilities by acquiring additional refrigerated truckload carriers in 2017. While the regional carriers will continue to operate under each of their brands, each has been integrated onto a common transportation management platform, one that has been designed to deliver a seamless customer experience to shippers and producers throughout the continental U.S. Cold Carriers is sponsoring the Opening Night reception at the 2017 Food Shippers of America conference in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, March 5, 2017 at 6:00 pm. The company plans to welcome and to share its vision with conference attendees during the evening. About KJM Capital: KJM Capital, LLC was founded by Kenneth Meister and his partners to acquire leading lower to middle market companies that serve business customers. According to Meister, several additional acquisitions are planned for 2017 to continue to build a family of truckload temperature-controlled carriers that will be integrated on a common transportation management software platform to offer seamless services to its customers. 88-Eighty Eight will be featuring their latest Spring 2017 collection on the Fancy.com online retail website. Shoppers can Fancy (similar to liking or pinning) 88s handbags and even share them with friends or add them to wish lists. This platform also makes it easy for customers to quickly click and buy or to learn more about 88-Eighty Eight as a brand. About Fancy: Fancy.com is a new online retailer that has taken the retail world by storm. This new site is tapping into the new wave of social shopping, seeing what your friends on Twitter and Facebook are interested in. They describe themselves as part store, part magazine, part wish list. Fancy allows you to Fancy items (like them) and gives you credit whenever you share with friends. The Fancy app also allows you to see what your friends like and also see recommendations on products. There are thousands of stores and millions of items. Fancy is available on desktop, smartphone, tablet and even Apple Watch versions. Fancy is available in 33 languages so far, making it a global shopping community. More about 88-Eighty Eight: 88-Eighty Eight is a vegan brand, which means no animal products are used in the making of their bags. The founder of the brand is a life-long vegetarian, who believes that the environment would benefit from a reduction in factory farming. Various vegan leathers are used in production. The scientific names are PU (polyurethane) and PVC (polyvinylchloride). It may be more expensive than the alternative, but 88 only uses PU in creating their bags since it is better for the environment. 88 develops all of their own custom hardware. Just like the vegan leather, they focus on using the best options for the environment, which may not necessarily be the cheapest option. All of their suppliers are certified, compliant for human rights and ensure the existence of good working conditions. They are proud of the relationships they have formed with their suppliers, most of whom they have worked with for years and whom are considered part of the 88 family. 88 has a quality assurance team on site at the supplier every day, inspecting all aspects of production from materials to in-line production. This ensures that they are truly proud of every item that they ship out. Another great thing about 88-Eighty Eight is that they donate a percentage of every sale to a charity that assists in educating women around the world. They believe that educating women is the key to a better world. They are also starting a new campaign that will allow them to partner with different Vegan organizations to connect their brand's message with their charitable mission. The number 88 is the number of constellations in the sky. Shuttle mission 88 started construction of the international space station finished in 1988. In ham radio 88 is the sign-off that means love and kisses. 88 is considered the luckiest number in Chinese culture as it sounds like word for wealth. The snake swallowing its own tail is an ancient Egyptian symbol for the self-sustaining, self-contained universe. 88 represents the cycle of creation and recreation. To learn more about 88-Eighty Eight Handbags, go to: http://www.88-eightyeight.com You may also visit their social media pages, listed below: Instagram: @88.eightyeight Twitter: @88_handbags Blog: https://88fashionblog.wordpress.com Fancy: https://fancy.com/shop/team88 For more information, please contact: Tosha Clemens at (818) 427-1449, PR(at)88-eightyeight(dot)com This exhibit is one of the most interesting and diverse showings that we have featured at the resort. Millions are drawn to the beauty, fun, healthy and relaxed way of life in Southern California and the California Fun in the Sun exhibit showcases this quintessential lifestyle. On display through April 2017 at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, the California Fun in the Sun exhibit features 24 original paintings, and bronze and glass sculptures from a collection of 15 artists from the Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art (LGOCA). The exhibit reflects all of the natural vibrant colors that grace the ocean, beaches, sky, and vegetation found throughout the area. Artists highlighted in the exhibit include Robin Hiers, Greg Stogner, Diana Carey, Becky Black, Kym De Los Reyes, Jessica Wachter, Iris Bourne, Joseph Moscoso, Ian Bryan, Jessica Osborne, Tania Alcala, Serge Armando, Derek Gores, Adolfo Girala and Vladimir Prodanovic. Fine art adds to the comfort and beauty of your home or workplace, and LGOCA boasts some of the top artists in the area, said Bridgette Shaw, Owner and Curator of Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art. Its a chance to take home a piece of Southern California for your own. This exhibit is one of the most interesting and diverse showings that we have featured at the resort, says Director of Sales & Marketing Shannon Gilbert. With the combination of paintings and sculpture, combined with all of the colors and textures of each piece, I anticipate the exhibit to be popular not only with our guests, but with art collectors as well, she added. Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art (LGOCA) is a unique contemporary gallery showcasing top regional and international artists. Its emphasis is on emerging and mid-career artists working with a variety of mediums. Many of the artists have philanthropic causes creating a combination of caring hearts and cutting edge art. LGOCA offers a diverse mixture of paintings, sculpture, bronze, fused glass and metal creations. Not your typical white walled gallery affair, LGOCA promises to engage guests in an experience not offered anywhere else. # # # About The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel is situated atop a seaside bluff with panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean and more than three miles of sandy beach. Presented against an extraordinary backdrop, the resort continues to redefine the guest experience by creating distinctive and unforgettable moments that instill memories that last a lifetime. Make the oceanfront resort a part of your travel plans and #DiscoverYourMoment. The resort offers many extraordinary luxury experiences including Raya, 180blu, The Market Place, enoSTEAK, Bar Raya, The Ritz-Carlton Spa and the Eco-Adventure Center. For more information or reservations call 800-241-3333, the hotel directly at 949-240-2000, a travel professional or visit http://www.ritzcarlton.com/LagunaNiguel. MailPreparer.com Our value to mailers is removing complexity and expense by leveraging modern technology that happens to be cloud-based TEC Mailing Solutions LLC receives the first certification for online postal processing through the United States Postal Service for their MailPreparer portal (http://www.MailPreparer.com). The certification is the result of extensive testing by the United States Postal Service and allows users to be confident recommended solutions meet stringent full service requirements to receive the best pricing on automation discounts. The USPS has maintained a list of certified on-premise Full-Service software solutions since 2013. Market demand for affordable easy to use solutions sparked the creation of this new category, specifically for cloud-based solutions geared toward small to medium mailers. MailPreparer allows users to overcome these common challenges: Cost: Cloud-based solutions are commonly available as pay as you go or subscription based. No additional expense for palletization, de-duplication, and all classes of mail unlike typical on premise software. Ease of Use: MailPreparer has a modern interface that is intuitive and easy to learn Availability: MailPreparer can be used on any device: PC, MAC, Linux, Android, etc. and anywhere a wifi or internet connection can be obtained Maintenance: MailPreparer is centrally managed and always up to date, there is no need for a user to perform mandatory monthly updates Return mail/deliverability issues: MailPreparer utilizes enterprise CASS and Presort engines costing tens of thousands that increase delivery performance versus entry grade on premise software. Support: MailPreparer job details and data files are available to support technicians to provide unparalleled assistance Compliance: PAF management is fully electronic and managed by TEC Mailing Solutions to maintain Postal Acknowledgment Forms for the required 6 year period This is a real game changer, explained Brian Euclide, President of TEC Mailing Solutions. Our value to mailers is removing complexity and expense by leveraging modern technology that happens to be cloud-based. We license data quality and presort engines from top tier software solutions and deliver functionality with intuitive user interfaces. TECs solutions are more affordable than entry-level on-premise postal software and produce a much better work product so less first-class mail gets returned. Less standard mail ends up in the land fill which is an aspect many smaller mailers dont think about." Users of on-premise postal software in the $1500- $3000 price range that mail less than two million pieces of mail a month are encouraged to evaluate the recommended USPS cloud-based solutions. Better delivery performance allows the USPS and clients alike to keep postal costs in check. A list of certified cloud-based solutions is available at: https://postalpro.usps.com/node/248 or by contacting TEC Mailing Solutions. About: TEC Mailing Solutions LLC, is a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of name, address hygiene and bulk mail sortation services for web-to-print, CRM, ERP, and variable digital printing solutions. TEC's services are consumed as embedded functions in applications to improve workflow or standalone web portals: MailListCleaner, MailPreparer and MailPieceTracker; available direct or through a network of resell/referral partners and VARs. Privately held, the corporate office is located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin with locations in Illinois and Virginia. More information can be found at: http://www.tecmailing.com or call 866-379-9437. Throughout the past decade the drone industry has undergone immense growth, making it one of the fastest growing industries of the past few years. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2017) in Las Vegas, drones were a major draw and as such will play a big role in the tech of 2017. Two lesser known Chinese drone companies that are leading the way with affordable alternatives to big name brands are Xiaomi and Wingsland. These cool electronic gadgets let consumers take to the skies for a fraction of the price of big name brands and have just been made available to the Western market by Chinavasion. Chinavasion is located in Shenzhen, a city in South China that is home to over 200 drone companies. Shenzhen plans to build the world's first drone development and manufacturing hub putting them on the forefront of the drone industry. This innovative market and localization of components and skills is a driving force behind the competitive drone market. Due to its positive location, Chinavasion finds itself in the midst of the latest drone developments and inventions, so there is lots for consumers to look forward to. Ms. Rose Li, PR manager at Chinavasion, stated: The drone industry is facing mounting pressure from a new range of highly competitive Chinese drone manufactures that offer all the features of big brands but at a much lower price." As of late, Chinavasion has introduced its global customer base to two lesser known Chinese drone brands; Xiaomi and Wingsland. Both companies have produced a topnotch drone that packs the latest technology and features yet comes with a remarkably low price tag. Both drones feature a compact size, making them easy to maneuver. Equipped with ultra-HD cameras, they allow pilots to shoot absolutely stunning photographs and video in 1080p and 4K resolution. Added to that, the Xiaomi Mi video drone supports 360-degree photography - enabling users to take photography to entirely new heights. When asked, Ms. Rose Li stated, It is remarkable how such compact devices are capable of packing these absolutely gorgeous cameras. Snapping pictures and making videos with these drones certainly is an experience like no other. Featuring the latest hardware and software, the Wingsland S6 and Xiaomi Mi drones allow their users so enjoy numerous flying modes. An abundance of in-flight features such as auto landing and take-off support along with a highly accurate GPS system allow even new drone pilots to cruise the skies with these quad copters. What really sets these drones apart from the competition is the fact that they are easy to control, even for beginning drone enthusiasts, Ms. Li stated. She added that, "Features such as FPV support and the possibility to attach external accessories like a search light or BB gun further enhance the overall flying experience." As a Shenzhen-based electronics e-commerce company, Chinavasion sees a bright future for the Chinese drone industry. The company aims to add more high-end devices along with other cool electronics and gizmos to its collection in the near future so as to meet the demands of its global customer base. The overwhelming interest in Codelucida across our syndication network is a terrific example of geographically distributed angel groups coming together, said Wayne Rickard, deal lead and member of Tech Coast Angels and Arizona Tech Investors Codelucida recently announced the successful closing of a seed round of angel investment led by Tucson-based Desert Angels in syndication with Southern California-based Tech Coast Angels, Phoenix-based Arizona Tech Investors, and other private angel investors. This funding adds to the $750,000 that the company previously received through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase-2 award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) in August of 2015. Codelucida develops cutting-edge error-correction algorithms, a pivotal technology used in every data storage or communication system, to ensure reliability in the data and prevent any data loss caused by errors introduced in the data. The startup was co-founded by Dr. Shiva Planjery, along with globally recognized error-correction coding experts, Dr. Bane Vasic and Dr. David Declercq. The foundations for Codelucidas patented technology is based on their years of pioneering joint research work at the University of Arizona and the University of Cergy-Pontoise, France. Codelucidas initial target is the $25B flash-memory-based storage market. Flash memory is the type of memory medium used in USB sticks, smartphones, tablets, and laptops and data centers in the form of solid state drives (SSDs). The patented technology driven by proprietary machine-learning-type algorithms provides enhanced reliability and performance with significantly reduced silicon footprint and power usage compared to state-of-the-art. The technology is a critical enabler for cheaper and better performing flash memories, as the industry continues to drive down cost and increase storage densities creating a strong need for improved error-correction technology. Codelucidas technology also has broader applications in other markets such as the optical communications market, and continues to gain traction in the industry. The funding from the angel investment round in combination with the NSF SBIR Phase-2 award funding will allow the company to further advance its solutions to rapidly meet market needs. The overwhelming interest in Codelucida across our syndication network is a terrific example of geographically distributed angel groups coming together, said Wayne Rickard, deal lead and member of both Tech Coast Angels and Arizona Tech Investors. The last few years have seen huge advances in machine learning, natural language processing, and AI. However, the underlying technologies that move and store data are still relying on decades-old technology for error correction. Codelucida is dedicated to making sure error-correction technology can keep up with the demands of todays most challenging applications, while saving power and lowering costs. We are ecstatic to have finally closed this new round of investment from the various angel groups led by Desert Angels, which is a testament to our team and technology, said Dr. Planjery, co-founder and CEO of Codelucida. I feel a sense of pride in receiving the kind of backing we did from the various angel groups especially from our local Desert Angels in Tucson. I look forward to achieving our next milestones and capitalizing on our market opportunities. Desert Angels was honored to have the opportunity to lead this round of funding for Codelucida, said Curtis Gunn, chairman of Desert Angels. It is particularly satisfying to help support a Tucson-based home grown company with ties to the University of Arizona and the Arizona Center for Innovation. We are excited to work with Dr. Planjery and his amazing team to bring this world-changing technology to market and improve the efficiency, speed and reliability of SSD memory and other communication technologies. About Desert Angels: Desert Angels is a Tucson, Arizona based group of accredited investors that has emerged as one of the countrys leading angel investor groups, funding startups in Arizona and the Southwest. The group focuses much of its funding on early-stage tech and life sciences companies. Since 2000, Desert Angels has invested over $40 million in more than 95 companies. Desert Angels was ranked as the third most active angel group in the nation in 2015 after investing over $6.8 million in 32 companies in 2014. Desert Angels is a member of the Angel Capital Association. For more information, please visit http://www.desertangels.org. About Tech Coast Angels: Tech Coast Angels (TCA) is one of the largest and most active angel investor networks in the nation, and a leading source of funding for seed-stage and early-stage companies. TCA members are accredited investors who collectively invest in startup companies in the range of $250,000 to $2 million as a group. TCA members are themselves founders and executive level business leaders who have extensive knowledge of the investment process and world-class business practices. They provide companies with more than just capital; they also contribute counsel, mentoring, and access to an extensive network of investors, customers, strategic partners and management. Since its founding in 1997, TCA has invested over $176 million in more than 300 companies and has helped attract more than $1.5 billion in additional capital/follow-on rounds, mostly from venture capital firms. For more information, please visit http://www.techcoastangels.com. About Arizona Tech Investors: Arizona Tech Investors (ATI) is an active community of accredited investors who invest in early-stage technology companies located in Arizona and surrounding states. Since their first transaction in May 2007, ATI has invested in 49 companies, providing over $13.7 million in capital, making them the most active technology investor group in central and northern Arizona. ATI is also a member of the Angel Capital Association. For more information, please visit http://arizonatechinvestors.com About Codelucida: Codelucida is an early-stage startup that develops error-correction technologies for next-generation storage and communications with initial focus on the flash-memory-based storage applications. The patented technology is based on a proprietary design approach that provides significant improvements in reliability and speeds with savings in power and footprint compared to state-of-the-art. The technology has broader applications in emerging new memories, as well as communications, including optical communications markets. For more information, please visit http://www.codelucida.com Advanced Equine Comfort LLC today announced its continued partnership with Stromsholm Ltd, the UKs leading specialist both in hoof care and horseshoes. Stromsholm Ltd will continue to distribute the UK/European community-patented Easys Slipper Heart Bar. Easys Slipper Heart Bar is a glue-on horseshoe that provides positive frog support and therapeutic relief for laminitis, flat feet, quarter cracks and more. On Sept. 27, 2016, the product received its US Patent D767830 designation. Easys Slipper Heart Bar comes in sizes 00 to draft size nine. Two years ago, Stromsholm requested a heart-bar prototype, and this glue-on was developed specifically for them, said Sue Blair, founder and CEO, Advanced Equine Comfort. Easys Slipper Heart Bar now comprises nearly 75 percent of our sales, with more requests coming in each month. We see Sue and Advanced Equine Comfort as true partners, said Carl Bettison, owner, Stromsholm Ltd. We were looking for a shoe that would provide superior frog support, and she got it done. We are proud to offer Easys Slipper Heart Bar to our customers across the UK and in Europe. ### About Easys Slipper Easys Slipper, from Advanced Equine Comfort LLC, is the therapeutic glue-on horseshoe that provides shock absorption and vibration dissipation to improve joint and bone health. Easys Slipper encourages hoof growth and physical movement to grow healthier hooves and happier horses. The superior shock absorbency decreases stress on the bones, ligaments and joints, allowing natural flexing of the hoof, resulting in enhanced blood flow and increased oxygenation of the horses body. The built-in rocker can be easily adjusted by a farrier for the desired breakover for proper movement and soundness. Visit http://www.advancedequinecomfort.com to learn more, and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/easysslipper About Stromsholm Ltd Established in 1972, Stromsholm Ltd has over 40 years experience and is proud to have been awarded the Royal Warrant from her Majesty The Queen. Stromsholm has grown from selling horseshoe studs from the kitchen table, into the UKs leading specialist both in hoof care and horseshoes. Today, many of the worlds top race horses and competition horses are shod with Kerckhaert Horseshoes which Stromsholm are proud to distribute The Royal Kerckhaert Horseshoes across the UK. Our comprehensive range of horseshoes is complimented with an extended range of tools and equipment required by todays professional farrier. Our products also include many of the leading hoof care products available on the market today. Learn more at stromsholm.co.uk and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/stromsholmlfarriersupplies Full visibility into all of our contract data will allow us to improve compliance across our entire enterprise. Exari, the leading provider of enterprise contract management software, announced today that Moelven Industrier ASA, a Scandinavian industrial group with over $1 billion in revenue, has selected Exari in an effort to gain complete contract transparency, with intentions to roll out the solution across their 52 subsidiaries. Exari fully implemented will be able to give Moelven complete visibility into all of its contract documents and data with one central repository. By moving away from multiple storage systems and locations, they will be able to easily report on dates, terms and commitments which were previously overlooked and not quantified. This is expected to deliver an increase in revenue while also reducing risk. Adopting an enterprise contract management platform such as Exari will improve our daily operations, said Even Lutns, CIO at Moelven. Full visibility into all of our contract data will allow us to improve compliance across our entire enterprise. "The agreement with Moelven represents yet another important proof point into a new industry for Exari," said Robert Flint, SVP of worldwide sales at Exari. "Supporting a growing business with an increasing need for privacy at HQ while enabling good transparency into all business units through shared agreements are top priorities to so many Enterprises today." "Moelven is a recognized leader in their industry and we're delighted to welcome them to the Exari family," said ystein Namtvedt, managing director and CTO at Exari Norway. "Our solution will contribute to their growth while they contribute to ours." For more information on Exari solutions, please visit us at http://www.exari.com. About Exari Exari is the market-leading Enterprise Contract Management platform for delivering 100% Contract Certainty. Hundreds of thousands of users across 80 countries use Exari for contract creation, negotiation, contract analytics as well as for strategic sourcing. Five of the top fifteen global banks, four of the worlds top insurance brokers, and numerous market-leading energy companies use Exari. Exari is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts with offices in Oslo and Bergen, Norway, London, UK, Munich, Germany and Melbourne, Australia. Learn more at http://www.Exari.com USAB2C If every American purchased one USA made product per year, the impact would be $9 billion. That creates an amazing amount of jobs for USA workers. Launched in 2007, AMERICA's BUSINESS To CONSUMERS (USAB2C.com) provides manufacturers a venue to promote products for consumers wishing to buy American made items. USAB2C is proud to showcase tailored pajamas and loungewear from BedHead Pajamas of Los Angeles, California. This month, USAB2C teaming with Bedhead Pajamas of Los Angeles, California, provides the opportunity to say I love You for Valentines Day in a fun and different way. BedHeads Renee Claire grew up in Amherstburg, a small town in southern Ontario, Canada. She spent time in the cold winters sewing clothes for herself in the basement, honing her sense of color, patterns and cloth and dreaming of being a clothing designer and living the California lifestyle as promoted in photographs and on television. After college, Renee decided to load up her van and head to L.A. where she waited on tables in numerous restaurants by night, designing her dress and outwear collection by day. In the late 90's public interest in dresses declined and was replaced by sportswear and as Renee was delivering what she considered to possibly be her last collection of dresses to a local retailer, she saw a pair of pajamas in the window of the boutique and thought, "I could top that!". Renee quickly realized that the current pajama offerings lacked sophistication and fine tailoring. She quickly learned how to make her own colored and patterned cotton textiles. As a consequence, BedHead was born! Within three years the company was producing over 50,000 pairs of pajamas, all locally cut and sewn, culminating today in over 70 jobs and counting. The collection is designed in-house by Renee each season. Bedhead is currently sold in over 1,500 boutiques worldwide, numerous department stores (including Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom's), and in the BedHead store in West Hollywood. Customers can shop with ease for these made in USA pajamas on: https://www.usab2c.com/manufacturer/bedhead_pajamas_made_in_usa America's Business to Consumers Inc. http://www.USAB2C.com provides U.S. manufacturers a venue to sell products. Given a choice between American made and similar products made overseas, consumers would rather buy the American product, according to a nationally representative survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Why USAB2C? Chief Operations Officer, George P. Hanos states: "On USAB2C.com, customers can browse an online catalog and order products sourced from USAB2C Certified American manufacturers through a safe and secure website. The effort to identify and make available American made products is ongoing. USAB2Cs founders are intent on providing US products, simultaneously minimizing exposure to inferior materials found at times in Asian imports, particularly seen in toys. The Made in the USA News section presents consumers with daily articles concerning Product Recalls, New Product Introductions and related retailing / safety news. Consumers can submit inquiries to USAB2C directly via: http://www.usab2c.com/page/contact. About America's Business to Consumers Inc. America's Business to Consumers Inc. is a private company experienced in retail and e-Commerce marketing. Established in 2007, USAB2C seeks to be a single source of American manufactured products; a site where consumers can find a multitude of competitively priced U.S. manufactured products. The http://www.USAB2C.com team facilitates communication between consumers and numerous American manufacturers for in-demand products. Contact: Sophia C. King, Editor-in-Chief America's Business to Consumers Inc. (775) 888-1378 Sophia.Anayannis(at)USAB2C.com FACEBOOK: America Made Products & American Made Clothes - USAB2C.com: http://fb.me/USAbusiness2consumers With a technology that compresses natural gas in a more efficient way, Simple-Fill is delivering an affordable solution for compressing natural gas. Today Simple-Fill, developer of an innovative technology that compresses natural gas in a more efficient, reliable and affordable way, announced it will be fueling fleet vehicles for the Safelite AutoGlass facility in Worthington, Ohio. The largest vehicle glass repair and replacement company in the U.S. has tapped Simple-Fill to reduce operating expense with a more predictable and environmentally friendly fuel to power their commercial fleet. Companies that rely on fleets, like Safelite, spend millions of dollars per year on fuel. Forecasting fuel prices is critical, but also challenging. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects fuel costs will increase over the next 12 months in fact, experts predict the national average for gasoline will increase $0.16 per gallon and diesel could reach $2.70 per gallon in 2017. Natural gas prices are more stable and therefore more predictable thus offering a more reliable alternative fuel for companies today. Safelite AutoGlass is committed to innovation in all aspects of our business, including exploration of alternative methods for fueling our fleet of vehicles, said Doug Herron, EVP & CFO of Safelite AutoGlass. Weve searched for a partner in our quest for fuel efficiency as well as carbon footprint reduction, and we are excited to partner with Simple-Fill to finally make it happen. With a technology that compresses natural gas in a more efficient way, Simple-Fill is delivering an affordable solution for compressing natural gas. Were hopeful their solution will enable us to fulfill our efficiency and social responsibility goals, so we can continue to focus on delivering a memorable service experience for our customers. Unlike conventional compression methods, Simple-Fill uses liquid to compress, cool and dehydrate natural gas, while eliminating methane leakage. The technology was originally conceived in 2012 at The Ohio State Universitys Center for Automotive Research. In 2014, Simple-Fill signed an exclusive technology license with Ohio State and has been developing the technology since. Today, Simple-Fill is working with leaders in the Compressed Natural Gas industry, including Worthington Industries and Parker Hannifin Corporation to bring this unique approach to the mass market. With the volatility of oil prices, we recognize the power of our approach to deliver a better compressor to fuel todays vehicles, said Rob Underhill, founder and president of Simple-Fill. Our partnership with Safelite AutoGlass signals a first step in bringing our groundbreaking technology to more fleets and were excited about what is on the horizon for natural gas compression. About Simple-Fill Simple-Fill is changing the way vehicles are fueled with an innovative technology that compresses natural gas in a more efficient, reliable and affordable way. Leveraging liquid to compress, cool and dehydrate natural gas, Simple-Fill has eliminated the complexity and cost of traditional compression methods, enabling more industries to take advantage of these groundbreaking capabilities. Unlike gasoline or diesel, natural gas prices are more predictable and therefore, businesses can better forecast transportation costs. In addition to being more cost effective, Simple-Fills technology helps companies using fleet vehicles to improve their carbon footprint and evolve with the future of fuel. For more information, visit http://simple-fill.com/ About Safelite AutoGlass Safelite AutoGlass is the nations largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement services with more than 7,400 MobileGlassShops and company stores in all 50 states. Last year, more than 6 million customers chose Safelite for its 24/7 national contact centers, advanced online scheduling, superior repair and replacement systems, and the industrys only nationwide lifetime guarantee. Founded in 1947, the Columbus, Ohio-based company employs more than 13,000 people across the United States. For more information, visit Safelite.com, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter. ### MEDIA CONTACTS: Simple-Fill: Aimee Eichelberger Aimee (at) superior-pr (dot) com 312.952.1528 Safelite AutoGlass: Melina Metzger Melina (dot) Metzger (at) Safelite (dot) com 614.210.9232 When presidents give their inaugural addresses, we are accustomed to lofty narratives, to visionary ideals, to sweeping language. President Trump spoke differently. The only sweeping thing in his speech was his reference to the wind-swept plains of Nebraska. Of course I perked up in my seat. President Trumps speech was a striking and direct call for a new healthy nationalism. He spoke to the people, about the people, and for the people. A certain awkwardness marked the beginning. Not only was his style confrontational from the outset, but it began to rain right as he started, creating an uncomfortable moment. Then all of a sudden the rain stopped, and his speech gained momentum. He discussed in the harshest terms some of the stark realities we are facing and how they might be resolved. Defining problems is always the easiest task. Finding solutions is much harder. While the Presidents speech lacked specifics in that regard, nonetheless there was power in the attempt to articulate an America lost to globalized supply side elitism, an America lost to drugs and crime, an America lost to systems that no longer serve all persons. It just seems that no matter how hard people work, they just cannot get ahead. Our new Presidents speech was similar in theme to his campaign, with a matured sense of gravity. It was an authoritative call for a new national unity for all, for the forgotten. The idea that America can do betterand will do better for everyonewas clearly conveyed. I recognize that the tone of the speech will not have universal appeal. It was to the point, direct, and firm. It was not a delicate, textured speech. But he was clear: The American carnage stops right here and stops right now. We are witnessing a renewed focus on reviving Americas economy. The multinational corporations of the world are on notice: they cannot play both sides of the balance sheet, for us and against us, and that the benefits of exchange with us will have to be fair for all. Frankly, this creates the possibility for authentic relationship with peoples around the world, rather than a transactional one. If this objective can be achieved, it is a constructive change. A healthy American nationalism will lead to properly ordered international engagement: for our benefit and the benefit of others. It should also be noted that the President spoke before the entirety of government, including the House of Representatives. The Presidents authoritative style, communicating the desire to devolve power centers from Washington to Wall Street, interestingly repositions Congress to its appropriate role in governing society through the power of the people. It is statistically shown that the majority of Americans believe that it is the job of Congress to do whatever the President says. This is not true. Congress is an independent and coequal branch of government that makes the law, which is interpreted by the judiciary and enforced by the President. This balance of power has been out of balance for a hundred yearsand perhaps now a realignment begins. Whether you love President Trump or loath him, or whether you are some place in between with certain apprehensions but hoping your president succeeds, today was an extraordinary American day. We saw the successful and peaceful transfer of power. If you default on your loans, the government can intercept your tax refunds and garnish your wages. National nonprofit American Consumer Credit Counseling launched a new, three-part video series on how to repay student loans. The videos take consumers through a variety of options that are available when it comes to paying back student loans so that they can most effectively manage their debt. The process of paying back student loans can be intimidating and stressful, particularly if graduates dont understand how these loans work and the various repayment options available, said Steve Trumble, President and CEO of American Consumer Credit Counseling, which is based in Newton, MA. Its crucial that consumers understand the repayment process so that they can effectively manage their debt and avoid delinquency, which can destroy credit and lead to deeper financial problems. The three-part series includes videos on Student Loan Deferment & Forbearance (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQEBJKZWqTw&feature=youtu.be), Student Loan Consolidation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFz2EILZmI&feature=youtu.be) and Student Loan Repayment Options (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUdDwOm-Hto&feature=youtu.be). Depending on the conditions of the loans, most students must begin the repayment process as early as six months after graduation. It is important that students understand all of the student loan repayment options that are available to them through various programs. If you default on your loans, the government can intercept your tax refunds and garnish your wages, added Trumble. If you are unable to meet the terms of your repayment, you may want to consider other options such as deferment, forbearance or student loan forgiveness. The Student Loan Deferment & Forbearance video explains that if a student meets the criteria, they may be eligible to receive deferment or forbearance, which would allow them to temporarily postpone or reduce their Federal Student Loan monthly payments. During deferment, the repayment of the principal and interest on the student loan is delayed, but only temporarily. Forbearance allows a student who does not qualify for deferment to stop or reduce their payments for up to 12 months, but interest will continue to accrue. Deferment and forbearance help students avoid defaulting on a loan, even during financial hardship. The Student Loan Consolidation video explains how those with multiple federal education loans have the option to consolidate so that the repayment process is easier by combining the existing debt into one single loan. With consolidation comes a list of pros and cons. An advantage to loan consolidation is lower monthly payments, but these lower payments lead to a longer repayment period. Student loan consolidation gives students a simpler strategy when they find themselves with too many monthly payments that are too high. The Student Loan Repayment Options video breaks down the repayment plans into standard and longer repayment plans. The standard plans have the least interest and usually take 10 to 15 years to repay. These options include standard repayment plan, graduated repayment plan and income sensitive repayment plan. The longer repayment plans are based on income and family size and can take 20 to 25 years to repay. These plans include extended plan, income-based repayment plan, income-contingent repayment plan and income sensitive repayment plan. ACCC is a 501(c)3 organization that provides free credit counseling, bankruptcy counseling, and housing counseling to consumers nationwide in need of financial literacy education and money management. For more information, contact ACCC: For credit counseling, call 800-769-3571 For bankruptcy counseling, call 866-826-6924 For housing counseling, call 866-826-7180 Or visit us online at http://www.consumercredit.com About American Consumer Credit Counseling American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a nonprofit credit counseling 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering consumers to achieve financial and credit management through credit counseling, debt management, bankruptcy counseling, housing counseling, student loan counseling and financial education. As experts in debt and credit management, ACCC believes that many of the same principles applied to recovering from significant credit card debt can be applied to student loan assistance and repaying student loan debt. ACCCs student loan counselors help consumers sift through the confusion of student debt relief options in order to make better informed decisions regarding repayment. ACCC also provides prospective, current, and past students and their families with the information and resources necessary to make the best possible personal finances decisions about their college education and to help successfully maneuver the repayment process without relying on credit card debt or additional loans. ACCC holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a member of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). For more information or to access free financial education resources, log on to ConsumerCredit.com or visit http://www.consumercredit.com/financial-education/student-loans.aspx Our innovative bottle designs put coffee roasters in total control now. They can match their coffee with premium water, and create a competitive edge.Francini Retana co-founder Taza Agua Today, Taza Agua, Costa Rica's leading supplier of pure premium water, has officially unveiled its latest award-winning bottles, designed specifically to optimize the drinking experience for K-Cup coffee, tea and hot chocolate connoisseurs around the world. Taza Agua is renowned for introducing the worlds first untouched bottled water purposed exclusively for creating a superior brew. The company combines its natural, top-class water with an exquisite selection of coffee, cocoa, and tea, providing consumers with perfectly convenient, ready-to-go drinks. Now, it is taking the world of high-quality beverages by storm once again with its brand new, state-of-the-art bottle design, developed by Taza Aguas own Research and Development team. The addition of a cleverly-created special cavity section into which any K-Cup pod can be effortlessly inserted helps to further enhance the world-class taste experience that Taza Agua has already earned an international reputation for delivering. With the 100% all-natural volcanic spring water sourced from a pristine natural habitat in the mountains of Costa Rica, K-Cup drinkers who take advantage of the patent-pending bottles will instantly notice the improved taste of their beverages. According to Taza Agua Co-Founder Francini Retana, the next-generation bottles deliver the highest level of consumer-powered quality control by guaranteeing that only the best water is used in each brew. "We're delighted that our dynamic team have done it again,she expressed. Our new bottle system dramatically enhances the overall enjoyment of K-Cup drinks. After all, water is the most important component in every hot beverage, constituting up to 98% of the final drink. Farmers, roasters and manufacturers of coffee makers have worked tirelessly for decades to improve their products, with zero control of the most critical component of the brewing process - the water. Now, they have options. She added that part of the appeal of Taza Aguas latest offering is the water's natural low-sodium content, coupled with the perfect balance of magnesium and calcium, giving it a majestic taste thats incomparable. With 9 billion K-Cups sold annually, Taza Agua is confident of 2017 being a record-breaking year for their brand. Their bottle system is opening doors for a multitude of exciting new partnerships and licensing agreements with leading coffee and cocoa bean firms, major distributors, and expert roasters. New partnership opportunities are also on the horizon with the world's biggest hot beverage franchises, retailers, specialty coffee stores, and hospitality providers such as cruise line companies. A select number of interested parties have already been arranging combined land and helicopter tours of Taza Agua's coffee judge-approved bottling facilities. About Taza Agua: Based in Costa Rica, Taza Agua is the worlds first company to bottle water exclusively for brewing coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Now, it has invented a groundbreaking K-Cup compatible water bottle system -the perfect all in one solution for coffee pod machines and roasters. Taza Agua meets or exceeds coffee maker manufacturers recommended water use guidelines. Visit: http://www.tazaagua.com/ A number of players across the IoT stack are making huge investments to grab a larger share of the pie, but most fall short on expectations of a transformation partner. Given the huge potential of the Internet of Things (IoT)most of which is yet to be realizedenterprises are making significant investments in partnership with key service providers to explore new growth areas. As a result, Everest Group expects that the IoT services market will more than double in the next three years, reaching US$18 billion by 2020. Enterprises are exploring ways that IoT can be used to achieve higher efficiency, enable data-driven decision-making and develop new revenue opportunities through customer-centric products and services. **Read more about how enterprises are Seizing the IoT Opportunity** With enterprises and service providers considering IoT as their next big opportunity, Everest Group has identified intriguing trends that are emerging from the current adoption pattern: Eighty-seven percent of enterprises are optimistic about the returns on their investments in IoT. The percentage of IoT projects moving from pilot to production has jumped four-fold from 2014 to 2016. All industries are gearing up for IoT adoption, with manufacturing leading the way with 36 percent of IoT adoption across all industries. Developing a strong partner ecosystem is extremely complex and requires disruptive vision. Enterprises are increasingly adopting IoT to improve operational efficiency and create disruptive business models, said Chirajeet Sengupta, vice president at Everest Group. A number of players across the IoT stack are making huge investments to grab a larger share of the pie, but most fall short on expectations of a transformation partner. Service providers can use this opportunity to draw on their engineering and services expertise and embrace new engagement models to help enterprises with long-term innovation. The current use cases of IoT are dominated by the need of enterprises to drive operational efficiency. However, we do expect enterprises to leverage IoT to fundamentally transform their business going forward. In fact, Everest Group has identified four distinct classifications of enterprises based upon the business objectives they hope to accomplish through their IoT initiatives: Engagers: Engagers represent 17 percent of IoT adopters; these enterprises drive IoT adoption largely for customer engagement and creation of experiences. Optimizers: Optimizers (63 percent) adopt IoT mainly to solve operational issues and improve internal efficiencies. Integrators: For Integrators (14 percent), the objective of IoT adoption is growth for the entire enterprise ecosystem. Innovators: IoT adoption by Innovators (6 percent) results in transformative disruption and unthinkable business models. Enterprises should adopt IoT across all categories, which will lead to new revenue streams and adoption of new business models, added Sengupta. Announcing the IoT Services Market Leaders In its inaugural Internet of Things PEAK Matrix assessment, Everest Group explores the vision, services suite, scale of operations and domain investments of 16 IoT service providers. Everest Group has identified the following Leaders, Major Contenders and Aspirants: Leaders: Accenture, Atos, HCL Technologies and IBM Major Contenders: Cognizant, EPAM, HPE, L&T Infotech, NTT Data, TCS, Tech Mahindra and Wipro. Aspirants: CGI, Infosys, Luxoft and Prodapt ***Download Complimentary 4-page PEAK Matrix Preview Here*** Trends in the IoT services market as well as detailed insights into each of the 16 providers listed above are provided in the 92-page report, Internet of Things Services PEAK Matrix Assessment and Market Trends IoT: Bigger Than the Hype. A preview report is available for complimentary download here. *** Download Publication-Quality Graphics*** High-resolution graphics illustrating key takeaways from this report can be included in news coverage, with attribution to Everest Group. Graphics include: Internet of Things Adoption is Led by Optimizers The Internet of Things Technology and Services Provider Ecosystem Internet of Things Adoption Trends Internet of Things and the Transformation Agenda Internet of Things Adoption: A Definitional Framework About the PEAK Matrix The Everest Group PEAK Matrix is a proprietary framework for assessing the relative market success and overall capability of service providers based on Performance, Experiences, Ability and Knowledge. Each service provider is comparatively assessed on two dimensions: market success and delivery capabilities. The resulting matrix categorizes service providers as Leaders, Major Contenders, and Aspirants. Companies that demonstrate strong upward movement in successive reports are recognized as Star Performers. Everest Group recently announced a recalibrated methodology, in which innovation, intellectual property and technology take center stage. About Everest Group Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, and sourcing. We are trusted advisors to senior executives of leading enterprises, providers, and investors. Our firm helps clients improve operational and financial performance through a hands-on process that supports them in making well-informed decisions that deliver high-impact results and achieve sustained value. Our insight and guidance empower clients to improve organizational efficiency, effectiveness, agility and responsiveness. What sets Everest Group apart is the integration of deep sourcing knowledge, problem-solving skills and original research. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com. ### Contact: Andrea M. Riffle, Everest Group andrea.riffle(at)everestgrp(dot)com Jennifer Fowler, Cathey Communications for Everest Group +1-865-386-6118 Jennifer(at)cathey(dot)co Shoes For Crews Chooses Centric PLM Choosing Centric as our partner was an easy decision. Centric Software announces that Shoes For Crews, the leading maker of slip resistant footwear, has selected Centric Software to provide its PLM solution. Centric Software is the leading product lifecycle management (PLM) solution for fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods companies. Shoes For Crews was founded in 1984 by Stanley Smith, who began producing footwear for nurses. The company then evolved into making shoes that would keep their grip on slippery restaurant floors. Today, Shoes For Crews is the only slip resistant footwear brand that owns its own outsole factory, is the footwear of choice in over 100,000 professional kitchens, medical facilities and industrial workplaces worldwide, and has distribution centers in the United States, Canada and Ireland. With the recent acquisition of Genescos SureGrip brand and the addition of a new product design and development team, Shoes For Crews is entering a period of growth and change. The company had been searching for a PLM system to support every aspect of its product development process and provide a scalable foundation for its growing organization. We have a unique opportunity to relaunch a brand that is already widely adopted as best-in-class for slip resistance, said Shoes For Crews President, CEO and head of innovation Stuart Jenkins. With the addition of a product design and development team that has worked on some of the very best consumer footwear brands, an equally professional PLM system is a must for us as we add on-trend styling, increased comfort and performance technology to our product line. Choosing Centric as our partner was an easy decision. We are delighted to have Shoes For Crews onboard and we look forward to partnering with them closely, said Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. Its great to be part of such an interesting time of change at Shoes For Crews, and we are certain that their PLM foundation will be a key element of their success as they continue to grow and develop the brand. Shoes For Crews (http://www.shoesforcrews.com) About Shoes For Crews Shoes For Crews is the category creator and leading designer and marketer of slip-resistant footwear worldwide. Headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, Shoes For Crews began producing slip-resistant footwear in 1984. Through its superior outsole technology, the Company quickly became the industry leader. Shoes For Crews strives to create a safer workplace in all industries where floor hazards are a reality. The high-performance culinary footwear brand MOZO and the work boot brand ACE are also part of the Shoes For Crews family of brands. President and CEO Stuart Jenkins, a footwear industry veteran with 38 years of experience, joined the company in February, 2016 and has since brought in a seasoned design and development team. The Shoes For Crews teams focus is to deliver the ultimate in slip resistant outsole technology and unmatched comfort with classic and fashion styling, through a complete line of footwear designed to bring each employee home safely at the end of the shift, whether they work in food service, hospitality, industrial, healthcare or other workplace environments. For more information on Shoes For Crews, visit http://www.shoesforcrews.com/welcome.cfm Centric Software, Inc. (http://www.centricsoftware.com) From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software builds technologies for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Its flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses. Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion and Apparel PLM in 2016 and Frost & Sullivans Global Retail, Fashion and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015 and 2016. Copyright 2017, Centric Software Inc, All right reserved. Media Contacts: Shoes for Crews: Errin Cecil-Smith, errinc(at)shoesforcrews(dot)com Centric Software Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe(at)centricsoftware(dot)com Europe: Kristen Salaun Batby, ksalaun-batby(at)centricsoftware(dot)com Asia: Lily Dong, lily.dong(at)centricsoftware(dot)com i2i Population Health, a national leader in population health management (PHM) technology, has named Cary McNamara as chief financial officer. Carys broad financial background is an excellent fit for i2i, says Justin Neece, president. Hes that rare individual who possesses both the strategic planning and day-to-day financial operations skills we need to take the company to the next level of growth. McNamara will oversee the companys strategic financial management efforts, as well as pricing, contracting, legal matters, compliance, business risk assessment, external reporting, audit, and tax. He joins i2i from EDO Interactive, a provider of card-linked offers, where he served as interim chief financial officer. He served in the same capacity at Agilum Healthcare Intelligence, a health technology company, prior to its sale to Sentry Data Systems in 2015. Prior to joining Agilum, Mr. McNamara was an associate at Court Square Capital, a $3 billion middle-market private equity firm, where he focused on the firm's healthcare portfolio. Before joining Court Square, he was at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he worked in the firms healthcare investment banking group. He is a graduate of The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and recently received his Master of Accountancy from Belmont University. About i2i Population Health The 2016 KLAS performance score leader in the delivery of actionable population health, i2i Population Healths integrated PHM and Analytics solutions have proudly served healthcare organizations for more than 16 years. The company offers a depth of experience gained from over 2,500 U.S. healthcare delivery sites across 35 states supporting 20 million lives. With i2i, healthcare providers optimize the clinical, financial and operational success of physician group practices, community health centers, health center controlled networks, hospitals, health plans and integrated delivery networks. i2is flagship product, i2iTracks, is 2014 PCMH NCQA pre-validated to ignite real-time, proactive care management. i2i Systems big-data platform, PopIQ, delivers a cloud-based comparative analytics toolset to leverage multiple customers data sets and provide cross-population views into global population health management. EBML eBullions major revenue is mainly driven by trade commission from facilitating GOLD and Silver futures trading through its online trading platform. To increase the source of revenue, eBullion is partnered with the Myanmar Finance Exchange to offer Foreign Exchange Trading Services to individual and corporate clients. eBullions wholly owned subsidiary Man Loong Bullion Company Limited is the first company in Hong Kong to receive membership of the Myanmar Finance Exchange. This membership allows Man Loong Bullion to offer foreign exchange trading services like FOREX.COM and FXCM.COM. Given the rapid growth of FX trading business in China, eBullion believes it can utilize its well-developed business network in China to generate respectable revenue from FX trading business. Myanmar is opening its financial markets to foreign institutional investors; eBullion also partnered with the Myanmar Government to facilitate the development of precise metal trading product for the Myanmar Finance Exchange. The chairman of eBullion believes Myanmar is a rapidly developing country; it is at an early development stage for GOLD and Silver trading products. eBullions management team has 40 years of experience in GOLD and Silver investment products; eBullion is committed to work with the Myanmar Finance Exchange to launch more trading products for Myanmar financial market. To learn more about eBullion Inc, visit the company website at http://www.ebulliongroup.com/. Telephone: (+852) 2155-3999 E-mail: investor(at)ebulliongroup.com Disclaimer: This press release contains forward-looking statements that may involve risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. When used in this press release, the words "plan", "target", "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding eBullion's strategy, future plans for business development, future expenses and costs, future liquidity and capital resources, and estimates of business profit. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to eBullion on the date of the release, and eBullion assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release. In particular, there can be no assurance that business development will continue at any specific progress. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the company's 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission. We train PACT therapists to find the root of the problem quickly and efficiently so that couples can restore their relationship to secure-functioning condition. The Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) Institute has officially announced that its 2017 PACT training sessions are open for registration. The PACT Institute has trained more than 1,000 marriage and family therapists, social workers, counselors, psychologists and psychiatrists from all over the world in the PACT methodology. PACT is a fusion of attachment theory, developmental neuroscience and arousal regulation, which aims to promote secure-functioning relationships based on the principles of sensitivity, fairness, justice, collaboration and true mutuality. PACT specifically focuses on evoking experience for couples through social cues, movement exercises, conflict enactments, and other psychodramatic techniques. We train PACT therapists to find the root of the problem quickly and efficiently so that couples can restore their relationship to secure-functioning condition as attentive and supportive partners for one another, explained The PACT Institutes founder, Dr. Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, a best-selling author, therapist and researcher. The PACT Institutes faculty members are all highly skilled therapists with successful private practices and have undergone extensive PACT training with Tatkin. The full training comprises three levels, spanning three years. The Level I (beginner) course is taught by the PACT core faculty. The Level II (advanced) and Level III (practicum) courses are taught by Dr. Tatkin. These courses are offered at various locations in the United States. Some levels are also available internationally. Training Sessions for 2017 New York City, NY: Level I: June 9-11, Sept 15-17, Nov 3-5 Level II: June 9-11, Oct 27-29 Los Angeles, CA: Level I: Feb 24-26, May 5-7, Sept 8-10 Level II: Feb 24-26, May 5-7 Berkeley, CA: Level I: Mar 3-5, May 5-7, Oct 13-15 Level II: Mar 3-5, Jul 28-30 Seattle, WA: Level I: Mar 10-12, Jul 21-23, Oct 6-8 Level II: Mar 17-19, Aug 4-6 Santa Fe, NM: Level I: Mar 17-19, Jun 23-25, Oct 6-8 Austin, TX: Level I: Mar 24-26, Jun 23-25, Oct 20-22 Level II: Mar 24-26, Sept 8-10 Boulder, CO: Level I: Feb 3-5, May 5-7, Sept 8-10 Level II: Feb 10-12, Jun 2-4 PACT Training in Australia Dr. Tatkin will be also teaching PACT Level I and II trainings in Melbourne, Australia with the Australian Psychological Society. The schedule has been arranged so practitioners who want to do the full PACT program can take both levels in July. Level I: July 58 and July 1014 Level II: July 1719 and July 2123 About Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT Stan Tatkin, PsyD, MFT, has a clinical practice as a couple therapist in Calabasas, CA, and is assistant clinical professor at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine. He and his wife, Tracey Boldemann-Tatkin, PhD, founded the PACT Institute and lead therapist training programs in cities across the United States and around the world. Tatkin is the author of three well-received books about relationshipsWired for Dating, Wired for Love, and Your Brain on Loveand is coauthor of Love and War in Intimate Relationships. Learn more about Dr. Tatkin at http://www.stantatkin.com. About the PACT Institute The PACT Institute is a leading global organization that offers trainings for clinical professionals in a method designed to help secure-functioning relationships flourish. The Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) draws on more than three decades of research on developmental neuroscience, attachment theory, and arousal regulation. Since 2008, the PACT Institute has trained more than 1,000 practitioners across North America, Europe, and Australia and has expanded the training to three levels. PACT has gained a reputation for effectively treating even the most challenging couples. For more information, visit: http://www.thepactinstitute.com. HelloSign, the easiest way to electronically sign legally binding documents, announces today its inclusion in the January 2017 Gartner Market Guide for Electronic Signature as a Representative Vendor. HelloSign supports advanced white labeling capabilities via API along with its ability to embed and customize the signing experience for its customers. The full report is available here: https://www.gartner.com/doc/3571517/market-guide-electronic-signature Within the report, Gartner states, The hype surrounding e-signature has been replaced with a solid body of knowledge regarding the best ways to apply and deploy this technology productively. The HelloSign API has an average integration time of 2.5 days, with 39% of companies taking less than a day to integrate and 88% of companies finishing the integration in less than one 40 hour week of developer time. The HelloSign API is the only eSignature API that offers white labeling functionality and an API dashboard for easy de-bugging. HelloSign has been gaining recognition as a leading eSignature vendor focused on ease of use and a developer friendly API for SMBs over the last few years, says Whitney Bouck, COO of HelloSign. Were now investing in more enterprise-ready features for larger companies who rank their customer experience as a high priority when it comes to signing agreements. Were particularly thrilled about HelloSigns inclusion in the Gartner Market Guide for eSignature and believe it validates these efforts. The HelloSign API is the easiest way for developers to build secure, legally binding eSignatures into applications. Providing maximum flexibility, companies can either use their interface by embedding documents on their own website or have users complete documents in the HelloSign web app. The HelloSign API is REST-based and offers easy sign up, dedicated support and transparent pricing. All documents signed through HelloSign are legally binding under the 2000 U.S. Electronic Signature in Global and National Commerce Act (ESIGN), Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) and is compliant with Electronic ID and Trust Services (eIDAS) regulations. Data passed through HelloSign stays secure with SSL encryption and world-class server infrastructure. Gartner Disclaimer Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About HelloSign HelloSign, the product leader in the eSignature space, makes it simple for businesses to offer fast, secure, and legally binding eSignatures to their customers through both a user-friendly web application and a developer-focused API. Trusted by millions of users, HelloSign is bringing the tradition and security of pen and paper signatures to the digital world for uninterrupted workflow. For more information see http://www.hellosign.com and follow HelloSign on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook. Food Logistics, the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global food supply chain, has named TraQtion, a supply chain quality and compliance software developed by NSF International, drawing on its nearly 70 years of food safety expertise, to its 2016 FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list. The TraQtion online software service manages food safety, quality and compliance for supply chains, products and sites. The FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list serves as a resource guide of software and technology providers whose products and services are critical for companies in the global food and beverage supply chain. The software and technology sector continues to generate new and exciting opportunities for growers, food manufacturers, grocery retailers and the many logistics providers that support them, notes Lara L. Sowinski, editorial director at Food Logistics. Todays cloud-based solutions like TraQtion and mobile connectivity are helping create tools that are more flexible, affordable and responsive, making software and technology even more valuable to those in the global food supply chain. Food safety and quality professionals must keep track of numerous data points originating from multiple sources to maintain compliance to safety and quality requirements, said Sireesha Mandava, Senior Director, TraQtion. We are honored that Food Logistics has selected TraQtion as one of its top 100 software and technology providers. As a cloud-based quality and compliance software, TraQtion allows a business to build a solution that works seamlessly with its current processes and procedures by integrating with other internal and external systems for a smooth flow of information, Mandava continued. Each solution has a wide range of modules to handle supplier, product and site compliance, allowing businesses to choose the depth and breadth of quality and compliance needed for their brand. Companies on this years FL100+ Top Software and Technology Providers list are profiled in the November/December 2016 issue of Food Logistics, http://www.foodlogistics.com. For an overview of TraQtion, please visit the website. For more information about TraQtion for current or prospective clients, please contact info(at)TraQtion(dot)com or Andrew Thorne at athorne(at)traqtion(dot)com or +1-734-645-6790. For media inquiries, please contact Liz Nowland-Margolis at lnowlandmargolis(at)nsf(dot)org or +1-734-418-6624 About Food Logistics Food Logistics is published by AC Business Media, a business-to-business media company that provides targeted content and comprehensive, integrated advertising and promotion opportunities for some of the worlds most recognized B2B brands. Its diverse portfolio serves the construction, logistics, supply chain and other industries with print, digital and custom products, events and social media. About TraQtion: TraQtion is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution that manages food safety, quality and compliance for supply chains, products and sites. Developed from the ground up using NSF International's food safety and quality expertise, TraQtion serves leading manufacturers, retailers and restaurants around the world that place a high emphasis on customer satisfaction and safety. TraQtion is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is a wholly owned subsidiary of NSF International (traqtion.com). About NSF International: Founded in 1944, NSF International is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. Operating in more than 165 countries, NSF is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Indoor Environment. NSF is a global independent organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for the water, food, health sciences and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment (nsf.org).